The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Is grinding really an essential thing here? Like, keeping in mind that people have played under all sorts of self-restricted conditions, is it possible to advance in this game without a specific thing that does the thing? Or does that thing just make things easier? Am I going to have to spend hours scouring for stuff? I'm already having trouble keeping track or all the ingredients and equipment, and right about now I wish I knew where to find that magic maraca Mario world refugee dude again so that I can expand my inventory again.

magic korok man is on the hill on the road into kakariko village. unless you’ve upgraded a number of times, at which point he moves to the lost forest/hidden woods

I think I only upgraded once, but I couldn't find him again. is he only there a certain time of day?

I tended not to use the item detector and just search online as to where I could pull/buy the items I was missing.

It's weird, it doesn't feel like I sunk as many evening hours into this game (compared to Dead Cells, Dark Souls, Skyrim) but I did get 120 shrines, all the armour upgrades, and cleared the DLC content. Absorbing game!

@ Josh: It's not so much grinding as it's like, you look at what armours you have, what you need to upgrade them, you explore territories where the missing ingredients are naturally located, completing shrines on the way, then you find you've accumulated the ingredients for the upgrade, warp back to fairy and do so, and keep that up.

Once you've got the revival upgrade and three fairies unlocked (desert fairy is last) then the game seemed in my play through to be ridiculously balanced and enjoyable

the korok guy moves somewhere else in between kakariko village and the lost woods no?

i thought he kept moving with each upgrade but it was a long time ago

zelda's an odd game because the 'grinding' - completing puzzles to increase your hearts/stamina, searching for stuff to upgrade your items - is pretty much the game...but it's fun, so it's not a grind. honestly josh i'm not sure how you're enjoying it (maybe you're not?) if you don't like the shrines. for me, i was actively seeking out shrines most of the time. i wish there were more of them!

I’d like to grind........... on prince sidon amirite

ya the shrines rule

if u hate shrines, I have got some divine beasts you’re going to love.......

yeah I loved walking through the world, or gliding over the world, but the point of my wandering was to find shrines. I really never worried about what gear I had until I'd pretty much done all the shrines, because you get so much good gear in them. I never had much money, probably I would have had to grind to get that, but I didn't need to because in regular game play I got enough to afford the big costs, the last fairy and the other big expense I can't remember anymore.

I actually am enjoying the wandering around stuff. But no, so far I'm not really enjoying the shrines, because I see them as chores, impediments to my quest for more hearts and stamina, which help me fight and wander, etc. They're mostly unsatisfying PIAs for me. And yeah, I remember seeing a clip of someone solving some divine beast (camel?) and thinking at the time, no way am I ever wasting the fucking time to do that. Again, I'm not some huge gamer, so I don't have many frames of references. But I've been enjoying this less than I enjoyed Dark Souls. I still think it's fun, and it's still good enough to have drawn me away from Spider-man (which I've barely played). But in DS it felt like putting in the time and learning to fight really accelerated powering up, there was a sense of momentum, but in this I'm not getting that vibe. For example, no amount of hearts or stamina will make me think using a leaf to awkwardly navigate around spikes while on a platform suspended by balloons is fun. The challenge is not in the challenge, the challenge (for me) is wanting to try it more than a couple of times. Vs. some bosses in DS, which gave me some real satisfaction.

so you like fighting more than 3d-platformy puzzling, that's fine & makes sense!

I thought that fighting hinoxes (hinoxen?) was fun even at low levels, because you can evade their bashes. & then eventually lynels are lots of fun, but you'll want better weapons and probably more hearts before you take them on.

Yeah, maybe that's it? I mean, I loved Hollow Knight, but I don't remember much of that feeling like a chore. Or really involving much rote puzzle solving? I like the surprises of finding stuff, I just don't like ... the redundancy? Like with Hollow Knight, I "finished" the game, but damned if I'm ever going to try to 100% it, let alone find every charm or worm. Who cares, you know?

I did find my first hinox (I think). It was sleeping near the bird people. But it looked pretty huge, and given I've barely made a dent in the rock monsters or guardians, I just snuck past it and took one look over my shoulder at it lumbering after me before recognizing I probably made the right choice.

the puzzles in the shrines are not rote at all though

I meant rote in the sense that they all kind of start and end the same, and a lot of the puzzles in the middle are just doing the same thing again and again until you succeed. The puzzles, at least as I've experienced them so far, seem to be variations on the same themes.

now I will say finding or getting to some of the shrines, I've actually found that to be pretty satisfying. doing some tasks and seeing one rise out of the ground, or finding my way past thorns. I find that sort of problem-solving more fun than the interiors. I'm off and happy enough just to have activated the shrines to give me places to teleport to.

arsehole shrine
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcKELDqNl5I

that's a good shrine

xpost Yeah, exactly! I actually tried that one, and after the first couple of conveyor belts (which weren't that bad) I got to the part with the stasis, and squatting, and running, and carrying, and avoiding the lasers, and I came *this close* (assuming there wasn't a lot more) and I was like, fuck this, I'm done. Same with the one involving wind travel and balloons and spikes and stuff. It just kept going until I couldn't take it anymore.

I'm also at a point where if I enter the shrine and it promises a modest combat trial or whatever, I'm in, but if it says difficult combat, fuck that.

ha, i remember not enjoying that particular shrine

tbh of all the "big" monsters hinox are prob easiest once you want to have a crack. A few well aimed arrows into their eye, whack them while theyre down.

now I will say finding or getting to some of the shrines, I've actually found that to be pretty satisfying. doing some tasks and seeing one rise out of the ground, or finding my way past thorns. I find that sort of problem-solving more fun than the interiors. I'm off and happy enough just to have activated the shrines to give me places to teleport to.

― Josh in Chicago

fyi some shrines you "solve" by just getting to them, go inside and you just get free shit

I gave up on this game I think during the "you can't see shit in here" divine beast

I dont remember any of the beasts being dark? U sure yr not thinking of that awful inky black forest? (I managed to somehow end up landing in that from the air and thus missed its entrance that had like, helpful torches and shit haha)

there's one beast that starts out dark but it doesn't last long

I gave up on this game I think during the "you can't see shit in here" divine beast

― she carries a torch. two torches, actually (Joan Crawford Loves Chachi)

if it helps you're not likely to be eaten by a grue

FINALLY finished all the Champions Ballad DLC wooooo *fistpump*. Did not expect to have to do a wily monk boss battle at the end! He was fun. More challenging than Ganon tbrh.

...the motorbike's a bit of a let down. I think I prefer my horse!

I keep playing this, and it's fun, but I feel like I'm making no real progress. I mean, I guess I'm getting better - I killed one of those big troll monster things - but I'm still mostly just wandering around and hunter/gathering/replacing weapons.

That actually does serve as progress, the quality of randomized weapon drops increases as you break more weapons. From what I understand.

what is progress? is it winning the game? in that case you need to get back to the storyline/main missions . is it getting stronger? then you have to get back to the shrines. you're right that wandering around randomly is not going to lead to progress.

Progress in the sense that there does not seem to be any clear directive. I don't really feel like I'm working toward anything specific, and the open world environment means I can avoid missions as easily as I can pursue them, but it gives no clear indication which missions are important and which are distractions. For that matter, I'm reluctant to go for the main storyline/missions, as I understand them, if I am woefully underprepared or underpowered. But so far the game has given me no hints as to what underprepared or underpowered even looks like. For example, are certain enemies difficult because I am underpowered/equipped, or are they just ... really difficult? I've gotten hints to pursue at least a couple of the divine beasts, for another example, but there has been given no indication I'm remotely ready to do so without a certain set of armor, or certain number of hearts and stamina, or specific potions or whatever. And I'm reluctant to try if it just means breaking or using up all my weapons.

The rock monsters, for example. Thus far I've mostly avoided them, because 1) I can and 2) fighting them seems slow and fruitless at this point. And that's even assuming the rewards are worth the effort. The giant sleeping troll I woke up and killed, for example, I honestly can't remember what that earned me. Or if I should even care.

i will suggest a direction: go take down a divine beast. you can do it with whatever weapons or items you have right now. if it's too hard, note what was too hard about it, and come back later. (this approach is pretty much identical to what it was like to play the original NES Zelda)

if you try to take it down and find it too hard, you will have lost about 20-30 minutes and will maybe break a couple weapons. you can find new weapons!

The giant sleeping troll I woke up and killed, for example, I honestly can't remember what that earned me. Or if I should even care.

you should not care. i think i only fought the rock monsters like three times, and i stopped fighting lynels because i didn't care. i'd rather be soaring with my paraglider and shooting arrows in slow motion (give that a shot sometime if you haven't already). other people love fighting lynels and seek them out, setting their own goal to beat all of them. you don't get any special reward for doing so (i don't think), it's just what they want. that's why BotW rules - there is no wrong way to play it, other than stressing out about how to play it

otm

otm

for a certain kind of person, the primary goal of zelda is to figure out the funniest ways to use octo balloons to do zany stunts in the open fields

I am not that person.

I will say this: there is absolutely nothing stressful about this game. The flip side is that all my victories thus far seem like small victories.

heh, i am not that person either, although i will not close off the possibility of becoming that person in the future

i was probably overreading some stress in what you wrote - it just sounds like you're constantly worrying about breaking weapons and doing the right thing or doing the wrong thing or what order you're supposed to be doing things. it's pretty cheesy, but the guiding kind of phrase for the game is something like "what if i tried X", where X is whatever the hell you want it to be

I'm not worried about breaking shit, I'm just annoyed at having to replace it. If all weapons break and all need to be replaced but they're easy to find or replace, then ... what is even the point? It's just extra walking around looking for shit. Same thing with arrows so far. I get the speciality arrows might be harder to come by, but ... that is disincentive to use them in the off chance they *are* are to come by, and I'll want or need them later. And if they're easy to find or replace, like regular arrows, then the inventory depletion is annoying, it just adds time doing busywork. Likewise, say, the lightning so far. The weather shit is fun, but ... kind of annoying. If lighting is about to kill you ... so what? You just come back after you die. There is no reason to drop your metal stuff. And the rain, the rain makes it hard to climb, that seems to be the big difference, but all that means is you have to wait it out. The blood moon thing keeps happening, but hasn't affected my gameplay one bit yet. And so on. (And by annoyed I don't mean aggrieved, it's fun, but it makes a it feel more like a farming simulator or something rather than an action RPG game.)

Per difficulty or being overpowered, another example are the guardians. Out in the wild they seem impossible to destroy, but is that because they are difficult or because I am underpowered? Or both? And unlike the giant monsters I can't avoid them. So is it a matter of problem solving around them, or is it impossible before I get the guardian killing arrow or whatever.

I've now come across three in-game bros trying to get me to shield surf, but I have no desire.

The world design of this is pretty cool, I'll admit. I like being able to climb or throw or otherwise mess with just about every aspect of the environment, that keeps things interesting.

I've now come across three in-game bros trying to get me to shield surf, but I have no desire.

i'll give you a small hint about this, so consider this a *SPOILER alert*

...

these bros are trying to help you figure out how to get to one of the divine beasts

or at least, if these are desert bros, that's what they're trying to do

** END SPOILER alert**

If lighting is about to kill you ... so what? You just come back after you die. There is no reason to drop your metal stuff.

you don't need to drop your metal stuff, you just need to equip something else that's not metal. lightning is kind of cool because it forces you to suddenly switch up how you're playing

xpost Nope! One at the top of the cold mountain, another ... near a forest up north? No desert surf bros yet. Or at least, I haven't hit any place where I was I'm danger of overheating, just a desert-like valley, I think. And that's what I mean, though! I hear "shield surfing," I know what that is and don't want to do it, so skip it. But if that silly sounding thing is something I should be paying attention to, then what to make of the dozens of side-quests and interactions and mini missions? Are some of them essential to beating the divine beasts or something else similarly important? When every person you talk to wants you to do some shit, how are you supposed to know what shit is important? Or am I supposed to make my way to this desert divine beast and realize, oh, that guy I encountered hours and hours earlier in some place I can't remember, what he said was important!

xpost But why? Getting struck by lightning might kill you, but other than that ... it just kills you. Then you come back. Why would I care if I get struck by lightning? Is there some Lightning World coming up where if I don't learn to drop my metal I'll not be able to beat the boss or something?

you've got the main quest markers on your quest log, if you want to do the main quest follow those (it's probably telling you something something zora's domain right now). everything else is optional.

xpost But why? Getting struck by lightning might kill you, but other than that ... it just kills you. Then you come back. Why would I care if I get struck by lightning? Is there some Lightning World coming up where if I don't learn to drop my metal I'll not be able to beat the boss or something?

― Josh in Chicago

do you come back? i thought you had to restore from your last save or something, isn't that why it autosaves constantly?