Lest you think I’ve totally forgotten about Link and the shadow realm, I’m back with another The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess update!  Now, I wasn’t lying when I said it’d probably take me longer than normal to get through this game. Even this update might be a meager one comparatively in terms of content. But since more busy times are ahead, I figured it’d be better to post an update now over doing so in a couple, or more, months. So let’s get on with it, shall we?

At the end of my last update, I had just located the Lakebed Temple in Lake Hylia and needed to figure out a way to get Link to it. In no way did he have the lung capacity necessary for swimming to the bottom of the lake, so my guess, which was actually little more than a hint taken from the Zora, was that he needed special equipment to get there. This search first led me to first figuring out how to get back up to the mainland, as there was no obvious path, either by foot or horse. Thankfully, with Lake Hylia restored, a strange…”ride?” (I’m not sure what else to call it) situated on the side of the lake had become functional again. It seemed to be the only option out. And it was, for the strange proprietor of this strange ride – giant cannon – was all too happy to let Link climb into the contraption to be shot out and up, up, up! Link landed in a, well, chicken coop of sorts where, if he wanted, he could grab a chicken and “float” back down to the lake. Of course, I had to try it once. Yep…on the poor, overworked wings of a unwitting chicken did Link end up down at the lake. So it was back to the cannon and back up to Hyrule proper.

With Link once again on solid ground, it was time to get Epona and do some traveling. Midna, instead of offering up some oblique hint about what to do next, was actually straightforward this time in revealing that whatever Link had to do, it had to do with the sick Zora, Prince Ralis, in Castle Town. So, after a little bit of extra exploration, I pointed link in the direction of Castle Town.

Ralis was still in Telma’s inn, and Ilia was still there keeping watch. As if Link’s last “encounter” with Ilia wasn’t weird enough, it seemed she had no memory of what was going on. Even so, Telma recommended that Ralis be taken to Kakariko Village for further care. So she and Ilia loaded up the prince into a wagon, and off they went. Link rode shotgun on Epona – it was his duty to see that the wagon made it safely to the village.

Boy oh boy, what a pain the neck that trip was! The main part of the journey took us through Hyrule Field where King Bulbin caught wind of what was going on and subsequently sent in hordes of henchmen to stop us. And those stupid henchmen were armed with fire arrows, which they mercilessly shot into the wagon. Every time they did, it was Link’s job to put out the fire using the Gale Boomerang. Me and my poor reflexes had a terrible time managing the trio of tasks: maneuvering the wagon on the right path, defeating the archers, and putting out fires on the wagon. It must have taken me the better part of an hour (and several deaths!) before Link finally got the wagon to Kakariko Village. It was just about the most exhausting thing ever, outside of the initial fight with King Bulbin in Hyrule Field. Ugh.

With Telma, Ilia, Link, and Ralis safely in the village, it was time for a number of cutscenes explaining the situation, which all led to many thanks for Link’s hard work and reassurances that Prince Ralis would be alright. As further reward, Link met with a vision of Ralis’s deceased mother, Queen Rutela, who guided Link to a special secret hidden in Kakariko’s graveyard: the Zora Armor! Aha! Exactly what Link needed to get into the Lakebed Temple! But before leaving Kakariko Village, I stopped at the Bomb shop to pick up a new type of bomb: water bombs. Surely they’d come in extremely handy given Link’s next quest.

On my way back to Lake Hylia, I noticed a golden wolf’s head situated on my map. I had completely forgotten that, as Wolf Link, I had previously opened up a new path to learning a new move for Link. And now that Link was human again, it seemed prudent to stop there along the way. My reward there was the back slice. Quite a handy move to have.

Ready more than ever to try out the Zora Armor, I negotiated Link back to Lake Hylia. There I switched out his clothes for the pretty, blue Zora Armor and went for a swim. A deep, deep swim…all the way down to the temple. I was more than pleased to discover that using the Zora Armor made swimming so much easier. I hate swimming in games, but swimming in twilight princess as been alright…so far. In any event, I popped out my water bombs in order to actually get into the temple. Once there, I was floored as how complexly beautiful things looked. And, as okay as I became with swimming, I was extremely happy that the temple didn’t require much of it. Like its predecessors, this temple was filled with puzzles. And all those puzzles worked towards the singular goal of raising the water level enough in the main part of the temple in order to reach its boss, Morpheel.

So I puzzled together the Lakebed Temple and then had to contend with Morpheel. Sounds simple, right? Unsurprisingly, the motion controls completely failed me during this battle. Twilight Princess fans may recall the Morpheel is a giant, tentacled, creature with a single eyeball that travels up and down its hollow tentacles. I get that I have to ground Link with the iron boots and use the clawshot to grab the eyeball, and then I have to beat the…err…snot out of said eyeball. In the hours that I have spent trying to beat Morpheel, I have only accomplished this eyeball-grabbing maneuver once. Pathetic, I know. For some reason, Z-targeting escapes me, and I can’t latch onto the eyeball as it travels. And then I end up as Morpheel’s dinner before I know it. Between nerves and my hatred of the Wiimote, it feels like I’ll never defeat Morpheel.  If anyone has any advice on this boss battle, I’ll take it! Even if it’s take up yoga or drink less coffee, both of which would likely help my mindset.

I can only imagine what happens once I defeat Morpheel and get the third fused shadow. Being less than two dozen hours into the game, I’m sure there are plenty of surprises ahead. And I sure hope to cover them in my next update, whenever that may be!