Ocarina of Time - The Hero of Time Awakens

So, here we are. We have the 3 Spiritual Stones, and the Ocarina of Time. Now we must head to the Temple of Time and get the Triforce, right? So you head to the temple, and who can forget their first look at it? You walk up and place the stones and play the song of time, and everything is wonderful and you are gonna rock this.

 

 Or... not. You are 9, remember? And 9 year olds aren't really ready to use the Master Sword, so we are gonna have to go ahead and put you in stasis for about 7 years. Oh, and one more thing, Ganondorf was watching the whole time and is able to grab the Triforce while you are doing a stasis thing and turn Hyrule into a dark and depressing place.  Sucks, doesn't it? I was always a little peeved at how trying to save Hyrule ended up dooming it (at least until you return to set things right).

But at least you get all videogame-hunky and are brought back to seriously right some wrongs. And you get to meet one of the most memorable Zelda characters:

Sheik is pretty cool, and He does tell you where to start your journey. One you leave the Temple of Time though, you are on your own. You head up to Kakariko Village, and but not without taking note of the complete destruction of Hyrule Market, and the Red cloud circling Death Mountain. In Kakariko you see all the remaining citizens who lived in the Market and you get one of the most useful items you will get in this game, the Hookshot. Speaking of, let me take this moment to discuss things I hate that are in almost every freaking video game; I hate races, quests with time limits, and escort missions. So "racing" to get the Hookshot is aggravating to me. Extremely. So very aggravating. But you get it.

Eventually you decide to go check out your old stomping ground and find it very different. You see, it has a bit of a monster infestation and every one is inside, and blames you because this started once the Great Deku Tree died. Good thing they don't recognize you as an adult! You run to Saria's special place, only to find that SURPRISE! It is your first Temple! YAAAAYYYY!

I really do enjoy the Forest Temple. It actually looks like it could have been a Temple, and the music is nice and creepy. The only thing that really ever nagged at me about the Forest Temple is these ladies:

This great pic by VanEvil from Deviant Art!

I really want to learn their back story. Obviously they are the guardians of the Temple, but they are also the souls of dead sisters. So is it possible they are some sort of nun for this temple? They are dressed for the part. That is the only explanation I can think of is that maybe ol' Ganondorf killed them when he corrupted the temple, or that they died before the temple fell into ruin or something.

The boss fight is pretty easy and gives you a great preview of what you are going to be up against when you battle Ganondorf. But the real stuff comes after when you meet the Deku Sprout who essentially tells you that you are adopted, aren't a Kokiri at all, and now you get to go explore more temples or doom the world! He really knows how to pile all the news on at once!

The cutest little asshole in the game.

One more thing though, this is a prime opportunity to go see how our old friend Malon has turned out. One thing you will notice as you explore this new and increasingly depressing land is that certain areas actually change the atmosphere as you approach them, I'm guessing from the evil curse on them. Lon Lon Ranch becomes heavy with fog and the sky turns gray the closer you get. You then find out Ingo the ranch hand has been given the farm by Ganondorf, and he is just fine with that. To a creepy degree. Anywho, he lets you ride the horses, and it turns out Epona is still there and remembers you (once you play her song, of course)! You chat with Ingo and end up racing him for Epona. Yes, racing. You can imagine my elation every time I play this part. If you win though, he still continues to be an asshole.

Whatevs. Just hop the fence and you are home-free! I suggest getting Epona as early as you can, because she is quite handy throughout the game.

Lastly a little something I found. I am not a Minecraft player, but I enjoy looking at the things people build. So I'm just going to leave this right here. I highly suggest you browse through!

Ocarina of Time - Collecting Spiritual Stones

You know, there is still something special to me about when you first turn on Ocarina of Time. The music just really sets me up for the game. I love seeing Link riding Epona across Hyrule field in the opening. It just works. It is a feeling that I don't ever think will dissipate. No matter how many times I've seen that screen, it evokes the same feelings. It is the same with Hyrule field in the child Link part of game. Something about it really connects with me. The open spaces, the soft tune, the feeling of everything still being.... innocent. Everything hasn't gone to hell in a hand basket yet and aside from the complete absence of travelers, you could see your self living there. It's a nice feeling. Well, there are some parts I could do without...

Thanks, TVTropes, for this accurate depiction of the bane of OoT players!

So, where did we leave off? Oh yes! After you meet the princess, you get to be the hero that Hyrule needs and the one it deserves. You go to your trusted friend Saria to tell her you are gonna save the world, and she teaches you one of the most fun songs in the game. I always wonder why fans ship Link/Zelda in this game, because I feel if my crazy tinfoil hat theory of Saria raising Link is incorrect (which is highly likely as my theory has zero evidence), I think they are who belong together. They obviously care about each other; let them be together, folks! Of course, not that it matters later on....

Once you go to Kakariko village, you meet the guard who stands over the gate to Death Mountain. He laughs at the (conspicuous) note Zelda writes for you, then lets you through anyway. After all, it's not like there is a reason to guard the gate to an active volcano, and sure, a nine year old can go play in it! Those crazy kids! Oh, but of course, he needs a favor- Could you go get his kid one of those Pikachu  Keaton masks from the new Mask Shop in Hyrule Market?
Thus letting you meet one of the creepiest characters in the Zelda franchise.

Make sure you ALWAYS bring his money.

At least by dropping the guard's name you get 30 Rupees off a Hylian Shield, right? Afterwards, you go and meet the Gorons, a rock-eating race whose source of food has been cut off by Ganondorf. Well, they could eat other rocks, but don't because they have "gourmet" taste buds. One Goron literally tells you that. But whatevs, I need their Spiritual Stone, their Patriarch Darunia is pretty cool, and I get Bombs, so it's all good. I'm not sure if this has ever been discussed, but there is a complete lack of female Gorons. Well, there are no discernible females. They do reproduce though, so they must exist, right?  Come on Nintendo, throw us a lady rock eater. Also, the Gorons live in a kind of self-imposed isolation. Why? A few of their issues might be fixed if they interacted with the other citizens of Hyrule. Unless, the guards job isn't to keep people OUT of Death Mountain..... I'm getting so tinfoiley right now.

So you defeat the King Dodongo (in a pretty gruesome way), and head to get the last Spiritual Stone from the Zoras, and type of fish people. They also live separate from the Hylians, but I have a feeling that is because they need to live in water. So I'll give them a pass. You find out that their Princess, Ruto, is missing. Also, you meet a business man who is deep into supply and demand, after every "magic bean" you buy from him the price goes up 10 rupees due to it  "surging in popularity". All the while he is eating on his product.

He makes Donald Trump proud.

You find out Ruto is in the Zora's guardian god, a whale (?) named Jabu-Jabu. You go in to rescue her, and find out she isn't exactly up for being rescued.

She makes your job a lot harder by making you carry her all over the dungeon and berating you if you do anything she doesn't like, such as put her down and go into a room without her to kill all the monsters so she isn't attacked. That kind of horrid thing. After she finds what she lost in Jabu-Jabu (her mom's "sapphire") she ends up being eaten by something and you gotta go find her again. May I take this time to add that even the Child Link part follows the pattern of Water Temples being ridiculously aggravating and rage-inducing. You finally save her, and then in order to get the sapphire- which is the Spiritual Stone- you promise to marry her down later in life. Yep, better throw Link a bachelor party, cause he is engaged!

After promising your future to her without understanding that is what you are doing- which let me say, I wonder if this is some sort of joke about men and marriage- you go to find Zelda and stop Ganondorf. Oops! You are almost to to Hyrule Castle when.... CUTSCENE! Turns out ol' Ganondorf got the first move. Zelda escaped with Impa, but first tossing you the Ocarina of Time while on horseback with a throw that would make any quarterback jealous. Ganondorf is after them on his black destrier but loses them and stops to chat with you. You get ready for a throwdown, and he likes your spunk. So much so that instead of obliterating you with his powers, he just knocks you down and rides off into the distance after our Princess. Child Link is pretty badass for standing up to him though, and gives a look that says, "I'm gonna f*#% you up."

Don't forget, now is the perfect time to do a couple of other small, but necessary things. I like to to go to the graveyard in Kakariko Village and get the Sun's Song, go to Lon Lon Ranch and get Epona's song, maybe do some mask hawki- I mean selling. I love Lon Lon Ranch. Malon is so sweet and she is my second choice for Link's girlfriend. But let's be honest, there is no need for me to even think about that kind of thing because a) They are 9 years old at this point, and b) it's not gonna happen. And while I joke about it, some people are really into it.

So this is the end of Child Link's journey. I'd love to discuss anything about this part with you guys, that means theories (as is obvious, I love tinfoil!), changes, trivia, and what the hell, I'll talk about ships too! Ta-ta for now!