Music of the Week #655

A lot on my plate.

Aside from being continually disappointed with DAL and Blue Archive, I’ve gone and started reading Elf Bride’s Light Novel and was surprised to find out how the past 6 episodes have been a single volume. I’ve been out of the LN adaptation loop but I don’t remember things going this slow with adaptations. I remember back when 3 volumes were the usual deal for a 12 episode series. Although, knowing what happens in Elf Bride’s successive arcs, I guess leaving things off during the boat arc would be to their detriment.

Hyrule Field is motif we’ve covered through Zelda 1 and 2 but now with the Super Nintendo’s music prowess, it’s more instrumental sounds resemble what we’re used to with the theme nowadays. Get used to this theme because it’s the theme most of the Light World side of Hyrule is going to be playing for the first 3rd of the game.

Music of the Week #654

Settling in.

Okay so Wednesdays are DAL V, Thursdays are Elf Bride, and Blue Archive is on Sunday. I have a pretty active watch-schedule all things considered, but another thing to consider is that DAL V is currently on a nose-dive of story quality while Blue Archive is mostly fumbling through visual quality and my enduring opinion that Volume 1 Chapter 1 not being all that interesting. Elf Bride is also not going to be able to cover its interesting but I do have some stuff to look forward to.

Zelda is rescued but you still have an entire game to play so you have to be placed somewhere safe. The sanctuary/church is that location where Zelda will stay in for the time being. I always found this location’s theme to be quite foreboding to be a place where Zelda could be safe. My premonition does turn out right because the Sage inhabiting the Sanctuary ends up dead after Link obtains the Master Sword and prepares to face Aganhim.

Music of the Week #653

Here we go again.

In a rare occasion, I was recommended the series Maou no Ore ga Dorei Elf wo Yome ni Shitanda ga, Dou Medereba Ii? (we’re just going to call it Elf-wife from now on) during my obsessive Unicorn Overlord discussion adventures and was surprisingly hooked by it. For one, it isn’t isekai and the magic system and cast did charm me. I was about 2/3rds of the way caught up before I learned that it got an anime adaptation THIS season so now I have something to look forward to every week, even though the anime will definitely not have the time to get to the interesting parts of the series. I also have DAL 5 and Blue Archive but those are definitely turning out to be duds.

The very first big task for ALttP is for Link to rescue Zelda, a task his uncle fails to do. We trek our way through the Hyrule Castle dungeons, face a mini-boss, and meet with the princess incredibly early given how the rest of these games have been. This is the earliest rendition of Zelda’s Lullaby we get to hear, a series staple that we’ll definitely be hearing more versions of in the future.

Music of the Week #652

How the hell is April half-way done?

Unicorn Overlord has been dominating my time and my sleep schedule. I do plan on talking about it but will probably do so after I give it a 2nd go on the highest difficulty because I overestimated it’s difficulty. It’s a great game it’s definitely a gameplay first type appeal.

The previous two Zelda games were directly tied to one another and thus the intro sequences were nice and short. ALttP is the first to create its own backstory with deeper history than the previous two with 7 sages, Ganon’s imprisonment, and the Golden Realm. Instead of exploring a Hyrule that has been abandoned, ALttP would have the first lasting town name mainstays such as Kakariko Village to make the land of Hyrule feel more lived in. It’s also the first appearance of Hyrule Castle as a level. This theme is also used for the beginning sequence of Link trudging through the rain in search of a way into the castle.

Music of the Week #651

Spring Time

Blue Archive released its first episode a couple days back. While my fears about “no sensei” were quelled, it still doesn’t take away from the fact that Volume 1 of its story isn’t really all THAT engaging and the fighting is your typical “shoot at people offscreen” fare. At least they had the decency to clarify that shootouts like this aren’t dramatic at all and are regular occurrences.

We’ve finished Zelda II because I have no shame in admitting I got filtered by its gameplay so we won’t talk about the Great Palace or the memory bug that makes Shadow Link one of the easiest final bosses. We’ll be moving on to the more substantial Zelda sequel, A Link to the Past, which for the longest time I look “Link” as in actually Link and not a “connection” to the past. I do much prefer the Japanese title for the game as “Triforce of the Gods” though. We begin the journey with the first official rendition of the Fairy Fountain theme acting as our file select, a brand new series main stay.

Music of the Week #650

Sleep schedule deteriorating.

Unicorn Overlord doesn’t have much gas left in the tank for me because I fear finishing it too fast. I still have the hardest difficulty to overcome but man, what a fun ride it’s been. I was apparently so caught up with it that I made a mistake with the tracks from a couple weeks ago and I’ve rectified the issue.

There aren’t too many boss battles worth bringing up in Zelda II aside from Dark Link who went on to be an entity far surpassing Zelda II. One story I think is worth telling is that the boss of the Ocean Palace, Gooma, was actually only present in the western release of the game. Originally, the Japanese version featured a rematch with Helmet Head but the releases outside the game decided an entirely new fight was the better choice. A rare example of content actually being added in the international releases.

Music of the Week #649

That didn’t last long.

Within a week of the previous post, I managed to get Unicorn Overlord and have been playing it a dangerous amount. While there’s nothing overtly profound about the experience aside it from being so jam packed with stuff to do and things to consider with its automated gameplay, it’s an incredibly addicting game. I haven’t had the moment where I stared at a units stat screen and just PONDERED about the combinations I could make in long time.

In the vein of walking around fantasy-land and helping towns, the towns of Zelda II are a welcome change in atmosphere, especially with how desolate the first Zelda was with any trace of civilization. Canonically everyone in Hyrule simply moved north to avoid the monsters and simply built the towns there. It’s wild to me how the NES could even support walking NPCs that made it really feel like a bustling town. Although, the things to do in town are usually 2 healing spots, a wiseman to teach you a spell, and plot relevant NPC to tell you something. Then there’s a town where the residents are actually monsters in disguise, that gave me trust issues as a kid.