#is it obvious that I don’t like botw great fairies

[smilesrobotlover]

Whumptober day 22- glass shard, vehicular accident

Ok so these next few days will be very short and simple. Regardless I hope you enjoy this one. I don’t like it but I did want to write Kass and Benji as a focus for once and I love them very much. Also I couldn’t find a place to say in the fic but the glass shard is from a broken bottle BDKSBSKS

Warnings: concussion? Stab wound, blood, mention of selling people.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Kass had been skimming the beach for hours now, trying to find any remnants of Linebeck and Benji. They both went on a boat and disappeared, and seeing how Kass could fly, he immediately scouted ahead, searching for them and praying that they weren’t in any danger. Finally, Kass spotted a broken boat with debris scattered across the beach, and when he got closer, he recognized Linebeck. He landed next to him, noticing that he was unconscious, but he was breathing, thank Hylia. His head was bleeding however, and that worried Kass, so he took Linebeck’s ripped up coat and tied it gently around his bleeding head. He laid him in a more comfortable position and let out a sigh.

“K-Kass…”

The Rito bard spun around and saw Benji underneath the boat, a pained expression on his face.

“Benji! Thank Hylia I found you both!” Kass ran to the musician and tried to lift the boat off of him. Luckily it was small, and Kass was strong, so it wasn’t too difficult to shift it enough for Benji to escape. Benji crawled away, holding his side, and Kass noticed the blood.

“Are you ok Benji?” He landed beside him and looked at his bleeding side. Benji laid on his back and let out a pained breath.

“I-I’m fine… just a little impaled is all.”

Kass gasped. “Why— that is not fine! Let me see.”

Benji lifted his hand off his side and Kass saw a glass shard embedded into it. He cringed and lightly touched it with his talon, causing Benji to hiss in pain.

“Sorry!” Kass quickly apologized, pulling his talon away. He hummed nervously as he watched the wound, trying to figure out what to do. Talon was the one who took care of injuries, Kass never even touched anything to do with that. In Rito village, it was always Saki who dealt with injuries and illnesses, so Kass felt way out of his element.

“Sh-should I pull it out?” He asked stupidly, and Benji only groaned in response. Kass let out a quick breath and brought his wings together. Talon and Saki weren’t here now, so he needed to do something for Benji. “Ok, what do I do…? If I pull this out, you will bleed a lot…”

“I’m already bleeding a lot,” Benji wheezed.

“Ok, but if I leave it in… would an infection happen? Um…. oh no…” Kass groaned, worry for his friend increasing as he scrambled trying to figure out what he should do. He huffed and grabbed the boat, gently resting Benji’s legs against it. He then knelt down next to him and applied pressure to the sides of his wound, trying to stop the bleeding. Benji hissed in pain, but Kass ignored it. He just needed Talon to come soon.

“Breathe for me Benji,” Kass muttered, and he only groaned. “I suppose you haven’t experienced something like this before, hm?”

“N-no… usually when I do, my wife heals me up.”

“Your wife’s a healer?”

“Yeah. She’d make the injury go away in a heartbeat.”

Kass looked at Benji strangely. “She has healing powers? Why, that’s extraordinary! And rare!”

“She’s a… great fairy… n’t very rare…” Benji’s speech became more slurred as he spoke, but Kass was focused on who he was wed to. A great fairy? Kass had never even heard of great fairies getting married to regular Hylians, despite the fact that they were flirtatious with everyone they met. Did that mean that Benji’s son was a half fairy? Is that why he never told anyone about him? Kass made a small gasp as he realized that Benji was delirious enough to spill this secret, and he shook his head, trying to erase it from his mind. Half fairies were exceptionally rare, being sold for a lot on the black market. In Kass’s time, it only got worse with the calamity destroying the organized soldiers Hyrule once had. Half fairies were not protected, and the great fairies didn’t do much for them. It was no wonder why Benji was so worried about his son, not only was he in danger from the puppeteer, but also from greedy and selfish people. He stared at his bloody side, trying to forget about what Benji just told him and tried to focus on his wound.

Kass assumed that if he didn’t have giant wings, that dealing with this would be much easier, but he didn’t stop putting pressure on the wound, wanting to keep Benji from bleeding out.

“Kass?”

The Rito bard looked at his friend, who was staring at him. “Are you alright?” He asked.

“I’m fine… how’s Linebeck? He was with me.”

“He probably has a concussion and is unconscious right now, but I pray that he’ll be alright.”

Benji gave a small smile. “It’ll be ok….”

Kass nodded and focused on his wound while Benji let out a breathy laugh.

“It’ll be ok….”

[faroreskiss]

Unnatural Coincidences / Part 1

Parts 1 2 3 4 Epilogue

You have been in Hyrule for a while now, and some things just cannot stay hidden anymore.

General Info & Warnings: -This will be a four part story for now, with the last part (3&4) being the most explicit. There is a potential to expand the non-explicit parts, if there is interest. -If you are under 18, please do not read this. You have been warned. -Italic words like this mean the words in "your language", as they are speaking Hylian with each other. -Feel free to comment, if you think instead of (Y/N) this story should be written from first or second person POV (or it should be an OC) Pairing: Zelda x Fem!Reader x Link

It was another one of those early mornings, (y/n) has been hiking the mountains with Link before work, taking the scenery in. They stopped by the lake, and looked at how the sun sparkled on top of the water. This was simply unreal.

That’s because it wasn’t. At least, not from her point of view.

Around 3 years ago, she has somehow ended up in post-calamity BotW world, with most of her knowledge from our own world intact. It wasn’t that long that she came across Link and Zelda, who are living together but are not together (though one could absolutely feel the vibes there). Everybody has their own room in that house.

It is another story for another time, but those three are quite close now. She is now working together with Zelda & Purah, researching the history of Hyrule all the way back to Creation, publishing papers together and recording the knowledge. Link is technically still a knight, though the castle’s renovations are not quite there yet after the fight with Ganon.

“Heh, never seen a lake before? You seem quite amazed.”

Link didn’t speak that much unprompted, but when he did it always had a flavor. She chuckled, she absolutely had a crush on him but thought it was unfair. She had a crush on a fictional character, who absolutely had feelings for Zelda. It probably didn’t count, no? Not like she can’t enjoy a bit of harmless flirting every now and then either way.

“It just looks so beautiful, I’m also kind of tired after a 10 km hike up here. Not everybody has your stamina wheels and strong… bottom muscles, Mr. Hero.” she made a gesture, but did not stare, at his ass.

He did not register it at first.

“My bottom wha-… You creep!” he laughed.

Link and Zelda got used to the way she was talking. When they first met, they didn’t even understand a word she said, literally. She didn’t speak any Hylian, them being who they are (and Zelda also having scientific curiosity), they taught her Hylian, and with a little bit of help from the Great Fairies, enhanced her learning abilities to speed up the process. It was quite obvious for them that she had an idea about the world they live in, and more.

They know that (y/n) is from another ‘dimension’ (not that hard to believe for them I suppose, with all the magic and science simply existing together in this realm). They were the ones who found her in the Temple of Time, but the part that she knows them from a video game series, has not been discussed… yet. She wasn’t actively trying to hide it either though. So there was still trust between them.

She is thinking of breaking it to them at some point. There hasn’t been a big quest of “sending her back”, though she is sure Zelda has her own agenda, and Link is probably in on it. Good thing about them, they don’t pry if they feel like they are making you uncomfortable. They probably also do feel that you are hiding something from them, though.

“Aaaah, I’m just SO looking forward to this evening though!” she said while getting up and stretching.

“Wine and Lon Lon cheese at the cottage? Of course.” Link also got up and started filling his water pouch. “And having Purah create a game on the Slate. Can’t wait to try it!*”

Oh how cute he was trying to pronounce unfamiliar words.

“That, and how you and Zelda are going to act with each other after some booze gets into your system.”

(Y/N) giggled and Link was kind of red on top of his pointy ears. There must have been something off however, as what she said made Link stop for a second and looked seriously at her face, as if she… looked hurt.

“Something on my face?”

“(y/n)…”

“It’s OK, Link. I’m not blind. I can see how you look at her.”

“It’s complicated.”

“Nothing is that complicated, silly. If I were on the top of the Central Hyrule Tower, I could still see it from there without the scope. Still don’t get why you don’t tell her. So I’m hoping some wine would help. Or should I tell her?”

Meanwhile she started walking back down the path. The path was extremely steep.

“No!” he snapped and held her arm firmly to stop her. She has NEVER seen him snap before. Nobody did. He was the embodiment of self control. 

She was quite startled, so while yanking her arm off from Link’s grasp, she ended up tripping backwards on the slope. Link ended up catching her right on time to protect her head, but they rolled up a little bit down on the path, till they hit a tree to stop them. Thank Farore.

Now Link was on top of her, staring right into her eyes, intensely. It was… uncomfortably close. His knee was actually kind of between her thighs. If only it moved a bit more up... Oh Hylia, she was supposed to think of survival, but all she could think of was how the current situation could be something completely different right now.

“Are you hurt anywhere?”

“N-no I don’t think so. Are you…”

“I’m fine.”

They were both already breathing heavily from the fall. (Y/n) more so, she didn’t have the personal fitness level he had. Why did it feel as if they were getting even closer? Was this breathing certainly from all the rolling?

“Hey…” she spoke softly.

“Sorry, I kind of snapped.” He was still not moving from where he was, and the stare was still not broken. She knew she was supposed to say something, move or wiggle around. She felt so selfish. Link and Zelda belonged together. She shouldn’t get in between them. What if it affects the future of Hyrule or something? But again, not like there is a rule that they end up together anyway…

“It’s OK, Link. But what’s going on?”

“You mean that I am dense, but so are you.” he seemed serious. Oh Goddesses, why was he still on top of her?

“What?”

“You are right. I do have feelings for Zelda.”

It felt like a bucket of cold water trickling down from her head to her heart. She knew this, but it was never said out loud. Maybe a part of her did want to have something with him. But this, this felt like even that bridge was burned. Pandora’s box was opened. Her eyes started to water.

“News flash.”

“What?”

“Nothing, some dirt got into my eyes..” she broke the stare and looked at the side.

“(y/n), look at me.” he moved her head gently back to the center. She wasn’t able to speak. She didn’t know what to say. How can she ever explain it to him?

“Don’t.” (y/n) somehow managed to weakly get it out from her mouth. He stopped. The stare didn’t. He was staring into her soul. Trying to get some words out. Could it be that he…?

“But (y/n), I also…” he started. This, this was getting unbearable. For both of them it seemed. Still, she didn’t let him finish the sentence. So what, not like ZeLink was ever totally canon anyway? This is Legend of Zelda, everybody has their interpretation, right? But.. He was so close, his eyes were piercing through her (e/c) ones. Her hair was touching the grass, his leg between hers felt even closer to her center. She could swear, maybe it touched a little bit. She noticed his face was also red. No, it must be wind and cold. She was getting lost in her thoughts. She was going to take the gamble that Link was trying to say something good. At least, she could at least experience this in her life here. This selfish moment, she wanted for herself.

“Ah, fuck it!”

She pulled him into a kiss. Link did not even flinch at first.

...and then he started kissing her back.

She put her hands in his head, gently moving her fingers through his hair. His leg finally, albeit involuntarily, moved up, his knee brushing right between her legs. A silent yet soft moan escaped her. She could feel his smirk through the kiss. She took advantage and rolled him on his back, ending on top of him, using one of her hands on the tree behind them for balance at first. He pulled her in close once again and started kissing her neck and coming back to her lips. His hands were slowly circling her back. Still keeping it safe, what a gentleman. A gentleman with a bulge directly growing under her very lady-like parts. For her to feel.

This was also the wake-up call for her. She broke the kiss and looked at him. They were both panting. She finally crossed her legs to get off of him and quickly got up. They couldn’t look at each other in the eye. Link also got up.

“We… we should go.” she said, looking over the path down, pretending to fix her cloak.

“Y-yeah. You need to go to the lab, right?”

“Yes.”

They started walking down the path.

She was feeling quite conflicted, but damn, it felt so good. She wanted more. HE wanted more. Alas, there was sincerely no time. They had to talk about this later.

[prof-peach]

If you could cross over two of your favorite games, which would you choose? Please explain, why that crossover would be a good match.

Oh you’re going to regret asking this one, I’m bout to GET SERIOUS.

So Pokemon, obvs, I love the whole world it’s built in, but the games imo are REALLY boring, I haven’t enjoyed one a lot since gale of darkness, the main ones just are a little too linear obvious plots, pretty standard setups for story and style. Speaking of style, the games lack personality, the models aren’t animated well, moves have no dynamic energy or visual difference at times, and the turn based battle style just feels kind of, I don’t know, old? Slow? Just doesn’t suit what I enjoy personally, gives me a FInal Fantasy vibe and I just cannot stand the speed at which things happen in those games, plus not into 3rd person ‘let’s build a team of people’ much, but that’s a problem for another time. With this all in mind, the game I wish would happen is like gen20 Pokemon, far future sadly, I doubt I’d see it in my lifetime but god I’d be happy if I did!

Ok so take the newest Zelda graphics, the visual treat that was BOTW, open world, puzzles, not JUST combat, you got side missions, hunt the chickens, find missing pets, parcels, items, whatever. Love it! The horse taming?! Amazing you funky little game. Now take the bad guys and beasts from that. And put Pokemon in instead. Give them the diversity, the life and believable natures that BOTW gave the animals, I followed a frog in BOTW for 15 minutes, and it was a great experience, it felt like it was believable. Above world spawning, ACTUAL difficult gameplay, rare spawn rates, make dragons hard to get again, cmon, it’s too easy now, make it so we need a certain set of Pokemon for certain tasks. Water types big enough to carry you will be able to get you to new areas, rock types that can help you climb mountains faster, or break through blocking boulders. Actual towns with more than 4 houses in them, shops, barns, farms, homes. Like little link with the heat, maybe ice types would struggle in volcano areas, or bug Pokemon not be so comfortable in gale force winds. Give the weather more of an effect on your partners. Mounts, don’t even get me started that Pokemon Let’s go had you able to ride any of the larger species, but swsh did not???? Bitch please, give me my rideable Pokemon. The wild area too was far too closed, limited, online was laggy and a mess, camping is limited, let me do more with my team. Pokemon for me is all about the actual creatures, how they live with humans, and the many wonderful things they’re capable of. Yes of course it’s cool they can fight, but like what else you know?

I’d love a game that lets me buy a plot of land, maybe plant things, custom build things. I’m a sucker for the fallout4 settlement builds when they’re modded to hell and back, they’re fun! It can be a really calm and creative process. If I could do that and skip the main campaign and all the battles for a bit? Amazing, it sound perfect for me. I am that distracted hoe collecting flowers while the kingdom burns in the background. Side quests are everything to me. Let me give homeless people enough money to get them in a home? Let me adopt Pokemon that are stray around the town? Plz oh plz bring me a Pokemon game that allows me to work WITH my team to do more than KO other species. I want to save and buy a plow for my buddy gogoat, and grow amazing foods to sell to get currency to spend in decorations, to spoil my team. Give me actual game consequence, if I ignore that sick and injured Pokemon I find in the wild, later maybe it’s family don’t want to help me out with a different problem, too stricken from grief. I am all about the average bits, the old women who need help, the lost pets board in town, the general day to day stuff. Let me get cosmetic items for the Pokemon I keep, cute outfits, special gemstone items, let me actually live with them, or even feel remotely like they’re realistic.

Ok so in game, if it’s looking like BOTW it’s pretty beautiful but also stylised, I’d have it so you can send out a maximum of 3 Pokemon from your 6, using bumpers and such to throw them out. If you hit the trigger you switch from controlling the human trainer, to the Pokemon you’ve targeted with a standard lock on targeting system. You then can be the leader, but be the Pokemon. You could technically defeat the game without a human if you wanted, which incorporates the mystery dungeon games I think, and caters to that crowd. I’d love to see the use of attacks out of battle, things like using water gun to grow plants, using ember to start a campfire faster and stave off the cold. There’s no consequence to Pokemon anymore, and I think that’s where it’s lost me. I have to admit I miss the days of a poisoned pokemon fainting if you don’t heal them soon enough, I miss gym battles that were actually tough, damn, try picking charmander in red and beating brock without grinding in viridian forest first, it’s not easy. And I loved that. Yes it’s a child’s game, it will never be difficult again, but god it’d be nice to have a bit of a challenge, or maybe a difficulty setting, so some could play it with hostility turned off, great for kids, or you can be n adult like I know so many Pokemon fans are, and play it on expert mode and ACTUALLY have to work hard to beat the game. Alternate skill trees anyone? Train gun a fire type to ACUTALLy combat water moves?? Please! Cmon! It frustrated me that every challenger has pretty much a systematic set of moves to use to win. Grass opponent? Fire attack spam until you win. It’s dull, so at least with very difficult tricks to either find or learn in game would make it more achievable if you can send that fire type in and I don’t know, train them so much the heat evaporates the water mid-battle and you suddenly have a shot at winning. Pokemon has taught me that if you work hard enough you can achieve something, but the games just have such strict ways to win. Feels wrong.

In terms of battling, let us BE the Pokemon, let us learn to dodge, train our speed, train our defence, make a team of truly tough Pokemon instead of just, average? Some species have a cap on their skills, a squirtle has lower stat points than a Charizard, but you can’t ever change that? Let me choose the Pokemon I believe in, and let me work with them until they’re just as good, if not better than the game tanks. This would also make online battles more interesting. Everyone picks the top trio. Fairy, dragon, legendaries. And yknow what? It’s boring. That one IRL fight with the monster Pacharisu that won in the world tournament with follow me and the situs Berry? Unbelievable, I love that little rat so much because of this, so let us all have a chance to build a team that’s strategically viable, strong, and potentially a winner formula, even if they aren’t fully evolved, or the biggest Pokemon in the world. Yeah maybe you have to grind way harder with your unevolved Pokemon, but you get to the end game and win, because you put love and time into species that you enjoy, not just good fighters.

Unfortunately I am beholdent to Todd-idiot-Howard, and I love the Eldrescrolls and fallout games (before they got dumb, not that I don’t play the new ones. 76 I’m looking at you, you big asshole game.) honestly I hate online games, so none of that junk, just a good old fashioned open world sandbox game is plenty. Games for me are an escape from others, not an invitation to socialise. To each their own of course, and I do play online games sometimes, just pretty short lived ones, over watch and rdr2 for example. Would they be sometimes better on private servers? Yes of course, fallout76? Want to play with others? No. I do not. Please leave me alone. And if you buy a private server you’re feeding the monster that is Todd Howard, the man the myth the asshole, then we’ll get more bad games like 76. I just so desperately want the Pokemon company to see what a beautiful potential game they’ve got on their hands, that could be suitable for far greater audiences, but instead they’ve focused on the kids. It’s fine, it’s functional, but it’s lost to the fans from day 1, that are all 20+ years old now and want something meatier to play, something far more broad and inclusive. I also hate that there’s no wheelchair option in any Pokemon game. Like cmon, it’s not hard to include that.

In short, BOTW + Pokemon, with a sprinkle of open world sandbox to it, less fighting, more fun. Or, at least both options. Sure, go fight everything, great, but I want to farm carrots over here with 6sunflora, plz let me have some peace.

Edit: I forgot about harvest moon, chuck some of that in there too.

SECOND EDIT: someone in the comments mentioned to put this in Unova? Plz love yourselves, this game would be ALL MAPS. Stuff one singular location, this is the ideal game, put every map in it, join them, put islands in, make them more explorable, more detailed!

[botwstoriesandsuch]

In an effort to stop you from going insane from the anatomy asks, and because I'm curious and the Kip Cut is fantastic, I have some questions to ask: Firstly, if you were to add a weapon to any character in Age of Calamity, who would you add it to, what would it be, and why? Secondly, if you could add any character seen in Age of Calamity or Breath of the Wild to the roster, who would it be, what weapon would you give them, and why would you add them?

Ohh, this is cool! Thanks!

Bands are laaame, boooooooooo. Maz Koshia the FUCK you doing, you literally set up a trial with one of the most interesting weapons in botw, the One-Hit Obliterator??? Ummmm Those concept arts are just WAITING to be used, there’s even three types if you want to stick to the three tier system (and I know that it’s technically adding more that “a” weapon but I just think it’s cooler than his friendship bracelets ok?)

I could already see it now, like the parts could glow everytime he’s summoning those giant hammers and spikes, and then in an idle animation he could sit and meditate and it would turn into those four glowy orbs, can’t frickin do that with some rainbowloom bracelets now can you?

Alright so for the second one, casting aside Sooga, Purah, and Robbie, as they’re probably gonna be DLC. (Give Robbie the Ancient Bladesaw Nintendo...we’re waiting...) I just want my boy KASS. KAAASSSSS.......where were you in this game T_T I cry...they had room for two new villains and the four new gen champs and not KASS, the fucking EMODIMENT of connecting the past and the present heLLO??? I cry everytime....I wouldn’t even care if he was just an NPC I just wanted to see him....

Sooo, Kass moveset and weapons? I actually had two ideas. One, the obvious thing, where he has three types of concertinas, with the highest tier being his version in Botw. OR, and this plays into the moveset I wanna give him, he has different types of song/sheet music so his different weapons would be “Song of ___” or whatever. He’s already got sheet music wrapped by his waist so just like, make an icon out of that and boom, it’s a weapon now. And I KNOW that’s not unrealistic because fuck you, the Great Fairies and Maz Koshia have jewelry.

I don’t CARE if he has no use in the current story I will rewrite it AGAIN just to shove him in because I fucking deserve it. Uhhh, screw it, the plot point is now “The New Gen Champs don’t teleport directly into the Divine Beasts but instead just teleport directly in Hyrule Field kinda where Terrako is but it’s still a bit further away, and when Terrako plays his little tune and Zelda’s like ‘wtf’ but then Terrako’s little tune is echoed on a different instrument in the distance and then camera pan, horizon establishing shot, BABAM, Kass is there.” Aaaand, he can be there for exposition purposes, cause he actually would server really well for that. He can look around and just know what’s going on like “ah yes, I heard a bop about this once” and then since I’ve now retconned that the new gen champs have spawned in Hyrule Field too Kass can be like “Oh, a Rito, a Goron, a Gerudo, a Zora. Yeah betcha you all are here to go to the Divine Beasts or something” and then Terrako could chirp and Kass should be able to understand him perfectly like he’s speaking words like “Ah yes! Terrako was your name? Yes well Terrako here says that Impa is a little shit” because Terrako speaks in song and Kass can, should, and would bond to that. And also BABAM, fixed your fucking pacing Nintendo, if all the New Gen Champs spawn in Hyrule Field as you let Kass kinda round things out, then you can have four seperate Divine Besat reclamation missions, and have the champs split up to help the og champs in the mean time, that way you don’t have to deal with the moral dilema of “who do we save first” because now Zelda and Link actively know that someone is helping them. You’re FUCKING welcome. And you can still have your little cutscenes where they jump in just in time, and you can still have your little explanation of them “hearing” the Champions because uh...Time Magic idfk magic portals do whatever fuck you, Kass is here now no takebacksies

I’d think Kass’ moveset would be some weird combination of Hestu and Sidon. Maybe the Sidon thing where you click ZR during strong attacks, but it’s to like “stay on beat” or something? And then Hestu because yeah. And you know instead of making monsters dance, because I think Hestu only does that because it’s magic maracas, Kass should be able to like stun enemies, or get them to be in a daze, because wow his music is so enchanting and alluring and beautiful they just stop in their tracks to listen to him. 

I’m not too set on the specifics here, considering I am a writer and it’s a bit difficult to convey gameplay through words and a lack of experience with animation. But, basically he plays a song on his concertina (And the song and notes would slightly vary depending on the “weapon” he has equipped. And you know how in Warbler’s Nest you can see the notes the kids sing in the air with those different colors? So depending on the weapon Kass has those colors would also change) and just like how Sidon’s smile just inexplicably damages enemies, Kass’ song is just so powerful and amazing that monsters just fall flat on their face. ALSO one of his weakpoint smashes should be him uppercutting a Moblin with his concertina because I don’t know where it is, but there is fanart of that somewhere, I have seen it, and I need it to be a reality. 

[biglion2]

**SPOILERS FOR AGE OF CALAMITY**

I just had a thought

What if Age of Calamity had a DLC where we actually play in BotW's timeline, and not the aoc timeline. "Eggbert", and Astor are never involved.

It would function like a Master Mode save. It's separate from the main game (but not harder.) Everything goes the same as what happened in BoTW

Battle of Hyrule Field still happens, but Link never meets Zelda, since Terrako doesn't lead him and Impa to her.

Harbinger Ganon doesn't exist, so the only mission that happens is in the desert, versus the Yiga Clan. Link killed a moblin, which definitely put him on the good side of the king, maybe he was ordered to be in the army that was in that battle of the desert, and he kicked ass, showing his strength to the soldiers. The Yiga Clan attacks still happens, but Link plays a lesser role.

Harbinger Ganon doesn't exist, so there is no attack on Korok Forest. A bunch of soldiers went into Korok Forest, knowing that one of them was the knight who sealed the darkness. Link pulled on the sword and released it, showing the courage he needed to pull the sword.

The road home is left unsieged. Harbinger Ganon doesn't exist, although it could something specific for Link to become Zelda's guard.

The towers are never found so the mission of Akkala tower never exists. Destroy the Yiga clan could maybe be replaced with a mission fighting Yiga in the Bazaar while protecting a helpless Zelda, who dies very quickly, so you better protect her.

Harbinger Ganon doesn't exist, no monsters attack Zelda When Courage Failsm. Maybe it could be replaced with the memory of Link killing a bunch of bokoblins and 3 White-Maned Lynels

Calamity Strikes is literally the exact same as in Age of Calamity. Black and Silver enemies everywhere, guardians shooting everyone, and the trio running for the hills. King Rhoam dies this time around since that one thing didn't save him.

The champions are left unplayable until you rescue them. Water and Fire & Air and Lightning never happen or at least, they don't play out the same. The trio are obviously gonna go try to save the champions, but we're given an impossible mission to complete, enter the Divine Beasts. Terrako isn't here, so it's impossible, and the Trio run off.

We're then given control of Urbosa and Revali/Mipha and Daruk. We're fighting the blights, (Urbosa vs Thunderblight, Revali vs Windblight, etc) both, at the same time, with 2 different characters. The catch is they don't lose health, they deal way too much damage, and you don't have food. It's designed to be an unwinnable fight, where you fight as long as you can, or give up and let them kill you. Once one of the champions is dropped to 1/4th of a heart (which you will), a cutscene plays where it shows the champion losing, then cut to black. It leaves you off with the other champion you were playing with (Urbosa/Revali or Mipha/Daruk), and you repeat what just happened. The champions are unplayable until you're done.

Mipha is dead, so Vah Ruta won't do anything to help Akkala Citadel, which means Link and friends can't get into it, which means everyone there dies, and Robbie flees. Maybe we play in that one memory where Link and Zelda are running through a forest, and fight Guardians.

Each Step Like Thunder is endless mode. Impa is off somewhere else, Zelda is following you around the entire game, and Hestu, The Great Fairies, and Monk Maz Koshia aren't unlocked. You can only play as Link. Monsters and Guardians are endless since Vah Naboris didn't take out those enemies. When Outposts are captured by Link. They're immediately taken back. Fort Hateno is constantly under attack by guardians. There are no healing items. It's pure pain, where you either give up, or fight to the end.

Once Link reaches a 1/4th of a heart, a cutscene plays. We know what it is. Zelda activates her power, kills all the enemies in the entire area, and ends the mission. Link is unplayable until you're done.

The Great Plateau is a mission you can only play as Impa. The mission is to get Link into the Shrine of Ressurection. You have to defeat a horde of enemies without letting his body (more accurately, the sheikah carrying him) get majorly damaged

All Hyrule, United is called With Power Awakened. It starts with a cutscene in Korok Forest, then cuts to Hyrule Field. You can only play as Zelda. The mission is to kill all the malice enemies, so that the barrier around Hyrule is broken. Zelda continues onward.

The Future of Hyrule. Only Zelda is playable, Harbinger Ganon doesn't exist, so Astor doesn't have his power, which means no hollows, and the blights are still in the Divine Beasts, so no blight fights. The mission is to get to the Sanctum. Calamity Ganon doesn't have a physical form, so you're fighting his spectre. Once he's half health, a cutscene plays which shows Zelda locking Ganon and herself up.

*FIN*

Easy and Normal mode don't exist. The game is perpetually on Hard mode, with an option of Very Hard. Once you finish the DLC, Link and the champions are brought back to be playable.

Sidon, Yunobo, etc, aren't playable cause time travel isn't here.

Hestu isn't playable because the circumstances are way different.

The Great Fairies aren't playable because they've been left unpaid tributes for a while in botw, and that applies here.

Maz Koshia isn't playable because he's still in the Final Trial. Waiting.

Kohga isn't playable because Astor isn't here, so the Yiga Clan isn't betrayed.

King Rhoam isn't playable because he was playable after the Great Plateau, and he died before the Great Plateau missions, so.

Terrako and Ganon aren't playable for obvious reasons.

It's only Link, Impa, Zelda, and the 4 Champions who are playable (or should be)

Damn I really just wrote an essay. Shame I can't translate this into school.

[rational-mastermind]

So, question: if Majora's Mask and Twilight Princess take place in the Child Era, and Majora's Mask is all about Link being dead and stuck in purgatory after Ocarina of Time, then how is he, the Hero of Time, an adult stalfos in Twilight Princess?

Still following?

Then let's discuss.

Everyone loves to analyze the darker, horrific aesthetics of Majora's Mask and  the bigger topics you'll likely hear about is "What is Termina?" "Where did Navi go?" "Who is Majora?" "How the hell do I get through Snowhead Temple?!"

Meanwhile, I've stumbled across a different question. One I'm not sure if a lot of people have asked. If this is Link's personal hell or a weird drug trip through his Wonderland, then what does any of it, but specifically the transformation masks, say about the Hero of Time?

Now before answering, let's go back over the beautifully blood-stained lore.

At the beginning of the game you are turned into a deku scrub and the only way to be a real boy again is to get back your ocarina and play the song of healing.

Now the lore for this alone is a little weird. I recall reading that Link is transformed because of his fear of deku scrubs, but that feels a little silly cause Link practically grew up with them in Ocarina of Time. It'd be like being afraid of feral cats while having one for a pet.

And while I'm here, cause my ADD likes to jump to a thousand different conclusions, I'll drop this mini theory here: I believe that the kokiri and the deku scrub's are one and the same. The kokiri are obviously part of the lineage of the kikwii in Skyward Sword and the koroks in every Zelda game since Wind Waker. But it's weird that an obvious tree-related species were once human enough to be mistaken for hylian children. Well, the kokiri can change shape because they are simply spirits of the woods. But the interesting thing is that they are always guarded by a DEKU TREE. Weird, huh? Basically, the idea is that the dekus are the real kokiri but some had changed to look human for Link's sake when the Great Deku Tree promised his dying mother that he would raise him. Also be sure to note that while there are deku BABAS, there aren't any deku SCRUBS anywhere else but in Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask.

Anyway, so Link shouldn't really be afraid of them. The other observation is that before you reach Clock Town, there is a dead scrub at the entrance, later revealed to be the Deku Royal Court's butler's son, who had left home in search for adventure. At the end of the game we see the advisor had found his son's corpse and grieved for the loss.

(Remember this cause I'm gonna come back to this later.)

The goron and zora masks are easier to explain.

The Goron Mask comes from soothing the spirit of a strong leader and champion of the gorons, Darmani. He grieves having died while on his way to the Snowhead Temple to bring back Spring. Apparently he was pushed off the cliff by a goron who was under the influence of Majora. All he wanted was to save his people from starving in the dead if an unnatural Winter.

The Zora Mask comes from the spirit of Mikau. A strong and talented guitar-playing zora who dies RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU. His death is the result of a tragic love story. He dies, broken hearted, after having just fought a band of pirates that took away his and his girlfriend's future children. He never got to say a proper goodbye to his girl. Their relationship may have been a secret to everyone else, but those children, their future, was gone. He dies of exhaustion, fatal wounds, and a broken heart.

Now, what does any of this have to do with Link? What could the hidden meaning be to this, if there is any at all? Well.. There is. And it opened up a whole new understanding of Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, Twilight Princess, and the entire Child Era Timeline.

What I took from the masks, and their tales, aren't anything to do with Link in particular, but rather the people he was closest to in Ocarina of Time and how they all died.

Majora's Mask takes place in the Child Timeline, meaning that you save the day, beat Ganon, go back in time, tell Kid Zelda that opening the Door of Time is a bad idea, and leave it at that. At this point, you would be at the time just after leaving the Kokiri and before going to collect the other two spiritual stones and that has some serious consequences for the works of Hyrule, and the results of his actions, years later when he takes his time to grow up again, are represented in the masks.

The Deku Scrub mask represents Saria. Among the Kokiri, it's said that those who leave the Kokiri Forest die. They are kept safe by the Deku Tree who had already died. Since you don't open the Temple of Time, you don't go to save her in the Forest Temple. You don't save the Great Deku Sprout, and therefore don't ensure the protection of the Kokiri, especially Saria. Saria leaves the woods and dies. (Likely in an effort to find Link)

The Goron Mask, represents Darunia. Telling Zelda that gathering the spiritual stones is a bad idea means you never go to the Goron City. Which means you never help Darunia with his depression. His people starve because of the Dodongos Ganon already unleashed on their mines and as the leader, it's up to Darunia to go and face King Dodongo. But clouded by depression, he dies. He dies trying to provide for his people.

The Zora Mask represents, you guessed it, Ruto. You never go to help her get the Zora's Sapphire. She never meets you and never falls in love with you. If she doesn't die because of Jabujabu, she dies old and alone, never knowing true love, never hoping for a beautiful future with you. She dies with a broken heart.

Now I'm sure by now you've noticed there was one more mask I hadn't mentioned. The Fierce Diety. There is no tragic backstory to this one. In Majora's Mask, you go to the Moon, play with the kids, then go to speak with Majora, who hands you Fierce Diety. He wants to play Heroes and Villains and you're the villain.

This mask, this fierce warrior you become, is Link. It's the adult version of Link. The one who faced down ultimate evils and saved the world. The Hero of Time that Link had...ran away from.

And doesn't that help put things into perspective?

Link never asked to be the Hero of Time. He didn't want to kill the Deku Tree. He only fulfilled the Tree's dying request and then BAM! Life kept making decisions for him! Zelda tells him, insists that he's a hero, and asks him to gather the stones. Darunia asks him to go to Dodongo Cave. The King Zora asks you to save his daughter. Ruto forces you into a relationship. Zelda trusts you with the ocarina. Sheik tells you to save the sages and hell, why not just go kill the big baddie that already destroyed the world while you're at it?? So given the chance, of course he would leave that behind! He had gone through puberty so many times, time traveled, watched people die, interact with the dead, was scared shitless both as an adult and a child and all of Link's friends, including Zelda, all couldn't be his friends anymore when they awoke as Sages. (As is explained by several characters.) They all had duties that they were responsible for. A duty he was responsible for. He saved the world and was never even thanked for it. His life, from the beginning of the game to the end was SHIT.

And this is even worse cause he wasn't ever made aware of the reincarnations or the legends like other Links. Any other cycles were either called upon by an oracle (like Impa back in the early days) or had the legends drilled into their heads to a point where it would be believable when it happened. (Link to the Past, Botw, & Wind Waker for examples)

Link goes back in time and does everything he can to prevent the future he just saved. Prevents having to grow up and face the music Ganon so cheerfully plays for him leading up to the final battle. As a result, Saria gets lost, Darunia dies, Ruto never knows real love, hell, you could argue and say the entire Ikana Kingdom is the result of never stopping Ganon.

The stones or not, Ganon still attacks the castle and destroys Castle Town. And where was Link? Why didn't he stop it? Link had abandoned his duty as the Hero of Time and ran away.

And I think that's who the Skull Kid is. Skull children are kids who wander into the woods to escape adults and growing up, as Navi describes.

So Link's childish follies, his affinity to fairies, his selfish desire for fun and refusal for responsibility, is represented by Skull Kid. And remember, the moon child standing in for Skull Kid said that he was the GOOD guy and the Adult Link is the BAD guy. Growing up was a burden in Link's eyes. Growing up meant dying. Growing up meant watching you lose friends. Why wouldn't he want to run away from it all when all the future had in store for him was pain and suffering?

So Link ran away into the woods hoping, praying, he could go back to Navi, or maybe even Saria, and play as a happy innocent child once again. But without the protection of the Great Deku Tree, Link gets lost, and inevitably dies.

Link then has to face a means of purgatory where he is subconsciously reminded of all the things he had abandoned in his life. And that starts with the Skull Kid. A selfish brat who didn't want to lose his friends and didn't want to grow up, but ended up pushing everyone away anyway.

And it’s funny cause when Link started this adventure, he again, wasn’t exactly thrilled at the idea of being thrown into another adventure.

But then The Happy Mask Salesman, out of all the songs to play, teaches Link the Song of Healing. A song that soothes upset spirits and distraught people. And yeah it was mostly for the sake of the dead Deku clinging to his face, but I think the song had an effect on battle-weary Link as well.

When Link faces down Majora, he’s basically staring Death itself in the face to fight for a second chance to live.

On a side note, that’s very appropriate for Majora to play the role of, Death. Because Majora simply uses Skull Kid and this whole world as a puppet theater for Link to tell him that basically he’s gonna be damned to hell if he doesn’t shape up. But the swamp, the Deku Princess, Lulu and her babies, Darmani’s tribe, the spirits of Ikana who are finally at peace, Pamela’s father, Kafei and Anjuu, Romani and Cremia, nobody mattered at all. Everyone was just a puppet to teach Link about responsibility and facing the consequences of your lack of actions. That you shouldn’t hide behind a mask and turn a blind eye to people suffering.

After defeating Majora, Link returns to Hyrule. He helps the gorons and zoras, collects the Spiritual Stones, still doesn’t unlock the Temple of Time but instead readies himself and trains so he can be ready to fight Ganon and savs Hyrule yet again, without needing to time travel hundreds of times. This time when Link dies, he is a proud warrior and head of the Royal Guard. Forever known as the Hero of Time.

Then, Link continues on after death. While his spirit is reincarnated into the next life, a piece of him, an echo of who he is, an echo of the Hero of Time, remains in purgatory, to teach future generations. He lives on as a ghost, waiting for the next Hero so that the past is never forgotten and never abandoned. If you don't learn from your past, you'll be doomed to repeat it.

So, answer?

The Deku mask represents Saria

The Goron mask represents Darunia

The Zora mask represents Ruto

The Fierce Diety mask represents Link's future

All four transformations are connected to the courageous deeds Link performed in OoT:

Courage to leave home.

Courage to provide for those in need.

Courage to fight for love.

Courage to accept Death.

Ikana Canyon represents the Kingdom of Hyrule if Link never stayed to fight Ganon.

Skull Kid represents Link's desire for childhood innocence.

Majora is Death and Termina is purgatory.

Everything in Majora's Mask is about the consequences of Link abandoning Hyrule and his existential dread of growing up in the Child Era. He's given a second chance, and then he barely exists after death to teach Twilight Link and others past him which could have interesting consequences for future games...

[saruteku]

Breath of the Wild Review

Breath of the Wild is the launch title for the Nintendo Switch as well as the Death Marker for the Wii U. It was one of the most hyped games when it was announced and promised to be completely different than the average Zelda title completely destroying it’s own formula. But you already know this. This is my view of the game with it’s strong points and weak points.

Graphics: 7/10 The graphical style works for a Zelda game. It is a midpoint between Windwaker’s cartoony style which makes the game seem childish and Twilight princess’ more realistic style which made it serious. BOTW is a game that can put you at ease with a lot of it’s beautiful scenery or it can put the fear of god in you when there are suddenly 5 Guardian Beams pointed at you. This lets the game be dorky and carefree as well as serious, plus the game would probably have been unable to handle Twilight Princess level graphics with such a huge world.

Music: 4/10 For a zelda game it was rather....Underwhelming. None of it’s track really grabbed me and pulled me in, there is nothing I want to look up. It was nice hearing a few tributes to other game songs, but it really wasn’t enough. And one thing that honestly annoys me to this day. With so many of Ocarina of Time’s tracks being used WHY WAS GERUDO VALLEY NEVER REMADE OR TRIBUTED TO!!!

Story: 4/10 Remember. I love the Zelda Franchise and games, but I couldn’t let this one slide. The story was extremely generic, probably due to it being an open world which is rather hard to make a story for. Most of the story is shown threw memories which, surprising for a Zelda Game has voice acted cutscenes, but without saying who’s who we have the Silent Hero as always, the “I can’t do this” girl, the I’m scared man, I love you always, ect, all rather boring characters with little real personality. I wish I could have known them a bit better but the NPCs you meet in every city have more substance than the mains.

Combat: 9/10 I HAVE NEVER DIED SO MUCH IN A ZELDA GAME!!!! Fighting isn’t like in other games at all. Usually you get your sword and shield and cut slice threw everyone or you use your special item to solve an obvious puzzle weakness. in this one you need to consider things before you run in. Arrows aren’t as easy to stockpiled as say Skyrim, every sword, shield, and bow breaks meaning even the iconic Master Sword and Hylian Shield will not save your ass forever, and the enemies do not have any item specific weaknesses except the Shikah Slate Runes you get in the begining of the game. Even as a 3 heart hero with a tree branch and a pot lid if you are skilled enough you can attack stronger foes and kill them, nothing is locked out, it’s just hard as hell. In this game even if your weapons and armor get stronger it’s only half of the battle, as everything you have that makes you stronger you EARNED and if can be taken if you are reckless.

The World: 8/10 The world is fucking huge. Some people may view the emptiness as a bad thing but the emptiness actually really add to the world. Yes, travel is annoying at times. We all side jumped to fast travel in the 64 titles, and the mountains can be a huge annoyance, especially when nature decides to start raining when you’re half way up, but with all of the Shrines and towers there are a lot of fast travel points when you discover them, allowing Nintendo to show off the world they created as well as not annoy players after they have already seen parts of it. Everything is available from the get go. You don’t need special items to unlock the power of the Great Fairies, the Master Sword or even to get to Ganon, they meant it when they said if you can see it you can get to it. This made me wonder about how the bountries of the map would be but players are stopped by mountains that are impossible to climb and oceans you can’t cross. The world itself also adds it’s own challanges including temperature, weather (Getting struck by lightning isn’t fun, but it can be weaponized) and the elements, as Fire spreads and the before mentioned lightning.

Dungeons: 5/10 It’s kinda hard to call them dungeons as this is another things that was changed from the normal formula. It’s more the entire world is a giant dungeon as getting to the Divine Beasts has it’s own challenges and trials, and honestly once you found out the puzzles in the game once they are simple as a lot of puzzle elements are reused quite a bit. Same as with Shrines as there are a ton of them and they each offer a different challenge, but they just aren’t that big, that hard, or honestly that interesting. I do miss the well planned out bigger dungeons, but hey, it gives you the stronger weapons, something of great use in this game. I gave it 5 because it’s nostalgia combating the changes.

Gameplay: 9/10 I’ll be honest, the cooking alone is brilliant. It’s not a menu based one and the food you make can be completely controlled. exacally as many hearts as you need, as strong a buff as you need, and Elixers help you not waste your precious heart regenerating items. Next is the clothing which gives link a lot of versitility not seen in other games. He has more than just water breathing and heat resistence, climbing faster, being stronger, seeing the exact number of an enemies health. Stealth is useful (The Shiekah Armor is my armor of choice in this game) and even though this could have been in combat stealth kills, perfect counter, flurry attack, the small additions in the game allow you to exist in the world, and the thing I love more than anything in a game is immersion, and though BOTW has nowhere near as much immersion as Skyrim Link can own a house, help build a town, camp (Kinda) and take selfies. The one reason I cut down gameplay is because, at least in my case, I can never 100 percent beat the game because one of my shrines crash the game, and sometimes in combat I get a framedrop so bad I freeze up making dodging hard. It seems to have only happened against Guardians which makes it a bit worse, but since it seems I can reproduce the issues and they aren’t common they don’t destroy playability.

Final score: 6.5/10

That’s all I can think of for now. I will not say it is the best game ever, but it is a great title for 2017, and an amazing Zelda game dispite the story and the ending in my opinion lacking

[infraredpenguin]

First Impressions - The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

It’s usually a good sign when you sit down to play a game at 2 in the morning just to get a quick taste, only to look up and see it’s daylight outside. That’s exactly what happened last night when I first experienced the latest entry in the legendary Zelda franchise. Before I continue, I should probably say that I am playing Breath of the Wild on the Wii U, so I can’t speak to performance on that console.

Right out of the gate, I was actually pretty pissed off. Why? Well, because the Wii U gamepad has a persistent notification to switch to playing solely on its screen, and this notification is constantly fading in and out. I have a hard time dealing with stuff in the periphery of my vision, so this was extremely aggravating at first. I tried finding ways of turning off the screen or making use of my Wii Pro controllers, only for nothing to help alleviate this frankly idiotic flaw.

Thankfully, after an hour of playtime, I was so enthralled I completely forgot about my gamepad’s screen.

I will say, however, that I’m sick of companies fucking with their customer-base, doing shit like Nintendo has done here, essentially gutting the Wii U version of the game (a game they were definitely selling Wii U hopes on before) to promote their new console. They definitely had map and inventory functionality on the Wii U gamepad before, as well as examples of this kind of stuff in other games like Wind Waker and Twilight Princess HD. The gutting of these features for parity with the Switch, is shameful and insulting, but I digress.

Breath of the Wild is a fantastic game, and the degradation of what could have been doesn’t change that. So, here are a few major impressions I’ve had with the game so far:

1. The world is beautiful and awe-inspiring. From the art style to the sheer, terrifying scope of it, this is a world that begs you to explore it, and BotW has provided a multitude of reasons to do so. You’re really not forced into doing anything you don’t want to. Even the starting region, the Great Plateau, despite having a critical path to it prior to opening up the rest of Hyrule, gives you a staggering amount of leeway in terms of approaching your objectives and satisfying your explorative urges. Being a huge explorer-type, myself, I am legitimately fearful of what this game is going to do to my psyche... How will I escape from the lure of the wild?

2. The lack of handholding is refreshing and well executed. With minimal guidance that you almost have to seek out yourself, the game expects you to figure things out. The ways in which different objects react to each other, how Link behaves using different tools, and other elements such as the surprisingly engaging cooking system, all encourage the player to explore in some way or another. Death is a constant companion, or at least the threat of it is if you plan on being truly adventurous. Thankfully, all of this is backed up by a surprisingly robust save system for a Zelda game, ensuring you never lose too much progress and allowing you to dictate the flow of your experience.

3. Combat is dynamic and satisfying, but ‘ho boy, the controls for this game are a battle in and of themselves. Simply put, controlling Link with the Wii U gamepad feels kind of janky, and this is coming from someone who actually quite likes the gamepad. I’ve never felt as clumsy playing the Zelda HD remakes or Xenoblade Chronicles X or any other of a multitude of Wii U games I love as I do playing Breath of the Wild. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but something just feels off, feels slightly unresponsive, and nowhere was this more apparent than in the fight against a hidden boss enemy in the starting area.

Beating this stony adversary felt like it required some arcane contortion of my hands, trying to juggle the Z-lock with the camera and jumping, running, and attacking. I blame a great deal of this on the binding of jump and run, diametrically opposed to one another on the X and B buttons. Now sure, once I went into the options and swapped them so jump was set to B and cancel/run set to X, things started falling into place a little better. Just picture trying to fight something by attacking with Y while dodge is either on B or X. One of those configurations is more natural for your thumb, plain and simple.

Unfortunately, even after some hours, I’m still not 100% in love with the control scheme. Using the wrong attack or accessing the wrong quick inventory isn’t exactly routine, but it happens often enough. Ultimately, it forces me to wonder why in the hell you can swap controls between 2 specific buttons but can’t reconfigure everything to your liking. This is nothing new with games, and is just one more way that developers disrespect their audience (especially disabled gamers, but that’s a topic for another day). There’s just no reason for it to be this way when it could be so much better.

4. That being said, there’s so much in this game to love that the janky controls are a comparatively minor concern. Once you leave the Great Plateau for the wider world it’s hard not to feel unbridled excitement for what’s waiting for you out there. This game has so far captured my sense of wonder and adventure better than any open world game I’ve played before (and I’ve played a ton). The best part is how much direct agency you have as a player, and the best example of that is in this game’s version of Ubisoft’s ICONIC™ Map Towers.

Rather than literally every other game with some form or another of a tower wot fills out your map, the Sheikah Towers expect you to do all the hard work. Sure, you climb them and it fills out your map, but only visually by drawing in some actual details into an otherwise featureless dark expanse. It reveals no Points of Interest, no objectives, and perhaps just as important, no other map towers!

Instead, you are expected to either wander aimlessly (a perfectly valid pursuit), or bring out your Sheikah Slate’s scope function, and cast your gaze all around the majestic world surrounding you from your lofty vantage. And if you do see something interesting in the distance, you simply place a marker pin from the scope and can then choose to convert that pin into different stamps on your map for future reference.

You don’t even have to be at a dedicated tower to do this!

I found myself exploring a ruined building at the top of a tall hill, thought it had a clear perspective on the surrounding locale, and decided to take out my scope for some marking right then and there. I sought out visible Sheikah Towers and marked them, as well as nearby Shrines and marked those too. I even saw some imposing foes in the distance and slapped down some skulls for future reference. The Sheikah Scope makes it a painless, and above all else, a satisfying experience.

Breath of the Wild is one of the only open world games in recent memory that actually trusts its players to their own agency, and it is infinitely better for it.

5. Right now, my favorite part of the game is easily discovering my little Korok buddies in the environment? Why, you ask? Because they are adorable, obviously... In all seriousness though, the fact that you have to keep your eye out for strangeness in your travels and solve a few mini-puzzles here and there makes them one of the best incentives for active exploration I’ve seen in a game. There may be some patterns to watch out for, but I’ve discovered at least 10 different ways for these forest fairies to manifest in the world, and I’m sure I’ll stumble across many more. I managed to find 15 of the little scamps before leaving the confines of the Great Plateau, and it was tempting to look for more!

So there you have it, my initial impressions of the latest Zelda game. Obviously it’s not perfect by any means, but I do think it has the potential to be the greatest expression of what an open world game can be if we stop trying to make everything painfully obvious.

I can’t wait to see the rest of this enormous world and how the story plays out, but who knows how long that will take...