Zelda Breath of the Wild - Wii U vs. Switch

[Tanooki]

Well given I don't think I'll ever bother with all the shrines or seeds by a long shot as I'm not a completionist, it would be notably less. I can't recall how many I did, but I have 15 hearts and only 1 stamina wheel and a 1/3 or so into a 2nd. I think all my seed expansions now cost 5 to get one box.

[Xeogred]

Defeat Ganon - Complete

25 Hearts
2 and 3/5th Stamina
106 Shrines
254 Korok Seeds
79:14

As everyone says the boss battles are pretty easy (I'm real curious to see how Ganon is without the Divine Beast's intervention though), but there's one thing I definitely have to say and that's that the boss designs were freaking amazing. That weird neo sci-fi Zelda tech thing going on aside, some of them almost looked like they could have been straight out of the Souls games. But they also reminded me of some demented creatures in a Ghibli film or something. I've just always loved Zelda art direction in everything and some of these bosses here were so violent and evil looking, there was a few of those "Whoa this is Nintendo?" moments.

I enjoyed the ending a lot, got the feels going for sure. Though I wouldn't say it's anywhere near the emotions that OoT, TP, and SS reach. The story was easily one of the weakest parts of this installment, but the positives on the mechanics, gameplay, and atmosphere keep it elevated at a legendary master class level. This is easily one of the best games I've ever played in my life. I felt like a kid again.

Dare I say it, I think I would actually love a direct sequel to this and Link being thrown into a completely new continent and lore. It sounds like Aonuma and Nintendo are saying this is the new blueprint. Now I've discussed my nitpicks and preferences before, but after five games with OoT's DNA, I'm feeling totally optimistic and open to more BoTW Zelda's. I just wonder how they will top this and innovate from here.

I think this is my wishlist:
- Include real dungeons again. They don't need to be Hyrule Castle sized, but something like that.
- More enemy types.
- Maybe cue a little more bombastic music at times?
- Better story/characters.
- Additional runes/special abilities/permanent items. Of all the gimmicks of the past, I really missed the boomerang here. Them being broken down to some measly throwaway (pun?) weapons ended up feeling a little disappointing. It was still super easy to incorporate a lot of puzzles with bows and elemental arrows, but the lack of classic boomerang styled puzzles felt like a loss of potential.

PS: I basically never used a horse after the first stable and tried it out once.

Maybe I'll talk more tomorrow and expand this into my review.

[MrPopo]

(I'm real curious to see how Ganon is without the Divine Beast's intervention though),

He's just longer. He spends more time in each of the two phases since the transition is at 1/2 his starting HP (so when the bar is at half on the any% fight and when the bar is at 1/4 when you kill all the bosses).

[Michi]

I've had this game for about a week now (well, technically since release, it's really the Switch I just got a week ago...) and just today made my way to Impa. I believe it's safe to say I'm taking my time with it

Here is a run-down of my activity:

Day 1: Due to router/wifi isssues setting up the console ended up being a bit of a pain, so out of frustration I only ended up playing for about an hour or so. Woke up, met an old man, killed many Chu-chu's.

Day 2: Came across first blue Bokoblin. Almost suffered a one-shot death. Ran away from blue Bokoblin. Wandered around the field a bit. Finally made my way to the tower. Activated tower and completed first shrine. Went up the mountain towards another shrine. Was too cold. Went back down the mountain to get another shrine instead. Was almost killed by large Guardian. Finished second shrine.

Day 3: Found first Korok seed. Met old man. Finished third shrine. Ate some hot peppers I cooked up and went to tackle last shrine. Killed many Bokoblins. Suffered first death at the hands of blue Bokoblin who whacked me and knocked me off a cliff. Came back to life, killed blue Bokoblin with a volley of bomb arrows to the face. Made it to the top of the cliff with 5 seconds to spare. Was finally given warm clothes. Finished final shrine. Froze to death in river when I accidentally fell in Came across more Bokoblins. Realized they have trouble jumping/climbing. Stabbed them all to death from about two feet away with a spear when they lined up lemmings style to kill me. Came across rock totem. Ran from totem. Left the Great Plateau. Two more shrines. Made it to the stables. Killed a bunch of Bokoblins along the way by raining bombs down upon them. Was a productive day.

Day 4: Acquired horse. Ran around field. Got fire wand. Was only going to climb over that one mountain range....*2 hours later* WTF? Where the hell am I? *finds shrine* Sweet! *gets ass handed to me in a 'moderate test of strength'* Whelp, back to the stables I go then

Day 5: Finally activated tower outside of the Plateau. Ran around the field. Ran from horse-riding Bokoblins. Climbed up the left side of Duel Peaks. Spotted a fully functional Guardian in the distance. Decided that was a big "nope," continued on. Incessant beeping informed me there was a shrine. Could not find shrine. Went to do the shrine on the other side of Dueling Peaks. Found missing shrine

Day 6: Finished exploring revealed parts of map. Found boatload of Korok seeds. Finished off many Bokoblins. Headed over to last two shrines in the area. Wanted to kick flower lady in shins. Battery low, must be bed time.

Day 7: Finished off two shrines. Tried to catch another horse. Was thrown off many times. Managed to bomb Bokoblin off their horse. Took horse for my own. In honor of prfsnl_gmr's children, I have named it Cocoa. Went back to stables beyond Dueling Peaks. Wandered around field picking up Guardian parts. Was killed by semi-active Guardian Avoided him upon my resurrection. Finally made it to the village. Got two extra weapon slots along the way. Caught Cucoo's. Was happy to find that I could still use them to semi-fly Found Fairy Fountain. Now headed off to next destination.


....eventually.

[alienjesus]

I'm still plugging away at this one. I'm somewhere between 85 and 90 hours in.

I have 86 shrines, 267 Korok seeds. I've done 2 of the divines beasts (the Zora and Rito ones). I'm still exploring each region of the world map one by one. I've done, in order:

Great Plateau
Dueling Peaks
Necluda
Hateno
Lanayru
Woodland
Akkala
Lake Hylia
Faron
Hebra
Tabantha

I'm now exploring Hyrule Ridge, which seems fairly flat for the most part, which normally makes for a quicker area to explore. I plan to take on the Goron dungeon in Eldin next.

[Michi]

As of yesterday I was still wandering around Hateno. Found a hidden shrine and several korok seeds, killed a lot of bokoblins and accidentally stumbled upon a Lynel as I was out searching for memories (found two ). I spotted him as I was looking down into a valley. I tried to sneak away, but it spotted me up on the ridge. So I ran around to the other side of the mountain, out of sight...then promptly died, because apparently he shot a barrage of ice arrows at me from the other side of the mountain and hit me blind. Not cool

I'm coming back for that bastard later.


Anyway, I think I'll go looking for the Zora next. I think they're around here somewhere.

[prfsnl_gmr]

My children and I still love this game, and we all definitely appreciate Michi naming her horse Cocoa. (It's a great name!). We have four horses now:

Cocoa;
Brownies;
Cinnamon; and
Ice Cream

Cinnamon is a giant horse, and Ice Cream is the royal horse. Unlike everyone else playing this game, I use them all the time and love the stable system.

[Xeogred]

I used a horse once in my 80 hours.

Those names are amazing. Just yesterday revisiting my family, my four year old nephew had some wiener dog plushy toys and they were Hot Dog and Cheeto.

[prfsnl_gmr]

Another fun thing to do in the game is filling your Hyrule Compendium with selfies.

I like that, if I look up the entries for horse or mop, I get a picture of my smiling face in a ridiculous outfit.

[Xeogred]

I've thought of the best idea to further justify my double dipping when I get a Switch and get that version, after beating the U version at launch.

I will replay it on the Switch in Pro mode.

I'm stoked.

This is a first. The first time I've ever planned well ahead of time and am very excited, to replay something that's 80+ hours long.