Board 8 > I'm about to beat Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

(+) Yeah! (+)

So today I just got all 120 shrines to get my fancy green tunic and I just got all of the memories. I plan on finally beating the game tomorrow, but I wanted to ask if there's anything I should do before that or if I should get anything/craft anything/etc. to make Hyrule Castle easier.

I will say I don't think my opinion on the game really changed from my last topic. I really like the effort placed into it, but it's just not quite the Zelda game I like.

Best part of the game so far, and the only part I actively had a great time with, was the Gerudo area stuff. It had a ton of personality with plenty of people and it felt like it had a ton of lore to it and I kind of wish there was more to do with it. It felt more lively and interesting than pretty much every other village in the game. The Zora, Goron, and Revali villages all felt pretty generic to me with the only difference being place with water, place with hotness, and place with birds. Even all the NPCs in the Gerudo area were lots of fun, especially the dating class. This is what I wish we had a full-fledged Zelda game with. A+ to the writers who did everything with Gerudo village.

My only problem with the Gerudo area was eventually I got tired of traveling the vast nothing there (which is kind of my problem with most of the game, but I understand your mileage varies on how you view that). And I miss dungeons. But I only had 111 Korok Seeds and I swear it's absolutely impossible that there's 900 of them in the game. I have no idea where they could possibly hide them all because each time I came across them I made an actual effort to beat them. I'm kind of curious if there's just certain Korok minigames that I just never figured out that were super subtle and I just kept running past them.

Anyway, how do I beated the Calamity Crenando? And can I beat him with my new trusty steed Adam Page? (RIP Bad Horse)

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if you have every shrine hyrule castle isn't really going to have anything you aren't already prepared for.

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PrivateBiscuit1 posted...

and the only part I actively had a great time with, was the Gerudo area stuff.

PrivateBiscuit1 posted...

So today I just got all 120 shrines

behaviour of a lunatic

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Listen man. Even if the Zelda isn't Zelda I love, it's still Zelda. I had a moderate to good time with the rest of the game. I didn't actively dislike it.

But I'm not about to let it be the one Zelda game I don't totally complete. I mean, reasonably complete. If I were a complete lunatic, I'd try to finish all the quests and get the Korok seeds.

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900 korok seeds heckin yeah bro

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Shine, you don't even get an achievement for that. I would think you would be against it.

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But you do get a big golden poop

That's kinda like a trophy

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I don't feel like the other settlements/areas are generic, but, we can at least agree on Gerudo being well realized. This is maybe one of the lesser heralded aspects of BotW that I'm happy about - it's populated! The people of Hyrule are actually spread out into their areas. There are guards, miners, explorers, adventurers, artists, scientists, a beach town, horse stables, villages, outposts, etc. I've loved Zelda games for decades but this is the first time I think I actually cared about saving Hyrule.

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Gerudo's also my favorite area in the game. There's just something about exploring the open desert that feels so gratifying and intimate. It also has the best Divine Beast, some of the most memorable music, and the game's top tier humor (pretty girl Link, the pathetic guy outside town who tries to date him, and the Gerudo's own attempts at partnership).

Now that I think about it, 3D Zeldas usually hit desert areas out of the park.

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neonreaper posted...

I don't feel like the other settlements/areas are generic, but, we can at least agree on Gerudo being well realized. This is maybe one of the lesser heralded aspects of BotW that I'm happy about - it's populated! The people of Hyrule are actually spread out into their areas. There are guards, miners, explorers, adventurers, artists, scientists, a beach town, horse stables, villages, outposts, etc. I've loved Zelda games for decades but this is the first time I think I actually cared about saving Hyrule.

Awesome point - BotW is brimming with life, which is probably one of the reasons the game's fandom is so strong. Contrast that with a game like TP, which feels dead outside of Hyrule Castle.

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I like that Breath of the Wild's world feels like there's so much to see without overwhelming you. I suppose some people like an open world with a million things to do, but I liked that I could take it all in at a leisurely pace. It's the same sense I get as I'm playing Xenoblade.

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Man if every part of the map had the same personality and attention to detail as the Gerudo Village, my opinion of the game would be dramatically higher! You guys say the world is brimming with life but I mainly feel like it's pretty empty and boring outside of the villages.

And I like the villages a lot - one of the best moments I had in the game was discovering a tiny little fishing village when I was 80 hours or so in and getting bored of the game. I just wish they all had as much focus and compelling questlines as the Gerudo Village and Tarry Town, because the rest of it really ain't it for me.

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Yeah, I wasn't really feeling like it was brimming with life either. You mostly have randos walking around with a slight personality quirk and to me it's like... "where the fuck did you grow up at?" half the time. And why are people exploring areas when they cower against moblins. Moblins are everywhere. Why would you risk this if you can't defend yourself?

Other Zeldas have this problem, but I never really felt anymore attached to the world. I was more wondering how there weren't more civilizations built around this world.

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Theres nothing in Hyrule Castle you need to prepare for so you can just go ambush it. I guess if you wanted you could load up on Ancient Arrows, but its not like you really need to

I wouldn't say it's brimming with life either unless you're just comparing it to other Zelda games that aren't Majora's Mask. I was more fascinated by the world itself than its inhabitants.

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Steiner posted...

behaviour of a lunatic

I get him. I've beaten Twilight Princess at least 4 times, twice getting 100% and a three heart low percent run.

But trash on it all the time!

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pjbasis posted...

I get him. I've beaten Twilight Princess at least 4 times, twice getting 100% and a three heart low percent run.

But trash on it all the time!

see?

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I barely ever 100% games I like!

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CaptainOfCrush posted...

Awesome point - BotW is brimming with life, which is probably one of the reasons the game's fandom is so strong. Contrast that with a game like TP, which feels dead outside of Hyrule Castle.

I feel like it has a nice balance, it has plenty of life but also has plenty of reminders of the devastation and decay due to Ganon's presence. To me, that is still a feeling civilization, even if it's been abandoned.

(and sure there's plenty of wilderness, that's maybe the biggest part of the game by design)

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It wouldve been neat if a Guardian or Lynel ever found its way to a town when you were playing. I wonder if you could even lead one to one and see what happens

PrivateBiscuit1 posted...

I wanted to ask if there's anything I should do before that or if I should get anything/craft anything/etc. to make Hyrule Castle easier.

The only hard part of the castle area is exploring it, finding the secrets, finding the Memory, etc. but it sounds like you already did all that.

The game has pretty good DLC IMO, which you're able to do before beating the game, if you prefer that.

DLC pack 1 is ok, there's a "cave of combat trials" thing like you often see in Zelda games, and they take away all your stuff, like Eventide Island, which is interesting. Not my favorite Zelda thing, these long combat things, personally. (The "hard" cave is like 1-2 hours long!!)

DLC pack 2 is a big quest chain which I thought was pretty fun. It takes you across hyrule again doing various things, including 12 new shrines that I'd say were 1 step better than most shrines in the game. And then there's a new divine beast dungeon at the end, with a very cool reward.

Both DLCs also populate the world with a bit more loot, like new armor graphics, and a few pieces of loot with actual new functionality, such as a Korok Mask that helps you detect nearby koroks. None of this is very impactful if you're actually at the end of the game, but something to consider if you play the game again someday.

I'm kind of curious if there's just certain Korok minigames that I just never figured out that were super subtle and I just kept running past them.

It's pretty likely! Some of the standard korok minigames are pretty weird. There's one minigame I didn't notice til my second time through. In addition, a lot of koroks are just designed to be hard to notice, like the Flower ones, and the Balloons they always hide under cliffs and such. There's also a few "unique" korok seeds, where they don't re-use the mechanic again.

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I will likely not be doing the DLC for a while if ever. Lol

I understand the one does a lot more with the champions which I always found myself wanting to know more about them and to see them more. I found them more interesting than their counterparts in the present (except for the Gerudo Princess, who is equal but eff the Goron loser).

I'm definitely right now just wanting to just stock up on stuff I may need and craft some really good food stuffs.

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From walking into Hyrule Castle to Credits takes like an hour (or less) so you don't really need to be prepared for a whole lot.

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If you've never been to Hyrule Castle though it's far and away the best location in the entire game. If you just run up to Ganon it won't take long with the abilities and gear you have, but there's an easy 5 hours of exploration to do there and there is stuff worth finding.

Probably the best thing I ever did in the game was visit Hyrule Castle 20 hours in and only one divine beast down. It was so cool to be in a place it felt like I very clearly shouldn't be and discover all the incredible weapons there. It's so fucking good and basically like a new take on a dungeon, one just as open-ended as the rest of the game. I really hope they have more like it in the sequel.

I ended up visiting Hyrule Castle 2 more times before beating it, each time it being a little less daunting. But I'd still loot it to high hell and take my OP weapons to the rest of the world. So glad I never saved it for the endgame, I doubt it would've had quite the same impact on me even though you are saving the best for last.

Also the DLC shrines are easily the best in the game.

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Yeah, the Champion's Ballad DLC is great.

Also how could you like Mipha more than Sidon?

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I basically did what Blur did. Going into Hyrule castle the first time was one of the most memorable things I did.

but yeah, if you basically already 100%'d the game it should be p quick

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Sidon's entire character, if I remember right, is mostly just him giving a thumbs up and grinning.

Mipha at least had the wise healer thing going for her, and I felt like if we got to see more of her she'd be more interesting for sure. With Sidon it's like... Yup. He feels like another character with a gimmick.

That said, I wish we could've had more to do with Sidon and a lot of other characters. Hell, I would've liked if we could have a side quest or a shrine quest locked for each of the descendants after the divine beasts are beaten.

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Sidon and Mipha are both great

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I'm gonna do it now.

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I did it. I beated Calamity Crenando with the help of my best friend and horse Adam Page.

I was working my way from the docks of Hyrule Castle up towards it until I finally got tired of trying to find my way up inside and then just said screw it and climbed the whole way. I went into a guard tower and they locked me up with a Lynel so I said eff that and booked it.

Then I eventually got to Calamity Nando and it was pretty fun. Took a while still even with half of his life gone! Pretty fun and cool fight. The design seemed a little much though. Brother doesn't need that much weapon.

The Dark Beast form was alright. Pretty basic though. I somehow unequipped the light bow and I couldn't figure out how I wasn't damage still once I stopped being dumb it was ez. Pretty cool figure overall though.

True ending was kinda weak though. But hey, I did it. Go me. Hoping they can refine the next BOTW to something a little bit more to my liking, but there's a great foundation there.

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Did you build Tarrey Town? That has some good character interaction since that seems to be what you like the most. A lot of people dont even realize this quest line exists.

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I have heard of Tarrey Town but I did not end up doing it because I didn't even know where to start.

Sounds like something I'll do probably when hype picks up for the sequel and I decide I may as well do the DLC!

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