Jesp
Not my typical genre, but wow this game has a vice grip on me and my phone screen time. Simple and yet still strategically complex turn based strategy.
Understanding more of the mechanics and starting to be able to 3* some runs! Haven't dipped and probably won't dip into multiplayer, Crazy bots are enough enjoyment for me.
Understanding more of the mechanics and starting to be able to 3* some runs! Haven't dipped and probably won't dip into multiplayer, Crazy bots are enough enjoyment for me.
2017
As I go through my Switch catalog, I'm astounded by how quickly I devoured these first party games compared to the impression they left on me. 80+ hours in a little over two months to find 999 power moons. What a wonderful game.
Though I'll always have a soft spot for the Galaxy games, this one's no doubt the best 3D Mario as of yet. Kills me that they didn't add anything else to it besides Luigi's Balloon World, but hey. Stunning vistas with a built in camera mode, really took advantage of all the Switch's systems like HD rumble for those few moons, and a perfect level curve, especially with Dark and Darker side - those last few scarecrow Darker side ones were a blast. And the final challenge definitely fits the exquisite lineage of final 3D Mario levels.
Of course, there were some duds - all the Toadette moon (sorry, star) challenges really inflated the count, and some of the most obtuse moons were downright annoying (Thanks ProZD). Had to look up a few here and there, like that racecar one in New Donk, and it did get a bit formulaic in the side challenges in each kingdom - one main moon, one hidden moon.
Still, what a blast. The New Donk City sequence perfectly paced to give you a big semblance of a win in the middle of the story, and then the final escape sequence on the moon. Pure fun!
Though I'll always have a soft spot for the Galaxy games, this one's no doubt the best 3D Mario as of yet. Kills me that they didn't add anything else to it besides Luigi's Balloon World, but hey. Stunning vistas with a built in camera mode, really took advantage of all the Switch's systems like HD rumble for those few moons, and a perfect level curve, especially with Dark and Darker side - those last few scarecrow Darker side ones were a blast. And the final challenge definitely fits the exquisite lineage of final 3D Mario levels.
Of course, there were some duds - all the Toadette moon (sorry, star) challenges really inflated the count, and some of the most obtuse moons were downright annoying (Thanks ProZD). Had to look up a few here and there, like that racecar one in New Donk, and it did get a bit formulaic in the side challenges in each kingdom - one main moon, one hidden moon.
Still, what a blast. The New Donk City sequence perfectly paced to give you a big semblance of a win in the middle of the story, and then the final escape sequence on the moon. Pure fun!
Honestly, didn't get into this - got too motion-sick, and the gameplay didn't continue to hook me after the first few hours. Fiddling around with motion blur helped a bit but still not enough for longer sessions. Maybe playing on the PS2 on the old TV was better for me. Got through a few of the first few worlds in the first game. If I ever pick this back up, may try Ripto's Rage which is definitely the one I used to have on the PS2. But probably staying abandoned.
DLC bought just for a few more levels, though some of the levels are just repeated but harder.
Fun and cute puzzle game, slightly finicky but part of the charm. Very worth the $10 pricetag when it's half-off. PvP low-key underrated and good for some low-stakes and short sessions.
DLC bought just for a few more levels, though some of the levels are just repeated but harder.
DLC bought just for a few more levels, though some of the levels are just repeated but harder.
2019
Bought this the week of its announcement - what a great premise married into a silly fun romp of antagonizing villagers and checking off tasks.
That romp continued to evolve and eventually form a cohesive neighborhood of cross-area puzzles! The silly physics and being such a nuisance keyed to a Debussy-esque soundtrack made it a great time.
That romp continued to evolve and eventually form a cohesive neighborhood of cross-area puzzles! The silly physics and being such a nuisance keyed to a Debussy-esque soundtrack made it a great time.
Emulated this one while immersed in an Animal Crossing building project, loved the quirky and almost mean villagers in my town. Tom Nook is mean but the vibes were good.
2017
On the eve of Hades II Early Access coming out, finished up the last Supergiant game I have yet to play.
A beautiful and ambitious story, and one I'd want to keep coming back to to explore all its branching narratives. The ending epilogues don't do all the decisions justice.
This is probably the closest I've gotten to a visual novel in a while, and although I continued to find it difficult to get into the rhythm of switching between the dynamic storytelling and the intense gameplay, I still enjoyed it. On that note, I'd find myself jumping into a practice round before proceeding with whichever Rite I was up to.
This game and Transistor, seen as the lesser games compared to Hades and Bastion, continue to cement Supergiant as one of my favorite developers with their commitment to rich worldbuilding intertwined with the music and gameplay. I see the incompatibility in that gameplay/narrative pairing the most in Pyre, but for them to succeed even in that is a testament to their creative vision.
Continuing to replay to try for that Hard Mode, getting better at the game as well as exploring the narrative branches.
A beautiful and ambitious story, and one I'd want to keep coming back to to explore all its branching narratives. The ending epilogues don't do all the decisions justice.
This is probably the closest I've gotten to a visual novel in a while, and although I continued to find it difficult to get into the rhythm of switching between the dynamic storytelling and the intense gameplay, I still enjoyed it. On that note, I'd find myself jumping into a practice round before proceeding with whichever Rite I was up to.
This game and Transistor, seen as the lesser games compared to Hades and Bastion, continue to cement Supergiant as one of my favorite developers with their commitment to rich worldbuilding intertwined with the music and gameplay. I see the incompatibility in that gameplay/narrative pairing the most in Pyre, but for them to succeed even in that is a testament to their creative vision.
Continuing to replay to try for that Hard Mode, getting better at the game as well as exploring the narrative branches.
This review contains spoilers
It was almost impossible to hit the expectations of the sequel to Breath of the Wild, but this game did it. Tears of the Kingdom hit so many highs as BotW did, and delivered on pretty much everything I hoped for. Exploring the depths, creating weapon combinations, and rediscovering Hyrule, this game is pretty much the best I've ever played - while still having some shortcomings, in my opinion. Most of my gripes boiled down to wishing it did more as a direct sequel and referenced more of the events of BotW and AoC, but the team decided to focus more on telling a wholly different story. Which after accepting that, fine. (But still, I miss Kass so much). Still ended up 100%'ing it, looking up the last 150 or so Koroks as well as some of the last few map locations I missed. Still a masterpiece.
Starting at the introduction, the opening scene with Zelda was fun, and definitely made me wish we had more time to interact with Zelda. (And of course, it was great re-treading this area at the very end). The Great Sky Island was and felt much more linear than the Great Plateau, though I feel like it's a bit overblown - there are extra passages and areas to explore and get some hidden Koroks and treasures, and there's the completely optional Flux Construct to fight, which was extremely fun for me.
The new mechanics and moveset took some getting used to, but by the end of the Great Sky Island it felt very natural to use them all, though Ultrahand still took a bit to learn how to rotate the way you want. The menu-ing for fuse was also a bit cumbersome, though I also got used to that. I do miss Stasis and the bombs, but there's no doubt these abilities are refined siblings of BotW's.
One qualm is that TotK did introduce more meta game menu-pausing with Fuse. Though I don't mind the mechanics of it, I was already pausing to eat a full-course hearty meal every time I got walloped in BotW, and that did take me out of the action. I don't know how TotK would solve this "issue", since it is just a base mechanic of the game, but adding Fuse to menu through and find the right thing to fuse, especially if it's one of the first times I'm fusing it, continued to take me out of the action. Eventually, as most people did, I ended up just having a staple rotation of the few things I constantly fused to, like the Brightbloom seeds, fire fruits, bomb flowers, and muddle buds, as well as the elemental fruits/jellies and some horns for weapons. Though the game has an endless breadth of creative options, the paths I defaulted to hit no resistance or challenge, besides specific cases like the disadvantages of using Gloom weapons in the Depths.
Anyways, another good evolution was of the shrines. Gone were the monotonous Test of Strengths, replaced by interesting combat training shrines. Some of the overworld shrine quests did get a little monotonous, but for the most part, finding these shrines were pretty rewarding. And after I realized they all lay over Lightroots, figuring out shrines via Lightroot locations, and vice versa, was both fun and thematically cohesive! Besides one infuriating instance where I had to really delve into some long tunnels just to figure out the shrine was several meters underneath me.
About the world itself, I really liked how there were more people on paths that you could help, and much more interesting side quests (besides Tarrey Town). Though the world was the same, the lonely melancholic vibe was largely replaced by new settlements, the more mechanical looking Skyview towers, atmospheric wells and caves, and terrifying Gloom hands.
The sky islands were beautiful, and I did spend minutes just watching the clouds go by and looking at the landscapes, though I still wish there were more of them. Also wish there were more quests to do up there besides the shrines and the stone slabs. Some more of the unique things like the forge island chain and the three ring gliding challenges would've been nice. Getting the sage's wills from exploration felt sometimes rewarding, after beating a King Gleeok, but other times lame, in an obscure chest on an island chain. Coolest thing by far were the three Zonai labyrinths though, basically creating a cohesive set of three mini-dungeons with an overworld section, a low-grav sky section, and a final depths section with a Flux Construct fight.
On the depths: I managed to make my way down the depths via the first chasm I ran into, even before going to Lookout Landing and getting the paraglider - my Hero's Path will show the ten or so deaths I took while spawning a wing, rewinding to jump on top of it, and trying to sail down Hyrule Field Chasm.
(Yes, that's a log fused to a stick as my weapon.)
The shock and fear of all the gloom and monsters chasing me was quelled from the relief after hitting my first Lightroot. Then I promptly teleported back out - back to the Great Skyland, since I hadn't even done any shrine on the surface yet.
In general, the Depths were a great addition and basically was "hard mode", though besides fighting the bosses, there wasn't much incentive to explore. When finishing up my map percentage post-game, I had like 8 groves and forests to list out that I just didn't traipse through, even though I had lit up all of the darkness. Still though, throughout early and mid game, the depths were a fun break from the rest of the game, and I didn't ever really tire of collecting Zonaite and crystallized charges. I made it a point to complete chunks of the Depths in between the dungeons, and seeing boss platforms in certain spot before having even beaten those dungeon bosses gave me a exhilarating sense of anticipation.
Seeing my horses from my BotW save was sick. Loved that. Although after getting the golden horse, I basically stuck to that the rest of the game, making many vegan meals for Malanya to upgrade to perfection.
My path through the game (or my own Hero's Path)
After grabbing the glider, my path took me first through Gerudo while trying to reach a sky island, and I landed in the oasis town. After meeting up with Riju, though, I decided to go back to Central Hyrule to do more exploring. Ended up somehow following the path up to Goron City, curious about what the heck was up with the Gorons. And after breaking through with Yunobo, I progressed through the rest of that entire region.
I poetically beat the Moragia fight while on a plane ride myself (very cinematic rising out of the volcano, but anticlimactic only taking three hits - oh well). Though I was lightly spoiled on learning dungeons were back, I still enjoyed them all - though it got a bit tiresome learning they all followed the same formula of go to five points, use the sage's ability, music progresses, continue.
Made my way down to Lurelin and saved the town, hopped over to Eventide and cleared the coliseum in the depths (that Midna's Helmet kept me safe for a long portion of the mid game).
Though Purah was yelling at me to go to Rito Village, I went to see fish boyfriend and cleared up the sludge at Zora's Domain. Though shooting the King's Scale through the teardrop and bounding up to the dungeon was sick, the dungeon and boss itself were not as fun.
After completing some neat side adventures with the Great Plateau and the Stable Trotters (reuniting theme was nice but still I miss you Kass), finished the Gerudo area and the Lightning Temple, which was quite fun. I'll give a rating of these four dungeons afterwards.
Then I sequence broke hard, blindly wandering through the Thunderhead Isles and making my way to the fifth sage Mineru. Probably the stand-out of the story for me - I found this whole sequence exhilarating, discovering it all unprompted and seeing those Main Quests populate my Purah Pad. I had already run into and discovered all the four depots earlier, and realizing what they were meant for as I rode that platform down from made me fistpump in excitement. The mech boxing was very fun, though kind of sad they repeated that with the last Kohga fight.
On the dragon tears: a common complaint was that since these were so linear, finding them out of order spoiled the story heavily. I think I was fortunate enough to find the majority of them in order, but I also feel like that complaint is a bit overblown - completing one temple basically gave the full story anyways. The two that would suck to get out of order are definitely 9 and 10 though, where Sonia is killed and then the subsequent is immediately after of Ganondorf becoming the Demon King. I lucked out in finding those back to back, running around Lurelin and then traipsing up past the Ice Gleeok in Tabantha. Besides that, I found them to be very neat vignettes and also pretty engaging to find, some locations more challenging than others. And the culmination at the end of Zelda and the Light Dragon - again, the story's pretty obvious, but it still hit with that final tear.
Continuing to willfully ignore Purah, I grabbed my Master Sword from my girlfriend's head and explored every sky island along the way. When I finally made it to Rito Village, I had....30 hearts. Still got blasted a bit by Colgera though, what an amazing boss. I can see why they push you to go there first - that whole experience is an incredible showcase of TotK, and should definitely be the spot to go to.
Overall thoughts on the dungeon storylines: despite being repetitive and formulaic, the sequences themselves were incredibly engaging and cinematic. I still think these dungeons fall closer to the Divine Beasts than traditional 3D dungeons like from a Twilight Princess, but the differing atmospheres and puzzle solving was captivating all the same. Of the four dungeons, I'd give the following rankings:
- The build up / questline up to each dungeon: Zora, Rito, Goron, Gerudo
Getting up to the Great Wellspring via the waterfall was sick, followed closely by the Stormwind Ark journey jumping up the ships. Running up Death Mountain was still pretty fun, but having the Lightning Temple just be on the overworld instead of in the Depths was a missed opportunity, in my opinion. I also didn't do Gerudo justice by finding Riju and then fucking off for 100 hours.
- The dungeon itself: Goron, Rito, Gerudo, Zora
I'll have a soft spot for Lost Gorondia, it being my first, but those mine carts are quite fun. Rito is a solid second, with the different layers of the ships. Gerudo takes third here with a fun pyramid structure, but I felt like the Zora dungeon was a bit too cramped for all its grandiosity.
- The boss: Rito, Goron, Gerudo, Zora
Colgera takes it easy. A completely different fighting style in the air, diving through the beast itself (I only learned afterwards you can bomb arrow it too), ultra cinematic. Marbled Gohma takes solid second, using Yunobo to take out its legs and knock it down from the ceiling. Queen Gibdo is a creepy menace but I just felt like using Riju's ability wasn't the most thrilling. Mucktorok stinks - floppy guy keeps running away.
Now for the story itself. After getting over the disappointment of not having more interconnectivity with BotW, I found this story to be...solid. Predictable but still fun and didn't take away from the main theme of these last two games - exploration. Delving into the history of the Zonai and learning more about them through the slabs and legends was, just like for the Sheikah in the previous game, more rewarding than the story told directly, in my opinion.
And that final boss fight/sequence. Jaw dropping, obviously. Not much more I can add to that discourse. Incredible from start to finish.
(Nintendo I know you said you're not making DLC but pleaaase. Dream DLC that'll never happen: Kass comes back, gives answer for connection between Sheikah and Zonai. All I want.)
Starting at the introduction, the opening scene with Zelda was fun, and definitely made me wish we had more time to interact with Zelda. (And of course, it was great re-treading this area at the very end). The Great Sky Island was and felt much more linear than the Great Plateau, though I feel like it's a bit overblown - there are extra passages and areas to explore and get some hidden Koroks and treasures, and there's the completely optional Flux Construct to fight, which was extremely fun for me.
The new mechanics and moveset took some getting used to, but by the end of the Great Sky Island it felt very natural to use them all, though Ultrahand still took a bit to learn how to rotate the way you want. The menu-ing for fuse was also a bit cumbersome, though I also got used to that. I do miss Stasis and the bombs, but there's no doubt these abilities are refined siblings of BotW's.
One qualm is that TotK did introduce more meta game menu-pausing with Fuse. Though I don't mind the mechanics of it, I was already pausing to eat a full-course hearty meal every time I got walloped in BotW, and that did take me out of the action. I don't know how TotK would solve this "issue", since it is just a base mechanic of the game, but adding Fuse to menu through and find the right thing to fuse, especially if it's one of the first times I'm fusing it, continued to take me out of the action. Eventually, as most people did, I ended up just having a staple rotation of the few things I constantly fused to, like the Brightbloom seeds, fire fruits, bomb flowers, and muddle buds, as well as the elemental fruits/jellies and some horns for weapons. Though the game has an endless breadth of creative options, the paths I defaulted to hit no resistance or challenge, besides specific cases like the disadvantages of using Gloom weapons in the Depths.
Anyways, another good evolution was of the shrines. Gone were the monotonous Test of Strengths, replaced by interesting combat training shrines. Some of the overworld shrine quests did get a little monotonous, but for the most part, finding these shrines were pretty rewarding. And after I realized they all lay over Lightroots, figuring out shrines via Lightroot locations, and vice versa, was both fun and thematically cohesive! Besides one infuriating instance where I had to really delve into some long tunnels just to figure out the shrine was several meters underneath me.
About the world itself, I really liked how there were more people on paths that you could help, and much more interesting side quests (besides Tarrey Town). Though the world was the same, the lonely melancholic vibe was largely replaced by new settlements, the more mechanical looking Skyview towers, atmospheric wells and caves, and terrifying Gloom hands.
The sky islands were beautiful, and I did spend minutes just watching the clouds go by and looking at the landscapes, though I still wish there were more of them. Also wish there were more quests to do up there besides the shrines and the stone slabs. Some more of the unique things like the forge island chain and the three ring gliding challenges would've been nice. Getting the sage's wills from exploration felt sometimes rewarding, after beating a King Gleeok, but other times lame, in an obscure chest on an island chain. Coolest thing by far were the three Zonai labyrinths though, basically creating a cohesive set of three mini-dungeons with an overworld section, a low-grav sky section, and a final depths section with a Flux Construct fight.
On the depths: I managed to make my way down the depths via the first chasm I ran into, even before going to Lookout Landing and getting the paraglider - my Hero's Path will show the ten or so deaths I took while spawning a wing, rewinding to jump on top of it, and trying to sail down Hyrule Field Chasm.
(Yes, that's a log fused to a stick as my weapon.)
The shock and fear of all the gloom and monsters chasing me was quelled from the relief after hitting my first Lightroot. Then I promptly teleported back out - back to the Great Skyland, since I hadn't even done any shrine on the surface yet.
In general, the Depths were a great addition and basically was "hard mode", though besides fighting the bosses, there wasn't much incentive to explore. When finishing up my map percentage post-game, I had like 8 groves and forests to list out that I just didn't traipse through, even though I had lit up all of the darkness. Still though, throughout early and mid game, the depths were a fun break from the rest of the game, and I didn't ever really tire of collecting Zonaite and crystallized charges. I made it a point to complete chunks of the Depths in between the dungeons, and seeing boss platforms in certain spot before having even beaten those dungeon bosses gave me a exhilarating sense of anticipation.
Seeing my horses from my BotW save was sick. Loved that. Although after getting the golden horse, I basically stuck to that the rest of the game, making many vegan meals for Malanya to upgrade to perfection.
My path through the game (or my own Hero's Path)
After grabbing the glider, my path took me first through Gerudo while trying to reach a sky island, and I landed in the oasis town. After meeting up with Riju, though, I decided to go back to Central Hyrule to do more exploring. Ended up somehow following the path up to Goron City, curious about what the heck was up with the Gorons. And after breaking through with Yunobo, I progressed through the rest of that entire region.
I poetically beat the Moragia fight while on a plane ride myself (very cinematic rising out of the volcano, but anticlimactic only taking three hits - oh well). Though I was lightly spoiled on learning dungeons were back, I still enjoyed them all - though it got a bit tiresome learning they all followed the same formula of go to five points, use the sage's ability, music progresses, continue.
Made my way down to Lurelin and saved the town, hopped over to Eventide and cleared the coliseum in the depths (that Midna's Helmet kept me safe for a long portion of the mid game).
Though Purah was yelling at me to go to Rito Village, I went to see fish boyfriend and cleared up the sludge at Zora's Domain. Though shooting the King's Scale through the teardrop and bounding up to the dungeon was sick, the dungeon and boss itself were not as fun.
After completing some neat side adventures with the Great Plateau and the Stable Trotters (reuniting theme was nice but still I miss you Kass), finished the Gerudo area and the Lightning Temple, which was quite fun. I'll give a rating of these four dungeons afterwards.
Then I sequence broke hard, blindly wandering through the Thunderhead Isles and making my way to the fifth sage Mineru. Probably the stand-out of the story for me - I found this whole sequence exhilarating, discovering it all unprompted and seeing those Main Quests populate my Purah Pad. I had already run into and discovered all the four depots earlier, and realizing what they were meant for as I rode that platform down from made me fistpump in excitement. The mech boxing was very fun, though kind of sad they repeated that with the last Kohga fight.
On the dragon tears: a common complaint was that since these were so linear, finding them out of order spoiled the story heavily. I think I was fortunate enough to find the majority of them in order, but I also feel like that complaint is a bit overblown - completing one temple basically gave the full story anyways. The two that would suck to get out of order are definitely 9 and 10 though, where Sonia is killed and then the subsequent is immediately after of Ganondorf becoming the Demon King. I lucked out in finding those back to back, running around Lurelin and then traipsing up past the Ice Gleeok in Tabantha. Besides that, I found them to be very neat vignettes and also pretty engaging to find, some locations more challenging than others. And the culmination at the end of Zelda and the Light Dragon - again, the story's pretty obvious, but it still hit with that final tear.
Continuing to willfully ignore Purah, I grabbed my Master Sword from my girlfriend's head and explored every sky island along the way. When I finally made it to Rito Village, I had....30 hearts. Still got blasted a bit by Colgera though, what an amazing boss. I can see why they push you to go there first - that whole experience is an incredible showcase of TotK, and should definitely be the spot to go to.
Overall thoughts on the dungeon storylines: despite being repetitive and formulaic, the sequences themselves were incredibly engaging and cinematic. I still think these dungeons fall closer to the Divine Beasts than traditional 3D dungeons like from a Twilight Princess, but the differing atmospheres and puzzle solving was captivating all the same. Of the four dungeons, I'd give the following rankings:
- The build up / questline up to each dungeon: Zora, Rito, Goron, Gerudo
Getting up to the Great Wellspring via the waterfall was sick, followed closely by the Stormwind Ark journey jumping up the ships. Running up Death Mountain was still pretty fun, but having the Lightning Temple just be on the overworld instead of in the Depths was a missed opportunity, in my opinion. I also didn't do Gerudo justice by finding Riju and then fucking off for 100 hours.
- The dungeon itself: Goron, Rito, Gerudo, Zora
I'll have a soft spot for Lost Gorondia, it being my first, but those mine carts are quite fun. Rito is a solid second, with the different layers of the ships. Gerudo takes third here with a fun pyramid structure, but I felt like the Zora dungeon was a bit too cramped for all its grandiosity.
- The boss: Rito, Goron, Gerudo, Zora
Colgera takes it easy. A completely different fighting style in the air, diving through the beast itself (I only learned afterwards you can bomb arrow it too), ultra cinematic. Marbled Gohma takes solid second, using Yunobo to take out its legs and knock it down from the ceiling. Queen Gibdo is a creepy menace but I just felt like using Riju's ability wasn't the most thrilling. Mucktorok stinks - floppy guy keeps running away.
Now for the story itself. After getting over the disappointment of not having more interconnectivity with BotW, I found this story to be...solid. Predictable but still fun and didn't take away from the main theme of these last two games - exploration. Delving into the history of the Zonai and learning more about them through the slabs and legends was, just like for the Sheikah in the previous game, more rewarding than the story told directly, in my opinion.
And that final boss fight/sequence. Jaw dropping, obviously. Not much more I can add to that discourse. Incredible from start to finish.
(Nintendo I know you said you're not making DLC but pleaaase. Dream DLC that'll never happen: Kass comes back, gives answer for connection between Sheikah and Zonai. All I want.)
Started this up after beating Tears of the Kingdom, then took a month and a half break after a few dungeons in the Dark World to go through Zelda II. Needless to say, was very happy to return to this one after that.
A fun game, and after playing through the OG Legend of Zelda and now Zelda II, I'm okay with calling this one the definitive game that made Zelda the series it is. Fun dungeons and dungeon items, interesting combat with varied bosses (although a bit too much bumping for my taste), and best of all, two world maps that really capture the spirit of exploration.
My favorite part of Zelda games is finding secrets and being rewarded for figuring out environmental puzzles, and this one captures that spirit without being obscure (random bombable walls @LoZ) or infuriating (@all of Zelda II). Really reminded me of exploring in my first Zelda experience, Twilight Princess. And puzzles traveling between the two worlds, like the flute puzzle and the chest following you, were very rewarding to figure out as well.
Some obscure parts that I did have to look up - not knowing I had to run into the bookshelf for the Book of Mudora was a bit annoying, and I likely would've never found the extremely important literal Silver Arrows if not for checking the guides and repeatedly talking to the Fortune Tellers.
Overall though, for a game that came out four years after the heap of mistakes that was Zelda II, this one had few missteps and made up for it in spades with its exploration, amusing atmosphere, and great gameplay.
A fun game, and after playing through the OG Legend of Zelda and now Zelda II, I'm okay with calling this one the definitive game that made Zelda the series it is. Fun dungeons and dungeon items, interesting combat with varied bosses (although a bit too much bumping for my taste), and best of all, two world maps that really capture the spirit of exploration.
My favorite part of Zelda games is finding secrets and being rewarded for figuring out environmental puzzles, and this one captures that spirit without being obscure (random bombable walls @LoZ) or infuriating (@all of Zelda II). Really reminded me of exploring in my first Zelda experience, Twilight Princess. And puzzles traveling between the two worlds, like the flute puzzle and the chest following you, were very rewarding to figure out as well.
Some obscure parts that I did have to look up - not knowing I had to run into the bookshelf for the Book of Mudora was a bit annoying, and I likely would've never found the extremely important literal Silver Arrows if not for checking the guides and repeatedly talking to the Fortune Tellers.
Overall though, for a game that came out four years after the heap of mistakes that was Zelda II, this one had few missteps and made up for it in spades with its exploration, amusing atmosphere, and great gameplay.
2015
This review contains spoilers
A wonderful game, and my second experience on the Switch after BotW. Incredible storytelling and music, and even though I didn't have much knowledge of Toby Fox's influences (besides his history with Homestuck) like Mother/Earthbound and JRPGs, immensely enjoyed this. Having little vignettes of storytelling by examining bookshelves, and then seeing those change dynamically throughout the game, especially with characters changing dialogue, was revolutionary to me for someone who hadn't played any other RPGs besides Mario & Luigi and Pokemon.
Went into the game knowing there was something about mercy and murder, and there were different endings, but truly didn't expect the extent of stories and branches there were. As most did, killed some and spared some on my first run, sparing most of the way towards the end and killing Toriel and Undyne. Played True Pacifist and had to look up some parts, like finding the True Lab. Did not end up doing Genocide just cause..the idea of it sucked, and seeing it on YouTube was enough over trying to experience it myself.
Switch-exclusive boss was very fun. Wish more games utilized those kind of mechanics.
Music slaps. Might dip back in just to re-experience it.
Went into the game knowing there was something about mercy and murder, and there were different endings, but truly didn't expect the extent of stories and branches there were. As most did, killed some and spared some on my first run, sparing most of the way towards the end and killing Toriel and Undyne. Played True Pacifist and had to look up some parts, like finding the True Lab. Did not end up doing Genocide just cause..the idea of it sucked, and seeing it on YouTube was enough over trying to experience it myself.
Switch-exclusive boss was very fun. Wish more games utilized those kind of mechanics.
Music slaps. Might dip back in just to re-experience it.
A week and a half within the two month blitz that I played through BotW. Glad I bought this while playing the game, and was able to find the chests and experience the story and trials throughout the game instead of afterwards. To go over each of them:
- Trial of the Sword was amazing, and gave a really challenging, interesting dungeon experience akin to Eventide, but massively more difficult. Really a different way to play the game, having to know which enemies were up in the next room and building up strategies. Definitely frustrating, and the middle chunk was probably the most difficult for me. Some of the bosses at the end in the final stages were much easier than the swarms of Lizalfos in other rooms. Super fun, and a showcase of what made BotW and its combat and basic mechanics so fun.
- Hero's Path, Travel Medallion, Ancient Horse Gear: all super useful to have, and I'm glad they included the former two as a base mechanic in TotK. Ancient Horse Gear was neat for the little while - until you got the Master Cycle.
- Korok Mask: A lifesaver. All the other outfits were cool, but this one made Korok hunting much more bearable. Was able to hunt down hundreds of those little poops with this on, would not have trekked everywhere to do so without it.
- Champions' Ballad: Already stated in my other review, but really brought the whole show together. Loved finding the extra shrines with their cool challenges, especially Mipha's sailing into the water. And hearing more of each champions' story and tragic end, as well as having to fight the bosses with their equipment, again shows off how good the core mechanics are of this game. Same with the One-shot weapon, and then leading into the Sheikah boss fight for the motorcycle (which also made traveling around and hunting Koroks way easier). The ending scene with Kass addressing Link directly will live on in my memory.
Master Mode: Only one I didn't do, but remains a perfect excuse for me to return to the game.
- Trial of the Sword was amazing, and gave a really challenging, interesting dungeon experience akin to Eventide, but massively more difficult. Really a different way to play the game, having to know which enemies were up in the next room and building up strategies. Definitely frustrating, and the middle chunk was probably the most difficult for me. Some of the bosses at the end in the final stages were much easier than the swarms of Lizalfos in other rooms. Super fun, and a showcase of what made BotW and its combat and basic mechanics so fun.
- Hero's Path, Travel Medallion, Ancient Horse Gear: all super useful to have, and I'm glad they included the former two as a base mechanic in TotK. Ancient Horse Gear was neat for the little while - until you got the Master Cycle.
- Korok Mask: A lifesaver. All the other outfits were cool, but this one made Korok hunting much more bearable. Was able to hunt down hundreds of those little poops with this on, would not have trekked everywhere to do so without it.
- Champions' Ballad: Already stated in my other review, but really brought the whole show together. Loved finding the extra shrines with their cool challenges, especially Mipha's sailing into the water. And hearing more of each champions' story and tragic end, as well as having to fight the bosses with their equipment, again shows off how good the core mechanics are of this game. Same with the One-shot weapon, and then leading into the Sheikah boss fight for the motorcycle (which also made traveling around and hunting Koroks way easier). The ending scene with Kass addressing Link directly will live on in my memory.
Master Mode: Only one I didn't do, but remains a perfect excuse for me to return to the game.
Amazing deduction game, really enjoyed my time with it.
Was on my radar since listening to the Besties talk about it in their 2018 GOTY, and super enjoyed Paradise Killer as well. This one hits just as hard, although in a more succinct format, and really nails down that mystery deduction. Extremely rewarding, fist-pump shouting moments getting the three more fates correct screen, up until the point I started basically brute-forcing it.
Maybe my fault that the ending bits to me felt a bit anticlimactic and checklist-y though, because of my ending up brute forcing some of the answers instead of realizing I could look at things like tattoos, or shoes in the barracks, or rings, to figure out the identities. Was too focused on getting to the end and seeing what that hidden chapter was - which ended up having fun scenes, but slightly underwhelming compared to what I was hyping it up to be.
All in all, a succinct story, and someday might return to the Obra Dinn to re-experience it. In the meantime, the shared experiences on the subreddit and the memes will do it justice enough.
Was on my radar since listening to the Besties talk about it in their 2018 GOTY, and super enjoyed Paradise Killer as well. This one hits just as hard, although in a more succinct format, and really nails down that mystery deduction. Extremely rewarding, fist-pump shouting moments getting the three more fates correct screen, up until the point I started basically brute-forcing it.
Maybe my fault that the ending bits to me felt a bit anticlimactic and checklist-y though, because of my ending up brute forcing some of the answers instead of realizing I could look at things like tattoos, or shoes in the barracks, or rings, to figure out the identities. Was too focused on getting to the end and seeing what that hidden chapter was - which ended up having fun scenes, but slightly underwhelming compared to what I was hyping it up to be.
All in all, a succinct story, and someday might return to the Obra Dinn to re-experience it. In the meantime, the shared experiences on the subreddit and the memes will do it justice enough.
Master Mode started - Great Plateau completed in ~ 45 min.
Currently thinking of killing that Lynel...
Currently thinking of killing that Lynel...
The first game I played on Switch. On the first night, I played for six hours straight, from Shrine of Resurrection through the entire Great Plateau, into taming my first horse.
I then proceeded to devour the entire game, putting in over 300 hours over the course of two months. Completed all the main quests and shrines, upgraded all the armor, and finished all the side quests and DLC (those Master Sword Trials were incredibly tough) before finally heading over to Ganon (sorry for the wait, Zelda).
I then spent the next 400+ hours hunting down all the Koroks.
The quiet atmosphere combined with the endless exploration and its litany of awards, from the excitement of finding and solving a Korok puzzle, to getting a memory or shrine. This game truly gripped me.
Although the story was sparse, the amount of character they gave to each Champion was still great. The memories were a highlight for me, and I really wish there were more.
Thankfully, those ideas were explored in the DLC with the Champion's Ballad, which I adored, as well as (loosely and sort of non-canonically) in Age of Calamity. Finding extra details and nuances between each character's relationships in the Champion's Ballad, as well as exploring and talking to other villagers, gave a multi-faceted view of many of the champions (besides Daruk - lovable guy, but not much else there than fun strong adventurer). Love each champion's theme as well, especially Mipha and Revali. And I appreciate how the descendants eventually got their time in the spotlight in TotK.
Speaking of details, the journals you can find are sometimes heavy-handed, as Zelda recounts her relationship with Link, or heartwrenching, as Rhoam reflects on his with his daughter.
I was a bit heartbroken that finding all the shrines, side quests, and memories, didn't give anything extra besides a short cutscene after the credits - though I've come to expect as much from Nintendo and Zelda games, always resetting right before the endgame.
I really didn't mind the item durability, besides in the very early game. I also found the Korok seeds charming and perfect for a completionist like me to scramble over. It also gave me a reason to truly appreciate all the features and topography of the entire map - why else would I try to climb to the top of every mountain?
~~~ DLC Review:
A week and a half within the two month blitz that I played through BotW. Glad I bought this while playing the game, and was able to find the chests and experience the story and trials throughout the game instead of afterwards. To go over each of them:
- Trial of the Sword was amazing, and gave a really challenging, interesting dungeon experience akin to Eventide, but massively more difficult. Really a different way to play the game, having to know which enemies were up in the next room and building up strategies. Definitely frustrating, and the middle chunk was probably the most difficult for me. Some of the bosses at the end in the final stages were much easier than the swarms of Lizalfos in other rooms. Super fun, and a showcase of what made BotW and its combat and basic mechanics so fun.
- Hero's Path, Travel Medallion, Ancient Horse Gear: all super useful to have, and I'm glad they included the former two as a base mechanic in TotK. Ancient Horse Gear was neat for the little while - until you got the Master Cycle.
- Korok Mask: A lifesaver. All the other outfits were cool, but this one made Korok hunting much more bearable. Was able to hunt down hundreds of those little poops with this on, would not have trekked everywhere to do so without it.
- Champions' Ballad: Already stated in my other review, but really brought the whole show together. Loved finding the extra shrines with their cool challenges, especially Mipha's sailing into the water. And hearing more of each champions' story and tragic end, as well as having to fight the bosses with their equipment, again shows off how good the core mechanics are of this game. Same with the One-shot weapon, and then leading into the Sheikah boss fight for the motorcycle (which also made traveling around and hunting Koroks way easier). The ending scene with Kass addressing Link directly will live on in my memory.
Master Mode: Only one I didn't do, but remains a perfect excuse for me to return to the game.
~~~
After 100%'ing TotK, it might be time to finally go through this game on Master Mode...
I then proceeded to devour the entire game, putting in over 300 hours over the course of two months. Completed all the main quests and shrines, upgraded all the armor, and finished all the side quests and DLC (those Master Sword Trials were incredibly tough) before finally heading over to Ganon (sorry for the wait, Zelda).
I then spent the next 400+ hours hunting down all the Koroks.
The quiet atmosphere combined with the endless exploration and its litany of awards, from the excitement of finding and solving a Korok puzzle, to getting a memory or shrine. This game truly gripped me.
Although the story was sparse, the amount of character they gave to each Champion was still great. The memories were a highlight for me, and I really wish there were more.
Thankfully, those ideas were explored in the DLC with the Champion's Ballad, which I adored, as well as (loosely and sort of non-canonically) in Age of Calamity. Finding extra details and nuances between each character's relationships in the Champion's Ballad, as well as exploring and talking to other villagers, gave a multi-faceted view of many of the champions (besides Daruk - lovable guy, but not much else there than fun strong adventurer). Love each champion's theme as well, especially Mipha and Revali. And I appreciate how the descendants eventually got their time in the spotlight in TotK.
Speaking of details, the journals you can find are sometimes heavy-handed, as Zelda recounts her relationship with Link, or heartwrenching, as Rhoam reflects on his with his daughter.
I was a bit heartbroken that finding all the shrines, side quests, and memories, didn't give anything extra besides a short cutscene after the credits - though I've come to expect as much from Nintendo and Zelda games, always resetting right before the endgame.
I really didn't mind the item durability, besides in the very early game. I also found the Korok seeds charming and perfect for a completionist like me to scramble over. It also gave me a reason to truly appreciate all the features and topography of the entire map - why else would I try to climb to the top of every mountain?
~~~ DLC Review:
A week and a half within the two month blitz that I played through BotW. Glad I bought this while playing the game, and was able to find the chests and experience the story and trials throughout the game instead of afterwards. To go over each of them:
- Trial of the Sword was amazing, and gave a really challenging, interesting dungeon experience akin to Eventide, but massively more difficult. Really a different way to play the game, having to know which enemies were up in the next room and building up strategies. Definitely frustrating, and the middle chunk was probably the most difficult for me. Some of the bosses at the end in the final stages were much easier than the swarms of Lizalfos in other rooms. Super fun, and a showcase of what made BotW and its combat and basic mechanics so fun.
- Hero's Path, Travel Medallion, Ancient Horse Gear: all super useful to have, and I'm glad they included the former two as a base mechanic in TotK. Ancient Horse Gear was neat for the little while - until you got the Master Cycle.
- Korok Mask: A lifesaver. All the other outfits were cool, but this one made Korok hunting much more bearable. Was able to hunt down hundreds of those little poops with this on, would not have trekked everywhere to do so without it.
- Champions' Ballad: Already stated in my other review, but really brought the whole show together. Loved finding the extra shrines with their cool challenges, especially Mipha's sailing into the water. And hearing more of each champions' story and tragic end, as well as having to fight the bosses with their equipment, again shows off how good the core mechanics are of this game. Same with the One-shot weapon, and then leading into the Sheikah boss fight for the motorcycle (which also made traveling around and hunting Koroks way easier). The ending scene with Kass addressing Link directly will live on in my memory.
Master Mode: Only one I didn't do, but remains a perfect excuse for me to return to the game.
~~~
After 100%'ing TotK, it might be time to finally go through this game on Master Mode...