Game Set and Match!
The Swamp Dungeon, like most Water themed dungeons in Zelda titles, is not particularly hard to figure out, as much as it's simply tedious to do so even when its figured out. Switch puzzle dungeons can be fun, with moderation, and thankfully this one wasn't too bad. The real treat here was finally getting the Blue Mail and no longer being a three hit wonder. With the Swamp Dungeon finished off, I did the Ice Ruins next. Much like the original game, this is probably the most tedious and challenging dungeon since there are a lot of ways to die in here, and its really easy to get turned around. Oddly enough though, it might be less tedious than the originals, but I certainly had more deaths here than I feel I should have. The item of this dungeon was the Stamina Scroll, which raised my Item Meter. Nice, but not nearly as useful as I would have liked. Finally, we hit up Turtle Rock, and this might be the biggest curveball for LttP fans like myself. Its located in the notorious area where the Ice Ruins were originally in LttP, it actually is built around using the Ice Wand, which was an optional item that made Turtle Rock easier in the original, and despite having the name of the other notorious dungeon from LttP, this one is ridiculously easy. It even has damn Wizrobes in it, yet the dungeon is surprisingly short, pretty easy to figure out, and it might actually be the easiest dungeon in the game barring the Eastern Palace.
The Hylian Shield is also an overrated item and should not have been the treasure of this dungeon. I don't care for how shields work in this game, since they're trying to impose rules from the 3D Zeldas here with the shield being an item you have to use a button for, whereas most 2D Zeldas have the shield be a default use if you're not doing any other action. Especially problematic when the shield animation has less priority than other actions, meaning that even if you remember to use it, you almost need fair warning to make use of it. I was also surprised how pointless the Boomerang is for most of the game. Its primarily used for one optional challenge dungeon, and even then, its used in conjunction with the hookshot for that dungeon. On the other hand, it's a pretty brutal weapon in the weird Streetpass game, since it both stuns your opponent and brings them to you. Its faster than the hookshot as well.
After finishing all the dungeons, I finished collecting all 100 Alien Squid kids, though I never finished the quest due to the streetpass mechanics. Course, I may have screwed myself anyway with that, so I probably shouldn't have bothered, but considering this was more of a challenge run since I was in Hero Mode, it felt fitting to not upgrade any of them. I was reminded that I had one more bottle to collect from the hidden fairy fountain by the Bomb Flower shop.
Lorule Castle was pretty neat. I don't like it as much as Ganon's Tower in LttP, or Hyrule Castle in TP, but I could probably rank this as one of the better dungeons. The Red Mail, though a tricky pain in the ass to acquire if you don't get slightly lucky or just have a knack for extinguishing all of the torches you find. It is also Broken as trout because I went from taking reasonable damage with the Blue Mail, to suddenly taking damage like a champ. I started to forget I was playing Hero Mode actually. Wish I had found it before I did the Boss Rush challenge. Yuga-Ganon is a clever revamp of the old Ganon fight from LttP with Yuga's painting shenanigans added in for variety. With that said, I was actually surprised how easy the fight managed to be. I only used a Blue Potion, because I got so impatient with his first form, that I started trading blows with him just to end the fight faster. The second round was pretty easy. I will say this game does have one of the better Zelda endings, and I still appreciate the twist with Hilda in the end which is easily the highlight of the game. The game is fun and charming, but I still feel it borrows too much from LttP to feel unique, which is a shame because the painting mechanics was actually really well implemented in a series that tends to do a poor job with gimmicky mechanics. I have decided that the games primary issue really is the "open world" aspect. Dungeons in the first half felt less rewarding since they didn't feature any items beyond plot coupons and the second half of the game lacked challenge since they had to make all of the dungeons fairly similar in difficulty since you could take them in any order. I feel what really hurt them was the fact that the puzzles often felt one dimensional since they relegated each dungeon to just one tool and your painting form to solve all of the puzzles. Unlike previous entries where your whole arsenal could often come into play. The issue I see here is that the designers intended for players to only bring the token item into a dungeon, but since Rupees practically fall from the heavens all the time, I feel they should have accounted that players may bring more items into play. As it stands, the overworld usually ended up being more interesting since you did often need to have most of your tools available depending on the circumstances. While I would be fine with this design flaw in normal plays, since I feel its obvious this game suffers from the DS entries problem of being designed to be as accessible as possible to a younger generation, it would have been awesome if Hero Mode worked similar to Master Quest/2nd Quest and have the dungeons revamped and possibly built for multiple items to present more challenge. With that said, the variety of puzzles built around the items were fairly good. With the game freshly in my memory, I may move it up one rank in my original ranking list.
As for my questions:
Most Underrated Tool/Item? I could probably list a few one game only items like the Spinner from TP, or the whip in SS; I'd probably say the Boomerang since is went from being a staple item in the first and third games, loses its luster in the N64 titles, and came back with a vengence in WW and TP, yet it tends to get overlooked a lot because of the hookshot.
Favorite Sidequest: I enjoyed the chain of deals quest in LA, I also liked the few overworld quests in LttP where you had to rescue people like the blacksmith's brother so you can upgrade the sword. I also ended up liking the Gratitude quest in SS since it really fleshed out the Sky Islands. and Skyloft. The Romani Ranch Alien abduction mission in MM was also a highlight.
Favorite Mode of Transportation: The King of Red Lions from WW.
Favorite Recurring Musical Theme: Either the main theme, or the Lost Woods theme.
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Originally Posted by Lord Golbez
