Good luck to you Sonny. I know I had the worst time against Gannon(dorf?) in the final Wind Waker battle. But I did it! Barely! LOL
I think my favorite thing about Wind Waker is the music.

Also, if you really want to, this game supposedly lets you run right to the final boss really, really early on, so you only really have to do the dungeons that you want to do this time around from the sounds of things.

I had heard that. That this game is a nod to the original Legend of Zelda in that it's an open world and you can do anything you want to at any time. Although I'm pretty sure I remember in the original LoZ, you couldn't get to Lvl 9 and beat Gannon without picking up some things along the way. It seems like the magic arrow maybe was required for the final battle? It's been too long, I don't remember for sure.
All I know is that I'm not a good enough gamer to face a final boss without as many power-ups as possible.

My favorite Zelda game is Skyward Sword, though that could be a nostalgia factor because it's the first Zelda game I ever played!

Don't hate me, but I couldn't ever get into this one. The hand-holding from Fi drove me absolutely insane. I think I had finally made it to the first dungeon and I think that if I had kept going I would have made it past the hand-holding and would have been ok from there. Maybe someday I'll get through it.
Have you played Twilight Princess? It's my favorite though I hate to admit I've never actually beaten it myself (I've seen it done so I know how it ends). I just got to busy and then forgot about it, hence my reservations about an open world like Breath of the Wild.

My favorite Zelda games are Link to the Past and Twilight Princess. I'm like you, FK, and have not actually beaten (or played through most of) Twilight Princess, but I have seen the ending and most of the story, so I'm not too worried about playing through our copy (I never quite get going when I pull it out to play).

I'm currently playing through a game called Child of Light, which is beautifully animated and very light on most things (including story). But it's very enjoyable even so. I like the art, the music, and the battle tactics. (It's a very different system from what I'm used to in RPGs. There's a timeline everyone moves along and you can slow down your enemies and such to get your attacks in and interrupt their attacks.) If you had a day to do so, you could probably play through it in one go. The fairy tale style and setting would probably benefit from this.

My husband played through Link to the Past in recent history. Maybe a couple years ago? That was the first time he had beaten that one.

Ironically, my brother in law snagged us a Switch and BotW in our home town. I guess that's the place to get them as he got one for himself as well. We should get it tomorrow I think. Looking forward to it.

Tried showing the kids Twilight Princess last night, but they were very bored by it. They like Wind Wake though. We'll give it another few years.

Hurray for getting a Switch and the new Zelda game and to the kids being bored with Twilight Princess.

I finished up Child of Light last night (I wasn't far from the end when I posted Saturday). I think I definitely lost something by playing the first few short chapters and then taking a long stretch away before finishing it, because the ending worked really well and tied in a LOT more story than I thought it would. The biggest story complaint I had was that between the beginning and the last third of the game, there's very little of the main story involved. All of the side characters and such in the middle are very nice, but because the game is so brief, it feels like there's a lot more to the world beyond the "page" as it were. While I like to feel that there's more to the story with any tale, this felt a little like we weren't getting *enough* of the story (again, just in the middle section).

That said, it's still a beautiful game (I'm listening to the soundtrack now) and I'll probably revisit it once or twice for the New Game+ and higher difficulty settings.

Have you played Twilight Princess? It's my favorite though I hate to admit I've never actually beaten it myself (I've seen it done so I know how it ends). I just got to busy and then forgot about it, hence my reservations about an open world like Breath of the Wild.

I played it after Skyward Sword... it was just too dark and the controls didn't seem natural. I never got even half way through it, and I honestly don't really care to try again.

I'm currently playing through a game called Child of Light, which is beautifully animated and very light on most things (including story). But it's very enjoyable even so. I like the art, the music, and the battle tactics. (It's a very different system from what I'm used to in RPGs. There's a timeline everyone moves along and you can slow down your enemies and such to get your attacks in and interrupt their attacks.) If you had a day to do so, you could probably play through it in one go. The fairy tale style and setting would probably benefit from this.

Sadly I never finished this stunningly beautiful game. I had to start over because my save file was on my ex's PS3, and then when I got my own PS3, the save file got corrupted half-way through the game. I didn't feel like starting from the beginning AGAIN. :'( So that was a bummer. Maybe in a couple years when I've forgotten how it goes. I agree it's a very beautiful game.

I played it after Skyward Sword... it was just too dark and the controls didn't seem natural.

It's funny you mentioned the controls don't seem natural. I've just started Breath of the Wild and ... the controls are bizarre. Not so different that you can't figure out it, but it's like, if it's that similar, why change it in the first place?
But I got used to using the Wii Mote as my sword and shield and now that I'm back to holding the controls again like most normal video games, it's like "AGHHH HOW DO I GET MY WEAPON OUT BEFORE I DIE?!?!?!?!?" I'll get there eventually. (Ok, ok, I admit, I'm like 15 minutes in. )

Monkey, have you beaten Breath of the Wild yet? My brother has actually.

I'm working my way through very, very slowly, but I AM making progress. The part of the main quest line that I'm on is to

I haven't looked at YouTube yet, but I've got to see someone go take out Gannon right off the bat. I mean, I can barely kill the low-level guys, let alone go straight for the final boss.

As a side note today, I was talking with my niece (we seem to be pacing each other in the game on the main quest line lol) and she said something about how she couldn't tame a horse... thought that was odd as she's a better gamer than I am and I snagged a low-level one with no problem. But thanks to her comment, I now have a much higher level horse than I ought to for where I'm at in the game because I was trying to figure out why she couldn't get one. I spent probably a good hour and a half minutes catching and taming it.

Between the open world, side quests, main quests, cooking, potion making, getting horses, this game really feels like World of Warcraft to me.

My partner bought me Breath of the Wild last week! It's beautiful! The world is HUGE!

I'm working my way through very, very slowly, but I AM making progress. The part of the main quest line that I'm on is to

Spoiler

find one of the pictures on the camera to regain a memory. None of them look familiar so it may be a while for me. I'll work on the side quests instead.

Same! I have no idea where to go!

Between the open world, side quests, main quests, cooking, potion making, getting horses, this game really feels like World of Warcraft to me.

I had the same reaction.

My partner bought me Breath of the Wild last week! It's beautiful! The world is HUGE!

Awesome! And yay, now I have someone else to talk with about the game.

I ran into a bit of trouble last night. All of my GOOD weapons are breaking when attacking baddies, so I'm left with wimpy weapons. I had to turn back from heading to a shrine because I was afraid I wasn't going to make it there. Needing to restock on supplies and then I'll head back again.

Sonny and Monkey, wondering how you two are coming along on BotW?

I have recovered two divine beasts and am on my way to the third.

I am thankful this game leans more towards problem solving than skills with combat, because I'm truly terrible at the latter. LOL

Honestly I haven't played in a couple weeks. Been rather busy with adult life. It's still hard to believe how old I am!

In reply to your spoiler...

Spoiler

For the lizard, once you arrive in the Goron town, visit the armory. They sell a full set of armor that will take care of you while you're there.
Now for some annoying reason, that same armor doesn't work in the desert. I can't remember exactly how I got the stuff for Gerudo, but I know I followed the primary quest line there and got an outfit set and piece of jewelry for desert heat resistance.
There's also the cheaper option of elixirs and food stuffs. I don't remember recipes off the top of my head, but I know I found them when I leading up to the area.

Thank you so much! I ended up needing only

I also bought The Evil Within the other day, but I have found it tedious and a bit slow. Not as fun as I was hoping, and certainly not as scary as I thought it would be. I'm only on Chapter 3, so we'll see if it improves. But it was probably worth the $14 I spent on it!

I finished up Child of Light last night (I wasn't far from the end when I posted Saturday). I think I definitely lost something by playing the first few short chapters and then taking a long stretch away before finishing it, because the ending worked really well and tied in a LOT more story than I thought it would. The biggest story complaint I had was that between the beginning and the last third of the game, there's very little of the main story involved. All of the side characters and such in the middle are very nice, but because the game is so brief, it feels like there's a lot more to the world beyond the "page" as it were. While I like to feel that there's more to the story with any tale, this felt a little like we weren't getting *enough* of the story (again, just in the middle section).

When I first played the game about a year (or two? Who can keep track of time? ), I played it to story completion within a week, and I agree that doing it quickly really helps with the story. You get through the middle parts where you're just kind of wandering around and keep up your momentum to want to finish the story. I'll admit, I started a New Game+ recently and have yet to finish, even though I'm fairly near the end of the game. It's a beautiful game and I did enjoy the story, I just wish there had been a bit more to it.

It also would've been nice to have any development for any of your party members after your quest to add them - after that, they pretty much only even have dialogue where everyone has dialogue. Which is too bad, because they were all fun characters. I also kind of want to go through the game again just to see if I can collect all those pages since they seem to tell a really interesting story, but I'm not a fan of scouring every location on the map to find all the collectables, without at least some kind of map or directions.

My recent game obsession has been Horizon Zero Dawn. It kind of flew under the radar - which is a shame, because I loved this game. The visuals were astounding, the story was really well-told, and I felt fully involved in the world. The characters were a bit hit or miss, but the only ones I found grating were the ones where that was the point, and I did like the main character. I'd heartily recommend it to anyone with a PS4 for the story alone, and I also found the gameplay enjoyable (though I understand it's kind of a mashup of a lot of other open world games like Assassin's Creed - I've never played those games so it didn't bother me ). I'd still be playing it if I didn't have to justify using the TV for hours on end, and I can no longer claim I'm trying to get to the next story point.

Anyone besides me hooked on the HQ app?