After I set my goal of destroying Ganon without freeing any of the Divine Beast, it was time to claim the Master Sword and beat this game. I was only two Spirit Orbs short of the 13 necessary Heart Containers, so I cleared two more Shrines at the east side of Hyrule Field.
I chose those, because the Riverside Stable is where I originally got an Ancient Arrow from Beedle and I thought it would be good to grab it before going into the castle. But it turned out that this isn't about the location, instead this gets triggered when you have cleared one of the Divine Beasts, which I haven't done yet, so no free Ancient Arrow for me. Not that I made use of them...
Overall this approach of "get the Master Sword, fight Ganon" felt pretty good. It even makes sense from Link's perspective. The Divine Beasts let him down 100 years ago, so why would he bother with them? All he needs is his trusted weapon and a good amount of resolve to defeat the evil in Hyrule.
After obtaining the Master Sword, I gave it a test run at the Lomei Labyrinth Island. The Diamond Circlet that you can obtain there is pretty good, but I mainly wanted the Travel Medallion, so I could install it above the Sanctum for some easy access to Hyrule Castle, as I always do. This makes exploring this place a lot more convenient than just the Saas Ko'sah Shrine at the docks, though is exactly where I had entered Hyrule Castle. I also did my first Major Test of Strength there to get some Guardian++ weapons. From there I fought my way into the library and to the Dining Hall, grabbing even more good weapons along the way.
Funnily enough, I was constantly mixing things up with Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity. This hasn't really happened anywhere else in the game yet, because the places look significantly different in the spin-off, but Hyrule Castle seems to be the exception. I was looking for Koroks in the library, where there weren't any, or I was actually expecting three Guardians down at the docks where the Shrine is located... Silly me.
In the Dining Hall, the one Black Bokoblin with a Stone Smasher gave me quite the beating, where I suppose this is reminiscent of Hyrule Warriors as well, because the Moblins there could be equally brutal. But at least you can cook up any more food that you may need right there. I then simply went outside and ventured alongside the cliffs to a Decayed Guardian up in the north. And from there I just climbed the rocks and arrived at the Sanctum.
This was much easier than expected... So far I've always made use of Revali's Gale or the Zora Armor for some shortcuts, but I didn't have either. And I really thought that I would struggle a lot to get to the top, but apparently the north side of the castle is poorly defended from top to bottom.
After I got the Koroks at the top of Hyrule Castle and left my Travel Gate right there, it was finally time for the boss rush... fighting all variants of Ganon in a row!
Well, I've technically beaten the game. I guess, now I can go for the Divine Beasts and finally obtain my beloved Master Cycle Zero...!
Progress:
- Divine Beasts: 0/4
- Main Quests: 6/20
- Shrine Quests: 15/42
- Side Quests: 28/90
- Memories: 9/23
- Towers: 10/15
- Shrines: 46/136
- Koroks: 245/900
- Talus: 6/40
- Hinox: 1/40
- Molduga: 0/4
- Map Completion: 31.21%
After six years playing this on and off, I realize there's one aspect of enemy scaling EXP that I've never figured out. If I kill an ice/fire enemy (Wizzrobe/Lizalfos) with the polar opposite elemental weapon, it vanishes instantly. But unlike killing a regular enemy with Ancient Arrows, it actually leaves behind loot and weapons.
ReplyDeleteSo my question is, am I gaining the necessary EXP from these enemies by killing ice ones with fire and vice-versa? Or do I need to kill them with a regular weapon so I can see them disintegrate properly?
Going by the following guide, it still counts:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.reddit.com/r/zelda/comments/6gg5zj/explaining_enemy_scaling_in_botw/
"Anytime an eligible enemy dies, by any means, the counter will increment, even if you had no involvement in the enemy's death. An enemy is considered to have died the frame that its body explodes, melts, or turns to steam;"