Dear Readers,
Well this game sucks in a way I've just discovered. At the time of writing it's April and I set the clock forward on the 3DS. The game picked it up and banned me from earning Picrites until tomorrow. A game should not do something like that. I don't care if it's free-to-play.
Dear Readers,
Time to finally take on the last of the divine beasts! I warped back on board and went straight to exploring this huge machine shaped like a Bactrian camel. I started on the underside and climbed up inside the torso of the mechanical creature, beating up some guardian scouts and shooting eyeballs as I went along.
I navigated the torso until I got to the navigation terminal. This time I was able to turn the three cylinders that make up the torso, which helped me reach higher places whenever I wanted to shift a platform. There were power circuits on these cylinders and I was able to line them up to power other parts of the beast, such as the neck and tail.
I felt my way along, opening treasure chests and switching on terminals as I went. Some chests seemed unnaturally out of reach.
I got a bit stuck at one point. There were eyeball barriers and I could only clear them by shooting the eyes inside the humps, but I couldn't reach the humps very well. I climbed right on top of the camel's head and glided to the top of the humps. It didn't seem like something I could do naturally and I felt like I was breaking the game.
Anyway I now had access to the humps and I cleared them out too eventually, activating the final terminal in the centre (after getting all the treasure chests of course). Just like before, this central terminal made the boss appear. This time it was called Thunderblight Ganon. Urbosa gave me a warning about him being really fast.
She wasn't kidding. He was extremely fast and I got hit a lot. He had a sword and shield and lightning attacks so he was tricky to reach as well. I had mostly heavy slower weapons and I eventually stopped using them so I could get some hits in.
Eventually he started driving lightning posts in the ground. I had to use Magnesis to pick them up and carry them over to him so he would hit himself with lightning. After this I kept on hitting him until he was defeated.
Urbosa's spirit appeared before me, congratulating me and granting me her ability to use Urbosa's Fury, a lightning spell that can make for a very powerful attack. She had very high regard for me and for Zelda and asked me to take care of her, and Hyrule too.
After I left, she took Vah Naboris, climbed to higher ground and aimed its head at Hyrule Castle to fire a laser, just like the other Divine Beasts. She said it was going to be so delicious when she can hit Ganon with this beam. She said she liked that she can take this matter personally, since Ganon once took the form of a Gerudo. I love how angry and vengeful she is! It's going to be a good moment indeed!
Dear Readers,
I talked to the guy who was running circles around Gerudo Town in sand boots. I forget his name.
I showed him the photo of the statue. One thing led to another with him trying to ask me out on a date but I kept his leading attempts at bay. Out of sheer flabbergasted-ness, he offered to give me both pairs of boots. He asked for evidence of the eighth statue's sword, thinking I wouldn't be able to get it.
I passed by this sword in the Gerudo Highlands. I warped back to the shrine, because, again I didn't feel like hiking this way again, and from the shrine I did the remaining hiking I needed up the steep slope to the summit and found the sword around the southern part of it. The Lynel was around so I put on my mask as I was passing through.
I took the photo and warped back to him. I ended up with both pairs of boots and he ended up barefoot. He made one final attempt to lead conversation to asking me out and he got the question out but I came back with "not a chance" immediately. Nipping it like that was the only decent thing left to do. It ended badly for him but it would be worse if it carried on.
I feel really sad about this! I look at myself too and think about times I get silly and enamoured. I will use the boots with gratitude.
Dear Readers,
I found the statue of the eighth heroine! It was just north of the shrine I just beat as well. It looked a lot like the other statues in the desert too, at least on the map. All I had to do was hike over and take a photo of it.
I had a bit of trouble with enemies and I stopped a lot to unearth treasure chests too. It took a good while.
I took the photo and warped back to Gerudo Town. I didn't feel like hiking again.
Dear Readers,
I took on this shrine and it was a major test of strength. I was outclassed and outmatched by the Guardian Scout IV, so I reloaded my save many times. I even warped back to Hateno to obtain the Guardian weapon I was hoarding for some reason.
After a slow process of getting my own butt kicked, I defeated it using Master Sword, arrows, flurry rushes, heavy weapons, guardian weapons, Mipha's Grace, simmered fruit meals... lots of stuff.
I mainly shot arrows when it was doing its spinny laser thing that made the wind flow up. Daruk's protection came in very handy as well.
I hadn't fought one of these in a long long time. They take a lot longer than the Guardian Stalkers.
Dear Readers,
I went through the Yiga hideout again to reach the Gerudo Highlands. No one was here anymore except for the Yigas at the entrance. None of the big dudes were here. The huge stash of bananas respawned though, so if I ever wanted some I can come right on back here and stock up!
I went through the hideout to the Gerudo Highlands and trudged my way all the way to the summit. I couldn't wear an enemy mask and snow boots at the same time so I often did without. They are very effective when exploring in the snow though, so I'll hang on to them.
There are so many treasure chests up here! All just half buried in the snow.
I met my fair share of Lizalfos too. It just felt very dense with enemies and treasure chests of basic stuff. When I got to the summit, I spotted a Lynel, so the fun was over. I continued going west until I spotted a shrine in the distance. There was no sign of the statue I was looking for, so I ended up gliding all the way down to the shrine. This was a major test of strength shrine. I may have to come back this way with stronger weapons but I don't think I'll hike especially for it.
Dear Readers,
It was a good laugh fighting Master Kohga and seeing him make his own cartoony demise! I was a bit stressed after the stealth section so it was very enjoyable.
After this I looked for the imprisoned Gerudo and she was gone already. I looked for the sand seal as well and it was gone too. I decided to continue through the canyon into the snowy mountains. I met and fought many Lizalfos. I even fought some more Yiga. I put on the Lizalfos mask to make things easier.
After a while I decided to glide back towards Gerudo Town. I replenished some stamina in the air and made a cool splashdown landing at the oasis. Then I continued on foot.
When I got back to Gerudo Town, I mingled some more and everyone was happy to see I brought the heirloom back.
I brought it up to Riju in her bedroom. She put it on and asked me how it looked and I said it looked good on her.
When I saw her wearing the heirloom it triggered a long buried memory I had from 100 years ago. Urbosa and Zelda were relaxing on Vah Naboris. Zelda was asleep on her shoulder. Urbosa had a chat with me for a while. Then she made Zelda wake with a start when she summoned a bolt of lightning to strike far away. It was a nice scene.
Riju is Urbosa's descendant and she's still young. She's still developing her confidence as a leader and it's looking like she'll be a great one. She told me she'd meet me at the lookout place where we could start our plan to take on the Divine Beast Vah Naboris.
Dear Readers,
I took on the stealthy section of the Yiga's lair. I failed in it so many times I can't count and eventually I just reloaded my save whenever I did get caught to avoid the hassle of dealing with them.
There are big Yiga dudes here, the biggest I've seen so far. I had to sneak around them and distract them with bananas before murdering them with sneakstrikes. I had lots to add to the compendium, including many Gerudo equipment I hadn't seen until got access to Gerudo Town.
Not counting the amount of times I got caught, I had a lot of fun sneakstriking the big Yigas. I loved distracting them with bananas. They make this funny noise when they're trotting happily to grab a banana for themselves! It's like "hup hup hup".
After a lot of trial and error. I reached the end and got every treasure I could find. Some I had to unearth with Magnesis, which helped me spot a secret panel in the wall I could open like a door. I opened it and it led to outside! There was someone waiting for me out there though.
Dear Readers,
I took my time to chat with the Gerudo in Gerudo Town. It was really interesting to see them living their lives in their own community. Many of them were guards, some had big fierce personalities and some were able to see that I wasn't a vai, but they promised not to spread it around.
It was amazing to see the school where they were learning about relationships with voe. Their responses to what the teacher asked were very amusing!
There was a pub but it wasn't called a pub, it was just equivalent to one. There was one very sad down on her luck patron who was airing her grievances about voe. She was just as beautiful as the others and here she was, sad about being single and drowning her sorrows. It was amazing and something I'd never expect to see.
There was a Gerudo who was practising her conversation on a dummy of a voe, which was very sweet. She got annoyed whenever I tried to listen in.
There were three ladies who had a password. I was able to overhear it from next door through a window. I found the place to use the password and found a shop that sells the desert voe gear and some kind of glow in the dark gear too? I'm not sure what it is yet. I'll check it out later.
I learned about a bunch of side quests and I even met the lady who was on the rooftops of the town, sitting by herself eating hydromelons. She discarded the rinds into the waterways that flowed on the rooftops of the town, which is how I found her.
These waterways were very interesting. Is it like a cooling solution or something? Is that kind of thing done in real life? I've never seen anything like it. I must look it up soon.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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!
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.
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!
Dear Readers,
This one was complex enough. It took a bit of time edging out the fills. There were a lot of fills and it ended up looking like some kind of hairy Pac-Man. That takes a bit of imagination to see but it's kind of funny.
Dear Readers,
A rare Pokémon! I had 30 minutes and I had to use a water type. I didn't have anything advanced enough to use scatter reveal on a 20x15, so I used one of the Zygardes and Manaphy.
I was doing very well until the end when I made a 1 pixel mistake. Normally I would despair and clear the whole thing, but this time I did some guess work to shift squares around. It paid off in the end and I was delighted when it was caught! I was able to beat it in time too!
Dear Readers,
I got all the missions on the first go here, which was nice! Nice and generous 5 minute time goal as well. I made sure to only use time skills as well. I was just after a string of not doing well in missions so it was nice to do so well in this one.
Dear Readers,
I didn't have Heracross so I couldn't fulfill that particular mission. I used scatter reveal alright for another mission. I didn't bother trying to get under a minute. I know I'll have to come back.
Dear Readers,
Feels good to go to a new area, a new change of scene. Makes the daily grind of work a bit more tolerable to have a new place to look forward to going after work.
Dear Readers,
I set out from Hateno with Spotty and rode all the way to Gerudo Canyon Stable. I boarded Spotty there and continued on foot.
When I got to Gerudo Desert I found that I was able to use my Rito suit during the cold night but I wasn't able to be comfortable during the hot day in the Goron suit! It can handle volcanic heat but not desert heat! Learning something new all the time!
I got as far as Kara Kara Bazaar and mingled around. I told the Gerudo whose name ended in "son" about Tarrey Town and she packed up and left, the scene playing that same sentimental sad music from before. I'll visit her there soon.
Dear Readers,
On the way back down from Goron City, I decided to stop at the southern mine and talk to the Gorons whose names ended in "son". I told them about Tarrey Town and they decided to pack up and leave. The same sad sentimental music played when they left. It is a good piece of music about life's changing phases, but it still feels very sad. I wonder if they'll miss each other.
I decided to visit Tarrey Town and when I got there I found that the little one opened up a shop selling gems. Hudson wanted more wood to build more houses so I chopped some for him. He told me about needing a tailor and asked me to look for a Gerudo whose name ended in "son". That's all ahead of me. Really looking forward to doing the Gerudo stuff!
Dear Readers,
I earned over 100 Picrites again finally with the daily grind. I haven't tried to get the bonus since I hit the level cap. I'd rather do a little leisurely thing every day to earn my few Picrites. It's like I can enjoy it and no one can take that enjoyment away from me, so it's nice.
Looking to unlock the next area, which will take another good few days.
Dear Readers,
This was a rare encounter and quite a nice and satisfying big puzzle. For missions I had to set 2 Pokémon, use skills 10 of fewer times and clear within 30 minutes. I used Manaphy and Zygarde 10%. I revealed the centre 5x5 squares and after a while I revealed the bottom left 5x5 square just to speed things up.
It was a pretty nice puzzle and picture. Shaymin has a big furry head with distinctive features. I got everything done, missions and all!
Dear Readers,
I was now upgraded to the max and ready to take on the Goron divine beast, Vah Rudania! I hiked up Death Mountain as far as I could. I got to that point where I fired the last cannon, but from that point on was just a big climb. I decided to just warp back into the dungeon.
It was pretty crazy to observe the inside of this volcano. I found a bunch of treasure chests outside straight away. When I finally went inside, it was pitch dark and the temperature wasn't scorching anymore, which was weird.
I fumbled around in the dark, shooting out evil eyeballs and using torchlight to navigate. When I finally got the map, Vah Rudania opened all its panels/windows to let the light in. This time, I had the ability to rotate the creature 90 degrees and back.
The very most of the dungeon was sussing out where I could get to the terminals and using the rotation mechanic to access them and the treasures, both inside and outside the dungeon.
Everything was going well until I came across torch lighting puzzles and didn't know what to do. I then discovered that I could carry a blue flame outside and my torch wouldn't disintegrate in the heat as long as it was lit with the blue flame. It made absolutely no sense but at that point I didn't want to argue. I lit the blue lantern outside to get the ball rolling and put away my torch quickly.
The other lamp lighting puzzle I had to shoot with an arrow through a small hole in a door. There's no such thing as blue flame arrows, so I was stuck for ages trying to figure out what to do. I found from a guide on zeldadungeon dot net that I had to hold the arrow shooting button and walk up to a lit lamp to light the arrow on fire, then, continuing to hold the button, walk over to the hole and shoot at the lamp through it. It was such a simple thing, such a basic mechanic that it was annoying because I had never used it in the game until now. I don't remember using it anyway.
There was one treasure chest that was eluding me as well. I found from the comment section of that zeldadungeon dot net guide that I had to go outside and rotate the dungeon where the ladder was so I could go over the wall. I shot out an evil eyeball along the way. There was this tiny opening nearby that was hard to notice but I had to fall down through it to reach the treasure chest that I spent ages trying to find. Glad I got that over with!
Fireblight Ganon was another floating torso but with a big fiery sword this time. It was hard to hit him with the Master Sword because he always went out of reach. He shot big flaming fireballs as well which I had to avoid by taking cover behind walls. I was stuck on that part for ages until Daruk gently suggested that Fireblight Ganon had an appetite for bombs. I disarmed him with a bomb or two and continued trying to hit him with the Master Sword and arrows until he was finally defeated.
Just like with the other Divine Beasts, Daruk piloted Vah Rudania to the top of the mountain and shot a beam at Ganon in Hyrule Castle. Yunobo saw him for a brief moment and they both observed each other with joy. Daruk was wondering how the Gorons were doing now and when he saw Yunobo, he felt good.
Daruk also gave me his red shield ability thing, which should come in handy!
After all this, I went back to Goron City and chatted with the boss. He congratulated and thanked me lots and gave me Daruk's old heavy sword. I took it gladly. I'm going to display this in my house with the other champion weapons!
Dear Readers,
After ages of searching the path to Goron City I found the smotherwing butterflies! I had trouble spotting them and when I finally did, a lizalfos ate the one I was trying to photograph. I smacked the crap out of him.
After a while I found more and after a bit of trouble, finally got a photograph of it and a compendium entry! I set the radar to it and found a bunch more to collect for the heatproof suit upgrade.
Afterwards I headed back to the great fairy for the upgrade.
It seems with these smotherwing butterflies they come out during the day but I don't know for sure. They're fairly elusive.
Dear Readers,
I went looking for more Moblins in Akkala, which led me to the East Akkala Stable near the research lab. I detected some Moblins so I boarded Spotty at the stable and went hunting on foot.
What a find! There's a huge trail of Moblins all the way along Bloodleaf Lake, across the bridge and up around the mountain of Tumlea Heights. Just tons of them! I mostly used stealth, though the odd time I had to get in fights with the Moblins too. It continued into the night were I was able to sneakstrike them as they slept. The moblin mask came in very handy too.
Up at the top of Tumlea Heights was a blue flame statue thingy like back in Hateno Village. There are torches all over this area too. I don't remember but maybe there's a quest to light all the torches here too?
In any case, I had more than enough moblin guts now!
Dear Readers,
Just when I thought I didn't need any more fireproof lizards, the Great Fairy needed 9 of them to upgrade my fireproof gear. I took Spotty back to Eldin and used the radar to catch more of them. There's loads of them so I found them in no time at all.
Afterwards we went back to the Great Fairy and upgraded everything. There was another upgrade, but I needed moblin guts and smotherwing butterflies, an insect I haven't added to the compendium yet. I know they're in Eldin, but they're kind of elusive.
Looking forward to beating up some moblins though! Stalmoblins won't do of course, because they don't have guts or any other fleshy organs.
Dear Readers,
I decided to head to the great fairy in Akkala in order to upgrade my new fireproof equipment. I followed the mountain trail back down towards where I left Spotty.
Along the way I beat the Igneo Talus that was on the path. If I was to do it again I would extinguish the lava that makes up part of it.
I reached Spotty and rode all the way to Akkala, beating up the Guardian along the way.
When I got there, I upgraded my entire new fireproof suit once. One of the things the great fairy wanted for upgrading the second time was a bunch of fireproof lizards. I'll go back to Eldin and get more next time. I'm just glad it's close by.
Dear Readers,
This shrine was very short and easy. I took all the treasure before taking on the major puzzle, a huge stone block that was trampolining against a switch that opened the way to the monk.
I got on the trampoline, which was more of a catapulting platform before bouncing up with the stone block. I parachuted, letting the block fall down before me so I could land on top of it. Then I used stasis on the block when it touched the mechanism that made it open the path to the monk. I then went straight to the monk.
Dear Readers,
I took on this shrine, which seems to be the main shrine and warp point near Goron City. There were lots of doors to open with weighted switches. I had to burn obstacles that were keeping me from getting the heavy barrels I needed.
There was lots of treasure to find and little guardians to beat up too. One of the treasures was a stone smasher. Looking forward to using that thing soon!
I kept pressing ahead and burning what I needed to burn. I needed to guide a metal ball at some point to make a wheel spin too, which wasn't much trouble. One of the treasures was a key and eventually I reached the monk.
Dear Readers,
After talking to the boss of the Gorons, I set off looking for Yunobo, the one who was going to help me. I met happy and grumpy Gorons and asked them more about where he was. They eventually pointed out in the direction of a few islands out in a big lake of lava. I followed until I got to a point where I couldn't go any further with the heat, even with my armour. I only had one piece of the fireproof set, so I was going to have to save up to get the other two pieces. I wanted to save up 2,700 rupees.
I went exploring, continuing on paths I was able to go. I crossed a bridge that was above Goron City and I also met many bomb octoroks, fire keese and lizalfos. I kept my lizalfos mask on most of the time.
The path led to the lava before Death Mountain itself. I couldn't cross here yet either. After this I wandered around, finding lots of ore to mine with my sledgehammer. There was so much of it in the end that I had more than enough to raise money for the other pieces of the heat armour. I was finally all suited up! I'll upgrade it with the Great Fairies soon.
No apples grow around here unfortunately, so I couldn't continue my simmered fruit business, but mining the ore made up for it.
I also found the drillshaft, which a young Goron hid. I showed it to him and he let me have it during a side quest.
I found two shrines in the area too. I'll talk about them shortly.
Dear Readers,
When unlocking this I used Zygarde which made the process very quick and easy.
The tile itself was the easiest yet! I had a grand total of six squares to fill in on the top right! The rest of it was all X! Very fast and easy puzzle. Nice to get those now and again!
Dear Readers,
This tile had one full line and one completely empty line. The pattern it made was kind of like if you can imagine a bridge with a slope and supporting structure, though that kind of takes a bit of imagination. Time consuming but very doable.
Dear Readers,
Well, it's not much but it's somethin'. I finished today's grind in 5 and a half minutes and it's nice to be guaranteed this much at least. I made a little mistake here and there but I was able to pick it up without too much delay.
Again, I feel encouraged to unlock areas as quickly as possible so I can get higher and higher raises on my pay packet.
Dear Readers,
With this one I set Zygarde complete and Umbreon in order to get the reveal and time missions. I'll have to come back later for the 2 fire Pokémon mission.
It was a bigger puzzle made easier with all the reveals I did. I had to do Umbreon's first as that had to be done at the start. After that it was time consuming but very manageable to do within the time needed.
Dear Readers,
Completing all the missions for this required Luxray, but I didn't have it yet. I used Snorlax for its rising reveal and Fletchling to grind for hyper scans. It wasn't too difficult and I managed to get the time mission goal too.
Dear Readers,
This tile only had a little bit of line in the top left corner and bottom right corner. It was divided by two columns of X-es in the centre. It was slow but satisfying puzzle to solve, with more clues coming in like dominoes as single squares got solved.
Dear Readers,
I was racing to finish the daily grind before midnight. I didn't care about the grind itself, as long as I could do it before midnight. If I missed that, then I wouldn't get a chance to do it anymore. I'd have to do the next day's training and miss out on Picrites. I couldn't be bothered changing the clock.
Dear Readers,
Fletchling has a nice circular shape with a beak and eye. It was fairly challenging too with slow but sure fills that came in like a nice domino effect. It was a pretty satisfying puzzle to do.
It was time consuming though and I couldn't reach the 1 minute goal for the mission. I had to set only electric Pokémon, so I reckon I'll have to come back after unlocking several Pokémon slots.
Dear Readers,
Back to catching! Swirlix is a big weird cloud thing with a face and it was hard to tell what it was even in the completed puzzle. I had to set a fairy type and use cross reveal for missions. I have to finish the puzzle within a minute and I don't think I'll get all the missions done until I unlock a third slot. The puzzle itself is speedy enough to do, but I don't really want to rush it.
Dear Readers,
Making the big bucks now. I went on the daily grind with my new 1 Picrite raise. I didn't meet the target time, but I feel good about earning that extra 1 Picrite every day on top of my regular pay packet.
I find that I normally finish these puzzles in about 4 minutes. 5 puzzles in 4 minutes. Trying to get it in 2 really does feel like a stretch.
Anyway, I feel encouraged to unlock more areas as much as possible.
Dear Readers,
I had to grind more today to have enough to unlock the next area. I didn't have to meet the target time so I went leisurely enough.
When I unlocked the next area, the professor gave me a 1 Picrite raise on my pay packet! Hooray!
Dear Readers,
On the way to Goron City, I heard a shriek from the divine beast in the area. It's a big lizard-shaped mechanical thing that crawls along the sides of Death Mountain.
The Gorons have big smiles and big personalities. I small talked with several of them and checked out their shops. I bought some Goron Spice because I remembered an old man back at Rito Stable wanted some. I'll give it to him later. I looked at the rest of the fireproof armour set. I've got some saving up to do. I stayed at the inn and got a Goron massage.
I like the lore about them thinking precious gemstones are weird food and they only mine them for tourists and other races that pay crazy amounts of money for them. That's pretty amusing.
I met the village elder/boss who was having back problems. Just like with the Rito and Zoras, there was this divine beast, the champion from 100 years ago perished, and now there was a local heroic guy who was gonna help me. I have to go look for him somewhere though.
Dear Readers,
I took to the road with Spotty and rode all the way to Eldin. When I got to the Foothill Stable, I cooked up some fireproof elixirs and set my radar to fireproof lizards just in case. This area is crawling with them.
I also came across a guardian stalker that turned just as I was passing so it wasn't at all alerted to my presence. I thought about attacking but decided to just move on.
I continued on the path until we got to a checkpoint. Similar to the Zora path, I wasn't able to bring Spotty any further. I continued on foot and climbed over the rocks to continue on the path.
Things got hot. I had to change equipment that was gonna catch fire and start drinking fireproof elixirs.
I came across new enemies like the igneo talus that looked really cool. I also passed by some Lizalfos with my mask, which came in very handy, and dashed past some rock octoroks. I passed by the Sheikah Tower as well. I took a more difficult way the last time I was here. It was much easier now with my current preparations.
I passed more checkpoints and eventually met some Gorons and a Hylian that was looking for 10 fireproof lizards as a souvenir. Thankfully I had enough for him and he gave me some fireproof gear! I don't have to use elixirs anymore and I can finally relax in this volcanic area!
When I say relax, I mean I won't catch fire. There were plenty of other hazards along the way, including eruptions that made it rain balls of fire on top of me.
I kept pressing on until I finally made it to Goron City! Hooray!
Dear Readers,
On the ride home I picked tons of apples. I was back to the peaceful life and running my little simmered fruit business. I returned to Hateno Village and spent all day and night picking and cooking apples.
While I was picking during the night I noticed the monster shop was out by the field so I went to visit. Kilton had a new mask! A Lizalfos mask! I traded him a bunch of Lizalfos parts so I could gain enough of his mon currency to buy it. I had way more than enough so it was no problem.
I'm delighted with my Lizalfos Mask! Putting it on makes me do this Lizalfos stance and mannerisms like tilting and twitching my head. I'm looking forward to using it, especially in Lizalfos heavy areas like the path to Zora's Domain!
After all this business, I went back to my house and hung Revali's bow on one of the weapon mounts.
Dear Readers,
I'm continuing the daily grind for my Picrites and continuing to finish the tasks without worrying about the target time. I got today's pay in 4 minutes. Had a nice relaxing time.
Dear Readers,
At the end of Vah Medoh was Windblight Ganon. It was a floating torso and it had some kind of arm cannon thing. Revali made a comment about how he was winging it when he died while fighting it, which was pretty funny. I guess he's developed a sense of humour over the past 100 years while he was dead up here.
Windblight Ganon moved around a bit, shot lasers and tornadoes for a bit, nothing too difficult. I was well able for it with the Master Sword. Halfway through the battle it brought out some drone laser thingies and started making laser webbing, doing some weird stuff like that.
At one point I got knocked off the side but I got back into it quickly. A few more arrows and whacks with the Master Sword and I defeated it handily.
In the scenes that followed, Revali was full of praise for me, even though it was in his usual haughty way. He gave me his ability to cause an updraft and gain some instant height, which should come in handy.
Everyone in Rito Village was very thankful and some had sidequests to do. I'll take part in them later.
The village elder had a chat with me too. I got a special bow that Revali used long ago. I'm gonna display it in my house later on.
On the way home I stopped by apple trees to pick them.
Dear Readers,
Teba flew us high above the clouds and above Vah Medoh. What a view it was up here.
By the way, before we came up, he asked me why I wanted to help him and I said I wanted to save Zelda. I wonder how different it would be if I chose another response?
Anyway, Teba told me about the cannons I had to shoot with my bomb arrows. There were four of them and they were very easy to take out, thankfully. To gain back some height I had to use my paraglider. It was more or less what it was like back at the flight range.
In no time at all I shot all the cannons out and the barrier surrounding Vah Medoh had disappeared. Teba congratulated me before telling me to go on without him. He got some other kind of injury and wanted to head back. I carried on ahead and landed on Vah Medoh.
Dear Readers,
I rode to the great fairy in Akkala as that was the closest and finally upgraded my Rito gear. After that, I rode all the way back to Rito Village, stopping to pick apples along the way.
At one point I also made a diversion to the Korok Forest because in the past I got an icy weapon from a wizzrobe and someone there wanted to see it. I opted to warp in and out of there. I didn't want to do the Lost Woods navigation puzzle again.
Back at Rito Village I got some rest and made my way to the flight range. I chatted with Teba, told him I was ready, got on his back, and away we flew to Vah Medoh in the sky. It'll be nice to finally go on board that thing. For ages it's been a constant shadow looming over me while I was saving up for the Rito gear.
Dear Readers,
I just needed to hunt Fire Keese for their wings now. I slept at Foothill Stable and woke up at night to begin my search, presuming they came out at night.
I was worried I was going into extreme heat, but it turned out okay. The path to Eldin had lots and lots of Fire Keese around. I just had to set the radar to them.
Along the way I picked up any fireproof lizards I could find, just in case I needed them.
I met some Stalmoblins of course but they don't scare me anymore. They drop lots of useful monster parts of course.
I even met a Guardian Stalker on the path! I wasn't expecting to see it. I went straight for it and chopped it to bits.
I had plenty getting in my way while I was hunting Fire Keese. Fire Chuchus were often with them and I had to deal with them also.
Thankfully, many of the Fire Keese I met dropped two wings, so I reached the 24 I needed sooner than I thought I would.
Some lovely hot springs around here too. I was able to replenish health easily.
