TOTK Diary 5

In the Temple of Time, there’s a large clockwork mechanism, still turning, by what power still flows somehow.

I use my newest power, Recall, to reverse the spin of the gears, which gives me a platform that I can use to climb upwards to a higher level.

Here, there is a massive door, in front of which stands a simple-looking, worn statue. I pray at the statue, but nothing much happens, so then I try to open the door. Pushing on the door uses up my life meter, and when I’m run down to nearly empty, Rauru appears to tell me that I’m not yet strong enough to open the door.

Then he tells me of the existence of a fourth Shrine, and teaches me that the Purah Pad can be used to teleport about the map, just like the old Sheikah Slate from BOTW could. Rauru shows me a spot on the map to look for the shrine, and advises that I should teleport nearby. The nearest location is the Cave of Awakening, where the game began. So I teleport there.

Looking about the cave, I don’t see the shrine within line of sight; I consult the map, and I’m a bit of a distance away from it, and it looks like if I run forward in the cave, like I did at the start of the game, I will be heading in the right direction.

Unfortunately, this path leads downward, as there are several leaps into pools of water, which take me down, and as I exit the cave I realize that I must be somewhere below where the shrine is located. I don’t think to see if my Ascend power will help me here, because it doesn’t occur t me. Instead, I teleport back to the Cave of Awakening once again, and look around to see what I must have missed.

There’s another clockwork mechanism turning here, and it’s another platform puzzle that I can get through by using Recall.

It takes me to a previously unreachable and overlooked hole in the wall, through which there’s a cave tunnel, which leads me for a bit, until I find the fourth shrine that I’ve been looking for. Nearby, there’s another Zonai device, being tended to by a Steward. I talk to the Steward, who tells me that with the right type of materials, I can add capacity to my Zonai charger. But it takes a bunch of Zonaite, or something, and I don’t have nearly enough just yet.

So I enter the fourth shrine, and it’s a series of time Recall puzzles, where I can use the power on a raft to take me upriver, against the flow of a strong current that is flowing out of the shrine.

This is pretty easy, but because of the strong current and my clumsy control, I manage to die a few times by falling into the water and being unable to extricate myself.

After several attempts, I manage to get through it, and then I’m in a chamber with a gate at one end, and a treasure chest at the other. The treasure chest is easy to reach, using Recall to spin a gear backward, turning it into a walking platform. I open the chest and receive a bundle of 10 arrows for my trouble.

The gate proves more difficult. Above the gate, there are two moving arms that look like hands on a clock, moving in opposite directions. I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do with this, but after observing for several minutes I note that the gate temporarily lowers whenever the hands are aligned. But they are not aligned long enough for the gate to open entirely, so I can’t pass through.

I try using Recall to make one of the hands reverse direction, trying to get the hands to keep overlapping for a long enough time or the gate to open fully so I can pass through, but I’m clumsy and just can’t seem to hit it at the right time, and it doesn’t seem to help.

Eventually I try using my Ultrahand power to simply grab one of the clock hands, and hold it, and try to move it manually to line up with the other hand. This seems to work better, and I can get the gate to go all the way down, but it’s very difficult to move while I’m controlling the clock hands, and the camera seems to want to fixate on the clock hand that I’m controlling with the Ultrahand power, rather than allow me to free-look in the direction that I want to go — through the open gate.

Still, awkward as it is, I manage to open the gate long enough that I’m able to step through, solving the final obstacle of the fourth shrine, and I’m rewarded by yet another spirit orb, or whatever they are calling them in this game.

I teleport back to near the Temple of Time, run up to the Goddess Statue, pray, exchange my four spirit orbs for a Heart Container, which gives me enough life meter to open the massive door.

There’s another cutscene at this point, and Rauru tells me that I must find Zelda, who is somewhere below in the Kingdom of Hyrule, or something.

Did I mention? There’s a big white dragon flying about in the background. There has been for most of this. I catch a glimpse of it now and then. I’m not clear what it’s there for, but it must have some purpose, some connection in all this. Just thought I’d mention it. It seems worth mentioning.

I guess I’ve graduated from the tutorial opening, and am now free to explore the vast world. I’m invited to take a high dive off the floating skyland.

Well, wish me luck.

Updated: 2023-May-16 — 8:30 pm

Leave a Reply