Age of Calamity War Log, Entry 4

Current Progress

• Difficulty: Very Hard
• Chapter: 4
• Battles: 10
  
• Challenges: 40
• Quests: 84
  

Against the Clock

Last entry ended on the remark that I'm having trouble with some of the time limited Challenges, specifically the ones that want you to defeat a big and slow boss, like a Hinox or a Talus, as well as some other stronger enemies within a couple of minutes. I can't do those yet, where I have to return to these Challenges when I'm significantly over-leveled for them.

Now, after those bad experiences with time limits you can imagine how amused I was about the next main mission at Crenel Peak, where you have 25 minutes to reach the end with a gigantic army of tough foes in your way. Well, I wasn't. Especially the end of the level was a huge slap to the face...

Not only one, but two Stone Taluses? I had no elemental rods left, maybe one or two apples and only nine minutes. Joy. Also, climbing one Stone Talus will result in the other hitting you to death, so don't even think about it. And I can't believe I actually managed to beat this scenario by slowly bombing these two away. I just kept throwing bombs like there's no tomorrow, but bombs do slowly decrease the weak point gauge, so it works somehow.

This reminds me of my first time playing Eventide Island in Breath of the Wild, where I would just sit on a hill and keep throwing bombs at the Hinox. Except that this approach in Age of Calamity didn't take as long, because the bombs are a lot more powerful.

To be fair, the time limit was certainly balanced around the "Very Hard" difficulty here, unlike some of Challenges, though the majority of the level I just kept running and running, where everything else would follow. This would result in the outposts being clogged with all sorts of strong enemies, but in the least you can quickly build up your Special Gauge and then strike multiple tough foes at once for some weak point damage. Otherwise I probably wouldn't have done it in time.

When I've learned that this mission also had some Koroks to find, I could only sigh... I love searching for these little guys, I really do, but not like this... I think this mission would have been amazing if the goal was simply to clear the path for Princess Zelda without the stupid time limit.

But I get that this was really about letting you run wild with the Master Sword. And this could only be achieved by rushing into the enemy, instead of taking everything and everyone down carefully one by one. So, I get why they were going with this and it even would have been fun, if it weren't for the troll ending.

And why do the main missions always have to end on some evil boss fight? Come to think of it, it was pretty much the same in Hyrule Warriors, wasn't it? Most scenarios in Legend Mode ended on some sort of boss battle. It's just that I didn't really mind this there, because the bosses and commanders were usually easy to face and therefore a fun finish for the level. But of course I can't really compare this, because the only time where I've played Hyrule Warriors on a similar difficulty level was with the Twilight Princess DLC Adventure Map on Wii U. And I hated that one...

 

The Heroes' New Clothes

After this stressful mission, it was time for a break at Hyrule Castle, where the Champions finally received their blue garments. The game skips over the ceremony, because that's something that you could already see in the Champions' Ballad and it probably played out the same way. Instead the game focuses on a little more carefree moment and I love to watch the Champions interact with each other. The characters grow a lot more on you in this game than they did in Breath of the Wild and I can't have enough of those cutscenes.

It's too bad that this doesn't give you any attire options for the rest of the Champions, though. They do have their character models both with the blue garments and without them, so why not make this an option? I really hope that this will get unlocked or patched later on.

And while they are at it, they should add in a refill for apples and rods before each mission. Ideally, this would happen automatically, like with the healing potions in Hyrule Warriors. Or if there was a service for this, where you buy these refills, it would be okay, too. But the way it is, it happens too often that I start the game, eager to play the next Challenge, only to realize that I'm out of apples or rods. And then I have to exit the scenario, which sucks in case you just cooked something for it, and go play some early Challenges again to grind for some refills (and level-ups).

Anyway, as for the clothing options, they could have given Urbosa the Thunder Helmet as well. And it's kind of suspicious that this thing wasn't even shown yet. It's also weird how Revali gets a collection of Hylian bows, instead of any Rito bows... And all of this makes me wonder if the "Champion descendants", like Teba and Riju, won't be playable after all, where they could get to use things like the Thunder Helmet or the other Rito bows. But I suppose I'll find out soon enough (hopefully by playing the game and not some spoilers).

Speaking of weaponry, Link gets the Wooden Mop? No, no, no, why...? This was supposed to be Mipha's joke weapon! It's a perfect fit for her water ability...! Why, Koei Tecmo, why...? Bad game, 7/10.

But really, it's a shame that Link gets all the cool stuff and the other Champions only get the bare basics. That was a poor decision, because this game should really be all about the other playable characters and not the one you've already spent hundreds of hours playing with.

 

Revali, the Chosen One

Now off to more side questing, it was time for Daruk to slay a Lynel for some upgrades of his own. And I have to say that his Bomb Rune weakpoint attack is absolutely amazing, because he summons these lava rocks all around your target, where you can quickly detonate them with ZR to deplete the weak point gauge. That's some really good stuff.

But the real hero of this game is Revali. While I was seriously underwhelmed by the whole Rito part in Breath of the Wild and I didn't like Revali very much, this game truly makes this Champion rise, literally. First of all, you get another of the Divine Beast training missions and playing with Vah Medoh is simply fun. Pew, pew, pew!

 

What makes a big difference is that you don't have to deal with all the terrain around you, you can just steer the thing through the air and blast away. It's effortless and the fast lasers are super fun as well. It's actually the first time that I've replayed any of the Divine Beast missions for the fun of it. Vah Medoh for the win.

(By the way, that you can change cockpits to the lower side reminds me of the Cicada vehicle from Unreal Tournament 2004 and Unreal Tournament 3. It also had similar fast firing lasers for the lower gun, but I'm sure that's just all a coincidence.)

And Revali plays equally well when he's in the air. That arrow spam he does with his regular attacks is the answer to nearly everything. It does good damage and is the best crowd control in the game, where you can fill you Special Gauge super quickly. If I'm having any trouble with a mission, I'm going with Revali, where he is now actually my most leveled character in the game.

He was also super helpful in all those new Challenges that are all about defending your stronghold(s). Well, these missions feel more like they are about surviving the large enemy attacks yourself than protecting the keeps. Unlike the first Hyrule Warriors, your outposts and strongholds only take very little damage, even if they are filled with some of the toughest foes this game has to offer.

It's also the same with your allies. You can leave them fighting a boss or a horde of Moblins and they'll barely get any scratches. Of course they also won't do much damage themselves, but at least they aren't causing you any trouble.

But because Revali has proven himself to be the best, I've chosen him to accompany Link and Zelda for the next mission...

Attacking Akkala

After all the defense training missions, I actually expected this to be a defense-focused battle when I learned that it would take place on Akkala Citadel. The preview material for this game also had something like it, but that was during the night and it turned that I'm the one who is actually on the offense here, while the incompetent Yiga Clan defends the castle and has an issue with the Ancient Furnaces around it.

This mission was for the most part quite enjoyable, where right at the beginning I could explore most of the battlefield in peace. So, I took my sweet time to look around for Koroks and other things. This was certainly a nice change of pace after the previous main mission... And I welcome it.

Now, I was going into this mission quite over-leveled, where the recommended level was only 26 and I had everyone to at least 36 at this point. In the previous main mission Link gained a whole lot of experience and I decided to get everyone on par with all my hard earned Rupees. Still, the Yiga Blademasters and Sooga, who was the boss again, could take away all my health with just two slashes...

Combine this with the close quarters inside the citadel and you're in for some frustration. It's hard to dodge enemy attacks with walls and things all around you. And suddenly Revali was in a bad place, because he wasn't really in his element with all those narrow corridors.

Nope, don't even think of it, Revali! You're not getting those delicious bananas to heal yourself! That cord with a "no entry" sign keeps even the best out, I'm sorry.

As a result, both Revali and Link had to take a long pee break, where they went outside to catch some fresh air, search for those rare apples and refill their Special meters by destroying some mooks.

It was quite funny to do this, but it helped and luckily Sooga didn't give me as much trouble as the first time. There is a Challenge with him that I haven't cleared yet (one of three so far), because you face him together with one of his Blademaster buddies on steep terrain and that proved to be quite difficult. But maybe I'm ready for it now.

That Challenge will go under in the mass of side quests that got unlocked after beating this scenario, however. There are now so many things to do at once, I don't think I will continue with the story any time soon, which is why I decided to write this post now. I finally get to see where all the Koroks are, upgrade Rune downtime and other things... This is super exciting.

And it was all made possible by activating all the Sheikah Towers around Hyrule, which was the main goal of this mission and is the second major plot point that has changed due to the time travel. The first being the recruitment of the other Champions, which played out quite differently in the Champions' Ballad. Let's see where all of this goes...