We're already getting the version 1.0.3 update for Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment this week, the second of the two free mini expansions. It's scheduled for December 18th, but last time it already came out a day earlier, where maybe they are releasing 0AM Japanese time. So, keep an eye out tomorrow. You can find all the info on the Japanese website, and only there, so the official English names are still pending.
However, the update says pretty much in the expectations from last month, where it does check off a number of boxes and fills the obvious gaps, except for the one on the roster that everyone was really hoping for. But the minor version number already indicates that this isn't meant as anything substantial. Still, there is truly more stuff in here to keep you engaged (official English names pending):
- A new Forbidden difficulty mode. Clearing a certain number of battles in this difficulty will unlock additional waves of rewards, similar to the Contribution Level Quests. This includes more pure Zonaite Steel and even increases to the total of rations. There are no checkpoints in the Forbidden difficulty.
- New Phantom Mode battles. These will randomly alter already cleared scenarios, where they will have an evil eye for their icon on the map. Here Phantom Ganon chases after you. In addition, enemies might be turned into their gloom or even vicious variants. You can earn pure Zonaite Steel as rewards.
Those are truly the equivalents the Apocalyptic difficulty and the Blood Moon battles from Age of Calamity, but more sophisticated. The changed enemies in Phantom Mode could truly prove a challenge and the additional rewards give you a real incentive to clear the entire game in the new difficulty mode, which wasn't the case before.
It will also be great to have something to play on rotation with the Phantom Mode, just to keep the game going for when you want it to. And you get more ways of earning pure Zonaite Steel, which was badly needed.
As expected, they will add more Vicious Monsters and corresponding Challenges as well. These are Lizalfos and Chuchus, where the latter look especially crazy, almost like a homage to Arrghus or Wart from A Link to the Past and Majora's Mask with all those smaller slimes surrounding them.
Curiously, they haven't made any vicious variants of the Horriblins, Gibdo or the Molduga. And they most likely won't add those later, since these vicious monsters are utilized in the new Phantom Mode and Koei Tecmo has explicitly spoken of two updates... I can't say that I'm overly sad about this omission, because these battles have gotten quite frustrating in the last update. And now you can do them all over again in the new difficulty mode... Ouch.
In addition, there will be some more Challenges with new mission types, like battles focused on certain warriors, or a "fight to the death with a powerful foe", whatever that means. Well, it's probably a Challenge featuring the Forbidden Construct, which will be similar to Rauru's battle in the last update, offering you a new weapon as a reward. Which is part of some smaller extras:
- A new training stage in the sky, where you can also perform Sync Strikes.
- New unique skills for the Mysterious Construct, one for all three weapon types. This includes the "Shield Charge", as a counter against dashes.
- The Forbidden Blade as a new one-handed weapon for the Mysterious Construct and the recruits.
The additional unique skills for the Mysterious Construct make so much sense in hindsight, because there were some clear gaps here. You could always use Zonai devices instead, but it's better to have options.
In the first update we got the High Guard's Spear and the Longsword of Light, so with the Forbidden Sword there is now one powerful extra weapon for each category. It also looks quite interesting, like a dark counterpart to Zelda's Blade of Light:
It's actually the weapon the Forbidden Construct is using, hence the name. That's neat, but certainly not the weapon / character that everyone was hoping for. Maybe they will offer paid DLC in the near future, but I'm not really expecting it.
PS: The timing is absolutely perfect, since I just finished Metroid Prime 4 two days ago. Yet, I feel like I'm not getting a break here with these back-to-back releases...
Update is already live!
ReplyDelete