Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess Walkthrough Part 1

Welcome to part one of my Twilight Princess walkthrough. For the initial part of this series, I take you through from the start of the game to the first entry into twilight. NOTE: Before reading further, be sure to check whether you are playing the GameCube or Wii version, so you can note the direction you must head relevant to where I am directing you, as the Wii version of the game world is mirrored vis-a-vis to the GameCube - so if I say west go east (and vice versa) for the 'Cube version. However, north and south remain the same regardless of format.

Anyway, after a little talk with a guy named Rusl in which you are tasked for a later date to make a delivery to the royal family of Hyrule, you have plenty of tasks to perform until the big trip across the land. First up, when you wake the next day, you have to go to the town ranch to help the owner herd some goats. Yes, evidently your character is the town's resident farmhand. To start, find your horse (look for the spring where you had the talk at the start) to find Ilia who has just given your steed a bath. You can practice grass blowing for the first time here; look for the stalks and stand next to them to get a pick prompt, then press the button to pick and again to blow.

Now mount the horse and ride into town. Now is a good time to get familliar with the townsfolk (there are actually less than 10 total, so they obviously know your character. You can't head indoors anywhere yet, though, so after you're done chatting go to the ranch at the far end of town to start herding up the goats. All you have to do to complete this task is make sure the goats are between you and the barn and drive them in that direction. You can use the A button to whoop your steed and move the goats faster, but watch your back: driving the goats too much will piss them off to the point where they will nock you off your mount - literally - causing you to lose precious time which you will need the next time you perform this task.

After all the goats are safely in the barn, you will be presented with a practice exercise in fence jumping. Now is the best time to practice as it turns out, as you will use this skill a lot from now on. Now to fence jump, you need a few yards distance relevant to the fence (or gate) to jump successfully, and you also need to use the whoop technique... and diagonals likely don't cut it any more than in Ocarnia of Time for those who remember that. Anyway, practice as much as you wish, and when you're done, jump the closed gate (a la Ocarnia of Time) to head home for the night (be sure to save when prompted; you'll want to do this at every checkpoint in the story, and any time you wrap up play for a session through the submenu).

Come morning, the kids will wake you up, ready for another day. And wouldn't you know it, you have the day off from work this time! Problem is, this will not be a quiet day for anyone in tbhe villiage; the game is definitely afoot this morning, a la Sherlock Holmes. For starters, someone (actually, some thing) has robbed an expectant mother, the shopkeeper's cat is loose in the hoose - and some retarded ass bees have set up shop in a nearby tree. And that's not even the half of it - but more on that later.

First off, you should snatch back the baby basket. Head over to the pillars in the middle of town after discussing with the expectant mother (who happens to be the mother of Colin, who is one of the children you woke you up this morning. You'll come to another person who will mention your character's knack for whisling with the reeds growing on the pillars; climb the vines on the first one and move to the edge of each one ibn succession until you land on the farthest one out with reeds growing on it. Now pick the reeds and blow into them (like you did earlier) and a hawk will land on your arm. Send it out to the mound in the lake by targeting the culprit standing on its peak with the aiming recticule to retrieve the basket. Now take the basket back to Colin's mom in exchange for a fishing pole (which Colin made for you if you'll remember from earlier).

Now head to the fishing pier on the side of the lake where the stream runs across the bridge near a torch (remember this for part two) and cast your line into the lake (be sure to set the fishing rod to the lone assignment in the equipped items area that you have at this point) using the B trigger, then perform the set hook function (for Wii owners with the version for that console, simply lift the Wiimote to set) and if you get the message "FISH ON" immediately start rotating the control stick (on gamepad or nunchuck, case depending) until you reel in the fish. Repeat once more (no idea why) and the runaway cat (who should be nearby if you fished from the correct spot) will take the goods and run, literally. You can now shop in the village store; the first time you do, you will get a bottle with some milk inside. Save it for the next task, as it will refill any health those darn bees will do to you.

Speaking of which, giving those bees the boot is exactly what you need to deal with next. But first, you need to do some shopping. Look all over town for some rupees (you'll nead them for use as money, and they can be found just about everywhere, from under rocks and pumpkins to in between blades of grass). After you grab about thirty green rupees (blue rupees count as five green, yellow as two blue or ten green, and so on) return to the shop and buy the slingshot the kids mentioned earlier this morning. Now take it to the nearby house and aim at the beehive in the tree I mentioned earlier and let go to send those bees packi-- Like, WHAT THE F***??!!!?!!??!!!!!!? THEY'RE RUNNING MAD IN YOUR DIRECTION!!! Get your fat ass in the lake water A. S.A. NOW!!!!!!

Whew! That was one sorry-ass, godforsaken FREAK SHOW, and WAY TOO CLOSE TO BOOT! Anyway, after the bees are gone drink the milk if you need to - it will refill your health meter (up to two times, and you can buy refills in the town shop if needed) in the case that those bees got you before you made it to the lake, and you can use it to hold bee larvae for use as fish bait, as well. Now you can finally head home, but not to rest; there's still plenty that remains to be done. Rusl has returned something to you, so head into your house (after killing the spider outside, of course) and open the box inside to get the wooden sword. Now talk to the kids outside for a quick slingshot lesson. Complete it, and you can move on to a swordfighting tutorial. Complete that and a monkey will lure the kids away onm the dot. Follow them past the spring from earlier into the Faron woods. Move and maul your way through the monsters en route through the area until you come to a locked gate. You can;'t go any further in that direction, but there's another path towards a cave that your horse will refuse to pass through. But first, you'll want to grab some hardware for safekeeping. Talk to the hippie dude en route to get a lantern, which you'll need for later. He'll offer to sell you lantern oil any time you need it as part of the deal, though (what a maroon, I say!) When you get to the cave, kill the beast outside then move and maul your way through the rest of the cave to the east, noting the box halfway through on a side passage for a ten-rupee prize. Fight your way through the open area on the other side until you can go somewhat north, then west through a passage that leads to a small key.

Take the key and return east to the end (and again to the other end), then go south until you reach a locked gate on your east side. Use the key on the gate and fight your way east, then north, stopping to take note of a parrot shopkeeper en route for later (or now, if you used up either your milk or lantern oil and need either more oil or the red health potion available for the first time here... but don't cheat the parrot on his money or you'll pay in spades the next time you visit!) You'll also find a piece of heart in this area (and you'll need five in this game, rather than just four, for a health meter upgrade). It's in the hidden box by the torches (light them to reveal it). Anyway, move and maul until you reach a cage. Defeat the guards and then slash apart the cage to free Talo (another one of the villiage children). After that, it's back to the villiage for some more goat herding (20 in all this time) and then, finally, it's time to depart for your trip. But wait: something's wrong with your horse! Head in the direction of the spring, and you'll have to forcibly give up your sword to the kids en route, who already got it big-time for the forest incident in case you're wondering. (And you could've gotten away with it, too, if it weren't for those meddling kids!)

If you wish, you can get a big rupee worth 20 green ones in your basement before moving on (head inside and downstairs to your basement, and be sure to use your lantern because it's dark as twilight). After that, return to the spring where you got your horse after bath time, only to find that the gate is locked and Ilia won't let you in. Talo will explain everything if you sneak into the nearby crawl tunnel, so head towards the spot he mentions and hit the button when prompted. Follow the tunnel, corners and all (hold the control stick in the direction of the arrows when they appear, and Talo will tell the whole story to Ilia, who fimally understands that it wasn't your fault, but that of the monsters, which led to your steed getting hurt.

Did I mention twilight earlier? Apparantly I did, and it just so happens that I probably shoud NOT have said it because once the conversation is done the junk really starts to hit the fan. Some freaking-awful things force their way in and knock the hell out of poor Talo, causing Ilia to panic and scramble away (serves her right for locking you out). By the time everything's said and done with this ragged clusterf***, you're locked in to the villiage area by a black wall, some strange layers of darkness quickly engulf the area and the next thing you know, you're, well... Er, actually...

Oh, fugeddabodit! Rather than spoil things for next time I'll just stop here. Be sure to check back soon for part 2, though! Until next time...