... or, you know, basically that. You can interpret the story to be as serious or as simple as you want it to be. Basically it's about a kid going on a wacky cartoon adventure with pigs and swords and princesses and a magic wish-granting triangle.
I recall Wind Waker having a lot of sidequests to make up for a smaller number of dungeons, similar to Majora's Mask. For the most part I haven't even started any of the sidequests in this playthrough as of yet. At this point I'm pretty much playing blind. It's been a while since I last played this and I've forgotten what most of the sidequests even are. Let's see how many I can complete without going to a guide for help.
Since I'll be needing to stock up a lot more rupees to get the triforce charts deciphered, I went to the great fairy fountain on outset that a lot of characters have mentioned will bring me greater fortune... The bridge to the Outset woods is broken, but by manipulating the wind and using a magic leaf you can get across no problem.
The great fairy is this goddess like figure with 4 arms, who blows flower pedals at Link and gives him a new upgrade.
Got a wallet upgrade to hold 1000 rupees. Yay, one thing I do remember is a lot of sidequests require rupees. Stuff like deciphering the triforce charts, buying bait, and other valuable items from shops, and even participating in auctions to get certain items... it makes it worth going out of your way to find hidden rupee chests.
I don't remember if there was a sidequest to get a medicine for Link's grandma or something... I guess I'll find out later. Out of nowhere I got a letter from Arryl, about how she's chilling with the pirate crew on their ship, and says I can borrow her telescope for a while longer. There was also a package from Tingle that costed 201 rupees on delivery... it's a chart that locates triforce charts. See, because you need a chart to find the other charts that you need to get deciphered to find the treasure... Ah, good old video game redundancy...
Windfall is a lot different now after the missing girls, Maggia and Mila, have been rescued from Forsaken Fortress.
Like Majora's Mask, there's a lot of interesting character development going on with the side characters. At this point it's easy to come to the conclusion that these girls were kidnapped because Ganon thought one of them might turn out to be Princess Zelda.
Wait, hold on, that doesn't seem right... she must've been kidnapped by mistake or something. And how does a poor family just suddenly become rich like that anyway? Let's see what she says...
Ohhh... To think that I would survive my ordeal and return to this town... and to think that I would ever be able to live in such a beautiful, opulent house... It's like a dream come true!
But no! NO! It's a a nightmare! Without HIM by my side, it's like a rainstorm rages in my heart... He was so kind to me in the Forsaken Fortress. That sweet boy who gave me all those expensive necklaces when I fled from that cursed island...
Since Maggie brought back a bunch of these necklaces, she and her father became rich. What a cute story...
Just hearing his name lifts my spirits... Moe... the wonderful Moblin from the Forsaken Fortress!
uhhhhhhhhh WHAT
She's dating a moblin. Could it get any weirder than this?
...Oh, Moe! Why, Moe? I'm always writing heartfelt letters filled with my overflowing emotions, but why don't you answer me, Moe?... Agh! This is bad! Oh, terribly bad! I've already drifted off into my own dream world!
Oh, by the way, I have a request for you. Could you take the letter I've just finished inking and deliver it to the postbox for me? Please? I beg of you!
Ok so I sent Maggie's letter... now what? The postman shows up at Maggie's house a bit later.
But Maggie's father kicks him out... He's got some major grudge against postmen or something... He refuses to even sign for it. Meanwhile Maggie is lost in her own world...
I'm not sure where to go next, maybe I have to find this "Moe" at Forsaken Fortress... looking around for a little while, I then entered the cafe behind Zunari's shop. The postman is in there, still frustrated about not being able to deliver Maggie's letter, he sends me to deliver it instead.
Is... Is that...?! Could it be? The letter from Moe that I saw in my dreams?! Let me read it this instant!!!
This is Moe...
I... like... you... Ma...ggie...
... so... much... that...
... I... want... to...
... eat you... for dinner.
......
Did you hear that? Those words? This means... I mean, it must mean... Can it be... ?!?
Is this his marriage proposal? It must be! At last, my feelings have been conveyed to Moe! At last he understands how I feel! This is the happiest day of my life!
Now Maggie is determined to go back to Forsaken Fortress and be with her Moe.
And my reward for hooking this girl up with a dangerous monster: a heart piece!
Let's see what else there is to find on Windfall... Zunari, the eskimo guy who sold me a sail when I first came to this island, now wants someone to go around selling all items to other travelling merchants... I'll get more into that later.
Oh right there's that dancing guy at the grave, he teaches you the Song of Passing, so you can quickly switch between night and day!
That pictobox shop doesn't have anything good, but talking to people in town suggests you can find the Pictobox in the jail cell where Tingle is.
Yeah I guess I gotta go free Tingle. He gave me this Gameboy Advance thing... I don't remember if there's any sidequests related to this thing...
Tingle is really quite the weirdo... He seriously thinks he's a fairy... Now I can find him at Tingle Island and get the triforce charts deciphered... I wonder why it always rains when I get near the island... wait a sec!
Tingle is mimicking the Great Fairy fountains. He thinks he's a Great Fairy! The rain all around his island... it's supposed to be like a fountain. His totem pole thing represents the secret hole that you'd normally have to find to get to the fairy fountain... Not to mention it's really those 2 white Tingles, who seem to imply that they were dressed up in those outfits and brought to Tingle Island against their will... There must've been some really messed up ideas behind all this...
After saving Tingle I explored behind the jail cell, where there's a little hole you can crawl through that turns into a rat maze, with trap doors that drop you outside into the water.
It's easy enough to see it coming afterwards. Now, Tingle obviously hasn't been back there because if he has, he'd have found plenty of ways to escape this jail cell. I think someone else stole the pictobox and that person fell through one of the holes and escaped, but couldn't get back in to recover the pictobox. I have no idea who this person is... and we'll probably never find out. Let's move on...
Now for the dumb little Killer Bees sidequest. A game of hide and seek... Now I can get rupees from Ms. Marie by trading in those useless Joy Pendants. I guess I'll do those auctions in Maggie's house later when I have more rupees to spare.
Going to do some sailing and exploring the ocean... I'm impressed by how many interesting little areas there are to get sidetracked on in such a vast ocean... There are some submarine areas and lookout platforms that usually have a reward for doing something like killing all the enemies and cannons... Could it be a heart piece, a silver rupee, or something trivial like a golden feather or a red rupee? The only way to find out is by getting whatever the area has to offer.
In a way, sailing across this great sea kind of feels a lot like riding Epona across Hyrule Field. Jumping fences (barrels), finding hidden holes (rings of light) with treasure beneath them, shooting ghosts (sharks), octoroks, peahats... searching every cave (island) for important items and heart pieces... All the classic Zelda elements are there, only now the fields are replaced by water! Speaking of which I found a couple of other Great Fairy fountains.
Got a bomb upgrade, which will come in handy for stocking up enough bombs and taking out all the boat cannons on those big square shaped islands... and a bigger wallet for holding 5000 rupees!
Checked out one of those cannon islands... ohoh what could this be?
First Triforce shard!
Wow so much stuff to do in this game now. It really opens up after you get the Master Sword and save Aryll. Before that, Link was focused on his that one objective, and the game gave you no reason to go exploring and talking to side characters. The triforce quest is kind of a neat incentive to get you exploring and doing the sidequests, since you need a lot of rupees to decipher all the triforce charts... There's a lot this game has to offer that might have been easily missed if not for the triforce quest.