#played legend of Zelda link between worlds and I’m currently playing ocarina of time | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

arecaceae175 · 2 years

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Hi :)

Daily Clicks For Palestine

Call me Ace, xe/xem/xyr/xyrs/xyrself

(pronouns page) (guide to neopronouns)

🖤🤍💜 💚🤍🖤 🖤🤍💚🤍🖤

I'm Arecaceae on AO3. I also have a writing account @acewrites175 if you just want to see my writing stuff and not everything else

For any new LU fans, I made an LU Character Guide that you can find here!

PSA most of my posts are queued so I’m not always online when posts appear. My queue is always full so posts are scheduled like 20 days out 😂😭

You can support me on ko-fi if you want :D

Loft stim board, Wake stim board

I have another account @lu-novelization where I do image descriptions and novelizations to try to help Linked Universe be accessible to people with low vision! It is very much work in progress.

[Header ID: Image from the Linked Universe comic (@linkeduniverse). They are in the woods and there are fairies floating around the group. All 9 Links are walking away from the viewer, most with their backs turned. Legend is looking back and barely smiling at Warriors. Wild has his hands on his hood, like he just pulled it over his head. Four is looking back at the Links behind him. End ID.]

[Icon ID: drawing by @wolfy1298 of Linked Universe Sky in a cutesy animated art style. He is smiling up at the camera with his eyes closed and his sailcloth (white cloth) is wrapped around his body like a cape. There are sparkles surrounding his head. In the bottom, the words say “would fist fight god.” End ID.]

My content:

Last Updated: March 17, 2024

LoZ Game List: (hours played in parentheses)

Currently playing (2/22): Ocarina of Time, Triforce Heroes

Beaten (6/22): Breath of the Wild (485), Skyward Sword (90), Minish Cap (30), Link’s Awakening (20), Tears of the Kingdom (265), Twilight Princess (80)

Played a significant amount of (2/22): Wind Waker, Majora’s Mask

Not started (11/22): Legend of Zelda, Legend of Zelda II, Oracle of Seasons, Oracle of Ages, Four Swords, Four Swords Adventures, Phantom Hourglass, Spirit Tracks, A Link to the Past, A Link Between Worlds, Hyrule Warriors, Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity

Played Games Ranked: BOTW, SS, , MC, TOTK, TP, MM, WW, TFH, LA, OOT

LU Analysis Posts

Tag: #ace’s lu analysis

Autistic LU chain headcannons

Smiling Compilation: use tag #smiling compilation - update link

Dawn 1:

Warriors and Wild analysis and why they're missing

Teaser update:

What is going on update analysis

Sunset 14:

Warriors character analysis throughout the Sunset Arc

Sunset 13:

Four & Wild character and plot analysis

Legend character analysis

Bonus Links Analysis Posts

Tag: #ace’s bl analysis

Most of these posts are analysis of comic updates that I put in the reblogs of the update

I love loft essay: part 1 here

Prompt Fill Events

2023 Whumptober and Flufftober info here :D

Febuwhump 2023 prompt fills: (30/30) Lu drabbles for febuwhump 2023

Febuwhump 2023 favs: Flinching (Time), Forced to Hurt a Loved One (Warriors & Time), "That's gonna scar" (Wild), Knife to the Throat (Warriors),

Whumptober 2022 prompt fills: (31/31) LU drabbles for whumptober 2022

Whumotober 2022 favs: Shaking Hands, Silent Panic Attack (Warriors), Cornered (Twilight), Adrenaline Crash (Time), Repeatedly Passing Out, Head Lolling (Time & Warriors), Take My Coat (Time & Wind), Screams From Across the Hall (Legend, Four, and Time)

Linked Universe Long Stories

Authenticity: (24/?) Wild POV, Autistic Wild because I'm autistic and he's my comfort character

Summary: Wild knew he was… odd. He experienced the world differently than everyone else. No one seemed to feel as deeply as he did, about the things he did. Sometimes he would interact with people and it would just feel… off. It was as if everyone else had a rulebook on how to be a person but Wild was left watching and guessing.

And the thing is, Wild knew his friends knew it too. But these new friends, they were different. They didn’t treat him like he was different, or broken, or a burden. They just took him in stride. Wild didn’t know how to put into words how much that meant to him.

In which Wild is autistic because I’m autistic and I want him to be.

Gratitude: (3/9) Sky fluff!

Summary: 8 times Sky receives a gratitude crystal from the chain + 1 time he gives some away.

In Defense of Honor: (4/9) Badass Sky appreciation, Sky-centric with individual chapters for the others

Summary: 8 times Sky defends another member of the chain + 1 time they all defend him.

Only the Wild Ones (are the ones you can never catch): (5/5) Wild & Twilight centric Wild meets the chain

Summary: At 6, Link visits Castle Town for the first time and meets some strange men in the woods. At 12, Link pulls the Master Sword and sees his imaginary friends again. At 14, Link is appointed as the Princess’s personal guard and is grateful to have old friends on his side. At 16, the Calamity strikes, and Link has never felt more alone. At 16, Link dies.

At 117, Link defeats evil incarnate and saves Hyrule. At 117, Link meets eight peculiar heroes for the first time. Or, at least, what he believes is the first time.

Twilight thinks the Goddess Hylia has a cruel sense of humor and needs to leave his cub alone.

Favorite LU Oneshots

Sentiment: Warriors and Time have a disagreement. AKA two traumatized heroes don’t know how to handle emotions and then they try to have a healthy conversation about it

Delirium: Sky’s whittling slowed, hands lowering into his lap. His gaze was locked on Wild, as it had been for most of the afternoon. Wild wouldn’t stop twitching. Sky couldn’t figure out why. Based on kikker-oma’s art.

Welcome Home: The chain arrives at Lon Lon Ranch, and Malon’s words trigger a memory.

Bouquet: Wind, Wild, and Hyrule are planning a prank. They're quite obvious about it, but Time lets it happen anyway.

Find all my oneshots for LU on my AO3 here!

Heroes Spirit Fanfic

Space Bugs: Bugs In Space: (1/1)

Summary: Cori teaches Eras how to identify insects. Space AU.

Swamp Bugs: Bugs Not In Space And Not Quite On Land: (1/1)

Summary: Cori takes Sky, Twilight, and Sailor to look for bugs. Tensions are high.

Land Bugs: Bugs Not In Space: (1/1)

Summary: Cori and Agitha lead the second official meeting of the Bug Squad.

Bonus Links Fanfic

Loft Gets To Have One (1) Nice Day: (1/1)

Summary: Loft and the very good extremely nice day. Featuring Groose, Zelda, and a board game.

On Our Best Behavior: (14/14) (3,002 words)

Summary: Short Bonus Links Prompt Fills for Flufftober 2023.

Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom Fanfic:

Affection: (6/6) BOTW

Summary: Five times others make assumptions about Link and Zelda plus one time they figure out what their relationship means to them. Or, Link and Zelda in a QPR.

More: (1/1) BOTW

Summary: Link and Zelda bond over flames and Zelda has a lot of feelings about it.

Speaking to the Wind: (1/1) TOTK

Summary: Link updates Zelda on his progress. She isn’t there to respond. AKA Link is lonely and is having a lot of big feelings.

Falling Through the Air: (1/1) TOTK

Summary: Link discovers her.

Skyward Sword Fanfic

Shapes in the Clouds: (1/1) GrooZeLink fluff

Summary: Groose finds Link looking at the clouds.

Tags

#ace writes : my stories

#ace’s lu analysis : my LU analysis posts

#ace's bl analysis : my bonus links analysis posts and my thoughts on the updates

#art for my fic : amazing art based on my writing!

#three sentence prompt : ask game where you submit a word and I write three sentences of a fic based on it (it’s always longer than three sentences)

#lu incorrect quotes : instead of studying for finals I created over 100 incorrect quotes for LU XD they can be found under this tag

#authenticity : my autistic Wild story

#idoh : tag for my story In Defense of Honor

#gratitide : tag for the gratitude crystal story

#autistic chain : all my LU autism stuff

#ace has polls : my polls. They’re fun

#good art : reblogs of art I really really like (also artists I reblog from a lot each have their own art tag - it’s “artistname art”)

#lu fic recs : other people’s fics I really really like

#the lu boyos : stuff with all the links (boyos is gender neutral lol)

#self care : unrelated to LU usually. Just general self care tips!

#Zelda!!! : my cat

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mahou-furbies · 1 year

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Zelda hell you say?

Is there any games outside of the switch ones you've been looking to play?

Nobody asked but my full Zelda game history is

(the og) Legend of Zelda - had it on our emulator but never got that far, because it had a lot of different games that were more appealing to me than the old Loz with its kinda crummy graphics

A Link to the Past - my favourite Zelda until Breath of the Wild

Spirit Tracks - didn't like, didn't finish

Ocarina of Time 3ds - never got past the first dungeon because the art... and I think I had something else going on at the time and just didn't go back to the game

Breath of the Wild - current favourite video game ever

Age of Calamity - didn't think I would like this genre of game but I wanted to see more of the characters and now I really like it. Though I cleared it on easy, but we tried it on apocalypse with 2 players and it was fun too (though I'd never survive on my own)

Skyward Sword (Switch) - didn't like, the things that were good about it were better in botw, except Groose is a top tier character

Hyrule Warriors (Switch) - took me like 20 hours to start liking this but now I’m really into it. Still playing but it’s on hold due to Pokemon

Link’s Awakening (Switch) - cute.

So to answer your actual question, I guess any that aren’t on this list? (Or maybe not Zelda II. or most of the handhelds. Which I guess covers a lot already?) I’ll probably try to finish (start) OoT at least and maybe try A Link Between the Worlds. For several of them there is the problem of them not being on a console I have though.

For anyone interested my Zelda blog is here, though it’s mostly just reblogs with an occasional drawing.

#(sailing the seven seas is of course an option for the console issue)#the legend of zelda #responses

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beardedhandstoadshark · 3 months

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I want to know your theories or speculations about the future of The Legend of Zelda franchise! :)

Sure! So basically what is happening with Botw/totk is just Ocarina of time all over again. Big game heralded as one of the best that had ever come out redefining franchise and bringing a lot of new fans with it who connect the entire series to only that game.

In other words, I’m saying we‘re only gonna see botw type games for the next few years, with maybe some 2D (or perhaps even really small scale classic 3D) games thrown in on handheld consoles that will also be very good! But their existence generally disregarded from the "main“ series for. Being on portable ig, idk why people never count the handheld games. A Link between worlds is a great and full-fledged game, so is minish cap.

The next game is confirmed to keep the open world gameplay but not play in the current era, so! We‘ll prprobably continue seeing art style changes, at least. Perhaps a less cell-shaded look this time to separate it from its predecessors, or go the opposite route and back to Toon Link! Doubt they’re gonna make blue the new default color though, even current Link got his green back with the starter tunic. Keeping the gameplay means they’ll probably also keep the dress-up aspect, which I’d be very glad about. Best thing that came out of Triforce Heroes fr.

50/50 on wether they’re gonna pull the shrines again, though. At some point doing that all over again just seems tiring. I can see them doing less but bigger in the future, like mini-dungeons or something. Satisfy the people complaining while also getting something that looks new for advertising.

..less likely to happen but would love to gain some sort of learning system like the sword skills though, or perhaps optional items that function like them. Don’t need them to complete the game, but they sure make movement more flashy and fun. (I just wanna be Spider-Man again ;-; ). Not gonna have any other gameplay-based progression otherwise, as had been with botw/totk as well.

…also, whatever the next few games are gonna look like, botw stans are gonna be insufferable about it XD Oot-stans are still complaining about (and dramatizing) every minor detail after 20 years, and with the games already parallel each other it’s just gonna be them all over again fr. In other words whatever game is gonna come out in 10 years is gonna be great and possibly finally let you pet the dogs lmao

#another anon ask

0 notes

frenchtoastie · 3 years

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Do you play video games?

Sometimes! But not always because I don’t really have a lot of money so I can’t afford a lot of games

#let’s see if I can list some games Ive played #you got classic battle your friends ones like smash bros (my main is sheik) and Mario kart #I really like kingdom hearts but I’ve only played days not any of the other games #I recently finished a game called children of mana that I really liked #rune factory harvest moon but I never finished that one yet #I’ve played fire emblem awakening and fates: birthright #played legend of Zelda link between worlds and I’m currently playing ocarina of time #I love Minecraft but I haven’t played it in years #dream daddy I just adore as a cute dating sim #I’ve played a little animal crossing #some Pokémon games but I’ve never finished any Pokémon games

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bearcina · 2 years

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Olarom!

Welcome to my page, I’m your host, Bear! I’m a 20yr old aspiring author and OOAK doll customizer!

Masterlist (Amazon wishlist)

My pronouns are they/them/he/she/dude

I’m always looking for new friends, I don’t bite! I just write kinky stuff!

My Ask Box is always open, feel free to ask any questions!

Presenting, under the cut!: Q&A!

I see you’re here for the rest of the post!

Where can I find you off of Tumblr?

You can find me on Discord, Bearcina#5637!

My Steam is the same, Bearcina!

My AO3 is Bearcina, and here’s a direct link!

My KakaotalkID is bearcina! My kakao name is Bear'ika (little bear)

I’m on Wizard101 as Maria Rainbowbreath, a level 50-something Balance wizard, I specialize in supports, hit me up for a True Friend code! I just finished Dragonspyre!

What do you use to draw?

I use an XP-PEN brand tablet for digital work!

I do doll face-ups with Arteza watercolor pencils, soft chalk pastels, mica powder, Mr. Super Clear UV Matte Flat, and LOTS of DuraClear in Matte, Gloss, and Ultra Glossy!

My sketchpads are off-white and textured for watercolor pencils! I use Pilot pens for inking, and these pencils for sketching!

Do you have a Masterlist of your fanfics and works?

Yes, and here’s the link to the Masterlist!

I’m into Astrology, what’s your birth chart?

I am a Gemini (sun), Sagittarius (Mars), Libra (Rising), Taurus (Venus), Ares (Moon) and a Gemini (Mercury)!

What the FUCK is wrong with you?

A LOT. I’m disabled and mentally ill from some serious childhood trauma! Here’s a nonexhaustive list of my problems!:

C-PTSD

PTSD

MDD

BPD

Generalized Anxiety

Dissociative Identity Disorder

Panic disorders

More Depression, but make it ~Seasonal~

Fibromyalgia

Migraines (a LOT)

Arthritis

Herniated spinal discs

Chronic fatigue

And so many more!

I’m also autistic, I have ADHD, dyscalculia, and my brain is about as functional as a goldfish! (surprisingly smarter than expected but still dumb as a damn rock-)

What fandoms are you in? What interests you?

I currently enjoy: (current fixations are bold!)

Katamari Damacy

The Outer Worlds

Fallout: New Vegas

Fallout 4

Fallout 3

Spyro the Dragon

Hades (game)

Pokemon! (Sinnoh, Alola, and Galar right now! I have one of every gen but Hoenn)

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team, and Explorers of Darkness/Sky (I don’t have time!)

The Legend of Zelda (Ocarina of Time, Skyward Sword, Minish Cap, Link’s Awakening (all three editions), and A Link Between Worlds and many others!)

Portal

Portal 2

Portal: Aperture Tag

Portal Stories: Mel

Animal Crossing (Check above for my switch codes to play NH with me!!)

Animal Crossing Happy Home Designer

Star Wars, specifically The Mandalorian and things related to Mandalorians! (I’m learning Mando’a with help from the Oyu’baat!)

Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

Leviathan series by Scott Westerfeld

Good Omens

Prospect (2018) (I love Ezra!)

SCP Foundation

The Penumbra Podcast: Juno Steel! (podcast)

The Magnus Archives (podcast)

Wolf 359 (podcast)

Elaines Cooking for the Soul (podcast)

MarsCorp (podcast)

Oz 9 (podcast)

StarTripper!! (podcast)

The Strange Case of Starship Iris (podcast)

Welcome to Night Vale

Mars’ Best Brisket (Podcast)

EOS 10 (podcast)

Distractable Podcast (by markiplier)

The Sims

Sewing, I do mine by hand and machine! (ask me about my machines!)

Crochet

Historical sewing

Cosmetology (I grew up in a salon, my mother is a beautician and I love dying and cutting hair!)

Acrylic nails (they’re so pretty!)

ToonTown ReWritten (Find me as Fancy Lolipop the bear or Deputy Biscuit the deer!)

Wizard101 (I like playing!)

Gardening

YuGiOh (I collect the cute cards >w<)

Martial arts (I did karate for many years and i got my black belt! I also like playing with rope darts, though I’m not good!)

Tarot Cards and other such fortune telling things, I’m a pagan and a witch!

Any other questions? Send me an ask!

#Welcome #check here #read me #info post #Q&A #Bear babbles

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queenof-literature · 4 years

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Signs

Hi all! I hope you enjoy part 4 of my Hero of Wild series. For more information on the signs, please click here if you’re interested.

I just wanted to be upfront and say that this is in no way an exact portrayal of ASL or the culture surrounding it. Hylians are fictional and would therefore have different signs. I based it off of vocabulary from ASL. I know basic sign to help my fellow peers in Special Education, but I am not fluent and am only basing it loosely off of ASL and putting a twist on it I think Wild’s Hyrule would have developed over the centuries. I of course don’t know Wild’s Hyrule’s sign, so these are just my personal headcanons for how I think it would be. Thank you!

“I think we need to make name signs for ourselves.” Twilight pitched his idea while Sky was off distracting Wild. They were currently in Sky’s Hyrule on the surface. Wild’s first time going through a portal went well enough. He went through last with his hand on his slate. Twilight assumed it felt a little bit like a trap, that a group he didn’t know very well told him to go through a mysterious portal. Wild seemed used to strange magic at least, or whatever his slate was. Wild had told Twilight it wasn’t magic but Twilight had a hard time believing that.

It seemed their new member was similar to their traveler in the fact they had to do their best to keep them from running away to explore. Still they both often ran off the path when they saw something interesting to them, Four and Wind joining them sometimes.

Twilight had told Sky his idea of giving signs to each of them for Wild to communicate better and quicker. If he needed a specific item from someone during a fight, quick and efficient would be key. Not to mention the kid shouldn’t have to be forced to finger spell one of their names everytime. Sky smiled and told him what a great idea that was, and that he would give Wild a miniature tour while Twilight brought it up to the group. He didn’t want to spring it upon both Wild and the other Links at the same time, that just seemed like a recipe for disaster.

“Name signs? You mean in sign language?” Legend asked curiously.

“Yeah for Wild. It makes no sense to have the kid continuously fingerspell out names.” Twilight confirmed glancing over to Time.

“I’ve been meaning to ask about that. Since our nicknames are more based on nature or objects, why doesn’t Wild just use his signs? Why doesn’t he just sign Sky?” Warriors asked carefully.

“That’s a slippery slope.” Four spoke for Twilight. “That could cause confusion based on context. It would be easier to assign specific names.”

“That sounds cool but how do we do that?” Wind asked with a tilted head.

“Well when I was working with my grandfather, a girl my age and her family came in. She couldn’t hear very well so her family learned sign. Her father talked to my grandfather about it. Apparently it’s easiest if you take a personality or a defining characteristic, like a personality or hair color or something, and have a twist to it. Her name was Lily, so they signed the sign for a lily flower with the sign for I think happy in front of it? I don’t remember very well but it’s like that.” Four spoke up. The others nodded in interest and began whispering about what their signs could be.

“That’s a good idea. Should we just do our hero titles and a defining trait?” Warriors asked.

“That sounds fine, but we should probably ask Wild what he wants since he will be the main person using them.” Time spoke up, to which the group all agreed.

“Okay well I sent Sky off with him. I didn’t want to spring this upon everyone at once.” Twilight stated, barely resisting beaming when Time nodded in approval.

“Good idea, Pup.” Time smiled as the group descended into evening chatter once again. It hadn’t been a hard day of travel, but it had been longer than usual to find a space Sky deemed safe enough. For now the group settled down for the evening.

Wild didn’t know why Sky was distracting him but he played along for now, doing well to hide his nerves. Maybe he had done something wrong? Something the group hadn’t liked? Sky seemed too nice to be leading him to his execution, but maybe that was the point. Sky seemed too nice in general. He was far too warm and accepting to him, especially right away. He wasn’t an idiot, he knew the others stared at his scars when they thought he wasn’t looking. Had the Master Sword told Sky of his failure? Perhaps the group knew of him dying 100 years ago, and they were going to take care of him before it happened again.

It was a shame. Wild liked them so far, especially Twilight. He seemed so warm and willing to help. And Hyrule seemed similar to Wild in their love of exploring. And Four was accepting of almost anyone, no matter what. Was it all a facade? Knowing Wild’s luck it certainly was. He didn’t think they were Yiga, the Master Sword soothed those fears and told Wild to trust them without using any words at all. Yet that was before they truly knew him. Had the Master Sword changed its mind?

If he was ambushed by the very group he was supposed to trust, fellow Heroes of Courage, he knew a part of him would die. Even if he didn’t know them very well, they were a part of his past, present, and perhaps his future. Incarnations of the same soul passed down and changed for millenia. If they deemed Wild unworthy, he would move on, but a deep part of him would remember and always feel pain that his own past incarnations hated him.

Still for now he listened to Sky talk about his Hyrule. If he wasn’t so deep in his thoughts he would find it more fascinating, but he had plenty to bring back to Zelda. If he made it back to her. Another wave of fear swept over him. What if the group was the only way to get to other worlds? He couldn’t make portals appear on a whim! According to Time, Hylia herself even seemed to struggle to put them in the right place! If they ambushed him, he would fight and he would run. But would he be trapped in a distant Hyrule forever, centuries apart from the Goron, Rito, Gerudo, Zora, and most importantly Zelda? If he had no way to return to his Hyrule that he knew and loved, he would be trapped in this warped reality, forever hunted by the real Link who lived here. Leaving Zelda to fix the kingdom he had a hand in ruining.

Wild (perhaps he wouldn’t have that name for long now, although he truly loved it), barely noticed them approaching their campsite for the evening. Wild readied his hand to launch to his slate. He wasn’t going down without a fight, but he would never attack these fellow heroes first. Wild was met with the curious eyes of the other Links around what would soon be a cooking fire.

This was it.

“So, Wild.” Twilight spoke up. Oh Hylia, why did it have to be Twilight? The very man who offered comfort after his first nightmare within the group. Had he forsaken Hylia that much? “We were talking, and we thought maybe you could teach us some more of your sign? Since it’s changed so much over the years. And maybe we could come up with name signs for each other to make communicating easier?”

Oh.

Wild looked genuinely shocked at the boys wanting to learn his language, which made Twilight feel far more sad than he was expecting. Between his distrust of any other Hylians and his shock at someone wanting to communicate with him in his own way, it was clear that there had been many people who had hurt Wild.

‘You don’t have to.’ Wild signed, snapping out of his shock.

“We want to Wild.” Wind reassured, along with the rest of the group. Wild could feel his face warming up, not knowing what to say. He thought they were going to hunt him!

“Um. Well we were thinking you could teach us how to say our hero titles, and then we could all choose a personality or physical trait that defines us? And we could combine them to make the name sign? It’s completely up to you, it’s just an idea.” Twilight pitched.

‘...are you sure?’ Wild signed hesitantly. He didn’t want to make any trouble within the group.

“Yeah Wild! It sounds fun anyway!” Wind exclaimed, attempting to dial up his excited tone to assure Wild they were happy to do it.

‘Okay. Thank you.’ Wild signed as heartfelt as he could. The rest of the team smiled at the boy’s acceptance.

“Are you okay with the idea we had to make them?” Time asked, to which Wild simply nodded. “Okay, we’ll have you combine them, but let us know if it’s too complicated and we’ll choose something else.” Wild nodded at Time once again, signaling that was fine with him.

“Okay! Who wants to go first?” Twilight clapped his hands, glancing around the group members.

“I can. I’m fine with anything that’s not insulting.” Legend volunteered, tacking on the end when he noticed Warriors’ large smile.

“Well that’s easy! You have a pink strand of hair, and your name is Legend! Let’s combine those!” Wind said excitedly. Legend simply shrugged in acceptance.

“Wild, how do you say those?” Wild paused for a moment. Legend was a person and not a fairy tale, so he should use the sign that leaned more towards legacy and not stories. He placed his left hand, the index finger straight up, the middle finger at an angle while the rest of his fingers curled down. Making a downward stroking potion with the curved finger on his chin, mouthing pink along with the sign. Wild then formed his hands into curved triangles, pinching his fingers together. Placing his hands in front of him with the left above the right, making two motions to shift the hands from the left side of his body to the right. To his surprise the rest of the group copied it to the best of their ability, including Legend who didn’t even seem to want to participate in this.

“I’m fine with that.” Legend stated simply, confirming the sign as his. No one brought up him practicing it close to his chest for far longer than necessary.

“I assume mine is going to be Time and Old Man?” Time asked in amusement.

“Nah, we can do better than that.” Warriors smirked. “How about your ocarina? We could combine Time and music?” Warriors pitched. Time nodded, he enjoyed that well enough. He silently appreciated that it also connected him to the Kokiri.

Wild nodded and mouthed time as he moved his right hand like a dial before shifting to the sign for music, moving his right hand in a sweeping motion above his left arm cradled to his chest. The rest of the group copied, Time nodded.

“If we’re in battle, you can sign these with one hand right? The rest of us should be able to know what you’re referring to.” Four asked Wild, who smiled and nodded.

“Let’s do Four next!” Sky spoke up.

“Isn't the sign for Four still just four fingers held up?” Four asked curiously.

“Ugh that’s boring. What if you’re ‘Colors’ instead because of your tunic?” Wind questioned.

“Wind! Don’t call the Hero of Four Swords’ title boring!” Sky chided, although Four looked oddly pleased at the idea of being deemed ‘Colors’ in sign.

“I like it. Maybe with metal or blacksmithing?” Four nodded to Wild. Wild’s nose scrunched up thought, before nodding brightly. ‘Color’ he mouthed as he spread his left palm out, facing his chin as he tapped the index and middle finger against it. The rest of the group copied. Wild then moved the ‘metal’ which shifted to the hand being in a hook shape, tapping the index finger on his chin once again.

“That’s easy enough.” Four’s small smile had grown the slightest bit wider at his sign. Four was sure it wasn’t as sophisticated as a group of people who were more involved with sign could come up with, but this worked perfectly for their new team.

“Me next!” Wind waved his hand. “Well there’s wind and then… something with music! No! Something with boats! Or pirates! No the sea! That incorporates it all!” Wind yelled out his ideas in rapid succession. Wild waited until the teen finally settled on wind and sea. Wild bit his lip. That would be sort of hard to combine. He used the sign for ‘Sea’, the left palm spread out and facing to the side, tapping his index finger on his chin. Although instead of finishing the sign in the normal fashion, he shifted it to the sign for Wind, keeping his palms spread and facing each other. He then moved his hands in two little circles.

“That's perfect!” Wind exclaimed while copying the motion many more times.

Wild pointed to Warriors next.

“Oh, me next?” Warriors asked. Wild nodded, he had a good idea for Warriors. He moved his right hand in a curly zigzag with three curves. “Does that not combine anything?” Warriors asked, seemingly hiding his disappointment that it seemed not much thought was out in it. Wild bit his lip, taking out the journal Four had given him for talking around the campfire when his signs were too complicated.

‘It combines the sign for sword fight and soldier with the sign for writing. You seem to like writing and drawing in your books. Do you want a new one?’ Wild wrote on one of the pages before passing it to Warriors. Realization dawned on him as he read the pages.

“Oh! Sorry Wild I was just confused. I thought it was just a sign for sword. No, I like it!” Warriors smiled at Wild as he passed the book around for the others to see. There were a couple comments about how it fit well and how Wild was good at this, which made Wild blush lightly.

“How about me?” Sky asked after a moment of silence, being careful not to speak over anyone else.

“What do you want your characteristic to be?” Four asked. “Maybe warm? You have a very warm personality.” Four smirked at Sky’s blush.

“I was thinking maybe red? My loftwing that I told you about is crimson colored.” Sky asked Wild. “If not that's okay I can think of something else.” Wild smiled and shook his head, this one would be easy! He mouthed ‘red’, stroking his chin twice with his left index finger, the rest of his fingers curled in a fist. He then mouth ‘sky’ as he swept his arm grandly upwards towards the trees above.

“That’s pretty! Will you understand it if we use a smaller motion for the sky sign? Just if we’re in a rush?” Sky questioned. Wild thought for a minute. It was slightly similar to other signs in different contexts if the motions were smaller, but having the red in front of it would solidify what they were saying. After a few moments of thought, Wild nodded.

“For mine, maybe we should do what we did for Four and not use my hero title? Just because my name is already confusing sometimes with Hyrule the land and Hyrule me.” Hyrule spoke up, looking slightly sheepish.

“If that’s what you're comfortable with ‘Rule.” Legend reassured. “How about Traveler?”

Wild started furiously scribbling before Hyrule could confirm that he liked that name, everyone pausing to let Wild finish.

‘I don’t know traveler in sign, I can’t remember and no one ever taught me again, it’s just blank. I would usually just say yes to being a traveler or say I’m a wanderer. Sorry Hyrule.’ As if to express his apology more clearly, Wild had drawn a large sad face next to the text he had written. Wild always wrote extremely small in his book, as if not wanting to overuse the gift Four had given him. It was a nice change of pace to see something larger on the pages.

“That’s okay, Wild! I’m okay with Wanderer too!” Hyrule laughed. “What about the other sign?”

“How about magic? No one’s better at magic than you ‘Rule.” Twilight suggested, causing Hyrule to burn red.

“I mean I just needed it for my journey. It’s fun though! I like being able to take out a bunch of monsters at the same time-” Wild tuned out Hyrule’s explanation to think of how to combine those signs. He tried to make them easy and short, for both battle and for conversation. He waited until the group quieted down, turning their attention to him. He mouthed ‘wanderer’ as he swayed his right index finger back and forth. He would replace the beginning of the magic sign with that, instead of clenching his fingers together. He then mouthed ‘magic’, quickly clenching a fist and releasing it with flare, as if casting a spell on the ground below.

“I love it!” Hyrule beamed as the others repeated the sign.

“My turn I suppose?” Twilight turned to Wild, who was writing on the page again.

‘I can’t say twilight, but I can say dusk.’ The page said.

“That’s alright.” Twilight reassured.

“What’s his other name going to be?” Wind asked the group.

“Country?”

“Goats?”

“Rancher?” Wild pondered all of these suggestions. Nothing quite fit together. An idea struck Wild’s brain like lightning when he had his royal claymore out in a storm.

‘Wolf.’ Wild wrote in large letters on half of the page so everyone could see. The others looked slightly confused, but Wild simply pointed to the pelt on Twilight’s shoulders.

“Wild, are you sure?” Twilight asked, gritting his teeth slightly.

“What Wild says goes. Besides, I think it suits you just fine, Pup.” Time spoke over the others, enunciating the word ‘Pup’ with all the teasing venom he had, causing the group to roar with laughter. Twilight couldn’t believe this! Betrayed! By his own mentor! Although all of Twilight’s rage dissipated when he looked over to see Wild silently shaking with laughter. As usual the boy made no noise with his mouth, but he didn’t have to. Twilight could see the joy on his face. It struck him that he had never seen Wild laugh like that before, but it seemed natural, like he should be doing it all the time. Twilight supposed if this was the result he didn’t mind the sign so much. Besides, he secretly liked it anyway.

Wild waited for the group to calm down before making Twilight’s sign. He mouth ‘wolf’ as he formed what looked to be a snout in front of his face, keeping his thumb and index finger together, he made a circle and brought it down. Twilight actually really liked his sign, he thought it reflected him very well.

‘Thank you.’ Wild said again once they were done assigning names, being met with a chorus of ‘no problem’ and ‘of course’. Wild started to stand to make the cooking fire for dinner tonight, committing all the signs to his memory. Ever since he had joined, he had taken over the cooking in the evenings. In the mornings a lot of people did their own thing. Some made themselves a full meal, while others just ate an apple on the road later when they were actually hungry.

“Wait, Wild!” Wind piped, causing Wild to freeze. Oh no had he forgotten someone? That would be so embarrassing.

“You forgot your name sign!” Sky finished. Wild’s nose scrunched up once again, picking up the journal once again.

‘I can just refer to myself?’ Wild was confused as to why he needed one. The others seemed to be alright at talking, but maybe Wild was mistaken.

“Well yeah, but you gave us all names, it’s our turn.” Hyrule began.

“And at this point it might as well be a team thing.” Four finished. Wild’s brain went blank for a moment. A team thing? He was a part of the team now? Officially? Wild didn’t expect anything to solidify that, he was just expecting to continue to trail along like a lost puppy. Wild bit back a smile and nodded.

“Okay we have to make this one really good.”

“It at least has to involve nature.”

“And destruction.”

“Really Legend?”

“What? You saw how the guy fought that Lynel. Make his name fire or something.”

“No! It has to be something cool like morning wood or something.”

“No no no no no no no no no.”

“What why? It’s cool?”

“Wind, no!”

“But why?”

“I’ll explain when you’re older.”

“Oh fuck you!”

“What about fire and grass?” Twilight called out, halting all conversations. The group looked at him curiously. “It shows his Wild title and his Hyrule. Also he lit a shit ton of grass on fire when we met him. The group all nodded, deeming this title fighting of their new member.

“Is that okay, Wild?” Sky asked gently. Wild nodded enthusiastically. Grass and fire, some his favorite things. He mouth ‘grass’ as he tucked his thumb against his right palm, sweeping his index finger over the side of his mouth once before dragging it down in front of his chest in a circle to imitate flames.

“Perfect!” Twilight resisted clapping his hand on Wild’s shoulder. The rest of the group was fine with casual touching, Twilight had to keep reminding himself that Wild was different in that aspect. That was fine, they were figuring it out one by one.

The group settled down once again to chat while Wild cooked dinner, signing as best as they could as they talked. Even though Wild could hear them fine, it was good practice. Overall, it looked to be a peaceful evening.

“Wait, can someone do the signs for me again?”

Thank you for reading! Once again, for more information on the signs, please click here if you’re interested.

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gascon-en-exil · 4 years

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Ranking Zelda Water Dungeons

@thehylianbatman asked for this, and I’ve been sitting on this idea for something like two years now so I figured it’s a good a time as any to pull it out. Water dungeons in The Legend of Zelda have collectively garnered a bad reputation, with some of them among gaming’s most standout representatives of all the annoyances that come with Down the Drain levels. Because I like to be contrary watery environmental aesthetics are typically among my favorites however I have a particular fondness for many of these dungeons, and so I’m giving them a bit of time in the limelight (while also acknowledging that some of them nonetheless really are terrible, even if they’re pretty). Also note that I have not replayed any of these games to make this list, so I’ll be going entirely from memory. While that’s hardly the most accurate way to do something like this, it’ll be helpful in gauging which dungeons leave the most lasting impressions.

First off, a list of dungeons I will be excluding from this ranking because they don’t meet my personal requirements for what constitutes a water dungeon.

Any mini-dungeon, ex. Pirate’s Fortress from Majora’s Mask or the water-based shrines in Breath of the Wild

Dungeons where the name and/or location is suggestive of a watery theme but the experience itself fails to deliver, ex. the Palace on the Sea from The Adventure of Link, Catfish’s Maw from Link’s Awakening, the Ocean Temple from Spirit Tracks

Dancing Dragon Dungeon from Oracle of Seasons, because a waterfall entrance and some short swimming segments do not a water dungeon make.

The Tower of the Gods from Wind Waker, because only the first floor is even partially water-based and it’s just the tide going in and out which is both uninteresting and rather frustrating to play around. I thought about including it, but it would be very low if I had.

Skyview Temple from Skyward Sword, as its swimming segments are also brief and come more in the odd return visit for a midgame fetch quest than for the initial run through.

Now for the ones that made the cut:

#13. Water Temple (Triforce Heroes)

This one just barely made the list, and my decision to include it in the end is mostly on account of the novelty factor. Of the three stage select-style Zelda games, Triforce Heroes is the only one with any notable water levels and even dedicates a full world to the theme. It’s too bad that I can only really count the last level in that world as a dungeon, because this Water Temple is just a knockoff of the Swamp Palace from A Link Between Worlds adjusted for three Links. There are tektites and octoroks and you play around with water levels and this game’s iteration of the hookshot before fighting a version of the OG water dungeon boss Arrghus. Much of TH feels like a quirky theme park version of a Zelda game, and unfortunately this particular example does little to elevate the concept and as a result feels uninspired. The rest of the Riverside world fares better, especially in its use of the new water rod item, but its last level is a dungeon only because it has to be.

#12. Jabu-Jabu’s Belly (Oracle of Ages)

If I had to choose one dungeon as an example of what people tend to hate about this group on the whole, it would be this one. Less infamous though it may be coming from a handheld title rather than one of the 3D games, this version of a dungeon inside a giant fish suffers precisely because it is not 3D, or more specifically not Ocarina of Time. It combines aspects of both of OoT’s water dungeons and fails at each of them because of the limitations of the game’s format; the unpleasant environs of being inside a digestive tract don’t come across well on the Game Boy Color, and raising and lowering the water level is harder to visualize in only two dimensions. Combine this with bland visuals that make it easy to get lost, a dungeon item that’s only a length upgrade of an item you already have (also like OoT’s Water Temple), a droning musical track, and the less fluid swimming controls that come with OoA’s mermaid suit “upgrade,” and there’s not much saving this one. The boss is sort of fun I suppose, but it’s a bioelectric aquatic monster...hmm, now where have I seen that before....

#11. Swamp Palace (A Link Between Worlds)

I did want this one higher, but it’s so short. That’s true of all but two of the Lorule dungeons really, with them being streamlined and in many cases more thematically pronounced rehashes of the Dark World dungeons from A Link to the Past, but because the original Swamp Palace is already solid (see below) this one just doesn’t have much to do. It adds some raft puzzles and marginally more complex changes to the water level, but that’s about it. The boss is also almost identical, which isn’t saying much because “monster with a single eye that is also its weak point” describes most of the bosses on this list, but here it’s just Arrghus again. I will say that I was grateful for how short this dungeon is in my single run of this game’s Hero Mode, because it holds the valuable defense-boosting Blue Mail. Imagine the developer trolling that would have been leaving it where it had been in LttP: in this game’s equivalent of the Ice Palace.

#10. Lakebed Temple (Twilight Princess)

As the first 3D entry on this list I suspect this may be a bit surprising, but I have to say I’ve never liked Lakebed much. A big part of that is how there’s relatively little water inside the dungeon despite it being on, you know, a lake bed. It’s a shame too, because Twilight Princess has the second-best underwater controls of the 3D games and even underwater bombs. Have fun using them in maybe three rooms. It’s also an uninspired experience beyond that, with drab visuals - despite its reputation for being gritty and brown TP can do good visuals, just not here - a music track that’s more atmospheric cave music than identifiable melody, a structure that resembles what would come from welding the two tower climbs of Ocarina of Time’s Fire Temple to the central structure of its Water Temple, and a tedious backtracking segment in the middle if you want to get all the chests (and all the stamps in the HD remake) which of course I do because 100% completion. Redirecting multiple currents and using them to flood the central room is admittedly neat, but I can’t give Lakebed too much credit for what the clawshot does to distinguish itself from the standard hookshot when much of the difference here comes down to hanging from slowly rotating platforms. Whee. Morpheel is also a joke, initially a riff on OoT’s Morpha that looks genuinely impressive when its leviathan main body emerges for the second phase...and then dies in a minute while posing next to no threat to the player as it swims around aimlessly. The frog mini-boss leaves more of an impression for striking an odd balance between goofy and gross...but why is a giant frog at the (partially dry) bottom of a lake? Gah.

#9. Angler’s Tunnel (Link’s Awakening)

Easily nabs the award for best glow-up in a remake, and indeed this ranking owes itself mostly to the Switch version. The original deserves some praise for being the second water dungeon in the series while not copying too much from the first, and it’s the only one on this list where Link can’t swim at all until he acquires the dungeon item meaning for the first half he’s got to avoid water like it’s lava. Still, the remake massively ups the aquatic ambiance between the cool blue lighting and environmental pieces and the remixed music (with bits of the original Game Boy chip tune left in, as with most of the soundtrack). It also buffs the boss so it dies in thirty seconds instead of five - go marginally threatening Angler Fish! Less than half of the dungeons in Link’s Awakening have traditional themes, instead preferring such odd motifs as bottles and keys and amateur demolition, but Angler’s Tunnel is one of the few that does so I’m happy to see that the development team for the Switch version really leaned into that distinction.

#8. Divine Beast Vah Ruta (Breath of the Wild)

I struggled considerably with ranking this one, and even now I’m still not satisfied. On the one hand this ought to be easy; everyone knows that the Divine Beasts are a low point of Breath of the Wild, small and monotonous with few enemies and similar boss fights and puzzles that are only slightly beefed-up versions of those found in shrines. On the other though BotW more than any previous game blurs the definition of a dungeon with its multitudinous shrines, lengthy (or not) quests leading up to the entrance of each Divine Beast, and Hyrule Castle providing an open-world dungeon experience like no other. In this regard Ruta is easily the best of the Beasts, as the sequence of events leading up to it involve a mostly linear narrative and geographical progression (helped by Ruta drenching the area in constant rain and preventing Link from climbing over everything like usual) that organically follows from the story progression near the start of the game and concludes with a thrilling mini-game in which Link rides Sidon smashing ice blocks and shooting targets mid-air after being launched from the top of a waterfall - and also forever blessing the internet with more gay shark cocks than it could have ever needed or wanted. Ruta’s interior has a few points in its favor as well; the obligatory dungeon movement mechanism only shifts the aim of the water spraying from the elephant’s trunk which is less disorienting than the equivalent mechanics in the other Beasts, and Link has a rune (Cryonis) naturally attuned to water/ice puzzles which somewhat makes up for BotW’s bizarre lack of underwater swimming. So yeah, lots of pros and cons and Link the DP’ing fish fucker bottom, so I’ll have to settle for sticking this one just below the middle.

#7. Jabu-Jabu’s Belly (Ocarina of Time)

It seems strange how everyone accepted it at the time, but Ocarina of Time’s initial trio of dungeons keep the training wheels firmly on. All of them are fairly short and straightforward, none of them have locked doors, and the first two are as aesthetically generic for their respective themes as it gets. Then comes Jabu-Jabu, which is still short and key-less..except you’re inside a giant fish so here that makes sense and we’re all better off not thinking about how the barred “doors” work. As I alluded to in the entry for the inferior Oracle knockoff, this dungeon sells it on the nastiness: Link’s footsteps make squelching sounds, the walls appear to pulse (and have live cows in them serving as switches in the Master Quest revamp...again, don’t ask), glowing white growths serve as slingshot targets, there are mysterious tentacles everywhere and not the sexy kind, and the boss is a swollen mass of viscera that explodes in a shower of green goo when it dies. Extremely gross all around, but then you are inside a giant fish. Funny too that Jabu-Jabu throws a hitch in the usual dungeon pattern in the form of an escort quest of all things, but thankfully Link has to carry Ruto around instead of waiting for her to follow with dodgy AI. I also have to give credit for this dungeon making extensive use of the boomerang you find in its depths, easily one of the most fun items in OoT that goes criminally underutilized since only young Link can use it and it comes right at the end of his portion of the quest.

#6. Mermaid’s Cave (Oracle of Ages)

Oracle of Ages makes up for its counterpart’s lack of water dungeons with two of its own, and Mermaid’s Cave is by far the better of the two. It stands out as the only dungeon in either Oracle title to make use of its game’s defining gimmick, which in this case means that there are past and present versions that have to be explored separately. Ocarina of Time had earlier featured a dungeon with a similar concept in its Spirit Temple, but as with time travel in OoA more generally Mermaid’s Cave takes it a step farther with major structural and environmental differences between the two versions. The water source at the base of Rolling Ridge dries up over the course of four centuries, leaving the dungeon partially flooded in the past but mostly dry and ruined in the present, and doing some things in the past Mermaid’s Cave will affect the dungeon in the present as well. Unfortunately the novelty is somewhat undone by the dungeon item, the clunky mermaid suit that I’ve previously complained about. It leads to the game’s first fully underwater segments and plays a major role in the boss fight which alternatively engages you above and below the surface, but the letdown that is this dungeon’s namesake keeps me from placing this one any higher. Well, that and the fact that you have to do two Goron trading sequences to get inside, because of course you need a key for each era. OoA loves little annoyances like that.

#5. Swamp Palace (A Link to the Past)

While you’d be hard-pressed to call it the most iconic anymore, this is without a doubt the ur-water dungeon of the series - and I don’t only mean that it’s the first one. It’s got raising and lowering the water level, swimming against currents, redirecting channels, electric enemies, the hookshot as a dungeon item, randomly unintuitive nonsense (flooding a canal in the Light World does the same in the equivalent Dark World building because...?), and a squishy boss with a giant eye. As I did when I was ranking the games I had to bump this dungeon up a few spots specifically for how important it was in inspiring future dungeons, but nevertheless I believe the Swamp Palace holds up on its own even today. It’s notable that, in the game that arguably has more dungeons than any other in the series depending on how you count them, this is one of only a handful to even have a clearly identifiable theme - and that so much of what’s on display here has been iterated upon in so many future titles. That’s some classic Zelda stuff right there...and funnily enough this isn’t among the most annoying of the Dark World dungeons. Safe to say that a certain later title was the one to acquire a bad reputation for this dungeon type...ahem.

#4. Water Temple (Ocarina of Time)

Here it is now, possibly the most frequently maligned dungeon in the entire series. For the N64 version I absolutely understand it: the layout is unituitive and forces a lot of backtracking if you don’t know exactly where you’re going (especially with that block in the central tower...you know the one), most of the rooms look similar so it’s harder to memorize the locations of each, needing to open a slow-loading menu to take the iron boots on and off repeatedly is exceptionally tedious, movement and combat options are awkward and restricted underwater making enemies more annoying than they should be, Dark Link can be a nightmare of a mini-boss if you don’t know the flaws in his AI, the dungeon item is merely an extended hookshot, Morpha can kill you very quickly if you don’t know the even bigger flaw in its arena design...it’s one big mess, and little wonder it’s about the only dungeon to actually be easier in the Master Quest. All that said however the 3DS remake fixed around half of these issues including the iron boots and some of the navigation woes, and it’s a much smoother experience overall in that version. This Water Temple still doesn’t crack the top three for me though, in large part because I view it largely as bringing the ideas of the original Swamp Palace into three dimensions rather than creating something truly unique and memorable - or memorable for the right reasons anyway. There’s also the curious aesthetic choices in this dungeon that I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone discuss before. Between the music, the pagoda in the middle, the serpentine dragon statues everywhere, and Dark Link’s room there’s a distinctive East Asian flavor to the temple that I don’t quite know what to make of. It’s nowhere near as pronounced in any of OoT’s other dungeons or major set pieces, so it all feels quite random.

#3. Temple of Droplets (The Minish Cap)

Heavy bias factor here, because ice is another favorite gaming aesthetic of mine and this is somehow the only Zelda dungeon to combine it with water (Phantom Hourglass’s Ice Temple doesn’t count for the same reason that neither DS game appears on this list: Link can’t swim in those games, so how could there be water dungeons?). That aside however the Temple of Droplets is just delightfully creative, as is typical for this game’s dungeons. It starts with predictable ice block puzzles that lead to a fake-out with the boss key, but then it opens up to a diverse blend of lily pad “boating,” diving, melting ice with sunlight, burning ice and webs and lighting dark rooms with the lantern, and still more ice block puzzles. It’s so many different elements mashed together and enhanced even further by The Minish Cap’s unique shrinking gimmick, because this is one of the two dungeons to be fully Minish-sized. The mini-boss is an electrified Chuchu, and the boss an ordinary Octorok with a weird floral growth and separate water and ice phases that make defeating it much more of an ordeal than such a basic enemy normally has any right to be. I believe I mentioned in my game ranking that TMC is one of the more underrated titles, a creative sleeper hit that still manages to pack in tons of references to earlier, better-known 3D games. That’s certainly true of this dungeon, which throws in a quick little puzzle reference to earlier 2D games’ habit of designing their dungeon maps in particular shapes. The similarly-shaped Bottle Grotto wishes it was this good.

#2. Great Bay Temple (Majora’s Mask)

Notwithstanding that it’s in my favorite game in the series, Great Bay Temple took a while to grow on me. At first I was skeptical that an anachronistic waterworks was the right fit for a dungeon in the grim and apocalyptic Majora’s Mask - I’m always leery about fantasy media injecting random bits of other genres such as this dip into (sort of) steampunk. It didn’t take long however for me to fall in love with the place, with its rapidly-paced dynamism and brightly-colored plumbing a stark contrast to the slow and plodding Water Temple of the previous game. It perfectly accentuates Zora Link’s speedy swimming, and while the ice arrows slow the second half down a touch I’m just grateful that at least they have a point in this game unlike in Ocarina of Time. The enemies are hit or miss, although I say that less about Gyorg and more about Wart, the mini-boss that thoroughly demonstrates why Arrghus is an exercise in tedium in 3D (which is even less forgivable in a game where you’re always on the clock). Still, that doesn’t detract from how fun it can be exploring while redirecting water currents and getting all of the colored pipes flowing, and this isn’t even too frustrating with the water pushing you through the areas you need to be in sequentially. What does detract from all this somewhat is the 3DS remake; Zora Link’s infamous swimming nerf isn’t so bad in the dungeon’s narrow corridors and I can live with the more restricted ice arrows (creating icebergs in random places isn’t my idea of fun, so I don’t feel like anything was lost), but the changes to the Gyorg fight make it longer and more RNG-dependent than it should be. It’s not the only boss in the remake to become worse apparently out a desire by the developers to waste more of your limited time with them *glares at Twinmold*, but Gyorg hits worse in my minimal cycles runs on account of where Great Bay Temple falls in my scheduling.

#1. Ancient Cistern (Skyward Sword)

I didn’t want this to be #1 - it’s just not fair. The Ancient Cistern is more or less the only entry on this list that escapes the water dungeon stigma, and in fact gets consistently ranked as the best dungeon in all of Skyward Sword. Everyone loves this place, and it’s easy to see why. The aesthetics are gorgeous, it’s decently challenging but not labyrinthine, the whip is fun to use, Koloktos is awesome and unique and mildly disturbing, and the whole thing is wrapped in an explicit allusion to a Buddhist fable that comes across in the environmental details and in the dungeon structure alike. I wouldn’t call this a perfect experience, but my objections feel like nitpicks. The underwater swimming controls in SS suck...but you’re not underwater much, and there’s a much more infamous section for that later in the game. The dungeon is only half water-themed, with the basement being more of a shadow dungeon and (unlike with the Temple of Droplets) little being done to blend the two...but that plays into the fable reference and at a key point the feeling of ascending a thread from death/hell into enlightenment. The Buddhist trappings are extremely overt particularly with the shape of the boss key and the giant statue that is the dungeon’s central structure...but if the presence of that in the Zelda universe isn’t immersion-breaking to the developers for whom Buddhism is a present cultural reality then it would be petty of me to consider it more than a curiosity. None of that was enough for me to place Great Bay Temple over it, especially in light of the mild downgrade that dungeon got in its remake. Here’s to hoping that when/if SS ever gets a port or updated rerelease that the Cistern will be as good or even better than it is now. They can take the motion controls off swimming, for starters....

#The Legend of Zelda

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telesthisia · 3 years

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HANDY DANDY RP PLOTTING CHEAT-SHEET FOR PRINCESS ZELDA (A Link to the Past)!

Want new-and-exciting plots for your character? Long to reach out to more of your followers, but don’t know where to start? Fear not! Fill out this form and give your RP partners both present and future all the of juicy jumping off points they need to help you get your characters acquainted.

Be sure to tag the players whose characters YOU want more cues to interact with, and repost, don’t reblog! Feel free to add or remove sections as you see fit. Template here.

mun name: Amber!! ooc contact: My DMs are always open for mutuals and non-mutuals alike (I think at least, if not don’t be afraid to send in asks either I try my best to get to them ;v;)! I do have a personal blog but weeps.... me no longer active on there. And a twitter but weeps once again, it’s an oc twitter despite my yellings of off topic things. MY DISCORD TOO!! Though my activity is very inconsistent somedays I’ll be on others not so much! Don’t be afraid to ask for that uvu

who the heck is my muse anyway?

HOHO!!! For those who never touched The Legend of Zelda in their lives, I’m sure it’s pretty dang confusing to see more than one design of both Zelda and Link, I’ll try my best to explain this! The series follows a very, very convoluted timeline filled with plotholes, as such the Links and Zeldas we see throughout different titles of the game are actually reincarnations who are destined to seal away whatever darkness may threaten the lands known as Hyrule.

The Zelda I play as is the princess of Hyrule during a point in the timeline known as “Downfall Era” where the Hero of Time in OOT lost against Ganondorf in the final battle; Ocarina of Time is the reason for why there’s multiple timelines with each having their unique era depending on the choices in that game. The Downfall Era is known for having games known as A Link to The Past, Oracle of Seasons, Oracle of Time, Link’s Awakening, A Link Between Worlds, Triforce Heroes, The OG Legend of Zelda, Annnnd Adventure of Link! The Zelda I play as comes from A Link to The Past as well as the Oracle series and I guess Link’s Awakening despite having no appearance. The events of A Link to The Past and Oracle Series has deeply affected my Zellie in that she suffers from unspoken traumas as well depression. See, before the events of ALTTP there was a war known as the Imprisoning War, that war ended where the seven sages seal away Ganon. Peace reigned for a while until a series of plagues and droughts struck which affected the kingdom. It wasn’t until the antagonist of the game, a wizard by the name of Agahnim, would put an end to the misfortunate blighting Hyrule with his magic, gaining favor with the king. He was able to worm his way into court and from there act on his plans in breaking the seal to the sacred realm where the triforce and Ganon rest. Doing so, he must capture the seven maidens who are descendants of the seven sages and sacrifice them in order to break the seal and well, guess which princess happens to be one of those seven maidens? Suffice to say, he was successful in breaking the seal with Zelda being the final sacrifice. Here we find out that he’s actual the alter ego of Ganon (don’t question it too hard) and we also find out she’s not dead! Hooray! But she is trapped in a plane known as The Dark World, once the sacred realm corrupted by Ganon’s greed. So as all LOZ stories goes, Link saves the day. Happily ever after, right? Well... no, see unlike in the game where the ending is happy and everyone who died is alive I follow both the 90s comics and Himekawa manga where those who died in the games did not come back to life. This includes Zelda’s father, Link’s uncle and some of the maidens. It’s very bittersweet in that, the day is saved and Ganon is gone forever but at the cost of loved ones no longer coming back.

Well... Ganon comes back! In the oracle series! Two years after ALTTP, Twinrova tries to resurrect him by using the blood and body of Princess Zelda, meaning she can actually die this time around. But Link saves the day once again. Which leads us today, the main verse of the blog which is a year after Oracles and three years after ALTTP! NOTE: That my smash verse more or less follows this timeline I have in place for this blog.

things you should know

I sound like a broken record but. She’s a glass canon of sorts. Where she’s very powerful thanks to blood of the seven sages, the light force, and having hylia’s blood in her veins. As such, she’s very powerful and her magic super potent which is why so many people wanna sacrifice for dark rituals... BUT!! She has super power health issues that affects her magical stamina and body as such she can’t even use half her powerful magic and this upsets her greatly. It’s a small headcanon of mine because in the games and manga, she doesn’t really do much despite being a powerful magical princess. Keep in mind that ALTTP came out before the retcon that is Skyward Sword and before they decided to add more to Zelda’s abilities throughout the course of the series... so my brain went to: she’s powerful but can’t use magic too much due to poor health. It worked!! Before smash came along but I swear I’m not at all salty. To be fair, it was my fault for assuming things but imagine: glass canon Zelda. It sounded super cool at the time!

She represses a lot if only for the sake of her nation and to appear as a good leader for her people. As such, she’s almost always calm and has a gentle smile on her face despite radio static sounds resounding in her thoughts. Give her time, she’ll open up and show you her playful side!

She’s been surrounded by death considering before ALTTP, during ALTTP and kinda with Oracles if you count Twinrova, as well as having a connection with the spirit realm due to freaky PSI powers. So, she doesn’t really have a negative view on death and has actually gained that edgy romanticist view as the result of her life experiences. She’s very much someone who likes to live life to her fullest as the result... and well, it doesn’t help that she’s aware of her short life span thanks to her future vision. Something she won’t reveal to anyone more than likely as to not worry them. She’s more or less accepted her fate... speaking of which

She hates fate/destiny/etc but accepts whatever happens because again clairvoyance has proven that there’s no changing what’s been planned. So, she doesn’t bother fighting against it. But, what impresses her are those who manage to overcome destiny, something that Link does sometimes which is why she looks up to him. He’s that variable that the future can’t keep track of due to how ever changing he is.

She loves exploring creepy places, ruins, caves, and dungeons that are scattered throughout her kingdom, for both history and the spooky aesthetics of it! So if you see her outside the castle she’s more than likely getting ready to explore some spooky place. She’s almost always wearing her cloak but there are rare moments where she’s not either ;v; she’ll always go by the name Elle... worth mention she doesn’t bother hiding the mark of the triforce on her right hand.

Speaking of which, only people from the capital known as Castle Town and even some from Kakariko village as well know of the princess’ appearance. Various small towns throughout the land of Hyrule however, only remember her appearance from ALTTP where her hair was a more golden blonde rather than the platinum color that it’s taken from the various fear and stresses from her life. And also, she’s more freckly due to not wearing coverup when outside the castle. Ok well,,,,, here’s the best side by side comparison I have...

If you ask her what the light arrows are, she’ll look at you funny. She comes from a time where silver arrows are a thing :’) the few things that can defeat Ganon

Closet romantic, as in she loves love and wishes for a romance of her own but when it comes to her own feelings she’s an idiot due to repressing feelings.

what she’s been up to:

main verse: Which is during the events of Skyward Sword, as such she’s no longer in Skyloft nor does she have the full knowledge that she’s Hylia but Zelda is suspecting that there’s a connection there. She does not know how to wield her magic as it comes and goes in spurts. She’s seen throughout the Surface so she can be anywhere! Even in other timelines due to using the Gate of Time, we can just say that something screwed up causing for her to end up in another time period or even verse! LOZ series is pretty flexible in time travel.

where to find her:

Graveyard + Sanctuary: It’s a soothing place to visit and also to pay respects to the fallen in ALTTP.

One of the three provinces (my rendition of Hyrule is a little bigger than the in game map so don’t be afraid to add places that aren’t in ALTTP but in other titles, I know I tend to do): aka anywhere in the fields, she’s a woman plagued with wanderlust and doesn’t like being confined to one place

Kakariko: the villagers who know her true identity are hella nice to pretend that it’s not the princess but Elle! Guards tend to be here after a certain time though, so to avoid them she always avoids going to the village when it’s nearly sundown

Ruins, catacombs, abandon shrines etc: again she likes creepy or historical places or both!

Haunted Grove: Well... it’s haunted! So :’)

Castle: it’s possible to meet her here too! Whether as princess or someone sneaking either out of the castle or back into it.

current plans:

Lead her kingdom to the Golden Age, something her father tried to do before his demise. While wishing to see Link once more.

desired interactions:

I would love the usual adventure threads!!!

FRIENDSHIP!! She needs friends, pls!!

ENEMIES!! It’d be fun to write a more angry Zel who doesn’t get along with someone!

ROMANCE!! I’m a sucker for cuteness ;v; and slow burn ;v;

HORROR AU!! HORROR AU!!!

Creepy gothic threads of Zelda running into a creepy cryptid in a gothic castle on a stormy night.... this is very specific but listen, cries...

Comfort thread ;v;

things that bother me:

People who know she’s the princess right off the bat ticks me off ngl. A-ok if you muse is unaware of her otherwise!

PEOPLE WHO KNOW THAT SHE’S FROM A BLOODLINE OF A GODDESS AND SAGES DHSJAKJADB no one really knows that the royal family actually did descend from gods, unless your muse is an immortal and is aware of the events that goes on they shouldn’t know this fact. The only thing the public is aware of is how the royal family have mystical powers different from the population.

uhhhh that’s about it? Mostly metagaming pft, not too much bothers me now that I think about.

tagged by: i pirated it ;v; from myself!

tagging: whomst ever! i recommend doing this since it’ll help a ton with those who still are unsure with your muse but feel too nervous to ask questions.

#dash games.#ah yes.... where amber spews a bunch of words #i will add to this but eyyyy partners check it out if you wanna know some things #anyway uhhh writings coming out soon uvu

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beneaththetangles · 4 years

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Between the Panels: Dying to Lies and Redeeming Gifts in Twilight Princess Vol. 1

Today we’re joined by Casey Covel as we kick off a final series of Throwback Thursday posts to run through the end of 2020 and celebrating our 10th anniversary! Enjoy her temporary return to “Between the Panels,” and continue to stay tuned as other former and current writers revisit their own past columns in the coming weeks.

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Greetings Tangles readers! I’m so excited to be bringing a new guest post to the Between the Panels column after four years. Around the web, I’m still known as Cutsceneaddict. Since my time at Beneath the Tangles I’ve been published at Think Christian and TheLifeStream.net, as well as in two printed books Area of Effect: Wisdom from Geek Culture and Thy Geekdom Come: 42 Fandom-Inspired Devotionals, with a third publication coming out this month. I previously discussed the Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time manga. Today, I return to my roots by opening the first volume in the newest Zelda manga series, Twilight Princess. I hope you enjoy, and happy 10th Anniversary to this amazing blog!

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The first chapters of the Twilight Princess manga parallel the video game… for the most part. Farmhand (and soon-to-be-hero) Link lives a peaceful life in the idyllic village of Ordon. He’s popular with the children, who idolize him. The mayor calls him dependable and dedicated. The village warrior, Rusl, sees rare potential for swordsmanship in him. The other farmhands trust him to help around the ranch when their herds are out of control.

In between panels of sunlit cottages and tranquil fishing ponds, however, pools of darkness and canonical divergence start to form. The forgotten Twilight Realm, sealed away millennium ago by the goddesses, begins to merge with Link’s own world. The first foreshadowing of trouble, however, is not a glimpse of monstrous claws grasping out from the shadows, but a single panel of Link’s eye, vignetted by a deep darkness, as memories of his past resurface.

Taking liberties with the source material, the Twilight Princess manga adaptation dares to taint its iconic hero from his introductory scene. His sleep is unsettled by nightmares of fleeing for his life, but with no escape—a metaphor for how he has used his year-and-a-half of living in Ordon to run from his past. He pours over ancient books about magic, searching for a way to “change darkness to light” within him.

By day, the villagers try to honor Link with opportunities unheard of in their tiny corner of the world. The mayor elects Link to be the village’s representative to the Royal Family of Hyrule—a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Link refuses. Rusl offers to train Link in the coveted art of the sword to become the village’s protector. Link refuses. A boy who looks up to Link as a role model showers him with complements. Link brushes them off with anger.

The fear of being found out forces Link to compromise his potential.

As the pages turn, hairline cracks begin to crawl across Link’s reputation. More than anything, he wants to hide his past and live in this peaceful “false life” he loves so much. Deep down, he fears being forced to leave Ordon.

Two years ago, prior to his arrival in Ordon, Link lived close to the desert where he trained with other boys as future defenders of Hyrule’s border. Link’s distinctive left-handedness made him exceptionally gifted with a blade, and he vocalized his determination to drive out all threats to the kingdom. Fueled by self-confidence, he drew a forbidden sword at the cost of his entire village being swallowed in darkness.

“In guilt and fear, I ran away. I abandoned everything and fled as far as I could. I found my way to this border village… and pretended to be a ranch hand,” Link later confesses to Rusl.

This same narration could have come from the mouth of Moses in the book of Exodus. As a Hebrew raised in Pharaoh’s court, he was an educated man of promise, position, and assumedly combat skill—because when he finds one of his fellow Hebrews being beaten by a burly, Egyptian task-master, Moses secretly takes him out and buries him in the sand. Perhaps this begets an attitude of over-confidence and ambition in Moses. Like young Link, skilled with a sword and determined to protect the Kingdom with it, 20-something-year-old Moses no doubt felt he had initiated the process of delivering his people—that this was, in fact, his God-given calling. Only instead of waiting on God’s timing and methods, Moses reached out to take it, like a forbidden sword, in his own hands—with disastrous effects.

The next day, when Moses tries to play the hero by stopping two Hebrew slaves from fighting, one of them angrily calls out his secret killing. In an instant, Moses’ self-confidence crumbles. Perhaps guilt seizes his heart over his hidden sin. All we know for sure is that fear drives him to flee Egypt. Like Link running from his homeland for the Ordon countryside, Moses ends up in the wilderness, living as a humble shepherd for 40 years (the number associated with trial and testing in the Bible). Maybe Moses spoke little of his past, trying to bury it out of sight of his “new life,” just like he had buried the Egyptian in the sand. Like that Egyptian, however, Moses’ secret past is called out. God speaks to him from a burning bush, telling Moses that he has been commissioned to free the Hebrew people.

It’s a task that a younger Moses would have no doubt jumped into with the same zeal that caused him to jump between the two fighting Hebrews. But that same terrible experience has caused Moses to cut off his own gifts—his sense of justice, his determination, and his calling—lest they do worse harm. Instead of trusting in God to empower him, Moses at first refuses His guidance, no doubt preferring to remain an unfulfilled shepherd than confront his past and the people and pharaoh awaiting him there.

In the Twilight Princess manga, two of the village children venture into the dangerous, monster-infested woods surrounding Ordon, prompting a panicked, nighttime search. Feeling responsible for their disappearance, Link pursues but halts when he hears a god-like voice call out to him from a distance: “Isn’t it time you left the village?”

From a not-so-burning-bush, a golden wolf appears, staring into Link’s soul, only to vanish moments later. Link doesn’t know it, but this is the spirit of his predecessor commissioning him for the goddesses.

The command is every bit as intimidating as God’s command to Moses. For Link, leaving the village means leaving behind his current life—the same thing as returning to his cursed past. But Link cannot deny the nagging call he’s been feeling in his soul over the past 18 months. When Rusl at last confronts Link in private about his strange behavior, Link admits, “I didn’t want to go to the castle, because I was afraid I’d see someone I know. I was lying when I said I’d never held a sword…” As he continues naming all the individuals he’s lied to, Link can only conclude with, “I was lying the whole time.”

Link, like Moses, expects rejection, but the older swordsman embraces him like a son, placing a sword into his hands. The potential that Link has kept hidden since first arriving in Ordon unleashes as he unsheathes a sword for the first time in over a year. He charges into the darkened woods after the missing children to fulfill his calling as a protector.

“I thought I forfeited the honor of wielding a sword when I caused the deaths of so many people. I lost my sense of duty and the right to call myself a protector of the people. But now I will protect my village.”

The Bible speaks in-depth about individual gifts. Luke 12:48 tells us that “To whom much is given, much will be required.” In other words, we are expected to use all that we have in God’s service. Often, this mentality is limited to the physical realm, such as money, resources, and privilege. Other times, this verse is interpreted through the lens of talents, such as critical-thinking, artistic ability, public speaking, service-mindedness, or leadership.

A less common way to view Luke 12:48 is through the angle of life experiences. Every person has a story to tell—stories of heartache and pain, hope and fulfillment, loss and love, failure and success. Through sharing our stories, we form healing connections of empathy with others, letting them know they are not alone and that there is hope. These stories are precious, which is why telling our vulnerable experiences to others can be so frightening. We fear being viewed in a less loveable, more flawed, simply different light. Recounting our experiences can be painful, but when communicated in the right way and time, they can be healing—not only to ourselves, but also to others.

Luke 11:33 reads: “No man, when he hath lighted a candle, putteth [it] in a secret place, neither under a bushel, but on a candlestick, that they which come in may see the light.” While this verse is talking about public testimony and witnessing, perhaps the same idea could be applied to our gifts. What God has given us is meant to be used—our passions, our goals, our dreams, and our talents. Like Moses and Link, it is easy to let our pasts riddled with fear, guilt, and failure to act as a deterrent; but when we realign our passions with God’s will, we are assured that He will redeem them. And nothing is redeemed in isolation. Our transformation will always have an impact on others.

In the Twilight Princess manga, the encroaching Twilight becomes an exclusive metaphor for Link’s encroaching guilt and unease that sooner or later he will be found out. He plays it safe, wiling away his days without pro-action, never taking up the sword he is so skilled with, nor warning the villagers of the coming darkness out of fear they will discover his past. In doing so, he not only throws away his potential but also strays from his inherent calling to protect others.

“Dirty things, ominous things, inconvenient things… you throw them away like trash,” narrates a Twilight monster, observing the nature of humans, such as Link.

All too often, we do exactly this—cutting off those parts of ourselves we’re ashamed of, burying them as though they never existed, unable to see the usefulness of our abilities, or feeling that we are tainted beyond cleaning. But the beauty of God’s grace is that He takes all our broken pieces—all the dirty, ominous, and inconvenient things—and transforms them into something new and whole. Creation itself is one giant act of redemption—taking the chaos of nothingness, voids, and emptiness, and producing a functional, flourishing system of intelligent design. Our individual life stories are microcosms of this same phenomenon. Ill bodies, broken hearts, anxious minds, past failures… God aligns them all into a coherent whole, even finding ways to use our redemption to redeem others.

By the end of Twilight Princess Volume 1, Link dies with his sword arm severed from his body. However, the goddesses resurrect and restore him in a moment symbolizing the death of his old, lie-filled life and the rebirth of his calling as hero of Hyrule. With sword in hand, he sets out on a divine mission, like Moses, to free peoples under oppression.

Christians are called to “die to themselves” every day by sacrificing their desires to God’s bigger picture. That includes dying to the lies we believe about ourselves. Only when we set aside every weight can we “run the race before us” the way that God intended—forgiven, free, and with Him empowering our full potential.

#Manga #Christianity #The Legend of Zelda #Zelda no Densetsu #Twilight Princess #Guest Posts #Throwback Thursday #Flashback Friday #Articles #Author: CutsceneAddict

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letsgobethegoodguys · 4 years

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58, 80, 94

Hello, Dee!! Thank you so much for sending these, darling!! 🥰

58. Songs you're currently obsessed with?

Freaking Me Out by Ava Max, Moondust by Jaymes Young, and Red Chevy by Debbii Dawson & Rico Love

80. What video games have you played? Which one's your favourite?

Okay, I need to clarify that saying I've "played" these games does not mean I've finished them because I always spend so much time on side quests that I get burned out and never finish the main story 🙈

I love Legend of Zelda the most, probably. I've played Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, Link Between Worlds, Skyward Sword, Spirit Tracks, Wind Waker and Breath of the Wild. Unsurprisingly, Breath of the Wild is my current favorite but I also love Wind Waker and Link Between Worlds so so much.

I've also played Final Fantasy Crisis Core, Grandia, Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts 2, Mega Man Legends, Mega Man 8, a couple of the Super Smash Bros. games, some different Mario/Sonic/Kirby games, and a few Animal Crossing and Harvest Moon games. I also played a lot of Sims 2 Pets on PlayStation. XD (I might have forgotten some but I think I listed the important ones at least lol)

94. Write 3 things about yourself - only one of them must be true

- I'm engaged

- I'm taller than my parents

- I don't like chocolate

#thanks again dee this was fun!!!#steph talks #shannondiaz

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ladykf-writes · 5 years

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Fanfic Writer Appreciation (and a little self love)

Sooooo, as talked about I wanted to do a little promo. I may not always be my favorite writer, but I try to be one of my cheerleaders. And well, if you’re here you obviously have some interest in what I’m up to.

SO! Here’s a list of my currently-published WIPs and some info about them, in the order that I’ve updated them, most recent to oldest.

Feel free to ask questions about any of them!

Dog Whistle (Ao3 || FFN) - started off as a prompt from @snackarey when I reblogged some Soulmate AUs. This one was a prompt for soulmates (Zack/Kunsel) who felt what each other felt - like pain. Needless to say, this went into a canon divergent AU where Kunsel felt some of what Zack was going through when Hojo got a hold of him after Nibelheim. And saved him, setting off an ever-increasing list of revolutionary consequences. It’s nearly 58K, and though I’m a little stuck I’m looking forward to seeing where it goes.

Dewprism: Journey to the [Relic] (Ao3 || FFN) - this actually has a lot more written than I’ve posted, I just got a little frustrated because well... the fandom is teeny tiny and there’s no real feedback. But! It’s an interesting piece. It’s a semi-novelization where I’m taking the old PS1 Classic from Squaresoft, Threads of Fate/Dewprism and merging the two storylines. Basically... you can’t play the game anymore unless you got it from the PSN for your PSP or... PS2, I think? Or emulate it, of course, you can do that. And I wanted to bring the experience to more people, because it’s got such a great story.

It’s Not a Game (Ao3 || FFN) - this is my Avengers/FF7 crossover, and funny story, it was actually born out of a comment back on my old Genesis RP blog about how Genesis would totally be Tony Stark’s favorite character if he played Crisis Core. It’s turned into a full blown fixit I have a type and I actually have like, 90% of the next chapter done, it just doesn’t feel quite right so I haven’t posted it. And am, of course, stuck. There’s a case of choice paralysis here; the premise is that, in the MCU, FF7 is a series like it is in our world, and Tony is a fan. So he goes to make a simulation to do a self-insert... only he somehow transports himself (and Bruce) to a dimension where it’s real. A “Stark-insert” someone called it; and it does use a lot of “Self-Insert” tropes, actually. There’s just so many ways it could go that I’m stuck on choosing exactly how to progress here.

Party of Five (Ao3 || FFN) - the MMO AU! This was actually originally a prompt @up-sideand-down got, that I got permission to take off with. It’s a modern AU AGSZC where they meet online playing this MMO I made up that’s based off of FF7 and modeled after a mashup of like, me studying WoW and my experiences playing SWTOR. I’ve actually got some ideas of where it’s going, I just got too caught up in technicalities and need to reroute it back to the relationships going on.

Welcome to FF7 (series link, Ao3) - this is me hashing out basically what I think went down pre-games. Most of it is headcanon, I cannot stress that enough. It’s based off of the little we know, of course, but there’s just so much we don’t that it’s mostly headcanon. Tons of OCs. It’s a whole series, and they overlap - different sections that follow different departments, mostly. The base story is Welcome to ShinRa (Ao3 || FFN) and that follows the man who will become President Shinra from back when they first discover mako energy. I’ve also got Welcome to the Science Department (Ao3 || FFN) which starts off with college students Gast and Grimoire and how they get drawn into the beginnings of what becomes ShinRa Electric.

And last but not least, honorable mention to Times of Change (Ao3) - this was actually a piece inspired by @deadcatwithaflamethrower‘s Re-Entry series. I desperately need to reread that before I can hope to continue this, but... one day. One day.... I don’t suggest reading it right now, my headcanons have changed and it needs an overhaul. But you’ll see eventually.

And now... the WIPs you haven’t seen. (Under a cut)

By fandom, just to keep things straight, but in no particular order otherwise.

Compilation of FF7

The Snowball Effect (Ao3 || FFN) ... sequel? continuation? - as one of the gift exchange presents I’ve just done this past month, it is definitely standalone as is, but if I ever figure out where I want to take it, I’ll continue that one. It was just far too much fun.

The Price of Freedom - the sequel to To Be Human, which... I’m looking forward to, but I really burnt myself out on TBH so it’s going to be longer than anticipated before I approach this one. TBH definitely stands on its own, but there were some loose ends left to tie up, so we’ll see how that goes. And when it goes, when I’m ready to approach that again. TBH needs some editing, too... lots of work there.

The Unnamed Pokemon/FF7 crossover that I’ve talked about for... a couple years now (yikes) but now actually have a plot for. It’s very interesting to me, putting Pokemon on Gaia, and seeing how that changes everything. Because like, they’d have presumably used Mew’s DNA since there’s no Jenova (I can’t see them using Deoxys, which would be the closer parallel) and since there’s no Chaos, Grimoire is still alive. Which means no extra Drama between Lucrecia and Vincent - and really, there shouldn’t be the stress between Vincent and Hojo over her being sick because Mew would theoretically be much more compatible with humans than Jenova was.

What I’m saying is Seph has three parents and at least one set of grandparents and a much more stable Sephiroth (and Genesis and Angeal, thanks to Lucrecia teaming up with Gillian) leads to some very interesting changes. Like deciding they don’t want to fight the Wutai war anymore. >_>

Hold My Flower - a timetravel fic featuring our one and only flowergirl, who has had enough of people messing up her planet and refuses to just... let it die. She is, unquestionably, a force of nature. No fragile flower to be found here, this is the gal you see in the OG who threatened a mob boss and meant it. Heaven help anyone who gets in her way. She’s going to save the world. Possibly in a Turk Suit, don’t look at me.

The Long Game - Reeve goes back in time, and holy crap this one is a monster I am truly intimidated by so it’s gonna take a while for me to get going on that. XD But basically, similar premise to the above - the world isn’t healing and someone has to do something, so Reeve is nominated due to his position in ShinRa and potential to... he’d say “influence” but let’s call a spade a spade - manipulate people and events to a more favorable outcome.

A third BIT fic is one that I started writing with my friend @askshivanulegacy back in... damn, somewhere between 2011-2013, before we switched to writing SWTOR fic together. It’s one where Zack is sent back in time, and the differences in him post-Hojo change things even before he can start deliberately changing anything. But I got permission to take and remake that, so I intend to, one day. It was Good Stuff. And you can never have too much timetravel.

Dragon Ball Z

So, this is an oooooold fandom of mine - the first fanfics I ever wrote (under a different name, no I’m not telling XD it was ten years ago) were for DBZ, and definitely the first ones I ever read, back in the days of dial up. And I read a couple interesting takes on Chichi/Vegeta fic... and I was talking with @vorpalgirl about it and said I’d love to try my hand at something with that one day. I think they have the potential to be a really great pair (don’t get me wrong, I appreciate the canon pairings but those two have a lot of potential) so... yeah someday I might dip my toes back into Z. It’s on the wishlist, as well as reviving and cleaning up an old unfinished work of mine. Someday~

Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

Seven Years Lost - this one I’ve been debating a long time, and even did a little on! It’s basically how I rationalize what happens when Link pulls the Master Sword out and - well, spoilers but it’s a really old game so - when he comes out as a teenager and is immediately able to handle a nearly-adult body. It involves a dreamscape scenario where he communicates with his past incarnations and learns from them, and from sharing dreams with Zelda due to their bond.

Sailor Moon (manga/Crystal based)

Second Chances - I read a lot of SM fanfic back in the day, and my favorite ones were... more real? Like, there were more consequences to these 14 year old kids out there fighting for their lives and sometimes losing them. I’d like to tell a story through Minako/Venus’ eyes primarily, covering what that’s like, and then I also just really want a happy ending for the senshi/shittenou? So... yay canon divergence, lol. You guys know the deal by now. XD

Star Wars: Legends Era

United We Stand - SWTOR fanfic, baby! Basically, I’m just dying to see the eight classes cross over each other, and I will bend canon to do it. For anyone that’s played the original class story lines, there is some cross over but believe me when I say there were huge opportunities that were let drop by nature of the game. Just with the two Jedi stories alone... but that’s #spoilers for a not-as-old game so I’ll leave that be and only elaborate if asked.

(And do feel free to ask about any of these! I’d love to hash them out more.)

#writer ramble #rambles #ff7 #avengers #ff7/avengers #threads of fate #dewprism #star wars #pokemon #pokemon/ff7 #dbz #sailor moon #swtor

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moistwithgender · 5 years

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Monthly Media Roundup (May 2019)

The march of time inexorably proceeds beyond my grasp and so I must write another post. I’ve been a bit burned out, just focusing on one diversion (it was Zelda, you know it was Zelda), but after finishing it I recovered enough energy to get a few more things done in the last half of the month. I didn’t watch any anime or read any manga in May, though I did read some 70s Marvel, which I liveblog in my “curry reads comics” tag. Last time I did an actual capital-P Post about my Marvel reading was a year ago after marathoning a full(ish) decade. If people are interested in more of that I could work at making posts for each year of issues I read, recapping the developments and my thoughts on them (which will become more relevant as Events become more common, I imagine). I’ve just got a few games to talk about this month, but I imagine I have a lot to say about at least one of them.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Switch): 2 years ago I did something I extremely rarely do: stood in line at a Best Buy at midnight for the release of the Switch so that I could buy it with BotW. BotW was also out on Wii U, which I had, but the promotional material for BotW had struck such a chord in me that it justified making the jump for the new console (this would eventually become troublesome when the first model of joycons failed, but, well). I got home, put some ten odd hours into it, and then put it down for two years. I’ve always had a problem where, struck with the intuition that I will end up forming a deep relationship with a work, I will put it off for years. I put off Persona 3 for five years after buying it at launch, and it eventually became the most personal game experience I would have, even seven years onward. I think the two factors that pushed me to finally play through BotW was wanting to watch a friend stream it (but also not wanting it spoiled for me), and needing a distraction for when I was taking care of my cat.

It’s been about two months now since he passed away, and I finally finished the game at 215+ hours about half a month ago. So, I was playing this game as a coping method while preparing for loss, and in dealing with loss. It’s appropriate that the game is effectively both a fantasy about reclaiming at least part of what you have lost, and a colossal exercise in coping. The game is as much about getting distracted from your responsibilities and fucking off to snowboard in the mountains as it is about being aware of the world around you. The Zelda games have frequently used themes of Shintoism to portray harmony in nature and in civilization. I’m currently replaying Ocarina of Time and the cosmogony myth (is it a myth if a talking tree explains it to you?) specifically words the goddesses as “[giving] the spirit of law to the world” and “[producing] all life forms who would uphold the law.” When I was younger (see: early 20s) I didn’t scrutinize the text much but now I figure it’s reasonable to read “law” as “natural order”. It should be noted that for an N64 game, OoT has remarkably good prose. BotW, in transitioning the series in what may be its third main genre (as opposed to the genres of Zelda 1 and OoT), has taken that Shintoist aesthetic and incorporated it into the entire philosophy of the game’s design. More than just being a game whose narrative concerns an imbalanced world, BotW embraces the trends of open worlds and immersive sims to create an immense, varied space where the coded laws of physics are always impacting the experience. Thunderstorms make metal equipment a liability, while rain covers the sounds of footsteps. Wind can sweep away items, fire and high temperatures affect flammable objects (including yourself), and aforementioned metallic items can conduct electricity, which can be used to solve puzzles in unintended ways. Weather changes regularly based on the region and changes the world in tandem. Rain doesn’t just fall, it actively collects, and ponds become bigger, and surfaces become slicker. Each systemic element (pun not intended) that was incorporated affected everything else in the world, and in interviews there were mentions that changing the volume of wind in one area had a butterfly effect on another, causing pots to fly off of patios in a village. It’s no wonder the game took five years to make, considering how rarely glitches occur in the game (and most that I know of have to be deliberately recreated for exploitation). You’re engaging with enemies as much as you are with the environment, and at times even with your own body, creating and consuming food and drink for the purpose of staving off sunstroke or frostbite. As a result, BotW’s Hyrule is immensely palpable, and easy to lose oneself in from how livable it feels.

When I first started playing at release, I was a bit disappointed to discover that villages existed in-game, as early promotional material and the state of the Great Plateau you start on painted a picture of a lonely world. In the end, the soundtrack and vast amount of uncolonized land does give an understated sense of melancholy that defines the game, though the fact that every five steps you’ll find a Korok micropuzzle waiting to YA HA HA and fanfare at you betrays that a bit (I still love those Koroks and their puzzles, don’t @ me). The NPCs in this are numerous, though, from the occupants of the villages to wandering traders, and their personalities are all distinct and charming, and probably the best I’ve ever seen in a game, or at least in a long time. If this game wasn’t railroading the Link/Zelda relationship so hard, I would have liked a Dragon’s Dogma-style “date any NPC (within reason)” mechanic. I’m just going to have to start a “NPCs you should marry” side-tumblr.

Another defining aspect of the gameplay, and easily what makes the game surpass arguably every other Zelda, is how Nintendo heard the decade or so of complaints about the linear Zelda lock-and-key formula being reiterated to the point of stagnation, and, after great success with A Link Between Worlds’ item rental subversion, just decided to make everything optional. You do the tutorial on the Great Plateau, and, if you feel especially gutsy, you can beeline it straight to Ganon. He’s in horse-riding distance, or running distance, if you’re tenacious. Will you make it to him, survive the hordes of enemies, and take him down? If it’s your first time playing the game and you haven’t learned the systems, probably not. Is it possible? Absolutely. Much like how the monthly cycle of a Persona game is a proverbial Rocky training montage of preparing for The Big Fight, everything you do in BotW is in preparation. A lot of open world games can feel dissonant in that you’re incentivized to be distracted as a player and make your own fun, meanwhile the protagonist keeps saying “I’m gonna get bloody revenge on the mafia boss!” during bowling matches. There is still, unavoidably, a sense of urgency played up for narrative sake in BotW, since Impa insists Zelda is waiting and can’t hold Ganon back forever, but it’s all much more narratively justifiable, if you want that. You know, because Zelda is for hardcore roleplaying.

I couldn’t resist a second playthrough, even after logging 215+ hours, so I went ahead and started a separate file on Master Mode, Nintendo’s weird in-house, in-franchise rebranding of, uh, a hard mode. Previously it was called Hero Mode. Why do you--well, okay, I know why they do it. They’re likely trying to distinguish it from a “we just tweaked the numbers” hard mode, and also want to make it feel less threatening than something labeled hard mode. If they’re going to go to the trouble to make it a distinct form of play, they want to try and appeal to everyone. And it is fairly distinct. All enemies are bumped up one rank, so a red bokoblin is blue, and a blue bokoblin is black, and so on. There is a new strongest rank of enemy, though in my run I did not seek them out. There are enemies (and treasure chests!) perched on flying rafts, which can be one-shot with proper bow aiming, but also carry dangerous elemental arrows, and can alert all other enemies in the area. Stealth is much more difficult, and pointless early in. All enemies regenerate up to a third of their health, including bosses! Though, that can be temporarily interrupted by inflicting any amount of damage on them, so it behooves you to be on the offense. Less autosave slots! This wasn’t a problem for me. Guardians randomly delay the firing of their beams! This was absolutely a problem for me and I avoided them entirely in my run. In the beginning when tools and resources are scare, particularly on the Great Plateau, Master Mode is at its hardest, and its most thrilling. Rather than aimlessly exploring, I was pressured to decide where I knew things were, and beeline it to them. Sometime in-between two of the four main optional dungeons, I had amassed enough valuable resources that the game had settled back into the same kind of difficulty as normal mode. Bosses were a little harder due to regen and my resources being somewhat scarcer, but they were manageable. Competently performing flurry attacks (upon successfully dodging attacks at the last second) was extremely valuable to me, but I imagine with enough food in my inventory, I could have brute forced my way through a lot of the fights (though, uh, obviously thou wouldst like to live deliciously (please hate me for this phrasing)). I chose to forego the Master Sword for the sake of challenge, and beat Master Mode with only seven hearts, in around 25 hours. You should play Master Mode, it’s fun.

Here’s a little gameplay SPOILER:

Something I haven’t done, but would like to eventually do, is avoid the main dungeons and just head straight to Ganon. When I played Master Mode, I wasn’t totally confident, and did the dungeons for the resources. After watching some speedruns I learned that if you skip the dungeons, and therefore the main bosses, you have to fight them all at once immediately before the fight with Ganon, without breaks.

That. Sounds. Great.

Wandersong (PC/Steam): Have you heard about Homestuck?

Okay, wait. Wait. Come back, wait. Stop leaving. PLEASE.

Okay, I got the most inflammatory sentence out of the way. Now that we’re eased into that: Wandersong is unignorably influenced by Homestuck. Homestuck conjured a lot of baggage, from having a really difficult, pretentious, arrogant author (I should know, I gave him the benefit of the doubt for way too long), to having some unfortunate narrative turns, to being a billion words long. Wandersong invokes the vaster-than-God scope, the minute and personal perspective of the heroes, and its inclinations toward emotional intelligence (it still surprises me Homestuck had these moments given the author’s deeply unsympathetic sense of humor), and… condenses it! It also makes it a light puzzle-platformer and is about performing music (note: not rhythm, you don’t have to have ANY rhythm), and looks like a Paper Mario game. It is very charming, very funny, very optimistic, and most surprisingly, uncompromising at times. Wandersong says that you, despite your role, are capable of great things, especially self growth and change, as long as you commit to it. If, faced with the consequences of your bad decisions, you choose to double down and keep at it, you will reap what you sow. This is distinctly different from Undertale’s brand of pacifism route optimism, where “no one has to die!” This brand of optimism is a measured but enthusiastic “you can’t save someone who doesn’t want to be saved, but you can save the rest” and I think that’s a uniquely valuable message.

I was a little confused about the resolution of the communist uprising chapter, but I recall the game bringing my cynicism into question, and the most important thing a work can do is make you question yourself.

(Also, if any of my mutuals are low on funds but interested, I do have a drm-free version I can share.)

Minit (PC/Steam): I don’t think I actually have a lot to say about Minit! It’s very fun and curious and short. You play a little… duck… thing, and you pick up a cursed sword which kills you in one minute. Then you wake up the next day, and die in a minute. Then you wake up the next day. Having only sixty seconds of vitality, you have to optimize your exploration. There’s a slow-speaking old man who you will die listening to, but the hint he gives at the end of his sentence will lead you to something valuable. There’s a guy in a bar angry about the lack of music. If you change the music, he will probably dislike it. If you keep changing the music, you might live to see him like it. There’s a boat ride to a tropical island you have to grit your teeth and wait through. Not all of the events are slow, some are quick bouts of hurried exploration. Most of it is, given the time limit. I’d say more, but given the overall length (it took me about an hour to finish), I’d risk spoiling a sizable fraction of the experience. It’s about $10, though I got mine in a Humble Bundle Monthly subscription. The spec requirements are very low, so your laptop can likely run it.

A Hat in Time (PC/Steam): Heads up, I’m gonna get into a lot of spoilers for this game, including endgame spoilers, but also heads up, the story isn’t really the point in this game. This is a game about tone and platforming. That said, I’m gonna be talking exclusively about the weird ideas in this game, and if you want those weird ideas to be a surprise, then just skip ahead until I put up big letters.

I’m somewhat hesitant to be critical of A Hat in Time because despite a number of weird Things about it, I recognize that it’s quite popular with a lot of people, and that always makes me pause and want to figure out what it is that makes it pass the bar for others. My guess at this point is that it invokes nostalgia through its unmitigated imitation of games that came before. The games it chooses to ape are all your childhood’s Greatest Hits, Wind Waker (which it most resembled in its earliest development), Super Mario Sunshine/Galaxy (which it most resembles now), Banjo-Kazooie, Psychonauts, etc. It never really surpasses those games, for me, and at times cribs from them to the degree that it obscures the game’s own identity. After all, what you enjoy may help define you, but you wouldn’t say it’s your personality. Well. Unless you kin the Gamecube. I guess. There are bonus levels to the game’s different “worlds” (I thought they were different planets, since your hub area is a spaceship, and you access them via different telescopes, but it turns out it’s just one planet?), and you can collect photographs, which sequentially tell a story about the residents of that “world”. Psychonauts did this because each level took place in the mind of a character, and the photos together told a story about the character that fundamentally changed the way you thought about them, and made the whole game feel richer as a result. I collected the photos for all but the DLC levels in AHiT (those are Really Hard), and of those five or so worlds, none of those bonus photos told me anything that changed how I thought about the characters. There’s a dock town run by a mafia (s-sorta) led by a chef, but did you know they all used to work at a processing factory before going there? There are two manipulative bird directors who are fighting over the same studio to produce their own film and win an award, but did you know they… wanted to be directors since they were kids? There’s a devil analogue who steals people’s souls if they wander into his forest, but did you know he was a prince, and the princess was mad he talked to another girl (it was a flower girl, he was getting flowers for the princess), and imprisoned him until they both the prince and princess turned into evil ghosts? That’s the only one that comes close to being an “oh” moment, but I don’t think it does for the reasons the writer was hoping for. In general, these are prologues without substance.

Speaking of substance, the game has a bit of an issue with theming. At least, it does at first. The first town is the previously mentioned dock town, run by a mafia. By “mafia”, I mean a bunch of meatheads who talk about how they like punching people, and refer to themselves individually, in the third person, as Mafia. Mafia loves to punch the poor and the birds. Mafia is a one-dimensional character copy-pasted across 20% of the game. Mafia laughs. They’re run by a chef, but also they can’t cook, so there’s a cat chef in hiding who routinely swaps out their food with his so no one has to eat bad food. I don’t know why, when the town has maybe three non-Mafia character. He does eventually leave and board your ship, so maybe he’s just looking for something to do. The leader of the mafia also boards your ship, for a joke and to sell you an upgrade. The mafia are also afraid of mud monsters, or aliens, or something. There’s a girl with a moustache named Moustache Girl who wants to use your Time Macguffins to overthrow organized crime, and Hat Girl decides that’s a no-go. There are giant faucets around the town that replace all the water with lava. You might be noticing these things have little to no connection. You might be suspecting this level was made first when the dev was inexperienced. I might be suspecting this. It’s fine.

Later worlds do a much better job of theming. There’s the movie studio split between two birds. One of them a penguin, who prefers science fiction, the other a…

...hmmm. I suspect this guy, The Conductor, is an OC the director has had for a while, maybe since childhood, that they just decided Is A Bird, and carried it into the game, since the game occasionally is like... bird?? Alternatively, it’s some sort of corruption of Woodstock from Peanuts. Possibly both. Anyway, this guy just wants to make movies that take place on wild western trains. He has a strong fake Scottish accent, and the penguin, named DJ Grooves, is some sort of disco Elvis. They’ve both hired owls as actors, and some crows have snuck onto the train set (the crows are so obviously the G-Men from Psychonauts’ Milkman level it bothers me a bit). This is already a little busy, but it’s okay! Birds, movies, two distinct genres, and you trapped in-between them, just trying to collect your macguffins. It works. You take part in both of their movies, and your performance in both determines the winner, when suddenly… CORRUPTION WAS AFOOT, and you have to explore the depths of the studio and engage in a showdown.

Another world is a spooky forest where your access is restricted by completing certain contracts for the devilish character. Sometimes it’s murder (reasonable), exploring a haunted mansion in survival horror format (ooh!), fixing the plumbing in a well (wait, what), and doing mail delivery (back up back up). Half of that works. The finale of the forest makes up for it, though. This game insists on most of its bosses having like 4-5 phases and breaks for dialogue and the gall required to get away with that honestly earned my respect. They’re pretty fun times.

The best level to play is, unsurprisingly, the first DLC. I say unsurprising because it’s clear the dev is learning as they go, and the level design improves as they go along. Aside from bonus levels, the first DLC takes place on a massive cruise liner titled the SS Literally Can’t Sink. Ha ha. It’s split into three parts. The first part has you exploring the many interconnected rooms of the ship to find broken shards of a macguffin, the second part has you taking that mental map and using it to frantically complete multiple timed fetch quests at once, and the third part, now that you understand the ship pretty intimately, capsizes the ship, requiring you to traverse frigid waters and overturned scenery to retrieve babies and the ship’s incompetent but adorable baby seal crew (the seals speak in hewwo talk, the game is unforgivably loaded with memes but let me have this). This progression is my favorite in the game, and while I haven’t bought the Nyakuza Metro DLC, I’m looking forward to it.

The ending level had me a bit bewildered at first because in the beginning when Hat Kid refuses to use time powers to stop organized crime, I saw it as a hamfisted way to create tension between Hat Kid and Moustache Girl. Apparently it was working up towards the moral of the story. In the final level, Moustache Girl has stolen all the macguffins, and possessing ultimate power, becomes corrupted ultimately, and summons everyone in the world to her Bowser castle to be judged and die. On first glance, I thought “well, sure, that’s sensible,” but when Hat Kid finds the support of all the villains in the game, I was a little confused. The villains sacrifice themselves to give you infinite health, explicitly stating that they’ll just come back through time magic if you win so who cares (cool stakes), and you overcome authoritarianism with the support of corrupt hollywood, organized crime, and the literal devil. This would be fine if at some point Hat Kid, you know, took them on a Zuko Quest to face turn all of them, but that doesn’t happen. They just all decide “hey yeah, fuck this girl! Also we don’t have time for the nuance this might require!” After all is said and done and you collect all your macguffins, you’re given the choice of leaving the defeated Moustache Girl a single macguffin so she can defeat the mafia (whose side are we on) or just saying nahhh. Neither appears to make a difference, but maybe in a year or two we’ll get a DLC that makes you regret your words and deeds. You try to fly your ship to your home planet, and the villains all grab on to your ship, which is in space, begging you not to leave. I seriously suspect they intended to incorporate face-turn scenes and just couldn’t find the time, because nothing but physical proximity implies these guys would have any emotional attachment to Hat Kid, and that’s a bit of a stretch. Anyway, Hat Kid brooms them off the ship to plummet down to earth and flies away. Sheds a tear about the whole thing. In the end, the moral was that Order good, but too much Order bad, except if you are Hat Kid, in which case Chaos good. Or maybe…

After finishing the game I decided to look into any left over secrets, since my completion score was in the 80s of percents. Turns out that if you use the camera badge to finagle the free look feature into a marginally open armoire somewhere on your spaceship, you can find a shrine to Hat Kid with a couple skulls, a bunch of blurry photos, and some strange symbols. If you doing this while wearing the mask that lets you see the secrets of the dead (for platforming and puzzle purposes, of course), there’s a bunch of alien text you can decode. And then there’s some youtube channels. And a twitter account. All sharing more of those decodable ciphers, all talking about vague dreamy apocalyptic histories and dark betrayals. Or something. That’s right, this game’s got a fucking ARG. I cut things off there. If the developer Gears for Breakfast is gonna make an occultist grimdark sequel to A Hat in Time, they can put up a trailer for it.

OKAY I’M DONE TALKING ABOUT A HAT IN TIME, the short of it is that I had a lot of mixed feelings but had fun.

How did I end up talking more about A Hat in Time than Breath of the Wild? What are my priorities?

Well, that’s everything I finished in May! Will I get back to anime and manga in June? Guess we’ll see! Again, let me know if you want me to do year-recap Marvel posts, since my liveblogging is mostly just shitposts, and the occasional attempt at thoughtfulness among those posts feels kind of out of place. Honestly, I’m probably gonna do that anyway, but it’s nice to see interest. If you read all this, thanks a lot! Go play Breath of the Wild and Wandersong.

#curry plays games

6 notes · View notes

transslyblue · 5 years

Note

Also "1-99"

(1) Do You Sleep With Your Closet Doors Open Or Closed?

Haha, closed. I don't like seeing the dark void that I call a closet

(2) Do You Have Freckles?

Yea, but you can't really see them unless you're close

(3) Can You Whistle?

Yes

(4) Last Song You Listened To.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame musical, the Tavern Song

(5) What Is Your Favourite Colour?

Blue, but I also like a variety of purples and greens

(6) Relationship Status.

Single and not looking

(7) What Is The Temperature Right Now?

69º F

(8) Did You Wake Up Cranky?

Yea, unless I wake up myself

(9) How Many Followers?

118, but I need to go through and block any bots. (;w;)

(10) Zodiac Sign.

Leo

(11) What Is Your Eye Colour?

Blue/green hazel. My eyes are multi-coloured so they have blue, green, and brown with a very grey look to them.

(12) Take A Vitamin Daily?

I forget daily

(13) Do You Sing In The Shower?

Yup!

(14) What Books Are You Reading?

I really want to get back to reading some more Lovecraft, but i don't have much time to read

(15) Grab The Book Nearest To You, Turn To Page 64, Give Me Line 14.

"Minutes before librarians ate him."

(16) Favourite Anime?

Uuuuhhhhhh, hm. I guess it'd have to be InuYasha, but I like a lot of anime

(17) Last Person You Cried In Front Of?

Err,,, it was a very close friend. Idk if they'd want me to say who they are tho

(18) Do You Collect Anything?

Rocks and those snowglobe musicboxes

(19) What Did You Have For Lunch?

Yogurt and a protein bar. Ik, ik real healthy and filling

(20) Do You Dance In The Car?

Depends on the song, but not really

(21) Favourite Animal?

Owls and cats

(22) Do You Watch The Olympics?

Not really, but when I do it's the diving Olympics

(23) What Time Do You Usually Go To Bed?

2am

(24) Are You Wearing Makeup Right Now?

I don't wear makeup. Though I have considered it

(25) Do You Prefer To Swim In A Pool Or The Ocean?

Either. Pool is safer though

(26) Favourite Tumblr Blog?

Oof, idk if I can pick just one, so imma name a few. @ohhimarx @mirosuikaaa @masochist-incarnate they're all really friendly and nice

(27) Bottled Water Or Tap Water?

Whichever is most convenient at the time

(28) What Makes You Happy?

The sound of rain, art, my friends talking to me, I have a list that I've posted, so I won't list out here

(29) Post A Gif Of What You’re Currently Feeling Right Now.

(30) Do You Study Better With Or Without Music?

Haha, I don't study;;;

(31) Dogs Or Cats?

Cats

(32) If You Were A Crayon What Colour Would You Be?

Blue-tiful lol, for real though probably bubble blue

(33) PlayStation Or Xbox.

Does Switch/ds count?

(34) Would You Swim In The Lake Or Ocean?

Idunknow

(35) Do You Believe In Magic?

Not really, but I won't bash on anyone who does

(36) What Colour Shirt Are You Wearing?

Black, but is a Link being a meme

(37) Can You Curl Your Tongue?

Yes

(38) Do You Save Money Or Spend It?

I save more then I spend.

(39) Is There Anything Pink Within 10 Feet Of You?

Yea, it's a pink pillow of Lion from Steven Universe and a music stand from when I was in middle school

(40) Do You Have Any Obsessions Right Now?

Kirby in general

(41) Have You Ever Caught A Butterfly?

Nope, but I have touched one before

(42) Are You Easily Influenced By Other People?

Yes and no. It really depends on how long I've been around them

(43) Do You Have Strange Dreams?

Omg yes! I remember a few and they were all lucid dreams! (I looked up the term from last time I answered this question)

(44) Do You Like Going On Airplanes?

Never been on one

(45) Name One Movie That Made You Cry.

Of Mice and Men

(46) Peanuts Or Sunflower Seeds?

Both

(47) If I Handed You A Concert Ticket Right Now, Who Would You Want The Performer To Be?

Panic!At the Disco, Fallout Boy, or The Neighborhood

(48) Are You A Picky Eater?

Not really. There are some foods I refuse to eat, but otherwise I eat pretty much anything

(49) Are You A Heavy Sleeper?

Yes

(50) Do You Fear Thunder / Lightning?

Nope! I actually like thunder

(51) Do You Like To Read / Write?

I enjoy reading. As for writing, eh. I'll write out my ideas but I'mno good at fleshing them out to be interesting

(52) Do You Like Your Music Loud?

Yes. But not too loud, just enough where I don't hear everyone around me

(53) Would You Rather Carve Pumpkins Or Wrap Presents?

Carve pumpkins! I really am bad at wrapping presents

(54) Put Your Music On Shuffle, What Is The First Song That Came Up?

Hurts - Illuminated

(55) What Season Are You In Right Now? (Weather)

Spring and dying from pollen

(56) What Are You Craving Right Now?

Idk, something salty tbh

(57) Post A Screenshot Of Your Tumblr Feed.

(58) What Is Your Gender?

I'm a transgender male, so i use he/him pronouns.

(59) Coffee Or Tea?

Both, but I like tea more

(60) Do You Have Any Homework Right Now? If So, What Is It About?

I'm not in school anymore soooo no

(61) What Is Your Sexuality?

Idk. Questioning I guess

(62) Do You Make Your Bed In The Morning?

(63) Favourite Pokemon?

I already answered this one, so I'll say a new pokemon that I love. Rowlet!

(64) Favourite Social Media?

Bruh I am not a fan, but Tumblrs the one I'm on most.

(65) What’s Your Opinion On Instagram Stories?

Idk. I don't have an Instagram

(66) Do You Get Homesick?

Yes

(67) Are You A Virgin?

Yes, and I plan to stay that way for awhile

(68) What Shampoo And Conditioner Are You Using Right Now?

I use Suave, but I also use TeaTree when I get really bad dandruff

(69) If You Were Far From Home And Needed To Sleep For The Night, Would You Choose To Rent A Crappy Motel Room For $60 Or Sleep In Your Car For Free?

Depends on the place. But most likely I'd risk the motel.

(70) Are Both Of Your Blood Parents Still In Your Life?

My mom yes, my biological father... It's complicated

(71) Whats The Next Movie You Want To See In Theaters?

I don't really watch movies, so none

(72) Do You Miss Your Ex?

I don't have an ex

(73) What Is Your Favourite Quote Right Now?

Be the person you needed when you were younger. I have no clue who said it, but I live by that

(74) What Eye Colour Do You Find Sexiest?

Eyes in general are great. Idk how anyone can not find something they like in any eye colour

(75) Did You Like Swinging As A Child? Do You Still Get Excited When You See A Swing Set?

YesYesYesYes

(76) What Was The Last Thing You Ate?

Nachos

(77) What Games Do You Have On Your Phone?

Voez and Pokémon Go

(78) Would You Give A Homeless Person CPR If They Were Dying? Why Or Why Not?

Yes, because no oen deserves to die. I'd do my best to help any homeless person

(79) Been On The Computer For 5 Hours Straight?

Haha, not today. Yet

(80) Stalked Someone On A Social Network?

Not really

(81) Do You Like Meeting New People?

Yes!

(82) Do You Wear Rings? If You Do, Take A Picture Of Them.

I don't wear jewlery much. But I would like to get my ears pierced properly

(83) Do You Sleep With Your Bedroom Door Open Or Closed?

Closed! I don't want people or my cat to walk in

(84) What Are Three Things You Did Today?

I woke up, did laundry, answered these questions

(85) What Do You Wear To Bed?

Pajama pants and a t-shirt

(86) List All Of Your Different Beauty Products You Have Right Now.

I've got none. Unless you want me to name what body wash i use. :/

(87) Are You A Day Or Night Person?

Night person

(88) List All Of Your Video Games On Your Phone, Console Etc.

Phone: Voez, Pokémon Go

Switch: Legend of Zeld: Breath of the wild, Super Smash Bros Ultimate, Kirby Star Allies, Mario Kart 8, PuyoPuyo Tetris, Bayonetta 1&2, Hyrule Warriors, Just Dance 2017, Super Mario Party, Let's Go Eevee, Mario Odyssey, Undertale, Shovel Knight, Pokémon quest, Mom Hid my Game, Deemo, Sonic Mania, Detention, The Coma, Cave Story

3DS: Kirby Clash Deluxe, Kirby Triple Deluxe, Kirby's Extra Epic Yarn, Kirby Planet Robobot, Kirby Canvas Curse, Kirby Mass Attack, Kirbg Super Star Ultra, Kirby Squeak Squad, Pokémon Y, Pokémon Platinum, Pokémon Ultra Moon, Pokémon Alpha Sapphire Pokémon Heartgold, Legend of Zelda Link Between Worlds, Legend of Zelda Majoras Mask, Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time 3D, Legend of Zelda Phantom Hourglass, Legend of Zelda Spirit Tracks, Super Smash Bros, Luigi's Mansion Dark Moon, Wario Ware Gold, Super Princess Peach, Animal Crossing New Leaf, Castlevania Dawn of Sorrow, Cooking Mama, Cooking Mama 2, Sonic Colors

Gameboy Color: Pokemon Blue, Legend of Zelda Link's Awakening

This is over the course of many years

(89) Tell Me About A Dream That You Had And When It Happened.

I had this dream where I was flying a red paper plane. It took forever to carry it up this tapestry, but i did it. When I finally took off this group of white paper planes were chasing me so I shook them off and landed, taking shelter in this museum. This museum held other people hiding and was actually an abandoned grocery store. Then I woke up.

I don't rememebr when this was, but I wrote it down. I have a few more if you're interested.

(90) Favourite Soda Drink?

Strawberry Ramuné

(91) What Sounds Are Your Favourite?

Rainstorms,

(92) Do You Wear Jeans Or Sweats More?

Jeans, since I can't wear sweatpants to work

(93) How Do You Look Right Now?

Uhhh, probably a slob since I've been in pajamas all day

(94) Name Something That Relaxes You.

Stuffed animals

(95) What Tattoo Do You Want?

Idk. Haven't really wanted one. Maybe a connect the dots one.

(96) Favourite YouTuber?

Idk. I watch Pyrocynical and Markiplier, but other than that I listen to music, watch speedpaints, and speed plays of various videogames

#ask #thanks for the ask!#ask meme #long post #airplanes #rainstorms #thunderstorms #legend of zelda #kirby #sonic #etc #wow this was a lot #also im really sorry #mobile was being dumb and i accidently delelted your last ask #;n;#also i want let you know im getting those canon characters done soon

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