JTO is TypingNow, to begin the month with the most important phrase in all of LoZ.
"Goat In!"
The first thing I appreciate about playing the Wii version of Twilight Princess coming right off of Super Mario Galaxy is that there is one camera setting rather than zero. You can change the Y-axis to not be inverted... by changing that setting to "Inverted." Accessibility slowly became an issue for Japanese developers and these are the growing pains from two decades ago.
Things still not taken into account, however:
► You have no idea who is talking to who in the text boxes. Rusl is the first character to speak and you don't get his name until you talk to his wife, and you still don't learn her name. Fortunately, Malo distinguishes himself by talking under his breath in a smaller font from time to time.
► By default Z-targetting is set to "Hold", but there is another setting. "Switch" seems like it looses the lock-on pretty easily by just holding Z a little longer. I also can't seem to switch targets, but there haven't been that many opportunities. Aiming with the Wii remote is working well for long range.
I forgot that the notes right after the howl in the title theme to Twilight Princess are diegetic; Midna hums them just after she pulls you violently back into the twilight Faron Woods and tells you to get going to save its light spirit.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KlUihc8vls&list=PLT7j9Cmd9zsFRg87RlzivyqjF05WRurXx&index=2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhG9KPAEavU&list=PLluwu6OC0qmcpY5-EtuQ2hPbUj_g84J1u&index=18
Title Theme - The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess OST
I've completed Faron Woods through the Bridge of Eldin battle.
Having just watched An American Werewolf in London, I appreciate that Nintendo's take on the wolf transformation is a little disturbing the first time, but much quicker subsequently when it is known to be coming and necessary.
Similarly, because it is a Nintendo game, Midna can absolutely come across as an aloof trickster, but she'll warm up for things like helping all the monkeys in the Forest Temple. She's power hungry and willing to say Link is her slave, but she recognizes all the hard work the developers put into those monkeys and doesn't upstage them.
This time playing through, I'm wondering if there was any motion capture done for any of the Ordon village children. Talo swinging the wooden sword or Collin pushing Beth out of the way, maybe.
The Diababa boss fight was easier than I remember. You don't even need to destroy the two Big Babas in order to damage the central stalk of it once that raises above the water. I'm wondering if the Goron Mines boss is going to turn out to similarly be easier if I try to skip steps.
I forgot to mention that after you save Collin from King Bulbin that Malo finally opens up the second shop in the game you can purchase things from. The 300 rupee limit was hit during Forest Temple and I had to put back a purple rupee (50) into a treasure chest, which was a divisive change in the way chests were handled. Some people just want to get them cleared off the map, others are concerned that you'll never come back that way just for money. I appreciate it for later, however, when you need to donate piles of rupees to a goron that hangs out in this shop. Also, there is something a little funny about a shop being run by a child who can barely be seen over the counter, and it's taken to an extreme (like many things in Twilight Princess) later when he becomes successful enough to open the Castle Town Malo Mart. You've got the Capitalist Kid going from mumbling under his breath in a mountain village to getting an adult to wear a ludicrous costume to sell the gaudiest armor ever in LoZ which makes you slower if you don't have money.
I completed Goron Mines, which are so sacred that they rarely enter them as is well known when you actively mine a site. ...what do they mine again? Just whatever Barnes needs to make bombs, I guess. Both Forest Temple and Goron Mines took me more time than I had set aside, but at least I got to the dungeon weapon before I had to save and quit, plus it wasn't too bad to get back to where I left off with a shortcut. I did pull out my strategy guide once just to figure out that I missed the compass and where to find that. Fyrus was much easier than I remember, and I think the mid-bosses have been tougher than the bosses.
I did Talo's archery challenge without purchasing the Hawkeye first, which felt great to get the 3rd shot right on the first try. I still bought it in case I need it for something later. Bomb arrows are awesome, just as they were in Link's Awakening.
I found the first lantern cave and found a Poe there, and realized that there are going to be places which I will revisit after I have the ability to freely switch to wolf form.
After consulting the player's guide once in Goron Mines, I got through Lakebed Temple without using it at all. A cool water stage, but I do wish that it followed the convention that unneeded items would be in the small wooden chests instead of placing rupees, bombs, or water bombs in the chests which contained small keys, the map, or the compass in the other two dungeons.
Morpheel was the easiest boss fight yet, but it was still cool because of the claw shot. It's still an upgrade over Morpha. Everything involving Lanaryu province is an upgrade over the OoT Zoras. Breaking it up all the water with a horseback ride to protect a horsedrawn cart by putting out fires with your magic boomerang is neat and Telma adds a lot of sass to the game without the playful danger of Midna.
Regarding Midna, the Zant reveal is a pretty good way to show how out-classed you are, but also just before that she says she's sorry for dragging you around everywhere, so you can start to care about her just before she's in peril. Zelda fading away is likewise unexpected on your first time through.
The use of the Master Sword in Twilight Princess is different than in other games in the series. In ALttP, the first half of the game is a quest to get it for it's properties as "evil's bane." OoT is much the same, but it acts as an even larger chapter break between the opening of the game and the rest of it. The Wind Waker has a Master Sword which has stages to it but again it is much the same, even opening a barrier as it did in ALttP. Twilight Princess is the first time it is needed because the protagonist has a problem with himself. You also need to be guided to it, and the guide is sending enemies at you constantly; the Skull Kid in this version is sort of a mirror image of Midna. The sword also gets to actually drive away the darkness later in Twilight Princess, and you get a small taste of that with the fog blowing away from the Sacred Grove as you remove it from the pedestal.
I have some more howls to perform, but after noticing that Zelda's Lullaby had to be a little looser to be howled, I dug this up to check on the others. I definitely wasn't going to recognize Ballad of Gales from The Wind Waker.
All Zelda Twilight Princess Wolf Songs and Origins of Songs
I just finished the boating ride minigame, and I wanted to comment on this game being somewhat unique in having multiple bomb bags. You sort of want to not progress with the story as fast as possible in order to find them, otherwise you might miss them and get frustrated by the initially low capacity. So, yeah, at least help Iza with undamming the river so you aren't stuck with 1 bomb bag. It's nice that Barnes will buy back your bombs, but not the most convenient feature.
Also, the fancy shop in Castle Town looks like it has water bombs before Barnes does, but no, it is not possible to purchase anything at all there. The game sets up the 2,600 rupee combined donation goal for Malo Mart as the answer to price gouging. Malo also says that shop is "officially on notice." I wonder how that slang is going to age.
It took me 31 hours to get the cutscene which reveals the proper goal for the 2nd half of Twilight Princess. Sure, I spent some time collecting all but one of the golden bugs, getting more than the initial 20 poe souls, and trying minigames, but I attribute this more to the length of the dungeons. Arbiter's Grounds was longer than the time I wanted to alot to it, once again. The structure is longer, with Ooccoo not even available until after you've solved poe lanterns and you've almost gotten the dungeon item. In contrast, she's in the 3rd room of Snowpeak Ruins. I started that dungeon, but I knew I couldn't fit in 2 in the same day.
Arbiter's Grounds is also just a little more Japanese in its presentation, despite being the sand-in-a-tomb type of Egyptian cliche. The Death Sword is the primary example of this, being bound by Shinto talismans which you yourself have to break to start the fight. Death Sword is also the first miniboss you must fight with a combination of Wolf Link and Link's tools. Stallord, however, is all Link and I like the 1st phase better than the 2nd (the obstacles drag that out badly).
I should also bring up the music a bit more, as I do very much like this soundtrack. The music during the fight with Stallord in particular is very fitting, even if I didn't like the way the 2nd phase was executed. Here's Zelda: Re-Orchestrated's version of it from Twilight Symphony.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyvIFwpX3Ic&list=RDqyvIFwpX3Ic
Twilit Fossil Stallord (From "The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess")
Snowpeak Ruins and Temple of Time are done. Its funny how you learn all these hidden sword techniques from the hero's shade and absolutely none of them work at all on a lizard dude in armor with a ball & chain in a narrow corridor. Hope you like the taste of reekfish and pumpkin stew, because you're going to be drinking a lot of it for that miniboss. Blizzeta, however, is a cool boss fight. It's like if the final boss of Battle of Olympus was 3D, with the way you need to pay attention to a reflection to avoid damage. Midna also seems to have more empathy for Yeta afterwards than she did when you first met Yeto, "a beastman." As for the dungeon, I spent too long not realizing you can hit the ice block with the ball & chain to shatter the ice and get the 3rd box you need for that puzzle.
Temple of Time sort of comes out of nowhere and has even less for Wolf Link to do than any other point in the game. But, it's also more of a tower at 8 floors. Which I had to go back up 6 of when I got to the 1st floor boss door without the big key.
Hidden Village is fine. Horse call was needed waaaay earlier in the game.
The best part of Hidden Village is how Twilight Princess suddenly becomes a spaghetti Western. Here's the Zelda Re-Orchestrated arrangement of the backing track when you're rounding up the Bulbin gang in this lawless ghost town (which also plays when your mission is to just find and talk to some cats).
Twilight Symphony Selections - ZREO: Legacy / Zelda Reorchestrated [OFFICIAL]
Wolf Link appears to be completely useless now in City in the Sky, but that's OK because I've got double clawshots. Your clawshot becomes unequipped when you get it after a fairly interesting battle against a winged lizard-man, Aeralfos, who unfortunately uses a clawshot target for a shield. It's only after you get my favorite tool in the game that you can then get the compass it seems. I'm checking guides now and they seem to agree, so this isn't like Goron Mines where I just missed it.
I'd also like to point out that maybe the game doesn't do the best at ensuring the player knows that cuccos can be used to slow your descent. There's an optional mini-game, Falbi's Flight-by-Fowl which you technically must visit in order to leave lower Lake Hylia, but you don't have to talk to Falbi at all. So, your first mandatory cucco flight is Rusl's golden cucco (only because Midna refuses to help Wolf Link jump now and the gorge slightly changed). That was frustrating on my 1st ever playthrough. Now, I don't miss a single oocca-aided-jump in City in the Sky.
Alright, I was wrong about Wolf Link being completely obsolete because in City in the Sky you need that form to... walk on some tightropes only to get the big key and an optional chest.
Argorok was also a little underused. It's present in the background often enough, and it does destroy one bridge forcing you to later come back with the double clawshot to get to the eastern (on Wii) tower of the dungeon, but that's really it for its rampaging. I did the entire boss fight without taking damage on the first try. I will say I wasn't expecting to need to press A to do a finishing blow on Argorok. That wasn't needed for Morpheel.
Of the 3 mirror shard bosses, I think Blizzeta was handled the best. It's the only fight which seemed to have anything to do with the power of the mirror, you end up fighting on a reflective surface and it's the only time you get a feeling that someone is in danger. The oocca supposedly are in danger from Argorok, but you can't talk to most of them. The Temple of Time was just filled with statues, spiders, spider-filled statues, and spider-crushing statues. Maybe the Darknut was alive?
I think I have to recommend to anyone else that as soon as you find the Bridge of Eldin and put it back where it belongs, do the 1st 10 floors of Cave of Ordeals. Fairies are so rare in Twilight Princess, so getting rewarded with one spring where they can always be found is quite powerful just beyond the game's half-way point when you have a smaller life meter. I, however, waited until I had the tools to do it all in one go and died on the last floor of it. I still unlocked fairies at all of the springs, but it's blue potions which I need and those cost rupees which I just spent on defense with the magic armor.
Speaking of dying on the last floor, it turns out you don't need a bottle of lantern oil, like, ever. I refilled my lantern once in Arbiter's Grounds (there's a pot of oil before the central room), and that was the only refill I needed within a dungeon. So, yeah, carry a potion or soup or a fairy or even milk instead sandbagging with lantern oil like I did.
I have found all 60 poe souls to make sure Gengle is safe... I mean, to break the curse on Jovani, yeah totally. But, then I just had to go to the fishing hole and find Rollgoal. Now I've got 7 more stages of Wii remote tilting to get through to get the frog lure and catch the Hylian Loach to prove... uhm... something?
Or, I can try to deliver the hot springwater again, for a piece of heart. I have 4 pieces remaining. I just checked a guide and there's apparently a trick with d-pad swapping that only works on the Wii version. I still don't understand how people could play the GameCube version with only 2 buttons set aside for items (since Midna was always set to Z).
I finished Twilight Princess. It's still a beautiful game, I love the art direction in it, and there are some interesting things going on with the music. I wish that Hyrule Historia didn't make specific timelines to tie everything into Ocarina of Time because I enjoy the story as just another retelling of elements of these other games and you really don't need to know that game to understand Twilight Princess. That said, there's some stuff at the end which can still be hard to decipher. The dungeons also had me going in loops, preventing me from finishing them in one session and they are disguised, but still very linear. Wolf Link did get some more use at the very end, but nothing new to do. The Master Sword got a new trick for only the penultimate dungeon. And one of the last boss fights involved going back to your experience with herding goats, so farmhand Link really did bring some valuable experience to the team.
Some more specific thoughts about how the game ended for me. I did complete a number of sidequests, but not Rollgoal and fishing. Finally bringing a bottle of hot spring water to the goron south of Hyrule Castle Town is the most meaningless one. Hooray, I can finally go north from the field north of Ordon, but I have been able to teleport for forever.
I really like the aesthetic of the Palace of Twilight, but it does underscore that the game mostly stops caring about Wolf Link. Sure, you can move around a bit quicker to attack Zant's green images while you're dealing with the sols, but the form is just treated as a penalty for not clearing away areas of shadowy fog. Wolf Link gets a bit more to do again in Hyrule Castle and you need it to allow Midna to do some magical goat wrangling against Dark Beast Ganon, but that's it. There's even a destroyed staircase I was expecting to jump as Wolf Link but no, you must use the double clawshot.
I thought Zant's boss fight revisits of earlier boss fights was interesting. Even he thought Fyrus was dull and instead picked Dangoro. All Ganondorf fights were good.