[quote="Willsaber"] I just hope it doesn't have [ispoiler]Fi[/ispoiler], haha.[/quote] Actually... [ispoiler]It kinda does. Not physically, but the sword does talk to Zelda in the final memory flashback, which can be assumed is Fi.[/ispoiler]

I beat it! I think I might try to replay it as quickly as I can [ispoiler](13 hearts + master sword, four divine beasts, ganon, nothing else)[/ispoiler] and then maybe try for a more complete run [ispoiler](as many of the shrines as I can get)[/ispoiler]. Also I have to agree with ZK, [ispoiler]the Hyrule Castle music is phenomenal. Wow![/ispoiler] I never did kill a [ispoiler]Lynel[/ispoiler] though lol. I can kill [ispoiler]Guardians, major tests of strength, and apparently even Ganon, but a Lynel has to be the toughest enemy in the game. I guess I technically killed one in Hyrule Castle, but I did it with an Ancient Arrow, so it barely counts lol[/ispoiler]

I finally ordered it, and I can't wait to play! Also, what's your guys's opinions on the voice acting in the game? I've seen snips of cutscenes and some of it I like, like Zelda's, but some of it seemed super off to me... But regardless I'm really happy that we finally get some voice acting in Zelda. At first I didn't really care, but now I see how much involved the characters feel to me with it.

I think the voice acting is mostly bad myself. I could've done without it.

I've played almost nothing but BotW since launch day, and I gotta say I can't recall a time I enjoyed a game so much. There's very few things I dislike about the game, exploring and playing at a slow-moderate pace rather than just blowing through feels incredibly rewarding. The only parts I feel could have been done better were the voice acting, which felt awkward or weak in some characters, and was almost too soft to hear at points. There's also the dungeons. Now the way they designed the dungeons this time around was phenomenal, and I'd love to see them expand on them in the future. My only issues with them is they're all basically the same thing - [ispoiler]Get the dungeon map, activate the terminals while manipulating the Divine Beasts, and then kill the boss. No real puzzles, very few enemies, and as big as they are on the outside they felt really small to me on the inside. Plus, none of them were themed real well outside of "inside of a giant machine", which was a bit disappointing to me, since I love the themed designs of Zelda Dungeons[/ispoiler]. None of this is too bad a con for me though and I still enjoy playing through them enough. Hyrule Castle was definitely the best one imo however. I'm currently on my second run. First time around I cleared all the shrines and it unlocked [ispoiler]the Cap, Tunic, and Trousers of the Wild, which are Link's classic green cap, green tunic and brown undershirt, and brown knee-length shorts[/ispoiler], which was a very great surprise for me since i love those :P I found about 80 Korok seeds but I was not aware that [ispoiler]you cold use them to expand your inventory on my first run <w>[/ispoiler] I've also found all the Fairy Fountains this time, and I've made it my goal not to die once this run and so far I've been successful :P I've cleared all the dungeons again and got the Master Sword, so all that remains is for me to get the last of Link's memories and then storm the castle; not gonna clear all the shrines this time lol

There's only one thing about this game that really disappointed me: enemy variety. I know, I know, the game already took them long enough to make, but seriously. Everywhere you go, there are [ispoiler]bokoblins, moblins, keese, chus, octoroks, wizrobes and lizalfos,[/ispoiler] and that's more or less it. Sure, that isn't exactly BAD enemy variety when it comes to open world games, and to be fair there are a lot of different variants on those base enemy types with a lot of different AI tweaks and special attacks and elemental properties, but...meh. I was by no means expecting it to feature EVERY enemy from EVERY mainline Zelda game EVER, but I was definitely expecting some of the more standard enemies, and more importantly, I was expecting more enemy variety between the game's different regions. I thought there would be dodongos and tektites in the mountains, various deku enemies in the forest regions, leevers and moldorms in the deserts, wolfos and freezards in the tundras, gyorgs and kargaroks out at sea...I could go on all day, but you get the idea. At least one variant on all of the enemies mentioned in the above paragraph appears in EVERY SINGLE AREA of the game (except for the Great Plateau), and no area boasts any special enemies that don't appear in other areas. At least, none that I've seen.

[quote="soopakoopa"]There's only one thing about this game that really disappointed me: enemy variety.[/quote] Bethesda games manage to have more enemy variety than Breath of the Wild. That fact speaks for itself, and BotW enemies are extremely underwhelming because of that.

[quote="Willsaber"][quote="soopakoopa"]There's only one thing about this game that really disappointed me: enemy variety.[/quote] Bethesda games manage to have more enemy variety than Breath of the Wild.[/quote] Is that accounting for a majority of Bethesda enemies being stat-shifted versions of other enemies? I really can't remember any differences between the enemies in Oblivion over "melee humanoid", "ranged humanoid", "spellcaster", "wolves", and "those blasted wisp things"

[quote="Magnemania"]Is that accounting for a majority of Bethesda enemies being stat-shifted versions of other enemies? I really can't remember any differences between the enemies in Oblivion over "melee humanoid", "ranged humanoid", "spellcaster", "wolves", and "those blasted wisp things"[/quote] I was thinking more of Fallout 3, NV, Skyrim, and Fallout 4.

[quote="Willsaber"][quote="Magnemania"]Is that accounting for a majority of Bethesda enemies being stat-shifted versions of other enemies? I really can't remember any differences between the enemies in Oblivion over "melee humanoid", "ranged humanoid", "spellcaster", "wolves", and "those blasted wisp things"[/quote] I was thinking more of Fallout 3, NV, Skyrim, and Fallout 4.[/quote] None of these are any better. BotW and Bethesda games both suffer from a lack of enemy variety.

Glad I'm not the only one who feels that way. When I watched the E3 footage, I was really worried about the enemy variety. Aside from a few rare enemies all I saw were bokoblins, keese and chuchus. And after watching Vinny play a few regions, my worries were confirmed. I guess the main reason for this is that Nintendo wanted each enemy to be interesting. They each have their own behavior, weapons and set of drops. It would be difficult to develop a lot more while keeping them as dynamic as existing enemies. Regardless, I would've loved to see some old classics like Armos, Peahat, Tektite or Vire. Or even just some basic ones like Ropes and Rats.

Well, I'm just glad there's no Like Likes. The enemy variety, or lack thereof, never really bothered me, though it would've definitely been nicer to have some more variety. I did enjoy how the Molduga was unique to the desert. In general, the desert felt very distinct. Would've definitely been neat if other areas felt the same. Anywho, I just got done with the game. That final boss [ispoiler]really sucked. There's no sugarcoating it. It felt like a glorified guardian battle from one of the dozens of test of strength shrines I've been to, but that might be because there isn't particulary much depth to the combat. The second phase was frankly boring. You get your generic bow of light and shoot a seemingly stationary thing that's not threatening in the slightest. At least I wasn't let down as I knew what to expect, but still.[/ispoiler]

[quote="DJ Coco"]Well, I'm just glad there's no Like Likes. The enemy variety, or lack thereof, never really bothered me, though it would've definitely been nicer to have some more variety. I did enjoy how the Molduga was unique to the desert. In general, the desert felt very distinct. Would've definitely been neat if other areas felt the same. Anywho, I just got done with the game. That final boss [ispoiler]really sucked. There's no sugarcoating it. It felt like a glorified guardian battle from one of the dozens of test of strength shrines I've been to, but that might be because there isn't particulary much depth to the combat. The second phase was frankly boring. You get your generic bow of light and shoot a seemingly stationary thing that's not threatening in the slightest. At least I wasn't let down as I knew what to expect, but still.[/ispoiler][/quote] [ispoiler]Sad thing is that the final phase could have been really cool too. I mean, it plops you in a huge open field, why does it just sit there? It could have run all around so you had to aim while chasing it, that would have been SOMETHING at least.[/ispoiler]

[quote="Chaoxys"][ispoiler]Sad thing is that the final phase could have been really cool too. I mean, it plops you in a huge open field, why does it just sit there? It could have run all around so you had to aim while chasing it, that would have been SOMETHING at least.[/ispoiler][/quote][ispoiler]Yeah, the concept of being in an open field would've definitely allowed for an epic fight. Instead we got a little minigame of "shoot the targets" :/[/ispoiler]

I just got the game a week ago maybe, and it's been really awesome so far. Honestly my only complaints so far are the voice acting in some parts being way too soft, and how easily weapons break. I almost feel bad using my good weapons because of how quickly they shatter :/ Otherwise I've been loving it though! The storyline is a bit simplistic for a Zelda game, but I definitely like it still. I'm excited to see what the future of Zelda will be like!

3-month relevant bump. So after 110 hours I finally finished the game. All shrines, all memories and as much done as I possibly could. By the end there I was a Lynel killing machine, being able to take down the Silver Lynels with barely a scratch. I have to say this is hands down the best Zelda game I've ever played, possibly even one of the best games period. Not often I sink so many hours into a game and don't regret a minute of it. I was legitimately sad that the ride was over. I absolutely love the sense of freedom that you had in this game, it's something I hadn't felt since I originally played Wind Waker on Gamecube and realised I could indeed sail to any of the islands I saw dotted on the horizon. Other open world games have a lot to learn from Zelda. The story was basic but the story doesn't come from the actual storyline itself but rather from the world you explore. Finding ancient ruins buried beneath the ground or ruined villages with weapons scattered or going into the castle itself to find the King's diary and read the struggles he went through that made him seem so much deeper of a character than a bossy King. Even some of the small simple side quests tell more story that just go to fleshing out a world that was an absolute joy to be in. The Kakariko village sidequest involving the orb is a great example of a story that pulls some heart strings if you're willing to dig deep enough, or completing Kass's sidequests and finally getting him back to the Rito Village. Other things that I loved was being able to photograph and catalogue enemies, weapons etc. It's a personal love of mine to collect things like this in a game and it's great fun to be mid-battle and trying to line up the perfect shot with a white bokoblin. I have my fair share of criticisms which basically echo what a lot of people here thought. The dungeons could've done with some variety. It was nice to tackle them in whatever order you wanted (or not at all) but I would honestly prefer some dungeons that were more like the old Zelda dungeons. Also enemy variety was severely lacking. I don't mind the blue, black and white/silver variations, but the world was crying out for some Redead's or Peahats or Deku Babas etc. Still, this game has raised the bar so high for me, much like Ocarina did for the series back in the day. If they can recapture the same magic in whatever Zelda game comes next then I'll be a happy gamer.

So with the new DLC pack, the game has added the Master Sword Trials and Master Mode, along with a bunch of extra neat little things. So far... I'm not sure how I feel about Master Mode. It is definitely more difficult, for sure. Enemies start out stronger, but the weapons you find in the wild don't. So you'd best be prepared to go through a lot of tree branches fighting your first Bokoblin, and making headshots or stealth attacks has never been more important. This alone isn't too bad, but enemies also recover their health, and they start recovering [i]quickly[/i]. If you don't touch them for all of two seconds, the regen starts. This taxes your resources even [i]further[/i] and forces you to be aggressive when you get into an actual encounter. As soon as you have an advantage you have to press it, chasing down enemies you knock away with stronger hits to keep the strikes coming. Avoiding encounters with multiple enemies is paramount, but when unavoidable, you're actually encouraged to use your strongest weapons so that you'll do enough damage that enemies won't regenerate back to full immediately. Simply saving your best for last isn't efficient, and may end up costing more in the long run. Taking out snipers from a distance becomes a priority. Weaker bows become useless. Weaker [i]weapons[/i] become useless. To balance this out, the several floating platforms that have been added around Hyrule often carry treasure chests that bear powerful weapons with extra boons right out of the gate, even as early as the first few minutes. The trick is, of course, getting those chests, since being wood, they can be destroyed, and are often perched in places where simply shooting them down isn't much of an option either. Enemies on the platforms - usually snipers with powerful bows and elemental arrows, as well - can also raise them higher, out of your reach, if they spot you. This is all based on simply playing through the intro on the Great Plateau, by the way. I've seen quite a few deaths already. There's even a Lynel running around in the plains south of the Temple of Time, and yeah, just seeing it terrified the hell out of me since I knew at this early point I wasn't anywhere near ready to fight that thing. On the one hand, I definitely appreciate the increased challenge of the enemies starting a level higher than normal, adding snipers where once there would be none with the floating platforms, and encouraging taking on said floating platforms with their bounties. It encourages a more cautious, intelligent approach in a game that already requires one. I like it! But I don't like the enemy health regeneration. That part feels more like artificial difficulty by increasing the length of fights and the tax on your resources... which was already increased by the stronger-than-normal enemies to begin with. The fact that it happens so [i]quickly[/i] at that. I wouldn't mind it if it happened while the enemies [i]weren't[/i] in an alerted state - if you ran away from battle to regain your bearings, and then the enemies started regenerating health when they went back to doing whatever they normally do when not fighting you, that'd be fine. But mid-combat, simply because I haven't touched them for two seconds? When they start regenerating, even while knocked over and on the ground? People already have reservations with the breakable weapons, this just exacerbates the problem. I don't want to get in fights anymore. It's a double-edged sword. If you're looking for a greater challenge in Breath of the Wild, you'll find it, but at times it will feel more frustrating than legitimately challenging.

After doing the Trials of the Sword, I think it was a good idea but it wasn't done all that well since the difficulty wanes over its course, with them being horrid ordeals in the beginning and an absolute joke by the end. Spoilers for those who haven't done them yet. [spoiler]My first major issue is the difficulty ramping, especially in the Beginning Trials; you start out with mostly red enemies but immediately get bumped to black enemies a few rooms in. But ironically, the Beginning Trials do end up being the hardest, since you're given very little to work with (this is where the game reminds you that hearts don't mean jack crap without armor) yet are placed in the tightest spots, proportionate to your best-case equipment (especially the Lizalfos bridge on the water... I'd contend that this was the hardest room of all the trials). The Middle Trials start out rough too and then gets easy after the first three or four floors, but the Final Trials... oh my god do they [i]spoil[/i] you. The room with the horseback Stalfo Bokoblins is probably the only real major challenge here. You can get Flamebreaker Pants (which makes the lava rooms almost entirely pointless for their lava aspect, why not hide them in a sneaky chest in the lava rooms and otherwise make the players rely on making elixirs like they do for the ice rooms?), the elemental weapons from the Stalnox beforehand will make the fire and ice rooms a cakewalk since they can instakill elemental Lizalfos and stun the elemental Stone Taluses, rusty weapons can be inhaled by the Rock Octorok in the first fire room and potentially be upgraded to Royal-level weapons, you can find three fairies, there are ingredients for up to six full-health-recovery meals, and there are nine Ancient Arrows that are fairly easy to find (giving you enough to spare to make short work of the Silver Moblin and Lynel in the ice section whilst still plenty for walker/flying Guardians; you can just stun stationary ones with arrows to their eyes and spin2win them with good 2-handed weapons).[/spoiler]