The Steves discuss The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, along with what's making them happy.
Happy News:
Car-Free Roads: https://www.optimistdaily.com/2020/12/how-car-free-streets-help-unite-communities-a-firsthand-account/
Immortal Fenyx Rising on the Nintendo Switch
Fire Emblem: Three Houses on the Nintendo Switch
The Legend of Zelda[a] is a high fantasy action-adventure video game franchise created by Japanese game designers Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka. The Steves discuss their most recent main-line game, the 2017 Nintendo Switch launch title, Breath of the Wild. We discuss the story, the gameplay, it's place in cannon, fun facts and trivia, and more.
The Steves discuss The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, along with what's making them happy.
Happy News:
Car-Free Roads: https://www.optimistdaily.com/2020/12/how-car-free-streets-help-unite-communities-a-firsthand-account/
Immortal Fenyx Rising on the Nintendo Switch
Fire Emblem: Three Houses on the Nintendo Switch
The Legend of Zelda[a] is a high fantasy action-adventure video game franchise created by Japanese game designers Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka. The Steves discuss their most recent main-line game, the 2017 Nintendo Switch launch title, Breath of the Wild. We discuss the story, the gameplay, it's place in cannon, fun facts and trivia, and more.
Hello? Hello, returning happies and new listeners. This is Steve Bennet-Martin
Stephen:And this is Stephen Martin-Bennet. And welcome to a lifetime of happiness.
Steve:The podcast where we take you on our journey through some of the movies, TV shows, and other bits of pop culture that are keeping us happy. While hopefully bring a smile to your face along the way.
Stephen:And today we're diving into the defining game of the last decade, the legend of Zelda, the breath of the wild.
Steve:Yes, but first darling what's been making you happy.
Stephen:Well, funny enough, it seems like this is going to be a very video game focused episode and. I just finished with high road warriors, the age of calamity, which is set 100 years before breath of the wild. And I just started on a mortals, Phoenix rising, which is kind of a breath of the wild takeoff set in the world of the Greek gods.
Steve:And, you know, you love some great guy.
Stephen:I do. I love Greek mythology so much. And so far it is amazing. I'm very happy about it. And it is making me very happy. What about you darlin? Similarly?
Steve:I had mentioned earlier that my, the DLC for fire emblem, three houses on the switch was bringing me happiness. And recently I actually finished my second play through with the golden deer Alliance. And I love the ending and now I'm playing Eagle guard's route because it made me really want to see her side of things, working with the bad guys after his route was all about like opening up the borders and like working to eliminate, you know, classism and Elisa, sexism and racism and all of that. So I'm happy that I fixed that in the video game because
Stephen:yeah, we can't fix it in the real world.
Steve:It's not as easy as just like fighting a war and killing some dragons at the end, but. Yes, I I've enjoyed it thoroughly. And so it's definitely something that you'd think by the, you know, the third time through it be getting boring, but it's not, and it's making
Stephen:well. That's fantastic. And do we have any happy news this week?
Steve:Yes, we did. I do. And it's actually a worldwide news because more and more cities and States are working on adapting a car-free streets.
Stephen:Which I think is fantastic, because if you can have a more walkable downtown area, it's going to be better for the businesses. It's going to be better for the people that live in your downtown. And what are some of the cities that are doing it?
Steve:Yes. Well, the main art where I found the art article was optimist daily, which has always a great place to find positive, happy news. And they were talking about a city in Oakland, California, specifically because it is more of a neighborhood neighborhood. And people were talking about how they were afraid to be walking up and down the sidewalks, because what if you run into someone and yeah. It's not the six feet apart. And that just so oftentimes they were worried about doing things in the street, like teaching their kids how to ride bikes because they were afraid of traffic. So there are other cities that have been doing it as well, including Seattle, Washington, as well as London. Meanwhile, Paris and Vienna are going further to try and work on removing cars from their cities as much as possible, and working on replacing them with other modes of transportation, like using bikes.
Stephen:Well, you know, our friend, Ronnie is living in France right now, and he's looking to move back to the U S once the pandemic is a little under control and he would love to move to Florida. And so what he's trying to do is find out what are some of the most. Walkable cities on the Gulf coast. Cause he doesn't want to be on the East coast. And you know, Sarasota has a few blocks of downtown that are walkable, but I said for my money, you would want to go with like St. Pete.
Steve:Yeah.
Stephen:Because there's just so much in that large stretch that you can do just walk and walk and walk. And if you actually had a condo down there.
Steve:Yeah, I
Stephen:wouldn't really need to leave.
Steve:I know, but can you imagine if Ronnie lived like five, 10 minutes? So I he'd be like that neighbor popping by.
Stephen:I would love that that was actually our junior and senior year of college. So I would be okay with that. And whenever the pandemic started happening and they were trying to keep businesses open, and I know that sections of Sarasota downtown between. From orange down to lemon or it might've been all the way down to lime. They were saying that they were turning off the, or not turning off. Sorry. They were closing it to cars for awhile. So there could be more outdoor seating and people could walk. And I remember thinking, you know, that would be really good for towns like ours that are. Dining focused and with small boutiques and some art galleries and things that we could have our own little bourbon street.
Steve:Yeah. Just extended out to the sidewalks for some of it.
Stephen:Yeah.
Steve:It certainly helps these, you know, restaurants that otherwise didn't have the indoor spacing to really survive with the social distancing and effects of being able to move their businesses out on the street are certainly going to help some of these businesses. Survive when they might not have otherwise.
Stephen:So Emmy town that wants to do more car-free areas. I am all for it.
Steve:Yes. And just for people in those neighborhoods, that'd be worried about how that affects their daily Amazon deliveries. There are still exceptions in place for delivery vehicles specifically,
Stephen:which would make sense because you don't want to start her on some things, but still have to get their deliveries of food and alcohol. So delivery trucks. It's just, if you're wanting to take a drive and park right outside that store or something. Yeah, no go.
Steve:Yes, exactly. So going on to bingeing and purging, we actually have one that's at least for me slightly on the fence,
Stephen:I was going to say I'm slightly on the fence about it too. Usually I think Pixar movies are without question, just amazing. But this one was just okay. For me,
Steve:it was soul, which came out on Christmas day on Disney plus
Stephen:yet it stars Jamie Fox as a music teacher slash jazz musician who is about to get his big break. And something happens to him. You've probably seen in the preview that he falls down a manhole and he is sent to this area where the souls are before they ever had to earth. And then it's an adventure through there.
Steve:And how many, three there, because I love when Pixar does the fantastical, you know, and like What was it? Not, not inside out, but
Stephen:Oh, I loved inside out too.
Steve:Was that the one with all the feelings? Yes. Yeah. And you know, things like that, where they create these own fantastical worlds were great. And so I loved the stuff in that kind of in-between worlds. That was great, but I was surprised halfway through not really necessarily a spoiler, but they kind of switched back into the real world and I wasn't necessarily expecting that as much. And that's kind of where it lost me was a lot of the railroad stuff afterwards.
Stephen:Well, and one of the things that they did there is it became slightly more Tina Fey focused, which I love me some Tina Fey and she is brilliant in this movie.
Steve:He was brilliant Therese, a little brat. She was then as a fully developed character.
Stephen:Right. But like whenever she's experiencing the things it became more Tina Fey focused, which I think might've lost the plot just a little bit. And I saw where they were going, but.
Steve:It wasn't, there was not a strong,
Stephen:it was not their strongest thing, but I love a, I love that it was a black focused Pixar cartoon. Correct. Which I think is fantastic in general. And they had like Phylicia Rashad was one of the voices and she's always really good. And Ms. Stella, Stella, how, how Stella got her groove back was one of the other voices and she's always amazing. So there's some really good things about it. And then there's some things that. Weren't the best. So I can't give it a full-on recommendation. All I can say is judge for yourself,
Steve:say binge it. If you are either a family with children, or if you are a child at heart and can overlook some of its flaws, if you are the type of person who doesn't normally love Disney or Pixar movies, this is not the movie to bring you to them. And if you're going in expecting frozen level quality, you will be disappointed. So. You know, with those things in mind, you know, you'll probably land on one on one side or the other, but it's free on Disney plus. So if you already have Disney plus, you know, and you're in that first group where you're either a childhood Hardy, you have a family, definitely check it out.
Stephen:Yeah. I can agree with that.
Steve:Okay. All right. And moving on to something that we certainly love. Cause we spent more than a minute or two on it.
Stephen:We spent hundreds and hundreds of hours on it
Steve:combined. Yes. By definition because it was over a hundred hours. Each it's a legend of Zelda breath of the wild,
Stephen:Which like, and I've been going back and forth, whether this is my favorite Zelda game of all time. Or if it's legends, all that link to the past. And I don't know if it's the nostalgia of link to the past that I've always said all that's my favorite game of all time. But the more I think about this game, I don't know they're right up there. I would probably have to replay both as an adult and say,
Steve:I've recently just like play it through the first dungeon cause it's on the SNS console and have linked to the past. And I would say that's probably nostalgia cause it was nice and solid. And especially way ahead of its time, but it's certainly not the breath of the wild,
Stephen:but that first opening with a link to the password it's at night and there's rain and lightning, there had been no other game than LA that had weather and stuff like that. So it was a game changer in itself.
Steve:You always love your weather. Even in this queue. I love the way that the rain slides off the rocks, except when they make me fall.
Stephen:Weather affects in games. I think. And not just weather effects, actually, it's more water because like, we'll be playing a game. And I was like, did you see that we'll have a water look to there? Did you see what the water did? The reflection on the water? Like, and it was honestly wave race 64. That first made me appreciate water effect in games.
Steve:I would love for you to go back and check out the water effects in the game now
Stephen:probably, but I know the graphics weren't bad or weren't great, but. I'm wondering if the lighting on the water was still as good as I remember. Yes. We'll see.
Steve:Well, getting into the legend of Zelda. If you're not familiar with the franchise, it is a high fantasy action adventure video game franchise created by Japanese game designers, Shigeru, Miyamoto, and Takashi to Zucca.
Stephen:Each of the legend of Zelda games always centers around A young boy, whether it is, you know, whether he looks like he's 12 or a teenager, but it's always the link. And there is always a princess Zelda and it happens over the centuries that whenever something takes the tri force out of balance, that there is always going to be a link reincarnated and Zelda reincarnated, and. Then you have to go and play as Lincoln until you can save the world and save the princess. Yeah,
Steve:the principal antagonist of the series generally is Gannon or a form of Gannon typically. And so he is the one who Hells the tri force of power while link has the tri force of courage and Zelda has tri force of wisdom. And so that is where the tri force comes.
Stephen:Yes. And anybody that's ever seen it. It's three different triangles and they usually have them as these mystical tattoos on their hands. And it's fantastic, especially in a link to the past where it starting at the beginning and the three triangles are spinning together until they form the big tri force on the screen. That was a big deal for me.
Steve:Yeah. I love that visual and it's just, it's become such an iconic symbol. That it's on. So many of your shirts it's on your wallet?
Stephen:Yes, it is on my wallet.
Steve:Yes. And in addition to the tri force another themes that go throughout it are often the forces of Dan for Ferrara or for Rory.
Stephen:I think it's for roar,
Steve:for roar and Nehru.
Stephen:Yes.
Steve:And I Ru.
Stephen:And they represent the virtues of courage, wisdom, and power, and, you know, they combined together to be nip a tent. And this series has been going on since 1986.
Steve:Yes. It's been going on as long as I have been.
Stephen:That's true. Hmm. But there are 19 mainline games and numerous spinoffs for this
Steve:numerous, numerous spin-offs.
Stephen:So that is legend of Zelda in general. Tell us a little bit about breadth of the wild specifically.
Steve:Yes. Well, this is a 27 teen action adventure game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo switch. And we Yukon salts, which when I remember when I read that, I was like, Oh yeah, it also came out on the way you ha
Stephen:well, it was originally developed for the, we, you, but it was taking so long to develop that they were like, you know what, we're cross releasing this just like they did. With Twilight princess.
Steve:Yes. And it certainly worked out really well for them in this case because it sold more than 1 million copies in the first month of its release. 925,000 of them were for the switch and it had a hundred percent attachment rate. And so I was not familiar with attachment and rates as much before this episode, you want to explain what they are for the.
Stephen:The centers, attachment rates are the people that have the console and also have the game. And what you're trying to look at with, if it's going to be a successful console is you want to have a, an attachment rate where usually an average is you know, in the first couple of years you see like a 3.5 attachment rate, which. Is saying that every, you know, people have 3.5 games for every switch console that they have. And so what this was saying was that everybody that had a switch also had the breath of the wild. And honestly, at the beginning, because the switches were so hard to get more people had breath of the wild, then had switched consoles because they went ahead and bought it. While they waited to get a switch.
Steve:Yeah. They had 2.7 million for the switch sold, which it came at the same time as the switch did. And it's surpassed this switch has global sales of 2.7, 4 million. So it's sold what's at 20,000 more copies of the game than it did of the system itself when it came out. So it just shows that it just was such a. You know, game changer. I mean, it got perfect scores all across the board and all of the reviews, whether it was a hunch out of a hundred or 10 out of 10 or five stars out of five stars, everyone was giving it really perfect score,
Stephen:which this is kind of the opposite of what happened with Twilight princess back when the, we, you was releasing because I or not, I'm sorry, not with you. Just the, we I. Stood in line all night in 16 degree weather in the snow to get a wee. And I got into Walmart that morning and they did not have any copies of Twilight princess, no place in Cincinnati had any extra copies. They had all been pre-ordered. There were more. Wheeze in Cincinnati, then there were copies of Twilight princess. Barry had to get me a copy of Twilight princess down here in Florida. And when I came down for Christmas, I got it. Then
Steve:I'm surprised you didn't make them over night.
Stephen:Well, the, so the weed came out on if I remember correctly, December 18th. So it was like one week.
Steve:Yes, but I mean you waiting one week for a Zelda game is still, we took off of work. For this game.
Stephen:I know, but also I think that I played it, Brady was living with me at that point
Steve:and I didn't play as much
Stephen:we played, but I think that we played a week of we tennis and we bowling.
Steve:Okay.
Stephen:Because if you had somebody else with you, that was just good time. And that little stinker. He was really good at we bowling. Okay. Back to this game.
Steve:Yes, it's set end of the Zelda timeline and the player controls link after he awakens from a hundred year slumber to defeat climate again, and then save the kingdom of high rule. One thing that made the gameplay itself notable is that it is nonlinear and fashion. So you can explore the world's freedom.
Stephen:Yeah. Like how I know that you and I play entirely differently with me. I went to explore every single inch of high roll. Like always, I want to look under that tree or not under in that tree, under that Bush, behind that rock, I'm going to explore it all where. You're a little more focused.
Steve:Yes I am. But I also am not the type where I, you know, one thing that you hear about these games, where people who go in right from the great plateau and zoom over and defeat Ganon in the castle. And I can't imagine doing that either. So, you know, I go through all the stories. I made sure I, you know, saved all the, you know, the four tribes and United everything and got all the shrines before I beat it. So I can get the. The true ending, which we'll get to, but I did not get as many chorocks seeds as you did, but by a lot,
Stephen:well, let, so it's very iconic the way this game opens and we actually have some audio with that. Do you want to share that with the listeners? Sure.
Steve:Yes. Cause this is actually very reminiscent of the opening of a link to the past.
Stephen:Yes, it is other games
Steve:where it starts with,
Stephen:well, almost every legend of Zelda game. Yeah. Opens with link in bed.
Steve:Yes. And it almost always does. And so with this though, this is one of the first times that you had that voice acting. That was just so iconic as his eyes are fluttering awake. You get to hear this. wake up.
Stephen:It was. I remember that we played it because we had to have a switch. So that day I was in one room. You were in the other so that we could each play on TVs, even though the switches portable. And we wanted to play the opening on TV. So you were in the bedroom. I was in the family room and I just remember.
Steve:Walking out on the grape plateau for me was just seeing the whole world or what you thought was at least had the whole world.
Stephen:Oh, the first time that you walk out of the shrine of resurrection and you go up to the peak and you see everything stretched out before you. Like cold chills.
Steve:Yes. And so we'll get into the specifics as we have the stories, as we go into the doc talking about the different plot points, but overall, you know, this is a unique in that you wake up in the bad guy already one.
Stephen:Yup. So, yeah, it's already. Post-apocalyptic high rule
Steve:a hundred years ago, you even were slain and put in the shrine of resurrection. So your body can heal while all of your, most of your friends are dead except Zelda. Who's trapped in Hyrule castle with and holding back calamity Gannon.
Stephen:She's using every bit of her strength to keep him from going out, beyond the boundaries of the castle. Right. And you don't have any memory of any of it. You are tabula rasa, a blank slate.
Steve:Yes. And so, depending on how you play, you either go through and meet everyone who was in your journey and their descendants and their tribes and reclaim the beast, you know, the, to help, you know, whittle down and save the world while also reclaiming your memories. Or you can be one of those people who just rush to the boss and beat it, even though you have no idea what happened. And also you'd have to be very sculpted the game play because I can't imagine doing it with three hearts.
Stephen:Yeah, yeah. No master sword and, and yeah. No, thank you. Yes. And so like, what you were talking about is that a hundred years ago, calamity Gannon was resurrected and. You had the four champions from the four different tribes, the Zuora, the Korans, the Rito, and the Grado and link was the chosen night of the princess. And the princess had her magical ceiling panel, which were
Steve:very hard for her to awake in. And she is some would say a woken too late almost.
Stephen:Yes. And yes. The six of them were going to be what pushed back Gannon as well as the use of the divine BESE. And then
Steve:the divine beast came to be because a thousand years ago, they somehow were a thousand times more,
Stephen:10,000 years
Steve:ago, 10,000 years
Stephen:ago. Wow. A thousand years ago, high rule was in advanced technological civilization and they had developed these autonomous guardians. That we're there to just protect link and high role in general, but link specifically when they were first going up against claim at a Gannon, and they also had the divine BESE, which were animalistic robots that could help destroy calamity Gannon, and they did. And you know, high role came to an era of peace. But over 9,900 years. Hi rule D evolved, which is strange
Steve:because it was never an issue gain and apply at least in terms of cut scenes that we watch. Now, we didn't like go back and re read every single library book and all the stables and in the castle and talk to every person for bits of lore. But we can't seem to recollect or have found anything explaining why they devolved over the time, unless it's this world. And it was because of like Trump or world war three.
Stephen:But you go from an advanced technical technological civilization to a medieval civilization and culture, and to the point where the guardians and the divine beasts were all buried. And so a hundred years ago that's when they started excavating and finding the divine BESE and the guardians, and you know, it, I have to wonder what a, what happened during that. And I mean, 900 years. And B if that hadn't happened and the divine Deece had still been around in the guardians, it's still been around, would what happened, still have happened or would they have been prepared and been ready? So I'm intrigued about what took Hyrule from technology and all of that too. A lack thereof.
Steve:Well, we know that there's a sequel coming up,
Stephen:so maybe they'll dive into some of that
Steve:because they said that the SQL is because when they were planning the DLC for this game, they had too many ideas of additional stories that they wanted to tell that were too big to put into the DLC. So they gave. A little bit less DLC than I had hoped to pun first release. I guess now they're saving things for breath of the wild too, which will hopefully be coming out in 2021,
Stephen:which I am okay with. So yeah, a hundred years ago they were getting ready to take it, to take the fight to Gannon that Gannon used his powers of malice and he took over the guardians and the divine beasts. Killed the four champions gravely wounded linked to where he had to be put in the shrine of resurrection. And all Zelda could do was go to the castle and hold him off while the country. Further just fell into chaos for another hundred years.
Steve:And so you wake up on the great plateau and that serves as the, you know, it's a floating Island. That is your kind of opening introduction to the game, your tutorial, so to speak. Yep. And so how does it serve as a tutorial for you, babe?
Stephen:Well, so it's really, really good in that way. You have a character legends on a likes to have a character. That will be sort of your assistant. You had Navi, which that was a really bad listen.
Steve:I mean, it was pretty bad to begin with. I mean, the lesson to begin with,
Stephen:but yeah. You know, like fi and Skyward sword and yeah. Well, and so in this one, you have this hermit that is also living on the great plateau. And what's really nice about the great plateau is you have areas where you're swimming. You have areas of forest and Plains and you have areas of cold. So you're getting a lot of M peaks and climbing. So you have a small microcosm of the whole world in this. So in your tutorial, prologue, With this, you're getting a small version of what you can experience in the whole game. And I love that idea.
Steve:Yeah. I mean, I think that they said it, you know, that, that are opening areas like larger than, you know, the entire high roll fields from Twilight or like from one of the previous students.
Stephen:Yeah.
Steve:And overall, the entire map rivals are, if not as larger than the one in Skyram.
Stephen:It actually is bigger than Skyram until, and I think there might've been a game recently that beat it, but for awhile there, the breath of the wild map was the largest video game map. In video game history.
Steve:Yes. And you sniffed every single part of it.
Stephen:I sure
Steve:did. When they did the hero's journey DLC in you, a Buddha did it up inside. It just is like a whole bunch of feet up and down and up and down or
Stephen:nothing down well, and something that was different about this game. Cause whenever you're playing any of the other games, you have soaring background music, especially with the big. Legend is not a theme that everybody knows. And you don't have that with this one.
Steve:Yeah. It's very quiet when you're, it's not in battle or, you know, insignificant events and shrines,
Stephen:ambient piano, you hear the wind, you hear trees, you hear animals. And a lot of people said, Oh, then it doesn't feel right. It feels boring with that. But. I actually really, really liked that
Steve:because I mean, every time that you were doing things, though, there were sound effects and you could hear it. It wasn't like you weren't hearing the things around you. It was its own soundtrack because he, when walking, you'd hear LINQ breathing, as well as hearing his feet, you know, crunch on that or the twigs or
Stephen:Russell near you. Yes. It felt more immersive that way, I think.
Steve:Yes. And that group, that great plateau is, was also a great introduction to the concept of strides, which replaced engines and being there was 120 puzzles in these shrines. And it's all centered instead of having you, you know, hundreds and hundreds or not hundreds, but instead of having about a dozen different weapons and items that can be used in different ones. And I remember a lot of times in past games, you might use it for one dungeon and then maybe once or twice later on, but not very much.
Stephen:Oh, yeah, there were definitely things like that. Especially if you go back to games like
Steve:you used the torch twice in the intro and then never again,
Stephen:there's the whole Cape where that turned you invisible and you know, there's some things that you're just like, Oh, they were just trying to fill up a map with an idea they had. Whereas in this game, you have
Steve:the ice blocks, which is the cryo Stacy's.
Stephen:Oh, yes. So let's talk about the, what makes this different in terms of. The devices that you have,
Steve:it's all powered by your Shika slate, which is in your chamber with you interdis from the technology of a hundred thousand years ago. Oh, that
Stephen:many,
Steve:10,000 years
Stephen:out and years
Steve:ago. So many zeros.
Stephen:Good thing. I'm the one that handles numbers for a living. Yes.
Steve:Thank you.
Stephen:So your Shika slate, which looks. Whether you're playing it on the, we, you or your switch. It's about the size of both controllers
Steve:and it looks like a switch.
Stephen:It does look like a switch because it's thinner. And in all previous to games, you know, you had a. Limited number of bombs you could carry and you either had to find them from enemies or buy them at stores. And this time bombs were done with your Shika slaves.
Steve:Yes. And you can control whether they were around or whether they were square. So depending on how you were needing to use them, and you see you had the ice, you had that you had that the freezing time Which not only like what phrase, a bad guy or a device, but as soon as you were attacking it, you could change this direction. Then it pushes up.
Stephen:That was really neat. The way that they did that, I appreciated that. And then you had Magnises.
Steve:Yes. Which is like you were Magneto. Yes.
Stephen:That's exactly what it felt like. And. If that helped you with a lot of puzzles and exploration because, Oh, I see something down in the water and use your Magnises and use, yank it out of the water over to the but then also some of the things that are metal you can pick up and you can slam them into your enemy.
Steve:Yeah. Where I'd be like Hulk smash and it's like, I'm throwing like, you know, a big metal container at them. So I think that it was brilliant the way that they did the four powers.
Stephen:I, I loved it so much and I hope that breadth of the wild two continues that. And maybe they'll even figure out like a fifth one to add.
Steve:Yes. Now, meanwhile, as much as I think the, those four were pretty much.
Stephen:Loves me. Yeah. Those
Steve:four were pretty much loved all around. There was a little bit more controversy in the gameplay element of the weapon system,
Stephen:right? So the weapons this time, You know, and I will say all previous Zelda games, you had a sword that you used, and that was your sword. You had a shield that you used, and that was your sheet.
Steve:Have you got a new shield that replaced the old shield? If you got a new sword or upgraded the sword,
Stephen:but be enemies with it from here to kingdom, come. And that's all there was to it, but all of a sudden you'll learn and breath of the wild that certain weapons only have a limited number of uses. And then they shot or in your hands.
Steve:Yes. Like some is weak, starting off as a tree branch, which can barely kill one modeling without breaking. You find yourself in this new world where you have to adjust. Now, of course, the master sword. They handled that pretty well. Where when you used it, it had a limited number of uses, then it kind of lost its power for a period of in game time before it recovered.
Stephen:Right. It was just a stronger sword still, but it wasn't the all-powerful master sword. Exactly. It did not break. So that was nice.
Steve:Yes. But I almost liked, I mean, to learn how to use the different weapons and find them, and it gave different place.
Stephen:I mean, and that's like, you go up against the. Most powerful of the enemies that you find out in the world, the line ELLs, and you would be like, okay, a, do I have enough weapons to go up against the Lenel? Because you know, you're going through at least two to three swords. To beat this thing.
Steve:Oh yeah. And I remember it came to the point where in my recent play through I, you know, where I got I'm about a fourth of the way through, I just beat Zora's domain. But at the one point where you had to find the lightening arrows and the line out, I was just like, ah, I'm just going to sneak around and grab the arrows that I need. And then leave because I was not prepared at that point in the game to take it on. I tried once or twice and I was like, okay, This is not worth it. I love this podcast, but not enough to kill a line all when I'm so under-prepared and have like four hearts.
Stephen:That's also something interesting. When are all previous Zelda games? You didn't see the game over screen that much. Yes. And this game though,
Steve:I can't imagine. Well, I mean, people do it with like the master run where they do it, where. It's super duper hard and they do it without dying. Like I imagine I died
Stephen:so many times and it like, in some of the times it was my own fault with trying.
Steve:Yeah. Find out more than you can chew
Stephen:or it's fine. You mentioned with the Magnises and the Stacy's things, or, you know, I was in a shrine and I was lifting something with a Magnises and I let it go. And I thought I had it spaced properly and this giant metal door fell and crushed me and killed me.
Steve:So I mean, good time.
Stephen:Yeah. Physics are really important in this game.
Steve:Yes, they are. To the point where they had a couple of physics based puzzles, where yet to move the system around and I always had to pass them to you. Those are not my favorite.
Stephen:Those needed a little bit of work. I will fully say that that was not the best, but the thing that was the best in this game is climbing.
Steve:Yes. Climbing was something that I love doing you love doing because they had so many different surfaces and you could literally climb everything in anything, you know, you ran right to Zora's domain because it had a big portion of the map that was wet, that you couldn't climb. And that was unavoidable to you. It
Stephen:was, it was like, wait, I can't explore because whatever's going on in Zora's domain is causing it to rain all the time. And that means that I can't climb and explore as much as I want to find work, getting rid of the rain first.
Steve:Yes. And so, well, I mean, climbing was something that, you know, they had geared to, again, the whole stamina bar was mostly not so much for running for me as being able to climb higher than you could climb it before.
Stephen:Exactly. And I mean, that was definitely whenever you were trying to climb. Like the twin peaks.
Steve:Yes. Yeah. And when you, yeah, or when you see the shrine and you can't climb it with your current stamina and so you can try and find a way or eat food to boost it up. And so climbing everything was great. And, you know, I almost wished that, you know, and I started with Zora's domain as well, but I almost wish I started with the retos just because of the super power of being able to. You use the, the Gale of wind to burst yourself up higher, made climbing so much easier. It did. Yes. But we've mentioned Zuora's don't mean twice or are you ready to talk about that?
Stephen:We can absolutely talk about that. What would you like to talk about
Steve:and the little crush that she has on link and by little crush, I mean, huge crush.
Stephen:Yes. And which is interesting because usually you think of Lincoln Zelda is a romance, but also if you look at some of the other games, the Zuora princess does usually develop a crush on link at some point. So MIFA having. The big crush and dying for link
Steve:and like creating the, her robes, the Zuora tunic furling link, which was usually a part of their traditional wedding ceremony. And she made it for link. And so it's hard to tell because Lank was the silent protagonist and, you know, in this game where he didn't really say much or give his heart one way or another, but he didn't really show any romantic feelings towards Zelda in this game either. No, my opinion. So I almost wonder whether he was a little fish.
Stephen:I see what you did there. Yes. And you know, in back in a hundred years ago, we had. Me, if it's a little brother side-on
Steve:it was in the prequel, so cute little baby side on, but even here inside, I was like, he's cool.
Stephen:Yeah. And well, we do get more of them a hundred years later where he's all grown up and internet fan bases, like to say that Lincoln side-on were boyfriends.
Steve:Oh, really? How so? I, cause I played through it and I didn't get that from the text other than the people just shipping them because. That's really
Stephen:cool. And I think that, yeah, I mean, you know, how fan bases get and creating ships. And so it was totally a link inside on shipping.
Steve:That is very funny. Yes. But I love that. I love that the divine beast of the elephant, the, the dungeon layout, I remember working pretty cool with a lot of the water puzzles and using the trunk to, you know, flood different parts of it with water and. I, I enjoyed the entire Zuora arc, both with the story, as well as the gameplay, the part beforehand, getting onto the beast where you were shooting the arrows and having to climb the water. Yeah. Fall.
Stephen:That was, and that was frustrating. Initially, whenever you're trying to get the hang of controlling side-on as a swimming around, and you're trying to shoot the arrows to take out the guardian things that are trying to keep you from getting. To the divine beast. I remember that took a little bit longer for me.
Steve:Yeah. I either got good between the first time. Cause I remember having that similar struggle or they made it easier in a later patch. And my second plate that were recently, I. Flew through it. Like didn't get hit once and just zoomed right up shot. The fourth thing is and hopped right aboard. So I really just, you know, from start to finish the, you know, the hunting with the line, all to get the arrows, when you go crazy and kill them you know, it was just a great
Stephen:art and it absolutely is. And you mentioned the divine beast and calling them Dungeons. And I would say that the divine beast. Are as close to a traditional Zelda dungeon as you get in this game.
Steve:Yes. Cause you know, it's lay out is different, but I mean, it does start with you getting the map. In which, you know, the compass is already installed into the map because of your technology. Yeah, but I mean, that's the similarity between traditional Dungeons and the BESE. But a lot of them do use different mechanics and layouts normally accessing all the different trends in the real place, complicated throughout. So you're trying to activate them all one by one, but I really enjoyed all that. The divine beasts Dungeons pretty much some of them were harder than others.
Stephen:Absolutely. Like I think the Rito won where you had to go outside as you were flying. I think on some of it. Yeah.
Steve:I remember. And even during the research, a lot of people feel that Daruda one was the hardest yeah. With the camel
Stephen:camel, which also was a really neat shape of the thing as well.
Steve:It was a really neat, neat shape. And I loved the buildup for that as well. Going around on the, the S the sand lions. Yeah. Yeah, we're getting ready for the battle, but yeah, that was a very hard challenging one. I spent a lot of time in that
Stephen:dungeon. Now, one of the things that is similar between all legend of Zelda games is that there is one village that is in every game.
Steve:Co Curry. Nope. No, just kidding. But that is a very common one. You do get to see it in the pre-call.
Stephen:Yes, no, it is Kaka Rico. Yes. And which until this game I had been mispronouncing it. Why
Steve:did you say, cause I think I said the way you said it, but now I can't even remember it.
Stephen:So I always thought it was
Steve:no, I never thought I was that just kidding?
Stephen:No, I like. It just made sense to me how it was written out, that I was like, Oh, co-care echo village. And it wasn't until this game where they were like Kaka Rico. And I was like, Oh really?
Steve:Yeah. I think I always called a Cocker eco or something similar to that,
Stephen:but not me. I was always
Steve:a Kericho that's funny, but yes, that, that village where you meet impa.
Stephen:And so that one in, in this game, it is very ancient Japan. Cherry blossom influenced with the design of the people's clothing, as well as the houses and the layout and things.
Steve:Yes. Aging also works very interesting and higher up.
Stephen:Well, yes, the whole 100 years thing where. Side-on was a toddler a hundred years ago, and now he looks like he's 18.
Steve:Yeah. Or I mean, input who is like this tiny little, but like, I mean, just in general humans, don't normally get as little when they get all. Can you imagine being like pocket size, just being able to pick all your residents up and just carry them around.
Stephen:That'd be easier to deal with them whenever we're like no pandemic stay in your room.
Steve:Yes. Wear a mask.
Stephen:So After Zuora's. And w you started talking about the Garrido? Yes. And one of the things that we see with the Grito storyline yeah.
Steve:Set the internet of buzz. When it came out,
Stephen:is Lincoln drag.
Steve:Yes. He was a fierce, fishy queen, except she wasn't fishy at all because he barely passed.
Stephen:Oh yeah. It was not good drag.
Steve:Yeah. It was one of those rumors and they were like, hello, feather, like. Hello, fellow lady come inside. Our ladies only kingdom because you look so lady that I I'm just like, well, I was gonna say, cause I mean, it was a luck, but it was very funny. The number of different means and Jeffs and things like that you saw on the internet with it. Well,
Stephen:the best thing about the Grito story arc is the champion from a hundred years ago are both soft.
Steve:Yes. She was probably one of my favorite champions.
Stephen:She was my favorite champion and. Actually my favorite character in the whole game. I loved her personality. I loved her strength. I loved how she was a mother figure to Zelda, but she kind of also knew the measure of things between Lincoln Zelda. Especially if you watch the memory where she was like talking Zelda was asleep, she was talking to Lincoln. She was like, I think I'm going to put you guys together romantically and yeah. So I really, and she was a bad-ass and that's one of the things that I liked, like about the legend of Zelda series is, you know, in some of them, EMPA is the leader of the Shika tribe and she's a bad-ass or then. In aquamarine of time, you have Sheik herself, which is who is this bad ass Ninja.
Steve:She was trained by MPAA wasn't Shane.
Stephen:Yeah. And now you've got, or bossa. And in any of the high rule warriors games, all the females are, bad-ass like, they do a really good job of even though you have to. Save the princess save the world. There are strong female protagonists in these
Steve:games. Yes. Correct. And with that even little redo was quite the character with her helmet.
Stephen:Yes. And like, And I
Steve:always loved the idea of like the germination, cause it always is this female powered nation throughout all the games where it's been,
Stephen:but also in some of the games, that's where Gannon comes from. He was raised by the Gudo tribes.
Steve:Yes. Well, if you were like a little boy being raised by a million women, I can only imagine what that was like.
Stephen:One of the things that I thought was fascinating with the physics and weather of grotto, because it's all desert. So during the day you have to have special clothing. So you don't. Overheat. Yeah. But then whenever nighttime comes, it gets too cold
Steve:and that's like deserts in real life.
Stephen:I love how they did that. And clothing is a big part of this game, whether, you know, Like you were saying special clothing for climbing. Then you have special clothing for weather, winters and special clothing that keeps out the heat on death mountain or special clothing to let out the heat. When during the day in the desert, I love. That aspect of everything.
Steve:I loved it because in one of those towns, you can use the dye shops, you got to make everything right. Purple
Stephen:link. We're all purple clothing in my game. And it was amazing.
Steve:Yeah. And when you weren't using it for utility, you got to also just dress them up in different facts,
Stephen:which was great. And I did the same thing in age of calamity as well.
Steve:Yes. And so you can either do your. Wardrobe for that. But another new thing for this is there was literally a million collectibles which was like similar to, I remember an Skyward sword, how there were a lot of collectibles, but those I remember ever talking to picked it up for the first time in awhile. And it gave you the notification,
Stephen:not for the first time in awhile. It was like every time I was like, I know what five rupees does. Thank
Steve:you. Yeah, no, this was perfectly done, but you can take pretty much like, you know, the wood from the trees. You can use Flint and you can make fires. You can, you can build a house and build a house. You can get. Animal parts to build potions and you know, meals. Well,
Stephen:I was going to say cooking as a huge part of this game,
Steve:and then like you eat the things for the benefit. And so
Stephen:there's not, you don't find hearts in the world in this game, like you did in every other game. Like you could chop down a Bush, Oh, there's a heart, kill an enemy. There's a heart that didn't happen in this game. The only way to regenerate. Is through fairies or cooking. So that
Steve:varies or they, they don't have half the ferry fountains that they used to. Sure. Don't and so it's really just a matter of you finding either an Apple to, you know, get a quarter of a heart or you could find a fire where you can throw it in and make it a baked Apple for a little bit more.
Stephen:Or you had to be careful with your cooking so that you don't make something poisonous that actually. Hurts you.
Steve:Yes. Which is just, you really want to just think of your ingredients.
Stephen:Yeah. It was like, it's hard to make something, I guess it's easy to make something bad in the game, but if you actually think about what could go together, it's not that hard
Steve:when it's just like, I want to put the, you know, mushrooms with, you know, a poison toad. Yeah. Oh, it said disaster. I'm so surprised.
Stephen:Now, one of the relationships that I really liked, and it was also, again, one of the previous hundred year ago, age of calamity champions was the Gore on and link. And you don't, you probably didn't get this as much as I did because I grew up with the show, but You know, Baruch is always hitting him on the back and calling him little guy. And he was like, Oh, a little rock. And it reminded me of skipper and Gilligan from Gilligan's Island because skipper was always hitting Gilligan and calling him little buddy. And so it definitely had a skipper Gilligan relationship between Daru can link and all the flashback memories. And I really enjoyed that a whole bunch. And. You know, personally for me, other than side-on. The a hundred year ago, champions, I greatly preferred over the current day replacement champions.
Steve:Yeah. I was not a big fan of, you know, Bo especially cause it just seemed like a whiny wimp. But before I get into that, yes, I, I mean, and is there a recall, sir reminded me a lot of the room yet from Ocarina of time. Right. As well. So, you know, rewatching it back. I like his personality, but I'm because of the high road warriors game is a little bit racist against Korans.
Stephen:Because they're bad fighters in the game.
Steve:The not necessarily bad because I'm sure that there are people out there who love fighting as them, but they were just big and clunky and not easy to control. And when I was doing the exploring maps, you know, and you got to a point where you had to beat a level as a powered up You know, it was just like, I was like, Oh, I don't want to, he's just so hard to be things with. Cause I was just never good at him and because I'm not good with them ever, like even in this game, I was like, ah, they're going to be just like the ones in the warriors. And then when I played the warriors games, I was like, Oh, they're just as bad.
Stephen:I did not care for. You know, in the age of calamity game at all. Yeah. The roof was
Steve:better than like in the past. Right. Like, but I mean, it just,
Stephen:actually, I preferred to Deruni from the first high road warriors game than the root and age of Columbia. Yes. Well,
Steve:either way my experience with using them in battle, then making prejudice against them. It wasn't because of how they look. Yeah. It was more of just how they fight. But I did like the, the lizard beast was cool. And in terms of lava areas, That was a really interesting way that they did it where it wasn't like you were trying to conquer that piece as much as get to the beast and required a lot of like interesting stealth puzzles that you don't see a lot of in the game. Really outside of that and the, when you're going into the Yakuza clan, right. Not Yakuza, but you got clan
Stephen:and you said your crew. So I was like, yep. That's absolutely right.
Steve:It's basically the same thing.
Stephen:But one of the things that I really liked is. So the graphics in the game look like a painting a lot of the times. Yes. But then some
Steve:water color
Stephen:painting, watercolor painting, but some of the things like fire and stuff like that, they did so beautifully. And I think that's one of the things, reasons why I liked this garage area better than any garage area in the past that it just. Felt more alive and that they were living harmoniously with the lava and the rocks. And I really liked how this was set up. And I think I can say that for every area is that it all felt like each area and each civilization was fully immersed in living with their territory and stuff like that. But yeah. Do you, don't you feel in some of the other games, this one, they put a lot of thought and care into it.
Steve:Yeah. And I mean, I love in the, even the Rudow village, you know, how you could tell that it's made for birds mostly because so much of it is not. As easy to walk in navigator and almost like its own puzzle, but it makes sense if you're in a city of birds for it to be like that. While in the past, I remember like an Ocarina of time the Goran city, it was like, Oh, I hate going anywhere. And it was always hard to find stuff. Right. But in this one, it was the Rudo village was a little bit difficult to traverse, but I loved the area and the. The champions. I had fonder memories of the previous champion than the new one as well. TBI. Remember, it's just like I met my masters dad. So I'm emo bird
Stephen:pretty much, but Tiba, wasn't this one. And then Rivoli, you have one of the biggest assholes ever in gaming.
Steve:See, and it was interesting because like at first, when I like saw clips of him, it like, in some of them in the ma the basic memories that you see in his storyline, he just almost seems like he's like, Super competitive or like anything I can do, you can do, I can do better. But it was like, when you see all of the memories back to back, you're like, wow. Like he went from being just like a little bit of a competitive arrogant guy to like he's a little bit of a Dick.
Stephen:Yeah. I mean, that's pretty much. He's more arrogant and competitive, but kind of just a Dick.
Steve:Yes, but I, like I said earlier, I love his power. It shoots you up into the air, so you can either use your parachute to help fly places farther than you normally would be able to without it. So it helps with exploring so much. Never really used it so much with the fighting and, you know, I've seen videos of people like using it and then pumping up and then shooting arrows and the line ELLs, like eyes and stuff like that. But it definitely was easy or to explore the world once I had his power. So it was interesting that he has was the fourth one I got. So I was already like done with all of them.
Stephen:Yeah. And you know, you do get the master sword. And this game and you go to the lost woods per usual. Ever since I went to the past created that. That's pretty much where you go. Those are your master sword.
Steve:Yes. I want to say this is probably my favorite one since linked to the past,
Stephen:because this was a really well done, lost woods where it felt hidden and. Like mist and
Steve:trying to figure it out based off of the trees and the distance and the camera angle was just a unique way of doing it. Cause even when Ocarina of time did it, it was very much like them trying to take the, you know, up, down left, right. Options in a maze. And trying to put that into a 3d environment, but it pretty much was still, you go, right. You go left. But like this one, it was, it was not as simple. It could be, you could be going Northeast and, you know, you know, five o'clock or whatever, a clock. And then it could be, you know, 11 o'clock the other way. And then four o'clock that.
Stephen:And if you go too far off the path, then you're back
Steve:to where you were. Good point. So I thought that the forest was done beautifully. And then when you get there, you get to meet all the. Little core ox. You've already found in the great deco tree.
Stephen:The deco tree is done really well. And I was severely impressed with, I mean, everything, but like the animation on the deck, your tree this time, it felt like a mixture between like the trash heap from Fraggle rock and like the giant tree, the way the mouth and everything. So well done.
Steve:It was very well done. I would say he's my second favorite deco tree, because the one from Ocarina of time, with the way that that's the first dungeon and just the, the, he talked a lot more, I feel like, and you were like literally inside of him. So it just, I feel like that one was probably my favorite deco tree, but this one was awesome too.
Stephen:And one of the things that I liked about this was to get the master sword. You. In the previous games. Oh, you have to get the three pendants and then you qualify. But in this one you have to have enough life to be able to do it where you 13, 13 hearts, because as you're pulling the master sword out, it starts killing.
Steve:Yes. And so you have to be strong enough heart, you know, you're strong enough or being worthy enough as measured by your hearts.
Stephen:Yeah. And so that was definitely interesting that, you know, if you try to get it before you're technically ready use dead.
Steve:Yes. Well, I mean, it doesn't also surprise you. It does, you can see when you're doing it. So if you're like, I knew when I was trying it at nine hearts, I was like, Nope, way too soon. So I didn't ever actually got to the point where I killed myself, but I did, you know, before, because I didn't want to Google a lot of it. Cause I want her to be surprised. Right. And so. You know, I wanted to, I, you know, I did go back a couple of times to see if I was there yet before I was ready. And
Stephen:one of the areas that you make your way around, a lot in the game, but you never go near because it's foreboding, it's dark. It's dangerous. It's high roll cast.
Steve:Yes. But no matter how long you spend in higher rural your journey and there,
Stephen:yes. You have to go to Hyrule castle. Which means you have to get through castle town, which looks different than any other time you've been in Castletown because this one has been destroyed by guardian.
Steve:Yes, it is just absolute ruins. I don't remember like a single building that was still standing and makes like the last of us part two, which I've been playing, you know, it looked like a very populated post-apocalyptic area in terms of building design.
Stephen:Yeah. This is. Ravaged it's ravaged. It does not give you feelings of joy and happiness
Steve:to go through a whole bunch of guardians to get anywhere near the cap.
Stephen:And then you have to go through a bunch of line ELLs to get further into the castle
Steve:Syrian site. That's all filled with Lynelle's and with mob lens. And it's quite the challenge, but that's because it's the final dungeon. And it is the one I would say is the closest to actually being like a full. Fall on dungeon because while there's no puzzles to it, it, the puzzle itself is like finding your way around, especially if you're trying to explore and find everything.
Stephen:And there actually is a shrine inside Hyrule castle for, so for most people. That's the last shrine of the game that they deal.
Steve:Yes. But it also is a very important shrine because if you ever wanted to leave the castle and go back in and not have to worry about, you know, going through all the death and destruction and running and jumping and avoiding guardians or wasting your, you know, stuff, killing them, you have to, you can just teleport right back in
Stephen:and out. And now one of the things that we forgot to mention on that was important. In the game is, you know, you're going around, you're killing all these big things, but then, you know, every three days, there's this thing called the blood moon and it's creepy whenever it first happens. And Zelda comes through your mind with telepathy letting you know, because of Gannon and the blood moon. Everyone that you've killed previously is back to life. So even if you've killed like giant line files and stuff The stall, mob Mullins and the Henry Knox and they're all back.
Steve:Yeah. Yes. And you can see it coming in the sky, but I mean, the first time that it happens, you're like, what is this what happened? But even while
Stephen:you're doing a feeling of dread when it happens too.
Steve:Yes. Because especially once you know, it's coming, you have to be worried about where you are, because you imagine if you know, what, what was your worst time to blood?
Stephen:So I had I think I was up. On one of the snowy peaks there was the maze that was up there in the top of the snow. And I had just killed the one L that was outside and I didn't have much stuff left blood moon hit. And he came back and I was like, okay, I gotta run.
Steve:Yeah, mine was the Lynelle and the Coliseum because I had finally cleared them out. And because you're in this like little enclosed area, I didn't notice it as much that it was coming. And then I'm like, great, he's dead. Now I can finally explore. And then he came and yeah. I was like down to a couple of hearts and it didn't end well for me, but yes, the blood moon was a great idea to put into the series to keep things going so that no matter what, you always have enemies in the world, you can't explore the whole world in three days time. So if you finish an area and you come back to it later to find something else, it's not like you're walking through an empty world, it's still populated with new enemies
Stephen:and you do need some of the items from the larger enemies, like the hinge boxes and things too. Sell or to make things or first class requests and stuff like that. So it's nice that they do come back so you can go back and farm those items again.
Steve:Yes. Exactly. So with high real castle, though, as you're in there, you know, that is the, the final dungeon. And with the story you're exploring the castle, there was so much to explore. I was also surprised how big the castle was, because you could pretty much like figure out, like if you make it to like the biggest toppest part and then just go down from there. That's how I did it when I wanted to find the bus. But in terms of exploring, there's like dozens of coreq seeds around and. It's so much in like so many different rooms and the different diaries I found out, you can read later on that I went back to so,
Stephen:and the different rooms were fascinating. I remember that the library really sticks in my memory of how beautifully that was done, even a ravage to library
Steve:and how it created this almost kind of like maze around it to navigate it, but you could still see everything that once was and how a battle could have done it. Like you saw like the bookcases that were knocked over. And it was really well done. I agree.
Stephen:But so the point of getting to Hyrule castle is to get to calamity Gannon. And if you have been playing for a completion and you have rescued the four divine beasts and they're back under your control. The good thing is when you go up against calamity Gannon, they all fire at him and take away half of his health life. So it's like the game rewarding you for playing properly.
Steve:Exactly. And just correct me if I'm wrong, but that means that be eating each one individually destroys one eighth of his life.
Stephen:So that would be what I would assume. I actually haven't looked that up bad me, because if you think about it
Steve:because there's four of them and
Stephen:they took off 15%. So it would be 12.5% per divine beasts. But then there's also the potential that if you don't get all four and you let's see you do the three and you go for it, maybe nothing happens.
Steve:I don't know. I'm pretty sure it's like each one fi I don't, I don't know that we'll have
Stephen:to, should've looked that up.
Steve:I was going to say, but if you're going to be exploring one, why not explore them
Stephen:online? I know, I know. I'm I definitely had never felt the need to go straight from the. Great plateau to Hyrule castle at all.
Steve:Yes. Now speaking of the game, we also, with the ending, you fight Gannon, the calamity Gannon down in the basement of the high Royal castle. And that fight. I remember being really cool, like, you know, going in with all of your powers have gone up
Stephen:and it was really well done. And what I really liked. About the design. Was there use of the color palette from the water color world mixed with what looks like some technology colors. There, there are shades of white and things to create the different fire. It was so beautiful.
Steve:Yes, it certainly was. And then when you beat him, he turns into a giant pig monster out in high fields,
Stephen:dark beast Gannon, and. That's where you're out there and you are on horseback, you've got the bow and you're shooting and hopefully you've been practicing.
Steve:I was not,
Stephen:I hadn't practiced as much as I should have either.
Steve:Yeah. I remember that being hard just because I was not very skilled with the bow and arrow on the horse.
Stephen:Correct. Me too.
Steve:But when you beat them eventually and they all live happily ever after, except everyone that was already dead.
Stephen:Correct. And if you had gotten. All 13 of your hidden memories and you get a secret ending where you and Zelda head off. To start fixing high role and building it back up and making it a better place for everyone else.
Steve:Yes. And in that little bit, you're actually on your way to the Zuora kingdom. And you're planning to tell the King stories about, you know, in their journeys that the King might not be aware of. So it just shows that the story continues on.
Stephen:Yes. So good. It was one of those games where you finish and. You really appreciated the time that you spent in it, because it is a fully realized world and the game is whatever you make of it. But what I made of it was a lot. Yes. And I felt that I explored everything. Something that they explore a little bit in this game is romance between link and Zelda, which. Well, everyone always assumes that Lincoln Zelda have a romantic relationship, but that is not always correct. It's always professional. It's sometimes platonic, but it actually is rarely romantic.
Steve:There is an exception you found,
Stephen:right? Exceptions like Minish cap which was done for the game boy advance. And it is done by Capcom. Was one where it was pretty much a love story where link definitely had feelings and wind Waker Tetra, you kind of do have romantic feelings for Tetra, and it's kind of explored that way. And in spirit tracks, which is one for the DS there it is talked about and at least hinted as well. One of the great things is in Skyward sword is where they set up the mythology that their souls are bound to one another. And should the tri force ever be out of balance? The tri force in the universe will find a way to reincarnate a link and a Zelda. To grow and to put the world right again. And I liked that idea that they, you know, they've made that Canon as part of the games and mythology now.
Steve:Yes. And I like that it doesn't always have to be romantic and that it usually isn't because I, I ship him and me, if not more here than I do here in CELTA. Yes. And do you have any bits of fun trivia? My love.
Stephen:So there are different things like in the game, you can tame and ride any horse that you find. You can also tame you while you contain bears, a moose, a deer. You can briefly tame, LNL. You can also Tame skeletal, undead horses. But if you try to take those to a stable, the stable people will freak out and say, you can't come in here while you're riding around on a skeleton, which I thought that that was really clever and interesting. So, you know, we were talking about. Cooking and things like that. If you're on death mountain, because it's so hot, if you from your inventory drop a piece of raw meat, it immediately cooks when it hits the grill.
Steve:Oh, I didn't realize that.
Stephen:And if you are in up on the mountains where it's snowing and it's cold enough it will automatically freeze the meat as well. What does that do? That just, it's a different thing. I think when you're trying to make. Food to cool you down so that you can eat that whenever you're in the desert. Okay. Like things that the enemies kind of learn with the knocks. If you shoot the knocks in the eye two times in a row, it will start blocking its eye so that you can't be that that way. And I thought that that was definitely an interesting thing that the games in the past don't show the enemies. Learning from how you're playing Some of the areas in the enemy camps have metal boxes. And if you shoot those with the electric arrow, it can electrify and shock everybody in there. Ball marrows don't work in the rain, but if you take out a bomb arrow, And on death mountain, it explodes automatically in your
Steve:face. I remember doing that by accident
Stephen:one. Yeah. And I think that that's one of those fun physics things.
Steve:Yeah. They made so much of that physics in this
Stephen:game. Really cool. Like we've said that you can cut down trees and you get wood. But if you cut down a tree with a flame blade, it doesn't give you what it produces an automatic campfire,
Steve:which is really cool. Yep. And any last bits of fun facts before we go onto our wishlist for breath
Stephen:of the wild to, Nope. That is it.
Steve:Yes. Well, I would say that the gameplay is so great and using the same engine, I don't really feel like they need to really change much of the gameplay, but I would want to see a high roll that is more filled out, that you can see. That they've made progress, even if it is, you know, I hope that it's far enough in the future where they might have some of these places starting to rebuild and having people gather together again. And
Stephen:that was all destroyed and empty. Have that be where some of the soldiers and the military are in camps have castle town be rebuilt so that you have something outside of. High roll castle and definitely things like that. And maybe a couple new villages pop up somewhere in the map. I would love to see things.
Steve:Yeah. And I think that, I mean, if they make cause so much of the, you know, the w. The divine beasts were already underground before they were brought up. Like who's to say, what else might just come up from being excavated? Or if something is coming up from below from the technology that reawakens as part of the plot, they could change the entire topography of certain parts of high roll with that as well.
Stephen:Right? Like the Shika towers all popped up. All around the world. And so what's to say that they don't unlock something and these temples don't pop up everywhere
Steve:too, which would be cool. Yes. Yes. And so overall I think that this was an amazing game experience. Definitely. If you own a switch, it's a must play. It often is like a great entry into it and certainly is enough to sink into it, to almost make it worth the system cost itself. Yes.
Stephen:I would agree with that. I, I would say it's worth the price of admission.
Steve:Yeah. Yes. And overall, I just really like it. So any final thoughts from you? My left
Stephen:eye, as soon as we get a release date for breath of the wild too, I do plan to replay it in its entirety. I'm very excited about that. After playing age of calamity, it got me really excited to play it again as well. Talking about it here today. This is just a game that has only good memories for me. It was a happy time playing it and I look forward to playing it again.
Steve:Yes. And I eventually will go back to it. I think once I finished my run doing Eagle guards, route and fire emblem, I plan on picking up where I left off on it last time from Zora's kingdom and going from there over to the route of village.
Stephen:Memories.
Steve:Yes. So hopefully it is, this has made you happy listening to it and stay tuned next week for another great topic. We are going to be covering beetle juice.
Stephen:Yes we are. Which is one of my favorite eighties movies of all time. And also where a lot of people were introduced to the genius. That is Catherine O'Hara who everyone now loves from Schitt's Creek
Steve:because Moya yes. Yes. And it'll be an exercise in my happiness because I came into it as an adult. And so I'm going to really take a happy approach to it this time, because I was not sure what I was watching the first time.
Stephen:I love it. I think you will enjoy it.
Steve:Yes. And I think that, especially once you know what it is, you're going to be watching, you'll earn more prepared for it with a movie like that. Yes. All right. Yes. And so you can join us in our conversation on our Facebook page.
Stephen:Yes. You can find us at facebook.com/happy life pod. You can interact with us on our. Personal pages. If you are friends with us there, you can find us on Twitter and Instagram at happy life pod. We make it easy for you people.
Steve:And you can go to our website, which is under construction right now. So you can go to our Buzzsprout one, www dot happy life, pod dot Buzzsprout B U Z Z S P R O U t.com.
Stephen:Or you can also email us if you have an idea for. An episode or you want to take part in a conversation with us, you can email us@happylifepodatgmail.com.
Steve:And until next time everyone
Stephen:stay happy.