Tag: Ancient Cistern

Hello everyone! For those who don’t know, this article is a continuation of a series about level design in Zelda games. Today we’ll be looking at a frequently lauded dungeon from Skyward Sword: the Ancient Cistern. This dungeon constantly finds its way onto top ten dungeons lists, but all I ever hear this dungeon praised for are two things:

  1. The theming (Heaven and Hell, Buddhist symbolism, etc.)
  2. The boss fight (Koloktos)

After that, I hear nearly nothing about the actual design of the level itself. So I won’t be talking much – well, at all, really – about the spiritual themes and whatnot present in the Ancient Cistern. Because, quite honestly, this dungeon would be a fantastic example of exquisite level design without any of that symbolism. Let’s dive in, shall we?

Today’s Zelda Fanart Spotlight is on deviantART artist PhantomMarbles Skyward Sword fanart “Behind the Waterfall“. In this fanart it shows Link and Fi standing outside of the Ancient Cistern. Fi looks as if she is explaining something to Link and Link is listening intently to her. The sun is shining down upon the cistern, illuminating the beautiful scene perfectly. The outside of the Ancient Cistern is just as elaborate and beautiful as the inside of it. Link will realize this…

Happy Halloween! It’s that time of year again; children dress as goblins, ghouls or zombies, and go door to door requesting tricks or treats (but only ever get treats); and adults throw on the nearest article of rarely-worn clothing and make up some kind of costume for the party they’ll be attending. It’s also that time of year when we all consider things that we fear. In the spirit of the season, today we’ll be talking about fear in the…

Alright, time for the fourth Skyward Sword Dungeons entry. Now it’s time to cover the Ancient Cistern, and depending on whether you’ve watched enough of my mailbags and other videos, my opinion about this dungeon may surprise you. This dungeon was the one I anticipated the most before the game came out. When Nintendo first announced the dungeon, my first thought was “meh, it’s just a pretty temple”, though I was pleased that it wasn’t actually identified as yet another…

Starting with the Water Temple in Ocarina of Time, water-themed dungeons in the Zelda series have developed a special reputation for being challenging or frustrating dungeons. Because of the Water Temple in Ocarina of Time, the term “water dungeon” came to be used for more than just identifying the core element or theme of a dungeon: It carries other connotations as well and always makes people think about difficulty or design. It’s become, in the eyes of some, a title…

The Japanese Skyward Sword website has updated the world map with two new sections of the first area of the overworld and some new information about the sky. These two new areas include many things that we’ve seen in older trailers but haven’t gotten much attention recently. This update includes screenshots, artwork, videos, and (Japanese) descriptions. First, there were two minor additions to the Skyloft section. A description of the bug-catching and potion-upgrading system was added, along with a closer…