First dungeon review - Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap

Since I play a lot of games and want to write up a review instantly, I've come up with an idea:
First Dungeon reviews.
Ta-da, impressive huh. Essentially I'll play to the first dungeon or boss of a game and write up a first impressions post about it. Remember! These are my first ever impressions, these can change as the game progresses! I will factor in Story, level design, challenge and the boss or first big event itself. So without further ado...

The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap
First dungeon review

Published in 2004 for the Gameboy Advance, The Minish Cap is a charming fun little adventure, literally! Link can use the Minish Cap (which is also a bird called Ezlo) to shrink down to the tiny size of the Minish people. This is a super clever mechanic, as it allows you to explore the fairly small world of Hyrule to a microscopic level. It feels quite childish, nothing like Twilight Princess or Majora's Mask. Hell, even The Windwaker looks dark compared to it!!! This doesn't mean it's any lesser of a game though, it's bright and fun and the world of Hyrule is just as charming and drawing as ever. I picked this up from Virtual Console on the WiiU shop for under a tenner and have been pleasantly surprised from the start.

The story of The Minish Cap is thus. If you don't want spoilers for a game from 2004, skip this paragraph.

Link is living with his grandfather who is Hyrule's blacksmith. He is called Smith. What a name. Zelda comes to fetch Link for the big festival up at the castle, as they're childhood friends and she figures they can hang out even though she's literally a princess and he just sleeps all day. Yup, seeing any similarities to Skyward Sword's opening here? Childhood friends? Zelda fetching Link for a big Festival? Link being lazy and asleep? Woah wait I just realised he's asleep at the beginning of a lot of other games like Ocarina of Time and Windwaker.... Get on this conspiracy theorists. 

Anyway they go to the festival, it's all very cute and Zelda wins Link a shield. However Evil strikes when some purple dude called Vaati comes and destroys the ancient Picori blade,which is kinda like the lock on Pandora's box. All the evil comes out to mess everyone up and Vaati runs away because he thought there would be treasure inside and was a bit annoyed when there was just monsters. So now the Picori blade needs to be fixed by the Picori (otherwise known as the Minish) only show themselves to young children so I guess it's really helpful that there just so happens to be a young hero-type looking boy here called Link I guess he can go save the day.
Travelling to the Minish woods, Link finds Ezlo; the Minish cap himself. Wielding the superpowers of extreme banter, sarcasm, falling asleep a lot and being able to shrink Link down to Minish size, It's time to team up with the bird-hat thing to restore the blade... after you collect a lot of things from dungeons for it.

The game looks and controls beautifully, it's one of those old handheld ones where swinging the sword can be spammed at enemies and rolling and walking just feels fun. It's bright and colourful, fans of the darker games may be put off by its appearance. I do have one complaint, that is the shield takes up an item slot and must take the place of something far more useful to use it, making it totally redundant. However I've been using the Gust Jar, something that must've been the original reference for skyward sword. 
The Minish Cap is not challenging in the slightest. It's fun and easy to run through, but I guess that may be due to limitations on the Gameboy. I got to the first temple within a few hours of playing the game, the story is very fast moving. However this is totally made up for in gameplay, which is a joy to control as I said. 
The dungeon wasn't hard because it was puzzling, it just took a while to do because you have to keep running around. It has a great portion where you sit on a lilly pad and sail along with the Gust Jar, but aside from that it's pretty mediocre compared to the standard of other Zelda dungeons. That being said it's still fun, the boss being a green Chuchu. This would be pitiful, if you were not shrunk down to Minish size, making it huge and terrifying. The battle isn't hard, just run around using the gust jar on its base till it falls over and hit it a lot, but still enjoyable all the same.

So, what's the verdict? 
The Minish Cap is quirky and fun to play as a handheld, I can imagine playing it on journeys of on the bus. It's not hard, just light and friendly with a great atmosphere hindered only sometimes by annoying little blips that soon pass. It's a great game and I would recommend it, mind you most people will have played it by now because it's getting a little aged. I'll give it 8 talking bird hats out of 10.

Why side with a faction in Destiny?

Destiny Factions

So you've reached level 32, decked out in full raid gear with that choice favourite exotic of yours, rocking that one primary gun you use all the time. So what does Destiny have left to offer? My guess is everyone who has reached end game has done their fair share of grinding and loot farming and you know how to speed-run a strike in at least 3 seconds. Is that XP just going to waste of fully-upgraded gear, of being poured uselessly into the vanguard? You should sign with a faction! 

Destiny has three main factions (excluding Vanguard and Crucible). They are Future War Cult, Dead Orbit and the prestigious New Monarchy. Factions offer you special weapons, armour, class-specific items and emblems as rewards for gaining XP with them. You do this by purchasing a class item that you can wear (for example for Hunter class buy a cloak) and while wearing it all your XP will be diverted to levelling up you faction rank. More recent updates mean you can now also be rewarded with faction shaders, ships and crucible commendations. Each faction stands for a certain moral or code, try pick one that best suits you. Or maybe you just like the gear better.

Future War Cult sports garish yellow and purple colours, and is governed by Lakshimi-6, a female Exo who can be found selling FWC gear near the shipwright in the Tower. While the origins of the Future War Cult are greatly debated, their mark has been found on ancient chambers and encampments throughout the system, dating them back to the late Golden Age. Though their secrets are vast, they have proven indispensable in our struggle against the Darkness, earning them power and respect in the City Consensus and among Guardians. 

"There is no future but now. No truth but war."

Dead Orbit is well-renowned for having awesome shaders. Cue Batman shouting "does it come in black?". They have some pretty decent weapons too, draw your eyes to the rocket launcher 'Exodus plan' that speeds reload to half a second, vital when using a heavy weapon. Dead Orbit's theology has developed from mere fatalism into an obsession with worlds beyond Earth. Now their focus is on the building of a starfaring fleet, cobbled together from the ashes of our past and the spoils of war. Arach Jalaal is the spokesperson and vendor for Dead Orbit in the Tower, and can be found skulking about under the stairs, again near the shipwright.

"The Traveller is not our only salvation. Another future lies out among the light of other stars."

I am allowed to be biased here, New Monarchy is by far the most supreme of the factions. I hear you like the colour red? well lets make everything red because that's bad ass. I hear you like high-power balanced weapons that not just look cool but are in cases better than some exotics? Executor Hideo is happy to meet your acquaintance in their huge faction lounge right next to the speaker himself, we've got comfy couches and a nice fire to gather around. What was that Dead Orbit? I can't hear you sitting over there in your corner under the stairs. The New Monarchy rose from the ashes of the Faction Wars with a simple, inclusive guiding tenet: "Together we will rise."
Leery of the fragile state of the City's politics, the New Monarchy maintains a watchful eye on the Speaker, the Consensus, and the Vanguard, seeking the leadership that will properly reign over the City and return our civilization to its Golden Age splendour. If that leadership cannot be found, then it must be created.

"Hope will be born from the collective triumphs of the king in us all."

So choose wisely guardian, and don the respective gear of your chosen faction with pride. You can switch your allegiance at any time by simply swapping your class item, however it's better to level up one single tier to reach high-level gear. I've been with New Monarchy since around level 22-ish, and am getting shaders and guns with every package now. Siding up with a faction gives you new incentive to carry on playing after you've done everything, keep that adventure alive and try to boost your faction to it's highest standing. 

Personally I would love a feature in the tower where you could see the total XP for each faction per week and the one with the highest at the end gave out some sort of reward to its loyal patrons. 

So what faction are you signing up with, and how will it change how you look and play?