The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time/Forest Temple

A Changed Forest
Upon entering the Kokiri Forest, you should find that it is severely overrun with monsters. Because of this, the children have barricaded themselves in their homes. Head into the Lost Woods. On your way to the Sacred Forest Meadow, you should eventually find Mido blocking your path. Play Saria's Song for him. He will be convinced that you are a friend of Saria's, and he will let you pass.

Remember the Song
If you decided to go to Lake Hylia as a child and play a song to the scarecrow Bonooru, go back to Lake Hylia and play it again. Bonooru will remember it and you will have the Scarecrow's Song  to play. Now the wandering scarecrow Pierre will appear if he hears your song in some places. He will become a stationary target that can be latched onto with the Hookshot. If Navi flys to a far away spot, try playing the song. You can actually get to places faster this way. It even lets you skip the maze in the Sacred Forest Meadow if you want to.

Sacred Forest Meadow
Instead of Mad Scrubs populating the area, there are Moblin Guards, monstrous, dog-like guards patrolling the corridors. If they see you, they will ram you into the wall. This time, there is no top-down view when navigating the area. To safely traverse the meadow, wait for a guard to pass you or change direction. When it does, sneak up behind it and use the Hookshot to kill it. If you are an advanced player, use the walking sideways technique (which Navi describes to you before navigating the meadow) to check to see if it is safe to progress though a certain spot. If you play the Scarecrow's Song, you can bypass the maze by using the Hookshot on Pierre at the start. When you finish navigating the maze, you will find a much larger guard, a Club Moblin, much more menacing because it holds a club. He will ram his weapon into the ground to send a vibration that will knock you down and injure you. Run straight towards him, but dodge the tremors that he sends. When you are behind him, attack him with your sword three times to receive a lot of Rupees upon his defeat.

At the end of the meadow, there is a silence as Link walks to the tree stump where Saria sat, only to find that she isn't there. Sheik then appears out of nowhere. He teaches Link a melody that will transport the player to the Forest Temple entrance at any given time: The Minuet of Forest.

The Minuet of Forest 

For the remainder of the game, every time you are about to enter a new temple, Sheik will appear to teach you a song that will lead you to its entrance. The spot you will be transported to is a fairly large white platform with a marking of the Sage Medallion in the center. For instance, the large, white platform at the entrance to the Forest Temple is where you will be transported if you play the Minuet of Forest.

Take out your hookshot and aim it at the tree hanging over the broken stairs. You should see a red dot when you aim at it (if you can't, move closer). Hookshot to it and enter the temple.

Entering the Forest Temple
Immediately when you enter the temple, kill the two Wolfos and then climb the vines on the left. Climb up and open the chest to get the first small key. (For the remaining dungeons, you will use these keys to progress.) Then enter into the next room. Make quick work of the Giant Skulltula and enter the next room. If you use the Hookshot to hit the Skulltula, you don't have to wait for it to drop and turn its underbelly towards you.

The Poe Sisters
This is the main room of the temple. You will see four poes who steal the fire from the braziers surrounding an elevator, its power source. As a result, the elevator goes down and shuts off. You must return light to the torches to reactivate the elevator, which leads to the boss room. In order to re-light the torches, you must kill the four Poe Sisters.

The Fairy Bow
Just go straight into the room in front of you. Kill the Blue Bubble, which is a flying skull surrounded by blue flames. Use your shield to defend against it and it will lose its blue flames, and then you can kill it and enter the next room. Here you will fight two Stalfos, restless skeleton armored warriors. Z-target them and then use your shield. Their attacks will damage your health severely, so be careful when fighting them. When one attacks, dodge it, and then attack it. They have shields, too, so don't let them counter your attacks. Kill both of them and retrieve the small key from the chest that appears and go back to the main room. Look around the room for the Time Block with the symbol from the Door of Time on it. Play the Song of Time and it will disappear.

Enter the room. Go to the right side and use your Hookshot to kill the Skullwalltulas that are on the vines. You can't reach the top one. Climb up and avoid the top one. (If it turns purple, it will attack you!) However, there is an alternate way. Did you remember to get Bombchus? Use one and aim it at the last Skullwalltula. That takes care of the third! Climb the vines to the door at the top. Enter the next room. Kill the Blue Bubble inside to get the Dungeon Map. In the next room use your Hookshot to hit the black target with a cresent moon on it on the right side wall. You will be pulled toward the spot and fall down on the platform. Step on the red switch to drain the water from the well. Now jump or climb the vine down to the ground and into the well. There is a small key in a treasure chest you need.

After you get it head all the way back to the main room. Look for the door that is locked and then unlock it. Open it and kill the Big Skulltula. In the next room a Blue Bubble comes after you. Just go around it and walk around until you find a ladder. Then climb up it. There are arrows on the ground. Find the big greenish-blue block and push it following the arrows. It will go against a wall. You have to just walk around (staying on the same floor) and push it (still following the arrows on the floor until it falls a few inches into place). Jump onto it, and onto the next level. On this level there is a brownish-red block. Drag it backwards until you can no longer pull it. Then jump down to lower floor and look for the ladder again. Don't go up by the other block again. Look for the ladder on that floor and climb up it. Go up the ladder and push the the same block against the wall. Now go back down the ladder and up the greenish-blue block again. Push the brownish-red block all the way foward across the broken wooden one below. Then climb up onto the block and go up the small path. Up here are two Blue Bubbles that you don't need to fight. Just ignore both of them.

Now enter the locked door. Strangely enough, this corridor is twisted. Just walk straight through it and go into the twisted room at the end of the passageway. Be careful, a devious enemy called a Wallmaster lurks in this room. It will fall from above to capture you, and you'll be at the start of the dungeon afterward. Avoid as it drops by running, then when you see it drop, kill it for a Rupee bounty. If you look in this room, an intricate chest is on the wall. Navi will comment on it if you target it. Don't latch onto it, though. Just jump across to the locked door and enter it. Go down the stairs and enter the mini-boss room. Make note that a Poe Sister is in one the three paintings here. Kill the first Stalfos in this room. After you kill the Stalfos a platform will come down in the middle with two more Stalfos. After you kill one of them his remains are still on the ground. After about a minute he will get back up. You need to have them both killed at the same time. This can be tricky at times. A treasure will appear in the middle of the room once the Stalfos are gone. Open the chest. You will receive the Fairy Bow. Now you can shoot arrows, which are a needed tool to get through this strange, mysterious temple.

The First Two Poes, Joelle and Beth
Go back to the previous room. In this room, there are three paintings of poes on the wall. Use an arrow to shoot the painting with the poe. If you get to close the poe will disappear and go to a different painting. Shoot the three paintings and then fight the real poe. When fighting, the poe will often disappear and swing its torch towards you. Simply use your shield to protect yourself. You can use the bow and arrow, the hookshot, or the sword to defeat him. You will receive a small key. Now go back through the "fairy bow room" and to the other side. Here you have to repeat the painting/poe fight again. Kill this one and get the compass.

The Third Poe, Amy
Now you have to go all the way back to the room right before the twisted corridor. Don't go back down this room though. Turn back around and look right above the door and shoot the eye with your bow and arrow. Walk back to the now non-twisted hall and jump down to get the boss key. It lies in a beautifully decorated blue and yellow chest (for the remainder of the game, all boss keys will be in this type of chest.) Then jump down the small hallway. Kill the two flaming skulls to open the door. You will be in a familiar room but at the top. Be careful DON'T FALL. Kill the giant plant and go in the door that is the furthest on the right. There will be a brown hand (floormaster) in this room. Hit it with your sword but when it turns green hold out your shield. Then kill all the little hands and get the key. Do this quickly, as the hands will attempt to leach on you and drain your magic power to regenerate themselves.

Leave the room. You are once again in the room with the blue and red block but at a different ledge. Jump down and climb all the way up and then once again shoot the eye above the door to re-twist the hallway. Go through the twisted room, jump across into the next room, go down the stairs, through the "fairy bow room", and through up the stairs and unlock the door. You will be in twisted hall number two. Go through the twisted room and into the next room and then jump and climb the ladder if necessary and go into the next room. Walk through the hallway, kill the green bubble and unlock the door. In this room there are four spinning platforms. Look for the eye that is frozen. You could do this two ways. I prefer that you just go on the platform with the eye and use Din's Fire, or you can go on the spinning platforms and use an arrow to shoot through the fire in the middle and melt the eye. The eye will twist the halls again.

Go through the door and back into the hallway. Drop down the hole into another weird room. In this room the ceiling falls on the floor, but there are empty spots so you can make it across, but be careful because there are big skulltulas around. Get the treasure in here to and enter into the next room. There is a big picture of a poe in a painting make sure you know the picture pretty well. Then shoot it with an arrow and five blocks will fall on the floor. Push and pull them so it matches the picture of the poe (one of them is not required to solve the puzzle). If you arrange the picture correctly then you will fight the third poe. Kill it just like you killed the other two. Leave the room.

The Last Poe, Meg
Now you are back in the main room but at a previously unreachable spot. Drop down and move to the center of the torches to fight the fourth poe. She makes three copies of herself so this could be tricky at times. The moment she and her clones appear, look for the spinning poe. That is the one you seek to destroy. After a few hits, she will be gone, all torches will be lit, and the elevator will be reactivated.

Boss: Phantom Ganon
The elevator will come back up. Get on the elevator and go down. There are two holes on the two sides. Look through them. Parts of the walls in the center part of this room are standing out. Go next to it and push once. Then let go and look and see if new holes are revealed. Keep repeating this and eventually you will get to the boss room.

Enter the room and climb the stairs. You will find that there is nothing in this room. Try to leave and the exit gets blocked off. You will see who appears to be Ganondorf. It is not the real deal, but it is the boss of the Forest Temple - "Evil Spirit from Beyond: PHANTOM GANON".

Paintings
For the first half of the battle, you will witness Phantom Ganon and his horse enter one of the paintings on the wall. After Ganon reaches the end of the painting, two of him will be coming towards you. Identify the positions of the two and then look for the more colorful ganon. A small, purple circle will form in front of the real Ganon when he reaches the front of the painting. He is your target. With your bow and arrows ready, shoot him when he comes out of the painting. If you take too long or aim at the wrong one, Ganon will attack you. Once you hit him with your arrows a couple of times you will enter the second part of the fight.

Magic Attacks
This battle is a similar fight from The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. Phantom Ganon will throw a magic, bright yellow ball at you and you have to reflect it back at him. (Z-Target him and when the ball gets real close to you swing your sword and it will go back at him.) He may hit it back to you. If he does than once again hit it back at him. When you finally hit him he will fall to the ground. Then run to him and strike him as many times as you can using your sword. Repeat this until Ganon has been eliminated.

When you defeat him, you will find out that the real Ganondorf was watching. He becomes frustrated with his creation and banishes it to the gap between dimensions.

Saria and the Forest Medallion
After stepping into the blue light, you will be transported to the Chamber of the Sages (the place where you met Rauru.) Saria will emerge from a green platform in front of you. It is revealed that she is the Sage of the Forest Temple and her duty is to protect that place, so she and Link cannot live and the same world. After conversing with her, she will give you the Forest Medallion, which contains her power.

NOTE: You may still talk to Saria using "Saria's Song" at any point in the game.

The Deku Tree's Sprout
You are transported from the Chamber of the Sages to an area in front of the Deku Tree. Link notices a root. It suddenly sprouts from the ground, revealing a large sprout with a smiling face, the Deku Tree's Sprout. He reveals to him that Link is not a Kokiri, but a Hylian (this makes sense because Link can age/get older, something the Kokiri cannot do). The sprout reveals that Link was brought to the Deku Tree by his Hylian mother during a time of war (this was before Hyrule was unified.) The Deku Tree could sense that Link was the child of destiny, so he took him in and raised him as a child of the forest.

The Prelude of Light
Return to the Temple of Time. Sheik reveals that there will be time where Link will need to return to the temple as quickly as possible, and so he teaches him the melody for when that time comes: The Prelude of Light.

The Prelude of Light 

Quest for the Biggoron's Sword
If you have received Cojiro from the Cuckoo lady in Kakariko Village, you can continue the item trading sequence in the forest.


 * Odd Mushroom: Upon entering the Lost Woods, head to the left. You should find a strange looking man asleep. Awaken him using Cojiro. Apparently, he is the original owner of the bird. He will give you the mushroom to take the the potion lady in Kakariko.
 * Odd Medicine: You have only three minutes to deliver the mushroom to the potion lady. If you have Epona, this task will be a whole lot easier. To get to the potion lady's abode, find the potion shop that relocated from the market. There is a back door on the left. Now enter the barn on your right. Give the mushroom to the lady.

NOTE: You cannot use warping melodies to help you. If you do, the time will automatically drop to 0 seconds.
 * Poacher's Saw: Take the medicine back to the person who gave you the mushroom. He is gone. You will find a blonde Kokiri in his place. She claims that he is gone and that the medicine you carry belongs to the forest. After she demands it back, she will give the saw he left behind.

Quiver Upgrade
The Shooting Gallery relocated from the market to Kakariko Village. The building lies between the Windmill and the House of Skulltula. The game still cost 20 rupees and you still have 15 shots. They are in the same positions as last time, but their appearances have been scrambled. If you win, you will receive a quiver upgrade and be able to carry a maximum of 40 arrows.