Month: December 2011

It turns out Impa destroyed the gate she and Zelda passed through, which somehow means I am no longer able to douse for Zelda’s presence. After collecting some items, I returned to the sky and then flew down through one of the openings to go to the Sealed Grounds.

Remember when I saw another large bird (Loftwing, as they’re called) flying around a while back? Now I know why. As I was falling down to the surface, Groose (the bully from Skyloft) fell down with me.

He had been following me in order to find Zelda’s location so that he could rescue her. He had never been to the surface before, so he was shocked by everything he saw. Small birds, the Goron, trees, etc. He was ranting and raving while grunting like a gorilla.

As Link was explaining everything to Groose, the camera cut away. For whatever reason, they refuse to ever show the words that Link says, even though he is obviously speaking to the other characters in-game. I’ve always thought that was stupid.

Anyway, after Groose eventually ran off, I talked to the Goron. He told me that butterflies will gather in certain areas where the hero (that’s-a-me) needs to play the harp to make something good appear. I went in to talk to the old lady and she taught me how to play a song on the harp. It was a little ridiculous, because the on-screen commands alternately told me I was playing too slow and too fast. How can it be both?After I learned the song, she continued talking until we were interrupted by some rumbling. If you remember the strange crater-type hole I mentioned in my Down to the Surface entry, you know where I’m at. A huge creature came out of that hole and I had an unexpected boss fight.

To get him to stop running you have to use your sword to basically cut off his toes. It reminded me of the last boss fight in Donkey Kong 64, where Tiny Kong had to attack K.Rool’s toes. After defeating him, I used my sword to seal him back in the ground.

The old woman told me I have to seek out the flame in each of the three lands I have been to, so I can purify my sword in their heat. But first, I have to return to Skyloft to find someone at the academy who has knowledge of the song, so that they can point me in the right direction. On my way out, the Goron notified me of a spot where butterflies were gathering. That was my hint to play the song I learned, so I did. A gossip stone appeared and it basically reiterated what I had been told already. On that note, I decided to save my game and quit for the day.

I continued on through the Lanayru Mining Facility. One room was full of sand which I had to blow out of the way with the gust bellows. Oddly enough, it felt like I was playing Super Mario Sunshine. Blowing air felt just like Mario squirting water from his FLUDD contraption.

This dungeon has some very large rooms that you need to explore well with your beetle to see what you need to do and where you need to go. I found out something about those tower-like enemies that relentlessly shoot lasers at you. Well I knew you had to destroy the lower parts first before you can shove your sword into its eye for the final blow…but I discovered I can simply cut the lower parts with my sword! I was thinking you had to use bombs, which is a big reason I had a lot of trouble with them yesterday. Well, you learn as you go.

I eventually got the boss key and made my way to the boss: Moldarach.

To my surprise, this boss was very easy. Definitely the easiest boss so far. After grabbing the heart piece, I made my way down a stunning underground tunnel/hallway.

I came out the other end at the Temple of Time. Zelda was there, singing and playing her harp. Just then, the Demon Lord guy shows up and attacks the woman with Zelda. He calls her Impa. Impa was a sage in Ocarina of Time. Anyway, as Impa is being attacked, Zelda throws me the Goddess’s Harp. She says I’ll need it.

I come to Impa’s rescue and ask her if I’m late again. She says no, I’m right on time. She tells me to go to the old woman at the Sealed Grounds. Zelda and Impa disappear into a gate, and the Demon dude disappears as well. It gives me the option to save, so I saved and quit.

I continued my game in the Lanayru Mining Facility, which is the third dungeon. I was stuck in this first room for a while. There were little icons of a face with a circle around one eye, and there was a large face thing in the room. I thought it was a hint that I was supposed to do something with its eye. I tried bombing it, shooting it, and everything else I could think of, but it didn’t open up a path.

Eventually I found out that this one thing was actually a lever I had to pull down. It looked like a thing in earlier levels that you have to use your beetle on to cut a rope, so I didn’t realize it was a lever this time. Oops.

But once I was past that stumbling block, I was making pretty good progress through the dungeon. I found some blue stones that brought some areas back to life.

It’s pretty cool when the sand-filled, deserted areas spring back to life with all sorts of robotics, neon lights, and technology.

I ended up getting a new item called the Gust Bellows. It can blow an endless gust of wind (much like some people I know). All these curious mounds of sand that I’ve been seeing now make sense. I can blow away the sand to reveal things, much like I used the claws earlier in the game to dig at X spots.

I did reach some enemies that gave me some serious trouble. These flying things that shoot missiles and then floating bombs started killing me.

Smurf-Fi told me I could repel the missiles with my shield. The problem was, I didn’t have a shield. One time I got past that enemy, only to have my rear end handed to me by this other laser-shooting enemy at the top of a ladder. After dying a few times, I decided enough was enough and I went back to the sky to buy shields (and potions while I was there). I returned and I eventually made it past those trouble spots.

I finally ended up getting the map of the level. I say finally because it was very far into the dungeon. Usually you get the dungeon map before you’re halfway through; this time, there were only two rooms I hadn’t been in yet.

But finally having found the map, I saved and ended the game for tonight.