The Legend of Zelda: The Tears of the Kingdom

[Goldfinger 59]

I'm over 65 hours into the game and still haven't done any of the "regional phenomenon". I got to Rito village about 20 in game hours ago, but keep going off and doing different things. I plan on finally doing it this weekend when I have Saturday night off when I usually have a nice 6 hour chunk to play the game, but who knows.  This game is so enjoyable and fun to just explore things that it will make my Summer off all the more enjoyable when my break starts on June 7. At the rate I'm going, I can see myself putting 200 hours into the game before finishing, which is roughly double what I put into BOTW.

 

Still haven't even encountered a Lynel at this point, but considering I've heard most have moved to darker environments I guess it makes sense as I've barely done that much expansive research "down there".

 

[Jay 37,336]

Man I meant to keep track myself of time spent playing but that only lasted like 1 session before I forgot.  My profile in the system tells me I've played for "30 hours or more" but I wish the game itself kept track for me, or Nintendo just told us our exact numbers instead of rounding to x0 / x5 approximates

 

In those 30+ hours I've only unlocked 6 skytowers (out of 15!) 30 shrines (out of 150!), 9 stable (out of 14!), and 2 villages (out of 10!)  It's sort of astonishing how little of the surface I've actually been to (and I've spent almost no time in the sky or the depths).  And not once did I feel like I was wasting my time, or that I was not having fun.

 

I keep discovering new things.  The last shrine I did had a zonai device called a Stabilizer in it, which makes things stand up.  Had no idea those were in the game.  Already starting to spin gears in my head of how they could be useful (I almost got a platform to be self propelled slowly moving forward using them in the shrine by accident).  It might be fun to catapult Koroks to their friends if possible....

 

Another new thing, I did a quest in Kakariko involving these 2 guys fighting monsters who constantly argued whether defense or offense was more important.  Well when I finished it, they told me that you can fuse weapons to shields, and shields to weapons.  Who knew!?  Haven't tried it out yet

 

My last session ended at the Duelling Peaks stable.  I was so mad that my plan to arrive there by following the road out of Kakariko was thwarted by story elements, but it ended up being nifty because the long winding path I took around to get there instead lead to me finding cool stuff and more sidequests.  I've done enough of the Penn quests now to get one piece of Froggy gear which is neat.  I also found 2 new sets for sale in Kakariko but they are too expensive for me (even after lowering their price via the quest) so I guess I gotta get better at gem mining.  Unless you can sell gourmet meat meals for high prices in this game like you could in BOTW?

 

Anyone else feel like they're obsessed with this game?

 

My goals for the next time I play are to find the musician needed to unlock the fairy near Duelling Peaks stable, upgrade everything I can, then head to Hateno and see what's going on at the Tech Lab.  Then next session will hopefully be exploring the northeast and getting all 3 stables there and seeing what's up at the Akkala Tech Lab.  Then maybe I'll actually head to Rito, we'll see...

[Laserschwert 475]

I haven't managed more that three play sessions up to this point, but each of them ending in unhealthy morning hours (with only 3 to 4 hours left for sleep) pretty much confirms how addicting this game is. It's always that you are planning for a destination to reach, and being held up by all kinds of crap along the way.

 

My first pick of regions after the first tower was the frosty north west, and I choose to take care of the wind temple to bring spring back to birdy town (Rito?). Boy, I wasn't expecting that mission to take that long, climbing higher and higher for what felt like hours. Clearing the boss in the sky ship took reload after reload, and I was almost out of everything, breaking bow after bow and firing hundreds of arrows at that fucker.

 

Finishing up that mission alone felt like a whole game in itself, just by sheer size. Can't wait to dive in again!

[Jay 37,336]

I've had to set a screens-off time for myself because I've been up too late playing Zelda and I think that led to be having a little cold that lasted longer than it should have since I wasn't getting enough sleep.  Crazy that a game can do this to a guy in his 40s....

 

I still haven't started any regional phenomena, but am getting pretty close to it.  I want to see what's up at the Hateno Research lab, but even though I went there, it was empty - apparently Robbie doesn't go there until after you do at least one regional phenomena.  I also heard about this hidden passageway between Lookout Landing at the castle that doesn't open until you've done one.  I'm sure there's other stuff too.

 

My last few sessions I've been hanging out in the Northwest corner.  It started with me just wanting to get to Snowfield stable and unlock the fourth fairy fountain, which I did and was very gratifying.  But then I just kept finding stuff to do up there - a geoglyph, a tower, from there I could see and flew to another tower, I found Zelda's golden horse and boarded it (looks really cool!), side quests about monsters near a house or in a cave, etc etc etc.  I keep finding random shrines too. I think after I finish the one I ended my last session at I'll be up to 32 shrines already?  I think I've bought 2 extra stamina sections and 5 extra hearts so far.  I'm starting to really miss having more stamina for long glides, though I'm also too lazy to make stamina potions :p

 

One thing I am loving more and more is caves.  I think this one addition alone (well, them and the wells equally) makes the game feel SOOOO much bigger.  It's amazing how big and complex some of them can be, and yet you're still technically on the main map, no special loading needed or anything.  And damn is it rewarding when your prize in one is a new piece of armor!  I found the barbarian helm and frostbite shirt this way.  I can't wait to find more.

[Jay 37,336]

What do you guys think of the guy holding the sign up everywhere that you have to help out?  I've found myself stopping and helping him 100% of the time.  It's a nice series of little 5 minute puzzles with decent rewards.

 

I've noticed that the puzzles get more complicated each time; I wonder if they scale with your progress rather then being assigned to each location specifically?

[Laserschwert 475]

I think I haven’t really understood the way the sign puzzles are supposed to be solved. I just stack and glue as many pieces together as possible to support the sign each time, so it doesn't feel like I've cracked a tricky puzzle or anything.

[Jay 37,336]

Usually there's notches in the sign, or bits of wood sticking out that form a notch, that you slide a wooden door into, and then glue beams at angles to some sides so the door you slid in stays up.

The trickier ones are where the base of the post is pointy, which means it could fall in any direction.  For those you gotta have support beams on all 4 sides.  And sometimes there isn't enough beams lying around so you have to use a wooden door as a support

 

But you have infinite tries for each one with no penalties so you can do minimal effort and see which way the sign falls and adjust accordingly

 

 

~

 

 

Oh yea:

 

On 28/05/2023 at 7:18 PM, Docteur Qui said:

Yes, an extremely frustrating one called "Courage to Fall". I won't spoil it but it has probably one of the most obscure solutions to a puzzle in any Zelda game, I had to look the solution up. I may have gotten it eventually completely by accident but I don't think I'd have ever actually figured it out logically. It was maddening in a way that only 90's adventure game puzzles have gotten to me before.

 

Huh, I did this shrine yesterday and didn't think it was hard at all.  Granted, it wasn't instantly obvious or anything; I made my way through everything, ended up on top, and saw that all I could do was soar down to where I started.

 

Spoiler

So I was like "well, it's called Courage to Fall, so maybe you don't die if you jump into the bottomless pits?"  Tried two different spots and died of course.

So I was like "hmm, maybe there's something on the back of the doors?" the big doors you open up when you first enter.  Well as I was using ultrahand to close them, i accidentally backed into the red lasers, and found out that they don't zap your health like I had assumed, they open the floor up.  Aha!

 

So I could see that the pit was bottomless in that area, so moved to the next one and tried jumping into one of the beams and back to safety in one jump.  Aha, I saw that there was something under the floor there!  So I purposely walked into the beams and headed down there and finished up.  Not too bad.

 

 

I got more stuck at another one yesterday called Downward Force:  That's the one with these trampoline thingies, and you keep soaring up and gliding to the next one, but the exit area has its floor closed up, you can't jump in.  It took me WAY too long to realize that there was one of those little obelisk activator thingies inside the final area that i had to shoot with an arrow to get the floor to open.  D'oh!

[Docteur Qui 1,544]

2 hours ago, Jay said:

 

Huh, I did this shrine yesterday and didn't think it was hard at all.  Granted, it wasn't instantly obvious or anything; I made my way through everything, ended up on top, and saw that all I could do was soar down to where I started.

 

  Reveal hidden contents

So I was like "well, it's called Courage to Fall, so maybe you don't die if you jump into the bottomless pits?"  Tried two different spots and died of course.

So I was like "hmm, maybe there's something on the back of the doors?" the big doors you open up when you first enter.  Well as I was using ultrahand to close them, i accidentally backed into the red lasers, and found out that they don't zap your health like I had assumed, they open the floor up.  Aha!

 

So I could see that the pit was bottomless in that area, so moved to the next one and tried jumping into one of the beams and back to safety in one jump.  Aha, I saw that there was something under the floor there!  So I purposely walked into the beams and headed down there and finished up.  Not too bad.

 

 

Spoiler

Well there ya go, if you hadn't accidentally run into the lasers you wouldn't have figured it out os quickly. To me the clue "courage to fall" does not remotely suggest "courage to intentionally walk into a laser beam that is hiding a hidden trap-door". Especially not in a game as unforgiving as this one when it comes to slicing your hearts off when you get hurt.

 

[Jay 37,336]

But losing some hearts in a shrine doesn't matter much since you get refilled at the end, hence why I tried jumping into the abyss! 

[Jay 37,336]

Man the whole "wanting to do a thing but got distracted by another thing, which lead to doing this other thing, then this other thing" has been the story of my gameplay for the last little while now.

I finished up what I wanted to do in the Northwest mountains and was like "OK, I guess I should do the regional phenomena thingy in Rito now".... but then I realized I had some orbs to turn in for heart containers/stamina first, and some more clothes I could probably upgrade, some wells to tell the well lady about... so I thought "Hmmm, I'm probably close to getting my next piece of froggy gear from the Penn quests, so let's do one of those real quick and then do all that".  The quest I chose was called The Beckoning Woman and BOY did that lead my down a HUUUUUUGE rabbit hole....

 

(no major story spoilers or anything here, but if you haven't done that quest, been back to the Great Plateau, or learned what the last Ability is, you might not want to read yet)

 

Spoiler

So I follow her from place to place, having to fight some baddies and getting annoyed at this lady that she makes me keep chasing her.  Finally the last glide to her final location, the game tells me I'm at.... THE GREAT PLATEAU!  Wow!  I hadn't even thought of checking this out yet to see how it was changed from BOTW.  Neat!

 

Once she turned out to be Yiga and I killed the guy, I was drawn to explore around.  Found some new enemies, some shrines, a cave or two, a bunch of chasms I didn't go in, a Yiga house with a Yiga Master I had to fight with a Yiga Mask as a reward, etc etc.  Eventually found my way back to the Temple of Time ruins, where the Goddess Statue wouldn't work because it was trapped under water (?).

 

So I heard north and find what I think is the water it was talking about, and there's a chasm nearby (Great Plateau North).  I figured I'll jump in the chasm just to do whatever I need to unlock this statue then peace out.  Well down there I unlock a nearby Lightroot, head out a little bit and find an enemy camp and decide to destroy them (since I need Black Bokoblin horns to upgrade armor anyway), and get rewards.  Then I see there's some kind of temple here, right underneath where the TEmple of Times ruins I had just been at up above are.  Well inside I get to activate a teleportation spot, which was cool I guess, and then there was a freaking robot who just GAVE ME AUTOBUILD!  Wow!  I figured this was something I wouldn't be getting until after I had done at least one phenomena!  The little tutorial where you learn how to use it was quite helpful because I was confused how it would work until then.

 

That leads directly into the giant reveal that the head Yiga guy who tossed down a chasm in the first game is alive and well, and suddenly a boss fight started!

 

I had to quit right then, so hopefully it's not too hard of a boss fight.  Meanwhile, I never found whatever I'm supposed to do to fix the goddess statue...

 

[Jay 37,336]

Wowwee Zowee, have any of you been to Hyrule Castle!?

 

I hadn't intended on going there, but wanted something I knew was inside it (The Champion Leathers, which I read about in Zelda's diary in the well outside her house), so I figured I'd check it out and see what's what.

 

I first warped to the shrine on the island to the east of the castle area, flew over, found a chest, and nothing else to do but fall into the giant chasm there.  Where I landed in the depth was CRAZY, tons of tough enemies and gloom everywhere!  I immediately warped out

 

I warped to Lookout Landing tower, used it to fly up in the air, then just glided easily to the castle in the sky.  I've done 3 stamina upgrades and it took every bit of it, so you'd need a stamina potion if you haven't gotten 3 upgrades... but it's so worth it!

Once there, I explored around a lot and found TONS of really strong shields and bows!  There's theoretically strong weapons too, but since they are all decayed like everything else, they're not actually that useful.  But I legit found a 70 strength shield, a 55 shield, a 35 bow.  And some armor too.

 

And I didn't face any particularly tough bad guys or anything, though I haven't explored it all yet (I didn't even get the one item I went there for lol).

 

I did have  really funny moment where I was walking along, and there was 3 moblins (Blue I think.. maybe Black, don't remember) around a campfire ahead of me.  They couldn't see me yet, so I used my Phrenic Bow to launch a muddlebud at one of them, and shortly after the 3 of them started attacking each other, setting each other on fire in the process, it was HILARIOUS!  Sadly they didn't completely finish off each other before it wore off, and for some reason suddenly saw me and started approaching me, but then I could just pick them off with arrows to the face.  I loved it

[Jay 37,336]

Is there any different between fusing a red jelly to an arrow vs a firefruit?

 

Same with blue jelly / ice fruit and yellow jelly / shock fruit

 

I'm guessing the fruits are more powerful, and then the gems (ruby / sapphire / topaz) are the most powerful

[Docteur Qui 1,544]

I'm pretty sure they're all exactly the same on an arrow, i.e. just the elemental effect with no impact on attack power. I don't have the game in front of me but each item has its own Fuse attack power, and I think the ones you listed are all 1 (the lowest), including the gems. I certainly wouldn't waste the gems on an arrow - they're better suited for the magic rods/staffs or selling for cash, especially when the relatively worthless (and abundant) chu jelly and fruits are available. Diamonds do have a much higher attack power though, and are good for swords.

 

So I just found out yesterday that (minor spoiler)

Spoiler

you can fuse to the Master Sword, and it makes it last wayyyy longer before losing its power. I wish I'd known this about 60 gameplay hours ago when I first got the bloody thing! I've fused a White Lynel saber horn to it and it slayyyyyys.

 

[Faleel 5,345]

8 minutes ago, Docteur Qui said:

I'm pretty sure they're all exactly the same on an arrow, i.e. just the elemental effect with no impact on attack power. I don't have the game in front of me but each item has its own Fuse attack power, and I think the ones you listed are all 1 (the lowest), including the gems. I certainly wouldn't waste the gems on an arrow - they're better suited for the magic rods/staffs or selling for cash, especially when the relatively worthless (and abundant) chu jelly and fruits are available. Diamonds do have a much higher attack power though, and are good for swords.

 

So I just found out yesterday that (minor spoiler)

  Hide contents

you can fuse to the Master Sword, and it makes it last wayyyy longer before losing its power. I wish I'd known this about 60 gameplay hours ago when I first got the bloody thing! I've fused a White Lynel saber horn to it and it slayyyyyys.

 

Pun intended?

[Jay 37,336]

Oh I'd obviously never fuse a precious gem to an arrow.  For now I'm mostly just farming all those for money because I have so much armor to buy and upgrade, I need cash all the time.

I've killed some badguys with rubys or sapphires already fused to sticks or whatever weapon and LOVE using those!  I've had a ruby sword forever, seems like it never runs out of power.  Easy way to start fires without using any resources, and fun to light bad guys on fire from a safe distance to without using resources.  I had a lightning rod for a while too and that was fun to instantly turn blue chuchus into yellow jellies and shock other bad guys into dropping their weapons, but that did eventually break for whatever reason

 

Man I don't even have a clue where the master sword is let alone how to get it in this game

[JohnnyD 1,223]

There are two ways to obtain the Master Sword: investigate the geoglyphs, or investigate the four regional phenomena and continue from there; both options are main quests. I won’t say more due to spoilers.

[Jay 37,336]

Yea, I didn't say I wanted to be told;  Obviously I'll find out through playing

 

Why aren't you sharing any updates on your progress through the game and your thoughts on it?

[JohnnyD 1,223]

Busy schedule. However, I am quite surprised by how much I have accomplished. I have completed 93 shrines, investigated all the geoglyphs, investigated the regional phenomena in the Rito area, completed quite a few side quests, side adventures and shrine quests. Currently, I am navigating the Depths (still terrifying), trying to light up as much of it as possible via the light roots. However, there is still SO MUCH MORE TO DO. I have been enjoying every part of this story. It blows Breath of the Wild out of the water, and that is saying something.

[Jay 37,336]

Wow, that's a lot of shrines!  I had 35 I think, but I've still only been in 9 of the game's 15 areas!

[JohnnyD 1,223]

Oh, I also activated all of the Skyview Towers and investigated quite a few of the sky islands. There are still some sky islands out of reach at the moment, which is why I am saving up on zonaite to convert to crystallized charges to increase the amount of battery cells needed to power Zonai devices. That is also why I am exploring the Depths; a lot of zonaite deposits are down there, not to mention the MANY monsters (especially Froxs, Hinoxs, Stalnoxs, Zonai Flux Constructs, and one monster I encountered for a side quest then immediately bolted to avoid fighting it; it is a surprise to encounter when discovered in a specific region of the Depths) that release zonaite and crystallized charges when beaten.

[Jay 37,336]

I really should spend more times in the depths

[JohnnyD 1,223]

Exercise extreme caution. 
 

After accessing a few more light roots, I will do a few additional side quests and then continue investigating the remaining three regional phenomena; most likely I’ll go to Goron City for the next one.

[Jay 37,336]

So my session last night was nutso, and more of that "get distracted by a thing" that turned into a huge thing that was all I did the rest of the night.

 

I resumed pillaging Hyrule Castle.  I found the thing I went there for, all 3 parts of the Royal Guard armor, lots more weapons, more gems, even straight up money.  As I was all done and heading out, I happened to come across a grate on the floor.  I got curious if I could open it with Ultrahand and sure enough, I could, and when I jumped in, it say I was in the Royal Secret Passage.  Woah!  I thought this was something you couldn't do until after doing one regional phenomena.  Turns out, you can do it BACKWARDS, ANY time!

 

Holy hell this passage was crazy, it just kept going and going, I kept finding more and side rooms, gems, enemies, mini bosses.... it was GREAT!  I felt like I was playing a classic Zelda dungeon in a way, just do to the variety of different rooms you end up in with different enemy types, loot to find, etc.  And I kept getting turned around and looking for the right way to go forward a lot.  I couldn't believe how BIG it was, it took me hours to get through.  And when you finally end up back at Lookout Landing, you're trapped!  You can hear the guy sweeping in the emergency shelter, and if you swing your sword someone reacts to it, but there's no way to enter.  I had to Ascend to get out, lol.  Man, it was worth it, I'm loaded with goodies now.

I dunno WHAT I'm going to do tonight.  The Rito regional phenomena?  I could clear some quests I started (I got a Great Plateau statue that wants her eyes back, a mayoral election to rig, a lady to follow at night, a princess sighting to investigate, so much more).... I could go to any of the regions I haven't stepped foot in at all yet (Gerudo, Goron, Zora, Lurelin, Floria, Faron...)... I could try to reach some Sky Islands, I could explore the depths at any numbers of chasms I found but didn't enter... holy cow, the choices

[TolkienSS 405]

I climbed the Rito/Hebra skies to the very top until finding out it was a dungeon you can't do without Tulin, then I did the Tulin quest, and climbed it again.

[Docteur Qui 1,544]

9 hours ago, JohnnyD said:

There are two ways to obtain the Master Sword: investigate the geoglyphs, or investigate the four regional phenomena and continue from there; both options are main quests. I won’t say more due to spoilers.

 

I actually stumbled upon the Master Sword entirely by accident. I think I'd only done one of the temples at that stage, and had only unlocked a couple of geoglyph memories.

[Jay 37,336]

Man, what a weekend of play!  I went from having done no regional phenomena, to having done 2 of them!!!

 

I did the Rito one first, and I LOVED IT!  Definitely recommended for anyone who hasn't done one yet to do that one first.  It isn't very hard, and it is very, very cool and satisfying.

 

Spoiler

It was so fun how it had so many different phases / aspects to it.  First walking up Hebra Mountain by foot and finding the different caves, with their own goodies.  Then starting to climb up the floating islands, one at a time, getting higher and higher.  I love how the enemy types change as you go, how you do one battle with Tulin helping, you get to use his power to cross gaps, etc.  Then when you get close to the cyclone and you have to bounce on the ships, you just keep going higher and higher and higher, then go ABOVE the cyclone and see the GIANT ship, and realize it's one of the game's dungeon equivalents... just chef's kiss, perfection.  And that dungeon itself was fun, finding all the turbines to power up with the gust power.  And then the boss after you do all five was also SUPER cool, so much different and better than the ganon-y things from the first game.  I loved that as you ascend to the temple, you are taught to break through the ice lakes by jumping on them, so when you get to this boss, you just know to dive-bomb into them from above (I love how you randomly get infinite gliding stamina for this boss fight).

 

And then on top of all that all being so cool, you get a free heart container as a prize, a cool cutscene where the snow melts at Rito Village, and then you get to go back there and its back into being a full town again with all the shops open, and tons of new dialogue to read and quests to unlock.  Just fanTASTIC!

 

 

After I did all that, I was kind of naturally drawn to the Goron area since I hadn't stepped foot there at all, and could just naturally ride a horse there from the nearby Snowfield Stable.  Well the path I took took me to YunoboCo HQ first before I even got there, and then when I got there I just talked to everyone and did some easy quests and next thing I knew, I was on my way to doing that regional phenomena too!

 

Spoiler

I guess it didn't occur to me when I first arrived at Rito Village and it was all snowy and desolate, that that would be a sign of what goes on with every regional phenomena; I just figured it was what was going on there.  But once I was talking to everyone around Goron and I realized they were addicted to the marbled rock stuff and that most shops were closed as a result, I was like aha, you have to complete the regional dungeon in all 4 areas to get normal town behavior.  Neat!

 

I loved the brief fight with masked Yunobo (super fun music!), and then next thing I knew he was tagging along and I realized I could just do the temple there so I did.  I noticed the mine cart track that would take you up to death mountain was parallel with a track that did a circle around the mountain, so I rode that first killing bad guys and exploring caves and grabbing shrines along the way.  Then I went up to Death Mountain which was super fun, using his power to blast enemies from the cart. 

 

Then, I LOVED that when you got there, you (seemingly) fought the boss FIRST, which I thought was a nice change-up from the usual affair.  I should have known since each head only took one hit that there'd be another one....

 

Anyway, it was cool then that when you drop in, you sink all the way down in the depth, and then have to walk from there to the actual fire temple.  I think I collected like 3 light roots on the way, and discovered for the first time that you can get non-decayed versions of weapons down there - super cool!

Eventually I made my way to the Fire Temple and while I did enjoy it, it's definitely not on the same level as the Wind Temple was.  SOOO much more puzzle solving to do.  I eventually figured everything out without looking anything up, riding the mine cars to every single area (I probably got all the chests there, wish there was a way to know for sure).  And then, the spider boss thingy was MUCH harder than the Wind boss, too!  using the Yunobo power to break his feet so he falls down so you can get some shots on his eye was cool, but I never figured out how to get up there and whack his eye directly with a sword well though.  Sometimes I'd ascending through him and only get one whack before he'd throw me off.  One time it seemed like he wasn't throwing me off, but I fumbled with my weapon and didn't get many whacks in.  I dunno.  It ended up being easier to me to just shoot him in the eye with arrows, even though it took A LOT of repetition that way.  I like in the second phase when he goes up on the ceiling, you'd already been taught how to send Yunobo up the walls beforehand to know to do that again to whack him there.

When that was all done I enjoyed seeing everyone in Goron get over their marbled rock addiction, and it returning to a normal village too.  It's just so SATISFYING!  I'm so happy to have him power permanently, too!  I wasted SO MUCH weapon degradation breaking open rock-blocked passageways in the Royal Secret passageway, if I had done this first I could have just used him to break them!  D'oh!

I'm really curious what the other 2 sage powers do now!

 

One thing I was very glad about was that I actually got to do the entirety of these 2 giant events, both on the TV instead of portable, and both as their own single, uninterupted gameplay sessions.  Really made them feel even more epic.

 

And now I'm having so much more fun exploring the world, so much unlocks after having done them!

[Fargo 297]

I just got caught up in this thread - been avoiding any TotK-related discussion since release. It’s nice to see everyone enjoying the game. 
 

I just checked my playtime for the first time this morning, and I’m at 135 hours so far 

 

Time sure flies. 

[Jay 37,336]

I'm 75+ hours in now, and feel like I'm anywhere close to even halfway through the game despite having done 2 regional phenomena.

 

~

 

After doing the Rito & Goron temples almost back to back, I did like a world tour of returning to all the villages I had already been to, to see what's up.  Lookout Landing was the craziest, just new thing after new thing, all kinds of stuff going on.  The funniest was talking to Josha, who went off on this big thing about going down into the depths to find a new power, and I'm like "ooh, another power, that's awesome!", only for the Quest line to pop up, then immediately go back into "Oh, you've already been down there?  You found Autobuild?  Wow!" and on and on until that quest was just instantly complete.  I guess I sequence broke that by randomly stumbling upon it without being guided there

 

Luckily that leads to Robbie finally returning to Hateno Tech Lab, so I went to Hateno next and got a bunch of updates there, then saw him and got the Sensor+ and Hero Path.  Boy, it's AWESOME having the Hero Path mode early on in the game instead of near the end, it's already so helpful in seeing all the areas I've missed in between all the ones I've been to. 

 

And boy it's been so much fun exploring the world for a while now with the 2 sage powers.  It's so much easier to get some place far away from up high with the Tulin power and it's so nice to be able to use the Yunobo power to break all the rock walls in caves and stuff.

I've found so many more shrines as of late, tried to find caves wherever possibly hoping to get armor (I already have the complete Yiga set), and I also did some more horse-back exploration to go into the Akkala region and get all 3 stables there plus their towers.  Those stables opened up tons more quests so its nice having this huge quest log again I can randomly pick through at my leisure.

 

I've also randomly found 2 of the ... I dunno what you call them, the goddess statues I guess, but not the ones you trade in spirit orbs for hearts or stamina, but the ones where there's like one for Wisdom, one for Courage, etc.  I can't remember what they did in BOTW but in TOTK they're both waiting for me to give them a dragon claw and I don't have any of those yet (Haven't paid much attention to the new dragon paths).  But they did send me back to the Forgotten Temple so I guess I will get some kind of reward when I find and give a claw to all 3.

 

I also went to Tarrey Town and holy cow that was awesome; That questline was my favorite one in BOTW and it's nice to be there now and see it thriving.  It was fun helping out Hudon and his wife too, though their kid being force to go live with the Gerudo was kinda weird.  Sweet cutscene up in the balloon for that though.

 

 

I'm at the point now where there are 4 major areas I haven't stepped foot in or even come close: Gerudo (that entire CORNER of the map is COMPLETELY unexplored by me), Zora, Lurelin, and Korok Forest.  I have 3 towers left to open (2 near Gerudo and 1 near Zora), and 1 more stable (near Gerudo).  If I have TV time this weekend I want to do a third regional phenomena.  Any opinion if its better to do Gerudo or Zora first?

[mstrox 6,649]

Bought and downloaded the game.  Not too long now.  
 

Almost finished with BOTW - got the last of the Captured Memories today, which was something I hadn’t done on my previous plays/. A small handful of side quests. I have 119 of the 120 shrines (last one requires mop up of one more side quest in Kakariko) and am about halfway through the DLC.  53 more compendium items, including a few I somehow just didn’t snap (both Yiga randos). there’s a good possibility I’ won’t bother hunting the last few things.   a handful of birds and fish I’d never seen, all the beetles, etc etc.  A few random weapons that I’m sure are tied to specific locales or enemies.  
 

in the meantime, been enjoying reading all your experiences!

[Jay 37,336]

You can just buy the pics of the ones you didn't snap yourself

[mstrox 6,649]

Yeah, it’s true - I might just not bother, though!  If I were going for 100% I’d care more, but I’m not tracking down the last 300 Koroks, haha

[Faleel 5,345]

What, you don't want the Golden shit?

[Faleel 5,345]

Nice Avatar @Jay

[Jay 37,336]

[Jay 37,336]

Is there a point to the magic wand / magic sceptre in the game?  Obviously you can fure a ruby/sapphire/topaz to them and get a fire / ice / lightning rod that shoots out elemental balls, but the same thing happens if you fuse those gems to any sword right?  Is there some added benefit to fusing to the wand/scepter instead?

[Docteur Qui 1,544]

Yes, the magic wand/rod/sceptre throws out three elemental balls while all other fused weapons only spit out one at a time. It's useful in the heat of battle when you don't have the luxury of precise aiming - three fireballs are more likely to hit a moving target - but otherwise I don't really think they're worth it. You're better off fusing a gem to a weapon with an already-high attack power. I'll sometimes fuse the Master Sword with a ruby; it makes short work of the plentiful ice enemies in the cold regions, and the heat coming off of it works in place of cold-resistant armour or meals/elixirs.

[Jay 37,336]

Ahhh yes, 3 balls instead of one, you're right! I knew it must be something. 

 

I've found the best fuses to be Talus hearts. I have a bunch in my inventory now because just before the weapon it's on breaks, I stop using it and next time I'm in Tarrey Town I have it separated and then refuse it to whatever my best sword is. 

[Docteur Qui 1,544]

Has anyone else finished the main quest? I did about a week ago, I'd be interested to hear other people's thoughts (I'll keep it all in spoiler tags, including my overall impressions, as even quality judgements can spoil things)

 

MAJOR spoilers here:

 

Spoiler

I thought the final confrontation was a rollickingly good time, and miles better than BOTW's ending. Getting through the depths of the depths was a decent challenge, and the waves of enemies you fought alongside the sages was a bit of fun - but also highlighted how unintuitive the game's implementation of sage powers was. It's utter chaos having all five of them active at once and trying to locate the one you're looking for, only to accidentally activate the wrong one. They also clutter the screen something shocking - though at least in the final fight it's actually the sages themselves who all look very different, as opposed to the virtually indistinguishable ghost versions when you use them elsewhere in the game. Assigning them to a button or ability wheel would've been so much better and it remains my main gripe about the game.

 

The fight with Ganondorf was very satisfying. I kinda wish there were more fights with humanoid enemies in BOTW/TOTK - there's something exhilarating about having to really strategise with your swordplay, shield timing, dodging and parrying with an enemy who can do pretty much all the same things as you. Those kinds of encounters were always my favourite in previous games (Stalfos in OoT, Darknuts in WW, Girahim in SS etc.) I loved the little touch of Ganondorf being able to dodge and getting his own bullet-time! I sliced through him pretty handily though as I had hoarded a few Lynel Saber Horns to fuse to the Master Sword, and then we took to the skies for the final showdown.

 

I loved this part of the battle, it was absolutely thrilling and a genius way to incorporate what is probably the most fun new thing in TOTK - skydiving. The battle itself isn't difficult (at least not after 130+ hours of exploring), but nonetheless a lot of fun. Then we get quite a few extra things - Zelda being transformed back into human form by Rauru and Sonia, then having to save her (in a great parallel to the opening sequence of the game, only this time you do manage to clasp her hand), then saying goodbye to Mineru. The latter wasn't particularly affecting to me, largely because we don't spend a lot of time with Mineru. She's the last sage that you unlock, and she's only in a couple of the Tear memories, so it didn't really feel as emotional as the game wanted it to be. On the other hand I was genuinely elated that Zelda returned to human form and got a happy ending. Her earlier sacrifice and transformation into the Light Dragon really upset me (in a good way), it wasn't the kind of gut-punch I was expecting from a Zelda game and I really thought we weren't going to see her again. I know this version of Zelda is quite divisive, but I've always really liked her and her voice actor's performance. They did a good job at making her a fully realised character and it was smart to give her the emotional journey in both games considering Link's trademark muteness. Her absence in the game's world is very keenly felt, and smartly incorporated through the ways in which characters talk about her and her actions in the communities since the Calamity.

 

I'm still going with the game, gotta finish those shrines and find all the light roots and armour sets, but I'll share my overall thoughts on the entire game as they come to me. I have a fair few gripes, but it's still a spectacular experience.

[Jay 37,336]

Nope not even close; I still have 2 regional phenomena to do and I have no clue what else is considered the "main quest" after that is done (and don't want to know until I get there)

 

I'll write more about where I'm at soon but I'm loving everything and can't really think of much to complain about.  In fact, my biggest complaints are the same as BOTW: when you're trying to move away from danger and Link just starts climbing something; When the camera angles get all wonky and you just can't position it right to see what you need to see; the load times, the draw distance and pop-ins.  That's literally all I can think of that is disappointing, everything else is 10/10

[Docteur Qui 1,544]

You know it's just occurred to me that this game takes the series' title - The Legend of Zelda - and really goes with it. Of course most of the games feature a princess Zelda, and some kind of expansive story where you must find and/or rescue her. But one of the main quests in this game (not a spoiler if you've played more than a few hours) is going around and investigating rumours about Zelda all over Hyrule; you're quite literally in the midst of her legacy, her legend, as its being constructed by the people around the land.

 

(minor spoilers regarding that same quest line, but chances are you've unlocked the memories or done enough of the mission to figure out what's happening):

Spoiler

Part of the investigation involves debunking rumours that would diminish Zelda's reputation in the eyes of the community, which is ultimately revealed to be a ploy by the antagonists. In this sense, Ganondorf and the Yiga clan have weaponised the legend of Zelda for their own aims, and Link must intervene to preserve her good name.

 

It's a nice detail.

[Jay 37,336]

OK, here's where I'm at after 100+ hours (!) of the game

• All 15 Skyview Towers activated, and got my reward for doing all 15 (third Travel Medallion)
• All 15 stables (and 2 mini stables) found, with most quests stemming from them done (have not taken pics for the Gerudo guy yet)
• All Penn / Princess Sightings quests from the stables done, and final reward grabbed (Froggy set)
• All villages entered
  • Rito and Goron "restored"
  • Tarrey Town major quest (sending Hudson's daughter to Gerudo) done
  • Hateno major quest (mayoral election) done
  • Kakariko quest (finding 5 tablets in the ruins) done, but don't know how to get the guy to move from the south exit of the town
  • Gerudo I just entered to buy the Desert Voe set and the boots then dipped out.  Don't even have a clue how to kick off the main quest there
  • Zora I just arrived at the last time I played, but when I resume I'll probably be doing this whole quest & temple and whatever else you get up to there
• All 11 geoglyphs/memories found (as well as the bonus 12th memory)
  • Also immediately after the 12th memory, took a fallen rock up to the Light Dragon and got the Master Sword... that was AWESOME
• All 4 fairy fountains found and activated (have not found the horse fairy though)
• Found both additional arm powers (Camera and Autobuild)
  • For that first power, I feel like I've done a great job filling up my compendium.  I have a quest I could complete by buying one photo from Robbie, but I don't want to do that, I want to snap a pic of everything myself!  I'll probably save this for the last quest I do in case there's something I just couldn't find to photograph)
  • For that second power, I've found 4 Yiga Schematics, but have no idea how many there are in the game
• Got all 3 Robbie upgrades (Sensor+, Hero Path, 3 Travel Medallions)
• Completed 76 shrines (exactly half!)
• Found 29 wells (exactly half!)
• I don't think the game tells you have many caves you've found, so I don't know how many I've been in nor how many there are to find.  But I've been able to buy up to the Lynel Mask from Koltin so I've probably found a decent-ish amount
• Armor:
  • Found all 3 pieces and upgraded to 2stars (some higher): Hylian, Soldier, Snowquill, Flamebreaker, Desert Voe, Froggy, Glide
  • Found all 3 pieces but don't have the ingredients to get all 3 pieces to 2 stars: Stealth, Barbarian, Radiant, Royal Guard, Frostbite, Yiga
  • Have obtained 1 or 2 pieces but not all 3: Rubber, Climber, Ember, Depths, Mystic
  • Also got the Snow Boots and Sand Boots
• Fought many Talus and Hinox, a couple Flux Construct
• Found Kilton and Koltin did their initial quest and have found Koltin around and bought many things from him with Bubbelfrogs
• Gotten close enough to snap pics of all 4 dragons, but have only managed to get close enough to snag a dragon part from 2 of them (other than the Master Sword run up the Light Dragon)
• I found all 3 Springs of Power/Wisdom/Courage, but only had the right claw to give to one of them (to awaken the Mother Statue)

Things I have NOT done:

• Zora temple & restoration
• Gerudo temple & restoration
• Whatever you do after those to get to the end of the game
• Kick the pirates out of Lurelin
• Fought a single Lynel, Gloom Hands, Gleeok, Frox, or Molduga.  Haven't even SEEN a Molduga
• After getting Autobuild, I have not yet gone to Kohga's second location (the Gerudo mine), or have any idea where this quest line ultimately goes
• I recently kicked off some quest about finding 13 tablets in the sky, haven't started looking for those
• I have not explored the vast majority of the depths.  I probably have only activated 8 or so lightroots, have only fell down maybe 5-6 chasms.  It's HUGE!!!
• I have 4 questlines that are clues to finding more armor buried by Misko, haven't done any of that yet
• I have not found any good spots to farm dragon parts from.  Almost every time I see these damn things they are soooooo high up in the sky, AND far away from me.  Not sure if I need to explore more or step up by device-building game?

So yea I guess I'm about halfway done with the game, ish.

[JohnnyD 1,223]

Impressive, @Jay. There is still a lot, and I mean A LOT left to do. I am more or less in the same with you in terms of accomplishments and things to do (though I have completed 110 shrines).

[Mephariel 451]

Played 120+ hours and I feel like I still have a lot to do. I only completed 1 dungeon. 

[Jay 37,336]

Yea, it's wild I've spend this much time in the game (literally an amount of time in which I could have completed like 5 other great games), and yet still feel like I haven't scratched the surface of so many things. Like I've spent almost all my time on the mainland, so little sky and depths time!

[JohnnyD 1,223]

I’ve accumulated over 3,400 crystallized charges and explored nearly every corner of the Depths, and found every Light Root with the exception of one. Having the Depths lit up and being able to navigate it is a relief; navigating it in total darkness was a nightmare; having 999 bright bloom seeds DEFINITELY helped. Also, a good tip to note is Light Roots are directly below shrines on the surface. I’ve also found every Yiga camp in the Depths. Another good tip; if you are well prepared, fighting the larger monsters in the Depths rewards Link with large crystallized charges (each equal to 20 regular ones).

[Jay 37,336]

And mines are under villages, groves are under forests, impassable walls are under lakes and rivers, lava is under hot springs, and lynels are under stables

[JohnnyD 1,223]

That was the only thing I did not realize; that Lynels are under stables. Encountering the larger monsters in the Depths the first time is…terrifying. @Jay, I have not even mentioned the best part regarding monsters in the Depths. I’ll let you discover that yourself. All I will say is that something occurs after you finish investigating the Regional Phenomena.

[Jay 37,336]

I'm at an annoying point in the game now where a lot of enemies have turned into silver variants, which sucks because they aren't any harder to fight in terms of them using different tactics or anything, they just have more health so really eat up your weapon stash to kill, and take so long more mistakes can happen were they get a hit on you.  I haven't been back down there since I got the Master Sword so I'm hoping that helps with that, because the last enemy camp I found underground I ended up just giving up and warping away from after dying like 8 times

[JohnnyD 1,223]

Oh, yeah. I've noticed that too. Makes things more challenging. I've also noticed that blood moons seem to happen more frequently than they did in Breath of the Wild. It not only spices things up; it makes sense story-wise as well, as the Demon King is the source behind it. Calamity Ganon in Breath of the Wild was merely his hatred made manifest.

[Jay 37,336]

In both games a blood moon happens at the next (in-game) midnight (including when you sleep at a fire/inn/etc through midnight) after every 2 hours and 48 minutes of (real time) play