The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (contains spoilers)

So, Rob, is it safe to assume that an Re Dead ate your brain this Halloween?

About the ice block puzzle, that was kind of fun; especially the part where I had to use Stasis and stab the ice cube with an spear, and then I had to block the flaming jets by holding up an metal block with Magnesis before Stasis expires.

This game is an trip.

Yeah, but he got a nasty stomach ache for his trouble.

Mwa ha ha!

I started up my file again and I totally forgot how annoying finding the memories is.

That's also true in the game world.

Regarding unorthodox puzzle solutions, there's one particular shrine where the challenge is to move a ball into a bowl using a series of fans to raise a platform to access the monk. I immediately figured out that if you put the ball right on the rim of the bowl, it will slooooowly topple over the edge, giving you plenty of time to run onto the platform and not have to faff around with the wind at all. Great stuff.

I usually just solved shrine puzzles the intended way, but I once crossed a gap by using Magnesis to put a giant metal block on the very lip of a platform, let gravity cause it to tip over, then used Stasis on it while it was falling over and got a running jump off of my new gravity-defying cubic ramp.

My cousin bought a switch and some games a few months ago but never got the chance to even turn it on because he got swamped with work (he works for an IT contracting company). He recently had to come out to where I live for a job and, while visiting, decided to let me have it until he comes back around Christmas.

He had Zelda, Mario Odyssey, Mario Kart, and Donkey Kong Country - and honestly I'm not sure I'm going to get the chance to play those last three because holy crap Zelda is just as addicting as I'd heard. I'm going almost completely blind aside from spoiler-free reviews and memes; I've wrapped up the Zora questline and just met the Gerudo chief, though the abundance of black-level enemies in the area and my relatively small health, stamina, and inventory pools has me thinking I might want to try a different divine beast and save the camel for later.

The desert is probably the toughest region in the game. Very vast and unforgiving with its climate and enemy types.

Yep, go do the Rito quest at least, if not the Gorons as well, before tackling the desert.

Doing the Gorons isn't necessary, because their armor doesn't protect you from sun-heat, but purchasing Rito armor is, because it makes it possible to traverse the desert at night which is the only way you'll be able to get around until you have the Trap Link Armor.

Well, it's not the only way; there's always elixirs, after all, and elemental weapons can be equipped to mitigate environmental conditions, too.

Yeah, but I'm not the person to stock his entire food inventory full of spicy food and/or chilled food just to allow me to walk around the desert, and then keep an eye on a timer. I prefer to just equip armor and not worry about it anymore.

I did Gorons last. The desert heat doesn't bother Link much, though the desert itself is annoying. I have almost no shrines in that region. It's just walking around aimlessly in sand for as far as the eye can see... like a real desert.

Just about every shrine is buried and requires a quest to unlock. One is out in the open, but still requires a quest (one of the most obnoxious in the game, too).

There are also three shrines in the sandstorm area, all of which dispel the storm in their local region when found. One requires you to follow statues pointing with swords, another is underneath the Great Desert Skeleton (and is where a Great Fairy Fountain can be found), and the third, IIRC, requires you to kill a Molduga.

Edited by Rytex on Nov 16th 2018 at 10:31:29 AM

I thought the third sandstorm one was the one north of Cara Cara Bazaar?

There's a molduga one, but I don't think there's a sandstorm in the area. Killing the molduga doesn't raise the shrine though. You have to light torches and the molduga's in the way.

Almost as important as finding heat-resist armor: sand boots! Find the guy who thinks Gerudos find running attractive. Attract him.

He gives you snow boots too. That helps with exploring Hebra and the Gerudo Highlands.

I... if you don't know that "trap" is an extremely offensive transphobic slur, please know that now.

Yes, I solved that quest before I even got to the bazaar. It was a bit funny listening to the NPC say, "Look at that crazy sandstorm!" when no such sandstorm existed. Then I got the Quest Complete notification and suddenly he's wondering where the sandstorm went.

@Nohbody - Oh, yeah, there are a few Cutting the Knot solutions to that one. I did the one that just flipped the maze upside down. For the "propel the ball over after gliding over" solution, I think you also could do that by using Stasis and smacking the ball to the right spot, though that would be a bit of trial and error.

As for the desert... I'm a stubborn old mule sometimes, and I insisted on exploring it heavily before clearing out Vah Naboris (though after clearing Vah Ruta and Vah Rudania). Very much a Self-Imposed Challenge, but it's mostly doable. A good 2/3 of the shrines can't be done until Thunderblight Ganon is defeated, and a good chunk of it functions as a Drought Level of Doom because you have very little access to food (i.e. you mostly rely on what you brought with you), and the opportunities to warp are few and far between (as I recall, there's exactly two shrines, one of which is by the Fairy Fountain, and the two Molduga locations where you can warp out if need be). That said, if you do so, you can pick up several excellent survival strategies, and you can learn quite a bit about how to navigate the world by being forced to rely on things other than the map. Also, it gives you much earlier access to the fairy fountains and thus you can max out your armor much earlier, which can make several other sections easier.

Of course, if you're going to do that, I highly recommend getting gear to deal with the heat and cold. I relied on rods I had taken from various flavors of Wizzrobe, but the appropriate armors are much easier.

Not the only way. You can also navigate at night if you got the warm doublet back at the Great Plateau.

(Also, yeah, don't refer to people as 'traps'. It's not nice.)

The Warm Doublet has almost no defense and can't be upgraded, but then, that's true of the Gerudo clothes as well. At least with the Doublet you can make up for it with pants and headgear; the Gerudo Set must be worn all together to get the heat resistance. (There is, of course, an upgradable set of heat-resistant Gerudo armor for males as well, if you can find it.)

Edited by HeraldAlberich on Nov 16th 2018 at 2:36:56 PM

You can also just wear whatever you want and just brew the right elixirs or buy the right kind of food.

I just beat my final temple. Vah Rudania and Fireblight Ganon were too easy. I spent months evading that dungeon and yet it took less than half a hour with minimal help. It's surprisingly anticlimactic.

The other dungeons were terrible. I hate the puzzles where you have to move the ground around.

x6, to blk's post.

No, I was not aware of that. This is literally the first I've heard of it being such. I have never heard of it being a derogatory label.

OK, now you know. Glad to hear you didn’t do it on purpose, though.

Edited by SapphireBlue on Nov 16th 2018 at 2:12:19 AM

Honestly, I have a few trans friends and their reaction to the word 'trap' varies wildly. Some wear it with pride while others think it's the worst thing since the Holocaust of World War II. It's basically a mix of Know Your Audience and Stepping on Eggshells Constantly. And before you go SJW, know that I'm trans too and I know what should roll off my back like water on a duck and what is important to me enough to stand up and fight for.

As for the desert, I found it rather easy to navigate the more I wandered around it and started picking out and managing landmarks.