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Post by OttselHero on Oct 20, 2023 17:56:00 GMT -5
Sorry, no updates as of yet. I've been preoccupied with work, and today there was a leak from above my basement suite, so the drywall had to be removed around this one window-sill, especially around the ceiling area where the water trickled in from. Thank goodness I'm just renting. However, gaming on my TV is going to be a real pain. I could take my Switch with me to my bedroom, but I prefer to play a game like BotW docked. I guess I'll see what happens. If I end up having to stay clear of my TV for too long, I might just suck it up and play out the rest of BotW in handheld mode. Thankfully I do have my Evercade EXP, and I can continue playing 40 Winks, which I put aside for quite some time. Geez, that sounds like a pain! You're right, that is reason number 1 to be a renter over a homeowner. Hopefully everything is fixed relatively quickly and before the weather gets colder. I've since cleared the main quest in Rito Village and am a good ways into Zora's Domain. There are still plenty of side quests that could be done, of course, but I think I've taken care of everything I wanted to get done in the short term.
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Post by Tross on Oct 24, 2023 0:12:44 GMT -5
I finally got back to the game last night! All the drywall is done, just the painting needs to be done now, so I have my entertainment area back. I just completed the first of the Darruk challenges, along with its corresponding shrine (another annoying series of puzzles involving aiming and motion control). The challenge was the battle task for this Divine Beast, and involved taking on a Titan Igneous Talos, which is just an Igneous Talos, but bigger, and in one of the lava streams, so I had to ride updrafts to get to it each time, after hitting it with an ice arrow (it only took three, and I probably could have done it in two if I was quicker). Truth be told, it was the easiest one to defeat so far.
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Post by Tross on Oct 27, 2023 4:14:27 GMT -5
Fun, I had to land in a ring on some lava. I did have to get a metal crate out so I could safely land on it, as going through the ring and having to respawn after falling in lava doesn't work. The shrine was revealed when I was able to land on a crate though, and it ended up being an easy shrine based around avoiding flames.
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Post by Tross on Nov 3, 2023 0:41:12 GMT -5
Now time to enhance Rivali's Gale. My observation so far is, because it's mostly in the Northwest region with all the snow, it's the area in which I'm actually having by far the most difficulty finding the objectives. I did manage to find the ring time trial quest, and it's shield surfing related. I've also found Selmie's cabin, which I most certainly wouldn't have known existed had I not been combing through the region for this series of sidequests, and after faffing about for a bit with unlocking the advanced trials, then deciding not to bother, I carried on, and have since found more shrines. No, I have not found the other two quests, and will most certainly need to turn to the internet for a guide on where they're at. I'm super stoked to be near completion, so here's hoping I will be soon, and see if there's even more payoff beyond just upgrading the speed at which the powers are refreshed.
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Post by Tross on Nov 7, 2023 1:16:18 GMT -5
And, it's finished. The last mission/shrine was at the shooting range. It was a seemingly simple but actually quite difficult task of shooting four targets in slow motion, which clearly would have been easier if I had more bars of stamina, but I only went up until I completed the second layer on the stamina wheel, as that has been more than sufficient for most tasks. In any case, I did manage to complete it, and took on Windblight Ganon again. I have unsurprisingly simply moved onto stage 3 of this series of sidequests, but I think it's the final one. Basically, the room the player started in at the Shrine of Resurrection is one big elevator, which can be taken down to a level that is a labyrinth that resembles both the shrines and Divine Beasts, and seems to encompass all four elements. I decided to save and leave it for a later time, but it seems as though it's the closest thing this game has to the dungeons from past Zelda games, so I'll take it.
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Post by OttselHero on Nov 8, 2023 19:00:35 GMT -5
I've cleared the Zora's Domain story quest and am currently on my way to Gerudo Desert. In between, I spent a brief amount of time collecting enough materials to max out the Hylian trousers since I was very close to doing that already.
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Post by Tross on Nov 10, 2023 5:42:27 GMT -5
And with that, I am finished. That last labyrinth is very much like a Divine Beast, though labyrinth isn't quite the right term, I don't think, as it is smaller. The goal consisted of opening a door, by removing four pistons that will retract once the player is able to activate the corresponding terminal, which is accomplished by completing a room with some puzzles that correspond to each of the regions represented by a Divine Beast. Also, once the map is acquired at the start, the player has control over whether a central turbine moves clockwise or counter-clockwise.
Anyways, the reward for doing all of that is, unsurprisingly, a boss battle. The boss battle is kind of interesting actually, but I won't spoil it. I will say, the reward for completing that boss battle is an extra rune, which is kind of a nice throwback to another Nintendo game. Also, Kass finished his teacher's song, and Link recalls another memory. I did have to come back later to re-battle the boss, because silly me forgot to take a picture, but I did that later in my play session.
When I said I'm finished though, I meant it. After I did all of that, I decided I might as well just take on Calamity Ganon, so I went through Hyrule Castle and did that. I did find out that it's possible to skip the gatehouses, and a lot of other obstacles by just using Revali's Gale to scale walls, but I decided to take the intended route, which did pay off, as I found a Royal Guard sword that allowed me to complete that one side quest, along with some Royal Guard boots (though no other Royal Guard clothing items to complete the set).
In any case, I fought Calamity Ganon and won, though the next stage was probably more difficult than it needed to be due to me dismounting and subsequently losing sight of the horse, as I needed to take a picture of the Bow of Light, along with Calamity Ganon's second form (I made sure to get the first form too), but I was ultimately able to do it. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but the ending is a lot quicker and more simple than I thought it would be, though not necessarily in a bad way. Maybe I'm just used to the JRPG-style ending that's like 20+ minutes long. Apparently there's no New Game+ or post-game. The player is just returned to the last autosave before having fought Calamity Ganon, except the file now has a star on it, and apparently all the pictures I took during the boss battle are still there, and logged in the Hyrule Compendium. Oh well, I suppose.
I went and finished that Royal Guard sidequest by showing that sword to that NPC. I haven't found the alleged cookbook for that other one, so maybe I'll return one day to do that. In fact, there are a bunch more sidequests and other content I haven't completed. I don't think I'll bother now though. It's time to move on. I'll have to decide if I want to jump right into Tears of the Kingdom now, or take a bit of a break.
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Post by OttselHero on Nov 23, 2023 19:09:56 GMT -5
Progress has been slow of late, and I admit I got caught in the trap of side questing while trying to head to Gerudo Valley. I'm currently trying to mop up shrines I've encountered but hadn't completed previously as simply getting to them has proven tricky.
But that being said, I now have a PS5 (slim bundle with Spider-Man 2). When I will spend time with it is unknown, though I should still hook it up and get some time in with Astro's Playroom to make sure it works properly. I'm guessing that'll happen sometime this weekend.
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Post by Tross on Nov 27, 2023 4:02:41 GMT -5
Progress has been slow of late, and I admit I got caught in the trap of side questing while trying to head to Gerudo Valley. I'm currently trying to mop up shrines I've encountered but hadn't completed previously as simply getting to them has proven tricky. But that being said, I now have a PS5 (slim bundle with Spider-Man 2). When I will spend time with it is unknown, though I should still hook it up and get some time in with Astro's Playroom to make sure it works properly. I'm guessing that'll happen sometime this weekend. Nice! I'm at this weird point with the PS5. I know I definitely have to have one at some point, and will be so happy when I finally get one. However, I'm split on whether I should get a slim now or wait for a pro model. For now I'll wait and see, but if no announcement comes by the middle of next year, I might just jump on a slim, especially if we end up seeing a price drop. As it stands, I have plenty to play in the meantime. I have taken a break from my mini-Zelda marathon, though I may resume it soon with Tears of the Kingdom depending on how I feel. I have been playing quite a bit of My Time at Portia, though I've set that aside, since I've finally invested in my first retro emulation handheld. Yeah...I've resisted temptation to sail the seven seas up until now, but I decided to give this current trend a try. I do intend to be responsible and only emulate games I would not have access to otherwise, as if there's a legal release of something I will still support it. Some games would simply be lost to time otherwise though, and that's what I'm interested in. I have an Ampown XU10, and it's interesting to say the least. It plays up to Dreamcast and PSP, though it seems best suited to games on simpler hardware. It seems a good chunk of the included PS1 ROMs are missing their music, but better ROMs can be added. I'm actually really interested in spending some time playing DS on this thing. It's kind of weird, and definitely not the ideal way to play DS, but I'm kind of intrigued by the novelty (it has some workarounds, to say the least, and I can elaborate further on request). In any case, I have the first four Professor Layton games now, including the fourth, which didn't even get a mobile port. Given that I have the fifth and sixth games on my 3DS now, due to investing in them before the eShop closure, I can now catch up on that series if I so wish. TBH though, I've mostly been playing Jersey Devil and Crash Bash, for the nostalgia. Neither have gotten PS1 Classic ports on even the PS3, let alone current PlayStations, so I have no issue checking them out this way.
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Post by OttselHero on Dec 4, 2023 19:21:50 GMT -5
Progress has been slow of late, and I admit I got caught in the trap of side questing while trying to head to Gerudo Valley. I'm currently trying to mop up shrines I've encountered but hadn't completed previously as simply getting to them has proven tricky. But that being said, I now have a PS5 (slim bundle with Spider-Man 2). When I will spend time with it is unknown, though I should still hook it up and get some time in with Astro's Playroom to make sure it works properly. I'm guessing that'll happen sometime this weekend. Nice! I'm at this weird point with the PS5. I know I definitely have to have one at some point, and will be so happy when I finally get one. However, I'm split on whether I should get a slim now or wait for a pro model. For now I'll wait and see, but if no announcement comes by the middle of next year, I might just jump on a slim, especially if we end up seeing a price drop. As it stands, I have plenty to play in the meantime. I have taken a break from my mini-Zelda marathon, though I may resume it soon with Tears of the Kingdom depending on how I feel. I have been playing quite a bit of My Time at Portia, though I've set that aside, since I've finally invested in my first retro emulation handheld. Yeah...I've resisted temptation to sail the seven seas up until now, but I decided to give this current trend a try. I do intend to be responsible and only emulate games I would not have access to otherwise, as if there's a legal release of something I will still support it. Some games would simply be lost to time otherwise though, and that's what I'm interested in. I have an Ampown XU10, and it's interesting to say the least. It plays up to Dreamcast and PSP, though it seems best suited to games on simpler hardware. It seems a good chunk of the included PS1 ROMs are missing their music, but better ROMs can be added. I'm actually really interested in spending some time playing DS on this thing. It's kind of weird, and definitely not the ideal way to play DS, but I'm kind of intrigued by the novelty (it has some workarounds, to say the least, and I can elaborate further on request). In any case, I have the first four Professor Layton games now, including the fourth, which didn't even get a mobile port. Given that I have the fifth and sixth games on my 3DS now, due to investing in them before the eShop closure, I can now catch up on that series if I so wish. TBH though, I've mostly been playing Jersey Devil and Crash Bash, for the nostalgia. Neither have gotten PS1 Classic ports on even the PS3, let alone current PlayStations, so I have no issue checking them out this way. I apologize I haven't reported back in a while; life has been super busy and stressful. I haven't played a ton of games in the last couple of weeks, but I did give Astro's Playroom a look. It leaves an excellent first impression, especially for a tech demo. There's a lot more content than I would have expected too! But now I have to focus on Tears of the Kingdom and try to finish the story. Hopefully I will have time after to play Crisis Core and replay FFVII: Remake before Rebirth comes out. There weren't a ton of great Black Friday deals this year, but I did pick up Crisis Core, Jedi: Fallen Order and Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart for pretty good prices. Yeah, the PS5 Pro is heavily rumored to be out at this time next year. I'd say waiting is a good plan. I'd have waited too if it weren't for FFVII: Rebirth coming out in February.
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Post by Tross on Dec 6, 2023 2:07:25 GMT -5
Nice! I'm at this weird point with the PS5. I know I definitely have to have one at some point, and will be so happy when I finally get one. However, I'm split on whether I should get a slim now or wait for a pro model. For now I'll wait and see, but if no announcement comes by the middle of next year, I might just jump on a slim, especially if we end up seeing a price drop. As it stands, I have plenty to play in the meantime. I have taken a break from my mini-Zelda marathon, though I may resume it soon with Tears of the Kingdom depending on how I feel. I have been playing quite a bit of My Time at Portia, though I've set that aside, since I've finally invested in my first retro emulation handheld. Yeah...I've resisted temptation to sail the seven seas up until now, but I decided to give this current trend a try. I do intend to be responsible and only emulate games I would not have access to otherwise, as if there's a legal release of something I will still support it. Some games would simply be lost to time otherwise though, and that's what I'm interested in. I have an Ampown XU10, and it's interesting to say the least. It plays up to Dreamcast and PSP, though it seems best suited to games on simpler hardware. It seems a good chunk of the included PS1 ROMs are missing their music, but better ROMs can be added. I'm actually really interested in spending some time playing DS on this thing. It's kind of weird, and definitely not the ideal way to play DS, but I'm kind of intrigued by the novelty (it has some workarounds, to say the least, and I can elaborate further on request). In any case, I have the first four Professor Layton games now, including the fourth, which didn't even get a mobile port. Given that I have the fifth and sixth games on my 3DS now, due to investing in them before the eShop closure, I can now catch up on that series if I so wish. TBH though, I've mostly been playing Jersey Devil and Crash Bash, for the nostalgia. Neither have gotten PS1 Classic ports on even the PS3, let alone current PlayStations, so I have no issue checking them out this way. I apologize I haven't reported back in a while; life has been super busy and stressful. I haven't played a ton of games in the last couple of weeks, but I did give Astro's Playroom a look. It leaves an excellent first impression, especially for a tech demo. There's a lot more content than I would have expected too! But now I have to focus on Tears of the Kingdom and try to finish the story. Hopefully I will have time after to play Crisis Core and replay FFVII: Remake before Rebirth comes out. There weren't a ton of great Black Friday deals this year, but I did pick up Crisis Core, Jedi: Fallen Order and Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart for pretty good prices. Yeah, the PS5 Pro is heavily rumored to be out at this time next year. I'd say waiting is a good plan. I'd have waited too if it weren't for FFVII: Rebirth coming out in February. It's all good. I'm working two jobs now, with a couple additional side gigs, so I'm in a similar boat. I'm definitely looking forward to having more time for games. I am enjoying the retro gaming I have been able to fit in, but I might hop back into the fray with Tears of the Kingdom soon. I guess if there's one thing I want for Christmas, it's time. Too bad that's not how things work.
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Post by OttselHero on Dec 10, 2023 17:49:46 GMT -5
I just put a solid amount of time into TOTK today. I breezed through the Lightning Temple in Gerudo Desert, so I believe I've unlocked the home stretch in the story. I nearly got roped into another side quest until it started to become clear it would become another wild goose chase, so I put that aside until someday when I decided to come back to it. One thing I do want to do before I proceed with the story, however, is track down all these X's marked on my map in the Depths. The sky islands are occasionally home to chests containing treasure maps leading to something special in the Depths. I'd like to see how quickly I can find all of what I've unlocked so far, then we'll see how much of the story is really left. I've heard the last 5 hours are phenomenal, so I guess I'll be able to tell I'm near the end when the game starts to ramp up.
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Post by Tross on Dec 16, 2023 1:00:00 GMT -5
I just put a solid amount of time into TOTK today. I breezed through the Lightning Temple in Gerudo Desert, so I believe I've unlocked the home stretch in the story. I nearly got roped into another side quest until it started to become clear it would become another wild goose chase, so I put that aside until someday when I decided to come back to it. One thing I do want to do before I proceed with the story, however, is track down all these X's marked on my map in the Depths. The sky islands are occasionally home to chests containing treasure maps leading to something special in the Depths. I'd like to see how quickly I can find all of what I've unlocked so far, then we'll see how much of the story is really left. I've heard the last 5 hours are phenomenal, so I guess I'll be able to tell I'm near the end when the game starts to ramp up. Awesome! I'm still sidetracked. I did beat Jersey Devil though, so there's that. Maybe I'll be able to move past this retro kick soon, but it is certainly quite a rabbit hole.
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Post by OttselHero on Dec 28, 2023 19:40:40 GMT -5
Looks like I sequence broke TOTK a bit. After beating a boss, the game starts to direct me to the next objectives...only for the other characters to be surprised that I had already done them. So now it seems like the ending is just around the corner, but based on what a friend told me, I think it won't be as close as it seems. I received copies of Rise of the Tomb Raider and Hogwarts Legacy for Christmas, so that was a pleasant surprise. How was your holiday?
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Post by Tross on Jan 3, 2024 2:56:58 GMT -5
Awesome! My holiday was pretty good. I got Persona 5 Tactica, Alan Wake Remastered, and my sister unexpectedly got me Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life Premium Edition, with the goat plushie. She knows me too well, it seems. Over the break, I discovered a really bad Engrish rom of Pokemon Green too, which is difficult to describe to anyone not in the know. If I ever got into doing LPs, I'd probably choose it as my first game to try. As it stands, here's a really old LP of the game:
Suffice to say, it makes Pokemon feel new and exciting again.
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