Today ladies and gentlemen, in the ongoing saga that is The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, I’m going to lead my assault upon the first dungeon in the game. Welcome to the Forest Temple. Expect blood, sweat, tears and more monkeys than you can shake a sword at.

Lets begin.

hours played 04.48
They say that first impressions count. The forest temple isn’t particularly grand but, then again, what do you expect. Clearly the ancient architects of this structure had little more to work with than a bundle of twigs and leaves. Had it been called something like “the platinum temple” we’d be forgiven for expecting a higher class of décor. Not so here.
It’s all very familiar though, and I’m happy to report that my new favourite monkey has returned and he’s helping me along my merry way. For just now at least.

hours played 04.50
I have the dungeon map! All the old Zelda ways are falling back into place and I feel right at home. Around this time I also have a surreal moment with a boomerang-throwing red-bummed ape. Honestly folks, you couldn’t make this stuff up.

hours played 04.55
Gracious! I now have my very own Ooccoo. I won’t lie, I have no idea what this is. I can only describe it as a tiny chicken with Lord Voldemort’s shrivelled head. Some kind of mutant avian flu victim perhaps? So we should all be worried after all…

hours played 05.04
After some totem head-banging, it would seem that I am the proud owner (guardian?) of not one, but two monkeys now. Party time.
hours played 05.18
Clearly I spoke too soon. Not long after collecting my second I picked up a third primate and then, with comical timing, I now have a fourth! What can one man do with so many?

I also just fought an enemy which I am sure lesser games would classify as a “boss”. Not here. I’m glad of this.

hours played 05.25
In a drastic change from “what can I do with all these” I’m now actually loving my rowdy rabble of four furry friends and their very real use has become apparent in the form of a long rope across a bottomless ravine. The little guys are more than happy to risk life and limb by swinging me along their circuit to the other side. One did drop me though and I’m sure it had nothing to do with my poorly-timed button hits.

I’ll never forgive him for this.

hours played 05.30
Just had a very cool battle with the evil ape from my surreal moment earlier; needless to say I kicked his big red ass. As a reward for the victory I can now harness the power of the winds in my new boomerang. Should come in useful.

hours played 05.32
… and it does! The majority of this temple is built up of rotating bridges which turn in conjunction with – yes, you guessed it – the wind. So far they’ve been turning out of sequence meaning that I can’t get the whole way across various drops. Not any more. Not now that I can control them myself with my new toy.

In other news I’ve given up commenting on the amount of monkeys I’m now leading into battle (5!).

hours played 05.45
Okay, that took too long. Since I arrived here I’ve been able to see a chest containing one of those all-important boss keys but not been able to reach it. I was sure the secret was in the boomerang but I just couldn’t get the gates surrounding it to open.

I’ve just worked it out now… and I feel very silly for not getting it sooner.

hours played 05.50
I’m glad to see that these puzzles are just as tricky as they’ve always been throughout the history of the series; Nintendo haven’t “dumbed” them down to accommodate for all these new – non-gamer – players that they’ve supposedly enticed over to the dark side. I just got stuck on another bit!

hours played 06.00
Puzzles, puzzles, puzzles galore! I’ve now rescued more monkeys than I’d care to remember (I think the last count was 8!) and I’ve now also got the boss key. Correct me if I’m wrong, people, but I’d say it was time to finish the job here. Onwards to victory!

hours played 06.01
Here it is folks! Our first boss of the game: Diababa - Twilit Parasite. She’s a nasty piece of work. Don’t let the two giant heads fool you, they’re only the tip of the iceberg. There’s a far more dangerous appendage lurking in the depths. Help is at hand, though, in the shape of a familiar face.

Happy fighting.

hours played 06.10
With Diababa down all that’s left to do is to collect my heart container and something called a fused shadow. It’s still a bit of a mystery as to what this is but Midna seems to know what she’s doing. Looks like these things will be required if I’m ever to match the power of the King of Shadows; he sounds nice. I’ll find out more, in time.

And with that I see the end of the Forest Temple. It didn’t take me as long as expected but, for the first of the game, I can see the other dungeons being very tricky customers indeed.

Come back tomorrow for more Zelda action, friends. We’ve a long way to go yet. [JC]

read previous entries in the series:

• The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess - Part 1
• The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess - Part 2
• The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess - Part 3
• The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess - Part 4
• The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess - Part 5

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 7th, 2007 at 11:55 pm by WiiWii
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