Hello and welcome to The Starlight Megaphone’s playthrough of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, an open-world adventure game originally released for the Nintendo Wii U and Switch consoles, worldwide, on 3 March 2017.
Scarcely a year has passed since the release of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and the game has already achieved a near-legendary status as perhaps not only the finest 3D Zelda game ever made, but perhaps also the finest open-world adventure game as well. After the recent, less-than-stunning entries of Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword, both of which were so hampered by motion controls to the point that they were nearly unplayable, fans of the franchise were delighted to hear that an entry had been slated for release on the Switch, and that as a result of the Switch’s more traditional control options, the newest Zelda game would not once again implement motion control–a method of user interface which Nintendo sdoggedly refuses to admit as the terrible failure it surely was.
Although there were concerns along the way about the open-world direction (often presenting as an uninteresting sandbox) and elements of the combat system (breakable weapons), any negative effect from these development decisions proved to be minor: the game was a smash hit selling over five million copies on the Switch alone (before the Holiday 2017 season), and receiving universal praise from the notoriously difficult-to-please Caspius.com and The Starlight Megaphone staff members from its launch until the present. Caspius himself has praised it in the highest terms of any other Zelda game, placing it alongside The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker as one of the legends of the genre.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild builds upon the worlds of previous Zelda-series games, setting itself squarely in the Kingdom of Hyrule, and scattered throughout with villages like Kakariko, and races such as the Gerudo, Goron, Rito, and Zora. As in The Wind Waker, the ostensibly beautiful setting belies a post-apocaylptic storyline: Ganon has triumphed and laid waste to the Kingdom of Hyrule. The Divine Beasts created to protect the denizens of Hyrule now threaten them at every turn. The forces of darkness are periodically resurrected, ensuring that no real headway can be made against Ganon’s stranglehold on the land. And, the heroes responsible for combatting his rise to power have gone missing. Even Link has not been seen in years.
…until now. As Link, you will return to Hyrule and take up the charge against Ganon’s awful and pervasive power. Along the way, the story of what led to the fracturing of the group of heroes will be revealed, and as Link recovers both his memory and his strength, the Kingdom of Hyrule’s salvation becomes ever more certain.
Use the comment thread below to discuss your approach to the games, challenges you have faced, secrets you have uncovered, and what you are getting out of your playthrough. Do you feel that the Legend of Zelda series has truly advanced since its origins in the 2D era? Or, do you prefer the aesthetics gameplay of the classic titles? Has your experience with the DLC content affected your perceptions of the game? Do you find the world immersive, or too lacking in direction? Tell us all about it and join in our discussion below! We will select some of the best comments, each week, for our podcast discussion.
The aim in this playthrough is to complete the entirety of both games in four weeks (if you have already completed the game, start a Master Quest file!):
– Week 1: Depart the Great Plateau, visit Kakariko, Hateno, Korok Village, and Ancient Labs, and get the Master Sword.
– Week 2: Defeat the first two divine beasts (recommended: Zora and Goron)
– Week 3: Defeat the second two divine beasts (recommended: Gerudo and Rito)
– Week 4: Further upgrades, and defeat Calamity Ganon to complete the game.
Please join in, even if you are behind on the playthrough. Anyone and everyone is invited to participate, regardless of speed of play or familiarity with the series. Comment and tell your friends!
Without further adieu, it is our pleasure to invite you to join The Starlight Megaphone’s staff members and readers as we explore a new world of adventure in Spring in the Wild: A The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Playthrough!
The Starlight Megaphone! 
What happened to Suikoden 2?
@Reetin: I don’t know what you mean. What about Suikoden II?
We’re playing through Zelda: Breath of the Wild (see the above post).
On the podcast you said Suikoden 2!
@Reetin: What podcast?
The podcast that was posted today.
@Reetin: ??? I don’t understand??
Enjoy playing Zelda guys! I’m just going to… sit in a corner..? I guess?
@Imitanis: Get a Switch!
I just finished this game, I have not played suikoden 2 however.
@RabidKitten: Time for the Master Quest!
Okay folks, if you are like SN and myself (and almost everyone else), the only problem you have with this game is that the weapon durability is extremely limited. And then, when you get the Master Sword, it has a battery like a Wii U tablet.
However, there is a solution. You need to buy the expansion pass for the game ($20US). I will say that, even apart from what I am about to mention, the expansion pass is actually worth it, in this case. The amount of content added is pretty vast (i.e. the Champion content alone from the second major release takes around 8 hours on average to complete).
The THING desired is the EX TRIAL OF THE SWORD (click for guide). This trial is lengthy and quite difficult, but if you complete it…
You can understand now why I say that this is almost by itself worth the price of the entire expansion.
There are a few other items worth getting in the EX pass:
A teleportation effect that you can set at will to your current location on the world map, and then later teleport to that point at will. This is basically a shrine that you can move, which makes returning to places where there aren’t convenient shrines a lot easier.
The Ancient Bridle/Saddle combination, which when placed on a horse (I recommend Zelda White Horse, because Epona and the Giant Horse cannot wear other Bridle/Saddle combinations), adds a bunch of extra spurs and allows you to summon the horse to your location anywhere in the field, regardless of distance. If your horse is outside on the great plateau and you are on top of Mt. Akkala, just press down on the D-pad and pop there’s your horse. This is useful beyond description.
In my opinion, these quality-of-life improvements should probably have been in the game before release, but I also freely admit that would have allowed people to circumvent a lot of the gameplay in the game (they almost function as cheats in an open-world game of this design), so I understand the need to make them hidden ‘special’ treasures’ (although I quibble with the notion of putting them in the expansion, but I digress). The point is to get the expansion content and then GO GET YOUR UNBREAKABLE, ALWAYS-CHARGED 1-H WEAPON TODAY! :D
I am pooping at work. Also, I am only at the very beginning of the game because shrines and towers are distracting!
@Durga: Consider this your helpful push to finish the game by the end of the month!
My latest clever plan resulted in failure!
I have done more shrines and still no beasts, I need to focus but it’s hard when all I can think about is getting the master sword
I completed the third divine beast (Geruda) yesterday night, which let me finish the last of the 120 original shrines, and which in turn allowed me to get my reward for completing all 120 shrines!
ALSO: two days ago I completed the moderate difficulty level sword trials, which were easier by far than the easy level sword trials!
Two beasts down, will be completing the last two tonight and tomorrow, Ganon!
Ganon is defeated!