S
Scotts897
Guest
I have been playing "A Link to the Past" a lot recently and I have searched for topics about what I am interested in and didn't see much about the topic.
In any case, I watched somebody on youtube do a speed run on the game and it was there that I learned that I could sequence break! After two play thrus of the game, I thought that the Blue Mail came way too late into the game along with the 4th bottle and the tempered sword. So, after seeing that one could do the Thieves' Town dungeon early, it changed the whole game for me.
While browsing these forums, I have noticed that many people think that "A Link to the Past" is hard. After using this website to learn how to easily get through the original Zelda game on the NES, it was clear that the original design philosophy of Zelda is that Link's power comes from exploring and clearing dungeons. Not to mention the non-linear design format. Link carries an arsenal of tools to clear dungeons and with the knowledge of how to use them properly, a dungeon is easy. I beat the original LoZ using this site's guide in one sitting and found myself amazed that I just facerolled the entire game simply because I was armed with the strategies. I started the second quest but I got bored and didn't finish but it was designed to be hard for even the smartest players due to having to explore the graveyard area early to get a heart and not being able to get the sword upgrades, hearts, and the bow early. When I was young, I didn't know how to find all the rupee and heart locations early on and didn't get the blue ring until much later so the game was that much harder! Until recently, I always thought that Zelda had too many puzzles and not enough focus on improving your character. But you do "level up" thru beating dungeons bosses by getting a heart. Exploring the world gets you more hearts. Socializing about Miyamoto's great game with friends may reveal more secrets you didn't know about. So what it comes down to is strategy, exploration, and proper planning when dealing with a Zelda game.
In any case, I discovered that "A Link to the Past" takes this concept much deeper. It has a lot of items and many of them I used to consider mostly worthless. But I have played thru the game several times now from start to end this month. The first part of the game in the light world is fairly easy. The 3 dungeons with the pendants didn't have any serious puzzles but rather acted as training exercises. You can find 11 pieces of heart during this phase of the game (you'll get the 12th one on the pyramid of power) and if you put any effort into exploring, you will find the flippers and the ice rod. More careful observation reveals that you can upgrade the boomerang and the shield immediately after you get the flippers. But one doesn't know that immediately so a new player won't get the mid level shield until finding it in a shop later on in the Dark World. So the game is designed to be hard for new people and gets easier the more one learns about the "garden" Miyamoto wanted us to explore!
In the Dark World, the difficulty shoots up in both the puzzles and the enemies. After the first dungeon where you get the hammer, your map will then show where all the dungeons are and will number them 2-7. But, you don't have to do them in that order! In fact, it's not even ideal to do them in that order! I want to talk about this concept here because I think it's great!
At first glace, it appears that you need the hook-shot to reach the graveyard, skull woods, and the village of outcasts in the Dark World. But there is one spot in the game that is kinda hidden that changes that. If in the Light World, you exit the Lost Woods to the south in the right spot, you can use the hammer to unlock a passage to the Dark World. From there, you can go straight to Thieves' Town and beat what is probably the easiest dungeon in the Dark World. One trick I used to beat blind the thief is activating the Cane of Byrna after I kill the first head and then I can proceed to faceroll him down while ignoring all the stuff flying around.
With the Titan's Mitt, I can then get the Tempered Sword, the 4th Bottle, and can pretty much get nearly all the pieces of heart in the game as this point. This of course makes the next dungeons even easier! Also, not everyone knows the strategies of using magic powder to turn the Anti-Fairies and the starry thing that turns you into a bunny into a fairies. Doing this easily keeps you healed up! Then there is the strategy of freezing enemies and using the hammer to refill your magic meter up! Many people that complain about the difficulty probably aren't doing these things.
I am trying to figure out the best optimization at this point. I think doing the Swamp Palace next is the best way to go. You can get the Blue Mail without the fire rod and the Hook-Shot but it is much easier with the Hook-Shot. The Swamp Palace is not really that hard so I think doing it third is the best option. Then, with Bombos, you can get into the Ice Palace and can get far enough in to get the Blue Mail. Then, I am still working on my strategy here but I usually come back later with the Fire Rod and the Cane of Somaria even though I could beat it without it.
Then, Misery Mire is next. The Cane of Somaria has a lot of uses and it's a shame you get it so late. Misery Mire isn't too hard if you know where to go. And the boss, I just like to use the cape and walk to the side of the boss as close as I can and chop away! Once again, seemingly useless items like the Cape and the Cane of Byrna actually have situations that can make a difficult fight much easier! Then it's off to Skull Woods! With knowledge on where to go and wise use of magic management, this place is cake! The Blue Mail and the Tempered Sword already makes the Gibdos that much easier to deal with! I always keep potions on me because I will otherwise get maxed at 999 rupees and if late in the game I will have too much money to burn so all my potions will be blue potions. So magic should not be an issue on the fight with Mothula.
Then the Ice Palace. We already got the master key so this place will be easy. The Cane of Somaria opens a shortcut. And against the boss, the use of Bombos to break the ice is much more mana efficient. Be sure to get the upgrades to the Sword and the Bow in the Pyramid of Power after 6 dungeons. Then, to do Turtle Rock, you have to have both the Cane of Somaria and the Fire Rod to even attempt this place. Once again, with proper preparation and knowledge of where to go, this place is easy as well! At this point, you are armed to the teeth! You should have 18 hearts and will have 20 by the end of this dungeon!
And then, on the way to Ganon's Tower, you will meet Lynel's but you have your mirror shield to protect you from their projectiles. Ganon's Tower basically serves as a test to see if you have learned enough to win this game! The Red Mail seems to serve mostly as a tool to make the Ganon fight easier.
I like this game because of it's non-linearity format that is especially true at the Dark World phase of the game! I plan to make a youtube LP series on this game and I already made my first video, but I want to be much closer to perfection in terms of optimization before I go much further. This is my channel if anyone is interested http://www.youtube.com/user/Scott89878?feature=mhum#p/a . I have previously done LPs of Super Metroid and Secret of Mana, which are both games inspired by the Zelda Series. Those are both games where I have done similar things to optimize game play for quicker runs and fast enjoyment of content. I am annoyed that I barely got any of views on my Secret of Mana LP but I think a popular game like Zelda will bring in more people.
In any case, I want to know if others have come up with optimal tricks to get thru this game. I want to know how others do sequence breaking. Or, just any general thoughts on the design philosophy of this game. I don't like 3d Zelda games that much because they are too puzzle focused, too linear, and not enough focus on general game play. I see this game and Link's Awakening as the golden games of the series.
In any case, I watched somebody on youtube do a speed run on the game and it was there that I learned that I could sequence break! After two play thrus of the game, I thought that the Blue Mail came way too late into the game along with the 4th bottle and the tempered sword. So, after seeing that one could do the Thieves' Town dungeon early, it changed the whole game for me.
While browsing these forums, I have noticed that many people think that "A Link to the Past" is hard. After using this website to learn how to easily get through the original Zelda game on the NES, it was clear that the original design philosophy of Zelda is that Link's power comes from exploring and clearing dungeons. Not to mention the non-linear design format. Link carries an arsenal of tools to clear dungeons and with the knowledge of how to use them properly, a dungeon is easy. I beat the original LoZ using this site's guide in one sitting and found myself amazed that I just facerolled the entire game simply because I was armed with the strategies. I started the second quest but I got bored and didn't finish but it was designed to be hard for even the smartest players due to having to explore the graveyard area early to get a heart and not being able to get the sword upgrades, hearts, and the bow early. When I was young, I didn't know how to find all the rupee and heart locations early on and didn't get the blue ring until much later so the game was that much harder! Until recently, I always thought that Zelda had too many puzzles and not enough focus on improving your character. But you do "level up" thru beating dungeons bosses by getting a heart. Exploring the world gets you more hearts. Socializing about Miyamoto's great game with friends may reveal more secrets you didn't know about. So what it comes down to is strategy, exploration, and proper planning when dealing with a Zelda game.
In any case, I discovered that "A Link to the Past" takes this concept much deeper. It has a lot of items and many of them I used to consider mostly worthless. But I have played thru the game several times now from start to end this month. The first part of the game in the light world is fairly easy. The 3 dungeons with the pendants didn't have any serious puzzles but rather acted as training exercises. You can find 11 pieces of heart during this phase of the game (you'll get the 12th one on the pyramid of power) and if you put any effort into exploring, you will find the flippers and the ice rod. More careful observation reveals that you can upgrade the boomerang and the shield immediately after you get the flippers. But one doesn't know that immediately so a new player won't get the mid level shield until finding it in a shop later on in the Dark World. So the game is designed to be hard for new people and gets easier the more one learns about the "garden" Miyamoto wanted us to explore!
In the Dark World, the difficulty shoots up in both the puzzles and the enemies. After the first dungeon where you get the hammer, your map will then show where all the dungeons are and will number them 2-7. But, you don't have to do them in that order! In fact, it's not even ideal to do them in that order! I want to talk about this concept here because I think it's great!
At first glace, it appears that you need the hook-shot to reach the graveyard, skull woods, and the village of outcasts in the Dark World. But there is one spot in the game that is kinda hidden that changes that. If in the Light World, you exit the Lost Woods to the south in the right spot, you can use the hammer to unlock a passage to the Dark World. From there, you can go straight to Thieves' Town and beat what is probably the easiest dungeon in the Dark World. One trick I used to beat blind the thief is activating the Cane of Byrna after I kill the first head and then I can proceed to faceroll him down while ignoring all the stuff flying around.
With the Titan's Mitt, I can then get the Tempered Sword, the 4th Bottle, and can pretty much get nearly all the pieces of heart in the game as this point. This of course makes the next dungeons even easier! Also, not everyone knows the strategies of using magic powder to turn the Anti-Fairies and the starry thing that turns you into a bunny into a fairies. Doing this easily keeps you healed up! Then there is the strategy of freezing enemies and using the hammer to refill your magic meter up! Many people that complain about the difficulty probably aren't doing these things.
I am trying to figure out the best optimization at this point. I think doing the Swamp Palace next is the best way to go. You can get the Blue Mail without the fire rod and the Hook-Shot but it is much easier with the Hook-Shot. The Swamp Palace is not really that hard so I think doing it third is the best option. Then, with Bombos, you can get into the Ice Palace and can get far enough in to get the Blue Mail. Then, I am still working on my strategy here but I usually come back later with the Fire Rod and the Cane of Somaria even though I could beat it without it.
Then, Misery Mire is next. The Cane of Somaria has a lot of uses and it's a shame you get it so late. Misery Mire isn't too hard if you know where to go. And the boss, I just like to use the cape and walk to the side of the boss as close as I can and chop away! Once again, seemingly useless items like the Cape and the Cane of Byrna actually have situations that can make a difficult fight much easier! Then it's off to Skull Woods! With knowledge on where to go and wise use of magic management, this place is cake! The Blue Mail and the Tempered Sword already makes the Gibdos that much easier to deal with! I always keep potions on me because I will otherwise get maxed at 999 rupees and if late in the game I will have too much money to burn so all my potions will be blue potions. So magic should not be an issue on the fight with Mothula.
Then the Ice Palace. We already got the master key so this place will be easy. The Cane of Somaria opens a shortcut. And against the boss, the use of Bombos to break the ice is much more mana efficient. Be sure to get the upgrades to the Sword and the Bow in the Pyramid of Power after 6 dungeons. Then, to do Turtle Rock, you have to have both the Cane of Somaria and the Fire Rod to even attempt this place. Once again, with proper preparation and knowledge of where to go, this place is easy as well! At this point, you are armed to the teeth! You should have 18 hearts and will have 20 by the end of this dungeon!
And then, on the way to Ganon's Tower, you will meet Lynel's but you have your mirror shield to protect you from their projectiles. Ganon's Tower basically serves as a test to see if you have learned enough to win this game! The Red Mail seems to serve mostly as a tool to make the Ganon fight easier.
I like this game because of it's non-linearity format that is especially true at the Dark World phase of the game! I plan to make a youtube LP series on this game and I already made my first video, but I want to be much closer to perfection in terms of optimization before I go much further. This is my channel if anyone is interested http://www.youtube.com/user/Scott89878?feature=mhum#p/a . I have previously done LPs of Super Metroid and Secret of Mana, which are both games inspired by the Zelda Series. Those are both games where I have done similar things to optimize game play for quicker runs and fast enjoyment of content. I am annoyed that I barely got any of views on my Secret of Mana LP but I think a popular game like Zelda will bring in more people.
In any case, I want to know if others have come up with optimal tricks to get thru this game. I want to know how others do sequence breaking. Or, just any general thoughts on the design philosophy of this game. I don't like 3d Zelda games that much because they are too puzzle focused, too linear, and not enough focus on general game play. I see this game and Link's Awakening as the golden games of the series.
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