Topic: Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity

I’m about 5/6 hours in now and this game really reminds me of when I was a kid and trying to play with my Batman and Spider-Man action figures at the same time. You’re having fun but it’s not as seamlessly as it should be as the toys are not to the same exact proportions to each other. The levels don’t feel as good for gameplay as the ones in Hyrule/Fire Emblem Warriors did.

I played the demo and didn't really enjoy it, so not getting the game, but I was interested in the story so I watched a video of all of the cutscenes.

I picked up the original HW for Switch and beat it in time for Age of Calamity. Few hours in and AOC is....okay.

Think I preferred the original as it felt faster and more enemies to mindlessly beat up at a time. AOC feels slower and I only went up to 1000 kills once just to see it anything happened and that was from going back and forth the map. Not digging how Link and Zelda control compared to their HW counterparts.

Did unlock Urbosa just as I just finished up my first session and she feels a bit more like how characters functioned in HW. Hopefully maybe more characters or weapon change overs can make it feel more the original.

It's only "slower" because some of the mechanics are different. For example, the magic meter is gone.

The original Hyrule Warriors on Wii U was this slow too. The 3DS and Switch editions added so many mechanics to make the game go faster.

The original WiiU game was super clunky. Imagine playing all these scenarios that require you to go and do things all over the map, but you can't have other characters to order around or switch between, and not even a way to fast-travel.

The difficulty curve on on the Adventure mode was also atrocious.

@Eel I think it’s safe to say the Wii U HW doesn’t exist

Also, Zelda’s bomb rune is delightfully stupid and I love spamming it

Both of these are very accurate. I loved Hyrule Warriors but tbh, a decent chunk of the 200 hours I put into it were me not accomplishing something for questionable reasons (either for the slower parts of a level or failing at an arguably unfair mission)

It looks and sounds like a cool game although I have never experienced the warriors games. I've only heard and read about it.

Finished the game tonight, I avoided any discussions and review around the game to avoid spoilers but now I can finally see what other people have to say.

It definitely feels a lot different from the original Hyrule Warriors. That game had a much bigger focus on capturing keeps and turning the tide of battle, while Age of Calamity is mostly centered around taking out bosses and mini-bosses. I do miss that aspect of Hyrule Warriors a little bit, but I think the improvement to the combat system makes up for it.

I love the new rune system. Countering enemy moves with them feels really satisfying, much more satisfying and useful than the items from the original hyrule warriors, and I also really appreciate how each character has unique rune abilities. The ZR abilties add some really cool mechanics to some of the characters as well. I didn't use the magic wands much at the beginning, but they're great for countering certain elemental enemies or staggering opponents for a bit if you're in a tight situation. One of the biggest changes to the combat system, for me at least, was the removal of the infinite i-frames from blocking and spamming dodge. Instead you really have to get used to evading at the right moment for a flurry attack. It makes the combat more difficult, but in a much more natural way than just cranking up the strength/defense/health of enemies.

One of my other favourite things about this game is the map selection. It makes the whole game feel pretty fluid and connected. It definitely makes me want to 100% the game, and I think I might actually do it for this one.

I didn't have much of an issue with what they did in the story. The time travel/alternate timeline thing was a little disappointing at first, since I really wanted it to be a canon prequel, but the more I thought about it the more I was okay with it. We already knew the gist of the story from the flashbacks in BoTW, so it added a fun surprise, especially seeing Teba, Yunobo, Riju, and Sidon pop up. It was a really fun and unexpected moment. At the very least the story was much more entertaining than the original Hyrule Warriors.

The only problem I had with the game was the camera in some sections. Especially when you're playing as characters like Revali or Teba, it can get pretty wonky when fighting large bosses or when you're up against a wall. It's still manageable though, and didn't really ruin the experience for me.

I really hope this game gets some DLC. There are still some important BoTW characters that could get added, like Kass, Beedle, or Bolson, and I think DLC could add new types of missions that would greatly help with increasing the variety of gameplay.

I'm surprised there isn't already a season pass for this game yet

This game looks cool. I just recently grabbed the demo.

@Cynas I'm still trying to articulate my exact thoughts on AOC as I'm not enjoying it as much as I thought I would or as much as Hyrule/Fire Emblem Warriors and I think you have touched on it for me. They have de-emphasized the battle of winning the map to defeating the mini-bosses is apart of it, as I enjoyed having to make sure you're in firm control of your keeps before taking the enemy's it made it slightly less mindless but as the focus is now defeating slightly bigger Moblins as part of the mission whilst in maps that don't feel as roomy (which were ripped from an open world game leading to a weird impression of them) it became a bit meh for me at the moment.

Still not a bad game but I can't see myself trying to level the characters post game as much as I did in the other Warrior games.

Enjoying it so far.

@status-204 Not that the timeline makes sense or even BOTW's place in the timeline is clear but Ninty have been billing this as canon to BOTW which would make it apart of the timeline whilst Hyrule Warriors it was always presented as a spin off non-canon game.

@jump In the original there also was a lot more situations where you were swamped with multiple goals and you had to decide what you wanted to make a priority, so in a lot of ways that strategic aspect is gone. The game doesn't really give off the same vibe, it feels less like a "war" game and more like a straight up action game like Bayonetta. I think this is also partially because they made the AI companions completely useless in this one. They didn't do a whole lot in the original Hyrule Warriors, but sometimes a Hylian captain would be able to take a keep for you or take out some of the larger enemies, or at least lower their health a bit. You could really feel a difference in battle when you captured a lot of enemy keeps and your morale was high. In this game absolutely nothing will happen unless you control it yourself, and capturing keeps usually feels pretty pointless.

Overall I still think I enjoy Age of Calamity over the original, mainly because I like the battle system a bit more and the story is more entertaining, but I'll likely still go back to the original Hyrule Warriors sometimes since it gives a different experience.

@Cynas Yeah, I think that's the nail on the head for me! The focus of the actual action of the game rather than the overall battle isn't thrilling me as much. It doesn't help there seems to be less variety of baddies, I'm so bored of these mini-boss Moblins. I'm about 7/8ish hours in so there's still stuff to do and maybe it will click with me better soon.

@status-204 Both are presenting the same thing regardless of the exact language used (like you can't witness the event if it's a different event) but Ninty have repeatedly used deliberately words like "direct" in the build to this which is misleading which is a different approach they took to Hyrule Warriors by clearly labelling it non-canon.

I see no problem in accepting the game as canon, with non-canon chapters. You could also call it a splitting timeline, but unless future games use it, what would be the point.

I haven't played myself, but from what youtube managed to spoil me already, I know the game presents the "real" events, plus a happy victory extension to them.

Edit: and as others have mentioned, just using the original events without any changes would've probably been a bit too unpredictable, and left them with very little space for creativity in the story. After all, we already know exactly how the story really ends.

Absolutely loved Fire Emblem Warriors — and to this day pray for a sequel. Really didn’t like this.

Now that I am a couple of hours in: So far I really like it, though I have yet to get accustomed to the different characters (so far Link works best for me). I love the graphics and I love the music (thank goodness no rock-music this time but real Zelda music. Some pretty cool new tracks too, like the theme from this game). Only downside is the framerate and some serious slowdown from time to time. The rune-system is pretty cool too, and fun that every character can use it but in a different way.

Y’all, Link just used a cucco to fly to a mission. I’m done. That is crazy!