The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild |OT| A Link from the Past

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Trago said:
Why.....why is the combat so unexpectedly deep?!
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Is it? I've found it more broad than deep. There is not much nuance to performing parries or combos, but there are often many options to exploit during encounters. These are often obvious and easily done, limited by the creativity of the player, but never far out of reach for newcomers. I would call the cooking system deep. You really have to dive in to figure out what works and how to replicate success. But combat is intuitive in a really pleasing way. If you expect you are able to do something, you probably are able to do it. You don't need any arcane knowledge, you don't need to study the mechanics. You simply examine the world, gather what's needed, and do what you want to do.
 
UpDownLeftRight said:
Is it? I'm not far in but so far it feels more shallow than Wind Wakers which had the best combat IMO. That said, I've not found anywhere to use the environment against an enemy yet.
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Between weapon degradation, and the seemingly crazy enemy ai, I'm surprised at how much there is to the combat, and I'm pretty early too, especially compared to other Zeldas.
 
Griss said:
Not sure if I have the right spot, but...

There should be a door with an eye hole in it. You fire a lit arrow through that eye to open the door. Then inside the next room there's a metal crate hidden in the ceiling, use that to get past the flames.
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MGrant said:
Light an arrow with the blue flame and fire it through at the torch.
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Thanks. For some reason I didn't think the blue flame would transfer to any other than torches. My head is clearly not doing well lol.
 
Red said:
Is it? I've found it more broad than deep. There is not much nuance to performing parries or combos, but there are often many options to exploit during encounters. These are often obvious and easily done, limited by the creativity of the player, but never far out of reach for newcomers. I would call the cooking system deep. You really have to dive in to figure out what works and how to replicate success. But combat is intuitive in a really pleasing way. If you expect you are able to do something, you probably are able to do it. You don't need any arcane knowledge, you don't need to study the mechanics. You simply examine the world, gather what's needed, and do what you want to do.
Click to expand...

You know what, that might be it.
 
UpDownLeftRight said:
Is it? I'm not far in but so far it feels more shallow than Wind Wakers which had the best combat IMO. That said, I've not found anywhere to use the environment against an enemy yet.
Click to expand...

You've got so many options now. Just the 1-on-1 combat itself has a ton of added depth with various weapon types, each with their own attacks, flurry attacks, shield parries, etc. The increased difficulty of the game encourages you to master these systems much moreso than previous Zelda games too. But we haven't even gotten into ranged combat, at that point, which has received such a huge upgrade. Switching between my melee weapon and my bow in the middle of a scuffle is very satisfying and makes the encounters much more dynamic. Then, you've got stealth, which completely changes your ability to approach combat scenarios. You've got environmental interactions, such as lighting grass on fire, riding up the updraft with your paraglider, and then doing a bombing run from above. You've got enhanced AI, an enemy using a wooden club saw a fire and, mid-fight, ran over to light his club on fire while his buddies kept me occupied. Knocking an enemy's weapon from their hand, and picking it up, to watch them then panic and find another weapon as quickly as possible never gets old.

Eventually,
you also get the ability to use runes on enemies as well. Being able to stop time on a tough enemy to focus on the smaller guys is a technique that adds a lot of depth too, for example.
 
Does anybody know what it means when a weapon shimmers in the top right corner of its menu icon? I'm guessing it means it's more durable, but I'm not positive...
 
Is it the first game to make you genuinely scared/worry of:

- Cold
- Heat (Metroid series maybe?)
- Rain
- Lightning
- Your horse dying (outside of plot)
etc...
 
Like, I'm so used to Z-Targeting, side stepping, and going to town. But now, I feel like I can't just jump in and go crazy.
 
Trago said:
Between weapon degradation, and the seemingly crazy enemy ai, I'm surprised at how much there is to the combat, and I'm pretty early too, especially compared to other Zeldas.
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Oh yeah the weapon degredation does switch it up a hit since it forces use of so many weapons. I keep picking up random things and thinking they'll actually work as their function though due to some others like the torch and sledgehammer. As a result I tridd to hoe a patch and failed. I like that it's making me think outside of the box in general but I've not managed to extend it to combat yet.

It's definitely harder than usual. With only 3 hearts it's not hard to be killed by practically anything.
 
Why can't I find any decent weapons for the life of me?

I am still early in the game and I just reached Hateno village but I am getting destroyed by ennemies because my weapons dont do any damage and they break after 5 hits. best weapons I have are two 20 swords.
 
I normally don't like stealth in open-world games, but managing to scale a base above a bog without attracting major attention was satisfying.

There was an Electric Lizalfos swimming in the bog and causing nearby metal boxes to spark which I needed to cross safely. So I used an Ice Arrow to freeze it in its place once it was far enough and get across while it was frozen.
 
Trago said:
Between weapon degradation, and the seemingly crazy enemy ai, I'm surprised at how much there is to the combat, and I'm pretty early too, especially compared to other Zeldas.
Click to expand...
I really thought the degradation would fuck me off but its actually a really fun feature, I love being forced to Switch (har har) it up.
 
Trago said:
Like, I'm so used to Z-Targeting, side stepping, and going to town. But now, I feel like I can't just jump in and go crazy.
Click to expand...

It's still possible, my combat revolves around being right up close to an enemy and multiple enemies, dodging and partying it all without letting up
 
Animal said:
Why can't I find any decent weapons for the life of me?

I am still early in the game and I just reached Hateno village but I am getting destroyed by ennemies because my weapons dont do any damage and they break after 5 hits. best weapons I have are two 20 swords.
Click to expand...

People pre-release were saying the game doesn't scale difficulty, and while that's mostly true, I have to wonder if there's some weapon scaling going on. As I've gotten further into the game, the chests I'm finding are containing better and better stuff, even when returning to areas I'd been to previously. I'm not sure what exactly is going on behind-the-scenes, but I think that'll sort itself out for you, as you get further on.
 
So I picked up my Switch and Zelda yesterday. In getting around to playing in a few minutes.

2 questions

Any advice starting off?

And

I bought the season pass on eshop, I know I'm supposed to get some chest in great plateau but didn't see a option to download. Does it pop up automatically?
 
toastyToast said:
Did my first divine weapon dungeon near Zora's Domain

I can understand that could only take 10 minutes all up but that shit had me legit stumped for an hour. Especially the
terminal on the underside of the trunk.
Then there was the one where you need to
freeze the stream of water
. That was so simple when I got it but that took forever
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Precisely my thoughts:

I've seen numerous reports of people throwing around quantified statements about the "length" of the game's dungeons, one claim which even references a "10 minute" completion time of the first dungeon. This is absolutely ridiculous—even more so than an attempt to quantify the actual length of the game or main questline in terms of hours and minutes. The problem with this approach is that it assumes that the average length of the dungeon completion process is directly related to the amount of time required to complete the dungeon. Of course, as we all know from past Zelda games and even more heavily-focused puzzle-oriented games (such as, for instance, the Professor Layton series), if a person knows the solution to a puzzle, it can be completely extremely quickly. Such is the nature of any puzzle, including some of the world's most challenging puzzles. But that doesn't make them any less challenging—and arguably, it may actually make them more compelling. Simplicity and elegance are often inextricably linked.

The same is indeed true of Breath of the Wild's dungeons, most of which consist of around five or six primary puzzles separated by navigational hazards and other interstitial challenges. Although someone who has all the answers conceivably could finish one of them within half an hour, literally no one is going to do that on their first attempt. Instead, the average time to complete the same dungeon which this claim referenced would be closer to—by my judgment—1 to 1.5 hours. I have no shame in admitting that it took me personally much closer to 1.5 hours, because I made sure to collect all the treasures along the way.

As for the size of the dungeons, yes, they are absolutely smaller in overall size than, say, those of Twilight Princess. But the difference in approach here, generally speaking, is that of a large sequence of rooms and environments (Twilight Princess) versus a much smaller—and more cohesive—central environment with appendages and far more depth of traversal possible. For instance (small spoiler ahead in this sentence), you can actually scale the outsides of the dungeons in Breath of the Wild, which just serves to render them even more palpable and menacing. In lieu of a special item for each dungeon (a convention with which BotW breaks), this time, each dungeon has a unique gimmick of its own which must be used to complete it. That's all the specifics I'll offer here as it is absolutely not worth spoiling it for yourself.

There's also the question of styling and themes. Many people have lamented the lack of conventional elemental theming (Fire Temple, Water Temple, etc.) for the dungeons in BotW—or at least, the supposed homogenization of design and decoration of their interiors. But again, while they all do share some common traits (as a matter of necessity), there absolutely is a difference in environmental feel, musical presentation, and mood. And in fact, I would go so far to say that each of the dungeons in BotW actually feels more unique and more memorable than those in most every other Zelda game in recent memory, if not simply because of some of the unexpected tricks and surprises which await the player within them.

So in summation, if you're going into Breath of the Wild with an open guide in front of you, then sure, you should expect short dungeons. If you're playing like an actual responsible human with some degree of self-control—and you don't have an IQ of 170 or a team of people solving puzzles along with you—you can expect a great experience and some of the more memorable dungeons in the series.
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Inferno313 said:
People pre-release were saying the game doesn't scale difficulty, and while that's mostly true, I have to wonder if there's some weapon scaling going on. As I've gotten further into the game, the chests I'm finding are containing better and better stuff, even when returning to areas I'd been to previously. I'm not sure what exactly is going on behind-the-scenes, but I think that'll sort itself out for you, as you get further on.
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You just need to get better. Headshots deal critical damage for example. Flurry also deals more damage than normal.
 
UpDownLeftRight said:
Is it? I'm not far in but so far it feels more shallow than Wind Wakers which had the best combat IMO. That said, I've not found anywhere to use the environment against an enemy yet.
Click to expand...

The fact that I can build a fire from wood and flint on me, dip my arrow in it to catch it on fire, climb to a nearby higher place and paraglide off till im above the enemy, then aim to slow down time to arrow snipe all the nearby enemies and land on the ground unscathed makes it the GOAT zelda combat for me personally
 
Animal said:
Why can't I find any decent weapons for the life of me?

I am still early in the game and I just reached Hateno village but I am getting destroyed by ennemies because my weapons dont do any damage and they break after 5 hits. best weapons I have are two 20 swords.
Click to expand...

The bokolins in the little forest just before Hateno will give you weapons of the zone, just bomb them, lol
 
I feel sad for some of those complaining about the dungeons and shrines

Edit: complaining is the wrong word - "disappointed by" better choice
 
Trago said:
Like, I'm so used to Z-Targeting, side stepping, and going to town. But now, I feel like I can't just jump in and go crazy.
Click to expand...
That's for sure. There is a more "scramble to survive" feel in BotW that gives combat a real sense of urgency and improvisation. The old Z targeting combat felt more like a dance, or a test of rhythm, where you simply had to keep step with the movements of your enemy, as if they were a ballet partner. In past 3D entries, the emphasis was on reaction; in BotW it is on action.

Z targeting had the effect of sort of allowing the player to choose when to enter combat. I don't know about anyone else, but in OoT I quickly got the sense that each encounter took place in a kind of mini combat arena, with your opponent usually in the center. You circle the perimeter and use their Z-locked position as the end point of a radius. You were allowed to choose when to approach and engage, and due to Z targeting you were often placed in a commanding position on the battlefield. That sense carried through the series until now. Orderly combat is very nearly out the window. The combat arenas have expanded, the one-on-one process has become about field management. It all feels bigger, and thoughtful, and good.
 
Helacious said:
Defense is a much bigger deal than getting hearts. You double/triple your effective health pool easily that way. With defense food even end game monsters only deal a quarter heart damage (I have 5 hearts)
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What recipes are you using?

I'm having a hard time finding any good, cohesive list online - lots of "just throw some shit in there lol" which is not fucking helpful at all (I know that's what the game wants you to do, but I'm a very meticulous kind of guy who takes detailed notes, and that kind of haphazard thinking does not mesh with me at all).
 
Inferno313 said:
You've got so many options now. Just the 1-on-1 combat itself has a ton of added depth with various weapon types, each with their own attacks, flurry attacks, shield parries, etc. The increased difficulty of the game encourages you to master these systems much moreso than previous Zelda games too. But we haven't even gotten into ranged combat, at that point, which has received such a huge upgrade. Switching between my melee weapon and my bow in the middle of a scuffle is very satisfying and makes the encounters much more dynamic. Then, you've got stealth, which completely changes your ability to approach combat scenarios. You've got environmental interactions, such as lighting grass on fire, riding up the updraft with your paraglider, and then doing a bombing run from above. You've got enhanced AI, an enemy using a wooden club saw a fire and, mid-fight, ran over to light his club on fire while his buddies kept me occupied. Knocking an enemy's weapon from their hand, and picking it up, to watch them then panic and find another weapon as quickly as possible never gets old.

Eventually,
you also get the ability to use runes on enemies as well. Being able to stop time on a tough enemy to focus on the smaller guys is a technique that adds a lot of depth too, for example.
Click to expand...

I've not actually encountered any of those mechanics yet, though I did get some wierd opportunity for a flurry after a dodge once earlier but I wasn't sure what was actually going on there. I think to an extent I'm just not aware of what you can do, so slashing things apart as the go to is just natural for me. I've not managed to work the shield bash in yet actually either.
 
Having some severe framerate drops in Death Mountain area. In battle, everytime I attack, especially if my attacks sends the monster flying, the framerate dips to below 10. I can hear the Wii U disc spin when this happens, so might be a problem with the disc/console too. But seriously, very annoying and borderline unplayable.
 
Last night, I reached an area north of the Lost Woods, entitled the Thyphlo Ruins. It's a very unique area that I fully recommend to everyone. The atmosphere was top notch, and the premise was great and unique. While playing through that area with my headphones on, it kinda hit me that this game really is a masterpiece. I have never been so enamored with an open-world game. Actually, I normally hate open-world games (barring the dark souls games, if they even count). But this game and its world are so fun to travel, so non-tedious, so full of life and challenges (Lynel is impossible for me, right now), so full of secrets at every area, so full of great puzzles (shrines are wonderful), that I am completely enamored. I don't even know what else to say. It has been a VERY long time since I have felt this way about a game. It's making me rethink a lot about other games.
 
Got the game yesterday and after a playtime of already almost 20 hours (yes, I basically forgot to sleep and to eat because of how natural it feels playing it) I came to one conclusion: the proper way to review this game and to discuss it is not to talk about the game mechanics, but to exchange what you lived through. In order to capture the essence of the game you basically have to tell it in the small little stories that you experienced throughout.

This is probably the most ambitious game that I have ever played! Thank you Nintendo!
 
Izayoi said:
What recipes are you using?

I'm having a hard time finding any good, cohesive list online - lots of "just throw some shit in there lol" which is not fucking helpful at all (I know that's what the game wants you to do, but I'm a very meticulous kind of guy who takes detailed notes, and that kind of haphazard thinking does not mesh with me at all).
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Just cook five ingredients with the same effect for maximum value. You can mix and match a bit, but they need to have the same effect for it to work.
 
What surprises me most about the game isn't any individual feature. It's that it's hard. It asks something of the player and presents an existential threat. For a game about adventuring, this is key, and it's something that's very rare from AAA -- and coming from Nintendo it's shocking.

I hope the game is influential. I hope more and more AAA devs start to realize that games can ask something more of the user than that they posses functioning digits. When the game respects the user, the user tends to respect it back, and this creates a more engrossing experience.

By contrast, Horizon is an absurdly easy game, even on the hard setting, and I feel a constant disconnect from the material because the characters say something is true ("this enemy is hard", or "this object is rare") but those things, in gameplay, are not true. This completel undercuts the experience and makes me feel nothing for the world that they clearly spent so much time crafting. Devs need to stop doing this.
 
The combat mechanics isn't that deep at all compared to say... Nioh, but the fact that there's so many creative solutions around it is what makes it great. I can push a boulder down on enemies on Nioh, but that's pretty much it. So it depends what people mean by combat system.
 
UpDownLeftRight said:
Is it? I'm not far in but so far it feels more shallow than Wind Wakers which had the best combat IMO. That said, I've not found anywhere to use the environment against an enemy yet.
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Naw. Wind Waker's was like Twilight Princess' It was deeper than OOT but not by much.

BOTW easily has the deepest out of all the games.
 
Weebos said:
Anybody know how to see set bonuses? I have the soldier armor all at 2 star, but not sure how to see what that does.
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It pops up on the right side where you can see the special effects you get in total from your armor, i.e. climbing speed up. It's possible that the soldier set doesn't have set bonuses.
 
Izayoi said:
What recipes are you using?

I'm having a hard time finding any good, cohesive list online - lots of "just throw some shit in there lol" which is not fucking helpful at all (I know that's what the game wants you to do, but I'm a very meticulous kind of guy who takes detailed notes, and that kind of haphazard thinking does not mesh with me at all).
Click to expand...

Throw in any 5 items that mention defense in its description (except critters) and you'll get the max defense food. Could be 2 pumpkin, 2 defense fish and 1 defense crab or simply 5 defense herb, etc. You don't really need any recipes, just check what the item does and for health recovered it's roughly (some items like honey it's different) twice the total amount of normal recovery of the items you put in
 
Anybody get the hardcover guide? Thinking about it picking it up as a reference for later on after I'm done with everything myself. I'm curious about the quality of the guide.
 
othersteve said:
Precisely my thoughts:
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That's the thing, though, it depends. My first dungeon was the Gerudo one and I left after an hour, had to come back 15 hours later. Took another hour to beat it. When I got to the Zora dungeon, I literally blazed through it in about 8 minutes. Every solution was obvious this time, there was no difficult traversal. It just clicked. As a result it was fun but it felt like such a slight piece of gameplay for one of the major 'dungeons'.

I loved the beasts and loved that they rethought convention and came up with such a unique idea. The interconnected idea of them makes them more interesting than any zelda dungeon ever has been. So much better than simple forest -> fire -> water themes.

But I can't deny that I missed the sense of slow, steady progression that other zelda dungeons had had, and the mix of combat with puzzles, or the fact that each dungeon would introduce a new gameplay mechanic with a new item. All of that was missing here.
 
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