I played a little more Zelda BOTW tonight. I don’t really understand what I’m supposed to do next. The old man told me there’s these shrines where I’m supposed to find more stuff, and then he’ll let me have his glider so I can get off the plateau, but I still don’t know where any of the shrines are. I’ve looked on the map for likely spots, and haven’t turned up anything yet.
So, instead, I’m just wandering about the map semi-aimlessly. I keep finding stuff to pick up for my inventory, but most of it I don’t really know what to do with. Lots of different plants and such that I can cook and heal myself with and do other things. I’ve found a few fires, and a few cooking spots where there’s a bowl that I can throw ingredients into. I have made a few things, but I don’t really know what I’m doing, it’s all just guesswork.
I have encountered several bokoblin camps, and cleared them out. They’re pretty poor at combat, so it’s not hard. I don’t need to use my shield to beat them without getting hurt, which means I’m not learning how to use my shield. I’m also not learning how to target an enemy with focus, and at this point I’ve forgotten how to even do it. I just run up and button mash, and run away while they attack, and their attacks are ridiculously telegraphed, and their aim is terrible, so it’s easy.
I also figured out that they go to sleep at night, so you can sneak up and kill them with one hit before they wake up. Which, I’ll be honest, it’s cool and all, but it feels seriously evil to do it. These guys are ugly and hostile, but they’re so inept, they don’t really deserve to be murdered like this.
In my wanderings, I’ve found a few things of interest:
There are a couple of free standing pillars. I climbed one, and found a treasure chest on the top of it. I climbed another, same deal. So that’s a thing.
I’ve climbed trees and found eggs, apples, and honey. I found honey that was protected by bees, but I ran by a fire with my club out, my club caught on fire, an the fire scared the bees away, and then I could get the honey. That was pretty cool, and I discovered it pretty much accidentally.
I climbed up as high as I could, and it started to get cold, and I got warned that if it gets much colder, I’ll take damage.
I found a treasure chest sunk in a small pond, and figured out how to use my magnetism gizmo to get it out. At first I tried to swim to it, but I can’t figure out how to dive underwater, and I didn’t think I could lift it and swim with it anyway. I wondered if there was some way to drain the pool, but then I remembered my magnet thinger, used it, and it worked. All I got was some arrows, or a piece of amber, I forget which.
I don’t like the bow very much, because the aim is extremely finnicky, and I can’t make fine adjustments. The slightest nudge on the analog stick does nothing, and then a slightly more slight nudge suddenly throws me way off. I feel like the stick should be better calibrated than that, and I’m annoyed that it’s not.
Since archery is a major thing in Zelda games, I have a feeling I’m going to get really frustrated when it comes to doing things with the bow. (Note: I figured out later that there’s a setting in the game options that turns off aiming the bow with motion control, which helps considerably to making it easier to aim.)
I found a throwing spear, and so far it’s my favorite weapon. I don’t throw it, but it works really good for stabbing, is quick, decent damage, and good reach. I’m sure it will break and then I will be sad.
I found a wooded area where there’s this boar that I keep trying to hunt, but it takes more damage than I can deal with one arrow hit, and as soon as I hit it once, the fucker runs off, and I can’t keep up with him, and he ends up getting away. This has happened 3-4 times now.
Nearby the boar woods, I encountered a big stone guy who woke up, and killed me.
I also encountered a few of those “guardian” robot thingers among some ruined buildings. I’m too afraid to go near them for now.
I found the Temple of Time, in ruins, and found a statue, prayed at it, and it told me to come back when I found these orbs that I’m supposed to be collecting from the shrines. I’m like, “I know, I need to get the orbs. Maybe put up some signage so it’s easier to find the damn shrines?” The gods do not listen.
I found this little house that the old man apparently lives in, but he wasn’t there. I read his diary and stole all his food, and broke his pots looking for more loot. I feel like an asshole, not a hero. But it gave me a few clues about cooking. I feel Link should learn how to make friends with the bokoblins, who love cooking, and teach him how to cook. They’re only hostile until you bring them something to eat, then they like you and think you’re ok, and you can trade with them instead of killing them. That would be way more fun and awesome than killing them and looting things from their camps. Maybe someone of them would be hostile, and maybe you’d have to fight some of them, but it would be so much better if you could have more options on how you want to interact with them.
Like, I remember in the first Legend of Zelda, you’d occasionally meet a moblin who’d give you coins, telling you “It’s a secret to everybody” and there was that one Goriya who you had to offer monster bait to in order to get past him, instead of fighting him. So, in the same way, you could meet some bokoblins who are maybe suspicious of you at first, and will try to run you off, and you could react to that by fighting them if that’s how your instincts told you to act, but you could “arm” yourself with a piece of food, and wave it at them instead of waving a weapon, and they’d see it, and their facial expressions would change, they’d look curious and maybe a little hungry, and lower their weapons, and begin to approach you tentatively, and if you gave one a piece of your food, it would eat it and then he’d become your friend. And if you had enough for everyone, they’d all like you. And then you could talk to them. And you could keep being friends with them as long as you brought them some food each time you encountered them, but then if you didn’t have food for some reason, then they’d turn hostile. And maybe some of them just couldn’t be trusted, and would try to stab you in the back when you thought you were friends. That would give the game so much greater depth and sophistication, having encounters with characters who could become friends or enemies, and having a relationship with them that could dynamically change over a series of encounters.
You could still kill the undead skeletal ones that rise up at night, the true monsters in the game. If they want the bokoblins to be evil, they should actually be evil. All I see them do is dance around their campfires and go to sleep, and mind their own business. They’re actually kindof cute.
Once or twice I’ve seen small animals like squirrels, birds, a skunk (I think) and a small lizard. It seems like I should be able to do something with them, but I haven’t figured it out quite yet. I want to try to pick them up, once one got close to me and it seemed like I might be able to, but I wasn’t successful.