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The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild |OT3| Your Free Time is Badly Damaged

Red

Member
My inventory is stacked with great weapons due to fighting so often. Many of my weapons approach 100 attack (bows around 150), and all of them have some kind of second level buff. I still enjoy combat, and find it satisfying to build a collection like this. I do wish it was more challenging. And I been wishing for more variety since the first dozen or so hours.
 
Been playing in little chunks the last two weeks or so, every couple days as I haven't had much freetime. The first thing I did after getting the DLC was get the Korok Mask and Majora's Mask. I got Midna's Helmet, and one piece of Tingle's set and the Phantom set. I've never really explored the central area around Hyrule Field much except to get the tower so it was pretty cool. I ended up completely running out of weapons after fighting so many Guardians and since I didn't want to go farm more, I just saved the rest of the armor for later for now.

I also got the travel medallion, which gave me the excuse to explore Lomei Labyrinth Island (I'd noticed it when I was unlocking Akkala Tower but haven't gotten to Akkala for much exploration yet.)

2 or 3 months ago I kind of just picked a part of the map and got to work just exploring every square inch of it (to the best of my ability). Started in Necluda and right now I've basically hit the entire region south of the West Necluda and Lanayru Tower labels on the map. Been a blast just trying to find shrines and collecting Korok seeds and just being in the world. It's really calming to me.

The past week, since I've mostly finished Necluda, I began moving west in the Faron Woods and associated shorelines. Today I'm working on the area from Puffer Beach to Lake Tower, and east out to Martha's Landing and Pumaag Nitae Shrine. I'm having so much fun with this game right now.

The single greatest thing about picking it back up recently since the DLC is the Korok Mask and Hero's Path. They've both made it not feel like a chore to fully explore an area and not be 100% sure where you've already gone. I was pretty good at noticing seeds earlier but the mask has just made it so much easier and less painful without making it feel like you're taking the easy way out.

The other big bonuses I've gotten from only exploring during my play periods is that after the last two weeks or so, I haven't even visited a town or vendor. So not only am I full on weapons again, but I've collected and gathered so much miscellaneous stuff which is always a good thing. Oh, and I also found
the Horse God which I thought was a great fairy down by the Horse God Bridge, which was totally unexpected!

For clarity, if I had to guess based on my Hero's Path, it looks like I've played somewhere around 55-60 hours and I've taken out two Divine Beasts so far. Not sure many shrines/seeds etc. Is there a way to check somewhere other then the little tracker on the loading screens?
 

chrixter

Member
More enemy variety is the number 1 thing I think would make this game a lot better.

After about 60 hours I stopped fighting random enemies cause I had most of the drops I needed and there was no real upside to fighting them. I would just sprint past them.
Especially more high-tier enemy types with varied movesets on par with Lynels. Encountering Lynels early on and learning their attack patterns was among the most exciting things in the game for me. I still enjoyed fighting them late game, even when I had all the equipment I needed and had their movesets memorized to the point that they no longer posed a challenge. But that early excitement was missing, and greater variety would've helped maintain it.
 

HotHamBoy

Member
You've gotta be fucking kidding me with this rain. TWICE NOW while trying to do this lantern-lighting task for Robbie. TWICE.

Rain only exists in this game to frustrate the player in ways they can't control. What an awful "mechanic."
 

DonShula

Member
You've gotta be fucking kidding me with this rain. TWICE NOW while trying to do this lantern-lighting task for Robbie. TWICE.

Rain only exists in this game to frustrate the player in ways they can't control. What an awful "mechanic."

Heh, I'm pretty sure there's a post like this from me in the last OT. Throw in a blood moon on top of that too.
 

jariw

Member
You've gotta be fucking kidding me with this rain. TWICE NOW while trying to do this lantern-lighting task for Robbie. TWICE.

Rain only exists in this game to frustrate the player in ways they can't control. What an awful "mechanic."

Do you really do the whole task twice, without a blood moon resetting things? If so, I think you're doing it the wrong way.
 

grimmiq

Member
Just finished, credits are rolling now, is there a post-game? I still have like 30 shrines left to find and a stupid number of seeds, as well as a bunch of fetch quests.

Overall, great game, not my GOTY so far, but still great. All bosses were a bit disappointing, though I did get stuck at the very end of
ganon's 1st form
not knowing how to get that last 5% with everything plinking off him. ran around dodging shit til Urbosa was ready again.
 

grimmiq

Member
answering your own question.

I was hoping for some differences after the final boss, and the post-credits sort of teased that..then spat me back out to the menu and made me reload a save, now with a star next to it. I would've preferred being able to talk to "important" NPCs about how Ganon is gone, run around a castle that isn't a hellscape.
 
Beat the trial of the sword, finally. Was really fun especially those last few rooms.

I don't want to stop playing but all I have left now is finding the rest of the korok seeds since I've almost completed everything else.
 

Red

Member
I was hoping for some differences after the final boss, and the post-credits sort of teased that..then spat me back out to the menu and made me reload a save, now with a star next to it. I would've preferred being able to talk to "important" NPCs about how Ganon is gone, run around a castle that isn't a hellscape.
You get a completion percentage, a side quest checklist, and an overworld boss counter for beating the game. But no in game content changes.
 

grimmiq

Member
Well then, I just learned my lesson about not completing side-quests..Didn't know
that Maraca guy let you increase your inventory..

I don't think I'm going to continue with this save, might pick up the Season pass and start over in Master mode.
 

Sky Chief

Member
Just beat Ganon. Game was okay. The shrines just seemed like padding, no challenge at all. The Ganons were all really easy, I only failed to beat one on my first try. The story was boring. The music was very disappointing for a Zelda game. However the open world was pretty good. I never really thought the game was amazing but often thought man something cool is about to happen but it never did. I will say the game held my attention enough to be there first I've finished in over a year so it wasn't bad just not that great.
 

Tunesmith

formerly "chigiri"
Can we discuss the name of the game? What does Breath of the Wild mean? Is it a generic discription of the theme of the game?

You eat things that you find in the wild, and now your breath is horrendous.

It's about being enveloped in the living, breathing nature of the world the game is set in.
 

HotHamBoy

Member
Do you really do the whole task twice, without a blood moon resetting things? If so, I think you're doing it the wrong way.

No, I'm saying it rained two times while I tried to do that task. I had to keep fucking waiting around with my thumb in my ass.


Seriously. Justify the rain in this game. I'm talking about its effect on gameplay. Why does it exist?

Just beat Ganon. Game was okay. The shrines just seemed like padding, no challenge at all. The Ganons were all really easy, I only failed to beat one on my first try. The story was boring. The music was very disappointing for a Zelda game. However the open world was pretty good. I never really thought the game was amazing but often thought man something cool is about to happen but it never did. I will say the game held my attention enough to be there first I've finished in over a year so it wasn't bad just not that great.

I like the shrines but they lack any character and most aren't challenging in the slightest.

The other problem with the game is that there's really only 10 unique enemies. Everything else is just a variant, usually with more HP.

Such a big, long game for such a small variety of enemy types.

The game is even missing some pretty classic Zelda enemies: Skulltula, Baba, Redead, Stalfos (this should be a unique enemy!). Adding those in with a few variations would have greatly helped diversify the game.

Needed another flying enemy, too.
 

TheMoon

Member
No, I'm saying it rained two times while I tried to do that task. I had to keep fucking waiting around with my thumb in my ass.

Seriously. Justify the rain in this game. I'm talking about its effect on gameplay. Why does it exist?

It enhances the realism (atmosphere) and directly plays into the physics system which affects combat (weapon choice, tactical attack decisions), movement (pushes you to roads instead of climbing everywhere), and certain puzzles/quests.

Pretty straightforward.
 
I'm about to fight the Vah Medoh boss, but I don't want to. Being able to just sit on one of the ledges and watch Hyrule pass by down below is such a surreal and fascinating image to take in. I've taken so many breaks from the puzzles to just stop and take in the view. It sucks that you can't replay the divine beasts, or have a permanent save files.
 

Red

Member
The rain forces the player to improvise—which is, like, the whole game. BotW is about setting the players free and then forcing them to improvise within certain limits. Weapon breaking and weather changes—not just rain, but blizzard conditions as well—force players to adapt on the fly to the demands of the current situation.
 

Red

Member
I'd love to see some kind of BOTW super hard expansion/mods where the survival aspects are emphasized more.
Me too. God, I wish weapons were more strictly limited, weather more profoundly impactful, food and stamina more essential to the experience. It seems to beg for a hunger limit. Link shouldn't be able to go days without food.

It would be great to see Link carry all his equipment, instead of manifesting active weapons out of thin air.

The dream

ea44a48747e38ef669015f558985ab83.jpg
 

HotHamBoy

Member
It enhances the realism (atmosphere) and directly plays into the physics system which affects combat (weapon choice, tactical attack decisions), movement (pushes you to roads instead of climbing everywhere), and certain puzzles/quests.

Pretty straightforward.

Zelda, so realistic

The rain forces the player to improvise—which is, like, the whole game. BotW is about setting the players free and then forcing them to improvise within certain limits. Weapon breaking and weather changes—not just rain, but blizzard conditions as well—force players to adapt on the fly to the demands of the current situation.

What's more fun than not being able to do the thing the game wants you to do because RNG?
 

TheMoon

Member
Zelda, so realistic

cool counter. you do realize this is not about it being real-life-like, right? realism refers here refers to how the world behaves in a realistic way: dynamic weather, weather affecting things and not just looking pretty on your screen.

I get it, the rain pisses you off. But no reason to act like it's so hard to grasp why it is there in the first place.
 

VanMardigan

has calmed down a bit.
Bottom line there is too much rain. A lot of the exploration, not just quests, rely on climbing and it just rains too damn much. Basically every day, multiple times a day. I don't see how anyone can truly disagree with that.
 

Red

Member
Bottom line there is too much rain. A lot of the exploration, not just quests, rely on climbing and it just rains too damn much. Basically every day, multiple times a day. I don't see how anyone can truly disagree with that.
That's only true for two regions, Akkala and Necluda. Rain is not so common elsewhere.
 

Darksol

Member
Still liking the game although weapon durability in this game is a piece of shit and every shop keeper sounds like they're having an orgasm or a stroke when I talk to them.
 

Red

Member
umm, that was probably one of the easiest and quickest boss battles that I've ever had. This is the first time I've been disappointed in the game. :(
Nearly every boss is this way. Don't expect much. The final boss is the easiest in the series, maybe literally the easiest single boss of any type.
 
Anyone find a good use for the Meteor Rod? The one that casts three fireballs that go bouncing off in all directions. I can never seem to get them to hit anything I want.

Just found one with Durability Up+ kinda early in my Master Mode game, and I'm thinking meh, I don't want to take it.
 
Nearly every boss is this way. Don't expect much. The final boss is the easiest in the series, maybe literally the easiest single boss of any type.
Yeah, none of the Ganons I've fought yet have been particularly difficult. Waterblight was a bit challenging, but also my first boss, so I wasn't quite sure what to expect going in. Then I caught onto his pattern, and it was easy-going from there. Then I fought Fireblight next, which I found fun because I knew how to avoid taking hits from the fire balls by utilizing my ice arrows, but it took me a while to figure out how to actually deal damage during the second phase. Windblight, though.. I literally just ran to one of the air tunnels, took out my bow and the battle was over in a minute. It didn't help that the beast itself wasn't very difficult to navigate at all, and all the terminals were easy pickings.

That's okay though, because breaking the beast's barrier earlier was fun! Plus, I loved the views of Hyrule from way up high. Even though this wasn't my favourite divine beast (so far - I still have one more to go) Rito Village and its surroundings are probably my favourite area so far. I just love the design of the Ritos, and the layout of their land. The Rito Village music is incredible too, I could listen to that on repeat all day!
 

DonShula

Member
Anyone find a good use for the Meteor Rod? The one that casts three fireballs that go bouncing off in all directions. I can never seem to get them to hit anything I want.

Just found one with Durability Up+ kinda early in my Master Mode game, and I'm thinking meh, I don't want to take it.

Good for groups of enemies in colder areas as it can one-shot them.
 

Red

Member
Anyone find a good use for the Meteor Rod? The one that casts three fireballs that go bouncing off in all directions. I can never seem to get them to hit anything I want.

Just found one with Durability Up+ kinda early in my Master Mode game, and I'm thinking meh, I don't want to take it.
i haven't used one for probably 100 hours, but when I did it was primarily for crowd control when many bokoblins were around me.
 

jnWake

Member
Nearly every boss is this way. Don't expect much. The final boss is the easiest in the series, maybe literally the easiest single boss of any type.

Never forget Twilight Princess Ganon doing 1/4 heart. At least this Ganon can deal a lot of damage if you have low armor.
 

W-00

Member
Anyone find a good use for the Meteor Rod? The one that casts three fireballs that go bouncing off in all directions. I can never seem to get them to hit anything I want.

Just found one with Durability Up+ kinda early in my Master Mode game, and I'm thinking meh, I don't want to take it.

Fire rods are kind of useful for reaching a certain shrine.
 

Ashhong

Member
Is there any way to track down the shrines other than just running around aimlessly? I don't know what kind of answer I'm expecting, but I have about 30 left and don't really know how to find them. Don't want to resort to just a map online..
 
Is there any way to track down the shrines other than just running around aimlessly? I don't know what kind of answer I'm expecting, but I have about 30 left and don't really know how to find them. Don't want to resort to just a map online..

I imagine Hero's Path would help if you have the DLC. Just look for areas haven't been to.
 

DonShula

Member
I found 119 on my own and had to look up the last one.

It was the one near Fort Hateno where you have to talk to the researcher in the cabin. Had been to the cabin several times and never seen him before.

I never would have found it without looking it up (or getting lucky earlier). I was putting too much emphasis on Hero's Path and the ground I hadn't covered yet.
 

watershed

Banned
I found 119 on my own and had to look up the last one.

It was the one near Fort Hateno where you have to talk to the researcher in the cabin. Had been to the cabin several times and never seen him before.

I never would have found it without looking it up (or getting lucky earlier). I was putting too much emphasis on Hero's Path and the ground I hadn't covered yet.
You don't have to talk to him to complete the quest. You can do it entirely on your own I believe.
 
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