Glad to hear I'm not the only one who didn't like level 7 as much...

I can see it mixing things up/showing you how much you progressed.  Also now that you mention it I can see why the candle would be useful for finding secrets (which is helpful for level .

As for the meat puzzle yeah I think I would have been in a better mood for it if I liked the design of the rest of the dungeon more.  I didn't actually realize I could use the meat for anything other then that puzzle.  Is it worth buying more to try out?

I think at least some of the problems I found with it were from the order I played it in.  It was my last normal dungeon (I assume there's a final one which I'm currently looking for) so I was kinda disappointed by the lack of difficulty.  also the candle would have been nicer if I didn't have the magic book already and needed it to find level 8. Also, since I played level 2 before level 1 the boss wasn't a rehash of the first boss I faced it was just a random boss I had faced sometime so I didn't see it so symbolically.  The exploring around is great fun but there are a few things that the non linearity messes up every once in a while I guess.

Like all the games mentioned here I would be interested in red rescue team or really any graphical rogue like but I've been wanting to play one of the pokemon ones for a while.  Although for next I still think la mulana sounds like the best option.

It seems like we need to come up with some way of picking the next game to do.  The simplest seems like just having someone pick one and then they pick the person who picks next, but we could also try a poll thing.  That seems like it might get to complicated though.

Just beat level 7 and I have to say level 7 was some horrible horrible level design.

1.  The entrance was cool but the clues were to vague
2.  I needed to blow up so many random walls.  One of which was not even on the map!  I'm supposed to be able to trust the game not have it cheat.  I was just placing bombs randomly.
3.  The new candle is super lame.  I have the flame from the wand so I can already get flame more then once on a screen if I want it.
4.  WTF is up with the boss.  It shot like 2 energy balls which I lazily dodged and it went down in 2 hits.  It was ridiculously easy.  It was significantly easier then some of the non boss enemies.
5.  Make me go so far through the dungeon and then find out I needed some random meat to go any further.  No way I could have seen that coming and prepared ahead of time.
6.  Finding the starecase to the boss was again just trying tons of random stuff. At least I knew what room to look in from the clue which was cool.

Mononoke Hime is a personal favorite of mine. I watched it when I was 7, and it left a massive impression. The quality of animation, the hyperviolence, the general message of peace...

Just seeing those animated gifs brings up so many feelings from the film.  Makes me want to cry a bit, such a sad and beautiful story.

Use the map or instruction manual (both came with the game) to find the first dungeon's if you want.  They are linked to in the first post here.

This made the game a lot more fun for me.

Also dungeon 8 is going well, I'm almost on the boss, I have the big key now.  I got lost and wandered around for a while which meant I fought the same set of knights a bunch which was annoying but oh well.

I think now if I just go get a potion and run to the boss room I should be good...

dungeon 8 done, now off to find dungeon 7

Beat level 5.  Those blue knights are a huge pain.  They were tough even though I had the blue ring and the ghost sword.  Compared to them the boss was super easy.  What's up with bosses being a piece of cake in this game?

I've beaten everything but level 7 and 8 now and I've found and started on level 8 (got the book) so I guess it's back to level 8 for me and then I'll go and try to find level 7.  I think I have a good idea where it's at.

Ahh ok that would make sense.  I have skipped a couple of dungeons so I probably don't have the other item.

edit:  Found the wand and beat level 6.  I imagine this is the item that the book helps although I don't know how because I never saw it before getting the book.  Level 6's boss was so easy compared to the rest of the dungeon.  After beating level 6 I'm allowed to pick up the new sword so that's cool.  Now I'm off to go buy that shield and beat level 5 then 7.  Also I found what looks like a croissant in the over world.  I am told by the instruction manual that it is the power bracelet but I haven't found anything I need it for yet.

Huh, I never once considered using Like-Likes as a hiding place. That is a very interesting approach to the problem.

Part of the reason why I never considered it is because of the magic shield. I usually purchase a magic shield before going into the 6th dungeon as a precaution for fighting Wizrobes

A magic sheild? I always thought that sheild you could buy was just a replacement sheild.  I didn't know it was a sheild upgrade.  That's awesome.

Also as far as progress goes I got a book from dungeon 8.  It appears to be super lame and not doing anything.  Maybe it lets me read stuff? I don't know.

Also I got the blue ring which changed my color!  Also sometimes when i get hit I take 0 damage so maybe it's cutting my damage in half?  Zelda games do that sometimes.

Dang i had no idea the gba remake changed so much.

But like you said la mulana seems best to me as well.

Alternate possibility: Metroid

I've done metroid once before but it was a couple years ago and so it's not like I would know all the secrets or anything so I'd do it again.

I'd probably want to play the gba update though.  I think it's pretty much just a graphical update though so I think all the discussion would be the same regardless of who was playing what version.

Yeah if the wall masters are those hands things they...

1.  Freak me out
2.  Annoy me after they freak me out

So... I have now found dungeons 5,6 and 8 and am like halfway through all of them but have not beaten any of them.  It's kinda fun this way, I couldn't do this in the other zeldas.  I still haven't found level 7 though.  I'm so surprised I ever managed to find dungeon 8.

I set the date of LoZ finishing/new game starting April 1 when I first made the thread.  Anywhere from 1 week - 1 month seemed appropriate and so for the first game I figured 2 weeks was a good test time and since we started around the 14 I just rounded the 2 weeks up a bit so that we could end it on the 1st.

Judging by people's progress in the thread this seems like it will work ok but it's hard to know.

Bone is a favorite of mine. The way it manages to mix comic strip humor and high fantasy drama is really quite something to behold.

The Sandman is widely considered to be one of the greatest graphic novels of all time, and ranks very highly in my mind as well. The story is about the seven Endless, who are personifications of human constructs (Desire, Despair, Destruction, Dream, Death, etc.). Filled with literary references, foreshadowing, and dark humor.


Runaways is great.

John Sandoval, you have the best taste in comics... (I think it was even your suggestion in the art styles thread that was why I started reading runaways)

I've never played one of the paradox games but I just looked them up and they seem fun, I'd be in.

I don't know how much they are but I think if possible we should try to avoid more expensive games.

La Mulana also looks fun but really I'm in for anything so regardless of what gets picked I'll be in.  If SirNiko wants to pick something that he hasn't played before though that seems reasonable.

@Sean - yeah it seemed like the side entrance was useful (I could get the map) and the bottom one was useless, so I "wasted" a key on it.  Not like it was a big deal

Yeah I'm still stuck fighitng the blue wizrobes, I hate that they are immune to arrows.  I have been trying a somewhat strange strategy of getting stuck in a ike-ike (the pancake stacks) and then waiting to use my sword until a blue wizrobe walks by.  i'm immune to hits while in the ike-ike but can still hit the wizrobes with my sword.  Only problem is I often get hit by beams as soon as I pop out of the ike-ike.

edit: Suck it wizrobes I beat the first room full of the blue wizrobes.  My hiding in ike-ike strategy worked like a charm but now the second room has no ike-ikes (is ike-ike even there name? I'm talking about the pancake stack dudes)

I made it all the way to the mini boss in level 4 with out buying a single key. Maybe you missed picking one up. One thing you could try is when you enter a room kill everything occasionally you might get a key unexpectedly (ie never completely skip a room). Also I don't think that key was wasted, if you don't have the ladder yet you may have some searching to do  

Yeah I must have missed a key somewhere.  I have the ladder and have finished that dungeon but never did figure out that room.  Oh well maybe that's where I missed a key.

@dustin - i don't think you can do anything at the graveyard yet, until you have a certain item that's in a dungeon you haven't gone to yet. but until then, you could try touching every single gravestone. one of them doesn't work the way all the others do. but there's no real need to do even that, especially since you don't have the item that you need to use on that gravestone yet. and then even when you get the item, find the gravestone, and go inside, you *still* need something else in order for anything to happen; it's a late game thing

yeah I actually found the tombstone but I can't figure out how to do anything with it.  I've pushed it from all sides and it doesn't seem to do anything.  Maybe there's more then one tombstone that does nothing, I should check the rest.
edit: just found the second tombstone that does nothing and found the secret.  But I can't pick it up yet!

@pgil
I'm on level 6 also (although I haven't found level 5 yet) and I agree that the blue wizards are nasty.  There magic hurts so much!

You can get a ladder somewhere but you don't need it. Go back a couple rooms and there is a locked door you can go through. I was stuck there for a while too

I am still confused about this, I used a key on that door that gets you to the middle of a room that has the map in it but you can't get off the "island".  I had to buy a key to unlock the other locked door.  I guess I just wasted a key on that first door?  It didn't seem to do anything at all

Edit: that level 4 mini boss caught me totally off guard and I panicked and died.

this happened to me first time to

Yeah it gives a good sense of accomplishment when you find secrets on your own. Since I don't know where they are though I've been burning through bombs on anything mildly suspicious.

So true I spent like 6 bombs on this large rock I thought was suspicious but didn't find anything . I've been bombing tons of stuff but still haven't found very many secrets.  I've been having fun finding overworld secrets.  I finally figured out there's more then one fairy pond which is nice for not having to trek back and forth on the map so much. statues have proved useful for me on the overworld I feel like the candle should be useful somewhere in the overworld but I haven't found it yet...

my favorite graphic novel is probably bone...



I also enjoy the series invincible and fables

Oh good idea I remember that old lady.  She's super creepy just standing there in her cave with that huge smile not saying anything  

The two things I dislike about this game...

no diagonal movement (this is mostly a problem because I'm using an xbox360 controller...)
grinding for hearts.  When I die I start with 3 hearts but it's trivial to get to full health it just takes a long time (killing easy enemies over and over or making it to the fairy pool).

Other then that I'm having a lot of fun...

beat dungeon 4 and am onto dungeon 6.  I still can't figure out what I'm supposed to do in the graveyard.  I also found a screen which was just a giant arrow pointing me in the other direction... wtf

also 67 deaths so far

arg I hate level 4.  I just beat the mini boss and turns out I don't have enough keys to continue so I need to go back and find one I guess.

It seems like getting extra hearts doesn't help me so much.  I always restart with just 3 hearts and it's not worth it for me to trek back to the fairy pond to get full health again so I just end up fighting with only the 3 hearts.

I also got a "letter for an old lady" so I have to figure out which one of these old ladies to give it to.