Notebooks and Memory

One of my very fondest memories of playing games on the NES and SNES as a kid was keeping a notebook next to me. It was the notebook where I stored all my discoveries made in my travels through these game's worlds. It was like charting out undiscovered territory and I was the pioneer of it all. This is something I simply don't do anymore with today's games. There are a bajillion reasons for this, time, internet, etc. I feel though, that it's just not necessary anymore with how much information is provided for the player today. Back then, games provided a minimal amount of information, only giving what was fundamentally necessary, and said "GO!". It would be unfair to state that it's only the modern game's fault for this change.

The first Zelda gave a map on the overworld, but there were no details, it only provided your absolute position within the boundaries of the world. Nothing told you where 'dungeon x' was located, it was up to you to figure that out. Even if you did find one, it wouldn't mark it in-game. There were secrets everywhere, and every tool you found in dungeons allowed you to explore the world easier and more efficiently. It pushed you to explore and experiment.

It never told you to get yourself a notebook to write anything down, but the game's design promoted it. I drew a map which detailed everything I found and what was needed. When I found a spot for a raft, I'd mark it so I knew to come back later. When I found the other swords, same thing. Any time I found an in-game tip from the many cave dwellers that stole/bargained rupees from me, I'd write down what they said. The dungeon maps and compass didn't show where anything was, only the spot where the Triforce piece was located. Even there, I drew my own maps, detailing all the little intricacies of each. Especially the very large labyrinth that was Level 9.

In a way, I wanted to bring back a bit of this with DT3. I practically did a coin flip on whether or not I wanted that menu map for the game. This figurative coin flip favored having the map mainly for item locations. Heart pieces and ammo upgrades are quite a thing in DT3, so there needed to be a way to guide the player toward those rewards that they might've missed. Aside from that, I was tempted to put a map in places like the Gate 2 Water Palace, but thoughts above kept me from doing so. I felt it would be better left to the player to unravel that labyrinth.
I'm blabbering again...

A few people may have discovered an empty map in the DT3 demo called the Cave Network, which is a large optional maze that links up to different places on the main world. Again, it doesn't have an in-game map. Instead I'd like to hand off all of that to the player. There's quite a few items to find, and the overall reward for figuring out the whole thing is something that extends to the end-game.

LPs
Slaix and slit08 have finished their LPs of DT1 now. If you're wanting to see how certain parts of the game are done by other people, their LPs are a pretty good source, especially since they both play the game differently. Thanks to you guys for putting these LPs up. I definitely never thought I'd ever get LPs of this game when I started it.

This Brian fellow is moving at a fast rate, who is at the Veiled Detritus on Distorted I believe.

The cow of rao is also getting very close to the end. My assumption is about 9-11 more videos for that, depending on Shroud Lord shenanigans. That Shroud Lord...

Birds
Things have been more eventful with the birds (grackles) this week. A few days ago, one of them let me touch it, which was pretty nifty. Yesterday was much more than that though. One ate food right out of my hand. Though the females at this time of year are all running around with their young and seem to be willing to take more chances for food. I've noticed the females will come much closer than the males in most cases. Aside from one male, but he sees me and hears my voice daily, and has gotten used to me being close by. That and I've thrown him food from time to time. He still keeps roughly a 4 foot distance though. I doubt he'll ever let me touch, but eventually he might get brave enough to grab something from my hand. Which I'm sure if he does, he'll scamper off in a hurry.

That same day I also moved a baby grackle roughly 4 feet. She was in a relatively dangerous place, so I moved him to the base of a bush, which she stayed near the rest of the day. She had fallen from the nest, but the nest was much too high for me to reach to put her back and I don't have the utilities to get up there. She wasn't injured in any way though, so she was better off being left alone, aside from being moved to a better location. The mother still came down and took care of her. It's not always the case with grackles, but luckily the mother was still caring for it here. Which I observed from a far distance. The baby did make some noise when I moved her, which caused the mother and about 3 other birds in the area to circle me for a bit. Needless to say, she was pretty pissed off at me. Before I get comment about it, the whole thing on bird parents abandoning their young after being touched is a myth. The only thing I did as far as interacting with the baby was move it to a better location 4 feet from where I found it.