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Saturday, October 16, 2010

The Adventures of Emma, Anna, Daddy and Link.

Emma, Anna and Daddy have all been enjoying playing the Legend of Zelda - Ocarina of Time. It is an "old school" game by today's standards but has everything important: A hero/prince (Link), a Princess (Zelda), other princes and princesses, monsters, dragons, disguises, castles, and adventures. I started playing it out of encouragement from John because it is one of the only Zelda games I had never played, but it has turned out to be a very fun Daddy daughter adventure. Anna loves the stories and makes sure I read her everything they say. She also has many good suggestions about how to beat enemies, and in some case got them exactly right!

Emma started by looking for princesses and pointing them all out. She was not even fooled when Princess Zelda went into disguise. Emma knows her princesses even by their eyes alone! I asked Anna who it was and she was not sure, but Emma walked right up to the screen and said "there she is, princess!". Emma is also our spider patrol. She will stop and say "what's that?" or "Daddy, I hear a sound", and more often than now we find another spider to defeat in our quest.

Both girls have coined new jumping around the room Link phrases like "Hiyah!" and have learned that the triangle of force is indeed the Triforce. Anna was very upset when evil Gannondorf stole it! But we are hunting him down and every time we beat a new big monster she asks me if we are ready to get Gannondorf yet! She can already taste that Triforce. Emma too knows exactly what it looks like and whenever she sees its symbol on the wall (or anyting diamond like and angular for that matter) she will shout out "Look Dadddy, a Triforce!". They also both enjoy the songs.

Poor Daddy is not a great horseman. Uncle John had to help us get our horse the first time (John is viewed as the guru of this game by Anna and Emma who often remind me I can ask him for help if we get stuck), but Daddy redeemed himself by jumping over a thousand foot drop gorge to make it to a new land. Anna was very impressed at the jump.

Our favorite new phrases have been Emma's new phrases each time we beat a big new monster. I have learned new one word terms like "Stoppadragon" "Stoppaspider" and "Stoppameoba" (they are pronounced very rapidly with no pause).

I have to admit, this has been a very fun surprise. I never had ever even expected I would have been asked for "play Link" time by my girls. Anna's coaching, ideas, conversations about what to try next, and excitement over each adventure and each new little discovery that Emma walks right up to the big screen and touches with her finger while saying to make sure I notice (doggies, fish, cows, or chickens, spiders, fairies, holes, eyes, etc.) are my favorite parts of the game! And mommy smiles and is a great sport about all the new adventure words we are learning as we 3 sit there on the couch and use our "controwee"s (controllers) as Emma calls them to help link move around. Originally, 2 of the 3 were not plugged in, but Emma quickly picked up on this and often makes sure hers is plugged into the player 4 slot now. It's OK, we all know Link is doing exactly what all 3 of us are telling him. You should hear those buttons clicking on the tough maneuvers!

1 comment:

Nicholette said...

Can I rent Emma to come "stoppaspider" in my basement?