The end is in sight now. Explored Central Hyrule quite a bit, climbed my last tower and found a few more memories (so now I only need one more, and at least I know where this one is, I think). I destroyed a bunch of guardians by leaping off my horse and using ancient arrows, recreating the first BotW trailer several times. Unfortunately, one guardian vaporized my horse (my best horse, too! The white one that I appropriately named "D-Horse 2", since I selfishly sold D-Horse 1 for 300 rupees). Thus, I had to go pay a visit to the Horse God.

I came across a really great shrine, one that wasn't hard to find but was probably the most substantial one yet. This one seemed to be the culmination of everything, with several puzzles that made use of everything I had learned up to this point. It was definitely the most "dungeon-like" of any shrine I've done so far, and after doing 107 now, I don't believe there's too many of them left.

My shield inventory is now maxed out, and coinciding with that there's been a noticeable upgrade in gear in Central Hyrule. I've found a ton of strong shields so far, so I've been able to finally drop a bunch of my Level 40 Knight's shields in favor of Level 50 Royal ones. I wish I was finding better one-handed swords, though.

I pinned 3 or 4 interesting spots on the map that I want to check out, but after that it's on to the castle. Tonight may be the night, we shall see...

@pokepal148

For the electric one, I ate a shock-resistant meal and then equipped some shock-resistant clothes. I was such a non-conductor that the lightning going on at the time didn't target me, and electricity from the Wizzrobes would hit me with zero effect! The lightning orbs would just fizzle out upon reaching Link. It was pretty cool.

@Mop it up

It's always nice to stumble across someone who articulates exactly how you feel about a game or movie. Especially when it doesn't match the majority of opinions.

@Abdooooo
....wow

In Nintendo's BOTW GDC talk they showed Link blowing a bomb across a chasm with the Deku Leaf.

I was floored.

@TheBigG753

I'm in a similar boat to you. Planning to explore more and then make a run at Ganon when I have more time Saturday.

There is no way to parry when an enemy swings a weapon around them right? You must dodge or block it?

@carlosrox

Not sure. Perhaps parrying in the backwards direction may work depending on your distance.

@DrFinkelstein
It does, but I haven't fully nailed the timing down for any of these things really. Not where I can go in there and parry/dodge every move all the enemies make.

I managed to acquire the Master Sword. Basically because of the way I'm playing this game I was able to pretty easily meet the requirements for getting it (I'd already gotten most of what you need to be able to get it so there's no reason not to grab it.

I did clear my first dungeon as well but I'm probably going to stick to messing around in the overworld for a while.

Hmm, as cool as swimming up waterfalls is, it feels weird that Link moves so fast and it takes no stamina while regular swimming still is so slow and takes a ton of stamina.

Omfg the (spoiler for important area) Lost Woods is marvelous. The Master Sword thing I'm apparently not ready for is awesome. The design of this game is brilliance.

I'm at Lake Saria :') Utter brilliance in every way here. GOAT game.

Loved the cutscene here too.








oo.

@Zero

The part of those "BoTW: The Making Of" videos that really stuck with me was about how the art style was just real enough for the physics to be believable but just cartoony enough to allow for some abstract ideas. I guess the ability that you are talking about does stretch the abstract a little too far. "Why can't this salmon-tech be used on the horizontal?" But then you remember you're playing a video game and your dude is wearing magic armour and there be flying dragons so I can live with it.

Ah, so close. I considered pushing to the finish line last night, and I'd have been okay with struggling at work today, but I was too tired to keep playing until 2, 3 in the morning. I'll beat the game tonight.

Hyrule Castle is incredible. What an amazing payoff to an amazing game -- tons of great stuff to find.

"Destroy Ganon" is now the only main quest I have left.

@Super_Conzo I don't mind that it is video gamey but it feels inconsistent enough that it makes basic swimming now feel like... why? WHY?!

Is saying that the Master Sword is in this game really considered a spoiler? It's on the moppin' front cover of the game, hee hee.

@Secret_Tunnel I am. I find that the timing for the flurry rush counter is quite generous for most enemies, to the point where I've gotten it to activate before the enemy actually swings, after they swing, and also when Link wasn't even in range of the attack. Though, I'm typically good at timing-based mechanics, I guess I have good rhythm or something, hee hee. On the other hand, the perfect guard technique is much more tricky since the timing window is pretty narrow, I don't get that one consistently but I can usually do it more often than not.

@DrFinkelstein I didn't have that ability at the time so it took me a bit to figure out the Akkala Tower, but it is indeed possible to climb without any special ability. It's a tricky one, though!

@carlosrox I shoot them with an arrow. Shock works nicely.

@Zero I thought the same thing, seems like it'd be quite a workout!

@Mop it up

I spoiler tagged anything that had to do with where it was, how I found it and what it does, but no, saying that it's in the game and Link can get it is absolutely not a spoiler.

Spoilers are different for everybody. I'd say the fate of the Master Sword and Link's classic tunic are definitly spoiler territory since if they can actually be found and used isn't explicitly said. To be fair, judt because the MS is on the cover it doesn't necessarily mean you can use it. Had I not been spoiled by previews before release (my own fault, as well as spoilerific thumbnails and videos that snuck up on me), I'd still feel in the dark and uncertain about many things. Having someone confirm for you whether or not it makes it in or the context behind it is a spoiler.

I wish I could have gone in knowing a bit less (maybe a lot less) but even so the game nails a great air of mystery and discovery. And a lot of it was my own morbid curiosity getting the better of me.

The green tunic and whether or not it's even in the game is something you're meant to wonder about. Even deep into the game there is no mention of it whatsoever. So I call bull on that not being a full on spoiler.

Thanks to some fuckhead Youtubers I know the green tunic IS in, and that's not my fault at all. They just sneak it in their video like it's nothing. Really dumb in my book.

And I found out about a few unexpected enemies thanks to preview vids as well. The Lynel, Flying Guardians, and Octoroks were all shown in preview vids I couldn't resist skimming through. Same with the Blood Moon existing at all.
And the latter still shook me up when I witnessed it myself.

@carlosrox

The big difference there is, though, the master sword has been featured heavily in Nintendo's promotion of the game whereas, AFAIK, the classic green tunic has not. I would say the former is certainly not a spoiler, while anything pertaining to the latter probably is since Nintendo has given no indication that it's in the game. I mean, I am sympathetic to people who chose to do a media blackout to an extent, but if something is part of the publisher's pre-release hype cycle, it's fair game. I try to err on the safe side as much as I can, but certain things are just inherently not spoilers. That's the risk you take by doing complete media blackouts on something.

Aw, now I've been spoiled. It was bound to happen I guess.

@TheBigG753 I pretty much agree with you. I'm usually careful about spoilers and there's a lot I don't want to know about games (and didn't know about this one), but when it's something that's on the cover (especially the front), simply saying it's in the game isn't a spoiler. Anything else about it certainly could be though.