Spring forward? Fall back? Let's Play The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons/Ages!

As yet another callback to the original game, the next room leads to a staircase to the basement where we fnd out first treasure, the Seed Satchel! There are five kinds of seeds to be found in the game, and the first type we get are Ember Seeds. Five guesses as to what they're used for.



Jumping into the warp that was created by the mini-bosses, we light the torches and proceed into the next room to find the last thing we need, Boss Key. All that's left now is to head for the boss and take him out.



Another room, another torch puzzle. The room beyond it contains wallmasters which can send you back to the entrance, however they're more a nuisance than a danger since they can't actually hurt you. Dodge them and move on.



The last treasure we have yet to check contains a magic ring. We'll get Vasu to look at it once we're through here.



Now onto the boss!



Aquamentus is back from the first game, and he's badder than ever. For the most part, he'll spend his time moving around the corner there and firing a few fireballs across the screen, both of which are easily dodged if you can see them coming. However, he can occasionally charge across the screen as well so you'll want to stay on your guard. Other than that, there's no real puzzle to the fight; just head for his horn and attack, attack, attack.

On that note, one of the things I like about the boss battles in this game is that they actually feel like you're really fighting. One of my biggest gripes with some of the later games in the series is that they revolve around solving their "puzzle" too much, to the point where actually fighting them boils down to finding their weakness and exploiting it until they're dead instead of requiring some skill on the player's part. As I see it, a good boss fight needs to be dynamic, with the fights focusing more on actual combat than the fight's "solution"; If the boss isn't actively trying to kill me while I'm hacking away at it, or if the number of blows I can land on it is part of a predetermined pattern (I'm looking directly at you, Twilight Princess), then it ceases being interesting to me.

It's not like it can't be done, either - the boss fights in Majora's Mask were pulled off very well, and even Ocarina of Time, the game where this puzzle-boss thing started, had a few tense fights here and there. I don't see why any of the later games can't seem to pull this off, even if they have to incorporate a puzzle in some way. It's just baffling, is all.

In any case, Aquamentus goes down soon enough, dropping our first Heart Container. Huzzah!



Just beyond Aquamentus's room is the first Essence of Nature, the Fertile Soil.



...To be honest, I'm none too enthused about these things. They feel too out-of-place for items we supposedly need to save Holodrum, and the reasoning behind them feels forced. Maybe it's just me?



Well anyway, we've got the item now so let's blow this joint.



Once we head outside, the Maku Tree contacts us to let us know that he's got the Fertile Soil we just found. After that, he lets us in on the location of the next item we'll have to find, then tells us to look for a "sunken temple". However, that will have to wait for another time.

Next time: The Snake's Remains and the Gift of Time

Ahem.

Here's the complete list, by the way:
1) Fertile Soil
2) Gift of Time
3) Bright Sun
4) Soothing Rain
5) Nurturing Warmth
6) Blowing Wind
7) Seed of Life
8) Changing Seasons

I get the impression that these items are given to the Maku Tree to help it, a plant, grow the all-important Huge Maku Seed. They make more sense than Ages' Essences of Time, though.

Digdogger still attacked you once you used the flute, though. In a modern Zelda, it would be completely incapacitated so you could beat it up for a few seconds, and then it would regroup until you've repeated the process two more times.

Exactly two more times.

So this is another callback to the first game?

"Go up, up the mountain!"

I agree: the items in Seasons may not make a ton of sense and feel a little tacked-on, but it (like just about everything else!) was done much, much worse in Ages.

Yeah, that's the problem. I hate the lather-rinse-repeat formula. I get that they want you to figure out how to kill the monster, but I hate after I get it still having to wait through three minutes of battle for a half-second opening to use that level's item to hit the thing. It's Zelda, dammit. I want to stabbity at it!

The boss battle in TP where you had to use that freaking Top thing was pretty bad, too. The best battle in the whole game was really just a sword fight. Keep it simple.

I will fight you now!

Don't get me wrong, it was an awesome set piece, as as far as a boss battle, it was kind of meh. Just a step above QTE for me.

ITT:
Everybody fights everybody else!

Unfortunately this is going to take forever because everyone only has one weak point that's only accessible once every three minutes.

Welcome back. We've just finished off the Gnarled Root Dungeon, and with that it's one dungeon down so far with seventh to go. The Maku Tree just gave us a lead as to the whereabouts of a "sunken temple", so let's go explore around a bit.



But before we can get our exploring into high gear, a young witch drops in on us from above.



Introducing a new face to the Zelda series, Maple. The apprentice to the Great Witch Syrup (whom you may remember from games such as A Link to the Past or Link's Awakening), she'll be flying around Holodrum for the entire game running errands for her teacher. However, her flying is... erratic, and as such you'll run the risk of crashing into her when she passes by. However, as Maple occasionally drops useful items like Magic Rings, Magic Potions, and even a Heart Piece when you crash into her, the trade-off for running into her is usually more than worth it. As such, when you hear Maple's theme playing and she's flying around above, it's generally a good idea to hang around and see what she's going to drop.

Maple's probably one of my favourite characters in the Zelda series, right up there with Linebeck. Mostly because the growing rivalry between her and Link is pretty funny to watch. She'll start out being annoyed, searching for a Lon Lon Egg like all the other girls while juggling the duties Syrup dumped on her, and her relationship with Link starts out bitter at first. However, as you run into her more and more as the game progresses, a strange rivalry starts to develop between the two to the point where it starts to become a game of sorts with them, with Maple eventually greeting Link by challenging him that "first one to pick up the most items wins". It's amusing to watch this odd friendship of theirs develop over the course of the game.



Unfortunately, she gains the upper hand and wins out in the end. But we'll get her stuff next time, mark my words!



Well, while we're here, we'll just burn down the bush and pay this hermit a quick visit. Like back in the first game, occasionally you'll stumble across miscellaneous old men hidden under tree stumps like this one. In order to keep it a secret from everybody, they may pay you quite a bit of rupees to stay silent. They might also order you to pay for the door repairs so it's a bit of a crapshoot, but hey, free money.

Just a little Gasha gardening before we move on...



As well as our first Piece of Heart!



And another hermit willing to part with us another 100 rupees. Nice.



Now that we've got Ember Seeds, we can now lend Mr. Left a hand and light his torch for him. As thanks, he gives us the first item in the long, long trading seqence, the Cuccodex.



Exploring a bit leads us to the house of Bipin and Blossom, more new faces to the Zelda series, as well as their as-of yet unnamed child.

You're having trouble choosing a name, huh Blossom? Seems odd that you'd just ask the nearest stranger for an idea (unless this is secretly an A&W commercial, in which case, uh, nevermind). But if you need a name, you've come to the right place. We here at Talking Time fancy ourselves expert namers and would be more than happy to give it a shot.



What say you, Talking Time? What should we name this fine, strapping, young boy? Remember: the name we'll give him will be stuck with him for the rest of his life, so choose wisely! EDIT: Oh, and before I forget, we've only got a paltry five spaces to work with so you might have to get a little bit creative with some names.



Yes, that's wonderful Bipin. Really, it is.



Anyway, next up we drop by Vasu's Jewelers to appraise some of those rings we've found. The first one we get is a Discovery Ring, which chimes whenever there's soft dirt for Gasha Seeds on the screen we're in. It's nothing special, but if you're looking to find all of the soil patches in the game it could come in handy. The other ring turns out to be a Cursed Ring, however, which doubles damage taken and halves damage dealt. It's probably good if you wanted to intentionally make the game ball-bustingly hard, but otherwise it's terrible and will be stored away in Vasu's vault for the rest of the game.



Visiting the cottage up north leads us to Malon, yet another exported character from Ocarina of Time. Her father, Talon, has vanished when he went up north and left her in charge of the cuccos, however there's one problem: she doesn't know how to raise them! Thankfully, the cuccodex we've got on-hand will fill her in on everything she ever needed to know about the birds.



In return, she gives us one of the Lon Lon Eggs she has as a thank-you gift. But what would Link need with a beauty aid...?



Well, I'm sure the answer will present itself eventually. In the meantime, I'll just slaughter 30 monsters for no apparent reason. Lalala...

Oh hey, it's Maple. Whatever could she be doing here?



Oh my?



That's right, she was looking for a Lon Lon Egg, wasn't she?



Huh? Wait a second, don't we get a say in this?



Oh nevermind. In exchange for a Lon Lon Egg, Maple dumps an old, creepy-looking doll on us in exchange. Now I wonder who we'll have to trade this to? Hmm...



The Gasha Seeds have managed to sprout in the meanwhile, giving us some pretty sweet swag from it. 200 rupees and a ring? Nice.



Too bad the ring turns out to be a total piece of shit. No damage from small rocks, like that'll ever come in handy.

Well, might as well get on with that journey we're on. And... wait, what do you want?



Introducing Sokra, the meta-guy for Oracle of Seasons. He'll jump up from time to time to give us clues on what to do next, tutorials on item use, etc. The problem is, most of what we learn form Sokra is stuff that the Maku Tree already gives us, making him entirely superfluous. I'm not even joking here; you can ignore Sokra whenever he shows up and odds are you won't miss a thing - here, for example, he's reminding us about searching for the sunken Temple of Seasons, which we've already had drilled into our heads. There's no real point to listen to him, so just ignore him whenever he shows up and get on with the quest.

Now bugger off, Sokra, the big boys have work to do.



What's this? A temple has sunk into a land called Subrosia? That sounds like that sunken temple the Maku Tree told us about.



Too late, we already know about the temple bud.



And with that, the odd person... thing... flees up north. A secret land that must be returned to in secret... you know what that means:



That's right, it's time for a stealth mission.

Well, not really. Mostly it's just the subrosian there (named Rosa, but we don't know that yet) running around while we wait for her to head north. Since she can only really see anything in a straight line from herself it's really easy to pass through this part.



She'll try to fake you out at this part though, so be careful anyway.



Once we reach the end, Rosa vanished into the grass. Cutting away at the spot she vanished from reveals a portal of some sort, which leads us to...



...Subrosia! The underworld of sorts of Holodrum, the subrosians living here like to live a laid back lifestyle with all sorts of entertaining things to do.

Like the Subrosia dance hall, for example. It's a simple memory game where you're giving three different types of moves by the lead dancer: move clockwise around the circle (right), counterclockwise (left), or strike a pose (A). The commands are given in groups of three and you have to perform them in order after they're given, but otherwise it's not too hard so long as you keep your wits about you. Just make sure to keep an eye on the lead dancer so Link's movement won't throw you off and you'll do fine.



Our first prize from the mini-game is the Boomerang! We'll need it later on so our stop by here is warranted.



Afterwards, I play the game a little bit more, earning a few Ore Chunks (the currency for Subrosia) and a Gasha Seed for later on. Mostly cheap stuff that we can get anywhere else, really. However, the real reason we came to the dance hall after the boomerang was to grab something else.



Namely a Strange Flute of sorts. We'll be picking up an animal partner later on out of three and the partner we get from this instrument is arguably the best of the bunch. I'll go into this more later on, but for now it'll come in handy for... pretty much nothing, really.



One last thing to keep in mind is that the volcanoes around here are reactive, so watch out for eruptions!

There's not really much else left to do at this point and we've dilly-dallied long enough. Onto the Temple of Seasons!



Um... yeah. You see, there were a couple of things I wanted to take care of first...



Four spirits as in the four seasons.



Well, personally I'm a little fond of Spring myself...



Hahaha, fuck no. After spending twenty years dealing with freezing rain and snow, I'm about ready to abandon the damn season. Honestly, winter sucks. ...No offense intended, of course.



All right, I'll get right on it. Sheesh, pushy guys. (Yes, I know it's because I spent most of the time exploring Holodrum, but still).

And we've got the Rod of Seasons! One swing from this will change the season of the area around us when it's charged up. But that's the kicker: it hasn't been blessed yet by the four spirits. As mentioned, we've got to go visit all four before we can use this baby to full effect.



Guess we'll start with Winter then. Bah humbug.



This is why we needed the Boomerang, by the way.



Look, I'm sorry.



And with that, the spirit of winter lends us her strength.



The Winter Spirit does exactly what it says on the label: it changes the current season to winter. This has several bonuses, such as the creation of large snowbanks to walk across as well as the water freezing, so it's actually a pretty nifty power for all of my complaining. We're glad to have her help with us.

After that, the Maku Tree stops by and congratulates us on getting Winter. After that he tells us to head east for the next essence and lets us go on our way.



Well, that's it for Subrosia for now. Time to head back to the overworld.



Ugh, fuck off Sokra.



A little demonstration of Winter's power, if you will. As you can see, it has quite a profound effect on the environment, letting us pass through to areas we weren't able to get to yet.



Most notably is that it lets us cross over to this side here, granting us a second Heart Piece. Score!



Pfft, doesn't this kid know Santa's not real?



Actually, it's a subtle hint trying to guide you down the chimney to get inside, but something tells me that masquerading as a jolly fat man to break into someone's house isn't that good of an idea. Oh well, down the hatch.

Surprise surprise, it looks like we've startled the person inside. Calling us on our bluff right away, she orders us to get started clearing away the snow that suddenly appeared on her doorstep. But we don't have a shovel though.



No problem, she'll just lend us hers for now. The shovel's main use, as you can see, is in clearing away various detrious, but...



...secretly, it is the best way to find money in the entire game. Like with killing monsters and cutting down bushes, shoveling up dirt on the ground gives you the chance of finding rupees and various other consumables. However, dirt is ever-regenerating, and every screen is chock full of them too, which means you're given a virtually inexhaustable means of uncovering loot. As it is, it's much more cost-effective to dig through the ground in search for money than going around killing monsters, and is only really beaten out by finding rupees in treasure chests in dungeons.

Sometimes, you can even find gigantic blue ones worth 100 rupees like in the screenshots here, though I missed catching the actual thing because of a jerkass moblin knocking me into it.



At some point, we pick up some Mystery Seeds, which do a variety of different things depending on the circumstance. The statue to Link's right, for example, will offer clues if you toss one into its beak.



After looting the countryside for everything it's worth, I suppose it's time we get started on the dungeon. Inside we go!

First things first is that we'll just toss a few Ember Seeds into the torches by the front door, unlocking the way forward.



However, though it's tempting to head north through the dungeon first, there are a few things worth checking out on the west path first. The important thing is the small key, which we'll need for reasons that should be obvious.




Further in, we come across the compass. The dungeon moves by pretty quickly, in retrospect.



A few more rooms over leads us to this peculiar block formation. It almost looks like an arrow pointing at a wall... let's blow it up and see what's inside.



O-oh. Oh my.



A minute or so later and we're 195 rupees richer. Let the good times roll.



One last push north leads us to the dungeon's treasure, the Power Bracelet! Exactly like in Link's Awakening, the Bracelet lets us lift and toss objects like vases around that we couldn't before. And... that's it, really. But still, it's pretty useful.



For example, it lets us get to the treasure chest here, housing the dungeon map.

Heading east leads us to a room full of giant Razor Traps that you'll want to avoid. They can take off a full heart with each hit, and we've only got four at this point.



One of the new uses to the Power Bracelet is that it lets us push these heavy rolling pins here. If we came by here earlier without it, we would've gotten a note saying we're too weak instead and be forced to head back.

Anyway, moving past these puzzles leads us back outside, puzzlingly enough. The sense of scale at work here is a little ridiculous.



Anyway, the first thing we're greeted by when we get inside is a business scrub pawning off overcharged bombs onto us. We're pretty much rolling in cash at this point, so we might as well restock on a few.



Good thing too, as we're immediately faced with a bomb puzzle in the next room. There's a time limit as to how long the chest will appear and it'll vanish if the time expires, so you'll have to move quickly to get to the center of the room. It's a little tense, but you should be able to make it so long as you know what you're doing.

This room is otherwise a dead-end at this point so we'll have to double-back to the other side of the dungeon.



Heading east once more, we'll just bomb our way past these blocks here...



And head downstairs into the basement. Beware the thwomps dropping from above.



Pushing our way past a few more rolling pins brings us to another chest, this time giving us a whopping 10 rupees this time. Yay.

The next room over has a slight variation on the rolling pin puzzle, this time forcing Link to try and move around them. They're still pretty easy to solve.



Once we're past that, we come face to face with yet another old foe - literally! You remember our old friend Facade from Link's Awakening, yes? It's the same deal now as it was before - drop a few bombs on his face every time he appears and dodge the holes and spiders he springs up from time to time. Nothing too bad, really.



Pushing a pot aside and bombing into the room beyond brings us to a group of Pols Voices trapped behind bars. As always, they're still weak to music and a blow from the Strange Flute from earlier is all that's needed to put them out of their misery.



The next room over has a spinner puzzle which works exactly as it does in the pics - the way it rotates changes each time you ride it, and riding it brings you over the other side of the bridge. There's no real puzzle with this at this point - in fact, riding it just this once is all that's needed to get to the boss - but later on we'll be faced with some rather diabolical puzzles based around these.



Before we move on, Link just has to double back a bit to pick up the Boss Key we passed by earlier. This is why we needed the extra key, by the way.



After that, it's only a hop, skip and a jump away before we come face-to-face with an old foe...



...Dodongo.



For the most part, he remains unchanged from his appearances in the other games. He dislikes smoke just as much as he did way back when, so a bomb to the mouth is enough to stun him. You'll have to toss him into the spikes in the center for good measure to damage him, but otherwise he's not really too bad.

After that, Dodongo dies from a rather bad Asthma attack and leaves a Heart Container behind for us to pilfer.



And then we pick up the second Essence of Nature, the Gift of Time.



Like I said, forced reasoning. Ah well, that's two down so far. Hopefully the next six will be as easy to grab as these ones.



With the Gift of Time reaching the Maku Tree, he contacts us yet again to let us know the location of our next goal. But that will have to wait for tomorrow's episode.



Next time: The Poison Moth's Lair and the Bright Sun!

I just went and checked, and it seems we've only got five spaces to work with, I'm afraid. Perhaps Gwnam instead?

How can you guys hate on Ages so much? It has Ralph! Seasons is so much better it's not even funny

Name the kid Lupin.

Oh, that's right. Possibly the only Zelda character I have wanted to shove into one of those bottomless pits with the exception of Tingle and crew.

Tingle is awesome. I will fight you. After I retrieve the weapon that is your only weakness by defeating a mini-boss and making a treasure chest materialize from thin air.

Holy shit, I never knew getting hit by Maple could lead to good things. And here I've been making a game out of dodging her every time she comes on screen...