At this point, I am presently somewhat stymied by a few ‘barriers’, and am currently seeking the means to overcome them in the only way I know – but I’ll explain that shortly. At the conclusion of the last chapter I’d found the Zora domain, and as I began the latest installment of my quest, I was granted another memory, and given Zora armour that would allow me to scale waterfalls. I discovered that the Divine Beast giving the Zora so much trouble is a giant mechanical elephant that’s threatening to flood Hyrule, but before I can gain access to it, I’m going to need shock arrows – 20 of them.
This is where the first barrier comes in. I had to take on a monstrous centaur-type creature (that bears a resemblance to Ganon’s final form in The Ocarina of Time), and this thing is not going to go down easy. I tried several times to fight it, but between shock arrows and fast attacks, I just couldn’t beat it. Annoyed at this, I set about tracking down Shrines, so I could increase my heart containers, and claim the Master Sword. I figured that ten hearts would be a good point to try again.
Among the more interesting Shrines, there was one which involved using magnetism to turn a door into a ramp, and I went back and finally conquered another Shrine that involved metal boxes. A pair of fascinating Shrines sat upon either one of the Duelling Peaks – to solve one, you had to know the pattern from the other.
I took a stroll to the south, crossing Hyrule Bridge and discovering a glowing dragon in the process. I tamed a horse and stabled it – going with the name Shadowfax (a cookie if you get the reference). I also ventured into a jungle, and found a large dragon’s head statue, behind which was a Goddess statue that requested I bring a scale to her, in exchange for a prize.
What else happened? I bought some armour. I gave 10 crickets to the guy who needed them to impress a lady, and I took care of some sheep rustlers. I dealt with enough Shrines to get ten hearts, return to the Master Sword and… failed. It seems the requirement to lay your hands on it is quite a tough one.
Several travellers had told me of hidden riches inside Hyrule Castle, and of a hidden entrance to the north, so one of my exploratory forays took me here. The place hums with evil power, and my progress was somewhat muted – there were a few bits and pieces of note but nothing especially exciting.
An intriguing discovery was of a thunderstorm and a series of orbs – it’s hard to explain, but I’ll go back to it – eventually – and explain it then.
More exploring, more Shrines – including a labyrinth in the desert, and a beautiful challenge involving orbs and giant statues of Knights. This had a Lord of the Rings feel to it – the statues were huge, imposing and each one had a symbol on it. Basically, you had to match the symbol on the ball to the symbol on the statue. I also followed the swords of the Gerudo to another Shrine.
This is another reminder of the importance of exploration in this game. I happened upon the second labyrinth and the knights purely by looking for points of interest on the map.
Another discovery was of a seaside village, where I was able to buy enough shock arrows to go and confront Ruta – the elephant-shaped Divine Beast that’s been tormenting the Zora. Riding on the back of the Prince, I had to scale waterfalls to then take aim with shock arrows at four orbs on the things back, in order to disable it. From there, I would have to unravel the mystery of Ruta.
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