Month: April 2017

After some more exploring in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, I made my way to Tabantha Tower. I scaled it and activated it.

From the top of the tower, I spotted a new fairy spring. So I paraglided down and met the Great Fairy Kaysa!

After paying her a fee, she upgraded some of my clothing to improve my defensive stats. I then completed a nearby shrine.

I traded in four spirit orbs for another heart container, and I decided it was time to head back up to Ploymus Mountain. Fortunately, the big angry dude from before didn’t spot me, and I was able to sneak past him. Even better, I found enough shock arrows stuck in trees that I got more than the 20 that I needed!

Once I got to Shatterback Point, I had to glide down to the lake below. On my first attempt, I tried to land directly on the Divine Beast Vah Ruta. But it had a force-field around it, and I died pretty quickly.

So I tried again, realizing I needed to find Prince Sidon. He told me I needed to ride on him as he swims up to the giant mechanical elephant known as Vah Ruta. Sidon took me close, then I had to swim up the waterfalls and shoot the elephant’s pink orbs with shock arrows. Once I landed enough hits, the water coming out of Vah Ruta slowed down. I thought I was done…and then Sideon took me closer, telling me now the real work starts.

He took me to the entrance of Vah Ruta, and told me to look for a map inside. That actually sounded good to me, because it meant I was finally getting to a dungeon in the game! I was surprised there hadn’t been any dungeons yet, although some shrines are kind of like mini-dungeons in a way.

Inside, I activated a terminal (the first of five) and began exploring. A bit later, I found the map and acquired the ability to adjust the trunk of the elephant. Water constantly streams from the trunk, so adjusting the trunk is necessary to reach certain areas–including the big top of the elephant.

Through exploration and some trial-and-error, I was able to activate most of the terminals. But there was one terminal in particular that was causing me problems, and it took me several play sessions over a few days before I finally figured it out.

For those who don’t know how I play, I try to avoid spoilers if at all possible (and other people’s videos/walkthroughs) because I feel it’s more satisfying to figure everything out for myself. Even if it means some puzzles (or other obstacles) may take me longer than if I just watched a video or Googled it.

But once I finally activated that last terminal, I fought a boss and completed the dungeon. That earned me another heart container. The story advanced, I got a very helpful reward, and then I found myself back in Zora’s Domain.

Everyone thanked me, and I took the time to shop and do some cooking. I met up with a Zora named Torfeau, and he had a side quest for me. He told me to defeat the Hinox (a giant) over by Ralis Pond. He said that this should be a piece of cake…fish cake, to be exact.

So once I was done in Zora’s Domain, I checked my map and headed for Ralis Pond. I found the giant there, and after I woke him up, he had his eye on me. I think he just wanted a big hug.

Okay, not really. He literally pulled trees out of the ground and then tried to beat me to a pulp with them. If I ran too far away, he would throw the logs at me. I think I barked up the wrong tree by picking a fight with guy.

While I wouldn’t call him a piece of cake (fish or otherwise), I wood not be deterred. After several minutes of fighting, I defeated him and collected some interesting items…namely his guts, teeth, and toenails. I bet I can gross out Zelda with these!

I returned to Torfeau, and he rewarded me with 100 rupees. Rupees aren’t exactly my favorite reward, but I’ll take them. I then left Zora’s Domain once again and headed off for some more exploration. I made my way to Eldin Tower and activated it.

From there, I glided down to Foothill Stable and chatted with the people there. I then completed a nearby shrine before wrapping up my game. I have no idea where I’ll go next time, but we’ll see. 🙂

When I continued in Breath of the Wild, I soon found myself at Highland Stable. Something about the woman feeding the horses caught my eye. Her shirt tail was hanging down, and…well…I thought it was her butt crack. Feeling a Draft of the Wind perhaps?

Picasso Pikango the painter was inside the stable, and he told me where I could find the location shown in one of Zelda’s photos. So I decided to head that direction, after I completed a nearby shrine first.

When I was ready, I made my way around the east end of Lake Hylia. I found several Korok seeds along the way, and I also fought this thing. And I’m not trying to be bigheaded or anything, but I really like this picture. 😛

I soon reached my destination, and a glowing spot on the ground allowed me to trigger the memory of training in this spot a long time ago. I then returned to Impa, and she gave me some new clothes, the champion’s tunic. It allows me to see the hit points of each enemy I encounter.

While I was in Kakariko Village, I also traded in four spirit orbs for another heart container. I then had the fairy upgrade my new tunic.

After that, I started exploring in a completely new direction. I headed to Gerudo Valley, where I did a lot of climbing, and I was up really high. I’m not usually scared of heights, but that almost changed here. 😉 I kept thinking “don’t fall, don’t fall, don’t fall.” 😛

Eventually, I made my way to the Wasteland Tower and activated it. I didn’t venture into the desert though, I just continued through the canyon. Eventually, I decided to teleport to Outskirt Stable to complete a side quest.

Later, I headed west. Despite the thunderstorm going on, I recognized a scene from another of Zelda’s photos. I recovered another memory there.

I then made my way to Ridgeland Tower, where I had perhaps my most frustrating moments in the game so far. After crossing the lake to get to the tower itself, I was having a lot of trouble climbing up the tower. I was under attack from lizards and wizards, and their projectiles (lizard spit and the wizards’ electric balls) kept knocking me back down.

Even when you eat food that gives you shock resistance, the zaps still knock you down. And once you get farther up, you have to deal with electric bats too.

Between deaths, I did stop to see my first rainbow, though.

It took me a number of attempts, and I used an even greater number of food items, but I eventually made it to the top. There, I found a man who was stranded with no way to get down.

When he learned I could use my paraglider to safely soar to the ground, he was excited. He wanted me to show him how I do it, and to see how far I can travel. So I did. I traveled 450 meters, and his reaction was quite surprising.

He started insulting me and saying my paltry performance doesn’t help his research at all. EXCUSE ME? You’re the guy that’s stuck up here without a way down, and you’re insulting me for only flying 450 meters? You can’t even glide at all! I wanted to hurt him sooo bad.

I explored nearby, and I met up with Kass, a bird of the Rito tribe.

He gave me a hint as to how to open up a new shrine, but I didn’t find the right spot to do it just yet. Instead, I continued exploring. My roaming led me to the coliseum ruins. But when I saw this guy inside that had 2,000 HP, I ran out of there before I was slaughtered.

After returning to Hateno Village, I decided to try visiting the Spring of Wisdom up on Mount Lanayru. So I put on my warm doublet, ate some spicy sauteed peppers, and started climbing.

I won’t give away all the details, but once I got there, I ended up fighting a dragon in mid-air! Very cool, and definitely not what I was expecting!

A new shrine opened up, and after taking the weapon in a treasure chest, I was able to walk right up and complete the shrine. The Spring of Wisdom now provides another place I can pray to exchange spirit orbs for heart containers or stamina vessels. For some reason, I was expecting there to be a fairy here.

I did a little shrine hunting after that, completing a couple and failing at a couple others. I’ll see you next time.