darksnowman

Unless Switch Lites come with wrist straps I can't see them encouraging people to swing them around like Master Swords.

Sweet. Will try to make it. No action on my island today.

"Deferred announcement of joysticks can eventually be good, hastily announced joysticks are bad forever."

That's cool to know. Off topic: I noticed Mario Kart 8 Deluxe updated today. Do you know what that was in aid of?

Great. Bringing these DIYs: Log stool Key holder Firewood Jungle wall Peach rug Mum wreath Bamboo bench Palm-tree lamp Let me know if you want any!

Sweet. @Sméagol wants it, @BowserBasher has got it, and I'll keep an eye later at around that time for you opening your gates.

Anyway... I've been holding onto a peach rug DIY in case it's one of the ones you're after, @Sméagol, so be sure to check!

And what about the painting?

No way that long was spent on creature creation.

You're joking me--I literally just got back to Ni No Kuni on Switch yesterday. It's decent; I'm up for the sequel.

Just looked into it and apparently there is a difference in the way the games are displayed between Switch and PS4. Is that is what is tempting you to double-dip or is it just to have another place to play Super Castlevania IV?

Chances of C64 being added...? But yeah it can't be easy for them to get games for this with the eShop route being there for publishers that'd rather have a piece of that pie. I snapped up the Castlevania collection for £4 in a sale. Total bargain compared to what that would have set me back in Wii points!

That's the magic of Fi for ya.

I'll consider it when someone works out an exploit to skip the tadtones and the other quests that pad out SS.

Aah, yeah I have seen what are talking about @Julius. I tried to glide onto the "southern one" but that ended with me being dunked in the water without enough stamina to make it to shore. So, using the Kakariko hint from @Glen-i I discovered that Impa will tell you where to go and even put a yellow dot on the map screen. So I made a beeline for the volcano where I had to remortgage my inventory to fund an investment in a couple of heat-resistant pieces of gear. And not a moment too soon because by the time I reached the yellow marker Link was in bad nick having almost eaten through everything in his pockets just to survive long enough to get there! Not the most elegant of times but the ends justifies the means and all that. I did the needful (took me a good while to work out how to move the canons...!) and was up against the fire boss who I took down at the second attempt. It wasn't carrying a shield so I plinked away with arrows, only dying in the latter half when trying everything to figure out how to break through its defensive shielding. I possibly died due to a bomb arrow exploding as soon as I took it from the quiver. After that, they told me the blade of evil's bane could be found nearby so I nipped over for it then checked back with Impa who put a dot on Hyrule Castle and made no bones about telling me to get it done already. I Splinter Celled in, disposing of only the three or four enemies that got in my way. Ganon took two tries and I'd like to know if there was a different way to finish him off (in the sanctum) because it seemed like what I did was the only option. Which seemed like it went against the whole "get through the game however you want/ can" thing. I think I've seen more fulfilling endings in Gameboy games. As a final act, I went back into the game and warped over to Impa to see if she would change her tune now the credits had rolled. Nope. 20.34% completion in 70+ hours. BotW is really impressive and well-made game, I don't dispute that for a second. I witnessed the sun setting and rising behind hills and valleys, cliffsides and mountainsides, I experienced the emergent gameplay of fire keese setting grass alight and creating impromptu thermals that let me glide away. But for as big and impressive as it all is, I think something is lost because of the sheer size of it all. Running across huge areas just waiting to get somewhere wasn't fun. Yes, it was by and large beautiful to behold but it was also boring aside from some bits where I plotted a course between rest points on climbing surfaces. Also, I didn't really feel a lot stronger by the end. A little, sure, but I wasn't into a second row of hearts or anything like that and my inventory didn't have anything that seemed too great compared to how I started out; it didn't seem like Link progressed a lot after 70+ hours. Great game that were it improved in a few areas, imo, would truly be outstanding. P.S. I looked up the retro Link costumes that are posted earlier in the thread and they are locked behind amiibo.

Hard to see me having disposable rupees for it though.

Yes. Thanks for the (potential) pointer. Will go back there and ask around! Will need to check if the fairies have respawned anyway so it will hardly take me out of my way.

That's unexpected with the horses. And sad, and dark. I've been reading back through the thread and saw there is a rupee trick but I'm not sure if I'll exploit it. My height of interaction with that electro-dragon was to try to land on it... which, it turned out, wasn't my best idea. To get some cash I sold off some consumables, like you said, to fund the unlocking of a second Great Fairy Fountain, and the guy looking 3,000 rupees for the house can take a hike. Aye, I think the boomerang hit a wall and disappeared. It was only +8 damage so not big loss--I just thought it would be handier than arrows for taking out keese at range. @Julius I meant to ask, what was that moment when the music kicked in and you saw something that left your jaw agape? I want to see it too. ---------------------------------- I went and did the desert. Equipping a great iceblade (or something like that) got me across the desert. I had been keeping elemental type weapons in case they'd be useful against enemies but it seems they've been more useful warding off natures elements than anything. I also have a lightning infused sword that might come in handy some time. The desert was a decent section, overall! I felt like DK taking back my banana hoard during the stealth infiltration! And the rotational puzzle-solving in the belly of the beast itself was pretty good, too. The lightning boss wiped the floor with me time and time again. Honestly, I must have needed about twenty goes to take him down. It having a shield meant my expected tactic of peppering it with arrows went out the window and I ended up learning the slow-mo dodge to get me through by the skin of my teeth. His electric attacks were no joke. Haven't heard talk of or seen the fourth divine beast on my wanderings so not sure what direction to strike out in next.

I have DK Barrel Blast for Wii. It's good... fine... decent enough? Well, the controls with the Wiimote and nunchuck get the job done, anyway. Never played Jungle Beat on GC or Wii as far as I remember. Not sure how rhythmic it is but it's meant to be a good, fun score-attack sort of game if memory serves. I'm sure they'll get around to bringing games like these forward to Switch, eventually.

So when does the N-E Super Mario Party League get underway?

If I thought someone was going to tell me I've been playing the game wrong... Good to know this disconnect with BotW has happened to the best of us. Yeah, let's see if I end up caring about these characters enough to want to see what went down before Links 100-year sleep. I expect Age of Calamity is similar to (but not exactly like) Persona 5 Strikers which is pretty fun to play once you get into it. Thanks for reading! I feel a bit better about BotW since straightening out my thoughts on it in that previous post. I did a run-through of Link to the Past on Switch a few weekends ago and with so much crammed into its much smaller world(s) it really shows what a massive contrast BotW is. A lot of the time I think I know what kind of gamer I am, but it comes down to the game, too. Sometimes a tried and tested type of game doesn't click, then other times something you wouldn't normally go for is just the tonic. I thought you would be okay with Breath of the Wild overall though because of the resource gathering and cooking giving it a Monster Hunter kind of flavour. By the way, I'm not sure if you've noticed but you have 200+ hours logged on Animal Crossing: New Horizons so to the untrained eye it looks like you're fairly big on it...! Yeah, I think it comes down to whether your own curiosity can sustain you in this one. I have three memories, any tips on how to get the rest? I think the images with Hyrule Castle in the background are the only ones I realistically have a chance of figuring out. The rest look like pretty random locations! Absolutely, even though I didn't say it, I am also thinking of gunning it to the end. It is such a different mentality and approach with BotW not really steering you in any particular direction at all. Kill Ganon! ...if you can get close to the castle. Okay game, so what should I do to get powered up for the showdown with Ganon, then? Just... run around... and see what I bump into? Sure, then. Princess Zelda has been fine in there for a century, what's another 100 years to her while I climb some trees... Being okay with RPGs where you have a finite number of weapon uses before they are gone, I'm coping with the weapon degradation in BotW. I'd prefer it not to be there, but I'm making do. It helps that I'm avoiding the vast, vast, vast majority of enemies. A way to repair/ upgrade would be welcome. I hope Nintendo are taking note! I think you are right with everything here, evaluation of your own skill level included. Exploration and deviation from the beaten path is all good, in my opinion, but there needs to be a path to deviate from. In BotW that path is from the Temple of Time to Hyrule Castle and the entire rest of the map is there for optional exploration. I am slowly getting stronger in the game too, now. Just wish it had happened sooner for me! I am going for hearts instead of stamina. Yeah, I honestly can't say if I have played any other open-world games. Seems crazy but nothing springs to mind. I'm up for trying an Assassins Creed, Witcher 3 or Lego City or something on Switch if I ever get a quiet spell, so don't get me wrong, I'm not against these types of games by any means. Just being a Nintendo console owner means certain games passed me by until Switch. You'd think I'd be ripe, then, for Nintendo's take on the open-world genre in BotW! So the consensus is that BotW is far more barren than the average open-world game? It's really cool in a Zelda game to see people out and about on the overworld. But then it is so strange since there is nowhere for them to go. They'd be better sitting tight and fortifying their towns! I've come across some stables that don't even have fences to provide the pretence of protection. Nintendo have put together this post-apocalyptic world where everything is more than a bit casual for the NPCs outside a couple of set-ups where you can rescue a wanderer from some goblins. -------------------------------------------------------------------- I've made progress. I left the boss hanging and exited the Divine Beast. I thought: let's say I'd been playing the game in a linear fashion that'd mean I would have gone Kakariko to Hateno to Divine Beast, so I warped back to those towns where I stocked up on arrows and probably more importantly, bought new armor which I upgraded at the nearby Great Fairy fountain as I'd gone there to grab some fairies, because this being a Zelda game and all, why was I attempting a boss without a fairy or two in my inventory? Really glad I talked to the Great Fairy to see what she was about again as the upgrades made me capable, at last, of tanking a hit so I went back and took down the first boss with relative ease. In fact, with such ease, that I pulled up the map and warped straight over to the area of the flying divine beast and did that immediately after. My walkabout had taken me to that area two years ago but I hadn't engaged with it at all. It was really quick and easy as it followed the same template of find local helper, do something, gain access to the level. I had been hoarding three fire weapons which came good to keep Link warm in the high altitude temperatures. I remember reviews said things like that was mindblowing for the snow zone so I was glad to see it was just as effective at altitude. So I went from zero to having mastodon and pterodactyl done and dusted in the same night! Next up sabre tooth tiger? There's still four or five map areas to fill in but I'm kind of making peace with maybe never getting them. I came across a rundown area that looked like a horseback shooting gallery and instead of thinking I need to come back with a horse to check for secrets, I just ran on without worrying about it. I'm not sure where to go next but I have a couple of questions: - Can horses die? I was galloping away from a Lynel and it somehow struck me off the horse I was on (freshly tamed and stabled), and as I was warping away, the horse looked like it was splayed out on the ground. - Rupees. I want to buy more armour. Where are the rupees? - How do boomerangs work? I had one, I threw it at a chuchu with R, it did not come back. What did I do wrong?

Got that one so I'll leave it for anyone else! Thanks all the same.

Thanks a lot, @Tales!!

That'd be really cool of you. Let's see if @Tales can't drag himself of Story of Seasons for ten minutes. Anything I can try to score you in return? @Sméagol I have recipes for the bog-standard mum wreath and peach rug. Interested in the rug?

I don't have the real scary painting. Could one of you open up in about three hours time do you think?