Did You Ever Pick the Potion Instead of the Heart in LOZ?

[Zarom]

There is something that boggles me from a long time now. Here it is:

In LOZ, you sometimes come to an area where there is an old man and he says something like: ''Choose any one you want''. And there is actually a magic potion :bottle: (the red one) on the left and a heart container <3 on the right. :O

So my question is: Have you ever picked the potion :bottle: instead of the heart container <3? :hmm:

Did you EVER did that? :huh:
I also want to know your toughts you had about it first time you saw it.

As for me, well no, I've always picked the heart container. <3

Please, let me know. :D

[Josh]

Nope. I could barely beat that game with how many heart containers I was given, I needed each and every one I could find to get through it.

[Chrono]

Nope I always got the Magic Sword right after the 4th dungeon. And having all the quest heart containers will enable you to do this.

[angelkid]

I almost did first time. The reason was that I wasn't sure if it was a heart container or just a recovery heart. Luckily I chose the heart container anyway as at the time I had 4 hearts and I though a potion would therefore be kind of useless as you got 3 when you died. So, I too picked the heart container every time.

[basement24]

I can honestly say I think I chose the potion once on my first ever playthrough back when the game was released on the original NES. I was like angelkid and believed the heart was a recovery heart, and I thought why take one recovery heart when I could have the red potion and recover many hearts?

I think I put two and two together though after going to a cave / shop that had a recovery heart for sale, and then it clicked with me that I passed up a container. Oops. Oh well, I was about 7 years old at the time.

[Shadsie]

Having not played through the game in its entirety in years, and having played only a little bit of it recently...

I don't recall ever picking the potion. I always figured that heart containers were always the wisest way to go. Under me, Link chose a wise path and gained much life/strength.

I seem to recall also those tough guys who'd trap you and say "Your money or your life!" I always handed over my rupee-wallet to keep my heart-gauge from being reduced, even if I was saving up for someting.

[El Bagu]

I did pick the bottle a couple of times (at least once by mistake) when I was a young kid, I guess I wasn´t too bright :lol:

I still do it from time to time, it´s quite fun and I don´t need all the heartcontainers anyway, one must have fun sometimes, doesn´t one?

[Zarom]

I seem to recall also those tough guys who'd trap you and say "Your money or your life!" I always handed over my rupee-wallet to keep my heart-gauge from being reduced, even if I was saving up for someting.

Yeah, me too, I always chose the rupees over losing a heart, but that is only in quest #2. :)

[Mases]

I don't exactly remember... but I can't imagine that I didn't pick up the potion before... Just out of pure curiosity maybe. There really is absolutely no reason to get the potion over a heart container. It really seems like some sort of scam to trick players that don't know the difference.

I've got it memorized so I get all the heart containers as soon as I can, including three of them before even heading to the first dungeon. Makes the game a whole lot easier for me.

[Master Kokiri 9]

Nope not once. I followed the zd loz walkthrough and it said to not do that.

[Durion]

No, I have never done this, I knew that it was a Heart Container because it looked much bigger than the normal hearts you can collect from enemies, Also I only really started playing this game over the past year (seeing as I got to about the 3rd and then somehow deleted my file :kawaii: then stopped playing for about half a year).

So wasn't young enough to make the mistake and have always picked up the heart containers and not the potions.

[flare64]

I always picked the heart....but once i picked the potion to see if anything would happen but nothing happened so i turned of the game with out saving....

[dumb180]

Like flare64, I did it once just to see if anything was special about it.

[Link428]

I have always picked the heart. I think i always will.

[Zenox]

Well, normally I pick the Heart Container just so I can get sword upgrades and because it's far easier with more life, but I don't pick up the heart container every time.

When playing 3 Heart Challenges (to realize how much I suck) I pick up potions just in case, and because it's much harder to get rupees with so little strength and health. So, the Red Potion is helpful in that case, and isn't cheating me out of the challenge.

But, whenever playing through for fun or for a walkthrough, yeah, I pick up the heart container no matter what ;)

[yojoel333]

No, I never did that......or did I do not no...maybe

[Kybyrian]

I never really played LoZ much, but whenever I came to that choice I never did pick the potion over the heart... just seems absurd to do so. I don't really even know why they would ever put that choice in there, but it was an old game and there were a lot of things that could have been better in it.

[zeldatwilight]

I never did that and i really dont know why anyone would do that. It makes ZERO since to take a potion, which you can buy, or a Heart Container that if you chose the potion, that you will never have a chance to get it again.

[Caleb, Of Asui]

I had already played enough Zelda games before I played the original to realize how ridiculous a decision it is. It's perfect that they had it in the first one, since nobody was able to be used to the concept of Heart Containers and Pieces of Heart enough to realize what they were choosing between. It's a fun joke for the developers.

[Link Master]

I never did it because the potion is useless unless you have hearts. So no but this might be because of Mases with his walk through I probably would have chose. Just because I am saying this does not mean I can't do anything on Zelda games myself I just use Zelda dungeon for fun or if I am stuck.:)

[Roxas20]

Nope, always grabbed the Heart Container. Thought I would be stupid for not doing so...

[BlackOut0189]

I NEVER once picked up the potion in my entire Legend of Zelda career. I had already known that the Heart Pieces increased your maximum life, even without a guide, thanks to a local neighborhood friend of mine.

[quillmert]

No, I knew where my priorities were, even as a little kid. I always went for the heart container, even if a needed a potion at the time. My cousin on the other hand, played through the game after picking the potion and went for 100% completion, only to realize with one heart container left to get he had screwed himself. I myself never made that mistake though...

[cubeface21]

I have always picked up the heart container. I suppose if I ever do a 3 heart run I would get the potion, but I probably won't ever be doing that.

[Brandon]

I have always picked up the heart container. I suppose if I ever do a 3 heart run I would get the potion, but I probably won't ever be doing that.

Exactly what I was thinking. I'd only do it on a 3 heart run through. I will probably do that eventually, but even after playing this game since the early 90's. I still don't feel ready.

The first time I played I just picked the heart container b/c I recognized it from having beaten a dungeon or two already. Plus that one heart container that you need the ladder to reach had been bugging me since a few minutes into my first ever Zelda playthrough.

[Austin]

I'm not going to lie..... I played LoZ for the first time a few days ago and thought that the potion... was soda. Honest to god. The bottle was just so different from every other Zelda game I played that I couldn't make the connection. Granted, I had been playing all day and was about to collapse from exhaustion, but I'll admit that was one of the more stupid moments of my life.

Needless to say, I chose the Heart Container over the "soda".

[athenian200]

I didn't do it, but I might very well have if I hadn't used a walkthrough.

The thing is, not everyone finds the Old Man's Letter. If you were trying to play the game without one, there's every chance that you might think that's the only way to get a potion. If you know the hidden secret and that you can get a Red Potion for 80 (or was it more?) rupees, then you know it's a bad deal. But if you haven't found the hidden shop, and you think it's a choice between having an item that will revive you twice if you die, or a chance to last longer without dying, it's a much tougher choice.

In fact, it's possible that those particular shops were put there for testing purposes, and they never actually intended players to find it (development teams were a lot more haphazard back then, willing to leave Easter eggs behind for those few who knew where to look). So the game may have originally offered no way to purchase potions, and in that case the choice would make more sense. They stopped doing things like that when they realized that if enough people have the game, everything in it will eventually be uncovered and made public, no matter how cleverly they think they've hidden it.

Either that, or the choice itself was really just there for those players that somehow miss the Letter. Not sure...

Another possibility is that the potion shops were deliberately added on (or left in) at the last minute to reduce the overall difficulty of the game because they decided it was too hard as designed.

In any case, I'm sure it wasn't intended to be such a poor deal, it just ended up being that way.

[Juxtor]

LOL 16.32% decided to get the potion....
Good Luck guys with less health!!!! U will need it later on!!!

[Yoru Yama]

I always do that for some reason. I don't know why but I do get a heart container later, if i remember.