#(so. you know who was a predecessor to epona?) | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

underthedekutree · 4 years

Text

Young Link might have PTSD - Part 2: Termina is NOT a Parallel World, Technically

This is a continuation of my last post so if you’re seeing this and haven’t read it, go here.

This is the part where I somewhat smoothly segue into Majora’s Mask. Link, lonely and filled with unprocessed trauma, leaves Hyrule in search of Navi. According to most sources (which take from Hyrule Historia probably? don’t quote me on it), Link falls down a hole into Termina, a parallel world to Hyrule, that contains many familiar looking denizens of Hyrule, but playing different roles. And well, if you probably guessed by the title, I have a rather different interpretation.

Okay, so in a nutshell my theory is that Termina is in fact all a dream, kind of like Koholint Island. Except the one dreaming up this world isn’t some deity like the Giants or Skull Kid or the Moon. It’s Link.

(big explainey hoo hah below)

Evidence 1: Link begins the game sleeping. Yes, I know literally every Zelda game begins this way and it’s a whole tradition thing. I am beginning with the weakest points first and working my way up to the strong ones. We’ll get there.

Evidence 2: The reuse of character and environment models from Ocarina of Time. The literal IRL reason for this is of course the game famously being given only one year of production time, which meant that the most practical method was to reuse as much material from MM’s predecessor as possible (eg. Romani Ranch sign is the Kakariko Village sign, and still says Kakariko Village on it). It seems like a rather offhand afterthought for Nintendo to chalk it all up to “oh its just a parallel world like Link to the Past or something. But think of it like this; when we dream, we often see familiar people from throughout our lives put in strange and unexpected situations, like that irritable old farmhand you hated so much is now a depressed circus master for some reason. Dreams don’t make sense. Things you know will mix with other strange inexplicable things, fleeting thoughts in your mind, all roughly tied together by whatever emotions you had been feeling when you went to bed. Malon is split into two people, Romani and Cremia, her older and younger self. This might reflect how Link feels about Malon, that she changed so much in those 7 years that she’s like a different person entirely, that it’s hard for him to process that they are the same, because the change was so shockingly sudden for him.

Evidence 3: Gorons in the snow, Gerudo by the sea. Yes, I know that sounds a lot like good evidence for a parallel world (that’s why the idea is widely accepted in the first place, it has merit), but it also works in as dream world evidence too. As a child, my family was obsessed with skiing. We would go to the same mountain every winter, and we would stay at the same lodge. It almost became like a second home for me. So much so, that one night I dreamed that my house had been replaced by the lodge, so it wasn’t on a snow-capped mountain, but in a bushy Australian suburb. Okay that kinda got off subject but I’m bad at conclusions so in summary Dreams Just Be Like That (tm). You get what I’m saying right? No? Sorry, let’s just move on.

Evidence 4: The Milk Bar. AKA my favourite location in the game! It’s often overlooked as the “haha funny they couldn’t put alcohol in kids game so its kiddy milk hee hee”, but it is actually a strong thematic pillar of Majora’s Mask. As I mentioned in Part 1, if you put a 9 year old in a 16 year old’s body and call him an adult before ripping that all away is probably going to leave the kid with an identity crisis. What is a mature place open at late hours when children are sleeping? A bar. What is a drink associated with the young, being produced for the purpose of helping children grow? Milk. No please don’t go I swear there’s more to this, stay with me. In order to gain access to the bar, Link must prove he is mature enough by wearing a mask, a disguise, like Adult Link is to Young Link. Being adult isn’t earned through years of natural living experience and mental development, it’s a thing you are given by adults to just BE when they deem you worthy, at least from how Link sees it. So that is the amalgamation of dream thoughts that is the Milk Bar. Is it mature? Is it childish? What is the line between the two? Is there one? It’s the culmination of his anxieties and confusions that he doesn’t know how to express. Another, smaller expression of this anxiety is the Clock Town Guards. When Link is a Deku, the guards say they don’t allow children outside the gates. When Link turns back however, the guard goes to stop him because he looks too young, but sees that he has a sword, and lets him pass. Why the sword? Well, in one way this is a callback to Kokiri Forest, where Mido doesn’t let Link see the Deku Tree until he has a sword. But also, what is the item that lets Link travel through time and become an adult in OOT? The Master Sword. Link seems to believe that adulthood is measured by the things you have, physical markers of maturity, which is how lots of children see adulthood. You’re an adult if you can drink, if you’re tall, if you’re married, if you have a house, a car etc. But in reality this isn’t how it works. Heck, I’m technically an adult but I sure as hell don’t feel like one, because I know I still have things to learn about responsibility, patience and all the other things, that can only come with time, which is the moral conclusion of OOT, but clearly Link missed the memo. Don’t get me wrong, there are some indicators to show he’s grown a bit. He can ride Epona, use the bow, do flips like some kind of acrobat etc. But those strange and confused feelings linger, and manifest in the young boy’s dreams.

Evidence 5: The four transformation masks. The four masks represent different aspects of Link’s self, and the way he grew and changed in OOT. Deku Scrub the Innocent, Goron the Confident, Zora the Mature and Fierce Deity the Hero. Link began only knowing the Kokiri Forest, and nothing of the world outside. As he set out on his journey, he grew more confident in his skills and defeated greater foes. When evil took over, he learned from his fatal mistake and worked to right it. And when it was finally time to face the greatest threat, he was ready, with all the heart pieces, bottles full of fairies, Biggoron Sword in hand. At that moment he struck the final blow he probably felt like the strong and unstoppable hero everyone in Hyrule told him he needed to be. And that feeling of pure uncompromising strength, with the whole world behind him, manifested in the Fierce Deity. Fierce Deity is much taller than Adult Link, and packs so much of a punch that he can beat Majora without batting an eye, like some overpowered Super Saiyan. It reminds me a lot of Undertale, with young Asriel becoming what he imagines to be an all-powerful godlike being, like something you’d see as a children’s drawing. Fierce Deity gives off those vibes, like “he has a HUGE SWORD that SHOOTS BEAMS OF LIGHT and he’s 8 FOOT TALL and CAN KILL ENEMIES IN A SINGLE BLOW!!” Before the final battle on the moon, when Majora gives you the mask, he childishly asks if you want to play a game of good guys and bad guys. And the good guy always wins, no matter what. Fierce Deity makes the final boss a cakewalk, but its supposed to.

Evidence 6: Anju and Kafei. Short one, because it falls a lot into everything else I’ve said regarding childhood vs adulthood. Kafei is effectively a switcheroo of what happened to Link in OOT. An adult shrunk back to childhood, uncomfortable in his new body and looking for a way to fix everything. He’s a reflection of how Link now kinda feels like an adult in a child’s body, because he had started to be used to being called an adult.

Evidence 7: The Moon. I haven’t super touched on the main meat of the game yet, so here it is. The moon and the 3 day mechanic is an allegory for constant mounting pressure, that builds and builds, never ceasing, because the world is in danger, and there’s only one person who has been chosen to save it. I’ve always been interested in the Chosen One narrative, and how different media explore the idea of the world’s very existence being pushed onto one person. How at the end of it all, they can never be the same again after all they’ve gone through. When you’re somehow expected to hold up the Moon itself single-handed, and your life and everything you care about suffers because you’re putting everyone else before yourself. That feeling of complete loneliness under a crushing weight, and although other characters may come to help you, in the end its still all down to you, and you never had a choice in any of it, as all the decisions were made by someone else. You must do what they tell you. Believe in yourself, believe...

Evidence 8: Skull Kid. The story goes that long ago in Termina, the Skull Kid and the Giants played together, until one day, the Giants left, leaving the Skull Kid alone and heartbroken, with nobody to turn to. As life moves on, things may change, and people always come and go from your life. Your friend might move overseas, or stop texting you, or you might fall out of friendship after an awkward event from which you could never recover (no, these have totally not all happened to me, shut up i’m fine), or your fairy companion might just disappear without so much as a goodbye after their task is complete. And it feels like you didn’t matter at all. That they never really cared about you, and you’re as easy to drop and move on from as a child’s toy. You might get angry, and want to shut them out, and give them a taste of their own medicine. Majora’s Mask teaches you that this isn’t the case. Life is ever changing, but you will always have the memories of times with your friends, and a chance to make more with new friends, like a sassy talkative fairy sprite and her shy brother or a child made of wood who wants to destroy the world. Friends come from unlikely places, so accept that change will happen and hope that wherever the people you knew are, they’re okay. You’re thinking about them, so they might be thinking about you too. And who knows? Life is unpredictable. They might just come back one day, and it’ll be like they were never gone.

Evidence 9 (the final one, I promise): The Song of Healing. At the end of all things, after losing ones you love, connections to family and friends, memories of things long past... you need time to heal. Link’s journey through Termina is a constant gauntlet of running into his own past traumas, forced to relive them again, and again, and again. But sometimes you should take a deep breath, gather your thoughts, and take time to heal. Although it can be important to confront your fears and learn to surpass them, it is exhausting, and you can end up more emotionally broken than when you started. The three masks all had regrets of powerlessness; unable to protect your community, your loved ones, or even yourself. Troubles you’ve gone through that keep plaguing your mind, and you’re wondering if you’ve done enough, seeking answers where none can be found. And the best thing you can do... is accept and move on. Be kind to yourself, and give yourself time to heal. Link’s way of processing his grief and trauma is to create an entire hellscape world in his own head, but not everyone processes it the same way. Sometimes you feel like you need to busy yourself, or listen to soothing music, or talk to people you trust, or spend copious amounts of money, or make some angst art, or cuddle your plush toys until their stuffing squeezes out. Sometimes life hits you in the face and you want to blame yourself for standing in the firing line, but it’s not your fault. It’s okay to feel however you feel, whether you’re drenched in a pool of tears or you just feel numb, it’s okay and natural. You’re okay. You’re here.

Okay so it got kinda personal at the end there but I hope it was informative, and made you think a little bit differently about Majora’s Mask and Ocarina of Time. You probably want to go back and play them now. Me too.

So was this all just an excuse for me to gush about how cool Majora’s Mask is? Hell fucking yes it was. Congratulations for making it through my monstrous ramblings, you get the secret prize of looking at my weird art on my DA. Here you go. Have a nice day, Zelda Nerds.

#long post #legend of zelda #majoras mask #young link #fierce deity #zelda theory #wow i cant believe i never realised i wrote fuckig outset island instead of koholint im dumby af

24 notes · View notes

starboundfic · 5 years

Text

Chapter 17

Renegades

Whoops forgot to upload this here

So yeah, I’m not too happy with this chapter and it fought me the entire time it was being written, but I think that’s because it’s an episode-adaptation.

Interlude I - Chapter 18

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Stan was pretty sure he woke up two times before actually deciding to get up. And pilfered blankets or not, the floor was hard. Koji was gone, and so were Allura and Coran, but he saw a tuft of red-black hair sticking out from under one blanket and heard Jordan snoring away near one of the steps.

It looked so completely, utterly normal and part of him found that hilarious for some reason.

Yellow found that slightly concerning.

It probably was concerning, honestly.

Another thing they agreed on was letting the kids sleep. At least until Shiro was able to be awake too. Speaking of whom, the others were probably either getting breakfast or maybe down at the infirmary already.

He honestly didn’t want to go down to the infirmary, now that he was thinking about it, and didn’t realize that his attention had wandered to Eva again until Yellow had pointed out that she was fine.

…maybe staying on the bridge wasn’t the best idea either.

She was fine. She’d have those scars for the rest of her life, but she’d be perfectly fine.

Barring all the trauma she already had, anyways. (That mess was even worse than he first thought.)

The Yellow Lion did the mental equivalent of a heavy sigh, if a good-natured one. It was okay to be worried about how the others were doing, but right now it was completely unnecessary.

Worry later. First, taking care of himself. Which meant a shower first, because he never got around to it last night, and he really didn’t need Koji getting on him about that.

Though to be fair, yesterday was…not something he wanted to think about. Or think in general, especially after Things Went Wrong.

He was pretty sure he could be considered a mess too, at this point. Not that he hadn’t been one already, along with Koji. Jordan he couldn’t be too sure about, and Shiro…

If that weird hallucination or whatever on Bherna was anything to go on, Shiro might actually remember more of the last year than he was letting them know about.

And Stan was pretty sure that was something to be concerned about, on top of everything else going on.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Date: not known, probably should have checked a newspaper before we left Elpis

Location: somewhere in the Saphanei system

I’ve decided to start keeping a record of things that happen to us while we’re out here, in case we ever need to reference something that happened before, given that none of us have any idea how long we might be out here.

Yesterday’s rescue mission was wasn’t completely a bomb, given that we were able to rescue almost everyone held captive there and get them started on the way home, but there were some that were moved elsewhere before we could get there, Rick included.

That’s not even starting to cover us almost losing Eva. She seems to be doing okay now. Right now, we’re all in the infirmary waiting for Shiro to wake up.

Koji paused in typing, glancing at the sole active pod, before finishing with I’m not sure how we’re going to explain to him what happened on Epona-6.

“Is he doing okay in there?” Jordan asked. “It…it almost looks like he’s having a bad dream or something.” It did, with the expression he was making every so often.

“Sometimes the healing process can cause involuntary brainwave response,” Allura replied, frowning slightly. “Given the nature of his injury, I’m not surprised.”

Green agreed with her, in a way that implied that the Lion had seen instances of those injuries before, but she wouldn’t give any details on it. Instead, she pushed his attention to the others. Stan was aimlessly tapping two fingers against the pod, not-exactly glaring at the screen displaying Shiro’s vitals, while Eva was sitting on the floor away from the others, looking vacantly at the ceiling.

Koji bit his lip contemplatively for a few seconds, before going to sit next to her. “Were you able to find out where they took him?” she asked. From the corner of his eye, Koji saw Jordan glance over at them, whereas Stan just tensed; he knew already.

He sighed a little. “No. The only thing I could find was that they were brought to a transfer station somewhere in…ugh, I can’t pronounce the area it’s in, but it started with a Q.”

Eva seemed to shrink a little. “Oh.”

“But, I had an idea last night,” he added quickly. “If I could set up a facial-recognition program, we could run it through the next database we can link up to.

“Would that even work?” Jordan asked.

“It should. They keep image records.”

“Can I help with it?”

Eva’s question caught Koji off-guard for a second—even back on Alwas, she’d never really shown much interest in the computer half of all the work.

Then again, it wasn’t just Rick they were talking about here.

“Sure,” he replied, pausing at hearing a hissing sound from the pod; that was the only warning before the glass dissolved and Shiro stumbled out with a groan, catching himself on the side of it.

“Shiro, how are you feeling?” Allura asked, taking a step forward.

“I…I’m fine,” he replied slowly, blinking a few times before looking around. “How long was I in there?”

“Almost two quintants.” Her tone was a little sharper, but she didn’t elaborate.

Shiro nodded, still looking dazed, but only for a few seconds; he straightened abruptly, eyes widening, before stammering out “I remember—I remember how I escaped.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

And that was how, after finding the right parts to assemble an adapter, they all found themselves on the bridge, with a cable linking Koji’s tablet to a port found in Shiro’s prosthetic.

During that time, they’d given him a simplified explanation of what happened on Epona-6—that most of the aliens had been rescued, save for the ones that had been relocated before they could get there. Shiro had gone rigid when the bit with Spirit had come up, but he’d just given her a smile and a “I’m glad you’re alright.”

Not what she’d expected at all.

“I’m really not sure what I’m supposed to be looking for here,” Koji said finally, frowning. “Even with the translation program, it’s all a bunch of nonsense. Are you sure it wasn’t just some weird dream?”

“I’m positive,” Shiro replied, tone low. “Someone helped me escape.”

“And he was Galra.” There was thinly-veiled disbelief in Allura’s voice.

“Yes.”

“You know you cannot trust them—”

“Your father must have trusted them one,” Shiro interrupted, then turning to pin a glare on her. “Zarkon was the first Black Paladin, wasn’t he?”

Eva swallowed reflexively, sensing more than seeing the others processing that statement, coinciding with an attempted deflection of “That was a long time ago,” from Allura, who sounded (appropriately) guilty.

“Wait, what?” Jordan exclaimed, going pale. “You’re saying that—that creepy feeling we all got before Voltron fell apart was him?!”

“He was the one that took Voltron apart back there,” Eva clarified uneasily. “And he has Shiro’s bayard. I—I got a look at it then.”

“You have a reason for not telling us that, right?” Koji asked weakly, looking at the two Alteans. Coran looked like a deer caught in the headlights, whereas Allura averted her eyes, ears lowering slightly.

“I wanted to give you all a chance to bond with your Lions, without the history of your predecessors hanging over you,” she said, before looking at Shiro again. “You are the Black Paladin now, Shiro. Not Zarkon.”

“The Black Lion might have a different take on the matter,” Shiro muttered darkly.

“Not that this isn’t a fantastic subject to be on,” Stan cut in, pointing at the tablet’s screen. “I’m seeing a couple repeated symbols in there. Koji?”

Koji started slightly, also looking at the device. “Huh. Well what do you know,” he muttered, tapping a few keys. “I think we might’ve found those coordinates, Shiro. Now how am I supposed to…?”

“Leave that to me,” Coran said, stepping forward and bringing up a holoscreen. Ten seconds later the main display screen also lit up, showing a map of a star system. “Here we are—looks like it’s pointing to a location in the Thaldicon system.”

“Then that’s where we’re going,” Shiro asserted.

“H-Hold on a sec Shiro, are you sure we can trust this?” Jordan asked.

“It’s worth the risk. Someone helped me escape, and if we can locate more allies, especially ones that have already infiltrated Zarkon’s ranks, we might just have a way to start taking him down.”

There was a lengthy pause, before Allura conceded. “We can check the location, but I do not like this,” she said stiffly, turning to head to her control station. “I want all of you to get suited up, just in case. The Galra are not to be trusted under any circumstance.”

They were maybe halfway to their rooms (it had actually been something of a unanimous decision to keep their flight-suits there) when Stan muttered “Well that was a bombshell.”

“No kidding,” Jordan agreed morosely, shuddering. “Just when I was starting to think the whole weird alien mind-link thing wasn’t so bad, too.”

“Well, we’ll just have to work on figuring out how to keep him out of it,” Koji said, the attempt at sounding reassuring coming off as stilted instead.

“Koji’s right,” Shiro agreed. “It’s just another thing we’ll have to work on.”

Can we even do that? Eva asked Red while putting the armor on. The Lion seemed uncertain, but leaned towards it being possible. Maybe.

This was a new situation for them, too.

Returning to the bridge presented them with the sight of gigantic iridescent crystal clusters, starting out sparse and quickly coalescing into what might as well have been a wall’s worth of them. “Well, this is it,” Coran said, gesturing at the displays. “No sign of any sort of activity at all, living or otherwise.

“Can we get in there for a closer look?” Shiro asked.

Coran made a face. “I don’t want to risk bringing the castle any closer.”

“Why? Do those crystals blow up if you touch them or something?” Jordan asked. Eva could tell that he meant it as a joke, but Coran’s expression at hearing it said otherwise.

“Funny you should ask that. Those xanthorium clusters contain dense amounts of nitrate salts, so…yes, just poking one too hard would make it explode.”

“Are you sure this is the right place?” Shiro pressed, voice quieting.

“These are the exactly coordinates Number Four gave me.”

To the side, Koji frowned. “Maybe I mistranslated something.”

“We should move on,” Allura said stiffly. “There’s nothing here.”

“No,” Shiro insisted. “Let’s wait for a little while. Just in case.”

The princess gave him a long look before sighing. “Fine. But no longer than a varga.”

Eva stifled a groan. Guess this means we’re going to be sitting around for a while.

For ten minutes that felt a lot longer, absolutely nothing happened. Then an alarm she hadn’t heard previously started going off, with Coran hurriedly reporting with “There’s an intruder in the castle!”

“Wait, what?” Jordan exclaimed. “How could someone even get on? We’re in the middle of space!”

Allura, on the other hand, didn’t seem surprised at all. “I knew coming here was a mistake,” she hissed, bringing up a wall’s worth of security feeds, one of which was blinking red. “There he is—fifth floor.”

Shiro stood up. “Everyone, split up and have your bayards ready. Don’t take any chances.”

No chances. Wouldn’t going after some mystery intruder be considered taking a chance to begin with?

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jordan found the guy easily enough. That said nothing about catching him though—or rather, keeping up with him. Whatever this guy was, he moved fast!

Not to mention Coran’s commentary on it all sounded uncannily like something he’d hear in a sports game. It wasn’t entirely appreciated.

It also went to say that this guy played them all against each other, up until Shiro got there. After that, everything moved too fast for Jordan to really process it, ending seconds later with both Shiro and the infiltrator in a stalemate—the former having his active prosthetic inches away from the side of the latter’s head, and the latter having a knife that he hadn’t seen previously pointed at Shiro’s throat.

Five very long seconds dragged by, with none of them so much as twitching a muscle, before the infiltrator slowly backed away, lowering his hood. After that, his helmet/mask flickered before fading out (more weird alien tech, great!) showing that he was definitely a Galra.

Shiro promptly looked somewhere halfway between shocked and disbelieving, which was just enough to confuse Jordan enough to not do anything right away, and it was reflected in his tone when he asked “Ulaz?”

What.

Then Allura came in and shoved the Galra-apparently-named-Ulaz up against the wall, with an angry-sounding “Who are you?” Emphasis on up.

She only spared Shiro a sideways look when he clarified on who this apparently was, with Jordan almost missing the quiet “You’ve come,” from the Galra.

“Wait, this is the guy that saved you?” Eva asked, slowly coming up to stand next to Jordan. Stan and Koji were both still keeping their distance, with Stan still having his bayard active and in-hand, though Jordan had a feeling it was more for show than any real threat. (It wasn’t like he wasn’t doing the same thing.)

Of course, the hallway wasn’t a good place for an interrogation—and neither was the bridge in this case, or at least in Allura’s opinion, because they just went for the nearest lounge room instead.

“Okay, I get the whole being-cautious thing, but isn’t this a bit overkill?” Stan asked dubiously.

“I will not have some quiznakking Galra on the bridge of my ship!” Allura retorted sharply.

Ulaz didn’t seem bothered by it, or at least he didn’t sound bothered when he said “If I wanted to kill you, you would be dead already.”

Jordan tightened his grip on his bayard reflexively, and he saw both Eva and Koji take a few steps back. “Are your Galra threats supposed to win my trust?” Allura hissed.

“I'm not trying to win your trust. I’m trying to win a war.” Jordan had to give this guy some points—even with Allura up in his face, he was keeping his tone even. “And, because of Shiro, we are closer than we’ve ever been.” He turned his attention to Shiro directly before adding “Our gamble on you paid off better than we could have ever imagined.”

“Wait, you said we. There’s more of you guys?” Stan asked.

“Yes,” Ulaz affirmed. “We are called the Blade of Marmora.” After a brief pause, he added “I am alone on this base.”

“What base?” Allura still sounded hostile. “Shiro's coordinates just led us to this wasteland!”

“The base is hidden. Now that I know it is Shiro that has come, you are welcome to our outpost. It lies directly ahead of your ship.”

“Behind the giant crystals?” Eva asked.

“No.” Now there was a hint of something like…amusement? “Right in front of them, in a hidden pocket of space-time.”

A total of three seconds went by before there was a “A what?” from Koji, alongside Allura’s “Coran, are you hearing this?”

“The castle’s scanners are picking up on some sort of anomaly. I suppose it could be a cloaked base.”

Blue seemed dubious about it being just cloaked.

“Just fly straight for the center of the xanthorium cluster,” Ulaz said. “You will see.” Allura bristled again. “You think you’re going to get me to destroy our ship just because you say so?”

“We came out here to find some answers,” Shiro said finally, turning to look at them all now. “Are we going to turn back now?”

“I’m not sure about this,” Koji said, frowning. “I mean—a space-time rift? That’s more science-fiction than anything.”

“I’m with Koji on that,” Stan agreed. “Something doesn’t seem right about all of this.”

“You know, I’m pretty sure the Lions would’ve been science-fiction to us before we left Earth,” Eva pointed out. Jordan looked back and forth between her and the mechanics, who both looked slightly chastised. She’s got a point.

“Ulaz freed me,” Shiro insisted. “Without him, none of us would even be here.”

The silence following that statement was an uncomfortable one, dragging on for almost a minute, before Allura hissed out a “Fine. Slow and steady, Coran. Head for the xanthorium cluster.”

“Yes Princess.” Moments later: “Uh…I think you all need to see this…”

The display screen on the wall flickered on, and sure enough, there was a base right in front of the giant space-crystal—but at the same time, while the base itself was very clearly there, everything else had taken on a blurry, almost-translucent effect. Blue’s confusion gave way to an appreciative shock, with Jordan himself blinking at it a few times before saying “So…another point to science-fiction?”

He was pretty sure he could see the exact moment Koji realized what they were looking at, opened his mouth and then shut it again, before just asking “How?”

Ulaz actually chuckled a bit at that. “If you’ll free me, I can bring you onto the base to show you. I have to send a message to the leadership so they know I’ve made contact with you.”

“Go with him, and keep an eye on him,” Allura said, scowl still present. “I’ll stay here with Coran.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The closest Lion to where they had all been was the Red Lion, so they were all clustered in his cockpit for the short ride to the base. “That there is the is the gravity generator that creates the space-time fold that hides the station,” Ulaz said, pointing at the conical structure on top of the base. Eva looked about as interested as Stan was in it, though he didn’t miss the occasional irritated glances she was throwing at Koji, who was leaning so far forward toward the display screen that he was probably cutting into her view.

“Who designed it?” Eva asked, glancing back at the Galra.

“A reclusive genius engineer named Slav. His technology allows the Blade of Marmora to remain hidden while we work to take down the Galra Empire. Zarkon would do anything to get his hands on this technology.”

“So, this…Blade of Marmora thing,” Jordan started warily. “Is it just other Galra?”

“Primarily, yes. We have agents and informants from other species as well, though the number has been steadily declining as the war goes on. Not many would trust us now.”

“Which is why you need us?” Stan guessed.

Ulaz nodded. “With Voltron on our side, alongside the members we have working from within Zarkon’s ranks, we might finally have a chance to take him down.”

“How deep in it are you guys?” Jordan asked, after they’d disembarked the Lion.

He got another question as a response. “How do you think you were able to get away from Zarkon during your confrontation with him? Or steal the Blue Lion from Sendak?”

Yellow had an ah-ha moment at the first statement, which answered the question of why the wormhole-thing had gone from not working to working with no warning, the following chaos notwithstanding.

The second statement took a few seconds to sink in, with Jordan blinking a few times before giving Ulaz a dumbstruck look. “Wait, that was one of you guys?!”

It wasn’t until they’d reached what was probably a control room that Eva spoke up again, this time with something Stan had trying to scope out a good moment to bring up: “If you guys have people that can get at records—there’s supposed to be two more of us, but they got taken on Alwas. Could you find them?”

Ulaz paused in typing. “I’m afraid I only knew of two others from Earth being taken alongside Shiro. This is the first I’m hearing that they were any from your planet among those from Alwas.”

“Oh,” she muttered, looking down.

The Galra seemed to hesitate a moment before adding “While I don’t know anything myself, I do have some records of prisoners here. I can transmit them to your ship.”

“That’s better than nothing,” Stan remarked quietly, under Shiro’s thanks for the gesture.

“Yeah,” she mumbled, still looking distracted.

On one hand, Stan was about as curious about the space-pocket thing as Koji was—Koji was on the other end of the room, which had a better view of the device keeping the base hidden.

On the other, the lighting and narrow spaces on the base was reminding him a little too much of what happened on Epona-6. And it really didn’t help when an alarm started blaring for maybe the millionth time within the past however-long-it’s-been. Or that the cause of the aforementioned alarm was the third appearance of the giant metal box that had last been seen on the Balmera.

“I thought this place was supposed to be invisible?” Eva asked, alarmed; she’d snapped to attention when the alarm had gone off, coinciding with a heartfelt “Oh come on,” from Jordan.

“It is,” Ulaz replied tightly. “The only way they could have found us is if you were tracked.”

“Or if you ratted us out,” Jordan accused, though he stopped short when Eva gave him a look.

“It doesn’t matter how they found us,” Shiro cut in. “We have to get back to the ship!”

“Wait,” Ulaz cut in, removing something from the computer desk that looked like an oversized USB stick. “This contains instructions for how to reach the Blade of Marmora’s headquarters. But do not go there until you have figured out how Zarkon is tracking you.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

“I knew he could not be trusted,” Allura seethed once she’d been brought into the loop about everything.

“It wasn’t him,” Shiro retorted sharply.

“How can you be sure?”

“It doesn’t matter how they found us now,” Coran cut in. “What should we do?”

Shiro took a deep breath, silently thanking the adviser. “Everyone get to your Lions, but don’t launch.” At the confused looks, he elaborated with “I don’t want us to fight that thing if we don’t have to. It might not have our exact location.”

It was a big might, but given how much trouble the last mech had given them, Shiro didn’t want to chance it unless there was no choice.

This one looked something like a floating torso that was mostly head. Or more precisely, mostly mouth, shown once it started drawing in the various floating crystals, which were then used as fuel for its weapon—a laser that had the larger crystals exploding on touch.

For a few moments, muffled explosions came from outside. Then the entrance to the space-fold rippled, and multiple lasers shot through, jostling the castleship. “Nope, he definitely knows we’re in here!” Coran exclaimed.

Shiro stifled a sigh. “Alright, in that case, let’s not give this thing any more ground than it already has. Form Voltron!”

The Lions came together smoothly, simultaneously with Shiro becoming more acutely aware of the other four—there was a lot of nervous energy, but given how much trouble the last robot…beast…robeast gave them on the Balmera, he couldn’t blame them.

They charged out of the space-rift, promptly dealing out a right-hook that deflected a laser shot upwards and away from the castleship, but that didn’t even seem to put a dent in it, with how fast it returned fire. They barely avoided colliding with a larger crystal; it was remembered at the last moment that they had to offset the inertia that was inherent to being in space.

They got three perfect shots in—but there wasn’t even a mark on the mech, which took advantage of the distance between them to draw in more ammo, and then they had to dodge again—

And the castleship was in full view, exactly the opposite of what Allura had said they would do. The hidden base was also in view, with one vital part of it now absent.

What started as shock-anger-disbelief quickly was replaced with bright, searing heat and something that wasn’t quite pain, more like a detached discomfort when the clusters closest to Voltron detonated, enveloping them in the resulting brief firestorm.

Can’t get distracted

Can’t let him reload

Maybe if they could stop it from taking in any more crystals somehow—the shield! But they had to find a way to keep it distracted first.

“Leave that to us,” Allura said; being fired on by the castleship definitely got the robeast’s attention, with it pulling in crystals, but not as ammo, instead crashing them into the barrier.

At least until the shield was jammed right in front of the beam’s emitter.

After that, it was simple enough to just fire the reverse-thrusters at full blast and recall the shield before the mech hit the largest crystal still (formerly) intact.

Did that do it?

One moment passed, and then two—and then it was only thanks to instinct that Shiro was able to throw the shield in front of them in time to block the laser, if only for a few more seconds before it fell apart and they were sent flying.

What’s this thing even made of?!

What else can we try?

“Hang on!” The sudden voice jarred them all into a moment of complete discordance, but not so much as the rest of Ulaz’s statement couldn’t be heard: “I’m going to take it down from the inside!”

But that would—

“Ulaz, no! Let us handle this!”

“Voltron is too valuable to lose! The universe needs the five of you more.”

The base’s gravity generator—or rather the ship holding it—vanished into the mech, and for one long moment, nothing happened. Then it just…started crumpling in on itself, before detonating, clearing a wide swatch of the crystalline asteroid belt.

What just…?

He did not just do that

“He did,” Shiro confirmed hollowly. He saved us.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The air in the ship seemed to have a charge to it, afterwards, and it wasn’t something Jordan necessarily liked. Shiro was off somewhere by himself; part of him wanted to go look for him, but what would he be able to say? He’d been in the boat of thinking Ulaz had sold them out, when he clearly hadn’t.

He wouldn’t have done that if he had.

Jordan shook his head a bit, continuing down the hall. He was pretty sure both Stan and Koji had gone in the general direction of the shuttle hangar—working on the Arrow was probably their way of dealing with steam—but he hadn’t seen where Eva had gone off to.

He had gotten a quick look at her face, though.

At some point, Blue did the mental equivalent of a thoughtful noise before going distant for a few seconds, before coming back with some directions on where to go.

If the Red Lion had any response to him walking into the hangar, it wasn’t shown, and Eva didn’t seem to notice; she was sitting on top of one of his paws, knees pulled up to her chest.

She did flinch when he pulled himself up onto the metal paw, with him thinking a bit belatedly to ask “Mind if I join you?” Eva shook her head a bit, and he sat next to her.

For a few minutes, it was quiet, before she said “Hey, Jordan? Do you think—we could’ve saved Ulaz?”

“Uh…” Jordan had to think about how to answer that one, and even then, he still wasn’t sure how to put it nicely. So he went for blunt. “Honestly? We were getting our asses handed to us back there. If he hadn’t…done that, I don’t think we would’ve walked away.”

There was a quiet “Oh,” from her, and he resisted the urge to smack himself.

“…how about we go find Stan and Koji?” he suggested, forcing a smile. “Maybe they could use some help with the Arrow.”

“Yeah,” she agreed quickly, doing the same before sliding down onto the floor.

When they got down there, though, Jordan had to take a few seconds to make sure his head wasn’t playing tricks on him, though that would’ve been proven wrong anyways by Eva saying “You guys repainted the Arrow?”

“Well, yeah,” Koji replied, sounding a little awkward. “I mean…purple. That couldn’t stay there.”

It wasn’t too much of a change, with the purple-orange having been replaced by red and blue, but he didn’t have that pang of unease at looking at the ship now.

Stan looked uncertain for a bit, before asking “You two haven’t seen Shiro anywhere, have you?”

“No,” Jordan grimaced a little. “I…kinda want to go look for him, but…”

The door chimed again, and it turned out they didn’t have to go find Shiro; he looked a little distant, but there was a sort of hard-set to them that had Jordan thinking he’d just gotten into an argument with someone. (Blue didn’t give any impressions aside from a sort of mental heavy sigh.)

“…so what’s next?” Eva asked.

Shiro took a deep breath. “First of all, we’re going to check through the entire castle to make sure there isn’t any kind of tracking device. Once we’re sure Zarkon can’t track us anymore, and only then, we’ll be going to the Blade of Marmora’s headquarters. We need all the allies we can get.”

#Oban Star Racers #Voltron #Starbound fic #Chapter 17

6 notes · View notes

therealeagal · 7 years

Text

Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Not to say that Breath of the Wild is not a fun game, because it very much is, but just off the top of my head I can name seven Zelda games that take a big smelly shit on BotW in literally every way. Well, not literally since the graphics are obviously better. So then just almost literally every way.

Best Zelda game ever? LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

No. Not by a long shot.

Problem number one: bring back random drops. I don’t give a shit if it’s not realistic that a Keese would be holding five arrows when I kill it.

There are two ways to get arrows in this game. 1: Find an enemy with a bow and wait for it to fire at you and dodge the arrow and hope the arrow wasn’t broken wherever it struck. 2: Shell out five gajillion rupees for at most 15 at a time. Thanks but no thanks.

And rupees! There are no more rupee drops except for the odd Yiga clan attack, which I guarantee won’t net you enough money to pay for all the arrows you’ll need. To unlock all the great fairy fountains you need, if my memory serves me correctly, over 16000 rupees!!! The only other way to get money is to occasionally find them in chests or sell monster parts for a dozen or so rupees depending on the particulars.

You can also own a home in this game, but it costs upwards of 4000 rupees to get it all decked out.

Problem number 2: Breakable weapons. Fuck. This. Mechanic. And the Master Sword isn’t even immune to it!!!! It’s reusable, but if you use it too much it will break and you have to wait for it to recharge. Even if the MS alone were unbreakable that would make the mechanic about a gajillion times more tolerable.

Problem number 3: Rain. The rain in the plains. Or more problematically, the rain in the mountains. You see, my children, when it rains in Hyrule, it becomes impossible to scale any sort of scale-able surface. Guess what Hyrule is covered in? Yes, that’s right. Mountains. And hills and oodles of climbable shit. All of which is 100% off limits in the rain.

There’s a wait feature. You set down a bundle of wood and a piece of flint. Strike the flint with a metal weapon and voila. Instant campfire. Guess what doesn’t work in the rain? Yes, that’s right. Campfires. So you have to wait out rain the old fashioned way.

Again, sacrificing game quality for the sake of realism. IT’S A MAGICAL KINGDOM WHERE YOU HAVE TO FIGHT A PIG GHOST DEMON WITH THE HELP OF ROBOT ANIMALS WE DON’T NEED REALISM.

Problem number 4: The horses. This is more of a nitpick than a problem since there’s only one point in the story where a horse is significant, and even then its use isn’t required. So why bother putting them in? Just give me one horse. Epona. Give me Epona and make her control perfectly without randomly deciding to turn off the path you were on or pull up short in the middle of a dead sprint because there was a patch of ground that was .001 microns higher than the ground around it.

You can register the horses you catch at any stable, so that you can board them and retrieve them later at a different stable elsewhere in the world, perhaps so that you can fast travel and still be able to ride your cool steed, which is a nice touch.

You know what isn’t a nice touch? You can only register horses you catch. You want to register that Stalhorse you caught and name Bonethony (like Anthony but with Bone in it)? Nope. You want to register that stag you’re forced to catch for that one Shrine Quest and name it Bambi? Take a hike, chump. You want to register that super badass glowing horse thing you caught at the top of Satori Mountain that has infinite sprinting and name it Awesome Glowhorse? Fuck you, you can’t.

Problem number 5: Link’s durability. This rendition of Link has the constitution of a wet paper bag. When there are enemies that can one-shot you in the first goddamn area you’ve got a problem. The ability to dodge is at an all time high, except that oops, enemies with ranged weapons can lead their shots and oops most high end enemies have AOE attacks so unless you want to spend half your time playing this game reloading from the last save because Link just got OTKed by a Guardian with pinpoint accuracy from the other side of fucking Hyrule, you’ll spend most of your time in the menus shoving food down Link’s gullet.

“But Eagal!” I hear you say. “You can fight from afar with your mighty bow!” Good point. Except for A: The previously mentioned arrow scarcity and B: Arrows do jack shit to any enemy worth using them on. They can be used to stun most enemies if you get a headshot, but alas, they’ll typically remain stunned for less time than it takes to actually run up to them and attack with your sword or whatever, especially if you’re using a two-handed weapon.

“But Eagal!” I hear you say. “You can use your mighty shield to block enemy attacks!” Except that again, no you can’t. Because AOE ignores shields and any shield not named the Hylian Shield are trash when it comes to blocking attacks from enemies worth using them on and if you do use the Hylian Shield, which is often erroneously reported as unbreakable, it will inevitably break and at such time you can either A: go back to relying on inferior shields or B: shell out 3000 more rupees to a guy in Tarrey town.

Problem number 6: Link’s stamina. Ok, so let’s include the ability to run in this game. But let’s make that run feature utterly meaningless by trying it to Link’s incredibly small stamina meter. There’s a sex joke in there somewhere.

-------------

The music. Mainly the remixes, as opposed to the original songs, which I believe I liked all of. Some of it I liked, some of it I wasn’t crazy about. Off the top of my head I don’t think I actually disliked any of it, just didn’t love it.

-------------

So what did I like about the game? One of the game’s primary gimmicks is the clothes. You can equip different sets of armor which may provide different bonus effects and varying levels of protection. You can get a climber’s set that lets you climb faster or the Hylian guard set that gives you really good defense. Or my personal favorite the Barbarian set that boosts your attack power.

Or you can have Link run around in his skivvies. He wears boxer briefs, which is funny because I would have pegged Link as a boxers kind of guy. Not that I often think about the state of Link’s undergarments....

In any event, whatever you’ve got him equipped with, that’s what Link will be wearing during cutscenes. Alas, no cuckoo costume. You can get a Dark Link outfit by doing a sidequest to unlock a certain merchant. Lets you run faster a night, though come to that, so does the upgraded sheikah outfit, which has an added benefit of increasing your stealth. I bought it anyway, because why not.

There’s also a bunch of amiibo costumes but I don’t have any of those.

The other primary gimmick of the game is the Sheikah iphone slate which replaces items in this game. You can create a block of ice in the water to climb upon or you can freeze time for objects or enemies or you can take a picture with the camera function...which actually does have a use because the map has a search function that will alert you if a certain thing (items, enemies, shrines) is nearby.

------------

THE MOST TRAITOROUS THING about this game. Link doesn’t get to wear green!!!!! Well, ok, he does. If you get the amiibos which give you access to the signature tunics of his predecessors in Linkage. Or if you complete all 120ish shrines so that Link can get his own set. Still.

These are my only thoughts for now.

In summary, good, not the best. Not by any stretch of the imagination.

Anyone who disagrees with me is wrong.

#legend of zelda #legend of zelda breath of the wild #random drops #yiga clan #master sword #epona #hylian shield #tarrey town #sheikah slate

17 notes · View notes

kuwaiti-kid · 4 years

Text

The Best GameCube RPGs of All Time

Nintendo has repeatedly captured our attention with new addicting games and storylines to keep us entertained for more hours than we could ever fathom.

Each game system provided more than the last with its enhanced graphics and options. However, some systems have been left to be hidden gems of the past. Isn't it worth a little treasure hunt?

Nintendo Gamecube games had several fan favorites from Phantasy Star Online to Mega Man. However, The Gamecube was not always known for its RPGs, unlike its competition the time, the Playstation 2.

The role-playing games for the Gamecube fall into a multitude of different categories. With more focus on the hack and slash system than turn-based, they did not always follow traditional suits.

Want to check out those classics of the Gamecube?

We went ahead and created a list for you of the Best Gamecube role-playing games of all time!

The Best GameCube RPGs of All Time

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (2004)

What would a Nintendo system be without a great installment of an awesome Mario based game?

For the Gamecube, we bring you Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door.

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door is a 2004 role-playing video game developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo for the GameCube. It is the second game in the Paper Mario series.

The plot follows Mario's quest as he tries to retrieve the seven Crystal Stars and rescue Peach from the X-Nauts. Throughout their adventure, Mario and friends find help in a few items and places. You can heal your party at an inn and purchase items at a shop, collect coins by defeating enemies and buy new special abilities in a badge shop. Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door also features a lot of different mini-games, such as a quiz show, a lottery, or the ability to control Bowser in a side-scrolling action sequence.

The Thousand-Year Door borrows many gameplay elements from its predecessor, such as a drawing-based art style, and a turn-based battle system with an emphasis on action. For the majority of the game, the player controls Mario, although Bowser and Princess Peach are playable at certain points.

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door received critical acclaim for its gameplay and plot. Each chapter of the game provided a thrill of adventure that left you wanting more. Whether you are a vast Mario fan or not, I would give this one a go!

Tales of Symphonia (2003)

Tales of Symphonia deserves a spot on the list for its old-world charm and engaging battle system. It is the fifth main game in the Tales series and the eleventh game released in total. It is also the third game to be released in North America.

It follows the adventures of Lloyd Irving as he and his friends work to help Colette Brunel regenerate the world. The game begins in the world of Sylvarant, a land that is dying due to a steady loss of mana, an energy source that is needed both for magic and to support life itself.

To regenerate the world, the Chosen must travel from continent to continent, awakening the Summon Spirits that sleep at ancient shrines known as “seals.” With every seal released, the Chosen comes closer and closer to becoming an angel. Once the Chosen fully transforms into an angel, the world will be regenerated.

Tales of Symphonia uses a version of the Linear Motion Battle System. It is a real-time battle system called Multi-Line Linear Motion Battle System. Another feature of this battle system is Over Limit. Characters enter Over Limit mode after having obtained a certain number of tension points. For regular gameplay, when the party is on the world map, they can join battles by running into monsters visible on the field.

The interaction between the characters is delightful. It is also the first title in the Tales series to feature alternate costumes for the main protagonists. The battle system enhancements are a nice touch.

Overall, it is a game worth checking out for a nice casual playthrough.

Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (2006)

It took Nintendo almost a decade to complete, but they had finally created a new Zelda game that is so well designed and legendary it is worthy of top accolades.

Yes, we do know this game was released on both the Gamecube and later the Wii, but it hit the Gamecube first. This makes Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess more than worthy of being on our Gamecube top RPG list!

When the game opens to a sweeping view of Link as he rides Epona across a vast landscape, you can't help but have that nostalgic spirit of Ocarina's epic opening. The beginning parts of the game feel very much like a trip down Hyrule's memory lane as you explore the outskirts of the world.

However, the game also carves the old from the new by way of a compelling storyline that throws Nintendo's beloved hero into an alternate realm known as the Twilight. It is a Hyrulian wasteland presenting much darker undertones than that of the previous Zelda games.

Need more convincing? There are even moments when Link is transformed into a wolf.

For one, players who enjoyed titles like Wind Waker will understand immediately how to maneuver Link like a pro in Twilight Princess because the same fundamental controls still apply. The character is moved swiftly with the left analog stick, and the right opens access to the camera. The controls are simple and easily maneuvered.

Hands down, Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess is a necessity on the must-play list.

Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance (2005)

Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance doesn't reinvent the wheel; it simply takes the best elements from all its predecessors and sprinkles some subtle yet positive enhancements on top.

Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, like its predecessors, is a very text-heavy RPG. The members of your growing party are characterized almost entirely by the opinions they express during conversations, learning about their motivations, relationships, and backgrounds is as important as seeing them evolve and kick tail in battle.

If you haven't jumped on the Emblem wagon yet, here's the series in a nutshell: Advance Wars in a medieval fantasy setting with a focus on single-character units and RPG elements.

The biggest changes in Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance come from new man/beast hybrids, known as laguz. Laguz are lycanthropic humanoids that automatically turn into cats, birds, or dragons and back again after several turns.

While in animal form, the laguz are mighty fighters, but in human form, they are quite harmless. Apart from adding some exciting gameplay twists, the conflict between the laguz and the beorc (regular humans) also forms the center of the game's twisting storyline.

This is a tremendous classic tactical RPG series with plenty of installments to keep you entertained for many hours.

Skies of Arcadia Legends (2000)

If you are a fan of Pirates and Airships, you have come to the right place!

In Skies of Arcadia, Legends Players control Vyse, a young air pirate, and his friends as they attempt to stop the Valuan Empire from reviving ancient weapons with the potential to destroy the world.

As for the actual gameplay itself, it revolves around several different devices. It contains turn-based ground and air battles, airship-to-airship duels, and real-time 3D exploration. The magic system is also traditional. You will learn spells that draw on elemental powers such as fire, water, wind, and the like.

The way that you learn spells is somewhat unique. The entire process revolves around moonstones: green for health-related powers, red for fire, purple for ice, etc. These stones are tied into your weapons, giving them elemental attributes. Even better? The weapons can be switched on a whim!

If you enjoy having a series of games to play, this is a formidable contender for your RPG collection.

Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean (2003)

With Baten Kaitos, Monolith Software has crafted a beautiful and thoroughly engaging game filled with great characters, impressive visuals, and solid combat. Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean is another fantastic installment to the series.

The story of Baten Kaitos takes place in a world of floating islands, at a time when people have evolved to the point of sprouting wings on their backs. The player assumes the role of a player-named, unseen “guardian spirit” who directly guides and communicates with the main protagonist Kalas.

Kalas is considered a bit of an outcast due to only have one wing, with the other being replaced by a mechanical wing. He travels the world to seek revenge for the death of his grandfather and his little brother. Eventually, his priorities shift when he meets and travels with a young woman named Xelha, and accidentally releases one of the five End Magnus, loosening the seal on Malpercio.

The card-based inventory and battle system is one of the most talked-about features of Baten Kaitos. Instead of finding items and stuffing them in invisible storage space, you store them on blank Magnus cards. This makes for a unique and refreshing experience, as you only receive a limited number of these blank cards. This requires strategy, as you will not be able to utilize every item that you find.

With a unique storyline and battle system, this one is a must-play to add to your growing RPG list! If you enjoy this one, you will definitely enjoy our next one.

Baten Kaitos Origins (2006)

Baten Kaitos Origins takes place twenty years before the events of the first title, Baten Kaitos Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean. It features younger versions of many characters from the previous entry, though none of the same playable characters.

The overall theme is that of a struggle between “pro-imagination” (the power of hearts, wings of the heart, and magic) and “pro-machination” (mechanical) forces. You play as the spirit within Sagi, a member of the empire's “Elite” force of fighters. Sagi heads off on a quest to determine the nature of a mysterious change that is appearing in the world.

The game plays very similarly to the first Baten Kaitos game, albeit with some changes and adjustments. They do still use the Magnus cards for the battle system with a slight change. The combat system is substantially different when compared to that of the original Baten Kaitos.

Instead of each character having their deck of Magnus cards, all characters use cards from a single deck and play from a single hand. Since most armor, weapons, and special attacks are specific to a given character, there are frequently times when one or two of the characters have only a minimal number of options.

The game also features several new locales, such as Sedna, a town that looks like it's made of childish clay sculptures, and Hassaleh, a new continent that did not appear in the first game. Sedna is composed of different Magnus pieces, which, as the player discovers and returns with the appropriate Magnus cards, spontaneously appear. As the town grows, the player can then interact with the new inhabitants.

If you enjoyed the first installment of Baten Kaitos, then I highly recommend playing the Baten Kaitos Origins installment as well!

Pokémon Colosseum (2004)

Pokemon Colosseum is an installment in the Pokemon RPG series that delved into making itself a bit edgier than the previous installments.

The game is set in the desert region of Orre. The player protagonist is Wes, a former member of Team Snagem. Throughout the game, the player rescues “Shadow Pokémon,” Pokémon, who have had their hearts darkened by Team Cipher, an antagonistic organization via snagging. Rui, a non-player character, serves as Wes's sidekick and identifies Shadow Pokémon.

Like previous games in the Pokémon RPG, the fighting in Pokémon Colosseum follows the same grid-based strategy of Pokémon types. Essentially, one type of Pokemon is stronger against other types of Pokemon.

This is where the fun, strategic element of battling comes from. With seventeen different types in the Pokémon Colosseum realm, it's essential to focus on who's stronger and weaker against whom. This can be a challenge when trying to build an appropriate team for battle.

The storyline on this one is better for those who are more interested in battling as opposed to intensely deep plots. If you are looking for some unique RPG entertainment, give being a Pokémon trainer a shot!

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles (2003)

If you are an avid fan of the Final Fantasy franchise, then this game will be a slightly different twist from the usual!

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles is an action role-playing game where players take control of a group of adventurers who travel the world searching for rare trees that produce “myrrh,” used to fuel crystals protecting the world's settlements from the poisonous Miasma.

One thousand years before the game's events, the world's sustaining Great Crystal was shattered by a meteorite carrying an alien lifeform called the Meteor Parasite. The Parasite generated a poisonous vapor called the Miasma, which kills anyone it touches. Fragments of the Great Crystal ward off the Miasma from surviving settlements, but require renewal using myrrh, energy harvested from magical trees using magical vessels protected by dedicated caravans.

The game does away with traditional experience points and instead focuses on action-oriented combat with a unique co-op slant. Up to three friends can join in on the quest by using Game Boy Advance units connected to the GameCube as controllers.

Crystal Chronicles can be a tremendously entertaining multiplayer game for those willing to work together. You do not have to be a follower of the franchise to enjoy playing this installment!

Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance (2002)

Are you a fan of Dungeons and Dragons? You will want to check this one out.

The game is set in the Forgotten Realms campaign setting of Dungeons & Dragons, and the gameplay is based on the rules of Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition, which were released in 2000. It is the first video game to implement the real-time application of the new rules. It is also the first game in the Baldur's Gate series released on consoles as opposed to a PC or Mac.

You begin your adventure in Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance by choosing from one of three different warriors: a human archer, a dwarven fighter, or an elven sorceress. The controls for each of these characters are identical. They all have similar abilities to run, jump, attack, use magic or special feats, and quaff restoration potions or healing potions using the left and right shoulder buttons, respectively, quickly restoring their magic energy or health.

The Dark Alliance game itself presents some stunning graphics and gameplay. If you are itching for a substantial RPG game storyline on the GameCube, then pick up a copy of Dark Alliance.

Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life (2004)

Believe it or not, Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life is a farming simulator that has captured the hearts of many with its wholesome storyline. The whole purpose of the game itself is to live an extraordinary life.

Sound a bit mundane? Much in the same way as Animal Crossing, Harvest Moon's day to day chores, goals, and lifestyle will pull you in and leave you wanting to play at all hours. Not only do you harvest crops, but you must also have impeccable timing with all aspects of the game. It is essential to time the birth of farm animals, harvesting crops, balancing family life, and creating friendships with the townsfolk.

In Wonderful Life, the player's farm has three fields, with varying levels of fertility. Plants must be watered more than once per day and nourished with fertilizer to obtain high-quality fruits and vegetables. Each crop has its ideal growing season and will do poorly if planted at the wrong time of year. You will also obtain various types of cattle that will also require nurturing and care.

The simple gameplay mechanics, nurturing farm life, and feel good storyline will genuinely make you fall in love with this game. It may not be an intense, in-depth RPG, but it will leave you with a warm, happy feeling and a smile on your face.

Gamecube RPGs

The Gamecube may not have had the strongest RPG genre, but it honestly did have some beautiful additions.

What is worth taking note of is the multitude of different types and storylines that it does provide. Gamecube role-playing games offer everything from the dark and intense to the light and airy story concepts.

Now it is time to pull out your Gamecube so you can relive some of these classic tales! Which one will you try first?

Where Do I Purchase the Games?

DKOldies

LukieGames

eStarland

The post The Best GameCube RPGs of All Time appeared first on Your Money Geek.

from Your Money Geek https://ift.tt/3fYcNiO via IFTTT

#IFTTT #Your Money Geek

0 notes

anotherlifefic · 5 years

Text

Chapter 32: Return to Kokiri Forest

I was only familiar with the kind of magic these witches used from Link‘s stories. But at least through that I knew how to tell when they prepared a spell and how to dodge it when it came. Link and I did just that, and I sincerely hoped that he would come up with a way to beat them without the mirror shield. So all we could do was dodge their spells to the best of our ability. A bright light flashed through the room, and a young woman‘s voice yelled:„Stop!“ On the other end of the room, behind the altar where the piece of the Master Sword had been, stood a woman about my age, with dark brown hair and green eyes. She was dressed in an elaborate, dark red gown with golden embroidery, and red gem was embedded into the skin right on her chest. She took a look around and stepped forth, looking at the two witches. „Ganondorf has summoned you.“ „And we will follow his command, but we have to deal with these meddling fools first!“, Koume screeched. „He said that you are to seek him out immediately“, the woman replied, her voice stern and commanding. „I wouldn‘t keep him waiting if I were you. Let me deal with the intruders instead.“ Kotake scoffed. „You may be Ganondorf‘s wife, but that does not mean that you can order us around, Cassandra(4)!“ Cassandra smirked. „We will see about that. Last time I checked, I was the Queen by his side, not you. Now move along.“ The witches grumbled to themselves, but disappeared as the woman named Cassandra had ordered them. Once the two crones were gone, she turned her attention to us, and her entire demeanor changed. Her confidence melted away, and her eyes became pleading. „Please… you must stop him.“ Link and I exchanged a quick look. „What?“ She came a bit closer. „You must stop Ganondorf.“ She wiped her eyes with her sleeve. „I love him, but he has gone too far. The Zora… I never wanted any of this to happen. Had I known it would get this bad, I would have never… never...“ Her voice became choked, but she gathered herself and continued:„I will let you out of this place; after all, you have what you wanted.“ She pointed at the glowing platform that had brought her down into this room. „This platform will take you out of here. But many of the Gerudo are still under the influence of the witches, so you mustn‘t linger in the valley for too long.“ She swallowed. „I will keep Ganondorf distracted as much as I can. Now go!“ We ran to the platform, and the last thing we saw as it lifted us out of the room was Cassandra breaking down in tears.

Once outside again, we snuck through the fortress to the stables, where we got our horses and bolted out of the valley, as fast as Epona and Glory could carry us.

When we felt it was safe enough to slow down, I looked over to Link to find him deep in thought. I reached for his hand. „Everything alright, dear?“ „I‘m just thinking about what that woman said. Do you think she was the one who broke Ganondorf‘s seal?“ „How would she do that?“ „I don‘t know.“ He took a deep breath. „We should probably go to Kokiri Forest next. It‘s the closest.“ He clenched his fists. „I hope the Kokiri are all safe. We… They aren‘t exactly prepared for battle. Why would they? Kokiri Village is a peaceful place.“ He made Epona go faster, and Glory and I followed suit, worried about the state the forest would be in.

It was eerily quiet as we approached the seam of the forest. Even Saria‘s song had become silent. Link took my hand again as he led me through the short stretch of the Lost Woods until we reached Kokiri Forest. While the atmosphere did change and it became easier to breathe once more, it wasn‘t the clear and lively air I remembered from my first visit. It was as if a darkness was draped across the small village, which seemed to be completely deserted. Link‘s eyes widened, and before I could stop him, he dashed off, calling the names of all of the Kokiri, hoping for an answer. „Mido! Fado! Everyone, it‘s me!“ Silence was his only answer. I followed him to the meadow where the Great Deku Tree stood. But all we found was its predecessor, still dead and silent, and the massive stump of a felled tree, drenched in dark-red resin. It almost looked like the tree had been bleeding. Link sank to his knees, breathing heavily. „They… cut down… the Great Deku Tree...“ His scream of rage and agony echoed through the forest. „THEY CUT DOWN THE GREAT DEKU TREE!“ There were no words in our language or another that could consoled him. I knew as much. So I just stood by and let him scream. But after he had stopped, I approached him and put my hands on his shoulders. „We will make Ganondorf and his goons pay for this.“ He got up, his complete body tense. „Yes, we will. Come now. We have work to do.“

We returned to the village, and Link lead me to a clearing in the trees. „This is the threshold between Kokiri Forest and the Lost Woods. From here on out, you must make sure to never let go of my hand. Understood?“ I nodded. „Alright.“

That short bit of Lost Woods at the entrance to Kokiri Forest had been nothing in comparison to what lay ahead. The deeper we went into the woods, the thicker and harder to breathe the air became. I held onto Link, even tough he was walking so fast that I was stumbling frequently. „Link, wait… I‘m so tired… please, just give me a moment to rest...“ He turned to me. „Don‘t worry, we‘ll reach the Sacred Meadow soon. We can set up camp there.“ I took a deep breath, nodded, and continued following him through the labyrinth that was the Lost Woods.

We soon arrived at a literal labyrinth. Link turned to me. „This place is crawling with monsters. But if we could manage to climb one of the walls, we could just walk over them and they won‘t even notice.“ Link gave me a leg-up and I pulled him up after me, just like we did it in the Water Temple. We had to jump across a few gaps, for which Link had to lift me into his arms again, but in the end, we made it to the place Link had called the Sacred Meadow. It was a small, enclosed space in front of the entrance to what must have been the Forest Temple. Link sighed. „At least this place is still as calm as ever. Could you please gather some of the dry wood around here, so I can make a fire?“ „Of course“, I said.

Once the fire was lit, Link and I just sat in front of the fire, each of us occupied with our own thoughts. Then he looked up. „I didn‘t really get around to saying this until now, but… I‘m sorry for picking a fight with you back then.“ „Picking a fight with me..? What are you talking about?“ „Well… you know. Right before Ganondorf caught me. After the vigil for the victims of the war.“ „Wait, so that‘s when he caught you? I had assumed that you never left his fortress after confronting him. Link shook his head. „No. I was just returning from my discussion with Zelda, and as soon as I was out of view of the guards at the gate, something pounced on me. The next thing I remember is waking up chained to the wall in Ganondorf‘s fortress.“ „You don‘t really need to apologize for that anymore. Truth be told, I‘m surprised you even remember it.“ „Probably because I felt so bad about it.“ He shuffled over to me and wrapped his arm around my shoulder. „And in the past ten years, I couldn‘t let go of the thought that the last thing I said to you was ‚Only Zelda would really understand me‘.“ I snuggled up to him. „That wasn‘t really the last thing you said to me though.“ I still remembered the truly last thing he said to me before I was sent forward in time… him muttering my name. I closed my eyes and began to drift off into a light slumber, haunted by the images of trees bleeding onto the graves of small children...

(4): Cassandra was the main character of the first fanfiction I ever wrote, and my TLoZ self insert. She's a woman from our world who ended up being Ganondorf's wife.

#The Legend of Zelda #Another Life #fanfiction #OC

1 note · View note