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Well, I decided to make vide blog as many others have as well. The warning is in place due to my opinion of the Sony brand being included in the video, or at least a small peak of my thoughts on Sony video game products are.
By the way, BEWARE of ancient and horrible web cams while viewing the video.
Well, I've been feeling a little burnt out the last few days and have been listening to this much more then many would recommend. I wish I could give credit to who ever made it, yet I can't really remember the exact place I found it. I remember it was a forum on Game Spot though and something to do with Pokemon. I recently came upon it when I was browsing my computer's history, trying to find a link to an old Zelda site.
I haven't done anything noteworthy recently ether with my only contributing to Game Spot in July so far being a review of Dragon Ball Z Budokai, which I finished after one day of large amounts of playing, at least the story mode anyways. I have also been interested in a show known as Smallville lately, which I think is an interesting take on a teenage Super Man growing up in (like the title suggests) a small town. In particular, I enjoyed the character of Lex Luther and how he is a friend to the young super hero to be. This struck me as odd considering I had always been under the impression that Lex Luther had always been one of, if not the greatest enemy to Super Man. Of course, I'm not really that well versed in the mythology of the well known hero, so it just might be my own ignorance on the subject. The show is also on at around 2am, which is a particular time in which my judgement may not be at it's sharpest. Never the less, I find it rather entertaining to watch in the wee hours of the morning for now.
Something else that I just attained today were my marks from second term. They were pitiful indeed.
Really, I'm on the honor roll, but I know I'm capable of much, much better. Especially in English and Math. Well, I actually did better then expected in Art and I'm not exactly sure how I could of possibly done better in Art then in English, although I do have several assumptions. My presentations were never what the teacher had in mind, although they were the only ones that actually were entertaining to the audience. That may be a bit arrogant though...
At any rate, despite some other difficulties and annoyances, I'm still enjoying summer and I am eagerly anticipating Twilight Princess, along with the Wii. Winter was always my favorite season anyways.
Well, after another tiring day of searching through a sun scorched environment, I finally acquired Metroid Prime. I meant to attain this game a long while back, but a little game known as Super Smash Bros. Melee had me occupied during that time. Now however, I finally have the game and I can see what all the fuss about the new Metroid games is about. Although I have played only a little bit of the main quest, it is already obvious that Metroid Prime is a unique and high quality game indeed. The game simply does not feel like a shooter, which is an aspect about Metroid Prime: Hunters that has ultimately rendered the game inferior to this Game Cube title. Sure Hunters has multiplayer, but in the end comes off as a first person shooter, which is a genre that outside of multiplayer I have no admiration for.
But, I digress. First I really need to finish The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask. It really is to much of a hassle to keep switching between the n64 and the Game Cube.
The tribulation of school has finally subsided, and now a brilliant two month vacation awaits! With this large amount of new found time, one finally has the ability to play a rather large amount of games. Now, with the next generation of video game systems quickly approaching, it is time to play all those great games that have been overlooked in the past due to unfortunate circumstances. Still, there are other games that are simply fun to play, at least for now. This summer will be the swan song for this generation as the industry prepares for the onslaught that is the Playstation 3, Wii, and the Xbox 360 as well. (Sure, its been out for awhile, yet this time, the console will not have shortages this holiday season and has established games that are sure to gain interest from holiday buyers.) Anyways, I have decided to make a list of games I plan on playing this summer under different organized through the use of different categories. Now, this is more of a guideline really, as I doubt I will complete all the games in question and some unforeseen game may attain my interest. Never the less, it will be amusing to keep track.:P I will cross games off once completed and will update my blog to bump this list up from time to time if I make too many other types of blogs.
Without further adu....
Games I Need to Play Since They are Not Finished/Save Lost
Games I Have Finished, But Will Finish Again!
Games I Have Not Played, But Hopefully Will (Buy or Rent)
Well, its that happy time of year again that only comes twice said year. Its time to discover how well one is able to cram 5 months worth of work in several hours and then regurgitate that knowledge via a sanctioned examination or in lament terms, a slightly larger then average test. Now this year, I haven't really been putting forth any effort into the academic field, although I have been putting forth a great deal of effort of looking as if I was striving to achieve in school. Almost ironic really. At any rate, I am not in any danger of failing any of my courses as I have already achieved the required mark to pass. These tests are simply a method of increasing said mark. The exams are still rather tedious and some do require slight studying as to attain marks above 80% (Which is the threshold for an A) As such, Game Spot activity may be reduced, but will hopefully be meet with an increasing due to the coming summer vacation. I have already written my math exam leaving art (its written for some reason...:? All well, I have no skill for art but, have a slight tendency to do better on written exams), geography, and english.
Summer will soon arrive!
Well, the Journey Through Zelda or Odyssey of Zelda as it is now known as will be featured at the Legend of Zelda Union. It will be a bit before anything about Majora's Mask is posted since first all the blogs about Minish Cap and Ocarina of Time. The blog entries dealing with those two games will still be available on my profile, but the rest of the games will be exclusive to the Legend of Zelda Union.
I present this video as some consolation.
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Alrighty, maybe the consolation should be that I will never create a video of me playing a hand held game again. Just too uncomfortable to play and coupled with my lack luster web cam, well you see the result.
I will however, be creating videos of the boss fights in MM and WW and maybe other interesting events in the games. I will even upload the battle with the first boss in Majora's Mask early, although the rest will have to wait until the playthrough of the portion of the game that features the bosses is posted at the Legend of Zelda Union, as this is simply an extension of that feature. Words simply don't do justice to the bosses found in the Zelda series.
Heading back to the Temple of Time, I was surprised to meet Sheik once more who revealed himself to be Princess Zelda! (Crazy gender swapping going on in this game) He errr.... she informed me that Ganon was after the pieces of the Triforce and such. His basic goal was to achieve a state of world domination and having the very power of the gods. (Not a surprise really) It turns out that she had the Triforce of Wisdom, and Gary had the Triforce of Courage. Crazy, crazy stuff. She also gave Gary the fabled Light Arrows which is the Master Sword equivalent for arrows, at least thats my thought on the matter. I wonder how Zelda was able to acquire these arrows that long, long ago, the great hero Leon had received during his epic quest that became known as the Minish Cap. Never the less, the arrows will no doubt prove useful against Ganon and the evil he will unleash in the battle sure to come.
Speaking of Ganon, the main bad guy himself appeared via a disembodied voice. He also captured Zelda via causing a pink container to surround her and carry her away. (Why he did not do the same thing to Gary, who could be considered the greater threat, is beyond me.) Anyway, after a slight jest at Gary's and Zelda's expense, he presumably leaves for his castle, leaving Gary largely un attend. (Big mistake.)
Before giving chase the vile fiend, I decided to head back to the desert and complete the Gerudo Training Ground. This area could be categorized as an extra dungeon with the prize that patiently awaits at the end not necessary to complete this epic quest. It is thus, the product of excess and those enthusiast who simply are not completely satisfied by just completing the main quest. It is thus, a natural assumption that I would under take this quest as well. Although it was not exactly as thrilling as any of the Temples (especially the Spirit Temple. The Gerudo Training Ground appears to be a bit more focused on solving puzzles and does not feature that same sense of importance) it was still quite fun. The prize at the end, is te ultra cool Ice Arrows, which I doubt I will use through out what remains of the game. All well.
Now, it was time to return to the quest at hand, which was of course, to finally rid Hyrule of the tyrannical reign of Ganon, King of Evil. His abode was where the Hyrule Castle once stood, well, Ganon's Tower was not so much standing as it was floating. It was suspended over a deep pit of lava which would surly cause some slight unpleasant effects if one was to leap into the molten rock. Luckily, the good old sages finally did something useful and built a rainbow bridge for Gary to cross. Somewhat reminiscent of the Mario series.... At any rate, I headed across the bridge, (ignoring a larger pillar far off in the distance) and entered the home of evil itself. (You would think someone like Ganon would have a better lighting scheme within his stronghold. I guess he is going for that whole dreary depressed setting. Not exactly the most welcoming of settings.)
Now, within Ganon's Tower, is another tower.... In order to reach this inner sanctum, one must break the 6 seals that each represent one of the temples. To revive one's memory, the 6 temples are; Light, Forest, Fire, Water, Shadow, and Spirit. Each energy like seal is reached after solving a few puzzles and fighting a few enemies. The seal is then destroyed by using the legendary Light Arrows. Half way through, one can attain the Golden Gauntlets. These gauntlets are even more powerful then the Silver Gauntlets and allow Gary to lift large pillars, such as the one outside of the fortress. With this in mind, I made a slight trip outside the tower and lifted the pillar to reveal a secret Great Fairy fountain where I was able to reduce the damage Gary receives from enemies by half. This ability should come in handy with the confrontation with Ganon.
Anyways, back to the tower where the rest of the seals were destroyed and I was actually able to enter the interior tower. One needed to keep ascending the stairs fighting the likes of Iron Knuckles and Stalfos. The music slowly grew louder, signalling that with each step, the battle of destiny was one step closer. Finally, I reached Ganon, playing upon his organ....? What ever, it was awesome.
The battle quickly began and it was reminiscent of the second half of the battle with the boss of the Forest Temple, except I could not target Ganon for Navi could not come near due to dark energy flows. Right. Well, even without the targeting ability, the Biggoron sword more then made up for the loss of being able to look at the enemy, (apparently, thats what fairies allow one to do)and Ganon was quickly coughing up blood. All seemed great, for Zelda had been released from her imprisonment and Ganon was defeated, but the tower began to fall apart! I navigated back through the tower with the princess and had a whole minute to spare. It was over.............
Suddenly, Zelda noticed movement in the rubble. As Gary came to examine the rubble, a ring of fire appeared and Ganon burst out, using the Triforce of Power into his most known appearance by Zelda fans across the globe. In a blind rage, he knocks the Master Sword right from Gary's hand and slowly thrashes towards Gary as lightning cuts through the dark night sky. It is thus, that the final battle begins in Ocarina of Time and although not overly difficult, it has a nice epic atmosphere that sums up the game nicely. Gary must strike Ganon's tail and can use the light arrows to stun the beast. The battle picks up a notch once Gary recovers the Master Sword, until one final strike sends the evil king into the realm he had invaded 7 years ago. He would now be trapped there until he could once again regain enough of the trait he most valued, power, and wreak havoc upon the world once more. Until then though, peace would return to Hyrule, Gary would be returned to his own time, and a legend would be born for future generations of heroes to live up to.
Its been a rough road, but now, its about to get rougher. The next area that needs to be explored is the home land of Ganon, the land of the Gerudos. Now, this area is still part of Hyrule I would assume, as this entire area is all considered to be Hyrule. The people of the desert though, are an interesting sort that do not seem to abide by the rules of others. Well, I suppose that one could make such a statement about all the different tribes of Hyrule, making them states (or, provinces if your Canadian like me) that together make up the wonderful land of Hyrule, or something like that. I digress, back to the adventure at hand.
Upon arriving to Gerudo Valley, one of the first aspects of the valley one will notice (besides the awesome music) is that the bridge that way back in the day when Gary was 7 years younger stood (or I suppose more accurately hung) strongly, had now fallen apart so to speak. Luckily, Epona was easily able to clear the slight gap and after conversing with the boss carpenter for a bit, I decided to help find his missing workers who had wandered off to join the Gerudos, I was heading in that general direction anyways. I'm sure the Gerudo would help me out, well not really. If they followed Ganon, they might not prove to be very friendly, although I'm sure they wouldn't do anything rash like throw me in jail the first time they saw me, right, right? That was a slight miscalculation on my part....
Being thrown in jail upon riding in all "hero like" is certainly not a glorious experience. Luckily, there was a wooden overhanging within the pit I had been thrown into that just begged to be the target for my hookshot. Gary then landed on what one may call a window still that overlooked the entire Gerudo area. Obviously, walking around an area in plain sight of Gerudo guards is not a good idea, especially the predicament I had just been placed in, so I took the only logical course of action. Barrage the guards from above with a multitude of arrows! They were all incapacitated, allowing me to enter the complex, and after some more frantic arrow firing, I started to meet up with some of the carpenters which had also been incarcerated and could only be released by retrieving a key. Luckily, the Gerudo that had the key would always come around and attack me. Some impressive battles later, all the carpenters were free and fixed the bridge. (Thats it, after all that, they believe that an even trade for their lives is the rebuilding of a bridge that I will never need to use?) Much better in my opinion, was the Gerudo who had been "following" me watching the demise of her cohorts in battle. She applauded (not really, would have been cool though) my efforts and made me an honorary Gerudo! Now, I could ask them to open the gate that lead to the desert that contained, the last temple, the Spirit Temple.
Of course I headed off into the desert right away, they wouldn't call Gary the Hero of Time if he just sat around all day. (Or would they....?) Epona wouldn't come with me (darn lazy, good for nothing horse.) So I was on my own, except I suppose you could count Navi, although she is more of a hindrance and could be categorized as an enemy by some. She proved to be no help in the desert, no help any where really. Well, the first "trial" was easy at least. Just hookshot across the river of sand. The man selling bombchus for 200 rupees was a different matter though. I mean, this isn't exactly the best business environment, although I do suppose he has a monopoly in the area.... Yup, I also had to follow a ghost and stuff, but really, this portion was all about the guy on the magic carpet selling stuff in the sandstorm like conditions.
Emerging from the desert area, is another desert area. Before I gave up hope though, I spied a larger structure in the distance, the Spirit of Temple! Errr.... that doesn't sound right... Temple of Spirit! Joy aside, I bombed a nearby wall to attain the last of the three magic powers. Another one I would not use. Anyway, I headed for the temple and entered happily, although where was Sheik to teach me a song? Upon entering, I discovered that I could not progress. (What is the meaning of this? It said "Spirit Temple" when I entered. What did I miss?) Distraught, I exited the temple and meet Sheik, who taught me a song and after a bit more wisdom, left. It turns out I had to come here as a child, via the teleportation song, so I did just that.
Entering the temple as Young Gary, I meet the second in command of the Gerudos, Nabaroo, who was against Ganon as well. (An ally? One thats actually not dead and/or useless?) She wanted me to get the silver gauntlets, which I did in the temple, only to watch here to get captured by the boss of the temple. (Shucks, so much for an ally). I then had to go back to the future once more and complete the temple as an adult. This I also did and was not only rewarded with a shiny new shield, but also with the coolest dungeon in the game. In short, Spirit Temple rules.
The boss, first sends A brainwashed Nabaroo after me which I defeat and the boss makes disappear. (kills?) I then run into the boss (I should say bosses) again and conduct battle. Victory is easily attained in conjunction with the Biggoron Sword and the Mirror Shield. I then discovered that Nabaroo (Seems like everyone who pays the slightest more importance to the plot and dislikes Ganon becomes a sage in this game)is the sage of Spirit. Intriguing. I now must head back to the Temple of Time, where some sort of surprise awaits. (I just bet Ganon is going to have some part in the surprise. Its a given by now)
Looking out upon the lake that had regained its lost water was Sheik. He spoke of how Ruto and I had destroyed the curse upon the lake set by the boss of the Water Temple and had brought peace. (How exactly did Ruto help? Last time I checked, she disappeared after the first encounter and left all the fighting to me.) Sheik then left me (in a rather cool scene indeed) and I was left alone atop the entrance to the Water Temple looking out upon the beautiful rising sun.
It then came to me as I stood watching the sun. The inscription that stood inches away glared within my mind as I drew an arrow and let fly at the great ball of flame that provided light for all the land. Although it was not really logical, it turned out to be rather beneficial for Gary now attained fire arrows due to this action. I then turned back to that village at the base of Death Mountain, where I would no doubt have to deal with some sort of vast unpleasant event brought upon by Ganon.
Sure enough, upon reaching the village, I realized that it was set ablaze. (Perhaps shooting the sun with an arrow was not the bright idea I had thought it to be) Ether way, Gary headed toward the well where surprise, surprise, Sheik stood focused upon the well. It appeared though, that he was not that focused upon the well in question, for he knew I was behind him. His advice of standing back only increased my dread. Thus, begins one of the coolest cut scenes in the game. The well first burst open (Or at least the overhanging wood did) and Sheik was tossed around some invisible force. A darkness then erupted from the well and after circulating the village, charged through Gary like a knife through water, or is it a knife through butter? Or maybe it has to do with cutting, what ever. The point is, the evil blasted through/by Gary and headed off in the direction of the Shadow Temple I would presume. Gary wakes up a bit later to discover that the fires have subsided and Sheik gives another of his trademark awesome speeches this time about how Gary would have to venture into a darkness that even swallows time. He then teaches a teleporting song and leaves, urging me to head to the Shadow Temple. Before that though, I would need to revert back to my ten year old self and pay a visit to the windmill guy…
Awhile back I had realized that I had taught the Song of Storms to the windmill guy who would go on to teach it to my future self. I needed to complete this cycle and so I did, causing the well, yes the very same well that unleashes the evil that I just faced, or should I say will face…. Err yeah.. Anyways, the well dried up, allowing me to enter the Bottom of the Well. Upon the other side of the entrance, one is first met by a corpse rotting by an invisible wall. (Great) As one continues through the dungeon, one will meet more corpses, Skullatulas, Redeads, Keese, more Redeads, Gibidos (mummified Redeads), Wallmasters, and did I mention Redeads? (Alrighty, maybe not that many Redeads, but that’s not the matter at hand. How can the people of the village drink the water from this well? I mean, its surly not hygienic to start…) The boss was Dead Hand, a weird corpse…. Thing, basically. The prize of all this mayhem? The legendary and magical Lens of Truth. An item that reveals the truth. (Gee, I never would have guessed that!)
Now, I ventured back to the future and used the song Sheik taught me to arrive at the entrance to the Shadow Temple. To open the doorway to this unwholesome place, I stood in the middle of the room and used Dins Fire to light the torches. I then entered shadowy darkness where I met a similar atmosphere to that of the well, except now I had the Lens of Truth, which would reveal what was real and what was not. (Plus, I was an adult now and nothing could stand against the might of the Biggoron sword) The mini boss came fairly early within the dungeon and it was a rematch with a friend from the past, Dead Hand. He seemed easier this time, and yielded the Hover Boots. With this item in tow, I continued into the dark and reached the boss after quite an adventure, Bongo-Bongo. The boss acquired quite a few hits in before I got in my own. He even knocked me a rather large distance at the beginning of the battle causing me to fall of the drum and take some damage as I rushed to get back on. In the end though, the beast was no match for the combination of my Lens of Truth, Bow and Arrows, and the Biggoron sword, That was the end of that and I rescued the spirit of Impa, the Sage of Shadow and past caretaker of Zelda.
First thing to do after the Fire Temple was to give that large Goron a piece of my mind. Unfortunately, all he would do was sell me another one of those swords for the same price. Ugh. To take my mind off this negative event that had come to pass, I ventured to the top of Death Mountain and was surprised to find a rather large Goron. Large, is perhaps an understatement, as the Goron was the size of a mountain. Awe inspiring, perhaps... Yet, the truth of the matter was that he had sort of good news, he would forge me the ultimate sword, but first I needed to attain for him some eye drops. (This is part of the epic Biggoron Sword side quest that began with waking Talon) I needed to bring the prescription he gave me to King Zora, and considering Zora's Domain was one of the places I needed to head for next, (the alternative was the village at the base of the mountain, which would most definitely involve some sort of grave intrusion for sure) that became the destination of choice.
Zora's Domain seemed different from when Gary first visited. For one thing, like the city of the Gorons, there was no one around. For another intriguing difference, the place was frozen solid, perhaps it was a sign of a coming ice age? No, it must be the work of Ganon.
Although his subjects were gone, the king still sat upon his throne, albeit encased in red ice. With no other leads, I plunged ahead behind the king into Zora's Fountain which was also experiencing a sudden frosty state of affairs. Using the ice platforms, I managed to reach an alcove that sat just out of if one were to swim to it. The alcove was in fact a cavern, an Ice Cavern. It was a dungeon of sorts, more accurately a mini dungeon that focused on ice with the Iron Boots and Sheik waiting at the end. The latter gave another interesting speech on time and taught another warping song. The former allows one to sink and then walk underwater. It is such shame that Gary is not able to breath underwater though.
Also within the cavern, I was able to attain some Blue Fire which can be stored in a bottle and melt red ice. It was through such a method that I unfroze King Zora who preceded to bestow Gary with the Zora Tunic. This blue tunic would allow Gary to breath underwater. Now there remained one more task to accomplish before heading to the Water Temple that resided in the depths of Lake Hylia. I completed the Biggoron sword side quest, effectively attaining the strongest blade in the game (I now laugh at the puny Master Sword). With the Biggoron sword in hand (should really be "hands" as it takes two hands to wield this weapon of mass destruction), I headed for the bottom of Lake Hylia where the Water Temple awaited.
The Water Temple has be infamous within the Zelda community and not without reason. For those who are looking to dash in killing everything in sight, they are most likely to become distraught over this temple. The main difficulty of the temple comes from the confusing layout and the need to change the water level to complete a specific objective. One must commit to this segment with a calm mind and cool logic much as water itself tends to represent. It is important to have such a perspective to keep one's self from becoming frustrated. With that out of the way, Ruto makes an appearance within the temple rather early on. She speaks of how Gary was supposed to marry her and such (this was where I truly began to fear for Gary) but, (luckily) this was not the place and time. She then swims away and disappears never to be heard from again. At least until the boss of the temple was defeated. (Yes, Ruto is the Sage of Water) Another interesting note was the mini boss of the temple who protected the Longshot. Dark Link... errr... I mean Dark Gary proved to be quite difficult to defeat, at least using the traditional method. Not someone who was bent on displaying honour in battle, I quickly switched to the Biggoron Sword and began using the stab technique. Dark Gary was never able to dodge the attack and I quickly walked away the victor.
Now for the boss, who proved to be simple as well with the power of the Biggoron Sword even with its water controlling abilities. The water medallion was soon mine and I met with Ruto once more who told Gary that they could not wed (that was a close call) due to her being a sage and all. She also somehow knew that Zelda was still alive. (For those who don't remember, back in the past when Gary was seven years younger, he got himself mixed up with some crazy princess that basically caused the current events in Hyrule to occur. Moral of the story is, when some ten year old girl starts telling you that she has prophetic visions and you are the only hope to save the land from some evil lord, ignore her. Chances are, if you get involved, you'll end up helping the evil lord in his or her quest for world domination instead of preventing it.)
Ether way, the evil that Ganon unleashed upon Hyrule is starting to be driven back.
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