Month: October 2017

Super Mario Odyssey Impressions

On Friday, I got the latest Mario game, Super Mario Odyssey for Nintendo Switch. Since I pre-ordered the game at Best Buy, I also got this collectible coin. The front and back shown; I don’t have two coins. 😛

Both sides of the Super Mario Odyssey collectible coin.I’ve spent about 4.5 hours with the game so far, and I’m really enjoying it. It reminds me a bit of Super Mario 64, but without being thrown back to a hub area after collecting each star (or moon, in the case of Odyssey). And that’s a very good thing.

The worlds (called kingdoms) don’t have individual levels per se. Instead, you just collect power moons that are scattered throughout each world. Some of them are earned for completing objectives, like climbing a mountain or beating a boss, while others are just hidden throughout each world. You’re free to explore each world to seek out its secrets, and that’s a lot of fun.

Running through the forest in Super Mario Odyssey.Some of the hidden areas you can find include fun 2D mini-levels that look like the original Super Mario Bros. I’ve also found some references to Super Mario 3D World, so there are many things to discover. As for the coins you collect, you can spend them at shops to buy new caps and outfits for Mario.

Fashionable Outfit: I'm not clashing, YOU'RE clashing!Gotta Capture ‘Em All

One unique feature of Super Mario Odyssey is the ability to capture certain animals, enemies, or objects by throwing your cap at them. Each thing you capture has a unique ability. For example, the first thing you capture is a frog. You then basically possess that frog, and you can directly control it. That allows you to jump much higher.

Mario captures a frog in Super Mario Odyssey for Nintendo Switch.Other areas let you capture an entire stack of Goombas (standing on each other’s heads) or even a tank (which you can use to shoot at breakable stones). It makes for some bizarre scenarios, but that’s part of the fun.

Taking Photos

A really cool feature of this game is the ability to take in-game screenshots. You can pause the action, move the camera, zoom in or out, apply filters, and so on. Even taking pictures can be lots of fun. Here are a few I’ve taken.

Mario captures a Moai statue and stands near a power moon. Picture taken in Super Mario Odyssey.
Moon, Moai, Moon
Mario and a taxi driver. Picture taken in Super Mario Odyssey.
Is this Super Mario Odyssey or Crazy Taxi?
Mario is afraid. Picture taken in Super Mario Odyssey.Controls in Motion

If I have a slight complaint, it’s with the controls. Don’t get me wrong, the controls are good overall. But when Mario runs, he almost seems to be a bit out of control; the controls don’t seem quite tight and precise enough. Maybe I just need to get used to them a bit, or maybe I need to move slower and point the camera at a higher angle when precision jumping is required.

Also, the game uses some motion controls by default. For example, shaking the controller after throwing your cap makes the hat home in on nearby targets. While motion controls aren’t mandatory, I’m trying them out for now, at least. They generally work fine, I’m just generally not a big fan of motion controls.

Out of this World

Super Mario Odyssey is a lot of fun so far, and it’s one of those games that is hard to put down. That’s a sign of a great game. While I’m not far enough into the game to definitively say if it’s the best 3D Mario game yet, I’d say it has a chance. It’s definitely up there with the best of them.

Update: Here’s a video showing my first 50 deaths in the game. I hope you enjoy!

BOTW #17: Beating Calamity Ganon

With Super Mario Odyssey coming out tomorrow, I wanted to try to beat Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild first. While looking at my quest progress screen last night, I realized I never returned to Impa after defeating all four divine beasts. So I went to speak with her, and that marked a quest complete. But unfortunately, she didn’t give me anything. I was hoping for some goodies. 😛

In Rito Village, I spoke with Fyson about starting up a shop in Tarrey Town. He was up to the challenge and headed there right away. Later, I caught up with him in his new shop. He mostly sells arrows, although he has some ancient gears for sale as well.

Fyson's arrow shop in Tarrey Town in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild for Nintendo Switch.Hudson wanted to build more houses in Tarrey Town, but he needed 50 more bundles of wood. I didn’t have that many on me, so it’ll have to wait for another time.

I explored a bit, finding one shrine up in the mountains. Then I returned to Zora’s Domain and completed a shrine quest in that area as well.

The Ceremonial Song: CompleteI had four spirit orbs, so I traded them in for another heart container. Knowing that I was soon heading for danger, I prepared for battle. I bought some ancient greaves at the Akkala Ancient Tech Lab, upgraded my armor at the Great Fairy Fountain, added another weapon slot, and cooked up a bunch of meals to replenish my health.

When I was ready, I headed off towards Hyrule Castle. The path there has a lot of guardians along the way, so I stopped to defeat some of them. I hadn’t explored much in this area before, so I actually found a couple of new shrines–one of which was right out in the open.

I also found my share of Korok seeds. I’ve missed out on many of them throughout the game though, because until recently, I didn’t know what to do when I saw rock formations like this. Oh well. 😛

A round rock formation in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild for Nintendo Switch.As I crept closer and closer to the castle, I stopped to admire the scenery at sunrise. This game can be so beautiful.

Sunrise in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild for Nintendo Switch.Once I got to Hyrule Castle, I noticed that it has its own map…much like the ones inside the Divine Beasts. And I quickly found out that the castle has a lot of guardians. It’s a bit unsettling when you have three guardians locked onto you at once.

Three guardians targeting me in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild for Nintendo Switch.I defeated some of them, and just ran from the others as I made my way up. There seems to be multiple ways to ascend the castle, so some routes could be better than others. But I was not a happy camper when I dropped into a gatehouse with a blue-maned Lynel. These Lynel creatures are tough! Tougher than a lot of of the bosses in the game, to be honest.

Fighting a Lynel in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild for Nintendo Switch.After defeating him, I carried on past more guardians and climbed my way up to the sanctum. There, I met up with Calamity Ganon himself. The beams from the four Divine Beasts blasted in and wiped out half of Ganon’s health.

I began the fight, and I soon wish that I have arrived here with more than a couple of shields. I did find a new shield in the sanctum, although it didn’t last me very long. 😛 Slowly but surely, I wore down Ganon’s health meter. Eventually, I defeated him. There may be some slight spoilers coming up (even though I won’t show pictures of Ganon or the ending), so you may want to skip the rest of this entry if you don’t want to know.

But like many end-game bosses, Ganon takes another form. This second form is huge and looks more menacing, but this part is actually much easier than the first fight. I started out on horseback, but sadly, Ganon trampled my horse to death. Not to beat a dead horse or anything, but I guess he’s not so Amazing any more.

After delivering the final blow, I watched the credits and ending sequence. The ending was honestly pretty disappointing, and there weren’t any rewards as far as I can tell. Well, a star appears next to your file to indicate you beat the game, and it does list your completion percentage on the map. But that’s about it. By the way, my completion percentage is a paltry 21.91%.

But with that said, I’m not done playing Breath of the Wild. I still plan on beating all of the shrines and recovering all of the memories. I will have more blog entries, and videos, in the future. But it may not be super soon, as Super Mario Odyssey is likely to take up much of my gaming time in the next few weeks or more. See you next time!

Stardew Valley – Guild Trip

Day 6

My parsnips were ready to harvest today, so I picked them up and put them in the shipping box. That completed the objective (or quest, as they’re apparently called) in my journal, and I got 100g (money) as a bonus. Also, I finally know how to use the ZL and ZR buttons to switch between items. Previously, I had been trying to use L and R, and those don’t work. 😛

Harvesting parsnips in Stardew Valley.Two new quests opened up: “Raising Animals,” which asks me to build a chicken coop, and “Advancement,” which requires that I craft a scarecrow.

I noticed I had two geodes in my pockets, so I headed over to the blacksmith’s shop. For 25g each, he’ll crack them open to reveal what’s inside. My two geodes contained a thunder egg and a mudstone.

The blacksmith smashes open a geode in Stardew Valley.Their description told me that Gunther could tell me more about them at the museum. So I headed there next, and donated both items to the museum. Now it’s not empty any more! I earned 250g for completing the Archaeology quest from my journal. Nice!

Back outside, I saw someone standing on the bridge. When I spoke to the person, I saw that it was Elliott.

Elliott: Ah, the new farmer we've all been expecting... and whose arrival has sparked many a conversation!He was that last person I needed to introduce myself to, so that completed the “Introductions” quest. In its place was a new one, “How to Win Friends.” I just had to give someone a gift. Easy enough. I didn’t have any Reese’s Pieces, so I gave Elliott a lump of coal from my pockets. He didn’t like it, but it completed the quest for me…earning me 100g in the process.

Day 7

Now that I had over 1,000g, I was thinking I had enough to buy the backpack upgrade. But once I got to Pierre’s, I saw that it actually costs 2,000g, not 1,000. Oops. While I was there, I bought a couple of potato seeds.

I went over to the mine, and I came across some enemies! I got my sword out and got my first taste of combat. It tasted like lime! Okay, not really, but these green slimes look like they could be made out of lime Jello.

Fighting green slimes in the mine of Stardew Valley.Once I got down to the 5th level down, I found an elevator. I can use it to quickly travel to any elevator door that I’ve discovered. A new quest appeared, telling me to reach level 40. But since it was getting late, and since I still can’t keep many of the things I encounter (due to lack of backpack space), I returned to the surface.

Day 8

I received two letters in the mail today. One was from Robin, telling me she can build me a well if I have 75 stones and 1000g. Well, I’m not interested in doing that anytime soon. The other letter was from Marlon, telling me that if I slay ten slimes, I’ll be able to enter his adventurer’s guild.

So I returned to the mine, and kept fighting until I defeated ten slimes. After that, I relaxed at the saloon and took the scenic route home. I worked on cleaning up my farm a bit, and then went to sleep.

Day 9

It was time for a guild trip. Surprisingly, the guild didn’t open until 2 p.m. though, so I killed some slime time in the mine. I then headed next door and entered the adventurer’s guild at last. I have to admit, I was a bit underwhelmed.

Inside the adventurer's guild in Stardew Valley.It’s basically just a shop. Marlon had four items for sale: A wooden blade (a better sword), sneakers (which improve my defense), and two rings that affect different combat attributes.

There was also a list of goals on the wall (showing I’ve killed 17/1000 slimes, for example). When I meet those goals, I’m supposed to talk to Gil (the sleeping man in the rocking chair) for rewards. Sounds guild. I mean, sounds good. It doesn’t help me much for right now though, but I’ll be back someday.

With nothing else going on, I just explored a bit. I ran into Pam on a bridge, and she angrily warned me not to snoop around the trailer. Wow, she seems like a nut.

Pam: Hey, you! Don't be snoopin' around the trailer when I'm out! Got it?
Psycho much?

I then headed to the blacksmith’s shop so he could crack open another geode I found, but I got there too late. The shop was already closed for the evening. So I went in the saloon for a bit, and had a chat with Abigail. She told me she wasn’t in a good mood, so I thought I’d try to cheer her up. I gave her the geode. Unfortunately, she didn’t seem to care for it…or know what to do with it.

Abigail: What am I supposed to do with this?Oh well. I soon returned home for the night.

Here is a video showing highlights of days 6-9: