The Legend of Zelda (Spoilers)

[Rare White Ape]

This can be a general Zelda thread, but for now, lets use this as a safe space for those of us who are playing Breath of the Wild to let loose.

Beware of spoilers!

http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/zelda/images/4/46/Zelda_Meme_01.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20130423154158

[GreatScawt]

My fiancée's brother bought this for me on Amazon on my fiancée's prime account (which is linked to mine :lol:). She just got word that it won't be delivered Friday anymore, but Tuesday. Apparently due to "suppliers holding back stock of the item". She bitched at them and got a free month of prime and a $20 credit, sooooo... kind of a win....

Would have really liked to play Zelda this weekend, though.

[Rare White Ape]

I've played it for 30 minutes now.

COBFIRNED BEST GAME EVAH

[novicius]

:lol: :up:

[Rare White Ape]

I love the old guy that you see at the start of the game, once you leave the shrine of resurrection. He's such an interesting character to be interacting with during that opening prologue-y bit of the game.

And I highly recommend you scale Mt Hylia if you can. A seriously lol-worthy moment awaits.

[Kchrpm]

Friendly request: yes, this can and should be a spoiler friendly quest, but as a huge open world game that many will be playing for dozens of hours over the course of weeks and months, please format your posts with a brief, somewhat vague description of what you'd like to talk about, and then the meat of spoilerific information behind spoiler tags.

For example:
------------
About the large rock temple to the north

It's so rocky and northerly, I never would have expected it to house so many McGuffins!
------------
That way we can all freely enter this thread and discuss it without someone plowing deeply into the game and excitedly sharing more than others are ready to see.

[Rare White Ape]

I spent maaaybe only 6 hrs playing yesterday, and I've broken-in one horse and unlocked three sections of the map (that's analogous to three radio towers for FarCry fans, ha!)

Cruising around on horseback, you see so. many. things. that you'll want to check out later. The world is so freaking fascinating. I'm finding it hard to strike a balance between blasting through the guided storyline, and experiencing the world. I'm too excited to progress and find out what happens and collect all the good weapons and gear, but I still want this game to last a while and to see every nook and cranny.

And Kotaku recommends using the pro hud mode, which removes the minimap and only shows your hearts. They say to give it a few hours first while you get to grips with BotW, but after that the game itself is communicative enough for alert players to know everything just by looking and listening, so I'm going to try that today.

And yeah, it's definitely a game worth listening to. The sound design is incredible. At first I disliked the sparse music but now I find that it really works, and the sounds from the environment get to stand out which helps it's open world survival-ish gameplay take centre stage.

[Rare White Ape]

Screenshot upload function.. so good (you can add the text in the Switch menu).

http://scontent.fbne3-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t31.0-8/16991897_10154903640475792_5716217656635470168_o.j pg?oh=e82844021fc1928e152eeaa9b1579cd0&oe=592B9B7C

http://scontent.fbne3-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t31.0-8/17097471_10154906883580792_2603721862013481092_o.j pg?oh=c6e5f37bdac7fab21de1b6cf728e8f1c&oe=593DF3FF

This reminds me of my first, erm... love. Or what I've been known to resort to in times of severe drought.

http://scontent.fbne3-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t31.0-8/17015928_10154906884560792_4442667495973025608_o.j pg?oh=f203bc4cfc1d7ddde1881438266f12c6&oe=593865B2

[Rare White Ape]

Here's a few shots mostly of nice scenery to show off, which I'll hide behind spoiler tags. They're probably not that spoilery so it's best to hide them just in case.


https://scontent.fbne3-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t31.0-8/17016113_10154906882990792_3417180692326949048_o.j pg?oh=38a8fb22899ca3a78ac1b2a3c49396e9&oe=5968D1F9

https://scontent.fbne3-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t31.0-8/17098008_10154906882300792_6817502555104975873_o.j pg?oh=d6108aa6540c53f2ca0a6333a44b934b&oe=592CC401

https://scontent.fbne3-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t31.0-8/17038771_10154906881610792_3854167001302234319_o.j pg?oh=f0fcda106101f6f6eedddee417628f3c&oe=5924D0E1

https://scontent.fbne3-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t31.0-8/16991687_10154906880820792_4479558002912526555_o.j pg?oh=06ec89c7643f637675d2efa0b97598a7&oe=5933BAB4

[Jason]

I'm kinda embarrassed how long it took me to figure out how to survive the cold without finding warm clothes :|

[Rare White Ape]

Oh man, there are so many things that can kill you in an instant. Temperature is just one of them. This game can be very humbling at times, and we've only just started.

I'm in the middle of part of the story line that requires you take a trip up some very rainy and very rugged terrain towards the east, right to near the edge of the map. The word 'epic' doesn't even begin to describe it. It's going to take aaaaages to see even 1/4 of what Hyrule has to offer this time around. People have had to be very patient while waiting for this game to come out, and now we know why it took five years for the Zelda team to craft this thing.

I'm putting big 3-4 hour chunks of time into this. It's nearly 21:30 now on a Saturday and I haven't even had dinner yet. It's been six hours since I've eaten, my eyes hurt, my spatial reasoning (the bit of your brain that allows you to remember locations of things) has expanded immensely, and I've not had a single drop of alcohol. WTF? Time to rectify this.

I am a massive Zelda and Nintendo fanboy so I'd be addicted to this game anyway, so that kinda makes it sound a but weak when I say I'm addicted to it. But believe me, I'm addicted to this game.

[Jason]

I've gotten all the shrines on the Plateau, but I decided to explore the area a bit more before heading out. (This is why it takes me forever to complete games :lol:)

Exploring near Hopper Pond...

Came across a giant rock monster and got my ass thoroughly handed to me... until by chance I figured out you could climb the damned thing and hit the rock on its back with a hammer. :lol:

[Kchrpm]

Re: Jason's spoiler
Oh, I didn't try that! I just ran away and shot a bunch of arrows at it. Love the quick/fine adjustments I can make with motion control.

[Rare White Ape]

The shrines of trials remind me of test chambers in Portal.

I'd love to see them arranged into one giant trial with gradually increasing difficulty.

With cool interludes in between groups of trial chambers, including hidden areas and cool item pickups.

And places where you bump into Beedle to buy stuff.

Set to an overarching narrative with a cool story line, witty dialogue, and a crazy antagonist.

That's a game I would buy.

[Jason]

Re: Jason's spoiler
Oh, I didn't try that! I just ran away and shot a bunch of arrows at it. Love the quick/fine adjustments I can make with motion control.

No wonder you run out :p

[Rare White Ape]

Who knew that dying could be so funny?

http://kotaku.com/legend-of-zelda-breath-of-the-wild-players-share-their-1793006745?utm_campaign=Socialflow_Kotaku_Facebook&utm_source=Kotaku_Facebook&utm_medium=Socialflow

[Rare White Ape]

And some helpful things for amiibo collectors:

http://press-start.com.au/guides/2017/03/06/amiibo-zelda-breath-wild/

[Jason]

While riding over the big bridge over Lake Hylia...

A BIG FREAKIN DRAGON. WTF. I was too stunned to do anything, so I just sat there and watched, then it flew over me, shocked me, and blasted all my equipment away :lol: I have no idea what it was all about, or if it was a one time thing, but damned was it cool. Hope to see it again!

[Rare White Ape]

I'm not reading your spoiler (I skirted past Lake Hylia via the mountains to unlock the tower) but the night time horse riding music is my favourite track in this game.

[Jason]

I hope what happened to me happens to you, because it's SO COOL

(or maybe it happens elsewhere also, I've only unlocked a couple zones so far, so it might be old hat for you :( )

[GreatScawt]

Blindly responding to the thread to say that I love this game so far. Especially nice having a good long-term use for my WiiU finally. And unlike Windwaker HD, I can actually play it *just* on the gamepad.



-------- vague Great Plateau talk and other impressions below -------

Coming from someone who has played very little Dark Souls (but has seen a ton of it)... I can't help but say that this game has that feel to it. It's difficult (obviously not as difficult as DS) and rewards/punishes based on timing and picking your battles.

Combat feels good and deliberate and gives you lots of options. I'm particularly fond of rolling bombs down a hill. I've managed to sync it with some explosive barrels and taken out a group of 5 or 6. The rag-dolling from those explosions is hilarious.

The game doesn't hold your hand either. It just puts out suggestions... want to go to that cold area but don't have clothes? Oh look, this fire is warm. Maybe cook something warm, too? Oh look, here's some spicy peppers.

Also, speaking of, I friggin' love the cooking mechanic.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Rare White Ape]

Another little tippy-dip, this time regarding some forgotten contents of the Sheikah Slate:

There is a photo album of lost memories in the slate. I noticed that when you unlock them, the Sheikah text accompanying each photo is actually written in English, and changes to our familiar Latin alphabet.

You can actually translate the text yourself, which will give you a location that you can look for in the map. I translated the ones I hadn't found yet and managed to spot one location in the map and unlock another one :up:

Click the following Link to see an image of the ancient Sheikah text along with Latin alpahabet conversions.

http://sideloadvr.com/market/thumbs/Link_WindWaker.e8f104.jpg (https://zeldawiki.org/images/1/15/BotW_Hylian_Language.png)

[Rare White Ape]

I hope what happened to me happens to you, because it's SO COOL

(or maybe it happens elsewhere also, I've only unlocked a couple zones so far, so it might be old hat for you :( )

I saw what you saw!

Not from the bridge, but from the plateau. I had to stand in awe, but from a few KM away. Must've been cool to discover it up close.

[Rare White Ape]

Looky what I found!

Now to do that thing you have to do to get it.

https://scontent.fbne3-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t31.0-8/17211943_10154918675285792_3508873052342446505_o.j pg?oh=36b12be2585f945682e6f325eb3e2680&oe=59352948

[Rare White Ape]

I'm starting to find some pretty sweet weapons. There's a nicely challenging shrine:

Up on a tall cliff overlooking a bay to the south-east, inside is A Moderate Test Of Strength with some nice weapon drops. Do this first because you'll need them for the next one.

In the bay itself there's another shrine on a tiny island way out in the water. It's possible to get there if you have extra stamina and fly from that tall cliff.

Inside the shrine you'll be presented with A Major Test Of Strength (eeek!). If you can stomach it there's a Guardian Sentry with 3000hp waiting for you, so be stocked up on shock arrows for distance work, and be ready for some heavy sword swinging up close. Move quickly and time your attacks. Towards the end it'll charge up a massive blast, so when it does that it's time for you to rush in and chop it with your biggest blade.

When you defeat it the sentry will drop a Guardian Sword++, an Ancient Battle Axe++ and a Guardian Spear++.

And you'll get one Spirit Orb.

[Rare White Ape]

lol

The world of the realm of the kingdom of Ja Rule.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HY54lqfgD-k

[Rare White Ape]

I chose what I felt was an awesome name for my new horse.

https://scontent.fbne3-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t31.0-8/17191897_10154930760990792_6858531878944299374_o.j pg?oh=b1c5e7a5c0e8bda14e5d3b1c5895f712&oe=596FF27A

But then this happened...

I've never felt so let down in my life :(

https://scontent.fbne3-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t31.0-8/17159057_10154930763190792_8143086159831705033_o.j pg?oh=40a5cc4fd9c3e33cc743829e36b1f580&oe=59328996

[Rare White Ape]

http://scontent.fbne3-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t31.0-8/fr/cp0/e15/q65/17191627_10154935002195792_923078513643496552_o.jp g?efg=eyJpIjoidCJ9&oh=510b274c1b72c61d34c4743be1417ab8&oe=5962BD88

I've been putting so many god damn hours into this thing.

The entirety of Hyrule is amazing. It's fascinating how the very land itself becomes an inviting challenge all on its own - something that no GTA or FarCry or RDR has managed to achieve. Sometimes there are hints of things that you can go off and do at any moment with something as utterly simple as a curiously placed rock or a distant tree off all by itself.

Then there's the map.

I'll look at the map and go "what the fuck's that?" and just have to take off in that direction. There's a spot on the map that I've seen that juts north out of the Gerudo Desert (I've unlocked the map portion but I haven't scratched the surface of the region yet) that shows a deep crevice to nowhere, but there's definitely a something at the end of it. Will the crevice be filled with monsters? A cool and interesting climb? What about just some freaking good scenery for the hell of it? You never know what this game is going to throw at you.

[Jason]

The thing that's really awesome about the map, imo, is that you can go literally everywhere. If you have enough stamina, you can climb just about anything. If you have the right gear/stamina, you can even swim everywhere. And everywhere you go there's something going on. It's not always full of activity, but you damned well know the game designers put *something* there.

Notes:
- Do the sidequests, some have insanely helpful prizes
- Stamina and Stealth make the game incredibly different, also climbing gear helps a lot in getting around certain foes/areas. I rarely ever fight anything because I either sneak around, or climb around.
- Speaking of sneak (hat tip to Keith for this) sneak attacks are awesome. I use them along with dropping from the air to gain an advantage on foes that might otherwise give me hell.
- That being said... Fuck Lynels.
- Also fuck Guardians.
- Camera mode is fun... but even more fun is that you can take selfies... and make ridiculous poses. I'm thinking of photobombing everything I put in the Linkedex. :lol:

[Rare White Ape]

Yeah I've got a few really dumb photos of swords and monsters in there. It's too bad that you can't export said photos to the system menu.

[Jason]

Yeah, I really wish you could export them to the system gallery. :(

[JSGeneral]

Be careful when trying to take a picture that you don't accidentally procure a bomb instead...

https://i.redd.it/apsa36wlz1ly.gif

[Jason]

:lol:

In other news... I've apparently played over 85 hours so far.

I'm a mess of an adult. :|

[21Kid]

How to Buy a House (http://www.ign.com/wikis/the-legend-of-zelda-breath-of-the-wild/How_to_Buy_a_House)

[Rare White Ape]

Eurogamer talks about BotW and how it fits in the pantheon of ambitious large scale PC fantasy titles.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-03-16-breath-of-the-wild-shows-nintendo-is-learning-from-pc-games

[Rare White Ape]

https://mobile.twitter.com/MarachiiSoup/status/841579100577923073/video/1

[Jason]

:lol:

In other news, I hit 100 hours yesterday.

[Rare White Ape]

Fuck! I'm only up to "60-or-more"

Me, the No. 1 LoZ fan on this forum, and I've only logged 60 hours in two weeks :smh:

And I even took a week off work specifically to play this game.

[Kchrpm]

I'm at 75+ hours now.

[Jason]

Fuck! I'm only up to "60-or-more"

Me, the No. 1 LoZ fan on this forum, and I've only logged 60 hours in two weeks :smh:

And I even took a week off work specifically to play this game.

If it makes you feel any better, I had a really slow week at work, so I got quite a bit of farming/exploring done. Also, you are probably further along in the quest than I am, I know Keith is. I spend a lot of time just climbing around and seeing places I haven't been to yet. This world is filled with ... stuff. :)

[novicius]

Eurogamer talks about BotW and how it fits in the pantheon of ambitious large scale PC fantasy titles.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-03-16-breath-of-the-wild-shows-nintendo-is-learning-from-pc-games


The measure of success for a Ubisoft open world is how long it takes for the premise to wear thin enough that you can see the project management software beneath.
This is true, Ghost Recon: Wildlands also feels like this but the actual action is fun enough for the non-Zelda playing peeps.

We're benighted, we don't know what we're missing. :D

[Rare White Ape]

If it makes you feel any better, I had a really slow week at work, so I got quite a bit of farming/exploring done. Also, you are probably further along in the quest than I am, I know Keith is. I spend a lot of time just climbing around and seeing places I haven't been to yet. This world is filled with ... stuff. :)

Main quest-wise, I've unlocked the 12 lost memories from the Sheik-a-dex and have done the Goron and Zora divine beasts, currently doing the Gerudo one whilst knocking over a few side quests (two of which take you over the frosty and remote Gerudo highlands in exchange for shoes - epic only begins to describe it).

Side mission-wise I've opened up all but the very north-west part of the map, done two sneaky stealth missions into Hyrule Castle for loot, done 40 shrines, captured near-on 50% of the Hyrule compendium, and found about 30-40 Koroks.

I wasted a whole day-and-a-half investigating Mt Satori. But "wasted" is a loose term. Everyone should visit Mr Satoru. Umm, I mean Mt Satori. You'll join the dots. It's worth it.

My new favourite thing is to fast travel less and actually trek across the countryside more. Maybe travel to towers only, then walk to my destination instead of just picking the closest shrine, unless you're making multiple trips to the same place for a single quest. Could prove to be interesting.

[Kchrpm]

Ganon defeated :cool:

RE: end game save

It autosaves just before you enter the final battle, and then that last autosave is updated with a star afterwards. You load it back up and have all the stuff you had before you went in. Haven't tried to beat it a second time to see if you get a second star. I *might* try and at least get every memory and try it again.

RE: final battle

I was really getting frustrated when he was glowing red and bomb arrows weren't doing shit, I was getting no clues, so I just played defense and realized what I could do. Was "easy" after that.

[Jason]

WHATEVER KEITH

[novicius]

Ganon defeated :cool:
So what do you think?? Great game -- or greatest game? :up:

[Kchrpm]

Greatest game. Playing Wildlands is *so* frustrating afterwards. You can go almost anywhere from almost any direction, and there's something useful or cool any place you go. If I need to go long distances, I can fast travel, or grab a horse and just deal with speed and forks in the road, because the horses follow the trail automatically.

It has more freedom of movement than any game I've played before (but I haven't played Just Cause). The map is gigantic and varied. The enemies, not just the mini-bosses, can be tough by themselves, and then you'll run into a group of several of them. You have a great amount of freedom in how you approach every fight, though, from weapon types, the powers you have and all of the environmental things you can do.

There are so many things on the surface, so many things just below the surface, and even more things hiding deeper for you to discover or create on your own. You choose your own path, your own build, your own story depth, your own fighting style, your own clothing style (you can get special items to provide similar benefits to most clothes, so you don't need specific clothes much; also you can dye your clothes different colors).

Is it the greatest story ever? No, not even close. And the way it's told is tough because it's, by design of the game, non-linear and up to you to discover. But they still tried to assign more depth and emotion than I've seen in any previous Zelda.

Now that I beat the final boss, I've gone back in and plan on just exploring and completing memory, side, and shrine quests. There are so many areas that I barely touched, or didn't go to all. After beating the game last night I spent a few hours exploring new areas, finding new quests, talking to more people. And practicing better battle techniques after things I received/learned on the path to the final victory.

All on a system I can take with me practically anywhere.

It's going to be really tough for any other game to compete going forward. Letting me drive and fly vehicles with shitty physics, forcing me to run all the way around to a funnel just because there's a chain link fence and my super soldier/spy/criminal doesn't have wire cutters, not being able to hop over waist high railing.

That reminds me, I took a game clip in Wildlands over the weekend after you got offline. Phil and I were on a mission, and I was coming down from overwatch. I couldn't just glide/parachute down, so I had to hump the rocks down to a wooden walkway between rock ridges. On my last jump, I landed in between the rock ridge and the walkway. I could not get out. I couldn't hop over a waist high wooden railing, because the game hadn't assigned them as climbable. I was stuck.

[Jason]

That's something that's been incredibly refreshing after playing FFXV. You have this big open world, 4 bros who work so well together... but they can't figure out how to get up really easy climbing paths together (or hell, on their own) because the developers make it an invisible barrier. Which also tells me, that even if I could climb said rock, there's no point, it's just there to make the game look more varied/larger. In BotW you can get almost anywhere AND there's probably something there, and if there's not something there, it can at least maybe help you get to the next helpful/useful spot.

[novicius]

Heh that's how I felt after Morrowind. ♡ :up:

[21Kid]

Before you broke it?

[Kchrpm]

Even though I beat the game, I'm still only 20.84% complete :) Apparently every complete-able thing carries the same weight, though, so 800+ Korok seeds I haven't found are weighing me down!

[Rare White Ape]

I 'went back' to Majora's Mask last weekend (took my 3DS to my quiet Sunday shift at work instead of my Switch). I was running towards a ledge, with the intention of jumping off and going... over there somewhere, but hang on a minute! I don't have a glider! I'd have just fallen off and gone splat :lol:

Yes. Even within the same damn series of games, you get so spoiled by the freedom of movement in BotW that it frustrates things in prior 3D Zelda games. Eiji Anouma was spot on when he wanted to be able to explore the 'areas between the areas' that you couldn't explore in Skyward Sword, because this feels exactly like a regular Zelda game but with all of the previously inaccessible regions fleshed out.

And the Korok puzzles are awesome. Every single one of them. Some of them might be the same as the last puzzle you came across, but the joy of doing them never gets old :) I'm glad there's 900 of the fuckers and your reward for completing all of them is so shit! It's awesome.

One of them is fucking with my mind though. Damn spinny thing.

[Kchrpm]

http://kotaku.com/psa-dont-start-a-new-game-of-zelda-without-switching-a-1793441198

If you start a new game, it erases all your old saves. Solution? Create a new account! Different accounts have different saves.

[Rare White Ape]

On fighting guardians:

All of a sudden I've become a guardian slayer. I used to be like, "oh fuck, a guardian" but now I'm all like, "fuck yeah, a guardian!" It was the grotto underneath the Akkala labyrinth that began it all for me. Once you claim the shrine inside a tunnel opens up for you to drop down and open a treasure chest. It's in a large cavernous room, but surrounded by the remains of defunct guardians. Of course the game has set you up for an ambush, luckily I had a handful of ancient arrows and a good shield.

Nek minnit I find myself on the cliffs east of the Gerudo desert smashing away at a few guardian stalkers with the Master Sword (it's really good for that) and managed to drive one of them backwards off a cliff, it fell over the edge and plummeted about 100m down to terra firms with only a sliver of health to go. It was a real Iron Man moment as I jumped down, charging after it through the trail of smoke at full speed, pulling my 'chute at the last second just as the machine detonated in a fiery blast.

The explosion woke up a cranky lizal, that I laughed at because I'd just destroyed a 10,000 year old hexipedal laser tank that was designed to keep Ganon at bay, and I dispatched the creature in two swings. Lawl.

[Jason]

130 hours into the game, it's getting increasingly difficult to put off the main quest. I have two beasts down, two to go. I think I'll work on knocking off another one tonight, or not. We'll see. I might pull the trigger on a guide to help me find all the shrines, since I'm oddly having a harder time finding them now. I'm only at about 70 out of 120, so I'm guessing the rest are hidden shrine quests and I only have like 5 in my undone queue?

[Rare White Ape]

Do you have your shrine sensor turned on? I usually do, just for when I'm adventuring. There's nothing worse than heading to the farthest reaches of the map and not finding the shrine that'll quickly bring you back should you need it.

The map contained in the link below might be useful. It's got the shrines marked out, but it's low resolution so it's not too spoilery. You'll still have to figure the out the puzzle behind them yourself.

http://press-start.com.au/guides/2017/03/07/shrine-locations-zelda-breath-wild/

I used it to help me locate the shrine near a stable way down in Faron Woods, but only a little bit. I still spent 40 minutes finding the fucking thing, sensor bleeping incessantly. All I had to do was blow up the VERY BLOODY OBVIOUS rock wall behind the stable that I passed ten times while climbing all over the joint.

[Jason]

Yup, I have it turned on. Up to 81 shrines now, I have a feeling a lot of what I have left are Shrine Quests, so that'll be a thing to work on :)

Down to one Beast and one memory to find before I decide to face Ganon. Though if I can get some momentum on the rest of the Shrines, I still might tackle that first.

[Kchrpm]

My Engagement Adventure - A Zelda Themed Proposal https://imgur.com/gallery/NiyAX

[novicius]

:up: :up:

Zelda becomes less engaging the longer you play? (https://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2017/03/28/what-i-loved-about-zelda-breath-of-the-wild-is-fading-near-the-end/#22d87da113c4)

[Kchrpm]

It's understandable that, as you complete all the easy-to-find stuff and are left with the stuff you missed the second and third time through an area, it will seem more barren. But what exactly is the solution to that? If you add more stuff that is easily found, it will be easily found, and then you're back to only having the stuff that is hard to find.

Then, in succession, a complaint that enemies/battles get too easy and too hard. *sigh*

The first couple of dungeons are the hardest because you don't know what the hell you're doing (also you've hopefully stocked up on bomb arrows, the skeleton key of this game). After that you have a pretty good idea of what's going on, and how you're supposed to think, so they feel easier even though they throw their own wrinkles in (one has the dungeon start out pitch black, another mixes up the normal entry/approach part).

Tougher enemies require more than just dropping a single remote bomb on them, but you can still find interesting ways to defeat them. I just told Jason, who has played over 100 hours, something about one of the enemy types that he did not know which can drastically change how you fight it. Many of the tough enemies you run into are in the same camps as before, and are surrounded with easier enemies, so now instead of taking out all of them with one explosive barrel you take out the weak ones and weaken the tough ones. And the tough ones give you great equipment (which of course they consider a problem, even though we all worried at the beginning about breaking our weapons, and many of the toughest ones will only last one good big fight).

Don't get me wrong, I understand the point of the writer, but I think there is some reality and some depth that they are missing. And to act like most other games don't suffer from similar "I am now an all powerful god" stuff once you've acquired all the gear you were excitedly searching for is a bit silly.

[novicius]

His complaint about having to look online to find all the shrines/doo-hickeys is admittedly weak.

But the complaint about boss fights being not as fun/cool/inventive seems on-point. There's no reason the game couldn't keep evolving the Rube Goldberg nature of using the world around you to defeat ever tougher baddies. Just make the moving parts of a puzzle/fight that much larger. The bigger the baddie, the bigger the domino that must fall, etc. Doesn't have much to do with your high level swag.

[Kchrpm]

True. I just assumed that I got around whatever it was specifically trying to get me to do by using bomb arrows. Designing the game so that it didn't require you to have anything other than the basic runes doesn't help, but I didn't seem to need anything as inventive as the solution for the Zora dungeon boss (though I'm not sure I needed to do what I did). The other bosses felt like I might have been supposed to ride updrafts to them or other things, but I was able to do long distance bomb/ancient arrow shots to take them out.

As for the final, uh, dungeon, it's...I mean it's not really a dungeon. It has a bunch of different entrances, and a lot of hidden secrets (I know there's at least one I haven't found), but you can avoid all of that and just run to the final boss area. I thought the final boss fight was great, reminded me in moments of the final fight with Ganon in Ocarina of Time but on a grander scale and some other key differences.

I guess none of the bosses are as inventive as Ocarina of Time's (the Ganondorf in paintings fight comes to mind), and could have been even with the game's non-linear design.

Actually, now that I think about it, I have no idea how you beat the final boss without one of the two high end items that can do a certain thing, so maybe there's still more that I haven't figured out.

[Rare White Ape]

There's a title update out now for BotW which fixes a lot of frame rate issues.

I tried it out and went to a few spots that I had consistently experienced drops: behind Akkala Ancient Tech Lab where the pile of old guardians slowed it down, Korok Forest because foliage, and near the Temple of Time heading back up the hill to the starting cave.

All external areas were smooth as silk for me, and I've read that many other areas are now good too. But the Korok Forest is still a problem. It's much, much better, but it still drops to N64 levels when you stand in front of the Deku Tree and whirl the camera around.

Thumbs-up overall.

[Kchrpm]

Good to hear :up:

[Rare White Ape]

I'm still loving this game, still playing it regularly enough that I still have no need to buy Horizon Zero Dawn just yet.

And I've finally surpassed Jason's 90+ hour mark from a few weeks ago. Keith is up to 130+ hours. Do you guys leave the console on when you're taking a shit or brushing your teeth or something?

Random screenshots for your perusal.

https://scontent.fbne3-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t31.0-8/17834422_10155021003275792_2968836476145665398_o.j pg?oh=e39831515c9aa30e34a45c7ed154f4fe&oe=595BC4F4

https://scontent.fbne3-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t31.0-8/17855590_10155021001570792_8538496190790061970_o.j pg?oh=90d4cba91e64316bfefdc1c6398eaa50&oe=595B2F49

https://scontent.fbne3-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t31.0-8/17855126_10155021004320792_634201058641503911_o.jp g?oh=573dfd971742ceb124c9cca9192a8fd3&oe=5954DE41

https://scontent.fbne3-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t31.0-8/17760944_10155021006095792_16361074396191178_o.jpg ?oh=338203c5aedc63457e861649e470bf96&oe=595277E1

https://scontent.fbne3-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t31.0-8/17834873_10155021007715792_8143034941267736867_o.j pg?oh=e7d826f5baaf2257862ca53ed5b0d29c&oe=595BDABA

[Jason]

I'm at 150ish hours, and I think Keith is about to pass me :lol:

I've been playing other Switch games a bit more recently (Fast RMX, Snake Pass, and Graceful Explosion Machine)

I have one memory left from forgotten memories, all four beasts done. Right now I'm using an online map to find more shrines, since I've kinda ran out on my own random wanderings. Still a lot I want to do before I go for Ganon. Yes, I'm saving Ganon for last, simply because there's no real after game, as far as I can tell.

[Kchrpm]

I'm at 150 hours now, trying to figure out some side missions and slowly finding shrines (I'm at 106). 150 Korok seeds seems like a lot when I don't think about the 900 total.

[Kchrpm]

I figured out how to make fruit cakes and fruit pies that give me max temp hearts, and I figured out where to farm the Hearty Durians. Now I just need to hit up the two stores you can buy cane sugar over and over again (there's no where else to get it, AFAIK).

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C9LmZ54U0AAgcrS.jpg:large

[Rare White Ape]

Cut some grass. You'll get sugar for daaaaayyyyz.

Maybe.

I accidentally cut grass once and got a bundle of Hylian rice.

[Kchrpm]

I accidentally got rice from cutting grass once. Any time I actually try to get something from cutting grass, I get zilch.

[Rare White Ape]

I often get bugs and stuff jumping out.

[Rare White Ape]

There are so many bloody TLoZ amiibo to collect now. I'll never be able to keep up.

Now look at these three new shelf cloggers/dust gatherers, which were revealed in the Nintendo Direct today:

http://www.vooks.net/img/2017/04/smash_link_amiibo-646x363@2x.jpg

[Drachen596]

Would it be in poor taste to mention that there are ways to make your own Amiibos...

Supervisor at work has although he also has all the actual Amiibos still in their boxes.

[Jason]

I mean, it's kinda general info....

Anyways, I'll take a Cloud Amiibo... And hope you get a big fuck off sword with it in BotW (not happening)

[Rare White Ape]

Would it be in poor taste to mention that there are ways to make your own Amiibos...

Supervisor at work has although he also has all the actual Amiibos still in their boxes.

Heh, kinda misses the point of collecting amiibo.

"Hey, look at my shelf of .bin files!"

[Drachen596]

depends on why you actually want the Amiibos i guess. the .bin file way would let you chase the Amiibos you actually want instead of needing to purchase all of them to get the in game stuff.

The only Zelda one i've seen that i think is cool is the Guardian one. the rest are meh imo.

[Jason]

Heh, kinda misses the point of collecting amiibo.

"Hey, look at my shelf of .bin files!"

I only got a few amiibos for the in game BotW swag. I couldn't care less about the figures. :|

(in hindsight the purchases were dumb)

[Rare White Ape]

I think those 'defeat Lynel naked with three hearts using only x object' videos have reached their peak with this one.

A bookshelf. Not bad.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQKDk5QLh_g

[Rare White Ape]

Dear internet,
I love you.
Love from Mick


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eILzF0YDLU0

[Kchrpm]

DLC Pack 1 Detailed

http://zelda.com/breath-of-the-wild/news/expansion-pass-dlc-pack-1-detailed/

[Rare White Ape]

It has been two months.

It's still an amazing game. It's still a beautiful game, with happy little surprises at every step.

https://scontent.fbne3-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t31.0-8/18238856_10155097872950792_160825449270345178_o.jp g?oh=f5cb7affdb39dce2b7f28f4ce43cd1d6&oe=597B302D

https://scontent.fbne3-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t31.0-8/18237794_10155097873620792_4919543113422881766_o.j pg?oh=2ce087044c916e8a82f9284320b62d2c&oe=597BE3B3

It's really too bad that screenshots only output at 1280x720 and get their crisp clarity chewed up in the process. The game looks amazing on the little console's screen.

I got the dark series of armour too. It ate up almost all of my monster parts just to get enough funds to buy the three pieces :random:

https://scontent.fbne3-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t31.0-8/18278774_10155097875960792_9111068335219123258_o.j pg?oh=98fe7f6277d2e9cd203879be21eb3750&oe=597EAE9D

[Jason]

I still have 5 more shrines and 2 more memories to go, then I'll finally face Ganon.

Only 180ish hours in :lol:

[Rare White Ape]

I just... can't... bring myself... to... finish... the game.....

It's too damn good :(

I found all of the memories pretty quickly. It was the driving force behind the first week-and-a-bit of play for me, except for the memory with the Rito champion in it, since it was part of the mission to get into the divine beast. I found them because I wanted to get the story, which is normally a main attraction of playing the older Zelda games. Their structured gameplay is tied to unravelling the story, and completing it is the goal.

It's different here. The goal is to explore, and I'm doing lots of that. Hyrule can wait, and Zelda can bloody well suffer while I take my damn time to find out what's behind every hill. It's been a hundred years. What's a hundred more hours to them?

[Jason]

I finally finished the game, probably close to the 185 hour mark since I've been at 180 for a bit. Decided to do all 120 shrines and 18 memories before Ganon for my headcanon, and I'm glad I did since that unlocks an extra ending scene. Really looking forward to the DLCs, especially the second one. :up:

[Rare White Ape]

Hmmmmmm…

http://press-start.com.au/news/nintendo/2017/05/15/legend-zelda-game-apparently-coming-mobile/

I'm down for this.

[Rare White Ape]

So I ended up accidentally triggering the final boss in BotW. Exploring the shit out of the castle, I walked up a pathway and the game told me I was in a sanctum (I could of cared less hahaha lol sorry) then plopped up the final cut scene. Darn it. Oh well, might as well do it.

The various incarnations of Ganon look fantastic, yet another instance of highly original and downright cool design in this game. It wasn't overly difficult though, I ran around a bit taking selfies for the Hyrule Compendium.

After the credits rolled normal service then resumed, where I climbed right to the top of the central tower.

http://scontent.fbne3-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t31.0-8/fr/cp0/e15/q65/18588775_10155139932825792_2381975199477370709_o.j pg?efg=eyJpIjoidCJ9&oh=271b59798e003c3add323eb40ae5582e&oe=5975BDA8

[Rare White Ape]

After the last post I put the game away for the day. This morning I went back to my exploration of Hyrule Castle, opened the shrine, beat a Stone Talus, and decided to waltz right on out the front gate like a boss - the same way I came in - to leave the area. Not five seconds after stepping out onto the bridge the game triggered a blood moon… that was close :lol:

Then I took a leisurely and picturesque stroll across Hyrule field to get to the riverside stable to complete a few side quests. The game is so beautiful and peaceful away from the baddies.

[Rare White Ape]

Three months on and this game is still serving up nice treats and astounding details.

Everyone reading this should go up into the Hebra region and find a nice picturesque spot. Then, on a clear night, look up into the sky.

[Kchrpm]

More info/video on the BOTW DLC


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1GakpHZFpg

Champion amiibo. I'll probably get a Lady Urbosa.

http://o.aolcdn.com/hss/storage/midas/37ae58d9df2f421c57408381adf0ac17/205373472/legend-of-zelda-botw-dlc-amiibo.jpg

[21Kid]

I still don't get the Amiibo thing. :twitch: Why? Is it just like all of the other Skylander/Infinity/Dimensions/etc... cash grab?

[Rare White Ape]

Somewhat similar to Dimensions and Infinity. The other two games' collectibles unlock entire levels and characters, whereas amiibo usually only give you a temporary ability boost or a bonus item once per day. Nintendo are not into the whole locking you out of large chunks of content unless you pay style of game design.

Plus people just love buying collectibles.

[Kchrpm]

They're little collectibles that get you a little bit of DLC in different games.

[Jason]

Only a fool would buy them.

*looks at his 4 Zelda related Amiibos*

:(

[Rare White Ape]

I've got four, and two of them have never been out of their box.

[Rare White Ape]

I'm laying on my bed looking up at a stack of games on top of the wardrobe. In the last 12 months I've bought six Zelda games, played through four of them, plan to finish one of them, and left the last one in its box.

That last one is the WiiU version of Twilight Princess with the Wolf Link amiibo. I don't even own a WiiU.

I've also bought a Hylian crest t-shirt, the Hyrule 3DS, two Link Figmas, three Zelda related amiibo, and the Classic Mini NES which has two Zelda games installed.

You could say that I'm a bit of a sucker for TLOZ stuff.

[Rare White Ape]

New BotW DLC is out and Hero's Path is available.

Not mine, but that of Patricia Hernandez from Kotaku.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjMYrj4d2kM

[Rare White Ape]

http://www.vooks.net/nintendo-shows-off-new-footage-breath-wilds-champion-dlc/

It's confirmed that you'll play as Link in the next DLC set 100 years before the events of BotW. I'm looking forward to seeing Hyrule in its pristine state.

[Jason]

Cool, but man did I want a post Gannon story

[Rare White Ape]

Behold new wallpaper :shocker:

http://i.imgur.com/5eoZGyP.jpg

[Jason]

I've been using these two as my wallpaper on my dual screen desktop for a while:

24552456

Edit: TIL, the forum software reduces the resolution of .PNG files and converts them to .JPG :| try the below imgur links instead

http://i.imgur.com/Bus9AEf.png

http://i.imgur.com/TQ15FEW.jpg

[M4FFU]

Anyone tried/playing this on the Wii U? Is it a case of waiting to get a Switch and seeing it in all it's projected glory, or does the Wii U do a good enough job?

(Note; not really in the mood for a Switch, but did want to play this...)

[Kchrpm]

It runs very well on the Wii U from what I've heard and read. The graphical difference is minor.

[Drachen596]

2 coworkers have it on Wii U. 1 on Switch.

I have heard no gameplay/graphics complaints from those with the Wii U version. Its still a good game according to them without any serious drawbacks.

[GreatScawt]

Yup, it plays just fine on WiiU. There are some jaggies and some frame drops here and there. But the experience is still very good.

[Jason]

Wii U = 720p, Switch = 900p. There will be a difference on larger screens, but nothing earth shattering.

[Rare White Ape]

It's not a very sharp game graphically so playing it at 720 on a big screen shouldn't be a problem. Ironically it looks it's best on the Switch's handheld screen which runs at a native 720p.

[M4FFU]

Mega - Wii U copy on order. Thanks chaps! :)

[Rare White Ape]

Awesome ^_^

Come back to us in 4 months and tell us how much it's taken over your life.

[Rare White Ape]

Also: screenshot

http://scontent.fbne3-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t31.0-8/19984190_10155325665940792_4534607728118233437_o.j pg?oh=a238e6c8bd93d3eda3e83626574761ea&oe=5A056696

[Rare White Ape]

I went to a great fairy fountain to upgrade some gear. I warped to Kakariko to see her and never warped out of there - I walked instead. Adventure time!

The last few weeks has seen me go on an epic exploration trek through areas I've not seen, first heading east to the hills around Zora's Domain, then back towards Lanayru Promenade and stopping just before Hateno to turn around and head west again. I unlocked one shrine (the cursed statue), crossed Dueling Peaks and picked up my horse Batman at Riverside Stable and pointed him south towards Lake Hylia and rode until we arrived at Highland Stable.

If the map is 10x10km then that was probably about 15km of wandering and dicking around across a few hours. Next up I'll be checking out some unexplored locations nearby. The bottom edge of the map has some quite out of the way areas I'd like to see, and I'm going to try and see as much as I can without warping again.

[Rare White Ape]

Who ever thought we’d see a link to a PC Gamer article in this thread :P

http://www.pcgamer.com/the-legend-of-zelda-breath-of-the-wilds-pc-mod-scene-is-wonderfully-weird/

Also: I’m still playing BotW on-and-off, and still haven’t warped anywhere since August. This weekend I found a new Lynel in a faraway paddock well away from any shred of civilisation. How do those things meet and breed?

And yeah I gave it a wide berth because I’m nowhere near close to being able to beat them on the reg.

Next month we’ve got part 2 of the game’s DLC content, which is pretty exciting! I hope it’s meaty as hell and takes up another 100 hours of my life. My early tip is that you play as Zelda and it follows the events of the recovered memories from the main game.

[Rare White Ape]

Ummm, Available now?

I wouldn’t know, as I’ve been busy painting cars in GT Sport all day.


https://youtu.be/dyBFAX4SDEc

[Kchrpm]

Downloaded. Disappointed. Whatever, no big deal.

"Hey you know this game with awesome exploration and fun puzzles to figure out? We're just going to make it about one-hit kill combat lulz"

[GreatScawt]

I've started this back up last weekend on WiiU. Totally uninterested in the DLC. Totally immersed, as I've finally started one of the dungeons.

[Rare White Ape]

Downloaded. Disappointed. Whatever, no big deal.

"Hey you know this game with awesome exploration and fun puzzles to figure out? We're just going to make it about one-hit kill combat lulz"

It’s actually not that bad. I did that plateau bit across maybe an hour and a half, being careful not to draw too many enemies into a fight all at once. I found it quite thrilling. I run around with my stasis rune active so that I can see bokblins and stuff hidden in tricky areas, it comes in handy. Get up high if you can, use lots of arrows from a distance, and a bomb arrow for the flying flocks of keese. If you swing the obliterator at a baddie it does run out of power in two hits but the recharge is very short. It’s best use comes in a shrine when you’re facing off against a 3000 HP Guardian. Don’t forget there are plenty of other tools at your disposal, you’re not limited to using that one melee weapon.

After the four areas and shrines are completed the next stage opens up and there are four more things out there on the map to do.

[Rare White Ape]

This is excellent.


https://youtu.be/GyUcwsjyd8Q

[Rare White Ape]

Has anyone played Crypt of the Necrodancer before?

I haven’t, but I probably will now!


https://youtu.be/oYd_pph6RnI

[Rare White Ape]

Nintendo just dropped a surprise reveal of a new Hyrule Warriors game. This one is set 100 years before BotW and takes place during that game’s great calamity.


https://youtu.be/ifm8tpcO4vw

[Kchrpm]

Which basically means that you lose at the end, right?

[Rare White Ape]

Revisiting this funny quote from Cam last week:


Presented with this situation, only RWA would be like, "Woo-hoo, finally a real excuse to goof off. Pass the Nintendo." :lol:

Indeed! A Hyrule Warriors demo is now available on the eShop.

Arcade Zelda. It’s good!

[Rare White Ape]

Ocarina of Time for me is gaming comfort food.

Even comfier now that the entire game was fully decompiled last year and has been ported to PC (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1BPWSADWck&ab_channel=ShipofHarkinian).

Whatever framerate and screen resolution you want. Have an ultrawide at 240Hz? Excellent. It'll interpolate the 20fps of the original and give you the smoothest OoT you have ever seen. Enhancements too. Graphical, cosmetic, cheats, you name it.

If you add it to your Steam library you can use the Steam controller settings. If you have the latest Steam client Beta, that includes support for the Switch N64 controller too. That's the way I have been playing it.

If anyone wats to join in, I can direct you to exactly the files you need.