...WATERFALL... It is hidden in the waterfall...
Oh, oh...
If there's ever a ranking of the best quests leading to a dungeon in the Zelda series, your journey to the Angler's Tunnel will certainly be up there. Such a lovely and diverse quest.
But first things first. I went back to the Chamber Dungeon and unlocked three new challenges, as well as the free chamber arrangements, where you have multiple open slots. I also got a Secret Seashell and a Piece of Heart both at once, which felt somewhat unnecessary, but whatever... I still haven't gotten a second Fairy Bottle yet, however.
Something new that the Chamber Dungeon offers is traversing some of the side scrolling tunnels in the opposite direction. This might sound trivial, but with some of these tunnels you normally don't go back, like the tunnels leading to the bosses in Level 2 and 3, so it's interesting to go the other way for a change.
It's a shame that you have no controls over the tunnels, however. It connects them automatically and sets a tunnel based on the given room (or randomly). It would be a lot better, if you could do all that yourself. I know they wanted to keep things as simple as possible, but some more customization options wouldn't have hurt.
I also went back into the Color Dungeon to confirm a suspicion I had... I thought maybe this time the game lets you get back the green tunic and it really does:
This is good to have for everyone, who wants to clear the dungeon early (for the chambers), but not get any of the upgraded mails. I even think that this was a very common request for the remake, so this change might be a result of fan input.
Also, after getting the Pegasus Boots this can only mean one thing: ram all the trees! I couldn't find any new Secret Seashells that way, but I found quite a few in other places. I also got the Ocarina from the Dream Shrine (which looks pretty nice now) and of course played some more Trendy Game, now for a Boo figurine and the second Piece of Heart there.
After the side quests in the familiar areas I went on to the Ancient Ruins. I like going there early, because it feels special to do so. Sadly, there is no warp point in the area, but whenever I go to Level 6 I usually do so via the Rapids Ride anyway. And I was happy to finally find a Secret Seashell under the one rock near the waterfall... On the GameBoy I always thought that one must be there and now this near 22 year old suspicion finally confirmed.
But when the remake doesn't add new Pieces of Hearts or Secret Seashells, it does try to stay remarkably faithful. For example the spots where you always can find hearts under certain pots or bushes are still there. Or the Armos in the Ancient Ruins still drop one arrow, if you kill them with one...
The Armos Knight is quite different, however, but now he couldn't really surprise me with his new jump tactics any longer, because I already bested him in the Chamber Dungeon. Time to grab an early Face Key and learn the truth about this place...
Fun with Marin
After checking out Animal Village with its funny new music, I went back to Mabe Village, where I noticed that something was missing. In the original one of the kids was standing near the weather vane at this point to tell you the following:
Marin? She likes
to go stare at
the ocean all by
herself... Why?
Hey, I'm just a
kid, don't ask
me!
This doesn't seem to happen in the remake... Instead the kid is already in the "Marin is at Animal Village" mode and asks you where you have left her... That feels like an oversight, especially after I just have praised how faithful the remake is.
But this is quickly forgotten, once you get to Marin at the shore...
It looks so cute when you say "no" to Marin, after she asked you whether you were listening or not, and Link shakes his head. And it's very hilarious, how it now looks when he lifts her up:
Marin following Link around looks super adorable in the remake. The funny noises she makes when you dig gets me every time. And when you use the Pegasus Boots, she starts running like a maniac as well. Oh, all these little details! They even kept one of the photo moments, when you go with her to the cliff in the southwest:
This was thoughtful. There is also the small scene, when she drops on you in the well, but it's the same way as it was in the GameBoy original. And there's no scene at the weather vane. Tarin is completely gone during the whole sequence, which is weird, but whatever, there are many other fun things to do with Marin.
Like, playing the Trendy Game!
Or being naughty!
Or playing some music!
Well, what can I say? I love this part...
Yarna Desert
Back to business, I found one new secret in the desert and an old one. The skeleton secret is still there and even more noticeable, because the skull now has glowing eyes in it, unlike the others. You still need to find out that Magic Powder makes it talk somehow, but it's all there.
The information is completely useless this time, however, because they've added cracks to the walls there in the cave... They did the same in the one cave in the Ukuku Prairie and I'm not sure, if I'm a fan of this change. I liked how difficult it was to find all Pieces of Heart in the original. You really had to be thorough. But here you are basically drowning in them with little to no effort for some of them.
But I also can understand that these particular Pieces of Heart were somewhat abstruse and the new Secret Seashells certainly make up for it, though you can just use the Seashell Sensor on them... But I haven't been using it and so far it's a lot of fun to discover new seashells everywhere.
Angler's Tunnel
For the most time I'm not having any issues with the not-so-constant frame rate, but if there is a part in the world, where you really notice the frame drops, it's in front of the water fall that blocks the fourth dungeon. Well, luckily you're getting rid of that thing anyway...
The new music inside the dungeon sounds really beautiful. The original only had this sped up version of the cave theme, which still plays in the background as well, but there is a new fitting water dungeon theme here now. And this finally looks like a proper water dungeon as well with the clean water effects.
I like this overhaul a lot, but I personally find the side scrolling sections in the dungeons (all of them, not just the Angler's Tunnel) a little bit too flat. It looks very weird.
So, it was a nice change in visuals when the Angler Fish's chamber finally added some more depth. The bosses also tanked quite a bit, even with the Red Mail I had to hurt him plenty. But the fight is still very easy and another dungeon is done...
So, the first day of playing is over and I've reached the half point of the game. Normally I would probably be already finished with the game after an entire day, but because of the blogging it is taking me a lot longer. It's worth it, however, because I really want to write all my thoughts down about every part and so far this has been a lot of fun.
With the Angler's Tunnel we are also leaving the previewed half of the game behind us. The preview embargo stopped the media at Animal Village and the gamescom presentation showed us the Yarna Desert and the first half of the Angler's Tunnel. Now we're diving into new territories, where only bits and pieces have been shown by Nintendo (I didn't look at any reviews or release media coverage yet). So, it will be exciting to find out what's all new here. Will there really be a second fishing mini game? Let's find out tomorrow!
Current Status:
- Secret Seashells: 25 (17 old + 8 new)
- Pieces of Heart: 18 (7 old + 11 new)
- Chambers: 78
- Chamber Stones: 1
- Challenges Cleared: 5
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