“Did You Get All That?” Weekly News Recap

Welcome back to my weekly installment here at Zelda Dungeon where I, Kaepora Gaebora the friendliest of all owls, take you through all the happenings in the land of Hyrule and beyond from the past week. This week we will be revisiting our Exclusive backstage look at the Zelda Symphony, new images of the Majora’s Mask Link Nendoroid, and your most talked about articles. If you missed any of these posts or want to check out what your fellow readers are commenting on then join me past the break, but first I must ask…

Did you get all that? If so, jump in past the break.

This week we begin our journey back in time with the Zelda Dungeon Exclusive, backstage at the Zelda Symphony in Orlando, Fl. We were invited backstage for the dress rehearsal of the performance at the Dr. Phillips center for an inside look of what it takes to put on this spectacular show. From the amazing people we met to the fantastic music that was played, the night was spectacular. This article is just the beginning of a three part series so stay tuned for two more installments!

If you missed the article, you can check it out here.

Our next stop today takes us to the latest images from Good Smile Company of the Majora’s Mask Link Nendoroid. This little cutie comes with so many goodies, over 9 different accessories, not to mention the multiple faces and display stand! I might be slightly biased as I have a small obsession with Nendoroids but I think he looks fantastic, although the Wind Waker Link is pretty spectacular as well. This Link launches in January 2016 and is already available for pre-order, there is even a special offer at Tokyo Otaku Mode.

Check out all of the new images here.

The third moment in time we will be revising come from the ZD Talks of the week, where Josh asked the question: What elements from a past game would you like to see in Zelda U? The team had many different opinions on what they would like to see return, from classic elements of past games to a new companion, and even the return of the use of instruments. Many of you also had varying opinions on the matter but there was on that was insanely in depth and was organized by game!

Nadaph had this to say:

-Wind Waker: Element Arrows (implementation, N64 games were horrible at this), Simple yet complex combat, various collectibles, HD: Hero mode is togglable and second quest is separate
-Twilight Princess: Different Equips, I actually use the Ordon Sword more because fights actually last unlike the Master Sword which only takes a few hits (sometimes one) to kill anything, maybe the combat system with learnable skills?, I prefer WW but I liked learning the skills, lantern and oil (and that it’s useful and almost required at night).
-A Link Between Worlds: Renting items or an actual penalty on death, not the drawing/painting feature
-Majora’s Mask: Not mask, that was Majora’s Mask’s thing, but the bomber’s notebook but more flushed out. Let us track our collectibles. Hyrule has paper and writing utensils, replayability of dungeons
-Ocarina of Time: The instrument has relevance (actually more so throughout the game) 3D: Boss fight replayability
-Skyward Sword: Motion controls and Right handed Link as options. As options. AS OPTIONS. Just wanted to make that clear, the novelty is fun, but not everyone like this, great reason for wearing the green tunic (Minish Cap did this, but it was just for Link’s hat, Skyward Sword that was the trainees uniform, not like TP “Hey your ancestor wore this,” WW did this too, and it was pretty good until you thought that Link could have changed his clothes since he was going to rescue his sister, Skyward Sword they had practical use. WW it was just a costume and there was no reason to keep it (love you WW, but really?)), adventure pouch
-Phantom Hourglass: Puzzles unique to the system (Like the Temple of the Ocean king where you had to close your DS to get the impression on you map
-Spirit Tracks: Zelda being your companion or better yet having motivation to save her (was in Skyward Sword, but it lost it’s “umph” as the game dragged on, it never seemed like Zelda wanted to be with you when Impa dragged her away, so the reunion wasn’t “finally” it was “I’m done now, take me home”)
-Four Swords: Co-op? I would like to see a fantastic single player game, but I want to be able to explore the world with my friends and have stuff to do
-Zelda II- Difficulty (Not incredibly hard, but I want a fight not to be artificially hard, but something that I need skill as a player to win)
-Zelda I: Choices and challenges (hard which I’d like to return to be pretty brutal, but not necessarily needing the sword or to upgrade it, potions vs heart containers)
-A Link to the Past: Ganon succeeds. Entirely. Not like “my power is back” or OoT just Hyrule Castle was effected, but the entire Dark World which was the sacred realm was effected.
-Many games: Magic

To see the other comments, or share you own thoughts, check out the original article here.

Our last stop on the adventure this week is the ZD Top that stumped them all. This week we asked the team at ZD to list out their Top 5 Puzzles from the Zelda series and boy was that a difficult task! Many of you agreed and some even took it all the way back to the beginning with a reminder about the game that started it all!

Adam Crump said:

“Has everybody forgotten about the entire first Zelda game? The whole game was a puzzle. It would have been easier with some hints along the way. ( That old man in the cave doesn’t count)”

Some of you might not have been able to nail down a specific Top 5 but brought up some pretty great points.

Shane said:

“I really like dungeons that feel like puzzles themselves. That being temples like the Water Temple, Great Bay Temple, Sky Keep, etc. Manipulating entire layouts is always an ingredient to a good puzzle and dungeon. I also like puzzles where you use the environment to your advantage, such as how in Ocarina of Time you can’t access certain parts as child or adult, changing seasons or changing the age in the Oracle series, wall merging in A Link Between Worlds, etc. I also love ice cube block puzzles as they get the brain going. Any puzzle that’s creative and original, and gets the brain going is good in my books.

Also puzzles like Lost Woods in Ocarina of Time are good for the immersion. Instead of solving this with your eyes, you are listening to the volume of Saria’s song. I also love puzzles that make items have more uses in one. Hate me if you will for mentioning this title but the grappling hook in Phantom Hourglass was a key example of a good item. It had multiple uses, made puzzles engaging and I wish more items were like this.”

To see the rest of the discussion or the original post, check it out here.

Once again we have come to the end of another installment of our weekly news recap. I thank you for accompanying me on this weeks jaunt back in time, and I look forward to my return next week. Before I bid you farewell, I must ask…

Did you get all that?