Link’s quest begins.
His Most Adventuresome1 Quest Yet
The first destination Link should visit is Rauru, a town about halfway between the North Castle and the cave leading to the Parapa Desert. Most of the townsfolk talk about Parapa and its palace, giving hints like:
“Return the crystal to the palace in Parapa.” Okay, I was already going to do that. This hint is poorly trimmed down from the Japanese version, which pointed Link to the cave he’d have to go through to reach the palace.
“Find the heart in southern Parapa.” That’s a good hint, pointing out where one of the heart containers in the game is.
“Get candle in Parapa Palace. Go west.” Since Parapa is to the east, I assume this is meant to be two different instructions, meant to be performed in that order. However, I know of a graveyard duck that proves such assumptions aren’t always true.
“If all else fails use fire.” Good advice – both for this game and in general – although way early since enemies invulnerable to the sword without the spell – and the spell itself, for that matter – don’t start showing up until Link gets the raft and crosses the sea.
“Only the hammer can destroy a roadblock.” This one’s a bit more timely, since there’s a roadblock not far from Rauru.
“Each town has a wise man. Learn from him.” Most of the towns have a quest of some sort before you can meet their old man and learn his spell, but since Rauru’s a tutorial town, the man’s daughter is a bit less demanding. She invites Link in, and he learns the shield spell, which halves incoming damage.
Now the intent is for Link to go to Parapa, but if you’re feeling adventuresome, there are a couple other things to do. There’s a magic container in a cave south of the North Castle, which is slightly dangerous to get without the candle but nothing too harrowing. And there’s a second town Link can visit, Ruto.
Ruto is not meant to be visited this early, and the spell Link can learn there isn’t really useful for Parapa Palace2. But it’s there. Hints are generally pointing to the south, most pointedly:
“Do not go south without a candle.” Yeah. The other caves accessible from the start aren’t that bad in the dark (the worst is the next one I’ll write about), but going south is not worth it unless you’re challenging yourself to a no candle run (you poor damned fool).
“Hammer… Spectacle Rock… Death Mtn.” I’ve already addressed this one.
“Find magic in a cave south of the castle.” Already done, but here’s the hint.
“Use keys in palaces they are found in.” It’s a change from the first game, so I guess they needed to mention it.
The magic quest starts when a woman tells Link “Goriya of Tantari stole our trophy.” The jump spell isn’t really useful yet, and the cave’s tough without a candle because trying to cross pits without being able to see the enemy wanting to knock you in (and the Ache near the entrance respawns), but it can be done. When Link returns to her with the trophy/goddess statue, she invites him in to learn… well, I already said it.
But the town’s most famous inhabitant is Error, who introduces himself with the immortal line “I am Error.” I never thought this was weird; it’s clearly his name, especially because there’s a character in Mido who’ll tell you to go talk to him. I guess the fact that it’s all that he says until after you talk to the guy in Mido, plus people expecting the game’s English to be garbled, make it stand out as a bit odd… and I have to admit I enjoy the interpretation where he’s a malfunctioning robot.
The cave leading to the Parapa Desert is obviously meant to be traversed without a candle, because the only enemy in it is a single Lowder. Its feet can be seen scurrying along the bottom of the screen, so you know when to crouch and start stabbing. Getting to the heart container’s a bit tougher, with an annoying sequence of jumping over pits while deadly bubbles float up from the bottom to try to knock you off. And Link has to do it both ways. The heart container itself is guarded by a Goriya in an area that calls to mind Stonehenge.
Inside Parapa Palace, the most common enemies are Wosus, hopping canine enemies that drain experience if they hit. Bubbles in this game follow a pattern, traveling at angles and reflecting off walls, but that doesn’t really make them easier to dodge, so they can be the most deadly common enemies in the dungeon. Bots show up every now and then. The three big enemies are Stalfos (now sword and shield skeletal warriors who can’t lower their shield to protect their shins), Gumas (who throw a constant stream of hammers Link needs to duck under to be able to stab them in the face), and orange Iron Knuckles (a good warm up for the harder ones we’ll see later). A little backtracking is required, because the elevator to the candle comes before the elevator to the keys that can open doors leading to it. The boss, Horsehead3, has a common pattern we’ll see again: avoid attacks, jump at the head, stabbity, win.
Next: Hammer. Spectacle Rock. Death Mountain.