Topic: Nintendo Switch --OT--

My Switch finally updated to show my playtime, just a little under 30 hours for me. I know some people have already played hundreds of hours of this, but after the first couple of days I was mostly playing this for a few hours over the weekend, so I am actually surprised I stacked as many hours as I did. I do tend to find myself just absolutely losing myself in this world, so maybe I shouldn't be so surprised.

I rolled credits in BOTW in around 50 hours, and I've finished two temples in TOTK so it sorta feels like my playtime tracks, but I also feel like around the 30 hour mark I'd made good progress on the story, but also in the world as well with BOTW, really digging into side content, upgrades and other such things in that time.

However, with TOTK the world is so expanded in its density, I sorta feel like I've barely done anything in those 30 hours. I can see myself going well over the 50 hour mark with this, and playing this potentially for months to come. Especially as the summer season starts ramping up and new releases come along, it may just be I never end up finishing this, to be honest.

I also completed the Wind Temple yesterday lol. Apparently that's the popular choice atm.

@LtSarge If anything, with all of the gliding that's needed in this game, I feel like stamina is even more important. Even at 2.5 wheels, I'm regularly running close to the limits of my capabilities on that front.

Admittedly, it's more important for sky and Depths exploration than the surface world.

@RogerRoger The way Sony and Nintendo's first-party studios oftentimes collaborate to tremendous effect, vs the general dysfunction and seeming isolation of Microsoft's studios and subsidiaries, really makes you realize the importance of acquiring studios that can be worked into the 'culture' of a company.

@nessisonett I've always appreciated more subtle nods to older games vs the full on member berries approach, IMO. That was my biggest issue with the Xenoblade 3 expansion vs the base game. The base game references older entries in more subtle ways: targeted use of musical cues, narrative parallelism, etc. The references don't detract from the original setting, but are targeted in such a way as to enhance the power of a sequence. Whereas the expansion goes full on MCU crossover with characters, locations, etc. from previous games.

@Judal27 Of the three temples I've completed so far (Water, Lightning, and Wind), the Lightning Temple was the closest to feeling like a traditional Zelda dungeon. That includes the build-up to the dungeon as well. Although if you think being the middle of a storm washes out a setting, wait until you get there.

Wind Temple boss was probably my favorite to date, but tbh all of the dungeon bosses so far have been quite a bit more interesting than the Ganon Blight variants.

@Pizzamorg Definitely. I had pretty much completed all of the major content in BotW around the 75 hour mark. I'm already closing in on that in TotK and have seen... well, not nothing, but a fraction of the game's full content.

@Haruki_NLI @Ralizah That's a good point about gliding. I did think about that, but it hasn't hindered me from reaching an area yet. It's obviously more convenient if you can glide all the way to some place instead of walking there, but it's not necessary. So upgrading stamina right now is more for convenience in my case, while hearts are more necessary. I'm guessing that will change later on based on your comments, so I'll keep that in mind.

I’ve beaten all 4 divine beasts now, so I’ll probably tackle the memory photo things and I have some trial of the sword to do as well. The Goron one was pretty clearly the weakest, with an annoying area that didn’t really encourage the same creativity that the others did. Daruk was pretty cool though.

@Ralizah oh man, as long as it doesn't get too much in the way of maneuvering the dungeon. Not that it was super difficult for the wind temple, but I was, at points, just going around in circles not fully being able to tell which openings I've been through already

As for the bosses, so far the few new ones I've fought have been major improvements. The size of the wind temple boss just makes it a grand spectacle. Gleeoks are pretty crazy ngl especially when you start a fight with one mid air. And then down in the depths, I'm just minding my own business in the dark. Out of no where a mini boss fight initiates, and I just see a big shadowy figure coming up to me. I wasn't expecting this game to have a hint of horror in it lol. Great stuff so far

I decided to return to Paranormasight as I want something relaxing to play on Switch when I'm not playing Zelda. You might find that weird given that it's a horror game, but I'm mainly talking about the VN aspect in this case. Anyway, it's crazy to me just how immersive the game is. I get so easily absorbed not just with the dialogue but also the background information, of which there is a lot of. I mean, VNs have a lot of text in general but this game truly wants you to spend more time outside of the main story and read up on past events in the game. This works out in the game's favour because most of the stuff is very interesting to read. For example, the game talks about a river so polluted that nobody would notice things like body parts in them, which is why it took a long time for a serial killer to be arrested. It's just so interesting! Other aspects I love about it is that the camera switches shots frequently, which makes the scenes more dynamic and engaging rather than having the same camera shot all the time like in other VNs. Also, the facial expressions add so much detail to the scenes. You can tell this game was made by very competent people. I definitely want to keep playing it now that I'm a few hours into it.

@Judal27 It didn't hurt visibility necessarily in terms of being able to play the game, but all the sand in the air made the dungeon murky. Not an aesthetic choice I was a fan of. The layout of the dungeon made it much easier to know where I was, though.

Still haven't run across a Gleeok normally, although they must be massive, as I was flying over a portion of Hyrule, looked down, and literally see this giant dragon thing way below me. Needless to say, I kept my distance.

In terms of frightening enemies, however, I did run across something new recently. I was just minding my own business kicking around Death Mountain when some black blob... thing snuck up on me. Probably the scariest enemy I've encountered in a non-horror video game. Cue a lot of panicked button mashing as I tried to kill it lol.

I died a couple of times, but I learned how to deal with it effectively. Used up all my healing items in the process, though.

@LtSarge I played the first 'arc' of that before setting it down. There are aspects I don't like (chief among them, the always on-screen cursor), but it definitely feels like a lot of work was put into it.

Having to fight the JoJo stands of other curse bearers did significantly rob it of its horror feel, though.

@Ralizah I ran into that thing in a cave in Hyrule Field just minding my own business and then this....cluster of Wall Masters? Just spawned, speeding after Link, reaching for him, screeching and laughing.

Needless to say I absolutely wet myself.

And then I killed them. And then it got worse. Oh so much worse. From fear to anxiety.

@Haruki_NLI It's worse if you're outside. The sky literally changes when you're around one of them, like they're able to distort the fabric of the universe itself. It's freaky.

Eventually, I just learned to zone it out with bomb arrows (which also solves the hydra problem you'll have if try to focus on the hands one at a time), but the second form took time to not die from.

@Ralizah I've run into a few of em outside and maybe two in caves. The rest were underground. I can't tell if they're random or not.

But I do want Guardians back.

@Ralizah Yeah the cursor is definitely annoying. I try to use the d-pad as much as I can in order to avoid it, but obviously you still need to use it when exploring environments.

Do you mean when you'd die if you picked the wrong dialogue choice or just in general? I can see why based on the former reason, but I didn't really think much of it. I thought it was scary not knowing what the other person could do. However, you don't really get punished in this game or at least not in the first act. So I guess the game does lose a bit of its horror feel in that regard.

@LtSarge It feels like a game that was designed around PC and then dumped on Switch with a minimum of optimization. Considering it's a Switch/PC release, I suspect this is exactly what happened. Not the biggest issue in the world, but yeah.

No, I mean the edge of the supernatural horror is dulled when I'm getting into silly Shounen Jump battles with other curse-bearers.

Of course, the game's tone is sort of off-beat in general. I like what I've played, but I just need to adjust my expectations, I think. That initial arc reminds me more of Death Note than anything. You know, where it thinks it's edgier and a lot more clever than it actually is, but this just turns out to be part of its charm.

The Tarrey Town quest was really great once I worked out I could bomb trees to get wood. I did some quest that I assume was part of the DLC as well where I had to run around the Great Plateau with a one hit kill stick. I guess I’m in the point of the game where I can go to Hyrule Castle whenever I want, but it’s not time for me to go beat the game yet, I still have more to do!

@nessisonett Made any progress on the memories?

@Ralizah Ah I see what you mean, but I think it's like you say that the game's tone is off-beat in general.

I've played a fair amount after the first act when the story "actually" begins and I haven't seen a moment like that yet. In fact, it feels like they've cooled down with the showdowns. Maybe they just went all out in the first act in order to draw people into its story. Hopefully it gets better after this point.

@Ralizah I’ve wandered about a bit looking for them but I’ve mostly got the ones near landmarks that I recognise!

@LtSarge Sounds good. I stopped playing after that initial arc, which was sort of like a self-contained death game.

I'll be glad if the story expands more after that, and it's not an action movie with a horror-tinged gimmick.

@nessisonett Some of them can be tricky tbh. TotK makes its version of memories a fair deal easier to spot, thankfully.

About 25 hours in to TOTK, and I'm only just now approaching Eldin now to do my first story segment. I don't like my games to go on for too long, so I'm hoping the gap between this dungeon and my next one will be smaller, but needless to say this game is massive, and I feel like everything I do sidetracks me to do 5 more things. I still think there are fairly big issues: combat hasn't really been improved, eating food in the menu is a rubbish system that definitely shouldn't have been implemented a second time, the enemy variety is better but still not good enough, etc. I'm nervous about the dungeons as well, but keeping an open mind! The thing is though, whilst these complaints aren't unsubstantial, I can't deny just how much fun I'm having with this game. 2 hours feels like 5 minutes and I love it.

Nintendolife just posted an article asking if people wouldn't mind using the same Hyrule for a third time, and most staff members and commenters seemed quite keen for that. I was wondering what people here thought, because I honestly think that would be a huge mistake. They've got away with it for this game - the world feels different enough, and having an overworld you vaguely know the layout of makes it easier to orient yourself when exploring the sky and the massive depths, but personally I think a third time is far too cheeky

@BranJ0 I think there’s almost a 0% chance of Nintendo using the map a third time. For better or worse, it’s incredibly rare for Nintendo to have even made TotK a direct sequel and it still seems to be wildly ambitious and do its own thing. With the rumours that Aonuma’s stepping aside for the next game as well as the very real possibility that it would be developed for a console that doesn’t completely resemble the Switch, I could see them developing a new engine and going in a different direction. What that direction would be though, I have absolutely no clue. Part of the fun with Nintendo is that you really don’t know what you’ll get and sometimes they create games that you never knew you needed until you played them. Still maintain Wuhu Island deserves to be fully explorable in a game but that’s why I don’t work at Nintendo 😂

@BranJ0 The one thing I feel that holds dungeons back in this game is that while they are grander in scope than BOTW they are still limited by the fact the game doesn't load them. They exist as part of the world you can go to at almost any time, like everything else except for shrines and fast travel.

@nessisonett Id say they'd develop a new engine...if TOTK wasn't already running on a different engine to the first game. I believe the only games to use that engine are BOTW and Ring Fit, whereas TOTK shares it's tech with Splatoon 3 and Switch Sports of all things.

Then again, these could just be newer forks of the Lunchbox engine they used for Odyssey, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Splatoon 2, Animal Crossing and others.