Monday Geekery

So I came across this the other day, and realized that maybe I need to include printed makeup in my near-future. Who needs to buy a compact when you can print one?

And then I came across the thought that maybe plastic could heal itself--drop your (future) smartphone? Don't worry; one day it might heal that crack in a couple of weeks.

I love science.

I've also just started playing Four Swords. Never got it before because I didn't have the company to rope into being 2nd player. Being a Zelda fan, this always grated on me, but not much more than any of the other games I didn't have the consoles for (Being a gamer on a budget: is there a crueler kind of love?). Fortunately, the "No 2nd Player for Zelda" problem has been solved, so play on! 

Graphics are very old-school in this particular game. It's a flashback to your 8-bit '90s. It took me a little while to get used to going between 3-D style game mechanics (most of the world) and 2-D style movement (in rooms and caves; think older Super Marios where you climb up the ladder and fall down). Needless to say, horse racing at Tingle's involved a lot of bouncing horses off walls... Link eventually figured out how to make the horse go forward, jump, and steal all the force orbs. 

Of course it's the standard "Defeat the dungeons and rescue Zelda" plot from most Zelda games, with this time the dungeons centering around rescuing six maidens. I kind of feel like they didn't even try when plotting this particular story out, which is disappointing. You pretty much walk in, hear Zelda ask her old childhood friend Link to go investigate those ominous clouds over there, watch 6 maidens get kidnapped and each taken to a different tower, and run off to rescue them with nothing more than a split-personality-inducing sword you pulled from a rock (and in doing so freed the Big Bad). The world development so far seems less than I'm used to for a Zelda quest. I'm hoping it's only the beginning of the story where the plot line doesn't pretend to be original.

Four Swords is a Zelda, though, and for most of them the most interesting stories are in the side quests and mini-adventures. I'm certain there will be more than enough to enjoy, now that we're past the first dungeon. The worlds of Link's various incarnations have been half the selling point for me. I love exploring the worlds, and since I'm more of a for-the-story player than a dungeon grinder, both the world and plot have to be interesting to really steal my heart. The Zelda franchise won me over for world and for story (in some editions, more for the side quests than the main plot) as much as (or more than) the game mechanics. 

What's your favorite side quest, game mechanic, or adventure from the Zelda games?