PixlBit

It’s been a pretty crazy week. To think I plopped $360 for a Nintendo Switch and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is quite interesting. In a way, it reminds me of when I stood in line for the Nintendo Wii. I bought it strictly to play The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. Yes, sure it was also for the Gamecube and Breath of the Wild is also on Wii U, but I was going to plop money on the Switch regardless. It was bound to happen. I’m a Nintendo fan. I’ve been a fan since I was 7 years old playing The Nes and SNES respectively. After spending a week in the Wild I figured I would offer up a little review or synopsis of my experience with the latest Zelda.

Breath of the Wild brings Link back to his more traditional roots. You start essentially with nothing but the clothes you pick up (if you so choose) and a mysterious voice beckoning Link’s name. Upon this you are thrust into the great plateau which is massive in size…practically the size of Hyrule in Ocarina of Time, possibly even bigger. Without a doubt, it’ll take some time to adjust to game. You’re given free range as to what to do. You can meander around the plateau all you like, but eventually you’ll find yourself wanting to branch off and explore all that Hyrule offers.

It’s about the only linearity in this game. For the first hour or however long it takes you, you’re tasked to challenge the shrines within the plateau to gain Sheikah slate abilities. These are pretty much your must have abilities and the old man who resides in the plateau won’t give you the sailcloth until you conquer the shrines. It’s a bit strange, the game is so open as to what you can do it’s a bit of an odd thing to have what I call a mandatory opener, but I can see as to why Nintendo locks you in at least initially.

Once you conquer the shrines, read some expositional plot elements, and make your way through Kakariko and Hateno village you are free to do what you want. This is where the game shines. In terms of the story you can trek your way anywhere you please. If you feel like helping the Rito you can do so. Perhaps you want to go to the desert and help the Gerudo. For me I set my sights on Zora’s Domain.

Within a day of owning BotW, I had managed to beat the Zora Domain’s Divine Beast. (An Elephant) and obtained the most important power-up in the game. The ability to revive after dying and a Zora tunic allowing me to swim up waterfalls. With my new ability, 4 hearts, my own insanity, and a zora tunic I ran my way to Hyrule Castle and gave it the old college try. *Warning: do not attempt my feeble attempts*

Hyrule Castle is massive and I took my approach cautiously. I went around towards the side and climbed my way up to a docking area. At this point I traveled through an underground pathway and found myself at a shrine which I immediately activated so that way I could just warp back at any point. From there I made my way through various hallways, the dining area, a library, a storage room where I found a really, really, good shield (not the Hylian, but the next best Knights shield at 70 defense) and an awesome bow. With my new toys, I managed to run away the best I could from danger. Avoiding enemies entirely since all I had on was a barely suitable, non-upgraded Zora Tunic. I worked my way outside, swam up some waterfalls, avoiding homing lasers and octoroks. I proceeded to climb up the highest parts of Hyrule Castle and made my way to the upper room above the Sanctum. Since I came the roundabout way I messed around a bit taking selfies in the throne chair (the trigger to fight the boss doesn’t trigger until you step in the circle of the room) With no healing items, a lack of weapons, a lack of armor, and possibly morbid curiosity, I saved and prepared to challenge the other Ganon blight forms.

 I managed to give up after an hour and cut my losses. I managed to somehow get past all three blight forms by ducking behind pillars above the room and taking pot shots with the arrows I had, but my bow became damaged, I lost my resurrection power from getting wrecked, had no arrows or viable weapons, and eventually I lost at the first Calamity Ganon phase. As I mentioned it was a foolhardy attempt, but one the that although the game discourages from doing, doesn’t stop you from doing something so idiotic. And at this point is where I fell in love with BotW.

The open-ended nature to do what you want motivated me. I ran, rode, and climbed all over Hyrule and played for marathon long days in which I ended up taking on side quests I haven’t done, discovering and conquering shrines for hearts, and finding koroks for seeds to expand my inventory if I came across them. Now on my 4^th day of BotW, I had managed to marathon and power my way through all 4 divine beasts. I had 13 hearts at this point (from mainly doing various shrines along the way and focusing squarely on heart upgrades) I still had a lack of equipment. A piece of equipment I wanted…The Master Sword. I set myself on Lost Woods on the 5^th day, scouring the map to get to it. I was lost for sure but managed to make my way to the Deku Tree and get what I wanted. Now was the time. On the 6th day I was more experienced. I was ready for the challenge of Hyrule Castle. I got what rupees I had hoarded and blew it on various arrows for my awesome bow I had gotten 5 days earlier, but was saving as it was too important to waste and break. I bought some better Hylian armor and made my way back to the shrine. Not wasting any time, I made my way through the same cautious pathway. I avoided enemies like the plague…it was revenge time. It was personal. I had a hodgepodge of consumables for my ordeal, the master sword, a great shield (though not the best one) and my determination. Now after a week, after failing so epically, I took on Calamity Ganon and beat the game.

Breath of the Wild is a great game and it’s mostly because of what the series goes back to…exploration. If there is something in Hyrule that you see…you can set a way point on the map and travel to that location. It’s a vast area with a lot to see and many of the ways you experience Hyrule will differ from somebody else.

That’s not to say that Breath of the Wild is perfect. It’s a fantastic game and I couldn’t be happier, but this is not the Zelda you remember and it’s not even your brother’s Zelda. Breath of the Wild is difficult, especially if you run about like I did. Even with some of the better armor in the game even basic bokoblins can do insane amounts of damage to you with a well-placed hit or arrow. One aspect that also makes it more difficult is that there are no rupee drops that are easily accessible. I managed to get to majority of mine from the Yiga hideout from swiping precious gems or selling monster parts and animal meat for the rest. If you cook up a few deer and some apples you can sell it for 150 rupees each and there is a guess the chest rupee mini game in a village you can cheese if you save and reload that can net you an extra 200 rupees if you guess the correct one.

Weather can be a somewhat random annoyance. When it starts raining, Link can’t climb anything if surfaces are slippery and the heat/cold mechanics will cause you to lose starts. Although I did chuckle from the rather humorous game over screen I got when I was running around the field during a rain storm and was struck down by lightning.

And for the impatient, Hyrule is massive. Maybe a bit too massive. It’s breathtaking to admire your surroundings and going from place to place is all part of the adventure, but many locales within Hyrule are devoid of anything really. Enemies are often bunched in various places and so are various other elements. However, at points you’ll feel a bit bogged down to just wanting to get to where you want to go, which is a bit hampered if you aren’t actively hunting down towers to climb and activate for easy warping.

Still I loved and absolutely adored every moment I’ve spent with BotW. I enjoyed the massive over world, the open-ended nature, and even the voice acting. It’s minimal sure, sticking primarily to divine beasts and various memories you obtain, but they nailed it down. Though you may not have thought of Zelda as “British?” I’m not sure on that end…It was still excellent. I loved the minimal atmospheric soundtrack and you’ll find yourself hearing faint renditions of some of your favorite tunes such as Dragon Roost Island in the Rito Village. The gameplay is solid, the shrines are fun and at times challenging, and even the divine beasts while not traditional as either a boss or a dungeon were well thought out.

Breath of the Wild was a roller coaster experience for me. I still have a lot to do as I mentioned. I still haven’t done any side quests and the number of shrines I’ve completed is paltry to say the least…not to mention I haven’t gotten any extra chests, korok seeds, or fairy fountains. I’m sure that for the next couple of months or so I’ll be adventuring around the various areas, trying my best to do as much as I can before I burn myself out on it. Hopefully then I’ll be splatting it up in Splatoon 2.  But for now, I’m going to go back out into the Wild and explore.