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

Spoiler: Spirit Pipes mechanics, not very spoilery

Show

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.
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.

Spoiler: Spirit Pipes mechanics, not very spoilery

Show

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.
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]

Spoiler: Spirit Pipes mechanics, not very spoilery

Show

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.

Spoiler

Show

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".

[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

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

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.

[Amechra]

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

[TheWombatOfDoom]

Spoiler: Zodi's Train of Thought (3)

Show

I bring unto thee, a Zeldo.

Zodi Plays: The Legend of Zelda Spirit Tracks [3] Blow Hard

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.

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.

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.)

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

[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)