I'm kinda with you here destor. Love this game and it is one of my 2 goty candidates rn, the other being horizon. But I feel these game could have used a bit more story development, with more meaningful sidequests. I like the themes they had for the dungeons....but they needed to be bigger and there needed to be at least twice as many. The great fairies should have had more to do with things as well and needed to be harder to find instead of just a gold sink. The dragons are the most epic thing in the world.....and are basically useless other than a few mins of cheesy farming tricks to max some gear out....

Keep the open world and the freedom....but make the story a bit more focused, a bit more linear. Flesh out the side characters and fairies more. Add some mystery and more involved sidequests. This game is great....but it was so very close to being THE ONE.

One of the few areas I noticed I couldn't solve before I had completed a certain part of the game was Akkala Tower, I couldn't figure out how to get up it until I got that Revali's Gale thing that shoots you up into the air.

I think I really would have enjoyed it much less with those changes. I think when you make a compelling world to go out and explore, that's what I want to do in my open world games. With GTA, I usually end up getting bored with the story dumps, especially when it's in direct contrast to how I've been playing. Every thing bar the first few shrines being totally optional is my favourite thing in a game in a long time and giving it more direction might have hurt that for me.

All I need to know is that the princess is in trouble. Everything else is my story about how I did it and not some cutscenes.

I'm not against linear games. Yakuza 0, Nier and Persona 5 I've adored this year. But if you make an open world that's compelling and a joy to explore, it's going to be my favourite and I don't want anything taking me away from being out in it.

Okay ,this game is amazing BUT fuck them for taking out the forward head rolls. After 8 hours of gameplay I am still attempting to roll into trees.

Thats how i felt during skyward sword

While im here: dungeons are the worst of the franchise.

With ease

I have not hit a dungeon yet unless those are the shrines? If the shrines are then lol.

Think its just Hyrule Castle and the Divine Beasts as the real dungeons for the game.

Ah okay. Hopefully I get to one tonight.

I assume the Master Sword is unbreakable but is there a bow and shield that are unbreakable too? Hate having to switch weapons so often. I am afraid to use the good weapons I have found due to everything else breaking aft4t 4 or 5 enemies.

There ia a shield that has 400/hp (average is like 20ish)

If you have diamonds, Champions tier weapons and shields can be repaired or replaced. Haven't broken them yet so not sure which actually happens since I rather keep the diamonds for more important things.

Just finished my first dungeon. I went to the Zora people (just choose a route at random). Feeling a little underwhelmed since there are only 5 total. Felt it would have been bigger. Would have felt fine if it was the beginning dungeon but I don't think there is technically a first. I dunno.

The shock arrow mini boss dude was hard as hell though. Fuck him. That fight was epic.

I only have about 20 shrines left...only just now realized luminous stones can be converted to diamonds... :nono:

Ive done 3/4 of the mechs. They are all about as long and similar difficulty. Each is about 6 rooms and a boss.

How do you know the amount of shrines left?

There are 120, i know this because i googled it lol

On the load screen it tells you how many youve done

Not seeing much the value of diamonds other than selling them, I used a few to upgrade some circlet thing that protects against Ancient, but then I got the ancient helmet after getting a million ancient gears so now I not need the circlet. So what do you do with the diamonds eh eh

Finding it weird that I have done 90 shrines but only have found 86 Korok seeds, how many Korok seeds have yall found

top armor upgrades and reforging of high end weapons. Also sale value is high. Top tier mat basically.

160+

21 shrines and 11 seeds. I am doing something wrong huh lol.

Kinda wish they'd cut the number of Korok seeds by like half. I am somewhat of a completionist and do love the exploration aspect of the game obvs, but I'm sitting at ~90 shrines and like 150 seeds. Travelling the world looking for another 700-odd seeds just doesn't feel like a very fun time.

It is highly unlikely, as a hardcore completionisist, that i round up all 900..but maybe.

Currently farming dragon shards to max my Tunic of the wild set and then off to stop Gannon.

...but im totally going to do it in green.

When you get all the Korok seeds they give you a seed that looks like a golden turd. I think it's a subtle message about how stupid it is to be a hardcore completionist

What so seeds do besides give more inventory spots? Maybe if I find an actually use for them but right now they are whatever.

Thats all they do...which is pretty major

Like how is increasing your inventory not one of the biggest boons in the game?

Also: i maxed my hearts. Natural 30 hearts.

Beat it. Many praises and many complaints. Great game. Game of the year to be sure.

Nice, congrats. Just finished my second dungeon and randomly found the forest with the Master Sword. Need more hearts though to grab it. Gordon dungeon seemed a lot easier than the Zoro dungeon. It didn't have a mini boss like the shock arrow mini boss guy. Who is still the hardest fight so far for me.

Shock arrow mini boss guy?

Prolly the lynel from whom you must collect shock arrows

Thats what i was thinking but its oitside of the divine beast so i dunno.

Lynels are the apex predators in the game. Once you get your perfect counter timing down though theyre a snap.

You can get a perfect counter via side step kn their bull charge or via backflip on their melee attacks. And it has a pretty big window too for both.

Stasis upgrade will let you control their archery and nukes too,

Post every blood moon i go farming them for gear. Drops are used for most of the combat armor upgrades too.

I haven't mastered the technique for fighting lynels but I find them easy/repetitive, and even moreso for Hinox/Talus

There's this one boss in the gerudo desert that swims in the sound around this rock, wish there was more stuff like that in the world

And what's with the dragons? The first one I saw was up on some mountain and I was able to kill it somehow, it was a really cool moment where it was early in the game and I had a time limit because I was using some potion to help me stave off the cold, and I had to chase the thing over mountains and shoot it from the air in a few different locations to kill it. It dropped a scale I think which I offered at a shrine and got some thing

But all the other dragons I've found I just shoot once and they drop a shard or something, then fly away

Ya him. I have not ran into any others like him yet..he is the only encounter so far that has been challenging. He wasn't in the divine beast but you had to go through him right before entering.

Got lucky with that mission involving the shock arrows since I already had more than 20 by that point. Skipped it and went right to the water divine beast instead.

Right. They are placed all about Hyrule. Easily the top end enemy in the game. Little experience and theyre easy though. At first they were a nightmare.

True. It was the first place I went so I obviously didn't have any but most people probably skip it.

The one in Zoras domain was a menace early in the game. Good thing I had most the arrows already from a prior shrine that handed them out copiously. That wasn't my first one though. When I first dropped off the plateau I had already been eyeballing that big coliseum like structure to the west. I went over there and ran directly into a fairly high level Lynel on the bottom floor. Had no context to what the place was or what this monster was. It could have been a pushover for all I knew. After over an hour of flinging myself at it with my feeble gear I moved on. Tried to go up the coliseum but eventually got to a point with black moblins that killed me at that stage. It was then that I realized this was a diff kind of Zelda and I was in for a wild ride.

Finished off the third dungeon and have the Master Sword now. Dungeons seem laughable now but hoping the 5th one will be epic.

Getting a little tired of shrines. No idea how you did over 100 Destor. I am at 45 currently.

The final shouldnt even be called a dungeon tbh. No puzzles. Great score though.

I liked the shrines for the most part. I wish theyd have been more challenging though.