The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

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

There, I beat Ganon (second try).

1) There is something very ironic about going all this time without much use for shields or horses only to find the final battle inextricably linked to shields and horses.

2) I don't think the final battle was particularly satisfying, given that my driving feeling throughout was that it was making me break or use up all my equipment, and that I couldn't wait for it to be over so that I could replenish supplies. I guess that's a testament to how great the rest of the game, everything but ... the bosses, all of which were easier than random Lynels.

Glad you all pressured me into playing, though! Back to maybe Cuphead or something else in the interim before I (probably) dive into Dark Souls 3.

sequel announced

ubisoft also announced a sequel:

https://kotaku.com/gods-monsters-is-a-new-ubisoft-game-thats-like-zelda-1835387169

i don't know why i crapped up this thread by mentioning the ubisoft game, sorry

pumped for the real sequel!!

so much of zelda relies on it actually being zelda

i just imagined pulling up the awful ubisoft map and seeing 4 trillion possible objectives

Kinda hoped they'd go in another direction for the next mainline Zelda, but I'll gladly take more BotW, especially if this is the Majora's Mask to BotW's Ocarina (which it looks like it could be).

feel like it's probably a long way off (tho hopefully not)

maybe zelda will be a playable character? or co-op'able?

That trailer made me plotz.

i think it shows up holiday 2020 at the earliest, holiday 2021 at the latest

that sounds about right

don't think they'd repeat the mistake of botw which they first announced for the wii u in like 2013 and then strung people along for years

more likely than the mistake of shipping a game that doesn't actually work

string me along all you like, as long as i don't die i'll play the game whenever it's ready

They have the engine and map and everything already. I'm wondering if this will answer all the BUT I WANT DUNGENNNNZZ people by... being a completely underground game, lol.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTVniSGKYKU

excellent.