If you’ve been around here more than once, you’ll know that I really like video games. Growing up, I would watch Youtubers play them and wish I could too (but I had a decade – old Mac that could not download Minecraft, even if I tried), and when I turned 15 I finally got the courage to start asking my dad about personal computers that I could play games on.
Blah blah blah, got my computer (WHICH I ADORE), met my girlfriend on the internet, started getting obsessed with video games. Average Tuesday for a Gen Z-er. However, I didn’t have the years of gaming experience some of my friends or even my girlfriend has. I was bad at learning controls, would get angry at myself over not being able to learn fast enough, and for a long while I hated any kind of first-person shooter game. I was awful and had zero aim whatsoever.
That said, when I got my hand – me – down Nintendo Switch (thank you Eva you are the best), I set out to get some new games for it. I got three games: Let’s Go Pikachu, which I really haven’t played that much, but hopefully I will get into it more soon; Animal Crossing: New Horizons, which I was obsessed with for months, but have slowly tapered off of; the third game being Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Let me give you a hint — I really like this game.
When I first got it, I plugged BotW into my console and waited for it to download. I got maybe 20 minutes into the game, and I…
Didn’t touch it for five months.
I didn’t understand how to change the view of the camera at the same time as you ran around, and I was so confused how exactly to fight things and lock on… it was a mess. I was a mess. So I didn’t play it for five months, until one day I saw a Tiktok (of all things) talking about the best way to cook dishes in the game. And I thought to myself “huh, that looks cool. Oh wait I own that game let me play it.”
So the next day (which happened to be the day I had an 8 hour car trip to Pennsylvania) I booted up Breath of the Wild and started playing. And I was HOOKED! This game is so fun. There’s fighting, and that is a really important part of the game, but there is so, so much more. You can cook food, you can go on sidequests, you can explore around Hyrule (the land that the game takes place in) and its surrounding areas. This game is huge. There is so much to do, and so many places you can go. I am in love with the characters and the game mechanics, being able to find things and fight creatures — it’s great. How many times will I say that before I hit the word count, I don’t know. Maybe I’ll put a tally at the end (OMG Meg from the future!!! I didn’t)./cdn1.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/8101983/NintendoSwitch_TLOZBreathoftheWild_Presentation2017_scrn10.jpg)
First of all, I love the ability to go and find stuff. There is something in me that goes absolutely feral when I get to find different fruits and vegetables, find flowers in fields, open crates and chests and find loot. It is so fun. Also, the game has the mechanic where, if you obtain a sword or a bow or a shield, it has a very limited durability. Some weapons have more than others, but it isn’t just a “oh congrats you found a really good bow you get to keep it forever”.
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No. You can find that really good bow, but it will eventually break. This is such a cool mechanic to me because you really have to learn how to fight with different weapons. I personally prefer using spears and singular handed swords, because they’re faster and easier (for me) to fight with. That said, they don’t do nearly as much damage as some of the better two – handed weapons, like double handed swords or clubs. That said, I still know how to use them, because there have been times where they are the only weapons I have that I am able to use. The only sword that doesn’t follow this rule is the Master Sword, which is meant to be used solely against the main boss and anything ‘infected’ by him. It has a cooldown if you use it on random enemies, but it does have infinite durability, which is pretty slay and girlboss, if I do say so myself.
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Also, this is the kind of infamous part of the game – there are these little guys scattered all over Hyrule called Koroks. And you can find them in a billion different ways: looking under rocks, breaking certain jars, moving stones into place, shooting balloons… the koroks are everywhere. There are 900 of them. Across the map.
900.
You know what isn’t at 900? My word count. But it is past 850! So this must be where I say goodbye. Time to go find some more Koroks!
Meg,
It was incredibly interesting for me to read your blog as I have never really played video games or gotten super into them. When I was younger (like elementary school age) I did enjoy playing Xbox with the kinect feature and my favorite games were Kinectanimals and Just Dance. I also never had a PC to play or download games and I would often have to borrow my brothers’ Nintendos if I wanted to try to play their games. I did have a short interest in Mario Kart on the smaller, portable Nintendo switch. I think I liked the cute, colorful race courses and I became extremely proud of myself once I learned how to drift on the course. I’ve never heard of BotW before this blog but it sounds really fun as the player can do more besides fight. I feel like I would also enjoy roaming the map and discovering new items. I think it’s so cool how the game makers added the additional detail of how weapons do not last forever. It makes the game more realistic and pushes players to continue their adventure. I’m now wondering if they have this game in VR because all the experiences you described in your blog seem like they would be even cooler if you could participate in them first hand.
Hi Meg! First of all, I would like to say that through your blogs I feel as though I have almost gotten to know you as a person better. And I don’t mean that is a creepy way but in a sense that now when I read your blogs I know that it sounds like you. Anyways, let’s talk about some video games! I am probably the worst person to talk to about any sort of online game except maybe for geometry dash (I was obsessed with that game when I was younger). The only games I have ever really played that could be considered video games are Just Dance and Wii Sports. I know what you may be thinking, and yes I would consider these to be videogames because you are participating in a game that is connected to a screen. Besides that, when I read our blog about your newfound love for a videogame you have had for a while, it made me think. I feel as though the dedication you show for this video game is similar to my new dedication for teaching my dogs new tricks. Although completely different, it came about through a similar way, a tik tok!