I beat Breath of the Wild!

[Anacybele]

I finally did! I'm so proud because that was one tough ass final battle. Mainly due to the part where Calamity Ganon sticks on that invincibility shield ugh. I could've beaten the game months ago, but I put it down for a bit back in July. lol

My tips for this (spoilered for obvious reasons):

Spoiler

- Create and bring the ancient armor. That stuff really helps Link take less damage from most of the attacks this gross looking SoB throws at him.

- Daruk's Protection is probably the best thing against the invincibility shield, as it momentarily shuts it down and Link can get in several hits.

- You can also do the perfect dodge thing and get in hits that way, but I find this a lot harder. Maybe I just suck at pulling it off. xP

- When Calamity Ganon climbs the walls, just run the fuck away from everything! It's too hard to hit him at this point when he has the invincibility shield up.

- Bring plenty of hearts and food and maybe some attack-increasing recipes too. Mighty Bananas are the best attack-increaser, as you can gather lots of them easily down in the jungle south of Lake Hylia or from all those god damn Yigas you kill.

- The second phase of this battle isn't as hard as it might look. Trust me. That part is fairly easy, just don't fall off your horse. xP

And when storming Hyrule Castle, bring ancient arrows and other ancient weapons with you to help take care of any of the guardians if needed. Pick up the Hylian Shield too! It's located at:

Spoiler

The back of the castle in the Lock Up area. You'll have to beat a skeletal Hinox, but he's actually rather easy.

Overall, I really really enjoyed this game, with a few little complaints and one somewhat bigger complaint.

Big complaint: the fucking Yiga. Fuck them, seriously. They're some of the most annoying things in the series. I do not want to see anything like them in a Zelda game ever again. Storming their hideout isn't bad, it's AFTER that. Once you finish their hideout, they'll randomly attack you. All. Over. Hyrule. And this can screw you over so bad.

Little complaints: Loading times are slow and Link is always slow as molasses to get up when he's knocked down. Also, too few dungeons for how big the overworld is, but I consider this a small complaint because there is also a massive number of shrines to find, which somewhat helps make up for it. Just not completely, imo.

I plan to buy all the DLC next. Is it all really good? No spoilers please. Who else beat BotW and enjoyed it?

 

Edited December 25, 2017 by Anacybele

[Magical Glace]

Finale stuff

Spoiler

Honestly the most annoying part of the finale for me is the fact I had to put up with the horse controls for Dark Beast Ganon.  I rarely use the horses because I find them hard to steer properly.

Hyrule Castle as a dungeon is absolutely broken by the fact you can climb walls in it (unlike the shrines and Divine Beasts) and the Zora Armor being a thing.  It's kinda hilarious, actually.  I didn't fight much of anything while I made a beeline to Ganon.

Urbosa's Fury/Daruk's Protection helps for Ganon's spider form's invincibility phase.

 

Storywise, on the topic of Ganon, did anyone else... feel kinda sorry for him?  Like, Ganon was human once too, he could think and plan and all that, and TWW states his original goal was simply "don't want to be stuck in desert."  But by the time BotW happens he really can't seem to do anything but destroy everything he can mindlessly.  

I just kinda pity that outcome for him, I guess.

 

[Armagon]

16 minutes ago, Anacybele said:

Big complaint: the fucking Yiga. Fuck them, seriously. They're some of the most annoying things in the series. I do not want to see anything like them in a Zelda game ever again. Storming their hideout isn't bad, it's AFTER that. Once you finish their hideout, they'll randomly attack you. All. Over. Hyrule. And this can screw you over so bad.

Pro tip: If you have Stasis+, the Yiga become really trivial. If they pop up, just Za Warudo use Stasis+ on them, whack them a few times with a good weapon, and you're good to go.

Anyway, congrats. I personally didn't think Calamity Ganon was that hard, though that could be because i learned how to properly deflect shots. Also Urbosa's Fury. If anything, the Lynels (especially Silver ones) are much harder than any boss in this game but even they become easy with good equipment and proper parrying.

[Anacybele]

15 minutes ago, Glaceon Mage said:

Finale stuff

  Hide contents

Honestly the most annoying part of the finale for me is the fact I had to put up with the horse controls for Dark Beast Ganon.  I rarely use the horses because I find them hard to steer properly.

Hyrule Castle as a dungeon is absolutely broken by the fact you can climb walls in it (unlike the shrines and Divine Beasts) and the Zora Armor being a thing.  It's kinda hilarious, actually.  I didn't fight much of anything while I made a beeline to Ganon.

Urbosa's Fury/Daruk's Protection helps for Ganon's spider form's invincibility phase.

 

Storywise, on the topic of Ganon, did anyone else... feel kinda sorry for him?  Like, Ganon was human once too, he could think and plan and all that, and TWW states his original goal was simply "don't want to be stuck in desert."  But by the time BotW happens he really can't seem to do anything but destroy everything he can mindlessly.  

I just kinda pity that outcome for him, I guess.

 

Huh, I never had many problems with the horses... I'm biased for horses though, so I had to get used to the controls no matter what. lol I've gotten and registered four so far. The fifth is going to be that pretty white horse I still can't seem to get... I've tried to, but always failed. :(

My other four though are:

Windswept - A black horse with a white main and tail. I wish I'd known that I could get an all black horse though, as I would've preferred naming that one Windswept instead. I got the name from an old Barbie book that featured an all black horse of the same name.

Cookie - A brown and white paint horse. Named because the color pattern reminded me of cookies and cream stuff. lol

Sunfire - A palomino. Named for my main Zelda OC's horse who is a palomino.

Stormy - A silvery blue horse. Short for Stormfrost since that name wouldn't fit... :/ Also based on a Zelda OC's horse (originally named Duke, but I decided to change that and give the character's horse a cooler name to fit with the character himself being a general).

And I'm going to name the white horse Rainbow because white light when broken becomes a rainbow.

Yeah, backstory-wise, Ganon(dorf) was really interesting and well done. I just never liked him because I never really enjoyed fighting him. It was always either too easy or too boring or both. TWW Ganondorf had potential to be awesome because it's a literal sword fight, but it was still really easy and stuff. Same with TP's G-dorf. And OoT I've just done way too many times. lol

BotW's battle was kinda neat, but...this time the problem is the boss itself. Ugh, he looks so GROSS in the first phase.

Edited December 25, 2017 by Anacybele

[Zapp Branniglenn]

12 minutes ago, Glaceon Mage said:

Finale stuff

  Hide contents

Honestly the most annoying part of the finale for me is the fact I had to put up with the horse controls for Dark Beast Ganon.  I rarely use the horses because I find them hard to steer properly.

 

Lol, I think it would be almost prudent for them to have horse controls at the start of the battle for the benefit of players that didn't ride horses. I certainly didn't.

[Magical Glace]

5 minutes ago, Anacybele said:

Yeah, backstory-wise, Ganon(dorf) was really interesting and well done. I just never liked him because I never really enjoyed fighting him. It was always either too easy or too boring or both. TWW Ganondorf had potential to be awesome because it's a literal sword fight, but it was still really easy and stuff. Same with TP's G-dorf. And OoT I've just done way too many times. lol

BotW's battle was kinda neat, but...this time the problem is the boss itself. Ugh, he looks so GROSS in the first phase.

Spoiler

Honestly, I think the weird appearance makes a lot of sense from a narrative standpoint, and I like the design for that reason.  Like I said, he's lost pretty much everything that made him "Ganondorf", he's been reduced to a mindlessly destroying force of nature, so as a result his looks degenerated with him.  

 

[Anacybele]

Just now, Glaceon Mage said:

  Hide contents

Honestly, I think the weird appearance makes a lot of sense from a narrative standpoint, and I like the design for that reason.  Like I said, he's lost pretty much everything that made him "Ganondorf", he's been reduced to a mindlessly destroying force of nature, so as a result his looks degenerated with him.  

 

Yeah, I guess, but I think they went a bit overboard with that here, imo...

10 minutes ago, Armagon said:

Pro tip: If you have Stasis+, the Yiga become really trivial. If they pop up, just Za Warudo use Stasis+ on them, whack them a few times with a good weapon, and you're good to go.

Anyway, congrats. I personally didn't think Calamity Ganon was that hard, though that could be because i learned how to properly deflect shots. Also Urbosa's Fury. If anything, the Lynels (especially Silver ones) are much harder than any boss in this game but even they become easy with good equipment and proper parrying.

I did get Stasis+, don't know why I didn't think of trying that...

Wow, I didn't even know you COULD deflect shots... Or maybe I did, but just forgot. xP

[Shadow Mir]

48 minutes ago, Anacybele said:

Huh, I never had many problems with the horses... I'm biased for horses though, so I had to get used to the controls no matter what. lol I've gotten and registered four so far. The fifth is going to be that pretty white horse I still can't seem to get... I've tried to, but always failed. :(

Does said horse happen to resemble the one that Zelda and Impa rode when fleeing from Ganondorf in Ocarina of Time?

[LucarioGamer812]

Beat the game so long ago and occasionally go back to beat it again. I did like how it ended though.

Spoiler

I made sure I got the true ending and basically got the canon ending with the Hylian hood, Champion's tunic, and Hylian trousers, Hylian Shield and Master Sword, along with Epona

Anyways congrats on beating the game, as BotW is probably most people's game of the year if they've played it, mine is personally Echoes (at least that came out this year, otherwise Valkyria Chronicles)

[donkeykhang]

Congratulations on beating the game and saving Hyrule... again!

So the Hylian shield is at the back of the castle... I've beaten the game but overlooked that haha. 

Is this white horse you mentioned a special/unique one? Sounds interesting, it must be pretty darn elusive though. Speaking of horses, here are mine! (I'm not too good with the coming up with names thing)

Spoiler

 

[Anacybele]

5 hours ago, Levant Mir Celestia said:

Does said horse happen to resemble the one that Zelda and Impa rode when fleeing from Ganondorf in Ocarina of Time?

It kinda does, actually. But I'm not sure exactly, since it's been quite awhile since the last time I played OoT.

2 hours ago, donkeykhang said:

Is this white horse you mentioned a special/unique one? Sounds interesting, it must be pretty darn elusive though. Speaking of horses, here are mine! (I'm not too good with the coming up with names thing)

Yeah, it's unique. And it isn't so much that it's elusive, I've found it a few times. But it keeps throwing me off and it feels like no matter how much stamina I have, I just can't tame it.

[Dai]

Mighty Bananas aren't the best powerup item as far as I recall. I tend to use Mighty Porgy, mixed with a dragon horn. Thirty minutes of +3 attack.

As for the DLC, go ahead. It's a decent addition to the game, and it does offer you some cool stuff.

Edited December 26, 2017 by Dai

[Etrurian emperor]

The royal horse is my best horse so far. I named him Harkinian of course, after the greatest king Hyrule has ever known.

By the way, did anyone manage to make and fly their own airship yet?

[Mackc2]

Spoiler

The boss rush is painful, I had to replay that boss rush so many times. Especially thunder blight Ganon bugger his teleport strike was annoying.

 

Edited December 26, 2017 by Mackc2

[Anacybele]

20 hours ago, Dai said:

Mighty Bananas aren't the best powerup item as far as I recall. I tend to use Mighty Porgy, mixed with a dragon horn. Thirty minutes of +3 attack.

They're so easy to get though. I never find nearly as many of other strength-increasing ingredients as I do these.

20 hours ago, Dai said:

As for the DLC, go ahead. It's a decent addition to the game, and it does offer you some cool stuff.

Ah, sweet then. ^^

[Johann]

On 12/25/2017 at 1:49 PM, Anacybele said:

I plan to buy all the DLC next. Is it all really good? No spoilers please. Who else beat BotW and enjoyed it?

• The bonus features like Hero's Path are nice, but not much of a game changer. I guess it depends how much you like to explore and keep track of where you've been. Same more or less applies to the Korok Mask and the teleporter thingy, I haven't had a need for them. There is a special saddle that makes your horse teleport to you when you whistle, and it's not hard to get, so that's pretty nice if you like horses.
• Armor from the series is kinda cool but if you intend to actually use any of it, you'll be disappointed to know that you can't dye or upgrade any of it, so it's more of a novelty or challenge thing
• Trial of the Sword is either a love it or hate it thing. If you like intense fighting challenges with limited resources (you lose all items when entering), then it's great. If not, then you'll probably check it out once or twice and decide it's not your idea of fun. I think you can use a long-lasting elixir and ride that the whole way through though.
• Master Quest is pretty difficult. Enemies all having more health and regenerating rather quickly if you ignore them for like 10 seconds makes each weapon you get all the more precious (or relying on techniques like knocking dudes of cliffs or crushing them with metal stuff). However, they also add a lot of extra treasure, mostly quality weapons (like a buffed Knight's Claymore on the Great Plateau) and large quantities of elemental arrows, so anything that hasn't been boosted becomes easier. I've also noticed Guardians sometimes making like a half-second pause before firing their lasers every now and then, to throw you off from their rhythm.
• Champion's Ballad is along the lines of the main quest; puzzles and fights tied to the story. I'm confident that you'd like this, though the very first part of it requires a challenge on the Great Plateau that you might get frustrated with.

I'm hoping that they'll work on a sequel with reused assets, much like they did with Majora's Mask. BotW's system feels great and I don't want to see them take 5 years to make another just because they wanted to start from scratch yet again.

[Anacybele]

7 minutes ago, Johann said:

• The bonus features like Hero's Path are nice, but not much of a game changer. I guess it depends how much you like to explore and keep track of where you've been. Same more or less applies to the Korok Mask and the teleporter thingy, I haven't had a need for them. There is a special saddle that makes your horse teleport to you when you whistle, and it's not hard to get, so that's pretty nice if you like horses.
• Armor from the series is kinda cool but if you intend to actually use any of it, you'll be disappointed to know that you can't dye or upgrade any of it, so it's more of a novelty or challenge thing
• Trial of the Sword is either a love it or hate it thing. If you like intense fighting challenges with limited resources (you lose all items when entering), then it's great. If not, then you'll probably check it out once or twice and decide it's not your idea of fun. I think you can use a long-lasting elixir and ride that the whole way through though.
• Master Quest is pretty difficult. Enemies all having more health and regenerating rather quickly if you ignore them for like 10 seconds makes each weapon you get all the more precious (or relying on techniques like knocking dudes of cliffs or crushing them with metal stuff). However, they also add a lot of extra treasure, mostly quality weapons (like a buffed Knight's Claymore on the Great Plateau) and large quantities of elemental arrows, so anything that hasn't been boosted becomes easier. I've also noticed Guardians sometimes making like a half-second pause before firing their lasers every now and then, to throw you off from their rhythm.
• Champion's Ballad is along the lines of the main quest; puzzles and fights tied to the story. I'm confident that you'd like this, though the very first part of it requires a challenge on the Great Plateau that you might get frustrated with.

I'm hoping that they'll work on a sequel with reused assets, much like they did with Majora's Mask. BotW's system feels great and I don't want to see them take 5 years to make another just because they wanted to start from scratch yet again.

I see! Yeah, I'm most looking forward to the Champion's Ballad. The Trial of the Sword sounds like a thing similar to TWW's Savage Labyrinth and TP's Cave of Ordeals, so I'll probably ignore it. I was never quite good enough to complete those all the way through. Came very very close to beating TP's once, but that was because of the Magic Armor.

[Johann]

6 minutes ago, Anacybele said:

I see! Yeah, I'm most looking forward to the Champion's Ballad. The Trial of the Sword sounds like a thing similar to TWW's Savage Labyrinth and TP's Cave of Ordeals, so I'll probably ignore it. I was never quite good enough to complete those all the way through. Came very very close to beating TP's once, but that was because of the Magic Armor.

In my experience, Trial of the Sword is harder than both of those, since it's very easy to either get whittled down by mistakes or take too much damage from a single big one. You go in without food, armor, weapons, or Champion powers, so you're left with runes and your know-how. Most floors in it give a small amount of food, and you do find enough weapons, but for the most part, I had a tendency to play it safe using bombs and arrows. The difficulty is a bit varied; some floors are kinda predictable (like oh, a giant stone skull with bokoblins inside sleeping next to bomb barrels, how shall I overcome?) whereas others are more brutal and leave little time to think or react (one in particular had 2 Black Lizalfos and 1 archer, in a small dock area, giving you little maneuverability).

[Anacybele]

10 hours ago, Johann said:

In my experience, Trial of the Sword is harder than both of those, since it's very easy to either get whittled down by mistakes or take too much damage from a single big one. You go in without food, armor, weapons, or Champion powers, so you're left with runes and your know-how. Most floors in it give a small amount of food, and you do find enough weapons, but for the most part, I had a tendency to play it safe using bombs and arrows. The difficulty is a bit varied; some floors are kinda predictable (like oh, a giant stone skull with bokoblins inside sleeping next to bomb barrels, how shall I overcome?) whereas others are more brutal and leave little time to think or react (one in particular had 2 Black Lizalfos and 1 archer, in a small dock area, giving you little maneuverability).

I figured as much. I had some trouble with Eventide Island which also leaves you without weapons and armor, so I'd get destroyed by this...

[Johann]

12 hours ago, Anacybele said:

I figured as much. I had some trouble with Eventide Island which also leaves you without weapons and armor, so I'd get destroyed by this...

At least it's broken up into 3 difficulties, and the Master Sword gets a boost for each one you complete. But the reward is kind of unnecessary when the Trial itself is arguably the hardest thing in the game.

Champion's Ballad offers a number of extra fun goodies along the way. While the puzzles and combat are a bit more intense than what you'd find in most other shrines and encounters, it's more forgiving (except perhaps the opening challenge, but you do have a great deal of flexibility in how you overcome it).

[Anacybele]

15 minutes ago, Johann said:

At least it's broken up into 3 difficulties, and the Master Sword gets a boost for each one you complete. But the reward is kind of unnecessary when the Trial itself is arguably the hardest thing in the game.

Champion's Ballad offers a number of extra fun goodies along the way. While the puzzles and combat are a bit more intense than what you'd find in most other shrines and encounters, it's more forgiving (except perhaps the opening challenge, but you do have a great deal of flexibility in how you overcome it).

I see. Yeah, that reward does sound rather pointless if there is really no real use for it... But then again, they did that with MM too. :/ (the Fierce Deity Mask was all but useless and yet the hardest thing in the game to obtain)

Champion's Ballad sounds fun though!

[Shadow Mir]

Would I be correct in assuming that Lynels were just awful to deal with? And how bad was dealing with the Yiga?

[Anacybele]

22 hours ago, Levant Mir Celestia said:

Would I be correct in assuming that Lynels were just awful to deal with? And how bad was dealing with the Yiga?

Yeah, Lynels are just bitches. And the Yiga aren't that bad to fight when it's just you and one of them, particularly if it's one of the bow Yiga. But they also tend to show up when you're already fighting some other monsters or in the middle of something like taking a photo or trying to catch a horse and that can really fuck you up.

Also, I think something's wrong with my game. When I beat the game, it said the Destroy Ganon quest was completed, but when I booted up my file again, it wasn't marked as complete even though I loaded the save with the star that shows you did beat him. And then I see the percentage of the game that I've completed at the lower left corner of the Hyrule map screen, but that percentage hasn't gone up even though I've completed more shrines and sidequests. And below where it says that percent, I see "Error" listed in red letters. What's going on here?

EDIT: Okay, I figured out that error thing, it's because I was in Death Mountain where it's so hot that the Sheikah Slate can't register the temperature. But this doesn't explain why my progress percentage is not increasing despite me completing more stuff.

Edited December 30, 2017 by Anacybele

[Shadow Mir]

5 minutes ago, Anacybele said:

Yeah, Lynels are just bitches. And the Yiga aren't that bad to fight when it's just you and one of them, particularly if it's one of the bow Yiga. But they also tend to show up when you're already fighting some other monsters or in the middle of something like taking a photo or trying to catch a horse and that can really fuck you up.

The main reason I brought up the Yiga is that their generals can one hit kill you. That's worth taking seriously. And I assume they're that much more of an annoyance after their leader kicks the bucket... Btw, your thoughts on the Blood Moon?

[Anacybele]

3 minutes ago, Levant Mir Celestia said:

The main reason I brought up the Yiga is that their generals can one hit kill you. That's worth taking seriously. And I assume they're that much more of an annoyance after their leader kicks the bucket... Btw, your thoughts on the Blood Moon?

Yeah...

I both like and hate the Blood Moon. I like it because due to bringing back monsters you beat, you can keep farming the ancient parts from the guardians to get ancient weapons at the Akkala lab. I hate it because that means the guardians you beat at the castle come back, so if you beat them and left or something and then the Blood Moon came, you have to deal wit those SoBs all over again. xP