Topic: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Told you guys it was a Rito.

It is? Well, that makes since if they're doing the Wind Waker + Ocarina of Time thing. A needed redesign.

In any case, someone spotted a new, blank gauge in one of the new Famitsu scans. Above the weather, sound, and temperature meters in the screenshot of gameplay.

@Dezzy Everyone has their own lives and routines? Skunds like majoras mask.

@Haru17 You're really having issues with images, aren't you? Can't see this one either.

Anyway, it's weird though, the Korok still look the same, but the Rito are now either Falco or weird parrot freaks.

@Octane Lol, I'm not having trouble. If you can't see the images, take it up with Nintendo Everything. I've relinked it with an Imgur repost if that'll help, but there is no reason why the first URL shouldn't have worked.

So now we have;

Gorons (2-handed weapons)
Zoras (Spear)
Rito (Bow)
Gerudo (I assume 1-handers)
Koroks (Collectables)

I really dig this. It's also making the four dungeon theory line up very clearly. I wonder if the corresponding weapon type will work well against that dungeon's boss, or something?

Still no love for the Koroks, feel sorry for them little guys.

@Haru17 lol

Let me just preface this by saying that this is more of a hype thought-stream than anything. I don't necessarily expect the following and neither should you — this is just the last time we can be excited for the unmeasured possibilities in a Zelda game for a whole.

That being said, I'm thinking to the Princess Mononoke comparisons. I haven't read that movie deeply enough to have any good measure of the similarities, but I really like characters that ride around on giant wolves and eat people. We already have horse, dog, and sand walrus companions confirmed, right? More and more, I am wanting Breath of the Wild to feel like a good version of World of Warcraft. That is, the reasons I played it — the equipment fashion, the variety of mounts, the variety of non-combat companions (read: a less fleshed out version of Breath's dogs), and climbing up mountains to jump off of them.

So, now that Zelda's already got the first and last of those, I want it to have different creatures that function as mounts like horses. I guess the biggest thing that suggests this as even the faintest of a possibility to me is the damage dealt by riding through enemies, and more still the dialogue of the stable keeps who suggest that horses may even come to Link's aid in battle if he develops a bond with them. Now, that makes sense for horses just fine — weird Skyrim horse fights are well and good — but I don't see that occurring to a AI designer who's not working on something more... omnivorous. It makes sense for a warg to deal damage by riding through an enemy, snapping at it with its fangs as it passes by. And it makes sense for a creature of prey to circle back into a battle and aid Link than it does a horse, as notorious for spooking as they are. Finally, I don't imagine the AI would have to differ too greatly between different mounts, just the run speeds, animations (an admittedly great task), and color / hair patterns.

Now that I've established the premise, let's talk turkey: I do not want to ride a turkey. I want sososo SO badly to ride a dire wolf-style Wolfos, but who knows if that'll ever happen? I think the most logical model is each humanoid race possessing a mount (unless you can think up some reason for the Koroks to not use their little maple tree helicopter things). So, that gives us:

Human - Horses, duh. Boring — next!
Goron - Dodongos! Fire breath would be dope, no idea how they would work the traditional bomb-inhaling mechanic into this.
Gerudo - Sand Walrus' to shield surf / sled behind.
Zora - Diving. I honestly can't see Zoras riding another animal or giving Link some sort of aquatic mount. Zoras already the fastest ocean-dweller in and of themselves. Hopefully, there will be underwater areas period — and even then the ocean containing anything of note is a stretch.
Rito - Loftwings. Again, I don't see Rito foregoing their natural gifts to hop pull some Tri Force Heroes bird totem shenanigans. Honestly, I think late-game loftwings are more likely than any of the rest of these, because we're still working off of the Skyward Sword setting to an extent. I just hope they have more bird styles like the Rito themselves. I'm about sick of shoe-billed storks, give fans the sick red-feathered hawk we always imagined the Hylian Crest as.

And finally — after all of my hype-othesizing — I would like to reaffirm that Breath of the Wild is likely to be amazing regardless of any particular disappointments. It's already Skyrim and a Zelda game.
And horses ain't bad.

The fact that we have Zoras in this game gives me a bit of hope that we will see some under water exploration. Have we ever had a 3D zelda game which included zoras but didn't allow us to go underwater? I would have liked if they showed just 1 shot of an underwater section.

That we have Zoras may mean more Water Temples shenanigans... Ugh, I hope they fix the iron boots mechanism if that's true.

@Octane
Very true. There's always Nintendo eShop though in the meantime if it comes to it. (will be interesting to see how long that's supported for after the Switch comes out) -I've heard quite conflicting rumors. Nintendo reckoned they wouldn't be discontinuing the WiiU for a while after the Switch comes out, but recent rumors seem to suggest that they might end its lifecycle soon er than previously thought.

I do hope they keep it for a while longer though, as there are still lots of WiiU games that I've bought that
I still enjoy playing, many of which I have not completed yet. (and still some other games that I want to buy for it too) For example, I have pre-ordered Darksiders (version one) which was supposed to come out this December last year, but they seem to have put the pre-order date foreward to the end of this year. So this shows there may still be some truth in the continuation of WiiU games for a while longer yet, because some are obviously still being made.

Even though I have bought the Switch aswell, it would be a pity to discontinue the WiiU just yet, because I still personally feel it's a great system. Glad to see though that there are others who also feel the same way.

None of the trailers or pre-release footage has shown any reference to the Triforce. That makes me wonder what role it will play in this game - it has to play a role somehow, right? It's not a Zelda game with the Triforce. Maybe it is something you collect in the dungeons? (3 Triforce dungeons + 1 final Ganon dungeon = 4) Surely Ganon doesn't have all of the pieces of the Triforce, since the world still exists in a mostly peaceful state.

Just to be clear, I'm not looking for spoilers, just making conversation.

@Luna_110 Unless the shrines are more diverse than they have previously showed, I think we can assume that there's no water temple in this game.

Has it been confirmed that there aren't going to be traditional dungeons in this game?

@-Green- Yeah, no ''themed dungeons'', as Aonuma called them. 120 shrines, that's all.

@Tsurii Swimming was alright in SS, it's one of the last things for me to worry about in that game. But yeah, the Ancient Cistern was a high point for me in that game, including the boss. I wouldn't describe it as a water temple though. At least, there was a lot less water than in Lakebed Temple or the Great Bay Temple.

@-Green- The short answer is yes, but we can probably expect to see some larger-scale shrines that serve the same purpose. I'm just hoping some of them look a little different.

The water temple in Ocarina of Time is BS in its maximun splendor. I took around five years to beat the game (got to the temple, got frustrated, dropped it for around 5 years, played it again and in the water temple used a guide) because of a stupid little key.
Oh, and manipulating the level of water was terrible too.

My main problem is that water temples, at least for me, disrupt the pacing. You can't swim quickly and controls aren't very precise either, which makes it rather slow and tediuos compared to other temples. So I'll be happy if they don't return.

Same feeling here, it's the only thing that i hate in any Zelda game

@Haru17: Don't forget about bokoblin. You're well aware of my burning desire to mount a bokoblin just to watch him struggle.