EPTHey guys, this week has been extremely productive for me in my quest to finish the legend of zelda games, and I am excited to tell you all about it.
Here is Part V for anyone who missed it http://www.teamliquid.net/blogs/viewblog.php?id=311977
So to begin this blog off where the last one started, I'm finally at the highest level 8-8-8. I got all but 1 of the magic containers and all the heart containers. I'm at this no key bitch castle, and a troll town with invisible ghosts. So I decide to head back to the woods that the old man informed me of after reading this part of the manual.
![[image loading]](http://kasuto.net/image/zelda2/manual46.jpg)
Thats right ladies and gentleman, the fucking hammer chops down trees.
Naturally, I head back to the woods with this newly acquired knowledge and start a chopping, problem is the bad guys keep running into me, and every time I enter combat the trees are back. After a couple annoying minutes of this back and forth tango I finally find the town.
First thing I find is a woman stating how deserving I am, even though I don't even know why the fuck I'm deserving of what shes giving me. I follow her and find the last magic container in her basement. Nice. Keep walking, unlike all the other towns that require a sidequest for the spell in town this one just gives it to ya. Guess they decide to be nice before the great palace. Not too nice however cause, surprise surprise, its another 1 time useless, vague, piece of shit spell. Creatively named, "SPELL" spell. What does it do? Fuck if I know the old man doesn't say shit. Then I reach the end of the town where there is just a big pile of nothing. So ironically I try spell, and a big ass building comes magically out of the ground. Inside this building was exactly what I needed the magic key, niiiiiiice.
After I get this magical key Level-6 is pretty straight forward, I just skip all of the enemies since I don't need any more leveling up. Grab the cross to see the ghosts somehow and I make it to the boss, which is this badass dragon. So I quickly man up my jump, shield and reflect spell and beat away at him. Defeat Level-6 like a boss. Go back to ghost town and talk to the old man to get thunder, as someone told me to revisit old man again in the Hidden town.
![[image loading]](http://kasuto.net/image/zelda2/z2_level6_02.gif)
So Fucking Cool
Now before we head on to the next part, I want to explain why this boss is the best designed boss in the game. He looks great, his pattern is recognizable but not too easy to abuse, but most importantly is the terrain. This is the first boss in this game that doesn't just have a flat ground. Which has become a staple in the Zelda series, how the environment interacts with the boss and adds additional difficulty, and complexity to the stage. Also the chance of falling in the lava and dieing adds extra excitement to the battle, and it just seems like a big epic finish for the castle, despite the graphical limitations.
Well fuck, I say to myself. Now I just have to get the Great Palace, beat shadow Link and peace. But no, I was fucking wrong. The path to the Great Palace is just a fucking annoying and hard. People complain about death mountain a lot? Yeah probably because they haven't made it here. Basically its a million of those ghosts I ranted about in the last part, with a million pits of lava. Well your probably saying just fairy through it. So I try, and there's a little hallway in each of them just big enough for an asshole dragon with a sword to damage your fairy ass. Making the fairy method fairly unreliable as you still take damage. Every single game over I have to walk all the way across hyrule to try to get to the Great Palace. Fuck FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK. 6 Gameovers later I make it.
![[image loading]](http://www.leigh-hilbert-photography.com/Professional/Hawaii-Volcano-Lava-Photos/Ghost-TreesIMG8712-lighter/1196617527_hbyqe-L.jpg)
I couldn't find a proper in game shot, but this is what I imagine the path to the Great Palace would look like with a shit load of ghost demons flying around.
Finally, the last part of the game. I'm here. I'm going to finish. The Great Palace. Can this compete with the epicness that was Level-9 in Zelda 1? I'm about to find out. So after a continuous ass fucking from this game for about 12 hours, the game decides to tell you it loves you and give you a piece of cake. It allows you to start from the Great Palace when you die. What a fucking relief thank you developers for being human. That is until you walk into through that magic electric door, then the game screams again LET THE ASS FUCKING RESUME!
This is the hardest part in the game, hands down. Without an online map to go by this is the single most confusing palace ever. Imagine level-9 in zelda 1 without your map. Yeah that would suck right? Not only is this map plain confusing with dead ends, invisible secret passages, and elevators galore, but there are screens that look the exact same to resemble each other just for the sake of confusing you. Fuck. Well I hoped for big and epic, and this is exactly what this palace did, it must be over 3 times the size of any palace in this game.
Which is why after a couple game overs in the palace, I decided I needed to draw a map. This would be impossible without one, and I cannot use anything online. I feel like a kid again drawing this map, and not only does it look like shit, but its incredibly helpful and efficient in helping me decide where and where not to go.
![[image loading]](http://i39.tinypic.com/ziq0ap.jpg)
I recommend doing this for any brave soul attempting this game w/o walk through.
Not only is this Palace confusing as fuck. But they add two brand new assholes to Ganons army. A dragon that takes 5 or 6 hits to kill who continuously shoots fireballs that move towards him and take away a full bar of health w/o the shield. And the bird knight. Basically the same as that annoying blue knight that threw swords except this guy jumps around like a fucking maniac. Yeahhhhhh.
![[image loading]](http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20090726184756/zelda/images/thumb/e/e7/Fokka.png/250px-Fokka.png)
The technical name for the bird knight is Fokka, derived from the word Fucker. Which I think suites this bitch bird pretty well.
So after making my map, and finding the hidden false floor. I finally make it to Thunderbird, the boss guarding the boss. Fuck off Nintendo. Oh yeah, you better be full magic cause your gunna need all of it for jump, thunder, shield, reflect if you want a chance at this guy. After losing many lives to this asshole I finally beat him, but its my last life. So I cant just die and get back to full health and full magic. So I enter the final boss of the game, shadow link, the ultimate troll, copying your every move. With about 3/4 health and 0 magic for spells. Shit just got real.
So I'm with shadow link fighting the good fight trying my ass off, using the jump and slash while falling technique used on the knights in the game to try and get hits off on him. We're pretty much even, hit for hit and I get him to half health. Only problem is I'm at my last bar of health. I know I can't beat him straight up like this. So I go and crouch in the corner an hope for the best, and guess what. This shit pays off. Shadow link glitches out like an idiot and keeps running into my sword. FUCK YEAH. I beat the game! I don't care if shadow link has shitty AI I didn't program it.
![[image loading]](http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_xlxXM_D_t60/TRvkrm87vVI/AAAAAAAABwo/Igo4wbfFmIo/s1600/DarkLinkMotivator.jpg)
Shadow Link The Final Boss
So the ending screen comes Zelda wakes up and of course lets Link bang her in 2d fashion as the curtains go down and the game ends. Hyrule is saved. Your a man!
Overall Opinion/Review
Despite being hard as fuck, and the main mechanics of the game being somewhat questionable, Zelda 2: Adventure of Link is an innovative, fun, and key part to the Legend of Zelda series that helped shape what Legend of Zelda games would be today.
Pros:
- Over world is actually a lot bigger than initially thought, towns are unique and great addition to the game
- Side quests are a great addition to the game to receive spells
- Palaces are challenging, yet rewarding, boss battles are each unique and leave you satisfied.
- Graphically impressive more detail in enemies as they are bigger to work with
- Difficult
Cons:
- Leveling up. The level system is a main mechanic and does not add to the fun of the game, the concept in zelda 1 of getting better sword/shield/tunic is a better way of making link stronger. Repetitiveness to level up is boring and un needed filler
- Useless boring uses of items. After you get latern cave auto lights. Every item is just item use, and is needed to progress but is not fun to use. Bombs arrows etc. were fun.
- Spells being main mechanic over items, spells should be included with items. Additionally, 1 time use spells/ awkward/ stupid spells not needed.
-Difficulty, some parts were just hard to find. And hints were either awkwardly placed or were not there. Frustration of losing all xp when dieing and enemies that took away xp, as well as starting back at square 1 for game overs.
By todays standards I would give this game a 6.5/10, and if I was playing this game in 1987 I would give it an 8/10. Its a good game for the NES's time when there were a lot of SHIT games. It would probably be in the top 30 of the consoles history.
Overall Progress
Legend of Zelda (Completed) - 10 Hours
Zelda 2: Adventure of Link (Completed) - 16.5 Hours
Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past - 1.75 Hours (3 Temples)
Coming Up Next Time
I will discuss my start with my favourite Zelda game, Link to the past. As you can see I am already almost completed the light world in under 2 hours. This blog post is getting too long to discuss and I will do a quick recap on it next time. As always thanks for reading and see you again next week!
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YAY I BEAT ZELDA 2 /brag
