The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

otm, i don’t like sneaking, i want to get shit done

Lol u sound like my other 'alf.

Three Divine Beasts down and I sort of feel pretty overpowered at this point in the game, which is largely the game's doing. It's just so gentle about its challenges that they're not very ... challenging. But it is a ton of fun and charming and cute and weird and silly, which is pretty great. Do I need to beat all four Beasts to kill the big bad? Once I kill the big bad is the game over or can I still goof around?

you don't need to beat any of the big beasts to kill ganon, but killing each gives you a special power and killing all of them provides assistance that makes killing ganon much easier

fwiw i had all 4 special powers when i took on ganon, and didn't use any of them (unless the one that saves your ass when you run out of health was triggered - i don't remembered)

Once I kill the big bad is the game over or can I still goof around? you can goof around as long as you want

Awesome! When I was playing Dark Souls I saw that beating the big bag automatically sends you to Uber+Dangermode or whatever, so I made sure to do extra stuff (like the memorable DLC) first.

well you get end credits after you beat the game and then your save file is back in front of the boss door. Sadly you don't get to noodle around Hyrule with all the danger defeated.

if you're looking for challenges, a few things in the Champion's Ballad DLC are a *lot* harder than anything in the game that isn't eventide

although collecting all the memories without cheating was a challenge, especially when one of them is basically "find this tree"

i think the dlc kicks in once you've axed all four divine beasts

Yeah all I'm left to do now is trial of the sword (aka Dork Souls).

I just fear I'll get all ragequitty at it.

my boy spent his easter holiday finishing everything in the game, including the dlc, save korok seeds : everything in the compendium, maxing all the armors, all the side quests. the trial of the sword wasn't *that* bad. unfortunately the buffed master sword doesn't go to 120 in the castle.

I still don't really know what the weapon/armor numbers mean. I do know that I've made it through most of the game now without using or feeling the need to use a shield.

While the way it's designed is certainly fun, something that might have made this game a little more challenging would be to somehow limit teleportation and/or swapping of armor, or even swapping of weapons, or consumption of food. The fact that even mid-battle - or mid-fall! - you can teleport somewhere safe, or eat a meal, really gooses things in your favor. Not a flaw in the game at all, just a tad hand-holdy by default.

I found the Master Sword Quests extremely difficult! Bf is finally going to get into this game and watching over his shoulder has been amazing, what an amazing game this is

My friend told me yesterday when he saw what BotW looked like that it matched up with his childhood fantasies of “video games of the future”... not inaccurate!

I saw a video the other day of someone using angry chickens to attack those giant sandworms. As a comment pointed out, it's a testament to the inspired nature of this game that players are still figuring stuff like that out years later.

yeah, the way the various underlying, interlocking systems interact with each other is as close as games have ever come to building a tangible, believable world - it's a remarkable achievement

Watching him play, I realized that my memory of this game had forgotten that NPCs exist, that my memory of the game was just this enormous empty landscape filled with rotting machinery and beautiful views

I will never forget the first time I got on a horse and just rode and rode, and the music developed and continued, and we were on a beach in the south and riding under an overhang as the sun was coming up and it was really truly beautiful

Considering that most of the music I'm hearing in my house these days is Game Of Thrones (and the composer for that series is probably the most visible composer making the clunkiest compositional decisions), the music for BotW is endlessly surprising and appealing, hearing snippets of themes from 25-year old games thrown in as tossed-of counter-melodies, how it centres the piano as the lead instrument and veers into genre after genre seamlessly, I'm really thrilled by it which is a rare thing for me to say

Yeah, doofing around Death Mountain I could have sworn I heard the super Mario Bros pipe dungeon theme.

The woman who wrote the BOTW music also did Animal Crossing and it shows in its sparse, miminalist prettiness sometimes.

On the learn new things all the time front I read someone the other day solving an electric shrine puzzle by eschewing dragging over the metal cubes, and just...chaining chu jelly together.

Its conductive. Who knew?

if you beat all of the divine beasts and then face ganon, isn't his energy halved?

Yeah I always assumed thats what each of their laser doohickeys were doing aiming at the castle.

Just popped into Hyrule Castle for the first time. It's definitely harder than the rest of the game so far, and really forced me to stock up on the right equipment! On the plus side, the rate of return for taking out guardians with arrows is pretty strong. One arrow=lots of parts=more arrows.

On the learn new things all the time front I read someone the other day solving an electric shrine puzzle by eschewing dragging over the metal cubes, and just...chaining chu jelly together.

Oh I remember solving that shrine by placing swords between the metal contacts on the floor, which conducted the electricity. The interactivity of everything in the world is the games greatest triumph imo, way beyond other open world games.

Yeah, doofing around Death Mountain I could have sworn I heard the super Mario Bros pipe dungeon theme.

― Josh in Chicago

it's the music from death mountain in the original zelda - they're both pieces by koji kondo from around the same time and aren't totally dissimilar :) i was pretty hype when i heard that, the composer integrated that in a fairly classy way

there's some really subtle stuff in game music these days, one of the youtube channels i'm subbed to did a video where they talked about joe hisaishi's "leavetaking" from the second ni no kuni game and the way it used five in a way that's markedly different from the way it typically gets used in pop music and prog

Heh, I don't even remember a Death Mountain in the original! The only music I remember from the original Zelda is the main theme and iirc I haven't heard that yet in BotW.

Death Mountain would be a great name for a nerdy metal band.

This game is so well made that most of the time I don't even notice how many of its elements appeared in the first Zelda! Which, tbf, was a long time ago, and I never played and of the sequels.

On the plus side, the rate of return for taking out guardians with arrows is pretty strong. One arrow=lots of parts=more arrows.

You can also use the perfect block thingy with your shield (block just after the guardian does its high pitched beep) and that works almost every time

I only just figured out I could chop off their legs! Seems mean

Meaner than hiding in some elevated spot and just chucking bombs at monsters who just want to dance and sleep?

i don't feel bad about the monsters, they're kind of generic and annoying, even when they're dancing

but sometimes with the lynels and the guardians, i feel like i'm actually killing **a thing** and it makes me feel bad

don't pity me

Yeah, like killing a giraffe or something.

at the very least, you shouldn't feel too bad about killing anything that appears again after the blood moons. they're all stuck in eternal recurrence anyway, it doesn't matter

That blood moon is a wrinkle of a challenge. As I was blowing up guardians in the castle it occurred to me if I waste too much time they might just all come back!

Steampunk Camel was easier than I expected. At one point I lost track of a green electric ball and was about to bail, but then I got lost and stumbled on it on the way out of the beast and was able to get that last terminal. I did have to look up how to beat the boss, though. His second stage was sort of inexplicable until I learned the trick.

I guess I'll start gathering supplies and take on the magic castle in earnest next.

a fun way to take on the castle is to try out a few different entrances - the approach will play out very differently depending on what you choose, and they are fun in different ways!

been puttering around my old save file btwn tetris matches. my one complaint re: this game is that i wish there was something more to do at east reservoir lake. such a sweet location but nothing going on!

that's where you're supposed to record your vlog, in character as link

I've been to the castle twice before, briefly. Both times took me to very different places. The first I got trapped in a room with a Lynel and died, or at least escaped. The second took me to a shrine and a library, but then I decided not to explore further at the time.

The only music I remember from the original Zelda is the main theme and iirc I haven't heard that yet in BotW.

Its there! Go galloping on a horse at night for a while and keep yr ears peeled :)

Horses and shields, haven't really seen the point of either.

i love that josh is still challoping this far into the conversation

Ha. I mean, I literally know what they're there for, but shields ... I've not wanted or needed to defend myself with one, deflect anything or surf anything, ever. And the horse, I just remembered I did at one point train, name and board a horse, but ... I forget where. I think I named it Horse? Hope it's OK. Maybe I'll go for a leisurely ride after I've killed the Big Bad and retired.

The other day I did hop on and ride a deer for a little while.

I find the horse riding relaxing! Doesnt even matter if you abandon it on the edge of a cliff or whatever anyway cos you just rock up to any stable and its there. Or, get the Ancient horse gear so you can teleport him to you.

There's just so much climbing in this game that riding around on a horse feels ... terrestrial. Or like jacking a car and going for a joy ride, I guess. Then, yeah, just abandoning it somewhere by the edge of a cliff.

Riding a bear is fun.

Stumbled upon and therefore fought the Big Bad for the first time. Seemed to be going OK, but then he went all shiny yellow and I could no longer do damage. Take damage, yes, but do damage, no. I assume I lack a magic widget or something?

Have you done all 4 champions?

Yep. That reduced its health by half. I beat it down further for a bit but then it just becomes and stay impervious, as far as I can tell. I went through almost all of my shields and food and anything to replenish hearts, so there must be more to it than attrition.

Hm I'm struggling to recall that. I dont feel like he was that hard. Do you have any ancient arrows?

Yeah, lots! They didn't do anything. Must have a weak spot or something. I guess I can just look it up.

once his health gets low enough hurting him requires expert timing or using one of your champion skills