Skyward Sword Dungeons: Earth Temple
Posted on May 08 2012 by Axle D. Wilder
In the last post I went over the Skyview Temple, talking about how it was a very traditional type of dungeon but with a thicker atmosphere and more detail put into the concept than ever before. In some ways the Earth Temple is a direct opposite: It’s quite unlike pretty much every other dungeon in the series, but its atmosphere isn’t nearly as thick.
In the past I’ve praised Skyward Sword for having some of the most unique and original dungeons in the series, and among those the Earth Temple is by far the most unique. Not in terms of setting or atmosphere so much as the gameplay; the Earth Temple is visually pretty similar to other fire dungeons throughout the series. There are definitely unique stylistic choices, including various eastern cultural elements like the asian dragon statues found all throughout the dungeon. Visually it looks great, just not wildly unique.
Like the Earth Temple in The Wind Waker, this dungeon does not involve much manipulation of raw earth and rock and instead focuses on diving into the earth itself. Unlike the Earth Temple from The Wind Waker, however, Skyward Sword’s Earth Temple does not involve delving into a tomb, but into the mountain itself. You dive straight down into the volcano, so most of the temple is built like a cavern filled with lava; you can tell that the stone structures and carvings are later additions, and like you’d expect from structures placed in and around lava, they are breaking down in numerous areas, giving it, once again, a ruined feeling. Like the Skyview Temple, this dungeon does not really innovate much in the concept area, but instead brings that concept to life. It doesn’t do this with the atmosphere (at least nowhere near as drastically as the Skyview Temple did) because they instead focused their energy into the level design.
If the dungeon looks familiar and unoriginal, it plays like something else entirely. The dungeon’s music complements this theme very well, actually. It starts off with a slow subdued intro with a roll of drums that, while distinct, isn’t of a wholly different nature than dungeon themes of previous games in the series. But then that ends, and suddenly the real theme picks up. Off the top of my head, I can think of no other dungeon in the entire series with a song that has such a fast tempo. The dungeon is unique even in its music, which deceptively starts off slowly. This fast tempo goes well with the gameplay of the dungeon (which I will address in a moment). This adds to the fact that the Earth Temple is made grand and unique through the way it plays, not the way it feels, making it almost a complete opposite of the Skyview Temple. While the first dungeon has a slow theme thick with atmosphere to complement its feel, the Earth Temple’s music instead has the fast tempo to bring the gameplay to life.
So many aspects of the dungeon design are shocking. It once again starts simple enough, but you don’t walk far at all before having to blow up a set of bombs with your Slingshot to reveal a giant rolling boulder, which you must use to navigate through the majority of the dungeon. This dungeon is based almost entirely around the rolling boulder, taking the idea of a central element or theme in the dungeon design to a new extreme. The boulder never reappears in the game; it is purely an element of the Earth Temple. Part of me wishes the boulder-rolling used the Wii Motion Plus, requiring you to point the Wiimote up and balance yourself on the ball like a similar section in Super Mario Galaxy, but I can see some very valid reasons for leaving this out (namely difficulty), and it’s still fun as it is.
You fight the miniboss almost immediately — directly after finding the boulder. It’s a simple battle against two Lizalfos — enemies you’ll fight again later in the dungeon — but it’s a cool introduction to the foe in an impressive arena with an excellent battle theme. The Bomg Bag is acquired and then used in conjunction with the boulder to navigate through the dungeon, going through lava pools and finding hidden pathways through the walls. Quickly you will discover the most unique thing about the dungeon: It has four rooms. Not counting the boss chamber, every area of the dungeon is considered part of one of four room on the map, and while you have to access some of those tunnels by blowing open a wall, they still are immediately connected without any doors after doing so. Couple this with the fact that most of the dungeon is spent navigating on the boulder and working your way through an obstacle course, culminating in numerous Stamina Meter-based runs up and down slopes — one of which is a set piece moment with a boulder chasing you — and this dungeon’s navigation is definitely unique for the Zelda series.
The dungeon’s boss is an original fight with the same idea: It takes place on a slope (though less steep) and has a lot of traditional Bomb use, but is combined with a lot of Stamina Meter running and also functions like an obstacle course, with you running away from Scaldera, dodging his fireballs, and avoiding him as he rolls down. The boss battle feels like an integrated part of the dungeon, and like the dungeon, is pretty unusual. The Earth Temple is a dungeon with a lot of fighting and a lot of running and dodging. It’s an obstacle course.
The Earth Temple was among the areas I anticipated the most before playing the game — reasons including previews of Scaldera and listening to its music ahead of time — and it really didn’t disappoint. The Earth Temple is among my favorite dungeons because of how unusual it is while simultaneously feeling familiar enough to be at home in the game and in the series. I love its music and its battle, especially Scaldera who, after Ghirahim, is my favorite boss of the game. But how do you feel about the dungeon? Do you feel it was as unusual and unique as I do, and do you agree with my assessment of its themes? Or is it a much simpler, much more boring and poorly-designed dungeon for you? Tell me in the comments, and you can look forward to the next Skyward Sword Dungeons post about Lanayru Mining Facility.
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