by noiseredux Fri Jul 06, 2018 11:26 pm
Two
The first couple of hours or so (or more, depending how you approach the game) are spent on The Plateau. Despite what you may have heard, there is far more here than a bucket, mop and illustrated book about birds. In fact depending on how much exploring you want to do right off the bat, there's probably HOURS of material to dig into here even though this is kind of sort of the tutorial in disguise. Mere minutes after beginning your game you will find yourself atop a hill looking out over the kingdom. And this first section is really the only time that you will be completely kept at bay from the rest of the game. Once you make it off The Plateau, the entirety of the world is yours. But for now we start small. It's just that small in this case is rather big.
As a tutorial, the game is subtle about its nudges. For instance some smoke in the distance will probably pique your curiosity, which will lead you to learning about cooking food - which is of course rather important. You'll learn to climb - because you have to. You'll discover a recipe to keep you warm in the cold and you'll chop down a tree to create a bridge. But nothing forcefully pushes you into any of this. It's all so gentle that you'll forget you were playing a game because games more often than not treat us like we're idiots.
Because the prerequisite for getting off The Plateau is completing the four shrines on it, you'll soon learn how to track them, be rewarded your various skills (bombs, freezing time, magnets, ice...) in order to tackle each of the Plateau's shrines. The fact that each one of these four puzzles are solved using one of your new skills is the most straight-forward and traditionally "Zelda" part of the entire game, really. So don't get used to that, because again all of this is just to show you what's possible; how things work. But after that it's all up to you to use how those things work to your favor.
Three
I'll be honest, I've never really needed much story from a Zelda game. A little lore peppered in here and there? Sure. But as far as story goes, really all I need to know is that Link should probably kill Ganon. Y'know? Although that's not being totally truthful because actually Majora's Mask has an incredible story - enough so to make it way more compelling than Ocarina in my little opinion. But whatever.
The beauty of the story of Breath Of The Wild is that it's here to the extent you want it to be. Since the game is (basically) non-linear the storytelling isn't going to be traditional compared to a classic Zelda title. And outside of some major plot points, the story isn't even forced upon you. Really it's up to you to CARE enough to want to talk to NPC's to get more background. So it's up to you. I'm kind of half-and-half, where sometimes I'm interested in learning more but other times I kind of like knowing less. It leaves some level of mystery. Like I'm just out here in this harsh world trying to survive and trying to rescue Zelda from Ganon and what else do I really need to know? The motives are pure and primal.
I say it's "basically" non-linear because obviously main story quest B isn't going to trigger until you've completed main story quest A. But then again, even much of the main story quests are ones you can tackle in any order that you choose. Like, there are the four ancient beasts or whatever they're called and all four quests are put on your map at once. So I guess it's the one you get to first that you'll be working on first most likely.
Four
The sound design of Breath Of The Wild is well done, tasteful. The music is sparse, oftentimes leaving you with just the sounds of the world. Which I mean - look at the game, that's exactly what it should be like. When I'm swimming I want to hear the water, not a score. When it's raining I want to hear each droplet hit the ground. I don't need a bombastic orchestra to punctuate lightning strikes; lightning strikes do that on their own! The wind in Breath Of The Wild is just as much a part of the score as anything that was specifically composed for it.
The music that is present is fitting for sure. Mostly it'll kick in when you're caught up in a battle and this actually does add some excitement. And of course there are those jingles when you find a shrine or solve a puzzle which are mostly there for nostalgia. But it works.
Five
Perhaps the best thing about Breath Of The Wild is everything that happens in between: the moments between action or discovering new shrines or advancing the story. It's those meditative moments where nothing much is happening and you can just listen to yourself breathe. There have been countless Holy Shit moments I've had with this game that had nothing to do with anything that would actually be considered progress. The first one happens mere minutes after starting, when you first leave Resurrection Shrine and look down from that high hill. Later moments include sitting on a cliff and watching a green dragon twist his worm-like body as the game's night cycle ticks by slowly. I've waited out thunderstorms in a little nook in the side of a mountain because I knew it'd be too slippery to climb. It took all in-game night, but required me to sit there listening to only the heavy rain for ten or so real time minutes.
Getting around Hyrule is a treat and more often than not I do so not knowing where I'm even heading. It doesn't matter. Putting Spirit Orbs towards the stamina wheel helps as I love looking at mountains in the distance and saying "hey, I can go climb that," or knowing I can hang-glide to some further off place, or at least swim without drowning!
Breath Of The Wild is a lonely game but it's a certain solemn loneliness. It's like one big zen-garden. You could make a complaint that the enemy placement is too sparse, yet that never bothers me. If it weren't for loot-drops there'd be even less reason for them to exist anyway. And like I said, I prefer sticking to the shadows anyway. I'm happy to be alone in this game; happy to not see anyone else. Sometimes I mark towns and stables on my map from afar but don't feel like actually going down and connecting with any NPC's.
Six
I'm not alone in Hyrule, though. As much as I enjoy staying to myself, and while there are long stretches of seeing nobody, I'm not alone. First there are the NPC's, and while many of them stick to towns there are sometimes travelers that I come across on various paths. Of course these can be good or bad meetings. I've met a gentleman selling items, an odd woodland creature who would make my inventory larger if I gave him seeds, some kind of weird demon disguised as a hiker who attempted to kill me for not joining her gang, and everyone in between.
And then there are the Guardians - easily the scariest creatures in any Zelda game. The Guardians are these automatons with metallic tentacles that move like slow spiders. They are terrifying and their attack beams are devastating. There is a way to deflect them with a shield, though I'm not confident that I can pull it off consistently so I just try to stay clear for now. I hate these things but I also think they're awesome. The Guardian is my number one most wanted Amiibo right now.
Enemies in the game are much more formidable foes than you'd expect from a Zelda game. They hit friggin' hard, and they fight well. Actually the AI in general is impressive in this game. Things like seeing a lookout catch a glimpse and begin blowing in a horn to alert the others. Actually the other night I saw something the blew my mind... I was swimming as stealthily as I could into a little fishing camp that was loaded with those lizard creatures. Right as I got to the shore one of them noticed me and starting freaking out. He charged at me but in his haste he clipped a lit lantern.... And caught on fire. He charged at me ON FIRE and dropped to a pile of ash before he could hit me. It was amazing.
Seven
Some of the shrines aren't puzzles at all, but rather tests of strength. I'm not a big fan of these shrines. Basically these are just single rooms where you must survive a battle against a pretty vicious automaton that wants to kill you good. They are fast and they have huge blades and stuff. It's tough. So mostly I just mark these as spots for fast travel and then get out and figure I'll come back to all these later. Of course those swords they drop are cool. Oh well.
Similarly I came across an island recently that I'll have to come back to for similar reasons. It was kind of a survival game I guess. When you get to this one island all of your gear is taken away and you're tasked with stealing three orbs from three colossi who can one-hit kill you without much thought. I'll pass for now.
Eight
Sometimes I head into town, but it's rare. Obviously I'll do so for a quest, but when I'm just out exploring I tend to stay away. I mean what do they have there that I can't handle on my own? I'm trying to master the art of self-reliance within Breath Of The Wild. Though at times I fear I may be going insane like that dude from The Beach. Just kidding.
But really what do I need from a town? They've got food but I can hunt and gather my own. I can cook it in a fire that I've built. And I don't need an inn as I could just sleep by any fire. They've got weapons and tools, but so far I've done fine with what I've scavenged on my own. Enemies drop weapons and shields; the stray treasure chest contains them now and again. I guess armor's the one thing that I could see the benefit of buying, although in the dozen or more hours of my current replay I've not bought a single piece of armor or article of clothing. I've got over a thousand rupees and they're not burning a hole in my pocket. Finding that Xenoblade 2 gear was actually a lot more rewarding than just going and buying something anyway.
There's also stables, though I've not utilized those either. I suppose I should try to catch and train a horse now that I think about it. Although the slow nature of travel throughout the land is part of what makes the game feel so relaxing to me to begin with.
Nine
The first time I found a raft sitting on a shore it seemed like a worthless construct. I stood on it and nothing. I tried to push it into the water and nothing. I waited for the wind and finally gave up. But sometime later I used my little glider to get to a small island and found a big leaf and it turns out you can use those to create a gust to power the sail of a raft. Off to the seas I went. And actually I'd like to take a brief moment to talk about how lovely the water looks in this game. The way it moves, the way it reflect and morphs your submerged body. It's impressive stuff - especially when I remind myself that I'm playing on a handheld device!
As far as I can tell that leaf will not get damaged since I'm not using it as a weapon so it makes sense to keep it forever. Just the ability to go out and ride around through the waves is relaxing. And taking a raft out to the middle of the ocean nowhere to just sit and drift is really something.
