Tokay island sucked balls. It's not bad when you know what to do... but I'm all new-age-y now and I can't stand Link's general walking speed in those old games. I'll give you that. Goron dancing I barely remember, but I remember having a save stuck at that part for a bit.... oh... that and in Seasons where that fucker has to repair the Balance Stone (or whatever) and needs to have a minecart en route to crashing into it while enemies come at you.... that was the weirdest and stupidest thing a game has had to ask you to do.
I never bothered with the 4th bottle in OoT... 3 is usually enough and I'm no completionist.
The walking speed isn't the problem, its the fact that you're running through a convoluted fetch quest, which includes at least one dumb minigame, over a small island to get your gear back, and you can't even leave or do something relevant to complete, or even access, the next dungeon. The dancing Goron is both a rather strict rhythm minigame that you need to complete twice to access the rest of the mountain/the next item in that location's fetch quest for one of two keys needed to enter the next dungeon (actually the whole Rollin' Ridge segment was a slog since it was mostly wall to wall minigames of varying quality).
Speaking of Link
http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/1288553--dad-hacks-classic-legend-of-zelda-game-to-make-the-hero-into-a-heroine
URL says it all, I thought this was a nice gesture. Kinda wish they do it more with "blank slate" characters. I'm sick of playing as a dude, though I never really understood the "it makes *you* the lead!" angle of silent characters.
Don't know why he bothered when he could've tracked down the official hack i.e.
http://zelda.wikia.com/wiki/BS_The_Legend_of_Zelda, but I guess it's the thought that counts.
As for the issue of silent male leads that you get to roleplay, it pretty much stems from JRPG designers believing that only Japanese high school aged boys play them hence them typically being dumb as bricks, that have absolutely no say in matters, terrible fashion sense, no personality, and the depth of a blank sheet of paper. Of course even if they weren't silent or lacking in a personality they'd still be teenaged males because there's no stale, overplayed, play-it-safe, cliched MC archetypes for females (except for the ones who either operate their dainty stores and only moonlight as an adventurer, dress up in their skimpy magic girl outfit as they battle evil magic girls in even skimpier outfits, or are too busy trying to garner the attention of her romantic interest/the male lead to be effectual in any meaningful capacity) or anyone over the age of 21.
