Month: March 2017

Joining the Hunt

In The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild lately, I’ve been doing more exploring and less advancing the story. I returned to the Great Plateau, beat my first Stone Talus, and then jumped off the plateau to paraglide into a new region of the map. As I was climbing a lookout tower, I saw a shooting star crash into the mountain in the distance.

A shooting star in the sky as I climb a lookout tower.I completed a shrine and then headed to the Central Tower. I started climbing up, and guardians were targeting me and shooting at me the whole time! They have an extremely long range on their lasers! But I made my way to the top and activated the tower.

I soon snagged myself a wild horse and continued exploring. I found a sleeping giant, and I hoped I could talk to him. But when I got close, he woke up, and he wasn’t in a talking mood. He wanted to fight me!

Hinox the giant wanted to fight me.
He’s grumpy when he first wakes up.

I got back on my new horse and flew out of there as fast as I could. Eventually I ended up at Outskirt Stable. I used the opportunity to register my new horse and give him a name: Brown Fox. I know he’s not a fox, but he is brown. And I was up way too late playing Zelda that night and that’s all that came to mind. 😛

Embry: Are you sure you want to name this horse Brown Fox?The Rota Ooh Shine was nearby, so I stopped to complete it. After that, I returned to Impa in Kakariko Village. I showed her my camera, and she said this is the same camera Zelda used 100 years ago. Wow, and the battery still works?!

There are some pictures already stored on the camera, and she told me I should visit the locations in those pictures. I’m also supposed to return to her once I’ve visited at least one of them.

But for now, I decided to teleport back to Zora’s Domain and start my trek up to Ploymus Mountain. The ability to swim up waterfalls helps a lot here. But when I made my way up, this boss enemy was kicking my butt.

A large boss on Ploymus Mountain kicks my butt.
This dude has some anger issues.

After a couple “game over” screens, I decided to paraglide out of there for the time being. And as I sailed away, I witnessed some hunting going on beneath me!

Monsters hunt a bull beneath me as I paraglide through the air.Some Bokoblins were on horseback, hunting a bull with fire arrows. I guess they’re trying save time by cooking the meat as they hunt it. 😛

So I dropped in, shot the bull with an arrow to finish him off, and took the meat for myself. Of course, the Bokoblins were shooting at me by now, and they were hot on my trail.

A fire arrow appears to hit me as I pick up the raw prime meat in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.I shot back at the Bokoblin, knocking him off his horse. I then ran over and finished him off…and then stole his horse. 😛

But it wasn’t long until I ran into his buddies. They shot at me with fire arrows, killing the stolen horse! I then tracked them down and killed them, but that was quite an entertaining series of events.

After clearing a couple of shrines and exploring in other parts of the world, I paraglided down into South Akkala Stable. As I approached, a bolt of lightning nearly hit a girl named Jana who was standing by a large tree.

Lightning strikes near a tree in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (BOTW).

Inside the stable, I found the unstable Beedle once again. He said that since we keep running into each other, that must be a sign that we were once married in a previous life. o.O

Beedle: We must have been married in our past lives.
Uh, no.

I tried ascending the Akkala Citadel Ruins for a bit. There were some tough drone guardians flying around that made things tricky. But when a blood moon occurred to bring monsters back to life, I decided to get my akkala outta there. I redeemed some spirit orbs for another heart container, and then I teleported up to the plateau and paraglided off to another new area.

There, I activated Lake Tower before clearing two more shrines in the area–including one on Hylia Island. I saw a Zora fishing on a small island nearby, and that’s where I ended my game the other night. I don’t even know where I’ll go next time, but that’s what’s so fun about this game. The possibilities seem endless.

Splatoon 2 Global Testfire

The Splatoon 2 global testfire (multiplayer demo) for Nintendo Switch is taking place this weekend, at six designated times. The first one was held this afternoon, and I made sure not to miss it. It starts off with a quick tutorial on how to use the controls. Unfortunately, you can’t customize the controls until after you’ve completed the tutorial. And then you can’t test your changes until you’re in a battle against other people.

So I inverted the X-axis camera controls, adjusted the sensitivity slightly to match my Splatoon settings, and joined my first match.

Trying the Weapons

I started out with the splat roller, and I quickly noticed that it seemed much slower than the Krak-on roller I’m used to in Splatoon. It also seems to run out of ink quickly, so I’m thinking they severely nerfed the roller.

The splat roller, out of ink, in Splatoon 2.Of course, this is just a demo and the final attributes likely haven’t been determined yet. But I hope the standard rollers aren’t like this, or I won’t be using them very often.

Anyway, the special weapon on the splat roller is the splashdown. You jump up and slam back down to the ground with the power of a mini-airstrike. It would be best used for dropping in on enemies from above, but it’s not that great if you’re just using it for ink coverage (since it’s just inking turf right where you’re already at).

I also tried out the brand new splat dualies. It’s actually two guns that you hold, one in each hand.

Using the splat dualies in Splatoon 2 for Nintendo Switch.When using them, you have the unique ability to roll while shooting (up to twice in succession). That’s a very cool feature. The special weapon on the dualies is the ink jet printer. You fly up into the air and hover there, and you can shoot blobs of ink at your opponents or onto the ground. I think this is my favorite of the new special weapons so far.

The ink jet special weapon in Splatoon 2 for Nintendo Switch.I also played a couple of matches with the splattershot, which is a basic gun. Its special weapon is tenta missiles. They can lock onto an enemy and then fire. But one time I tried using it, and it couldn’t lock on to anyone. So I was kinda stuck just standing there for a couple seconds and I couldn’t fire it or cancel it. It’s probably just a matter of learning the right way to do it.

Controls

I had some issues with the controls in the game, but they’re really just things I’ll need to get used to. After spending hundreds of hours playing the first Splatoon, it may take some time to un-learn some things and switch to the new ways.

The biggest change was that the jump button has been moved from X to B. The X button now brings up the map, which blocks your view of the action. So quite a few times, I would accidentally bring up the map when I meant to jump. And then I would scramble to figure out how to cancel out of the map again. 😛 I really wish they would have kept X as the jump button, but I’m sure I’ll get used to it eventually.

The superjump/map screen in Splatoon 2 for Nintendo Switch.Superjumping seemed a bit tricky too…except for the times that I did it by accident. 😛

Maps

Two maps are available in the demo, Musselforge Fitness and The Reef. They’re both pretty basic, medium sized stages with lots of ramps. The Reef reminds me a bit of Urchin Underpass (at least the central part), but with a bridge connecting the two sides.

Since I’ve only played each map a handful of times, it’s too early for me to really finalize my opinions of them. But so far, they seem fine, although not spectacular. I’m sure Nintendo is saving some more interesting stages for the full game.

Global Testfire Thoughts

Overall, I really enjoyed the global testfire. It was fun and it re-confirmed that I really want to buy the game when it comes out this summer. Also, I did not have any connection troubles today either, so that was a good sign.

I’ll be playing more of the global testfire over the weekend, and I’ll post a video or two as well. If I have any additional thoughts about the game, I’ll add them to this entry.

Updates

Update #1: One thing that I really like is that when you’re submerged in ink, your ink indicator shows a line that lets you know how much ink you need to use your sub weapon. Very helpful.

Update #2: Here’s a gameplay video showing two matches from Musselforge Fitness. In one, I used the new splat dualies, and in the other, I used the splat roller.

Update #3: I’ve now played in four of the testfires: Two on Friday and two on Saturday. Now that I’ve had more time with the game, here are some updated thoughts:

  • The splashdown special has really grown on me; I like it quite a bit now. You just need to think of it as an attack weapon, and not a way to ink a bunch of turf. It’ll be great for any map with some height to it. I would love to use it in a map like Flounder Heights.
  • The ZL and ZR buttons on the JoyCons don’t seem to stay pressed in as easily as they do on the Wii U gamepad. There were times I stopped shooting or stopped ducking in ink, even though I didn’t mean to. I’m sure the Switch ProController will be better, though.
  • I’m already a bit tired of those two maps in the testfire, particularly Musselforge Fitness (which seemed to show up a lot for me). We don’t know how many maps the game will launch with, but I’m looking forward to seeing what other stages they add.
  • After no disconnections on Friday, I had quite a few of them on Saturday. Hopefully things will be better once the full game comes out.
  • The splat dualies is my favorite weapon of the four options (although I didn’t try the charger, since I’m not interested in sniping). But I always seem to forget to use the roll move! So I’d probably be a better player with it, if I could remember to use its highlight feature. 😉

I’m really looking forward to the game’s launch, and I’m wondering if there will be more testfires before then. Guess we’ll have to wait and see. In the meantime, I’ll add some videos from the global testfire.

Update #4: Here is a video showing two matches in The Reef:

Update #5: Here is a video showing some highlights from the global testfire. It features three of the new special weapons in the game, as well as some of my splats, combos, fails, laggy moments, and more.

Related: 7 Things I’d Like to See in Splatoon 2

Fairy Cotera & A New Camera

As I resumed my game in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, I left Zora’s Domain to do some other things. I returned to complete a couple of previous shrines that I encountered earlier, and then I ran into this traveler, who was not very friendly.

Traveler: I will take your life!He was an enemy in disguise! I was not expecting that. But I soon encountered something else just as creepy: A giant woman popping out of a giant flower bud for 100 rupees.

The Great Fairy Cotera pops out of a plant.
“Plant a kiss on me, baby!”

She is the Great Fairy Cotera, and she was able to help me out by enhancing my clothing with stronger defensive ratings. Now they should protect me a bit better.

The Great Fairy Cotera blows Link a kiss in Zelda: BOTW.
Incoming message from the big giant head.

I then went into Kakariko Village and prayed to a statue to exchange four spirit orbs for another heart container. I should have done all this stuff before tackling that trail to Zora’s Domain last time. Well, at least I don’t feel quite as vulnerable now, after these upgrades.

I reunited with my horse, Amazing, and headed into Fort Hateno and looked around a bit. I saw Hateno Tower was nearby, so I made sure to activate it. From there, I then paraglided down into Hateno Village, where I spotted the Myahm Agana Shrine.

It consisted of a motion-controlled puzzle, where you have to tilt the controller to roll a ball out of a maze. The last part was a bit tricky, so it took me a couple of attempts, but I got through it.

A motion-controlled maze in a shrine.
If you’re not good with motion controls, this shrine may make you lose your marbles.

Right next to the shrine, there were some model homes available. Did the Bluth Company build these?

Sign: Explore our model homes today!I then explored the village, talking to people and visiting shops. The clothing shop was a bit odd, because it seemed that no one was running the store. But as I was about to leave, I saw the shopkeeper Sophie standing in the corner, out of sight. Did she attend the Milford Academy?

I don’t know if she was playing a joke on me or if she’s just really weird, but I decided to return the favor. I whipped out a bomb to give her a scare. 😛

Holding up a bomb in the clothing shop, scaring the shopkeeper Sophie.Then I started acting really crazy. I took my clothes off and started jumping around the store. When I returned to her, she clearly noticed that I wasn’t wearing much. And she took a nice, long look.

Sophie: People who lack clothes just love it here at Ventest Clothing.
Take a picture, it’ll last longer.

Back outside, a kid in town told me to follow him. He led me to an evil statue. When I prayed to it, it stole one of my heart containers!

My heart is stolen from my body.
Oh evil statue, you take my breath away.

Fortunately, it gave it back when I spoke to it again. It was basically letting me know that I can speak to it if I want to exchange heart containers for stamina vessels, or vice versa. For a fee, of course. But I was not interested in dealing with this thing any more.

I soon made my way up the hill to the Hateno Ancient Tech Lab. The director asked me to run an errand: I had to carry the Olympic flame across Hyrule.

Link carries a blue flame on a torch as he runs through town.
My arm is getting Rio tired.

Okay, so that’s not exactly what happened. But completing the task gained me a new ability for my Sheikah Slate: I got a camera! Now I can take Hy-rulesolution photos! It connects to something called the Hyrule Compendium, which registers pictures of monsters, bugs, materials, and more.

I can also upgrade some of my runes here. One of the upgrades allows me to use my sensor to track specific items I’ve taken pictures of, instead of just shrines. This could be very useful. I went back outside and began using my camera, just for the shear fun of it.

Taking a picture of a highland sheep in Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.But not everyone was eager to see an elf snapping photos at night. I think I gave this farmer such a scare that he nearly soiled himself. He threatened me with his pitchfork!

A farmer threateningly points his pitchfork at me.
Calm down, man. I said I’m going to crop my pic, not pick your crops.

I seem to be enjoying this game more and more. Once I start playing, it’s hard to stop. That is the sign of a great game. I’ll see you all next time!