The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (NOT MOBILE FRIENDLY!) (Last Update: September 6)

[Mega64]

Click here to open the update!

First thing’s first. You guys wanted us to look like our BFF Prince Sidon, so here we are.

I had trouble deciding between Red and Crimson as to which one better matched Sidon. I opted for Crimson since it sounded more regal.

Literally the only item I had that would match Crimson was Tireless Frogs.

https://lpix.org/2842605/frogs.gif

Thus how Link ended up holding five frogs.

He’s good enough to even do it one-handed!

The result is worth it, though, as now we’re the second sexiest-looking fish man in all of Hyrule.

With that incredible ordeal done, it’s about time we took on that Divine Beast, isn’t it?

This update will be rather short because it’s rather awesome enough to take up its own update. And also because if I combined it with the next update I probably would’ve put off doing it due to my sheer laziness.

All we have to do is scale this wall thanks to a very convenient staircase.

And here we can enjoy a foggy muggy view of Zora’s Domain. It’s quite remarkable if you can see it!

Otherwise, here we are. Time to get to it, shall we?

Music: Prince Sidon’s Theme

https://my.mixtape.moe/jldxwx.mp4

Let’s do this!

You never cease to amaze, Link! Now then, let us go and appease that Divine Beast as one!

https://my.mixtape.moe/zhanue.mp4

With your Zora armor, you now have the ability to ascend waterfalls! So I shall take you right up to the side of the Divine Beast, and from there you can swim up and take aim! I know you can do it! I believe in you!

Are you sure you’re up for this?

Every so often, there’s a moment in this game that really stands out and reminds me that, yes, this game really is as phenomenal as I think it is. And once again, we’ve come across a rather cool set piece that is better seen in video, so…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwaOShIpZj8

Music: Attack on Vah Ruta

(At the very least, click the music link!)

Ruta is responding to our presence! I’ll move away and wait for an opening before we approach!

That includes hurling giant ice blocks that we will need to watch out for. I shall leave those to you!

First off, this entire section looks awesome. You’re going full-speed around this massive thing that’s decided to go on the offensive against you.

So your mission is to stop the ice blocks that chase you and Sidon as you rush around Vah Ruta.

As usual, you have options. Arrows are an easy way to handle them, and if you’re skillful enough bombs can also work since they float in water.

However, a sharp eye will notice they have the same pattern as the Cryonis blocks you’ve made previously in water puzzles. And like those, these will break by simply using your Cryonis power on them.

I did not notice this the first time I played and used all my arrows like a chump.

Anyway, the first cycle is a simple three ice blocks, one at a time. If you can aim with Cryonis/arrows, they won’t be too difficult. If you mess up, they’ll respawn until you actually break them.

Once they’re broken, Sidon moves in towards Vah Ruta.

We’re ready!

Sidon will make a few passes between the two waterfalls on each side of Vah Ruta, and from there we need to use our waterfall ability to ascend…

…and shoot our target. One down!

Funny story: This is where I first learned you can slow down time while aiming mid-air. I had no idea how I was going to handle this part before then.

Sidon can’t help but be impressed.

Next up, five ice blocks.

Still no biggie.

Much like our previous encounter with the ice dragon, many of Breath of the Wild’s big cinematic moments are like this. They’re generally pretty easy once you know what you’re doing, and this is no exception. It’s all basically a glorified cutscene, except for once, you’re actually doing all the awesome cool moves without having to rely on context button prompts or special cinematic moves.

You use your rune or arrows to deflect the ice. You use your armor’s waterfall climbing ability to scale the beast. Then you slow down time mid-air to aim and land your arrows, as you always did.

This game does a lot of things well, but I feel one of the more understated things are the instances where you really feel like a badass.

Two down.

These spiked balls will give chase behind us until they home in and break.

Cryonis works just as well on them as the cubes. If you watch the video, I even accidentally make an ice block, which one of the mines runes into. Takes a lot of skill/luck to block ice with ice, but when it works out, oh boy.

I hesitate here because Sidon alternates between two waterfalls whose contact points I’ve already activated. I believe after a certain number of times (maybe three?) Sidon will switch over to the other side of Vah Ruta.

Instead, I forge my own path by gliding over Vah Ruta.

And rather than trigger the final wave of ice blocks, I simply activate the two remaining beacons in one swoop.

Good stuff.

You can say that again!

Vah Ruta has been stopped, and with it the neverending rain.

Ruta is floating higher now! You wanted to venture inside it, right?! I’ll bring you closer! We’re counting on you, hero! Do good work in there!

---

This next cutscene has voiced dialogue, so have another Youtube video if you find the thought of Prince Sidon speaking exciting.

https://youtu.be/jpb5v0XpiRI

Music: Prince Sidon’s Theme

Looks like this is where the real work starts.

Nice job cutting off the water flow from this Divine Beast.

I’ll see you back at Zora’s Domain.

So next time, we explore the inner workings of Vah Ruta and, 32 updates in, finally enter the closest thing Breath of the Wild has to a dungeon.

[Zero-ELEC]

Honestly I really like the assaults on the Divine Beasts. They’re all fairly memorable and are some of my favourite parts of the game. Well… one of them is not that exciting, but it’s still neat.

[Mega64]

Click here to open the update!

https://youtu.be/Lfeg0qDkDYk

Music: Vah Ruta (Entered)

Vah Ruta has been pacified for now, giving us a chance to enter the Divine Beast.

Upon activating the pedestal, we open a travel gate. The Divine Beasts are their own area, so we have to warp out to actually leave. Falling off simply acts like falling into a pit, resulting in us respawning where we last fell with a little less health.

Also upon activating this, we meet our guide for this place…sort of.

I must say…that I am so happy to see that this day has finally arrived. Now Ruta can be freed of Ganon’s control.

Now you may scoff at the idea of us needing a map, but it’s actually required to obtain for reasons you’ll see shortly.

Even though we can’t just glide off, we still get some nice views from the outside. But we kinda need to go inside to tackle this place.

This black stuff is the Malice of Ganon. Many times, there’s an eyeball attached somewhere nearby.

Destroy the eye, and the malice disappears.

Music: Dungeon Battle

Unlike traditional Zelda dungeons, combat is minimal here. There’s several Guardian Scouts about and a few minor enemies, but these areas aren’t about testing your combat skills.

Music: Vah Ruta (Entered)

The Guardian Stone is behind this gate, which is further blocked by malice.

Bombs clear the latter, but what about the former?

Remember the shrine where we obtained Cryonis? One of the very first things we did was use Cryonis to open a gate just in this manner.

Of course, I didn’t think of it the first time I did this dungeon. Instead, I used Stasis on the gate and walloped it until it went high enough that I could quickly get past it before it would fall and crush me.

Each Divine Beast has a gimmick where you can control certain aspects of the beast itself using the Sheikah Slate. For Ruta, you can control the angle of its trunk.

All dialogue here is voiced. Since the video’s nothing to note, I’ll include audio links in case you really want to hear bland voice acting.

(Audio)

You will see several glowing points on your map which represent the terminals that control Ruta. Take Ruta back by activating all of the terminals. Be careful.

There are five terminals in each Divine Beast. Our ultimate goal is to activate all five and then activate the controls for the Divine Beast, thus regaining full control.

Of course, things won’t be that simple.

There’s a few treasure chests hiding around. This one has an Ancient Spring.

There’s never anything special, but Divine Beasts are one time events. Once you finish the dungeon, you cannot return, so loot what you can!

This is where we’ll go after we activate all five terminals.

The terminals are basically puzzles. At least Ruta’s are all separate, nothing that really builds on past puzzles like previous Zelda dungeons. So you can do the terminals in any order, but they can all be somewhat easy once you’ve figured out the tricks.

This one should be pretty simple if you simply try everything.

https://my.mixtape.moe/xkxcum.mp4

Just using Magnesis will show this can be interacted with, so you’ll try moving it. Moving it clockwise will eventually raise the terminal.

(Audio)

After every terminal, the dungeon music changes.

Music: Vah Ruta (Four Terminals Left)

There’s nothing left to do down here, so next we’ll go outside to ascend Vah Ruta.

Things get a bit more interesting here.

Another guardian to dance around.

There’s a terminal on this gear, but due to the gear’s constant spinning and the high water level, we can’t currently access it. Thus we need to find a way to stop the water flow.

All you have to do is freeze this source when the terminal is at the bottom of the gear, stopping the gear and lowering the water level.

I say this like it’s trivial, but I spent far, far longer on this one terminal than I care to admit. I didn’t do the shrine where you froze water sideways until after this dungeon, so I was completely stumped until I stumbled upon the solution.

(Audio)

Anyway, that’s two down.

Music: Vah Ruta (Three Terminals Left)

Next to us is this much larger gear, though it’s not moving and is kinda hard to access from here. We’ll have to leave the other side of Ruta and ascend again to reach it.

There’s more malice here, and a new enemy.

https://my.mixtape.moe/taillu.mp4

These pools of malice will spit out various skulls of familiar enemies, which will lunge at us. They’re pretty fragile, though.

Gotta clear out the malice to stop the cursed enemies from spawning.

We make it up to the giant gear, but there’s nowhere else to go. The path ends here, and we aren’t high enough to glide to the side opposite the second terminal.

What to do?

It’s time we activated the beast itself. Though the water rate has slowed significantly, Vah Ruta’s trunk is still emitting a steady stream of water.

https://my.mixtape.moe/okyuxo.mp4

The sky is open over here, so the trunk’s stream starts the gear turning.

Gravity will cause the ball to hit the pedestal, opening the gate holding the third terminal. However, we can’t just glide from above since there’s spikes on the ceiling of the small room. The solution?

Stasis the ball just as it’s about to fall back down. It’ll stay in place, keeping the gate down as the terminal rotates up to where we can access it pain-free.

(Audio)

Making progress! But…now what?

Music: Vah Ruta (Two Terminals Left)

You may have noticed that chest earlier. We can’t open it with the block on top of it, but of course stasis will take care of that.

The reward’s pretty nice considering we want these to upgrade one of our runes.

That said, there’s no path forward from here. We need to figure out how to reach the other side of Vah Ruta.

Well, why not just ride the gear up? It’s going counter-clockwise, so it’ll lift us up top, where we can glide to where we need to go.

Like so!

One more guardian later…

This switch unlocks a shortcut to quickly get back here from the main room at the bottom of the beast.

Of course, we can also use that waterfall to gain some height to explore higher ground, though all that we can reach with that added height is a Knight’s Halberd.

So let’s go past where we hit the switch and see what’s beyond here.

A dead end…or is it?

This is the trunk of Vah Ruta, which is currently raised. So if we lower it…

https://my.mixtape.moe/bizegn.mp4

And now we can ride the trunk back up all the way to the top of Ruta itself! After we get that chest with an Ancient Shaft first, of course.

The fourth terminal is on Ruta’s trunk itself. However, we can’t reach it unless Ruta’s trunk is raised high enough due to where it’s located. If you can keep your footing and adjust the angle a bit, though, it’s pretty easy to nab.

(Audio)

Almost done!

Music: Vah Ruta (One Terminal Left)

There’s no terminals up here.

There is a chest of a nice ten ice arrows guarded by malice, though.

From here, we can glide to the high section of Ruta’s head, above where the Halberd was. You may have seen some fire shooting up in an earlier screenshot.

Another source of spawning skulls.

Easily dispatched.

Another lever like for the first terminal, but this one instead opens a hatch in the ceiling. Right above where the fire is burning.

Yep!

(Audio)

There should be a new glowing mark on your map. Head there! Be careful not to let your guard down.

That’s all the terminals! Nothing left but treasures and the control center.

Music: Vah Ruta (Final)

Back on the other side is this chest.

I probably skipped a couple more chests, primarily on the gear spokes, but eh.

There’s also a convenient hole with which to leap to where we can end this thing.

But of course… Things won’t be that easy.

https://youtu.be/XFzSUgRAHBY

After all, remember that Ganon corrupted and took over these things. His presence still exists within them, so guess what we’re going to do.

So…

Music: Waterblight Ganon Appears

Meet Waterblight Ganon.

That…thing is one of Ganon’s creations.

And thus begins our first actual boss fight.

Music: Waterblight Ganon (Phase 1)

Waterblight Ganon’s signature weapon is his massive spear. He has no problem throwing it at you, swinging it in a wide arc like a sword, or even slamming it into the ground to make shockwaves.

This is your only chance to take this picture! Otherwise I don’t think you can buy this until you beat the game.

Waterblight’s tricky due to how often he teleports around the arena. It’s not hard to keep track of him, but it keeps you from having many opportunities to wail on him.

His attacks can also hurt, so you may want to buff a bit before you tackle him and make sure you have plenty of healing.

His wide swing is easy to trigger a counter attack on. The timing was goofy enough that I managed to start it before the blade even reached me.

Mipha encourages you and gives advice during the battle, in case you’re struggling for whatever reason.

The trick is to nail him in the eye with an arrow, stunning him and allowing you to wail with your melee weapon until he teleports. It’s a simple fight overall, at least until he reaches half health.

I mean, the music title literally has “Phase 1”, so…

Music: Waterblight Ganon (Phase 2)

At this point, Waterblight raises the water level, giving you four platforms to move around.

With your mobility significantly reduced, this fight just got trickier. Still not difficult, but considering how slowly Link moves around in water, you’ll want to be a bit more deliberate in how you move. Cryonis can help, of course.

This time, Waterblight has no issue throwing ice blocks at you as an attack.

You can counter them in all the same ways you could during the attack on Vah Ruta.

Otherwise, arrows are vital to your offense in this phase since you won’t have the luxury to chase him easily. A couple arrows to the eye will leave him vulnerable to melee attacks.

Waterblight will teleport between one of the four platforms. It’s a good idea not to stay on the one he’s over.

As you deplete his health, more and more ice blocks appear.

He still uses many of the same moves from Phase 1. The lance swipe certainly looks fancier here.

Near death, he’ll start firing a Guardian-style laser at your face.

Of course, I’m not about to let that happen. One more arrow is all it takes.

https://youtu.be/QwGVwHSqFII

If you like gory boss deaths, then boy, do I have the boss death for you!

Music: Boss Defeated

And so Waterblight Ganon has been defeated.

Each Divine Beast you defeat gives you a free Heart Container. A nice little bonus.

We’re done here. Let’s finish this up.

https://youtu.be/UDgfYecvh4g

Music: Mipha Appears

And Ruta, as well.

For I am now allowed by this freedom…

…my healing power would be wasted on me. I have no need of it.

Please accept…

Yesterday, I was awash in a pool of tears. I had nearly given up hope and resigned myself to being trapped here, as a spirit, for the rest of eternity.

All this time, my hope…was to see you once more.

Knowing that…will let my spirit rest in peace.

Ruta and I have our roles to fulfill. We are both honored to be able to play the role of support.

Save the princess…

---

https://youtu.be/5Jfa1PyOysY

Music: Mipha & Ruta Prepare to Strike

Vah Ruta has returned to the control of Mipha.

So now is the time to take position.

…Probably didn’t expect that, did you?

Nor that.

And…the other Champions, of course.

Using your ability to drain Ganon of his power is key to our success.

This will be our last chance…and everyone’s last hope. If we seal him away, then we can restore peace to Hyrule.

I want you to know…

[Mega64]

Picked up NieR Automata finally so expect slower updates. Next one will probably be Saturday and will finish up the loose bits of story stuff while starting some side quests. After that update, we’ll finally get back to exploring Hyrule in whatever crazy manner you guys think up next.

[Mega64]

After the update, I’m going to also post a list of every side quest we have available, in case any stick out for people.

This is important because the first DLC launched today, and added some new features. One we can’t access yet, one (Hard Mode) that I definitely don’t plan on doing since we’d have to start over and it’d just be more suffering and tedium on my end (which is part of the appeal, but then I’m the one doing the LP so…), and one that just shows where we’ve been.

The main thing relevant for this LP right now are the new DLC costumes available. I’ll go into more detail once we get those, but they’re mostly references to past Zelda titles, and there’s one in particular I can see the thread being in favor of getting. Unfortunately, it seems they can’t be upgraded or dyed. More detail on those when I get the next update up, but to obtain them involves specific side quests where you have to track them down.

That said, I’m more than fine with the current plan of “let’s go a random direction using increasingly ludicrous methods” to choose our next destination.

[Mega64]

Click here to open the update!

Music: Zora’s Domain (Night)

https://my.mixtape.moe/yfqdqe.mp4

When you beat a Divine Beast, you get that Champion’s signature power, all of which are varying degrees of useful. Mipha’s Grace is essentially a super-fairy, where instead of recovering five hearts when you die like a normal fairy grants, you come back at full health with five extra hearts on top of that. Dying becomes much less of an issue with this ability, though once you use it you have to wait awhile before it’s ready to be used again, so it doesn’t make you immortal. But this ability significantly reduces how much you die, at least it did for my first playthrough, and I’m happy to have it.

At any rate, let’s check in with King Dorephan to debrief.

Thanks to your efforts, there is no longer any danger of a great flood laying waste to Hyrule!

We are all truly grateful! What you did for us is more than we could have ever expected of you.

That whole time, you were thinking of Hyrule’s and Lady Mipha’s well-being, just like the rest of us. All of the members of our council humbly fold our fins back in gratitude, along with the rest of our people. Perhaps the older generation of Zora, myself included, misunderstood Hylians after all. It would seem so. That said, I would be overjoyed if you could find it in your heart to forgive me. If not now, then perhaps one day.

It was cherished by Mipha. A memento of sorts. I would like you to have it as a token of our friendship. Please take good care of it.

Wait…Link had a signature sword that can seal away darkness? Surely you don’t mean…

Hm. So you have forgotten that as well… That is a legendary blade that only you, the Hylian Champion, can wield.

The game likes to dance around it, but who are we fooling here. Yes, the Master Sword exists. Hell, it’s in the game’s trailer and promotional materials. Even the first DLC has a focus on it.

But who knows where it could be?

The heavy rains have stopped, and the Divine Beast is our ally once again! How glorious! Truly splendid! Wah ha ha ha!

I’m breaking the flow a bit here, but there’s a few frames before Sidon does his next action where he’s just staring blankly into space and, hell, like I’m not going to include that.

https://my.mixtape.moe/nrmiic.mp4

Link! Thank you so much! Truly, I could never thank you enough! You helped save our home from vanishing away! This calls for a top-tier expression of gratitude!

https://my.mixtape.moe/kyplzh.mp4

Link, Savior of Zora’s Domain.

We’ve successfully completed one Divine Beast, but we’ve still got three more to go!

But what’s the rush?

Each Champion also has a signature weapon we obtain when we conquer their respective Divine Beast. Mipha’s is the Lightscale Trident, which makes sense since spears are the perfect weapon for an underwater race.

These weapons are generally pretty strong for their respective class of weaponry, though not the strongest. They can also be a pain to replace once they inevitably break.

Everyone is rejoicing! There is no happier place in the world! But Link… There is something I wish to ask you. You journeyed within Ruta, the Divine Beast of Water… Now you are back, but Mipha has still yet to return…

About that…

So that means Mipha is… Did…did she say anything to you?

I see. My dear Mipha… I simply cannot believe it. There was nothing I could do to save her… Still… Mipha fulfilled her heroic duty as Champion. And she will never be alone… It is my duty as her father to watch over her, even now.

Link… She really loved you, you know. There is no mistaking that even now she is overjoyed to be able to help you.

Of course.

I appreciate you saying that. You are a good man. If you ever run into trouble, know that you are always welcome here. No matter the time, we shall all greet you with open fins!

Not the best terms of closure in terms of Dorephan and Mipha, but sometimes you have to take what you can get.

Next up, Sidon.

You somehow overcame the objections of the old geezers on our council, all to help save our home! Yes, you are a treasure of a Hylian! Taking time out of your journey to come to our rain- and monster-ridden home! And here you activated those orbs with shock arrows, freed Ruta, and released my sister from her lingering regret. Link… I simply can’t thank you enough! Especially for following me to the end, pushy and unreasonable as I am! Zora’s Domain would still be in peril if not for you. You are welcome anytime, and we are ever at your service!

It’s hard to tell, but I think there’s hints there that Sidon may appreciate everything we did here. Maybe it’s just me though.

That’s pretty much it for story stuff. We’ll do a bit of chatting with townspeople, but the rest of the update is going to focus on the various side quests that are now available, including completing a couple of them.

First off, a new face.

Same.

I’m a traveling merchant. I’m everywhere! Oh! I should introduce myself… I’m Douma! Nice to meet ya! Ya know, it used to rain aaaall the time around here. The rain stopped! That’s why I was finally able to reach Zora’s Domain! Now I’m gonna stock up on rare goods at the general store here. Don’t get in my way, understand?

Now that Ruta’s appeased, trade can finally start building up again here.

Now Lady Mipha’s spirit can finally rest in peace.

If you break either one…please let me know so I can remake it for you.

When the Lightscale Trident breaks, we simply bring materials to Dento and he’ll make us a new one. IIRC, for the Lightscale Trident is requires a Zora Spear, five pieces of Flint, and a Diamond. There’s usually a Zora Spear hidden in the water in the area under the throne room, and flint is simple to get. The Diamonds are the tricky part, especially since most if not all the other Champion weapons also require them to rebuild. I never really bother making new ones myself since by late-game you’ll be swimming in powerful weapons anyway.

As for the Ceremonial Trident, it costs the same except for the Diamond. More on that weapon in a bit.

It’s worth talking to this Goron for the reactions. After each response, a new one pops up.

Where are you from?

I’m from Goron City! It’s near Death Mountain.

Death Mountain?

On a sunny day, you can see the volcano from anywhere in Hyrule! Us Gorons eat rocks, ya know. So it’s really comfortable for us to live around Death Mountain.

You eat rocks?

Rocks are great, but the ones called gems… Ya know, the sparkly ones? Those taste terrible! Nothin’ to do with those but sell ‘em…or use ‘em as craftin’ materials in the ol’ workshop.

That’s enough chatting. Let’s get to some side quests!

Your trial awaits… It’s glowing bright… Oh! You’re the Hylian who helped our Prince Sidon! You’re sooo handsome! Your looks still don’t compare to Prince Sidon, of course… But you’re not half bad! In fact… I wouldn’t mind talking with you for a bit. Hee hee.

Prince Sidon?

Prince Sidon is soooo handsome! He’s what every girl dreams of!

That song?

I just looooove singing! I even remember the song from the Champion Festival!

Sure.

OK! I’m gonna sing it now! The Champion Festival Song!

I don’t really get what the song’s about, but I’m gonna sing it at the next Champion Festival! Mr. Trello is supposed to get the festival together, but he hasn’t done anything for it yet. I wonder what’s wrong with him… Did he forget that’s his job?

First thing we need to do is talk to Trello to get more information.

Along the way, let’s chat up Muzu.

You don’t have any fins or gills, yet you still managed to stop the Divine Beast… I should have expected as much from Lady Mipha’s beloved. Well done. I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive an incompetent fool such as me!

Here’s Trello.

May Lady Mipha’s spirit live on within all of us…

What’s this about a ceremonial trident?

The ceremonial trident is used in a festival to honor Champion Mipha… The Champion Festival’s Lightscale Trident… Well, it’s a fake.

It doesn’t really matter. It’s a fake, after all… I’ll have to ask Dento to make a new one. If someone happens to pick it up, they can just keep it.

So we need the Ceremonial Trident to do this (I believe the Lightscale Trident will work too, but let’s roll with this for now). “Scale of light” obviously refers to the Lightscale/Ceremonial Tridents. So let’s find that trident first.

It was dropped from the bridge, so…

Bingo.

Had to throw this away to make room, so here’s a picture of that.

“a Veiled Falls sight”… Look what’s west of Zora’s Domain.

Also this chest on top of the giant fish decoration.

Veiled Falls is to the left.

And sure enough, a platform that usually triggers a shrine.

Which leaves the rest of the song. “A gift from the sky” and “splits the feet”. It implies we have to activate the shrine from the air.

I make this sound easy, but this took me days, if not weeks to finally unlock. I’ve spent literal hours mulling over this one single shrine. I was very close to the solution, but I couldn’t nail it down. Jumping up from a Cryonis block or even the top of the falls and doing a lunging spear strike doesn’t work. I tried throwing the spear at it, from above, and it didn’t work.

So what’s the solution?

https://my.mixtape.moe/hmuxpk.mp4

You have to be gliding before using the attack button to lunge the spear into the platform.

I’m…not a big fan of this one, to say the least. The puzzle’s pretty clever, but the execution is dumb.

We’ve got our shrine, at least.

The puzzle was finding the shrine, so here’s our rewards.

And to cap it off, this glamorous picture of the Lightscale Trident. Treasure it.

Also birds.

Now to get on top of this thing.

You can teleport to where the Divine Beasts ultimately end up, though you can’t go near them and can’t re-enter them. It’s basically another high point you can access easily to explore.

Anyway, finally got that Korok.

Now let’s gather some more side quests, though we’ll only do one of them today.

In fact, I wonder if you can do this, too…

A Hinox? No problem.

OK… In that case, give it a try! For he who saved the domain, this should be a piece of fish cake. Go on, I’m counting on you!

Slaying a Hinox? Simple work at this point.

Seeing Divine Beast Vah Ruta’s form there… Even though we lost Lady Mipha, it seems she can still help you fight against Calamity Ganon…

I am a historian who studies Zora history and preserves it for future generations.

Most likely, the 10 stone monuments outside of the domain are in the same awful condition. I’m thinking about collecting the contents of all of the stone monuments and compiling them into a book. But with these old legs and fins, traveling to all 10 stone monuments will take a great deal of time. That is why… Link… I’d like to ask a favor of you.

Uh, OK.

Oh! Thank you! You truly are a lifesaver! How reassuring that the Champion will search for those monuments for me!

If you happen to find said treasure, feel free to keep it. It will most likely be something that a Zora wouldn’t need. Yes, you’ll find the 10 stone monuments around Zora’s Domain… I believe in you. In fact, I’m counting on you!

We’ve already read a few, but it’ll require thorough searching to find all ten. Backburner.

Found this right outside the throne room.

Frogging?

Yep! Since Mom hasn’t come back from fishing yet… I’ve been catching hot-footed frogs and selling them to earn some money for our family. You…were just pitying me, weren’t you? You felt sorry for me…didn’t you? Well, I don’t need your pity! If you wanna help, donate some hot-footed frogs@ You can find them easily on rainy days.

This is simple enough, so simple that we already have more than enough.

So what happened to your mom?

My mom, Mei, has been gone ever since that water monster went nuts. But I’m pretty sure her work is just taking longer than usual. I bet she’ll come home any day now!

Yikes. Have some frogs, kid.

What? Really?! OK, I’m gonna go ahead and count them!

Wow! You really brought them! Here, take this as thanks!

This is called armoranth! I picked it because it’s unusual, but it doesn’t really suit me…so it’s all yours!

Gotta love the easy ones.

Last one for today.

Huh?

What’s the problem?

The truth is… My wife Mei left and hasn’t come back yet. After the Divine Beast Vah Ruta started rampaging, she went out to go fishing like everything was normal. And now Ruta has settled down, but she still hasn’t returned…

Leave it to me!

Link… You saved Zora’s Domain, and now you’re going to help me find my Mei, as well? You are a true Champion! I am sorry to put this burden on you, but please… Please bring her home!

We’re going to need a bit more info for this to be feasible.

So who is Mei?

Mei is my wife. She is also Tumbo and Keye’s mother. She spends her days catching fish and selling them at the general store. Unlike me, she is very lively and cheerful… I suppose Tumbo gets that from her.

Where could she be?

The day Ruta started raging, she said she was going fishing in Zora River. Ruta’s rage caused the river to swell. She may have been swept downstream! However, if Ledo’s group didn’t see anything, maybe she passed through Zora River and is beyond there…

That’s…a pretty large area to explore.

So…that’s it for Zora’s Domain. I think there’s at least one more quest here but I couldn’t find the trigger for it, so we’ll get back to it. So normally, this is where I do the “Vote for what we do next” thing, but there’s one little thing left…

As of yesterday, the first wave of DLC has come out. This includes a hard mode (which I won’t be doing because it involves starting a new game, and I value my sanity), a mode we can’t access yet, a cute map feature that shows where you’ve traveled, and new clothing based on previous Zelda games.

First off, there’s a new mask that will alert you about nearby Koroks.

Next, there’s a new item that lets you set a waypoint to fast travel to, which certainly can have its uses.

An iconic mask that fans of the series would probably recognize…

Famous green garments that must be from a rather large fairy, or at least someone who really really wanted to be a fairy…

A helmet that must’ve been worn by an important figure from the Twilight Realm…

And some intimidating armor from a powerful foe (from the DS games since this one may be a bit obscure).

Alright! So let’s get started here.

First, do we want a new outfit? Our current options:

[quote]CURRENT ARMOR

* Cannot be dyed

Head

Climber’s Bandanna
Hylian Hood
Rubber Helm
Soldier’s helm
Stealth Mask
Zora Helmet

Body

Champion’s Tunic *
Hylian Tunic
Nintendo Switch Shirt *
Old Shirt
Soldier’s Armor
Stealth Chest Guard
Warm Doublet
Zora Armor

Legs

Climbing Boots
Hylian Trousers
Soldier’s Greaves
Stealth Tights
Well-Worn Trousers
Zora Greaves

Dye Colors:

Blue, Red, Yellow, White, Black, Purple, Green, Light Blue, Navy, Orange, Peach, Crimson, Light Yellow, Brown, and Gray.[/quote]

Second, and by far most important: What now? More Divine Beasts? Search for more memories? Find the legendary sword? Search for some of these new relics? Do sidequests? Or just go in a random direction and see what destiny leads us to? I’ll do the usual thing, gather up some choices, throw them into a poll, and then have voting until I decide to record the next update. As usual, post and bold your suggestions.

• A list of all our current quests.

Finally, since we’re almost at four again, Vote for our next Spirit Orb Upgrade.

Here we go again!

[Mega64]

Updated the third post to be current.

Also MP4s seem to load wonky for me, let me know if you guys have issues now and I’ll see what the hell I can do if anything.

[Mega64]

Poll is up. Reminder that you can vote for multiple options.

I’ll play at some point tomorrow, undecided when, so it may be a short poll.

[Mega64]

Close one this time, but we’ll be getting yet more stamina!

So, my game plan:

• Do the stone monuments sidequest first.
• Do the Fairy Clothes sidequest next.
• After those, I need more rupees to buy the house, so my solution is to put Rare Ore on as the Sheikah Sensor for gem hunting, and if there are none around head toward the floating thing in the sky until I get a signal. Once I’m satisfied with my loot, I’ll buy the house.

And after I buy the house and show off that stuff, then we’ll get to the next vote.

[Mega64]

Stone monuments went OK. Fairy Clothes shouldn’t be a big deal, the lead says to explore Hyrule Field, so what’s the worse that can…

WHAT DID I DO TO DESERVE THIS

[Wordybird]

The LP Curse strikes in new and inventive ways.

[Mega64]

Click here to open the update!

Today, we will be doing the side quest involving finding the ten stone monuments across Zora’s Domain.

We found four back in Update 28. I won’t be repeating those here, so check back there to read the first four.

The first one is pretty simple, since we saw it when we first got to the town area. We skipped it back then because it would’ve been a nightmare to navigate back up, but now…

Our scholars say that in the distant past, Zora’s Domain had a king with no special talent for the art of war. What he lacked in skill with a blade, he made up for in love for his people, and especially love for his queen.

One day, news reached the king of a horde of monsters gathering in the Zodobon Highlands. The king steeled himself for war to protect his people, but the queen knew how ill suited for the task he was. Worried for his life, she wove one of her own scales into his armor, hoping that her love would protect him in battle.

It seemed for a time that the tide of battle favored the Zora and that all would make it safely home. But the cunning Lizalfos general saw an opening and seized it, driving the king’s forces into a corner.

Just when the general’s sword was ready to crash down upon the king, a miracle took place. An errant sunbeam reflected from the scale on his armor blinded the Lizalfos, stopping the deathblow from falling. This was the chance the king needed to rally his forces and turn the tide, taking down the general and securing victory.

This came to be known as the Miracle of the White Scale, a scale that only female Zora possess. It was this miracle that began the tradition of Zora princesses crafting armor for their future husbands.

A rather lengthy yet still interesting origin story for the Zora armor tradition.

Hm.

Hm?

Hm.

One of our main priorities is buying the house in Hateno. 3000 rupees is nothing to sneeze at, but luckily there’s a good supply of ore deposits scattered around Zora’s Domain. It’ll certainly help get us closer to that goal!

This one was across the river and higher up from the last one. Lots of frogs in this pond.

The queen and I were blessed with a daughter as lovely as a jewel. We named our princess…Mipha. To celebrate her birth, the smithy Dento presented Mipha with a gift: a mighty spear called the Lightscale Trident.

Mipha grew into a bright girl and soon reached the age of receiving lessons from the royal family’s order of knights. The whole of the royal guard adored her, especially Sergeant Seggin, who loved her as if she were his own kin. Under Seggin’s instruction, Mipha honed her skills, and her radiance grew along with her skill with the Lightscale Trident.

As a Champion, Mipha made her people proud. However, once the Great Calamity struck, she was never to return. All of Zora’s Domain fell into misery. The merest thought of the princess was enough to overcome anyone with tears.

As a way of offering her soul repose, they tried to send the Lightscale Trident drifting down the Zora River. But when they did, the trident began to glow, and Mipha’s voice rang loud and clear for all Zora to hear:

And so, keeping to her request, on the day of the Great Calamity…the day that Mipha passed from this world…the Zora venerate the Lightscale Trident and remember their brave princess. Such is the origin of the Champion Festival.

This one goes into the Lightscale Trident and the Champion Festival. Yet more talk of how much everyone loved Mipha, in case it wasn’t clear by now.

More climbing around led me to spot this one.

Once every 10 years, the Lanayru region experiences unusually heavy rainfall. The Zora River flooded every time. The tides damaged not only our domain but our people, washing away poor souls and causing great suffering and disarray. The Zora king of that time, after seeking aid from the king of Hyrule, rode out to see what could be done.

By joining the architectural genuis of the Zora and Hyrule’s technological prowess, East Reservoir Lake was swiftly built. Thanks to this fruitful partnership, Hyrule was no longer plagued by these devastating floods. In gratitude, the Zora king promised the king of Hyrule to manage the reservoir level to protect all of Hyrule from floods. Each Zora king since has kept that oath, spanning 10,000 years. That is why the reservoir signified our bond with Hyrule.

Whew! That’s three down! Only three left!

After that, I simply could not find the last three on my own. I must’ve went back to that last one four times or so, thinking it was a new one only to be the same story.

Did find these, though.

Bombable rocks guarding a chest with a silver rupee, which is nice.

Otherwise, just randomly gliding around for a good chunk of time.

Apparently I already found this Korok. I can’t keep track of all this.

I teleport around a few times, including to where Vah Ruta currently rests.

We can’t go near it, sadly.

Another Korok.

This batch of rocks hid an ore deposit that had Topaz.

After getting a bit frustrated, I decided to take a break and check out the nearby shrine down there.

After I nabbed another Korok, of course.

This one is kind of a maze, surrounded by thorns and enemies. Of course, I just glided in, and considering it’s in plain view of a large chunk of the higher ranges of Zora’s Domain, it’s very likely an intentional option.

I enjoyed the puzzle for this shrine. But more on that in a second.

There’s two chests here. One has leaves leading up to a wooden platform, while the other to the right has no leaves.

The idea is to shoot an arrow through a lit torch to bring this chest down, then try to aim another lit arrow into the other platform. Or something like that.

Instead, I use Cryonis to gain some height and Magnesis to get the chest off the platform.

https://my.mixtape.moe/ojuton.mp4

Then I used that chest to knock off the other chest.

Got an Opal and a nice new bow.

And a picture of the old bow I discarded to make room for the new bow.

Anyway, let’s get to the puzzle for this shrine.

https://my.mixtape.moe/ilfcuk.mp4

There are three switches, each with an arrow. Shoot a switch, and both the cube with the switches and the large cube in the middle of the room move the direction of the arrow. This layout does a fantastic job in visualizing just how to manipulate the center cube.

There are five torches. One will always be lit (unless underwater, but it’ll relight once it’s back out), and the goal is to use that to light the other four. There are two on either side of the cube, and three on the cube (including the always lit one).

The trick is that there’s also a water spout that will douse any torches that it’s against. So you have to have the lit torch light the side torches, then use those to light the other two torches, all while dealing with the water spout.

It’s tricky enough to require a bit of thought, but manipulating the puzzle is simple. This is definitely one of the better shrines in my eyes.

Sadly it’s just the one puzzle. But hey, a fourth Spirit Orb!

Which means another Stamina Vessel! One more and we’ll complete our second circle.

Anyway, if you come back to Jiahto, he will tell you the general location of a random monument.

Zodobon Highlands are to the west of where Ruta currently sits.

Plenty of ore, too.

This monument is a large drop downward, near sea level.

Long, long ago… In a past more distant than even the Great Calamity or the creation of the Divine Beast Vah Ruta… There was a Zora princess named Ruto. We know that she was an attendant to the Zora patron diety and that she was a fair and lively girl, beloved to all.

Around that same time, an evil man with designs on ruling the world appeared, bringing disaster upon Zora’s Domain. It is said that Ruto then awoke as a sage, facing this foe alongside the princess of Hyrule and the hero of legend. Her achievements are remembered not only by the Zora, they are also forever etched in the history of Hyrule.

The Divine Beast Vah Ruta, built ages later to face off against Calamity Ganon, was named in honor of Ruto. That the Zora princess - my sweet daughter Mipha - was chosen to pilot Ruta is surely the work of fate.

This is a blatant callback to Ocarina of Time. Ruto was the Zora sage in that game, and joined powers with the other sages to help Link and Zelda defeat Ganondorf.

This game pretty much ignores the Zelda timeline other than being clearly last since it references pretty much everything it can, but if you really care about it, then remember the Divine Beasts were actually created 10,000 years ago and were only unearthed a bit over 100 years ago. But again, it doesn’t really matter that much other than OoT being explicitly mentioned.

Anyway, two left!

Lulu Lake is actually the small lake for the second of the three waterfalls Link ascended to reach Ploymus Mountain.

It’s in plain sight once you actually look around instead of beelining to the next waterfall.

There was once a giant Octorok in Hateno Bay, large as a mountain, which terrorized the village’s fishers. Hearing of their distress, Prince Sidon went forth to personally eliminate the offending Octorok. But this Octorok was a tricky beast. After the prince dodged one of the stones it spat, it inhaled him whole. Such had been the fate of many strong warriors who went to slay the Octorok. Not one had come back alive.

Just as it seemed Prince Sidon would be counted among them, the giant Octorok twisted in pain. The tip of a silverscale spear pierced the Octorok’s stomach from within, revealing itself as the source of the beast’s agony.

Unable to bear the pain, the Octorok coughed up the prince and scrambled to escape. Ever since, the fishers of Hateno Bay have passed down this heroic tale: The Prince Who Slew the Fell Octorok.

It’s not glamorous, but it’s still pretty hardcore. Sidon’s a good dude.

Upland Zora is…upland. Though the monument itself isn’t upland, it’s downland from the upland.

And here we are!

What an honor it was to receive a personal request from King Dorephan to craft a historical stone monument! I did not realize how much content he’d give me, though… It certainly exceeded the line limits of a single monument. I suppose I could have just shortened the text, but it felt wrong to tamper with our great king’s words. Thankfully, I was able to split it all between seven monuments to ensure that every word was preserved. I have always prided myself on my ability to think outside the box. I am so very adaptable! And humble as well.

While I was at it, I thought…why not add two of my own? And so I created one for King Dorephan and one for Prince Sidon. True, this is outside the scope of my commission… But I believe their triumphs deserve as much! But why stop at that…

Of course, having increased the number of monuments, I had to find places for them all… That proved difficult. Still, it is worth it! So long as I remember to sign these monuments, my name will be remembered forever. As it should be.

Of course they forgot to sign their name.

Still, ten monuments worth of history… I think they warranted their own anonymous bragging monument.

Now then, please tell me what was written on them!

Eureka! Thanks to you, I’ve compiled the precious information from those stone monuments! Link, thank you for taking on such an arduous task! Please, allow me to reward you!

A diamond for the amount of work we did doesn’t really seem worth it, but honestly the various lore and overcoming the challenge of finding them is its own reward.

I, Jiahto, shall take the repsonsibility of passing on King Dorephan’s inscriptions to future generations!

I’d certainly hope so!

Next time, Link decides to achieve his dreams of dressing like a fairy, or die trying. Repeatedly.

[Mega64]

Click here to open the update!

Today’s objective is obtaining some Fairy Clothes offered by the first DLC. How hard can it be?

The Outpost Ruins are right next to the Great Plateau, trivial to access from the Plateau’s tower.

This book lists all the locations of the various pieces of clothing the DLC accesses. Here’s what the book has:

I hid the eight priceless relics I stole from Hyrule Castle in treasure chests… I shall write down their locations. -Misko

The ancient mask lies at the ruins where soldiers gathered. From there, the waters of Lake Kolomo are visible.

The green garments of the man who wished to be a fairy are hidden in the ruins of Hyrule Field. Find these pieces at the ruins where trade flourished…at the ruins where sinners were imprisoned…and at the village ruins next to farmland where many people once gathered.

The princess of twilight, whose stories are handed down alongside those of the Hero of Twilight… Her helmet can be found at the temple ruins soaked in the waters of Regencia River.

Armor worn by fierce phantoms, feared even by heroes, is hidden in the ruins of Hyrule Field. Find these pieces at a battleground where brave souls tested their skill…at ceremonial grounds where royal guards are honored…and at the ruins where the soldiers of Hyrule gathered.

“EX” is all that’s written on the last page. What could it mean?

Also found a chest with Amber within.

So…to be honest, Hyrule Field is one of the areas I’ve explored the least my first playthrough, so I’m not that familiar with much of the area, nor have I looked up where exactly each treasure chest is. I’ll be wandering around pretty blind for this.

Anyway, it’s simple to surmise that the central section of the map is Hyrule Field, since that’s where Hyrule Castle is located, and landscape observations suggest the middle section of Hyrule to be pretty flat, like a field.

Lots of rusty weapons, so a nice opportunity for more pictures.

The outskirts of southern Hyrule Field aren’t too bad. Plenty of Bokoblins, but the weak kind which are trivial to deal with now.

Several towers in the distance. Our first priority should be reaching the tower in Hyrule Field. From there, we can examine the map and see if we find any locations that sound like they’d match the descriptions we were given.

And there’s Hyrule Castle, off in the distance.

A handy cooking pot.

https://my.mixtape.moe/afpocn.mp4

And of course I’m not passing up that opportunity.

As I plan to finish off the others, I spot a shooting star.

So off I go!

These fields are definitely fields. Vast, open areas dotted with trees and occasional settlements.

The most interesting part was when I was attacked by both a swarm of bees and a swarm of bats.

Unfortunately, I lose track of the shooting star, but that’s fine because it ended up leading me…

…to the stable of this region.

And hey, look who happens to be here!

So we meet again! I want to go home to Korok Forest, but I’ve lost my way… According to the folks at the stable, this area is Central Hyrule… Shalako… That means Korok Forest is still much farther north… Well, since I’m already here, I may as well stay awhile and relax. Ah, wait a minute…

I get the opportunity to upgrade five times here. I end up doing two more weapon slots, two bow slots, and a shield slot. Weapons are by far the most important due to the large variety of effects and tools (sledgehammers for their high durability in mining/stasis, Korok leaves for navigating rafts and blowing things, elemental weapons, torches, the list goes on). All you really need for bows are a long-range zoom-in bow for far away targets, maybe a multi-shot bow, and some strong regular bows. Shields are boring in comparison, just use whatever’s strongest.

I… I think I remember how to get back to Korok Forest! Maybe I’ll head back now. I bet Grandpa is waiting for me. Thanks for the Korok seeds! I’m off to Korok Forest! Come visit me there sometime!

Anyway, Hestu’s off again, and that’ll probably be the last we see of him for awhile.

Each stable has a nearby shrine, so here’s this shrine.

This one is pretty simple.

These three metal boxes can be climbed. The chest has an Amber, by the way.

There’s two other high platforms. Once has a large grate, the other has the shrine’s monk.

First we restack the blocks next to the grate.

Move it back on the floor…

Then restack the blocks near the monk. Wouldn’t you know it, this platform’s just too high for these blocks!

But the grate makes for a convenient bridge.

A very simple puzzle. Eh.

Music: Stables

So let’s check out the stables.

I only found the one side quest. I think there’s another, but eh.

The river here makes for some lovely scenery, and if you head northeast from here, you’ll find the Millennio Sandbar. The scenery there is every bit as lovely as the scenery here! I’m something of a connoisseur of beauty, you see - I simply cannot resist a beautiful sight! I try to exude this in all things, not least of all my own beautiful appearance. Speaking of, has anyone ever told you… You have the most beautiful features!

Well, since you definitely know how to flatter a guy, we’ll indulge.

Oh, you would? Even more beautiful on the inside! Now, let’s see… If you head north through Hyrule Field, you’ll see the castle surrounded by that foul aura. It has long been a den of monsters, but in its glory days it was surely a thing of wondrous beauty. It was in that very castle in those very days that my ancestor… Hmm, my grandfather’s grandfather, I believe…

Oh, how I wonder what sorts of cuisine members of the royal court enjoyed in those good ol’ days… As a child, I would often suffer meager meals, all while dreaming of the beautiful dishes that might have graced my plate. Oh, if only things had been different! Gourmet spiced meat, seafood curry, mushroom risotto, egg pudding…

These days, I enjoy my time working at these stables, sharing my tales of beauty with any traveler willing to listen. But I still wonder what could have been. Anyway, excuse me… I seem to have caught myself prattling on. But looking upon your perfectly symmertrical face and discussing meals of beauty has rekindled my desire.

There must be one lying around somewhere in there! I’m simply dying to finally sample the food of the royal court.

So this quest actually requires us to infiltrate Hyrule Castle. Honestly, you can pop in and out of Hyrule Castle as much as you want, it’s not really any different from the various other overworld areas in the game, other than the enemies being understandably powerful and difficult, and the fabulous loot involved.

For now, we have other priorities, so it goes on the backburner like the ten or so other quests we have.

Beedle’s also here, as usual.

I want you to have this!

This even works on those Guardian things. It’s amazing! I hear it works best if you hit the Guardians in the eye with it. This old guy named Robbie gave it to me. To find him, go waaay north past Zora’s Domain, all the way to Akkala Ancient Tech Lab. Old Robbie makes a bunch of other weird weapons and clothes and stuff. I guess he’s what you’d call a mad scientist, which is kind of cool…but also terrifying. If you want strong weapons and stuff, you should go see him.

The Ancient Arrow is pretty handy, it’s pretty much a one-hit kill for many things, including Guardians if you aim it in their eye. However, anything hit with an Ancient Arrow won’t drop loot, with the exception of Guardians. Also, Ancient Arrows won’t work on everything, most importantly the scouts in the various shrines (especially the combat-focused ones).

As for Robbie, I believe Purah mentioned him when we first reached the Hateno Lab. Might be something to look out for in the future.

Otherwise, the usual things here. Saving money for a house, so we’ll pass for now.

After doing his quest in Kakariko, Pikango will be found in many stables in the area, usually with a new memory hint.

I’ve traveled all over the wordl, so I’m happy to tell you about new places, if you want.

Might as well!

Hmm… That’s Lake Kolomo, isn’t it? It’s an oddly shaped lake west of here. There’s a forest on the west side of it. Yes, I can see some trees here as well. It must be over there.

That’s certainly handy to know!

Otherwise, just more pictures.

And with that, let’s travel on!

I didn’t really get much demand for dressing up this time, so I’m swapping back to Sheikah so I can grab bugs as I explore.

Hmmm.

Yep.

Can’t be a field without horses.

Some Pebblits hanging about.

Still a field. The tower’s nearby, so let’s head over.

I hijack a nearby horse for a quick boost.

Alright. Now we just have to head to the tower and…

https://my.mixtape.moe/oedhig.mp4

Music: Guardian Battle

Oh. Did I forget to mention the central and northern parts of Hyrule Field are swarming with Guardians? Guardians that can walk? That’s something we’ll have to deal with.

Not that I let it stop me from looting nearby chests. Those clothes could be anywhere in Hyrule Field, after all!

Of course, Guardians aren’t the only thing in the area.

Though they are the only moderately threatening thing.

Fighting them head-on is still a fool’s errand at this point due to our weak weaponry and low health. Our best bet is trying to dodge lasers and hiding behind cover.

https://my.mixtape.moe/kugutz.mp4

Like so.

Eventually I make a run for it and escape…this time…

Anyway, here’s the tower. All we need to do is climb it and-

Music: Guardian Battle

OH COME ON

The gimmick for scaling this tower are the several Guardians that can take aim at you depending on where you’re at in the tower.

Fortunately, there’s plenty of platforms around this tower, so your best hope is to quickly climb between platforms and position yourself on them so all Guardians lose sight of you. Then repeat.

It’s not as scary as it looks if you’re fast enough. Stamina helps, of course.

And here’s our map! That thing in the north is Hyrule Castle itself.

I decide between a couple areas to explore first, ultimately settling on the Hyrule Garrison Ruins we passed a moment ago.

Some fine treasures for sure, but unfortunately none that unleash our inner fairy.

The Guardians make exploring a bit difficult, too.

Nothing much else of note here, so on to the Ranch Ruins!

Easier said than done.

https://my.mixtape.moe/fppjgf.mp4

You can stun Guardians by nailing them in the eye. I tempt fate and take aim, fortunately landing the blow and making my break for it.

https://my.mixtape.moe/xnwcpg.mp4

It goes poorly.

And poorly.

Eventually I…somehow escaped the Guardian and made it here. Mipha’s Grace has been used up, so now I have to wait for it to recharge before I can use it again. I’m also out of fairies.

Great.

At least I covered some ground, though! Turns out you can cover ground pretty quickly when you’re constantly running for your life!

As I said, Hyrule Castle is covered in Guardians. Luckily I don’t get spotted by these guys.

Not much here except a bit more cash and yet another new friend.

Onward, then.

Another Bokoblin. I’ll take it.

It was around this point where I started dying…quite a lot. A very very lot.

Guardians are very fearsome foes, indeed.

A brief respite.

Finally, a path without Guardians!

JUST KIDDING IT’S ALL LASERS ALL THE TIME

DEATH

DEATH

DEATH

This might take awhile.

[Mega64]

Click here to open the update!

So…we’ve got a long search ahead of us.

One thing I did not realize is that all the clothing chests, or at least the fairy ones, are partially underground and thus need Magnesis to unlock.

I still die a lot, of course.

I decide to go back to Ranch Ruins with this new information.

And take ample opportunity for pictures.

Seriously, it’s a chore to navigate Hyrule Field without some way to nullify the Guardians. I can’t really stress that enough.

I then head to Mabe because one of the clues said it was in village ruins next to farmland.

After some more cowardice, I make my move.

https://my.mixtape.moe/mhehdo.mp4

So, you can knock over dead Guardians with Magnesis manipulation. They’ll even have screws under them!

And we find our first item of clothing! Those tights fit very well.

I opt away from them after a bit, I’d rather have the full experience first.

At this point, I didn’t really know where to go next.

I did find a handy trick to sneaking past Guardians, though.

Not so helpful with the dumber enemies, though.

From here, I decide to try my luck at the Garrison again.

Nothing new besides a few more third-degree burns.

This time I opt to go northwest because why not. The scenery is nice, at least when things aren’t trying to kill me.

Sadly the scenery is never nice.

One location, two Koroks.

There’s a shrine up ahead.

Oh yeah, close to Hyrule Castle there are flying versions of the Guardians. Honestly they’re a massive pain to kill and the loot isn’t worth it. At least they’re easy to evade, so just walk around them or down them with an Ancient Arrow.

https://my.mixtape.moe/waqilh.mp4

Since this is the closest we’ve been so far, I also take the opportunity to get a better look at that floating island. Hmm.

We’re very close to Hyrule Castle. Between it and us are the ruins of Castle Town. It’s seen better days.

Anyway, let’s take a break from clothes shopping.

Oh boy, another Test of Strength.

At this point stealth is kinda pointless and I like not dying as much, so I go Champion Tunic and Hylian Hood/Trousers.

The Champion Tunic’s special ability is displaying the health of enemies, giving the added bonus of showing hidden enemies.

Damage formula is a simple “deal whatever strength your weapon has” damage. The Ceremonial Trident has a strength of 14, so yeah.

Of course, if your last attack breaks the weapon, or if the weapon is thrown, it’ll deal double damage.

There’s also certain properties that can affect damage. For instance, here the Guardian Sword did 26 damage instead of the usual 20. If you use Guardian weapons on Guardian-type enemies, they deal an extra 30% damage. Certainly good to know!

The Scout goes out quickly, and here’s our reward.

And here’s the garbage our reward replaced.

Another shrine done!

From here, I decide I’ll try my luck exploring Castle Town. Surely there’s some good loot hidden around here.

Or at least some nice photography opportunities.

A lot of wall fortifications have some nice loot hidden in the junctions between walls.

There’s large structures jutting towards Hyrule Castle at a 45 degree angle. They don’t really do anything, you can’t climb them though if you glide down from Hyrule Castle itself you can reach the tops, which don’t really have anything valuable. They’re just there to look menacing.

Not that they need the help.

There’s a lot of malice around. Fortunately there’s also an eyeball to open up a path to the town ruins.

Music: Hyrule Castle Town

Being right outside Hyrule Castle, Castle Town received the brunt of Calamity Ganon’s wrath. There’s nothing here besides Guardians and long-forgotten treasures.

I opt to press my luck on a turret.

After a lot of wearing down and taking advantage of its difficulty aiming at me when I’m right at its face, I break it up and get some decent loot.

It had a whopping 500 HP. Now keep in mind the walking and flying versions have three times that.

This chest has malice in front of it. The idea is to bomb the back wall, but I just climbed inside since there’s no ceiling.

Then I bombed it.

There are a lot of treasures, but honestly many aren’t worth the significant risk that being out here entails. And when you can handle yourself, you don’t really need this stuff anymore. It’s mainly for the insane who embrace death by laser, which is why we’re here.

After I cut through the middle of town to the east side, I head for the outer fortifications.

Guardians are still everywhere.

In the eastern side is this random metal door.

It’s a Korok.

This is probably the best shield we’ll find for awhile. Shields are pretty much linear in upgrades, there’s pretty much no reason to not have the strongest shields except maybe a wooden one for lightning storms.

So away this goes.

I try to kill this thing but it wouldn’t open its eye.

It’s also a trap because that seemingly-dead Guardian…isn’t. This is where the Champion Tunic can save your butt.

Though the malice eye distracted me enough that I activated the Guardian anyway. Did you know simply hanging on to something won’t deplete stamina? This can actually be useful at times!

A discarded sword and shield in front of the ruined fountain.

And a shield I discard to make room for the other shield because I’m a giant litterbug.

That door in the distance is the front entrance to Hyrule Castle. I’m not going to bother today, as I’m sure it’s heavily guarded.

Eventually, though.

Business as usual!

I see a pinwheel thing up top, which means…

Hit the balloons challenge!

I opt for the Lynel Bow to take advantage of the triple shot. It only takes one arrow, too!

I’ve been cleaning up on Koroks this update!

And also on explosions.

Luckily Mipha’s there to save my incompetent butt. We barely survived the blast, but the resulting fire would’ve killed us.

Oh yeah, this made me realize that we’re right in front of Hyrule Castle, so we’re likely near this place too. Not enough trees though.

Hmmmmmm.

Waiting out the wrath of two Guardians later…

Look what we have here! It’s time for another memory.

https://my.mixtape.moe/aibnta.mp4

https://youtu.be/GE0DTr8985w

This one appears to be some sort of ceremony.

You have shown unflinching bravery and skill in the face of darkness and adversity. And have proven yourself worthy of the blessings of the Goddess Hylia.

The sacred blade is forever bound to the soul of the Hero. We pray for your protection…and we hope that - that the two of you will grow stronger together, as one.

If you’re not watching the video, Zelda delivers this dialogue in the most monotone, bored-out-of-her-skull way possible. She clearly couldn’t be less enthused.

She’s making it sound like we already lost.
Wasn’t this your idea?

And if you ask me, the whole thing does seem to be overkill. I think I’m on the same page as the princess regarding…this boy.
Oh, give it a rest.

I’d like to think she can clearly hear them the entire time, which…maybe this isn’t the best place to bicker.

At any rate, this is definitely a different Zelda from the one still waiting patiently a hundred yards away while we search the entirety of Hyrule Field for Tingle’s used clothing.

Oh, right! The clothes!

At this point I became sick of looking around and looked up where the other two were. Turns out I was way off and would’ve taken forever to find them since neither location is marked on the map until you travel to them!

First, back to the area where we stumbled upon the shrine.

Our first goal is that large island on the left.

These were on the wall right next to the shrine. Missed them the first time, but got them now!

Rock on the wall, and a pattern with a missing rock in the center.

Yep!

A giant stone slab covered these, at least until I Stasised it away.

This is our third one this update.

Anyway, this area has what we seek.

Not these, though they’re a bonus.

Nor the Korok, though having one of the puzzles partially underwater is a nice touch.

This is the prison area we heard about earlier.

And there’s our second piece of fairy gear!

Fun Fact: You can fast travel in the middle of combat. Nice try, Guardian!

The last one is around Windvane Meadow.

On the way from the tower, I run into another shrine.

And this one is…quite involved. Probably the largest shrine we’ve seen yet.

The theme here is finding various ways to open giant stone doors, though the method is usually obvious.

For instance, use Magnesis to pull the ball back and upward to hit the door open with momentum.

Next, two rows of spiked balls hurling on by. Magnesis to stop them so you can pass.

A couple guardians protect the next trick.

https://my.mixtape.moe/oodser.mp4

Classic.

There are a lot of chests in this shrine. This is one of the strongest blades we’ve seen yet.

This isn’t as strong, but it’s only one-handed so still pretty nice.

Something has to go.

We’ll get back to this door later. There’s a path forward on the other side for now.

Nice try, game.

Here there’s a weird floating hammer and a ball next to it.

You might expect Magnesis, but no.

oh no

Yes, we’re back to the dreaded Gyro controls. Though at least this time you “only” have to hit the ball with the hammer several times.

https://my.mixtape.moe/hscibd.mp4

Easier said than done, but it’s still trivial.

This one’s a bit more elaborate.

There’s a door and a giant tilt platform on this side.

On the other, a flammable platform holding up a giant ball, and a switch. This is honestly the only somewhat tricky one in here, since it requires several concepts, and even then it’s simple once you figure out what the switch does.

The switch flips up the platform below where the ball is.

Notch your arrow on one of the torches to save on fire arrows. I guess you could always throw a lit torch too, though that’d take a bit more luck.

Lost the bow, but the arrow hit. Now for the magic to happen.

https://my.mixtape.moe/fkoopr.mp4

Quickly stasis the tilt, flip the ball up, and hope it has enough momentum to make it. Got it first try.

Remember that door we skipped earlier? Now we’ll open it. The switch lowers the gate.

Bombable wall with rupees.

This thing is on a track leading to the door, so now we just do a simple stasis smash-up.

And the last puzzle!

https://my.mixtape.moe/nvyzhq.mp4

Well, if you can call it that.

First, go around to pick up the Diamond.

And before we get the orb, let’s see just how much ground we’ve covered here. This place is huge!

Finally, we’re done. It was alright, kinda wished the puzzles flowed together more like a traditional Zelda dungeon though rather than a bunch of random thematically similar puzzles. Got my money’s worth, though.

We’re pretty close to our final prize, too!

A couple travelers vs. a couple of Bokoblins.

Guess who wins.

Not too shabby.

We really need to get to safety.

Have fun!

Finally. The area where a lot of trade occurred.

Oh wow a Korok what a surprise

Nope! Just another chest.

There we go.

At last, our quest is complete!

And it was so worth it.

If you look at the menu screen, you’ll see it says “Set Bonus - Night Speed Up”. Many sets have bonuses when you wear all three parts of it. The trick is you have to upgrade each piece of clothing twice in order to activate the set bonus. The DLC gear is an exception, of course, as are a few other novelty sets.

The Fairy Clothes let Link run faster at night. It’s pretty nice, though it’s a bonus copied by several other sets, most notably the Sheikah gear. Still, it’s the only way we can do it now, and who doesn’t want to dress like a fairy?

One bright side of that whole ordeal is Link finding a ton of money and gems, so next time, Link becomes a home owner.

[Mega64]

I’ve added another section to the third info post, showing the memories we’ve unlocked so far. In the menu with the quests, the last category shows all the memories you’ve unlocked, and most importantly, the chronological order they take place in. The one we got last update was the first one chronologically, in case you’re curious. Total of 18 memories, 12 from finding them in the wild using our pictures, 4 from the Divine Beast quests, and 2…well, we’ll have to find those on our own!

- Memory #1: Subdued Ceremony - (Video)

- Memory #10: Mipha’s Touch - (Video)

- Memory #15: Return of Calamity Ganon - (Video)

Anyway, next update will be up in fifteen minutes or so after I get some organizational stuff out of the way.

[Mega64]

Click here to open the update!

We’ve completed our secondary goals of finding the stone monuments and the fairy clothes. Doing those led to a large increase of wealth that will let us fulfill our primary goal, buying the house in Hateno.

But while we’re in the area, we’ve got enough materials to finish upgrading our runes, so let’s stop by the Tech Lab first.

Let’s start with the Remote Bomb.

Sounds simple enough. Let’s do it!

Pretty much what it says. Larger blast radius, shorter recharge time. Handy!

Stasis+ is the interesting one, as it lets you use it on monsters. It even works on powerful monsters, though in those cases the charge times are brief. Still, this is just as useful as you’d may expect and will be valuable in future battles.

Well, I suppose with your Sheikah Slate and your legendary swordsmanship, we have nothing to fear. Yes, quite! Nothing at all! Not even… Calamity Ganon!

Another quest done!

Just one more thing left to do…

https://a.pomf.cat/cakvmc.mp4

Certain clothes will frighten villagers. Mostly these are “scary” clothes, but it just so happens the fairy clothes also fall under that criteria.

Utterly delightful.

We’ve pretty much got the money, and after I clear these trees with explosives I also have the wood.

And sadly we cannot dye the fairy clothes.

A mass selling of gems later…

…and we hit our mark and then some!

https://a.pomf.cat/ftitxr.mp4

After a brief trek of scaring more villagers, we’re ready to become a homeowner.

Time to chat up Bolson.

Here you go!

All I needed to see… Good-faith wood. You’re obviously serious about this, and now I know it. So, as promised, I’ll sell you this old house for the low price of 3,000 rupees. Once you’ve got the money together, come grab me.

Now for stage 2.

Here you go!

Yes.

No way! Talk about studly!

Thanks for the sweet investment. Spending so much money on ANYTHING at your age… It’s just so…studly!

So…next-job time, baby! What’d I have lined up again?

We’re a homeowner now!

It’s…kinda bare, though.

We only have one weapon mount, which we can use to hang our weapons. We certainly wouldn’t want to break apart our Lightscale Trident, so let’s hang it up for now.

Hudson also has a new quest available now that we bought the house.

What are you doing?

Taking a break. By the way… Did you buy that house?

Yes.

Impressive. You’re just a pup.

Uh… come again?

Don’t worry about it. Anyway…

What?

Looks like I’ve gotta head out and leave this place soon.

Why?

I’ve been transferred.

Transferred…

Mighta heard, but Bolson Construction is planning to expand big-time.

That’s great!

Yeah, big expansion.

Where will you go?

Zora’s Domain is north of here. We’re going north of that, though. An area called the Akkala region.

That’s pretty far.

Yeah…well.

Good luck!

OK then. Well… No time like the present, right? I should be getting on my way… If you’d like, you should come to the Akkala region and say hello.

https://a.pomf.cat/mdhgfu.mp4

Farewell, Hudson!

Also watch Bolson during that animation.

Anyway, this is the start of one of the more interesting quests in the game, but more on that whenever we get to it.

Oh, yeah, thanks for the big purchase! Seriously, though. Well done! Where’d a kid like you get that kind of dough? Thanks to you, I’m getting a plum bonus! Me and my girlfriend are gonna grab a tasty meal!

Anyway, our house is pretty bare, so maybe we should fix that.

So the both of us sort of hit a personal milestone, huh? Time to kick back and get LEISURELY, baby!

Heh! You don’t even have to say it. “Oh, wah, I just bought a house and it’s totally empty and depressing!” Oh, sure, that’s you to a T. I see it in your eyes. Yup, I was just like you, about a lifetime ago. So tell you what, lemme help by taking care of furniture, or the exterior, or anything really, for 5,000 rupees.

Just cruise on by whenever you have the spending cash and we’ll talk.

The second part of the house quest is simply buying various upgrades for your home. Each one costs 100 rupees, with a total of 14 upgrades. Thus the extra spending money.

First, though, let’s ask about Hudson.

Good old Hudson… Wonder if everything is OK with him up Akkala way. It’s a nice enough region. But maybe all that cargo was a bit too heavy to travel with, even for him…

There’s also another option, that, errr…

https://a.pomf.cat/ocaipu.mp4

…Alright, then. Let’s just ask about house additions.

There are three types. Interior installations, exterior installations, and gear displays like the weapon mount we currently have.

We’ll be getting them all, but let’s start with interior installations.

First, the bed.

First, we pay the money.

Then, one of several lines as Bolson gets himself up and ready to work. Other lines…

This work ain’t doing itself.

Hang on a sec. Gotta get my mind right.

Then one of a decent amount of lines where Bolson pumps up himself and Karson, with Karson eager to jump in. Here’s all the ones I got.

Karson! We are ON!
Yo!

Karson! Are we studs of studwork? YOU’RE DARN TOOTING WE ARE!
Yo!

Karson, awaken your inner animal! We are BEASTS OF CONSTRUCTION!
I’m with you!

Karson! Recall that time you dazzled me? Well, it’s dazzling time again, baby!
Been waiting!

Bolson Construction! What’s our credo?! With seven colors of paint…
Buildings bloom like the spring!

Bolson Contrusction! What’s our credo?! If you can’t pull the saw…
Then don’t push it!

Bolson Construction! What’s our credo?! THUNK! ZWIP! Hammer! Saw!
Good rhythm! Good jaw…b!

Bolson Construction! What’s our credo? Any nail could fail…
So don’t let your hammer stammer!

They are all absolutely marvelous.

Then we get to the actual building, done off screen.

https://a.pomf.cat/aeviuw.mp4

Worth a listen though!

Anyway, let’s check it out!

The bed’s one of the only functional items we get added, letting us pass time if we wish.

Next, let’s get some lighting.

It certainly looks livelier now!

https://a.pomf.cat/kxnzjd.mp4

As a bonus, this happened after I get the last interior upgrade.

The final addition is the door. Gotta keep the elements out, after all!

First, let’s get a sign with our name on it, because Link is anything if not humble.

I’ll take the game’s word on it!

Flowers…

…and trees.

The last option are gear mounts. You can have up to three each of weapon, bow, and shield mounts. This includes the weapon mount we got for free upon buying the house, so we’ll be spending 800 rupees here to finish off the house.

And here they are in action. I’ll be sure to replace them with more valuable items in the future.

Anyway, after all that…

Ah, such is the way of youth… Driven! Even reckless, some might say.

Karson! Look lively!
I’m with you!

https://a.pomf.cat/aeviuw.mp4

We’ve done it! We’ve finished upgrading our house!

Come to think of it, we’ve had no word from Hudson, have we? Hard to believe someone could get lost on a simple trip to Lake Akkala…

Where to?

He went to a place north fo here in the Akkala region called Lake Akkala. Looking for new and creative ways to expand the business, he said. I wanna help him out, but I’m still green. Part of getting better in life is realizing how much you have to learn!

Really, the house itself doesn’t do that much besides give a few slots to store weapons and shields. The main reason to get the house is to have Hudson venture into Akkala, which is its own interesting arc. But we’ll get to that in time.

Anyway, this is our house!

It looks much better with all the furniture!

It’d be nice if we could just kick back and relax for awhile…but adventure still calls and all. Which means it’s time to figure out what we do next!

First, our updated map.

Next, an updated list of all the quests available to us.

And our current clothing:

CURRENT ARMOR

* Cannot be dyed

Head

Climber’s Bandanna
Hylian Hood
Rubber Helm
Soldier’s helm
Stealth Mask
Tingle’s Hood *
Zora Helmet

Body

Champion’s Tunic *
Hylian Tunic
Nintendo Switch Shirt *
Old Shirt
Soldier’s Armor
Stealth Chest Guard
Tingle’s Shirt *
Warm Doublet
Zora Armor

Legs

Climbing Boots
Hylian Trousers
Soldier’s Greaves
Stealth Tights
Well-Worn Trousers
Tingle’s Tights *
Zora Greaves

Dye Colors

Blue, Red, Yellow, White, Black, Purple, Green, Light Blue, Navy, Orange, Peach, Crimson, Light Yellow, Brown, and Gray.

Time for the usual questions.

• What do we do next?
• What should we wear?
• Heart Container or Stamina Vessel?

I’ll put up direction and clothing polls up later today if needed and will try to get gameplay recorded tomorrow.

[Wordybird]

I want to see what Hudson’s up to, so let’s trek up to Lake Akkala!

[ReturnofFable]

Link needs to get back to his journey. Put on the Hylian set and head west.

[Mega64]

Alright! New polls up!

Pick where we go!

Pick what we wear!

Pick our Spirit Orb upgrade!

Reminder that you can vote for multiple choices. I’ll probably play sometime tomorrow, so voting will be until then.

[Zero-ELEC]

I’ll take the game’s word on it!

You don’t have to take the game’s word on it! You can translate regular Hylian text yourself using this handy cypher!

But I’ll give you a freebie on this one:

It says:

MASTER LINK
Presented by Bolson Construction

Classy~

Well, it says Sakurada Builders, the company’s Japanese name, but the joke’s stands.