The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

[Jonny5]

I spent my entire 45 minute train ride home trying to get a blue flame from one place to another via a chain of lanterns.

 

All started well until I ran out of wooden things to carry the flame with. Then when I found something it fucking rained for ages before stopping. I then tried to ride the flame in on my horse but overshot on my first attempt and my club disintegrated before I could get back.

 

Second attempt I got there and tried to jump off the horse to light the lantern but that button puts your torch away extinguishing the flame. 

 

Third attempt it started raining so had to wait that out again before finally completing it on the 4th attempt. 

 

 

[Broker]

11 minutes ago, NickC said:

 

When that Guardian in the maze started dishing out the hurt were you thinking, "Oh fuck, I'm gonna die and I've just wasted 38 minutes of my life"? 

 

I died on two previous attempts to the guardians in the middle of the map without getting that far so I pretty much shit myself there  

 

Anyone got any other ideas for stupid challenges I could record? Not "all 900 Korok seeds in one run" please.

[Kevvy Metal]

Maybe it's because I'm currently playing the game, but I'm finding stupid critique of certain aspects of the game to be rather annoying. Especially when I fundamentally disagree with the point being made and feel the person is totally missing the point. 

My gripe in this circumstance is - not only with Jim Sterlings utterly idiotic critic of Weapon Degradation - but with the more recent Easy Allies podcasts/frametrap type stuff. Why does that Damiani idiot have such a beef with the Divine Beasts!? They're a culmination of all the cool little tricks you learn in the Shrines combined into a cool environment puzzle mega shrine. That makes total logical design sense, but EA seem to be quite conservative in their opinion, just wanting trad Zelda dungeons with trad Zelda themes. The fact that the Divine Beast are giant environment modification puzzles in the vein of the Water Temple from OOT is what makes them so interesting, and they all obey the same laws that the Shrines do. 

I dunno, I just think this whole game is pretty special and has been put together with the upmost care and I find it annoying when holes are picked for stupid reasons, like just to have some kind of critical angle and not actually consider why something is the way it is in the first place. 

[TheSlugFormerlyKnownAsNap]

Just imagine there would be a Loftwing DLC.

[NickC]

What's also cool about the Divine Beasts is that you can attempt them in any order, and after a few hours of play or after a hundred hours of play. And they are optional too.

 

I think they are loads of fun, and a logical and satisfying manifestation of the the new non-linear open world Zelda. They are part of the BOTW world... but will they be part of your adventure?  

 

I love an old-fashioned Zelda dungeon, sure, but they wouldn't really work in this game. 

[TheSlugFormerlyKnownAsNap]

I don't miss the dungeons. Making the puzzles an organic and integral part of the gameworld is actually one of the best things. It surely beats the concentrated pockets of activity with loads of empty space between them that got stale in the last few games.

[Majora]

'The voe and you' 

[Pob]

Lots of reviews mention how awesome it is that your final objective - destroy Ganon  - appears to be right under your nose from the very beginning of the game.

 

I did have a quick poke around the outer edges of Hyrule Castle a while back but now I've decided to properly see how deep I can get without getting my arse kicked to the extent that I have to turn back.

 

It seems to be one of the coolest structural innovations in the game so I thought it'd be sweet to try thinking away from video game tradition of having to do the other objectives first (only done Elephant) and seeing how the game handles me taking the direct route to the finish. 

 

I've penetrated into the lower floors and dealt with the regular bad guys pretty easily so far. It's kind of like a fantasy Metal Gear Solid so far. Last thing I did before I switched it off was ascend up a waterfall to the next level and get twatted by a Lynel (first death), but I'll continue my ascent tomorrow. Great fun!

[layten]

Finally upgraded the Champion's Tunic to the max.

 

Spoiler

That fucking Fairy.  

 

[kensei]

23 minutes ago, Napole0n said:

I don't miss the dungeons. Making the puzzles an organic and integral part of the gameworld is actually one of the best things. It surely beats the concentrated pockets of activity with loads of empty space between them that got stale in the last few games.

 

I want a few dungeons added. A big test of all your skills. I don't want anything taken out. Easy to fit in as part of the environment.

 

Greedy. But sometimes the shrines just whet the appetite.

[Kevvy Metal]

Literally just imagine a handful of these shrines stuck together with doors/loading between them and you've got yourself a dungeon, but that doesn't match the flow or structure of this game at all and the "pick and mix" design philosophy that's applied to the whole game works wonders. There's probably more 'dungeon' in this that in any other Zelda game. 

[Broker]

2 hours ago, Kevvy Metal said:

Maybe it's because I'm currently playing the game, but I'm finding stupid critique of certain aspects of the game to be rather annoying. Especially when I fundamentally disagree with the point being made and feel the person is totally missing the point. 

My gripe in this circumstance is - not only with Jim Sterlings utterly idiotic critic of Weapon Degradation - but with the more recent Easy Allies podcasts/frametrap type stuff. Why does that Damiani idiot have such a beef with the Divine Beasts!? They're a culmination of all the cool little tricks you learn in the Shrines combined into a cool environment puzzle mega shrine. That makes total logical design sense, but EA seem to be quite conservative in their opinion, just wanting trad Zelda dungeons with trad Zelda themes. The fact that the Divine Beast are giant environment modification puzzles in the vein of the Water Temple from OOT is what makes them so interesting, and they all obey the same laws that the Shrines do. 

I dunno, I just think this whole game is pretty special and has been put together with the upmost care and I find it annoying when holes are picked for stupid reasons, like just to have some kind of critical angle and not actually consider why something is the way it is in the first place. 

 

I heard Damiani in another podcast basically complaining that there weren't enough dungeons. Which seems like a weird complaint if he didn't like them. I think his story and timeline criticisms are fair though.

[abc]

.

[abc]

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[Shimmyhill]

I enjoyed the divine beasts but did rattle through them quickly after the first one - it was my fave by far but probably as I got more stuck!

 

Hopefully in DLC they can add a dungeon or two that really tests your combat and puzzle solving skills with the assumption we have all finished the game and are both powerful and well versed with the puzzles.

[Adrock]

8 hours ago, Jonny5 said:

I spent my entire 45 minute train ride home trying to get a blue flame from one place to another via a chain of lanterns.

 

All started well until I ran out of wooden things to carry the flame with. Then when I found something it fucking rained for ages before stopping. I then tried to ride the flame in on my horse but overshot on my first attempt and my club disintegrated before I could get back.

 

Second attempt I got there and tried to jump off the horse to light the lantern but that button puts your torch away extinguishing the flame. 

 

Third attempt it started raining so had to wait that out again before finally completing it on the 4th attempt. 

 

 

 

Find a torch, they don't break like other wooden weapons. Gives you plenty of time.

[scottcr]

8 hours ago, Broker said:

 

I died on two previous attempts to the guardians in the middle of the map without getting that far so I pretty much shit myself there  

 

Anyone got any other ideas for stupid challenges I could record? Not "all 900 Korok seeds in one run" please.

 

Further glide from the very top of Hyrule castle?

[jonamok]

On that tower challenge, where you have to set maximum glide distance for that blokey, what's everyone's best?

 

I can't pick a route that gets me past 633m. Guess I could go down first and light some fires towards the end point. Or possibly start with that one Beast ability...

[sprite]

I do think they have nailed the puzzling/dungeoning for the modern gamer.  I don't know what else some of these game critics do with their lives but they must have more time to spend on games than most of us, so it makes a little bit of sense that they may miss having a three hour long dungeon+ to slog through like they did 20 years ago.

 

For me though the bite-size dungeon pieces are great.  I can literally pick up BOTW any time of day and know I can put it down again easily if I need to, this is helped hugely by how seamless it is simply to play on the Switch (I love that I just press the Home button and oh, there's Link!).

 

It's not even like the sense of epic scale is missing from the Divine Beasts that we had with some of the big temples of yesteryear, I mean the beasts themselves are huge.  Shorter to work through perhaps, but huge nonetheless.  And then the shrines

 

I guess the dungeons are less perilous than they used to be? I dunno, I've only done one beast, so maybe not. 

[pranny]

21 minutes ago, sprite said:

 

 

I guess the dungeons are less perilous than they used to be? I dunno, I've only done one beast, so maybe not. 

Less perilous but the desert beast just took me a full 4 hours over a couple of sessions. Really have to keep your eyes peeled for stuff moving or changing in the environment. Or revisit areas over and over and over again until you just cant miss it.

[Jonny5]

1 hour ago, Adrock said:

 

Find a torch, they don't break like other wooden weapons. Gives you plenty of time.

 

I looked, trust me.  I chopped down about 30 trees hoping to get a tree branch drop but no luck.  Of course as soon as I'd completed the task the torch was right there in front of me.

 

The weapon durability & weather can really conspire against you sometimes.  I've a couple test of strength shrines that I haven't completed so went to have a crack at them this morning.  After my Guardian parrying excursions I have two pot lids and a wooden Koroko shield.  My shield situation has been this dire for a while now as I just can't find any new ones.  Anyway, first test of strength and the koroko shield shatters after receiving 3 blows.  The pot lids both shatter from a single hit.  4 or so hits and my last remaining one handed sword is critical leaving me with two handed weapons and no ability to block or parry.  After several unsuccessful attempts to use this as a dodge flurry learning exercise I just give up and head off to do another shrine I spotted during yesterdays torch fun.  Get there, glide to the rock face below the shrine just as it starts raining again so fall off.  Frustrating morning!

 

Edit: Is there somewhere I can buy a decent shield?

 

[thesnwmn]

8 minutes ago, Jonny5 said:

 

I looked, trust me.  I chopped down about 30 trees hoping to get a tree branch drop but no luck.  Of course as soon as I'd completed the task the torch was right there in front of me.

 

The weapon durability & weather can really conspire against you sometimes.  I've a couple test of strength shrines that I haven't completed so went to have a crack at them this morning.  After my Guardian parrying excursions I have two pot lids and a wooden Koroko shield.  My shield situation has been this dire for a while now as I just can't find any new ones.  Anyway, first test of strength and the koroko shield shatters after receiving 3 blows.  The pot lids both shatter from a single hit.  4 or so hits and my last remaining one handed sword is critical leaving me with two handed weapons and no ability to block or parry.  After several unsuccessful attempts to use this as a dodge flurry learning exercise I just give up and head off to do another shrine I spotted during yesterdays torch fun.  Get there, glide to the rock face below the shrine just as it starts raining again so fall off.  Frustrating morning!

 

Edit: Is there somewhere I can buy a decent shield?

 

 

 I find the guardian scouts attacks are so signposted that I don't even use shields these days. During the first phase I just keep my distance, run around them when they telegraph an attack and hit them a few times. Run back out a little, let them adjust and repeat.

[Jonny5]

It really bothers me that I just cannot get the doge flurry to activate.  I either just do a normal jump as I've gone too early or I get battered as I go too late, curse my old man reflexes.

 

Also having now seen the ancient armor set I have buyers remorse over purchasing an empty house.

[CheekyLee]

34 minutes ago, Jonny5 said:

Is there somewhere I can buy a decent shield?

The brothers who teach you Shield surfing had a selection for sale, one of which was a Knight's Shield. I don't know for sure, because I've never been back, but I'd guess they restock like all the other shops in the game do. 

[Oracle]

Stumbling at the beginning, I can't find the third shrine so I can get the paraglider thing.

[Girth Certificate]

is there a way to avoid paying the fairies? this one wants 10 grand!

[Jonny5]

12 minutes ago, CheekyLee said:

The brothers who teach you Shield surfing had a selection for sale, one of which was a Knight's Shield. I don't know for sure, because I've never been back, but I'd guess they restock like all the other shops in the game do. 

 

That's nice to know, haven't found them yet but will keep an eye out!  

9 minutes ago, Oracle said:

Stumbling at the beginning, I can't find the third shrine so I can get the paraglider thing.

 

Two are up in the snowy area, I think you can see them all from the top of the tower can't you?  I suspect the one you're missing is the one on the southern edge of the plateau so have a look around there.

[Gotters]

I think Nintendo have made the perfect open world game for somebody like me who wants to dip in & out when I have some time free and not feel like I need to put 2h aside to just play a big mission (even the instant console boot up time encourages you to fire it up) - I'm still loving this. 

 

Last night I started exploring the desert region at the bottom of the map and experienced so much gaming fun and joy in a short sub hour playtime

 

Spoiler

I found the special town where you can only get into dressed as a woman, managed to get Link to embrace his inner tranny to gain access, then the town itself is just packed with shops, buildings, even ramparts to explore. Its all so dense and perfectly designed.

 

I did though get a bit carried away on fabulous clothes (especially in the secret club) and arrows and totally blew every penny of the 3k I'd saved up to buy a house.

 

Also the pro controller battery never seems to need charging, thing runs forever.

 

This isn't just GotY its probably my favorite game ever at this point, and I've only done 1 divine beast and got about 30h on it. Its not just fun to play but I can't think of anything else that feels as perfectly and thoughtfully put together.

[Paulando]

25 minutes ago, Oracle said:

Stumbling at the beginning, I can't find the third shrine so I can get the paraglider thing.

 

You can see them all from the first tower, and mark them on your map. One is low down and fairly close, the other two are higher up. Look for the orange glow.

[kensei]

9 hours ago, Kevvy Metal said:

Literally just imagine a handful of these shrines stuck together with doors/loading between them and you've got yourself a dungeon, but that doesn't match the flow or structure of this game at all and the "pick and mix" design philosophy that's applied to the whole game works wonders. There's probably more 'dungeon' in this that in any other Zelda game. 

 

A good dungeon is more than interlocking puzzles. The Forest or Water Temples in OoT are good models. The whole dungeon comes together as one giant puzzle.

 

You could easily fit a few into this game. The Beasts could have been more complex for a start. But you could have put a literal Temple in a corner of the map or embedded a dungeon into the side of a mountain. Hyrule Castle could have aped the structure. I think having a few big adventures in there would have made the game more epic -  like Eventide Island. You can always just leave the dungeon. The Beasts were clearly designed to fit that role, but they ain't quite as involved as I'd like.

 

The game is generous with it's content, and there are plenty of puzzles. But it's easy to see why people miss the more complex dungeons. There has always been a Zelda split in terms of people that like searching nooks and crannies, and people that liked doing puzzles.