My name is Zelda'
As far as opening lines to Zelda games go, this is probably my favourite. Zelda is met with a terrible fate and it is up to...your uncle to help save her. Unfortunately for him, but fortunately for us and the Hero of Time your uncle is utterly useless at saving princesses from castle dungeons and barely makes it into the entrance before failing. He tells you off, gives you his sword, and presumably dies. We are left wondering why he bothered in the first place, and when I think of my uncle I view this to be the most accurate occurrence ever in any video game I've ever played. The worst thing about your Uncle is he doesn't actually say what he's doing, he casually departs the house one day saying 'Link, I'm going out for a while' as if he's popping out for milk!
Anyway, he dies, he gives you his sword and that's it. The action has started. You are in a dungeon, full of guards who want to kill you and it is your job to try to save the Princess, hurrah! I mentioned in my first blog of my concurrent playthrough of Skyward Sword that it was probably my favourite beginning to a Zelda game. A Link to the Past is tied for second alongside Ocarina of Time purely for this reason. No faffing about, enough of a storyline through the cutscene before the game starts to give you context, a suicidal uncle, and it is up to you to save the Princess and save Hyrule from the evil wizard. Excellent.
A Link to the Past is the first Zelda game I ever played, and probably the one I've played the most. Because of this a lot of it has proven to be very familiar and hasn't been too taxing to remember what to do, where to go and how to do it. I found Zelda, I took Zelda to the sanctuary and...is that? The Master Sword! This is it! No, this can't be it, too bad. Yep, did it all. Found the old man, and started the Eastern Palace, where I am now.
What strikes me, replaying this, is the richness of the music. I've chosen two tracks to represent this, firstly the familiar overworld theme, a classic Zelda song (and my ringtone). The second is the Eastern Palace theme. It's creepy, it's unsettling and it helps create a division between the dungeons and the overworld. In the next blog on LTTP I'll put in a more detailed report on the Eastern Palace, but for now, sit back, relax and listen to the joy of LTTP's music.
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