A Meaningless Riddle

An ocarina touts off a D-note four times. Whatever could that mean?

Nothing, really - except the two main topics for today's entry.





CURRENT MUSIC:
Hideyuki Fukasawa - "Theme of El Fuerte"
Street Fighter IV Original Soundtrack

Every time I hear this track, I have the sudden urge to just start playing fighting games as an outlandish character - or just doing something outlandish. How fitting, considering that El Fuerte is one of (Super) Street Fighter IV's outlandish characters.


Infected Mushroom - "Bombat"
IM the Supervisor

One of the fun things about having a gazillion sorted songs that I've yet to listen to is that when the shuffle option is on, one piece I've never heard before that I end up enjoying just randomly surfaces. "Bombat" just happens to be an example I discovered last night while I was driving home.

The first 50 seconds or so just sound like some weird background music for an eerie Zelda dungeon (cave dungeons, perhaps?), and then afterwards it shifts to music suitable for space-based fighter combat games such as Gradius. Well, I suppose the first 50 seconds could work for a game like that anyway - like, flying through some infested asteroid or something.


Zelda Reorchestrated - "Middle Boss Battle"
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time ~ The Complete Collection (ZREO Soundtrack)

Oh, good old mini-bosses. The music for those fights was, in my view, pretty good as well - especially if you encounter a fight you love so much with the right music.





Evening, everyone. Let's just jump straight to it, shall we?





Chess - How Josh Blanco fights the World's Gambit
(note: all annotations are from my perspective)

For those of you keeping track of JOSH BLANCO vs. THE WORLD (note: link requires a Facebook account), then you've seen thus far how the game has been going. In case you haven't:

(game position as of today)

1.e4 b5!?
2.d4

As seen on Sunday's analytical post, I was expecting something on the lines of the Sicilian Defense (1...c5), but was immediately thrown off-guard with what I thought to be a rather interesting response (1...b5 - the Polish Gambit).

Now, typical play for the gambit (should it be accepted) usually goes something like this:
2.Bxb5 c6
3.Bc4 d5
4.exd5 cxd5
5.Bb5+ Bd7 (as 5...Qd7? 6.Bxd7+ Kxd7 would be a very unwise tradeoff)
6.Bxd7+ Qxd7

how the board looks after 6...Qxd7

This leaves both sides in questionable positions and without a pawn and the light-square bishop. White is materially ahead with an extra pawn but no longer has any central development. Black on the other hand now has an unopposed pawn on d5 (7.c4 does little, in my view) but now has little hope of controlling the very-exposed queenside.



On the other hand, play might go differently.
2.Bxb5 Bb7 (establishing fianchetto and threatening the e-file pawn)
3.Nc3 e5

(position after 3...e5 - who has the advantage?)

Black now has decent control of the a8-h1 diagonal and is prepared to develop their queen and other bishop. Meanwhile, White is left with an awkwardly-developed bishop (which is easily made to retreat with 4...c6) and moderate "control" of the center. It could be said that White is in an advantageous position (Black's d-pawn is pinned and White's knight helps control the center), but White cannot hope to effectively put pressure on Black without a high chance of losing tempo. White's most practical move - 4.d4 - will invariably result in 4...exd4, forcing White to either waste a move moving their knight or force 5.Qxd4, which will end up with 5...c5 6.Qe5+ Be7 7.[any] f6, forcing the queen's retreat while giving Black more time to develop.



I'd rather not leave myself undeveloped like that - and since it's just me on this side, I'd rather not lose tempo (and by extension, first-turn advantage). So instead of accepting the free pawn, I chose to ignore it and finish establishing central control by 2.d4. 2.Nc3 looked enticing (seeing how it attacks Black's advanced pawn and protects mine at the same time, but simply playing 2...b4 would force me to retreat the knight and lose tempo. 2.Nf3 would have been a stronger move in hindsight (as it prevents 2...e4 and protects the d4 square), but as it blocks my f-pawn, I preferred waiting on that move until the pawn advances.

Now to see how the World Team responds...





Ignoring Ocarina of Time's Advice

Now, before you get any ideas: I didn't cheat or anything in Ocarina of Time 3D. Using cheats is just low and shows how unskilled a player truly is. But let's not delve into theories of "honorable gaming" or anything of the like. Let's talk about the much-adored video game that captured our hearts and minds (and drove a few of us crazy because of a certain annoying fairy).

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D has received unanimous acclaim worldwide, much like its original incarnation did. Featuring better visuals, easier menu navigation and enhanced everything else, this game has become portable epicness incarnate.

Currently, I just started the Forest Temple, which is good time considering the average gameplay time in relation with work and sleep schedules. Some of my friends working at the local GameStop are around the same area, and so is a decent amount of the nation.

However, I do have a slight bit of an edge as compared to them: superior gear, more life and tons of practice. Sounds confusing? It isn't once you give it a bit of thought.

(Author's Note: I'm not providing a link for any of this - partly because the people who'd most likely read my blog share similar tastes in basic forms of entertainment... and mostly because everyone (and I mean everyone) my age has been exposed to Ocarina of Time at least once in their life. So, to you non-gamers: GET THIS GAME AND JOIN THE CROWD. We're going to go ahead and call it a cardinal sin if you haven't yet. )

Once you grab the Master Sword and the Hookshot, you're supposed to head to the Lost Woods and into the Forest Temple. However, as a big fan of the Longshot, I couldn't stand having some crap-ass device with only half the length of the Longshot in my possession. So, I decided to see if I could procure the thing despite how far I was in the game.

I ventured into the Ice Cavern mini-dungeon, nabbed the Iron Boots (made so much easier to use by putting them in a gear slot instead of having to go in the menu each time) and some Blue Fire, defrosted King Zora for my free Zora Tunic and dove under what was left of Lake Hylia into the Water Temple.

Here's what made my trek exciting: it IS possible to grab the Longshot*. After a ridiculously-fun-and-a-tad-difficult Dark Link boss fight (no Megaton Hammer or Biggoron Sword = somewhat more annoying fight), I ventured into the next room, where a treasure chest was waiting (gee, I wonder what was inside). So naturally, after procuring the grappling device, I went off to cause havoc and just go nuts with the thing. I went to Kakariko Village, grabbed the Longshot-requiring Heart Pieces (two of 'em if I remember right) and then spent about 20 minutes zipping from rooftop to rooftop (yes, I'm that easily entertained).

Then I went to Goron City and grabbed the Goron Tunic. I proceeded to Death Mountain to get the Bolero of Fire... and then it hit me: I didn't put down a Scarecrow's Song. Depressed that I couldn't hookshot my way around the crater for the hidden heart piece, I left the area, wondering what other things I could do before I should be doing them.

So, after screwing around Hyrule for hours and calling it a day, here's how I'll be entering the Forest Temple...

• Zora Tunic equipped (because I can, unlike most of you =P)
• a Gerudo Membership Card pinned on said Zora Tunic (yeah, I got that bridge fixed already)
• eleven (yeah, ELEVEN) Hearts in my Life Bar
• a Giant's Wallet filled to the max (thank you, 31 Gold Skulltula tokens and a nice little "bug"**)

This is just waaaaaaay too awesome for words. Thing is... I heard one can complete the Fire Temple before the Forest Temple... does that mean I can smoosh things in the Forest Temple with the Megaton Hammer!? *goes to investigate*

* = Doesn't seem like I can actually beat the Water Temple though... there's a switch that requires me to hit it with a bow... but I wonder if I can bypass that...

** = In Kakariko Village in the Future there's a commoner who buys whatever stuff you got bottled up. Now, when you release a bug, you end up releasing three. So, I dropped the bug without presenting it to the commoner, picked up one of the three bugs, presented that one to said commoner, then quickly bottled up one of the other two bugs before they burrowed away. Repeat until maxed out with awesome rupees. Heheh.





So now that today's entry is done and done... I'm going to go think about stuff before eating a late-night dinner. Ciao, everyone.