E3 2005: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

Well outside the land of Hyrule lies a small village known as Toaru (a name confirmed to be subject to change before the game's release). In this town Link lives a life of peace as a cowboy (actually a shepherd, but Nintendo likes the word cowboy better). When the demo begins, Link is told by a man to pick some "horse grass" off the ground to call the horse, Epona (named such for the demo only). The grass is picked by standing over it and pressing the A button. With a piece in hand, the camera zooms in on Link as he raises the piece to his mouth. In the upper right corner we see the A button and the word "Blow." Pressing A caused Link to play Epona's Song with the reed and shortly after the horse arrives in all her glory. Link is then asked by the man to corral some goats into a barn. The player can either accept or decline this opportunity. Declining, actually allows the player to skip this portion of the demo instead of locking the player in a conversation loop until they are eventually forced to say "Yes" as would be common in past Zelda titles.

Goat herding is treated like a mini game. A timer keeps track of how long you take (we theorize that in the final game beating a best time will earn Link a reward) and horse riding is simplified. There is no dashing involved and the mini game is better for it. Corralling all the goats takes a bit of patience, but is simple enough. While riding Epona, the A button is used for an action known only as "whoop." Pressing A near a goat will cause them to run from you and so it is your goal to get the goats to run towards the barn. The player must be careful here. Whooping a goat too much will upset it. At this point it will flash red and chase Link. Evasive action is needed here as it's very easy to get knocked off Epona. When a goat is successfully corralled, "Yee-haw!" will appear on the screen in huge gold letters. Successfully corralling more than one at a time will cause "Yee-Haw!" to appear multiple times and clutter up the screen. It's a small detail that helps the game go that extra mile to being light hearted and funat least at the beginning.

After herding all the goats into the barn it is time for Link to get going. The same man who wanted help with the goats now teaches you how to hop fences with Epona. This is done just as in OoT or MM only the game seems less concerned with you approaching fences at a 90 degree angle. If you're a little crooked you should be okay. Two fences must be hopped to leave the ranch area and enter the main part of Toaru Village.

Once in this new area we are met with a cutscene. Link dismounts Epona and talks to Bo, mayor of Toaru Village. It is here that an important story element is introduced. Link is referred to as being a representative of Toaru and soon he must embark on a ride to Hyrule to attend a festival. It is the mayor's duty to go, but for whatever reason he is sending Link instead. Soon the mayor's daughter, Ilia, enters the scene and pesters Link about jumping fences with Epona. She complains that one of Epona's legs is injured and so after an entertaining exchange between Ilia and the mayor she takes the horse to a spring to heal the wounded leg. This is done much to the dismay of the mayor who wants Link to leave for Hyrule as soon as possible. He tells Link to go to the spring and get Epona back.

At this point Link has full reign of the village. He can go almost anywhere if he so chooses, but it's a bit hard to fool around in a demo timed for 15 minutes (and 10 minutes on the last day of E3). You can choose to talk to the mayor again though he doesn't reveal any new information. However, talking to him does unlock an event in which a runaway goat enters the village. Link is told to press A to wrestle the goat and, as it stampedes towards him, Link spreads his arms wide, ready to take it on. Sadly, after numerous attempts, we were not able to wrestle the goat successfully and were merely knocked to the side after a painful impact. Stupid goat.

Continuing on past the mayor and his house (which was locked) we came across a beautiful stream with a small bridge. A small cutscene showed a cradle floating across the water and drifting downstream. A desperate mother ran after it and stopped just on the other side of the bridge. Talking to her opens up a side quest in which you must collect the cradle and bring it back to her. Though this can be done a couple of ways (swimming after it or walking across the stream to where the cradle is stuck and simply picking it up) it is more fun to take the nearby canoe from its dock. The water effects are beautiful and handling the boat feels perfect. It is a slow ride to the cradle, though. You must get out of the canoe and pick the cradle up from the dock and walk back to the mother. Grateful, she leads you to her home and gives you a pumpkin as a reward, which contains a piece of heart for restoring a portion of your life bar. Throwing the pumpkin to smash it reveals said heart.

There are numerous other villagers roaming the village and most all of them have their own side quests to solve if the player so desires. Oddly enough for any village in a Zelda game all the homes except one (a shop) are locked, just like the mayor's. We feel this is because the interiors were not yet ready to warrant inclusion in the demo, but one never knows if Nintendo is trying to put a stop to what is essentially Link barging into homes without knocking.

Interacting with animals is going to be a big part of TP, if the demo was any indication. In the village alone we saw squirrels, a dog to play fetch with (you could actually throw a bone and it'd chase it), a Cucco (using it to glide was possible in the demo), a cat stuck on a roof, and a hawk which could be called by blowing on some hawkweed that was picked from the ground, much like "horse grass." The hawk actually had a couple uses just in this area. Once called, you could aim it much like the Hookshot (from any past 3D Zelda) and press A to release it. Releasing it at the cat on the roof knocked the cat off and into the stream -- at which point it would paddle frantically to the shore. Catching the cat was difficult as it is a fast creature, but returning it to the shop keep of the village completes a sidequest. Of course, all she does is complain about the cat being wet and gives no reward.

Villager interactivity is nigh perfect in the demo and said to be even more advanced upon the game's release. Jumping on a table will cause a middle-aged woman to yell "That is where we eat!" at you. Picking a pumpkin from a patch and smashing it will also get Link scolded. There is also a man walking around the village who carries a sword on his back. He tells you to try and take his sword if you're fast enough; a friendly, almost instructive challenge from a neat tutor character. Going around to his back and pressing A will cause Link to attempt this, but the man always grabs it before Link; a nice bit of interactivity. There is also a man who is throwing rocks at a beehive. He claims there are rupees inside. When you talk to him and begin walking away the bees will chase him into the stream. At this point it just might be wise to call that hawk again to smash the hive for you and get yourself some rupees, but the point is that this sort of interactivity in the village is outstanding, and if it's expected to be improved then we can't wait.

Though there are a lot of things to do in Tauro Village, there is nothing that absolutely must be done until you reach the next area. It is here that you meet Colin, Ilia's younger brother. He mentions how the other kids hate him -- at which point you get egged on by said kids to show them Link's moves with a sword. They give you a wooden sword and demand to see certain moves performed against a dummy. Colin runs off at this point because swords don't interest him. This portion of the demo will most likely serve as the final game's combat tutorial. If you want you can try hitting the three kids with the sword as well, but they are miraculously able to dodge every strike.

After messing around with the wooden sword, you must catch up with Colin which leads you to the end of the demo. He tells you about a tunnel and says, "It's a secret to everybody." Following him inside the tunnel leads you to the spring where Ilia is tending Epona. It is here that quite possibly the most brutal scene in the franchise's history is seen. In the middle of talking to Ilia a group of Bokoblins on mounts invade the area along with the mighty Bokoblin king. Ilia is shot in the back with an arrow and Link is bashed on the head, knocking him out. We then see a Bokoblin grab Ilia's arm by the wrist, this could be a quick shot of her being taken or a Bokoblin checking if she is dead. Colin, we do know, is taken with the group. The Bokoblin king then blows on a horn. A mysterious blackness appears in the ceiling like a portal and something falls out. We couldn't get a good look at it before the scene ends. When Link reenters the conscious world, he is confused and concerned, for obvious reasons. He inspects a mysterious wall of darkness on a cliff wall. Slowly he approaches and then without warning a large black hand reaches out and grabs him, bringing him inside. This is presumably when Link first enters the Twilight Realm.

Though the Toaru Village demo is said to be a remix of events to intrigue the E3 attendee and that the final game will involve more time talking to villagers and doing things before the adventure begins, we have learned a lot about the game's story from just the final cutscene. Of course, we also have more questions, but we'll tackle those later.

Horse combat is handled with great ease, as mentioned previously in the gameplay mechanics section. It's also worth noting that you can also harm the actual mounts of your enemies. There is no real way to target a mount though and hitting one usually happens by chance unless you dismount and start swinging at enemies. This way Link has ends up attacking them only because he can't reach the riders. A boar tends to fall after a couple hits, but they will eventually get up again as they cannot be killed. This is more of a minor detail and a good one at that. It would look silly if Link couldn't affect the creature when striking it.

The Bokoblin riders are an absolute blast to fight. Focusing on them is problematic, however, as more join the foray as you widdle down the numbers. In the demo, it was impossible to destroy all the riders. Eventually we learned to merely survive them and attack when they were in our way. Facing them head on meant being ganged up on and getting knocked off our horse.

Based off of a gameplay trailer, we know that Link will be able to ride a boar at some point. Whether this is because he can steal the mounts of fallen enemies remains to be seen, but it was not possible in the demo. Of course, from that same gameplay trailer we also know that Link can use the boar to trample enemies, but we did not witness any enemies using this tactic when we were running around the field (separated from our steed). Granted we also spent most of the time hanging around the Cliffside and watching boars ride off the cliff after we had subdued their riders. Boars, it would seem, are not too bright unless they have someone to steer them away from the steep thousand foot drop.

Once we overcame the intimidating odds set before us we realized the demo really wasn't very difficult at all. There is some challenge here, to be sure, but the Bokoblin king puts up little fight on his own and instead relies upon his cronies to subdue Link. As a result it is better to ignore everyone but the Bokoblin king. A handful of good hits with your sword will open up the next section of the demo.

The Bokoblin king, knowing that he cannot shake Link off his tail, opts to challenge him head on. He leads us to a stone bridge that reaches across a great chasm. Neither side has a railing. Believe us when we say that there is no invisible wall. If you're not careful you can ride Link right over the edge. One of his fellow Bokoblins uses a fire arrow to trap Link on the bridge with the Bokoblin king by setting fire to both ends of the bridge. The joust has begun.

To be honest, jousting isn't different from any of the other combat while on a mount. The only difference is that the enemy is riding straight toward you and you're riding straight toward the enemy. Link doesn't magically equip a lance or anything; he still uses his sword. He doesn't even hold his sword out straight in front of him like one would hold a lance. Essentially, all the joust involves is riding toward your enemy and not dying. Oh, and swinging your sword at the right time. We don't mean to make it sound lame, though. It's actually very entertaining all the same and more challenging than it sounds. More finesse must be used here. You can't plough right into the Bokoblin king; his size alone can take Link and his horse any day. Running along the side and hoping to get in close at the last second can work, but you could be rammed off the bridge's side before you know it. The best way we saw to handle this situation is to go head on and move to the side while swinging your sword at the last second. This is risky as well, but it's a better way to get a hit in. Doing this a couple times will end the joust. Link rears his horse up on its hind legs for a dramatic pose against the setting sun. If it wasn't obvious before, Link is awesomeness in it's purest form.