This article contains some minor spoilers for The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
Into the Great Unknown
In Part 1 of Hyrule Adventures, Connor and I set out to learn the rules of this vast open land. By conquering shrines and climbing towers, we revealed our true foe, a malevolent force known as Calamity Ganon, and gained direction in our quest. In this second installment, we find ourselves lost and alone in the beautiful wild. Having sailed over mountains and marsh, our trusty paraglider cutting a sleek path through the morning sky, we began exploring the open plains and pristine beaches of southeast Hyrule.
A Rock and a Hard Place
As Link bounded through the picturesque fields and hills, a shimmering sea far in the distance, I started to become overwhelmed. As an active gamer I have experienced many open worlds, but Breath of the Wild is just disarmingly massive.
I’m a completionist. There is a slightly unhealthy voice, radiating from somewhere deep down, that demands I see and do absolutely everything a game has to offer. As Connor named aloud everything he saw on screen, all the nooks and crannies he wanted to get lost in, I started to realize my enjoyment of this game was going to be contingent on silencing that voice. You just can’t and are not expected to do it all.
Connor is also learning to curb his inner demands. And by learning, I mean that I refuse to let him over-indulge them. He considers himself a geologist of sorts. A 6-year-old treasure hunter and rock collector, eternally hunting for that next big score. In real life, this takes the form of scouring our backyard with a cheap plastic metal detector looking for pennies and small pieces of quartz.
Hyrule, however, is an amateur earth scientist’s dream-come-true. Packed to the brim with buried treasure and piles of rare ore, one could literally spend hours collecting stones. I know this to be true because that’s exactly what we did.
Connor possesses an uncanny memory and has recently acquired a pretty solid grasp on simple addition. What did this mean for our game play session? It meant he meticulously chronicled every chest and ore node in a 2 miles radius and held me to their collection religiously. It almost drove me insane.
Ogre the River and Through the Woods
Just as I was considering writing fan-fiction set in a parallel version of Hyrule, where Link had shirked his heroic duties and become a serious player in the underground geode game, I was freed from purgatory by an unlikely source. Directly between Link and our next big hit of pure amber snoozed an imposing new foe. What at first resembled a small mountain proved to be, upon closer inspection, a giant ogrely creature called a Hinox.
The Hinox stood up from it’s nap, taller than most of the surrounding trees, and lumbered in our direction. A belt of skulls and furs hung from it’s portly waist and and it brandish
ed a large wooden club in it’s right hand. We were not prepared.
“Run away!” Connor yelled as the beast stumbled forward.
“I’ve got this.” I thought to myself. I’ve played a ton of games. Designers don’t just shove some super-hard unbeatable monstrosity in your face a few hours in.
Link ran between the beast’s legs as it raised a gnarled foot to stomp him. A few quick sword slashes connected with it’s behind. The Hinox let out a booming howl. We were winning, or so I thought.
Those quick pokes to the backside must have really ticked the ogre off, because it spun around with surprising grace. As Link disappeared under the shadow of it’s weapon, I remember thinking, “That’s not a club at all. It’s an actual tree trunk. Cool.” Game over.
Horsing Around
Connor was upset. He really likes Link, and watching Link get obliterated had a noticeable effect on him. I mean, Connor had just grasped the fact that the main character’s name was actually Link and not Zelda. Things were going so well. After some assurance that Link was OK, and that no permanent damage was done, we were able to continue our adventure.
A silver lining to Link’s untimely demise was that Connor had completely forgotten about the ore nodes. We scampered by ruby and amber alike as I sought a new distraction. It came in the form of a group of palamino horses grazing a nearby field. To Connor’s delight we managed to sneak up and soothe one, enabling us to ride it.
Now I’ve never ridden an actual horse before, but if it’s anything like controlling the hoofed nightmares that stalk Hyrule, I think I’ll pass. I wish I could have been a fly on the wall at that design meeting.
Designer 1: “We’ve implemented the new horse controls you requested, sir. We’ve made sure it speeds up and slows down at random intervals. Also, we’ve coded it so that stopping and turning are virtually unmanageable. Is this closer to what you’d envisioned?”
Project Manager: “Yes, yes. This is much better. Now I want you make them get scared and buck at invisible objects. Also, please ensure that they can’t jump over the smallest log, even at a full gallop.”
Luckily we didn’t have to ride for long before happening upon a secluded town in the mountains. Huts and villas stretched out before us, their architecture clearly influenced by ancient Japan. As we descended upon Kakariko village, welcoming music played softly in the background. The moon had risen high in Hyrule’s sky, and our play session had come to a close.
Stay tuned for Zelda: Hyrule Adventures – Part 3, in which Connor and I make contact with the secluded Zora people and traverse our first real dungeon.