Topic: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

@Peek-a-boo @Octane The second pack has 16 new shrines, as well as a fifth divine beast with a new boss at the end. It's fairly light on story but there are 5 new memory cutscenes like the ones you find throughout the game, which show a bit more of the champions' backstory. Personally I think it's worth the asking price.

@Dogorilla I knew it was a multiple of four! Though, it's not really a fifth divine beast, is it? You can't see it in the overworld as far as I know. And it's more like a big shrine you just teleport to.

@Peek-a-boo
I never really understood the problem people had with the ending. It wasn't terribly involved, but then, that matches the minimal storytelling style of the game in general. The true ending has a bit of post-Ganon interaction with Princess Zelda, which I liked, because I found the princess to be an absolute delight in BotW. Easily my favorite iteration of the character (Tetra from The Wind Waker is close, but I'm docking points for the game randomly damseling her near the end). Also, story-wise, it's one of my favorite games in the series (second only to Majora's Mask, imo). While it's pretty basic, I really liked seeing Zelda's struggle against her own destiny, and the little bits of character development we get for the guardians as individuals AND as a group. Most of all, I love that the story isn't a long string of nonsense, high-fantasy plot developments that involve tracking down random mcguffins.

Also, count me among the people who absolutely loves the way weapons and combat are handled in this game. It's so constantly engaging and dynamic!

Regarding rain... it's annoying, but it does add to that sense of being in a world where things aren't going to constantly bend themselves to your will. You have to work AROUND the weather. I think it ultimately feeds into that survival-lite thing the game has going for it. It's supposed to be disruptive, but I can understand that irritating people in a game that is SO focused on climbing and constant mobility.

I would like to see proper dungeons return in the next game. GOOD dungeons, with intelligent puzzle design, like in Twilight Princess (probably the one unreservedly positive thing I have to say about that game, aside from loving Midna's character), as opposed to the busywork in Ocarina of Time where you were constantly pushing blocks, shooting eyeballs on the wall, fighting roomfuls of random enemies, etc. With that said, I really liked the physics-based puzzles in BotW and would like to see them integrated into bigger Zelda dungeons.

Good to hear you enjoyed it overall, though! It's not perfect, but it's easily the most compelling first-party game I've played in a long time (especially considering most of Sony's games just don't resonate with me).

@Octane Yeah, the lack of fishing baffles me. It's such a weird thing not to have in a game like this.

@Ralizah I can only speak for myself, but when I say the ending was a bit disappointing, I'm talking about the final boss battle.

Calamity Ganon was a surprise, it's something I didn't expect to see in a Zelda game (design-wise), but at the same time it was an amalgamation of all the blights I had fought before (it's also weird that doing story missions rewards you with a less challenging boss fight, I didn't want any of that!). Anyway, it was alright. The second phase however was pretty bad. Ganon didn't really attack you, he was just a big boar. And all you had to do was hitting those highlighted spots. Pretty unimaginative, and kinda boring for the final battle.

It's weird, because they had been teasing the giant evil cloud Ganon for a good while. I really like that design, and up until the last moment, I thought I was going to fight something that resembled this:

Or, you know, a SOTC type of fight would've been really cool. Climbing all over a giant flying cloud whale Ganon? Sign me up!

@Octane Funnily enough, I enjoyed Skyward Sword more than Breath of the Wild however, Breath of the Wild is a better game. The Legend of Zelda series is my favourite of all time, and I appreciate each and every single game so far.

Upon finishing Breath of the Wild, it makes me want to go back to the old games such as A Link to the Past and Link’s Awakening, which feel like the main inspiration(s) for Breath of the Wild.

@DarthNocturnal I didn’t have a Guardian Shield on me to deflect the spear and/or laser attacks back at Calamity Ganon, thus I used Daruk’s Protection to do so. I may have made it harder for myself somehow, but nothing else seemed to damage Calamity Ganon in his golden glow (second phase) self.

And I believe the gates came crashing down inside the circular tower when I fought the Lyrel one-to-one. It may well have been an optional fight, but I was trapped in there!

@Dogorilla I think I will give the game a rest for a time and hope for a sale of sorts for the DLC pack in the foreseeable future. I don’t particularly want to see another shrine for quite a while in all honesty...

@Ralizah I got the extra (good) ending as well, and it was just a few lines of dialogue from Zelda saying that the land of Hyrule shall eventually be restored back to how it used to be in time. I just felt that there wasn’t any meaningful display of how things concluded after Ganon was vanquished, and that the world and its inhabitants had nary any bearing on it, unlike the endings in previous Zelda games.

I agree that the physics based puzzles were good. The less said about those gyro ones though, the better...

I feel like Breath of the Wild is a stepping stone of sorts. Everything is in place for the next game in the series, and with proper dungeons, some QoL changes and a more urgent story similar to Majora’s Mask, it could be something worth becoming very excited about!

Although it isn’t my favourite in this long running series, I can sincerely understand why it is heralded as one of the greatest games of this generation. I had fewer things to grumble about with regards to Breath of the Wild compared to Super Mario Odyssey, that’s for sure.

It was a really good game, not a great one, for me at least. A solid 7/10. I just hope they can iron out the kinks in the next one. Having a world that isn't a mile wide but an inch deep would help, for one thing, along with the other complaints people have listed. It's a good template for sure, I just hope the finished product is better 4 or so years from now when we get a new Zelda.

@Octane Yeah I guess it's not really a divine beast, but it's a very similar type of thing

@Peek-a-boo Yeah, let's hope the gyro puzzles don't return. They were obnoxious and borderline broken.

While I'm trashing my favorite game of 2017, let me also say that I will be beyond thrilled if Nintendo never designs another stealth segment in any of their games ever again. The stealth mission in BotW sucked. I hated every minute of it. It's not as bad as the stealth missions in the Gravity Rush games, but it still wasn't fun at all.

Oh, and enemy variety is terrible. This iteration of Hyrule is utterly overrun with Bokoblins, Lizalfos, and Wizzrobes, and almost nothing else. Changing their colors doesn't make them distinct. Zelda enemies aren't care bears.

Despite this, the game has EXACTLY what I've always wanted from other open world and Zelda games, making it my favorite open world game and second favorite Zelda to date. I'll revisit this after I play Witcher 3 and Horizon: Zero Dawn, but I honestly don't think my feelings will change.

@Octane Calamity Ganon had a pretty cool design, but yeah, it was weird seeing this Bloodborne boss drop into my Zelda game. The second phase was a gimme, but I treated it as more of an interactive cutscene in the first place, so I wasn't expecting challenge. It wasn't a fantastic boss battle, but honestly, most Zelda bosses aren't (especially final bosses in these games, which tend to devolve into the same "slash at Ganon while Zelda shoots light arrows" affair at the end). I think Nintendo should have dialed up the difficulty on the Blights a bit if they weren't going to make them glorified puzzles like bosses in previous Zelda games, though. It says something when the weakest Lynel is still far more challenging than any of the bosses in the main story.

I don't know that Ganon should have remained a cloud, but you're right that more "cinematic" SotC-esque fights would have been perfect for the game. Especially for a game that feels like it draws extensively from SotC on an aesthetic level (ruined open world; lonely; lots of horses; tons of breathtaking natural scenery; often subtle use of music; big creatures stomping around; lots of climbing, with a stamina gauge causing you to fall off if you don't regain your footing in time; etc.)

I finally beat a Lynel. Only died once as well!

And then spent way too much time exploring the Gerudo highland area. Honestly I still have three towers unclimbed but I feel like I might save two of them for post-game. Give me some things to do along with the DLC I guess.

Guys... i have a problem!

After 50 hours exploring the world in this game, doing sidequests and slowly progressing in the history mode, i decided today to move forward in order to finish the game but i got stuck on vah rudania divine beast... the ball to activate the last "portal" does not appear... anyone has had the same issue ?

@Peek-a-boo I couldn't handle the motion controls in Skyward Sword unfortunately. It felt too much like a tech demo at times, it worked 90% of the time, but the other 10% made it a frustrating experience for me.

@Ralizah I think we share a similar view on the game, except that we're looking for different things in video games. Level design, enemy design (and variety), boss fights are very important to me. And I always liked Zelda for its (themed) dungeons too. I'd like to see big themed dungeons in the next game that incorporate the puzzles that can be found in the shrines, because I did genuinely enjoy the ones that weren't a combat shrine or laughably easy.

This game is incredible. I'm over 70 hours in. I've yet to meet Ganon, but every other mission in the main story is completed. But I just don't want to go to Ganon yet. So much left to explore!

That's me as well enjoying to much exploring and getting my self killed...and doing the doh as as result of it. Finishing a game isn't my style of playing. As the publisher has also said the Open World exploration is part of the charm. Forgot to mention don't forget the AMIIBO tricks and sneak tricks...

Put me in the camp as well...since increasing my NS Games getting back into the BoTW groove can be tricky.

Ok, so there this Sheikah pedestal in the middle of some woods nearby Kakariko, right? A Sheikah orb is supposed to fit in there, apparently it is supposed to be the one that is regarded as the "sacred heirloom" at Impa's home. Please Don't reveal to me how to solve that as my intellectual pride is at stake for trying to figure it out. I just would like to spare a story.

I decided to pick an orb in the Akkala region, one that is supposed to go into the pedestal at the center of the beach spiral thing. I decide to make the trek and bring it all the out to that specific point near Kakariko and I try to place it in. The Sheikah tribe are rofl at my attempt to exploit their technology. :/

@FireMario887 I don't think I've come across what you're talking about, but it sounds fun so I'll look out for it.

@FireMario887 As to not give it away. I will only say this, that Shrine will not trigger until you complete 3 other local side quests in Kakariko village. So do not worry that you are missing anything. It is not available until those conditions are met.

@FireMario887 Yeah, @Tsurii is right. The side quests are not difficult. I would guess a person could do them early in the game. However, unless someone actively searches for the exact triggering events, I would assume that most people playing will just stumble on it, I know I did. But in my opinion this game is much better played blind and allowing yourself to organically discover things.
There maybe some very loose connection between the side quests but I would highly doubt that anyone playing the game for the first time would ever reason that these sides quests would lead to triggering the Shrine. But that is really no big deal. I am pretty sure Nintendo made it that way on purpose. So I would just suggest taking your time and doing the side quests as the happen in Kakariko village and things will just happen organically. I have a ton of hours in the game, so I very much take my time. I am in no hurry to win this game.

@subpopz Play in Master mode. New game right there.

@subpopz Yes, we can !

@subpopz You should be able to play in Master Mode so long as you have the season pass installed.