Master of Time

Alright, long comment, I know… Please at least read the first two paragraphs after this one to at least know if you would want to read any of this comment…

This is a seriously good and well thought out ROM hack. It is a completely new game, and feels like it fits right in with the other N64 Zelda games. Other than a few parts that were a bit more difficult than standard, I could honestly mistake this as a real Zelda game from that era.

As a self designated completionist, I believe I have completed everything this game has to offer at this point. As such, I hope to share some information and tips to make your playing experience more enjoyable, as well as answer some questions you may have but are not willing to work for to find out (e.g. what does getting all skulltulas do, does it affect the ending, etc…). I will mostly be avoiding story spoilers, at least until the end, and at that point, I will list a warning. Additionally, I will have a note section to the developer at the end that will contain interesting information for anyone, in addition to providing bug information to the developer if they choose to fix it in the future. Also, the end will contain a potential idea for the story, but it is just an idea. Let’s begin.

Overall, the world had a nice layout, and the dungeons were extremely well designed. It will require you to test your limits on several occasions, such as standing on the outmost ledge to use the hookshot, or barely running and rolling to just grab a ledge with the hover boots to name a few cases, so it is certainly not easy and will require you to test the limits of your powers. But I would say almost nothing was truly unfair. The one area I would warn of that did seem a bit unfair, unless I completed it wrong, was in the bomb factory (just before the desert), on the top floor with the two storage rooms (one with a piece of heart, the other with the larges deku nut bag) I had to learn the mega jump speed running strategy (standing near a ledge, placing a bomb, on the frame Link starts to jump you pause and switch to the hover boots and you will launch quite far). I tried so hard to beat this with normal means, but couldn’t find a way, so I looked up this one speed running strategy. But that was the only one. Besides that, again, use your limits. For example, on some ledges later, they seem out of reach, but a perfectly timed run with hover boots, roll at the last second, and then jump attack, it will get you barely on the ledge you need. Usually places that required a move of this intensity however were just for heart pieces or gold skulltulas, so if you are not comfortable doing moves like this, or get frustrated easily at segments like this, they are completely optional. Some difficult tricks will still be required, but those in the main story are more tolerable for less advanced players. Also, one extra note: you cannot get deku sticks ever. First off, Adult Link can’t use them. Secondly, I think the stick kid gives you a hint to not being able to use sticks when he tells you he just bought one and it is already broken. Honestly I don’t know why the sticks are even in the shops, but I found this NPC dialogue as a clue that you cannot actually obtain this item.

I have officially beaten all I know to be in the game, and I can confirm that there are 100 gold skulltulas. Honestly, I found these skulltulas more entertaining to search for than those in Ocarina of Time (which I have never officially gotten all 100 in that game. Honestly most of the ones in Ocarina were too boring, and just time consuming to seek. I never really felt accomplished going to every little corner of the map, especially knowing the 100 reward was just rupees that you don’t really need late game…). In this game, I usually felt accomplished finding each gold skulltula, either it required some expert execution, or just finding some crazy hidden place. I felt all the skulltulas were fair, and honestly fun to seek. Fun fact, LOOK AT THE CEILING, ESPECIALLY IN DUNGEONS! You also will need to backtrack for at least one skulltula per dungeon with your newly aquired item. If you find one you cannot reach without an item, odds are the dungeon will provide it, with one exception being an extremely far away skulltula at the top level of Lozan castle that requires the longshot. I took mental note of it and had to come back. Also, for those really looking for everything, I think the trickiest skulltula to find is in the water temple. There is a room where you have to move a statue on a block (it slides, you will know what I mean when you find it), and there is a small hole in the ceiling with a hookshot spot. That will be my big hint to you. The rest, good luck finding them. Also, I can confirm there is no major reward for getting all skulltulas. You simply get the unlimited money reward (each time you enter the guy gives you 200 rupees). There is no change to the ending, though I wish there had been… More on that at the end (that will be in my note to the developer).

One thing to note, like I said the skulltulas were quite fair. You could obtain almost every single one at the moment you reached it if you were determined enough. And those that you really couldn’t get at the time, you could tell and you simply needed to note it and come back with the item you would likely soon be provided. As I progressed naturally through the game, I had actually found 86 skulltulas just playing through regularly (though I am a completionist and search everything well). This gave me the motivation to seek out the last 14. It did take a few hours, they were actually fairly evenly spaced which I thought was interesting. Yet I could actually guess where I had forgotten one pretty well. Check every nook and cranny!

On to heart pieces. I can guarantee that there are a minimum of 69 unique heart pieces (enough to get 20 heart containers (4*17=68, you start with full heart containers as is standard), with the last one pushing you up to an extra piece. I actually have 70 pieces of heart on my file. I now think it might be legitimate, but I did find the 70th one somewhere obvious I would have thought I had already found, and it was when I had accidentally glitched the game and may have caused it to respawn. I am not sure, it could be a legitimate 70th one, but I will explain what occured that makes me unsure if it is actually a unique one. Still, you should have no problem getting 20 heart containers if you look hard. Some tips, bomb rock circles with no holes. Additionally, if there are enemies out of place, say in a shop, kill them and see what happens. Not sure if you can kill the spider in the fishing game though, can’t use weapons… But I didn’t need to kill it to complete everything (it is a regular skulltula). Besides that, talk to all NPCs and they will give you hints on things like heart pieces and empty bottles.

One extra note, the hardest bottle to get by far is in the house in the lake area. Hint, talk to an NPC in the jail, and her dialogue tells you what to do.

Warning, spoiler territory below!

Well, there may have been some minor spoilers on gameplay above, but now I will be bringing up some things that pertain more to the story of the game, be that actual story or knowing what events will occur.

Just as a courtesy to anyone stuck on the order of the game, I will provide the general sequence of area, also listing some items you will need to get there. If it is obvious to get it (a dungeon item you will have to get to beat the dungeon) I will not name it. But if it is out of the way and maybe not overly obvious, I will state it. For the sequence you will follow is starting in Sagnol village. Search it well. Next, you will head to the Agility Temple (no other way to go anyways). Next, you need to stop by Abello Town, and in particular need to go through the castle. Seriously search for items in both towns like a completionist. Items necessary to beating the game are in both villages. Later locations will not require as much searching, and become more optional with heart pieces and gold skulltulas, but these two locations (Abello’s castle and Sagnol village) require a thorough initial search. Abello’s castle has the silver gauntlets that I am not actually sure if they are necessary, but just in case I have listed it here. You might actually be able to skip this one. Next you will head to Kalki forest and the dungeon there. Next will be the Goron’s area (I am being more vague now so you will have to figure it out…). Make a stop by the sewers outside of Abello town for a certain item… Also, not sure if it is necessary, but you might need to stop by the Zora’s before this to get a Zora scale from the diving game. I don’t know if Link can enter the sewers without it… Next is the ice area and the Lorenz Castle. Make sure after getting the dungeon’s item you also search in the nearby areas for the hover boots. You cannot progress without them. You will also need to make a stop by the pirate ship next for the longshot item. Again, this is not optional. Then you will head to the desert area. And finally is the Zora’s area and underwater temple. Hopefully that gives everyone a good idea of where to go at least generally. I will admit that is one of the only things I found that did not feel like a typical Zelda game of the N64 era was that it was not always clear where I should go. NPCs give some hints, but you also end up guessing a bit, so if you are really stuck, try to follow the hints above.

Note to developer:

Some bugs I found! The first one I think is commonly known, but I found some people asking if anyone had bothered to look more into it. Now I am not sure if this is intentional for testing purposes, or an easter egg, or just literally a bug that occurs, but upon returning to the exit warp point of each dungeon a second time, weird things happen. The first time it plays a cutscene as expected and all works fine. The second time invokes issues. On reentering the warp point in the agility temple, one will find oneself outside of a ranch that is not normally accessible until after getting the hover boots. One can also use this to learn the cow’s song to get free milk. This one felt like it honestly could have been a nice bonus for people. On a second warp, the optional Dungeon of power will actually drop one off inside of the gated area that requires the song of storms (the thirsty face). Using this, one can gain early access to the area with the sword scroll. The Wisdom Dungeon is the only one I found that works completely normal. It replays the cutscene (likely due to a certain Zora being in the warp point), and drops you at the same point repeating the scene of you getting the wisdom stone (for which I do not know the purpose. It doesn’t seem to unlock anything I could figure out). The forest dungeon portal on the second run will soft lock the game. Maybe something happens if you wait in the resulting white void, but I waited a few minutes with no button imputs and just assumed it was a crash. The same thing occurs in the Lozan Castle on the second warp. A white empty void. And this again happens with the Water temple, just an empty white void. The Fire Temple one is pretty normal, on second warp it literally just places you in the previous room of the dungeon. So if you go back there, you will have to backtrack to leave manually. The most unique one, but also the most broken (and why I suspect a possible duplicate piece of heart) is the Light Dungeon warp point. On using it a second time, one is transported to the title screen oddly enough. But the game, on attempting to place Link in the starting position I believe encounters an error, with there being two Link models in the same spot, so it pushes you out of bound where you fall into the void (and somehow have two fairies). You respawn, but this time in bound and again with two fairies temporarily. Pushing A will take you to the file select screen. Using other buttons (like the c buttons) cancels the title menu, so you can no longer push it. At this point, you cannot backtrack to the good ending (the exit zone is not loaded in the cutscene), and you end up being able to head to the next section alright. The owl is loaded for the cutscene but does nothing as far as I can tell. You can see a bit of Sagnol village through the exit to the screen (by the way, as it is in the cutscene version of this area, the stick kid is not present, nor it the hookshot point if it was unlocked). One can now try to go to Sagnol village, but will oddly be transported to the Agility Temple. I ended the game at this point, not wanting to corrupt my file, but I wonder if this bug could lead to further exploits. Upon reentering this beginning area (after rebooting the game), I found it back to normal with the stick kid, hookshot point, and good ending point loaded. I also found that the rest of the game seemed normal. But upon destroying the box at the top left of the item shop in Sagnol village, I got a piece of heart. I was pretty sure I had already obtained this piece of heart, so I thought it could be a bug related to the warp point thing. But I had already had one extra heart piece past maximum before this bug, so maybe I had just overlooked this box before and there are actually 70 heart pieces. Anyways, I know some people were questioning the change in the warp point, so I thought I would list it.

Another glitch, though minor, is that the empty bottle in the cave near the forest temple respawns and can be recollected. I did find it again after having all four bottles, so it replaced my first one. This is more of a minor glitch.

This is a very minor glitch, and has no real exploits I can tell, but in the Sagnol crypt, there is a block puzzle. If one places the double blocks right under the lowest ceiling point but pushed back at least one part, and then puts the single block in front of it and uses it to climb onto the double block, you can clip through the ceiling. There is no where to jump to really (at least without using speedrun techniques like bomb hovering, which I can’t do), so I personally couldn’t use it to access the area under the well early, but someone with those skills could exploit it to do so.

Other than that there was no real issues. The game ran quite well. An occasional hiccup in frame rates when it rained. I also clipped through a few things, but nothing game breaking except for in the Lozan area at the beginning there is some ice on top of water. If you go into the water with iron boots and try to walk up the slope into the ice, you can get stuck. But that was the only time I actually got stuck completely on an object. Overall, the attention to surfaces was really good and felt profesional.

Alright, time for the part you probably knew was coming and might not want to see. The endings. Honestly I don’t mind the endings too much, the game gives you some hints to the sinister things happening in the game. I do however wish there was a true ending where Link could actually complete his quest. I understand that you (the developer) may have gotten tired of this project and not wanted to take time to continue developing it adding another dungeon and all. And perhaps you like the bad ending most players will get. But I do want to suggest an idea to get an alternate ending to the game that could be called the true ending or maybe the completionist ending. The idea I have would not require a new dungeon, or even more gameplay, just an alternate cutscene. Also, warning to those reading, this will be a spoiler to the ending of the game. So my idea is that the true or completionist ending will occur only for those who have invested lots of time into the game to complete it. One of the things that happens in the game is Link is accused in the end of being a psycho, someone who steals (accurate, you literally take things from anyone’s house in most Zelda games), mass murdering (hey, it is truly a video game things, the hero goes around slaying tons of monsters, but is it really justified in every case? I also like how Nite points out how you don’t say anything, you literally just go around killing things), and you are accused of trying to bring back the night (again, completely true), which most of the NPCs in the game don’t want as it brings danger. Few NPCs in the game would back Link up, with some being Skull Kid (though there is the accusation of owing him 800 rupees, so maybe not Skull Kid), the Kokiri, the dog lady if you helped her, the scientist if you helped his experiment, the king (who oddly took a liking to you for being honest about stealing his silver gauntlets), the Gorons (though they are a weaker defense, they like you for killing the moblins…), and finally the spider family if you helped turn them back. And I think this is where the game could reward completionists. If you actually took the time to get the 100 gold skultullas, I could see the following play out. One possibility, the father of the spider family could be in the jury to sentence you, and he would object to the death sentence on Link. Potentially for a more exciting outcome, the father of the spider family could use his wealth to hire Link a lawyer who would give evidence to how Link has helped people, including those listed above. Another possibility would be the father of the spider family gathering together those who would defend you and bring them as witnesses to the trial (this would be cool, but I imagine hard to set up with so many characters. Maybe just use the spider family and the Kokiri as the strongest evidence). Any of the above mentioned reasons could result in the court trying to overrule it and still sentence Link to death, but the disruption of the case could be enough for the King to summon his strength to form a ghost and defend Link. Or finally, and my personal favorite version, somehow the father of the spider family comes in at the last second disrupting the trial. While the prosecutor may ignore his claims, the father of the spider family would then mention that while everyone had arrested Link, he went to the path of the Gods and got the metal medallion, which he then proceeds to give to link (tossing it maybe). Upon receiving the last medallion, Link is now the Master of Time and proceeds to freeze everyone around him. Link then uses this opportunity to escape, going back to the point where he entered Abello. Now that he has power over time, Link unfreezes not only all the NPCs, but proceeds to restore the normal flow of time to Abello with both a day and night cycle. Link is then seen leaving as he would in the good ending, but it also shows scenes of Abello in the night time, with their reaction to it (whether good or bad).

Anyways, those were just some possible thoughts I had for an alternate ending. Obviously as the creator, you are free to do what you want with the game, but I thought I would give my input to see if you wanted to use or adapt any of it, especially considering these options would require no additional gameplay to be developed, and would leave the original endings you had intended to be there for most players.

I will be checking back into this post/ comment section every once in a while. If anyone has any questions on anything I have said, please ask. Additionally, if the developer wants to get some more information on the bugs I found, I would be happy to answer questions on that. And if the developer happens to be interested in my ideas for the ending, I would be happy to discuss that as well. Anyways, thank you Doncamilo for an amazing experience! I can tell you put a lot of time and effort into this game, an it turned out to be amazing! I am seriously impressed, and am interested to see if you have any further updates on this game or new projects in the future! Also, one quick question for you, is there a way to kill the regular skulltula in the fishing minigame? All items are restricted, and I couldn’t find anything that could be picked up to throw at it. Also, the fishing rod can’t do damage from what I can tell. I would assume killing it would result in a chest with a piece of heart, but I can’t see how it would be killed. This part was driving me crazy, so I want to know if there is any legitimate way to do this.

Thanks again,
Serious Link