Before I begin, there's something I forgot to mention yesterday: the fact that King of the Red Lions just gives you a Wind Waker out of the blue is a little odd. In OoT, after a dramatic escape scene from Ganon, you have to look around in the water for the Ocarina of Time. It doesn't feel nearly as far-fetched as "It's dangerous to go alone. Take this wand with you." Just a little nit-pick.

Anyways...

So I resumed my play session from where I left off: Dragon Roost Cavern's entrance. Ever since, I don't know, Lethal Lava Land, I can't seem to get too excited for volcano-based levels. But I tried to keep an open mind.

The dungeon is easy enough for the most part. I had no trouble whatsoever, except for at a few parts.
1: That part where you an enemy pops out of a jar and you have to take his sword at smash in the other two barriers.
2: I couldn't figure out how to get to that lower ledge that leads you to the Big Key.
3: I had trouble getting back from the area where the Big Key is kept. I didn't know you could climb the hookshot if you slowed it down. Oh well. Everything else was a breeze.

The boss was nothing to write home about. I don't even remember its name. I don't think I took a single hit. Gohma from OoT was a much better first boss, IMO.

After you defeat it, you get a decent wrap up to the Rito Prince story. They all say something about talking to the God of the wind, but I already did that. I played the song and changed the wind direction south so I could get to my next destination. Yesterday I said I didn't mind the sailing, but I can definitely see how it may get boring. I didn't even move my left analog stick at all the entire time. There was this weird moment where I thought something was going to jump out at me though, because suddenly the music just stopped and the weather worsened, but that's the only thing worth noting about the trip. The fish guy mentions something interesting about hidden caves and stuff on each island, but I didn't check anything out yet. I'll leave that for a bit later. Also, everyone keeps mentioning "bait" like I'm supposed to know what that is and where to get it.

Anyways, after 5 minutes of sailing or so, I land on the Forest Haven isle and save my game. Like yesterday, I'm not really "hooked" -- but I did find myself enjoy the much more platform-y sections of the last dungeon (when you actually go outside of the dungeon to the cliffs, there are stairs that fall when you walk on them, a bird's nest with a hidden key underneath, a few hookshot targets... it's cool, and I noticed myself enjoying them more than the other parts.) Dragon Roost Cavern is nothing really special, but it's not bad either. Maybe it's just my predisposition against lava levels, I don't know. But this next portion looks promising.

You guys were right, it was Windfall Island. As soon as I walked up the beach it did this little intro cutscene thing and it said "Windfall Island" in the top left. Anyways. I took my time and explored. Talked to everyone. I don't feel as intimidated in this game to explore as I did in Ocarina. I don't know what it was, but I think it had something to do with the draw distances in that game severely limiting my vision, making me feel overwhelmed. Here, it isn't an issue though. Plus, you get all sorts of goodies and tips for talking to and helping out people. Win-win.

Windfall is kinda neat. The people are sorta weird, though. Everyone seems really self-obsessed and a tad narcissistic. Which is fine -- I like how all the islands I've encountered so far have their own personality. That being said, there isn't much to actually do on Windfall at this stage in the game. You have two dads who want their daughter saved, but they're chilling with Aryll right now so that's no bueno. Elvis mentions something about a dance that someone showed him awhile ago, but I don't really have access to that song yet so I'll probably come back to it. One little detail I would like to point out is that group of kids that runs around. There's this one kid who's obviously the leader -- he walks a little taller, a little faster, than everyone else. Kind of cool. After I bought the sail from the Popo, I went back to King of the Red Lions and set sail. Verb said that this was going to be a hit-or-miss feature for me, but my initial impression? I like it. The Great Sea music is a really solid remix of the Hyrule/Termina Field music, and I don't see myself getting to tired of it. Sailing speed seems fine for the most part, as you have to avoid barrels and things in the water anyway. I reserve the right to change my mind, but as of now, yeah. I like it. Better than running through Hyrule field when you forgot to secure Epona in Ocarina, lol.

Anyways, the game wanted me to journey to "uncharted territory", but because I had already talked to everyone, I sorta put together that I'm headed to Dragon Roost Island. When I arrive, I'm greeted with a really cool-ass looking mountain thing -- very reminiscent of Death Mountain or whatever from Ocarina of Time (with the swirling clouds and such.) I explore my surroundings a bit -- manage to learn a new song for my Wind Waker from that shrine behind the island entrance. Not sure what Thundurous is doing in this game, though.

Making my way up the mountain was easy enough. And speaking of easy, it's worth noting that this game is a walk in the park. I have about 40 deaths in Ocarina by this time, but I haven't died once yet. Maybe I'm just getting better at the Zelda formula, but somehow I doubt it. Don't get me wrong, though -- I'm not complaining. Difficulty is a stupid thing to harp on about.

I meet up with... CRAP. I forget his name, but he's the mail-man who vouched for you on Outset Island to Tetra. He says he'll see what he can do to help me out by talking to the village Chief. Awesome. I really like the Ritos. They seem like a really hard-working, down-to-earth people. Out of all the Zelda species I've interacted with thus far (Gorons, Fairies, Hylians, and Zora's), I like them the most. Anyways, I'm tasked with bringing a letter from Medli to the Prince of the Chief or something (forget his name, too), but I don't really do so until I finish exploring. Played a fun mini-game to win back some of the Rupees I lost buying the sail.

I show the letter to the Prince and I go meet up with Medli. After throwing her across the cavern, she tosses me the bottle... for some reason. Gee, thanks. But I pretty much know what I'm supposed to do at this point. Filled the bottle with water, pour it on the bomb plants up top, demolish the boulder blocking the pond. I do that, and I make a pretty uneventful entrance to the next dungeon, where I save my game.

I wouldn't say I'm "hooked" yet, as I'm not entirely itching to get back to playing the game, but I'm by no means dreading the experience like I was in Ocarina. It's quite therapeutic to explore, to run around, the smash expensive pots. And besides, like I said, this game isn't that hard. There's no reason I shouldn't complete it, even if I don't like it. I stopped playing Ocarina because it felt like I was mostly wasting my time because I just didn't know what to do. But at least here I'm actually accomplishing things. I hope you guys don't mind my constant comparisons to OoT, because I'm going to be making a lot of them.

So... yeah. That's where I'm at right now. Maybe if I end up liking this game, it'll be easier to go back and play Ocarina and subsequently Majora's Mask. I really want to play Majora's Mask. Wind Waker seems like the easiest Zelda game for newbies like me to get into.

-the "Forsaken Fortress is a stealth-based dungeon. And anyone who knows my tastes reasonably well knows I'm not the biggest fan of stealth. That being said, the loss of the sword makes for a good push against the player to really master the basics.

-The barrels you use to sneak past the pigs were reminiscent of Metal Gear's cardboard boxes, which was probably not their intention but I liked it anyway.

-The use of lighting here works really well with the game's art style, though it felt like the game was trying to convey to me some sort of message with it. Like, if I was in the "light", I would be easier to see, and if I was in the "dark", I would be more difficult to spot. But I never felt like this was the case.

-The guard pig things were a bit weird. Sometimes it felt like they were clueless, and other times it felt like they had Superman-levels of mastery over the senses. Getting caught and thrown into the jail cell after just getting to the summit where the last pig guy is stationed was really annoying (happened to me twice).

-Was surprised at how early Ganon was introduced, considering how little I've seen of him in my "travels" on the internet. Looks like he jumped straight out of Sumarai Jack.

-I have no idea how Link survived being thrown that far and left to die at sea. The boat (King of the Red Dragons is his name?) says he can't sail because he has no sail, which would make it impossible for him to save Link while he's in danger of drowning? Oh well. I didn't expect the boat to have a character, but something tells me he's going to be like that old-ass Owl from OoT.

-I saved on the random island they didn't name for me. One of you guys probably knows what I'm talking about. I have to go find a sail so I can leave and presumably rejoin Tetra/save my sister.

Overall, solid dungeon, didn't feel nearly as tedious as the OoT dungeons. Was actually kind of fun.

-The opening does some good world building, recounting the overall story of OoT's Link and the events that followed his life. Surely it will have some connection with the story in this game.

-I hate expositional dialogue like "Hey, Big Brother!" or "Isn't it your birthday today?", but in a game like Zelda that's (apparently) not narrative-driven, I can kind of forgive it. I just find it a bit laughable considering I don't know a single person who calls their brother, "Brother".

-Very little hand-holding so far (which is a good thing in my book. I hate those condescending "Push the Left stick to move around" prompts in most games today.) The tutorials are all there if you need them (which I did), but experienced players who just want to get on with the game can, for the most part, brush by these things.

-What I like most about the first few moments of gameplay is that you're kind of told exactly where to go, but on the path to that place, there's little crevasses and platforms with Rupees scattered throughout to incentivise exploration/experimentation. Hope that continues throughout the game.

-Can I please live on Outset Island? Lol. I absolutely love the vibe. Very laid back, but that old guy with all the knowledge with the brother that teaches you how to fight? I wanna live in his house.

-As annoying as he is, I like how that Snot-nosed little kid just follows you around and idolises you in-game. Kinda neat.

-As for the story, I only got a little bit through it. Like I said, I was experimenting. But the good-bye from Outset island was surprisingly emotional, albeit, short. I think it mostly has to do with how emotional Link is. Not "emotional" as in "crying all the time", but he shows a lot of emotion in his facial animations. Like when he hits a rock with his sword, he kinda does this twitch thing. Or when he's struggling to run up a hill. Very nice.

I can at least say I enjoyed my first two hours of WW more than OoT.