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BOTW #26

I returned to Kilton at the Fang and Bone shop, and he informed me that I have now defeated all four Moldugas. As a reward, he gave me a medal of honor! As far as I can tell, it’s not useful in any way…just for bragging rights, I guess. 😛

Medal of Honor: Molduga — Is that the title of a new first-person shooter?

While exploring an archipelago, I was shocked to find Kass performing his accordion up on a stone pillar! I thought had already found all of the Kass(es) in the world. Guess I was wrong!

Kass plays the accordion in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

He had an exclamation point, indicating a new quest for me. He told me the hint, and I quickly swam to the nearby area and found a hidden treasure chest that contained 300 rupees. I was hoping for a new shrine, but oh well. It’s still a side quest marked off my to-do list.

Next, I teleported to a shrine near the Tabantha Bridge Stable. When I arrived, I didn’t have to search long before I spotted a guy named ~~Google~~ Geggle. He pointed me in the direction of a seemingly man-made cliff that could house a shrine! And indeed, a new shrine quest opened up. However, my excitement evaporated almost immediately as the shrine quest was instantly marked complete. It’s one I had already completed, I just never got the hint for it in the first place. 😛

That made two times I thought I was about to find a new shrine, only to be shut down. But my luck was about to change. One of the people at the stable mentioned Ludfo’s Bog to the east. I didn’t remember that being an area I had explored well, so I headed there right away.

The bog has tons of large, mushroom-shaped (but flat-topped) tree-like structures. It definitely has a unique look to it.

Link walks through the bog in Zelda BOTW.

I found several new Korok seeds here. As I moved north, I reached the Thundra Plateau and triggered a clue from a mysterious voice. No doubt about it: This was a new shrine quest, at last! It started storming, so I put on my rubber suit and got to work. I figured out how to gain entrance to the shrine, and then blew up a bunch of stones inside to complete it. Shrine #115 is in the books. Just five more to go!

I continued exploring, and I was quite surprised when I walked right up to a stable that I haven’t been to before! It was Serenne Stable, and it wasn’t even hidden. It was right in the open, right along the path!

I was happy to see three guys that had exclamation points above their heads (indicating they had a quest for me). They were looking for leviathan bones, and they asked me to find three skeletons and draw a picture of each one. Of course, I could use my Sheikah Slate to take a photo instead, but these guys didn’t know about that type of technology. So I set off for the lands of Eldin, Hebra, and Gerudo.

First, I went to the desert, because I remembered the large skeleton there. I quickly snapped a photo, and then went up to Death Mountain (the Eldin region). I had a bit more trouble here, because the skeletons on the map weren’t the bones I needed. But after looking more closely, I found what I needed and got the picture.

The Hebra region seemed to be the toughest of all, since I saw no obvious large skeletons on the map. But I did spot some curious features on the map that I wanted to check out. One of those areas turned out to be Goflam’s secret hot spring. It’s always nice to find a new location to be added to the map, but it wasn’t what I was looking for.

Next, I decided to check out a tiny, rectangular pond that I saw on the map. It seemed suspicious, but nothing jumped out at me once I got there. I used cryonis to make an ice pillar in it, and just looked around. I found a big snowball, which I rolled on the ground. To my surprise, it rolled over my pillar and down a hill, and ultimately smashed open a large doorway to a hidden cave!

As I got close, my Sheikah sensor indicated a shrine was inside. But that wasn’t all! A giant skeleton was also in here. Double jackpot!

A leviathan skeleton in the Hebra region of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. — Dem bones, dem bones, dem leviathan bones.

I snapped a pic, completed the shrine, and then returned to the stable to collect my reward: 300 rupees. And more importantly, that completed a side quest off my list

After examining the map a bit more, I found two bridges between Hyrule Field and West Necluda that didn’t have names. That meant I hadn’t been there yet. So I headed there, and the first one was called Horwell Bridge.

There, I rescued a young woman named Leekah. She said she was going back to the stable…but I didn’t know of a stable nearby. That’s right, I missed another stable! I followed her to Riverside Stable. This makes me wonder how many other stables are out there that I still haven’t discovered after two years of playing?

A side quest opened up, but it was one that automatically completed (I just had to show the person a sword). I also found a guy named Gotter there, and he also had a new side quest for me: I have to find a cookbook in Hyrule Castle!

I still hadn’t beaten the game after acquiring all the memories, so that side quest gave me another reason to head to Hyrule Castle. And that’s what I did. I explored more thoroughly as I made my way up to the castle, although I didn’t find the cookbook anywhere.

One thing that I found interesting is how a guardian I defeated left its ancient gears behind in a nice, neat stack as it exploded. Like a stack of pizzas almost. Very impressive! 😀

A guardian explodes into a stacked pile of gears?

Here are my current stats:

Completion percentage: 49.71%
Shrines: 116/120
Korok seeds: 312/900
Shrine quests: 39/42
Side quests: 72/77
Hyrule Compendium: 358/385

And here is my latest Breath of the Wild video, Messing Around #5:

Anyway, I made my way to Ganon and beat the game again. Since I’ve beaten it after collecting all of Link’s memories, I got to see the “good” ending this time. I do have one final thought about the ending, but it contains a spoiler. So if you don’t want to see it, stop reading this entry now.

*SPOILER WARNING*

Okay, here is my spoiler-iffic thought about the ending. As you go through the game, you learn that each Champion (of the four divine beasts) actually died long ago and was only helping Link out in spirit form. Basically, their ghosts were helping Link.

I was fully expecting the same to be revealed about Zelda at the end, since there didn’t seem any confirmation that she still had a physical body any more. But even after seeing the good ending, that’s apparently not the case. She seems to be alive and well. I guess that’s a good thing, it’s just not what I expected. 😛

See you next time!

Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Review

Link is free to explore the vast, expansive world in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. To call the game huge is an understatement. The world is colossal, easily dwarfing every other Zelda game by a wide margin. And that world is filled with many hidden things to find…shrines, Korok seeds, treasure chests, and much more.

#Goals

Completing shrines will be one of your first goals in the game. There are a whopping 120 of them in the game, and each one is essentially a mini-dungeon. Many of them have puzzles to be solved, some of them are combat tests, and a few even use motion controls to roll an orb around a maze (those are my least favorite).

Each shrine will yield one spirit orb upon completion, and you can trade in four spirit orbs for a new heart container or stamina vessel. Even though I preferred to stock up on heart pieces early on, I eventually discovered that stamina is more valuable. Having multiple stamina wheels allows you to climb higher, run farther, and explore easier. Fighting enemies in the overworld, for the most part, is optional. Many times, it’s better to run away…especially if you’re not stocked up on health items like food and potions.

Speaking of food, Breath of the Wild allows you to collect items you find–mushrooms, fruit, flowers, monster parts, and more–and cook them to make various dishes. Characters may tell you recipes for certain foods, and others can be learned through experimentation. Certain dishes and potions will give you abilities that last for a limited time: They may give you extra stamina, resistance to heat or cold, attack/defense boosts, and so on. Cooking up exactly what you need is very helpful ability, but it’s a tedious and time-consuming process if you’re making multiple dishes.

The first few shrines in the game give you runes, which Link can use to obtain special powers. That includes the ability to place bombs, the power of magnesis (the ability to lift and move metal items, regardless of size or weight), cryonis (the ability to make ice pillars on water), and stasis (the ability to stop time for an object and hit it repeatedly to add up its kinetic energy). These abilities are essential for completing many areas of the game, so mastering them is a necessity.

Link uses the power of magnesis to move a large metal panel.

In many ways, Breath of the Wild is not your traditional Zelda game. It’s far less linear than just about any previous Zelda game, and most things can be done in any order you wish. Instead of a traditional eight dungeons, Breath of the Wild essentially has five main dungeons: Four mechanical “Divine Beasts,” and then of course Hyrule Castle at the end of the game. And even those feel nothing like the typical dungeons you’d find in a Zelda game.

There are also dozens of side quests scattered throughout the world. But sometimes the most fun comes just from exploration and experimentation. You can use your rune abilities in creative ways, and some tasks can be completed using a variety of methods. You can sneak up on wild animals to mount and tame them, and then ride them around. That ability isn’t limited to wild horses, but also other wildlife including deer, moose, and even bears! And of course, you can also set things on fire and watch the world burn.

Sword Loser

By far, my least favorite aspect of the game is the weapon system. It starts out with a cool premise: You can pick up weapons from defeated enemies, and even use defeated skeleton’s arms to bash other baddies. The problem is that the weapons you acquire are fragile. In many cases, they won’t last more than a few minutes of fighting. You may even need multiple weapons to defeat a single enemy (and not just bosses)! So you always need to be stockpiling weapons to swap out each time one of them breaks. (The same thing applies to shields and bows).

Link's rusty broadsword breaks while trying to cut a tree down.

I originally thought that would just be a temporary problem. Surely, once I got the Master Sword, I’d be set for the rest of the game, right? Nope. While the Master Sword doesn’t break, it still runs out of “power” after a while, and it can’t be used while it recharges. So you’ll still need to swap in other weapons. It’s a bit of a pain.

Graphics & Sound

The graphics look great, as the game has some truly stunning landscapes. Sometimes I’d stop exploring just to watch a sunset, look at a rainbow, or watch a storm pass through the valley below me. The sound effects are also quite satisfying, from the rustling wind to thunder, birds singing, running water, and much more.

Towns, ranches, buildings, and other certain areas have background music playing…and it’s generally quite pleasant. But the audio isn’t perfect. When you’re out running around in the overworld, sound effects are typically all you’ll hear. Unlike virtually every other Zelda game ever made, there is no overworld theme. The lack of music for much of the game is quite a disappointment, especially when Zelda games normally have such great soundtracks.

Best of the Wild?

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is clearly not a traditional Zelda game. While I miss some of those traditional Zelda elements, Breath of the Wild is an incredible game even without them. It’s an amazingly fun game that will keep you exploring for hundreds of hours. I can confidently say that it is the best Zelda game to date, and it’s also one of the best video games ever made.

I rate The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild a strong…

10/10

Buy BOTW for Switch – Buy BOTW for Wii U

And just for fun:

BOTW #25 – Horse Slide

Time for some more Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Just moments after leaving the location of my last shrine, my Sheikah sensor started going off again! I followed the (beeping) signal to the Lanno Kooh shrine under a rocky dome.

After completing it, I just roamed around and explored. I found a number of new Korok seeds and treasure chests.

There was only one side quest remaining on my list, and that was the one where I had to find ten stone monuments around Zora’s Domain. So I headed there and started exploring the surrounding areas. In a lake, I found a treasure chest that contained the Zora Helm. It allows me to use a spin attack underwater. Pretty cool, but I imagine this is something many players found much earlier in the game.

Picking up the Zora Helm in Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

As for the stone monuments, I wasn’t having much luck in my search. I found several of them, sure. But the objective list doesn’t tell me how many I’ve found so far, or how many more I need. After a while, I got tired of looking for them and just went elsewhere.

I followed some paths leading to Akkala and the Maw of Death Mountain. Even though I’ve been to those areas before of course, I’m not sure that I took the proper pathways that lead to them. But this time, I took them and kept an eye out for goodies along the way. And indeed, I found some new Korok seeds and treasure chests. No more shrines, though.

I took a break, but came back another day to give the stone monuments another try. I decided to mark each monument I found with a star pin on the map. After a couple hours of additional searching, I had only found nine of the ten. I was a bit frustrated, so I decided to do something I try not to do: consult a guide. I looked up the general location of the monument I was missing, and that allowed me to find the monument and complete the side quest. If you’re having trouble, this picture shows the locations of each monument.

A map showing the locations of the ten Zora stone monuments in Zora's Domain in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (BOTW).

With that finally done, there were no more side quests on my to-do list. So I just went around exploring. While fighting some Bokoblins on horseback near the Digdogg Suspension Bridge, I shot one of them off his horse. I ran to the horse, and as I mounted it, it leaped towards the edge of the cliff. We were on a steep, slanted surface, facing downward.

Link, on a horse, faces down the side of a cliff.

As I tried to turn around, we slid down the cliff and into the water. I fell off the horse and Link got jittery as the horse tried to get back up. It was a glitchy situation, and somehow, I accidentally re-mounted the horse! I didn’t stay on long, though. I tried using Cryonis to lift the horse up, but that didn’t work.

The horse splashes in the water.

With no way to save him, I ultimately put him out of his misery.

I continued on to the desert, and I made a stop at Kara Kara Bazaar. Here, I found a Guy who had a side quest for me!

Guy: But they don't seem to be selling the elixir anywhere...

I made an elixir for him, and he rewarded me with 50 rupees. But more importantly, that completed my 69th side quest. The bad news is that I still have eight more side quests to go, and I have no idea what they are or how to find them. I try to talk to everyone every time I visit a town or stable, but I have a feeling many of the remaining ones belong to people who are just out somewhere wandering randomly.

I continued exploring in the desert, and I defeated two new Moldugas before upgrading some clothing/armor at the Great Fairy Fountain. I then made a quick visit to Kakariko Village before wrapping up my game.

Here are my latest status stats:

Completion percentage: 47.14%
Shrines: 114/120
Korok seeds: 294/900
Shrine quests: 37/42
Side quests: 69/77
Hyrule Compendium: 355/385

If you haven’t already seen my “Messing Around #4” video, here it is:

I’m hoping to post part 5 sometime in March, so stay tuned!