The Professional Gamer - May 11, 2019

Hi readers! I went a trip this week, and unlike more times, I actually did some geeky stuff while I was away. I tossed my reliable old 3DS in my carry-on with the thought that I might play a little bit of Link Between Worlds. In the end, I got through most of the game during a couple of flights. Let’s talk about this great addition to the Zelda canon.

I really like this game. The characters are cute and fun; the story is typical of the Zelda series, but is approached with an appropriate level of humor. The puzzles are fun and the core mechanic of merging into walls makes for new ways to think about a Zelda game. However, I reported my progress to Crystal and found out that I had missed out on the major collectible in the game: little squid-babies call maiamai. So, rather than take on the final dungeon, I’m scouring the world for the little dudes. I’m really annoyed that I missed something so obvious, but I’ll get it figured out in the end.

My only other complaint about the game is more related to my own ineptitudes. Mainly, that most of the puzzles seem very easy, but then I’ll get stuck. And I mean seriously stuck, like spending a half hour wandering around before I resort to googling it. Honestly, that hasn’t happened very often. But, I also seem to have taken a weird order through the Lorule dungeons. And it caused me some trouble, since I did the Swamp Palace last, and didn’t have access to the Blue Mail and the damage reduction that it confers. Many of the dungeons that I did earlier seemed very hard on the combat end; whereas, the later ones felt too easy because I had so much equipment.

Anyways, this has been a fun game and I’m looking forward to finishing. However, being away has prevented me from making much progress on my convention reporting. I’m getting to some of it this weekend, so look for some cool stuff to come soon. Have a great week and game on!