Hyrule Warriors (Wii U) announced for 2014

[Stark]

Also, boobs...lots of boobs.

Princess Zelda in a metal bikini?

Close... more like, evil sorceress with a very tiny piece of fabric covering her nipples and adding support to an enormous pair. Only possible explanation? MagicTeam Ninja.

Fixed.

[BogusMeatFactory]

Close... more like, evil sorceress with a very tiny piece of fabric covering her nipples and adding support to an enormous pair. Only possible explanation? MagicTeam Ninja.

Fixed.

Touché

[Gamerforlife]

Yup. Having Team Ninja involved kind of takes this Zelda game out of the wholesome, family friendly territory

Pretty clever the way they've incorporated various gameplay elements from the Zelda series into this like Z targeting, sub weapons, bottles, fairies, etc. I don't recall ever playing a Dynasty Warriors game with REAL boss fights. So thank you Zelda for that. Now I can't even imagine how I ever played a Dynasty Warriors style game WITHOUT boss fights.

Lana is my favorite playable character so far. I heard someone on a podcast say that she's an original character too. So that's cool

I love all the various objectives to pursue in the game. Each stage in story mode has heart containers to find in classic Zelda fashion, some only available to certain characters. There's also gold Skulltillas to find and you get a check mark for each difficulty you beat a stage on, motivating you to play them on hard mode. Then there's Adventure mode, which is full of treasures to find and A rank scores to pursue.

[KalessinDB]

Yeah I'm loving it. Powering through Legend Mode a few hours a night (Friday, Saturday, Monday so far -- I had to work a double Sunday so no love there) and I'm just 1 stage into Ganon's story.

Then today my buddy came over for 2p madness - the no split screen thing by using the gamepad is pretty nice (aside: Yeah I have no idea why Gamerforlife's system tried to make him use a Wiimote, I've never used a Wiimote with my WiiU. I just use the gamepad for everything because as mentioned before it lets you track the important people at a glance). And having him there means we were able to get a bunch of Skulltulas (7 out of the 8 stages we tried -- I just couldn't find it in the stage with the boulders, but we had gotten the heart containers so called it a win and moved on rather than replaying) and/or heart containers.

I feel as though I've barely scratched the surface here. I'm buying as many badges as I can, but clearly there's a ton (and I feel like the Gold materials are only going to drop in Hard mode) to buy. I've barely touched the Armory, I haven't brewed any of the potion-thingies (I forget what they're called) at all. I haven't touched Adventure mode.

Gonna sink a looooooooot of hours into this. Which is good, because then I feel like the fact that I bought a system for 1 game is less bad But then, I've loved Dynasty Warriors since playing #2 (which was the first one in the current incarnation really, the original Dynasty Warriors was much more of a straight-up fighting game) a good... 12 years ago or so? Whenever it was current. And I've loved LoZ since the original. So it was kinda no brainer for me.

[BogusMeatFactory]

I just completed Legend mode. Found the nice little twist a refreshing change of pace. The story may be very silly, but I feel that the epic battle sequences seemed to mesh well with the universe. It gave it a much more epic feeling with the large scale battles.

Going to be hitting up Adventure mode now and can't wait to see what it has in store for me. Have the day off tomorrow with the wife and might try out the multi-player as well to get those skulltatas, since I didn't grab a single one in the first play through.

I have to say that I did not feel bored with the combat. It did not feel repetitive, as each characters various combos were affective in numerous situations, allowing for some strategy to get the most bang for your buck. Sure you could just mash the y button, but it won't be nearly as efficient as some of the other combos and I could see it being a real problem in the harder difficulty levels.

[KalessinDB]

I agree wholeheartedly. I honestly DO prettymuch just mash the Y button on Easy (my habit for any game like this is "Blow through 'story' mode on wussybabymode, then go back and try to get real endings"), but with how the combos change things up I can already see that I'm not going to be able to do that on Hard. We'll see about Normal.

And yeah, the Skulltulas... I don't think you're intended to get them on your first playthrough, especially not without a walkthrough. Actually I can guarantee you're not, since I got one using a hookshot on a board that you don't HAVE the hookshot first time through, so there's that. Multiplayer definitely makes it easier, having 1 person escorting or defending or basically taking care of what needs to be taken care of so you don't lose-lose while the other person combs for it.

Please note, if (like me) you have life bars turned on for enemies -- the Golden Skulltulas do not have life bars. It's typical fare, trying to hide them. But they also don't move, so it's just a matter of finding/noticing them.


Edit: And I just completed Legend Mode. That was a fantastic twist at the end, I definitely squeaked like I was a little girl.

[Gamerforlife]

Damn, Hyrule Warriors actually gives Link CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT

I'm in a mission now where Link's overconfidence after acquiring the Master Sword is leading him into a trap. OVERCONFIDENCE?! Are they giving Link FLAWS!?

He's actually NOT the perfect hero?

Character development and actual voice work (granted, it's just a narrator). This game is already showing more balls than most Zelda games seem to.

[Gamerforlife]

Just hit level 34 with Link in Legend mode, he's been mauling people since he got the Master Sword. Just cleared a map full of Dark Links, then handed Ganon his ass on a silver platter on hard mode. I can't wait to see what the locked skill on the master sword does. It has a 25,000 KOs unlock requirement AND "the power of all weapons". So I guess I need other weapons before I unlock the skill?

And for the record, I've found every Skulltulla in each stage I've played so far, as well as every heart piece for every character. And I'm not using a guide. It's doable. I am actually playing with the game pad since I found the charging cable for it. I've found the touch screen pretty useless though. The only thing I sometimes use it for is selecting sub weapons, as doing it with the d pad is cumbersome. Relying on the touch screen for info seems dumb. Things happen in real time in this game and like most Dynasty Warriors game you get very little time to get things done when playing solo. So I always PAUSE the game and pull up the menu when I need info on where people are and what my current objectives are. You don't have time to waste looking at the touch screen while stuff is still happening in real time around you.

This game is pretty much perfect. I mean it's a Dynasty Warriors game, but combat versus high ranking enemies and bosses is straight up Zelda. These guys "got it." It's not just Dynasty Warriors with Zelda characters in it. It feels like a real marriage of the two. I mean I'm blowing up boulders in levels to find hidden chests with heart containers, and using the hook shot to cross chasms and pull dragon enemies out of the sky. Using fairies in bottles to counteract areas with health draining barriers, using a bow and area to kill poisonous plants, re-enacting a boss fight from Skyward Sword perfectly, cutting blades of grass, attacking a chicken and paying the price for it, it's all Zelda. Leave the title screen alone for a while, and you even get the classic original Zelda intro. Granted there's no open world or puzzle filled dungeons. That would have made it just a straight up Zelda game, not Dynasty Warriors.

This should keep me busy over the weekend and into next week until my copy of Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor comes in the mail to try and grab some of my attention. Then I'll be in beat 'em up heaven with this game and a nice new twist on Batman style combat in Shadow of Mordor, assuming that game is actually as good as people say it is.

EDIT: This is probably the first Zelda game with REAL rpg elements. Characters level up, they acquire skills, there's equipment to choose from with different stats and skills, you can fuse together and forge new weapons, etc.

[KalessinDB]

Yeah I should say I don't check the gamepad for a LOT (the current objective or anything like that), I mostly find it useful to glance down and see what my allies health bars are for a split second. I've found the game tends to be overly cautious with its "Defend suchandsuch IMMEDIATELY!!" calls and I get there and the keep has 80% life still or whatever. With the life bars right on the gamepad, I can glance down and be like "Oh okay, Lana's still got 60% of her life bar, I don't need to run right there" or "Oh shit she gun DIE!" and motor my ass over there.

And yeah, I haven't found every skulltula or anything (I was basically just pushing through to finish Legend Mode asap), but they're definitely possible to find without a guide. I actually kinda look forward to finding everything without a guide.