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The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Wii U / Switch


darkjak

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120 Shrines completed, what a slog! Last few were painful but done and dusted, just side quests left and I think that will be me done until DLC drops.

 

Had my first proper bug in the game today as well; trying to attack some bokoblins I mounted a horse I knocked one of them off, as I did so I was attacked and Link and the horse fell to the ground...and through the ground and into a glitched Lake Julia that had a rather large waterfall and some trees and walls floating in the sky around it, quite impressive!

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My fashion parade is coming to an end. Here are the latest shots of my fully upgraded equipment.

 

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Those took a bit of grinding to get. Not most of these require 2 Star Fragments each but the amount of ore some of them took was insane. I had to do another round of Talus hunting to grab what I needed and even spent some rupees just buying the things.

 

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And with that, that is all but 1 set complete and fully upgraded. I just need to finish the final few shrines and this will unlock the final outfit.

 

It's crazy the amount of Star Fragments I had to farm. 60+ is just ridiculous. There's a special place in Hell for the guy who set the amounts needed for these upgrades. No doubt it was probably the same guy who thought it was a good idea to have 900 collectibles in the game.

 

I'll probably get this finished off tonight/over the weekend. The end of my second playthrough is nigh...

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I think the 900 korok locations is a good idea... just don't think having to find all 900 was such a great one :D I'm just wondering the country side at the moment, I think it will probably take me 24 hours to find all the seeds independently :D But I'm basically going at things organically - I'm yet to bother taking on a Lynel yet, I can take down the Hinoxs, Talus' and Guardians now, so really having the Lynels to still be wary of makes traversing the world a bit more interesting... I suspect I will tackle one soon though, especially as I need to upgrade some gear. I only just realised how to find the seeds from those lily pad circles, so a fair bit of work left for me!

For those who have got all the item slots, how did you go about it? personally I'm not using shields/bows so much so I focused on hand weapons, but certain battles I've been in have gone through a few shields (probably something I need to work on :D) so I'm thinking I might need to work on building up my shield bank a bit more. But in terms of Ganon... how many weapons did you guys get through? my current plan would be to use the master sword straight away so it has the maximum recharge time available, but I was wondering how many more weapons I might need? there are a few shrines I can harvest ancient weapons with 60 damage etc, would that be the best plan? (though they are slow... which could be an issue...)

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For those who have got all the item slots, how did you go about it? personally I'm not using shields/bows so much so I focused on hand weapons, but certain battles I've been in have gone through a few shields (probably something I need to work on :D) so I'm thinking I might need to work on building up my shield bank a bit more. But in terms of Ganon... how many weapons did you guys get through? my current plan would be to use the master sword straight away so it has the maximum recharge time available, but I was wondering how many more weapons I might need? there are a few shrines I can harvest ancient weapons with 60 damage etc, would that be the best plan? (though they are slow... which could be an issue...)

 

I mainly focused on upgrading the amount of swords I could carry, then bows and then shields. If you explore the castle a bit you will pick up a healthy amount of swords before the final battle, most of which are pretty strong. You also have weapons lying about the area where you face Ganon, should any of the stuff you have break.

 

To be fair, I think you are over thinking it. Ganon is a pushover, especially if you master the parry technique and have done all the Divine Beats dungeons.

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I mainly focused on upgrading the amount of swords I could carry, then bows and then shields. If you explore the castle a bit you will pick up a healthy amount of swords before the final battle, most of which are pretty strong. You also have weapons lying about the area where you face Ganon, should any of the stuff you have break.

 

To be fair, I think you are over thinking it. Ganon is a pushover, especially if you master the parry technique and have done all the Divine Beats dungeons.

 

tbh my battle skills aren't so great, I've tended to use a lot of bombs up to now, I'm doing more direct combat but I'd say I'm quite weak really, part of why I'm just traversing the world a bit to give me a little extra experience!

 

My parry technique is pretty much non existant, I'm 100 hours in and rarely use the shield in battle and I think I have parried once :D I'll just stock up on fairies a bit before the final battle! :)

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tbh my battle skills aren't so great, I've tended to use a lot of bombs up to now, I'm doing more direct combat but I'd say I'm quite weak really, part of why I'm just traversing the world a bit to give me a little extra experience!

 

My parry technique is pretty much non existant, I'm 100 hours in and rarely use the shield in battle and I think I have parried once :D I'll just stock up on fairies a bit before the final battle! :)

 

Even if you don't parry its not really a hard fight. You can just use the lightning skill you get from the Divine Beast dungeon and then go to town on him.

Edited by Hero-of-Time
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Even if you don't parry its not really a hard fight. You can just use the lightning skill you get from the Divine Beast dungeon and then go to town on him.

 

:D not a clue what this lightening skill is, but I guess all will be revealed when I defeat the last divine beast on my list!

I'm in no rush in any case!

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After 105 hours, my Second Quest is now over.

 

Yesterday evening I finished off my remaining shrines and sidequests.

 

I've been making sure I get every treasure chest in each of the shrines, just for completion sake, and this one took some getting.

 

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Trying to get the right amount of power on the ball was very annoying.

 

I had to laugh when it exploring this next one. It reminded me so much of Metal Gear Solid 3. :D

 

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This next one felt like I was doing the trench run in Star Wars. The amount of lasers that get pointed at you in that narrow canyon is just crazy.

 

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All shrines, shrine quests and sidequests completed.

 

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The final outfit has been fully upgraded, at least until the Skyward Sword amiibo arrives.

 

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Has my opinion changed about the game? Not really. While I did enjoy doing the tasks that I set myself, I still have issues with the main game, such as the story, voice acting etc. Speaking of the voice acting, this actually wasn't that bad this time around. I switched to the Japanese voice over when that patch arrived and it was a much better experience for it.

 

Playing the game a second time did highlight just how rough the story and english voice over work is. At one point I was playing Injustice 2 alongside this and its nuts that a beat-em-up game has a much better story, cutscenes and voice work than a Zelda game. Crazy.

 

Another problem that was more apparent this time around was the amount of pop in/pop up that the game has. This became very apparent when I started looking for the Hinox enemies or just generally running around the world. Creatures, vegetation and enemies would sometimes not show up until very close. While the game does a good job with it's distance landscapes, the smaller objects on the map seem to suffer for it. Not a big deal but one that I never noticed on my first play through.

 

I did enjoy using the various armour sets that I had collected. It was nice to put certain things like the sand/snow boots and Ancient Armour to good use on my various travels. It made tackling certain areas much easier and faster.

 

A few of us on here were critised for finishing th game too fast or not getting what others would call a full experience. I've now finished the game a second time, collected every bit of armour and equipment and maxed them all, finished every sidequest, defeated every Hinox and Talus and completed every shrine. There's no one that can now say that I haven't given the game a fair chance, not that I needed to give it another chance anyway. The way I played it during my first run was perfectly valid, as were the opinions formed when playing it.

 

While fun, the game is still up there with GTA IV for being one of the most overrated games i've played.

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I wanted to give it a couple of weeks to think about the game before putting what I thought about it into words. I played for 190 hours, one playthrough, taking my time, exploring a region fully before moving on, every shrine, every sidequest complete and about 300 Korok seeds. No pointless grinding for armour upgrades I'm never going to use.

 

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I was worried the hype from all those perfect scores wouldn't be justified, and that it could never live up to those insane quotes and comments from reviews. After having my fill of the game I can absolutely say the hype is warranted. This is a game changer in the industry, plain and simple. Every openworld game from now on will be judged on Breath of the Wild.

 

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I've read comments that talk about it being underwhelming because of the lack of story and the poor voice acting, which says a lot about where this industry has been led. High budget, cinematic games where gameplay is relegated to second priority. If I wanted an incredible storyline with amazing voice acting I'd have watched a film. Sure, I'd love a bit more present day narrative and a handful more story beats in the game, but as far as I'm concerned, the amount of things the game gets right far outweighs the negatives.

 

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It's far easier to talk about what the game doesn't do so well, rather than everything it does do well, but I'll give both a go naming five of each...

 

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Pros

 

Climb anything: As mentioned before, a game changer, and makes a mockery of invisible walls and insurmountable 3 feet high barriers we've had to put up with until now. Being able to traverse the entire landscape in whatever way we wanted was just incredible. Not to say the level design wasn't of the usual Nintendo standard, the way the game subtlely leads you in certain directions or pointing you to the ideal course was masterful.

 

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Towers: I don't think I could ever play another Ubisoft openworld game. The way this game only reveals the layout of the land and doesn't fill it with checkboxes is fantastic and really makes you feel like an explorer. There's the added incentive of the high ground providing a perfect vantage point for your next suspicious area to explore.

 

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The Divine Beasts: Beautiful and epic. I've seen them described as four Shrines stuck together, but I think that misses the point. The way you can contort and manipulate the structure of them is really clever and they were a breath of fresh air in a series that has had about a dozen "Forest temples".

 

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Physics and systems based gameplay: The way everything interacts with everything else is just incredible. A guardian will attack a Step Talus, a fire sword will keep you warm in cold climates, a regular arrow becomes a fire arrow around death mountain, updrafts from fire, puddles appear during rainfall, submerging weapons in water will make them rust, swords can hold down switches, electric circuits can be completed using metallic weapons etc...

 

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Mostly everything else: The rune powers and the ability to mix and match them for combat/traversal/puzzle solving, the majority of the Shrines, the art style, the character design, the forgotten memories quest, the cooking, the armour collecting, Eventide Island, Hyrule Castle, Tarry Town, Kass' shrine puzzles, shield surfing etc etc etc

 

What storyline there was, I loved. Zelda's characterisation and struggles with her duty, her interest in science and the way she resents Link at first then learns to trust him. The Champions I also really enjoyed, their banter was good (Mipha apart) and I would love to see more of them in the upcoming DLC.

 

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Cons

 

Voice acting: I enjoyed the majority of the voice acting, with a few exceptions. My problem was there simply wasn't enough of it, especially from the descendants of the Champions. Sidon, Teba, Riju and Yunobo all needed far more and we should have had some from the leaders of the Rito and Zora tribes as well.

 

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Rain: It rained far too much. If it didn't hinder climbing then it wouldn't be a problem, but since it did it was a big issue.

 

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Lack of traditional dungeons: Whilst I loved the Divine Beasts, I feel as though having a couple of traditional dungeons in there to supplement them would have been a smart call. Maybe have one on the Great Plateau, and one in Korok Forest so they're tied to the story and could have helped the narrative.

 

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Rito Village and Goron City: A big problem I have with this game is that the same amount of effort wasn't allocated to the four races' areas. Zora's Domain and Gerudo Town were very impressive and full of things to do. Goron City on the other hand felt like it was designed and implemented in a few days. As for Rito Village, as GORGEOUS as it was visually, it was similarly lacking in inhabitants, content and the Beast quest itself was really disappointing. Especially when you consider that unlike the other three towns, it was very easy to get to the Rito.

 

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The Ending: I enjoyed the final boss a lot, and the ending was pretty good as well (provided you collected all the memories), I just feel like it could have been better. Another stage of Ganon and another cutscene or animated end credits. Something a bit more fleshed out than what we got.

 

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So yeah, overall I had a blast with this game. It makes you feel like you're going on an adventure, which is exactly what the original Legend of Zelda accomplished and what so few games these days manage. Your playthrough is YOUR adventure, completely different to someone else's and Nintendo deserve huge credit for how they accomplished such a big feat in such a huge world. My favourite Zelda game remains The Wind Waker, but this is a game I'll always remember very fondly and as mentioned I think it'll have a huge impact on the industry in a similar way that Ocarina of Time did.

 

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Edited by Ronnie
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  • 3 weeks later...

Managed to buy a second-hand Wii U with Breath of the Wild, Minecraft, Splatoon, Super Mario 3D World, Super Mario Maker & New Super Mario Bros for £120 including delivery. I feel like that's a pretty good deal, to the point I'm worried about getting conned.

 

Pumped for Zelda. I've been extremely disciplined in the way I've avoided pretty much all footage of the game (apart from the early videos showing off the overworld). I don't know for example how the dungeons work, or even if there are conventional dungeons at all. The things I do know a little about like the breakable weapons, a sense of mystery inspired by the original game, collectibles and recipes etc are the kinds of bold moves I've been wishing for Nintendo to make for a long time, and by all accounts it sounds like they've delivered with this one. Argh, it's gonna be lit!

 

(Please don't take the above as an invitation to spoil everything for me)

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Managed to buy a second-hand Wii U with Breath of the Wild, Minecraft, Splatoon, Super Mario 3D World, Super Mario Maker & New Super Mario Bros for £120 including delivery. I feel like that's a pretty good deal, to the point I'm worried about getting conned.

 

 

Ah, so you went with the Wii U option. Looks like you got a great bundle. Hope you enjoy BOTW and the rest of the games you managed to pick up. Splatoon, NSMBU and SM3DW are fantastic.

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My WiiU arrived today.

Feeling the vibe for this game in a major way. Was a little let down by some textures/draw distance and being barked at by that omniscient voice when I didn't immediately run to the objective upon leaving the resurrection shrine (is there any way to turn off those obtrusive notifications?) Other than those niggles though, just wow! It is incredibly familiar Zelda territory and yet unlike anything Nintendo has made before. The complexity of the systems at work is what strikes me, physics wise, movement wise (e.g climbing, magnet trial), scale wise, combat wise (headshots, Nintendo?!) all the way down to the ways you can interact with the world and get lost in the nooks and crannies. In past Zelda games every item, path and enemy was confined to a very limited context, but now that's been thrown wide open. It's more like an immersive sim now with its interlocking systems, than it is a tightly choreographed RPG. I mean, it obviously still is tightly choreographed, but the sense of freedom is intoxicating.

Is it worth getting a pro controller? I'm struggling with the controls/inventory, and I'm not sure how much is down to me being unfamiliar with the WiiU pad, and how much is me being unfamiliar with the cumbersome game controls.

Edited by dwarf
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I would get the pro controller only if you plan on keeping the wii u for other games too. Just for one game, thats a bit too much :P. The pro controller is great though, so if you get it you're in for a treat ;D.

Nothing beats the Switch Pro, though :P

Edited by ArtMediocre
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Bought the DLC a couple of days ago in anticipation of downloading tomorrow, only to be sent a review code for it today, which I wasn't expecting as Nintendo has never sent me DLC before!

If anyone hasn't yet bought it yet for the Switch and would like to buy the code off me, send me a PM! I'll even give it to you for £15 rather than the actual price of £17.99. 

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