The end of an era

It is with a heavy heart that I have decided to officially end my time on this blog. Over the past couple of years, I have really enjoyed putting my thoughts on video games here just so I could communicate how I felt about certain things. To anybody that stopped by the blog at any point, thank you. But now, I turn my focus to creating video games. So, one last time I will tell you, kcduckling out.

Rewind: Looking back at Breath of the Wild

It's been a couple of months since the release of Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and the immediate shower of praise that it received. I too took part in this massive circle jerk that was hailing Breath of the Wild as the greatest game of the year, decided in March. However, a recent read prompted me to go back and really look at Breath of the Wild as a Zelda game and see if maybe we had gotten carried away a little bit.
First of all, I'm going to address very quickly that Breath of the Wild is an incredible game that is ridiculously well designed and absolutely deserve any Game of the Year Award that it receives. That being said, here are some popular detractors that don't bother me:

• Breakable weapons don't bother me because there are a plethora of weapons to find and use, you should never run out
• The rain mechanic doesn't bother me because it doesn't need to affect your game at all. You can look at the weather ahead of time, and there is a way to climb through the rain. Plan ahead, be smart. It's not a big deal.
• Korok seeds were an excellent addition and are well scattered throughout the land. The reward of literal shit is really a slap to the cock, but in the process, you also unlock a bunch of weapon, shield, and bow slots so that's your reward too, dummy.
• The fact that Breath of the Wild gives you the ability to literally climb anywhere makes it an objectively better exploration game than other open-world offerings. This is something that I will stand by. There are no dead zones locked out by a big cliff or conveniently placed mountain or hill. I cannot state how incredible it is that you can literally access the entire map. Amazing.

But, of course, Breath of the Wild has plenty of flaws too. One of the biggest problems with Breath of the Wild is that the developers were so eager to depart from the series in a big way, that they ditched some things that made Zelda games really awesome in the first place. Namely, dungeons and bosses. This is a common talking point among people looking to critique Breath of the Wild, and for good reason. Breath of the Wild's four divine beasts that serve as the game's dungeons are all easy, house no substantial enemies, and offer no variety of scenery or challenge. In the same vein, the bosses of Breath of the Wild are horrible abominations that are just variants of Calamity Ganon. 

And this is where Breath of the Wild really worked itself into a corner. By completely replacing items with runes, and by making all of the runes available at the very beginning of the game, all bosses must be defeatable by any means. This means no specialized boss battles or specialized dungeons, which in turn means no Legend of Zelda.

I completely understand the desire to introduce runes and have every puzzle solvable at the very beginning, so the player can begin his or her adventure wherever they desire; however, dungeons need items to make them unique and give them substance and challenge. Breath of the Wild's dungeons suffer heavily from all being the same, which in turn hurts the game as a whole.

Another thing that really hurt the game in my eyes was connecting hearts and stamina to completing shrines. This alone doesn't hurt the game, but by making these collectibles exclusive to shrines, you are guaranteeing shite rewards throughout the rest of the game. Every single side quest rewards you with either rupees, food, or weapons. All temporary, none very helpful.

So how does Nintendo fix these problems? Easy. Soo, so easy.

1. Keep the massive open world
2. Keep shrines, but lower the number
3. Keep a small set of runes
4. This time, introduce 4-6 actual Zelda dungeons, complete with their own item to help solve the dungeon and kill the boss
5. Still tie hearts and stamina to shrines, but not exclusively. Save some heart pieces and stamina bits for quests and mini-games

Wham, Breath of the Wild enhanced. Which leaves one large talking point left: the story. 

Ah, geez.

Breath of the Wild's story isn't horrible. It's not even bad. I really thought it was interesting just because of the brutality. Zelda plots in the past have gotten pretty dark before, but this is fucking intense. Calamity Ganon turns Sheikah technology against Hyrule and just destroys everything. Straight up decimates Castle Town, wrecks Hyrule Castle and unleashes a swarm of Guardians into Hyrule to kill everyone else. However, Zelda has been containing him for 100 years, which is enough time for Link to heal up, slap the Ganon out of the Divine Beasts and return to Hyrule Castle to kick Calamity Ganon's ass. I really liked seeing all of the different races together in the same game: Rito, Zora, Goron, and Gerudo, but the story is pretty rushed along in those four locales. Nonetheless, I thought that Nintendo still managed to make some characters fairly interesting. The whole memory recovery thing is pretty stupid to me and doesn't really add anything to the game other than some exposition.

On the subject of Ganon: what the hell is he? For the entire game leading up to the final battle, Ganon is seen as a cloud of purple smoke flying around the castle. Then, the final battle incarnates Ganon into a big, bearded, bug thing. Then, after that, Ganon reincarnates himself into his rage form: a pig. I believe Ganon loses some of his oomph because he is never seen as an actual character, he is just an evil thing.

Overall, Breath of the Wild is a great game, and yes it deserves a lot of praise, and yes it did do some really exciting new things. As a game, I do believe that it could and probably will win a lot of awards at the end of the year. But as a game in the Legend of Zelda series, it's not even top 5. 9/10.

Until next time, kcduckling out.

Splatoon 2 - a few days later

Hello boys and girls, kcduckling here, I've been pretty busy this past weekend really playing the crap out of Splatoon 2 and boy I've got a lot of praise to give.
If you haven't played the original, this is a crazy fun foray into a very unique game, unlike any other shooter on the market. The main game mode is a simple, 4v4 for who can cover more of the map with their team's color of ink. Killing, or in this case, "splatting" the opponents does nothing to help your score, but rather buys you more time to ink the map. Other game modes go beyond that and are more objective-based, but everything is fun.
For those of you that have played the original Splatoon, not much has changed. A few tweaks were made here and there (more on that later), and the new horde mode is ridiculous fun, and its easier to get the perks you want on the gear you want, but other than those few things, it is very much the same, fresh experience that you got to play on the Wii U.
As a huge fan of the original Splatoon, I am glad to see that much of the core gameplay from the original still holds up. Simple little tweaks implemented by Nintendo have very subtly helped balance and enrich the online experience. These tweaks include:

• allowing Splat Charger to hold charge for a short period of time while submerged in ink
• adding a vertical fling to the Splat Roller
• adding checkpoints in Tower Control
• adding a few details to the in-game HUD to provide more information, such as what weapon players have and if their special is ready

And speaking of the specials, I do believe that there is not a single one from the original game in this one, they have been completely scrubbed and replaced. However, much of the weapons from the first game return, to my delight, as well as the majority of the sub-weapons. Not to say there is not new weapons and subs in this game. The all-new Splat Dualies, which were featured heavily in all of Splatoon 2's advertising, are tremendous fun to use and include a dodge roll that no other weapon has. As for the new subs, the Autobomb has got to be my favorite.

The new horde mode, Salmon Run, is a fantastic addition to the game that really helps out with the variety of gameplay that Splatoon 2 offers in comparison to its predecessor. Although only available every other day for 12 hours a day, this new mode drops 4 players off on a small island and assigns them each a weapon that they then must use to hold off the waves of Salmonid creatures, defeating challenging bosses and stealing their golden eggs. The time constraints are a bummer, but the randomly assigned weapons ensure that you are trying out new ones all the time, which is a great move to really acquaint yourself with the game's vast arsenal.

The story mode is just as good as the original's. Hectic, colorful, and outrageous fun. The story mode really does a great job as well as switching around your weapon constantly while each level has a new mechanic for you to learn and master by the end of it. Collectibles are scattered throughout and are addicting to hunt down. The story mode even lets you try out a super-rare weapon, not available in the game yet, which is really neat.

The online lobbies have been working fine for me, only experiencing occasional (once every couple hours or so) drops back to the lobby, and my only real complaint is that you cannot switch weapons or gear in the lobby, which can be a really big thorn in your side. The map and mode rotation occurs every two hours as opposed to four, which is better, but still tedious when you're sitting down to play the game for an extended period of time.

Splatoon is all about looking fresh as hell, and Splatoon 2 has a lot of really neat options for what you wear, (my Inkling is rocking some Yeezys-lookalikes right now) and now it is even easier to get the perks you want on the clothes you want. Splatoon 2 has added 'ability chunks', earned by playing Salmon Run or by scrubbing your current clothes, and when you have 10, or sometimes 20 of these chunks, you can put that ability onto any piece of clothing you want.

Splatoon 2 really retains the success of the original Splatoon and adds enough new features and changes to really merit its 'sequel' status. Splatoon 2 is out now and I would strongly recommend buying it.

Until next time, kcduckling out.

Splatfest

Hey everybody, kcduckling here back from one of those classic 'gone for along time without telling anybody' stints. I've been pretty busy in my personal life lately, moving cities, getting a new job, and playing a hell of a lot of video games.
Yesterday was the World Premiere for Splatoon 2's Splatfests, and this was my first time getting to play Splatoon 2 (back when they had the testfire, my Switch's internet wasn't working), and I was not let down. Available weapons were a Splattershot, Splat Charger, Roller, and the brand new Splat Dualies.
I was using the Splattershot and Roller for the majority of my three hours that I got to play, and it felt really good to jump back in to Splatoon. When I had played on the Wii U, I had always used the motion controls, but for the back half of playing this, I went ahead and switched off motion controls and just used my pro controller, and it worked really well!
The theme of the Splatfest was Ice Cream vs. Cake and Ice Cream kicked the shit out of Cake. Not even close. For my three hours that I played the game, I, a member of Team Ice Cream, only played against a Team Cake twice. Clearly the world is pretty decided on whether ice cream or cake is better.
The only other note that I have to make is that I really wish that the controls could be changes, even a few simple options. As someone who has played Breath of the Wild for over 150 hours on my Switch, it's pretty ingrained in me that jump is the 'x' button. There were countless times in Splatoon 2 when I would be in the middle of a crazy fight with someone, and I would try to jump out of the way only to pull up the map, blind myself, and then get splatted. This isn't a huge deal, as I'll probably learn to switch over eventually, but adding a simple control change option wouldn't hurt.
Splatoon 2 comes out this Friday, July 21st. It's a hell of a lot of fun and if you are a Switch owner, you should definitely pick this up.

Until next time, kcduckling out.

PlayStation is being childish

During E3, two separate conferences showcased cross-platform gaming that would be available in the near future. These two games were Minecraft and Rocket League. Let's first think about the significance of these games.
Minecraft is one of the best games of all time. Period. I don't care that there are hundreds of thousands of Let's Players on YouTube that ruin the game for some, or that a very large hunk of the user base is 10 year old kids, Minecraft is one of the most influential, biggest, and most successful video games of all time. So when XBOX, Nintendo Switch, and PC users can all play together, why would Sony be left out?
Similarly, why would Sony stay out of Rocket League cross play? Rocket League is one of the hottest games of the past few years and has a humongous install base, so why limit who people can play with?
Because Sony is a real piece of shit, that's why. Their actual reason was some stupid shit like "we gotta protect our young Minecraft players from external inlfuences" yeah fucking right go eat shit, Nintendo is in on this and they are supposed to have more kids on their systems than anybody else, eh? So where's your excuse now?
In the future, gamers will hopefully all be able to play together in third party games because that would be really cool and fun and wouldn't hurt anybody nor would it hurt any one company's sales. PlayStation is unfortunately not on board yet because they are horrible people who would rather put themselves before their players.
Listen to the people, PlayStation. I got friends that play Rocket League on PS4 and I just really want to play with them. Please. Come to your senses, pull your head out of your gahddamn asshole, and join in on the fun with literally everybody else.

kcduckling out

Nintendo at E3

Here on the final day of Nintendo's E3 showing, let's take a look back at what just happened. Because there was some crazy shit going on during that Nintendo Spotlight. Here are my grades for all the announcements.

"I don't care" tier

Xenoblade Chronicles X 

Fire Emblem Warriors

Skyrim on Switch 

"That's mildly interesting" tier

Kirby

Yoshi

"Hey, that's pretty good" tier

Rocket League on Switch

Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle

Breath of the Wild Expansion Pass

Might have peed my pants a little bit tier

Pokemon RPG coming to Switch

Metroid Prime 4

Super Mario Odyssey

The Switch is really shaping up to have a strong finish to 2017, with ARMS tomorrow, Splatoon 2 in July, Mario + Rabbids in August, Pokken Tournament in September, and finally Super Mario Odyssey to close out the year in October. Fire Emblem Warriors and Xenoblade Chronicles 2 are also slated for a 2017 release. This is really exciting news for anybody who can afford all of those games. Me personally, will probably only end up getting Splatoon 2 and Odyssey. 

However, with this strong finish to 2017, it leads one to wonder what Nintendo has in store for Switch support in 2018. All that we know of for now is Kirby and Yoshi, and although those are both solid franchises, they are also both just platformers which is really deflating to see after the more open-world success of Breath of the Wild and now Super Mario Odyssey.

Best case scenario, we might see Metroid Prime 4 and the Pokemon RPG on Switch come out next year as well, but these are not guarantees as both of those games have just been announced with no sort of gameplay or even trailer available.

Overall, Nintendo had a strong E3 showing and it looks like its gonna be a hectic close to 2017 with all the games that Nintendo is rolling out. It's also great to see Nintendo working with Microsoft on Minecraft and Rocket League cross play (which is another post I'll have up later).

Make sure you keep up with Nintendo on YouTube and check out all of the gameplay they have for their various games, because seriously that gameplay for Odyssey is really impressive.

Until next time, kcduckling out.

Pokemon News!

The other morning, I dragged my ass out of bed at nine in the morning because I wanted to watch the Pokemon-centered Nintendo Direct live. Was I disappointed? No. But many people were. Here's what went down.

Before this Direct was even announced, Pokemon fans everywhere were theorizing that Game Freak was working on a new Pokemon title for the Nintendo Switch: Pokemon Stars. There was never any evidence to back this up nor was there any reason to believe that Game Freak would be so quick to support the new Switch console with a mainline Pokemon RPG.

However, people were still immensely let down when Game Freak revealed that their Pokemon game on Switch was actually a deluxe port of their fighter Pokken Tournament. This is a great fit for the Switch, as it adds yet another competitive game to Nintendo's summer lineup alongside Splatoon 2 and ARMS.

Tacked on at the end of the presentation was a little snippet of a new 3DS game in the works: Pokemon Ultra Sun and Pokemon Ultra Moon. Very, very, very few details were given about this new game other than a few pictures of what Solgaleo and Lunala look like now, presumably under the influence of Necrozma.

No more details given. Hopefully we can see more of both of these games come Nintendo Treehouse at E3.

Oh yeah, Pokemon Gold and Silver are coming to Virtual Console on 3DS and are compatible with Pokemon Bank.

Until next time, kcduckling out.

Nintendo Switch Online

Nintendo recently updated their Switch website to have a more recent page for the Nintendo Switch's online play format. Here's what we've learned:

• Nintendo's new online format isn't coming until 2018
• The price for the online play and connected smartphone app will be $20/year
• The classic games collection, previously thought to be only playable for one month will actually be playable as long as the user maintains their Nintendo Online subscription

Great news, all around, except for the delay.

$20/year is chump change and is considerably less than either Sony or Microsoft.

The collection being for the lifetime of the subscription is huge news, as this was probably my biggest concern about the new approach.

Nintendo's still got a lot to figure out in the world of online gaming, but hopefully they can figure it out. Although all signs point to 'not anytime soon'

Until next time, kcduckling out.

Mario + Rabbids

Usually, I don't look that much into rumors, but in this case, the rumor has so much backing it that it almost certainly has to be true.
A little while ago, someone said that Ubisoft was working with Nintendo on an RPG for the Switch that featured eight characters: Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, and Peach, alongside four Rabbids dressed like the four aforementioned heroes. The game would be lighthearted and feature the crew wielding laser guns and other wacky weapons. Well now, this image has surfaced among a few others.

I mean, holy crap, right? This could be fun, right?
Hopefully E3 will showcase this game so we all have a better idea of what the gameplay will look and play like, but I'm pretty excited already. It's gonna be a good E3 this year.

Until next time, kcduckling out.

E3 Expectations

E3 is about a month away, and I can't help but wonder what kind of show each company will put on this year to hype fans for their upcoming releases. Reggie has already promised a big E3 this year and Microsoft is going to unveil their Scorpio console, so it should be an exciting one. Here is what I am anticipating and hoping to see.

Excited to see:

Super Mario Odyssey - Nintendo's gargantuan announcement when the Switch was first revealed was this new 3D Mario game to follow in the footsteps of Super Mario Sunshine and Super Mario 64 before it. I am even more excited for this game than I was for Breath of the Wild. This is huge and I cannot wait to see more of this incredible game.

Spiderman on PS4 - Another game that has me very excited, even though I don't own a PS4. The developers of Ratchet and Clank are hard at work on this and the result should be very promising considering the success of Ratchet and Clank and also, who doesn't love Spiderman?

Hoping to see:

Halo 6 - Halo 4 was announced in 2011. Halo 5 was announced in 2014. See a pattern here? This year should mark the debut of the final installment of the second trilogy of Chief's story. Expect a teaser for the story mode but not much else, any news will do so long as the fans know the game is on the way.

Pikmin 4 - Miyamoto said back in 2015 that Pikmin 4 was nearing completion, and I don't think Hey! Piknin is the game he was talking about (expect a post on Hey! Pikmin in the near future). We can only hope that the Pikmin of which Miyamoto spoke of is indeed a full fledged, true Pikmin game for the Nintendo Switch.

Nintendo's Big Twist - Nintendo just released a new console and have already supplied two wildly successful IPs in Legend of Zelda and Mario Kart. We know that Splatoon 2 and Super Mario Odyssey are on the way. Four big games in one year is a good year, but fans will be wanting something for next year as well. Expect Nintendo to debut a new Nintendo title during this year's broadcast and expect yourself to not see it coming. Nintendo loves coming out of nowhere and announcing some crazy shit.

That's really all I'm hoping for, I'll check back after the event for a little follow-up of sorts and in the meantime, I'm gonna get a few more posts out, so be checking back here soon. Until then, kcduckling out.

Mario Kart 8. Deluxe, indeed

So after my most recent update that my copy of MK8 Deluxe had been lost in the mail, I finally received it today. However, because I am impatient and was really itching to get going in Mario Kart again, I bought the game digitally before the package arrived and have played it for a few hours now. Here's what I think:

Everything I said about the game last time I reviewed it stands. But now that this has been released, a few problems have been addressed.
Firstly, item balance has been tweaked indirectly by creating a second item slot for the player so they can effectively cycle items so that you are never stranded with just a coin during a race. This is an awesome and very welcome addition to the game, and although you cannot switch the order of the two items you have, (like in Double Dash!!) the extra slot still adds another element to the game.
Another problem that has been addressed is the character roster. I am not exaggerating when I say that Mario Kart 8's original character roster was the worst in the series. The later DLC would add some more characters and now Deluxe adds a few more to the mix. Bowser Jr., King Boo, and Dry Bones were all left out of both the original game and the DLC and have now finally made it into the game. Additionally, the Inkling Boy and Inkling Girl from Splatoon have also made it into the game. The roster design team will never be forgiven for adding Baby Rosalina and Pink Gold Peach, but it is nice to see an effort made to try to outweigh the shit with some fun characters. Oh yeah, still no Diddy because fuck him, I guess.
The biggest new addition to the game is the revamped battle mode. Now, I personally have never been a huge fan of battle mode in Mario Kart, as I prefer straightforward racing, but the battle mode in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is an absolute blast to play. Across all modes, I still find Coin Runners, Bob-omb Blast, and Balloon Battle a little dull, but the return of Shine Thief is triumphant and the brand new mode Renegade Roundup is ridiculously fun. Shine Thief on Frantic Mode is the absolute most crazy, insane good time I have ever had with a Mario Kart battle mode.
A few other new additions were added:
Ultra mini-turbo adds a level of drifting beyond the blue sparks and beyond the orange sparks as well. Creating purple sparks, this level of boost grants a significant speed boost after performing it.
Two new features for beginners or low-level players are the auto-accelerate feature and the smart steering feature. These two new additions allow newcomers to stay competitive without granting them invincibility or making things too easy. This is also great for people trying to eat a sandwich with their right hand while steering with their left hand while the game accelerates for them.
The new Boo item adds something fresh to competitive racing while the Feather item adds a little craziness to battle mode.

Overall, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is indeed a deluxe version of the original masterpiece for the Wii U. If you did not own the Wii U version, there is no excuse in the world to keep you from buying this game, it is hands down the best Mario Kart ever made. If you did make the purchase for Wii U, I still do believe that there is enough here to justify buying it again. Most importantly, this is the first big game that can truly demonstrate the on-the-go multiplayer fun of the Nintendo Switch. If you still are weary about paying 65 bucks for this, head over to amazon.com and you can get this game for about 52 bucks.
I'll be back soon to give an updated list of the best courses in Mario Kart 8 and keep getting some articles out. Until next time, kcduckling out.

Quick Update

Hey there people, been a little busy of late picking up some extra hours at my work so I haven't had much time for extra stuff, including new posts. Just thought I'd pop in to give a quick little update on what I've got going on right now.
First of all, my copy of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, which I had ordered through Amazon, was lost in the mail at some point so I still do not have my copy of that, but once I do, expect some article on what I think about the new additions and if the game justifies the "deluxe" moniker.
Secondly, E3 is coming up pretty soon, so I will also have a post at some point before that going over what I'm really hoping to see from that.
Lastly, expect some more opinion articles in the near future covering Splatoon, Call of Duty, and Pikmin.
Until then, kcduckling out.

Breath of the Wild - the Final Chapter

Well, I've finally done it. The Calamity Ganon is no more and Link has once again saved Hyrule from its demise. Now that I have completed the game and explored the wilds and far reaches of Hyrule to my satisfaction, I can safely say that this is the best Legend of Zelda game that has ever been created. Hands down. I might have said that before, but seriously, this game is ridiculously good and at the end of it all, I had vested 120 hours into this bad boy.
The game itself though was not without its flaws. Here are a few observations:

1. Final boss is a cake walk. The look is fine, but he is way easier than I come to expect from this series. This comes with a disclaimer that I had maxed out my hearts, tamed all four divine beasts, cooked up level 3 attack booster meals, and had the Master Sword and Hylian Shield.
2. Hyrule Castle is the only satisfactory 'dungeon' area of this entire game. The Divine Beasts are really underwhelming, puzzle-wise

I'm sure there's more stuff but I can't think of it right now. 

Weapon durability is not a problem to me and frankly never bothered me. Weapon breakage encourages resourcefulness and the utilization of your runes. This is a good game mechanic, not a bad one.

As for what the future holds, the upcoming Breath of the Wild DLC comes out this summer and that is supposed to give us a hard mode, a map feature, and a "Cave of Trials" challenge. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is out in a month and Splatoon 2 will also be hitting this summer.  Look forward to some more tasty game thoughts and until next time, kcduckling out.

Breath of the Wild - Week 4

Alrighty. This is probably the penultimate installment of my Breath of the Wild updates as I have pretty much completed the game. Check out my progress:

kcduckling's Breath of the Wild adventure

Shrines cleared: 120/120

Korok seeds discovered: 115ish

Divine Beasts tamed: 4/4

Memories recovered: 12/12

Deaths died: too many

Biggest headache: upgrading my stupid armor sets

A couple things to note here. 

No, I have no intention to uncover every Korok seed puzzle and I never had that intention. I had made this decision before I found out what the prize was and I stand firm with that decision. I love completing games but I simply don't care enough to track down all 900 of those suckers. When I see one, I do it. Otherwise, I'm not going out of my way for them.

I finally completed all of the shrines and the reward is worth it. SPOILERS: I was a little upset that the classic Link garb would only be available to Amiibo users, but this reward is soooo worth the shrines. Also the gift of all of the hearts and stamina is nice too.

No, I don't want to go track down 15 Energetic Rhino Beetles but I'm going to anyway because my armor sets require them. This is a bit of a hassle and is for sure the most tedious the game has felt this far. However, it is totally optional so it isn't that big of a drawback. Stupid armor sets.

Anyhoo, as soon as I complete upgrading my armor sets so that all of them have the set bonus established, I'm going to go fight the Calamity Ganon. Hopefully, by this time next week, I will be wrapping up my fantastic visit to Hyrule and head back into Halo 5 for a bit. As for what the future holds, I just secured my preorder of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, so one month from now, you'll catch me tearing around online.

Until next time, kcduckling out.

Breath of the Wild - Week 3

Unfortunately, I could not get this week 2 post in last week because I was a little busy, but here is the update for the adventure three weeks in.

kcduckling's Breath of the Wild adventure

Shrines cleared: 89/120

Korok seeds discovered: 100/900

Divine Beasts tamed: 4/4

Memories recovered: 12/12

Deaths died: wowza, a lot

Biggest headache: still Lynels

It's crazy to me that one week in and three weeks in I have the same attitude toward Lynels. Yes, now I can at least take two hits instead of one before dying but JESUS man these guys are tough as shit. My biggest weapons bounce off of its invincible body while he whips his crusher around to knock me one million miles away and take away half of my hearts. I have now killed one, but the type I killed was one of the weaker types of it. I tried to battle a white maned lynel and fled after he took away all my hearts ten times. What a waste of cooked meals, man.

I'm feeling pretty confident that I can take on the Calamity Ganon pretty soon, but just so I am prepared as possible I am going to hit all the shrines first so I can max out my hearts and boost my stamina wheel a bit. We'll see if I'm there by next week, so until then, kcduckling out.

Breath of the Wild - Week 1

Ridiculously open, ridiculously fun. I feel like those are the best words I can use to describe this hallmark of gaming history. I've been playing for exactly one week now and let me tell you, as you've probably seen online, this game lives up to the hype and delivers even more in top of that. Outstanding and thoughtful world design means no boring moments while the tough enemies and breakable shields/swords/bows make this game quite the survival quest. I'm going to hold off on any kind of review until I finish the game, but you don't need my review to know what I think of this game: buy this game immediately, please. Anyhoo, I'll keep you dudes and other dudes updated on my journey, just how I'm doing and how far I have left to journey. Mild spoilers ahead, just names of certain features of the game. If you've played more than a few hours of this game, you know what these are.

kcduckling's Breath of the Wild adventure

Shrines cleared: 35/100

Korok seeds discovered: 20/i dunno

Divine Beasts tamed: 1/4

Memories recovered: 3/12

Deaths died: so many

Biggest headache: see below (spoilers for a certain type of enemy)

Fucking Lynels, man. The biggest piece of shit in this game thus far. Obscenely overpowered, obscenely beefy on health, obscenely stupid in their versatility of attack. And I've already encountered five of them, none of which I have killed. Seriously, these guys are harder than the boss I had to fight in my first dungeon, they're even harder than Guardians because at least Guardians have a surefire instant kill with the right item. Maybe one day I'll kill one. One day.

I'll be back next week for another check-in on my adventure and I'll be very far along because next week is SPRING BREAK 2K17 WOOOO 7-hour workdays and Legend of Zelda, here I come!

Until then, kcduckling out.

Breath of the Wildin

Yahoo skiparoo buckle my shoe Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild is a ridiculously fun game and everyone needs to play it immediately. Seriously. I'll be back on Friday for some one-week later impressions and stuff, but wow. Legendary.

Zeldapalooza Day 5

Here, on the final day of this special Legend of Zelda celebration, I'm going to look at my five favorite Legend of Zelda games. Not including Breath of the Wild, of course because I haven't played it yet. Without further ado:

Honorable Mentions:

Literally every other Legend of Zelda game. This series is one of the most influential and well respected series of all time and yeah, there are games that are not as good as others. Not every game can be as revolutionary and big as Ocarina of Time or Link to the Past, but they all hold up and are fun to play time and time again. Now let's get into the top five.

5. The Legend of Zelda

A tried and true classic. This is where the whole series began, but it isn't just nostalgia that makes this game so great. The open world nature of this game truly was visionary for the time and blazed the trail for the future of open world video games, leading up to Breath of the Wild who appears to be reinventing the open world game once more. The Legend of Zelda is an old game, certainly, and many people can't play it because of the graphics and style of the game, but if you can play it, it does not disappoint.

4. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

Tough call here between this or Ocarina of Time, but A Link to the Past was so incredibly well done that I honestly believe it to be a better game than Ocarina. Sure, Ocarina was the first 3D adventure for the series, but A Link to the Past was just a fun game. Introducing the game play mechanic of two separate worlds was genius, and this would later be reused in Ocarina. Best 2D Zelda game made, hands down. (Things are about to get dicey up in here)

3. The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass

Alright, I'll come right out and say it: this is so high on the list because this was the first Legend of Zelda title that I ever played and it holds a great amount of nostalgia for me. BUT also this game was incredibly well done and was an extremely appropriate fit for the Nintendo DS system. The complete touch screen controls are what scare most people away from it, but I find that the controls aren't that much of a hassle nor do they detract from the game. Rather, the precision of the stylus on the touch screen allows Link a certain range of mobility and precision that he had not yet possessed. Sure, the Temple of the Ocean King sucked, but everything else about this game was fun and a great pleasure to play.

2. The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker

For as much as I loved Phantom Hourglass, Wind Waker was like a bigger, cooler version of that game, minus the touch screen controls and blowing into the DS mic. I loved Wind Waker for the same reason I loved phantom hourglass: the sprawling, open sea that is there to explore presents a massive map to check out. And, although it isn't very densely populated with stuff to do, the vastness of the ocean really is neat to explore. Additionally, the combat system in Wind Waker was definitely my favorite part of the game, very fun. (please don't throw anything at me)

1. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

I can explain. First of all, Skyward Sword gets a lot of shit for its motion controls and I feel like that's one of the biggest arguments against it even though it actually isn't that bad or much of a handicap. Skyward Sword is such an incredible game because

1. The timeline placement: How freaking cool was it to see the creation of the Master Sword and the founding of the land that will one day be called Hyrule? Really cool!
2. Greater emphasis on quests: there were items called gratitude crystals that you could redeem for mad money or for bigger wallets. These quests were often enjoyable to take part in, aside from the main adventure, and was a nice addition to the usual Zelda formula of going through the dungeons and then fighting the boss and then the game is over.
3. I cannot stress this enough: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword has the best dungeons in the whole series. Seriously. These dungeons were all crafted perfectly to cater to the item received and are brimming with difficult puzzles and tough enemies. Seriously, look back at my favorite dungeons, there is good representation for Skyward Sword there! The dungeons of Skyward Sword are massive, but lose no sense of intrigue and will absolutely confuse you at some point. The final dungeon too is a unique challenge that incorporates all of the previous regions you have traveled to.

And yes, I understand that motion controls could be annoying after a bit. I, personally, only really hated the motion controls when I got to the second to last boss fight of the game against Ghirahim where you have to land a stab attack which is actually impossible with the motion controls, so really its luck not skill. That was frustrating. Also, Fi was annoying, even worse than Navi in my opinion. But, overall the game was big in scale, had interesting and humongous dungeons, large and exciting boss fights and cool items along the way. That's why it is my favorite.

Breath of the Wild, the GOAT?

Too early to tell. Although signs are looking like an absolute yes here. I mean with 59 reviews in on Metacritic, Breath of the Wild is tied for the second highest score of all time on the website with a 98. First place? Ocarina of Time. Unti next time, kcduckling out.

Zeldapalooza Day 4

Howdy. kcduckling here with the next installment of Zeldapalooza (trademark pending). But first, some updates on the Weekly Update. I've been trying out some podcast-esque stuff in the car on my commute to school every morning and I think I would really like doing that because it would keep me awake and also save me time later. I created a poll off to the right so cast your vote for what you would most prefer. Additionally, I have made the decision to postpone the weekly update series into April. Sorry for another delay but March is going to be all about Breath of the Wild coverage. Anyhoo, let's get to the fun stuff. Favorite Legend of Zelda bosses ever.

Honorable Mentions:

Ganon (Wind Waker)

Zant (Twilight Princess)

Crayk (Phantom Hourglass)

3. Ganon (Ocarina of Time)

Boy oh boy. Everything about this battle is simply epic. The build-up, the music, the dark theme of the battle all works together perfectly to create this really dark, serious vibe that you look for in a final boss battle. Not to mention that this is the battle that splits the timeline apart, depending on whether or not Link defeats Ganon or doesn't. Both a huge battle in terms of scope of the series and in the magnitude of the foe.

2. Stallord (Twilight Princess)

The Spinner is a really neat item that I honestly totally forgot about while doing my favorite items list, but the Spinner really shows its capabilities in this epic boss fight. Stallord is a massive skeleton of some ancient beast who is reanimated by Zant. The boss fight consists of Link rolling around the edge of Stallord's pit while occasionally jumping into the pit trying to knock out a piece of Stallord's backbone. After that is accomplished, the fight is not over. Stallord's head begins to levitate and you must roll on the rails of a platform after him as he spews fireballs at you, eventually knocking his head to the ground where you can strike the spike in his head to defeat him. 

1. Koloktos (Skyward Sword)

Who else? Koloktos represents the ending of my favorite and, arguably, best dungeon in the Zeld franhcise, so shy wouldn't he be epic as well? Koloktos is a six-armed "ancient automation" buddhist-inspired badass. First of all, the noises it makes as it attacks are really eerie and honestly really cool. It begins the battle throwing small razors at you that return to it like boomerangs as you whip its limbs and tear them off of its body. After this goes on for a hot second, Koloktos decides to sprout some legs and whip out six massive swords from behind its back. This part once again involves whipping his limbs off of its body, but this time the swords that it drops are put to good use, breaking open his caged heart and destroying it to end the battle. The music is on point, the strategy of using its own weapon against it is genius and it was just the perfect ending to an incredible temple. Hats off to you, Koloktos.

Bosses in Breath of the Wild

Thanks to our pals over at Game Informer, we know what one of the big bosses in Breath of the Wild will be. Other than that, we've seen many mini-bosses throughout various trailers and Nintendo gameplay, including some humongous bokoblin relatives, literal stone giants, and a humongous sand worm. 

Breath of the Wild is released about 24 hours from now, so I'll be in tomorrow afternoon for one last Zeldapalooza counting down my top five Legend of Zelda games.

Don't forget to cast your vote in the little poll box on the right side of your screen. Until next time, kcduckling out.

Zeldapalooza Day 3

Today marks officially one week away from the launch of the Nintendo Switch and Zelda: Breath of the Wild. So today, to celebrate, I will be recounting my favorite dungeons of the Legend of Zelda series. This list was very difficult to make, so I expanded it to top five instead of top three.

Honorable Mentions:

Arbiter's Grounds (Twilight Princess)

Lanayru Mining Facility (Skyward Sword)

Snowpeak Ruins (Twilight Princess)

5. Sandship (Skyward Sword)

This dungeon and Lanayru Mining Facility alike I was a huge fan of because of their time shifting mechanic that allowed Link to manipulate the landscape and solve puzzles both in the present and in the distant past. Sandship takes the cake over Lanayru Facility though because of the sheer wackiness of this dungeon. Link is sailing on a small boat searching for this ship when he must shoot it with a cannon to make it visible. From there he boards the ship and uses time shifts to solve the various puzzles and eventually fights a gigantic gorgon-esque beast while the sandship sails on violent seas.

4. Earth Temple (Wind Waker)

A rather unique dungeon in the series in the sense that it is traversed with a partner: Medli, a small Rito girl who plays the harp and will fly Link short distances. The bulk of the temple's puzzles rely on reflecting light in the right way to open doors and disintegrate objects in Link's path. Although most "escort missions" get annoying, this temple is done right and is an overall enjoyable and fun experience.

3. Stone Tower (Majora's Mask)

A fine culmination of most everything Majora's Mask had to offer. A very challenging dungeon that manages to incorporate Link's different masks in fun yet difficult puzzles. As it is the final dungeon of the game, of course there is a twist. After Link has traversed through what he believes to be the whole dungeon, the Stone Tower flips and Link now must solve the rest of the dungeon upside down. This new take on the same dungeon offers a surprising amount of new puzzles while maintaining the same feel and mood of the dungeon.

2. Shadow Temple (Ocarina of Time)

The Shadow Temple stands out to me for a few reasons, one of which is the reliance on the Lens of Truth to seek out invisible floors and distinguish fake walls from the real ones. Another reason this temple is so well remembered and cherished is because of the disturbing ReDead that infest its hallways. These characters are remarked as some of the most disturbing and freakish characters in the whole Zelda franchise. The boss of the temple, Bongo Bongo, is a fitting end to the temple and is a neat boss to fight in of itself.

1. Ancient Cistern (Skyward Sword)

Skyward Sword, in my opinion, had the best overall dungeons, and the peak of the dungeons in the Zelda series for me is Ancient Cistern. Everything about this place is incredibly well done. The entry floor is a beautiful Buddhist-inspired level. A large head sits in the middle of the room and several lily pads are scattered throughout the water. After solving the top floors puzzles, you descend into the bottom of the Ancient Cistern. This is where the dungeon receives its praise. The lower floor is a stark contrast to the upper floor, with nasty water flowing through the floor and cursed bokoblinks roaming around, this contrast is so well done that the two appear to be of two completely separate dungeons. And, to wrap it all up, the boss of Ancient Cistern is oft the receiver of high praise as well: Koloktos. But you'll hear more about him next time.

Dungeons in Breath of the Wild

SPOILERS AHEAD, OBVIOUSLY

Dungeons in Breath of the Wild are in two categories: dungeons and shrines. Shrines are the smaller puzzles scattered throughout the over world which will range in difficulty and time to complete. As for dungeons, it has been all but confirmed that the four Sheikah Divine Beasts will also be the only four dungeons in the game. Nintendo has confirmed that dungeons in Breath of the Wild will be shorter and more straightforward that recent games. This is a bit of a disappointment to me, but I'm sure they will turn out just fine.

Next time we'll go over my favorite bosses of the Legend of Zelda franchise, and spoiler, I've already mentioned one. Until next time, kcduckling out.