What’s this? A Zelda game where you actually PLAY AS ZELDA instead of Link?
I bought Tears of the Kingdom on sale.
But years ago I bought Breath of the Wild’s DLC, and never actually ended up touching it other than to rewind the map—which was a fun ten minutes.
Until last week! It’s been 4 years since I played BotW, so I started a Master Mode game and spent probably two days getting reacquainted with the controls.
And, MM’s tougher enemies and weapon durability aside, BotW is still absolutely fantastic. Master Mode is actually making me learn how to use the dodge and parry mechanics. I’m going to play it, possibly all the way through, and then take a look at what else is in the DLC. I already have found some DLC equipment and quests. I don’t know if I want do the DLC’s challenge modes from Master Mode, but I’ll find out when I get there.
Master Mode advice:
- There’s no good equipment on the plateau, so get to Kakariko ASAP to buy some decent armor.
- With the best bokogoblin and shrine loot you’ve got, take on a Minor Test of Strength to get a decent sword. Use that to take on a Moderate Test of Strength. Once you’ve got decent armor, hearts, and food, use those weapons for a Major Test. You can farm these after every blood moon.
- The new floating octorok platforms have one-off loot and they’re near the towers. I’m doing towers more aggressively than the vanilla game for that reason.
- I went for the Korok Mask early (and to visit Hestu, given weapon durability), and I wear it when wandering around to eke out some extra Korok seeds.
- I glitched for an early Master Sword, but I don’t feel too bad about that given the weapon durability issue. I managed to pull the Master Sword for real last night—which was a funny cut scene because the sword was “invisible” during it.
I’m glad someone addressed this. I found the echo menu to be the most frustrating part of Echoes of Wisdom.
Anyone got some time to kill?
I got a solid six weeks out of replaying Breath of the Wild on Master Mode. I did the Champions’ Ballad, which is great. Urbosa’s conclusion was the toughest, since enemy regeneration basically forces a time trial.
It feels like Trial of the Sword (DLC Pack 1) wasn’t updated for Master Mode (DLC Pack 2), because there are some aggressively difficult tasks that are asked of you given enemy regeneration. I had to resort to this tactic to get past Room 10, which universally described as the hardest room. The middle Trials weren’t nearly as bad, even with Master Mode.
I’m going to finish the Trials, beat Ganon one more time, and call it done. Other than Room 10, it’s been thoroughly enjoyable.
