henke on 20/11/2017 at 17:09
Picked up BOTW on Friday evening and spent most of the weekend playing it. Just ran into the Zora and now I've been roped into taking on that rain-spouting Divine Beast. Is it smart going up against that thing so early on? I have 2 stamina upgrades, one health-upgrade, and I'm terrible at fighting.
Also, curse those invisible wizards that hop around in the air. They seem impervious to my usual tactic of throwing a lot of bombs and artlessly flailing my sword all over the place.
Renzatic on 20/11/2017 at 17:21
I'll spoil this, just in case.
The Divine Beasts don't have too much in common with proper old school Zelda style dungeons, instead acting more like super souped up BotW shrines. They're more like large scale, complicated mechanical puzzles you have to work your way through, rather than fighting through fight after fight after fight.
...well, other than the bosses at the end, anyway. I never had much trouble with them, though. Your mileage may vary.
And the Poes? Just shoot them in the head from a distance, then run up and beat the crap out of them while they're flailing about on the ground.
Malf on 20/11/2017 at 21:49
Also, probably a good idea to at least get the camera upgrade for your slate before doing any of the divine beasts. I did that one first too, but missed the opportunity to get a photo of a unique monster in the dungeon because I didn't have that upgrade yet.
PigLick on 20/11/2017 at 23:18
I actually found the Divine Beasts the most tedious part of the game, I kinda wish it had just been 4 big normal style Zelda dungeons.
Renzatic on 21/11/2017 at 02:27
I liked them alright. Thought a couple of them were really clever.
Though, yeah, I do wish it had some classic Zelda style dungeons in there. For the sequel, which we all know is gonna happen, I'd like to see 4 or 5 really, really large dungeons scattered across the map, requiring you to explore about and investigate all kinds of clues to find.
icemann on 21/11/2017 at 03:21
I quite liked them for the change of pace that they offer. One of them (the Zora one) I got stuck on and had to go lookup a let's play to figure out where to go next. Rest were fine. The desert and wind ones were my favorites.
I'll also note that for the Zora one, having the ability you get from the wind divine beast is of benefit at certain bit in there. It got me past the bit I was stuck at. I'm trying to be as a vague as I can to not spoil anything.
henke on 21/11/2017 at 06:25
I loved the Divine Beast Vah Ruta "boss fight". Every stage of it felt really good.
Don't have the camera upgrade, I'll be on the lookout for that.
henke on 21/11/2017 at 08:13
But yes, overall I'm loving this game. Think I forgot to mention that. I have some issues with it but they're mostly quite minor, like Malf pointed out on last page the "going into inventory to grab food and cook it" procedure is a bit more clunky than it needs to be. And I still don't feel entirely comfortable with the controls. Always have trouble switching weapons mid-fight. And the conversations with NPC's are a bit too sluggish. I can't click through them as quickly as I'd like. I wouldn't mind so much if any of the characters at least had anything interesting to say, but it's all just bland fantasy tropes and NPC quest giving dialogue. "Have you seen the WHITE HORSE?" "If you could find it, please bring me the WHITE HORSE." No buddy, I think you've had enough white horse, I'm cutting you off.
Malf on 21/11/2017 at 10:09
...and if Beedle ever gave me anything decent in return for one of those damn beetles he's craving...
But yeah, for a first-party Nintendo game, the controls are pretty crap. I was going to say especially after Mario, but even that has control combos that involve stupid finger contortions every now and again. Anything that requires the player to hold down a face button to sprint while moving, leaving the camera stick only reachable by another digit on your right had is an indication that the game's designers haven't put enough thought into the controls.
henke on 21/11/2017 at 10:50
My only issue with Mario's controls are that jerking the controls sideways to do a spin-throw has like a 50/50 chance of succeeding. C'mon Nintendo, this motion-control nonsense ain't working and there's 2 unused face buttons right there!
