BOTW #16: Eventide Island

While exploring, I made my way to Lakeside Stable and completed a nearby shrine. A bit later, I ran into Kass. His song told me that I should call lightning down from a giant mound. So I did just that, and the lightning strike exposed a new shrine.

Lightning strikes the mound (and Link).
Ow.

I completed it and continued on my journey. I ran into a banana salesman that was so pushy, I literally had to fight him off. Sorry, but I don’t want your grubby ‘nanas, dude.

Traveler: ...What--do you hate bananas?Soon, I came across a pretty heart-shaped lake.

A heart-shaped lake in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild for Nintendo Switch.I made a love connection here for a side quest, and then moved along to a nearby shrine. I completed it and then explored the town I was in–Lurelin Village. It’s a small fishing town, and it’s beautiful.

Lurelin Village in Zelda: Breath of the Wild.Here, I ran into a Gerudo named Flavi. She pointed me in the direction of Eventide Island. I decided to make my way over there, to see what it was all about.

Paragliding to Eventide Island in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (BOTW).Once I got to shore, I received an on-screen message telling me that this island is a trial that I must complete without my normal equipment. So all of my weapons, clothes, armor, and food were taken from me! I was told I had to offer three orbs to three altars on this island to get my equipment back.

Offer up the orbs to the three altars on this island. Only then will I acknowledge your skill and return your items.
This isn’t the vacation getaway I was expecting.

While I could pick up items I found here on the island, there weren’t exactly powerful weapons lying around. At first, I had to use tree branches and boat oars to defeat enemies!

Attacking an enemy with a boat oar in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild for Nintendo Switch.Some enemies such as Bokoblins dropped their weapons after being defeated, but they were still weaker and less durable than the weapons I’m accustomed to. At least I could still use my rune abilities (stasis, bombs, etc.).

I explored and found two orbs in (or near) enemy camps. It wasn’t quick or easy, but I was able to defeat (or sneak past) the enemies and put the orbs into their altars. The third and final orb, however, was going to be considerably tougher. That’s because a giant Hinox was wearing it around his neck!

Defeating a Hinox giant isn’t an easy task even when you’re at full strength. So imagine trying to beat one with very little food on hand, and using weapons like tree branches!

Fighting a giant Hinox with a tree branch in Zelda BOTW.Straight combat wasn’t getting me very far. After he butt-stomped me down a hill, I ran. I ran so far away. He followed me for a while, but eventually he gave up on me and went back to sleep. That gave me a breather, sure, but at a cost. When I returned for round two, I saw that his health had reset! What little damage I had done to him was all gone!

Clearly, I needed a new strategy. Eventually, I found a spot up a hill where he couldn’t quite reach me. He could throw rocks at me, sure. But I was able to avoid them for the most part. And I started dropping bombs on him. Sure, each one did very little damage to him. But I kept at it, and I gradually whittled down his health bar.

Fighting a Hinox in Zelda BOTW.Once his health was getting low, I remembered something else I could use: Urbosa’s Fury. That’s the electric attack I learned after defeating Vah Naboris. I used it, and it finished off the Hinox. Whew!

I took the Hinox’s orb to the final altar, which was just a bit off-shore. After placing it in the slot, a shrine popped up and I got my stuff back! Finally! I went inside the shrine, grabbed the treasure (a gold rupee), and collected my spirit orb. While Eventide Island was an interesting challenge, I was glad to get it over and done with.

The next time I played, I visited a fairy to upgrade some armor, and then expanded my stamina wheel twice. Next, I went to work on Tarrey Town some more. I chopped down some trees for wood to give to Hudson. Once I did that, he suggested that I find a good tailor for this town.

So I headed off for Kara Kara Bazaar in the desert, where I met up with Rhondson. She’s the tailor that makes all my women’s clothing for me. 😛 She agreed to move to Tarrey Town, and she set up her own clothing shop.

The tailor's shop in Tarrey Town.I gathered another batch of wood for Hudson, and he then suggested that we needed a general store in town. I’ll have to go to Rito Village to find the right bird person, but I’ll do that in a future entry. Anyway, I defeated a couple of guardians nearby for a side quest (and a disappointing reward).

Back in Kakariko Village, I completed a side quest where I collected a man’s Cuccos (chickens). I know a lot of people probably did this side quest about six months ago, but I just got to it now. 😛 Much like an angry Cucco, time flies.

Cado: That faint yet lovely flapping of wings... That musical clucking... Ah, truly the epitome of joy!!After exploring, I saw a large, tall maze off-shore. I paraglided over to it, and it’s called Lomei Labyrinth Island. I think this may have been the “apartment building” I saw before, although it certainly doesn’t look like an apartment building from this angle.

Soaring towards the Lomei Labyrinth in Breath of the Wild.As you might expect, it consists of a very large maze. Checking the map frequently helped me out a lot, although some passageways don’t show up there. But I made my through and completed the shrine–it was one of those “you’ve already proven your worth by getting here” shrines.

After I came out of the shrine, I found a passageway that heads down underneath the maze. There was a huge room full of guardians down here! Fortunately, they don’t all activate at once. But I killed several of them for some ancient gear, shafts, springs, and screws. These should help me upgrade my armor–I’ll be sure to do that before I take on Calamity Ganon.

Fighting two guardians in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.While walking down the coastline, I spotted a monument that told me to take an orb to Rist Peninsula. So I made the trek, put the orb in the altar, and opened up another shrine.

After completing it, I figured it was time for a status update. I’ve completed 70 shrines so far.

Status update as of September 21, 2017.As for my Hyrule Compendium, I have 266 out of 385 objects filled in. I haven’t bought any of them either; they’re all pictures I’ve taken myself.

BOTW: Magda’s Rage

Since last time, I’ve set off without any particular goals in mind. Sure, I wanted to find more shrines, treasure, and even Korok seeds, but I didn’t have any big goal in mind just yet.

I found a couple of shrines, including this one where I had to float on a platform held up by balloons, and maneuver around sharp objects.

A floating platform held up by balloons approaches some spikes in Zelda: Breath of the Wild.While back outside exploring, I spotted a big red dragon! I shot some arrows at it, but they didn’t seem to do anything.

A red dragon flies by in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.After fighting a camp full of enemies nearby, I spotted something glowing in the distance.

Something glows in the distance (Zelda BOTW).Naturally, I went over to check it out. It was Dinraal’s scale! This apparently fell off of the dragon! I previously learned that this is what I need to offer at the Spring of Power. So I headed there and offered the scale to the goddess statue. A new shrine opened up. After completing it, I traded in four spirit orbs for another heart container.

Later on, after recovering a memory near the Bottomless Swamp, I found a new shrine on a small island. The Floret Sandbar, to be exact. I walked towards the shrine, only to be interrupted when I stepped on the flowers circling the shrine.

Magda: Hey! What do you think you're doing?! You must not harm the flowers!This lady told me how she planted the flowers and watches over them 24/7 like an obsessed psychopath. Okay, maybe she didn’t use those exact words, but it’s true. A side quest began, and my job was to make my way to the shrine without stepping on flowers.

There is a maze-like path through the flowers that leads to the shrine. After stepping on flowers a second time (and being warned again), I decide to just use Revali’s Gale (the ability I learned from defeating Vah Medoh) to fly over them and reach the shrine. That completed the crazy lady’s side quest, and I went inside.

After completing the fairly easy shrine, I came back out. Since both the shrine and the lady’s side quest had been completed, I thought it was finally safe to walk on the flowers. I was wrong.

Magda: How many times do I have to say it?! Please treat the flowers with care! They're living things, you know!At this point, she was really starting to get on my nerves. So I stepped on those flowers again. I’d stomp them if I could, but she interrupts too quickly. Her reaction this time was quite different. At first, she looked depressed.

Magda, bent over: How do you not understand? Why don't you get it?But then she really lost it. She exploded in anger.

Magda, screaming: ARGGG!! NOOOOOOO!!She started running like crazy, trampling the flowers she’s so intent on protecting! This woman is psycho.

Magda, running through flowers: I worked day...after day...after day...to plant those flowers... Then you come and hurt them...over...and over...She then vowed to make me feel the flowers’ rage!

Magda, looking crazy and angry: ...the flowers' rage!!!The screen went dark and she beat me up! Really!

(footage not found)When the game faded in from black, I was on the ground, barely conscious, and with three hearts worth of health missing.

Link lies flat on the ground after a beating from Magda in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild for Nintendo Switch.At this point, you’d think I would have learned my lesson. But no. I was angry now, so I took out my meteor rod and set her precious flowers on fire!

Link sets Magda's flowers on fire in Zelda BOTW.
“Fire is bright. Fire is clean. Efficient and divine.” – Toadies

Her reaction was surprisingly tame this time (perhaps the beating she laid on me reset her mood cycle). But seeing her flowers burn left me with a nice satisfying feeling (even if the flowers returned to health after her warning). So I moved on.

I saw a sleeping giant (a Hinox) and I decided to pick a fight with it. I used my meteor rod to shoot some fire at the Hinox. At first, he tried to stamp out the fire with his feet. But after I shot at him again, he quickly ignored the fire and started coming for me.

An angry Hinox on fire in Zelda BOTW.These giants may be slow, but they take a while to beat. But once I did defeat him, I teleported to near the Gerudo Highlands. I love the view from up here!

A nice view from up in the mountains.After a bit more exploring, I wrapped up my game for now. Next time, I just might try heading over to Hyrule Castle to fight Calamity Ganon. That should be fun. 🙂

Update: Here is a video of my encounter with Magda.

6 Things I Didn’t Remember About Super Mario Bros. 3

I’ve previously written about three memorable levels in Super Mario Bros. 3. But as I replayed the game recently for the first time in many years (on my NES Classic), I noticed several things I did not remember from my previous playthroughs. Without further ado, here is my list.

1. The Sky is Beige

This isn’t true in all levels, of course. Many levels do indeed have blue skies, while others have black (night) or even green skies. But perhaps the most common sky color in the game is this light beige you can see in this screenshot. It’s something I haven’t really thought about before.

The beige sky in Super Mario Bros. 3.

2. Green Buildings with Footprints?

World 3-7 has these large green…structures…that I don’t remember from previously playing Mario 3. As a fan of the color green, I do enjoy the look of these unique structures. But what are they? Buildings? Walls? Perhaps they’re just the homes of the enemies known as Spikes. But if so, why aren’t there doors or windows? And are those footprints all over them? Or is that wallpaper? 😛

Green structures in World 3-7 of Super Mario Bros. 3.3. Magic Doors

World 4 has always been one of my favorites. It is the giant world, so enemies, blocks, and even the scenery can be huge here. But what I forgot is that World 4-6 has magic doorways that let you swap between the giant-sized world and a regular-sized version of the same level. It’s a cool feature.

Animated GIF of the magic door in World 4-6 of Super Mario Bros. 3.4. Misplaced Pipe Maze?

World 7 is filled with puzzling pipe maze levels, and I remembered that fact quite well. But what I wasn’t expecting during my recent playthrough was to see was a pipe maze in World 4. The second fortress here in the giant world has a pipe maze that looks straight out of World 7. Oddly enough, I remembered this specific level quite well…I just didn’t recall it being in World 4.

A pipe maze in the second fortress of World 4 in Super Mario Bros. 3.5. Green & Black Cave

I was quite surprised when I saw these green and black triangle patterns on the ground and walls of a cave in World 5-2. Again, this is probably just me being odd with my color preferences, but I love the look of it. And I did not remember seeing it at all. But in my defense, this area looks completely different in the Super Mario All-Stars (SNES) version, and that version was a bit fresher in my memory than the NES version.

Green/black walls in World 5-2 of Super Mario Bros. 3.6. I Hate Lakitu

In Mario Kart games, Lakitu will count down to the start of the race, or tell you which lap you’ve just completed. In other games such as Super Mario 64, he operates the camera. So it’s easy to be fooled into thinking he’s a nice guy, or at least a neutral figure.

But in Super Mario Bros. 3 (and some others), he’s a major-league butthole. While flying around up in his cloud, he relentlessly throws Spinies at you. He throws them at varying angles, and they’re quite hard to avoid. And he just keeps going and going. I had forgotten how much I truly hated this jerk. This screenshot is from World 5-8, which particularly gave me trouble. But he’s in some other levels as well, unfortunately.

Lakitu throws Spinies at me in Super Mario Bros. 3.You can see me struggling with Lakitu quite in a bit in my new Super Mario Bros. 3 – FAILS video. Skip to 2:25 if you want to jump right to the Lakitu parts.

But even though I may have forgotten these details about the game, I never forgot how great this game is. After replaying it again, I can say it’s still my favorite Mario game (2D or otherwise), and it’s among my favorite games of all time.