Analyzing Zelda Dungeons: Thieves Hideout

And welcome everypony er, everyone, to my second dungeon analysis from The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds! Today I will be looking at the Lorule dungeon known as Thieves Hideout, so let’s get on with it eh?

Analyzing Zelda Dungeons: Tower of Hera

Wait what is this, AppleShy what are you doing now!? Shush shush shush, let me explain! So if you haven’t noticed I’ve been madly into the newest Zelda game lately, geez what a game, everyone go play it. And it’s got me thinking a lot about Zelda, what I like about it and such. And one thing I noticed when I replayed all the Mario RPGs a few years ago, was that I really loved the dungeons and areas with great moments of atmosphere. I don’t know why but I just love it in games when they have great real atmospheres. And as I thought of Zelda and what I like about it, I noticed this trend continue, as one of my favorite parts of Zelda is when it has powerful moments of atmosphere, and for me at least, the moments that tend to have the best atmospheres, are the dungeons.

Dungeons are an incredibly important part of Zelda to me, the deep and complicated things they are. And as I fell head over heels in love with A Link Between Worlds, one of the reasons I enjoyed it so much was that well, I loved its dungeons. And so, as I replay the game on Hero Mode, I would like to randomly rant on my favorite dungeons as I replay them, and why I enjoyed them so much. So without further ado, let’s start with the first; the Tower of Hera.

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic - Analyzing Themes - Simple Ways

Simple Ways is a really interesting MLP episode for me, because I didn’t have much of an idea of what to expect from it going in, and didn’t think it would hit me hard, but looking at it now, wow did it surprise me and hit me hard. All I knew beforehand was that it would be an episode about relationships, something the show has stayed away from for the most part, and something I think many fans preferred to stay that way. So when I heard there would be an episode about not just relationships and crushes, but with a bit of a love triangle, I must admit, I was a little scared and uncertain, not knowing what to expect. But the more I thought about this episode, and what it did with its themes and morals, the more I found myself falling head over heels in love with this episode, and for this analysis, I shall explain why, and speak of the  conclusions I reached.

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic - Analyzing Endings - Bats

Boy it's been way too long since I posted here, apologies to all my readers for taking so long! I hope I haven't let the both of you down too much. Anyways, let's get on with it eh?

Ah Bats, what an odd episode this is. This was one of my most anticipated MLP epsiodes, and well, it’s not that surprising when you look at my name. This is the first and perhaps only Applejack and Fluttershy episode we’ll get, so my hype levels were through the roof. And I remember after I first watched the episode, my initial reaction was well………………shock.

And really, whose wasn’t? I was expecting a character focused episode, and instead got a plot focused one. I was expecting a focus on the character interactions of Fluttershy and Applejack, and instead got a focus on Fluttershy turning into a friggin bat. I was expecting a sort of happy duet like song between Fluttershy and Applejack on their friendship, and instead got an unsettling conflict oriented song with the mane 6 all ganging up on Fluttershy. In that regard, Pinkie Apple Pie was really everything I was hoping Bats would be, which is why I loved that episode, while this one……well, Bats you see is an episode in which I’m still not fully sure how I feel about it.

But! Let’s toss all that aside for the moment and focus on what I thought was the most important and most interesting part of this episode; the ending. The ending itself is simple; after Fluttershy and Applejack battle it out and list their opposing views on the bats; Applejack wanting the bats gone while Fluttershy thinks they should be shown kindness, Applejack decides to go with Fluttershy’s plan realizing the errors of her ways, and builds a separate area in the orchard for the bats. But the thing is………..we’re never completely told how she reached that conclusion. While most would call that lazy writing, and honestly, it probably is, I like to see it in a different light. You see open endings are something I tend to really like. They leave you much to speculate and wonder on, give you something to think about and discuss with others and see their interpretations of things, and they allow you to think more about what you just watched, and think why things went the way they did. And well, as someone who loves it when stories make you think, open endings have always been good in my book for this reason.

So getting back to this ambiguous ending of Bats, the purpose of this write up will be to focus on this one simple thing, that being, my own interpretation of the ending of Bats, and why I thought it went the way it did. I wondered a lot about this you see, as many of my favorite stories have me do. Examples of this are Crossroads of Destiny from Avatar: The Last Airbender, which prompted me to write a giant essay on the mystery of Zuko’s choice. Another one would be The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000, who’s lack of moral forced me to think hard about if there really was one and what it was. One day I’ll finally write that up and post my analysis of that episode, but until then, let’s focus on Bats, an episode that left me with tons to think about, and one I’ll certainly be thinking of for a long long time:

Bowser's Inside Story: Understanding the Villain

 



WARNING: Below are great spoilers for Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story, it is suggested that you do not read the following post if you have not at least gotten halfway through Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story

There was always something I really loved about Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story, that I noticed after playing and thinking about the game for a while. I'm pretty sure what I'm about to say would be overthinking the game, but nonetheless, I had a lot of fun with it, so let's begin!

 

The big unique thing about the third Mario & Luigi game was the fact that, you get to play as Bowser, the main villain from the Mario Universe. Now, it isn't the first Mario game to do this, no no, this has been done before in say, Super Mario RPG and Super Paper Mario, but what makes Bowser's Inside Story so special, is that of all the games to feature Bowser, none are able to capture the feeling of his character so well, and make you feel so much like Bowser himself, like that of Bowser's Inside Story.

Characters: The Old vs. The New



WARNING: Below are great big spoilers for most of the Mario RPGs, it is suggested that you do not read the following post if you have not beaten most of the Mario RPGs


Part of what I love about the Mario RPGs is their ability to create great deep worlds and characters that are ripe for exploring and learning about, as I spoke of in an earlier essay (can be found here). But you see, the thing is, the Mario RPGs don't have to focus on creating new worlds and characters, like that of Final Fantasy and other RPGs tend to always do. What makes the Mario RPG series so special, is that despite it being a huge series that spans 9 games now, and many different worlds, it still stars many familiar faces and characters, something long RPG series aren't known for doing.

Mario + RPG = ?