General Zelda 3 Heart Challenge Advice.

[Zurriel]

Hey guys, I have decided to try the 3 Heart Challenge on all the Zelda games. (Excluding the two Four Swords and DS games, don't have them sadly) And was just wondering if there was any rules, besides the obvious one. Also If you guy have any ideas or suggestion on how to make it harder or get/do something easier.

So far I am doing Wind Waker, Twilight Princess and Oracle of Seasons. After that I will do another 2 or 3 until I finish. So any help or advice is welcome.

P.S I am posting in the right place, correct?

 

[MW7]

This is the right place to post this. There's some interpretation when it comes to having bottled fairies. I've heard people say it still counts when you have four bottled fairies all the way down to it doesn't count unless you never put a fairy in a bottle. Personally I think each argument has its merits, and what I did in some cases was start off by using as many fairies as I wanted and then working down to not needing any (so I did multiple playthroughs). Wind Waker is a great starting place since I think it has the easiest combat of the series. Twilight Princess isn't as easy but it's not bad. Of the 3d games I would say Majora's Mask and Skyward Sword are the two most difficult. Of course several of the 2d games are absurdly hard, but some games can't even be completed as a 3 heart run (the only one off the top of my head is ALttP). For future reference in Ocarina of Time you can makes things much harder by going closer and closer to a minimalist run because there are lots of helpful items in that game that are optional like the Biggoron Sword or Hylian Shield. Majora's Mask is the same way with masks being helpful and mostly optional. For advice with Wind Waker just always try to fight as few enemies at a time as possible. For instance when you have to fight a bunch of enemies at once in a large room you can usually attract the attention of only one at a time and then defeat it and repeat. Using the parry can make most enemies very easy. Good luck!

 

[Zurriel]

Thanks, I just finished those games up there and am halfway done with OoT. Hopefully I will be done with all the game soon, though WW and TP were still way to easy. (At least for me anyway) But man, OoS was very hard, I have no idea how many times Onox killed me.

 

[ThrawnTheater]

How are things going on the OoT run? Game overs? Using bottles? I need to get the motivation to complete my current 3H run. On Ganon's Castle, using one bottle, with one death so far. Curious as to what someone else is doing.

 

[Zorth]

How are things going on the OoT run? Game overs? Using bottles? I need to get the motivation to complete my current 3H run. On Ganon's Castle, using one bottle, with one death so far. Curious as to what someone else is doing.

ever tried a minimalist run?
only do stuff that is necessary to progress forwards in the plot, means no hearts obviously, no optional items, upgrades, potions, fairies etc.

I challenge thee to complete every Zelda game in this way (you won't have to worry about not having anything to do on your holidays, that's for sure)

 

[ThrawnTheater]

ever tried a minimalist run?
only do stuff that is necessary to progress forwards in the plot, means no hearts obviously, no optional items, upgrades, potions, fairies etc.

Yes, but only LttP. 27 deaths. I am sorta working up to that on OoT. For example, I am using one bottle, used two last time, and plan not to use that bottle at all next time. On this run, I've skipped all upgrades, the Sun's Song, Nayru's Love, the Biggoron Sword, and haven't doubled my magic bar. I considered forgoing the Zora Tunic, but I decided I was already sacrificing enough, and decided to wait until next time. I'll probably consider going no shield next time as well.

As far as all of the games, I still haven't beat all of the Zelda games yet, so I need to do that first.

I am considering a TP 3 heart run, or a SS no shield run in the near future though.

 

[Ventus]

OoS Cursed Ring minimalist woot woot! Haven't done it but it's pretty daunting. Yeah it's a game of endurance but it's far more exciting than a regular minimalist run. It's like Dark License to Kill, where literally EVERY move counts.

As for 3HCs, I honestly find them more managable in 3D games than 2D games. The reasons are a) usually there's something you can do to stun enemies, e.g. Deku Nuts or something. b) more wiggle room c) 3D games are generally easier than 2D titles at least in Zelda.

 

[Hero of Time]

Don't die.

 

[The Jade Fist]

My views on potions/ farries in 3 heart runs. Is they are OK to use at the moment you get them. Such as if you go to town and buy a potion, drink it right there, think of it as Link renting a room to spend in the night in. If you get a fairy out of a jar you can use it for the heal at that moment (after all its only worth like 1 or 2 hearts to you anyways, and jars drops hearts) , but can't catch it in a bottle to revive you after dying.

You can do what ever you want with optional items. Skip or don't. But I avoid getting upgrades for quiver/ bomb bag/ magic meter. But I will still pick up like the lens of truth and all the magic spells and arrows.

 

[Zurriel]

ThrawnTheater I just did the water temple (Man, Dark link is fun to fight!) and would have the fire temple done, except the game crashed on me and I lost most of the temples progress.
But so far I have only use one bottle with fairy's, since this is only my seconded time playing the game. Though I do admit I grabbed a second one because I didn't want to go back and forth in the ice mini dungeon grabbing blue fire, but other than that I haven't used it yet.
Only two deaths so far. The 1st was because I wasn't paying attention to my health and got killed by something in the forest temple and the 2nd one because I didn't take off the Iron Boots fast enough in the water temple and I landed on the spikes

P.S I got Four Swords Adventures!!!!