‘The Legend of Zelda’: Tales from the Wild – Pt. 2

In this series of articles, our staff discusses their unusual experiences and highlights playing The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Click here for part 1.

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Snowpiercer 

The weather in Breath of the Wild is both technically astounding and also the most infuriating thing in the entire game. I was messing around the Hebra Mountains outside of the Rito Village when a snowstorm kicked up. I had yet to get the tower map and was essentially flying blind with no cold resistant clothing or food. The smart thing to do would be to travel to someplace where I could see, but my shrine detector kept going off and I couldn’t just give up on that prospect, plus I had enough apple pie, nut bread and meat skewers to keep me alive for hours.

In the complete swirling whiteness, I would hear the Moblin’s inane snorting and the Lizalfos irritating squawking. I was ready to take on whatever jumped out at me first, from Bokoblin to Hinox. Out in the billowing white snow, I saw something. Something huge, and there were many of whatever it was. I crouched down and scoped in, and to my shock, I saw a reindeer head, a cabin, and a nice man standing outside. I bolted in that direction and was surprised to find that you could play snow bowling. In the middle of fucking nowhere, off the beaten path, snow bowling!

That nice Hylian man charged 20 rupees a game, and he must’ve taken at least 500 rupees from me and an hour of my time. Despite the fact that I had taken down three divine beasts at that point, I was total shit at snow bowling. What’s stunning about this game is that it can create a one of a kind experience for you out of nowhere, and all because of some simple things like the weather changing. (Katrina Lind)

The Greater Good

I’ve never been good with the weather, even when I reside on an island that frequents at changing its climatic mind. So it was no surprise that I would suffer during a thunderstorm in Breath of the Wild. Such is my ability to ignore all logical reasons for my demise, I continued my quest wielding only the finest iron blade.

On a steed that was never to be noble, I wrestled my way around the Farron grasslands surviving various cavalry charges from Bokoblins. Lessons were never to be learned, and it wouldn’t just be my life the weather would take. As it happened, my sword began to spark. Naturally, I thought nothing of it, why would I? Maybe the Gods were empowering my cause for the greater good.

Mere seconds passed by and the sparks grew larger. My power must have been growing; never the weather. As time became forgotten, a giant lightning sizzled from the sky and found a blond haired Hylian riding upon his horse. The horse was soon a Bokoblin buffet, ready to be served with their finest keese eye. As for the Hylian? Well, he was toast too. No divine power was found, only humiliation from the sky.

I respawned not so far from where I had died. The thunderstorm was still raging, so naturally, I found a safe haven up a tree, safety first after all. Surprisingly, I was to make a new friend from all of this. At the top, I found my first Korok, unusually happy to see me. He parted with a korok seed and said ‘Twee hee.” Adorable. Now I know I need to find them all. (James Baker)

My Loyal Steed

Horses are pretty useful in Breath of the Wild. Capturing my horse was a bonding experience in and of itself, and I loved my horse — Cocoa — twice as much when I realized how handy her speed was. I could zip from one end of a region to the other in no time while providing a huge advantage over all land burdened Bokoblins. She was my steed, and I her partner. But, whenever I saw a huge mob of enemies over the horizon, I would jump off her, for fear of doing her harm. Then, disaster struck. One group of Bokoblins overran us. She neighed in fear, and I did my best to drive her away, but Cocoa was panicking. “This is it,” I thought, “this is the end of our partnership.” I’d heard that horses could actually die, but I didn’t believe it until this very moment. As Cocoa whined in pain. I covered my eyes, fearing the worst. Then, I heard the shriek of a Bokoblin as it flew past me. Looking back at Cocoa, she was wildly jumping and bucking, thrashing the crowd around her. Each Bokoblin went flying, even the two silver ones. My steed had proved herself as more than just a ride, but a loyal companion for battle! Ever since then, I’ve been hitting enemies towards her, and she kindly replies by bucking their teeth out. (Ricardo Rodriguez)