linkismyhero

I could have sworn it was possible to play through Zelda: Ocarina of Time and only go back to the past ONCE after pulling the fabled Master Sword out of the pedestal of time.

You have to go back to get the Lens of Truth.

You also have to go back to play through the "young Link" part of the Spirit Temple.

I could have sworn I only had to go back to the past once to do that.

But I think I'm crazy. The question is, how do you learn the warp song to the Spirit Temple before going back to the past? I mean, I guess you can't since you need the Lens of Truth to see the ghost that takes you to the other end of the haunted wasteland. And to get the Lens of Truth you need to go back to the past.

I don't want to ask in the Zelda group because I'm afraid of being called an idiot. But... I could have SWORN.

I actually wrote more in my Ocarina of Time walkthrough after many months of leaving it hanging. Today I wrote the part for the horrendous Water Temple. Is it, like, illegal to use another walkthrough to help me write my own? I don't plagiarize (plagiarise). I read it to remember how to get through the rooms. And I read it so I can get through it myself without having to figure it out all over again.

The words are all my own. In fact, I think in most cases my words are better than those of the walkthroughs I look at to help me.

I've noticed that in video game walkthroughs there's a tendency to write things humorously. I find the jokes are REALLY poor and kind of annoying. I occasionally write in things that are vaguely humorous but most of the time I regret doing so.

So for the most part my walkthroughs are straightforward and get right to the point with little if any filler.

I do kind of go my own way in the sense that I do a lot of side-quests in the middle of the walkthrough as opposed to sticking them at the end, if I think the side-quest should be done then.

I was telling Dentarthurdent a while back that it's possible to get Biggoron's sword as soon as you become adult Link in Ocarina of Time, before going through any temples at all. You do have to make some preparations before you pull out the Master Sword, but it can be done.

For example, you have to know Epona's song and have some cash so you can win Epona. It helps to know that if you make a galloping start in front of the broken bridge in Gerudo Valley (i.e. use lots of carrots i.e. smack poor Epona's bottom a number of times), Epona will jump right across and you can reach the chief builder guy. And of course you need Epona to cross Hyrule Field however many times when the timers start for the trading items that go bad.

I strongly urge my walkthrough readers to get Biggoron's sword before the dreaded Water Temple. It makes the Dark Link battle a piece of cake. If you do a thrust attack at him with Biggoron's sword, he can't avoid it. It's as easy as hitting him maybe six times until he goes AAAAH and disappears into the mirrory floor.

I'd be working some more on my Ocarina of Time walkthrough if I wasn't perplexed at this question of being able to beat the game only going back to the past once. I was discussing it with someone many months ago (perhaps last year or earlier). I said "did you know you can beat Ocarina of Time only going back to the past once?" And I distinctly remember he said "yes" or some variant of the word.

I think we were both mistaken.

But I'm pretty anal about video games so I want as little fuss as possible when I play through after I've beaten it already. My walkthroughs reflect that.

I have GOT to finish my Chrono Trigger walkthrough! My boss strategies are awesome. I've tested them meticulously (i.e. played the game about a zillion times to make sure they work good). Unfortunately I'm going to need to figure out the best strategies against the mutants in the Black Omen and other final bosses. And that's what's ultimately stopping me from finishing that walkthrough: the Black Omen.

I certainly got good at beating Lavos when I finally got over my fear of the Black Omen and played through it myself to get that holiest of rewards, the New Game +. I saw each and every ending for the game. I even did the things to see the different variations on the same endings. Like I usually always let Magus join me. But I made sure in one game I killed him to see what happened to Frog at the end. And lo and behold, he was in human form as Glenn. Not to be missed!

I started a Final Fantasy Tactics Advance one but I think I'm probably never finishing that one either. That's very much an RPG, and it starts to get down to numbers and precise strategy. I'm not really good at that. Like some people recommend switching Marche's job as he levels up to optimize his stats. That kind of stuff bores me and I can't be bothered to deal with it.

And I've actually never beaten that game anyway. I stopped after the second big boss whose name I don't even remember. The one who gives its powers to the Nu Mou. I may have done a further key mission after that but probably just one.

Speaking of Final Fantasy, my Final Fantasy 3/6 walkthrough should be completed some day as well. Although it's an RPG it's not so intensely strategy-driven as Tactics Advance. I guess my boss strategies for that one are decent until you hit the point where you can use Vanish/Doom on everything. At that point I just assume the reader has taught everyone Vanish and Doom and can use it on every monster.

AtmaWeapon is a killer boss. My strategy is kind of bold, maybe. Or stupid. I recommend bringing in Gau and Mog. Gau's Aspik rage does a great deal of damage to AtmaWeapon because that boss is vulnerable to lightning, and Giga Volt is about the best lightning spell there is. And I recommend Mog mostly because a couple of his dances include a move that heals everyone 100% (I recommend Wind Dance).

I mean, it's iffy because Gau's Rages and Mog's dances put them in Berserk mode so they can't do anything else as long as they survive in the battle. And Gau doesn't always cast Giga Volt on his turn (sometimes he does a very weak weapon attack instead), and Mog's Wind Dance moves don't always do any damage to AtmaWeapon. AND he may actually stumble a number of times before getting the dance right.

But it really does help when Mog suddenly casts the heal-up spell (I forget what it's called) and everyone is back in business. Especially if I just used a Fenix Down on someone. Yeah, there's pretty much no avoiding casualties in that battle.

But I've done it and it works. Shadow is pretty useless against AtmaWeapon, although now that I think about it I think there's a lightning-based shuriken that might actually be pretty effective. Or not. I'd have to check that out.

The guide so far tells you how to encounter all 255 rageable enemies (though I haven't beaten it so I haven't found all 255 yet) so Gau can get a complete Rage list. But I've never gotten all his Rages, myself. That's more a completeness thing anyway, not everyone will care.

A friend (the same one who agreed about the Ocarina thing) requested I write a guide in my Chrono Trigger walkthrough for using tabs right when you get them, as opposed to waiting until just before Lavos. As I said with Tactics Advance, I'm not good when it comes to numbers and stats. The tabs guide I've written thus far is probably pretty lame. But I did check other walkthroughs to learn the details of Chrono Trigger stat growth. I learned that Lucca and Marle's power stat in no way affects their attack power, so all Power Tabs would be wasted on them.

See, I don't know if I should boost the magic stats of anyone but the strongest magic users. But my guide tries to even out the playing field by boosting the magic of some of the characters with low magic stats. Speed Tabs can be used pretty freely because leveling up doesn't affect the speed stat. Most of those are used on Robo. And I guess Lucca.

One thing I'm wondering about, now that I've completed my Zelda Minish Cap walkthrough, is how to deal with the fact that there aren't enough Mysterious Shells available in the game to get you a complete set of figurines. At least, it seems that way. I like to keep my probability around 80%, and I always run out of shells by the end and there are no more ways to get a bunch of them except to buy the really expensive sets of 30 at Stockwell's shop. There is an infinite money trick in the game but that is so very tedious. You have to do it a million times to get enough shells to complete your set.

I even tried doing a rough calculation of the minimum number of shells you'd need to complete a set of figurines. It's hard to calculate because once you unlock certain figurines during the game, the number of shells you need changes. There are maybe only some ~3200 shells available in the game, ignoring ones you find from bushes or grass or rocks.

There is Beedle's Picolyte for finding either rupees or shells, but that stuff wears off so fast it's pretty pointless. And, if I recall, it's also expensive.

There's got to be a better way to complete the set of figurines than using the infinite money trick.