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[marc^o^]

I never post on the gaming side, but I was really curious to see what kind of backlash this game would have. I'm having a peculiar reading experience right now, because even though I'm not a Nintendo fanboy (the Switch is my first Nintendo product in over ten years), I'm going through some of the negative comments with some weird sense of disbelief.

I perfectly understand finding some of the particulars underwhelming, but I'm having such an incredible experience with the game that it killed my productivity singlehandedly for weeks. I'm 36 and I don't remember being so addicted with a game since the PS2 heydays. It has flaws and gets repetitive in sections, but the way this very lonely single-player experience still gets me in a groove after spending about 60 hours with it is uncanny. The systems in place and the map design just make it the best sandbox experience I've ever had.

The game is a blessing.

Amen. I have a whatsApp chat room with 5 friends who play Zelda and it's an incredible experience. It's been almost a month since we started and we keep going to bed at 2:00am. All of us, every single night. It has become a running gag between us, we share pics of our sleepless faces. This is special, Zelda Breadth of the Wild is just too good. Dangerously good. As in, lack of sleep is its biggest flaw.

 

[Neo-Saiyan]

So while I was doing a quest I accidently triggered the last boss fight and finished the game way before I was even ready for that which left me both disappointed and in awe at the same time.

Basically I was doing the quest where you had to unlock your memories from the places in the photos and I was searching for the one in Hyrule Castle, seeing I still had one more Divine Beast to defeat and from the impression I got from the storyline I assumed I wasn't able to get to the last fight or that certain areas of Hyrule Castle would be locked until I've had all the active main quests in the log ticked off, so with that in mind I continued to explore the castle until I stumbled into the Sanctum...

Cue

Spoiler

Waterblight Ganon

boss fight, I thought hmm surely this CAN'T be the the last fight, right? It's probably a mini boss fight I said to myself, after the next few fights, I was actually disappointed/saddened to see the credits roll after

Spoiler

taking down Dark Beast Ganon

,

As I said earlier, I wasn't ready to finish the game, I still had a ton of stuffs to finish before I even thought of taking on Calamity Ganon, I hadn't even got the Master Sword yet at that point! I was also disappointed at how EASY the last fight(s) were, I wasn't even prepared, basically had bare minimum of gear with me yet I still took Ganon down without breaking a sweat.

So after getting over the initial disappointment of finishing the game prematurely (Is it still premature with 95+ hours playtime clocked up? lol) I started thinking about how Nintendo actually created an open world game where you truly play it how you want to play it, most open world games I've played there was some linearity to them where you had to follow a certain path or do this mission/quest/pre-requisite objective to trigger the end sequence, Nintendo's threw out the rule book in regards to that in my opinion and has set a new standard for open world games!

What Nintendo has created with BOTW is nothing short of amazing and has me thinking if this is what they did with an open world Zelda, I could only imagine what Mario Odyssey is gonna be like and I'm a more bigger fan of the Mario games than Zelda!

 

[Stereogatari]

So apparently there are two other shrines in the Lost Woods areas? I have no idea how to get to them lol.

Also, while playing on the train, I realized the attention to detail with so many little things is amazing. Like, theres no way its accidental that on high cliffs theres tiny horizontal ledges to stand on and catch your breath.Someone had to take time to put all that together.

As a WiiU player of this game...blows my mind that there are those of you playing it portably.

 

[jokkir]

I like my new

Spoiler

Ancient Armor

 

[Version 3.0]

I want to photograph a Guardian Scout I (not II, III, or IV) for the Compendium (I really don't want this game to end, ha), but I can't find one. All the "Minor Test of Strength" shrines have II's in them, and even the shrines I could remember that have little "kill me please" Guardians lounging around, waiting to get one-shotted, turned out to be II's.

Anyone know where there is a mark I ?

 

[LegendofLex]

I want to photograph a Guardian Scout I (not II, III, or IV) for the Compendium (I really don't want this game to end, ha), but I can't find one. All the "Minor Test of Strength" shrines have II's in them, and even the shrines I could remember that have little "kill me please" Guardians lounging around, waiting to get one-shotted, turned out to be II's.

Anyone know where there is a mark I ?

Maybe try the Great Plateau shrines?

 

[jariw]

What am I supposed to use for bait for catching specific kinds of fish? The hint texts talks about using bait, but I tried insects and monster parts and that doesn't seem to work...

 

[CrazyHorse]

As a WiiU player of this game...blows my mind that there are those of you playing it portably.

I saw someone playing it on the train yesterday. I wanted to speak to him but he had headphones on.

 

[Dr.Hadji]

I know some people are down on the dungeons but I think they're some of the best level design Nintendo has ever done, flat out. They're basically the Sand Ship (best dungeon in SS) with slicker movement.

Thematically I can see how the bosses disappoint but they're easily above Zelda par when it comes to how they play.

 

[Futureman]

As a WiiU player of this game...blows my mind that there are those of you playing it portably.

like it's so cool to you that people can play a massive Zelda game on the train? Or it blows your mind that people wouldn't want to experience the game on a huge screen?

I thought before I got my Switch that I would be playing 95% in portable mode, but I've found I still really enjoy playing on my TV. Portable mode is amazing though to play in bed at night. Three straight nights now playing til 1 AM and waking up tired!

 

[LegendofLex]

I know some people are down on the dungeons but I think they're some of the best level design Nintendo has ever done, flat out. They're basically the Sand Ship (best dungeon in SS) with slicker movement.

Thematically I can see how the bosses disappoint but they're easily above Zelda par when it comes to how they play.

The best thing about Sand Ship was that it was a one-off thing.

A game that's ostensibly emulating Zelda 1 for the modern age needs those dangerous, labyrinthine dungeons to come off as authentic. BotW's Divine Beasts didn't have that, so they don't feel authentic.

 

[Mediking]

PSA: Always have arrows... ;_;

 

[Kaiken]

Just looked at the stat buffs for the

Spoiler

Fierce Deity

Armor set and I need it, not to mention how bad ass it looks. I absolutely hate the fact of purchasing Amiibos for this kind of stuff.

 

[marc^o^]

As a WiiU player of this game...blows my mind that there are those of you playing it portably.

This is me waiting for my girls.

...in a plane

at work in a Chinese restaurant during my lunch break:

at my hotel room:

For a game this long, as a father with two demanding kids, every moment stolen is a blessing!

 

[Stereogatari]

This is me waiting for my girls.

...in a plane


at work in a Chinese restaurant during my lunch break:


at my hotel room:


For a game this long, as a father with two demanding kids, every moment stolen is a blessing!

Very cool indeed. Thanks for sharing.

I'll be picking one up when Mario comes out.

like it's so cool to you that people can play a massive Zelda game on the train? Or it blows your mind that people wouldn't want to experience the game on a huge screen?

I thought before I got my Switch that I would be playing 95% in portable mode, but I've found I still really enjoy playing on my TV. Portable mode is amazing though to play in bed at night. Three straight nights now playing til 1 AM and waking up tired!

In the positive way. Because in my mind the game is a console game. When the poster I quoted casually said "I played it on the train" just blew my mind that a game of this scope is on a portable.

 

[Fireblend]

Yeah, blows my mind that I can enjoy a console-grade Zelda experience during breaks at work. (Not dissing portable Zelda games, they're my favorites. Oracle games are still king(s)).

 

[Akuun]

PSA: Always have arrows... ;_;

I'm startign to learn that, especially since incorporating arrows in combat is very useful.

With rupees becoming more and more plentiful, I'm also starting to buy all the arrows I can whenever I visit a town.

 

[Rhaknar]

Make sure your tv is on game mode.

what I need is my brain to be on "stop being so shit" mode, which unfortunately, it doesnt have a toggle for that.

I cant reflect beams on handheld either

 

[Plesiades]

What's up with the

Spoiler

round hole

at Lanayru Tower? It screams

Spoiler

Korok seed

, but there doesn't seem to be an obvious trigger. There's a nearby rock seems but it's far away.

 

[Dr.Hadji]

The best thing about Sand Ship was that it was a one-off thing.

A game that's ostensibly emulating Zelda 1 for the modern age needs those dangerous, labyrinthine dungeons to come off as authentic. BotW's Divine Beasts didn't have that, so they don't feel authentic.

That's a strange way to pidgeon hole BotW. By that same logic, the game's authenticity could be called into question where ever it deters from LoZ (Towns, Story, NPCs, sidequests, ect.). Which is silly, the game isn't completely emulating LoZ and it isn't only emulating LoZ. It takes it design from across the Zelda spectrum. And what it does take from LoZ is only in the abstract.

When it comes to BotW's design, I'd imagine having a dungeon that isn't sectioned off from the overworld (the main thrust of the game) is plenty authentic to the feel of the game.

 

[Effigenius]

I watched the making of zelda video on the switch yesterday. Do you think Nintendo will ever release the 2d prototype they made that they based botw on?

 

[Forkball]

I had no idea there were (desert enemy spoilers)

Spoiler

treasure octoroks.

 

[Ernest]

Ancient armor... worth the 2K Rupees and all those ancient cores, or not?

Or Ancient weapons?

Which should take precedence over the other, Ancient armor, or weapons?

 

[DrArchon]

Ancient armor... worth the 2K Rupees and all those ancient cores, or not?

Or Ancient weapons?

Which should take precedence over the other, Ancient armor, or weapons?

Armor doesn't break, so I'd focus on getting that. It's got high defense and extra defense against guardians. It's tough to upgrade though, so it's definitely a late game luxury set.

The only ancient weapon I regularly use is the ancient bow because it has crazy range before the arrow starts to drop off, so some korok seed puzzles are made a lot easier.

 

[psyfi]

I'm 60 hours in and I still have no idea what chuchu jelly does. Help please.

Also, I have a couple

Spoiler

large ancient cores

but can't figure out who I'm supposed to bring them to. I've tried the two facilities I've visited so far but no one seems interested in them.

Man, I've searched Hyrule Castle thoroughly three times and haven't found any

Spoiler

shrines or warp points

. How the hell am I missing them? I'll figure it out on my own, no one tell me.

 

[sleepnaught]

Do minibosses respawn after the bloodmoon?

 

[boxter432]

Do minibosses respawn after the bloodmoon?

yup. plenty of people mention getting one on eventide island and fighting a hinox back to back

 

[Thud]

I had no idea there were (desert enemy spoilers)

Spoiler

treasure octoroks.

Always use arrows on them, it's funny.

 

[Watch Da Birdie]

I had no idea there were (desert enemy spoilers)

Spoiler

treasure octoroks.

Spoiler

By the way, you can scope them out through Magnesis---their treasure chest can't be magnetized even if it's "metal"

 

[Twookie]

Finished all the side quests today and all shrines and the pictures for the compendium yesterday.
Don't think I'll bother finding all Korok seeds.

The only thing I have left is to upgrade my armor pieces, but I'm considering holding off on doing that just yet because it's mostly farming things. I should probably play some other games that I've been holding off because of this game.

bah, this game is so goddamn good. I neeeeeeeeeed the story DLC right now

 

[Kamina]

I watched the making of zelda video on the switch yesterday. Do you think Nintendo will ever release the 2d prototype they made that they based botw on?

You mean the Zelda 1 type of BOTW? God I hope this is an option for the season pass.

Man, I've searched Hyrule Castle thoroughly three times and haven't found any

Spoiler

shrines or warp points

. How the hell am I missing them? I'll figure it out on my own, no one tell me.

Enter from the north.

 

[Blarg]

I know some people are down on the dungeons but I think they're some of the best level design Nintendo has ever done, flat out. They're basically the Sand Ship (best dungeon in SS) with slicker movement.

Thematically I can see how the bosses disappoint but they're easily above Zelda par when it comes to how they play.

Agreed, I thought the dungeons were brilliant. Just because they don't follow the typical style doesn't make them less so. You don't need small keys, a mini boss and a big key to be a true Zelda dungeon.

 

[Pineconn]

I had no idea there were (desert enemy spoilers)

Spoiler

treasure octoroks.

Little fuckers. I encountered my first one at

Spoiler

Lake Hylia

with three hearts and I got one-shot.

 

[random25]

I watched the making of zelda video on the switch yesterday. Do you think Nintendo will ever release the 2d prototype they made that they based botw on?

Imagine that being the base for a Zelda Maker. I'm gonna buy that in an instant.

 

[atr0cious]

it was pretty clearly hyperbole. im recalling basic puzzles being used the entire game. Something like the iron boots in Ocarina for example, doubled as both a means to travel underwater, and to put extra weight on so you can push through strong winds.
Generally introducing new mechanics all the time, which to me, was a huge part of the magic of Zelda.

This post demonstrates how romanticized the old Zelda mechanics were. Yes the iron boots, the one time you can use it, then never again. The fact that hyrule castle in botw has the same types of puzzles you've done in the world is good. It shows they were preparing you for the end game. How many times do you throw on the iron boots in the end game any of the other versions? Or the hookshot, not even a thought. "Generally introducing mechanics all the time." The almost exact same ones since lttp.

And the hyperbole about the same shrines is overblown, save combat trials, which are lacking. The similarity allows you a hint to the solution, but all of them are unique.

 

[Akuun]

Do minibosses respawn after the bloodmoon?

Spoiler

I think so. Hinox and Lynels respawn, at least.

 

[BorkBork]

I had no idea there were (desert enemy spoilers)

Spoiler

treasure octoroks.

They always fuck me up because

Spoiler

I'm a greedy bastard. Startles me every time

 

[NOLA_Gaffer]

This is me waiting for my girls.

...in a plane


at work in a Chinese restaurant during my lunch break:


at my hotel room:


For a game this long, as a father with two demanding kids, every moment stolen is a blessing!

What's it like living the lap of luxury?

 

[marc^o^]

New (really good) review:
Why Is The Legend of Zelda: Breath of The Wild So Special?
https://creators.co/@twrm/4234694

 

[Memento Mori]

As a WiiU player of this game...blows my mind that there are those of you playing it portably.

I've only played it portably. My Switch hasn't been connected to a TV since the initial setup.

 

[GRW810]

Completed my 60th shrine (and then 61st soon after), passing the halfway mark. I still haven't visited two regions and I've barely explored Eldin and Faron so I'm very happy with my Shrine total so far. Very confident of easily passing 100 and hopefully pushing towards the full 120.

Halfway seems like a good judgement of my overall game progress. I have experienced nine memories, located 130 korok seeds (I'm aiming for 300 by the time I defeat Ganon), found two Great Fairies and I'm about to enter my second Divine Beast (Gerudo).

Having an absolute blast every time I play.

 

[psyfi]

Just looked at the stat buffs for the

Spoiler

Fierce Deity

Armor set and I need it, not to mention how bad ass it looks. I absolutely hate the fact of purchasing Amiibos for this kind of stuff.

I'm pretty annoyed it's locked behind Amiibos. There's no way I'm ever buying one, so I just never get the content.

 

[LegendofLex]

By that same logic, the game's authenticity could be called into question where ever it deters from LoZ (Towns, Story, NPCs, sidequests, ect.). Which is silly, the game isn't completely emulating LoZ and it isn't only emulating LoZ. It takes it design from across the Zelda spectrum. And what it does take from LoZ is only in the abstract.

When it comes to BotW's design, I'd imagine having a dungeon that isn't sectioned off from the overworld (the main thrust of the game) is plenty authentic to the feel of the game.

It's not like I'm complaining about adding more modern elements that weren't in LoZ. We're talking about a core element of LoZ being absent and replaced with something else that completely departs from the design tenets of LoZ's dungeons.

Also... BotW's dungeons were totally sectioned off from the overworld? Hyrule Castle is the only exception, and I've no quarrel with it anyway.

 

[mrklaw]

Do minibosses respawn after the bloodmoon?

I wish there was a circle of safety or something. I had just cleared out a camp when the blood moon came out and all the enemies immediately respawned right next to me

 

[Kiddy Dong]

I'm done.

Completion statistics:
- 120 shrines
- 430 Koroks
- 60.13% map completion
-

Spoiler

41/42

shrine quests (i.e. I missed a quest for one completed shrine)
-

Spoiler

59/76

side quests
- All memories recovered
- 303/385 compendium entries (missing 6 monsters (bosses) and 76 pieces of equipment)
-

Spoiler

59

unique articles of clothing, all fully upgraded, with no Amiibo scanned
- Highest weapon damage:

Spoiler

103 on a Savage Lynel Crusher, followed by 96 on a Savage Lynel Sword

- 3 bridles and 2 saddles collected
- 0

Spoiler

Lords of the Mountain

mounted
- 19

Spoiler

Ancient Arrows

obtained, with none used and none purchased
- 833 screenshots with the Capture button saved (including post-completion statistics)
- You don't want to know how many hours played
- Many adventures to come

*

Yesterday I posted that I was finally ready to see Ganon. But I wasn't ready to say goodbye to Hyrule, and I'm still not, though making it to the end credits is always a moment that demarcates two different levels of involvement with the experience, a clear before and after. So for my last session before I confronted the final boss, I thought I'd play the way some people here with better navigational skills than mine have sworn by: in the Pro interface, and with no resort to fast travel. It started with (unsuccessfully) combing the southwest for something I knew I was still missing (

Spoiler

sand boots, though as consolation for venturing all this way I killed an Electric Lizalfos with a Molduga

). Then I made my way over to where I left my horse by the

Spoiler

horse archery camp

, diverted several times along pathways in the world that, after all this time, I had never seen before. I rode:

Spoiler

rode under the sweep of a dragon on the Bridge of Hylia, rode home to Hateno Village to display the Gerudo souvenir scimitar and shield on the wall, rode all the way through Kakariko to pay one last visit to Impa and continue northeast to Tarrey Town for one restock of arrows.

Rode all the way to Hyrule Castle, past as many Guardians as I could, until I dismounted by the Castle Town walls for the safety of my horse and broke in through the front gate.

Spoiler

(I could have ported to the shrine by the docks, but what fun is that?)

It prolonged the session by hours. I stopped for photogenic screenshots everywhere and revealed over a dozen Koroks along the way. It was Breath of the Wild in its purest form.

I had already explored the lower levels of Hyrule Castle quite thoroughly before, so I zipped right to the final area (though not without

Spoiler

peeking into the the Second Gatehouse first, as I had strategically evaded its interior on previous occasions expecting it to be a trap—and of course the portcullis came down and trapped me with a Silver Lynel, which I didn't end up fighting as I had slaughtered so many of its kin before and needed nothing from it; that didn't stop it from raining Shock Arrows on me even after I left the building

). The ascent to its highest point was the real treat. Were it not for that, the trek to the final boss would have felt far too short, and I was stunned to find just how close I was to stumbling into it on previous visits, as I'd come as far as

Spoiler

Princess Zelda's Study and Room

twice before.

As with Majora's Mask, everything in BotW's main trunk comes off as abbreviated and straightforward as it is utterly swallowed by the rest of the game around it. (And the Majora fight may not be anything to write home about, but it was preceded by that absolutely transcendent scene on the grassy hill.) There was really no way for Ganon to compete as the pinnacle of the experience, especially right next door to something that does compete to be a highlight of BotW and the Zelda series as a whole, the traversal of Hyrule Castle.

On the final sequence: I can see why people found it underwhelming, almost like something you do on the side so you can get your map percentage to show up before you get back to the real game.

Spoiler

Calamity and Dark Beast Ganon desperately sought to recall the Twilight Princess encounter, but they wound up feeling like two out of four phases in TP without serving similarly as a capstone of the game that came before it.

For the record, while TWW's finale has the best atmosphere of any in the series, I think it was TP that nailed the ideal of how to structure a final boss. First phase, old-fashioned ping-pong deflection as a warm-up and a series throwback. Second phase, Beast Ganon: a counterpart/rival fight set up thematically as a foil to Wolf Link. Third phase, a test of a TP-specific mechanic, the horseback combat. Fourth phase, a sword fight, up close and personal, with the additional easter egg of the fishing pole. It has a rhythm of escalation that recapitulates the game before it and says, "This is what TP is about."

Likewise for TWW, where the cooperative positioning with Zelda resonates with the partner mechanics of the game as well as Tetra's active role as a character, and Ganondorf matches Link's dynamism as a swordsman and tests the player on the parry mechanic: the fight doesn't take advantage of TWW's unique item/weapon interactions, no, but it still captures a sense of what TWW is about; it's unmistakable which game you're in. Skyward Sword's fight with Demise is literally about pointing a skyward sword.

With Calamity Ganon,

Spoiler

I never got the message that "This is what BotW is about." I get that from Eventide Island; I get that from Hyrule Castle; I get that from the best boss in the game, Thunderblight Ganon, which draws on everything from the electricity mechanics to Magnesis usage to exploiting the layout of an unconventionally shaped room. I don't get it from Calamity Ganon, though I also got through the fight feeling like I didn't get a chance to properly learn any of its mechanics, partly as I was able to take a few hits. To its credit, it was here that I figured out how to shield-parry Guardian beams, which I had actually never done over the whole course of the game despite destroying dozens of Guardians in the field. But once I figured that out, the entire fight reduced to dodging, parrying the beam, and slashing with the Master Sword, with the sporadic aerial bow-shot just for style. Surely there is more to it than that? Where is the test of your game knowledge, the way that Lynels press you to learn your combat timings as well as your mastery of the elements? Did I just never learn the pattern?

Spoiler

Meanwhile, Dark Beast Ganon was more like a dessert than a final phase: you're back out in the world, like you are in TP's horseback phase, but the terrain is too open and blank for you to feel grounded in the same world that you've just spent weeks exploring, and again it's a straightforward test: dodge the beams, get some elevation, hit the targets with the Zelda's bow. About the only BotW-like thing you can do here, as far as I could tell, is create updrafts; and I suppose the game responds to your personal journey, like so many of its other scenarios do, by bringing in your favourite horse (unless everybody gets the royal white horse)—though I played the whole fight dismounted anyway. Maybe there is a range of openness to experimentation I wasn't seeing, but even so, the standard approach to this phase already felt singularly efficient.

I mean to revisit BotW with a straight-to-Ganon run someday: frankly, I would expect the finale to be a much better experience this way than in the standard course of doing everything you can to empower yourself and stack the desk in your favour first, which makes sense story-wise but throws off the progression of the game when the boss doesn't scale reactively in mechanics, AI, or damage output the way the

Spoiler

Silver Lynels

do. Perhaps it was too easy at my power level for me to appreciate its nuances.

*

I've written extensively on my experience here over the course of the month, and for my own convenient reference more than anything, I've indexed the more significant posts that serve as an informal play diary charting my course through the adventure, something that seems more valuable for BotW than for most games given the flexibility of how to proceed. Spoilers are generously tagged to permit reading at any stage of completion.

OT1 (by my estimate of hours played, not yet displayed on the system at the time):
- 12 hours — dawn of the second day
- 35-40 hours — exploring the west
- 50 hours — world map completed
- 75-80 hours —

Spoiler

Tarrey Town

constructed

(Meanwhile, on Eventide...)

OT2 (by shrines / Koroks completed):
- 85 / 105 — interim statistics
- 94 / 153 — first Guardian and Lynel killed
- 108 / 314 — fourth

Spoiler

Great Fairy

unlocked
- 109 / 368 — what do you mean, I have to do the main quest?
- 109 / 377 — all Divine Beasts, with extensive remarks on dungeon design
- 117 / 396 — as far as I made it without looking anything up
- 120 / 402 — all shrines completed

I'm not ready yet to reflect on whether this was the best time I've ever had with a video game; that's too audacious a claim to make without the benefit of considerable distance. Ask me in a few years. (A top-two Zelda, let's say, right next to The Wind Waker—which BotW objectively expands upon and surpasses in many respects, though as we all know, what makes a game an all-time favourite can't be reduced to a checklist or a comparison chart.) It would be more accurate to say that Breath of the Wild was consistently great for the longest. It now accounts for the lengthiest single-player save file in my entire life of playing video games (surpassing the Xenoblade games combined, or any of my Animal Crossing towns)—yet I am less fatigued with it, less ready to put it away, than I am after most experiences of 20 to 30 hours in length. It is, in a word, inexhaustible.

I still have no intention of collecting every Korok seed. But it's good to know that hundreds of them await should I ever feel like booting up the game to go for a leisurely drive.

Your play diary was a good read, thanks for sharing! How many hours did you put in?

 

[DonShula]

I wish there was a circle of safety or something. I had just cleared out a camp when the blood moon came out and all the enemies immediately respawned right next to me

Blood Moon always seems to hit right after I've just burned through food and weapons to take down some tough group.

 

[Addi]

Did the

Spoiler

horse obstacle course

mini game. I read complaints here about how hard it was,

Spoiler

that the horse wouldn't jump

, but I had almost no issues. Messed up the first time, but got the hang of it the second time.

Spoiler

Now my horse looks fabulous with it's new saddle and bridle.

Here's how to beat it if you have problems with it:

Spoiler

- don't go full gallop, only at the start and end of the course. If you absolutely need to gallop, do it right after an obstacle, not before it. Again, you don't really need to gallop between obstacles, you have plenty of time.
- ride towards the obstacles in a straight line. When you have aimed you horse towards the next obstacle, just let go of your joystick. Right after an obstacle, do a 90 degrees turn to aim for the next obstacle.

 

[takriel]

Zelda is hardly about story. And most likely will never be. They mentioned that over and over again.

They're not doing themselves any favors by recycling vital plot points in every new game.

 

[Peltz]

They're not doing themselves any favors by recycling vital plot points in every new game.

I kind of like it. It reinforces the karmic relationship between the titles.

 

[marc^o^]

I'm done.

Completion statistics:
- 120 shrines
- 430 Koroks
- 60.13% map completion
-

Spoiler

41/42

shrine quests (i.e. I missed a quest for one completed shrine)
-

Spoiler

59/76

side quests
- All memories recovered
- 303/385 compendium entries (missing 6 monsters (bosses) and 76 pieces of equipment)
-

Spoiler

59

unique articles of clothing, all fully upgraded, with no Amiibo scanned
- Highest weapon damage:

Spoiler

103 on a Savage Lynel Crusher, followed by 96 on a Savage Lynel Sword

- 3 bridles and 2 saddles collected
- 0

Spoiler

Lords of the Mountain

mounted
- 19

Spoiler

Ancient Arrows

obtained, with none used and none purchased
- 833 screenshots with the Capture button saved (including post-completion statistics)
- You don't want to know how many hours played
- Many adventures to come

*

Yesterday I posted that I was finally ready to see Ganon. But I wasn't ready to say goodbye to Hyrule, and I'm still not, though making it to the end credits is always a moment that demarcates two different levels of involvement with the experience, a clear before and after. So for my last session before I confronted the final boss, I thought I'd play the way some people here with better navigational skills than mine have sworn by: in the Pro interface, and with no resort to fast travel. It started with (unsuccessfully) combing the southwest for something I knew I was still missing (

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sand boots, though as consolation for venturing all this way I killed an Electric Lizalfos with a Molduga

). Then I made my way over to where I left my horse by the

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horse archery camp

, diverted several times along pathways in the world that, after all this time, I had never seen before. I rode:

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rode under the sweep of a dragon on the Bridge of Hylia, rode home to Hateno Village to display the Gerudo souvenir scimitar and shield on the wall, rode all the way through Kakariko to pay one last visit to Impa and continue northeast to Tarrey Town for one restock of arrows.

Rode all the way to Hyrule Castle, past as many Guardians as I could, until I dismounted by the Castle Town walls for the safety of my horse and broke in through the front gate.

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(I could have ported to the shrine by the docks, but what fun is that?)

It prolonged the session by hours. I stopped for photogenic screenshots everywhere and revealed over a dozen Koroks along the way. It was Breath of the Wild in its purest form.

I had already explored the lower levels of Hyrule Castle quite thoroughly before, so I zipped right to the final area (though not without

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peeking into the the Second Gatehouse first, as I had strategically evaded its interior on previous occasions expecting it to be a trap—and of course the portcullis came down and trapped me with a Silver Lynel, which I didn't end up fighting as I had slaughtered so many of its kin before and needed nothing from it; that didn't stop it from raining Shock Arrows on me even after I left the building

). The ascent to its highest point was the real treat. Were it not for that, the trek to the final boss would have felt far too short, and I was stunned to find just how close I was to stumbling into it on previous visits, as I'd come as far as

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Princess Zelda's Study and Room

twice before.

As with Majora's Mask, everything in BotW's main trunk comes off as abbreviated and straightforward as it is utterly swallowed by the rest of the game around it. (And the Majora fight may not be anything to write home about, but it was preceded by that absolutely transcendent scene on the grassy hill.) There was really no way for Ganon to compete as the pinnacle of the experience, especially right next door to something that does compete to be a highlight of BotW and the Zelda series as a whole, the traversal of Hyrule Castle.

On the final sequence: I can see why people found it underwhelming, almost like something you do on the side so you can get your map percentage to show up before you get back to the real game.

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Calamity and Dark Beast Ganon desperately sought to recall the Twilight Princess encounter, but they wound up feeling like two out of four phases in TP without serving similarly as a capstone of the game that came before it.

For the record, while TWW's finale has the best atmosphere of any in the series, I think it was TP that nailed the ideal of how to structure a final boss. First phase, old-fashioned ping-pong deflection as a warm-up and a series throwback. Second phase, Beast Ganon: a counterpart/rival fight set up thematically as a foil to Wolf Link. Third phase, a test of a TP-specific mechanic, the horseback combat. Fourth phase, a sword fight, up close and personal, with the additional easter egg of the fishing pole. It has a rhythm of escalation that recapitulates the game before it and says, "This is what TP is about."

Likewise for TWW, where the cooperative positioning with Zelda resonates with the partner mechanics of the game as well as Tetra's active role as a character, and Ganondorf matches Link's dynamism as a swordsman and tests the player on the parry mechanic: the fight doesn't take advantage of TWW's unique item/weapon interactions, no, but it still captures a sense of what TWW is about; it's unmistakable which game you're in. Skyward Sword's fight with Demise is literally about pointing a skyward sword.

With Calamity Ganon,

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I never got the message that "This is what BotW is about." I get that from Eventide Island; I get that from Hyrule Castle; I get that from the best boss in the game, Thunderblight Ganon, which draws on everything from the electricity mechanics to Magnesis usage to exploiting the layout of an unconventionally shaped room. I don't get it from Calamity Ganon, though I also got through the fight feeling like I didn't get a chance to properly learn any of its mechanics, partly as I was able to take a few hits. To its credit, it was here that I figured out how to shield-parry Guardian beams, which I had actually never done over the whole course of the game despite destroying dozens of Guardians in the field. But once I figured that out, the entire fight reduced to dodging, parrying the beam, and slashing with the Master Sword, with the sporadic aerial bow-shot just for style. Surely there is more to it than that? Where is the test of your game knowledge, the way that Lynels press you to learn your combat timings as well as your mastery of the elements? Did I just never learn the pattern?

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Meanwhile, Dark Beast Ganon was more like a dessert than a final phase: you're back out in the world, like you are in TP's horseback phase, but the terrain is too open and blank for you to feel grounded in the same world that you've just spent weeks exploring, and again it's a straightforward test: dodge the beams, get some elevation, hit the targets with the Zelda's bow. About the only BotW-like thing you can do here, as far as I could tell, is create updrafts; and I suppose the game responds to your personal journey, like so many of its other scenarios do, by bringing in your favourite horse (unless everybody gets the royal white horse)—though I played the whole fight dismounted anyway. Maybe there is a range of openness to experimentation I wasn't seeing, but even so, the standard approach to this phase already felt singularly efficient.

I mean to revisit BotW with a straight-to-Ganon run someday: frankly, I would expect the finale to be a much better experience this way than in the standard course of doing everything you can to empower yourself and stack the desk in your favour first, which makes sense story-wise but throws off the progression of the game when the boss doesn't scale reactively in mechanics, AI, or damage output the way the

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Silver Lynels

do. Perhaps it was too easy at my power level for me to appreciate its nuances.

*

I've written extensively on my experience here over the course of the month, and for my own convenient reference more than anything, I've indexed the more significant posts that serve as an informal play diary charting my course through the adventure, something that seems more valuable for BotW than for most games given the flexibility of how to proceed. Spoilers are generously tagged to permit reading at any stage of completion.

OT1 (by my estimate of hours played, not yet displayed on the system at the time):
- 12 hours — dawn of the second day
- 35-40 hours — exploring the west
- 50 hours — world map completed
- 75-80 hours —

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Tarrey Town

constructed

(Meanwhile, on Eventide...)

OT2 (by shrines / Koroks completed):
- 85 / 105 — interim statistics
- 94 / 153 — first Guardian and Lynel killed
- 108 / 314 — fourth

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Great Fairy

unlocked
- 109 / 368 — what do you mean, I have to do the main quest?
- 109 / 377 — all Divine Beasts, with extensive remarks on dungeon design
- 117 / 396 — as far as I made it without looking anything up
- 120 / 402 — all shrines completed

I'm not ready yet to reflect on whether this was the best time I've ever had with a video game; that's too audacious a claim to make without the benefit of considerable distance. Ask me in a few years. (A top-two Zelda, let's say, right next to The Wind Waker—which BotW objectively expands upon and surpasses in many respects, though as we all know, what makes a game an all-time favourite can't be reduced to a checklist or a comparison chart.) It would be more accurate to say that Breath of the Wild was consistently great for the longest. It now accounts for the lengthiest single-player save file in my entire life of playing video games (surpassing the Xenoblade games combined, or any of my Animal Crossing towns)—yet I am less fatigued with it, less ready to put it away, than I am after most experiences of 20 to 30 hours in length. It is, in a word, inexhaustible.

I still have no intention of collecting every Korok seed. But it's good to know that hundreds of them await should I ever feel like booting up the game to go for a leisurely drive.

10/10 post, bravo.