The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

[TheChargingRhino]

There's something else that NO ONE has talked about.

Spoiler

So, turns out that you had a girlfriend before you died.

She died as well, and came back as a ghost, and, at some point during the game, you meet her again. 

 

[Mirby]

I don't think that was ever an official one. More like... unrequited love.

[AarowSwift]

On 3/8/2017 at 3:58 PM, MindWanderer said:

I hear the framerate issue is less severe on Wii U.  I noticed it on Switch but it wasn't enough to bother me even then.

No.  Framerate issues are most noticeable on the Wii U.  Less common on the Switch TV mode, and effectively nonexistent on the Switch portable mode.

[Mirby]

Yeah I don't know about on Switch but there's been several frame drops, mostly during battle. But they resolve themselves quickly.

[Cerrax]

On 3/14/2017 at 7:52 AM, TheChargingRhino said:

There's something else that NO ONE has talked about.

  Reveal hidden contents

So, turns out that you had a girlfriend before you died.

She died as well, and came back as a ghost, and, at some point during the game, you meet her again. 

 

That's actually a throwback to another Zelda game:

Spoiler

In Ocarina of Time, the Zora Princess Ruto (notice that the Divine Beast is named Ruta), has a crush on Link when she first meets him. She jokes several times about how they will get married some day.

 

 

btw. hello everyone. Its been a while.

I generally refrain from using this phrase but Hyrule Castle is TOTALLY DOPE. It is easily the most perfect atmosphere from any Zelda game ever. The music, the enemies, the design, just everything is perfect.

[Arrow]

I've activated every single Sheikah Tower, and have gotten to every single town located near each of the Divine Beasts, but I have yet to even officially start the quests to get to the beasts. I'm having too much fun saying "screw the story" and just exploring.

I also really appreciate handheld mode because I'm able to bring my Switch to work and just save scumm the Lurelin village gambling game for mad cash while I'm busy coding.

[zircon]

WiiU frame drops are a thing for sure, especially in towns or panning into fields. Not that big a deal though. 

[BardicKnowledge]

On 3/15/2017 at 11:36 PM, zircon said:

WiiU frame drops are a thing for sure, especially in towns or panning into fields. Not that big a deal though. 

Wii U player myself, and outside of Kakariko Village the drops are barely noticeable, usually only for very short spurts.  Inside the village you're not ever in combat, so it isn't a big deal.

[Mirby]

Yeah I have some major frame drops in battle (usually against Moblins, honestly) but aside from that nothing really noticeable to me at least. And it's not like it happens whenever I fight a Moblin. Out of the nearly 120 hours I've put into this game, I've only probably had 5 or 6 of those massive frame drops. And even then they only last a few seconds each.

[Geoffrey Taucer]

I love how rewarding exploration is in this game. I've spent hours just exploring Hyrule for exploration's sake. The shrines are clever, the battles are delightfully punishing, and the physics allow for creative solutions to many of the puzzles.

BUT

The audio is awful. Most of the music is unremarkable at best and irritating at worst, the sound effects (especially when approaching a shrine) are annoying, and the voice acting is downright painful. The game is dramatically improved by turning the sound off, which is a really sad thing to be saying about a Zelda game.

[Mirby]

I rather enjoyed the voice acting myself. Especially Daruk and Urbosa.

[Red Shadow]

quality of the voice acting varied from character to character, you can turn the shrine locator off, and you cant possibly expect me to believe you werent impressed at least with the molduga battle music

[MindWanderer]

I have to admit the radar noise does break the immersion.  It could have been a lot more subtle and still usable.

Mailed my left joy-con in for repairs today.  Hopefully they can get it back to me quickly, before I go into Zelda withdrawal.  I had to save and quit at an awful point--I just found the Forgotten Temple and enjoyed the pleasant surprise you get once you walk fully inside.  Spent entirely too many of my final hours trying and failing to farm horn fragments--getting close enough and then getting the shot exactly right is pretty tough, and time-consuming.

Edit: Never mind, Amazon got the pro controllers in stock (finally), and I snagged one before they ran out, so I'll only be without a controller for two days.  Looks like they still have some, for the moment, but not ready to be shipped out until the end of the week.

Also, I finally encountered significant lag: found a Bokoblin tower with mini-towers all around, all armed with bomb arrows.  All those explosions dropped my framerate to a couple of frames per second for a little while there.

[Geoffrey Taucer]

On 3/27/2017 at 7:57 AM, Red Shadow said:

quality of the voice acting varied from character to character, you can turn the shrine locator off, and you cant possibly expect me to believe you werent impressed at least with the molduga battle music

Don't think I've run into Molduga yet

[Red Shadow]

when you do, make sure youre either hooked up to a sound system or using headphones, because it's got a rich depth to it. the theme changes once you score a hit on it as well, so be sure to listen to both phrases

[TheChargingRhino]

...Guess what?

 

I GOT A COPY!

ONLY ONE THEY HAD! For Wii U, of course

Game + Game guide was over 90 bucks BUT WHO CARES!

Problem is, I want to finish Okami before playing BotW...

 

[TheChargingRhino]

First day:

Died I think 5 times

(Curse you Guardians/blue Bokomoblins!)

Got to Kakariko

spent I think 5 HOURS trying to kill a boar to get the Warm Doublet 

THE LIP SYNCING!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

I don't know why people say the voices are bad; Impa is cool.

Also

Spoiler

I KNEW IT. Somehow. Quite sad how the King died. Can't believe he lived that long, too.

I can't wrap my head around HOW HUGE THE MAP IS!

I mean, The Great Plateau is HUGE, but THE ENTIRE MAP?!

 

I really loved that version of the overworld theme in the Divine Beasts cutscene in which Impa tells you everything. 

Also the snippet of Ganon's theme...

[The Damned]

Oh yes, the map is massive. I hear some complaints along the lines of "but there's nothing to do in all that empty space!" To which I say, the fuck there isn't!

I have spent more time just randomly exploring the map than I have on the quest.

It's a map that seem to be very well planned to direct you towards anything but your goal. I constantly find myself climbing cliffs and mountains just so I can see what's there, only t- HOLY SHIT, NEW SHRINE. Pull the Sheika Slate, pin that loca- IS THAT ANOTHER ONE? Fuck yes. Oh shit, there's a tower not that far away (at least, I think it's not that far away?) and along the way is a rather big enemy camp, so you know there's going to be some chests and shit there.

Even if you're just running around grabbing any items you see, it's still a good way to get around. I've spotted stuff on a hilltop and grabbed it, only to be drawn towards some ore pieces on the side of a cliff, and then once I grab that, I look around to see some trees with a campfire in the middle. Might be empty, might be an NPC, might be a monster camp. I don't know, let's go find out!

[TheChargingRhino]

I lived through my first BLOOD MOON OF DEEEEAAAAATTTTHHHH!!!

 

That cutscene, though.

 

I was in an open field, surrounded by cliffs, so I lived.

Got shot at by Bokoloblins on horses, shot the Bokkoloblins off of the horses

Discovered Dueling Peaks Stables, so I can get horses now.

 

[Geoffrey Taucer]

Regarding how much stuff there is to do on the map: https://zeldamaps.com/

Yeah, there's a LOT OF FUCKING SHIT TO BE DONE. This game has zero wasted space. Every tree, every rock, every bush has a purpose. Complaints about audio aside, the game is a masterpiece, the benchmark against which future open world games will be compared (most of them unfavorably, I suspect)

[TheChargingRhino]

....So...

third day:

Met Simon and that one chick at the lab.

Ran out of weapons! And had to leave Zora's Domain and go get some (they respawn each time you quit the game, quite happy about that)

Got Labranya (close enough?) Tower

Tried to get the Central Tower- Did not work out.... (Like 5 guardians= lots and lots of death)

I met Sipon- HE IS AWESOME
Also, did they remake a bit of the Spirit Track overworld for his theme? Seems like it.

Found the Bridge of Hylia
(Man is it in bad shape) 

Got ran over by a Boar (That was fun)

Got my first memory. (Where Zelda and Link are walking along the lake, Zelda talking about the Divine Beasts and that "they were made by people.")
Then got the Champion's Tunic

Also- the "two knockouts per game"
Yeah.
Does that happen in this one?

[TheChargingRhino]

Fourth day

 

I DID A LOT.

 

I freed Ruta. (Did mostly entire Zora quest in ONE DAY)

Met Mipha (She is awesome)

got a lot of shrines.

Tried to get the Woodland tower...

Tried to get the Faron tower (Why is Faron a JUNGLE?)

Survived being blasted by lightning (awesome)

Upgraded my stamina by 1/4

Now have 5 hearts.

I AM NOW NOT BROKE! (Over 1, 000 Rupees)

Beat the Trial of Power shrine.

 

[Mirby]

http://zelda.com/breath-of-the-wild/news/expansion-pass-dlc-pack-1-detailed/

Expansion Pack 1 detailed. New map feature shows you your path over the last 200 hours of gameplay, new dungeon is a gauntlet of 45 rooms that enter you without gear or weapons and, upon completion, truly awaken the Master Sword. New armor, new item to create your own fast travel point (only one), and a Korok mask that alerts you when Koroks are near. Also Hard Mode where enemy health regenerates and everyone starts off one level higher than usual and the level cap is even higher than in normal mode.

[MindWanderer]

So three features that really should have been there all along and don't really encourage anyone who's finished the game to come back to it.  One monster rush mode, which personally I find boring.  And Hard Mode... (shrug).  Might be OK for people who really want to play the whole game again, or who played through haphazardly the first time, but it also sounds like the low-rank enemies (the red bokoblins and moblins and the green lizalfos) are simply omitted from the game.

If anything, if I'd already bought the season pass or was committed to doing so, I'd flatly put down the game I'm playing right now and come back with the expansion for the "full" experience.  But most likely I just won't buy it.  Maybe if it goes on sale in a couple of years (unlikely but possible, Nintendo does do it occasionally).

[TheChargingRhino]

In by "truly awakening" does this mean that Fi comes back?

That you can perform the Skyward Strike?

Also LOVE IT that they brought back the BEAM OF DEATH from the 2D games....