Topic: The Nintendo Switch Thread

@Pizzamorg Uh... Okay. I don't think the camel boss is much more difficult than any of the others? Maybe more so than the boss to the northwest (I think that one is a bit easier). But the game is designed in a way that no matter what order you do the bosses, they'll be about the same difficulty when you reach them. So even if you come back later, it should be about as difficult. You really can take down the bosses in any order. In fact, the 'easiest' boss in the game is probably meant to be the third (Northwest) one, while the intended first (Southeast) is one of the hardest.

That said... the main progression gate in this game is your own skills. If you're struggling, I'd recommend you try potions if you aren't using them yet, they're key for taking down your first boss. Or if you haven't increased your health at all, do some more shrines. Your going to struggle hard with your first boss, no matter what.

I looked it up online and unanimously Thunderblight Ganon is considered the hardest boss in the game and on the level of a Dark Souls boss. So it isn’t just me. If you found it easy… good for you?

I have 8 hearts I think? Some enemies bounce off me like I am made out of Kevlar, but then other times a random trash enemy will one shot me from nowhere. Most of the time it doesn’t matter as the game has a very forgiving autosave system, but it’s still annoying investing time in progressing to somewhere the game clearly doesn’t want you to be yet. If the game is going to have level gating anyway, they may as well just give that information to me as a player, so I can make an informed decision on where I should be going so it doesn’t feel like I end up investing huge chunks of time and make no progress at all.

I do keep hearing I need better gear and I accept if that is the answer, but so far I’ve cleared one Divine Beast, a bunch of side stuff and got all the way to a boss on a second Divine Beast and other than the chest piece you get as a reward for your first memory, I have yet to have unlocked/been gifted or been given the opportunity to purchase a set better than the set you can buy in the first town. Stuff like the snow boots or the drag outfit have specific mechanical functions, but offer next to no armour whatsoever.

@Pizzamorg While other armor does help, it's pretty much all found by exploration. And the vast majority of it is utility based, not combat based.

As for level gating... that shouldn't be happening? The way it works is that every time you defeat a divine beast, every enemy in the overworld gets upgraded. There's a few tiny exceptions (one enemy in Zora's domain always remains low level), but there aren't any enemies I'm aware of that are designed to keep you out of areas entirely.

The main form of gating in this game is twofold:
1. Weather. Technically not gating (potions are easy to make to get around this), but most people refuse to explore areas without the right equipment.
2. Stamina - Several areas of the game are utterly painful to explore without significant stamina upgrades. Notably, these are mainly on the western half of the map.

Like, no matter how many hearts you have, there will always be enemies that can two shot you (Silver Lynels are the endgame example). I'm not saying you're wrong for not enjoying the game as it is, but don't think that finding some sort of 'golden route' will stop you from dying a lot. BotW is a game where you constantly die, that's what it's about.

Yeah, I dunno. All I can say is some enemies one shot me, others don’t and Thunderblight Ganon is unbeatable currently.

Don’t get me wrong, I like the game overall, but I just think they added a lot of mechanics which the more hardcore crowds may appreciate but to me they just feel like barriers for enjoyment and don’t enhance my experience at all.

I recognise that everything in BOTW is a puzzle to be solved and I’ve played far worse examples of this kind of game design, I find this game gives me a sense of satisfaction really unlike anything I’ve played.

However, for each moment of satisfaction, is another of exhausting tedium. I enjoy games where I can make constant progression and any barrier the game gives me the tools to overcome it in advance. But BOTW’S design is more go as far as you can until you hit an inevitable wall, stick a pin in it and go do something else, as the solution to one problem will likely reveal itself as you’re trying to solve a problem for something completely unrelated.

The result is a lot of gaming sessions where I feel like I invested a lot of time, but have seen minimal tangible progression.

I will say, much as I love how BOTW does things, I did at some point look into a recommended order for the Divine Beasts and the Gerudo one was the last one. I think I had 7 or 8 hearts by the time I did the 2nd one via that recommended order. That was my compromise for the sake of my enjoyment of some amount of logical difficulty progression. (this is also why I mostly liked ALBW more on a 2nd playthrough despite going through it on hero mode that time)

I did think about looking at some guides for recommendations on how to tackle things, because regardless of what people say - or the semantics ones may use to split hairs - it seems very clear to me BOTW has an intended path through it for the most refined curve of progression/difficulty and it seems going off this path will either result in more enjoyment for those hardcore crowds and more frustration for people like me.

The only reason I haven’t is mostly a pride thing, if I am being honest. I was playing Nocturne not long before I started BOTW and I literally had to have a guide open at all times to make any progression in Nocturne at all, before I eventually gave up.

By contrast, booting up BOTW for the first time, fresh off of Nocturne’s utter defeat of me, BOTW in a moment to moment sense is such a rewarding intuitive experience. It is just in a wider sense where this stuff breaks down, with the game letting me tackle stuff clearly way earlier than intended, making for a brutally hard slog of gameplay that probably wouldn’t have felt that way had the game just kept it out of my reach until I was ready to do it or gave me some sort of warning that I wasn’t ready, so the more hardcore people could still take on the challenge if they wanted while I went off to do something else.

However, you are right - I need a guide not just to be able to play the game at all like I did with Nocturne but more to get the level gating information the game hides from you, so I know if picking up a quest line/going to an area of the map will be completable with where I currently am or will result in a soft lock dead end. That way I can make more informed investments of time and get a constant sense of progression.

I don't really get it.

You're always progressing no matter where you go in Zelda. Regardless of where you wander, shrines are everywhere, and shrines are a defining metric of progression. They're how you level up. Get stronger to prepare you for harder battles. Shouldn't matter where you go. If you hit a wall, just bounce off it and go somewhere else. As long as you're hitting all the shrines along the way, what does it matter. You can fast travel back later, after all.

I scoured that map from top to bottom, left to right. And sometimes I encountered areas I struggled to get past. In which case, I just went around, or went a different direction.

As long as you're exploring new map, you're progressing. As long as you're sighting new towers and climbing them, you're progressing. As long as you're finding shrines, you're progressing. As long as you're finding hidden fairy fountains, you're progressing. As long as you're discovering more of the 4 main villages and Divine Beasts, you're progressing.

It's not the kind of game where a single aspect is the only progression there is. Heck, you don't even need to do the Divine Beasts to beat the game! Not a single one (although they are recommended and make the final boss easier). But you could do 3 of the 4, or just 2 of 4. I'd recommend doing all, but they're not required. If one is too tough for now, go find more shrines and level up, then come back when you're stronger.

Or, just learn to cook meals and potions, which can make any fight trivial. You can pause and replenish hearts whenever you want.

Yeah, to me, just getting to a landmark isn’t really progression. I guess in the physical sense, but it doesn’t really feel like I have achieved anything with that session. And like I say, constantly hitting walls and needing to pick up a different thread is kinda my whole problem.

Even using shock potions and stocking up on high healing meals/defence boost meals, I still got one shot by the lightning teleport combo because he’d take most of my hearts and disarm me with electricity and then combo up with a teleport slash and finish me off faster than I could get the menu open.

However, it is good to know they are entirely optional. I’ll come back to him once I’ve cleared the others, if I still can’t beat him I’ll just head to the castle. I am making progress to a different Beast now, not sure which one. There is still a fourth I have no idea how to get near, as I set on fire and die as soon as I get near it. I guess I need some sort of specific tonic for that? As the heat resistance tonics for the desert don’t work.

@Pizzamorg Name a game you've played in the last 6 months you haven't griped all over, cos your recent history is not good. Nocturne, SMTV, Mario Party, BotW... you're frequently griping about whatever you're playing right now. Maybe you should take some time to reflect on how you make your choices.

BotW doesn't have hidden gating. Once you're off the plateau you can go straight to the climactic battle. But if you're not very good at facing down tough enemies the idea is that you have to be more careful with how you navigate the environment.

And fwiw, I'm very much just an intermediate-level gamer (e.g. hard modes don't tend to be of interest), but Thunderblight Ganon was the first boss I took on in the game (not through any deliberate strategy, my curiosity just took me south-west once I left the plateau), so I think I possibly only had 3 hearts. Sure, he beat me down a fair few times, but I got the mudderfugger in the end, through good old analysis, trial and error, and perseverance.

I’m critical of anything I consume, as long as there is criticism to be had. And I had criticisms with all of those games you listed. I think mindless positivity and pretending everything is perfect, is utterly worthless. However, you are right, while exploring games should promote discussion on here the replies I mostly get are “why are you so negative” and then some anecdotal personal experience they use to claim I am wrong. So maybe this is the wrong environment for the type of person I am.

I see myself as a fan of video games. I see this site as my number one place to go to spend time with other fans and celebrate video games.

I normally have a long list of users on my Ignore list - as time goes by I have less and less tolerance for wasting my time reading random people's comments that spoil the fun and positivity I come here to share in. Only yesterday there was a news article about a Yooka-Laylee follow-up, with a few users trashing on what was a colourful, fun, pretty good first game in the comments section. I've got no time for that... 'Ignore'. That's not mindless positivity or pretending everything's perfect, it's just refining my experience of this site to a set of users that can express positives and negatives about games in a more reasonable manner.

Your NL account is a couple of months old and you've been a very active poster, so I don't want to put you on ignore, but my finger has hovered over the button more than once because I don't see the point in wading through what is beginning to look like a recurring pattern of negativity. It's not what I want to spend my time reading. I'm not trying to change your mind about the games, I just don't want to read the griping. I'm not questioning the validity of your views or your right to express them, but the way you've been doing it hasn't aligned with what I look to get out of visiting a Nintendo fan site. I stopped going to watch my local football team because I'd find myself sitting having to listen to moaners sat around me for 90 minutes (no ignore button in a football stadium). I'm not paying £30 to listen to that either.

That is cool with me, you do you. (: You won’t be the first person ignoring me nor the last, lol!I know people find me quite negative but I find critically engaging with games is part of my enjoyment. It is how I celebrate games but I appreciate that on the context here it often just comes across as grim negativity only, even if that isn’t necessarily my intention.

I don't think there's anything wrong with criticism, but I do think most ppl play games because they enjoy them, and the vast majority of their time playing is time enjoyed. So it makes sense the majority of time talking about the games played would be talking about the things enjoyed. It does seem odd when the majority of what one chooses to discuss is criticism.

Again, not that there's anything wrong with criticism, but I think all things in moderation. When the 90% of posts are complaints about games, it makes me wonder, 1) is this person not enjoying 90% of the time spent playing the game, and thus their conversation reflects their experience? If so, why continue playing a game you're only enjoying 10% of the time? Or 2) is this person enjoying the game 90% of the time, but nonetheless chooses to spend 90% of their time talking about it focusing on complaints?

I do think there's a point where, if one is spending more time talking about things they don't like in games than the things they do, it can become a drag for everyone involved, especially since ppl typically associate in message boards to share in their enjoyment of the hobby. Never ending criticism kinda puts a damper on that. Again, not that criticism is bad, as long as it's in proportional measure.

I don't think Pizzamorg is being dishonest with their criticisms, I genuinely believe that's just how they are- naturally very critical. That's what brings them enjoyment. At the same time, I do think some self awareness concerning how it can become overbearing and excessive toward those who do not derive enjoyment from the majority of discussion being things other's don't enjoy, would be beneficial.

I hope I've expressed this in a way that's not overly offensive to anyone. But sometimes honesty has to assume that risk.

Some people find the glass half empty, whilst others find it half full. But just because you find it half empty it doesn't mean you can't also say the other half is filled with a delicious beverage at the same time.

I'll just say this: I don't care for others telling people like myself or @JaxonH that our style of posting is too positive, which has happened in the past. In the same way, as long as it's targeted, specific, and civil, which, IMO, it has been, I think @Pizzamorg 's more critical posting style is fine as well. People enjoy games in different ways. And, for the record, they've also posted about the aspects they like in games such as SMT V and BotW.

I'm fairly intolerant of the sort of mindless negativity that pervades a lot of gaming forums, but it's also important not to shut down legitimate, fair-minded criticism, even if you don't agree.

People who are offended simply don't need to engage or can put them on ignore. It's what the function is there for.

I do always try and be balanced between offering the things I am enjoying and the things I don’t like. But that balance will be determined by how much I am enjoying something overall. And in fact, the more I like something, the more critical I will probably become because I like breaking down how things tick. I guess that is just how I am wired. Never my intention to drag the air out of the room though, lol!

Does anyone know when the cyber deals are going live for the us.. the Uk sale has been live for about a week now.

@NintendoByNature 28th, I think. Some developer posted about how their UK deals would go live in the U.S. before the end of November.

@Ralizah sweet. I've been eyeing the eshop relentlessly. Can't wait to see what goes on sale. I'm hoping xc2 finally goes on sale.