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link-is-a-dork · 3 years

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Finished Age of Calamity.

I got a lot to say about this game. I'm not very good at in depth stuff so I'm trying my best here. This has been sitting disjointed in my drafts for a week and I'm tired of it. So here you go.

TL,DR at the top so save you the bother: it was really fun. Characters were fun to see interact, gameply is solid, beautiful visuals. TLDRs should always be at the top, why are they usually on the bottom???

Story:

The story can be summed up with: BotW Before the Storm AU where everything is the same except none of it is because Hyrule won 100 years ago.

In all seriousness. Just after Hyrule falls (presumably), and before the events of BotW, a small guardian (the egg) awakens and somehow travels back in time. Using the Sheikah slate, our heroes recover information the egg held and try to prepare for Calamity Ganon. The antagonist, Astor, is here to ruin everything. He doesn't really do much though...?? I guess?? He teams up with the Yiga before the game happened. The champions' successors are here too because time travel bullshit! :D

The scenes in AoC that correspond with the memories in BotW, and in extension the Champions' Ballad DLC, happen differently, it's like a reimagining of sorts? I don't know if this game is supposed to be canon. Is it a what if situation? I kept waiting for the scenes where Zelda is just snarky and disdainful towards Link but it doesn't really happen like that. We stop the events of BotW happening entirely, so the game isn't telling a story where we're not supposed to win, game is telling a story where we prevent the post apocalyptic future from even happening, creating a paradox. If the future doesn't happen then there's no reason to stop it, but if there's no reason to stop it then there's no one to stop it and so on and so on but this isn't the focus.

Comparing Hyrule Warriors (Definitive) and Age Of calamity:

Both Hyrule Warriors Definitive (HW) and Age of Calamity (AoC) have their own merits with what they have and what the other does not. I like how collectables and chests in AoC are automatically picked up\opened after a few seconds, so you can just peace out after killing and breaking stuff. There seems to be less emphasis on capturing outposts and keeps. At end game we can revert to the champions' original attire, switch between Zelda's winter clothes, white dress, and her adventuring outfit, but it seems her royal dress is not available.

I wish we could get more alternate costumes for the rest of the cast like we could in HW, but I suppose this a more serious game with more focus on story than silly recolores. Link gets alternate costumes of course, whatever is found in BotW can be unlocked in board missions similar to Adventure maps in HW. HW is definitely more shallow in its story, but I'm not saying it's a bad experience. Both games have fun side missions that don't relate to the plot and it's a good way to grind one character for level ups and eventually enough money to train the others. Both games have a mysterious seer antag, Cia and Astor respectively, that ultimately end up being betrayed by Big G. Shocking, I know. We fight Big G.

Gameplay and Characters:

The game is very pretty, identical to BotW obviously. The controls are responsive and satisfying, although the camera can get a bit buggy, especially when fighting Wizzrobes.

Sheikah runes all do the same things they do in BotW but each character has a different way kf using them. Cryonis can be used outside of water, that's the main difference here.

This "review" would be EXTREMELY lengthy, even more so, if I go into as much detail as I originally intended, which pains me because I had SO MUCH written out already before adding this current paragraph... So I'm going to summarize who I currently have unlocked.

Link's sword and shield set is as much as you would expect, nearly identical to Hyrule Warriors. He can also use a spear, for rapid albeit weaker hits. A slow, powerful two handed weapon which, if using R2 to attack, causes "temporary damage" and can due you in if you don't maintain your health. I don't believe healing with food found on the battlefield will undo this damage so you have to heal with X if using these attacks.

Zelda has two weapon types; the Sheikah Slate which I prefer to use over her Bow of Light. With the slate, she uses something like a cocktail of lesser version of the runes. With her bow, it's rather straightforward but if you press R2, you can she what's filled in your special gauge for strong attacks with Y or X until it's depleted.

Impa can use clones to attack if you utilize her ninja sigils properly. She's very fast and depending on how many clones you have at your disposal, your strongs, runes, and specials are more powerful.

Revali and Teba both use a bow, surprising no one. Revali fights better in the air (press R2 for that) but Teba is preferable overall.

Mipha, using her trident or spear, lacks strength but hits quickly to make up for that. HER SPECIAL HEALS HER TOO SO LIKE, SAVE AT LEAST ONE BAR IN CASE YOURE DYING. Sidon dual wields but I don't have enough experience with him to make much of an assessment...

Daruk is the heavy, like Darunia. He's slower and powerful. When you use combos, magma forms and those can be used to cause damage as well with, you guessed it, R2. Yunobo is entirely food motivated, he has a rock sirloin to eat at in battle that gives him different combos.

Urbosa can command lightning. She's agile and has many different ways to use said lightning. Her range isn't as wide as you would think. The Riju-Patricia duo are fun to play with but hard to control. The pair are good for hitting large groups hard.

Hestu isn't my favorite character to use. He uses his maracas to attack and he can call upon his Korok friends. Like Impa's clones, they enhance certain attacks.

Kohga was an unexpected fave. As with most characters, he's more fun to play the more combos he gets. Like Zant in HW, he has a (stress or tantrum) meter which fills up with the use of combos. When it's full, he can unleash a powerful beam attack. But fill it too much and it can hinder you.

King Rhoam is also really fun to play. An absolute powerhouse, switching between hermit and king form during strong attack combos wrecks everything in your wake. He's surprisingly quick.

There's a few more players to unlock but I have yet to do that. So here's other character stuff next:

Eventually we can play as the egg, which DOES indeed have a name, but we have to work for it. My main squeeze, Sooga, is seemingly not playable much to my dismay. Probably because he died. Fuck you, Astor. I knew you were gonna be a bastard but I didn't expect you to game end my beefy side piece (I must have missed it but according to his Zelda wiki page Sooga was shown in the secondary credits scene so idk is he alive??). I don't think we get to play as Astor either, like we could play as the antags in HW but monk Maz Koshia can be unlocked?? Ok, I'll need to do more board missions to find out who else is playable. I told my friend NOT TO TELL ME but she has a way of just ruining everything without outright stating things but now I know Super Saiyan Garou-Dorf is playable...

Missions:

Before every mission you can prepare a meal(s) with a status effect. You play through the recruitment of Link and the Champions, go through each of their Divine Beasts and get to pilot them.

You kill a lot of things, the maps have a handful of Koroks and chests to keep an eye out for. Larger enemies like Moblins and large monsters can have elemental variants, which can be exploited. As a Warriors game, play is very repetitive but not too exhaustive or boring. I could play for hours.

Each story mission seems to average 15-30 minutes if you're playing close to the recommended level. There's checkpoints you can reload from if you die and you're brought back to full heath starting at these points. So if in a pinch, dying may prove useful.

The final battle has no reprieve between fighting the Blights, Mini G and Astor, to fighting Evil Terrako, to fighting Big Boy Calamity Ganon. Remember in ALBW where Yuga and Ganon fuse?? Yeah so Big G takes on a humanoid form in the final battle. Link nearly died so I had to send him to the most isolated corner of the arena I could while everyone else fought. I made sure to be overleveled but I still barely won.

Miscellaneous:

King Zora is Alduin.

The gameplay was closer to Warriors style than standard Zelda and we cannot change it. I actually got so used to AoC that I had to change HW back go default.

I was originally simping for Astor before he was even introduced but then Sooga happened.

Since none of the Champions died in this game, can Sidon and Mipha grow up together now that she isn't dead?

I had a really good time with AoC overall. The English voice acting seems better this time but still just passable, though that doesnt ruin my experience. It kinda adds charm, like old Resident Evil and Silent Hill games.... Astor in particular was a worry I had but his voice was fine. We got to hear some more characters from BotW speak in Aoc. I hope voice direction keeps improving if Nintendo chooses to continue to have full voice acting.

I would absolutely love more Hyrule Warriors games but Nintendo doesn't plan on it becoming its own series. They're a nice departure from the core games. Why don't I just play Dynasty Warriors you might ask? Because theyre not ZELDA games. You get me? it's like asking why I dont just play any ol' horror, puzzle, actions game if I like Resident Evil so much. It's the characters.

AoC has a lot of stuff to get, koroks to find, board missions to complete, plenty of end game content via board missions. Also a big Fuck You to us for ALMOST GETTING TO SEE THE QUEEN IN A FLASHBACK GODDAMNIT! But thinking about it it was probably just Zelda's model. Same dress.

So uh yeah. Age of Calamity is a blast to play. If you liked HW and Warriors games overall, you'll like AoC. If BotW didn't compel you enough, AoC actually might!

I think that's all I have to say? I kept adding things before posting and I'm sure I'll have plenty more to add after the fact....

#legend of zelda series #age of calamity spoilers #age of calamity #aoc spoilers #review #liad talks #liad post #2020

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