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  1. - Top - End - #1
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    Default Zodi Plays: The Legend of Zelda Phantom Hourglass (I asked for LESS water!)



    Banner by Pinkhaired August

    We're back at it again in my unending quest to complete every Zelda game. Last time we played Wind Waker, one of the best Zelda games out there. A solid foundation with some niggling little problems here and there. Today, we start up it's direct sequel! Phantom Hourglass, for the Nintendo DS. A lot of people are hard on this one, much like Wind Waker...and unlike Wind Waker, a lot more of it is kind of justified for reasons that we'll see in today's starting video. This isn't my least favorite Zelda, but it's definitely down there! That being said, it's still a good game despite myself. We'll be shooting for 100% as always, and I'll also be attempting to keep up The Streak, which is to say I haven't died even once during every previous Zelda LP and I have no intention of dying in this one...though that being said this game is significantly harder than more other Zelda's for a variety of reasons, so we will see!

    Updates will be Monday and Friday as always. Remember the rules, no spoilers and please keep discussion that does happen to the game in question. Don't be TOO mean to some of the no good very bad mechanical choices this game has going for it. Always respect Linebeck. With that in mind, lets begin with Phantom Hourglass!

    Zodi Plays: The Legend of Zelda Phantom Hourglass [1] Touch and Go

    Video Length: 27:17

    Like most Zelda's, we start off with a bit of a plot recap/backstory moment. This time it's a very cute looking recap of Wind Waker from the perspective of Tetra's pirate crew, made by the adorable little swabbie Nico. Link is not interested, having fallen asleep on the deck like a goofball who's trying to conform to the trait of Zelda games always opening with Link waking up. Our heroes have been exploring for the New Land for some time, but seem to have gotten sidetracked hunting down a ghost ship. We ARE heroes after all, and heroes gotta stop bad guys. And then we DO find the Ghost Ship, which is relatively intimidating! Tetra attempts to board it...only to get captured, since we can't have a game where Zelda is a relevant character until Spirit Tracks I guess, and Link attempts to save her...only to get dunked on.

    Waking up once more, having washed ashore on a mysterious island, Link meets a cute little fairy girl named Ciela, who is definitely not Navi. She offers to help, and we accept! And it is here we learn the first bit of rules about how gameplay works in this game; I hope you like touching, because that's how everything is done. To move you must hold the Stylus on the DS's bottom screen, and Link will move towards it. You can move the stylus to make him turn, but it is an incredibly non-precise sort of movement. The game does not have precision, precision is a lie that does not exist. You can roll in this game, but only by doing a specific loop de loop draw motion at the very edge of the screen...meaning that rolling upwards or downwards is going to be tricky. You can't even roll into walls in this game though! At least you can hit trees, and often for good results too so there's that but...no bomping into trees!

    Another mechanic we quickly learn is one that's actually really good! We have a map in this game, visible at all times on the top screen. If we pull it down to the bottom screen to investigate it, we can draw on the map! This is really fun for a variety of reasons. It lets you do interesting puzzles (which they do, a lot) and lets you take copious notes in case you forget something (which I do, a lot) and, most importantly of all, it allows me to talk to you directly, live while recording! One day I'll be able to do voice commentary, but this'll have to do for now. This also means that in editing you're gonna...see me brush up against myself and that's always gonna be fun. The constant back and forth of Past and Current Zodi, both of whom aren't actually the most recent Zodi because I, the Zodi writing this post, is the most recent. God this is going to be confusing...

    But yes, with our newfound power of "being able to walk somewhat" we explore the island we've found ourselves on, Mercay Island. We do so, talking to friendly friends and otherwise just getting a hang of the control scheme. We talk to Ciela's grandpa, the human Oshus, and learn that we're gonna need a sword. Luckily, Oshus's sword is hidden behind a fairly easy (though telling of the future) puzzle, which we easily solve. Unfortunately Oshus catches us, and we have to have a dreaded tutorial segment before he lets us have the sword properly! Which is fine by me, this game does combat weird so a tutorial helps. You can swing the stylus across the screen to slice, drag it forward to stab, do a circle to spin attack, or just click on enemies to do a jump slash. All of these attacks do the same amount of damage FOR THE MOST PART. Some enemies take extra damage from the jump slash and some DO NOT and it's very odd system that I need to experiment with to get a full idea of how powerful the math is. Point is, combat! It's...not precise at all!

    With sword in hand, we begin exploring the rest of the island, on our quest to find the mysterious and brave and not at all idiotic sailor Linebeck! Sadly the bridge is out so we've got to take the scenic route through a bunch of monsters. Primarily just Red Chu's, who do as Red Chu's do, jumping around and wigglin'. Nothing too hard to deal with. Then we get into the cave, our tutorial dungeon of sorts, which bring us push blocks once more. I'm actually rather tolerant of these push blocks since the top down camera and the way Link sticks to them make them easy to use, and they're pretty obviously pointed out as push blocks so there's no possibility of trickery with them. There's also no indication of where they're supposed to go most times, but that's actually fine in this case? The puzzles in this one are more open ended for the most part so it works. But then we face the actual puzzle of this dungeon; pulling switches in order. This is a very easy puzzle, and if you get it wrong Rope Snakes fall from the ceiling. Rope Snakes are fast little buggers that slither around, and once they're within range of you in a four directional cross, they'll charge. They're toned down from regular Zelda because this game doesn't know what precision is, which is good. Same with the Keese we meet as well, they're just way less flaily. The game is actually working with it's constraints!

    But yes...switch pulling puzzle. A very easy puzzle. The easiest puzzle in the game in fact. A puzzle that I definitely do not get wrong four times due to hitting the wrong switch once while trying to hit some snacks and then just legitimately getting wrong because I wrote down the order wrong. That doesn't happen at all and is NOT indicative of how the game is going to go from this point forward. There is absolutely no way, at all, that any other puzzle is going to destroy me like this one didn't at all. At all. Ever.

    ...god this is going to be a madhouse. I hope you all enjoyed, I'll see you guys next time for more Phantom Hourglass!

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    Default Re: Zodi Plays: The Legend of Zelda Phantom Hourglass (I asked for LESS water!)

    Yay, new Zelda, yay new series. Yay, something I've actually played (despite is being several years), so I can actually give some comments of my own. Maybe.

    You're also comparing a full console's graphics to that of the DS. Even on the best of days, they really won't compare.

    You're right. The Legend of Zelda: Phantom the Hourglass does have a better ring to it.

    I like the nice little touch of not all the pirate retaining their huge smiles when Link comes aboard.

    "A huge ominous king." I suppose they did have to add in the 'ominous', otherwise we wouldn't know which king present they were talking about.

    No, Ciela, it was some other Ghost Ship.

    Uh, Zodi… I think you missed something. Like, a sharp pointy object to defend yourself with. You should probably do what the fairy says and... okay, we're going through the chu chus, got it.

    And by 'a' crime, you mean several. Because you're stealing his sword, his money, and breaking his ceramics.

    Yeah, the way they did rolling in this game befuddles me. They at least fixed it in the sequel.

    Uh, Zodi… Zodi, the number, the sign, the last... (It's actually a really easy mistake to make.)
    Well, at least it's less snakes every time?

    ...is that a snake that dropped behind that door?
    Ah. So that's where the extra snakes went.

    I'll be honest, I expected spin attack dizziness as video ends.

    Wait, so which Zodi am I writing this to? It's about Past Zodi, with Current Zodi's commentary, but after Present Zodi's writeup... so Future Zodi?
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    Default Re: Zodi Plays: The Legend of Zelda Phantom Hourglass (I asked for LESS water!)

    Quote Originally Posted by LaZodiac View Post
    Link is not interested, having fallen asleep on the deck like a goofball who's trying to conform to the trait of Zelda games always opening with Link waking up.
    I hear thunder.

    Pitter patter.

    Time to wake up.
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    Default Re: Zodi Plays: The Legend of Zelda Phantom Hourglass (I asked for LESS water!)

    While I'll watch the video tomorrow, I actually like Phantom Hourglass. The central temble could really have been better designed, and the bureau mechanics could have been a tad more involved, but I at the very least prefer it to it's sequel (sure the central temple was done better, but I hated the train and we lost another two dungeons). But yeah, combat really isn't precise, you can get through the entire game by tapping on enemies, even when that means doing the half damage strikes.
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    How about a Jovian Uplift stuck in a Case morph? it makes so little sense.

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    Default Re: Zodi Plays: The Legend of Zelda Phantom Hourglass (I asked for LESS water!)

    Well, at least you'll never need to look up what button you need to push to do something... that said, I've never been that fond of multiple functions being stacked on a single button (though it can to some extent be unavoidable) or functions that require key combinations with finicky timing to pull off, and this seems like it might be worse.

    I'll be honest, I expected spin attack dizziness as video ends.
    So did I.

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    Default Re: Zodi Plays: The Legend of Zelda Phantom Hourglass (I asked for LESS water!)

    Quote Originally Posted by Aeson View Post
    Well, at least you'll never need to look up what button you need to push to do something... that said, I've never been that fond of multiple functions being stacked on a single button (though it can to some extent be unavoidable) or functions that require key combinations with finicky timing to pull off, and this seems like it might be worse.


    So did I.
    Context Sensitive buttons are a hell of a thing, yeah.

    Y'all shoulda found a way to tell this to past Zodi because while drawing on the screen is fun and all, spinning to dizziness would of really worked well I think. Ah well. Maybe next time.

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    Default Re: Zodi Plays: The Legend of Zelda Phantom Hourglass (I asked for LESS water!)

    Quote Originally Posted by LaZodiac View Post
    Y'all shoulda found a way to tell this to past Zodi because while drawing on the screen is fun and all, spinning to dizziness would of really worked well I think. Ah well. Maybe next time.
    Well, there's always Spirit Tracks. So, there is in fact a next time, at least. Next best thing to time-travel?

    Also, regarding the different time-Zodis, it for some reason gave me the vivid mental image of Past Zodi playing a game on a couch, while Current Zodi stands over the back of the couch yelling at Past Zodi, and Present Zodi just stands off in the corner calmly writing up the forum post while watching the two.
    Last edited by DataNinja; 2018-09-03 at 10:40 PM.
    The stars predict tomorrow you'll wake up, do a bunch of stuff, and then go back to sleep.~ That's your horoscope for today.

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    Default Re: Zodi Plays: The Legend of Zelda Phantom Hourglass (I asked for LESS water!)

    Quote Originally Posted by Dark Shadow View Post
    Well, there's always Spirit Tracks. So, there is in fact a next time, at least. Next best thing to time-travel?

    Also, regarding the different time-Zodis, it for some reason gave me the vivid mental image of Past Zodi playing a game on a couch, while Current Zodi stands over the back of the couch yelling at Past Zodi, and Present Zodi just stands off in the corner calmly writing up the forum post while watching the two.
    Someone with the ability to draw needs to draw that.

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    Default Re: Zodi Plays: The Legend of Zelda Phantom Hourglass (I asked for LESS water!)

    Quote Originally Posted by Dark Shadow View Post
    Well, there's always Spirit Tracks. So, there is in fact a next time, at least. Next best thing to time-travel?

    Also, regarding the different time-Zodis, it for some reason gave me the vivid mental image of Past Zodi playing a game on a couch, while Current Zodi stands over the back of the couch yelling at Past Zodi, and Present Zodi just stands off in the corner calmly writing up the forum post while watching the two.
    "Current" and "present" mean the same thing, don't they?

    Actually, maybe one of them can refer to alternate timelines, but equivalent points along them, where as the other only refers to the exact temporal position. Is that what you meant? Or does "current" mean "past, but less so?"
    Last edited by enderlord99; 2018-09-03 at 11:04 PM.
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    Wow.
    That took a very sudden turn for the dark.

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    I wish it was possible to upvote here.

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    Default Re: Zodi Plays: The Legend of Zelda Phantom Hourglass (I asked for LESS water!)

    Quote Originally Posted by enderlord99 View Post
    "Current" and "present" mean the same thing, don't they?

    Actually, maybe one of them can refer to alternate timelines, but equivalent points along them, where as the other only refers to the exact temporal position. Is that what you meant? Or does "current" mean "past, but less so?"
    All I'm going by is what was said in the writeup.
    The constant back and forth of Past and Current Zodi, both of whom aren't actually the most recent Zodi because I, the Zodi writing this post, is the most recent. God this is going to be confusing...
    So, I guess it'd be Past, "Current", Recent, and Future? Or something? I dunno. Can we get a Dr. Dan Streetmentioner in the house, please?
    (It would probably be more apt to not try and give them relative timeline points, but, eh, where's the fun of just saying Video, Commentary, and Post-Commentary Zodi?)
    The stars predict tomorrow you'll wake up, do a bunch of stuff, and then go back to sleep.~ That's your horoscope for today.

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    Default Re: Zodi Plays: The Legend of Zelda Phantom Hourglass (I asked for LESS water!)

    People who argue with themselves across time are funny. Good job being funny! Is your blood red?
    Last edited by enderlord99; 2018-09-03 at 11:18 PM.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Strigon View Post
    Wow.
    That took a very sudden turn for the dark.

    I salute you.
    Quote Originally Posted by AuthorGirl View Post
    I wish it was possible to upvote here.

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    Default Re: Zodi Plays: The Legend of Zelda Phantom Hourglass (I asked for LESS water!)

    Spoiler: Zodi Times (1)
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    Quote Originally Posted by LaZodiac View Post


    Banner by Pinkhaired August

    We're back at it again in my unending quest to complete every Zelda game. Last time we played Wind Waker, one of the best Zelda games out there. A solid foundation with some niggling little problems here and there. Today, we start up it's direct sequel! Phantom Hourglass, for the Nintendo DS. A lot of people are hard on this one, much like Wind Waker...and unlike Wind Waker, a lot more of it is kind of justified for reasons that we'll see in today's starting video. This isn't my least favorite Zelda, but it's definitely down there! That being said, it's still a good game despite myself. We'll be shooting for 100% as always, and I'll also be attempting to keep up The Streak, which is to say I haven't died even once during every previous Zelda LP and I have no intention of dying in this one...though that being said this game is significantly harder than more other Zelda's for a variety of reasons, so we will see!

    Updates will be Monday and Friday as always. Remember the rules, no spoilers and please keep discussion that does happen to the game in question. Don't be TOO mean to some of the no good very bad mechanical choices this game has going for it. Always respect Linebeck. With that in mind, lets begin with Phantom Hourglass!

    Zodi Plays: The Legend of Zelda Phantom Hourglass [1] Touch and Go

    Video Length: 27:17

    Like most Zelda's, we start off with a bit of a plot recap/backstory moment. This time it's a very cute looking recap of Wind Waker from the perspective of Tetra's pirate crew, made by the adorable little swabbie Nico. Link is not interested, having fallen asleep on the deck like a goofball who's trying to conform to the trait of Zelda games always opening with Link waking up. Our heroes have been exploring for the New Land for some time, but seem to have gotten sidetracked hunting down a ghost ship. We ARE heroes after all, and heroes gotta stop bad guys. And then we DO find the Ghost Ship, which is relatively intimidating! Tetra attempts to board it...only to get captured, since we can't have a game where Zelda is a relevant character until Spirit Tracks I guess, and Link attempts to save her...only to get dunked on.

    Waking up once more, having washed ashore on a mysterious island, Link meets a cute little fairy girl named Ciela, who is definitely not Navi. She offers to help, and we accept! And it is here we learn the first bit of rules about how gameplay works in this game; I hope you like touching, because that's how everything is done. To move you must hold the Stylus on the DS's bottom screen, and Link will move towards it. You can move the stylus to make him turn, but it is an incredibly non-precise sort of movement. The game does not have precision, precision is a lie that does not exist. You can roll in this game, but only by doing a specific loop de loop draw motion at the very edge of the screen...meaning that rolling upwards or downwards is going to be tricky. You can't even roll into walls in this game though! At least you can hit trees, and often for good results too so there's that but...no bomping into trees!

    Another mechanic we quickly learn is one that's actually really good! We have a map in this game, visible at all times on the top screen. If we pull it down to the bottom screen to investigate it, we can draw on the map! This is really fun for a variety of reasons. It lets you do interesting puzzles (which they do, a lot) and lets you take copious notes in case you forget something (which I do, a lot) and, most importantly of all, it allows me to talk to you directly, live while recording! One day I'll be able to do voice commentary, but this'll have to do for now. This also means that in editing you're gonna...see me brush up against myself and that's always gonna be fun. The constant back and forth of Past and Current Zodi, both of whom aren't actually the most recent Zodi because I, the Zodi writing this post, is the most recent. God this is going to be confusing...

    But yes, with our newfound power of "being able to walk somewhat" we explore the island we've found ourselves on, Mercay Island. We do so, talking to friendly friends and otherwise just getting a hang of the control scheme. We talk to Ciela's grandpa, the human Oshus, and learn that we're gonna need a sword. Luckily, Oshus's sword is hidden behind a fairly easy (though telling of the future) puzzle, which we easily solve. Unfortunately Oshus catches us, and we have to have a dreaded tutorial segment before he lets us have the sword properly! Which is fine by me, this game does combat weird so a tutorial helps. You can swing the stylus across the screen to slice, drag it forward to stab, do a circle to spin attack, or just click on enemies to do a jump slash. All of these attacks do the same amount of damage FOR THE MOST PART. Some enemies take extra damage from the jump slash and some DO NOT and it's very odd system that I need to experiment with to get a full idea of how powerful the math is. Point is, combat! It's...not precise at all!

    With sword in hand, we begin exploring the rest of the island, on our quest to find the mysterious and brave and not at all idiotic sailor Linebeck! Sadly the bridge is out so we've got to take the scenic route through a bunch of monsters. Primarily just Red Chu's, who do as Red Chu's do, jumping around and wigglin'. Nothing too hard to deal with. Then we get into the cave, our tutorial dungeon of sorts, which bring us push blocks once more. I'm actually rather tolerant of these push blocks since the top down camera and the way Link sticks to them make them easy to use, and they're pretty obviously pointed out as push blocks so there's no possibility of trickery with them. There's also no indication of where they're supposed to go most times, but that's actually fine in this case? The puzzles in this one are more open ended for the most part so it works. But then we face the actual puzzle of this dungeon; pulling switches in order. This is a very easy puzzle, and if you get it wrong Rope Snakes fall from the ceiling. Rope Snakes are fast little buggers that slither around, and once they're within range of you in a four directional cross, they'll charge. They're toned down from regular Zelda because this game doesn't know what precision is, which is good. Same with the Keese we meet as well, they're just way less flaily. The game is actually working with it's constraints!

    But yes...switch pulling puzzle. A very easy puzzle. The easiest puzzle in the game in fact. A puzzle that I definitely do not get wrong four times due to hitting the wrong switch once while trying to hit some snacks and then just legitimately getting wrong because I wrote down the order wrong. That doesn't happen at all and is NOT indicative of how the game is going to go from this point forward. There is absolutely no way, at all, that any other puzzle is going to destroy me like this one didn't at all. At all. Ever.

    ...god this is going to be a madhouse. I hope you all enjoyed, I'll see you guys next time for more Phantom Hourglass!


    My goodness! The first Zelda Game that Zodi is playing that I have not played at all! It's going to be a journey. I must say, I'm super thrilled to be counting again. It's been FOREVER! Weeeeee.

    It's never "The" something because they already have "The" at the beginning of "The Legend of Zelda" so it would be repetitive.

    Well interesting...it doesn't constantly show you the rupee count, only when you get a rupee. I'm sure that's not going to be a problem one day or anything.

    While contemplating your mortality, remember to invest in bottles and snag fairies!

    Did...umm...Link's...sword and equipment fall off when he nearly drowned after falling off the ghost ship? Or was it left on the pirate ship? The world may never know.

    I think red rupees are consistently 20 rupees throughout all games, aren't they?

    Oh man, gone are the days of 23 is number 1. Notes in the margines are a neat mechanic.

    Also, may I suggest putting the text at the top of the video for this game since most of the action is on the bottom screen? It's hard to see whats going on sometimes when the words are blocking it.




    EPISODE 1 KILL TALLY!
    Red Chuchu - 12
    Keese - 6
    Ropes - 17

    Style Points - 0

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




    Phantom Hourglass
    Total Kills
    (As of Episode 1)

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    Red Chuchu - 12
    Keese - 6
    Ropes - 17

    Total Things Dead - 35

    1st Place - Ropes, at 17!
    2nd Place - Red Chuchus, at 12!
    3rd Place - Keese, at 6!

    Total Style Points - 0

    Total Missed Rupees - 0
    Total Lost Rupees - 0
    Last edited by TheWombatOfDoom; 2018-09-07 at 11:09 AM.
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    Default Re: Zodi Plays: The Legend of Zelda Phantom Hourglass (I asked for LESS water!)

    Quote Originally Posted by TheWombatOfDoom View Post
    Did...umm...Link's...sword and equipment fall off when he nearly drowned after falling off the ghost ship? Or was it left on the pirate ship? The world may never know.

    I think red rupees are consistently 20 rupees throughout all games, aren't they?

    Also, may I suggest putting the text at the top of the video for this game since most of the action is on the bottom screen? It's hard to see whats going on sometimes when the words are blocking it.
    Definitely left it on the ship.

    Huh, it's actually more consistent then I thought. Only the Gameboy and Gameboy Advanced ones don't have it at 20. My bad. I could swore some rupee colours are inconsistent...

    I'll consider it for the next time I edit, the first four are gonna be on the bottom. I will probably switch to the top though, yeah.

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    Default Re: Zodi Plays: The Legend of Zelda Phantom Hourglass (I asked for LESS water!)

    Lame stylus controls, inane and simple but highly annoying and aggravating puzzles, and a return of a fairy who nags you and points out the obvious... something tells me I'm just as well off having never played this iteration of the Zelda franchise. In fact, I haven't played any of the mobile iterations of Zelda.

    Well, having never played this game before, I'll just sit back and relax and let Zodi do all the frustrating work by having to deal with kludgy stylus controls and annoying faerie companions.
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    Default Re: Zodi Plays: The Legend of Zelda Phantom Hourglass (I asked for LESS water!)

    Even better than putting it on the top or bottom: Use the sides! There's plenty of room there.
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    Default Re: Zodi Plays: The Legend of Zelda Phantom Hourglass (I asked for LESS water!)

    I believe it's time for another Zelda.

    Zodi Plays: The Legend of Zelda Phantom Hourglass [2] Temple Run

    Video Length: 22:40

    Picking up where we left off, still in the tutorial dungeon of sorts, we head up to the second floor! It is here we meet another pretty generic enemy; the rats! Rats move around at random, though they're a bit smarter about how they move than Keese while also being a little less quick about it. They can be defeated with a single strike as you'd expect. More important than the rats however is the object they're hiding. One rat has a small key on him, and he's running around through two rat holes. He's fast, near impossible to catch in normal circumstances, but luckily a push block is near by. Just cover up the hole on the left, then run away to a safe distance. The rat will run out of his hole, meet the block, and run back. This gives you ample time to run up and hit the rat on his return trip to get the key...baring any finicky control based shenanigans. Also, for WHATEVER reason, this floor of the dungeon can't be written on. A couple areas are like that, and I really just do not understand why that would ever be a thing.

    With key in hand we can unlock the door and finish up this little tutorial of how dungeons work, and finally reach the village on the eastern side of the island! Looking around we don't actually find this Linebeck character we're looking for, but we do find a shop, plus a treasure store that isn't open yet and won't be for some time. The shops in Phantom Hourglass are a lot more varied and important than in Wind Waker, no longer just operated by Beedle. The selection at Mercay Island's shop is pretty good, baring the fact that we can't buy basically any of it due to lack of funds and lack of actual ability to use the things. We can however pick up the shield, which...works weirdly in this game. It takes me a bit to actually figure it out, but basically whenever you're not attacking, Link will have his shield at the ready and anything that gets to close gets blocked. It's...a little finicky and weird and I'm still not 100% sure you can be moving or not, but such is life with these strange touch controls.

    All that aside, we DO find information on where Linebeck CURRENTLY is. He's gone to the Ocean King's Temple to get himself killed. We'd rather not have our prospective shipwright be dead so lets go after him. The walk up to the Ocean King's Temple is fairly simple, the path containing some red chu's and a single Takkuri, the rupee stealing crow! Takkuri are rude, but thankfully like most enemies in this game, it's toned down to actually be fair with regards to your ability to combat them. The Ocea King's Temple itself is...fairly ominous, a huge shrine atop an island's largest hill, decrepit and ancient. There are just straight up skeletons scattered about, which is creepy, and you can talk to their ghosts to receive hints and foreshadowing about the true nature of this dungeon, which is strange and a little weird. We'll talk more in depth on what the deal is with the Ocean King's Temple later, but for now we can go over the basics; It's got shiny safe zones inside of it that protect you from it's main gimmick, horrible death gas that slowly kills you as you wander around the dungeon. That's not great, but as far as dungeon gimmicks go it's not that bad. In the first room (and the only room we'll be visiting of the Ocean King's Temple this time) we find Linebeck, who's gotten his fool self stuck in a safe zone. So we've gotta run around the dangerous life sucking hell fog to save him. We do so easily enough, and our reward is some of the best cutscenes in Zelda from a comedic standpoint.

    We also obtain some slight information; the treasure map to the ghost ship is deeper into this floor. Don't ask me how a map can be for a moving, undead ghost boat it just is. Given the first game also had that it's not entirely unbelievable. All we need to do is a relatively tight timing challenge to run from one end of the dungeon to the other, plus the foresight to go the correct path (luckily, I noticed the trap door on the wrong path when I opened up the empty treasure chest earlier). With sea chart in hand, we return to Linebeck...only to discover the sea chart does not actually show us any special locations, it's just a regular old map!...or so it seems, until Uncle Oshus tells us to rub at the map and see what happens. This feels like a weird scene because there really just sin't any indication that you can scratch off a bit of the map to reveal the symbol of Power, but...I mean there you have it. With our destination set, we sail off in Linebeck's boat for the Ember Isle...or rather, a closer island so I can end the video there for some reason. Look I don't know why I do half the things I do. Anyway, we'll talk more about Linebeck's steam ship next time, for now just rest easy knowing that it's less fun then the King of Red Lions in every conceivable way beyond the fact that you can dress it up, but you probably don't want to. Yay?...yay.

    And that's it for today. Hope you all enjoyed, I'll see you guys next time for further idiot boat adventures with Linebeck, the bravest and most powerful, courageous, and wise character in Zelda history.

  17. - Top - End - #17
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    Default Re: Zodi Plays: The Legend of Zelda Phantom Hourglass (I asked for LESS water!)

    Spoiler: Zodi's Times (2)
    Show
    Quote Originally Posted by LaZodiac View Post
    I believe it's time for another Zelda.

    Zodi Plays: The Legend of Zelda Phantom Hourglass [2] Temple Run

    Video Length: 22:40

    Picking up where we left off, still in the tutorial dungeon of sorts, we head up to the second floor! It is here we meet another pretty generic enemy; the rats! Rats move around at random, though they're a bit smarter about how they move than Keese while also being a little less quick about it. They can be defeated with a single strike as you'd expect. More important than the rats however is the object they're hiding. One rat has a small key on him, and he's running around through two rat holes. He's fast, near impossible to catch in normal circumstances, but luckily a push block is near by. Just cover up the hole on the left, then run away to a safe distance. The rat will run out of his hole, meet the block, and run back. This gives you ample time to run up and hit the rat on his return trip to get the key...baring any finicky control based shenanigans. Also, for WHATEVER reason, this floor of the dungeon can't be written on. A couple areas are like that, and I really just do not understand why that would ever be a thing.

    With key in hand we can unlock the door and finish up this little tutorial of how dungeons work, and finally reach the village on the eastern side of the island! Looking around we don't actually find this Linebeck character we're looking for, but we do find a shop, plus a treasure store that isn't open yet and won't be for some time. The shops in Phantom Hourglass are a lot more varied and important than in Wind Waker, no longer just operated by Beedle. The selection at Mercay Island's shop is pretty good, baring the fact that we can't buy basically any of it due to lack of funds and lack of actual ability to use the things. We can however pick up the shield, which...works weirdly in this game. It takes me a bit to actually figure it out, but basically whenever you're not attacking, Link will have his shield at the ready and anything that gets to close gets blocked. It's...a little finicky and weird and I'm still not 100% sure you can be moving or not, but such is life with these strange touch controls.

    All that aside, we DO find information on where Linebeck CURRENTLY is. He's gone to the Ocean King's Temple to get himself killed. We'd rather not have our prospective shipwright be dead so lets go after him. The walk up to the Ocean King's Temple is fairly simple, the path containing some red chu's and a single Takkuri, the rupee stealing crow! Takkuri are rude, but thankfully like most enemies in this game, it's toned down to actually be fair with regards to your ability to combat them. The Ocea King's Temple itself is...fairly ominous, a huge shrine atop an island's largest hill, decrepit and ancient. There are just straight up skeletons scattered about, which is creepy, and you can talk to their ghosts to receive hints and foreshadowing about the true nature of this dungeon, which is strange and a little weird. We'll talk more in depth on what the deal is with the Ocean King's Temple later, but for now we can go over the basics; It's got shiny safe zones inside of it that protect you from it's main gimmick, horrible death gas that slowly kills you as you wander around the dungeon. That's not great, but as far as dungeon gimmicks go it's not that bad. In the first room (and the only room we'll be visiting of the Ocean King's Temple this time) we find Linebeck, who's gotten his fool self stuck in a safe zone. So we've gotta run around the dangerous life sucking hell fog to save him. We do so easily enough, and our reward is some of the best cutscenes in Zelda from a comedic standpoint.

    We also obtain some slight information; the treasure map to the ghost ship is deeper into this floor. Don't ask me how a map can be for a moving, undead ghost boat it just is. Given the first game also had that it's not entirely unbelievable. All we need to do is a relatively tight timing challenge to run from one end of the dungeon to the other, plus the foresight to go the correct path (luckily, I noticed the trap door on the wrong path when I opened up the empty treasure chest earlier). With sea chart in hand, we return to Linebeck...only to discover the sea chart does not actually show us any special locations, it's just a regular old map!...or so it seems, until Uncle Oshus tells us to rub at the map and see what happens. This feels like a weird scene because there really just sin't any indication that you can scratch off a bit of the map to reveal the symbol of Power, but...I mean there you have it. With our destination set, we sail off in Linebeck's boat for the Ember Isle...or rather, a closer island so I can end the video there for some reason. Look I don't know why I do half the things I do. Anyway, we'll talk more about Linebeck's steam ship next time, for now just rest easy knowing that it's less fun then the King of Red Lions in every conceivable way beyond the fact that you can dress it up, but you probably don't want to. Yay?...yay.

    And that's it for today. Hope you all enjoyed, I'll see you guys next time for further idiot boat adventures with Linebeck, the bravest and most powerful, courageous, and wise character in Zelda history.


    Well, they may have changed the item get theme (ew) but at least they kept the open a door theme!

    Interesting the item in the shop looks like one of the pearls from wind waker! Ah! And buying something gives you the item get theme! Why do they have it here and not there?!

    I'm going to your judgment on this one and go with Takkuri as well until the game proves us otherwise. Like some NPC saying watch out for a crow down that way or something. The wiki doesn't even reference where they got the name crow from for the enemy in this game, so this works. One of my favorite things about this count is the etymology of naming the monsters, and grouping them appropriately. Also, just looked it up, your wallet goes up to 9999. You're not running out anytime soon. Good work on that big green rupee!

    Oh look, its that temple that's depicted in the banner! It must be important. I like that Ciela (is that a pun for C-lock?) questions the skeletons immediately. I can't think of a Zelda game where someones been like, oh crap a skeleton. I wonder who that was. It's always just been a backdrop.

    "Oh is that a fairy from that old man's place? Listen!" Yo, Linebeck, I like you already. I see what you did there.

    So this room looks familiar from the complaint video I watched about certain Zelda games. I'm thinking we will be here again, or an area like this in the temple.

    Link is so used to adventuring that he automatically thought he grabbed something out of the chest. XD Also that symbol corresponds with the pearl from earlier in the shop. Connection? I think so!

    "Link, that's a weird name." Makes me wonder if our name had been Linebeck if he'd say the same thing. When I start up the game I'm checking! Also the way Linebeck manhandles the Legendary Hero like he's a doll is hilarious. Seems like that key might have been what was in the chest earlier.

    Ah, that sea sailing music really brings in the nostalgia.

    And another of the pearls has washed up in this area. Strange that people have found them and been like - gotta sell this because its a thing.

    Cannon Isle - a place to get a cannon. Creative. Inspiring. Efficient.




    EPISODE 2 KILL TALLY!
    Takkuri - 1
    Rats - 7
    Keese - 5
    Red Chuchu - 6

    Style Points - 0

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




    Phantom Hourglass
    Total Kills
    (As of Episode 2)

    Spoiler
    Show


    Chuchu, Red - 18
    Keese - 11
    Rats - 7
    Ropes - 17
    Takkuri - 1

    Total Things Dead - 54

    1st Place - Red Chuchus, at 18!
    2nd Place - Ropes, at 17!
    3rd Place - Keese, at 11!

    Total Style Points - 0

    Total Missed Rupees - 0
    Total Lost Rupees - 0
    Last edited by TheWombatOfDoom; 2018-09-10 at 09:25 AM.
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  18. - Top - End - #18
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    Default Re: Zodi Plays: The Legend of Zelda Phantom Hourglass (I asked for LESS water!)

    Yes, I see that we might die here. Given how Key Rat gave you some trouble.

    You're a chuckster!

    Meh, what's Oshus going to do when he's stuck on the other side of that broken bridge?
    (Okay, probably yell across.)

    A picture of a pot as your sign? Are you nuts? That's just asking for someone to destroy your shop!

    So... why are these skeletons here? Like, here? This part isn't draining your life.

    Hey, someone else who encourages breaking everything!

    I wonder if he'd say anything different if you named yourself Linebeck…
    (Addendum: I see that I'm not the only one who thought that. Let us know how it turns out, Wombat!)

    Y'know, this room is suspiciously shaped...
    I see great minds think alike.

    Based on the comment about expecting Linebeck to be up top there yoinking things (I mean, it's certainly not out of character...), and the wondering how the shield works, I expect that this is probably your first time through PH, Zodi?
    The stars predict tomorrow you'll wake up, do a bunch of stuff, and then go back to sleep.~ That's your horoscope for today.

    01001110011001010111001001100100

  19. - Top - End - #19
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    Default Re: Zodi Plays: The Legend of Zelda Phantom Hourglass (I asked for LESS water!)

    Quote Originally Posted by Dark Shadow View Post
    Yes, I see that we might die here. Given how Key Rat gave you some trouble.

    You're a chuckster!

    Based on the comment about expecting Linebeck to be up top there yoinking things (I mean, it's certainly not out of character...), and the wondering how the shield works, I expect that this is probably your first time through PH, Zodi?
    Game hard! Not for good reasons!

    *game over bongos*

    I've played and beaten this back when it first came out a billion years ago and promptly erased it from my mind beyond some moments and Linebeck being comparable to certain other impish friends in Zelda in terms of how good he is a character. I incredibly love this terrible terrible rogue.

  20. - Top - End - #20
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    Default Re: Zodi Plays: The Legend of Zelda Phantom Hourglass (I asked for LESS water!)

    Quote Originally Posted by LaZodiac View Post
    I've played and beaten this back when it first came out a billion years ago and promptly erased it from my mind beyond some moments and Linebeck being comparable to certain other impish friends in Zelda in terms of how good he is a character. I incredibly love this terrible terrible rogue.
    Ah, okay, that makes sense. I couldn't tell, because based on some comments it sounded like you'd had experience with it while other things (like the shield) were making me wonder.

    And, yes. Linebeck… is a character. A dashing…. let's say 'rouge'.
    (I don't think he deserves 'rogue'.)

    Also...
    Spoiler: Future Spoilers
    Show
    I'll be honest, having played Spirit Tracks first, and seeing Linebeck III there, I assumed that "the heroic Captain Linebeck" there was the actual description. And the joke was how cowardly Linebeck III was in comparison to his grand ancestor. Which made learning the truth even funnier.
    Last edited by DataNinja; 2018-09-07 at 04:51 PM.
    The stars predict tomorrow you'll wake up, do a bunch of stuff, and then go back to sleep.~ That's your horoscope for today.

    01001110011001010111001001100100

  21. - Top - End - #21
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    Default Re: Zodi Plays: The Legend of Zelda Phantom Hourglass (I asked for LESS water!)

    How can Ceila, who never lands, keep up with a boat?
    Quote Originally Posted by jamieth View Post
    ...though Talla does her best to sound objective and impartial, it doesn't cover stuff like "ask a 9-year-old to tank for the party."
    My Homebrew

  22. - Top - End - #22
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    Default Re: Zodi Plays: The Legend of Zelda Phantom Hourglass (I asked for LESS water!)

    Onwards, to further Zeldas.

    Zodi Plays: The Legend of Zelda Phantom Hourglass [3] Fire Temple

    Video Length: 24:02

    Starting us off today, we sail from Cannon Island, which we can't do anything at just yet, to our actual destination of Ember Island. With that in mind, lets talk boat. Linebeck's Steam Ship is an all together different thing from the King of Red Lions from the last game. We don't control it manually, instead charting a course with the Stylus that the steamship follows. This is...significantly less fun than the regular sailing, but it does have a nice to feel to it still. It does however make maneuvering with any precision difficult. Like in Wind Waker we'll be getting various attachments for the ship, but we'll cover those when we get to it. Right now, the only thing our ship can do is jump...and it's not a very good one, being far shorter and far heavier a jump than it feels. Thus, I'm gonna end up getting pegged by those sea mines more than a few times. Thankfully, instead of actual health the ship has stamina (...why they call it stamina I don't KNOW but there you have it) so damage the ship takes doesn't really affect US. We do have to be careful though, we can still sink. We've got four stamina, for now, but I'll talk a bit more about THAT once we unlock customization of the boat.

    With that all said, it's time to arrive at Ember Island. And it's...a stark contrast to how islands where in Wind Waker. Everyone's missing and there's barely any life on it other than monsters. Exploring a bit, we find a journal that feels pretty ominous! We also find that the fortune teller we're looking for has locked herself up in her basement. She's also got a nasty infestation of Octoroks, who do as Octoroks tend to do in the top down Zeldas; run around and shoot rocks. During this bit we need to shout into the DS microphone, and while my recording DS has a broken microphone that doesn't really...register sound, it still functions enough to detect noises and such. I am of course not a big fan of that, but eh. It's fine. The fortune teller lady tells us to find her apprentice, since he's the only one who knows how to unlock her basement door...only for the sign on the door telling us exactly how to do it as well. Oops. That feels very weird and like an oversight the game just didn't think through. Regardless, we find her apprentice Kayo...and he is unfortunately very dead! His spirit is able to tell us how to solve the puzzle though; mark the three torches on the map in the basement. Simple enough.

    While the puzzle is simple, since you just need to find the torches to mark off where they are, exploring the island is slightly difficult due to the enemies around. It's mostly just Red Chu's, but we've also got red and blue Tektites to deal with, though as with every enemy they're less excitable and thus not as dangerous compared to the norm. We also have to contend with Yellow Chu-chus though, which like in Wind Waker coat themselves with electricity! Make sure not to hit them until they're vulnerable or you'll get a shock. We've also got the money stealing Takkuri to deal with again. But yes, finding the torches is pretty easy!....if you remember that the third torch is in Kayo's house. Which I entirely forgot. Ooops. So yeah I stumble around a bit. Embarrassing, but not unexpected at this point. We solve the puzzle, talk with Astrid the Fortune Teller (who's face is hidden from us for a very long time which makes you think there's gonna be a weird reveal but there isn't, it's just weird) and she opens the way to the Fire Temple, our first dungeon.

    And what a dungeon it is. It's full of fire traps, as you'd expect, and quite a few of them. It is here we get our first taste for the inherent instability of this game. It is incapable of precision...the dungeons are designed as if you are. It's not SO bad in this first dungeon, but later dungeons are gonna be ridiculous. As far as dungeon design goes they're fairly linear, but they're still actually good dungeons the problem is that they're designed as if you can control yourself normally. Which you can't. The dungeon is also surprisingly long for a first dungeon, though that might just be because we only hit the dungeon mid way through the video. The enemies are standard fair, mostly Red Chu-chus but with some yellows mixed in. We've got regular Keese, and Fire Keese, which are the same as regular Keese just on fire (which means you can't sword them!), but overall that's it. The puzzles we encounter aren't really DIFFICULT but they are interesting. The classic Zelda puzzle of "here is a path you have to walk in an otherwise unmarked room of traps" shows up, but since we can draw on the screen we can just write the route onto our map, which is always helpful. We've got the occasional combat room which isn't THAT tricky, though given the controls it's always got a slight touch of danger on it. We've also got switches we need to do a spin attack to trigger all at once, which is always fun.

    On the second floor, we have those...I'm gonna call em mole blocks, but they're the red and blue pegs that go up or down depending on how the switch is set and they alternate, if red is up blue is down etc etc. They don't really show up MUCH in this dungeon, so it's not like it's a main theme of it's puzzles, it's just an additional thing it has sometimes. On the second floor we also encounter what is going to be the hardest enemy to count for the every lovely Wombat of Doom who counts all the defeated enemies, the Zols! What's interesting about Zols is that they're from aaancient Zelda games, before they used Chu's, and they acted like they do in this game too! Zols split into their smaller baby form, Gels, if hit, but other than being smaller there's no real difference between the two! Good luck Wombat! For beating these Zelda 1 throwbacks we obtain our first dungeon item, the Boomerang. The Boomerang is pretty cool in this, when you hold it out you have to draw a path for it to fly. That's cool, unfortunately it can't lock onto enemies at all except for very very specific cases. That's bad! That's REALLY bad actually, given I usually use the boomerang to...you know, hit enemies. Still, it's...possible to hit people with it. It's just tougher than normal. That being said, it IS primarily a puzzle interaction device, and it's versatility and variety really helps with that. Of course then they introduce enemies you need to hit with a boomerang before you can hurt them, the fire bubbles! They just...float around not even trying to hurt you, but still you must crush them.

    One last thing, we also find a gossip stone! Gossip Stones in dungeons are actually really useful. If you pay one, it shows you where the chests are on this floor of the dungeon. Not 100% required, but still very nice too have if you're not sure if you've completed things or not. I'll probably end up using this service eventually. But yeah, that'll be it for today! Hope you all enjoyed, next time we'll finish up the Fire Temple of Ember Isle. For now...good bye.

    ------

    A complete random aside since it happened while I was writing up the post: Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles Remastered is coming for the PS4 and Switch. I bring this up because I LPed it, and boy let me tell you what...I'm not LPing it again, but I'm probably definitely gonna buy it.
    Last edited by LaZodiac; 2018-09-10 at 08:26 AM.

  23. - Top - End - #23
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    Default Re: Zodi Plays: The Legend of Zelda Phantom Hourglass (I asked for LESS water!)

    Spoiler: Zodi's Times (3)
    Show
    Quote Originally Posted by LaZodiac View Post
    Onwards, to further Zeldas.

    Zodi Plays: The Legend of Zelda Phantom Hourglass [3] Fire Temple

    Video Length: 24:02

    Starting us off today, we sail from Cannon Island, which we can't do anything at just yet, to our actual destination of Ember Island. With that in mind, lets talk boat. Linebeck's Steam Ship is an all together different thing from the King of Red Lions from the last game. We don't control it manually, instead charting a course with the Stylus that the steamship follows. This is...significantly less fun than the regular sailing, but it does have a nice to feel to it still. It does however make maneuvering with any precision difficult. Like in Wind Waker we'll be getting various attachments for the ship, but we'll cover those when we get to it. Right now, the only thing our ship can do is jump...and it's not a very good one, being far shorter and far heavier a jump than it feels. Thus, I'm gonna end up getting pegged by those sea mines more than a few times. Thankfully, instead of actual health the ship has stamina (...why they call it stamina I don't KNOW but there you have it) so damage the ship takes doesn't really affect US. We do have to be careful though, we can still sink. We've got four stamina, for now, but I'll talk a bit more about THAT once we unlock customization of the boat.

    With that all said, it's time to arrive at Ember Island. And it's...a stark contrast to how islands where in Wind Waker. Everyone's missing and there's barely any life on it other than monsters. Exploring a bit, we find a journal that feels pretty ominous! We also find that the fortune teller we're looking for has locked herself up in her basement. She's also got a nasty infestation of Octoroks, who do as Octoroks tend to do in the top down Zeldas; run around and shoot rocks. During this bit we need to shout into the DS microphone, and while my recording DS has a broken microphone that doesn't really...register sound, it still functions enough to detect noises and such. I am of course not a big fan of that, but eh. It's fine. The fortune teller lady tells us to find her apprentice, since he's the only one who knows how to unlock her basement door...only for the sign on the door telling us exactly how to do it as well. Oops. That feels very weird and like an oversight the game just didn't think through. Regardless, we find her apprentice Kayo...and he is unfortunately very dead! His spirit is able to tell us how to solve the puzzle though; mark the three torches on the map in the basement. Simple enough.

    While the puzzle is simple, since you just need to find the torches to mark off where they are, exploring the island is slightly difficult due to the enemies around. It's mostly just Red Chu's, but we've also got red and blue Tektites to deal with, though as with every enemy they're less excitable and thus not as dangerous compared to the norm. We also have to contend with Yellow Chu-chus though, which like in Wind Waker coat themselves with electricity! Make sure not to hit them until they're vulnerable or you'll get a shock. We've also got the money stealing Takkuri to deal with again. But yes, finding the torches is pretty easy!....if you remember that the third torch is in Kayo's house. Which I entirely forgot. Ooops. So yeah I stumble around a bit. Embarrassing, but not unexpected at this point. We solve the puzzle, talk with Astrid the Fortune Teller (who's face is hidden from us for a very long time which makes you think there's gonna be a weird reveal but there isn't, it's just weird) and she opens the way to the Fire Temple, our first dungeon.

    And what a dungeon it is. It's full of fire traps, as you'd expect, and quite a few of them. It is here we get our first taste for the inherent instability of this game. It is incapable of precision...the dungeons are designed as if you are. It's not SO bad in this first dungeon, but later dungeons are gonna be ridiculous. As far as dungeon design goes they're fairly linear, but they're still actually good dungeons the problem is that they're designed as if you can control yourself normally. Which you can't. The dungeon is also surprisingly long for a first dungeon, though that might just be because we only hit the dungeon mid way through the video. The enemies are standard fair, mostly Red Chu-chus but with some yellows mixed in. We've got regular Keese, and Fire Keese, which are the same as regular Keese just on fire (which means you can't sword them!), but overall that's it. The puzzles we encounter aren't really DIFFICULT but they are interesting. The classic Zelda puzzle of "here is a path you have to walk in an otherwise unmarked room of traps" shows up, but since we can draw on the screen we can just write the route onto our map, which is always helpful. We've got the occasional combat room which isn't THAT tricky, though given the controls it's always got a slight touch of danger on it. We've also got switches we need to do a spin attack to trigger all at once, which is always fun.

    On the second floor, we have those...I'm gonna call em mole blocks, but they're the red and blue pegs that go up or down depending on how the switch is set and they alternate, if red is up blue is down etc etc. They don't really show up MUCH in this dungeon, so it's not like it's a main theme of it's puzzles, it's just an additional thing it has sometimes. On the second floor we also encounter what is going to be the hardest enemy to count for the every lovely Wombat of Doom who counts all the defeated enemies, the Zols! What's interesting about Zols is that they're from aaancient Zelda games, before they used Chu's, and they acted like they do in this game too! Zols split into their smaller baby form, Gels, if hit, but other than being smaller there's no real difference between the two! Good luck Wombat! For beating these Zelda 1 throwbacks we obtain our first dungeon item, the Boomerang. The Boomerang is pretty cool in this, when you hold it out you have to draw a path for it to fly. That's cool, unfortunately it can't lock onto enemies at all except for very very specific cases. That's bad! That's REALLY bad actually, given I usually use the boomerang to...you know, hit enemies. Still, it's...possible to hit people with it. It's just tougher than normal. That being said, it IS primarily a puzzle interaction device, and it's versatility and variety really helps with that. Of course then they introduce enemies you need to hit with a boomerang before you can hurt them, the fire bubbles! They just...float around not even trying to hurt you, but still you must crush them.

    One last thing, we also find a gossip stone! Gossip Stones in dungeons are actually really useful. If you pay one, it shows you where the chests are on this floor of the dungeon. Not 100% required, but still very nice too have if you're not sure if you've completed things or not. I'll probably end up using this service eventually. But yeah, that'll be it for today! Hope you all enjoyed, next time we'll finish up the Fire Temple of Ember Isle. For now...good bye.

    ------

    A complete random aside since it happened while I was writing up the post: Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles Remastered is coming for the PS4 and Switch. I bring this up because I LPed it, and boy let me tell you what...I'm not LPing it again, but I'm probably definitely gonna buy it.


    Oh nooooooooooo! That one rupee on the island... I feel your pain.

    Isn't it nice to have the knowledge of the past?

    Ah! The fortune teller is now going to read our heroscope. Get it!?

    Okay, so the explosion of the falling rock in the candle blowing cut scene was pretty funny...

    XD I'm sorry we missed your shout of surprise.

    Hmmm, aren't there torches that shoot fire at you in other games? I forget if they had a name... Ah yes, Face Lamps. We saw them in Minish Cap

    Nice big dungeon. You managed to kill the exact number of enemies that you've killed over the course of the first couple episodes, doubling your count! +1 style point!




    EPISODE 3 KILL TALLY!
    Red Octorok - 7
    Red Chuchu - 10
    Blue Tektite - 6
    Takkuri - 3
    Yellow Chuchu - 9
    Red Tektite - 3
    Keese - 4
    Green Gels - 6
    Fire Bubble - 2
    Fire Keese - 3
    Rat - 1

    Style Points - 1

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




    Phantom Hourglass
    Total Kills
    (As of Episode 3)

    Spoiler
    Show

    Bubbles, Fire - 2
    Octoroks, Red - 7
    Rats - 8
    Ropes - 17
    Takkuri - 4

    Keese
    Keese - 15
    Keese, Fire - 3

    Tektites
    Tektites, Blue - 6
    Tektites, Red - 3

    Slimes
    Chuchus, Red - 28
    Chuchus, Yellow - 9
    Gels, Green - 6


    Total Things Dead - 108

    1st Place - Red Chuchus, at 28!
    2nd Place - Ropes, at 17!
    3rd Place - Keese, at 11!

    Total Style Points - 1

    Total Missed Rupees - 1
    Total Lost Rupees - 0
    Last edited by TheWombatOfDoom; 2018-10-12 at 08:13 AM.
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  24. - Top - End - #24
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    Default Re: Zodi Plays: The Legend of Zelda Phantom Hourglass (I asked for LESS water!)

    Oof. Broken microphone. That'll be murder in the sequel...

    I forgot how many mic things there were in PH.

    These things... red and blue pegs?

    I really do like the "go anywhere" aspect of the boomerang.
    The stars predict tomorrow you'll wake up, do a bunch of stuff, and then go back to sleep.~ That's your horoscope for today.

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    Default Re: Zodi Plays: The Legend of Zelda Phantom Hourglass (I asked for LESS water!)

    Quote Originally Posted by Dark Shadow View Post
    Oof. Broken microphone. That'll be murder in the sequel...

    I forgot how many mic things there were in PH.

    These things... red and blue pegs?

    I really do like the "go anywhere" aspect of the boomerang.
    Implying it's not murder otherwise. But as said, hell dimension is for later.

    The pegs are weird! It feels wrong to call them pegs when they're as large as a small child. Peg feels "small" to me.

    The boomerang really is great and is MOSTLY a justification for why the game controls the way it does. It'd be hard to do it any other way and have it be as free as it is.

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    Default Re: Zodi Plays: The Legend of Zelda Phantom Hourglass (I asked for LESS water!)

    The pegs are weird! It feels wrong to call them pegs when they're as large as a small child. Peg feels "small" to me.
    Perhaps bollards, then? Or palisades?

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    Default Re: Zodi Plays: The Legend of Zelda Phantom Hourglass (I asked for LESS water!)

    Quote Originally Posted by LaZodiac View Post
    Implying it's not murder otherwise. But as said, hell dimension is for later.
    Yes, that's fair. But it's more... I remember having story-mic issues progressing with a fully-working mic...

    The pegs are weird! It feels wrong to call them pegs when they're as large as a small child. Peg feels "small" to me.
    Quote Originally Posted by Aeson View Post
    Perhaps bollards, then? Or palisades?
    Or we just go with PEGS?

    The boomerang really is great and is MOSTLY a justification for why the game controls the way it does. It'd be hard to do it any other way and have it be as free as it is.
    I actually don't have much of a problem with the lack of lock-on for moving targets. It means you generally have to try and do more clever course-drawing (though, yes, it can get very frustrating), without a fire and forget method. The lock-on for stationary objects is just a nice indicator that "yep, you've drawn a right path". (This is, of course, barring logistical issues with trying to follow a path while still maintain a lock.)
    The stars predict tomorrow you'll wake up, do a bunch of stuff, and then go back to sleep.~ That's your horoscope for today.

    01001110011001010111001001100100

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    Default Re: Zodi Plays: The Legend of Zelda Phantom Hourglass (I asked for LESS water!)

    Hey...what if we...did a Zelda today. That'd be neat.

    Zodi Plays: The Legend of Zelda Phantom Hourglass [4] Blaaz

    Video Length: 20:13

    In today's exciting, if slightly shorter than average, episode of Phantom Hourglass, we continue onwards with the Fire Temple! Our first puzzle today involves hitting switches in a certain order. An order that is immediately told to us via a mural on the wall. Okay so it's not that complex a puzzle, but they're gonna get trickier! Also tricky; remembering to sweep over every subtitle in the editing program I use because oops, this one is wrong! And I had people watch these in advance and no one noticed! Thanks a bunch, friends! I was just gonna say something about oh noo enemies or whatever. Now I'm embarrassed. That aside there really isn't much LEFT to this dungeon. The final puzzle of it is realizing that...the boomerang can grab fire for whatever reason. It's a puzzle that's really only intuitive if you know that Zelda dungeons expect you to use the thing you got to interact with basically all of it, and otherwise makes no real sense.

    With that said and done, and a little bit of silliness involving how to get to the big chest aside, we finally have the boss key! Where we find another...really poor decision on the creators part. the Boss Key doesn't just go in our pocket like regular keys, we have to carry it manually throughout the dungeon. This is not super bad initially, but trust me this is going to be an issue later on. What's sad is that I don't HATE this idea, it just also feels like a really bad one overall. But with Boss Key in hand, we head to the final challenge of this dungeon.

    And what a challenge it is. The fiery wizard demon, Blaaz! Blaaz is an interesting first boss, splitting himself into three to start off the fight. He can shoot fireballs at us when in this form, but is otherwise harmless. The trick to beating him is noticing that, on the top screen, each Blaaz piece is marked by a horn, one to three. Boomerang them all together in that order and he'll return to his full self, stunned for a bit, letting you slash at him with your sword. In his regular form he can teleport around and summon meteors to fall on you, but little else. After awhile he'll split again, and you'll have to boomerang him again. This is a fun and interesting mechanic that makes use of the top screen in a cool way, but also has the problem of being hard to do because the boomerang follows your path exactly, and the Blaaz pieces can just shuffle around however you want. This doesn't feel BAD per say, but it can be frustrating if they keep on interrupting your perfect boomerang throw. One small leniency provided is that your boomerang actually targets Blaaz, instead of being left up to fate.

    With Blaaz dead and heart piece won, the Shrine of Power has been purified! And our reward is...another fairy friend! This one is read, and a male fairy, which is quite a rarity. Leaf, spirit of Power, has joined the party. What he actually DOES will be elaborated on later, but rest assured...he does DO things. This is one of the only Zelda games where the macguffins you find in each dungeon actually matter mechanically as well as flavorfully. We meet back up with Astrid, who tells us a bit about our quest. We're gonna need to find the spirit fairies of Courage, Wisdom, and Power if we're to stand a chance of defeating the Ghost Ship. As well, we're gonna need to buff our fairies up. Those mystery orbs we've been seeing around in shops are gems we can use to power up the appropriate fairy! Astrid doesn't actually tell us how to do that beyond giving us one, and of note I'm pretty sure you can get through the game entirely without upgrading them, but I forget. Astrid also tells us one other rather important thing...our next destination is Mercay Island. The Ocean King Temple calls out to us once more.

    It's time to go back to the island. We that dark knowledge in our minds, we head home Mercay. I take a brief look at ship customization but will look at and talk about that more later once we have more than one part and more than zero reasons to actually customize our ship. I'm also smart and buy a revive potion before returning to the Ocean King's Temple, just in case. We also buy a Zora Scale for Later. But finally, finally, we return to the Ocean King's Temple, wherein we learn the truth. We must delve ever deeper into the temple, we must explore it's depths. It is...the first dungeon, and the final dungeon. A massive mega-dungeon we'll need to explore. But how can we hope to do that when it tears at our very life? Well...it's time we meet the title namer. For killing Blaaz, we have been rewarded with S A N D, and with S A N D we can fill up that suspiciously hourglass shaped object at the entrance to the temple. With Oshus' guidance, we do so, and obtain the PHANTOM HOURGLASS, filled with Sands of Hours that we robbed from the corpse of a demon wizard. As long as we have sand, the hell dungeon won't kill us. And with that set up...join me next time for what will be the first of many return trips to the Ocean King's Temple. Many people consider this a bad mechanic. I...kinda do but kinda don't. We'll talk more about it later.

    Because trust me. We'll have time to talk about it. Hope you all enjoyed, I'll see you guys next time.

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    Default Re: Zodi Plays: The Legend of Zelda Phantom Hourglass (I asked for LESS water!)

    Yeah, I sincerely forgot about the candles and other mic stuff in PH. At least these ones aren't that finnicky. Or timing based. Whereas in the sequel... they're rather instrumental to progress. So may the Goddesses have mercy on your spirit there...

    Heh. Forgot about that clattering noise skulls make when jumping 'round on the floor. I've always found it funny.

    I really like it when the mechanics and stuff use the second screen of the DS creatively. This game has a lot of good mechanics for that. The drawable map (that doesn't require you to keep flipping back and forth between seeing the map and everything else), stuff like this...

    Red fairy named Leaf? ...yep, I approve. And now want syrup.

    (Also, as an aside, I notice there seems to be a cursor on your top screen. From the capturing?)

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    Default Re: Zodi Plays: The Legend of Zelda Phantom Hourglass (I asked for LESS water!)

    Quote Originally Posted by DataNinja View Post
    Yeah, I sincerely forgot about the candles and other mic stuff in PH. At least these ones aren't that finnicky. Or timing based. Whereas in the sequel... they're rather instrumental to progress. So may the Goddesses have mercy on your spirit there...

    Heh. Forgot about that clattering noise skulls make when jumping 'round on the floor. I've always found it funny.

    I really like it when the mechanics and stuff use the second screen of the DS creatively. This game has a lot of good mechanics for that. The drawable map (that doesn't require you to keep flipping back and forth between seeing the map and everything else), stuff like this...

    Red fairy named Leaf? ...yep, I approve. And now want syrup.

    (Also, as an aside, I notice there seems to be a cursor on your top screen. From the capturing?)
    That's been there since I think video 1 and I swear to god I made sure it's not in the rest of them! I'm so embarrassed!

    Skulls make the best noises.

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