Topic: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

You can get fairies just by using the regular sneak command (push in the left analogue stick I think). Works nearly every time.

And yeah for the test of strength shrine, you really just need enough weapons. Or go and get the armor from the 3 mazes which has the attack bonus.

Ice and Lightning arrows are both very effective against them as well. Both stun them giving you time to attack.

It wasn't finding time to attack them I had the problem with. It was damaging that freaking scout in the shrine. Other ones I had to come back to later, but when I'm using what appears to be the strongest weapons in the game (at least that I've found) and it's taking an excessively long fight to get 1/4 of the health bar depleted, and it takes 3 pages worth of "full heal plus 4 extra hearts" meals (my last attempt I had 19 hearts at base) and two times the healing power triggers to get that far... I'm calling it something I don't have the skill or patience for right now.

I thought about using Barbosa's Fury in the fight, but that wasn't working. I couldn't charge enough to trigger the ability without being interrupted. Ice arrows work, but not well. And I'm usually very low on elec arrows due to not being willing to risk fighting a centaur monster that 3 or 4 shots me and I've never beaten one of to get more.

I know he seems creepy at the start, but I managed quite well to get all of the arrows he's guarding without getting killed. I guess it mainly takes patience. I put the shock arrow on the sheika detector (or whatever that thing's called) so I could find them easily. Other option is to equip stealth armor, but I didn't have that at the time.

Motion control shrines were fine by me. I didn't like the repetitive nature of the combat shrines and some puzzle shrines were insultingly easy. But that's an issue in a lot of games.

I got that quest completed, obviously. But since I suck at fighting the dang things and they hit like an Abram tank, I've felt no real inclination to go back for more shock arrows. If I find some in a chest or something, great. Otherwise, I just reserve them for a rainy day, so to speak. Same with bomb arrows. I found a few shops that sold them, but they're so expensive I generally just rely on finding them. Not to mention I kept being given 20 more for main story missions.

I don't know whether the major tests of strength scouts have different HP but for the ones I faced, stocking up on lots of the more powerful arrows was very useful. By lots I mean like 200. Selling stuff like rubies, sapphires, diamonds, materials you have a massive excess of gains you more than enough money to buy that many bomb/ancient arrows. With ancient arrows, of course the limiting factor is having enough ancient materials.

I don't think this is the intended way to beat them but that very cheap works very well.

The test of strength Guardian Scouts have a set pattern. Similar to almost every other Nintendo game, take the time to learn the patterns and do the same thing over and over again. They can be defeated without needing to ridiculously stock up on items. Brute force is always an option, but like almost everything else in this game, brute force is usually the least effective way.

I just used an ancient shield, master sword, bombs, and stasis+ for the Test of Strength shrines. The ancient shield deflects back on them, master sword does double damage, and stasis+ allows a few more hits. An alternative is ancient armor upgraded, and an ancient short sword.

All those pillars are there for a reason.

Until they're not because you used the for that reason, and they got smashed by a charging guardian scout

THIS. From what I'm reading in this thread, the most common thing I'm seeing is many people approached things in this game as a simple "beat it to death or wait till I'm stronger" method. I learned very quickly on the Great Plateau that I am not Fierce Deity Link and I needed to plan ahead. I took a pretty stealthy and isolating approach to alot of enemy encounters for quite awhile till I was more comfortable with patterns and enemy movements (just like OoT). I think the best advice I gave to a friend starting out was "take it slow, and don't start fights for fun. weapons and shields break to remind you you're not the strongest thing in this game". I really hope they continue this formula and gameplay format.

@FaeKnight I am glad you have fun playing the game. The wonderful thing about this game is that are many, many ways to accomplish the same goal. I am thankful for that!

Yeah, first hour or two was frustrating due to getting curb stomped by enemies with ease. But then I stopped, remembered I'm not Superman, and settled in for the great game this is.

Just because you recognize the patterns and attack tells, doesn't always mean you've got the skill to take advantage of that knowledge. To a large extent "come back when stronger" is a viable tactic. When I first encountered a "modest test of strength" shrine I went in thinking "oh, it's a combat shrine. No biggie." Only to be curbstomped due to being unable to actually hurt the guardian scout. I later came back with a few more hearts and better weapons, and the fight was suddenly manageable. Not easy, but possible.

I'll be the first to admit I don't have the video game reflexes I did when I was a kid. Some games I could never beat as a kid I've now completed as an adult. But that's more due to having learned patience and having a more tactical mindset these days. But others, ones that frequently required pixel perfect timing such as Mega Man, Ninja Gaiden, or Zelda 2? Those I often do worse at.

@HobbitGamer I agree with you. This game requires a completely different mindset to the standard game formula. The formula of a character starts out weak, I must level up, move forward, follow a story to an ending.
Breath of the Wild instead requires the player to get better right along with Link. It is not just about getting better weapons, or better armor. It is about learning how to use everything you have. If the player does not learn as they go, they will continue to struggle, even with the best weapons and armor.
With BotW, the better of a player I am will directly affect how well I do in the game, even right from the start.
That is why someone should really play the game in normal mode before starting Master Mode.

@FaeKnight The wonderful thing about this game is nearly anything is a viable tactic. Get more hearts, come back and win. Get more food, come back and win. Get more stamina, come back and win. Learn the patterns, come back and win. Get a better Weapon, come back and win.
Or any combination of tactics. I know my wife and I have done things in very, very different ways. Yet we both got the same results.
The game caters to all different play styles. Some are inherently better than others, but that is the nature of the game.

I watched a playthrough where someone went through the 4 initial shrines, then strait to the Ganon fight using only what he could grab on the way, and without bothering to pray at the statue to use those initial 4 spirit stones. Then won the fight. It was amazing to watch. And while I don't have the skill needed to pull off something like that, it did give me ideas for some tactics that could help against Ganon.

Agree with both of you about being able to accomplish things differently. That island that takes away everything but powers? My friend went through and fought things, where I snuck around and slammed crates into the ogre. Only when we talked about it later did we find out we did it all completely different.

Oh, and I’m awful at early platformers like Mega Man. The only one I’ve beaten is Battle Network 1 . Even Empire Strikes Back was a horrid affair for me.

I didn't really understand people complaining about the motion control ones. I thought those were mostly very interesting and well made.

Both me and my brother started a game of BoTW while I was visiting. When he came to the first group of bobblins he used the axe he'd found to lay into them, and with difficulty won. Also broke the axe (and one of the clubs the bobblins were using).

Me, I pushed boulders down the hill into them, curious what would happen. I then looted the weapons and shields.

I'm at the point in the game where I'm using a guide to find the remainder of the shrines I missed so I can finally end the game in a reasonable amount of time. Granted, this isn't like Xenoblade X where I just give up, I just have other games I've neglected for far too long but I still feel it's too late for me to NOT finish all the shrines.

Of course, most of the ones I missed I would've found just through exploring (except for that stupid hidden one in the northwest), but whatever.