Skyward Sword Chapter 14: Fi Finally Says Something Useful!

Hello and welcome to yet another installment of my Skyward Sword playthrough. Slowly but surely, I am making progress through the game! And in this post, I'll talk about how Fi isn't a totally useless character after all! Okay, let's get started.

The first thing I had to do was go back to the Isle of Songs to learn the next song and watch Fi do her ballet thing.














Yeah, yeah, get on with it.















The volcano, eh? This is going to be fun. You know how annoying it is to get around that place in a timely fashion? Well, whatever. I whipped out my harp and started playing. This time, a pedestal with another creepy singing statue rose up from beneath me!














And then some red sparks came out and Fi started dancing around some more.















You can't really see it in the above picture, but she's upside down! THAT IS SO AWESOME! Wait, maybe not. Quick, fly in a circle and shoot out more sparks!














There we go. Cool!















Woo, I'm learning a new song! I wonder what it's called this time! Probably something to do with Din, if I've been keeping track of the names right.















The second-to-last line says, "Use this song of might to locate the" in case you can't read it. Song of might, eh? Somehow, playing a song on a harp doesn't really scream "might" to me at all, but whatever.














Whoo! Yet another song I don't actually have to play!















Yeah, okay, cool. Let's go.

Here's a blurry picture of the gate, once I finally found it. I went to the entrance of the Earth Temple or whatever it's called, thinking the gate would be there. Turns out that no, it was by the first bridge over to what I like to call the upper Eldin Volcano area.














Yet again, it was surprisingly easy to "play" the song to open the gate. What was more surprising was the way Link totally went crazy with the harp while playing the song. I'm pretty sure there was smoke coming up from the strings when I was done playing. And here's another blurry picture of the flower we made.














It's so weird watching Fi sing. She's just...not really cut out for it at all.














Well, whatever. Let's get this trial started.














Oh, wait, there's more singing. Okay, we'll tap our feet for a few more minutes while the cutscene plays...














Okay, finally. Once again, I'm in another Silent Realm. Fi can't come with me. Yay!















What? Are you going to tell me where I am? I'm guessing I'm in another Silent Realm.














See, I told you. Now get out of here so I can do this.















I didn't take any pictures of the trial again (because of the whole time limit thing) but I did take the above picture to kind of illustrate what's going on. That white thing in the upper right corner is one of the guardians. Scary stuff, I guess.














Oooh! The tears are red this time. I guess that makes sense. Okay, let's carry on.

And...BAM! I got the last tear!














I really thought this would be harder than it was. Not that I'm complaining or anything, but Eldin Volcano isn't exactly a flat grassland, as it were. I thought I'd end up frantically trying to get to one last tear before getting hit by a guardian, over and over and over. Although to get the second-to-last tear, I had to run right past one of the guardians, praying he wouldn't hit me before I got to the tear. The last tear I got was at the top of one of the sand slides you have to run up. The thing with that was that there were sentries flying all over that area, and I was afraid one of them would spot me (since there were so many of them), but fortunately I was able to avoid them and get the tear at the top. I did get spotted on my way back down the slide, but by then it didn't matter because the gate to get out was pretty much right there. Yay!

And here's what I got for finishing the trial! Somehow I was not surprised by this item at all!















I was wondering when I was going to get something like this. You know, because I was pretty sure there was another volcano area I hadn't explored yet. Yay!














And I conjecture that the chances of Fi ever pulling her head out of her own ass are 0%. Look, I can do it too! Ugh. Just go away.

And look! I don't have to sprint through this area anymore!














Okay, well, let's see what's waiting for us down the non-beaten path.














It appears that we've reached the Volcano Summit. Oh, this place is going to be fun.














Looks like Fi wants to talk some more. Take it away, you worthless windbag.














Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, well, let's see what there is to see here.

I'm not sure why I took a picture of this, but yeah.














So eventually I found my way to a gate made of fire, where that Goron guy was waiting for me.














Oh, you know, I've just been saving the world while you screw around failing to figure things out while I do all the work. You?














Yeah, and I'm the only one who can do anything with Goddess Cubes. Your point? Oh, right, you're too stupid to figure out how to get past the fire gate. Let's see. What does the Clue Tablet over here say ?














Okay. Well, look, there's a frog statue over there that looks pretty dang thirsty. Here, I'll whip out this empty bottle and get some water from the handy spring I found a few minutes ago.















I'm way ahead of you, chump. Get out of my way.














Look at that. The frog statue is all happy and the fire gate is gone. You'd have been able to do that too if you were just smart enough to carry a bottle around. Oh, but look, there's another frog statue in the next room. I wonder what I'll have to do next?















Ugh. Fine. But I had to pour the water over a balcony above the frog this time, since the walkway in front of it was conveniently missing.














Woo, cool. You mean I'M getting somewhere, because you're not doing anything useful here.

So we made our way to what looks suspiciously like the entrance to a temple. Except there's a really big fire gate in front of it, of course.














Gee, I wonder what that could be. Well, you can't have it, so don't get your hopes up. Here's a blurry picture of the gate I was talking about earlier.















I wonder how I'm going to get water to that frog. So I wandered around some more, and found myself back at the spring where I got the water twice before. But this time, a Mogma was waiting for me.














Yeah, okay. Well, I found the ruins already. Got any smart ideas for the water?















Okay, cool...but how am I going to get the water from there to here, smart guy?














Really? And what's she going to do, teleport the water here? Oh, right...the cookpot basin she was recuperating in. Well...that's...actually...not a bad idea...I guess. Congratulations, Fi! You're not totally worthless. Okay, let's go talk to the Water Dragon.















But how are we going to get the basin to where we need it to go? Can you teleport it for us?














Oh, right, the robot. Okay, well, let's go.














BURN! Hahahahaha! You're awesome, Scrapper. Keep up the good work.

So I had to lead Scrapper from Faron Woods back to the Eldin Volcano. Here's a blurry picture of said leading. Well, at least we're flying in the right direction.














And when we got there...














Uh oh. This is going to end badly. Get back here, you worthless robot!

So we landed at the very beginning of the Eldin Volcano area, and the robot promptly yelled at me for not telling him he needed to land at the summit. And rather than fly up to the summit himself, the robot decided an escort quest was what we needed to do.














Ugh. So we started making our slow way up the mountainside while I repeatedly tried and failed to shoot far-off enemies with my bow, cursing every time I ran out of ammo. Here we are in front of the entrance to the second dungeon.















But, after failing (and having to start over...grr) a couple of times, we finally made it to the summit.














So he flew up in the air...















...and poured it on the frog.















Success!















That's right! Because I'm The Hero (tm) and you're a chump.

And that brings me to the end of today's post. Next time: Whatever this dungeon is! And presumably the third flame. Until next time, heroes!

Skyward Sword Chapter 13: Yo Ho, A Robo-Pirate's Life For Me

What's this?! A second post in one week? NO! Say it ain't so! Wait...that's not a bad thing. Okay, carry on then. I guess I might meet this month's quota after all, despite the whole "February = shorter" thing. Woo!

Now then. Where were we? Oh, yes. I had just found my way onto the Sandship. Well, let's keep moving then.















So...the ship was moving while I was looking for it, but as soon as I found it, it stopped? And how was it moving in the first place? So confusing, all this time travel stuff.

So, I made my way onto the ship. There was only one way I could go, since that nasty razor wire stuff was blocking all of the ladders that led onto the upper decks of the ship. So I had to take the one door that led belowdecks. Eventually I found this hallway full of little scorpion things.















I guess you can't see them that well with Link's ugly mug in the way. Well, they were there, and they were creepy. Okay, well, moving right along...

This part was mostly wandering my way through the crumbling ship trying to figure out what it was I was trying to accomplish (and where the obligatory Time Stone that sends the ship back in time would be located). But eventually, I found the robo-pirate guy that the Skipper warned me about. He was lurking on the very front of the ship. Woo!















I guess he's just been chilling there for hundreds of years or whatever, guarding his prize, waiting for someone to come along and challenge his, uh, in-charge-ness. You know, of a derelict ship that's been sitting on a sea of sand for a thousand years. But whatever.














Uh oh, I think he's seen me. It's okay, I can take it. COME AT ME, BRO!














Oh. I guess he's taking me at my word. To battle, then!

This battle was fairly simple. We were fighting on the, uh, walkway you can see him standing on in the above pictures, which was really long. I guess it was kinda similar to a plank? I dunno, I'm not the most knowledgeable when it comes to nautical terms. Anyway, it was basically a game of seeing who could push whom forward or back. My job was to push him over the edge of the walkway. Periodically, as I pushed Mr. Robo-Pirate backward, he'd hit a switch that made the walkway slightly shorter. Well, whatever. I sent him falling into the sand pretty quickly.














There he goes!














Yeah, I kinda figured as much. Now get out of my way so I can open that chest behind you.

And inside the chest...a BOW!














Yay! I got the last weapon in the game! My collection is complete!














ARGH FI JUST SHUT UP ALREADY














Ooh! Is that a Time Stone I spy with my little eye! Let's shoot it and find out!














Yay, the ship went back in time! It's all pretty now!














You know, now that I think about it, the mast seems like kind of a vulnerable place to put the Time Stone. You know, since apparently it's the ship's power source and all. One bad storm and you lose that mast, and you're pretty much screwed...but what do I know? Maybe the mast is made out of metal, or some kind of ridiculously strong wood.














The ship even has a cute little life boat! Yay! This will come into play later on in the dungeon!














The first thing I had to do was make my way through the rigging so I could hit the button that was keeping the Time Stone from being visible. There I am, making my way there. But wait, the Skipper wants to say something!














Yay! Anything for you, little robo-man. But what's that? You want me to find your crew?














Yay! Let's go find the brig. I think I've already been there. It was the only room in the ship that had a grand total of two broken-down robots in it, so I'm pretty sure that was the brig. Considering the apparent size of the crew (going by the picture in the Skipper's shack), you'd think there would be a few more robots than that, but whatever.














Us? You and who? Now I don't even see the one other robot I thought was in there before. Well, whatever. He told me I was going to have to find the ship's two power generators and turn them on so I could get into the brig and free the crew. Cool.

And here's the boss door!














So, finding the generators involved a lot of shifting the ship back and forth through time so I could access doors, switches, etc. Plus, riding the life boat up and down the side of the ship. But eventually I prevailed. Here's the path to the brig that opened up once I activated both of the generators.















This puzzle was kinda straight out of Galaxy Quest. Not completely, but close enough. But in the end, I made it to the brig.














Yay! Apparently the ship can be operated by only two robots. Weird. But he gave me the key to the captain's cabin, so...yay!














There's the Boss Key! I had to kill 3 of those Beamos things in the room to get to it, though. Not sure why the captain would have those in his cabin, but whatever. I got the key!















Squid carving? Well...that fills me with a sense of foreboding, for some reason. What's the end boss of this dungeon going to be, again? I think I've been in every room...well, except this one...














Look at all those treasure chests. Too bad none of the Mogmas are here. They'd be going crazy! The chests contained an Evil Crystal, two Silver Rupees and two Monster Horns. Yay for treasure! But enough about that. We need to finish this dungeon.

So I fit the Squid Carving into the Boss Door, and...














Oh, wait, there was a room I hadn't been to before. Is that thing in there the boss? How confusing.














Here's an unfortunately blurry picture of the inside of the room. Are those tentacles? What's going on here?














Thanks, Captain Obvious. Let's go see what's going on! Wait, why is the ship tipping sideways and filling up with water! And what the deuce are these tentacles I keep having to Skyward Strike out of my way? Not to mention the whole "barrels rolling down the floor that I have to dodge while running to the door" thing. Somehow I don't think I'm going to enjoy this...














Oh. It broke the ship in half. Well then...wait, how is it still in the past? Where's the Time Stone? See, I told you this could happen! Also, I think this is the storm the Skipper mentioned earlier. What's going on?! My brain hurts...














Gah! More tentacles! Show yourself, you fiend!














Oh. That's the boss? That's...not really as scary as I thought it would be. Especially the cartoony hair-tentacles. Okay, well, let's do this.

The first stage of the battle consisted of the boss's tentacles shooting through the decks vertically like in the above picture, and I had to Skyward Strike them to cut them apart so they'd go away. The problem was that the tentacles kept trying to hit me and or grab me and shake me apart. So that was fun. But once I cut the tentacles, the boss showed up and started hitting the deck with its arms. I had to shoot it in the eye with my bow (that sounds familiar...), which made the boss fall onto the deck, and I had to run up and hit it in the eye with my sword. Rinse and repeat, with the tentacles progressively getting faster and more annoying. But finally something changed, and I thought the boss was defeated..but then its flailing knocked down this box from the upper deck.














I had to use the box to climb up to the upper level, where...















...the boss isn't dead after all. Sigh. Okay, let's do this again. But this time, the hair tentacles just tried to attack me with their razor-sharp teeth and knock me off the deck. I couldn't quite figure out what was going on until I just got pissed off and started slashing at them with my sword and cutting them off. Then it was back to shooting it in the eye and slashing the eye with my sword. But finally...














Success!














Yay, another Heart Container!















Yay, I finally get the flame! Woo!














It's so pretty! Fi, where are you? I need you to dance the flame into my sword again.














Ah, there she is. Let's get this done.














Yeah, energize that sword (giggity?).















Oh. That's it? Well...cool, I guess. I think the sword changed color.















Yeah, pretty sure it changed color.














Yeah. Look at that face. He knows what's up. Don't mess with him, or he'll kick your ass. Wait a second, what's this?















Now two of the triangles are lit up? What's going on here?! Freaky!














Cool, I guess. Now, let's just sorta teleport our way back to the dock, because there's no way we're getting off this wrecked ship.














Uh...wow. That was probably a lot of unnecessary work. And how did you and your one crewmember get the ship back into shape so fast? You must be super-robots. But whatevs. I seem to have reached my stopping point for today. Next time: another new song! See you later, heroes!