Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

[Godot]

Yo, kinda surprised that no one tried starting one of these for this game.  I should know, I am in charge of organizing this part of the forum.

You guys probably know that this game is popular, fun, and kinda vague in some places.  

Feel free to discuss the game here and try to keep major spoilers in spoiler context. At least for the time being. (Maybe until the end of march, let's give people time to finish the game) 

 

like this

 

Or if you get stuck feel free to post about it here. Idk how many people know this, but you can earn forum xp for helping people in games that aren't Pokémon Reborn.

 

I don't have any conversation starters at the moment so...

**puts the talking stick on the table**

[mde2001]

No spoilers here on account of me only having played the game for like 2 hours and being exceptionally bad at it, but I'll put everything in spoiler tags none the less just in case anyone wants absolutely no details about the early game. 

 

Spoiler

I kind of struggled early on, because I happened not to see any of the weapons initially, so i went through the first shrine thing without a sword (which was kind of frustrating to say the least. It is going to take time to get used to the weapons breaking but I'm sure I will after I've played a bit more. I absolutely hate the stupid big tower thing because I keep falling off it and instantly dying. 

 

Anyway, I've only done the first shrine and then the one where you get the bombs, and the game does seem pretty interesting. I'm a bit unusual because I kind of like games to be a bit linear (mostly because I'm bad at exploring), but I can appreciate the amount of exploration it allows. 

 

I won't be able to play anymore for a while, but I'm looking forward to getting back into it. 

 

[Godot]

I'll probably be done with the game sometime this weekend.  If I were to grade this game on a scale of 10, I wouldn't give it any less than a 9.  I only had two nitpicks so far...

[Maelstrom]

The game looks easy, as I sit here and watch godot play. It's a bunch of simple puzzles for the most part, and the combat against average enemies is braindead easy. I keep seeing godot get one shot or nearly so in other fights and it makes me wonder if he missed all the hints on where to go and what to collect first before heading off in a random direction. The boss fight mechanics are pretty simple too. Not really a fan of the weapon durability thing. That's one of my least favorite things about Fire Emblem games. Best parts so far are the flashbacks and cut scenes with dialogue. Second thing I can think of liking is that you can just go and pick up the weapons the enemies were using.

[Cepheus]

I'm almost done, I'm just looking to get the last shrines...

 

yeah the game is great... BUT I have a few things that bother me: (spoilers)

1. The actual Dungeons - the Titans - are so... soooooo boring. they are way to short for my dungeon liking - hell, a few shrines took me longer than the titans... - although the movement mechanic of them is kinda neat

 

2. the boss fights in those titans... yawn... as boring as the dungeon themself... hit them till they 50% - do something special to get around their defence - bring them down to 0% = win ... ... no real strategy involved - to think the 4 Warriors (the best of the best of their tribe) had any kind of problems with these things is somewhat disturbing to me

 

3. Bloodmoon - not the bloodmoon itself, i think it's a great element to explain why enemies keep respawning - but the fact that this STUPID animation plays EVERY. GOD. DAMN. TIME! - I watched it the first time and after that I always hit the skip buttons as fast as possible - because the animation plays always at the worst time possible... (also when you want one - for a shrine to appear - it never happens, and as soon as you leave the next night is a bloodmoon and you can't get back there in time...)

 

4. Rain - Weather is great if it's sunny or clouded... but Rain... ugh... I mean it makes sense that climbing is harder when it's raining... but why does it always have to rain when I want to climb that big mountain, or when I'm in the water almost out of stamina and I want to climb out of it... and he slips and falls back into the water and drowns... and puts me AAAAAAALL the way back where I came from...

 

What I truly love about the game is - freedom - after you get the glider you have the freedom to go wherever you want, and do whatever you want... you want to climb that huge mountain at the horizon, no problem! (as long as you can avoid the overpowered [in the beginning] guardians on your way there)

also I don't mind the weapon durability thing - with you being able to hold multiple weapons it makes sense, and brings some thinking into it: do I bring a Fire Weapon, or a Ice weapon - strong two-handed or one-hand+shield for defense? - wood weapon/torch? Do I use my strong weapon I found earlier now or do I keep it for a strong enemy like the Hinox?

 

also the cooking is great, although I wished there were more effects to it - currently I keep a lot fried stuff (the stuff that actually stacks) and a lot of max.heal + X hearts, and a few + 3 armor and + 3 attack - it is so ridiculously easy to get those overpowered dishes, but there are so many recipes that are more complicated and not as powerful, which is a shame...

[Godot]

So I am done with the game for now.  Godot's quick review.

 

The game was very fun.  I went into it skeptical after hearing that it was going to be a callback to the original Zelda like how Link Between Two worlds was.  I was personally not a fan of LBTW or the OG Zelda on NES.  Surprisingly though Breath of the Wild kept me quite engaged and I am glad that I played it.   Here is a list of Pros and Cons.

 

The Pros

- Great Combat System with lots of variety and customization in weapons and armor.  You actually have to mix and match armors to get through certain areas or deal with certain weather types, and I thought that was pretty cool.  All of the weapons were actually useful too.  I never felt like that there was ever a useless weapon type.  I also liked that you could recolor armor to give Link a truly unique look. Dark Green is the best color

 

- Regarding combat and other obstacles.  Fighting was pretty good though some enemies were tanky just to be tanky,  especially the black variety of Moblins, Bokoblins, and Lizardfos.  Dodging and parrying attacks at the right time or performing stylish arrow shots felt satisfying when performed right.  Though messing up had Dark Souls levels of consequences which may scare some people off.  Though I played Man Mode and wore nothing but pants and a cape.  Idk if that did much...

 

-Collecting resources and Cooking/Making Elixers was enjoyable.  Most of the food and elixir combination were useful as well.  I never felt like I was making a consumable that had no point to it.

 

- Exploring the world was legit fun.  I often found myself going OOOH WHATS THAT! or OH SHIT LET'S THINK THIS THROUGH!  I also enjoyed the fact that the world was somewhat puzzle like and had to be traversed in a variety of creative ways. (or dull ways if you are dull)  The overworld is also filled with holy crap amounts of stuff ranging from special areas, Shrines, Labyrinths, Towers, hidden boss esque enemies, and crafting materials.  One worry I had about the game when entering it is that it would have been a big world that was big for the sake of being big with nothing inside it.  Fortunately that wasn't the case at all.  This world was hella fleshed out.  There was a lot of unique areas to explore and hunting shrines was one of my favorite parts of the game.

 

- The people of the overworld impressed me as well.  The Hylians were mostly bland, but the designs of the Gerudo, Zora, Gorons, and Rito were all quite fantastic.  I loved how there was so much variety of all the different races.  I would legit meet different people while walking around the towns rather than seeing carbon copies of the same model.  I really enjoyed that aspect of the game.

 

- The Rupee economy is not over saturated for once.  In most Zelda games I often have so much rupees that I don't even know what I should be using them for.  In BotW you never really feel like you have too many rupees.  Buying cooking and crafting materials, staying at lodges and using the fancy beds, buying sick new armor pieces that all look pretty sweet and Fashion Souls-ing it up.  I only had one gripe with the rupee economy and I will get to that in a minute.

 

- I loved playing this on the Switch and taking it on the go.  Also playing this game in bed made me happy. I didn't have to force myself to the couch

 

The Cons

- Button Mapping Sucks.  Why is X the jump button?  Why is B the run button? Why can't I have a quick select option?  There is also no way to remap the buttons... grumbles....

 

- Rain sucks,  it eventually isn't as annoying when you get Revali's power... but it makes climbing a pain in the ass.

 

- Arrow Prices are TOO DAMN HIGH. I was out of arrows like.... 90% of the game and never felt encouraged to spend any of my money on them.

 

The Mehs

- This game did look good, but I wasn't like most people who were seeing this game and  were like "HERMAIGERD THIS GAME IS SO BEAUTIFUL OMG AMAZ SAUS!" This game DOES look good, but it's presentation was like.... 8/10 for me.  I played better looking Nintendo games on the Gamecube and the Wii U.  It has nothing to do with the graphic quality, but with the visual presentation.  I wasn't too impressed.

 

- The music was cool, but it never really stood out too much.  It was nice, but nothing spectacular.  I never found myself humming any of the anthems or themes and that is usually what is telling for me as to how much I enjoyed a soundtrack or not.  The only songs that stood out to me were songs I already knew or have heard before.  They were remixed, but they were done so with instruments found in all the Zelda games.  It never felt fresh or exciting, just nostalgic.

 

- Dungeons and Boss Fights were okay.  normally that is one of my favorite aspects of a Zelda game.  It didn't bother me too much this time around.... but they didn't really blow my mind in any way.  They weren't bad, just not great.  There was no real "tool and gadget" mechanic to the dungeons and were often times just simple "go here, go there" quests and had a mechanic that surrounded taking advantage of something moving around in ways that was sometimes awkward.

 

- Horseback Riding, It wasn't anything too fancy... I actually didn't use my horse, Sparkles the Emerald Pony, as much as I wish I would.  I did like that you had a large variety of horses to choose from though.  Felt like a waste of a concept that could have been a lot more enjoyable.

 

- The biggest meh and is almost a con for me... the Story...

 

At the end of the day I give this game a very solid B or 8/10.  My opinion may change and it may jump up and down from a 7.5 to a 9 but as of right now it gets a 8 from me.

 

[Wendel]

I'm basically just gonna note down a few nice things you might wanna find for usefullness

 

Horse Fairy:

Basically the best thing if you horse dies, you don't have to lose em \o/

Near Lake Hylia down south there's a bridge crossing a lake called Lake of the Horse God and if you cross said bridge and pay her some gold she will resurrect any horse that died in your journey.

 

Easy Money:

This is the easiest way of money that I've found tho it might take a little while and a lot of save-loading, in Lurelin Village there's a mini-game where you can pay either 10 50 or 100 rupees and then choose between 3 chests, with the 100 rupees you can get a gold rupee worth 300 rupees, if you get a normal green rupee instead you just reload till you get the gold one.

 

Alternatively you can also go hunt some animals and make meat skewers for a quick 210 or 510 rupees.

 

Ganon Horse:

In the Taobab Grasslands there is a big ass horse with 5* strength and 2 speed but no stamina, you'll need more than the single circle of stamina to tame it and to get to the nearest stable you'll need to get past 2 Lynels so be careful early on.

 

Lord of the Mountain:

An ethereal horse that you can tame and has unlimited stamina but not register OTL it's apparently really rare and only shows up at the top of Satori Mountain and only shows up when you see the blue hue at night above it.

 

Stalhorse:

Another horse you can find and tame but not register, it's found at night near mounted bokoblins and they go poof at sunrise.

 

Royal Steed:

A descendant of Zelda's horse seen in the cutscenes, it can be found in the quest The Royal White Stallion at Outskirt Stable. Talk to the old man named Toffa and the quest is on its way. Follow the path north of the stables, cross the bridge and follow the hills along the river north. The horse is located up the Sanidin Park Ruins not far from the bridge, wandering among the hills and takes quite a lot of stamina to tame. Speak to Toffa again once you've tamed it and you get the Royal horse gear, it's got 4 strength 3 speed and 5 stamina so it's a pretty damn good horse

 

YOU CAN RIDE LYNELS AND BEARS AND DEARS (tho you can't tame the Lynels)

 

You can have a house:

In Hateno there are a few workers destroying an old house, talk to their flamboyant employer Bolson and he'll let you buy the house for 30 bundles of wood and some 3000 rupees. Now you have a house, but no furniture. Talk to Bolson again and he'll sell you some furniture for 100 rupees each, so in total the entire house will cost you 30 bundles of wood and 4400 rupees. But hey, you'll have a house you and Zelda can peacefully live in after you've beaten Calamity Ganon.

 

Buying armor:

After you have bought the house one of their employers Hudson will go to Akala to make a new village, after quite a tedious sidequest gathering wood and people who's name all end in -son and a marriage you'll have a village where you can buy stuff like ores, arrows and male Gerudo clothes, but also, on a roof in one of the houses you can buy armor pieces of you don't have all the pieces for and don't already get sold in stores like the Hylian Armor in Kakariko Village and the Hylian Shield once you've obtained it and it breaks at a guy named Grante. 

 

Hylian Shield:

The Hylian Shield is in Hyrule Castle guarded by a Stalnox you'll have to kill on one of the lower levels check the pictures down below for a better idea of where

 



 

Hope it helps y'all and hf

[FraRPetO]

I finally finished the game. It was quite an adventure, but here are my overall thoughts (note; this is the first Zelda game I played from start to finish, and I've only played A Link to the Past and Ocarina of Time many years ago):

Spoiler

From the beginning to the majority of the game, I really liked the freedom of being able to do whatever you want and how to approach enemy encounters.

I'm mostly impressed by how you can literally go anywhere and do whatever you want.

It's a really big world and it's filled with content and stuff to do. From finding Korok Seeds to climbing towers to unlock more of the map was something that was really fun to do.

The game has many interesting areas and NPCs.

While the game would be fairly challenging if you're new and/or not good at action games, I found it too easy. Hard mode should've definitely been available at launch, not as DLC.

I limited myself by setting a rule that Link must only wear the cape and be shirtless (unless absolutely necessary, like in Gerudo and Zora quest).

It definitely helped me to enjoy the game more since it made the game a bit more challenging, and that made cooking food and elixirs much more meaningful.

The way the NPCs reacted to Link being shirtless also was quite fun. That's something that really boosted my enjoyment of the game.

Also, fuck you rainy weather.

 

Combat and enemies: I really like the combat system, but weapons being able to break made me not want to use my better weapons.

The bosses for the dungeons were mostly the same and that disappointed me a little.

The mini bosses were fun to play against, such as the stronger versions of Lynels and figuring out how to beat Modluga, for example.

The way the enemies could adapt to certain situations also impressed me. I would've liked if certain upgrades for Sheikah tools weren't too powerful, but since you're not forced to use them, it's all good.

 

Quests and shrines: The game is filled with side quests and stuff to do that makes exploring the world a lot more enjoyable, but I always found the rewards and the ending of the quests boring. It is a lively world for sure, but I didn't feel I accomplished much by finishing side quests.

The shrines are many and enjoyable, but sometimes too short and easy for my taste.

 

Story and main quests: They were interesting, but there weren't too many. The Divine Beast dungeons were impressive, except for the bosses.

The story of the game didn't impress me much, and the cutscenes were quite short.

I would've liked if there were more meaningful quests, but the massive open world really makes up for it.

What I'm most disappointed with is the rivalry between Sheikah and Yiga clan. When I first heard about it at the Kakariko Village, I thought there would be more to it than just the Yiga enemies appearing randomly throughout the game (and the Gerudo quest, but even that disappointed me because it was easy and the Sheikah clan wasn't even involved).

 

Overall, it's the best open world game I've played so far. It's definitely something special, and I hope the DLC will be as good or better.

I would recommend this game to anyone.

Now that I've finished the game, it makes me want to play Wind Waker now, which I've actually been planning to play before BotW came out.