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lucky-clover-gazette · 8 months ago

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The Unhappy Pokéball Salesman

Comedy/Crackfic One-Shot | 1379 words | Rated G

Volo meets with a terrible fate. But is the strange new world of Hyrule really all that terrible?

A few weeks after getting his ass kicked by a fifteen-year-old and failing to slide into God’s direct messages, Volo of the Gingko Guild is depressed. But still, he refuses to cease his attempts to follow his own deranged intellectual curiosity to some kind of satisfying conclusion.

Read the rest on ao3 or under the cut:

He breaks into Cogita’s garden shed and finds some supplies for a ritual that could allow him to wreak more havoc on the Hisui region. The Almighty Arceus notices this, and decides not to make the same mistake twice. It opens another rift in space and time, this time sending Volo through the portal instead of next-day-delivering a hero from the future to defeat him.

Volo wakes up in a different cel-shaded open world Nintendo video game, dressed in a merchant’s uniform and left with only his current team of Pokémon and the items in his backpack. A traveling… elf person? asks him if he’s okay, and then points him towards a nearby stable where where he can get some food and rest. Volo doesn’t bother putting on his fake merchant persona, just quietly and sullenly makes his way down the dirt road.

At the stable, Volo is immediately chatted up by Beedle, another merchant, who assumes that they are both in the same trade. Volo is very annoyed by the strange man in a crop top, but allows Beedle to ramble so he can get more information about this new world. Beedle informs Volo that there are people all over Hyrule (the aforementioned new world) who need supplies for their adventures, especially researchers and explorers interested in archaeology and ancient ruins.

Upon hearing this, Volo fully commits yet again to his charismatic merchant act, demanding more information about the world’s lore and opportunities for exploration. Beedle doesn’t really have the answers Volo wants, but Volo does find a newspaper that references a princess leading the research teams, who lives in Hateno Village. He figures out his route on a map and is advised by a stablehand to bring a horse with him on his travels.

Volo asks what the fuck a horse is, briefly breaking character. He is then informed about horses, and enthusiastically takes the opportunity to subjugate another animal for his personal gain. Also, the horse is kind of cute. And it makes him feel tall(er). And he names it “My Favorite Customer.”

Volo begins his journey to Hateno Village, appreciating the non-diegetic piano music as he rides along the path. That, at least, is all too familiar.

He finds himself in a tough spot when he comes across a camp of Alpha Pokémon on the side of the path. Volo crouches in the grass and attempts his signature back strike technique, but when he throws a Pokéball at the creature, it just turns around and screams at him.

Volo is nearly game-ended by a Red Bokoblin, but finds himself saved at the last second by a 5'2 blonde man with a fancy sword, magical arm, oversized Arc Phone, and vaguely ancient-looking toga outfit that arceus definitely would have liked more than Volo's cringe cosplay.

The hero (because that's definitely a hero, Volo realizes with great annoyance) offers him a hand and motions towards the gates of Hateno Village. Volo rallies and pretends to be grateful for the help, following the man inside the town with his horse. It's only once Volo is inside that he wonders what in Hisui and Hyrule just tried to kill him, if it wasn't a Pokémon.

As he walks through the town, Volo takes mental notes on the mercantile culture of Hateno. He also passes a statue of an angelic-looking figure, perhaps the goddess of this world and decidedly not the Almighty Arceus. Volo is surprised to realize that he feels relieved about this.

The hero brings Volo to a cottage, where a young woman waits inside. She introduces herself as Princess Zelda, and the hero as Link. Link pulls a Pokéball out of Volo's bag and shows it to Zelda, who is immediately interested. She starts drilling Volo about his place of origin and the nature of this strange technology, and he decides that she is the most tolerable person he’s met here so far. Volo happily engages in conversation with Zelda, also angling to know more about her world and its history.

Zelda explains that she and Link are part of their goddess's Triforce reincarnation cycle, and that they've had some rather traumatizing experiences as a result of their sacred roles. For example, Link literally died. And Zelda was a dragon for 10,000 years. Things are just getting back to normal now, and they're both trying to figure out how they feel about it all.

Never before has Volo considered the burden of being a god's chosen champion. He’d loathed the hero from his world for being Arceus's favorite, while Volo himself so clearly deserved the honor. But meeting these people, whose lives have been almost entirely defined by their destined sacred duties, he feels a bizarre pang of empathy for the hero who’d been pulled out of their time just to defeat him. Truly, Arceus's fickle cruelty knows no bounds.

Volo subtly suggests that Link and Zelda get rid of Hylia, ending the Triforce cycle for good. They appear to actually consider this, which makes him smile.

In return for his advice, Zelda tells Volo that the majority of research into ancient ruins happens near Kakariko Village, home of the Sheikah people. She describes the journey there as relatively simple, as long as he steers clear of monsters—which people apparently fight and kill here, wielding the non-sentient weapons on their backs.

Volo feels another strange pang, this time protectiveness, over the six creatures stored inside his Pokéballs. He winces as Link cracks an egg onto the hot cast iron of his cooking pot.

After a quick wellness check of his team, Volo decides that he likes the sound of the Sheikah and Kakariko Village. He also likes the sound of the Zonai people, an even more ancient culture who seem detached from the goddess Hylia as a religious figure. The lore here is elaborate, Volo can tell, and he can't help but feel genuinely excited about it all.

Back in Hisui, Volo’s life had been a constant balancing act between upholding his mercantile persona (working retail) and pursuing his passions. Here, people seem to actually get compensated, even respected, for their archaeological work. The Princess herself partakes in studies just like his own, and she doesn't even want to fight God about it.

(Well, maybe she might now. Oops.)

(Not oops. Volo regrets nothing.)

(Okay, fine, he might have some regrets, but that is not among them.)

Zelda also warns Volo about possible encounters with the Yiga Clan during his travels, a group of assassin-scientists who betrayed Hylia and royal family to leech off the power of an evil god. They apparently like to disguise themselves as merchants and cause problems for heroes.

Volo is pleased by the amount of options this new world is presenting him.

Before he leaves, Zelda gives Volo a sword (“Take this, it's dangerous to go alone!”) and asks him to deliver some artifacts she's been studying to Paya in Kakariko. She hands over a stack of stone plates covered in ancient writings.

It requires all of Volo's self control to respond appropriately to this, but somehow, he manages. Link passes him the final plate, which he’d been using as a cutting board, and Volo's eye twitches.

Volo of the Gingko Guild sets back out with His Favorite Customer, a collection of ancient plates, several appealing employment prospects, evolving feelings about various gods of various worlds, and a weapon that he doesn't know how to wield but is nonetheless excited to master.

In this moment, he can’t help but wonder if Arceus's divine punishment might have actually backfired. Then Volo decides that he likes the idea of making it backfire. After all, what better way is there to spite a god than to enjoy the punishment it has dealt?

(There's one better way, at least. Stuffing it into a Pokéball and using its powers to create a perfect world.)

But still, Volo does have to admit:

This new world isn't bad, either.

#this is almost identical to the messy bullet point post i did over the weekend #but i wanted to clean it up and put it on ao3 #i hope the comedic detached fast-paced style works (it's not my usual thing)#pokemon #pokemon legends arceus #pla #volo #volo pokemon #volo pla #totk #tears of the kingdom #botw #breath of the wild #my writing

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rairix · 4 years ago

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Hyrule Warriors Age of Calamity is really good

Holy frig this game is really good and Zelda fans need to not sleep on it. (There is a demo on the eshop if you’re not sure if you’d like it, it lets you play a few levels and unlock some stuff, and it can data carry over to the main game if you do get it)

First-it’s much different than the other Hyrule Warriors if you weren’t into it. It does still play fighting wise like a Dynasty Warrior game, but much less having to run back to redo something constantly (I actually only had to do this in maybe 3 story missions, and it wasn’t a recap it was re-spawned hard monsters)

Next- the story is really well fleshed out. Will tell you it’s a different time line by the end of it than Breath of the Wild’s time line. You get a lot more depth to the characters. Not gonna lie I kind of want to see the future of their time line since this one lets the champions live, and Mipha getting to live gives me life.

Also- it has so many freaking side missions and unlockables that actually matter (and don’t require really stupid challenges like HW did with their maps) I did probably 75% of them and still have over 20 to do (probably more) Plus these ones aren’t crazy long levels, usually 10 minute or less tasks to get your unlockable/farm for parts to upgrade stuff. Main story levels are still going to be around 30 minutes though.

Only downside is the only characters with costumes are Link’s BotW costumes, and Zelda has her blue outfit and her goddess white dress. Would of like to have some extra unlockables post game for other costumes. At least you don’t have to do special maps to get different weapons for characters, and the 2 “secret” characters are super easy to unlock.

My favorite characters to play as and why: under the cut to avoid spoilers

Link with Master Sword- they brought back the energy beam at full health. Making farming monster parts super easy, which you will do a lot if you want to unlock the specials and heart bonuses.

Impa- she can make clones of herself, and rack up really quick damage, sometimes getting the clones going can be a pain but with the right stats on her weapon she can go crazy and is also great for farming.

Mipha- her special can heal her and nearby comrades. She’s fast as well.

Sidon- ok I’m not actually crazy about playing as him, but it’s Prince freaking Sidon and he’s my fave so I’ll play him even though his aim kind of sucks on some bosses.

Riju- let’s run some fuckers over as a child on a sand seal. Like if she gets going she has great invincibility frames from that seal going crazy.

The King- one hands a broadsword, and is fast about it.

Hetsu- actually hate how meh his damage is, but the fact that he can summon koroks at will lets me go “ya-ha-ha!” with it whenever I want

Least favorite characters and why:

Zelda pre goddess powers- her skills do not cut through grass so you can’t farm items with her at all. Lots of gaps in her attack patterns so enemies can bitch smack you easy.

Great Fairies- they’re slow/lag like hell. I know they’re a big character technically so they move slow, but you really feel it with them. Their fighting style is neat but it just feels too slow for me to enjoy them.

Daruk and Yunobo- big characters again, they’re slower feeling and their combos aren’t a ton of fun to pull off. They’re better than Darunia was in HW at least.

Koga- really don’t like his special bar or his combos. Would of liked to play as Purah or Robbie with some weird tech than him.

Final spoiler for the ending:

how dare they let the original champions and the new champions (what I call Sidon-Riju-Yonobu-Teba) have their sweet and happy goodbyes and then go to Mipha saying she’ll she her brother again right before he has to go back to his time line where he knows she’s dead and that he can’t. Everyone else was all happy and even a bit cute, but no stab that knife into my heart even more of Mipha having the most tragic death of the champions. That’s some bullshit Nintendo.

#hyrule warriors #the legend of zelda #breath of the wild #age of calamity #hyrule warriors age of calamity #it's really good #there's a demo you can try if nothing else for free

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vgwriter · 6 years ago

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Breath of the Wild: A Review

A Little History

Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild came out in 2017 to universal acclaim and helped to successfully launch the Nintendo Switch. While that is far from a surprise, (the Zelda series is one of the most critically acclaimed and commercially successful franchises of all time) Breath of the Wild does take the series in a much different direction. It's focus is almost completely on exploration and is the most nonlinear of the series. It is the second biggest jump the series has made outside of going 3D. So, does it work? Well, the rest of the world and their mother seem to think so but here's my take on this game.

What I Loved

*SPOILERS*

#1-A Story to Remember

It seems odd to focus on the story when the game doesn't but behind the vast world and great characters is a subtle yet amazingly well executed story. The player finds Link in a DBZ healing pod after he is just awakened from a hundred year slumber of healing. He is told by the disembodied voice of British Zelda to defeat Calamity Ganon but wait, there's more! Turns out Link has amnesia from the fight he had 100 years ago trying to protect Zelda. After obtaining the Sheikah Slate (the games multi-tool), the player discovers there are photos Zelda locked in the Slate to help Link recover his memory. This is how the story is unfolded for the player. The struggles of the Five Champions and Princess Zelda are seen through flashbacks that explain how Hyrule went to sh*t. It is a simple and traditional method but it is effective when coupled with the games minimalist piano soundtrack and isolated atmosphere. It gives a heartbreaking insight into just how lonely and broken this version of Hyrule is and how much Link and the others lost.

#2-The Puzzles

The games dungeons are split up into two catagories: shrine and divine beasts. The shrines are smaller and have a variety of challenges in their 120 locations while the devine beasts are 4 large challenges with several moving parts. Most shrines are designed to be easy to follow but still make the player feel creative. This feeling of creativity stems from the developers themselves that made each level doable in multiple ways. Each dungeon is designed to test the players use of the games mechanics, the player can play it how it was designed or try to tackle it from another angle. One example from my personal playthrough was using a bomb arrow to light fire because I couldn't figure out how to light a torch through a gate. It worked but probably not the way it was designed to. While not every shrine has a variety of ways to solve them (mostly the trial by combat shrines), they are all intriguing challenges designed with fun in mind and feel rewarding when completed. The divine beasts are a similar story with a few minor details. The player must first find the map of the dungeon and then go about reclaiming terminals to free the divine. The map is a 3D rendering of the dungeon with an interactive portion that moves key parts of the beast around. This was a great design choice because it challenges the player to think of the dungeon as a moving puzzle and to consider how moving the pieces will help them advance to the boss.

#3-The World and Character Design

To say the world is stunning is an understatement. The design of the enviroment feels so natural to explore and interact with that finding Koroks is like spoting cognitive distortion in a high school drop outs racist rant on Facebook. I usually find map towers annoying in games like Assassin's Creed but in BOTW they are better integrated into the games exploration. Some towers are actually challenging to climb if Link doesn't have enough stamina or if the player just throws him onto a tower without looking for enemies first. They are like little challenges all their own and it is a great take on something that has been bland and stale since it was first introduced (to me at least) in AC1. Outside of the towers is the vast world that pulls the player into it with rewarding exploration in cute and helpful ways. The shrines are an obvious reason to explore but there are also Koroks, fun and unique side quests, and just cool stuff to find as well. The variety and density of things to do justifies the games gigantic map. It is one of the few games to live up to the idea of an open-world and keep it interesting throughout a 100 hour playthrough.

The art design, oh my cel shaded god, it's amazing. I'm not gonna pretend like I'm some art history major but the regional designs do some pretty interesting things with the enviroment. The five peoples in Hyrule have all appeared in previous titles but have been tweaked in some way for BOTW. The Gorons have a theme of raw strength throughout their entire section of the map, from their weapons to the steel planks on the streets of Goron City. The Rito's design is more centered on their freedom and ability to fly with the entire settlement resembling a nest. Seriously, everything has feathers. The Zora have an elegance in everything they own from the large city built from one large carving to the silver weapons. The Gerudo seem to be a shell of their former selves like the Hylians with ruins surrounding their two settlements. Their quality in construction and bejewelment of everything that shines shows what matters most to them, beauty and effectiveness. The Hylian design is European with a mix of far east in certain pockets. Hyrule castle is a great dungeon that actually lives up to the title of castle. Kakariko village is a weird area that doesn't fit into the Hylian design but c'mon, you can't go wrong with far eastern architecture. Each region has its own design that both fit its surroundings and its people and feels natural, like the people and land are truly living together. It's impressive that Nintendo was able to pull that off because it is not easy to do.

The characters are simply iconic, mostly. The four champions don't get a lot of screen time but they use what they have effectively. Daruk is a stubborn strong man with a great admiration for strength and brotherhood. Mipha is the white mage of the group with a thing for Link (which I prefer to Zelda). Revali is the arrogent prick of the group that comes around eventually. Urbosa is basically the group mom, being the most mature out of everyone. Each of these characters are simple but fill their role effectively and are all quite likeable (even Rivali). Their present day counterparts aren't as memorable though. I mean, outside of Sidon. Sidon makes me feel like I can do anything just by smiling. But everyone else I had to look up for this review. Yunobo is some shy kid that finally lives up to his potential. Teba is a proud warrior but really not that memorable. Riju comes close to being memorable but I still had to look her up. Outside of the champions and their descendents, Kilton made an impression on me. The Bolson company had one of my favorite quests and some of the funnier cutscenes. Each side quest character has that quaint old fashioned rpg vacuum writing. They all live in their own world and interact with Link for one reason.

Overall, the characters and how they interact with the enviroment are what make this game a masterpiece. The mechanics and story are what make it a great game but the world design is that extra step where most great games stumble to me.

#4-The Combat

The combat is simple but has a multitude of uses against the games enemies. Link has three moves: attack, shield, and shoot. Everything beyond this simple moveset depends on how the player equips Link or uses the Slate Ruins. If an enemy is mostly ice, fire weapons are super effective and vice versa. Thunder disarms anyone, including Link. It gets better than simple elemental weapons. If you bring a cucco to a battle and an enemy hits that cucco, a swarm of bird will rain hell on that unassuming bokoblin. Seriously, that alone gives this a 5/5! Also, the enviroment can be used as a weapon if it's set up correctly. If Link fells a tree and lines up the path right, it will attack the enemies. There is just so much to do in this game and it all works off of three simple actions. Perfect.

#5-Misc.

Some other things that stood out enough to mention but not enough to make a paragraph. The crafting is useful and not intrusive. Link can buy a house, which is always fun. The outfits are all great designs and useful in their respective enviroment. There are throwback outfits from previous titles (mostly through amiibos) and that is always cool. Zelda became a scholar and that was a great take, not just on Zelda but on the idea of fictional princesses in general. Link can cut grass. The variety of weapons is astounding. Oh, and uh, all this fits on a small little card no bigger then the last knuckle of my thumb.

What I Didn't Like

#1-The Weapons Fragile Weaponinity

The weapons break way too easy. That's it. That is the only thing I have to complain about this game. That shouldn't be all I have to complain about. I should have two more points to make at least but I don't. Nintendo has made a masterpiece.

The Score

This game shouldn't exsist, it's too good. The gameplay is simple but versatile. The enviroment is peaceful and relaxing while also being desolate and dangerous and this makes it fun to explore. The story and the enviroment fit so well together and compliment each other every time they connect. Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is a 5/5 and the definitive way to make open-ended games.

#legend of zelda #zelda #botw #nintendo #video games #reviews #spoilers #5/5 #prince sidon #lady mipha #mipha x link #urbosa #daruk

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glassandmetalwings · 6 years ago

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Wings plays BotW, Day Fifteen

More progress! Not much today, so this (should) be a short update, but we’ll see about that.

I got the Ancient Greaves, and more Ancient Arrows, because it means less stress vs Guardians. I’ll need to collect more Ancient Cores before I can get the rest of the outfit, though (so...Hyrule Field? Or outside Fort Hateno? Somewhere.).

Found and explored Ulria Grotto, which really felt like it was going to have a Talus at the bottom. I think I missed something?

On my map, I then noticed a series of four islands, ending in the mysteriously named Tingel Island. Could I possibly find a certain character here?

Cue some of the most nerve-wracking bridges in the game, not helped by Guardians and flocks of Keese. Rude.

To the best of my knowledge, Tingle is not on Tingel Island. Just Octoroks and stuff. But there was a shrine! So...trip not entirely wasted.

I then went back and solved another shrine I’d seen but not gotten to (the one in the river surrounded by thorns), then tried another (which would have bought me up to four spirit orbs) and decided ‘I’m too tired to figure out the Five Flames thing’ and gave in for now.

Apparently crabs just chill by the riverside? I thought they were a beach thing?

There’s a place called Talus Plateau. I didn’t go, but I wonder what I could possibly find there. Probably a Lynel.

I did, however, decide to go around the other side of the East Reservoir. My earlier lack of running into Talus at the Grotto nearly got me killed when I ran right up to a Luminous Talus. I’m sorry but I still just don’t have the courage to take them on.

Caved an decided to continue quest. Made some food, then headed off to meet Riju and start the Yiga Quest.

Which will (hopefully) be done tomorrow! Honestly I’m less scared of Vah Noboris and Thunderblight, but we’ll have to see how that goes. I’m also half temped to try to complete one more shrine before entering Vah Noboris (I know I can get out, but still), which will bring me to eleven hearts.

I also know about the statue that will trade stamina for hearts and vice versa, so I have to decide if it’s worth it to get the Master Sword before continuing. Opinions? Or other ideas on what I should do?

#wings plays botw

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miketendo-64 · 7 years ago

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After an incredibly agonising week and all the hype, a Direct finally came but not in the way we wished it. Instead of being a full blow event, it was a Mini Direct and some of the newest games revealed, were merely ports. But hey, who doesn’t love Donkey Kong and Hyrule Warriors? So in our usual Digest fashion, here’s a covering of everything revealed from the Direct, starting with a video and ending with tweets:

Nintendo Continues Momentum Into 2018: Dark Souls, Donkey Kong, Kirby, Mario Tennis Coming To Nintendo Switch:

Updates Bring More Characters and Content to Hits Like Super Mario Odyssey, Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle and Pokkén Tournament DX

REDMOND, Wash., Jan. 11, 2018 – Nintendo debuted a new Nintendo Direct Mini video presentation today spotlighting a selection of first- and third-party titles coming in early 2018. Following a strong holiday season, Nintendo Switch owners will see a variety of new games and content arriving in the next few months, including DARK SOULS: REMASTERED, Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, Mario Tennis Aces and Kirby Star Allies games, and a certain green-clad brother bringing a new mode to the Super Mario Odyssey game.

“Nintendo Switch is the fastest-selling home console in history, and Nintendo is not taking our foot off the gas in 2018,” said Doug Bowser, Nintendo of America’s Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing. “For the millions of people who just received Nintendo systems as gifts, or consumers getting ready to join the growing community of Nintendo Switch owners, Nintendo and our third-party partners have fun new games and content in store at retail or for digital purchase.”

A sampling of some of the announcements includes

DARK SOULS™: REMASTERED: The first title in the genre-defining action role-playing franchise is coming to Nintendo Switch. DARK SOULS: REMASTERED includes the Artorias of the Abyss DLC, as well as improved framerate and resolution from the original DARK SOULS game for an exhilarating return to Lordran. This marks the franchise’s debut on a Nintendo platform, and now for the first time ever, this revered (and challenging) game can be played on the go. DARK SOULS: REMASTERED launches on May 25.

Mario Tennis Aces: A new Mario Tennis game is bringing a new level of skill and competition to Nintendo Switch. Mario steps onto the court in classy tennis garb for intense rallies against a variety of characters in full-blown tennis battles. New wrinkles in tennis gameplay will challenge your ability to read an opponent’s position and stroke to determine which shot will give you the advantage. And this time the game adds the first story mode since the Mario Tennis game on Game Boy Advance, offering a new flavor of tennis gameplay, with a variety of missions and boss battles. The game launches for Nintendo Switch this spring.

Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze: Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, Dixie Kong and Cranky Kong return for the franchise’s debut on Nintendo Switch. This title includes all the fun and challenge of the original game, plus a new beginner-friendly mode that lets players enjoy this critically acclaimed adventure as groovy surfing simian Funky Kong. Funky Kong can double jump, hover, perform infinite rolls and even perform infinite underwater corkscrews. Thanks to his sturdy surfboard, even spikes can’t slow him down. The game launches for Nintendo Switch on May 4.

Kirby Star Allies: Kirby’s debut on Nintendo Switch is a grand new adventure packed with content. The new Artist ability lets Kirby unleash his creativity, while the new Spider ability lets him ensnare enemies in webs. Kirby also can hurl new friend hearts at enemies to win them over with love and add them to his party. Plus, up to four friends* can team up and combine Kirby’s unique abilities with ally abilities for powerful new Friend Abilities. The game launches for Nintendo Switch on March 16.

The World Ends with You: Final Remix: This 2008 Nintendo DS game has been updated for Nintendo Switch with HD visuals and a new epilogue that sheds new light on the game’s story. Players can join rhythmic battles using either Joy-Con controllers or the Nintendo Switch touch screen. The game is scheduled to launch this year.

Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition: A new, ultimate version of the exhilarating action game set in the Zelda universe will include every map and mission, plus all 29 playable characters from both the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS versions of the game, along with all of the previous paid downloadable content. Play as Link, Zelda, Midna, Skull Kid and dozens more in action-packed battles at home or on the go. Additionally, the game includes new outfits for Link and Zelda based on The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild game. This new version launches for Nintendo Switch in spring.

SNK HEROINES ~Tag Team Frenzy~: Play as iconic heroines from SNK’s history in a new, two-on-two tag-team fighting game. Players can activate a variety of Special Moves with the press of a button, and make use of special items to turn the tide of battle. One of the competitors will be Yuri Sakazaki from ACA NEOGEO Art of Fighting 2, which launches today in Nintendo eShop on Nintendo Switch. SNK HEROINES ~Tag Team Frenzy~ launches on Nintendo Switch this summer.

Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana: When the passenger liner he was aboard sank, the adventurer Adol drifted to a deserted island inhabited by vicious creatures that have evolved in many different ways. To survive, Adol must gather fellow shipwreck survivors and build a base. High-speed battles require players to change between three types of characters at a moment’s notice. The epic RPG launches for Nintendo Switch this summer.

PAYDAY 2: As players join with friends* locally or online to execute elaborate heists, full touch-screen support makes menu navigation easier than ever, while the HD Rumble feature lets them feel everything from explosions to weapon recoil right in their hands. Debuting in the Nintendo Switch version of the game, a new playable character named Joy will be introduced. Joy is a Japanese computer whiz who wears a custom LED light mask that changes her appearance as she sees fit. PAYDAY 2 launches for Nintendo Switch on Feb. 27.

Fe: In this new type of platforming adventure, players run, climb and glide their way through a dark Nordic forest to explore its living, breathing world. Use the motion controls of the Joy-Con controllers to sing in tune with creatures and plants to unlock new abilities. Each song has a distinct sound and feel thanks to HD Rumble. The game launches digitally for Nintendo Switch on Feb. 16.

Celeste: This modern take on the pure action platformer lets Madeline climb any surface on Celeste Mountain if she has the stamina. Playing in Assist Mode lets players tweak the difficulty, from a slower pace to full-on invincibility. Unlockable B-side chapters offer even more challenging adventures. The game launches digitally for Nintendo Switch on Jan. 25.

Game Updates & DLC:

Super Mario Odyssey: A new mini-game called Balloon World is coming to one of the highest-rated games of all time. Once players download the free update and complete the main story, Balloon World will become available. In “Hide It” mode, players have a certain amount of time to hide a balloon. In “Find It” mode, players have the same amount of time to locate balloons hidden by other players from around the world. Players can move up the rankings** by finding hidden balloons and becoming expert hiders. The free update will be released in February with new Snapshot Mode filters and new outfits.

Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle: A new hero swings into action! Donkey Kong is headed to the game as a playable character, complete with an exclusive new storyline and world to explore. The DLC pack will release in spring and will be available for purchase individually, or as part of the Season Pass or Gold Edition of the game.

Pokkén Tournament DX Battle Pack: The Battle Pack is now available for purchase in Nintendo eShop on Nintendo Switch and includes two Waves of Battle Pokémon and Avatar items. Wave 1 of the Battle Pack contains Battle Pokémon Aegislash and a new Support Pokémon Set featuring Mega Rayquaza and Mimikyu. Aegislash can change between two formes, and players can wield them both. Wave 2 includes the new Battle Pokémon Blastoise and a new Support Pokémon Set featuring Mew and Celebi. Wave 1 will be available Jan. 31, and Wave 2 is scheduled for Mar. 23.

Demos:

Kirby: Battle Royale: The free demo is available in Nintendo eShop on the Nintendo 3DS family of systems.

Dragon Quest Builders: The free demo is available today in Nintendo eShop on Nintendo Switch.

https://twitter.com/NintendoAmerica/status/951453981397565441

https://twitter.com/NintendoAmerica/status/951461233672286208

https://twitter.com/NintendoAmerica/status/951469238815993856

https://twitter.com/NintendoAmerica/status/951484316726517760

Lastly, we have another batch of images for you to go through, enjoy:

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We hope you found our Nintendo Direct Mini Digest helpful!

Source: Nintendo PR

Nintendo Direct Mini (11.01.18) Digest (From Hyrule to a DK Port & all the Other News) After an incredibly agonising week and all the hype, a Direct finally came but not in the way we wished it.

#Donkey Kong Country #Hyrule Warriors #Mario Tennis #news #Nintendo #nintendo direct #Nintendo Switch

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midnaslamnent · 8 years ago

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Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Review

FYI - this will not be spoiler free. I don’t want anyone venturing into my review expecting me to only critique graphics or rave over the nostalgia I had with other games. I am including my entire review of the game under the read more.

Breath of the Wild is easily one of the best games that I have ever played. It was an endless adventure from start to finish. One of the complaints that many people have had for Skyward Sword is that they felt that for parts of the game you have your hand held too much. There is not enough freedom to decide how the storyline is going to move along or all the different ways to figure out a sidequest. Breath of the Wild is created in a fashion that you only are really being guided or having your hand held in the Great Plateau area (which is the first area). You have to complete four shrines before you can venture on quests across the rest of the area. I liked the easement into playing Breath of the Wild because when you begin in the Great Plateau region you do not encounter many difficult enemies. You just have to fend yourself from some bokoblins, and there’s one or two guardians that don’t pose much threat.

I wanted to begin my review of the game by explaining my general feel for the game. I’m going to delve deeper into my feelings about different parts of the game in the little categories below.

Storyline

I loved the story of Breath of the Wild. It was weaved together so artistically. The memories really gave you insight into how the war progressed 100 years ago. You also learn how each of the characters viewed Link as the hero, and he had to earn everyone’s respect. That reminded a lot of Twilight Princess or Ocarina of Time. There are characters living in Hyrule don’t want to admit that Link could be the hero to save them because he’s so ordinary. Now that 100 years have passed, most of the characters seemed to have given up on thinking that there’s a hero coming. The only tribes that immediately recognize you as being the champion are the Zora because they remember you from 100 years ago. The other tribes or races are very questionable of Link because they think he could be the enemy in disguise.

I loved the fact that they pulled technology into Breath of the Wild, and they used it as Hyrule’s downfall. It connected to Skyward Sword’s Lanayru region where all the ancient robots and technology advances had ended up coming to their own downfall. It kinda endorses that lesson that you should not mess around with things that you do not understand fully. The guardians and divine beasts were easily taken over by Ganon which led to terrible fate that happened 100 years ago. Link and the champions died as a resultant of the collective failure.

Part of me wishes that Ganon had taken the form of Ganondorf again. Ah, I loved Ganondorf and his dialogue. Ganon was still a great enemy don’t get me wrong, but there’s always the epic villain dialogue with Ganondorf. I thought that the ending of Breath of the Wild foreshadowed a future game following it that would be coming. The idea that evil is really never finished which was great I loved that part. It is something that has been a theme in all the Zelda games. Evil has not been finished for eternity, and there will be a temporary peace. This is true for Ocarina of Time to Twilight Princess because Link is the descendent of the Hero of Time and there is not a 1000 year time period between the two games at all. It’s probably within the timespan of 100 years.

I’ll probably be one of the few people to admit that I found the ending not to be that epic. There’s so much build for the ending of the game and I just felt that it wasn’t as fulfilling of an ending. It was just so abrupt and the game just ends with “Do you really remember me?” I find it really sweet, but I guess I wish there was more pulling in of the other characters into the ending besides Link and Zelda. I love the ending to Twilight Princess because it really leaves you heartbroken over Midna, and the player is able to imagine what might have occurred as a result to the characters affected. I’m not insinuating this is the worst ending of all time, but it seemed like a let down. My feelings are probably subject to change on this matter.

Characters

I thought a lot of the characters in this game were a lot more complex than they have been in past games. I’ve heard one of the biggest complaints about Princess Zelda being too “emotionless” or too “selfless”. In Breath of the Wild, the creators decided to explore a different side of her personality that I would probably say is left out in the games. Zelda has struggles and she’s easily frustrated by her own failures. She still has the signature Princess Zelda traits, but they added those traits that we often miss from her character.

I loved all the Champions (even Revali). I did not think of them as carbon copies of old Zelda characters that the creators felt like referencing again. Mipha is far different from Ruto in her mannerisms and the way she speaks. Daruk is not another Darunia or Darmani. He may be a Goron hero, but he doesn’t exhibit the same characteristics as either of those two leaders. Revali probably had the most annoying personality of all of the champions, but he grows on you over time. I think Revali is a lot easier to relate to because he really wants to be the best (cue the Pokemon theme song), but he’s not the chosen one. He’s struggling to handle that which inevitably leads to him treating Link in a depreciating manner. Urbosa doesn’t really have any resemblance to Nabooru for me besides her being a great Gerudo leader.

I don’t think I’ll be the first to say it, but I loved the Yiga clan. I thought it was so fun to encounter any of the members as you walked along the paths in the game. I encountered a Yiga clan member before I even realized there was a Yiga clan in the game because I had not interacted with Impa about it. Once you get into the Haunted Wasteland region, you get to interact with the Yiga clan hideout. I loved sneaking into the hideout and throwing bananas to trick the Yiga clan members. A signature trait of the Zelda games is giving all the enemies these odd quirks, which for the Yiga clan is their weakness for bananas. You might think that the Yiga clan leader would be intimidating and strong, but nope he’s the complete opposite. In deeper analyzation, you do realize how evil the clan is, but you can still look at the clan as the jokester enemies.

Gameplay

Breath of the Wild had one of the smoothest graphics and gameplay that I’ve ever played. The coolest part of the game I thought was the ability to see so much distance. You could really picture yourself inside the game witnessing all this beautiful scenery from the side of the mountain you’re climbing. I think one of my favorite parts of playing the game was being able to run and move the camera to the front of Link and watch the Guardians begin to chase after Link. I honestly think the Guardians are one of the coolest additions to this Zelda game.

Overall, I do not have really any complaints about a majority of the enemies in the game. Most of them appeared really difficult to beat if you did not have the correct weapons or shields. Lynels were easily the most difficult enemy to defeat in the open world portion of the game. I didn’t beat my first one until I had beaten all four divine beasts. Once I got the barbarian clothing set and got strong weapons, it was a lot easier to attempt to kill all these enemies.

My biggest complaint regarding the gameplay was the glitching. The Kokiri Forest where the master sword is located had the most beautiful graphics in the entire game. It was probably the glitchiest area on the entire map as well. As much as I loved the forest, I did not want to stay in any glitching region on the map, so I would spend the least amount of time in the forest as I could.

However, that was not the most annoying glitch in the entire game. The red moon was a nice idea to just have the enemies regenerate every few game days at midnight. This way the creators had an excuse to respawn the enemies. When I was playing the game probably every day a month or so ago, my game got to the point where the red moon would randomly spawn in the middle of the day. It would be 3 p.m. in the game and I just finished defeating all these enemies and they would suddenly respawn. This means I lost all my rewards and have my heart container refilled. Once I stopped playing the game so frequently, the glitching had eventually stopped. It was still a glitch that should not have been as bad as it was.

Voice Acting

This was probably one of my least favorite parts of the game. I’m not really big into voice acting for video games to begin with. I like to imagine the voices myself, and often times, I find myself annoyed with the voices gaming companies choose for characters. If anyone reads any of my posts, then they know that Princess Zelda is one of my favorite characters of all time. In Breath of the Wild, I found myself more off put by her character, which is mainly due to the voice actress they chose. It appeared that they wanted her to have this royal, sort of posh voice which just came off annoying because of how forced it sounded. I thought most of the other voices were fine and fit the characters to an extent, and it would have been fine if they had gotten another voice actress for Zelda.

Clothing & Cooking

I loved all the different outfits you could receive in the game. I got a good portion of them, but I did not max out all the clothing options. My favorite outfit is the tunic for the Hero of the Wild because it’s the signature Link outfit for all the games. That was probably the hardest outfit to max up in levels, and you can’t get it until you finish every single shrine in the game (there’s 120 of them). I really liked using Barbarian armor because your attack went up with that entire outfit. Of course, the champion’s tunic is one of my favorites as well. I think there really isn’t an outfit I disliked in this game. I loved dressing Link in traditional Gerudo garb when he needed to get into the Forbidden City. Oooh, the dark link outfit is sooo cool just based off the looks, but your night speed increases by a ton. It’s so nice.

Anyway, the cooking in this game was nice because you didn’t have to cut a bunch of grass to get hearts. You could make these really healthy meals that would max out all your heart containers and give you extra hearts. Creating elixirs was a great addition to the game because you can’t consume meals when your hearts are maxed out. However, most elixirs do not give back hearts so they just increase your your speed or defense up a level or two. The elixirs last as long as the time that’s associated with them and it’s not game speed hours- it’s real time. The combination of clothing and cooking made this game so fun. I still felt bad for killing the animals in Breath of the Wild despite it being a critical component of the game.

#zelda review #botw review #botw spoilers #you guys let's discuss this #botw

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maddiebiscuits · 8 years ago

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Maddie’s Big Gigantic Breath of the Wild Write-Up Where I Talk About Things I Like and Things I Didn’t Like

And regrettably, there are many things I did not like. But that doesn’t make this any less of a fantastic game that I enjoyed - I just wanted to put all my thoughts down in one spot. And yes, there’s spoilers.

--------------------------------------| Things I Like | ----------------------------------------

You can read any review for the game and that’s pretty much this section. There’s not much to say about the core game that hasn’t already been said, dozens and dozens of times, by professional or at least more knowledgeable game reviewers and critics out there.

Breath of the Wild (BOTW) is a big return to the uttermost classic Zelda feeling, of being a plucky hero in a big world that’s yours to traverse and discover, and get through on your wits and skills alone. But I’d actually argue that BOTW does the sense of open world and exploration far better than any other Zelda game comparison, not for the size of the maps (and man oh man they are big) but in that it gives you all the tools you need to explore within the first area and then kicks you out the door into the world. Any and all Zelda games, including the first, regardless of how “open” and non-linear you think they are, have a formula in that to progress through certain points, you must find an item that allows you to do so. BOTW dismisses that notion entirely and teaches you the core game mechanics and gives you the tools to explore wherever you want after the first area, and that’s a good thing. I spent the first several hours (upwards of a collective 20 or so) getting lost and just exploring, cooking food, finding side quests, fighting monsters, scaling mountains, and in a big way that’s sort of how the game is intended to be played. It’s full of creatures to hunt or befriend, hills to snowboard down on your shield, an expansive and hilarious physics engine to exploit, NPCs to meet and quests to be found and completed.

I like the provinces on the map, they’re either classic Zelda locations or call-backs to places from past games that weren’t always in Hyrule (large Majora’s Mask vibes, which makes sense, as this game takes place within the Child Era timeline). Even places that seemed the same at first ended up having subtle or severe differences, and of course the crisply-rendered graphics make the world vibrant, bright and inviting. While I miss the big orchestral scores I’m used to from other big console Zelda games, the subtle atmospheric music ended up being very nice and tonally appropriate, with familiar tunes sneaking in here and there in fun and sometimes beautiful ways.

NPC designs are unique, expressive, and full of character. Towns and hubs have a real sense of being lived in, with their own culture and way of life. Locations have their own passive dangers and benefits that make the world feel exciting and treacherous, and you can take any kind of approach to all kinds of situations. You can make special buff food or elixirs (one of the most fun things to do because I love watching the little food bits jump around in the pot) to brave the elements or give yourself extra bulk, or you can wear specialty armor or clothing, or do both. You can dye most outfits too, and tame and register your own horses and customize them. While a part of me misses the iconic green garb, being able to traverse Hyrule on a jet-black steed decked out in skulls and tattered leather while my Link was adorned with sleek black armor and cloak is kind of the best (and you can get the garb later, and then just build a custom green outfit yourself, which is how I went into end-game) Any weapon is fair game to wield as well, which was another part I greatly enjoyed and gave an added sense to exploration and that “get by on what you can find” survival aesthetic the game provides.

There really is a kind of subtle, almost accidental thoughtfulness to this game’s incarnation of Link. The background plot of the game describes, shows, and in some areas at least implies that Link was not a plucky hero from humble beginnings that the series is used to - Link was a prodigy in BOTW, a son of a proud and excellent knight who was to follow in his father’s footsteps to defend the kingdom and the royal family. Since he was a child he was groomed for this roll, despite the stress it caused him, until he became a trained and powerful warrior, even going so far as becoming the knight appointed to Princess Zelda, and wielding the Master Sword. He was the Hero from the beginning and was raised and trained his whole life to fulfill that role.

And he failed.

For all intents and purposes, Link in BOTW more or less dies (well, it’s implied he’s just unconscious and on the brink of death, but for my joking need to continue this “Link is the Chosen Undead” Dark Souls joke, yeah, he died). All the pomp and circumstance and careful, strict training surrounding his life ended up meaning nothing in the final grand scheme against Calamity Ganon. And this narrative carries not just to Link, but to the other cast of characters and Hyrule as a whole - years and years of careful planning and preparation was not what was needed to defeat Ganon.

The game starts with Link being resurrected, with no memory of what happened 100 years ago and nothing to his name but a shirt and some shoes (and the Sheikah Slate I guess). But it’s this Link, stripped of everything, who has to cross the wilds and adventure, working his way up from scratch, completing test after test and trial after trial laid out by the ruined Hyrule and the ancient Sheikah sages in their shrines, who reclaims the Master Sword, earns the green garb (or doesn’t - you only get it if you complete all 120 shrines, which I think fits tonally because I wouldn’t exactly dub a guy who failed the first time a hero until he’s been thoroughly re-tempered for the task) and defeats Ganon. It’s not a bunch of strict, stately training given to a person who’s told their destiny from a young age and forced immediately to live up to it that makes a hero in Zelda games - it’s the plucky adventurer coming from little, courageously taking on feats bigger than them for the good of Hyrule and the people within it, working up to the final encounter.

Hyrule and the NPCs you meet echo that tone as well. It’s a world that’s had to pick up the pieces since Ganon re-emerged and laid waste to their world. Descendants and spiritual successors of champions from the past risking themselves for the good of their people, unprepared and outmatched compared to what they’re up against, but coming out on top with determination and follow-through in the end. The main story of BOTW has a bittersweet, but ultimately powerful and true-to-form Zelda tale that, on top of the immersion and pure fun the game provides is why it’s so easy to see why people have rated it so highly.

Unfortunately, extended playtime with this game revealed a ton of flaws and personal nitpicks, because despite what these scores claim, no game is perfect, and neither is BOTW.

----------------------------------| Things I Didn’t Like | -----------------------------------

BOTW gets...repetitive, and at times annoying and even vacuous. I’d find a lot of really cool places during my exploration of Hyrule, but found that a lot of them just ended up being set-pieces to the world, with maybe a Korok hiding there (or maybe not, which was just super frustrating, climbing to a high mountain peak to find nothing up there). The game became measurably more enjoyable when I upgraded to full three stamina wheels, which took a lot of my early shrine upgrades to do, and that ugly, ugly little green wheel just constantly reminded me of how much I loathed it in Skyward Sword. I’d climb and climb and climb, usually not finding much of anything at the top later into the game. I’d find a set of interesting ruins, clear out the same enemies I’d fought 200 other times during the game, and not really find anything of interest within them. And god the enemies are repetitious. the same three core enemies in different colours, the same four or so core world bosses in different colours, the same Lynel and Guardians in different colours with ridiculous health bars that hit for 12 hearts a strike to impose the illusion of difficulty, when you end up just hitting them with ancient arrows, or using upgraded Stasis on them, or some other cheap trick because the combat and the difficult-to-time parrying and dodge/flurry attack prompts are not fun to activate (and if you fight them “properly”, especially the Lynels, get ready to run through all your resources).

When I go to a new area I want to see new enemies. Where are things like...I don’t know, Gibdos? Redeads? Poes? Darknuts? Skulltulas, Deku Babas, Gohmas, Armos, Dodongos, Aeralfos, Peahats, Likelikes SOMETHING ELSE besides these damn Lizalfos that keep JUMPING AROUND. I had one amazing encounter with a serpent dragon on an icy mountain peak, and had thought that I would have similar awesome encounters with the other two dragons in the game. Turns out the other two just sort of float around in locations and you don’t do anything with them except try to shoot them to farm items, no special encounters. Why.

I’d find a weapon I’d love but it would break quickly, so I ended up forming this habit of hoarding good weapons, bows, and shields, thinking I’d have to save them for later for fear they’d break, then ran into a problem where I was constantly getting showered in weaponry and had to play min-max on their attack numbers to decide what I was taking with me and what I wasn’t. I’d run into Koroks constantly to upgrade my storage space, but over time the malaise of searching for them after about 270 (out of a grand total of 900 Koroks) became too tedious and I stopped doing hyper-thorough canvasing of areas, especially because the canvasing didn’t really yield anything that exciting. I began, less and less, taking my horse places with me, because I could fast-travel and paraglide to locations I wanted to explore, and very often they were places I couldn’t even take my horse to. Armor variety, which I liked, ended up making a big chunk of food and elixir buffs superfluous and I no longer really felt a sense of danger or need to prepare for big exciting ventures into the bitter cold or so on. And upgrading armor ends up being a nightmare, as high-end stuff requires farming very precious materials, and if there’s one thing I did not like about Skyward Sword, it’s farming for materials.

Environmental hazards that could not be overridden with food or armor, particularly rain, halted my gameplay. I’d be trying to scale a cliff and, whoops - it was raining, which means you slip all the way down or exhaust your stamina trying to force through it. I’d have to go somewhere else and halt my progress on that spot, or attempt to find a place to make a fire and wait out the rain, which seems realistic in theory, but disrupts gameplay in practice. There’s also this weird abundance of cold areas in the game, but only really one hot area and only one “you’ll literally catch on fire here” area. A lot of shrine tests revolve around the same combat trial against the same enemy with a fluctuating health pool and do not get me started on the frustrating motion control mechanics for a few. I played the game on the Wii U as I did not want to get a Switch just yet, and suffered draw distance, framerate and even freezing issues. I figured this was an issue with the Wii U hardware, but hilariously it turns out this is an issue on the Switch as well (as an aside...it’s not really a good idea to have your flagship launch title with your new console be a game that the console can’t even run...)

Then there was the story. I know I just talked a lot of good about it, but the thing is, the tones and storytelling I was talking about come across as...accidental, a sort of side-effect of the game as a whole. I don’t really play Zelda games for top-tier story - let’s be real, Zelda games do not necessarily provide enriching, unique narrative experiences. They are fun, generic adventure games with action-RPG elements, and that alone is enough to make them classics beloved by so many. But it’s been 25 years and the world of Zelda has expanded into a deep-reaching and ridiculous lore, enough that it has enough content to provide for a hard-cover art book, a historia featuring a collective timeline with three branching routes, and an upcoming encyclopedia. As years go by, narrative elements in Zelda games, such as story and character development, become larger and more prominent as the series develops. This is not a bad thing, and as a huge Zelda lore nerd myself it gives games a bit of extra appeal for me personally.

The issue with BOTW, and maybe the Zelda series as a whole, is that it’s kind of “blooming late” on the story and character narrative department in a generation where huge arcing epics with deep and relatable characters run regular in a lot of mainstream triple-A titles. BOTW, for example, is the first Zelda game to feature voice acting, something I was very wary about when I first heard about it, and ended up being rightfully wary. No it’s not terrible - the cast is doing the best they can with the stilted dialogue and passive direction they clearly had to work with, but it creates a very underwhelming and at times embarrassing experience that shouldn’t be so in a time when English dubbing/voice acting and localization is at some of it’s best (though not always of course), especially for a big-name title like Zelda from a big-name company like Nintendo. If this was the first time they were going to try voice-acting, this doesn’t really inspire me to look forward to it being a repeated trend in other titles. And even then, there’s actually only a handful of scenes that are actually voice-acted, with the rest of it being the usual textbox scrawls with some vocal sounds over top like in previous games, which begs the question as to why they bothered to go with the voice work at all.

BOTW does something I refer to as A Plot and a B Plot, the A Plot being the main over-arching story of the game and the B Plot beside an over-arching side-story of the game. Typically, A Plots are the here-and-now of a form of media, it takes place in the present, with the B Plot being in the past, the future, or behind the scenes but being woven into the A Plot. When I set out to play BOTW, I thought that the failings of the past and it’s events would be the B Plot, with the A Plot as the here and now, focusing on new characters who would pick up the mantle of those who had fallen and see me into battle with Ganon. I thought I would follow the trials and tribulations of Princess Zelda in the A Plot, as well as the four champions, but it turns out, I was wrong.

When the game starts, the four champions are dead, and Princess Zelda is keeping Ganon trapped within Hyrule Castle, her power about to expend. At first I thought this was tonally appropriate - after all, they did fail, and it is supposed to paint a bleak picture of Hyrule. But this also meant that the only way for me to really learn or care about these characters was through optional flashbacks, and flashbacks are not really good tools to tell a story most of the time. I went and collected every memory, but didn’t really end up learning anything particularly new or exciting about any character other than Zelda herself - a wonderful character and incarnation of the classic princess, who is, honestly, a nerd. She’s an insecure scholar, burying herself in research to escape the stress of her failed ability to use her magic (Triforce, Light Force, I don’t know - the Triforce doesn’t feature at all in the game), the loss of her mother, and her honestly mean and scornful father and the doubtful whispers of her kingdom. She’s in over her head, and while her abilities and passion are best suited for studying the ancient technology and the Divine Beasts, at every turn it seems that she is forced away from this and told to focus on her destiny, that of using her sealing power to trap Ganon away. It plays again on that theme that pre-conceived notions and strict preparation in the name of prophecy and destiny and what have you still lead to failure, and that it’s through the heart of adventure and discovery that heroes that can defeat the darkness are forged. I expected that new champions would rise to replace the failed ones of the past, born from the adventure and sudden struggle of Ganon suddenly re-emerging, without any preparation beforehand. I expected Zelda to get her big moment where she proves that she doesn’t need old rituals and prayers to unlock her power, and that her inner strength comes from her true passions, and uses her research and scholar prowess to find ways to balk Ganon and use her power. I expected new heroes to rise and take control of the Divine Beasts in the steed of the failed champions of the past.

Well that doesn’t happen. The Divine Beasts get piloted by the ghosts of the fallen champions, who are ultimately dull and kind of not really likeable save maybe one or two. The new characters who help you get onto the Divine Beasts, which act as the “main” dungeons in the game, fall to the wayside and are forgotten after, apparently unable to become champions themselves (as only “champions” can board the beasts, apparently) despite the trials they face to assist Link and fight back against Ganon to save their people. The main dungeons lose their luster quickly too - they’re puzzle-based, requiring the same mechanic for each one (find five terminals, beat the boss at the end, each boss looks kind of the same). Something I thought was interesting was that each beast can be controlled from within, and you use that mechanic to solve puzzles. Two of the beasts end up using the same tilt mechanic though, and three beasts require shooting arrows at it to board (two of which are bomb arrows), and with the beasts’ interiors all looking the same it just sort of gets...a bit dull after a while. Been there, done that, done this, again. I really do miss more classic Zelda dungeons if just for the cheese factor, but this game does not have them.

Since the game has to use flashbacks instead of a continuous story to show the development and relationships of the characters (where dialogue is delivered unnaturally), the original four champions seem very one-note, defined by maybe one or two traits. The case of Revali is especially frustrating. Why is he so mean to Link? Is it his pride, did something occur between them, is it something else? We don’t know, we never learn, because primary characters introduced are not developed, he’s Just The Rival character, to fulfill the trope. His introduction in a mandatory flashback comes from Link literally looking at a bunch of planks of wood on a flight landing (I’m serious), and Revali is more or less an arrogant jerk to the end because That’s His Character I suppose. While we’re on the subject, the entirety of Rito Village is a wash - NPCs talk about how there’s nothing to do there, the Divine Beast is not causing any serious harm, it’s just not letting the Rito fly as high as they like and is being a general nuisance, the Rito that helps you board is just Some Guy and you don’t really see him again unless you want to do yet another optional and inconsequential mini-game. The dungeon is easy, borrows a boarding scenario from another beast, and borrows its in-dungeon mechanic from another beast. The whole area is such a let-down.

And then there’s Zelda, my poor, poor Zelda. She fails, just as everyone does, and I thought, and hoped, and prayed, just as I said before, that her inner strength would come through in the form of doing things HER way, using her research and her smarts, sticking it to the father and the people who didn’t believe in her by succeeding with the very methods they disapproved of. Well no - she activates her sealing power at the last second to protect Link because she loves him. It’s “tru wuv” that sparks her big character moment, where she does exactly what destiny pre-determined she do, not some awesome defiant moment where she pools her strength and self-confidence through her research and herself. She doesn’t even get to research and discover for herself that the power is apparently so closely linked to her “heart” or whatever generic nonsense works the magic this time - gotta love The Boy, that’s what makes you strong. And this is not extrapolating - when you complete all the shrine quests Kass the Rito bard gives, you can see him at Rito Village, where he tells the story of his teacher and the events just before the Calamity, and how his teacher fell in love with the princess, but the princess was in love with her appointed knight. The song his teacher taught to Kass after his teacher witnessed Zelda unlocking her powers was how her love for her knight was what brought it to the surface. Even the Zora champion Mipha, who I guess was supposed to be some callback to Rito from Ocarina of Time in a way, hints that her amazing healing ability is born by “thinking about who she cares about most”, and that’s not her family or friends or anything, that’s Link - who she loves and adores and wants to marry because that’s the Rito callback I guess.

I was so angry, it’s trite and tropey and ruins half the tone the game manages to do so well. Show me a BOTW Zelda who overcomes after failure not through “true love” and all the pre-destined nonsense that lead them all to failure to begin with, but the scholar she is using her research, her passion for knowledge, her wisdom, to unlock her power, to stop the Guardians, to seal Ganon.

Oh and then there’s Ganon. “Calamity Ganon”, now a non-character - just an amorphous, shadowy entity of no real interest. I suppose you could say that after the events of Twilight Princess or Four Swords, Ganon(dorf) is really no more, no longer a proper physical entity, no longer the Gerudo man who had ambitions or menace or a tangible presence when he entered a room - that person was long since defeated properly, and it’s only the lingering malice, that sort of twisted essence of the primordial Demise from Skyward Sword, that remains. From a lore perspective that works, but it doesn’t make for an interesting villain, just like flashbacks don’t make for interesting storytelling and character development. The final battle in and of itself is hugely underwhelming too. Calamity Ganon’s first form is an apparently “incomplete” gooey, robotic spider...thing...it’s very ugly as a design in a game that’s had largely strong character and enemy designs, except for the Divine Beast bosses which, I guess fits tonally. And unlike other enemies where you can kind of take multiple approaches to the battle, you MUST bounce the laser beams in the second half of the fight back at the boss with either a shield parry or the Master Sword, which I think is the game trying to do the old “tennis mechanic” callback but it’s really...kind of janky and often unresponsive? The second form LOOKED much cooler and more tonally appropriate, with a huge, flaming Dark Beast out in Hyrule Field that I’d ride around on my trusty steed fighting. But instead Dark Beast Ganon just faces one direction only, shooting lasers at nothing. Your horse sort of meanders around and you just ride updrafts or stand safely beside it waiting for Zelda to shout very loudly and clearly about the GIANT GLOWING TRIFORCE-SHAPED WEAK POINTS you can hit with your Light Arrows - it’s all an exact, even easier version of all the “boarding the Divine Beast” scenarios you did earlier in the game.

Zelda re-appears, seals Ganon, gives these really wishy-washy smiles and lines. The ghosts of the king and the Champions linger in the silhouette of Hyrule Castle and say nothing. We get no closure on the king and Zelda, who as far as the game wishes to imply in flashbacks and a hidden diary the king left in the castle, parted on extremely tense and unfavorable terms. the Champions get no final word in either. Zelda is shown after the credits kind of just...acting like everything’s a bit “back to normal”, saying her and Link need to go to Zora’s Domain to give the king closure on Mipha which...it’s been 100 years he’s...more or less made peace with the death of his daughter by now as was shown earlier in the game. Zelda says she can no longer hear the “voice” in the Master Sword and admits her powers must have weakened over the course of 100 years, but she’s actually okay with that for once, which I think would have been a bit more powerful of a statement to her character if she’d previously shown that her own determination and smarts were her true strengths all along, and not this HUGELY powerful magic. There’s a shot of the Silent Princess flower at the end, a flower that in the game Zelda comments on, saying that it cannot bloom in captivity and only in the wilds. Again, it would be a very thematically-appropriate metaphor for how Zelda’s true strength came from her journeys in the wild, focusing on her unique strengths and not those pre-determined by her destiny, but the game has her...literally in a state of “captivity” holding Ganon back. If anything the Silent Princess flower metaphor makes a stronger thematic statement for Link, not Zelda, and that’s really telling about how inconsistent and weak a lot of the story-telling is in this game. It was clearly supposed to really be about the relationship between Link and Zelda and their character development, but since they spend the entire game separated and only show shallow interactions of them together in short flashbacks that only really serve to develop Zelda (as well as her diary entries found in the castle), things end up feeling...vapid, forced and ultimately weak.

And I just...want to fight. A Darknut. One damn Darknut and have a cool sword fight. Or a Poe. Not another dAMN LIZALFOS. LET ME CLIMB TO THE TOP OF A MOUNTAIN AND FIND A WHOLE DUNGEON UP THERE.

I MISS.

HEART PIECES. AND UPGRADES.

AS REWARDS FOR EXCELLENT COMPLETION OF MINI-GAMES. IT INCITES. YOU TO REPLAY THEM.

AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

In summary, Breath of the Wild is excellent. But I’m a huge nerd and it’s clear that a lot of people who reviewed this game only went in for about 20 or so hours and didn’t complete it before passing final verdict. I hope Nintendo builds from this game’s strengths and learns it’s weaknesses.

#zeldablogging #maddie's writing #botw spoilers

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piefanart · 8 years ago

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My high school final report thus far

this is my report. you can probably tell the point at which i got bored.

THIS IS MY REPORT. DO NOT PLAGIARIZE IT.

also spoilers for pretty much every single zelda game below. not joking. read at your own risk. and if you do manage to read the whole thing, tell me what you think! my entire high school grade is depending on this.

The Legend of Zelda series has been around for thirty-one years since its debut in 1986.

The series has featured over twenty-one games and has had numerous official and non-official spinoffs, as well as years of merchandise.

Throughout all of these games, there is a definite and binding timeline that pulls all of the games together into one continuous story. This timeline was created by Nintendo. It is unknown when the company originally created this timeline, but it was commonly theorized among the fanbase and finally released to the public by Nintendo in 2011 with the release of the book Hyrule Historia. Since this book was published, there have been five new Legend of Zelda games released, the most recent being The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. While the other four games have already been placed in the timeline, Nintendo has not yet announced where Breath of the Wild places on the timeline. The only hints they have given is a statement by Aonuma telling us that the game takes place after Ocarina of Time. Later in this report we will see why this statement does not make placing the game any simpler. Currently, the most common speculated theory is that the game takes place in the Child timeline, after The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.

Many of the games in the Legend of Zelda series reference each other or the timeline itself. The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap, originally released on November 4, 2004 for the Game Boy Advance, makes many references back to a previous Zelda title, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past and Four Swords (December 2, 2002, Gameboy Advance). At the End of Minish Cap, the player (Link) reforges the sword you have used throughout the game, the Picori Blade, into the Four Sword, the blade for which the earlier game was named.

The Minish Cap was actually a prequel of sorts for Four Swords, as it explained what had happened before Four Swords.

Another commonly referenced game is Ocarina of Time, which has been one of the most beloved and ground-breaking titles in the Zelda universe. It was the first three-dimensional Zelda game, released on November 21, 1998 for the equally ground-breaking system the Nintendo 64.

Since Ocarina of Time's release, almost every new Zelda title has referenced it in some way or another. Majora's Mask (April 27, 2000, N64) used many of the same textures, sound files, and character models from Ocarina of Time for two reasons: First, the game was a direct sequel to Ocarina of Time, and second, the game developers were given only one year to complete the game from start to finish. Despite this, Majora's Mask is by far one of the greatest Zelda titles of all time.

The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (December 13, 2002, Gamecube) references back to Ocarina of Time in that the beginning cutscene of the game, which explains the backstory for the game and immediately places it in the timeline, contains many notes and nods to Ocarina of Time, including references to “The Hero of Time,” the seven sages, and the defeat of Ganondorf. Later in the game, when the player finds the sunken remains of Hyrule Castle and raises it to sea level, the room containing the Master Sword also has many stained glass windows, which are all images of the sages, the Triforce, and Ganondorf.

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (November 19, 2006, Gamecube/Wii) comes after Majora's Mask in the timeline. In this game, the player finds a character known as the Hero's Shade. In Hyrule Historia this character was revealed to be the dead spirit of the Link from Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask. In order to locate the places this spirit appears in game, the player, in wolf form, must howl specific notes. A golden wolf will echo them back and the two begin howling a melody. These short melodies are actually all songs the player would have learned to play in game in Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask.

Although this is a non-canon appearance, a Tingle doll is located in Princess Zelda's bedroom in The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (November 18, 2011, Wii). Tingle is a popular character who first appeared in Ocarina of Time, but has also shown up in Majora's Mask, The Wind Waker, The Minish Cap, and others.

Additionally, both The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (June 23, 2007, DS) and The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks (December 7, 2009, DS) are sequels in the Adult Timeline arc, with both games coming directly after The Wind Waker. Unfortunately, despite their revolutionary use of only the touchscreen and the stylus for controls and the use of dual-screen technology, these games are both seen as failures by the fanbase because of their linear storyline, lack of side quests, and “ridiculous gameplay”. Most of Phantom Hourglass is spent either in a temple as the player tests their stealth against over powered enemies, or in a boat waiting to get to the next island; most of Spirit Tracks takes place in a train trying to avoid obstacles in the tracks and outrunning enemy trains. Neither of these games contained much free-roaming ability, which is something the Zelda franchise has always been known for.

The Legend of Zelda: Hyrule Warriors (August 14, 2014, Wii U), which was a third-party game developed by Koei Tecmo, Omega Force, and Team Ninja, was a fast-paced action game based around the Dynasty Warriors franchise. In the storyline for this game, the main antagonist actually opens up time portals to three previous Zelda titles: Skyward Sword, Ocarina of Time, and Twilight Princess. This game was revolutionary in that the player could not only play as Link, but also as many other heroes and villains seen in the Zelda universe, such as Tingle, Ganondorf, Princess Zelda, Impa, Tetra, Medli, Midna, Zant, Ghirahim, Fi, Darunia, Ruto, Sheik, Agitha, Skull Kid, Ravio, King Daphnes, Marin, Yuga, and others. These characters came from titles such as Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, A Link Between Worlds, Twilight Princess, Skyward Sword, The Wind Waker, and Link's Awakening. The game also featured its own new characters that slowly appeared during the main storyline, such as Lana, Cia, Volga, Wizzro, and Linkle. A few of these characters, such as Linkle, first appeared in Hyrule Warriors: Legends, which was released on March 26, 2016. These characters were later released as dlc for the Wii U version of the game.

The Zelda title with possibly the most references to previous games is The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (March 3, 2017, Wii U/Switch). This game features an expansive three-dimensional open world that the player can roam freely, which is new to the Zelda series. There are many references both canon and non-canon in this game.

The first reference to be listed here is the appearance of Wolf Link, who can be summoned by tapping the Wolf Link amiibo to the Wii U gamepad or Switch. Wolf Link acts as a helpful companion, locating and killing prey for the player, attacking enemies, and helping the player find objects that the Sheikah Slate has located. Although Wolf Link is from Twilight Princess, this reference has been stated to be non-canon by Nintendo.

Another reference in Breath of the Wild is the equipable gear the player can obtain from amiibo. There are outfits, weapons, and shields for Link from The Wind Waker, Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, Twilight Princess, Skyward Sword, and the original Legend of Zelda. These items each have special descriptions linking them to their home games, but as these items are amiibo-only and not related to the main storyline of Breath of the Wild, they too are non-canon.

A few of the canon references in this game can be seen by exploring the open world. Players have found areas that look almost exactly like certain areas from other Zelda titles. Near the outskirts of Hyrule Castle, there are ruins of what looks like Lon Lon Ranch from Ocarina of Time. There are the horse-jumping fences laid out just as in the earlier game, and there are ruined buildings where the house and barn used to be. Additionally, if the player goes to this area at night, ghostly skeleton horses will appear. These are very rare in the game, mostly showing up only at night in the snowy region to the far top left of the map. These skeletal horses, also known as stalhorses, will only appear at night and will disintegrate as soon as the sun rises.

Near the beach at the bottom of the map, the player can find a broken stone monument that looks like the Mirror of Twilight from Twilight Princess.

All four of the Divine Beasts have names that sound similar to popular Zelda characters from previous titles. These Divine Beasts are: Vah Rudania, Vah Medoh, Vah Ruta, and Vah Naboris. The character names are Darunia, Medli, Ruto, and Nabooru. In the game, only Vah Naboris is confirmed to have been named for Nabooru, but it can easily be surmised that the other three were named for the characters listed as well.

The Legend of Zelda timeline is an offical timeline created by Nintendo. This means that it is canon to the series and not fan-made, though there are fan theories about it.

This timeline will be discussed below. Although not every game has been listed above, only the year of initial release will be listed. The reasoning for this is that the timeline is not linear to when the games first came out; the timeline has branched out since the first game was released in 1986. The following paragraphs will be written from the view that Hyrule is a real place, not a video game.

The Legend of Zelda timeline begins with Skyward Sword (2011), in which the world is created. This game sets the “rules” that occur in the Zelda universe. For example, this game explains why Zelda and Link are reborn century after century, and how Ganondorf is able to attempt to take over Hyrule time and time again. This game also explains the creation of the Triforce, which is split into three parts: Power, Wisdom, and Courage. Each part of the Triforce is protected by an individual with its traits. Throughout the history of Hyrule, Princess Zelda is Wisdom, Link is Courage, and Ganondorf is Power. If all three parts of the Triforce are together, then the bearer of all three becomes omnipotent. Ganondorf seeks to destroy Link and Zelda to gain their Triforces so he can take over the world.

At the end of Skyward Sword, Link reforges his goddess sword into the Master Sword, which has the power to seal Ganondorf away.

The next game in the series is The Minish Cap (2004). This game takes place hundreds of years after Skyward Sword. In the Minish Cap, there is a festival every 100 years to celebrate the small creatures known as Minish or Picori. Only children can see the Picori. During the festival, a dark sorcerer known as Vaati appears to try to steal the light force, a golden light wielded by a previous Hero and protected by the Royal Family. This light force is most likely the Triforce of Wisdom, as it is later found out that the light force is inside Princess Zelda. Vaati turns the Princess to stone and takes off. Link, a young boy, finds a talking bird-like hat named Ezlo, who has the power to shrink himself and Link down to the size of the Picori. Ezlo is actually Vaati's teacher, but when he wouldn't teach Vaati what he wanted, Vaati cursed him into bird form and stole his powers. Eventually, Link reforges the Picori Blade into the Four Sword and restores Ezlo's power by destroying Vaati's. Princess Zelda is freed from being a stone and peace returns to Hyrule.

However, in Four Swords (2002), Vaati is reborn again as the Wind Mage, a large bat-like creature who Link had sealed with the Four Sword. Vaati breaks this seal and wreaks havoc on the land, so Link goes to draw the Four Sword. As soon as he does this, Link is split into four Links, each with a portion of his personality. The four Links, nicknamed Red, Blue, Green, and Vio, must work together to destroy Vaati once again. Once this was accomplished, Vaati was sealed again and the Four Sword returned to its pedestal, and Link became one person again.

Although there is not yet a game about this part, years after Four Swords the Kingdom of Hyrule was plunged into a fierce war. During this war, an unnamed Hylian woman, wounded in battle, made her way into the Lost Woods to the Great Deku Tree, where she died, leaving her newborn baby alone. The Great Deku Tree saw the baby and took care of it, naming it Link. This is where Ocarina of Time (1998) begins.

The story of Ocarina of Time begins with Link, who is now ten years old and living in the Kokiri Forest with the Kokiri, a race of children with fairies who never age. Link, told by the Great Deku Tree that he is a Kokiri, is the black sheep of his friends, as he has no fairy. One day, Link receives a fairy, known as Navi, and The Deku Tree summons Link to him, where Link finds out that an evil parasite is eating the Deku Tree from the inside out. Armed with a small sword and a wooden shield, Link plunged into the Deku Tree to destroy the parasite. Link is successful, but he is too late. The Deku Tree dies and Link must venture out of the Kokiri Forest to Hyrule, where he finds the young Princess Zelda. A Gerudo man known as Ganondorf has infiltrated the castle and is now a trusted adviser to the king. Princess Zelda does not trust Ganondorf, and explains this to Link, who promises to protect the princess. Link, now armed with Princess Zelda's heirloom, the Ocarina of Time, searches all of Hyrule for the three Spiritual Stones. He had already received the Kokiri Emerald from the Great Deku Tree, leaving the Goron Ruby and the Zora Sapphire. After he finds these jewels, Link takes them to the Temple of Time in order to get the Master Sword to destroy Ganondorf. However, Link is not old enough to wield the Master Sword and is cast into a magical sleep for seven years. During this time Ganondorf kills the king of Hyrule and destroys the land. Princess Zelda takes on the form of a boy known as Sheik to protect herself, and falls in with Ganondorf's army as a spy for him, in order to secretly help Link.

This is where the timeline splits. There are three possible outcomes for Ocarina of Time:

*The Hero, Link, is successful and destroys Ganondorf. He continues his life as an adult.

* The Hero is successful and destroys Ganondorf, but Princess Zelda uses the power of the Ocarina of Time to send Link back to the past to live out his life as a child and get back the seven years he lost while he was asleep, without the threat of Ganondorf.

*The Hero is not successful. Link dies at the hand of Ganondorf's beast form, Ganon, and Hyrule is overtaken by evil.

These three outcomes each have their own “leg” in the timeline. These legs are known as the Adult Timeline, the Child Timeline, and the Fallen Timeline.

The Adult Timeline continues after Ocarina of Time, in which Link is successful and he and the Seven Sages seal Ganondorf away. Unfortunately, over time this seal breaks and Ganondorf is allowed to roam the world once again. Ganondorf attempts to seize power over Hyrule, but the Sages use the last of their power to flood Hyrule, hoping that they will drown Ganondorf with the land. The only remaining land is the tallest peaks of the mountains, which became small islands. Only a few people survived, but over many years they began to prosper once again. On a certain island, boys who turn thirteen wear the green clothes of the Hero of Time on their birthdays, to celebrate the defeat of Ganon. Here begins the story of the Wind Waker (2002). A thirteen year old boy known as Link is awoken from his nap by his younger sister Aryll, who tells him that their grandmother has finished his green outfit and there will be a party for him later that day. Link goes to visit his grandmother and puts on the clothes, even though they are much to warm to wear on the tropical summer day. He hears a scream from outside, and runs to see Tetra, a pirate girl, fall from the talons of a gigantic bird. She is caught in the trees of the forest on the island and Link runs to help her. Tetra, in her usual brashness, is unthankful and shrugs Link off. She prepares to leave the island, but the bird comes back and kidnaps Aryll, mistaking her for Tetra. Link leaves with Tetra on her ship to rescue his sister. Unfortunately for him, he is not successful at first, and blacks out. He wakes up on an unfamiliar island in a small boat. The boat, which can talk, explains to Link that he is the next hero and he must save Hyrule from Ganondorf, who is responsible for kidnapping his sister, as well as every other girl with blond hair and pointed ears. Link helps the boat, named the King of Red Lions, find the sunken shards of the broken Triforce and faces off against Ganondorf. It turns out that Tetra is actually Princess Zelda and the boat is the King of Hyrule, her father. Link temporarily returns to the past and defeats Ganondorf, with the help of Zelda. Hyrule remains flooded, so Link and Zelda search the seas for a new land to call home.

Eventually, the two find the seas governed by the Ocean King. There they find a ghost ship, which Tetra boards and is turned to stone. This is where Phantom Hourglass (2007) begins. Link finds an old pirate known as Linebeck, who begrudgingly helps Link save Tetra. Afterwards, they find a vast land and name it New Hyrule.

The next game in the Adult Timeline is Spirit Tracks (2009). This game takes place 100 years after Phantom Hourglass. New Hyrule has been thoroughly populated and Princess Zelda has once again been born, as has a boy named Link. Link studies to become a train engineer and meets Zelda at his graduation, where she was to present him with his engineering certificate. However, Chancellor Cole kills Zelda and takes her body to try to take over the train tracks that have been laid across New Hyrule. Princess Zelda comes back as a ghost and realizes she can posses empty suits of armor. She and Linebeck II help Link defeat Chancellor Cole and regain hold over the trains, at which point the history of the Adult Timeline ends.

The Child Timeline begins with the defeat of Ganondorf, at which point Princess Zelda uses her powers to send Link back into the past with his memories of his adventures to live out his childhood in peace. Unfortunately for Link, this is not the case, as he begins searching for the fairy Navi in the game Majora's Mask (2000) and is attacked by Skull Kid. Link chases after him and falls down a very deep hole, landing in the area known as Termina. Skull Kid, armed with the power of the evil spirit Majora, has caused the moon to fall very slowly into Termina. Because Link has the Ocarina of Time, he can stop the moon, but this causes a rift in time that makes the entire world of Termina repeat the same three days over and over until Link is able to defeat Majora. It is commonly theorized that Link is actually dead in Majora's Mask, for a variety of reasons such as how far he fell, the recurrence of events, and even the name Termina. This is a topic for a different report, however.

The next title in line in the Child Timeline is Twilight Princess (2006). This game takes place many years after Majora's Mask. In it, there are two realms; the light and the shadow. Neither is considered evil or good, but both contain both evil entities and good ones. In the Shadow realm, the leader of the Twili tribe dies and his daughter, Princess Midna, becomes Queen of the Twili. Her father's adviser, Zant, disagrees with this and usurps Midna's throne and casts her out into the Light realm in the form of an imp. Zant, underwhelmed with his new power, decides to try to take over the Light realm as well and casts parts of it into eternal Twilight. Link, a teenage farmhand, becomes a wolf when as soon as he goes into the Twilight, and is cast into Hyrule Castle's dungeons, where he meets Midna. She convinces Link to help her gain back her throne and return the light to Hyrule. Eventually, it is revealed that Ganondorf was behind Zant all along, and Link defeats both Ganondorf and Zant and returns Midna to her True Form and restores the peace to Hyrule yet again.

Hundreds of years later, Ganondorf is reborn again and finds the Four Sword. He then attempts to free Vaati, beginning the storyline for Four Swords Adventures (2004). Link again uses the Four Sword to split into four Links and seals Ganondorf and Vaati away.

The next leg of the timeline is the Fallen Hero Timeline. This begins with the defeat of the Hero and the rule of Ganondorf. The first game in this part of the timeline is A Link to the Past (1991) in which Agahnim (aka Ganondorf) tries to kill the reborn Princess Zelda. Link temporarily defeats Agahnim and continues his story in Oracle of Seasons where Link finds the land of Holodrum and saves it from the evil Onox, who wanted nothing but utter chaos. Then Link finds the land of Labrynna in Oracle of Ages (2001) and saves it from Veran, who wanted to be Queen. After these adventures, Link set sail back to Hyrule, where he had a dream. This dream is the events of the game Link's Awakening (1993). Once Link got back to Hyrule, he defeated Ganondorf again. There is not yet a game for this specific defeat, but soon an evil wizard known as Yuga tried to take over Hyrule. A young man named Link tries to stop him, but fails. Yuga steals Princess Zelda in the form of a painting and retreats to his homeworld of Lorule. This is where the events of A Link Between Worlds (2013) take place. Link defeats Yuga and leaves Lorule and Hyrule altogether, venturing to the land of Hytopia, which is a kingdom obsessed with fashion. Their Princess Styla has been cursed to only be able to wear an ugly brown jumpsuit, and Link, along with two other knights named Link, is recruited as a soldier to defeat the witch who did this. After doing this, Hytopia is restored to its former glory.

Meanwhile in Hyrule, Ganondorf has taken over. Again. And thus begins The Legend of Zelda (1986).

#loz #report #long post #mine #DO NOT COPY #legend of zelda

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crystalized-dreams · 8 years ago

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So after 180+ hours, my husband and I finally bothered to beat Ganon and finish the main story of Breath of the Wild. I have been wanting to talk about my various likes and dislikes for a while, but I wanted to at least wait until this point. We still have plans to keep playing (need to get all those Koroks and also working on a World Boss-related thing), but at the very least, most of our goals are done.

This WILL contain spoilers so if you do not want spoilers, you may not want to read this just yet. This also will not be a proper review–if you’re looking for that, reviews will be up on my husband’s website.

That said, this is going to be a bit different than most of my other ramblings as I’m going to be talking from a standpoint of watching more than playing and thus, will focus more on the characters and story and music and things versus controls and gameplay. Zelda is a game I grew up always watching and so each one is like its own movie for me and thus, it’s something that I’ve always gotten more out of watching than playing (though, I still play sometimes). I will say, just to give an idea on what to expect, Ocarina of Time is my favorite Zelda followed by Skyward Sword. I also don’t think it’s possible to really rank Breath of the Wild due to just how different it is, but let’s get to it.

Starting from the top, I’m really glad they voiced the game for the most part. I actually do enjoy most of the English voices and some, I even prefer to the Japanese such as Impa’s, but others, like Mipha, go back and forth for me. Sometimes I think they sound fine in English and fit well compared to the Japanese while other times it just feels sort of off. The only voice I really found myself disliking is Zelda’s because it’s just… so different from the Japanese version and in general, I find I prefer when they at least try to get a voice that is a similar speech/tone in every language because otherwise it can give such a different feel to the character and it really does. Despite her saying the same things, it doesn’t feel the same and it’s just really odd and I don’t understand why they gave her such a dramatically different voice.

It may also just stand out to me because I relate to the Zelda in this game a lot. I don’t want to turn this into talking about myself and own experiences, but I empathize with her so incredibly much and she is definitely one of my favorite characters in the game and definitely one of my favorite Zelda’s. Besides Zelda’s voice, the main thing that bothered me is the fact that Link never speaks. We kind of get a reason for why this is in Zelda’s own diary in the castle, but the problem here is the fact that: 1. He doesn’t have his memories so this should no longer be an issue to begin with right now. 2. By the time he does have his memories, many moments are just… incredibly awkward because he doesn’t say anything. He doesn’t even have to talk much, but the silence just doesn’t always work here and it genuinely removes part of the immersion of the moment, which, ironically the reason they probably wanted him not to speak is to not ruin it for the player. We’re rarely even in the first person though to ever actually feel like we’re Link. There are the moments where he looks down at the Sheikah Slate and one time towards the end and that’s really it. In general, considering we see all the memories in third person omniscient (which is weird in itself considering it is supposed to be Link remembering these things and not only are we seeing everything in third person, but we’re seeing and hearing things Link wouldn’t have been able to), it just makes everything all the weirder.

If they do continue with the voice acting in Zelda games, I really hope they will reconsider and actually give Link a voice, even if he doesn’t say too much.

Going into things more story-related, I really want to know what was with all the blue in this game. Hyrule Castle’s banners aren’t blue, yet the Champion’s clothes, Zelda’s Princess Gown and Scholar Outfit, and Link’s outfit in the game were all various shades of blue and I just… don’t understand why? I wish there was some explanation for why Link didn’t wear green in this (heck, you even get a “traditional” tunic for the game if you finish all the shrines…) or why Zelda’s dress was blue in this game instead of pink/purple. I feel like we were given changes for most things (such as Ganon’s appearance), but not really any information on this and I feel it’s something that will bug me for a long while. Despite my issues with Hyrule-related colors, I adore the Zora designs in this game. All the jewelry that Mipha wears is so pretty and I think she has an amazing character design–I really wish she was given more than just being another unrequited Zora love interest to Link.

I will say though, this story is… really depressing. Like no matter how I think about it, I think the story makes me feel more sad than happy. In general, I don’t think any Zelda game really has a 100% happy ending, but at least I feel like things are mostly positive as they continue to improve. Here, things will start to improve, but with all the loss weighing heavily on it. 100 years of destruction, Castle Town is gone, Link finally has his memories back, but his family is probably long gone. The fact that the only Champion that even got to see some of their family/a descendant is Daruk. I wish Mipha got a chance to see her brother and father. I wish Urbosa got to see her daughter. Revali is kind of a jerk, but I still wish he got a chance to see his home too. The fact that Zelda’s last meeting with her father was that fight on the bridge is absolutely heartbreaking. He finally wanted to properly comfort her and he died. She didn’t even get to see him before his soul finally rested.

It’s just… really heartbreaking in a lot of ways. Heck, the fact that as you go onto each Divine Beast talking to their spirits and then having to fight the enemy that murdered them 100 years ago. There’s such an overall heaviness that even upon saving Hyrule, it still feels a little empty–like it wasn’t enough. And Zelda blames herself where, even if maybe she could get her summoning power working (which is another thing–I’d love to know more on why it didn’t work sooner (besides her losing her teacher and mother), why it had to wait for that moment and what that specifically unlocked it), she never would have reached them. There’s just so much loss that even after saving Hyrule, I still don’t really feel satisfied.

One of the things I really hope the DLC adds, especially after the post-game scene if you have all the memories, is a post game with both Zelda and Link going around and trying to help build back up Hyrule and talk to everyone who suffered these 100 years and/or lost someone. Maybe someone can even play as one of the two and it’ll be a fun co-op journey. I don’t know how possible that actually is, but it’s what I really hope they do. Even if not a co-op thing, I just want a proper post-game. While I get why the whole “oh, you can go back and re-fight Ganon because we put you right before it!!” thing exists, I feel it’s really out of place with this kind of game. I feel like maybe they could’ve had an option if you go in the castle to ask if you’d like it set to before you fought Ganon, but it just looks kind of silly to be exploring this enormous map with the same evil castle and people worrying about it.

The world itself is quite amazing. There’s so much to explore and I’m not really sure if we’ve even seen all of it despite how much we’ve played and getting more than half the Koroks… speaking of Koroks, while I love them, I wish there weren’t so many. 900 is just way too much and while I can guess why they did (with such a big map, gives more people more chances to find them randomly upon their explorations), I still think it would have been better to just have a smaller amount. I mean, there’s 120 Shrines which is only ~13% of the amount of Koroks. They could’ve done a similar amount and been fine. Especially if it means we wouldn’t need to zoom in as far as possible to even see the ones we’ve found.

I also really love that every character has a name and personality. Everything is so dynamic and you learn so much about all the people in each place. It kind of reminds me of part of why I enjoyed a lot of the Side Quests in Majora’s Mask. Here are just some of my favorite side characters: #gallery-0-4 { margin: auto; } #gallery-0-4 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 33%; } #gallery-0-4 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-0-4 .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0; } /* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes/media.php */

Notts

Saki

Molli

Laruta

Laflat

Aster

Kohm

Ashai

Patricia

Included in favorites but not shown above as that would make this post even longer: Every single wild animal + dog + horse + donkey :P

I would say my biggest issue with the game is the item durability and limited weapon/shield/bow space. I just dislike those kind of systems and while I enjoy most of the changes in the game from traditional Zelda games, this isn’t one of them. I think I’d have at least been less annoyed if item limits weren’t an issue and you could repair everything, but it just was disheartening to use a lot of things I really liked only to end up losing them. At least my favorite weapon could always be replaced. Unfortunately, my favorite bow was forced to disappear and only be used in the final battle :P I wish you got to keep some version of it as it’s really pretty.

Going back to the world of the game, I will say I have… mostly good feelings on the music, but it’s a bit odd as well. I liked everything I heard, but because it’s all very atmospheric, there isn’t really much that is very iconic. Like Breath of the Wild’s main theme is definitely one of the most recognizable new pieces for the game. There are Battle-related ones as well, but I don’t care for those too much myself. The thing is, and what I feel a lot of people demanding for these forget, even if they had a few selections for bigger songs as you explore, the constant repetition when exploring such a vast world would get incredibly annoying. The game wants you to explore and a constant song playing over and over would just get tiring. This also means when certain songs like Kass’ Accordion or the big boss battle themes start playing as you explore, they’re THAT much more recognizable and it really helps them stand out.

I remember when my husband and I first ran into Kass. The Accordion started playing and his first thought was that the music changed for the area while mine went straight to there being an actual Accordion Player and urging him to find them. I was clearly right, but it made it such a standout event for our playthrough which I don’t think would’ve been as exciting if the music wasn’t the way it is. Or like wandering around and hearing the music change and seeing a giant Dragon fly by. That was so exciting to run into on our first exploration of Faron.

Even Hyrule Castle, despite being like this… dark, gritty, remix of various past songs, the fact that we don’t actually get to hear most of them outside that just makes it all the more of an experience. And I’ll be honest, I did get a little tired of it just from exploring the entire castle–I think if you’re just heading straight to Ganon, the music is perfect for the atmosphere, but if you’re exploring every single nook and cranny, it does kind of get to you after a while.

My favorite songs are probably Prince Sidon’s theme, the music for Zora’s Domain (which is one of my favorite places in the game along with Satori), the music after beating a Divine Beast Boss, Princess/Zora Champion Mipha’s theme, Gerudo Champion Urbosa’s theme, Rito Village, Rito Champion Revali’s theme, the Epilogue Theme, and Captured Memories. Captured Memories especially, while just being a remix of the original Zelda theme, is just so beautiful and I wish it was longer. And while not necessarily my favorites, I also really enjoy the Molduga Battle Phase 2 song, Kass’ theme, the Dragon theme, Attack on Vah Medoh, and The Divine Beasts Strike. Also Hestu’s theme is always amazing as is his dance:

Going into some minor things that I wish were changed up: 1. More spaces for more Horses (and it’d be fun if you could Board other things too). 5 isn’t enough when there are so many amazing horses in the game. As it is, because we didn’t realize one side quest required a horse we had boarded, we had to give up a horse we had already become attached to. Sure, it let us make room for the Giant Horse, but it’s not really an issue I liked running into. Similarly, I wish you got to pick which Horse you used at the end. If we knew the first horse you boarded was picked for the end battle, we would have boarded Epona first rather than me having a panic attack seeing Shortcake show up who, besides being my lovely pink horse, also had some of the lowest stats which made the battle a bit trickier than it should’ve been. 2. I wish we could get more houses. I love the house quest and how decorated it gets once you buy everything, but it just made me really want houses in some other places too. I feel like with how you help build up Tarrytown too, it was like setting up for a house there as well that never came. 3. The awful Blood Moon cutscene. Good for the first time to introduce it. Bad every other time. Like the moon is red and fire-y ash is practically floating down everywhere–we can kind of tell. I get that you can skip it, but it still felt frustrating to even see it come up? Even just the option to turn it off permanently. We once had the cutscene pop up 6 times in a row. I wish I was kidding. 4. Not being able to complete the 3rd stamina wheel or the 2nd Heart row :/ Even if you do everything, you’ll be 3 short. I hope maybe you can get more in the DLC. 5. I wish there was some gear to make rain not effect your climbing because wow, does that ruin things a lot. 6. Please stop making every Zora Princess/member of Zora royalty be in love with Link. It’s always unrequited and they deserve better characterization at this point. 7. I really disliked how the Fairies were done in this game. Ignoring the creepiness of some of the cutscenes, I just don’t like the whole “give us tons of rupees to let us help you” thing from it and I would’ve preferred some kind of puzzle or other aspects over paying them tons of money. The Horse God is really the only one I can understand the “money to open” thing, though, they also terrify me in a whole different way so… 8. More Rupees. I get that there is a reason for them to be so scarce in this game, but it still felt like too much. 9. The lack of Saria’s song in the Lost Woods or even by the lake named after her. Saria is one of my favorite side characters in the series and that is one of my all-time favorite songs (In fact, I used it as my town theme several times in Animal Crossing–the original, Wild World, and City Folk). 10. I REALLY WISH THE TRUE ENDING LET THEM HUG. They just walk off together and they both just need a hug, okay? 11. It’s silly that the Champion Powers/Gifts will only recharge once you fully use them. If I use up one of Daruk’s charges essentially, I shouldn’t have to wait until I use up all of them before it’ll start recharging any. It can be a longer charge when there’s at least one left, but it’s incredibly silly to be wandering around for hours on this last charge only to get somewhere I may need to use multiple, have just the one left, and then get stuck waiting. 12. Not an actual dislike, but I genuinely do want to know why the Gorons were let into Gerudo Town. The fact that you never get some kind of answer to this bugs me. 13. The Yiga Clan are just super annoying. The stealth mission was also kind of annoying–I wouldn’t have minded so much if it wasn’t for the fact that being caught made it an endless stream of them attacking you versus just the group of three that initially attack. 14. While I do love most of the tools in this game, I genuinely miss the Hook Shot/Grappling Hook.

Which, speaking of tools in the game, I know some people are mixed about getting everything at once and while I’m a bit mixed myself (mostly because I wouldn’t have minded if we got a few things later on similar to how we got the camera feature), I actually really liked that we did. I think it gave people a lot more freedom to experience the World in so many different ways versus having to do it in the same order every time and/or get certain things before being able to go back to properly solve a puzzle. There’s many things where I’m sure we didn’t solve it as intended, but I think that also makes it a lot more fun too.

So yes, overall I really enjoyed the game. I have a lot of feelings about it, clearly. I’m really anticipating the DLC and I hope they bring out more information soon. Despite being nearly done with the game, I think we’ll still be finding new things overtime, even once we 100% it. Also I really hope someone makes Sand Seal Plushies:

Ramblings about Breath of the Wild (Unsurprisingly, I had a lot to say :P) So after 180+ hours, my husband and I finally bothered to beat Ganon and finish the main story of Breath of the Wild.

#Breath of the Wild #LoZ: Breath of the Wild #Nintendo #Nintendo Switch #The Legend of Zelda #The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

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darkneonblog · 8 years ago

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Twilight Princess HD Review (Used Game Reviews)

In 2006 with the launch of the Wii, the world was graced to a new form of Hyrule. One that lacked the bright-eyes cell-shaded cartoon visuals of 2002’s The Wind Waker, nor the morbid and frightening vibes present in Majora’s Mask. What the world got was what fans of the Space World 2000 tech demo of a 3d modeled Link fighting Ganondorf expected. A more realistic and gritty Zelda Adventure that takes full advantage of 21st century gaming hardware. Now over a decade later Twilight Princess is still beloved by many for its take on the Zelda series, being slightly darker in more ways than one, not only with its story telling but its plot elements as well. Many saying it refined elements set by Ocarina, Majora, and Wind Waker to make a game that is sometimes considered The Legend of Zelda series at its core. But is this always a good thing? We’re here to determine that. How well does Twilight Princess really hold up in 2017? Here’s our Used Game Review of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD for Wii U

In 2006 much praise went to Twilight Princess for its darker take on the Zelda franchise, being harsher and grittier in its tone and storytelling. The game is to this day still the only Zelda game to earn a T for Teen rating by the ESRB for some slightly aggressive imagery including Link’s initial transformation into his wolf form, and Ganondorf being chained up and stabbed by the sages of the Gerudo desert. In terms of looking for a “darker” Zelda experience, grabbing a copy of Majora’s Mask 3D would suffice as most of Twilight Princess keeps the same standard level of danger and threat as its contemporaries and never pushes the envelope in terms of harsher or more intense themes.

But in saying this is not a slight towards the story presented in Twilight Princess itself for what is presented is a well-meaning and well-told story centering around the character Midna and her plight to restore her realm of twilight and the people she resides over as their Princess. Aside from Midna, and the antagonist Zant there isn’t much to many of the other main characters resented in the game. Link remains the standard well-mannered silent hero with the heart of gold for players to project themselves onto; and neither Zelda nor Ganondorf appear early enough in the game for any true fleshing of their characters and who they are besides the standard battle of good vs evil. But it’s the struggle between the worlds of light and twilight, and the dichotomy between light, dark, and the world between that truly shows the narrative strengths of the game. And with Midna being the most integral character within all of these it’s very easy to get invested into her story and the world surrounding her, which in turn affects Link and all the characters around them giving the story some emotional weight. Even with these limitations they ending fells natural and carries the plot to a conclusion that isn’t void of emotion.

Despite the main characters being limited, the variety of side characters met throughout the game often have unique personality traits and quirks. Such as the Goron Patriarch Darbus who is a towering force of rock-hard muscle that refers to you as “tiny human” in simplistic caveman like speech. Or the child Malo, who despite being around 5 years old, runs a shop all on his own, and is often seen criticizing other characters harshly under his breath. These and other side characters make the land of Hyrule feel more lived in and developed than other mainline Zelda entries.

In addition to the characters, the expansive nature of the world map of Hyrule adds to this scope. With a variety of entry and exit points in accessing the different provinces Hyrule feels like a varied Kingdom of different races that is worth exploring. Chest and secrets cover the land that will give you pieces of heart and rupees for taking the time to search. No major secrets, and the abundance of rupees makes them trivial later on in the game but the pieces of heart and the introduced howling stones always feel worth the price of taking your time to get to them. Traversal isn’t issue as Link’s horse that you have the ability to name can be summoned at any time if a certain flower is in your area, and if they aren’t the world map shows you wear. Hose riding controls the same in Ocarina of time, with a certain number of sprints allowed before they need to charge as signified by 6 spurs on the bottom of the screen. Controlling the horse can be kind of tricky, as it doesn’t turn very well or as accurate as we would like. In the open areas of the Hyrule field where you will be spending most of your time on horseback, this is not an issue, other areas where you ride, this problem showed itself again.

Camera movement is mapped differently than it is in most games. Pulling down on the control stick zooms out instead of looking completely downwards. Being able to change the camera’s distance from the Link is new to the series. And has its advantages in choice, especially in encounters of enemies that either fly or tower above you zooming out very much lets you get a better scope of your surroundings and how to proceed in a fight All other movements of the camera were perfectly fine but some problems arose.

Depending on camera angles, game can get confused as to which way you should be heading when climbing or walking. If there is a sudden shift in camera angles holding up on the control stick may be tacking you forwards at one moment, but then suddenly you’ll be heading left for as the camera changes up on the control stick will take you to the left instead. This caused for one or two fatalities. not on our own volition when climbing and instead of climbing to the left we proceeded to climb down to our death

IN some instances, in certain areas where there are walls that are close-knit but can be climbed over, the camera can begin to stutter violently causing the whole screen to shake. A simple rotation can cause it to cease, but this problem was especially worse in the Gerudo Desert dungeon where with so many climbable objects in tight corners there were two times where no camera rotation would stop the shaking, and it just had to be dealt with until we could physically move link to a new area.

The game begins with an excellent tutorial segment that integrates the basic mechanics of movement, targeting, standard attacks, and calling your horse, all within the introductory story segments of the game, instead of just generic text boxes with words and button prompts. Combat is identical to that of Ocarina of Time, and Skyward sword. Z-targeting is used to focus on the enemy, and they are slashed with the sword until they are down. With differences depending on the enemy type, and if it is a boss encounter or not. The mechanic of finding the Howling stones in order to learn new combat techniques besides the basic dodge and slash are incredibly worth it and not only give you variety and types of strategy in your gameplay but also enhance you in a proper way that makes you as a character are actually growing with link in strength. Some may see it as a little overpowering in the game as tougher endgame enemies prove as little challenge with your advance skills. But certain enemies still put up a fair amount of challenge as enemies began to wear increasing number of amounts armor and shields to carry.

The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess is a relatively easy game. Enemies will always do the same things and Its often praised for being a Zelda game at its utmost core which is both a blessing and a curse. The puzzles of h dungeons in the games are varied and are often relatively straightforward in how to accomplish them. It’s the layout that is the same that shows the game at its weakest. You will enter in, and progress your way through until you face a mini-boss exactly halfway through. Upon defeat the mini-boss will give you the newest equipable item that you will then use for every puzzle for the rest of the dungeon until you reach the boss which will also require you to use the new item.

Most of the bosses in Twilight Princess are memorable in design enough, and the task of how to take them down is never immediately apparent in how you are supposed to use the item, and only gets increasingly more challenging to figure out the later on in the game the boss is. But once you have figured out how, every boss becomes very minimal in challenge as the item is catered to take down that enemy once it’s used a certain way three times.

Around 45% of the game will be spent as Link in his Wolf Form in one way or another. This transformation offers a variety in gameplay as since as a wolf Link cannot use any weapons or items, but is much faster, and has the ability to sense things in his surrounding with a sort of animal 6th sense. Wolf Link adds a welcome variety to puzzles and combat as you have to think a little differently to accomplish both in that form. When the game allows you to later change into either form freely, some encounters can be accomplished easier in your wolf link form, so forgetting about using it for combat could only hinder you.

Though one problem with wolf link is the act of transforming. The game prevents you from transforming in front of any NPC characters as it would realistically cause a ruckus to see a young boy transform into an anima or vice versa. But certain areas that should let you transform, do not. Even when there is no one in your immediate view, nor can they see you, it will prevent your transformation, forcing you to move to another area, even if only a few steps.

The interface is simple and intuitive. The start button takes you to a menu where all your equipable items are, where down on the d-pad takes you to a collection screen where you can change into other outfits, and check the amalgamation of objects you have found. This also the portal to where the amiibo functionality occurs.

The amiibo is a tricky thing. It can be used as a way to save your game progress to it and bring it to another Wii U to continue to play. A very niche functionality that doesn’t provide a real use in a current gaming landscape. It also unlocks the chamber of shadows challenge. Where you enter more and more rooms of increasingly difficult waves of enemies, locked into your Wolf Link form. Based on the amount of hearts you saved to the amiibo last, that is the amount of hearts you are able to recover only once during your time in the chamber

What foils the game is its use in The Legend of Zelda Breath of The Wild. The amount of hearts you have save are the amount of hearts a wolf link companion will have in Breath of the Wild, which becomes a hindrance is the final section. The final 3rd of the chamber unlocks after you have completed 90% of the game. And the difficulty spike is high as it provides the most difficult challenge in any kind of gameplay throughout the entire game. Much harder than any moment in the main game. But the new hearts can be saved only when you complete the whole dungeon. When before you could save hearts after only 6 floors, by the end of the game you can only save after clearing all 40 which is an incredibly difficult task. And the incentive to complete the trials is less enticing as completing it is not necessary to awaken wolf link in Breath of the Wild but becoming nigh impossible to have a wolf link with perfect health, unless one goes through the trouble to find enough pieces of heart in the world to max out hearts to have enough to even survive the cave of shadows. An ability to exit the dungeon with the remaining hearts at certain intervals should be added for those who don’t feel like struggling through the cave in order to save hearts they already earned in the normal playthrough.

Looking back Twilight Princess isn’t the groundbreaking experience it was once revered for, as its design is a standard Zelda format at its most simplistic that isn’t void of minor issues. In that Twilight Princess HD offers nothing short of an enjoyable adventure into Hyrule with updated and distinctive visuals and amiibo support that is creative and enhances the experience in this game, and another. Anyone who has found any enjoyment in any 3d Zelda game before should take the time to join Link and Midna in their quest to restore peach to the land of Twilight.

It should be knowns, if you plan on playing Twilight Princess HD AND then play with the amiibo in breath of the wild, max out your hearts and try and get a damage less run in the cave of shadows before entering the realm of twilight.

#darkneonwords #twilight princess #the legend of zelda #zelda

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barbosaasouza · 7 years ago

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Nintendo Direct March 8 Recap: Super Smash Bros., Splatoon 2 3.0, and More

Nintendo sure knows how to set low expectations. On Wednesday, the company announced what sounded like a modest Nintendo Direct. Oh, they'll talk about some 3DS games, some Switch games, and Mario Tennis! Yes, Mario Tennis! And maybe a surprise or two.

A surprise or two.

Yeah, this Nintendo Direct was full of surprises, but perhaps you might have missed it. If so, let's recap the whole thing.

WarioWare has offered a rich library of micro games across its entire series. Now a chunk of those games are getting bundled into one giant collection. These games will include multiple control schemes that can pop up at any time, so expect to tilt the system or turn it sideways at any given moment. WarioWare Gold is set to hit Nintendo 3DS on August 3.

Heroic armadillo Dillon returns for another adventure on the Nintendo 3DS. This is a follow-up to 2012's Dillon's Rolling Western titled Dillon's Dead-Heat Breakers. This adventure focuses more on action and tower defense. The game will feature a lot of enemies, so Dillon can recruit allies in the form of Mii characters. Look for Dillon's Dead-Heat Breakers to hit the Nintendo 3DS eShop on May 24.

It seems that developer AlphaDream has needed a break after Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam, because the studio has been focused more on remaking its past efforts. Following last year's Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga + Bowser's Minions, the team is now looking to remake the third chapter in the series. Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story was first released on the Nintendo DS in 2009 and it looks like a 3DS remake will be ready for its tenth anniversary.

Like last year's remake, this will have something a little extra in the form of an all-new side story. Bowser Jr.'s Journey will follow Bowser Jr., who was conspicuously absent in the original game. He'll follow his big bad father around and get into his own mischief along the way. Look for Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story + Bowser Jr.'s Journey to arrive in 2019.

Speaking of old-school classics, let's welcome back Luigi's Mansion. There's still no GameCube Virtual Console to speak of, so the masses haven't had a chance to experience this game since it first launched on the GameCube. Now they'll get to check it out on the Nintendo 3DS, which also played home to the 2013 sequel. This remake will include a few more 3DS-exclusive features, like a mansion map for the bottom screen and a new boss rush mode. Look for this updated Luigi's Mansion to arrive on Nintendo 3DS later in 2018.

Kirby Star Allies has a few new friends to add to its roster. By picking up the Dream Rod, Kirby will be able to call forth a few special allies, including King Dedede and Meta Knight. But that's not all. Kirby will receive additional allies through free DLC set to arrive after the game releases. These are all old allies that Kirby has met over the course of his adventures on the Game Boy and Super Nintendo. So while Kirby Star Allies arrives on March 16, the first of the free updates will arrive on March 28. There's also a free demo up right now for those looking to try it out.

Okami is back! After getting an HD upgrade on current-gen consoles and PC, the Nintendo Switch is next on the docket. And yes, the Switch version will feature touchscreen controls, allowing players to use the Celestial Brush the way it was meant to be used. Joy-Con motion controls will also be an option, for those looking to practice their painting motion. Okami HD is set to release on the Nintendo Switch this summer.

Get ready to chuck as much raw fish as you can, because Sushi Striker: The Way of Sushido is heading to Nintendo Switch. In a world where sushi has been outlawed (you read that right, just follow along with me), it's up to Musashi to stand up to the Empire and overthrow their vast sushi monopoly. Got that? Then get ready to engage in action-RPG battles that involve the flinging of fish, with up to four characters in your party. Look for Sushi Striker: The Way of Sushido to hit both Nintendo Switch and Nintendo 3DS on June 8.

The floor was given to Square Enix's Masashi Takahashi for some news about Octopath Traveler. Players were treated to two new characters: Merchant Tressa and Apothecary Alfyn. Like the other characters in the game, they have distinct abilities and base jobs. However, those base jobs can be mixed with other jobs to open up entirely new attacks and abilities. Octopath Traveler now has a release date. It's set to arrive on July 13, alongside a special edition that features a number of physical goodies, including a pop-up book. There's a free demo available right now on the Nintendo eShop for those looking to try it out.

Travis Touchdown's adventures have been eccentric, but this one's just downright weird. Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes puts Travis inside a full-blown game console world and has him fight his way across multiple genres of games. Each of these game genres will have its own distinct boss at the end. But while each game type is different, Travis will still have his katana in hand ready to slice and dice his way to the end. There's also local co-op, in case a friend wants to lend a hand. Travis Strikes Back: No More Heroes is a Switch exclusive and will launch in 2018.

By now, most people have tried their hand at Dark Souls. But those who haven't are in for a treat. Bandai Namco looks to be going all-out for Dark Souls Remastered and will launch a Network Test in the very near future. On top of that, there's a new Solaire of Astora Amiibo which performs the Praise the Sun gesture. Both Dark Souls Remastered and the Solaire of Astora Amiibo will release on May 25. The game will go for $39.99, while the Amiibo goes for $15.99 exclusively at GameStop.

Mario Tennis Aces may not have been the feature attraction by the end of this Nintendo Direct, but there was still plenty to talk about here. Players can expect to see 15 playable characters, along with some new features like the Special Energy gauge and Special Shots. A single-player story and online multiplayer will also be available, with the latter including online tournaments that reward special outfits and new characters. A pre-launch tournament will test player mettle before Mario Tennis Aces officially releases on June 22. No word on when the tournament will take place, but stay tuned.

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As is frequently proving to be the case with Wii U games, they were pretty great titles that released to an audience of few. So now's a chance to give another Wii U game a new lease on life, as Captain Toad Treasure Tracker is set to release on both the Switch and 3DS. The Switch version will include a co-op mode that has a second player flinging turnips at enemies and obstacles, along with an entirely new stage set in New Donk City from Super Mario Odyssey. The 3DS version will feature 3DS visuals and touchscreen controls. Both versions are set to be released on July 13.

Do you like Earthbound? Well, Nintendo didn't announce one of those. What was announced was the next best thing. The fantastic Earthbound-like Undertale was announced for Nintendo Switch. When's it coming? That's not so clear. Undertale only confirmed its existence on the Switch, but the release window was only set to "eventually." So don't expect this anytime soon.

It's always wild to see Nintendo make nice with old rival mascots. Over a decade after Sonic the Hedgehog first graced a Nintendo platform, now it's time for Crash Bandicoot to do the same. The Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy is now set to hit Nintendo Switch with all three Crash games intact. Look for this collection to arrive on July 10.

Acclaimed indie puzzle platformer Little Nightmares is making its way to Nintendo Switch. For those who missed the original, they'll get to catch up with the full game plus all of the post-release content. That means playing both the Six story and the Kid story. Switch owners will even get a special outfit with the Pac-Man Amiibo. (Now aren't you glad you saved that thing?) Little Nightmares: Complete Edition will arrive on May 18.

Two days after hearing about the new Casa Bonita DLC, it looks like South Park: The Fractured But Whole will be coming to Nintendo Switch. The game's first two DLC packs will also be available for purchase on day one, as will the Season Pass. South Park: The Fractured But Whole hits Nintendo Switch on April 24.

The Hyrule Warriors Definitive Edition was first announced during the previous Nintendo Direct Mini, but now it has a release date. The game is set to release on May 18, with all of the content from both the Wii U and 3DS versions. Remember that new Breath of the Wild outfits will also be included.

Serious Arms fans will be excited to hear that there's a new tournament seeking out the best players in the world. Players can seek to qualify during a ten-day period starting today. Simply jump into Ranked Match and play at least 50 matches from now through March 18. The top eight players will proceed to the Online Finals on March 31, which will be streamed live.

As for those who haven't discovered Arms yet, I'd like to confirm that, yes, you are late to the party. By quite a bit. But still, there's another Arms Global Testpunch set to begin on March 31, which will run for three days.

The Splatoon 2 3.0 update is set to be a big one. It'll feature over 100 new outfits and a handful of new stages. Those stages are:

Piranha Pit

Camp Triggerfish

Wahoo World

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The best of the best will also be able to rank up all the way to Rank X. Not many details were offered about that one, but expect more information soon.

But the most exciting announcement was the one regarding Splatoon 2's first paid DLC. It centers around an entirely new single-player campaign called the Octo Expansion. Players will take the role of Agent 8, who looks like an Octoling but has lost her memory. She'll look to get to the bottom of a sinister cloning plot across eight different testing facilities. A full-blown story filled with lore is being promised, as is the ability to play as an Octoling in multiplayer upon completing this expansion. The Splatoon 2: Octo Expansion is set to release during the summer for $19.99.

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So it looked like that was going to be it. The Nintendo Direct looked like it was going to conclude with a Splatoon sizzle reel.

Then this happened.

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Yes, Super Smash Bros. is coming to Nintendo Switch. But in what form exactly? Is this an all-new game? Is this an updated Wii U version with new characters? Does "2018" mean it's coming in 2018 or does it mean we're getting new information in 2018? There are a lot of unknowns and variables, but right now, all we know is, there is a Super Smash Bros. game headed to the Nintendo Switch. And for now, that's more than enough to get excited about.

What excited you the most about today's Nintendo Direct? Be sure to join the conversation and let us know in the comments.

Nintendo Direct March 8 Recap: Super Smash Bros., Splatoon 2 3.0, and More published first on https://superworldrom.tumblr.com/

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