MattyP

It's the way Nintendo mostly work. They don't really do the hype train thing. To be honest I'm glad. Rather have something discussed when it's close to release rather than sometimes years away from release. Hate seeing showcase type events with things like... Here is what you can play... Next year. Also having too much coverage during development can raise expectations far to much only for people to be over critical when the expectation is way over what is delivered.

Indeed played though this a bit back. Definitely more of a nostalgia trip than anything else and seems like a final farewell to Monkey Island from any staff involved in this that were in the original. As you say it's a good game and not a must buy think I played it through when it was on GamePass and it's perfect for a digital service. Think I might have been a touch disappointed if I'd have bought it. Still evoked memories of a bygone generation of gaming though loved the LucasArts games back in the day. Remember playing Maniac Mansion on the C64. Revolutionary at the time... When we were largely used to text input interfaces.

Reactive response? MS have the xCloud branding and Nintendo have the Switch. Sony at the moment don't have anything really. Sure you can steam games to your phone but for some reason its not something they seem to push much on the marketing. I think its more of "we have presence in that space" message.

Ah good stuff it's a nice little game as and beautiful experience. Think most of the achievements are finding the shrines... I'm busy doing that elsewhere at the moment

So since I focussed on building stamina this has transformed things a bit! Gliding and climbing longer makes traversing much more pleasant! DId a few geoglyphs tonight and started to get snippets of the back story. This is all wonderfully addictive.... Combat now is getting much more approachable now I'm up at 10 hearts too. Think it can feel a bit challenging when you first start off in this. My advice is to stick with it and keep doing shrines to start with to get some strength and stamina built up. I did bounce off BotW quite hard and tried starting and playing it a few times and gave up. Think breaking weapons and the open unstructured nature if it kind of didn't gel with me at all. Just felt too un-Zelda like. This however I approached with a different mindset accepting the direction Ninty have took the series. This feels like they have got the blend between old Zelda and new Zelda perfect especially with the tears that give the story in bits and general feel of it. Reminds me a lot of Zeldas of old. With lots of new to have fun with. Anyhow have to say really enjoying this coming up to 60 hours now. Insane.

Nice I really need to upgrade my power only have one battery which you start the game with. Just focussing on the shrines still to get my stamina up at the moment! Lots of collecting busy work in this.... However I guess it makes you feel like you have achieved something when your rank up on something. Currently 40 shrines in so over a hundred left to find.. kind of reminds me of hunting for orbs in Crackdown.... At this rate don't think I'll be playing another game all year....

So in a bit of dialema at the moment build stamina or strength?! Have 10 hearts and 2 extra bits of a dial on my stamina ring (8 shrines worth if you will). Thinking about alternating now between building both up in sequence - so every 4 shrines completed add a strength next four add stamina and so on.... Sound reasonable? How did you approach it?! Been going after some glyphs tonight enjoying the unfolding story and visited my first temple.... Can't believe I've currently racked over 55 hours on this! 😳

Just convention isn't it? This is what happens when developers try to break out of convention... Must admit when things started breaking on BotW found it irritating because it felt like another resource to manage and in general the game felt like work instead of fun.. keep the health topped up, keep the weapons handy etc. Cook food... Its a difficult thing to get the balance right I guess. Think they got the balance about right in TotK. Seems to be plenty of weapons around and if not plenty of things you can use as weapons. As always though always takes a bit more work on behalf of the player - to learn the game and systems. Like when your weapon is nearly broken you can hurl it at the enemy too for an extra bit of damage. Oh and the fact you can hit the enemies and just grab their weapons anyway etc. Breaking weapons actually adds a bit more strategy into the mix. Plenty of options.. and really.. you can always rrrrrruuuuunnnnn..... (tactical withdrawal!)

Hope you picked up the meat and cooked it... Never waste a resource in this game...

Runakit Shrine My solution was probably a bit overengineered. Effectively created a hook out of the bits!

Trying to figure out how to get pictures from my Switch to here without using social media.. hmmm... The onboard tool doesn't work (my phone won't connect to the page that it creates). Something to do with Android update I think... EDIT : Just took a picture with my phone and then just uploaded it. Probably easiest way..

Just thought I'd push out this as an idea and to keep the main Zelda TotK thread clear of this (TBH getting tired of wrapping everything in spoiler tags in there! The idea is to have a title say: Shrine / task / quest name and then some screen shots perhaps of the things you built to complete the element? It will be interesting to see how everyone has approached things.. We can wrap everything below the name in a spoiler tag if that is better? Not sure.. this thread might be a complete waste of time (not another Zelda thread!) but thought it might keep the main thread clear a bit of this stuff perhaps whilst showing off any crazy builds people have done!

Indeed! Might be nice to turn the spoilers topic into one where discussion is made about the various missions/tasks and how people solved them... Speaking of which having problems uploading screen grabs from the Switch to my phone.. scan the QR code and then try to access to local page it creates and the PC won't let me view it for some reason.. probably a security setting on the browser. How is everyone else doing it?

I did ponder the same thing when I was playing a few days back... and then I built a raft with some fans to travel down a river! To some extent Zelda has always had "gimmicks" where technology has improved to allow them. In the end its a series created around having fun and adventures which is part of its charm. This type of game evokes memories to my childhood when summers seemed to stretch out forever - heading out with a bunch of mates around the local area building dens etc. Playing by riversides etc. Pretending there were creatures in the woods and exploring around. Think this is why the game is drawing me in TBH and I've spent 50 or so hours just "messing about" in the world. Its pure escapism from everyday life. Which lets face it for most of us revolves around work and responsibilities. This gives you all the tools to play around with and do whatever you want. Sure it may feel gimmicky but well its fun right? And sure its not "pure" Zelda in terms of a linear plot and join the dots gameplay. Its kind of built for a new generation of gamers and social media too - so its like Zelda is adapting in its own unique way to the changing gaming industry and its audience. It has something for everyone.... Traditional Zelda fans (storyline and historical throw backs), The crafters (building things - Minecraft crowd)) The shooters (combat) and lastly The puzzlers (Shines with ingenious puzzles). Something for everyone in there.. to me its like four games in one... and it does each of these four things really well IMHO with enough depth to keep people happy. Which makes it a superb game for me. Its a bright light in a pretty bleak world at the moment IMHO.

Oh dear you know when you've been playing to much of a game when it influences your dreams Last night dreamt I was fixing a motor to a boat and sailing across a sun kissed lake with green hills all around. Oh and then flying around in the clouds looking down at the land for things.... NIce peaceful dreams I guess though....

Know how you feel .... Just hoping I get the hang of fighting once I've got hearts up a bit... Hence the focus on getting them up first... Hopefully I get some chance of taking them on as I seem to be dying almost instantly with anything but smaller critters roaming on the fields. Although thinking might be constructing some machines to help me ....

Kind of my thoughts... I've spent 50 hours on this and didn't think I was actually making any progress until I started to focus on something which were the shrines for me and still is at the moment. Warning the video above does contain a hit of footage from the game and depending how long you've been playing may contain slight spoilers. Think I'm limiting my sessions to around four shrines a time with a Skytower if I am in the vecinity of one. Nearly got the full map unlocked now however need some heat and cold protection so off to find the appropriate vegetation to cook or clothing to buy!

Finding this aspect a bit grindy to be honest. It's one of the aspects that I don't really enjoy. Might be an easier way though of upgrading the batteries though than collecting a shed load of Zoanite...

Agree this is exactly what I'm doing. Just doing shrine runs at the moment and unlocking sky towers. Finding the combat equally as challenging though but because of devices etc available they have made the enemies a bit tougher I think. After I've built up Link a bit going to get some decent armour then work on combat. What I have noticed so far though is there are so many approaches to fighting and brute force attacks aren't always the best way especially with lower hearts have look at the environment to see if you use that to your advantage... (Knocking enemies down from high places etc).

Indeed! This is a sprawling mass of a game to explore.... Of course that was another hour added on when I was going to quit for the night! Hate it when you just see one more shrine in the near distance just before you decide to finish your session.... Always end up going for it....

Updated... Think if any they are small and focused on the devices and powers you get?

Some mild story spoilers in the video apparently! Think it's probably to do with the devices and powers etc you will get as you progress through. Not sure if this has already been posted up but the variety of things you can do in this with the devices is incredible...don't think I'd have the patience to mess around this much however I can see why Nintendo put this in going by how many of these vids will be hitting social media over the months/years ahead

Nice vid with a few more details. Thinking I might actually try this before Alan Wake 2 like the vibes it's giving off in the vid. Also this is an interesting watch for those who remembered the original goes behind the scenes of how it was made and the design drivers etc. Forgot about the specifics of the game and how it defined a genre. When you look at Resi Evil you can see where the ideas all came from. Tank controls, fixed camera puzzles etc. RE is essentially a Japanese AitD.

Well another session done... More shrines and a sky tower. The Skytower was guarded by what seemed like an army of enemies Managed to take a few out and sneak in to the sky tower to unlock it. Sometimes it's just easier avoiding the enemies. Combat is getting a bit easier I'm upto eight hearts now. They still seem to do huge amounts of damage if they catch you though....

Companies and the community in general. Seems to be an emphasis sometimes on being the first to "finish" anything or compete to get through things. Suppose it's kind of driven by the capitalist society in a way through culture etc. Trying to take a more spiritual approach to playing this and not worrying to much if I'm missing out on anything just playing on my own terms and in the present and enjoying what I'm doing. Speaking of which off to have an adventure and loose myself for a couple of hours or so in Hyrule...