The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (2023) • Page 127

I just found out you can keep upgrading your battery charges past the initial 8. It turns each charge blue instead of green after you have the initial 8 charges green.

 

Oh yea, you think you’re done, but you’re only halfway. Keep mining! Haha

 

I guess if you don't mind having to constantly search for stamina increasing food ingredients and having those take up a good number of food slots then you have a point.

 

I mean, between Tulin and machines, who needs it? I've done almost everything in the sky without increasing my stamina and I actually can just use the hoverbike to get to the King Gleeoks, so I'm set.

 

Another thing I learned yesterday. I wondered why I could still make the cores even though I already had 8.

I really haven't needed to do this that much either. Maybe a couple times?

 

As someone who grabbed everything in sight as I went, I never went searching for basic stuff. The only stuff I’ve ever had to intentionally look for is material for armor upgrades.

 

Good to know about the cores. I was wondering what the use of the crystalized charges would be after getting to 8 full batteries since they can't be used to buy charges or with Autobuild.

 

I wasn't connecting the hoverbike to stamina, more of the fact that it didn't appear that you like to take shortcuts, so to speak (and I further felt reaffirmed of that after you said you will climb the walls for the plants rather than just use ultra-hand). All I'm saying is it surprised me, Penlab.

 

Well then allow me to free you of that misconception.

In fact, I believe I said I climb because it's faster than using Ultrahand.

 

*freed of misconception.

Though I'm still not sure how using ultrahand to simply grab a flower on a wet, high cliff is not quicker than jumping up a wall a bunch more times than normally required or by having to use materials to create an updraft.

 

Using Ultrahand to grab shit on sloppy cave walls above water is waaaaay faster than climbing.

 

You can also use it to grab stuff that drops on gloom.

 

Ahhh, didn’t know that! I didn’t want to grind the materials to upgrade fully! Thanks!

 

Well I don't create an updraft to get materials, that would be daft.

I've never had to get materials that were ever more than a short climb above me.

Taking out Ultrahand, lining it up, and bringing an item over is way more hassle to me than just jumping on a wall and climbing for a second or two.

I also don't really go out of my way for materials either. Haven't had to. If there are materials on high walls, I either haven't noticed or haven't cared.

 

Just now seeing my autocorrect from slippy to sloppy walls haha

Sounds like you aren’t so ultra at Ultrahand then. It takes no time at all to do it for me. Not even seconds it feels like.

 

I'm not about to argue about this. That would be madness.

 

I just really wanted to use the word ultra.

 

I just....how did he fly out of that thing so absurdly fast

 

newest favorite video

 

So I decided to finish the game today.

Here's what I did:

I found every Lightroot and I believe I got every Schematic.

I finished every Coliseum including the Lynel one, which I used those Ancient Blades I'd been saving up on.

I defeated every King Gleeok (including the one in the Depths), and thus got the last three Sage's Wills.

After that, I decided I really didn't want to go through A Call From The Depths, so I said fuck it, and did the final battle.

Thanks to my friend the hoverboard, I managed to fly past quite a lot of the descent in the gloom.

Ganondorf himself? A piece of cake, especially since I had so much health. It's wild that the fucking Lynels are a tougher fight than the final boss of the game. King Gleeoks are secret bosses, so I get them, but the Lynels might actually be even tougher than the King Gleeoks once you work out how to fight them.

Loved the cinematicness of it all though. What an ending.

 

At first I thought I would play through BOTW after finishing this game, as a prequel-type scenario, but I'm too exhausted from this game to do that. I also thought I'd do the Souls games, but again, exhausted.

I think I need to recharge my batteries with some smaller games before I even think of plunging into a time-sink like this again.

That said, I want a third game in this timeline. Like, I think about the prospect of the next game being something different with a new cast and I really am finding I don't want it. I want the continuing adventures of this team. I don't know what they'd face with Ganondorf gone, but I dunno, send Link to fucking space for all I care, just make it a sequel to this.

Wait, Legend of Zelda: Surface of the Moon. Like a redo of Majora's Mask, except you're actually on the moon plunging toward Hyrule. That's an idea!

 

Since finishing the game, I've been reading takes on the final boss, and it's interesting how diverse the experiences are.

Some think it's a tough fight on the level of causing them to give up on the game, and others think it was a laughably easy and disappointing fight.

I think I'm somewhere in the middle. I recognize part of the reason I had no trouble is because a vast majority of things I did prior are basically optional content, and so I overprepared. I also skipped a lot of fights using the hoverbike.

That said, I can't also deny that the final fight didn't feel like a real test of my skills developed in the game. You don't use any powers, there's no puzzle component. It's just you and Ganon, hammering away at each other.

I also can't help but think of Elden Ring, and how I did every bit of optional content and still had a tough time defeating Radagon and the Elden Beast, because they were made to be that challenging.

Maybe Ganon should've scaled relative to Link? Become stronger based on my hearts? I dunno. I actually don't know if I care about the toughness, but I do find myself wishing the fight had more to it to test my skills.

A final boss should be a culmination of the game preceeding it. I don't know if this qualified.

Anyone got any thoughts on this?

 

The ending was good. The second phase when the sages come to reinforce you against the phantoms leading to a tougher one on one Ganandorf fight was a very fun experience. The third phase was very easy, but it looked and felt cool to play. Then getting to finally catch Zelda felt great after almost 200 hours of play.

I am someone who plays games to get away from stress. While I understand someone who may want the final boss to be super challenging and have them make multiple attempts, it’s not what I enjoy these days.

I think the fight here is better than BOTW. While both phase 3’s were easy, this was way more cinematic and epic (I kind of hate using the word, but it feels proper here). Jumping off a Zelda dragon to dive and land on a Ganon dragon to wack away at him is just cool. Slowly riding your horse down one side of Ganon to shoot three spots just doesn’t hit the same. I also think having it mostly be a sword fight is more satisfying than Calamity Ganon throwing random shit at you. If you put in the time to perfect flurry rushes, this is the ultimate test (story wise, lynels may be just as much as the ultimate test for flurry rushes). It is deeply satisfying to flurry rush Ganondorf and then have to do them back to back in the second phase.

So, for me, did I enjoy playing it? Yep. Was I emotionally satisfied with how it concludes? Yep. Was it stress free? Yep. The second phase threw me for a moment when he started dodging my flurry rushes, but it was more like a puzzle to figure out what my other options were and how to damage him. It was fun! So for what I’m looking to get out of it, it succeeded. 10/10 ending for me, within this context. A true perfect ending would have had Zelink kiss. Haha!

 

I guess I just wish the fight had been a bit more cerebral. Like, let me have to use Recall to send projectiles back to him or have to use Ascend to reach him. Or heck, use the Sages in some way.

Although I guess Ganon fights have always been that way, more or less.