Prodigious?

tastemysteelkatana:

Awkward Turtle-duck’s quote gets pictures!

Perfect

If this was a figure, I’d buy it in a heartbeat.

And no, I’m not gonna buy a Squid Girl and a Miku Hatsune and switch up the parts to make this.

…unless I come into a decent supply of money.

Long, long ago…I started a mini-blog thing to follow my adventures throughLegend of Zelda: Skyward Sword.Often I was distracted by other things and posted things late. But finally I have come to the final chapter of the journey.

Now I actually finished this game back in January, so I apologize for anything I may have forgotten due to lateness. But the final chapter of this game (why do I keep calling it a chapter?) is really fun and warrants a post.

So! Last I left off with everything being awesome in the present time yet Girahim taking Zelda to the past to awaken Demise back then and basically screw over all your efforts in the present. Quite a jerk, no?

After following him through the gate of time, you’ll go through a series of battles much like in mostLegend of Zeldagames.

Round One - Gauntlet

First up is not a boss, but rather a swarm of enemies you have to take down on the Sealed Grounds as you try to reach the bottom where Girahim is using Zelda for his summoning spell. Luckily there is no time limit, but the enemies get consecutively stronger. You’ll start against basic Moblins, but they’ll get smart enough to grab bombs and even bows as your progress. A few Stalfos will also appear, as will those Moblins with annoying electric swords. The key here is to just fight as quickly as possible, but not kill your stamina. Lots of spins helped me through this.

One major, major mistake I made was using my shield and running forward through a volley of arrows. As I was using the twice-upgraded Sacred Shield, it broke under the pressure and thus forced me to use the once-upgraded Iron Shield for the rest of this endgame battle. But yeah, basically you’ll spiral downwards and take out mooks while hopefully not losing too much health.

Girahim - Super Smash Brothers

As the summon has not yet been completed, Girahim will enter battle against Link himself. This time he will be in his “true form”, which is more crystalized and less…uh…bishonen? Anyways, there’s two distinct battles here.

The first is akin to Super Smash Brothers in that you need to knock Girahim off the platform. By the way you will at this point be on a relatively small floating platform. Every time you connect with the sword it knocks him back a bit. After knocking him off the first time (he doesn’t counter much), he’ll become more aggressive. Mostly towards the edge when he’ll make his hands glow and attempt to catch your sword. Oddly he’s gotten worse at blocking since the last encounter. After knocking him off the platform three times and Fatal Blow him (there’s three platforms), you’ll enter the next round.

Girahim - Final Battle

Again this has a few phases, but it’s a more traditional fight in general. He’ll summon his sword and basically attempt to go to town against you. To hit him you need to stab him in the chest. Of course to stun him long enough you have to shoot back the energy discs he fires out you. Because Zelda games love that hole projectile pong thing. Alternatively, shield bashing will open him to a counter.

If you’ve read the rest of my entries you’ll know how much trouble I have with the stab mechanic, so this battle was a bit annoying in that sense.

After a few good hits he’ll summon a much larger sword and become more aggressive. Instead of projectile pong you will this time have to break his sword. Basically when you slash it a cut appears. Slash it in the same place four times to break it. Of course with him moving his sword around you have to adjust the direction of your slash, but it’s still pretty easy overall. Once his sword breaks, stab him in the chest again. Rinse and repeat and Girahim will be defeated forever!

Demise - Final Battle

Well…sort of. See, Girahim was just distracting you while his summon spell continued. And it turns out he managed to call up his master Demise. Who pleasantly is not just Gannon as I was originally afraid. Also in this space you fight in you can’t use Skyward Strikes. Great…

Girahim will then return to his original form; a sword for Demise. Crazy. Anyways, a portal will open up to the final battle, but you’ll have a chance to go back and save and stuff. I thought there would be a dungeon following the portal, but it’s just a battle.

Ah well. Let’s get to it then. 

Demise is basically a big guy with a sword. In the first phase of the fight he’s not very bright. Even a multitude of random slashes will eventually connect a hit. None of his attacks are particularly dangerous unless you’re a large distance away (in which case he’ll charge at you). Nothing to fear, sadly enough.

After a good few slashes you’ll send him flying away. Only for him to recover and summon a storm of lightning. This is the hard part of the fight, especially if you don’t know how to approach it.

There are a few methods for this battle, and I’ll list them in the order I found them

A) Make a quick counter after dodging an attack. You must have very fast timing and the proper angle so you don’t accidentally strike his sword and get electrocuted. Probably the toughest method since he takes a LOT of hits.

B) Shield Bash his blows and open him for a counter. Safer than the above method, but as I did not have the Hylian Shield I could not rely on it long since my shield broke…

C) The easiest method which I unfortunately discovered last. When Demise has used up his lightning, you can hold up your sword and charge it with lightning if you’re quicker than him. Doing so will force the boss to charge you, so quickly launch out the lightning-charged Skyward Strike to stun him and land a ton of hits. Using this method the battle is almost pathetically easy. Kind of sad, really.

Anyways, after many many hits and a successful Fatal Blow you will have finally killed Demise. Well, he says some things about curses, but whatever. Let another incarnation of Link worry about that, right?

And so both the past and the future are saved! Together with Zelda, Link heads to the Gates of Time where he is forced to seal the Master Sword (which itself has sealed Demise) into the temple to prevent Demise from returning. Unfortunately this means Fi will be sealed as well, and she makes one final goodbye to the hero in her own special way.

Zelda is also forced to say goodbye to Impa, but passes on a bracelet at the very least. When the group returns home (Groose showed up as well), the Gate of Time locks behind them. Upon spotting the bracelt on the old woman who watches the temple, it becomes apparant it is in fact Impa. Happy ending!

…oh wait, the old woman dies too. That’s just a jerk move to Zelda’s emotions.

All that aid, they go outside and find all their Skyloft friends coming down to see them. Everyone’s reunited and happy, and Link plays his harp for Zelda’s song once more atop the grounded Statue of the Goddess as they discuss what to do in the future.

GAME OVER! But in the happy way.

Overall, I had a lot of fun with this game. The motion control system was very well implemented, though difficult at first. The boss battles had great atmosphere but were very weak in difficulty. Some of the areas were very fun, others began to bore me considering how often we visited the same place. The soundtrack of the game was brilliant. The art style was great; this is my favourite incarnation of Zelda herself. Oh, and the writing was the best I’ve seen in a Zelda game. Mostly the initial Skyloft stuff.

I’d say this could honestly contend with Wind Waker as my favourite Legend of Zelda game.

Ta-da! The latest pic I took of the boomerang I’m working on for my Sokka cosplay.

It’s actually sitting in the basemant right now drying off the blue spray paint I put on next. Once it’s dry I can get up another picture. Though I have a feeling I’ll need another layer of paint to even it out.

Man I suck with spray paint. At least this white made a great base, and the edges easy thanks to tape.

PS: Yes, I have an air hockey table.