Update Time!

Ocarina of Time Master Quest: Deku Tree is finished. I didn't see much in the way of major changes to the dungeon, though as I stated before, I'm not exactly a die hard fan of this entry who has it memorized. I did notice a few items and pathways are blocked off and need items I'll obtain in later dungeons. So I guess MQ mostly makes backtracking a worthwhile effort. I will say that I have always liked the Deku Tree as a starter dungeon, I feel it really does pull you through all the ropes of what the new engine can let Link do, and get you familiar with how puzzles are going to work. I also love the Slingshot, which I like better than the bow, if only because its easier to aim. Course I'm playing the 3DS Remaster, so manual targeting is actually feasible with little skill. Gohma has always been one of my favorite recurring Zelda bosses, though I'm still sad he's such a cakewalk in this game. I beat the boss, got the Kokori stone, and I'm going to be sent off to Hyrule Castle to do the mini-stealth mission to see Zelda and start this quest properly.

Oracle of Seasons: Finished! The Sword and Shield dungeon was pretty hectic but thankfully has several shortcuts you can activate to make backtracking less of a chore than the Ancient Ruins or Explorers Tomb. Oddly enough, the miniboss was more of a challenge than the actual final boss. He was a Fire and Ice demon who would change element based on which seeds you hit him with. The fastest, though not necessarily easiest way to beat him involves hitting him with a Mystery Seed to make him go into Ice form, strike one of his ice attacks with the same seed to turn it into an ice block, and then strike him again with a seed to make him go back to his Fire form. From there, you equip the Power Bracelet to lift the Ice block and chuck it into him, though it does involve getting close to him. With the triple shot Slingshot, this process is way easier than you think if you line up the shot right. The actual final boss is a keep away boss who has an annoying ability to turn you into stone so they can land extra hits. You need the Roc's Cape to dodge all of its attacks and close the gap between you.

Orok's Castle was pretty straightforward but Orok himself was actually interesting. He doesn't take damage from your normal sword strikes, instead, you have to charge it up for the spin attack to actually do damage. You need to dodge his massive ball and chain hammer while striking during the few openings he has. Once he's taken a few hits though, he summons Din, the Oracle of Seasons, and uses her as a shield that causes you to take damage if you strike her and she always floats in a way to block you. The key here is to use the Seasons Rod to strike her, which won't hurt her or you, but it will send her flying across the room and give you a few moments to go in for a hit.

His second form is really amusing for me as a long time fan of the Mega Man X series, and a moment where the development team showed their true colors. His second form is a massive flying dragon, of which he can only take damage from a jewel on his forehead. To reach it, you have to wait until he tries to squash you with one of its arms, and then use the Roc's Cape to jump onto his hand and let him move you close to his head where you can jump again and hit his weak point. If this sounds a bit familiar, this is the same strategy for taking out Sigma's final form in MMX1. The biggest difference is that Link's sword attack has way better range than the Rolling Shield weapon, and Orok isn't filling the screen with death while you try to dodge and platform at the same time to actually get in range to strike. He does have a few other attacks like breathing fireballs that are tough to dodge properly but he doesn't use them as often as his hand smash. With him defeated Din, is saved and Holodrum returns to normal outside of the fact that most of the Temple of Seasons is still trapped in Subrosia. We get a neat ending sequence showing off all the NPCs interacting with Din and Link. We also get all the heavy foreshadowing about the content of the Linked Game/True Ending path.

I wrote down my crazy password, and will probably start Oracle of Ages a bit later.