Many SPOILERS are contained throughout these posts. You have been warned!

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Zelda II high playthrough log part 2/2

Two palaces to go and then the Great Palace... I intend to beat the rest of this game tonight while vaping weed, and beat it before the high session is over.

I still can't get passed that devil south of Nabooru... but there is one lead I have on where to go next.
It is said the east of Nabooru has...
There is in fact a path going east of Nabooru, and it stops right at the shore of the ocean... with the boots, you can continue walking east across the water, and it leads to the next palace as well as a hidden area with the 3rd heart container.

Zelda II Adventure of Link screenshot


Level 5 - Water Palace

Zelda II Adventure of Link screenshot Zelda II Adventure of Link screenshot Zelda II Adventure of Link screenshot Zelda II Adventure of Link screenshot


I'm still on the lookout for a false wall somewhere, due to that one NPC hint I came across earlier...

Sunday, February 26, 2012

Zelda II high playthrough log part 1/2

This is my first time playing through Zelda 2 AoL in over 10 years... I barely remember anything about it, except that it's way better than I was expecting... Now I'm replaying it while high on edibles... attempting to beat it without a guide.

The backstory of this game is really good... Princess Zelda has been asleep on an altar at the North Palace for a long, long time, and her story has become "The Legend of Zelda"... Link needs to reunite the 3 pieces of the Triforce in order to awaken Zelda from her slumber... Impa gave Link 6 crystals and a scroll, which says that Link needs to defeat the guardians of each of the 6 palaces and place the crystals in the palace statues in order to gain access to the Great Palace, where the Triforce of Courage is hidden.

Right from the start, as you exit the North Palace you can immediately access the town Rauru to the east, and the town of Ruto to the northwest, without putting yourself in any danger at all. In Rauru, an old wise man in someone's basement teaches Link the Shield spell.

Zelda II Adventure of Link screenshot Zelda II Adventure of Link screenshot Zelda II Adventure of Link screenshot Zelda II Adventure of Link screenshot Zelda II Adventure of Link screenshot Zelda II Adventure of Link screenshot

When you go off the main road, that's when enemies attack you constantly. There's some easy EXP to get just from exploring around... but most of the caves are off limits for now because they are pitch black and you can't see anything. As that woman in Ruto said you need a candle to go further...

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Zelda 1 high playthrough log part 2/2

Resumed the game off a battery save instead of a save state, to make this playthrough feel more legit.

Starting from the beginning square, did some more exploration of the brown woods area to the west. Found some more "Secrets to everybody", bought another potion refill, went to the southwest most square and found a dead end with an old man in a cave that says:
Go north, west, south, west to the forest of maze.
There it is, that's how you get through the lost woods without using a guide, and get to the graveyard. Touching the graves makes a ghost appear... but if the armos statues have taught you anything, you know that one of these graves probably moves to reveal a staircase... yep.
Master using it and you can have this.
Magical sword get!

Found the 6th dungeon after that, very easily.

Level 6 - Dragon Dungeon
Aim at the eyes of Gohma.
This dungeon introduces wizzrobes... both the red and blue variety. The blue kind moves around the room while shooting at you, the red kind only teleports around and is way easier to avoid. They get really annoying when they're combined with other enemies in the room.

The first part of this dungeon is very linear... but its difficulty is mostly from the enemies. I think the game meant for you to have the magical sword by this point because otherwise this dungeon would be a huge difficulty spike...

Monday, February 20, 2012

Zelda 1 high playthrough log part 1/2

I've beaten the original LoZ several times before this, but this time I played through it entirely while vaping weed and kept notes on my progress. I still have a very good memory of where most of the dungeons are in the 1st quest, and that combined with the cryptic in-game hints is enough that I can play through to the end without a using guide.


The game begins at the 8th square from the right, and the 8th square from the top. 8-8

I know right away to go north to the Eyeglass Lake, where the first dungeon is located in a tree on the right eyeglass island.

Level 1 - Eagle Dungeon
Eastmost peninsula is the secret
Got map, compass, boomerang, bow, defeated Aquamentus and got a heart and a triforce piece.

From there, I backtracked a bit to the shop near the beginning area, and bought the blue candle... then I used that to find a few "secrets to everybody", plus a few angry people that made me pay to repair their door... Then I went to burn a couple trees near the Eyeglass Lake to buy the discounted magical shield and meat, and get the 2nd heart container...

Then I went exploring north of dungeon 1, east across the desert, farmed a few more rupees, found the 3rd heart container in a cave, then explored a bit of the mountain... Found a staircase under an armos statue, with an old man who says:
Secret is in the tree at the dead-end.
Explored a bit more, and found the white sword at the top of the waterfall.
Master using it and you can have this.
Went back to the east, to the northeast most section of the map... found a dead end with a rupee gambling game inside a tree... this must be what that guy from before was talking about... yep, as I was bombing the north wall, I found a hidden fake wall that lead to another area, with a 100 rupee "secret to everybody".

Also found a high up cave and got the letter that lets you buy potions from the old woman... the first "trading quest" sequence of the Zelda series...

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Oracle of Ages (Linked game) high playthrough log 4/4

The mermaid suit found in the previous dungeon lets you swim through the ocean... and the only part of the map left to go to is the ocean part in the southwest... I also explored around Crescent Island again and found the Mirror Shield out of nowhere!

Exploring the ocean is easier than you might think... you can dive in almost anywhere and all of the rock/coral walls are mostly the same underwater as they are above water... Also you can't play the harp unless you are on dry land. I found an island that someone says was located further to the east a long time ago... interesting.

Found Zora Village... this part is interesting, because the Zora people have very long lifespans, so they remember the past era a lot more clearly than the other characters do.

The Zora here say the previous king got sick and died, and they lost the key to the Eyeglass Isle Library. Since then they haven't had a king. Back in the past, the king is sick and all the Zora are worried about him. This part is kinda hard if you haven't been exploring thoroughly and paying attention... but I happened to find the house of the witch Syrup (Maple's grandmother) near Yoll Graveyard before even coming here. She has the magic potion I need to cure the Zora King. The potion heals the king, and Link asks him about the "big fish" that is supposed to hold the next essence... He directs Link to the shrine of Jabu-Jabu... but he's not that big yet in the past era.

Found a fairy that was turned into an octorok... She says that Veran has dirtied the sea and that's what's making people sick. Need to get the Fairy Powder to turn her back so that she can clean the water... Back in the present, King Zora is still alive. In fact these Zora have such long lives that they all still remember Link from way back then. Jabu Jabu has grown, but now he's gotten sick from the dirty water, and King Zora says if I can find a way to clean the water then he'll let me in to see Jabu Jabu.

Got to the library... need the Book of Seals to get to where the Fairy Powder is. Went to the library again in the past to find the Book of Seals... then followed a sequence of

Friday, February 10, 2012

Oracle of Ages (Linked game) high playthrough log 3/4

The Maku Tree says the next essence is also in Rolling Ridge... the same place as the essence I just got. There's now a whole new section of this already confusing mountain/cave system opened up... plus there's both ages of this area to consider... exploring this place takes a while.

There's a bunch of minigames to do here, they're pretty fun... but all this running around back and forth to fetch random items for random gorons... ugh, this is the worst part of the game easily... My least favorite part out of all the Zelda games really... There's still a bunch of other stuff to get from the minigames and other side content after you obtain the Mermaid's Key... including the boomerang... the boomerang is just an optional item in this game, just like it was in Zelda 1.

The 6th dungeon is hidden behind a waterfall, the mermaid's key gets you into it.

Level 6 - Mermaid's Cave

The map is shaped like a pixel mermaid... This dungeon is actually accessible in both ages, and it's required to explore both versions of it to complete it. The present time version doesn't have the waterfall in front of it, and all the water in the dungeon is gone and some of it is replaced by pitfalls... there's wall masters and floor masters and wizzrobes here.

The present version of this dungeon has the miniboss Vire, the same one who kidnapped Zelda earlier in the game. This guy is like Veran and Onox's 2nd in command or something.

After you get the mermaid suit, allowing you to explore underwater, this dungeon becomes a lot more complicated.. when you're underwater you mostly control the same, except you move in little bursts of speed, and you swim across pitfalls and spikes, and you can't use certain items.

The past version of this dungeon has the dungeon boss Octogon. Basically just a big octorok, the main difficulty is you have to follow him underwater and deal with the weird movement speed.
Got the 6th essence, Bereft Peak.
It is a proud, lonely spirit that remains stalwart, even in trying times.
The Maku Sprout contacts Link to tell him that Queen Ambi just left the palace, so now you can go there and take out Veran and save Nayru... This is a sneak past the guards section, like in OoT, except it's like a decently sized minidungeon.

Veran seems impossible to fight when she's in Nayru's body...

Sunday, February 5, 2012

Oracle of Ages (Linked game) high playthrough log 2/4

Found a bunch of Oracle of Seasons secret passwords around Crescent Island...

Dmitri gave Link a ride back across the ocean... At Lynna City there's an that only happens in a Linked game, where Princess Zelda showed up and got captured and taken to the Black Tower. She was kidnapped by a red flying monster that remembers Link from Holodrum... It's just a quick little sidescrolling Donkey Kong knockoff section. She gives you a special ring in exchange for saving her. She says she came here because she saw a vision of this land being consumed by sorrow and despair... Impa and Zelda go to hide out in Nayru's house for the rest of the game.

More trading sequence progress... the people in past Lynna City are getting more and more suspicious of Queen Ambi now... oh, a "very sub-rosan fellow" washed up on the south shore... more Linked game shenanigans. The sword baseball game is fun... got 430 points.

I heard this next part of the game changes depending on whether you get Dmitri's flute, Ricky's flute, or Moosh's flute, and it even changes some of the terrain to accomodate for whichever animal you went with... that's cool... but since this is a linked game I'm stuck with Ricky who I chose in OoS.

Got to a part where you need to gather all the carpenters so that they can fix the bridge... saw a fairy randomly fly by... followed it to the Fairy Woods where Moosh got lost... unlocked the OoS Great Fairy secret.

Symmetry Village Ruins... a village on a volcano this place is all ruined by fire monsters and abandoned in the present time. In the past, the characters on each side of the town are twin images of each other. You have to restore the Tuni Nut in the past to save the village's future... I wonder if this catastrophe was part of the shadow of sorrow that Veran is trying to cast over Labrynna... The Black Tower is now very close to being finished in the past, so its effects are already having more drastic consequences on Labrynna in the present.

Found a character who teaches Link the Tune of Currents... it's just like the mirror in LttP. With this, you can now go back to the present time at any moment when you're in the past. Exploring the Talus Peaks to find all the optional goodies and the right way

Friday, February 3, 2012

How to make Skyward Sword 10 times less annoying

I've just recently stumbled onto a hack that removes the most hated and annoying aspect of Skyward Sword.

Remove Fi+Clothes Modifier [Anarion]
285FC88A 00000200
00955D4D 0000000F
CC000000 00000000
00955D5D 000000FF
E0000000 80008000

Press 2 to switch on & off.
If skyloft clothes is used, you will not have Fi, which means you can complete temples without ever being annoyed by her if you activate code before you enter the temple. If used on Skyloft, Skyloft current day will be set to the day of the Goddess Ceremony, which means you can do the sky race again. Switch to Knight Tunic by turning code off, enter a house to have Skyloft reset to its current day.