Anyway, sorry for writing such a long comment! It’s been quite some time since I got really immersed in a game like this

Don’t be sorry, and welcome to the club! Ocarina of Time was the first Zelda where the tech let it have a cinematic flair, much like Final Fantasy 7 or Metal Gear Solid for those franchises, and it clearly left a mark on all of us. Every Zelda from here to Breath of the Wild will follow a similar format. I also highly recommend Majora’s Mask after, both because it has it’s own unique charm and it has a Ship of Harkinian release as well.

First the burning question. There is no permanent lockout in this game. You can return to all items, side-quests, and map areas even at the very end of the game.

The cutscene (Zelda chase I think?) won’t lock you out, you just get an item.

Caveat...

There is one temporary thematic lock that will apply between using the stones until you beat the first Adult dungeon. I’m probably overselling this too, and you might only realize you were locked out when it’s unlocked for you again.

I’m probably overselling a bunch of this with vagueness, especially since Nintendo has been flagrantly spoiling this game for decades.

• The 100% Skulltulas can only be finished very late in the game that, from a certain point of view, the reward might be considered a QoL feature. It certainly won’t break your save file.
  • Yes the Skulltula rewards are every 10 (up to the first 50) and then the 100%. I find getting the 50 to be very easy that I get it every time no matter how casually I play, but the reward is worth it if you feel motivated to unlock it faster.
• The Songs are likewise a QoL feature you’ll immediately understand when you unlock your first.
• The Lon Lon Ranch sidequest is also probably no big deal Post-BotW, but it’s still my favorite feature of every Zelda game.
• I find the secret holes very picky, but at least most shops have bomb refills. You need to get it right on the center or it doesn’t detect it.

Save location mechanics

There are three spawn locations that depend on where you save in vanilla:

• Save overworld as a child: Link’s House
• Save overworld as an adult: Temple of Time
• Save inside a dungeon: Entrance of that dungeon.

I think your speculation has merit, and I think the logic applies to the Temple of Time as an Adult too. This era of Zelda plays a little like Metroidvania where you progressively unlock more of the map to explore with the items and abilities you collect, so starting somewhere that makes it short to get to anywhere else makes sense to me.

IIRC there is also an achievement tracker inside Link’s house on the walls too.

Lost Woods entrance

Yes you can see Saria again. You will need to navigate the Lost Woods puzzle, but it doesn’t change.

You can get to the Lost Woods maze from the Kokiri Village. From the entrance of the village, it’s up the left side cliffs above Mido’s house. Follow the climbable vines and you will find the entrance log.

You can also talk to Saria anytime by playing her song. She acts as a hint in case you get stuck about what to do next. UX feature I forgot about.

Hints for the Lost Woods

There is a visual glitch that helps navigating most of the Lost Woods puzzle.

The entrance from the Lost Woods to the Sacred Meadow is...

…a North exit when you seemingly can’t go any further.

I have no idea if it’s possible to do this using only a save file, but I’d love to make a little program that will take your save file as input and tell you exactly how many Skulltulas you’re missing in each area

That info is in the save file, and Ship of Harkinian can show you how many there are and how many you have, but it also names every region and dungeon...

It’s under the Menu->Dev Tools->Save Editor->Flags, there’s a pulldown menu.

I don’t know if it is tracking specific skulltulas or just counts, but I think your hunch is correct. Lots of things are just flags in the save file.

maybe it’ll come in handy more in the dreaded Water Temple

I think the Water Temple’s reputation is a bit overblown. It’s a 3D puzzle manipulating the water levels. It can be a pain, especially if you fall somewhere you don’t want, but that’s hardly difficult. It’s the other thing in the Water Temple that scares me :scared: I recommend filling all your bottles with Fairies…