BOTW #27

It’s been a very long time since I’ve played The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. But I figured it was time for another play session (and blog entry). This first section actually took place back in May, believe it or not.

May Play

While near Hyrule Castle, I explored around the docks area. Lighting a torch there opened up the Saas Ko’sah shrine. I completed the combat test inside to wrap up my 117th shrine.

I continued looking around and gained entrance to the library. There, I found a fruitcake recipe. Once I found a cooking pot, I made the fruitcake. I needed it for a side quest back in Riverside Stable. I gave it to a stable worker named Gotter, and he gave me 100 rupees.

Side Quests: A Royal Recipe - Complete (Screenshot from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild for Nintendo Switch)

At this point, I caught up on some “maintenance.” I exchanged Korok seeds for shield/bow slots, I enhanced some clothing items at the Great Fairy Fountain, I exchanged four spirit orbs for another heart container, and I stocked up on arrows. And that wrapped up my playing time in May.

December Days

Seven months later, I finally picked up the game again. I climbed up Death Mountain and looked at the map for suspicious places to investigate. I found some new Korok seeds, and I thought I was about to find something better at the abandoned North Mine. This tiny island had a red rock that looked like it could be blown up. I thought maybe there was a shrine underneath.

A suspicious red rock in the Death Mountain area of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

I made my way around to the appropriate cannon and blew up the rock. To my dismay, the only thing underneath was an air vent. All my hopes went up in a puff of hot air.

I eventually moved on to the Faron area, where I ran into Kass. He told me of a shrine at the site of a forest dragon’s jaws. But…he then told me I already solved it.

Kass: Ah, you've already solved it, I see...

So I didn’t get a new shrine, but it did mark a shrine quest off my to-do list. My shrine quest count was at 40/42, but I still have not found anyone to tell me about the remaining two…at least until last night.

While exploring Mount Granajh, I found a destroyed house and an opened book. It was called the Mountain Peak Log.

Read the Mountain Peak Log?
Yes, it’s peaked my interest.

I read it, and it told me of a nearby shrine and the clues that the author couldn’t figure out. This began a shrine quest, and this one did not automatically complete itself. That meant it was an active, open shrine quest! I was kind of excited to find one of these again!

It didn’t take me long to figure out what I needed to do. However, I had to wait for a certain time of day. It was so satisfying to see a new orange shrine again. 😛

A new orange shrine pops up out of the ground in Zelda: BOTW.

The inside was one of those “you’ve already proven your worth just by getting here” things, so I quickly grabbed the treasure and completed the shrine.

While looking at the map, I noticed something else that most of you probably knew years ago. Next to the name of each shrine, there will be a treasure chest icon if you’ve collected all the treasure inside that shrine. Very helpful! So I spent some time teleporting to various shrines to collect treasures I missed the first time. Unfortunately, the treasures generally aren’t anything that’s super helpful.

Shortly after that, I wrapped up my Breath of the Wild playing for 2019. Here are my current stats…and yes, my overall completion percentage is finally over 50%. 😂

  • Completion percentage: 52.44%
  • Shrines: 118/120
  • Korok seeds: 335/900
  • Shrine quests: 41/42
  • Side quests: 73/77
  • Hyrule Compendium: 360/385

Only two more shrines to go! I’ll see you next time, but I have no idea when that will be. 😛 Have a happy new year, and a great 2020!

Luigi’s Mansion 3 First Impressions

Yesterday, Luigi’s Mansion 3 was released for Nintendo Switch. I was a big fan of the original GameCube game (giving it a 8/10 rating), and I replayed it just last year. So it’s great to see the series vac again. Note: I have not played the 2nd game in the series, Dark Moon, on Nintendo 3DS.

Luigi's Mansion 3 title screen

The game starts out with Mario, Peach, the Toads, and Luigi (and his ghost dog) on a bus, heading to a fancy hotel for a nice vacation after Luigi was sent an invitation.

The Toads carry the luggage in Luigi's Mansion 3.
Mario and Peach run on ahead, leaving he Toads to carry all the luggage.

What’s Up with the Controls?

It isn’t long before Luigi discovers that the others have gone missing, and the hotel is haunted. Luigi initially has just a flashlight, but he soon discovers a Poltergust vacuum he can use to suck up the ghosts.

Pressing the right stick up moves your flashlight/Poltergust up, and pressing it down moves it down. That might sound fine, except for the fact that it was the exact opposite in the original game! I’ve played enough with the original’s inverted controls that it’s hard to unlearn them. And Luigi’s Mansion 3 offers no option to change them back!

Why are customizable controls not an option in this day and age? Especially when the defaults are the complete opposite of what they were in the first game? The game does support motion controls, so perhaps I can adjust to tilting the controller forward and back if I can’t switch the vertical axis.

Oh, the Horror!

In the original Luigi’s Mansion, Professor E. Gadd gave you a “Game Boy Horror” that displayed a map and offered other assistance. That tradition continues in a way that make you see red. Literally. The professor gives you a Virtual Boo, which is based on Nintendo’s failed Virtual Boy system from the 1990s.

Luigi's Mansion 3 screenshot. E. Gadd: I call it...the Virtual Boo! VB for short!

And just like that system, the Virtual Boo’s screens are all red.

The Virtual Boo map screen in Luigi's Mansion 3.

Sucking Gameplay

Luigi stuns ghosts with his flashlight, and then sucks them up with his Poltergust vacuum. Once you pull on a ghost long enough, you can sometimes press the A button to slam a ghost back and forth on the floor to reduce its health quicker. I’m not sure why the ghosts don’t just pass right through the floor, but it is an enjoyable and helpful tactic…particularly when multiple ghosts are in the area.

Luigi slams a ghost to the floor in Luigi's Mansion 3 for Nintendo Switch.

There are tons of hidden coins, gems, and other treasures to find along the way. And in fact, so far I’ve spent much more of my time searching for goodies than I have fighting ghosts. At least early on, many rooms don’t even have ghosts in them. So the game has a different feel from the original…although I’m sure that’s likely to change before long.

One very minor complaint is that ghosts don’t display their hearts like they did in the first game. Seeing a ghost’s heart, and the accompanying sound effect when you locked onto a ghost, was very satisfying in the original game. I’m a bit sad that didn’t return, but again, it’s not a big deal.

Let’s a Goo!

Within the first couple hours, you unlock Gooigi. He’s basically a clone of Luigi that’s made out of goo. Or slime. Or snot. Whatever he’s made of, Gooigi can pass through fences and grates that Luigi can’t. However, Gooigi will melt if he touches water…so some areas will be off-limits to him.

Gooigi can be used to help you reach new areas, and he can also be used as a second character for puzzles that require two things to be done at once. You can swap between Gooigi and Luigi at any time, or recall Gooigi to your slime tank when you’re done with him.

Gooigi sucks up a ghost in Luigi's Mansion 3 for Nintendo Switch.

Departing Thoughts

The game seems to be considerably longer than the original, which is definitely a good thing. The original game’s short length was its biggest flaw, so I’m glad to see this game will suck even more of my time away. 😛

I’m about three hours into Luigi’s Mansion 3 now, and I’m definitely enjoying my time so far. And I still haven’t tried out the online play or other game modes yet. I’ll be sure to post a review once I beat the game and give those other modes a try.

Want to buy Luigi’s Mansion 3 at Amazon?

Animal Crossing Sticker Book Impressions

I recently got my hands on the Animal Crossing sticker book that was released earlier this year. This post covers my impressions and thoughts about the book.

Animal Crossing Sticker Book cover

The Stickers

Of course, the main attraction here is the stickers…and there are a lot of them. Over 800, in fact. There generally seems to be one sticker of each New Leaf villager, including the RV villagers that were featured on cards from the Welcome Amiibo update. I should note that I didn’t check for every specific villager, but it’s likely that they’re all included. Except, of course, villagers from other game series that were unlocked with Amiibo figures. So there are no stickers of W. Link, Epona, Viché, Cece, Ganon, or Inkwell, for example.

This is one of 16 pages full of stickers.

Aside from the villagers, there are also stickers of fish, bugs, flowers, fruit, balloons, music notes, stars, tools, PWPs (public works projects), seashells, Nook’s leaf icons, trees, furniture, and NPCs (non-playable characters such as Isabelle and Tom Nook).

Not An Album

One thing that should be pointed out: This is a sticker book, not a sticker album. The pages are not glossy, and you will probably not have much success if you try to move a sticker after you’ve already placed it in the book.

Activities

The book itself is basically an activity book for children. You’ll find some word searches, mazes, connect the dots, and pages where you’re asked to unscramble words or count the objects on a page.

The more interesting parts of the book are the ones that encourage creativity. One page shows a town tree and lots of green, open space. You’re asked to use stickers to add trees, a fountain, flowers, and more to improve the look of your town. Another page asks you to design a fun scene for each season (with backdrops of winter, spring, summer, and autumn).

A page from the Animal Crossing sticker book called Map Time! Design your town map.
Design your town.

Some other pages ask you to design the layout of your house, or even make a pattern to use as wallpaper. Another page shows comic strip style scenes with various characters and an empty speech bubble. You’re asked to write in the bubbles to complete the comic strip.

An Appealing Book

While some of the activities are clearly designed for very young children, other activities will appeal to all ages. And of course, everyone loves stickers! If it sounds good, you can buy the sticker book at Amazon. I bought one to give as a gift and another one for myself. 😀

If you have any questions about the book, just leave a comment below.