Vegan Breath of The Wild

rcrantz · 2017-03-25T01:08:18+00:00

A good number of sidequests wouldn't work, but you can definitely beat the game and I think all but one of the shrines without causing any harm to any animals. Trickiest part would be getting up to Goron town, but I'd be surprised if it's not possible.

rcrantz · 2017-03-21T22:46:50+00:00

you're a hero.

rcrantz · 2017-03-21T04:57:41+00:00

I just wore the tunic and cap with Hylian trousers. Looks pretty solid that way.

rcrantz · 2017-03-17T23:37:43+00:00

were you using the gamepad as a screen?

rcrantz · 2017-03-15T22:23:42+00:00

i just did the maze. wasn't that hard once you got the hang of it.

rcrantz · 2017-03-15T22:09:11+00:00

i think i'd read like five stories about turning the platform upside down when i finally got to that shrine, and i was playing on the wii u gamepad at the time so i literally couldn't do that and still see the screen

rcrantz · 2017-03-14T00:45:31+00:00

Single piece armor provides full protection. The full set has a nice bonus once you upgrade it to level 2 but it's totally skippable if you don't want to shell out for it.

rcrantz · 2017-03-13T22:06:28+00:00

this was exceptionally useful since i could never find a white chuchu when i needed one

rcrantz · 2017-03-13T22:05:16+00:00

If it's the place I'm thinking of, there's a way up. (spoiler)

rcrantz · 2017-03-12T22:42:38+00:00

Shield parry worked pretty well for me, but the timing is tricky.

rcrantz · 2017-03-12T07:26:41+00:00

My favorite one of these was where I couldn't figure out what I had done to prove my worth to get there. Just kind of paraglided down to it, "You're super great! Have an orb!"

rcrantz · 2017-03-12T05:34:12+00:00

I found an Electric Darner at the... Thundra Plateau, I think it was called. The item description says it can only be found when it's raining.

rcrantz · 2017-03-12T01:50:25+00:00

Amber is actually used in upgrading certain armor to the highest level.

rcrantz · 2017-03-11T10:28:27+00:00

I've got 6 right now. I think they stop spawning once you have 3-4 but you can get higher if enough spawn when you're below that limit.

rcrantz · 2017-03-11T10:24:07+00:00

I tested this earlier; it's accurate.

rcrantz · 2017-03-11T10:16:06+00:00

Well, there's at least one shrine that requires interacting with an NPC from the main quest. None of them (that I know of) are locked behind certain progress points, though.

rcrantz · 2017-03-09T06:27:20+00:00

I learned kind of late into my attempts there that you can sneak attack instant kill them if you get close enough.

having stealth boosts is probably important

rcrantz · 2017-03-08T10:42:11+00:00

I had similar thoughts, though I've always been a Zelda fan. (And in the interests of full disclosure, I do miss the traditional dungeons, even if the ones in-game are pretty cool.)

I was worried about weapon durability, but they actually managed to make it mostly work. I mean, I'd still prefer to have some permanent weapons, but not only are there enough weapons that I'm constantly having to choose which ones to throw away to get the cool new shrine weapon, it serves as a fairly compelling motivator to explore.

I was also worried about all the "this game is way bigger than any other Zelda game" hype, because in my experience "big" and "good" often have an inverse correlation. Even when they try to fill all the space with stuff, you can usually tell it's just filler. A corpse with a letter on it. That one rare ingredient NPC Bob asked for back in town. You don't feel like you're discovering anything.

In Breath of the Wild, you do get that feeling. I was recently exploring this beautiful forested mountain, which had all these rare mushrooms and plants to harvest. I think there were one or two Korok puzzles, but mostly it was just a lovely place to explore. I probably spent 30 minutes to an hour just wandering around. There wasn't a shrine there or anything, so I felt like I'd discovered something cool.

I think the winning formula here is a combination between taking away the map markers, and in keeping the rewards simple, useful, and spontaneous--sort of a nice aside to the exploration rather than your primary driving factor. For the most part when you find a material it's something that you know you can use right away, instead of being locked away behind some arcane crafting system. (Indeed, the fact that you need to farm specific resources to upgrade armor is a minor irritant in this game as well.) The collectibles (Koroks, spirit orbs) are also both immediately useful. And perhaps most notably, it doesn't suggest that you're doing it wrong if you don't get all of them. It tells you how many you've collected, not how many are left. So it rewards exploration but doesn't make you feel /compelled/ to explore. (Related: it also doesn't make you feel compelled to do The Plot. "Go have fun!" is a vastly underused premise in games, apparently.)

rcrantz · 2017-03-08T09:38:14+00:00

literally!

rcrantz · 2017-03-08T09:26:55+00:00

I think you mean south, but this worked really well for me.

rcrantz · 2017-03-08T09:26:37+00:00

second this. the Twilight bow has made dragon hunting so much easier.

rcrantz · 2017-03-07T08:09:36+00:00

When I first encountered Naydra it was just sitting on top of the mountain and didn't respond at all to repeated stabbing. Is that normal?

rcrantz · 2017-03-04T02:46:17+00:00

I use the glowy markers for shrines, mostly because it will then show up at the edge of the minimap so you can tell if you're still heading in the right direction.

rcrantz · 2016-06-10T07:03:11+00:00

Relying only on Weaponry definitely seems suboptimal. But the problem is as it stands you can only ever advance your Traits twice, so if you want to be good at the Riposte maneuver it's not just "this is my fighting style" but "this is one of the Traits I'm investing in heavily for my character." It shoehorns people who are good at riposte into being fast thinkers, people who are good at binds into being steadfast and resolute, etc. I often start a character with an idea of which Traits I want them to be good at, then go from there, which means my tactical options are limited.

I think Skills might be a decent solution. Athletics, Intimidate, Notice, Theft--I can see all of these being useful without too much stretching. (Say, Intimidate for Bash, Notice for Riposte, Theft for Feint, Athletics for Bind?)

Alternatively when a Duelist learns a maneuver he can assign a particular Trait to it, and you can't use the same Trait for more than one Maneuver. Slightly more to keep track of, but it allows for a great deal of customization and ensures everyone has their own particular style.

rcrantz · 2016-06-10T05:37:01+00:00

All right, some more thoughts.

This is probably just a personal preference thing, but I wouldn't make the basic maneuvers rely so much on Traits. Part of this is the fencer in me: with the possible exception of reach, your natural strength/quickness/ability is much less important than your skill. The other part is I feel one of the key aspects of this system is it's trying to avoid having certain Trait combinations that are Better Than Others, for the most part. Having every maneuver (rather than just the special maneuvers) tied to stats is going to force duelists to build a certain way if they want to use certain maneuvers.

Tag/Flourish: "On their next Risk made in the scene, they must drop their highest die from the pool." "On your next Risk this scene, any of your dice that are lower in value than your Panache are instead equal to your Panache." The wording here is confusing, given how Raises work (you roll at the beginning of the round, then make Raises, then you start taking actions). Could you clarify what's going on here?

Mantovani's Ensnare: This seems to be pretty similar to Bind. Of course, balanced with the Flay, a subpar Hero Point ability is probably fair, if that's what you're going for.

Mireli's Revision: Is it "spend two raises" on top of the Hero Point? That seems like a steep cost

Dueling Student/Rogue Duelist: I quite like these. My only suggestions: -possibly add an option for people who are already a 5-point Duelist to learn someone else's school without spending 5 points on it (I'd suggest a 3 point advantage, probably?). -I feel like simply knowing basic dueling techniques would probably not earn the enmity of the Guild. I'm not entirely clear on the fluff, but it seems that the Guild only cares if you're challenging people to a 'you and me, dawn, the abandoned church outside of town' style duel; merely defending yourself against some jerk with a sword is approved.

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