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Player 2 arrives.Based on the post of MsCherylTerra, in 3 parts. Listen to the ► Podcast at My First Time.At no point in the history of time or space would I have thought I'd end up geeking out over The Circlet of Nianus with Ashton Halliday. I mean, at no point would I have ever thought I'd end up sitting in the backseat of my car, chatting excitedly about games we'd recently played and upcoming ones we were looking forward to. There was no reason for me to think we'd get into a heated debate about which Final Fantasy was best, or that he'd have bad enough taste to claim that Final Fantasy VII was better than Final Fantasy VI."Next you're going to tell me you think Wheatley is a better villain than GLaDOS," he groaned."Of course not!" I said indignantly. "Wheatley's hilarious, but he's a moron. GLaDOS is smart enough to be an actual villain. But the real question is, do you think Cave Johnson is funnier than both of them or are you wrong?"Ashton threw his head back as he laughed. "We're in full agreement on that.""Phew," I said, leaning against the door. "It's a good thing you said that, otherwise there's no way we could be friends.""Are we friends?" he asked.My laughter faded as I met his eyes. There was still a half-smile on his lips, but his eyes studied me seriously."I mean; we aren't, you know. Not friends," I said."Yeah, but we used to be, like, actual friends."I fidgeted nervously. "We were kids.""Doesn't mean we weren't friends," he replied. "I don't really know why we stopped hanging out, Ramona."I swallowed hard. There was no reason for his words to sting so much; we'd stopped being friends because he hadn't invited me to his ninth birthday party. It was stupid. It was petty.And it bothered me that he didn't remember."I need to turn the car off," I said. "You can keep charging, just; I don't want to waste gas."Before he could respond, I opened the door. The rush of night air was a relief against my flushed skin and I took my time walking around the vehicle and turning it back to accessory mode before returning to the back seat."Ramona; " he started when I got in."Do you mind getting the dome light?" I interrupted. "It'll drain the battery too fast."He paused, then reached up and turned the light off as I shut the door. As I adjusted to the sudden darkness that fell over us, I realized how small the inside of my car felt."I believe you've got some Pokemon to master," I said, just for something to fill the silence. "And Zelda's not going to free herself from Calamity Ganon.""True," Ashton said lightly. "But I have a proposal for you."I closed my eyes and sighed. "I don't want to talk about; ""Mario Kart."I paused, then frowned. "What?"Ashton's face was barely visible in the darkness, but between his tone and the glimmer in his eyes, I could tell he was smiling."Mario Kart," he repeated. "Let's play it together.""You want to play; Mario Kart?""Okay, full disclosure?" he said. "I fucking love Mario Kart and no one ever wants to play it with me, and it's not as fun as a single-player game. Since we're hanging out anyway, let's play together."I was relieved that we were back to video game talk, though my confusion about his sudden dropping of the whole "friends" thing was slow to fade."Okay," I said slowly. "One problem, though.""I'll buy you the game if you don't have it," he said immediately."How am I supposed to download it? The power's out and I don't know what kind of fancy Honda your dad drives, but my car isn't equipped with Wi-Fi.""One step ahead of you." There was a rustling sound as he fiddled around for a moment, then I winced as the sudden brightness of his phone lit up the interior of the car. "I'll hotspot my phone. And we can do local play once you download it so we won't even need to stay connected."I looked at his phone, then up at the excitedly twinkling eyes gazing at me in the ghostly glow of the screen light."You're really into Mario Kart, eh?" I said, amused."Come on," he said, grinning. "I'll even go easy on you. At first.""Don't bother," I said, grabbing my Switch. "I'll have you know I'm a fucking champ when it comes to Mario Kart and there's no way I'm going easy on you."Ashton Humbled.By a glow that was ironically ghastly given the colorful nature of anything Mario-related, I destroyed Ashton."Have you ever even played this game before?" I asked after the first race, where I easily came in first."Beginner's luck," he said."Beginner? I've been playing Mario Kart since before you were born."He opened his mouth, then closed it and frowned. "I'm three months older than you.""Details, details," I said, then joined the next race."I might be a little rusty," he admitted after I wiped the floor with him again in the next race."A little?""Once I find my groove, you're going to be begging for mercy.""Sure, Ash. Gotta catch me first."He groaned as I giggled.During the third race, I managed to run him off a cliff."Jerk," he muttered."Bitch," I replied, and he burst out laughing."Just Supernatural or are you part of the whole trifecta?"I rolled my eyes as I drifted around a corner. "Do I look like I'm part of SuperWhoLock?""Blue hair, eyebrow piercing, complete and utter disdain for an overbearing mother? You're the fucking poster child for Tumblr."I missed hitting an Item Box as I glared at my screen. "Asshole."He laughed. "What, you can dish it out but you can't take it?"I gritted my teeth as an NPC Bowser blasted past me. "Let me remind you whose car this is and whose charger you're currently using.""Oh," he said, his laughter falling as flat as my tone had. "I; sorry.""Whatever."We finished the rest of the race in silence. I still beat him, but I didn't come in first."I was joking," he said when he finally crossed the finish line and the characters began to whirl around the track automatically. "I'm sorry.""It's fine.""Your hair looks awesome," he continued. "I didn't mean to make you feel bad about it or something. You look so; ""I don't care about that," I interrupted, partly because the fact he was complimenting my appearance was making me tingle in a way that was almost infuriating, since I shouldn't care at all what Ashton Halliday thought of how I looked, but mostly because it wasn't the thing that had bothered me. "I just don't need to be reminded about my mother right now."He was quiet for a moment. "Is everything; are you okay?""I'm fine," I said. "I don't want to talk about it."Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him nod."Got it." He mashed one of the buttons on his Switch. "Come on, start the next race. I've got a good feeling about this one."I snorted. "A good feeling about losing?""I'm gonna make you eat those words.""Looks like I'm going to be starving.""Big talker," he said. "You just wait."He came closer to beating me that time; neither of us came in first but he was only a couple of seconds behind me."Hope you're hungry," he teased."Oh, that's right!" I said suddenly."What?"I dug through the pocket on the back of the passenger seat. "Want some Oreos?""Does the Pope shit in the woods?""Depends on if the bear is Catholic."We both snickered, then went silent as we each popped an Oreo in our mouths. The dim light from our Switches filled the car, and I looked at him out of the corner of my eye as he grabbed another cookie."Can I ask you something stupid?" I asked suddenly.He took a bite of the Oreo. "Yeah."I picked up another one but didn't eat it, choosing instead to fidget with it by twisting the chocolate discs. "Don't laugh.""I might.""When we were kids, in like; third grade, I think? Maybe fourth?" I knew it was third grade, but I was trying to pretend like it was slightly less of a big deal than I was making it. "Sometime around then. You; you had a birthday party. Playing laser tag, I think.""Yeah, sounds about right," he said lightly.I swallowed hard, still twisting the Oreo back and forth. "Why didn't you invite me?""I did."I pressed my lips together as my stomach tightened. Of course he didn't remember."You didn't," I said. "Everyone was super excited about it and then the day came and; ""And your mom called and said you didn't want to go," he finished.I looked up, my eyes wide, to see him staring back at me with a hard expression on his face."It was third grade, not fourth," he said. "And my mom was mad because I'd insisted you were gonna come even though you didn't respond to the invitation. She'd already paid for everything for the party and your mom only called her like an hour before it started.""What?" I said. "That can't be right.""Trust me. I remember my mom being pissed about it."I bit my lip. "She said I wasn't invited."Ashton's face softened as he saw the confusion on mine. "Your mom totally hated me, Ramona. I mean, I kinda figured but my mom confirmed it after your mom called the police on me for skateboarding after ten p.m. at the park.""What?!"He started laughing. "Yeah, when I was like, fifteen. I mean, I seriously wasn't doing anything besides skateboarding, but I was scared shitless when the cops came and brought me home. I was lucky, though. He hung out to tell my mom that they only had to do something because Liz Roth was the one who called it in and that technically the bylaw did say that the park was closed after ten. After he left my mom said your mom thought I was a bad influence because she and her never got along." He took another cookie from the package, his smile fading. "I thought you'd just decided we weren't friends or something because you stopped wanting to hang out and you wouldn't even talk to me at school. I didn't know; she really told you I hadn't invited you?"I couldn't bring myself to respond. Yeah, she had told me Ashton hadn't invited me to his birthday party. And that had been so hurtful that I stopped being friends with him. And for; well, for ten years, since we were nineteen now, we hadn't been friends because my mom thought a child was, what, a bad influence? A troublemaker? And she'd;"She called the police on you?" I asked, my voice shaking with anger.
Player 2 arrives.Based on the post of MsCherylTerra, in 3 parts. Listen to the ► Podcast at My First Time.At no point in the history of time or space would I have thought I'd end up geeking out over The Circlet of Nianus with Ashton Halliday. I mean, at no point would I have ever thought I'd end up sitting in the backseat of my car, chatting excitedly about games we'd recently played and upcoming ones we were looking forward to. There was no reason for me to think we'd get into a heated debate about which Final Fantasy was best, or that he'd have bad enough taste to claim that Final Fantasy VII was better than Final Fantasy VI."Next you're going to tell me you think Wheatley is a better villain than GLaDOS," he groaned."Of course not!" I said indignantly. "Wheatley's hilarious, but he's a moron. GLaDOS is smart enough to be an actual villain. But the real question is, do you think Cave Johnson is funnier than both of them or are you wrong?"Ashton threw his head back as he laughed. "We're in full agreement on that.""Phew," I said, leaning against the door. "It's a good thing you said that, otherwise there's no way we could be friends.""Are we friends?" he asked.My laughter faded as I met his eyes. There was still a half-smile on his lips, but his eyes studied me seriously."I mean; we aren't, you know. Not friends," I said."Yeah, but we used to be, like, actual friends."I fidgeted nervously. "We were kids.""Doesn't mean we weren't friends," he replied. "I don't really know why we stopped hanging out, Ramona."I swallowed hard. There was no reason for his words to sting so much; we'd stopped being friends because he hadn't invited me to his ninth birthday party. It was stupid. It was petty.And it bothered me that he didn't remember."I need to turn the car off," I said. "You can keep charging, just; I don't want to waste gas."Before he could respond, I opened the door. The rush of night air was a relief against my flushed skin and I took my time walking around the vehicle and turning it back to accessory mode before returning to the back seat."Ramona; " he started when I got in."Do you mind getting the dome light?" I interrupted. "It'll drain the battery too fast."He paused, then reached up and turned the light off as I shut the door. As I adjusted to the sudden darkness that fell over us, I realized how small the inside of my car felt."I believe you've got some Pokemon to master," I said, just for something to fill the silence. "And Zelda's not going to free herself from Calamity Ganon.""True," Ashton said lightly. "But I have a proposal for you."I closed my eyes and sighed. "I don't want to talk about; ""Mario Kart."I paused, then frowned. "What?"Ashton's face was barely visible in the darkness, but between his tone and the glimmer in his eyes, I could tell he was smiling."Mario Kart," he repeated. "Let's play it together.""You want to play; Mario Kart?""Okay, full disclosure?" he said. "I fucking love Mario Kart and no one ever wants to play it with me, and it's not as fun as a single-player game. Since we're hanging out anyway, let's play together."I was relieved that we were back to video game talk, though my confusion about his sudden dropping of the whole "friends" thing was slow to fade."Okay," I said slowly. "One problem, though.""I'll buy you the game if you don't have it," he said immediately."How am I supposed to download it? The power's out and I don't know what kind of fancy Honda your dad drives, but my car isn't equipped with Wi-Fi.""One step ahead of you." There was a rustling sound as he fiddled around for a moment, then I winced as the sudden brightness of his phone lit up the interior of the car. "I'll hotspot my phone. And we can do local play once you download it so we won't even need to stay connected."I looked at his phone, then up at the excitedly twinkling eyes gazing at me in the ghostly glow of the screen light."You're really into Mario Kart, eh?" I said, amused."Come on," he said, grinning. "I'll even go easy on you. At first.""Don't bother," I said, grabbing my Switch. "I'll have you know I'm a fucking champ when it comes to Mario Kart and there's no way I'm going easy on you."Ashton Humbled.By a glow that was ironically ghastly given the colorful nature of anything Mario-related, I destroyed Ashton."Have you ever even played this game before?" I asked after the first race, where I easily came in first."Beginner's luck," he said."Beginner? I've been playing Mario Kart since before you were born."He opened his mouth, then closed it and frowned. "I'm three months older than you.""Details, details," I said, then joined the next race."I might be a little rusty," he admitted after I wiped the floor with him again in the next race."A little?""Once I find my groove, you're going to be begging for mercy.""Sure, Ash. Gotta catch me first."He groaned as I giggled.During the third race, I managed to run him off a cliff."Jerk," he muttered."Bitch," I replied, and he burst out laughing."Just Supernatural or are you part of the whole trifecta?"I rolled my eyes as I drifted around a corner. "Do I look like I'm part of SuperWhoLock?""Blue hair, eyebrow piercing, complete and utter disdain for an overbearing mother? You're the fucking poster child for Tumblr."I missed hitting an Item Box as I glared at my screen. "Asshole."He laughed. "What, you can dish it out but you can't take it?"I gritted my teeth as an NPC Bowser blasted past me. "Let me remind you whose car this is and whose charger you're currently using.""Oh," he said, his laughter falling as flat as my tone had. "I; sorry.""Whatever."We finished the rest of the race in silence. I still beat him, but I didn't come in first."I was joking," he said when he finally crossed the finish line and the characters began to whirl around the track automatically. "I'm sorry.""It's fine.""Your hair looks awesome," he continued. "I didn't mean to make you feel bad about it or something. You look so; ""I don't care about that," I interrupted, partly because the fact he was complimenting my appearance was making me tingle in a way that was almost infuriating, since I shouldn't care at all what Ashton Halliday thought of how I looked, but mostly because it wasn't the thing that had bothered me. "I just don't need to be reminded about my mother right now."He was quiet for a moment. "Is everything; are you okay?""I'm fine," I said. "I don't want to talk about it."Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him nod."Got it." He mashed one of the buttons on his Switch. "Come on, start the next race. I've got a good feeling about this one."I snorted. "A good feeling about losing?""I'm gonna make you eat those words.""Looks like I'm going to be starving.""Big talker," he said. "You just wait."He came closer to beating me that time; neither of us came in first but he was only a couple of seconds behind me."Hope you're hungry," he teased."Oh, that's right!" I said suddenly."What?"I dug through the pocket on the back of the passenger seat. "Want some Oreos?""Does the Pope shit in the woods?""Depends on if the bear is Catholic."We both snickered, then went silent as we each popped an Oreo in our mouths. The dim light from our Switches filled the car, and I looked at him out of the corner of my eye as he grabbed another cookie."Can I ask you something stupid?" I asked suddenly.He took a bite of the Oreo. "Yeah."I picked up another one but didn't eat it, choosing instead to fidget with it by twisting the chocolate discs. "Don't laugh.""I might.""When we were kids, in like; third grade, I think? Maybe fourth?" I knew it was third grade, but I was trying to pretend like it was slightly less of a big deal than I was making it. "Sometime around then. You; you had a birthday party. Playing laser tag, I think.""Yeah, sounds about right," he said lightly.I swallowed hard, still twisting the Oreo back and forth. "Why didn't you invite me?""I did."I pressed my lips together as my stomach tightened. Of course he didn't remember."You didn't," I said. "Everyone was super excited about it and then the day came and; ""And your mom called and said you didn't want to go," he finished.I looked up, my eyes wide, to see him staring back at me with a hard expression on his face."It was third grade, not fourth," he said. "And my mom was mad because I'd insisted you were gonna come even though you didn't respond to the invitation. She'd already paid for everything for the party and your mom only called her like an hour before it started.""What?" I said. "That can't be right.""Trust me. I remember my mom being pissed about it."I bit my lip. "She said I wasn't invited."Ashton's face softened as he saw the confusion on mine. "Your mom totally hated me, Ramona. I mean, I kinda figured but my mom confirmed it after your mom called the police on me for skateboarding after ten p.m. at the park.""What?!"He started laughing. "Yeah, when I was like, fifteen. I mean, I seriously wasn't doing anything besides skateboarding, but I was scared shitless when the cops came and brought me home. I was lucky, though. He hung out to tell my mom that they only had to do something because Liz Roth was the one who called it in and that technically the bylaw did say that the park was closed after ten. After he left my mom said your mom thought I was a bad influence because she and her never got along." He took another cookie from the package, his smile fading. "I thought you'd just decided we weren't friends or something because you stopped wanting to hang out and you wouldn't even talk to me at school. I didn't know; she really told you I hadn't invited you?"I couldn't bring myself to respond. Yeah, she had told me Ashton hadn't invited me to his birthday party. And that had been so hurtful that I stopped being friends with him. And for; well, for ten years, since we were nineteen now, we hadn't been friends because my mom thought a child was, what, a bad influence? A troublemaker? And she'd;"She called the police on you?" I asked, my voice shaking with anger.
She's ready for player two.Based on the post of MsCherylTerra, in 3 parts. Listen to the ► Podcast at My First Time.Player one is me, Ramona Roth. I'm nineteen, blue hair, pierce eyebrow, former president of the student council, virgin.War is hell, they say, but I say they're wrong.Hell is insanity, and insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.Hell is false hopes and flagrant disappointment.Hell is knowing that the squabbling of Ilyra, the princess from the far-off planet of Nianus, and Jostok, the snarky-but-pleasantly-ripped humanoid alien soldier from Quighnan, would attract the attention of Izzon's monstrous space beast.It's knowing that the beast would destroy the vent your plucky band of misfits was crawling through.It's knowing that you'd all tumble into the cavernous belly of the spaceship with only the last-second triggering of a force-field from your omni-cuff to prevent you from turning into gizzard soup on the space-grey floor.I watched Jostok realize that the force field hadn't prevented the princess from being crushed beneath the weight of the metal that tumbled from above. I watched him separate her from the tangled pile of bodies and bionic limbs, cradling her barely conscious form against one beefy, armor-clad bicep.I watched her brilliant violet eyes flutter open, and saw the little half-smile on her face as he called her by her name, and heard the weakness in her voice as she reminded him that it was Princess Ilyra to him. I heard Jostok chuckle wetly and assure her she was going to make it.After all, she was the princess. This was not how princesses died.Which was true, because she didn't die like that.Izzon's beast hurled itself to the ground in front of us, its weight making the spaceship itself shudder violently. A beam of light shot forth from its gaping maw, wrenching Ilyra from Jostok's arms. He reached for her, but before his bionic arm was even fully extended, the beast had pulled her into the air, clutched her between its massive claws, and snapped her in half like she was a fucking Kit Kat bar.So, she died like that instead.There was a beat; a pause as horror dawned across the party. A splash of blood splattered on the floor followed by the delicate circlet Ilyra always wore."No," breathed Jostok.A metallic cackle from above filled the room."So much for your princess," Izzon said as he descended on a floating platform.He landed just in front of the beast. Two long strides brought him to the circlet, and he plucked it from the pool of blood before making a mockery of Ilyra's memory and placing the fragile band of metal on his horned forehead."You killed her," Jostok said, his voice wavering."Well, duh," Izzon said, chuckling. "What, you think this is your fairytale or something, Quighnan? You kill the horrible, evil, sad little man who was just trying to get back what was rightfully his? You think you save the world, you get the girl, you get the glory?"His smile faded, and he straightened the circlet before reaching for his omni-cuff."Well, Quighnan, I have news for you. You failed. The world is mine, the girl is dead, and you; ""Shut up, you piece of Cul excrement!" Jostok roared."Or what?" Izzon taunted."Or this," I muttered.Surprise flashed across Izzon's face as Jostok smashed his omni-cuff, using the last of its power to create his trademark rocket launcher. Hefting it over his shoulder, he screamed as he fired it. Izzon's beast stepped forward, snatching its master from the ground seconds before the ball of certain death hit him, and it was time for me to take over.The battle was hell. It was a place I'd been a million times before, and I let the world around me fade as I focused on Izzon and Izzon alone. His beast didn't like that, of course, but the beast wasn't my concern. There were others to fight the beast; only I could fight Izzon.Sweat beaded on my forehead and dryness scratched at my eyes. I refused to look away, refused to be distracted for even a millisecond from my task. Izzon darted around the battlefield, firing laser after laser in my direction, but I knew how to dodge them. I knew how to use them against him; I knew how to lure the beast to just the right spot for Izzon to maim it himself.And I knew what would happen next.The world shook, a rumbling that vibrated through my bones. Izzon's platform shot up, and I tracked it, ignoring the shouts and cries of the battle raging around me. High above, I saw the flash of light, and I hurled myself out of the way moments before a ball of plasma crashed down and punched a hole through the entire ship.A rush of air sucked through the floor, and I clung to the strategically placed pole for dear life, still refusing to take my eyes off Izzon's platform. I waited, watched, my heart racing as he descended, and descended, and;"Now," I said through clenched teeth, and I jumped.Wind and suction twirled around me as I fought against the force with everything in me. It was a Hail Mary, a last-ditch effort, a moment of pure insanity as I mashed at the omni-cuff wildly. I mashed, and mashed, and mashed, and;I made it.I got to the platform."Oh my fuck," I breathed. "Oh fuck, oh frak, oh; fruck."I finally did it.Izzon stood before me, his wretched face twisted in anger. I pointed my weapon at him, just as I dreamed I would a thousand times before, and without so much as a second thought, I began to fire. One shot hit and his body jostled; another and red splattered around me; one more and;And all went dark.Sudden silence replaced the sounds of battle as blackness overtook me. For half a moment, I thought I had died, like for-real died. Then, my eyes adjusted, and across from me I saw the form of a woman with pale skin, wide eyes, and bright blue hair in the depths of a black mirror."No," I whispered.The woman mimicked me."No," I said again, a low groan as realization dawned on me.The woman's face crumpled. A bolt of lightning flashed through the basement window, and as thunder roared, I screamed."You've got to be frucking kidding me!" I shrieked, and I'm not at all ashamed to admit that I burst into tears."Ramona!" my mom shouted distantly.I ignored her cry; tears were streaming down my cheeks as frantic footsteps thudded on the stairs. Despondently, I slid off the couch and crumpled to the floor, clutching my controller to my chest as I sobbed."Ramona!" Mom gasped again, the faint glow of her cell phone flashlight spilling across the basement. "Are you hurt? Ramona, talk to me, w-what happened, are you; ""The power," I whimpered as she reached me and hesitantly touched my shoulder. "The power went out, and I was so close.""Close to; what?""Beating Izzon," I sniffed.Silent tension filled the basement."In a game," she said flatly."Well, yeah, but; ""You screamed bloody murder in the middle of a huge thunderstorm because the power went out during a game."It was no use trying to explain to her that I'd been stuck on the boss fight in The Circlet of Nianus for days. I stared sullenly across the basement at the darkened TV as Mom launched into another one of her ranting lectures that had become routine since I'd returned home for the summer after my first year of university."This is not proper behavior for a nineteen-year-old woman," she said, probably. I would've had to have been listening to know for sure, which I wasn't, but all her lectures were pretty much the same. "Christ, Ramona, it's like I don't even know who you are anymore. What happened to the sweet girl who left for university last August?"Then, if that lecture was anything like the other ones; which it likely was, but I still wasn't listening; she would have started tearing up."I don't know what I did to deserve you acting like this, Ramona," she probably said in a watery voice. "What happened to my goody-two-shoes straight-laced brown-noser who would never dream of putting a toe out of line and who I, as the head of the Minwack Falls Homeowners Association, could truly be proud of since she was as cookie-cutter and put-together as the yards and fences I work so hard to keep in line at all times?"Well, she probably didn't say that last part. At least, not out loud. But the implication was there. When I tuned back in to the conversation, she was shaking her head as she looked dramatically in the other direction."Honestly, Ramona, maybe we made a mistake," she was saying, for real that time. "Sending you to that school; I worried that you weren't ready and now; ""I was perfectly ready to go to university," I said dully. "And I'm an adult, so you didn't send me anywhere. I chose to go. And my name is Ramona.""Adults don't throw tantrums because of a silly game.""It's not silly," I said through gritted teeth. "This is what I want to do with my life.""Play games.""Make games.""Hmm," she said. "Be that as it may, I highly doubt you'll find a summer job making games. I charged the laptop battery up earlier today, so if the power stays out, we can still work on your resume tonight."I sighed. "I have a resume. I already asked if they were hiring at The Sword and Dice and they said they'd get back to me.""I doubt the comic book store is hiring," she said, unimpressed, before she started towards the stairs. "I'm surprised Jordan Cooper's managed to keep it open as long as he has. I'll go down to The Enchanted Florist tomorrow and speak with Owen. That girl he has working there was incredibly rude to me the other day and refused to call him so I could make a complaint about her.""Okay, Karen," I muttered under my breath.Mom turned. "What was that?""Nothing."She clearly didn't believe me and shot a very Karen-esque look in my direction. "Well, if he's willing to hire her, I bet he's one of the few people in town who would be willing to overlook your new; style and possibly offer you a job."And there it was; yet another dig at my hair, and my new eyebrow piercing, and the fact that I wasn't dressed like her President of the Student Council Princess anymore.I wish I could say it had been a gradual transformation, that I hadn't been the stereotypical example of the good-girl going wild as soon as she was on her own for the first time. However, years of living with Liz Roth, head of the Minwack Falls Homeowners Association, vice-president of the Minwack Falls High School Parent-Teacher Association, and volunteer board member for the Minwack Falls Good Neighbor Society, had instilled an almost-detrimental instinct to be honest in me.I was absolutely the model of a rebellious girl experiencing life away from an overbearing mother and semi-absent father.I'd left for university as a geeky girl with suitcases full of modest blouses and nice-but-not-too-tight jeans. At the end of the semester, I returned home with suitcases full of pop culture t-shirts, dark jeans that were ripped in all the right places, and Chuck Taylors that I'd kept on my feet day in and day out so I could get that worn-in look as fast as possible. I was still geeky and still a girl, but now that girl had bright blue hair, an eyebrow ring, and an exasperatedly cynical attitude.I loved who I had become. I loved being Ramona, the girl with wild hair and full of laughter. I loved geeking out with my friends over video games and sci-fi movies and superheroes. I loved being able to show people that girl instead of the girl I had to be under my mother's roof.Back home, though, that girl wasn't welcome. That girl was an embarrassment to the head of the H O A. Worse, I was in for another three full months of putting up with my mom's pressure to dye my hair back to a respectable color and stop wearing studded belts and ripped jeans."Teach you that your choices have consequences," Mom was saying, and I'd been so distracted I hadn't even bothered imagining what she might have said. "If The Enchanted Florist won't hire you, you'll need to get your hair fixed.""My hair isn't broken.""I'm not letting you sit down here playing video games all summer. You need to get a job.""Trust me, I'd like nothing more," I said. "I could use the break."Before Mom could respond; and trust me, her inner Karen was desperate to give me a piece of its mind; we were interrupted by the sound of the door opening above us. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly."Your father's home," she said unnecessarily. "Finish tidying up here and come set the table."I waited until she had started back up the basement stairs to let out the breath I'd been holding, leaning miserably against the couch as the darkness enveloped me again.It was going to be a long frucking summer.Summer Expectations.I was saved from having to work on my resume with my mom peering over my shoulder by her innate need to be involved in every disaster.Dinner was blissfully quiet. Dad didn't say much, as per usual, and Mom's constant chatter manifested as mumbled frustrations while she scrolled through the town Facebook page on her phone, the mushy broccoli and dry chicken on her plate abandoned as she took control of the situation via social media.As quickly as I could, I shoveled bite after bite of mediocre, overcooked blandness into my mouth. Like most of my classmates in first year, I'd gained the ubiquitous Freshman Fifteen, but I hadn't minded in the slightest. I'd been relatively thin most of my life, and putting on some weight had finally made me look less like a twelve-year-old boy and more like an actual, honest-to-God woman.Unfortunately, a full summer of my mom's cooking meant that I'd probably slim down to nothingness again unless I started stopping by the Hokey Pokey Ice Cream Parlor twice a day. Which wasn't a terrible idea, actually; their ice cream was all homemade and it was phenomenal.Except that would take money, and while I was rich in Rupees and Bells and Caps, the owners of the Hokey Pokey only accepted boring old dollars.
She's ready for player two.Based on the post of MsCherylTerra, in 3 parts. Listen to the ► Podcast at My First Time.Player one is me, Ramona Roth. I'm nineteen, blue hair, pierce eyebrow, former president of the student council, virgin.War is hell, they say, but I say they're wrong.Hell is insanity, and insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.Hell is false hopes and flagrant disappointment.Hell is knowing that the squabbling of Ilyra, the princess from the far-off planet of Nianus, and Jostok, the snarky-but-pleasantly-ripped humanoid alien soldier from Quighnan, would attract the attention of Izzon's monstrous space beast.It's knowing that the beast would destroy the vent your plucky band of misfits was crawling through.It's knowing that you'd all tumble into the cavernous belly of the spaceship with only the last-second triggering of a force-field from your omni-cuff to prevent you from turning into gizzard soup on the space-grey floor.I watched Jostok realize that the force field hadn't prevented the princess from being crushed beneath the weight of the metal that tumbled from above. I watched him separate her from the tangled pile of bodies and bionic limbs, cradling her barely conscious form against one beefy, armor-clad bicep.I watched her brilliant violet eyes flutter open, and saw the little half-smile on her face as he called her by her name, and heard the weakness in her voice as she reminded him that it was Princess Ilyra to him. I heard Jostok chuckle wetly and assure her she was going to make it.After all, she was the princess. This was not how princesses died.Which was true, because she didn't die like that.Izzon's beast hurled itself to the ground in front of us, its weight making the spaceship itself shudder violently. A beam of light shot forth from its gaping maw, wrenching Ilyra from Jostok's arms. He reached for her, but before his bionic arm was even fully extended, the beast had pulled her into the air, clutched her between its massive claws, and snapped her in half like she was a fucking Kit Kat bar.So, she died like that instead.There was a beat; a pause as horror dawned across the party. A splash of blood splattered on the floor followed by the delicate circlet Ilyra always wore."No," breathed Jostok.A metallic cackle from above filled the room."So much for your princess," Izzon said as he descended on a floating platform.He landed just in front of the beast. Two long strides brought him to the circlet, and he plucked it from the pool of blood before making a mockery of Ilyra's memory and placing the fragile band of metal on his horned forehead."You killed her," Jostok said, his voice wavering."Well, duh," Izzon said, chuckling. "What, you think this is your fairytale or something, Quighnan? You kill the horrible, evil, sad little man who was just trying to get back what was rightfully his? You think you save the world, you get the girl, you get the glory?"His smile faded, and he straightened the circlet before reaching for his omni-cuff."Well, Quighnan, I have news for you. You failed. The world is mine, the girl is dead, and you; ""Shut up, you piece of Cul excrement!" Jostok roared."Or what?" Izzon taunted."Or this," I muttered.Surprise flashed across Izzon's face as Jostok smashed his omni-cuff, using the last of its power to create his trademark rocket launcher. Hefting it over his shoulder, he screamed as he fired it. Izzon's beast stepped forward, snatching its master from the ground seconds before the ball of certain death hit him, and it was time for me to take over.The battle was hell. It was a place I'd been a million times before, and I let the world around me fade as I focused on Izzon and Izzon alone. His beast didn't like that, of course, but the beast wasn't my concern. There were others to fight the beast; only I could fight Izzon.Sweat beaded on my forehead and dryness scratched at my eyes. I refused to look away, refused to be distracted for even a millisecond from my task. Izzon darted around the battlefield, firing laser after laser in my direction, but I knew how to dodge them. I knew how to use them against him; I knew how to lure the beast to just the right spot for Izzon to maim it himself.And I knew what would happen next.The world shook, a rumbling that vibrated through my bones. Izzon's platform shot up, and I tracked it, ignoring the shouts and cries of the battle raging around me. High above, I saw the flash of light, and I hurled myself out of the way moments before a ball of plasma crashed down and punched a hole through the entire ship.A rush of air sucked through the floor, and I clung to the strategically placed pole for dear life, still refusing to take my eyes off Izzon's platform. I waited, watched, my heart racing as he descended, and descended, and;"Now," I said through clenched teeth, and I jumped.Wind and suction twirled around me as I fought against the force with everything in me. It was a Hail Mary, a last-ditch effort, a moment of pure insanity as I mashed at the omni-cuff wildly. I mashed, and mashed, and mashed, and;I made it.I got to the platform."Oh my fuck," I breathed. "Oh fuck, oh frak, oh; fruck."I finally did it.Izzon stood before me, his wretched face twisted in anger. I pointed my weapon at him, just as I dreamed I would a thousand times before, and without so much as a second thought, I began to fire. One shot hit and his body jostled; another and red splattered around me; one more and;And all went dark.Sudden silence replaced the sounds of battle as blackness overtook me. For half a moment, I thought I had died, like for-real died. Then, my eyes adjusted, and across from me I saw the form of a woman with pale skin, wide eyes, and bright blue hair in the depths of a black mirror."No," I whispered.The woman mimicked me."No," I said again, a low groan as realization dawned on me.The woman's face crumpled. A bolt of lightning flashed through the basement window, and as thunder roared, I screamed."You've got to be frucking kidding me!" I shrieked, and I'm not at all ashamed to admit that I burst into tears."Ramona!" my mom shouted distantly.I ignored her cry; tears were streaming down my cheeks as frantic footsteps thudded on the stairs. Despondently, I slid off the couch and crumpled to the floor, clutching my controller to my chest as I sobbed."Ramona!" Mom gasped again, the faint glow of her cell phone flashlight spilling across the basement. "Are you hurt? Ramona, talk to me, w-what happened, are you; ""The power," I whimpered as she reached me and hesitantly touched my shoulder. "The power went out, and I was so close.""Close to; what?""Beating Izzon," I sniffed.Silent tension filled the basement."In a game," she said flatly."Well, yeah, but; ""You screamed bloody murder in the middle of a huge thunderstorm because the power went out during a game."It was no use trying to explain to her that I'd been stuck on the boss fight in The Circlet of Nianus for days. I stared sullenly across the basement at the darkened TV as Mom launched into another one of her ranting lectures that had become routine since I'd returned home for the summer after my first year of university."This is not proper behavior for a nineteen-year-old woman," she said, probably. I would've had to have been listening to know for sure, which I wasn't, but all her lectures were pretty much the same. "Christ, Ramona, it's like I don't even know who you are anymore. What happened to the sweet girl who left for university last August?"Then, if that lecture was anything like the other ones; which it likely was, but I still wasn't listening; she would have started tearing up."I don't know what I did to deserve you acting like this, Ramona," she probably said in a watery voice. "What happened to my goody-two-shoes straight-laced brown-noser who would never dream of putting a toe out of line and who I, as the head of the Minwack Falls Homeowners Association, could truly be proud of since she was as cookie-cutter and put-together as the yards and fences I work so hard to keep in line at all times?"Well, she probably didn't say that last part. At least, not out loud. But the implication was there. When I tuned back in to the conversation, she was shaking her head as she looked dramatically in the other direction."Honestly, Ramona, maybe we made a mistake," she was saying, for real that time. "Sending you to that school; I worried that you weren't ready and now; ""I was perfectly ready to go to university," I said dully. "And I'm an adult, so you didn't send me anywhere. I chose to go. And my name is Ramona.""Adults don't throw tantrums because of a silly game.""It's not silly," I said through gritted teeth. "This is what I want to do with my life.""Play games.""Make games.""Hmm," she said. "Be that as it may, I highly doubt you'll find a summer job making games. I charged the laptop battery up earlier today, so if the power stays out, we can still work on your resume tonight."I sighed. "I have a resume. I already asked if they were hiring at The Sword and Dice and they said they'd get back to me.""I doubt the comic book store is hiring," she said, unimpressed, before she started towards the stairs. "I'm surprised Jordan Cooper's managed to keep it open as long as he has. I'll go down to The Enchanted Florist tomorrow and speak with Owen. That girl he has working there was incredibly rude to me the other day and refused to call him so I could make a complaint about her.""Okay, Karen," I muttered under my breath.Mom turned. "What was that?""Nothing."She clearly didn't believe me and shot a very Karen-esque look in my direction. "Well, if he's willing to hire her, I bet he's one of the few people in town who would be willing to overlook your new; style and possibly offer you a job."And there it was; yet another dig at my hair, and my new eyebrow piercing, and the fact that I wasn't dressed like her President of the Student Council Princess anymore.I wish I could say it had been a gradual transformation, that I hadn't been the stereotypical example of the good-girl going wild as soon as she was on her own for the first time. However, years of living with Liz Roth, head of the Minwack Falls Homeowners Association, vice-president of the Minwack Falls High School Parent-Teacher Association, and volunteer board member for the Minwack Falls Good Neighbor Society, had instilled an almost-detrimental instinct to be honest in me.I was absolutely the model of a rebellious girl experiencing life away from an overbearing mother and semi-absent father.I'd left for university as a geeky girl with suitcases full of modest blouses and nice-but-not-too-tight jeans. At the end of the semester, I returned home with suitcases full of pop culture t-shirts, dark jeans that were ripped in all the right places, and Chuck Taylors that I'd kept on my feet day in and day out so I could get that worn-in look as fast as possible. I was still geeky and still a girl, but now that girl had bright blue hair, an eyebrow ring, and an exasperatedly cynical attitude.I loved who I had become. I loved being Ramona, the girl with wild hair and full of laughter. I loved geeking out with my friends over video games and sci-fi movies and superheroes. I loved being able to show people that girl instead of the girl I had to be under my mother's roof.Back home, though, that girl wasn't welcome. That girl was an embarrassment to the head of the H O A. Worse, I was in for another three full months of putting up with my mom's pressure to dye my hair back to a respectable color and stop wearing studded belts and ripped jeans."Teach you that your choices have consequences," Mom was saying, and I'd been so distracted I hadn't even bothered imagining what she might have said. "If The Enchanted Florist won't hire you, you'll need to get your hair fixed.""My hair isn't broken.""I'm not letting you sit down here playing video games all summer. You need to get a job.""Trust me, I'd like nothing more," I said. "I could use the break."Before Mom could respond; and trust me, her inner Karen was desperate to give me a piece of its mind; we were interrupted by the sound of the door opening above us. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly."Your father's home," she said unnecessarily. "Finish tidying up here and come set the table."I waited until she had started back up the basement stairs to let out the breath I'd been holding, leaning miserably against the couch as the darkness enveloped me again.It was going to be a long frucking summer.Summer Expectations.I was saved from having to work on my resume with my mom peering over my shoulder by her innate need to be involved in every disaster.Dinner was blissfully quiet. Dad didn't say much, as per usual, and Mom's constant chatter manifested as mumbled frustrations while she scrolled through the town Facebook page on her phone, the mushy broccoli and dry chicken on her plate abandoned as she took control of the situation via social media.As quickly as I could, I shoveled bite after bite of mediocre, overcooked blandness into my mouth. Like most of my classmates in first year, I'd gained the ubiquitous Freshman Fifteen, but I hadn't minded in the slightest. I'd been relatively thin most of my life, and putting on some weight had finally made me look less like a twelve-year-old boy and more like an actual, honest-to-God woman.Unfortunately, a full summer of my mom's cooking meant that I'd probably slim down to nothingness again unless I started stopping by the Hokey Pokey Ice Cream Parlor twice a day. Which wasn't a terrible idea, actually; their ice cream was all homemade and it was phenomenal.Except that would take money, and while I was rich in Rupees and Bells and Caps, the owners of the Hokey Pokey only accepted boring old dollars.
In this thrilling episode we venture into the fascinating worlds of anime and video games alongside Andrew Kimball from Your Friendly Neighborhood Gamers to witness an epic showdown between two legendary beings: Kurama, the Nine-Tailed Fox from Naruto, and Calamity Ganon, the formidable antagonist from Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.Will Kurama's immense chakra and cunning strategy prove to be the key to overcoming Calamity Ganon's brute strength and dark magic? Or will the malevolent power of Ganon's Blight force prove too overwhelming for the Kurama?Tune in to this adrenaline-pumping episode of Super Bracket Bros to find out who will be crowned the winner in this unforgettable battle between the two iconic legends. Let the showdown begin!Find more about Andrew and Your Friendly Neighborhood Gamers hereJoin the Super Bracket Bros Discord!Discover where else Super Bracket Bros can be found hereSee the current bracket at the pinned post at the top of the page of our FacebookVote on the all the matchups on our InstagramGet in contact with us: superbracketbros@gmail.comCheck out Eli and his many good things hereIntro music created for this show by Nick HerediaBig thank you to our current Patrons for helping support the show: Andrew, Matt, Wait For It Podcast, Kyle O, and EmilySupport the show
Al and Micah talk about Little Dragon's Cafe Timings 00:00:00: Theme Tune 00:00:30: Intro 00:02:36: What Have We Been Playing 00:34:09: News 00:58:31: Little Dragons Cafe 01:38:47: Outro Links Coral Island Roadmap Traveller’s Rest 0.6 Update Disney Dreamlight Valley Update Disney Dreamlight Valley Roadmap Roots of Pacha Roadmap Solarpunk Kickstarter Circle of Kerzoven Kickstarter Iridium Scythe Tweet Contact Al on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheScotBot Al on Mastodon: https://mastodon.scot/@TheScotBot Email Us: https://harvestseason.club/contact/ Transcript [00:00.000 –> 00:01.600] See you next time. [00:31.000 –> 00:37.000] Hello farmers and welcome to another episode of The Harvest Season. My name is Al. [00:37.000 –> 00:39.000] And I’m Micah. [00:39.000 –> 00:45.000] And we’re here today to talk about cottagecore games. Have you been on a podcast since we changed that introduction? [00:45.000 –> 00:47.000] I have not. [00:47.000 –> 00:50.000] There you go then. It’s now Cottagecore Games, not Farming Games. [00:50.000 –> 00:53.000] Okay. Alright. I mean that makes sense. [00:53.000 –> 00:56.000] It does. It does. Once people actually know what the term means. [00:56.000 –> 00:58.000] Yeah. [00:58.000 –> 01:05.000] But yeah it felt like I was too often just saying like it’s not a farming game but we’re going to cover it anyway because it feels like a farming game. [01:05.000 –> 01:07.000] That’s true. You’re right. [01:07.000 –> 01:09.000] And so we’re like why don’t we just say what it actually is. [01:09.000 –> 01:11.000] Yep. That makes sense. [01:11.000 –> 01:15.000] So yeah. Welcome Micah. How you doing? It’s been a while since we’ve had you on the podcast. [01:15.000 –> 01:28.000] I’m doing good. Just busy. Lots of work. So I’m tired a lot but you know it’s plenty of time to wind down. [01:28.000 –> 01:36.000] All my time winding down from work is spent playing games. Can’t complain too much. [01:36.000 –> 01:43.000] That’s good. That’s good. Awesome. Well I’ve got Micah on because I finally bought Little Dragon’s Cafe on the eShop sale. [01:43.000 –> 01:51.000] And I was like let’s schedule an episode to actually talk about it because I think it was like four years ago or something you first mentioned it. [01:51.000 –> 01:54.000] And I was like oh yeah we’ll get to that eventually. [01:54.000 –> 02:00.000] Yeah it was quite a while ago. I think maybe 2019. Maybe even before then. [02:00.000 –> 02:02.000] That’s a whole different world. [02:02.000 –> 02:26.000] It is. It’s a different time. But when you said that you messaged me and said that you bought it and wanted to do an episode about it I was very excited because I was singing that game’s praises for the whole year that I was obsessed with it and I felt like nobody cared. [02:26.000 –> 02:32.000] Yeah. Yeah. It’s just there’s so many games you know. It’s true. Get to them all eventually. Yeah. [02:32.000 –> 02:39.000] Anyway so we’re going to talk about that. Obviously beforehand we’ve got a bunch of news. But first of all Micah what have you been up to? [02:39.000 –> 02:48.000] Zelda. Just Zelda. That’s pretty much it. There is in fact they have released a new Zelda game. [02:48.000 –> 02:57.000] Wow. That’s pretty much. I’ve been playing a little bit of Pokemon Infinite Fusion. I don’t know if you know what that is. What on earth is that? [02:57.000 –> 03:21.000] It is a Pokemon fan game that is essentially Kanto and Johto. But they have DNA splicer items where you can fuse any two Pokemon and there are well beyond Gen 2 Pokemon in the game. [03:21.000 –> 03:39.000] So I think there’s somewhere around like 175,000 combinations you can make. And it’s all like custom sprite work. They have a huge community that’s done like a huge community of like sprite artists and stuff that have done custom sprites. [03:39.000 –> 03:55.000] So that every fusion is like and it’s not just like you know AI generated like combination of two pixel illustration. It’s actual like handmade pixel art for each combo which is pretty incredible. [03:55.000 –> 04:07.000] And it plays really well. It’s like surprisingly well made. But you know it’s just kind of fun to goof around in. I’ve been playing a little bit of that. [04:07.000 –> 04:12.000] Is it a ROM hack or is it like a completely fresh thing? [04:13.000 –> 04:40.000] It’s made in I think it’s Pixel Game Maker Studio. So it’s not like a ROM hack of like Emerald or something like that. It’s very interesting. It’s incredible what like a community of Pokemon fans can do when they’re not like really upset about something. [04:40.000 –> 04:44.000] And instead just like banding together to make something cool. [04:44.000 –> 04:53.000] Yeah. I love this. This is great. This is the sort of thing that like I mean obviously this is I’m surprised it hasn’t been like taken down at any point. [04:53.000 –> 05:02.000] But yeah this is the sort of thing. This is why copyright is stupid. Let people go crazy with this stuff. This is ridiculous fun. I love it. [05:02.000 –> 05:15.000] Yes. 100 percent. Yeah I am a little surprised too. I don’t know though I feel like typically they leave like ROM hacks alone at this point. [05:15.000 –> 05:23.000] Or like quote unquote ROM hacks you know. This isn’t really a ROM hack but who knows. Who knows what goes through the mind of… [05:23.000 –> 05:29.000] Well that’s the thing. You don’t know what they’re actually thinking because like sometimes they don’t touch things and then sometimes they’ll touch the weirdest of things. [05:29.000 –> 05:35.000] You’re like why on earth would you do that. Maybe it’s just not got enough publicity. It looks like it’s been going around since 2015. [05:35.000 –> 05:46.000] Yeah and it just recently has started to like pick up steam a little bit and get a lot more coverage on like YouTube TikTok stuff like that. [05:47.000 –> 05:56.000] Oh my word there’s a poly wag and kanga scan fusion which like it’s not just this is what you mean about like the custom stuff. [05:56.000 –> 06:06.000] Like it’s not just like a blue kanga scan or something but it’s like a poly wag as a kanga scan with a poly wag inside like a bubble stomach. [06:06.000 –> 06:10.000] Like it is amazing. I love it. It’s great. [06:10.000 –> 06:16.000] Yeah it’s really creative and interesting and like the all the sprite work is really well done. [06:16.000 –> 06:33.000] They added even though it’s you know like Kanto and Johto and you know pixel sprites and stuff it’s it’s they added Mimikyu and all of the Mimikyu fusions are just kind of unhinged and I love it. [06:33.000 –> 06:37.000] Oh my word I feel like this is dangerous to know. [06:38.000 –> 06:45.000] It’s pretty fun. It’s a big I will say it’s a big download because the you well there’s two options. [06:45.000 –> 06:50.000] You can either download the game and then have the game download the sprites as it needs them. [06:50.000 –> 06:53.000] Two gigabytes for the the preloaded one. [06:53.000 –> 07:03.000] Yes and then there is there is the preloaded one which has all of the sprites and it installs they like puts it all in the game immediately so that you don’t have to download anything. [07:04.000 –> 07:07.000] I’m definitely not googling how to put this on my Steam Deck. [07:09.000 –> 07:12.000] That’s funny you say that. That’s what I am playing it on so. [07:12.000 –> 07:17.000] Nice. I presume it’s just a Windows build that you just run through the Steam Deck stuff. [07:17.000 –> 07:28.000] It works. This is the thing like I know I don’t know about you I really love the Steam Deck and I think that Valve have done a really good job of integrating the Windows stuff with it as well. [07:28.000 –> 07:34.000] Like the fact that so many games just work out the box just a Windows build just running on Linux is just incredible. [07:34.000 –> 07:50.000] Because like I was I was for a long time a Linux user like that was just it was just a thing that I did right like I didn’t run Windows or Mac for like 15 years like that was just my until I decided you know what life is life is too short. [07:50.000 –> 08:01.000] And yeah games on Linux was just horrific even using something like Wine or whatever to actually run these things because they just never worked well. [08:01.000 –> 08:09.000] Whereas like I’ve run like 10 different completely different Windows games on the Steam Deck with no issues at all which is incredible. [08:09.000 –> 08:21.000] Yeah it’s great. It’s such a night. My brother was just texting me last night asking me what I thought about the Steam Deck and I was sending him paragraphs about how much I like. [08:21.000 –> 08:41.000] Yeah it’s it’s really great that they’ve made it so I mean I’ve never touched Linux before this either so I’ve always been afraid of Linux but it’s it’s so easy to just like it’s literally a power down option like it’s an it’s an option to just switch into the desktop mode. [08:41.000 –> 08:50.000] Yeah. And then just it’s it’s such an easy and accessible thing it’s like really hard to add non-Steam stuff to it. [08:50.000 –> 08:59.000] Yeah I think I think it’s one of these things where like using a switch is still easier right like the way to get it is just 100% easy. [08:59.000 –> 09:11.000] But the customizability like if you are able to do that sort of thing it is it is still so much easier than doing things in any other way. [09:11.000 –> 09:20.000] And if you have any patience for doing custom stuff it’s it’s great and the amount of different stuff you can do is fantastic. [09:20.000 –> 09:31.000] So like I think for the casual person like something like a switch is still going to be better for you but if you have like any customizable bone in your body the Steam Deck is just amazing. [09:31.000 –> 09:43.000] Yeah yeah it’s uh it’s really great. I definitely still you’re right like I primarily am using the Switch but if there’s something that I can’t play on the Switch I move to the Steam Deck for it. [09:43.000 –> 09:52.000] I think I’m at the point where if it’s if it’s on Steam unless it’s cheaper on the Switch I will generally buy on Steam now and play on my Steam Deck. [09:52.000 –> 10:01.000] Not least because it’s actually more it’s more ergonomic to hold like it’s kind of destroyed the Joy-Cons for me. [10:01.000 –> 10:08.000] And especially if I’m getting like Kickstarters and stuff they all come on Steam first so I’m obviously getting the Steam code. [10:08.000 –> 10:13.000] But yeah if it’s if it’s a Switch only game or if it’s cheaper on the Switch then of course I’m getting on the Switch. [10:13.000 –> 10:21.000] I’m not going to say I’m not going to play that right because the Switch is still really fun to play on and you know I wouldn’t not play Zelda just because it’s on the Switch. [10:21.000 –> 10:25.000] Like that’s a really stupid way to do things but you know. [10:25.000 –> 10:36.000] Yeah I yeah it’s I even in the situation that I’m that I’m in where if I if it’s not on the Switch I’m playing it on the Steam Deck and if it’s on the Switch I’m playing it on the Switch. [10:36.000 –> 10:49.000] The amount of things that are on Steam that like like if it’s a you know it’s it’s only on like my console options are Switch PS or PS5 or like Xbox or whatever. [10:49.000 –> 10:57.000] Typically it’s also on Steam so yeah it’s you know it’s nice to be able to move over have everything handheld. [10:57.000 –> 11:01.000] I am not going to lie my PS5 is a Spider-Man console. [11:01.000 –> 11:07.000] That is what that is what I bought it for and that is what is going to remain till the day it dies. [11:07.000 –> 11:10.000] But we’re about to get the Wii U gamepad for it so. [11:10.000 –> 11:15.000] I know well yeah and that’s actually really interesting like it’s obviously going to be stupidly expensive. [11:15.000 –> 11:16.000] Of course. [11:16.000 –> 11:27.000] And it only like streams from your PS5 but personally that’s what I’m looking for right because like getting the power of a PS5 in the palm of my hands to use a Spider-Man quote. [11:27.000 –> 11:35.000] Sorry I watched Spider-Man the other day what can I say. [11:35.000 –> 11:40.000] The new Spider-Man film fantastic very good go watch it. [11:40.000 –> 11:42.000] What was I saying? [11:42.000 –> 11:47.000] Yes being able to play PS5 games without having the TV on that’s that’s what I want. [11:47.000 –> 11:51.000] I don’t actually play games out the house like it’s just not I work from home. [11:51.000 –> 11:56.000] I obviously live from home like if I’m going out it’s because I’m going out to do something. [11:56.000 –> 12:00.000] I’m not going out to do something and then playing games there right come on that’s not what I’m right. [12:00.000 –> 12:05.000] So if I’m playing it’s in my house either in my office when I’m definitely working I’m not playing games. [12:05.000 –> 12:11.000] Or you know in the living room in the evening when the kids are in bed and we want to watch something on the TV. [12:11.000 –> 12:14.000] I don’t want to make my wife watch what I’m playing on the TV. [12:14.000 –> 12:21.000] So the idea of being able to use my PS5 for games that are really good like I’m considering for example getting Sonic Frontiers. [12:21.000 –> 12:28.000] Which is on the Switch but is it really on the Switch like it’s there but it’s not going to run really well. [12:28.000 –> 12:33.000] Like so being able to get the power of the PS5 for that game but still have a handheld. [12:33.000 –> 12:43.000] As someone who bought and played Sonic Frontiers on the Switch I can tell you first hand to hit it on something else. [12:43.000 –> 12:54.000] It’s not great. It’s got that we did whatever we could to get this to run on the Switch kind of feel to it. [12:54.000 –> 13:03.000] Where it’s like everything is really blurry. Everything feels like you know it’s moving in a dream. [13:03.000 –> 13:09.000] The thing is I think that the new Zelda shows you can get games running well on the Switch. [13:09.000 –> 13:13.000] Although it’s not perfect there are obviously still some issues right. There’s still some slowdowns. [13:13.000 –> 13:20.000] But I think it shows that you can given enough time and enough effort and enough money. [13:20.000 –> 13:22.000] You need all those three things. [13:22.000 –> 13:26.000] You can get a game that big running really well on the Switch. [13:26.000 –> 13:32.000] But I mean one thing about Tears of the Kingdom is there’s not actually a lot happening in most of the time. [13:32.000 –> 13:39.000] Like if you look at something like Sonic or you look at something like Pokemon there are lots of things around you all the time. [13:39.000 –> 13:44.000] But actually in Zelda there’s not a huge amount around you all the time. [13:44.000 –> 13:51.000] And like I know that the way that it works technically with like things far away is they’re not modeling things at that point. [13:51.000 –> 13:55.000] They just throw up a few pixels to make it look like there’s something there. [13:55.000 –> 14:04.000] And then you can look through the camera thing. The zoomie magnifying for far away. [14:04.000 –> 14:06.000] The binoculars. [14:06.000 –> 14:09.000] There you go that’s a word. I don’t know what they call it in game but anyway. [14:09.000 –> 14:11.000] Yeah I don’t know what they call it in game. [14:11.000 –> 14:12.000] You know what I mean now that’s fine. [14:12.000 –> 14:14.000] The zoom. The camera zoom feature. [14:14.000 –> 14:17.000] Yeah and then it actually starts modeling things for that small area. [14:17.000 –> 14:24.000] But that doesn’t work for most games because you have more detailed things that you need to be seeing off in the distance. [14:24.000 –> 14:28.000] And they just don’t have a lot of complicated stuff in the distance. [14:28.000 –> 14:32.000] Right there’s like the dragons is probably the most complicated thing you have in the distance. [14:32.000 –> 14:33.000] That’s about it. [14:33.000 –> 14:34.000] Yeah. [14:34.000 –> 14:40.000] You don’t need to model like a bokoblin three miles away. You’re not going to see it. You don’t care about it. [14:40.000 –> 14:41.000] Right. [14:41.000 –> 14:51.000] And I think that like even I really do think that a lot of it comes down to like optimization and how much time is put into optimization and stuff like that. [14:51.000 –> 15:06.000] Like there are even so there are like at the distance that things come into the like field of view or like depth of field for Zelda. [15:06.000 –> 15:17.000] I mean I’ll be honest it’s been very hard for me to and I’m sure that this conversation will be had with other people. [15:17.000 –> 15:24.000] But what I’m saying is I feel like this is probably going to come up during greenhouse so you can cut this out if you want. [15:24.000 –> 15:29.000] But it’s all good. I think we don’t really talk about this sort of stuff in the greenhouse episode. [15:29.000 –> 15:39.000] Okay. It’s been hard to not compare it to Pokemon as a Pokemon fan who has played a lot of Scarlet and Violet and enjoyed it. [15:39.000 –> 15:49.000] It’s been hard to not compare an open world game on the same platform to to that game. [15:49.000 –> 15:58.000] And I do think that a big part of that is just the optimization and maybe how much time there they were given to optimize the game. [15:58.000 –> 16:10.000] Maybe it’s that they brought in Monolith Soft to help with development and Monolith Soft has been with the Xenoblade games and stuff like that. [16:10.000 –> 16:14.000] They’ve done a lot of kind of open world stuff so they’ve got the optimization down. [16:14.000 –> 16:35.000] I don’t know but seeing the way that things like even ten feet away from an NPC and they’re moving at slideshow speed in Pokemon versus you’ve got a whole village of people that are wandering around in Zelda. [16:35.000 –> 16:38.000] It’s a little frustrating. [16:38.000 –> 16:43.000] The only place I’ve really noticed kind of like re-rendering of things is in the depths. [16:43.000 –> 16:51.000] If you’re flying through the depths quite often like the trees will change model when you get closer to them. [16:51.000 –> 17:00.000] That’s the only place I’ve really noticed that and there’s a few places where there’s like high particle physics in the air and that causes a slowdown. [17:00.000 –> 17:03.000] Other than that I’ve not really noticed many issues. [17:03.000 –> 17:12.000] Which is also like for the depths at least pretty impressive because there’s so many particle effects and stuff happening in the depths. [17:12.000 –> 17:16.000] I guess it makes sense that they need to re-render a lot of stuff. [17:16.000 –> 17:25.000] I would always rather graphics pulled down a little bit and it keeps playing well. That’s always my preference. [17:26.000 –> 17:28.000] I agree. [17:28.000 –> 17:47.000] It’s hard to not compare the two I guess and I am sure that a big part of that is how much time they were given to develop this game versus how much time the Pokemon company gave Game Freak to develop Pokemon. [17:47.000 –> 17:53.000] It’s complicated because as a software developer time doesn’t necessarily make things better. [17:53.000 –> 17:59.000] In my experience when you’ve got a team that’s being run by people that make bad decisions. [17:59.000 –> 18:04.000] Developers can’t just do things. Developers can’t just go I’m going to make this better. [18:04.000 –> 18:10.000] You have to do what you’re told and ultimately people make decisions and go this is the priority you’re doing this. [18:10.000 –> 18:19.000] And if they keep making those stupid decisions even if they get an extra five years they’re still going to make the same stupid decisions over and over and over again. [18:19.000 –> 18:26.000] That’s the thing and one of the real problems is when you get more time suddenly they decide oh well we can add more features. [18:26.000 –> 18:31.000] And then you never actually get to the point of improving the things that need improved. [18:31.000 –> 18:34.000] You just end up adding more things that then need to be improved. [18:34.000 –> 18:48.000] I think it just shows that this game from top to bottom is being created by people who actually care and actually know what they’re doing. [18:48.000 –> 18:55.000] There’s not that person at the top telling somebody to do something which then is a bad decision. [18:55.000 –> 19:00.000] Or people at the bottom going I don’t know what I’m doing I’m just going to do things. [19:00.000 –> 19:03.000] Everybody knows what they’re doing and they know how to do it and blah blah blah blah blah. [19:03.000 –> 19:07.000] And where exactly the issues are in different games you’ll never really know. [19:07.000 –> 19:15.000] But yeah it definitely is a problem and how to solve that problem is complicated. [19:15.000 –> 19:21.000] And the problem is that you either end up with fewer games or with games with less stuff. [19:21.000 –> 19:25.000] And I mean I still really liked Scarlet and Violet. [19:25.000 –> 19:27.000] I did too. I absolutely did. [19:27.000 –> 19:32.000] Would you say no to whatever the next game is just to get Scarlet and Violet running slightly better? I don’t know. [19:32.000 –> 19:35.000] Like that’s a really… I don’t want to have to make that decision right? [19:35.000 –> 19:42.000] Yeah. Yeah I guess you know I’m okay with… I don’t know. [19:42.000 –> 19:48.000] I’m okay with whatever like I’m not like super picky about how… [19:48.000 –> 20:01.000] I don’t know what this says about me but I’m not super picky about how a Pokemon game performs as long as the experience of the game is good. [20:01.000 –> 20:03.000] And I felt that with Scarlet and Violet. [20:03.000 –> 20:12.000] But I wouldn’t be opposed to them taking like you know maybe an extra year or two between games instead of one every year. [20:13.000 –> 20:21.000] It just depends really. Obviously I want the game to be better. I want it to look better. I want it to play better. I want it to have better features. [20:21.000 –> 20:25.000] But it’s just not that simple. You can’t just say well that’s fine make it better. [20:25.000 –> 20:28.000] Like that’s not how life works sadly. [20:28.000 –> 20:40.000] And I am also very aware that you know because of the very strict capitalist strategies of the Pokemon company that that’s never going to happen. [20:40.000 –> 20:52.000] And we will always get them on a schedule because there’s you know merch and plushes and all kinds of stuff involved in that decision so. [20:52.000 –> 20:54.000] Anyway so you’re enjoying Zelda? [20:54.000 –> 20:55.000] Yes. [20:57.000 –> 21:03.000] Despite all my inner monologues when I’m seeing something perform really well in Zelda. [21:04.000 –> 21:11.000] Yeah it’s it’s really great. I am fully aware that I’m still in like the honeymoon phase with it. [21:11.000 –> 21:13.000] But it’s been like three weeks. [21:13.000 –> 21:19.000] Yeah and I still like I haven’t beaten the game yet. I am nowhere near that I don’t think. [21:19.000 –> 21:21.000] Well yeah what’s your what’s your current status of things? [21:21.000 –> 21:27.000] I am at the I think I can say this. [21:27.000 –> 21:29.000] I don’t care about spoilers go for it. [21:29.000 –> 21:33.000] I’m at the fourth temple. I am about to start the fourth temple. [21:33.000 –> 21:35.000] That’s fine that’s not a spoiler. [21:35.000 –> 21:40.000] Okay I just I feel like even saying the word temple is. [21:40.000 –> 21:44.000] If someone wants to play Zelda Tears of the Kingdom and they haven’t played it yet. [21:44.000 –> 21:46.000] I mean I guess they couldn’t they might not be able to afford it. [21:46.000 –> 21:54.000] But let’s be honest they know that there are temples right like nobody doesn’t know that at this point if you even slightly care. [21:54.000 –> 22:02.000] Yeah I guess I because there weren’t really temples and in Breath of the Wild they’re sort of where it was like the Divine Beasts but. [22:02.000 –> 22:09.000] Interestingly I’m not really I don’t really see the difference between like this game’s ones and Breath of the Wild ones. [22:09.000 –> 22:12.000] I’ve only done one so far but it didn’t feel significantly bigger. [22:12.000 –> 22:21.000] No I think it’s just the like the way that it like the puzzles and the way that it it operates more. [22:21.000 –> 22:28.000] It feels like a like a sort of a quote unquote classic Zelda dungeon. [22:29.000 –> 22:43.000] Or like Zelda temple then the Divine Beasts felt where like the there’s something that’s like poisoning or like cursing the like the temple. [22:43.000 –> 22:54.000] And it’s it’s I mean if you played Breath of the Wild you know at this point that like all the boss fights for the Divine Beasts were just like slightly different like iterations. [22:55.000 –> 23:03.000] Interestingly like I do yeah the bosses are definitely more interesting looking but I actually think that the battles are less fun. [23:03.000 –> 23:09.000] Interesting I actually feel like they I don’t know I feel like they feel more like a Zelda boss battles than. [23:09.000 –> 23:10.000] They do. [23:10.000 –> 23:13.000] The Calamity Ganon boss fights felt. [23:13.000 –> 23:17.000] I’ll agree with that they definitely do but they feel less like the game this game. [23:17.000 –> 23:22.000] They feel like less than how Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom work in general. [23:22.000 –> 23:28.000] As boss fights than the Calamity the the the other Ganon one wherever they were. [23:28.000 –> 23:31.000] They were Calamity Ganons I can’t remember what the names of them were. [23:31.000 –> 23:33.000] I don’t know what the I think they were just called. [23:33.000 –> 23:39.000] Those ones felt more in keeping with this the way the game works in general. [23:39.000 –> 23:43.000] I will agree these ones feel more like older Zelda bosses. [23:44.000 –> 23:47.000] But the game doesn’t feel like an older Zelda game. [23:47.000 –> 23:54.000] It feels kind of like shoving an old Zelda style thing into a new Zelda style thing and it doesn’t really fit as well. [23:54.000 –> 24:02.000] I don’t know I disagree because I feel like that is that’s what I was gonna say is that like I know that I’m in the honeymoon period for it still. [24:02.000 –> 24:11.000] But I do feel like this is very quickly becoming one of my favorite Zelda games of all time. [24:11.000 –> 24:15.000] And I feel like it already has far and away beat Breath of the Wild for me. [24:15.000 –> 24:17.000] Oh I’d agree with that 100%. [24:17.000 –> 24:22.000] Because of how much more the game feels like a Zelda game than Breath of the Wild felt. [24:22.000 –> 24:26.000] I don’t think I could go back to Breath of the Wild ever again. [24:26.000 –> 24:28.000] No I don’t think so either. [24:28.000 –> 24:33.000] I think Breath of the Wild was a great setup for this game. [24:33.000 –> 24:38.000] But I think that this is the this is the optimal game. [24:38.000 –> 24:45.000] And I really do feel like there are just the general atmosphere of the game. [24:45.000 –> 24:50.000] A lot of the interactions with NPCs, the way things are designed. [24:50.000 –> 25:00.000] The way that like I don’t know the amount of puzzles and stuff that are like and like side quests that are… [25:00.000 –> 25:07.000] I guess I don’t know I don’t know what it is specifically that makes it feel more like a Zelda game to me than Breath of the Wild felt. [25:07.000 –> 25:11.000] But it’s definitely there. It definitely feels more. [25:11.000 –> 25:16.000] I think some of it too is like music and like sound design and stuff like that. [25:16.000 –> 25:19.000] That gives it more of that that feeling. [25:19.000 –> 25:27.000] Take all of my opinions by the way with the knowledge that Breath of the Wild was my first Zelda game. [25:27.000 –> 25:32.000] And then when I went back and played them all I hated all the 3D Zelda games. [25:32.000 –> 25:36.000] Having said that I only really played two of them. [25:36.000 –> 25:37.000] Which two did you play though? [25:37.000 –> 25:40.000] So I played Ocarina. Did not like Ocarina. [25:40.000 –> 25:43.000] And Skyward Sword. Did not like Skyward Sword. [25:43.000 –> 25:46.000] Skyward Sword is my favorite Zelda game of all time. [25:46.000 –> 25:49.000] Oh really? Interesting. I hate it. I hate everything about it. [25:49.000 –> 25:50.000] I wonder whether I would have liked it. [25:50.000 –> 25:52.000] You played it on the Wii or did you play it on the Switch? [25:52.000 –> 25:56.000] I played it on the Switch. I wonder whether I would have liked it had I played it when it came out. [25:56.000 –> 26:01.000] Part of the problem is that obviously the gaming industry is not what it was. [26:02.000 –> 26:10.000] You can’t go back and imagine how this would have played if it was the best thing when it came out. [26:10.000 –> 26:16.000] But it’s not the best thing. We have better things. Therefore how can I put myself in that? [26:16.000 –> 26:20.000] I struggle with that. It’s why I hated Mario 64. [26:20.000 –> 26:24.000] Would I have enjoyed Mario 64 if I played it when it came out? Probably. [26:24.000 –> 26:29.000] But I did not like it when I played it first time six years ago. [26:29.000 –> 26:33.000] Because it’s just not fun now because there’s so much more fun games. [26:33.000 –> 26:37.000] Was it amazing for when it came out? Maybe. [26:37.000 –> 26:40.000] But that doesn’t make it amazing now. [26:40.000 –> 26:51.000] I definitely think that a lot of my ability to go back and play those games and appreciate them now is heavily tied to my nostalgia for them. [26:51.000 –> 26:57.000] Like how relevant their design is and stuff like that. [26:57.000 –> 27:03.000] They are very dated games. Especially the N64 era stuff. [27:03.000 –> 27:09.000] Great games but very dated and a lot has changed for the better since then. [27:09.000 –> 27:16.000] But I have loved every 2D Zelda game I’ve played. I’ve not finished them but I’ve enjoyed every 2D Zelda game I’ve played. [27:16.000 –> 27:23.000] So I don’t know how much of it is like, oh maybe this is more like the dungeons in the 3D Zelda games. [27:23.000 –> 27:27.000] But it doesn’t feel like a 2D Zelda dungeon either. [27:27.000 –> 27:35.000] With the 2D dungeons you were going through this maze essentially with a bunch of different rooms and trying to get to the end. [27:35.000 –> 27:40.000] I don’t know how the 3D ones were because I didn’t really get through that much of either of those two games. [27:40.000 –> 27:45.000] I just really struggled. I didn’t even get to the first dungeon of each of them. That’s how I struggled with them. [27:45.000 –> 27:53.000] I would say that is absolutely the case. The 3D dungeons are a lot different than the 2D Zelda game dungeons are. [27:53.000 –> 27:58.000] And these feel much more like 3D Zelda dungeons than they do. [27:58.000 –> 28:05.000] That makes much more sense because looking at the dungeons in this game and looking at the Divine Beast in the last one. [28:05.000 –> 28:14.000] They feel much more similar than different. But maybe there’s something I’m missing that I would have seen had I properly played any of the 3D Zeldas. [28:14.000 –> 28:20.000] And the boss fights too feel much more like the boss fights from 3D Zelda dungeon games. [28:20.000 –> 28:24.000] I do think the boss fights feel very similar to 2D Zelda games as well. [28:24.000 –> 28:32.000] It’s about figuring out a pattern for this large creature that obviously you can get damaged by it. [28:32.000 –> 28:36.000] But it’s not necessarily going in and attacking you with a sword. [28:36.000 –> 28:39.000] Hit the eyeball. Always hit the eyeball. [28:39.000 –> 28:47.000] It feels like that but my point about that was personally I don’t enjoy that as much. [28:47.000 –> 28:54.000] I much more enjoyed the Ganon battles because it felt more like the other battles in the game. [28:54.000 –> 29:05.000] I guess I didn’t dislike the Ganon battles. In retrospect now it didn’t feel the same way to me. [29:05.000 –> 29:14.000] It felt like a very good game but it didn’t feel like a Zelda game to me I guess in a lot of those instances. [29:14.000 –> 29:25.000] Which is where this feeling more like a Zelda game and having a lot more things that I’m familiar with for Zelda games feels more exciting to me. [29:25.000 –> 29:31.000] That that’s happening and that they’ve made those designed decisions and stuff. [29:31.000 –> 29:36.000] As someone who is a long time Zelda fan and has played every Zelda game. [29:36.000 –> 29:41.000] I think a lot of it is down to that. I didn’t play any Zelda games before this one. [29:41.000 –> 29:56.000] I bought Breath of the Wild on Switch release day because I pre-ordered a Switch but the games that I pre-ordered were Mario Odyssey, Mario Kart and 1-2 Switch. [29:56.000 –> 30:04.000] None of them came out for at least a month after the Switch came out so I was like I don’t have any games for this console that I just bought. [30:04.000 –> 30:09.000] So I wandered into a game shop and went have you got any copies of that Zelda game? I hear it’s good. [30:09.000 –> 30:14.000] They were like we’ve got one copy so I bought that one copy of Breath of the Wild. [30:14.000 –> 30:17.000] Are you saying 1-2 Switch didn’t hold you over until… [30:17.000 –> 30:23.000] Well it wasn’t out initially. It didn’t come out till April and the Switch came out in March. [30:23.000 –> 30:30.000] So yeah I had to buy this game that I’d never played any of the series called Zelda. [30:30.000 –> 30:34.000] And it turned out to be very good and one of my favourite games of all time. [30:34.000 –> 30:38.000] It’s such a funny… I’m obviously not the only person. [30:38.000 –> 30:43.000] More people bought Breath of the Wild than bought all of the other Zelda games combined. [30:43.000 –> 30:47.000] So this would have been a lot of people’s first Zelda game. [30:47.000 –> 30:53.000] It’s probably a reason why we’ll never get a Zelda game not like Breath of the Wild or at least not building on top of that idea ever again. [30:53.000 –> 30:56.000] We’ll probably get some 2D ones but they’ll never sell as well. [30:56.000 –> 31:02.000] Because there’s just a whole different group of people who this is Zelda to them. [31:02.000 –> 31:05.000] Nothing else is Zelda to them. [31:05.000 –> 31:09.000] Anyway this is a game about cottagecore games. This is a podcast about cottagecore games. [31:09.000 –> 31:12.000] Well I mean you can build a house and… [31:12.000 –> 31:17.000] My god the house building is so good! I can’t even… [31:17.000 –> 31:21.000] See when I first came onto that someone was like oh you can build a house and I was like oh that’s funny. [31:21.000 –> 31:24.000] It’s going to be like the last one. Whatever. [31:24.000 –> 31:26.000] And I went and I was like oh my word this is amazing. [31:26.000 –> 31:33.000] I have spent a good 10 hours building my house over the last 3 weeks. [31:33.000 –> 31:35.000] I’m not even kidding. [31:35.000 –> 31:40.000] My only gripe is that it maxes at like 15 blocks. [31:40.000 –> 31:47.000] Which I hope that maybe in the inevitable DLC or whatever they add new rooms. [31:47.000 –> 31:53.000] Or the ability to add more rooms. Something like that. [31:53.000 –> 31:55.000] I love it so much. [31:55.000 –> 31:57.000] I know it’s great. I love it too. [31:57.000 –> 32:06.000] I built everything inside the house that I really loved and I wanted to add the garden and the moat or whatever. [32:07.000 –> 32:15.000] The pond outside but I ran out of space. I ran out of space. I hit all 15 of my house blocks. [32:15.000 –> 32:20.000] There’s one other thing that annoys me about the house and this is literally it. [32:20.000 –> 32:27.000] The pond, it spawns fish. The garden, you cannot farm in. You can’t farm in the garden. [32:27.000 –> 32:28.000] Oh really? [32:28.000 –> 32:31.000] It’s just there. It just looks like a garden. [32:31.000 –> 32:40.000] I don’t understand why you gave me this pond that I can grow fish in and you gave me this garden that I can’t grow anything in. [32:40.000 –> 32:43.000] Why would you do that to me? Why would you make this so good? [32:43.000 –> 32:52.000] You would make this house building amazing and addictive and great and you’d give me a fish pond but you can’t let me grow something in the garden. [32:52.000 –> 32:55.000] It doesn’t even need to be massively complex. [32:55.000 –> 32:58.000] You don’t need to go oh well you can grow carrots and blah blah blah. [32:58.000 –> 33:06.000] Just let me grow the trees. The fire tree and the zappy tree. Just let me grow those. Let me plant one and it grows. [33:06.000 –> 33:11.000] I’m not asking for everything in the world to be possible to grow. [33:11.000 –> 33:15.000] Just those little trees that you can grow with the fruit. Let me do those. [33:15.000 –> 33:21.000] Just make it simple. Just three plots. You can just grow three things and that’s it. [33:21.000 –> 33:28.000] And I can grow my little fire fruit plant. Let me grow my fire fruit plant. That’s all I want. [33:28.000 –> 33:35.000] I actually didn’t know that because I ran out of blocks. I wasn’t able to put my garden in but that’s interesting. [33:35.000 –> 33:37.000] Well it’s a good thing you didn’t waste it. [33:37.000 –> 33:47.000] I don’t necessarily understand that. Maybe they were just like adding a farming element is something that we’ll do in DLC. [33:47.000 –> 33:53.000] That’s fine. If you make me pay for it I will pay for it but tell me it’s coming. Tell me it’s coming. I want to know it’s coming. [33:53.000 –> 34:01.000] I will wait for it and I will pay for it. I will pay like 30 quid for a farming addition to this game. 100% I will do that. [34:01.000 –> 34:09.000] And Zelda can wait. I’ve got farming to do. I’ve got a house to build. I’ve got farming to do. [34:09.000 –> 34:11.000] Shall we talk about some news? [34:11.000 –> 34:13.000] Let’s do it. [34:13.000 –> 34:19.000] So before we get into the new news I wanted to ask Mike if you have any thoughts on the marvellous games that were announced last week. [34:19.000 –> 34:23.000] Because we talked about them on the podcast last week, me and Johnny. [34:23.000 –> 34:29.000] But obviously you quite often have a lot of opinions on Story of Seasons and Rune Factory. [34:29.000 –> 34:41.000] The fact that they were mostly just announced without a lot to go off of. I’m very excited. [34:41.000 –> 34:49.000] But I don’t know what I’m looking forward to because there’s not a lot to go off of. [34:49.000 –> 34:57.000] Obviously I’m going to probably buy and play whatever they put out for Story of Seasons and Rune Factory. [34:57.000 –> 35:05.000] I am really excited at the prospect of a multiplayer Story of Seasons game. I am curious to see what that’s going to look like. [35:05.000 –> 35:07.000] Me too. [35:07.000 –> 35:11.000] But I am excited at that idea. [35:11.000 –> 35:15.000] What I said in the podcast last week was I have no idea what to expect from it. [35:15.000 –> 35:23.000] But the fact that they’re making it as a separate game means they obviously have an idea that is radical enough that it’s different from a standard Story of Seasons game. [35:23.000 –> 35:29.000] That they feel it needs to be another game and that I’m excited by in and of itself. [35:29.000 –> 35:35.000] And maybe that they don’t trust it enough to make it the mainline game. [35:35.000 –> 35:37.000] That’s possible but maybe… [35:37.000 –> 35:49.000] I feel like maybe it’s just they know their audience and they know that there’s a possibility that people who want to play their single player, you know, the standard Story of Seasons experience. [35:49.000 –> 35:55.000] I don’t necessarily want a multiplayer experience as well and it kind of gives the option between different games. [35:55.000 –> 35:57.000] And I think that’s fine. [35:57.000 –> 35:59.000] Yeah. Give me both. I want both. [35:59.000 –> 36:05.000] Yeah. I’m perfectly fine with that too. [36:05.000 –> 36:12.000] Otherwise, standard Story of Seasons experience. I’ve always been on board for that so I’m of course excited about that. [36:12.000 –> 36:17.000] I did see… what is that? Project Magia? [36:17.000 –> 36:19.000] Project Magia? [36:19.000 –> 36:21.000] The Rune Factory one? [36:21.000 –> 36:29.000] No, not the Rune Factory one. It’s the other… it’s like some RPG that they’re working on but it’s designed by the… [36:29.000 –> 36:33.000] I didn’t pay attention to anything that wasn’t specifically Story of Seasons or Rune Factory. Come on. [36:33.000 –> 36:41.000] But they had that and then they had the Project Life is RPG which… whatever those words mean together. [36:41.000 –> 36:45.000] Just I hate everything about that. [36:45.000 –> 36:55.000] But it kind of… it makes me wonder what of that is going to feel like Fantasy Life which was a fantastic game. [36:55.000 –> 37:09.000] Incredible game. Life Simulator. Again, if you haven’t played… every opportunity for that game to come up on this podcast, I will tell you to play it. [37:09.000 –> 37:13.000] Because it’s great. And there’s a new one coming out. [37:13.000 –> 37:22.000] But I’m curious to see how much that interacts with that style of game. If this is Marvelous’ take on Fantasy Life. [37:22.000 –> 37:24.000] Yeah. Maybe. [37:24.000 –> 37:30.000] But, you know, Rune Factory is Rune Factory. It’s going to probably be like Rune Factory. [37:30.000 –> 37:41.000] I think 5 made some really great moves and it still felt very… still felt kind of in its infancy for what they were trying to do. [37:42.000 –> 37:46.000] Shifting from previous Rune Factory games to 5. So hopefully… [37:46.000 –> 37:48.000] Well it was such a big step. [37:48.000 –> 37:49.000] It really was. [37:49.000 –> 37:58.000] It was so drastic. It felt like going from Pokemon Black and White to Pokemon Scarlet and Violet. It was such a huge difference. There was no in-between steps. [37:58.000 –> 38:09.000] Yeah. Yep. It’s really hard not to look at Rune Factory Project Dragon and not see Tears of the Kingdom. [38:09.000 –> 38:14.000] But I know that that’s not how games work and that this was in development for a long time. [38:14.000 –> 38:16.000] Yeah. [38:16.000 –> 38:19.000] This is the one we got most information about out of those 4 games. [38:19.000 –> 38:26.000] Yes. Probably because they were like, we need to show this now so that people don’t think that we were just… [38:26.000 –> 38:33.000] And I need to ride my dragons. Right? Like, I love this. I want to ride a dragon. Give me it. [38:33.000 –> 38:37.000] It looks great. The dragons kind of look like a never-ending story. [38:37.000 –> 38:39.000] Oh yeah. Oh yeah. That’s funny. [38:39.000 –> 38:41.000] It’s kind of neat. [38:41.000 –> 38:43.000] Let’s go. [38:43.000 –> 38:45.000] Yeah, let’s go. [38:45.000 –> 39:02.000] But it looks like they’re… That’s kind of what I was getting at. It looks like they’re making those steps to bridge from 5 to 6 in Project Dragon to make it more what they wanted 5 to be and more what it felt like 5 should have been. [39:02.000 –> 39:10.000] Interesting. The other thing is, I’ve not written this in the show notes, but have we talked about the new Harvest Moon game? What are your thoughts about that? [39:11.000 –> 39:14.000] You know, I’m going to be honest with you, I forgot that there was a new Harvest Moon game. [39:14.000 –> 39:16.000] You’ve not seen the screenshots? [39:16.000 –> 39:19.000] Is it the Winds of Anthos? [39:19.000 –> 39:21.000] It is the Winds of Anthos. [39:21.000 –> 39:23.000] I have not seen the new screenshots. [39:23.000 –> 39:26.000] Oh my word. Let me get some screenshots for you. [39:26.000 –> 39:29.000] I think after the One World experience… [39:29.000 –> 39:31.000] Oh, let me tell you. Right? [39:31.000 –> 39:35.000] Okay, first of all, do not pretend like you didn’t enjoy that game. [39:35.000 –> 39:37.000] I played a lot of it. [39:37.000 –> 39:44.000] It was a bad game, but I remember both of us saying that it was an enjoyable bad game. [39:44.000 –> 39:52.000] Yeah, it was. And I played far more of it than I would play another game that I actually really didn’t like. [39:52.000 –> 39:58.000] Yeah, played more of it than you really should. But I sent you a tweet with some screenshots in it. [39:58.000 –> 39:59.000] Okay. [39:59.000 –> 40:01.000] Yeah, exactly. [40:01.000 –> 40:11.000] You know, screenshots are tricky, right? Because those same things could be in motion and be shocking to look at. [40:11.000 –> 40:17.000] But so far, so good. I’m a little more impressed than I guess I would have expected myself to be. [40:17.000 –> 40:23.000] Yeah. I mean, let’s not forget that the most exciting thing we got about One World was the initial concept art. [40:23.000 –> 40:27.000] The first time we got a screenshot, it was not good. [40:27.000 –> 40:31.000] So even getting good looking screenshots is an improvement. [40:31.000 –> 40:38.000] I do see that there are the romance music notes in the dialogue box. [40:38.000 –> 40:41.000] Well, come on, they can’t go too far away from things, right? [40:41.000 –> 40:48.000] There still are romanceable… Were there romanceable characters in One World? [40:48.000 –> 40:51.000] Yeah, it’s just neither of us bothered because we didn’t enjoy the characters. [40:51.000 –> 40:55.000] Okay. That feels more accurate. [40:55.000 –> 41:01.000] Yeah, it looks interesting. Do we have any info on release date or anything? [41:01.000 –> 41:05.000] Yes, so it’s coming out at the end of September. I think it was 26th of September or something. [41:05.000 –> 41:07.000] Oh, that’s soon. [41:07.000 –> 41:11.000] It is soon. They did say summer though, which that is not summer. [41:11.000 –> 41:19.000] But anyway, the interesting thing about this one is it’s continuing with the concept of the movable farm, the expando farm from One World. [41:20.000 –> 41:28.000] So you can still move your farm around the world and it sounds like it’s a bigger world than One World, which is a very confusing sentence to say. [41:28.000 –> 41:33.000] And I don’t know about you, but the expando farm was the best thing about that game? [41:33.000 –> 41:36.000] Yeah, yes. I think that it was too. [41:36.000 –> 41:39.000] I can tweet with an incredible screenshot as well. Go look at that. [41:39.000 –> 41:44.000] Tell me this doesn’t look good. Tell me this doesn’t. [41:44.000 –> 41:46.000] It does look good. It does look really good. [41:46.000 –> 41:51.000] So as you say, it could still be terrible. The actual gameplay could be horrific. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But… [41:51.000 –> 41:53.000] Oh, we got a mini map. [41:53.000 –> 41:56.000] I am encouraged by this. I am very encouraged. [41:56.000 –> 42:06.000] Yeah, I am too. I’m a little stressed about the idea that it’s coming out in September and we’ve only got like five screenshots total so far. [42:06.000 –> 42:12.000] But I’m not going to hold that against them. We’ll see how it goes. [42:13.000 –> 42:19.000] I do see that there is a Sleeping Cow plush as part of the collector’s box. [42:19.000 –> 42:21.000] Possibly the best plush they’ve done. [42:21.000 –> 42:31.000] Yes. And definitely much cuter, I think, personally than the recent Story of Seasons plushes as well. [42:31.000 –> 42:35.000] Oh, there are some more screenshots than just those few. [42:35.000 –> 42:38.000] Here’s one of them interacting with a polar bear. [42:38.000 –> 42:43.000] Yeah, there’s a few more. We don’t have any video or actual gameplay. There’s a few more scree
It’s time for the first parody song of 2023! Sloan gets the Super Gamer treatment with this song about Breath of the Wild. Enjoy! Download link – NEW Super Gamer Podcast 148 – Calamity Ganon with ME!
Topic: Legend of Zelda What is it? Nintendo's Big Three, as of NES days, consisted of Super Mario, Metroid, and The Legend of Zelda. Taking place in a fantasy world of goblins, monsters, castles, and princesses, this series had transformed some of the landscape of videogames and being a bench mark for many later games and series, with some hallmarks that continue to this day. Development During initial development of the Famicom(Family Computer, also known to the west as the Nintendo Entertainment System(NES)) addon, known as the Famicom Disk System, two major games were being developed. The First was Super Mario, while the second was Legend of Zelda, however their creator, Shigeru Miyamoto, didn't know how either game would shape up. During the planning process, the two games were created in tandem, with Super Mario coming out first due it's more linear nature, and Zelda coming out afterwards. Ideas when developing the games were split between the two games, with some ideas being more favorable for Mario over Zelda. Zelda's design necessitated less linear game play and forced players to think about what to do next. Elements of the initial story were taken heavily from J R R Tolken's Lord of the Rings, primarily the setting and world in which the antagonist lived in. The initially hero, dubbed ‘Link' was meant to be a time traveler, along with the plot device, the Tri-force, being made up to circuits/electronics, thus Link would be a Hyper-Link, or a Link to the Past, Present, and Future. Released on the Famicom Disk System, The Legend of Zelda was a huge success. With the Disk System, save states could be created, which acted as back ups for your progress. Along with new weapons/items, additional armor, and various secrets waiting to be found, the game was a block buster upon release. Due to the North American market not having the Disk System for their NES, the game was ported instead to a standard game cartridge of the time, with new chips being created to hold the majority of the game on. US released copies featured a Gold game cartridge over the typical gray that was offered with all other games. After the success of the first Zelda, a second follow up went in to work. Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link, took a different turn in the game play, offering a top down map for which to explore, but offered a 2d platform style action that Link would fight in. Released 2 years after the first, gaming critics cited it as a masterpiece, with many western audiences feeling somewhat indifferent to the game at the time. With the coming of the next generation, the Super Famicom and Super Nintendo saw their own version of Zelda coming out, returning to the original Legend of Zelda roots, but also added a feature that would eventually become a staple of many Zelda game, a Light and Dark World. Initially, the Super Nintendo games held an initial allotment of half a Megabyte, but Zelda began the trend with a full Megabyte to incorporate all the features. In The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, a Light and Dark world exist, where Link can travel between the two to gain new weapons, powers, and transverse the world in ways other than the initial ways. Released in 1991, the game was a classic and is to this day, still highly rated, and one of the best selling games for the Super Nintendo. Following the success of Zelda as a generational Title, a new Zelda game has come out for every Generation of Nintendo's consoles, including the Mainline Home Console and Hand-held Console. In 1998, The Legend of Zelda saw game series move in to 3d, just as Mario had done a year earlier. Even during the Wii, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess was a launch title, instead of a traditional Mario title. Initial Story The initial story of the Legend of Zelda is not very straight-forward or linear at all. Described as a multi-timeline series, the main series had an initial timeline, before branching off in to various timelines. The characters of Link, Zelda, and bad guy Ganon are not even the original individuals, but reincarnations of the classic characters years into the future, sometime even hundreds of years later, often still playing the exact same roles as before. Rather than develop the games in the released order, in order to explain the time line, we'll explain them in order of their placement on the timeline: Skyword Sword (2011) Wii U Skyword Sword starts the Zelda timeline, set in a world where humans primarily live in the sky and travel around on giant Sky birds. Zelda, a reincarnation of the Goddess Hylia, who is charged with watching over the Tri-Force, is whisked away to the surface world, where she learns of her purpose and intends on safeguarding the world from Demise. Link goes about saving her and puts an end to Demise, but not before he can make his own reincarnation. This is also the creation of the Master Sword, as the sword was originally a part of Hylia prior to giving up her divinity. The Minish Cap (2004) GBA As the GBA had a long life span, this incarnation is notable for introducing the Minish Cap, a replacement hat for Link, not unlike Mario Hat from Super Mario Odyssey. Much like many features of Zelda there is a obvious world, and a hidden world. In this case, the Minish Cap allows Link to shrink to Minish proportions (Small), in order to navigate and transverse secrets of the world. This adventure for Link sets up the Four Sword and the main antagonist of the next game Vaati. Four Swords (2002) GBA Released alongside a release of A Link to the Past, Four Swords tells of how Link used the Four Sword and transformed into four copies of himself. This story primarily focuses upon Vaati's return and Link utilizing the Four Sword to defeat him. The true feature of this game was the 4 player co-op nature, which was later revisited on the Game Cube. Ocarina of Time (1998) N64 Credited as landmark title that brought Zelda to 3d. The story tells of a very young boy link saving Princess Zelda, but traveling back and forth from time, which causes him transform in to the Adult Link. This game introduced 3d, but also a music system, with special songs, capable of summoning effects or allowing used to progress through the story. The game was the first time the story fleshed out more of Ganondorf's back story, along with other notable races, including the Gerudo, Goron, Kokori, & Zora. DEVIATION IN TIME Based on the events of Ocarina of Time, one of Three Timeline get created: Child Timeline – Where at the end of Ocarina of Time, Link returns the Master Sword to the pedestal and reverts to a child to finish out the rest of his life. Adult Timeline – Where at the end of Ocarina of Time, Zelda returns the Master Sword to the pedestal, and Link is said to have disappeared following his return to the past. Fallen Hero Timeline – Where as Link was failed to defeat Ganondorf, and he is instead sealed by the Seven Sages and locked away. Child Timeline: Following the defeat of Ganondork, Link returns the Master Sword to the pedestal and reverts to his child form to live out the rest of his life. Majora's Mask (2000) N64 Created using the original Ocarina of Time engine and many of the same assets, Majora's Mask is very much a sequel to the Ocarina of Time. In this version, Link stays a child, but gains additional powers in the form of masks, which alter his shape and abilities. The main events of Majora's Mask resolve around Link in search of Navi, his fairy from the first game. He meets the mysterious Skull Kid, who is wearing the possessed Majora's Mask. Skull Kid, via Majora's Mask, aims to destroy the town of Termina by having the moon crash in to it. Link has only 3 days in which to stop the apocalypse, but learns can go back in time by playing the Song of Time on his Ocarina, giving him unlimited tries to save the world. Twilight Princess (2006) Wii Following the events of Ocarina of Time, Ganondorf is stopped and due to having the Triforce of Power, can't be killed. As a result, he is banished to the Twilight Realm, where he eventually takes it over and corrupts it to his own purpose. During the events, he usurps Midna, the Twilight Princess, and during his invasion back into the world of Light, plunges the world into twilight. Midna recruits Link, who in twilight infused areas, is able to transform into a wolf the Midna rides, and the two aim to save both the world of Light and the world of Twilight. Four Swords Adventure (2004) Game Cube Revisiting the GBA Four Sword's multiplay gameplay, the game utilizes the GBA link Cable to link various GBAs together to play all at the same time. While Ganondorf has been defeated for hundreds of years, his sudden resurrection forced the Link of the time to draw the Four Sword once again. This releases Vaati, which Ganondorf uses to his advantage to distract Link. Eventually, Link is able to defeat Vaati once and for all, and seals Ganondorf within the Four Sword. Adult Timeline: Following the events Ocarina of Time, Link disappears following the defeat of Ganondorf and his sealing away in the Sacred Realm. Ganondorf continue to own his Tri-Force of power, as does Zelda with her Triforce of Wisdom, however, Link's disappearance, shatters the Tri-Force of courage in to 8 pieces. The Wind Waker (2002) Game Cube A major departure in style, Wind Waker and all games in the Adult Timeline follow a very cartoony, cell-shaded look. While a prominent style in the games, and a departure from a more realistic looking Link promised in trailers, the look had grown on players and has its own unique charm, with lot of personality in Link. Wind Waker tells of how Ganon returns from his seal in the Sacred Realm, and in order to save the world, the Gods decide to flood the world, sealing away Hyrule and Ganon at the same time. Follow flood, people move to the top of mountains that become islands. Link is set in to action as Ganondorf returns to the surface and is kidnapping young girls with pointy ears, in search of Zelda. Link traverses this world on the King of red Lions, a boat sent by the gods, in which Link must use the power of the Wind Waker to cause winds to help pilot the boat. Phantom Hourglass (2007) DS Following the events of Wind Waker, Tetra(Reincarnation of Zelda) and Link travel the world in search of a new continent to call home. Tetra is kidnapped and Link must travel around to save her. He receives the Phantom Hourglass, which is necessary for exploring various dungeons. Much like the last game, the gameplay is largely split in two major features, sailing between islands, and fighting in a similar top-down form as previous classic era games. Spirit Tracks (2009) DS Following the Events of Phantom Hourglass, the new kingdom of Hyrule is established. Hundreds of years pass, and a new Link and Zelda are reborn. Zelda is concerned about her advisor, Chancellor Cole, who reveals himself to be a demon initially sealed way on the new Hyrule Kingdom long before they arrived. He steals Zelda's body, but her spirit remains with Link, who together must navigate the mysterious Spirit Tracks and find the sacred Spirit Temples that original banished the Demon. Fallen Hero Timeline: Unfortunately, Link was unable to defeat Ganondorf, who succeeded in claiming the Tri-Force of Courage and the Tri-Force of Wisdom. Before he could use the full Tri-Force, he was sealed away by the Seven Sages into the Sacred Realm, where Ganondorf continued to create his armies. Following initial seal's breaking, Hyrule launched an invasion on the Sarcred Realm in order defeat Ganon. Despite the Kingdom of Hyrule successfully banishing Ganon in the realm once again, it left the country impoverished and without many resources, including money and its people. A Link to the Past (1991) SNES The first game to feature a duality Light and Dark world system, Link to the Past is a classic and one of the best selling SNES games of all time. Hundreds of years after Ganon's defeat, a Wizard named Agahnim was able to stop a number of mysterious events plaguing the kingdom. Naming him the priest of Hyrule and top advisor, Agahnim brainwashed the guards and makes the six maidens, descendants of the Seven Sages, disappear in to the Dark World. Zelda, the last maiden, telepathically calles out to Link to rescue her. He saves her and begin searching for the tools needed to defeat Agahnim, who wants to resurrect Ganon. Link eventually goes to Stop Agahnim, but not before being banished to the Dark World, where he eventually found the six maidens and is able to find the TriForce. Link's Awakening (1993) Game Boy / Switch Initially, a pet project by a few game creators to try and remake the first Zelda for the Game Boy, the project eventually caught the attention of other developers who wanted to add to it. Eventually, the higher ups found out about the game and decided to fund it in earnest. Following the Events of A Link to the Past, Link sets off to find new training, in case of the next disaster. His ship wrecks on Koholint island, which is populated by individuals that remind him Hyrule. He learns, in order to leave the island, he must collect 8 sacred instruments, and wake up the Wind Fish in order to leave the island. Oracle of Seasons & Oracles of Ages (2001) GBC Originally starting as a trio of games that would use passwords to link the three games together, the result ended in just two games, with Seasons being more action oriented and Ages being more puzzle oriented. The main story focuses on two witches, collectively known as Twinrova, attempting to resurrect Ganon. Link from A Link to the Past is summoned by the TriForce and sent to stop them. A Link Between Worlds (2013) 3DS Centuries after Ganon's Defeat, a mysterious wizard named Yugo appears and kidnaps the Seven Sages, and Zelda, storing them in Paintings until needed. Link travels after them into the world of Lorule, which is similar to his own. Link is unable to stop Yugo from summoning Ganon and takes it into himself. Link is nearly killed, if not for the Dark Counterpart to Zelda in this world, Hilda. Eventually it is revealed that Lorule had its own TriForce, but constant warring and fighting forced them to destroy it; however, this allowed monsters and demons to rise up, which destroyed their Kingdom. Hilda brought all the elements of Link and Zelda's world to hers in order to gain a Tri-Force of their own and save their world. Link eventually defeat Yugo and convinces Hilda that their world needs the Tri-Force as well. Upon returning to their world, Link wishes upon the Tri-Force and it creates a sister version in Lorule, restoring peace to the dark world. Tri-Force Heroes (2015) 3DS A new adventure for Link, who travels to Hytopia. Here, the evil witch Maud has forced Princess Styla into an irremovable brown Jumpsuit, which she forces her to hide away in her castle. Using two other Link look-a-likes, they must collect the Lady's Ensemble and defeat the evil Witch Maud. Similar to 4 swords, this utilizes multiplayer to play and complete, and feature different outfits link can wear to utilize different abilities. The Legend of Zelda (1986) NES At some point, the Tri-Force of Courage is hidden by the King of Hyrule, suspecting his son, the Prince of Hyrule, won't be a worthy person. As a result, the Prince questions Princess Zelda, who knows the true location, but refuses to tell her brother. Now put in an eternal slumber, the Kingdom falls into decline to due not having the full power of the Tri-Force. Ganon returns and gains control of the Tri-Force of Power; the next Princess Zelda hide the Tri-Force of Wisdom in eight dungeons in order to safeguard it. Link is tasked with saving Princess Zelda, who has now been imprisoned by Ganon, and is dubbed the Hero of Hyrule. The Adventure of Link (1988) NES 6 years following the events of The Legend of Zelda, Link had a glowing mark on his hand, which imprints the boy who will be able to wield the Tri-Force of Courage. Tasked with visiting several locations to prove his worth, Link is able to successful collect the Tri-Force of Courage, and return to the eternal slumber Zelda, awaking her with the full power of the Tri-Force. Great Calamity Timeline Though not a part of the official timeline just yet, developers state that this timeline is the end of all timeline, marking the end to major timeline. While it's unsure which time line this falls into, it's a future in which an advanced civilization named the Sheikah Tribe, helped install various technologies into Hyrule, causing it to prosper. In preparation for Ganon's return, they created various Guardians and Divine Beasts to fight Ganon upon his return, now known as Calamity Ganon. Breath of the Wild (2016) Switch The next princess, named Zelda, notices that Ganon is nearly upon them and goes about claiming the Divine Beasts, giving them to four capable pilots, and finding Link, a knight who can successful wield the Master Sword. While Zelda is initially unable to awaken her sealing powers, the Day of Calamity occurs, causing all the guardians and Divine Beasts to go malfunction and turn against the populous. Now with Zelda and Link alone, Link is fatally injured and forced to be healed in the Shrine of Resurrection. Zelda herself, went to seal away Calamity Ganon, successful, but not without sealing herself away too. 100 Years have passed since the Day of Calamity, and Link, partly with Amnesia, sets out to save the Princess Zelda. Breath of the Wild Sequel (2022) Switch Characters Princess Zelda Named after Zelda Fitzgerald, mother to Scott Fitzgerald, Zelda is the Princess of Hyrule, and titular character of the Legend of Zelda Series. The reincarnation of Hylia, the Goddess that protected the Tri-Force from Demise, she is the individual that started the reincarnation process for the Zelda line of individuals. While the Princess and defacto ruler of Hyrule, she is also known to be the keeper of the Tri-Force of Wisdom. She depicted slightly differently from game to game, but is usually a Blonde woman in her late teen to early 20s, depicted in flowing princess robes and possessing mannerism of a Princess. Her weapon of choice is typically a Bow, which shoots light based Arrows, and is known for her ability to seal away evil. While she is often the Damsel in Distress, there are some games that show to have more agency. Link The main Playable Character in the series, Link is presented as an everyman, just going about his life, until the call to be a Hero calls upon him. He is the keeper of the Tri-Force of Courage, and generally depicted as a sword and shield using adventurer, in his typical Green tunic and hat. Link can wield the Master Sword, a legendary sword, considered the final weapon in the game, and usually depicted as utilizing it in his left hand, while his right hand carries his shield. Link has had several titles in various games, including: Hero of Time (Ocarina of Time) Legendary Hero (Link's Awakening) Hero of Winds (Wind Waker) Hero of Twilight (Twilight Princess) Hero Chosen by the Ocean King (Phantom Hourglass) Hero of the Skies (Skyward Sword) Hero of the Wild (Breath of the Wild) Hero of Hyrule Ganon / Ganondorf While interchangeable, Ganon and Ganondorf are the same person. The main villain of every mainline Zelda Game, Ganon is known for wielding the Tri-Force of Power and leading various villainous armies against the Hero. Initially a reincarnation of Demise, the evil from Skyward Sword, Ganondorf has reappeared time and time again, always with aims to claim the Tri-Force for himself. While starting as Ganondorf, a dark-skinned Gerudo, Ganondork eventually can be transfigured and warped in to Ganon, which is more akin to a boar or pig like man, as seen in later incarnations of the character. Ganon/Ganondorf is always the final villain and main antagonist of all major Zelda games on home console. Impa Princess Zelda's caretaker and chamber maid. Impa does not always play a major factor in the story, and as such, is depicted in various forms. She is sometimes an old woman on the verge of death, to a skilled fighter in her 30s to 40s. She is always there to assist and lead Zelda on the right path, and has even led Link on the right path in some games. Sages Derived from the original Seven Sages from Ocarina of Time, the term Sage is meant for individuals with wisdom and great power. While much of their lore is not known, it's whispered in legend that they created the Master Sword and even the Temple of Time. Maidens are similar in line with Sages, as they are either reincarnations or descendants of Sages. The initial sages seen in Ocarina of Time, which later sages are either descendants or reincarnations, include: Rauru - Sage of Light Saria - Forest Sage Darunia - Sage of Fire Ruto - Sage of Water Impa - Sage of Shadow Nabooru - Sage of Spirit Zelda - Leader of the Sages, and presumed Sage of Time Homework Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
In the last episode of season 1, we have covered Hyrule inch by inch, and now we have made it to the last moments of the game and the final boss. In this episode we discuss Hyrule Castle, Calamity Ganon, the ending scenes of BotW, and the future of Nayru's Wisdom podcast. Make sure to tune in for some fun, because this episode is a good one! As our Breath of the Wild Series comes to an end, we thank you audience for listening, and make to stay tuned for bonus episodes, and in a bit of time our next game... --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/nayruswisdom/support
Jahara James (Twitch Streamer, Crush It Queens podcast) joins Jordan and Jesse to talk about what's it's like to destroy Calamity Ganon in Zelda Breath of the Wild because ALL THREE people on this week's show have accomplished that very task, pop culture from childhood that doesn't seem like it actually existed, and mini-fridges for your skincare products.
Side Quests is back and so is host Adam Bankhurst! He is a podcaster, streamer, writer and was foretold to return and defeat Calamity Ganon! The game he is talking about today is The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild by Nintendo! You can find this episode's host on twitter, listen to his podcast, or watch him on Twitch!
Get ready to fight evil this week, as the gang strap in and discuss every single final boss fight with the series' big bad himself: Ganon! From Beast Ganon to Ganondorf to Calamity Ganon, we dissect what we liked from each fight, what maybe didn't work as well, and which one was the most disappointing of the bunch. With eight different fights to choose from, there's lots of meat on the bone! Making her first ever appearance on the podcast this week is Mallo, a Zelda fanatic and photograph extraordinaire! If you're not already, make sure that you check her out over on Twitter(@mallorymphoto) and Instagram (@mallorymariephoto)! Follow the Champions' Cast on Twitter: Andy Spiteri – @Spiteri316 Alasyn Eletha – @AlasynEletha
Get ready to fight evil this week, as the gang strap in and discuss every single final boss fight with the series' big bad himself: Ganon! From Beast Ganon to Ganondorf to Calamity Ganon, we dissect what we liked from each fight, what maybe didn't work as well, and which one was the most disappointing of the bunch. With eight different fights to choose from, there's lots of meat on the bone! Making her first ever appearance on the podcast this week is Mallo, a Zelda fanatic and photograph extraordinaire! If you're not already, make sure that you check her out over on Twitter(@mallorymphoto) and Instagram (@mallorymariephoto)! Follow the Champions’ Cast on Twitter: Andy Spiteri – @Spiteri316 Alasyn Eletha – @AlasynEletha
Red and I talk Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild for the entire episode!We start with the overall game world of Hyrule and its locations, regions, and towns.Then we hit on the gameplay. What did we think about the new climbing and paragliding mechanics? What about the weather and day/night cycles? Do we like the combat with all the various weapons? How about our opinions on the Sheikah Slate runes?Afterwards, we discuss the story. Did Red and I like it? What about the memories?We then tackle the Divine Beasts and shrines. How did we feel about the new type of dungeons in the Divine Beasts? What about our feelings on the shrines, which many consider to be the mini-dungeons in the game?Later, we quickly address the characters and enemies in the game.We end with a discussion on the side quests and shrine quests in the game before giving our final thoughts.Help support the show!Become a monthly patron: https://www.patreon.com/tgpzmediaMake a one-time donation: https://www.paypal.me/tgpzmediaDiscord: https://discordapp.com/invite/ETRz9bEFacebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/gamingrealm/Podcast Website: https://www.buzzsprout.com/799910Website: https://www.tgpzgaming.com/Twitter (Busted Buttons): https://twitter.com/BustedButtonsPCTwitter (TGPZ Gaming): https://twitter.com/TGPZGamingInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/tgpzgaming/Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/TGPZGaming/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/tgpzgamingPinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/TGPZGamingShop/Two Guys Playing Zelda (TGPZ)Website: https://www.twoguysplayingzelda.com/Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/zeldarealm/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/TwoGuysPlayingZeldaTwitter: https://twitter.com/2guysplayzeldaInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/twoguysplayingzelda/Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/twoguysplayingzelda/Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/tgpzmedia)
Tommy says we can only speak in statements now, no questions. So, no questions? At all? How does that work? Am I doing it right?? Also: Always Sunny vs. Scooby Doo! Tea vs. Pepsi! Shitema! Manny vs. Phineas! Tim vs. Calamity Ganon!
Kate recently defeated Calamity Ganon. She and David discuss what they did and didn't like about The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. CAST: David Geisler and Kate Fischer @AnotherZeldaPod on Instagram and Twitter | anotherzeldapodcast.com
S1 EP4 | Kate recently defeated Calamity Ganon. She and David discuss what they did and didn't like about The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. CAST: David Geisler and Kate Fischer @AnotherZeldaPod on Instagram and Twitter | anotherzeldapodcast.com
Derreck tries to convince Jon to pick up Mario+Rabbids: Kingdom Battle for Nintendo Switch and talks about the Zelda: Breath of the Wild End-Game. Plus, we talk news including Atari’s weird speaker hats, Nintendo’s Star Fox 2 website, and more! 01:15 – Ataribox Speakerhats 07:08 – Star Fox 2 Website 12:00 – Zelda: Breath of the Wild End-Game...
The Total Tutor Neil Haley will interview Celebrity Patricia Summersett. Actress and voice over artist Patricia Summersett is best known for voicing the iconic Princess Zelda in Nintendo's latest addition to The Legend of Zelda franchise, “The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild”. In “Breath of the Wild”, Link reawakens from a century of hibernation to once again save a ruined Hyrule from a great evil. Zelda is the mysterious voice that guides Link throughout his journey while she tries to contain Calamity Ganon inside of Hyrule Castle. “Breath of the Wild” is Nintendo's fastest selling launch title ever and is one of the best reviewed games of all time. The game, which was the launch title of the Nintendo Switch, went on sale on March 3, 2017. No stranger to the gaming industry, Summersett's voice has also been featured in games including “Beowulf: The Game”, “Assassin's Creed: Rogue”, “Assassin's Creed: Syndicate” and “Rainbox Six: Siege”. In addition to her gaming voice work, Summersett is also an actress and will soon be appearing in Darren Aronofsky's “Mother!” and the indie films “Maz” and “Flip The Bird”. Her previous television work includes Syfy's “Helix”, CBC's “Bellevue” with Anna Paquin, go90's “Lost Generation” with Katie Findlay.
Our march through Hyrule continues. In this penultimate debrief, we find some mysterious glowing animals, play a round of golf, and visit the Rito and and Gorons. Jorge laments the cruel blood moon and Scott pours one out for Andre, the giant horse. Next up: Calamity Ganon and beyond!
This bonus show is going to be all about Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and will contain heavy spoilers. You have been warned. Level 1: 6:41 P2(Mark) gives a quick overview of Breath of the Wild and panel discusses their first impressions. Developer: Nintendo EPD Publisher: Nintendo Director: Hidemaro Fujibayashi Producer: Eiji Aonuma Composer: Manaka Kataoka and Yasuaki Iwata Artist: Satoru Takizawa Series: The Legend of Zelda Platform(s): Wii U, Nintendo Switch Release Date: March 3 2017 Genre: Action Adventure Level 2: 24:26 Discuss story of the game: Link wakes up in a restoration chamber to find that the Hyrule he was sworn to protect has fallen to Calamity Ganon and 100 years have passed since his failure to save Zelda and all of Hyrule. Characters Link Zelda (Link’s Number One Ho) Impa Rhoam (King) Urbosa (Gerudo Chick) Daruk (Goron Guy) Revali (Bird Guy) Mipha (Zora Spirit Princess) Sidon (Zora Prince) Kass (Music Bird) Pikango (Artist Memories Guy) Discuss gameplay mechanics: 56:02 Open Air Weapon Durability Sheikah Slate Abilities Gliding Climbing Shrines Hearts or Stamina? Difficulty Korok Seeds Discuss sound: 1:59:16 Favourite background music Decision to have overworld be minimalistic Discuss sound effects Memorable or forgettable Discuss graphics: 2:12:24 Very bright and colorful Stylish versus realistic Favorite settings Favourite enemy/boss design Armor Level 3: 2:23:30 Lasting Impressions, overall rating and final thoughts. Did this make you want to play it again and if not, what would need to be changed? Would you suggest it to friends? Level 4: 2:32:23 3 Word Review #CC3WR from Twitter first followed by panel Level 5: 2:33:51 Outro (thank panel and audience) Panel Scott on Twitter: https://twitter.com/scottielindsay Steven on Twitter: https://twitter.com/StevenEidher Ryan on Twitter: https://twitter.com/itsRocketSauce
Now that that we have completed all of the Divine Beasts, the only thing standing in our way of defeating Calamity Ganon is remembering
Now that that we have completed all of the Divine Beasts, the only thing standing in our way of defeating Calamity Ganon is remembering