Zelda

The Skyward Sword Daily Account:

Day 1: (March 31, 2014) Skyward Sword

I started out; mostly just to get started. I made it through the tutorial on interacting with the environment and that was it. It's kinda crazy that this place is just a floating island in the sky but it's been done before in other games. Sadly, I didn't get to see Zelda...

Day 2: (April 1, 2014) Skyward Sword

I started out and went straight to where Zelda was. Seeing a Zelda game start out with Link and Zelda just hanging out and nothing immediately obviously wrong with the world is kinda strange... I found my bird that some jerk kidnapped and locked up, I eventually figured out how to fly it, and I won the little contest they had (but you have to win, anyway so that's no big deal). I went flying with Zelda (which is a big deal because Zelda is a hottie), crap happened, she fell out of the sky, I woke up at home with her dad wondering where she was, then I met a sword (the in-game companion; this one's an annoying mix of Navi from Ocarina of Time and Data from Star Trek - her name is Fi) and took her with me. I went down to the surface then started out looking for Zelda. I swung my sword, I killed some bad guys, you know how it goes. As I progressed a little, I found a few strange spastic (though friendly) kiwi monsters and left off with me still looking for a couple of them so their leader will tell me where Zelda ran off to...

Day 3: (April 2, 2014) Skyward Sword

I quickly found the last two little kiwi dudes and then got myself to the Skyfall Temple where the kiwi people's leader said Zelda went to. Once in there, I found some really annoying spider webs that are just about impossible to fully clear out before trying to pass. Then I got to the room with the eye that follows pointy objects. I had to cheat here. Seriously, though. I spent over a half an hour trying everything I could think of. How was I supposed to know I was supposed to make it dizzy to unlock the door I needed to go through? I mean, twirling around my sword isn't exactly in the first ten things that come to mind when I try to think of how to trip those eye switch things. So after my first cheat in what I'm sure is going to be a long string of cheats, I went on to the next room, turned around, saved the game, and decided to get some sleep.

Day 4: (April 3, 2014) Skyward Sword

I guess it's a frame of mind kind of thing for this temple; after finally accepting that twirling my sword aroud is productive in certain situations and honing my giant spider killing skillz, I was able to jump back into this whole 3-D rendered Zelda universe thing. Now, keep in mind that I haven't played this game until now and directly controlling Link's sword with the Wiimote is one reason I stopped playing Twilight Princess. Finally being able to really get a handle on all that helped a lot because after that, I plowed right through that level and found myself at the boss for that temple (because every temple has a boss to defeat, right?). This boss seemed familiar. Now, I'm not good with names... at all. but I'm very sure that this guy is the same jerk who caused the events in A Link Between Worlds (which I was in the middle of playing when I erased all my Zelda saves and started this thing). I'm not a fan of this guy. His arrogance and obviously superior sword fighting skills were frustrating to me. Now, I'm sure there are plenty of you out there reading this who are thinking something like: when I went up against that guy the first time, it wasn't too bad. Well, good for you. My motor skills are sub-par, okay? I knew that coming in to this and I'm doing what I can and not everyone can be as naturally cool as you. My motor skills suck and this guy was tough. So, after my third attempt to get through that battle (and learning how his attacks were weak), I finally got through it ...only to learn that my princess was in another castle- er, um, I mean temple. She's in another temple. Yeah... So I went home, got my self a shiney new metal shield (which doesn't break or burn up as easily as my old wooden one), took a deep breath, and moved on to a new path to this other temple. While making my way through this area, just like the forest, I found a lot of bad guys who seemed somewhat familiar and I realised that these guys were just better detailed versions of baddies from previously released Zelda games. I thought it was cool up until the part where I kept getting burnt to a crisp by those salamander fish cowards hiding in skulls. Those guys are just rude... Anyway, I cleared out a lava pool and found a big ugly hole in a volcano shaft so I did what any good video game adventurer would do and I jumped right in (missing a treasure box because I was so careless) and saved at the first save point I saw which was pretty conveniently placed right there in the first room.

Day 5: (April 4, 2014) Skyward Sword

I wandered around a bit in that volcano but didn't find anything of notable value except a way out which led to another volcano. When I got to the other volcano, I decided to head back to Skyloft (the city I started out the game in) and see if anything was going on over there. Lo and behold, I got there and quickly found out that a little girl went missing. I exercised my mad sleuthing skillz and quickly found the way to get to the alleged monster who reportedly kidnapped that girl. I went straight to the graveyard at night (I know, right?) and opened up the passage to the monster's lair. I continued on, only to find that this monster wasn't in any way aggressive but he was actually keeping the little girl safe from the real monsters which run rampant in the town at night. After having discovered all this and promising to let the girl's parents know that she was safe and would be home after the sun was out, my niece wanted me to play Disney Infinity with her. I saved and switched to Disney Infinity for the rest of my gaming this evening.

Day 6: (April 5, 2014) Skyward Sword

I let the little girl's mom know that her daughter was going to be back in the mornning and then continued on in my quest to track down the now ever-elusive Zelda. I got right back into the land of volcanoes and made my way into the Earth Temple. I did the standard thing; wander around, find stuff, talk to people, kill bad guys. Then, as I got stuck in a room that I wasn't sure how get through, someone wanted me to play some more Disney Infinity...

Day 7: (April 6, 2014) Skyward Sword

In this game, there is a really nifty tool. This tool is a mechanical bug that I can send out and use to look around and even bring back some small items. It flies wherever I tell it to (with the exception of through walls, of course) and when I tell it to return or after a certain amount of time, it comes back. In that room I left off in yesterday, I used this bug and found some cracks in a wall. I blew that part of the wall open with a couple bombs and saw my way through. I pushed further into the temple and came to that same arrogant pansy from the first temple (which I found out isn't the one from A Link Between Worlds). With his own special flair he did the normal video game bad guy thing and brought me up to speed on what he's been doing and then left right after sicking his pet lava ball monster on me. This boss wasn't that bad and it was kinda fun to go up against this one largely because of the environment and how that boss interacted with it (if you want details, you'll just have to either remember from when you played it or play it for yourself (or go to some other site and cheat yourself out of a good experience)). After this boss is the part that gets me. Like any good Zelda fan, I've played Ocarina of Time. In that one, there is a very awesome character named Impa. She is one of a long line of secret protectors for the Hyrulian royal family, and the princesses in particular. This very secret lineage is called the Shiek (not to be confused with the real-world Shieks). In the room that I gained access to after defeating that lava ball boss, I found not only Zelda but also a Shiek. At first, I though: "Awesome! She's going to let me take Zelda and all will be well while Zelda helps me take care of this arrogant jerk who wants to kill her. Thanks, Shiek lady!" That wasn't the case. At all. After stopping Zelda from running to be with me (where she should be), the Shiek gave me some very hurtful and insulting (but true) words. I know that she was just trying to get me to work harder and get better so that I could play the part that I was intended to but that Shiek was a very rude tough love far cry from the caring Impa that I knew from what would be in this world's future. So I sucked it up and carried on while the Shiek took Zelda somewhere safe. Now was my time to get to the desert. My first impression of this place wasn't very good. I have to admit that because of Ocarina of Time, I was pretty excited to go to the desert. I mean that Gerudo Valley music was freaking awesome! And there was other good stuff there too but this was the past and the amazing things which were there in Ocarina of Time might not be there. Or better yet, might be in the making! What I found wasn't what I expected but it was just as good. At first, this place was a dead, bland, dry hole (mine, really) somehow cut out of rock that was under a very shallow layer of sand. I moved forward a little bit and I came across very clear signs of a properous past. And that past was placed before me in a way that I would have never guessed. When I came to a dead end, I started looking around and eventually came to the most obvious object in the whole area; a stone in the center which had the ensignia used by the Shiek. I hit it with my sword and it created what could quite possibly be the coolest thing ever: a time bubble that allowed me to move between past and present in a three dimensional kind of way. When I stepped outside of that bubble, I went back to my normal time but inside was a strange time displacement to the past and it was a very colorful place that was a great mix of styles. It was a modernized mesoamerican style with technological aspects and very vivid colors. This place is awesome. I happily made a way through these mines while finding other stones similar to the first. And all too soon, I came to the end of the mines and saw it open up to the outside world and what looked like it may have once been a city where I saved my game.

Day 8: (April 7, 2014) Skyward Sword

Lots done today... but escaping into a video game from a crap day of work has that kind of magic, doesnt it? I got the reaffirmation that the areas in this game really are mentality things. That previously mentioned flying bug got an upgrade that lets it carry heavier items, like bombs (hint hint) and I put that little bug to work everywhere in this place. I wandered out into this new open area and was almost immediately greeted by a new kind of bad buy who tried to run over me with a shell about as tall as myself while carrying a very obvious elecrtic charge. I knew that neither my metal sword nor metal shield would be too helpful against that so I ran for high ground. When I saw that it was stunned from smashing right into the rock I was standing on, I jumped down and quickly disposed of it. I wandered around a bit, both exploring and also keeping in mind that I'm supposed to be following a certain Princess Zelda (which I can say because most of the Zeldas in these games are just reincarnations so they're not exactly the same person). I came to the third temple(Temple of Time)'s enterance, only to find that the Shiek had kindly blown said enterance to impassable bits. A conveniently close by Goron (one of a race of mountain dwelling humanoids who by nature, loves bombs and fire and) who I had met before the first temple told me that there was a way into this third temple through the mines. With that, I pressed forward. I fought more bad guys in other time bubbles and I found three keys that should open up my way into a secret passage into the mines so I can get into that temple and I used those keys to open that mine right up... all this, I guess, because climbing over bombed rubble is just too mainstream... After opening up this new enterance into the mines, I determined it was only secret until you open it up because I could see that thing from almost any place on this map after it rose up from the sand right in the center of the old ruins which were formed by three concentric octagons (for the record, the numbers 3 and 8 are very common in these games; I've read that 8 is supposed to be lucky in most asian cultures but I'm not sure what's up with the 3). Anyway, this thing was huge but I'm good with that because that took out a lot of the guess work from finding the front door. I entered the mines through the new enterance and got started there. I cleared the first room (oh so much more than just making my way through, as you experienced Zelda players know) and after seeing that it was just about bedtime, I turned around and saved my game.

Day 9: (April 8, 2014) Skyward Sword

Lots of playing but not much to report; killed some of those three headed dragon things from the very first original Zelda, made a lot of time bubbles, found (and killed) some old bad guys with new twists, ran through every room. I just played right on and saved whenever I had the chance right up until I found the boss for this level...

Day 10: (April 9, 2014) Skyward Sword

Lots of playing and kind of lots to report. It was a lot to go through but when you put it into words, it ends up being less. You'll have to play through it to really know what it's like. Anyway- First off, that giant burrowing scorpion boss was nice and easy and that's something I am very okay with so long as it doesn't happen too much. After that, I went to the Temple of Time just as Zelda and the Shiek (who I found out is also named Impa, but will never be as cool as the other Impa) were going to head through a portal to some other place. Right after I got there and saw them about to leave, that arrogant pansy guy blew a new enterance to the temple and let himself on in. ...and Link couldn't have done that for himself earlier? Anyway, crap got real and Impa told Zelda to get through that portal. Zelda gave me a harp that's supposed to help me get where she's going and then she went through the portal as I (controlled by the game) gave Impa enough time to escape after Zelda. Having seen what just happened, our effeminate antagonist decided to ragequit without even trying to kill me. Right after he said it was a mistake that he didn't stop me last time, too. I don't get this guy. But oh well, I guess... In the realm of good news, Impa redeemed herself in my eyes. Not completely but a lot. Before she left with Zelda, she let me know that I was right on time (instead of late like she said last time) and she also told me who to talk to so I can find my way to where they went. So I got to going and I went to the old lady who Impa said would help me. My next task was to restore some magical powers to my sword by purifying it in three sacred flames from three places in the world. First, I would need to summon some crazy other kind of time stone by playing a song. With the harp that Zelda gave me, I played a song that the old lady had me play and then I saved everyone from the monster that it woke up, and I went back to Skyloft to open up a portal to a place that would help me get just one step closer to Zelda and saving the world (because saving Zelda and the world is what all these games is about, right? ;)

Day 11: (April 10, 2014) Skyward Sword

Holy ton of trials, Batman! I don't think I've ever done so much work in a Zelda game to have so little return on all that effort. I went to the Forest (according to the message given to me by the Goddess. And while I'm thinking about it, I thought there were supposed to be three goddesses (according to Ocarina of Time: Din, Farore, and Nayru) and not just one. Why is there just one, all of a sudden? Maybe this is the one who stayed behind or something. Is Zelda supposed to be her reincarnation? O.o I guess we'll see. Getting back to the story..). I went through a "trial" where I had to find fifteen glowy orbs and not be hit, even once, by a bunch of spirit knights that were just about everywhere. I got all except one on my first try but on my third try, I got it (and I was so close that first time, too..(also, we shall never mention the second try. ever.)). For all that, I got a scale from the Water Dragon or something like that which lets me swim (because that's the only way a human can swim, right?). So I took that and headed to a watery place in the Forest that I didn't have access to earlier and made my way to the Water Dragon with a little help from a local squid thing. On the way, I had to kill a bunch of bad guys who invaded and didn't bother leaving yet. When I got to the Water Dragon, she asked me to bring some water from a certain place to help her heal from when she was attacked by Ghirahim (our effeminate antagonist). So I went all the way back to the Forest Temple, only to find out that a room I needed to get through has been locked by some bad guys since I was last there. I gotta say, this caught me off guard. This was a first... I've never had anyone go back into a place where I'd already left everything wide open and then lock something up. I think it's kinda cool because it adds just a little bit more realism to the game but that is pretty annoying because I spent 20 minutes just looking for that blasted key. I did find the key, though and I finished going all the way through the level and I went to the back- all the way to the very back most part of the furthest back room in this place. I'm glad that I did still have a couple little shortcuts from before... So now that I have this special water, I made my way ALL the way back to the Water Dragon. She healed up and got better in less than a second, and she led me to yet another area where there are more bad guys and supposedly, the first of the three flames to purify my sword in. I started out and went through some different but not too hard to figure out rooms and got a key! A key which was used to unlock a room to a very unkind ant skeleton with a weapon at the end of each of four arms that only lets me use one or two specific sword attacks at a time then he hits me with some combination of those four weapons. I do not like this guy. After dying twice, and having need to go back and get some life potion and or fairy in a bottle, I decided to just quit and leave this guy for next time.

Day 12: (April 11, 2014) Skyward Sword

I decided to take a break today. Since I really was in need of those previously mentioned items, I went to Skyloft and picked up a couple life potions and then I went to the Fire Temple and got a fairy to fill up my three empty bottles. After that was when I really decided to take a break. I noticed that there was a new shield (magic deflection! yeah!) in the store so I got one and upgraded it and would have upgraded it again to make it the best it could be but I'm missing one item for the upgrade so that'll have to wait. Then after I was done goofing off and upgrading my stuff, I came back to that four armed stalfos and killed him (with only using one life potion!). After that, I got this whip kind of thing that I'm guessing is supposed to me like a hookshot in this game? I dunno. But it let me progress through the level. Now, I'm writing this days later and yesterday was a pretty busy day for me so I actually don't remember how far I got before I saved and left the game. I'll let you know next time I play...

Day 13: (April 14, 2014) Skyward Sword

Nintendo, you are a bunch of jerks. Serioiusly, just huge jerks! I killed your four-armed skeleton and that just wasn't enough, was it? Nope. I continued on by going through even more of this place. I manipulated a giant Indian Buddha looking statue with a bunch of levers to get to different places in the underlying portion of this area. Now by the way, this area has a very nice looking upper area where everything is brilliantly lit yellow-brown sandstone and has nince calm soft colors... The stark contrast of the lower level is the best looking cave dungeon I've ever seen in a Zelda game. Complete with dark purple color theme, zombie bad guys, shackles along a wall, skulls littered about, and some strange liquid in pools that will slowly kill you if you go into it. I went down there a few times with the statue at different heights, and eventually got the key that opened up the end of this level and at the end of this level is something I hope I don't have to come across again (because some Zelda games bring back level bosses at some point near the end, just to mess with you and further prove just how big of jerks these guys really are). It's like Nintendo heard my cries of woe from the future and they built in a boss with six arms just for me. ...and because four arms is so two decades ago, amirite? (I'm looking at you, Goro and Sheeva... O.o) On my second go, I did manage to end this guy, and finally. Finally! I got the first purifying fire for my sword and now my weapon is shinier and improved! Two more... I just have to go through something similar just two more times... These guys really didn't want this to be easy... Anyway, Fi told me to get back to the previously unmentioned mini castle in the sky where I received the instructions that set me on the path for the first fire. Upon arriving, I learned a new harp song and was instructed to get back into the desert for that second fire... (Yeay! I made it all the way through this account without saying when my sword was touched by the flame, it was made harder and longer! That would have been pretty awkward, huh?)

Day 14&15: (April 18-19, 2014) Skyward Sword

Right. So, I don't remember exactly where these two days split (I'm writing this the day after the second day and there was a lot done these two days) so I'm putting it in as one entry. Now, kinda like with the first flame, I had to find the right spot and start a glowy orb easter egg hunt. I got this one on my second try! I'm getting better at this. :) Anyway, I finished the hunt and I got the clawshot which is much more like the hookshot (that all Zelda fans know and love) than the whip I got earlier. This clawshot is much cooler than either the hookshot or whip, though because it's kinda like having two hookshots; you can use one, hang where you were pulled to, and shoot over somewhere else. With this clawshot, I was able to get to places in the desert that I didn't have access to before. With this new toy- I mean tool, I made my way to an exit that went to a completely new part of the desert where I found what was once a sea but is now just a sea of sand... On the dock at the edge of this sea of sand, I saw a boat that somehow managed to not only survive but miraculously end up right there on the dock where it was most likely left. This boad just happened to have a timeshift stone on it so I did the obvious thing and I activated that stone. That brought back a friendly robot pirate who was pretty keen on helping me find a ship that had my next target: the second flame. I went to the house of an old friend of his to get a map. Which sounds easy until you get to the area and realise that this house if a few hundred feet up in the air and you need to fight your way to it while using that nifty new clawshot. I got the map (with the help of my second cheat in this venture (I needed to kill a plant monster that kept knocking me down when I used the clawshot right next to it)) then I went back to the robot pirate (who was really the original captain for the ship I'm looking for). He then had me go to the dock where the ship was made to hopefully find some information on where it went to. After killing some bad guys and having a few fun rides on this cool rail cart that goes all around the shipyard, I found nothing and the robot captain then had me go to the lair of the real pirates who took this ship from him. I did the hero thing and went through some rooms and killed some bad guys to find a way to find this ship so I set sail and finally went after this ship which was no easy task because it was invisible and still moving around... I eventually got it and climbed on board. I wandered around a bit, killed the bad pirate captain, and did more exploriing. Somewhere in that, I saved and then started back up the next day. I finished exploring, saved the old crew of the ship, killed the end boss (who looked like a giant white amphibian skinned cyclops with tentacles on his head that looked like dreads), then got some fire on my sword for the second time. I got a lot done! ...and I wasn't done yet! I continued on, learning yet another song for my harp and I found the third trial. This one was special because it's on the side of a volcano and I know that this area is nowhere near as open and free-roamable as the forest or desert. Yet somehow, not only did I get all my glowy orbs in the first try, but I even had enough extra time to pick up some items that seem to only exist in the spirit world where these glowy orbs are. As reward for completing this third spirit world glowy orb trial, I got me some earrings that are totally going to protect me from being delicately roasted into Link-jerky in the hotter areas of this volcano (which is where the third special flame is). I went into the one area where I remember I couldn't go before because of the heat and it led me straight to where I needed to go. I entered the third flame dungeon (a cave that is a far cry from the Bhuddist peaceful looking water flame place with the giant statue). I wandered around a little and quickly found an outdoor area with a nice waterfall. I wandered a tiny bit more and I found a place with a frog statue and a nearby stone that said the frog was thirsty or something like that. I knew what I had to do. But I wasn't exactly willing to do it. I have three jars. Any one of those jars can be used to carry some water to the frog from the warerfall but my problem was that two of these jars had a fairy (which is priceless because if I die, any fairy I have in a bottle will bring me back to life and heal me a bit) and the last had an infused life potion (which means it had more than just money go into it so it's special, too). I would have to sacrifice one of these three things if I was going to give a thirsty frog some water. I decided to go back and save my game then leave the hard stuff for tomorrow...

Day 16: (April 20, 2014) Skyward Sword

Since it was pretty late when I saved my game last night, I started up my save without really knowing what I was doing. I wandered around a bit and then I came across the room with the frog statue and it all came back to me. I used one of my two fairies then used that empty bottle to get that frog and the one after it. I got a larger container and used a robot to get a third and much larger frog statue and with that, I got through. Then I entered the real dungeon to the third flame; the cave wasn't really it. The real dungeon actually had what looked like man made structures in it. I fought my way through and eventually came to this dungeon's boss: Ghirahim. He wasn't much different than before. He once again brought me up to speed on what he's been doing and then proceded to fight me. Just like last time he fought me, he really seemed like he was holding back. However, he seemed to be unraveling. Not too much unlike the beginning stages of Azula (from Avatar the Last Airbender) freaking out and eventually falling victim to some pretty extreme mental instability, Ghirahim was obviously physically different but claiming that he's more perfect than he was before. He battled the same but this time was much easier than last time. His moves were the same but I didn't have to use a fairy of life potion. It might be that I had a better handle on the controls but this battle was easier and faster than before. After a few minutes of strategic blocking and attacking with no indication that he was getting tired, he just gave up. He admitted defeat, though. I really don't get this guy but If that's how it will be when he finally comes down, I'm good with that because I could have gone a lot longer. Anyway, he ran off and if he had a tail, it would surely be between his legs. I went to the third and final flame and finished tempering my sword where it became the Master Sword that every good Zelda fan knows and loves. I took the fully charged Master Sword to the Sealed Temple where the old lady is and charged up my sword to activate the second gate when that creature at the bottom of the pit broke out again. After a second try at stopping that creature, I figured out how to stop it and I got that done. I went back into the temple, activated the gate, and went back in time. I went to Zelda and the point in time where things were really going wrong in the land... Impa didn't even stop me; she told me right where Zelda was and wanted me to go to her. I went to Zelda and as soon as I saw her face, I knew something was up (kudos to the 3-D modelers who got the facial expressions perfect!). She told me what she learned about herself and she expressed some very sincere apologies at having drug me into this mess. She told me that she was the mortal incarnation of the Goddess Hyrule and that her being mortal was one of two parallel plans to stop the evil that has spoiled the land below when Skyloft was made and sent into the sky. She added that Link, the Goddess's Hero, was the second plan. She really felt very bad about having Link start on that path while she still didn't really know what was going on but now she does know and being the girl who grew up with and so close to Link, she felt a very sincere remorse. But you see, that growing close to Link is part of why she had her chosen hero; this hero needed proper motivation at first when there wasn't any real information on what was going on. The Goddess Hyrule needed someone who would fight for her with everything he had. As Zelda, she felt sorry for using Link's emotions (even though it wasn't known to her at the time) but as Hyrule, she knew it was necessary for the sake of their world and every good thing in it. And that's one major factor in her chosing to seal herself indefinitely so that she could hold back the evil that caused all of this and Link can end that evil in the future and wake up Zelda. So acting on Zelda's request, I traveled back to our time and set out for Skyloft to look for the legendary Triforce. In Skyloft, I got word that a certian creature near the small castle in the sky where I learned some of the songs for my harp was most likely to know where the Triforce was. I went to him, killed his parasite that was infecting him, and he told me that the Goddess gave him part of a four-part song and that the three other parts were known by dragons in each of the other three parts of the world (forest, desert, volcano). Since I had a choice this time, I went for my least favorite: the volcano. I was falling into the area when the volcano erupted and knocked me out (mid-fall!). I was picked up by some local baddies who really took over the place. They took my stuff and locked me up. Lucky for me, one of the original locals (good guys) gave me my digging gloves. I used those to get my clawshot and I used my clawshot to get my whip. I used my whip to get my bombs and I used my bombs to get my slingshot. There may have been something else in there but the important thing was that when I got back to the cave that I originally mistook for the dungeon for the third flame, I got my sword and that's when I knew that everything would be okay. I quickly found a box that conveniently had all the rest of my stuff (with all empty bottles; did I leave those empty or did the bad guys take my fairies and life potions?) then I saved my game. When I get back, those bad guys are going down (I'll teach them to steal my stuff)!

Day 17: (April 21, 2014) Skyward Sword

Recklessly, I ran my self straight to the only area in that cave that I haven't yet been to, and I quickly found myself not in the presence of more bad guys but in the presence of the first dragon. At least I didn't have to fight anyone else. He apologized for the volcanic eruption and then gave me his part of the song. I then left, got some health potions and a fairy, then made my way to the dragon in the desert. A kind goron let me know that there was a crack that probably led to the dragon in an area where he was previously excavating. I went over and found my way through. I kinda like this area. With little searching, I found what sure looked like a dragon skeleton but this is the land of time shift stones so I knew that somehow or other, I would be able to talk to this dragon. I found a locked door, found its key, then started a bit of a frustrating journey all the way around this dragon with a mining cart that carried a time stone. This loop had some tough parts but I made it through, only to find out that the dragon is sick and his robots had a way to heal him but it took centuries for this remedy to grow. Well, it's a good thing I just happened to have a time portal. I grabbed their tree sprout, ran back to the sealed temple, planted it in the past, went back to Link's native time, and got one really huge fruit off this tree then made my way back to the dragon in the desert. As soon as he ate this fruit, he was flying around without a trouble in his world. He gave me his part of the song, told me he had a gift for next time we saw eachother, thanked me, and then sent me on my way. This last dragon was kind of special. Where I had trials before I ever talked to a dragon, and they just gave me their songs, this one, the water dragon(the one from earlier, who I also helped heal), sent out a bunch of tadpoles throughout the forest which she flooded, by the way (to unsuccessfully kill the bad guys who were there) and she made me collect the whole lot of them. These guys aren't so easy to find under the water and after finding about half of them, I saved my game and watched a movie with a friend before getting my happy self to bed.

Day 18: (April 22, 2014) Skyward Sword

I started up the game and dove right back into things(dove- get it? It's funny because the whole forest was thoughtlessly flooded by a centuries-old, allegedly wise dragon and you can't use submerged save points so I had to dive from the only usable save point into the water that shouldn't be there to find the rest of those ridiculous tadpoles and prove myself to a dragon whose life I probably saved back when I first met her. Anyway-). I got the rest of the tadpoles and got that last part of the song. With that, I made my way back to the windfish who told me to get the other parts of the song. The dragons joined up with us and they all sang the song and told me to get my self to Skyloft where I would have my fourth and last spirit journey of glowy orb collection. And at about this point, I would like to make it known that this game is kinda just droning on a whole lot more than any Zelda game I've ever played before. I mean there's normally more structure and you know what you're doing. You have three, five, or eight levels to go through and they're not really hidden and you have a confident idea of what's going on and you aren't sent on task after task after task (AD INFINITUM) like someone's just sending you out on a random bunch of adventures to watch you squirm. Anyway, it's good that my inventory is still a bit of an indication on progress and that it shows that I'm almost finished because I'm not sure now much more of all this I'm up for. I mean that. Really. Right. So, I went back to Skyloft, found my spirit world glowy orbs, got a gem and was told to put it with its match (it's part of a pair). I remembered a statue of a bird with one gem in one eye and the other was empty. I put this in to match the one that was already there and it started a mechanized canon that kinda blew out the ground under the Temple of the Goddess. It was cool to see the last parts of this but the villagers are sure going to have some quesstions... The fallen ground exposed what I was told is the resting place of the three parts to the Triforce. So after the sequence was finished, I ran in and got this started. I got a very conspicuously placed map and then came to a slide-puzzle which I instantly recognized as the map. This was pretty cool; I got to choose how the rooms were laid out. I moved around a few pieces but since the part I was in couldn't be moved and that was the bottom-center place in a three unit by three unit square, moving parts around wasn't as easy as I first thought. I made something that should at least let me into one of the Triforce marked rooms and started out in it. I cleared two rooms before I got to the third triforce room and went back because I didn't have a key. I rearranged the rooms and after going through a couple rooms, I came across other places where I could rearrange the rooms from. That helps but by this point, I had enough. I saved the game and called it a day.

Day 19: (April 23, 2014) Skyward Sword

This is it; this is the end. So if you've been following along and you think you might play this game, do yourself a favor and don't read this one because the ending of this one game will change how you see all other Zelda games. That being said, here's what happened... I got a piece of paper (in the real world) and drew the layout of these rooms. Then I cut up the parts and arranged them in a way that would let me go through all of them. Coming to a shape that looked like a question mark, I was glad to see that it really could happen. I went over to a pedastal where I could change the room layout and I did just that. Well, I tried, anyway. I figured that I would need to be in a corner to get this all set up the way I wanted (because it doesn't let me move the one I'm in) so I found a corner piece (top right) and put that there and made sure I had a way to get to it. Then after I got there, I put all the rest where they needed to be. With that in place, I quickly ran through everything that each room put before me (a puzzle and/or fight in every one of them!) and ended up with the Triforce!!! ...and here's where I start to take issue with the story again. I was left standing high up on the statue of the Goddess Hyrule with his Triforce and his sword Fi. The Triforce gives one wish to whoever posesses it and right now, that was me. So, what does Fi do? She tells Link to wish that Demise (the evil that Ghirahim was trying to bring back into the world) was dead. It sounds simple enough, but like Will Turner trying to strike a deal with Captain Barbosa, This was a bit short-sighted. I saw the problem with that wish as soon as Fi said it: this is happening in Link's native time and not in the past where Demise really should have been done away with (Doctor Who, you have taught me well). Well, Link listened to Navi- I mean Fi and wished for the demise of Demise (obligatory obvious bad pun brought about by unoriginal naming. sorry) and the Temple of the Goddess fell from Skyloft and squished Demise in the present day. Link went to Zelda, woke her up, everything was cool up until Ghirahim runs in and does exactly what I was dreading he would from the moment that wish was made... He kidnapped Zelda and used her life force to make Demise stronger in the past where he isn't dead. Link called shenanegans on this whole thing and decided to end things with Ghirahim so after four or five failed attempts, I decided to properly stock up my inventory (three fairies and two life potions (I have 5 jars, now) plus one heart medalion which gives me one extra heart (for anyone not familiar with Zelda games, your life force is measured in hearts; lose all your hearts, you die (unless you have a fairy, in the which case, you will be resurrected with a few hearts (go deeper (dream within a dream))))) so I did that and came back. I fought him once more and defeated him just in time to be too late; he freed Demise. Demise showed up and underwent a bit of a transformation from that scaley behemoth of before into a humanoid with a very recognizable face. This guy looked a LOT like Ganon (biggest of the big bad guys from Zelda games, just in case you're a normal person and haven't played these games). Well, he turned Ghirahim into a sword (which I was guessing was his true form because of his similar features to Fi), Demise took his new sword, then he challenged Link to a battle. Demise remembered humans as being very cowardly creatures and he was a bit intrigued by Link who seemed to be a far more powerful force that rivaled some demons he's known. After being told that Zelda was okay and she would regain consciousness and be herself if I defeated Demise, I accepted his offer to battle and thus began a fight that was pretty easy after I listened to Fi and used some strategy. I ended Demise, rendered my one Triforce wish useless, saved Zelda, and saved the world. Three out of four isn't bad, right? Well, upon his defeat, Demise made a very unsettling promise (he called it a curse). He said that he would not die completely but he would be reborn again and again. He said that Zelda and Link would be reborn as well. And that he would haunt the two of them and everyone in this world for as long as he existed. So I guess that made it three out of five. After that things got better, though. Supposedly, Demise was sealed in the sword. Impa stayed in the past which was her native time while Zelda and I went back to our native times along with another Skylofter who really helped out a lot against Demise at certain points. Then, while standing up on the Goddess statue which was now on the world's surface, Zelda said she wanted to live down on the ground instead of up in the clouds and then the game ended... By the way, at the very end of the credits, I was given a chance to change my save file into a start for a game with Hero Mode. It wasn't very descriptive on what Hero Mode was but I figure I might try it out some day...