What's your take on Zelda so far?

 

Gameplay spoilers ahead, no story spoilers except a minor one in this next paragraph I guess.

I just spent 4 hours on the starting zone, basically tutorial isle but a bit less obvious. I am just leaving now to explore the full world with nothing more then my main quest as

Spoiler

'Destroy Ganon'. They don't hide where he is either, if you have the balls for it you could go directly to him at the start if you wish. RIP if you do.

Within the first hour of the game I had drowned to death, accidently threw my best sword into the water I just previously drowned in, fell to death because I tried climbing a mountain and misjudged my stamina and then later on I froze to death because apparently if you fall into icy water you only have roughly 2-3 seconds to get out. The only thing I haven't died to yet has been the monsters.

It's been great fun.

I took my time wandring around, straight away from the start there are plenty of places to go to explore that look awesome, if you really wanted to you could rush the starting zone in an hour or so no worries, but I kept getting sidetracked. I spent a good hour just hunting animals and gathering ingredidents to learn different recipes for cooking.

The combat has been relatively easy, but it is the starting zone so I am confident it will get tougher. Ordinary mobs can deal some major damage but I've found everything easy to dodge/defend against so far. I only encountered one somewhat boss in the first zone and that was while I was randomly exploring some forest plains. Without spoilering the fight, it was quite fun for a random boss (mini-boss?) encounter even though it wasn't that difficult and what you had to do to defeat the boss was a little too obvious.

Shield surfing is extremely fun, unfortunately it will destroy your shield faster than combat will. Your weapons will break constantly, often mid-fight. Right now it is fun to manage but hopefully later on in the game weapons will have more durability. I can easily see it becoming a bore later on having to change weapons all the time.

The graphics and scenery is gorgeous and they don't shy away from it, you start at a good vantage point to take in the scenery. The only negative I have found graphics-wise is the draw distance on monsters is low, very low in fact. It was getting a bit annoying trying to locate prey to hunt for raw meat without being able to see boars and birds from a decent distance.

Overall the game feels very similar to Skyrim with a Zelda skin to it, except Zeldas combat is way more enjoyable. I don't have much more to add since I'm just leaving the first zone, I am looking forward to my first real dungeon and more difficult enemies. I am still not sure where I want to go as I am writing this, everything looks so awesome, the world feels massive. When I think about what I have done so far I really haven't did much at all, yet I wasted 4 hours and loved every second of it. Thoroughly enjoying this game so far.

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Yep combat definitely way harder. The enemies hunt in packs and try to flank you, its pretty kool. Broke half my weapons just trying to kill one pack. My reward? A trusty mop for my new weapon.

 

I'm really curious as to the type and number of games we'll see over the years. On the one hand, it seems like Nintendo wants to make it so development is affordable to most people .

On the other hand, they're going to selective with indie titles .

I understand they don't want to have the mess that steam or the mobile app stores have. I'm not sure, though, why it would be impossible for them, or anybody else, for that matter, to have a bifurcated store. Have one section that is curated and is heavily promoted, and then have the other section, where almost anything goes, but receives little to no promotion.

I don't have a switch, yet, and I don't have immediate plans to get one, but I have purchased their last 3 consoles, so I'll probably get one at some point. I hope that Nintendo doesn't end up losing some quality games because of the restrictions they put up.

 

Just played a bunch of Zelda. I'm about 5 hours in. Died about 20 times, mostly through stupid stuff (falling off cliffs, ice water, one-shot monster kills). 11 shrines down.

The game is great.

My main point of concern is the responsiveness of the left joycon. It frequently missed inputs (walk/not walk) or held inputs too long (walk right off a cliff). I wandered about 10 nearby stores but couldn't find a Pro controller for sale.

 

Friend of mine is doing that. He's basically calling it like a Souls game with a Zelda quirk/skin to it. With weapon durability, harder combat, and healing only through food/cooking/sleeping, this is definitely a more challenging Zelda game with open world mechanics.

 

More from my first session.

The mountains are truly massive and a joy to try to climb, and there are so many of them. It will take you a good 10-15 minutes or more of climbing, trying to find a path that your stamina allows to take, just to reach the top of one big mountain. Be careful of wind and rain (and the cold but I haven't tackled those big boys yet). Not to say there aren't paths to take to make some mountains (not the truly big ones) easier, but that would take the joy away from this wonderful climbing mechanic.

Like all Zelda games keep your eyes open while traveling, plenty of hidden caves alongside mountains. Keep one eye looking for cracks in the walls. The game designers were cunning, I did one side quest looking for a treasure hoard, found it. It was in a cave with 5 chests in it, you would be forgiven thinking that was all, especially since upon opening the chests the quest completes, but in a dark corner there were some light cracks in the wall so I threw a bomb at it to find a hidden chest. I got my best sword so far, fire enchanted sword that deals 24 damage. You just know there were people who grabbed the first chests and didn't even find the hidden one in the back. Like I said cunning design.

The shrines have been getting more enjoyable, some fun puzzles in there. The way they force you to move your controller (I'm playing with a Pro controller) around to solve some puzzles took a little getting use to, but once I did its quite a fun mechanic. The only disappointment overall in the shrines is that so far they only contain puzzles, no real enemies in them at the moment. I've yet to encounter a classic dungeon that has lots of puzzles to solve with enemies littered throughout with a boss at the end.

So I'm going in for round two and I want to try to locate a proper dungeon. I could follow the main quests and I'm sure I'd be lead straight to one but I am just having so much fun exploring.

Best experience so far: Climbing a mountain and halfway up I encounter a Stone Talus (think stone troll/giant).

Spoiler

You need to shoot the ore vein on the back to force it to bend over then proceed to climb on top of it like a mini Shadows of the Colossus and destroy the vein. I had no arrows to shoot the vein.

Hence I had to run. Queue a 5 minute game of cat and mouse me running and climbing from this Stone Giant while it was throwing rocks at me, all of this happening on the side of a mountain meaning it wasn't so simple to outrun it (without gliding off which I didn't want to do). I found a gap it couldn't cross, but man that was fun.

 

The left joycon thing is definitely not exclusive to you. Call Nintendo.

 

I cannot afford this. I cannot afford this. I cannot afford this.

I can afford this.

I cannot afford food.

 

Ok clarification. This game is definitely NOT harder than Souls game. In fact, I would say it's more like Darksouls LITE (if you squint hard enough).

My main issue with BoTW, or any Zelda, is the replay value of the game. There's just no level system or character modification. As such, there is no sense of progress in killing mobs or doing side-quests because there is no damn point. I'm afraid after going through the game once it's over.

You have what you have and that's it. Ugh, well I guess that's Zelda's gimmick because every other RPG has that element to it.

So anyway, if they hype for Switch and Zelda goes high enough, we might see the price skyrocket in eBay while the console itself is sold-out.

Woo, time be beat Zelda fast and sell the Switch for $1k.

 

Spoiler

I don't think you need arrows to shoot the vein. If it's similar to the one in the Great Plateau, you can throw remote bombs at it to force it to bend over.

Sorry, probably should have clarified. The implication is that it's harder than most Zelda games, not harder than Souls games. The wording was bad enough where you could imply the latter from what I was saying.

 

A Japanese gay porn meme has invaded the Switch.

 

Would you recommend getting a Switch just for the Zelda game?
I'm still rather undecided because I don't know yet if other games, later on, are worth getting.

 

I would say don't. Early adopters seem to be getting fleeced for virtually mandatory accessories and hardware that's good a good chance at being faulty.

Get it on WiiU if you can't wait. It runs about as good as the docked switch version (undocked seems to run best).

Also depends where you live. In Aus, the condole, pro controller and game will set you back $700. Another 50 or so for a decent SD card too.

 

Well the question is if you already own a Wii U or not. If you do, I would just get it on Wii U, there is no difference. Since not many people own a Wii U, its a question of how much you are willing to spend. Pay more and get a new console with a worse game library for now or pay less and get an older console with more games but little future in it. Only you can decide that.

All I can say is I do not regret it one bit, but I didn't own one of the newer consoles and there are a few games on the switch I am looking forward too.

 

The way the Switch sold out across the UK has been pretty crazy. They sold out on the day of release and we've only just got confirmation now that stores are expecting to get them back at the end of the month. So guess when I'm getting one?

Slightly regretting not pre-ordering now: I've been way too hype for Zelda since the console came out, so it stings. I'm trying desperately not to watch more gameplay footage than I already have, but it's so engaging.

And what's worse, bloody CareOtters is getting a Switch before me and will presumably be quite smug about it while he starves to death. The bastard.

 

I also ordered it after dear Dromey.

But it's not all perfect. I just got confirmation of next day delivery for Zelda. The actual console is due to arrive as much as a week after. I fully expect Postman Pat to steal both.

 

I wonder if they miscalculated their supply allocation (shocker for Nintendo, I know). You can get them anywhere in Australia.

Might be a price thing.

 

From everything I'm hearing and reading about the Switch, Zelda is the only reason to get it now. To each their own, but I will never understand dropping hundreds of dollars to play a single game. Nintendo continue to be assholes. Out of stock? Like they didn't know this thing would sell like hotcakes because Zelda.

 

Er, actually, no one knew the Switch would sell so well. We believed it would flop.

And then somehow it didn't.

 

I've been playing zelda on Wii U. It runs fine and it looks great. I'll probably pick up a switch late this year or sometime next year.