The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

[iknowgungfu]

I’ve just made the mistake of looking how many are in the next one.  May leave it for a while. 

[Dirty Harry Potter]

Nintendo should totally create the prequel as a piece of downloadable content. The map is done - just need some more writing. slight location rejig and some new missions - job done.

[Jamie John]

It's taken me a while to get into it as I just kept getting my arse handed to me and none of my weapons did any damage, but I'm really enjoying my master mode playthrough now. You're forced to play much more cautiously than in regular mode, and the floating platforms are a nice touch too. The best weapons so far are the deku leaf and a good cliff edge. I've no doubt the game will consume my life for the next six to eight weeks, like it did the first time I played it.

[merrychan]

12 hours ago, Dirty Harry Potter said:

Nintendo should totally create the prequel as a piece of downloadable content. The map is done - just need some more writing. slight location rejig and some new missions - job done.

 

I somehow got it into my head that the Champions Ballad DLC was set in the past, for shame.

[Hylian]

3 hours ago, Jamie John said:

It's taken me a while to get into it as I just kept getting my arse handed to me and none of my weapons did any damage, but I'm really enjoying my master mode playthrough now. You're forced to play much more cautiously than in regular mode, and the floating platforms are a nice touch too. The best weapons so far are the deku leaf and a good cliff edge. I've no doubt the game will consume my life for the next six to eight weeks, like it did the first time I played it.

I really struggled with master mode. I got off the plateau and to the first couple of villages, but I found myself wasting so many weapons taking on camps. I think breaking point was when I used up my whole inventory of swords defeating one camp, only to be rewarded with a low level weapon (like 5) in the chest. It seemed the whole combat system was fucked to me. I think I'd have preferred it without the enemies having regen health.

 

Are you meant to just ignore combat for the first 10 hours?

[Jamie John]

34 minutes ago, Hylian said:

I really struggled with master mode. I got off the plateau and to the first couple of villages, but I found myself wasting so many weapons taking on camps. I think breaking point was when I used up my whole inventory of swords defeating one camp, only to be rewarded with a low level weapon (like 5) in the chest. It seemed the whole combat system was fucked to me. I think I'd have preferred it without the enemies having regen health.

 

Are you meant to just ignore combat for the first 10 hours?

 

You definitely have to be a lot more circumspect. The weapons in the chests on the platforms are always a lot better than the normal ones you come across.

[robdood]

3 hours ago, Hylian said:

I really struggled with master mode. I got off the plateau and to the first couple of villages, but I found myself wasting so many weapons taking on camps. I think breaking point was when I used up my whole inventory of swords defeating one camp, only to be rewarded with a low level weapon (like 5) in the chest. It seemed the whole combat system was fucked to me. I think I'd have preferred it without the enemies having regen health.

 

Are you meant to just ignore combat for the first 10 hours?

It seemed pretty clear to me that camps are best left alone in Master Mode.  Well, the ones with the 'beat all enemies to open the chest' thing, anyway.  Sneaky sneaky was mega fun.  Loot from Shrines / bridge floating platforms is way more powerful and easier to obtain. 

[andys]

So I completed this last year (all shrines/all beasts), and I'm about to pick up the DLC.

 

Am I best off playing it afresh in master mode, and then moving onto the DLC, or shall I do the DLC first and then do a fresh playthrough?

[robdood]

Hard to say really, depending on what you want to get out of it. 

 

Since you've already 100% it, are you just gonna leg it through? If so maybe normal mode is the way. 

 

 

If you fancy something more substantial, try master mode 100%,but put in some self-imposed rules, eg no map use, no fast travel, or something. 

[iknowgungfu]

Is there anywhere you can stash armour items? I am picking up special armour from the DLC side quests and have no more space!! I presume you cannot increase inventory size like you can with Karok seeds. I have bought the house in hateno (I’m battling with the kids at the moment for bathtime so can’t check).

[robdood]

41 minutes ago, iknowgungfu said:

Is there anywhere you can stash armour items? I am picking up special armour from the DLC side quests and have no more space!! I presume you cannot increase inventory size like you can with Karok seeds. I have bought the house in hateno (I’m battling with the kids at the moment for bathtime so can’t check).

AFAIK you have can't carry too many clothes, so not sure what's going on for you here.. 

[iknowgungfu]

I have Justin filled the slots and assumed. Never mind.  Thanks. Will have to go looking for some cold resistant armour to make my way to the next divine beast. 

[iknowgungfu]

Is it OK to sell gems and diamonds etc?  I fancy buying the rito armour for cold resistance but it is quite pricey. I thought they would be required for something else but of the 11 diamonds I have and various gems I could sell a few and buy them easily. 

 

Just dont want to miss out later in the game if I should horde them for longer. 

[NickC]

There is a use for them. But really only the most valuable ones, AFAIK.

 

So save the most valuable ones for now until you figure out what they are for.

 

You can sell the rest.

[iknowgungfu]

Yeah. Realised I had loads and loads of rubies and selling a couple of them with some crap elixirs brought me the required funding. 

 

Only just got to Rito - then had to go shopping with the missus . She just can’t understand the value in playing video games on rare child free days.....

[Calashnikov]

I’d sell them to round them down to the nearest 10 or 5 once I’d amassed a bunch of them, always keeping a wee stash for various other uses, so that I was never left short.

[Hylian]

23 hours ago, robdood said:

It seemed pretty clear to me that camps are best left alone in Master Mode.  Well, the ones with the 'beat all enemies to open the chest' thing, anyway.  Sneaky sneaky was mega fun.  Loot from Shrines / bridge floating platforms is way more powerful and easier to obtain. 

I thought ahead to some of the necessary battles with Lynels and assumed it would be borderline impossible. How is Eventide possible in Master Mode?!

[robdood]

 

30 minutes ago, Hylian said:

I thought ahead to some of the necessary battles with Lynels and assumed it would be borderline impossible. How is Eventide possible in Master Mode?!

*cool anime guy pose* 

 

Like this!   (also, what necessary battles with Lynels?)

 

 

 

I'm close to finishing the game + Champion's Ballad on Master Mode with no heart or stamina upgrades..  

 

 

[Hylian]

21 minutes ago, robdood said:

I'm close to finishing the game + Champion's Ballad on Master Mode with no heart or stamina upgrades..

Ha. Show off!

 

Isn't the lynel in Zora's domain necessary? Anyway, ignoring lynel battles for the entire game would be a bit depressing. Anyway, I watched your first challenge video where you describe being overpowered in the later stages of a MM run, so I'm considering going for it again.

[smac]

What he carries is necessary, but you don't have to kill him to get it. I didn't.

[Professor Puzzles]

13 hours ago, iknowgungfu said:

Yeah. Realised I had loads and loads of rubies and selling a couple of them with some crap elixirs brought me the required funding. 

 

Only just got to Rito - then had to go shopping with the missus . She just can’t understand the value in playing video games on rare child free days.....

 

There's a fishman in Zora's Domain that buys Luminous stones off you 10 at a time for a better price than the shops, and there's a merchant lady in the Goron Village that does the same but with gems instead (she's a bit fickle about what she buys though; one moment she wants sapphires, the next it's diamonds etc.)

[iknowgungfu]

Thanks all. I’ve seen both of these characters and promptly forgot about them. 

[robdood]

Quite pleased with my latest Zelda ep, so much I published it immediately   (or start here if you want to see the montage of which I'm proud - wish I could have spent longer on it)

 

 

Series is on pause for a short while though while I work on my Dark Souls guide.  Montages / edited footage (+ post prod commentary) for the rest is probably how I'm gonna have to do it... 

 

Have to finish though, I've put in so much work on it, haha. 

 

[Jamie John]

In pains me to say it, but after spending 100 hours on this game this time last year on the Wii U, I think I've come back to it a bit too soon. Now that the novelty of Master Mode has worn off slightly, everything is a bit too familiar and I'm finding it too easy to remember where everything is. I'm not sure what to do because I want to play the DLC, but the prospect of having to traipse over all four corners of the map once more to battle all the divine beasts again doesn't especially fill me with anticipation. A lot of what makes this game so brilliant is the joy that's had from discovering things for the first time, but when you've discovered everything already you can't help but think about all the other games you've yet to play. Hmm.

[Delargey]

Yeah, sadly the master mode does hold that much appeal to me, just unlocking the map and finding new locations was the real joy for playing for me.

[robdood]

1 hour ago, Jamie John said:

In pains me to say it, but after spending 100 hours on this game this time last year on the Wii U, I think I've come back to it a bit too soon. Now that the novelty of Master Mode has worn off slightly, everything is a bit too familiar and I'm finding it too easy to remember where everything is. I'm not sure what to do because I want to play the DLC, but the prospect of having to traipse over all four corners of the map once more to battle all the divine beasts again doesn't especially fill me with anticipation. A lot of what makes this game so brilliant is the joy that's had from discovering things for the first time, but when you've discovered everything already you can't help but think about all the other games you've yet to play. Hmm.

Well why not try Ganon without doing the divine beasts first?  It's pretty epic if you do it that way

 

I get what you mean, though.  That's why I ended up setting myself a daft challenge run. 

[hercules]

I finally found all 120 shrines so it was time to finally defeat Ganon. This is my favourite game of all time, I have never enjoyed exploring a world so much,  Pure joy. Question, I am now looking into buying the dlc, can I do it with my current end game save or would I need to start again?

[robdood]

You can do it from your current save. 

[mwaawm]

Master mode silver Lynel refuses to be stunned by any arrows... Tried all the different types with a savage Lynel bow x3 shot equipped and have been consistently hitting the guy full on the face. He takes a little damage but never buckles to his knees to allow me to mount him and give him a few solid clouts to the back of the head... What gives?

[Jamie John]

On 3/25/2018 at 16:26, Jamie John said:

In pains me to say it, but after spending 100 hours on this game this time last year on the Wii U, I think I've come back to it a bit too soon. Now that the novelty of Master Mode has worn off slightly, everything is a bit too familiar and I'm finding it too easy to remember where everything is. I'm not sure what to do because I want to play the DLC, but the prospect of having to traipse over all four corners of the map once more to battle all the divine beasts again doesn't especially fill me with anticipation. A lot of what makes this game so brilliant is the joy that's had from discovering things for the first time, but when you've discovered everything already you can't help but think about all the other games you've yet to play. Hmm.

 

I persevered for a few more hours after posting this and did the Rito Divine Beast, but I've decided to come away from it now. Apart from the aforementioned lack of discovery after rinsing the game relatively recently, Master Mode simply results in deterring you from combat instead of making the game more interesting or challenging. I thought when it was announced that this seemed a pretty lazy way to make the game ostensibly more difficult, and this has proved to be the case. Specifically, the regeneration feature combined with your seeming inability to pull individual enemies away from groups, like in Dark Souls, means that most encounters against more than one enemy at once are suicidal, or they take your entire stock of weapons to succeed. Seeing as the majority of combat encounters are against groups, therefore, you end up just avoiding them as you know that you'll either die repeatedly, or the chest the enemy group is guarding won't be worth the number of weapons you'll have to go through to get to it. I know it has its detractors, but I like the combat in this game - hurling swords and Bobokins's faces to send them flying off cliffs never gets old - so it's disappointing for me that the creative ways in which you're encouraged to ambush enemy groups just don't work in Master Mode, largely because the enemies just have too much health, making battles attritional as opposed to fun. And even when you do do something like blow up the entire camp with bomb barrels, for example, the enemy health regeneration kicks in so quickly that you needn't have bothered wasting the bomb arrow on the first place.

 

Unfortunately, the inability to switch back from Master Mode to Normal on the same save file means that I'll need to restart the game (again) and play for another 20 hours before I can get back to where I currently am, and I really can't be bothered. I'm not abandoning it because I've paid for the DLC and want to experience it, but I'm going to park this for now and come back to it either later this year or next year when hopefully I'll have forgotten enough to make it feel fresh again. And I'll be playing it in regular mode too.