The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

[DonRumsfeld]

I just can't get into this.  I guess I'm missing something or doing something wrong, my swords keep breaking at the wrong time and major enemies are wiping me out.  I get that it's majorly different to all the previous Zelda's, but there's very little hand holding.  I've gotten as far as I imagine the first 'dungeon' boss.

 

Spoiler

Waterblight Gannon, who wipes me out in one shot.

 

Cooking and crafting has never really appealed to me in games, preferring a more linear play style.  So maybe BOTW isn't for me, but is there a beginners guide or something somewhere?  I'd like to give it a proper chance having played all the predecessors.  

[ZOK]

If that’s happening, maybe you are trying it too early? Personally I found it pretty easy, but I had spent a long time in the Wild doing shrines and the like before I even attempted a divine beast.

 

Having said that, one of BOTW’s major strengths is it’s completely non-linear, so possibly just not for you.

[Marlew]

15 hours ago, DonRumsfeld said:

I just can't get into this.  I guess I'm missing something or doing something wrong, my swords keep breaking at the wrong time and major enemies are wiping me out.  I get that it's majorly different to all the previous Zelda's, but there's very little hand holding.  I've gotten as far as I imagine the first 'dungeon' boss.

 

  Reveal hidden contents

Waterblight Gannon, who wipes me out in one shot.

 

Cooking and crafting has never really appealed to me in games, preferring a more linear play style.  So maybe BOTW isn't for me, but is there a beginners guide or something somewhere?  I'd like to give it a proper chance having played all the predecessors.  

 

Are you using your abilities at all? Try the freeze ability to deal with that particular boss.

 

I only ask because I've seen many folks new to the game largely ignoring them but you'll use them again and again in different circumstances throughout the game. 

[DonRumsfeld]

@ZOK  Possibly, I’m only at 4 hearts so might need to go hunting for shrines.  You could be right about the nonlinear nature, I’ve never got on with sandbox games with maybe the exception of Elite.  

 

@Stanshall  Thanks, this might be it, as I keep forgetting about it.  

[ZOK]

Aside from your hearts and stamina, doing shrines is really about teaching you how to use your various abilities, so it prepares you for the divine beasts and battles.

 

Having said that, I think I tackled the three I’ve done with special arrows. 

[iknowgungfu]

I didn’t get to a divine beast until after a fair few shrines and side quests. I kept getting distracted. Hoping to finish the main game off soon but need to finish champions ballad.  Underwhelmed by the DLC if I am

honest. 

Spoiler

It just seems to me the age old PITA where you have to fight all the bosses again 

 And the Trials DLC can bog off!!

[iknowgungfu]

Despite this - I have loved this game. 

[Escape]

On 15/07/2018 at 08:56, iknowgungfu said:

I realised I had changed the day I first came across a Sand Seal and my first instinct was to kill it for meat. 

 

Good! They deserve it.

[JPL]

@DonRumsfeld Don’t worry about the cooking either. I hate that in games as well, so never bothered with it and I completed the game no problem. It can help make things a bit easier, but it’s definitely not necessary.

 

I’d echo Zok’s advice and recommend that you just go exploring the wilds for a while and doing as many shrines as you can.

 

Stick at it, hopefully it’ll click. It really is the best Zelda once it gets its claws in.

[Hylian]

Cooking is the worst thing in the game and the major flaw in BOTW's system. 

[Stanley]

40 minutes ago, Hylian said:

Cooking is the worst thing in the game and the major flaw in BOTW's system. 

It's integral to BOTW's 'system'.

[Hylian]

No it isn't. You can complete the whole game without cooking.

[dataDave]

Why is it a major flaw though?

[Mr Do 71]

59 minutes ago, Hylian said:

No it isn't. You can complete the whole game without cooking.

 

Pain in the arse when you need some stamina, though.

[Stanley]

1 hour ago, Hylian said:

No it isn't. You can complete the whole game without cooking.

You can complete the game without defeating any Divine Beasts either. Another of the game's 'major flaws' ?

[Hylian]

I felt the cooking ultimately led to a very easy game because you can consume meals that supply vast numbers of hearts, pretty much without limit. You can do this endlessly and mid-battle. It therefore acts against the subtleties of the combat system. You don't need to learn how to fight and you don't need to learn how to defeat the bosses. You can toil through by regenerating health using the cooked foods. 

 

Personally I think cooking should have been limited to the temporary ability buffs (the elixirs) and they should have left health regen to dropped hearts from enemies, as in the previous games. That's how I'm playing my second playthrough and it seems a lot better (no cooking for hearts).

[cohen205]

Surely that is the beauty of this game though. You can play it however you want. You may not like the cooking aspect, but you don't have to do all that if you don't want too. Its as optional as the rest of the game (Divine beasts, Shrines, Master Sword etc).

[MattyP]

On ‎16‎/‎07‎/‎2018 at 17:38, DonRumsfeld said:

I just can't get into this.  I guess I'm missing something or doing something wrong, my swords keep breaking at the wrong time and major enemies are wiping me out.  I get that it's majorly different to all the previous Zelda's, but there's very little hand holding.  I've gotten as far as I imagine the first 'dungeon' boss.

 

  Reveal hidden contents

Waterblight Gannon, who wipes me out in one shot.

 

Cooking and crafting has never really appealed to me in games, preferring a more linear play style.  So maybe BOTW isn't for me, but is there a beginners guide or something somewhere?  I'd like to give it a proper chance having played all the predecessors.  

 

Me neither. Its been on the shelf after I sunk around 12 or so hours into it. Think I just enjoyed Zelda for what it was before a fairly linear story telling experience. 

 

This seems more like a traditional RPG experience... Personally  I liked the hand-holding nature of the previous games earning the equipment etc needed to complete certain bits of the game and gentle progression to the end of the story - its what made Zelda fairly unique to me. Never liked things like Skyrim etc because of the openness of the world and they just eat lots of time.

 

Guess we cannot all like everything but this Zelda isn't for me.... and for me Its disappointing. 

 

Reading this:-

 

https://nesn.com/2017/03/the-legend-of-zelda-breath-of-the-wild-could-hurt-not-help-series/

 

Think this is the aspect I miss:-

 

"The game’s story, although great, is entirely optional. If you wanted, you could skip nearly every major story-telling moment and head right for bosses. Previous “Zelda” games merged gameplay with storytelling in ways that, while predictable, were always rewarding."

 

Also not sure where Zelda will go after BoTW? (as mentioned in the article above).

[ZOK]

I used to hate the cooking, but now I love it. I wait until I’ve got hardly any meals or elixirs then do a marathon session.

 

My favourite thing is seeing the ingredients bounce in the pan!

 

On the poor animals front, I have seen a brown bear once in the game! And I killed it with an arrow while it was sniffing a flower. 

[Stanley]

24 minutes ago, Hylian said:

I felt the cooking ultimately led to a very easy game because you can consume meals that supply vast numbers of hearts, pretty much without limit. You can do this endlessly and mid-battle. It therefore acts against the subtleties of the combat system. You don't need to learn how to fight and you don't need to learn how to defeat the bosses. You can toil through by regenerating health using the cooked foods. 

 

Personally I think cooking should have been limited to the temporary ability buffs (the elixirs) and they should have left health regen to dropped hearts from enemies, as in the previous games. That's how I'm playing my second playthrough and it seems a lot better (no cooking for hearts).

Or you could complete lots of shrines and then increase your health and stamina, again making combat easier. Or you could choose to ignore the different outfits just relying on certain buffs you get from cooking to protect you from the elements, which actually makes the game harder. It's all about choice. Why should someone who isn't that  confident in combat not be allowed to prepare for battle by mastering the cooking and potions instead? 

 

So I don't think it's flawed, which is to suggest it's broken in some way. In fact a lot of the fun for me was trying to push things as far as I could trying to break its systems. I couldn't because they're robust as hell, but it's fun trying. 

 

The beauty of the game is that it's one big physics and chemistry set for you to just do what you feel like. It's constantly challenging you to try different things and more often than not they work.

[Hylian]

1 hour ago, cohen205 said:

Surely that is the beauty of this game though. You can play it however you want. You may not like the cooking aspect, but you don't have to do all that if you don't want too. Its as optional as the rest of the game (Divine beasts, Shrines, Master Sword etc).

I dunno. I feel like the developers got this bit wrong. I feel you shouldn't need to create your own rules to make the game a challenge. The world feels dangerous in the initial few hours and I liked that you had to find the shrines to gain hearts, to go further into the world and take on more difficult enemies. The cooking negates the point of that system too and it does so very early on. I would not be surprised at all to see cooking vastly refined in the next game.

[Guest]

Has anyone found they prefer playing this on the Switch in portable mode as opposed to the TV?

[cohen205]

1 minute ago, Hylian said:

I dunno. I feel like the developers got this bit wrong. I feel you shouldn't need to create your own rules to make the game a challenge. The world feels dangerous in the initial few hours and I liked that you had to find the shrines to gain hearts, to go further into the world and take on more difficult enemies. The cooking negates the point of that system too and it does so very early on. I would not be surprised at all to see cooking vastly refined in the next game.

 

But then the early game is only difficult as you only have a few hearts to begin with. Even if you ate a heart boosting meal it would only take you to about 5-6 hearts, and the tougher enemies would still annihilate you. As the game progresses, you get more hearts and therefore get tougher and it makes it easier to take on tougher enemies. Isnt this the case in a lot of games? You start off with basic abilities and low health, and by the end of the game, you are a force to be reckoned with.

[cohen205]

1 minute ago, Dinobot said:

Has anyone found they prefer playing this on the Switch in portable mode as opposed to the TV?

 

I prefer the TV, but i know where your coming from in regards to handheld. When I play it on handheld, i'm constantly amazed that i'm playing one of the best games ever made on a smallish device!!!

[Hylian]

3 minutes ago, cohen205 said:

 

But then the early game is only difficult as you only have a few hearts to begin with. Even if you ate a heart boosting meal it would only take you to about 5-6 hearts, and the tougher enemies would still annihilate you. As the game progresses, you get more hearts and therefore get tougher and it makes it easier to take on tougher enemies. Isnt this the case in a lot of games? You start off with basic abilities and low health, and by the end of the game, you are a force to be reckoned with.

It's a very difficult problem to solve. I'm not saying it's easy. However BOTW is pretty unique in giving you, effectively, infinite health from an early stage. I would like to see something like the original bottles mechanic, so you can only hold a limited number. Perhaps cooking pots can be carried and used only a few times before breaking.

[dataDave]

15 minutes ago, Hylian said:

Perhaps cooking pots can be carried and used only a few times before breaking.

 

Imagine the uproar.

 

Honestly though, I can't see the difference between food in this game and say, health potions in other games. There are very few games out there which prevent the spamming of health recovery. Even in previous Zelda games you can carry enough red potion and fairies to see you through mostly any encounter easily enough.

[Shoes]

21 minutes ago, Fallows said:

Even in previous Zelda games you can carry enough red potion and fairies to see you through mostly any encounter easily enough.

 

I farmed fairies before heading into a boss.

 

Is this not yet another 'this breaks the game! It should be harder! People should learn the combat system!' thing? Cooking for health is optional. If you did it,  despite not wanting to, then more fool you. It has been invaluable for many, many players and makes the game accessible for them.

[Stanley]

40 minutes ago, Hylian said:

It's a very difficult problem to solve. I'm not saying it's easy. However BOTW is pretty unique in giving you, effectively, infinite health from an early stage. I would like to see something like the original bottles mechanic, so you can only hold a limited number. Perhaps cooking pots can be carried and used only a few times before breaking.

It doesn't really give you 'infinite health' though, it offers you the choice of replenishing your heart containers, but if you only have 3 then you'll still be weak against tougher enemies. The other point worth noting is that you can't just build up food supplies and meals in no time, you have to learn recipes and collect ingredients, locate a cooking pot and so on. 

[Marlew]

I only ever ate at my actual real-time mealtimes to maintain the immersion. I would make sure I went into any significant battle after a good rest, proper filling breakfast and a walk to help digest it. 

[sir stiff_one]

3 hours ago, Hylian said:

I felt the cooking ultimately led to a very easy game because you can consume meals that supply vast numbers of hearts, pretty much without limit. You can do this endlessly and mid-battle. It therefore acts against the subtleties of the combat system. You don't need to learn how to fight and you don't need to learn how to defeat the bosses. You can toil through by regenerating health using the cooked foods. 

 

Personally I think cooking should have been limited to the temporary ability buffs (the elixirs) and they should have left health regen to dropped hearts from enemies, as in the previous games. That's how I'm playing my second playthrough and it seems a lot better (no cooking for hearts).

“They nerfed it for n00bs and I, a hardcore gamer, am offended.”