New Zelda Info!

[Red_Fury]

I know this thread is a bit out-dated but I though it would be the best place for me to post. This way I get to share the info I have gleaned from the Nintendo Europe site and not risk learning anything about the game I didn't want to spoil for myself. Some of you know, many of you may not, that I live in the UK and will be getting this game later. So I will be trying to avoid all red level spoilers. So none in this thread please.

The spoilers start below this line so if you don't want know stop reading...now.

New beginnings

Twilight Princess begins, appropriately, at dusk. As the day's light fades, the view pans down on a pond in a woodland glade. There sits Link listening to an older man explain how Link will be entrusted with delivering an important package tomorrow to Hyrule Castle.

The scene fades to the next day and we see Link's treehouse home in Ordon Village. A villager arrives and gives Link an urgent mission: round up the goats! Link isn't a hero yet; he's merely a farmhand.

We're now in control of Link for the first time. You move him around with the Nunchuk's Control Stick and press A and B on the Wii Remote to perform actions. Pressing C on the Nunchuk switches to first-person view and you can simply point the Wii Remote where you want to look. Locking onto items and enemies is handled by holding the Nunchuk's Z button.

We have no weapons yet, so all we can do is talk to people. As we walk through the village and chat to the locals we hear stories about mischievous monkeys causing trouble in the area. A young girl tells Link that his fishing rod is almost ready, so we make a mental note to come back later.

We find our horse Epona (you can change the name if you wish) being washed by a pretty girl about Link's age named Ilia. Growing nearby are reeds that you can pick; blow into them and you'll hear a familiar melody (Epona's Song from Ocarina of Time) which calls your horse to you.

The goat-herding minigame is a nice introduction to controlling Epona. You must round up the beasts by coaxing them into their pen and you can even make a cowboy-style 'Whoop!' by hitting A. After each goat is returned, 'Goat in!' humorously flashes on the screen.

When we're finished, we're in such a cowboy mood that we giddy-up Epona and make a daring leap over the fence, heading back to town. There we meet Ilia again but she spots an injury on Epona's leg and she chastises us for hurting the horse with our showjumping stunt. Link doesn't speak but from the look on his face, especially his emotive eyes, you can tell how foolish he's feeling at this moment. If you thought the cel-shaded Link from Wind Waker had lots of character, his new realistic look is even more expressive.

Lost and found

We head back to the village and pay a visit to the shop, where we see a nice Slingshot for sale. Problem is, the shopkeeper is too worried about her lost cat to sell anything today. We won't spoil how we found the missing moggy but we can tell you it involved a crazed monkey, a baby's basket, an eagle and a fish.

With the cat safely returned we can buy the Slingshot. Back at our treehouse we also find a wooden sword has been delivered by one of the villagers, so we try out both of our new weapons on a scarecrow outside. A group of local kids looks on, awestruck, and we already begin to feel a little bit more like a hero, even if our clothes are still those of a farmhand.

No sooner have we finished practising sword-slashing and Slingshot-aiming with the Wii Remote (which feels fast and very intuitive) than we're called into action. Some of the hero-wannabe kids have become lost in a cave after chasing another wild monkey inside, so we set off - picking up a lantern and some oil on the way from a friendly man with birds in his hair. How odd.

Inside the cave are Deku Babas (the man-eating plants seen in previous Zelda games). They look much more menacing than ever; their sharp fangs dripping with green goo. We creep through the tunnel, our lantern cutting through the shadows with its golden light.

Beyond the cave, past a poisonous swamp covered in a dark shadowy fog, we find the kids and bring them home. But we have little time to celebrate, as suddenly a horde of monsters crashes into the village and snatches Link's friend Ilia, leaving Link unconscious.

When we awake, the village is surrounded by a wall of darkness that looks almost alive. As we walk over to investigate, a huge hand reaches out of the blackness and pulls us in.

The dark side

In a dramatic cutscene Link struggles in the grip of the shadowy creature until suddenly a Triforce symbol glows on the hero's hand and the monster flees in fear. Link falls to his knees, apparently in pain, and he cries out before morphing into a wolf. Unconscious, he is dragged away and thrown in prison. Meanwhile a mysterious figure looks on.

Link wakes up still in wolf form and chained to the floor of a small cell. Already we have a visitor: Midna. Immediately we don't trust her, even though she offers to help Link escape. Maybe it's her imp-like appearance or the way one sharp tooth protrudes from her lip when she grins (which she does a lot). But for now, we have no choice but to go along with her escape plan.

Once we're free of the chains and out of the cell (clue: what do dogs like to do with bones?) we're off, running through a waterlogged labyrinth with Midna on our back, battling impressive liquid-like enemies that shimmer on the surface of the water before leaping out and attacking us.

Controlling the wolf feels great. It's fast, nimble and reacts to the same controls as when you're a human but with different results. Flick forward with the Wii Remote and wolf Link makes a powerful dash attack. Sometimes you will grab onto enemies with your teeth, when you can repeatedly hit A to gnash and thrash them around. Very cool.

As we go, Midna helps us get used to our new furry form by offering advice. By pressing left or right on the +Control Pad we can activate our Sense ability that allows us to see (or, in some cases, smell) things that humans can't.

Midna is a creature from the dark world so she has special powers in this place, such as a magical hand that extends from her head - useful for reaching far-off objects and to pull herself and Link upwards.

As we head out of the cell blocks we realise we're in the basement of a ruined castle. Midna leads us to the rooftops and we get a great view of the twilight-infested land, as shadowy creatures swoop overhead. Eventually we reach a tower where we see our first human-looking figure since we arrived in the dark world. As the hooded person turns, we suddenly realise where we are.

As the figure removes its hood we see the familiar pointed ears and blonde hair of Princess Zelda herself; meaning this desolate place is Hyrule Castle or, rather, what's left of it. Zelda is about the same age as Link but her face bears the burden of a kingdom in ruin. The cheeky, tomboyish Zelda of Wind Waker she is not.

Via an impressive cutscene Zelda tells us how the castle fell into the hands of a heavily armoured, cloaked figure she calls 'the King that rules the twilight' who covered the land in darkness, trapping the people in a state of limbo. In the flashback scene we don't see the evil King's face but we have an inkling that an old enemy has returned.

But Zelda's story is cut short. Guards are approaching and Link and Midna must flee...

[Red_Fury]

Continued from last post:

Back to the light

Thanks to Midna's teleportation powers we're now back in the relative safety of Link's home of Ordon Village. Our task now, according to Midna, is to recover a sword and shield. The twilight has yet to spread here but monsters now roam the area, and we're still stuck in wolf form.

However, being a wolf isn't so bad because we can talk to other animals. After chatting to a friendly squirrel, a rather dull chicken and a helpful frog, we do some literal 'digging' around and soon recover the weapons.

Here in the light, Midna doesn't ride on Link's back; instead she becomes his shadow, popping up when in need (you'll hear her giggle through the Wii Remote speaker when she has advice to offer).

She leads us to a familiar woodland glade where we meet Ordono, the faint remnants of a light spirit - one of four that protect Hyrule. Weakened by the enclosing darkness, Ordono asks Link to defeat all the shadow insects in the vicinity and retrieve the light they absorbed, storing it in a container called the Vessel of Light. Only then will Ordono regain his power and help push back the twilight.

Ordono marks the locations of the insects on our map but we also need to use Link's wolf senses to see the insects before we can attack them. In 'sense mode' the whole screen turns a murky green but the shadow enemies are lit up brightly, letting us target them with the Z button and dispatch them with a few dash attacks.

Once we've filled the Vessel of Light and returned it to Ordono, we see the spirit in its true form: a bright, shining goat-like creature (it seems each spirit embodies a different animal). As thanks, Ordono returns Link to his human form, with a few adjustments. Gone are the farmhand's clothes and in their place are the green tunic, leather armour and famous green hat of the legendary hero. To complete the look, we also have the sword and shield we took from the village. All we need now is somewhere to use them. We don't have to wait long.

Forest Temple

We're instructed to head for the Forest Temple, where an evil spirit has taken over the minds of its ape inhabitants, explaining the behaviour of the monkeys back in Ordon Village.

As the first of Twilight Princess's dungeons, you'd expect the Forest Temple to be small and easy. However you're thrown in at the deep end with a level that is large and fairly challenging but which serves to teach beginners the basics of Zelda's brilliant dungeon design.

Wind is the Forest Temple's theme. In fact it's here that you can find the Gale Boomerang, as seen in previous E3 videos, which allows you to select up to five targets and send a mini tornado spinning towards them. This is useful for solving the windmill-based puzzles and for bringing faraway objects within reach.

Another useful new item (or is it a character?) we found in the temple is Ooccoo, a bizarre-looking creature that can warp you out of the dungeon and back again. A further new feature we discovered is that it now takes five Heart Pieces to make a full heart instead of four, meaning there's a lot more work ahead to find them all.

We won't reveal how we got through the Forest Temple (it had something to do with monkeys again) but if you cast your mind back to E3 2005 you'll have already heard about the Forest Temple's boss: a huge three-headed, acid-spitting Deku Baba. With the help of a friendly baboon and a few well-placed bombs, the boss was history and the Forest Temple restored to its peaceful state.

You are Link. You were herding goats only a few days ago, but then everything changed. A band of demons rode into town in broad daylight to abduct your friends - and a darkness crept up on the place you called home.

But it's not just the world around you that has changed; you have, too. When you pass through one of the dark borders separating your town from the mysterious Twilight, you turn into a wolf, while everyone else turns into ghostly shadows under its spell. They say you are the hero chosen by the gods, the only one capable of defeating the Twilight King. But as you leave the confines of your home town and the vast world stretches out before your eyes, despair rears its ugly head; how on earth will a young man like you ever save a world so big?

And yet, as you walk across the fields, you cannot help but admire the sheer beauty of the land when you set off into the great unknown of Hyrule Field and beyond; despite the looming darkness enshrouding vast expanses of it in the distance, you feel an uncontrollable sense of excitement awakening inside. Odd bird-legged creatures attack by dropping explosive excrement, but a few confident swipes with your sword see them off. Then something shrieks behind you.

A bony, winged beast descends from the darkening sky and knocks you off your feet. Picking yourself up you instantly spot two of its foul friends closing in. You leg it west and run into another Twilight membrane - a border between the light and dark worlds - emerging as a wolf on the other side. And while you've escaped the immediate threat, your sinister surroundings don't bode well.

Your friend Midna, however, is much more at ease. The Twilight is her home and she seems to dislike your world as much you fear hers. The strange girl has some serious attitude issues but unfortunately she seems to be the only one who can help you pass through the membranes into the Twilight. But it's clear that she needs you just as much as you need her.

With your animal sense you soon pick up the scent of your missing friends and pursue your course. They need a hero, after all.

The trail leads to a creepy canyon that holds the ramshackle houses of a town called Kakariko Village, where you meet Eldin, the second Spirit of Light sent by the gods. He asks you to fill a Vessel of Light, since dark insects stole the tears that empowered it.

The task takes you inside the home of Renado, the village shaman, who is watching over your friends. But none of them realise they are in the Twilight. Trapped in an unending nightmare, they cannot even sense you are near. Seeing the looks of fear on their faces, you know what you need to do.

Through the graveyard and up a narrow winding path you proceed to Death Mountain. The spirit of a rock-dwelling Goron stands shivering as you pass. One by one you collect the tears of light, dodging a downpour of flaming rocks and the heat of a hundred geysers, never stopping until the Spirit of Light lifts the spell of darkness. Then light returns to town, and you revert to your normal self.

There is something about the looks of pride on the faces of your friends, their eyes beaming because you released them from a nightmare. But Renado explains how life in their desert town was disturbed long before the monsters came and forced them to lock their doors.

Where there used to be a peaceful co-existence between humans and Gorons, that rock-eating tribe now won't let anyone near their Death Mountain habitat unless he's prepared to fight. As it happens, the only person ever to match their strength – and thus win their respect – was the mayor of Ordon Village. Home...

Reunited with your horse Epona you decide to set off for a quick visit to an old friend. You just hope the children will still be safe once you've turned your back...

[Red_Fury]

Continued:

You are Link. You just got back from a brief stop back home, where the mayor taught you a useful secret for your quest ahead. Rushing back to Kakariko Village on the back of your trusty steed Epona, you can't wait to go sock it to that Goron guarding the path to Death Mountain...

But in your absence, a band of hog-riding warriors marches into town, terrorising the townsfolk and kidnapping your friend Colin. What ensues is your most terrific fight to date as you enter a desolate plane, attempting to battle off an enemy horde in pursuit of its leader.

Lightning crashes and in the pouring rain flaming arrows seem to come from every direction. Trying to hold on to your horse you struggle your way to a small ruin that holds the entrance to the Bridge of Eldin, a stone pathway spanning the depths of a wide ravine. The bridge serves as the narrow arena for an all or nothing duel...

And as the hero inside you awakens, you trump your adversary. You emerge victoriously and become aware that this epic quest is what you were born to fulfil. You are Link, the hero of legend.

Knowing that your wooden shield won't serve you well on Death Mountain, you spend all your rupees on a tougher version and begin your climb. The Goron guard still tries to stop you, but with the help of the Mayor's secret, you soon make him wish he'd just stepped aside. Not that it gives you a free pass to the top - but with every Goron faced you grow stronger and more determined to make it to your destination.

Your persistence ultimately pays off as you stand face to face with one of the Goron elders. He admires your strength and explains the pitiful fate that befell his tribe -and its patriarch. Sworn protector of a treasure passed down by the Spirit of Light, Goron leader Darbus turned into a terrible monster when he got too close to a power of awesome magnitude, and was locked up deep inside the Goron Mines for the safety of all.

It turns out that there might be a weapon passed down by the generations, a weapon belonging to the Hero of Time that in the right hands could tame the beast – and save the tribe.

By now you know exactly what to do, and so you set off into the mines in search of the weapon, and the other elders holding the key to the monster's lair. It feels like walking into a furnace, its burning inhabitants desperately trying to knock you into its smouldering depths. Rusty metal machinery creaks into gear as you step onto heavy pedals. And the deeper you delve into the mountain, the more you feel the dark evil resonating at its core, waiting....

[Pale Dim]

Wow, that's quiet a bit of info.

[xarlote]

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[xarlote]

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[xarlote]

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[xarlote]

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[xarlote]

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