The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time/The Beginning

The Journey of a Lifetime Begins! A great tree, a surreal and disturbing dream, and an eternal forest—these are the beginnings of an adventure beyond imagination. In this tale a young hero named Link must journey from the woodland home he has known all his life into the great world in order to save all he knows from destruction. Does he have the power to change an uncertain future? Does he have the wisdom to know what to do? Does he have the courage to endure? Perhaps the most important question of all—will he be able to survive the evil that awaits?

Welcome to the Kokiri Forest!
Link, our young hero, is the only boy in the Kokiri village without a fairy. Suddenly, he is awakened from a particularly disturbing nightmare to find a fairy in his room. The fairy, exasperated, beckons Link to come with it to the Great Deku Tree in order to hear some urgent news.

The young boy bursts through the doors of his home only to be greeted by Saria, his childhood friend. She is overjoyed that Link has finally gotten a fairy of his own, but Link knows deep inside that this was not to be the happy day his friends would expect it to be.

The jealous Mido will do his best to make sure of that too. Shocked inexplicably by the apparent favor that both Saria and the Great Deku Tree have shown to Link, he will do everything in his power to prevent you from seeing the great tree. He insists that you must have both a sword and a shield before you can pass. What a jealous fellow, indeed!

Getting past Mido
Clearly, this portion of the game was designed in order for you to become accustomed to the controls. Fortunately, this is unlike almost any other in-game tutorial out there: it's fun. Already, you have been presented with a problem—that Mido is blocking your way—and now you must set out to find a solution. You will need to find the Kokiri Sword and Deku Shield. While you can get the items in any order, getting the sword first may help you acquire the 40 Rupees necessary to purchase the shield.

Getting the Sword
The sword isn't very difficult to find. To reach it you must first locate a hole in the "Forest Training Center," a fenced area up on a hill. Using your mini-map, head to the western side of Kokiri Village. The hill is on your left. Make your way through the fences, approach the crawlspace at the end, and press the A button when prompted to crawl through it. Be careful—on the other side. You'll have to dodge a huge rolling boulder. You can do this by ducking into alcoves when it is rolling toward you. Once the large rock has passed, simply run behind it. If you explore this section, you may find two blue rupees. Collect them, as they will be helpful soon. You'll easily locate the chest by zigzagging to the left then to the right from where you entered. Open it to get the Kokiri Sword!

You're now half-way toward getting past Mido. Wait for the boulder to pass again before you head back to the crawlspace and the Kokiri village.

Training with the Sword (optional)
Just outside of the crawlspace you will notice some fences and a house off to the left. You can ask the people within the house to tell you about the game's controls, weapons, and other lore. At the fences you will find a boy staring at a rock. Talk with him for an introduction on how to use your sword and the game's targeting system, read the various signs to learn new tricks, or talk to the other Kokiri. Make sure to spend a little time here getting used to the mechanics because you'll certainly need to be well versed in them ahead.

Getting the Shield
The shield can be purchased at the shop for 40 rupees, the staple currency of the Zelda universe. Of course, you start the game off with no money at all, so you'll have to do a little exploring in order to track down the cash! Some free-standing rupees are sitting around town, so be sure to look behind buildings and use the first person view to help find them. Cutting bushes and running through the tall grasses is also advised.

There are many ways to get Rupees...

A quick way to earn some rupees is by running and jumping across the square platforms in the water near the shop. Each time you successfully jump across without falling in the water you earn 5 rupees, and you can do this twice. After you get both, just enter a nearby building and then go straight back out. The rupee rewards will be reset. You can collect the rupees as many times as you wish, so by doing this you are quickly approaching your target wealth while as getting used to the controls at the same time. Also, in the shop, look to the right and you should see a small area to the side of the counter. Enter that passage and you will find 5 rupees. (NOTE: This will only work once.)

Once you have 40 rupees head to the shop and get your shield. You won't need to buy anything else, as you'll soon encounter the other items. After you've purchased the shield, don't forget to equip it! Then it's time to show Mido your new gear!

To the Deku Tree!
Show your stuff to Mido, and he will pout—he didn't anticipate that you could actually complete such a task. However, he has to keep his word, and he now allows you access to the Great Deku Tree. Poor Mido doesn't feel loved.

Be aware: some Deku Babas haunt the road ahead, but it is a short road. Just dispose of the creatures with your new sword, grabbing the Deku Sticks their corpses leave behind, and head on down the path. Do not linger or the monsters will regenerate. After a short dialog with the Great Deku Tree, he beckons you to enter his trunk...