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Letā€™s Play The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

ā˜› Gameplay spoilers for Tears of the Kingdom start on Day ā‰¤1, and plot spoilers start on Day 1. The introduction, right below, has minor gameplay spoilers for Breath of the Wild, the previous game. Even bigger spoilers for BotW start at Day 6. You should expect the spoilers to get even bigger after that. ā˜š

A while back, but long after it came out on the Switch, I played The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. It was the first game I got for the Switch, and it, plus the DLC, was nothing short of fantastic. I figured that Iā€™d have gotten my moneyā€™s worth for the Switch and the Pro Controller even if I bought nothing else for the Switch ever. At some point, I realized I like games where you could wander around and dick around; the joy of discovery was something I really liked, and Breath of the Wild delivered lots and lots and lots of Hyrule to explore. It also had a nicely gentle learning curve, which was very important for me at the time.

BotW was my first 3D modern-controller (A, B, X, Y, L, ZL, R, ZR, D-pad, left stick, right stick, āˆ’, +, camera, home) game, and it took me a crazy long time to get adequate at the controls. Even something as basic as camera movement took some getting used to, mainly because I had to figure out what I wanted, nearly from first principles. I knew that I wanted pulling back on the stick to look up (a carryover from mouse-based FPSs which was a carryover from flight simulators), but I wasnā€™t quite sure what was natural for the left-right axis. I eventually settled on reversing both the vertical and horizontal axes, but that was long after Iā€™d gotten off the Great Plateau. While I was on the Great Plateau, I had my hands full trying to get good enough at the controls to get all three apples off a tree without making it look like Iā€™m trying to dance around the tree instead of picking apples. Solo bokoblins? Yeah, that was a challenge. The talus? I figured out soon enough that I didnā€™t need to take it on then, and could come back to it.

Incidentally, a Switch controllerā€™s front-button layout looks like this:

    X
   Y A
    B

L and R are index-finger buttons. ZL and ZR are middle-finger buttons. The left stick is opposite the ABXY buttons, while the D-pad is down and inside a bit, opposite the right stick.

Now then. I was in no rush to finish Breath of the Wild, and partway through I ended up buying the DLC for it. While Iā€™d outgrown some of the outfits that the DLC provides, I got a lot of use out of the Travelerā€™s Medallion to warp back to where I was a moment ago, and it cut down on a lot of annoying travel.

Eventually I did Calamity Ganon in, and I figured I was ready for Master Mode, maybe.

When I started my Master Mode playthrough, I decided to do a written Letā€™s Play of it. For several surprisingly-uninteresting reasons, itā€™s not really publishable (and itā€™s even worse in gemtext), so youā€™ll be missing out on what amounts to mostly-boring travel writing that takes place in a location that doesnā€™t exist.

Not that what follows is shaping up to be any more interesting or different, mind.

The only thing from my BotW Letā€™s Plays worth publishing here is the following passage, written after riding to the Coliseum and cleaning it out of both koroks and DLC chests. I noted that there was a stable-and-shrine pair somewhat close by, and wrote this:

I left my horse, of course, of course, and I didnā€™t want to walk to my horse, of course. That said, of course, I could board the horse, and then mount him _there_, instead.

There, I just saved you hours of reading.

The snowclone makes more sense if you know that you can talk to a stablehand to board your horse, regardless of where it is on the map, and then pull it out of the stable, ready to ride.

ā‚

Now then. If your Gemini client has a way to skip around to different headings, you might want to use it. If you donā€™t know if it does, you might want to poke around and find out.

Day ā‰¤1

I try to finalize spoilers policy.

Day 1: 2023-05-13

You start out with both rows of hearts filled. More than you could end the previous game with, IIRC. Wonder where Link picked up a couple extra heart containers.

Ever since the end of the Calamity, the castle has fallen into neglect.

I know this is still post-apocalyptic Hyrule and all, butā€¦were Ganon and his minions half-decent caretakersā€¦?

The Master Sword seems longer. Either that, or the cameraā€™s closer in than Iā€™m used to it being.

OK, the Zonai lived in the sky, and were the earliest civilization on record. Good thing Skyward Sword DX came out a short while agoā€¦

Keese? In MY abandoned forbidden basement?

Zelda has a Purah-made camera in the style of the Sheikah Slate, but what happened to the real one?

Well, there goes all but three of my hearts. And the outside of my right arm.

Oh huh, green sky. I should expect a lot more green in this game where I saw blue before.

OK, I understand we got a new armā€¦but what happened to Linkā€™s clothesā€¦and earrings?

Oh, theyā€™re back on after the cutscene ended.

Decayed Master Sword
[one-handed sword] 1
The sword that seals the darkness. Its sacred
power has been diminished after being
ravaged by the gloom beneath Hyrule Castle.

Man, this thing went from 30 or 60 damage toā€¦1.

OK, cut some vines. I can do this. But firstā€¦wander around.

Itā€™s crazy weird how pressing X in midair does nothing.

You still get decent AoE if you hold down Y. Way longer than youā€™d expect from a stub of a sword.

Yeah, yeah. Green glowy thing with a hand icon on it. Is this water deep enough to swim in? Yes.

New underpants. This one has an obvious fly, of sorts, plus the pair hasā€¦a belt. Actually two.

Oh hey, a blue thing to stand on. Maybe later.

I wonder if one could tell the difference between BotW and TotK screenshots just from the blue/green balance.

Jump in water.

Climb up a bit. I know how to do this to get out of the Resurrection Chamber!

Landing in water, even from a great height, will prevent you from taking fall damage.

Guess Iā€™m not getting a parachute anytime soon. If ever. Rip in peace.

Archaic legwear. Looks like Iā€™m ready to be an extra on Ben Hur or something.

[important cutscene]

Tree Branch
[one-handed sword] 2
Wooden branches such as this are pretty
common, but itā€™s surprisingly well-balanced.
It doesnā€™t do much damage but can serve
as a weapon in a pinch.

This tree branch is twice as powerful as the Master Sword.

ā€¦I should have done the skydiving in my underpants. Itā€™s not like I needed the armor.

ā€¦I had to use TWO sticks to kill this Zonai thing. What is this, Master Mode?

None of this lifted Hyrule looks like itā€™s from anyplace Iā€™ve seen before.

ā€œPurah Padā€. Looks like a Switch, kind of like how the Sheikah Slate looked like a Wii U.

Fake news. Iā€™ve been to the Temple of Time. Itā€™s a wreck.

Oh. Maybe the one I was at earlier was the new one.

Letā€™s press āŠ–, shall we?

45Ā°F
0453, -1312, 1535

I canā€™t tell if the mapā€™s internal boundaries are the same as what I remember from down below. Where I am now seems a bit south of Hyrule Castle, and a bit east of where I remember the Great Plateau being.

Korok Seed
This small seed was given to you by a Korok.
It has a distinct smell. If you gather a bunch
of them, you never know what may happenā€¦

The first of many, I assume. And I think I know whatā€™ll happen.

You know, I was _not_ rewarded for breaking pots and taking their contents in the previous game. Evidently this one is a return to form.

Well, I canā€™t Magnesis this plus sign into the right place. I wonder what Iā€™ll have to do.

The cold part was interesting. I learned about making green things go. Having to cook beforehand gave me at least a little bit of simulated danger, but itā€™s nothing I havenā€™t handled on the Great Plateau. I got some arrows and a bunch of spicy peppers, but that was about it.

Wooden planksā€¦and a grind railā€¦with hooks beside it. This is definitely mechanic foreshadowing, but Iā€™ve managed to keep myself spoiler-free enough to not be sure how Iā€™m going to put tab A into slot B.

OK, enough farting around. Time to actually go to where Zelda is supposed to be.

Oh, no! This one has a shield!

ā€¦I finally won by baiting him to spin his horned neck around, and he had his shield down for that. Phew. I spent quite a bit of time trying to Perfect Dodge, and whiffed it every time, probably by pressing the wrong button.

ā€œVisit the shrinesā€, says Linkā€™s new right-hand man.

OK, Iā€™ll leave that for tomorrow.

Two hours today.

Day 2: 2023-05-16

Iā€™m going over to where the obvious shrine is. Itā€™s 6:30 PM all of a sudden. Did the existence of time creep up on me after I got to the Temple of Time?

ā€¦well, thatā€™d make sense. Kind of.

Let me see whatā€™s down there, below the hard-to-get rushrooms andā€¦whoops, that was a second too-far fall, and then my corpse ragdolled over the edge. Game overed in the tutorial zone.

ā€œUkouh Shrineā€. They really ran out of easy-to-pronounce names in Breath of the Wild, didnā€™t they?

OK, is this non-Euclidean space, like a TARDIS, orā€¦?

Anyhow.

Mr. Right-Hand Man again:

I believe this light will restore an ability your right arm has lost.

Like, it seems fully functional to me already. I can swing a sword with it, hold apples with it, and probably flip people off with it. I forget which hand Link used to trigger bomb detonations from the Sheikah Slate, but it probably wasnā€™t the arm that holds the sword or moral equivalent.

Wouldnā€™t want to pick my nose with it ā€” the nails look menacingly long and thick.

Anyhow. Continuingā€¦

Ultrahand
Grab and move objects, rotate them, and
stick them to other objects.

Hm. Press L (left index finger, not left thumb) to activate the ability in my right hand. I guess this ability is the start of all the ā€œlook what I builtā€ videos Iā€™ve tried to avoid on the Internet.

Oh cool, an eight-item radial menu! Anyone else remember RadialContext for Mozilla and then Firefox? No? Damn.

I guess this is how youā€™ll get abilities to you doled out, one per Real Dungeon that Breath of the Wild Lackedā„¢.

OK, so itā€™s like Magnesisā€¦but for anything. And you can rotate things horizontally in 45Ā° increments.

First one down.

Second oneā€¦letā€™s see. Iā€™ll just stick the first one on the far side, so the center of gravity is on the far ledge, and then figure out a way to stick the second one to itā€¦

Well, huh. Thereā€™s some green goo sticking the two together now, and the whole thingā€™s center of gravity was in mid-air so it all fell. Thankfully, the angle isnā€™t so steep that I canā€™t just run up it. Inelegant, but good enough.

Wiggle R (right thumb) to unstick. Feels like shake-to-undo. Seemsā€¦out of place. Not sure I like it.

OK, I got over. I donā€™t see a then-obligatory chest. Maybe itā€™s way up high, in the example sliding monorail raft, but I donā€™t see a way to get me up there from here.

Burned off a little red there. Nice.

ā‚

A freezing-climates tip in the loading screen. Foreshadowing!

The fact that their labor no longer serves any purpose, yet they perform it stillā€¦it is disquieting to me.

Someone should make a game about that.

Anyhow, cute sailboats.

These apple trees are for babies. The BotW apple trees, canonically had three apples:

These trees only have the first two.

Anyhow, I assemble a long bridge made of like three parts. Seems like I canā€™t lift things as high as I could with Magnesis ā€”Ā Iā€™m having to weave this thing in between trees instead of lifting the whole thing over all of them like I figure I could.

Hm. The Zonai haveā€¦floating boxes. That just stay wherever you leave them. They look climbable, too. I should test this out after I get one over terraā€¦well, firma-enougha.

8:40 PM already. Iā€™m not going to have to deal with stal-anything up here, am I?

Amber went on a diet.

Sunset fireflies are still around, I see.

Peered over the edge and I see Nazca ruins-type things on the ground below.

ā€œAncient Arowanaā€. I guess thatā€™s a good name for a fish I have to hunt for with arrows instead of bombs.

A 2-pack of korok seeds! Totally new mechanic!

These chuchus are backing up. Are they getting smarterā€¦?

ā€œIn-Isa Shrineā€. Oh hey look, a bombable wall.

Fuse
Attach something to an equipped weapon
or shield to enhance it. You can undo the
fusion, but that will destroy whatever has
been attached.

Attach rock to rusty big-ass sword, smash rock wall. Got it.

6 rusty-claymore damage, +2 from the boulder.

OK, I can make my arrowsā€¦fruity. Hot.

Constructs and chuchus fight each other. Interesting.

Oh hey, a ā€œyou got a weapon, you can drop something worseā€ interface. Nice QoL improvement.

Interesting. A ceiling-walking frog that isnā€™t obviously hostile. Iā€™ll leave it alone, and hope it does the same.

It left me alone. It probably wonā€™t need these glowing seedsā€¦or the ruby behind a stone wall.

Archaic Tunic
[shirt] 1
Old-fashioned upper-body wear. Itā€™s got some
holes, but the soft cloth feels good to the
touch. Itā€™s hard to keep it wrinkle-free.

Oh, huh. I can just yank shrooms off of inaccessible places. Getting loads of rushrooms is probably gonna be way easier now.

OK, Iā€™ve got the amber, killed the captain, gotten the stambulbsā€¦how do I get back? I canā€™t lock on to any of the floating platforms.

Finally, once I got up high enough. Spooky. Small indie company?

Backtracked a bit, then set up a hovercraft. I ended up getting blown into the guardrail on the left, but I ended up crossing before my battery ran out. I thought about maybe adjusting the fan direction, but didnā€™t really get to it in time, or at least it wasnā€™t totally necessary.

ā€œYou should cookā€, it says, so I do.

Scorching Meat Skewer
ā™„ļøŽā™„ļøŽĀ½ šŸ—”ļøā˜€ļø Hot Weather Attack 01:30
Grants a low-level attack enhancement in
hot places.
A juicy, filling snack made by grilling small
chunks of meat on a skewer.

ā€œUps damage only in hot placesā€? Did we need this mechanic? Really?

89 arrows already.

I tagged where Iā€™m going with the red beacon, so nowā€™s a good stopping point.

Another two hours, for a total of four.

Day 3: 2023-05-17

OK, up the hill. Iā€™ll get all these rushrooms andā€¦

Well, glad I cooked a bunch of stamina food. Letā€™s eat the smallest possible mealā€¦

OK, I might make it to the topā€¦if I jump at the very last second, I can maximize my staminaā€¦

ā€¦fuck. No parachute. Oddly enough, Iā€™m down to a half heart remaining, not a quarter like Iā€™d expect if one-shot protection were enabled.

Fuck it. Iā€™m walking. There are stairs here.

ā‚

OK, a hole filled with bombableā€¦uhā€¦rockable rocks. How can I smash them? Letā€™s see if I can climb up on a wall close by and do a midair smashā€¦

ā€¦nope, that wasnā€™t it.

Big sticks with rocks on the end get used like mining hammers from the old game, right? Canā€™t I just do the spin-and-ground-pound move?

Yes, we can!

Fuck, thatā€™s a beautiful sunrise.

Onward and upwardā€¦

ā€¦three captains? And thereā€™s all kinds of stuff around them. Iā€™m going to have to use tools.

Shouldā€™ve eaten after the first whack. Good thing I saved manually right before this.

Opal. Sweet.

OK. You can smelt zonaite into things.

Chargesā€¦crystallized chargesā€¦crystallized charges are raw materials for making energy cellsā€¦

And now, for a mine-cart ride. Uphill!

ā€¦now, thatā€™s the biggest gumball machine Iā€™ve ever seen.

Korok, andā€¦

now, a mine-cart monorail. Cool.

OK, this is a nice little hill. Shield-surfing still works, right? Hold out your shield, jump, and then pressā€¦what is itā€¦A?

Yes!

Aā€¦single-use pot. Best on flat surfaces, it says.

Up and around through the cave, andā€¦

Itā€™s cold up here. Iā€™ll do speedrun strats and only eat the hot food when Iā€™m about to die.

Interesting. Thereā€™s a giant dandelion here. Let me whack it andā€¦

ā€¦darn. Didnā€™t see where it landed. Maybe itā€™ll respawn if I go back up again.

After like ten attempts, I figure out that the winning play is to stand where itā€™ll probably land, shoot it with an arrow from there, and then grab it as it falls. I almost got filtered. The hand stuff I have doesnā€™t help me at all.

Uphill andā€¦

Oh shit, this oneā€™s got one of those flamethrowers I got from the gumball machine.

One whack from full health and Iā€™m at a quarter heart. Good thing Iā€™ve got one-hit KO protection.

Got cocky. Game over.

Killed him after I came back. Good thing I booked it to the cave entrance and got a free autosave. You know what beats trying to Perfect Dodge a flamethrower? Headshots.

Bomb flowers. I remember this mechanic.

Another bubble-blowing glowing frog.

ā€¦what the fuck WAS that thing on the wall with a testicle dangling deep behind its maw of teeth?

Like Like Stone

OK, one of those. Havenā€™t seen one of those since the 8-bit days, so no wonder I didnā€™t recognize it.

Climb up some more, andā€¦

ā€¦two captain constructs, and another Game Over. Kill them both on the second time, andā€¦

ā€¦there are two flame heads here.

Hmm.

Iā€™ll stick one to a sword and anotherā€¦to a shield? Sure.

The shield works like a flamethrower if you just hold your shield out. This could be fun.

Iā€™m within spitting distance of the shrine Iā€™ve been trying to work myself towards, so Iā€™ll stop at the 90-minute mark.

1Ā½ hours today, for a total of 5Ā½ hours.

Day 4: 2023-05-19

Climb up a bit, andā€¦gutentagā€¦erā€¦Gutenbach? (I checked after finishing and itā€™s ā€œGutanbacā€.)

Ascend
Move upward through solid material and
emerge on top of it.

Is this the mini Revaliā€™s Gale Iā€™ve been hearing about?

Not really. It lets you go up, but you have to get through a wall to do it.

I donā€™t really like it. It feels constrained, like an Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device.

Anyhow, thatā€™s done. My right-hand man says to go to the Temple of Time.

Thereā€™s a fantastically suspicious circle of what are probably stones on this mountain, so Iā€™m going to walk down the normal way instead of climbing up the roots draped over the top exit to the Bottomless Cave.

Now for a cooking sessionā€¦

ā€¦and to go up through this very obvious ā€œuse Ascend hereā€ overhang and into the hollowed-out giant treeā€¦

Archaic Warm Greaves

Good thing I didnā€™t make loads of cold-weather food.

Got the obvious korok on top.

ā€¦glidersā€¦? Letā€™s check out the local gumball machine and see if I need anything on it other than a fan.

It gives me at least one wing if I dump five Zonai charges in. Also fans and other stuff.

Iā€™m going to save now.

Fan on, andā€¦

ā€¦steady as she goesā€¦

too high, gonna have to kill some altitude by looping aroundā€¦

Like Launchpad McQuack didnā€™t say, any landing you can swim away from is a good landing.

Climb up the steps, sometimes literally, open the door, andā€¦

Ooh, wow.

Man, princesses have a weird life.

Recall
Reverse an objectā€™s movement until it goes
back to where it was. You can stop the
reverse movement at any time.

OK, this looks very game-mechanicy. I wonder if Iā€™ll be able to use it in combat.

Pray

I want goodies, not to just get smiled upon.

I am not yet vital enough. I cannot open the bigger door. Evidently this door is a giant Master Sword.

OK, NOW I can TP to previous shrines. Itā€™s all coming together now.

Letā€™s just check out this one gear thing, andā€¦

ā€¦damn, my timing sucks.

ā€¦Oh, this is the shrine. I was supposed to do this.

Nachoyah shrine. I think theyā€™re having a giggle.

ā€œ100 crystallized chargesā€

Well, then. Iā€™d better get to collecting. I only have 10 now.

Anyhow. These shrines look way bigger in caves.

Easy enough.

Now then. Back outside. Letā€™s peer over the edge, andā€¦

Wow, the Temple of Time is far below. I probably donā€™t need a fan for this. Iā€™m still saving the game, though.

Well, I didnā€™t need a fan.

I do need to dive way more than I did, though, because the thing dematerialized way over my target and I fell to my death. I didnā€™t realize that pressing the Dive button would have let me Pilotwings my way to a different landing zone, possibly over some water.

Second timeā€¦nailed it. Somewhere in the giant body of water, but still. Close enough to swim to the entrance without drowning or having to munch stamina foods.

Guess Iā€™m getting a heart container now.

Heart Container
A rare item that restores some of the life
force you lost to the gloom, increasing your
maximum number of hearts by one.

And that burns off everything, not just my funky arm.

Odd that this is phrased as restoring what was taken, as opposed to adding to what was there already.

Aww, cute. The dragons kissed.

ā€¦and thatā€™s the last Iā€™ll probably see of my right-hand man.

Zelda gets the sword. She looks like sheā€™ll hang onto it for a bit. She seems relieved, somewhat.

I get a mentalgram from her like in the last game, saying ā€œLink ā€” you must find me.ā€

The cutscene ends with the clouds clearing a bit.

Thereā€™s Hyrule Castle.

Thereā€™s a big pond below.

Hyrule Castle is now covered in redā€¦smoke? As opposed to the old purple crud.

Thereā€™s a red glowing crater south of Hyrule Castle.

Thereā€™s a very deliberate spiral cloud way over in the Hebra region, to the northwest.

Iā€™ll just check over on the other side, andā€¦whoops.

Nice view while falling. Iā€™m going to have to eat some stamina food to make sure I donā€™t drown before I get to the shoreā€¦

ā€¦done.

Pick up a rock, get a mystery item known as a ā€œgreen rupeeā€.

Thatā€™s enough for today.

1Ā½ hours today, for a total of 7 hours.

Day 5: 2023-05-20

Now that Iā€™m on the ground, letā€™s see whatā€™s new.

The map, even when you havenā€™t explored an area, shows bodies of water. I trivially recognize Lake Hylia, Zoraā€™s Domain, and a few other places. Makes sense, since landing in water from up high is a thing now.

OK. I remember seeing a shrine. I want to TP up and down, and not just have to skydive to get from Up There to Down Here. Letā€™s go that way.

Damn. Lots of random chunks fell from the sky.

Hyrule Restoration Materials
Use this materials cache for all your building needs. Come find us if youā€™d like a dream home! ā€”Hudson Construction

Some ad.

What does the game expect me to do, build a cart and put a fan on it? Isnā€™t this what horses are for?

Also, Iā€™m used to TotK dialog boxes having some kind of flair on the left and right sides. Talking with the koroks and others up in the sky gave me, IIRC, buds with wings; this dialog box has buds without wings, like I see in the newfangled shrines.

Hyrule Herb

I remember these!

ā€œTajikats Shrineā€. Probably not the worst name, and itā€™s right by a stable.

Building With Logs

Got over the first hump.

ā€¦now what am I supposed to do?

I made a U-shaped thing with the three logs I had available and nestled the two tips on the metal extrusion. It stayed. Good enough for me.

This one? Just make a two-log bridge. Easy.

Nowā€¦hm. Maybe if I make a cube thing?

Iā€™ve ended up with a square base, two poles sticking out the middle, and three parallel logs up top roughly going between the two up poles. Letā€™s try thisā€¦

Darn. Too top-heavy. It just fell over in the water. Guess three logs up top is too much.

OK, I reinforced the bottom and took off one of the logs up top. Iā€™ll just set this extra log on the ledge Iā€™m going to go to andā€¦oh huh. I can stick this contraption to the log thatā€™s dangling over the edge, making it more stable.

Now for the final everything. Thereā€™s a chest over on the left that I want. I donā€™t know whatā€™s in it, but I want it.

I think Iā€™ll put a fan on on the diagonal and see what happens.

ā€¦why am I being given two fans?

OK, donā€™t put it on the back. That just makes it spinā€¦

What if I have front fan drive?

Nope. That just spins it ā€™round right around.

Two fans, in front, and I whack one or the other to make it go where I want.

OK, they both went at the same time, and I canā€™t individually target them. It got me to the end, though, and letā€™s see if I can just swim sideways against the currentā€¦

Got it. A spiky shield. A shield with green plant spikes on it.

Swam back to the raft, whacked it again to turn the fans on, and went forward and left a bit. Jumped off, had a harrowing one-stamina-ring swim to the middle area, andā€¦now Iā€™m on ground again.

ā‚

Riverside stable.

Riverside stableā€¦well.

Well.

Iā€™ll circle around back to that maybe.

Beedle.

I haveā€¦one rupee.

Moving along.

A Malanya bed. I wonder what sort of sweet nothings Malanya might whisper in my ear. That said, this stable doesnā€™t have any beds in it, so Iā€™m not sure how well Iā€™d sleepā€¦

Oh. I need something called Pony Points. Every time I use a stable service, I get Pony Points.

This seems like weird gamification bullshit in my video game.

At two points I can get aā€¦towing harness.

OK, thatā€™s moderately interesting.

Andā€¦my first blood moon. Iā€™m ready to cook!

Just saw a chunk fall from the sky. I wonder if itā€™s the new Star Fragment. Too far away for me to get to soon.

Iā€™ll just cook thisā€¦and thatā€¦and theseā€¦and try making some potions out of these crickets Iā€™ve been picking upā€¦

[piano music intensifies]

ā€¦and some spicy mushroom dishesā€¦

[clock strikes midnight]

Well, thatā€™s spooky. All these enemies seem to have some kind of spike on their heads now. Nice to have the preview, I suppose.

Thatā€™s enough for today.

One hour, for a total of eight.

Day 5+i: 2023-05-24

Havenā€™t been able to find the time to sit down and actually play the game, but itā€™s not like Iā€™ve totally stopped thinking about it.

A series of thoughts:

Still at eight hours of gameplay.

Day 6: 2023-06-06

Heading south.

They still have enemy outposts. They look fancier. I think I see some new enemy in there. Not going to go after them yet. Letā€™s sneak around the perimeter and collect dragonfliesā€¦

I donā€™t really see anything that looks like the Great Plateau. Thereā€™s the reddish mountains off to the right still, butā€¦I donā€™t recognize whatā€™s right in front of me.

At least I see some green glowing stuff ahead. At least I get a shrine this way.

Sundelion

Huh.

And now thereā€™s one of those moblins with a giant four-tipped spike in his head that I saw during the Blood Moon sequence.

ā€¦Iā€™m avoiding him.

ā€¦a red wizzrobeā€¦

ā€¦Iā€™m definitely avoiding him.

Kamizun shrine. Iā€™ll take it.

ā€¦now this is a proper shrine name.

ā€¦whereā€™d my clothes go?

Proving Grounds: Beginner

Is this a miniature Eventide Island?

ā€¦more like miniature Trial of the Sword. Lot of enemies here.

Well.

Gonna have to not tick them all off at once.

Did that. Got ā€™em anyway.

Hm. The unpicked red hot chili peppers (firefruit?) disappeared, too. Not just the things I picked up.

Chest with a thing in itā€¦and a little bit of evil cleansing.

ā‚

Now then. More south.

Well, hereā€™s the Great Plateau, or whatā€™s left of it.

Your friend is on the top of that thing. Hm. I donā€™t even know how to get myself up there yet, little buddy.

Oh, hey. Thereā€™s this newly-fallen sky rock that I can Ascend through. That should take me about halfway upā€¦

Great Plateau
Hyrule Field

And a rushroom.

ā‚

Thereā€™s the old (new) Temple of Time.

A giant bokoblin off to the left, across the pavementā€¦

ā€¦and, going up the stairs to the Temple of Time, a normal-ish bokoblin with a thing on his head.

Heā€™s armored.

On one hand, a bomb flower was a good idea.

On the other hand, a point-blank bomb flower was not a good idea. RIP.

Hooray for autosaves.

This second time, the bomb flower took off his armor ā€” I think, because his HP bar isnā€™t yellow anymore. Itā€™s back to the red Iā€™ve come to know and love.

Man, this guy is tanky. Feels like Master Mode without the HP regen.

Black bokoblin horn.

I guess Iā€™m supposed to compensate for weak damage with things like this.

ā€¦and that was one of those creepy tree monsters that the loading screen warned me about. Good thing I have a shield with a flamethrower on itā€¦

And one more bokoblin.

ā€¦and now thereā€™s dragons in the sky. Did they pop up because I got close, or because itā€™s nighttime?

Anyway. One trio of stalbokoblins is enough. Iā€™m starting a fire.

ā‚

Yup. Dragons still here.

I still do not have a horse.

This spiky shield might be handy if these things try to grab meā€¦

ā€œAerocudaā€. They go down in one arrow.

Oh hey, thereā€™s that pond.

And thereā€™s still a(nother) korok here.

Temple of Time Ruins

Looks about the same. Letā€™s prayā€¦

I am trappedā€¦under the waterā€¦behind
the stone gateā€¦of the great plateauā€¦

Well, I didnā€™t expect that. I expected to be told that I only have 2/4 Monk Boogers and to come back later.

Uphill, I saw the gate to the cold part of the Plateau. Maybe Iā€™ll go up there. Iā€™ve got the pants for itā€¦

This part looks Ascendable.

Man, Iā€™m getting high up. I sure hope the ladder outside is still thereā€¦

OK, I think this is where King Rhoam told me whatā€™s upā€¦and hey, thereā€™s a chest here!

Nostalgic Fabric
Tough fabric bearing a nostalgic design. It
looks like it could be used to make a
paraglider.

The design looks like my old paraglider. Seems I wonā€™t have to fear falling forever.

The music here is exactly as it used to be.

Oh wow, thereā€™s a dude up here. At the gate.

Traveler
Step right upā€”come and chill!
Hot bananas, fresh off the grill!

Oh. These assholes again.

His stance looks like heā€™s about to fight. He does not seem like a traveling merchant.

He continues!

Traveler
Hold 'em in your hands, feel that heat!
Take a big bite, what a treat!

Em dashes and straight quotes. The last time I saw this particular combination, I was saving New Tristram.

Oh, more?

Traveler
And the flavorā€”like a dream! A little taste
of heaven, if you know what I mean.

Aw man, the line breaking failed. Maybe itā€™s better in Japanese.

Traveler
Stop right there and buy a pair!

ā€œBuy a pairā€. Heh. Heheh. Heheheheh.

Iā€™ll press B to doubt.

His incredulity is breathtaking:

Traveler
What sort of icy heart does it take to turn
down a hot, freshly grilled banana?

The persistence of this guy!

Traveler
Are you going to be a lookie-loo, or will you
buy a banana or two? Just one bite and it
all begins!

I mean, one banana is only a snack. Itā€™s probably for the best that heā€™s trying to feed me bananas, plural. If he were a weaker salesman and trying to sell me on eating only one banana, all Iā€™d need to do as your humble narrator is faithfully relay his words and then turn to the camera.

This guy doesnā€™t realize I have, like, three rupees to my name.

Traveler
Thereā€™s only one place for those who deny
the joys of a grilled bananaā€¦

You know, Iā€™m not sure if thatā€™s a proper ellipsis in the game or not. I suppose it doesnā€™t really matter if I canā€™t tell.

Traveler
Beg the banana's forgiveness!

He wants me to get on my knees and try to please the banana?

[poof]

Now comes the inevitable fight. Wish me luck. I donā€™t want to get beaten by a banana. Yakov Smirnoff jokes had their second wind years ago, and now theyā€™re doubly passĆ©.

ā‚

Take a hit, eat a snack.

Take a hit, eat a snack.

I need to get better at Perfect Dodging again. Or parrying.

Mighty Bananas
1 Fuse attack Power
Ā½
This fruit grows mainly in tropical forests
of the Faron region. When itā€™s used as an
ingredient, the resulting dish will temporarily
increase your attack power.

Iā€™m back to automatically curling quotes. Imagine theyā€™re straight in the game.

Blue rupee. This more than doubles my cash reserves up toā€¦7.

Purple rupee. This takes me up to 57.

Eightfold blade. This ā€œyields more powerful sneakstrikesā€ than ordinary blades.

Is this a mechanic we needed?

Wasnā€™t there supposed to be a lake? Seems like thereā€™s another one up here. Oh, and I got bodied by a ā€™lectric Wizzrobe on the way up.

Quite honestly, Iā€™m not sure what Iā€™m doing out here. Itā€™s not like Iā€™ve seen any green glowing shrines.

Oh hey look, itā€™s the new red crap. Looks like itā€™s where a shrine used to be.

Great Plateau South Chasm

Looks about as deep as Kohgaā€™s well. Iā€™ll get that glider first.

8 PM. Iā€™m going to skip past the stal phase and fast forward until tomorrow.

ā‚

ā€¦and itā€™s 5 AMā€¦and itā€™s raining with lightning. And of course, I wanted to climb.

I am not a speedrunner. I am not even a streamer. I will wait.

8 AM now. Here comes the sun.

Climb to the top of the tallest thing around, avoiding the aerosomethings with stones, andā€¦

Royal Claymore
[two-handed sword] 14
A large sword, now decayed, issued to the
royal familyā€™s guard. Itā€™s tuned for skilled
users and yields a powerful flurry rush during
a perfect dodge.

So ad-libitum flurry rushes arenā€™t a thing anymore?

Iā€™ll check on this other red hole.

I will also avoid the moblin. Looks like he has a pineapple on his head. Canā€™t be good, considering how much trouble Iā€™ve been having with mere bokoblins.

Great Plateau West Chasm

I have a thing on my map for it now.

Thatā€™s enough for today.

I still donā€™t have a horse.

And thatā€™s two more hours, for a total of ten.

Day 7: 2023-06-08

I could jump in. Iā€™d die, and itā€™d be dumb, but I could jump in.

Letā€™s go around the rim, check everything out, see whatā€™s behind that moblin, andā€¦icefruit? And a lake?

Ice Fruit

Nailed it.

[ā€¦] and increases attack
power in cold temperatures.

Seems like a lot of the buffs in this game got nerfed.

Three arrows pointing at this lake. They have got to meet at a point. These icefruits probably make ice things I can walk on, but what do I do when I get to the middle?

First, save.

FUCK, thatā€™s cold. Lost two and a half hearts there.

Korok. Not bad.

Iā€™m going to move these ice blocks around with the Ultrahand. I do not want to nearly die again just because I fell in the drink briefly.

ā€¦and then the wind picked up, and now the three fused ice plates (theyā€™re only about a foot thick) are drifting in the wind.

Oh hey, thereā€™s a shrine in the distance.

Seems Iā€™m not seeing very many at-ground shrines. Maybe thereā€™s a bunch underground or something.

ā€¦aaaandā€¦a rock just fell from the sky and landed. I can see where it is. It looks like an ordinary rock.

ā€¦and that looked like a, um, the yellow thing. Super expensive. Falls from the sky. I forget the name. No way Iā€™ll be able to get to it in time, though.

Oh, neat. I whacked an ice keese into the water, and its corpse made an ice step.

Ice Like. Me no like.

River of the Dead Waterfall Cave

Another one of those chill wall frogs.

Brightcap
[ā€¦] Cook it into a dish to
give a glowing effect to anyone who eats it.

Oh, damn. Another Like Like.

ā€¦and thereā€™s a shrine behind it. Buckle up, I suppose.

OK, I canā€™t just blast it with fire from my shield. Guess I have to use bomb arrows or something else.

ā€¦yanno what? That didnā€™t do a lot of damage. Iā€™ll just run by it.

Fire and Water
Tadarok Shrine

Step 1: Donā€™t take a bath with a plugged-in toasterā€¦or ball-and-chain.

Something tells me Iā€™m going to need to keep this block.

Whatā€™s this pool of water for?

Oh, I canā€™t block the fire and spawn the wooden block. Gotta put the fire out.

Slightly melt the ice block, andā€¦

Mighty Zonaite Shield
[shield] 50
[ā€¦] more efficiently use an attached
Zonai device.

Holy moly. 50 durability.

ā€¦you can climb ice, but not a wooden crate. OK then.

[probably 30 minutes of carefully maneuvering the only climbable block upwards]

I wonder if Iā€™m expected to balance one of these extra blocks on the electricity source.

Can I stick a spare block over the edge up top? Enough to ascend through?

FUCK YEAH!

This oneā€™s done.

ā‚

Yanno what? I donā€™t want to bother with this like like a second time. Iā€™m going somewhere else. Like, to farm bombs. Theyā€™re at the Bottomless Cave up in the sky, right?

Optional like likeā€¦

Semi-optional like likeā€¦letā€™s see if I can surf past itā€¦

OK, donā€™t try to shield surf with a shield that has giant plant spikes on it.

Three more bombs. And some chicken legs. Back down.

Cook up some more at the one stableā€¦

Letā€™s go to Kamizun Shrine and see if I canā€™t get that horse I wanted.

ā‚

A Gerudo.

[ā€¦] I suggest you try going north
to Lookout Landing.

There. Hereā€™s the Great Plateau again.

And thereā€™s water leaking from a pile of whackable bouldersā€¦

A pathway opens. Oh, and free fish. I could always use more fish.

Aāƒ Examine
You who hear my voiceā€¦
Come to meā€¦ In the Temple of Time
Ruinsā€¦up the road on the plateau to
the southā€¦

Been there, bought the T-shirt.

Back to horse.

Silent Princess

Handy.

Oh, and itā€™s on a thing.

I dedicate this monument to the memory
of the souls lost to the Calamity.
-Zelda

Someone forgot the em-dash button?

HORSES!

Which ones were the fast ones, again? Unspotted, right?

And itā€™s raining. Iā€™m gonna try the speedrun strat of shooting one with an ice arrow.

It worked!

Chugged a stamina potion in the nick of timeā€¦

Now to make the horse like me. With loads of apples. Hopefully it wonā€™t just up and run away if I dismount.

Gatepost Town Ruins. I didnā€™t come this way. Iā€™m saving. I do not want to lose my horse and almost ten apples.

Went by the shrine I saw. I am not dropping by here until I register my horse.

Finally get back.

Stats:

Strength: ā˜…
Speed: ā˜…ā˜…ā˜…
Stamina: ā˜…ā˜…ā˜…ā˜…
Pull: ā˜…ā˜…ā˜…
Temperament: Wild
Bond: MAX

It is brown.

The first horse is free.

I get one Pony Point. One more point until the next reward.

I have an idea. Letā€™s check Wikipediaā€¦

All 143 episodes were filmed in black and white.

So much for ā€œMr. Edā€.

Gold hair, so not a palomino.

Nine characters allowed.

I kind of made a beeline to this guy ā€” for some suitably elastic definition of ā€œbeelineā€ ā€” so thatā€™s what Iā€™ll call him.

Yes, him. Heā€™s a stallion. I checked underneath.

I type in a B, and hereā€™s what the autosuggest suggests:

I donā€™t get those kinds of suggestions from my phone. Certainly not the first one. The first one doesnā€™t even fit.

There, Iā€™ll board the horse.

Kakariko Village is (still) out east. There are ring-shaped Zonai ruins that landed there.

Sounds like something to do tomorrow. Well, after I get a fourth monk booger from the shrine I tagged and later rode by.

Two more hours today, for a total of 12.

Day 8: 2023-06-09

Iā€™ll go visit that shrine I rode by. In the morning.

5 AM, and itā€™s raining. Good. Makes me sneaky.

Killed my first-ever bow-wielding bokoblin. Man, that guy was hard.

All these guys are hard. I need better weapons. Maybe I should stop gluing rocks to sticks.

A rock just fell from the sky right in front of me. It seems ordinary.

Some guy told me to go to the meeting place. Iā€™d rather see old haunts and get my ass beat.

Oh hey, thereā€™s the Coliseum.

Letā€™s just go around south, andā€¦

More bokoblins. And aerosomethings. I get into a fight with one bokoblin, I take one hit, and then I save. 750ms later, he gets me.

Iā€™m just gonna run right past them.

ā€¦OK, the fight music is dying down. Guess Iā€™m getting out of their jurisdictionā€¦and the shrine I saw from the Plateau is the one right next to the Coliseum shrine I mentioned in my BotW playthrough.

I chat up a woman wearing mushroom clothes. Miskoā€™s treasure. DLC gets mainstreamed.

Woodland Stable in Eldin has a fairy close by.

ā€¦and not two seconds later after talking with the woman, I see a giant onion bulb-shaped thing up the hill past the stable. I am not in Volcano Zone, so I donā€™tā€¦maybe I am in Eldin?

Nope. This is Outskirt Stable.

Oooooiii!

Myti asks me if Iā€™ve come to see the Great Fairy Kaysa. The answerā€™s ā€œnoā€, but itā€™s nice to know where the rupee sinks are in the game.

Kaysaā€™s into flute music. Hmm. By Pyper. Part of the music group. Guess I need to get to Eldin.

ā€œTsutsu-um Shrineā€. Well, thatā€™s a name.

The Stakes Guide You

What am I supposed to do with this fan if I donā€™t have a parachute?

ā€¦I did all that spike placement for a dinky liā€™l 5-pack of arrows? I feel robbed.

I donā€™t think I can do this yet. I need to get up to the level above me, andā€¦

ā€¦oh.

Now the ball is trapped in the rails. Maybe I can just shove it outā€¦

Nope. Canā€™t reach that low.

Of course, itā€™s too far away to be ultrahanded.

Screw it. Iā€™m coming back later. Maybe thereā€™s an Ultrahand range upgrade.

I donā€™t remember any BotW shrines letting you get softsoftlocked (that is, needing to exit to reset to get the shrine back in a winnable state).

ā‚

Letā€™s check up on the fairy. Maybe she just wants rupees.

Nope. Just flute music.

Letā€™s check up on one of these tall towers back past the Coliseum.

Oh, and thereā€™s a guy putting up a sign by some piles of wood and building supplies.

Addison

I think I know where this guy is from.

OK, this guy wants some support, and Iā€™m not fast enough with the Ultrahand. Let me try Recallā€¦

Nope, that doesnā€™t work either. Itā€™s not Recall-targetable. Do I need to git gud?

I make a structure containing a couple short flats at a 90Ā° angle, stick a big flat on top, and then stick a 4Ɨ4 out between the two short flats, and then add a vertical 4Ɨ4 on the front side. It holds up.

Guess I just needed to git gud a different way. Took me about ten minutes.

Red Rupee

I was disappointed briefly but then I remembered Iā€™m poor.

Oh, thereā€™s more?

Veggie Rice Balls
ā™„ļøŽā™„ļøŽā™„ļøŽā™„ļøŽ

ā€¦premium collection?

Sleepover Ticket

Free night at a stable.

Now itā€™s 9:25 PM.

Oh huh, it looks like most of a Zonaiā€¦car.

Letā€™s put the fourth wheel on in the same direction as all the others, shall we?

Lightning beast in the Coliseum. Got it.

Continuing on with my new ZONAI CAR.

Can I cross Manhala Bridge with it?

Sort of. It fell off but hung by a wheel. I was able to jump off, and now Iā€™m portaging it across the bridge.

Wonder if itā€™ll be able to go up this hillā€¦

Yes. Donā€™t let the moblin see meā€¦

ā€¦oh hey, this is where the horse statue is.

One korok, a few mushrooms, and a shrine sighting later, Iā€™m on my way again.

Another sign going up. The hooks on the back of the sign are different.

Well, that was way easier. One big flat in the hooks, stabilized with 4Ɨ4s at the base.

Red rupee, energizing mushroom rice balls, and something called a puffshroom. It sprays spores. You donā€™t eat it.

Drove up the rockslide end of Satori Mountain. These wheels have great traction, even in the rain.

Sonapan Shrine

ā€¦thatā€™s a lot of apples.

Blood moon.

A pack of hightail lizards sunning themselves at 1 in the morning.

ā€¦andā€¦shit. Wizzrobe noises.

ā€¦and heā€™s electric.

ā€¦and heā€™s not leaving me alone. Guess Iā€™m fighting him.

ā€¦guess Iā€™m saving now.

On one hand, that was way easier than doing it in the snow. On the other hand, his wand rolled downhill to a bokoblin. Iā€™m not going for it.

It likes fruit? Iā€™ll give it a golden apple.

Glowing light. letā€™s go to the close-by oneā€¦

Satori Cave. And it has a bomb flower in the entrance.

And a scary freaky-fast blue moblin cousin. Fuck it, Iā€™m out.

Jeddo Bridgeā€¦Iā€™m portaging again.

There are eight cherry-blossom trees in the world.

Dazzlefruit

A flashbang. Got it.

This might make that sneakstrike booster thing worth itā€¦

Moving along. When the fork in the road comes, I turn left so the old perma-rain spot with the weird ā€œtreesā€ is on my right. I donā€™t go into the gash in the world.

Addison again.

Bomb flower. Not bad.

Makurukis Shrine

Still not abandoning my car.

Glendo
Itā€™s justā€¦ I saw sunken treasure in a
pond on the hill near Ludfoā€™s Bog!

Good to know. I like treasure.

Addison again.

Thereā€™s a notch cut out. Letā€™s see if I can wedge something in there and hold it upā€¦

I assume the wheels arenā€™t for this particular puzzle.

Done.

Another red rupee. Iā€™m making bank off this guy.

Dude in a crater. Heā€™s playing a musical instrument. I donā€™t recognize the crater from the first game, plus thereā€™s an Ascendable ledge over the edge.

Looks like Iā€™m assembling a hot-air balloon.

Well, Iā€™ve got the right idea ā€” itā€™s just that I run out of Zonai juice too fast. Maybe if I just use the balloon and blow it out the side with my fanā€¦

Oops. The whole wagon caught on fire.

I need more Zonai juice. Iā€™m putting a person pin here in the map and leaving him.

No wait, donā€™t I have Zonai-juice replacers?

Oh. I need to take him, too? All at the same time?

OK, fine.

I got up out of the hole, but too high, and Iā€™m not sure how Iā€™d get down. Luckily, Eustus missed the particulars of how we got down.

Heā€™s rejoining the band.

Now then. Dude, whereā€™s my car?

It must have de-spawned when I messed up the pit escape. Drat.

A whole three hours today, for a total of 15.

Day 9: 2023-06-10

Now then. On to Rito Village. I hope thereā€™s a shrine handy.

Potential for falling rocks. Gabe Newell says nobody looks up. I will be a nobody and look up.

Didnā€™t see any while I HAD MY CAR.

Cute windmill off on the right.

Well, thereā€™s Rito Village. It looks frozen solid.

Addison again. This oneā€™s tall and skinny. The sign, I mean.

Spicy veggie rice balls and a bomb flower. Score!

ā‚

I see a green glowing thing at the base of Rito Village. Good. If I freeze my arm off getting there, I can just nope out and come back later with warmer clothes.

First octorock.

Ahead, first lizalfos. Two of them. Iā€™m going around.

Oromuwak Shrine

Good. The spikes catch fire, even in the cold.

Thereā€™s a stable down there. I donā€™t remember the local stable being down there.

Brightcap Cave. Those things on the walls spook me. Iā€™m easily spooked.

On the other hand, I have unlimited save slots, and also homing arrows if I want them.

Sticky Lizard
The suction of its toes allows this lizard to
easily cling to walls. It could be an asset
for a climber on wet surfaces if it were mixed
into an elixir.

Score!

Man, Iā€™m picking up these mushrooms from like 20 yards away. Why canā€™t I pick up rushrooms from like 5ā€² above my head?

The cave narrows. I save again.

One of those fast blue fuckers. Fuck it, Iā€™m outtie.

I have six brightcaps. Sorry ladies, youā€™ll have to wait until the next blood moon or I grow a pair.

Shit, all this downhill and I donā€™t have any shields I want to burn.

Lucky Clover Gazette
Tabantha Frontier

Ooh, flint. My kleptomania will have to kick in after talking with this guyā€¦

Oh, welcome. This is Rito Stable.
No, itā€™s not. Itā€™s the Lucky Clover Gazette.
Iā€™m sorry. Old habits die hard.

Throw pinecones onto a fire to get a whirlwind? Handy.

Traysi. The first person here who actually recognizes me. Unlike that vai trio back by the coliseum stable who expect The Hero to be super-tall and carry a giant sword.

Purahā€™s at Lookout Landing.

She says itā€™s better if I donā€™t tell people who I am.

ā€¦a full set ofā€¦froggy armor? I havenā€™t dressed up like a frog since Super Mario Bros. 3.

Traysi
With that on, itā€™s easy to cling to wet
surfacesā€”no slipping!

Oh, I have to work with Launchpad McQuack first. Fair enough.

Visit every stable. Sounds good to me.

OK, the normal Rito bridge is out.

ā€¦Addison?

Thereā€™s no pile of building materials around. New sign design, and thereā€™s a stalnox off in the distance.

Anyhow, Iā€™m dropping a marker at (-3556, 1549, 0137).

Pass the pile of stalnox bones, andā€¦

ā€¦huh. A cherry tree.

That makes for the #cherry-tree:tabantha-frontier.

Iā€™m going to start logging with tags here. In addition to #cherry-tree:satori-mountain.

West Lake Totori Cave

Big drop. I should save.

There are glowing mushrooms where the cave narrows. [waggles finger] Thatā€™s bait.

Downhillā€¦Zonai constructs, an ice wizzrobe, and building materials a fair distance from the nearest Addison (like, on the other side of the lake Rito Village is in).

Also, a lot of bokoblins. More than Iā€™ve ever seen in one place.

Oh, and an Addison.

Two short flat pieces at a 45Ā° wedge and thatā€™s enough for the wide sign.

Biting meaty rice balls. ā™„ļøŽā™„ļøŽā™„ļøŽā™„ļøŽā™„ļøŽ, šŸ—”ļøā„ļø 3:30. Could come in handy around here. How do you make meat bite, though?

ā‚

Hebra Mountain Climbing Path

Lotta Rito guards.

Harth

ā€¦Do Iā€¦know him? Teba told him about me.

Oil jar

Hm.

Look up, ascend through tree stump on underside of rock, receive korok seed.

ā€¦aaaand back around to Lucky Clover Gazette.

Back to Oromuwak Shrine. ā€œA Launching Deviceā€.

OK, that was a fun, non-OSHA-compliant mine-cart ride.

Two rockets up, one out. Seems about right.

Nope. Mostly just takes me up. Maybe two on the back.

Behind and above me, thereā€™s a chest. Iā€™ll come back to it later.

Two back rockets did the trick.

And thatā€™s four monk boogers.

Back to Makurukis Shrine. Itā€™ll take me closer to the climbing set of Miskoā€™s treasure.

Combat Training: Archery

Oooh, this sounds fun!

Headshot training.

That was easy.

Haul the korok back to his friend, and thenā€¦missing white goats?

ā€¦oh. I still have all my horses. They never left.

I havenā€™t found a replacement source of white horses, so Iā€™ll take my first one, a perfectly adequate horse.

Runakit Shrine

I donā€™t want to misplace my horse, so Iā€™m not going in.

Hyrule Ridge Chasm

I donā€™t want to die, so Iā€™m not going in. At least I got the map marker.

A tower on an island in the middle of water.

Iā€™ll save now so I can rewind time if I chug all my stamina potions and still donā€™t get to the top.

A Rito named Billson.

The good news? I donā€™t have to climb it. The bad news? I need to talk to Purah first to activate it. Iā€™m going to savescum back my ā…–-wheel stamina potion.

Can I portage my horse? No, I cannot portage my horse.

Cado says Impa is in a hot-air balloon, and is at New Serenne Stable, to the northwest of Central Hyrule.

Spooked Juney. Figured out midway through that gluing the seals together and then taking them all back was the winning play. Had 0.00 seconds left on the timer when the buzzer whistled.

Now, to pick up those mushrooms and herbs that distracted meā€¦

Kiuyoyou Shrine

Boy, making me work to figure out the syllable breaks for that one.

Impaā€™s still alive and well, and standing.

The Nazca Ruins-style things are called geoglyphs here.

Apparently this doubles as a balloon-lighting tutorial.

Looks like a Zonai sticking out its hand to the side to shake hands, but itā€™s looking toward the camera.

Dragon tears are marked with these.

ā€œNear the geoglyph, or within its bordersā€.

Impa
If you would like to examine the geoglyph
from ground level, you can float down
with a paraglider.

Donā€™t rub it in, lady.

Did Iā€¦

Shit. I didnā€™t visit the local shrine before talking to her. And my horse is down below. Fuck.

Nope, canā€™t get to water. Good thing I can TP outā€¦

Splatter, my first horse, TPs back to the stable system as mentioned in the introduction. Wild Blue, my second horse, comes out.

Oh hey, these pinecones might be leading me to something. Theyā€™re leading me into the previously perma-rainy part, andā€¦

Goats.

I continue back around counter-clockwise around the previously perma-rainy part, and then to another Addison, whoā€™s by where a Sheikah Tower used to be. Thereā€™s no trace of it.

Sinakawak Shrine

Back to where Impa did me dirty.

New Serenne Stable

Go south. The artistā€™s rendition of the beast was with one of those Faron trees around, so I guess thatā€™s where I go if I want to tug on that thread.

Zumi got some wheels ā€” literally ā€” but thatā€™s enough for today. I can get her a horse tomorrow.

Three more hours, for a total of 18.

ā‚

OK, that was a good lunch. Letā€™s see what happens for another hour.

More horses. Now, for somebody else.

Thereā€™s a hole here.

Speedrun strat still works.

100 rupees!

Insideā€¦tomatoes and those glowing shrooms.

X marks the spot, andā€¦thereā€™s a bluepee. Just sitting there. Out in the open. In broad daylight.

I shoot it once and get one blue and a few greens. It runs off to a cave that I didnā€™t notice before.

Gladis
These Bubbulfrog creatures are supposed
to live in caves, eh?

Oh, so thatā€™s what theyā€™re called.

North Hyrule Plain Cave

Thereā€™s a like like at the door.

Two. Fuck ā€™em. If I want to go frog hunting for some weirdoes in Eldin, I can do it elsewhere.

Fuck. Miskoā€™s shit is probably in here. Iā€™ll have to come back.

Across the bridge with the hinox on it. Iā€™m not ready for something like that, and Iā€™m not about to get baited by the stuff by him.

Oh, and thereā€™s a shrine on a mesa. Of course, itā€™s raining. Fortunately, Iā€™m not a speedrunner, and Iā€™m typing all this up anyway.

Ishodag Shrine

Thereā€™s a nest up here. Thereā€™s a chest in the nest, but I canā€™t get to it because the nest has thorns in it. #undone:ishodag-shrine:just-outside

And now, a blood moon. I can get more purple glowing shrooms now.

Also, Addison.

Thereā€™s a fort. Surrounded by spikes. Sticking a diamond pin in at (-0911, -0022, 0077).

Susuyai Shrine

Looked suspicious being in the middle of a flat paved area, but I didnā€™t get ambushed on the way in.

Korok noises.

Zonaiā€¦wheeled headsā€¦?

Iā€™ll make an ATC, not an ATV. Although I really wish I had a control stick in a canā€¦wish me luck.

I had trouble aiming down, so I figured that doing a ground pound was a good idea. Unfortunately, the plank of wood I was on couldnā€™t handle the SMAAAAAASH.

Fuck it, Iā€™ll just haul his ass on foot and TP back to the shrine where I left my horse.

ā‚

Oh, a big pitā€¦and a hot-air balloon.

I got baited once before. Never again.

Jiosin Shrine

There we go.

By sheer coincidence and possibly good placement, I ran on top of some Gloom while I was standing by someone who could explain the stuff to me. Youā€™ll auto-recover topside, but not when youā€™re Down There.

Finally get to the Meeting Point or whatever itā€™s called. Talking with Purah will wait until tomorrow.

19 hours.

Day 10: 2023-06-11

Itā€™s technically tomorrow. Letā€™s see if we can fit in an hour of lore dump and horseback riding.

Everyone knows me. They want me to talk to Purah.

Now I kind of want to hear what everyone says when they tell me to buzz off and go talk to Purah.

Lurelin has a pirate problem.

Kind of a shame Mubs isnā€™t selling proper armor. What she has is cheap, though, and Iā€™m still dirt-poor.

Free eggs, though. Glad I went around the top.

Poesā€¦

Man, seeing and/or hearing about all these enemies really drives home how few different enemy types there were in Breath of the Wild compared to even Zelda 1.

Upstairs, and thereā€™s some young girl. Oh, this is Josha.

Andā€¦well, thatā€™s an entrance. Now I know where the racy Purah art on the Internet comes from.

I hear [ɹɑ:ɹu].

Go see a Hoz, whoā€™s looking for me and the Princess in Hyrule Castle.

Hm. Ancient tech on top of her post. Only 10,000 years old. Comparatively new!

Purah Pad upgrades come from underground.

ā€¦do I really want to spend 120 rupees for some pants thatā€™ll get mogged by probably anything else soon?

ā€¦nah.

Emergency shelter. Pretty cool!

Atmus basically levels the playing field between us old hands whoā€™ve been around Hyrule and the newbies who donā€™t know where things are.

Oh hey, Garini. I remember that guy.

Now then. Time to pray. For stamina.

And now we head north through the gates.

ā‚

I see some partially-rebuilt houses (basically only foundations at this point), andā€¦Addison.

Kyononis Shrine

Not going in yet. Place sure looks different without all the purple crap and Guardians around.

Now, to get around the massive closed doorā€¦

ā€¦whoops, fell in the drink. Back to Kyononis Shrine.

Eventually make my way to Hoz. I see Zelda. She flies off. ā€œGo tell Purahā€, Hoz says. OK, fair enough.

She and Josha are going to boot up the Skyview Tower.

ā€¦tomorrow.

One more hour, for a total of 20.

Day 11: 2023-06-12

Letā€™s get this tower network up and running.

Flares. Hmm.

Purah
Only thing is, you need a paraglider when
youā€™re scanning.

Hoo boy.

Paraglider
This item, given to you by Purah, lets you ride
the wind and glide through the sky. Press Xāƒ
in midair to activate it.

The designā€™s different. The bit of cloth I picked up at the Temple of Time ruins looks like my old one. Whatā€™s the old cloth for, then?

Watching Purah and her mannerisms makes me think of John Scalziā€™s Old Manā€™s War.

Uh-oh. Ancient tentacles.

ā€¦aaand, well, I think the Purah Padā€™s AR technology beats whatā€™s on even the best iPads of the current day. Pretty impressive.

OK, can I go for another ride?

I CAN! Sweet!

There was a fantastically stiff westward breeze just now midair, but Iā€™m not seeing any of the torches blow in the wind. Not sure if itā€™s the game, or minor joy-con drift.

Pretty sure itā€™s the game.

OK, the weird stuff is happening mostly in four regions. Hebra (Ritoland), Gerudo (Gerudoland), Eldin (Goronland), and Lanayru (which is actually east of Zoraland?).

They want me to go to Rito Village first. Also, talk with the newspaper lady.

ā‚

Ooh, eggs in a tree outside!

Oh, itā€™s raining.

ā€¦canā€™t I just Ascend through a branch?

I can!

ā‚

Zonai ruins fell right on top of Kakariko Village. Dang.

Also, Robbie is going to be my Purah Pad upgrade guy.

Robbie says heā€™s going back when Josha gets her Depths Investigation sorted outā€¦

So to upgrade my slate, I need to put together a slate jigsaw puzzle. Got it.

And Robbieā€™s going down there. Escort quest?

Camera?

OK, chasm to the south.

And Hoz is doing stuff. Could use some help. Iā€™ll do that later.

ā‚

The Depths

Dang. Peacock trees.

Letā€™s just check my map, andā€¦

Dang. Thereā€™s an entire another world down here, just like in the sky.

How do I throw brightbloom seedsā€¦?

A very helpful Polygon article says ā€œhold R first, then press up on the D-padā€. I wonder if Iā€™m going to accidentally throw any weapons doing this.

Nisoij Lightroot

Oh, nice. now I get at least a little bit of a map. I donā€™t think 1/dĀ² works like this, though. Iā€™d expect to be blinded.

Nope, canā€™t ascend through it. But I do get a TP point.

Brightblooms counteract gloom.

Bomb flowers!

ā€¦deep bokoblins?

(dying to a second set of deep bokoblins and a deep moblin)

Iayusus Lightroot

Ooh, these lightroots clear gloom.

Robbie
This statueā€¦ Itā€™s standing tall on two
legs, one arm raised highā€¦

Goal body.

Robbie then reenables my camera:

Robbie
If I remember correctlyā€¦ You press this while you
pull this, and then you tap that, andā€¦

Reminds me of remembering the difference between screenshots vs. locking vs. sysdiagnose on my phone.

Hm. No ā€œexclamation mark in red circleā€ emoji.

āš ļø Statue with raised arm

Nice QoL bit. Imagine hiking out to one of the Seven Sisters and flubbing the picture.

Go back to the enemiesā€™ base, take them out, one by one, and then take all their zonaite.

Get whacked once. As long as I can make it back to a lightroot, even if itā€™s already been activated, Iā€™ll get my gloom cleared.

Back to the Lookout Landing Skyview Tower to show Josha pictures of stuff.

ā‚

Robbie
Listen up! Big update here.
Your Purah Pad can be equipped with a
sensor that detects shrines.
ā€¦
Come on! Act more impressed!

Sorry, man. Iā€™ve seen too much.

He needs to get to Hateno Village. But heā€™s tied up here until Josha releases him.

ā€¦whom is Josha referring to by ā€œDocā€, again? Purah?

ā‚

Back to Oromuwak shrine to get more free brightcaps.

Spicy Tomato Mushroom Stew

Not the worst food.

Something else in the north of the Hebra region, these women leak.

ā‚

I never did peek into Jiosin shrine. Letā€™s.

Shape Rotation

Make your own roon joke.

Almost forgot about Ascend. Got the hasty elixir in the chest.

Seems like the shrine difficulty fell off.

ā‚

Letā€™s peek in at Susuyai shrine.

A Spinning Device

Five arrows? Lame.

Although I kind of had to use one of ā€™em at the end there.

Another two hours, for a total of 22.

Day 12: 2023-06-14

Letā€™s see if we can bang out an un-done shrine or three.

But first, bomb flower farming.

I can get to more now that I have a glider.

Letā€™s check in on the mining caveā€¦dang, I need 90 more. Iā€™m starting a shopping list.

And hereā€™s a Magnesis-able chestā€¦some kind of mega zonai charge.

Whatā€™s this spinning eyeballā€¦?

Flux Construct I

Oh, a Talus-tier enemy!

Your rock hammer is badly damaged.

Oh, itā€™s going to be one of THOSE fights, eh?

Maybe not. I pulled out a rock axe and that was enough to finish it off.

Micropanicked a bit when it did the Rubikā€™s Cube thing and put the vulnerable block on the inside.

It left some Zonai charges, some boxed fans, andā€¦this rotating thing.

Maybe I should glue it to that one Zonai stickā€¦

Sweet! And itā€™s one-handed, too!

OK, back to the Zonaite forge.

This guy can pump out 10 crystallized zonaite per blood moon.

Off to Sinakawak Shrine.

ā‚

Oops, a bit too far away from the edgeā€¦good thing I have my GLIDER.

Lifting the big ball with two hot-air balloons at 90Ā° away from each other gives meā€¦an opal.

Hey, itā€™s my first in years. I shouldnā€™t sneer at it too muchā€¦

I still have no idea why theyā€™re throwing torches at me like I might need them. Can I snuff out the candles accidentally?

Four Lights of Blessing. Nice.

Letā€™s try Runakit Shrine next.

ā‚

Built to Carry

Yeah, Iā€™m expected to have the glider for this one.

OK, it rolls downā€¦

Hey look, a giant stone lollipop!

ā€¦how do I get the chest?

Put the ball right there, then see if the flat pieces are long enough if stuck togetherā€¦

Thatā€™s it.

ā€¦aaand I shouldā€™ve jumped off the ball onto the ladder. There goes a heart.

ā€¦and I jump off the ball, miss the ladder, and lose another heart.

Construct Bow

Bleh. At least I got the cheevo.

Stumped again.

ā€¦maybe if I make a three-part, open hook?

Yup. That was superlatively satisfying.

Now for another monk booā€¦Light of Blessing? Light of Blessing. Iā€™m learning!

Thatā€™s enough for tonight. Note to self: cash in the Lights of Blessing for another fifth of a stamina wheel.

One more hour, for a total of 23.

Day 13: 2023-06-16

OK, letā€™s cash in our Lights of Blessing atā€¦oh hey, are all those horses black?

Different hair, but seems so. (-2527, 1278, 0161).

Letā€™s get to eight LoBs and then cash in. Next: Kiu[look at map entry]yo[look at map entry]you Shrine.

ā‚

Fire and Ice

This block is too big. My first reaction is to complain, but there arenā€™t any upperclassmen around to complain to.

Finally getting the hang of having Ascend ā€” stick the ice block on top, then Ascend through it.

Zonaite Spear

Finally a good chest drop. Iā€™m going to drop my torch. Watch me regret this.

ā€¦that was easy.

Weird, when I entered, it was raining. Itā€™s still raining. I guess I didnā€™t spend much time in there.

Ishodag Shrine now.

ā‚

A Windy Device

Do I justā€¦stand on it?

No.

ā€¦should I have brought something with meā€¦? Thatā€™s not their styleā€¦

Yes. But pointing up, and I use my glider.

Opal

Not bad.

Man, these are easy. I really went out-of-order for a while back there.

Seven!

Now then, to Kyo[look]nonis Shrine.

ā‚

Combat Training

All right, finally some action!

Letā€™s use their stuff. I can pick my stuff back up later, right?

Side hop. ZL-target, then strafe, then jump with X.

I triggered a flurry rush. Nice to know those still happen whenever ā€” a previous powerup scared me for a bit there.

Of course, I went ham, and now I donā€™t have a rusty broadsword anymore.

Backflips. Same thing, but pressā€¦?

Dang. I did it, but forgot the button already. Jumpā€™s gotta be X, right?

Next up: Perfect Guard. ZL-target, then parry with A. Have a shield.

Charged attacks. Hold Y, then release.

Special Controls (New!)

Yeah. Back up with the left stick, then press X to flip backwards.

Two more unlisted techniques. I wonder if I know them already. Oneā€™s between ā€œcharged attacksā€ and ā€œbackflipā€; the otherā€™s at the end, beyond ā€œperfect guardā€.

Another zonaite sword.

Eight Lights of Blessing.

ā‚

Iā€™m gonna YOLO it and get two Stamina Vessels. This isnā€™t Master Mode, so I canā€™t die in only one hit from anything.

ā‚

That chest underneath the emergency area is bugging me. I wonder if I can get to it from this scary-looking monster cave to the west.

ā€¦thereā€™s a dude.

Heā€™s doing pull-ups. Iā€™ll paparazzo him and then book it.

Horriblin

So thatā€™s what theyā€™re called.

I want to make darn sure Iā€™ve collected all my pony points. Iā€™ll start by checking in at all the stables Iā€™ve visited.

ā‚

Tabantha Bridge. Couldnā€™t get this korok when I didnā€™t have my wings.

Outskirts. I get horse-god fabric for a glider, and a pointer to some Zonai ruins close by.

The Hateno Dye Shop works with this stuff.

Owlan Bridge. Maybe Gotterā€™s people have gotten held up there. Iā€™ll take a disposable horse. Donā€™t tell Malanya I said that.

Addison just past Owlan Bridge.

I meat, uh, meet Agus and his crew. They did not perform the recipe to fidelity the first time around.

Meat, rice, rock salt.

Back across the bridge, andā€¦blood moon. Nice! Time to go shopping!

Letā€™s pee on the side of this shrine to make sure we can come back to it.

Teniten Shrine

You need to reach your friend?

OK, Iā€™ll stick this ball on the DIY fan skateboard, andā€¦

Oh. It was a bomb. And I had fewer than all hearts.

I canā€™t steer this shit.

Iā€™ll just walk him and call my horse repeatedly.

ā‚

Now then, to what looks like the closest, um, bouncy tower. Iā€™ll get the names right eventually.

I guess I have to get to this one from the enemy tower right next to it.

The first guard is a bokoblin. I beat him off the edge.

The second guard is a moblin. I figure Iā€™m going to have to get a better bow and arrow for this guy, so I futz around in my inventory and pull one out. The moblin above me picks up not a sword, but a bomb barrel. I shoot him, and he drops it.

So much for the second guy!

The final challenge is a couple of bomb barrelsā€¦and a spiky ball being rolled down at me.

I let it pass and settle.

Only then does it occur to me that I could send it right back at them. How far does Rewind (or whatever itā€™s called) work?

Surprisingly long! It goes back up the hill and whacks a couple blue bokoblins for maybe a fifth of their HP. Iā€™ll take it.

Oh, and an armored one. The spiky ballā€¦itā€™s following himā€¦

ā€¦and it doesnā€™t dent the rock plate heā€™s wearing. Hrmph. Guess I gotta bomb him.

Bombed him, got whacked by him and his buddy with flaming logs, died.

ā‚

Respawned, tried to sneakstrike the first bokoblin, didnā€™t work, and the moblin bombed himself to kingdom come without even me shooting at him.

More bomb flowers, andā€¦

Shit. Boss Man is onto me. The music even changed.

More bomb flowers. When in doubt, bomb arrows.

Boss Man threw a fucking boulder at me. It hurt.

Luckily, theyā€™re kind of hung up on the right corner here, and arenā€™t chasing me.

I fight Boss Man, he throws a bomb barrel at me, and I catch the edge of it and I donā€™t have a full four hearts. Whoops.

ā‚

I get back up. One of the bokos bombs his ally whoā€™s rushing to close distance to me.

A bit more arrowing andā€¦theyā€™ve all come to greet me. At once. Grouped up.

OK, Boss Man got wind of me again.

Letā€™s try a puffshroomā€¦ok, itā€™s more like a smokebomb for monsters.

The dazzlefruit made him drop his weapon. Good to know.

I come up closer, he walks by a couple bomb barrels, and I have plenty of fire fruit.

Big head. Easy to hit.

And heā€™s down. Dunno if I got a picture of one.

Save, and kill the last lookout.

Lot of bomb barrels around. Iā€™ll just lift them into the fire to dispose of them.

ā€¦oops, held that one too close with Ultrahand. And I didnā€™t have full hearts.

ā‚

Finally clean up all the stuff in boxes. Thereā€™s not much, other than freshly-baked apples. Time to go reverse bungee jumping, or something.

Surface map updated.
Sky map updated.

Letā€™s see if I can get to this rockā€¦

South Hyrule Sky Archipelago

Got a couple golden apples and a stambulb and a sundelion.

A little bit lower, andā€¦FAIRIES!

Also a floating platform. With rockets close by.

ā‚

OK, that was a short rocket ride.

What kind of bow does this soldier construct have, anyway?

Shit. Most of his stuff fell off.

Pick up more stuffā€¦

Ascend through to the next spotā€¦

Another soldier constructā€¦heā€™s firing rocketsā€¦

ā€¦and another one bites the dustā€¦after a long fall down to Hyrule below. Argh.

Iā€™m going to the Temple of Time ruins. Iā€™m mostly above them. See if I can finish off that one random quest.

ā‚

ā€¦aaand thatā€™s one easy way to get the korok at the top of the Temple of Time spire.

ā‚

Where are these eyes?

Anyhow. Down the Eastern Abbey hole, toā€¦a bunch ofā€¦poes.

There are ghost knights around. One of them is holdingā€¦a spear.

Travelerā€™s SpearāœØ

It looks untouched by the, uh, Calamity, no, the most recent thing that chewed up all the weapons topside.

Travelerā€™s SwordāœØ

Same.

Travelerā€™s ClaymoreāœØ

OK, I get the picture.

That looks like a glowing root off in the distance. Iā€™ll shoot a giant glowing bulb as far as I can. Hopefully thatā€™ll be halfway between here and there, and Iā€™ll see whatā€™s what.

Well, it looks like if I take a fan-assisted mine-cart ride, I can get there in no time, and bypass a trio of bokoblins.

Well, the mine-cart ride took a turn, and now Iā€™m at that castle construct.

I still want to get to the root down here.

Koradat Lightroot

OK, back to this templeā€¦

Wow, there are a lot of poes around.

And thereā€™s that guyā€™s face.

ā€œDrop the tears inā€, he says.

And thereā€™s a chest down below his face.

Might as well save and open it up, right?

A mere large zonaite. Iā€™m undoing this.

Iā€™m glad I did the root recon.

Hereā€™s a forge. No forgemaster, though.

Hylians!

ā€¦probably Yiga.

Yeah, Iā€™m gonna have to deal with them somehow. However, theyā€™re not going aggro on me, so Iā€™m not sure what to do.

Researcher
ā€œThis ability will allow you to commit any structure you create to memory.
ā€œAny object committed to memory can be instantly reproduced.ā€

Coooooool.

Three hours is enough for one sitting. Weā€™re up to 25.

Note to self: donā€™t forget to get ten more crystallized zonaite, since weā€™re on a new blood moon.

Day 14: 2023-06-17

Technically Saturday is the best kind of Saturday.

I donā€™t want to activate these bananas people. On the other hand, I want the ability. So, here we go.

Eat a shroom, get back up to all four hearts. And save.

A TP spot. Handy.

Autobuild
āœ‹ šŸ—”ļø šŸ›ø āŖ šŸ¤² šŸ“·
Instantly re-create your Ultrahand projects,
using nearby items and zonaite. Autobuild
records your previous creations.

I guess this is the final ability I get.

Now they want me to fix their cars.

I guess Iā€™m being railroaded into being an idiot. Breath of the Wild didnā€™t do this to me.

ā€¦I wonder what Thyphlo Ruins is like. The dark isnā€™t nearly as scary anymore now that I have so many tools to deal with it.

Now then, to get railroaded some moreā€¦

[DK64 voice] OOOOOLD BANANA

Great work, both of you!
stranger

Wait, I thought only the main character is supposed to get amnesia in games. Not the goldfish-poop boss.

Oh, he finally remembers.

If thereā€™s one foe Iā€™ll never forget itā€™s the
man who cast me from my Gerudo Desert
hideout into these very Depths.

Depths. Not Underdark. One day Iā€™ll get this name right.

Depths.

Anyhow. Now we know whatā€™s at the bottom of that big pit.

Interesting camera shake in time with the foot stomping. I donā€™t think BotW had this kind of camera control.

ā‚

Anyhow, I get teleported a short distance away and now he wants to run me over with his car.

I get a good picture of him, and he throws a ball in my face. Fair trade.

OK, after being briefly stumped, Iā€™m getting by with headshots and whacking him in the ass with a polearm. Is that all I need to do?

His car is getting more defenses, so thereā€™s that.

His final form comes out. Cute, but not a hard fight. Just tedious.

Master Kohga
Iā€™ll grab that power you cheated me out
of for MYSELF, off at the Southwestern
Abandoned Mine!

Are Zonai arms justā€¦available? I figured I had the only one.

Huge Crystallized Charge

Nice. Guess Iā€™m getting my battery upgrade early with this 100-pack.

To the southwest isā€¦an old Gerudo mine. It was busy.

Statues point the way. Step 1: follow the light.

I then get a schematic for a fanplane.

ā€¦aaand it takes me right to the Koradat Lightroot.

I think Iā€™m done for now. Time to do my Blood Moon dailies, so to speak.

ā‚

100 crystallized charges gets me my first energy well.

A second one takesā€¦another 100.

Back outside. Iā€™ll see if I canā€™t get back to the Great Plateau.

ā‚

Turns out, this water beside the Abbey is only about ankle deep. There goes a fairy.

Seems weird without the Guardians here.

Anyhow, his eyeball is right in the destroyable-rock wall. Guess I shouldā€™ve not just gone around.

Anyhow. I think Iā€™ll retrace my steps, this time with an eyeball glued to the minecart.

Works for me. Now up to Tadarok Shrine.

ā‚

Bypass the Like Like with a bomb arrow, and Iā€™m out. Now to get toā€¦someplaceā€¦

Ascend is a thing. If I go up through to water, I pop out on the surface.

Now, out west.

Thatā€™s a scary lookinā€™ lizalfos down there.

Maybe he has an eyeball.

On one hand, nothing says ā€œhelloā€ quite like a bomb arrow.

On the other hand, nothing makes enemies say ā€œaaaaaaaaooooiiieeeeeā€ while they fall over a ledge quite like a bomb arrow.

However, if I overshoot the bomb arrows so he gets flung towards me and away from the edgeā€¦

Nice.

The black moblin was similarly easy.

Now back up to the hole down below. The eyeball is pretty close. Probably. Which one of these icicles has it? Probably the one that wonā€™t just accidentally let the eyeball fall someplace off the Plateau.

One small fire later, itā€™s freed.

ā‚

Down below. Thereā€™s a tank on top of this one minecart. I donā€™t know what it does. External power?

Yup.

A bit more minecart riding, and Iā€™ve got him his second eye.

Back to Tadarok Shrine.

Can I just Ascend here and skip the Like Like?

Maybe if I get to the small hill in the cornerā€¦

ā€¦at least Iā€™m getting a redā€¦

It blipped green.

ā€¦letā€™s see if I can get through it while itā€™s greenā€¦

ā€¦nice, Iā€™m heading through, andā€¦

ā€¦it leaves me on the side of a cliff. Better than nothing, I suppose.

Wander around to the remaining hole, andā€¦hm. No obvious place for an eyeball.

Oooh, the Old Manā€™s Hut is still here. And itā€™s surrounded by fuck-off wooden spikes.

ā€¦and itā€™s decorated with Yiga Clan markings. Thisā€™ll be interesting.

I got my ass kicked, but it was interesting.

Poke around the side, and thereā€™s a secret memo in there. Also a Yiga Clan mask sitting on a stand, like itā€™s to be taken and worn. By me. Now I REALLY want in.

Iā€™ll try some speedy food. At least Link can get faster on short notice.

That worked out better. Not great, but better.

Eightfold Longblade
[longsword] 8
A longblade that no longer cuts as well as it
once did, due to its decayed edge. However,
when wielded by a proficient fighter, it cleaves
the wind and creates a vacuum.

OK, now thatā€™s an interesting mechanic. How do I shot wind?

Thereā€™s a fashion person inside still. Almost certainly Yiga. Iā€™m saving again.

Pitar
Those Yiga guys were forcing me to make
weird outfits for them. It was awful!
Yiga Mask

Interestingā€¦

Pitar wants to meet Nobo, the woman of his dreams.

Learn Earthwake at the training area. Wherever that is.

Iā€™m stuck. To the Interwebs.

Oh. Use Recall on these long-settled rocks to get them to go back up.

Throw it in, go for a glider ride, stick it in.

Back to In-Isa shrine, then a long fall down.

ā‚

Nogukoyk Lightroot

Fight the baddies, letā€™s see if thereā€™s something else to do hereā€¦

Hm. Grove of Spirits.

Long climb up.

Large Poe. Basically a 5x poe.

Grand Poe. A 20x poe. Oddly red.

OK, four-eyes. Weā€™re done.

I choose more stamina.

Doesnā€™t he want poes?

He sells stuff for poes.

He also has brothers.

ā‚

Letā€™s go back to Teniten Shrine.

Combat Training: Throwing

Zonaite Spear. Iā€™m not taking it. Iā€™m banking it.

As much as Iā€™d like to continue, three hours is enough.

26 hours total. I need more arrows.

Day 14bis: 2023-06-17

Iā€™m gonna take an hour and see if I can get to where Hestu probably will be. Worst case, I get to the Lost Woods and nothing happens. Iā€™m sick of not being able to pick up things and needing one slot per special weapon.

Tajikats Shrine seems to be the closest place to get to the Lost Woods from. Iā€™d rathe do it on horseback anyway, and hey, this is where that guy is waiting for Agus to show up with the meat-bowl recipe.

Weird. Itā€™s like I havenā€™t done the quest yet.

Fall into a well. Itā€™s not very deep. Fera is here, and says there are 58 wells. 10 rupees/location if I tell her. Iā€™ve been to the tops of 6, even though this is the first well Iā€™ve gone in.

She goes to Lookout Landing. I get on a disposable horse and go riding north with the horse mostly on autopilot.

Addison. I stick a human-shaped pin in my map as a to-do.

Yamiyo Shrine

Iā€™ll come back to this.

Orsedd Bridge

What in the hellā€¦

ā€¦is that a giant talus with PLATFORMS on it?

Crenel Road
Battle Talus

Itā€™s the talus music, too.

I veer off to the left and onto not-road. My horse takes a rock to the rear, but it doesnā€™t spook.

Crenel Hills Cave

There are luminous stones here. My first.

A bit more going uphill through unmarked territory to the closest bridge. My horse just stops in the middle of a wooded enemy camp, but none of the monsters attack me.

Thims Bridge

I donā€™t remember this one.

Woodland Stable

Gimme my pony points.

Oh, thereā€™s a violinist and a conductor.

And thereā€™s a Great Fairy here, too. One thatā€™s shut herself away.

Penn
Of course, we canā€™t put anything to print
until weā€™re sure itā€™s true, so we have to
talk to the Great Fairy, first.

Iā€™m sorry, I find this sentence utterly charming.

Iā€™ll play dumb and pretend to not know what Great Fairies are.

They want me to put their wagon back together and then haul them up the hill. OK.

Karsh

Poor woman. Sheā€™s not having much voe luck.

Letā€™s just tag this shrineā€¦

Ekochiu Shrine

Enough. Back to horsing around. In a group.

The military training camp is as it was.

And weā€™re here.

Looked like Zeldaā€¦but wasnā€™t. Maybe.

Makes more sense than ā€œZelda spooks white goats for funā€.

Launchpad gives me a purple (50) rupee for my work on two stories.

She breathes on me to bump up my Hylian hood from 3 to 5 points of defense. I wonder if sheā€™ll give me a snatch, hug, and dunk while Iā€™m wearing the shield with spikes on itā€¦

My horse disappeared. And I didnā€™t actually unlock Ekochiu Shrine. Guess Iā€™m backtracking.

Andā€¦Iā€™m here. At the entrance.

ā‚

Lost Woods

Itā€™s now purple. And thicker.

Itā€™s really not letting me in.

Fuck. And thatā€™s my hour.

27 hours total.

I still need more arrows.

Day 15: 2023-06-18

Technically Sunday, like Technically Saturday, is the best part of Sunday.

Iā€™ll head back to Kiuyoyou Shrine. I think there was a bouncy-house tower back around there. Worst case, I scope it out there, then come back on horseback.

Yeah, I ainā€™t walking. Back to Sinakwak Shrine.

Pull out a horse, talk to Penn, andā€¦oh hey, a blood moon, and thereā€™s a cooking pot right here!

And now, itā€™s 11:30. The cooking begins.

Bright Meat and Mushroom Skewer
ā™„ļøŽā™„ļøŽā™„ļøŽ šŸŒŸ Glow 7:30
Grants a low-level glow effect, illuminating
your immediate surroundings.
A filling dish made by grilling various
mountain ingredients with meat.

Interesting.

Warding Meat Skewer
ā™„ļøŽā™„ļøŽ šŸ©µšŸ©µ Gloom Resistance 03:00
Grants midlevel gloom protection.
A juicy, filling snack made by grilling small
chunks of meat on a skewer.

Interesting.

Sticky Elixir
šŸ’§ Slip Resistance 15:20
Grants a low-level slip resistance to keep you
from slipping on wet surfaces. Its highly
absorptive ingredients make it a must-have
for sudden rainfalls.

Interesting.

You canā€™t carry any more meals.

Fuck.

The blood moon happens. Whereā€™s my horse?

Really, the bouncy tower is just as easy to get to from here. Iā€™ll just go direct.

Is thatā€¦HESTU??????

Shalalakaā€¦

This guy was a crap fighter 100+ years ago, but boy oh boy, am I glad to see him here!

Heā€™s scared of trees.

Iā€¦

ā€¦do not have an axe.

But I can drop this round rock and put a pointed rock on it. Good enough.

Two dead tree things laterā€¦

ā€¦Hestu introduces himself like he doesnā€™t know who I am. Iā€™ll be charitable and say he doesnā€™t recognize me in the Yiga mask.

If I had only one seed [ā€¦]

Is he in luck!

Heā€™s headed east next. He wants to relax. Around people.

He still smells korok seeds on me. Why yes, I do want a bigger pouch.

He only makes my shield pouch bigger before running off. I shouldā€™ve asked forā€¦

ā€¦where was my last save, again?

The last autosave was too soon, but a few ones back, I didnā€™t see Hestu at all in them. I load the save, and Hestuā€™s back to crying again. I take a picture of the scary tree ā€” an Evermean ā€” and ready a rock axe.

Lindorā€™s Brow Skyview Tower

And, on the way down, I see a flying column.

And a Stargate on it.

Courage Island
Hyrule Ridge Sky

Iā€™ll save first.

Oh. Itā€™s literally Pilotwings, as the kids say these days.

A shrine appears. Coooool.

And we have fairies. Right handy.

No courage yet. Iā€™ll check in at the shrine first.

Taunhiy Shrine

I canā€™t even begin to guess the syllable breaks for this one.

Now then. Iā€™m gonna get a new outfit. Since it doesnā€™t look like outfits are relevant, Iā€™m gonna wear no hat and my archaic gear.

One Zonai charge. A bargain.

Well, donā€™t pancake on a thing. Youā€™ll just lose a freshly-picked-up fairy.

Iā€™m going to not do any kind of dive speedup. Iā€™ll just fall, spread out. That should be fast enough, really.

I dove at the end and got 33.03 seconds. Thatā€™s enough.

Glide Shirt
[shirt] 2 ā†•ļøŽā†”ļøŽ Skydive Mobility Up
The cloth sewn to this shirt helps it ā€œcatchā€
air, increasing the wearerā€™s ability to glide
while they plummet from the sky.

It wants me to beat a 20-second time. Iā€™m going to put my new shirt on.

Now to have a moose tell me to watch him pull a rabbit out of a hatā€¦

22 seconds. Closer!

19.93!

I getā€¦a large Zonai charge. Yay?

I really donā€™t know how valuable these things are.

Thereā€™s a gumball machineā€¦uh, device dispenser here. I check it from the map, and the map entry says it dispenses four different things, all of which are mysteries.

Now then. Letā€™s hop in this shrine.

Combat Training: Archery

Nice!

Fans in the floor. Good thing I boosted my stamina.

Pick up all their stuffā€¦and the arrows they missed me withā€¦

Two Lights of Blessing total.

Make it to the little island with the fruits growing on it. Thereā€™s a korok-leaf tree stump here. It goes over the edge.

Guess Iā€™m putting on my new shirt.

Dive and catch mid-air. Got it.

Now Iā€™m in the middle of the airā€¦

Thundra Plateau is pretty chill now. Thereā€™s a hinox sleeping a ways away, but this place isnā€™t nearly as magical as it was.

ā‚

Ekochiu Shrine
Rise and Fall

Seems like the time-rewind mechanic doesnā€™t get used much, especially with other mechanics.

Teraā€™s close by.

Iā€™m wearing a Zonai shield. I only get breathed on. I want my surprise hug. At least my flying-squirrel suit is upgradeable.

ā‚

Combat Training: Throwing
Yamiyo Shrine

ā€¦didnā€™t I already?

tl;dr you can throw fire fruits too.

Four. Iā€™m getting a fifth heart.

ā‚

Iā€™ll see if I can get east to Kakariko Village. I wonder what itā€™s like.

I try heading east too north and I canā€™t get to Dueling Peaks. Screw it, Iā€™m TPing back.

Thereā€™s more than a few soldier constructs right next to a monster camp. Itā€™s like the gameā€™s designers are waiting for me to get them to fight each other. I have my horse with me, so Iā€™ll pass.

New shrine just dropped.

ā€œGive keys born of water to the three
altars. The sacred shrine will appear.ā€

Ah shit, the bridge is out. At least thereā€™s another bridge toā€¦a Great Fairy. Huh.

OK, Iā€™ll take it.

Cotera here wants to hear drums.

Beetz is near Kakariko. Where the road bends around Bonooruā€™s Stand.

If I use a sleepover ticket, I donā€™t get pony point. Poo.

Thereā€™s a picture of apple pie on the wall. Wheat, sugar, butter, apples, andā€¦those yellow things that grow in swamps?

I TP my horse by pulling it out here. Check where the local shrine used to be, and thereā€™sā€¦corks?

I donā€™t get it. Iā€™m going fishing with a bow here and then heading out.

Korok. I stamp it.

The drummer!

Honey crepes. All he needs is the honey. I get a silver (100) rupee for them.

Back to Dueling Peaks Stable. On hoof, because thereā€™s no local shrine anymore.

I need to fix this bridge.

No. Iā€™m crossing the river, I guess.

Iā€™ll stick this wagon on a pallet, then add a couple of fans and a control stick and an extra battery.

ā€¦that did it.

Cotera was the one in the desert with the most personality, right?

ā€¦probably.

Letā€™s hold off a bit. I need two more blue bokoblin horns (two-pronged) to get to 10, whichā€™ll let me upgrade both my hylian hat and shirt (I never bought the pants).

I update my shopping list and head back, once again, to Kak.

Hm. Porridge is rice, milk, and wild greens. Do I have anything that clears Gloomā€¦?

OK, Cottla is still tiny. Also, she responds differently to the Yiga mask.

Theyā€™re still selling sheikah gear. Also the lucha-libre set.

Man, the whole town is in a holding pattern. Letā€™s see if I can find a new shrine to unlock.

Makasura Shrine

The local gumball machine has canned Big Wheels. Score!

ā€¦whatā€™s a stabilizer for?

Anyhow, I fight bokoblins. A couple people get back to their day jobs.

Sahasra Slope Skyview Tower

Billson, dude, I probably got all your mushrooms on me already.

Down below, thereā€™s a Battle Talus.

Theyā€™re harder to mount than the normal ones. Youā€™d think you could just Ascend through one, but you need to stun it somehow first, pretty much.

A bomb arrow to the weak point does it.

Get to spinningā€¦andā€¦itā€™s dead.

Get to the cave.

There is at least one horriblin in there. Luckily, I didnā€™t open much of the rocks in the way. I can just poke ā€™em all.

I went there. Billson isnā€™t doing anything. To the Internets.

Oh. Third path.

Boing.

Josiu Shrine

Seek the crystal connected to the beamā€¦?

Oh. Outdoor shrine.

Rauruā€™s Blessing

Oh. So this is what newfangled freebie shrines look like.

ā‚

(omitted narrative)

Drop the pill into the whirlpool. OK.

En-Oma Shrine

Mighty Zonaite Sword. Iā€™m saving this.

ā‚

Bail out Elmerson.

Iā€™m kind of close to the Faron stable. Letā€™s see if I can just fly thereā€¦

ā€¦itā€™s taking a lot of stamina potions.

Joju-U-U Shrine
Building Bridges

I donā€™t want to play with an erector set now. Iā€™ll check out the local stable.

Malanyaā€™s in northeast Hyrule. Near a stable in Akkala.

Sifumim Shrine

They want all the pirates dead.

Thatā€™s a lot of three-pronged head spikes.

Rabella Wetlands Skyview Tower

Itā€™s rainy here. Procedurally rainy. And the thing is covered with burnable spikes.

More stuff.

Eshos Shrine

Iā€™m going to Hateno.

Monster Forces. Hm.

Iā€™m at Hateno. They love mushrooms here.

Hey, my house is still here.

Ainā€™t my stuff inside, though.

Read Zeldaā€™s journal?

Yes.

Zanmik Shrine

ā€¦mayoral election? I need to think this through. I ainā€™t handing out mushrooms to nobody yet.

Milk. And rice. And a sundelion. Porridge. Iā€™m gonna get Kak back on its feet yet.

OK. All this stealth stuff still costs an order of magnitude more cash than I have on hand, but at least itā€™s not 5K rupees a piece.

I lost track of time. Iā€™ve been at it forā€¦4:45+2:10. 6 plus changeā€¦soā€¦seven hours. Holy fuck.

On top of 27, thatā€™sā€¦34 hours.

I really should pace myself, or at least not stay way up past my bedtime. I wasnā€™t feeling it as much as I do when Iā€™m playing the game in small bursts while Iā€™m still well-slept.

Day 16: 2023-06-23

Yeah, so Iā€™m not buying here in Kakariko.

Let me review all the stuff I got shanghaied into doing in Hateno with the mayoral electionā€¦

Oh, I can report back to someone and finish a quest. Letā€™s do thatā€¦

Endura carrot. Supposedly not as common as they used to be.

I wanna go on team Reede. Is that even an option?

Checked the lab. Thereā€™s nothing there but a diary. Also, Purah accelerated her aging, so sheā€™s back to 20.

Now, letā€™s get this korok downhillā€¦

Now thereā€™s a message in a bottle. Some guy got stuck in a cave-in, and has dropped a bunch of brightbloom seeds.

The trailā€¦leads to Eventide Island.

This smells like a trap.

Screw it, I have unlimited saves.

No. Away from Eventide Island.

Itā€™s going around to the west side of Hyrule. Iā€™m going to use these pocket juice bottles so I donā€™t have to go backwards while my own battery recharges.

Mapla Point Cave

Lot of great stuff.

Fusing the boulder blocking the cave-in seems to work nicely.

Oh, and thereā€™s a donut hole above me. I guess thereā€™s more cave above.

I save the guy. Another Lurelin refugee with doubly-bad luck.

Thereā€™s a Bubbulfrog above.

Letā€™s try ascending where the refugee was.

On top of a small mountain, and thereā€™s a rock.

Ya-ha-ha back atcha, buddy.

Iā€™m going up the big mountain. The tower is that way.

Oh boy, itā€™s REALLY cold. Time to munch my spicy food.

Take a picture of a Blizzrobe. I donā€™t have enough empty slots to make use of his weapon, so Iā€™m doing without.

An ice like, justā€¦chillingā€¦Iā€™m used to seeing them be guards, but this one doesnā€™t seem to be guarding anything.

Enemy camp here. Iā€™m putting on my Yiga mask and hope that buys me a couple extra feet of Not Being Seen.

ā€¦the HELL is that? MOBILE gloom?

Guess this isnā€™t going to be the cakewalk I remember.

Thereā€™s a guy up here. Is he Yiga?

Evidently not.

Nazbi
ā€œSkim across snow, from the spring high
in the heavens to the mountain below.
ā€œPass through the rings of light to see the
Light of Blessing.ā€

Guess itā€™s snowboarding oā€™clock soon.

Let us pray.

Canā€™t get a feeling from the Mother Goddess statue in the canyon.

The one where you get the classic Link outfit with shorts?

I ascend further. I donā€™t get spooked by moving sludge piles with hands sticking out of them.

The music changes. Phew.

Mount Lanayru Skyview Tower

The Purah Pad enabling goes off without a hitch. I sure hope its AR sensors can cut through this snowstormā€¦

Thereā€™s an archaic Test Your Ballsiness column around here. I wonder if I can get to itā€¦

Thereā€™s a fan thing. Three down, one at a 45Ā° angle out and to the back. This might do itā€¦

Yup. Letā€™s not scare the fairiesā€¦

And a gumball machine.

Beam emitter. Thatā€™s new.

Hydrant. Also new.

Oh, the phrase is courage, not ballsiness. The youth of yesteryear didnā€™t have archaic headphone jacks, did they?

OK. I get a free magic TP up top, but Iā€™m free to do whatever up here. Let me step off the platform, andā€”

Valor Island

Am I going to be told that my valor is unsurpassed, and then be told that my valor is in the second quintile of all valor displayed?

Probably not. This isnā€™t Sanctuary. This is Hyrule.

Anyhow. Yaaaaa-hooie.

Taking the free ride down gets me a shrine. I want the squirrel outfit.

Sihajog Shrine

26.85 out of 35 seconds.

Eugh, thatā€™s an ugly mask.

The record is 25 seconds.

26.06. Fasterā€¦

25.36ā€¦

23.45. This oneā€™s done. Another large Zonai charge.

Letā€™s see if we can get to that one shrine we saw on the way up the hillā€¦

Jikais Shrine

Check in, TP out, because itā€™s too frigging cold.

Letā€™s go get that Miskoā€™s climbing outfit. I wonder if itā€™s just Ravioā€™s hood.

ā‚

Woodland Stable in Eldin has people whoā€™re looking for Bubbul Gems. They have a mystic robe? Sounds neat.

OK, I have a way better Like Like strategy. Bait the grab, then shoot the bulb with an arrow. Go to town with a poky stick.

The horriblin went down easy with a bomb arrow.

Get a Bubbul gem.

Fly through the waterfall to get past the water.

Pick up shrooms and a bomb flower, andā€¦

Climbing Gear

I remember this!

ā€¦where are the other two pieces?

Iā€™ll head to the base of Hateno Village and see if my horse can hear me.

Nope. Guess Iā€™m going up to the dairy.

ā€¦thereā€™s a bottle in the water.

I canā€™t just pick it up. Guess Iā€™m going to have to Ultrahand it out from an ice block in the middle.

New specialtyā€¦with mayorā€¦cheeseā€¦
fermentationā€¦ Canā€™t nameā€¦too early.

???

At least my horse can hear me from here. Thatā€™s a further distance than I would have expected ā€” the research lab is a major hike up the hill.

Two hours is enough. The totalā€™s up to 36.

Day 17: 2023-06-24

Oh, itā€™s a message from Grandpa on how to get the farm back on its feet.

Oh, and another sakuraā€¦uhā€¦cherry-blossom tree. Iā€™ll go there while the rest of the town wakes up.

Hateno cheese. Springy on the outside, melty on the inside. Sounds delicious.

On the wall of the new cheese shop is a poster with wheat, tomatoes, and cheese. You can have pizza in Hyrule now.

Up to the cherry tree. Thereā€™s a pinwheel. Theyā€™re not moving, but some of them are far away and I donā€™t have a phrenic bow or moral equivalent.

Maybe I should try sticking something to the arrowsā€¦

Oops. Wings go phrenic. Eyeballs make ā€™em heat-seeking.

Off to the left/south, another shape-rotator puzzle. This one wasnā€™t trivial.

Evidently red apples work just as well as golden ones, and I can take them back right after.

Mayahisik Shrine

Iā€™ll do this maƱana.

Walnot Mountain Cave

Thereā€™s some horriblinsā€¦and a like likeā€¦andā€¦hmm, whatā€™s thisā€¦something in ice.

OK, now Iā€™m interested. How do I not fight three horriblins all at onceā€¦

What? No! Bad horse! I didnā€™t mean for you to hear me whistle!

OK, theyā€™re all dead.

If you drop a weapon on a brightbloom, it activates. I couldā€™ve used that ginormous brightbloom elsewhere.

Ice likeā€¦obvious weakness is obvious.

Oh huh, another Misko thing.

Itā€™s frozen. Now I wish I had a fire rod.

Wood, an arrow, and fire fruit.

Hm. Now thereā€™s a fire in the way.

Throw a splashfruit, andā€¦

Barbarian Leg Wraps

Werenā€™t these in one of the mazes before?

This looks like a frozen moblin.

Do I want to unfreeze a moblin?

No. I only want to unfreeze the chest-shaped thing next to him.

And thereā€™s a boko patrol up ahead. Black.

Iā€™m going to get up to full hearts and equip myself for a real fight.

I had a real fight. Off on the far end of the thing is that one shrine on the far side of the mountains. Cool. No, cold.

And now, a blood moonā€¦and Iā€™m in enemy territory. At least I got a soldierā€™s bow out of the ice like.

Screw it. Iā€™m TPing out. Iā€™ll do Tsutsu-um shrine, the one with the stakes that I had to bail out on, and then pick up my horse there.

ā‚

OOOOHHHHHH, stick a stake into the rotating part of the wall to get the ball up and over.

Now, three Lights of Blessing.

ā‚

Oh wait, this fairyā€™s still waiting for her flute player or something. Drat.

Pyperā€™s somewhere around Faron, around Highland Stable. Wasnā€™t I there on my marathon day?

Thatā€™s Lakeside stable.

Hm. Lake of the Horse God, to the east. Where Malanya used to be.

Haran Lake looks familiar. Thatā€™s probably where you show off your horse-riding skills.

And thereā€™s a stable-shaped building around.

ā‚

Iā€™m at the Bridge of Hylia. Thereā€™s a three-headed dragon on it.

I probably canā€™t deal with this.

In-universe, Iā€™m supposed to be the Triforce oā€™Courage guy.

Out-of-universe, Iā€™m hearing ā€œDONā€™T BE A WIMPā€ from the You Donā€™t Know Jack series of games. Whatā€™s the worst that could happen, I die in-game?

Oh, itā€™s too hot for me. Guess I canā€™t just load up on a +damage thing.

I haveā€¦ten icy meats, and six frozen bird drumsticks. Hopefully I can get this guy gone in 16 minutes.

Wait, he was able to get me from halfway across the bridge? Fuck, Iā€™m going to have to get my weapons set up from further away.

Ice keese eyeballs ā€” homing and ice ā€” are the way. I donā€™t have many of them, thoughā€¦

ā€¦and Iā€™m gonna run out of arrow shots anyway.

I donā€™t think this oneā€™s in the cards yet.

Iā€™ll TP to Lakeside Stable and go from there.

ā‚

West, at the Menoat River, is Captain Flaxel. Heā€™s killing bokoblins and, hopefully, doesnā€™t afraid of anything.

ā‚

At the stable. Noises coming from Fural Plain to the northwest, only at night.

ā€œLeave theā€¦rmsā€¦ Leave theā€¦rmsā€¦ā€

Penn wants to go with me at night. Interesting!

Flute player to the north. A pyromaniac, too.

Highland Stable Well

Weird animal in the forest off to the east.

Utsushok Shrine

Head back to the stable, andā€¦Pyperā€™s in the trees.

Oops. The things a boy will do to impress a girl.

Ten fireflies. Donā€™t I have that many already?

Nope. Six.

Dang. Ten fireflies wouldnā€™t have made much of a difference, kid.

OK, letā€™s get Kaysa out of her shell.

ā‚

Great Fairy Kaysa
Perhaps your reward should be ME
joining you as a co-adventurer, hmm?

I tried that a while ago, lady. Your style is too weird for me.

Do I get the hug if I strip down to my underpants?

I got a finger kiss. Thatā€™s something.

Second thing upgraded to level 2. Finger kiss again.

First thing upgraded to level 3. I get the REAL kiss.

I guess, in this game, hugs are finishing moves, so to speak.

ā‚

Letā€™s have a look at that mysterious woman. I want the frog suit.

aroundā€¦good thing I did this at nightā€¦

up the cliffā€¦

over to the Great Plateauā€¦

ā€¦disgusting, unwavering commitment to do ā€œgoodā€ā€¦

ā€¦Great. Yiga.

Letā€™s climb up the backside of the Coliseum and see whatā€™s there.

ā€¦aā€¦what? A game?

Whack a bell. Hard. Hmm.

Use a spike, get a big flat piece, stick a spring on it, bounce into the air, come down with a hammer.

46 on the mega-ding scale.

ā€œPretty OKā€, he says.

Throw something heavy and fast.

I built a tower to get a rocket to fly straight at it horizontally.

57 on the mega-ding scale.

Iā€™ll stick four metal barrels to the rocket.

59 on the mega-ding scale.

Not enough? Iā€™ll come back later.

ā‚

Dropped down. Thunder Gleeok, not lightning. Took a picture. TPed out.

ā‚

Iā€™m going to go for that Misko stuff.

Nothing like an evening flock of keese to give you loads of keese wingsā€¦if you have a bomb arrow.

Thereā€™s a fire Wizzrobe here. He hasā€¦a ruby sword. Works like a flame wand. Fine by me.

Just finished off the #stone-talus:crenel-hills-cave.

Got the barbarian armor here.

Now to Teniten Shrine to get the last marked Misko item.

Got the #bubbulfrog:whistling-hill-cave.

Fire burns the vines.

Aā€¦rock-spitting Like?

Aā€¦shock like?

Rubber armor.

Let me see if I can open up the last fairy.

Malanya says thereā€™s a golden horse in the northwest. Go to Snowfield Stable.

Oh hey, itā€™s Pikago.

Oh, Pikango.

ā€¦holy shit, the frozen maze is in the sky.

Frost Gleeok

Iā€™m here at the fairy, but thereā€™s no stable in sight.

Orochium Shrine

There we go.

Slap a roof on that baby, andā€¦

One tense but uneventful wagon pull later, theyā€™re all at the fairy.

You know, ā€œEustusā€ is a pretty good name for a guy who plays something that looks like a French horn.

Great Fairy Mija
I would have liked to be released by
someoneā€¦bigger, butā€¦

*snerk*

ā€¦
Well, a slim little lad like you is fine, too,
I suppose.

I upgrade what I can and update my shopping list. Thereā€™s a tower off in the distance, so I TP back to the stable and get a horse.

One ride across a plain later, my horse starts slipping downhill. Guess the hoofing will be done by me now.

Reassemble the bridge, andā€¦

Pikida Stonegrove Skyview Tower

Thereā€™s some sky islands here.

Cool safflina.

That was an adventuresome block ride.

Taninoud Shrine

Oh. This oneā€™s outdoors.

Gumball machine. This one adds sleds and carts.

Letā€™s see if I can get to the floating island Pikango was admiring.

Itā€™s etched with ancient Hyrulean text.
You cannot read it.

Fudge. Get the camera.

Donā€™t think it helped.

And the bouncy pad I saw off in the distance is smack dab in the middle of Thyphlo Ruins. Isnā€™t that Yiga territory?

Get the block out of the way, andā€¦Iā€™m getting to the tower before I talk to the guy just sitting there. Heā€™s probably Yiga.

Billson! Glad to help you out.

Ooh, thereā€™s a valor test to my south!

Oh, itā€™s also called a mettle test here.

Everything moves.

Simosiwak Shrine

21.32/35 seconds.

Glide Tights

ā€¦aaaand the Large Zonai Charge. Sweet.

Letā€™s see what the gumball machine has.

ā€œConstruct Headā€. Huh.

ā€œBatteryā€. Iā€™ve seen these.

I drop by Kaysa and she upgrades my tights, but nothing else. I update my shopping list.

TP to a shrine and I see a rock falls down. I can rewind itā€¦

Rocket Ɨ3

Thatā€™s a real Ɨ in the game. Sits a bit low for the ā€œ3ā€, but itā€™s not italicized like the rest of the in-game text.

Kilton has a brother. He eats bubbul gems.

I got the #bubbul-gem:pico-pond. Theyā€™re going to Tarrey Town.

Sawson.

Fall in through the hole in the top, and thatā€™s enough.

Fall down a bit to the South Eldin Sky Archipelago. Thereā€™s a minecart ride available.

Sageā€™s Will

ā€¦huh?

Kadaunar Shrine

OK, I thought Iā€™ve been here. I havenā€™t. The layout looks too similar.

And another gumball machineā€¦

Nothing new here.

Thereā€™s another five-pointed sky island like Pikango was looking at. It has more text I canā€™t read.

And thereā€™s another skyview tower down there.

And a fire gleeok, not quite in the way.

Thatā€™ll be a fun battle.

Upland Zorana Skyview Tower

Thereā€™s a chest in some muck. Itā€™s stuck. Completely.

Water washes the muck.

No room for your spear, bud. Sorry.

Oh, yuck. A lot of the water around here is green.

And look, thereā€™s a Thatā€™s No Moon.

Itā€™s rotating. Maybe thereā€™s an open hole.

Jirutagumac Shrine

Nothing new at this gumball machine.

And underneathā€¦a Sageā€™s Will.

Letā€™s get the northeast tower.

ā‚

Thereā€™s a lightning gleeok at the top of that one tower out here. Akkala something?

I have not seen any lynels.

Mayachideg Shrine
Ulri Mountain Skyview Tower

Aerocuda stole the terminal.

Easy enough if you can aim with a bow.

Not sure how much Iā€™ll be able to see in all this rain, though.

Caught a star fragmentā€¦in midair. Cooooooool.

I think Iā€™ll TP back and take another crack at getting to Robbieā€™s old haunt.

Or maybe Iā€™ll fall almost directly on top of the local stable and get a horse.

Malanyaā€™s moved to Bloodleaf Lake to the north.

Blood moon noises, and Iā€™m right by a cooking pot. Sweet!

One egg and one normal shroom gives me six hearts.

Chabi says Lynels are still around. Sweet.

Yiga-clan-style frogs block my way toward the Akkala Tech Lab.

Iā€™ll just go to the shrine.

Jochi-iu Shrine

Thereā€™s purple spew off to the side. Looks like a fifth fairy. I must investigate.

Oh, itā€™s gotta be Malanya. Still going anyway.

OK, so I can get more stats for my horses, but boy howdy, can this guy pack it away. Going from 3 to 4 speed takes:

4 to 5 strength takes:

OK. Back to Jochi-iu.

Courage to Pluck

Archaic Jenga.

Rewind the ball, then picking it up is easy.

Iā€™ll get the chest later.

Oh, moving platform. Now is later.

Large Zonaite

Nice.

And thatā€™s four lights of blessing. Finally up to two full stamina rings.

The stealth chest guard is here. Also at 700 rupees, not 500.

HESTU!

15 weapon slots. That should free up some space.

Kiltonā€™s brother says where the nearest bubbulfrog is. I find it, go up through the ceiling, and thereā€™s a korok. Nice.

Mystic Robe
[shirt] 3 šŸ’Ž Rupee Padding
A robe acquired in exchange for Bubbul gems.
Woven with prayers to spirits, it protects the
wearer, allowing them to lose rupees instead
of health when hit.

Weeeeeird.

Next Bubbul frog: east of here, near Crenel Peak.

Went and fought some bokoblins and their master. Freed a guy who was studying blood moons.

ā‚

Courage to Fall

Constructs here. I go around to the left. Sure, I could try and open the front doors with Ultrahand, but whatā€™s the fun in that?

Thereā€™s an Ascendable platform here.

Hm. I just have to get a ball up here somehow.

The secret: trigger the lights at least once. That gets you the key.

ā‚

Back to Joju-u-u.

Building Bridges

You donā€™t have to use all the bridge.

ā‚

Back to Sifumim Shrine.

Proving Grounds: Flow

Iā€™m naked.

Did OK the first time. Still died.

Won the second time. Now for a fourth Light of Blessing.

ā‚

Now back to Utsushok Shrine.

Long or Wide

Whack the ball in. OK.

Got a cart outā€¦what do I do?

Oh, I guess this is the ā€œor wideā€ part.

Snagged the chest, too.

ā‚

Letā€™s go to Kakariko. I want to pick up the ninja suit, and they also have a shrine to pray to.

Got two pieces of ninja suit.

Iā€™m gonna sell my diamond. 500 rupees is a lot, and I donā€™t need a diamond for anything for a while, probably.

Some aerocuda farming, and I think Iā€™ll finish up clearing the Yiga out of the Akkala tech lab.

Got the Yiga shirt.

Travel Medallion Prototype

NIIIIIICE.

Kimayat Shrine

Killed my first fire lizalfos. Need more.

Gut Check Rock isnā€™t what it used to be. Thereā€™s yellow ore and a korok, though.

And now to where the shrine used to be on top of the eyeball in skull lake, or whatever itā€™s called. Thereā€™s a hole there now.

Skull Lake Cave

Stalnox. Iā€™m not sure what I expected.

Miskoā€™s treasure.

Fierce Deity Mask

Attack up. For your face. Iā€™ll take it.

Got the Bubbulfrog.

Ascend, andā€¦hereā€™s the shrine. Nice.

Kamatukis Shrine

To the local skyview tower, then Tarrey Town.

ā€¦I think Iā€™ll go to the shrine instead.

Got another midair konpeitō.

Rasitakiwak Shrine

Mattison needs a nudge, I guess.

Cute drawings. Sheā€™s got the feel of the place already.

Puffshroom the vendor. Heh.

Sundelions? We got that.

Free ride to Gerudo Town? Sure.

Oh, itā€™s just straight up and down. Darn.

Drive a thing.

Got a korok. Found where the stone goes.

Jochi-ihiga Shrine

Got a diamond. Nice.

Letā€™s spend a night in the local stable.

Get to the top of the horseā€™s head with fractions of a second. I figure out ā€œtunnel through the headā€ at literally the last second.

Hm. A little girl wants to be a horsey when she grows up. Isnā€™t there a term for that?

Oh. I can show a picture of a bokoblin.

Iā€™m not sure if Kilton is a parody of a particular kind of person.

Next: horriblin.

10:15 now, plus two hours. 12 hours and 15 minutes. All in one day. Dang.

36 plus 12Ā¼ isā€¦48 hours and 15 minutes. A quarter of that was all today. I had no idea I had the stamina for this sort of thing.

This definitely wasnā€™t a quarter of the writing, though. Gonna have to ponder why.

Day 18: 2023-06-26

Letā€™s try and grind out shrines for 45 minutes. That will make the numbers less weird.

First stop: Rasitakiwak Shrine.

ā‚

Iā€™m in my underwear. Guess itā€™s THAT kind of a shrine.

Proving Grounds: Vehicles

Iā€™m not sure how having a car will help me any unless I can run these guys over.

Neat, a free beam unicorn. Itā€™s not great on a sword, though. I probably should have stuck it to a shield.

Darn. Got sniped while I was trying to Ascend on the far right end.

For my second life, I tried to vehicular-manslaughter one of the constructs over on the left. With the fan cart. He gave me a good whack and that took out the majority of my hearts.

Third lifeā€¦carticular manslaughter works on the wimpy bow-only construct.

Letā€™s try this stone slab with snake wheels, shall we?

Itā€™s working well enough against most of these guys, but this one tall one with the curvy-spike head is just slowing me down and wonā€™t get run over. Iā€™ll have to take him away from his buddies and clean him off my grill, so to speak.

Ah shit, his spiked-ball buddy followed me. Luckily, Spike Head with the flamethrower is pinned into the corner on the left (as you enter) wallā€¦

If this thing can only be steered but not stopped, why donā€™t I put the fan from the cart onto itā€¦oh darn, theyā€™re all fixed pieces. Canā€™t break them apart.

ā€œPin them to the wall, then shoot them in the headā€ seems to be a winning play. This might be the run.

Ooh, thatā€™s an intimidating deathmobile in the cage in the middle. Letā€™s check on the Ascendable-to ledgeā€¦

A glider on a cart. With lots of fans. Hm.

I drop off the glider, fail to land in the cage, and lose a few heart quarters falling too hard to the ground. The glider lands near the entrance.

I try again. The glider is able to get high enough to deposit me in.

Holy hell, these cannons are something else.

The dragon head with a nose looks like it produces a continuous jet stream.

OK, this gives me ideas of what to do with vehicles.

Magic Rod
[one-handed sword] 6
A small and intensely magic rod, itā€™s said
to have been wielded by an ancient magician
who awoke maximum latent power in gems.

Gem not included. I wonder what happens if you stick a diamond on it and wave it around.

Come to think of it, Iā€™m not sure what happens if you stick a minor gem on it, like an opal (water splashes) or an amber (is that even a gem?) or a luminous stone (definitely not a gem) on top. I could try fusing with lesser sticks.

Two lights of blessing.

ā‚

First thought: Iā€™ll go way back to Eshos Shrine. Itā€™ll probably have an easy puzzle that Iā€™ll be able to finish up in ten minutes.

Second thought: Eh, maybe not, and I want to pack it in. Where was the Yiga Clan hiding out?

I dig out the picture I took of the Yiga Clan hideouts. Iā€™ve got the mask from the Plateau and the shirt from Akkala. The main hideout, of course, is still in the hills of the Gerudo Desert, but thereā€™s this other spot to the west of some woods north of Hyrule Castle.

Seems like Kiuyoyou Shrine, west of Mekar Island (and also the Lost Woods) is more likely than them camping out right in front of Thyphlo Ruins, like I thought previously.

Iā€™ll go there in preparation for an assault on where I think the Yiga Clan is.

ā‚

Thereā€™s a hinox sleeping. Just to the west of Kiuyoyou Shrine. In a mini-woods.

Iā€™ll call that 45 minutes, even though itā€™s about 40 of gaming and 10 more of futzing around with maps. Up to 49 hours, now.

Day 19: 2023-06-27

Now then. On to see if I can get the banana-enjoyer outfit.

Thereā€™s a thing with a bokoblin on top. Not quite what Iā€™m shooting for.

I walked around him with the full Sheikah suit on. The guy didnā€™t even see me. This stuff is magical.

Well, hereā€™s the top of Mount Drena. Nothingā€™s really here except a korok-type thing, a glider, a fan, and a rocket.

Oh, I see. Use the rocket to yank the cork out of the hollowed-out tree.

Between here and the Thyphlo Ruins jumping pad thereā€™s a shrine. Might as well go to it.

A rock fell from the sky. I stepped on it and rewound it. I didnā€™t get to where it came from. I wonder if my right arm can get upgraded. I assume Robbie canā€™t do that.

Kikakin Shrine

Later.

Letā€™s try Mekar Island.

Oh, a korok.

ā€¦thatā€™s no korok. Thatā€™s a wizzrobe.

Thereā€™s an interesting spear here, but this place is mostly a nothingburger still. Iā€™m going back.

Pikango again.

Maybe theyā€™re in the Rowan Plain well?

Or maybe theyā€™re in where the big goddess used to beā€¦that would explain why the one statue was complaining about radio silenceā€¦

Iā€™m running back south to the entrance. Itā€™s bigger than their old digs. I wonder what itā€™s like inside.

Forgotten Temple
Tabantha Frontier

The entrance is all closed up.

But the lower entrance is open. Iā€™m not sure I should have burned five arrows on the korok, though.

Thereā€™s no Guardian gauntlet, thank goodness. Just small collections of bokoblins down below. Iā€™ll just avoid them.

Shrine further in.

Mayausiy Shrine

Hm. The big statue fell over. A small one is upright. No, thatā€™s just a pillar.

Iā€™m to report back to the statue at the Spring of Wisdom.

There is, however, a door behind itā€¦

Sundelionsā€¦and a roundtable, of sortsā€¦

ā€¦a MAP.

A tear with a tear

I donā€™t know how helpful or relevant this is supposed to be. Iā€™m heading back up the mountain to get some help.

Get Naydraā€™s help. The blue dragon. By getting a claw.

Iā€™ll take care of it. Bāƒ

Over by the Rabella Wetlands Skyview Tower. I think. Lucky?

Not too bad if youā€™ve got two rings of stamina plus a third yellow one. And can bullet-time. Now to get my fuzzy warm pants back onā€¦

Free sapphire for my trouble.

Now to visit the other two statues.

Apogek Shrine

Oneā€™s in Faron. The otherā€™s in Akkala.

Man, knowing where stuff is is great.

Next, Dinraal. The red one. Claw.

I guess Iā€™ll go to the Thyphlo Ruins tower, since Dinraal used to start out where the Akkala maze was.

See a fancy construct. Sneak up behind it. It picks up what looks like an air sprayer. Spin-whack it with an ersatz hammer. It goes down easily.

Well, hereā€™s the yellow dragon up ahead. Might not be able to make it, but itā€™s between the Great Plateau and Gerudo. Iā€™ll TP to Tadarok Shrine, in the Plateau, and Ascend.

Please let that not be a scale since I hit its hand.

Faroshā€™s Claw

Phew.

Tumbleweeds.

The desert isā€¦cold now?

Ooh, a flock of bats! Papa needs wings!

Nothing. I get a couple of ice Lizalfos, though.

Gerudo Canyon Skyview Tower

Itā€™s on the fritz. Figures.

Elevator puzzle. Easy enough, especially when rewindable rocks are falling from the sky to take you up to where the heavy metal box is.

Wander off, find three fire lizalfos, ice two of them, beat the third one silly, and TP back to the tower because of the heat outside.

And hey, hereā€™s Pikango again.

Letā€™s head to that tower in the distanceā€¦

Aerocudas. Very high up. Theyā€™re not much of an impediment, although I use up about 4Ā½ stamina wheels to finally touch ground again where I want to.

Gerudo Highlands Skyview Tower

Uhā€¦whereā€™s the base?

Thereā€™s a cave.

Keese wave! Whereā€™s my bomb flowers?

I have a photo of them all in my face as Iā€™m semi-paused digging the bomb flowers out. I shoot the wall behind them and lose all but a quarter heart. Fuck.

Insideā€¦Bubbul Gem.

The ice fruit just sitting around gives me an idea, and I make an ice platform and stick it to some of the other wooden platforms just sitting around.

I donā€™t recognize where the Yiga Clan entrance used to be. Did it get eaten up in the Upheaval?

Birida Lookout Chasm

Eh, screw this. Back to Gutanbac so I can get some easy zonaite.

Now back to Kiuyoyou Shrine to see if the Yiga Clan really IS in the wellā€¦

Mighty Bananas

Yup, I got baited.

Duplex Bow
[arrow] 14Ɨ2

Yup, theyā€™re in a well. How far these guys have fallen.

Now Iā€™m in the Underdark. How far HAVE these guys fallen?

Fight a small camp. Itā€™s moderately entertaining.

Small Frox

Iā€™ll take a picture of one, but I donā€™t want to fight them.

Uoyoyuik Shrine

This one doesnā€™t seem as big as most.

Head east.

Head north. A dragonā€™s coming out of a hole in the ceiling.

A red dragon. No wonder I couldnā€™t find one scanning the sky.

Thereā€™s a glowing root. Below me, thereā€™s a manufactured pathway. Maybe the Yiga are using it.

Nikakik Lightroot
Drena Canyon Mine

Yup, duplex bows shoot double bomb arrows.

They have Gleeoks down here.

Gleeok Den

I can poke around. I get one free hit, right?

I donā€™t get one free hit. Game over, man.

TP back to the Lightroot.

Climb aā€¦thing.

I think I see Yiga stuff.

I do. I do see Yiga stuff.

I take out the guard in the tank and the front door opens up. I go back for the untarnished sword and try out the cannon on some stalbokoblins. Takes a lot of energy.

Yiga Schematic

Hmā€¦

Yisuayam Lightroot

Thereā€™s a thing here.

Cliff Bargainer Statue

ā€œTunic of the Depthsā€, you say?

150 Poes? A bargain.

Muihcoro Lightroot

Find the three branches to get into the Yiga clan.

This last one is a doozy, though.

Mayatat Shrine

Hm. Ancient orb.

Desert Voe Headband

I guess this is what I need for mild heat resistance. I wonder if Iā€™m going to be cross-dressing soon, if at all.

Fashion Passion is where I get the rest of the outfit. Well, behind it. Just like last time.

Gerudo Bow

Built for distance. I guess this is the new phrenic bow.

Gerudo Town. And nobodyā€™s turning me back.

Thereā€™s Gibdos here.

Soryotanog Shrine

Iā€™m getting the spa plan.

Three hearts and an extra stamina ring. Not bad.

She wants a picture of stelaeā€¦

Thatā€™s more than enough for a weeknight.

Five hours today.

Kudanisar Shrine

FIVE HOURS TODAY.

54 hours total. I need arrows.

Day 20: 2023-06-28

I still want to hunt Yiga pants.

Off to Orochium Shrine.

Letā€™s try this cave that probably isnā€™t it.

Eh, Bubbulfrog. And fairies.

Thatā€™s it.

Letā€™s try the road along the north of Hyrule instead.

No Lynel here.

Get up to Thyphlo Ruins. A rock drops. I ride it up and see a shrine in the distance, toward Death Mountain.

Sikukuu Shrine

Downhill a bit, Addison.

Back onto my horse.

Made it to Aldor Foothills. Nothing.

Oh, frog statues. Nice.

Yiga Clan Maritta Branch

ā€¦margarita?

Looks like Sooga in there.

Just a blademaster, my camera says.

Canā€™t get a lock onto the footsoldierā€¦drat, they noticed me.

Easy enough by now. I donā€™t think itā€™s player skill, though.

Steal their bananas and arrows. Back up to 40.

Follow the eyes of the frogs.

This pit? NOT following the eyes of the frogs.

Going up? Following the eyes of the frogs.

Jobs:

ā€¦see, normal people may not have to worry much about off-by-one errors and cache invalidation, but naming things? thatā€™s hard for everyone.

Letā€™s continue.

Did Aliza a solid.

There we go. Hello, fellow banana enjoyers.

Down below? The bubbulfrog.

Before I forget, I think Brightcap Cave had Misko-style decorations. I should poke my head in and check now that Iā€™m not scared shitless of Horriblins anymore.

Got a good picture.

A like likeā€¦and, when I look up and to the left, thereā€™s some spikes. They burnā€¦

Miskoā€™s treasure.

Frostbite Shirt
[shirt] 2 šŸ—”ļøā„ļø Cold Weather Attack
Made for ancient rituals, this itemā€™s cold-
absorbing cloth produces frost in low-
temperature environments.

Well, that wasnā€™t on my bingo card.

Letā€™s get a fourth ball oā€™light. Off to Makasura Shrine.

ā‚

An Upright Device

Iā€™ve been wondering what these things are good for.

ā€¦fling it over?

Yes.

ā€¦fling ME over?

So thatā€™s what the top of a shrine looks like.

I didnā€™t see a chest.

ā‚

Letā€™s see what clothes we can upgrade now.

But first, sell gems. My diamond goes bye-bye.

The Fierce Deity mask is weird. To go to the first level up, I need three hinox toenails and a Dinraalā€™s Scale?

I go down below and convert zonaite into charges and crystallized charges. Time for battery upgrades.

And now, two energy wells, bringing me up to two complete batteries. Six more to go.

Letā€™s see if I can see a tear by where Impa is.

OK, hereā€™s a rock.

ā€¦korok underneath. Well, I wanted another weapon-stash upgrade anyway, so Iā€™m happy.

Letā€™s try going for the head.

I get close to the head and everything sparkles. I hear this is what LSD can be like, in small doses.

Maybe itā€™s just the time of day.

So thatā€™s what itā€™s like to advance the story. Iā€™d nearly forgotten.

Impa mentions the Forgotten Temple. I guess itā€™s supposed to be one of those newbie-friendly places in this game.

Iā€™ll just TP back insideā€¦

ā€¦Impa beat me to it.

Back in the room with the map.

These seemed like nothingburgers to me when I saw them all. Now theyā€™re being treated like some grand revelation. On the other hand, I think I have all but one air-puff tower unlocked, so my lack of surprise is no surprise.

Letā€™s talk to Hestu and close out for today.

ā€¦andā€¦what was I going to do at Tarrey Town? GrantĆ©son, the salesman, distracted me.

Oh, right. Kilton.

Hm. The statue wonā€™t stick to the ceiling. Iā€™ll just leave it on its head.

He wants to see Mattison. In Gerudo Town. That might be difficult. But it isnā€™t. Anymore. Well, it was difficult, but for entirely different reasons.

This guy wants a battle talus sculpture.

The stealthy green lizalfos statue goes well with the green. Makes up for the horriblin.

And thereā€™s his brother. I should say hi before 5 AM turns up.

Fire keese eyeballs and a lizalfos mask.

Two hours today, for a total of 56 hours.

Day 21: 2023-06-29

Maybe some easy shrine doing today. Off to Zanmik Shrine.

Scoop It Out

Make a scoop.

It doesnā€™t auto-scoop. Looks like Iā€™ll need to feed it myself.

Thereā€™s no chest. Thereā€™s probably a chest in the ball pit.

Iā€™ll just attach all these balls together andā€¦

ā€¦fudge. I canā€™t yank them out. The attached ones are too deep.

Strong Zonaite Longsword

Nice.

Off to Mayahisik Shrine.

ā‚

Rauruā€™s Blessing

Guess this oneā€™s a freebie.

Magic Scepter

Like a magic rod, but longsword-based. Iā€™ll leave it.

Off to Mayachideg Shrine.

ā‚

Underpants.

Proving Grounds: The Hunt

Not today.

Kamatukis Shrine.

ā‚

Fully clothed still.

A Precise Strike

Golf and harder golf.

Easy golf opens the door. Harder golf gets the chest open.

Iā€™m gonna hard-golf wearing only the banana-enjoyer outfit. Itā€™s not like I need to fight anything.

Oh, except to whack the new-ball pole. Darn.

Second try.

Mighty Zonaite Longsword

The Yiga longsword gets dropped.

Six lights of blessing.

To Kimayat Shrine.

ā‚

Underpants.

Proving Grounds: Smash

Not today.

Off to Sikukuu Shrine.

ā‚

Spinning Gears

Yes, I remember that Recall exists.

I can see the endpoint, but no chest yet. Hm.

Underneathā€¦no?

Not from the outside. Turns out, turning the gears the wrong way initially gets you into the chest room.

Please let it not be a melee weapon.

Zonaite Longsword

ā€¦

Iā€™m leaving it.

Seven lights.

Off to Kikakin Shrine.

ā‚

Itā€™s dark.

Shining in Darkness

Iā€™ll have that Bright Meat and Mushroom Skewer, with one glow.

ā€¦this is just enough glow to illuminate my feet.

I could stick a glowing thing on a sword. I wouldnā€™t even have to swing it.

Oh, you do have to hit it on something.

Anyway. hereā€™s the chest.

Luminous Stone

That wasnā€™t The Chest.

Lasers.

Opal

That was also not The Chest.

Amber

That was also not The Chest.

Small Key

ā€¦also not The Chest.

I could go up here.

Zonaite Bow
[bow] 30
A Zonai bow that draws power from your
Energy Cell. Power drains, and arrows can fly
much farther according to how long a shot
is charged.

Very much a sniper bow.

That was The Chest.

Back near the entrance, I use the key.

ā‚

Scorpis, the emergency-shelter guard, sees right through my Yiga outfit.

Finally, I get a couple more heart containers.

One more hour, for a total of 57.

Day 22: 2023-06-30

I recalibrate my left stick which seems to fix my stick-drift problem. I should have done this a while ago.

More shrine grinding.

First up: Mayausiy Shrine.

ā‚

Building Blocks

This is a Korok puzzle, blown up.

A captain construct. For no obvious reason.

OK, make a Rubikā€™s Cube.

Chest up there, too.

Large Zonai charge. Didnā€™t need to free up inventory. Nice.

Off to Sonapan Shrine.

ā‚

Man, look at all these golden apples. Now that I donā€™t have to care that apples arenā€™t magnetic, Iā€™ll just yank them off from the ground.

Odd that none of the trees are attacking meā€¦

ā€¦Iā€™ll just run around and pick up the apples on the groundā€¦

ā€¦oops, one got triggered. Enough apple picking for now.

Missing Pathways

An Ascend filter. I pass.

A chest on the left. How toā€¦

Oh. Stick something above your head, and Ascend through it.

Five arrows.

ā€¦that was The Chestā„¢.

And one more obstacle.

Iā€™ve had harder shrines in this game before, since before I got the glider.

One more Light of Blessing.

On to Mayatat Shrine.

ā‚

A Sliding Device

OK, slides slide.

They can be made to slide in reverse.

In shrines, energy seems to be free, so Iā€™ll stick both fans onā€¦

Ten-pack of arrows. That was The Chestā„¢.

Got the extra slide. Didnā€™t see that the one-fan slide went any faster than the two-fan slide, and it was easier to control.

One more Light of Blessing.

On to Soryotanog Shrine.

ā‚

Buried Light

Fans and sand. I remember this mechanic.

Iā€™m sticking the fan to my shield.

Small key. That was not The Chest.

My rusted shield isnā€™t dying. I think the shrine is magic here.

Your Fan Shield is badly damaged.

Guess it wasnā€™t magic.

Also, the fan wonā€™t blow away this construct.

Get a new fan. Iā€™ll use a different shield.

Man, these boko shields canā€™t take much fanning.

Ten-pack of arrows.

That was The Chest.

A bending-light 3D Zelda puzzle.

Four lights of blessing.

Letā€™s see what that thing was that I tagged from the local skyview towerā€¦

ā‚

Kitawak Shrine

Whereā€™d that star fragment go that I passed on the way down?

Got it.

Thereā€™s an aerocuda here. With a chest in its claws.

Ten-pack of arrows. Nice. Up to 80.

And then three unsuspecting ice lizalfos down below. Iā€™ll need their guts ā€” figuratively ā€” eventuallyā€¦

Fire-breath lizalfos, too. And itā€™s tagged as ā€œmonster collectionā€. Not sure how or why. Sure, I need their parts, but I donā€™t think Iā€™ve tagged them specially in the game.ā€™

Hey, a lizal-only group. I have just the hat for this.

They give me the side-eye, but they donā€™t really figure out that Iā€™m not them until I unleash a can of whoop-ass.

A three-pack lizal group approach me as I approach them. They seem to be fooled indefinitely.

More tails for the Great Fairies.

Man, I thought getting Kilton-style masks was dumb, but this one was fun once. At least I got an interesting story out of it.

This Wasteland Coyote looks proportioned like a wolf. Anyhow, one more picture for the album.

Raw Prime Meat. That thing was well fed.

Unbearable heat

Iā€™m gonna have to burn a sapphire, arenā€™t I?

Well, my magic rod is officially In Use.

Gather ā€™round, everybody!

Iā€™ll TP back to the shrine to see if I can get to the lizalfos making lizalfos noises uphill.

ā‚

I look around. Thereā€™s a blue lynel down there, off in the direction of Taobab Whateveritis.

ā€¦do I want to now?

Eh, sure. Whatā€™s the worst that could happen? I Game Over? Biting off probably more than you can chew is what makes open-world games great.

I donā€™t really have anything good to eat. Best I can manage is speed-up food.

My album is full. Darn.

I should embrace the game Iā€™m playing and set up a construct head with a laser beam mounted on its head.

I set it up, and it disintegrates as it gets far away from me and close to the lynel. Iā€™ll try setting it up closer to the lynel.

It does jack fucking shit. Maybe I should have whacked itā€¦

First perfect dodge against a lynel. He hasnā€™t hit me yet. Auspicious!

Man, this guyā€™s got HORNS on him. I also somehow manage to dodge, and I havenā€™t even seen this guyā€™s moves. Beginnerā€™s luck? It sure isnā€™t veteran skill.

I backflip when he tries to headbutt-sideswipe me. I lose a fairy. The fairy doesnā€™t take me up to full health anymore. Boo, hiss.

Whoops, donā€™t backflip when heā€™s charging at you. There goes all but a quarter heart.

Screw it, bright omelet. I donā€™t seem to need things to defeat this guy.

Dammit, I lost my shield and didnā€™t re-up it. Now I have to refill most of my hearts again.

Did it. Lotta lynel parts, like always, and I was able to use up quite a few good weapons on an enemy that deserved it. Very satisfying.

Letā€™s go impress Chabi.

ā‚

This lynel horn deserves to be put on something great. Iā€™ll stick it onā€¦

ā€¦hrmā€¦

Knightā€™s ClaymoreāœØ

Perfect.

Oh weird, I got two horns. One saber horn, and one mace horn.

The mace horn is probably the kind of thing Iā€™d want to whack a Battle Talus withā€¦Iā€™ll use that.

She gives me a silver (100). Not bad.

Letā€™s see if I can use all this lizal stuff to upgrade my Yiga stuff twice. Itā€™s gotta have a special effect, right?

Still need fire lizal tails. Three wasnā€™t enough. Need three more.

Upgraded the glide mask to 3. To take it to four, Iā€™m going to needā€¦TWELVE gleeok wings.

Guess Iā€™m gonna have to work for my hugs.

In the air, a blood moon happens, and I TP to where the constructs are. Maybe thereā€™s a pot here.

ā€¦maybe not.

Mount Lanayru Skyview Tower?

Didnā€™t see one. Drat.

There we go. Dinraal is outside, north of Thyphlo Ruins Skyview Tower, at 12:20 AM. Perfect. Iā€™m getting my claw now.

Nope, Iā€™m not getting thrown off by a konpeitō. I want my claw.

Another midair catch. Iā€™m not shit at this.

Now then. Back to the tower. I want my star fragment.

Not seeing it. Drat. At least thereā€™s this sword geoglyph. The tear is probably at the tip of the swordā€¦

ā€¦bingo.

ā‚

Well, that kind of explained everything. I wonder what the other six can fill in.

Iā€™ll set the quest for the Dinraalā€™s Claw so thatā€™s the next thing I do.

Two hours today, for a total of 59.

Day 23: 2023-07-01

Time to give up the claw.

Wait, I donā€™t have one?

Oh. I need to drop it.

[Bzzt.]

What am I carrying thatā€™s made of metal?

Oh. Ruby sword. I should have stuck the ruby on one of my Zonai things.

Oh. I have one just like that.

Gerudo bows are made of metal? Go figure.

Free ruby. Not bad.

Now to the lightning statue in Faron.

Whatā€™s the quarry like, now that itā€™s not crawling with flying Guardians?

Thereā€™s a pool of Gloom with hands in it. And you canā€™t take its picture. Iā€™m out of here.

Off to Dracozu Lake.

ā‚

On top of the head of the dragon/crocodile, thereā€™s a get-to-the-rings korok. I think this is mostly a test of hustle and ā€œis it raining or notā€, because it usually rains here and it wasnā€™t too hard to get up to in a reasonable amount of time.

Ooh, mighty thistle! Iā€™ll stick around until I get purplehandled.

Black lizalfos tail.

Iā€™ll go up to the woods here and see if I canā€™t get more thistles.

No more thistles. Lizalfos and yellow chuchus, but no thistles.

Hereā€™s a bunch of destroyable rocksā€¦

ā€¦and inside, thereā€™s some yellow mineable rocksā€¦and better yet, a flock of keese!

Thereā€™s something weird and new here, like a construct is supposed to occupy it. Itā€™s at, or below, (0655, -2732, 0060).

ā€™lectric keese. I need them for something. Probably.

Back to the black lizalfos.

Heā€™s got two blue buddies. Gather ā€™round, everybody.

Zonai Ruins
Faron Grassland

Thereā€™s a pack of bananas at an intersection here. Thatā€™s bait.

Iā€™ll put my banana-enjoyer outfit on and see what happens.

Hey, donā€™t get so close to those in
uniform! Link will realize itā€™s a trap!
Get out of here right now!

Fun bit of flavor text. Iā€™ll see if I can farm this electric lizalfos over to the sideā€¦

Oh. Thereā€™s two of them. Let me see if I can bait them past the bananas and where they wonā€™t just fall into the waterā€¦

Got a bunch of useful things, but only two thistles. Iā€™ll see if I can de-pirate Lurelin finally.

Thereā€™s a new sherriff in town. Everybody come to the entrance so I can beat your asses into poes.

Hm. I can fuse weapons to weapons? I might have to try this in the middle of a fight.

Hey, thistle!

Oh, theyā€™re sleeping. Itā€™s midnight.

Letā€™s bring out my massively overpowered sword andā€¦two black bokoblins, made short work of.

Now thereā€™s another lookout. Letā€™s see if I can pull him away with my maskā€¦

Hey, I can pray here. Iā€™ll pray for more hearts.

Sounds like thatā€™s everybody on land. The cumulative monster heart total is about halfway down. Iā€™ll head onto the boat.

Iā€™ll try one of those pinecones for a mini-gale.

Three just blew up in a tornado. Iā€™ll try ONE.

One just blew up. Hm.

Go onto the rudder, Ascend through the ship proper.

Now itā€™s fighting time.

The baddies on the ship were entertaining. If you back up while being chased ā€” slowly ā€” by a bokoblin, his boss will throw rocks on his head by accident.

Still some monster left. Not sure if theyā€™re in the pirate ship, or what.

Island lobster shirt underneath the pirate ship. Cute.

Thereā€™s steam coming out of the well. Iā€™ll see whatā€™s inside.

A bokoblin. That was the last guy.

Numar ā€” the guy with the thistles all around his house ā€” calls everyone back.

Bolson
Sure, you look like a strong breeze could
blow you over, but you are as solid as
STONE. Knew it the moment I saw you!

Probably not the weirdest compliment ever, but close. Iā€™ll take it.

Bolson needs logs. That I understand, but rice?

Just buy the rice at Hateno. Got it.

Logs. Not wood. Hmmmā€¦

I need to stalk Cece, the fashionista. At night. Iā€™m spoiled for outfits for this.

Iā€™ll rework my paraglider. Iā€™m feeling old-school.

Nostalgic Fabric

Talk to the mayor. I have cheese in my pocket.

100 rupees. Nice.

Reede, the current mayor, shuts himself in his shed every night.

ā€œDig a hole or somethingā€

Challenge accepted.

Thereā€™s a huge network of caves around here.

Reede is trying to make a new kind of pumpkin.

Letā€™s check in on Ceceā€¦

Fashionable personnel only!

Thereā€™s hylian garb and some kind of kingā€™s guard outfit inside. Supposedly it used to be optimal if you were jumping up walls.

Iā€™m not a speedrunner. Iā€™ll wait for Cece outside and then tail her. Itā€™s 9 PM. I can wait.

Sheā€™s going into the condemned tower. Iā€™ll peek in from above.

She loves the local produce.

Makes me dislike handing out shrooms to people less.

Iā€™ll talk to the fallen statue just off Mayausiy Shrine.

Oh hey, itā€™s back up again.

Sheā€™s gonna give me a sword. Need to make room for it.

White Sword of the Sky
[one-handed sword] 24
A sword said to have once belonged to a
hero from the sky. Its beautiful white blade
stands out. When itā€™s wielded, a strange yet
heavenly breeze kicks up around you.

I have all kinds of new stuff. Letā€™s talk to a fairy.

Iā€™m kind of low on money. Darn.

Where do I get blue nightshade?

Satori Mountain.

Apples.

Octorok!

Into the cave. The bluepee seems to be guiding me.

Even more into the cave. More bluepee guides.

Seems like the thing to do is head up from this weird outcropping. But first, the lakes and whatnot I skipped past chasing bluepees.

Maybe not. Seems boring.

I ascend from the head of the slug statue inside and arrive at the cherry-blossom tree. Not bad.

In-game, itā€™s 7:40 PM. Good time start hunting glowy blue things that pop up only at night.

This is three hours.

Lots of them at (-2298, -0466, 0332). I put a chest icon down.

I have enough. Back to Tera or Cotera.

Maybe thereā€™s more octoroks at Pico Pond like there used to be.

Iā€™ll go for a Malanya bed.

He wants steamed tomatoes for horse enhancements. Although I think he wants other things insteadā€¦

Anyhow. Need more blue things. And fireflies.

ā‚

Back to Lurelin. Turns out, thereā€™s exactly 15 trees up top, including the tree monsters. I wad all the logs up and take them downhill in the most boring possible way.

OK, I canā€™t count. Need two more.

No, I can count. Two logs just stuck around. Maybe they werenā€™t in his field ofā€¦something.

ā‚

Letā€™s accompany Penn to the mystery.

Actually, no. Letā€™s convert more Zonaite.

Southwest, to the light. Follow the statues.

Off to Koradat Lightroot.

An adventurer. Actually a Yiga. Time to put on my 5/3/1 outfit, which is the armor values of my Yiga outfit.

Yeah, Iā€™m thinking attaching the stack of springs to the car I assembled wasnā€™t the greatest idea.

Some Yiga asshole drives by me in a car with spikes on it. I run after him, hop in the back, possibly miss a sneakstrike attempt, and kill him and take his car.

Drive around the mini-base. Nothing happened. Iā€™ll take the springs off and see how high three springs launch me.

Takes me above the Yiga on the glider doing circles. I land on his glider and give him a good whack off.

Monocycle autobuild schema? I could use cheap transportation.

Itā€™s fast.

Kawatik Lightroot

Thereā€™s another adventurer down here. Iā€™m still in uniform. I wonder what this person will say.

Phew, just a fellow Yiga. Need to stock up
on Zonai devices?

I ride the balloon up. Iā€™m glad I had a second extra battery.

South Lomei Depths Labyrinth

Oh wow.

Iā€™ll keep following the statues. Seems like theyā€™re taking me to another lightroot.

Oh hey, itā€™s lightning dragon.

Evidently the lightroot is inside the maze. I'll just have to climb inside the maze and get to it.

Actually, itā€™s on top. The maze is sealed.

Sisustom Lightroot

That was my third hour today.

The maze goes up to the ceiling of the Underdark.

Got a Faroshā€™s Scale. Probablyā€™ll come in handy one day. Back up to the local lightroot for elevation.

Anyway, I hope Link comes by soon. Pretending to be sick really takes it out of you.

Iā€™ll leave him be.

Amakawis Lightroot

Iā€™ll just follow the statues andā€¦

Frox

This one is sized like a molduga.

He vacuums me up. Pity I donā€™t have unlimited bombsā€¦

His lungs gave up before sucking me in. Not sure what happened to the bomb flower I was going to drop. I probably took it back.

When in doubt, shoot it in the eye(s).

Whacking its skin with a Captain III blade did nothing.

It has rocks on its back like a talus.

Iā€™m out of things with rocks on themā€¦

Iā€™ll just bomb the rocks on his back.

One bomb arrow did it.

Now whereā€™d I leave my fan-powered sledā€¦?

Canā€™t find it. Guess I hoof it. With my own hooves.

Mihcihc Lightroot

An enemy camp just beyond.

Oh, that aerocuda had a bomb barrel. Ow.

Grand poes. I am being led.

Abandoned Gerudo Mine

Time to look like a Yiga again.

Oh hey, itā€™s Master Kohga.

The constructs are all locked down.

Killed the flying guards. Iā€™m not sure what youā€™re supposed to do with anything other than a spring.

Letā€™s talk to Kohga in uniform.

Heā€™s trying to talk to something with his hand. Itā€™s not working.

Huh?! Itā€™s YOU again. You canā€™t fool me,
looking like that.

Darn.

He says heā€™s gonna kick my ass and take my power. Him and what armā€¦y?

Sorry.

ā‚

Back in that arena.

Keese eyeballs ought to work against this first form.

Oh fuck. Those rockets HURT.

Fourth hour.

Eventually he gets too armored, and I have to spring up to meet him. Landing on a midair plane isnā€™t all that difficult, though, thank goodness.

Urk! Bleh! This place has too much sand!
Youā€™re only winning because it keeps
getting in my eyes!

ā€¦

Heā€™s collecting crystallized charges. Heā€™s going to the eastern abandoned mine, wherever that is.

ā‚

The construct says heā€™s probably going to the Abandoned Lanayru Mine. Drop down from the wetlands or in a mountain village.

ā€œschema stonesā€?

I pick up the chest. 100 crystallized charges.

Hovercraft.

Whereā€™s the closest lightroot?

I guess there is none here.

Letā€™s head south on this new hovercraft, with a couple extra batteries.

I get into a fight with a small mining group and lose all but one of my hearts to gloom.

Theyā€™re all dead, but Iā€™m at one heart capacity. Whatā€™s a good insta-pot recipe that uses sundelions?

Sundelions and meat is enough.

Can I bait this stalhorse with apples? Itā€™s standing on gloom.

I can. And it likes me more now that Iā€™m feeding apples to it.

And then some armored gloomy bokoblin whacks me off my horse. Drat. Guess that explains how Iā€™m going to get down to the root.

I then decide to go back to the mine because thereā€™s a lightroot there that I didnā€™t see while I was there. From this angle, itā€™s easier to see that itā€™s on top of the whole think kind of.

Tatayam Lightroot
Abandoned Kara Kara Mine
Minerā€™s Mask

It glows. One.

Instant Scaffold.

Goodness, that is handy.

Five hours.

Gonatoyros Lightroot
Gataharak Lightroot
Kimakarut Lightroot

ā€¦thereā€™s a lake here?

Thereā€™s a gloomy blue-maned lynel down here, too.

Is this the same frox? No. There hasnā€™t been a blood moon.

It ate my glowing thing. Darn.

And I press the wrong button and donā€™t bullet-time him. Instead, I smack down into the gloom in front of him. Fuck.

Time to chug this Bright Elixir and see if itā€™s worth a damn.

Itā€™s worth one damn. Not two.

Tripled bomb arrows makes short work of the frox.

Jadukakar Lightroot

Evidently rivers up there are walls down here.

ā‚

Letā€™s go with Penn and investigate that creepy voice.

Leave the arms. For if not, Iā€™ll do you harm.

Seek the storm.

Hell of a distorting echo.

ā‚

Feed Agus what heā€™s been meaning to eat.

Blood moon.

ā€¦dondon? Whatā€™s a dondon?

This lady clears things up. Penn says Trayci is happy with my work, and showers rupees on me. Penn then goes back to tell ā€™er whatā€™s been going on.

This lady has a bunch of really expensive gems on the table. Iā€™ll save, then do my usual kleptomaniaā€¦

Feed luminous stones to Dondons and they poop gems. Got it.

Heeere, buddyā€¦

He doesnā€™t eat them out of my hand like a horse. I need to drop them on the ground, then he paces around a bit and then eats them.

This is not a speedrun strat.

After feeding him five, he loses interest in the stones.

But wait, there are more dondons!

Six hours.

You know, I think Iā€™ll finally check in at Rito Village like the game is telling me to do.

Sahirow Shrine

Iā€™ll do this one later.

Rospro Pass Skyview Tower

The geography here looks unfamiliar.

Easy in, at least.

Rito Village.

ā‚

Gatakis Shrine

Walking around. There are ice pops. Chests are in them. All I need to do is stand by them.

Hot buttered apple:

You can add a spicy pepper to this.

Nutcake:

fish pie:

ā€¦

ā€œSong of the Stormwind Arkā€

Flying ship. 100 years ago. I remember.

Rito-down bed. I want a full extra wheel.

Off to Harth.

I should upgrade these clothes. They probably need hot things that I might have.

ā€¦I have barely any money. Off to sell myā€¦star fragments. Not all of them.

Red chuchu jelly? And I have only one? Argh.

Back to Hebra. I try finding the cave Tulin went into. I failed. Get to the tallest mountain around and I find him anyway.

Keese eyeballs. Gotta love ā€™em.

Seven hours.

Iā€™ll TP to the closest tower. Tulin can follow me there, right?

Yes.

Tulin says Iā€™m going the wrong way just as I bump into something shrine up here.

ā€œCome to me?ā€

Sounds like Revali.

Thereā€™s a giant boat in there.

I donā€™t know how to go up. I donā€™t have Revaliā€™s Gale.

Goflamā€™s Secret Hot Spring
Eutoum Shrine

Hm. Didnā€™t make it all the way to the construct pacing around.

What if I pull three springs out of my backside and then just jump on them?

Yup.

Tulin helps with the construct.

I continue onward and upward. Turns out, icicles are something you can glue to your sword or shield.

Do I want to do any cooking? I do.

I continue on.

Kahatanaum Shrine

Eight hours.

Boing. Boing.

I canā€™t really go forward in this wind.

OK, it looks like Iā€™m almost at the top. Oddly enough, thereā€™s no wind up here. My hair isnā€™t dangling at 40Ā° from horizontal like it was on the way up.

Above the weather, andā€¦in.

Wind Temple 1F

Ruby!

Stolen ruby!

Oh. Get Tulin to gust into the locks.

Hm. TPing from the temple to the temple respawns enemies.

Nine hours.

Enough physics to realize that you can use an icicle to transfer twisting, but not enough to know that itā€™ll break the icicle.

The music gets better as I start spinning the wheels. Nice.

Thatā€™s five. The music is getting properly orchestral.

ā€œColgeraā€. Like those sandworms, but in the air.

I donā€™t know where my stamina reloads are coming from, but Iā€™ll take them.

,

Not Revali.

Isnā€™t the whole ā€œyour handā€ kind of skating by a few technicalities?

ā‚

The guy at Lookout Landing is a bridge builder.

Wao-os Shrine

Oh. Lookout Landing. Where Purah is. I thought this was some sort of coastal thing.

ā€¦whatā€™s this thing that just landed in our pond?

Notes back at Kak.

Oh, itā€™s the trade guy.

Soldierā€™s Greaves

Got the #stalnox:royal-hidden-passage.

Get back out to the hidden place, and Blood Moon sets in. Time to start cooking.

Talk to Josha.

Oh, I already found the temple?

So, is Robbie free yet?

He is. Hot damn.

ā‚

Man, this place is a mess.

Sensor

Ooh, he has a travel medallion ready?

And Heroā€™s Path? And Sensor +?

Dangerous trespassers? Already dealt with ā€™em, buddy.

Oh, neat. He can add more gates.

Map-data locations?

ā€œAround 256 hours of gameplayā€

Letā€™s get another battery.

Turakawak Shrine
Stacking a Path

The solid block weighs way more than the other two. However, it rotates in such a way that puts the other block above me, and Ascendable through. Just got to get it up a bit higherā€¦

Done.

Gasas Shrine

Finally got Karson on the Rito bridge.

Golden horse.

ā€œShinyā€? ā€œGlitterā€?

Shiny. Fast horse.

Oshozan-u Shrine

And the nearby geoglyph.

Mayaotaki Shrine

Says to go down below and defeat the dragon. Iā€™m not up for that yet.

Iā€™ll go up.

Activate four terminals.

Fight the construct.

Evil Spirit Greaves

More stealth up.

Ikatoyam Lightroot
U-Nazohsu Lightroot

Colgera. Again.

Mu-ufatur Lightroot

That barely illuminated anything. And I made a cool glider for it, too.

Narusis Lightroot
Worihas Lightroot

Iā€™m getting OK at building gliders and figuring out how much battery Iā€™m going to need.

Trousers of the Hero
Kataki Lightroot

Pennā€™s at Dueling Peaks stable.

No, he isnā€™t. Trayci is messing with me.

ā‚

Letā€™s get Lurelin back up. I have the rice. Finally.

Restaurant first, I guess.

All Iā€™m doing is sticking trees in holes.

The inn is different. Thereā€™s metal down there.

Voltfruit. I need this for something.

Finally, the Money Making Game hut.

The owner gives me five bomb flowers. Score!

Finally end up upgrading my Sheikah set for the night speed upgrade.

Kyokugon Shrine

Remembered chuchu jellies are convertible.

Miskoā€™s freezing-clothing treasure is in Lake Kilsie Cave, to the northwest of Lucky Clover Newspaper.

Pennā€™s at Wetland Stable. Across Rebonae Bridge, in eastern Hyrule Field. Close to Kakariko.

Never been here before.

Floret Sandbar.

Magda? The flower lady?

Foothill Stable, to the northeast. Between Eldin and Akkala.

Going inā€¦in my underpants.

Did it. Eventually.

One, two, skip a few, elevenā€¦twelve. Thatā€™s all twelve Penn things done.

There we go. I got the frog outfit.

Check in with a fairyā€¦

The guyā€™s by the gumball machineā€¦

19:20 plus 2 hours. That makes 21 hours and 20 minutes today.

59 hours previously. Totals 80 hours and 20 minutes.

Day 24: 2023-07-02

Iā€™m gonna grind caves.

Ground some caves.

Eventide Island is rainy all the time. Good thing I have my frog outfit.

Twelve more hours today, for a total of 92 hours and 20 minutes.

Fun game.

Day 25: 2023-07-04

Iā€™d like fire lizalfos tails. Iā€™ll try the old way up Death Mountain, starting from Foothill Stable and working my way up.

Ooh, a Miskoā€™s Treasure.

Thereā€™s, like, 30 chests in here. Iā€™ll feed the dog. Good thing I have lots of meat.

Ember Trousers
[shirt] 2 šŸ—”ļøā˜€ļø Hot Weather Attack
Used in ancient rituals, this item is made of
heat-absorbing cloth that produces flame in
high-temperature environments.

Neat.

ā€œFierce Deity Swordā€. Donā€™t I have this?

Don the form of the Fierce Deity, and
return to this place. There are three
keys you will need.

Not now. Iā€™m going cruising for tail.

I take the korok across the way to his buddy. Everything that I need to take him is right here, so I just assemble a simple hovercraft. I spend lots of time with water up to my shins, but it floats enough.

More caving later, and now Iā€™m getting the Lake Intentoch crystal into its proper place.

I should have tried to make a long rock bit for the extra buoyancy and then boated across the fire lake. Making a bridge with the fire hydrant wasnā€™t flashy.

Broca Island. I ā€“ wordlessly ā€” collect the korok seed and a couple of local fauna. I also recover hearts in the hot springs.

Do I want to fight a fire talus? Suuuure.

Ember shirt.

Tunic of Awakening: Rayne, Piper, and Tanagar meet, ruined pillars stand together. Tabantha Frontier.

Moshapin Shrine

Yunobo, with the lucha-libre getup.

Sage temple ruins.

I canā€™t Earthwake when Iā€™ve been stripped to my underpants in a shrine. Darn.

92:20

Six hours and 30 minutes today, for a total of 98 hours and 50 minutes.

Day 26: 2023-07-05

Lake Darman Monster Den doesnā€™t have a checkmark beside the cave icon, and I still need fire lizalfos tails.

Oh hey, itā€™s Toren, and he could use some help. Nice. Iā€™ll finally see what actual teamwork is like in this game.

That was made easier by them. Theyā€™re off to the Akkala Span.

I want to get high. What happens if I glue a rocket to my shield?

Takes me about as high as a Revaliā€™s Gale, and doesnā€™t quite use up my level-1 Lynel shield (brown, two blades). Not bad.

Andā€¦a Blood Moon. Time to finish my Lynel farming.

Hm. itā€™s starting to thunderbolt and lightning, and basically all my weapons are metal. I think Iā€™m going to get a shockproof crown and then just use metal.

Er, Lightning Helm. This almost halves my defense.

I got one good zap around him, but I donā€™t know if it actually hurt him at all. Oh well.

On to the next lynel.

ā‚

Ooops, this oneā€™s blue.

ā€œExtra damage during flurry rushā€ is a cheat code for lynels. This blue oneā€™s going down faster than the red one I just beat up just now.

ā‚

Now for the one north of Lake Illumeni.

Uneventful, really.

Now off to see the fastest fairy to get my stuff upgraded.

I upgrade what I can, and then finish the day by taking dead fish out of my pouch, dropping them on the deck, and then taking pictures of them. I do the same with some flowers that Iā€™ll need to upgrade things (safflinas that are not cold), and thatā€™s the day.

Also, I find out that if you take a darner (dragonfly) out of your pocket, it flies away. If you want to take a picture, take the picture BEFORE you capture it.

An hour ten today, taking me up to one hundred hours.

Day 27: 2023-07-06

Blood Moon just happened, so I want more red lizalfos tails.

Iā€™ll go up from this local stable. Iā€™ve never been up this way.

I take a reversed falling-rock ride up and see a shrine Iā€™ve never been to, and also a building with a glowing rock roast on it.

A Gerudo says the rock roasts are inedible.

ā€œCaves past the cart tracks?ā€ Hmm.

East Restaurant Cave

I hope this is it.

Seems to be. Now to go back for the bubbulfrog.

Done. Thatā€™s four bubbulgems.

Letā€™s try finishing up Cephla Lake Cave in case Koltin wants five bubbulgems for his final item.

I spend 300 rupees looking up information on what is almost certainly Tingleā€™s outfit. Information I can look up for free on IGN.

These things sell for 500 rupees a piece in-game, so it wonā€™t be a total waste.

Iā€™ll get some more fire lizalfos tails since Iā€™m around. Thereā€™s a TP point that I placed on the way up on the eastern side, so Iā€™ll poke around there.

Three tails. One jump in the local onsen then Iā€™m TPing back to Tera.

Set Bonus
Night Speed Up

I think two, three, and two levels is adequate for the red sheikah suit.

Letā€™s go see Koltin.

He wanted five. Good thing I got an extra.

He doesnā€™t have more treasure, but heā€™s still not a satori.

Well, letā€™s have a look at the outfit.

Kinda kabuki. The shoes are too small.

I could use some flamebreaker pants. Iā€™ll ride to Goron City and see if thereā€™s a local shrine there that I missed.

I kind of want to get rid of most of these extra horses.

ā‚

Now, heading up to the top of Death Mountain. I take three tries to get a cart on the tracks going up (donā€™t hit your horse, and if you jump off while itā€™s moving, even if the fan isnā€™t going, itā€™ll still move faster than you do because itā€™s going downhill).

Iā€™m going to wear my moblin mask on the way up. I donā€™t want to get shot at.

Thereā€™s no keese mask, though. Oh well.

Or octorok mask.

Ok, I need to kill these guys, andā€¦

Hm. Thereā€™s a spike shield here. I guess I can power through this.

Letā€™s try using two fans. If that doesnā€™t work, I have rockets.

Rockets it is, then.

Nope, that didnā€™t do it, either.

Guess Iā€™m climbing.

ā‚

Thereā€™s lots of gloom in here, but no hole down to the Underdark.

Sitsum Shrine

I think Iā€™m not supposed to be here yet.

I havenā€™t been to Akkala much.

Domizuin Shrine

Akkala Bridge Ruinsā€¦and thereā€™s a bluepee here. Whereā€™s the cave?

The entire castle is the cave. OK.

Guess Iā€™ll go just jump in the hole outsideā€¦oh wait, a Snoo.

ā‚

Niuzimod Lighroot

Letā€™s get to the next closest one with a fanplane on a cart, andā€¦

Ooh, itā€™s hot. Time to get my hot-weather pants on, too.

Nipahsom Lightroot
Mustis Lightroot

The fanplane died a short way out, but it got me to the root.

Back to Nipahsom Lightroot to get to the other root down here.

Kisomom Lightroot

I need more carts.

Katijabis Lightroot

Thereā€™s a structure here.

Scorching Coliseum

Hmmmmā€¦

I have nothing to lose except what, all my sunny food? This is what sunny food was made for.

All moblins. Easy enough. The silvers were easy because you can knock them off their feet with a second whack of a longsword.

Zantā€™s Helmet

Unfreezable. Nice.

Whatā€™s at Narusis Lightroot? Another coliseum?

Oh. Colgera. Screw this.

Letā€™s try the Drenan Highlands chasm and try to go north around the underneath of Thyphlo Ruins.

ā€¦and hereā€™s Dinraal!

Dinraalā€™s Horn

I figure Iā€™ll need at least one of every dragon part.

Can I get back up to where she is with a rocket shield?

No, but it got me to the lightroot.

Katenim Lightroot

Underneath Thyphlo Ruins is a gleeok den.

Uukukis Shrine

Iā€™m heading back straight north to see that super tall column that looks Ascendable.

I set my controller down and type this message.

Oh, it takes me topside. Never thought that would happen.

Letā€™s go to Ekochiu Shrine, then jump down the hole, and thatā€™ll take me closer to where underneath the Lost Woods is.

Cheese, wheat, and sugar is dubious food? Guess you really need that second wheat.

I finish up making more, but not all that I want to, Malanya food. I need more wheat. I end up at Kara Kara Bazaar and help Ponthos out of the sinkhole. I getā€¦a ball. The kind you put into holes to make shrines appear.

3 hours and 45 minutes today, for a total of 103 hours and 45 minutes.

Shopping List

More important: ā†“

Less important: ā†‘

Blood Moon Tasks

Hestu seed requirements

Horse upgrades:

Strength to 5:

Speed to 4:

Speed to 5:

Pull to 3:

Epilogue

Iā€™m not done yet, so this is a placeholder.

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