Zelda Review

(Spoilers at the end, there will be a warning beforehand though.)

Gameplay:

Nintendo has gone all out on this game, no wonder it had two delays and was announced all the way back to 2013. Now that it is released, I understand why it took so long. The physics of this game are very realistic, apart from a few things to keep the Zelda universe different from ours, like the Stasis.Runes that you can get and what they do (no spoilers since you get them from the first 30 minutes or so all apart from the Camera, which you get after about an hour worth of gameplay most likely).

Remote Bombs: A bomb that can be detonated remotely. (These come in round and cubic form.)

Magnesis: Manipulate metallic objects using magnetism.

Stasis: Stop the flow of time for an object.

Crynosis: Create a pillar of ice from a water surface.

Camera: Instantly render a visible image into a picture.

Amiibo: Use an amiibo to summon something useful.

Review:

The story line is extremely well put together and with a lot of interesting characters. The Shrines, at the start, didn’t think were quite challenging and thought it was going to be like that through the entire thing, but I was wrong! As I progressed through the game the shrines got harder and harder, (some of them I just had to leave and go back to later). Some of them are fighting shrines and others, are just puzzle shrines. This game can be very hard at times. I’ll give you an example, I was walking aimlessly around, I forgot what I was going to do there because I got distracted with something and then, out of nowhere, a giant blue “Hinox” came and started charging towards me. I died.

This game also has a LOT of side quests, some of them are easier than others, and some of them are harder than others. The world is never empty, and with “Blood Moons,” it has loads of replay ability. It is, as far as I know, impossible to 100% complete the game. The dungeons are also very well laid out and the game encourages you to defeat an enemy differently to how you usually would.

Rating: 10/10

An amazing game. It may even beat my number one favourite Zelda game (which is also my favourite game of all time.)

(Spoilers from now on.)

The Story (so far, I’ve played 36 hours worth of gameplay):

From the very start you here a voice saying Link. Then it says open your eyes. Link wakes up from a slumber inside a blue-lit room. Just from this, we can tell that this is a Zelda game because, at the start, you start off with Link sleeping.

While you search the room you find a pedestal. If you examine the pedestal you will get what is called: The Sheikah Slate. Then there is a kind of a tutorial room in which you have to figure out the controls for yourself. Then once you come out of there you are introduced with the view of most of Hyrule. If you go to the map on your Sheikah Slate you will find out that you awoke in the “Shrine of Resurrection.”

When you are exploring the area you should find a little room, if you place your Sheikh slate, a large tower will appear from the ground with you on it. The tower will give you the map of the area and as soon as you’re ready to leave, an old man will come gliding in. He says that he will give you a paraglider if you complete the 4 shrines in the Great Plateau. At every shrine, you get a Rune. Runes are special abilities, whether it be magnetism or bombs, they will be unlimited, but once you use one, you have a timer for about 10 seconds until you can use it again. In my opinion, the hardest shrine was the one in Snow Peak, since you had to get there and stay warm at the same time, otherwise, you die. The trick was to find a torch or wooden weapon and burn it.

After you do that, you are told by the old man to go to a specific location in the Great Plateau, which is the temple of time. If you pray there you are given the choice to spend four of the spirit orbs (what you collect after you complete a shrine) on either a new heart container or an extra Stamina wheel. I choice the stamina wheel so that I can climb mountains easier without running out of stamina and falling to my death.

Then he calls you from the roof of the temple, and if you go and meet him he will say, “I think you are now ready, ready to hear what happened 100 years ago.” He will then say how the Calamity Ganon has taken over Hyrule and that Ganon, 100 years ago, has taken control over the Guardians (robot like weapons.) He will also explain that a princess, a brave soldier and four other warriors tried to fight him, but all were killed except the Princess and the soldier, who collapsed. The princess took that soldier to a shrine so that he could be reawakened someday.

As for the princess, she went to go and fight Ganon herself. To this day she holds Ganon back but is getting weaker and once she has lost control, Ganon will be ready to strike.

The old man then reveals himself to be the king from 100 years ago and says that he has been trapped in spirit form all this time. He then says my new favourite quote which is, “You must save her… My daughter.” I just think it was so cool when he said it, but it’s probably just me.

Then he gives you the paraglider and says to venture out of the Great Plateau and to find Kakariko village where you will meet up with Impa. She says more of what had happened 100 years ago. She says that the Hylians had built the guardians for defence against the Calamity Ganon if he was ever to return. But he was more powerful than they had expected. The four other warriors were brought together by Link and Zelda to pilot giant weapons known as the divine beasts. Impa also revealed the locations of these divine beasts.

As you venture off into the wild you can choose any of these locations, in any given order, just like the original Legend of Zelda. I chose to go to the one with the Zoras; The Divine Beast Vah Ruta.

Then, story cut short, I get some memories from seeing the statue of Mipha after getting all the shock arrows and you go on with Prince Siddon to fire the shock arrows at the shoulders of the divine beast. You also, beforehand, get the Zora armour which allows you to swim up waterfalls, though when you do, it looks quite goofy looking since it’s like a dolphin jumping up and down, but vertically up a waterfall.

After I unlocked the divine beast as a travelling port I went exploring and went to Kakariko village and went to Impa. She reminded me that I had to go to Hateno village, which I had totally forgot to do. I went there and found a research laboratory and there was Dr.Purah. Then you have to do some stuff and she will give you another Rune. This will then fill your Rune gallery, (if you also unlocked the usage of amiibo) and now you have a camera that you can use.

That is the end of my current experience, and in my opinion, the new Zelda game was well worth the wait.