After failing to get into Korok forest by gliding into it I decided to follow a path to its entrance. There I found a new stable and a musical troupe, who revealed that Zelda scared away the Great Fairies. You repair their cart and take them to the…
After failing to get into Korok forest by gliding into it I decided to follow a path to its entrance. There I found a new stable and a musical troupe, who revealed that Zelda scared away the Great Fairies. You repair their cart and take them to the pod and once they play a melody the Great Fairy Tera emerged. She explained how Zelda told her to hide and then gives you the option to (finally) upgrade your equipment. Like in the previous game the more fairies you free, the more upgrades become available. Then I reached the entrance of Korok forest, but the mist still threw me out. I decided to go down a chasm and explore the depths for a bit. Eventually I found a temple of some sort and after using Ascend I found myself in Korok forest right in front of the Deku Tree.
Unfortunately it and all the Koroks in the area were paralysed likely due to the gloom. I fell down a hole thinking that I would find some way to purify the forest, but I was then attacked by gloom hands again. Usually they disappear after a while, but not this time. It dawned on me that I had to defeat them to free the Deku tree. I tried several different strategies, but fighting them with melee weapons is next to impossible since they'll immediately grab you and the gloom itself destroys your health. I then decided to use what worked last time I killed them and fire bomb arrows at them. This did the trick, but unfortunately Phantom Ganon appeared. He's a nightmare to deal with. He's immune to freezing and fire (I tried) and deals a truckload of damage. I managed to counter him once, but it didn't activate flurry rush. I wouldn't recommend fighting him with melee weapons either since when he stands in one spot gloom quickly starts spreading destroying your health again. What worked for me were again the bomb arrows. Each explosion briefly stuns him giving you a chance to fire another shot. After several tries I eventually won this way. It was cheap, but so was he, so I don't feel too bad. I recommend having a good bow before facing him and a shitton of bombs. The forest was now cured and all the Koroks returned to normal. Hestu appeared and I finally got to upgrade my weapon and shield slots. It's pretty insane to think that you actually have to face Phantom Ganon before having a reliable place to do that. A bit of a difficulty spike and a poor design decision in my view. The great Deku tree said that he feels the presence of the Master Sword in the air.
After doing some quests for the Koroks I decided to check out where the Master Sword is located and it turns out it was in the head of a dragon, which turns out to be Zelda, as some of the memories implied. She used her powers to repair it. In order to take it out you need a lot of stamina and you can't cheat with stamina filling or enhancing potions or food. I went back to the demon statue and exchanged a lot of my health for stamina, returned to the Zelda dragon, who seems to be moving around the map and after a struggle I obtained the Master Sword. Finally I rebalanced my health and stamina before continuing the adventure.
