So I hope people are enjoying the new look. My last theme was very Four Swords-inspired, and the switch to this one sort of corresponds with Twilight Princess' change in style from TWW/FS. Though more specifically the Forest Temple from Ocarina of Time was my inspiration this time around. I sort of imagine the main background as the forest outside the temple, the sidebar background as its stone walls/floor, and then the posts as its grassy courtyards. Yeah, it's a bit of a stretch ... but regardless, I really like how things came out.
And on the subject of Zelda, I've been playing a fair bit of it lately. My net connection decided to randomly cut out for a few hours, from about 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM, so I played OOT for a bit. I never have actually played all the way through it again since my first time (not counting Master Quest, that is), and I still had an early save file on the cartridge from when I started a new game a while back. So I found myself needing to beat the Dodongo's Cavern when I popped in the cartridge (I prefer the N64 version over the GCN version, because first person aiming is easier with the N64 stick), which I did after watching Darunia make a fool of himself.
Also, I played through the original SNES version of A Link to the Past a couple days ago. I did it all in one sitting, without saving or dying (or using any potions/fairies), which I'd never done with the SNES version before, so I finally got to see that beautiful little zero next to Link on my save file. And from starting the game to the end credits, I think it took me about six hours to complete the game while getting all the major items/upgrades, which is a new record for me.
I found something out during that playthrough of LTTP, though: My reflexes are actually better when I'm tired. I had stayed up the whole night before that, and I was playing the game just to keep myself awake, but some of the crap I was doing -- without even thinking about it -- was insane. After the boss fight with Blind, especially, I just sat there for a few seconds and went, "Whoa..."
I came into the fight with full life, started out with a Spin Attack right as Blind appeared and used the "bounce" from that to propel myself far enough away to dodge the three fireballs he shot in quick succession after being hit. After that I fired off a couple quick sword beams to finish off the first head. So then that was flying around, shooting fireballs, and I just sort of danced around the room, dodging it and all the fireballs automatically, while shooting Blind's second head with more sword beams and taking swipes at him -- and again using the bounce back to dodge the following burst of fireballs -- whenever he got close enough. Then the second head came off. Now, if you've fought Blind, you know just how much crap gets to be flying around that room: Two heads, each shooting about two fireballs per second; Blind himself who shoots about one fireball per second, plus a burst of three whenever he gets hit by your sword itself; the occasional laser beam that Blind shoots in between fireballs. Except for a single fireball, I dodged it all ... and that single fireball was blocked by my shield. I completely owned Blind without ever taking a hit, and I was barely even thinking about what I was doing.
Now that's what I call getting down.
