Geek Babble– Taking a Deep Breath of the Wild

Earlier this year, I made a plan to finish The Legend of Zelda: Breath of The Wild starting in March or April. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom finally had a release date, and I found myself interested in the game. Because it’s a direct sequel I needed to know how Breath of the Wild ended. Unfortunately, I found myself entangled with Monster Hunter Stories and Monster Hunter Rise way longer than I intended, in addition to my Sunday Twitch streams. After finishing Stories, I put my 3DS down and finally got started on Breath of the Wild in July. I had no idea where I was or what I was doing in my original playthrough from 2017.

In 2017, I received a copy of the game along with a Switch for my birthday. I liked the Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim aesthetic of the game, and dove in headfirst. Like Skyrim, I spent a lot of the time doing everything except the main quests in BotW. I had Link running around shirtless in Hyrule, seeing what adventures I could stumble into. I eventually found side quests to keep me busy for a while, but I noticed how difficult the game was. Additionally, there wasn’t as much to do in the world and vast amounts of it felt empty. Shrine puzzle quests were hit or miss for me. Solving them was fun when they clicked, but an exercise in frustration when they didn’t. Eventually, I found my interest in Breath of the Wild waning as I opted to play Persona 5. Once I finished Persona 5, I found Monster Hunter World taking up my time, and the newest Legend of Zelda sat unfinished for years.

The guilt of not going back to the game still lingered my consciousness. Unfortunately, starting and stopping games, especially Zelda, has been a bad habit of mine for decades. At this point I’ve stopped playing more games from this franchise than I’ve completed. This habit goes all the way back to the original The Legend of Zelda. I was given the game as a gift (gold cartridge and everything), but as a seven-year-old I didn’t understand what to do in the game. I didn’t have the benefit of siblings, classmates who played the game or were willing to share their secrets, Nintendo Power, or the internet. So I declared Zelda was not for me and moved on with my life.

I wouldn’t give Zelda a second chance until high school. A friend let me borrow their copy of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. I relied on GameFAQs for help when I got stuck. I finished the game with an embarrassingly high number of deaths, but I completed the game. My next Zelda after that would be The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. I had an N64 and needed something to play between the Pokémon Stadium games, and had heard good things about this Zelda. I ended up having a blast with Ocarina of Time, enjoying it so much more than the third Zelda. My fondest memory came from playing this game on prom night fully dressed up while I waited for my friends to give me a ride. After I finished Ocarina, I never got into Majora’s Mask. Instead, I opted for the Oracle of Ages, and the Oracle of Seasons.

Like before, I hit a wall and stopped playing. The bad habit had returned. Frustrated, I opted to play Golden Sun instead. Later, I thought for sure The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess would be a game I finished. I immensely enjoyed what I played , but reached a rough patch and never went back. I also made the mistake of trying to juggle Twilight Princess and Final Fantasy XII at the same time, ultimately finishing neither. If Link turning into a wolf couldn’t keep me playing a Zelda, perhaps nothing would. I skipped Link’s Awakening, Wind Waker, Skyward Sword, Phantom Hourglass, Spirit Tracks, and A Link Between Worlds– though I did purchase a few of those games. Until Breath of the Wild came around, it felt like the Zelda series had escaped me, even though I desperately wanted to return.

With that mindset and wanting to play Tears of the Kingdom, I restarted Breath of the Wild. My effort also got another boost. Thanks to a planned surgery I found myself on disability from work. That meant I didn’t have much else to do besides gaming, and I was determined to only play BotW. The game became a way to escape the monotony of being home all the time. My new run of the game turned out to be so very different from my first attempt in 2017.

I immediately noticed how much I’ve come to dislike Switch controls and Nintendo console controls. It’s an odd feeling since I’ve mostly grown up with Nintendo consoles, save for the fourth generation of gaming when I opted for a Sega Genesis. Since getting into PlayStation and Xbox, I’ve come to resent the placement of the confirm and cancel buttons on Nintendo console games. Weirdly enough, the placement on handheld systems never bothered me. All that to say I spent much of my time struggling with the controls in Breath of the Wild. It got to the point where I considered remapping my 8BitDo controller completely. Then something just clicked as I explored the world. Suddenly, the controls felt less awkward.

Another major thing happened in my restart. I decided to prioritize unlocking towers to see more of the map, and finding shrines over just exploring. I had a purpose in the vast world this time around. Following roads usually led to towns, and that led to interesting side quests, or even some main quests. When completing shrines, I also opted for a larger stamina wheel over more hearts. This made it easier to climb, glide, and swim without issue. Unlike my first run of the game, getting places was now a breeze. I’d discovered riding horses, and finding Korok seeds– something I hadn’t done before. I also had it pointed out to me that the game uses realistic physics and that made approaching shrine puzzles a lot easier.

Another big turning point in my overall enjoyment was when I unlocked the tower around Zora’s Domain and decided to follow the main road to an impressive looking structure. There I was given a quest by a random Zora to find and talk to a fellow named Prince Sidon. The Zora prince asked me to meet him at his domain, and I simply had to walk there through the unrelenting rain. I eventually made despite the tough enemies. Turns out that was my first quest to taking back a Divine Beast. The hardest part of the quest was stealing electric arrows from a Lynel. I died many times as the dreadful lion centaur had impeccable aim with those arrows. I wasn’t nearly good enough to fight it head on either. I grabbed the arrows and ran. Doing this enough times allowed me to continue with the main quest. I retook Vah Ruta, and received Mipha’s Grace (auto-revive and full healing), a Lightscale Trident, and a heart container. After my first real victory I was hooked. It was time to find more towers to unlock.

My wandering took me to a variety of places, and I discovered some towers were easier to unlock than others. The Central Hyrule tower was a roadblock, so I decided to go west, then backtracked north and slightly east. That took me to two regions called Akkala and Eldin. I found where Death Mountain was located, but stopped at the lava. I decided burning alive wasn’t much fun, so I went further east. The Akkala region was an interesting place to explore. Then on a whim, I decided to venture west again and unlocked the Gerudo region tower. I did a few side quests, including saving some people kidnapped by Bokoblins and Moblins. I found a small town before reaching Gerudo Town. There was a snag. The town would only let women in. I also discovered this was the quest line I needed to defeat another Divine Beast. If you’re thinking the only to get into Gerudo Town would be to dress Link up in woman’s clothing, you’d be correct. I purchased a Gerudo woman’s outfit, and it had the benefit of also being cool enough to move around in the desert’s heat, in addition to entering town.

At some point the Gerudo chief realized Link was male, but he was also the champion. So I was enlisted to help the town out by recovering an heirloom stolen by the Yiga Clan, aka rogue Sheikah that worship Ganon. Getting to their hideout was easy thanks to sand seal riding. I then found myself turned off because it was a stealth mission. I searched for an easy solution for the area, and discovered I should head back to Kakariko Village and purchase the Sheikah outfit as it had a stealth set bonus. Not in the mood to actually do the Yiga Clan hideout, I decided to unlock the Akkala region tower.

Unlocking the tower featured an entire stealth section and hiding from Guardian Skywatchers. It was a level of patience I wasn’t used to, but the Sheikah outfit and perseverance paid off. The tower was mine. I unlocked a few more shrines in the area, and a place called Eventide Island– a trial where all of Link’s weapons, armor, and food are taken away save for the Sheikah slate. The whole point is to survive and scavenge off the island while solving the trial. Saving is not allowed, and dying meant restarting the trial. I managed to complete the trial and unlock the shrine. It was an ordeal.

My next ordeal was unlocking the Akkala Ancient Tech Lab. Getting to the lab meant sneaking by a waiting Guardian. The reward for finishing this quest line was the ability to purchase Guardian weapons. I bought a few Ancient arrows and tried them out on the Guardian I avoided earlier. It made short work of the machine with every little effort. I had my means of going back to Central Hyrule now, but that could wait, especially since the arrows weren’t cheap.

The last place I visited in Akkala before moving on was Lomei Labyrinth Island. The place was teeming with Guardians on top of being a maze, so I decided come back later. I was finally ready for the Yiga Clan hideout. After a few frustrating tries, I used a YouTube video guide that saved my ass. Going into this mission, metaphorical guns blazing was an option, but again I’m terrible with combat in BotW. It IS possible to do this area with brute force. The boss, Master Kohga, was probably the easiest boss I fought so far. I’m not sure how to feel about an area with mooks harder than the boss, but I’ll take the easy win.

After getting the heirloom back, which turned out to be a Thunder Helm needed for protection from Divine Beast Vah Naboris’ lightning strikes, I was well on my way to taking back my second beast. The dungeon inside of it was actually doable without a guide, though the rotating cylinders made me physically ill. Fortunately, I could look away while the room rotated and finished the dungeon. The boss went down easier than I expected, and soon I had another heart container, Urbosa’s Fury (a lightning attack), and the Scimitar of the Seven.

My next stop was South Lomei Labyrinth, which was similar to Lomei Labyrinth Island– sans the Guardians. I was able to bullshit my way to the shrine in the center of the maze. Next, I had unfinished business in Central Hyrule. First, I stocked up on as many Ancient arrows as I could afford, which was about eight. Next, I booked it to Central tower and boldly walked up on a Guardian. I forgot to equip those arrows, and I was blasted into the next life. I reloaded my game, tried and failed when I panicked. The third time worked, as I made sure to have my destructive arrows drawn and fired right into the Guardian’s laser eye. It was satisfying to see the mechanized monster dissolve into blue light and explode. I repeated my tactics three more times before claiming Central Tower.

That’s currently where I left off to write this column. I figure I’ll unlock the rest of the towers before attempting the remaining two Divine Beasts.

I’ve gushed for more than a thousand words after I got over my initial hump of being frustrated with Breath of the Wild. While this game is very good in my eyes, I can see why others find it frustrating. Either the open world aspect grabs you or it just feels like unnecessary padding. Walking, climbing, and swimming for long stretches of time with only enemies to break up the monotony isn’t for everyone. Again, this game gets compared to Skyrim a lot for good reason, but it’s not nearly as organically engaging. Nevertheless, once its mechanics click, they click– or at least it did for me. I’ve come to appreciate how many ways there are to solve puzzles or tackle this game in general.

Maybe this will finally be the first Zelda I finish for the first time in 22 years. Maybe I’ll get back to those other Zelda games I started as well.