Piece of Heart: Majora's Mask

[Kishi]

Originally Posted by Shinji-Fox

Now you know where Toon Link came from.

[patrick]

Originally Posted by Bongo Bill

I like the little easter eggs in the King of Ikana fight. His soldiers respond to the Bremen Mask, and the man himself responds to the Captain's Hat.

No way!

That's too cool.

[Bongo Bill]

There are NPCs throughout the game who have entertaining or revealing responses to masks - especially those that are near the plot - but those guys' are my favorite.

If you wear the Circus Leader's Mask around the Gorman Brothers, they'll cry. It even works, as I recall, during the Milk Road shooting event, which makes it a cakewalk to complete that leg of that quest a second time (but not the first time, because of prerequisites).

[GyroNinja]

Huh, I knew about the Captain's Hat, but never heard of the Bremen's Mask easter egg. I just youtubed it and it's pretty cool!

Also I just finished Ikana castle myself, and I agree, Ikana Valley is my favorite area in the game. Well, maybe not the Gibdo Well... Also I love the little Song of Storms subquest, but just have one question about it. If it's the lifelong work of a centuries dead composer in the employ of an ancient king, why does a random organ player from a down on their luck entertainment troupe know it? Is Guru-Guru really the long lost descendant of Ikanan royalty? Probably not.

Oh and somehow I totally forgot Mikau's cutscene. BABY! Majora's Mask really starts to pick up after Snowfall, especially the sidequests:

Deku Swamp: Monkeys.
Goron Village: Babysitting.
Zora Hall: HOLY SHIT ROCK GUITARS AND PIRATE NINJAS, BABY!
Ikana Valley: NOW IT'S UNDEAD NINJAS AND SKELETON KINGS AND THE SONG OF STORMS AND HOLY SHIT I JUST FLIPPED THE DUNGEON UPSIDE DOWN!

[Monda]

I WANT TO BE A GERUDO PIRATE!

[Makkara]

Originally Posted by Monda

I WANT TO BE A GERUDO PIRATE!

With your avatar, I'd have thought you'd want to be a Zora and live under the sea.

Come to think of it, I want that.

[Lumber Baron]

That's your solution to everything: move under the sea - it's not gonna happen!

[Kishi]

Originally Posted by Bongo Bill

If you wear the Circus Leader's Mask around the Gorman Brothers, they'll cry. It even works, as I recall, during the Milk Road shooting event, which makes it a cakewalk to complete that leg of that quest a second time (but not the first time, because of prerequisites).

Cremia also doesn't give you the special reward for that run if you exploit it, as I recall.

[DemoWeasel]

Just finished this 100% =)

It was one of the weirdest/creepiest games I've ever played, and now it's one of my favorite entries in the Zelda series.

[GyroNinja]

Oh man, the Stone Tower might be the best Zelda Dungeon ever. It's just great puzzle, great puzzle, great miniboss, HOLY SHIT EVERYTHING IS UPSIDE DOWN, great puzzle, great miniboss, great puzzle, great boss.

Now the only question is if I care enough about the Great Fairy's sword to do a second sweep of the dungeon, or if I want to fight Majora's Mask right now...

[Bongo Bill]

Originally Posted by GyroNinja

Oh man, the Stone Tower might be the best Zelda Dungeon ever. It's just great puzzle, great puzzle, great miniboss, HOLY SHIT EVERYTHING IS UPSIDE DOWN, great puzzle, great miniboss, great puzzle, great boss.

Now the only question is if I care enough about the Great Fairy's sword to do a second sweep of the dungeon, or if I want to fight Majora's Mask right now...

Do it if you're still in the same cycle that you cleared the dungeon. If you've been getting them as you go, there'll only be a few left and they'll all be easy.

[Adrenaline]

Originally Posted by Kishi

Cremia also doesn't give you the special reward for that run if you exploit it, as I recall.

Awwwwwww yeah.

[mopinks]

man I need to get back into this game, why did I start replaying Mario Galaxy instead :<

[GyroNinja]

Originally Posted by Bongo Bill

Do it if you're still in the same cycle that you cleared the dungeon. If you've been getting them as you go, there'll only be a few left and they'll all be easy.

Man, I only picked up half of them in my initial sweep. I noticed that they stuffed almost all of them into treasure chests this time around, instead of the far more conspicuous bubbles from the previous dungeons. I'm still on the same cycle, though, since I saved at an owl statue afterward.

I also blazed through the Great Bay temple with only 5 or 6 fairies, but double hearts is kind of a pointless bonus in a game where you can collect 6 bottles, so I didn't bother going back.

[Bongo Bill]

The chests are a blessing in disguise. That way they all show up when you have the compass.

[McClain142]

So, quick aside, but I would really like if if the new Wii Zelda : Twilight Princess :: Majora's Mask : Ocarina of time. I kind of doubt it, since they'll probably want to make something as mainstream as possible, but it'd be nice to see something decidedly fucked up in the series again.

[patrick]

Originally Posted by McClain142

So, quick aside, but I would really like if if the new Wii Zelda : Twilight Princess :: Majora's Mask : Ocarina of time. I kind of doubt it, since they'll probably want to make something as mainstream as possible, but it'd be nice to see something decidedly fucked up in the series again.

I don't expect it to be quite as weird, but it will hopefully at least get away from the basic link/zelda/gannon story and branch out into something more interesting, ala MM/LA.

So last night I found this weird thread on a random forum discussing the stone tower temple. There is a ton of cool symbolism that I missed (like how the face in the first room becomes majora's mask when you flip it over), but it also had tons of wild speculation as to what the tower was originally for. I think he
Read too much some of it, but it was good food for thought. I'll link to it when I'm at my home computer.

[Monda]

The creepy guard stares at the Rosa Sisters even in the credits. =O

[Beat]

Creepy? Man, put yourself in his position. He's standing there all night with nothing to do but harass children and deku scrubs, He's bored, he's tired and his legs hurt. He hates his job and, and he's getting the sneaking suspicion that the hours he works is preventing him from meeting a nice girl and starting a relationship.

And then these two skinny girls wearing micro-miniskirts come out of nowhere and start posing seductively in front of him.

And he's like "Woah."

[Monda]

"Rapetime!"

[Makkara]

The Rosa sisters are in one of the best weird scenes, which is saying a lot in a game with so many of them.

[McClain142]

Originally Posted by Makkuro

The Rosa sisters are in one of the best weird scenes, which is saying a lot in a game with so many of them.

"You are our master."

Link is a pimp, yo.

[patrick]

Here's the STT theory website.

All I have left is to finish the last dungeon and get the postman's hat. I should be able to do it tonight, unless my roommate hogs the living room.

[Chu]

I dunno about the other stuff that article is talking about, but this is a pretty cool observation (spoilers if you haven't beaten the game).

[patrick]

I can't believe that I forgot this from the first time I played the game, but does anyone else think it's awesome that all of the dungeon items are arrow types and that every other item comes from sidequests? Everything related to items in Majora's Mask is done so, so right. The way extra items and abilities are integrated into the three transformation masks is obviously clever, but there's more to it than that. Every time you start a new cycle all of your usable item stock is reset to zero, which makes collection of doodads meaningful (even if, as someone pointed out earlier, it's somewhat nonsensical). Also, if you need a specific item to complete a task, the item will drop from a bush or rock nearby, which also gives you a hint for how to complete a given area. They changed the equipment screen from OOT to a mask screen, and the masks have a whole variety of uses, from making you run faster to making enemies dance.

I think that deku nuts and sticks are somewhat useless, and I wish that the lens of truth was needed more often, but overall MM is a highpoint for items in the series. Wind Waker did some clever things early on with the rope and leaf, but TP really mucked things up. I think that when people complain that the Zelda series needs to use items better, they're really saying that it needs to go back to the cleverness and efficiency of Majora's Mask.

[Tanto]

I would agree except that a huge number of the masks are virtually useless or needed for only one thing. You can count the number of masks that are consistently useful on one hand. (Blast, Stone, Bunny Hood, Great Fairy, and the transformation masks? A hand and a few fingers, I guess.)

[patrick]

They don't have any gameplay uses, but they aren't useless. The central theme of MM is masks, and how Link uses them to interact with other characters and complete the bomber's notebook. The masks allow him (you) to be an active participant in the story.

[sfried]

Originally Posted by Kishi

Tatl is such a bitch; even her descriptions of enemies are sarcastic and condescending. And she doesn't go "Hey!" and "Listen," either!

You see, this is why I love Majora's Mask: Here you are with a boss with no obvious visible weakpoints, and usually most players will abuse Navi's hint fucntion at this moment, whereas Tatl would simply say "Fuck you! Go solve it yourself!" and leave you nearly dead untill something finally clicks, smack yourself in the head for not realizing sooner, and proceed to whoop ass untill the boss starts changing attack patterns.

[Lucas]

I look at most of the masks as being trophies more than anything else, a "You completed a sidequest! Here have this mask to remember it by!" kind of thing.

Sure, the notebook does basically the same thing, but it's not nearly as satisfying to look at as the mask screen.

[spineshark]

My favorite thing in this game is that you can block explosions from the Blast Mask from hurting you...by putting up your shield. On the opposite side of your face.