Topic: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

@Inertiacreep The weapon's durability doesn't go down if you mount them. So basically you wait for them to attack, parry with pot lid, shoot in the face so they go down on their knees, mount them and beat them with your sword- repeat until dead. <3 Took me maybe 10 or so tries, but it's definitely possible. I also cooked for some attack buff, but only +1 attack-thingy since you can't find better ingredients on the Plateau.

Like I said, once you've fought some Lynels they become very predictable and it's just a question of taking the time to keep whittle down their health. Theoretically you could beat a gold Lynel with a pot lid, boko bow and tree branch, completely naked and with 0 buffs. It's just a question of if you'd have the patience and find it fun to do. (Well... maybe you'd need to fill your inventory with boko bows since their durability isn't that good and the battle would take forever... and a bazillion arrows. Would only need one pot lid and one branch though. )

Edit: Should add that I was lucky and my soldier's broadsword had an attack bonus! So that made things easier as well. There is also a knight's claymore on the Plateau in Master Mode that one can get if one doesn't want to beat the Lynel with a weaker weapon. I didn't know that at the time though, so I didn't have it. If I do another play through I will for sure get it though, to cut the battle a little shorter.

Why does this game look a thousand times better on my TV than in the screenshots? It's like the best -looking game I've ever played. And yeah, I've played some ps4box games as well...

On another note, I'm beginning to understand why some people don't like the game. When I started to play it, I initially got disappointed! The first 30 minutes or so made me feel like it was just some sort of weird walking simulator. But when it hit me, I got hooked like never before. I doubt many of the game's haters haven't had the patience to play the game enough, to arrive at the point when the realization of its genius becomes apparent. Of course, this is not to say this is the reason for every single hater out there. Obviously, it can't be everyone's cup of tea.

The physics are the best I've seen in any game ever, including GTA V which had the best physics IMO before this one. The world feels more alive than any other game world I've experienced because of that "chemistry engine" (or whatever it was called). The only downside is the lack of music in the overworld. On the other hand, I understand the subtle way of handling it, but I think it wouldn't hurt to have just a few more correctly placed piano melodies in various areas.

Aside from the music, the ambience is great, though. Even small stuff like Link's footsteps on different surfaces have been constructed with incredible care. And the way he doesn't just bump on the rock before him, but overcomes it by climbing just like in real life. This could be easier to develop if there weren't a million different-looking rocks in this huge world. The animations in general are just superb.

All in all, I've played just about 2 hours or something, and I already get the feeling this will be the game of the generation.

Although, I still haven't played Super Mario Odyssey... : -D

I need to get some Lynel Guts, but the last two I fought didn't drop any and I don't want to wait for the blood moon for them to revive, so would anyone mind telling me where more are?

I only know of:

Red - On the mountain near Zora's Domain (currently defeated)
Blue - Lanayru Mountain base (currently defeated)
Silver - Abandoned Coliseum (will try)
Silver - In front of the Hebra Labyrinth (don't want to fight because I'd have to wear weaker clothes)
Silver - High up in the Gerudo Highlands (same as above).

@gcunit I just ran around the wall behind it and as close to the cliff edge as possible before cutting in front of the lab. It took me a couple of tries because once it started raining and put my torch out literally like 2 steps from the lantern, and the next time my torch just burnt out about the same distance away. It was very frustrating, but I finally got it.

@Xyphon22 Yeh, I remember now, the reason I quit trying to sneak past was because I tried a couple of times and got nowhere near before the torch burned out. Well done you for managing it.

@gcunit Yep, I think it just took finding the perfect path that was far enough away from the Guardian but not too far that you wouldn't be able to make it to the next lantern in time. I think that is easily my favorite thing about this game. There have been a million times I have done something that I have thought "I don't think this is the way I was supposed to do this," but it doesn't matter. You can do it however you want.

@Cia The first ten hours were great IMO. Then it got way too repetitive for me. The world's simply too big for what it offers.

Too bad you can't keep special mounts like Stalhorses or Deer (especially the deer, as I was planning on naming him Rudolph...). Just one thing they could fix in the next game. The reactions of the guy who runs the stable are pretty funny though when you try registering one.

Anyhow, I have 20 hearts now. Still need one more Lynel Gut...

I'm halfway convinced Sidon is supposed to be a Platinum Games styled "intentionally cheesy and bad" character right now. Not just because of the smile w/ teeth and thumbs up posed that is intentionally exactly the same every time. I dunno if him constantly interrupting you on your way to Zora's Domain in order to say nothing new at all is supposed to be a joke, but if it is, it is really funny to me. I think it's supposed to be but you have all those Zoras beforehand that clearly exist to make sure someone tells you about the prince no matter how you're traveling towards the area in the first place, so it's honestly hard to tell.

I'm honestly a bit annoyed that BOTW is such a universally known and acclaimed game, because I feel like I have relatively little positive to say about it that hasn't been said a million times, despite being an excellent game. Especially since the most common complaint I've seen I haven't considered to be a huge problem (the weapon breaking). HEY GUYS THE FREEDOM OF THIS GAME SURE IS A WELCOME CHANGE OF PACE COMPARED TO MORE SCRIPTED GAMES. I AM THE FIRST PERSON TO BRING THIS UP I'M SURE!!!!

(but srsly, BOTW does embarrass a lot of open world games out there, if only because of how much enjoyment I can get out of exploring and often not even getting particular great rewards, thus making great rewards in other games seem pointless if they weren't worth my time the way this game is)

Just finished it up. Completed all main story objectives (including getting all memories), 77 Shrines, and 44 Korok Seeds (never went out of my way with these).

Letting it all soak in now, but will post more later.

120+hrs in and I've finally found the climbing boots.

Finally got around to beating it this morning after making it to Ganon a couple of days ago. I was a little let down by the end to be honest, but maybe it's because I didn't do close to everything yet. I will go back at some point to find all the memories at least (not sure I will ever take the time to find all the shrines and Korok seeds). Is there a way to know how much of everything you have found, because I have no idea how many shrines and seeds I have?

@Xyphon22 Loading screens show how many shrines you've done.

@Grumblevolcano Ah, thanks. I actually remember that, now that you mention it. So I went and checked, and I beat it with only 45 shrines and 36 Korok seeds, and 3 memories found. So I definitely have a lot more to do, but I think I'll take a break to try to beat Mario Odyssey before coming back to this. I also like how it tells you how many quests you have done and how many there are total for each category. That's nice. Is there a way to tell how long you have played? It feels like I actually didn't play for near as long as people are saying they do, but I obviously didn't do everything, and I probably actually played for longer than I think.

@Xyphon22 Just check your profile page in your Switch OS for gameplay time.

I've not seen anyone say they beat it with that few shrines and seeds on their first play before. Think I was about 60 shrines.

So I finished the dlc last week. I loved this game and every second of it. It feels... empty now. Like, I've done all of it. All of the stuff I wanna do. I might have missed 8 or so shrines. I know half the little rocks by name. This is it... the unavoidable zelda void.

This one feels heavy. It was an awesome ride - I hope there's a lot more of this stuff in the future. Somewhere in this thread I've said it might be the most replayable zelda yet. I may have been mistaken - I'm not so sure now, as I know too much of this world and all its nooks and crannies to be fair. Off to monster hunter world soon, then

@gcunit Thanks. It says I have "played for 45 hours or more." Does that mean between 45-6 hours? Between 45-50? Either way, that actually is probably more than I would have guessed based on how it felt, but nowhere near the 100s of hours some put into it. But not done yet, just done for now. And I never really went looking for shrines. If I saw one from the top of a tower I would pin it and go get it, or if my sensor went off while travelling I would go find it, but that's about it. I think really the only time I ever strayed too far off from following the main quest was I activated all of the towers to get the whole map even though 3 or 4 of them I never had to go anywhere near them.

@Xyphon22 Between 45 and 50 hours. After either 5 or 10 hours it stops going up in 1 hour increments and instead goes up in 5 hour increments.

@Xyphon22 Crikey, that's virtually a speed run.

I think the main reason I confronted Ganon (after about 115 hours) was because I'd had the game for several months and was tired of having to avoid ending spoilers. Before that I just followed my nose most of the time, I've barely looked at the objectives screen.

When I realised how much fun I was having wandering about discovering shrines, odd little side quests and cool locations I deliberately didn't hurry to Hyrule Castle for the big showdown. I did so at about 130 hours of gameplay, now I'm playing the Champions Ballad DLC and thoroughly enjoying it.