Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Mostly spoiler-free)

[Mikodesu]

Weirdly I think the compendium is something the game isn't as hand-holdy about? (I don't remember hearing anything about it until Robbie gets the "you can buy compendium entries from me" line. Just had to remember when I wanted to start tracking dragons down.) You have to get the "camera app" to access it, which makes sense, but the fact that you can't use the same "part" of the app you use to put pins on the map is not exactly intuitive...


Back on companions, I took it that they were replacements for the powers in BotW, so they were designed similarly. eg You can turn them on/off in the key items tab of the menu. Which is fine, neither here nor there. The context sensitivity of their usage is « Harvest Goddess » awful, though. Tying their powers to the item pickup button was just...I have no words for how stupid of a design decision that is. I don't get my items blown around often, but I do accidentally activate things I don't want to use ALL the time. (And except for the bird, when I WANT to use the powers, they're not where I want them! AH!)

All when Nintendo has a perfectly serviceable radial menu, that they decided to fill with a camera you barely use, a map you never use, and flipping amiibo. Aonuma on the top of his game, everybody.

[Kikki]

DONE! Got the true ending

Also, all the stories had me negatively hyped for the final battle. (Spoiler has nothing to do with the story at all, just my impression of how doable the final battle is without good reflexes.)

Spoiler:

GETTING to it is legitimately a horror, lol, it was both unnerving and everything had incredibly high damage...but the actual fight, imo, wasn't all that bad, because as I hoped, I was able to do it by ignoring all special battle mechanics and just whaling on him, without grace or skill, just great armor and high offence. If anyone is as bad at flurry rushes and parries as I am, I'll tell you what I did, but it's the same thing I've been doing all along for tough fights, which I think I've already mentioned.

Every description of the fight made it seem like you'd have to be getting continual headshots or flurry rushes or parries or you'd just be doomed to be unable to complete the game, but you don't. It'll LOOK better if you do, but my way is a lot faster, lol. I just want anyone who struggles with slick fighting to know it's totally unnecessary if you go in with all the right armor, weapons and food. It's a big help if you've done all the shrines to max out your health and stamina, too. You don't have to have good reflexes, you just have to stack your stats well, and you'll be okay.

Now I can put Tears of the Kingdom on a back burner to just pick up to do a few quests when the mood hits. With this, I'm to the point of being able to play the game casually, which I was looking forward to. I'm back to my myriad of replays and a few new games, too!

Great game. Lots of problems, but still a great game. 8/10 for me personally. Would be 9/10 if it had come before BotW, but some of what is so special about it was already revealed in its predecessor so its specialness was lessened.

Now, I know what I want for DLC! They're not gonna do this, but...

Spoiler:

let us actually REBUILD, now. Make a DLC that allows us to play AFTER the ending, and let's restore Hyrule Castle, and everywhere else, too. Let's build houses and gardens, repair damage, clean up guck...all the stuff.

[greensara]

Woohoo!!! I beat the game!! I had been putting it off, and I didn't end up getting all the sky shrines, but since I finally had a full load of hearts I decided to go for it. A tip for prep:

Spoiler:

Besides cooking that restores gloomed hearts, upgrading armor, etc, I recommend getting the travel medallion from Robbie. There were several times I had to place one and retreat to heal up to I wouldn't have to use all my healing items before the actual battle. Also, having a weapon with muddlebud fused to it was very helpful for a particular portion.

I thought the ending was *chef's kiss* and I think I got the true one, it was good stuff. I almost think I liked it better than Skyward Sword's and that was the best of the ones I had played.

I suppose later I can go to tie up the few shrines and quests after a break, lol.

[Mikodesu]

Couple little tidbits. I think I get what the best weapon in the game is now!

Spoiler:

Anybody else accidentally fuse something to the Master Sword the first time? I legit thought I had equipped something else and was fusing to it, and just start wailing on some rocks and think...why is my weapon green? Wait a minute! Interesting concept, I guess? The only thing I'd like to know is if there's a way to abuse the sword's energy supply by fusing and breaking things off of it. I doubt it, but that would be neat. Doesn't help with the best fuse materials, but...hey. Interesting twist, at least. I'll give Nintendo that.

And, I've finally got video evidence of why I hate the shrines in this game! A whole shrine, done completely blind, in a 30 second clip. From loading in (shrine name is still on the screen) to approaching the orb pedestal. I watched the video back and it looks like I cheated, walked in knowing what I was doing, fake video. There's basically no real reason for anybody to take me at my word without having experienced the same thing themselves. I was ACTUALLY surprised that one little 'teaching you the concept' puzzle was the whole shrine this time. Gottem!