The Dueling Peaks region is much bigger than the Great Plateau, with many more Koroks to find. New ways of finding Koroks include rolling a boulder down a hill into a depression, jumping fences on horseback, and more of the apples-in-bowls. There’s also pinwheels that spawn archery targets for Link to shoot, and sets of three apple trees, two of which have apples on the same branch and the third has apples on many branches and Link needs to pick the ones that don’t match. There are some really hard climbs, especially when trying to get to the top of the Dueling Peaks. One Korok is in the hunting ground of a mobile Guardian; gave me a chance to practice Perfect Deflecting their laser right back at them. (I first tried the stationary ones near the shrine on the Great Plateau; I expected to take multiple tries to get it right, but went 3/3 my first try.) There are also several Stone Taluses in the area, and by the end I became pretty adept at killing them. One had the vulnerable outcropping as a tail rather than a hat, so Link stood on its back and fired arrows at the outcropping.
Atop the namesake peaks, there are a pair of shrines with similarly named monks, Shee Vaneer and Shee Venath, and the same trial name, Twin Memories. They each have a tablet with the same message, “The shrines atop these peaks share a connection – their memory the answer to the other’s question. Commit a memory before you start, lest, a failure, you will depart.” The other common feature is a 5×5 grid of depressions, with 5 balls set in them. The trick is to move the balls to match the starting arrangement of the other twin shrine. This is one of the few times I’ve intentionally used the Switch’s screenshot feature.
Because I don’t have too much to say about exploring this time but want to leave getting to Hateno for another post, I’m going to rant for a bit about two things that I greatly dislike about the game. First, rain. Rain means Link can’t climb (well). When Link has to climb to get where he’s trying to go but it’s raining, there aren’t really any good options. The first thought is obviously to create a campfire and wait the rain out – but as I learned at Camp Freedom, lighting a campfire in the rain is a tricky thing. Go off and come back when it’s drier? Okay, that works sometimes, but if there’s a significant time (and/or stamina-boosting food) investment to get where Link is and little to nothing to do in the immediate vicinity, that’s not an appealing option. Try anyway and hope to make enough progress between slipping? Might work for very short climbs. Hopeless for long ones, especially when you’re halfway up already. The best thing I’ve found is to leave Link clinging for dear life while I walk off to take care of real world things and hope nothing horrible comes along and eats Link in the meantime.
Aaaand that’s leaving out thunderstorms. When there’s lightning in the area, it’s always within a few dozen meters of Link – the flash of lightning and the sound of thunder are simultaneous. If Link’s unfortunate enough to be wearing metal armor or carrying a metal shield, weapon, or bow (and even once you realize this it’s easy to forget one of them), he becomes a living lightning rod, and the few hearts he can have at this point aren’t going to keep him alive if he gets struck. I think my absolute lowest point in the game so far was when a thunderstorm came up while I was fighting a Stone Talus. Climbing up on its back was out of the question because rain. Even if it wasn’t, doing damage was out of the question because I only had metal weapons left. I got a lot more practice dodging the flying fists of death than I ever wanted, or needed.
Second, in Ocarina of Time, Hyrule Field during the Young Link era would endlessly spawn Stalchildren. In that game, it was… well, the one time it truly mattered, it was a welcome diversion while waiting for dawn to break and Hyrule Castle Town to lower the drawbridge again. Here, Stal- versions of Bokoblins and Moblins irregularly spawn at night, and after the first couple times I was thoroughly sick of it. Rather than limited to one area Link only really passes through on the way to the real objectives, they’re fscking everywhere outside the little pockets of civilization. The fight is considerably more complicated; Link has to smash the body, then destroy the skull before the body can reform, and if there’s multiple, none die until they all do (and they’ll all go after a single head, which was comical once). (Headshots kill them in one shot, but it’s not worth it.) Weapons still break against them. Link can’t light a fire to wait till morning while they’re around (Ocarina Link could bust out the Sun’s Song and they’d crumble with the dawn). And they don’t drop anything good. I’m not afraid of Taluses or Stalnoxes, but I’ll run from a Stalkoblin. When it’s an option; they don’t care about the “already in combat” thing and will pop up just to make things worse.
tl;dr: Rain is the death of fun, and the Stalfos apocalypse, much like Stalfos, should stay buried but won’t.
To end things on a better note: enemy camps will often have explosive barrels; enemies will throw them at Link if needed. However, if Link can sneak up on them, he can unleash his inner Bolshevik Muppet. It’s quite gratifying to find a giant skull with Bokoblins and a couple explosive barrels, shoot a Fire (or Bomb) Arrow inside, watch the inferno, and go in and pick up anything neat they left behind.
Next: Be it ever so humble…
Monday, August 17, 2020
Friday, August 14, 2020
Breath of the Wild: Kakariko Village
Every morning near the path that leads up into the mountains, one of Impa’s guards tells his two daughters stories that always seem to be about how the mountains are scary and they shouldn’t go up there. He confides to Link that there’s a shrine and the village’s guardian spirit in the mountains, but also monsters, which is why he doesn’t want his daughters exploring, but Link should be able to handle himself. After storytime’s over, the girls are free to run around the village. Cottla runs around town, bored, so Link offers to play hide and seek with her. (She hides behinds Impa’s house.) Koko instead finds a cooking pot and tries to recreate her mother’s recipes, but she’s short one ingredient she asks Link to provide. Of the ingredients she wants, the only one I didn’t have on hand was Goat Butter, which is sold at one of the stores nearby. As thanks for his help, Link gets to keep the thing Koko cooked.
The shrine above the village is the Ta’loh Naeg Shrine (Trial Name: Ta’loh Naeg’s Teaching), in which Ta’loh Naeg summons a Guardian to teach the player… er, Link some advanced combat moves. Dodging an attack at the right time allows Link to Flurry Rush, getting in several free hits before the enemy catches up. A well-timed shield deflect leaves the enemy stunned. And Link can use his stamina wheel to charge up attacks; for swords, it’s the familiar spin attack, but spears have a series of thrusts. After the spin attack, the Guardian is dead and the trial complete.
Up the hill from the shrine is a pond with several small fairies flying around (if Link catches them, he just stores them with the rest of the materials; no need for bottles anymore). There’s a large bulb; when Link investigates, the Great Fairy Cotera speaks to him from inside. Ganon’s victory means things are more dangerous, so fewer people come to see her and offer rupees, but for the low, low sum of 100 rupees, her power will be restored and she can help Link. Link gives her the rupees, the bulb opens, and Cotera emerges from a pool inside. (Awakening her power also cause the Great Fairy theme to start playing.) The help she can provide is not healing, like other fairies have offered, but armor upgrades in exchange for materials.
Speaking of armor, there’s a shop in town that sells the rest of the Hylian armor set as well as the Stealth armor set which increases Link’s stealth. (As a tradeoff, it’s not as strong as regular armor, but switching armor can be done mid-battle, so Link can wear the Sheikah armor, sneak up on his enemies, do as much damage as he can before getting noticed, then switch to a more defensive set once the actual fighting starts.) Another shop in town sells arrows; the shopkeeper asks Link to light the torches around the Goddess Statue. She sells fire arrows, but Link can just use normal arrows, dip the bow in a campfire near the statue, and light the torches that way. She’s apparently on the outs with her husband over his Cucco obsession. Said husband apparently is having trouble keeping the Cuccos in their pen, because there’s a sidequest to round them up. One of the Cuccos is in a plum garden whose tender won’t let Link in when she’s around, so he has to wait for her to go home.
Throughout the village, Link would sometimes hear mentions of the Yiga Clan, a group of Sheikah who turned evil and serve Ganon. Now that Link’s heard of them, Yiga Clan members appear near the road disguised as Travelers. They lure Link in with generally innocuous questions (although the very first one I met asked if Link wished to join them), then attack. They teleport around, making it hard to get hits, but they only have two attacks (a charging slash and a falling strike), and both are easy to dodge. Simply avoiding attacks, taking full advantage of Flurry Rush opportunities, and scoring the odd strike here and there while they’re stunned is enough to beat them. And they’re generally easy enough to avoid, especially if you talk to everyone else, because the people you’ve talked to display their names over their heads, while the Yiga Travelers don’t. (Alternately, don’t avoid them, because they drop rupees and Mighty Bananas that, when cooked, boost Link’s attack power.)
Next: Why I’m now #TeamLoki.
The shrine above the village is the Ta’loh Naeg Shrine (Trial Name: Ta’loh Naeg’s Teaching), in which Ta’loh Naeg summons a Guardian to teach the player… er, Link some advanced combat moves. Dodging an attack at the right time allows Link to Flurry Rush, getting in several free hits before the enemy catches up. A well-timed shield deflect leaves the enemy stunned. And Link can use his stamina wheel to charge up attacks; for swords, it’s the familiar spin attack, but spears have a series of thrusts. After the spin attack, the Guardian is dead and the trial complete.
Up the hill from the shrine is a pond with several small fairies flying around (if Link catches them, he just stores them with the rest of the materials; no need for bottles anymore). There’s a large bulb; when Link investigates, the Great Fairy Cotera speaks to him from inside. Ganon’s victory means things are more dangerous, so fewer people come to see her and offer rupees, but for the low, low sum of 100 rupees, her power will be restored and she can help Link. Link gives her the rupees, the bulb opens, and Cotera emerges from a pool inside. (Awakening her power also cause the Great Fairy theme to start playing.) The help she can provide is not healing, like other fairies have offered, but armor upgrades in exchange for materials.
Speaking of armor, there’s a shop in town that sells the rest of the Hylian armor set as well as the Stealth armor set which increases Link’s stealth. (As a tradeoff, it’s not as strong as regular armor, but switching armor can be done mid-battle, so Link can wear the Sheikah armor, sneak up on his enemies, do as much damage as he can before getting noticed, then switch to a more defensive set once the actual fighting starts.) Another shop in town sells arrows; the shopkeeper asks Link to light the torches around the Goddess Statue. She sells fire arrows, but Link can just use normal arrows, dip the bow in a campfire near the statue, and light the torches that way. She’s apparently on the outs with her husband over his Cucco obsession. Said husband apparently is having trouble keeping the Cuccos in their pen, because there’s a sidequest to round them up. One of the Cuccos is in a plum garden whose tender won’t let Link in when she’s around, so he has to wait for her to go home.
Throughout the village, Link would sometimes hear mentions of the Yiga Clan, a group of Sheikah who turned evil and serve Ganon. Now that Link’s heard of them, Yiga Clan members appear near the road disguised as Travelers. They lure Link in with generally innocuous questions (although the very first one I met asked if Link wished to join them), then attack. They teleport around, making it hard to get hits, but they only have two attacks (a charging slash and a falling strike), and both are easy to dodge. Simply avoiding attacks, taking full advantage of Flurry Rush opportunities, and scoring the odd strike here and there while they’re stunned is enough to beat them. And they’re generally easy enough to avoid, especially if you talk to everyone else, because the people you’ve talked to display their names over their heads, while the Yiga Travelers don’t. (Alternately, don’t avoid them, because they drop rupees and Mighty Bananas that, when cooked, boost Link’s attack power.)
Next: Why I’m now #TeamLoki.
Wednesday, August 12, 2020
Breath of the Wild: Hestu and Impa
Just across the Kakariko Bridge, Link finds a large Korok named Hestu. Like the first Korok Link met, Hestu is surprised Link can see him. Hestu has a problem, however; a nearby group of Bokoblins stole his maracas, and despite his size he’s not able to go get them back himself. So, it falls to Link to get them back. Two short rides and three dead Bokoblins later, Link gives the maracas back to Hestu, who’s happy to have them back, but disappointed the Korok seeds inside are all gone. He says if he had even just one Korok seed, he could expand Link’s inventory, so Link gives him a seed and gets an extra weapon slot. (He “Dah-na-na-na-naaaaaaa!”s along with the lesser Item Get jingle.) Link is able to trade one more seed for a bow slot before Hestu decides to go home, even though Link has enough seeds to get a few more inventory slots. Link caught up with him again at the Riverside Stable and was able to get two each weapon and shield slots and another bow slot before he left again. He’s apparently gone to the Korok Forest, which would be a helpful hint if I had any idea where that was.
As Link heads into Kakariko Village, the villagers react to the Sheikah Slate, saying that Link having it marks him as the legendary hero. He’s directed to Impa, the village elder, who lives in a distinctive house. There are guards in front of stairs leading to the house who block Link’s way at first, but recognize the Slate and send him up. At the door to the house, a young woman is scrubbing the deck, and becomes flustered at meeting Link, holding her head in her hands. She finally manages to introduce herself as Impa’s granddaughter, Paya. As soon as Link opens the door, Impa recognizes him and welcomes him, although she doesn’t realize at first that Link’s lost his memory. She says Zelda left Link a message, but will only pass it along if Link promises to accept the responsibility for carrying out Zelda’s wish.
Once Link does that, Impa begins by telling Link about the history of Hyrule and (Calamity) Ganon. Ganon’s has been held back through the ages through numerous conflicts with a Hero and a princess, which have faded into legends. (I hardly recognize the drawing of the Hero as Link. If you showed it to me and asked who I thought it was, I’d have said Ganon(dorf).) Her story goes back to a time 10,000 years ago, when Hyrule was at its peak and built the Divine Beasts – a bird of some sort, a lizard, a camel, and an elephant – and the Guardians. And… to sum up, they’re never going to make a game based on this Link and Zelda, because Ganon didn’t corrupt the Divine Beasts and Guardians and was thoroughly outmatched, defeated, and sealed away. So, when he came back 100 years ago they tried the same thing again, and this time didn’t go so hot.
And so we have Zelda’s mission: “Free the four Divine Beasts.” Impa names the Divine Beasts and their champions: Vah Rudania (Daruk/Goron), Vah Medoh (Revali/Rito), Vah Ruta (Mipha/Zora), and Vah Naboris (Urbosa/Gerudo). She tells Link to seek out the four races for their help freeing the beasts and marks the locations on the Sheikah Slate. In doing that, she notices the Sheikah Slate is incomplete. She directs Link to Hateno Village, a village to the east that was largely untouched by the Great Calamity, and says someone there might be able to help.
Outside Impa’s house, there are five bowls, and a few have apples in them. If Link places apples in the empty bowls, a Korok appears. (Link can take all five apples after receiving the Korok seed. It feels a bit like stealing from the church collection basket, and honestly I have more apples than I can ever imagine using and sell a bunch for three rupees each every time I sell off junk, but… free apples/rupees.) Across the way, there’s a Goddess Statue, so Link doesn’t have to teleport to the Temple of Time every time he wants to redeem Spirit Orbs. He’s got enough now to get another Heart Container [1].
Next: Questing in and around Kakariko Village.
[1] Right now my plan is heart containers to 10, get a second stamina wheel, then alternate two hearts and one stamina orb until I max something out.
As Link heads into Kakariko Village, the villagers react to the Sheikah Slate, saying that Link having it marks him as the legendary hero. He’s directed to Impa, the village elder, who lives in a distinctive house. There are guards in front of stairs leading to the house who block Link’s way at first, but recognize the Slate and send him up. At the door to the house, a young woman is scrubbing the deck, and becomes flustered at meeting Link, holding her head in her hands. She finally manages to introduce herself as Impa’s granddaughter, Paya. As soon as Link opens the door, Impa recognizes him and welcomes him, although she doesn’t realize at first that Link’s lost his memory. She says Zelda left Link a message, but will only pass it along if Link promises to accept the responsibility for carrying out Zelda’s wish.
Once Link does that, Impa begins by telling Link about the history of Hyrule and (Calamity) Ganon. Ganon’s has been held back through the ages through numerous conflicts with a Hero and a princess, which have faded into legends. (I hardly recognize the drawing of the Hero as Link. If you showed it to me and asked who I thought it was, I’d have said Ganon(dorf).) Her story goes back to a time 10,000 years ago, when Hyrule was at its peak and built the Divine Beasts – a bird of some sort, a lizard, a camel, and an elephant – and the Guardians. And… to sum up, they’re never going to make a game based on this Link and Zelda, because Ganon didn’t corrupt the Divine Beasts and Guardians and was thoroughly outmatched, defeated, and sealed away. So, when he came back 100 years ago they tried the same thing again, and this time didn’t go so hot.
And so we have Zelda’s mission: “Free the four Divine Beasts.” Impa names the Divine Beasts and their champions: Vah Rudania (Daruk/Goron), Vah Medoh (Revali/Rito), Vah Ruta (Mipha/Zora), and Vah Naboris (Urbosa/Gerudo). She tells Link to seek out the four races for their help freeing the beasts and marks the locations on the Sheikah Slate. In doing that, she notices the Sheikah Slate is incomplete. She directs Link to Hateno Village, a village to the east that was largely untouched by the Great Calamity, and says someone there might be able to help.
Outside Impa’s house, there are five bowls, and a few have apples in them. If Link places apples in the empty bowls, a Korok appears. (Link can take all five apples after receiving the Korok seed. It feels a bit like stealing from the church collection basket, and honestly I have more apples than I can ever imagine using and sell a bunch for three rupees each every time I sell off junk, but… free apples/rupees.) Across the way, there’s a Goddess Statue, so Link doesn’t have to teleport to the Temple of Time every time he wants to redeem Spirit Orbs. He’s got enough now to get another Heart Container [1].
Next: Questing in and around Kakariko Village.
[1] Right now my plan is heart containers to 10, get a second stamina wheel, then alternate two hearts and one stamina orb until I max something out.
Monday, August 10, 2020
Breath of the Wild: Dueling Peaks
The road to Kakariko Village leads east through a river pass between two mountains, the Dueling Peaks of the region’s name. At the tower, the Sheikah Slate received a new feature, the Sheikah Sensor, which pings when there’s an inactive shrine nearby, and louder/more frequently if Link’s walking toward it. (If Wolf Link’s out, he’ll guide Link to the shrine.) The shrine – Ree Dahee Shrine – is on a ledge Link can climb to (or, alternately, it’s quite long and easily within paraglider distance of the tower).
The trial’s name is Timing Is Critical, and it consists of three puzzles where Link stands on a floor switch that simultaneously drops a ball to start rolling and tilts the platform the ball’s rolling on. The first puzzle is simple; if Link stands on the switch, the puzzle completes itself. The second puzzle has two platforms, and Link needs to step off the switch so the ball rolls onto the second and toward the goal rather than flying off into space. The third puzzle has a gap between the platform and the goal so Link needs to step off to turn the platform into a ramp to make the ball fly to the goal. There’s a treasure chest here with a Climber’s Bandana, a headpiece that makes Link climb faster. As I’ve learned through experimentation, Link burns through stamina at the same faster rate, so big climbs aren’t going to be any easier, but they will be quicker.
Through the pass, the road forks over two bridges, with the north path over Big Twin bridge being the one Link needs. Immediately over the bridge, there’s another stable to the right, and in a pond, a shrine to the left. At this point, I think it’s clear that most important/notable locations are going to have a shrine nearby so Link can quick travel there easily. This shrine (Ha Dahamar / The Water Guides) is built around using Cryonis. The first two puzzles have Link cross moving water; the first is easy and obvious, the second requires using Cryonis on the water flowing down the wall to create a horizontal pillar, which is a new one for me. Then there’s another rolling ball puzzle that uses the Cryonis wall pillars to guide the ball to its goal.
The Dueling Peaks Stable is intended to be the first stable the player comes across. A man in front of the stable offers directions to Kakariko Village and Hateno Village, and also challenges Link to a horse taming contest. There’s a group of horses near the stable, and all Link has to do is mount one and bring it back to the stable in under two minutes. The two tricky parts of the quest are getting close enough to a horse to mount it; once Link does that, the horse starts trying to throw him, which can be tricky to deal with without stamina upgrades. (I had to use stamina-boosting food to hold on. I love that Link can just eat a full meal while on a bucking horse which should, among other complications, make for a rather unsettled stomach.)
Inside the stable, there are two guys discussing a treasure belonging to a bandit named Misko. Link overhears and asks what they’re talking about, then gives them the 100 rupees they want for the information. “The little twin steps over the little river. My cave rests above that river’s source.” Well, that’s easy enough if you actually look at a map. The Little Twin Bridge is to the south of the Big Twin Bridge, so cross it and follow the river to the source. Climb the wall, blow up the obvious place, and there it is. There’s some gems and, behind another bombable wall, a flameblade that I immediately resolved to never use because I don’t want to waste it. So it sits in my inventory doing nothing, which is an even worse waste but one I can live with. *sigh*
As Link was heading to Misko’s treasure, the Sheikah Sensor started pinging. Looking around, there’s a bombable wall across the river, and in the cave behind that, the Toto Sah Shrine. The trial name is Toto Sah Apparatus, and Link steps up to each apparatus and then the player has to rotate the affected bit of the shrine’s construction by rotating the Switch (or, in docked mode, the controller; I can imagine this is fun in handheld mode when you turn it so you can’t see the screen); shades of Skyward Sword’s big keys. One decision I found particularly questionable was that you can’t “pause” a puzzle to reset the controller; canceling and restarting resets the bit you’re trying to rotate. That’s actually not something bad to have, but I wish we could have both pause puzzle and reset puzzle.
Or, you know, not using motion controls. That works, too. Anyway, Link solves three of these puzzles (or four, if you count getting the small key from the chest as a separate puzzle) and gets Spirit Orbed.
And one last thing before continuing on; at night in the woods near Misko’s cave and the Toto Sah Shrine, a Stalnox (Stalfos Hinox) comes to life. I don’t know if Hinox are in the game or not, but if they are and their skeletons are any indication, they’re huge. The Stalnox will pick up trees or rip off its ribs to throw at Link. Its vulnerable point is, of course, its eye; if it’s not holding anything, sometimes it will shield the eye with its hand. This game’s other Stal-foes lose their head when they take damage and Link has to destroy it before they can pick it up and reattach them; with the Stalnox, when it gets low on health and is shot in the eye, the eye falls out, and must be destroyed to put the Stalnox to rest. This wasn’t a particularly challenging fight, but knowing mistakes would hurt a lot made it exciting.
Next: No, wait, I’ve got more… don’t you… okay, fine, be that way.
The trial’s name is Timing Is Critical, and it consists of three puzzles where Link stands on a floor switch that simultaneously drops a ball to start rolling and tilts the platform the ball’s rolling on. The first puzzle is simple; if Link stands on the switch, the puzzle completes itself. The second puzzle has two platforms, and Link needs to step off the switch so the ball rolls onto the second and toward the goal rather than flying off into space. The third puzzle has a gap between the platform and the goal so Link needs to step off to turn the platform into a ramp to make the ball fly to the goal. There’s a treasure chest here with a Climber’s Bandana, a headpiece that makes Link climb faster. As I’ve learned through experimentation, Link burns through stamina at the same faster rate, so big climbs aren’t going to be any easier, but they will be quicker.
Through the pass, the road forks over two bridges, with the north path over Big Twin bridge being the one Link needs. Immediately over the bridge, there’s another stable to the right, and in a pond, a shrine to the left. At this point, I think it’s clear that most important/notable locations are going to have a shrine nearby so Link can quick travel there easily. This shrine (Ha Dahamar / The Water Guides) is built around using Cryonis. The first two puzzles have Link cross moving water; the first is easy and obvious, the second requires using Cryonis on the water flowing down the wall to create a horizontal pillar, which is a new one for me. Then there’s another rolling ball puzzle that uses the Cryonis wall pillars to guide the ball to its goal.
The Dueling Peaks Stable is intended to be the first stable the player comes across. A man in front of the stable offers directions to Kakariko Village and Hateno Village, and also challenges Link to a horse taming contest. There’s a group of horses near the stable, and all Link has to do is mount one and bring it back to the stable in under two minutes. The two tricky parts of the quest are getting close enough to a horse to mount it; once Link does that, the horse starts trying to throw him, which can be tricky to deal with without stamina upgrades. (I had to use stamina-boosting food to hold on. I love that Link can just eat a full meal while on a bucking horse which should, among other complications, make for a rather unsettled stomach.)
Inside the stable, there are two guys discussing a treasure belonging to a bandit named Misko. Link overhears and asks what they’re talking about, then gives them the 100 rupees they want for the information. “The little twin steps over the little river. My cave rests above that river’s source.” Well, that’s easy enough if you actually look at a map. The Little Twin Bridge is to the south of the Big Twin Bridge, so cross it and follow the river to the source. Climb the wall, blow up the obvious place, and there it is. There’s some gems and, behind another bombable wall, a flameblade that I immediately resolved to never use because I don’t want to waste it. So it sits in my inventory doing nothing, which is an even worse waste but one I can live with. *sigh*
As Link was heading to Misko’s treasure, the Sheikah Sensor started pinging. Looking around, there’s a bombable wall across the river, and in the cave behind that, the Toto Sah Shrine. The trial name is Toto Sah Apparatus, and Link steps up to each apparatus and then the player has to rotate the affected bit of the shrine’s construction by rotating the Switch (or, in docked mode, the controller; I can imagine this is fun in handheld mode when you turn it so you can’t see the screen); shades of Skyward Sword’s big keys. One decision I found particularly questionable was that you can’t “pause” a puzzle to reset the controller; canceling and restarting resets the bit you’re trying to rotate. That’s actually not something bad to have, but I wish we could have both pause puzzle and reset puzzle.
Or, you know, not using motion controls. That works, too. Anyway, Link solves three of these puzzles (or four, if you count getting the small key from the chest as a separate puzzle) and gets Spirit Orbed.
And one last thing before continuing on; at night in the woods near Misko’s cave and the Toto Sah Shrine, a Stalnox (Stalfos Hinox) comes to life. I don’t know if Hinox are in the game or not, but if they are and their skeletons are any indication, they’re huge. The Stalnox will pick up trees or rip off its ribs to throw at Link. Its vulnerable point is, of course, its eye; if it’s not holding anything, sometimes it will shield the eye with its hand. This game’s other Stal-foes lose their head when they take damage and Link has to destroy it before they can pick it up and reattach them; with the Stalnox, when it gets low on health and is shot in the eye, the eye falls out, and must be destroyed to put the Stalnox to rest. This wasn’t a particularly challenging fight, but knowing mistakes would hurt a lot made it exciting.
Next: No, wait, I’ve got more… don’t you… okay, fine, be that way.
Friday, August 7, 2020
Breath of the Wild: Greater Hyrule
Link lands in some ruins, where a couple of people are being harassed by Bokoblins. Link takes care of the Bokoblins, and the woman says she could’ve handled it on her own, and neither of them seems inclined to cut Link in on any treasures in the ruins. The only treasure I found in the ruins was a Traveler’s Bow, which does crap damage, breaks if you look at it funny, and takes up an inventory slot that can be used for better bows until that happens, so they’re welcome to it. I’m not sure what led me to head north rather than follow the road east, but on the west bank of the Hylia River near some bridges named for Skyloft instructors (Owlan, Horwell, Eagus), there’s the Riverside Stable. Inside, Link finds a couple people with gossip to share about treasure in Hyrule Castle, and that’s a way off for me. Beedle is also here, willing to relieve Link of anything he doesn’t want.
As for horses, this is where I finally used my amiibo, and I got two horses from them – somehow both Epona. I’m sure the guy who actually runs the stable was wondering how Link had two clones of the same legendary horse, but he was even less amused by the mess of broken crates and barrels and empty treasure chests and discarded weapons Link left all over the stable grounds. (I’d think the discarded weapons might be profitable, but Link can’t sell weapons for some reason, so maybe not.) Aside from the horses, my favorite things I’ve gotten from amiibo so far have been Sheikah katanas and the Twilight armor set so I can have Link wearing a version of his traditional outfit (although one that looks kind of out of place in Breath of the Wild’s art style).
Near the stable, there’s a shrine, this one hosted by Wahgo Katta. The challenge of the shrine – Metal Connections – is to use Magnesis to move a stack of three blocks, first to a corner pillar where Link finds a metal plate, then near the platform where the monk is, and use the metal plate to bridge the gap. I’m not a huge fan of Magnesis, and having to stack the three metal blocks so they don’t fall over and Link can climb them is tough enough without also having to get the metal plate on top where it can bridge the gap. Oh, well, another shrine, another Spirit Orb.
Now on horseback, Link headed south and found the bridge he was meant to take in the first place, Proxim Bridge. A man on the bridge directs Link’s attention to a couple nearby features. First, he’s keeping an eye on an inert Guardian in the river, having had a close call with a Guardian near Hyrule Castle, and in case the player didn’t pick up on something during Rhoam’s cutscene, they’re apparently not all broken-down immobile rustbuckets. Second, there’s another shrine nearby, the Bosh Kala Shrine. The trial is The Wind Guides You, a simple tutorial on using wind to paraglide farther and faster.
As Link rides on, he sees a tower across the river. Unlike the river on the Great Plateau, Link could try swimming across, and if he’s got enough Stamina-boosting food (not only does Link not have to wait thirty minutes between eating and swimming, he can eat while swimming without the food getting soggy and gross), make it, but there’s a better way. There’s a Korok trail leading across islands a manageable distance apart from each other that will guide Link across the river, and he gets a Korok seed for doing it that way, to boot. The tower’s already up, so there’s no free ride to the top, just a long climb with balconies to rest on when Link gets tired from the climb. At the top, Link puts his Sheikah Slate in the pedestal, activating the tower and revealing a map of the Dueling Peaks region. (Which, as hinted by the quests pointing at Hyrule Castle, does not include Riverside Stable or Wahgo Katta Shrine.) Filling in the map reveals the road to Kakariko Village.
While the tower’s usefulness as a vantage point is limited by the mountains immediately to the east, there is one shrine Link can spot off to the north. The shrine is surrounded by flowers, and the woman who planted them is… protective of them. Violently so. Let’s… ah… let’s say it’s a good thing I chose heart container rather than stamina vessel when selling the Spirit Orbs. So, Link has to navigate the flowers without stepping on them to reach the shrine, and I wouldn’t care if it’s the only useful point for a hundred miles around, I’m never quick travelling here. (It’s actually a side quest, in its own special category since it technically leads to a shrine.)
Compared to the flower maze above, the shrine itself (Hila Rao Shrine / Drifting) is pretty easy. There are three watery areas to cross, each with a current. The first two have floating platforms to help Link across; the third doesn’t, but Cryonis (which in hindsight could have gotten across the river) can make them. There are exploding barrels in the third stream, which Link can blow up to blast open a path forward, or he can use his own bombs. Oh, and just because Link’s gotten to the shrine doesn’t mean he can step on the flowers. So Link leaves the woman to her beloved flowers, warps back to the tower, and jumps off toward Epona, and I am very gratified to learn that if you manage to do it right, you can land in the saddle and ride off into the sunset.
Next: Er, except Kakariko’s to the east.
As for horses, this is where I finally used my amiibo, and I got two horses from them – somehow both Epona. I’m sure the guy who actually runs the stable was wondering how Link had two clones of the same legendary horse, but he was even less amused by the mess of broken crates and barrels and empty treasure chests and discarded weapons Link left all over the stable grounds. (I’d think the discarded weapons might be profitable, but Link can’t sell weapons for some reason, so maybe not.) Aside from the horses, my favorite things I’ve gotten from amiibo so far have been Sheikah katanas and the Twilight armor set so I can have Link wearing a version of his traditional outfit (although one that looks kind of out of place in Breath of the Wild’s art style).
Near the stable, there’s a shrine, this one hosted by Wahgo Katta. The challenge of the shrine – Metal Connections – is to use Magnesis to move a stack of three blocks, first to a corner pillar where Link finds a metal plate, then near the platform where the monk is, and use the metal plate to bridge the gap. I’m not a huge fan of Magnesis, and having to stack the three metal blocks so they don’t fall over and Link can climb them is tough enough without also having to get the metal plate on top where it can bridge the gap. Oh, well, another shrine, another Spirit Orb.
Now on horseback, Link headed south and found the bridge he was meant to take in the first place, Proxim Bridge. A man on the bridge directs Link’s attention to a couple nearby features. First, he’s keeping an eye on an inert Guardian in the river, having had a close call with a Guardian near Hyrule Castle, and in case the player didn’t pick up on something during Rhoam’s cutscene, they’re apparently not all broken-down immobile rustbuckets. Second, there’s another shrine nearby, the Bosh Kala Shrine. The trial is The Wind Guides You, a simple tutorial on using wind to paraglide farther and faster.
As Link rides on, he sees a tower across the river. Unlike the river on the Great Plateau, Link could try swimming across, and if he’s got enough Stamina-boosting food (not only does Link not have to wait thirty minutes between eating and swimming, he can eat while swimming without the food getting soggy and gross), make it, but there’s a better way. There’s a Korok trail leading across islands a manageable distance apart from each other that will guide Link across the river, and he gets a Korok seed for doing it that way, to boot. The tower’s already up, so there’s no free ride to the top, just a long climb with balconies to rest on when Link gets tired from the climb. At the top, Link puts his Sheikah Slate in the pedestal, activating the tower and revealing a map of the Dueling Peaks region. (Which, as hinted by the quests pointing at Hyrule Castle, does not include Riverside Stable or Wahgo Katta Shrine.) Filling in the map reveals the road to Kakariko Village.
While the tower’s usefulness as a vantage point is limited by the mountains immediately to the east, there is one shrine Link can spot off to the north. The shrine is surrounded by flowers, and the woman who planted them is… protective of them. Violently so. Let’s… ah… let’s say it’s a good thing I chose heart container rather than stamina vessel when selling the Spirit Orbs. So, Link has to navigate the flowers without stepping on them to reach the shrine, and I wouldn’t care if it’s the only useful point for a hundred miles around, I’m never quick travelling here. (It’s actually a side quest, in its own special category since it technically leads to a shrine.)
Compared to the flower maze above, the shrine itself (Hila Rao Shrine / Drifting) is pretty easy. There are three watery areas to cross, each with a current. The first two have floating platforms to help Link across; the third doesn’t, but Cryonis (which in hindsight could have gotten across the river) can make them. There are exploding barrels in the third stream, which Link can blow up to blast open a path forward, or he can use his own bombs. Oh, and just because Link’s gotten to the shrine doesn’t mean he can step on the flowers. So Link leaves the woman to her beloved flowers, warps back to the tower, and jumps off toward Epona, and I am very gratified to learn that if you manage to do it right, you can land in the saddle and ride off into the sunset.
Next: Er, except Kakariko’s to the east.
Wednesday, August 5, 2020
Breath of the Wild: Around the Great Plateau
Link takes his new paraglider and zips down to Hyrule proper, only for me to realize that there are chunks of the Great Plateau I didn’t explore and exploration is sort of this game’s big selling point. Thankfully, quick travel back up to the tower still works, and Link sets out to see the sights before continuing his quest. At this point, I decided it was time to break out one of my amiibo, the Wolf Link/Midna one. This summons a Wolf Link companion for Link. He’s only got three hearts [1], but for the easy enemies on the Great Plateau, that’s more than enough. (I mean, Link only has four.) He starts barking when enemies are near, which is great when they’re trying to sneak up on Link, but… less great when Link’s trying to sneak up on them, although with Wolf Link to split attention from enemies, stealth isn’t really needed. He’s also a good hunter, able to take down wildlife for meat (which he’ll eat if needed to refill his hearts, nice) very well… maybe a little aggressive, but good.
There are at least a dozen Koroks on the Great Plateau. They’re hidden in various ways: there’s usually something in the world designed to draw the player’s attention, and Link needs to interact with it somehow to make the Korok appear. Examples include moving a metal plate with Magnesis to find a hidden rock the Korok’s hiding under, jumping into a circle of lilies, filling an incomplete circle of stones with a nearby stone, stepping on a flower and following it as it reappears a short distance away, or simply checking out a bunch of sparkles (usually in some hard-to-get place, like at the top of a spire on the Temple, under the bridge over the frigid river, or just somewhere one might not think to look like the pool Link was sleeping in). The first Korok Link finds mentions someone named Hestu and seems surprised Link can see them, and asks Link to give Hestu a Korok Seed. The rest just greet Link, give him the Seed, and say buh-bye.
Now… I am going to try to get all the Koroks. But there’s a metric pancaketon of them, and there’s not much variety, so rather than slog the commentary down with details on every single Korok in Greater Hyrule, I’ll leave that to GameFAQs [2] and just mention milestones, new ways they’re hidden, or ones that are otherwise notable. And, of course, I’ll bring up Hestu and whatever in-game rewards gathering the seeds brings.
The other cool thing to find on the Great Plateau is in the forest region to the north, where the quest for the shrines didn’t lead. As Link approaches a rock formation, it comes to life as a major enemy, the Great Plateau Stone Talus – it gets its name, location, and health bar displayed prominently on the screen. The vulnerable spot is easy enough to see: an ore outcropping on its head. Hitting it is another matter; the monster is surprisingly nimble for a walking pile of rocks but still hits exactly as hard as you would expect a walking pile of rocks to hit. Its main attack is to throw its arms at Link; when it runs out of arms it bends down and picks up new ones. (That is a supremely weird sentence, both in construction and the visuals it summons. It makes sense when actually fighting it, though.) If Link blows up one of the arms with a bomb, the Talus is stunned for a few seconds, giving Link a chance to climb up on its head. Once there, he can get a few whacks in on the weak spot before the Talus gets angry and starts bucking and Link is thrown. Sometimes chunks of amber or flint fly from the weak spot, and when the Talus is defeated it explodes into a bunch of chunks and I even got a ruby from the wreckage.
As I was wrapping up on the Great Plateau, red and black flakes started drifting through the air, the sky turned red, and a cutscene played. Zelda speaks to Link, “Be on your guard. Ganon’s power grows… it rises to its peak under the hour of the blood moon. By its glow, the aimless spirits of monsters slain in the name of the light return to flesh. Link… please be careful.” In the cutscene, the flakes formed into the resurrected monsters. I can’t figure any particular rhyme or reason to when blood moons happen, unless it’s like Java garbage collection and the game’s using too much memory keeping dead monsters dead so it flushes that data. The early signs of a blood moon are rather alarming, but a rather cool effect.
Done enough with the Great Plateau, Link heads to the eastern side and paraglides off, ready to continue the adventure.
Next: Stop the senseless killing, can’t you hear those roses cry…
[1] There’s a way to raise this by playing Twilight Princess HD, which I fully intend to do eventually.
[2] …well, I was going to link to a Korok Seed Guide on GameFAQs, but they don’t have one! (At least, not a standalone one that I could find.)
There are at least a dozen Koroks on the Great Plateau. They’re hidden in various ways: there’s usually something in the world designed to draw the player’s attention, and Link needs to interact with it somehow to make the Korok appear. Examples include moving a metal plate with Magnesis to find a hidden rock the Korok’s hiding under, jumping into a circle of lilies, filling an incomplete circle of stones with a nearby stone, stepping on a flower and following it as it reappears a short distance away, or simply checking out a bunch of sparkles (usually in some hard-to-get place, like at the top of a spire on the Temple, under the bridge over the frigid river, or just somewhere one might not think to look like the pool Link was sleeping in). The first Korok Link finds mentions someone named Hestu and seems surprised Link can see them, and asks Link to give Hestu a Korok Seed. The rest just greet Link, give him the Seed, and say buh-bye.
Now… I am going to try to get all the Koroks. But there’s a metric pancaketon of them, and there’s not much variety, so rather than slog the commentary down with details on every single Korok in Greater Hyrule, I’ll leave that to GameFAQs [2] and just mention milestones, new ways they’re hidden, or ones that are otherwise notable. And, of course, I’ll bring up Hestu and whatever in-game rewards gathering the seeds brings.
The other cool thing to find on the Great Plateau is in the forest region to the north, where the quest for the shrines didn’t lead. As Link approaches a rock formation, it comes to life as a major enemy, the Great Plateau Stone Talus – it gets its name, location, and health bar displayed prominently on the screen. The vulnerable spot is easy enough to see: an ore outcropping on its head. Hitting it is another matter; the monster is surprisingly nimble for a walking pile of rocks but still hits exactly as hard as you would expect a walking pile of rocks to hit. Its main attack is to throw its arms at Link; when it runs out of arms it bends down and picks up new ones. (That is a supremely weird sentence, both in construction and the visuals it summons. It makes sense when actually fighting it, though.) If Link blows up one of the arms with a bomb, the Talus is stunned for a few seconds, giving Link a chance to climb up on its head. Once there, he can get a few whacks in on the weak spot before the Talus gets angry and starts bucking and Link is thrown. Sometimes chunks of amber or flint fly from the weak spot, and when the Talus is defeated it explodes into a bunch of chunks and I even got a ruby from the wreckage.
As I was wrapping up on the Great Plateau, red and black flakes started drifting through the air, the sky turned red, and a cutscene played. Zelda speaks to Link, “Be on your guard. Ganon’s power grows… it rises to its peak under the hour of the blood moon. By its glow, the aimless spirits of monsters slain in the name of the light return to flesh. Link… please be careful.” In the cutscene, the flakes formed into the resurrected monsters. I can’t figure any particular rhyme or reason to when blood moons happen, unless it’s like Java garbage collection and the game’s using too much memory keeping dead monsters dead so it flushes that data. The early signs of a blood moon are rather alarming, but a rather cool effect.
Done enough with the Great Plateau, Link heads to the eastern side and paraglides off, ready to continue the adventure.
Next: Stop the senseless killing, can’t you hear those roses cry…
[1] There’s a way to raise this by playing Twilight Princess HD, which I fully intend to do eventually.
[2] …well, I was going to link to a Korok Seed Guide on GameFAQs, but they don’t have one! (At least, not a standalone one that I could find.)
Monday, August 3, 2020
Breath of the Wild: The Great Calamity
As Link makes his way up to meet the old man, a voiced cutscene starts. The old man greets Link and says the time has come to show who he is: Rhoam Bosphoramus Hyrule, the last king of Hyrule. He abandons the old man disguise, now appearing as the ghost of the king. (He gets the name and title treatment – King Rhoam / The Last King of Hyrule – that previous games have reserved for bosses.) He explains: “The Great Calamity was merciless. It devastated everything in its path, lo, a century ago. It was then that my life was taken away from me. And since that time, here I have remained, in spirit form. I did not think it wise to overwhelm you while your memory was still fragile. So rather than that, I thought it best to assume a temporary form. Forgive me.”
“I think you are now ready. Ready to hear what happened 100 years ago,” he says. “To know Calamity Ganon’s true form, one must know the story from an age long past. The demon king was born into this kingdom, but his transformation into Malice created the horror you see now. Stories of Ganon were passed from generation to generation in the form of legends and fairy tales. But there was also a prophecy. ‘The signs of the resurrection of Calamity Ganon are clear. And the power to oppose it lies dormant beneath the ground.’ We decided to heed the prophecy and began excavating large areas of land. It wasn’t long before we discovered several ancient relics made by the hands our distant ancestors. These relics, the Divine Beasts, were giant machines piloted by warriors. We also found the Guardians, an army of mechanical soldiers who fought autonomously. This coincided with ancient legends, oft repeated through our land. We also learned of a princess with a sacred power and her appointed knight, chosen by the sword that seals the darkness. It was they who sealed Ganon away using the power of these ancient relics.”
“One hundred years ago, there was a princess set to inherit a sacred power and a skilled knight at her side. It was clear that we must follow our ancestors’ path. We selected four skilled individuals from across Hyrule and tasked them with the duty of piloting the Divine Beasts. With the princess as their commander, we dubbed these pilots Champions – a name that would solidify their unique bond. The princess, her appointed knight, and the rest of the Champions were on the brink of sealing away Ganon… But nay… Ganon was cunning, and he responded with a plan beyond our imagining.”
“He appeared from deep below Hyrule Castle, seized control of the Guardians and the Divine Beasts, and turned them against us. The champions lost their lives. Those residing in the castle as well. The appointed knight, gravely wounded, collapsed while defending the princess… And thus, the kingdom of Hyrule was devastated absolutely by Calamity Ganon. However… the princess survived… to face Ganon alone.”
As the princess faces Ganon, she says, “Link, you are our final hope. The fate of Hyrule rests with you.” Surprise, surprise, it’s the same voice Link’s been hearing all along.
The King continues, “That princess was my own daughter… My dear Zelda. And the courageous knight who protected her right up to the very end… That knight was none other than you, Link. You fought valiantly when your fate took an unfortunate turn. And then, you were taken to the Shrine of Resurrection. Here you now stand revitalized, 100 years later. The words of guidance you have been hearing since your awakening are from Princess Zelda herself. Even now, as she works to restrain Ganon from within Hyrule Castle, she calls out for your help. However, my daughter’s power will soon be exhausted. Once that happens, Ganon will freely regenerate himself and nothing will stop him from consuming our land. Considering that I could not save my own kingdom, I have no right to ask this of you, Link… But I am powerless here… You must save her… my daughter. And do whatever it takes to annihilate Ganon.”
Ganon still has control of the Divine Beasts and Guardians, so Rhoam feels it would be too reckless to go straight to the castle and take on Ganon. Instead, he directs Link to Impa in Kakariko Village to the east for more information. Finally, he gives Link the Paraglider and vanishes with one last “Link… you must save… Hyrule….”
Thoughts on this:
“I think you are now ready. Ready to hear what happened 100 years ago,” he says. “To know Calamity Ganon’s true form, one must know the story from an age long past. The demon king was born into this kingdom, but his transformation into Malice created the horror you see now. Stories of Ganon were passed from generation to generation in the form of legends and fairy tales. But there was also a prophecy. ‘The signs of the resurrection of Calamity Ganon are clear. And the power to oppose it lies dormant beneath the ground.’ We decided to heed the prophecy and began excavating large areas of land. It wasn’t long before we discovered several ancient relics made by the hands our distant ancestors. These relics, the Divine Beasts, were giant machines piloted by warriors. We also found the Guardians, an army of mechanical soldiers who fought autonomously. This coincided with ancient legends, oft repeated through our land. We also learned of a princess with a sacred power and her appointed knight, chosen by the sword that seals the darkness. It was they who sealed Ganon away using the power of these ancient relics.”
“One hundred years ago, there was a princess set to inherit a sacred power and a skilled knight at her side. It was clear that we must follow our ancestors’ path. We selected four skilled individuals from across Hyrule and tasked them with the duty of piloting the Divine Beasts. With the princess as their commander, we dubbed these pilots Champions – a name that would solidify their unique bond. The princess, her appointed knight, and the rest of the Champions were on the brink of sealing away Ganon… But nay… Ganon was cunning, and he responded with a plan beyond our imagining.”
“He appeared from deep below Hyrule Castle, seized control of the Guardians and the Divine Beasts, and turned them against us. The champions lost their lives. Those residing in the castle as well. The appointed knight, gravely wounded, collapsed while defending the princess… And thus, the kingdom of Hyrule was devastated absolutely by Calamity Ganon. However… the princess survived… to face Ganon alone.”
As the princess faces Ganon, she says, “Link, you are our final hope. The fate of Hyrule rests with you.” Surprise, surprise, it’s the same voice Link’s been hearing all along.
The King continues, “That princess was my own daughter… My dear Zelda. And the courageous knight who protected her right up to the very end… That knight was none other than you, Link. You fought valiantly when your fate took an unfortunate turn. And then, you were taken to the Shrine of Resurrection. Here you now stand revitalized, 100 years later. The words of guidance you have been hearing since your awakening are from Princess Zelda herself. Even now, as she works to restrain Ganon from within Hyrule Castle, she calls out for your help. However, my daughter’s power will soon be exhausted. Once that happens, Ganon will freely regenerate himself and nothing will stop him from consuming our land. Considering that I could not save my own kingdom, I have no right to ask this of you, Link… But I am powerless here… You must save her… my daughter. And do whatever it takes to annihilate Ganon.”
Ganon still has control of the Divine Beasts and Guardians, so Rhoam feels it would be too reckless to go straight to the castle and take on Ganon. Instead, he directs Link to Impa in Kakariko Village to the east for more information. Finally, he gives Link the Paraglider and vanishes with one last “Link… you must save… Hyrule….”
Thoughts on this:
- It’s sort of the backstory that would be printed in the manual back when games had them, the opening story roll, and the post-tutorial “here’s the job at hand, get to it” story dump all rolled into one. (The latter is only half here; I’m guessing being told to go to the Divine Beasts to free them from Ganon will wait until Link meets Impa.)
- The four champions are a Goron, a Zora, a Gerudo, and a Rito. This setup reminds me of Majora’s Mask: go to the four major groups of people and free a
giantDivine Beast to fight the villain. - And we’ve got Zoras and Ritos in the same game. In my first post, I kind of noted that this game seems designed to troll timeline theorists, and this is one of the clearest examples. We’re also set long, long after the older games. (My – semi-serious – theory is something like what happened at the end of Majora’s Mask (the best of Link’s cycles merged into one timeline) happened to the overall timeline with no regard to sense.)
- I haven’t noticed much of the music in the game, but Rhoam gets a somber remix of the Hyrule Castle theme, somewhat reminiscent of Wind Waker’s “Farewell Hyrule King.”
- I still don't like Zelda's voice. Something about the way she reads her lines is... weird.
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