Ocarina of Time: en route to Dodongo's Cavern

[torkell]

I feel... This place will be very important for both of us someday. That's what I feel.
Saria

Most of the time on the 3DS I don't really notice the 3D effect - it's there and I can see it, but the novelty has worn off and it's generally not a significant part of gameplay (though most amusing sometimes, like in Kirby Triple Deluxe when you splat one boss against the screen). There are a few exceptions, and the Temple of Time is one of them. The floor is rendered as a shiny marble, with a faint reflection of the walls and ceiling in it - and this reflection has the correct depth adjustment. This gives the impression of looking through the floor into an inverted room, in a way that doesn't quite happen on a 2D display. Combined with the background chanting it's one of those places in a video game where I just want to pause and take in my surroundings.

Anyway, back to Castle Town. The Target Shooting minigame is quite a bit easier with the absolute positioning from motion control, instead of fighting the sloppy relative positioning of a worn N64 controller, and was a breeze once I worked out the timing for the last two targets. I also took the opportunity to get the heart piece from finding the lost dog, though I didn't repeat my crazy success at the Treasure Chest minigame (I wonder what the odds of achieving that were?). That's OK, I'll just come back and cheat with the Lens of Truth :)

Next up was sneaking through the castle courtyard (ridiculously easy, for some reason - I always used to have lots of hassle with that) and meeting Zelda (and unlike in Twilight Princess this is not a meeting full of doom and gloom, but instead quite peaceful with Zelda's Lullaby in the background - an Enya track could fit here quite well). And yes, the two easter eggs still exist here - shooting one window will gain you a few rupees, but the other results in an angry maid throwing a bomb at you!

Then it was off to Kakariko Village, but via a rather long detour. First off is Lon Lon Ranch to learn Epona's song and to pick up the first bottle (protip for the Cucco minigame: trap all the Cuccos behind Talon. Then it's very easy to find the three "super Cuccos" you need to win). I also collected the heart piece that's hidden behind the crates in the storage room at the back of the ranch.

Finally, back to the Kokiri Forest and through the Lost Woods to find Saria, and learn my 3rd ocarina song (which I'll be needing soon). Now, the Lost Woods is a set of connected clearings, with dark tree-trunk tunnels connecting them. However the catch is that most of the tunnels don't go anywhere, but dump you back at the entrance. In the N64 version you could tell which ones did this because instead of being a featureless black surface they faded to grey in the middle. On the 3DS this difference has gone. This doesn't affect finding Saria (because you just follow the music), but I know there's more than a few extra clearings off the main path. I can see I'll have to dig out pen and paper, and map the woods...