and now, presented without context
That is pretty awesome. Those darn Japanese! What will they think of next? Bombing Pearl Harbor? NEVER FORGET!
Still, the dedication to think up and pull that off is pretty darn impressive. I just encountered that paragliding minigame yesterday when I finally decided to climb that shrine and fill in that section of my map and quit holding off on doing so. And then I learned about the whole flying idea when visiting IGN this morning so seeing it all come together like that was impressive. It looks like the game has a limit of 10,000 meters and didn't expect anyone to surpass it. I also like that the end reward is just 100 rupees. A couple days ago, I lifted up a rock and found a gold rupee which is worth 300. I couldn't believe a gold one would be hidden like that. That player went through all that work and spent all that time and resources for 100 rupees and I did better just be lifting up a rock. I think I'll stick to my game approach...
Turns out I was wrong in the map I posted a few days ago on my exploration of Hyrule. I had only explored about half of the snowy peaks of the Gerudo highlands. Yesterday I went back to them to finish up checking over that landscape and finding all its hidden treasures. I did go back to the first Lynel I tried to fight that kicked my butt hard. Because of the cold weather, I still wasn't able to wear my best defense combination but most armor that I have is upgraded to the max with a few pieces still in the process of being upgraded so I still felt better with the higher defense I'd have than the first time where I fought him wearing the Warm Doublet which has basically no defensive value. While I did take a bit more damage at times than my other Lynel fights, at this point, it wasn't anything too serious to overcome and I got in about 4 flurry rushes which is a new best in a Lynel fight. My timing still needs some work but I'm doing better at dodging and anticipating the attacks. At this point, I think I've gone back and taken down every enemy that ever took me down or I couldn't beat the first time around. REVENGE!!!
However, when exploring the new part of the Gerudo highlands that I hadn't been too before I encountered another white-haired Lynel. However, this Lynel had a different weapon than the others I had fought up to this point. It was something called a Savage Lynel Crusher and it was more like a ball and chain weapon that a sword or spear they normally carry. That turned out to be one of the toughest fights I'd had in a while since a lot of the attacks were different and I wasn't at my best armor. It was a good thing I had some fairies on me because I needed a couple to save me at times and I had to start thinking more carefully about the battle again whereas I've been able to be a bit more careless about things up to this point. So, that was a highlight. I also encountered my first Frost Talus which also makes for a tricky fight against the Stone Talus enemies who have become very easy at this point. I finally rode a couple bears as well. Bears are tough animals to fight and ward off if they come at you so I try to avoid them but I discovered a better way to get rid of them is to paraglide on to them and mount them and work on soothing them (if you have enough stamina, of course). Once you've soothed the bear, just dismount and it will start running away on it own and that's the end of the bear. You scare it off and don't have to fight it.
I'm at 316 Korok seeds so over 1/3rd of the way there. I've maxed out my weapon stash so I still have my bow and shield stash to go. Probably going to expand my Shield stash to the max first since I have a lot break when trying to deflect Guardian lasers or in some of my Lynel fights so the more I can carry there the better. I wish I could carry more weapons though. People complain about weapons breaking and I was on the fence about it in the beginning of the game but now I'm kind of glad they do since there are so many great weapons I'm coming across from defeated enemies and treasure chests and I just wish I had room to carry them all instead of leaving them behind.
Speaking of my recent revenge tour, I went back to the first shrine I found that was a Major Test of Strength since I figured I should be able to overcome it now and had a lot of good weapons to use. Sure enough, it was pretty easy to beat at this point having played the Minor and Modest Tests and being familiar with the pattern. It gave me the Climbing Shirt allowing me to finally complete my Climbing Gear. (Wish I'd gone back to that shrine a whole lot sooner.) Then I though I better go to the other 2 Major Test shrines I discovered but they had no uniforms. Just some nice weapons I didn't have room for at the moment.
At this point, with so many Stone Taluses defeated, ore deposits collected and clothing (even the Jewellery which stevey is correct in saying is pretty useless), I decided to cash in a bunch of the ore I had and saw no need to keep saving. That was about 32,000 rupees there. I then went to the Hateno Tech Lab and paid for all the pictures to complete my Compendium. I was so disappointed to find out though that you can't buy the pictures for things you have already captured in your compendium. Had I known that, I wouldn't have been taking any pictures until just buying them all. The only thing that was mentioned was that if you replace an old picture with a new one, you can't bring back that old photo. You lose it forever. I was fine with that thinking I'd replace my stuff with the in-game stock photos but that is not the case. You can tell which ones are mine since they lighting is poorer or the image is bit more fuzzy or incomplete. However, despite buying out all the stock of photos, it turns out there are still some photos missing. The lab assistant mentions being puzzled as to why some images can't be added or that it is incomplete. Perhaps I need to beat Ganon to unlock those final pictures or maybe there is someone else I still need to meet. I know some of the pictures still locked are most likely bosses but some seem to just be the silver edition of common enemies. Not sure why those would stay hidden.
I also discovered that Spider Guardians don't move around in the rain. They just stand still during that kind of weather. That makes it easier to approach them or avoid them if you want to. We complain about the rain a lot (generally just because of the effect on climbing and it happening at a time when we are climbing) but when I saw that I thought to myself that at least the rain is good for something and I should post it and mention it to at least bring up one of the few positives of the rain effect. That mission is now complete.
I'm at 68 shrines complete although I have 12 others on my map I've yet to play. Right now I'm still working on maxing out my Stamina. I'm almost at 2 extra wheels added. I can't believe Nile Boogie wants to keep playing the game without more stamina. I understand the heart challenge but it's so nice to be able to run for longer distances and climb walls with a bunch of jumps than the slower pace of having one wheel at the start of the game. One thing I think Xenoblade Chronicles X still does better than BotW is the ability to just endlessly run and swim fast in that world. I do tire of the run then slow down for the meter to refill and repeat dynamic that BotW has in place.
Can't think if there was anything else I really wanted to comment on from my recent play sessions except I really think the game did a great job in designing the Lizalfos and how lizard-y they come across and how their fights can reflect that. Even though they may not be that difficult to defeat anymore, I was thinking to myself how well they were designed and crafted at one point during my play time.