Sunday, September 22, 2019

Link's Awakening Dream Diary, Level 7: Eagle's Tower

...MOUNTAIN... Something calls ...from the mountains...

Another dungeon done... You know what this means: time to get that Shy Guy!

Link getting a Shy Guy figurine. The description says to not ask what's underneath the mask.

I love how both the Trendy Game and the Chamber Dungeon became my first stop after each dungeon, because that's where you get new things afterwards. In this case the Shy Guy figurine after the Face Shrine, as predicted. I'm now only missing the Pokey, Piranha Plant and BowWow figurine and I bet I will be getting them in this order. Well, at least I think that BowWow will be the last one, because he's the most special. Neither Pokey, nor Piranha Plant do appear in the Eagle's Tower, however, where it's a shame that there won't be an Anti-Kirby figurine from what it seems.

And after the Shy Guy I got this guy:

The Flying Rooster


Link getting the Flying Rooster. He's holding him up in the air like an item.

Lively as ever. Sadly, the old Boomerang trick doesn't work any longer, where you throw it, grab the Flying Rooster and then the Boomerang circles you as a weapon of mass destruction. But you now can grab the Flying Rooster while you're swimming, which lets you traverse deep waters much quicker. This is nice, but not exactly useful for where you need to go with the Rooster.

Since Kanalet Castle had its moat renovated, you don't need him for the Secret Seashell there any longer (or the chest with 20 Rupees, if you already had the L-2 Sword). So, there is really only one place to go with him now, the cave with the Eagle Key... Well, I also tried another place afterwards. There is this suspicious cave on the way through the Western Tal Tal Mountains, where in the original GameBoy version I also always believed there would be secret for the Flying Rooster there, but back then it didn't scroll screens when you were flying. And now you simply fly into an invisible wall here:

Link flying in over an abyss in a cave with the Flying Rooster

But I felt bad for the poor guy, because he now has even less to do than in the original version, so I decided to go on a side quest spree with him. Going everywhere, doing everything, with my little rooster friend at my side.


Chamber Dungeon


Back to the Chamber Dungeon, I got a little bit better at timing bombs against Wizzrobes. If you place them right after they disappear, you will get them. It's probably a little more resource friendly than the arrows, but not exactly easier. The quickest and easiest way to kill them, however, are Bomb Arrows. Oh, and the Boomerang works, too!

But I find it weird, how the game uses mostly the same enemy designs as A Link Between Worlds, though. It does make sense, because both these games are canonically connected to A Link to the Past, but it's weird that you have enemies like the Wizzrobes, which look very similar in both games, while they can be easily defeated with the sword in one game, but not the other...

Anyway, the "Heart Shortage" challenge, where you're limited to three hearts, was really funny. Dampé already tells you to go lite with enemies and the Face Shrine dungeon really comes in handy here. It has lots of rooms with no enemies inside of them. I made the dungeon so extremely easy, you would have to try to die. I didn't even get hit once.

Heart Shortage challenge in the Chamber Dungeon. The northeast chamber from the Face Shrine is visible with two knight figures.

I got the last Fairy Bottle for my "efforts" and I also gave my first shot at the free form dungeon making, where this is my magnificent result. Behold, the Shrine of Tourian:

a dungeon made out of only three chambers.

The smallest dungeon in the world, complete with an entrance, a chest room and a boss. In this case Facade and the chamber, where you got the Powerful Bracelet. I just wanted to check, if Dampé gives you anything for trying the open slots, but apparently not. Or you have to use more chambers, I don't know, but I don't think you'll get anything from it except maybe some fun.

But I'm planning on doing the exact opposite later, meaning a dungeon with full 64 rooms.


Seashell Hunt


I was one seashell short of the 40 when finishing the Face Shrine and I didn't want to go into the Eagle's Tower without the L-2 Sword, because this didn't feel right. Of course I didn't know that the 40 would give me the sword, but getting it too late didn't feel right either, so I had to go look for at least one more seashell first.

Now I was at a loss where to look. Keep in mind that I'm not using the Seashell Sensor, so those things can be hidden absolutely everywhere from my perspective. I knew that the fishing probably will have some seashells, too, but I didn't want to bother with that yet. So, I kept wandering, until I found a very particular seashell in a very particular way. I'm even a little bit proud that I found this one without the sensor, as the 40th seashell no less:


And with this particular seashell I finally got it:


The Sword is great, though. The Sword Beams don't feel as sharp and fast, but they are certainly as deadly as they used to be from what it seems. And the sword breaks pots now! That's similar to the Oracle games and certainly quite useful. It would have been more useful in the Face Shrine than in the later dungeons, especially with the boss, but you should be able to get the Seashell Sword easily before the 6th dungeon, maybe even still before the 5th, depending on where everything is hidden. In that case it would be similar to the original, where you could get it after the Flippers. But after the Hookshot is fine with me as well.

Of course now I'm super curious what the final reward will be. I have no idea, but it can't be a Fairy Bottle, a Heart Piece or a Heart Container, so that's good. If it's just another Chamber Stone it will be super underwhelming, plus you already got one from 30 seashells. I hope it's something new, maybe an enhanced Spin Attack (they always do those in the new 2D Zelda games), because it wouldn't require an inventory slot. Maybe an upgrade to a different item... Or maybe it's just limitless Rupees or something disappointing. Whatever it is, I want to find it out for myself and without the Seashell Sensor.

But there is always the danger of being spoiled. As I'm writing this, I'm watching someone else play the game. It's the person who kindly has borrowed me a Switch and who has never played the game before and is currently stuck in the Bottle Grotto. It's fun to watch, because there are these moments, where I was completely stuck as a kid and someone new to the game might get stuck in the exact same part, like the entrance of the Bottle Grotto. (The Nightmare Key puzzle has a new error sound by the way, which should be helpful... in theory. :D) But while watching I noticed another obscure Secret Seashell thanks to Spoiler Machine BowWow...


I also found one more. I won't spoil the location, but it's actually quite easy to find. So easy that it was hiding in plain sight for a veteran player like myself. I've been focusing on changes in the overworld, like new grass patterns and so on, while I have been ignoring other things because they didn't have any secrets in the original. And of course that's a mistake.

But before I can go on with the seashells hidden throughout the overworld, I had to focus on the fishing first, just in case it has some as well... I haven't spend any time with the fishing after the beginning of the game, because I couldn't really get the hang of it, but now was the time to return to this mini game.


Fishing


Link looks in the camera after catching an Ol' Baron. The fish is blue and huge.

Well, I got the hang of it...

At least for the classic fish that behave normally. The trick is to not hold the A button, but always tap the button, like in the original. Tap as quickly as you can when the fish is facing you and tap only very moderately when he is charging in the opposite direction, but don't let him free entirely.

There are also the under water Mario enemies in the pond now as special fish. They are really celebrating these Mario cameos now, don't they? Whenever there is a special fish in the pond (like the Cheep Cheep, the Blooper or the Ol' Baron above) you can see a blue light in the pond, from what it seems. They also don't seem to re-enter the pond, so it's either get 'em or not...

The Fishing Pond with Cheep Cheeps, a Blooper and an

As for the Cheep Cheeps, just press up on the analog stick whenever they jump. I haven't figured out the Bloopers yet, however, they are just ridiculous. It's hard to understand what they are doing and the controller vibrates like crazy all the time. I just don't get them and they always spawn in the middle, so you can't play it cheap.

The Ol' Baron on the other hand just works like any other fish, just that it takes quite a while to reel him in. He's no Lord Chapu Chapu, though.

So, I got two more Secret Seashells for my efforts, where it seems to be a pattern that every mini game has two Pieces of Heart and two Secret Seashells now (in the Rapids Ride this is split up between Rapids Raid and Race). And maybe also two Chamber Stones, because I got two of them from catching the Ol' Baron twice. It's been a while that I got some new of those and this leads me to the following topic...


Chamber Stone Hunt


So, I've found five more of them. Two from the Ol' Baron in the fishing mini game. Two from the shop, where there seems to be a total of three (that's 3840 Rupees), at least for now. And one from the Rapids Race. In the latter I set a new record for under 30 seconds, which got me the stone:

Link on a raft in the Ancient Ruins after finising the Rapids Race. The record is 00:26.76

Only one, however. There is still some room for improvement here, maybe even less than 25 seconds, so I probably will have to keep trying. The key to getting fast times seems to be using the Hookshot diagonally. It's easy to forget that you can do this now, but it lets you get through the final part much, much faster.

So, this is what I got from the new Chamber Stones. I've checked each of them one after the other to know the results:

  • 1st Ol' Baron: mirrored Gohma chamber
  • 2nd one from Shop: flying tile chamber (Face Shrine) with three exits
  • 2nd Ol' Baron: Dodongo Snake chamber (Face Shrine) with three exits
  • Rapids Race: Cueball chamber with three exits
  • 3rd Shop: Great Fairy chamber (Color Dungeon) with three exits

I suppose you might be getting them in order anyway, maybe even together with the chambers you get from clearing challenges, so the Chamber Stones are probably not tied to specific chambers. Otherwise you could theoretically purchase a chamber from the Face Shrine earlier in the game, which would be silly. The question is what happens, when you have more Chamber Stones than possible new chambers. After all these special chambers are just variants of existing rooms with different exits, so you have more options. They are not completely unique like the five amiibo chambers... (Update: the Chamber Stones are actually tied to specific chambers and simply won't be available before the respective dungeon.)

Speaking of, why is there no Lanmola chamber? That's like the only mini boss you apparently can't face again in the Chamber Dungeon. And what happened to the "Cracked Floor Chamber"? That one was originally said to be unlocked by amiibo (according to the official website), but we got the "Flying Item Chamber" instead. Maybe Nintendo plans to update the game with more special (amiibo) chambers later on?

Also, the total number of Chamber Stones is completely oblivious to me. I have eight by now, which seems way too little. I hope the game will tell you, when you got all chambers, but right now I have no clear goal here, unlike with the Secret Seashells.

Well, after all this side questing, it's finally time to visit one of my absolute favorite dungeons in the series...


Eagle's Tower


Link and the Flying Rooster in front of the Eagle's Tower. The tower is in the middle of rotating.

With its atmospheric music, unique setting, a mini-boss going on vendetta and a very clever dungeon-wide puzzle, it's truly one of the best. When I think of the dungeons in Link's Awakening, this one always comes to mind first.

There have been some changes here, but mostly for the better. The first thing I noticed is that you can't just get the Mirror Shield right away, because you can't throw the Boomerang at the crystal switch in the same room from over the raised blue blocks any longer. I also tried bombs, but they didn't work either.

So, you have to activate another crystal switch and get back there first, which is how it was originally intended. You can still jump across the abyss at the first pillar, though, so there is still a good shortcut to take there.

By the way, it's really nice to have a color coding for the crystal blocks. It's a standard for the series, but Link's Awakening was the only game that didn't have it so far, not even in the colored DX version. And I really like how the "red" blocks look more orange now. It's a nice contrast to the light blue ones.

Link standing in one of the hollow rooms of the 3rd floor with crystal blocks in front of him

I usually like to go up to the 3rd floor early and they haven't changed it in any form. There is still the troll key hole, where you can waste a key for absolutely nothing, because there is no way to get beyond the crystal blocks in that chamber. That seems to be true for the remake as well, though it would have been cool, if you could now finally visit that infamous unused room from the original:


Or maybe you can do it now and I couldn't figure it out... (Update: there isn't even a bridge on the map, so this room isn't there.) In any case the Grim Creeper now tells you what to do, in case you screw up once. This probably makes the fight easier than it already was, but whatever.

Overall the dungeon was made easier, but in good ways. This mostly goes hand in hand with changing certain enemies, entities and mechanics, which were somewhat annoying in the original. Like the card enemies are now much easier to take out, because the symbol doesn't switch as fast. The knights from the Face Shrine now have a clear system how to solve them. And you now can shut down the Beamos, when you reflect their beams.

Also, once you have opened doors in a room, may it be by defeating enemies or lighting torches, they will stay open. This includes the one flying tile room with holes that you might traverse multiple times in this dungeon. Those were all annoying things, where playing the Eagle's Tower is now even greater and swifter and more fun than it used to be.

The main puzzle with the four puzzles also remained mainly untouched. Yes, they've added another of those unnecessary cracked walls, but at least this was never a big secret here to begin with and those cracks are easy to miss here (like in the one cave between the two sides of the mountains). The puzzle itself is still a brain teaser as it always used to be, though I've memorized it completely, so it's quick math for me.

an outside shot of the tower right before it's collapsing

As you can already see, when the top of the tower goes down, they have changed the Evil Eagle's fight fundamentally, because it still goes on, when you fall down. There is now spikes down there to punish you, but they are easy to avoid and this isn't another Moldorm-like reset fight, where it might frustrate players. And with the Chamber Dungeon, where you want to kill bosses as quickly as possible, this is a good change as well.

Apropos Chamber Dungeon, I'm starting a little experiment here. Take a look at my map:

the near final map of the 3rd floor with the right room in the upper row missing

Normally I always 100% complete a dungeon, but I have left out one chamber. Remember my concerns about how chambers could be missable? This was brought up by the bombable room in Level 1, which I only got after clearing Level 3. What happens, if I leave out an optional room in a dungeon like this one and don't go back there until the end of the game? Well, let's find out!

I always hated this particular chamber in the original, because it combined the knights with a Beamos on a conveyor belt, where the thing could kill very quickly. It was a death trap puzzle. Of course this should be now a lot easier to do, but all you got for your troubles in the DX version was a Secret Medicine. Since I can't pick those up without "dying" first anyways, I might as well skip this chamber altogether for now.

Theoretically I shouldn't be getting this room in the chamber dungeon and then I can find out, whether I will be getting it after the final dungeon or not. If I miss it in the end, it's not a big deal, because I'm not playing this on my own Switch anyway. So, let's do this for science!

outside the Eagle's Tower after finishing the dungeon
Oh, no... my rooster friend is gone...

Current Status:


  • Secret Seashells: 45 (24 old + 21 new)
  • Pieces of Heart: 31 (11 old + 20 new)
  • Chambers: 138
  • Chamber Stones: 8
  • Challenges Cleared: 10

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