This is out now and of course I have D&D after work tonight. CURSES! Anyone else dive in yet?
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Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity
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Violentvixen
(She/Her)
Played a little bit after work, had to play a level to unlock the skill tree from Robbie and Purah. Noticed a reward was a guardian claw, so assuming that once you beat enough levels you unlock that character. Probably the same with the motorcycle, but since I didn't have much time can't say yet. Definitely a lot there which is neat.
Played pretty much all day yesterday, made good progress!
In general, The EX battles drop weapons that are way stronger at a base level than the highest level of normal weapon, so it's an opportunity to grab powerful new gear for everyone.
The flail is neat; it feels good if not straightforward, like Link's other weapons. The ZR to grab enemy weapons adds some layers; if you grab a heavy weapon, you have a slow combo and thrust special that are really effective at innately staggering and breaking weak point gauges. Spears are long range and also break gauges well; lighter weapons do wide-ranging area swings. Oh, and I accidentally discovered that you can grab a Wizzrobe's rod and get an elemental attack!
I only have the attack flail leveled up, and haven't touched the defensive one. (bit of an inside secret: for the flail and bike, the offensive/defensive models ARE actually different, it's not just 3 levels of strength like with most weapons.) I ate the base flail to build the attack one, but I haven't seen a single flail drop from a stage yet and I'm starting to worry if they're going to be limited or at least rare, so I'll try not to combine any more (or the bike).
Zelda's motorcycle is pretty great too. I'm still building its levels and attack power up so it's hard to say, but it feels particularly good at AoE and maybe a bit weaker against single targets, but I think at least one move can grind down a wp gauge pretty reliably.
The Guardian character arrives with a weak base weapon, but once I got a strong one it's been a lot of fun to play. The atk atk strong combo, where it sweeps the field with a laser, is just so satisfying. And when you lock on to an enemy it just pours the whole blast right into them instead of sweeping, which, *chef kiss* so good. Oh, and it's running-strong attack is probably the most satisfying in the game.
A few of the missions are in the 50s level range. But a lot of them, notably the vicious monster fights, are for level 78+. That said, I did a little grinding just to get more weapons to build Link's new flail(s) up with with and managed to get him up pretty high just that way, and then I just dropped the difficulty to easy when I wanted to use a lower leveled character. You need to do those vicious monster fights to clear the mid-late research quests and get the later stuff, so it's a bit of an annoyance early on if you're not already a high level.
In general, The EX battles drop weapons that are way stronger at a base level than the highest level of normal weapon, so it's an opportunity to grab powerful new gear for everyone.
The flail is neat; it feels good if not straightforward, like Link's other weapons. The ZR to grab enemy weapons adds some layers; if you grab a heavy weapon, you have a slow combo and thrust special that are really effective at innately staggering and breaking weak point gauges. Spears are long range and also break gauges well; lighter weapons do wide-ranging area swings. Oh, and I accidentally discovered that you can grab a Wizzrobe's rod and get an elemental attack!
I only have the attack flail leveled up, and haven't touched the defensive one. (bit of an inside secret: for the flail and bike, the offensive/defensive models ARE actually different, it's not just 3 levels of strength like with most weapons.) I ate the base flail to build the attack one, but I haven't seen a single flail drop from a stage yet and I'm starting to worry if they're going to be limited or at least rare, so I'll try not to combine any more (or the bike).
Zelda's motorcycle is pretty great too. I'm still building its levels and attack power up so it's hard to say, but it feels particularly good at AoE and maybe a bit weaker against single targets, but I think at least one move can grind down a wp gauge pretty reliably.
The Guardian character arrives with a weak base weapon, but once I got a strong one it's been a lot of fun to play. The atk atk strong combo, where it sweeps the field with a laser, is just so satisfying. And when you lock on to an enemy it just pours the whole blast right into them instead of sweeping, which, *chef kiss* so good. Oh, and it's running-strong attack is probably the most satisfying in the game.
A few of the missions are in the 50s level range. But a lot of them, notably the vicious monster fights, are for level 78+. That said, I did a little grinding just to get more weapons to build Link's new flail(s) up with with and managed to get him up pretty high just that way, and then I just dropped the difficulty to easy when I wanted to use a lower leveled character. You need to do those vicious monster fights to clear the mid-late research quests and get the later stuff, so it's a bit of an annoyance early on if you're not already a high level.
I wanna be a Guardian~~
Ugh, that is annoying, I'm sorry. Honestly, I recommend dropping the difficulty to attempt the harder stuff (I've found that if I have good crafted weapons I can go up to 5 levels below the recommendation on normal difficulty, and much lower on easy), and/or doing some blood moon quests with a bunch of exp-boosting food. For the main game I tried to keep a number of characters at similar levels, but once this opened I focused on just one or two characters at a time to get them up to the EX-quest levels and it took surprisingly less time than I'd expected.
I'm wrestling with getting a screenshot sent to my phone, but in general:
I'm wrestling with getting a screenshot sent to my phone, but in general:
-Straight forward/right from the first node is where you get the flail, and nodes beyond that to improve it
-Up from the start node leads to item-related improvements (buying apples at a battle-start screen & stronger apple-healing are the most important; rod effects last longer, drop rate boost to sensor-logged items, some other stuff)
-Down from the start node leads to unlocking/enabling vicious monsters
---Down from that node leads to weapon-crafting boosts and weapon-inventory expansions (and one shiekah rune node)
---Up from that one leads to some Shiekah Rune buff nodes
There's a node in the lower-middle to unlock the master cycle; it needs three prereq branches filled out to unlock it, one from the flail branch above, two from the lower branch (monster->runes and weapons->rune). The little standalone rectangular square branch sticking out to the right of that is stuff to improve the cycle.
The guardian is the farthest right node, with prereq branches from the end of the flail chain and from unlocking the master cycle. Also, then you have to fight it to unlock it.
-Up from the start node leads to item-related improvements (buying apples at a battle-start screen & stronger apple-healing are the most important; rod effects last longer, drop rate boost to sensor-logged items, some other stuff)
-Down from the start node leads to unlocking/enabling vicious monsters
---Down from that node leads to weapon-crafting boosts and weapon-inventory expansions (and one shiekah rune node)
---Up from that one leads to some Shiekah Rune buff nodes
There's a node in the lower-middle to unlock the master cycle; it needs three prereq branches filled out to unlock it, one from the flail branch above, two from the lower branch (monster->runes and weapons->rune). The little standalone rectangular square branch sticking out to the right of that is stuff to improve the cycle.
The guardian is the farthest right node, with prereq branches from the end of the flail chain and from unlocking the master cycle. Also, then you have to fight it to unlock it.
OK, heads-up because this isn't clear and I had to go digging to figure it out:
The new weapons, Link's flails and Zelda's master cycles, will not drop in battles even after you unlock them. But you can go back to the Research lab quests, and the node you originally got the weapon from will have turned into a repeatable turn-in where you can buy more of each type (all of a standard base attack value w/ no seals). So if you accidentally sell or fuse one and regret it, you can go buy another from the researchers. (They do have a cost in research-specific materials though, of course.)
The new weapons, Link's flails and Zelda's master cycles, will not drop in battles even after you unlock them. But you can go back to the Research lab quests, and the node you originally got the weapon from will have turned into a repeatable turn-in where you can buy more of each type (all of a standard base attack value w/ no seals). So if you accidentally sell or fuse one and regret it, you can go buy another from the researchers. (They do have a cost in research-specific materials though, of course.)
I still need to finish the last no-hit mission and I don't wanna because they're really annoying. Heck, I only got around to doing the third one just the other day. I think the strategy I will continue to use for that is relying on Slate Zelda. Her remote bomb renders her invulnerable for a good long time while the bomb wanders around and does stuff, and it can also be used to start doing damage from afar. Plus you can boost its damage - and all of her damage - to absurd levels with the rice ball cooking. And runes are on a much shorter cooldown so that or stasis are more reliable. It worked on the last one, anyway!
I'd do other quests and come back to it, but... I have so few quests left to finish. Like, I think that's literally the last available one from the main game. I have at least one DLC mission left, the one where you play as Calamity Ganon and Master Kohga conquering Hyrule, but I didn't have the second character leveled up enough. (I finally sold a bunch of materials and made tons of money*, so I just did the training camp after that). I'm mainly doing missions to get more weapons and good seals so I can make everyone's weapons optimized and stronger and stuff, which...I find a lot less compelling/rewarding as a grind, so I've been playing a lot less recently. Just waiting for DLC2 now!
*seriously, I just went through and sold a bunch of materials worth the most. I didn't even need to sell off any of them completely - just selling off materials down to a certain threshold where I still wasn't at risk of running out made me something like 30,000 rupees. With that much money, leveling up enough to start the DLC becomes affordable, too!
Anyone else been (or finished) playing the first DLC?
I'd do other quests and come back to it, but... I have so few quests left to finish. Like, I think that's literally the last available one from the main game. I have at least one DLC mission left, the one where you play as Calamity Ganon and Master Kohga conquering Hyrule, but I didn't have the second character leveled up enough. (I finally sold a bunch of materials and made tons of money*, so I just did the training camp after that). I'm mainly doing missions to get more weapons and good seals so I can make everyone's weapons optimized and stronger and stuff, which...I find a lot less compelling/rewarding as a grind, so I've been playing a lot less recently. Just waiting for DLC2 now!
*seriously, I just went through and sold a bunch of materials worth the most. I didn't even need to sell off any of them completely - just selling off materials down to a certain threshold where I still wasn't at risk of running out made me something like 30,000 rupees. With that much money, leveling up enough to start the DLC becomes affordable, too!
Anyone else been (or finished) playing the first DLC?
Violentvixen
(She/Her)
I have but things are so dang slow to unlock. I want the motorcycle but I also don't want to do the one hit whatever missions. I do like the vicious monster ones though!
Luckily the 1-hit missions shouldn't be related, I think those are main-game ones. Even if they're your last missions left, they shouldn't be any faster or slower for unlocking DLC stuff, is my understanding! Just gotta reach the motorcycle node in the center of the tree~
The second wave of DLC is out today!
Violentvixen
(She/Her)
I thought that came out in June? Or is the third wave out early? I thought it was November for that one and shitty hotel internet is making it hard to check.
Violentvixen
(She/Her)
I checked my email receipt from the season pass and yep, it says Pack 3: Guardian of Remembrance ‑ to be released 11/30/2021 so I am extremely excited for things to come out early!
holy shit! I'm hype
Violentvixen
(She/Her)
I'm having fun. Goofy little vignette levels about the champions bonding is pretty cute. The first level made me panic a bit that the whole DLC was going to involve playing without the Sheikah Slate, glad that's not the case. Haven't figured out how to unlock Robbie and Purah yet, but am pretty confident I know which levels to beat to do so.
Ivebeen playing with Purah & Robbie so far, and unlocked the secret character too. P&R are fun to play, but the secret character has a pretty interesting unique skill that actually feels like I play them differently, enough that when I switch back to someone else I have to take a minute to readjust. But that kinda happens after I play master cycle Zelda too, where I'm riding the ZR overdrive a lot, so... I guess that's normal.
It's interesting to me that a lot of the content for DLC 2 starts at a lower level requirement than DLC 1, and the equipment rewards for the starting memory quests are lower power than the strongest DLC 1 stuff. I wonder how it'd be to progress from the start with the DLC enabled (but I'll probably never go back to find out).
The special quest reward weapons for the champions start at a lower power but they scale up well. I think the strongest level of weapon might still overpower them, but they also have different hidden seals which could tip the balance; I've only leveled one up to 25 and another to 20 so far, though, so I'm not sure.
Of the new skills, so far I like Terrako's and oddly enough Riju's the most. They both feel like natural extensions of their kit that you'll forget weren't always there. Zelda's slate one is more of a neat little bonus, but it's fun. I think Yunobo's is good too, though I'm not entirely sure what exactly it is. As far as I can tell, now every single one of his strong attacks has a corresponding empowered version instead of just the first four and the last one, though I might be wrong about that. The button chart makes it look like it's just something with the last one though?
It's interesting to me that a lot of the content for DLC 2 starts at a lower level requirement than DLC 1, and the equipment rewards for the starting memory quests are lower power than the strongest DLC 1 stuff. I wonder how it'd be to progress from the start with the DLC enabled (but I'll probably never go back to find out).
The special quest reward weapons for the champions start at a lower power but they scale up well. I think the strongest level of weapon might still overpower them, but they also have different hidden seals which could tip the balance; I've only leveled one up to 25 and another to 20 so far, though, so I'm not sure.
Of the new skills, so far I like Terrako's and oddly enough Riju's the most. They both feel like natural extensions of their kit that you'll forget weren't always there. Zelda's slate one is more of a neat little bonus, but it's fun. I think Yunobo's is good too, though I'm not entirely sure what exactly it is. As far as I can tell, now every single one of his strong attacks has a corresponding empowered version instead of just the first four and the last one, though I might be wrong about that. The button chart makes it look like it's just something with the last one though?
I can speak with some authority that all of his strong attacks except the last had a corresponding empowered version, and the new EX move is just the last one, which appears to have a empowered version for each shield type.
Violentvixen
(She/Her)
Ah, I thought that might be true but didn't bother to look it up. Random.
OK! I never quite played enough of him to be sure before. Thanks!
Also, King Rhoam's new ability is cool, but really limited. If you do a complete string of normal attacks and then hit X, it gives you a blue aura. While you have the blue aura, you can (do a strong attack and then) chain transformation-attacks to each other. So if you're in king mode, X to strong attack, ZR to transform into hobo mode with that strong attack...but then press ZR to transform back into king with that strong attack, and again to transform-attack again. So you switch back and forth with a combo chain of strong attacks. Pretty cool, right? Problem is that you have to get that full regular-attack chain and finish it with the X, THEN you can do your combo, so it needs a lot of setup time that lots of enemies won't give you. Plus, the aura doesn't last very long at all; you barely have time to land a full chain of the strong attacks before it wears off, and that's assuming again that you don't get knocked out of it by an attack. All in all it seems too finicky for not enough benefit overall, but if you get the timing down it could be really useful, I guess? (I still play on Normal so even if I could do it regularly it'd probably be overkill for all but the vicious monsters.
Also Link's 2-h weapon one is really interesting for defensive use. It gives you a red aura and while that's active, all normal damage you take gets counted like the temp damage he does to himself, i.e. you can heal it by eating. Again, I haven't really needed that much defense or healing on stuff I've been doing lately without raising the difficulty, but I could see that coming in handy.