Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity (20th November 2020)

[Glen-i]

I already paid for it, so it's not like I would've got anything from this.

@Hero-of-Time do you still have the expansion pass then?

[Hero-of-Time]

10 minutes ago, Glen-i said:

I already paid for it, so it's not like I would've got anything from this.

@Hero-of-Time do you still have the expansion pass then?

Looks that way. I’ve still got the items that you get from purchasing it but whether the actual content will unlock come June remains to be seen.

[darksnowman]

Got this email from Nintendo.

Quote

Subject: Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity Expansion Pass – Purchase Bonus error

Dear darkest of snowmen,

On Friday May 28th 2021, the Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity Expansion Pass was made available for purchase on Nintendo eShop. Buying the Expansion Pass entitles users to a special Purchase Bonus of equippable items that can be used in-game immediately.

Unfortunately, an error on Nintendo eShop led to the Purchase Bonus being briefly made available to all users. Furthermore, downloading the Purchase Bonus without buying the Expansion Pass gave the impression that the Expansion Pass was then purchased, when this is not the case. As you are one of the users affected, we'd like to apologise for this error.

Currently, users who downloaded the Purchase Bonus without buying the Expansion Pass are able to equip the related items in-game. However, once Expansion Pass Wave 1 – Pulse of the Ancients becomes available, these items will no longer be usable unless the Expansion Pass is purchased. This will not affect your save file or ability to play the game.

Users affected by this issue are currently unable to purchase the Expansion Pass via Nintendo eShop. This will be resolved once Expansion Pass Wave 1 – Pulse of the Ancients is released, at which point the purchase button will be accessible again.

Once again, we apologise for this error and any inconvenience caused.

Nintendo

 

[Glen-i]

I mean, I expected them to not allow the actual expansion pass to be played unless you bought it, but to block off the Prototype Ancient Sword seems like overkill.

It's just an alternate one-handed weapon for Link that, while really strong for playing through the main story, can get outclassed by the best weapons at the endgame.

[S.C.G]

Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity update (version 1.3.0) is out now

Now up on the main page.

Patch notes and dlc trailer.

- - - - -

[MindFreak]

Wave 2 launch trailer:

 

[Hero-of-Time]

I decided that this would be the next game that I would tackle from my 2024 Pledge list.

Back when I first bought and played this, I didn't get very far into it. This being the case, I started it from scratch as it had been so long since I played it that I couldn't remember the story.

The narrative has been a highlight of the game. Back when I played BOTW I was looking forward to an epic story but what I got wasn't that at all. Fast forward to AoC and I finally got what I was after. 

Spoiler

Link getting the Master Sword, the awakening of Zelda's power, the arrival on the new champions, the gathering of forces to face Ganon's hordes...so many great moments were seen in this game and it once again saddens me just how flat BOTW was in comparison. 

The music in the game has also been pretty fantastic. Lots of the remixes kick in at just the right moment to give that epic feel when you are in mid battle. There was one of the later stages (think it was the Great Plateau) where the main Zelda overworld theme kicks in but has a Halo-esque choir playing to accompany it. Sooooo good. 

The missions have been great to playthrough, with some offering a fair bit of challenge. Fort Hateno was really troublesome and required me to manage my team a lot better than I was doing and also restart sections a few times. Most of the main levels do feel like you are in a war and fighting for the survival of Hyrule, with massive amount of mobs and bosses been thrown at you.

Like the first Hyrule Warriors game, it seems to have a stupid amount of content. I'm not sure I'll play through all the side missions ( finish 1 and the another 10 pop up  ) but they are there for people who want more out of the game. I stopped at the final story misson because I figure once I clear that then there's very little reason or desire to play the side stuff. Once I get sick of all the extra content I'll then go tackle the final stage.

Yeah, been really impressed with the game and think it's a bit of an underrated title. You don't see many people talk about the game. Maybe most just didn't enjoy it as much as I have? 

[Glen-i]

8 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

You don't see many people talk about the game. Maybe most just didn't enjoy it as much as I have? 

Am I invisible to you!?

I rave about this game loads! Literally one of two great things BotW ever gave us!

The combat is impeccable! (Literally fixes the borked Flurry Rush BotW had) And the music! My god, it's so good! I knew there was a decent soundtrack hidden somewhere in that game and AoC truly makes it shine!

Zelda with the Shiekah Slate is such a fun character once you get used to her high skill floor. Impa is also similar, in that regard. Difficult to learn, but absolutely shreds boss enemies in the right hands!

[Hero-of-Time]

1 minute ago, Glen-i said:

Am I invisible to you!?

I said many and you are but one.

Yeah, I know you're a fan of it but you don't see it talked about that often. The mainline games get all the attention.

3 minutes ago, Glen-i said:

Zelda with the Shiekah Slate is such a fun character once you get used to her high skill floor. Impa is also similar, in that regard. Difficult to learn, but absolutely shreds boss enemies in the right hands!

A lot of the characters are fun to use. I still favour Link and Revali but I've been having a great time using...

Spoiler

King Rhoam and Riju, as well.

There's certainly plenty of diversity between each of the characters and I imagine most will have a favourite, depending on how they like to play the game.

[Glen-i]

23 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

I said many and you are but one.

How dare you question my quantity!?

Seeing the characters you've seen, the first one in your spoilers was a fun surprise for me.

Spoiler

Uncultered people would question why he has his hermit guise long before he actually dies. I would respond with "Shut up! It's more fun this way!"

Probably the most effective character if you're good with nailing the stronger combo finishers by switching guises instead of the usual way. He's very strong!

 

[Hero-of-Time]

Stop giving me more things to do!!! 

 

[Hero-of-Time]

I've been trying out a couple of the unlocked characters.

Spoiler

Not a fan of the Great Fairies. They are quite comical but I dislike slow, sluggish characters, which is exactly what they are.

Monk Maz Koshia is an absolute joy to use. Some of the moves on offer are hilarious. Summoning a shrine and unleashing with giant hammers certainly were unexpected attacks.

Finished up a couple of harder challenges today. One had me face off against 3 Lynels in a very small arena and against the clock. The other was called Hair-Width Trial: Expert+. This pitted me against a host of strong enemies. One hit and it was game over. I barely scraped by on both of these, despite being level 73. Fun though.

[Glen-i]

See, that's amusing, because that first secret character is very easily one of the most OP ones in the game.

Spoiler

So, if I'm remembering right, and it has been a while, the Great Fairy with black skin has this attack where if you press X, she sends a large amount of flowers forward.

The damage this does is completely insane! And it's really quick to execute too. So much so, that it kinda becomes the only attack worth doing against strong enemies. For such a funny character, their moves end up being the definition of "Boring, but practical"

The combo finisher where they vacuum up everything into the plant is what you want to do if there are only small enemies around.

 

Edited March 11 by Glen-i

[Hero-of-Time]

I'm currently working my way through all the previous story missions again. Figured I would go and get all the Korok Seeds as it looks like I'll need them all to unlock everything on the map. Gotta say, it's very satisfying revisting older levels and tearing through enemies with my much more powerful team. Love it.

I've still yet to play the final misson. Still lots of side quests to be completed and tasks to finish. Playing through the story again will at least net me loads more materials I need to help complete the map.

[Hero-of-Time]

Still plugging way at it. I done as much as I could pre final boss. No more missions were unlocking and seeing as I was at 70 odd percent complete, clearly more unlock in the post game. This being the case, I took on the final story mission this evening.

Spoiler

Cracking finale. The battle itself was pretty awesome but the narrative moments really brought it together. 

Zelda breaking down when Terrako got smashed to pieces and then remembering her childhood was great. The Zelda lullaby hit at the perfect moment. Her father was a bit of a git, taking away her childhood friend.

When Terrako came back to life to help Zelda it felt like that moment in Short Circuit 2 where Jonny 5 was smashed to pieces and then came charging back to save the day. I was waiting for Bonnie Tyler's I Need a Hero to start playing.

All the heroes coming together to take on Calamity Ganon made for a fantastic fight, which again was elevated by the cutscenes of Link storming in and delivering the final blow, while Zelda unleashed the power of the Triforce to seal him away. Amazing.

 

Spoiler

Again, the story and cutscenes in this put BOTW to shame. Nintendo should hire the Koei Tecmo guys to write the next mainline Zelda story. Just a shame Zelda's VA once again sucks. 

Despite the credits rolling, I'm still not done with the game. Gonna attempt for that sweet 100% which means the post game missions are now ready to be tackled, of which there are many. Not sure if I'll achieve the 100% before I burn out but I'll give it a go. I would like to at least unlock the final 2 characters that I'm missing.

[Glen-i]

15 hours ago, Hero-of-Time said:

Again, the story and cutscenes in this put BOTW to shame.

People got all up in arms about that certain aspect of the plot that they failed to realise that it's still more engaging then BotW. Zelda has a great character arc. Turns out not having the player imagine what happened in between all the cutscenes helps a ton, who'd have thunk?

I feel like I was the only one that enjoyed it for that.

Spoiler

It's that mission where halfway through, all four Blight Ganons appear at once and you know that this is going to suck.

But then a cutscene plays, Zelda gets her second "weapon", and when it fades back to gameplay, the game has quietly switched your character to her, and encourages you to use her against them.

And then you proceed to completely wreck them with very little effort.

It's a very cool moment. I love gameplay actually letting you do the cool thing a cutscene shows.

I think it was that mission when I thought, "You know? I'm fine with these split timeline shenanigans, this is awesome!"

Best new Zelda title the Switch has.

[Hero-of-Time]

After nearly 60 hours, 100% has been achieved. 

I thought I would have needed to grind a lot more than I did. Link ended up level 100 purely because of all missions that I done using him and I had pretty much got all the materials I needed by doing the story mode missions again for the Korok Seeds. I didn't realise some are hidden in the side missions as well and so I had to play through those again. 

The final side mission I needed to complete had me stumped. I kept running out of time and couldn't figure out why. Turns out I was neglecting the Fort and once Guardians entered the area, the timer started to decrease. Once I figured what was going on it was actually quite easy.

Fantastic game and one that I throughly enjoyed playing. I could have stopped at the 15 or so hours it takes to finish the story but playing until fully complete allowed me to experiment with different characters and tackle much more challenging stages. I certainly got my money's worth out of the game.

With that done, that's game number 2 done and dusted from my Switch 2024 Pledge list.