Chapter 417: The Princess Has Waited a Hundred Years; She Probably Won't Mind a Little While Longer (Requesting subscriptions and monthly passes)

The mysterious old man slowly began to speak.

It turned out that the mysterious old man's true identity was actually the last King of Hyrule Kingdom. However, he had died in the Calamity 100 years ago, and now only his spirit remained.

Facing a somewhat confused Link, the King of Hyrule recounted the events of 100 years past.

The Calamity Ganon, which destroyed the Hyrule Kingdom, was in fact the Demon King, born in this country in ancient times and resurrected as malice.

This story had been passed down as a legend throughout the Hyrule Kingdom.

Everyone had always believed it to be merely a legend, until one day the kingdom's fortune teller made a prophecy: 'Signs of the Calamity Ganon's resurrection have appeared on the land… and the power to oppose Ganon also slumbers within the earth…'

Hyrulians, half-believing and half-doubting, excavated according to the prophecy and discovered several ancient artifacts made by their ancestors.

Divine Beasts: Four colossal mechanical artifacts built in the likeness of beasts and piloted by powerful warriors.

Guardians: Puppet soldiers capable of fighting enemies with their own will.

These discoveries perfectly matched the long-circulated legends in the Hyrule Kingdom. In addition, there was a royal princess with sealing power, and a knight chosen by the Master Sword. In the distant ancient era, they, along with these artifacts, sealed away the true Ganon.

And exactly 100 years ago, a princess who inherited the power of her ancestors and a talented knight appeared in the kingdom. They were Zelda and Link.

Thus, the Hyrule Kingdom at the time also followed the example of its ancestors, preparing for war. Four exceptionally skilled individuals were chosen from the land of Hyrule, given control of the Divine Beasts, and called Champions to deepen their bonds.

With the Princess, the Knight, and the four Champions, the Calamity should have been successfully sealed.

However, the cunning Ganon resurrected with a trick they could never have imagined. It appeared directly deep beneath Hyrule Castle and used its evil energy to seize control of the Guardians and the four Divine Beasts, launching a sudden attack on them.

Countless residents within the castle and the Champions inside the Divine Beasts all lost their lives as a result.

And Link, the knight chosen by the Master Sword, fell wounded while protecting Princess Zelda.

In this way, the Hyrule Kingdom was destroyed by the Calamity Ganon.

However, Princess Zelda, who survived, continued to fight Ganon alone, sealing it within the castle for a century.

On the day the Calamity occurred a hundred years ago, Link's fate should have ended, but Princess Zelda transported him to the Shrine of Resurrection on the Great Plateau.

After 100 years, Link gradually awakened but lost some of his memories and his former powerful abilities.

Now, Princess Zelda in Hyrule Castle, after a long 100 years, is on the verge of exhausting her power. If Ganon is not sealed by then, all of Hyrule will be destroyed.

"So… Link! I failed to protect this country and this land, but even so, I must ask you… Please defeat Ganon, save this country and this land, and save my daughter…"

The old king handed Link the paraglider and also pointed him in the right direction. For his next step, Link needed to go to a village and find a person named Impa, who would then give Link further guidance.

The plot was simple and easy to understand. Just as previously guessed, a righteous knight saves the princess by defeating the Demon King; this was the main questline running through the game.

Next, he should go find Impa for guidance, then successively defeat the four Divine Beasts controlled by Ganon, proceed to Hyrule Castle to kill Ganon, save Princess Zelda, and finally, the princess and the knight would live happily ever after.

However, at this moment, Zhang Yi temporarily wasn't too focused on advancing the game's main quest, as he was filled with curiosity for his new toy.

"Finally got the paraglider, so this is how it's used!" Zhang Yi stood at the top of the shrine, found another Korok, and then jumped off, opening his paraglider.

Gliding through the sky, Zhang Yi felt two words: pure joy!

"Next, I'll go explore over here."

Zhang Yi marked a spot on the map of the Great Plateau.

Having obtained the paraglider, he wasn't in a hurry to continue to the village to save the princess.

He felt there was still some content on the Great Plateau he hadn't fully explored.

He wanted to explore a bit more before leaving.

Also, he wanted to find the Guardians he had encountered earlier.

This time, he planned to take them down with a Perfect Guard; the hour-plus spent throwing bombs before couldn't be for nothing.

As for Princess Zelda...

She'd already held on for 100 years, so another little while probably wouldn't be a big deal.

………………

Zhang Yi was not the only player with such thoughts.

Many players, after obtaining the paraglider, chose not to leave the Great Plateau but to continue exploring it.

The main reason was the sheer amount of content to explore. It was like playing Super Mario Odyssey; you always felt there was somewhere you hadn't been, and there must be a Power Moon hidden there.

Similarly, even though it was an open-world game, many players once again found that sense of constant surprise they got from playing Super Mario Odyssey.

For example, after climbing a big tree, besides apples, you could sometimes find bird nests with leftover bird eggs inside.

By a lake, you could use bombs to blast fish out of the water.

And after mastering Stasis power, you could freeze a slanted tree, repeatedly attack it to adjust its direction, then climb onto it.

Once the Stasis ended, you could experience a feeling of flying before opening your paraglider.

Two words: pure joy!

In other games, trees, grass, fruits, and bird nests were often just scene models or textures with no interactive functions.

But in The Legend of Zelda, almost everything visible on the map was interactive.

The most astonishing feature for players was the climbing system; theoretically, almost any visible location could be reached, provided you had enough stamina.

This was completely different from all other open-world games. Even simply finding a route to climb to a mountaintop, such a straightforward activity, brought immense enjoyment to many players.

Compared to ordinary players engrossed in Hyrule, some gaming industry designers who were paying attention to how The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild would perform on the Switch console were utterly astonished, transforming into Slowpoke.

They hadn't yet fully processed the subsequent content, as the game had just launched. But the content showcased in the early stages alone was enough to make their astonishment irrepressible.

Because the level design of the early-game Great Plateau was nothing short of a textbook example! (End of Chapter) <>