September 2024 - Jeff's Gaming Blog

TotK #18 – All Shrines

For a long time, I’ve had a side adventure on my list requiring me to dress as a Yiga Clan member and enter their hideout. I’ve had two of the three required outfit pieces practically forever, but I never could find the third one. The hint still led me to the hideout in the Akkala region, even though that’s one that I had already found long ago. But I decided to check it out again anyway…and this time, I noticed a map.

Several spots were marked on the map, but it included more than the three branches that were supposed to exist. And the map wasn’t very detailed, so it didn’t give you precise coordinates, just a very general idea of where to look. But I checked out a couple of the supposed locations, and at one of them, I found what I was looking for: the Maritta Branch.

Aliza: You might not be the hero, but you are my prince!

After a brief fight, I freed the captive tailor; she gave me the Yiga tights. I then had the full Yiga Clan outfit, and I knew where to take it. I went over to the Yiga Clan Hideout, and they fell for the disguise. Even the Master Sword doesn’t give me away! It’s funny, because I could even chat and shop with the Yiga Clan members who would otherwise fight me. 😆

Shopping for arrows from a Yiga Clan member.

Speaking of fighting, I participated in some training battles while I was there. Each one had a different reward, and the most interesting one was that I learned a new attack move that I can use…even when I’m not holding a weapon! That’s really cool, and it’s not something I would have ever expected.

After leaving the hideout, I also completed another side adventure in the area that required the Yiga disguise. It led me to a new shrine as well.

Back at Lookout Landing, I found a tunnel that led me all the way to Hyrule Castle! I’m surprised I never found this before! I found quite a few treasure chests at the castle, and I also completed a side quest there as well.

At this point, I made a decision: I wanted to find all of the remaining shrines. By using my map to compare locations of shrines and lightroots in the Depths, I was able to find where most of them were. One or two of them were right out in the open, but several of them were well hidden. Very well hidden. One in particular took me more than an hour of searching, looking all around a mountain for a cave that led to the underground shrine.

Since there are 120 lightroots, I figured there would also be 120 shrines on the surface. And that meant the other 32 should be on sky islands. So I counted up the shrines on my map, and there were only 31. I thought I might have trouble finding the last one, but I just went to the largest cluster of sky islands that didn’t have a shrine, and I found it pretty easily.

But my last shrine of all was the Oogim Shrine near Lanayru Road in East Necluda. It wasn’t particularly difficult to find, it was just in an area I hadn’t explored yet. Once I followed the beam to the crystal and brought it back, the statues inside the shrine gave me the final Light of Blessing.

They also told me to go to the Temple of Time for a reward. There, I found a very unique outfit. I won’t spoil what it is, but it was quite…unique.

Even though I have now cleared all 152 shrines, there is still one shrine quest I haven’t completed. I guess I just have to find (and speak to) the right person, so they can tell me about a shrine and I can say “been there, done that.”

In Tarrey Town, I finally spent some money and bought myself a house!

It came with two rooms (a foyer and a bedroom), but you can purchase additional rooms. I bought a weapon stand room, so I can display/store three weapons. I’m not sure if I’ll expand my home further, though. There are still a ton of armor upgrades I need, and they require rupees (in addition to materials).

While looking through my Hyrule Compendium, I noticed that I still needed some pictures of horses. So I took out some of my special horses, snapped some photos, and filled in some gaps in my compendium.

I’ve also been revisiting my list of side quests, and completing many of them. Some of them will take some effort…like tracking down dragon’s claws for the goddess statues at the springs; I’m still working on those.

But I’ve recently found a fishing boat for a merchant, gave materials to Teba to make a Great Eagle Bow in Rito Village, and helped Bolson build a racing course on the water at Lurelin Village.

After defeating a white-maned Lynel, I even saw a double rainbow in the sky! I’ve been seeing a lot of rainbows in video games the past month! (In Animal Crossing and New Leaf are the others this month, if you’re wondering. And back in July, I also spotted my first rainbow in New Horizons as well.)

In the Depths, I found some more Yiga schematics to build a “bomb bouquet,” a headlight raft, and an all-purpose raft.

Over on Mount Lanayru, I had a chat with a guy who told me about a legend. It mentioned passing through some rings of light to see a Light of Blessing. This was the missing shrine quest! So I immediately told him I already found it, and now I’ve officially completed all shrine quests.

Now that I’ve completed all of the shrines, I decided to upload Part 2 of my “Contraptions I Built for Shrines” video. I may have solved some of these differently than you did, and it can be fun to see alternate ways of completing them. If you’re interested, here’s that video:

My map completion percentage is up to 70.14%, and my adventure log progress is as follows:

Main Quests: 21/23 (really 23/23) ✅
Side Adventures: 57/60 (up from 55)
Shrine Quests: 31/31 ✅
Side Quests: 96/139 (up from 86)
Memories: 18/18 ✅

Here are my other stats:

My Zelda TotK stats as of September 26, 2024.

My Korok seeds are up from 292 to 322 since last time. And here’s my Hyrule Compendium progress:

Creatures: 88/92 (up from 84)
Monsters: 109/110
Materials: 121/126
Equipment: 155/175 (up from 152)
Treasure: 6/6 ✅

As for what’s next, Echoes of Wisdom is now available! _{(I may earn a small amount for qualifying U.S. purchases through that link.)} I’ll be getting Echoes of Wisdom very soon, so I’ll probably be taking a break from Tears of the Kingdom for a while. But I hope you’ll return to this blog to see my thoughts of the new game! And I’ll return to TotK at some point, too.

Have a great day, everyone!

Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Review

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is the follow-up to the amazing Breath of the Wild. It takes place several years after the events of BOTW, in (essentially) the same world. Of course, many things have changed. Many characters have aged and have different roles, and new problems have arisen.

And of course, the world of Hyrule has some new additions. The most immediately obvious change is the addition of sky islands hovering high up in the air. The game starts out on one of them (Great Sky Island), and it functions like a tutorial area. Here you’ll learn the basic controls and many of your new abilities…which I’ll talk about shortly.

But the sky islands aren’t the only new places to explore; there are also the Depths. They exist far below the surface, and you’ll have to drop down into deep chasms to get there. The Depths occupy roughly the same amount of area as the surface, so it’s a huge, dark world down there.

While you can lighten up the scenery eventually, the Depths still don’t have as much geographic variety as the land above. In fact, much of it is barren and monotonous. There are some hazards including “gloom” splatter, lava pits, and cliffs that you can not climb over. You will find an occasional abandoned mine or Yiga Clan base, but the Depths is mostly empty. It feels a bit like filler just to make the game twice as large.

Different Abilities

Most of Link’s rune abilities from Breath of the Wild are gone, but he has some new abilities to use instead. And a couple of them are similar to the old ones.

Ultrahand is probably the most significant new ability. At first, it resembles Magnesis in BOTW. But Ultrahand can be used a wide variety of objects, not just metallic things. And more importantly, Ultrahand can be used to attach objects such as logs and planks together to create structures like a ramp, a raft, or other vehicles. You’ll find wheels, steering sticks, hot-air balloons, and other Zonai devices throughout the land.

The Ascend ability lets you travel upward through ceilings and overhangs, seemingly swimming through even solid stone, to quickly reach high places. The ceiling must be relatively close above your head for you to use Ascend, though. But this ability saves a lot of time you would’ve spent climbing. Very helpful.

The Recall ability is somewhat like Stasis from BOTW, but it doesn’t just stop an object in time; it reverses it. So if an enemy throws a bomb at you, you can use Recall to send the bomb right back to the enemy! This can sometimes be used to undo a blunder if you’re quick enough. It can be very helpful in certain situations, but you probably won’t use it as much as Ultrahand or Ascend.

Fuse is an ability that can fuse two objects together. Pick up a sharp monster horn? Fuse it to a stick to create a new weapon, or increase an existing weapon’s attack power. Find a rocket? Fuse it to your shield and use it to quickly launch yourself into the air. There are lots of possibilities.

You can also obtain some special powers from the sages, much like the Champions’ powers in Breath of the Wild. But one thing I found amusing is that in BOTW, you were assisted by ghosts of dead Champions. In Tears of the Kingdom, most of the sages are still alive. And yet you have ghost-like clones of them somehow, and they can physically fight alongside you. They can be very helpful, but it doesn’t make a lot of sense logically. 😛

Vehicles

The Ultrahand ability I mentioned above opens up a new avenue for creativity. Using objects and devices found in the game, you can create all sorts of things…including vehicles. At the most basic, you can attach some logs to make a simple raft. But you can also create cars, boats, hovercrafts, flying machines, and more. Getting around Hyrule is easier, quicker, and more fun in this game.

I know the idea of having to build contraptions from scratch doesn’t appeal to everyone. But it’s really not that bad. The vast majority of the time, a simple creation will suffice. And you can learn a new ability that speeds up the process. You can then store your favorite creations and automatically build them again, and you can also find blueprints for new vehicles. But I assure you, this game can be thoroughly enjoyed even if you don’t want to spend the time to make elaborate creations.

Much to Do

Much like Breath of the Wild, Tears of the Kingdom has a lot to do. The game has five main temples (dungeons) to complete, along with three (optional) labyrinths. And of course, there are the shrines…152 of them, to be exact. There are also 18 memories to find, 20+ main adventures, 60 side adventures, 139 side quests, and 120 lightroots to activate (in the Depths). Oh, and 1,000 Korok seeds to find too. And that doesn’t count the many vehicle blueprints, special outfits from previous games, or the many treasure chests that are around every corner.

Finding the climbing boots in a treasure chest.

But for all of the content in the game, you’re not just searching blindly hoping you stumble onto something (like it sometimes felt in BOTW). There’s a method to the madness, and hints to guide you. For one thing, the 120 shrines on the surface line up with the lightroots in the Depths. So if you find one, you know where to look for the other.

The “Hero’s Path” mode can be unlocked to let you see where on the map you’ve already visited (and where you haven’t). And you’ll sometimes find treasure maps on sky islands that lead you to specific treasures in the Depths. So even though you may not know exactly where everything is, the game has tools to help narrow your search. I really appreciated that.

Other Improvements

Everything feels more polished, and many of the improvements are very helpful. When you open a treasure chest now, you have the option to drop an existing item to make room for it. Before, you had to close the chest, go to your inventory, drop the item, and then open the chest all over again. The process is streamlined now.

Every cave in the game has a bubbul gem to collect, and the map conveniently shows a check mark to let you know if you’ve found it. The sensor is less annoying, and will tell you if the item you’re seeking for is above/below you. And the Hyrule Compendium now has completion totals for each section; I used to count those up manually for my status updates in my BOTW blog entries. 😆 And the lack of motion-controlled ball-rolling shrines is nice too. 😛

Overall

While the plot felt like standard fare for the most part, there was one key element of the story that really surprised me and captured my interest. (If you know, you know.) And that one twist alone made me more interested in the storyline than I typically am in a Zelda game.

Much of the gameplay is similar to Breath of the Wild, of course. And the fact that it takes place in the same world initially turned me off a bit. I wasn’t sure I’d like the game as much as BOTW. But as I progressed farther into the game, it gradually became clear to me that I was enjoying myself even more than I was in Breath of the Wild. BOTW is an amazing game, but TOTK is even a bit better. It is my new favorite Zelda game.

10/10

My TotK videos

Want to buy Tears of the Kingdom at Amazon? (I may earn a small amount for qualifying U.S. purchases through that link.)

TotK #17 – Labyrinths

It’s been a few months since the last entry, as I took a break from the game…and even then played intermittently.

But I decided to finally tackle something I’ve been putting off for a long time: the labyrinths. Honestly, they were kind of a pain in Breath of the Wild, so I haven’t exactly been eager to return. I guess that’s one of the down sides of returning to the same world in a sequel.

I first went to Lomei Labyrinth Island in the Akkala Sea region. While it’s (obviously) still a maze, it’s not filled with enemies…so navigating it isn’t as tedious as it could’ve been. I made my way to the gate without too much trouble, and it directed me to the labyrinth of the sky.

Unlocking the gate. — Is this a Zelda game or Stargate?

When I arrived at the sky labyrinth, I had to find and activate four terminals. That reminded me of a temple or dungeon, but it was (surprisingly) much easier. In fact, it was a breeze. 😉

Next, it led me into the Depths. Once I was done there, I received some new armor.

In the Hebra region, I returned to a sky island that had a King Gleeok I previously couldn’t beat. This time, I defeated it and earned another Sage’s Will. I had four of them again, so I enhanced my bond with Mineru…the last sage left on my list. So I think that means I’ve found all of the Sage’s Wills now. 💪

Goddess statue: Now I will make your bond with Mineru stronger.

Up on some sky islands, I got my camera out and took a photo of this smiley face. 😜

A geographical smiley face in The Legend of Zelda; Tears of the Kingdom. — Is it wearing a monocle?

I then went on to the other labyrinths: the North Lomei Labyrinth in the Hebra region, and then the South Lomei Labyrinth in the Gerudo Highlands. They all operate pretty much the same, so they weren’t hard to complete in this game. They can still be time-consuming if you hunt for all the treasure chests, but it wasn’t too bad.

The shrine at one of them threw me for a loop, though. It looks like just a regular “Rauru’s Blessing” shrine, until you walk up the final steps. The platform splits and rises up into the air, revealing a new segment. It didn’t take me long to figure out what I had to do, but it was a pleasant surprise to see such a twist after seeing wayyyy too many of these boring “Rauru’s Blessing” shrines lately. 👍

Over near Lookout Landing, I exchanged some crystallized charges for some energy wells…and I exceeded what appeared to be the maximum. I still have eight of the battery container things, but some have turned blue to indicate they’ve filled up again. So apparently you can double-up the juice. 🔋

I just hate that your Ultrahand creations sometimes blink and “die” before you even use up all the battery power! What good is all that power if your devices can’t even handle it? That can be so annoying.

While exploring the Depths, I’ve found a new more Yiga schematics; I can now build an instant scaffold, a fanboat, and a fishing trawler with Autobuild. I’m not sure that I will build them, but at least I can. 😆

I went searching for the remaining lightroots, and the last two were giving me some trouble. But I did eventually track them down, so I have now dispelled all of the darkness from the Depths. I earned a medal for the accomplishment, although I don’t think it actually does anything.

Status Update: My map completion is now at 67.81%, and my adventure log progress is as follows:

Main Quests: 21/23 (really 23/23) ✅
Side Adventures: 55/60 (up from 54)
Shrine Quests: 29/31 (up from 26)
Side Quests: 86/139 (up from 79)
Memories: 18/18 ✅

You can see my other stats here:

My hearts, stamina, battery, and other stats as of September 2024.

My shrine count up to 145 (from 134 last time), my lightroots are maxed out, and my Korok seed count is 292 (up from 264). Here is my Hyrule Compendium progress:

Creatures: 84/92
Monsters: 109/110
Materials: 120/126
Equipment: 152/175
Treasure: 6/6 ✅

I only have seven more shrines left to go! But on the other hand, I still have over 50 side quests remaining somehow! I don’t even know how that’s possible, since I only have 10 unfilled ones on my list. Either there are a lot of characters I haven’t met yet, or lots of those side quests have follow-ups.

The next Zelda game, Echoes of Wisdom, is just a couple weeks away! I plan on buying it either at launch, or shortly after. I’ll probably post some blog entries of it too, and likely before my next TotK entry. (I’m still not done with Tears of the Kingdom yet, though.)

Anyway, if you missed my video from July, here is TotK Moments #2:

See you next time!