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 Latest Update      Breath of the Wild is the 25th anniversary celebration of The Legend of Zelda franchise, and it does what their previous anniversary game, Skyward Sword, tried but ultimately failed to do: dropkick the franchise's formula down a godforsaken cliff. And be fun to play. Breath of the Wild is a true open world; once you've completed the tutorial, not a square inch of the massive game map is kept from you. If you have the stamina, Link can glide across any chasm or Spider-Man up any sheer cliff you like, and that alone adds a freedom of movement that the best open world games have yet to touch. Except for, you know, the open world Spider-Man games. But it doesn't stop there. Dungeons are limited to the game's four Divine Beasts, but alongside them you're treated to 120 unique mini-dungeons in the form of Sheikah shrines, all of which are a blast to take on and showcase a sophisticated physics engine. Heart containers are mostly obtained by collecting Spirit Orbs from the shrines, but you can trade those in to increase your stamina instead. Hearts no longer pop out of enemies or grass but must be recovered from food. Weapons are now destructible and effectively infinite, and while opinions vary on that particular mechanic, I find it keeps combat from ever getting stale. You can also surf on your shield. And there's little-to-no hand-holding. And yes, the game has Ubisoft-esque towers that reveal the game map, but Breath of the Wild does it one better: it just reveals the game map. Anything you want marked on your map, it's your job to mark it yourself. All of these elements come together to make Breath of the Wild one of the freshest, most organic, and most addicting games of the last several years. Story's a bit naff, but we'll get there in due time...  You are Link, and this time, it is 100% unalterably Link. You awake in a mysterious stasis chamber after being sealed away for 100 years. Having no memory and only an unrecognizable voice to guide you, you pick up a Sheikah Slate as your all-purpose tool, walk out of the cave and... everything else is up to you. Do you defeat the horrible Calamity Ganon, who destroyed Hyrule 100 years ago, and take back your home? Explore every nook and cranny of the world to become Claymore Stamina Ninja God? Or do you simply ride a wild horse into a death laser and tumble impotently down an incline to your death? You can do it all.  Due to the sheer size of the game, this is not quite a completionist run. I do have particular goals though: I will complete all 120 shrines, I will closely follow the voting results of polls I held before this LP began, and I will acquire the memories in as close to chronological order as I can. I will also have a second alternate run on hand for things that I missed and for thread requests, such as taking on Ganon right from the Great Plateau. I'm playing this on the Wii U. Aside from a throwaway extra or two added to the Switch version (which were later added to the Wii U version anyway), they're identical. Parts with long, voice-acted cutscenes will have two versions: Edited (commentary removed from the cutscenes) and Uncut (commentary over cutscenes). Most parts will not require an edited version. My co-commentators are Skippy Granola and YamiNoSenshi. -------------------------------------------------------------                                                                                                                             -------------------------------------------------------------  (By Natália Santos)  (By CR Gates)  (By Miz Kriss)  (By Fish Noise)  (By Dareon)  (By TrapperSF)   trappersf posted:After watching the second "memory"; this photo replicates what I think the Korok was thinking. (By Gorilla Salad)  MeccaPrime posted:I made a thing; I literally stopped watching your update mid-video to make this. You're welcome. RareAcumen posted:http://i.imgur.com/YGSOpkM.mp4 ThornBrain fucked around with this message at 16:55 on Jul 30, 2018 |
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Jun 17, 2017 16:20
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Oh heck yes, I've been looking forward to you guys starting this LP. This game is absolutely amazing.
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Jun 17, 2017 17:41
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When Thorn says that once you complete the Great Plateau and can do anything, he means it. I'm playing on the Wii U as well, and I've completed maybe 80% of the map and like two or three plot related things. I spend more time just faffing about than doing much of anything.
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Jun 18, 2017 01:04
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Hell yes, two BotW LPs! The best part is they're probably going to be entirely different experiences. 
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Jun 18, 2017 02:22
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Aww yeah Ground Floor.PMush Perfect posted:Hell yes, two BotW LPs! And that is what makes BOTW so neato despite some issues people have with it. Because the majority of the game is player driven you get a unique experience from different players.
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Jun 18, 2017 02:37
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re: opening chests Try opening a chest from the side while crouching :-)
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Jun 18, 2017 04:31
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PMush Perfect posted:Hell yes, two BotW LPs!
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Jun 18, 2017 10:22
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Excited to watch this! I'm 80 hours in on my copy and still not finished. It'll be awesome to see someone play it in totally a different path from me.
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Jun 18, 2017 10:42
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The slate was designed for the Wii U tablet, not the Switch. It just so happened that when they made the change to Switch, there wasn't any need to change anything in the game in regards to how it looked, because it was basically the same concept. All they ended up changing was that the shiekah slate is no longer represented in real life, now only a menu that takes over the action.
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Jun 18, 2017 11:17
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This game is amazing, it's like Zelda via Studio Gilbi, I think the old guy is supposed to be a cheeky reference to the old man in the cave in the original Zelda that gives you the wooden sword.
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Jun 18, 2017 13:52
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Cool, so this is a run that will sort-of follow developer intended order of things. Should be interesting to watch.
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Jun 18, 2017 14:00
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Good to see you guys doing this. I've watched a tonne of videos of people doing tricks and engine exploits and the game looks an absolute blast.
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Jun 18, 2017 14:15
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Just for interest, the PAL version of the game does use Celsius.
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Jun 18, 2017 14:28
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Dreadwroth posted:This game is amazing, it's like Zelda via Studio Gilbi, I think the old guy is supposed to be a cheeky reference to the old man in the cave in the original Zelda that gives you the wooden sword. "It's dangerous to go alone, have fun with that."
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Jun 18, 2017 19:13
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Hell yeah, another BotW LP to sate my addiction to this game.
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Jun 18, 2017 20:09
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The great thing about this opening segment is that it allows you to discover the ground rules for your interactions with the world, but the stakes are so low right now that you feel empowered to experiment. You'll learn that even the weakest enemy in the game can kill you if you're not careful, but if (when) that happens you'll respawn very quickly and at no cost to you. You'll learn that you don't have to follow your primary objective immediately, and even that you're encouraged to stray, but the Great Plateau is small enough that you won't get lost if you do. Granted, the Great Plateau is the same size as Ocarina of Time's entire world map, but the point stands.
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Jun 18, 2017 20:17
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The use of weapons and food and such is definitely a mindset issue. If you approach it as "I'll lose it" then you're going to have a stressful time, but when you realize "I can always get more" then the whole world becomes a playground rather than an efficiency test. Some folks can't make that adjustment and the game becomes Elixir Syndrome writ large.MachuPikacchu posted:Granted, the Great Plateau is the same size as Ocarina of Time's entire world map, but the point stands. I don't think it's quite THAT big but yeah, there are a ton of nooks and crannies you can completely miss and places to explore.
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Jun 18, 2017 20:29
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Bruceski posted:I don't think it's quite THAT big but yeah, there are a ton of nooks and crannies you can completely miss and places to explore. I'm mostly going off of this size comparison of the worlds of the different Zelda games (SPOILERS! Don't click on it if you don't want to see the full BoTW world map!).
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Jun 18, 2017 21:02
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Bruceski posted:I don't think it's quite THAT big but yeah, there are a ton of nooks and crannies you can completely miss and places to explore. Case in point: I don't recall that suspicious group of rocks that Thorn pointed out in the Great Plateau, and I'm quite a bit into the game.
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Jun 18, 2017 23:41
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I'm going to go to bat for the gyro controls, both here and in Splatoon. Hey, gently caress you buddy, whichever one of you that knocked Splatoon.  I used the gyro controls for the entire game and I like them, so there.
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Jun 19, 2017 00:35
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Gyro controls for the bow in breath of the wild are plain excellent and are probably the best bow and arrow controls of any zelda game. The other gyro stuff for some puzzles is a bit poo poo though. Oh and gyro is out the window when you're in a moving vehicle :/ Which sucks because I like to play this game a lot on my regular 3+ hour coach trips to Sydney
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Jun 19, 2017 01:24
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Speaking of controls, how are the Switch controls? They look a little wonk to me, but I need a means of playing Breath of the Wild which means I have to buy either a Switch or a Wii U and the Switch seems like the obvious choice were it not for asymmetrical thumbsticks which may or may not drive me completely insane.
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Jun 19, 2017 01:24
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The switch is really loving comfortable and I have big hands. The grip for the joycons that comes with the system for tv play is also excellent. It's honestly way more ergonomic and nice to hold than it looks.
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Jun 19, 2017 01:31
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I have it on the Switch, and it's fine. Supposedly it's even better with a Pro Controller, but I don't have one of those. I just use the grip that comes with the system.
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Jun 19, 2017 01:33
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Not gonna lie, I despise the gyro controls for some of the later stuff, but it really is great for fine manipulation for long-distance bow shots, assuming you have a steady hand.
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Jun 19, 2017 01:40
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I've played it on both, and I prefer the Wii U, only because I think the tablet is so comfortable. However, to be fair, the couple of times I played it on the switch was someone else's copy of the game and I'm completely clueless as how to function with new things the first few times.
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Jun 19, 2017 03:45
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Thanks for the advice, I think I will get a Switch. The main reason being that I absolutely have to play Breath of the Wild, but also because nothing else that's portable really approaches it in terms of specs.
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Jun 19, 2017 03:57
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Not to mention the switch has an incredible back half of 2017 coming up. Splatoon 2, Mario Xcom, Mario Odyssey .. and others if you like anime games And then the promise of more amazing games in 2018 and beyond like Metroid Prime 4
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Jun 19, 2017 05:37
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How long ago did you record commentary? Sacramento is nowhere near neutral now.
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Jun 19, 2017 06:34
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Oh by the way, someone mentioned in the video that it took them X hours to reach the first dungeon in Skyward Sword I think. Well, I don't think that comparison for long tutorial sections works anymore. Let's see how long it takes you guys to get to the first Divine Beast.
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Jun 19, 2017 06:51
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Is the "nothing can hear you while sneaking" an American or Wii U version thing, because I remember freaking tons of stuff hearing you all the time. I just went back into my save file, and wearing the quality of gear you have at the moment, alot of stuff heard me from pretty far away even at the slowest and quietest movements.
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Jun 19, 2017 12:38
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Crawfish posted:Is the "nothing can hear you while sneaking" an American or Wii U version thing, because I remember freaking tons of stuff hearing you all the time. I think it was an exaggeration
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Jun 19, 2017 14:15
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Carbon dioxide posted:Oh by the way, someone mentioned in the video that it took them X hours to reach the first dungeon in Skyward Sword I think. BoTW muddled it a bit but technically we were in a small dungeon solving puzzles in a discrete confined area, earning and using new abilities. QED, Skyward Sword apologist!
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Jun 19, 2017 14:57
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It seems like the common theme is 'This game does a thing that's annoying in other open world games but does it so well it's actually good here'.
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Jun 19, 2017 18:47
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Night10194 posted:It seems like the common theme is 'This game does a thing that's annoying in other open world games but does it so well it's actually good here'. I'd like to take a second to talk about towers, really. Assassin's Creed is ten years and at least two console generations old at this point. Nintendo consoles have a reputation for being underspecced, but they're not THAT underspecced. Assassin's Creed was designed to make you remember it as being capable of doing more than it could actually do, because the entire game was presented as a game-in-the-world, as Altair's Adventures: Director's Cut. When Altair climbs the tall thing and an eagle flies around while a hawk sounds off (because when you're an apex predator you can just go chirp chirp chirp and not give a gently caress) that's the game skipping over all the time Altair took scanning the city streets watching for the telltale tiny movements among people far below. But you couldn't possibly try to do that yourself. Not with the game graphics the way they were. And if you could plummet off that perch and glide down to anywhere, the odds are good that you would outrun the rendering engine on your way there. The game made you believe that you were doing more than you could actually do, which is what video games have tried to do for far, far longer than ten years, and the memorable ones succeeded. It's possible that these days you could remake the first Assassin's Creed on a scale that would actually let you scan the streets yourself and safely fall to anywhere. At a scale that was comprehensible and fun, I think it would actually wind up having less in the way of things to do than the original could. Which is always a good thing from a sequel, right? Not doing as much as the previous games did? Breath of the Wild has an open-world legacy of its own to uphold too, of course. It's got to make you feel like you're at least capable of doing all of the things a game made you think you were doing thirty years ago.
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Jun 20, 2017 02:17
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Yes, this BoTW VLP is right up my alley. I've been waiting for one like this to come along. Knowledgeable hosts, the right amount of talking, etc. Thank you.
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Jun 20, 2017 19:38
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Glazius posted:
Unless you're counting the PS4 pro as an entirely separate console generation, Assassin's Creed was first released on the PS3 and 360, only last generation.
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Jun 21, 2017 08:55
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I'm still not really sold on Zeldas voice, but pretty much everyone else in the game have really good voices. I really did not like the weapon degradation at the start, but it quickly grew on me when I realized how powerful throwing weapons at people were. And I think the reason why I don't hate it is because you're always gonna find weapons good for an area, in the area where you're using em. And hell yeah so much sheika stuff in this one it's amazing, snap! Nalesh fucked around with this message at 06:07 on Jun 22, 2017 |
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Jun 22, 2017 05:40
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There's a decent amount of map memorization involved with making sure you've got 'good' weapons if you're going for high-percentage runs, but it's not terrible, especially once you have a Divine Beast or two under your belt(depending on playstyle). Without getting into specifics, I actually really like the surprising variety of ways you can acquire non-trash-tier weapons.
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Jun 22, 2017 06:10
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I like the bootstrap aspect of it. Tougher enemies usually (but not always) carry stronger weapons, so the first time you fight X may be a really rough battle, but the stuff you get from it can last you through three more X or even a Y, and now you've got something really nice to run around with.
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Jun 22, 2017 06:47
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