RE-UPLOAD ALERT: Hi friends! This is another re-upload / compilation video! A few things to note with these ones. These were originally made in 2022, before Tears of the Kingdom released, so there may be a few moments where I speculate about the "upcoming sequel". Funny looking back on that. I was *really* trying to increase the production value of these videos so I learned to use Blender to make custom 3D maps of each dungeon. You can see how my skill with the program improves over the course of the series. The map for Vah Ruta is pretty empty, but by the time of Naboris or the Final Trial, the map is far more detailed. Above all else though, I wanted the maps to be understandable at a glance, so I kept a minimalist aesthetic. I also noticed that my writing leading up to this point had fallen into a pattern that I wasn't happy with, so I made great efforts to pivot away from that. I spend a little less time recapping every room of a dungeon, and a little more time actually analyzing it, and I think it makes for a better product overall. Still, at times I can't help but wince at my audio quality, but it's all a learning experience. Also, in the video I said you can’t go back and fight Maz Koshia but you totally can! That’s my mistake. Oops! I sincerely hope you enjoy this revisit to Breath of the Wild!
it's fantastic and so well done!! Even from the start the quality is leagues ahead of most content, be proud!! I watched all of these as they came out, rewatched them each, and I watched this full video, too -- that's how enjoyable they are!
As much as I love BotW, the divine beasts are among the worst "dungeons" in the entire series. BotW is a different style than other 3d Zeldas but it truly felt like the divine beasts were the least interesting part of BotW as a whole.
I never viewed them as "dungeons" in the traditional Zelda sense of the word. Sure, they could have been much much more than what they are, but I don't dislike them at all. And I love both BOTW and almost all of the older Zelda games. I just acknowledged from the beginning that BotW will be something different.
@@blackastheskyAgreed. I can remember exploring my first divine beast, realising and acknowledging the clear difference of intent behind its design compared with traditional Zelda dungeons. So rather than knowingly comparing apples with oranges, I focussed on appreciating them for what they were. And I liked them quite a bit more as a result, I bet
As far as I can tell, the order was meant to start with Vah Ruta, then continue counter-clockwise. We start with Vah Ruta because, besides being filtered in that direction and having the most newbie-friendly power as a reward, Vah Ruta is the only one of the four that isn't in an area with an environmental hazard that would kill the typical 4-heart fresh-from-the-plateau Link in two minutes. Vah Rudania is next thanks to proximity. While the hazard there is the most extreme, it is also the easiest to circumvent with just one piece of gear you can get from an NPC for a stack of the ingredients needed to make the temporary fireproof elixirs. Then hit Vah Medoh and end with Naboris. Naboris seems most fitting for the finale because, 1) it involves fighting Koga, which ends with setting you up for non-stop random high-level Yiga attacks while traveling for the rest of the game and 2) it has the most dangerous of the Blight Ganons.
Alright, Capt drops a new nearly 3hr Zelda banger and there goes any productivity I had left! I may actually enjoy watching and listening to these videos more than the actual game itself. Doesn’t matter if I’ve already seen all the videos in the compilation, I need a refresher!
I beat breathe and tears pretty much 100% of the time forgetting to use the master sword beam. I’m so pissed hahah. I feel stupid. Didn’t change anything, but man what a wasted chance on some fun
You have to wonder how many could have been saved if Zelda hadn't hogged the Slate and let Link and the Champions use it before the Calamity. Heck, there's even a memory showing she KNOWS Link is supposed to use it to get into the Shrines, but then, when he shows up, instead of saying, "well I wanted to do this myself, but since you're here let's see what's inside", she has a go at him and stomps away. I know she's only 16, but man, she's so counterproductive.
With Teba, its also worth noting that hes the only one of the new "champions" that isnt at least suggested to be related to the old champion. Yunobo and Sidon are directly stated to be reletad to former champions. Riju isnt stated to be related to Urbosa but she is the current chief, which appears to be a position held by a family line as her mother was the previous chief.
to be fair, link between worlds or link to the past doesnt have an actual dungeon order either. the only reason youd want to do LTTP in order is for the sake of the story and LBW is only limited by the items you want to need by Ravio. but after just finishing BOTW myself recently, i think the reason why the Blights and the Beasts are objectively easier is because it counteracts everything else in the game. when you have this HUGE expansive world to explore, all these shrines, all this stuff to do, the Beasts were forced to suffer. when you have all the hard bosses in the overworld like the Lynals and stalfos and hynoxes and the stone talis', i think its understandable for the beasts to have so little enemies. in my mind, i think the argument of how easy the Beasts are again ignores all the stuff you can do outside of the beasts and like MM, all the stuff you have to do to/can do to just reach the dungeons. thats kinda the sacrifice with the items when you have such an open sandbox world in LTTP, LBW and BOTW is that the game cant know what you have and what youve done already so you have to get the item you need for the dungeon outside the said dungeon. its not like OOT, where you need the longshot in the water temple but the longshot is what you get in the temple. in LBW, if you want to do the ice palace you can simply get the fire rod from ravio. for BOTW, it sacrifices your conventional zelda items (other than the bows) and just gives you the Slate with everything you need. if you ask me, i kinda appreciate OOT and TP alot more because as much as i love BOTWs freedom and it lets you do what you want, i like to be told where i should be going and or what i should do next. i dont mind being hand held just not on SSs level on handholding with Fi. after finishing it, i like BOTW for what it is but its been a huge give and take for being so open.
I get what you're saying, but I don't think having challenging elements out in the overworld means that they can't have more stuff in the main dungeons. If anything, your point about games like A Link to the Past and A Link Between Worlds goes against that, having a somewhat similar amount of freedom in dungeon order while still delivering a legit dungeon experience. And they *somewhat* improve upon this in TOTK, but it is still not at the level it should be imho, aside from a couple of bosses that I quite like in both games. Thanks for taking the time to watch and leave your thoughts! I so appreciate it
i think zelda and especially what WW did suffers from what alot of game franchises do is it lives with the confliction of being accessible to new players and being a challenge to veteran players. thats why we have games like MM and dungeons like the water temple. thats why we have games like BOTW/TOTK and SS. naturally, its summarized as of course bosses like the Blights or even Ganon would be easy if you have the right weapons or especially if you know what youre doing. i bet many first time players wouldnt have a clue what to do without a guide but vets like yourself could easily speedrun a zelda game. thats just the line the Zelda teams have to live with. i myself appreciate the challenge of a temple like the water temple but at the same time it doesnt have to be soul crushingly difficult. which is why after finishing BOTW, the game strikes the perfect balance in my mind. even though yeah they couldve done more with the beasts...but what can you really do with an almost 40 year old and 27 overall games not counting the Phillips games?
12 days later, i believe the reason the dungeons and the Blights are the way they are is because of the games nonlinearity. it cant account for which beast you choose to do first. even though TOTK does it too where it gives you the freedom and nudges you to help the zoras first and TOTK nudges you to do the wind temple first, its not like OOT where the forest temple is the first adult dungeon no matter what. in MM, woodfall is the first, in TP Forest temple is always first, in WW Dragon roost is always first (i dont believe the first trip to the fortress counts as the first dungeon). but in these past games, they can account for the items you have and where you are in the game. BOTW cant account for your progress which is why it just gives you the slate. even though the game wants you to start with Vah Ruta, its forced to make the Blights samey as a sacrifice for its nonlineaity. as i said here, it makes the Beasts as dungeons not as pronounced compared to OOT or TP, because of all the shrines too and everything else you can do. i just have it in my mind that the team had to sacrifice the difficulty and challenge of the beasts and blights for the games freedom and nonlinearity
rewatching the BOTW vid after playing both BOTW and TOTK hits different. yeah, if im honest, my top motivation to even do the shrines in both games is to get enough hearts for the master sword (its vastly satisfying to even just have the sword over any other weapon in the game). while going 40 years pre BOTW, i can understand how we can get so used to the linear design of SS and TP but there is a satisfying feeling of BOTW and TOTK of having the freedom to do anything you want (the only thing both games REALLY ask you to do is kill Ganon). the freedom the game gives you is a double edged sword so its fair the games make sure to encourage you to go to the corners of hyrule hence helping the champions.
As cool as the Divine Beasts were on the first playthrough back in 2017, on replays they just are a bit visually uninteresting and indistinct. TotK def improved on that aspect a bunch, but I miss traditional dungeons for sure.
30:30 - My first time playing Breath of the Wild, I was stumped on how to even climb Death Mountain without burning up (somehow, I overlooked the Fireproof elixirs), which is why I left Vah Rudania for last. I was glad, because I enjoyed that Divine Beast the most, with the early dark rooms and the insanely fun mechanic of turning the beast on its side in the middle of the volcano. And I loved the escort mission up the mountain as well.
And clearly, the dark, almost pitch black section of Vah Rudania was a big inspiration for not only the later Champions DLC shrines, but also the design of the Depths on Tears of the Kingdom.
Having three or four good tracks doesn't stop the music being lackluster. It just means it's lackluster aside from three or four songs. The songs and concepts are really cool... If you listen to the song in isolation with no other distractions. And it's still pretty unnoticed unless you have really good speakers.
I love how clear Revali's SOS is. Sure, it comes in late because of how arrogant he is and how he refuses to call for help, but then it's clear because when he does resort to it, he KNOWS he doesn't stand a chance, and he's calling for help almost single mindedly while likely running away rather than fighting
2:01:00 So there actually is one point where you can raise/lower a water level within Ruta: There's a water spout that you have to use cryonis to freeze to get to one of the terminals in Vah Ruta, which not only stops the wheel from turning, but also lowers the water so that Link can stand and activate it. You can even see it when you briefly show an image within Vah Ruta at the left side of the screen at 2:01:06. I don't blame you for missing this, as it's one step away from not existing at all, and if I hadn't literally just played through Vah Ruta again I wouldn't have even remembered it was there.
With Vah Medoh, it is possible the pillars were from where a structure was built on top of the beast. It is the only beast with moss growing on top of it, suggesting that it might have been just bearly buried under the surface at one point.
I wasn’t always in a position to stream games professionally, and I was playing this game before this YT channel came to be. But I acknowledge that I’m in a position that isn’t usual for most people. I certainly never meant it as a discouragement to anybody watching! My apologies
@@CaptBurgerson Haha no worries, if anything it makes me laugh ! Like in any game there are very good players whether they stream or not, and you're far from being the only one finding them easy so I guess it's just me not being very good at fighting 😂 But everyone enjoys the game differently and that's what makes it fun !
About Revali and how easily he SHOULD have defeated Windblight, an excellent theory I heard was that; 1) the attack happened during a storm, and considering Windblight's ability to create tornados and strong gusts of wind, It would have made flying and aiming his bow simultaneously incredibly difficult for Revali. And 2) That it most likely happened at night (as it was around sunset in the cutscene where Zelda descends the mountain) plus the Rito are believed to have incredibly bad night vision. Those two factors combined paint a pretty grim and sad picture on Revali's fight with Windblight, as he was at an incredible disadvantage but still tried to hold on as long as he could in the vain hope of help arriving.
Revali also didn’t have The Great Eagle Bow which he was a master in and could let him shoot multiple arrows at a time. Instead he was forced to use a normal bow that only allowed one arrow shot at a time.
Oh my god I just realized That part in the interior with the heart beat thing from Link Between Worlds where you are in danger That represents Zelda's strength faltering ALSO OMG THE SILENT PRINCESS STOPPPPPPPPP
I wasn't remotely paying attention to how the game was funneling me when I played it the first time. I just wanted to complete the map and get the Master Sword. This led me to the easiest areas to access first and harder ones as I got stronger. So I just so happened to be in the Gerudo Desert when I finally decided to do the divine beasts. Thunderblight kicked my teeth in. The subsequent beasts were disappointingly easy. But I know that's on me for starting with the hard one.😅
I beat all of them first try except for thunder. But I only died once to him. Now, for someone who can't parry? Calamity Ganon was a power struggle for me. I kept having to use daruks protection and just run around until it recharged. So the good Ole hit and run strategy 😂
All these dungeons are missing one thing id say Vah ruta could use more enemies Vah raudina could go dark on the walls with the shutters closing Vah medoh could use more start up And uhhh vah naboris could uhmmm. Keep the purple lighting inside I liked it
Not to be negative, but I find it redundant to say things like "the music matches perfectly with the level". Well yeah, that's why they made it that way. It would be odd if they made music that didn't match the level.
Eh, "Shield Guard up" is lowkey garbage. It only affects whether or not the enemy's weapon gets knocked out of their hand when you parry. If you really wanted the enemy's weapon, shock arrows are more reliable. Durability is way better for a shield, especially for the Hylian Shield. Yes, you can always re-buy it from the guy at Tarrey Town, but only the original one in the Lockup gets big stat bonuses - and you'll want that one to last as long as possible, especially for the part of the Ganon fight where you have to parry his laser - you'll wish you had Durability Up Plus.
While I agree that Vah Ruta seems like the Divine Beast the game funnels you to first, I seem to be drawn to Vah Medoh first. You see it flying around the most clearly, reaching Rito Village may be even faster and easier than Zora's Domain, the pre-quests needed to access it are probably the fastest and easiest, and even though you need cold protection, cold protection is the easiest to get (you probably already have peppers from the plateau even). Also, Revali's Gale is easily the most useful boon for traversing the rest of the game. Also, I personally always felt Vah Rudania should be last, just cause Death Mountain seems like the most imposing and threatening area. Plus, I'm old, so the order and structure from the 2d Zeldas still rules my mind, where Death Mountain is the endgame in Z1 and Z3... even if in most of the later games it's more midgame.
A point I think was missed is: You can complete Medoh without tilting at all. You don't even need to get the map to complete it, just have a decent understanding of the room's layout. A trick for Monk Maz Koshia; the Camera will recognize only the original.
My personal head-canon, so take it with a grain of salt, is that Vah Medoh is in some part inspired by the Andean Condor. Its one of largest flying birds in the World and THE Largest bird of prey. They're massive birds with a huge wing span and deep chests (Much like Medoh) They don't have as long a beak, and they're head-crest is more of a raised line than a notched crest. Also Medoh has a few too many toes. I've always gotten a south American vibe from the region's music. I'm no musical expert though. Love the videos btw.
i love the positive energy you have in these videos. it's so easy to get bogged down by hate and negativity and zelda dungeons can be such a divisive topic - especially in botw - but you always find things to love or at least like about every dungeon. it's _so_ nice to listen to a video like this where the person who made it clearly made it with nothing but love for the zelda franchise as a whole. listening to videos full of nothing but negativity is so tiring - your videos always bring a smile to my face instead. i didn't have a great opinion on botw's dungeons - i didn't like the deviation from zelda standards, thought they were meh at best - but you helped me see them with fresh eyes and find things to love about them, even though you yourself don't love them. thank you for bringing positivity to the fandom - it's a rare commodity in fan spaces so i always love to see it.
Just happened to be watching Zeldudes playthrough of Skyward Sword recently, and they comment on what appears to be elephant statues in the earth temple.
1:20:23 Sadly, instead of that cool, interactive method of activating that terminal, I just used stasis on the cylinder when it was in position and launched the sucker with enough force to press the button… more direct, but lame
I like that this video both praises and criticizes the divine beasts' design. I definitely agree with the sentiment that there arent enough enemies, with the addition too that botw as a whole had very weak enemy variety
I actually dreaded doing Vah Medoh and put it off until last. I was shocked at how easy Windblight was. I saw through his gimmick immediately and had him dead pretty swiftly. Yeah, as good as Revali is at archery, he should have annihilated the blight.
I love the bike. It allows me to not let my Epona's get hurt. I don't like that the horses can be hurt. That's even worse than not being able to pet the dogs. I want to pet the dogs! I want cats back too.
Glad you enjoyed the game so much, though it strikes me how some of these dungeons come away with a lot of nuanced critique and complaints, but are casually swept away at the end by an "I REALLY like this overall" sort of statement. Just feels odd, especially compared to your videos covering the other games (watched them all this past week). Good game. Weak dungeons that hardly fit the moniker, in my opinion. FWIW: Played the game once at release. Naboris was my first, Rudania was my last.
I hear you, but not sure I agree. The last bit of script at the end of both Ruta’s and Rudania’s sections are both “there’s a lot of room for improvement” I do say I really enjoy exploring Medoh despite the criticisms I have, and I have a lot of good things to say about Naboris and the castle meanwhile. With the final trial I say it’s worth doing just for the boss fight but the dungeon is too simple itself overall. So idk it depends on which part, but I think I was a bit more balanced here than you say. But I agree the dungeons fall a bit short in what is otherwise a good game Thanks for taking the time to watch and leave some thoughts! It means a lot especially for a video of this length
I really struggled with Vah Naboris. I had to leave for more hearts and the Master Sword, and even then had to heavily utilize the little safe zone doorway.
Hate to say it, but the overall design for BotW felt like a tech demo. The focus was definitely the open world, awesome in it's own right. TotK was the game Nintendo intended to make for BotW, a much more full world. It was still lacking that Zelda feel though. I very much feel that Nintendo will deliver on the Switch2/Next Zelda Title, that blends the "Open World Environment" with the traditional "Dungeon Theme" from Zelda's Past. Open World is fine, unless you are skilled enough to skip the entire game straight to the final boss in the first ten minutes of the game.
I feel like there was a missed opportunity to have the 5th Divine Beast be a wolf. Y'know, since it's Link's Divine Beast and Wolf Link in TP is referred to as a divine beast in that game.
Loved this video. Particularly how you describe the players experience so immersively, especially when talking about the music. I’m pretty new to the channel but this guy belongs with Zeltik and Monster Maze at the top tier of Zelda creators
@@CaptBurgerson I'm sure that I'm misremembering 😂 I think I was thinking of his friendship with Harth, 😅 It's been so long since I did that bit! Ah well, won't be the last mistake I make ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I don’t hate at least 50% of Zelda dungeons. I don’t even hate any of the dungeons in this video. If you actually paid attention during these videos then you’d notice that they get a healthy amount of praise as well as criticism. Saying something has room for improvement does not mean I hate it. On the other hand, you seem to dislike every one of my videos, your comments are always super negative. Why do you keep watching them? When I don’t enjoy a creators videos I don’t binge a bunch of their content. I have better things to do with my time lmao
Counterpoint, they’re both great. I don’t pit them against each other because doing so misses the point. TP was meant to be a refinement of the formula. BOTW was meant to break the formula. BOTW is specifically designed to NOT be TP
