To be fair, when you get down to the last Landmola, his attack does change. It’s not easily noticed. When they pop out of the ground, Landmolas shoot 4 rocks at different angles. When there is just one, he shoots 8 rocks in all directions. It closes the up close safe zone that you used to have, if you were directly next to, above or below them, now, you have to be slightly offset and further away, to avoid taking damage.
I wonder if the bumpers and the hard hat beetles which bump Link around are in a way meant to make players fall down the holes in the floor and discover that these don’t cause Link to die but to just fall below- making the player realize “oh yeah! This is a tower with floors above one another.”
It seems likely! A good way to introduce the idea to players by “happenstance” rather than it being told to you outright. On a first playthrough it’s very likely you’ll get knocked down
I realized that these dungeons with the red and blue floor switches are also the earliest (and obviously way simpler) example of puzzle box dungeons, i.e. changing something in one room that affects how you can navigate other rooms
I think the biggest puzzle box moment is in Misery Mire (iirc) where you light 2 torches in one room, then 2 in the next and if you did it all quickly then a wall slides open in a third room ahead. You get the same rumbling effect as when the wall opens in Desert Palace, but unlike all the other cases you're not there to see this one, so even if it's a baby puzzle, it feels more like the later games.
Great analysis as always Capt., though I'm a little surprised that nobody here's brought up the curious detail that is the Pendants of Power & Wisdom-and by extension, their respective virtues-having their colours swapped in this game compared to all other entries in the series (perhaps the devs were using the colour-coded defence values of Zelda 1: the Hyrule Fantasy as a reference?)
Duuuude the juxtaposition though!! Very nice video! I really liked how you highlighted all of the "learn by doing" mechanics in these dungeons 👍🏼 that's the best way to do it imo! Great video, can't wait for the next one!! 😊🍔👑
That comment about how the only way to use the Moon Pearl in the boss fight would be if Moldorm was in the Dark World made me curious enough to check and it turns out the Ganon's Tower Moldorm is on the same floor as the Tower of Hera Moldorm, so like, if the Moldorm room had somehow been the one Dungeon room in the game where travel between Light and Dark Worlds was possible, it could have worked.
Maybe another idea, though it kinda spoils a trap from the middle dungeons in the dark world. They have those yellow sparkle things that force you into rabbit form for a few seconds. Maybe Moldorm could've spawned those when you hit it, and if you don't have the pearl they don't wear off (or at least take much longer) so that you're helpless against it. Would need some tweaking of course, either a very nerfed duration when you do have the moon pearl, or fewer pits (two annoying mechanics is one too many).
Good point about the Tower of Hera boss, the consequences of falling off the platform really make the boss battle what it is. Adds to the risk vs reward thrill.
I wonder if 'Hebra' Mountain (the light world version of the mountain area in the jp release) was named something close to Hera to provide at least a possible linguistic 'out' in the event they ever went in a lore-dense direction and didn't want to commit to the real world mythological reference
There is an extra little insight I have. After beating the Eastern Palace the village elder tells you about where to find the ice rod which can be used against the desert palace to do extra damage against them.
Thinking about the Landmolas, another interesting incorporation of the dungeon item could work like follows: The Landmolas burrow around the edge of the room to create the vortex, occasionally one will dive under and a shadow moves across the room, intending to come up in the center to lash out at you. As it burrows, boulders get dislodged from its path. The player needs to quickly fetch up a Boulder and toss it in the middle to crush the head as the landmola surfaces. Repeat twice for two to start the second portion, in which you now need to chase the surviving third Landmola as it attempts to flee while the room collapses. Your goal is to grab the tail when it is under the shadow of a falling Boulder, holding it till it goes SPLAT. Just a silly thought lol
Just got the notification from the community tab. Perfect time to put a video on to fall asleep to. Love your work, I'll comment again when I finish the video
Great video once again Burger! I started watching your streams not too long ago, and I love the way you highlight the little details in every Zelda game. Keep up the good work!
Both dungeons are equally amazing to me in their own ways, my head cannon for the dessert palace is that it’s the Spirit Temple, but twilight princess style modified by the royal family to hide away the pendant of power
@CaptBurgerson I find it important to mention that both in the original Link‘s Awakening‘s (Game Boy) and in ALttP Moldorm is surrounded by pitfalls, sending Link to the cavern below - and Link has to ascend to the floor above and start the battle against Moldorm again, who has fully recovered: The battle is completely reset if Link falls down a chasm/ pitfall in the original Link‘s Awakening and in ALttP. It is only the Switch remake that nerfs this battle - one of several reasons why I am absolutely convinced that the original Link’s Awakening still has the upper hand in some aspects over the remake. Both have great strengths, yet I am very glad that I experienced both the original and the remake. For many years, LA was my favorite Zelda, but now it’s ALttP.
On my most recent playthrough, the hardhat beetles were one of my yardsticks for progression. Really beefy in ToH/PoD where I was strategizing how to carefully knock them into pits rather than fight. Then you get to the endgame and the golden sword kills the blue ones in one hit and the red ones in two, feels really good.
^ I loved this feeling, but I was playing the GBA version and it has that bonus dungeon after Ganon...took the power feeling right out of me. Those boss fights are a nightmare
I thought the boss of the desert temple was good growing up.. lol to be fair, the final worm doubles the amount of stones it throws when it comes out. As a kid, I learned to time bombs when they spawn. I've got it down to an art lol
I'm really enjoying this series of videos, and the ones on A Link to the Past are reminding me both how much I love this game, and how much I am hoping that, like Breath of the Wild took the wide-open approach of the original Legend of Zelda into a huge 3D world, Tears of the Kingdom might bring the progression and clever, carefully constructed puzzle-box design of A Link to the Past into that same world.
Ah to clarify, the holes are there but fewer and with far less risk. There isn’t any penalty for falling down besides damage like there is in this battle, that is what is lacking. It is serviceable as a starter boss, but it is far less interesting than the ALTTP version. Cheers
You can’t edit something into a video once it’s uploaded, I’d have to take the video down, edit it and reupload it. That said, the ice rod is slow and not that practical in this fight imho. Not when a few spin attacks will do. It doesn’t change my stance on the boss being passable, but not that interesting.
i like the concept of tower of hera but i wish it had more substance and handled more use of verticality and peg puzzles. desert temple lacks the layers and i would have added another locked door and make better use of the east exist.
also the boss in the tower of hera is not a bad boss. the drop hole punishment is annoying but i do think the boss is a good challenge. also lanmola fires more projectiles when there is 1 remaining.
Yes, he does, and he also gets a bit faster. I didn't explain it well enough perhaps, but I guess what I meant is that I had hoped he would change his behaviour more, like the final Armos Knight who behaves completely differently with the final one. The lanmola uses basically the same attack pattern (but more!) rather than changing patterns.
@@CaptBurgerson it is funny i was unaware that he moves faster as well but yeah the behavior overall is the same where he just "turns red." most alttp bosses overall i find were handled pretty well (trinexx and kholdstare do have the magic problem but the gba port fixed this). helmasaur king i recall is easier on the second phase (unlike his gba exclusive bonus dungeon variant). anyway i always had a hard time ranking the first two dungeons. eastern has the layers but desert has more navigable freedom. tower of hera is one of the most important dungeons in the series. it introduced the reverse switch that affects the entire dungeon.
despite its simplicity tower of hera believe it or not is one of the most groundbreaking dungeons in the series. it introduced the reversible switch that affects the entire dungeon and vertical interconnectivity from a top town perspective.
Honestly? Moldorm is overhated. I beat the game yesterday and not once during his two fights did I ever fall down a hole or anything. He’s not as hard as everyone makes him out to be
