Topic: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

The reason I'm kinda against a survival mode is because this game is all about freedom - the freedom to go anywhere , in whichever order and however you want. With limitations like Food and etc, the player wouldn't be able to take scenarios the way they would like and IMO, would lose the essence of what this game is about.

@OorWullie Yeah there should be a prompt when you're close enough although I think you can only ride Deers (male and female), horses, seals, horses and bears

Wow this was a really prolific morning session! Reached 100 hrs, 108 Shrines and another Hearth, 347 Korok Seeds. Reached the bazar in Gerudo Desert and saw memory there, nice one. And most of all i finished the Akkala village quest by founding Gerudo, Rito, Zora and watching the marriage. That allowed me to buy the Desert Set, i also finished Shock Set and i have upgraded almost everything, i miss only a couple of upgrades before founding the last Great Fairy! Next time i'll continue Gerudo Desert with the proper set finally! Oh and i bought also Lynel Mask from Kilton!

I think that if 'Hard Mode' turns out to be some kind of optional 'Survival experience' - it could work

The DLC is intended to draw players back in to the game - for many of us, the 'Cave of Trials' and the mysterious 'Additional Map Feature' will be enough (for Pack 1)...but some will be looking for more of a fresh challenge by that point - so a Survival Mode could be just the tonic!

It worked quite well with No Man's Sky last year...the first DLC expansion added some new content - and also a couple of new ways to play (Survival and Creative) ..the added content was enough to pull me, personally, back in - but I know a lot of players were attracted by the increased difficulty of Survival Mode as it presented a whole new challenge to sink their teeth in to!

It could have the same effect with Zelda - I'm mostly interested in the new map feature myself (a whole new region to explore perhaps?? intriguing!) ..but others may have reached a point where they are just finding that the challenge of Breath of the Wild has gone - they've conquered it - so twisting up the formula and giving those players a whole new way of playing could be just the reason they are looking for to dip back in

Looking further ahead, I wonder if the 'New Original Story' in DLC Pack 2 could see us playing as Zelda herself? I've long been a fan of hers! ..I've always considered Princess Peach's 'helpless maiden' routine in the Mario franchise to be rather old fashioned - so when Zelda was revealed to be the incredibly kick ass Sheik in Ocarina of Time, not only did it totally take me by surprise, it also instantly catapulted her to the top of my own personal 'favourite female character in video games' list! In BotW, she could have her own special abilities - a whole new set of runes perhaps? - which would, again, have the effect of adding a fresh, new experience to the game

@NaviAndMii I was personally thinking of making a playable Zelda more of a dedicated archer compared to Link, having perks such as higher critical hit damage, slower stamina depletion on slow-mo shots, better distance etc.. while being somewhat weaker at close combat (though not necessarily less skilled).

@meleebrawler Yeah, that'd be great! ..maybe she could have 2 forms: Zelda (a twist on Link's skill set) & Sheik (Yiga-style! Ultra stealth, ninja attacks etc.) ..I have my suspicions that the 'new story' will be the tale of what happened 100 years before BotW - but I'm certainly hoping to have Zelda as a/the playable character!

LOL, I always wondered if there was a way to bypass the mist:

You don't need to give them food, just run around them in circles while touching them and they will start to like (and follow) you. As far as I know, there are no useful benefits in befriending a dog (other than following you around). I thought they would hunt or find something for you, but they never follow me around for that long. Wolf Link seems to be way more useful (and loyal ).

And yes, I can confirm that there is at least one shrine in the Death Mountain area.
BTW, campfires (but you'll need a lot of them, about five) can also be used to create an updraft.

But why does it feel cheap to you to survive a hard fight by eating food in the pause menu?
If that feels cheap to you, how do you feel about all the meals that give you extra hearts, higher defense etc? ^^ For me, eating something to survive in a fight is just a necessity.

Btw, you there are several ways to defeat Lynels without taking much (or any) damage:
Their swings won't hit you if you duck
They can't hit you when you are riding them
But apparently, there is an even simpler way to defeat them

I still have trouble defeating them, but they're definitely not as intimidating as they were at the start of the game.

I've seen sympathetic villains with a relatable agenda in other stories (like Fisk in Daredevil), but how on earth does that apply on Ganon? He's just the pure manifestation of evil, there is nothing sympathetic or relatable about that. His agenda is to rule and destroy everything, period. That might seem a bit one-dimensional, sure, but it just wouldn't make sense to depict him in any other way.

Villains with a relatable agenda usually have a hero/anti-hero who's damaged and somewhat guilty himself. Only that way can you balance those two. But Link (and Zelda) are just the pure manifestation of good, they don't have any skeletons in the closet or a hidden murderous dark side. So if the villain would be not a straight evil-doer or if there was any doubt that his motives might actually be legitimized/relatable, it would destroy the balance of the story.

I haven't quite finished Wind Waker (but played most of the game), but WW's tone is vastly different. It's very light compared to BotW's mature and apocalyptic tone - so it makes sense that the villain is a bit more relatable too. But WW is the exception to the rule. In all the other major Zelda entries, there is a constant palpable danger, a looming threat to the world (although none of the other games ever took that to extremes like BotW). In Wind Waker though, your mission never feels truly significant. Ganon was sealed away by the flood, everyone is living happily on their islands, Toon Link could just relax and nothing bad would happen.
Also, Toon Link isn't destined to be a great hero, it just happens by accident - his journey started because his sister went missing.

I thought I would start using a guide for finding korok seeds but in the end I decided against it. And I'm so happy didn't use a guide for I've found so many awesome areas and little charming secrets. I just explored the area surrounding death mountain and there is a LOT there. I found so many things that I missed and found that this area really rewards you for exploring for there are so many nooks and crannies. Also one thing I'm really thankful for is that there appear to be no Korok seeds on the top of any cliffs or pillars in this area, which is a godsend considering how many high points there are in this area. Two korok seeds that really stood out to me was the one hidden in the goron statue's mouth and another on the top of Daruk's head to the end of his arm. Idk why, but I just really liked these ones. So far I've found 590 Korok seeds and I'm still living this game!

@shani actually if you feed a dog 4-5 pieces of meat. It will then lead you to a treasure chest.

@Eric258 Oh okay, I didn't know that (food was just too valueable for me to give it away ).
But I guess it won't contain any rare or extremely useful items, will it?
I've went out of my way to reach/retrieve treasure chests so many times only to discover they only contained boring standard items like Amber or one of those weak standard weapons that you can find anywhere.

@shani I'm not quite sure what the items in the chests are. Honestly I can't remember. Probably because I was too distracted by the dog! XD

IMO one of the worst things about BOTW is the exclusion of cats! I need my adorable bundles of love! I remember that in twilight princess I would spend ages just picking up cats and dogs, and just walking around with them, always wishing that there was a way I could take them on the adventure with me! XD

I have better results perfect blocking with shield than dodging, not only does it work more but half the time the backflip animation wont even work and it will just do a normal hop but backwards which gets me hit. Is there a reason, and before you say timing, you can do a backflip anytime with no one around even by yourself but for some reason once i get in a fight around 50% of the time the backflip wont work

@Eric258 i hate cats, good call nintendo

@ReeLongbow Blasphemy!!!

But on a side note, I did have some difficulties with dodging at first but I still prefer it to parrying. I always parry way to early.

@Eric258 And it's so detrimental when you parry too early, because the game really punishes you for it by dealing maximum damage with any small hit you take while you're vulnerable. Any failed parry against a savage Lynel is enough to turn Link with full hearts to Link with half a heart (if you're like me and never upgrade any of your clothing).

@Tsurii are you another cat horder thats house smells like ammonia? lol

@ReeLongbow What kind of stuff are you trying to dodge with backflips, spear thrusts? Projectiles? Timing isn't the only factor in triggering flurries, you have to actually use the correct dodge to completely avoid the attack (dodges grant no invincibility) or you'll just get hit regardless of your timing. Use backflips for wide swings and side hops for the rest.

@meleebrawler its not my timing i am talking about, half the time it won't even do the backflip animation, it will just do a normal hop but backwards which really gets me nailed. I have no trouble with perfect blocks from shields though.. weird

@ReeLongbow Perhaps it's an issue with your ZL trigger (lock-on) then? You have to be holding that and in sidestep/ZL-targetting mode for the special hops to occur.

Okay, so I've seen some people (not necessarily here) calling this game empty, and I really disagree. I almost always find something to climb, secrets to snuff out, chests to fight for, enemies to kill, NPCs to interact with, shrines to discover and solve, and hazards to avoid. I have rarely had a long duration where I'm just walking through an empty space.

Does anyone else feel that way? Maybe I have a different definition of empty.

@BraveSonic i always feel that way. The game is really full of things to do, the last thing you can say about it is empty

@Eric258 Funny you would say that, I never saw any cats in TP, but that one annoying cat in SS.
Tbh I don't miss cats in Botw at all, that thought never even crossed my mind. ^^