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How do you start Zelda? Most players will instinctively explore the cave on the first screen to get the sword. The cave is an interesting feature and the shape of the first room adds more visual weight towards it... the mountain is at an angle as opposed to being symmetrical.
I don't want to get too into the outlier choices, game design should consider the most probable outcomes first and then compensate for other choices - that's good design.
Due to the angular design of the west mountain on the first screen, a player is more likely to go left or up even if they did not get the sword. Going right is still a viable option, and if they played Mario first probably their first instinct as well, which is why the "Go Left... or Up" feel of the first room helps to set the pace.
So, Let's go left:
This room has small rocks in the formation of a right arrow, and some tektites. If you do not have a weapon you would be influenced to flee back to the right. Defiant players would go left to find a dead end (reinforcing the value of following the world planning). Other players can go up through the close narrow hole, particularly if they hastily ran into the room, can't fight, and/or are just picking the closest possible option. The room up is the first shop.
What if you originally went up?:
The first room up is a simple forest plan with a few octorocks, not really a hazard. Also, the map is visually neutral. The west side has 6 rocks, drawing your eyes that way, while the east side has a mountainous "jut" along the top drawing your eyes that way. The world contouring has now established that both interior and exterior features can guide your path (and is important in player decision making). Going left brings you to the shop, going right brings you to the forest. Important is that you can't go DUE north to get to anywhere, in both the West and North paths you are stopped and have to pick a new direction.
What if you originally went right?:
Going right puts you in the first room of the forest. Going up connects with the forest and the upper path. Going to the right again... locks you into a different route.
Continuing right starts the coastline segment of the map. There is no escape, a small mountain pass leads to the ocean where you can either enter the eastern forest or continue along the cost... continuing along the coast is several combat heavy rooms until the path turns north, where you are given another option to enter the eastern forest. If you continue north you discover a few minor landmarks (a port and a heart container you can't access), but are basically funneled to the NE corner of the map: Where going south enters the Eastern Forest yet again (and this seems to be the entrance proper as it is marked with statues), connects with the desert region, or finally continues north into the overworld gambling location...
You took a gamble to follow this path, and are awarded with gambling. IIRC, this is the only exposed gambling location in the game, the rest have to be found via secrets.
You could have entered the eastern forest at any time of course, but once a person is visually locked to the ocean they're going to follow it to the end.
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It would get exponentially complicated if I mapped out every option in terms of choices made from the starting room, so instead I'm going to focus only on visual cues pathed out from the first choice the player makes: Left, Up, or Right?
The Western path and North -> West path both lead to the first shop where a few non-essential items are revealed, such as the blue candle. West again leads to the bridge. The combination of the 5 stones and the bridge form yet another arrow-like object to push the player back to the right, like they're not ready. Choosing to cross the bridge or not is another major choice: Not crossing the bridge (nor backtracking) sends you north which paths you to just south of Level-1, either to the Leever room or to the north end of the south forest. (which players taking the North path probably would see as well).
Let's assume a timid player would not cross that bridge.
The North path leads to either the shop (as above) or the forest (as East). The design of the forest doesn't really have any directional clues in any of its sections, so I believe it's meant to diffuse players into committing to a direction. Players who stay confined to the forest will link up all three initial paths. (the east path on the southmost screen, the north path on the 2nd south most screen, and the west path on the 3rd south-most screen and/or the exit).
This starts a new chain of decision paths. Going east will break into the weak part of the game, the central warp station, a fairy pond, and some minor passages, possibly an arrow shop, connections to the desert or the eastern forest. It may or may not lead back to the start/forest depending on how any given player paths.
Suffice to say, any path from the forest where you are compelled to go North will lead you to Level-1.
Players who follow the coastline may enter the eastern forest, players who leave the starting forest may enter the eastern forest. The eastern forest is more maze-like (not really, just the cramped paths and extra trees). All exits result in a dramatic graphical change - from the Green forest to the Red coast, or the Red desert. The exceptions being the dead ends where some minor secrets are found, as well as a "Green Mountain" transition which brings you back to the start. Anyone who chooses to stay in the Eastern Forest will eventually find Level-2.
So, that's about it for the start of the game. From the initial 3 choices you are pathed to your choice of either the first or second dungeons. Players taking the high road are treated to some mini-games (gambling) as well as secret locations (the Prescription Pad, a potential warp zone, 100 Rupees, dangerous enemies like Zoras and Peahats, mountainous connections, an infinite mountain, a mountainous pond with waterfall... falling rocks) LOTS of cool stuff that you can't use at this time, but serves as a task reward for players who choose to go off the path....
Going all the way around the world via the coastline will dump you into the north side of Level-1, by the way. The desert serves as a visual hub connecting these areas (the coast, to the forest, to western Level-1 and to the alternate forest path (green mountain).
So, next up: Level's 1 and 2.
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Secret to Everyone: I'm sure most people know this, but if you enter Level-1 and immediately leave, when you re-enter the first door will be gone - saving you a key. Since keys are shared across dungeons (and can even be purchased), this can help.
There are pretty good breakdowns of Level-1 on other sites, basically noting the gradual progression of monster encounters (they are sorted by difficulty in terms of distance from start)
Notable is that this dungeon can be greatly bypassed with bombs, but, like, lets not. Rewards here are the bow and the boomerang, both of which can be bypassed by any direct route to the boss. The Map is on the direct path, but the Compass is not (however, it's to the right of a T-junction, so it's a natural progression). The boomerang is "on" the main path, but requires killing the three goriyas, something the player "might" not do if they haven't been killing enemies this whole time:
The rewards up till now have all been laid out on the floor - room clearing rewards don't show up until Level-2 (IIRC)
The first boss, Aquamentos The Freshmaker, is pretty weak... however, doesn't have any notable weaknesses. I don't remember if you can block his shots with the large shield. Bombs work well (but I'll assume you don't have any, as only one "blue" enemy is along the main paths to Level-1). Energy shots from your sword let you keep your distance, but it's easy enough to just rush it.
Leaving Level-1, your mental options are to go north, which will either lead to the dead-end waterfall, or into the desert (and from here will either lead to the eastern forest or loop back around to the waterfall), or to cross that bridge earlier on.
Level-2 Secret to Everyone: Sometimes when you kill a certain enemy in a room, all the enemies will suddenly self-destruct. Nintendo Power called these enemies "Ringleaders", but as far as I know - this is actually a bug.
Level-2: Either doing it first or second, has its own challenges. If you picked it first, just being told it's Level-2 is not as implicative as you might think... if you never visited Level-1 then you might think that Level-2 simply means that the overworld was Level-1.
You are introduced to the weak Rope enemy here, which helps to introduce a new mechanic: Killing all the enemies in a room can spawn a reward. Ropes are slow at first, but will quickly chase a player once lined up (for EASY stabbing). This forces the player into actually killing them instead of avoiding them.
Level-2 is also broken up into two northerly paths. The one on the left is the main path which goes directly to the boss while the one on the right feeds you small rewards such as the map and compass. The room you get the Magical Boomerang is one of the most combat intensive rooms in the game, 3 blue goriyas with 4 corner turrets and no escape.
Something else of note about the Level-2 right hand path is that it can be skipped in its entirety via bombs. And, you are rewarded with bombs in this dungeon... and are required to use bombs to finish this dungeon. And a kill reward is bombs, and there are bombs lying around.
...Unfortunately, no enemy in the dungeon commonly drops bombs, so you are limited to your room rewards. (Orange goriyas might, but I'm not sure).
The boss is a single Dodongo... invincible. There are clues on how to fight it, and you are given bombs as a forced reward on several occasions here, but if you did it wrong and ran out of bombs exploring you'll have to come back later.
Leaving Level-2 sends you back out into the Eastern Forest, where you'll continue to take paths you haven't yet up until now (as any combination of Bombs, Arrows or Boomerangs will not affect overworld movement - although you could find secrets).
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The eastern forest, coastline, mountain path/waterfall, southern forest/start and the three initial shops you have access to (two of which being the Arrow shop) and all that you discovered up until now (without crossing the river bridge to the west) marks about 58% of the world map already discovered. (75 out of 128 squares assuming you located the 100 rupee secret and Level-5 and visited all the dead ends)
You'll have noticed a few things by now: There's a pair of ports you can't access, as well as distant port-like objects blocking a heart container (you want it sooo bad).
Revisiting the waterfall may or may not reward you with the White Sword (you'll likely discover it before having the requirements and may or may not figure out how to actually get it)...
...But, you should get it - and the reason being is Level-3.
The River Bridge is the only way into the western section of the map and the Lost Woods. You are treated to a few more shops, an easy access "old woman who does nothing" building, and may even find the secret shop for the Blue Ring. The Lost Woods and connecting areas mark only an additional 17 rooms to explore, many of which are dead ends.
You might find a vacant fairy pond next to a real fairy pond, a room full of statues, a forest that repeats forever, a rumor vendor, or Level-3.
...It should be noted that players who discover the rumor vendor first (which is less likely since it requires going WEST when all paths lead away from it). Indeed, getting dumped out of the maze section requires you take an additional east path (one room away from Level-3) before you can go there.
But, if you did find the rumor vendor - you might learn the way through the Lost Woods and enter the Graveyard (and promptly die 'cuz 3~6 hearts, no armour, possible wood sword, small shield and the enemies resist your items).
If you already suspect that I'm going for the Power Bracelet as a "short cut", wellll..... no. Making a beeline for the Power Bracelet (which you don't know even exists or where it is, but you have THE POWER), it's 10 combat heavy rooms if you come from the Lost Woods, while only 5~6 if coming from the east. Skip it.
Find Level-3, it's the only other notable feature on the west side of the bridge.
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If you don't already know, the requirement for getting the White Sword is
Level-3
Did you get the sword from the old man on top of the waterfall?
That's the dungeon clue you get here, and it very neatly applies. The first enemies you find here are the larger slime enemy, Zol. If you still have the wood sword they will simply break into two Gels and you'll get no reward... this is a shame since Zols are a highly rewarding enemy to fight. Also, the design of the first few rooms requires you kill all enemies to get the keys to open the doors... a task made much slower if you are doing essentially 3x the work. Also, the Zols will respawn if you kill them in this manner so you have to clear the rooms all in one go (not hard though, since they're weak enemies).
Fighting your way up, you encounter your first Darknuts, 3 of them. If you tink (the sound of invincibility) your weapon across their shields, you might be reminded of the Dodongo and try bombs of them - only for them to not work either. You have no choice but to handle them with just your sword. They take 4 hits, the most needed of an enemy up until now (they're practically a boss if you think of it like this).
Your reward is bombs: Just in case you wasted all yours trying out...
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Anyways: Level-3 with the starting sword is hard. Darknuts take many hits, Zols waste time and respawn and the maze like structure makes you have to refight frequently - there's not enough keys to explore all paths partially, you have to complete a wing to get the extra key. (Which in turn forces you to refight the Zols)
Aside from the ubiquitous bats and traps (and the boss), the dungeon has just these enemies: Zols and Darknuts (And in one side room - Bubbles, to introduce them).
You might get to the item, the raft, but it requires you fight a rather Darknut heavy room while evading even more in the next. You might make it to the boss (with the compass sarcastically placed right before it)
Level-3 Secret to Everyone: You can bomb into this boss' room, allowing easy escape.
This boss is one of the hardest first time round IMO. Needs 4 sword strikes on each of 4 zones and it gets faster and has unblockable attacks (or can be beat with one awesome bomb shot).
Level-3: With the White Sword
Completely different feel. The Zols now drop treasure, lots of it, and the Darknuts are only 2 hits - making them a lot more manageable (and predictable, since you don't need to count strikes). The boss is reduced to a much easier 2 strikes per hand, which can be more easily targeted against individual hands (remembering "did I hit this at least once?" is a lot easier than "Did I hit this 3 times yet?")
Or use a bomb: Bombs are great.
Unsure if weak to Arrows: I rarely use them even though they're great. Arrows will 1-shot the Zols, but will not harm the Darknuts.
Victory! RAFT! You now have two more areas to go to (one of which is a heart container, nice)
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I wish the raft was more impressive: It doesn't crack the world in half the way it does in Zelda 2 nor is it a fun minigame like in Link's Awakening. It's just a key to access 2 rooms, a heart container and Level-4
At this point in the game, especially if you did Level-3 with the White Sword, you might be running close to the Rupee limit (you might have gambled it all away, maybe). So it's fair to assume you'll have sampled the shops by now. You probably won't buy bombs or keys (this isn't Gauntlet), but you might have bought the Big Shield, Bait and/or Arrows. The Blue Ring, if you found its shop, might also be an option - but odds are you'll either be slightly short for it or have been saving specifically for it and didn't buy other items. Unless you've been exploring a great deal you probably won't have EVERYTHING.
[un] Luckily, this is the point of the game where they start forcing you to buy things.
Level-4: New mechanic... it's dark.
If you did Level-3 without the sword you'll already be familiar with splitting enemies like the Vire you discover here. Unlike the Zols, though, these guys require the Magical Sword to pop and that's a LONG stretch at this point. So, you'll probably either use bombs or trek through without worrying about them. This dungeon is something like 90% Vires, so it's up to the player to decide how to handle them.
The design of this dungeon is particularly linear: The only side area of value is the first one, which is a key, with the others being the compass and a dead end. VIRE, VIRE, VIRE! The last room before the Stepladder is a small water maze which can be easily bypassed by the Stepladder (which isn't actually a Stepladder, btw), you are introduced to Likelikes at this time... which will either be very annoying, or the easiest enemy ever. If you don't have the shield, no problem - you can use them as a safe zone to fight other enemies - otherwise.... THEFT!
There were rumors that they could steal the regular boomerang or regular arrows, but I'm pretty sure those are just rumors. AFAIK, they can only steal the big shield.
This dungeon is linear. Once you have the Stepladder and are aware of its function (easy to figure out due to the water maze you must pass through) you can finish the dungeon. You are given one of the least helpful dungeon clues... Walk into the Waterfall (something you'll likely have already done).
There's only one bombable wall in this dungeon (or 4, if you think of it that way), into an "off-the-map" room filled with rupees. This is a new mechanic, all secrets up until now have been on the map. This shortcut is also passed the river/stepladder mechanic so you won't lose out on the important lessons required here.
Fight the boss: Win, Gleeok isn't particularly hard if you just mash buttons - your damage is much higher than theirs and being careful will just lead to getting shot by the increasing number of energy balls. However, the intimidating design of the room (a small funnel directly into the big dragon) might put a player on edge as they try to attack it.
Since the bulk of the enemies here are Vires, an enemy which ignores your attack power for the most part, it's again very possible to clear this with just the wood sword... at least up until Gleeok who takes a prohibitive number of hits with it. Really, get that White Sword.
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You are instructed to go to the Waterfall. There is a rumor merchant here who tells you how to get to Level-5, something you may or may not have already discovered - either by accident or already using said rumor merchant.
Level-5 has a binary design: The left path leads to the items and is completely separate from the rest of the dungeon. The up path leads only to the boss and nothing else. You require the Stepladder to take the up path, requiring a visit to Level-4. The left path requires only knowing about bombable walls.
If you don't know about bomb walls yet, which is still VERY possible (I'm not sure if it says you can bomb walls in the manual), then you can still get to the left path via the first room of the north path which sends you to a one-way door.
Anyways, I'm going to divide this into two segments as the dungeon has varying difficulties
Level-5a: To the Recorder
Taking the left path leads to the item of the dungeon, The Recorder. Your only other option is a clue room that tells you Digdogger dislikes certain kind of sound... and the room before it is packed with Pols Voice.
So, you beat up a new enemy - Gibdo, and are rewarded with bombs. But then comes one of the hardest rooms in the game. A small room (due to the large number of center blocks) filled with BLUE Darknuts. These guys are even twice as hard as the orange ones. If you are hitting this with the starting sword and no armour - you will not survive... a Blue Darknut takes 8 hits and 4+ hearts off (I don't remember the exact number Vs. Green Armour). Assuming you have all the heart containers up until now, that's an easy 40+ hits you have to land without getting hit EVEN ONCE. (or twice maybe, IDK).
So, you really should have the Blue Ring and White Sword now, I'm going to assume from now on that the player has it - because the challenge only gets more difficult.
If you defeat all the blue guys and are awarded with... nothing, you go down the stairs. A few rooms over you get the option to increase the number of bombs you can carry... for a price. But, there's also an even harder room with even MORE Blue Darknuts.
Having to take out two almost consecutive rooms of one of the hardest enemies ever is quite the feat - if you aren't pro I'd also recommend bringing potions, something which also might be naturally discovered by now. Victory gets you the Recorder... you now can warp around the land.
Level-5 Secret to Everyone: The recorder warp is not random, based on your facing direction you can control the number of dungeon "steps" it counts before dumping you off somewhere. Know the pattern and you can always warp where you want.
If you have the Stepladder you can take the north path
Level-5b:
You cross the river... THREE DODONGOS! You can evade these, but if you have a spare key you can grab the map to the north.
After this is a long series of dark rooms and river mazes... this is designed to teach you the WEAKNESS of the Stepladder, you can't get off of it sometimes. The rooms are combat heavy, but against weak enemies so that you learn the ins'n'outs of fighting from the river.
Just prior to the boss is a bombable wall to the north, a secret area, which reads "Secret Power is Said to Be in the Arrow" - the prior room is packed with Pols Voice, so shoot 'em with arrows! However, it's a mere locked door so you can easily walk ahead if you can't fight them.
The boss room has two valid exits, so if you came here first you are safe to escape. Most boss rooms up until now have allowed escape, but only via backtracking - this boss has a known weakness (clue from the start) and the item isn't here... You have to know to go back, and bomb that wall...
Beat the boss, he's not very good which is why they never use him again (except 4 more times in this game).
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Assuming you haven't taken the time to explore the western part of the map, now a valid option with your increased stats and the stepladder - you'd now be at an impasse. There's no more dungeons...
If you didn't have the arrows yet, you probably got them to take out any future Pols Voice you might encounter, or at the very least just 'cuz since the clue box in Level-5 told you to.
Also, with the ability to carry 12 bombs you can get more exploratory bombing in (However, AT NO POINT has there been any hint that you can bomb walls on the overworld yet)
So, what's left? Exploration once again. This could have been done at almost any point in the game... the Lost Woods rumor merchant is always available and if you have the PURE GUTS POWER you can get passed all the Lynels and Ghinis and Armos you have to pass.
The power bracelet, as a kid, was one of the coolest secrets I ever found on my own - mainly because it's under an enemy you never want to fight and that it's just... there, sitting there. Luckily it's never actually needed in the first quest, it's basically just a key for the warp zone.
Also: Whether you enter from the River north of Level-1, or the Lost Woods.... it's about the same distance to Level-6. It's visually closer to the Graveyard, so a Lost Woods entrance is more likely to encounter it. If you enter from the Riverside, you are more likely to climb the long ladder north due to its visual weight.
The northern section of the map can safely be considered Death Mountain (home to Spectacle Rock). It's filled with Lynels, the most dangerous of overworld foes. Exploration of Death Mountain is fruitless - there's no visible shops or secrets except for a long arrow pointing left.
There is nothing but an arrow shop and a potion shop in ALL of the visible northwest lands (graveyard+death mountain). The rest is secrets... and mostly bad secrets like Door Repair (which we don't know exists yet)
So, the most notable feature really is Level-6 (and the four rocks signalling the Warp Zone which you can't access ... or can you?)
Level-6: Is a horrible place
Strategy here depends on two things: 1. Do you have the large shield? and 2. Do you use bombs in combat?
The orange wizrobe is not an exceptional threat, but the magic they cast does a lot of damage. They always try to line up with you, making it relatively easy to block their shots with the large shield - or to step out of the way. They also don't take many hits to beat, if you are slow it will usually take 2 waves to kill one.
To the right leads only to a clue box... Aim for the Eye of Gohma. This was before the Eye was the weakness to everything ever.
To the left... is a gauntlet. A gauntlet of death! Because about 5 rooms in is a room filled with Blue Wizrobes and Likelikes. How much do you value your shield? If you don't care about shields, GET IN THE LIKELIKE, it's the safest place and you can attack the Blue Wizrobes at your leisure. If you value your shield, the Blue Wizrobes have such a random firing pattern you'll be better off with bombs... but they take THREE. Since they're 5 hits with the White Sword, usually one bomb and 3 stabs, or two bombs and one stab will do it. Or, just go at it with just your Sword.
This was always the hardest room in the game for me, even moreso than the Blue Darknut/Turret room in Level-8.
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The rest of Level-6... is also a disaster. The item you get here is largely worthless (although, can be a makeshift sword in a no-sword game).
Bomb walls? NOPE! Next room is 3 Blue Wizrobes in tight quarters with Orange ones ready to assist... you are at an extreme disadvantage offensively, but defensively you are in luck - all the rocks limit the number of places you can be shot from. You can save yourself a lot of trouble if you know to bomb the walls, but if that trick still hasn't caught on - FACE THE GLEEOK! That's right, a boss refight. Sure, there were Dodongos earlier, but they are one of the simplest monsters anywhere... Gleeok means business. And it gives you NOTHING.
The path to the boss is deceptively the closest path, right near where you first enter this segment assuming you bombed in (otherwise it's down a bit). Get the wand if you want, it's superfluous (I wish they made it better).. and ... there's a clue box?
"There are secrets where fairies don't live"
Secret passage, face to face with Gohma... who is invincible, BTW, and "Aiming" with the wand doesn't help at all... game over, this is silly... not OH just use the Bow -
Even if you just trial and error'd every item you had you'd still beat this guy... unless you outright don't have the bow (possible if you didn't explore Level-1) or the arrows (possible if you didn't buy them).
You might think it unfair to have a boss you can't kill, especially with the item you find in the dungeon... but this is an important "beef gate" to make sure you have the Bow and Arrows for later dungeons.
Even if you fail, you now have a clue box to work with... something from earlier in the game, a Fairy Pond next to another Fairy Pond, only one of them has no fairy... hint hint
So... Bomb the Fairy, obviously.
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This marks the turning point into the end game. There's two dungeons left, but you've already explored the entire map and can't find them. Really, you have full map access pretty much right from the start - but by now you're expected to actually have explored the whole thing.
Assuming you don't need THE POWER (Nintendo Power) to find Level-7 (which isn't nearly as hard to find as Level-8). This is the Goriya dungeon, an enemy who at this point is very easy to fight even in large quantities. I actually like this dungeon, stab stab stab! YEAH
Digdogger... Digdogger... another Digdogger, ouch - way to break the pace of the game up... Grumble, Grumble. Hey, this guy is thinking exactly what I'm thinking, here - also have a song from this Recorder! No? Ok, ya, feed him the bait. Another item you have to buy from the overworld and know to use it here.
What would make this easier to understand is if the bait item had a stronger "catnip" style effect on the other Goriyas in the game, but as larger as I know the bait actually does nothing. Of the three enemies in the game that actually react to the player's presence (Goriya, Zol and Darknut), Zol and Goriya are both easy to kill and Darknut is immune (supposedly, since I never can tell if the bait even works)
But hey, I'll gripe more later... Feed the man.
I still particularly like this dungeon. There's a bomb expansion, the hidden off-map Red Candle (it's mere existence being the only clue as to were Level-8 is) and a Secret in the Tip of the Nose (which is just instructions on how to find the boss)
The boss is a refight with Aquamentos, which "I think" has the same stats as before - but it's possible it's beefed up, but I'm pretty sure is the same.
...
So, you have the Red Candle... or do you? It's an off-map item requiring bombs to find... WELL YOU'RE IN LUCK!!! To get to Aquamentos you MUST bomb into his room, MUST... mandatory bomb wall for the first time (with the bonus clue of having the compass to point as well as the boss roars serving as an extra clue). We finally now know FOR SURE that dungeon walls can be bombed (still nothing on the overworld though).
...The Red Candle is also pretty easy to find, if you did the earlier dungeons (level-4 notably) you'll know they like to put secrets in empty spaces - the Red Candle burns eternal, you can use it as much as you'd like on a screen (unlike the once-per-screen nature of the Blue Candle)
There's no other clues at this point. However, with the Red Candle in hand you might just go on a burning frenzy. You still don't know overworld rocks can be bombed, but it's not impossible for the player to discover various shops, rupees and a single heart container. Burning around Hyrule will also lead back to the coast where you can pick up that very first overworld heart container that you might have forgot about.
There are 5 overworld heart containers... up until now (Level-7) you might have discovered the location of the Magical Sword (a very early clue even tells you).
NOTE: I don't know if you need the Power Bracelet to do this
To get the Magical Sword you
Nifty, eh?
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Level-8 is the culmination of all the tricks you have learned. It's interesting that it's so easy to access once you already know where it is.
Level-8 is divided into several sections. For starters, going up is nothing, going to the right is only a key (and only if you have the stepladder) and going left leads only to the Book which powers up (or down) the Wand which you also may or may not have. You also have to fight several bosses in this dungeon, at least two manhandlas and blue Gohma.
Lessons: You need to know walls can be bombed to progress. Unlike other dungeons, you aren't given the map early on here so you don't know the correct connecting path (your hint is the differently patterened sandy floor). Afterwards you must fight one of the, if not the most, difficult enemy encounters - a squad of Blue Darknuts with turrets in the corners.
You gain the Compass off to the side, which doesn't help much given the nature of this level's layout - but you are given many keys. Almost all the side areas award keys and I don't even think there's that many locked doors here.
Getting to the boss is pretty quick though if you were able to handle the Blue Darknuts, a short underpass later and you are met with a clue box "10th enemy has the bomb", which is kinda pointless in itself... I heard in the Japanese version this is a completely different clue, but I found that it was more than enough to prompt me to bomb the sides of the room, since I could hear the boss roars and that the compass pointed nearby.
If you explore other parts of the dungeon, you get the clue "Spectacle Rock is an Entrance to Death"... the final dungeon clue.
Special Note:
This is kinda underhanded from the developers, but perfectly fair given the liberal reward of keys. You may have already gotten the Book in this dungeon and defeated the boss so you might not explore any further... the path to the Magic Key requires bombing a wall with no prompt that there's anything there... you have to have natural explorer instinct, I guess. On top of that, only there are you awarded the map (which I guess serves as a proof of purchase at this point). Infinite keys does not help this part of the game, you could EASILY be at +5 keys already... but, it doesn't hurt. You could always buy more since rupees aren't needed, but this is a nice item to work with anyways... a luxury item at its finest.
So, all the dungeons are clear. If you don't have the completed Triforce by now, it's because you forgot Dungeon 1 or 2 (they award nothing mobility wise so are more likely to be accidentally skipped, plus you may have forgot to kill off Dodongo if you ran out of bombs)
It's time to explore for Level-9
...
And this is where I stop. The final reflection I'll post about this game in this section is that in order to access Level-9...
The Legend of Zelda: Secret to Everyone - Or just read the manual, the maps tell you everything, including bombable and burnable locations, it's really unfair to people who didn't get a manual.
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