339 zelda breath of the wild - major test of strength at goma asaagh shrine

Dear Readers,

I warped back here to do the exact same shrine task except in a different shrine.

What can I say about this one? Well, the shrine itself was hidden behind huge icy obstacles I had to melt. I didn't even know a shrine was there I was surprised by it. I just wanted to get at a treasure chest.

Another thing I could say is that I did this one without a shield because all my shields were broken. I had to replenish health a lot sure but I didn't do too badly at all. These enemies are easier to deal with now. I'm getting more used to them.

338 zelda breath of the wild - major test of strength at hia miu shrine

Dear Readers,

I warped back here to do the major test. It's all the way at the corner of Hebra so I did not feel like hiking. 

I'm getting a little better at these fights as well. I used to make a really big deal out of them but I'm getting better at last. I still accidentally press the stick to crouch though.

I broke some shields and weapons but that's to be expected. I beat this guy handily.

337 zelda breath of the wild - picking a fight with the blue-maned lynel northwest of hyrule castle

Dear Readers,

I was in the mood for a scrap with a Lynel and I was now a bit more confident with them since facing two in Hyrule Castle, so I picked a fight with this one that kicked my butt earlier.

Even though I had more confidence, I still had to heal a lot and needed Mipha's Grace and Daruk's Protection badly. I broke a few weapons too and drained the Master Sword. It was a long battle and I got flurry rushes on its charges. Eventually I was able to defeat it and obtain its weapons. I had something new for the compendium out of this at least.

I still need practice with these guys but I'm doing much better than I was before!

336 zelda breath of the wild - going all in on stamina

Dear Readers,

I decided to upgrade for the first time since obtaining the Master Sword and I wanted all stamina. Health wasn't too much of an issue when facing Ganon and I wanted to have more stamina so I wouldn't be so limited in that area, so I went to the goddess statue in Kakariko and used all my shrine orb thingies to get more stamina for myself.

I also want to do more gliding at some point, and having a large amount of stamina will be very handy.

335 zelda breath of the wild - riding around on a stalhorse

Dear Readers,

I went looking for treasure near the stable and fished out a couple of chests from water over the hill to the east. Night fell and I was attacked by stalkoblins on horseback.

I grabbed a stalhorse and rode away from the battle. I wanted to see what it was like to register it so I went back to the stable and the guy there was just horrified.

He said he wouldn't register it as he was afraid the monster I had would try and eat the regular horses. That was a bummer but I see where he's coming from.

I decided to keep riding around, so I rode until it was daytime and immediately it vanquished, leaving me in the middle of nowhere. Good fun while it lasted though.

334 zelda breath of the wild - doing a bit of showjumping with spotty

Dear Readers,

I hung out at the stable in Faron for a while. One of the guys there had a showjumping challenge. I took it a couple of times.

The first time I didn't qualify for the horse decal prize he was offering, but he did give me a carrot.

The second time I did it I didn't beat his time but I qualified for the prize. He gave me something that makes a horse's head look fancy in parades.

I was wondering how to put it on but the stable hand was able to do it for me. She would only do it if the horse loved me though and she could see that Spotty loved me a lot, so she did it.

Spotty didn't look too bad at all. Might try to get more horse gear but I'm not pushed.

333 zelda breath of the wild - the goofy horse god

Dear Readers,

After defeating Ganon, I was able to reload my save with a star on it. I wanted to do some goofing around. I went to see the horse god I heard about in Faron.

It wasn't too far away from the stable in this region. I just had go on a path south of there that hit a dead end. It was very much like one of the Great Fairy fountains and I had to donate 1,000 rupees to make him come out to see me.

He was like a Rayman or one of those stock Nintendo bosses that are comprised of a head and hands. He was very good humoured and made jokes about eating me. He said he was able to bring back horses that had died and he judged my treatment of horses. He said I was good with them.

That's about all I can expect with this guy for now I suppose. It was fun to meet him.

332 zelda breath of the wild - ganon destroyed!

Dear Readers,

I just took a notion to see if I could beat Ganon and I did. It wasn't hard at all and everything went swift and smoothly.

The reason why it was so smooth was because I had all the Divine Beasts freed and I had the Master Sword. I also had shields and plenty of health replenishments.

In the Sanctum after the Divine Beasts fired their lasers, I took whatever chance I could to attack Ganon with the Master Sword. I let him fire his lasers at me and I bounced them back with shields. It didn't take long before I defeated him.

Princess Zelda warped me out into Hyrule Field where Ganon had turned into his pig form, Dark Beast Ganon. Spotty was here conveniently too. Zelda gave me a special bow and I had unlimited arrows with it. Very handy.

All I had to do was ride around and shoot at spots where all these targets appeared. They were on his shoulders, hips, underbelly and finally the big eyeball that emerged on his forehead. I had a very convenient updraft which I used to shoot one final shot and that was it, Ganon was defeated and the game was now beaten!

I had chats with Zelda, the credits scrolled a bit and there were signs of hope for the future. Zelda was very interested in restoring the kingdom back to life.

It was very nice to finally see the credits and ending, and I got a star on my file whenever I loaded it. Maybe things went a little too smoothly? I did spend a lot of time getting stronger and gathering the memories and everything, but there's a ton of side stuff I didn't do. I did all the basic stuff I needed to do.

The ending is very nice but it feels very slight. I suppose it would, given the post apocalyptic, nature-healed setting of this world. It's not as magical as earlier Zeldas but it's still very nice. Breath of the Wild is a great Zelda, and it gave me a huge world to explore, which was what I wanted at the time, but the earlier Zeldas are still my favourites!

There's a lot more to do so I'll keep playing.

331 zelda breath of the wild - looking for the frostspear all over hebra and not finding it

Dear Readers,

After this I decided to just warp around and explore all the snowy peaks of this region.

I ended up finding a shrine behind huge pillars of ice but I didn't go in yet.

I explored all the peaks in the westernmost part of the area. Found lots of Koroks but didn't find any Frostspear.

Eventually I gave up and looked up a guide. Some frostspears are found in shrines but they're extremely rare when an enemy carrying them spawns on the field.

It's not in random places either. One location of the frostspear was in a skull fortress to the west of the Rito Village. This annoyed me because I was looking all over Hebra for it and it was in Tabantha all along. The compendium clue never said anything about Tabantha. It's getting annoying on a Xenoblade level now...

I raided the skull fortress here and took the frostspear back to Hateno Village. 

330 zelda breath of the wild - exploring the north-west part of the map

Dear Readers,

I decided to explore the northernmost part of Hebra, along that bit of land north of the mountains. I started in the corner and headed east.

I came across many enemy camps, updrafts and a stalnox. The stalnox was a boss but not too hard to deal with. I was able to knock its eye out and keep attacking it for the massive damage.

I hiked and switched masks as needed until I got to the Lynel. No sign of the frostspear yet. I started warping around randomly to try and find one. It's more scarce than I thought.

178 pokémon picross - salary increased to 10 picrites!

 Dear Readers,

Glorious day! I'm working away as normal on the daily grind. A few days after I was banned for a day I kept at it and earned enough to unlock a new area. I unlocked an area that was branched off from one of the older areas and that made my pay packet increase to 10 picrites.

I was thinking if I concentrated on getting as far as possible that my pay would increase faster, but no, it depends on how many areas you've unlocked altogether.

177 pokémon picross - banned from earning picrites until tomorrow

Dear Readers,

Well this game sucks in a way I've just discovered. At the time of writing it's April and I set the clock forward on the 3DS. The game picked it up and banned me from earning Picrites until tomorrow. A game should not do something like that. I don't care if it's free-to-play.

329 zelda breath of the wild - exploring the hebra mountains

Dear Readers,

After I left Hyrule Castle, I sought reinforcements, collecting fairies, cooking dishes etc. until I got back tot he weapon connoisseur quest. Nebb wanted to see a Frostspear. I took the notion to go find one in the Hebra Mountains, since the compendium told me it was there.

I rode until the terrain got too steep in Hebra and I continued on foot. I was well equipped for the hike and swapped out various masks when I needed to.

I found Koroks, climbed some peaks and found several shrines, but didn't complete any. I also found a lodge of a shield surfer. I'll come back to that someday. I found hot springs and more shrines, but couldn't find any frostspears yet. My radar didn't even pick any up. I'll keep exploring.

328 zelda breath of the wild - storming hyrule castle

Dear Readers

I completely forgot I had Magnesis and climbed over the metal door of Hyrule Castle instead of opening it, so I was off to a great start!

I faced all the Guardians I found head on, bouncing their beams back and arrowing them whenever possible. There was a road going around the place and I went through as much as I could until I was stopped by the big purple eyeball blockades. I cleared as much of them as I could.

There are so many entrances and exits to the castle! It's just a big maze of a place. I explored hallways, bombed some walls, found rooms like the dining hall and library. I found a passage from the library that led to a shrine popping up when I lit a big torch! I must remember one of the quests wanted recipes from the castle too. I fought with so many enemies and did fairly well against most of them.

I even fought two Lynels! For the first time I finally fought Lynels head on to the death and eventually won against them. I like when I get a chance to mount them and attack them while they're trying to kick me off. I'm becoming more confident with them now!

Eventually I reached the place where Ganon was. I saved before it and went inside, watching the dramatic cutscene of the champion spirits firing the divine beast lasers right at Ganon. This resulted in half his health being zapped. It seemed underwhelming somehow.

I knew for sure that I definitely wasn't ready to fight him, so I just tested what I could do at all. It wasn't very far and I was so depleted of resources I knew I had to come back fully stocked and stronger. I reloaded the save I just made and warped out of the castle. This made for good reconnaissance and I'll be back!

327 zelda breath of the wild - heading straight for hyrule castle town

Dear Readers,

I rode all the way back to Hateno Village and displayed the sword Urbosa gave me. I forgot to mention she gave me one but she did, just like all the other champions. I don't know if I'll ever use it!

My next stop was to to go to Hyrule Castle. It was finally time to go and explore more of the place for myself. I've been there before to get the memory in Zelda's Study, but it was a very brief sneak in and sneak out kind of mission I set for myself. This time I want to go right to the front gates and take it head on. It's a very scary place with all the guardians around but I've been putting it off for too long. I gotta go.

I rode Spotty as far as the Wetland Stable and hiked the rest of the way to Hyrule Castle. I marched right into the castle town ruins from the east and had my first encounters with guardians, chopping their legs off and destroying them as I went. I fought my way to the front gate and this is where I began to storm the castle.

326 zelda breath of the wild - happy times in gerudo town at last

Dear Readers,

After beating Thunderblight Ganon, I hung around in Gerudo Town for a while.

Riju promised to give me a loan of the heirloom if I did some favours for the ladies that lived here.

One little girl wanted to grow fruits, but her water was contaminated with melon rind that kept flowing down from the rooftops. I chatted with the lady who was behind it and she finally agreed to stop.

Everyone was relieved. The soldiers were all happy too. Some other quests popped up and I'll try them out in due time.

325 zelda breath of the wild - conquering vah naboris

Dear Readers,

Time to finally take on the last of the divine beasts! I warped back on board and went straight to exploring this huge machine shaped like a Bactrian camel. I started on the underside and climbed up inside the torso of the mechanical creature, beating up some guardian scouts and shooting eyeballs as I went along.

I navigated the torso until I got to the navigation terminal. This time I was able to turn the three cylinders that make up the torso, which helped me reach higher places whenever I wanted to shift a platform. There were power circuits on these cylinders and I was able to line them up to power other parts of the beast, such as the neck and tail.

I felt my way along, opening treasure chests and switching on terminals as I went. Some chests seemed unnaturally out of reach.

I got a bit stuck at one point. There were eyeball barriers and I could only clear them by shooting the eyes inside the humps, but I couldn't reach the humps very well. I climbed right on top of the camel's head and glided to the top of the humps. It didn't seem like something I could do naturally and I felt like I was breaking the game.

Anyway I now had access to the humps and I cleared them out too eventually, activating the final terminal in the centre (after getting all the treasure chests of course). Just like before, this central terminal made the boss appear. This time it was called Thunderblight Ganon. Urbosa gave me a warning about him being really fast.

She wasn't kidding. He was extremely fast and I got hit a lot. He had a sword and shield and lightning attacks so he was tricky to reach as well. I had mostly heavy slower weapons and I eventually stopped using them so I could get some hits in.

Eventually he started driving lightning posts in the ground. I had to use Magnesis to pick them up and carry them over to him so he would hit himself with lightning. After this I kept on hitting him until he was defeated.

Urbosa's spirit appeared before me, congratulating me and granting me her ability to use Urbosa's Fury, a lightning spell that can make for a very powerful attack. She had very high regard for me and for Zelda and asked me to take care of her, and Hyrule too.

After I left, she took Vah Naboris, climbed to higher ground and aimed its head at Hyrule Castle to fire a laser, just like the other Divine Beasts. She said it was going to be so delicious when she can hit Ganon with this beam. She said she liked that she can take this matter personally, since Ganon once took the form of a Gerudo. I love how angry and vengeful she is! It's going to be a good moment indeed!

324 zelda breath of the wild - yigas attack in random places now

Dear Readers,

Ever since I beat up Master Kohga, Yigas will randomly appear when I'm roaming around. It's not just the case of them pretending to be Hylians and catching me out on the road. They'll just appear out of thin air.

They have more difficult attacks now too. They'll float in the air and shoot arrows from a distance. It's annoying but they're still beatable in an easy enough way.

The big Yigas will appear now too and they've got this move that burrows under the ground and chases you around. They take a small while to beat but they're manageable too. They also drop windcleavers, which is nice. I took one to Hateno Village for the weapon connoisseur quest.

It kinda reminds me of Grand Theft Auto III when you get too good at the game and you get randomly shot at when you enter certain areas.

323 zelda breath of the wild - gerudo obsessed guy is now barefoot

Dear Readers,

I talked to the guy who was running circles around Gerudo Town in sand boots. I forget his name.

I showed him the photo of the statue. One thing led to another with him trying to ask me out on a date but I kept his leading attempts at bay. Out of sheer flabbergasted-ness, he offered to give me both pairs of boots. He asked for evidence of the eighth statue's sword, thinking I wouldn't be able to get it.

I passed by this sword in the Gerudo Highlands. I warped back to the shrine, because, again I didn't feel like hiking this way again, and from the shrine I did the remaining hiking I needed up the steep slope to the summit and found the sword around the southern part of it. The Lynel was around so I put on my mask as I was passing through.

I took the photo and warped back to him. I ended up with both pairs of boots and he ended up barefoot. He made one final attempt to lead conversation to asking me out and he got the question out but I came back with "not a chance" immediately. Nipping it like that was the only decent thing left to do. It ended badly for him but it would be worse if it carried on.

I feel really sad about this! I look at myself too and think about times I get silly and enamoured. I will use the boots with gratitude.

322 zelda breath of the wild - finding and photographing the eighth statue

Dear Readers,

I found the statue of the eighth heroine! It was just north of the shrine I just beat as well. It looked a lot like the other statues in the desert too, at least on the map. All I had to do was hike over and take a photo of it.

I had a bit of trouble with enemies and I stopped a lot to unearth treasure chests too. It took a good while.

I took the photo and warped back to Gerudo Town. I didn't feel like hiking again.

321 zelda breath of the wild - kicking butt at kema kosassa shrine

Dear Readers,

I took on this shrine and it was a major test of strength. I was outclassed and outmatched by the Guardian Scout IV, so I reloaded my save many times. I even warped back to Hateno to obtain the Guardian weapon I was hoarding for some reason.

After a slow process of getting my own butt kicked, I defeated it using Master Sword, arrows, flurry rushes, heavy weapons, guardian weapons, Mipha's Grace, simmered fruit meals... lots of stuff.

I mainly shot arrows when it was doing its spinny laser thing that made the wind flow up. Daruk's protection came in very handy as well.

I hadn't fought one of these in a long long time. They take a lot longer than the Guardian Stalkers.

176 pokémon picross - s12-09 yveltal

Dear Readers,

This 20 x 15 puzzle was very dense and had some super big clues, but then got smaller and harder to find towards the end. I had a good start with Zygarde 10% and Manaphy, but it still took over 10 minutes to complete. It's a bit too detailed to tell what it is as well. Bigger, meaner Pokémon can be like that.

320 zelda breath of the wild - exploring the gerudo highlands

Dear Readers,

I went through the Yiga hideout again to reach the Gerudo Highlands. No one was here anymore except for the Yigas at the entrance. None of the big dudes were here. The huge stash of bananas respawned though, so if I ever wanted some I can come right on back here and stock up!

I went through the hideout to the Gerudo Highlands and trudged my way all the way to the summit. I couldn't wear an enemy mask and snow boots at the same time so I often did without. They are very effective when exploring in the snow though, so I'll hang on to them.

There are so many treasure chests up here! All just half buried in the snow.

I met my fair share of Lizalfos too. It just felt very dense with enemies and treasure chests of basic stuff. When I got to the summit, I spotted a Lynel, so the fun was over. I continued going west until I spotted a shrine in the distance. There was no sign of the statue I was looking for, so I ended up gliding all the way down to the shrine. This was a major test of strength shrine. I may have to come back this way with stronger weapons but I don't think I'll hike especially for it.

319 zelda breath of the wild - getting caught up in the sand boots/snow boots sidequest

Dear Readers,

I warped out of Vah Naboris to do some preparations. I also got quite a bit distracted as you'll see.

I cooked some meals to be fully prepared. I also decided to finish one of my oldest side quests, to show the duplex bow to Nebb in Hateno Village. I rode all the way there and back, which took a bit of time but it was nice to be out of the desert for a while.

When I got back to the desert, I took the notion to take on the sidequest of the guy who runs around the perimeter of Gerudo Town. He's trying to get the attention of the Gerudo ladies, or of what seems like any lady really. He seemed silly and desperate and I feel for the guy! I would hope he doesn't end up scaring anyone, but the Gerudo seem like they'd be well able.

He was trying to get their attention because he was wearing very rare sand boots. I talked to him in full vai and he got more talkative, asking me to get a picture of the eighth Gerudo statue for him in exchange for the sand boots. He gave me snow boots so I'd be able to navigate my way in the Gerudo Highlands where the statue is located. I agreed to all this and set off for the highlands through the Yiga Hideout. Vah Naboris will have to wait!

318 zelda breath of the wild - teaming up with riju to access vah naboris

Dear Readers,

I took a sand seal to the lookout place. A Gerudo and Riju were there. This time I wore my desert voe outfit and Riju was intrigued with how I looked. She told me about her plan to take on Vah Naboris.

The two of us were to use sand seals, I was to use bomb arrows she gave me on Vah Naboris' feet and she was to use her heirloom to create some kind of barrier to protect us from Vah Naboris' electric attacks. I considered everything carefully and told her I was ready to go.

It felt nice to have her as a companion with her encouraging words. She moved at a consistent speed and I was always slightly lagging or too fast while doing the rushing move, so I had to concentrate a lot on steering and making sure to be within the circle while the electric attack was going on. I fell off the sand seal a few times but I didn't give up. I kept at it and eventually I shot all four of Vah Naboris' feet and brought it to a stop.

Just like before with the other divine beasts, I climbed up on this one and said farewell to my companion who helped me access the place.

On Vah Naboris, I heard Urbosa's voice, telling me I knew how to keep a woman waiting. It was a very long time indeed. Just like with the other beasts, she gave me instruction to find the mapping terminal.

I didn't want to start straight away. I wanted to do some preparations first, so I warped out of there.

317 zelda breath of the wild - bringing riju's heirloom back

Dear Readers,

It was a good laugh fighting Master Kohga and seeing him make his own cartoony demise! I was a bit stressed after the stealth section so it was very enjoyable.

After this I looked for the imprisoned Gerudo and she was gone already. I looked for the sand seal as well and it was gone too. I decided to continue through the canyon into the snowy mountains. I met and fought many Lizalfos. I even fought some more Yiga. I put on the Lizalfos mask to make things easier.

After a while I decided to glide back towards Gerudo Town. I replenished some stamina in the air and made a cool splashdown landing at the oasis. Then I continued on foot.

When I got back to Gerudo Town, I mingled some more and everyone was happy to see I brought the heirloom back. 

I brought it up to Riju in her bedroom. She put it on and asked me how it looked and I said it looked good on her.

When I saw her wearing the heirloom it triggered a long buried memory I had from 100 years ago. Urbosa and Zelda were relaxing on Vah Naboris. Zelda was asleep on her shoulder. Urbosa had a chat with me for a while. Then she made Zelda wake with a start when she summoned a bolt of lightning to strike far away. It was a nice scene.

Riju is Urbosa's descendant and she's still young. She's still developing her confidence as a leader and it's looking like she'll be a great one. She told me she'd meet me at the lookout place where we could start our plan to take on the Divine Beast Vah Naboris.

316 zelda breath of the wild - battle with the goofy master kohga

Dear Readers,

I walked out through the secret door and found myself outside at the bottom of a big weird canyon. There was a big gaping bottomless looking abyss in the centre of this clearing. I didn't dare to explore it.

A Yiga with a pot belly appeared in front of me and gave me a big dramatic introduction. He knew I was Link by the sight of the Sheikah Slate and drew me into a battle with him. He was very goofy and humorous, reminding me of Gilgamesh from Final Fantasy.

He was very easy to fight. He tried throwing stuff at me, but I distracted him by shooting him in the face with arrows, making him drop his heavy rocks on top of his own head. I was able to whale on him with whatever weapon I had then. There was the odd variation on this as he lost health. Eventually, he made a boulder so big that he couldn't stop it from rolling on top of him and knocking him into the bottomless chasm.

A chest appeared and I got the heirloom! Hooray!

315 zelda breath of the wild - storming the yiga hideout!

Dear Readers,

I took on the stealthy section of the Yiga's lair. I failed in it so many times I can't count and eventually I just reloaded my save whenever I did get caught to avoid the hassle of dealing with them.

There are big Yiga dudes here, the biggest I've seen so far. I had to sneak around them and distract them with bananas before murdering them with sneakstrikes. I had lots to add to the compendium, including many Gerudo equipment I hadn't seen until got access to Gerudo Town.

Not counting the amount of times I got caught, I had a lot of fun sneakstriking the big Yigas. I loved distracting them with bananas. They make this funny noise when they're trotting happily to grab a banana for themselves! It's like "hup hup hup".

After a lot of trial and error. I reached the end and got every treasure I could find. Some I had to unearth with Magnesis, which helped me spot a secret panel in the wall I could open like a door. I opened it and it led to outside! There was someone waiting for me out there though.

314 zelda breath of the wild - looking for riju's heirloom

Dear Readers,

After mingling with the Gerudo, I went in to meet with the main leader. She was shorter than the others and she had a hulking bodyguard Gerudo with her. The leader's name was Rija and she welcomed me and my offer to help with the Divine Beast that was stomping around the desert. She wanted me to help obtain her heirloom that was stolen from her first and I gladly agreed to it.

There was some amusing chatter about the champion Urbosa and how there was a voe named Link that fought alongside her. The bodyguard was very stern with me but I had the Gerudo's support. I was able to ask the soldiers for directions to the place where the Yiga took the heirloom.

I took out a sand seal for the first time too! It was a nice quick way to surf through the desert and go where I wanted to go. My path took me all the way to the Yiga hideout. I fought some of them on the way inside.

In the hideout, there were curtains obscuring doorways and was able to find the right one by burning them. Some had treasures and keese behind them as well.

When I got inside, I met the Gerudo that had been captured. She warned me to be careful and to leave before I got caught.

Next up was a stealthy section. I had to sometimes leave bananas to distract Yigas patrolling around the place. I got some ways in and even found a huge stash of bananas! I'm gonna have plenty to help with distracting them!

313 zelda breath of the wild - more mingling with the gerudo in gerudo town

Dear Readers,

I took my time to chat with the Gerudo in Gerudo Town. It was really interesting to see them living their lives in their own community. Many of them were guards, some had big fierce personalities and some were able to see that I wasn't a vai, but they promised not to spread it around.

It was amazing to see the school where they were learning about relationships with voe. Their responses to what the teacher asked were very amusing!

There was a pub but it wasn't called a pub, it was just equivalent to one. There was one very sad down on her luck patron who was airing her grievances about voe. She was just as beautiful as the others and here she was, sad about being single and drowning her sorrows. It was amazing and something I'd never expect to see.

There was a Gerudo who was practising her conversation on a dummy of a voe, which was very sweet. She got annoyed whenever I tried to listen in.

There were three ladies who had a password. I was able to overhear it from next door through a window. I found the place to use the password and found a shop that sells the desert voe gear and some kind of glow in the dark gear too? I'm not sure what it is yet. I'll check it out later.

I learned about a bunch of side quests and I even met the lady who was on the rooftops of the town, sitting by herself eating hydromelons. She discarded the rinds into the waterways that flowed on the rooftops of the town, which is how I found her.

These waterways were very interesting. Is it like a cooling solution or something? Is that kind of thing done in real life? I've never seen anything like it. I must look it up soon.