The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

The adventures to be had in Hyrule are endless!

The amount of time I spent stumbling around in Hyrule field as a kid is wild! Link and I would explore every nook and cranny whether by foot or horse back, it didn’t matter. There was always more exploring to do.

OOT was my introduction to the Zelda series, and so, it hold a very special place in my heart. You see, when SSB for the N64 came out, each weekend the family would go to Blockbuster and rent the corresponding game for each of the fighters on the roster. That was how I was first introduced to the beautiful world of Nintendo! (And that’s actually one of the few happier memories of my childhood!)

I soon fell in love with all that the world of Ocarina of Time had to bring me, and OOT Link specifically would become a very close friend of mine. When I finally beat the game and the credit started to roll, I broke down crying. I was proud that Link and I finally overcame all our trials and saved the land, but I was torn because...the adventure had come to an end... I remember my mom came into the room as this was going on, and she saw me sobbing away. She thought it was silly to be crying over just a video game and whatnot. But what can I say, even at 10-years-old, I was a very sentimental and emotional person. Leave me alone! >_<

Anyway, revisiting Hyrule always brings such warm happy feelings. It’s as if I’m being brought back to a simpler, safer place in time. It’s quite amazing. I guess that’s the magic of the Ocarina of Time!

Just as a side note, but as a teen, I ran a Zelda fansite! In fact, Zelda fansites were the main websites I visited back in the day.

Fire Emblem Series

Like many of the old school FE fans outside of Japan, I was introduced to the series by lovely Marth and Roy after meeting them in Super Smash Bros. Melee.

”Who are these mysterious swordsmen?” I wondered.

I took a liking to them both because from the limited information provided by their trophy entries, they appeared to be heroic and brave people. But for the most part, they communicated their bravery through their movements and fighting styles. Full of inner strength and conviction.

Digressing a bit here:

I’ve always been drawn to the protective knight types. It’s basically a defense mechanism I developed growing up from living in a neglectful household. I wasn’t protected by the people responsible for my care, (and let me tell you, some really messed up stuff went down in that house...), so within the vivid worlds in my mind, there was always a hero who found me and rescued me. One of those earliest heroes was Ocarina of Time Link.

It was around the age of 9 and 10 where things took a turn for the worst family wise, and that’s when I was first introduced to Legend of Zelda, thus came Link! But a couple years later when Melee released and after meeting Marth and Roy, they too became saviors of mine. I still have this protective mindset to this day, and didn’t connect the dots until my adult years. The psychology is very interesting! Anyway, back to FE:

From my understanding, because of Marth’s ridiculous popularity in the competitive Melee scene, Nintendo decided to give releasing Fire Emblem a shot outside of Japan for the first time. They choose to localize the newest entry coming out at the time which was Blazing Blade.

I always thought it was silly to do that since the game prior had Roy boy in it, and new fans would already be familiar with him. I understand the reasoning now, but as a kind, I was confused. I didn’t understand the in’s and out’s of all this game development stuff. I just wanted to play! :D I did make a point to mention in my first letter to Nintendo that I appreciated them taking the chance with localizing FE.

Anyway, I saved up my pennies, bought Fire Emblem, and instantly fell in love. I appreciated the need for strategy, and it was a game that I could play at my own pace. The graphics were limited, so my wild imagination filled in the gabs with all kinds of exciting, gruesome battles and tales of war and bravery. I imagined myself marching a long with them as the tactician, and oh my goodness, let me tell you this, right? I was terrified of the Four Fangs as a kid. I mean, all of them (excluding Nino) scared the daylights out of me, but it was something about Linus in particular... That hot-hotheadedness accompanied by that cocky, menacing smile and giant blade of his sent chills down my spine. I dreaded every moment he was on screen.

There was a part where Lyn, Eliwood, Hector, and you all snuck to this fort somewhere to listen in on the villains, and wow... Seriously, that was one of the most terrifying parts of the adventure for me. Again, my imagination is truly something else. I see and even feel what’s going on up there. It’s as if I’ve been directly transported to that world. I saw and felt the snowstorm we were all stumbling around in during that scene and everything! So yeah, you can bet my heart was pounding out of my chest the entire time...

But it was FUN!

Now, you can go ahead and laugh at me all you like, but yeah, that fear of Linus stayed with me up into my adult years. In fact, it’s only lessened a few years ago when he made an appearance in that FE heroes app. I don’t subscribe to “duplicates”, so in my mind, that’s not the true original Linus, but still, being presented with an idea of Linus in that way has somewhat helped calm that fear down, haha.

I’ve gone on quite the rambling story here, but I hope this in some way helps to illustrate just how much I treasure this series. There were so many memorable moments like the one I just shared, and as a kid, the stories in FE challenged my understanding on what exactly morality is supposed to be. There’s rarely a defined black or white answer to any given conflict. There’s pretty much always a messy gray area that needs to be explored.

Additionally, the so called “perma death” put actual death into the forefront of my mind. Whenever one of my allies’, or even the enemy’s HP hit 0 , I was again reminded that this is it. We are all immortal, imperfect beings who are NOT going to live forever. At some point, we’re going to die. That’s our reality. So it’s up to us to be the best person we can be, and make as much positive an impact on the world as we can, no matter how small or ”insignificant” that impact is before our time’s up. I’m far from perfect myself, but I’m doing my best to improve so that I can be someone who can HELP others. I’ve stumbled a lot during my journey, and I’m still stumbling now. But I’m working hard to put forth the effort to grow and reach my FULL potential. The clock is ticking, you now? I’m in my 30’s, I’m not getting any younger here...

And as for perma death...

Yeah, I save scum! SUE ME! I love my FE friends, so I’m going to save them, so THERE!~

Super Smash Bros. Series

Wow, what a surprise! No one would have guessed this game would be here!

Now, I’ve given Smash its own section, so I don’t need to go too in depth here, but what I will say is that I’m just BEYOND grateful for this series.

Seriously.

Master Hand took my….hand and tossed me into the chaos that is Smash World where I met so many new friends! After that, history was pretty much made. Nintendo had me wrapped around their finger, but in a good way.

Hush about the absent Luigi...

Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance

”Why wasn’t this mentioned first?” you may ask.

Well, there’s no particular order here. Every game I speak about has affected me deeply in one vital way or another. In the end, all of these different experiences have made me into the woman I am today, and I’m grateful for the privilege. That said, there’s a lot to unpack when it comes to Path of Radiance. Some time in the future, this game will be given its own page. So for that reason, I won’t go too into detail here, but I will mention some key points.

It’s interesting… When I had first heard about the next FE title and saw that it was going to be in 3D, I had mixed feelings. Up to that point, the only two FE’s that had made it outside Japan were ”The Blazing Blade” and ”Sacred Stones" for the GBA. I played both of these prior and had gotten used to the sprite art style and adored it. Looking back, I think the reason I enjoyed that art style more than most was because of the limitations of the imagery.

Having such limitations means your imagination had to fill in the gaps, and I’ve always had an incredibly vivid inner world. During the battles, I saw some gruesome, yet exciting imagery while I played through. The short comings of the presentation actually helped me get more out of my experience playing; it felt almost effortless to put myself in their world. And so, with the upcoming 3D art direction, I felt some of that blank canvas would have more defined paint put on it, if that makes sense. Well, let me tell you: once the game was in my hands, plopped into the Gamecube and booted up, ALL that doubt dissolved just like THAT.

I swear...when that opening cut scene started playing, I was already being pulled under PoR’s spell. But when my eyes met that blued-haired young man stumbling along in a spar I was just…instantly drawn to him… It’s strange, and may sound silly and immature, but wow...Unless you’ve actually experienced something like this for yourself, it’s a very hard thing to explain.

Now, to this point, all I’ve known of FE protagonists was that they were high born nobles of some sort fighting for the sake of their nation. It was exciting to watch them bravely march forward against hoards of armies to protect their people, and it was always a theme that I respected.

But this boy here… He’s just the son of a mercenary...He’s not some destined hero or fancy Lordling living in an ivory tower. He’s just a regular person living day-to-day trying to get by. A normal young man who wanted to be as strong as his father, worked really hard and still got smacked down. But! He kept getting right back up and tried again. I was so inspired by that!

As the days went on, I learned more of who this young man named “Ike” was. He was very blunt and no nonsense, which I appreciated and respected, but also very kind, caring and protective.

My admiration for him only grew more as time went on. Now, most people say he’s too quiet, but honestly, I’ve never really saw Ike that way. I can see it a bit more now in hindsight, but the fact is that Ike always took the time to speak to his friends and allies.

Sure, he doesn’t babble on for hours like most folks (like I’m doing now, haha), but that doesn’t mean he just doesn’t want to be bothered. The key is, if the situation is worth his time and energy, he’ll most likely engage. If not, he has better ways to spend his time. I both respect and relate to this, as that pretty much discribes me as well.

Ike isn’t trying to put on a show for anyone, and he tells it like it is. But he’s sweet and kind at the same time. Also, not quite as harsh as Soren is. (Soren has his reasons, but I digress).

That said, Ike was very naive and ignorant in the beginning, as any young person would be. He didn’t know of the Laguz, and even referred to them by a slur term he picked up from Shinon. He didn’t know any better at the time, but once Ranulf came and educated him, Ike took it upon himself to learn more, and become an ally.

I’ll wait until another time to go into depth about how much I appreciate the maturity they gave the traumatic subject of racism. But for now, I’ll just say that Ike’s bold stance and action against discrimination was the final piece of the puzzle my heart needed to seal my love for that man.

Fire Emblem Path of Radiance, a game that sold horribly, that hardly no one had heard of some how got into my hands and gifted me with my soulmate.

I had not been looking for love. It just FOUND me.