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
Let's begin with another upgrade to the camps that I failed to mention the last time: you can now supply ten materials at once, which allows you to maximize all three effects. I usually pick two pieces of meat and two Sneaky River Snails, because I got plenty of them, and then boost them with three wood and two butter. So, you don't even need all ten slots.
And there are very helpful effects to be unlocked at this stage, which let you reduce the received damage by up to 30% and even recover hearts over time. Well, I still prefer the EXP boost over the latter when playing the shorter Challenges, but the regeneration is very good for the main story scenarios.
I wish I had something like this in Age of Calamity... Overall, Age of Imprisonment is so much easier in so many ways. There was this huge difficulty spike in chapter 2 with the boss fights there, but it has only been getting easier since then.
The Zonai devices are probably the biggest factor, because they let you plow through most weak point gauges within seconds, especially when the enemy is weak to the corresponding element. Just place them in front of your target and keep attacking. It's super overpowered, but with currently four spare batteries in my pocket and some more to find on the battlefield it's also not as limited as it probably should be.
And then you have the camps and the Sync Strikes, which can also be boosted by the camps... I don't even notice the Very Hard difficulty any longer, other than fighting bullet sponges, but that's okay. I remember how I spent a lot of time roaming the battlefields in Age of Calamity, looking for any scraps – some Bokoblins to charge my Special meter a little more, maybe an apple somewhere, just to have a fighting chance... Now, those days of desperation are over. The Imprisoning War is much more relaxed!
The Counterstrike
The Zonai abilities from Tears of the Kingdom, which serve as your primary items, are mainly represented via different movesets in this game. Zelda is using Recall, Rauru is a master of the Ultrahand, and Mineru is the Autobuild maniac. Fuse is different, as it's a unique skill for the Knight Construct and its entourage. However, one ability hasn't seen any love in this game yet: Ascend. And to be fair, that's probably difficult to implement in a Warriors game.
So, I was very happy to see it featured in the next scenario, where Rauru is using it to ambush some of Ganon's troops via the caves below. This was a smart move, but imagine if this was something that you could actually use strategically in the game. What if the battlefields had an accessible cave layer below them? It would make things a lot more interesting already...
Take the Seres Scablands, for example. Yes, they have those signature trees, which are even used by the enemy to bombard you from above. This was unique, but it's even smaller than the Hyrule Ridge stage in Age of Calamity. One way to remedy that would have been if the whole Ascend maneuver was a playable part of the scenario, not just a cutscene.
But the way it is, it's just one big monster after another, where at the end you're faced with Grimgohma, the Archfiend of Lava. That doesn't look like a Gohma at all, but I still think that the designs of these Archfiends are quite excellent.
When it rests on the giant gloom rock during the middle, I first thought I had to throw back the rocks with wind or a repellant Unique Skill, because that's how you always do it. And this made the fight unnecessarily frustrating, because I quickly used up my batteries here. But you can just smash them back with any attack, so there is no need to use up anything...
All Allies
After the battle you can make Pastos join Calamo's party, who is a Goron with severe anger issues. Remember Darunia's Focus Spirit finisher from the first Hyrule Warriors, where he curls into a ball and stomps the ground three times while getting bigger and bigger? Now, that is Pastos's moveset in a nutshell. You curl up and stomp things. His default Sync Strike is especially insane – it does a ton of damage, probably the strongest move in the game.
He isn't exactly the nicest fellow, but this comments can be hilarious. For example, he yells "Quit standing around!" when you switch to a different character. But I'm sure he has a good heart under all that hard rock, like those cranky villagers in Animal Crossing.
This should be it, however. At least from what I've heard, I'm now looking at the complete roster in Age of Imprisonment, 19 characters in total. This is the most a Hyrule Warriors game got at its launch, one more than Age of Calamity. The first one only had 13 in the beginning, or 16 if we're being generous and count the villain trio from the first free update.
But the roster here is made of mostly filler – characters you have never seen before in a Zelda game and who (unlike previous original characters by Koei Tecmo) have little to no story relevance. They are just there to offer some more variety and to give all the weapons you can collect a spin. And it's also questionable whether this game will receive more playable characters via DLC or not.
Well, I like how they left an open spot in the top right corner. It organizes the roster a little bit better, so that the masked sages are all in their own row (unlike the Champions in Age of Calamity) and then you get the whole block with the Knight Construct and all the other new faces. But it also leaves a free space in remembrance of Sonia, who would have been at the top with Zelda and Rauru if this game weren't trying to be canon.
Maybe her spirit could still become playable in the postgame, or via one of Koei Tecmo's announced updates. It's even of note how there is Zonaite Steel for bows in this game and only Raphica's Eagle Bow is making use of it. Well... Sonia's "Longbow of Light" could be a second recipient for that, right? Or maybe bows should have been a fourth weapon type for the Knight Construct and the nobodies.
Since we're on the topic, let's take a look at the weapon type distributions:
- Typhan: one-handed
- Quino: two-handed
- Cadlan: spear
- Lago: one-handed
- Pastos: two-handed
- Braton: spear
- Vence: one-handed
- Pinnec: spear
- Sholani: one-handed
- Ronza: two-handed
Remembering all their names is quite the mental exercise... But that's 4x one-handed, 3x two-handed and 3x spear, so it's equally distributed. And despite my general aversion against these random characters, I'm still thinking about how this could be expanded, especially if we were to add bows to the equation. But two extra characters per tribe is really enough and the Gorons have already exhausted their options, because they only have their hammer swords and drills to work with...
We could get two more Koroks, however. Maybe one who fights with a bow and another with a stick (spear). And this game could have introduced us to the Bargainers, or maybe some ancient predecessors to the Sheikah...
But I have no expectations of them adding even more random nobodies to the roster, nor do I want that. I also find none of them generally exciting to play as. They are all bearable thanks to having the Zonai Devices and Sync Strikes, but they do lack the special strengths that make the main characters stand out in battle.
Well, to be fair, there is some good stuff here and there. Lago's strong attack feels remarkably broken, for example. You can quickly spam it for some quick damage. Thematically I like Cadlan more, however, because his water attacks remind of Mikau's fin boomerangs. These guys are really an odd mix of ideas, maybe offshoot ideas from when they were designing the sages.
Ambush in the Depths
Now the game is finally returning to the lowest layer of the map. The Depths were really the most disappointing thing about Tears of the Kingdom for me personally, a whole underground world of wasted potential. And Age of Imprisonment can either avoid going there or try to make it more interesting. So far it has been the former choice, where there only has been some exploration in the first chapter.
Of course, there aren't many entrances into the Depths yet. But apparently you can just quickly make your own by bombing yourself through the ground... And that was just so over-the-top, where my suspension of disbelief got cracked a bit here. If they had a Divine Beast shooting one of its laser clean through the ground, then something like that would have worked, but mere cannon fire? It should all crumble...
This was also the shortest and most underwhelming of these Star Fox levels so far. Sure, not all of them have to end on some spectacular boss battle, but you were just capturing a single a outpost. And that was it. At least they have managed to make use of the Like Likes in this level, which haven't been in the game so far.
Purging the Shadows
That outpost becomes a base for the good guys, where it feels like Rauru's people are playing Yiga down there. Before going into the next scenario, you also learn more about the Knight Construct: its type has a mind of its own, which can influenced by whatever powers it. So, an evil power will turn it evil and a good power will make it fight for the good, but eventually they have been the downfall of the Zonai.
However, this revelation makes it somehow less interesting. When I first saw this Construct, I thought that maybe the spirit of a long forgotten hero could reside in it. In Tears of the Kingdom you can find lots of stuff from past Zelda games in the Depths, indicating some connection to the Hyrules of old. That would have been an exciting aspect to explore.
And when it became powered by a shard of the Master Sword, then maybe the sword itself was the spirit. After all, we know about Fi, where they have even used her theme in the beginning of the game for a tease, and the sword has spoken to Zelda in Breath of the Wild. Now, without any of that, the Knight Construct resembling Link in so many ways just seems like a silly coincidence and not a meaningful inclusion.
Lenalia also raises an interesting point: with how heroic this thing is, there surely must be tales of it in the future, even in Zelda's era. But while lore tablets written by Lenalia herself still exist in Tears of the Kingdom, she fails to mention the Knight Construct in any of them. And now that they are even pointing out this possible continuity error in one of their cutscenes, there must be an explanation for it later...
Well, who cares? Let's go smash things! Brrrr! But honestly, the part where Mineru lets you take control of a Flux Construct was ingenious. This was such a nice surprise, a fun little diversion from the usual combat. And hopefully they haven't implemented this just for one occasion. In the very least there could be a Challenge battle where you have to do this again.
This scenario also introduces Gloom as a new mechanic. By now it's already all over the Depths, where I was hoping that there would be some connection to the Shades somehow. But it's just there, because Ganondorf oozes it.
The timing for this is still perfect. I have arrived at a point where the game has become too easy, and the gloom could have posed a significant threat. What good does healing do when you can't heal? But for some reason it's not as dangerous here... You can just step into it and nothing happens, which is a weird thing about this game. You can also stand on molten rocks at Death Mountain without any penalty, but they were able to implement the hot springs, so it can't just be some limitation of the engine or whatever.
And while the gloomed enemies may cause gloom damage, it also doesn't happen all the time. So, only specific attacks will turn your hearts gray, or so it seemed. And not even these guys feel as threatening:
Gloom Spawns! Naturally, the biggest nightmare of a monster from Tears of the Kingdom had to be in this, and the game locks you in an outpost with it on your first encounter. I was getting ready to panic, but then I noticed that the gloom puddle below it also doesn't do anything. You can just stand in it and attack the hands without any concerns. It's ridiculous and I'm actually mad how they've screwed this up so badly.
Say about Age of Calamity what you want, but they have implemented all enemies in that game with respect to their counterparts in Breath of the Wild. A Moblin, a Hinox, or a Lynel feel as threatening as they should. And Age of Imprisonment has built upon that, only to drop the ball here.
At least the man himself didn't disappoint. Well, story-wise he does. Remember the scene in Tears of the Kingdom where the Demon King personally led his army into battle on some crazy demon horse? Now, that was all just fiction, in reality he is parking his royal ass on the throne in Hyrule Castle all day long, while he lets his Archfiends do the work for him. So, he is acting like in every Zelda game.
But the Phantom Ganon fight was really good. He is still hydrated, of course, and he is able to switch weapon types in the middle of the battle, like Ganondorf could in as the final boss in Tears of the Kingdom. Will he also be able to flurry rush you?
The one thing I want the most out of some DLC would be a Ganondorf mode, which comes with its own map. There don't have to be any other playable characters in this, just him in his Gerudo and his Demon King form, on a conquest to reign over all of Hyrule. Make him a character who can swap between weapons at any point (this could replace the Sync Strike on the L button, since he won't be syncing with anyone). And he should have separate collections for steels and materials.
Conversing
Moving on... As I had mentioned in the last post, I've started to pay more attention to the Aside Quests of everyone, also picking fighters based upon them. It's a bit of a hassle, though, where I wish that you could view them while selecting a character for a mission. The way it is, I have to first look at what enemies a Challenge may offer, then go back to the map screen, check the open Aside Quests for anything that matches, go back to the Challenge and then rely on my short-term memory. With all the side characters in this game this isn't always easy.
Wait? Who needed to kill a Hinox again? Was it Cadlan? Or Ronza? Or both? I have to check in the menu again...
And some of the main characters are put on hold for me, because they have one task only stating "???" each, like Zelda, Rauru and Mineru. I'm not sure if I'm supposed to figure those out myself, where these are meant to be secret requirements (that you have to look up on the internet), or if these are simply spoilery tasks where I have yet to unlock the necessary conditions. But I will find out eventually.
At least the Aside Quests of the nobodies can be finished just fine, where the first one for me was Typhan. Now, I didn't know what to expect from this (even though it tells you in the pop-up), but you get "bonus conversations" for everyone...
So, this really is like Fire Emblem! Koei Tecmo working on the Fire Emblem Warriors games has left its mark on this. You get Sync Strikes, you get a bunch of playable support units, and now you even have support conversations...
The worst part is that these are minimum effort. It's only text and grunts. I get that they didn't want to create any cinematics for this, but some voice acting would have been nice. In general, they could do much more with voices, also in battle, but the Zelda games don't lead by example here.
I'm getting a bit tired of Calamo telling everyone that he isn't just a traveler—he can fight, too! Or how Mineru announces that it's finished, while her opponent is far from finished... Some more voice clips could have done wonders.
Fire and Sand
The next story scenario was rather impactful, because it shows the destruction of Korok Forest. Well, that is one way of getting through the Lost Woods... just burn them to the ground!
But this puts Calamo at the forefront, where this cements the idea that he may become the Great Deku Tree after the events of this game. Korok Forest has to be replanted now and he might as well become the start. In a side mission with Ardi he even tells her that he's "gonna be the biggest tree anyone's ever laid eyes on!"
How silly would it be if he really was the Great Deku Tree and had retained his way of talking? Imagine you enter the Korok Forest in Breath of the Wild and try to pull the Master Sword, but then you hear this coming from above: "Hey, don't put ya dirty fingers on my bud, kiddo!"
I suppose he has truly grown over the centuries...
It's also interesting how they have used the Gibdos for this setting, which is another welcome slice of variety. Grimgohma and Grimgera have also operated outside the areas where you would expect them, which actually made them appear more like proper threats and not just your typical video game bosses.
The last of the bunch is Grimgibdo, the Archfiend of Sand. I liked how it sometimes crawled around like a spider – they really went hard with the insect theme for this one. But otherwise this Archfiend hasn't left much of an impression on me, probably because it's the only one where I didn't struggle in some way. But I only struggled with Grimgohma earlier because of a misunderstanding and I've done both on first try, where they are simply not a problem with how I have progressed.
Well, Age of Calamity kept reusing the Blights and even made you fight some of them at the same time or all of them in a row. And I wonder what will happen here. They made it sound like they are gone for good, but maybe the Demon King can just summon new ones... At least this would add some much needed variety to the Challenges.
However, they do introduce some new ideas for those. Curiously, in one challenge you have to perform certain actions as the Knight Construct wielding a spear, almost like a tutorial. Maybe this serves as a reminder that you can actually use a spear as this character, but it seemed a little late...
And I was asking for training battles between the good guys, where I was psyched to see one pop up now between Zelda and Agraston. And it even made sense for this to happen only now, because you're facing the fully powered Agraston with all his fire skills.
However, this turned into another boringly normal Challenge right after, where you have to fight the usual foes. And that's disappointing... They could have brought in Braton and Pastos again. Okay, you have this in the beginning of the game, but hopefully the other sages will be treated differently going forward.
In the very least I want some battle for fighting all the Rito and Gerudo. Well, maybe in that Ganondorf mode that I'm proposing...
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