#zelda games :(

[the-mercs-as]

Bonus week! The Mercs As ...

ZELDA GAMES

(Suggestion credit: @pikminapplebloom)

[giveamadeuschohisownmovie]

Jak II is highkey one of ballsiest video game sequels ever made.

Like, imagine if someone at Nintendo said, “For the next Zelda game, let’s send Link to a cyberpunk dystopian future. He can talk now and most of his lines are cold as fuck because he loves danger and wants revenge for what Ganon did to him. Also, he shoots guns, drives hovercars, can turn into a monster version of himself called Dark Link, works with smugglers and openly flirts with Zelda. Also, get rid of the orchestra, we need hard rock/metal for the soundtrack.”

[batrogers]

If I had the terrible idea to try and muster interest in doing a, IDK event or drive for under-loved Zelda games on AO3 (based off numbers of fics per game) would y'all be interested?

This would be all ratings/all warnings, no themes about angst, fluff, or so on.

What IS the main Generic Zelda tag on Tumblr anyways, if someone knows?

[This is now a Thing at @thelittlelegends!!] The list of games (...and cartoon) per entries on AO3, for the curious:

[CDI] Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon = (4) [CDI] Link: The Faces of Evil = (10) The Legend of Zelda (Cartoon 1989) = 31 Cadence of Hyrule = (54) Tri Force Heroes (63) Oracle of Seasons = (90) Oracle of Ages = (98) Zelda II: AoL = (140) Spirit Tracks = (206) Phantom Hourglass = (215) Zelda (1986) = (248) Link to the Past = (316) Link's Awakening = (344) Minish Cap = (345) Four Swords Adventures (466) Link Between Worlds = (668) Wind Waker = (867) Age of Calamity = (1168) Hyrule Warriors = (1185) Four Swords = (1202) Majora's Mask = (1242) Skyward Sword = (2287) Twilight Princess = (2984) Ocarina of Time = (3114) BOTW/TOTK = (17610)

[ashleyleygraves]

In the Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity timeline, Mipha confesses her love to Link. They end up together.

Zelda continues her research in both Sheikah and Zonai technology, now with King Rhoam allowing her to do so as she always wanted.

Purah figures out she has feelings for Zelda and Zelda realizes that she's bisexual when she starts finding Purah attractive. After about a year of flirting, they get together.

Revali and Link now train vigorously so that they can fight in the coliseum in front of all Hyrule to determine which of them is actually better at fighting.

Kohga and Sooga have gay sex every day and are happy boyfriends.

Ganondorf's body remains under Hyrule Castle for over a hundred years before he comes back from the dead when Queen Zelda and the Hero of the Wild are old and frail. Tears of the Kingdom happens but the only difference is the age. Also Zelda has dementia and Link has become deaf from their old ages.

[blackblooms]

No more wisdom, i am now the princess of violence!

Im pretty excited for the new zelda game. Finally being able to play as zelda is definitely a highlight and the new gameplay looks like it will make for very engaging puzzles, as long as the dungeons and bosses are well-designed. Even combat-wise, i think there a lot of potentials as i always felt there was a missed opportunity in botw and totk to really involve the environments and puzzle elements in battle and this game will most probably put a lot more focus on that. I also cant deny the appeal of using enemies as my own. I`ve always been leaning toward summoners in any games where they are available.

[thelittlelegends]

Phantom Hourglass is a DS only game that may be hard to find in hard copy. Secondhand or emulator may be the easier solution to play it yourself. A written walkthrough is here at ZeldaDungeon.net. The video walkthrough I liked was this one but you can search for others with no commentary as well.

Reblog and add what you love about the game, things you would like to see, or other resources for those who would like to learn more about it! Here are some suggestions to get you started:

Links to existing fanworks

Most underrated characters

Your favorite gameplay mechanics, story moments, etc

Analysis of story themes, character arcs, and so on

Favorite game items

Best music moments

That art idea you don't think you'll ever get around to drawing

Story tropes that are perfect but no one seems to include

(Don't know what's going on? Check out this post!)

[namedafterflowerstournament]

Botanic Tournament : Honorary Mentions !

Explanations here

Round 1 Part 4 Poll 3

Explanations underneath

Saki can mean "to blossom" in Japanese. However, this Saki has an husband named Teba, which is a pun about Tebasaki, a Japanese chicken's wings dish. Tebasaki isn't written with a flower-related kanji (as far as I know, corrections are always welcome)

Original propaganda for Saki :

"She's so sweet"

Original propaganda for Daffy :

"Who's to say Daffy's not short for Daffodil?"

[overworkedblorbobattle]

Overworked Blorbo Battle Round 1 Poll: 61

[zrd1155]

Calling all Zelda fans!!!

[7grandmel]

Todays rip: 06/05/2024

Last Freight-train Night

Season 8 No Album Release (Read More) Overworld Adventure (In-Game Version) - The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks

Ripped by mint chip

Huge apologies in advance for not posting this on a Friday or even a Saturday. The joke has been completely missed. I hope you can find it in your hearts to forgive me 😔.

Ah man, melody swap rips. They're always fun, right? Even in the channel's earliest days, we had stuff like SNES Mini Circulation, Earth, Wind & Bombs and Akumajō Lololo expertly showing off their inherent, obvious appeal - leveraging the instrumentation of one track to bring out a whole new vibe to another piece of music through rearrangement. But especially early on, and even nowadays, you'll notice that some games get favored above others for melody swaps. Super Mario 64, the Pokémon series, NES and Game Boy games, Plok! - granted, the reasons for a lot of these are very easily explained, but with games like Plok! in particular the recent emphasis has come from a select few rippers' absolute enthusiasm for the game and the unique soundscape it provides. Tons of Plok! rips are absolutely mindblowing as a result of this passion, and I intend to cover some of these in the future no doubt - but Last Freight-train Night gave me many of those same thoughts upon first listen whilst being from a game I never would've thought would be one befitting for melody swapping.

Again, to clarify: It's perfectly understandable why those aforementioned select games get so many melody swap rips made of them. Pokémon in particular has at once such a nostalgic, distinct yet versatile set of sounds that has allowed for a ton of creativity in how rips are done, with everything from the piano-driven peacefulness of Blue Mareep to the synth-heavy insanity of Light! (Potentialseeker Colress). The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks, meanwhile, is a game I only truly associate with two instruments - the pan flute and the violin - and that paired with its relative obscurity compared to other often-ripped games made me understand why all the chips wouldn't be placed on it in particular. Clearly, I was underestimating both the game and first-time ripper mint chip here, as Last Freight-train Night positively blew me away in its arrangement whilst staying absolutely faithful to the sound of the game its taking from. It's pan flutes and strings, yes - but they're leveraged to a far greater degree than I could've ever imagined.

If you presented me with a choice of song to use in a melody swap for Spirit Tracks' Overworld Adventure theme, I wouldn't have been able to give you an answer - yet had I given you one, it would've probably been incredibly far off the mark from what Last Freight-train Night lands at. It's a full arrangement of Katy Perry's Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F), the absolute pop sensation released just two years after Spirit Tracks itself - yes, in other words, this is a PAN FLUTE arrangement of hit song Don't Mine At Night. Like, maybe I'm just easily impressed, maybe I'm just far too attached to Spirit Tracks' sound from playing on its stage in Smash Bros. all too much, but I have to commend Last Freight-train Night just off of its concept alone. But, come on now, you've heard Thwâmpröck Desert - you KNOW that Season 8 has been delivering in far more than just concept alone.

See, the rip isn't just pleasant for its novelty, it feels as if it fully realizes itself in so many small little ways. There's of course the persisting banjo-like backing from the original keeping a playful, plucky adventuring tone, but it's in listening in close that you'll hear something truly special. You guessed it: That chuff-chuff-chuffing sound persisting through the entire track is the sound the player's train makes in Spirit Tracks when moving at the highest speed, whereupon it starts to sync up with the Overworld Adventure theme - in other words, the sound effects are a separate element from the actual music piece, yet Last Freight-train Night goes the extra mile in including it just to make it all feel more...right. The cherry on top of even that is, of course, the sounds of crossing signals fading in and out of the song at various points throughout its runtime. This isn't referencing anything in particular from Last Friday Night, it's a completely original touch by mint chip, but it adds SO much to the listening experience: Pair it with the other two things mentioned in this paragraph, and it starts to feel as if this track is truly taking place within Spirit Tracks itself, a sense of immersion far above what was necessary is conveyed through just these small touches alone. It stimulates the brain in ways I never thought I needed - and in terms of sheer listenability, it all just helps give the arrangement a real sense of tempo, befitting of the dance-able pop song it's an arrangement of.

Season 8 is a lot of things, and I'm still trying to ascertain what to truly make it of four months into its run. But if there's one constant I'm sure of, its that the channel's quality has basically never been higher - rips like Last Freight-train Night are dropping left and right without being part of larger events, as if to just casually remind you of how good of a place the channel is in right now. And having those explosions of quality be attached to games which really haven't seen all too much action on SiIva compared to the big boys, to the channel's "hidden gem" games as it were? Be it back with Plok! in Season 6 or all the countless other examples over the years since, that always just fills me with such joy. Every game is someone's favorite, and every someone has the potential to be a SiIvaGunner contributor - it only takes one person's love for a game to get rips as heartfelt (and seemingly already beloved!) beloved as Last Freight-train Night.

[batrogers]

So, which Links pay their taxes, for real?

This is a somewhat fast and loose approximation of my recall of historical taxes, who paid them (or didn’t) and how, how they were collected and from whom, and what kind of taxation was even possible under different governments. This is pulled from a couple decades of study into historical society and books I’ve read on feudalism, the social duties of knights, and government structure and instability in both medieval Europe and the Ottoman Empire, among others.

Notes on organization:

1. While this is a response to a Linked Universe post, I am going per game not per Link because a few games must be split. The implications about taxes are drastically different between LttP & LbW, and Minish Cap & FSA. I also wished to include Spirit Tracks bc it’s fun. I am not linking the inspiring post, because I don't believe in attacking people for a ten minute list just because it twigged my history brain.

2. I am excluding games in which Link is not implied to be a tax-paying resident of the country he’s in, so Majora’s Mask, Oracle of Ages & Seasons, and Phantom Hourglass are not included.

3. There are usually overlapping taxes in a society. Here I will mostly address taxes on residents, on vocations or landownership, whether they can pay in coin or in kind, and if they have a household that would pay tax for them.

4. I have placed Hyrule Warriors in Child Timeline here for a few reasons, mostly related to army structure implications, the martial norms of the game and the two preceding ones (large standing armies in FSA and HW; mentions of “prolonged wars” and very military flavoured royal regalia in Twilight Princess.) Obviously this doesn’t strictly mean anything or oblige agreement, but its my habit to do so and I wished to explain the choice.

I apologize so much for how long this is. If you wish to read it in a different format, it's also on AO3. This is 2000+ words. I suppose if you click, I hope you enjoy.

A note on Knighthood:

Knights were a specific, highly trained profession often (but not always) associated with landownership, either someone who was in the household of the landowner, or who was the landowner themself. The trappings of knighthood (weapons, armour, and horse) were quite expensive and belonging to a family of knights implies a specific degree of social status in and of itself.

While a sovereign can in theory bestow any title they want on anyone at any time, usually this requires that there be some service rendered for which this is a gift. (Fucking them, or just being hella attractive, counts.) Because of this, there is a wide variety of things “Knight” can mean, but here we will presume it means some degree of professionalism and attachment to a social status that is both someone who collects taxes from subjects and pays them to a sovereign in turn.

IIII

Skyward Sword =

There is no evidence of centralized government in Skyward Sword, therefore the taxes are going to whoever is in charge of the settlement. They were likely paid in kind (material goods), although Skyloft does have coin. Given we know who’s basically running Skyloft, we can guess they were paid to Gaepora, and at least one tax-funded organization: the Knight’s Academy.

Did students pay taxes? Graduates might be exempt from some taxes if still in service to the city. Afterwards, given he’s usually presumed to be married to Zelda, we can say Link is either paying taxes (or hearing about it personally at dinner), and/or helping collect and distribute taxes to others.

Or, even funnier, setting taxes on the new community because they need supplies to build it.

Minish Cap =

There is a central government in Minish Cap, because they have a monarch! This is probably a small territory: some “kings” have a few villages and fields and that’s it, but it is a castle which requires taxed goods to function because it’s not producing its own.

Link’s grandfather is a blacksmith, and also alive therefore if the census tax is paid per household, Link has nothing to do with it. If its paid per business, he’s an apprentice or employee so it’s still paid by his grandfather. Depending on which taxes were being paid when, they might pay coin or in kind (eg. Labour or goods produced.) While people absolutely did lie and cheat and not pay taxes, I expect the con artistry didn’t involve “refunds” in a modern sense, but that’s probably tax history specialization territory...

Four Swords =

This game doesn’t have enough of a framing story to comment on its social structures, but is superficially similar enough to Minish Cap we can assume the situation matches.

Ocarina of Time =

We literally see Talon paying his taxes in kind in the game. Like, you can’t pay milk as a lump sum so delivering it reliably to the castle could be counted towards his taxes, or he’s getting paid enough for it that will be paying for it later. Either way, supplies are delivered from Lon Lon Ranch by its owner who is still alive after the game and presumably will continue to be responsible for it until he is no longer owner of Lon Lon Ranch.

(Malon likely is a valid heir to Lon Lon Ranch. There is no reason to assume marriage affects her legal claim to Lon Lon Ranch. It is not common for a woman to lose her property in marriage – British law is the exception to historical norms – so even if Talon died she could still be sole and/or primary owner of Lon Lon Ranch, whether or not she is married.)

Link starts out the game not even on a Hyrulean census, with no property to his name, and no social connections. He is not paying taxes because he does not legally exist. Until he is counted on a poll as a resident of either Castletown or Lon Lon Ranch, and until he’s considered an adult (usually by means of acquiring personal property or skill of any value) he’s unlikely to be taxed.

Now, if we include into the assumed connections to the Hero’s Shade who died in elaborate plate mail we get a very different answer. Someone who owns elaborate plate mail of that sort has significant money. He may have received it as a gift for service to the crown, but if so it likely wasn’t the only gift. Plate mail is often associated with knights; a knight of some consequence is likely attached by some means or another to property. Knights under a King usually collected taxes for them... So, in a world where Link has platemail and is a valued knight of the Hylian Crown he may also, like Skyloft, be the person collecting taxes to pass them on. Whether or not that means he now technically owns Lon Lon Ranch by means of owning the land it’s on.... I leave that up to you.

Wind Waker =

Outset Island most likely operates like Skyloft: there is a headman or prominent family who collects surplus to give as aid, either in terms of money or food or services. Within that space, Link living with an invalid grandmother and also underage sister was probably one of those families receiving surplus as social support, possibly on top of whatever his grandmother was still capable of in her old age.

However, Link is implied post-game to leave with Tetra. What taxes did a ship and its crew owe? Harbour dues, customs, and other duties! This varied a lot and was usually addressed whenever someone docked at a controlled port. Often questions were asked about where the materials came from, more or less scrupulously. Sometimes people cared if you just happened to have something without a sound origin, that you had taken from someone else... like we see Tetra’s crew doing in-game...

It may indeed be possible Tetra (and her crew) are wanted for tax evasion and Link gets to be included in that, whatever his age.

Spirit Tracks =

This boy works for the centralized government’s transit system. If he doesn’t pay taxes, it’s because he doesn’t owe taxes because he’s working a tax-funded job and likely has been since he was an apprentice. He is possibly also union and knows the local tax law in extremely nuanced detail. He will judge you for not paying your taxes.

Twilight Princess =

The start of the story is also framed around the village blacksmith making some kind of tax-like offering to the royal family and setting Link up to take it. This is likely not a normal tax, but it does tell us that Ordon Village is considered a designated social unit within Hyrule and therefore we may assume that “Ordon Village” is a taxable entity in its own right. Link, as a resident of Ordon Village, would pay his portion of the village’s tax to the Mayor who arranged for its delivery. If Link marries Ilia, you can expect once again this is someone who either hears about taxes over dinner, or is helping collect them.

If Link leaves and moves to Castle Town, he’d have the joys of all the things large city residents pay for, up front or not, that village residents who are not transporting food and goods long distances but those will be sales and customs taxes, not per-person taxes based off the census or his vocation.

Four Swords Adventures [Game + Comic] =

Link’s family is explicitly positioned as either a knight family, or a legacy castle guard family with close personal ties to the royal family. He also has a living father, who is implied to survive the game/comic. As such, with Link a minor, he’s not paying taxes because he’s not liable for taxes. He also may be paying taxes by means of collecting taxed goods from the lands over which his family has ownership and paying a portion of that income to the Crown themselves.

Interesting, this could also tie into something I’ll mention in more detail below but one form of “evading taxes” can be “refusing to do labour.” If he is from a family whose young men are supposed to provide service to the Crown in the form of military labour, “leaving” is a crime.

Hyrule Warriors =

In this game, Link explicitly starts as a base soldier. It is possible for soldiers to be a form of population tax (and/or control) especially in larger kingdoms or empires. He likely did receive regular pay, but he might also have been considered legal property of the Kingdom, eg a slave. Either way, his upkeep was entirely from the taxes that went into the coffers, whether it was in food or kind. Post-game, he’s likely been involved in rebuilding which again would be in large part executed by taxed goods and labour. He might even be part of the apparatus collecting or setting taxes, especially if he becomes close with Zelda herself.

Link to the Past =

Link is explicitly stated to belong to a knight family, with an adult family member who is (arguably) alive at the end of the game. If he is paying taxes, he’s paying them from taxes paid to his family. Not paying your taxes as a knight family is infinitely more suspicious than not paying them as an individual, because then your monarch wonders what you’re using that money for. Is it rebellion? It better not be rebellion.

Link Between Worlds =

THIS Link is a Blacksmith apprentice. He does not have any known adult family. He may be assessed as part of the household he is apprenticed to; he might be assessed as independent depending on his age and where he is in his training and what the local tax law looks like. If there is a guild he may be assessed by means of his membership... but that may also be a separate tax from what he’s paying per the census. He could likely avoid it altogether, because he’s not exactly important at this age and social rank.

Ravio, on the other hand, is in some way involved with the Royal Family of Lorule (Hilda is personally betrayed he left.) However, Lorule is a failed state. There is no means by which they can collect taxes, nor distribute them... which is likelywhy Hilda has no control over her guards. (People aren’t very obedient when not getting paid.) Recovery to a state where taxation is reliable and people feel it’s worth doing will be a long road.

Zelda I & II =

Same as above: Hyrule is a failed state, at best in the process of recovery in Zelda II. People likely do not trust the tax collectors who do exist to pay their dues to the Crown vs keeping it for themselves. This is a matter of power rules. Link, a minor with no property, is likely of zero interest to anyone unless they sell children. In Zelda II, where he lives close enough to approach Impa with a question, he may be paying taxes if he has a vocation or he may be helping work in the castle, which brings us back to he’s collecting, distributing and/or paid by taxes.

BOTW & TOTK =

Hyrule here is NOT a failed state because they do not have a central government attempting to exert control. Here, things are more like Wind Waker or Skyward Sword: village mayors or prominent families control local taxation. There is limited intercommunity interactions, which are likely a matter of market tax. Link, if he settles in Hateno village, would be accountable to them.

In TOTK, we do see some kind of centralization: there’s the joint effort to construct Lookout Landing and the monster patrols, both of which would require outside support until local agriculture begins. Which communities contribute is hard to say, but most villages at this time are more than prosperous enough to spare the means. A new settlement would reduce overcrowding, increase the land available to farm, and so on: all good things for a prospering world.

(This does NOT imply they are re-establishing the monarchy. None of these groups call themselves “royal”. They’re monster patrols, not royal guards, and Lookout Landing, not a new Castletown. The location has access to already-quarried stone and trade routes going for it, after all.)

Given how Link behaves in both games, it seems likely he would contribute whatever surplus he acquires to these efforts. Out of every Link, I think he is the most likely to be cooperative with taxation... although there may be some arguments about what his taxable means is. Should this be paid in rupees or bokoblin guts? Let’s negotiate!

TL;DR =

Taxes vary wildly across time, space, regions, and forms of government. While some Links live in similar social circumstances, we have at least four really distinct categories: the Knights, the failed states, those with vocations, and the villagers. Similarly, many forms of taxes are for social support, things that Link tends to be characterized as valuing in the games. When people refuse to pay, they either do not see the request or authority as legitimate, or do not have the means to do so.

IDK it’s just infinitely funnier to me to say “Wind Waker Link is wanted for tax evasion because Tetra has never paid a harbour duty tax in her life” vs stating the evasion without cause. All the best!

[jet-the-hedgehog]

I've always had pretty strong opinions on my favorite Zelda games, so I wonder...

Wind Waker includes WWHD

BOTW includes Wii U release

#when will nintendo remake zelda 1

Ouch no LA DX fans out there? Including the unofficial PC port?

[dia-oro]

I know the legend of Zelda from the time of the Super Nintendo that my brother have one game with a zelda with ginger hair… now after the zelda of ds that a friend let me see him playing, today I finally buy my own zelda, u already know the whole history of the breath of the wild (but I prefer the non canon age of cataclysm for having a timeline where’s Sidon have his sister alive) so I manage to buy tears of the kingdom… I doy know what’s to spect and how to play it so I will be a mess but happy :3

God bless the second hand games.. and the persons who sell it.

[sailorgl0om]