Immediately south of the Dueling Peaks region, the Bridge of Hylia stretches south across Lake Hylia in the Lake region. Farosh, the yellow-green electric dragon, flies over the lake at night, meaning Link now has places to farm bits of all three dragons. The tower is to the west of the road leading south from the bridge; the surrounding area is patrolled by tough monsters, but the climb is fairly easy. A journal with hints to the locations of six more DLC items is in a ruined shack surrounded by the smaller lake to Lake Hylia’s northeast. Three of the items can be found in the Lake region: the lobster shirt Link wore at the start of Wind Waker (gives resistance to heat), Ravio’s bunny hood (increases sideways climbing speed), and armor reminiscent of Phantom Ganon (Ocarina of Time-style; part of a set, no bonus for a single piece).
The first major landmark Link comes across is the Highland Stable. This stable has a group of mounted Bokoblins harassing travelers; Link deals with them on his way in, and there was a sidequest for it, but it’s already done, so he can skip to the reward. A man at the stable challenges Link to ride his obstacle course, and rewards for beating the times are a bridle and saddle set. As with the racing games in Ocarina and Majora’s Mask [1], most of the trouble with the obstacle course is controlling the beast. I suppose there are times when you want to direct the horse’s view separately from Link’s, but for racing that’s definitely not the case. I don’t know that there’s a one-size-fits-all solution to the horse controls, but these are not fun. Also, horses have been given some basic intelligence, which is generally nice, except that having a mind of their own sometimes means they go off and do things you don’t want them to. (Also, the age-old problem of running straight at a barrier and the horse refusing to jump it for no apparent reason never went away.)
The shrine near the stable is Ka’o Makagh (“Metal Doors Open the Way”). The puzzles start with simply opening metal doors using Magnesis, but the real challenge comes when it’s time to navigate the higher level of the shrine, where the interesting stuff is up even higher with no way up. The shrine’s name points to using one of the doors as a bridge, but as with so many puzzles with the solution of “blow something up,” if you don’t spot the thing you need to blow up (the wall one of the doors is hinged too), it is very frustrating, although running around screaming does help blow some of that off.
The stable has hints toward another set of horse gear. Only the saddle is in this area, in an area far more interesting for what else is there. It looks like a Great Fairy Fountain, only Malanya, the fairy (or god, as they call themself) here, offers a different service – reviving dead horses. I didn’t know they could die. And Malanya looks like Bongo Bongo with a horse head mask. It’s a creepy effect. (As with the Great Fairy Fountains, the music changes once Malanya is offered rupees – only here, Epona’s Song [2] is laid over the Great Fairy’s theme.) The saddle Link can find lets him summon his horse, but Epona can’t use it.
Off in the other direction from Malanya, there’s the Mounted Archery Camp. One of the guys there runs a mounted archery minigame and as much as I want to run screaming and say pancake that, it has a set of horse gear for getting the high scores, so… yeah, I’m in. Here’s where Link being able to look separately from Epona is useful, but Epona’s not on rails and can be spooked, so you can’t ignore her, either. I don’t know if this is really harder than the mounted archery game in Ocarina, but it has two big strikes against it. First, you don’t get provided a bow and arrows, so you have to use your own, and it counts against your bow’s durability. (I quickly said “Okay, but then I’m only saving if I get a winning score.”) Second, starting the game has too many prompts. (“Do you want to play? Do you need to buy arrows? Will you pay the entry fee? Do you need me to explain the rules? Shall I repeat all th... oh, wait, I’m just an archery game host, not an overtalkative owl.”)
I quickly hit on two things that made my score better: using a multishot bow and bomb arrows so close counts better. After several runs of being stuck in the mid-teens, I decided if people swear by using tilt controls to aim, maybe I could give it a shot. My third run ended when I fired a volley straight into Epona’s head. I went to play again and discovered I no longer had a horse. I guess they can die. Back to thumbstick aiming. What finally broke me through was switching from Epona to a different, slower horse (a striking black horse with white mane and tail I captured near Hyrule Castle). This gave me more time to aim while still getting me to the last set of targets with just enough time to shoot them.
Next: My Korok dedication is seriously tested.
[1] I’m not sure if horse controls in Twilight Princess were better or they just recognized the limitations better and didn’t make a minigame that exposed them.
[2] Malanya… Malon… I just got that…
Monday, October 26, 2020
Friday, October 23, 2020
Breath of the Wild: Central Roundup
Near the western edge of the central area, there’s a second stable, Outskirt Stable, with its normal assortment of sidequests. One is to find a horse like the one Zelda rode, but that requires crossing the bridge to the next area west, so I’ll wait on that until I go that way. The other two can be done now: a stablehand is hungry and wants gourmet meat, and a woman wants to meet the Legendary Hero who she’ll recognize because he has the Master Sword. The reward for the latter is a Star Fragment, so that’s nice (although camping for Star Fragments is something to do those rare times I have to wait for the Master Sword to recharge its batteries).
The shrine near the stable is Rota Ooh (“Passing of the Gates”). The shrine’s core trick is kind of sort of like a Divine Beast; there’s a switch that rotates the central block 90 degrees when hit. The two main things Link needs to do to advance to the end require manipulating that block – first tossing an orb into a basket to be flung into its socket, then riding an updraft through a hole in the block and shooting the switch in midair to get a landing spot that leads to the shrine monk and Spirit Orb.
There are three Minor Test of Strength shrines in the area (Dah Kaso, Katah Chuki, Noya Neha) – two in the shadow of Hyrule Castle, one under a bridge that leads to the Gerudo lands. This seems really weird to me. All the guidance Link gets is “Don’t start in the center, go east.” The omnipresent Guardians and black and blue Hinox in the area, plus the Lynel in the Coliseum Ruins, say, “Go away, noob. Come back when you can run with us.” And then there’s these shrines, which have tougher versions throughout the game, but these three fights a decently-equipped Link can win by sneezing a little too hard.
The final shrine in the area is Kaam Ya’tak Shrine (“Trial of Power”), between the tower and the Coliseum. This shrine is a long winding corridor mixing together various tricks with Stasis and Magnesis (Bombs can be used to blow open a wall for a chest; they couldn’t work Cryonis in), Guardian fights, and even a motion control apparatus (groan). The trickiest puzzle is not the motion controls, but a rolling ball that Link needs to flip into the air onto a see-saw that needs to be Stasised to avoid dropping the ball into the abyss. It ends with sending Link flying and paragliding down to the platform with the shrine monk, which also affords a good overview of the path Link took.
There’s a bunch of Koroks in the area – nothing entirely new, but there’s one point where Link has to find a nearby Rusty Shield (assuming he’s not carrying his own around… hey, it could happen) for an offering. The Koroks here aren’t quite enough for Link to unlock everything, but I’ve only got one empty slot left for a shield [1] that doesn’t really seem that important now that I have the Hylian Shield. Still, I wouldn’t have Stasised that ball up the hill if I weren’t absolutely determined to get them all, so… like with Ocarina of Time’s Skulltulas and Twilight Princess’ Poe souls, I guess useful rewards cut off at a certain point and the final reward is basically there to let you know you can stop.
There are three memories to be found in the area: the first two and last from Zelda’s pictures. The first one depicts a ceremony where Zelda blesses Link and the Master Sword. (“Whether skyward bound, adrift in time, or steeped in the glowing embers of twilight, the sacred blade is forever bound to the soul of the Hero.” I’ve kind of embraced the timeline merge theory, but leaving out references to Wind Waker and the Triforce of the Godses feels like a suggestion we’re in the child timeline… although strictly speaking, that timeline’s version of the Hero of Time never used the Master Sword…) Zelda doesn’t seem into it, which bums Daruk out. Revali doesn’t seem to think much of Link, and Urbosa says Link’s bonding with the sword reminds Zelda that she hasn’t awakened her power yet.
In the second memory, Zelda talks about Daruk’s progress with Rudania and how far they have to go with unlocking the abilities of the Divine Beasts. She asks Link about his mastery of the Master Sword, and specifically if he can hear the ancient voice inside it. (Incidentally, I unlocked this memory shortly after completing the final Trial of the Sword and hearing Fi’s chime.) The final memory happens after things have gone south – the Guardians and Divine Beasts are corrupted by Ganon, and Hyrule Castle is lost. Link and Zelda flee on foot until the weight of everything catches up to her and she collapses. These three memories pretty much settle that I’m not a fan of Zelda’s voice acting. Everyone else is fine, but… having an American actress do a British accent was probably not the best choice.
Next: The series' horse controls have never been great. My general dislike of motion controls has made me never try using them for aiming. Say, I've got a really bad idea.
[1] Bows top out one slot short of a full page; if weapons and the Master Sword are any indication, the last slot is for the Bow of Ganon-Killing.
The shrine near the stable is Rota Ooh (“Passing of the Gates”). The shrine’s core trick is kind of sort of like a Divine Beast; there’s a switch that rotates the central block 90 degrees when hit. The two main things Link needs to do to advance to the end require manipulating that block – first tossing an orb into a basket to be flung into its socket, then riding an updraft through a hole in the block and shooting the switch in midair to get a landing spot that leads to the shrine monk and Spirit Orb.
There are three Minor Test of Strength shrines in the area (Dah Kaso, Katah Chuki, Noya Neha) – two in the shadow of Hyrule Castle, one under a bridge that leads to the Gerudo lands. This seems really weird to me. All the guidance Link gets is “Don’t start in the center, go east.” The omnipresent Guardians and black and blue Hinox in the area, plus the Lynel in the Coliseum Ruins, say, “Go away, noob. Come back when you can run with us.” And then there’s these shrines, which have tougher versions throughout the game, but these three fights a decently-equipped Link can win by sneezing a little too hard.
The final shrine in the area is Kaam Ya’tak Shrine (“Trial of Power”), between the tower and the Coliseum. This shrine is a long winding corridor mixing together various tricks with Stasis and Magnesis (Bombs can be used to blow open a wall for a chest; they couldn’t work Cryonis in), Guardian fights, and even a motion control apparatus (groan). The trickiest puzzle is not the motion controls, but a rolling ball that Link needs to flip into the air onto a see-saw that needs to be Stasised to avoid dropping the ball into the abyss. It ends with sending Link flying and paragliding down to the platform with the shrine monk, which also affords a good overview of the path Link took.
There’s a bunch of Koroks in the area – nothing entirely new, but there’s one point where Link has to find a nearby Rusty Shield (assuming he’s not carrying his own around… hey, it could happen) for an offering. The Koroks here aren’t quite enough for Link to unlock everything, but I’ve only got one empty slot left for a shield [1] that doesn’t really seem that important now that I have the Hylian Shield. Still, I wouldn’t have Stasised that ball up the hill if I weren’t absolutely determined to get them all, so… like with Ocarina of Time’s Skulltulas and Twilight Princess’ Poe souls, I guess useful rewards cut off at a certain point and the final reward is basically there to let you know you can stop.
There are three memories to be found in the area: the first two and last from Zelda’s pictures. The first one depicts a ceremony where Zelda blesses Link and the Master Sword. (“Whether skyward bound, adrift in time, or steeped in the glowing embers of twilight, the sacred blade is forever bound to the soul of the Hero.” I’ve kind of embraced the timeline merge theory, but leaving out references to Wind Waker and the Triforce of the Godses feels like a suggestion we’re in the child timeline… although strictly speaking, that timeline’s version of the Hero of Time never used the Master Sword…) Zelda doesn’t seem into it, which bums Daruk out. Revali doesn’t seem to think much of Link, and Urbosa says Link’s bonding with the sword reminds Zelda that she hasn’t awakened her power yet.
In the second memory, Zelda talks about Daruk’s progress with Rudania and how far they have to go with unlocking the abilities of the Divine Beasts. She asks Link about his mastery of the Master Sword, and specifically if he can hear the ancient voice inside it. (Incidentally, I unlocked this memory shortly after completing the final Trial of the Sword and hearing Fi’s chime.) The final memory happens after things have gone south – the Guardians and Divine Beasts are corrupted by Ganon, and Hyrule Castle is lost. Link and Zelda flee on foot until the weight of everything catches up to her and she collapses. These three memories pretty much settle that I’m not a fan of Zelda’s voice acting. Everyone else is fine, but… having an American actress do a British accent was probably not the best choice.
Next: The series' horse controls have never been great. My general dislike of motion controls has made me never try using them for aiming. Say, I've got a really bad idea.
[1] Bows top out one slot short of a full page; if weapons and the Master Sword are any indication, the last slot is for the Bow of Ganon-Killing.
Wednesday, October 21, 2020
Breath of the Wild: Item Collection
At this point, I’ve fully explored northern and eastern Hyrule, leaving the west (where the last two Divine Beasts are), center, and south. My original plan was to save the center for last so I could do Hyrule Castle alongside it, but after getting a couple of the DLC items (Korok Mask and Travel Medallion) and liking how incredibly useful they are, I looked at the quest log entries for the rest of them and decided to start clearing them out. Adding to this is the fact that with enemies spawning at max level, pretty much everywhere I’d go would be the same level of difficulty, and I don’t really fear Lynels or Guardians [1] anymore.
The first stop is the tower, which is easy to spot from the Great Plateau Tower. It’s surrounded by Guardians, but otherwise an easy climb. The second stop is the Ancient Ruins where Link first touched down from the Great Plateau; there’s a journal hidden by Misko who stole eight priceless relics from Hyrule Castle and hid them all over the area. The eight items are Majora’s Mask, the piece of the Fused Shadow Midna wore as a helmet, Tingle’s clothes, and a set of armor resembling Phantom Zelda from Spirit Tracks. Getting them all requires a tour of Central Hyrule. The fun one is the Coliseum Ruins where Link gets to have an imaginary gladiator match with a Lynel.
The armor items are mostly redundant with other items I’ve got (the Phantom set boots attack like the Fierce Deity, the Tingle set boosts night speed like the Stealth set and makes you look like fscking Tingle, Midna’s helmet gives Guardian resistance like the Ancient set). Majora’s Mask, on the other hand, is like combining Kilton’s Bokoblin, Moblin, and Lizalfos Masks (the latter newly added after clearing Rudania) into a single mask – plus it keeps Lynels at bay for a little while, simultaneously solving the sole difficulty I was still having (getting close without the Lynel pulling out its bow) and adding a bit of hilarity as the Lynel stares down Majora’s Masked Link down before the magic wears off. (And there’s plenty of time between the magic wearing off to switch to the Fierce Deity Mask, pull out a bow, shoot the Lynel in the face, and hop on its back and get some free hits in.) And that’s the bonus, on top of being able to ignore enemies I don’t want to fight – including the Stal- versions. Seriously, Majora’s Mask by itself is worth the $20 I paid for the DLC.
After some careful consideration, I decided I would go to Hyrule Castle to try to find the royal recipes and a royal guard weapon. (I forgot about the royal guard armor, though.) Following a tip from someone else wanting to explore the castle for treasure, I snuck in through the docks in the north rather than brave the main gate. Along the way into the castle, Link can light a giant torch to unearth Saas Ko’sah Shrine, which is A Major Test of Strength with no permanent pillars to hide behind when the Guardian does its spinning charge attack, but there are blocks in the floor Link can Magnesis up to use instead.
The path Link took into the castle leads straight to the Library, where the recipe books are. For the weapon, I went back to another entrance I saw gliding into the docks and wound up in the castle’s dungeons and took a spear off a Moblin. The more interesting discovery in the dungeon was a cell that, upon entry, Link is locked in and to get back out has to defeat a Stalnox. In addition to reopening the cell door, defeating the Stalnox spawns a treasure chest with a Hylian Shield that, while not unbreakable like the one in Skyward Sword… is pretty much unbreakable. The rewards for cooking the meals and showing off the spear totaled 500 rupees, and Link can sell royal guard weapons in exchange for gems.
Next: The first and last photograph memories.
[1] Guardians were the final straw on me using Wolf Link. You can tell him “stay,” and he will, but he understands it as “wait while I go and kill these guys,” not “this guy will kill you if you’re there when we fight, so stay here and let me handle it.” Guardians don’t understand “HEY! Shoot me, not the wolf!” And Wolf Link just can’t get the hang of shield bashing Guardian lasers back at them.
The first stop is the tower, which is easy to spot from the Great Plateau Tower. It’s surrounded by Guardians, but otherwise an easy climb. The second stop is the Ancient Ruins where Link first touched down from the Great Plateau; there’s a journal hidden by Misko who stole eight priceless relics from Hyrule Castle and hid them all over the area. The eight items are Majora’s Mask, the piece of the Fused Shadow Midna wore as a helmet, Tingle’s clothes, and a set of armor resembling Phantom Zelda from Spirit Tracks. Getting them all requires a tour of Central Hyrule. The fun one is the Coliseum Ruins where Link gets to have an imaginary gladiator match with a Lynel.
The armor items are mostly redundant with other items I’ve got (the Phantom set boots attack like the Fierce Deity, the Tingle set boosts night speed like the Stealth set and makes you look like fscking Tingle, Midna’s helmet gives Guardian resistance like the Ancient set). Majora’s Mask, on the other hand, is like combining Kilton’s Bokoblin, Moblin, and Lizalfos Masks (the latter newly added after clearing Rudania) into a single mask – plus it keeps Lynels at bay for a little while, simultaneously solving the sole difficulty I was still having (getting close without the Lynel pulling out its bow) and adding a bit of hilarity as the Lynel stares down Majora’s Masked Link down before the magic wears off. (And there’s plenty of time between the magic wearing off to switch to the Fierce Deity Mask, pull out a bow, shoot the Lynel in the face, and hop on its back and get some free hits in.) And that’s the bonus, on top of being able to ignore enemies I don’t want to fight – including the Stal- versions. Seriously, Majora’s Mask by itself is worth the $20 I paid for the DLC.
After some careful consideration, I decided I would go to Hyrule Castle to try to find the royal recipes and a royal guard weapon. (I forgot about the royal guard armor, though.) Following a tip from someone else wanting to explore the castle for treasure, I snuck in through the docks in the north rather than brave the main gate. Along the way into the castle, Link can light a giant torch to unearth Saas Ko’sah Shrine, which is A Major Test of Strength with no permanent pillars to hide behind when the Guardian does its spinning charge attack, but there are blocks in the floor Link can Magnesis up to use instead.
The path Link took into the castle leads straight to the Library, where the recipe books are. For the weapon, I went back to another entrance I saw gliding into the docks and wound up in the castle’s dungeons and took a spear off a Moblin. The more interesting discovery in the dungeon was a cell that, upon entry, Link is locked in and to get back out has to defeat a Stalnox. In addition to reopening the cell door, defeating the Stalnox spawns a treasure chest with a Hylian Shield that, while not unbreakable like the one in Skyward Sword… is pretty much unbreakable. The rewards for cooking the meals and showing off the spear totaled 500 rupees, and Link can sell royal guard weapons in exchange for gems.
Next: The first and last photograph memories.
[1] Guardians were the final straw on me using Wolf Link. You can tell him “stay,” and he will, but he understands it as “wait while I go and kill these guys,” not “this guy will kill you if you’re there when we fight, so stay here and let me handle it.” Guardians don’t understand “HEY! Shoot me, not the wolf!” And Wolf Link just can’t get the hang of shield bashing Guardian lasers back at them.
Monday, October 19, 2020
Breath of the Wild: Eldin Roundup
There are three sidequests left in and around Goron City. A Gerudo merchant is looking to buy 10 chunks of amber, and pays more than Link can get selling them to a shop. A Goron taking a hot bath talks about a treasure he hid that turns out to be a Drillshaft weapons that’s good for smashing ore. Finally, a Goron’s been asked to defeat all the Igneo Taluses around the region and there’s one he can’t get. Once Link takes care of it, the Goron asks to buy the achievement for 100 rupees and I mean, sure, I’ll take the rupees, but it’s really not that hard to kill an Igneo Talus and the only thing harder about this one is it’s harder to get to for Link whose fireproof status has stronger limits than the Gorons’.
There’s a mine cart in the city, and Link can hop in, drop (round) bombs in the basket at the rear (the first one has to be kicked in; Newton’s first law pushes the rest in while the cart is moving), and detonate them to ride to Shora Hah Shrine. The challenge is called Blue Flame, and requires passing the fire from a torch at the beginning to a bunch of torches, along the way dealing with inconvenient waterspouts, having to move pieces with Magnesis, and little Guardians to fight. The final part reminds me of getting into the Shadow Temple in Ocarina of Time, only there’s no Din’s Fire, so Link has to stand in the circle of torches and use a spin attack with the lit torch to light them all at once. (If he misses one, waterspouts come on and put the torches out.)
Off the road between Goron City and Death Mountain, there’s Daqa Koh Shrine (“Stalled Flight”). The challenge here is simple: there’s a big stone block on a section of floor that periodically jumps up, sending the stone block upward and its electric generator connects with something on the ceiling to open the gate. So Link needs to get sent in the air along with the block, paraglide to land on it, Stasis it to stay in place, and paraglide through the gate before it opens. Back near the Foothill Stable, Link can find Sah Dahaj Shrine (“Power of Fire”), which is another “burn everything to clear the path” shrine.
In the northwest corner of Eldin, there’s a shrine on a pillar that a trio of Gorons has adopted as their training ground. The leader’s blocking the entrance (and sneaking around him isn’t an option), so the only way in is to play their minigame, which leads me to the surprised revelation that there haven’t been just a whole lot of minigames in this game. I found one in Hateno Village to shoot deer for rupees, and now this one, and that’s it. The goal of this game is to climb the pillar in three minutes and collect 100 rupees along the way. The time limit’s generous, rupees plentiful, and there are lots of places to rest and recover stamina, so it’s pretty hard to fail. Link completes the challenge, enters Gorae Torr’s blessing shrine, and collects his spirit orb.
The final shrine in the area requires tracking down a Goron who’s gone to Gorko’s Tunnel, and the hardest part of the whole bit is finding the place. Link does eventually find it, and the missing Goron, who’s passed out from hunger, so Link needs to get a rock roast from the bottom of the hill and carry it back up while enemies along the way hassle him (and if he drops the roast, it’ll like roll all the way down the hill into the lava). The roast brings the Goron back to life and he uncovers Kayra Mah Shrine. The challenge is called Greedy Hill, and also involves running up a hill while obstacles – in this case balls rolling down – try to send Link back down. There are rupees to tempt Link, and I actually got a fair few. (I tried coming back for more, but they don’t respawn. Never waited out a Blood Moon to see if they’ll respawn then.)
At this point, we’re probably out of wholly new tricks to find Koroks. There’s some variation like moving a rock to match other rocks in the area, but everything is at least reminiscent of other ways. Near one of the Koroks, there’s another memory location, and they’re still novel enough for me that I see the glowing spot and wonder what the heck it is. This one is a flashback to Zelda (not Mipha?) patching Link up after a fight against a crapton of monsters, including multiple white Lynels. The music associated with the Blood Moons plays as Zelda notes that the monster attacks are increasing in both frequency and intensity [1], which suggests Ganon may be about ready to return.
(Around this time is when I did the second Trial of the Sword.)
Next: It doesn’t let you drop the moon on your enemies. It may be even better than that.
[1] Incidentally, in the game, as Link defeats more and more monsters, the ones he’ll face get stronger as well. Around this time is when I got that maxed out, with every monster in the game set to its maximum difficulty. This meant silver damage-sponge enemies where in just about every enemy group, and all Lynels with a few special exceptions were silver as well. I was already less than enamored with this game’s combat system (Lynels and “Test of Strength” guardians are fun to fight and that’s about it – and silver Lynels are honestly pushing it), and having those enemies everywhere didn’t help matters.
There’s a mine cart in the city, and Link can hop in, drop (round) bombs in the basket at the rear (the first one has to be kicked in; Newton’s first law pushes the rest in while the cart is moving), and detonate them to ride to Shora Hah Shrine. The challenge is called Blue Flame, and requires passing the fire from a torch at the beginning to a bunch of torches, along the way dealing with inconvenient waterspouts, having to move pieces with Magnesis, and little Guardians to fight. The final part reminds me of getting into the Shadow Temple in Ocarina of Time, only there’s no Din’s Fire, so Link has to stand in the circle of torches and use a spin attack with the lit torch to light them all at once. (If he misses one, waterspouts come on and put the torches out.)
Off the road between Goron City and Death Mountain, there’s Daqa Koh Shrine (“Stalled Flight”). The challenge here is simple: there’s a big stone block on a section of floor that periodically jumps up, sending the stone block upward and its electric generator connects with something on the ceiling to open the gate. So Link needs to get sent in the air along with the block, paraglide to land on it, Stasis it to stay in place, and paraglide through the gate before it opens. Back near the Foothill Stable, Link can find Sah Dahaj Shrine (“Power of Fire”), which is another “burn everything to clear the path” shrine.
In the northwest corner of Eldin, there’s a shrine on a pillar that a trio of Gorons has adopted as their training ground. The leader’s blocking the entrance (and sneaking around him isn’t an option), so the only way in is to play their minigame, which leads me to the surprised revelation that there haven’t been just a whole lot of minigames in this game. I found one in Hateno Village to shoot deer for rupees, and now this one, and that’s it. The goal of this game is to climb the pillar in three minutes and collect 100 rupees along the way. The time limit’s generous, rupees plentiful, and there are lots of places to rest and recover stamina, so it’s pretty hard to fail. Link completes the challenge, enters Gorae Torr’s blessing shrine, and collects his spirit orb.
The final shrine in the area requires tracking down a Goron who’s gone to Gorko’s Tunnel, and the hardest part of the whole bit is finding the place. Link does eventually find it, and the missing Goron, who’s passed out from hunger, so Link needs to get a rock roast from the bottom of the hill and carry it back up while enemies along the way hassle him (and if he drops the roast, it’ll like roll all the way down the hill into the lava). The roast brings the Goron back to life and he uncovers Kayra Mah Shrine. The challenge is called Greedy Hill, and also involves running up a hill while obstacles – in this case balls rolling down – try to send Link back down. There are rupees to tempt Link, and I actually got a fair few. (I tried coming back for more, but they don’t respawn. Never waited out a Blood Moon to see if they’ll respawn then.)
At this point, we’re probably out of wholly new tricks to find Koroks. There’s some variation like moving a rock to match other rocks in the area, but everything is at least reminiscent of other ways. Near one of the Koroks, there’s another memory location, and they’re still novel enough for me that I see the glowing spot and wonder what the heck it is. This one is a flashback to Zelda (not Mipha?) patching Link up after a fight against a crapton of monsters, including multiple white Lynels. The music associated with the Blood Moons plays as Zelda notes that the monster attacks are increasing in both frequency and intensity [1], which suggests Ganon may be about ready to return.
(Around this time is when I did the second Trial of the Sword.)
Next: It doesn’t let you drop the moon on your enemies. It may be even better than that.
[1] Incidentally, in the game, as Link defeats more and more monsters, the ones he’ll face get stronger as well. Around this time is when I got that maxed out, with every monster in the game set to its maximum difficulty. This meant silver damage-sponge enemies where in just about every enemy group, and all Lynels with a few special exceptions were silver as well. I was already less than enamored with this game’s combat system (Lynels and “Test of Strength” guardians are fun to fight and that’s about it – and silver Lynels are honestly pushing it), and having those enemies everywhere didn’t help matters.
Monday, October 5, 2020
Breath of the Wild: Divine Beast Vah Rudania
To continue the main quest, Link meets with the Goron boss, Bludo, who complains about Rudania stomping about on Death Mountain making its eruptions worse. The Gorons periodically drive it off by shooting it with cannons, but it always comes back, and Bludo’s back pain is flaring up. His assistant, Yunobo, went to get painkillers, but hasn’t come back. So Link heads out looking for Yunobo; in Abandoned North Mine is a series of lava islands; the lava creates lots of updrafts to allow Link to glide between the islands. The area is overrun by fire Lizalfos; between the Flamebreaker Armor negating their breath weapon and “fire creature + ice arrow = one-shot kill,” it’s really easy. Yunobo (“Goron Youth”) is in a storeroom that’s been blocked by a rockslide; Link clears the way with a cannon and approaches. After a short panic thinking Link’s another monster come for him, Yunobo relaxes and returns to Bludo, telling Link to do the same.
Bludo gives Link three more Fireproof Elixirs and directs Link’s attention to a statue of Daruk, which causes Link to remember riding on Rudania with Daruk, who used a protective ability when rocks fell from Death Mountain. In addition to giving the Champions a moment to shine, these flashbacks also showcase the ability Link gets by finishing the Divine Beast; Mipha healing, Daruk protecting. Yunobo, Daruk’s descendant, used a similar ability when Link cleared the rockslide, and wears a bandana similar to Daruk’s (but smaller). When they drive off Rudania together, they use Yunobo as the cannonball, using Daruk’s Protection to protect himself from Newton’s Third Law. But the painkillers haven’t quite kicked in fully yet, so Bludo’s not able to go deal with Rudania yet.
Along the way to catch up with Yunobo, Link encounters some of Death Mountain’s versions of Octoroks, who shield themselves from pretty much any form of attack. However, they’re constantly sucking up anything they can, and will suck up a bomb, and just like Dodongos, their insides aren’t as tough. (Also, if Link feeds them rusted weapons, they’ll clean them and spit back out good ones.) Link catches up to Yunobo, who’s gotten himself surrounded by monsters. After Link deals with the monsters, the two come up with the idea of going after Rudania themselves, with a demonstration of Yunobo’s cannonball powers to begin.
As Link and Yunobo reach Death Mountain, the Divine Beast lets out a bunch of Sentries (flying Guardians, not as mobile as the normal flying guardians). This starts what’s meant to be a stealth section, with Link and Yunobo sneaking past the Sentries, but it’s really not that hard to kill them with a bunch of arrows and ignore the stealth part. There are three cannons on the approach, and each one drives Rudania higher on the mountain until it jumps into the caldera. Link dives in.
Ruta in Zora’s Domain is the easiest of the four Divine Beasts to get to, and despite the open-world design, there is some encouragement to go that way first, but there’s no way of knowing for sure which one they’ll do first, so we get the same tutorial guidance (get the map, activate terminals, go for the boss) as if it’s our first. Until Link gets the map, the first rooms are dark, which only highlights the Malice Eyes more. The Divine Beast control Link gets is the ability to turn Rudania on its side, changing the orientation of rooms. One of the terminals is hidden behind a wall of flame; the intended solution is to get a block and position it so Link is able to sneak by, but the Flamebreaker Armor lets Link just walk on through.
The boss is Fireblight Ganon (“Scourge of Divine Beast Vah Rudania”). He throws fireballs at Link, but they bounce off the Flamebreaker Armor. Its other attacks are sword slashes that I found easy to perfect dodge/flurry rush, so the first phase of the battle went by quickly. At the start of the second phase, it sets fire to its sword and surrounds itself with a flame shield. At first, it imitates the Death Mountain Octoroks, and the solution is the same: feed it a bomb. This knocks down the flame shield, and the rest of the fight’s the same as the first phase. (Also, this time I had the presence of mind to take its picture.)
Once Link takes control of Rudania, Daruk (“Goron Champion”) appears to him. He’s considerably more upbeat than Mipha was, although he feels the need to apologize to Link for losing to Fireblight Ganon. He gives Link Daruk’s Protection, which will absorb damage from up to three attacks (and deflect Guardian lasers) before needing to recharge. After moving Rudania into place, Daruk cheerfully notes that Hyrule doesn’t look too bad after everything that happened 100 years before, and he looks down and sees Yunobo, which reassures him that the Gorons are still going strong. Yunobo sees Daruk’s ghost and happily waves to him. Yunobo’s waiting for Link back in Goron City, and brings him to Bluto for a reward. That reward is Daruk’s weapon, a giant stone sword that is excellent for crushing the ore weak spot on Taluses.
Next: Wait, there are minigames?
Bludo gives Link three more Fireproof Elixirs and directs Link’s attention to a statue of Daruk, which causes Link to remember riding on Rudania with Daruk, who used a protective ability when rocks fell from Death Mountain. In addition to giving the Champions a moment to shine, these flashbacks also showcase the ability Link gets by finishing the Divine Beast; Mipha healing, Daruk protecting. Yunobo, Daruk’s descendant, used a similar ability when Link cleared the rockslide, and wears a bandana similar to Daruk’s (but smaller). When they drive off Rudania together, they use Yunobo as the cannonball, using Daruk’s Protection to protect himself from Newton’s Third Law. But the painkillers haven’t quite kicked in fully yet, so Bludo’s not able to go deal with Rudania yet.
Along the way to catch up with Yunobo, Link encounters some of Death Mountain’s versions of Octoroks, who shield themselves from pretty much any form of attack. However, they’re constantly sucking up anything they can, and will suck up a bomb, and just like Dodongos, their insides aren’t as tough. (Also, if Link feeds them rusted weapons, they’ll clean them and spit back out good ones.) Link catches up to Yunobo, who’s gotten himself surrounded by monsters. After Link deals with the monsters, the two come up with the idea of going after Rudania themselves, with a demonstration of Yunobo’s cannonball powers to begin.
As Link and Yunobo reach Death Mountain, the Divine Beast lets out a bunch of Sentries (flying Guardians, not as mobile as the normal flying guardians). This starts what’s meant to be a stealth section, with Link and Yunobo sneaking past the Sentries, but it’s really not that hard to kill them with a bunch of arrows and ignore the stealth part. There are three cannons on the approach, and each one drives Rudania higher on the mountain until it jumps into the caldera. Link dives in.
Ruta in Zora’s Domain is the easiest of the four Divine Beasts to get to, and despite the open-world design, there is some encouragement to go that way first, but there’s no way of knowing for sure which one they’ll do first, so we get the same tutorial guidance (get the map, activate terminals, go for the boss) as if it’s our first. Until Link gets the map, the first rooms are dark, which only highlights the Malice Eyes more. The Divine Beast control Link gets is the ability to turn Rudania on its side, changing the orientation of rooms. One of the terminals is hidden behind a wall of flame; the intended solution is to get a block and position it so Link is able to sneak by, but the Flamebreaker Armor lets Link just walk on through.
The boss is Fireblight Ganon (“Scourge of Divine Beast Vah Rudania”). He throws fireballs at Link, but they bounce off the Flamebreaker Armor. Its other attacks are sword slashes that I found easy to perfect dodge/flurry rush, so the first phase of the battle went by quickly. At the start of the second phase, it sets fire to its sword and surrounds itself with a flame shield. At first, it imitates the Death Mountain Octoroks, and the solution is the same: feed it a bomb. This knocks down the flame shield, and the rest of the fight’s the same as the first phase. (Also, this time I had the presence of mind to take its picture.)
Once Link takes control of Rudania, Daruk (“Goron Champion”) appears to him. He’s considerably more upbeat than Mipha was, although he feels the need to apologize to Link for losing to Fireblight Ganon. He gives Link Daruk’s Protection, which will absorb damage from up to three attacks (and deflect Guardian lasers) before needing to recharge. After moving Rudania into place, Daruk cheerfully notes that Hyrule doesn’t look too bad after everything that happened 100 years before, and he looks down and sees Yunobo, which reassures him that the Gorons are still going strong. Yunobo sees Daruk’s ghost and happily waves to him. Yunobo’s waiting for Link back in Goron City, and brings him to Bluto for a reward. That reward is Daruk’s weapon, a giant stone sword that is excellent for crushing the ore weak spot on Taluses.
Next: Wait, there are minigames?
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