Note: On Sundays I talk about where I am in the game I am currently playing, how it’s going, what I’ve accomplished, what I’m thinking about tackling next, etc.
Deep into this one. 36 shrines completed, 28 Korok Seeds, two Great Fairies & the Horse God, Divine Beast Rudania, Divine Beast Naboris. I’ve purchased some armor, most notably the full Stealth Set. I’ve also bought the house in Hateno. Out in the world, I’ve discovered the Lost Woods, and think I only have three Shiekah Towers left to climb, all in the Northwest. For today’s post, I stopped right after defeating Thunderblight Ganon. I think the next three things I’ll tackle will be testing out Urbosa’s Fury against a Stone Talus (there’s one on Death Mountain I breezed past on my way to Goron City), doing some sidequesting to earn the Thunder Helm, and lighting the blue flame at Robbie’s northern lab.
I followed the ‘main quest’ closely early on, as I know from experience that just wandering off in a huge open world game can leave you without tools & abilities you are meant to have early on (Red Dead Redemption 2 comes to mind). But once I reached the village of Hateno, I felt more comfortable doing my own thing, and ended up in the Gerudo Desert. Maybe because it’s one of my favorite segments in Ocarina of Time.
Thus far, I haven’t been put off by any sense that some regions may be ‘too difficult’ with Link’s current health, stamina, and gear. For me it’s been the opposite - if I have the freedom to go somewhere and the game is sending me warning signals, I’ll begin testing the boundaries and attempting the maximum possible shenanigans. So the desert was a good fit - I glided 90% of the way from the Wasteland tower to the shrine outside of Gerudo City, for instance, using a cooked Endura Carrot for the long flight. The first ‘boss’ of my playthrough was the leader of the Yiga Clan… this is likely something you’re supposed to get into later, and I appreciated that the fight is designed in a more puzzle-ish way. If I’m in the right mood, I can be a hardcore Stealth Gamer, so the stealth-comedy of the Yiga Hideout and all of the Banana Hijinx was fantastic.
Still, having paved the way to tackle Divine Beast Naboris, I did have the sense that this was not meant to be your first major dungeon. I did some exploring instead. Amusingly, by avoiding that early encounter with Thunderblight Ganon, I soon found myself paragliding over to Tenoko Island (cackling at my supply of Endura carots), coming face to face with a “Major Test of Strength” long before encountering a “Moderate” one. 3000HP??? Holy shit. There’s no way!
But of course, I immediately scanned through my inventory wondering if maybe I *could* win. One thing I’ve learned about Breath of the Wild is that, though it has plenty of resource management, rare materials, breakable weapons, etc, it is first and foremost a game of abundance. The game is not shy about this, so even players accustomed to being stingy and marshaling their advantages probably get the message: cut loose. Not all the time, not indiscriminately, but match your intensity to the situation. So that’s what I did.
I had a single Edge of Duality (50 attack), by far my best weapon. I had a single Mighty Elixer. I had done some Minor Tests of Strength, so I understood I could bait the Guardian into crashing into a Pillar, and have my charged 2-handed Whirlwind going almost at the moment of impact. Put all that together and I was able to shave off over 1,000 HP in one opening gambit. Getting another 1,000 wasn’t difficult. But at that point the Guardian’s tactics evolve, and soon after the Edge of Duality gives out as well. It took me two or three tries to hammer out a strategy for phase three, and I know I broke a Guardian Sword following the Edge of Duality, but I managed it, and earned some serious heavy ‘++’ weapons.
I felled a 3,000 HP Guardian before a single Blight.
Breath of the Wild excels at a lot of things, but one of its essential strengths is the tightrope-walk it performs around varying levels of challenge but plausible flexibility. The game would be much worse if everything scaled smoothly. It would also suck if tougher regions were completely off limits, with only an illusion of freedom. Tenoko Island is set apart from the landscape at a distance that either requires you to be far along in the game (Stamina) or at least to have found a Fairy Fountain and explored cooking (Endura Carots). But the second test there is a much easier bar to clear, and at that point, the game-design tilts toward “where there’s a will, there’s a way.” No grinding1, just the freedom to figure out how you might use what you’ve got to get from A to B.
By comparison, Fireblight Ganon offered little resistance. But he was fun to optimize - I vanquished him with a handful of Ice Arrow headshots and the Knight’s Claymore. The Blights in Breath of the Wild do have some HP-scaling, but it’s a softer touch and, at least as far as I can tell, done in a way that’s appropriate. In my case, Daruk’s Protection, as well as the Guardian++ Sword I got on Tenoko Island, along with cooking some Mighty Bananas from Yiga HQ - all that combined for the perfect counter to Thunderblight Ganon. I haven’t read a ton about Breath of the Wild, but I’m aware that Thunderblight is considered the toughest of the four. But here again, BotW shifts and reshapes itself depending on the player. I suspect he would have been much harder 1st, and also considerably harder 4th. But 2nd, with Daruk’s Legacy and potent offense? Sweet spot.
So that’s where I’m at. I feel like I can handle anything, but in a context that is creative and intentional. I have so much to work with. And while I feel I’ve gone deep into Breath of the Wild, the game’s incredible scale and richness means that I’m probably less than 40% of the way into the experience.
So far, a tour de force.
A ridiculously overused term and, as a harsh requirement, a rarity.