I have had so much fun with this game. Still though when I got to Eventide Island.
I was doing so well there on the island for a long time. Then I ended up about dead with no food to really restore most hearts. I had some stuff worth cooking but not really worth eating raw. I worked my way through this monster camp to use their cooking pot. I'm on the last guy and I have about half a heart of health.
BAM! Blood Moon. I almost died laughing as I ran from the camp in fear as they all respawned. Only to have to rework my assault on the camp slowly to get back to that precious cooking pot. Loved every minute of it!
Wow. I was fortunate enough to not have to go through that but it still took me 3 tries to finish that challenge. I've mentioned it earlier in this thread but this area is still a big highlight for me and I'm sort of disappointed now that I discovered it so early on but I'm still hoping for another surprise or two like it. At the time I completed it, I was pretty much ready to declare this game a masterpiece and 10/10 score.
Going to talk some more about the game now. While I will mention names of regions and places, I'm going to try and keep things pretty spoiler free and don't think a name really spoils too much. It's about seeing what's behind the name.
For myself, I've been meandering a bit in the game again. I've spent so much time in the Gerudo region but there's been so much to do for exploring and quests and equipment. I've ended up with some good equipment to counter a lot of elements and terrain. Ironically, the one thing I've been trying to earn which are some sand shoes to be able to walk in desert areas at the same speed as normal land are the one thing I've been unable to acquire because of a sidequest I've yet to finish. I'd like to get those so I can speed up and finish searching through that area.
For now, I decided I'd done enough there and with my new equipment it was time to start exploring elsewhere and filling in my map. The sidequest for sand shoes led me to one region and then after exploring, I saw it tower close enough that I thought I'd go to it and add to my map. Filling that in has shown me where the Rito village is but I haven't travelled to it yet. Instead, I headed back to Hatero and then up north to Mount Lanayru which I could now explore without freezing or needing hot food. Finished a couple shrine quests there and helped an animal in need. Then I went further north in my quest to try and find Robbie and his lab. Ended up on a mountain where I battled my second Hinox. Not as scary as my first battle now that I'm better equipped. No longer scared of those guys. However, it kept raining a lot on this mountain. I went down from it to a shrine. Wandering around this area, I got closer to a tower and wanted to cross a valley with a river below it but whenever I got to the other side it would be raining making it impossible to climb. I'd wait but the weather showed nothing but rain coming. Cross back over and suddenly the weather was clear. I thought to myself it was either a rainy region or the game does have some barriers despite it's going anywhere at anytime theme. Reading Soren's post, I know now why that is the case. I guess it's a story element.
Anyways, climbing the tower led me to my first Zora in the game and I now could tell where the Zora village will be. But rather than go that way yet, I decided to start heading to the interior of Hyrule Field and some of the shrines I could see around it. Working my way from one shrine to another, I discovered the Woodlands stable where the Shalaka-laka Korok was that you all were trying to help me find. Got some more weapon slots and a couple extra shield spots before that ended. Wonder where he'll turn up next. I've still got 70 Korok seeds to use.
Headed towards a tower close by and added that region to my map. That was my Saturday. On Sunday, since I seemed to be close to Hyrule Castle and Castle Town and was curious to see what would happen when I got close and if I could find a memory that was supposed to be near by, I started venturing towards it. Plus, Triforce Hermit mentioned making a couple raids on the area so I wanted to see how much sneaking around I could do. As I was coming up to a bridge, the music started turning dangerous and suddenly a Guardian appeared. I said no thank you and started running but unlike a couple previous encounters where I climbed back down the edge of a cliff a bit, there was no end to the land here and the blasted thing kept following me. I couldn't outrun it. It blasted me good and took me out except I had 4 fairies on me so I was brought back to life. Realizing I couldn't outrun it and could only warp away, I decided to just go for it and ran to me it and start wacking away at. There were a couple times I landed some good blows on it and seemed to knock it out of its senses before it readjusted itself but it blasted me a few more times. After a messy battle in which I used up all 4 fairies I finally delivered the final blow and blew it up collecting a bounty of ancient parts. I had done it! I beat my first Guardian. It was a brutal fight and I hadn't been prepared for it but I had prevailed. Thinking over the battle and the lessons learned, I knew there were things I could do better next time and equipment/armor I should have used.
So, I had a choice. Turn back or venture forward a little bit more. I put on my sneaking outfit and went forward. Without getting into too much detail, I kept pushing myself more and more around the area. It was a really tense time with danger on all sides but a lot of hiding places to stay out of sight and survive. I still probably died another 10 times but I kept pressing forward finding treasure chests and trying to locate a memory. I even hit up Hyrule Castle and started exploring it. It felt like a real thrill knowing I was quite underpowered for the area still yet being successful in slipping away from danger. I'm pretty sure I got to the point where if I had taken a few steps more I'd have triggered a fight with Ganon but I wasn't ready for that yet so turned away. The fact that I could get there now makes me want to replay this game over and see if I can go from Shrine of Resurrection to Ganon right away. All the sneaking is pretty invigorating. At the same time, I do want to come back there fully powered now and just smash all enemies to bits. Sneaking time is over!
In the end, I fought another Guardian and did way better in that battle and had no fairies to save me. However, I thought to use my shield to ward off its blast this time which helped and took it down pretty quickly. I used an ancient arrow on a half buried Guardian and now that I see their power, I want more and really need to find this Robbie. While I'm still going to steer clear of Guardians a bit longer, I'm no longer that scared of them. The whole thing has really emboldened me in my conquest of the game. At this point, there is only one enemy that I still fear and am afraid of: The Lynel. (If I spelled that right.) Not to be too spoilerific but I've seen a couple of them on the map and stayed far away. However, at one point, I ended up trapped with one in my raid. I entered a room and was suddenly locked in it. Went forward a bit and started scanning the room by moving the camera around only to find a Lynel behind me. It was a real "Oh crap!" moment. I decided to try and face it but one quick blow and I was done. Should have upped my hearts first but I wasn't thinking about my health at the time. I'm not sure yet how to fight these guys since they are so big and their weapon is so large it seems to have a pretty big swath to try and run from. I'm getting more powerful but I still have to keep on my toes.