The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

[CrichStand]

@Hylian Awesome work! Having looked at my path, I went straight to a place called Bubinga Forest near to Fort Hateno. Never set foot in it. Had a quick wander around and the Joycons started rumbling. SHRINE NEARBY!!! Got waaaaay too excited! 🤣 

 

Can see there are 4 or 5 mountains nearby that I haven’t set foot on either. Got to be a shrine or two there! 😁

 

@Strafe 😂🤣😂🤣 But maybe I was including the DLC Shrines?!?!? I wasn’t. 
 

Yeah, there’s no way I would have found that at this point, without using the Sheikah Sensor. The Shrine was quite a long way off from where the Sensor registered. It was behind a bomb wall, inside a cliff face, that’d I’d literally wandered past earlier in the game. 9 to go!

[ZOK]

2 hours ago, Hylian said:

You could look at the hero's path and go to spots you've not been

Only works if you’ve played less than 300 hours. 
 

EDIT: On reading through the thread again it’s more like 200-250 before it starts erasing your tracks.

[Hylian]

I've been playing through this again with my kids (7 and 5 - I first completed it when my oldest was just a baby). My 5 year old is obsessed with it. Loves telling me how many hits of "Bruce's protection" I have left (Daruk's protection!). 

 

It really is wonderful. Just love the exploration. There are quite a few things I hope they improve on. I don't like the cooking mechanic really and would like proper dungeons. Plus the sword combat is pretty basic. But this is still the best open world game for me. Probably the only one I've ever completed! 

[ZOK]

On 31/05/2018 at 22:32, robdood said:

Oh my fucking word this is total genius. 

 

 

Well worth a repost!

[CrichStand]

2 hours ago, ZOK said:

Only works if you’ve played less than 300 hours. 
 

EDIT: On reading through the thread again it’s more like 200-250 before it starts erasing your tracks.

To be fair, I’ve been using it and have spent the past 2hrs wandering places I haven’t been and found..........nothing but Koroks. 😂 Total piss take! Also realised that, because I’ve had the Sheikah Sensors turned off, chances are some of the Shrines could be where I’ve already been anyway. Just 9 off the full set but it’s looking like it’s time to just check out a completed map.

 

Edit - Had a quick look online and the first Shrine I spot I haven’t got, is in an area that is fully coloured in by my Hero’s Path. 🤣 I’m getting the impression the ones I haven’t found are all going to be behind bomb walls or something. Good job I’ve looked, else I could have been wandering around the bits of areas I haven’t been to yet for hrs and hrs.

 

 

[acidbearboy]

You can see how many shrine quests you have cleared in the adventure log. XX/42 is shown at the bottom of the description window. 

[meatbin]

Good luck, even with a map it can be tricky to spot the ones you've not found.  

[CrichStand]

So I’ve gone to where the Shrine is supposed to be. The Sheikah Sensor does nothing at all, so there’s no indication there is a Shrine nearby. Have searched around for a while and found a “Place an Orb on the Pedestal to Unlock a Shrine”........er........Shrine.. Wtf?!? These aren’t even picked up by the Sheikah Sensor? Does the Shrine Quest stuff not show up? I wouldn’t know any of this without looking it up which seems out of place with the rest of the game and Nintendo’s usual design. Feel a bit cheated after spending so long trying to 100% it.

 

Edit - It’s on the main Quest path. A short run away from the main road. 😂 Must have walked past it numerous times and never spotted it. Even walked up and down this path the other week doing other quests too! Thought I must have already discovered the Pedestal but it lit up Orange when I approached it and read it’s sign, so not sure. Definitely glad I looked at an online map now though! 

 

Nice little Shrine that one. Had me scratching my head for a few minutes on how to solve it. So, next Shrine on the map........and it’s in the same heavily explored area and I’ve walked past that one numerous times too. 🤣

[Twinbee]

Finished it the other day, with only a couple of shrines missing and one memory left over. Glad I left it until now to finish, I’d’ve been pretty bereft had I finished it without knowing when the next one would be along. 
 

loved the graphics and spectacle of the big showdown. Played it on the projector and it looked ace. 
 

As an aside, I did find it amusing that you’re still finding koroks in Hyrule castle. All that dramatic music, guardians patrolling everywhere, poisonous goop making ominous noises, and your last chance at averting Armageddon. 
 

And there’s a little tit hiding under a rock going “teehee, he’ll never find me here!”

[CrichStand]

Aaaaaaand another one in a location I’ve already explored. Chances of finding it without the Sensor switched on seem pretty slim. Tucked half way up a humongous cliff face, behind a tiny bomb wall. I’m getting the impression that most of the 10 I was missing will end up being in locations I’ve already been to multiple times, but I’ve not found them because of playing without the Sensor. Think I’ve only got 5 left to find now. 😁

[scottcr]

Make sure you do the DLC. Best dungeon in the game.

[Popo]

But hard!

 

Maybe I’ll go back and try it again…

 

And yes, the hero’s path is a bit of a con for the reason @ZOK mentioned. It only came out as part of the DLC, after we’d already played for eleventy million hours, so it rarely acted as a true reflection of where you’d been. 

[ZOK]

I think it’s worth getting the dlc as early as possible for this reason.

[CrichStand]

5 hours ago, scottcr said:

Make sure you do the DLC. Best dungeon in the game.

Trial of the Sword? Or is there something else? 
 

Just done the first part of the Trial. Crazy, I’ve played for 240hrs now and just finding and using new tactics in combat. Been picking up crates and using them to shield myself from arrows and incoming attacks, then lifting them high up in the air and dropping them on enemies to do big damage. 😁 What. A. Game.

 

Its definitely got its flaws though. One of the Shrines I was missing was quite frankly bollocks. I needed to complete a series of side quests in a specific location, before it triggered a final quest that unlocked an item I needed to access the Shrine. The Sensor didn’t activate to show the missing Shrine though and I’d not spoken to a specific character, at a specific time of day, to access the Side Quest and have it register in my log. In such a huge, free form, open world game, that’s pretty daft. 240hrs in, I would never have found that, without looking stuff up. So yeah, all the missing Shrines have been in places I’ve already explored. 3 to go!

[scottcr]

There’s a whole DLC Devine beast and extra shrines plus a trial on the plateau. All very good and the reward for defeating the boss is great

[CrichStand]

I’ve done the Plateau One Hit Trial and most of the extra Shrines. Really enjoyed them. Didn’t realise there was a whole new Divine Beast to tackle!!! Sounds like it’s a good one too. I’m guessing that unlocks at the end of beating all the Divine bosses again. Good to know, as I’m trying to get everything finished and then have a break for a few weeks, before hammering TotK. 😁

[robdood]

You're really gonna wish you did the dlc _before_ mopping everything up... 

[CrichStand]

Man, the Trial of the Sword is a MASSIVE difficulty spike and a total ball ache. Got 3/4 through the medium course which has taken about 2hrs of playtime, just to get Game Over and booted back to the start. You can’t even save mid-way!?!? Enemies take ages to kill and there’s loads of them and you can’t see them because it’s fucking pitch black. You also have to waste time cooking shit in order to get some health. It’s genuinely more difficult than stuff like Returnal and Elden Ring and about a billion times more annoying! If this is the medium course what the fuck is on the hard course. Nothing but Guardians and Lynels and you’re fighting them with a Deku Stick in your underpants? 

[Jackson]

Yeah I died on the easy course and gave up. Didn't want the frustration to spoil the taste of the greatest game ever. Baffling decision for the dlc.

[CrichStand]

1 hour ago, Jackson said:

Yeah I died on the easy course and gave up. Didn't want the frustration to spoil the taste of the greatest game ever. Baffling decision for the dlc.

Totally get that. I’ve rinsed Returnal, Dark Souls, Demon’s Souls, most of Elden Ring. I love difficult games but this is just daft! 
 

I had another go and was flying through it until............one of the Wizard things initiated a fire rain move that never ended. 🤣 Absolute Billy, Bobby, and Barry Bullshit!!! Not seen that before in 240hrs of play. I couldn’t do anything at all. Aiming with the bow meant I got battered and the enemy was too high up to hit with a melee weapon. I was just running around desperately trying to doge all the fire raining down and all the fire projectiles bouncing off the walls and shit, in the hopes  it might eventually end. Couldn’t believe it when it just went on and on and on and on. Each time I got hit it took off 5+ hearts. Game Over. Cheap as chips. The 5-10mins you have to spend collecting and cooking the same items over and over with each attempt is great fun too! 🤨

 

Edit - Decided to leave that for now and come back to it. So, I head off to do the Xenoblade Side Quest.

 

Clue - The Eastern sky from the skull’s left eye.

 

Cool! I have an idea where to go. Get there, stand on the left eye, look to the eastern sky........nothing. I wander around the left eye whilst looking at the eastern sky.........still nothing. I wait further into the night, whilst on the left eye and looking at the eastern sky.........bod all. Why is this not working? This should definitely be working. Decide to look at a guide.
 

Solution - stand on the right eye and look at the eastern sky. You what mate??? The clue is - from the skull’s left eye. The solution is from the skull’s right eye. Absolute shite!!! Cannot believe that made it into the game! 🤣 

[CrichStand]

YEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSS!!! Fuck you Nintendo and your shitty Trial of the Sword medium challenge!!! Just about managed to make it through having resorted to blowing up trees, blowing up the logs, collecting the wood, and then individually cooking about 40 pieces of it. Last boss took all of that, plus about a million other recipes and all of my weapons to beat. Ended up finishing it off with the bow and arrow. Must have been a 2hr run and would have gone fucking nuts if I’d not done it. Going through all that again would have been a total nightmare. The cooking alone must have taken up 30mins. 
 

To celebrate I decided to treat myself to one of the last 2 remaining Shrines. It turned out to be one I’d discovered many, many hours ago and left for later - Eventide Island. Soooooo good!!! Just been figuring out how to get fire from the bonfire at the foot of the big hill, to the cooking pot up on top of it. Tried lighting a Boko Spear but it kept going out climbing the hill. Ended up blowing up some trees, collecting wood, then placing it on various levels going up the hillside. Went back to the bonfire, took out the bow, lit an arrow and fired it off at the first bit of wood. Then went to that lit wood, lit another arrow and did the next, rinse and repeat  until I was on top of the hill and lighting the cooking pot. Absolutely fantastic stuff! I’m sure there were other solutions too. Feels like all of the game’s systems come together perfectly and really shine on this small section of the game. 
 

Just need to finish Eventide up and I will only have 1 Shrine, Trial of the Sword Hard Course (really not looking forward to that at all) and the DLC Divine Beast to go before taking down Ganon! 

[ZOK]

13 minutes ago, CrichStand said:

YEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSS!!! Fuck you Nintendo and your shitty Trial of the Sword medium challenge!!! Just about managed to make it through having resorted to blowing up trees, blowing up the logs, collecting the wood, and then individually cooking about 40 pieces of it. Last boss took all of that, plus about a million other recipes and all of my weapons to beat. Ended up finishing it off with the bow and arrow. Must have been a 2hr run and would have gone fucking nuts if I’d not done it. Going through all that again would have been a total nightmare. The cooking alone must have taken up 30mins. 
 

To celebrate I decided to treat myself to one of the last 2 remaining Shrines. It turned out to be one I’d discovered many, many hours ago and left for later - Eventide Island. Soooooo good!!! Just been figuring out how to get fire from the bonfire at the foot of the big hill, to the cooking pot up on top of it. Tried lighting a Boko Spear but it kept going out climbing the hill. Ended up blowing up some trees, collecting wood, then placing it on various levels going up the hillside. Went back to the bonfire, took out the bow, lit an arrow and fired it off at the first bit of wood. Then went to that lit wood, lit another arrow and did the next, rinse and repeat  until I was on top of the hill and lighting the cooking pot. Absolutely fantastic stuff! I’m sure there were other solutions too. Feels like all of the game’s systems come together perfectly and really shine on this small section of the game. 
 

Just need to finish Eventide up and I will only have 1 Shrine, Trial of the Sword Hard Course (really not looking forward to that at all) and the DLC Divine Beast to go before taking down Ganon! 

A good tip for Eventide is to consume some food / potions just before you hit the shore, then the buffs last through the trial.

[Made of Ghosts]

 

I wouldn’t normally listen to fAn ThEoRiEs but this seems pretty convincing to me. 

[CrichStand]

@ZOK Eventide was great! Nice and easy, really enjoyed just chilling out and playing through it. Just what I needed after the Trial of the Sword bullshit!I Discovered a recipe with the Mighty Bananas that boosts Attack Power whilst on Eventide and from what you’re saying it sounds like I could possibly use this stuff before the Trial of the Sword? Going to have a crack at the Hard course now and see how it pans out. There better not be another course that unlocks after this one, just want to get it over and done with so I can do the DLC Divine Beast.

 

Edit - This is possibly one of the worst things I’ve ever played. Fucking dreadful. Poorly designed AND poorly balanced. The 3rd stage where you’re fighting about 9 enemies on horseback that shoot lightning arrows is a total piss take. Finally beat that and got  to the first “rest stage”. Spent over 10mins cooking items in order to progress. Next few stages are ridiculously easy and serve no purpose at all - throw some bombs at enemies that don’t stand a chance of hitting you. Hover mid air and shoot enemies that don’t stand a chance of hitting you etc.
 

Next stage two Camo Lizalfos charge straight at me, I barely do any damage with weapons and stasis etc. Spend 5mins throwing bombs at them which does fuck all. Of course a couple of hits on me and they take off 20+ hearts........and I’m dead.

 

So now, I have to play through the best part of an hr again to get back to where I was, including over 10mins of mindless cooking. And if I happen to make it through.......I have to do more mindless cooking on top of more mindless cooking to progress, before more than likely getting killed again on the next bullshit stage they pull out the bag. Then it’s back to the beginning and spend 2hrs repeating this tedious shite. And then eventually the last boss, which will no doubt be something stupid like multiple guardians and a Lynel all at once, with only a rusty Spoon to fight them with that leaves you chipping away at their health for the best part of a week. 

[Chosty]

I'm trying, and so far failing, to muster the enthusiasm to attempt the trials on master mode. Where enemies have recharging health...

[CrichStand]

20 minutes ago, Chosty said:

I'm trying, and so far failing, to muster the enthusiasm to attempt the trials on master mode. Where enemies have recharging health...

😂🤣😂🤣 That sounds like a whole world of fun! 
 

I can’t believe just how shit this actually is. It’s like they’ve made one of the greatest games ever and then put one of the shittest things ever in it. 
 

I can’t for the life of me get past the 3rd or 4th stage now. The Skeleton horse riders just come charging in straight away. I take a couple out with a bomb and whilst I’m trying to get rid of their skulls, I’m getting charged and hit from off screen by others. The next minute one of the lightning arrow ones is firing at me from off screen, electrocuting me, allowing the others to charge in and hit me again. There are times I’m getting staggered and ragged dolled all over the shop and I can’t do anything. A single hit takes off over 5 hearts. Within seconds it can be Game Over. It’s cheap as anything and sooooooo frustrating. Start of every level - cutscene. Beat the enemies - cutscene. Exit level - cutscene. WHY!!?!!? Attempting to skip them lasts almost as long as watching the fuckers too! Then at the end of every level, you have to spend spend 2-3mins collecting shit. Repeat, repeat, repeat. Get to “rest stage”,  hit pause, select item, select “Hold”, then “Add”, exit pause menu, select “Cook” - watch cutscene. Now do that 50 times in a fucking row for the next 10mins, just so you can proceed with your run. How anybody thought this played well and is well balanced is beyond me! 
 

It’s that bad it’s starting to make me wonder whether TotK might end up being a bit of a dud. It was supposed to have started out as BOTW DLC. The best thing about BOTW is the world itself and the exploration. The sense of adventure as you head out into the unknown, not knowing what you’ll discover. Seeing something on the horizon and setting your sights on it, the journey there, the sense of discovery when you arrive. If TotK ends up being the same world as BOTW but filled with nuggets of absolute balls like this then, it’ll be a crushing disappointment. 

[CrichStand]

To give it credit though, the whole design ethos behind it is pretty fucking revolutionary.......

 

Stage 1 - Really easy.

Stage 2 - Laughably easy.

Stage 3 - Pointlessly easy.

Stage 4 - Crushingly Impossible and totally unfair.

Stage 5 - Boring as all fuck and tediously dull (just to wind you riiiiight up).

Stage 6 - No challenge at all.

Stage 7 - Even less challenge than no challenge at all.

Stage 8 - Fully into minus levels of challenge.

Stage 9 - Harrowingly difficult and traumatically unfair. (Back to Stage 1 you go)!

 

Top stuff! 

[scottcr]

1 hour ago, CrichStand said:

😂🤣😂🤣 That sounds like a whole world of fun! 
 

I can’t believe just how shit this actually is. It’s like they’ve made one of the greatest games ever and then put one of the shittest things ever in it. 
 

I can’t for the life of me get past the 3rd or 4th stage now. The Skeleton horse riders just come charging in straight away. I take a couple out with a bomb and whilst I’m trying to get rid of their skulls, I’m getting charged and hit from off screen by others. The next minute one of the lightning arrow ones is firing at me from off screen, electrocuting me, allowing the others to charge in and hit me again. There are times I’m getting staggered and ragged dolled all over the shop and I can’t do anything. A single hit takes off over 5 hearts. Within seconds it can be Game Over. It’s cheap as anything and sooooooo frustrating. Start of every level - cutscene. Beat the enemies - cutscene. Exit level - cutscene. WHY!!?!!? Attempting to skip them lasts almost as long as watching the fuckers too! Then at the end of every level, you have to spend spend 2-3mins collecting shit. Repeat, repeat, repeat. Get to “rest stage”,  hit pause, select item, select “Hold”, then “Add”, exit pause menu, select “Cook” - watch cutscene. Now do that 50 times in a fucking row for the next 10mins, just so you can proceed with your run. How anybody thought this played well and is well balanced is beyond me! 
 

It’s that bad it’s starting to make me wonder whether TotK might end up being a bit of a dud. It was supposed to have started out as BOTW DLC. The best thing about BOTW is the world itself and the exploration. The sense of adventure as you head out into the unknown, not knowing what you’ll discover. Seeing something on the horizon and setting your sights on it, the journey there, the sense of discovery when you arrive. If TotK ends up being the same world as BOTW but filled with nuggets of absolute balls like this then, it’ll be a crushing disappointment. 

whit????!!!

 

Trials is a totally unnecessary piece of side activity - I’ve played 275 hours of the game and didn’t bother with the trials.

 

how you get from that to a game that’s been in dev for 6 years will be a dud is beyond me. 
 

behave yersel

[CrichStand]

Well like I say, the best bits of BOTW are the world itself and exploring that world. The Shrines give you a great reason and a great reward for exploring around. It seems, at least from what we’ve seen so far, that TotK is largely using the BOTW world. So that’s most of the exploration gone. It also appears that the Shrines have been replaced with the Sky Islands which again, don’t seem to require exploration to discover. Which means the stuff that made BOTW truly great, has potentially been replaced with totally different gameplay.  Tootling around in vehicles looks pretty naff for starters and nothing like Zelda.
 

Factor in TOtK started out as DLC for BOTW, (which I’ve only just discovered). So, the DLC for BOTW which has been released, was obviously their strongest stuff. And if this Trial of the Sword shite is supposed to be A Side, then fuck knows what could be in TotK. 😂 I’ve preordered the game and booked time off for it though, as I did BOTW, so hopefully it’ll be a belter!

 

Anyway, I’ve just hit Stage 10. 3 giant Lizard men on a tiny platform, that can all one shot me AND knock me into the lava below..........which is exactly what they do. And as the game is resetting me, after I’ve lost about 23 hearts in a single hit, with less than just one heart left, as I’m trying to pause to use a healing recipe........they hit me whilst I’m still down, nothing I can do about it and it’s........GAME OVER.........again. Another hour run finished and it’s right back to the start.

 

It’s genuinely one of the worst, most un-Nintendo things I’ve ever played and nothing about it feels like Zelda at all. It’s like a shockingly bad, poorly designed, badly balanced, Dark Souls knock off but, without any understanding of what makes Dark Souls any good. 

[BitterToad]

So what you’re saying is you’re not enjoying the trials?