Breath of the Wild Switch Log, Entry 2

In this third playthrough of Breath of the Wild I'm having trouble with finding my bearing, where there has been a lot of back and forth since my start. Once I've jumped off the Great Plateau, I landed right on Majora's Mask, immediately opened a guide map, and started following the Korok Seeds and treasure chests around it...

This is what I had done with my Master Mode run five years ago and it was very efficient. But I quickly realized that this is not the way to do things this time. If I'm just following checkmarks on a map, then I might as well be playing some mediocre open world title. And with this playthrough I wanted to re-explore this Hyrule, where it's more fun to try to remember all the secrets and then see how many Koroks I will have missed at the end.

Also, if I just follow a guide map, I will ultimately avoid any blank spots. But those empty spaces can still be interesting, because these are all potential canvases for Tears of the Kingdom. It's actually fun to run around and think about how they could mix things up in the sequel. There is a lot of open space with really nothing to find, not even a treasure chest or a Korok Seed. It's easy to understand why Nintendo wanted to re-use the same overworld, because there is still so much that they could have done with it...

Still, I didn't want to run around blindly, so my first goals were the Sheikah Sensor+ for treasure chests and the Korok Mask, just to make sure that I don't miss anything while running around. So, I first headed to Kakariko, then to Hateno for the Sheikah Slate upgrades, back to Kakariko to do all the side quests there, and from there into the Lost Woods. There I did the different trials for the shrines and also enhanced my inventory space quite a bit from all the Korok Seeds I've already collected on my way, despite not using a guide map.

I still love collecting the Korok Seeds and looking out for the little puzzles in the environment. It makes me wonder what they will do in Tears of the Kingdom in terms of collectibles... We don't really know yet, but I doubt that the Korok Seeds will return and if they do, those little target shooting games will become significantly easier thanks to the arrows fused with Keese Eyeballs. I sometimes wish I could already do that...

Now, I had obtained the Sheikah Sensor+ and the Korok Mask, but there is still one tool missing that would make exploring so much more fun and convenient: the Master Cycle Zero. In my Master Mode playthrough I didn't really make much use of it, because by the time I got it, I've already swept over all of Hyrule. And that was a shame, really, because I love the bike. But since I'm not efficiently clearing area by area this time, I should be using it more in the end and decided to focus on doing all the Divine Beasts next.

This is also a good goal for what I want to achieve before Tears of the Kingdom gets released. I won't be able to clear the game 100%, but in the least I should be able to conquer all the Divine Beasts and beat the game. I can still look for the rest of the Sheikah Shrines and Koroks later on, where it might even be interesting to do so right after Tears of the Kingdom. I even believe that the Master Cycle Zero will be the one thing that will make return to this game, despite all the cool new things that you will be able to do in the sequel.

Since Death Mountain is right next to the Lost Woods, I decided to just go there and bring that Divine Beast down. It's easy enough if you know what you're doing and it felt like a different choice to me for some reason. By the time I entered Vah Rudania, however, I studied the Hero's Path on my map and realized something: I've seen this before! Well, it wasn't the exact same path, but it's about the same route that I took during my Master Mode run. I was just doing the same things in the same order, only less efficiently and without the added difficulty.

Believe it or not, this really bummed me out. Originally, my plan was to start with a different Divine Beast in each of my playthroughs, but for some reason I've assumed that I've never done Vah Rudania first. But I did. And even if my memory has played me some tricks on me, there is no excuse for this, because I've written it all down, right here on this site.

For a moment this completely took the wind out of my sails, but restarting the game was not an option. I had already achieved too much for that and I'm on a tight schedule. I then started heading for Vah Medoh instead, but since this was also my second Divine Beast in my previous run, I still was just following the same course. I've never been so lost while having a goal and clear directions... It just felt awkward and I wasn't happy with the situation.

Luckily, I haven't done anything inside Vah Rudania yet and I didn't even approach the Flight Range, so I could still think about what I want to do differently... And then it hit me: something that I've never done before is beating Calamity Ganon without taking down any of the Divine Beasts! All the Blights that you haven't taken down yet will appear inside the Sanctum as an extra challenge, where this is essentially the game's only boss rush. I've never experienced this myself and I'd rather do this in Normal Mode than in Master Mode. So, this seems like the best way of changing direction, to truly do something different.

But I'm not as skilled at this game as those speed runners who storm Hyrule Castle with only three hearts and a Pot Lid. I will have to prepare myself accordingly, where in the very least I want to have the Master Sword and also the Travel Medallion, so I can just warp out there and get some supplies, if needed. It's also good to have a warp point at the top of Hyrule Castle in any case.

So, I went to Akkala first to get Robbie's lab running and to unlock a third Great Fairy. I climbed a couple more towers, cleared all the side quests related to horses, explored more, cleared shrines, and so on.  Of course, this was now contrary to my previous goal to get the Master Cycle Zero as quickly as possible. I've focused entirely on exploring and getting stronger, all while postponing the main quests. But sacrifices had to me made...

Also, I've started using amiibo to get some (better) stuff, especially since I kept running out of normal arrows at first. (I do have a big stockpile of Shock Arrows, though, Sidon will be happy.) I haven't used any amiibo until now, because they felt too much like a cheat in the early game and its survival gameplay. But after some point it doesn't really matter that much and I also want all the special armor pieces, where it's best to start early. In Master Mode I never felt bad about using amiibo, because there you want everything that you can get.

Well, by now I've also purchased a ton of arrows from the horseback archery minigame guy, but this leads me to my constant shortage of Rupees. I haven't even purchased the house yet in Hateno village, because there is always so much to spend Rupees on, like the Great Fairies or pieces of armor. I'm not complaining here, I think this is a good thing. Never I've been so happy to find Rupees in a treasure chest in a Zelda game!

It certainly beats getting more weapons on a full inventory. As much as I actually like the weapon system in Breath of the Wild, this is just annoying and I hope that they will somehow optimize this in Tears of the Kingdom. It would already help if I could quickly drops things out of the quick select, so I don't have to open the inventory to do it.

Anyway, I've beaten my first Lynels and I'm missing only one Heart Container for the Master Sword, so I should be good to give the "early" Hyrule Castle a try this weekend.

Progress:

• Towers: 10/15
  
• Shrines: 42/136
  
• Koroks: 224/900
• Talus: 6/40
• Hinox: 1/40