Zodi Plays: The Legend of Zelda Spirit Tracks (Choo Choo Chosen One)

[LaZodiac]

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/508732197231132674/643341897477390346/Banner_for_Thread.png

And so we return to Hyrule. The Legend of Zelda Spirit Tracks is a game for the Nintendo DS, and is a direct sequel to our last Zelda game, Phantom Hourglass. The amount of... DIRECTNESS this implies is rather shocking. Sure it's one hundred years later, but everything's mostly the same. Only the smallest, tiniest changes, for good or ill, where introduced. All in all, the game is... fine, baring one specific mechanic that makes it unbelievably intolerable. But we'll talk about all THAT fun stuff later.

Updates will be, as usual, Monday and Friday. I hope you all enjoy, and are ready to have some fun train adventures!

Zodi Plays: The Legend of Zelda Spirit Tracks [1] All Aboard (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CxekyQaPXQ)

Video Length: 42:02

We start off our adventure with a lovely story, and news of our impending graduation from train conductor school, which is a thing I guess. Over seen by the princess Zelda, because of course why wouldn't it be. Of course once we're there we meet the delightfully small Chancellor Cole, and we also receive a message from Zelda asking us to meet her after the ceremony. Long story short, she obviously noticed all the evil, ominous stuff going on, and is going to go do something about it! We've been recruited to help, and one decently easy but still miserable stealth section later (yes, in video one) we head off towards the Spirit Tower... and proceed to have a bad time.

Suffice to say our adventure is off to a stellar start! Hope you all enjoyed, I'll see you all next time.

[DataNinja]

Well, well, well. This is several hours earlier than expected, but, all aboard! Really been looking forwards to this one given that, as I've mentioned before, this was my first Zelda, and the one I spent the most time with - down to the job of 100% completion (barring perhaps some of the train cosmetics I didn't care for). Certainly the one I remember best. But... we'll see how those rose-tinted glasses hold up, because there are at least a few glaring flaws I remember.

The title theme from this game (and, to a lesser extent, the train overworld) is one of my favorite songs in a video game. It's just... so fun, and holding promise of an adventure.

The opening means a lot more now, admittedly, now that I've seen other Zeldas, and know the references.

20 rupees can buy many peanuts.

I don't believe you ever actually need to go there, but that's the Boss Battle refight mechanism for this game.

So many chests, you even neglected to record two of them :smalltongue:
Granted, given that you can get precisely none of them now, that's not really a huge deal.
Also, I do remember one particular one in here being a pain to get.

Hey, don't blame the sins of the past postmen on the present one! (Even though the fact that he got confused of how it was done suggesting that it was only changed over recently, he's still new, meaning he didn't partake!)
Also, just in general, I feel like the DS games did comedy pretty decently. Even physical comedy with what model limitations they had.

And here we have Best Zelda.

Man, I just love that ominous sting showing his fangs. ...I question how he got vetted for the chancellor's position with those chompers, though. Zelda kinda sucks at hiring trusted advisors. :smallamused:

Zelda's Lullaby here... also very good song.

Cars? No... The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Trucks!

God, I forgot how stupid Cole's character was. It's hilarious. And, yes. Anyone with a giant metal magic gauntlet or whatever... A+. :smallamused:

Welp, princess dead. Game over. :smallwink:

While I remember, I will do what I can to record the accumulation of
Bunnies and Force Gems
that you receive. I think that everything else is fairly straightforwards, and while some others - one that I can recall in particular - may require backtracking, the aforementioned ones are the ones that's locations are probably... the most easily confuzzled around with.
...I like that confuzzled is recognized as a word. Confuzzled confuzzled confuzzled.

[PraetorDragoon]

Only one specific stupid mechanic? I can at least name two of them. :smalltongue:

[HalfTangible]

I've heard "good" things about this game.

Especially that tower.

Oh yes, so many """"""""""good"""""""""" things ._.

[LaZodiac]

Well, well, well. This is several hours earlier than expected, but, all aboard! Really been looking forwards to this one given that, as I've mentioned before, this was my first Zelda, and the one I spent the most time with - down to the job of 100% completion (barring perhaps some of the train cosmetics I didn't care for). Certainly the one I remember best. But... we'll see how those rose-tinted glasses hold up, because there are at least a few glaring flaws I remember.

The title theme from this game (and, to a lesser extent, the train overworld) is one of my favorite songs in a video game. It's just... so fun, and holding promise of an adventure.

The opening means a lot more now, admittedly, now that I've seen other Zeldas, and know the references.

20 rupees can buy many peanuts.

I don't believe you ever actually need to go there, but that's the Boss Battle refight mechanism for this game.

So many chests, you even neglected to record two of them :smalltongue:
Granted, given that you can get precisely none of them now, that's not really a huge deal.
Also, I do remember one particular one in here being a pain to get.

Hey, don't blame the sins of the past postmen on the present one! (Even though the fact that he got confused of how it was done suggesting that it was only changed over recently, he's still new, meaning he didn't partake!)
Also, just in general, I feel like the DS games did comedy pretty decently. Even physical comedy with what model limitations they had.

And here we have Best Zelda.

Man, I just love that ominous sting showing his fangs. ...I question how he got vetted for the chancellor's position with those chompers, though. Zelda kinda sucks at hiring trusted advisors. :smallamused:

Zelda's Lullaby here... also very good song.

Cars? No... The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Trucks!

God, I forgot how stupid Cole's character was. It's hilarious. And, yes. Anyone with a giant metal magic gauntlet or whatever... A+. :smallamused:

Welp, princess dead. Game over. :smallwink:

While I remember, I will do what I can to record the accumulation of
Bunnies and Force Gems
that you receive. I think that everything else is fairly straightforwards, and while some others - one that I can recall in particular - may require backtracking, the aforementioned ones are the ones that's locations are probably... the most easily confuzzled around with.
...I like that confuzzled is recognized as a word. Confuzzled confuzzled confuzzled.

In my defense it was nearly Today when I posted this.

I'm glad someone here knows the game 100% because depending on how it goes I may or may not need help with that.

As far as Zelda's go, I think in terms of actual on screen action, you're not wrong that this specific iteration is the best.

Cole and Byrne's designs are so good, on the opposite sides of the spectrum that is good character design.


Only one specific stupid mechanic? I can at least name two of them. :smalltongue:

We'll touch more on it when we get to it, but you're probably right. I'm just saying that for my own tastes, some stuff turned out to be less bad than others. I may also just not be remembering how bad the other one is.

[DataNinja]

I'm glad someone here knows the game 100% because depending on how it goes I may or may not need help with that.

I mean, I can guarantee you that I do not remember 100% about the game, given that it was a decade ago. Plus there are two specific instances near the end of the game that I can recall that I did have to break out the guide I borrowed from a friend for. So... yeah. I'm certainly not the best guide. :smallamused:


As far as Zelda's go, I think in terms of actual on screen action, you're not wrong that this specific iteration is the best.I mean, I enjoy this one in terms of overall personality, too. Not quite as regal as some others, not as spunky as Tetra, not a childhood friend-y as Skyward Sword, but... :smalltongue:

[Durkoala]

Alright, Spirit Tracks! I don't mind saying I'm pretty stoked, I love this game. Being from Britain, where trains are a common and popular sight, Zelda with trains was a winning formula. Also because I'm from Britain, the version of this game that I played was translated slightly differently, so I might talk about what differences there were between the versions


General thoughts:

Now I've seen Phantom Hourglass, I really appreciate how Old Nico's introduction to the history of New Hyrule is a callback to PH's opening.

I forgot how... layered a lot of the cutscenes are. A lot of them really emphasise the depth rather than having the characters just stand on the same plane and I like that.

Playing with the Train whistle is the best! Each engine you can buy also has a different whistle and it's really fun to use them all.

Castle town does have a lot of chests!This is the first time I've noticed that the lady in the western house has pictures of rabbits on her walls. It makes sense, considering her husband...

Don't diss the train postman!

I love how anti-Tetra Zelda just doesn't pay Cole any respect more than she has to. Every expression she makes at his interruptions basically says 'ugh, he's doing this again'.

No comment on how in Wind Waker the classic Link clothes were an old relic of the past and now they're the uniform for the army? That's another detail I like.

I never had a problem with the pipes. They're a little fiddly sometimes, but I never had any major problems. For me the really irritating mechanic was controlling Zelda. It's less of a problem later in the game, for Reasons, but the no-detection stealth segment here was a massive pain. The bosses where you have to control both Link and Phantom Zelda at the same time are even worse!

No, Tower, don't fall down! You're probably important. ...OK when I said don't fall down, I didn't mean do that.

To be fair, that's not the Demon King, that's just his car that Cole's driving around on official business.

Annnd it's now Zelda business as usual in Train Town. Good episode!

So, names in the translation. As far as I know, most of the actual dialogue is the same between the US and the european versions, but several places, bosses and characters have different names. With a few exceptions, I prefer the US names, as they're punchier or smarter, but I'll try and go through them all as they come up.

First, and one of the most obvious, is the name of Link's starting town! It's Aboda Village, a play on the word abode as this is where Link lives. In the Euro version, it's Outset Village, a callback to Outset Island in Wind Waker and reusing its theme of being the place where you start the game. I actually prefer Outset Village in this case, it's a nod to the continuity of the previous three games and also helps with the feeling that this is a new land founded by Tetra and Link. For once we get some proof that our efforts in previous games actually paid off!

Chancellor Cole remains Chancellor Cole in the Euro version too, but I'm bringing him up because he's the first of many characters to have a train-related pun, in his case, coal that steam trains burn for fuel. This leads, obviously, to Byrne, or burn... Except in Britain (Other countries in Europe give him their own names,some better than others (https://zelda.gamepedia.com/Byrne#Nomenclature).) where he's Staven, a cool word that doesn't seem to mean anything. However, the wiki claims that a source says it's based on Evening Star, the last steam locomotive built by British Rail. This fits Staven very well, for reasons that haven't been revealed yet, and keeps the theme going, so I like the European translation better again. Also, it's just a fun word to say. Staven.

[DataNinja]

Also, it's just a fun word to say.
Ah, excellent. A fellow fun word enthusiast. :smallwink:

[LaZodiac]

Staven likely comes from the wooden staves they used to keep the engine insulated and to help stop it from exploding. I think Byrne is a more fitting name personally, but that's 100% because Bynre with a Y is such an edge name and I mean, look at the guy. Because of the art style it looks like he has an entire mechanical arm attached to his wrist! It's hilariously over the top. I love it.

Outset Village over Adobe Village is definitely superior, yeah. Makes you think that this little beach is where Tetra and pals first made land fall.

[ShneekeyTheLost]

On the topic of formatting and slight desync of the two windows, from a mechanical and technical perspective...

On the actual game system, there are two windows, and there's a space between them. So the developers, being the clever little cookies that they are, take that space into consideration when things transition from one to the other, to give the illusion that the hinge between the windows is more like a window-bar covering up the area behind it and that things are going on 'behind' it. So if you want it to sync up, you're going to have to put a space between the two windows. Of course, this makes for less space on an already ridiculously narrow and tall GUI which is the exact opposite dimensional ratio that most wide-screen monitors used today. Basically, it's still in Portrait while everyone else is on Landscape.

The other solution is to just not care and put them side-to-side instead of top-and-bottom. This completely breaks the immersion the game is trying to create, but gives you a window dimension ratio far closer to a typical 16:9 monitor. Which means more of the screen can be actual game play and less devoted to the admittedly very cute background image. Downside is... well... completely breaks immersion since what is supposed to be on 'top' is now on the left.

Most DS and 3DS emulators give you the option as to how to lay out the windows, so I've played around with it a bit.

Anyways, hope that helps, or at least helps understand what is going on.

[LaZodiac]

On the topic of formatting and slight desync of the two windows, from a mechanical and technical perspective...

On the actual game system, there are two windows, and there's a space between them. So the developers, being the clever little cookies that they are, take that space into consideration when things transition from one to the other, to give the illusion that the hinge between the windows is more like a window-bar covering up the area behind it and that things are going on 'behind' it. So if you want it to sync up, you're going to have to put a space between the two windows. Of course, this makes for less space on an already ridiculously narrow and tall GUI which is the exact opposite dimensional ratio that most wide-screen monitors used today. Basically, it's still in Portrait while everyone else is on Landscape.

The other solution is to just not care and put them side-to-side instead of top-and-bottom. This completely breaks the immersion the game is trying to create, but gives you a window dimension ratio far closer to a typical 16:9 monitor. Which means more of the screen can be actual game play and less devoted to the admittedly very cute background image. Downside is... well... completely breaks immersion since what is supposed to be on 'top' is now on the left.

Most DS and 3DS emulators give you the option as to how to lay out the windows, so I've played around with it a bit.

Anyways, hope that helps, or at least helps understand what is going on.

I'm well aware of the specifics on what to do, it's just "do I want to do it" and "do I care enough" and honestly I think the answer is no. Making them side by side is just not tenable, it looks bad with this game. Making the screens farther apart and thus even smaller is just not workable either. So we'll ave to endure the disconnect.

The disconnect bugs me because Phantom Hourglass DOES NOT have this disconnect issue between the two screens. They look perfect together like this! One of the examples of how this game is both better and worse than Hourglass, in small ways.

Also I'm using a real 3DS, using a capture card that connects to a NDS viewer ap. One of the (now sadly out of business) katsukitty models.

[DataNinja]

The disconnect bugs me because Phantom Hourglass DOES NOT have this disconnect issue between the two screens. They look perfect together like this! One of the examples of how this game is both better and worse than Hourglass, in small ways.

What's 'better' about the screens definitely depends on the viewing, and also the context. If things actively switch between the top and bottom screens, acting like the space is there really helps judge things, I've found. But if it's just the occasional display thing, having them seamless isn't as much of an issue, and certainly looks better on the recording. Just my two cents, anyways. Not that we have those, anymore.

[Durkoala]

Obviously, you should have the screens together most of the time and drift apart when there's a double screen cutscene. It's the best of both worlds! Except the 'work for Zodi' world, but who cares about that?

[Toric]

I don't mind the cutscene dissonance with the screens together. It matches up close enough I can get the image the developers were going for.

Man how did I decide not to play this Zelda game!? I love that chancellor!

[DataNinja]

Man how did I decide not to play this Zelda game!? I love that chancellor!

I imagine that the lukewarm reception of the original game's touchscreen controls - which continued over - plus the temple of the ocean king, plus the fact that it's a much more 'linear' Zelda than traditional might have had something to do with it. I dunno. It was never something that particularly 'stood out' or anything, but I think it's a bit of a gem, even if it is rough in some areas.

[Ninja_Prawn]

That part where Byrne swats Link away reminded me of this, for some reason...

https://i.imgur.com/D6z0RZF.gif

[LaZodiac]

How about, more train zelda.

Zodi Plays: The Legend of Zelda Spirit Tracks [2] Full Metal Princess (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lquQ0kx_6qM)

Video Length: 36:23

In this episode, I attempt to make a fun little conversation about how Zelda's Butler's ranting about how we need to find Zelda to tell Zelda she's kidnapped is actually a hint towards the fact that we should hunt down that glowing sphere of light that came from her. As it turns out we get an explicit cutscene not five seconds later showing very clearly and concisely that actually no we don't need to do any thinking, just following the dead princess please. After some banter, we pick up a very nice and not bad at all flute and head off to the secret path that leads from the castle to the Spirit Tower.

The secret path isn't all that extensive. It features your bog standard Keese and Rats, but also introduces the new enemy Spinenuts! They're little goomba boys who somehow take two hits to kill if you don't jump attack them, and for some reason I cannot understand the jump attack just was NOT working for me on the day of recording. This is concerning. Other than that, it's the same puzzles we saw last time, almost literally, to teach you that drawing on the map screen is a very useful tool. All in all, not that bad.

Then we get some exposition from Anjean, one of the Lokomos (think train oriented sheikah) and we learn what we must do to defeat Malladus; fix the tower's segments by purifying the four shrines, then climb to the top to stop them from using Zelda's body as a meat suit for the demon king! Sounds simple enough, but as we enter the Spirit Tower we get the first of two frightening realizations in the game... this game has an Ocean King's Temple! Yes, that right, we have basically the exact same mechanic this time around! I don't think/recall there is a time limit this go around, but to make up for it they made the puzzles extra challenging. They also, however, introduced the BEST mechanic; Zelda can possess a stunned Phantom and become your controllable partner! This part is super cool, and is a fun inversion of the earlier stealth segment. Zelda can move fine, it's Link who has to sneak. I don't think this justifies having such an early stealth segment, but overall the end result is pretty cool I think. We get through the exactly one floor of puzzles to get our Rail Map, which is totally not a Sea Chart, and with that end the video on a high note.

So yeah. I hope you all enjoyed this one! I'll see you all next time for... the worst, if I'm remembering correctly. Take care.

[DataNinja]

"Why can't anyone hear me?" she asks, as she walks through a door. :smalltongue:

I just love the spirit flute theme version.

Ah, the dulcet non-tones of Future Zodi snark. How you were missed. :smallwink:

Anjean even seems to have picked up the family wink from Tetra. :smalltongue:

I just absolutely love this first scene in the tower. It establishes exactly why this is my favorite Zelda incarnation.

There's a bunch of funny Phantom lines. Like "YOU SEEM CUTE TODAY."

Good Phantom Zelda can enter the safe zones because she's not an evil being.

Gage is actually named after rail gauges (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Track_gauge), not pressure gauge.

***

Now... as for the Phantoms. I talked about this a bit at the end of the PH thread, in spoilers, but just... the existence of them is confusing here. In PH, it was implied that they were Bellum's creations (as shown by the eye at the back). Now... that doesn't really explain what they're doing here. Are there more Phamtoms elsewhere, guarding all the gods' stuff, and Bellum just created a dark mockery of them? Did the gods think "hey, yo, invincible guardian armour seems like a good idea, thanks, man." Or what?

Like... it's not a huge deal, but it is a little egregious.

[LaZodiac]

"Why can't anyone hear me?" she asks, as she walks through a door. :smalltongue:

I just love the spirit flute theme version.

Ah, the dulcet non-tones of Future Zodi snark. How you were missed. :smallwink:

Anjean even seems to have picked up the family wink from Tetra. :smalltongue:

I just absolutely love this first scene in the tower. It establishes exactly why this is my favorite Zelda incarnation.

There's a bunch of funny Phantom lines. Like "YOU SEEM CUTE TODAY."

Good Phantom Zelda can enter the safe zones because she's not an evil being.

Gage is actually named after rail gauges (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Track_gauge), not pressure gauge.

***

Now... as for the Phantoms. I talked about this a bit at the end of the PH thread, in spoilers, but just... the existence of them is confusing here. In PH, it was implied that they were Bellum's creations (as shown by the eye at the back). Now... that doesn't really explain what they're doing here. Are there more Phamtoms elsewhere, guarding all the gods' stuff, and Bellum just created a dark mockery of them? Did the gods think "hey, yo, invincible guardian armour seems like a good idea, thanks, man." Or what?

Like... it's not a huge deal, but it is a little egregious.

Future Zodi claims her name is Smart Zodi, but yeah it's glad to have her back in some capacity.

"YOU LOOK CUTE TODAY" as Zelda makes the armour blush slightly. God it's the best. She really is just Alphonse.

Look I don't know the anatomy of a train I'm doing my best here :smalltongue:

As for the PHantom thing... well, look back at Skyward Sword and the Sacred Realm Trials. They had a ton of ghost like monster armours that were indestructible trying to hit you, unable to do so as long as you were in a safe zone. It's not actually out of the ordinary in this series for divine things to be guarded by actual indestructible (but corruptible, as we can see) monsters.

[DataNinja]

Future Zodi claims her name is Smart Zodi, but yeah it's glad to have her back in some capacity.

"YOU LOOK CUTE TODAY" as Zelda makes the armour blush slightly. God it's the best. She really is just Alphonse.

Look I don't know the anatomy of a train I'm doing my best here :smalltongue:

As for the PHantom thing... well, look back at Skyward Sword and the Sacred Realm Trials. They had a ton of ghost like monster armours that were indestructible trying to hit you, unable to do so as long as you were in a safe zone. It's not actually out of the ordinary in this series for divine things to be guarded by actual indestructible (but corruptible, as we can see) monsters.
All Zodis are Smart, clearly, so that's not a helpful delineator. :smallwink:

That's pretty much the one bit of train stuff that I do know, mostly because of remembering people talking about gauges with regards to model trains. :smalltongue:

Yeah, I get that it's not an issue for them to be divine in origin and all. I have no issues with the Phantom story as presented here. Or in Phantom Hourglass. The issue I have mostly comes from the fact that you can't really reconcile the two because PH presented them as being creations of Bellum. And, I know, retcons and all, but... like, I'd maybe like an acknowledgement that they could have, and in fact had been, corrupted in the past or something. But that's just me picking at nits. :smalltongue:

[LaZodiac]

To be fair all of Phantom was a nightmare created by Bellum infecting the Ocean King's brain, so TECHNICALLY they were created by Bellum, likely from the Ocean King's memories.

[TheWombatOfDoom]

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/508732197231132674/643341897477390346/Banner_for_Thread.png

And so we return to Hyrule. The Legend of Zelda Spirit Tracks is a game for the Nintendo DS, and is a direct sequel to our last Zelda game, Phantom Hourglass. The amount of... DIRECTNESS this implies is rather shocking. Sure it's one hundred years later, but everything's mostly the same. Only the smallest, tiniest changes, for good or ill, where introduced. All in all, the game is... fine, baring one specific mechanic that makes it unbelievably intolerable. But we'll talk about all THAT fun stuff later.

Updates will be, as usual, Monday and Friday. I hope you all enjoy, and are ready to have some fun train adventures!

Zodi Plays: The Legend of Zelda Spirit Tracks [1] All Aboard (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CxekyQaPXQ)

Video Length: 42:02

We start off our adventure with a lovely story, and news of our impending graduation from train conductor school, which is a thing I guess. Over seen by the princess Zelda, because of course why wouldn't it be. Of course once we're there we meet the delightfully small Chancellor Cole, and we also receive a message from Zelda asking us to meet her after the ceremony. Long story short, she obviously noticed all the evil, ominous stuff going on, and is going to go do something about it! We've been recruited to help, and one decently easy but still miserable stealth section later (yes, in video one) we head off towards the Spirit Tower... and proceed to have a bad time.

Suffice to say our adventure is off to a stellar start! Hope you all enjoyed, I'll see you all next time.

Wombat Emerges from Lurking! Ummm....why is Zelda flying and ghostly...uh oh...Is she the Spirit of the Tracks? I'm excited for this game, because I've never played or know anything about this game, so I'll be watching this blind. :smallsmile: Also HYPE for first voiced Zodi playing Zelda!

Hmmm, I wonder if the tower they mention in the intro is the one in the banner...

Link sleeping in every game continues I see...Aw its grandpa Nico. So wait, are....we...a descendant of Link and Zelda? Later someone says it's 100 years since this land was conquered.

Dear lord, you almost were killed by Bees...that would have been your first death in a zelda playthrough... Thankfully that didn't happen, lmao.

Train controls seem more manageable. Like cutscene elements or something. Also #backwardsC. Interesting that the game is so close to Phantom. I guess that makes sense, it is the sequel. Kinda like OoT and MM.

LMAO, I love that the postman calls out previous postman from Phantom Hourglass. That is hilarious.

Omg, this guy has 2 hat, I love it. That's so...extra. Wait is that red hair? I thiiiiiink so? That means he might be bad...Male redhead = bad (except for homeboy Groose). Ummmm...okay pointy teeth. Yeah he's a bad guy...Uh, the butler's name is Teacher?

It's an oppposite stealth section. Instead of sneaking in to see zelda, we saw zelda and then we sneak out. Oh so wait, in this timeline, the green tunic is a recruit outfit for the royal guard? Man, Link's story has really lost importance over the years it seems... Oh, are all the Guard's dressed that way? Okay, not to bad then...

While it might be sad, maybe her crew founded different areas within Hyrule, becoming leaders of their own? Then it wouldn't be as sad!

Is...that a Ganondorf face train? Oh the hats covered Horns, lmao... Ok, I get it. Burn and Coal.



EPISODE 1 KILL TALLY!

Bee Hive - 1

Style Points - 0

Missed Rupees - 0




Spirit Tracks
Total Kills
(As of Episode 1)

Bee Hives - 1

Total Things Dead - 1

1st Place - TBD
2nd Place - TBD
3rd Place - TBD

Total Style Points - 0

Total Missed Rupees - 0
Total Lost Rupees - 0

[DataNinja]

To be fair all of Phantom was a nightmare created by Bellum infecting the Ocean King's brain, so TECHNICALLY they were created by Bellum, likely from the Ocean King's memories.

Yeah, I guess that's fair. That'd not really occurred to me. So... I can accept it better now.

[LaZodiac]

Wombat Emerges from Lurking! Ummm....why is Zelda flying and ghostly...uh oh...Is she the Spirit of the Tracks? I'm excited for this game, because I've never played or know anything about this game, so I'll be watching this blind. :smallsmile: Also HYPE for first voiced Zodi playing Zelda!

Link sleeping in every game continues I see...Aw its grandpa Nico. So wait, are....we...a descendant of Link and Zelda? Later someone says it's 100 years since this land was conquered.

Omg, this guy has 2 hat, I love it. That's so...extra. Wait is that red hair? I thiiiiiink so? That means he might be bad...Male redhead = bad (except for homeboy Groose). Ummmm...okay pointy teeth. Yeah he's a bad guy...Uh, the butler's name is Teacher?

While it might be sad, maybe her crew founded different areas within Hyrule, becoming leaders of their own? Then it wouldn't be as sad!

Is...that a Ganondorf face train? Oh the hats covered Horns, lmao... Ok, I get it. Burn and Coal.



EPISODE 1 KILL TALLY!

Bee Hive - 1

Style Points - 0

Missed Rupees - 0




Spirit Tracks
Total Kills
(As of Episode 1)

Bee Hives - 1

Total Things Dead - 1

1st Place - TBD
2nd Place - TBD
3rd Place - TBD

Total Style Points - 0

Total Missed Rupees - 0
Total Lost Rupees - 0

I'm honestly kinda hype about this too. I'll do my best to present a comedic, good and fun times having Zodi while also doing my typical analysis and general smart person-ness that comes with these Zeldos.

I don't think Track's Zelda and Link are connected, otherwise things will get... weird.

The character design in this is spot on as far as like, good-bad designs are. Cole is like so overtly, obviously evil that it wraps around into amazing.

See an interesting game would do that. Spirit tracks isn't really 100% concerned with being interesting, it's concerned about trains and doing Phantom Hourglass but slightly better.

Face-Train is the best and I completely forgot it shows up this early!!

[Aeson]

Gage is actually named after rail gauges (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Track_gauge), not pressure gauge.
Not saying you're wrong, but pressure gauges were very important pieces of equipment on steam locomotives, which the game's locomotives appear to be.

[Ninja_Prawn]

Not saying you're wrong, but pressure gauges were very important pieces of equipment on steam locomotives, which the game's locomotives appear to be.

Wikipedia's disambiguation page (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gauge) for the word 'Gauge' actually has a whole subheading for gauges in 'Railway Practice', which lists 5 different uses of the word in a railway context (Track Gauge (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Track_gauge), Loading Gauge (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loading_gauge), Structure Gauge (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Structure_gauge), Axle Load (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axle_load), Variable Gauge (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variable_gauge)). :smalleek:

[TheWombatOfDoom]

How about, more train zelda.

Zodi Plays: The Legend of Zelda Spirit Tracks [2] Full Metal Princess (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lquQ0kx_6qM)

Video Length: 36:23

In this episode, I attempt to make a fun little conversation about how Zelda's Butler's ranting about how we need to find Zelda to tell Zelda she's kidnapped is actually a hint towards the fact that we should hunt down that glowing sphere of light that came from her. As it turns out we get an explicit cutscene not five seconds later showing very clearly and concisely that actually no we don't need to do any thinking, just following the dead princess please. After some banter, we pick up a very nice and not bad at all flute and head off to the secret path that leads from the castle to the Spirit Tower.

The secret path isn't all that extensive. It features your bog standard Keese and Rats, but also introduces the new enemy Spinenuts! They're little goomba boys who somehow take two hits to kill if you don't jump attack them, and for some reason I cannot understand the jump attack just was NOT working for me on the day of recording. This is concerning. Other than that, it's the same puzzles we saw last time, almost literally, to teach you that drawing on the map screen is a very useful tool. All in all, not that bad.

Then we get some exposition from Anjean, one of the Lokomos (think train oriented sheikah) and we learn what we must do to defeat Malladus; fix the tower's segments by purifying the four shrines, then climb to the top to stop them from using Zelda's body as a meat suit for the demon king! Sounds simple enough, but as we enter the Spirit Tower we get the first of two frightening realizations in the game... this game has an Ocean King's Temple! Yes, that right, we have basically the exact same mechanic this time around! I don't think/recall there is a time limit this go around, but to make up for it they made the puzzles extra challenging. They also, however, introduced the BEST mechanic; Zelda can possess a stunned Phantom and become your controllable partner! This part is super cool, and is a fun inversion of the earlier stealth segment. Zelda can move fine, it's Link who has to sneak. I don't think this justifies having such an early stealth segment, but overall the end result is pretty cool I think. We get through the exactly one floor of puzzles to get our Rail Map, which is totally not a Sea Chart, and with that end the video on a high note.

So yeah. I hope you all enjoyed this one! I'll see you all next time for... the worst, if I'm remembering correctly. Take care.

Question, do you record your voice while playing, or voice over after? I think I know the answer but just checking to see if I'm right. My guess is...during?

Okay, so flute...i assume more blowing into microphone mechanics, based off of the commentary last game? Hm, so Zelda's spirit looks like a fairy (ball of light). That's neat.

Guard makes a dangerous to go alone comment. This game is hitting all the references. By the way, I never call anything a Chu. They're Red Chuchu's, so you were close. :smallwink:

#BackwardsL

I love name puns...engine = anjean..is she a train person, or is she riding in a train? Hmmm, the question is, why do they need a member of the royal family? What makes that so special?

Holy cow, I just realized, Zelda is a playable character in the story. Like she's going to be going along with us the whole game...that's so neat! Since the phantom died in a puff of smoke after Zelda was done with it, I'm counting it as a kill.

These tracks are Chain Tracks. Got it. I dig it. There's a reference to the turnstile in Skyward Sword? I'm also trying to think of what you're referencing in Twilight Princess.


EPISODE 2 KILL TALLY!

Bee Hive - 1
Spinenut - 12
Keese - 5
Red Chuchu - 7
Rats - 4
Phantom - 1

Style Points - 0

Missed Rupees - 0 (x2 combo!)




Spirit Tracks
Total Kills
(As of Episode 1)

Bee Hives - 2
Spinenuts - 12
Keese - 5
Chuchus, Red - 7
Rats - 4
Phantoms - 1

Total Things Dead - 31

1st Place - Spinenuts, at 12!
2nd Place - Red Chuchus, at 7!
3rd Place - Keese, at 5!

Total Style Points - 0

Total Missed Rupees - 0
Total Lost Rupees - 0

[LaZodiac]

Question, do you record your voice while playing, or voice over after? I think I know the answer but just checking to see if I'm right. My guess is...during?

Okay, so flute...i assume more blowing into microphone mechanics, based off of the commentary last game? Hm, so Zelda's spirit looks like a fairy (ball of light). That's neat.

Guard makes a dangerous to go alone comment. This game is hitting all the references. By the way, I never call anything a Chu. They're Red Chuchu's, so you were close. :smallwink:

#BackwardsL

I love name puns...engine = anjean..is she a train person, or is she riding in a train? Hmmm, the question is, why do they need a member of the royal family? What makes that so special?

Holy cow, I just realized, Zelda is a playable character in the story. Like she's going to be going along with us the whole game...that's so neat! Since the phantom died in a puff of smoke after Zelda was done with it, I'm counting it as a kill.

These tracks are Chain Tracks. Got it. I dig it. There's a reference to the turnstile in Skyward Sword? I'm also trying to think of what you're referencing in Twilight Princess.



This is live commentary.

You'll see : )

Dah, so close!

Like I said, she's using a motorized wheelchair. Girl's old! The Lokomos are just train ninjas... so I guess that makes them the Rail Tracer?

Yup! First time Zelda is ever playable... and she's a big chonkin' armour knight. Physically if not actually. It rules! Also yeah it's only in Skyward Sword, my bad. It's the turntable thing where we fight the first Arachea or something; the scorpion thing.

[DataNinja]

Not saying you're wrong, but pressure gauges were very important pieces of equipment on steam locomotives, which the game's locomotives appear to be.


Wikipedia's disambiguation page (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gauge) for the word 'Gauge' actually has a whole subheading for gauges in 'Railway Practice', which lists 5 different uses of the word in a railway context (Track Gauge (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Track_gauge), Loading Gauge (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loading_gauge), Structure Gauge (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Structure_gauge), Axle Load (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axle_load), Variable Gauge (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variable_gauge)). :smalleek:

Well, I'll be darned. My train knowledge has rather failed me in that case. :smallredface:


Holy cow, I just realized, Zelda is a playable character in the story. Like she's going to be going along with us the whole game...that's so neat! Since the phantom died in a puff of smoke after Zelda was done with it, I'm counting it as a kill.

These aren't kills. If Zelda exits a Phantom, the armour falls apart, but the original phantom re-poofs back to where it started.

[TheWombatOfDoom]

Well, I'll be darned. My train knowledge has rather failed me in that case. :smallredface:



These aren't kills. If Zelda exits a Phantom, the armour falls apart, but the original phantom re-poofs back to where it started.

Well in the instance where she went where a phantom couldn't exist, it poofed into that classic smoke. If it respawns in the same room, I'll avoid counting, but I'll still count this original one.

[Durkoala]

I'm obliged to say that Spirit Tracks is not bad and the spirit flute is also not that bad. And also that it's a turntable in the video, not a turnstile. Turnstiles are things are at the entrances of places to stop people rushing in all at once while also counting them.

While there's some names to talk about, it's too late where I am to go into that, so I'll just say there's no localisation differences in this video and come back to the train puns later.


Okay, so flute...i assume more blowing into microphone mechanics, based off of the commentary last game? Hm, so Zelda's spirit looks like a fairy (ball of light). That's neat.
Yes, the spirit flute requires blowing into the microphone and sliding the flute around on the screen. I can see how it would be an irritating mechanic, but I only really had trouble with one of the final plot-required songs.
And yes, Zelda basically being a fairy when she isn't being Ghost Princess or Giant Tin Can is a really fun touch.



These tracks are Chain Tracks. Got it. I dig it.
Urgh... If I could give upvotes, I would.


I don't think Track's Zelda and Link are connected, otherwise things will get... weird.

[...]

See an interesting game would do that. Spirit tracks isn't really 100% concerned with being interesting, it's concerned about trains and doing Phantom Hourglass but slightly better.

Face-Train is the best and I completely forgot it shows up this early!!

Surely there's enough of a generation gap that the effects of inbreeding will be negilible.:smalltongue:
I expect that either things didn't work out for Tetra and her Link, or that this Link is just a reincarnation who isn't related to the Hero of Winds.

[LaZodiac]

I'm obliged to say that Spirit Tracks is not bad and the spirit flute is also not that bad. And also that it's a turntable in the video, not a turnstile. Turnstiles are things are at the entrances of places to stop people rushing in all at once while also counting them.

Yes, the spirit flute requires blowing into the microphone and sliding the flute around on the screen. I can see how it would be an irritating mechanic, but I only really had trouble with one of the final plot-required songs.
And yes, Zelda basically being a fairy when she isn't being Ghost Princess or Giant Tin Can is a really fun touch.

Surely there's enough of a generation gap that the effects of inbreeding will be negilible.:smalltongue:
I expect that either things didn't work out for Tetra and her Link, or that this Link is just a reincarnation who isn't related to the Hero of Winds.

I will tell my Bit about the pipes when we get to it.

100 years is NOT enough time for genetic diversity to make it okay, I think. Best case scenario, 100 years spans three generations. Grandma as a kid at year 1, their kid has a kid at year 20, their kid has a kid at 20, then THEIR kid has their's at twenty, and then the last twenty gets us a four generation gap, which is not enough for genetic diversity and also leaves us with a ten year old who can't have a kid yet.

[DataNinja]

Yes, the spirit flute requires blowing into the microphone and sliding the flute around on the screen. I can see how it would be an irritating mechanic, but I only really had trouble with one of the final plot-required songs.
Was it the Fire Sanctuary one? Because that's the only one that I had any issue with.

[Aeson]

I will tell my Bit about the pipes when we get to it.

100 years is NOT enough time for genetic diversity to make it okay, I think. Best case scenario, 100 years spans three generations. Grandma as a kid at year 1, their kid has a kid at year 20, their kid has a kid at 20, then THEIR kid has their's at twenty, and then the last twenty gets us a four generation gap, which is not enough for genetic diversity and also leaves us with a ten year old who can't have a kid yet.
Assuming normal-human generational periods, a century is enough to get the separation out to second or third cousins, which is enough separation for the likelihood of genetic issues popping up to be fairly low unless your family history has a lot of cousin marriage in it.

Also, it should be noted that marrying a cousin of some description isn't exactly historically uncommon - especially when populations are small and don't move around that much - and that, socially acceptable and genetically advisable or not, first-cousin marriage remains legal throughout a significant part of the world, including most of Europe and about half of the fifty states of the United States of America.

[LaZodiac]

Assuming normal-human generational periods, a century is enough to get the separation out to second or third cousins, which is enough separation for the likelihood of genetic issues popping up to be fairly low unless your family history has a lot of cousin marriage in it.

Also, it should be noted that marrying a cousin of some description isn't exactly historically uncommon - especially when populations are small and don't move around that much - and that, socially acceptable and genetically advisable or not, first-cousin marriage remains legal throughout a significant part of the world, including most of Europe and about half of the United States.

In this thread we learn about trains and generational genetics.

What I wanna know is why Link is a country bumpkin living with a grandpa but Zelda is princess.

[Amechra]

In this thread we learn about trains and generational genetics.

What I wanna know is why Link is a country bumpkin living with a grandpa but Zelda is princess.

For all we know, royalty is only inherited on the direct line. Link is from a cadet line, so he gets nothing.

EDIT: There are actually cultures that have preferential cousin marriage that aren't screwed up genetically. European royalty had the issue of people having kids with their aunts or uncles, which is a much worse kettle of fish.

I mean, we also don't know whether or not genetics work the same in Hyrule...

[ShneekeyTheLost]

In this thread we learn about trains and generational genetics.

What I wanna know is why Link is a country bumpkin living with a grandpa but Zelda is princess.

This Link doesn't need to be related to *that* Link. Canonically, the Hero is reincarnated, it isn't bloodline-related like Zelda's is. So it could be any youth with the Courage to be chosen.

[Amechra]

This Link doesn't need to be related to *that* Link. Canonically, the Hero is reincarnated, it isn't bloodline-related like Zelda's is. So it could be any youth with the Courage to be chosen.

I feel bad for non-Hylians, honestly. After all, Hylians keep hogging 2/3rds of the Triforce.

That being said, is there anything stopping them, lore-wise, from making a LoZ where you can customize Link's appearance? Is there anything that actually requires Link to be a young, athletic Hylian with a taste in blue/green tunics?

[LaZodiac]

I feel bad for non-Hylians, honestly. After all, Hylians keep hogging 2/3rds of the Triforce.

That being said, is there anything stopping them, lore-wise, from making a LoZ where you can customize Link's appearance? Is there anything that actually requires Link to be a young, athletic Hylian with a taste in blue/green tunics?

Nothing at all! They should do it. Give us girl Link or give us death!

[DataNinja]

This Link doesn't need to be related to *that* Link. Canonically, the Hero is reincarnated, it isn't bloodline-related like Zelda's is. So it could be any youth with the Courage to be chosen.

Could very well just be "that boy reminds me of that swabbie who let me be higher than bottom run for 10 minutes". :smalltongue:

[Amechra]

Nothing at all! They should do it. Give us girl Link or give us death!

Girl Link and dude Zelda. Confuse people even more.

Actually, that'd be kinda funny - a new princess is born, they fully expect her to inherit the Triforce of Wisdom so they call her Zelda... then nope! She's actually the Hero. Then her brother inherits Wisdom...

[Ninja_Prawn]

I've seen a few professional illustrators do concept drawings for a hero Zelda and prince Link. They look so cool! The world needs them!

[HalfTangible]

Girl Link and dude Zelda. Confuse people even more.

Actually, that'd be kinda funny - a new princess is born, they fully expect her to inherit the Triforce of Wisdom so they call her Zelda... then nope! She's actually the Hero. Then her brother inherits Wisdom...

Please don't make Link and Zelda related.

[Amechra]

Please don't make Link and Zelda related.

It's not like they're necessarily romantically involved or anything. Heck, I didn't even consider that angle until you brought it up.

[HalfTangible]

It's not like they're necessarily romantically involved or anything. Heck, I didn't even consider that angle until you brought it up.

Technically, you brought up the romantic angle, I just said I didn't want them to be related :smalltongue:

But yes. It is the one and only OTP.

[Toric]

So this Zelda was my favorite Navi before she became an unkillable monster. Now she's becoming one of my favorite characters in the series.

I love the lampshade hanging of "I'll just wait here! It's sort of a family tradition!" As well as the escalation of alarm from "Ancient evil being reawakened? We better get on that." to "It's gonna run around in MY body!? We have to stop this now!!"

My DS's shoulder buttons have stopped working, so I'm happy to follow this LP because I doubt I'd be able to experience this game first hand without a decent cash investment.

[DataNinja]

So this Zelda was my favorite Navi before she became an unkillable monster. Now she's becoming one of my favorite characters in the series.

I love the lampshade hanging of "I'll just wait here! It's sort of a family tradition!" As well as the escalation of alarm from "Ancient evil being reawakened? We better get on that." to "It's gonna run around in MY body!? We have to stop this now!!"

My DS's shoulder buttons have stopped working, so I'm happy to follow this LP because I doubt I'd be able to experience this game first hand without a decent cash investment.
Yeah, she's very much one of my favorite characters. And the DS games are pretty good with the humour.

The shoulder buttons are the parts of the DS I'm always hardest on for some reason, so... yes, can confirm, I had to stop my replay through this game because the alternate ways to use items require much more... manual dexterity for a certain one than I was able to pull off.

[Qwertystop]

DS shoulder buttons seem to give out faster than the other parts, but it's not too hard to replace them manually if you have a small non-magnetic screwdriver; you can buy replacements, and Nintendo seems to have stopped bothering with weird nonstandard screws (at least internally).

[LaZodiac]

I bring unto thee, a Zeldo.

Zodi Plays: The Legend of Zelda Spirit Tracks [3] Blow Hard (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9wXCoyhM4E)

Video Length: 23:53

In today's exciting episode, we ride our train to a tree farming village, hang out with some burly lumberjacks, learn about the Lost Woods and have a... let's say fun time getting through it, and then have a rather annoying bomb puzzle to get to our actual destination! Once we're there we meet Gage of the Lokomos, who begins teaching us the ways of the Spirit Flute, which will consume much of my own written word here in this update.

So, the Spirit Flute. You hold the screen and blow into the microphone to play a note, moving the stylus left and right to change where you're blowing. Simple enough, and yet somehow so very very bad. As you can plainly see, the hit detection is... off, in a lot of ways, and even when it does hit it often hits for half-notes or stutters weirdly. Now, for this first Lokomos song, this is fine! No harm done, it's actually surprisingly lenient!

The final song took me like an hour or so. Possibly longer. It's not that this is even necessarily a BAD mechanic, but it's not implement well at all. Given the fact that I'm talking on top of blowing my lungs out trying to play the damn flute, this game is probably going to be the hardest game I've LPed from a "okay let's record this" standpoint.

That all aside we've cleared the song and cleared our way forward to the Forest Temple. Hope you all enjoyed, I'll see you all next time where we take it on man to building. Take care.

[PraetorDragoon]

Ah yes, the infamous spirit flute. The reason why I never finished spirit tracks. I spend hours, HOURS on getting the song to the final area right, but couldn't do it. :smallannoyed:

[Amechra]

Why did the DS have so many games with weird, gimmicky, poorly-implemented mechanics?

[TheWombatOfDoom]

I bring unto thee, a Zeldo.

Zodi Plays: The Legend of Zelda Spirit Tracks [3] Blow Hard (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9wXCoyhM4E)

Video Length: 23:53

In today's exciting episode, we ride our train to a tree farming village, hang out with some burly lumberjacks, learn about the Lost Woods and have a... let's say fun time getting through it, and then have a rather annoying bomb puzzle to get to our actual destination! Once we're there we meet Gage of the Lokomos, who begins teaching us the ways of the Spirit Flute, which will consume much of my own written word here in this update.

So, the Spirit Flute. You hold the screen and blow into the microphone to play a note, moving the stylus left and right to change where you're blowing. Simple enough, and yet somehow so very very bad. As you can plainly see, the hit detection is... off, in a lot of ways, and even when it does hit it often hits for half-notes or stutters weirdly. Now, for this first Lokomos song, this is fine! No harm done, it's actually surprisingly lenient!

The final song took me like an hour or so. Possibly longer. It's not that this is even necessarily a BAD mechanic, but it's not implement well at all. Given the fact that I'm talking on top of blowing my lungs out trying to play the damn flute, this game is probably going to be the hardest game I've LPed from a "okay let's record this" standpoint.

That all aside we've cleared the song and cleared our way forward to the Forest Temple. Hope you all enjoyed, I'll see you all next time where we take it on man to building. Take care.

So...um....4 rights make a left, right? I suppose you have to get good randomization sometimes. Especially after some of the rupee-trocities of last Zelda game... As a side note, the laughter you have from the ridiculousness is definitely something that adds to your playthroughs.

Hmmm, when you hit the tree at 15:18, i heard a rupee clink...but I don't see it. I think it fell behind the tree. I'm sorry, but I have to do my job. Only counting it as green though. :smallwink:

That's a new record for shortest song...2 notes...wow. But given the mechanic its implemented with, I get it... Too bad its not following that track (puns!).

It's funny, I pronounce the Locomos like this - Loh-coh-moes. You do Loh-comb-ous.



EPISODE 3 KILL TALLY!

Bee Hive - 1
Spinenut - 9
Crow - 1
Red Chuchu - 5

Style Points - 0

Missed Rupees - 0 (x3 combo!)



Spirit Tracks
Total Kills
(As of Episode 3)

Bee Hives - 3
Chuchu, Red - 12
Crows - 1
Keese - 5
Rats - 4
Phantoms - 1
Spinenuts - 21

Total Things Dead - 47

1st Place - Spinenuts, at 21!
2nd Place - Red Chuchus, at 12!
3rd Place - Keese, at 5!

Total Style Points - 0

Total Missed Rupees - 0
Total Lost Rupees - 0

[DataNinja]

Oh boys. One Zolda please. Oh, wait, out of stock? Guess a Zoldo will do. :smalltongue:

Hey, I said nothing about Skyward Sword Zelda. Childhood Friend Zelda has nothing on Steadfast Companion With Some Spunkiness From Tetra Zelda from here. (Okay, yes, all in my opinion, but, shh. Internet has told me I'm supposed to trumpet my opinion like it's fact.) :smallwink:

Oh, train signals. A... mechanic. For later. :smalltongue:

I had a real doozy of the time with the lost woods the first time through. I think I was just oblivious to what was meant by trees.

I never found the Spirit Flute that bad, except for one particular late-game song. But, I know you mentioned that your recording DS has a... particularly defective microphone. As we saw last time with the candles. Soooo.... yeeeeah, that'll be fun. And by fun, I mean torture.

[jindra34]

The big problem with the Spirit Flute from what I can tell is they made it TOO accurate to how a real one works. And the sensor has enough clarity to tell both to soft blowing and too hard.

[LaZodiac]

I never found the Spirit Flute that bad, except for one particular late-game song. But, I know you mentioned that your recording DS has a... particularly defective microphone. As we saw last time with the candles. Soooo.... yeeeeah, that'll be fun. And by fun, I mean torture.

Oh no that was just a lie because I didn't want to do voice stuff and the 3DS has mic chat to some degree #drama

Also Jindra that's horrifying a concept.

[TheWombatOfDoom]

Oh no that was just a lie because I didn't want to do voice stuff and the 3DS has mic chat to some degree #drama

Also Jindra that's horrifying a concept.

Oh...I totally thought that was the problem too, that you had a broken mic. :smallfrown:

Glad that's not the case, but totally thought a lot of the issues was blamed on your device not the mechanic of the game. Now I know this not to be the case.

[LaZodiac]

Oh...I totally thought that was the problem too, that you had a broken mic. :smallfrown:

Glad that's not the case, but totally thought a lot of the issues was blamed on your device not the mechanic of the game. Now I know this not to be the case.

Yeah don't worry I've now done this flute nonsense in two DS's and it's the exact same. Mic is fine I'm just horribly secretive about some stuff.

Also please find a way/time to localize the rupee drop from that tree, because I can't hear it at all and I'm contesting it otherwise.

[TheWombatOfDoom]

Yeah don't worry I've now done this flute nonsense in two DS's and it's the exact same. Mic is fine I'm just horribly secretive about some stuff.

Also please find a way/time to localize the rupee drop from that tree, because I can't hear it at all and I'm contesting it otherwise.

15:18, you miss the tree and then hit it and say "Like, that literally does nothing". Between "Like" and "that" you can hear that rupee hit the ground, and then no added number to your wallet. As opposed to 13:10 where you roll into the tree and nothing happens.

Though, I'm willing to allow a contestment if you're still not hearing it. After all, it's not a visible rupee. I'm not trying to add for nothing, after all. I heard it and played it a few times. Now that i'm attempting again...I don't hear it at high volumes only medium to low...so maybe its feedback from vocals? Alright, that's a definite flag on field. Rupee call retracted. Thank you for keeping me honest.

[DataNinja]

Why did the DS have so many games with weird, gimmicky, poorly-implemented mechanics?

Probably so that it could be reasoned as to why it was on the system in the first place, and to justify the system design. Honestly... the dual screen thing is something that I really miss. Being able to display a map/other info on one screen, or touch button commands giving way more easy access to stuff... and neat things like draw-line boomerang that we saw in PH... there was a lot of really cool stuff done with the system.

Unfortunately, the hazard comes when stuff like that is in because of because, not because it makes things work better.


The big problem with the Spirit Flute from what I can tell is they made it TOO accurate to how a real one works. And the sensor has enough clarity to tell both to soft blowing and too hard.

Yeah, there was definitely precision issues a lot of the time. And pressure sensitivity made playing on the go in vehicles and the like a pain. Which was annoying when you're a kid trying to kill time on a road trip, and stuck because you can't try to progress without using the flute. :smalltongue:


Oh no that was just a lie because I didn't want to do voice stuff and the 3DS has mic chat to some degree #drama

Ah, okay, that's fair enough. I'm glad your system is functional, though. We would have been fine if you just said you didn't want to do voice, though. I think enough people know that "hahahaha no, I'm not talking in front of these random strangers" feeling. :smallbiggrin:

[Qwertystop]

What happens if you take a turn manually that doesn't match the path you drew on the map?

Regarding the flute: Maybe it's just how it's coming through on your recording mic, but it sounds like you're trying to spin a pinwheel or blow up a balloon. Can you whistle from a little farther away, or perhaps just blow softer? Or more across the mic than into it (lower angle), to cut down on the noise?

(I haven't played it myself, so this is just speculation)

[LaZodiac]

What happens if you take a turn manually that doesn't match the path you drew on the map?

Regarding the flute: Maybe it's just how it's coming through on your recording mic, but it sounds like you're trying to spin a pinwheel or blow up a balloon. Can you whistle from a little farther away, or perhaps just blow softer? Or more across the mic than into it (lower angle), to cut down on the noise?

(I haven't played it myself, so this is just speculation)

The microphone on the DS I played this on, and the DS I record with... have the microphone on the bottom edge of the system. It is originally right underneath the DS fold. This, almost certainly, is causing Problems because I cannot blow directly into the mic and am instead blowing across it. As for my blowing style, I may be blowing too hard, or to closely, those are fine and I'll take it on advisement.

I do wonder what you mean by whistle though? Also ultimately the uh, main difficulty of manouvering the recording 3DS so that I can blew directly on the mic is... I won't be able to see the screen.

So it may be that this mechanic works PERFECTLY fine on a regular DS. But this? This not so much. And I'd argue the original probably wasn't very good either.

O also I think the train just... goes. You don't NEED to draw a path for it to go I think.

[Qwertystop]

The microphone on the DS I played this on, and the DS I record with... have the microphone on the bottom edge of the system. It is originally right underneath the DS fold. This, almost certainly, is causing Problems because I cannot blow directly into the mic and am instead blowing across it. As for my blowing style, I may be blowing too hard, or to closely, those are fine and I'll take it on advisement.

I do wonder what you mean by whistle though? Also ultimately the uh, main difficulty of manouvering the recording 3DS so that I can blew directly on the mic is... I won't be able to see the screen.

So it may be that this mechanic works PERFECTLY fine on a regular DS. But this? This not so much. And I'd argue the original probably wasn't very good either.

O also I think the train just... goes. You don't NEED to draw a path for it to go I think.

Whistling (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whistling). Softly, not with fingers. "Pucker whistling" as described on that page.

I have a New 3DS XL, which has the mic at the bottom, and if I hold it at a low angle I can see the screen while my mouth points at the mic edge. It's not the easiest thing to see; I wouldn't want to do much else in the game at the same time, but I can see clearly enough to tell which game is where on the home menu and scroll it left and right. The original 3DS, 3DSXL, and New 3DS look to have the same layout as far as mic positioning goes, though I don't know how recording hardware might make it harder to hold at odd angles one-handed.

So... the map-drawing just automates the turning?

[LaZodiac]

Whistling (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whistling). Softly, not with fingers. "Pucker whistling" as described on that page.

I have a New 3DS XL, which has the mic at the bottom, and if I hold it at a low angle I can see the screen while my mouth points at the mic edge. It's not the easiest thing to see; I wouldn't want to do much else in the game at the same time, but I can see clearly enough to tell which game is where on the home menu and scroll it left and right. The original 3DS, 3DSXL, and New 3DS look to have the same layout as far as mic positioning goes, though I don't know how recording hardware might make it harder to hold at odd angles one-handed.

So... the map-drawing just automates the turning?

Thank you Qwerty but I meant "how would whistling help" and not "how do am whistle?" I can whistle, and I know whistling is :smalltongue:

I will give it a try though!

And no, map drawing is just to give you an idea of your path, you still have to adjust turns I think!

[DataNinja]

The microphone on the DS I played this on, and the DS I record with... have the microphone on the bottom edge of the system.

Oh, gosh, yeah, I can imagine that setup causing a lot more grief with the flute. No question. The central mic made it easy to just center the system with your gaze and glide it along.


So... the map-drawing just automates the turning? Yep. Basically, it just sets the defaults for you, but you're absolutely free to change it and go wherever you want. It just makes it easier to not have to worry about directions, so you can, say, make sure you're looking for wildlife on the roads or whatnot that might come later.

[LaZodiac]

DataNinja is correct on the pathing thing not me it's been Forever since I played this.

[Qwertystop]

Thank you Qwerty but I meant "how would whistling help" and not "how do am whistle?" I can whistle, and I know whistling is :smalltongue:

I will give it a try though!


:smalltongue:
Whistling is possibly a louder or at least more vocal-range sound per airflow, which might mean less wind noise in the mic so it reads it better. Or just going directly to a vocal "aaaaaaa".

[Toric]

Or just going directly to a vocal "aaaaaaa".

I really hope that option works better. Tis many a year since I've heard the sweet tones of the Locomo scream-flute.

[LaZodiac]

I will note I have tested the screaming and I don't think it works well enough to be a viable solution.

Anyway, something I forgot to do! Since my next LP is a Vote option, it's time to... well, vote for an option!

Here is the Poll, it will survive until next Wednesday wherein it will be finished. (https://www.strawpoll.me/18969708)

And here are a quick overview of the options

1: Zodi's Choice - I pick what I want. I'm feeling either the first Boktai game, or Sly Cooper 2.

2: Kid Icarus Uprising - One of the best 3DS games to ever be released, a funny (often meta) shooter/beat em up staring Pit, and a bunch of gods who make fun of him.

3: Evoland - A history lesson of the RPG genre mixed with an actual like RPG. This is blind!

4: Harvest Moon More Friends of Mineral Town - Relaxing and nice farm game. This is semi blind in that I own and have played the game, but was not good at it and did no know what I was doing. Will likely have viewer interaction to some degree.

5: Custom Robo for the Gamecube - Arena fighter robot customization game. Has a weird fake-anime art style despite being incredibly anime, also one of my favorite games as a kid.

6: Ronin - A short and sweet experimental game, referred to as a "turn based action game". You are a motorcycle girl and are going to kill everyone on your quest to avenge your father.

7: Bayonetta - M rated game, you are a powerful witch, who's gone to an island to beat up the local cult and presumably get paid.

8: Bioshock - M rated game, shooter in the vein of System Shock wherein you explore the strange, underwater libertarian utopia that has gone to **** because of obvious reasons.

9: Drakengard 3 - M Rated Game with a twist; the person who made it included all these horrible things for a reason. You are a very angry woman with a flower in her eye and a dragon friend who is going to kill every single person she knows in revenge. This is also blind!

10: Final Fantasy 12 - Weird MMO esque tactical RPG, wherein you discover what a video game would be like if the protagonist was the optional character in the party.

11: A Hat In Time - Very cute and adorable (and multiplayer!) Super Mario 64 style game, featuring a sassy girl in a hat. This is blind.

So yeah. CAST YOUR VOTES!

[Amechra]

I will note I have tested the screaming and I don't think it works well enough to be a viable solution.

Anyway, something I forgot to do! Since my next LP is a Vote option, it's time to... well, vote for an option!

Here is the Poll, it will survive until next Wednesday wherein it will be finished. (https://www.strawpoll.me/18969708)

And here are a quick overview of the options

1: Zodi's Choice - I pick what I want. I'm feeling either the first Boktai game, or Sly Cooper 2.

2: Kid Icarus Uprising - One of the best 3DS games to ever be released, a funny (often meta) shooter/beat em up staring Pit, and a bunch of gods who make fun of him.

3: Evoland - A history lesson of the RPG genre mixed with an actual like RPG. This is blind!

4: Harvest Moon More Friends of Mineral Town - Relaxing and nice farm game. This is semi blind in that I own and have played the game, but was not good at it and did no know what I was doing. Will likely have viewer interaction to some degree.

5: Custom Robo for the Gamecube - Arena fighter robot customization game. Has a weird fake-anime art style despite being incredibly anime, also one of my favorite games as a kid.

6: Ronin - A short and sweet experimental game, referred to as a "turn based action game". You are a motorcycle girl and are going to kill everyone on your quest to avenge your father.

7: Bayonetta - M rated game, you are a powerful witch, who's gone to an island to beat up the local cult and presumably get paid.

8: Bioshock - M rated game, shooter in the vein of System Shock wherein you explore the strange, underwater libertarian utopia that has gone to **** because of obvious reasons.

9: Drakengard 3 - M Rated Game with a twist; the person who made it included all these horrible things for a reason. You are a very angry woman with a flower in her eye and a dragon friend who is going to kill every single person she knows in revenge. This is also blind!

10: Final Fantasy 12 - Weird MMO esque tactical RPG, wherein you discover what a video game would be like if the protagonist was the optional character in the party.

11: A Hat In Time - Very cute and adorable (and multiplayer!) Super Mario 64 style game, featuring a sassy girl in a hat. This is blind.

So yeah. CAST YOUR VOTES!

Drakengard 3 would be interesting to watch you go through, but that's not a game to record blind. Oh dear lord I wouldn't record that one blind. That way lies madness.

[DataNinja]

Anyway, something I forgot to do! Since my next LP is a Vote option, it's time to... well, vote for an option!

It's times like this that I wish that I could vote for multiple, because, man, there are several I think it'd be cool to see played. I demand electoral reform. :smalltongue:

[LaZodiac]

Drakengard 3 would be interesting to watch you go through, but that's not a game to record blind. Oh dear lord I wouldn't record that one blind. That way lies madness.

I should note I am Familiar with it, if Blind. I've played a Yoko Taro game or two in my time, and I'm aware of the reputation of Drakengard as a series. I would be prepared... for the most part.


It's times like this that I wish that I could vote for multiple, because, man, there are several I think it'd be cool to see played. I demand electoral reform. :smalltongue:

Once I'm popular enough to start having to cull the selection via Patreon Polls, then we will have electoral reform. This I promise, and I do actually keep my promises so there it goes.

[Amechra]

I should note I am Familiar with it, if Blind. I've played a Yoko Taro game or two in my time, and I'm aware of the reputation of Drakengard as a series. I would be prepared... for the most part.

The final boss for Drakengard 3 is how Yoko Taro lets you know that he hates you and everything you stand for. I won't spoil why, but it really is just plain rude.

[DataNinja]

Once I'm popular enough to start having to cull the selection via Patreon Polls, then we will have electoral reform. This I promise, and I do actually keep my promises so there it goes.
Doesn't help me now, though. :smallwink:

[Qwertystop]

Well. That's a tricky vote (between Custom Robo and Kid Icarus).

I wasn't actually thinking of screaming, though that would be funny. I meant more holding a note singing. "aaaaa" not "AAAAA".

[LaZodiac]

How about a Zelda? That sounds cool yeah?

Zodi Plays: The Legend of Zelda Spirit Tracks [4] Forest Temple (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IQGN0ixa3c)

Video Length: 21:46

In this exciting episode, we ride our train off to the first dungeon; the Forest Temple! Much like Phantom Hourglass (and in retrospect a lot of Zelda's probably) the highlight is the dungeons, and we start off on a pretty good one. While it's not very elaborate, the Forest Temple in Spirit Tracks is a really solid first dungeon. It's not too hard, but not too easy either I think. The enemies within (minus the Spinenuts) all interact with the dungeon item, either due to removing the stank left behind by the Vengas, removing the stank from the Bubbles so you can hurt them, or using the Blastworm's as possible objects. It's actually pretty cool! Minus the fact that uh, you need to get used to using the Whirlwind, which requires standing ramrod in place, swiveling with he stylus, and blowing into the mic. This at least doesn't require THAT much effort, but it takes a bit for me to get the hang of things and I end up kinda straining myself. Oops.

Not helped that the boss, Armoured Colossus Stagnox, requires the Whilrwind almost exclusively. First to blow the stank from his (or her, she does give birth to all those Blastworms) butt so you can slice it up, then to blow Blastworms back at her to stun her during phase 2. This is actually a pretty cool boss fight, even if it's not all that difficult. IT also shows the weird cutscene oddity with this game; the rooms and bosses that involve both screens being used are positioned to sync up together! The cutscenes otherwise are not! It's so weird, since the tech is clearer there to make it work properly, they just don't use it 100% of the time.

At any rate, we slay Stagnox, unseal the Green Force Gem (bet you were expecting something other than one of these!) and reconnect the spirit tracks to the Spirit Tower, fixing one fourth of the tower. We get a heart container for our trouble, and the satisfaction of having blown a monster to death. Sweet!

Hope you all enjoyed, I'll see you all next time for our first dip into the game long dungeon that is the Spirit Temple. Take care.

[DataNinja]

Yay, a Zelda!

The one single time they're used is when transporting passengers. They'll get in a snit if you ignore them.

Note that the Song of healing is One Time per excursion into a dungeon. You only have to leave and re-enter the dungeon to reuse it. Not, like, come back to this temple to refresh it. Thankfully. I... did not know this on my playthrough, and so never used it.

I think it starts after heading back to Aboda the first time after clearing the temple. Preeeeetty sure there's no reward from it besides getting to wear your conductor's uniform at any time, though. It's the thought that counts, though, Niko.

Ah, yeah, this is the mechanic I thought the PH keys also had. Pretty sure you can kill the keymasters, but they also come back, IIRC, and you have to drop the key to attack... which usually means one of the other ones'll just come in and yoink the key back to the start.

Hey, now, Stagnox is a mom. Can't you tell from all the larvae she's spawning at you that are clearly not her species? :smalltongue:

Sweet, 1000 force gems. We're rich! :smallwink:

I imagine they don't have code for non-temporary items to be on the ground, I guess?

[TheWombatOfDoom]

How about a Zelda? That sounds cool yeah?

Zodi Plays: The Legend of Zelda Spirit Tracks [4] Forest Temple (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IQGN0ixa3c)

Video Length: 21:46

In this exciting episode, we ride our train off to the first dungeon; the Forest Temple! Much like Phantom Hourglass (and in retrospect a lot of Zelda's probably) the highlight is the dungeons, and we start off on a pretty good one. While it's not very elaborate, the Forest Temple in Spirit Tracks is a really solid first dungeon. It's not too hard, but not too easy either I think. The enemies within (minus the Spinenuts) all interact with the dungeon item, either due to removing the stank left behind by the Vengas, removing the stank from the Bubbles so you can hurt them, or using the Blastworm's as possible objects. It's actually pretty cool! Minus the fact that uh, you need to get used to using the Whirlwind, which requires standing ramrod in place, swiveling with he stylus, and blowing into the mic. This at least doesn't require THAT much effort, but it takes a bit for me to get the hang of things and I end up kinda straining myself. Oops.

Not helped that the boss, Armoured Colossus Stagnox, requires the Whilrwind almost exclusively. First to blow the stank from his (or her, she does give birth to all those Blastworms) butt so you can slice it up, then to blow Blastworms back at her to stun her during phase 2. This is actually a pretty cool boss fight, even if it's not all that difficult. IT also shows the weird cutscene oddity with this game; the rooms and bosses that involve both screens being used are positioned to sync up together! The cutscenes otherwise are not! It's so weird, since the tech is clearer there to make it work properly, they just don't use it 100% of the time.

At any rate, we slay Stagnox, unseal the Green Force Gem (bet you were expecting something other than one of these!) and reconnect the spirit tracks to the Spirit Tower, fixing one fourth of the tower. We get a heart container for our trouble, and the satisfaction of having blown a monster to death. Sweet!

Hope you all enjoyed, I'll see you all next time for our first dip into the game long dungeon that is the Spirit Temple. Take care.

Fairy ability is interesting....Song of Healing, eh?

I'm of two minds with the mic use. On one hand, it utilizes something unique to the system, which is neat. On the other hand, its limiting the game to that system alone, unless another has a mic. And based off of the location of the mic, it can be...finicky, as we've seen. I like that theyre making the game unique, but maybe they could have done a better job implementing it? Alternatively, this would be hell on someone who has lung issues or breathing issues...

Face energy! Hmmm, not something I can track. XD But I like the term.

Mothula! Oh ****...oh it only shoots bubbles? Thank God, almost got PTSD... Oh cool it can reflect your gusts back. Also, killing an enemy with an enemy it summons is a neat way to rack up kills. Not counting missed bubbles that it launched at the wall, but any you reflected back counted as a bubble kill also!

Hmmmm. Stagnox is a giant insect...I wonder what she'll end up being in the groupings... Like we made Tula's part of the mold group for being armored bugs... it also ends in nox, which i wonder if it's any reference to Hinox? Hmmmmm...

So...why are Vengas and Blastworms names significant in regards to Stagnox?



EPISODE 4 KILL TALLY!

Green Spinenut - 1
Red Spinenut - 2
Vengas - 7
Bubble - 4
Mothula, Winged - 1
Blastworm - 22
Stagnox - 1

Style Points - 0

Missed Rupees - 0 (x4 combo!)



Spirit Tracks
Total Kills
(As of Episode 4)

Bubbles - 4
Chuchu, Red - 12
Crows - 1
Keese - 5
Rats - 4
Phantoms - 1

Insects
Bee Hives - 3
Mothula, Winged - 1
Blastworms - 22
Vengas - 7
Stagnox - 1

Spinenuts
Spinenuts, Red - 23
Spinenuts, Green - 1

Total Things Dead - 47

1st Place - Red Spinenuts, at 23!
2nd Place - Blastworms, at 22!
3rd Place - Red Chuchus, at 12!

Total Style Points - 0

Total Missed Rupees - 0
Total Lost Rupees - 0

[LaZodiac]

So...why are Vengas and Blastworms names significant in regards to Stagnox?


They're... not? I was saying their names will mean sense in a moment because Vengas explode into gas clouds as a vengeance move, and Blastworms are worms that explode. Self evident names.

[TheWombatOfDoom]

They're... not? I was saying their names will mean sense in a moment because Vengas explode into gas clouds as a vengeance move, and Blastworms are worms that explode. Self evident names.

Oooooooooooooooh. Totally misunderstood where you were going with that. so vengas for vengance, blast worms for blasting...

[Ninja_Prawn]

With the vengas, I thought you were meaning because they go boom, boom, boom, boom! (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boom,_Boom,_Boom,_Boom!!) ...:smalltongue:

[LaZodiac]

With the vengas, I thought you were meaning because they go boom, boom, boom, boom! (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boom,_Boom,_Boom,_Boom!!) ...:smalltongue:

Someone with photoshop and time on their hands, you know what to do with that album's cover art now I suppose.

[ShneekeyTheLost]

This is why I never played either of the DS Zelda games. Using a stylus instead of a d-pad for movement, and physically blowing on your DS for mechanical action? Yea, no. Like Stark said: Bad Plan.

However, Zodi commentary is always entertaining.

[DataNinja]

This is why I never played either of the DS Zelda games. Using a stylus instead of a d-pad for movement, and physically blowing on your DS for mechanical action? Yea, no. Like Stark said: Bad Plan.

However, Zodi commentary is always entertaining.

I know I personally didn't mind it, but I do agree that having an option for a different control scheme would have been nice. ...far too many games do try to force not-thought-through gimmicks onto you.

I feel like with the DS the way it is, trying to aim in a circle with it would have been an issue (Hello, Super Mario 64 DS) because of the awkwardness of the D-pad for omnidirectionalism. So, with the way the stylus is, using one hand to aim, and the other hand to hold the DS, the blowing does serve a purpose of being able to activate it immediately, instead of having to take the stylus away from the end to push a button.

[LaZodiac]

Hey let's do some training today.

Zodi Plays: The Legend of Zelda Spirit Tracks [5] Spirit Tower Block One (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ww8BFj7YL60)

Video Length: 24:59

Look it's hard to come up with funny titles ALL the time okay? Anyway, in this exciting episode, we blitz our way back to the Tower of Spirits so we can see about getting our next rail map. On the way we encounter some nasty Dark Trains that can instantly kill us if they do much as touch us, which is going to be... let's say a bit of a hassle with regards to traversing the world. They can't be killed, just stunned, so we're always going to have to deal with this looming threat of "we're on a collision course and I can't actually adjust our path" and that's just unfortunate. It's weird because like, in terms of "you are a train conductor video game" this kinda rules, it feels very much like you ARE piloting a train and have to make every move in advance. But mechanically it's kinda awful garbage that just moving across the game world is THAT dangerous.

At any rate, we get to the Spirit Tower relatively unscathed and begin climbing it once more. We encounter some new enemies (Miniblins on Armos, Geozards) that we need to dispatch and new puzzle elements to keep in mind (riding on Zelda's shield, blowing wind at fans though this isn't actually NEW, persay). All in all I like it, though it's pretty clear that we're missing a lot of stuff in this cube that we'll need other floors and other items to get too. It's over relatively quickly though, another trade up from Phantom's Ocean King Temple.

With the Snow Realm rail map acquired, we can now go wherever we wish! Only it turns out the monsters of the world are getting more restless, so we uh... actually need to stop by Castle Town to talk to Alfonzo. He'll know what to do to deal with these porcine threats to our poor train's safety! And he does... only he has to take us home to Abode Village first. And that's where we leave it off for today.

Hope you enjoyed, I'll see you all next time for a good and happy fun time. Take care!

[DataNinja]

So... the Dark Trains, uh, they've always been the creepiest part of the game for me. Their music is fierce, but, most of all... the question I've always asked myself since the first time playing the game... what happened to the people that were onboard the other trains when they were turned into Dark Trains???

To be fair, with regards to the inevitability of crashing...
The Dark Trains you actually can outrun while going backwards, as long as you keep them stunned. As long as a 2nd one doesn't come at you, and you land cannon shots, you'll be 100% okay. It's just awkward and making you need to go out of your way. It's the Armoured Trains that are Big Problems.

"The Rail map must be here because I'm back to my old self!" ...not because of the Rail Map five feet in front of you? :smalltongue:

[LaZodiac]

It's officially Wednesday in my time zone, so it's time to announce the winners!

Y'all did a three way tie good jorb. Zodi Choice is going to be "not choosing" and because one of the game's is short and one is long, we'll be doing both one after the other!

So, after Spirit Tracks, our next LP is... Ronin (https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwiM6_Kk6onmAhWyY98KHWfFCJwQwqsBMAB6BAgKE AQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DzL mbeogBfqU&usg=AOvVaw2mVfHaqQ3owhCuOvurVzBA). And then... Custom Robo for the Gamecube (https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwi77J2w6onmAhWim-AKHZg2BhAQwqsBMAB6BAgIEAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3Dzd-M3yF6akM&usg=AOvVaw2zydUkYCehMbhXK0_ZyLzs).

[DataNinja]

Technically, isn't your choice choosing both? :smallwink:

We just can't make your life easy, though, can we? :smalltongue:

[LaZodiac]

Technically, isn't your choice choosing both? :smallwink:

We just can't make your life easy, though, can we? :smalltongue:

Zodi's Choice, like many things I do, is arbitrary and silly.

Naw it's good. I honestly really wanted to show off Ronin so this works real well.

[ShneekeyTheLost]

Ronin looks like the precursor to Mark of the Ninja. Which is a compliment, by the way.

[LaZodiac]

Onwards, to further Zeldas!

Zodi Plays: The Legend of Zelda Spirit Tracks [6] Rabbitland Rescue (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ccz9gULMHZE)

Video Length: 23:18

In this exciting episode of Spirit Tracks, we prepare to leave the Spirit Tower... only to be horribly menaced by boars in a very clear and present attempt to tell us we really, truly have to go do this plot thing or we'll die. This is a conflicting thing for me because on the one hand, we do NEED the thing it's telling us to go do, both to defend ourselves and just progress in general. And if we went all the way to the edge of this realm to find that we needed to choo choo all the back... that would be bad. But ruthlessly beating the crap out of you is probably not great design either. At any rate, we return to Castle Town and pick up Alfonzo, who is ready to go back to Abode Village.

Once back home, we're given the cannon for our train so we can defend ourselves, and Grandpa Niko gives us his stamp book. Now, he never managed to get the stamp machines to STAMP anything, in his youth, so I have no idea how he knew what these things were, but hey it's a game long side quest. Let's get it done! And we do so, revisiting all the areas related to the Forest Temple and getting them stamped (plus some treasure chests and loot on the side). Then we're off... only to encounter a second game long side quest; Rabbitland! The... odd fellow who runs the place gives us our bunny catching net and tells us to go forth and catch bunnies so that we may frolic in peace. We'll attend to this as we can.

And that's... basically it. We end off this episode in the land of the Anouki once more. I'm curious if they'll have any fun puzzles with horrible punishments like last time, because I truly genuinely do not remember. This is one of the fun parts about playing a game I played and beat once long ago; I remember just enough to not be blind, but I forget so much details it may as well be blind. It rules.

Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed. I'll see you all next time for... snow. More snow.

[DataNinja]

I don't mind the instant-death trains. They're evil bombs of dark energy, and if it wasn't instant-death, honestly, there would be very little tension. They're enough to make it so that there's just a little bit of stress, while still having enough telegraphing that it's not terrible

I mean, I feel like it's recognizable as a stamp - he just didn't have anything to collect them in. You can stamp your hand, even, it'll just... wash off. :smalltongue:

Pretty sure there was a Stamp Station in Aboda that you missed. (Dunno why Niko couldn't get that one himself. :smalltongue: )

And so it begins... rabbits.
It's pretty much impossible to complete this quest before the end of the game... and some of the later rabbits can be... a thing. :smallamused:



Rabbit
Location


1
West of Anouki Village



And, yes, I am keeping track of these so Zodi doesn't need to search every single rock when it comes time to complete it. :smalltongue:

[ShneekeyTheLost]

Pac-man was a fun game back in the 80's... but it doesn't really belong in a Zelda game, which is what the train sections turn into with the ghosts evil train things on the map.

[LaZodiac]

I don't mind the instant-death trains. They're evil bombs of dark energy, and if it wasn't instant-death, honestly, there would be very little tension. They're enough to make it so that there's just a little bit of stress, while still having enough telegraphing that it's not terrible

I mean, I feel like it's recognizable as a stamp - he just didn't have anything to collect them in. You can stamp your hand, even, it'll just... wash off. :smalltongue:

Pretty sure there was a Stamp Station in Aboda that you missed. (Dunno why Niko couldn't get that one himself. :smalltongue: )

And so it begins... rabbits.
It's pretty much impossible to complete this quest before the end of the game... and some of the later rabbits can be... a thing. :smallamused:



Rabbit
Location


1
West of Anouki Village



And, yes, I am keeping track of these so Zodi doesn't need to search every single rock when it comes time to complete it. :smalltongue:

This will be appreciated, given my apparent desire to not mark them down on my map.


Pac-man was a fun game back in the 80's... but it doesn't really belong in a Zelda game, which is what the train sections turn into with the ghosts evil train things on the map.

It's a little less binary, since you can use the cannon to slow them down (not kill them...) so you CAN escape but... yeah. Yeah.

[DataNinja]

This will be appreciated, given my apparent desire to not mark them down on my map.

I always found I used my map... a lot less on the overworld. So, I get you. I fully understand. You just wanna go zoom-zoom on the train. Choo choo.


It's a little less binary, since you can use the cannon to slow them down (not kill them...) so you CAN escape but... yeah. Yeah.
They also look pretty funny while stunned.
(But, yeah, I feel like I'm the only person who actually liked the tension that (I felt) they brought. :smalltongue: )

[Qwertystop]

Since you can see where they'll turn and you plot your route ahead of time (but can change it at will if you misjudge), it doesn't seem too bad. Seems to me it'd be rare that you even get close enough to see them, if you don't want to and they don't spawn close to whichever station you're setting off from.

[DataNinja]

Pretty much the only time you'll ever be in serious trouble is if there's multiple junctions - since they'll only show the next one - and there's also one behind you. Since they can collide with each other (took me a while to figure out if they actually do, since they just appear to phase through each other on the map - but they bounce off each other and switch directions) it does mean in rare cases if you're unlucky you can get sandwiched.

[Floogal]

I was skeptical at first, but I found that a Zelda game controlled entirely by touch screen actually worked decently. In fact, throwing bombs & firing arrows worked better than classic controls! The only really awkward parts were trying to dance around and counterattack against sword & shield enemies.

Regarding controlling the flute, I found it best to blow continuously while scrolling to the different notes. Even if the next note is more than one spot away, the game was fairly lenient. If you start & stop your blowing in-between notes, that leads to failure. (Do keep in mind I played on a New 3DS XL, that may have made a difference.)

[DataNinja]

Even if the next note is more than one spot away, the game was fairly lenient.
...ehhhhhh. It was give-or-take on that. Very much a cointoss on whether it would accept it. Generally was a lot more lenient for the stuff you could afford to mess up un, I noticed. :smalltongue:

[LaZodiac]

Stop me if you heard this one before; what if we did a new Zelda today.

Zodi Plays: The Legend of Zelda Spirit Tracks [7] Mr Big Deal (https://youtu.be/97b4O8D_OiI)

Video Length: 30:27

In this episode, we are forced to interact with the Anouki once again! In Phantom Hourglass they were quite a hassle, and here... not as much, but still pretty silly. On the plus side, the puzzle they ask us to do is actually pretty easy and has some visual aids to help with it. It's cool and I like it. After matching up all the Anouki into combat pairs (and helping defeat a few enemies around the village) we're given the go-ahead to head to the Snow Sanctuary, through a scary ice cave. The ice cave in question has a monsterous miniboss in it, though it's rather easy all things considered. The double-edged sword of Train Combat is that there's only so much you can do with it.

With that done we make our way through the Snow Sanctuary, up to where Steem is. We cut our way through wolves and Ice Chu's, and have to solve a puzzle that... honestly feels broken and weird, and then finally meet our Lokomo friend. And then... it is flute time. Oh is it ever flute time. The flute has some issues in this episode, some of which I manage to find a solution for; the microphone is actually off set to the right on the 3DS I'm using to record, like the original DS's... but in the bottom right of the system, instead of the top right corner of the bottom. Which means nine times out of ten a hand will end up blocking it. So yeah, I manage to beat this one, but not without some frustration. And we're not even at the hardest one yet...

Regardless, the rail map is energized and the path to the Snow Temple is clear. Aside from the horrible blizzard surrounding it. Hope you all enjoyed, next time we take on a new dungeon!

[TheWombatOfDoom]

Hey let's do some training today.

Zodi Plays: The Legend of Zelda Spirit Tracks [5] Spirit Tower Block One (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ww8BFj7YL60)

Video Length: 24:59

Look it's hard to come up with funny titles ALL the time okay? Anyway, in this exciting episode, we blitz our way back to the Tower of Spirits so we can see about getting our next rail map. On the way we encounter some nasty Dark Trains that can instantly kill us if they do much as touch us, which is going to be... let's say a bit of a hassle with regards to traversing the world. They can't be killed, just stunned, so we're always going to have to deal with this looming threat of "we're on a collision course and I can't actually adjust our path" and that's just unfortunate. It's weird because like, in terms of "you are a train conductor video game" this kinda rules, it feels very much like you ARE piloting a train and have to make every move in advance. But mechanically it's kinda awful garbage that just moving across the game world is THAT dangerous.

At any rate, we get to the Spirit Tower relatively unscathed and begin climbing it once more. We encounter some new enemies (Miniblins on Armos, Geozards) that we need to dispatch and new puzzle elements to keep in mind (riding on Zelda's shield, blowing wind at fans though this isn't actually NEW, persay). All in all I like it, though it's pretty clear that we're missing a lot of stuff in this cube that we'll need other floors and other items to get too. It's over relatively quickly though, another trade up from Phantom's Ocean King Temple.

With the Snow Realm rail map acquired, we can now go wherever we wish! Only it turns out the monsters of the world are getting more restless, so we uh... actually need to stop by Castle Town to talk to Alfonzo. He'll know what to do to deal with these porcine threats to our poor train's safety! And he does... only he has to take us home to Abode Village first. And that's where we leave it off for today.

Hope you enjoyed, I'll see you all next time for a good and happy fun time. Take care!



Zelda back rides! Squeeeee.

Would you consider that spinenut to be Spinenut, Fast Red or just plain red?

Should I count the Mounted Miniblin as separate kills, or one kill for the "mounted miniblin" since they die together? I'm torn, because one means more kills, and more types killed, the other marks it as a unique creature that is killed....

I'll edit the below as we agree.



EPISODE 5 KILL TALLY!

Keese - 2
Red Spinenut - 1
Geozard - 2
Mounted Miniblin - 3
Phantom - 1

Style Points - 0

Missed Rupees - 0 (x5 combo!)



Spirit Tracks
Total Kills
(As of Episode 5)

Bubbles - 4
Chuchu, Red - 12
Crows - 1
Geozard - 1
Keese - 7
Miniblins, Mounted - 3
Rats - 4
Phantoms - 2

Insects
Bee Hives - 3
Mothula, Winged - 1
Blastworms - 22
Vengas - 7
Stagnox - 1

Spinenuts
Spinenuts, Red - 24
Spinenuts, Green - 1

Total Things Dead - 55

1st Place - Red Spinenuts, at 24!
2nd Place - Blastworms, at 22!
3rd Place - Red Chuchus, at 12!

Total Style Points - 0

Total Missed Rupees - 0
Total Lost Rupees - 0

[LaZodiac]

I think marking it as just a red spinenut is fine, and keeping it as a Mounted Miniblin works. Enemy ecology is super weird and kinda cool, and given the armos literally cannot function without the Miniblin piloting it, I think that denotes some level of symbiosis.

[DataNinja]

Wait, you didn't give us enough time to stop you for hearing it! :smallwink:

Probably don't want to sell that stone, though. It's useful for... stuff later, and a pain to get more.

Ah, Anouki and their logic puzzles. Never change. And by 'never change' I mean, 'please, please change'. :smalltongue:

...I totally forgot that this guy was here. He's actually pretty challenging on the last hit if you're not used to the controls, because he's fast.

Yeeeeah, the sliding not working... very much going to come into play. Can confirm.



Rabbit
Location


1
West of Anouki Village

[LaZodiac]

All board, it's time for another Spirit Tracks.

Zodi Plays: The Legend of Zelda Spirit Tracks [8] Ferrus Boiler's Day Off (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgKl1vgtXjo)

Video Length: 22:58

In this episode, we discover- unsurprisingly- that the path to the Snow Temple is obscured by a horrible magic blizzard. The Anouki let us know that a youth who researches the Spirit Tracks likely knows how to get through it. We check out his home at the Wellspring Station, and find he's gone to take photos of the Dark Trains. After some futzing around on the tracks looking for him, we find the guy and learn how to get through to the Snow Temple. We then do so.

Yeah not a very eventful episode. This happens sometimes. Hope you all enjoyed though, I'll see you all next time!

[DataNinja]

...I'm pretty sure he can tell what prize you won by the fact that he has to carry around a skull. :smalltongue:
(Or the fact that his employer says "hey, here's the 3rd place winner, here's the 2nd, here's the 1st...")

Don't worry too much about marking down which bunnies you've got or not, Zodi. I mentioned to you, I'm doing all that location work 100% for you. :smallsmile:

Ah, yes. Tense dark train run away. It's times like that that I (and apparently nobody else) actually like the Dark Trains for. Means there's a little bit more tension. As opposed to... yeah, just drive to track location X.

The tracks that you're on in the blizzard are the direct conduit. They're the blue tracks once the power's restored, the ones that you see power surging along in the cutscene.



Rabbit
Location


1
West of Anouki Village


2
East of Anouki Village

[LaZodiac]

This feels like a fine morning for a Zelda.

Zodi Plays: The Legend of Zelda Spirit Tracks [9] Fraaz (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_b_BjxAqYI)

Video Length: 28:31

In this exciting episode, we take on the Snow Temple! And while I don't really mention it in video since I'm just having a lot of fun with it, this dungeon is a wonderful example of iterative puzzle design! Now, there's really only the one critical path, no variety in what ways you CAN do the temple, but all the puzzles build off each other in a really interesting way. We've got the bells we need to collect, done through a series of ice pushing puzzles. We've got the fire and ice flame torches, interactable with the dungeon item; our fancy new boomerang. We've got increasingly harder challenges WITH those torches, culminating in a challenge were we've gotta hit multiple torches with different elements all at once, while staying within the length limit of the boomerang. It's all really cool!

Made even cooler by two facts. Firstly, the Whirlwind fan is still relevant for much of the dungeon! That's cool, and a little rare for this series. Secondly, the boss also uses those same mechanics the dungeon used. Fraaz requires being hit, sometimes multiple times, with the opposite element to whatever one he's currently preparing to spit out. It's a hectic, troublesome boss fight but it's one that really feels like a capstone to what the dungeon has been making you do in general. The Forest Temple kinda has that as well, with blowing the bomb larva at it and stuff, but it doesn't' quite have the same feel.

With Fraaz defeated, the Snow Force Gem is saved and another main line to the Spirit Tower is restored. Another chunk of building snaps into place, and our next destination is clear; next time, we return to the Tower of Spirits to climb it ever further. Hope you all enjoyed, I'll see you all next time.

[DataNinja]

I just love love love all the boomerang puzzles in this game. Like, I feel like it's the item that's enhanced most by being Touchscreen. That and bombchus (which I don't recall if they're in this game, or just PH).

The snow on the ground in the Wolfos room was probably just for the Wolfos to properly be able to act in (given they pop out of/hide in snow). If you could get rid of it, it'd look a lot more awkward than them jumping out of an inch of snow. :smalltongue:

I actually felt like that boss was decent in difficulty. It's not super easy to perpetually stunlock, and it uses a bunch of clever mechanics - and he actually destroys the things you use to hurt him after he realizes that. :smallamused:

If you'll notice, indeed, the track you took to get here were the sparkling ones on the map. And if you travel back along them, they should be blue.



Rabbit
Location


1
West of Anouki Village


2
East of Anouki Village

[LaZodiac]

Posting this a little earlate because I definitely did not forget to edit this up due to being sick as ****.

Zodi Plays: The Legend of Zelda Spirit Tracks [10] Darkness Mechanic (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4XrUsCpYuQ&feature=youtu.be)

Video Length: 28:19

In this episode, we make our way out of the Snow Temple... after a surprisingly long amount of running around to get around the Dark Trains. How rude of them! We do end up getting a fair amount of rupees and a few bunnies for it though, so it's good. We also make our way over to a friendly face; Beedle and his Shop Ship. This time an airship, and surprisingly hard to dock with. He's more or less the same as he was in Phantom Hourglass, barring a few things we'll get into Later. We buy bombs from him, since in like half the Zelda game's bombs are just an item you stumble across in a store as opposed to being a dungeon item and that feels kinda weird to me.

With that all done we get back to the Tower of Spirits to get into our next chunk of tower... and it's a hell of a chunk! Welcome to awful darkness mechanics that, for the most part, actually make this worse than the Ocean King's Temple. The time limit and the harsh punishment of getting spotted and smacked, the horrifying length and constant repetition, it's all a lot. But is it worse than "here is an entire chunk of floors where you see basically nothing"? That's for you to decide. In my opinion it just barely does, after being reminded of it.

and that's the episode for todaynight. I hope you all enjoyed, I'll see you all next time. After that who knows I've been mainlining cough candies all day I might be dead by next week. I hate being sick. Take care.

[DataNinja]

...was not expecting this to be up now, but I'll take it. Along with giving well-wishes of health.

So, uh, fun fact. Since Spirit Tracks was the first game that I ever played in the Zelda Series... that 'familiar face' was not at all familiar to me. I genuinely thought that was a penguin on the map, drifting across, and I was so completely confused.

...yep, I did the cannon shot the first time, too. Oops.

The postman gets paid by the stop, I see. :smalltongue:

I actually really like these dark rooms. Mapping out your own stuff, choosing how much detail you need... though, the dark can be a little obnoxious at time. I do think it's done decently.

Fun fact, re: Zelda's Revenge. If you hit Zelda too often, she'll say some lines, and then eventually whack Link back. It's a fun little easter egg.



Rabbit
Location


1
West of Anouki Village


2
East of Anouki Village


3
Northwest of Snow Maze


4
Northeast of Snow Maze


5
Southwest of Snow Maze



Also don't die. We can't pay you money or enjoy your company if you do that. :smallwink:

[Avigor]

I've played about 99.9% of ST. Got to the final boss fight, but was having difficulty, and also remembered that from dialogue and glimpses into guides I knew there would be another of those :smallfurious::smallyuk::furious: song sequences after the fight, which I barely managed to squeak by one or two on my own (no joke, I'm in my 30's and I handed my 3DS to my sister to complete most of them because she's more musically inclined than me, which is a complete reversal given that I beat AoL for her back in the day), so yeah... I never finished it. Which makes 5 Zelda games I started but never finished; the other 4 are the original LoZ (I got stuck in one of the dungeons halfway through; I don't think I fared any better attempting to switch to the AQ either), OoA (I'm stuck on a minigame with the dinos where you have to do timed throws), HW:L (I know it's not canonical and is extremely different in gameplay, but I did want to at least try it and then I barely finished one level before I got distracted and haven't gone back), and Skyward Sword (where I managed to lock myself out of a Piece of Heart by getting the Triforce before I went back to the pit to get it and then it vanished off the face of proto-Hyrule, leaving me feeling disinclined to finish given my completionist nature). Those 4, combined with the games I have yet to play (MC, OoS, BotW, all the multiple Link games which I refuse to touch on principle), has been leaving me feeling incomplete... I need to get around to finishing all of them and get the ones I lack (I own OoS on my 3DS but haven't started it)...

[DataNinja]

Hey, since you're mentioning stuff from further into the game, would you mind spoilering it, please? It may not be much, but there are still people who don't know what's coming.

[Amechra]

Feel better, Zodi!

[LaZodiac]

Feel better, Zodi!

Thanks! I think the Weekend will help with my recovery. Fingers crossed.

[LaZodiac]

I'm feeling better, and a Zelda video appears. Funny how these things work.

Zodi Plays: The Legend of Zelda Spirit Tracks [11] Take Em All Out (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWO5abDmcVY)

Video Length: 26:17

In this exciting episode, we have a... interesting time slicing our way through the rest of this chunk of the Tower of Spirit, and then get our next rail map. However, we won't be going to the new place juuust yet, we've got some minor clean up to do. Minor clean up that ends up taking up the rest of the video, as these things tend to do. We do some practice fighting with Guard Captain Russel, who as it turns out is another train term since the "Russel Car" is what Japan calls the Wedge Plow. Just a neat thing. We get a heart container from it, and that's the only thing of value this minigame has so we're never touching it again!

Then we do the minigame that names this video; Take Em All Out. Or is it Take Em All On, I literally don't remember anymore being sick sucks folks. Regardless it's a fun little challenge where we fight our way through a ton of enemies. All stuff we've handled before, since this first chamber is basically just all Dungeon 1 enemies. It ends with a boss refight, a rarity in the Zelda series! Our reward is, of course, another Heart Container. Heck yeah.

And that'll be it for today. I hope you all enjoyed. Bit a lowkey episode today, but I was sick it's how these things go. Take care!

[TheWombatOfDoom]

Onwards, to further Zeldas!

Zodi Plays: The Legend of Zelda Spirit Tracks [6] Rabbitland Rescue (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ccz9gULMHZE)

Video Length: 23:18

In this exciting episode of Spirit Tracks, we prepare to leave the Spirit Tower... only to be horribly menaced by boars in a very clear and present attempt to tell us we really, truly have to go do this plot thing or we'll die. This is a conflicting thing for me because on the one hand, we do NEED the thing it's telling us to go do, both to defend ourselves and just progress in general. And if we went all the way to the edge of this realm to find that we needed to choo choo all the back... that would be bad. But ruthlessly beating the crap out of you is probably not great design either. At any rate, we return to Castle Town and pick up Alfonzo, who is ready to go back to Abode Village.

Once back home, we're given the cannon for our train so we can defend ourselves, and Grandpa Niko gives us his stamp book. Now, he never managed to get the stamp machines to STAMP anything, in his youth, so I have no idea how he knew what these things were, but hey it's a game long side quest. Let's get it done! And we do so, revisiting all the areas related to the Forest Temple and getting them stamped (plus some treasure chests and loot on the side). Then we're off... only to encounter a second game long side quest; Rabbitland! The... odd fellow who runs the place gives us our bunny catching net and tells us to go forth and catch bunnies so that we may frolic in peace. We'll attend to this as we can.

And that's... basically it. We end off this episode in the land of the Anouki once more. I'm curious if they'll have any fun puzzles with horrible punishments like last time, because I truly genuinely do not remember. This is one of the fun parts about playing a game I played and beat once long ago; I remember just enough to not be blind, but I forget so much details it may as well be blind. It rules.

Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed. I'll see you all next time for... snow. More snow.


Aboda, as in Abode. :D

All this talk about being a good conductor, narrowly avoiding oncoming trains, and you smash into the station anyway. :smallbiggrin::smallwink:

Those stamps are hella stylish.

I woooooondered what the title was referencing. Interesting...



EPISODE 6 KILL TALLY!

Snurgle - 1
Red Spinenut - 2
Skultula - 4
Bulbos - 4

Style Points - 0

Missed Rupees - 0 (x6 combo!)



Spirit Tracks
Total Kills
(As of Episode 6)

Bubbles - 4
Bulbos - 4
Chuchu, Red - 12
Crows - 1
Geozard - 1
Keese - 7
Miniblins, Mounted - 3
Rats - 4
Phantoms - 2
Skultula - 4
Snurgle - 1

Insects
Bee Hives - 3
Mothula, Winged - 1
Blastworms - 22
Vengas - 7
Stagnox - 1

Spinenuts
Spinenuts, Red - 26
Spinenuts, Green - 1

Total Things Dead - 66

1st Place - Red Spinenuts, at 26!
2nd Place - Blastworms, at 22!
3rd Place - Red Chuchus, at 12!

Total Style Points - 0

Total Missed Rupees - 0
Total Lost Rupees - 0

[LaZodiac]

Running my dumbass into the station wall because I was distracted at how cool I am is peak Zodi.

[TheWombatOfDoom]

Stop me if you heard this one before; what if we did a new Zelda today.

Zodi Plays: The Legend of Zelda Spirit Tracks [7] Mr Big Deal (https://youtu.be/97b4O8D_OiI)

Video Length: 30:27

In this episode, we are forced to interact with the Anouki once again! In Phantom Hourglass they were quite a hassle, and here... not as much, but still pretty silly. On the plus side, the puzzle they ask us to do is actually pretty easy and has some visual aids to help with it. It's cool and I like it. After matching up all the Anouki into combat pairs (and helping defeat a few enemies around the village) we're given the go-ahead to head to the Snow Sanctuary, through a scary ice cave. The ice cave in question has a monsterous miniboss in it, though it's rather easy all things considered. The double-edged sword of Train Combat is that there's only so much you can do with it.

With that done we make our way through the Snow Sanctuary, up to where Steem is. We cut our way through wolves and Ice Chu's, and have to solve a puzzle that... honestly feels broken and weird, and then finally meet our Lokomo friend. And then... it is flute time. Oh is it ever flute time. The flute has some issues in this episode, some of which I manage to find a solution for; the microphone is actually off set to the right on the 3DS I'm using to record, like the original DS's... but in the bottom right of the system, instead of the top right corner of the bottom. Which means nine times out of ten a hand will end up blocking it. So yeah, I manage to beat this one, but not without some frustration. And we're not even at the hardest one yet...

Regardless, the rail map is energized and the path to the Snow Temple is clear. Aside from the horrible blizzard surrounding it. Hope you all enjoyed, next time we take on a new dungeon!

Interestingly enough, the pairings resemble a train track...

Rocktite! But it didn't jump! Anyway, no hit kill on the miniboss...also, I'm retro actively giving you a style point for the lost woods stuff because it was HILARIOUS and it still makes me laugh. so +2 STYLEPOINTS!!!

Steem is not a lunatic! He's got a loco-motive though... :smallbiggrin: UGH that frantic frustration flute.



EPISODE 7 KILL TALLY!

Ice Chuchu - 5
White Wolfos - 8
Bulbos - 2
Rocktite - 1

Style Points - 2

Missed Rupees - 0 (x7 combo!)



Spirit Tracks
Total Kills
(As of Episode 7)

Bubbles - 4
Bulbos - 6
Crows - 1
Geozard - 1
Keese - 7
Miniblins, Mounted - 3
Rats - 4
Rocktite - 1
Phantoms - 2
Skultula - 4
Snurgle - 1
Wolfos, White - 8

Bugs
Bee Hives - 3
Mothula, Winged - 1
Blastworms - 22
Vengas - 7
Stagnox - 1

Chuchus
Chuchu, Red - 12
Chuchus, Ice - 5

Spinenuts
Spinenuts, Red - 26
Spinenuts, Green - 1

Total Things Dead - 82

1st Place - Red Spinenuts, at 26!
2nd Place - Blastworms, at 22!
3rd Place - Red Chuchus, at 12!

Total Style Points - 2

Total Missed Rupees - 0
Total Lost Rupees - 0

[LaZodiac]

Yeah I got some other choice f words for the Spirit Flute I tell you what.

Also hell yeah, style~

I never realized that the pairings formed a train track. That's... actually pretty great.

[DataNinja]

Ah, yeah, if you absolutely loathe darkness mechanics... this is probably not the game for you. There's a decent amount of it.

I think you got everything on that floor? There might be one missed bombable wall, but that might be later.

Sadly, no way to do the tower of spirits out of order. Just Zelda being sassy. :smalltongue:

Anyways, I definitely feel like I'm enjoying this all more than you are, oops. :smalltongue:



Rabbit
Location


1
West of Anouki Village


2
East of Anouki Village


3
Northwest of Snow Maze


4
Northeast of Snow Maze


5
Southwest of Snow Maze

[LaZodiac]

Hey, what if we did some more Zelda. That'd be fun right?

Zodi Plays: The Legend of Zelda Spirit Tracks [12] Pass-Enger (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mb-Ln8DGqkk)

Video Length: 28:07

In this one, we finally make our way to the bridge to the Ocean Realm... unsurprisingly it is broken and in need of some fixing. Thankfully, the owner of the nearby Trade Store knows exactly who can help us... though of course we already do as well. But it takes the return of a fan beloved character('s grandson) to save the day! Unfortunately this is basically all he does, beyond serving as a shop once this whole mess is dealt with. We'll go over what Linebeck the Third does once he does so.

But yeah, we need to get the bridge builder, and get him we do. It's time for the minigame I thought we had to do with Alfonzo! Transporting passengers requires strict adherence to rail signs, and a general level of competency when it comes to parking the train. I've been trying to practice this, but it appears I forgot you can't emergency break with a passenger because they'll get hurt. Now, I don't actually KNOW what happens if the passenger jumps out of the train and yells a bunch at you, but presumably it makes you restart the minigame? Which is uh... bad, for a number of reasons. Also during this minigame we open up our first star gate, quite conveniently since I had forgotten where the first gate even was!

Unfortunately... it'll take 5000 rupees to get this bridge fixed. And good ole Linebeck the Third has put the bill entirely on our foot. Great. Thankfully, OUR Linebeck left a fun little treasure hunt to find a Regal Ring that will give us the big bucks when sold... to Linebeck, the man who needs to give the money over. This damned monster of a man I just noticed that discrepancy HERE, as I write this. Good lord. I hate Linebeck the third since he's all of the bad qualities of Linebeck without any of the good, or the opportunity to learn those good.

At any rate, with trusty clues in hand we head off to find the buried treasure. Hope you all enjoyed, I'll see you all next time! Take care!

[DataNinja]

A note that you should probably look at that pond of water in the top-left of Anouki village. There's a thing there, now that you've cleared Snow Temple, IIRC. Also 6 Rabbits is enough for the first Rabbitland Rescue prize (you need 5).

Also, I know you wanted to gather collectibles, but I do think the intended route to get bridgebuilder was back through Spirit Tower. Would have shaved off a lot of distance. And I am 99% sure (and what I can read on the internet supports this) that you can take passengers through the Tower. Doesn't help you now, but...

So, passenger mechanics: Your passengers have 3 moods, displayed above the car. Happy, neutral, sad. If you make a mistake (or let the train get hit), the mood goes down 1. If you follow the signs, the mood goes up 1. If it goes down one at red/sad, only then will the passenger exit, yell at you, and walk back to the start (...even if the end is closer). The mood matters zero for what happens at the final destination. So... as long as you ain't at red, feel free to slam on the breaks at the station.

The nice things about gates is you can choose which way you can go when you come out, and you'll auto-flip that way. (For marking, I might suggest marking them down in letter sets, rather than drawings. But, whatever helps you remember.)

I've got more to comment on re: Linebeck III and some interesting things about this quest that I found during my experiences... but those can wait until we've actually finished up here.



Rabbit
Location


1
West of Anouki Village


2
East of Anouki Village


3
Northwest of Snow Maze


4
Northeast of Snow Maze


5
Southwest of Snow Maze


6
West of Hyrule Castle


7
South of Rabbitland Rescue



But, just to note, your Writeup says the Ring is sold to Linebeck to procure the money - it is not. It is worth that much, and he intends to sell it himself to gather up the dough.

[LaZodiac]

A note that you should probably look at that pond of water in the top-left of Anouki village. There's a thing there, now that you've cleared Snow Temple, IIRC. Also 6 Rabbits is enough for the first Rabbitland Rescue prize (you need 5).

Also, I know you wanted to gather collectibles, but I do think the intended route to get bridgebuilder was back through Spirit Tower. Would have shaved off a lot of distance. And I am 99% sure (and what I can read on the internet supports this) that you can take passengers through the Tower. Doesn't help you now, but...

So, passenger mechanics: Your passengers have 3 moods, displayed above the car. Happy, neutral, sad. If you make a mistake (or let the train get hit), the mood goes down 1. If you follow the signs, the mood goes up 1. If it goes down one at red/sad, only then will the passenger exit, yell at you, and walk back to the start (...even if the end is closer). The mood matters zero for what happens at the final destination. So... as long as you ain't at red, feel free to slam on the breaks at the station.

The nice things about gates is you can choose which way you can go when you come out, and you'll auto-flip that way. (For marking, I might suggest marking them down in letter sets, rather than drawings. But, whatever helps you remember.)

I've got more to comment on re: Linebeck III and some interesting things about this quest that I found during my experiences... but those can wait until we've actually finished up here.

But, just to note, your Writeup says the Ring is sold to Linebeck to procure the money - it is not. It is worth that much, and he intends to sell it himself to gather up the dough.

Some very good advice from our resident rail tracer. Thanks DataNinja! I'll keep that all in mind.

Also I'm not gonna like I checked out on what Linebeck the Third was saying after a certain point. Recording videos after work is hard.

[DataNinja]

Some very good advice from our resident rail tracer. Thanks DataNinja! I'll keep that all in mind.

Also I'm not gonna like I checked out on what Linebeck the Third was saying after a certain point. Recording videos after work is hard.

Oh, also, if you sit on a gate, you can just blow the whistle and you'll go back in it. So, if you're being chased, or just need to turn around on a straightaway or something, you can do so. Pretty sure it also resets the dark train positions, though can't recall if any gates are on Dark Train tracks.

...and, yeah, fair. He really doesn't have much of value to say anyways. And he has even less redeeming values than you think. But... we'll burn that bridge when we get there. (Metaphorically.) :smalltongue:

[LaZodiac]

Time for a long one today. Hope you're ready!

Zodi Plays: The Legend of Zelda Spirit Tracks [13] There and Back Again (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMZ5D1nOwvw)

Video Length: 42:01

In this episode, we finally pay off the bridge debt, but not before making Linebeck the Third our... less than altruistic ally, and gaining access to the ability to customize our train! As well as buy train parts, by trading him large amounts of treasure. Now, when I originally played this game I uh... barely got ANY treasure and as such basically got nothing. I'll be doing my best to get all the pieces since it's actually fairly viable to do so in this game, but we'll see how that goes. Like with Phantom Hourglass, I don't make any real promises.

More importantly, we finally get access to the Ocean Realm! And in doing so we get access to one village that is entirely without purpose in almost every single regard, and also the Ocean Sanctuary where Carben hangs out. Unfortunately, after some fooling around, we learn that he ended up NOT kidnapped like the men of the village, but instead hanging out with some birds. I don't know why they made us go through all this when we could have just found him on our first visit to the town, but so it goes. Lotta busy work in this one folks.

We do have something interesting happen; An oddity for a game about a train, but we're attacked by pirates! A veritable swarm of miniblins attack, followed by one massive, hp sponge of an ******* in the Big Blin. If any enemy gets close enough to Carben during this, and manages to get him in a cage, it's an explicit game over! Which uh... is bad, except for the part that this is actually fairly easy. And with the pirates all slain, we can finally perform our awful awful flute time with Carben to reveal the rest of the Ocean Spirit Track, which we do. Not before getting a taste of how miserable it is to play a flute song with notes that aren't all lined up together of course, but still...

And with that, this extra long episode is done. I could have probably cut it in the middle somewhere, but I felt it worked better like this. Hope you all enjoyed, take care, and happy holidays.

[TheWombatOfDoom]

All board, it's time for another Spirit Tracks.

Zodi Plays: The Legend of Zelda Spirit Tracks [8] Ferrus Boiler's Day Off (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgKl1vgtXjo)

Video Length: 22:58

In this episode, we discover- unsurprisingly- that the path to the Snow Temple is obscured by a horrible magic blizzard. The Anouki let us know that a youth who researches the Spirit Tracks likely knows how to get through it. We check out his home at the Wellspring Station, and find he's gone to take photos of the Dark Trains. After some futzing around on the tracks looking for him, we find the guy and learn how to get through to the Snow Temple. We then do so.

Yeah not a very eventful episode. This happens sometimes. Hope you all enjoyed though, I'll see you all next time!

+1 Style Point for the pun. I love it.

Ah, finding the path forward. I would have probably tried brute forcing it. I'm assuming the paths are always different?





EPISODE 8 KILL TALLY!

Ice Chuchu - 1
White Wolfos - 4
Sir Frosty - 14

Style Points - 1

Missed Rupees - 0 (x8 combo!)



Spirit Tracks
Total Kills
(As of Episode 8)

Bubbles - 4
Bulbos - 6
Crows - 1
Geozard - 1
Keese - 7
Miniblins, Mounted - 3
Rats - 4
Phantoms - 2
Sir Frosty - 14
Snurgle - 1
Wolfos, White - 12

Bugs
Bee Hives - 3
Mothula, Winged - 1
Blastworms - 22
Vengas - 7
Stagnox - 1

Chuchus
Chuchu, Red - 12
Chuchus, Ice - 6

Molds
Rocktite - 1
Skultula - 4

Spinenuts
Spinenuts, Red - 26
Spinenuts, Green - 1

Total Things Dead - 101

1st Place - Red Spinenuts, at 26!
2nd Place - Blastworms, at 22!
3rd Place - Sir Frosty, at 14!

Total Style Points - 3

Total Missed Rupees - 0
Total Lost Rupees - 0

[enderlord99]

I'm assuming the paths are always different?

Nope. It's always the exact same path, but it won't actually work until you talk to Ferrus.

[TheWombatOfDoom]

This feels like a fine morning for a Zelda.

Zodi Plays: The Legend of Zelda Spirit Tracks [9] Fraaz (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_b_BjxAqYI)

Video Length: 28:31

In this exciting episode, we take on the Snow Temple! And while I don't really mention it in video since I'm just having a lot of fun with it, this dungeon is a wonderful example of iterative puzzle design! Now, there's really only the one critical path, no variety in what ways you CAN do the temple, but all the puzzles build off each other in a really interesting way. We've got the bells we need to collect, done through a series of ice pushing puzzles. We've got the fire and ice flame torches, interactable with the dungeon item; our fancy new boomerang. We've got increasingly harder challenges WITH those torches, culminating in a challenge were we've gotta hit multiple torches with different elements all at once, while staying within the length limit of the boomerang. It's all really cool!

Made even cooler by two facts. Firstly, the Whirlwind fan is still relevant for much of the dungeon! That's cool, and a little rare for this series. Secondly, the boss also uses those same mechanics the dungeon used. Fraaz requires being hit, sometimes multiple times, with the opposite element to whatever one he's currently preparing to spit out. It's a hectic, troublesome boss fight but it's one that really feels like a capstone to what the dungeon has been making you do in general. The Forest Temple kinda has that as well, with blowing the bomb larva at it and stuff, but it doesn't' quite have the same feel.

With Fraaz defeated, the Snow Force Gem is saved and another main line to the Spirit Tower is restored. Another chunk of building snaps into place, and our next destination is clear; next time, we return to the Tower of Spirits to climb it ever further. Hope you all enjoyed, I'll see you all next time.

My favorite temple/dungeons with zelda are ones that are iterative. Which is usually why the last temple is always the best one, but not always...

I think Octive is an octorok, but also is a pun with music since you ring bells in this one.

Eggnog...ew. Sorry, I'm glad you enjoy it! More for you! I just can't stand it...

After last time, I was expecting a bomb as the item...but boomerang works! Of course it leads to problematic moments where you kill things over pits, and lose your 8 episode streak for rupees. Sad. Maybe next time! Also, you'd think it'd automatically give you rupees over water like it does while on the train or in windwaker, but noooooooooo.

Yo, this bell puzzle thing is really awesome! And the boomerang can melt snow? So cool! I notice that frozen grass gives you nothing when chopped, but if you restore it with fire to normal grass, it starts dropping items. AND you can freeze water? DUDE. This is a great dungeon...

When Fraaz came out as fire and ice puffs, I got Twinrova vibes. The mouse wizard...was not that... Hey wait, Fraaz. That's like Blaaz from Phantom Hourglass!



EPISODE 9 KILL TALLY!

Ice Chuchu - 4
Mini Freezard - 1
Octive - 4
Ice Keese - 4
Red Octorok - 4
Fire Keese - 4
White Wolfos - 4
Fraaz - 1

Style Points - 0

Missed Rupees - 2 (combo broken!)



Spirit Tracks
Total Kills
(As of Episode 9)

Bubbles - 4
Bulbos - 6
Crows - 1
Fraaz - 1
Freezard, Mini - 1
Geozard - 1
Miniblins, Mounted - 3
Rats - 4
Phantoms - 2
Sir Frosty - 14
Snurgle - 1
Wolfos, White - 16

Bugs
Bee Hives - 3
Mothula, Winged - 1
Blastworms - 22
Vengas - 7
Stagnox - 1

Chuchus
Chuchu, Red - 12
Chuchus, Ice - 10

Keese
Keese - 7
Keese, Ice - 4
Keese, Fire - 4

Molds
Rocktite - 1
Skultula - 4

Octorok
Octorok, Red - 4
Octive - 4

Spinenuts
Spinenuts, Red - 26
Spinenuts, Green - 1

Total Things Dead - 127

1st Place - Red Spinenuts, at 26!
2nd Place - Blastworms, at 22!
3rd Place - Sir Frosty, at 14!

Total Style Points - 3

Total Missed Rupees - 2
Total Lost Rupees - 0

[Qwertystop]

I like that not only did your guess for the pattern to draw work, the game fudged things to let it work. You drew a sideways hourglass, but the pattern was double diamonds.

[LaZodiac]

This is probably the best dungeon in this game. Also yeah Flaaz is like Blaaz, more parallels from Phantom!

Also yes I love cheating the game in ways like that. It rules.

[TheWombatOfDoom]

Posting this a little earlate because I definitely did not forget to edit this up due to being sick as ****.

Zodi Plays: The Legend of Zelda Spirit Tracks [10] Darkness Mechanic (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4XrUsCpYuQ&feature=youtu.be)

Video Length: 28:19

In this episode, we make our way out of the Snow Temple... after a surprisingly long amount of running around to get around the Dark Trains. How rude of them! We do end up getting a fair amount of rupees and a few bunnies for it though, so it's good. We also make our way over to a friendly face; Beedle and his Shop Ship. This time an airship, and surprisingly hard to dock with. He's more or less the same as he was in Phantom Hourglass, barring a few things we'll get into Later. We buy bombs from him, since in like half the Zelda game's bombs are just an item you stumble across in a store as opposed to being a dungeon item and that feels kinda weird to me.

With that all done we get back to the Tower of Spirits to get into our next chunk of tower... and it's a hell of a chunk! Welcome to awful darkness mechanics that, for the most part, actually make this worse than the Ocean King's Temple. The time limit and the harsh punishment of getting spotted and smacked, the horrifying length and constant repetition, it's all a lot. But is it worse than "here is an entire chunk of floors where you see basically nothing"? That's for you to decide. In my opinion it just barely does, after being reminded of it.

and that's the episode for todaynight. I hope you all enjoyed, I'll see you all next time. After that who knows I've been mainlining cough candies all day I might be dead by next week. I hate being sick. Take care.

Hey! The Ghost Trains can hit each other but not us? That's not fair!

LMAO, you docking with beedle, and then shooting him at the last second was gold. OMG, he just straight up left you. LOL. Ah so Bombs aren't even a dungeon item. They're just purchasable like some other future-past zeldas. This isn't even Beedles only airship!

I like how the Chu just ignores the mailman.

Darkness Tower section is kinda neat, and kinda not.



EPISODE 10 KILL TALLY!

Sir Freeze - 14
Crow - 1
Red Chuchu - 4
Bulbo - 1
Bulblin - 1

Style Points - 0

Missed Rupees - 0



Spirit Tracks
Total Kills
(As of Episode 10)

Bubbles - 4
Bulbos - 7
Crows - 2
Fraaz - 1
Freezard, Mini - 1
Geozard - 1
Rats - 4
Phantoms - 2
Sir Frosty - 28
Snurgle - 1
Wolfos, White - 16

Blins
Miniblins, Mounted - 3
Bulblin, Archer - 1

Bugs
Bee Hives - 3
Mothula, Winged - 1
Blastworms - 22
Vengas - 7
Stagnox - 1

Chuchus
Chuchu, Red - 16
Chuchus, Ice - 10

Keese
Keese - 7
Keese, Ice - 4
Keese, Fire - 4

Molds
Rocktite - 1
Skultula - 4

Octorok
Octorok, Red - 4
Octive - 4

Spinenuts
Spinenuts, Red - 26
Spinenuts, Green - 1

Total Things Dead - 148

1st Place - Sir Frosty, at 28!
2nd Place - Red Spinenuts, at 26!
3rd Place - Blastworms, at 22!

Total Style Points - 3

Total Missed Rupees - 2
Total Lost Rupees - 0

[LaZodiac]

There are ways to make darkness mechanics work and this is 100% not one of them.

Also yes, the mailman is immune to most enemies. I put the onus on the hat for that one.

Also there are some errors on your kill list. You've got Sir Frosty in the second place despite having more. I'm sure you're just hustling because of the season and such, just wanted to point it out.

[TheWombatOfDoom]

I'm feeling better, and a Zelda video appears. Funny how these things work.

Zodi Plays: The Legend of Zelda Spirit Tracks [11] Take Em All Out (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWO5abDmcVY)

Video Length: 26:17

In this exciting episode, we have a... interesting time slicing our way through the rest of this chunk of the Tower of Spirit, and then get our next rail map. However, we won't be going to the new place juuust yet, we've got some minor clean up to do. Minor clean up that ends up taking up the rest of the video, as these things tend to do. We do some practice fighting with Guard Captain Russel, who as it turns out is another train term since the "Russel Car" is what Japan calls the Wedge Plow. Just a neat thing. We get a heart container from it, and that's the only thing of value this minigame has so we're never touching it again!

Then we do the minigame that names this video; Take Em All Out. Or is it Take Em All On, I literally don't remember anymore being sick sucks folks. Regardless it's a fun little challenge where we fight our way through a ton of enemies. All stuff we've handled before, since this first chamber is basically just all Dungeon 1 enemies. It ends with a boss refight, a rarity in the Zelda series! Our reward is, of course, another Heart Container. Heck yeah.

And that'll be it for today. I hope you all enjoyed. Bit a lowkey episode today, but I was sick it's how these things go. Take care!

Hm, it looks like now that your sword is powered up, you can kill the nocturnes as well!

+1 Style Points for killing a Key Master with a Key. I like how the other two were busy beating up zelda so they didn't bother you and your key blowing shenanigans...

Zelda is confirmed a troll. Want to continue? Oh, we can't, Link. Why would you ask that?

Side questing! Huzzah! (also, the verbalizations of whenever you stamp are charming af) Zodi, you said the spinenuts are all brown...but aren't they supposed to be red? What color are the bubbles clouds? I like these boss rushes. And even more that there's an official listing as to how many each is.

You killed lik 85 enemies this episode! +1 Style Point!

Also, noted your fix for my last tally, and repaired it. Not that Sir Frosty hasn't been bumped out immediately following that for this one. :smallamused: Thanks for the help.



EPISODE 11 KILL TALLY!

Nocturne - 5
Key Master - 6
Geozard, Chief - 1
Phantom - 1
Red Spinenut - 13
Red Octorok - 14
Rat - 5
Bubble - 8
Red Chuchu - 10
Blastworm - 15
Keese - 6
Mothula - 2
Stagnox - 1

Style Points - 2

Missed Rupees - 0



Spirit Tracks
Total Kills
(As of Episode 11)

Bubbles - 12
Bee Hives - 3
Bulbos - 7
Crows - 2
Fraaz - 1
Freezard, Mini - 1
Key Master - 6
Rats - 9
Sir Frosty - 28
Snurgle - 1
Wolfos, White - 16

Blins
Miniblins, Mounted - 3
Bulblin, Archer - 1

Chuchus
Chuchu, Red - 26
Chuchus, Ice - 10

Keese
Keese - 13
Keese, Ice - 4
Keese, Fire - 4

Lizal
Geozard - 1
Geozard, Chief - 1

Molds
Mothula, Winged - 3
Blastworms - 37
Vengas - 7
Stagnox - 2
Rocktite - 1
Skultula - 4

Octorok
Octorok, Red - 18
Octive - 4

Poes
Nocturne - 5
Phantoms - 3

Spinenuts
Spinenuts, Red - 39
Spinenuts, Green - 1

Total Things Dead - 235

1st Place - Red Spinenuts, at 39!
2nd Place - Blastworms, at 37!
3rd Place - Sir Frosty, at 28!

Total Style Points - 5

Total Missed Rupees - 2
Total Lost Rupees - 0

[DataNinja]

"Here rests the legendary Captain Linebeck." So... this line, it gave me the impression - as I'd not played Phantom Hourglass - that the joke was that Linebeck I was a truly great man, whereas his grandson was a sniveling coward. So, uh, needless to say, I got a little surprised when playing PH second to find out how wrong I was, and the joke was "the apple doesn't fall far from the tree". :smalltongue:

The Song of Light is probably my favorite of the little ditties.

So, how the train cars work, IIRC, is that you're only able to see ones that you could purchase? In that, you've had at least some of the treasure for? I think just the Primary treasure the set shares. (Well, the Golden set has some with Alchemy Crystal, some with Regal Ring - which is how you can see it, as you had a brief obtaining of the Ring. And you're seeing the Golden stuff a lot earlier than normal because you got the Crystal in Prize Postcards.) It's not random per-day, though, I do recall that much. (My vote is for the Skull set, personally, too. It's the one I used most, and is super cool.)

Also, you do have a passenger car. How else would you get the bridge worker over? :smalltongue:

Can confirm, you don't need all other parts for Golden ones. There are several pieces of others I did not pick up until after because I didn't care for them.

Note that you now have 5 HP. The base cars only give 4, attaching another gives 5, and having a full set gives 6.
Except for the Golden Train. Which I think is 6 and 8 instead. Been awhile though, so not sure of actual numbers. I know it's a bigger maximum, though.

You can trade cars either at Linebeck's or going to Alfonzo's in Aboda village (where you do still have a stamp to get).

Dolphins are an occurrence that happens in the Ocean Realm. If you keep blowing their whistle, they'll jump, and'll repair you hearts, several times until they leave. They flee if you shoot them, though.

Spirit Tracks basically always has bomb flowers in mandatory parts. Bomb bag makes things easier, and lets you get bonuses, but I never think it's absolutely necessary. (Also, I think they might have expected you to whirlwind the bombs over the gap?)

Note that the song of birds works also on Cuccos, IIRC.

Neat little touch about Big Blin: He's wearing a pirate necklace.

Force gems don't get put in stargates, no. You cannot manually activate them (because many will lead to places you cannot yet go.) The activation gem will always be on the gate that will be when you have access to both sets of tracks.

Yeah, the spirit songs can be... finnicky. The only one I ever had real issues with is the next one, but... they can be bad, yeah.



Rabbit
Location


1
West of Anouki Village


2
East of Anouki Village


3
Northwest of Snow Maze


4
Northeast of Snow Maze


5
Southwest of Snow Maze


6
West of Hyrule Castle


7
South of Rabbitland Rescue




Hey! The Ghost Trains can hit each other but not us? That's not fair!
Yeah, they just hit each other, and then both spin around their tops to face the other way. It's actually pretty funny to watch.

[LaZodiac]

Hm, it looks like now that your sword is powered up, you can kill the nocturnes as well!

+1 Style Points for killing a Key Master with a Key. I like how the other two were busy beating up zelda so they didn't bother you and your key blowing shenanigans...

Zelda is confirmed a troll. Want to continue? Oh, we can't, Link. Why would you ask that?

Side questing! Huzzah! (also, the verbalizations of whenever you stamp are charming af) Zodi, you said the spinenuts are all brown...but aren't they supposed to be red? What color are the bubbles clouds? I like these boss rushes. And even more that there's an official listing as to how many each is.

Also, noted your fix for my last tally, and repaired it. Not that Sir Frosty hasn't been bumped out immediately following that for this one. :smallamused:



EPISODE 11 KILL TALLY!

Nocturne - 5
Key Master - 6
Geozard, Chief - 1
Phantom - 1
Red Spinenut - 13
Red Octorok - 14
Rat - 5
Bubble - 8
Red Chuchu - 10
Blastworm - 15
Keese - 6
Mothula - 2
Stagnox - 1

Style Points - 0

Missed Rupees - 0



Spirit Tracks
Total Kills
(As of Episode 11)

Bubbles - 12
Bee Hives - 3
Bulbos - 7
Crows - 2
Fraaz - 1
Freezard, Mini - 1
Key Master - 6
Rats - 9
Sir Frosty - 28
Snurgle - 1
Wolfos, White - 16

Blins
Miniblins, Mounted - 3
Bulblin, Archer - 1

Chuchus
Chuchu, Red - 26
Chuchus, Ice - 10

Keese
Keese - 13
Keese, Ice - 4
Keese, Fire - 4

Lizal
Geozard - 1
Geozard, Chief - 1

Molds
Mothula, Winged - 3
Blastworms - 37
Vengas - 7
Stagnox - 2
Rocktite - 1
Skultula - 4

Octorok
Octorok, Red - 18
Octive - 4

Poes
Nocturne - 5
Phantoms - 3

Spinenuts
Spinenuts, Red - 39
Spinenuts, Green - 1

Total Things Dead - 235

1st Place - Red Spinenuts, at 39!
2nd Place - Blastworms, at 37!
3rd Place - Sir Frosty, at 28!

Total Style Points - 3

Total Missed Rupees - 2
Total Lost Rupees - 0

By your rules they'd be red, but colour wise they are actually brown in colour. The skull clouds are actually purple this time around, and there are no other bubbles in this game but them.

Yeah, you were the guy I was thinking of when I mentioned people being excited for boss refights.


"Here rests the legendary Captain Linebeck." So... this line, it gave me the impression - as I'd not played Phantom Hourglass - that the joke was that Linebeck I was a truly great man, whereas his grandson was a sniveling coward. So, uh, needless to say, I got a little surprised when playing PH second to find out how wrong I was, and the joke was "the apple doesn't fall far from the tree". :smalltongue:

The Song of Light is probably my favorite of the little ditties.

So, how the train cars work, IIRC, is that you're only able to see ones that you could purchase? In that, you've had at least some of the treasure for? I think just the Primary treasure the set shares. (Well, the Golden set has some with Alchemy Crystal, some with Regal Ring - which is how you can see it, as you had a brief obtaining of the Ring. And you're seeing the Golden stuff a lot earlier than normal because you got the Crystal in Prize Postcards.) It's not random per-day, though, I do recall that much. (My vote is for the Skull set, personally, too. It's the one I used most, and is super cool.)

Also, you do have a passenger car. How else would you get the bridge worker over? :smalltongue:

Can confirm, you don't need all other parts for Golden ones. There are several pieces of others I did not pick up until after because I didn't care for them.

Note that you now have 5 HP. The base cars only give 4, attaching another gives 5, and having a full set gives 6.
Except for the Golden Train. Which I think is 6 and 8 instead. Been awhile though, so not sure of actual numbers. I know it's a bigger maximum, though.

You can trade cars either at Linebeck's or going to Alfonzo's in Aboda village (where you do still have a stamp to get).

Dolphins are an occurrence that happens in the Ocean Realm. If you keep blowing their whistle, they'll jump, and'll repair you hearts, several times until they leave. They flee if you shoot them, though.

Spirit Tracks basically always has bomb flowers in mandatory parts. Bomb bag makes things easier, and lets you get bonuses, but I never think it's absolutely necessary. (Also, I think they might have expected you to whirlwind the bombs over the gap?)

Note that the song of birds works also on Cuccos, IIRC.

Neat little touch about Big Blin: He's wearing a pirate necklace.

Force gems don't get put in stargates, no. You cannot manually activate them (because many will lead to places you cannot yet go.) The activation gem will always be on the gate that will be when you have access to both sets of tracks.

Yeah, the spirit songs can be... finnicky. The only one I ever had real issues with is the next one, but... they can be bad, yeah.



Rabbit
Location


1
West of Anouki Village


2
East of Anouki Village


3
Northwest of Snow Maze


4
Northeast of Snow Maze


5
Southwest of Snow Maze


6
West of Hyrule Castle


7
South of Rabbitland Rescue




Yeah, they just hit each other, and then both spin around their tops to face the other way. It's actually pretty funny to watch.

I am attempting to get the Skull Engine for a couple of reasons, though I do intend to get them all as said. And thanks for the info on how they actually work, I forgot to do that due to time being a bit more constrained this time of year.

The Big Blin's having pirate necklaces rules, but makes me wish we had the grappling hook again. I loved bopping enemies to steal their stuff! I want more good thief mechanics in games.

Aah, my mistake on the stargates then.

[DataNinja]

I am attempting to get the Skull Engine for a couple of reasons, though I do intend to get them all as said.

Yeah, I stumbled across a cool easter egg it apparently has while trying to check to make sure my memory wasn't wrong on the train part stuff. Not something that I noticed the first time, due to circumstances, but it's neat if it's how it is.

But also it's still the coolest, and people can fight me on that. :smalltongue:

[jindra34]

So minor tip on the flute minigame and skipping notes; Touch your tongue to the top of your mouth when you want to make a quick skip. It helps a lot.

[Amechra]

So, three things:

• Oceans are bigger than seas - on Earth, there are tons of seas, but only a few oceans. To confuse things, seas can be part of oceans.
• Apparently movies are a thing in the world of Spirit Tracks? That feels kinda weird to me.
• Everything you need to do to get to the Ocean Temple looks like hot garbage. It was apparently necessary for you to learn two new songs, give two characters rides, solve three puzzles, and fight waves of enemies in an arena.

[DataNinja]

• Everything you need to do to get to the Ocean Temple looks like hot garbage. It was apparently necessary for you to learn two new songs, give two characters rides, solve three puzzles, and fight waves of enemies in an arena.

This is, if I recall correctly, the last field song of the game. Perhaps second last. And... yes, I do think that it could probably have been done in a much more natural way, but I feel like they were trying to introduce as many mechanics as possible so that they could play with them later - after this, a whole lot more sidequests open up, so they need to introduce the idea of passengers, and Force Gems, and all that fun stuff.

It would have been much preferable to not have to go to the sanctuary first... but I know that the reason they did it that way was so there wouldn't be the looming question of "hey, why didn't Carben just... let you past all the puzzles?"

(As an aside, I'm realizing now that I kept forgetting that the Ocean realm is third, not fourth like I kept thinking... even though, yeah, am remembering now that it's three, oops.)

[Amechra]

This is, if I recall correctly, the last field song of the game. Perhaps second last. And... yes, I do think that it could probably have been done in a much more natural way, but I feel like they were trying to introduce as many mechanics as possible so that they could play with them later - after this, a whole lot more sidequests open up, so they need to introduce the idea of passengers, and Force Gems, and all that fun stuff.

It would have been much preferable to not have to go to the sanctuary first... but I know that the reason they did it that way was so there wouldn't be the looming question of "hey, why didn't Carben just... let you past all the puzzles?"

(As an aside, I'm realizing now that I kept forgetting that the Ocean realm is third, not fourth like I kept thinking... even though, yeah, am remembering now that it's three, oops.)

Couldn't they have, I dunno, put the first passenger before the Snow Temple?

[DataNinja]

Couldn't they have, I dunno, put the first passenger before the Snow Temple?

I imagine that the idea was to get one used to first going around by train, and then get used to navigating around the Dark Trains. It probably would have been better to introduce passengers earlier, yes, but I'm guessing they didn't want to introduce the sidequest-enabling material too early.

My guess would be they wanted to restrict what tracks you could unlock, so rather than hide that people wanted stuff done (thus forcing you to either go back and talk to everyone again, or else just... not know they wanted stuff done), they just... didn't introduce the mechanic that would let you fulfil their wishes until they wanted you to be able to start unlocking said track locations. It's definitely... a questionable choice, but I do understand the sort of logic they'd have behind it.

[TheWombatOfDoom]

Hey, what if we did some more Zelda. That'd be fun right?

Zodi Plays: The Legend of Zelda Spirit Tracks [12] Pass-Enger (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mb-Ln8DGqkk)

Video Length: 28:07

In this one, we finally make our way to the bridge to the Ocean Realm... unsurprisingly it is broken and in need of some fixing. Thankfully, the owner of the nearby Trade Store knows exactly who can help us... though of course we already do as well. But it takes the return of a fan beloved character('s grandson) to save the day! Unfortunately this is basically all he does, beyond serving as a shop once this whole mess is dealt with. We'll go over what Linebeck the Third does once he does so.

But yeah, we need to get the bridge builder, and get him we do. It's time for the minigame I thought we had to do with Alfonzo! Transporting passengers requires strict adherence to rail signs, and a general level of competency when it comes to parking the train. I've been trying to practice this, but it appears I forgot you can't emergency break with a passenger because they'll get hurt. Now, I don't actually KNOW what happens if the passenger jumps out of the train and yells a bunch at you, but presumably it makes you restart the minigame? Which is uh... bad, for a number of reasons. Also during this minigame we open up our first star gate, quite conveniently since I had forgotten where the first gate even was!

Unfortunately... it'll take 5000 rupees to get this bridge fixed. And good ole Linebeck the Third has put the bill entirely on our foot. Great. Thankfully, OUR Linebeck left a fun little treasure hunt to find a Regal Ring that will give us the big bucks when sold... to Linebeck, the man who needs to give the money over. This damned monster of a man I just noticed that discrepancy HERE, as I write this. Good lord. I hate Linebeck the third since he's all of the bad qualities of Linebeck without any of the good, or the opportunity to learn those good.

At any rate, with trusty clues in hand we head off to find the buried treasure. Hope you all enjoyed, I'll see you all next time! Take care!

I am quite surprised Linebeck is back...its a shame his successors didn't learn from him, and instead have descended into worse. Go do these things for me, and I'll sit back and wait! Then profit from it! Yeah! And later he drops the bill on us, what an a-hole.

I could tell that skultula is red! But you didn't kill it. Nice! I'm also looking into encroma glasses, so maybe I won't be color deficient in an episode near you!

I regards to the bunnies. You're not looking forward to when they get hard, and you'll pull your HARE out? Eh? EH? ...I'll see myself out.

That anooki or whatever probably wants the guy from the woodcutter village. More transporting!

Interesting, we are going to delve into OUR Linebeck's gravesite. Neat...



EPISODE 12 KILL TALLY!

Bulbos - 10
Bulblin, Archer - 6
Skultula - 1
Sir Frosty - 7
Like Like - 2
Like Like, Pot - 1

Style Points - 0

Missed Rupees - 0



Spirit Tracks
Total Kills
(As of Episode 12)

Bubbles - 12
Armos - 3
Bee Hives - 3
Bulbos - 17
Crows - 2
Fraaz - 1
Freezard, Mini - 1
Key Master - 6
Rats - 9
Sir Frosty - 35
Snurgle - 1
Wolfos, White - 16

Blins
Miniblins, Mounted - 3
Bulblin, Archer - 8

Chuchus
Chuchu, Red - 26
Chuchus, Ice - 10

Keese
Keese - 13
Keese, Ice - 4
Keese, Fire - 4

Lizal
Geozard - 1
Geozard, Chief - 1

Mimics
Like Like - 2
Like Like, Pot - 1

Molds
Mothula, Winged - 3
Blastworms - 37
Vengas - 7
Stagnox - 2
Rocktite - 1
Skultula - 5

Octorok
Octorok, Red - 18
Octive - 4

Poes
Nocturne - 5
Phantoms - 3

Spinenuts
Spinenuts, Red - 39
Spinenuts, Green - 1

Total Things Dead - 265

1st Place - Red Spinenuts, at 39!
2nd Place - Blastworms, at 37!
3rd Place - Sir Frosty, at 35!

Total Style Points - 5

Total Missed Rupees - 2
Total Lost Rupees - 0

[Amechra]

I imagine that the idea was to get one used to first going around by train, and then get used to navigating around the Dark Trains. It probably would have been better to introduce passengers earlier, yes, but I'm guessing they didn't want to introduce the sidequest-enabling material too early.

My guess would be they wanted to restrict what tracks you could unlock, so rather than hide that people wanted stuff done (thus forcing you to either go back and talk to everyone again, or else just... not know they wanted stuff done), they just... didn't introduce the mechanic that would let you fulfil their wishes until they wanted you to be able to start unlocking said track locations. It's definitely... a questionable choice, but I do understand the sort of logic they'd have behind it.

I honestly feel like they could've cut a gimmick somewhere without losing anything. I'm going to go with "needing to use the microphone for things", because man.

At least it isn't as bad as, say, Lifeline...

[LaZodiac]

Couldn't they have, I dunno, put the first passenger before the Snow Temple?

Hm, if only there was someone who is away from his home that would help us if we brought him home just before the Snow Temple. If oooonly there was SOMEONE.

*stares directly at Ferros*


I honestly feel like they could've cut a gimmick somewhere without losing anything. I'm going to go with "needing to use the microphone for things", because man.

At least it isn't as bad as, say, Lifeline...

You've yet to see the worst song in the game.

[Amechra]

You've yet to see the worst song in the game.

I stand by my statement. I don't care how bad the worst song is, it can't be worse than a PS1-era adventure game where the only way to control the main character is via speech recognition. Count your blessings, Zodi.

[LaZodiac]

I stand by my statement. I don't care how bad the worst song is, it can't be worse than a PS1-era adventure game where the only way to control the main character is via speech recognition. Count your blessings, Zodi.

I mean I was able to beat Hey You Pikachu after about a year, I can't imagine it's THAT difficult... naw, you're probably right.

[TheWombatOfDoom]

Time for a long one today. Hope you're ready!

Zodi Plays: The Legend of Zelda Spirit Tracks [13] There and Back Again (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMZ5D1nOwvw)

Video Length: 42:01

In this episode, we finally pay off the bridge debt, but not before making Linebeck the Third our... less than altruistic ally, and gaining access to the ability to customize our train! As well as buy train parts, by trading him large amounts of treasure. Now, when I originally played this game I uh... barely got ANY treasure and as such basically got nothing. I'll be doing my best to get all the pieces since it's actually fairly viable to do so in this game, but we'll see how that goes. Like with Phantom Hourglass, I don't make any real promises.

More importantly, we finally get access to the Ocean Realm! And in doing so we get access to one village that is entirely without purpose in almost every single regard, and also the Ocean Sanctuary where Carben hangs out. Unfortunately, after some fooling around, we learn that he ended up NOT kidnapped like the men of the village, but instead hanging out with some birds. I don't know why they made us go through all this when we could have just found him on our first visit to the town, but so it goes. Lotta busy work in this one folks.

We do have something interesting happen; An oddity for a game about a train, but we're attacked by pirates! A veritable swarm of miniblins attack, followed by one massive, hp sponge of an ******* in the Big Blin. If any enemy gets close enough to Carben during this, and manages to get him in a cage, it's an explicit game over! Which uh... is bad, except for the part that this is actually fairly easy. And with the pirates all slain, we can finally perform our awful awful flute time with Carben to reveal the rest of the Ocean Spirit Track, which we do. Not before getting a taste of how miserable it is to play a flute song with notes that aren't all lined up together of course, but still...

And with that, this extra long episode is done. I could have probably cut it in the middle somewhere, but I felt it worked better like this. Hope you all enjoyed, take care, and happy holidays.

At least the like like didn't steal money or a shield! phew... Hmmm, at Linebeck's grave I think you meant to play the song of discovery, but you played the song of awakening instead...

That's interesting that the game thinks about soft locks for trading. Neat. Also yeah, lore wise that's probably a gift from tetra. Okay, lots of bad maths. The ring is worth 2500 on your menu, but Linebeck is gonna sell it for 8000, and keep THREE thousand for profit, not 2 as you say in the video. Then again, Builder just takes the ring, so no profit. And the Linebeck is bad at maths because he says that its worth nearly double what he owed. 2k off is not nearly. Sorry Linebeck.

Hmmm, do the train parts DO anything, or are they just cosmetic?

Trigger happy Zodi shoots endangered dolphins, coming up on the 6-o-clock news...

Nice you strong-armed a drawing puzzle. Even if it wasn't entirely accurate, it gave it to you anyway. +1 Style Point

Ummm, how do those wheels stay on that trapeze? Pirate set up is a set up... That was FIFTY SEVEN miniblins... Wow, that's some knockback for only half a heart on that Big Blin....

If these songs get any harder, i might have to give style points for actually getting the song. :smallyuk:



EPISODE 13 KILL TALLY!

Like Like, Pot - 1
Like Like, Chest - 1
Crow - 2
Red Octorok - 11
Lobarrier - 6
Squiddies - 1
Miniblin - 57
Big Blin - 1

Style Points - 1

Missed Rupees - 1



Spirit Tracks
Total Kills
(As of Episode 13)

Bubbles - 12
Armos - 3
Bee Hives - 3
Bulbos - 17
Crows - 4
Fraaz - 1
Freezard, Mini - 1
Key Master - 6
Lobarrier - 6
Rats - 9
Sir Frosty - 35
Snurgle - 1
Squiddies - 1
Wolfos, White - 16

Blins
Miniblins - 57
Miniblins, Mounted - 3
Bulblin, Archer - 8
Big Blins - 1

Chuchus
Chuchu, Red - 26
Chuchus, Ice - 10

Keese
Keese - 13
Keese, Ice - 4
Keese, Fire - 4

Lizal
Geozard - 1
Geozard, Chief - 1

Mimics
Like Like - 2
Like Like, Pot - 2
Like Like, Chest - 1

Molds
Mothula, Winged - 3
Blastworms - 37
Vengas - 7
Stagnox - 2
Rocktite - 1
Skultula - 5

Octorok
Octorok, Red - 29
Octive - 4

Poes
Nocturne - 5
Phantoms - 3

Spinenuts
Spinenuts, Red - 39
Spinenuts, Green - 1

Total Things Dead - 345

1st Place - Miniblins, at 57!
2nd Place - Red Spinenuts, at 39!
3rd Place - Blastworms, at 37!

Total Style Points - 6

Total Missed Rupees - 3
Total Lost Rupees - 0

[Amechra]

You know what I just realized? If they swapped the position of the Sanctuary and the village, the whole thing would've flowed much better.

It would've also been really helpful if they had put the bridge builder somewhere else that doesn't require you to do passenger fun times across the whole map if you don't take the star gate. You'd think that the first passenger would have a short ride, but nope!

EDIT: Could be worse - Zelda could have used the passenger mechanics.

[DataNinja]

Hmmm, at Linebeck's grave I think you meant to play the song of discovery, but you played the song of awakening instead...

Hmmm, do the train parts DO anything, or are they just cosmetic?

If these songs get any harder, i might have to give style points for actually getting the song. :smallyuk:

There's nothing actually at his grave, IIRC. He hid the stuff elsewhere, as we saw.

As I mentioned before, train parts gives +hearts. Which is helpful. There's no other mechanical difference, though, so you don't sacrifice form for function.

...they get at least one harder.

[Floogal]

So minor tip on the flute minigame and skipping notes; Touch your tongue to the top of your mouth when you want to make a quick skip. It helps a lot. No, do not do this. Do not interrupt your blowing. My success rate for all the songs skyrocketed after learning to just blow continuously for each song input.

[LaZodiac]

*warbles incoherently* choo choo.

Zodi Plays: The Legend of Zelda Spirit Tracks [14] Hell Ocean (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nU-pK5Pfaqs)

Video Length: 21:05

In this episode, we make our way into the ocean realm proper, and learn some uncomfortable truth about how sounds don't actually travel in this universe unless you're visibly looking at where they want them to go! Having to do an entire lap of this area again just t activate the switches that refused to activate the first time around is... very silly, but it allowed us to get a good number of Ocean Rabbits and deal with some nasty enemies, primarily the Cannon Boats. Once we activate the three whistle switches, it's time for some underwater training!

The underwater stuff is, honestly, pretty cool. It's as beautiful as a simple DS game can muster, and honestly has some nice aesthetics... unfortunately the Ocean Octorok's are rude and the torpedo version of our cannon is basically worthless with regards to aiming. It's frustrating, and leads to more than a few sketchy situations here. This is also our first encounter with Armoured Trains and... let's just say it's a bit of a doozy. I may be underselling it a tad.

That done, we get to the Ocean Temple, and head off. Hope you all enjoyed, I'll see you all next time!

[TheWombatOfDoom]

*warbles incoherently* choo choo.

Zodi Plays: The Legend of Zelda Spirit Tracks [14] Hell Ocean (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nU-pK5Pfaqs)

Video Length: 21:05

In this episode, we make our way into the ocean realm proper, and learn some uncomfortable truth about how sounds don't actually travel in this universe unless you're visibly looking at where they want them to go! Having to do an entire lap of this area again just t activate the switches that refused to activate the first time around is... very silly, but it allowed us to get a good number of Ocean Rabbits and deal with some nasty enemies, primarily the Cannon Boats. Once we activate the three whistle switches, it's time for some underwater training!

The underwater stuff is, honestly, pretty cool. It's as beautiful as a simple DS game can muster, and honestly has some nice aesthetics... unfortunately the Ocean Octorok's are rude and the torpedo version of our cannon is basically worthless with regards to aiming. It's frustrating, and leads to more than a few sketchy situations here. This is also our first encounter with Armoured Trains and... let's just say it's a bit of a doozy. I may be underselling it a tad.

That done, we get to the Ocean Temple, and head off. Hope you all enjoyed, I'll see you all next time!



Okay, sea stuff is cooler than i expected...

ARG INKED! WRONG DIRECTION! ARMORED TRAIN! Yo, that was a close call. +1 style point, that was amazing. I think you went the wrong way because you were inked... OMG the armored train is coming! AGAIN! +1 style point, you docked backwards in the nick of time!




EPISODE 14 KILL TALLY!

Cannon Boats - 9
Octomine - 11
Ocean Octorok - 2

Style Points - 2

Missed Rupees - 0



Spirit Tracks
Total Kills
(As of Episode 14)

Bubbles - 12
Armos - 3
Bee Hives - 3
Bulbos - 17
Cannon Boats - 9
Crows - 4
Fraaz - 1
Freezard, Mini - 1
Key Master - 6
Lobarrier - 6
Rats - 9
Sir Frosty - 35
Snurgle - 1
Squiddies - 1
Wolfos, White - 16

Blins
Miniblins - 57
Miniblins, Mounted - 3
Bulblin, Archer - 8
Big Blins - 1

Chuchus
Chuchu, Red - 26
Chuchus, Ice - 10

Keese
Keese - 13
Keese, Ice - 4
Keese, Fire - 4

Lizal
Geozard - 1
Geozard, Chief - 1

Mimics
Like Like - 2
Like Like, Pot - 2
Like Like, Chest - 1

Molds
Mothula, Winged - 3
Blastworms - 37
Vengas - 7
Stagnox - 2
Rocktite - 1
Skultula - 5

Octorok
Octorok, Red - 29
Octorok, Ocean - 2
Octive - 4
Octomine - 11

Poes
Nocturne - 5
Phantoms - 3

Spinenuts
Spinenuts, Red - 39
Spinenuts, Green - 1

Total Things Dead - 367

1st Place - Miniblins, at 57!
2nd Place - Red Spinenuts, at 39!
3rd Place - Blastworms, at 37!

Total Style Points - 8

Total Missed Rupees - 3
Total Lost Rupees - 0

[Amechra]

For a second there, I thought the game wasn't going to let you get into the temple backwards. Which would have been incredibly mean.

I get the sense that you aren't having as much fun with this as you previously were, Zodi.

[LaZodiac]

Okay, sea stuff is cooler than i expected...

ARG INKED! WRONG DIRECTION! ARMORED TRAIN! Yo, that was a close call. +1 style point, that was amazing. I think you went the wrong way because you were inked... OMG the armored train is coming! AGAIN! +1 style point, you docked backwards in the nick of time!




EPISODE 14 KILL TALLY!

Cannon Boats - 9
Octomine - 11
Ocean Octorok - 2

Style Points - 2

Missed Rupees - 0



Spirit Tracks
Total Kills
(As of Episode 14)

Bubbles - 12
Armos - 3
Bee Hives - 3
Bulbos - 17
Cannon Boats - 9
Crows - 4
Fraaz - 1
Freezard, Mini - 1
Key Master - 6
Lobarrier - 6
Rats - 9
Sir Frosty - 35
Snurgle - 1
Squiddies - 1
Wolfos, White - 16

Blins
Miniblins - 57
Miniblins, Mounted - 3
Bulblin, Archer - 8
Big Blins - 1

Chuchus
Chuchu, Red - 26
Chuchus, Ice - 10

Keese
Keese - 13
Keese, Ice - 4
Keese, Fire - 4

Lizal
Geozard - 1
Geozard, Chief - 1

Mimics
Like Like - 2
Like Like, Pot - 2
Like Like, Chest - 1

Molds
Mothula, Winged - 3
Blastworms - 37
Vengas - 7
Stagnox - 2
Rocktite - 1
Skultula - 5

Octorok
Octorok, Red - 29
Octorok, Ocean - 2
Octive - 4
Octomine - 11

Poes
Nocturne - 5
Phantoms - 3

Spinenuts
Spinenuts, Red - 39
Spinenuts, Green - 1

Total Things Dead - 367

1st Place - Miniblins, at 57!
2nd Place - Red Spinenuts, at 39!
3rd Place - Blastworms, at 37!

Total Style Points - 8

Total Missed Rupees - 3
Total Lost Rupees - 0

So while editing the footage, I saw the point where my track direction got changed. I put a *k'chnk* textual sound effect when I do it, since it's a rather quiet sound as it turns out! It happened as that last Ocean Octorok was going under the track, and I tried to move the camera to get him in view, and SOMEHOW accidentally changed the track. It's... hell. It's literally hell.


For a second there, I thought the game wasn't going to let you get into the temple backwards. Which would have been incredibly mean.

I get the sense that you aren't having as much fun with this as you previously were, Zodi.

Ocean Realm has alternaed between genuinely boring and horrifyingly put together. Like with Phantom Hourglass the best part of the game is the dungeons, and while they are doing a lot of Cool New Things with the train... those Cool New Things are also kind of jank as hell. I'm still having fun but this is decidedly not my favorite Zelda.

[DataNinja]

Choo choo!

Oof, yeah, I'd not realized/remembered it was looking at them, not just... passing by. That is inexcusable.

If you've drawn a path and not un-drawn it, your turning will default to attempt to follow that path.

Well... missteps aside, that still went better than my first encounter with Armoured Trains and their gimmick. :smalltongue:



Rabbit
Location


1
West of Anouki Village


2
East of Anouki Village


3
Northwest of Snow Maze


4
Northeast of Snow Maze


5
Southwest of Snow Maze


6
West of Hyrule Castle


7
South of Rabbitland Rescue


8
East of Ocean Sanctuary


9
Southeast of Whistle Maze


10
Northwest of Whistle Maze


11
East of Whistle Maze

[LaZodiac]

Choo choo!

Oof, yeah, I'd not realized/remembered it was looking at them, not just... passing by. That is inexcusable.

If you've drawn a path and not un-drawn it, your turning will default to attempt to follow that path.

Well... missteps aside, that still went better than my first encounter with Armoured Trains and their gimmick. :smalltongue:



Rabbit
Location


1
West of Anouki Village


2
East of Anouki Village


3
Northwest of Snow Maze


4
Northeast of Snow Maze


5
Southwest of Snow Maze


6
West of Hyrule Castle


7
South of Rabbitland Rescue


8
East of Ocean Sanctuary


9
Southeast of Whistle Maze


10
Northwest of Whistle Maze


11
East of Whistle Maze



Genuinely horrified by "my experience was still worse" given what I went through. Do share.

[DataNinja]

Genuinely horrified by "my experience was still worse" given what I went through. Do share.

I mean mostly in the sense that I blew up once or twice before realizing "oh... welp, uh... they switch directions to follow you. So can't just sit on the siding and wait for them to pass." Yours was tense and stressful, but you still made it through in one piece. :smalltongue:

[Amechra]

Ocean Realm has alternaed between genuinely boring and horrifyingly put together. Like with Phantom Hourglass the best part of the game is the dungeons, and while they are doing a lot of Cool New Things with the train... those Cool New Things are also kind of jank as hell. I'm still having fun but this is decidedly not my favorite Zelda.

So... what is your favorite Zelda, if you don't mind me asking? I personally have an irrational fondness for the Oracle of Ages/Seasons pair.

[LaZodiac]

So... what is your favorite Zelda, if you don't mind me asking? I personally have an irrational fondness for the Oracle of Ages/Seasons pair.

The Oracle games are some of my favorites and I hope they get the Link's Awakening treatment.

My other favorites are... I kinda waffle between Skyward Sword, Twilight Princess, Ocarina, Majora's Mask, and Wind Waker. They're all so good in their own ways. Breath of the Wild is also up there but it's a very different sort of game that I can't really compare it to the others.

[LaZodiac]

Onwards, to more Zelda! Let's do us a dungeon!

Zodi Plays: The Legend of Zelda Spirit Tracks [15] Phytops (https://youtu.be/eOoVIpKne38)

Video Length: 33:21

A little longer than normal since I never really found a good breaking point. When your words are "after the next room let's call it" and you don't mentally realize the next room is the boss room, you tend to do silly things.

Speaking of silly things, for some reason parts of this dungeon just completely escaped my brain completely during the playing of it. How badly do I do? Well... not actually, it's really the last room that makes me stumble, but it is DEFINITELY a stumble. I'm not even particularly sure why, I think it's just that something clicked wrong with me. AT any rate, let's talk about the dungeon shall we? The first major puzzle is trying to find a way to get the boulders to stop falling on our path. The first real puzzle however is connecting information from one floor onto the floor above it... which in retrospect makes the two major puzzles in this game kind of iterative. Wow I'm dumb.

With the path opened up by hitting the switches in the right order, we're able to shut off the boulder stream and continue on to the miniboss of the dungeon, a Snapper. And our reward for killing the strange bird man? His whip! The whip is probably the centerpiece item of this game, the one that they put the most focus on. It's genuinely just really cool, because it does much of what the boomerang does but more controlled and capable of dealing actual real damage. The things it is used for are kinda varied, from throwing large metal objects at enemies who can't die otherwise, Indiana Jonesing across gaps, or just feeding swords to fish headed statues. It's a pretty good dungeon item!

And after taking care of the final puzzle, it's time to get the Big Key to the key block... only for Keymaster's to get in our way. To put it bluntly I don't like this bit since it's basically impossible to get it on the first try, just because of how many of these jerks there are. But I manage it, and go off to fight the boss, Phytops! Phytops is... an interesting boss, in that the lead up to it is far harder than the boss itself. Taking out its arms so you can whip your way up its home is way more dangerous due to having to be SO close to the edge and the threat of poison goop knocking you off. The fight itself is ramrod simple. You grab spikes from his vines and throw them at his face, breaking off the defensive plant layer. Then do it again to hit his eye to stun him, so you can go in for the kill. Easy peasy.

And that's it for today! I hope you all enjoyed this one. I'll see you all next time, take care.

[DataNinja]

Yay whip! The snake whip has always been super cool, and I love the fact that they have an enemy with it before hand. ...unfortunately, it does run into the problem where this is an item that super needs the triggers to work properly. The other items so far have been... adequate to use if you just quickly tap on the item button in the corner. This one requires too much precision, unfortunately. So, meant my run with my trigger-broken DS ended about here.

A nice touch I love about that boss fight is it's done at the top of the Ocean Temple, that we saw sticking out of the water as we passed. Other than that... while this fight is neat, it's also one that I never find that memorable. I remember the path leading up to the boss more than the boss itself. I think, besides Stagnox, it's probably the least cool boss in the game. But it's at least still decent. The whip-play makes it very satisfying.

Not much really else to say besides the whip being really cool, fun to use, and had a lot of neat puzzle ideas with it.



Rabbit
Location


1
West of Anouki Village


2
East of Anouki Village


3
Northwest of Snow Maze


4
Northeast of Snow Maze


5
Southwest of Snow Maze


6
West of Hyrule Castle


7
South of Rabbitland Rescue


8
East of Ocean Sanctuary


9
Southeast of Whistle Maze


10
Northwest of Whistle Maze


11
East of Whistle Maze

[LaZodiac]

It's that time of the year once again! The Zodi Game Awards, where we as a community vote on our favorite game that I LPed this year! Without further adieu...

Zodi Game Awards 2019 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYvue9cTjeY)

Video Length: 5:44

And your nominations are...

1: Tactics Ogre Knight of Lodis. An overly long tactics RPG in a dead series that is a secret origin story of one of its universe's greatest villains. It's awesome, except for the part where the actual video game isn't all that good. My first voice LP, a game I don't really know if people enjoyed.

2: Kirby's Dream LAnd 3. Played this with Blue and broke up with him during recording which is kind of ****ed up thinking on it? It's kind of a lot to think about, and those memories are always going to be part of this game for me now. That said I'm also going to have so, so many good memories attached to this game as well! It's a wonderful game, especially when played multiplayer. This is the one that will win.

3: Dishonored. Wonderful fps stealth game where we are a dishonored assassin trying to redeem himself by murdering everyone who ruined his life. This was a blind LP and super satisfying to play. Super excited for the DLC and sequel, but those are things that will happen Eventually.

And that's all. Vote Here! (https://www.strawpoll.me/19157056) You have a week!

[DataNinja]

I see this is also a Zodi Year in Review. :smallwink:

Also, you keep saying Kirby's going to win, but that was probably overall my least favorite game from this year. Like... it was a well-put-together game, but there was nothing that spectacular about it. Whereas both Dishonoured and Lodis were very much games I had zero idea what to expect, and was pleasantly surprised by what I found. I imagine all the offscreen grinding and stuff helped to mar Lodis a bit for you, but I actually really enjoyed it, even if some of the characters were just so stupid at times. :smalltongue:

[LaZodiac]

I see this is also a Zodi Year in Review. :smallwink:

Also, you keep saying Kirby's going to win, but that was probably overall my least favorite game from this year. Like... it was a well-put-together game, but there was nothing that spectacular about it. Whereas both Dishonoured and Lodis were very much games I had zero idea what to expect, and was pleasantly surprised by what I found. I imagine all the offscreen grinding and stuff helped to mar Lodis a bit for you, but I actually really enjoyed it, even if some of the characters were just so stupid at times. :smalltongue:

I'll be honest I thought Kirby would win because everybody loves Kirby and the dynamic me and Blue have is too powerful.

Apparently people REALLY like steam punk cthulhu powered assassins with the adorable idiot Zodi style voice attached to it.

[The Glyphstone]

We do! Your instant quasi-adoption of Emily was the greatest thing ever.

That was also the first Zodi Let's Play I watched, largely because it was a game I'd played and wanted to see someone else experiencing. Though I personally think the Outsider is less Cthulhu and more Q - giving some sad sap god-adjacent powers just for the entertainment value of seeing what he does with them would be an incredibly Q thing to do.

[LaZodiac]

We do! Your instant quasi-adoption of Emily was the greatest thing ever.

That was also the first Zodi Let's Play I watched, largely because it was a game I'd played and wanted to see someone else experiencing. Though I personally think the Outsider is less Cthulhu and more Q - giving some sad sap god-adjacent powers just for the entertainment value of seeing what he does with them would be an incredibly Q thing to do.

Q is one of many elder beings that have ascended to a pure collective and thought who can alter reality at their whim, have no morals, and have basically erased all ideas of identity. They literally are only called Q because one of their many eyes decided it would be a good idea to establish some form of identifier for the lesser beings so they can grasp even a glimpse of what they're capable of.

They may be benign, but the Q Continuum is absolutely a cthulhu.

Also if you give me a good good child to take care of I will immediately latch onto them. Emily, Atreus, Garrus Vakarian, give me a moldable child who I am teaching by my own actions and must protect because I am strong and they are soft, and I will tell you that they are my favorite character and I love them unconditionally, even when they get horrible shadow tentacles, become kind of an *******, or get a stick up their ass so hard that I need to break it out of him in pieces. Respectively.

[DataNinja]

I'll be honest I thought Kirby would win because everybody loves Kirby and the dynamic me and Blue have is too powerful.

Apparently people REALLY like steam punk cthulhu powered assassins with the adorable idiot Zodi style voice attached to it.

I mean, Kirby's popular, yes, but that just means a lot of people do it. And while the dynamic is good, there's just a certain je ne sais quoi about playthroughs of less popular games.

Also, it's not steampunk. No steam-power. :smallwink:


Q is one of many elder beings that have ascended to a pure collective and thought who can alter reality at their whim, have no morals, and have basically erased all ideas of identity. They literally are only called Q because one of their many eyes decided it would be a good idea to establish some form of identifier for the lesser beings so they can grasp even a glimpse of what they're capable of.

I mean, not to get too deep into it (given that this isn't a Star Trek thread), but they do have individuality - okay, well, mostly our Q, but... :smalltongue:
Blame Voyager if you must, but there was even a civil war going on (which also showcased that, hey, the human brain just censors out all the weirdness instead of going mad).

...not to mention, if they didn't call themselves anything, they'd get stuck with a stupid name from one species or another. At least this way they get to choose. :smalltongue:

[Blue Ghost]

.

2: Kirby's Dream LAnd 3. Played this with Blue and broke up with him during recording which is kind of ****ed up thinking on it? It's kind of a lot to think about, and those memories are always going to be part of this game for me now. That said I'm also going to have so, so many good memories attached to this game as well! It's a wonderful game, especially when played multiplayer. This is the one that will win.

We didn't break up, we just shifted the dynamic of our relationship.
I really enjoyed doing the Kirby with you, and am looking forward to joining you on the next one! It's just too bad that it's so long between Kirby games.
Which also means it'll be a long time before we get to Amazing Mirror... I really want to do that one.

[LaZodiac]

We didn't break up, we just shifted the dynamic of our relationship.
I really enjoyed doing the Kirby with you, and am looking forward to joining you on the next one! It's just too bad that it's so long between Kirby games.

I mean while is true, we did stop dating and that's a factual thing. Fair point though.

Also I mean if you ever just wanna like, record a Kirby in advance and just play together we can DO that. I'll just hold onto it until appropriate.

[The Glyphstone]

Q is one of many elder beings that have ascended to a pure collective and thought who can alter reality at their whim, have no morals, and have basically erased all ideas of identity. They literally are only called Q because one of their many eyes decided it would be a good idea to establish some form of identifier for the lesser beings so they can grasp even a glimpse of what they're capable of.

They may be benign, but the Q Continuum is absolutely a cthulhu.

In that sense, true. I would usually use the term 'eldritch abomination' with Cthulhu being a specific example of the archetype, but that is semantics. Q is certainly eldritch, and the Outsider is as well.

[LaZodiac]

In that sense, true. I would usually use the term 'eldritch abomination' with Cthulhu being a specific example of the archetype, but that is semantics. Q is certainly eldritch, and the Outsider is as well.

True, but sometimes I call vampires draculas, regardless of their actual status with regards to Vlade Tepes. It's how these things work; if you're a fop wearing frilly clothes and a clock, you're a dracula.

[DataNinja]

It's how these things work; if you're a fop wearing frilly clothes and a clock, you're a dracula.
If you're wearing a clock, I think you're a Time Mage. Cloak optional. :smallwink:

[Amechra]

True, but sometimes I call draculas vampires, regardless of their actual status with regards to Vlade Tepes. It's how these things work; if you're a fop wearing frilly clothes and a clock, you're a dracula.

You had a typo there.

The Outsider is more like a less-malevolent Nyarlathotep (which, funnily enough, my browser wants to correct to "psychotherapy") than a Cthulhu. After all, he's nowhere near as Cthulhu as, say, Mantorok.

[LaZodiac]

If you're wearing a clock, I think you're a Time Mage. Cloak optional. :smallwink:

Aaagh


You had a typo there.

The Outsider is more like a less-malevolent Nyarlathotep (which, funnily enough, my browser wants to correct to "psychotherapy") than a Cthulhu. After all, he's nowhere near as Cthulhu as, say, Mantorok.

Cut me some slackula :smalltongue:

And yeah. Like I said in the LP, the Outsider feels like the krill inside the actual Cthulhu's feeding baleen.

[LaZodiac]

Happy New Year! As promised, it's time to eat a video game.

A Taste Of: The Missing (https://youtu.be/IV10TJV8NkQ)

Video Length: 28:26

I want to make it abundantly clear that if you spoil this game for anyone I will blacklist you into oblivion. Publicly anyway, if they ask you to spoil it for them in private than that's fine, it's their business.

Anyway, A Taste Of! This is The Missing: JJ Macfield and the Island of Mystery, one of the three games I got for Christmas that are good for A Taste Of-ing. As it turns out the holiday break was enough that I beat all three of the games in question, so I can give a bit more concise a First Impression than you may be used to, while still focusing primarily on what is in the first video. And what is in the first video for The Missing? Well, mostly just standard stuff. Setting up the stakes (JJ loves Emily and they're sweet and cute together) and kicking the plot off with a bang (Emily goes missing, dun dun dun). We get to see how the game plays (it's a cinematic platformer, which is to say it has a lot of animation for simple things and can at times be a bit slow) and we get to see the kind of... mechanical twist the game employs (I will not be saying what that is here, beyond the fact that it's really cool and immediately, obviously symbolic).

I realize the writing I'm putting down here is vague and confusing, intentionally so, but that's kind of the thing. The Missing is a mysterious game that asks a lot of good questions, in a very interesting way. It's one of my favorite games from a writing perspective, and if anything you see in this video seems interesting, I highly encourage you buy the game and play it for yourself. Go do it!

[DataNinja]

First off... how would one know what the name of the island means if the language is long forgotten? :smalltongue:

...this is all very gruesome, even in the pseudo-cartoon-y animation style. Very, very much not a game I'd normally play. Interesting, but... I am not strong enough for it.

You missed a doughnut back when you first entered the swamp area, and were worrying about said swamp.

But, yeah, interesting... but this is not a game that I could probably deal with. Everything here came as a huge shock and... geez.

[Lord Raziere]

Hey Zodi, its me raziere again, back cause I'm bored and this Zelda look sufficiently strange for me to have a laugh, gonna start watching all in order now like the binge-watching fool I am.

but first:

Zodi's recorded voice....is cute? hm. *shrug*

but this couple is cuter! but then I'm a sucker for lesbians.

OH GOD WHY THIS IS SO HORRIFYING. yeah.....this is why I don't like horror games....



why is Link on a train, is this victorian Link? or even victorian Zelda?

hello clones of previous companions and Nico.

but really, Link? TRAIN!? did they think that a train was going to be some weird land-boat? this is so strange to me, its clashing between a medieval hero with a sword and this locomotive? like, its so bizarre: CHOSEN SWORD HERO OF LEGEND YOU MUST......operate this steam train and be an engineer. kind of an odd choice for this kind of game, I'd expect this kind of thing from Mario but a version of link....?

and yes Link can in fact pull off a perfect stop of a train while bleeding out. that is the weirdest boast flex ever made, and is entirely true.

hello Jolene clone.

yeah, transporting cuccos sounds like the job for a crazy madman who hurls themselves into danger at every opportunity. y'know. like Link!

hello mailclone

hello Zeldaclone- INTERRUPTION! hrmph. here have a sekkrit.

No Zodi, I have not figured out that Cole is obviously an evil gremlin-goblin-leprechaun thingamabopper trying to steal Link's lucky charms using a fistful of blarney and a pinch of ganondorf's glorious red-headed hair, please draw me a diagram and write in depth dissertation, I'll believe you eventually.

Solid Link: Metal Train. acquire green camouflage, Link you must defeat the weapon to surpass Metal Train.

oh no the track disappeared, its not as if Link ever walked everywhere to defeat evil before, what he will do nooooow?

OH NO! ITS AN ......EVIL TRAIN. DUN DUN DUUUUUUUN!!! we haven't seen an evil like this since Evil Tristan.

Cole is....Evil!? my god this changes everything. water is fire. sky is ground. MICE AND PARROTS LIVI-eh I'm over it. and yeah he looks stupid with his weird golden horns.

yeah this game is not taking itself seriously at all.

Link: Princess-Protecting Stance!
Byrne: Horizon Bitch Slap No Jutsu!
Link: aaaaaaaahhhh....

Ghost Zelda: I never noticed how Cole never took off his hats, or how his teeth were literal fanhs, or how he was a literal gremlin, or how he kept whispering "soon the Spirit Tracks will be gone!!" while cackling evilly.

oh no Zelda, you become the navi! nooooooooo the curse has struck again! you could've possessed Link instead and have it be this hilarious thing where she is a metaphor for the player controlling Link.....

ah yes. how can we possibly get to the tower without a train. there is just so much flat grassland in the way, it might as well be untraversable. we'd have to invent a new technique with our feet to get through it, if only someone could figure it out. involving, perhaps, putting one foot in the front of the other repeatedly.

I dunno, why wasn't there a skull in the pot, Zodi? its a sacred urn where you burn all the bones to dust but the skull then you put it in, don't you know anything about this cultures' funerary rites?

so far your greatest enemy in this game has been BEEEEEEs. small flying insects: truly a swordsmans greatest foe.

I agree with Zelda, a male demon running around in a female body? UUUUUUUUGHHH.

Zelda.....doing something outside of Smash. my god such innovation, wow. but seriously, nice to see Zelda helping out.

Behold Link....THE TRAIN OF LEGEND!!

the greatest game trolling is when a randomized hard part, somehow becomes easy out of nowhere so that no one believes you. this is one lets playing's greatest truths.

those trains don't look cool, they look like chubby smiling villains. it must be sad to be low of a threat that your ability to attack people depends entirely on people near a pre-set railway

ah yes, equip exploding bomb cannon to train. surely the most safe and sane of modifications to your transportation locomotive. especially one conducted by ten year old child.

here Rabbitland rescue, you gotta love rabbits more than your life! DEDICATE YOUR LIFE TO THE FROLIC!!! CATCH RABBITS FOR THE DANCE!! BECOME AS RABBIT FURRY! KIDNAP ALL THE RABBITS SO THAT THEY MAY LOVE YOU IN THIS FIELD! AHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAAAAAA-wow environmental groups would hate this place.

"turns out the Anouki and we have to talk to them" NOOOOOO!!! the worst fate of all.

Mr. Frosty......truly a foe to be feared.



binge was unwise. didn't get all the way through. curse....burnout....

[LaZodiac]

The Missing is wonderful, but I understand (for multiple reasons) why it's not for everyone.

Glad you're enjoying train zelda, Raziere!

[Amechra]

The Missing is wonderful, but I understand (for multiple reasons) why it's not for everyone.

I'll admit, I skipped your quick look because I watched someone else's playthrough. Which I had to stop near the end, because they were doing a completionist run, and my heart couldn't take any more.

I accept your apology game, Swery, even if it is a little rough and painful.

[LaZodiac]

Late video because I was ****ing slammered last night in terms of sleepiness.

The Legend of Zelda Spirit Tracks [16] Bird O' Clock (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbWYkGuNBa0)

Video Length: 23:42

In this episode, we do some quick stamp collecting at the Ocean Temple, Ocean Sanctuary, and the village whose name I forget. Of course I say "quick" but in the case of at least the village, quick is anything but what it actually is. With our whip we can do a lot of cool stuff, and unfortunately calling in Carben's bird friends is one of them. It's... not a very good call, because unlike what you'd expect these are not guys we swing from, but instead things we hold onto as they transport us. This isn't necessarily bad, except... as you can see in the village, sometimes it's unclear what the right bird is!

To put it mildly, it was a little frustrating, and it kinda negatively impacted me for the rest of the video. Not in like a signifigent way, but enough to make me ramble on a bit about how the train portion of the game is kinda dull. Which don't get me wrong; I like the train riding, and it does have depth, it's just that each realm has its threats, and it never really changes things up, and it seems at least to me like they always show up in the same exact spots. It is the unfortunate curse of trains; they are on rails, so things stay perhaps a bit too consistent. Phantom Hourglass's steam ship was kinda awful and rough to deal with, but there was some degree of variety there. For good or ill.

That all aside, we end off at the Tower of Spirits, getting ready for our next excursion into the place. I hope you all enjoyed, I'll see you all next time. Take care!

[DataNinja]

The person who built the ocean temple sure hates stamp collectors. :smalltongue:

Yeah. The bird mechanic is... not good, and always a part I forget about because it's... not really that fun. I get it, there's potential... but constantly having to song and wait, and all that is... not a good design choice.

What, not going back to buy more train parts? :smalltongue:

Also, yeah, pirates always show up in the exact same spots - every time, in fact. You'll notice when you triggered the 2nd pirates heading for the spirit tower, they were on the other track-side of the same ocean space that you triggered them from Papuchia. Every time you go past a pirate trigger spot, you'll trigger them.



Rabbit
Location


1
West of Anouki Village


2
East of Anouki Village


3
Northwest of Snow Maze


4
Northeast of Snow Maze


5
Southwest of Snow Maze


6
West of Hyrule Castle


7
South of Rabbitland Rescue


8
East of Ocean Sanctuary


9
Southeast of Whistle Maze


10
Northwest of Whistle Maze


11
East of Whistle Maze


12
North of Papuchia

[TheWombatOfDoom]

Onwards, to more Zelda! Let's do us a dungeon!

Zodi Plays: The Legend of Zelda Spirit Tracks [15] Phytops (https://youtu.be/eOoVIpKne38)

Video Length: 33:21

A little longer than normal since I never really found a good breaking point. When your words are "after the next room let's call it" and you don't mentally realize the next room is the boss room, you tend to do silly things.

Speaking of silly things, for some reason parts of this dungeon just completely escaped my brain completely during the playing of it. How badly do I do? Well... not actually, it's really the last room that makes me stumble, but it is DEFINITELY a stumble. I'm not even particularly sure why, I think it's just that something clicked wrong with me. AT any rate, let's talk about the dungeon shall we? The first major puzzle is trying to find a way to get the boulders to stop falling on our path. The first real puzzle however is connecting information from one floor onto the floor above it... which in retrospect makes the two major puzzles in this game kind of iterative. Wow I'm dumb.

With the path opened up by hitting the switches in the right order, we're able to shut off the boulder stream and continue on to the miniboss of the dungeon, a Snapper. And our reward for killing the strange bird man? His whip! The whip is probably the centerpiece item of this game, the one that they put the most focus on. It's genuinely just really cool, because it does much of what the boomerang does but more controlled and capable of dealing actual real damage. The things it is used for are kinda varied, from throwing large metal objects at enemies who can't die otherwise, Indiana Jonesing across gaps, or just feeding swords to fish headed statues. It's a pretty good dungeon item!

And after taking care of the final puzzle, it's time to get the Big Key to the key block... only for Keymaster's to get in our way. To put it bluntly I don't like this bit since it's basically impossible to get it on the first try, just because of how many of these jerks there are. But I manage it, and go off to fight the boss, Phytops! Phytops is... an interesting boss, in that the lead up to it is far harder than the boss itself. Taking out its arms so you can whip your way up its home is way more dangerous due to having to be SO close to the edge and the threat of poison goop knocking you off. The fight itself is ramrod simple. You grab spikes from his vines and throw them at his face, breaking off the defensive plant layer. Then do it again to hit his eye to stun him, so you can go in for the kill. Easy peasy.

And that's it for today! I hope you all enjoyed this one. I'll see you all next time, take care.

Hmmm, i wonder if its a bird man, or a man with a bird mask...YO, that design look for the whip is stylish as hell!

The fish face looks like an angler fish...I don't see the clown.

This dungeon's puzzles are hard, but i like them. Least clear dungeon so far for sure.

According to the wiki, Phytops is a cross between an octorok and a plant. So should he go into the Octorok or the Baba?



EPISODE 15 KILL TALLY!

Yellow Chuchu - 8
Snapper - 3
Red Chuchu - 6
Metal Chuchu - 4
Key Master - 6
Phytops - 1

Style Points - 0

Missed Rupees - 0



Spirit Tracks
Total Kills
(As of Episode 15)

Bubbles - 12
Armos - 3
Bee Hives - 3
Bulbos - 17
Cannon Boats - 9
Crows - 4
Fraaz - 1
Freezard, Mini - 1
Key Master - 12
Lobarrier - 6
Rats - 9
Sir Frosty - 35
Snapper - 3
Snurgle - 1
Squiddies - 1
Wolfos, White - 16

Blins
Miniblins - 57
Miniblins, Mounted - 3
Bulblin, Archer - 8
Big Blins - 1

Chuchus
Chuchu, Red - 32
Chuchus, Ice - 10
Chuchus, Yellow - 8
Chuchus, Metal - 4

Keese
Keese - 13
Keese, Ice - 4
Keese, Fire - 4

Lizal
Geozard - 1
Geozard, Chief - 1

Mimics
Like Like - 2
Like Like, Pot - 2
Like Like, Chest - 1

Molds
Mothula, Winged - 3
Blastworms - 37
Vengas - 7
Stagnox - 2
Rocktite - 1
Skultula - 5

Octorok
Octorok, Red - 29
Octorok, Ocean - 2
Octive - 4
Octomine - 11
Phytops - 1

Poes
Nocturne - 5
Phantoms - 3

Spinenuts
Spinenuts, Red - 39
Spinenuts, Green - 1

Total Things Dead - 395

1st Place - Miniblins, at 57!
2nd Place - Red Spinenuts, at 39!
3rd Place - Blastworms, at 37!

Total Style Points - 8

Total Missed Rupees - 3
Total Lost Rupees - 0

[DataNinja]

The fish face looks like an angler fish...I don't see the clown.
Depending on how you look, at times the Angler Bauble can appear to be an upturned clown nose (I personally hadn't even noticed/remembered the sphere, personally).
https://pm1.narvii.com/6292/ffc2f0ddd046733e57ed6b9653ad16fecbdfc750_hq.jpg

[LaZodiac]

Hmmm, i wonder if its a bird man, or a man with a bird mask...YO, that design look for the whip is stylish as hell!

The fish face looks like an angler fish...I don't see the clown.

This dungeon's puzzles are hard, but i like them. Least clear dungeon so far for sure.

According to the wiki, Phytops is a cross between an octorok and a plant. So should he go into the Octorok or the Baba?


Compare and contrast the Octorok boss from Minish Cap. I'd say this is in the planet category since it's more plant than Octorok.

Also, looking at the fish faces, I can't NOT see the angler as a clown nose. They're absolutely clown-fish.

[Lord Raziere]

lets see to finish catching up....


....but wait if the boomerang burns off the ice, why doesn't it burn the plant itself?

weird inflatable icefire pig wizard, die! your balloon fission shenanigans are not challenging, only tedious and annoying! thats a sentence I never thought I'd say.

hi frustrating to reach beedleclone. honestly, if I was playing this game, I wouldn't even bother trying to go for him.

on the fake more map choice: its a classic nintendo trope at this point. nintendo makes great games, but are horrible at the rpg dialogue tree stuff, so when they do it, its invariably a non-choice dialogue part where its like, why do you even bother? you see this in sun/moon pokemon games as well. don't expect nintendo to offer good dialogue choices in their games any time soon the closest they ever came to that was paper mario in certain quiz segments.

Linebeck.....III. acceptably not a clone.

Like-Like mimics. my god. they're learning, adapting. evolving.

Link: I'm a girl!
Fortune Teller: I already knew that
ah, I see this fortune teller has foreseen A Tale of Two Rulers, truly she has the gift of foresight.

see, this is why the ancients said greed is a bad thing, you spend too much time mourning the loss of random penny-equivalent currency.

poor cucco? thats a contradiction in terms Zodi. cuccos are terrifying godfosaken creatures that hold no love for humanity. they merely allow zelda-humans to live in the same houses as long as they obey their true masters. not even ganon was fool enough to try and take them on, he knew his limits. you were killing it before it could kill you.

"you could just say birds" Zodi, don't know its the internet age, we don't use the proper terms for anything, we're all memelords who unnecessarily refer to snakes as "danger noodles" and "doggos" when we already have doggies as an affectionate term for dogs while calling birds a "birb" for no reason. nevermind me dying a little inside at saying these stupid meme-terms for these things, thats how it goes now. because apparently its a meme to just nickname everything with misspellings and strange affectionate terms that are technically longer than just saying the word. yes this is a weird rant, but this is a weird game where Link is for some reason on a freaking train so I'm not getting off this crazy train as long as Link stays on his, and I need to vent. I mean seriously, why? and don't think your not above this, you refer to some character in the zelda franchise as "sword wife" which I don't know who that is.

underwater steam trains. complete with tracks. I'd say "now I've seen everything" but once one has seen enough everythings, they know that there is always more everything to have seen it all than one could ever imagine. there is to the world as they say, than is dreamt in one's philosophy.

As Zodi is going backwards form armored train:
Me: stay on target.....
*zodi panicking*
Me: stay on target....
*zodi laughing*
Me: nice work

a whip or chain users's real goal in combat is actually to disarm the opponent by somehow wrapping the chain around your weapon and pulling it out of your hand or at least maneuvering it into an awkward position to kill you from. or with a whip, to blind you, or injure in all sorts of ways. a whip can actually blind you if it hits you in the eye. if this this sounds really difficult to do, its because it is, there are martial arts styles to use things like whips and chains, but like most martial arts they generally are less efficient and practical than just giving a guy a spear and telling them to stab people with it, or these days, a gun. its possible to fight with a whip or a chain but it requires years of training, like the only people who ever used that kind of weapon seriously were ninja and mostly out of the fact they couldn't get anything better than chains because they were peasants and chains weren't outlawed weapons. they basically were stuck with chains by default and even then it wasn't the only weapon they used. real interesting. fun fact about the whip: old cultures whipped the back as punishment because it was actually one the ways you avoided permanent injury when using it on someone. turns out a leather cord that can break the sound barrier can inflict pretty ugly stuff to somebody.
adding a snake head is kind of redundant honestly. aside from grabbing onto stuff, whips are actually designed not to get entangled with things funnily enough. entanglement is more a chain thing, as combat chains are tipped with heavy blunt things to help with damaging people and wrapping around stuff.

those birds are some fresh nonsense alright. slow, not really predictable, not obeying any clear logic, requires constant supervision to make work in a timely manner, yeah thats a bad mechanic with the number of red flags it springs up.

[DataNinja]

and don't think your not above this, you refer to some character in the zelda franchise as "sword wife" which I don't know who that is.

underwater steam trains. complete with tracks. I'd say "now I've seen everything" but once one has seen enough everythings, they know that there is always more everything to have seen it all than one could ever imagine. there is to the world as they say, than is dreamt in one's philosophy.
She's referring to Skyward Sword's Fi.

To be fair, it's a magic train (though, admittedly, it's the same thing with the non-Spirit Trains) on a magic track. Magic is the answer. ...also clearly why cannonbombs are suddenly torpedoes. :smalltongue:

[LaZodiac]

lets see to finish catching up....


....but wait if the boomerang burns off the ice, why doesn't it burn the plant itself?

weird inflatable icefire pig wizard, die! your balloon fission shenanigans are not challenging, only tedious and annoying! thats a sentence I never thought I'd say.

hi frustrating to reach beedleclone. honestly, if I was playing this game, I wouldn't even bother trying to go for him.

on the fake more map choice: its a classic nintendo trope at this point. nintendo makes great games, but are horrible at the rpg dialogue tree stuff, so when they do it, its invariably a non-choice dialogue part where its like, why do you even bother? you see this in sun/moon pokemon games as well. don't expect nintendo to offer good dialogue choices in their games any time soon the closest they ever came to that was paper mario in certain quiz segments.

Linebeck.....III. acceptably not a clone.

Like-Like mimics. my god. they're learning, adapting. evolving.

Link: I'm a girl!
Fortune Teller: I already knew that
ah, I see this fortune teller has foreseen A Tale of Two Rulers, truly she has the gift of foresight.

see, this is why the ancients said greed is a bad thing, you spend too much time mourning the loss of random penny-equivalent currency.

poor cucco? thats a contradiction in terms Zodi. cuccos are terrifying godfosaken creatures that hold no love for humanity. they merely allow zelda-humans to live in the same houses as long as they obey their true masters. not even ganon was fool enough to try and take them on, he knew his limits. you were killing it before it could kill you.

"you could just say birds" Zodi, don't know its the internet age, we don't use the proper terms for anything, we're all memelords who unnecessarily refer to snakes as "danger noodles" and "doggos" when we already have doggies as an affectionate term for dogs while calling birds a "birb" for no reason. nevermind me dying a little inside at saying these stupid meme-terms for these things, thats how it goes now. because apparently its a meme to just nickname everything with misspellings and strange affectionate terms that are technically longer than just saying the word. yes this is a weird rant, but this is a weird game where Link is for some reason on a freaking train so I'm not getting off this crazy train as long as Link stays on his, and I need to vent. I mean seriously, why? and don't think your not above this, you refer to some character in the zelda franchise as "sword wife" which I don't know who that is.

underwater steam trains. complete with tracks. I'd say "now I've seen everything" but once one has seen enough everythings, they know that there is always more everything to have seen it all than one could ever imagine. there is to the world as they say, than is dreamt in one's philosophy.

As Zodi is going backwards form armored train:
Me: stay on target.....
*zodi panicking*
Me: stay on target....
*zodi laughing*
Me: nice work

a whip or chain users's real goal in combat is actually to disarm the opponent by somehow wrapping the chain around your weapon and pulling it out of your hand or at least maneuvering it into an awkward position to kill you from. or with a whip, to blind you, or injure in all sorts of ways. a whip can actually blind you if it hits you in the eye. if this this sounds really difficult to do, its because it is, there are martial arts styles to use things like whips and chains, but like most martial arts they generally are less efficient and practical than just giving a guy a spear and telling them to stab people with it, or these days, a gun. its possible to fight with a whip or a chain but it requires years of training, like the only people who ever used that kind of weapon seriously were ninja and mostly out of the fact they couldn't get anything better than chains because they were peasants and chains weren't outlawed weapons. they basically were stuck with chains by default and even then it wasn't the only weapon they used. real interesting. fun fact about the whip: old cultures whipped the back as punishment because it was actually one the ways you avoided permanent injury when using it on someone. turns out a leather cord that can break the sound barrier can inflict pretty ugly stuff to somebody.
adding a snake head is kind of redundant honestly. aside from grabbing onto stuff, whips are actually designed not to get entangled with things funnily enough. entanglement is more a chain thing, as combat chains are tipped with heavy blunt things to help with damaging people and wrapping around stuff.

those birds are some fresh nonsense alright. slow, not really predictable, not obeying any clear logic, requires constant supervision to make work in a timely manner, yeah thats a bad mechanic with the number of red flags it springs up.


While the choices in Pokemon SuMo aren't good from an open world standpoint, they are in fact very good on a "you are a sassy little bitch" standpoint. There's a ton of character in the choices and while it doesn't Matter, mechanically, I do like it a lot.

I'm not greedy I just (willingly) have someone judging me on every rupee collected. I must collect the shiny thing!

As DataNinja said, the only person I call a sword wife is Fi, who is literally a sword. Also I get WHY people don't like these, but taking a specific stance of "I utterly absolutely refuse to use these travesties of a name" is like, the most "I'm a teenager tryhard edgelord" thing I've ever seen. It's so silly. Let people enjoy a good birb now and then.

Whips are like boomerangs in that they are way more effective a weapon than people realize.

[DataNinja]

I'm not greedy I just (willingly) have someone judging me on every rupee collected. I must collect the shiny thing!
To be fair... to collect to have is kinda the textbook definition of greed. :smalltongue:


Whips are like boomerangs in that they are way more effective a weapon than people realize.
They just aren't "as good a weapon at killing people as a sword stab is" effective. Which is what most people seem to focus on. :smallamused:

[Lord Raziere]

Also I get WHY people don't like these, but taking a specific stance of "I utterly absolutely refuse to use these travesties of a name" is like, the most "I'm a teenager tryhard edgelord" thing I've ever seen. It's so silly. Let people enjoy a good birb now and then.


Yeah, I get that a lot. Starting to think that there might be some truth to it, but I'm trying not to let that get to me, since people don't seem to like that sort of thing. I was just talking and reacting.

as for swords well in medieval times, swords were basically the old world's side arm. it was your go to flexible secondary weapon and one you took with you when you traveled around without much armor or preparation- there is good reason aside from looking cool that its used so often, because its lighter than a mace, its more easily wielded than a chain, more easily transported and less obvious than a spear, its longer than a dagger, it doesn't have the axes problem of getting stuck in things, you don't need ammo like a bow- things like that. it wasn't the best at any one thing, but it was a good second best at everything. and anything with a stabbing motion is basically pretty easy to learn. that and unlike most weapons, it has a crossguard, so better for blocking than something with no protection for your knuckles. Link and other heroes using a sword makes a lot of sense, given that he's traveling often and doesn't fight in formation so, no go on using a spear, maces are best for when your gonna fight an armored foe, and so on.

[LaZodiac]

*crackles knuckles* time to climb us a spirit tower again.

Zodi Plays: The Legend of Zelda Spirit Tracks [17] Teleportals (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcUqJNxkP5A)

Video Length: 31:27

Bit of a long one, due to my complete and total inability to understand exactly one (1) puzzle. In this time, we climb up to the latest block of the Tower of Spirits and begin to cut our way through it's puzzles. Phantom Eyes are back, and they respawn now! Both a good and bad thing in my opinion, though combining the Phantom Eyes seemingly exclusively with Warp Phantom's cuts down on their danger signifigently... but then the fact that this has no time limit means they can be stringent with the safe zones, making them more dangerous again. A lot of stuff to consider! Annoyingly the Phantom's attacks still send you back to the start of the room, which doesn't really make sense anymore with the time limit being gone.

Anyway, we deal with a fair number of puzzles here, all of which are rather elaborate parts of one big chain, and some of which I either missed or did not understand because we couldn't get that chest on the first floor! The one thing I can elaborate on though is Zelda's Warp Phantom possession. That's pretty cool, not giving us full range to teleport like the actual Warp Phantom's, but giving us a version that emphasizes it's use in puzzle solving! And speaking of puzzle solving... the one I did at the end there I genuinely do not know if I did the intended way or not. I realized during editing that I probably could have used the pots I smashed, but... otherwise, I'm not sure!

Anyway, that's it for today. Hope you all enjoyed, I'll see you guys next time. Take care!

[Amechra]

Zodi plz. That totally was the intended solution, otherwise they wouldn't have placed the Eye and the sand right there. It'd be weird if the intended solution was to, I dunno, use an unexplained feature of a dungeon item you picked up three dungeons ago :smallwink:.

I think you complain a bit too much about the non-bird puzzles (which generally have been pretty straightforward) and not enough about Zelda's really, really terrible pathfinding. :smalltongue:

[LaZodiac]

Zodi plz. That totally was the intended solution, otherwise they wouldn't have placed the Eye and the sand right there. It'd be weird if the intended solution was to, I dunno, use an unexplained feature of a dungeon item you picked up three dungeons ago :smallwink:.

I think you complain a bit too much about the non-bird puzzles (which generally have been pretty straightforward) and not enough about Zelda's really, really terrible pathfinding. :smalltongue:

It feels so rough to actually do though, and at least part of that is because I was trying to stun one of the PHantom's on the right side of the sand. I still feel like it might be the wrong path though...

Also yeah I have been complaining a lot about puzzles. I'll do my best to stop that, I just think for this recording session I was a little discombobulated or something. And besides soon I'll have... other things, to be annoyed at.

[DataNinja]

There's a reason Eyes need to respawn, though - otherwise you could lock yourself out of some puzzle solutions.

Yeah, that puzzle isn't super clear... but also, it was trying to teach you earlier with all the sinking stuff, and having to by pass that. Still not the best telegraphed thing in the world, though.

You didn't need to stun a phantom, though - it's basically impossible to do if they've noticed you, anyways, because they turn to face you way too fast. So, while later puzzles might encourage it in order to reduce the number of enemies (which is also why there are two in this area, to stop you from trivializing the puzzle once no more are there to threaten you), you shouldn't really need to swap without it being super-obvious you should.



Rabbit
Location


1
West of Anouki Village


2
East of Anouki Village


3
Northwest of Snow Maze


4
Northeast of Snow Maze


5
Southwest of Snow Maze


6
West of Hyrule Castle


7
South of Rabbitland Rescue


8
East of Ocean Sanctuary


9
Southeast of Whistle Maze


10
Northwest of Whistle Maze


11
East of Whistle Maze


12
North of Papuchia

[Lord Raziere]

I think the solution for the puzzle with the two warp knights in that closed off room, is to attract one of eyes, walk on the edge of the sand so that they warp to you, then walk on the sand so they sink into it, killing them, so you can then go back to the spot with the two switches and just warp zelda over. hey, glad you came up with the idea about the same time I did.

....no wait, you keep attacking the knights to try and stun them and hitting the eyeball. thats...not my idea.

okay my idea was the correct solution all along. though the finickiness on not killing the eye for it is annoying. as for pots....I dunno that depends, can you set pots down in this game? cause items like them seem to be throw-only in this game and pots break when you throw them. wouldn't be much of a puzzle if those two pots can just solve it without making use of Zelda, wouldn't it? because you need something to weigh the switches down, not just press them with an impact. like a block, thats generally how LoZ physics work. so I'm pretty sure you did the intended solution. let me look this up:


Now walk across the bridge with Link and stun the phantom eye with the boomerang. Do not slash at it with your sword; rather, use the whirlwind to send the phantom eye to the northwest corner of the map. Each time you use the whirlwind on the phantom eye it will reset its stun time.

Once the phantom eye is in the corner of the room, switch to the phantom and quickly trace a path to the phantom eye so that they will switch places. Have the phantom step on one of the switches and have Link step on the other. This will cause the door near the north part of the map to open up.

Run with Link all the way back to the center of the room. Use the phantom and warp to the phantom eye near the top of the room. Now have the characters join together, open the locked door, and head up to the 16th floor.

.......you could've just blown the eye across with the whirlwind this whole time and avoided the warp knights entirely. we were both wrong. darn it. oh well.

[LaZodiac]

I knew it was the whirlwind! Aha!!! Anyway new A Taste Of time.

A Taste Of: Wandersong (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3jSD5Nu91g)

Video Length: 21:42

This A Taste Of is for the cute little game called Wandersong. You are a bard, and you've had a dream that the world is about to end! You'd rather not have that happen, so you set off on a grand adventure to save the world! This is a puzzle platformer game with the rather cool mechanic of being able o sing and dance (almost) whenever you please, and it's great. I spend much of this video just giggling my ass off because of how genuinely charming this game is.

To put it bluntly I broke down sobbing playing this game. If you play ANY game I recommend or show off during A Taste Of, have it be this one. That's basically all I have to say, the game kinda speaks- no, sings, for itself.

------

Anyway! You guys continue to impress (or at the very least surprise) me. The Zodi Game of 2019 is... Dishonoured! I will not be wasting time asking my patron's for who the favorite character is because it's Corvo and Emily. I'm not spending a week waiting for everyone to tell me that. So I'll commission the art soon and once that's done I'll share it with you all and we can... celebrate our mutual love of a fun video game I played.

Sometimes I think the things I do are weird.

[Lord Raziere]

Ah yes, Wandersong, I too have played it. fully in fact. I do recommend playing all of it if you haven't already. I won't spoil anything, but its quite an interesting little tale about hope and happiness, sadness and darkness. Miriam is actually my favorite character and the one I relate to the most, though I find what you think of her funny.

[LaZodiac]

Ah yes, Wandersong, I too have played it. fully in fact. I do recommend playing all of it if you haven't already. I won't spoil anything, but its quite an interesting little tale about hope and happiness, sadness and darkness. Miriam is actually my favorite character and the one I relate to the most, though I find what you think of her funny.

I love Miriam she is the best.

[DataNinja]

Aw, that's a cute game. And also doesn't shove things in your face - lets you work them out.

[Amechra]

I knew it was the whirlwind! Aha!!! Anyway new A Taste Of time.

A Taste Of: Wandersong (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3jSD5Nu91g)

Video Length: 21:42

This A Taste Of is for the cute little game called Wandersong. You are a bard, and you've had a dream that the world is about to end! You'd rather not have that happen, so you set off on a grand adventure to save the world! This is a puzzle platformer game with the rather cool mechanic of being able o sing and dance (almost) whenever you please, and it's great. I spend much of this video just giggling my ass off because of how genuinely charming this game is.

To put it bluntly I broke down sobbing playing this game. If you play ANY game I recommend or show off during A Taste Of, have it be this one. That's basically all I have to say, the game kinda speaks- no, sings, for itself.

------

Anyway! You guys continue to impress (or at the very least surprise) me. The Zodi Game of 2019 is... Dishonoured! I will not be wasting time asking my patron's for who the favorite character is because it's Corvo and Emily. I'm not spending a week waiting for everyone to tell me that. So I'll commission the art soon and once that's done I'll share it with you all and we can... celebrate our mutual love of a fun video game I played.

Sometimes I think the things I do are weird.

The singing mechanic reminds me of Aquarius, except it's the whole game. Also, using singing for dialogue choices is... inspired.

If you like cute games, one of the devs that worked on Wandersong is also working on this game right here (http://chicorygame.com). And to think that Lobanov started off with games like Assassin Blue and Escape the Underworld...

[LaZodiac]

Hey so um,

I... forgot today was Friday. I was 100% sure it was Thursday today, five thousand percent.

So video will be late today.

[LaZodiac]

LATE BIDEO ZODI BAD!

Zodi Plays: The Legend of Zelda Spirit Tracks [18] Go Go Goron (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIuiTalG1RA&feature=youtu.be)

Video Length: 25:27

In this episode we finish up the spirit tower chunk we're in and head off to the fire realm. We meet Gorons, lava, and battle tanks! I don't remember any of the actual details beyond like, the scantest amounts since oooops I forgot to edit and upload and post this video today since I dead ass thought it was Thursday this morning.

Hope you all enjoy! Take care.

[Aeson]

The thought of Tank Commander Link amuses me.

[DataNinja]

Whoops, days. :smalltongue:

I love the little bits where talking to the Phantoms gives a little bit more than just general chatter. It's a nice way to give hints.

Look, Zodi, it's Train Minigame, or Flute. Take your pick which is the real Last Thing You Want To Do Today. :smallwink:

Ah, and now the sidequests open up. :smallamused:



Rabbit
Location


1
West of Anouki Village


2
East of Anouki Village


3
Northwest of Snow Maze


4
Northeast of Snow Maze


5
Southwest of Snow Maze


6
West of Hyrule Castle


7
South of Rabbitland Rescue


8
East of Ocean Sanctuary


9
Southeast of Whistle Maze


10
Northwest of Whistle Maze


11
East of Whistle Maze


12
North of Papuchia

[LaZodiac]

It's time for further zeld.

Zodi Plays: The Legend of Zelda Spirit Tracks [19] Ice and Embers (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5SyyFmM8ok)

Video Length: 35:04

In this exciting video, we do the needful to make Mega Ice accessible, hauling an anouki all the way to the wellspring station. Because we don't want goo covered ice for... reasons I cannot understand. Then we get the Mega Ice ourselves so we can transport it to the Goron Village. Twenty units in total, and it'll start to melt once we're out of the Snow Realm. If we take any harsh turns to fast we'll lose some ice, as well as if it we take damage from enemies. This isn't, necessarily, a bad minigame sort of activity... where it not for the fact that in terms of side quests, this is like 80% of them. It's either this or transporting a person from one location to the other, and often times doing one is just something you have to do in order to do the other. It's a level of variety that is... bad, for game enjoyment I think.

Making matters worse, after we DO bring the Mega Ice to Goron Village... the Goron's are lazy and don't actually finish their job, leaving another poor Goron homeless until we can bring another batch of at least ten Mega Ice units. How cruel. We tell the man we'll do this, but that'll be for later; we have a Locomo to find.

We make our way over to the Fire Sanctuary through the Elder Goron's house, fighting off falling rocks and cool Fire Baba enemies, until we get to a puzzle that has no real clear way to solve it, solved only because my first guess was right. Then we meet Embrose, the next of the Lokomos... and his monstrous song. I realize it may no look like much, but as you can see from the video length it takes a while to finish his flute segment, and I get a LITTLE saucy about it. I do finally get it, and with that the path to the Fire Temple is opened. We'll deal with that next time!

I hope you all enjoyed. I'll see you on the next one~.

[Amechra]

I think you'll have to play a game you actually like after this one. Because I'm starting to worry about your blood pressure.

[LaZodiac]

I think you'll have to play a game you actually like after this one. Because I'm starting to worry about your blood pressure.

Well I will be, so don't worry about it :smallbiggrin:

[DataNinja]

Yay, more Zeldi.

Good news! Pretty sure you don't need to obey the signs. The only things that cause loss of cargo are being hit, and I believe slamming on the brakes (oops, nope, you proved me wrong). Plus any special things like Ice melting outside the Ice Realm.

The ice actually was still melting on the field. If you look when talking to the Goron here (https://youtu.be/G5SyyFmM8ok?t=668), you'll see x13... then a few seconds after that, a popup informs you it's now x12. :smalltongue:

It's the armour-plated variant, so it's in the north part of the snow-maze, where the blizzard was (unfortunately, his locations in the general areas are random, so you do need to just... listen for his shutter click as you go around, unfortunately). It gets you
A gate to the Fire Realm, as well as a really funny scene at the destination - even if not trying to go for 100% completion, I'd highly recommend this one. It also lets you get a stamp you missed, as well as gives you a good excuse to go check on Rabbitland Rescue.

Treasure amounts needed:
(Common)
Demon Fossil: 25
Stalfos Skull: 19
Star Fragment: 9
Bee Larva: 18
Wood Heart: 19

(Uncommon)
Dark Pearl Loop: 12
Pearl Necklace: 21
Ruto Crown: 13
Dragon Scale: 14
Pirate Necklace: 14

(Rare)
Palace Dish: 7
Goron Amber: 7
Mystic Jade: 9
Ancient Gold Piece: 10

(Super Rare)
Alchemy Stone: 2
Regal Ring: 2
Some of the later train cars ratchet the numbers up significantly compared to earlier ones.

Do remember (I don't blame you for forgetting, I always did) that you have the song of healing.

The 'sparks of love' definitely make that a little bit more obtuse than it needs to be, because I definitely did think about 'sword sparks' first, before the whole laser thing. It probably would have helped if, like, there was more than one prior need to use the beacon song.

Honestly, I always found [I]this one to be the hardest song in the game. I'm glad that it only took you a half-dozen tries - I certainly know the pain of three hours trying as a kid. So... fingers crossed the remaining go smoothly.



Rabbit
Location


1
West of Anouki Village


2
East of Anouki Village


3
Northwest of Snow Maze


4
Northeast of Snow Maze


5
Southwest of Snow Maze


6
West of Hyrule Castle


7
South of Rabbitland Rescue


8
East of Ocean Sanctuary


9
Southeast of Whistle Maze


10
Northwest of Whistle Maze


11
East of Whistle Maze


12
North of Papuchia

[LaZodiac]

Yay, more Zeldi.

Good news! Pretty sure you don't need to obey the signs. The only things that cause loss of cargo are being hit, and I believe slamming on the brakes (oops, nope, you proved me wrong). Plus any special things like Ice melting outside the Ice Realm.

The ice actually was still melting on the field. If you look when talking to the Goron here (https://youtu.be/G5SyyFmM8ok?t=668), you'll see x13... then a few seconds after that, a popup informs you it's now x12. :smalltongue:

It's the armour-plated variant, so it's in the north part of the snow-maze, where the blizzard was (unfortunately, his locations in the general areas are random, so you do need to just... listen for his shutter click as you go around, unfortunately). It gets you
A gate to the Fire Realm, as well as a really funny scene at the destination - even if not trying to go for 100% completion, I'd highly recommend this one. It also lets you get a stamp you missed, as well as gives you a good excuse to go check on Rabbitland Rescue.

Treasure amounts needed:
(Common)
Demon Fossil: 25
Stalfos Skull: 19
Star Fragment: 9
Bee Larva: 18
Wood Heart: 19

(Uncommon)
Dark Pearl Loop: 12
Pearl Necklace: 21
Ruto Crown: 13
Dragon Scale: 14
Pirate Necklace: 14

(Rare)
Palace Dish: 7
Goron Amber: 7
Mystic Jade: 9
Ancient Gold Piece: 10

(Super Rare)
Alchemy Stone: 2
Regal Ring: 2
Some of the later train cars ratchet the numbers up significantly compared to earlier ones.

Do remember (I don't blame you for forgetting, I always did) that you have the song of healing.

The 'sparks of love' definitely make that a little bit more obtuse than it needs to be, because I definitely did think about 'sword sparks' first, before the whole laser thing. It probably would have helped if, like, there was more than one prior need to use the beacon song.

Honestly, I always found [I]this one to be the hardest song in the game. I'm glad that it only took you a half-dozen tries - I certainly know the pain of three hours trying as a kid. So... fingers crossed the remaining go smoothly.


The fact that the Mega Ice is still melting is generally horrifying. I did that run basically perfectly and ended up with almost not enough to do that future side quest I'll have to do. So now it's even more tenser!

What stamp did I miss that finding Ferros will get me? Just curious for when I do go do it.

O- oh, thanks for the list DataNinja. That's quite kind of you. Does that list factor in my already bought wood cannon or all of them? Just for references sake.

I remember the Song of Healing I just kinda am treating it like a last resort sort of thing, I think?

I considered this the hardest song in the game until the next one came up.

[DataNinja]

The fact that the Mega Ice is still melting is generally horrifying. I did that run basically perfectly and ended up with almost not enough to do that future side quest I'll have to do. So now it's even more tenser!

What stamp did I miss that finding Ferros will get me? Just curious for when I do go do it.

O- oh, thanks for the list DataNinja. That's quite kind of you. Does that list factor in my already bought wood cannon or all of them? Just for references sake.

I remember the Song of Healing I just kinda am treating it like a last resort sort of thing, I think?

I considered this the hardest song in the game until the next one came up.

Yeeeah, the side quest ones can be kinda punishing. Not all are timed, though, at least.

Unless I've forgotten, you've not gone back to get the Aboda stamp, which is where Ferrus wants to go. You forgot to get it when Niko gave you the book, and you've not gone back since then, IIRC.

Oopsies, nope, it did not. I forgot you bought that.

It's a 1/dungeon thing, so, it's not that limited... as opposed to when I played, when I thought it was a 1/game thing, and so promply forgot to ever use it.

It all comes down to how lucky one is at any given song, I guess. :smalltongue:

[Lord Raziere]

Hi Byrne you ninja-sith lord. say hello to your obi-wan.

cheesy as gouda, yes.

see this is why I find this premise hilarious, for this Zelda game, they have to make train conductors the chosen one thats just absurd. it somehow more absurd that yu-gi-oh making card players into warriors and chosen ones, because at least you can see how the card game can be made into something combative like a hero would use through magic, but a train is like, so unwieldy and orthogonal at best to the hero narrative it makes so little sense, because a hero like Link is fantasy hero who originates before trains so the usual narrative is a lone hero on a horse going wherever but the train is just so awkwardly modern and group-based. but hey at least you can't say the railroading isn't justified! :smalltongue:

a tank might be better than a train but a probably less funny because, the train has this inherent train track awkwardness to it that make you question whether this is really necessary or not.

ah yes, Snurgle, the lesser known brother of Smeagol.

ah yes, what lady can possibly resist the attractiveness of a pile of ice? they're just so cool, and so mysterious because you only see the tip of the iceberg....

wait you might have to do that twice more!? does the game hate the player?
.....oh my god it does hate players. it hates with a fiery passion. wow.

who put these weird things in a pot? enterprising early biologists and archeologists, I suspect.

your crime is....being a Like-like. your punishment is... Ten lashes or until death!

0_0 that thing lived with only its head.

wow, that is incredibly vague, those kinds of hints are always frustrating in videogames because so much of what of the instructions is interpretative with no actual directions for what tool to use to do so. I would've never guess to play music for this, honestly, and there are some puzzles in games that have stumped me in the past, though not always for the same reason.

ah yes the hardest part of this game: playing the pipes. I will watch this epic battle with interest. sometimes minigames are the hardest most terrifying part of a game, because when you introduce a wild new mechanic out of nowhere it can be frustrating to figure out how it works if it does at all, and thus you need to learn something entirely new to master rather than building upon skills you already have the entire game.

[DataNinja]

see this is why I find this premise hilarious, for this Zelda game, they have to make train conductors the chosen one thats just absurd. it somehow more absurd that yu-gi-oh making card players into warriors and chosen ones, because at least you can see how the card game can be made into something combative like a hero would use through magic, but a train is like, so unwieldy and orthogonal at best to the hero narrative it makes so little sense, because a hero like Link is fantasy hero who originates before trains so the usual narrative is a lone hero on a horse going wherever but the train is just so awkwardly modern and group-based. but hey at least you can't say the railroading isn't justified! :smalltongue:

I mean, it makes more sense when you consider that the rails are literal magical conduits of the land - so instead of priests, you have those who might be taught to 'avoid upsetting the spirits' or whatnot while travelling, while having the lifeblood of the region going across them. It very well might be that they're considered irreverent to have vehicles (wagons, whatever) go any direction but parallel - crossing the tracks is crossing the spirits.

[LaZodiac]

You've all been good so you can have little a cyberpunk, as a treat.

A Taste Of: Katana ZERO (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quT0HzfwoXA)

Video Length: 22:42

I don't actually know if I have the words to properly describe the way I feel about this game. The last two A Taste Of's have been emotional powerhouses, games that genuinely struck me deep in my core and were honestly rather soul affecting. You could genuinely argue they changed my life in some small, meaningful ways.

Katana ZERO is like that except from the other end. No emotion, head empty, just utterly brutally cool time assassin action. It's one of my favorite aesthetics, with some amazing music. The style oozing from this game is palpable. The small fact that you get to monitor the security tape of Zero going through the level, without any of the UI or special effects is genius, a way to allow the player to focus entirely on the game and THEN get to see all the cool **** they did. Just from this one video you can tell there's a lot of surprising nuance in how to control yourself in game, and there is this immediate impression that there is way more going on in the game than it lets you know.

To put it bluntly I stayed up till 3 in the morning one weekend playing this game to completion twice. It's a good game, highly recommend it!

[DataNinja]

I agree, very much stylish and cool cyberpunk whatsits. :smalltongue:

I do really have a soft spot for these games that have a conceit for the video-game-y stuff like new games/retries whatever.

Also, really, really like the music.

[Amechra]

I'm reminded of Super Hot... mostly because of the "playback without extras" thing at the end.

(If you aren't familiar, Super Hot is an FPS where time only progresses while you're moving. It's... impressive.)

[LaZodiac]

I'm reminded of Super Hot... mostly because of the "playback without extras" thing at the end.

(If you aren't familiar, Super Hot is an FPS where time only progresses while you're moving. It's... impressive.)

SUPER

HOT
(https://youtu.be/xp3jIoU_66k)
(I'm well aware of and love the **** out of Super Hot)

[Lord Raziere]

I've seen Katana Zero played before. it can get dark, thats all I'm saying, at least from what I've seen. though cyberpunk is already dark so *shrug*.....I have it on my steam wishlist but haven't felt like going after it yet. I'm more focused on playing and finishing the games I already have. it is cool and I like katanas, ninjas and cyberpunk this is my kind of edgy cool meta jam, I just want to get other stuff done before getting into newer things or I'd just put them off endlessly.

[Floogal]

see this is why I find this premise hilarious, for this Zelda game, they have to make train conductors the chosen one thats just absurd.
[...]
a tank might be better than a train but a probably less funny because, the train has this inherent train track awkwardness to it that make you question whether this is really necessary or not.
This concept was ultimately the result of the Zelda series' (thankfully temporary) fixation on using a mode of transport to cross large empty areas. It started with Ocarina of Time, with the large empty Hyrule field you ride Epona around in, but it wasn't too bad there. But then it was a boat across an ocean in Wind Waker, a horse across large empty fields in Twilight Princess, a boat across the ocean again in Phantom Hourglass, the train in Spirit Tracks, and finally a bird around an empty sky in Skyward Sword. I guess the design thought was that it made the games feel more grand & epic if Link was crossing large distances, but filling those distances with stuff to explore & interact with took too much time to implement and/or the systems didn't have enough juice to render, so they were empty, which was boring to run across, so they gave you a mode of transport. Then the games started to focus more on the transport, and they didn't want to retread.

So we eventually got to trains. While I personally love trains, even I have to agree that it didn't quite fit the theme of Zelda exploration. Horse, boat, bird; those represent freedom to go explore uncharted territories anywhere you want. Trains on preset tracks instead represent going to places that others have already mapped out -- it would have been cool to build your own tracks. Also, on the other games you generally have the freedom to hop off your transport at anytime & control normally, or you're moving about in an area that you can't walk on foot, which helps justify the vehicle/mount. With the train, you can't hop out, and in most cases you're going through areas that look like Link could just go about on foot anyways. I think it would have been better if the train areas were zoomed out more & the train went faster, i.e. you were travelling much further distances to justify needing to use the train. Or maybe the ground was cursed, and you had to use a train to get around or die?

It's a shame, because outside of the boring & repetitive train sections (and the DS meant that we didn't even have beautiful scenery to look at), I really liked this game. Zelda is one of the more interesting companions, the dungeons are well-designed & tightly-paced, great soundtrack, the touch controls were refined more from Phantom Hourglass (which already worked surprisingly well -- why haven't the DS Zeldas been ported to phones yet?), and the entire final boss sequence is one of my favourites, presentation & theme wise. But the amount of time wasted watching the train chugging, and the stupid grind for train parts, makes me uninterested in replaying the game.

Still, I'm glad Zeldas are no longer focused on their mode-of-transport. Heck, Breath of the Wild was almost the opposite: you used horses when you just wanted to get somewhere for the first time (as opposed to exploring the whole entire area on foot), then warped to places you'd already been to. If you used horses in that game, it was usually for fun, not because it the only way to get around.

[Amechra]

SUPER

HOT
(https://youtu.be/xp3jIoU_66k)
(I'm well aware of and love the **** out of Super Hot)

My fault for missing that one - which is weird, because Super Hot is always a fun time.

I kinda wish you had remembered your slo-mo earlier in Katana Zero, if only because I think seeing really tricky and technical things played back at full speed is awesome.

What I guess I'm saying is "full Let's Play when?"

[DataNinja]

What I guess I'm saying is "full Let's Play when?"

There are ways of making her play stuff. :smallwink:
(Patreon incentive, to be clear.)

[LaZodiac]

My fault for missing that one - which is weird, because Super Hot is always a fun time.

I kinda wish you had remembered your slo-mo earlier in Katana Zero, if only because I think seeing really tricky and technical things played back at full speed is awesome.

What I guess I'm saying is "full Let's Play when?"

As DataNinja said, though Katana Zero is DEFINITELY a game I would do an LP of. It rules and I love it.

That being said... I'm REALLY bad at using the time slow. I actually got to the point of being able to reflect bullets out of time slow because I just kept on forgetting to use it.

[Amechra]

There are ways of making her play stuff. :smallwink:
(Patreon incentive, to be clear.)

Alas, I already have grad school eating money out of my account at a stupidly fast rate, so I can't afford to give any away.

And now I will be shunned out of the thread.

[Aeson]

Katana Zero vaguely reminds me of a game called Ronin that I saw a few years ago.

[LaZodiac]

Katana Zero vaguely reminds me of a game called Ronin that I saw a few years ago.

Ronin is my next LP, so prepare to see it again :smallwink:

[DataNinja]

Alas, I already have grad school eating money out of my account at a stupidly fast rate, so I can't afford to give any away.

And now I will be shunned out of the thread.

Don't worry, that's a feeling that I'm sure a lot of us can sympathise with. It's all good, you're cool. We don't shun. :smalltongue:

Okay, you might be shunned if you abhor Zelda or something. :smallwink:

[LaZodiac]

Alas, I already have grad school eating money out of my account at a stupidly fast rate, so I can't afford to give any away.

And now I will be shunned out of the thread.

I will never shun you or anyone*

And yeah, don't worry about giving money or anything. It's not necessary~

unless you're being a dip****.

[LaZodiac]

Gon-goroooon, time for a new Zeldo

The Legend of Zelda Spirit Tracks [20] Temple of Fire (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ksnPu7d8N0)

Video Length: 22:01

In this video, we return to Goron Village to investigate how to open the Fire Temple. A relatively simple thing, hunting down Snurglers and honking at them real hard. But the execution of this is actually really good, if I do say so. I like this one! It's not the relatively simple "just drive to them" of the Forest and Snow temples, and not the agonizing long form hell of the Ocean Temple.

Once the keys are obtained, we can go into the Fire Temple proper, which is probably my favorite dungeon? What can I say, mine carts and gamera style turtles are the best. Also we get the Bow, which is almost always one of my favorite items in these games. The bow is just really fun, and in a game controlled by touch it's actually rather effective since there's not MANY ways you can mess it up.

A bit of a short update, but that's how things go sometimes. Hope you all enjoyed, I'll see you all next time!

[DataNinja]

I've always really liked the unique little tune that these guys have - you never hear it at any other point in the game.

Not much else to comment besides the fact that, hey, I feel like these puzzles are good, even the miniboss. It's not immediately obvious what you need to do, but you can figure it out on accident even if you're stuck.



Rabbit
Location


1
West of Anouki Village


2
East of Anouki Village


3
Northwest of Snow Maze


4
Northeast of Snow Maze


5
Southwest of Snow Maze


6
West of Hyrule Castle


7
South of Rabbitland Rescue


8
East of Ocean Sanctuary


9
Southeast of Whistle Maze


10
Northwest of Whistle Maze


11
East of Whistle Maze


12
North of Papuchia

[LaZodiac]

Let's continue us a dungeon, shall we?

Zodi Plays: The Legend of Zelda Spirit Tracks [21] Cragma (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0jv6C7FDyg)

Video Length: 24:59

In this episode, we continue to push through the Fire Temple. It's honestly rather simple a dungeon; standard "hit these in order" puzzles, some trick shot arrow orb puzzles (the trickiest of which involves making use of lava geysers, which is cool) and generally just dealing with basic enemies like Stalfos and miniboss-turned-enemies like Heatoise. There isn't much to talk about with this dungeon, beyond the fact that it's just really well made. The final puzzle involves timing mine cart track switches to get both you and the boss key to the boss cube at the end of the dungeon at the same time, and that's honestly rather slick and cool. That being said I do however have one question; how do I get that stamp machine? I have no idea!

As for the boss, Cragma is actually really cool a fight. He's relatively simple, much like his own temple, and the use of mine carts makes him feel really dynamic as you make your way up his body, shooting him in his glowing weakspots to bleed him dry of lava. The only real negative of this fight is that if you DO mess up and run out of arrows while on the track, you are forced to take damage and that sucks. There should be a way to refill while up on the tracks, and it should be more that if you're out of arrows he can start to catch up and threatens TO hit you. That being said you also only have to do two loops and that's an absolute godsend, AND your progress is saved even if you run out of arrows and get knocked down which rules. It's almost like this game has good boss design or something.

With Cragma dead, the Fire Temple Force Gem is restored, and seemingly the last piece of the Tower of Spirits is back where it is meant to be! Which means that, on the surface at least, we're going to the end game! I don't imagine it'll be that simple though, for a number of reasons. Ah well; I hope you all enjoyed, I'll see you guys next time!

[TheWombatOfDoom]

Late video because I was ****ing slammered last night in terms of sleepiness.

The Legend of Zelda Spirit Tracks [16] Bird O' Clock (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbWYkGuNBa0)

Video Length: 23:42

In this episode, we do some quick stamp collecting at the Ocean Temple, Ocean Sanctuary, and the village whose name I forget. Of course I say "quick" but in the case of at least the village, quick is anything but what it actually is. With our whip we can do a lot of cool stuff, and unfortunately calling in Carben's bird friends is one of them. It's... not a very good call, because unlike what you'd expect these are not guys we swing from, but instead things we hold onto as they transport us. This isn't necessarily bad, except... as you can see in the village, sometimes it's unclear what the right bird is!

To put it mildly, it was a little frustrating, and it kinda negatively impacted me for the rest of the video. Not in like a signifigent way, but enough to make me ramble on a bit about how the train portion of the game is kinda dull. Which don't get me wrong; I like the train riding, and it does have depth, it's just that each realm has its threats, and it never really changes things up, and it seems at least to me like they always show up in the same exact spots. It is the unfortunate curse of trains; they are on rails, so things stay perhaps a bit too consistent. Phantom Hourglass's steam ship was kinda awful and rough to deal with, but there was some degree of variety there. For good or ill.

That all aside, we end off at the Tower of Spirits, getting ready for our next excursion into the place. I hope you all enjoyed, I'll see you all next time. Take care!


Honestly, guessing at a secret wall and the whole process to get to the stamps is just cool content. I'm going to give you a +1 to your style points for it.

LMAO, the bird dragging you along the cliff till you fell off. Reminds me of riding a donkey in greece where the ass tried to rub me off on a fence. I love that it made you have to use resetting to avoid dealing with bird nonsense any longer.

When you're going north toward the tower, it seems highly strange that the designers of this rail would turn directly away from land, and choose to continue a rail above the water. This whole rail system is incredibly unsafe. RIP all the trains who were on the ocean tracks when the tracks disappeared...

I see what you mean about the train vs boat. The boat at least you could draw the path you took. This you're limited to the path along actual tracks, so less creative and more of a rail and shoot (like one of those arcade games - house of the dead 17 or whatever).



EPISODE 16 KILL TALLY!

Cannon Boat - 12
Lobarrier - 6
Red Octoroks - 5

Style Points - 1

Missed Rupees - 0



Spirit Tracks
Total Kills
(As of Episode 16)

Bubbles - 12
Armos - 3
Bee Hives - 3
Bulbos - 17
Cannon Boats - 21
Crows - 4
Fraaz - 1
Freezard, Mini - 1
Key Master - 12
Lobarrier - 12
Rats - 9
Sir Frosty - 35
Snapper - 3
Snurgle - 1
Squiddies - 1
Wolfos, White - 16

Blins
Miniblins - 57
Miniblins, Mounted - 3
Bulblin, Archer - 8
Big Blins - 1

Chuchus
Chuchu, Red - 32
Chuchus, Ice - 10
Chuchus, Yellow - 8
Chuchus, Metal - 4

Keese
Keese - 13
Keese, Ice - 4
Keese, Fire - 4

Lizal
Geozard - 1
Geozard, Chief - 1

Mimics
Like Like - 2
Like Like, Pot - 2
Like Like, Chest - 1

Molds
Mothula, Winged - 3
Blastworms - 37
Vengas - 7
Stagnox - 2
Rocktite - 1
Skultula - 5

Octorok
Octorok, Red - 34
Octorok, Ocean - 2
Octive - 4
Octomine - 11
Phytops - 1

Poes
Nocturne - 5
Phantoms - 3

Spinenuts
Spinenuts, Red - 39
Spinenuts, Green - 1

Total Things Dead - 418

1st Place - Miniblins, at 57!
2nd Place - Red Spinenuts, at 39!
3rd Place - Blastworms, at 37!

Total Style Points - 9

Total Missed Rupees - 3
Total Lost Rupees - 0

[TheWombatOfDoom]

*crackles knuckles* time to climb us a spirit tower again.

Zodi Plays: The Legend of Zelda Spirit Tracks [17] Teleportals (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcUqJNxkP5A)

Video Length: 31:27

Bit of a long one, due to my complete and total inability to understand exactly one (1) puzzle. In this time, we climb up to the latest block of the Tower of Spirits and begin to cut our way through it's puzzles. Phantom Eyes are back, and they respawn now! Both a good and bad thing in my opinion, though combining the Phantom Eyes seemingly exclusively with Warp Phantom's cuts down on their danger signifigently... but then the fact that this has no time limit means they can be stringent with the safe zones, making them more dangerous again. A lot of stuff to consider! Annoyingly the Phantom's attacks still send you back to the start of the room, which doesn't really make sense anymore with the time limit being gone.

Anyway, we deal with a fair number of puzzles here, all of which are rather elaborate parts of one big chain, and some of which I either missed or did not understand because we couldn't get that chest on the first floor! The one thing I can elaborate on though is Zelda's Warp Phantom possession. That's pretty cool, not giving us full range to teleport like the actual Warp Phantom's, but giving us a version that emphasizes it's use in puzzle solving! And speaking of puzzle solving... the one I did at the end there I genuinely do not know if I did the intended way or not. I realized during editing that I probably could have used the pots I smashed, but... otherwise, I'm not sure!

Anyway, that's it for today. Hope you all enjoyed, I'll see you guys next time. Take care!

Honestly, it seems that warp phantoms only warp to where an eye is anyway, so essentially its the same mechanic.

Honestly, I liked the puzzles and I prefer the solution you found to the whirlwind thing, because it seems cooler to drown warp phantoms than it does to gust eyes. I'm sorry it gave you so much trouble, but I'm glad you figured out a way forward! Also, I don't mind you venting frustration. Each person has an opinion for a game, and its nice to see honest reaction rather than composed tolerance. That's my two cents, though.



EPISODE 17 KILL TALLY!

Phantom Eye - 22
Metal Chuchu - 4
Geozard - 1

Style Points - 1

Missed Rupees - 0



Spirit Tracks
Total Kills
(As of Episode 17)

Bubbles - 12
Armos - 3
Bee Hives - 3
Bulbos - 17
Cannon Boats - 21
Crows - 4
Fraaz - 1
Freezard, Mini - 1
Key Master - 12
Lobarrier - 12
Rats - 9
Sir Frosty - 35
Snapper - 3
Snurgle - 1
Squiddies - 1
Wolfos, White - 16

Blins
Miniblins - 57
Miniblins, Mounted - 3
Bulblin, Archer - 8
Big Blins - 1

Chuchus
Chuchu, Red - 32
Chuchus, Ice - 10
Chuchus, Yellow - 8
Chuchus, Metal - 4

Keese
Keese - 13
Keese, Ice - 4
Keese, Fire - 4

Lizal
Geozard - 2
Geozard, Chief - 1

Mimics
Like Like - 2
Like Like, Pot - 2
Like Like, Chest - 1

Molds
Mothula, Winged - 3
Blastworms - 37
Vengas - 7
Stagnox - 2
Rocktite - 1
Skultula - 5

Octorok
Octorok, Red - 34
Octorok, Ocean - 2
Octive - 4
Octomine - 11
Phytops - 1

Poes
Nocturne - 5
Phantom Eyes - 22
Phantoms - 3

Spinenuts
Spinenuts, Red - 39
Spinenuts, Green - 1

Total Things Dead - 445

1st Place - Miniblins, at 57!
2nd Place - Red Spinenuts, at 39!
3rd Place - Blastworms, at 37!

Total Style Points - 9

Total Missed Rupees - 3
Total Lost Rupees - 0

[LaZodiac]

I try my hardest to be truthful with my reactions to games. Some friends have accused me of being soft, or having jelly bones, but I'm definitely not that.

I'm just accepting of a great deal of flaws if I personally have enjoyment.

Spirit Tracks is pushing it, just a little bit :smallamused:. The last area has been pretty good beyond introducing the second type of sidequest in the game.

[DataNinja]

I love the arrow redirecters. They're clever, and allow setting up some neat puzzles - especially because the in-arrow direction doesn't matter, so you have far less puzzle frustration. Especially since the boomerang can be used to play around with them at ranges.

Generic "'Treasure' Chests" are all randomized, but are set to a certain "Tier" of rewards. So in each playthrough, you'll get a different selection, but they'll all be the same rarity. I think only Tier 1 drops are pot/leaf drops. With Demon Fossils being rarely dropped.

For the Fire Temple Stamp, there's a hidden switch in one of the lower corners, IIRC, that you need to hit with arrows when you're coming towards the Stamp on the minecart. This is, also if I recall correctly, the trickiest stamp in the game.

Cragma is cool. I just love this fight. It's so cinematic. Also, a fun fact is that he's the only Spirit Tracks Boss to get official artwork in the game's promotion (or since, I think).
https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/zelda/images/5/5d/Cragma_Artwork.png/revision/latest?cb=20091128025230

I don't mind the forced damage if you run out of arrows, because it's not that much, and it only happens, really, if you run out. It's the thing that stops it from being just another 'shoot the targets' minecart ride. You need to do it all cleanly, or else you get punished by the boss. I do admit that 20 arrows can make it rather tight, though. (I do seem to remember the big quiver being seen, though, so you could leave the Temple, grind/sell for that, and come back.)



Rabbit
Location


1
West of Anouki Village


2
East of Anouki Village


3
Northwest of Snow Maze


4
Northeast of Snow Maze


5
Southwest of Snow Maze


6
West of Hyrule Castle


7
South of Rabbitland Rescue


8
East of Ocean Sanctuary


9
Southeast of Whistle Maze


10
Northwest of Whistle Maze


11
East of Whistle Maze


12
North of Papuchia

[TheWombatOfDoom]

LATE BIDEO ZODI BAD!

Zodi Plays: The Legend of Zelda Spirit Tracks [18] Go Go Goron (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIuiTalG1RA&feature=youtu.be)

Video Length: 25:27

In this episode we finish up the spirit tower chunk we're in and head off to the fire realm. We meet Gorons, lava, and battle tanks! I don't remember any of the actual details beyond like, the scantest amounts since oooops I forgot to edit and upload and post this video today since I dead ass thought it was Thursday this morning.

Hope you all enjoy! Take care.

Oh goodness, late zodi!

Yo, burn and Anjean showdown? I really wanted to see that, why you cut away?! Also, that he might have lost his ARM to her last time makes me want to see it that much more...

Gorons! Yeaaaaaaah. I just miss the Zora... but bird people now...so alas.



EPISODE 18 KILL TALLY!

Phantom Eye - 3
Warp Phantom - 1
Bulblin Archer - 1
Bulbos - 2
Sir Frosty - 5
Pirate Tank - 1

Style Points - 0

Missed Rupees - 0



Spirit Tracks
Total Kills
(As of Episode 18)

Bubbles - 12
Armos - 3
Bee Hives - 3
Bulbos - 19
Crows - 4
Fraaz - 1
Freezard, Mini - 1
Key Master - 12
Lobarrier - 12
Rats - 9
Sir Frosty - 40
Snapper - 3
Snurgle - 1
Squiddies - 1
Wolfos, White - 16

Blins
Miniblins - 57
Miniblins, Mounted - 3
Bulblin, Archer - 9
Big Blins - 1

Chuchus
Chuchu, Red - 32
Chuchus, Ice - 10
Chuchus, Yellow - 8
Chuchus, Metal - 4

Keese
Keese - 13
Keese, Ice - 4
Keese, Fire - 4

Lizal
Geozard - 2
Geozard, Chief - 1

Mimics
Like Like - 2
Like Like, Pot - 2
Like Like, Chest - 1

Molds
Mothula, Winged - 3
Blastworms - 37
Vengas - 7
Stagnox - 2
Rocktite - 1
Skultula - 5

Octorok
Octorok, Red - 34
Octorok, Ocean - 2
Octive - 4
Octomine - 11
Phytops - 1

Poes
Nocturne - 5
Phantom Eyes - 25
Phantoms - 3
Phantoms, Warp - 1

Spinenuts
Spinenuts, Red - 39
Spinenuts, Green - 1

Vehicles
Cannon Boats - 21
Pirate Ships - 1
Pirate Tanks - 3

Total Things Dead - 460

1st Place - Miniblins, at 57!
2nd Place - Red Spinenuts, at 39!
3rd Place - Blastworms, at 37!

Total Style Points - 9

Total Missed Rupees - 3
Total Lost Rupees - 0

[LaZodiac]

Generic "'Treasure' Chests" are all randomized, but are set to a certain "Tier" of rewards. So in each playthrough, you'll get a different selection, but they'll all be the same rarity. I think only Tier 1 drops are pot/leaf drops. With Demon Fossils being rarely dropped.

For the Fire Temple Stamp, there's a hidden switch in one of the lower corners, IIRC, that you need to hit with arrows when you're coming towards the Stamp on the minecart. This is, also if I recall correctly, the trickiest stamp in the game.

Cragma is cool. I just love this fight. It's so cinematic. Also, a fun fact is that he's the only Spirit Tracks Boss to get official artwork in the game's promotion (or since, I think).
https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/zelda/images/5/5d/Cragma_Artwork.png/revision/latest?cb=20091128025230


Please tell the DM to give me new dice I keep rolling exclusively twos.

Thanks, that'll help me immensely.

Cragma's art is so damn cool. While the in game is less impressive, for sure, the art is exceptional.

[DataNinja]

Yo, burn and Anjean showdown? I really wanted to see that, why you cut away?! Also, that he might have lost his ARM to her last time makes me want to see it that much more...

Guarantee, if they tried to render it, it would just be disappointing. One may want to see it, but, man, they couldn't do it justice on this system. :smalltongue:


Please tell the DM to give me new dice I keep rolling exclusively twos.

Thanks, that'll help me immensely.

Cragma's art is so damn cool. While the in game is less impressive, for sure, the art is exceptional.

I know that feeling. All my damage dice in D&D thought they were d2s.

Fire Stamp was the last one I ended up getting. It's... a fun one.

The art doesn't have multiple glowing weakspots all over telling you where to shoot. Just the one. So, that already makes it more intimidating. :smallamused:

[TheWombatOfDoom]

It's time for further zeld.

Zodi Plays: The Legend of Zelda Spirit Tracks [19] Ice and Embers (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5SyyFmM8ok)

Video Length: 35:04

In this exciting video, we do the needful to make Mega Ice accessible, hauling an anouki all the way to the wellspring station. Because we don't want goo covered ice for... reasons I cannot understand. Then we get the Mega Ice ourselves so we can transport it to the Goron Village. Twenty units in total, and it'll start to melt once we're out of the Snow Realm. If we take any harsh turns to fast we'll lose some ice, as well as if it we take damage from enemies. This isn't, necessarily, a bad minigame sort of activity... where it not for the fact that in terms of side quests, this is like 80% of them. It's either this or transporting a person from one location to the other, and often times doing one is just something you have to do in order to do the other. It's a level of variety that is... bad, for game enjoyment I think.

Making matters worse, after we DO bring the Mega Ice to Goron Village... the Goron's are lazy and don't actually finish their job, leaving another poor Goron homeless until we can bring another batch of at least ten Mega Ice units. How cruel. We tell the man we'll do this, but that'll be for later; we have a Locomo to find.

We make our way over to the Fire Sanctuary through the Elder Goron's house, fighting off falling rocks and cool Fire Baba enemies, until we get to a puzzle that has no real clear way to solve it, solved only because my first guess was right. Then we meet Embrose, the next of the Lokomos... and his monstrous song. I realize it may no look like much, but as you can see from the video length it takes a while to finish his flute segment, and I get a LITTLE saucy about it. I do finally get it, and with that the path to the Fire Temple is opened. We'll deal with that next time!

I hope you all enjoyed. I'll see you on the next one~.

Come back in a bit? Okay let me inspect my train real quick. So transportation of goods and people are the only side quests. Glad I don't own this game.

Forgive me, but was it possible to turn right in front of the dark train, since it wasn't moving?

Part of me wonders if the fire babas (so cool) can light those torches with their projectiles...

....theres a harder one... (mad cackles from zodi)

EPISODE 19 KILL TALLY!

Snurgle - 1
Sir Frosty - 10
Bulblin Archer - 1
Bulbos - 6
Fire Keese - 5
Pot Like Like - 3
Fire Baba - 7

Style Points - 0

Missed Rupees - 5 (eeeeesh)



Spirit Tracks
Total Kills
(As of Episode 19)

Bubbles - 12
Armos - 3
Bee Hives - 3
Bulbos - 25
Crows - 4
Fraaz - 1
Fire Baba - 7
Freezard, Mini - 1
Key Master - 12
Lobarrier - 12
Rats - 9
Sir Frosty - 50
Snapper - 3
Snurgle - 2
Squiddies - 1
Wolfos, White - 16

Blins
Miniblins - 57
Miniblins, Mounted - 3
Bulblin, Archer - 10
Big Blins - 1

Chuchus
Chuchu, Red - 32
Chuchus, Ice - 10
Chuchus, Yellow - 8
Chuchus, Metal - 4

Keese
Keese - 13
Keese, Ice - 4
Keese, Fire - 9

Lizal
Geozard - 2
Geozard, Chief - 1

Mimics
Like Like - 2
Like Like, Pot - 5
Like Like, Chest - 1

Molds
Mothula, Winged - 3
Blastworms - 37
Vengas - 7
Stagnox - 2
Rocktite - 1
Skultula - 5

Octorok
Octorok, Red - 34
Octorok, Ocean - 2
Octive - 4
Octomine - 11
Phytops - 1

Poes
Nocturne - 5
Phantom Eyes - 25
Phantoms - 3
Phantoms, Warp - 1

Spinenuts
Spinenuts, Red - 39
Spinenuts, Green - 1

Vehicles
Cannon Boats - 21
Pirate Ships - 1
Pirate Tanks - 3

Total Things Dead - 493

1st Place - Miniblins, at 57!
2nd Place - Sir Frosty, at 50!
3rd Place - Red Spinenuts, at 39!

Total Style Points - 9

Total Missed Rupees - 8
Total Lost Rupees - 0

[LaZodiac]

Don't know if the Fire Baba's can light torches, but I do know if you try to climb up the easy way that train WILL activate and start chasing you and it will be a near unavoidable head on collision. And even if it's not, now you got that guy following you while going through the longer route AND you've wasted some time with your Mega Ice.

[DataNinja]

but I do know if you try to climb up the easy way that train WILL activate and start chasing you and it will be a near unavoidable head on collision. And even if it's not, now you got that guy following you while going through the longer route AND you've wasted some time with your Mega Ice.

I don't believe the train keeps chasing you, it'll stop and return to its starting position once you get far enough away (or else you could simply try for a loop around it) - IIRC, it's the junction back to the snow realm or north. It basically just patrols that one stretch in defiance of all other Dark Train logic in order to be a roadblock. (I'd forgotten about it, honestly, and thought it was a rockfall or something that blocked the path.)

[Lord Raziere]

Zodi likes skulls? has she become Vordred?

Zodi, do you just refer to anything positive as "X-friend"? come now, you barely know that arrow and they rapidly fired away from you, seems more of an arrow-acquaintance to me, didn't even stay to build a proper friendship, the cad. Went off to stick itself in some enticing target :smalltongue:

yes, Link does go through much pain. he is the Hero of Courage after all. there is a joke I remember about it where it points out that Ganon and Zelda get the better triforce pieces while Link is stuck with the short end of the stick.

now bow-friend is more reasonable.

[DataNinja]

Zodi, do you just refer to anything positive as "X-friend"? come now, you barely know that arrow and they rapidly fired away from you, seems more of an arrow-acquaintance to me, didn't even stay to build a proper friendship, the cad. Went off to stick itself in some enticing target :smalltongue:


Pretty sure 'Arrow friend' referred to the arrow-redirecter. :smalltongue:

[LaZodiac]

Surprise it's a video!

Zodi Plays: Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes [1] Boom
(https://youtu.be/pTo-c-vm_pg)
Video Length: 42:46

Em has roped me into another fun game where we learn things, like "what does the British Pound looks like" and "how fast can two friends of like ten years go for each other's throats at the drop of a hat"?

[DataNinja]

Well, that was interesting. Communication is key, and laughing gets you killed. :smalltongue:

You mentioning mods, and the difficulty with some of those tasks reminds me of reading of the mod where... well, I'll let you see for yourself what it uses for the word buttons (https://ktane.timwi.de/HTML/Crazy%20Talk.html). :smallamused:


"how fast can two friends of like ten years go for each other's throats at the drop of a hat"?

The answer is "how fast can you boot up Mario Party?" :smallwink:

[myrtlerankind]

Well, that was interesting. Communication is key, and laughing gets you killed. :smalltongue:

You mentioning mods, and the difficulty with some of those tasks reminds me of reading of the mod where... well, I'll let you see for yourself what it uses for the word buttons (https://ktane.timwi.de/HTML/Crazy%20Talk.html). :smallamused:



The answer is "how fast can you boot up Mario Party?" :smallwink:

No chance to boot it

[enderlord99]

I'll let you see for yourself what it uses for the word buttons (https://ktane.timwi.de/HTML/Crazy%20Talk.html).

I've searched for that mod in the past, but I didn't know the name, so I just assumed it was called "What's on Second" and therefore couldn't find it.

[ShneekeyTheLost]

Well, that was interesting. Communication is key, and laughing gets you killed. :smalltongue:

You mentioning mods, and the difficulty with some of those tasks reminds me of reading of the mod where... well, I'll let you see for yourself what it uses for the word buttons (https://ktane.timwi.de/HTML/Crazy%20Talk.html). :smallamused:

Whoever wrote up that word list is a sick, sadistic, twisted, mad genius and I only hope that one day I might shake his hand.

Why yes, I typically GM at my gaming table, why do you ask? :smallwink:

[LaZodiac]

Mild, disappointing update; I forgot to charge my DS because I've been so consumed with my most recent bout of writing that I've literally forgot to finish cooking, among other things.

Tomorrow's video will be late. Sorry! Blame the writing goblins tat got in my head. I wrote 40 000 words in like two weeks it's not my fault.

[DataNinja]

Whoever wrote up that word list is a sick, sadistic, twisted, mad genius and I only hope that one day I might shake his hand.

Why yes, I typically GM at my gaming table, why do you ask? :smallwink:

I figured at least one person'd enjoy me bringing it up. :smalltongue:


Mild, disappointing update; I forgot to charge my DS because I've been so consumed with my most recent bout of writing that I've literally forgot to finish cooking, among other things.

Tomorrow's video will be late. Sorry! Blame the writing goblins tat got in my head. I wrote 40 000 words in like two weeks it's not my fault.

Alas. But, thanks for the heads up so I don't refresh incessantly after waking up and getting ready. :smallwink:

[DataNinja]

(Video is up, should this get through before Zodi manages to get her post up.)

Ah, fun with delays.

First try on that stamp arrow shot! :smallwink:

All the rabbits are basically in the area the dark trains were patrolling and around the Fire Temple, barring one.
Which you just found. :smalltongue:

Ah, the Wrecker Phantoms. Awesome, but impractical. I agree the Warp Phantoms are super stylish, though.



Rabbit
Location


1
West of Anouki Village


2
East of Anouki Village


3
Northwest of Snow Maze


4
Northeast of Snow Maze


5
Southwest of Snow Maze


6
West of Hyrule Castle


7
South of Rabbitland Rescue


8
East of Ocean Sanctuary


9
Southeast of Whistle Maze


10
Northwest of Whistle Maze


11
East of Whistle Maze


12
North of Papuchia


13
Fire-Side Spirit Tower

[/QUOTE]

[LaZodiac]

Ooops a late as hell video because I forgot to record due to being completely consumed by writing recently (and also he forum being DOA). Sorry about that!

Zodi Plays: The Legend of Zelda Spirit Tracks [22] Wrecking Ball (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGu_ncm61SE&feature=youtu.be)

Video Length: 28:36

In this one, we get us a stamp and then cut our way through to the top floor of the Spirit Tower... or at least, begin to anyway! We get a little hung up because these puzzles are just long to execute due to the game being rather slow.

But hey, we get to play around with our good good Goron friend again, though in the form of Zelda possessing a massive suit of armour that can just turn into a giant boulder. It's honestly pretty cool, but is... a little lacking in use puzzle wise.

Hope you all enjoyed, bit of a quick one today but given the situation yeah, oops my bad.

[LaZodiac]

It's time for a birthday Zelda. Woohoo~

Zodi Plays: The Legend of Zelda Spirit Tracks [23] Bryne (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7GPJbExSvw)

Video Length: 41:19

Kind of a long one today, but consider it a make up for last time being so late. Cause that is, partly at least, why this is so long. The other reason it is long is... well, it's time to do one of the worst puzzles in the game. Now I'm sure there's a way to do it (I had DataNinja do some cyber sleuthing to figure it out) and the guide suggested way of doing this feels... not correct? Regardless, I did it the way I did it (twice!!) so I have no regrets.

That said, the real meat and potatoes of this one is what happens AFTER the hell puzzle; we finally confront Byrne in combat. It is probably one of my favorite fights in the entire game, with you dashing around avoiding his spirit wave attacks either through dodging or using Zelda as a shield. Because yes, she's IN this fight with you! Which should have been done way more often, if I do say so myself! After he leaps around a bit, he flings out his grapple claw, preferring to aim at Link. Dodge at the right time and you'll throw him down.

Once he's had enough, it's time for phase two! This is a hard phase since... truthfully I'm not sure what to do. We can clash against him with our sword, kinda like how Zelda can with Gyozords, but Zelda is... a bit slow on the uptake for swording him in the back and he can quickstep away. It seems kinda he kinda has to do his super charge move, and we just have to piss him off enough that he uses it. Once he does, Zelda can catch him and we can spin around to stab this man in the back.

Which is an interesting thought; I think in the entire Zelda series, aside from the Gerudo's in Ocarina of time, this is the first time we've ever like, used our sword on a living human being, right? I mean she he's a Lokomo so he's kind of a fairy elf, but still! At any rate, we get this wonderful scene using Zelda's Lullaby, then walk up to the top of the tower o face down against Malladus and Cole.

It goes as you'd expect, Malladus being unable to properly control his shiny new body, and them having to hitchhike a train ride to somewhere safe while they wait for him to regain his full strength. Darn. Anjean tells us about the secret macguffin we need to save the day, and shows us the way to it. Woohoo!

And that's the video for today. I hope you all enjoyed, this one was rather lengthy and full of chaos. I'll see you all next time for... something else entirely.

[DataNinja]

Oh, happy birthday!

The rats've shown up at least once before, you've just made sure to kill them before Zelda got to react. :smalltongue:

Yeah, some of these puzzles can be rather... annoying. Lava just makes it tedious to go around and do stuff.

I'll be honest, I know what this boss is, I just absolutely forget how the fight itself goes.

Oh riiiight. Yeah, this is a neat fight that I feel balances in the nice part between 'too easy' and 'feeling unfair'. Also, I feel like Byrne is about as 'regular human' as Ganondorf is. :smallamused:
(There are the Castle Soldiers in, like, Link to the Past, though.)

Ah, yes, the invisible Skydeck level of the Tower of Spirits. :smalltongue:



Rabbit
Location


1
West of Anouki Village


2
East of Anouki Village


3
Northwest of Snow Maze


4
Northeast of Snow Maze


5
Southwest of Snow Maze


6
West of Hyrule Castle


7
South of Rabbitland Rescue


8
East of Ocean Sanctuary


9
Southeast of Whistle Maze


10
Northwest of Whistle Maze


11
East of Whistle Maze


12
North of Papuchia


13
Fire-Side Spirit Tower

[LaZodiac]

The forum returns, and with it; Zodi PlayS! It's time to play... catch up.

Took a bit of a break and didn't really say why. It's a number of things, but suffice to say things are good. That being said... Zelda time.

Zodi Plays: The Legend of Zelda Spirit Tracks [24] Derailed (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqT3IrLv9A0)

Video Length: 46:02

In this episode, I attempt to prepare to do every single sidequest in the game. It takes... exactly one sidequest taking almost an entire hour despite not one single thing happening for me to tap out way, way harder than I've ever tapped out of anything before. I kinda feel bad about it, but my Minish Cap copy with the Golden Tingle Statue suggests that no, I should just move on and accept that I do have a limit when it comes to repetitive nonsense.

So yeah, not the greatest video in the world. I have done some deliberation with the council and now know the side quests I WILL be doing, and will be doing them next time, just so I'm a little bit more prepared for the upcoming end game. I will also take some time to talk about the things we could get for beating every single identical sidequest in the game.

That all being said... I hope you do enjoy. I'll see you all next, for what may be the beginning of the end. Take care.

------

Finally, we resurface!

Zodi Plays: The Legend of Zelda Spirit Tracks [25] Back On Track (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icBuVeNdOaU)

Video Length: 21:18

Fresh from dentist nonsense, general dealing with life, and the existential horror of what is coming up in game next, it’s time to resume train time. Today covers going through a minor side quest to open up access to the Pirate Hideout, and collecting two remaining stamps so that we’re prepared for getting all the stamps.

Not the longest video in the world, but rest assured. Friday’s will make up for it. I hope you all enjoyed… next time, we go to hell.

------

Embrace Eternity.

Zodi Plays: The Legend of Zelda Spirit tracks [26] Rael Roaded (https://youtu.be/po_i1QfRPYo)

Video Length: 38:30

In this episode… we begin our journey into the Sand Realm. We need to deal with malgyorgs, the evil land sharks that threaten to ambush our train basically almost constantly throughout the area, and need to solve a stupidly obtuse puzzle that is not explained very well at all! To the point where my own personal thoughts clashed so hard with the clues I was being given that I actually had to look it up to be sure what, exactly, I was intended to do here.

With that, we meet Rael, the final Lokomo, and truly enter hell. I there was any doubt, ANY doubt that this mechanics was Just Bad… let it be erased here.

I hope you all enjoyed! I’ll see you next time… for more Hell Flute.