I made a video about playing *almost* every Legend of Zelda game in a row.
Then I took a break for a good 4 months.
Until, it was The Time once again, The Time to journey back to Hyrule.
Overall from December 30th to March 11th I mainly played this. Overall about 55 hours. I would say I was in a great Zelda mood at the beginning that began to wane as time went on. I was probably ready to be done with the game around 30-35 hours.
But the game clearly wasn’t ready to be done, that story just kept going.
I knew virtually nothing about it going in, managed to keep myself in the dark as I think I said in that video. I would come to find the building fun in time, although I wasn’t sure how to feel about it at first. Don’t get me wrong I love building in games, customization is my thing for sure. But it just didn’t quite click immediately, I made simple things to achieve the objective. Then started branching out way later in the game, and by that time my interested was dwindling.
The familiar challenge of exploring 4 different regions and getting to the boss in each one was enjoyable and exactly what I expected out of the game.
The above and below areas I avoided mostly though. Although I was in a good Zelda mood, nothing like my very first (Well, second) playthrough of Breath of the Wild where I just enjoyed the mechanics so much I couldn’t get enough. I did everything I could except for getting all 900 Korok seeds. That is something I never felt the desire to accomplish, unlike my sister, hat off to her.
Looking back some time later while writing this, I certainly felt like I took more screenshots than I did. Like I said I had a great time for the majority of the time and I really thought I was capturing more of my favorite moments.
I will have to say though, by the end I have no desire to touch the game again. Maybe one day I’ll get the urge to head back and wander around getting side quests and collecting things done as I basically didn’t touch any of that in the later half of the game. But it is not this day.
This was a really cool part that was not worth the wait, twice.
I think just after getting through the 4 main bosses, maybe another quest or two after that is when I started looking at a guide whenever I didn’t know the immediate next step or whenever I got stuck, I was ready to be done.
But the game wasn’t ready to be done, not at all.
That ending… phew.
I knew it was close, I was pushing to the end. I had a list of quests, I was on the final one. I set aside some time and took the plunge to finish the game out.
It didn’t go well. I was as prepared as I thought I needed to be. I was wrong.
I have to warn every person I tell about the game, that final boss fight is ridiculous. Compared to the entire game up to that point, it’s like you went from playing Zelda to playing Dark Souls in one fight.
In case it isn’t obvious, I’m talking pretty heavy spoilers from here on out.
Not one point during the game up until then did I feel the need to parry, which is good because I never cared much for it. Or in almost any game, it’s difficult to nail the timing on and I’m all attack whenever possible. I realize this is a shortcoming of being “good” at games, and I don’t care.
HOWEVER, Ganon cares quite a bit. It is literally impossible to beat the fight without parrying. It is required, and that you are good at it. The main issue I had, after 20+ minutes of fighting to GET TO Ganon, then you better bring a lot of cook pots because you don’t get a point to stock up, you go into the fight. Also this whole time you are probably being dealt that special kind of damage that lowers your total heart count.
I didn’t realize this on my first attempt. I was ill prepared, but even with the food fully stocked I just straight had to go spend a couple days grinding shrines and getting the top tier weapons and armor that I could reasonably acquire. Which meant doing the side quests I had ignored for the Fairy’s.
Eventually though, I had enough special food, and more hearts.
It still was one of the toughest things I’ve done in a Zelda game. Not ever, because there was some of the original games that I would never have beaten without save states, but still by far a HUGE ramp up from Breath of the Wild and just an insane spike of difficulty for Tears of the Kingdom. I genuinely think there are only 1-2 people I know that could make it through. Meanwhile I think my entire friends and family who I know played Breath of the Wild beat it outright.
Got the star, beat the game. Called it done and set it aside, moved on to other games since then. I was pretty worked up about it around finishing, it needed some time to settle before I could reflect.
I still feel good about the game as a whole, and I would tell any person I know to play and enjoy it and just stop before the final fight. Honestly, I’m not even sure if doing everything else possible in the game before that fight, having the most hearts, the most upgraded weapons and armor, could make that final fight a more balanced challenge instead of the straight brutal ground pound into my face that it was.
It is also entirely possible that was just me, although I found some others online struggling as well, but I am fully aware there will come a tipping point where my aging body will fail. The reflexes and reaction time will just straight not cut it. I don’t think this is the case, as I’m back in Elden Ring playing through for the 4th or 5th time, this time bringing along my sister who has zero experience in the game, and it’s going pretty alright honestly.