Breath of the Wild - The Champions' Ballad: Final Predictions

According to Nintendo, the Champions' Ballad DLC for Breath of the Wild is still planned for a release in December. If this holds true, it's likely that we're getting more information including an accurate release date very soon. But they also shouldn't rush things like they did with the Master Trials DLC...

In any case it's quite exciting that we still know so little about the 2nd DLC pack. The bullet points from the official site give us still a rough idea:

• A new dungeon
• An original story
• Additional challenges

Apparently the DLC will also implement some sort of epilogue storyline, taking place after the battle with Calamity Ganon, where Zelda visits Riju, Teba and probably the other Champion "descendants" as well. Or those are just new memories, where Zelda visited the past Champions - it's not entirely clear yet. In any case, you will still play as Link, but it will focus more on Zelda, according to Aonuma at Japan Expo 2017. Oh, and there's the infamous Lobster Shirt available as a new armor piece. See this post for more information.

Adding new contents?

Theoretically, with a game like this they could always add more of the same: more Sheikah Shrines, more Korok Seeds, new enemy types, new weapon types and so on. However, there's a certain finality to how they implemented things with the main game (and the first DLC). If you trade all 120 Spirit Orbs, the Goddess Statues will tell you that you can't get any stronger and that you shouldn't seek out for more power, because there aren't any shrines left. Hestu "rewards" you for collecting all 900 Korok Seeds, Kilton rewards you for defeating all overworld bosses and Symin "rewards" you for completing Hyrule Compendium. While they added the golden enemies and Sky Octoroks in the first DLC, those are exclusive to Master Mode, which is why they could be retroactively added to the Compendium. This trick wouldn't work in the 2nd DLC, though, so it's likely that we don't get to see any new enemies or weapons there.

What doesn't have such a finality to it are the treasure chests and Nintendo used plenty of those already in order to distribute new armor pieces in the DLC and updates. But that doesn't really add anything to the world... Once you found and opened these chests, they are gone forever and the environment stays as empty as before. With weapons there is also the little trick that they might simply not register in Hyrule Compendium - all the exclusive amiibo weapons currently don't count, but they are still in the game.

Of course they could add more Shrines, Koroks, weapons and even enemies by putting them into a special DLC category. There could be "EX Shrines" that have a different color and don't reward you with Spirit Orbs, but with something else, e.g. keys to the new dungeon. There could be special red Koroks, where Hestu gives you new rewards for them. And Hyrule Compendium could even get its "EX category", which doesn't count for completion. That's even good practice, because the people, who don't buy the DLC, still want to get the sense of completion that you have normally, while the DLC adds on top of that.

But simply adding more of the same also wouldn't be very original, especially if we already have more than enough shrines and Koroks. The majority of players won't even have found them all yet. The same couldn't be said about enemies, where the selection feels a little limited, but it's unlikely that we're going to get new enemy types at this point, even if it would be awesome. However, usually you would expect a boss for the new dungeon, where there are multiple possible scenarios. They could re-use the Blights for this, because there is currently no way to re-battle them. Or they could add some new boss, who might not get an entry in Hyrule Compendium. Battling Dark Link or Shadow Link, as a mirror image of yourself, comes to mind here. And this would be a nice throwback to the free "Den of Trials" DLC in Tri Force Heroes, where they added Shadow Links as a new enemy type at the end, while Nintendo could remain lazy with the DLC.

However, enemies aside, for the "new challenges" it would be nice to get something entirely new, something the game didn't have before. And not just some new side quests, where they drop a treasure chest somewhere and leave you a hint that pops up as soon as you start the game after the update. That was probably the lamest way of including DLC ever.

There is also the potential of new memories, where they certainly have to break through the current finality. It would be really nice to get more memories about the four Champions, e.g. how they were chosen for the job in the first place, but Impa's Main Quest about the memories is already completed in the main game as well... Alternatively it could start a new Main Quest about additional memories, after you've finished the first one.

But there's something else that could add to the story, while at the same time it would add something new to find in the game: Gossip Stones. They used to be something created by the Sheikah in the distant past, where in the age of Sheikah Technology they could be modernized and respond to your Sheikah Slate, adding new information about the world and its past. This gives a new incentive to explore all over the world again, where the "Gossip Stones" should probably become a new default entry to the Sheikah Sensor, next to Sheikah Shrines. Additionally all information from the Gossip Stones would be stored in your Adventure Log, similar to the memories.

A new dungeon?

Supposedly, what most people want out of this is probably the classic Zelda dungeon experience. It's likely that Nintendo is still going to re-use the Sheikah Shrine assets to built a classic dungeon, where you can't climb, but solve rooms with puzzles and enemies.

We already talked about the boss, where Dark Link seems like an excellent (and cheaply made) candidate. It even could tie into retrieving the Triforce (of Courage) in this game and provide a large throwback to Zelda II - The Adventure of Link, a game that has been more on the fans' minds lately. (Adding Fokka enemies on top of that would be amazing, but that's unlikely, as discussed already.)

What's also part of the classic dungeon experience is getting a new item along the way. However, Breath of the Wild doesn't really have traditional items, it has the Sheikah Slate Runes for that, but it's entirely possible that they might add a new Rune for this dungeon. However, it should be something that also remains useful outside of the dungeon. The simplest idea here would be a new type of the Bomb Rune, which works like Bombchus or Bomblings. But this wouldn't feel all that special. According to Kotaku Nintendo also experimented both with Beetle and Hookshot Runes, but they didn't turn out as fun:

Hookshot was [one] we experimented with and tested, as well as [the] Beetle from Skyward Sword. After a lot of experimentation and testing, we weeded out all the ones that had potential to detract from the gameplay and enjoying the game. What’s left currently, the four items, were really what would draw out the fun of the game.

But maybe they can improve on the Hookshot idea and with that provide an additional tool for climbing in the game, which would be very useful outside of the dungeon as well. The Beetle on the other hand doesn't seem as promising. It was an exciting item in a game like Skyward Sword, but with the freedom that Breath of the Wild provides it would almost feel pointless.

An epilogue?

This is probably the grand picture of the 2nd DLC: the game continues after the final boss with new scenarios. So far the only Zelda games that did this were Oracle of Ages & Seasons, where this was used for the Linked Games and ultimately resulted in a new final boss at the end of that.

It could be similar in Breath of the Wild, where a new danger now lurks on the horizon. There's probably a good reason, why Princess Zelda seeks out characters like Riju or Teba, she probably wants them to become the new Champions to take control of the Divine Beasts against a new threat. Because that worked out so well last time...

But what happens to the old threat? Calamity Ganon's dark goo should be gone and the Guardians should be back to normal, after you've beaten the main game. Other things like Sheikah Towers and Shrines, hidden Koroks and even the side quests should still be available for playing in such an epilogue scenario, but the Guardians, the token enemy of the game, would be gone. But there are even solutions for that. They could be implemented in their friendly state and only attack you, if you attack them, so you can still destroy them and get their materials. This would even fit the original teaser of the game, where a Guardian fought Link despite having no signs of corruption. Or they could simply be taken over by a new threat... Or Calamity Ganon already comes back in the DLC. It's possible.

There's also the question about the original image of the DLC:

It shows Kass with view on Vah Ruta, which doesn't happen in the main game. Vah Ruta is still on firing position here, which places this before your battle with Calamity Ganon, since the Divine Beasts won't need to do this anymore and Vah Ruta should be dysfunctional anyway, if the DLC directly follows the current epilogue scene. Of course this could be something that was a prototype or it will be a different part of the DLC, which is already playable before the epilogue. This could even be, where we discover new memories of the four Champions.

About the Divine Beasts... It would be nice, if you could always re-enter them in the epilogue story, so you could still get any missing treasure chests in them and maybe even experience new parts of the story there.


It will be interesting to see, what Nintendo makes of such an epilogue scenario and how they will utilize all the potential here.