Zodi Plays: The Legend of Zelda The Minish Cap (living hat shouts at small child)

[LaZodiac]

Hello and welcome back to the Zelda series. When we last left off we had just beaten Skyward Sword, and seen the beginning of this affair of demonic curses and princessly reincarnation. We're going to be taking a swing at the next game in the series, The Minish Cap. Made by Capcom (the cause of all my problems) for the Game Boy Advance, this one is...well I mean it's basic and reminds me of the old top down Zelda games many people grew up with and love. It'll be interesting to see how this game compares. As always there is something waiting at the end of this thread to reward participation, we'll be updating Monday and Friday, the usual. Most of you have probably seen my Sunshine LP thing. With that out of the way, lets go!

Zodi Plays: The Legend of Zelda The Minish Cap [1] Talking Hat

Video Length: 23:29

Video Notes: The first three videos have some minor issues as I work out the kinks of recording a GBA game. My apologies.

We begin first with a beautiful series of stained glass windows, telling us a history. Those of you familiar with Skyward Sword may notice some...incongruities here, and while I will discuss them the time to do so is not now. All you need to know is that the legend depicted here, and the big ole legendary sword shown off later, it's not the Master Sword and it's not (entirely) about the past game. Moving on.

It s a beautiful day, and we see the lovely Princess Zelda heading to the home of the local (read: only) blacksmith. Inside, she basically demands very politely for the blacksmith's Grandson, Link, to be given to her so she can go to a festival with him. Grandpa Master Smith is more then happy then to let us go, so hooray! We get to go to a cool festival. Though he tasks us with delivering his newly finished sword, to be given to the winner of the sword fighting contest. The controls are really basic and simple here and that's good, you move with the D-Pad and roll around with R when moving, using R when not moving to grab things and do a little shimmy sham dance, while the A and B buttons are for item use but that won't be for at least a little while.

Princess Zelda, quite a rambunctious and high speed Princess, takes us quickly to the festival an basically just runs around getting little tastes of everything. It's adorable. She wins a prize raffle and when given the choice between a Heart Container (take it Princess please) a Huge Rupee, and a teeny tiny shield...she picks the shield. To her credit it's a gift to us, and so that we can protect her like a real knight! This is suuuuper adorable and makes me okay that she got us the shield. The shield works how you'd expect, blocking things when put up. It's a little small though, and not too good in terms of material so it won't block everything.

After encountering one of the MANY very god damn rude Deku Scrub businessmen in this game, and learning how to reflect projectiles in the meanwhile, we finally get to the castle. We decide to stay and watch the ceremony of the sword contest winner going up to the chest and touching the Picori Blade to make a wish. Only the winner seems...mysterious. A pale skinned man with purple hair, dressed in blackish purple clothing. He uh, makes it clear he's not here for the sword, and after blowing away from guards he smashes it, unleashing the monsters sealed within! He peers into the chest to claim his goal and...finds nothing. The Force he was looking for was not within. Zelda confronts him, and though we do try to defend her, this mysterious man known as Vaati easily pushes us aside and turns Zelda to stone.

We awaken from the whole Vaati busting our face up, inside the castle. The King is discussing with his guards and Master Blacksmith what is to be done. His guards will search the lands for the vile sorcerer who petrified his daughter, while a small child will be tasked with finding the Picori. Believed to be a legend, these small folk are very real, and will be able to fix the blade for us. Taking both the broken blade and the sword our grandpa made, we head off into the world to find the Picori! Thus begins the game proper, though we don't have many places to really go. We do encounter our first enemies, Octoroks and Crows. Simple foes, Octoroks spewing rocks and walking around, Crows diving at us. How rude! We also find the Acro-bandits, enemies that aren't really a threat so much as they are a good source of grinding because you kill like, five per encounter.

We make our ways down, into the Minish Woods, and at first it seems that other then the regular old green Chu-chus, there isn't much to find. However...we hear someone shouting for help. Thus we find our titular living hat friend, who after saved reveals himself as Ezlo. After a funny scene of poor Ezlo having...difficulties keeping up with a small child, we find ourselves with a new hat! Nice.

Ezlo is...an interesting friend. I'm sure some of you will find this ridiculous, but I find him more intrusive on the gameplay then Fi. Maybe it's because by this point there have been four other top down Zelda games with this style of control scheme, maybe it's because there is just something off about how he helps us, or maybe it's just that good ole Capcom quality, but something about Ezlo makes him kinda...annoying? We'll see more of this later, because for now he does give us some good advice. Specifically, he teaches us that us humans, we're bad at record keeping. The Picori are actually called the Minish. Secondly, certain areas in the game let us shrink down to Minish size, letting us explore! Thus we learn how to become a tinier small child, the main gimmick of the game. It's really fun though and they do some neat stuff with it, so lets go.

Exploring the woods a little as a tiny child, we find the Minish Village! The only problem is these super adorable and cute mouse people are uh...not able to speak our language! So we've gotta explore the village a little to find someone who can speak it. Shockingly it's not even the village elder who can, but instead like...the local priest. I find that funny and also actually kind of appropriate for reasons I'll explain later. It's just funny how the local super wise mega sega who'll tell us what we have to do to repair the sword...doesn't know Hylian just in case he needs to TALK with a destined hero. Anyway, Mr Priest here tells us to go find a jabbernut, and...well we do so it's not super difficult. To be fair this is basically the first puzzle we have to solve and this game is nice and easy so it's easing us into it, but yeah I'd kind of expect a minidungeon to get this, not a single block pushing puzzle. Anyway, nut!

With the Jabbernut eaten we can now understand the language. Notedly, based on what the other Minish say, we can now SPEAK the language too. The Jabbernut isn't a babel fish persay, it just taught us the language and now we can speak it. They're still saying "picopicoripi" but since we understand it it appears in like, Hylian. It's neat. Anyway the sage tells us about how to fix the sword we need to get the four elements, and one is nearby just ask Mr Priest to let us through and we do so...discovering that I am a dumb and forgot about the Heart Piece here. We'll...get that later. At any rate, at the cusp of our first dungeon (yes, already. This game goes fast) we end it here. I hope you enjoyed, and I'll see you all next time.

[Cuthalion]

Yay!

*tosses confetti around the thread*

[TheWombatOfDoom]

Spoiler: Zodi's Things (1)

Show

Hello and welcome back to the Zelda series. When we last left off we had just beaten Skyward Sword, and seen the beginning of this affair of demonic curses and princessly reincarnation. We're going to be taking a swing at the next game in the series, The Minish Cap. Made by Capcom (the cause of all my problems) for the Game Boy Advance, this one is...well I mean it's basic and reminds me of the old top down Zelda games many people grew up with and love. It'll be interesting to see how this game compares. As always there is something waiting at the end of this thread to reward participation, we'll be updating Monday and Friday, the usual. Most of you have probably seen my Sunshine LP thing. With that out of the way, lets go!

Zodi Plays: The Legend of Zelda The Minish Cap [1] Talking Hat

Video Length: 23:29

Video Notes: The first three videos have some minor issues as I work out the kinks of recording a GBA game. My apologies.

We begin first with a beautiful series of stained glass windows, telling us a history. Those of you familiar with Skyward Sword may notice some...incongruities here, and while I will discuss them the time to do so is not now. All you need to know is that the legend depicted here, and the big ole legendary sword shown off later, it's not the Master Sword and it's not (entirely) about the past game. Moving on.

It s a beautiful day, and we see the lovely Princess Zelda heading to the home of the local (read: only) blacksmith. Inside, she basically demands very politely for the blacksmith's Grandson, Link, to be given to her so she can go to a festival with him. Grandpa Master Smith is more then happy then to let us go, so hooray! We get to go to a cool festival. Though he tasks us with delivering his newly finished sword, to be given to the winner of the sword fighting contest. The controls are really basic and simple here and that's good, you move with the D-Pad and roll around with R when moving, using R when not moving to grab things and do a little shimmy sham dance, while the A and B buttons are for item use but that won't be for at least a little while.

Princess Zelda, quite a rambunctious and high speed Princess, takes us quickly to the festival an basically just runs around getting little tastes of everything. It's adorable. She wins a prize raffle and when given the choice between a Heart Container (take it Princess please) a Huge Rupee, and a teeny tiny shield...she picks the shield. To her credit it's a gift to us, and so that we can protect her like a real knight! This is suuuuper adorable and makes me okay that she got us the shield. The shield works how you'd expect, blocking things when put up. It's a little small though, and not too good in terms of material so it won't block everything.

After encountering one of the MANY very god damn rude Deku Scrub businessmen in this game, and learning how to reflect projectiles in the meanwhile, we finally get to the castle. We decide to stay and watch the ceremony of the sword contest winner going up to the chest and touching the Picori Blade to make a wish. Only the winner seems...mysterious. A pale skinned man with purple hair, dressed in blackish purple clothing. He uh, makes it clear he's not here for the sword, and after blowing away from guards he smashes it, unleashing the monsters sealed within! He peers into the chest to claim his goal and...finds nothing. The Force he was looking for was not within. Zelda confronts him, and though we do try to defend her, this mysterious man known as Vaati easily pushes us aside and turns Zelda to stone.

We awaken from the whole Vaati busting our face up, inside the castle. The King is discussing with his guards and Master Blacksmith what is to be done. His guards will search the lands for the vile sorcerer who petrified his daughter, while a small child will be tasked with finding the Picori. Believed to be a legend, these small folk are very real, and will be able to fix the blade for us. Taking both the broken blade and the sword our grandpa made, we head off into the world to find the Picori! Thus begins the game proper, though we don't have many places to really go. We do encounter our first enemies, Octoroks and Crows. Simple foes, Octoroks spewing rocks and walking around, Crows diving at us. How rude! We also find the Acro-bandits, enemies that aren't really a threat so much as they are a good source of grinding because you kill like, five per encounter.

We make our ways down, into the Minish Woods, and at first it seems that other then the regular old green Chu-chus, there isn't much to find. However...we hear someone shouting for help. Thus we find our titular living hat friend, who after saved reveals himself as Ezlo. After a funny scene of poor Ezlo having...difficulties keeping up with a small child, we find ourselves with a new hat! Nice.

Ezlo is...an interesting friend. I'm sure some of you will find this ridiculous, but I find him more intrusive on the gameplay then Fi. Maybe it's because by this point there have been four other top down Zelda games with this style of control scheme, maybe it's because there is just something off about how he helps us, or maybe it's just that good ole Capcom quality, but something about Ezlo makes him kinda...annoying? We'll see more of this later, because for now he does give us some good advice. Specifically, he teaches us that us humans, we're bad at record keeping. The Picori are actually called the Minish. Secondly, certain areas in the game let us shrink down to Minish size, letting us explore! Thus we learn how to become a tinier small child, the main gimmick of the game. It's really fun though and they do some neat stuff with it, so lets go.

Exploring the woods a little as a tiny child, we find the Minish Village! The only problem is these super adorable and cute mouse people are uh...not able to speak our language! So we've gotta explore the village a little to find someone who can speak it. Shockingly it's not even the village elder who can, but instead like...the local priest. I find that funny and also actually kind of appropriate for reasons I'll explain later. It's just funny how the local super wise mega sega who'll tell us what we have to do to repair the sword...doesn't know Hylian just in case he needs to TALK with a destined hero. Anyway, Mr Priest here tells us to go find a jabbernut, and...well we do so it's not super difficult. To be fair this is basically the first puzzle we have to solve and this game is nice and easy so it's easing us into it, but yeah I'd kind of expect a minidungeon to get this, not a single block pushing puzzle. Anyway, nut!

With the Jabbernut eaten we can now understand the language. Notedly, based on what the other Minish say, we can now SPEAK the language too. The Jabbernut isn't a babel fish persay, it just taught us the language and now we can speak it. They're still saying "picopicoripi" but since we understand it it appears in like, Hylian. It's neat. Anyway the sage tells us about how to fix the sword we need to get the four elements, and one is nearby just ask Mr Priest to let us through and we do so...discovering that I am a dumb and forgot about the Heart Piece here. We'll...get that later. At any rate, at the cusp of our first dungeon (yes, already. This game goes fast) we end it here. I hope you enjoyed, and I'll see you all next time.

I didn't really realize this and I really should have...Link is sleeping at the beginning of every game. Sometimes due to fatigue, and sometimes...through injury. Dun dun dun. But for now, sleepy sleepy link...

Odds? They only tune into Hyrule history when it is interesting! What would a game be if nothing happened!

Awwwwww yeah, shield maiden!

Silly Vaati. If he hadn't monologue, he could have just done what he was going to do without interference!

Hmmm. We have to repair the sword? Isn't that what we...did last game?

Acro-bandits....seem similar in appearance to the mogma...aand why are bandits around hyrule guards? are they really that ineffective?

Agh! Face sucker! Head crab! Oh, just a green hat. That talks...

Jabbernut. Its like a babblefish. I like this game...the title has a pun. The Minish, Diminish. Hehe.

Wow, this game is going fast! We already have a dungeon?

---

EPISODE 1 KILL TALLY!

Octorok - 16
Crow - 2
Acro-Bandits - 11
Green Chuchus - 2

Missed Rupees - 0

(previous episodes)

---

The Minish Cap
Total Kills
(As of Episode 1)

Crow - 2
Acro-Bandits - 11
Green Chuchus - 2
Octorok - 16

[LaZodiac]

Hmmm. We have to repair the sword? Isn't that what we...did last game?

Acro-bandits....seem similar in appearance to the mogma...aand why are bandits around hyrule guards? are they really that ineffective?

Agh! Face sucker! Head crab! Oh, just a green hat. That talks...

Jabbernut. Its like a babblefish. I like this game...the title has a pun. The Minish, Diminish. Hehe.

Wow, this game is going fast! We already have a dungeon?

---

EPISODE 1 KILL TALLY!

I mean technically in Skyward Sword we were UPGRADING a sword, not fixing it. In this we're fixing it.

They are like Mogma, and perhaps an offshoot of them. I'll elaborate on that later though. My guess is that the guards just don't notice the mole guys.

Yeah this game is pretty damn fast! At least at the start anyway. Also if I recall we only have four actual dungeons to do because hey man, GBA games are kinda small! I may be forgetting though.

Ah, well documented list of everything I killed. How I missed you.

[TheWombatOfDoom]

Spoiler: Bumped stuff

Show

I mean technically in Skyward Sword we were UPGRADING a sword, not fixing it. In this we're fixing it.

They are like Mogma, and perhaps an offshoot of them. I'll elaborate on that later though. My guess is that the guards just don't notice the mole guys.

Yeah this game is pretty damn fast! At least at the start anyway. Also if I recall we only have four actual dungeons to do because hey man, GBA games are kinda small! I may be forgetting though.

Ah, well documented list of everything I killed. How I missed you.

Alright, correction then. In both you are forging a sword.

I could have done one for Mario I suppose, but even us counters need a break once in awhile! Plus, I like finding connections between enemies in Zelda games, and so this is more fun. In Mario, they're all pretty much the same, with no hypothesizing evolutionary paths and such...

Spoiler: Kill Tally Episodes 1 -10

Show

---

EPISODE 1 KILL TALLY!

Octorok - 16
Crow - 2
Acro-Bandits - 11
Green Chuchus - 2

Missed Rupees - 0

---

EPISODE 2 KILL TALLY!

Sluggula - 22
Mulldozer - 6
Pesto - 6
Madderpillar - 1
Puffstools - 10
Green Chuchu - 2 (1 boss)
Keese - 2
Peahat - 1

Missed Rupees - 0

---

EPISODE 3 KILL TALLY!

Acro-Bandits - 15
Octorok - 12
Keaton - 1
Tektites - 20
Red Chuchu - 8
Mulldozer - 6
Keese - 4
Helmasaurs - 4
Pesto - 6
Spiny Beetle - 4
Spike Chuchu - 2
Peahat - 2

Style Points - 1

Missed Rupees - 0
Lost Rupees (theft, overflow, ect.) - 10

---

EPISODE 4 KILL TALLY!

Tektite - 6
Spiny Beetle - 5
Blue Tektite - 1
Peahat - 4
Helmasaur - 10
Red Chuchu - 18
Bob-omb - 9
Spiked Beetle - 4
Green Rupee Like - 1
Keese - 8
Rollobites - 1
Spike Chuchu - 8

Style Points - 1

Missed Rupees - 2
Lost Rupees (theft, overflow, ect.) - 50!

---

EPISODE 5 KILL TALLY!

Keese - 5
Gleerok - 1
Tektite - 6
Peahat - 1
Beetle - 1
Octorok - 11
Keaton - 1
Blue Moblin - 2
Blue Octorok - 2
Moblin - 1

Style Points - 0

Missed Rupees - 0! (shiny!)
Lost Rupees (theft, overflow, ect.) - 101

---

EPISODE 6 KILL TALLY!

Keaton - 2
Crow - 4
Moblin - 2
Blue Octorok - 3
Moblin (Bow) - 4
Octorok - 16
Acro-Bandit - 21
Green Chuchu - 1
Rope - 8
Darknut - 1
Peahat - 1
Blue Mulldozer - 5
Eyegore Statue - 1

Style Points - 1!

Missed Rupees - 0! (shiny x2!)
Lost Rupees (theft, overflow, ect.) - 0

---

EPISODE 7 KILL TALLY!

Rope - 17
Peahat - 2
Eyegore Statue - 6
Red Rupee Like - 1
Armos - 8
Tektites - 13
Leever - 1
Beetle - 1
Spikey Beetle - 2
Stalfos - 14
Keese - 2
Spike Chuchu - 3
Darknut - 1

Style Points - 1!

Missed Rupees - 1
Lost Rupees (theft, overflow, ect.) - 0

---

EPISODE 8 KILL TALLY!

Floormaster - 3
Rope - 2
Moldorm - 5
Stalfos - 2
Wizrobe - 2
Beetle - 6
Mazaal - 1
Spike Chuchu - 1
Octorok - 1
Acro-bandit - 1

Style Points - 0

Missed Rupees - 0
Lost Rupees (theft, overflow, ect.) - 100!

---

EPISODE 9 KILL TALLY!

Octorok - 13
Acro-bandit - 23
Beetle - 1
Keaton - 6
Crow - 2
Moldorm - 1
Tektites - 2
Peahat - 7
Moblin - 5

Style Points - 1

Missed Rupees - 0
Lost Rupees (theft, overflow, ect.) - 40!

---

EPISODE 10 KILL TALLY!

Slugula - 5
Mulldozer - 2
Blue Mulldozer - 4
Octorok - 3
Gold Octorok - 1
Like Like - 1
Pesto - 1

Style Points - 0

Missed Rupees - 0
Lost Rupees (theft, overflow, ect.) - 0

Spoiler: Kill Tally Episodes 11 - 20

Show

EPISODE 11 KILL TALLY!

Slugula - 13
Scissor Beetles - 5
Mulldozer - 6
Blue Mulldozer - 7
Pestos - 8
Octorok - 2
Blue Octorok - 7
Green Chuchu - 1
Moblin - 1
Madderpillar - 1
Blue Pesto - 2

Style Points - 0

Missed Rupees - 0
Lost Rupees (theft, overflow, ect.) - 0

---

EPISODE 12 KILL TALLY!

Pestos - 11
Blue Chuchu - 1 (1 boss)
Mulldozers - 12
Scissor Beetles - 7
Blue Mulldozers - 12
Blue Pestos - 3
Madderpillars - 2
Octoroks - 1 (1 boss)

Style Points - 0

Missed Rupees - 0
Lost Rupees (theft, overflow, ect.) - 0

---

EPISODE 13 KILL TALLY!

Armos - 1
Gold Rope - 1
Rope - 7
Octorok - 5
Ghini - 16
Takkuri - 2
Stalfos - 3
Gibdo - 1

Style Points - 1

Missed Rupees - 0
Lost Rupees (theft, overflow, ect.) - 0

---

EPISODE 14 KILL TALLY!

Acro-bandit - 15
Octorok - 4
Blue Leever - 5
Blue Peahat - 2
Blue Rupee Like - 2
Red Rupee Like - 1
Blue Chuchu - 1
Crow - 1
Keese - 11
Red Bubble - 2
Red Chuchu - 2
Spiny Beetle - 5
Ghini - 1
Helmasaur - 4
Cloud Piranha - 6
Lakitu - 2

Style Points - 0

Missed Rupees - 0
Lost Rupees (theft, overflow, ect.) - 10

---

EPISODE 15 KILL TALLY!

Peahat - 5
Stalfos - 3
Bombarossa - 1
Bob-ombs - 2
Wizrobes - 12
Crow - 6
Blue Chuchu - 2
Spiked Beetles - 2
Red Rupee Like - 1
Keese - 1

Style Points - 0

Missed Rupees - 0
Lost Rupees (theft, overflow, ect.) - 0

---

EPISODE 16 KILL TALLY!

Moblin - 5
Blue Chuchu - 3
Lakitu - 1
Moblin (Bow) - 1
Stalfos - 20
Ball and Chain Soldier - 2
Spark - 6
Ice Wizrobe - 3
Red Stalfos - 9
Mighty Darknut (Caped) - 1
Peahat - 3
Gibdo - 4
Keese - 3
Fire Wizrobe - 5
Floormaster - 4
Bombarossa - 26
Wizrobe - 1

Style Points - 0

Missed Rupees - 0
Lost Rupees (theft, overflow, ect.) - 0

---

EPISODE 17 KILL TALLY!

Red Stalfos - 6
Ice Wizrobe - 1
Moblin - 4
Fire Wizrobe - 1
Blue Gyorg - 2
Green Gyorg - 5
Red Gyorg - 1
Tektite - 3
Spiny Beetle - 2
Octorok - 3
Blue Octorok - 1

Style Points - 0

Missed Rupees - 0
Lost Rupees (theft, overflow, ect.) - 0

---

EPISODE 18 KILL TALLY!

Ghini - 11
Takkuri - 1
Beetle - 3
Keese - 4
Octorok - 4
Moldorm - 1
Like Like - 3

Style Points - 0

Missed Rupees - 0
Lost Rupees (theft, overflow, ect.) - 0

---

EPISODE 19 KILL TALLY!

Tektites - 2
Moldorm - 3
Green Chuchu - 5
Spark - 2
Octorok - 7
Moblin - 1
Acro-bandit - 5
Blue Moblin - 3
Red Bubble - 1
Blue Bubble - 1
Stalfos - 3
Red Stalfos - 2
Wizrobes - 6
Keese - 4
Turrets - 4
Floormaster - 1

Style Points - 0

Missed Rupees - 1
Lost Rupees (theft, overflow, ect.) - 0

---

EPISODE 20 KILL TALLY!

Keese - 16
Blue Moblin - 12
Floormaster - 2
Stalfos - 10
Wizrobe - 5
Turret - 4
Blue Keaton - 15
Mighty Darknut (Caped)- 3
Gibdo - 3
Moldorm - 2
Spark - 11
Blue Moblin (Bow) - 3
Ball and Chain Soldier - 2
Bob-omb - 3
Black Knight Darknut - 1
Darknut - 4
Ghini - 2
Fire Wizrobe - 1
Red Stalfos - 4
Wallmaster - 2

Style Points - 7

Missed Rupees - 0
Lost Rupees (theft, overflow, ect.) - 2

EPISODE 21 KILL TALLY!

Blue Keaton - 10
Mighty Darknut (Caped) - 2
Black Knight Darknut - 1
Vaati - 1

Style Points - 1

Missed Rupees - 0
Lost Rupees (theft, overflow, ect.) - 0

---

EPISODE 22 KILL TALLY!

Octorok - 1
Moblin - 2
Beetle - 3
Spiny Beetle - 4
Keese - 8
Helmasaurs - 1
Green Chuchu - 1
Pesto - 7
Blue Mulldozer - 7
Gold Octorok - 2
Moblin (Bow) - 2
Crow - 1
Gold Rope - 2
Scissor Beetle - 3
Tektite - 7
Moldworm - 1
Acro-bandit - 1
Blue Octorok - 1
Moldorm - 1
Gold Tektite - 3
Red Chuchu - 1
Blue Tektite - 1
Peahat - 1
Blue Leever - 4
Spark - 1
Ghini - 2

Style Points - 2

Missed Rupees - 0
Lost Rupees (theft, overflow, ect.) - 0

[Lord Raziere]

since I'm bored, and watch lets plays to experience games I don't have time or resources to get, and can't decide what to watch next, I'll be following this

a sleepy hero of time wakes up so that a princess can take him to the festival on the eve of a certain event? pardon me, I'm having Chrono Trigger flashbacks....

a guy who looks like Magus wearing a black link cap, turns Zelda to stone and unleashes a great evil upon the land? why does this game keep reminding me of Chrono Trigger?

oh hello Birdhat.....why didn't you just jump on his head in the first place? and why do they insist on the walking thing until he jumps on?

ah, thats logical- being small is full of danger, even though its needed to progress. though that makes me wonder how small people such as these don't die by the truckload from giant people just plain stomping on them, considering how much lengths we go to to destroy ants and other pests.

I guess language barrier is a good excuse as any to pad things out a little for a simple puzzle, but whatever. it makes sense, given that the Minish must live in isolation to keep themselves from being stomped they as a result can't communicate....but I dunno, it feels a little pointless to me if your just going to get rid of the barrier in like two minutes after its introduced....but then again, thats kind of what happens with all languages in videogames, they get set up as a barrier then quickly get taken down for plot purposes. now I'm thinking of an interesting for a videogame or RPG would be to make language-learning more piecemeal and spread out, as more of a progression than an automatic thing, and hinge an entire plot around it where you can't do certain things because you only know so much of a certain language....

[LaZodiac]

since I'm bored, and watch lets plays to experience games I don't have time or resources to get, and can't decide what to watch next, I'll be following this

a sleepy hero of time wakes up so that a princess can take him to the festival on the eve of a certain event? pardon me, I'm having Chrono Trigger flashbacks....

a guy who looks like Magus wearing a black link cap, turns Zelda to stone and unleashes a great evil upon the land? why does this game keep reminding me of Chrono Trigger?

oh hello Birdhat.....why didn't you just jump on his head in the first place? and why do they insist on the walking thing until he jumps on?

ah, thats logical- being small is full of danger, even though its needed to progress. though that makes me wonder how small people such as these don't die by the truckload from giant people just plain stomping on them, considering how much lengths we go to to destroy ants and other pests.

I guess language barrier is a good excuse as any to pad things out a little for a simple puzzle, but whatever. it makes sense, given that the Minish must live in isolation to keep themselves from being stomped they as a result can't communicate....but I dunno, it feels a little pointless to me if your just going to get rid of the barrier in like two minutes after its introduced....but then again, thats kind of what happens with all languages in videogames, they get set up as a barrier then quickly get taken down for plot purposes. now I'm thinking of an interesting for a videogame or RPG would be to make language-learning more piecemeal and spread out, as more of a progression than an automatic thing, and hinge an entire plot around it where you can't do certain things because you only know so much of a certain language....

Man now I want Link to the Trigger to be a thing. Chrono Zelda?

I have to imagine Ezlo was just trying not to be rude at first. I mean he is sitting on a child's head.

The Minish all seem to be in areas where humans won't or can't go, or are Borrower level stealth so they manage to live pretty fine.

Final Fantasy X kind of did that with Al Bhed and I think basically everyone hated it? I don't recall.

[Seerow]

Honestly Chrono Trigger was my first thought seeing the festival as well. The art style is fairly close, so they really feel similar. I actually quite like that they echo each other like this, it probably helps that Chrono Trigger was probably the first real RPG I ever played, and remains one of my favorite games to date.

Anyway, really looking forward to this one. Never played any of the handheld zeldas, so this one (plus a few of the later games) is all new to me. One thing that has stuck out at me is how varied the enemy types are this early on. I'm used to the first section of a zelda game having 1-2 enemy types, and discovering others later in the game. But here in the first 5 minutes after the festival, you've run into a solid half dozen different enemies. That's cool IMO.


One Request: When you add a comment at the same time text is on the screen from something else, could you make your comment last slightly longer? I find myself pausing and rewinding the video constantly because there's two separate sets of text showing up at the same time for only a split second. It happened with Sunshine as well, but Sunshine most of the in-game text wasn't too important so I could just ignore it for the most part. With the Zelda games I'd like to be able to read what's going on in the game as well as keep up with your commentary.

edit: omg I just noticed Zodi already has a new avatar for minish cap. Your avatars changing with the LP you're working on are consistently fantastic.

[LaZodiac]

One Request: When you add a comment at the same time text is on the screen from something else, could you make your comment last slightly longer? I find myself pausing and rewinding the video constantly because there's two separate sets of text showing up at the same time for only a split second. It happened with Sunshine as well, but Sunshine most of the in-game text wasn't too important so I could just ignore it for the most part. With the Zelda games I'd like to be able to read what's going on in the game as well as keep up with your commentary.

edit: omg I just noticed Zodi already has a new avatar for minish cap. Your avatars changing with the LP you're working on are consistently fantastic.

I will keep that in mind! Just a note that uh...the first couple of videos are recorded already so it'll take awhile for that to be a thing! Sorry I like being over prepared

Thanks! Extend a lovely hand to Cuthalion for making this wonderful avatar of Ezlo yelling at me, based on this official art of Ezlo yelling at Link.

[DataNinja]

Yay! New things to look forwards to!

One thing I want to know is... why didn't Ezlo just translate for us before? He didn't eat the fish nut, yet he understands the Minish language?

[LaZodiac]

Yay! New things to look forwards to!

One thing I want to know is... why didn't Ezlo just translate for us before? He didn't eat the fish nut, yet he understands the Minish language?

That is an interesting question! While we won't find out why he didn't just translate for us, we DO later find out how he knows the language. I...think it's meant to explain why he didn't translate for us but it seems kinda silly? We'll see when we get to it.

[ShneekeyTheLost]

Ahh, gotta love that new-thread smell.

I notice a lot of assets, particularly audio, seem very similar to a futurepast involving waking up the wind. Even some of the character noises like the King remind me of... well... we'll get to that when we get to it.

I'll have to admit, there's a lot of Chrono Trigger around the intro here. But at least that bell didn't ring. And you don't have Gato around to farm silver points with.

I am... decidedly NOT liking that hat. Probably the second-most annoying authorial-redirection device in the series. If, at any point, that hat utters the phrase "Hey! Listen!" then he may, in fact, beat the previous holder of that title. For reasons. And stuff.

At least you got well equipped when you went out. Sword, shield, map, the broken sword. Much more of a monty-haul than "It's dangerous to go alone. Take this".

[Coidzor]

Hello and welcome back to the Zelda series. When we last left off we had just beaten Skyward Sword, and seen the beginning of this affair of demonic curses and princessly reincarnation. We're going to be taking a swing at the next game in the series, The Minish Cap. Made by Capcom (the cause of all my problems) for the Game Boy Advance, this one is...well I mean it's basic and reminds me of the old top down Zelda games many people grew up with and love. It'll be interesting to see how this game compares. As always there is something waiting at the end of this thread to reward participation, we'll be updating Monday and Friday, the usual. Most of you have probably seen my Sunshine LP thing. With that out of the way, lets go!

Hmm, either this is a new kismesis relationship or I was really asleep the last time capcom came up around you. XD

Yet another of the games in the series that I had access to for a while but not permanently and got all the way up to the final boss but never actually beat. :V

Link's Awakening, Twilight Princess, and Minish Cap. Such a trifecta.

Spoiler: Zodi Continuance

Show

Zodi Plays: The Legend of Zelda The Minish Cap [1] Talking Hat

Video Length: 23:29

Video Notes: The first three videos have some minor issues as I work out the kinks of recording a GBA game. My apologies.

We begin first with a beautiful series of stained glass windows, telling us a history. Those of you familiar with Skyward Sword may notice some...incongruities here, and while I will discuss them the time to do so is not now. All you need to know is that the legend depicted here, and the big ole legendary sword shown off later, it's not the Master Sword and it's not (entirely) about the past game. Moving on.

Obviously it'd be boring to just have the first time evil came back be the story here. Gotta make it clear that this whole Link thing has been repeated a few more times.

And who doesn't love additional legendary magic swords cluttering up the place.

Eventually future Links might even be able to wallpaper with the number of swords built up from their ancestors and previous incarnations.

It s a beautiful day, and we see the lovely Princess Zelda heading to the home of the local (read: only) blacksmith. Inside, she basically demands very politely for the blacksmith's Grandson, Link, to be given to her so she can go to a festival with him. Grandpa Master Smith is more then happy then to let us go, so hooray! We get to go to a cool festival. Though he tasks us with delivering his newly finished sword, to be given to the winner of the sword fighting contest. The controls are really basic and simple here and that's good, you move with the D-Pad and roll around with R when moving, using R when not moving to grab things and do a little shimmy sham dance, while the A and B buttons are for item use but that won't be for at least a little while.

In a first for the series, Link actually has a reason for sleeping in! Late Night Intense Grandpa-Grandson Smithing!

Wait, that sounds wrong somehow...

More seriously though, kinda silly of Zelda to have her theme song playing if she wants Link to wake up, I mean, she is playing him a lullaby just by being around.

Woohoo, Link's a Delivery Boy! And completely unsuitable bodyguard!

Dead shame about not being able to bonk roll anymore, though. At least now Link can ninja roll off cliffs, so.... tradeoffs?

Princess Zelda, quite a rambunctious and high speed Princess, takes us quickly to the festival an basically just runs around getting little tastes of everything. It's adorable. She wins a prize raffle and when given the choice between a Heart Container (take it Princess please) a Huge Rupee, and a teeny tiny shield...she picks the shield. To her credit it's a gift to us, and so that we can protect her like a real knight! This is suuuuper adorable and makes me okay that she got us the shield. The shield works how you'd expect, blocking things when put up. It's a little small though, and not too good in terms of material so it won't block everything.

Mah Zodi, these teensy shields are what all true warriors strive for.

And if you're going to not start off with the shield, this is one of the better ways I can think of to have gotten it. Though the shield shaming is a little much. XD It's not the size, it's how you use it!

What's this about a LIGHT FORCE, though? Hm hm. They have triforce emblems on that wedding bell gate on the north end of the plaza, so they're probably not getting their history and mystical metaphysical concepts muddled.

Oh well, it came with a complimentary and complementary blade, so I'm sure this light force isn't all bad!

Teasing you with swordfights that they had neither the time nor the inclination to show with the limitations of playing a top-down Zelda game naturally preventing cool sword fights from happening under player control was a bit cruel though.

Moonwalking back to the castle is the only true and fit way to escort the Princess of Hyrule, after all. XD

After encountering one of the MANY very god damn rude Deku Scrub businessmen in this game, and learning how to reflect projectiles in the meanwhile, we finally get to the castle. We decide to stay and watch the ceremony of the sword contest winner going up to the chest and touching the Picori Blade to make a wish. Only the winner seems...mysterious. A pale skinned man with purple hair, dressed in blackish purple clothing. He uh, makes it clear he's not here for the sword, and after blowing away from guards he smashes it, unleashing the monsters sealed within! He peers into the chest to claim his goal and...finds nothing. The Force he was looking for was not within. Zelda confronts him, and though we do try to defend her, this mysterious man known as Vaati easily pushes us aside and turns Zelda to stone.

There's a very good reason why Deku Scrubs go extinct. They're trashbabies, by and large. And don't have the sense not to set up blockades on the path to a castle and spit deku nuts at princesses. Or cover their mouths(?) when they talk.

That, and I'm sure that there are many, many Links and possibly even other non-Link adventuring types that dedicate themselves to wiping them out after they retire from the saving the world business.

Hey, Vaati's wearing dark navy blue clothes, not mysterious black clothes.

Gotta give those guards credit, though, they at least attacked two at a time instead of only one at a time.

And that teensy tiny shield was enough to help Link not get blown away. No idea what that was about with Zelda though. Must already know magic or something as part of her preparations for being in Brawl. :V

Now where could that mysterious FORCE be if not in a chest full of sealed away evil monsters that should've just been killed?

I know, it's inside a HIDDEN TEMPLE! Silly Vaati, don't you know how magical forces are kept stored? You gotta go through block moving puzzles and boss fights, not sword contests!

It was a pretty neat looking chest though, so I guess it's maybe a little bit forgivable, since he is completely new to this sort of thing and all.

We awaken from the whole Vaati busting our face up, inside the castle. The King is discussing with his guards and Master Blacksmith what is to be done. His guards will search the lands for the vile sorcerer who petrified his daughter, while a small child will be tasked with finding the Picori. Believed to be a legend, these small folk are very real, and will be able to fix the blade for us. Taking both the broken blade and the sword our grandpa made, we head off into the world to find the Picori! Thus begins the game proper, though we don't have many places to really go. We do encounter our first enemies, Octoroks and Crows. Simple foes, Octoroks spewing rocks and walking around, Crows diving at us. How rude! We also find the Acro-bandits, enemies that aren't really a threat so much as they are a good source of grinding because you kill like, five per encounter.

Hey, an actual good reason for why Link has to be a kid in this one. Ageist mystical creatures!

Interesting that they shared this place as a meeting place and now the Picorinos only show themselves to children. I wonder what could have happened.

Did some Hyrulian prince traumatize the Picori by attacking a Princess Zelda in front of them while under the influence of Ganon, sending her into a magical coma that lasted for years until she was awoken by a later Link? :V

I must admit, the acro-bandits were... kinda interesting, but also kinda just weird. But satisfying to kill. When collapsing them didn't drop one on your head. :V

We make our ways down, into the Minish Woods, and at first it seems that other then the regular old green Chu-chus, there isn't much to find. However...we hear someone shouting for help. Thus we find our titular living hat friend, who after saved reveals himself as Ezlo. After a funny scene of poor Ezlo having...difficulties keeping up with a small child, we find ourselves with a new hat! Nice.

Green Chu-Chus freaked me out the first time I played this, because they looked like a modern version of the electrified ones from Link's Awakening that always annoyed me as a little kid.

The octoroks harassing a hat instead of trying to murder it is also both interesting and kinda weird. Or maybe shooting rocks at magical hats just doesn't damage them, just makes them pain.

Was a somewhat amusing scene, him figuring out that he just needs to be a freakin' hat already. And dig his root tendrils into Link's brain to control his meat puppet minion. muahahahahaha.

Ezlo is...an interesting friend. I'm sure some of you will find this ridiculous, but I find him more intrusive on the gameplay then Fi. Maybe it's because by this point there have been four other top down Zelda games with this style of control scheme, maybe it's because there is just something off about how he helps us, or maybe it's just that good ole Capcom quality, but something about Ezlo makes him kinda...annoying? We'll see more of this later, because for now he does give us some good advice. Specifically, he teaches us that us humans, we're bad at record keeping. The Picori are actually called the Minish. Secondly, certain areas in the game let us shrink down to Minish size, letting us explore! Thus we learn how to become a tinier small child, the main gimmick of the game. It's really fun though and they do some neat stuff with it, so lets go.

Hooray for unnecessary alternate names that get dispelled about 15 minutes into the game proper!

Also, magical immortal portal stumps. Rather enjoyed this part of the game.

Exceeeeeept for some of the backtracking for collectibles. :V

Exploring the woods a little as a tiny child, we find the Minish Village! The only problem is these super adorable and cute mouse people are uh...not able to speak our language! So we've gotta explore the village a little to find someone who can speak it. Shockingly it's not even the village elder who can, but instead like...the local priest. I find that funny and also actually kind of appropriate for reasons I'll explain later. It's just funny how the local super wise mega sega who'll tell us what we have to do to repair the sword...doesn't know Hylian just in case he needs to TALK with a destined hero. Anyway, Mr Priest here tells us to go find a jabbernut, and...well we do so it's not super difficult. To be fair this is basically the first puzzle we have to solve and this game is nice and easy so it's easing us into it, but yeah I'd kind of expect a minidungeon to get this, not a single block pushing puzzle. Anyway, nut!

And now we have the explanation for why they're called Picori. Pokemon logic of "Let's just name it whatever it keeps on saying." XD

Interesting that Ezlo knows Picorish but isn't familiar with this dialect, hm hm.

Jibba-Jabu-Jabu Nut! I found that bit about the priest and sage a bit interesting, yeah.

With the Jabbernut eaten we can now understand the language. Notedly, based on what the other Minish say, we can now SPEAK the language too. The Jabbernut isn't a babel fish persay, it just taught us the language and now we can speak it. They're still saying "picopicoripi" but since we understand it it appears in like, Hylian. It's neat. Anyway the sage tells us about how to fix the sword we need to get the four elements, and one is nearby just ask Mr Priest to let us through and we do so...discovering that I am a dumb and forgot about the Heart Piece here. We'll...get that later. At any rate, at the cusp of our first dungeon (yes, already. This game goes fast) we end it here. I hope you enjoyed, and I'll see you all next time.

Four Elements. Interesting, since I think this is the one and only time you actually have to collect things of all of the four elements and the four elements alone in Zelda.

Poor ol' Heart Piece, just gonna be there laying abandoned on its little stone niche where it's been waiting for ages.

At least now we know they're actually mystical stones or something from that one lady, so it doesn't go bad. XD

I didn't really realize this and I really should have...Link is sleeping at the beginning of every game. Sometimes due to fatigue, and sometimes...through injury. Dun dun dun. But for now, sleepy sleepy link...

Well, not every game. I can think of 2 that he isn't, and they're not even ones that have been excommunicated.

You could even say that one of them is a real... Adventure.

Honestly Chrono Trigger was my first thought seeing the festival as well. The art style is fairly close, so they really feel similar. I actually quite like that they echo each other like this, it probably helps that Chrono Trigger was probably the first real RPG I ever played, and remains one of my favorite games to date.

If it wasn't inspired by it at least in part, I'll eat my Ezlo!

I mean, that wedding bell arch just screens Leene's Bell to me. And all of those balloons~

Anyway, really looking forward to this one. Never played any of the handheld zeldas, so this one (plus a few of the later games) is all new to me. One thing that has stuck out at me is how varied the enemy types are this early on. I'm used to the first section of a zelda game having 1-2 enemy types, and discovering others later in the game. But here in the first 5 minutes after the festival, you've run into a solid half dozen different enemies. That's cool IMO.

Ah. Good catch there. I kinda hate bird enemies like the crows with a fiery passion, so I didn't notice it as much, but you're right.

I did enjoy the acro-bandits, until I got dropped down to one heart by them falling on me. :V

One Request: When you add a comment at the same time text is on the screen from something else, could you make your comment last slightly longer? I find myself pausing and rewinding the video constantly because there's two separate sets of text showing up at the same time for only a split second. It happened with Sunshine as well, but Sunshine most of the in-game text wasn't too important so I could just ignore it for the most part. With the Zelda games I'd like to be able to read what's going on in the game as well as keep up with your commentary.

Yeah, I think I ran into that a couple of times myself. :V

edit: omg I just noticed Zodi already has a new avatar for minish cap. Your avatars changing with the LP you're working on are consistently fantastic.

And how!

[lurkmeister]

Oooh! New game!

Minish Cap is one of several Zelda games I started but never finished. Ah well.

BTW ... I have to admit, when you started throwing those urns, this came to mind:

[huttj509]

I will keep that in mind! Just a note that uh...the first couple of videos are recorded already so it'll take awhile for that to be a thing! Sorry I like being over prepared

Thanks! Extend a lovely hand to Cuthalion for making this wonderful avatar of Ezlo yelling at me, based on this official art of Ezlo yelling at Link.

a) Link really likes being yelled at?

b) I kept reading the hat's name as Ezio instead of Ezlo. Made for some amusing thoughts.

[LaZodiac]

a) Link really likes being yelled at?

b) I kept reading the hat's name as Ezio instead of Ezlo. Made for some amusing thoughts.

I feel like it's more a bemused acceptance that this old man hat thing is going to yell at him a lot. Like, maybe I'm over blowing it, but I think he's a little excessive on his providing of hints.

Yes please assassin game where you are a hat. It'd be like a cloaker monster from DND only slightly more difficult since not everyone wants to wear a badass cloak.

[TheWombatOfDoom]

A poll for people. It didn't come up last game because of the expansive wallet that link gets almost immediately, but it's likely going to come up here - do rupees that Zodi gets after filling her wallet count as missed rupees? Or since she got them it still counts, even though she doesn't retain them. I'm torn. What do you all think?

[lurkmeister]

Having played Zelda games enough, it's sort of a gray area. Theoretically, Rupees are infinite, but you can collect large Rupees when your wallet's full in some games, and through multiple playthroughs you learn to avoid them until the wallet gets bigger. I seem to recall Windwaker being particularly bad at this, because of how common one-off silver Rupees are in it, how large the wallets get, and how many Rupees you need to spend to beat the game. (F**king Tingle...)

I would suggest that chest Rupees always count towards the missed Rupee total, but that field Rupees that are left uncollected don't. That's because -- unlike field Rupees -- you can't collect Rupees you get out of chests again.

[LaZodiac]

Onward, to the dungeon!

Zodi Plays: The Legend of Zelda The Minish Cap [2] Deepwood Shrine

Video Length: 23:15

Video notes: Like I said last time, this and the next video are going to be a little rough due to getting used to learning a new game to edit. Sorry!

We begin! It's time for our first dungeon, and it IS a little tutorial-y in it's presentation. I do think it's justified though, because this is the first dungeon, we arrive at it so soon, and the whole "every game is someone's first" mentality. I do think Ezlo's tutorial messages are kind of...odd, though. Another odd thing is that you have to press a button to use keys in this, when normally in top down Zelda's like this you just push through the door.

Anyway, once we get past the lobby we find our first new enemy. It's the Sluggula! They're...very slow,they don't go out of their way to attack you, and they die in two hits. Very basic enemy that's super easy to dispatch, nice. Later on we'll see them falling from ceilings, and if we strike them while they're on their back they die in one hit. I think it's neat that even that much detail is put into such a basic enemy. We also get out first puzzle, just hit switches to light some torches. Done and done.

The next room actually has a cool bit of design to it, that makes me wonder if some of Ezlo's comments were put in last minute. Because like, we see the pull switch and it's got scuffmarks on the ground, and it's handle is light blue. Ezlo tells us to pull it, which is fair we've never seen something like this before presumably so that helps. But he doesn't tell us that you can pull the mushroom...but it DOES have the same scuffmarks near it, and is the same colour as the pull switch's handle. So that's some neat hinting at stuff without direct tutorializing. I like it.

After that we head to the center of the dungeon, and the first REAL set piece style puzzle in the game. Big ole barrel that we've gotta free, so we can roll around it while inside it to get to different places. Nice. We also get the Puffstool, an annoying enemy type that is invincible to us right now unless we throw a pot at it. They do try to run into you, but they're slow. Unfortunately their other attack is to spread spores around that leave little piles of it on the ground that slow you down a lot. I do show it off, but killing them with a pot causes a 3by3 explosion of spores. Also I call it dust in video because it never occurred to me that it was spores!

Getting through the barrel leads us to our next new enemy, the Mulldozer. They're kinda ladybuggish looking things that charge at you in a semi random pattern. To date I don't believe any single Mulldozer has actually tried to attack me with intention, and I'm okay with that. We also learn that mushrooms send you flying different ranges depending on how far they've been pulled (again, with no tutorializing by Ezlo, just the visual cues on the floor). Taking advantage of that gives us a Map, and teases us of a potential Heart Piece. Get used to that, Heart Pieces actually show up in dungeons in this one. Also, unlike the map in Skyward Sword, you don't get a compass with it. I actually like the combination of Map and Compass into a single item because it leaves more treasure chest space for other neat rewards.

Next room gives us our last new enemy (at least, basic regular enemy). It's a Pesto, flying insect dudes! They fly at you and are kind of annoying but really that's it? These enemies are all kind of the same really, just variations of the same idea. Which is good, it's teaching us how to deal with enemies in a controlled space so that in the future they can throw harder things at us. It's good! Less good is Ezlo telling us that this switch is mysterious in some way. I'll grant that it's hard to tell that the switches that need to be held down are rounded, but with the big scuff mark along the ground I think it's fairly easy to tell we're supposed to push the pot onto the switch. That being said pushing pots isn't the most common thing to do in these games, compared to block pushing, so I kinda get it? We also get a tutorial message about pulling and I'm not gonna be harsh on that because pulling isn't all that frequent in top down Zelda's, typically going just for pushes, and it's possible to have overlooked the game's interface saying you can pull. Unfortunately it outright spoils how to do the next puzzle but eeeh that's okay. Tutorial dungeon!

With key in hand we can now proceed. We've got more mushrooms to deal with, of course. Mushrooms are like the second sort of set-piece/dungeon gimmick in Deepwood Shrine, along with the rotating barrel. This leads us to what is technically the hardest puzzle in the dungeon! You've gotta do some pushing and pulling, but with foresight! Yeah look this game is relatively easier then other Zeldas and this is the first dungeon. Things are gonna go like this.

All of this leads us to our first sort of miniboss. It's more of a kill room but with fancy music. Thanks to Durkoala I realize I've missed some dialogue here from Ezlo (as well as during the actual miniboss and main boss). If you press select during a boss, miniboss, or action oriented room like this, he'll give you advice on it just like Fi! This is what he has to say about our three Muldozer fight: What are you doing!? We've no time for any of your nonsense!

...thanks Ezlo.

Anyway our reward is a key, and after making our way through some dusty rooms (and taking some time out to set up a chest for later and to pick up the compass) we find our first legitimate miniboss! This is the Madderpiller! It...goes around the room without any actual intent to attack you until you hit it, and even then it doesn't like actively seek you out. The way you beat it is by bopping it's nose, then slashing up it's tail once the weakpoint has revealed itself. Quite easy, and simple enough to be beaten in two rotations instead of three. Nice! Ezlo's tip for beating this guy is: Ew! What is that? Is that a caterpillar? It's disgusting! Hey, kid! I'll just let you take care of this one!

For defeating this miniboss we get our first dungeon item, and it's quite fun! The Gust Jar! A cousin to the Gust Bellows, whereas the Bellows blows, the Gust Jar sucks! It'll suck up all those annoying spore piles, it'll make Puffstools vulnerable to a good swording, it at least seems to draw Pesto's in closer to you. It does nothing to hardier enemies like Mulldozers, but it can actually suck up enemies like Octoroks to use as projectiles. Some enemies just get eaten up by it outright! It kind of rules! The secondary function of the Gust Jar is to shoot out a blast of air at enemies, pushing them back or otherwise annoying them. With Gust Jar in hand we can now go around the dungeon collecting some of the more hidden treasure chests, and deal with the web inside of the big ole barrel. We also finally get that Heart Piece, and open up the way to getting the other.

With the web gone we can fall to our next destination. There's a bit of a fountain underneath the Shrine, and thankfully a nearby lily pad will serve as our transportation. Using the Gust Jar we can propel it in a direction, and it actually controls really well. Much better then other pad and boat based mechanics I've had to deal with in the recent past. We do some tricky fighting on the pad itself against some Pesto's, some puzzles that quiz us on what all we've done in other parts of the dungeon, get back to that one Compass room to get a key, then proceed onward to where the last Big Chest is. In this room we learn how the Gust Jar interacts with mushrooms, which opens up some more cool puzzle opportunities that the game decides not to tutorialize us about. We open up the last chest and inside we find the Big Key! Those of you familiar with Skyward Sword may remember the cool little relics that we used to puzzle our way into boss fights. Yeah that only happens there, here we just shove a key into a lock, and now we've got a key big enough, so lets go. We activate a teleporter that brings us back to the Shrine's entrance (allowing us to quickly snag that Heart Piece).

After making a brief stop to open up the last chest this Shrine holds, it's time for the boss. Appearing from the forest itself and leaping into the dungeon, it's...a regular Chu-chu! The game considers it a different enemy for...certain purposes that we'll get into later, but aside from the interaction with the Gust Jar this is for all intents and purposes a regular Chu-chu. WE'RE the one with a different size, after all. It's AI even feels the same to a regular Chu-chu. Anyway, the way we defeat this is simple. Dodge it's jumps and use the Gust Jar to syphon off chunks of it's feet to make it tip and fall over. Then slash wildly! It's possible to beat this in four rotations but I almost never do that. Here's Ezlo's advice for the boss!: What are you doing, talking to me at a time like this! You've got work to do!

With the Chu-chu defeated, due solely to my lovely hat friend's teachings and hints, we can collect our first Element, the Element of Earth! We also get a Heart Container. Leaving the Shrine behind us, it feels like this'll be the start of a wonderful adventure. Because it is, as much as I rib on Ezlo for being kind of...useless, he's still funny and the game's still good. Not every Zelda game is going to be a sprawling, epic story with helpful swords and cool as hell Groose characters. Sometimes we get a more basic story, with easier gameplay, and even then this still has some good twists and turns. Anyway, lets get back to the Minish leader.

The leader tells us that up on Mt Crenal, the Mountain Minish have some blacksmithery going on. We've gotta bring the Picori Blade to them, along with the element, to get it fixed. Sounds simple enough, lets go (after getting that last Heart Piece we saw last time). On our way out of tow we encounter a nice Minish who just kinda hands us the bomb bag, which is weird...sorta. Usually we get bombs in a more elaborate fashion, and they're a dungeon item. Here a random dude just gives them to us so we can progress. Ah well, not to look a gift mouse in the mouth, it's time to explode things! Including a mysterious looking crest that Ezlo gets surprised by. He helpfully informs us that it is a...thing he doesn't know about. Cool great thanks.

After leaving the forest I encounter a Minish talking about something called Kinstones, we'll deal with thaaat in the next video. We also get more of those mysterious shells, which I still love how the game itself is like "These are for...a thing!". This game is so full of comedic vagueness, I kinda like it. We also encounter Keese which fly in perfectly random patterns, and Peahats, super annoying enemies especially when you forget to use the Gust Jar on them to make them actually hittable!

But yeah, that's our Zelda for today. Next time we'll climb Mt Crenal to find the blacksmith Minish, and perhaps learn something more about these...Kinstone things. See you guys then!

[TheWombatOfDoom]

Spoiler: Zodi's Things (2)

Show

Onward, to the dungeon!

Zodi Plays: The Legend of Zelda The Minish Cap [2] Deepwood Shrine

Video Length: 23:15

Video notes: Like I said last time, this and the next video are going to be a little rough due to getting used to learning a new game to edit. Sorry!

We begin! It's time for our first dungeon, and it IS a little tutorial-y in it's presentation. I do think it's justified though, because this is the first dungeon, we arrive at it so soon, and the whole "every game is someone's first" mentality. I do think Ezlo's tutorial messages are kind of...odd, though. Another odd thing is that you have to press a button to use keys in this, when normally in top down Zelda's like this you just push through the door.

Anyway, once we get past the lobby we find our first new enemy. It's the Sluggula! They're...very slow,they don't go out of their way to attack you, and they die in two hits. Very basic enemy that's super easy to dispatch, nice. Later on we'll see them falling from ceilings, and if we strike them while they're on their back they die in one hit. I think it's neat that even that much detail is put into such a basic enemy. We also get out first puzzle, just hit switches to light some torches. Done and done.

The next room actually has a cool bit of design to it, that makes me wonder if some of Ezlo's comments were put in last minute. Because like, we see the pull switch and it's got scuffmarks on the ground, and it's handle is light blue. Ezlo tells us to pull it, which is fair we've never seen something like this before presumably so that helps. But he doesn't tell us that you can pull the mushroom...but it DOES have the same scuffmarks near it, and is the same colour as the pull switch's handle. So that's some neat hinting at stuff without direct tutorializing. I like it.

After that we head to the center of the dungeon, and the first REAL set piece style puzzle in the game. Big ole barrel that we've gotta free, so we can roll around it while inside it to get to different places. Nice. We also get the Puffstool, an annoying enemy type that is invincible to us right now unless we throw a pot at it. They do try to run into you, but they're slow. Unfortunately their other attack is to spread spores around that leave little piles of it on the ground that slow you down a lot. I do show it off, but killing them with a pot causes a 3by3 explosion of spores. Also I call it dust in video because it never occurred to me that it was spores!

Getting through the barrel leads us to our next new enemy, the Mulldozer. They're kinda ladybuggish looking things that charge at you in a semi random pattern. To date I don't believe any single Mulldozer has actually tried to attack me with intention, and I'm okay with that. We also learn that mushrooms send you flying different ranges depending on how far they've been pulled (again, with no tutorializing by Ezlo, just the visual cues on the floor). Taking advantage of that gives us a Map, and teases us of a potential Heart Piece. Get used to that, Heart Pieces actually show up in dungeons in this one. Also, unlike the map in Skyward Sword, you don't get a compass with it. I actually like the combination of Map and Compass into a single item because it leaves more treasure chest space for other neat rewards.

Next room gives us our last new enemy (at least, basic regular enemy). It's a Pesto, flying insect dudes! They fly at you and are kind of annoying but really that's it? These enemies are all kind of the same really, just variations of the same idea. Which is good, it's teaching us how to deal with enemies in a controlled space so that in the future they can throw harder things at us. It's good! Less good is Ezlo telling us that this switch is mysterious in some way. I'll grant that it's hard to tell that the switches that need to be held down are rounded, but with the big scuff mark along the ground I think it's fairly easy to tell we're supposed to push the pot onto the switch. That being said pushing pots isn't the most common thing to do in these games, compared to block pushing, so I kinda get it? We also get a tutorial message about pulling and I'm not gonna be harsh on that because pulling isn't all that frequent in top down Zelda's, typically going just for pushes, and it's possible to have overlooked the game's interface saying you can pull. Unfortunately it outright spoils how to do the next puzzle but eeeh that's okay. Tutorial dungeon!

With key in hand we can now proceed. We've got more mushrooms to deal with, of course. Mushrooms are like the second sort of set-piece/dungeon gimmick in Deepwood Shrine, along with the rotating barrel. This leads us to what is technically the hardest puzzle in the dungeon! You've gotta do some pushing and pulling, but with foresight! Yeah look this game is relatively easier then other Zeldas and this is the first dungeon. Things are gonna go like this.

All of this leads us to our first sort of miniboss. It's more of a kill room but with fancy music. Thanks to Durkoala I realize I've missed some dialogue here from Ezlo (as well as during the actual miniboss and main boss). If you press select during a boss, miniboss, or action oriented room like this, he'll give you advice on it just like Fi! This is what he has to say about our three Muldozer fight: What are you doing!? We've no time for any of your nonsense!

...thanks Ezlo.

Anyway our reward is a key, and after making our way through some dusty rooms (and taking some time out to set up a chest for later and to pick up the compass) we find our first legitimate miniboss! This is the Madderpiller! It...goes around the room without any actual intent to attack you until you hit it, and even then it doesn't like actively seek you out. The way you beat it is by bopping it's nose, then slashing up it's tail once the weakpoint has revealed itself. Quite easy, and simple enough to be beaten in two rotations instead of three. Nice! Ezlo's tip for beating this guy is: Ew! What is that? Is that a caterpillar? It's disgusting! Hey, kid! I'll just let you take care of this one!

For defeating this miniboss we get our first dungeon item, and it's quite fun! The Gust Jar! A cousin to the Gust Bellows, whereas the Bellows blows, the Gust Jar sucks! It'll suck up all those annoying spore piles, it'll make Puffstools vulnerable to a good swording, it at least seems to draw Pesto's in closer to you. It does nothing to hardier enemies like Mulldozers, but it can actually suck up enemies like Octoroks to use as projectiles. Some enemies just get eaten up by it outright! It kind of rules! The secondary function of the Gust Jar is to shoot out a blast of air at enemies, pushing them back or otherwise annoying them. With Gust Jar in hand we can now go around the dungeon collecting some of the more hidden treasure chests, and deal with the web inside of the big ole barrel. We also finally get that Heart Piece, and open up the way to getting the other.

With the web gone we can fall to our next destination. There's a bit of a fountain underneath the Shrine, and thankfully a nearby lily pad will serve as our transportation. Using the Gust Jar we can propel it in a direction, and it actually controls really well. Much better then other pad and boat based mechanics I've had to deal with in the recent past. We do some tricky fighting on the pad itself against some Pesto's, some puzzles that quiz us on what all we've done in other parts of the dungeon, get back to that one Compass room to get a key, then proceed onward to where the last Big Chest is. In this room we learn how the Gust Jar interacts with mushrooms, which opens up some more cool puzzle opportunities that the game decides not to tutorialize us about. We open up the last chest and inside we find the Big Key! Those of you familiar with Skyward Sword may remember the cool little relics that we used to puzzle our way into boss fights. Yeah that only happens there, here we just shove a key into a lock, and now we've got a key big enough, so lets go. We activate a teleporter that brings us back to the Shrine's entrance (allowing us to quickly snag that Heart Piece).

After making a brief stop to open up the last chest this Shrine holds, it's time for the boss. Appearing from the forest itself and leaping into the dungeon, it's...a regular Chu-chu! The game considers it a different enemy for...certain purposes that we'll get into later, but aside from the interaction with the Gust Jar this is for all intents and purposes a regular Chu-chu. WE'RE the one with a different size, after all. It's AI even feels the same to a regular Chu-chu. Anyway, the way we defeat this is simple. Dodge it's jumps and use the Gust Jar to syphon off chunks of it's feet to make it tip and fall over. Then slash wildly! It's possible to beat this in four rotations but I almost never do that. Here's Ezlo's advice for the boss!: What are you doing, talking to me at a time like this! You've got work to do!

With the Chu-chu defeated, due solely to my lovely hat friend's teachings and hints, we can collect our first Element, the Element of Earth! We also get a Heart Container. Leaving the Shrine behind us, it feels like this'll be the start of a wonderful adventure. Because it is, as much as I rib on Ezlo for being kind of...useless, he's still funny and the game's still good. Not every Zelda game is going to be a sprawling, epic story with helpful swords and cool as hell Groose characters. Sometimes we get a more basic story, with easier gameplay, and even then this still has some good twists and turns. Anyway, lets get back to the Minish leader.

The leader tells us that up on Mt Crenal, the Mountain Minish have some blacksmithery going on. We've gotta bring the Picori Blade to them, along with the element, to get it fixed. Sounds simple enough, lets go (after getting that last Heart Piece we saw last time). On our way out of tow we encounter a nice Minish who just kinda hands us the bomb bag, which is weird...sorta. Usually we get bombs in a more elaborate fashion, and they're a dungeon item. Here a random dude just gives them to us so we can progress. Ah well, not to look a gift mouse in the mouth, it's time to explode things! Including a mysterious looking crest that Ezlo gets surprised by. He helpfully informs us that it is a...thing he doesn't know about. Cool great thanks.

After leaving the forest I encounter a Minish talking about something called Kinstones, we'll deal with thaaat in the next video. We also get more of those mysterious shells, which I still love how the game itself is like "These are for...a thing!". This game is so full of comedic vagueness, I kinda like it. We also encounter Keese which fly in perfectly random patterns, and Peahats, super annoying enemies especially when you forget to use the Gust Jar on them to make them actually hittable!

But yeah, that's our Zelda for today. Next time we'll climb Mt Crenal to find the blacksmith Minish, and perhaps learn something more about these...Kinstone things. See you guys then!

First dungeon! Now to save my comments about most of the dungeon for my much anticipated but not always delivered upon Dungeon analysis. Though, with a 2d game, it's certainly not going to be as extensive as its 3d counterparts...

I didn't mind Ezlo. He's a cranky hat, is all. His comments might be a little instructionly, but he's trying to teach a child about something he thinks Link has never experienced...and to be honest, Link probably hasn't.

The Gust Bellows makes a return. It's interesting that it grows and shrinks with Link, which might explain why its so tiny and in the dungeon. And if Link can get small, than maybe the Minish can get big? I'd love to see what the connection is, since they function the same way...its either the same one or modeled after the one we used in an earlier incarnation.

I will say I really liked the dungeon, and I loved that the boss turned out to be a regular enemy, though I wish it hadn't been a chuchu...chuchu are just so goofy looking. I prefer the chuchu look from skyward sword. These look...stupid to me.

Yeah, I like the silly mysteriousness the game goes with. It's for....something! Dun dun DUN!!!

---

EPISODE 2 KILL TALLY!

Sluggula - 22
Mulldozer - 6
Pesto - 6
Madderpillar - 1
Puffstools - 10
Green Chuchu - 2 (1 boss)
Keese - 2
Peahat - 1

Missed Rupees - 0

(previous episodes)

---

The Minish Cap
Total Kills
(As of Episode 2)

Acro-Bandits - 11
Crow - 2
Chuchu, Green - 4*
Keese - 2
Octorok - 16
Peahat - 1
Puffstools - 10
Sluggula - 22

Bugs
Madderpillar - 1
Mulldozer - 6
Pesto - 6

*one of which was a boss

Total Things Dead - 81

1st Place - Sluggula, at 22!
2nd Place - Acro-bandits, at 11!
3rd Place - Puffstools, at 10!

Total Missed Rupees - 0!

[Lord Raziere]

Onward, to the dungeon!

Zodi Plays: The Legend of Zelda The Minish Cap [2] Deepwood Shrine

Video Length: 23:15

heheheh.. gust jar is actually both useful and funny. poof poof.

as for the boss.....I actually like the creativity in that. its a nice way to remind you how small you are and that even the most basic enemy is now something dangerous and boss-like to you.

[DataNinja]

I find it humorous that the Gust Jar is more useful against ChuChus when you're small...

Also... now I'm imagining a Gust Jar attachment for FLUDD. Wouldn't that be handy? Useful for getting rid of Boos, too. Oh, wait, that's something else...

No, why does the Minish Elder refer to it still as a Picori blade? Why not a Minish blade?

[LaZodiac]

I find it humorous that the Gust Jar is more useful against ChuChus when you're small...

Also... now I'm imagining a Gust Jar attachment for FLUDD. Wouldn't that be handy? Useful for getting rid of Boos, too. Oh, wait, that's something else...

No, why does the Minish Elder refer to it still as a Picori blade? Why not a Minish blade?

Yeah, nooo idea what the Gust Jar can't just eat Chu-chus. It's so silly.

I think the idea is that Picori means something different to the Minish. Maybe since it's the sound they speak it's a symbolism thing? Since not all Minish can speak to humans, this blade will speak for us of our bonds. The sword of language, the Picori Blade. Or something like that.

[Qwertystop]

I hope more of the bosses are like the ChuChu-as-seen-from-small-scale. It'd be interesting to fight a relatively gigantic version of an enemy that's actually a challenge.

Ooh, or a boss-sized-at-human-scale enemy from Minish size, so it'd end up as a Shadow of the Colossus-style fight!

[LaZodiac]

I hope more of the bosses are like the ChuChu-as-seen-from-small-scale. It'd be interesting to fight a relatively gigantic version of an enemy that's actually a challenge.

Ooh, or a boss-sized-at-human-scale enemy from Minish size, so it'd end up as a Shadow of the Colossus-style fight!

You'll have to keep watching to see for yourself

[Coidzor]

A poll for people. It didn't come up last game because of the expansive wallet that link gets almost immediately, but it's likely going to come up here - do rupees that Zodi gets after filling her wallet count as missed rupees? Or since she got them it still counts, even though she doesn't retain them. I'm torn. What do you all think?

I'd say they'd be their own separate tally if they were to be tracked at all.

Yes please assassin game where you are a hat. It'd be like a cloaker monster from DND only slightly more difficult since not everyone wants to wear a badass cloak.

Well what's more likely? They want to wear a badass cloak or a doofy bird hat?

Still, it can't be worse than any of their other bottom of the barrel scraping ideas.

Onward, to the dungeon!

Zodi Plays: The Legend of Zelda The Minish Cap [2] Deepwood Shrine

Video Length: 23:15

Video notes: Like I said last time, this and the next video are going to be a little rough due to getting used to learning a new game to edit. Sorry!

Deep in the woods of rough editing action! Awwww yeeeeeeee.

Spoiler: Continuance

Show

We begin! It's time for our first dungeon, and it IS a little tutorial-y in it's presentation. I do think it's justified though, because this is the first dungeon, we arrive at it so soon, and the whole "every game is someone's first" mentality. I do think Ezlo's tutorial messages are kind of...odd, though. Another odd thing is that you have to press a button to use keys in this, when normally in top down Zelda's like this you just push through the door.

I thought that was a little odd, but I figured part of it was just the changing aesthetic of the games from the influence of the 3D ones.

Accurate representation of how a fight between a hat and a small child would go down.

Anyway, once we get past the lobby we find our first new enemy. It's the Sluggula! They're...very slow,they don't go out of their way to attack you, and they die in two hits. Very basic enemy that's super easy to dispatch, nice. Later on we'll see them falling from ceilings, and if we strike them while they're on their back they die in one hit. I think it's neat that even that much detail is put into such a basic enemy. We also get out first puzzle, just hit switches to light some torches. Done and done.

Sluggula. The, wait, why did they invent this as a new enemy, enemy! XD Although the whole, kill them quickly so it's easier on you and saves time thing was a neat touch, I 'spose.

It's good detail, but why so laaaaaame? I mean, I guess they needed some lame tutorial enemies that weren't all the same as what had come before...

Puzzle, AKA, excuse to roll in a square. And for Ezlo to hold your hand about a very, very self-evident concept. XD *imagines Egoraptor ranting about not needing hand-holding in his sequelitis videos and then forgetting to actually look at the screen or test out all the buttons in Windwaker while trying to maneuver the boat*Not that we'd ever need our hands held or anything.

The next room actually has a cool bit of design to it, that makes me wonder if some of Ezlo's comments were put in last minute. Because like, we see the pull switch and it's got scuffmarks on the ground, and it's handle is light blue. Ezlo tells us to pull it, which is fair we've never seen something like this before presumably so that helps. But he doesn't tell us that you can pull the mushroom...but it DOES have the same scuffmarks near it, and is the same colour as the pull switch's handle. So that's some neat hinting at stuff without direct tutorializing. I like it.

Pulling mushrooms? Lewd.

But, yes, good to not have hands completely held. And I thought the flinging yourself component was pretty neat.

After that we head to the center of the dungeon, and the first REAL set piece style puzzle in the game. Big ole barrel that we've gotta free, so we can roll around it while inside it to get to different places. Nice. We also get the Puffstool, an annoying enemy type that is invincible to us right now unless we throw a pot at it. They do try to run into you, but they're slow. Unfortunately their other attack is to spread spores around that leave little piles of it on the ground that slow you down a lot. I do show it off, but killing them with a pot causes a 3by3 explosion of spores. Also I call it dust in video because it never occurred to me that it was spores!

I thought the pot throwing an interesting twist, since before it'd always just been sort of an easter egg that pots damaged things in earlier top-down Zelders.

I thought it was dust at first too. :V

Also, totally forgot about the visual distinction between types of switches in this game. XD Is good to have those little cues, though.

Thought it was neat to actually use those little flames to actually burn something, though. Really have to wonder about the effort the Minish took in order to set up these puzzles before they scarpered and abandoned the place.

Getting through the barrel leads us to our next new enemy, the Mulldozer. They're kinda ladybuggish looking things that charge at you in a semi random pattern. To date I don't believe any single Mulldozer has actually tried to attack me with intention, and I'm okay with that. We also learn that mushrooms send you flying different ranges depending on how far they've been pulled (again, with no tutorializing by Ezlo, just the visual cues on the floor). Taking advantage of that gives us a Map, and teases us of a potential Heart Piece. Get used to that, Heart Pieces actually show up in dungeons in this one. Also, unlike the map in Skyward Sword, you don't get a compass with it. I actually like the combination of Map and Compass into a single item because it leaves more treasure chest space for other neat rewards.

I... think I got hit a couple times by Mulldozers. When I was trying to rush by them. :V

Good to see you embrace sword and shield button assignment orthodoxy, finally.

Map+Compass is a good combo. I hated the backtracking because I missed a secret wall component of finding out there was treasure in room X 1/3 of the way into the dungeon.

Next room gives us our last new enemy (at least, basic regular enemy). It's a Pesto, flying insect dudes! They fly at you and are kind of annoying but really that's it? These enemies are all kind of the same really, just variations of the same idea. Which is good, it's teaching us how to deal with enemies in a controlled space so that in the future they can throw harder things at us. It's good! Less good is Ezlo telling us that this switch is mysterious in some way. I'll grant that it's hard to tell that the switches that need to be held down are rounded, but with the big scuff mark along the ground I think it's fairly easy to tell we're supposed to push the pot onto the switch. That being said pushing pots isn't the most common thing to do in these games, compared to block pushing, so I kinda get it? We also get a tutorial message about pulling and I'm not gonna be harsh on that because pulling isn't all that frequent in top down Zelda's, typically going just for pushes, and it's possible to have overlooked the game's interface saying you can pull. Unfortunately it outright spoils how to do the next puzzle but eeeh that's okay. Tutorial dungeon!

I have no strong feelings one way or the other when it comes to the fly. Other than to wonder "Why Pesto?" Because they're pests. Oh.

Ezlo's not annoying, he's just directing you. Link's an empty-headed dumb blond of a child, after all.

I'd completely forgotten that pots were ever pushable in Zelda games by the time I played through this section, so... I actually needed the cues. :V

I don't think I ever pulled something that wasn't like, a chain or switch in a top-down Zelda game, so I really needed that bit of information.

With key in hand we can now proceed. We've got more mushrooms to deal with, of course. Mushrooms are like the second sort of set-piece/dungeon gimmick in Deepwood Shrine, along with the rotating barrel. This leads us to what is technically the hardest puzzle in the dungeon! You've gotta do some pushing and pulling, but with foresight! Yeah look this game is relatively easier then other Zeldas and this is the first dungeon. Things are gonna go like this.

Mushroom mushroom! Now if only we had some badgers. Or a snake. Though I guess the snakes would be too fast for the precedent set by the other monsters of this dungeon. XD

And, yes, I actually had to stop and think about that puzzle for a moment. ...It was deceptively simple, OK...

All of this leads us to our first sort of miniboss. It's more of a kill room but with fancy music. Thanks to Durkoala I realize I've missed some dialogue here from Ezlo (as well as during the actual miniboss and main boss). If you press select during a boss, miniboss, or action oriented room like this, he'll give you advice on it just like Fi! This is what he has to say about our three Muldozer fight: What are you doing!? We've no time for any of your nonsense!

...thanks Ezlo.

That's... a nifty thing that I... NEVER ACTUALLY FOUND OUT ABOUT. @_@

Snarky doofy bird hat is snarky.

Anyway our reward is a key, and after making our way through some dusty rooms (and taking some time out to set up a chest for later and to pick up the compass) we find our first legitimate miniboss! This is the Madderpiller! It...goes around the room without any actual intent to attack you until you hit it, and even then it doesn't like actively seek you out. The way you beat it is by bopping it's nose, then slashing up it's tail once the weakpoint has revealed itself. Quite easy, and simple enough to be beaten in two rotations instead of three. Nice! Ezlo's tip for beating this guy is: Ew! What is that? Is that a caterpillar? It's disgusting! Hey, kid! I'll just let you take care of this one!

Ezlo, tellin' ya that sometimes you can't solve a puzzle until later on, no matter how much DETERMINATION you have.

I can see how that'd actually be a useful reminder for some kids and new players?

I will say, though, that little sneak peek of the miniboss before actually going and fighting it is kinda neat, if ultimately pointless due to not really informing you of anything other than "here be miniboss, maybe. Probably."

Gotta get him coming and going, eh?

Ezlo's caterpillar based tips are not very helpful.

...OMG, Madderpillar is a bloody Cataquack Centipede. Or at least has the head of one of those abominations....

Remember when compasses told you where the boss and BOSS KEY were instead of just treasure and treasure alone? That was good times.

For defeating this miniboss we get our first dungeon item, and it's quite fun! The Gust Jar! A cousin to the Gust Bellows, whereas the Bellows blows, the Gust Jar sucks! It'll suck up all those annoying spore piles, it'll make Puffstools vulnerable to a good swording, it at least seems to draw Pesto's in closer to you. It does nothing to hardier enemies like Mulldozers, but it can actually suck up enemies like Octoroks to use as projectiles. Some enemies just get eaten up by it outright! It kind of rules! The secondary function of the Gust Jar is to shoot out a blast of air at enemies, pushing them back or otherwise annoying them. With Gust Jar in hand we can now go around the dungeon collecting some of the more hidden treasure chests, and deal with the web inside of the big ole barrel. We also finally get that Heart Piece, and open up the way to getting the other.

ITEEEEEEEEEM! I love the multiple settings and intensities aspect. And being able to stun and kill those durn puffstools at will. MUAHAHAHA. [NO MERCY].

Oh man, I completely forgot about the fun with octoroks component of the gust jar. XD

~Also, the most mysterious of shells~

With the web gone we can fall to our next destination. There's a bit of a fountain underneath the Shrine, and thankfully a nearby lily pad will serve as our transportation. Using the Gust Jar we can propel it in a direction, and it actually controls really well. Much better then other pad and boat based mechanics I've had to deal with in the recent past. We do some tricky fighting on the pad itself against some Pesto's, some puzzles that quiz us on what all we've done in other parts of the dungeon, get back to that one Compass room to get a key, then proceed onward to where the last Big Chest is. In this room we learn how the Gust Jar interacts with mushrooms, which opens up some more cool puzzle opportunities that the game decides not to tutorialize us about. We open up the last chest and inside we find the Big Key! Those of you familiar with Skyward Sword may remember the cool little relics that we used to puzzle our way into boss fights. Yeah that only happens there, here we just shove a key into a lock, and now we've got a key big enough, so lets go. We activate a teleporter that brings us back to the Shrine's entrance (allowing us to quickly snag that Heart Piece).

Yes, much, much easier to pew pew with your gusty gun to propel this pad. And it doesn't. freaking. sink.

The Pestos as a "Hey, don't go too fast or you might smack into damage" warning and the Sluggulas as a "OTOH, don't go too slow or stuff might fall on you" warning were interesting. Watch out but don't dawdle.

Alas, no relatively easy puzzle game just to fight the boss. That's what the rest of the dungeon was foooooooor!

Even better is how it's RIGHT AT THE ENTRANCE. All of that stuff wasn't even necessary to clear a path deeper into the shrine, it was just mucking around in the basement looking for the key and gust jar. XD

After making a brief stop to open up the last chest this Shrine holds, it's time for the boss. Appearing from the forest itself and leaping into the dungeon, it's...a regular Chu-chu! The game considers it a different enemy for...certain purposes that we'll get into later, but aside from the interaction with the Gust Jar this is for all intents and purposes a regular Chu-chu. WE'RE the one with a different size, after all. It's AI even feels the same to a regular Chu-chu. Anyway, the way we defeat this is simple. Dodge it's jumps and use the Gust Jar to syphon off chunks of it's feet to make it tip and fall over. Then slash wildly! It's possible to beat this in four rotations but I almost never do that. Here's Ezlo's advice for the boss!: What are you doing, talking to me at a time like this! You've got work to do!

I rather enjoyed the novelty of this "Giant" Chu-chu fight, though it did drag a bit at the end.

Interesting that the Earth Element knew to wait until you'd killed something suitable as a sacrifice to it. Considering you technically BEAT the Chu-chu to the room. Even with it cheating by leaking through the roof.

With the Chu-chu defeated, due solely to my lovely hat friend's teachings and hints, we can collect our first Element, the Element of Earth! We also get a Heart Container. Leaving the Shrine behind us, it feels like this'll be the start of a wonderful adventure. Because it is, as much as I rib on Ezlo for being kind of...useless, he's still funny and the game's still good. Not every Zelda game is going to be a sprawling, epic story with helpful swords and cool as hell Groose characters. Sometimes we get a more basic story, with easier gameplay, and even then this still has some good twists and turns. Anyway, lets get back to the Minish leader.

Well, Ezlo's main job is to be the comic relief, after all. And to do the talking because, well, Link. XD

The leader tells us that up on Mt Crenal, the Mountain Minish have some blacksmithery going on. We've gotta bring the Picori Blade to them, along with the element, to get it fixed. Sounds simple enough, lets go (after getting that last Heart Piece we saw last time). On our way out of tow we encounter a nice Minish who just kinda hands us the bomb bag, which is weird...sorta. Usually we get bombs in a more elaborate fashion, and they're a dungeon item. Here a random dude just gives them to us so we can progress. Ah well, not to look a gift mouse in the mouth, it's time to explode things! Including a mysterious looking crest that Ezlo gets surprised by. He helpfully informs us that it is a...thing he doesn't know about. Cool great thanks.

Buff Minish Blacksmithery. Hooray!

NPCs actually being helpful to stave off the inevitable end of their world when a Link goes mad at their uselessness and destroys them all. Hooray!

Don't look a gift mouse in the horse, either.

But, remember Zodi. USE BOMBS WISELY!



Mysterious ominous explosmy WIND creeeeest~ I wonder if it has anything to do with the Wind element. Or some kind of lost tribe of people in the sky or something.

After leaving the forest I encounter a Minish talking about something called Kinstones, we'll deal with thaaat in the next video. We also get more of those mysterious shells, which I still love how the game itself is like "These are for...a thing!". This game is so full of comedic vagueness, I kinda like it. We also encounter Keese which fly in perfectly random patterns, and Peahats, super annoying enemies especially when you forget to use the Gust Jar on them to make them actually hittable!

Kinstones. Introduced in... Oracle of Sassiness, I believe? Or possibly Link's Awakening DX? Mysterious Shells. Kinstones. Collectibles.

At least there's no big ol' item trading game woven through the entire game, eh? Eh?

Sorta interesting that they have this tutorial offered before you can get a kinstone and telling you to come back after you get one rather than giving you one along with the tutorial.

But yeah, that's our Zelda for today. Next time we'll climb Mt Crenal to find the blacksmith Minish, and perhaps learn something more about these...Kinstone things. See you guys then!

Hurrah! Now to watch Mt. Crenal get renamed Death Mountain! For killing Zodi many, many times!

[DataNinja]

Well what's more likely? They want to wear a badass cloak or a doofy bird hat?

Still, it can't be worse than any of their other bottom of the barrel scraping ideas.

Hat of Ezlo: Constantly provides unsolicited advice to the wearer, except when you want it. Shrinks you down at will...but only in spots it deems appropriate. Has a small chance of sucking your brain out. +4 to obnoxiousness.

[Qwertystop]

You'll have to keep watching to see for yourself

I meant in future games. Shrinking might show up as a one-dungeon gimmick or something.

[LaZodiac]

I meant in future games. Shrinking might show up as a one-dungeon gimmick or something.

Ah. Well...same answer

(though I sort of forgot if this exactly is done in other games...)

[Durkoala]

Hello, thread! This is the first game of our lovely host's that I've actually played, so for once I can comment on what's going to happen.

Minish Cap was my first Zelda, so I'm very happy to see it here. I love the cute art style, the music and the story, but this game introduced me properly to the feeling of moving around a continous map, learning new abilities and upgrading old ones to progress. There's a lot of cool things here, but most of them are technically spoilers so I'll talk about them when they turn up.

The shrinking mechanic is pretty fun: as we've seen, you can travel around the overworld while tiny (albeit quite slowly and with some difficulty), but you can also access hidden areas where, unlike in the overworld, all your abilities function perfectly and you can fight some extremely murderous insects and things. In these areas, you function pretty much as you do while normal-sized, which while perfectly enjoyable and understandable from a technical viewpoint (Would you really want to code in new effects and mechanics when you can recycle what you've already got?), it does feel like there were some missed opportunities to take advantage of how certain items could be affected by the size change; unfortunately I can't really talk about any of them yet. This shrinking mechanic is implemented a lot, so no matter how annoying you all may find Ezlo you can't deny he's making himself useful.

I actually like our hattish companion. While he is a constantly nagging old duck-thing and a poor teacher, I find his stuck-up attitude (and its regular undermining) amusing and many of his little phrases are pretty funny, although I doubt Zodi wants to keep hitting select to show them all off to us. Besides, there is a reason for his constant rudery, but you'll have to wait and see.

I won't talk about the sword or the first dungeon right now because I'm a little bit strapped for the time (and I'm sure that Ms. Zodiac and Wombat of Doom, esquire, will do it better), but I'll tell you about our first item and our first dungeon item: the shield and the gust jar.

The shield is underwhelming at first glance: even the characters laugh at it! However, despite having no upgrades or function beyond 'block some attacks', it's actually a very valuable tool. It deploys easily and blocks most enemy attacks in the game, including most bosses', and even stuns many difficult enemies. You can't attack with the shield out, or move very fast, or change which direction you're facing, and it doesn't block attacks from behind but used right, it will often be a lifesaver. Sadly, it's often neglected in favour of later, flashier items.

Spoiler: Shielded from the spoiler-aware

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Off the top of my head, it doesn't protect from Ghini, Like-likes, Lakitu, beetles, the cursing skulls, the Gyorg pushing you off or some of Vaati's attacks. Just about everything else can be blocked.

There's also an upgraded form, but it can't be obtained until the postgame. It's really cool, but by then there's not much worth using it on.

The gust jar is the opposite of the Shield, being very flashy and immediately useful, but generally difficult to use in combat past the second dungeon. It's slow to build up its power and has a delay before it starts to suck, leaving you open to nearby enemies. A few early foes are vulnerable to it, and there's a scattering of later ones that it's effective against, but it gets less and less useful as the game progresses. It is, however, a very fun item to use and finding some of those later enemies to vacuum is always a treat. It can also be used to suck up items, which is very useful if you manage to kill a flying enemy out of your reach.

Also, with Zodi's permission, I'm going to try a counting of my own: the not-so great list of LaZodiac's english fails!

As I'm personally not too good with grammar rules, and Zodiac runs a pretty informal commentary anyway, I'm not taking note of subject-object mistakes, subordiante clauses or things like that. I will be checking spelling, I will (probably) be watching punctuation, I will be looking for words that are being used wrongly and I will be varying in the quality I present because I have a really bad work ethic. Also, I can't use tables, so get used to lists until I work out how.

So things are clear, I'm not trying to get Zodi to change her commentary style or implying that it's less than satisfactory. This is just a fun thing to do because I really enjoyed reading the other counts.

Spoiler: Ze List for Episode 1

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THE GREAT-ISH LIST OF LAZODIAC'S ENGLISH FAILS!

* "For now enjoy the story" This probably falls under casual speak being legal, but it irks me. I really want to put a comma in so it's 'For now, enjoy the story'. Episode 1: 0.44

*Ditto with "Oh hey it's a princess!" I actually typed 'Oh hey, it's a princess' while typing it here. Episode 1: 1.33

* "Before we go lets pick up our allowance and or pay" should be "Before we go, let's pick up our allowance and/or pay". Episode 1: 3.37

* I think you mean 'festivities' instead of 'festives'. Zelda probably isn't energetic because of the things pertaining to suitable for a festival, if only because it's an adjective rather than a noun. Episode 1: 4.10

* "Will do Mr King." sounds rather suspect without a comma showing that you're addressing His Majesty. ('Will do, Mr King.') Episode 1: 12.00

* "Lets go help him out." 'Let's' is an abbreviation of 'let us' and so needs an apostrophe to mark this fact. Episode 1: 15.44

That's it for now. I'll try and work out some kind of ranking system for later, to seperate the little niggles that I threw in almost for fun (I left most instances of missing commas off this list, for example, because it was really boring counting them all and they technically fall under the protection of the informal, but did slip in a few) from the actually annoying errors (of which there were very few in this episode) and of course I'll try to do Episode 2 sometime.

So far, this has been a great start to a fondly-remembered game and I can't wait to see it continue.