Age of Imprisonment Chronicle, Entry 1

Let's go! Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment was released today and I'm doing my usual thing on this site, because that's what it's for. I've been a huge fan of the first two Hyrule Warriors games, where I have completed them for the most part and I bet that this won't be any different.

As for now, I've only completed the first chapter, which includes the same level that was playable in the demo, which you could find in some stores in North America (and maybe elsewhere) and which was the basis for a number of previews out there. So, I think this is a good cut to give you some very early impressions.

Got Age of Imprisonment

This has arrived with the mail just now. I've ordered from the My Nintendo Store, where you get this neat, little notebook on top. It's nothing special, but better than nothing. But of course it costs full price to order it there, while the game was already considerably cheaper elsewhere.

With Age of Calamity I had actually imported the game from a different country in the EU, because I absolutely hated the German title, "Zeit der Verheerung". And it's not any better now with "Chronik der Versiegelung" (loosely translates to "Sealing Chronicle"), where I still don't understand why they felt the need to localize the subtitles of the Hyrule Warriors games. Nintendo never does this with any of their games, it's always all in English, and so far no one has complained about that... It's so weird. Also, the German age rating will ruin any good cover, which was also sometimes a reason to import certain games, but I find the Switch 2 boxes generally not all that appealing, so I probably won't care as much going forward.

But I was surprised to learn that the Switch 2 boxes are of the exact same sizes as the old ones. I expected them to be the same size as the Switch 2 itself (without Joy-Cons), simply because that's where the old size came from. But I'm not complaining, quite the opposite, because this makes them a much better fit into my current collection.

Naturally, I will do my usual blog about the game, so you can look forward to that in the upcoming days and weeks. I'm excited!

PS: I also got the first two Metroid Prime 4 amiibo. But I will show those on December 4th, once Sylux is available as well.

Tears of the Kingdom – Voice Memories Tour

After exploring all the Voice Memories in Breath of the Wild over the weekend, I went on to do the same in Tears of the Kingdom. And this was arguably more important in preparation for Age of Imprisonment. It was also a bit more interesting, because you get memories from Rauru and Master Kohga in addition to Zelda's, where every character is responsible to entertain you on a different layer of the map.

Rauru's were probably the least interesting. He only got 35 of the 240 Voice Memories and they felt a bit pointless, at least most of the time. Also, with the sky islands it didn't make much sense to travel from one memory to the next, so I teleported quite a lot. And Rauru's memories were often right next to the warp point, making this quite effortless.

Well, it was interesting how Lightcast Island got used as training grounds for Rauru's (and Zelda's) light power. Maybe this will play a role in Age of Imprisonment, but it's doubtful that the Warriors engine will properly be able to implement light reflections. He also mentions that there used to be more Crystal Refineries, but the vendors are just a menu point in Hyrule Warriors anyway, so I also doubt that this will have any relevance.

Oh, and they've used Frost Emitters to create the snowy sky islands, also as a training ground, but for Constructs. Zelda mentioned something similar about Mt. Hylia in her Breath of the Wild Voice Memories, where she suspects that the snowy landscape is not a natural phenomenon, but instead was potentially created by ancient technology to provide such proving grounds for heroes.

As for Zelda's new Voice Memories, they felt a bit more lively and closer to the heart, mainly due to them happening only recently. It bridges the two games quite nicely and there is a lot in here where you'd wish that this were part of the main game.

The most important point by far is the confirmation that all the Sheikah technology has turned to dust and disappeared some time after Calamity Ganon had been defeated. I don't understand why they couldn't have mentioned this in Purah's diary as well, because this should have been the minimal effort to give the players some sort of connection to the events of Breath of the Wild.

It also gets explained that the wells were all freshly dug up in their attempts of rebuilding Hyrule. Well, it doesn't make much sense that it never occurred to anyone to do this any earlier, since water is essential to everyone's survival. But I do appreciate that they didn't ignore the fact that the wells were all buried in Breath of the Wild.

They even tried to explain how the Horned Statue moved from one place to another. When it was calling out to Zelda, trying to steal her life energy, there was some divine intervention in the form of a lightning strike. And then it toppled into the water... I don't see how it would end up beneath Hyrule Field from Hateno even if it were able to float, but anyway.

Zelda also talked about the Horned Statue in Breath of the Wild and the majority of the Voice Memories share the exact same locations, often referencing each other. For example, you can find one at the inn in Zora's Domain, in both games. First Zelda lamented how hard the beds were, suggesting that they should come up with something that feels like floating in water. And 100 years later she is rejoiced to find water beds.

But there are some new places as well, where some of the Voice Memories make you revisit the "video memory" locations from Breath of the Wild, which was a nice touch. It didn't cover absolutely all of them, however. And they make you also visit all the memorials that were placed all over Hyrule to commemorate the people fallen in the Great Calamity. This was a good detail in Tears of the Kingdom, but also something that you could just ignore completely before. And I like that this is given more significance to the Voice Memories now.

As for other details, you will learn that Misko was imprisoned in the Hyrule Castle Lockup a long time ago. And I liked the joke about Eventide Island, where Link was afraid that they might be stripped of their possessions again, so he covered his eyes when approaching the island together with Zelda... but didn't warn her beforehand.

Oh, and there was this joke about the old man's hut. In Breath of the Wild Princess Zelda absolutely trash-talks the thing, how they should have it teared down for safety concerns. And in Tears of the Kingdom she has learned by now that her father had built the thing and felt a bit sorry.

If you're looking for some comedy gold with these Voice Memories, then you want to be traveling the Depths. What Master Kohga has to say has zero value, but it is absolutely entertaining, also thanks to his fantastic English voice actor, Erik Braa.

It is very different from the rest, because it's more like an actual journal, where you can follow his steps through the Depths right from the spot where he fell down in Breath of the Wild, still cursing the cursed Link. Well, a lot of it is about his obsession with Zonai Devices, which makes sense, since effectively half of the Depths and all of the Yiga installations down there simply exist for the Autobuild stuff.

His obsession with the "Magnificent One" is equally funny, especially with how Kohga tries to not be annoyed by the Gloom, because it has to be a blessing from the Demon King. And it's irony of fate how he turned around at the Gloom's Approach, because some from the Yiga thinks they have figured out the Zonai terminals. But I like to think that Ganondorf didn't care about the Yiga at all and probably would have just killed Kohga if he came any close.

Interestingly, Master Kohga was traveling back to the surface and down into other chasms, in order to reach the Abandoned Hebra Mine and the Gloom's Approach. And no one took note... So much for the observation from Lookout Landing. Well, to be fair, the Yiga know how to be stealthy.

But what I didn't understand how Kohga knew of the "Magnificent One" in the first place. He mentions him very early, when he first ran into some hostile Bokoblins as he was still alone down there, but how did he know about Ganondorf at that point in time? After all, they were worshiping Calamity Ganon before, not the Demon King. So, that seems to be a plothole, but otherwise I liked this part quite a lot.

It also reminded me that I'd really like to learn more about the Depths in general. What is this whole place even supposed to be? Remnants of past Hyrules? What's the deal with the Bargainers? And can we have a Bargainer as a playable character in Age of Imprisonment? Maybe I can discover some answers tomorrow already...

Breath of the Wild – Voice Memories Tour

In order to get attuned to Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment, I had decided to play the Nintendo Switch 2 Editions of both Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom. My main goal was to discover all the Voice Memories that come with the Zelda Notes app and get back into the world of these games while doing so.

Sadly, I didn't have much time during the weekend, so I'm only finished with Breath of the Wild for now and will have to rush through Tears of the Kingdom before Thursday. But I also don't want to rush, where I try to wander, glide or drive from one Voice Memory to the next, getting a good look at this Hyrule in 4K resolution and 60FPS. And it's certainly quite nice.

Funnily enough, I had originally purchased my current 50'' TV to play Breath of the Wild on it almost nine years ago. And Breath of the Wild was now the first game where I made use of its 4K resolution... Its visuals have aged well, but it's probably a good thing that its textures got updated for this.

Anyway, I'm not going into detail about the Switch 2 Edition here, since my focus was on experiencing all 125 Voice Memories. And this was more fun than I thought it would be. The problem with such recorded audio messages is that you just stand there listening, which pauses the gameplay and feels a bit awkward. It is not a good design choice, where other games are guilty of this as well (for example the Horizon series). The actual Memories, which show you a cutscene, work much better in this regard.

However, that would not have been the right format for the information conveyed here, which is about the smaller details of Hyrule, from the time before the Great Calamity. And listening to Zelda makes it feel like an audio guide for a museum or tourist attractions. You look around, while she gives you some history about it.

Since these Voice Memories were recorded after Tears of the Kingdom and during the development of Age of Imprisonment, they have used this as an opportunity to hint at certain things. For example, Zelda mentions that Mipha was rather embarrassed by how publicly they have displayed her statue at Zora's Domain, where in Tears of the Kingdom Sidon moved it to a more remote location.

Speaking of Sidon, they are even teasing a scenario from Age of Calamity here, by stating that little Sidon was intrigued by the Lynel at the Shatterback Point.

And even the room behind the Goddess Statue in the Forgotten Temple gets mentioned, even though this is of no significance to this game. It may even cause first time players to try and find a way in, not knowing any better. 

There is also talk of how the ruins north of Gerudo Town once used to be part of the town, before a tyrant unleashed a Molduga and destroyed it. That tyrant was certainly Ganondorf and maybe we will see this happening in the new Hyrule Warriors.

But the Voice Memories also raise some questions that may get answered. For example, there are multiple theories as to how the Rauru Settlement got its name. It could have been the king's residence, Queen Sonia's birthplace, or simply the village of place of great support for Rauru. The truth might be something else entirely and maybe we are going to find out. 

And then there are the Dueling Peaks, of course, where we already saw in Tears of the Kingdom how it was one mountain in the past. Maybe some event in Age of Imprisonment will cause the mountain to split. Maybe it was even Zelda herself, which would be hilarious.

I also thought it was interesting how the nearby Deya Lake got artificially created to prevent a drought of Lake Hylia, as a reservoir. So, I expect this lake to not be a thing in Age of Imprisonment.

One Voice Memory, "The Divine Beast of Lightning", even confirms the excavation site of Vah Naboris. It's a shame that they couldn't do the same for the others, because I thought this was quite interesting. In hindsight this seems like the most obvious spot for it, but I actually never took note of it.

Another very interesting reveal comes with the Springs of Power, Wisdom and Courage. Zelda explicitly states there that these were sights to worship the three Goddesses Din, Nayru and Farore. of course, this makes sense for every Zelda fan, but I don't think these Goddesses were ever mentioned by name in Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom.

What I also liked is how the Voice Memories will take you to the locations on the map that you can potentially miss for the 100%, because there is nothing else there, just a name on the map. Those are the Shadow Hamlet Ruins, Stolok Bridge and the Gerudo Desert Gateway. Thanks to the Voice Memories there is now something else there... Well, technically.

You don't see anything in the game itself, which is probably the biggest complaint I have about this feature. It reminds me of how certain things worked in The Wind Waker. On the GameCube you had the additional secrets that you could only see via the Tingle Tuner. And on the Wii U you could use the map on the GamePad to navigate to treasure spots that you only see from a distance. In both cases you had to use a second screen to find something that you couldn't see on the TV.

However, the Zelda Notes app doesn't update in real time. It only updates your location on the map every two to three seconds. And the radius that triggers these Voice Memories is actually quite small. In some places it's obvious where you need to stand, in others you might run back and forth until you finally hit the spot...

There was also one memory that was quite difficult to find, in the throne room of Hyrule Castle's Sanctum. You can't just walk there, because it will trigger the final battle. Instead, you have to go to the room above the Sanctum and take a staircase that leads down from there. This let's you safely approach the throne without triggering anything.

This was my final memory, by the way. I started at Hateno Village, went to Lurelin Village from there, to the Faron Woods, to West Necluda and Kakariko Village, to Zora's Domain, Akkala, Death Mountain, Hyrule Forest, Mount Hebra and Tabantha, the Gerudo Region, the Great Plateau, Hyrule Field and finally Hyrule Castle. 

Age of Imprisonment – Final Expectations

In less than five days Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment will launch and we know very little so far. It's a very different situation from Age of Calamity, where we knew the full roster weeks in advance, due to data-mines from the playable demo. It's probably the reason why we didn't get a demo this time, at least not one in advance...

I also haven't seen any leaks yet from early copies, so the only thing that might give us more information are reviews, which probably are under an embargo until Tuesday. At that point you might as well just wait and see for yourself. And I personally prefer to go into games with as little knowledge as possible to not ruin potential surprises, like what characters might be playable in addition to the ones we know of.

Anyway, I wanted to use this situation of knowing little to sort my thoughts about what I'd like to see from the game, one last time before we find everything out. Major spoilers for Tears of the Kingdom ahead!

The Legend of Zelda x Animal Crossing: New Horizons

It is finally happening! After more than five years, Animal Crossing: New Horizons will be hosting a collaboration with The Legend of Zelda. You can learn all about it in today's announcement, but let's get through everything shown. There are new furniture and clothing items, as well as Tulin and Mineru as new villagers.

Like in Animal Crossing: New Leaf, you will need amiibo from the Zelda series to unlock these things. We don't know any specifics, but in the very least you should be able to use Tulin's and Mineru's. Speaking of, we don't have a release date yet for the latter, but it might be available on January 15th at the latest, which is when the 3.0.0 update for Animal Crossing: New Horizons launches. (It's also possible that other Zelda amiibo can unlock Tulin and Mineru – we don't know yet.)

On Nookipedia you can find a complete list of all the Zelda contents in past Animal Crossing games, where most of it was in New Leaf. Some of these contents will return, but not all of it. From what we could see in the footage, it's at least the following:

• Heart Container (now in the Breath of the Wild style)
• Rupee (with different colored variants)
• Fairy Bottle 
• Master Sword (with pedestal)
• Triforce 
• Majora's Mask
• Hero's Cap, Clothes & Pants
• Champion's Wig & Outfit

In addition to the returning items, you can spot a variety of new things:

• Ancient Princess outfit set
• Tulin's garbs
• Mineru's garbs
• Master Sword & Hylian Shield backpack
• Ocarina of Time
• Decayed Guardian
• Silent Princess
• Zonai Authentication Crest
• Tri
• Tri Rod
• Korok Forest Wall
• Korok Forest Floor 

Most of it is from three most recent Zelda titles on Nintendo Switch, which makes sense, but there could have been a bit more variety. At least one item from The Wind Waker, Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword would have been nice. But maybe there is more that they haven't shown...

The most important additions are the two new villagers, though. We have Tulin as a jock bird, who has "gust" as his catchphrase. And Mineru is a snooty deer saying "construct". They look both very detailed, which is also thanks to the new outfit items that come with them.

Sadly, there is no news on the four Zelda villagers from New Leaf:

• Ganon (cranky pig)
• Wolf Link (smug wolf)
  
• Epona (peppy horse)
  
• Medli (normal bird)

There would be no overlap between the personalities of the old and new Zelda villagers, where you could cover 75% of all personality types with them, leaving only lazy and big sister. I originally had planned my island with these four characters in mind, but now I have to rethink who I'm going to keep.

And it's understandable that they wanted to replace Medli with a more recent Rito, but it's still a shame about the other three. In the very least they could have brought back Pig Ganon, since he was featured in Echoes of Wisdom. Maybe this will still happen or maybe they haven't announced all of the collaboration items yet, but I very much doubt it. I'm just happy that this collaboration is happening at all, after all hope seemed lost years ago.

Update (Nov. 7):

The official Japanese website now has a complete list of who each amiibo will summon. The good news is that you have a lot of options for Tulin and Mineru, so you don't need to purchase their specific amiibo. The bad news is that none of the previous Zelda villagers will return, which is very disappointing.

Those have been the main reason why I wanted this collaboration to happen, but it wouldn't be Nintendo if they didn't leave something to be desired. They just can't help it.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition and 3.0 Update Announced

Wow! Out of the blue Nintendo has announced some big news for Animal Crossing: New Horizons. It will be getting a Nintendo Switch 2 Edition, but also a major free update  for both the Nintendo Switch and Switch 2, on January 15th. You can watch the whole announcement on Youtube.

Earlier this year, I've been speculating about Animal Crossing on the Nintendo Switch 2 and a major update for New Horizons, similar to Splatoon 3, was the likeliest candidate for the near future. After all, both games got made by the same development staff. And it looks like this was on the money!

I didn't think that they would go for a Nintendo Switch 2 Edition, however, but there isn't much to it. You get the 4k upgrade and there is support for the Joy-Con mouse controls, so it's quite similar to Metroid Prime 4: Beyond.

The only questionable thing is the Microphone item, because calling out for your residents has been a much requested quality of life feature. Sometimes you are just looking for a specific villager and can't find them. So, to hide it behind the system's microphone is literally not a good call... Oh, and you can now play with up to 12 players at once online, for those who like online parties. The most I've ever played with was two.

But the upgrade to the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition only costs five bucks, so that's fair. And all the good stuff is waiting for you in free 3.0.0 update, so you can still enjoy all that on the Nintendo Switch. The 2.0.0 update was said to be the last major one, but I'm very happy that they've changed their minds about this, because this game really needs these content additions to stay interesting.

The resort hotel seems a bit silly for multiple reasons. I always thought that it was sad how Kapp'n sings about this family and even keeps a photo of them in his boat, but always stays at your pier. The easy solution would have been to make him leave after your daily boat ride. But I suppose you can also just bring his whole family to your island...

It's funny and makes good use of the free space on the water, but the feature itself just seems like a lite version of the Happy Home Paradise DLC. It is the exact same mechanics, just without the exteriors and the resort island. It also makes the campsite feel somewhat redundant now.

The storage upgrade is a godsend. I've hit the limit of 5000 items a while ago, because I've been using it mainly for collections. I've got all Gyroids in there, all fossils, all critters and their models, all the special event items, lots of photos, and so on. And if you want an extensive wardrobe on top, then 5000 isn't enough. 9000 should do, however.

Maybe I could use the new Slumber Islands to display a part of the collection, e.g. all the models. That's also an excellent feature, which effectively lets you create a second, third and fourth island within the game, but as a blank canvas for decorations. So, you won't have the Resident Services in your way and it will be free from the game's usual mechanics. You can even freely set the time of the day and the weather. This alone is a massive feature that can be enjoyed for many hours.

This wasn't mentioned in the trailer, but shown briefly: you can now finally craft multiple copies of an item at once! This is fantastic, especially for something like fish bait.

But you already know what the most important part of the announcement was, right? Not the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition, not the hotel, not the Slumber Islands, not the quality of life features... No... The LEGO! Just kidding...

But when they started talking about "collaborations", I was freaking out. Ever since I had started my own island about four years ago, I've been waiting for them to bring back the Zelda items and villagers, because I was building things with them in mind. But for some reason they never bothered... until now.

Well, at first they had talked about classic Nintendo systems. In past Animal Crossing games, you had the option to play a variety of emulated games. But here it looks like it's only one select game per system and you will need a Nintendo Switch Online membership for it, which is oddly restrictive. The LEGO stuff also seemed weird at first, but then I remembered that there are actual Animal Crossing LEGO sets, so it's nice to have this both ways.

During that part I was getting a little anxious that they might be doing all sorts of weird crossovers again, like the Hello Kitty stuff, and not the one that truly matters. But there it was: contents from The Legend of Zelda and Splatoon will finally return! They do require you to scan amiibo, however, and only these two franchises are back.

A collaboration with Metroid would have been amazing as well, but maybe this will still happen and I'm just happy we're getting Zelda stuff again. I'll talk about that in a separate post, because there is a lot to cover here.

Now, I'm actually still playing Animal Crossing: New Horizons regularly, but this has changed from once per day to once per week. I had reached all my goals and finished my island to what I wanted it to be, so all that is left to do is plugging weeds, hoping for some missing crafting recipes and checking shops for items that I have yet to catalog. But these new contents will give me enough reason to start the game more often and I'm really looking forward to January 15th.