VideoGame_Discussion

@Feeb I feel like folks could always just play it for the story like any other Zelda game. If you stick to just the Main Quests, it’d probably be fine if you’re a Zelda fan. I mean, it’d still be a lot of exploring and whatnot, but I feel like you could ignore the side stuff for the most part.

@Scott , that's the way I feel about the depths. It feels big for the sake of being big, and the darkness gets old. It's a whole bunch of nothing. The overworld, on the other hand, is a massive improvement over BOTW. There are tons of things to do. The caves and wells are so much fun to explore. I'm not really into the building aspect, but I have built a few simple vehicles to help with quicker exploration. I still haven't even unlocked half the map yet. I still have to go to Haetano and the entire south portion of the map. I'm hoping there are more things to do in the depths and more of a reason to explore and unlock the map areas. I can't imagine getting bored of this game for a very long time. In fact, it is SUCH a huge improvement over BOTW, I don't know if I'll ever want to go back to it.

@theJaw , I agree with the healing meals, etc. I miss hearts. I feel like I can just abuse the healing in this. On the other hand, the enemies hit for so much damage in this game. I think I have 9 hearts, and I still get one hit deaths all the time. It's really annoying. I am flying through healing potions/meals, and cooking is a grind. Why can't I just choose a recipe to cook and tell the game to cook it 5 times instead of me having to select the ingredients over and over again? That was one of my big complains for BOTW, and I'm disappointed that they didn't fix that.

Played the Wind Temple last night. There was one part that I was racking my brain on for a while and felt so dumb once I figured out the solution. Overall, pretty enjoyable experience so far, but I agree that there are aspects of the game that feel tedious or a bit too long. However, I'm sure people are going to find ways to speed through these sections.

I personally need to train myself better on the controls. I'm constantly pressing the wrong button to change weapons or forgetting that I'm holding my bow when open up the quick item selector and accidentally fuse something to an arrow.

One thing's for sure, there is no shortage of arrows in the Rito>Wind Temple section. Even after all that, I'm sitting on 100+ arrows. They really want you take advantage of fuse.

Scott wrote:

I did. I’m guessing 100 hrs +? I found every shrine etc

New switch days. I think the novelty of the system had a big part in holding my interest. That whole situation was a phenomenon- truly groundbreaking- HD handheld Zelda.

Hot take - The world in TotK is more empty than the world in BotW. It is also less rewarding.

... still only ~4 hours in from day one. Just finally hooked up my Switch to my PC, hoping to finally spend some time playing soon.

KCPenguins wrote:

I dunno about more empty. I could walk for several minutes in BOTW without an NPC or enemy anywhere, that’s nowhere near the case in TOTK. More actually inhabited towns/hubs, several wandering NPCs, stables, the fellas with the signs, enemies everywhere. The depths and sky islands are less-so, but at least there are enemies on both.

And I say that without getting to all the locations/towns yet, and I haven’t even found the Lost Woods yet (assuming they’re in the game of course).

I haven’t felt unrewarded either but I suppose that’s more of a subjective thing. I find items/weapons that I consider useful all the time, and discovering caves and wells and whatnot is super satisfying.

bonham2 wrote:

I haven't even visited the depths a single time yet, I should start doing some of that too. I think just a change of scenery would be good for me. I agree that the ovreworld is a massive improvement, and I love exploring the caves and wells too!

Feeb wrote:

If you enjoyed your time with BotW, I think you would enjoy TotK too. The overworld is quite different, and there's a lot of new stuff to do. However, if you only moderately enjoyed BotW and/or had to force yourself to beat it and find all of the shrines, then yeah, probably hold off on TotK for a while.

If you're looking for a reason to explore the depths, it might be a good idea to scour the sky islands first. That's where you find the maps that show the location of treasure in the depths. Otherwise, just look at the map every time you come to a lightroot. Just look for anything that resembles a structure on the map and go there. All of the auto build stuff is down there, and certain equipment. There are a few surprising encounters that I won't spoil. But yeah, it can get boring down there due to how the scenery never really changes much.

Does TotK have the Hero's Path? I think that's what it was called. It was one of the things they added in the BotW DLC that would show you on the map where you had traveled. That would be extremely helpful in this game, especially with the sky islands. It's hard to remember which I've been to and which I haven't.

Yes, you have to complete a certain side quest to unlock it. It't not too hard though (kind of a main side quest).

Once you get it, does it show where you've already been, or does it start tracking it from that point forward?

Yes, just like with the BOTW DLC.

I've been watching videos and reading comments of people online, and the people arguing that this is a bad game because of performance issues really look stupid right now. I mean, it's a legitimate complaint if you want to call this a 9.5/10 instead of a 10/10, but the game performs pretty well (draw distance, lack of any loading screens, the amount of stuff actually happening on screen, etc.).

I don't know where I'll stand 100+ hours from now, but as of this pount in the game, for me, this is the first Zelda game where I legitimately could put this over OoT on my personal list. It's a freaking masterpiece. I have a few minor gripes, like I do get bored in the depths pretty quickly, but it's certainly not enough to take away from the good stuff. I'll see where I stand when I'm all done, but it's definitely up there on my all-time Zelda list, and that's really saying a lot.

bonham2 wrote:

Performance aside- never an issue for me- how would you compare it to BotW? How much better / different is it?

theJaw wrote:

This is what I'm currently doing with BotW, tbh. First time playing it. The world feels too big for me to explore, and dealing with everyone and everything is a lot. Following the main quests plus some of the side quests. Just completed the second divine beast (started with the Zoras and now the Gorons). I can say it's a great game though.

The build aspect of TotK makes me fear that I'll not enjoy it as much once I get to play it, maybe in 5 or 6 years lol

For those concerned the building aspect will ruin the game for you...

I originally wasn't too big on it either. I kept making jokes paralleling it to Banjo Kazooie Nuts & Bolts. When I first started playing, I avoided crafting as much as possible.

Once I was comfortable with Link's array of abilities, I ended up doing some basic-level stuff. The more I tinkered with it, the more I like it.

I'm not going off creating crazy contraptions, but I am finding simple workarounds that in some cases probably shouldn't work, but do.

That said, you can skate by doing very minimal building. In fact, speaking to Josha early on, and completing the missions pertaining to the "A Mystery in the Depths" quest, you can skate by doing even less.

Warped back to the wind temple, my heart container was sitting there. That's a relief.

Feeb wrote:

This is a tough question that I can't fully answer yet since I'm still relatively early on (about 20-25 hours in). I fall in the camp that says BotW was a great game but not a great Zelda game. I missed the atmosphere, music, unique boss fights, puzzles, etc. It was also relatively light on secrets. I miss searching for heart pieces or having them be rewards for side quests. On the other hand, I did like that the combat was some of the deepest and best of any Zelda ever and I appreciated the freedom and emphasis on exploration.

TotK does everything BotW did but better. The combat is challenging with tons of enemy variety, and you can attack in so many unique ways. The temples are a big improvement over BotW's Divine Beasts. So far, I am LOVING the shrines (and they were a slog in BotW). The puzzles are challenging and rewarding. The best part is there are so many ways to solve anything. You can do it the way the devs intended or come up with a completely different way using your imagination. That has actually been the most rewarding part so far for me, coming up a with ridiculous ways to solve challenges and get to the end of the shrines. The other big improvement is the overworld. BotW's overworld was notoriously sparse with very little to do and very little reward for exploring. TotK makes up for this in a huge way. There are so many more side quests and things to explore and/or do. My favorite part so far has been the caves (SO MANY CAVES). Some just have supplies and bubbel gems, but others have armor and gear. It's no exaggeration when you hear people talking about getting distracted with a dozen things while trying to go to a destination. There is so much to do and see in the overworld, I am constantly getting distracted. I have dozens of pins/stamps on my map waiting to be explored, and I haven't even unlocked more than half the map yet. People saying this game takes 40-50 hours must only be playing the main story. I like to explore every nook and cranny and find all the supplies and items I can. I will never come close to getting 100% in this game (I can't imagine how long that would take), but I want to discover as much as humanly possible.

All of this is completely ignoring the ultrahand/building mechanic. Outside of the shrines where it is necessary, you really don't have to build at all if you don't want to. I made a few simple transportation devices to make it easier to get places, and I doubt I'll do anything more than that. Oh, and that reminds me, traveling through Hyrule is SO MUCH BETTER. No more spending hours climbing or slipping down wet surfaces. It's all been streamlined and fixed. You can ascend to reach high places, make an elixir to stick to wet surfaces, have auto saved vehicles to move faster or fly, use the rewind ability on rocks to move up to the sky quickly (and then jump off for easy gliding), or even use different fuse abilities to quickly get up in the sky.

It's SO MUCH BETTER THAN BOTW. I honestly don't think I will ever be able to play BotW ever again.

Yeah I have a literal no desire to return to BOTW after playing TOTK. Everything from BOTW is in TOTK, plus way, way more and executed way, way better.

Glide hold 5 items, press Y & B and double said items has made me experiment with building more. I did not like building, getting to my destination, beating said shrine and coming out happy just to be sad someone stole my ride!

Groo wrote:


Must be missing something as this didn't work.

Holy smokes is that easy. Even works with insects and lizards, but you gotta be quick. Save before trying with fling insects. (Works with fairies too, but they fly off quick)

I think Amiibos are on a mercy timer. I've been scanning mine daily for nearly a week now and got diddly squat except for some fabric, and I rolled a half dozen unique armor pieces today.

Including this gem...

I think Amiibos are on a mercy timer. I've been scanning mine daily for nearly a week now and got diddly squat except for some fabric, and I rolled a half dozen unique armor pieces today.

Including this gem...

"The item makes one want to wear it but also not wear it."

LOL

That one and Majora's Mask are two I want for the bonuses but don't really care for the actual Amiibo. Thought about going the card route.

So I'm about 50 hours in... and hooked. I've been ignoring the main quest and venturing off on my own... and after 93 shrines, I just did the quest and received the shrine sensor... I'm doing this all out of order! Really loving the exploration, especially the sky and depths!

SMY36738 wrote:

Yeah, I noticed my friend didn't have the camera function yet which I found odd even though he's played longer than me.

I still haven’t got the camera function either. I assume that’s the “???” in the pause menu.

SMY36738 wrote:

This is what I’d do. Mental issues do not allow me to leave stuff undone or focus the main path.

Groo wrote:

Just found out about this one last night. It's so much faster and easier than the other duplication glitches before it, what a game changer! I don't feel bad using it at all. This is just going to save me from wasting tons of times grinding for resources. I have limited game time, so forget that.

Renaissance2K wrote:

My son got this one the other night, we laughed so hard when we first saw it!

SMY36738 wrote:

It's stuff like this that makes me dislike the non-linear nature of this game. I wish it were more linear so that you would get key/helpful stuff like this at an appropriate point in your progress.

Scott wrote:

I mean the game gives you enough direction to stick to the main story. They literally tell you to head to the Rito village at some point, which if you do through the main path, you also come across Impa. They separate out main quests from side adventures and side quests in the menu.

Sun wrote:


Maybe he misses Navi butting in every 2 minutes... "LISTEN!!!"

Haven't played since release date. Feel so behind!

Anyone have cliff notes on what to focus on early parts of the game? Stuck to main quest line or go explore?

Looks like they fixed the duping glitch. So be aware of that before updating. Never used it myself.

MrBean wrote:

There's no right answer here. It's up to you if you want to just focus on story or explore. Probably a good idea to go shrine hunting to increase your heart capacity. Game is certainly more difficult than BotW.

I've been so busy with work and life that I haven't gotten to play anywhere near as much as I would have liked. I got to the Fire Temple on Monday, didn't play at all on Tuesday, played for about 5 minutes on Wednesday and stopped because I was falling asleep, and then finally got a few hours to play last night. Let me say this, the Fire Temple is AWESOME, and the boss was great. They did exactly what I was hoping for. The atmosphere and music was definitely unique to that area with a great final boss and an open layout that you can tackle in any order using any means necessary. And they added a new ability that you need to complete the temple that can now be used in the main game but it is not required to beat anything else with the game. It's perfect.

I completed the temple mostly using ascend and fusing items to help me get around some of the puzzles that Nintendo set up to be confusing. I did mess around with the cart puzzles, but I started getting frustrated, similarly to the Water Temple in OoT. Instead of getting frustrated with the tedium, I just circumvented the whole thing...very rewarding.

I have completed 2/4 of the main temples so far, so I have 2 avatar helpers unlocked. I am already annoyed with having them around (I can't imagine having all 4 surrounding me). I know I can shut them off, but then I will need to go into the menu every time I need to use them. I use Tulin's ability all the time, so I might just keep him on the screen. I really don't want them fighting enemies for me though. I want to do it myself.

EDIT - I guess they're called Sage Powers.

KCPenguins wrote:

I'm not talking about the main quests. There are a lot of useful things that are just randomly hidden across the huge world, that you could very easily miss for a long time. More linear games would place these sorts of things at an appropriate point in your progress, but with a non linear game like this, you could go your entire playthrough without it.

BloodPuppetX wrote:

I was just about to go to sleep last night when I saw a post on Reddit about the latest update fixing all of the duplication glitches. I thought me and my son both had auto-update turned off, but thankfully I decided to check just in case because it was turned On for both of us. I quickly turned it off. Hopefully I did it before the update was actually downloaded. Otherwise, I guess it's going to update the first time we have to actually turn the game off and then turn it back on. I'm just going to try to dupe everything I want before doing that.

Does anyone know if there's a way to see if the update was downloaded to your Switch but not installed yet?

Edit: Looks like even if your Switch already downloaded the update, if you have auto-update turned off, it will ask you if you want to update when you go to start the game, and you can skip it. That's good news.