175 pokémon picross - forgot a day on the grind

Dear Readers,

I'm still grinding as usual but I forgot one day! Then it was late and I just did the next day. I could just change the clock but I don't really want to change over and change back. I'll just take the loss of a day.

It's no worries and I won't beat myself up over it. I'll just continue on as much as I can. Things will get done. The next session I did went fine and it was just over 3 and a half minutes.

I realised earlier in the evening but then I got distracted by something else and forgot to play before midnight. That's the plan if I ever miss a day, to make sure I play before and after midnight.

312 zelda breath of the wild - mingling with the gerudo in gerudo town

Dear Readers,

At last I get to enter Gerudo Town! I went all the way to the desert, dropped Spotty off at the stable and continued into the desert on foot. I went beyond the oasis and all the way until I reached Gerudo Town. Now that I had the Gerudo outfit on, I sauntered in without a care.

There is a lot to do here and I'm very interested in mingling with all the Gerudo. It's not really something that happens much in Zelda games. The Gorons, Zoras and Rito have always been friendly, but up until now the Gerudos are usually enemies. This whole thing of going to a town and mingling with different townsfolk and going to shops has never really been done with the Gerudo before. I had to do it all in disguise as well, which makes it even more interesting.

I chatted with many Gerudo but not all of them yet. There were a lot of shops. One of them knew I was a man, but she didn't seem to mind much.

There was a Goron wandering around too, wondering to himself as to why he was allowed in here. Who knows! Maybe I'll find out soon. Anyway, I've got a lot more mingling to do.

311 zelda breath of the wild - upgrading the desert voe armour set

Dear Readers,

With my new armour I went to the Great Fairy and asked for upgrades. I was able to upgrade everything once, but after that I was short on a couple of things.

I had to collect 9 icy lizalfos tails and 24 ice keese wings.

I rode all the way to Hebra. Along the way I tried out the Lynel mask again, this time not stopping at all. I got on much better and the Lynel looked, but did not attack.

When I got to Hebra, I stuck around the stable. There were plenty of Lizalfos and Keese of the icy kind around the area and there was a nice wide open flat area behind the stable.

It was easy enough and fun hunting for these enemies, but I had to hunt for Keese at night and I often got attacked by skeleton monsters. I had to stay at the stable a few times as well as I took a lo of hits.

After all this, I went back to the Great Fairy and got my desert voe equipment upgraded.

310 zelda breath of the wild - the big wedding!

Dear Readers,

I headed back to Tarrey Town where Hudson and Rhondson were finally getting married! It was a very nice moment and it was quite amusing when one of the vows was about naming children according to Bolson's naming tradition of ending in "son". Rhondson raised an eyebrow about it but Bolson was very enthusiastic about it.

They got married and we all clapped. It was very nice and they seem so happy running Rhondson's shop!

Speaking of which, I got right to cooking and made enough simmered fruit to earn what I needed for the full desert voe outfit! Finally!

There was lots to celebrate! After the wedding, I chatted with Bolson, who then returned to Hateno with Karson. I forget if the lonely music played or not. In any case, there was no loneliness or sadness here in Tarrey Town anymore. 

309 zelda breath of the wild - telling bolson about the wedding

Dear Readers,

I returned to Tarrey Town, where Hudson and Rhondson were delighted that I had sent a Zora who had actually been a priest, and had a name ending in "son". They were now very ready to have their wedding! The only thing they needed was to invite Bolson and Karson. I agreed to go all the way to Hateno Village and invite them.

It had been a while since I had been to Hateno, so I had a lot of apples to pick along the way. I was still saving up for that desert voe outfit after all.

I picked apples from trees along the way and I picked apples from the trees all around Hateno Village and surrounding fields. When I had picked the trees clean, I told Bolson and Karson about Hudson's progress and his wedding. It was a very nice surprise for them! When they walked away, that same sad music played, even though this time I didn't feel the sadness. They were gonna come back here after all.

308 zelda breath of the wild - finley and sasan finally meet

Dear Readers,

I hiked back up to Zora's Domain to see Finley's love letter quest through to the end. She wasn't where I met her anymore so I had to go all the way there.

Before I left Sasan's camp, I found two Bokoblins in a nearby cave and beat them up for their treasure. It was a lot of rupees!

Finley and Sasan had finally met and they were chatting with each other and enjoying each other's company. Finley liked Sasan's stories about travel and Sasan promised to get all buff for Finley. She treats him like she's his elder and it seems like he does look up to her, even though he's taller. They gave me a good reward for helping them too.

Finley's mother isn't thrilled but she doesn't seem too unhappy about it either. 

174 pokémon picross - s12-04 quagsire

Dear Readers,

Quagsire has a very simple shape and face, so it was really easy! The missions were very easy too and I only had to do three of them. Setting grass types was the only major restriction besides the 5 minute time limit.

173 pokémon picross - m01 second row, sixth column

Dear Readers,

This one was very tricky because the clues had very small numbers. I had to inch as much as I could and I got stuck for a while until another clue jumped out at me. Then I was able to push all the other answers out smoothly. The result was like the edges of two opposing circles or you could say it was like a closed parenthesis with an open parenthesis coming after it. It all seems out of place on its own but it joins well with the tile underneath in a nice straight line.

172 pokémon picross - s12-03 grovyle

Dear Readers,

I didn't have Combusken, so I couldn't do all the missions. I chose Zygarde and Swirlix. It was all random reveals and it revealed a good bit in my favour, so the puzzle itself only took 17 seconds. I took the reveals gratefully!

171 pokémon picross - s12-02 sandile

Dear Readers,

Again I couldn't do all the missions, so I just picked Pokémon to blast this puzzle in just a few seconds. I chose Zygarde and Talonflame. Between the two of them I revealed a lot. I revealed so much that I only had a small amount of squares to fill which took just 9 seconds.

Sandile has a nice big smile and big eyes. Very cute and goofy looking Pokémon! Also I finally have a Pokémon that knows slash reveal! Yay!

170 pokémon picross - s12-06 pidgeot

Dear Readers,

I still don't have a Pokémon that has slash reveal. When am I going to get one? I have no idea. In any case, I can't do all the missions on this one right now.

I can do the electric mission no problem.

I used Zygarde to reveal as much as I could. I revealed the centre square straight away and waited until I had 2 remaining blank 5x5s to use the other 2 goes I had of its reveal move. I was able to do this big puzzle in a decent amount of time.

169 pokémon picross - a nice day on the grind

Dear Readers,

I'm still getting around the 3 minute finish time on my grind and the puzzles seem to be getting easier. Maybe I'm getting better at them as I do them every day? Who knows. It'll be nice to get bonuses again. It's taking ages to get to new areas now.

168 pokémon picross - m01 sixth column, seventh row

Dear Readers,

This tile had an interesting beginning because the big fills came from hints going from 10, 9, 8, 7 and so on which made a bit of a pyramid. Other clues came in and I was able to do the puzzle handily. It ended up looking like a filled triangle with an empty triangle perpendicular to it, especially when joined with the tile to the left of it. If you use your imagination it kind of looks like a lady in a dress holding a weapon and pointing it to the left.

167 pokémon picross - s12-05 alakazam

Dear Readers,

This was a biggish puzzle and I needed 3 Pokémon to do all the missions, so I just used Zygarde and got as much revealed as I could so I could do it quick. I'll have to return to this puzzle anyway so I didn't really feel like doing much. I got the mural tile anyway so that's good for now.

166 pokémon picross - s12-01 scraggy

Dear Readers,

It feels good to unlock another new area after so long! The first stage here is Scraggy. For this I just set a fighting type and used Zygarde to get it done ASAP. I didn't really bother getting a real feel for the puzzle. I was able to do all the missions this way so that was good enough for me right now.

165 pokémon picross - daily grind in 3 minutes

Dear Readers,

Today I made a grind in about 3 minutes! Usually I'm much longer, like 3 and a half or 4 or 5 minutes. Maybe I'm getting better and I'll start getting bonuses again, which will be nice. I don't mind either way as long as I keep getting some kind of pay.

307 zelda breath of the wild - finley's love letter in a bottle

Dear Readers,

I caught up with the Zora girl who wanted to send love letters. Her name was Finley and she was corresponding with a man down river. She was very excited about meeting him and she wanted me to make sure her letter flowed down the river without obstruction or getting lost. I agreed to do it.

I failed once when those dang Octoroks started shooting at me, so I made sure to clear them out before doing it again. I also used bombs and fire arrows to carefully clear the path of wooden fences that got in the way.

I followed the letter until I reached Spotty, then continued following it until it went all the way through until it reached Mercay Island in the Lanayru Wetlands. There was a little inlet there where I met the man who was corresponding with Finley. He was camped out on this little beach. It was quiet even though there were lots of Lizalfos crawling around in the wetlands nearby.

I chatted with him for a while and he regretted giving Finley a more exciting impression of himself than what he really was. I chose to say something along the lines of love prevailing in order to encourage him. He decided to go and meet Finley for himself. I'll need to catch up with them at some point too.

306 zelda breath of the wild - finding the remaining zora stone monument inscriptions

Dear Readers,

I was dying to finish that Zora monument text quest once and for all so I asked Jiahto and he offered to give me clues about the remaining ones I hadn't found yet. There were 10 in all and I had found all of them except for 3.

He said one was on the cliff to the southeast of Upland Zorana. I would've never thought of looking there. It's not on the main path after all. I did some upward waterfall swimming and climbed to higher ground to find it. While I was there I found another one further to the southeast. I checked them both out.

One of them talked about Sidon's feat on the beach where he burst out of a huge Octorok's belly and the other was of the sculptor's own musings on this sculpting gig, which were pretty amusing.

I went back to Jiahto for the clue on the remaining monument and it was in the eastern part of the Zodobon Highlands. I thought I found that one already but apparently I didn't. I decided to just warp there and back. It was a nice one talking about Princess Ruto from Ocarina of Time, which was pretty cool. It straight up said that Vah Rutah was named after her. It was a very nice bit of lore!

I went back to Jiahto and he gave me a diamond for finding them all. I found this quest very enjoyable, at least when I found the dang things! I badly needed the clues too.

305 zelda breath of the wild - meeting the zora whose name ends in "son" and sending him to tarrey town

Dear Readers,

I left Tarrey Town with Spotty with Zora's Domain in mind. I wanted to talk to the Zora whose name ended in "son" for Hudson's quest.

I stopped at the moblin/bokoblin camp near the Akkala Span because I really wanted to beat them up for some reason. I was just in time for them to go to sleep. I shot out their lookout, snuck up on others and drew the remaining to separate them from their group. I did some flurry rushing as well, which helped me win. After looting them out, I continued towards Zora's Domain.

I left Spotty at the usual place and continued on foot. This time, I had the lizalfos mask, so this hike was going to be different. I still beat up quite a few Lizalfos because they drop bundles of arrows, which is very nice indeed. I picked up loads!

I walked past the part where they had the shock arrows. I only wanted them to look at me and nothing else.

I met a Zora girl along the riverside, who was sending love letters in the water like a message in a bottle. I said I'd help her later. It's nice that she has no fear in such a dangerous place.

I tried looking at monuments for that quest as well but nothing was happening. I found some Koroks as well and just kept going until I reached Zora's Domain.

I chatted with the Zora whose named ended in "son" and told him about the young couple wanting to get married. It was just the job he was looking for. The same sad sentimental music played as he made his way to Tarrey Town. I'll catch up later.

304 zelda breath of the wild - the monster cake saga of tarrey town

Dear Readers,

I chatted with the elderly couple and they mentioned how the rich guy argued with his wife a lot at night. I tried talking to them but they wouldn't open up to me about their troubles.

Then I noticed they were arguing next to an open window.

I went outside and I was able to listen in on what they were saying. It was about how their daughter needed food to regain her strength after her illness but she would only eat cake. Eventually monster cake came up.

The next day I chatted with the old lady and I was able to ask her for the recipe for monster cake. I had the wheat and the monster extract, but I didn't have any butter or cane sugar.

I warped to the Korok Forest for the cane sugar and I rode to Kakariko for the butter. I made sure to get extra in case I needed them again. It seems I'm only able to buy these in shops.

In the end I was able to make the monster cake and give it to the family for their little girl. She was happy and well again! She's a very happy and active kid and also very carefree. She was now living her best life!

164 pokémon picross - listening to wario land 4 hurry up! theme while grinding

Dear Readers,

Having already listened to the Pizza Time theme from Pizza Tower, I thought I'd try out the theme that inspired it!

I listened to the Hurry Up! theme from Wario Land 4 while doing the grinding today. I got it done in just over 4 minutes, which was longer than what I got while listening to Pizza Time. Hm...

It could mean something with the musics, but the puzzle differences matter as well. There are other themes I could use as well. I'll see.

163 pokémon picross - listening to pizza time from pizza tower while grinding

Dear Readers,

On one of the daily grinds lately I decided to carry it out while listening to the Pizza Time music from the Pizza Tower soundtrack. It's equivalent to the Hurry Up! theme from Wario Land 4. It made the grind enjoyable and I finished it in 3 and a half minutes, which is better than my usual records lately! Listening to music could be the way to go!

303 zelda breath of the wild - fyson's new shop and other news from tarrey town

Dear Readers,

I visited Fyson's new shop in Tarrey Town and he was selling different kinds of arrows. He seemed pretty happy which was the main thing.

Rhondson had some news: she and Hudson were now engaged! He offered her a gem he mined up. Very nice!

Hudson didn't say much about it, not yet anyway. He wanted me to find more wood for him and I agreed to.

The rich man's daughter was now awake and happy but she still had health problems. I'll see how that develops.

An elderly couple moved in! They have dogs as well. The lady was a cook in her time apparently. I'll chat more with them as things develop.

No big news from anyone else really. It's becoming quite the town.

302 zelda breath of the wild - telling fyson about tarrey town

Dear Readers,

I rode to Rito Village through Hebra and looked for Fyson. He was in his usual spot, moping about wanting to open his own shop. I told him Tarrey Town needed a general store and he was immediately inspired to go right there, collecting stock along the way. As he left, the same sad sentimental music played out. I hope he can stay in contact with his mom and the other Rito.

On my way back I stopped at the Rito stable to give the old man the Goron Spice I promised him. He told me his recipe for curry rice and how you can combine a bunch of other stuff with it. That's good. After this I rode all the way back to Tarrey Town to visit Fyson's new shop.

301 zelda breath of the wild - trying out the lynel mask! it didn't go well!

Dear Readers,

I set out from Tarrey Town to ride all the way to Tabantha. Along the way I wanted to try out my new Lynel Mask. I decided to ride past the Lynel that lurks north of Hyrule Castle to see how it reacted.

For a while it just stared and followed me. Then I got a notion to get off Spotty and take a picture of its weapon and that's when it started attacking me. It very quickly knocked all my health away and Mipha's Grace had to rescue me. I jumped on spotty and rode away as fast as I could!

The Lynel caught up to me and tried shooting at me. I did everything I could to try and avoid it and eventually I did, going out of its range. I saw it warp back to its usual territory.

That was a close one! It'll be a while before I brave one of those again!

300 zelda breath of the wild - met a weird rich guy

Dear Readers,

Well here we are, post 300! I'm picking up the pace nicely in this game! I haven't played Xenoblade in ages. I will someday but I'm not in any hurry right now. I want to play Zelda!

The new residents I met in Tarrey Town were a rich man and his wife and daughter. I chatted with them for a bit and it seems the daughter is sick, which is why they moved to a new place like this with clean air and low traffic.

I wasn't able to do anything for their problem right now, but the rich man offered me money immediately before making a proposition. It was weird and I was hesitant to take the money, but I eventually did. The man gave me 100 rupees and went on to tell me what he wanted me to do.

This guy had a very haughty, snooty way of speaking. He boasted about being very rich, which made him unlikeable, but interesting. He pointed out towards Torin Wetland and told me there were two Guardian Stalkers that were just roaming around the place out there. He wanted me to destroy them and report back to him. He sat himself at the edge of the town, where there was a really good view of the wetland.

It was news to me that there were two Guardian Stalkers out there! That was handy to know before I decide to do some random exploring there someday! I set out with Spotty for our new gig and rode all the way to the wetland, looking for them.

The battle didn't exactly go smoothly when I found them. They both targeted me at the same time and I got hurt trying to separate them. On top of that, there was a lightning storm. I took cover until it passed so I could use the Master Sword. I did that for the first Guardian, then on the other I just used Daruk's protection thingy to bounce its lasers back. I thought I might as well. With both of them destroyed, I grabbed all the lovely drops and went back to Tarrey Town with Spotty.

The rich guy saw the whole thing and was happy with what I did, giving me 20 rupees as a reward. He then made a comment on how it was a habit of poor people who expected a low deposit and a big reward, the opposite of what he just did. He then said he didn't want me near him, seeing how I was so poor and our business had concluded. Yeesh... Rich people are so weird. Still, I was saving up for the desert voe outfit, so it all helped.

299 zelda breath of the wild - catching up with rhondson in tarrey town

Dear Readers,

I rode all the way to Akkala with Spotty in my shiny new Gerudo outfit, collecting apples along the way. When I got to the great fairy, I got a shock when I discovered that I couldn't upgrade the Gerudo outfit at all! That's an awful pity! It has such low armour value as well.

After this I went to Tarrey Town. Rhondson had opened her own shop! She was selling special desert equipment for voes! Hooray! A solution so soon! I'm glad. I'm gonna save up a few thousand rupees and buy them all at once.

Rhondson herself was enjoying her new life here. Like many Gerudo, she was hoping to meet a husband for herself and talked about how Hudson was always sweaty and damaging his clothes. Oh well. Hope she gets what she's looking for.

Hudson himself asked me to give him 30 pieces of wood, so I went out chopping. He also wanted someone to run a general store and said someone among the Rito would be very capable of running and stocking their own store. I know just the guy!

Then I met someone else I'd never seen before who just moved in...

162 pokémon picross - m02 eighth row, sixth column

Dear Readers,

This one was lovely and easy. Lots of empty spaces and the resulting fills had nice easy clues. When I got it done it looked like a minimalist drawing of a man holding out a golf club, though that takes a bit of imagination to see!

161 pokémon picross - s11-05 espurr

Dear Readers,

Espurr was more or less just a face with beady eyes and small mouth. It is cute but not the most compelling. However a couple of interesting things happened here.

I wasn't able to get all the missions, but I set Snorlax for the rising reveal and Zygarde 50% for the square reveal. The square reveals for this are random and it landed on a bunch of squares that I had already filled, so I got the unlucky medal for failing to reveal anything new! Hooray! I'm glad I got something good out of this!

I met the target time and got a mural piece as well.

160 pokémon picross - i could swear the dailies are getting harder

Dear Readers,

It took me almost six minutes to do the grind today. It's ok but it took me ages to even do the first one. I'm just glad I didn't make mistakes so I was extra careful. It was nice to get it done and out of the way. Gimme my 9 Picrites, Professor!

159 pokémon picross - m01 second column, seventh row

Dear Readers,

Oh my goodness this was an extremely hard one that just popped up without warning. All the clues were of really small numbers and I had to get right down to the bare amount to help me fill in the squares. It took ages and I had to clear the slate twice because of mistakes. This one was tough to do. The pattern was kind of like a messed up ribcage or fence. I'm just glad it's finished. Get me outta here!