What Did We Play Yesterday?

Yesterday I ventured into South Tabantha seeking the next member of the musician troupe, so I can entice yet another great fairy out of her bud. Getting this guy out of a pit is always a hot mess, but I managed it. I figured out you can cut the grasses here to find wheat (and lots of hot-footed frogs). I don't think I explored this area very thoroughly the last time I played, which is a shame, because the landscape is cool.

I farted around a bit with that giant labyrinth outside the snowfields and concluded I need to be stronger. While I was in the area, I hit up the Sky Tower at Thyphlo Ruins. I think I've had my fill of wandering and exploring for now.

I've actually really enjoyed having the little bird dude's spirit alongside me. I think he scares away bugs sometimes (?), but it's good to have a friend. Zelda games can be a little lonely. Next on the agenda is to head back to Zora territory to see if I can help with the sludge crisis, so I can have a second friend.

A while back I set up a poor man's arcade with RetroAchievements for the family. My kid is currently interested in speed running SMB, so we fired it up for the evening. The achievements were a fun addition. I played this game a lot back in the 80s, but I haven't played it recently and I was impressed by my memory was for little details. I accidentally grabbed the second level warp in 4-2, thinking the vine led to a cloud level, and my Mario World tour ended shortly after that at 8-2, where I died repeatedly. I don't remember if I ever actually beat this one (probably not) but I may explore it a bit more. Truly wonderful level design.

Crushed koroks: 1

I was mucking around the plateau area minding my own damn business when gloom came at me and scared the bejeezus out of me. I fought to get to the safety of water... and it still came at me! I finally broke free and swam far enough where it couldn't reach me. 1) Need to figure out how to fight that, 2) it left these weird little... gloom clumps... behind, which I stuffed in my pocket for safekeeping, as adventurers do.

I'm thinking the Temple of Time area is probably a higher-level place, but I explored long enough to find a statue making weird requests about hidden eyeballs lost in chasms (totally not creepy) and decided to nope out for now. I did improve my tree-killing ability, since I was attacked by every damn tree in the forest up there.

I discovered a new cut scene, in which Zelda warns Rauru he will not defeat Ganon, who she has seen in her own future time. Sophia is apparently dead (!! 😔) and Rauru indicates he must atone for some mistake he's made. So I'll have to track down more geoglyphs to learn more. The geoglyphs is an optional side quest, so I'm assuming these cut scenes are extra details layered on what Link will learn from the Sages as he helps liberate the various kingdoms.

I encountered the first bubbul gem cave I could not lick in Pikida Stonegrove Northwest Cave so I looked it up. The frog is hidden in an air-gust corridor with a Like-like, behind a rock wall. It's a good hiding place, because I couldn't hear it at all. I guess I gotta go back for it (boo).

Was too busy and tired to play Zelda, so I poked at Digseum since I didn't have the capacity for anything more. I'm on my second (soon to be third) prestige and using the upgraded shovel to clear an area in one pass can be satisfying for a bit.

The things I do for Hyrule.

Yesterday was a continuation of foot-loose and fancy-free exploring. I forgot to take screenshots, but the highlights include a piece of rubber armor and misadventures with Zonai time bombs. Turns out they explode pretty fast. Just in case you were curious.

Crushed koroks: 1. Fucking finally. Spent the day traipsing about and saw a new cutscene. Who is that hot dude? jk I know who!

My plan to go fishing with a topaz scepter works great when I aim correctly, but hitting the water at the right angle usually takes a few tries, so I'll continue exploring different ways to electrocute fish.

I discovered the Zonai canon after I enticed a group of Zonai to attack a group of moblins to great effect. I also discovered the spring shield. I'm not sure why I keep getting surprised by Zonai item + shield combinations but each discovery has been a delight.

I still don't really get the whole food-poisoning quest, but I committed to the bit. It was raining, so I built a horrible shelter just so I could cook up some meat and rice.

Finally, I've been studiously marking giant enemies on my map as I avoid them. I tried to take on a Talos, but it almost killed me in one hit so clearly we're not there yet. I did resolve to start killing more common monsters, now that I have decent weapons, because I know some upgrades require guts and other monster parts.

I really need to get back to crushing koroks. I've found plenty, just not conveniently located near rocks.

I continued to active Skytowers even though I'm allegedly not doing that, and I found another shrine I really enjoyed (rollercoaster action). I'm going to turn my exploration northerly, focus on foraging ingredients, and avoid the tropical southern areas for now.

"There is no shame in not knowing, for beyond that lies the joy of knowing. Tonight, I am the candlelight." Chef Aurie Taamu is a poet. I continue to be a big fan of this mysterious individual, who is referencing the glow properties of brightcaps and glowfish.

Finally wandered over to the Zora to get the much-needed Zora armor, which lets me travel up waterfalls. The setup is kind of weird if you do this differently than the devs anticipated. I spoke to Sidon, he sends me to Yona. Yona's like, why did he send you here? And sends me back to Sidon. Then Sidon sends me back to Yona.

Now that I can travel waterfalls, I'm able to better explore certain areas. I actually found a shrine I enjoyed, which is something. I also witnessed more Koltin despair. I will eventually wander back over to the Zora but for now I'm content to wander aimlessly picking mushrooms as God intended.

Many adventures were had in Zelda. I found the bubbul gem freaks, coaxed a giant fairy out of her bud and got some much-needed upgrades, gained another Horsey but had to abandon her by the road with apples for her trouble, and activated 2 sky towers. I was trying to avoid activating these too quickly, because last playthrough I got confusing regarding where I'd explored, but I think it will be okay. After activating the Eldin tower, it's easy to hit the sky islands followed by the Lanayru tower.

Anyway, along the way I acquired a new zonai tech, the hydrant, so landing in the slime-ridden Lanayru mountain area right after seemed serendipitous, even though there are plenty of splash fruits around.

Jirutagumac shrine, which centers around the worst zonai tech in the game, the glider, is a terrorist act. I finally got it but why can't the sky island shrines be sorry shrines? It's not like I didn't work to get there. Weh weh. So far, I've managed to beat every shrine I've encountered. As much as I hate to admit it, they have taught me some things about the game's mechanics. I still mostly hate them.

I found an item called Sage's Will I've never encountered before. I'm intrigued by it.

I also continued plugging away at Illusion of Gaia. The translation is definitely eccentric but I'm enjoying it. I reached the first boss, but got killed, so that was a good stopping point. There were a few sound-based puzzles and for some reason the sound wasn't coming through on my emulator, so I'm grateful to the Heroes at GameFAQs for explaining what section of the wall I needed to bash.

Each night, I watch TV with my family. They've recently become obsessed with this god-awful realty show about an asshole collectible auctioneer guy (Gold something) and the crass materialism makes my head explode, but I like hanging out with my family, so my compromise is to play on my handheld while I half-absorb information about a sports jersey some boring-ass millionaire collector paid 12 lifetime salaries for because boring-ass millionaires are like that. Sports memorabilia collectors truly are the worst. The guy who has a 20,000-title retro games collection gets a pass. The dude who bought cloth an athlete touched once? Loser, uncool. Get bent. Delete your account and donate to charity.

Anyway, that's how I started playing a old favorite, Illusion of Gaia. I was inspired by Gaia Lab's recent re-translation of the game but it looks like they're actively working on it so I snagged the sprint romhack for now.

I enjoyed this game many years ago (still have the complete box, though I can't imagine playing these games on original hardware again), and it's crazy how much I remember of the weird localization and red gem locations. This game will always have a special place in my heart, if only for Hamlet the pig, who is a true hero. The game grapples tough subjects, like starvation and slavery, and it feels very unique to similar games of the time.

Adventures in Zelda continue. I came to Hateno, I saw the fancy hat, I got the fancy hat. The Hateno mayoral race questline is pretty silly but in addition to the hat you get access to milk and cheese. As an aside, I really can't get over how weird Sophie looks and I'm glad I don't need to talk to her anymore. I've had a good time discovering all the Cece decor in various houses, but after I wrap up a few more quests I'm going to move on from Hateno. Cece sells guard armor that is currently to expensive for me, so I'll come back when I'm ready to buy it.

Everyone in this game is obsessed with Link and won't shut up about how hot he is, and I've decided to document this phenomenon. I'm not disputing it, but the constant commentary is a bit much. I headcanon Link as completely indifferent to sex. All he cares about is food, brushing Zelda's hair and watching her sleep, breaking pots, and horses. Canon backs me up 100%.