Readers give their tips for surviving The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild
Little Help?
One of the things I love about Zelda: Breath Of The Wild is how little instruction it gives you about pretty much everything. It makes you feel like an absolute star when you’re able to figure out some weird puzzle solution or screwy battle plan, but it does make the games first dozen hours pretty tough. Hyrule and its monsters are very unforgiving, and if you’re like dpgillies, they might have you at your wit’s end. Of course, the friendly folk of the Gameological commenteriat are here to help. Down in the comments of this week’s Game In Progress installment, Wolfman Jew laid down some solid advice:
1. Do not feel afraid to run away. I think I’m around 30 hours in, and only a scant few encounters ever felt forced. I could definitely see pacifist runs of this going really well. It’ll take over a dozen shrines for you to even get to a point where a number of even mid-level enemies won’t one-hit kill you. That’s one reason why increasing your stamina is a safer bet early on.
2. As a melee fighter, Link is suited for the one-on-one samurai duels that inspired Miyamoto for Ocarina Of Time. As a game, though, Breath Of The Wild is suited for group fights, tricks, sneak attacks, and exploiting the physics. Use bombs to separate enemies and kill smaller ones. Be willing to go through weapons quickly, and throw them when they’re about to break. Snipe lookouts with your bow beforehand. Constantly keep moving. Find metal objects to magnetize and use them as a shield or battering ram. I’m not sure if you can exploit the weather like this, but I suspect during a lightning storm you can throw a metal weapon at an enemy to attract lightning strikes. [Editor’s note: Yes, you can do that.]
3. That last point is a big one, because this is a world based on rules that are omnipresent but pretty malleable. Use flaming weapons to hurt enemies, but also try to avoid their weapons catching fire as well. If you have a sledgehammer and a weapon that freezes enemies, use the latter then the former to shatter them. Goad a baddie into the water, then pull out a Lightning Rod and zap ‘em. These guys have done virtually all of this and more to me. Nothing wrong with evening the score.
Exy had another suggestion, based on a ridiculous anecdote:
Another piece of advice: Never assume you’ve won until the body fades away. I managed to deprive a Bokoblin of all methods of attack, only to lose to said Bokoblin as it tore its own teeth out and threw it at my head. That’s dedication. And pretty metal.
Elsewhere, folks got talking about boomerangs, and Sandler’s List discussed why they’re a great representation of the game’s brilliance: