The next area you get to explore is the Volt Forge, which is mainly a mass production facility for the game's other big gimmick: the motor bike. So, I've proceeded with that part and did some first cruising through the desert of Sol Valley afterwards.
Scans: 44%
Items: 16%
Ah, well... let's just do this. I'm 90 minutes into the game, where I have played through both the intro sequence and the first area, which covers the demo and the previews. So, these are some very early impressions.
Scans: 30%
Items: 9%
A little late to the party... That's what you get when you pre-order from Nintendo directly. So far I've been an advocate of the My Nintendo Store, despite paying full prices, because you usually get a number of nice goodies, mint quality, and the game on time. However, they hate the idea of you getting the game a day early, so they always keep the deliveries very close to their chest. A little too close. And during the Christmas season, in the week after Black Friday no less, this backfired. My package was stuck in some delivery limbo, where nothing happened for 48 hours...
But I blame Nintendo here. They sent it too late without the necessary priority labels / fast shipping. So, I honestly can't recommend their shop any longer if you want to be playing on launch day. And yes, I could have just gone to some store and pick the game up there, but I wanted the additional goodies and this would have created some unnecessary back and forth. And after the mixed previews and reviews my excitement wasn't the greatest either, so I was able to wait two more days after having waited 18 years.
It only sucked that I had taken one day of vacation... But luckily I was able to move some hours around to have more time to play on Monday. I just hope they won't ever release a new Zelda game in December again, because I won't be as patient in that case.
Anyway, the My Nintendo Store sold the so called "Power Set" of Metroid Prime 4: Beyond. It came with a big mouse pad, 61x35 cm, and a set of nine holographic cards. You also get a small key chain in a litte pouch with the game's logo on it, but that's the purchase bonus item that comes with any physical version of the game.
In addition, there are three amiibo: Samus, Samus on Vi-O-La, and Sylux. For some reason, the first two already were released alongside Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment a month ago, on November 6th, but I haven't touched them until today. At least they were delivered on time.
And they look really nice. Well, I personally find the normal Samus to be somewhat redundant, since we already got a very good looking version of that suit with Metroid: Samus Returns, but there is some extra detail with the purple psyschic power stuff and it has a different pose.
Their functionalities inside the game seem to be either useless or questionable, which is a problem with main Metroid games, it seems. Federation Force did it actually best with the paint jobs...
Now, I'm off to finally play the game. I'm not entirely sure if I want to do detailed blogging about my impressions and progress, now that I have effectively lost two days of potential play time, but let's see how I feel after the first couple of hours. It will be a shame if I don't, but in that case a late review will have to suffice.
Whether Koei Tecmo will keep expanding Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment after its free updates or not, they shouldn't move on to the next Fire Emblem Warriors just yet. Instead, they should stay on the project a little longer and bring Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity on the same page as its successor, via a shiny Nintendo Switch 2 Edition. This is a very common request, because a lot of people have not been happy with the performance of the original on the Nintendo Switch.
With such an upgrade the game would run in 4k and 60FPS, but since we're talking about a Nintendo Switch 2 Edition and not a mere free update, there also need to be some Switch 2 features to warrant it. One would be support for Game Share, which is an excellent addition in Age of Imprisonment that makes playing the coop mode much more enjoyable.
And the other would be increasing the number of enemies that are visible and ready to be attacked all across the board. The original game often only rendered a limited number of enemies, even when more were in the area. So, you might have 100 Bokoblins in front of you, but the game was only displaying 50 of them at once (just as an example). And the rest were popping in as the others got defeated. That's not a thing in Age of Imprisonment any longer and actually a very good feature for an upgrade, because it makes the game a lot more responsive and fun.
Still, this isn't much and like the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition of Animal Crossing: New Horizons this should come at the lowest price point, so only 4.99€ for the Upgrade Pack.
A free update that accompanies the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition could also address some other issues and omissions, which were left in the field after the Expansion Pass was finished. Plus, some improvements from Age of Imprisonment may also be implemented. Here are some ideas:
They could also finally make Astor playable in the post-game, but who am I kidding?
Well, Nintendo probably wouldn't release this all too soon, because right now they want to focus on Age of Imprisonment and don't take away from its sales. But in a year or so this could be a worthwhile addition to the ever-growing library of Nintendo Switch 2 Editions.
This week the first free update for Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment has been released and one more is to follow. The goal of these updates is to make the game last longer, where Koei Tecmo is expanding the post-game, but the first update did very little here. So, what can we expect from the second one? Will it be the game's saving grace or simply more of the same?
For this exercise, let us try to stay within realistic expectations. After all, we are talking about free updates here, where there have been no announcements for any paid DLC so far. This alone makes new playable characters, battlefields and story scenarios rather questionable, because these are selling points.
To be fair, the first Hyrule Warriors has received some playable characters in its free updates on the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS – Cia, Volga, Wizzro and Medli. But they all served as hooks for the paid DLCs that were released alongside them. You could play with these characters and level them up, but you couldn't get their stronger weapons, alternate costumes, or additional Heart Containers without the new Adventure Maps. It doesn't work like that in Age of Imprisonment, where a new character should automatically come with a number of Quests attached to enhance their state and skills.
Age of Calamity on the other hand didn't give us anything for free. Even quality of life improvements were locked behind Quests that were part of the Expansion Pass, which has caused some criticism at the time (in the very least from this blog). Luckily, this isn't the case here, but we also shouldn't expect this to become a free Expansion Pass. The first update is by no means an equivalent to "Pulse of the Ancients".
Let's just take a look at the numbers of everything that got added this week:
It's a drop in the bucket. And it already feels incomplete, where it's likely that the second update will continue from what they have started here. So, we will probably be getting some more Challenges, spanning from level 86 to 90, as well as more Vicious Battles, potentially covering some of the missing vicious monster types.
Those are Lizalfos, Horriblin, Molduga, Chuchu, Aerocuda and Gibdo. This would be six in total, where ideally they will just cover them all and don't do any more experiments with horrible combinations of them, because these were not fun in the slightest.
With unique Sync Strikes there is also a lot of potential to close some more gaps. The most obvious ones are left by Rauru, who doesn't have unique actions with any of the four masked sages, even though he is acting as their leader. Or they could just do more with Calamo.
As for new Challenges, it would be nice if there was an equivalent to the "Rack Up Your K.O. Count" missions from the first Hyrule Warriors, where your goal is to score as many K.O.s as possible within a given time limit. They have done something similar in the first update with the Poe collecting, which was a lot of fun and probably one of the best additions so far.
Another very interesting Challenge was "The Struggle for Ash Swamp", where the Ash Swamp is one of two battlefields in the game that don't have a story scenario on them. The new Challenge emulated that and let us explore the battlefield in its entirety for the first time. And here it would make sense if they were to follow this up with the second side battlefield: Damel Forest.
This one is remarkably similar to its counterpart in Age of Calamity, but you only ever get to play parts of it in Age of Imprisonment, never the whole thing. This is a shame, but it doesn't have to stay like this. How about a Challenge where they are out to explore the mysteries of the ancient Zonai and run into a horde of possessed Constructs? A big horde. And let Mineru talk a bit about hiding sky islands in large thunder clouds.
That's it for the obvious additions, following the first update. However, if this were to be all, it certainly would be disappointing, especially when it comes to making the game last longer. But there are a couple of features still missing from Age of Calamity, where it would be nice to have them in Age of Imprisonment as well.
One of these things is the Apocalyptic difficulty. This is a no-brainer, really, and probably the simplest way of prolonging the game: let the players do it all over again in an even harder mode. There were also the Blood Mood battles, which increased the difficulty of the story scenarios. The only problem is that many of them are already under a Blood Moon, so they would have to come up with a different explanation.
Another possibility could be randomized, rotating missions. Age of Calamity did this via its Vicious Monster Battles, but these are now fixed, so they are cleared normally like any other Challenge. And the new ones can be quite infuriating, where you probably don't want to replay them regularly anyway.
An alternative could be something like horde battles, based on "The Battle of Hyrule Field" scenario in chapter 5, where you fight off the Demon King's army. Those would randomly take place on different battlefields and even make use of a random selection of monsters.
Maybe these could even be used to threaten your territories after you are done with all the normal defense missions, where these now span the entire region and not just small parts of the map. But this could potentially be annoying.
And if there is nothing else left to do in a Warriors game, there is always grinding and weapon building. But the latter is very tedious and could use some improvements to make it more fun. Most importantly, you should get more Zonaite Steel after clearing a battle, not just one. The new Quests from the first update give you a piece of pure steel for each type, which was a nice gesture, but not a solution to the problem. Maybe they should add a Quest which unlocks more steel drops per battle. Alternatively, they could introduce some general Aside Quests that will keep rotating forever and let you obtain three pure steel per turn.
They should introduce a weapon shop among the services. Here you could buy more copies of any weapon that you've already obtained once, including one-time rewards, like the High Guard series or the new Longsword of Light. Right now, if you were to dismantle any of them, there is no way of getting them back. And that's unfortunate.
But that's all just peanuts. We know what the people truly want and that's more playable characters, first and foremost Sonia and Ganondorf. This is what would draw attention back to the game. But as stated initially, it may not be the most realistic thing to expect from these free updates.
Both characters also have clear story reasons as to why they were not playable to begin with. Honoring the canon of Tears of the Kingdom is what prevented Sonia from becoming playable, while following the structure of Age of Calamity, where everything on the map is from the perspective of the good guys, is what prevents Ganondorf.
Neither problem is particularly easy to solve. And in the context of the free updates we might be setting us up for disappointment when we are expecting either one. However, in case of Sonia, there is an alternative: Zelda could inherit her Longbow of Light as a second weapon / moveset for herself.
It makes sense from a story perspective and Sonia could even assist Zelda here in spirit, quite literally. And so far Zelda always had a second weapon type in all the Hyrule Warriors games, even a third with the DLCs. It's strange how now she has only one, even though she has become the main character. Inheriting Sonia's bow would remedy that and it also would be a meaningful addition.
In any case, there should be a second bow available. While there is Zonaite Steel specifically for bows, Raphica is the only recipient of these so far. And that is also rather strange. Since the first update has filled out some gaps in the base game, there is a good chance that we might get another bow with the second. And Sonia's is the obvious candidate here, whether as a new weapon for Zelda or in form of the queen herself. If there's one big highlight in these free updates, it will likely be this.
Another candidate for a bow moveset could be Calamo with the Forest Dweller's Bow, where fusing materials to arrows has been a big feature in Tears of the Kingdom, one that has yet to be utilized in Age of Imprisonment. But it would probably turn out quite similar to his default moveset.
As for Ganondorf... Yes, there is a lot of demand for him on the internet right now, but if they were to make him playable, then they should do him justice. And making him some bonus character, where he becomes a puppet for the good guys during the post-game, isn't that. With Ganondorf we are definitely looking at paid DLC territory, because he would effectively require his own game mode and map to properly realize a Demon King campaign.
There is some interesting potential here, though. He could become the antithesis to the heroes, where he is always fighting for himself and therefore doesn't perform any Sync Strikes. The L button then could be used for a weapon swapping feature, where you can swap between his sword, club and spear on the fly, which is what makes him stand out as a boss. But let's discuss this after the second update...
With Age of Calamity they also had no plans to release any DLC, but once they saw the demand they brought the team back together and made it happen. And history could repeat itself here, where Koei Tecmo has a history of listening to the fans. For the most part.
These free updates, however, are seemingly just there to tie up some loose ends, where one might think that this game got rushed out for some reason. After all, they had announced this for the winter season, originally, where it's not winter yet... So, let them complete the unfinished post-game first and then they can think about a proper expansion.
It is done. 100%. Just in time for Metroid Prime 4: Beyond next week, I have completed the new Hyrule Warriors. Of course, this state won't last long, because we will get a second content update in the near future, but for now I'm finished. Let's talk about the rest of the post-game, as well as the additions that came with the 1.0.2 update two days ago (one day earlier than they had announced).
Difficulty: Very Hard
Scenarios: 24
Challenges: 159
Quests: 402
Map Completion: 100%
We are getting the first update for Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment and it's already happening in two days, on November 27th. You can view Nintendo's announcement on X, and the Japanese website for more details. Koei Tecmo had previously announced that this game will be getting two free updates to make it last longer and this is the first of them.
For the most part this seems to focus on the post-game, so they will add more Challenges and Quests to it:
In addition, there will be a number of other improvements. For example, in the training chamber you can now swap characters and weapons on the fly. Or you can display open Aside Quests in the mission preparations.
By the way, the High Guard's Spear is the missing piece in the series of weapons that were provided as a save data bonus. There you had the High Guard's Sword and Claymore, but not a matching spear. You will be able to use these new weapons as the Mysterious Construct or with any of the recruits.
For some reason the version number will be 1.0.2, indicating that this is meant as a mere patch. Normally, with small content updates you would expect this to be version 1.1.0. Maybe some of the contents were already part of the game and simply weren't properly integrated or finished yet. The High Guard's Spear and the missing vicious monsters are an indicator for this.
In any case, the timing of this is impeccable. I've just arrived at the post-game last weekend and it truly feels a bit lackluster, where I will be welcoming any additional Challenges, especially ones that offer new things to do. But this is very little overall and if there's nothing to make the weapon building any easier (either lower requirements for the levels or a faster way to obtain more Zonaite Steel), then this won't be a saving grace.
Hopefully, the second update will add more substantial things, like new story scenarios and movesets or even characters.
It's time for the big finale, the climax of the Imprisoning War. Spoilers for the final boss and ending incoming, so read at your own discretion. In addition, I took a first glimpse at the post-game and its offerings.
Difficulty: Very Hard
Scenarios: 24
Challenges: 128
Quests: 364
Map Completion: 90.89%
I'm running out of the title screens showing the Forgotten Temple, so it's time to reclaim Hyrule Castle. Or so I thought... Let us dive into chapter 5 here, which is where the Imprisoning War is about to reach its end.
Difficulty: Very Hard
Scenarios: 22
Challenges: 111
Quests: 295
Demon King? Secret stone? Master Sword? Zonai Construct? Silver Lynel Saber Horn...? At least one of these deep questions was answered during the rest of Chapter 4, where I've gotten one last recruit and fought the other archfiends.
Difficulty: Very Hard
Scenarios: 19
Challenges: 106
Quests: 227
The completion statistics below will already tell you the next story: over the course of the weekend I have advanced in only two scenarios of Chapter 4, but the number of Challenges and Quests has doubled, meaning that I was mostly busy doing side missions. Lots of side missions. But the roster is now almost complete with Ardi and four new recruits.
Difficulty: Very Hard
Scenarios: 15
Challenges: 76
Quests: 142
Last week there has been a leaked footage of the live-action production for the upcoming Zelda movie. Today Nintendo has reacted by confirming the whole thing on social media.
Filming is underway for the live-action film of The Legend of Zelda in a lush, natural setting, with Bo Bragason-san who will play Zelda and Benjamin Evan Ainsworth-san who will play Link. Filming is on track for the film’s release on May 7, 2027. It will take a while until the release, so we would be grateful if you would wait patiently and look forward to it.
Yes, please wait patiently and don't disturb the film shootings!
In the leak you can also spot Dichen Lachman as Impa, which is an awesome choice. I liked her a lot in Dollhouse, if anyone still remembers that show (I do barely). But she's also in the cast of Severance, which is on my watch list.
And so far this is looking quite nice. The landscapes in New Zealand are very beautiful for this. They have made for a good Middle Earth, and they will make for a good Hyrule.
What I'm most curious about is how they will handle the different tribes, like the Gorons and the Zora, but I'm not expecting to see any of that in the near future. Maybe we will see a first trailer by the end of next year...
Horizon is Sony's equivalent to the new open world Zelda, which has started alongside Breath of the Wild in 2017. And they have announced a new game in the series, Horizon MMORPG - Steel Frontiers. As the title suggests, this will be an online role-playing game, and that reminded me of a thought I had eight years ago, when Breath of the Wild was still new:
World of Hylia - Zelda RPG Concept
If Nintendo were to re-use the Hyrule from Breath of the Wild for a third / fifth time, then an RPG or even an MMORPG would be an excuse. It could take place somewhere between the Great Calamities, so that Hyrule Castle and Hyrule Castle Town can be experienced at their fullest. Or it could take place after the Imprisoning War, giving the players the ability to build a kingdom of their own.
What rekindles this idea are also these guys:
In Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment you get to play as a number of fighters from the different tribes. Hylians, Rito, Gorons, Zora and Gerudo. And they all look a bit like they came out of a character creator for a Zelda RPG.
However, the different species in Zelda are truly something else from your usual fantasy cost. It is fun and unique to play as a Rito, a Goron or a Zora. They could also include Koroks and potentially even the Sheikah and Yiga (depending on the era).
Well, I have never played an MMORPG before and I have never seen the appeal in something like World of Warcraft, but if there's one franchise that could get me to play one, then it's definitely The Legend of Zelda.
And at least Nintendo would release this for their audiences on Nintendo Switch 2. Sorry, not sorry, Sony. :P
In less than three weeks Metroid Prime 4: Beyond will hit the shelves and that feels unreal, also because Nintendo hasn't been talking much about the game... at all. But this has changed today, where they've released a seven minute long overview trailer, explaining the game to dummies. Did you know that Samus could jump?! Woah...!
But it also introduces the main areas of the game, which probably won't win any awards for originality, with both their naming and their environmental designs:
It is very reminiscent of the areas you had in Metroid Prime, but also in Metroid Prime: Federation Force with the jungle, ice and fire themes. Volt Forge probably is the most novel out of the four, but you could still compare it to Talvania.
All of these areas are connected via the "Sol Valley", which is the huge, open desert. This is where you will primarily use your bike, Vi-O-La, confirming that this is essentially a more interactive replacement of the classic elevators. But I like how the main areas are all visually highlighted in the horizon, e.g. you get a giant tree for where the Fury Green lies, so you can always tell where your destination is.
But we've seen all this already, so the biggest reveal in the trailer is that Samus won't be alone: she will have the company of some Federation Troopers... yaaayyy... There are Makenzie, Duke, Armstrong, Tokabi, and others, who are also stranded on Viewros and who will assist Samus on various occasions.
Every good Metroid fan will have flashbacks to Other M with this one, but as long as they don't forbid you to use your suit upgrades, it will be fine. Though, it seems they do like to talk... a lot. To be fair, some of it looks really cool. But if you're the type of Metroid fan, where isolation is key to your experience, then this game will probably disappoint you, especially if you already disliked the Federation troopers in Prime 3.
Producer Kensuke Tanabe is a huge fan of the Galactic Federation for some reason, which brought us the infamous Federation Force, and he had already said many years ago that he wanted to explore more of it with this game, especially with Sylux as the antagonist, who hates the Federation. But this has some potential... Maybe the Federation soldiers will all get hunted down by Samus's "archrival" to let this new villain shine. I mean, the way how they all talk about seeing their families again, you already know that they won't see their families again... For the drama!!
Also, we get to see the new beam system in action, even though it's not explained in the trailer. But there seem to be Plasma, Ice and Shock Beams, all elements corresponding to the different areas on Viewros. The difference to the first Metroid Prime here is that they get swapped alongside Missiles and use up ammunition, much like the beams in Echoes.
Curiously, the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition doesn't seem to be compatible with a Switch 1. They explicitly stated that you should purchase the game edition that matches your system, but as far as I know the Nintendo Switch 2 Editions of Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom still work on an old Nintendo Switch – they will simply lack the upgrade features. So, you effectively get the Switch game on the cartridge and the upgrade pack, but this seems to be different here for some reason.
Or maybe Nintendo is just saying that, because they still want to sell some copies of the Nintendo Switch version. But it could be a good thing that I have a Nintendo Switch 2 by now, because I have preordered the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition in good faith that I could play it on my Switch at first and then use it on a Switch 2 later...
Ready your Zonai Devices! Yesterday I was able to finish Chapter 3, where the rest of the chapter initiated a first visit to Death Mountain and the Lost Woods. But there is also Agraston and another new fighter to talk about...
Difficulty: Very Hard
Scenarios: 13
Challenges: 40
Quests: 76
After the end of the second chapter, the game opens up a bit more, where I've been busy with clearing a plethora of Challenges and recruiting a bunch of new allies, including two of the Sages: Qia and Raphica.
Difficulty: Very Hard
Scenarios: 11
Challenges: 32
Quests: 58
The Demon King has risen! This entry covers the rest of the second chapter, where you have to play a series of three scenarios in a row, all in the red glow of the first Blood Moon. But this is also where you can unlock three more characters to play with, so there is already quite a bit to talk about, before going into Chapter 3.
Difficulty: Very Hard
Scenarios: 8
Challenges: 6
Quests: 17
The battle continues. After some struggles, I've beaten the scenario "Growing Suspicion", which is in the middle of chapter 2 and leads to the big turning point in the early story. There I had hit my first brick wall on the Very Hard difficulty.
Let's go! Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment was released today and I'm doing my usual thing on this site, because that's what it's for. I've been a huge fan of the first two Hyrule Warriors games, where I have completed them for the most part and I bet that this won't be any different.
As for now, I've only completed the first chapter, which includes the same level that was playable in the demo, which you could find in some stores in North America (and maybe elsewhere) and which was the basis for a number of previews out there. So, I think this is a good cut to give you some very early impressions.
This has arrived with the mail just now. I've ordered from the My Nintendo Store, where you get this neat, little notebook on top. It's nothing special, but better than nothing. But of course it costs full price to order it there, while the game was already considerably cheaper elsewhere.
With Age of Calamity I had actually imported the game from a different country in the EU, because I absolutely hated the German title, "Zeit der Verheerung". And it's not any better now with "Chronik der Versiegelung" (loosely translates to "Sealing Chronicle"), where I still don't understand why they felt the need to localize the subtitles of the Hyrule Warriors games. Nintendo never does this with any of their games, it's always all in English, and so far no one has complained about that... It's so weird. Also, the German age rating will ruin any good cover, which was also sometimes a reason to import certain games, but I find the Switch 2 boxes generally not all that appealing, so I probably won't care as much going forward.
But I was surprised to learn that the Switch 2 boxes are of the exact same sizes as the old ones. I expected them to be the same size as the Switch 2 itself (without Joy-Cons), simply because that's where the old size came from. But I'm not complaining, quite the opposite, because this makes them a much better fit into my current collection.
Naturally, I will do my usual blog about the game, so you can look forward to that in the upcoming days and weeks. I'm excited!
PS: I also got the first two Metroid Prime 4 amiibo. But I will show those on December 4th, once Sylux is available as well.
After exploring all the Voice Memories in Breath of the Wild over the weekend, I went on to do the same in Tears of the Kingdom. And this was arguably more important in preparation for Age of Imprisonment. It was also a bit more interesting, because you get memories from Rauru and Master Kohga in addition to Zelda's, where every character is responsible to entertain you on a different layer of the map.
Rauru's were probably the least interesting. He only got 35 of the 240 Voice Memories and they felt a bit pointless, at least most of the time. Also, with the sky islands it didn't make much sense to travel from one memory to the next, so I teleported quite a lot. And Rauru's memories were often right next to the warp point, making this quite effortless.
Well, it was interesting how Lightcast Island got used as training grounds for Rauru's (and Zelda's) light power. Maybe this will play a role in Age of Imprisonment, but it's doubtful that the Warriors engine will properly be able to implement light reflections. He also mentions that there used to be more Crystal Refineries, but the vendors are just a menu point in Hyrule Warriors anyway, so I also doubt that this will have any relevance.
Oh, and they've used Frost Emitters to create the snowy sky islands, also as a training ground, but for Constructs. Zelda mentioned something similar about Mt. Hylia in her Breath of the Wild Voice Memories, where she suspects that the snowy landscape is not a natural phenomenon, but instead was potentially created by ancient technology to provide such proving grounds for heroes.
As for Zelda's new Voice Memories, they felt a bit more lively and closer to the heart, mainly due to them happening only recently. It bridges the two games quite nicely and there is a lot in here where you'd wish that this were part of the main game.
The most important point by far is the confirmation that all the Sheikah technology has turned to dust and disappeared some time after Calamity Ganon had been defeated. I don't understand why they couldn't have mentioned this in Purah's diary as well, because this should have been the minimal effort to give the players some sort of connection to the events of Breath of the Wild.
It also gets explained that the wells were all freshly dug up in their attempts of rebuilding Hyrule. Well, it doesn't make much sense that it never occurred to anyone to do this any earlier, since water is essential to everyone's survival. But I do appreciate that they didn't ignore the fact that the wells were all buried in Breath of the Wild.
They even tried to explain how the Horned Statue moved from one place to another. When it was calling out to Zelda, trying to steal her life energy, there was some divine intervention in the form of a lightning strike. And then it toppled into the water... I don't see how it would end up beneath Hyrule Field from Hateno even if it were able to float, but anyway.
Zelda also talked about the Horned Statue in Breath of the Wild and the majority of the Voice Memories share the exact same locations, often referencing each other. For example, you can find one at the inn in Zora's Domain, in both games. First Zelda lamented how hard the beds were, suggesting that they should come up with something that feels like floating in water. And 100 years later she is rejoiced to find water beds.
But there are some new places as well, where some of the Voice Memories make you revisit the "video memory" locations from Breath of the Wild, which was a nice touch. It didn't cover absolutely all of them, however. And they make you also visit all the memorials that were placed all over Hyrule to commemorate the people fallen in the Great Calamity. This was a good detail in Tears of the Kingdom, but also something that you could just ignore completely before. And I like that this is given more significance to the Voice Memories now.
As for other details, you will learn that Misko was imprisoned in the Hyrule Castle Lockup a long time ago. And I liked the joke about Eventide Island, where Link was afraid that they might be stripped of their possessions again, so he covered his eyes when approaching the island together with Zelda... but didn't warn her beforehand.
Oh, and there was this joke about the old man's hut. In Breath of the Wild Princess Zelda absolutely trash-talks the thing, how they should have it teared down for safety concerns. And in Tears of the Kingdom she has learned by now that her father had built the thing and felt a bit sorry.
If you're looking for some comedy gold with these Voice Memories, then you want to be traveling the Depths. What Master Kohga has to say has zero value, but it is absolutely entertaining, also thanks to his fantastic English voice actor, Erik Braa.
It is very different from the rest, because it's more like an actual journal, where you can follow his steps through the Depths right from the spot where he fell down in Breath of the Wild, still cursing the cursed Link. Well, a lot of it is about his obsession with Zonai Devices, which makes sense, since effectively half of the Depths and all of the Yiga installations down there simply exist for the Autobuild stuff.
His obsession with the "Magnificent One" is equally funny, especially with how Kohga tries to not be annoyed by the Gloom, because it has to be a blessing from the Demon King. And it's irony of fate how he turned around at the Gloom's Approach, because some from the Yiga thinks they have figured out the Zonai terminals. But I like to think that Ganondorf didn't care about the Yiga at all and probably would have just killed Kohga if he came any close.
Interestingly, Master Kohga was traveling back to the surface and down into other chasms, in order to reach the Abandoned Hebra Mine and the Gloom's Approach. And no one took note... So much for the observation from Lookout Landing. Well, to be fair, the Yiga know how to be stealthy.
But what I didn't understand how Kohga knew of the "Magnificent One" in the first place. He mentions him very early, when he first ran into some hostile Bokoblins as he was still alone down there, but how did he know about Ganondorf at that point in time? After all, they were worshiping Calamity Ganon before, not the Demon King. So, that seems to be a plothole, but otherwise I liked this part quite a lot.
It also reminded me that I'd really like to learn more about the Depths in general. What is this whole place even supposed to be? Remnants of past Hyrules? What's the deal with the Bargainers? And can we have a Bargainer as a playable character in Age of Imprisonment? Maybe I can discover some answers tomorrow already...
In order to get attuned to Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment, I had decided to play the Nintendo Switch 2 Editions of both Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom. My main goal was to discover all the Voice Memories that come with the Zelda Notes app and get back into the world of these games while doing so.
Sadly, I didn't have much time during the weekend, so I'm only finished with Breath of the Wild for now and will have to rush through Tears of the Kingdom before Thursday. But I also don't want to rush, where I try to wander, glide or drive from one Voice Memory to the next, getting a good look at this Hyrule in 4K resolution and 60FPS. And it's certainly quite nice.
Funnily enough, I had originally purchased my current 50'' TV to play Breath of the Wild on it almost nine years ago. And Breath of the Wild was now the first game where I made use of its 4K resolution... Its visuals have aged well, but it's probably a good thing that its textures got updated for this.
Anyway, I'm not going into detail about the Switch 2 Edition here, since my focus was on experiencing all 125 Voice Memories. And this was more fun than I thought it would be. The problem with such recorded audio messages is that you just stand there listening, which pauses the gameplay and feels a bit awkward. It is not a good design choice, where other games are guilty of this as well (for example the Horizon series). The actual Memories, which show you a cutscene, work much better in this regard.
However, that would not have been the right format for the information conveyed here, which is about the smaller details of Hyrule, from the time before the Great Calamity. And listening to Zelda makes it feel like an audio guide for a museum or tourist attractions. You look around, while she gives you some history about it.
Since these Voice Memories were recorded after Tears of the Kingdom and during the development of Age of Imprisonment, they have used this as an opportunity to hint at certain things. For example, Zelda mentions that Mipha was rather embarrassed by how publicly they have displayed her statue at Zora's Domain, where in Tears of the Kingdom Sidon moved it to a more remote location.
Speaking of Sidon, they are even teasing a scenario from Age of Calamity here, by stating that little Sidon was intrigued by the Lynel at the Shatterback Point.
And even the room behind the Goddess Statue in the Forgotten Temple gets mentioned, even though this is of no significance to this game. It may even cause first time players to try and find a way in, not knowing any better.
There is also talk of how the ruins north of Gerudo Town once used to be part of the town, before a tyrant unleashed a Molduga and destroyed it. That tyrant was certainly Ganondorf and maybe we will see this happening in the new Hyrule Warriors.
But the Voice Memories also raise some questions that may get answered. For example, there are multiple theories as to how the Rauru Settlement got its name. It could have been the king's residence, Queen Sonia's birthplace, or simply the village of place of great support for Rauru. The truth might be something else entirely and maybe we are going to find out.
And then there are the Dueling Peaks, of course, where we already saw in Tears of the Kingdom how it was one mountain in the past. Maybe some event in Age of Imprisonment will cause the mountain to split. Maybe it was even Zelda herself, which would be hilarious.
I also thought it was interesting how the nearby Deya Lake got artificially created to prevent a drought of Lake Hylia, as a reservoir. So, I expect this lake to not be a thing in Age of Imprisonment.
One Voice Memory, "The Divine Beast of Lightning", even confirms the excavation site of Vah Naboris. It's a shame that they couldn't do the same for the others, because I thought this was quite interesting. In hindsight this seems like the most obvious spot for it, but I actually never took note of it.
Another very interesting reveal comes with the Springs of Power, Wisdom and Courage. Zelda explicitly states there that these were sights to worship the three Goddesses Din, Nayru and Farore. of course, this makes sense for every Zelda fan, but I don't think these Goddesses were ever mentioned by name in Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom.
What I also liked is how the Voice Memories will take you to the locations on the map that you can potentially miss for the 100%, because there is nothing else there, just a name on the map. Those are the Shadow Hamlet Ruins, Stolok Bridge and the Gerudo Desert Gateway. Thanks to the Voice Memories there is now something else there... Well, technically.
You don't see anything in the game itself, which is probably the biggest complaint I have about this feature. It reminds me of how certain things worked in The Wind Waker. On the GameCube you had the additional secrets that you could only see via the Tingle Tuner. And on the Wii U you could use the map on the GamePad to navigate to treasure spots that you only see from a distance. In both cases you had to use a second screen to find something that you couldn't see on the TV.
However, the Zelda Notes app doesn't update in real time. It only updates your location on the map every two to three seconds. And the radius that triggers these Voice Memories is actually quite small. In some places it's obvious where you need to stand, in others you might run back and forth until you finally hit the spot...
There was also one memory that was quite difficult to find, in the throne room of Hyrule Castle's Sanctum. You can't just walk there, because it will trigger the final battle. Instead, you have to go to the room above the Sanctum and take a staircase that leads down from there. This let's you safely approach the throne without triggering anything.
This was my final memory, by the way. I started at Hateno Village, went to Lurelin Village from there, to the Faron Woods, to West Necluda and Kakariko Village, to Zora's Domain, Akkala, Death Mountain, Hyrule Forest, Mount Hebra and Tabantha, the Gerudo Region, the Great Plateau, Hyrule Field and finally Hyrule Castle.
In less than five days Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment will launch and we know very little so far. It's a very different situation from Age of Calamity, where we knew the full roster weeks in advance, due to data-mines from the playable demo. It's probably the reason why we didn't get a demo this time, at least not one in advance...
I also haven't seen any leaks yet from early copies, so the only thing that might give us more information are reviews, which probably are under an embargo until Tuesday. At that point you might as well just wait and see for yourself. And I personally prefer to go into games with as little knowledge as possible to not ruin potential surprises, like what characters might be playable in addition to the ones we know of.
Anyway, I wanted to use this situation of knowing little to sort my thoughts about what I'd like to see from the game, one last time before we find everything out. Major spoilers for Tears of the Kingdom ahead!
It is finally happening! After more than five years, Animal Crossing: New Horizons will be hosting a collaboration with The Legend of Zelda. You can learn all about it in today's announcement, but let's get through everything shown. There are new furniture and clothing items, as well as Tulin and Mineru as new villagers.
Like in Animal Crossing: New Leaf, you will need amiibo from the Zelda series to unlock these things. We don't know any specifics, but in the very least you should be able to use Tulin's and Mineru's. Speaking of, we don't have a release date yet for the latter, but it might be available on January 15th at the latest, which is when the 3.0.0 update for Animal Crossing: New Horizons launches. (It's also possible that other Zelda amiibo can unlock Tulin and Mineru – we don't know yet.)
On Nookipedia you can find a complete list of all the Zelda contents in past Animal Crossing games, where most of it was in New Leaf. Some of these contents will return, but not all of it. From what we could see in the footage, it's at least the following:
In addition to the returning items, you can spot a variety of new things:
Most of it is from three most recent Zelda titles on Nintendo Switch, which makes sense, but there could have been a bit more variety. At least one item from The Wind Waker, Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword would have been nice. But maybe there is more that they haven't shown...
The most important additions are the two new villagers, though. We have Tulin as a jock bird, who has "gust" as his catchphrase. And Mineru is a snooty deer saying "construct". They look both very detailed, which is also thanks to the new outfit items that come with them.
Sadly, there is no news on the four Zelda villagers from New Leaf:
There would be no overlap between the personalities of the old and new Zelda villagers, where you could cover 75% of all personality types with them, leaving only lazy and big sister. I originally had planned my island with these four characters in mind, but now I have to rethink who I'm going to keep.
And it's understandable that they wanted to replace Medli with a more recent Rito, but it's still a shame about the other three. In the very least they could have brought back Pig Ganon, since he was featured in Echoes of Wisdom. Maybe this will still happen or maybe they haven't announced all of the collaboration items yet, but I very much doubt it. I'm just happy that this collaboration is happening at all, after all hope seemed lost years ago.
The official Japanese website now has a complete list of who each amiibo will summon. The good news is that you have a lot of options for Tulin and Mineru, so you don't need to purchase their specific amiibo. The bad news is that none of the previous Zelda villagers will return, which is very disappointing.
Those have been the main reason why I wanted this collaboration to happen, but it wouldn't be Nintendo if they didn't leave something to be desired. They just can't help it.
Wow! Out of the blue Nintendo has announced some big news for Animal Crossing: New Horizons. It will be getting a Nintendo Switch 2 Edition, but also a major free update for both the Nintendo Switch and Switch 2, on January 15th. You can watch the whole announcement on Youtube.
Earlier this year, I've been speculating about Animal Crossing on the Nintendo Switch 2 and a major update for New Horizons, similar to Splatoon 3, was the likeliest candidate for the near future. After all, both games got made by the same development staff. And it looks like this was on the money!
I didn't think that they would go for a Nintendo Switch 2 Edition, however, but there isn't much to it. You get the 4k upgrade and there is support for the Joy-Con mouse controls, so it's quite similar to Metroid Prime 4: Beyond.
The only questionable thing is the Microphone item, because calling out for your residents has been a much requested quality of life feature. Sometimes you are just looking for a specific villager and can't find them. So, to hide it behind the system's microphone is literally not a good call... Oh, and you can now play with up to 12 players at once online, for those who like online parties. The most I've ever played with was two.
But the upgrade to the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition only costs five bucks, so that's fair. And all the good stuff is waiting for you in free 3.0.0 update, so you can still enjoy all that on the Nintendo Switch. The 2.0.0 update was said to be the last major one, but I'm very happy that they've changed their minds about this, because this game really needs these content additions to stay interesting.
The resort hotel seems a bit silly for multiple reasons. I always thought that it was sad how Kapp'n sings about this family and even keeps a photo of them in his boat, but always stays at your pier. The easy solution would have been to make him leave after your daily boat ride. But I suppose you can also just bring his whole family to your island...
It's funny and makes good use of the free space on the water, but the feature itself just seems like a lite version of the Happy Home Paradise DLC. It is the exact same mechanics, just without the exteriors and the resort island. It also makes the campsite feel somewhat redundant now.
The storage upgrade is a godsend. I've hit the limit of 5000 items a while ago, because I've been using it mainly for collections. I've got all Gyroids in there, all fossils, all critters and their models, all the special event items, lots of photos, and so on. And if you want an extensive wardrobe on top, then 5000 isn't enough. 9000 should do, however.
Maybe I could use the new Slumber Islands to display a part of the collection, e.g. all the models. That's also an excellent feature, which effectively lets you create a second, third and fourth island within the game, but as a blank canvas for decorations. So, you won't have the Resident Services in your way and it will be free from the game's usual mechanics. You can even freely set the time of the day and the weather. This alone is a massive feature that can be enjoyed for many hours.
This wasn't mentioned in the trailer, but shown briefly: you can now finally craft multiple copies of an item at once! This is fantastic, especially for something like fish bait.
But you already know what the most important part of the announcement was, right? Not the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition, not the hotel, not the Slumber Islands, not the quality of life features... No... The LEGO! Just kidding...
But when they started talking about "collaborations", I was freaking out. Ever since I had started my own island about four years ago, I've been waiting for them to bring back the Zelda items and villagers, because I was building things with them in mind. But for some reason they never bothered... until now.
Well, at first they had talked about classic Nintendo systems. In past Animal Crossing games, you had the option to play a variety of emulated games. But here it looks like it's only one select game per system and you will need a Nintendo Switch Online membership for it, which is oddly restrictive. The LEGO stuff also seemed weird at first, but then I remembered that there are actual Animal Crossing LEGO sets, so it's nice to have this both ways.
During that part I was getting a little anxious that they might be doing all sorts of weird crossovers again, like the Hello Kitty stuff, and not the one that truly matters. But there it was: contents from The Legend of Zelda and Splatoon will finally return! They do require you to scan amiibo, however, and only these two franchises are back.
A collaboration with Metroid would have been amazing as well, but maybe this will still happen and I'm just happy we're getting Zelda stuff again. I'll talk about that in a separate post, because there is a lot to cover here.
Now, I'm actually still playing Animal Crossing: New Horizons regularly, but this has changed from once per day to once per week. I had reached all my goals and finished my island to what I wanted it to be, so all that is left to do is plugging weeds, hoping for some missing crafting recipes and checking shops for items that I have yet to catalog. But these new contents will give me enough reason to start the game more often and I'm really looking forward to January 15th.
