#Hylia is a complicated character THAT IS WHAT MAKES HER INTERESTING

[skyloftian-nutcase]

What do you think of Hylia? I’ve seen fans paint her as the true villain of Zelda series. Many of which blame her for the reincarnation cycle, and pretty much every bad thing that happened after SkSw’s era.

I have strong feelings about the fandom’s treatment of Hylia, but I’m gonna try to keep this chill.

Long story short, the hatred for Hylia doesn’t make logical sense.

It’s based on the erroneous assumption that Hylia caused the curse (fun fact, if people bothered playing the game they’d see that it was Demise who did it), or it’s based on botw Zelda’s struggles and frustrations because the story is told from her point of view. Oh no!! Hylia is evil because she didn’t listen as Zelda pleaded!! That’s not how prayer works, guys. You don’t get what you want, you get what you need, and Zelda’s major issue stemmed from her father, the pressure on her, her own insecurities, her lack of training and guidance. It’s a two way street to make things work - for all we know Hylia was trying to reach out to her but Zelda couldn’t hear her over the beratement from Rhoam screaming in her head or the whispers of the people echoing in her brain or her own questioning if she could even do it.

So basically, fandom’s Hylia bashing is based on poorly thought out arguments. Also they use characters who don’t even know who she is??? Like, Time, Legend… they have no freaking clue who Hylia is, guys. Her character didn’t even exist when their games were made. Maybe people are trying to make continuity or something, but Hylia was never mentioned in those eras.

Now! Did Hylia do questionable things? Yeah! Yeah, she did! But you know what else she did? She sacrificed herself multiple times to save her people, she fought her own war to protect everyone and the Triforce. She sent people to Skyloft to protect them while fighting alongside those who likely chose to remain. She died in her battle against Demise. She planned on coming back as a mortal, giving up everything she is, so she could finish the job and eliminate the threat. Yes, she used Link - she took a calculated risk, choosing someone with a pure heart who had the fighting prowess necessary if the need arose, and she befriended him. Yes! She used him! It’s messed up! But she also did everything she could to guide and protect him, and she tried to just do it herself without him if she could.

All that being said, sometimes Hylia bashing makes sense in the context of the narrative and the narrator. If your character/narrator has a beef with her for some reason, then yeah, they’re gonna criticize her. Doesn’t make them right about her. 🤷🏻‍♀️ But the idea of the fandom vilifying her is just… stupid.

Sometimes I don’t think it has to do with the stories at all, it’s people venting frustrations they’ve had with religious groups. I can’t fault them for that, but when I see that connection it kind of feels like a smack in the face and really freaking hurts, because God and Christianity aren’t people’s bad experiences, but I’m not opening that can of worms. I can’t control everyone’s experiences and nobody wants to hear me say that just because a person or group of people acted like hateful morons doesn’t mean that’s what Christianity is about. So anyway.

I like Hylia. Demise caused the curse. Hylia was trying to stop him before he even had a chance to utter a word. Demise’s curse led to bad things happening.

[ganonfan1995]

totk spoilers

just thoughts on totk thus far

I keep seeing ppl say they've done away with the triforce in totk...but like....im 99% sure that's what the secret stones are supposed to be.

The triforce itself is comprised of the combined power of the royal 3.

But they also seem to work 1:1 like the triforce did in like LTTP.

Also there's 8 pieces which calls back to LoZ 2.

I'm not done the game yet, but totk seems to rehashing a LOT of older lore mixed with more recent lore. Notably, this game feels like its primarily touching on the first 3 games, plus OOT, with some of the better ideas from SS.

You see implications of who the gods truly are (apparently colonizing aliens who descended upon the land to mine its resources...which was something implied in SS quite blatantly???)

But it also adds context to the original 3 goddesses, implying that they had been ancient Zonai who posed as gods to the original inhabitants of Hyrule. Later becoming dragons and mythologized after thousands of years. (also me pogging that the light dragons stoney spines are the same colours as the goddess plumes!?!?!?? idk what that means but cool?????????)

I also don't know if they touch on this later, but it really seems like the Sheikah, esp the ancient Sheikah, were Hylians who specifically followed in the footsteps of the Zonai. I think this makes sense, and ties them to previous games where they were a tribe/clan/family of ninja who were closest to the gods. And since Zonai fancy themselves gods (or at least the ancient Hylians did, I don't think they were tbh) , this kind of clarifies that relationship/connection. Maybe they have a specific tie to Mineru, which would reiterate their bond to the royal family. But that might be over complicating things, since at least in botw they're just like, straight up ninja. But who knows, maybe not??

Also the young dumb idiot energy that Rauru brings is great. Big fan of young fucko who thinks he can be a good king but inherently fucks up because that's impossible, girl ur a monarch, is super interesting. wanna take him by the ears and look him dead in the eyes like, buddy you legit should not have taken those fucking stones out and just lived a quiet life in the woods...but then we'd be without a game. 🙄

I'm still collecting the slabs, the small snippets you get of both he and Sonia's relationship and characters are so fun. Sonia is also great, wish we got a bit more of her tho.

I'm really enjoying Ganondorf, he's a bit understated, but it's been interesting to see him younger than we ever have, right before the unification wars, head full of poetry and ambition. Why he green tho???????

Also really interesting how they've loosened the whole "hylia" stuff in favor for just "goddess"

Very much loving that Link is no longer a knight, but a swordsman who travels around helping people out. Total folklore/fairytale vibes, 10/10!! Also I feel like I'm connecting to him much more in this game, I really could never get behind the devout knight energy. He's a folk hero, he's here for the love of the game, and so am I!

Also mfw "Link...interesting...I look forward to meeting him." my man's been pining to meet ME for thousands of years, confirmed. I read homestuck, I know a black-rom relationship when I see one. (swooning)

[topramenfinds]

Major Tears of the Kingdom Story Spoilers!

So I’ve been seeing a lot of comments lately about Link looking kind of dumb when talking to NPCs about Zelda after he’s already found her. The common criticism is “Link knows where Zelda is so why doesn’t he tell people that the person they saw isn’t her?” However, I haven’t really felt this way when playing and I think it’s for the following reasons.

1) Most people are trying to find Zelda because she gave them weird instructions and they want answers. Link can figure out it’s not really Zelda even before actually finding her, and the “goal” of these encounters doesn’t change much even with this knowledge.

Take the gorons, for example. The player can figure out pretty quickly it’s not Zelda talking to Yanobo. But even if you know it’s not her, you still have to try and find this person to figure out who they are and what their end game is. Link isn’t going to be like, “well, that’s not the real Zelda, so why bother?” He’s still going after them. It’s the same for Yanobo. Knowing it’s not Zelda doesn’t change anything. They’re still going after her because there’s still the mystery of who this fake Zelda is. Besides, the person looks like her, so why not call this person Zelda until they figure out who it is?

2) Most of the people looking for her are random NPCs and there’s literally no reason for Link to recount the entire somewhat complicated story of why that’s not Zelda to these people. I mean, most people don’t even recognize Link, so imagine recognizing a celebrity as they come to your horse stable, this celebrity tells you not to go near your well. You are so convinced this person is who they say they are, and that they have your best interests at heart, that you follow their instructions. And then some random twink cryptid comes up and explains a psycho story about how he saw (clearly drug induced) visions of the past, so he knows that the celebrity was sent back to the dawn of civilization and they turned into a dragon so the person you saw isn’t really the person you think they are. Even if the guy has a degree in engineering, you’re probably not going to believe him. Link is not going to explain that to every random person he meets who thinks they saw the princess. At the very least, it’d be too time consuming. I’d argue even people he knows marginally well wouldn’t believe his story, so if he is going to explain it to someone, it has to be someone he really trusts and who really trusts him.

Which brings us to the question of why doesn’t Link tell people he’s close to, like Purah or the sages? Well…

3) The whole thing is traumatizing. When I found the Master Sword, I just sat there, staring at the Light Dragon until she moved out of view. Every time I see her I stop and watch for a few minutes, just out of grief and as a sort of tribute. And that’s because I’m just playing this game. The character, Link, who is probably in love with her, is likely worse off. Whenever I, as a player, meet someone that I, as a player, know and care about, I feel like I don’t want Link to tell them about what happened. Because why am I going to make Link experience that trauma again? And why on Hylia’s good earth would I want to bestow that trauma onto those I care about? These people are full of hope that she’s still out there (and they’re not wrong), and I’m still hoping there’s a way to bring her back (I haven’t finished the game yet so no spoilers please).

I just got to Gerudo Town and talking to Riju is the first time I was a little surprised Link didn’t say anything about Zelda. But, at the same time, Riju doesn’t need to know right now. She’s got all of Gerudo Town to worry about and I still have hope that the real Zelda will be back to visit her someday.

I feel like Link would be the type of person keep his pain to himself, to try and minimize the suffering of others by not putting them through what he’s been through. Even in Breath of the Wild, we saw in the memories how he suffered alone, and that’s why he stopped talking. It’s because of this that Link’s actions in Tears of the Kingdom make sense to me. He’s not refusing to tell people about Zelda because he’s dumb. He’s not telling them because he doesn’t want to burden others with the pain of knowing the truth. He’s traumatized and doesn’t know how to deal with his emotions in a healthy way. Also explains why he keeps building war machines…

[daemon-404]

@toshiirou

Since OP kindly decided to delete everything I said, here is my response again.

Let's take this bit by bit, ok?

Firstly, I read the whole post. My issue wasn't that OP offended me, it's that she expressed frustration at the same misunderstanding that most people with the same opinion have- that somehow we blame Hylia for the reincarnation cycle. That's what I wanted to clear up first.

Now, you. You unknowingly brought up another misunderstanding- that Hylia Haters™ are all projecting religious trauma onto it, and that OP's post was about nuance.

You don't have to have religious trauma to enjoy gods as their fully flawed beings. Personally, I dislike Hylia and have nothing religious in my past. I'm not going to focus on that because it doesn't matter, but that also happens to be part of the reason I responded in the first place.

OP's post is also looking at the subject and taking away nuance from the characters and story, so it's more about disagreeing with nuance. I have nothing against that, and nothing against OP's interpretation of Hylia either- the point of my comments was to clarify.

I'm afraid that's coming directly from you.

Now you've irked me, because by making the claim that I made up the idea of complicated, selfish, morally gray gods who don't understand the suffering they inflict because they're simply bigger than humans in every way, you've entirely discredited yourself to speak on the subject. Anyone who's read anything about gods would know there's at least one in each mythology who acts like that, and gods are often portrayed that way. Go read some myths about Aphrodite.

Apathetic and loving doesn't make sense

Again, it's the idea of nuance and gods being larger than life and humanity. The thing about Hylia herself is that she seems to pick favorites (keyword seems, I'm going to explain now) as she isn't always present, helps more in some stories than others- consider Majora's Mask vs BotW. In Majora's Mask, Link has already fulfilled his role (twice!), and ends up in a dimension that she doesn't favor (Termina instead of Hyrule). She has no real reason to protect him there, but he is able to call on her divine power of time (she's the Goddess of Time, after all) whenever and for whatever he wants. Meanwhile, in BotW, Link and Zelda almost die, and Link is sat in a mortal-made machine for 100 years. It's not out of the question to assume that Hylia could have sped that process up a little, but she didn't. And of course, like I mentioned, sometimes she isn't even there.

Now even the idea of denying that Hylia's heroes are all children is ridiculous. You have played the games, haven't you? There are heroes aged from 10 years old to 17, which is technically the legal age for Hylians, but is absolutely not by our standards- this is intentionally used in at least one game (BotW) to show how young and unprepared the heroes are for what they have to do. The first Zelda game of all time features a 10-year-old protagonist. Child heroes have been a theme since the very beginning.

As for the last reply, I know OP didn't mean offence and as I says the first time, neither do I! But she did, in fact, express a misunderstanding of my group's interpretation. I respect her view, once again, all this was meant to do was clarify.

And as for the claim that I didn't examine the source material very well, you should really consider the power of a strong special interest, because I've been thinking about it for years.

Thanks.

[spiritmaiden23]

@corferox said: FELTTTTT. Hylia is a very complex and complicated character and i like that about her so much. I love when gods are not infallible. Like ill be the first one to say im gonna throw hands with hylia cuz her decisions have led to things that i can never ever be okay with, but also id like to make her soup and let her rest for a bit too cuz like... the alternative was her dying and her people dying. She mustve been so scared ;A; she should be able to get some rest. THEN we can throw hands lol

SAME HAT SAME HAT!!!!!! People forget that she’s a god who’s existed for thousands of thousands of thousands of years, she’s probably up there with the three goddesses in how long she’s existed for. So when you’re a powerful, all knowing, celestial body, empathy and moral codes that humans falls back on tends to go out the window. That’s not to say she lacks empathy or moral codes, in fact she’s super devoted to protecting the humans and triforce once the goddess were like “a’ight peace we heading out”. I’d say she’s one of the more benevolent gods who’s proactive in protecting the humans and making the shots during the war. THAT SAID!!! I’ve said this a mutual, what I love about Hylia is how she tip toes around the trope of “light not always being good”. When making those shots during the war, she makes gambits that doesn’t always work out in the long run, and all at the cost of hurting others, she doesn’t consider how one person who’s destined to save the world would feel with such heavy responsibilities nor the outcome of said destiny if things were to go south. Hindsight is a bitch, and she just wanted things to be over so peace can come back soon as possible especially when she suffered from that wound from Demise. Which is where we come back to her not having the best empathic skills until she becomes mortal aka sky, and she realizes how awful certain choices she made were. So it’s not so much as lack of empathy and kindness for what she did to sky link, but more “I am a being who’s lived for 1843992384 years, it’s cool if I have one person as the chosen one to help finish things. I’m sure they’ll handle it fine like I did with fighting the war 8D” So trauma is probably something she didn’t think would happen but did since, well, god! And I’d like to think that gods think very differently from humans due to their eternal life span. 

She’s the source of trauma for the heroes and princesses in every timeline because of the curse. So while she didn’t account for that to happen, I feel she should’ve known better consider the years she spent fighting with Demise. 

She’s a complex character. She didn’t make the best choices but, at the end of the day she tried. Did she fuck up? For sure! Is it alright to hate her for every thing that’s happened? Yes! But, I love/hate Hylia to bits because she’s one of the more interesting characters with so much to her if one were to dig a little deeper since let’s be real... LOZ isn’t super duper fleshed out like more story driven titles. 

I too would throw hands with her despite the millions of Hylia statues I have in my room.

[excorcismic]

uhm . . . cheesed to meet you ?? - HI GANG !! what’s up , i’m hylia and i . . . love . misa and death note with my entire heart . I KNOW FOR A FACT i will probably pick up more characters along the way but i couldn’t have picked a better one to start out with !! i have experience writing both misa & light - i actually am more experienced writing light than misa , but i still have a lot of experience with her under my belt !! i’m currently writing him in another group and when i saw duality i just HAD to write her here - i’m so excited to plot w/ y’all !! so lemme tell you the basic facts & some connections and ideas i have under the cut c: ( this got long i’m so sorry )

ooooooooooooo you wanna plot with misa so bad oooooooo - AHEM . so . 

IF YOU ARE NOT FAMILIAR WITH DEATH NOTE / MISA : death note is a manga / anime revolving around a smart young man ( light yagami ) who discovers a supernatural notebook who can take the life of any human as long as the writer knows their name & face . light uses this book to essentially try and purge the world of evil , earning the alias ‘kira’ ( who gains a following ) , and misa , who acquires a death note of her own , seeks him out as the second kira . she possesses things that he doesn’t , so essentially she becomes his partner in crime - she , falling in love with him ( or more so the idea of him she created for herself ) , and he , entertaining her fantasies in exchange for her abilities and assistance . it’s . . . way more complicated in detail and honestly pretty sad but that’s the getgo . she’s a pretty girl with a very powerful notebook and she likes a guy with a powerful notebook that sees her more as a tool he can use to further his plans . OH OH OH and also she has a protective monster lady who’s in love with her and looking after her and threatening to clap light if he hurts misa in any way . 

death note . . . is a story about how people who were good can become awful towards other people and themselves if you give them a bit of power . 

BUT ANYWAY . misa actually has a much happier life here than in death note !! it’s . . . still kinda eh in some places but overall much better since that godforsaken notebook doesn’t exist and isn't here to screw anyone's lives up .

she's a former child actor, now a musician in a pop punk band called 'your friends & the skeletons!!' but as of rn with her taking a break from big performances and touring she's just a streamer operatin' out of alucard and trying to entertain herself since sometimes the world gets a little too big for her and she needs to take a step back.

it’s a pretty cute life & that’s the rundown !! of course , it’ll be more detailed and developed in my intro for her , but that being said - CONNECTIONS .

OHHHH YOU WANNA PLOT OUT THESE WANTED CONNECTIONS / PLOTS WITH ME SO BAD OOOOOOHHH AND OHHHH YOU WANNA LIKE THIS POST FOR ME TO DM YOU FOR PLOTTING SO BAD OHHHHHHHHH

okay so obviously some band mates !! YF&TS i imagine is a four-piece with misa on rhythm guitar & vocals , then lead guitar , bass , and drums . i imagine they’re all friends with misa , but maybe one person has been friends with misa since like . . . forever . and has seen her go through literally everything .

so , misa lives alone . maybe i’ll have her look for a roommate along the way but as for right now , even though she lives by herself ( and honestly is a lil lonely ) , i really like the idea that maybe she’s the helper neighbor that wants to befriend everyone that lives on her floor , runs to get groceries , always visits and checks in on people , etc . !! so neighbor friends pretty please !!

obviously if u wanna make ppl be fans of misa & her band that is a-okay with me just pls keep in mind they’re kinda big but not . . . big big . like they’ve got some dedicated fans but not full on stans y’know

SO  . . . folds hands . i kinda like the idea that misa hasn’t been through that many serious relationships ( always gets her heart broken through them ) but maybe there was that one serious ex-partner she had and they broke it off for whatever reason . it’d have to be when she was 18-20 and they’d be together for maybe about two or three years before her career takes off and stuff and yeah it’d be the saaaad relationship that fizzled out even tho it was serious for a bit

also some not so serious/long relationships where misa got her heart broken !! fun times !! misa throws her full heart into things way too easily so this could’ve happened in many different ways . flings ?? check . short-term relationships ?? check . she wrote a letter for someone on a starbucks napkin asking them out and they rejected so whenever she comes into said starbucks she feels shy & awkward ordering something ?? check . ( we can have fun with this basically it’s ‘ misa tried it with y/m and it didn’t work out and she’s still lonely ’ )

friends please !! friends that misa’s made in alucard !! also friends with benefits maybe !! idk !! misa is a very friendly person she will be your friend if you say ‘hi’ in a positive tone towards her !!

oh i think it’d b rly funny if there was one person misa kept trying to befriend and they’re just rly stubborn abt it for some reason bc idk maybe they find misa annoying or something anyway give me sb who misa wants to be friendly with n they’re just No abt it for whatever reason

ONE OF THE THINGS I HAVE FOR MISA AS A STREAMER IS THAT SHE’S RLY INTO THE PARANORMAL AND RECORDS STUFF WITH IT SO PARANORMAL GHOST ADVENTURES PALS PLEASE !!

she’s also a gaming streamer so imagine she gets into a fight with sb behind a screen on a game and/or stream and then finds them in alucard like ‘oh fuck’ aka cyber enemies

also the exact opposite scenario with cyber friends aka misa makes a friend on a game and they meet each other irl and it’s cute !!

misa . . . is not a huge party girl but i imagine she has ppl that regularly invite her to parties and stuff so there’s that . but like . she only knows these people in context of partying - they’re her party friends and that’s it and her relationships with them are just kinda shallow .

i’d ALSO like a friend she makes that’s maybe a little more sheltered & naive to the world than she is so she just takes them to cool places and stuff !! shows them what it’s like to live on the ‘ wild side ’ !! whether it’s driving to a 24 hr gas station for candy and snacks in the middle of the night and staying out until sunrise just on the road or just sitting at misa’s apartment and watching true crime documentaries in their jammies . just sb misa’s gonna take like ‘ hey we’re gonna show u what LIVING is like ’

actual shipping . . . i would love to explore at a point but i wanna explore other things first so that’ll just be smth that comes up in development maybe !! i want misa to get a chance to experience what actual love is and explore the relationship aspect of it so i’m open to it but also i just wanna develop it n let it come naturally . filled !

ANYWAYS . i’m open to rly anything !! enemies ?? friends ?? frenemies ?? friends or enemies with benefits ?? unrequited crushes ?? exes ?? found family ?? party pals ?? streamer pals/enemies ?? LET’S PLOT IT OUT I’M SO EXCITED

sorry this is a long as hell list anyways let’s plot out some relationships even tho i’m bad at plotting and trust me the intro is. probs gonna be even longer. i am so sorry.

ANYWAYS ILY ALL IM SO EXCITED TO WRITE/PLOT W/ U GUYS

- - - - - - - - - - - POST-EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT EDIT : okay so this one is rly specific but , , , i rly would like if maybe misa had sb to go to the cirque du eradicus with ?? probably as a date !! a date that doesn’t have to amount to anything but they’re gonna b the one who witnesses misa go into the hall of mirrors n it’s gonna be kind of like a connection since they’re gonna have been together when that stuff happens and it could be rly fun to work with in the future . just gonna put the age limit for this one at 22 - 26 just bc gaps and all !! i think it could be cute if it goes well or interesting if it doesn’t but . yeah idk they can split off at some point for other threads bt ANYWAYS I JUST THINK IT’D B FUN filled !

also if anyone wants to bring me anyone from death note i will kiss u ESPECIALLY for light , l , rem , or matsuda . pls . maybe these characters can ACTUALLY get a normal fuckin’ life this time around - ( sometimes we just want to live in the yotsuba arc forever where everyone’s runnin around solvin mysteries and not scheming against each other - )

death note hits differently .

[game-boy-pocket]

I just finished Banjo Kazooie: Jiggies of Time - a full length mod by Mark Kurko

I don’t normally do reviews because I find it hard to be objective... and this will be no different, so just think of this as me gushing. I’ll go ahead and put the long winded bit under a read more. But the short version is, fans of Banjo Kazooie and Ocarina of Time should play this FOR SURE. Banjo Kazooie fans may actually still love this if they’re not fans of Zelda ( but Zelda knowledge helps sometimes ). Zelda fans may not fare so well if they don’t love the Banjo Kazooie gameplay  ( perhaps they should try the first game as a test if they haven’t played it?  *nudge nudge* )  

I’ve been aware of this project for some time but didn’t really know too much about it. There were a lot of Banjo Kazooie hacks that were just smaller projects that take less than an hour to finish. I was suprised to learn just a few days ago that this project was completed, and was a full length game with the same number of worlds and collectibles as the original Banjo Kazooie. Even better, it ran on a real Nintendo 64! I played mine on the real deal and it ran near perfectly ( there were minor frame dips and a few graphical bugs but nothing too distracting or too frequent )

I’m assuming you already know how Banjo Kazooie plays if you’re reading this, but just in case, Banjo plays a lot like Mario.  You run around in little sandbox areas collecting things, the main collectible being golden jigsaw puzzle pieces called Jiggies, you find these out in the open, by solving puzzles, or by helping NPCs, the secondary collectible being golden music notes, both are needed to progress.  Each level also has five different colored critters called Jinjos that award you with a Jiggy when you find them. Each level has two empty honey comb pieces, collecting six adds another unit of health to your life meter. There are also silver skull shaped tokens used to transform your character into another form in certain levels, and finally, other miscellaneous collectibles to restore health, abilies, and lives.  Pretty basic stuff, you should be familiar if you’ve played any of the Sandbox Mario games, though in Banjo, you unlock your abilities as you progress. 

As I said before the game has 10 worlds. You start in Kokiri forest just like Ocarina of Time. You learn your basic moves in the Lost Woods, though I question the practicality of that, I actually did a full two worlds without my three basic attacks.  I got... lost... I just assumed I was going to learn the attacks elsewhere.  Kokiri forest is actually the first world, with Lost Woods serving as a sort of “Spiral Mountain” area.  Brentilda makes a return here offering three tips about the game each time you encounter her, as well as refilling your health. She appears in every world. Once you get some notes, you can leave to Hyrule Field.

Hyrule Field is the “Gruntilda’s Lair” ( Your Hub world for the uninitiated ) portion of the game, Everything is where you expect it to be, but it’s all sealed off. Instead you need to look for new areas containing jigsaw puzzles to open the locked areas. You will eventually learn a trick to simulate the Sun song as well, but it can only be done here. There’s 10 Jiggies to collect in Hyrule, 7 of which are contained within Lon Lon Ranch, I won’t spoil anything but Lon Lon Ranch has changed pretty drastically. The remaining 3 Jiggies are a bit more elaborately hidden. I’ll get back to those.  When you’re here, Gruntilda will banter with you, just like the original Banjo Kazooie, but sometimes, other characters will talk instead, and there is some genuinely hilarious exchanges between characters here.

Castle Town is the second world, and this is where you get the idea that “oh this isn’t just Banjo in Ocarina of time” because you start to uncover a lot of areas that were not in the original game. It only makes sense that a character with completely different skills can reach places Link never could.  Mumbo Jumbo returns in this world, all of his transformations are the same as the original game, but they’ve been reskinned to fit a Zelda theme... well... mostly.  

Once you wrap up in there, you head to Kakariko village, the third world. And it’s pretty standard. You actually learn the final move in this world. This game utilizes all of the original game’s moves except for the wading boots... they were kind of lame anyway I suppose.  This is also where you start to notice that this game is absolutely loaded to the gills with easter eggs. game cases and consoles are littered everywhere, Nintendo characters playing games are hidden away ( except for one ), and you may also notice some Golden eye characters spying on you ( they actually creep me out when I first catch a glimpse of them. They look ghoulish to me... ) 

Explore Kakariko enough and you should find the way to open Death Mountain, which is the fourth world.  Now this part of the game drove me slightly crazy. Death mountain has lava. Lava is an instant death for Banjo. When you die, you lose all of the notes you collected, and all of your Jinjos too if you haven’t got them all yet.  Here’s the thing, it’s another world where you have to turn into a small creature to get some of the notes, but before you do, you have to open the path for the creature as Banjo. And you have a LOT of ground to cover ( it includes Dodongo’s Cavern, the  mountain trail, Goron City, and a few extra areas not in Ocarina of Time ), so it’s almost like you have to do everything in this level twice... I died several times, at one point all I needed was five more notes, I was about to blow a gasket. After you finish up there, it’s time to head to Zora’s Domain. The world actually starts at Zora’s River, I enjoyed the world a lot but it was also pretty taxing. It demands a LOT of resources I had previously been taking for granted. Namely the eggs you shoot.  I was expecting Jabu Jabu to be replaced with Clanker the whale from the original Banjo Kazooie, but no, it’s just Jabu Jabu.. which is probably fine, this is Hyrule after all.  Jabu Jabu is not actually a dungeon though, which is a little disappointing, but there is some very interesting stuff in there... and this is where I start having a little bit of an issue with the easter eggs, subtlty goes out the window here and we actually start leaving the Zelda theme behind for two pretty big areas in this world.  It doesn’t bother me too much but I really wish this sort of thing was kept for secret levels instead of the main game... there’s a lot of tough platforming around Jabu Jabu’s area.

By now you should have stumbled across the means of opening the way to the Forest Temple. And this is one of the coolest parts of the game but also one of the most long winded and complicated parts.  The game expects you to go back to the old days of taking notes on paper.  You explore the temple looking for letters of the Hylian Alphabet and their English equivalent, you’re expected to to write these down as a chart and then use them to decipher some messages written in Hylian Text through out the temple... the thing is, a lot of the things the text asked me to do, I figured out on my own. There are also paintings on the wall meant to give clues, but I got mixed messages from one of these paintings that was meant to be used in tandem with the hylian writing. So I was trying the wrong thing over and over...  But I will say this level is truly the most jam packed with Zelda easter eggs and It’s hard not to spoil any of it, because I lost my mind at some of it...

At this point I should throw in that this game doesn’t have any new enemies or bosses. Most of the enemies are reskinned to be Zelda themed. It’s pretty effective in selling the illusion... except in the case where it’s not.

Next destination is Lake Hylia. I’ve got to stop to talk about the music real quick because Lake Hylia has my favorite track in the game.  This game has an amazing soundtrack.  It’s mostly Zelda songs remixed in a way that makes it sound like a song you would expect to hear in Banjo Kazooie ( and some hints of Banjo Kazooie/Tooie tunes get mixed in as a medley as well ), very bouncy and fun.  Not all of it is Ocarina of Time music. Lake Hylia actually uses an upbeat version of the Twilight Princess lake hylia theme.   In any case, this level sees you explore the lake, the fishing hole, the water temple, and a new series of floating islands above the lake.  As far as the Water Temple goes, it’s not too bad.

Next is the Gerudo Valley area, which includes the valley, the gerudo fortress, and the desert temple. Disappointingly, you cannot explore the insides of the gerudo fortress.  You can enter them, but you just exit out a different door in the fortress, like some kind of warp maze.  This area was also a real drain on my gold feather and blue egg resources, I almost had to leave to stock up on gold feathers, but I was sly and found a work around my problem and was able to progress. It was probably the least impressive area in the game if I’m being honest... also, Brentilda says that the hylian letters I wrote down were going to be useful here, but I couldn’t find anywhere  in the dungeon that had Hylian letters... hmm.

With this, you head to the final world.  The means which you use to enter this world are very cool. I won’t spoil it but it should be obvious to anyone who’s played already, assuming they haven’t completely forgotten one of the most important locations in the original Ocarina of Time...  Now, the world itself?  It’s cool thematically, but the usage of another small creature transformation really drags the world down.  Not to mention another easter egg really kills the mood of this final world, but it’s easily forgiven.

The final world is also what houses the entrance to the final battle.  But this game actually requires you to get ALL the Jiggies save for three in order to enter the final battle, so if you missed any jiggies at all during the normal levels, time to turn back and get them... unless you’re only short three, and wouldn’t you know it, there are three “secret levels” in this game with extra hidden Jiggies.

So, you would have no doubt seen this by now if you were playing the game but in Castle Town, there’s a museum you can reach by transforming into a small creature and crawling through the keyhole, and this museum houses clues to the location of these secret levels, as well as the secret jiggies within those levels. They’re pretty well hidden.  The clues get revealed more and more as you collect notes. First, just a general description of the area, then a more exact description of the area, but written in hylian, then a photograph of the area you need to inspect to find the entrance, and lastly, a picture of the hidden jiggy in the secret level ( though if you wait this long, the nature of the secret level will be spoiled, and these levels are BIG easter eggs. ), so maybe don’t wait too long to find them.

The final Battle with Gruntilda is the same as it was in the original Banjo Kazooie, but the arena is just slightly altered to make it a little more difficult, but not unfairly so.  Not much more to say beyond that.  The game has a pretty cool credits sequence and ending that Zelda fans are sure to appreciate.

I do kind of wish there was a Quiz show like the original Banjo Kazooie, I was expecting to get my Zelda knowledge tested, but no such luck.

Playing this game was such a blast and it made me feel like I was experiencing Banjo Kazooie and Ocarina of Time for the first time again at the same time, which is a very strange but welcome feeling. I never would have expected these two games fused into one to work so well, but it really is remarkable how well it works, and it tickles my nerd fanboy bone for Zelda in many ways, as well as Banjo, Rareware and Nintendo in general too.  I can’t recommend it enough for fans of both games...  I can only recommend this to non Banjo Zelda fans if they’re willing to play the original Banjo first to see if they like it.  But non Zelda fans of Banjo, I think you’ll just enjoy having a new Banjo Kazooie Adventure to tackle, though the lack of Zelda knowledge might make the road a little bumpy in a few areas.

I love these games to death but i’ve replayed them so much that they don’t entertain as much as they used to. This was a great way to freshen up the experience for both. I’m dying to play more like this. There’s a very interesting “Link in Mario 64″ mod i’m keeping my eye on. But that may take a lot of time, as it’s only released the first demo... for now... I actually kinda want to replay the original BK and OOT agian. Heh.  

[lvllabiies]

— ( courtney eaton, genderfluid, she & they, the legend of zelda ) * &. i know it must be scary for you, princess zelda , after not surviving the takeover. to turn into someone like zelda king, a twenty-three year-old student at castle town university, right here in castle town. just remember that you are as intellectual as you are self-sacrificing, and to be wary, be safe, be true to who you are : heroic through and through. ( hylia / she & they / 19 / est )  

          hello hello folks m’name’s hylia n this is the love of my h*cking life

— BEFORE CASTLE TOWN.

s’okay we all... pm know who princess zelda is bt IM GONNA GIVE AN INTRO ANYWAY

for starters because of how castle town handles multiple incarnations of the same character, this zelda’s a blend of all but i’ll be basing her mainly on her appearances in breath of the wild and ocarina of time with inklings of wind waker & twilight princess.

also genderfluid n bisexual as hell bc oot zelda was genderfluid and no zelda is straight.

i’m not sURE where i’m pulling her yet bc i do have IDEAS but im not,,, certain so i’ll update this as I Go but

for starters, she’s a smart as hell princess who never was really close to her father - she wanted to pursue her own research & the like while he kept telling her to focus on channeling her divine power to combat ganon

divine power aka every zelda is a descendant of the goddess hylia so yeah this is a goddess bby in actuality gotta love it

also the triforce of wisdom too forgot abt that

coolass light powers to summon light arrows and swords,,,,

and,,, that pm leads to the events of botw and yeah it’s COMPLICATED 

i always write my zelda as smart & sweet & intelligent but also with a rebellious streak bc of both breath of the wild zelda going against her father’s wishes to benefit her research ( which would benefit the greater good in the long run ) and also in wind waker she’s literally a fucking pirate and im kinda gay

she is absolutely NOT AFRAID to take matters into her own hands as u can see in

breath of the wild

ocarina of time

wind waker

hyrule warriors even tho it’s not considered canon

twilight princess even tho she was barely in it

i could go on

but yeah okay this is my absolute fAVORITE FICTIONAL CHARACTER OF ALL TIME and im gonna explain zelda king now

— IN CASTLE TOWN.

SOOO zelda grew up w/ a single father in castle town, a lower ranking politician who pm wanted his kid to do the same. probably was on the city council a few times.

zelda, while extremely intelligent and certainly capable of understanding politics from a young age, didn’t have too much of an interest and wanted to pursue her own path

but nevertheless she grew up pretty closed in and trying to live up to her father’s expectations - got the best grades in school, learned how to play the piano, violin, and harp, won a shit ton of young writers’ contests and also did mock trial & debate club in high school

but as she got older, she wasn’t... happy

way more stressed than happy.

so,,, she tried to figure out how to be a little happier - and that’s what led her to learn guitar.

she liked it way more than any of the other instruments she learned ( except the harp, but that was for the reason it always felt right against her hands ) - quickly catching on and teaching herself guitar tricks. politician’s daughter meant she always had a potent allowance , and she secretly purchased a guitar of her own to practice at a friend’s house since lord knows her father would throw a fit if he found her engaging in “rebel stuff”

...well, yeah. she was.

it kind of felt good to be a rebel.

came out as genderfluid at fifteen - i use she/they pronouns for zelda interchangeably and will always let u know which i’m using in that thread

also began to audition for local bands identifying under the name of sheik - often dressed in worn jeans, hoodies, and a scarf around the mouth as mr. king would have a cow if anyone knew what his child was doing

and she got,,, rly good. REAAALLY good. eventually joining a band once she moved out of her dad’s home called the troubadours, sticking with them in castle town.

she’s a college student now - living in the apartments and walking to class every day. majoring in gender studies with a minor in political science - half so her dad doesn’t get on her ass about it and half since she’s taking an interest in politics herself... for different reasons

her dad mainly wanted her to go into politics to keep the family tradition going but zelda actually wants to know more about the government and she ain’t too happy with some shit that goes on nowadays so she’s tryna learn more and get on her way to making a change

def goes to a lot of protests and shit and she does have an intern at city hall bt she’s that intern that might,,, get into a habit of snooping around and doing her own research to see if she can improve the state of castle town and also just. for her own reasons ahshsahshske

so we got a rebellious activist kiddo who takes an interest in politics to infiltrate the fucking system so she can Fight The Fucking System

and also plays in a rock band

imagine sb dressed in a business casual typical work outfit but also has like three piercings in each ear and wears a leather jacket and has a few tattoos

she’s lowkey an icon

my punk princess,,,

she’s my polite punk rebel who’ll nicely tell your ass off and then for you to go fuck yourself w/ teacup in hand

she DOES have her flaws tho like zelda does have a slight issue in the fact that she never feels like she’s doing enough n a lot of it stems from feeling like a disappointment in her past life bt she doesn’t,,, know it

zelda always wonders if there’s more that she COULD do but either a.) she’s not capable or b.) she’s not trying hard enough and it WRECKS HER and it does honestly render her a lil insecure

yes i have a lot of feelings abt botw zelda bye

also def has a triforce somewhere tattooed on her body maybe her wrist idk where yet but she got it once and doesn’t rly know why

one thing she does is that she unknowingly plays a lot of the ocarina songs from the zelda games on her guitar without even... knowing. like. she just does.

also sheik is a harpist in game so do u like what i did w/ making modern sheik a fuckin,,, rebel w/ a guitar who sings shit like green day and rage against the machine in a band i love modern aus 

sheik is also never seen w/o a hoodie and a scarf tbh they’re not only comfy bt also like... nobody knows sheik is zelda. no-one. zelda wants 2 keep it that way.

god i love my princess ANYWAY IM SCHEDULING THIS TO POST A FEW MINS AFTER WE OPEN SO IM PROBABLY EITHER ON THE MAIN OR WRITING SYLVAIN’S INTRO AS WE SPEAK ( who is way less great than zelda tbh )