Water and death.... how fun

The second dark palace was fairly interesting. It was a water level and it wasn’t even accessible at first. I had to open a flood gate in the light world in order to flood the palace and make it possible for me to swim to the entrance. I think making your actions in the light world relevant in the dark world was a good idea. The palace itself was not very difficult and I got a new weapon/tool, the hook shot. This device allows me to shoot a barb into a surface and it then pulls me to the surface, allowing me to cross long gaps. The boss in this world was a mass of floating eyes, again lending towards an uncanny feel, and I had to use the hook shot to pull the eyes off of the actual enemy. Under the eyes was a floating, single eyed, octopus-like monster. I killed him pretty quickly and saved the next maiden. Next, I entered the north western forest in search of the next palace. The forest in the dark world is similar to the one in the light world with some fundamental differences. First, it is murky again in this forest. Second, there are bones and skulls of a giant monster strung about the ground. The latter fact gives you a sense of foreboding from the very beginning. I found the structure of this level very interesting. Instead of going into one building to find and kill the boss, the level was set up with multiple underground chambers that the player had to find in the forest to access the dungeon. I had to find a fire wand to open the main boss chamber where I fought a giant moth with spikes coming at me from all directions. This level was the hardest so far and I was very frustrated through much of it. The game designers made this level the level of the dead. There were mummies, skeletons, and eyeballs attacking me from all directions. That’s it for now.

Isn't there a light switch in this place?

Upon entering the castle I immediately noticed some weird things. First there were two statues of Cyclops sitting in the foyer of the dungeon. There were also new enemies that hinted toward the uncanny. These enemies mirror my movements except backwards (If I go forward they go back, same with side to side). It reminded me of the doppelganger idea from Freud. This was the hardest dungeon yet. The lighting makes it hard to navigate the palace because much of the level is in darkness. The lamp gives enough light to only see a few feet in front of you and it allows enemies to sneak up on you. In addition to the lighting problem, the enemies’ attacks are much more devastating in the dark realm. Most enemies inflict double the damage and that made it very hard to get through this level (I died 4 times alone). That brings up another point. The whole dying thing is pretty interesting because you can come back from death to continue playing. There is no explanation as to why this occurs in the game’s context, but the game would be pretty hard if when you died you had to start from the beginning. Anyway, I walked around this palace for a while until I finally found a big ass hammer which is useful for killing enemies and flattening steaks that block my way. I got to the boss and it was a big, four-legged monster with a hard metal mask. I pounded the mask with the hammer and if finally broke to pieces. The boss was easy to beat at this point and I freed one of the maidens. I have to save all seven of them so they can close the rift between the light and dark world. She showed me where the other palaces are so I’m off to save the next maiden.

Wizard Fight

Now it comes time to fight the wizard. When I first see him he is standing next to Zelda who is lying on a table. The wizard then makes Zelda disappear and thus breaks the seal from the seven wise men. This means that the wizard can now take over the light and dark worlds. Now I have to stop him and save Zelda. Throughout the game I’ve run into little hints on how to fight the wizard. For example, when I claimed the master sword it said that it could “deflect” evil. Sashara also told me the wizard could not physically be harmed. About half way through fighting the wizard I found out that I could hit his energy back at him to hurt him. Eventually I beat him but he drew me into the dark world. Now I have to beat seven dungeons and rescue the kidnapped maidens to stop Agahnim. I was told that the first place to go is the palace of darkness. The background of this place is permanently set in twilight. All of the trees are dead and the ground is covered with brown grass instead of lush green plants. The enemies here are not palace guards, rather they are disfigured monsters. It obviously represents good and evil and the game personifies the thoughts behind the two feelings. In this world instead of pots there are skulls that hold items as well. Before heading to the palace I looked around the dark world a little. I found a creature sitting on a stump that wanted to play a flute. He said that he used to be a boy in the light world until he left to look for the triforce (the object that Ganon is ultimately looking for to control the world). I found his flute in the light world and he let me keep it. Playing the flute calls a bird who transports me to designated locations trough hyrule's light world. This is convenient and cuts travel time down to seconds. After getting the flute I searched for the entrance to the palace. To get into the dark palace I had to buy a monkey’s help. He followed me and opened the door to the palace. On my next entry I’ll pick up with the exploration of the palace.

Master Sword

I stopped last time after beating the northern dungeon and getting the moon pearl/final pendant. Now I can claim the master sword, if I can find it. Evidently it’s in the forest to the northwest so that’s where I’m heading to now. The woods are creepy because they are like a big maze. There is no map to lead the player through the environment so it makes it difficult to navigate the terrain. The effects used in this part of the game are interesting because they use the illusion of fog to make the forest seem scary. I think it’s a good way to convey the point of loneliness and despair because the colors are also drab and diminished, especially on a lesser system like the SNES. I’m not sure if I mentioned this earlier but I used the net to catch fairies and keep them in bottles. When I die a fairy pops out and brings me back to life. I thought this was interesting and uncanny because it’s like escaping death. After wandering around for awhile I eventually found the master sword and pulled it from its pedestal. The fog immediately cleared and Sashara told me to go fight the wizard and after leaving the frame with the master sword Zelda contacted me and told me soldiers were coming to the Sanctuary. I guess I have to go save her ass again. Upon entering the Sanctuary I find the old man on the ground. The soldiers took Zelda to the castle so I follow. I got to the castle and found the entrance upstairs to the wizard, but on the way I saw something I thought was uncanny. There are these creatures that consist of a single eyeball with wings that fly around and attack me. The whole missing eyes concept keeps popping up in this game. Now I’m going to fight the wizard, but I’ll save that for next time.

I got the moon pearl.... oh yeah

OK. Now I’m heading north to the big red stone dungeon. To get to the dungeon itself I had to use my newly acquired gloves to move a large stone out of the way of a door. Upon entering the door I found myself in a very dark cave. This relates strongly to the uncanny and labyrinths. With only my lantern to guide me I reached several dead ends until I found a doorway. At the doorway was an old man who agreed to lead me through the cave and gave me pointers on how to get to the dungeon. Once outside the old man gave me a magical mirror that transports me back to the light world when I step in a portal and get transported to the dark world. The same basic geography exits in this world but enemies are different and buildings are slightly odd. This is very uncanny because it takes the sense of home (the light world) and totally flips it around, like stepping into an alternate universe. Some odd creatures told me that in the dark world you take the shape of your personality. Evidently I have good intent so I’m a bunny rabbit. Also in the dark world I cannot use my weapons. Bats constantly attacked me through the maze. I find that the mirror only gets me back from the dark world and not to it. I learn that I must find the moon pearl, which will give me the power to keep my true form in the dark world. Where is it you ask? In the dungeon of course. So I enter the palace and find out really quick that it is frustrating. There are holes in the ground which you can fall through which set back you progress greatly. After several attempts I find the big key and claim the moon pearl. It serves no useful purpose right now so I just stow it and move on to the boss which is a big, snake like thing and can only be hurt by slicing its tail. It doesn’t help that the damn thing won’t stay still. I eventually beat it and get the pendant of wisdom. Wait! I have all three pendants, that means I can get the master sword. One thing in this level that was sort of uncanny was the attacking skeletons. I mean, it’s not everyday you see skeletons coming at you. As I previously stated the cave and the alternate universe are about as uncanny as you can get. I’m done for now, but next time comes the master sword.

Will this sandy hell ever end!?!

I’m starting this entry after entering the West Palace. I wandered around a little while and found the map in the northern room of the first floor. I faced the same enemy as I did in the East Palace, the one that is killed by shooting it in the eye. Again, this reminds me of the uncanny with the removal of the eye. This dungeon is very aggravating because there are many enemies and all of the rooms look very similar. There are no real landmarks or signposts to let you know where you are so using the map is a must. I finally found a small key which allowed me to open the large chest which contained gloves which allow me to “lift heavy objects.” With the newly acquired gloves and boss key I went outside, lifted some rocks away from a passage, and walked inside a cave. The first thing that happens seemed a little weird. The tiles on the floor started lifting up and flew at me. I think this could be considered uncanny because it just seems wrong, something like tiles lifting up and trying to hurt you. When I came to the room before the boss there was a dead end. However, I noticed that there were torches that could be lit. I lit these torches and the wall moved back to reveal the boss door. I think this symbolizes good versus evil because light is always associated with good while darkness is associated with evil. In this case I am lighting the torches and eliminating the dark with light (a foreshadowing of the battle to come?). The boss in this level was actually three identical bosses. Three worms that burrowed in the sand attacked me by leaping out of the desert terrain only to dig back down into the sand. This limited time to attack made it very difficult to kill the enemy and it took me two tries to win. Upon beating the bad guy I received the second pendant. My next goal is the Northern Palace in huge red fortress. But that’s for next time. I’m done for now.

Ice, Mouths, and Eyes

I went to Lake Hylia and found a new aspect to the game. There are numerous cracks in the wall and when I placed a bomb in front of the wall it created a doorway. Inside was an ice cavern which held a wand that shoots ice and freezes enemies. Anyway, after consulting my map I saw that the next pendant is in the desert. I walked all the way there only to find a rock in front of the dungeon's entrance and an unreadable plaque. I wandered around a little while and found another old guy who told me I needed the book of Mudora to enter the dungeon and that it was in the house of books. I walked to the village and found the book and returned to the dungeon. After using the book to translate the plaque, the stone moved out of the way to the entrance of the dungeon. This dungeon is a desert dungeon with quicksand, vultures, cacti, and all kinds of different monsters. As before, I am not going to chronicle every step through the dungeon because of the length. It just occurred to me that the whole sand world aspect of this part of the game reminds me of Shade, probably because I just finished playing that game. Also I found something that I think is uncanny although it has never really been mentioned in Freud’s essay. To enter the dungeon the player must walk up a staircase that looks like a tongue into an arch that is in the form of a head with an open mouth. Just the concept of walking into this unknown void through a monster’s gaping mouth creeps me out. In addition to the entrance another uncanny aspect of this level is one particular enemy. The first enemy the player comes across is a statue with a single rotating eye that shoots a laser at Link. The only way to stop the eye is to destroy it. This reminds me of the story Freud documents in his writings about the Sandman stealing eyes. Does that make me the Sandman? Well this entry has gone longer than I planned because of the things that I’ve stumbled across. I’ll cover the actual “Desert Dungeon” (West Palace) in the next post. Until then, I’m avoiding doors that look like opened mouths.

Defeating the East Palace

After entering the East Palace I saw two large statues of cyclops with their eyes closed. There are three doors in this room, two of which lead to broken bridges dropping into nothingness. However the middle door is sealed shut. Upon picking up a pot a golden, circular switch is revealed which I promptly stepped on. This opened the middle door which led to a bridge with very weak snake creatures and a semi-hidden switch. I stepped on this switch as well and the door to the north opened. (Note: at this point I realized that documenting my entire journey through the dungeon would take pages and pages... therefore I will summarized the major points througout the dungeon). After wandering around through vairous passages and defeating enemies ranging from rats to "pig-people" I came across a room that, upon entering, sealed all the exits. I battled a rather easy enemy who dropped a key. This key allowed me to enter another room where a very large chest rested. After more searching I located the "Boss Key" which allowed me to open the chest. In the chest was a bow which served me well in defeating a new form of enemy. This enemy started out as a statue but when I came close to it, it opened it's eye and charged me. The bow and arrow allowed me to attack the enemy from long range and kept me from receiving any damage. Since I found the Boss Key I went to the room marked with the skull, the Boss Room. This boss consisted of six creatures that resembled triceratops who bounced around the room. I found the easiest way to kill them was to again use the bow and arrow. Upon defeating the boss I received a pendant and returned to Sashara. He told me the legand of four knights that once protected Hylia, the water realm. I evidently have the blood of the knights flowing through me. He also gave me some shoes that let me attack while running and told me to seek out an item at Lake Hylia. The whole dungeon thing can get a little frustrating at times do to no sense of space. Luckily the game provides me with a map and compass which shows me the layout of the dungeon and my position. The lock and key method, as far as unlocking doors, is fairly normal and something I will incorporate in my MOO project. That's it for now... I guess I'm heading to Lake Hylia... Bye for now.

Finding the Elder

One piece of information that I forgot to mention in the last post is that the old man with all the information told me to go and find an elder who will have more information. He didn’t really mention where I could find him, so I’ll have to keep my eyes open. Zelda’s going to hang out with the old guy while I go and find the master sword. Well that helps… This is the first time I’ve looked at my map and there is a big “X” on it. I wonder if I’m supposed to go there? The guy told me to keep looking for the elder. This is the first half way difficult puzzle for the game and it’s interesting. It reminds me of a mystery movie where a detective is trying to track down information in order to find a criminal. The big difference is that I take the place of the detective through Link. In a way I can see how it is similar to an interactive fiction. I can choose where to go and when to go there, but there is still structure and organization as far as the communication b/w the characters in the game. The designers also put up certain blocks to keep me from going to certain places, such as a huge boulder in front of one passage. I can only assume that I will acquire a tool later in the game to get past this point. Ok, back to looking for the elder. I’ve walked around the village for awhile and ran into a sick kid that gave me a bug catching net. I thought it was funny b/c there was a picture of Mario on the wall in his house, nice reference. Bingo, some random kid chasing chickens told me that the elder is out east of the palace and he even marked the spot on the map. I’m on my way to find this guy… it better be worth it. I found the elder and his name is Sashara. He says that the sword of evil’s bane (I take it that that’s the master sword) can only be handled by a worthy man who holds the three pendants. He told me to go into the east palace and retrieve the pendant of courage, in return he will give me more info on the master sword. He said he was surprised to see someone “my age” trying for the sword. I believe that since children are most likely to play this game this is a way to make the gamer feel welcome. Normally in movies the hero is a big macho grown man. In this story it’s a child. The east palace is my next goal and I’ll fill you in next time on my progress.