Drawring

This is my first drawing with my new Pen Tablet for my computer.  Expect more to come that are even more awesome.

The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap

COLLECT ALL THE THINGZ!

So.

Much.

Collecting.

It wasn’t terrible.  It was just a little too tedious.  Why would I fuse Kinstones with you to open a path to fuse Kinstones with someone else to open a path to a chest that has - guess what?  Another Kinstone in it.  There’s a certain point in time that redundancy sets in and I just say “Screw it, no more collecting Kinstones – Ima go collect some shellz instead that don’t do anything either!”

Other than the monotonous collecting, The Minish Cap was actually a pretty excellent game.  Coming from someone whose only handheld Zelda experience was with Link’s Awakening, this was an excellent step forward for me.  The story and music were engaging, and the fighting was fun yet challenging.

Let’s start with the story:

The Minish Cap was supposed to be the “First” Zelda game (in chronological order), but Skyward Sword went and screwed that up.  That being said, there are a lot of plots explained.  For instance – Why does link wear that silly green cap, which is not part of normal tunic attire?  Well, I'm sure everyone would have guessed it’s because of a miniature magician man that was turned into a talking [nagging] green hat thing that Link just happened to “find” in the woods.  Also, true to Zelda games, Link is this punk kid that sleeps too late that just so happens to be best friends with princess.  Very convenient. 

ManBirdHat is not happy with Link.

This installment also does not feature Ganon as the antagonist, but Vaati, the Mini Magician's former pupil who stole the Minish Cap and used its power for evil.  Of course he used the power for evil.  What else do people use immense power for?  It’s not an incredibly complex story, but there is actual character development in the NPCs.  I personally enjoyed all of the Minish.  Their sole goal in life is to make humans happy.  Why?  Well, no one questions why.  They just do it. [I want a Minish.]  I give the story 8/10.

Music:

The music was good.  That’s all I can really say.  I wasn’t as immersed in the music of The Minish Cap as I was for most other Zelda games.  Frankly, I can’t remember most of it.  The overworld theme is recycled from a great many other Zelda games, and there is homage to other popular themes (I think I heard some Link’s Awakening in there).  I give the music 5/10.

Gameplay:

I absolutely love the gameplay of every Zelda game, and this one did not let me down.  All of the controls were fluid; the items were familiar, but unique (I loved the sucker/blower item); the bosses were fun but hard.  All-in-all, a great game in the gameplay aspect.  One of my goals in a Zelda game is to see how far I can get in the game before I have to use a guide.  It was somewhere around the 3^rd dungeon this time, which is, in my opinion, the perfect blend of complex, yet not overly complex.  Also, the complete time was short enough to not be boring, yet long enough to develop a plot.  Roughly 15-20 hours.

In every Zelda game, there is the aspect of "Collecting."  The Minish Cap takes it a little overboard.  When I first got a Kinstone I thought "What's this?" and disregarded it.  When I first got Mysterious Shells, I about flipped out!  Yes!  A carry over from Link's Awakening!  Sadness swept over when I realized the Mysterious Shells were completely pointless, and the Kinstones were important.  The collecting was fun at times, but mostly just tedious, as they typically didn't serve any purpose in the story or gameplay.

One thing I want to particularly focus on is the boss battle gameplay.  I absolutely LOVED the bosses in Minish Cap.  Most particularly, the final boss.  It took me a couple tries, but I finally defeated Vaati.  Obviously, the castle decides it should fall apart – okay, an “escape the castle with the princess” scene.  So I run out with 3 hearts left… 

...I’m so dense sometimes… 

There is, of course, a second form of Vaati.  After not knowing how to hurt him, I die immediately.  So I do it again!  Get to final boss form 2, and I finally figure out how to HURT the guy when I have 3 hearts left this time.  I obviously die.  The next time, I’m ready – he’s going down.  It’s such a great feeling beating the game for the first time with ½ heart left.  It’s some crazy sort of accomplishment to know that it came down to the final blow (I’m a sap for dramatic gameplay scenarios).

I give the gameplay a 9/10.

I’m not rating replayability in any guide, because frankly - I’m lazy.  Too much Zelda, too little time.

Average rating: 7.3/10.  Very good. Very FUN.  Some music shortcomings, which really bothered me.  I love Zelda music, and it just wasn't innovative enough.  The story was above average for a handheld game, and the gameplay was incredibly fun (almost perfect).

The Zelda Challenge

Hello, and welcome to Hyrule.

This blog serves one main function - to chronicle my adventures with Link, the protagonist in the Legend of Zelda series.  As a New Year's resolution for 2012, I resolved to complete every Legend of Zelda game that has been created.

I have already completed a few games, but I have a great many to go.

The Legend of Zelda
Zelda II: The Adventure of Link
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages/Seasons
The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures
The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

Bold signifies that they have already been completed.

I am still considering whether or not to play the lesser-known "Link: Faces of Evil," "Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon," and "Zelda's Adventure."  These are licensed by Nintendo, but not really known as part of the Zelda franchise.

Another thing to note:
I am not going to include bonus versions of certain games.  Though I have beaten them, Link's Awakening DX and Ocarina of Time Master Quest are not included, as well as any other extra installment.

This task will be somewhat arduous, as there are several hundred hours of gameplay to still accomplish.  One major problem is that I currently do not have a Wii console, so playing Skyward Sword could prove to be tricky.  Let's hope that tax return is generous!

I'll create a new blog entry for each game that I beat that describes the game and what my thoughts are towards it.  At the end of the year, I will create a new blog entry that will summarize my adventure.

Bring it on, Hyrule!