A Link Between Worlds and Other Stuff

Hey, look at the date...

Like a month after my last post...

Time flies.  Especially October.  I don't know why, and it's really weird, but I feel like October always goes by really fast.

Oh, and I've gotten a massive amount of pageviews for the past 4 days, for whatever reason.  Like, 90 a day.  Hrm.

Anyway, Oracle of Ages.  I beat that.

I have a lot to say on it, but I'll probably go into that in a later post.

So, right now, I'm cramming to finish my replay of Twilight Princess and my playthrough of A Link to the Past on GBA.

On Twilight Princess, I have to say, it's a lot better than I remembered.  Like, a lot better.  It still has its flaws, but it's really fun.  I started this replay of TP about a month ago, and after beating the Forest temple, it started to follow in the footsteps of my previous Wind Waker playthrough.

Let's just say, I wasn't going to finish it.  (Which is also why I really want WWHD to get back into Wind Waker, but I'll probably end up waiting until Christmas.  Ugh.)

But then my friend was all like "YOU need to finish it!  Because it's fun!"  And he practically force-fed it down my throat when he came over to my house.  And to be honest, I'm glad he did.  Because now I'm really into it, and I just finished snowboarding down Snowpeak (which, strangely, happens to be one of my favorite parts of the game).

So, remember how I played Four Swords with that same friend?  Well, I also started my first legal file of A Link to the Past on that same cartridge.  And I was playing both of these games at the same time as I was finishing Oracle of Ages, so... due to that, among many other things, I haven't posted in a while.

Haha, when video games are taking up that much of your time, then you're probably doing something wrong.  But I need to finish them, especially A Link to the Past, before ALBW comes out.

In 540 hours and 12 minutes (at the time of writing this, that is).

Yep.  I have the timer on my phone running, which probably speaks volumes in and of itself about how excited I am.  And maybe a little obsessed.  But that's beside the point.

So, speaking of ALBW, there's a bunch I read over at Zelda Informer, and I'll share the link, but I'm gonna cover most of it here anyway.

First, remember that weird item that no one knew what it was?

This one?

Well, it's actually a Sand Rod.  I'm not sure how it's going to be used, because in Spirit Tracks, you could elevate the sand where you touched on the screen, but... A Link Between Worlds is on the top screen.  So I'm thinking it'll be more along the lines of the fire and ice rods that are also making a return.

And then there's MaiMais, which you collect and give to 

Mother Maimai,

who will then upgrade your items.  Maimais are, from what I've gathered so far, similar to Gold Skulltulas, in that you can find them all over the Light and Dark worlds-- excuse me, Hyrule and *Lorule*. You can then trade them in for item upgrades.

Oh!  Wow!  It's been so long, I haven't even covered the latest trailer...

So, yeah, the Dark World is actually a separate world called Lorule....

And the female-looking antagonist (AKA Ghiradorf) is actually called Yuga... and a male.

And then you can see, at the end of the video, Hilda says, praying to Zelda, "Lorule was just like Hyrule.  So very beautiful.  So very... promising.  We have need of a hero - and your Link is superb."

"and your Link is superb."

"your Link"

"your Link"

Could this be a hint at a shadow Link appearance?  Or an alternate version of Link?  Meh, maybe Hilda's just talking weirdly.  

So, on to the super-new stuff from ZI...  (assuming the information's trustworthy)

Only Ravio items use the magic meter thing.  The bracelet on Link is Ravio's bracelet, and it grants Link his magic meter.  The first dungeon is the Eastern Palace, similar to ALttP, and it's in the original location.  The second and third dungeons can be completed in any order.  The "second" dungeon is a windmill-like structure located on Lake Hylia, and it's called the House of Gales.  The "third" is the Tower of Hera dungeon that we saw in the original reveal, and it's on Death Mountain again like in ALttP.  The House of Gales will require an item called the Tornado Rod (new item).

Umm.... what else....

Oh, Spectacle Rock on Death Mountain is now a volcano, and the game uses enemies for some barriers (as opposed to terrain).  And the Desert is closed off in Hyrule, but accessible in Lorule (opposite of ALttP).

So, yeah, check out the Link above for the rest.

Heh... Link... 

Anyway, I'm excessively exited for this game, but first I've got two other games to beat...

Well, see you soon with that Oracle of Ages post!  Oh, and I have regionals for cross country tomorrow on Halloween...  -_-

So happy Halloween, too!  Bye.

Wind Waker HD Release! (Physical)

Yay!  I kept my promise!

Now, I just need something to write about... but I have nothing....

Oh, wait.  I take that back.  I have lots to write about.

First, Wind Waker HD.  Physical release.  Today.  Yeah.

Sadly, I still don't have it, but I've heard it's really fun, so you should get it.  Yeah.

Second, I finally preordered A Link Between Worlds!  After seeing the newest Nintendo Direct, I'm pretty sure you'll want to, too.

Or maybe it's just me.  I don't know.  Anyway, watch this:

So, if you didn't gather this from the video, I'll explain it here.

Pretty much, the Item Shop works in the way that it lets you get any item you want, at any time (assuming you have enough rupees).  You can rent an item (or probably multiple, but I'm not sure) and use it for as long as you want.  However, if you die, this item will leave your inventory, and you'll have to re-rent it.  There will come a time later in the game when you can purchase each item, so you won't lose it when you die.

In other words, you can visit any dungeon in any order you want.

Now, this can either be a very good or a very bad thing, depending on whether you like that or not.  Personally, I think it's cool, but the other Zelda games I've played in which you can do that tend to not have much of a story, at least not in the sense that the story evolves as you're playing the game and progressing through the various dungeons (i.e. Skyward Sword).  But we'll see what they can do with this.  It could turn out really well.

On another note, 3D CUTSCENES.  All of my YES.  It has 3D cutscenes.

I don't know why (probably just because I'm weird), but I REALLY love it when a 2D game has 3D cutscenes.  It just seems to add so much immersion to the world, being able to view it from multiple perspectives.  It's also an aspect that sadly hasn't been used in many 2D games.

The only times I can recall it being used is in Link's Awakening some, and then a very small amount in Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of Ages.  (Maybe Four Swords Adventures, haven't played that yet.)  If you haven't played these, all it is is that some cutscenes are in non-top-down perspective views, and even with 8-bit graphics this looks really cool in a top-down game.

Link and Marin on the beach in Link's Awakening DX.

See how cool that looks?  Maybe it's just me, but I really love scenes like that.

What I was really upset about is that A Link to the Past didn't do this.  If they can do that with the Gameboy's limitations, I can only imagine how stuff like that would look on the Super Nintendo.  In A Link to the Past.  That would have been SO AMAZING.

So, anyway, my point is that I'm really happy they're doing this.  It's pretty awesome in my opinion.

Oh, and Zelda looks cute.  In a cute way, not a romantic way.  Like a kitten.  In my opinion. Whatever.

And then.... OH!!!!

Hilda.

Dark Zelda.  

Whatever you want to call her.  At 3:07.  That's both really cool and extremely confusing at the same time.  Like, how can there be a Dark Zelda?  Dark Link, sure.  But Zelda?  That, and she doesn't look all that evil.  And she's talking to Link nicely, unless that's sarcasm.  I can't really tell out of context.

So yeah... that's a thing.

And then there was a little (okay, a lot) of official artwork released.  I'll post my favorites/the important ones here, but you can click here for all of it.

Yup, Ganon's back.  Somehow.

And Link's stabbing Ganon with the Master Sword, both of which are supposed to be sleeping/dead.  Somehow.

And Link's using his little pinwheel/whirlwind/whatever item that lets him float as shown in the video.

And then there's Ghira-dorf!  Or female Ganondorf... Or maybe a weird new male evil person...

Oh, and he/she has the upside-down Triforce on his/her chest.  I didn't notice that before.

So yeah!  A Link Between Worlds releases on November 22nd, which happens to be the same day as Super Mario 3D World releases, the second Hunger Games movie Catching Fire comes out (yeah, I'm into that), and the XBox One releases (yeah, I'm not into that).  Lotta things in one day.  Oh, and it's my friend's birthday to top it all off.  Fun.

Speaking of Super Mario 3D World, it looks REALLY cool in that Nintendo Direct, but since this is a Zelda blog, I'll just post a link.  But seriously, you should check it out.  It looks really fun.  If you're in to Mario.

Even if you're not, you should still check it out for the sake of being a gamer.  I honestly think it looks really good.

That's all for now... Have fun with your copies of Wind Waker HD, if you've gotten them!  I'll hopefully get it very, very soon, once I've finished saving up.  It looks like a great remake.

See you all next time!

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EDIT:  I just realized this post's title was identical to last post's, so I changed it to a much stranger looking title that looks a little weird.  Well, at least it's not the same as the last one.  Bye!