Zelda Valley

“dude! make a part 3 ur videos are awesome!” - That was the first comment we received after we released Episode Two on YouTube.

We already had so much fun making the first two episodes that we knew we needed to make at least another one. We then thought, “Let’s make three more!” Well, with that came more and more ideas. The deciding idea was to try and make the next three have more action and more of a serious storyline with gags placed around it. I advised JMAP that we couldn’t just rehash them into pointless comedies like the first two were intended to be. But I also knew that we couldn’t make it all serious, so that’s why we tried to make it towards the line between comedic and dramatic.

Episode Three is the first of the newer videos.

This time it opens up with an opening narration to try and explain the situation; then we hear the beats of the drums that cut into the opening scene. We wanted to catch the eye of any viewer who stumbled upon it, so we thought opening it with exterior shots then cutting into Link attacking the outpost was the best idea. This is also the first where we focused on background work instead of using just a plain white background on everything. JMAP thinks this was the best build up opening sequence we’ve ever done so far. Unfortunately, I think the build up gets ruined by gifs and still frames that either hit or miss. Once the battle enters the outpost, I think we had these first two gifs of the armies fighting run for way too long; they ruin the buildup in my opinion. When Link drops in and kicks some tail, it gets better again, but the buildup is still ruined.

The pivot part between Link and the guy in red was done with Pivot 3, and we added some effects to emulate a burning background. But it is the only fight ever done with Pivot 3 because that particular version kept crashing, and it sometimes wouldn’t let us open and edit anything we were working on.

We gave Princess Zelda a completely new design rather than that pink circle we briefly saw in Episode Two. We also thought it’d be funny if Zelda acted more like a brat and kept trying to boss Link around. When she says, “No Soup for you!”, that is an obvious nod to the “Soup Nazi” from Seinfeld. The part where Link hides under a box references Metal Gear Solid, in which the character being played can do such a thing in the game. The parts with Veran reference Oracle of Ages, in which Veran does the same thing to Nayru, and like in the game is weakened by “Mystery Seeds.” And to make it continue the story, we left it with another cliffhanger ending.

Episode Three definitely continues the series in the right direction. However, there are moments where we looked back and said, “why did we keep that?” It was largely untouched for a while as well so that it could meet JMAP’s demand of being released with the other two. If we had only added a few more gifs, it would’ve been better. But, it was largely rushed, then untouched for a long time.

My Overall Score: 7.5

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The little hidden part was put in due to the passing of my brother and JMAP’s father, Alex. He passed away on June 23, 2007. He had been battling Chondrosarcoma, a very rare bone cancer on and off for 11 years (since 1996). We believe he is in a better place now, and that we will eventually see him again.