The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

I've seen videos of amazing methods people used to by pass some shrine puzzles. I cheated on some myself - I just couldnt work the puzzles out - I'm not ashamed lol. But the ones where its not a matter of looking anything up, just timing such as platformer jumps and fights... yeah.

Yeah also what rusho said, in that there isnt any one "right" way to do a lot of this stuff.

(case in point: saw someone on reddit use a bomb and blow themselves up to fling the body over a chasm to skip a whole section in a shrine, lol)

I had so many lightbulb moments doing shrines, i'd get frustrated and turn off, but then come back the next day and suddenly figure out how to do it. That was a lovely feeling.

(Although most of my lightbulb moments were me suddenly thinking, "oh yeah, magnesis, duh")

yeah, most botw puzzles boil down to thinking of your different abilities and what they're allowed to do on the level .usually objects are lit up and color coded when you're using an ability, so just walk around the levels thinking about which abilities could be useful and equipping and trying out different ones. eventually you'll probably seem some sort of lever that can be manipulated and it will all come together.

one of the most annoying for me was actually the one that wasn't really a puzzle - you just had to sort of stasis-hit a giant ball across a moat like a golf ball. all it was really was trial and error until you got it right

The similar one with the rock in the bottom of targaryan canyon or whatever its called with the golf thing was also frustrating.

That's what I meant, those sorts of challenges, where you know exactly what you have to do so it's just a matter of trial and error. Over and over again. I realize some folks might be into that, but I'm generally not, since the reward to me is not worth it. For example, with Dark Souls (which I know sorry but I just played) the Capra Demon or the Anor Londo archers are or can be a real pain, but there really is no practical alternative. Same thing with a lot of platformers; you just gotta do it. But there are tons of shrines in Zelda. The real world game of Zelda has so many puzzles to solve and opportunities to goof around that I don't really feel the need to seek out optional additional ways.

one of the shrines i have fond memories of, though, is a total gimmick shrine - the whole thing is just set up kind of like the opening sequence of "raiders of the lost ark".

There is a really goofy wit to a lot of the game, both in the behavior of the enemies and the dialogue of the people you encounter. A real roadrunner/coyote vibe to lots of stuff, too.

Indulgent Zelda question - I have an old Game Cube with Wind Waker in my basement that I've never played (for some reason). But I've also figured I can pick up a Wii U and Wind Waker HD affordably cheaply secondhand. Worth it? Anyone played both versions?

I have.

Wind Waker original is like the first two seasons of Twin Peaks-- best Zelda game ever for the first 2/3rds, plot advancing thrillingly, then suddenly, prior to the final boss, you're made to perform hours upon hours of oceanic fetch quests that are about as exciting as James Hurley's motorcycle adventure, and you will punch a hole in your couch

The HD version corrects this somewhat. Just as they made it possible to fast-swap shoes in Ocarina 3D (thus making the Water Temple un-tedious and even fun), Wind Waker HD greatly reduced the amount of labour required in dredging up eight Triforce pieces in advance of facing the last battle. For this reason I'd highly recommend the HD version over the original version

I've now played Breath of the Wild for several hours and I honestly feel like I haven't even started it yet. That's a good and bad thing, but mostly good!

how many hours do you think you've put in so far? personally, i was having a pretty good time with it during the first 5-10 hours, but then things kind of clicked and i reaaaaally enjoyed hours 15 to 75, which is way longer than i usually play any game. by the end i think i had clocked a little over 100 hours, and i was kind of astonished to see that it was that high because the time just flew by.

Yeah also the WiiU version of WW is great because you have the map on the handheld, which helps while navigating around, like having a second screen.

I found the controls a bit janky compared to the GC tho? maybe im just shit at it lol

josh - have you been to zora's domain yet?

I just met the mermaid Avatar prince who wants me to go turn off the tap in waterworld. this is the first specific plot related direction I have been given since I first learned about divine beasts iirc. I assume somewhere in my settings I can see the time I've spent right?

I think it says I have been playing for 25 hours or more? I guess that is possible. maybe ity including my daughter's play time?

no, that's me. but I am very slow to pick up on these things, so 25 hours for me is probably more like 5 hours for most people.

you are doing it right imo. I did many towers and shrines before the first beast.

Same, and I especially took my sweet ass time once I finished the first beast and had a sense of how long the entire game would take if I rushed through.

it seems like everyone did the zora's domain beast first but somehow i ended up doing it next-to-last. i did the bird one first.

i get semi-irrationally annoyed by zora's domain because the town/castle is a pain in the ass to navigate, with all those long bridges that loop around and you can't always tell which one takes you where. i should probably go back and explore that area some more because i hurried out of there before.

I did the cunt camel first

brb, headed to "posts out of context"

Confession: I x-skip almost all the mini cut-scene sequences I can skip, often in the shrines, but I never skip the the cooking, which I dutifully sit through and enjoy.

same

kinda want the cooking music as a ringtone

Why is it sometimes you get an even more cheeful tune when you make a recipe? I keep thinking I've done something cool but I can't figure out what I did or what it's done.

It’s a critical hit, the resulting meal is a little more effective

Yeah, though I rarely pay attention to the ingredients. When I make an inedible dish, can I use it for anything? Can I weaponize it?

There’s a lady east of the desert, right at the bottom of the map, who lives on a rubbish dump - I think she gives clues about how to make useful trash meals but I’ve never followed it up

it's a goofy thing. they still up being bad food but they'll give you more hearts than one. not really worth it imo

inedible meals will replenish you a bit is all, I think?

And I gave this tip upthread - when the blood moon first peeks over the horizon get thee to a cookfire and make everything you can, because *every* meal will have that extra bonus (the jauntier music)

I've gotten back into this game. I found the monster gear guy and bought some of the masks but I can't tell if they actually do anything.

They sort-of disguise you from the monster you're imitating, so you can basically stroll into a bokoblin camp with the mask on and at least at first, they'll just chill with you, til you try nicking anything or hitting them, though.

The Lynel mask barely works at all - I can stand closer to one/move past one (it made getting a bit of treasure in the coliseum easier for example) but he's not as stupid.

Lots of firsts today. I think I found my first Lynel, which maybe killed me even when I was hiding? Or something else killed me, at least, while I was hiding. I stabled my horse (which I named Horse). I hit my first super cold environment and had to take my first elixir (which I was happy to learn was still working when I continued the game after dying). I found my first lost memory (which I was not looking for). Found another fairy (which I was looking for). Gotten better at killing things, and also at getting to hard to reach places, like the tower dripping with lava. (I ate some food that gave me extra hearts so I could just plow through.) Found the hawk people and was introduced, unwittingly, to a dramatic cut scene introducing what I presume is a flying Divine Beast (which I was not looking for). Still annoyed by the shrines, still annoyed by running out of arrows, though now I know better and just teleport back and buy more (as available).

You've triggered the Rito divine beast - thats one worth doing, because you'll get the revali's gale power which lets you do huge wind-lifted jumps up in the air.

that's probably the most useful of the powers you get from the divine beasts. the one from the zora's domain beast comes in handy too but it's not as fun.

Yeah mipha's grace i dont find i trigger off that often, esp as I usually carry a few fairies around as well anyway.

BTW I rarely see fairies at the fountains anymore. Do they disappear late-game or something?

Fairies won’t appear at the great fairy fountains if you’re already carrying three (I think) fairies

I think I might need cold weather gear if I'm going to deal with the bird people and their environment. Either that or roast a crap ton of peppers.

silby: a duhoy, that should have been obvious to me haha.

Yeah mipha's grace i dont find i trigger off that often, esp as I usually carry a few fairies around as well anyway.

BTW I rarely see fairies at the fountains anymore. Do they disappear late-game or something?

― Stoop Crone (Trayce)

mipha's grace triggers before fairies, though, right?

I think I might need cold weather gear if I'm going to deal with the bird people and their environment. Either that or roast a crap ton of peppers.

― Josh in Chicago

fortunately a shop in the rito town sells some! unfortunately it's ridiculously expensive :( saving up to buy armor was not one of my favorite parts of the game...

mipha's grace triggers before fairies, though, right?

Oh does it? Hm maybe I just never notice when it happens haha!

What's the quickest way to get cash? Blow up rocks and sell what you get? Just sell everything?

Sell ore yeah (but bear in mind you'll eventually need some of each kind for armour upgrades).

A quick way to make good money is to gather as many "luminous stones" as you an and sell those, theyre worth a lot and easy to find at night (they glow).

Make and sell meals - selling them to shopkeeps or to Beedle is easiest.

DO NOT sell any guardian (robot) parts such as cogs, springs, and esp cores. They are rare and you will need them later for cool gear.

Easy meals to make quickly - load up on apples, mushrooms, berries and fish.

the quickest ways to get cash don't open up until later in the game. it depends on what you've done so far. selling gems can work. cooking and selling recipes also. if you've killed monsters you can sell the monster parts you get. at the point you're at in the game you'll probably have trouble scraping together the 1,150 rupees you'll need to get enough armor to get to level 2 cold resistance, though. :(

something you might try early in the game is seeing if you can hunt for meat, and then cooking five meat together and selling them. you can get pretty decent money for that and meat isn't the most efficient way of healing anyway.
it's good practice at stealth/bow & arrow skills as well.

yeah luminous stones will give you 70 rupees each and are plentiful, that's definitely another good way of making some quick money