Breath of the Wild Adventure Log, Entry 13

Wood and Armor

After obtaining the complete Zora set, the next goal in my sidequest tour was to complete Tarrey Town, because I enjoyed this quest and really liked the idea about it.

But before I could continue, I needed to collect lots of wood and decided to head for the Necluda region for that. I haven't been exploring this much after early in the game and it seems like the threat level has risen quite much on the overworld. I find Silver Bokoblins around every corner by now and they are a real threat, because they do insane damage and are tough to take down. I can deal with the Black Bokoblins just fine now, but that the game keeps throwing the silver ones at me is not much fun at the moment.

But it also seems like you can heavily upgrade all your armor in this game. So far I've only found two Great Fairies and heard about another one in the desert region. Well, there's also one right next to Tarrey Town in Akkala, where I was completely blind, because I had been using the shrine right next to as a teleport point many times now. Well, with this huge world is easy to miss stuff, if you're focused on the main goals.

Anyway, I can upgrade stuff to three stars now and the Great Fairy even talks about missing sisters (plural), where they might be at least five Great Fairies in the game world. And if you can go up another level with your armor with each one of them, there will be a lot to upgrade. The material costs get very expansive, though. I almost feel bad that I invested so many monster parts into Hilton's joke costumes, because I probably should have focused on getting better armor first for those nasty Silver Bokoblins.

Well, I've found quite some Koroks in the Necluda area and finally solved that "Great Bandit" sidequest from the Dueling Peaks Stable after all this time. The treasure is easy to find, but I was so distracted with other things around the area that I didn't bother with it yet.

I also want to complete the climber's armor set next in the hope that the set bonus lets you climb on wet surfaces without slipping down. That would be a very useful ability, because it rains way too often, especially when you're ready for some climbing. The Climber's Boots already help with that a little, but you can still slip.

I even got both the Snow Boots and the Sand Boots from the guy, who runs around Gerudo Town and is really into Linkle. So, my armor collection is slowly growing, where this seems to be the one major collectible task in the game other than the Koroks.


Akkala Arrangements

Well, my intuition about Tarrey Town was on spot. It really grows into a community, where at least one member of every tribe makes a living.

Next was Rhondson of the Gerudo, who is a character that caught my eye early in the game. There she was just usually sleeping under her little tent, where I found it funny that you have a character like this. But who would thought that she will turn out to be as important?

The same goes for the Rito, Fyson. Remember, how I complained that his desire to open a shop was boring? Well, I take it back. And Kapson ended at Tarrey Town as well, where I guessed right that Hudson would marry the Gerudo girl. That's just a nice and funny nod to Ocarina of Time, where the carpenters (who all looked a little bit like Hudson) wanted to check out the Gerudo with no luck. Well, thousands of year later their ancestor finally made it!

And you finally get to attempt a wedding in a Zelda game. Well, this sidequest doesn't have the same level of complexity and emotions as the Anju & Kafei quest in Majora's Mask. All you really do here is gathering lots of wood and talking to people, whose names end on -son. And the whole thing is more about the humor and watching this little place grow. It's still nice to see that there are sidequests in this game, which lead to more than just doing super basic stuff to receive junk.

With this Breath of the Wild also reached the maximum number of towns in a Zelda game. So far the record holder always used to be Zelda II - The Adventure of Link with its seven towns (eight, if you count Old Kasuto), where Breath of the Wild has eight full towns to offer. And there might be even more, where it could be that there's still a town somewhere, which I haven't found yet.


Current Progress:

• Shrines: 66
• Koroks: 139
• Divine Beasts: 4

Breath of the Wild Adventure Log, Entry 12

Return to the Great Plateau

My goal for today's evening was completing the Zora Armor, where I'm still missing the helmet and I also haven't fully upgraded it yet. For the latter I needed lots of Hyrule Bass, so I went back to the Great Plateau, because you can get plenty of them there easily.

To my surprise, I ran into a Silver Bokoblin. So, the game does alter the enemies for some increased difficulty here and there! In this case it really might be that I just saw some Moblins at the Oseira Plains early in the game and not Lynels. But I will test this, whenever I replay the game.

Anyway, going back to the Great Plateau feels so strange. As if this place was from another life. I've grown so much in the meantime, where the Great Plateau really was about simpler times. And I kind of miss the Old Man, it feels very empty without him around.

I've also found a couple of Koroks and some treasure chests with arrows, which I haven't found early in the game. You really learn how to keep an eye for these things during the course of the game.


Chests in Shrines

I haven't noticed this before, but the map displays a chest symbol next to all shrines, where you've gotten all the chests inside. That's such a nice feature for completionists like myself! I've only been missing two chests, though, in the following shrines:

Ka'o Makagh (Metal Doors Open the Way)
Mo'a Keet Shrine (Metal Makes a Path)

I've also went back to the Kuh Takkar Shrine (Melting Ice Hazard), but there I just left a Frostblade for later on purpose. I would have been really astonished, if I missed something in this shrine, after spending so much time inside. But the Goron Armor actually protects you from the flames here, so that you can walk just right through them. I wish I had this armor, when I did the puzzle. Would have made things much easier.

The Divine Beast also don't seem to have such a chest icon. It's either that or I missed a chest in every one of them. Well, it would be frustrating, if you had your savegame stained like this, since you can't return to these dungeons. So, it's probably for the best, if they don't have such an icon.


The Quest for the Zora Helmet

I can't find this thing... I've completed the monument sidequest today, where it was fun looking for them all. This took so long, because I didn't want the old Zora telling me about the locations. But I "only" got a diamond for my efforts and not the Zora Helmet, as I had hoped.

And now I'm at a loss here. There is talk about an Armor Shop, which had closed business, but I have no clue, how you can restore it, if that's even, what you're supposed to do...

But while looking for the monuments I fought the Lynel on top of Ploymus Mountain for the first time and the Hinox at Ralis Pond again. Both fights went really well, where I've gotten a lot better at fighting and also got much better weapons now, which helps. I also found out a simple way of getting lots of health restoring food. All the "hearty" ingredients like Hearty Radish or Hearty Truffles, which give you these yellow extra hearts, always give you a full recovery. So, you can just cook them on their own, a single piece. This might only give you one extra heart, but it's a good way to make lots and lots of food giving you a full recovery.

And while I didn't have any luck finding the Zora Helmet, I did find something even better. Hilton appeared at night next to Zora's Domain (so, he's not restricted to Lake Akkala) and had something new in store. A full Dark Link costume! I only could afford the mask so far, but it looks good together with the rest of my Zora Armor, haha.

I like the animation of the pointed hat and I wonder, if the game also has the classic Hero's Tunic hidden somewhere... If not, it's probably the reward for doing the Cave of Trials in the first DLC. That's where I would put it.

But I can only say this again: the new armor system is excellent and gives you so many fun options. It's like they've been combining the outfits from Tri Force Heroes with the masks from Majora's Mask. The abilities might not be as versatile, but I really enjoy, how you can alter Link's appearance in many different ways!


Update:
I did find the Zora Helmet after all! It turned out that all you had to do was deciphering the decayed monument on your own. So, I remembered correctly that these quests are connected. You might even find the helmet by accident and I simply missed it, when I checked the specific area...

But mission accomplished! It even lets you do a small spin attack in the water, so it's not just for the looks! Also, with the entire set bonus your swimming stamina increases A LOT.


On a site note: there's a KapSON in Zora's Domain, who wants to wed a couple. If the Tarrey Town sidequest leads to Hudson marrying a Gerudo, then that would be hilarous! I'd also like the idea, if at least one of each race will end up living in that town. So, I might focus on this quest next.


Current Progress:

• Shrines: 66
• Koroks: 126
• Divine Beasts: 4

Breath of the Wild Adventure Log, Entry 11

Akkala Citadel Ruins

Saying that the Akkala Tower is the best protected tower in the game would be an understatement. The other towers all have their quirks around them, but this place was a fortress. It starts with the Guardian Skywatchers, but luckily they really just focus on their red beams, so they are easy enough to avoid. You can just climb up the fortress on a safe spot, unless it keeps storming like in my case.

But it's not just the Skywatchers, the upper area and the lower third of the tower are covered in that cursed Ganon Goo, where you have to be a little creative to build a bridge. I saw a metal door at a lower level, which probably can be used for this and might even shield you from the sights of a Skywatcher, but I haven't tested this and just settled for some boxes and hurt feet instead. And there was my second fight against a Silver Bokoblin in the game, which are quite the tanks.


Akkala Assessment

For my troubles I got rewarded with the Akkala map, which is filled with Link's Awakening references, such as:

• Kanalet Ridge
• Malin Bay
• Ukuku Plains
• Ulria Grotto

And for this alone it was worth it, since this was my first Zelda game, where it always will have a special place in my heart. However, I couldn't spot a "Spring of Power" on the map, which was my goal yesterday, where I was on the way to complete the Three Dragon Quest (no, not the one from Skyward Sword, don't worry).

It seems that the names of the springs (and potentially other special places) will only appear on your map, if you've actually been there. So, it technically could have been anywhere and I was back to the start. But I noted, how in the Akkala region there is a spot, which resembles one of the springs, and I decided to head there next.

On my way there I also went to the South Akkala Stable and the Ze Kasho Apparatus Shrine, where surprisingly I hadn't been there yet. I saw the shrine a couple of times from a distance, but then usually went somewhere else.

Anyway, I did spot the Spring of Power on the map correctly, where even another memory of a frustrated Zelda awaits. Unlike the other two springs, the Tutsuwa Nima Shrine doesn't offer you a Blessing, but wants a "Major Test of Strength". I'll keep those for later, so I didn't collect all elemental spears yet.

I also wondered, what's the point of the Skywatcher maze that leads to the spring? You can just go around it and drop down at any site. Unless there's something hidden in the middle of the maze, it will be pretty pointless.


Tarrey Town

If you thought that this game doesn't have enough villages yet, you can help built a new one! I did enjoy the house quest at Hateno Village, so it's good to see that Hudson is up to something more here. As a help he needs some strong people to take care of the boulders, but with the company's policy of only hiring persons, whose names end on "son", you can't just ask anyone. Of course Gorons are best for the job and lucky for Hudson I wanted to head for Goron City next anyway...

But I already found him a first villager, even though that guy is more of an outcast...


Scary Mask Salesman

Some people in Akkala tell you about a weird guy named "Kilton" causing trouble, but for some reason I remembered his name as "Kilson", where I thought that he might also be a candidate to help out with Tarrey Town. But turns out that this is not what this was about...

Right when I was getting a little sick about all the generic NPCs in this game, suddenly this guy shows up and saves the day. I simply like it, when Zelda games have curious characters such as this one, because they stick in your memory.

Now, Kilton feels like they crossed Beedle with Batreaux and the Happy Mask Salesman. He's obsessed with monsters and buys monster parts from you, where you received his own currency called "Mon". With it you can buy some funny stuff, like masks for the four different main monster types:

There's the Bokoblin Mask, the Moblin Mask, the Lizalfos Mask and even a Lynel Mask. And with them you can supposedly trick them into thinking that you're one of their own. I wonder, if you can actually tame and ride a Lynel with this, but I haven't tried yet and apparently these masks don't work for long, because the monsters aren't entirely stupid. But it's funny to look at and I love, how Link imitates the typical poses of the monsters:

It's a nice feature and shows, how much variety the new armor system can offer. Kilton also sells some other stuff, like a joke weapon and some demonic horse gear, but I haven't really played around with horses that much. So far I just went with the standard stuff that I got from the stables.


Death Mountain Trail

Now I had to pick up, where I started about a week ago. When I first hiked to Death Mountain, I also came from the Akkala region and headed for Eldin Tower. I was constantly hindered by the burning hot zones and I viewed this as a big obstacle, where I had to find a good solution. So, I decided to focus on other areas first and went all around the world in the meantime.

But something felt fishy about this, where I knew that there had to be an easy way to get to Goron City. So, before I tried cooking up something random, I thought it would be best to return to the Foothill Stable and just gather information. And yeah, turns out that all I had to do here was talking to people. Since many of the NPCs in this game tend to be very generic, I ignore them all, unless they have a red exclamation mark bubble above their heads. But there's a girl at the stable, who sells Fireproof Elixirs to tourists. which you can use to walk through the burning heat and just continue the path to Goron City. It's that easy and looking at the elixirs in your inventory even tells you the recipe, where you just need some Fireproof Lizards, which run around Death Mountain. And yesterday I thought that I would need Naydra's Scale or something crazy...

So, that's it, now I all I had to do is keep walking and enjoy the nice remix of the classic Death Mountain dungeon theme from the first The Legend of Zelda game. I quickly arrived at the Southern Mine, where I already found the candidates for Tarrey Town: Greyson and his son Felison. That's almost too easy!


Goron City

After the traditional Death Mountain greeting that is caused by Vah Rudania, I finally arrived at Goron City. And I like, what they've done with the place! It's very different from Goron City in Ocarina of Time and they even have a different music theme going on here. It's all hard and rough, as you'd imagine a Goron's life. They have a mining operation going on and it all fits the Goron race perfectly. Sadly, it doesn't seem like I can ask anyone, where all their vais are or how they procreate, since otherwise Link was never afraid to ask the awkward questions in this game.

Well, there's the Shae Mo'sah Shrine on the hills with some fire puzzles and you can buy a Goron Armor (it's actually called "Flamebreaker Armor") in the shops, where the helmet is super expansive (2000 Rupees), but still entirely worth it, because it makes Link look a Goron. And all those gems that I had collected on the way needed to be good for something.

Come to think of it, I still haven't gotten that Zora helmet, where I probably should finish the monument quest. That might also make Link look more like a Zora, similar to the Zora Armor from Twilight Princess. But I'm quite happy, how silly the Goron Armor turned out to be, because it's just fitting with these guys.

You can also upgrade it at Tabantha's Great Fairy for a "Fireproof" bonus, where you need a dozen of these Fireproof Lizards. I set my Sheikah Sensor on them to locate them quickly. I don't like using the sensor for shrines, because it feels like cheating, even though it's far from being as ridiculous as the Dowsing in Skyward Sword. But it's nice for finding these little things and this led me back the Southern Mine, where you have a tourist, who grants you a piece of the Flamebreaker Armor for ten of the Fireproof Lizards... Could have saved me some money, if I knew this earlier... Again, talking to people helps. Just do it.

Well, with my shiny new armor I now finally could explore all around Goron City without the need of elixirs. There's the Daqa Koh Shrine near the Bridge of Eldin, which has a nice Stasis puzzle for a change! Often I forget that this Rune ability even exists in the game. Bombs and Magnesis see a lot of use, Cryonis is only useful in certain places, but Stasis seems more like the secret skill of the game. I'm sure that it has some good uses, I haven't even tried using the monster freezing yet, but the game doesn't exactly encourage you to use it.

I also wondered, how the Koroks survive in the scorching heat. Shouldn't they just go up in flames...?

Anyway, I continued in the Abandoned Mine after one failed round there. For some reason I was at first under the impression that all the cannons are defunct and merely decoration. Or something that you need to repair later on. So, I fought my way through the area by hand, where my arsenal of ice weapons certainly helped a lot. I then wondered, what you had to do with the trapped Goron, where I even returned to the ailing Goron Elder to talk about it with no luck.

But it turned out that you can just use the cannons to blow everything up. And I mean everything. It even destroys those skull caves that the Bokoblins like so much. It's a lot of fun to use this and fight your way through the area...


Divine Beast Vah Rudania

Taking down the Divine Beasts was so far always absolutely faced paced and glorious, where I expected that you would go all Groose-style here and mount a cannon on one of the minecart rail tracks to attack the thing. That would have been epic. But instead you're getting into a little stealth segment around Death Mountain crater, where you have to take out several Sentries - they are like a harmless variant of the Skywatchers.

The nice part about this is that you have the Goron Yunobo follow you around. You can even command him with the whistle button, which was a smart idea. This type of coop action is what I had imagined, when I first saw the artworks of the four Champions. Just that they would also use their weapons and fight enemies with their AI. (And that you might even be able to switch to them and control them.) But appears that the little segment with Yunobo here is all I get...

I do, however, understand that it probably would have been difficult to implement this coop play inside the dungeons like they did in the Wind Waker with the way how the dungeons are controlled via the map. Vah Rudania has the simplest controls of them all with only two options, but the most impactful change at the same time. The entire dungeon tilts by 90°, so that you can essentially walk on walls. Even more three dimensional thinking is required here than with the other Divine Beasts and I even got a little dizzy at times.

The running around revolving edges also felt very familiar to me, where only the Goron Mines from Twilight Princess came to mind at first. But it's something that you do in some levels of the later 3D Mario games, so that's where I already learned the skills.

And again, playing around with the Divine Beast felt super impressive. They really did something outstanding with the dungeons and finally got away from the typical temples and palaces of the series.

This particular Divine Beast also had a special segment in the beginning, where you're in completely dark rooms hunting those Phantom Eyes. I really liked that. But overall the difficulty of the dungeon was a letdown. There was only one measly low-level Guardian Scout in the dungeon and the boss was also not very difficult. In fact the fight was very similar to the one on the flying Divine Beast Vah Medoh. You just have to shoot the thing in the eyes...

I'm really disappointed about this, because the first boss that I have faced was the one of Vah Naboris, which almost had Dark Souls boss qualities to it. It was fast and frightening and you really had to master your combat skills with this fight. But the others couldn't keep up with that. They all look really cool, though. I give them that.

Well, now it was time for the "HERE IT COMES" Goron, whose name is "Daruk" and where "it" was in fact his Champion ability. That's completely not what I had imagined after the trailer... With this ability it makes the most sense that you can disable them, because you'd really want to save this for some big guys.

Interestingly, the game avoids to list the four Divine Beasts in any specific order. It's different everywhere on the interface. At first I thought that the loading screen lists the Divine Beasts in the order I've beaten them, but this was mere coincidence. So far it showed me Elephant, Camel and Bird, which is how I had beaten the dungeons, but now it's:

Elephant
Lizard
Camel
Bird

The Champion abilities on your HUD are ordered the following way, which is the same as when you order the Key Item in your inventory:

Elephant
Bird
Lizard
Camel

But the bosses in Hyrule Compendium are ordered as follows:

Camel
Lizard
Elephant
Bird

If anything, the Elephant might come first, which makes sense, because it's the closest to Kakariko. But it doesn't really matter, because this game has the same problem as A Link Between Worlds, where the difficulty of the dungeons is mostly on a low level, so you can do it in any order. Only the Camel and its boss really stood out in my opinion, where I'm proud to have chosen them as my first mission. Well, maybe the upcoming Hard Mode in the DLC will do something about the easy dungeons, I would really like that.


End of Day 11 Progress

• Shrines: 66
• Koroks: 119
• Divine Beasts: 4

Note: Future Updates

Today was my last day of vacation and I'm really happy with the progress that I've made in these 11 days. I visited all the areas of this gigantic new Hyrule, did over half of the shrines and all of the main quests. Overall I've spent exactly 100 hours with the game so far. There's still lots to do in the game, where I will focus on doing sidequests in my home time during weekdays. Fighting the big bad is my goal for next weekend.

But from now on there probably won't be any daily posting anymore, because I simply won't have as much time. I will keep doing these posts on weekends and maybe some small updates in between. You'll see.

So far I've also been fully avoiding GameFAQs or other sources, which might tell me stuff about the game. I want to keep it that way, which is why comments still are disabled. I want to find out everything on my own and discover all the surprises on my own. This might lead to some stupid situations, where I can't figure out, how to get to Goron City for days, but that's all part of the experience.

Breath of the Wild Adventure Log, Entry 10

Hebra Hiking

With the Snowquill armor set I finally had the necessary means to freely explore the extreme cold areas, where there seem to be three in the game: Mount Lanayru, the Gerudo Highlands and the Hebra Mountains to the north of Rito Village.

I went to the latter first, where I had mostly issues with despawning entities. For example I wanted to take a picture of a Moose, when it disappeared right in front of me. And I fought a Steppe Talus up in the mountains, where it reset, after I tried to get some distance. I get that the game can't just keep processing everything for miles, but in these cases I was still in the proximity...

Well, up there in the mountains is another Blessing Shrine offered by the lazy Lanno Kooh. All you had to do here was crossing some ice water without the help of Cryonis. It's like the game isn't even trying anymore...

From there I made my way to Hebra Tower, where you only have to melt some ice to get up. Thing is that melting the larger icicles in this game takes forever. In past Zelda games you would shoot it with one Fire Arrow and it was gone. Here you have to make a fire and watch it melt slowly. You can also just stand right next to it with a Flameblade and go grab a coffee in the meantime. It takes that long and sometimes the game is too realistic for its own good.

From the Hebra Tower you have quick access to two new shrines and stables: the Rin Oyaa Shrine (that one had a clever chest) at the Snowfield Stable and the Monya Toma Shrine at the Serenne Stable. I gathered 15 Heart Containers at this point, where it was finally time to try it again...

Claiming the Master Sword

Well, I got it...! Turns out that you only need 13 hearts to pull it, which is an odd number, but whatever... And I was right about the Master Sword being limited in this game. It doesn't break permanently, but like with the Champion abilities there is a cooldown for the sword, after you've used up its energy. It also doesn't take one of your existing inventory slots, but adds a new one (just getting the "You can't carry any more melee weapons" message after drawing the Master Sword would have been hilarious).

It does 30 damage normally, where it's even surpassed by certain weapons, but it does 60 damage with Evil's Bane, which only seems to work around the cursed things. It's not as much as I had anticipated, but still seems to be the strongest weapon in the game and you can even use it against Guardians. You can wreck them with the Master Sword and I even managed to tip one over, which was hilarious.

I do wonder, what has happened, though. Zelda delivered the Master Sword in a bad shape and it seems that the poor girl had to speak with Fi. Did the sword repair itself inside the socket?

Storming Hyrule Castle

Like when Link got the Master Sword in Hyrule Warriors, I started feeling cocky and decided to pay Hyrule Castle a visit. While trying to fight Ganon at this point crossed my mind, I mostly wanted to check the place out to assess the situation there and to see what I will be up against.

Yesterday I had the ingenious idea to climb one of the pillars around the castle, but that doesn't work, because they are made out of the Sheikah tech metal that prevents you from climbing. But you can still cross the castle moat quite easily, where my new Revali's Gale ability came in handy to get some height at first. Well, I approached from the east side and was able get into one of the tunnels of the castle basement, where you have a series of holdings. And I was not disappointed by the atmosphere one bit.

This wouldn't be the first Zelda game that has some dark version of Hyrule Castle as its final dungeon, but this exceeds it all. You really feel, how evil has plagued Hyrule Castle for a hundred years. The place is gloomy, decayed, dirty, rotten with the dark goo that Ganon spreads everywhere and filled with black enemies (where I thought that they are the strongest kind). But you can also find some really good weapons here, for example I found my first Blizzard Rod in the game just waiting in one of the cells.

The dungeon seems also to be quite big with lots of tunnels spreading out. It reminded me of the Great Palace in that sense. But after exploring for a little bit, I decided to finish the main quests, before I proceed here. Warping out of the dungeon places you right in front of the castle gate, where this was the way, how I first arrived at the Hyrule Castle Town Ruins. It's very reminiscent of Hyrule Castle Town from Twilight Princess, but you have to look closely to recognize this, because the damage done here is just breathtaking. It's all in ruins and covered by the dark goo, with Guardians idling around. (They really idled, like the one at the beach. Probably on energy saving mode.)

I also noticed here, how the Guardian Skywatchers aren't exactly the biggest threat. One went right past me on the bridge. It appears that you need to step into their red lights, where I probably should give the Akkala Tower another try. That's the only tower that I haven't conquered yet.

Warbler's Nest

After visiting what probably is the darkest place in the game, I needed something adorable to cheer me up. So, how about some Rito ducklings performing a song? I started this Shrine Quest last night and wanted to finish it earlier today, where I had the issue that I forget what ingredients I got from the various Rito girls for the cooking. Normally the Adventure Log keeps track of every little detail, which is a nice feature, because you don't have to remember everything or write things down. But seemingly it doesn't work all the time, where the Adventure Log just kept telling me to gather the five sisters without taking note of the individual steps. And the sisters won't tell you about it either...

I figured it out anyway (one Tabantha Wheat, one Goat Butter and one Hearty Salmon), but then I was at loss about what to do exactly at the Warbler's Nest. There are five numbered stones with a hole in the middle and the girlies sing notes in a specific order. The order was clear, but I didn't know what to do with the stones. I tried shooting arrows through the the middle, even throwing round bombs through them... with no reaction. I was confused, but all you had to do was talking to one of the sisters to figure it out, so silly me.

To my surprise the shrine didn't turn out to be yet another Blessing, but the so called "Winding Route" trial by Voo Lota. It reminded me somewhat of the minidungeon at the north end of Eldin Bridge in Twilight Princess, where you jump down in the lava, but get caught by magnetic streams. It's wind streams here, but otherwise a similar concept. And I'm always happy to see a good shrine.

It just seems that the Blessing Shrines are a little misplaced, like there's one after solving the "Secret of the Cedars" near Mount Lanayru. You can just stumble over the shrine randomly while exploring without ever listening to the riddle. So, getting "Tahno O'ah's Blessing" here was another shrine letdown. And it even gives you an unique piece of gear all for just running through the mountains...

Gerudo Highlands

I'm very annoyed about the fact that there are no Item Checks in this game. The weapon system would be much more enjoyable, if you could store and collect them somewhere, maybe even have them repaired for a fee. Right now I'm constantly faced with the first-world-hero-problem of having too many good weapons. I don't want to waste them on small fries, so the game forces me invest them properly. Most of all, I have many flame and frost blades, where I want to save the frost blades for Death Mountain. Luckily, I can fully access all cold areas now, so I decided to pay the Gerudo Highlands another visit, where the flame blades make short work of all the Ice-Breath Lizalfos. One of my goals here was to look for that Eight Heroine, which is a sidequest for some piece of gear.

I made it to the Kuh Takkar Shrine with the "Melting Ice Hazard" trial, which was one of the most difficult puzzles in the game so far. Took me about half an hour and quite some creativity to solve this problem, but it was truly genius.

Up to this point I thought that the black tier enemies are the elite, but it seems that there is even another tier in this game, where I met my first Silver Bokoblin. Might there even be golden enemies like in Oracle of Seasons or The Minish Cap? There's also a "White-Maned Lynel" patrolling Gerudo Summit, but I'm not sure, what his "tier" exactly was. I just watched from a vantage point, where he started to fire arrows like an artillery in utmost precision at me.

Around the area you have even more slow ice melting to do, if you want to find all treasures, but there are often also enemies inside the ice. You can see the silhouette, however, if you walk around the ice blocks and look closely. Also, Farosh is active in this area, which surprised me, because he's far from home here. I would have expected to meet Dinraal instead.

Well, after I found the Eight Heroine, I moved north and found the well hidden Kah Okeo Shrine with the "Wind Guide" trial. Here you have a funny physics puzzle with a platform floating with the help of balloons.

The Three Dragons

Probably the most interesting goal under the cold areas was Mount Lanayru, where several questions about the three dragons were answered at once. Where is the dragon of Lanayru? What do I have to do to claim their scales?

Turns out Naydra is caught up in the cursed goo and you have to free her. And to get on the dragon scales all you have to do is shoot them in the head with an arrow... Who does that?!! Since these dragons don't attack you, I never tried attacking them. I first thought that I had to climb them on their backs to reach the head somehow, but this had proven to be difficult. And all this time a headshot would have sufficed...

Right afterwards I headed for Farosh at Lake Floria and got his scale as well, where I finally solved that Serpent's Jaw Shrine Quest. In both cases a Blessing Shrine (by Jitan Sa'mi and Shae Katha) awaited me, where you get elemental spears for your efforts. It seems that for every weapon type there is one weapon for each of the three elements in this game: fire, ice and electricity. For example there are Ice Arrows, the Frostblade, the Giant Frostblade and the Frostspear. All that seems missing are corresponding shields, where a Frostshield would be awesome. It could offer better protection against fire attacks and freeze your enemies, if they hit the shield. It would be similar for a Flameshield and a Thundershield.

But I had my house finished today with and for the decorations I'm currently using the elemental swords, where matching shields would be nice. Maybe these shields exist in the game and I haven't found them yet, but if not, then there's still the DLC coming...

So, all what was left was Dinraal, where I met him at the Tanagar Canyon, after descending from the Gerudo Highlands, and got my scale there. I also got a "Shard of Dinraal's Fang" at Hyrule Castle today, where I wonder, if they can be gotten by shooting a dragon's hands and if they are used to craft those elemental spears (if they can't be gotten otherwise).

Well, all I had to do now was bringing the scale to the spring, but I didn't have a clue, where it could be. My first instinct was the thunder cloud area near Ridgeland Tower, but this was a shrine puzzle by Toh Yahsa, where you had to bring some orbs to their goal without using metal tools. I fully expected another Blessing Shrine here, but was positively surprised with the "Buried Secrets" trial, which was a fun and simple puzzle. You can use a magnetic block here like some wrecking ball to smash through lots of cracked blocks. You get a Rubber Armor in this shrine and when I went for Farosh I also found the Rubber Helm, so I'm onto something here. And I like getting these unique pieces of gear.

Afterwards I decided to use my head and simply look for the "Spring of Power" on my map, since the other scales were offered at the Spring of Wisdom and the Spring of Courage. Well, it turns out, it's not on my map, which means that it's located in Akkala, where I haven't conquered the tower yet. And this leaves us with another problem...

To be continued...

Other than Akkala my Goal for tomorrow will be exploring Death Mountain and getting to Goron City. The scales of the dragons can apparently be used to cook something with high level protection. Or at least I think, they do. So, this might be my ticket.

On the other hand this might not be necessary... So far cooking elixirs and food with resistance was fully optional, there was usually some other way. For example you can eat something with Spicy Peppers, if you want to get to Mount Hylia without doing the quest for the Warm Doublet first. Or you can just travel at night through Gerudo Desert. There should be a similar solution here, because I would hate it, if I run out of resistance time, before I get to my goal. Also, so far all the tribe's areas were quite accessible right from the start, which encourages you to do these quests in any order. Maybe Goron City is even underground and there are safe tunnels leading to it. Let's see...


End of Day 10 Progress

• Shrines: 63
• Koroks: 113
• Divine Beasts: 3

Breath of the Wild Adventure Log, Entry 9

It was about four days ago, when first attempted to reach Goron City and I had arrived at some kind of impasse here. To go there, I either need some fire resistance armor or some elixir/food with good heat protection. I assume that you will get the Goron Armor at Goron City, but I also wasn't able to cook up something with more than the low-level heat protection.

But that might be, because I don't have the right ingredients yet. Maybe the White Chuchu Jelly does the trick, but I'm not sure, what to do with Chuchu Jelly yet. Do I need to search for Doc Bandam's descendant? However, there might also be good freezing ingredients up on Mount Lanayru or other cold regions. I even found this memory, where Zelda talks about going up to Mount Lanayru to tease me. But... I didn't have clothes with good enough cold resistance yet, only the Warm Doublet from the old man in the beginning. So, it was either getting warmer clothes or some ingredients from Death Mountain, where the latter would lead to a Catch-22.

And because I didn't know, what to do, I decided to head to the Northwest of Hyrule, where the Rito live. And it would turn out that this was the right choice...


Heading Northwest

I started going west from the Central Tower, where on the Nima Plan I caught myself a new fine steed with good speed. Because the area had so many bridges around that she took without any complaints, I gave her the highly original name "Bridga". I should probably stop with this, where I feel like naming horses after various bosses would be a better idea. And it would follow Ganon's lead.

After registering it at the Outskirt Stable I rode the horse around Satori Mountain, which is a mountain that wants to be climbed. In general I love the climbing aspect of the game, because it really takes me back to my childhood. I grew up in the German midlands with lush forests, ruined castles on beautiful mountains and many interesting rock formations. I hiked a lot as a kid and always wanted to climb everywhere. And this feeling of freedom that Breath of the Wild gives you is simply beautiful.

Anyway, there's a cherry blossom tree on top of the mountain, where I didn't really figure out, if there's any significance to the place. But there are Koroks in the area and the Mogg Latan Shrine right around the corner. In there you had to play around with Magnesis, where I did like building a staircase with moveable parts on tracks at the end.

Ridgy Ridge

Next stop was Washa's Bluff in the Ridgelands, where you have these mushroom rock formations. On one of them Kass awaits with a new Shrine Quest, where the Mijah Rokee Shrine is only accessible under Blood Moon. I returned here later and there is enough time, if you fly over from the Mogg Latan Shrine at Satori Mountain. You just have to react, when a Blood Moon is about to start. The shrine gives yet another "Modest Test of Strength" combat trial, which are fun to do by now.

From over the Washa's Blush the next goal was clear: the Ridgeland Tower is not far from there, so let's go. On the way you can spot an interesting ruin, which gets plagued by a constant thunder storm above it, but currently it's probably not much different from the rest of Hyrule. It just rains way too often.

When I arrived at the Ridgeland Tower I was greeted by yet another evil defense. There's a lake around the tower with multiple Electric Lizalfos and Electric Wizzrobes. Well, I just used Cryonis to get close and then ran for it... The tower has enough balconies to stay safe from the Wizzrobes. But it was still quite the evil trap.

On top of the tower some NPC wants you to show your gliding skills, where I set off to Hyrule Castle for the fun of it. I arrived at the mold and this is the closest that I've been to the castle yet. And it looks like you can just climb one of the five big pillars to enter the castle without running into any Guardians (Update: you can't climb the pillars, because they are made out of Sheikah tech). If you avoid Hyrule Field and go around either in the west or the east this should be possible. But let's try this later...

Instead I headed in the opposite direction, where you can see the fire dragon Dinraal flying through the chasms. I really have to figure these dragons out later on, because they look exciting. I haven't seen the one in the Lanayru region yet, but maybe he's up in the mountains.

I did the Shae Loya Shrine on the way, which is right next to the Tabantha Bridge Stable and had a nice bow shooting puzzle, where sadly I got low on arrows. I'm in a situation, where I'm using Ice Arrows instead of normal ones, because I have so many and I'm too lazy to go collect normal arrows. This shrine should have been a fair warning for the trials ahead, but I proceeded anyway...


Traveling Through Tabantha

At first I wondered, why the name "Tabantha" felt so familiar. And it's actually a reference to the Castor Wilds from The Minish Cap, which are called "Tabanta Wilderness" in Japanese and "Tabanta Plain" in German. So, that's a lost reference in English for you!

The Tabantha Tower is protected by dark matter, but that was more of a puzzle, where after various well defended towers I was relieved that I didn't had to go through hell for some map data. There's a Great Fairy in sight of the tower, but she turned out to be disappointing. She's pretty much the exact same thing as in Kakariko, just with a different skin color and different upgrades for outfits.

Behind her is a road protected by Guardian Skywatchers. I avoided them and went up the hill to the Tena Ko'sah Shrine at the end of the Ancient Columns. But this is the first "Major Test of Strength" that I've found so far, where I didn't want to try my luck yet. There's also another memory of Zelda in this place, where she reminds me of the Zelda from the Animated Series with her whole unlikable attitude. Her goal was to enter the shrine, where I would love to see her facing one of those Guardians inside.

The Tabantha Frontier is quite small, so Rito Village came quickly in sight.

I couldn't find a shrine next to the Rito Stable, but that's probably because the stable is so close to the village anyway. I also caught another deer up in the hills, when looking for the shrine, where I probably could have saved me the trouble the other day, where I rode with a deer long ways to get it to a stable.


Rito Village

Well, the first impression of the Rito Village was pretty nice. I like the architecture, where you have this one giant circular staircase going around a massive rock. The slow version of the Dragon Roost Island theme from the Wind Waker is also beautiful, though I would also have liked it, if they tried something different.

However, the village itself falls flat. The NPCs all all very generic, where you just have the typical inn and shop owners. One Rito even wants to start a new shop. Boring! And there's absolutely no threat here. The flying Divine Beast shoots down Rito, who fly to high up. That's it. They could just fly low and wouldn't have any problems. At least the other Divine Beasts caused some natural disasters.

The village's teleport point is the Akh Va'quot, where the trial is just called "Windmills" and really lives up to its name. Lots and lots of windmills. But as with most shrines I really enjoyed the puzzle.

I also got a full set of warm clothes at the Rito Village shop in form of some Rito Armor, which I immediately upgraded at the Great Fairy in Kakariko. The set bonus is "Unfreezable", which should solve my problem from earlier. I can now travel through the super cold regions, but this set of armor is also required for the dungeon ahead, because it gets very cold up in the sky.

I liked the elder Kaneli, who looks like a giant owl. For a moment I also thought that he would be your companion for the mission ahead, but this was going to be Teba, where I see little difference between him and the Champion Revali other than the color of their feathers. Both have the same cocky and proud attitude, where I don't like Revali's character all that much. I guess, it's funny, how he keeps teasing Link, but that's really it.

For the living partner under the Rito I would have liked someone more special and different, where Teba is probably one of the most forgettable characters in the story. I liked his wife Saki much more. If they had turned her into a warrior, instead of doing this Rito family nonsense (those Rito children look freaky by the way), this whole part could have been more enjoyable. I liked the Rito in the Wind Waker so much more than here.

Also, this whole part turns out to be really short. All I had to do was flying over to the Sha Warvo Shrine, which has a nice updraft puzzle, but where the trial name gave the puzzle solution away. From there I just had to walk over to Teba, play a very short updraft bow shooting minigame and that was it. Ready to storm the Divine Beast, again with Bomb Arrows...


Divine Beast Vah Medoh

I did enjoy the action part, where you had to take down the four cannons. They kept it very simple here, but the action was stylish and I enjoy doing the slow motion bow shots. Also, instead of using some "vehicle", you just were using your Paraglider all the time and in general the dungeon made very good use of the item.

The Divine Beast dungeon was impressive as always, but overall the easiest of the three that I've played so far. You can tilt the entire dungeon to the left or right, which was a cool idea and brought some fun moments. I dropped a weapon to get a better one out of the chest and when tilting the dungeon, the weapon kept moving around the room, which was a nice detail. But other than that there wasn't much to the dungeon. The shrines on the way already prepared you in full detail for the puzzles and skills required here. And there were only two small Guardians on the lowest level, which didn't offer much resistance.

The boss was also the easiest so far. After the desert boss gave me some good trouble, this was quite the letdown. Again, the action was great and very stylish, I very much enjoy flying up in the air and shooting arrows in slow motion. And the boss looked very cool, as the others. But all you had to do was shooting arrows at it, where my main problem was that I was out of normal arrows again, which had me waste more Bomb and Ice Arrows at the thing.

Revali's Gale is a useful reward, this skill lets you create an updraft by charging a jump, which will come in handy, whenever you're about to face a Guardian on foot. Too bad these skills take quite long to recharge.

Also, it wasn't explicitly mentioned that the Divine Beast Medoh was named after Medli or at least I haven't found a confirmation yet. But it's still pretty obvious, because Medli is spelled "Me-Do-Li" in Japanese. She's even called "Medolie" in German and French, as an anagram of "melody". So, the "Medo" is in her name.

Overall the whole Rito part was really short and disappointing. I didn't anticipate that I would be able to do it today, because I didn't have as much time, but the whole quest and dungeon didn't take much time. While I've certainly grown stronger in the game, this was still probably the shortest and easiest part so far... Originally I wanted to save this for last, because sky dungeons like the Palace of Winds or the City in the Sky usually take place late in the Zelda games. But luckily I didn't. Maybe Death Mountain won't disappoint as much...

At least I have now the means to proceed into cold areas, looking for some way to get to the final Divine Beast.


Some Thoughts on the Story and Timeline

I have the feeling that Zelda also a dead spirit like the Champions or she took the divine form of Hylia. Maybe I didn't catch this right, but it didn't sound like she was asleep for the 100 years as well, but she fought Ganon for all that time. But how did she survive that long, unless she didn't?

This could be the sad twist at the end for some bittersweet ending, when it turns out that you can't really save Zelda this time, only make her spirit rest in peace along with the others. Nintendo really pushed the image of Link and Zelda being together with the memories and the trailers, where the player now expects a happy reunion. And this is, where the sad twist comes in. But let's see...

About the timeline... other than Medoh potentially referencing Medli, I don't see any reason, why this game should fall in any of the three timelines, because there are so many name references to all the Zelda games. And it really put the rest of the series far behind it. 10,000 years! It feels like everything from past Zelda games was ages ago and things like the timeline split hardly matters at this point. It's really a new beginning for the series, where it would be weird, if there are still three different timeline branches... So, please let there be a merge somehow.

End of Day 9 Progress

• Shrines: 53
• Koroks: 98
• Divine Beasts: 3

Breath of the Wild Adventure Log, Entry 8

Today was a strong day! I took down my first Guardian, my first Lynel and finally that dreaded boss of Vah Naboris.


Labyrinth Time

I went to the South Lomei Labyrinth in the southeast of the Gerudo Desert, but I went there by climbing over the hills, starting from the Ishto Soh Shrine (my first shrine outside the Plateau). I expected this thing to be patrolled with Guardian Skywatchers similar to the Maze Island at Akkala, but it wasn't. There only was another stray Guardian Stalker on one of the hills, where I could safely watch it from a distance.

The labyrinth itself was breathtaking. You feel so small inside and it's easy to lose orientation, despite the advantages of being in a video game. I approached this labyrinth from above, so I could just glide on top of it, but it wasn't possible to see the solution from high up. You have to plunge down and deal with all the tunnels the direct way. The atmosphere inside is quite nice thanks to the Lost Woods music and the massive heights of the walls. The reward is the Dila Maag's Blessing Shrine, where for once I agreed that doing the labyrinth was a good trial and the shrine itself didn't need one.

However, there's another Blessing Shrine in Akkala, Zuna Kai's Blessing, where I don't agree at all. It's the one on the "eye" of the area that looks like a skull. All I had to do is glide down from above, where I had easy access thanks to the shrine with the Goron climber thugs. That's all. You don't even need to pay attention to the Shrine Quest, it's not hard to find and to get to this shrine. So, why in the world wouldn't it have a trial?

Well, I went to Akkala looking for the carpenter Hudson, but all I found were many Yiga attacking me. But I got a nice Windcleaver, Duplex Bow and Moblin Club from the area. All three items were wanted by the weapon nerd Nebb in Hateno in that exact order, so it was still worth it.


Guardian Snap

Another area that I visited today was the Puffer Beach. It has a shrine there, where a crazy woman makes love to the orb that you need to enter the shrine. To get the orb you have to show her pictures of living guardians, where luckily I still had some Skywatcher shots from Akkala and one of a Sentinel. All I needed was a big one, where at Puffer Beach there's one close by that either is inactive or pretends to be. It's not moving and you can get quite close to it without it targeting you, but the Camera still registers it as a "Guardian Stalker".

Maybe this is a trap, but in any case it gave me easy access to the Shoqa Tatone Shrine, where another "Modest Test of Strength" awaited. It took away my confusion about these Combat Trials, where I first thought that you just be doing the same thing with different stats. But like with most enemies in the game there are in fact different tiers of Guardian Sentinels. And thanks to the Champion's Tunic I could clearly tell that enemies of the same tier always have the same health stats.

Anyway, I was able to best the thing, where afterwards I also gave the "Modest Test of Strength" at the Muwo Jeem Shrine another shot. I visited this place early on my third day of playing, but I was seriously outmatched, where I now got my revenge. This even scored me a Battle Axe +, which was the next weapon that I needed for Nebb.


Lurelin Village

Up from the shrine I decided to explore the shoreline a little more, where I quickly landed in Lurelin Village... The people of Hateno do speak of the village here and there, so discovering it wasn't a surprise. And it's also probably the most uninteresting village so far.

It does remind me of Papuchia Village from Spirit Tracks and the wooden boxes in Lurelin are also branded with a logo that looks very much like one of the stamps from the game. And again Nintendo decided to go with a certain ethnicity with their fishing villages, but at least you get various skin colors and appearances in all the different tribes now, which I like. There's lots of variety with the NPCs.

They also nailed the atmosphere here, especially when it storms. How the rain masses whip against the shoreline, it all looks quite realistic. Though it does seem to rain a little bit too often in this game, where on my next journey I was plagued with thunderstorm after thunderstorm.


Faron Jungle

Since the village wasn't all that interesting, I ventured northwest towards the Faron Tower. I attempted going there earlier in the game from the other direction, but I didn't get far, because I wasn't prepared for the electric enemies.

And before you get there, you wander through this beautiful waterfall area at Lake Floria. It just looks amazing and it turned out to be another place, where the giant dragon Farosh hangs out. It's even much easier to get close to him here than at Lake Hylia.

The Shai Utoh Shrine at the Lakeside Stable was very well hidden. Well, maybe it was because of the constant rain storms, but I just couldn't find it at first, even with the Sheikah Sensor active. And the Faron Tower was "protected" by a Keese cloud, where you have no balconies to fight them off. But you can just shoot them from below to lure them in.

From the tower I continued to the "Serpent's Jaw" shrine quest, which was showcased by Nintendo in December already. It looks like you will need a scale of Farosh to complete the mission, which I will do later on. At least now I know a good spot to jump on the dragon...


Way back

Away from the jungle, I hiked towards the center of the map, to the road that leads from the Great Plateau to Dueling Peaks. I managed to jump on a deer here and wanted to know, what happens, if you brought one to a stable. Well, at least you get a funny dialog:

Well, my bad!

After I checked out the "Serpent's Jaw" today, I decided to also go for the other area outside the Plateau, which Nintendo had showcased as a preview: going for Hyrule Field right north of the Great Plateau.

There's the Kaam Ya'tak Shrine there with the "Trial of Power", which has to be one of my favorites. There's lots to do here, several small Guardians to fight and lots of stuff to loot, even a Diamond. After experiencing many lazy Blessing Shrines and Combat Trials, this was a nice change.

What didn't change was the weather, though. Ever since Lurelin Village I had one thunder storm after another. But the dark weather made me more confident at sneaking towards the Central Tower, where thanks to Nintendo's footage I knew that at least one Guardian would be there...

Not that it makes any difference, these machines spot you anyway. But I have a couple Ancient Arrows now and decided to put one to use by gliding towards the Guardian and using the mid-air slow motion effect with the Bow. Right in the eye. One shot, one kill. "Shooting an arrow into the eye" is one of the biggest cliches of the Zelda series, but Nintendo managed to make it fresh again thanks to the Guardians and the Ancient Arrows. Here it is suddenly cool and thrilling.

The Central Tower is also protected by two decayed Guardians, but I didn't want to waste any arrows on them. And you can avoid their shots by using the balconies, if you climb up fast enough. It still might be a total death trap for inexperienced players. (And those Guardians don't stay dead. I returned here later today and the Guardian was back.)

Now I basically followed the way from the Nintendo footage backwards over the Gleeock Bridge to the Outskirt Stable with the Rota Ooh Shrine, which has a nice puzzle with a red/blue switch flipping an entire wall.

I also made it to the Dah Kaso Shrine under a sleeping Hinox on the Digdogg Suspension Bridge. There's also a "Manhala Bridge" close by and a "Aquame Lake"... Now, where are Gohma and Dodongo? But I do like all the naming references on the map. Anyway, the shrine only holds another "Minor Test of Strength" Combat Trail, so nothing special.


Revenge of the Fallen

Thanks to all the shrines and combat trials I got a lot of Guardian gear in my inventory and I decided to give the boss of the Vah Naboris Divine Beast another go. With success this time. The key to winning at the end were those perfect dodges and releasing a flurry rush on the enemy. It is really hard to pull off the perfect timing, but I like, how the fights in this game are not just some glorified puzzles. You have to master the combat in this game and it feels great to get better at it.

But the boss wasn't the only unfinished business inside Vah Naboris, because there still was this chest hanging on a rope:

It ultimately doesn't matter, if you get all the chests in a dungeon or anywhere really, unless they contain a unique piece of armor, but they rarely ever do. But I still have the ambition to go for every chest that I see and this was no exception. The problem with this chest is that you can screw up, where it falls down into the abyss. Then you have to leave the dungeon to get it back on the rope. But I figured it out and could finally close this chapter after so many days.

(It's funny, how Riju remained on the tower the ENTIRE time, waiting for my success at Vah Naboris. After my retreat I was doing quests all over the world, which took days.)

I like Urbosa quite a lot, she will certainly be part of the next Hyrule Warriors game with Lightning based Gerudo Scimitars. She's just too perfect for the role. And I liked, how she commented on Ganon being a Gerudo in the past. She also confirmed that Vah Naboris was named after Nabooru, where I suppose that Vah Rudania was named after Darunia and Vah Medoh was named after Medli. And this would strongly suggest a timeline placement after the Wind Waker, if it wasn't for the references to pretty much all the games. So, I still think that a timeline merge could be a thing in this.

Urbosa's Fury also seems like a cool ability, where I now understood that those Champion abilities have a cooldown after using them. So, the only reason to disable Mipha's Grace would be, when you want to save it for a boss fight.


Sandy Sidequests

Like with Zora's Domain, you get the possibility to do lots of sidequest around Gerudo Town now. Some of it could be done before conquering Vah Naboris, but now you have access to all of it. And unlike with the Zoras there's even a grand price in it. You can get Rija's oversized Thunderhelm, if you make all her people happy.

And you now can fully explore the desert. As a start I went back to the sandstorm area near Gerudo Tower, where for some reason the sandstorm suddenly vanished, after I solved a Korok Puzzle. I'm not sure, if this was related or if this just was coincidence. But I was able to spot a shrine, which was previously hidden well within the sandstorm. It was the Dako Tah Shrine with some electric line puzzles and lots of chests to find. (Update: seemingly getting to the shrine itself cleared the sandstorm.)


Lynel Hunt

After defeating both a Guardian and my arch nemesis today, I tasted blood. I wanted to see, if I can really claim the Master Sword, after getting one of the hoofs. So, I decided to aim for the Lynel, which is in the grasslands below the Ishto Soh Shrine, at the Oseira Plains. I tried using an Ancient Arrow on it first, but it just looks like it vanishes into some small black hole and it leaves nothing behind (unlike the Guardians). So, you can't use those to cheat.

Don't worry, I didn't waste that arrow, but loaded a savegame right before the action. The savegame feature really invites you to do experiments. You can always go back, if it fails.

So, I had to fight the lion centaur mano-a-mano, where I did pick a weaker subject. It only was equipped with a giant club, not swords, and despite having a bow, it didn't use it to shoot any arrows at me. It did make use of its fire breath, though, which is a feature of the Lynels from A Link Between Worlds. Nice to see that this also made it in.

But in the grasslands this was to its disadvantage, because I could use the upstreams to fly above it and rain down all kinds of arrows. I was even able to land on its back once, but it shoved me off quickly. It seems like you can actually sneak on Lynels and try to mount them. How hilarious would it be, if you could actually tame and ride one! THEN I would like to see the reaction of the stable owners!

The fight was tough and it cost me all my health enhancing food, because I still screw up dodging and those Lynels hit hard. But I got my hoof...!

I have 12 Heart Containers by now, which is the exact number that you needed to get the Magical Sword in the first The Legend of Zelda game. So, I tried pulling the Master Sword both before and after giving the hoof to Walton, the Riddle Quest Korok. And it ended both the same way:

To die a hero...

This might be placebo, but finishing the Riddle Quest seemed to make a big difference, where I almost had the blade out. I suppose, I could do it with 15 Heart Containers, which is one full row of hearts in this game. The Deku Tree even suggests switching vessels at the dark statue in Hateno, but this thing creeps me out and costs a lot of Rupees. Also, I like having a second Stamina Wheel, it's very helpful with the climbing. Still, from now on I will invest all my Spirit Orbs into Heart Containers, so I can finally get the Master Sword.

End of Day 8 Progress

• Shrines: 48
• Koroks: 89
• Divine Beasts: 2

Breath of the Wild Adventure Log, Entry 7

Avoiding the Middle

My next goal was the Korok Forest and I picked up the path from where I last met Hestu, at the Wetland Stable. I continued north, carefully minding my surroundings. However, it seems like the majority of the Guardians are all active in the central area before Hyrule Castle. So far I've only seen two stray Guardians, one at the Goponga Ruins and one at Death Mountain. And I've observed both from a safe distance without them spotting me. Otherwise my journeys have been entirely Guardian-free, where it seems like the trick is staying away from the center of Hyrule. At least for now...

The other common thing in the center are apparently stables. I made it quite quickly to the Woodland Stable, which isn't that far away from the Wetland and Riverside stables. In other areas I desperately keep looking for them, but here they are around every corner...

The teleportation point (= shrine) at the stable had another golf puzzle, but this time it emulated actual golf with an orb, a hammer, the Stasis ability and a distant hole. Again, this also had an additional room, where you can play a more difficult round for a treasure. And this busted two Iron Sledgehammers on my end, because you need to aim precisely at the center for the hole-in-one. There's an obstacle there with a small opening, where you can only get through with full power. But as usual there's some other way around it, if you're having as much trouble, as I did. In the end I placed the ball slightly to the left, so that the obstacle isn't in the way, and then gave it five hits, instead of the full six. And this worked splendidly on first try. So, again, if you're having trouble with a puzzle, try thinking outside the box! It was also worth it, because you get a Giant Ancient Core for the trouble.


Lost in the Woods

When I made my tour around Death Mountain, I already saw the upcoming area from a distance and it didn't look like a friendly place. It looked like death, a Skeleton Forest surrounded by a gigantic wasteland. But you can spot lots of cherry blossoms (or pink leaves) in the center, which gives away that there's more to this scary place.

And what awaits you there is easily the best version of the Lost Woods so far in the series. It even surpasses the Royal Valley in The Minish Cap, which showed an amazing atmosphere for a 2D game, but the trees with faces, the thick mist and the eerie music just nailed it. Very well done.

I instinctively knew what to do in both sections of the Lost Woods and I was rewarded by one of the most magical moments in the Zelda series. The transition from the scary forest to the lush green and friendly Korok Forest is just wonderful. I was stunned, how well this all turned out. They created this little paradise surrounded by a world of death, but it makes perfect sense. The Lost Woods will probably keep everyone except the brave Hero out, even Ganon's hordes, and this keeps both the Koroks and the Master Sword safe.

And it really feels like a safe haven in the game. You're surrounded by dozens of Koroks, who live a carefree life here, as if nothing can touch them. Not even the Guardians. There's really some good old magic in place from the times far beyond the creation of the Sheikah technology. And it just feels great being there. You also get a free bed and you finally have full access to Hestu for pouch upgrades. I made good use of it, but it still feels like I can't ever carry enough weapons.

To make sure that you can get back here quickly, there's the Keo Ruug Shrine right next to the Great Deku Tree, which has a puzzle about star formations. At first I thought, I had to go outside and check the sky, but you can't really see the night sky in Korok Forest, almost as if it's always day there. But the solution was in the shrine itself, where the puzzle won't offer any replay value, but I liked, how you had to be quite observant. Also, it's another shrine that can be done without Runes.


Master using it and you can have this

Of course the real object of interest in this place is the good old Master Sword, where for a moment I was afraid that I could have gotten it much earlier in the game. But it turns out that like with the White and Magic Swords in the first The Legend of Zelda, you need to collect a certain number of Heart Containers at first. They just made this much more exciting, because it essentially sucks your life force away, when you try to pull out the sword. It's thrilling, really, and you do get a Game Over, if you overdo it. I've tried. Not even fairies will revive you.

That's such a nice twist on the whole Master Sword paradigm. The Master Sword has gotten boring over the course of the series. You find it in some forest and/or at the Temple of Time, you collect three Pendants or Spiritual Stones to prove yourself worthy and so on. Problem with the Master Sword was that you always get it in a fixed point in the game, as an important part of the story. It's never really an upgrade, because the game goes on and simply throws stronger enemies at you to compensate your new power. But what Breath of the Wild did here, is quite different. They finally got it right. When you can get the sword is up to you and it all depends on what you've achieved so far outside of the main quests. And it's probably even optional, if you really can beat Ganon right from the beginning - it's just that the sword makes it much easier.

I noticed, how the sword doesn't seem to be decayed like in the trailer and even the logo of the game. This probably is part of the plot 100 years ago and maybe even one of the reasons, why Link lost to Ganon.

The Koroks also prepared some trials, which supposedly help you with claiming the Master Sword. I did the hardest trial first, where you have to get through a swamp full of enemies without losing your wooden gear. The Forest Dweller Bow with the triple shots was nice, though. It's a little like the Kokiri Clothes in Tri Force Heroes and it's great that the different bows come with different abilities. Well, I didn't even mind that there was another lazy Blessing Shrine at the end of it, because you certainly had your trial with this. The other two trials were much more relaxing and fun, though... Following the spooked Korok was just adorable and the first trial was just another well done Lost Woods riddle, where you had to be observant.

Other than the fact that you can get one more Heart Container after visiting all shrines in the forest, doing the three trials did seem to have an effect on pulling out the Master Sword, where I was able to pull it out somewhat further. Maybe doing the trials reduces the total number of hearts that you need. However, there's still one trial left, where you have to bring a sleepy Korok objects that he describes in riddles. It's pretty much the same thing as the Riddle Quest in the GameBoy Advance version of A Link to the Past. The first two items were rather trivial and I even had them on me, so this was easy enough. For the third item he wanted some electric fish...


Fishy Quests

You need a Voltfin Trout and I remembered getting such a fish around Zora's River, but I cooked it into some electricity resistance food. So, I had to get one more and I used the chance to do two of the remaining sidequests at Zora's Domain, where they did offer a little more meat than the rest.

One has you looking for historic monuments all around Zora's Domain and Zora's River. One of these monuments tells the tale of Princess Ruto from the era of the Hero of Time and even confirms that the Devine Beast was named after her. That's interesting and it confirms that this game takes place loooooong after the rest of the series. If I now find historic texts about events from the three different timelines, I'm going to freak out.

Anyway, I'm noticing, how I have grown quite stronger in the game. The Blue Moblins around the area now pose no threat at all and I could use them for some dodging practice. Mastering the fighting in this game isn't so easy, because timing is very critical. It's a much more challenging combat system than anything the series had to offer so far.

I've also did the Bank of Wishing quest, where you have to follow Finley's love letter in a bottle. That one takes a while and gets a little tricky at the end, where the bottle gets stuck at some Lizalfos camp. But I made it and even got a Voltfin Trout on my way, so all went as planned.

I also did the Sheh Rata Shrine close by, which is completely surrounded by thorns. It has a solid puzzle with a rotating laser changing the water level, but the good part was that you were greeted with another treasure chest at the end, where the puzzle gets a little more complicated. But it's easy to forget about certain abilities that you have in the game.


Taming Ganon

The next and final item required for the Korok Riddle Quest was a hoof and this got me stumped at first. I really thought that you have to kill a horse for this, but this wouldn't be very heroic. Still, I decided to visit a place with horses next, where I went back to the savanna, where I first left the Great Plateau almost a week ago. The grass fields with the big Ganon Horse. And it was still there!

Instead of killing it, I gave taming it another try and thanks to two additional stamina wheels and some stamina replenishing food, I did it. I soothed the Ganon horse and was finally able to ride it!

It's long ways back to the Highland Stable, but last time I had to go on foot, because I wasn't able to tame any horses in the area. But I didn't worry about it, because all I remembered was some Moblin and a band of riding Bokoblins on the way, nothing I wouldn't be able to handle now.

Imagine my unpleasant surprise, when I saw a Lynel on the way! Where did this thing suddenly come from? I'm pretty sure that I saw a Moblin, when I first passed the area. I avoided it by going up the cliffs and if this always has been a Lynel on this path, then I instinctively avoided some traumatic experience on my first day of playing. Since I didn't want my Ganon Horse to be shredded into pieces by those Mini Ganons, I stayed close to the rock walls and luckily it didn't attack me. Later on the way there was another one, where I'm pretty sure that it wasn't there early in the game.

Maybe the game adapts the difficulty in a way, where enemies on the overworld are replaced with stronger ones based on your progress, but I couldn't observe this anywhere else. For example the Great Plateau is still filled with cannon fodder.

But maybe those Lynels always have been there and I was just the luckiest fool, when I first left the Plateau and just ran by them. It even turned out that the Ganon horse was not just some lucky find, it's a special horse in the game for a quest in the area, which explains, why it was still there, while all the other horses seem to be randomly generated. And the guy, who wants to see this special Ganon horse, even explicitly mentions horse-like enemies as an obstacle... So, what a coincidence this horse was the first one I saw in the game.

Absolutely!

Well, I finally got my Ganon horse and that's what counts! The horse itself is strong, but it's slow and you don't have the spurs to make it go faster. But as a compensation you can probably kill a Lynel with those hoofs.

Apropos hoofs, I still need one and afterwards I tried killing some random horse, but they don't drop anything. And killing a horse made me feel so bad that I went back to the last savegame. It's weird, how you can kill tons of things in this game for food, but this one animal makes you feel regret. I then went to the Rabia Plain to hunt some deer and goats in hope that they might drop hoofs, but without success.

So, what do you do, if you don't know, where to get something? Right! You consult Hyrule Compendium! It tells you, what resources are dropped by the various animals, creatures and monsters in the game. Horses don't drop anything, goats only drop meat, so what could it be... Wait, wasn't there some enemy described as "horse-like"? No. No! It can't be, right? Well... turns out that you need to kill a Lynel. And that even makes sense, because the Korok trials are all about proving yourself worthy for the Master Sword. Just collecting some fruits and fish isn't exactly difficult, so there had to be a twist like this.

But fighting Lynels is. Since I felt more confident about my power, I decided to give it a try, and as chance would have it, there was even one not far from the plain, at the Purifier Lake. So, let's fight this thing! No problem! I have tons of great food. Let's equip some Bomb Arrows and my best sword, and these hoofs will be mine!

Well... I already gave up in the moment, where I saw the TWO THOUSAND health points. The triple Ice Arrows flying at me didn't make it better, but I still charged at the thing, which really looks like a miniature version of Ganon from Ocarina of Time, equipped with Ganondorf's Great Swords from Hyrule Warriors. It's like how the Moblins were originally supposed to be made in Ganon's likeness, just much scarier and formidable.

Even though I practiced dodging earlier today, it didn't help much with the brutal and swift attacks of the thing. They are devastating and I wasn't prepared at all, so I admitted defeat and loaded my latest savegame to get all the food back.

Man. Just when I thought that I was getting stronger in this game, it puts me right back to my place. And these Lynels are treated as normal enemies in the game, not some overworld bosses! It even was indicated that there are blue (and maybe black) variants as well! But this Red Lynel alone was stronger than anything else that I have encountered so far in the game. Wow! Just wow!

Now, exploring and growing stronger always were the key aspects of a Zelda game, where Breath of the Wild hits the nail on the head. To think that I will be able to fight these guys as regular enemies later on, really has me excited. For now I had to retreat, but Breath of the Wild might be a game, where you can become stronger on a much more noticeable scale than in any other Zelda game. The challenges here are on a completely different level. But hopefully the Master Sword will do 100 damage or more, because otherwise killing these tanks won't get much easier.


Housebuilding

After I ran from the Lynel, I traveled to Hateno and blow up some forests on the way to collect wood. It was time to do something pleasant and finally buy that house. With all the Rubies and Ambers that I got from Death Mountain and all the climbing, I easily could afford the house from the gay carpenter, Bolson.

And I love the sounds they make, when they built stuff. As if they are turning into Super Saiyajins at the end. Now, buying the house and stuff for the house gets a you nice base. So far Zora's Domain was my favorite "base", because there's a cooking pout right next to a shrine and an inn and you can find good weapons laying around, but with the house you get cool gear stands:

Cozy, right?

It seems you can hold up to three melee weapons, three shields and three bows with this. It's not a sufficient replacement for an actual Item Check, which the game very much needs, but it's better than nothing and it looks nice. And you can use it to store some better weapons for later use.


End of Day 7 Progress

• Shrines: 38
• Koroks: 72
• Divine Beasts: 1