The Legend Of Zelda Breath Of The Wild Is the best game ever!

For any gamers out there, I'm sure you're aware that this game has been out for a while now. In fact, this was a game that was released as a 'launch game' for the Nintendo Switch. So, if you're asking yourself 'does this guy not know this game has been out for a while now?', Stop! because I already knew that. Unfortunately, the Nintendo Switch did not receive my attention at all. At the time, I was in school so I usually focused on doing my homework and such. Also, I did have my Xbox One with me, so that kept me company. Anyway, lets fast forward to 2020. Due to the pandemic, I stayed home a lot, and was reading on how the Nintendo Switch has gained even more popularity throughout quarantine. So, I decided to get my hands on it. After a few weeks of playing Super Smash Bros Ultimate, I decided to get Legend of Zelda BOTW. So enough of the intro! Let’s get to it. At first, playing the game can be quite entertaining, as most games should be when you first start them out. However, it doesn't take long to realize that your about to immerse yourself in a long story. Anyway, like the idea that throughout the game Link can improve his stamina or health by completing different shrines scattered around Hyrule. In fact, if my research is correct, there should be a total of 120 shrines. I like the shrines itself because each shrine you go to has like a puzzle that needs to be solved to collect the spirits orbs, in which 4 spirit orbs are needed to either increase your stamina or health. I like to find the shrines, as benefiting from them makes the game a lot easier. I personally, like to collect the spirit orbs for stamina. Stamina to me is so important because the map is huge and being able to sprint for a longer time helps everything out. However, there is a trick that I recently learned in which you can continue to sprint even without using your stamina bar. This method is called 'whistle sprinting'. A lot of speed runners use this method as the goal is to complete the game as fast as possible and sprinting is extremely vital.

For those who want to learn how to do this, it's quite simple but requires an interesting yet uncomfortable way of holding the controller (if you’re playing with the provided controller) or the Switch. The objective is to hold the whistle button which is done by pressing the bottom dpad button. As your pressing the whistle button you want to be moving in any direction and constantly press the 'B' button. If that isn't clear there are plenty of tutorials online that explain the concept of whistle sprinting. Back to the review. As Link travels around Hyrule there are plenty of things to do. Collect food items, fight monsters, collect gear, etc. However, fighting monsters can be quite the hassle even for stronger players. I say this because even with the progress I've made in the game, I find myself losing more than half of my hearts on one attack from a monster that has a weapon of 22 atk. When vice versa, I attack them with a weapon with 35+ atk and I only deal like 1/4 damage. It doesn't make sense, but I guess the developers wanted to make the game difficult. The fighting mechanics are pretty good. I do like way combat is simulated, I just wish it was easier to time the flurry rush. I noticed throughout the game, that the Lynel's attacks were the easiest to parry using flurry rush. But don't get me started with the Thunderblight Ganon. Either way, combat is definitely something that will be hard to master in this game. It's important to use weapons strategically as most weapons break eventually. The strategy I have in place is that when I attack a certain monster, I usually swing twice with one weapon, and then switch to another one. This has helped with overall durability. Which does lead me to the feature of weapons breaking. I personally am not a fan of weapons constantly breaking. It does bring some sense of reality, but for a fantasy game such as BOTW, I don't think it would hurt to keep weapons for longer.

That being said, weapons breaking does allow me to think smarter on how to use them. Maybe that was the developers intentions when they made the game. You can however, restore rusty weapons. If you happen to find a Rock Octorok, you can throw (preferably drop) a rusty weapon and it will spit out a stronger (its based of chance) version. Pretty neat right. Moving on to the storyline. Overall, the storyline as mentioned before, is quite long. In fact, the average storyline can be complete within 50-70 hours (depending on how you play). I generally play at a slow pace because it builds up excitement every time I play. I try to discover new places, and do as much side quests as possible. Also, going through the game at your own pace allows you to truly enjoy the wide open land of Hyrule. Who doesn't want to do that?? For those who are curious as to how much time I played the game, I recently checked. My switch tells me that I've spent more than 50 hours playing the game.

Currently, I'm on the way to defeat my final Devine Beast (Devine Beast Vah Rudania). It took me a while to get to this point. Once I get this done, I plan on completing all the remaining side quests I have. Speaking of the Devine Beasts, one of my favorite things about this game are the cut scenes you unlock when you beat them. It has a perfect sound track and just seeing them shoot that laser towards Hyrule Castle is just bad ass. In the end, this game is great, and provides lots of fun things to do. I do recommend to invest some time into this game, if you truly want to enjoy it. As I said before, the combat aspect of the game may be tricky at first, but the more you play the easier it becomes.\n It just requires time in the beginning. Enjoy a great soundtrack and the beautiful landscape we call Hyrule.