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

[bob]

So I've finally found some time to play this game again while my wife watches Bridgerton and my son watches the back of his own eyelids.

 

After finding the secret to killing Guardians, I went to the outskirts of the castle area and farmed a few of them. I still can't get the hang of the shield parry thing - I can maybe time it right 1 time out of 3, so I just resort to freezing them and hacking their legs off. 

I also did a few of the test of strength shrines, so I'm riding high with cool blue weapons, machine parts and other loot. I decided that i wanted to upgrade some of my armour to max level before I attempted the castle proper, so i decided that I needed to kill some Lynels. I have previously only killed one, but I found online a good strategy to taking down the buggers (freeze, shoot in face, climb on back and wail around with a good weapon). I've managed to kill three more, and collected enough Lynel guts to upgrade two of the soldiers armour set. 

The rest of the time i've spent wandering around looking for a few more shrines. I'm at 70-75 I think? I don't think i'll get too much more before I storm the castle, but I there still seems like plenty to see and do.

[bob]

I realised that I hadn't been doing any of the Princess Zelda memories; I think I left them until later, as I thought it would be easier to do once I knew more of the landmarks in the photos. Turns out I was right - they're pretty easy when you recognise the locations, but the memories definitely aren't worth waiting for. I thought they might add in a bit more story, but they (so far) are just boring interactions between Zelda and Link.

Still working my way through the odd shrine, and discovering new locations. I've got a backlog of several side quests that still need doing, but most of them are dull fetch quests, so I've got to hype myself up into doing those at some point.

It's tough to know when you're going to be ready to storm the castle, as you can always say 'oh just one more heart', or 'i'll just stock up on some more hearty truffles' or 'I need to farm for some better weapons'. I should probably just go for it tbh, but i'm a weakling who wants it to be as easy as possible.

[bob]

This game man. 

I realised while trying to get a scale off the fire dragon, that I had only actually seen two dragons. Video game logic demands that there are likely to be three, and after 80+ hours playing the game, I hadn't seen the third one. So I Googled it, and apparently there's a whole special quest where you save the third one from Ganon's darkness, which also explains what the dragons are and why you need their scales in the first place? I just....missed it somehow?

Not only that, but I went 80+ hours without knowing of, or seeing a shooting/falling star, and then suddenly one drops down in front of me?!

And then I find out that you can buy a fucking house?! 

I swear you could play this game for 150+ hours and still find new things. 

 

Anyway, I'm at 93 shrines now and wondering if it is really time to storm the castle...

[Cube]

41 minutes ago, bob said:

And then I find out that you can buy a fucking house?! 

Oh wow.

Buying the house unlocks an amazing (albeit slightly grindy) quest sequence. 

 

Some advice for the material you need a lot of: bombs are better than axes. 

[bob]

2 hours ago, Cube said:

Oh wow.

Buying the house unlocks an amazing (albeit slightly grindy) quest sequence. 

 

Some advice for the material you need a lot of: bombs are better than axes. 

I'm assuming you need wood? If so, I haven't used any wood for the entirety of the game, so I am carrying around an entire lumber yard in my pockets, apparently for this moment!

[Cube]

2 minutes ago, bob said:

I'm assuming you need wood? If so, I haven't used any wood for the entirety of the game, so I am carrying around an entire lumber yard in my pockets, apparently for this moment!

Yup. 

 

Another (occasionally) useful thing for wood: drop some wood and flint to the ground and hit it with a sword.

[BowserBasher]

Speaking of things done in this game. Saw this today. Some people have way too much time on their hands. 
Breath of the Wild fireworks.

[LazyBoy]

I've got the switch in storage whilst we move house, but I'm thinking of doing an iron man run on Master difficulty at some point this year - as in one death is game over. Was trying to think if there was some way I could nuzlocke it as well, or add some other conditions. Like you can only change outfits at stables or something like that. Any ideas?

[bob]

I've got the switch in storage whilst we move house, but I'm thinking of doing an iron man run on Master difficulty at some point this year - as in one death is game over. Was trying to think if there was some way I could nuzlocke it as well, or add some other conditions. Like you can only change outfits at stables or something like that. Any ideas?

Can't eat food while in combat?

[LazyBoy]

1 hour ago, bob said:

2 hours ago, LazyBoy said:

I've got the switch in storage whilst we move house, but I'm thinking of doing an iron man run on Master difficulty at some point this year - as in one death is game over. Was trying to think if there was some way I could nuzlocke it as well, or add some other conditions. Like you can only change outfits at stables or something like that. Any ideas?

Can't eat food while in combat?

I like that. And maybe can only eat food cooked at stables? No fast travelling or use of Sheikah radar thing either.

[Ronnie]

Maybe try not using the map at all, I think the overworld is designed so well you can get by without it

[LazyBoy]

Yep I'll have that one as well. I've pretty much memorized the map anyway, so it won't be too much of a hindrance, but at least it might help with the immersion.

I've been trying to think whether there's is an additional quest I can give myself, something that might change up the game plan as well. Otherwise I am just going clockwise or counter-clockwise round the world again - any ideas here? 

edit: Maybe in the order of OoT temples? So go do Deku first, then Death Mountain, then Zoras domain, then Ritos (no sky temple in OoT but there was a small Ice temple), then the desert. Where would you fit in all the other locations?

Edited January 27, 2021 by LazyBoy

[bob]

So, I finished the Tarry Town sidequest, which was quite fun, and then decided I'd start exploring the Castle properly.

Got to say, I hated it. It's more like the old style Zelda dungeons with those awful rooms where they trap you in until you've killed the enemy within.

Anyway, I explored a few of the rooms, before getting a bit uncomfortable, and instead decided to go and see how far through the castle it would let me get.

Luckily, with the super jump ability, you can just leap and skip out huge parts of the castle, which was good, and I was surprised to find myself at the doorway to the inner sanctum thingy.

Didn't feel prepared to fight Ganon, but thought I'd pop in and see how difficult he was.

Turns out, not that difficult. I beat him in about 10 minutes, and the credits rolled last night.

However, this morning, I fired up the game again, and found myself stood outside the sanctum again? What the fuck?! I assumed that somehow it hadn't saved and I'd lost my progress. So I beat Ganon again this morning! And it plonked me outside the sanctum again!

Turns out nothing changes once you've defeated the end boss, you just get a little star next to your save file and that's it...I hate games that do this. Makes the feeling of beating the game fall flat.

Anyway, there are a few things I still want to do in the game, but I'll have a mull over and post my final thoughts in here later.

[bob]

https://www.polygon.com/2021/2/3/22264390/botw-breath-of-the-wild-zelda-nintendo-switch-speedrun-100-percent-damageless-joedun

Wow.

[Glen-i]

8 hours ago, bob said:

https://www.polygon.com/2021/2/3/22264390/botw-breath-of-the-wild-zelda-nintendo-switch-speedrun-100-percent-damageless-joedun

Wow.

I mean, if you're going for 100% damage-less speedruns on BotW, it might be time to consider playing a different game?

Edited February 5, 2021 by Glen-i

[Hero-of-Time]

2 hours ago, Glen-i said:

I mean, if you're going to start playing BotW, it might be time to consider playing a different game?

Fixed that for you.  

[bob]

Well since i defeated Ganon the second time - I haven't felt any desire to go back and play the game....I wonder if that's how a lot of the people who stormed the castle as early as possible felt. It felt good to have that final task hanging over you the whole time, and once done, there seems little incentive to go and upgrade your armour, or complete any final shrines etc. 

Anyway, I'll just leave my final thoughts now, since i'd quite like to move onto another game, and I can't see me playing any more. 

Ultimately, I think it's a fantastic game, definitely my favourite Switch game so far, and without a doubt my favourite Zelda game. I've always struggled to get on with Zelda games. I've been burnt so many times where I get caught up in the hype and buy them, only to get stuck or lose interest early on. I've played OOT, TP, SS, and WW, and only ever managed to complete TP. I umm'd and aah'd for ages about whether to get BOTW, because I didn't want to waste money on another game that I'd hate. Luckily, I ended up getting it for Xmas, so it was someone else's money, and in any case, i definitely didn't hate this one!

The amount they managed to cram into the world is simply astonishing. Even after 90+ hours I spent playing it, I still come across things that I missed. Sometimes I'll see a screenshot of somewhere and think 'I didn't see that?!'. There is a downside to this, I suppose. Some of the stuff I literally would never have come across If I hadn't accidentally read about it online - like the ability to buy a house (and the fairly long quest thereafter) which would completely have passed me by. I still can't quite believe that this whole world is crammed onto that tiny Switch cart, and playable on a handheld!

I actually really enjoyed the Divine beasts, which isn't something I thought I'd say at the beginning, since I hated the Zelda dungeons. I think they could have done with a couple more, but maybe the world would have felt a bit crowded with that many giant mechanical animals wandering about. It was a wonderful feeling looking out and seeing the overworld from inside the belly of the beast - it was a really nice touch and probably a really difficult technical challenge(?).

I loved the way you seemed to grow in power and strength - I was initially terrified of the Guardians, and gave them a wide berth for most of the game. Then I realised that with upgraded armour, almost two rows of hearts, and a pocket full of ancient blue weapons, I was powerful enough to bitch-slap any Guardian quite easily - it suddenly felt really good to suddenly be able to lay into them.

The game certainly isn't perfect. The much maligned weapons breaking system is annoying and seems to defeat the purpose of finding cool/rare weapons in the game. What's the point in finding a high-powered sword if you are scared to use it lest it break? When they were adding in the Master Sword, and had to tack on a bullshit refractory period to make the weapon usable, they should have thought 'hey, maybe this system doesn't work'. There should have been a blacksmith or something where you could go and repair your broken weapons. 

I also found some of the abilities a bit pointless - I think I only used the ice block one a couple of times? Maybe there were times I should have used it, but beat a puzzle a different way, but i thought it was an underused ability - like they added it in and then forgot about it. The only time I've seen people using it online is when Guardians happen to be standing in a shallow puddle, and they use it to flip them over - really cool, but limited use!

The ability to ride a horse felt a bit pointless as well. I wonder if the people who actually used this only did so out of a nostalgia for OOT. I only tamed two horses the whole game. A boring brown one, and an enormous shire horse thingy I named Horst. But I barely rode either of them, because whenever I did, I'd be on them for about 20 seconds and then I'd arrive at a cliff, or a rock that they couldn't ride past, and I'd have to dismount and leave Horst behind. 

The plot was absolute drivel, made worse by the terrible voice acting. Why bother adding voice acting to 2% of the dialogue? If you are going to make it voice acted, record lines for everyone! Other AAA games manage it. And the 'plot' surrounding every single Divine Beast was exactly the same - Champion dies 100 years ago, mini-version of Champion helps you get into the Beast in present day - not worth sitting through awful voice acting for.

I do wonder where they're going to go in the sequel. Do they use the same world, but all the shrines have magically moved about and reset? How to retain that sense of exploration, when your world had already been explored? Maybe they'll just flood the whole thing and put you in a talking boat.

 

Anyway, great game, 9/10.

[Kav]

DeeBeeGeek’s stream of Breath of the Wild (his first Zelda game) is an amazing journey, a PlayStation & Xbox gamer diving headfirst into Zelda, it’s well worth watching... hours of fun as he plays it to completion.

 

[bob]

Why is it called Breath of the Wild anyway?

[Ronnie]

 

[Dufniall]

4 hours ago, Kav said:

DeeBeeGeek’s stream of Breath of the Wild (his first Zelda game) is an amazing journey, a PlayStation & Xbox gamer diving headfirst into Zelda, it’s well worth watching... hours of fun as he plays it to completion.

 

Totally unrelated but seriously, why is every YouTube video thumbnail a picture of the host with an awkward facial expression nowadays?

[Ronnie]

Been watching that previous video, some amazing things about this game I never knew. A smaller one is just wearing the Outset Island outfit from The Wind Waker lets you blow rafts along with he Deku Leaf much faster. 

And you could use stasis on pressure blocks to keep them held down?! wtf!

An insane level of detail in the systems-driven gameplay, it's probably the main reason BOTW i so beloved.

[Hero-of-Time]

On 04/03/2021 at 2:47 PM, Vileplume2000 said:

Totally unrelated but seriously, why is every YouTube video thumbnail a picture of the host with an awkward facial expression nowadays?

No idea but I pretty much refuse to watch a video with a thumbnail like that. If they want my click then they shouldn’t plaster their face all over the screen whilst looking like a moron. Just let the title and the content do the talking.

[Happenstance]

On 04/03/2021 at 2:47 PM, Vileplume2000 said:

Totally unrelated but seriously, why is every YouTube video thumbnail a picture of the host with an awkward facial expression nowadays?

I think its what people have figured out the Youtube algorithm automatically picks out and promotes. I've seen a couple of Youtubers who have thumbnails like that talk about how they hate doing them but if you want to get your video seen these days then that's what you have to do. Seems shitty.

[Ike]

They tend to get more hits, I don't think it's the algorithm and just what people are drawn towards.

I refuse to click those types of videos as well.