Topic: NL Game Club Session 4: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

Okay, exactly two weeks since my last comment here. I didn't think it would take me so long but i didn't experience anything outstanding / controversial enough to make me post here.
I have now done everything i can do before "using" the Temple of Time for the first time. And it all just took me about 30 hours... But 30 hours in which i rarely was bored at least.
What has taken up the most time was to show the different masks to all of the characters i've met yet.
While this all means it's not likely that i finish the game until July 31st i wouldn't wanna have it any other way.

So here are some more random thoughts

• Always having to start in the treehouse after loading got more acceptable with all the shortcuts you got in the Lost Woods. Not having a shortcut to Hyrule Castle is still a bit of a bummer though.
• All of the major items are put to good use and it's always nice to discover something new with 'em.
• The vast majority of characters is charming. Special nods go to the Cuckoo lady, the Goron "chief", the cute little Zora princess and the guy with the beans.
• The music on the title screen sadly reminds of a tune in an ad for a German insurance company.
• Oooh! Luigi's on Lon Lon farm too.
• Deep water looks really nice in 3D, second dungeon too. Especially the second lava section.
• Malon's singing sounds distorted. Kinda like on an old grammophone.
• Link's "shadow" looks more ghostly than realistic. But fun.
• The "mask-jury" is one of the funniest and cutest things in the game so far.
• It took me very long to finally realize how to get all of the Cuckoo's in Kakariko.
• It's great that you have to do a bit of thinking to get one of the Golden Skulltulla's in the second dungeon.
• Just when i thought there's finally a motivation to get as many Rupees as possible the sale of beans stopped.
• The "cinematicness" of the cutscenes is golden.
• The rewards for getting Golden Skulltulla tokens feel great so far.
• The big Dodongo skull in the second dungeon looks amazing and reminds me of Ridley a bit.
• It seems that you don't have to use the spells very often.
• I've had some problems picking up chickens on the Zora lake.
• I find it hard to aim well with the boomerang.
• The use of music is great when you have to find Saria.
• The "statue" in the Goron's cave is just pure genius.
• How can a stone roll indefinitely ? And around corners ?

@Luigi78: Just to make that perfectly clear ... I know about the 'Game Notes' feature. But i still think that any game like Zelda or some RPG's should give you the option to precisely mark points on the map yourself. In the game. Without the need to suspend it.

@LTD - the marking on the map thing would be great. Then you could mark the bombable holes in the ground. EDIT: and where the big poes are in Hyrule Field.

Anyway, this game finally arrived today, so I'll be popping it in tonight and play through the Deku Tree. Will probably end up playing more, as I'll just explore the area in 3D like a new game.

My 3DS has arrived but not this game yet... hopefully tomorrow.

This changes once you get to Master Quest. Din's fire is needed as soon as possible.

Righty-ho then, Random Thoughts: 3rd Edition

So here's the story. I was in the Fire Temple, and there's a puzzle where you have to hit a ruby which removes a ring of fire around the exit, so you can proceed. So I tried shooting arrows at it, but I couldn't get to the exit in time. Then I tried chucking a bomb at it, which worked like a charm. After this fleeting success I wandered around the upper levels of the dungeon feeling good about myself until I accidentally fell down next to the ruby again. HOWEVER, I had run out of bombs and every single pot refused obstinately to yield a single explosive shell, leaving me stranded there, FOREVER!
This was so frustrating I went out and bought a punch-bag from IKEA and promptly socked the living daylights out of it for the next couple of hours. OK, so that didn't really happen but I'm still stuck down there and it's taking it's toll on my mental psyche.

• Always waking up in Kokiri forest as a child is really irritating *
• Epona makes things so much easier *
• Where does Malon sleep? There's only one bed and Ingo's in it... *
• Goron city isn't really a city. There can't be more than seven of them. *
• Why would Ganandorf let Hyrule town slump into disrepair. I appreciate that evil is banal, but even evil dictators must like to keep things clean, right?
• Who do you sell the second mask to? *
• What's up with the guy who buys stuff from a jar? What's so good about things in a jar? 100 rupees for one fish is my main source of income *
• How does Sheik disappear like that? Truly remarkable. *
• The Bolero of Fire is a joke. Half the music is with a harp, even when Link's playing on the ocarina. *
• I find the archery mini-game stupidly difficult...I'm so ashamed *
• Ganandorf's nose is HUGE *
• The guy that buys Poes off you, just what exactly is he? *
  And...that's a wrap.

Blast, I seem to have done too many asterisks, just ignore them, OK?

What is the second mask again?

:Spoiler: If its the one I'm thinking it is it would be someone in the lost forest.

@Tech101. Thanks, and it's the skull mask. I have a sneaking suspicion who I have to sell it to...

Beat both Ocarina of Time and Ocarina of Time Master Quest.

Got this game Thursday! Have played up to Zora's Domain as a child. The graphics are just gorgeous! I never thought I would see Hyrule so stunning. I have noticed the 3D effect doesn't do a lot in the game. That's a shame because it seems nothing uses the 3D effect much. I have had a try with the motion controls too. For aiming it's pretty good, I can usually hit a target. For looking around I must look ridiculous turning the console all around me to see behind me! My family thinks I'm using the camera... And of course it messes with the 3D effect turning it behind you. For the game itself, the most recently I've played it was finishing Master Quest on GCN, so playing the regular quest is very easy to me. I'm looking forward to running into walls all the time and getting lost in the mirrored Master Quest!

I've play from the Bottom of the Well to the very end today. That took a while. O.O I first played and beat the original a few months back, and I can't believe how easy the game is the second time around. I hardly died at all, while during my first playthrough I died like ten times in the Deku Tree (I know, I know...). I remember struggling so much with Ganon, but now I easily defeated him on my first try (and I didn't even need my fairies). All in all, I think I had more fun the second time around. But I think I'm gonna wait a while before I attempt to play Master Quest.

Anyway, the 3DS version is the definitive version of this game IMO. I don't know if I can ever go back to the original again.

Ok so I cleared the Forest Temple last night. Was it always so hard? I backtracked through the same room over and over and over until I nearly went mad. After that I went back to the past to learn Epona's Song so I could get Epona in the future. Two races later and I did BTW I never really realised how much cinematics there are at the time of returning to Zelda with the 3 Spiritual Stones. It was good to sit back with the 3D blasted up and enjoy events unfold. Now I'm wondering if any of the original glitches still work like the Infinite Sword Glitch or getting 100 skulltula tokens in like 5 minutes outside Zelda's Castle??

So I beat Dodongo lol. Am I still at the head of the pack?

Just got the Biggoron sword in Master Quest. Heading off to the forest temple.

Progression: Now before the Water Temple

There were two situations which i found harder than the quite breezy rest of the game. One was the race with Ingo and the other in the Fire Temple where you're in a room with two enemies which recover when you don't kill both fast enough. It didn't help that i wasn't in the mood for doing big strategy attack and defense work either. But two fairy bottles _{nothing else to really put in there yet} helped prevent me from my third Game Over. (The other two were out of pure curiosity in the "room" with one Undead and in the cave on Death Mountain.)
And i think i know why i quit the game when i played it first. It might've had something to do with not knowing how to open all the doors in the Fire Temple. On the other hand i remember doing the bow challenge in the Gerudo desert so now i'm kind of irritated about where i really left off in 2003.

Get out of my head! Part 4

• Warp points ! Finally !
• Ganon's Castle looks very epic from the outside.
• The pace is really picking up now. Do some good before you can talk to strange folk!
• The explanation of the Deku sprout is genius and makes me see Link with different eyes.
• Mido's talk in the Lost Woods is quite heart warming too.
• Sheik's just gorgeous in the way she acts, "talks", moves and looks
• Link actually looks kinda good in blue and red too.
• Jumping over obstacles with Epona first seemed hard. When i figured out there's not that much timing required it got a lot easier.
• My anticipation of Malon's present was very high.
• I couldn't get everything in the Fire Temple yet. Guess i'll return there once i'm fully equipped.
• Dampé rules !
• So i got Talon to return to the farm. But what exactly is he doing there now ?
• Will i ever find the strange guy in the woods again ? We'll see.
• I love the Slingshot.
• Can't figure out what to do in some places yet. (Scarecrows, cows, heart piece in Death Mountain, ...)
• Forest Temple's amazing ! Fire Temple not so much _{but still good anyway} .
• The prisoners rescued from the Gerudo fortress are really funny.
• Did the ice cave appear out of nowhere ? I could've sworn i've been there as adult Link before. But not being able to go in.
• Big fairy looks scary.

@Jango-Forest: I guess you've already made it through the Temple but i can definitely say there is another way to activate the ruby. Without any ammunition required.

I had the same problem in the forest temple Ltd. Those two enemies took me forever to kill. So my progression is just past the forest temple. I want to do all side quests I can before moving on to the next temple and that's quit a bit of game play. IE lens of truth biggest fish and so on.

I'm at the same place as LTD: before the Water Temple. Except I'm not really diving into any sidequests or anything for some reason. I think I just want to see all the game in glorious 3D before devoting my time to sidequests. One thing I noticed about the game that changed from the original was the music in the Fire Temple... was this the muslim thing that got removed from the original? And why has it been approved again now?

So it took me two days to complete the Water Temple. (More like i stayed up far too long on Tuesday reaching into early Wednesday but you get my point.)
All in all i didn't find it too hard and the design of it is really great. I can only imagine how cumbersome it must have been to equip the boots the old way. The boss looked gorgeous, even kind of cute and the look on Link's face when Princess Ruto talks about the two being ment for each other is priceless.
The only real problem i had was the final room before the boss. I always kept rolling thinking that only then i could make it up there. Navi's talking couldn't convince me that i was wrong either. I even warped outside and turned back time because i thought that you could only get up there from above. I was very frutrated and afraid that after all these years i had once again reached a point where i could not get through the game without any external help. How stupid and relieved i felt when i tried again and finally figured out what wasn't even a riddle at all.

Yesterday i anticipated i could talk to the Zora after having completed the temple. Instead it was the first time i wasn't sure about where to go and was frustrated thinking i had to quadriple-talk to everybody again without them saying anything new. Yes i thought about just quitting the game. Luckily i clenched my teeth, went down the right road quickly and was rewarded with an amazing cutscene and the anticipation that i will be able to go into a new dungeon today.

It hasn't.

Just started the 3D version last night and I'm loving it!

I powered through the game a bit in the last few days and beat the Water and Spirit Temples and I have just obtained the Boss Key for the Shadow Temple. It's all coming to an end quicker than I thought! I must say the Water Temple's upgradedness made it so much better to play. But after that I didn't want to do the Shadow Temple as is the order of things and went to Gerudo Fortress to try to get to the Spirit Temple before realising I needed the Lens of Truth But I remembered that you get it in the Well and not the Shadow Temple so I actually did manage to do the Spirit Temple first! I always knew you could that. XD