Draco: FRICKIN' WARRIORS!
Hah. Okay. I re-ran Breath of the Wild for the... week and a half leading up to the release of the new Hyrule Warriors game. Minor delay in actually getting the game happily coincided with my slowpoke gameplay just barely wrapping up the Divine Beasts when my providers had their shipments come in. I have no idea how I beat the Trial of the Sword once, I'm never gonna pull it off again, but I've done the Champion's Ballad, had a joyride in Hyrule Castle, and was ready to start playing Age of Calamity.
I've just gotten off of the first scenario as I start writing this.
I am a firm believer in judging a game's story and gameplay separately (and I NEVER judge a game based on its graphics). The story so far is... promising. I probably shouldn't say much more than that after the first scenario. I'm on the fence about the implications I'm getting, so I'm gonna wait to see where they go before I make remarks. And for some reason - I have no idea why - the #StrongFamilyResemblance of Impa and Paya is just wonderful.
But the Warriors control scheme is absolute Tauros Mulch.
I played Hyrule Warriors on the WiiU after I played Breath of the Wild (also due to my providers not having it when I looked for it), and I used the Zelda controls, and have while playing Legends and Definitive Edition. Yes, there was a bit of #DamnYouMuscleMemory due to the non-traditional control scheme used in Breath of the Wild (I remember fighting, like, halfway through Armies of Ruin with nothing but Strong Attacks), but once I vaulted that hurdle, I was fine. And the Zelda control scheme just works in so many ways. The nature of combos in a Warriors game meshes much better with attacks on B/Y than it does on Y/X. Considering Breath of the Wild still uses A for interactions, I'm automatically going for that button for non-combat purposes, which makes it absolutely stupid to have your Special Attack on there.
Now, I figured the primary flaw in this was the fact that Age of Calamity throws you straight into the gameplay after confirming your language settings, instead of going through a title screen first. And I'm not gonna fault anyone for that, because it worked wonderfully for Breath of the Wild. For the Era of War, the Definitive Edition, at least, doesn't let you change your button mapping in mid-scenario, so I have to assume there's a technical limitation; that's the only reason why throwing you straight into the first battle is a flaw. That accounted for, I toughed out the first scenario with the Warriors controls, assumed that "Zelda style" wasn't a pre-set option anymore, and went to go re-map my buttons manually once I had a non-combat menu to look through.
And they don't let you re-map your buttons at all.
Yes, I got the day-one update to make sure that wasn't just a problem for 1.0.0.
This isn't even a matter of muscle memory anymore. Hardcores from every genre that isn't turn-based will customize their controls to what is most comfortable for them personally, given the option, allowing them to maximize their personal effectivity. And Warriors gameplay demands efficiency. If the option was given in the Era of War, you should give it in the Era of the Wilds.
{sigh} I really hope they realize this is a problem and remedy it. I am not going to play this fricker until/unless it happens, because it frustrates me, and playing something that frustrates me is not good for me. Naturally, I need to do something non-frustrating to calm myself down, so I went back to Breath of the Wild and had myself a little fun in the sandbox.
With the Master Cycle Zero.
I'm not gonna lie, I had my trepidations about that thing. I got my WiiU with Mario Kart 8 pre-installed and a free download code for the crossover DLC. The original Master Cycle was clever, and the background information got a laugh out of me. "Okay, yeah, Eiji Aonuma is impressed and wants this to appear in a future Zelda game. It's never gonna happen. You can't blame a guy for wishing. He's probably one of those creators who reads fanfics about his creation and is hoping some of those modern-day AU writers are gonna use this motorbike. I hope they are, and I don't even read that Mulch." I figured, no, it's never gonna happen. Hyrule is a fantasy world, and a lot of the games are already pushing it as far as mechanical environments go. There would be way too much incongruity. At most, we'll get a horse with the color scheme of the Master Sword.
But they made it work in the Era of the Wilds. It's not a bicycle, it's a Divine Beast. It's ancient Sheikah magic (I hold that magic widespread enough to be considered technology is still magic, raw technology will never be capable of half what the Sheikah Slate does) designed as a steed for the hero of their choice; it just happens to look like a motorcycle from the perspective of someone who comes from a world where motorcycles exist (i.e. us). And it's not something super-exclusive, either; it doesn't do anything significant that horses don't (and in fact can't do a lot of things that horses can), so anyone who can't afford/connect for the DLC is missing out on the spectacle and not the gameplay.
I'm gonna indulge a little bit, and write about this fricker from Link's perspective.
This is gonna be short, narration-heavy, and not super-interesting to anyone who can't put themselves into an in-universe mindset. If you laugh at tabletop RPG players who create a story out of the worlds they play in, I would strongly suggest you ignore this fic and move on.
The Legend of Zelda and all related properties © Nintendo.
The Hylian Champion's Divine Beast
Link had ridden horses for ages.
Link had seen the other Champions pilot Divine Beasts.
But the prize he had been given for completing Maz Koshia's trial was altogether different from both. He was currently racing through the Breach of Demise atop the back of what his Sheikah Slate had called the "Master Cycle Zero". It looked like a horse, carved out of stone in the same way as the Divine Beasts were, yet it was also very different; in place of legs, it had great stone wheels, ridged to grip uneven earth.
Its body did not move, in quite the same way as the Divine Beasts did; the majority of it was static, save for its wheels. Its saddle was not upon its back, but an indent between its mane and its tail, both of which were ridged to stop him from sliding about; its reins were stiff bars extending from the back of its head, not to be moved in order to direct the mount to slow or turn but gripped and braced against to prevent him from being thrown when it did.
The path branched ahead, and his destination was on his right. Movement, too was, very different from riding a horse; it did not act at the touch of his heels but rather reacted when he intended to move forward. Where a horse could only maintain a gallop for so long before it needed slow to at least a canter, this Divine Beast could charge at its fastest pace nigh indefinitely. It didn't turn when he tried to move its reins; if he leaned to one side, it would arc in that direction, with a sharper curve the slower it was going when he did so. And if he did the same while it was unmoving, it would make to move, requiring him to place his foot upon the ground as a point for it to turn about if he needed turn immediately around.
The Divine Beast roared with its every motion - yet as he made to cross the bridge, he heard its roars change in pitch. It couldn't cross the entirety of Hyrule in one go, as Link had discovered; there were limits to its stamina, and it needed constant sustenance. Yet its consumption of sustenance was most unusual. The timing of its tire was fortuitous, as they were nearing Hyrule Castle, now, and many Guardians were soaring about. At the edge of the Guardians' territory was a short stone tunnel; a Skywatcher that floated around here would not be able to see anything within, and none of the Stalkers drew close enough to risk seeing him.
Once he was within the tunnel, Link dismounted the Divine Beast; one hand braced against his arm as the other reached for his Sheikah Slate, and flints began to appear in his grip. The Divine Beast's body shifted, its saddle opening up to reveal a gap beneath it; Link let ten stones fall towards it, and as they neared, they turned into streams of light, in the same way as he did when he teleported to one of the Sheikah shrines.
The streams flowed into the gap, and Link drew his Slate and glanced at its surface. When near, it showed how much sustenance the Divine Beast had (although he was still in the process of figuring out how long it took to go from full to empty), and he watched as it filled completely. Satisfied, Link mounted it again, waiting until he was sure the Skywatcher wasn't near before spurring the Divine Beast to go.
When it had no sustenance at all, it would not even react to his prompting - although it would naturally descend a downhill slope, and leaning was still enough to make it turn. Anything would sate its hunger, though to varying degrees depending on the body of what was offered. Flint was merely what Link had the most of; ten flints were enough to fully sate it when it was completely drained (and its cries didn't change until it was too hungry for nine to be satisfactory). The first time he had drained it, he had enlisted a swarm of five fairies to try and heal it, and the dust they scattered had been enough to restore it completely; the next time, he had offered up safflinas and other herbs, and it had taken nearly twenty before it was satisfied.
The Divine Beast was, very slightly, faster than the gallop of the fastest horse Link had ridden, and it was not prone to spooking, either; furthermore, it was there whenever he needed it, summoned by a Rune of his Sheikah Slate. A horse could be slain by foes or environs (or even Link if he was not particularly careful - he had tried to fight mounted Bokoblins once and killed one of the steeds with an arrow through the eye), but the Divine Beast would only demanifest from the worst of blows, to be invoked again once the threat had been eliminated.
Yet at the same time, there were places where a horse was favorable. A horse would come when it was called so long as it could hear the call, responding to a whistle that he could give without lowering his weapon, and be mounted while it was at a full gallop, allowing for an expeditious retreat. The Divine Beast needed be invoked with his Sheikah Slate, and had no momentum until he mounted it, requiring cover before he could climb aboard and depart, if departure was his intentions. A horse would follow a path without prompting, would avoid trees and stones if he needed release the reins to draw a weapon. When he had released the Divine Beast's stone reins to fire his bow, soon after having received it, he had loosed one arrow, struck one Moblin, and immediately slammed into the ruins of a stone wall; his mount had demanifested, and Link had been left tumbling until his momentum had died, coming off much the worse for it.
Which would he ride, he wondered, if he reached Calamity Ganon in Hyrule Castle, and was able to drive it out into Hyrule Field?
Draco: If you're using a Pro Controller, archery on the Master Cycle Zero is adjacent to #Fingore. Accelerate with the A button, change your camera angle with the right analog stick, and draw the bowstring with the ZR button. My fingers scream at me when I try to do that. Just a word of advice.
My second-favourite #EurekaMoment in gaming was my first time through Breath of the Wild, finding Koroks. Crossing over... hell, I can't even remember which bridge it was, but I knocked a Bokoblin off the edge and kept targeting it. The camera gets dragged to a downward angle as it hits the water, and I saw a ring of submerged rocks. Honest to Hylia, I stopped my travelling, walked up to the edge of the bridge, didn't pause and quoted a sign from Link to the Past. I swear it looked like something out of a movie; I froze up, stared at it for a moment, looked sideways into the empty room, and muttered to myself, "Curses to anyone who throws something into my circle of stones..." I grab a boulder, throw it in the ring, and poof, a Korok shows up to praise me.
For reference, first place was in Twilight Princess, fighting the ginormous final insect in Lake Hylia. I got it in the water, couldn't figure out how to hit all of its legs before the first one recovered, and remembered the Energy Field Multiple Strike Attack (as it was named in the game's manual, and yes, I think of it by that name every damn time). The only reason that takes first place is because it happened in battle and I felt like a badass for having that realization in mid-fight before experiencing a game over.