Stealing Weapons in Skyward Sword

There's ton of new Skyward Sword info at the moment, but the one that caught my attention is that you can actually steal your enemies' weapons. Like in the Wind Waker. This was one of the coolest features in this game, but it never appeared in any other Zelda game up to this point. I was disappointed that you couldn't do that in Twilight Princess and I'm happy that this idea finally returns. It also probably adds a lot to the whole MotionPlus thing. I wanted more melee weapons than just the sword and the whip. And it seems like I'm going to get a lot of them. Awesome.

Source: Zelda Europe

Ocarina of Time 3D Master Quest Log 2

Well, let's start with some good news. All the puzzles, that require you to attack through bars in different manners to activate switches or light torches are still present in Master Quest and work the way they used to be. However, this raises the question, why did they change the puzzles in the normal quest in the first place? Did they think they were too difficult? But what did they add the Sheikah Stones for? If something appears to be too difficult for the average costumer, just add a stupid video that shows how to do it instead of removing the puzzle.

However, that the "spin through bars"-puzzles were still intact let me hope that in Master Quest I'm going to face the same old Dark Link, the one that's hard to beat with the sword. But no, he acts the same as in the normal quest... in fact, it's even easier now to fight him with the sword instead of using the Hammer. Since I had full weaponry this time I used all different techniques on him. And using the sword worked best.

I got quite good at fighting Stalfos again. I'm saying "again", because they didn't really give me any trouble back in the day. And they certainly wouldn't bring me down like they did in this new version of Master Quest. Well, the best way is just spam-attacking them. If you hit them before they hit you, they don't deal any damage. I just spam them with the Biggoron Sword and everything is fine.

The Forest Temple was pretty interesting. If you got the Longshot, you can actually skip two locked doors and save yourself a lot of backtracking. You can pull yourself to a treasure chest on the ledge surrounded by water in the second outdoor area. There you can built yourself a staircase using these Song of Time blocks. And from there you can enter the area with the falling ceiling without using the twisted path from above. I still got the two extra keys and opened the doors for the sake of a 100% completion, but for a speedrunner this might be interesting.

One nice thing to notice is, that they "unmirrored" the frogs in the frog minigame. Their positions still correspond to the button layout, so the outer left frog is triggered by the L-button. I previously feared that the controls might be mirrored in this minigame, which would have been confusing.

After the Forest Temple I cleared the Bottom of the Well. Then I hunted Big Poes, got the Biggoron Sword and cleared the Gerudo Fortress to make my way into the desert. I basically cleared all possible sidequests before entering another temple. Maximum heart containers and stuff. And now I'm going for the default order of the dungeons... I did the Fire Temple first without any surprises. Then I went for the Water Temple and Shadow Temple will come next. I was thinking about some other crazy order, but I already experimented with the dungeon order in Master Quest just recently and I also played the dungeons out of order in the normal quest, so playing them in their intended order is actually quite refreshing.

Their was an interesting change in the Master Quest Water Temple. In the original Master Quest their was a spare key right in the room, where you would find the Boss Key in the normal quest. Now, in Ocarina of Time 3D there's actually a second locked door now, right next to the room with the spare key. So, the spare key isn't a spare key anymore.

Ocarina of Time 3D Master Quest Log

Have you ever taken a picture of your home and flip it horizontally on your computer? Or look at your home through a mirror just to see how it looks like? It looks strange, yet familiar. Sometimes it even looks more comfy. It is this kind of feeling, that you get while playing the Master Quest mode of Ocarina of Time 3D. All graphics have been flipped horizontally to add to your confusion. What used to be on the left, is now on the right. The Lost Woods are now in the West and the Gerudo Desert lies in the East. Everyone, who has played both the GameCube and the Wii version of Twilight Princess, knows what I'm talking about. And it can be confusing. It's like you know where everything should be, but you lost your sense of orientation. It's not always as easy as "I would need to go left, so I go right", because certain places may look like completely new places alltogether. Or you just mix it up. It has been 12 years since the last time I got lost in the Lost Woods, but now I constantly run into the wrong direction. However, there are also places, where I really enjoy the mirrored version. Mostly Zora's River, I like this area somehow more, can't really explain it. And all places with a fixed camera, like Hyrule Castle Town, can be quite interesting.

But while it can be confusing, I think the mirroring is still a good thing, because it really adds to the replay value. Otherwise it would be very boring to play Master Quest right after the normal quest. All of the overworld and all the sidequests would be identical. There aren't many enemies on the overworld, so the double damage doesn't really bother you outside of dungeons. And the rest of the game used to be the same, so you basically spent half of the time doing things, which you've just done before. And that would be really, really boring. But thanks to the mirroring it all feels like a different experience. You might be doing the same things, but you're too busy getting used to the mirror world that you would care.

The double damage itself can be troublesome. It might not sound so bad at first, but it can easily kill you, if you're careless. The most thrilling part might be the Deku Tree dungeon, because you only got three hearts and you don't have any bottles yet with fairies inside to revive you. Making two mistakes in a row kills you here. A Gold Skulltula already does two hearts of damage. And there are giant Deku Babas and Gohma Larvas all over the place. The key to winning is abusing the hell out of the Slingshot. You can destroy the Gohma Eggs by shooting them, so that the larvas won't hatch. You can even kill the giant Deku Babas from safe distance. With these easy but helpful techniques I made it through the dungeon without dying once.

Naturally one of the first sidequests I did outside of the forest would be getting the first two bottles. But I wouldn't really need them until my first encounter with a Stalfos inside the Ice Cavern. Their Jump Strikes are hard to dodge, can't be blocked and deal four hearts of damage. The only more dangerous thing in this game would be Iron Knuckles. But I have yet to face one.

My course through the game so far is pretty basic. Right now I'm at the Forest Temple. I did all possible sidequests as a child, not only because I always tend to do sidequests as early as possible during a replay, but because every single Piece of Heart counts. As an adult I would get the Horse and the Hookshot first, then I got myself a Goron Tunic (less damage from fire) before heading to the Ice Cavern. And before the Forest Temple I made a detour to the Water Temple to get the Longshot. I just don't like the Hookshot, it's too short. A nice thing of Master Quest is that in three out of five temples you get the dungeon's main item early in one of the first rooms. So, if you want the item, but don't want to play the rest of the dungeon, you can just make a little detour. Which is what I did in the Water Temple, you basically get the Map, the Compass and the Longshot all right after meeting with Ruto in the same area. Well, I had to fight three Stalfos and got my ass kicked again, but it was worth it. The Longshot is very useful in this game. With it I can get Nayru's Love right after the Forest Temple (or even earlier, but I'll doubt I could make it through the mirrored desert without the Eye of Truth), which will help me a lot with the nastier fights.

In Master Quest the Sheikah Stones are gone. Leaving them would have been stupid anyway, the Sheikah Stones are meant for beginners and Master Quest is meant for people, who are looking for some extra challenge. But all other guides are still in the game. They could have improved Master Quest by muting Navi. I already played through the entire game, I don't need her guidance! So, why is she still telling me, where I should go next? Like I don't know that! I guess they wanted to preserve the feeling of the original Master Quest, but that train left the station when they mirrored the entire game.

And I still love the Master Quest dungeons. They are really fun and most of them got a completely different flow from the original. For example it's nice that you don't have to carry Ruto around inside Jabu Jabu's Belly. She basically stays in one room all the time. In the normal quest she could be a pain in the ass. Things that used to be important in the normal quest are gone now and the focus is clearly on other ideas. And I like that.

I also noticed two more general differences between the original Ocarina of Time and the new 3D version. A very cool adition is that Adult Link now twirls his sword while L-targeting an enemy like he does in Twilight Princess. For some reason I haven't noticed this until now, but it definitely wasn't in the N64 version and it's really cool. However, there's also a poor change. Originally when you entered the Lost Woods with Cojiro he would crow. It doesn't do that anymore, no crowing. That's completely missing from the game for no reason.

Ocarina of Time 3D Quest Log 5

Well, after beating the Spirit Temple I didn't have many options. So, like in my Master Quest tour earlier this year, the Fire Temple came next to last. Well, you can't play the Shadow Temple unless you cleared the first three temples, which triggers the event in Kakariko Village. But like I said, I didn't have many options. And again I was entering the Fire Temple with the Mirror Shield equipped, which looks badass.

The Fire Temple was nothing special, but Volvagia was quite cool in 3D. Then I would enter the Shadow Temple and get the Hover Boots, only to leave the temple again and play the Gerudo Training Grounds first. I guess you can beat the Traing Grounds without the Hoverboots, but it makes things a little bit easier. Well, after getting the Ice Arrows I went back to the Shadow Temple and then made my way to Ganon's Castle. Pretty basic.

Nice new graphical details? The ship inside the Shadow Temple got completely redesigned. Instead of a bird it now features Death himself as the figurehead. And there's a door on deck. The ship looks really cool now. And then there's the new bridge to Ganon's Castle, but you've probably seen this already.

But there are also some graphical downgrades. I'd say the new textures of the Like Likes and Deadhand look even worse than in the original. Especially the Like Likes look very "mushy".



I also cleared all of the Boss Challenge including the Gauntlet. In the Gauntlet you start with five Heart Containers and only the basic items. Slingshot, Boomerang, Bow, Hookshot (not the Longshot!), Megaton Hammer, the Eye of Truth and all shields and tunics. No boots, no potions (like in the individual Boss Challenges) or bombs or anything. But after each boss, two treasure chests spawn, a small and a large one. I'm guessing that it's similar to the Goron Target Range in Spirit Tracks, the small treasure chest has the good stuff. It's mostly random, but in case of Gohma the small treasure chest always gives you Bombs, which helps a lot in the King Dodongo battle. And before Morpha I got the Longshot from the small treasure chest. I also got two Heart Containers and one empty bottle, which later only got filled with a Green Potion (small chest before Bongo Bongo). But save for the Bombs and the Longshot it all didn't really matter, because I didn't get hit a single time! I'm not joking, I cleared the entire Gauntlet without getting hit. I wish it would have been the Master Quest Gauntlet, where you only get three hearts and where a single hit can kill you... I bet I will never be able to do such a perfect run again and I will have huge problems with clearing the Gauntlet in Master Quest, lol.

When battling Ganondorf there's still this noticeable slowdown after hitting him with a Light Arrow. I don't know if that was on purpose to "preserve the game's original feel" or if the 3DS actually couldn't handle all the special effects.

The additional credits are nice. Not only that they added the orchestrated track, but there are monochrome images from the game shown in 2D and then slowly morphing into 3D and color. That was really nice. But they could have used the touchscreen to display the names of everyone like they did in the Four Swords Anniversary Edition, so that the names don't overlay or get in the way. But on the other hand, you would never read a single name then...

I also checked out the Sheikah Stones for the first time. There's one video I didn't clear called "Riding on Farore's Wind", I guess I should have used this item at one point. I never use it, I usually play dungeons in one session. I used Nayru's Love though, when fighting the Iron Knuckle as Young Link. Just as a precaution. In Master Quest I will probably use it more often though.

Talking about Master Quest, I have now unlocked "The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D Master Quest". I'm going to start this tomorrow. I'm excited how much trouble the mirroring and the double damage will give me.

Medals in Skyward Sword: Return of the Rings?

I said I was going to avoid any new Skyward Sword info (haven't watched the intro yet, etc.), but I stumbled over this article at Kotaku today, where the reporter goes "blah, blah, blah" about how Skyward Sword has more RPG-elements than the usual Zelda game. We already knew about item customization and optional upgrades by collecting spoils and bugs, so mostly this was not surprising. However, one part caught my attention:

I clicked the option for [Fi] to speak. She started talking about a rumor that "medals" will give you beneficial effects as long as you're carrying them. [...] I didn't even have the one she described, which was a so-called potion medal that extends the duration of potion effects.

This sounds very similar to the ring concept from the Oracle games. I loved the rings. They added so much to the Oracle games. There were 64 of them and most of them did have a special ability (there were a few useless ones given out as some kind of achievement like "1000 monsters killed"). The classic stuff is increase in defense or offense, but there were lots of unusual effects. Like the Roc's Ring prevented that cracked floors crumble. The Red Joy Ring made finding Rupees easier. Or the Pegasus Ring lenghtened the effect of the Pegasus Seeds (which sounds similar to the mentioned medal, which increases potion effects).



You could only equip one at a time, but there's a perfect ring for every situation. Ever since the Oracle games I wanted something similar to the rings in future Zelda games. But this concept was abandoned completely...

Until now it seems. If the medals are really something similar to the rings, I'm going to be very excited. There are many possibilites. There could be medals that make certain spoils appear more often. Need those horns? Just wear the medal. There could be a medal that boosts you stamina, so that you can run faster, etc. And of course there could be a Red and a Blue Medal, boosting attack power and defense.

It would also add to the picture that Skyward Sword is taking something from every Zelda game to combine it into the "ultimate Zelda". The best thing they could take from the Oracle games are the rings.

Ocarina of Time 3D Quest Log 4

Originally I wanted to take the classic course through the game, nicely playing the temples in order like it's your first time. Now... this is how my path looked like so far: as an adult I went to the Ice Cavern first, then I've beaten the Forest Temple. After the Forest Temple I went back in time and played the Bottom of the Well. Then, back to the future, I cleared the Gerudo Fortress and then played the Water Temple. And after that I played the Spirit Temple. Only Fire and Shadow Temple left. So, you can't really call this the classic course, but that would have been boring anyway.

It's been a while since I played the classic Ocarina of Time dungeons. In the last years I usually played Master Quest and I'm more used to the MQ dungeons. So, it sometimes feels a little bit weird. In the Spirit Temple you run into a silver Rupee floating in the air, in this boulder halfpipe room. So, for a moment I actually thought I need the Hover Boots to beat the dungeon. But luckily you can get it with a roll jump combined with a Jump Strike. And then there was a rusty switch in the large room with the Desert Colossus statue and for a moment I thought I need the Hammer to beat the dungeon. But it turned out, that this rusty switch only opens the shortcut from the entrance.



The Water Temple went really smooth. Switching the Iron Boots with a button, like in The Wind Waker or Twilight Princess, made playing the dungeon much more comfortable. The navigational lines reminded me of the water pipes in the Great Bay Temple in Majora's Mask, just not as complicated. However, there was a reason why I skipped over the Fire Temple. I've heard that Dark Link became significantly easier, so that you can beat him using your sword only. So, I avoided getting the Hammer to force myself using the sword (or Din's Fire just in case). And it's true. You can defeat him with the sword, it's a joke now. And I don't like this change. It's Dark Link we're talking about here, the final boss of Zelda II. This guy is supposed to kick your ass in a sword battle. That you had to rely on cheap tactics like pounding him with the Hammer or using Din's Fire only showed how mighty he actually was. And they took this away... they made him look weak now.

Another noticeable change are switches placed behind bars. There aren't any. In the original game you would use a Spin Attack through the bars to hit the switch. A simple puzzle, which should still work in the 3DS version. But in both the Water Temple (the room with Skulltula behind bars) and Spirit Temple (the mirror room) they put the crystal switch somewhere else. In Master Quest there were puzzles in the Fire Temple, where the crystal switches behind bars were hidden in boxes. I wonder if they destroyed this as well... I'll see.

And while going through the Water Temple something odd happened. Something that has never happened before in my Ocarina of Time... Navi called me for no reason. "Hey!", "Listen!" What the hell? She does that outside of dungeons all the time in case you're lost, but never inside dungeons. But now she tells you to visit a Sheikah Stone in case you're lost. Damn... Ocarina of Time is known as simply one of the best games ever, but if there were any complaints about the game, then it was about Navi being annoying. There's even tons of fanart making jokes about it like Link squishing Navi to death. And Grezzo seriously thought they should make her even more annoying? Come on!

And the way how they handled the Magic Arrows is stupid. I hoped you can cycle through them by pressing R, like in the Wind Waker. But you can't. Now there's a little submenu icon above the Bow icon. If you click on the submenu icon a submenu with all four Arrow types opens... This is even more inconvenient than in the original game! Why can't I switch the arrow types in real time?

But there are also some positive improvements. Like the fast text. It always annoyed me in the old version that the text was so slow. Especially if you can't skip the text. For example when talking to the carpenters imprisoned inside the Gerudo Fortress, it took forever until the fight started. And you had to listen to the same text four times, which was annoying. After Ocarina of Time all Zelda games offered the option to fasten the text or just got fast text in general, so it's nice that this improvement finally made it into Ocarina of Time.

Another nice improvement is the Shard of Agony. It reminded me of hidden grottos, which I had log forgotten. For example the one behind the carpenters' tent. Or in front of the center entrance of the Gerudo Fortress, behind some boxes. There isn't really anything to get in these grottos, which is probably the reason why I had forgotten them, but it was nice to be reminded, that they were there.

As for graphical details, I like how you can see Hyrule Field from the embrasures inside the Ghost Shop. And there are some nice reflections on the floor of the Temple of Time, though this is a fake reflection using simple shaders. And I like the design of the Biggoron's Sword, it even got its own sheath now.

Well, and the Goron Bracelet still gets lost in the menu after collecting the Silver Gauntlets. This always bugged me and I hoped that this would be fixed in Ocarina of Time 3D. But it wasn't. I mean, you don't actually lose this item, young Link still wears it. So, why does it and all information about it get lost in the menu?

Sidequest-wise I got all Pieces of Heart by now and all except 12 Golden Skulltulas, 10 in the remaining temples and two at Death Mountain. The only larger sidequest left is beating the Gerudo Training Grounds. I'll do that after getting both the Hammer and the Hoverboots.

Ocarina of Time 3D Quest Log 3

After fully beating the Four Swords Anniversary Edition it's time for Ocarina of Time 3D to get my full attention.

It's getting annoying that the window for 3D is quite small. You really have to hold the 3DS in the right way or otherwise it's getting blurry. If it's getting intense or when I want to use the gyroscope aiming, I'm turning the 3D off. Nintendo really should look into improved 3D screen technology. Also, turning off the 3D improves the anti-aliasing effects, after all they only have to render half as many images and the additional computing power can be put into improved visuals. I really like the 3D and turn it on whenever I can, but it comes with disadvantages.

Well, the game is still beautiful, though it can be quite erratic. At times the game looks like a simple texture pack, where they just plastered the old models with better looking textures. For example the stairs in Kakariko village are still a simple texture instead of actual stairs... what's up with that? How hard can it be to model some stairs? And in other places, for example all of Hyrule Castle Town, they put a lot of works into new models and details. It looks like a complete new place.

The Back Alley really surprised me. I didn't went there until I checked out the dying soldier scene and it flashed me with impressive details. They even got laundry lines hanging between the windows. Just wow. What also really flashed me was the Ice Cavern. It's stunning, really nice and clear textures, the red ice looks beautiful and has some amazing forms at times. I was also wearing the Goron Tunic during the dungeon, which gave a nice visual contrast.

Before becoming an adult I cleared all possible sidequests as a kid. Including showing the Mask of Truth at the Forest Stage. I've heard, that this bug was fixed, but I'm not leaving anything to chance. As an adult I got Epona first, then the Hookshot, the Goron Tunic and then I went to the Ice Cavern to get Iron Boots and the Zora Armor. I like to gear up before going to any of the temples.

I played the Forest Temple first, mostly because I wanted the bow, which allows to do more sidequests (like Big Poe hunting and archery minigames). But the main reason was that I can return to the past and play the unbloody Bottom of the Well. Learning the Prelude of Light also unlocks the Boss Challenge. It's a nice little addition to the game. But you don't get to experiment much, you only get minimum equipment. Similar to the bosses in Ganon's Castle in the Wind Waker, just not in black and white and they also reduce your number of Heart Containers to the minimum.

Adult Link kind of feels slower than usual, I don't know... it's like he moves his legs in an exaggerated way, it feels a little bit like slow motion. Very weird.

Arranging items is nice. It's different from Link's Awakening, because it let's you freely swap items all over the place. Interestingly I'm arranging the items in the way they used to be in Ocarina of Time. My bottles are in the lower left row. The three magic spells are on the right side. And so on.

I encountered two very nice details in the Forest Temple. The new Boss Key now has a crystal skull on it and looks really cool. And Wallmasters now drop a shadow in the form of a hand. Very nice.

But I must complain about some stuff they failed to improve. Namely Epona. She's as dumb and stubborn as ever. For example she still gets stuck in that spot on your way outside of Lake Hylia. I always got annoyed by this, why couldn't they fix it? And the Z-Targeting is messed up, it somehow manages always to target the wrong enemy. As in not the enemy which stands fucking right in front of you! Best example was the fight against the Poe Sister Meg. The one with the duplicates. I would turn myself into the direction of the real one and press L, however, the system targets everyone but not the one I wanted to aim for... what was that? I don't remember that this fight ever gave me any trouble. It's like the targeting even worked better in the N64 version. And Navi is a pain in the ass.... why does it have to blink NAVI NAVI NAVI NAVI NAVI on the top screen? Isn't her screaming "hey, hey, hey" enough? She never really bothered me in the N64 version, I could easily ignore her there, but that they added blinking letters to the top screen is just ridiculous.