Oracle Of Seasons/Ages Blood on the Dance Floor

Shadsie · Jul 24, 2013

I've actually played the Oracles games a few times on my GBA, but I'm replaying Ages currently on my 3DS...

I just got to what is possibly my most hated mini-game that is NOT Roll-Goal. (Seriously, nothing will ever be as frustrating as Roll-Goal. Roll-Goal, as far as I'm concerned, can be burned to the ground, be stripped of skin, have salt poured on the wounds and then get hit by a truck... if mini-games were characters). However, I really, really do hate...

The Goron Dance Hall game.

ARGH! What ups it on frustration-levels is the fact that it's required. It's a part-of-the-main-quest puzzle. Unless you complete it an earn the respect of the Gorons, YOU SHALL NOT PASS (onto the next dungeon). What really ups the frustration levels is that you not only have to hit the buttons in correct sequence, you have to do it with just the right timing.

I have actually encountered a button-hitter puzzle in gaming that's more frustrating... (The "enter the code within 10 seconds and the code changes every time" part of the Deux ex Machina dungeon of Wild ARMS 3 is *why I never finished playing Wild ARMS 3 ). But still, the Goron Dance Hall in LoZ: Oracle of Ages is FRIGGING ANNOYING.

Does anyone else have trouble with it?

I was playing with it today and I was thinking "Oh, I wish Link would be un-heroic for once and just rob the Goron Elder of his Goron bond of friendship token thingy!" ) -- I honestly cannot guarantee that I wouldn't do that if giving such a frustrating task on a world-saving quest in real life. "Dude, I'm trying to save the whole entire friggin' world here! I WILL NOT BE MICHEAL FLATELY for you!" )

Yet, I will keep at it, for I know that with great patience, I have completed this mini-game before. After making the damn Goron a millionaire in my rupees.

Wolf Sage · Jul 24, 2013

I still have yet to play the Oracle games, but your frustration seems all too familiar, save for the fact that my ire sprang from Skyward Sword. In it, there was the dreaded "training session" known as the Spiral Charge. Completely mandatory. (Sigh.) Had to have taken me at least 5 hours or so (100+ tries) to conquer that grueling challenge. If I had anger problems, I probably would have broken my Wii in half. So yeah, while I've never attempted the "Goron Dance Hall" mini-game, I can definitely relate... :j

Ventus · Jul 24, 2013

The Goron Dance Hall minigame is ridonkulous. That is to say, it's just hell. But the forced version isn't nearly as bad as the Gold version. It wants you to do button presses *as well as* timing with the beat. Seasons has the Subrosian Dance Hall, but it isn't nearly as bad as GDH. :/

I definitely relate. And BECAUSE the GDH is so annoying, I use save states (3DS version) all of the time.

Tatl Tael Link · Jul 24, 2013

I gotta say, I found the Goron Dance Hall a lot easier after picking the game back up after 7 years of being a musician. It's all about timing, and what's timing but rhythm. As a percussionist I found it relatively easy. THAT IS UNTIL I HAD TO DO IT FOR REAL AND THE ITEM I NEEDED WAS ON THE LINE. MY LORD I HAVE NEVER RAGEQUIT SOMETHING SO MANY TIMES. But if you think the Goron Dance Hall is tough, try the Subrosian Dance Hall. JESUS Christ that place is confusing. Especially because the keys you press (< and >) don't necessarily match what Link is doing on the screen, which only proves to confuse and irritate me to no end. But it's still not as bad the Tiki Nut restoration ritual. Dear LORD I must have done that at least 5 times on my re-run. The first time playing through that when I was 7, I must have been on that part for like a week.

Shadsie · Jul 25, 2013

Ventus said:
The Goron Dance Hall minigame is ridonkulous. That is to say, it's just hell. But the forced version isn't nearly as bad as the Gold version. It wants you to do button presses *as well as* timing with the beat. Seasons has the Subrosian Dance Hall, but it isn't nearly as bad as GDH. :/

I definitely relate. And BECAUSE the GDH is so annoying, I use save states (3DS version) all of the time.

Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait....

You can use the touch screen save points on that game? As in, if I get a couple of the sets right, I can just save point and load so I don't have to do the entire sequence over again? Really?

Oh, bless you! This may make getting past that bear of a puzzle quite a bit easier.

As for the rest of it... I'm a visual artist, not a musician. In fact, I'm probably pretty damn tone-deaf. Don't ask me to sing for you, ever. I remember having a trick when playing the GBA version of not looking at the screen - closing my eyes and listening for tones only, not looking at the moves. I tried that tonight and it didn't help much, but, then, I'd been playing the game for a while (defeated a dungeon boss and found the dance hall) so I didn't want to bother with the mini game too much. It was like "Augh, this game that I've been dreading... isn't Futurama on? I'm a gonna go watch that" ).

HyruleHistory10 · Jul 25, 2013

Tatl Tael Link said:
I gotta say, I found the Goron Dance Hall a lot easier after picking the game back up after 7 years of being a musician. It's all about timing, and what's timing but rhythm. As a percussionist I found it relatively easy. THAT IS UNTIL I HAD TO DO IT FOR REAL AND THE ITEM I NEEDED WAS ON THE LINE. MY LORD I HAVE NEVER RAGEQUIT SOMETHING SO MANY TIMES. But if you think the Goron Dance Hall is tough, try the Subrosian Dance Hall. JESUS Christ that place is confusing. Especially because the keys you press (< and >) don't necessarily match what Link is doing on the screen, which only proves to confuse and irritate me to no end. But it's still not as bad the Tiki Nut restoration ritual. Dear LORD I must have done that at least 5 times on my re-run. The first time playing through that when I was 7, I must have been on that part for like a week.

I agree that it is annoying but I also have to agree that being a musician I am better with timing so that also made it easier to be.

And is the title a butcher babies reference because if it was it was cleverly played but if not nice title lol