Sorry for the delay, but next update won’t be up until Friday anyway.
Anyway here’s the poll finally. Don’t forget you have multiple choices!
Results!
Going back to the Stamina Vessel well.
And it looks like we’ve got our next destination decided!
And I also finally got off my lazy butt and got the screenshots for the next update ready and will write it up shortly. I’m on vacation this week so hopefully I’ll get this thing back to a decent pace again.
Click here to open the update!
I’m dedicating today’s update to cleaning up a few shrines, since there’s quite a few I missed during my previous adventures. I’ll be covering four of those today.
First off, remember that one area we passed by with the Gorons a few updates ago in favor of chasing a dragon? Maybe we should go ahead and revisit that.
So back to the shrine atop Skull Lake, and then parasailing our way to our destination.
With the usual distractions along the way, of course.
I get distracted (of course) by a lower ledge and feel compelled to explore it.
This is the northern boundary of the map. Nothing but bottomless depths that will respawn us with less health.
It did let me find this, though. These guys can be a pain to find since lizards scare easily, and it’ll be valuable to be able to find these guys later.
I make this guy into an elixir later, but I won’t be showing that this update because, well, I want it to be a surprise.
Otherwise there’s nothing of interest down there and after a few failed attempts to climb up, finally end up near our destination.
Welcome to Gut Check Rock!
Hi… I’m trainin’…and sweaty… Go me… I can do it… Brother… Argh… If I were a Rito…I could just fly right up there… If only…
Guess he doesn’t have the guts.
This hotness here is a training ground for manly Goron men. We climb this cliff like it’s nothin’, to prove our grit! If you’ve got some guts in that tiny bellt of yours, then talk to my big bro up top and prove it!
Let’s do just that, then!
Well, would you look at that! Let’s just mosey over to that shrine and-
Hm. I get the feeling entering this shrine won’t be as simple as I hoped.
By the gods, I love me some muscle. This right here is our hard-core training ground, string bean.
That sounds nice. Could you, uh, move?
This is a special platform! Sacred even! Only real Goron men, as decided by us three Goron Blood Brothers, are allowed. Besides, my littlest bro is in the middle of trainin’ right now. A brother does NOT interrupt a brother’s trainin’, brother!
Considering everything else Link has been through so far, I’m sure we can handle whatever you throw at us.
Ha! Good answer, brother! We’re gonna shred you to pieces, little man. Prepare your tiny self! OK, lemme explain how this hard-core training works. The rules are dead simple. Simple as a deadlift, brother!
Get up the cliff within the time limit, and grab a passable number of rupees. Do that, and you pass the test! If ya run outta time or decide to give up halfway through your climb…
We’re gonna help ya push past your limits, brother. Your physical, mental, AND emotional limits! OK, enough messin’ around. It’s time for the hardest of hard-core feats…
So yeah, to access this shrine we have to complete this minigame.
Let’s just say this isn’t the only shrine that requires a minigame to be unlocked. Luckily the minigames in this one are pretty simple and pretty fun.
Let’s do it!
You’ve gotta collect 100 rupees as ya climb. A hard-core Goron man should be able to handle that no problem! Even if ya reach the goal before time runs out, if ya don’t grab enough rupees, ya fail! DON’T FAIL, BROTHER! Got it? Good. Then it’s finally time for…
Gut Check Challenge!
This challenge is simple. There are plenty of platforms to give Link a place to rest. I wouldn’t recommend doing this with a single stamina wheel, but it’s more than doable with two wheels. The climbing gear also lets you climb faster, so of course it’s a good idea to have it on for this challenge.
Honestly if you know what you’re doing this game is pretty simple. The rupees give a helpful path for climbing between outcroppings, where there are more rupees.
There’s enough blue and red rupees surrounding the mountain that reaching one hundred isn’t difficult.
You get three minutes, but I manage to do it with more than enough rupees in slightly more than two. More stamina gives you a lot of leeway for this one.
Nice goin’, brother! Now let’s see how many rupees ya scored. Looks like ya got… 132 rupees!
You’ve passed our training with the grit of a true Goron, my brother! In fact…you’ve earned the right to call yourself…
As promised, you are now allowed to stand on this sacred platform of Goron manliness. A real honor, I know. You’re officially one of us now! Our true Goron brother, brother! Welcome to the family! And good news, fourth brother! That means you can do the GUT CHECK CHALLENGE all you want! As a Goron Blood Brother, you’re ready for the HARD stuff! Just lemme know when you’re pumped enough to try it!
There’s a hard version of this minigame, but I’m going to save it. I…may have plans on when I want to show it off.
Anyway, this is another “accessing the shrine is the challenge” so the shrine itself is a freebie.
I’ve already got one of these. At least I have an excuse to photograph it!
And another shrine done!
Next up, the Great Fairy to upgrade a few things. I have the mats to upgrade the Rubber and Soldier Helms now, plus these two new headpieces I just picked up at the labyrinth.
And also another Heart Container. The next one we get will be a Stamina Vessel.
Next up, back to Lurelin Village. There’s a couple shrines I want to do in this area.
Before, I couldn’t access the quest for this location because I happened to be missing the camera rune, which is required to do this quest. But now I have it, so…
Ahhh!
What’s up?
I was just examining this stone monument. This place has a very…spiritual aura to it. Do you feel it? I recently realized that there is writing engraved on this stone monument…
I think if we help this guy, it might lead us to a shrine. Call it a hunch…since those platforms certainly look familiar. So let’s help.
Ah, so you’re the curious type, too. This stone monument was once much larger, but it broke apart during an earthquake a while back. If you really want to help, help me find the missing fragments, will you? They’ll be scattered all around. I think the fragments had the same kind of script carved into them… If you find a fragment, please draw a picture of it and bring it to me. I’ll be here finishing my examination of this stone monument! …Oh, right.
That should make them easier to find. One of them should be right around here. Please find that first!
I’ve already futzed around here previously and know just where one of them is.
Simple.
After you show Garini a fragment, he’ll give a clue to the location of the next fragment.
That’s not it.
The next one is along the left mountainside coming from the ruins.
The final one is across the bay to the peninsula.
The Cyro-jump method worked until I pushed my luck and drowned.
But Zora Link makes it across easily since with the set bonus swimming uses up little stamina.
There we go!
Also this.
Excellent. Thanks to you, I’ve got a good shot at deciphering the entire monument. Give me a second to see if I can put this all together…
Thanks to you, I’ve deciphered the entire passage!
…Ah! I…haven’t the foggiest what that’s supposed to mean.
There’s two platforms here…
Yep. Just gotta do a simple Tebow on the platform.
…Is that it?!
That is indeed it.
So the two who needed to “find their place” were you and me… Makes sense. Good job figuring that one out! I sure never would have…
Oh, sorry. I won’t keep you any longer. Off you go!
Time for our next shrine!
This one is another puzzle shrine. It’s also one of the few I didn’t do my first game (I ended up missing eight or so shrines total, including this one), so it’s fresh to me. Luckily it’s still pretty simple.
On each side is a locked chest along with some barrels.
And a moving platform leading to a switch. The goal is to get the barrel to the switch using the platform.
This path has a gate that blocks the right path, then a full gate with an opening to let the barrels through, and then a gate that blocks the left side. Thus no matter where you put the barrel, it will fall off if left alone, plus the middle gate prevents Link from simply holding and moving with the barrel.
It’s all about quick timing. Link can duck under this gate then quickly pick up the barrel and move it to the right side. Stasis can help a lot here, for obvious reasons.
This unlocks the door to the shrine’s monk.
The bonus chest is on the right side. There are three gates, and a switch that alternates them.
https://h.mega64.net/botw/u46/167.mp4
The switch alternates between 1/3 and 2. The timing’s a bit tight since if you’re too early the gate will close on Link and also break the barrel.
Otherwise, it’s pretty simple once you learn not to go too early.
Overall, it’s alright. Nothing really challenging, though.
You aren’t just a normal lad, are you? I’m just happy that the mystery was solved! I don’t want to do more snooping than is absolutely necessary!
Alright, next shrine is off in the distance.
I opt to swim for this one, too.
Though it’s a lot farther than I anticipated. But that’s why I keep stamina food for just such an emergency.
Again, there’s really nothing to talk about for the strength shrines anymore. Attack food and my current weaponry and skills more than outmatch these guys at this point.
Though the loot is still nice, and gives me an excuse to photograph discarded weaponry.
That said, this shrine was more than worth doing since it unlocks the final piece of climbing gear. Now we just have to get the mats to upgrade them all to L2 and we’ll get one of the better set bonuses in the game.
And another Spirit Orb never hurts, either.
Also another Korok Seed.
That’s three down. Let’s do one more for today.
Back to Faron.
So originally I was going to do another shrine in the area.
…but I got distracted. Again. You see, this area is one of the various spawning points of the final dragon we’ll meet.
I say final but it’s the one most people will find first since it also pops up in Hyrule Lake. It’s easiest to find here, though.
Same deal as the other dragons. Shoot it for its scale.
Shouldn’t surprise you that this Dragon is Farosh.
The same Farosh whose scale we need to open up the Spring of Courage.
So back to Faron Tower to go back to the Spring of Courage!
During which we get more photos and get hit with another Blood Moon.
…Welp.
I get back in the spring area and notice another Korok Puzzle.
This one’s a bit trickier than usual since the other part is all the way on the other side of this giant statue.
That said, Magnesis gives you a lot of distance to manipulate, so it’s still not too difficult.
Alright, let’s complete this final spring.
And we’ve now done all three Springs of the Triforce! Sadly nothing interesting arises from doing them besides the shrines.
Another Blessing shrine, at least.
And appropriate of the Thunder Dragon, this weapon is lightning-elemental.
And that’s Spirit Orb #4! And Shrine #40! We’ve now done a third of all the shrines in this game!
Next time, we’re gonna head over to the volcano and meet the Gorons! I get the feeling we may also continue our quest to quell the Divine Beasts by doing so. Call it a hunch…
Click here to open the update!
Before we begin this update’s adventures, I wanted to check to see if Kass was still around since it came up in the thread.
It’s really not that hard to believe there’s 900 of these things considering how many I’ve found already. Now think about how many I’ve missed.
Also can’t believe I didn’t take a photo of this until now.
No Kass but I did find some cash so it’s all good.
Today we’re heading to the volcano. It’s in the region directly to the west of Akkala. Our closest point of contact will be right here.
We’ll use Ganonhoof for roughly 15 seconds before I eventually ditch him.
For now, the plan is to take the road south and see if there’s a good way to go north from there. Coming in from the northern border is…probably ill-advised.
Normally you should be approaching Akkala Tower from this region, though I have to imagine most people simply parasail in from the northern edges of Zora’s Domain like I did.
I usually avoid combat because it’s pretty samey, but it’s been awhile so let’s kick some butt and finally use some toys I’ve been carrying for awhile.
First, let’s make use of exploding barrels because of course.
https://i.mega64.net/botw/u47/014.mp4
Let’s show off some beautiful synergy using the Blizzard Rod…
https://i.mega64.net/botw/u47/016.mp4
…and the Thunderstorm Rod.
When frozen enemies get hit with lightning attacks, it’s like they’re in the rain or a pool of water. The electricity expands into a large radius that affects other enemies. The best part is any other frozen enemies hit by this electricity don’t become unfrozen, making it trivial to cheese large groups of enemies.
The Thunderstorm Rod one-ups this since it doesn’t unfreeze any enemies at all. Usually you’ll have to hit a frozen enemy with an electric weapon or Lightning Arrow, which unfreezes the target enemy. Not with the Thunderstorm Rod, though!
Finishing this group off is trivial, and our reward is more explosives. I’m sure these will come in handy near the volcano!
Not so far away, I find a shrine.
But not just any shrine, but one next to a stable. I’d say it warrants checking out.
Time for our next shrine!
This is a simple one.
I change clothes a few times during this update because why not. I go back to the Sheikah set later since it makes it crazy easy to get lizards and flying insects, something which will be very important soon enough.
Also there’s some chest that simply requires a Bomb Arrow. Doesn’t have anything to do with the actual shrine, of course.
There’s giant balls rolling down these chutes. We’ve seen this before a few times. Stasis this one to reach the middle platform with two more chutes.
The right one is special because, like the shrine’s name suggests, it’s metal and probably key to solving this shrine.
It also houses an outdated-for-us sword.
The left chute leads to the monk, but there’s many balls rolling down there. Kinda difficult to just Stasis one and sneak by when it causes a bit of a traffic jam. But Magnesis is pretty powerful and can counteract the forces of several large balls.
https://i.mega64.net/botw/u47/034.mp4
You know, if the camera wants to cooperate.
So screw it, Stasis it is! It helps I did it on a ball that hadn’t fully descended from the chute yet.
Another shrine done.
This stable isn’t as populated as the rest for whatever reason.
That said, there’s a rather important NPC here if you don’t know what you’re doing.
That’s the plan!
I thought so.
Are you questioning our fashion sense? Just be glad we aren’t wearing the fairy clothes…
See…this is how tourists get a bad rap.
Normally I wouldn’t stop a stranger from heading to their doom, but I kinda like ya. So I guess I have no choice but to sell you these fireproof elixirs. They can protect you from the burning air. Even Goron City regulars usually take at least three elixirs with them.
Nah, we’ll be fine.
I see. I won’t waste my breath arguing about it. Just trust me when I say you should give up on going to Goron City.
Remember that last update we found a Fireproof Lizard while wandering near Gut Check Rock? This is one of only two critters in the game that give the fireproof buff. Note that fireproof doesn’t mean you won’t catch fire, it simply prevents your body from burning to death by getting too close to a volcano. It’s a lot like cold or heat resistance (yes, heat and fireproof are two different things in this game, and having one won’t protect against the other because of course) in that there’s two levels of it.
I mixed it with four Bokoblin Guts to make it last long. There’s no food alternative to give Fireproof, elixirs or nothing. At any rate this baby should last more than long enough to get us to Goron City, and I’m sure we’ll figure out other methods of not burning to death by then.
Anyway, look who’s here! He doesn’t have a quest for us today, but might as well chat him up all the same.
In case you were wondering about the song I perform at the stables, there are many theories about its origin. But according to my teacher, it was a song performed by the ancient hero to call to his horse companion. If you ever feel like hearing it, feel free to drop by. Anyway, time to get back to it…
This is the same “10,000 years ago” tapestry story we’ve heard like twice before. I’m not going to recap it in screenshots because you likely know it by now. That said, I’ll go ahead and link a video because it’s not a bad watch and the music is pretty solid.
At least listen to the music. It’s a mix of the shrine theme, Ganon’s theme, and BotW’s main theme.
The only other NPC besides the stablemaster has a nice short shrine quest for us, even if he isn’t aware of it. You can probably see it in that painting.
Have you come to look at this picture too? It’s so beautiful… I could spend hours just looking at it. This painting was made by Ozunda, the owner of this stable, or so I hear. That volcano in the background… It’s so majestic. And the stable is subtle in the scenery.
The “painted from the south” clue is kinda unnecessary considering even from this stable the volcano is north from us. It makes sense it’d be further southwest from our current location.
A simple-yet-valuable recipe.
As I decide to search for the shrine, guess who’s back?
But don’t get the wrong idea now - Beedle’s heart belongs to Hyrule.
It upsets me that the game never resolves the sexual tension between Link and Beedle.
A couple of nice rare critters if you’re hunting for buffs.
According to the painting, the stable’s to the east. This is a nice start and gives a glamorous view of the path to the volcano, but it seems we’re not quite far back enough.
oh hey two people getting clobbered by monsters, I wonder who they could be
Who’s crazier, the Crazy Truffle Lady or the person who follows Crazy Truffle Lady? At some point you’ve got to cut your losses, and considering this is the third (and likely not last) time I had to save you dunderheads…
Anyway, behind all that was the briefest glimpse of orange, and considering the shrine sensor is going off…
Puzzle solved!
This one has to do with fire.
No torches or wood weapons in sight…
But it’s fine because a notched arrow works just as well.
Simply rub your flaming arrow on the walls until you burn the vines that lead to the rest of the shrine.
There’s a lot going on in this one section. The middle has a chest suspended by (flammable) boxes, the right has a platform leading to a monk suspended by (flammable) boxes…
This locked room has (flammable) vines leading to a (flammable) platform holding up a (flammable) chest…
It’s time to burn everything.
Burn.
Burn.
Burn.
And a bonus burn because why not.
This weapon’s not so impressive. I think it might be useful for ore collection but eh, there’s better options for that.
I ditch it but not before I briefly drop my halberd to make room for it, since shrines will track if you grab every treasure chest.
Anyway, after we burn everything, we grab another orb.
Back to the stable. Before we start our trek, I want to explore this side path to the right.
So a Black Lizalfos, two Fire Chuchu…
…and explosive barrels. HMMMMMM.
https://i.mega64.net/botw/u47/116.mp4
It didn’t work quite as well as I hoped, but I’m still happy it worked at all.
I felt bad about scorching the fella so I let him chill out a bit.
Then I walloped 'em all the same.
More loot. Boomerangs are always fun so I grab it.
Oh yeah and there’s a shrine near here because of course there is.
Off in the background is the region’s tower. We’ll check that out next update.
A rather large enemy camp in the distance…
I skip all that in favor of solving another “fill in the rock circle” Korok puzzle.
The enemies didn’t seem to care.
Butterflies are a pain to photograph, flutting so erractically that you can’t really focus on them.
Oh hey.
This is another “burn everything” shrine.
Again, notched arrows do the trick. It burns away the vines which reveals crates which…also catch on fire and burn away.
A brief beatdown of a scout later…
Bog-standard "clip the rope to crash the flame down and burn the path forward.
Final room is…kinda interesting. A bunch of the same suspended torches from before.
However there’s also regular torches so rather than waste arrows sniping these things I just light one arrow from a nearby torch and just burn everything down.
The chest has yet another one of these. Drowning in these things but, uh, thanks.
The trick is there’s a stone slab over the switch that opens the path to the monk, suspended by two (flammable) crates, each of which is next to easily-accessible (flammable) vines.
Yep.
I still haven’t cashed in my other orbs yet. Sitting on seven right now.
Next time, we begin our trek proper to Death Mountain. It should be a blast!
Click here to open the update!
This is the entrance of Death Mountain, at least in the way a mountain can have an entrance. As you may expect, there are many ways to climb this thing.
Lot of warm-weather-loving insects in the vicinity, plus hot springs if you want to relax a bit. Unfortunately we don’t have the time.
Believe it or not, travelers go to and from a volcano named Death Mountain. I don’t know why, but there you go.
If there are a lot of tourists hanging around up there…there could be some good selling to be had.
Hmmm, should I climb a volcano where I could burn alive? Tough choice.
Ah, the tough questions.
Anyway, this Goron sells ore if you’re desperate for some. They’re…pretty expensive, though. It’s easier just to mine it ourselves.
Death Mountain has its own fauna, understandably.
And of course Fire Chuchus love this place.
I’d like to meet the person who took down a Guardian with that spear.
…ehhhh let’s not go that way.
This side’s steep but gives us a direct route to the tower.
Besides, there are some flat surfaces to recover and beat up enemies on. The usual fare apparently don’t seem to mind the intense heat.
Probably because they have these to cool off.
https://j.mega64.net/botw/u48/021.mp4
These don’t do much damage to the black forms of enemies, but it’s still fun to do.
Anyway, I give them the ol’ freeze-and-shock.
Death Mountain has a lot of ore around here. Putting the Sheikah Sensor on rare ore deposits and wandering around the mountain is one of the quickest ways to get money.
Anyway, we soon make it to where the tower is.
Pfft. How bad could it be?
https://j.mega64.net/botw/u48/028.mp4
Uh, pretty bad! This isn’t like extreme heat or cold where your health will slowly sap away. No, apparently being on fire freaking hurts and will quickly drain your health. While you could eat-and-run, I really would not recommend it.
Anyway, there’s no gimmick to this tower. Just climb it as normal.
Welcome to the Eldin region! Or at least the eastern half of it.
Yep, there’s a lot of lava around here. Surprising, huh?
Hmm, I wonder what’s up on the volcano…
https://j.mega64.net/botw/u48/034.mp4
Hmmm… I bet we’re going to know this guy a bit better soon.
The tower lies next to a path that, if we follow it west and then north, seems to lead us to what looks like a town. Sounds as good a lead as any!
But first, let’s take care of that whole “burning alive” thing, shall we? Just look at the temperature gauge.
There’s some cool music when exploring Death Mountain. It’s actually the music of the final dungeon of Zelda 1.
We’ll get to the shrine momentarily.
But first, a new enemy.
https://j.mega64.net/botw/u48/044.mp4
These guys will suck up everything in the vicinity to fire explosives toward you.
https://a.mega64.net/botw/u48/045.mp4
Including your own explosives.
There’s another neat trick involving these guys that I’ll show off later.
There’s a shrine over here, but we’re going to come back to it later. Your buffs keep going in shrines, and the potion we just used is the only thing keeping us from burning alive.
Next up is this rather large cavern with a neat little thing to it.
Meet the Igneo Talus.
It’s pretty much the same as a regular Talus, except it’s understandably too hot to climb. Enter ice arrows.
Cooling it off will stun it and keep it cool for a brief time, letting you wail at the usual weak point.
Most of my healing involves buff foods which would overwrite the “don’t set on fire” buff. All I have are one health elixir, fairies, and Mipha, so it’s a wee bit tense right now.
I haven’t shown this off yet, but upgrading Stasis lets us freeze enemies. Most will stay frozen for a few seconds, but larger and more-advanced enemies like this one will only stay frozen for a second or two. This is still enough to be very useful.
In this case, it gives us enough time to scale the thing and wallop on it.
It’s still a Talus, so it’s not really difficult while still being pretty rewarding.
We’ve still got a ways to go, though.
This next area has a lot of Fireproof Lizards, which is good. This is the main reason I’m opting for the Sheikah Set.
My shortcut to the tower led us to skip Marker #2, I guess. You guys are lucky I’m not simply skipping most everything here like I did my first time!
Which I regret because there’s something very useful in this area.
This is the Southern Mine, which is also our first real encounter with Gorons.
And also there’s a Hylian…?
But those folks from Goron City, I’ll tell ya… Sure are amazing, huh? Eating hotpot even in this heat. I’m on my way back from Goron City but forgot to buy souvenirs. I wanted to capture some of those fireproof lizards that live here on Death Mountain, but those suckers are quick. Say, you look pretty speedy. I bet you could catch a ton! If you bring me 10, I’ll even give you some heat-resistant armor.
Ten lizards is a lot, but if it means getting a permanent way to not burn to death, we’re game.
Great! Thanks, buddy! Just 10 fireproof lizards should be enough. You can probably find some right around here!
Fortunately, there are a ton around the immediate area.
Heck, we’ve already got 8 just from exploring the area.
That was easy.
Well, a deal’s a deal. Hand them over and I’ll give you this heat-resistant armor.
As you might have guessed, Goron City sells clothing that protects against the volcano’s heat. I’m still going to stick with the Sheikah Set for now since I’ve still got a good bit of time left on my elixir buff, but the Flamebreaker stuff is pretty much what we’ll be wearing during our adventures on Death Mountain.
My helmet? Sorry, it ain’t for lending! It’s too expensive for that. You can buy your own in Goron City. To get to Goron City, head north from here. It’s the fifth stop up the trail. I’m sure you’d agree, buddy, that it’s always handy to have some spare souvenirs on hand.
And if I get my hands on some fireproof lizards and some monster parts… I can make some fireproof elixirs to boot!
A very useful side quest.
Three of these babies for twenty rupees is a terrible deal, though. Besides, we’ll want these for armor upgrades.
Alright, let’s chat up some of the Gorons around here.
Just passing through.
OK, fine, we’re actually the hero of legend in the middle of our quest to vanquish the evil that has stricken the land for the past hundred years, you got us.
I’ve gotta interrupt ya real quick! You’ve got good eyes on ya, little guy. Honest eyes. At my age, I’ve seen a lotta things. I can tell you’re no run-of-the-mill Hylian just by lookin’ at ya.
Where are we?
This place here… Well, as you can see, it’s a mine. We make a profit from sellin’ the ore we dig up. Our home, Goron City, benefits from our hard work!
This opens up an option to ask about Goron City.
The trip can be dangerous, so keep your eyes open on the way there!
So who are you?
I’m Bohrin of Goron City. I was once young and strong… Now I’m old and wrinkled. But worry not! There’s still a lot of fight left in me.
We’ll chat us these two before we go on our way.
Who are you?
Me? I’m Jengo. I’m a proud Goron of Goron City. If we dig up ore like this, Goron City will prosper. Everyone wins!
What is this place?
Take a look around. This is where we dig up ore. We call it the Southern Mine. But right now, we’ve got that lizard monster sittin’ up on Death Mountain. Normally we can pull up good ore from near the mountain peak… But for now, we have to mine here instead.
The Boss?
The Boss is the most important Goron in Goron City! His name is Bludo. He’s the visionairy who thought to set up dig sites here and at Death Mountain so we can sell the ore we find. Thanks to the Boss, Goron City is happy and prosperous. Nowhere else can even compete! No way, no how!
I’m sure that’ll be important soon enough. For now, let’s chat up the last Goron here, who’s interesting for reasons you’ll probably notice as soon as you see his name…
So what’s your name?
I’m a digger here, as you can see. I dig and I dig… Day in and day out… To be honest, I’m sick of it. I feel like…maybe I’m not meant to toil away in obscurity like this. sigh
A Goron who wants to make use of his strength whose name ends in “son”? Buddy, do we have an opportunity for you!
Huh? There is?
Let me tell you about a little place called Tarrey Town…
Tarrey Town? Never heard of it. What’s the deal with that place?
Tarrey Town… So there is somewhere out there that needs me… Hmm, Akkala isn’t too far from here. All right! I’m gonna do it! I’m gonna strike while the iron is hot!
While I’m at it…
https://a.mega64.net/botw/u48/143.mp4
Doing our small part to help Tarrey Town prosper.
I’m sure that can wait for another day, though. For now, let’s focus on this whole volcano thing.
Near the edge of the mine is an air current.
Leading us to this small blocked-off cavern.
Sweet.
Luckily there’s a bridge back so returning won’t be so bad.
Even in this heat, Bokoblins and Moblins are happy setting up camps to ambush travelers.
Looks like we’re on the right track, though! Not much longer.
In fact, this is pretty much the final stretch to Goron City.
This is the only other thing besides Fireproof Lizards that will give the Flame Guard buff, so it’s nice to grab them where we can find them. We’ll also want plenty of these to upgrade the Flamebreaker set once we get the other parts.
Continuing on…
https://a.mega64.net/botw/u48/155.mp4
Oh yeah and sometimes this happens. No biggie.
At last, we’ve made it! Once we pass that entrance, we’ll be in Goron City!
https://a.mega64.net/botw/u48/157.mp4
Looks like this guy’s suddenly getting a lot more active…
Next time, Goron City. I get the feeling we’re going to be here awhile…
Since I’ll likely get another orb in the next update, vote for our next upgrade. Don’t forgot I’ve already got a Stamina upgrade queued up.
Click here to open the update!
Welcome to Goron City!
How…? Word must travel fast up here!
To be honest, we haven’t had too many visitors here since those magma bombs started fallin’ from the sky.
Oh, in case ya didn’t know, Link is the little Hylian who fought alongside the Goron Champion, Daruk. If ya wanna hear more, talk to the Boss. He lives further in town.
The other races don’t live nearly as long as the Zora, so unlike Zora’s Domain nobody here is going to recognize poor Link. Might be for the best, though.
Goron City isn’t as large as Zora’s Domain, but it still has all the basic amenities you’d expect from a town.
Today will be focused on exploring the city and chatting up the locals, ending with meeting up with the boss of this place.
In that case, I’ll take ya somewhere nice. Follow me.
https://b.mega64.net/botw/u49/013.mp4
…You could’ve just said “hey check out this building right next to me”.
Recently, somethin’ called the Divine Beast Vah Rudania showed up on Death Mountain. Since then, it’s gotten a lot hotter here. That’s why we’re sellin’ fireproof armor.
We’ve already gotten one piece last update, but might be worth it to pick up the rest!
So what is this place?
As you can see, this here is my armor shop. Funny thing is, Gorons normally don’t wear anything at all. We started sellin’ flame-resistant armor for the tourists. I recommend the flamebreaker boots over all else. They’re made using gems mined from this very soil. As you’d expect, they have great flame resistance. Give 'em a try! They’re the envy of famous warriors the world over!
I want to buy.
Of course ya do! If ya gear up here, you’ll be set to stay cool at places even hotter than Goron City. With what you’re wearin’ right now… you should really give up on goin’ anywhere hotter than Goron City. Places that hot are forbidden to anyone who isn’t a Goron anyhow.
The legs and body armor are pricier than we’ve seen so far, but not too bad. The helmet, on the other hand, is crazy expensive.
Honestly, you can get by with the legs and body armor. You only need two layers of Flame Guard to handle anything, and even with the body armor you can just drink an elixir for the two or three places where you actually need two layers. One is enough for the majority of this area. I’d really only get the helmet if you want to eventually get the set bonus (or like the way it looks, fashion is the most important factor after all).
That said, I sell some of the gems I’ve accumulated recently to get the two pieces I lacked. Once my elixir runs low later in the update, I’ll swap to said gear.
Huh…wasn’t expecting Pikango of all people to be here.
Yeah, I’m not sure I’ll be able to draw anything here… So I’ll just burn this scenery into my memory.
As usual, he’s eager to give a hint towards a picture.
Hmm… I can see Hyrule Castle and the Great Hyrule Forest, which neighbors it to the north. Looking down on the Great Hyrule Forest from the southeast, you can see scenery like this.
I hear there’s some high ground north of the Woodland Stable with an incredible view. Sorry… That’s all I know.
At some point it might be worth searching for a few more of those memories. You know, since they have the plot and all.
Come watch us train at Gut Check Rock!
- Bayge, Heehl, and Kabetta
A couple of these homes are empty, including this place that houses the Gut Check brothers we met previously.
In the center of the city is the boss. We’ll save him for last.
Meanwhile, there’s a youth rolling around town.
Huh?
Probably. (but not really)
Er, nothin’!
We’ll pass. Much cheaper to make our own, after all!
Nice sales pitch, there.
Just passing through.
Hmmm…
Uh… Bye!
…What?!
Heh. I like your style! In fact, I’m gonna do you a favor and accept you as my student.
Who are you?
Siergo.
Where am I?
Goron City.
Where do you live?
The smithy’s place.
Informative!
The last building on the right side of town is the inn.
What is this place?
This is the distinguished Goron establishment, Rollin’ Inn!
Er…that’s what I’d like to say, anyway. But Boss’s house is kinda in the way.
Yep, I think you should definitely stay here, friend!
Hmmm.
There’s the innkeeper and…a Gerudo?
I think you’ve got the wrong idea…
So what’s a Gerudo doing out here?
I’m Ramella. As you can see, I’m from the Gerudo region. I came for the jewels that are to be found in Goron City. These days, those magma bombs are causing trouble and preventing me from working. I’m not too happy about it.
Shouldn’t you be burning alive right about now?
Oh… Well, I slathered fireproof elixir on my skin, so I’ll be fine. If you want to buy fireproof elixirs, a little Goron brat is selling them. I suggest you buy one and use it. I’d pay anything to save myself from this wretched heat.
Later on she’ll serve as a nice way to get some extra money. But on to the next NPC.
A massage?
New to the art of Goron massage, I take it? That’s OK. First time for everything, as they say. A Goron-style massage is done on top of a hard rock bed. Pressure is applied to your body to squeeeeze the tension out. But I’ll tell ya, it doesn’t hurt one bit. Mostly. Honestly, I doze off sometimes! When it’s all over, you’ll sleep like a rock and feel great when ya wake up. You’ll be all limber and full of energy!
Uh… I think we’ll pass.
The left side of town starts off with a quest.
Your brother?
My little brother, Gonguron. I’m really proud of him, but… He said he was gonna go dig up the secret of the hero, and then he just took off!
Secret of the hero?
Southwest of Gorko Lake, there’s an abandoned spot called Gorko Tunnel. Behind that hard bedrock, there lies not just ore…but the secret of the hero! …Or so the legend goes. True or not, it makes for a good story.
Instead of chasin’ dreams, I’d prefer to see him face reality and help us out with our important Goron work…
This one’s a shrine quest, so…the secret of the hero is probably a shrine.
We’ll save this for the backburner.
Next up, a shop.
How’s it goin’?
What is this place?
Well, take a look around. This is a grilling joint! Normally Gorons only eat rocks. Mmm, the good stuff! Still, we sell this kinda thing for the tourists. They love it. Come on! Eat up, and get yourself a meaty muscle body like us Gorons!
We might be interested in buying.
I’ll tell ya somethin’ interesting… Goron City is so hot, if ya put anything on the ground, it’ll cook up in no time. Once people figured that out, we lost all our customers. All of ‘em! So…yeah. If ya see somethin’ ya want, just grab it hot off the grill!
You…probably shouldn’t have told us that trick. But yeah, this entire area is handy since you can get a free health boost from forage by simply dropping it on the ground and waiting a few seconds. The temperature is so high food will cook immediately! And also burn away many items, such as all wooden gear…
What’s the deal with this shop?
Our motto is, “From the kitchen to the battlefield, we’ve got the right tool for you to wield!”
This place sells both Ice and Fire Arrows (though the latter is completely unnecessary since regular arrows are instantly set alight from the heat of this place, so all your regular arrows become Fire Arrows in a way), as well as a couple of cooking ingredients. The interesting one is Goron Spice, which a few recipes call for.
Further up, another side quest.
Who’s Rohan?
Master Rohan is a godly blacksmith. He’s responsible for keepin’ the ancient arts alive! He’s really strick with everyone - me included. In my case, he told me to beat every Igneo Talus around Goron City as part of my training.
If only someone would go in my place…
This isn’t even a request, this is simply Link feeling like a nice guy and wanting to surprise someone by doing his work for him.
Oh yeah, and Darunia was another Sage from Ocarina of Time, appropriately enough the leader of the Gorons.
And here’s the blacksmith.
Oops!
You’re distractin’ me!
He’s not very friendly, though.
Our elixir’s about out, so now it’s time to deck out in our new gear.
We’ve pretty much talked to most of the town. Let’s get things rolling by starting the main quest for this region.
Something wrong?
With Rudania runnin’ wild recently, Death Mountain’s eruptions have gotten real bad.
They say that 100 years ago, it actually used to protect our people from harm…but that was then, and this is now! Now all it does is mess up our mining operations! We’re all suffering because it’s stoppin’ us from doin’ business! I can’t tell ya how many times we’ve used the cannon to chase off that fiend.
https://b.mega64.net/botw/u49/147.mp4
Are you OK? That sounded…painful.
Hmph, it’s just some back pain…
Just passing through.
I see… So, then, you came all this way to pay your respects to me? I like you already, brother!
I’m the great Goron Boss who’s fearsome enough to silence a crying child! Or to make a silenced child cry, either way. Yes, it is none other than I, Bludo! I was plannin’ to drive off Rudania like I always do, but then this blasted pain in my back flared up outta nowhere…
Yunobo?
Yunobo is a young Goron who helps me drive off Rudania.
Hey… If ya happen to see Yunobo, will ya let him know I’m lookin’ for him?
Ugh… Ouch…
And so we begin our quest to pacify Vah Rudania. Seems like our best bet is to find this Yunobo fellow so we can get Bludo’s help.
Next time, we visit a mine! There will be explosions.
Click here to open the update!
There’s another Goron on the way to the mine. Of course we’ll be chatting him up.
There’s only an abandoned mine past this point. That and lots of monsters. In other words, it’s dangerous!
I don’t know what the bullseyes around Goron City are for. Well, this one makes sense at least.
Oh yeah, finally getting that Stamina Vessel I asked you guys about weeks ago.
Talking to Bargoh again gives us some new prompts. First, let’s ask about Yunobo.
Boss said to…
Well, if the Boss sent ya, I have no choice but to cooperate! If you’re lookin’ for Yunobo, he went to the Abandoned North Mine. It’s ‘cause Rudania is back again… I bet he’s tryin’ to help fix up the Boss’s back so they can drive back that awful beast, just like always.
If we say we’re lost…
I guess if you’re not used to this area, it’s easy to lose your way… When that happens, try findin’ a spot that’s high up to scope things out.
Good, if kinda blatantly obvious advice at this point. So who’s this guy?
No matter how ya slice it, I’m Bargoh of the Gorons! Ever since that big lizard appeared on Death Mountain, there’ve been lots of monsters in this area. I’m here to make sure they don’t come anywhere near us!
Also there’s a shrine. Of course there’s a shrine.
For the third shrine in a row, the theme is “burn things”.
The door opens when the switch is weighed down. Of course, it’s one of those switches that pop back up if we get up. Luckily there’s a barrel nearby to weight it down, but how to get it down…
Yep.
I didn’t check to see if you could use Stasis on the switches, since sometimes that’s a viable option. And of course Fire Arrows trivialize this shrine.
A hint of things to come.
One burn later, and we get a rather nice two-handed weapon.
More generic stuff.
This one is…well, it’s metal so…
This releases the ball…
…which gets stuck at that gate.
https://c.mega64.net/botw/u50/038.mp4
The other half’s not that interesting. It’s really only there so you can watch the ball hit the gear and actually see why the door opens after you drop the ball.
This leads to a key we need to advance.
Once again, there’s a switch that needs to be laid down by a barrel to advance. But this time, there’s a switch on a platform.
This drops two torches, and funnily enough neither are above the leaves. If you step off the switch and get back on, the torches respawn.
The name of the shrine and remembering what you had to do to get to this part should be enough to give you the answer (besides use Fire Arrows).
Use Magnesis to make the torch swing back and forth.
Time your shot just right…
And your reward is burning. Always burning.
And that’s it! Simple, but at least there’s a clear progression in learning puzzle concepts, so it beats a lot of other puzzles.
The trip to the abandoned mine is pretty short, just a quick two-minute walk past some Rock Octoroks…
And here we are!
There’s a Goron at the entrance. Maybe he has some clues as to where Yunobo is.
This guy’s dialogue is going to be a pain to transcribe. Anyway, on to Yunobo.
Boss.
Well… Then I guess I better tell you wheeeeere Yunobo is!
This place is daaaaangerous, so ya probably shouldn’t go lookin’ for him.
Leave Yunobo to die, got it. So who are you?
Who, meeee? They call meeeee…Draaaaak! Ever since Divine Beast Vah Rudania showed up, there’s a tooooon of lava. It’s waaaay too hot now, and there are more monsters around too. Boss keeps waaaatch over this area, but he can only do sooo much…
Where am I anyway?
This is the Abandoned North Mine. Oh, and this is the little ditty we all used to siiiiing as we worked:
Yeah, this is a famous mine, my maaaan. Or it was…until Divine Beast Vah Rudania showed up. Now it’s waaaay too hot! There’s tons more lava and all kiiiiiinds of monsters out and about. It’s so dangerous, we can’t dig here anymore!
Good, I can stop writing all those vowels. Anyway, looks like we’ll have to venture in to find Yunobo.
This is one of a couple areas within the volcano area that requires two levels of fire guard. Luckily we’re decked in armor so the buff stacks and we’re good to go.
There’s a sledgehammer lying here that will come in handy…
For there is a rather delightful gimmick with this area.
We’ll be ignoring this advice. We have to in order to find Yunobo anyway, and using them in general will make this area significantly easier.
https://c.mega64.net/botw/u50/077.mp4
Hitting the lever will move the cannon between two positions (so hitting it again would return it to its original position). Then we put a bomb into the cannon, explode it as normal, and launch an explosive in that direction. It just so happens you can point many of these cannons into enemies and rock clusters.
It’s not very intuitive though, or at least it wasn’t for me. I didn’t figure out the concept until I used the cannon that’s required to free Yunobo. Fortunately I won’t have that issue today!
This area we blew up also houses another cannon. And now we don’t have Lizalfos to interfere with our blowing up more Lizalfos!
https://c.mega64.net/botw/u50/080.mp4
Like so.
Quite a few air vents, so manuevering around this area isn’t difficult despite all the little islands surrounded by lava.
The Lizalfos here are more threatening than usual, letting loose plenty of Fire Arrows at you. We can still take fire damage in this gear (for now), so this is something we’d like to avoid. Fortunately, we’re coming up to our solution.
And what a solution it is!
This rock holds some valuable ore if we blow it up. The trick is we have to hit it while the cannon is moving.
Might take a couple tries, but nothing too difficult.
The Lizalfos here are Fire-Breath Lizalfos, which breathe fire. There’s also ice and lightning-elemental Lizalfos we’ll surely encounter later. Anyway, if you’re doing armor upgrades these colored tails are worth their weight in gold.
Anyway, our reward!
There is a skull encampment across from us.
Correction: There was a skull encampment across from us.
We just got ice arrows, and there’s two fire-breath Lizalfos near us.
https://c.mega64.net/botw/u50/097.mp4
Ice attacks instantly kill fire enemies. We’ve seen the reverse as well.
Some of these guys will even drop more Fire Arrows, which will likely be handy later.
https://d.mega64.net/botw/u50/099.mp4
This was too glorious not to show off.
This little rock island covers up a vent that gives us easy access to yet another cannon.
Not just any cannon, though. This one is the one we need to free Yunobo.
…Huh.
So who’s ready for the least-appropriate voice you’d imagine for a Goron?
https://d.mega64.net/botw/u50/108.mp4
This is Yunobo. Like Sidon, he will be our partner for this stage of the game. Don’t let the initial impression fool you, he’s far from a coward.
HMMM…
Were you the one who broke through that crag to rescue me, goro? Thanks, brother!
Looking for what I assume to be you.
Oh! So that’s it! Boss told you to come find me! Phew, thank goodness. In any case, I sure am glad you saved me, goro!
I came to get some painkillers for Boss, but a magma bomb caused a rock slide, sealing the entrance, goro.
With a big freaking cannon.
That thing is so difficult to use. I thought only Boss could handle it!
Sorry, I’ve gotta run! But do come by and see the Boss later, OK? He may be gruff, but he always repays a favor. I’m sure there’s a reward in it for you. OK then! Good-bye for now, goro!
https://d.mega64.net/botw/u50/129.mp4
Before we check back in, let’s loot the place.
Also a Cobble Crusher and Iron Sledgehammer nearby. Decent loot.
And of course Koroks are hiding near a freaking volcano. Why wouldn’t they be?
Next time, we’ll begin our plan to take down Rudania and maybe regain a memory on the way.
First, long overdue but…
Second, finally got around to getting some gameplay recorded, up through finishing Rudania. Somehow Game Overed on the build-up section to Rudania despite Mipha’s Grace and two or three fairies. It’s not even that difficult a section.
I’ll probably be done with Rudania in three updates, plus one more for post-Rudania stuff and side-quests. After that, who knows?