Previously on my Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild play through thoughts series, I discussed mostly good things about this new game. In my most recent gameplay, I have managed to get a little deeper into the story and identify some more opinions or thoughts about the game overall.

So, let's get started!

SPOILERS POSSIBLE. BE WARNED.

1. Horse Training

Unlike previous LoZ games, we are not given a horse, nor is that horse named Epona. Instead, the player has the opportunity to pick a wild horse and train that horse. There are variations to the horses. Solid color, spotted, etc., and each horse has a different AI for training capabilities. I have worked to train a spotted blue horse, and that is one of the easiest types you can train. I cannot entirely remember the spiel I listened to about the types of horses and their training standards, but I do know I chose the easiest kind first because I was not entirely comfortable with the new engine working here.

In Breath of the Wild, we can sneak up on horses and mount them to take them under our care. The AI here will work against the player. To train the animal, the player has to comfort the horse when it does as told, and this - consequently - raises the horses awareness and training and compatibility with the player. It's an interesting idea and makes for fun gameplay, but it was rather bittersweet when Epona never actually showed up (though you could just name the horse Epona and get the same feeling, I suppose).

2. Zora Domain

Zora's Domain in this game is stunning. When you first arrive at the domain, it is raining constantly, and while one may think that would take away the beauty, I believe it adds to it. Before arriving, the player must make the arduous journey to reach the domain, and that adventure includes numerous enemies and many of those enemies are electrified. The Zora Prince (I can't recall his name) does give the player an elixir to fight the electricity, and while it lasts quite a while, the player has to be careful with the time limit from the elixir itself. There is a satisfaction to finding the domain for this reason because it gives you a reason to work your way there.

The player also meets the Zora King after entering the area as well, and he is a big, burly, fish...thing who gives Link the benefit of the doubt for being the age old hero who joined the champions to defeat Ganon. However, Link is not overly welcomed by the Zora as they blame him for the disappearance of the Champion Princess Mipha, and traversing the Domain can be a bit bittersweet for this reason as none of the dwellers are afraid to let the player know their strong opinion on the hero, but it's still great fun.

3. Lady Mipha: Love Interest?

Ladies Man Link is at it again. In Ocarina, we had Malon (sorta). In Twilight Princess, we had Midna (let's face it, we all wanted that to happen). Now, we have Princess Mipha, the Zora Champion who is the controller of Vah Ruta (covered later), and in recovering Link's memories, we find out that Mipha was quite enamored with the hero, so much so that she made armor for Link - a sign of affection within the Zora people (also covered later). This is an interesting add-in really because it offers a significant amount of humanity to the game overall by giving the player a sense of all emotions. It's a great plotline addition as well.

4. New Armor

As I said earlier, Lady Mipha makes some armor for Link, and the King of the Zora's passes it our way before we head to the first temple. However, the only way to get it is to prove you once knew Princess Mipha through obtaining the memory about Mipha and Vah Ruta. Note, you have to get this armor. This is the one moment where the armor is necessary to completing the next part of the journey. It lets you swim up waterfalls, and that is essential to defeating the first Championed Machine.

5. The Man Beast

This thing is basically a Ganon minotaur which has crazy powerful weapons and likes to shoot shock arrows. Okay, once getting your objective and moving on to try and take over Vah Ruta, you have to steal shock arrows from this creature because you need them to get into the first temple. Well, the game makes running into this guy a complete disadvantage. Every time the player gets up the mountain to where this creature is, a cut scene puts right in the monster's line of sight, which is annoying because you don't actually need to fight him to win.

He's on top of a mountain behind the Zora Domain, and the area is covered with rocks and trees, and piercing these rocks and trees are the shock arrows. So, as long as you can sneak around the area, the you can get twenty+ shock arrows without dying multiple times by this beast - like I did the first time or three. But watch out for this guy, because if you're playing the game in order, chances are you don't really have the weapons yet to defeat him in one go.

6. Vah Ruta

After getting the shock arrows, you meet the Zora Prince at a landing before the lake area where this beast is hanging out. This is where a new mechanic for the game comes into play. Link actually gets to ride on the prince's back in the water. Therefore, essentially, the player needs to be prepared to dodge ice cubes and spiky ice balls to climb the waterfalls on the side of this machine to knock out the power cubes above the creatures legs. Once you do that, the giant elephant stops spraying as much water from its trunk, and you do the Zora's a huge favor. Once this is completed, the prince will leave Link at the entry point, and this machine becomes the first temple.

7. 3-D Maps

This is one of the coolest additions to the game. It is the implementation of 3-D maps which makes traversing this dungeon incredibly interesting because you can see the entire dungeon from top to bottom. It doesn't necessarily make going through the dungeon easier (at least I didn't think so), but it does give a feel for where you definitely need to go and where you cannot cross a path. In this particular map, each element to be obtained is marked already, so the player can quickly run through the temple to complete it. It's an interesting concept, and I look forward to seeing more of this mechanic later in the game.

8. First Ganon Appearance

Look at this beast! This is one of the coolest looking monsters, and I was pretty excited when this guys pops up once the player accesses the final checkpoint in Vah Ruta. I haven't defeated him yet, but he looks cool, and the mechanics are incredibly similar to past boses in LoZ games.

So, this is where we are for part II of my thoughts, and I hope to play more soon and do another article.

Until next time!