Video Games

Yeah I'm deliberately not going into any detail on this sort of stuff as I'm also trying to go in as blind as possible, but man am I loving this game. Was contemplating taking a few days off work to rush through it and regretting not doing that. Instead I'm staying up to the early hours and feeling shattered each morning.

The selection of enemies definitely veers into much more creepy territory than BotW, where there wasn't anything outside of the blights that I was in any way concerned about (regarding having my daughter play it). And as it's already been mentioned, The Depths are pretty creepy relative to anything BotW has to offer.

Had a moment last night where I was just exploring the surface and picking up TotK's version of BotW's memories & towers and had a proper "WTF is that?!" moment when experiencing one of the new enemies for the first time. Again, not going into specifics, but it looked like there was maybe some Pan's Labyrinth inspiration going on.

I'm basically avoiding anything that might lead to spoiler territory so not even looking at how to deal with that sort of stuff but very much enjoying it!

Only done one proper boss battle so far (the one that the story ushers you towards, much like Vah Ruta in BotW), but surprised at how simple it was. Though it may well just be that my playthroughs of BotW were all on Master Mode as the DLC was out by the time I picked it up so my expectations may have been a bit off there. (Master Mode is great for the most part, but the boss battles I recall being particularly tricky. The Vah Naboris one in particular was a right bastard).

Also, I had the same issue in TotK's opening as in the Great Plateau in BotW. Absolutely sprinting through the cold area scoffing random food to keep my hearts up because I didn't have adequate clothing. Not sure if it's the intended way, or I'm just rushing it too much, but that wasn't particularly enjoyable when trying to get a feel for the game.

I didn't super feel the need to sprint through the cold area. There were loads of hot peppers and cooking pots so I think I had 1hr+ of cold resist.

I can see what you mean about wanting time to rush through it, but tbh one of the things I loved about BoTW, and looking forward to with ToTK is just picking up the switch for 30 mins, finding and doing a shrine, and then putting it down.

and looking forward to with ToTK is just picking up the switch for 30 mins, finding and doing a shrine, and then putting it down.

That's my approach, as I did with BotW which I gave up because the gaps between played meant I kept forgetting the controls. Probably need to play TotK more frequently to avoid old senile gamer man syndrome.

Oh to be young @mmccarthy 's age again

Absolutely sprinting through the cold area scoffing random food to keep my hearts up because I didn't have adequate clothing.

I had the impression from the videos about the new game mechanics that there's probably a way to make yourself thermal protection by combining your underwear with a hot chilli, or something like that.

Not that I have bandwidth for another time-sink game at the moment.

ToTK is just picking up the switch for 30 mins, finding and doing a shrine, and then putting it down.

I've yet to stop playing it past midnight after starting around 9pm. I think I'm just trying to maximise the amount that I can get done before my daughter realises it's actually playable now. Accidentally found myself playing until 2am this morning. Might need to limit myself to a session every other night at this point.

Get a separate account for your daughter.

Spent all day in the Depths mining zonaite to upgrade my battery.

Came in later to see it all spent on Autobuild to create a fleet of 12 identical 4x4s (with rocket boosters, suspension, flame throwers and wings).

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Get a separate account for your daughter.

Keep meaning to look into this, need to get on that. Definitely a better plan than waiting for Master Mode DLC to drop!

Literally just create a second account in the same switch (doesn't need anything other than a name) and they can play all your games with their own saves etc.

Takes less than a minute.

as much as sleep is nice, I do like having a game that gives me that feeling. Wanting to play it all the time, thinking about it when I'm not, considering staying up late just to carry on doing stuff.

I don't play single player games a huge amount so it's a nice feeling. I am not sacrificing sleep though, it helps that I have very few responsibilities I guess.

I finally got round to finishing the latest God of War. Great game, but fuck going around doing 100 mini boss fights to get 100%.

Long shot but if anyone happens to be upgrading their PC I'm in the market for a new CPU/mobo. Mine is AM3+ and I need something AM4

this was my exact experience.

Descenders on the PS5 is a fun little "one more run" MTB game

Zelda hype got me going old school

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I am struggling with Zelda TOTK at the moment.

Mainly because I'm playing as though I have end-game armour and weapons, while attacking the Lurelin pirate camp of Black Bokobkins and Lizalfos.

I am only a few hours of gameplay in, though, and have a total armour of 12, hardly any recipes, and about three weapons with over 10 strength.

I should probably try the main quest at some point.

I struggled hard with those fuckers. But use the environment and use recall. When they throw things, recall and it goes straight back at 'em. You're also safe on the bow of the boats behind a little vault-over cover. And they can't reach you on the crows nests.

When they throw things, recall and it goes straight back at 'em.

Genius. Imma do this.

So far, I've only used recall to travel from great heights.

Recall is under rated. Give stuff violently back to givers / hold something with ultrahand in a place you want to get to you but can't reach, then ultrahand it back to your feet, recall, then climb on (don't climb on first as it nudges it) and you have your own lift.

Favourite so far: those koroks with backpacks missing their friends. Had one needing to cross a river. Fused some wood to an arrow. Fired arrow across river. Recalled. Attached korok to wood. Yeet.

Favourite so far: those koroks with backpacks missing their friends. Had one needing to cross a river. Fused some wood to an arrow. Fired arrow across river. Recalled. Attached korok to wood. Yeet.

Awesome, will have to give that a go. So far I've just been marking them on the map to return to later. Ain't nobody got time for that!

I've only done one of the 4 region-specific quests (analogous to the Devine Beasts in BotW). I went on a bit of a shrine-fest and while I've now got around 45 of them, I poured most of those into stamina so am still pretty underpowered.

In terms of weapons, you can try slapping some random monster parts on them to add to the strength. The various skeleton arms are surprisingly strong (and not too weak when attached to a sturdy base weapon).

Also 2 pet peeves of mine so far. BotW trained me to expect a korok under every rock you can pick up, now they're bloody everywhere and no koroks under any of them. Also, I've only got Rito special ability so far, and it's a crap compared to the equivalent BotW one IMO.

I poured most of those into stamina so am still pretty underpowered.

In BotW, I would alternate the first four boosts between health and stamina, then put everything into stamina until I had about two whole stamina wheels. Reasoning being that high stamina let you do things that were otherwise impossible or very tedious, while coping with low health was pretty easy (until you wanted to pick up that sword, or course). It sounds as if the new abilities (e.g. recall) make high stamina less vital - although also make surviving fights easier as well.

I do not have time to play TotK.
I do not have time to play TotK.
I do not have time...

Reasoning being that high stamina let you do things that were otherwise impossible or very tedious

Yep, I put my first batch into stamina until I had 2 wheels then started on hearts. The new towers make getting to new shrines and other notable landmarks a fair bit easier so I don't think it's as important as in BotW. Though I've had a few occasions where I can't really see the top of the cliff I'm climbing so having that spare stamina is very useful!

I've only got Rito special ability so far, and it's a crap compared to
the equivalent BotW one IMO
I thought that but actually it's quite useful for getting further along the map between shrines by going high and gliding very far very quickly. You can get three bursts on a single stamina wheel.

To get the vertical equivalent, just slap a rocket on your shield and aim it. Higher and faster.

I've just completed the fourth sage and tbh they're all a little underwhelming but just having them there to tank for you is very helpful.

One annoyance is that they crowd you and sometimes you can trigger their abilities when you're trying to loot - if that's Tulin then you're sending all of the lootable gear 100ft away in a gust of wind...

To get the vertical equivalent, just slap a rocket on your shield and aim it. Higher and faster.

Another excellent tip I hadn't really considered! I've not really spent any time getting particularly creating with the building stuff so am probably missing out on some excellent experimental builds. Though I remember picking up a flamethrower shield in the early game and being disappointed by how quickly it broke/wore out, that's probably a contributing factor there.

One annoyance is that they crowd you and sometimes you can trigger their abilities when you're trying to loot - if that's Tulin then you're sending all of the lootable gear 100ft away in a gust of wind...

Absolutely, especially if you're running around picking up a load of items (a ton of monster look for exampled) and you're rapidly tapping A then suddenly it's flying everywhere.

Still, points for being less of an annoying prick than Revali