Courage and Wisdom

After distracting myself for a whole month with some other games for the 3DS I finally gave in to the powerful pull of Ocarina of Time's influence and played on until the feel good ending.
I never was actually planning to finish the game until before the new academic term starts but I just can't completely get my head off the Hyrule that I left behind. What's more, I fought Ganon while waiting for an unexpected thunder storm to pass. It was a chilly night with the heavy pitter-patter of the rain filling the silent void of internal conflict. So everything was actually in place.

clearing this barrier brought me the most satisfaction

I still had to clear the Ice, Shadow, Fire and Light Barriers before finally proceeding to the tower. It took me quite a while to solve the block puzzle in the ice chamber. The 2 minute time limit didn't help, at all. The Fire and Shadow chambers were equally frustrating since one wrong move sends you back to the start. The Shadow chamber was a little more forgiving though since the goal was to get to the other side and not to collect those damn silver rupees.
The last barrier that I cleared was Rauru's, the Light Barrier, which was also, surprisingly, the easiest.

Ganon's Tower was pretty much like a mini-boss rush ascent to the top. The eerie melody that Ganondorf was playing on the organ was a nice touch.

 I struggled on the first battle against him mainly because I didn't exactly knew what to do. I kept falling from the middle square platform to the ground after his ground strikes. I repeated the same mistake a few times before figuring out that dealing with him was the same as dealing with Phantom Ganon way back at the Forest Temple. It was a long fight mainly because I only got two slashes per arrow stun. After defeating him for the first time, he uses the last of his energy (or so we thought) to crumble the castle.

The three minute time limit was more than enough to get out of the castle. I love how Princess Zelda stops and waits for Link whenever he falls behind.
When we got out of the castle Link, Zelda and Navi were all ready to celebrate when Ganon had to rise back up and ruin the feel good moment. That was to be expected though. Even if the first fight was hard, it wasn't final-boss difficult.

The real challenge of facing Ganon in his powered form involved the scarcity of items which prompts the smart use of what Link has and what he can get from making Ganon destroy the crumbled walls, as well as the absence of the Master Sword in the first part of the 2nd battle.
After dealing enough damage to Ganon (the tail, in particular) the flame barrier gets dispelled for a moment allowing you to get the Master Sword because Princess Zelda was too stressed out to throw it to you.

or you could just, you know, throw it to me?

When you get back to the battlefield, Ganon will summon another flame barrier and he will move faster this time. My strategy was to L-target him, use deku nuts (or arrows/light arrows) to temporarily stun him, circle to his tail then hack and slash. Rinse and Repeat.
I can't say it was a full proof method, though, as I was saved by a group of stray faeries and a bottled one during the heavy bout.

After the decisive blow to the tail, Ganon will fall down and Zelda will hold him off with her power for the gamer to deliver one last blow.

...Congratulations, you have saved Hyrule.

The end credits - Zelda and Link's farewell, the return of the six sages and Link to the past, Navi's silent goodbye and child Link and Zelda's meeting - brought tears to my face. It was a long journey both in story and in game play.

It was a really feel good moment. I was a little sad, but then again really happy that I finished such a great game that defined a generation and continues to inspire every adventurous hearts out there.

Well done.