Chapter 413: I Didn't Do a Single Thing a Hero Would Do (Requesting Subscriptions, Monthly Passes)

“Next, let’s go take a look at the situation at the shrine.”

The shrine he saw earlier was right in front of him. He could just jump into the water, swim over, and walk a few steps to reach it.

Just as Song Ren was about to go, the game screen suddenly froze, entering a cutscene.

Link in the game showed a bewildered expression, and then Zelda’s voice echoed in his ears again.

‘Link… Link… Go to the place displayed on the Sheikah Slate’s map…’

After the words fell, some prompts appeared in the game.

Song Ren opened the Sheikah Slate according to the system’s prompts.

Currently, all areas on the entire map were covered in mysterious graphics and blue-black lines.

Clearly, they hadn't been unlocked yet.

Link, whom Song Ren was controlling, was displayed as a flickering small triangle, while the target destination was a small dot.

Comparing the area on the map, Song Ren was completely stunned.

Is this game’s map really that big?!

For Song Ren, the most direct memory of an open-world game was Red Dead Redemption.

And one of his impressions of Red Dead Redemption was that its map was enormous.

An incredibly vast map; traveling from one corner to another, even on horseback, would take a very, very long time.

And now, the map for The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild was also this massive?

Looking at the map on the Sheikah Slate, even though other areas were completely black, Song Ren could vaguely discern a silhouette behind the darkness.

Considering the distant views he had observed from the cliff earlier, it was evident that The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild's map would definitely not be small.

And this was a game for the Switch, no less!

Thinking this, Song Ren couldn’t help but feel a surge of anticipation and excitement.

Even though a large map doesn't necessarily mean a fun game.

For example, the two previous games from TengHua Games and NetDragon were very typical counter-examples. Games with large and empty maps aren't necessarily more interesting than small and refined ones.

Take Super Mario Odyssey, for instance. The map for each themed world isn't actually very large, but every corner is full of surprises, offering players endless fun to explore.

But this was a game made by Chen Xu, and it was on the Switch, so Breath of the Wild's performance made it hard not to be excited.

Continuing the game with anticipation, Song Ren found one particular feature quite convenient: the Sheikah Slate itself.

This was clearly a black-tech product, integrating functions like teleportation, marking, map, camera, telescope, and more.

However, at the moment, he could only teleport back to the starting point, the Shrine of Resurrection, and the map was still completely dark.

But the Sheikah Slate's marking function was something Song Ren found incredibly useful.

For example, while Red Dead Redemption also had a marking function, it could only be displayed on the mini-map.

So sometimes, he would spot a target point in advance and mark it.

But upon getting closer, he sometimes couldn't find the location at all.

However, the map pin feature in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild completely circumvented this issue.

By activating the Sheikah Slate's telescope function, a very conspicuous beam of light would appear. Once a spot was marked in advance, players would never fail to find it, making it extremely convenient.

After experimenting with the Sheikah Slate's functions and putting it away, Song Ren continued to explore the area around the shrine.

Inside the shrine, he found a bow and some parts like screws and gears.

He wasn't sure what they were for yet, but he guessed they were either for selling or for crafting something.

There was also a Goddess Statue, but after talking to it and praying, nothing happened except the statue smiling.

After failing to figure it out, Song Ren prepared to head towards the main quest point marked in yellow on the mini-map.

Along the way, he encountered some monsters that looked like wild boar demons called Bokoblins.

However, they weren't terrifying at all, matching The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild's art style perfectly.

They looked a bit goofy.

What surprised Song Ren was that these monsters didn't always hold their weapons. As soon as he knocked them down, their weapons would drop, leaving them to attack bare-handed or by throwing stones.

After defeating several Bokoblins along the way, and collecting a few of their large drumstick clubs, Song Ren discovered that the game's action system was also excellent.

Despite being on the Switch, the sense of impact when attacking with weapons was perfectly realized, which delighted him immensely. After all, he had played some games where attacking felt like swinging at air, which was annoying to the extreme.

In addition, different weapons in the game had different charge attacks.

And when facing monster attacks, he could dodge, and a successful dodge would trigger a slow-motion Link Time.

During this slow-motion, he could land multiple consecutive hits on the monster, which was very cool and dealt high damage.

The only thing he found a bit strange.

Was that although he had defeated several Bokoblin monsters, he didn't see any experience points UI interface.

Could it be that it hadn't been unlocked yet?

“So, what should I do next to save the princess? I can't level up by defeating monsters!”

This was where Song Ren felt quite at a loss.

Clearly, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild was an ARPG.

But Song Ren also felt that this game had a strong RPG element.

The most direct evidence was that the weapons in the game all had attack values.

But wouldn't this game's health not increase its upper limit?

When playing Dark Souls, at least after killing small monsters, he could collect souls and then upgrade with the Fire Keeper maiden.

But what about The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild?

Weapons would break, and although he could pick up monster weapons, he felt like he wouldn't run out.

But three hearts for a health bar, wasn't that too little?

Completely insufficient!

Just getting hit twice by these wild boar demons would quickly lead to death.

After thinking for a long time, he couldn't figure it out, so Song Ren decided not to dwell on it. He would find out as he played.

And from the current gameplay, one thing Song Ren was certain of.

That was, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild would not be a Souls-like game.

Why say that? Because he found that while the game's combat system seemed more action-oriented.

He could directly confront monsters head-on, using Link Time after dodging for a frontal assault.

But there were also many ways to 'cheese' or easily defeat monsters.

For example, if he carefully observed the Bokoblin camps, he would find that there was either a large rock on a high slope nearby.

As long as the player pushed the rock down, it could roll over a nearby explosive barrel, causing an explosion.

Or, at night, these Bokoblins would fall asleep, and during that time, they would place their weapons elsewhere.

Link only needed to sneak past, putting the weapons into his Fourth-Dimensional Pocket, and these Bokoblins would be like lambs to the slaughter.

Additionally, healing in the game could be done directly from the paused inventory screen.

This was equivalent to invincible healing; as long as he wasn't instantly killed, the next moment he would be a lively hero again.

Watching the Bokoblins, whose weapons had been stolen, looking bewilderedly around.

Song Ren couldn’t help but exclaim: “This tactic is really sneaky!”

While exclaiming, Song Ren controlled Link, took out one of the Bokoblin’s large drumstick clubs, and went up to knock them dead one by one.

“Why do I increasingly feel that Link, in my hands, is not a hero, but an old rogue?” Song Ren muttered as he picked up the loot.

Because so far, he felt like he hadn't done a single heroic thing.

He had stolen all the old man's torch, apples, and axe on the mountainside.

When facing monsters, he used despicable environmental kills.

Even at night, he stole all the Bokoblins' clubs, just like Hu Che'er stealing Dian Wei's Halberd in the historical romances.

And there was the heinous act of setting the mountain on fire.

Anyway, he hadn't done a single thing related to a hero.

With these thoughts, he trekked on and finally reached his destination.

It was a ruin resembling a cave, and inside, there was also a glowing circular platform.

Controlling Link, Song Ren walked in and placed the Sheikah Slate into the circular platform.

Accompanied by the subtitle prompt 'Activate Sheikah Tower', a story cutscene began to play.

(End of Chapter) <>