Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Four Swords, Round 3



Third evening in a row with Four Swords goodness. Den came over and we got the final Golden Key from Death Mountain and we defeated Vaati a second time.

At the entrance of Vaati's Palace there's now a new sequence, where you chose which door to open based on your keys. And while the three normal stages didn't feel like they got harder, the golden level of Vaati's Palace did. The first floor got a moving platform that moved around the entire area and on which you would have to dodge obstacles. There where eye switches everywhere and you needed to hit them while standing on the moving platform and dodging the obstacles. Took us some time and many falls to get that done. And the second floor/level actually was a forest stage, where we got raped by Moblins. It sometimes happens, that enemies corner you and just kill you by collision damage. While fighting Vaati I got frozen at the center of the stage, Vaati would place himself there and just kill me that by continuous damage from collision. And that sucked...

Ah yeah, when we first played Vaati's Palace, there was Bow-Wow from Link's Awakening as an item. You can take him for walkies by pressing A and put him back again. He eats enemies and attacks the other players, they don't lose health but they will drop some of their Rupees, so you can steal them. It's really fun to annoy everyone with this item.

I have a suggestion for the DSiWare port. Namely adding more unlockable sword techniques. You could use the Medals of Courage to unlock more than just the Hurricane Spin Attack. Like the Peril Beam for example. But what I really want is the "Rock Breaker" technique from The Minish Cap. The one that lets you destroy pots and rocks by swinging your sword. That would be handy in Four Swords, because right now you have to lift every single pot and rock up and throw them, which takes quite some time, because there are so many of them and you want to check everyone for Rupees and other items... they could also make it so that collecting two Razor Seeds gives you this ability. You would lose it at the end of the stage, but it would be a good reason to look for Razor Seeds.

So, I just checked the golden level of Vaati's Palace again and I started right in a tough Death Mountain area. So it seems not only the templates but the entire setting is randomly chosen each time in "Vaati's Palace L-2". I guess L-3, after you got all Hero's Keys, with its 12 floors will be the ultimate level then, where anything can happen. And by now I can confirm, that all three bosses actually got an advance form after getting all three Silver Keys. In case of Hot Head he only takes more shots and you have to play the ball more often. That's probably why I could beat him easily alone when playing for the first time.

And I am really impressed by the large number of different level templates for all the stages. The game manages to surprise me again and again with crazy new setups. It really adds to the replay value and makes hunting for the Golden and Hero Keys more enjoyable.

Accomplishment of the day was finally getting 10 Medals of Courage. I've also already beaten the Riddle Quest (guess, I could have saved me the trouble the other day) again. But now I can use the nice Hurricane Spin Attack in Four Swords.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

How do you get to the other doors in Vaati's palace?

TourianTourist said...

Collect all three Golden Keys and the other doors will appear. To enter the third door you must collect all three Hero's Keys.

Anonymous said...

Its meh again, how do u get the golden keys?

TourianTourist said...

After beating Vaati once, just repeat the normal stages (Sea of Trees, Death Mountain and Talus Cave). Collect 3000 Rupees to get a Golden Key.

Anonymous said...

and for the hero's keys: lemme guess, 5,000

TourianTourist said...

Yeah, it's 5000. But you have to collect all three Golden Keys and beat the second door of Vaati's Palace first before you can get any Hero's Keys.

Anonymous said...

That's going to be hard. I can barely get 3,000!

TourianTourist said...

Do you play the GBA version or the new one?

In multiplayer just use Rupee Fever (double Rupees while full health). In singleplayer, where there's no Rupee Fever, you have to farm Rupees in a place, where stronger enemies (like Moblins or Wizrobes) respawn. It sucks, but it's the only way to get the job done. It was a stupid move from Grezzo to remove the Rupee Fever in SP...

I'm also currently blogging about the Anniversary Edition. So, check my newest posts for some impressions and tips.

Clinton said...

What do you get from the unlocked play "Hero's Trial"?