Zelda Breath of the Wild - Wii U vs. Switch

[Xeogred]

I'm assuming like the rest of the monsters, the blue Lynel is even tougher than the orange/red ones?

[Stark]

Ohh I forgot to mention this in my Ancient Armor post: the attention to detail in this game is amazing.

That is arguably the most impressive thing about the game, IMO. The attention to detail is staggering, and the world feels very alive.

I stumbled upon on of the Divine Best quite by accident when I was bumbling around Lanaryu Peak. I went ahead and freed it, and it was thrilling. I coasted down the mountain and ran into a blue Lynel. It ruined me; so, I came back, snuck past it, stole its treasure (600 rupees!), and warped out of there.

Dude, those blue Lynels are no joke. I made it out with my life and his picture!

[fastbilly1]

Btw, finished with 120 shrines. You guys gotta step up your game.

Ive got 81 down, and 3 guardians. I am close on your heels. Currently working on the money for the last fairy. Doing hunting campaigns into the cold wild north killing with bomb and bow and arrow (head shotting rhinos since they take way too many bombs), each 30 minute campaign nets me a few thousand, so it works out. I did ride a bear into battle against a Lynel, then road the Lynel before I set him on fire. Then I surfed on his sword in the desert.

I have not finished the game, but I am at a point where I think I have enough time into the game for a proper write up. Breath of the Wild is what I wanted out of a 3d Zelda, but it is marred with issues due to it being built for the Wiiu and ported to the Switch. Most of them I can excuse: dropped framerate, randomly trees will have less branches (specifically one in the snow area that while climbing it became a N64 style tree), and randomly having the wild game I was hunting run around me and disappear. Those can mostly be patched to be fixed. But some of them irk me pretty fierce. Like how every Stable only has a handful of people in it (most are the same few) and how the voice acting is only in cutscenes. Dont get me wrong, towns like Gerudo and Hantero are incredible, I often stop when walking around to just snap a screenshot (which is really rare for me to do), but the world is sparse. I am not saying that Witcher 3 does it better, but the world does not feel that alive. I love the random animals, but seeing the same groupings of herons all over the place is just boring.

Like I said before, this is what I have always wanted out of a 3d Zelda. Its like the original, where you can explore where ever whenever. I have more fun just randomly exploring than I do actually doing the quests. Just yesterday I randomly stumbled on a paved part of Lanayru road and started walking down it. Random enemies got bombed into the water and I just admired the architecture and theorized what the uses of the different parts as I went (much I like do when in real life). Panning the camera I saw the telltale orange glow of a shrine in the pool for a second. Nothing around but a waterfall and a bunch of lizards, so I made my way over (thanks to Revali and the zora suit) and noticed an alcove halfway up in the cliffside. Sure enough, hidden shrine. That is why I love this game. Even after I finish it, I will still go back to just explore.

This is possibly the most incredible Wiiu game to ever be crafted, but it is a disappointing Switch title. The only things it shows off for the Switch are portable play (which is incredible) and how fast it can drain a battery (which is not incredible). What it does show me is that with the BOTW engine, Nintendo could correct the issues of the port and create an incredible Switch game that is befitting of the more horsepower.

The DLC better make that stable owner believe my random animals are horses.

[fastbilly1]

I'm assuming like the rest of the monsters, the blue Lynel is even tougher than the orange/red ones?

It goes red, blue, white, silver (all based on mane color). The silver ones are 3x more hp than the reds and drop all sorts of goodies (like one of each gem including diamonds). I killed a red and a silver over the weekend, red on purpose, silver was an accidental battle.

[MrPopo]

Doesn anyone know what else is special about the Ancient Armor? Would it be useful against the smaller Guardians that have those blue weapon drops?

The set bonus buffs up the power of all your ancient gear, so all the blue glowy light-based gear. Additionally, it has the same armor value as the Knight set, whereas everything else is a step down in terms of raw armor. In the castle I found myself switching between Ancient Armor in the exterior, Barbarian Armor in the interior, and Tunic of the Wild for Ganon (though the latter was mostly for aesthetic reasons).

[Stark]

Does the soldier set not give you a set bonus?

[Sarge]

Man, I thought I was sinking a lot of time in, and just crossed over the 30 threshold last night. I've probably got... well, actually, less time than I thought in. Probably around 15-20 hours. Guess that little Blaster Master Zero break really put me behind.

I seriously doubt I'll be going for 100%, but I'm very much enjoying everything. I finally got around to clearing my first dungeon, which was fun, but certainly not as beefy as previous Zelda games. However, I don't think with the way the game is structured that it needs to be. All the dungeon experiences are now spread out, which makes for a really addictive gameplay loop: spot shrine, make your way to it, clear it out, repeat.

As Popo mentioned in his review, there are shrines that take more puzzling to figure out where they're at. They're complex enough that if you find them, that's pretty much the puzzle and you get your reward upon entry.

[MrPopo]

Does the soldier set not give you a set bonus?

The Hylian set and the Soldier set do not have bonuses. Hylian is just something cheap to get you going, Solider has the best armor outside of the Ancient and the Tunic of the Wild sets (which it ties) and then the blue tunic whose name escapes me has the best individual armor in the game (but you forgo set bonuses).

[Stark]

Does the soldier set not give you a set bonus?

The Hylian set and the Soldier set do not have bonuses. Hylian is just something cheap to get you going, Solider has the best armor outside of the Ancient and the Tunic of the Wild sets (which it ties) and then the blue tunic whose name escapes me has the best individual armor in the game (but you forgo set bonuses).

What about sneaky set?

[MrPopo]

Sneaky set's bonus is faster move speed at night, and has less armor than most sets.

Most sets sit at 12 armor (per piece) at the third star. Soldier and Ancient are 18. Sneaky is 9.