Breath of the Wild EX Log, Entry 11

The Final Trial

Finally back, so it was time to take on the new Divine Beast. The control mechanic here was very simple, where you could just change the direction of the main gear, but this would lead to various "complex" puzzles. I still love the ability to alter the dungeon at any time, this was a great invention in Breath of the Wild. And this would have been interesting in Majora's Mask for example, in fact this reminded me somewhat of the Great Bay Temple, where you also had a main gear in the center and could change the flow of the water for the entire dungeon. If you could do that at any time, it would have been so much more interesting.

Overall it doesn't get revealed what kind of animal this Divine Beast really is. I do like this, however, because it adds some mystery to the game. It's simply one Divine Beast that they failed to excavate. It's not part of the legends, so they probably weren't even looking for another beast somewhere. And we probably will never know, how this beast looked like from the outside.

Whatever this Divine Beast is, it's one thing for sure: a classic final dungeon with single room trials based on the other dungeons in this game. You even have a lock that reminded me of the door in Ganon's Tower from the Wind Waker:

And like in that game you can now re-battle the Blights, even if it's not part of this dungeon. The rooms also focused on a specific Rune each, as expected, but there's one exception: the fire room doesn't have any use for the Bombs, in fact you don't need Bombs in the entire dungeon at all. This was a little disappointing and so was the length of the dungeon. Like all the Divine Beasts it was rather short and certainly not the "complex maze" it claims to be in the beginning.

At least there were some cleverly hidden chests, but I was annoyed by the weak early game gear that they dropped. Way of taking me back to nine months ago. In the very least the music (which you could also hear in the trailer) was pretty awesome.

So, after clearing all four rooms, I actually left the dungeon to cook myself some hearty food to prepare for the worst. I expected a Dark / Shadow Link battle at the end of the dungeon, but I didn't know what to expect, when I saw this...

Was this just it? Does the dungeon simply end with another Sheikah Monk like all 136 Shrines in the game? This can't be...!

Of course not. And I really liked the sequence, when the Sheikah Monk started to move. This was so creepy, because after them doing the exact same thing 136 times, I did not see this coming.

So, you're battling Monk Maz Koshia and this was so much better than another Dark / Shadow Link battle, I have to admit. It's scary to finally fight a Sheikah himself and he is using all different weaponry like you. The constant switching between Fire, Ice and Shock Arrows also makes it difficult to adjust to him with armor.

This is a nice new boss battle and after I was done, my first instinct wasn't to try the Master Cycle Zero reward, but to see, if I could fight him again. And you can! You can revisit the dungeon and re-battle him at any time, which is nice.

I also like the remix of the fight tutorial music from the shrine near Kakariko. It creates some catchy boss music here.

After the dungeon the Champions' Ballad gets a very beautiful ending with the final memory of Link, Zelda and the four Champions. I love the sequence and overall the five new memories certainly added a new layer to these characters. Sure, they could have done more, but overall this DLC left me really satisfied. Especially with the reward at the end...

Born to be Wild

Yeehaw... What an amazing reward! This is so much fun. I like, how the Master Cycle Zero is a Rune, where you can summon the bike at any time like Wolf Link or other amiibo rewards. That's probably also why they added the Ancient Saddle, because it will be hard for horses to get your attention afterwards. This tweet sums it up perfectly. I suppose, it's fine, because you get it so late in the game and horses have still the advantage that they can go faster and autonomously, where it's a little easier to fight on them. (Update: The Master Cycle Zero requires more skill for fighting, but if you master it, you can do pretty crazy things, especially since it lets you jump with the bike and still perform the mid-air slow-motion with the bow. That's really powerful.)

Also, horses don't need fuel. That's a disadvantage of the bike, but I like how this adds another use to the tons of useless materials that you collect during the game. I keep feeding it Chuchu Jelly, because I had over 900 of those and they fit the blue color of the fuel refilling animation. If it would go a little faster and if it had a horn, this thing would be perfect.

But driving the bike is a lot of fun and I'm happy that I actually still have Koroks left to find, because this will make the Korok hunt so much more enjoyable and crazy. With the Master Cycle Zero I feel like going anywhere... But certain areas don't allow the bike, like the desert and the heated areas of Death Mountain.

I went for both these areas, because I wanted to check something. Actually I was on a ride through Gerudo Canyon, when the Blood Moon struck. And this was perfect timing, because I wanted to see, if the Molduking respawns. And it does. Same goes for the Igneo Talus Titan. This is very good, because this now means that you can re-battle all the bosses in the game with one sole exception: Master Kohga. He will be lost forever and coincidentally he's the only boss in the game, where I forgot to take a picture... Well, stuff happens.

From the Kamia Omuna Shrine, where the Igneo Talus Titan resides, you can now drive your Master Cycle Zero down the Deplian Badlands. This gives you a much faster access to the three Lynels there, if you want to fight them, but the ride is also pretty badass with Dinraal around you. He even set me on flames a couple of times, which looks really cool while going on the bike.

Nice addition! Overall a very satisfying conclusion to the DLC. If it wasn't for how they handled the DLC armor, I wouldn't have much to complain here.


Current Progress:

• EX Memories: 5/5
• EX Side Quests: 13/13
• Koroks: 833/900
• Map Rate: 94.53%