Insane Difficulty: Zelda ALBW Challenge - Insane Difficulty

• Play in Hero Mode (you'll have to beat the game once to unlock this).
  
• Don't pick up the big heart containers after any boss (I'll allow heart pieces, this isn't a 3 heart run).
  
• Don't buy the bottle from the street merchant in Kakariko.
  
• Don't buy a shield.
  
• Don't speak to the "bird lover" underneath the bridge north of the House of Gales.
  
• Don't pick up the bottle with the letter inside of it east of the House of Gales in the shallow water.
  
• Don't open the treasure chest in the back of the vacant house (the counterpart to Link's house) in Lorule.
  
• Don't open the big treasure chests in the Swamp Palace, Turtle Rock, or Lorule Castle.
  
• Don't upgrade your sword at the blacksmith.
  
• Don't throw 3000 rupees into the Great Fairy Pond just northwest of the Bomb Shop in Lorule.
  
• Don't return all 100 lost Maiamais to Mother Maiamai (you can return 99, just not 100).

jajomart, on 09 July 2014 - 04:52 PM, said:

This is the worst fucking thing to exist in games (right after unskippable cutscenes).

Kjata, on 10 July 2014 - 04:18 AM, said:

Then it's not the worst fucking thing to exist in games. That would make it the second worst fucking thing to exist in games.

This is you.

I'm glad I borrowed this game from a friend and was able to delve straight into Hard Mode.

The main annoyance it that it is such a bland, simple increase in difficulty. I would be ok with difficulty selection from the beginning but there really isn't great replayability in just a damage increase.

Damage increases only scale so far which is why I hate it in Dark Souls as well. The difference between NG+ and NG+7 is there but it is still a huge amount of damage either way. Most stuff is going to one shot you anyway especially when the difficulty is high so it makes certain parts of strategies less viable.

I really wish they would take the time to make enemies act differently at different difficulty levels instead of just doing BS like 10x damage. I can impose that type of difficulty on myself by getting minimum hearts and base armor without the game having to do anything different. Give me a smaller boost in damage and maybe a small decrease in item effectiveness + DIFFERENT ENEMY AI PATTERNS AND NEW ENEMY ABILITIES. Add depth to the game, damnit

I agree to a point, but I feel that damage increase can bring out latent challenge that you simply miss if you can take more hits.

Oh crap, the boss just killed me in two hits. Maybe I'd better look for some way to avoid that attack next time...

vs.

SWING SWING (get hit but don't care) SWING SWING SWING (get hit but don't care) SWING SWING SWING I WIN!

But I agree that damagex only scales so far. But it can be effective in some cases.

I think ALBW is a good game, but... that's it. I don't think it's anything to call a masterpiece or even game of the year.

The game just gives me the vibe of being made half-heartedly.


Hero mode feels somehow rushed and could have done way better - for example by improved enemy AI or actually having new dungeon designs.

Some parts at the end feel rushed for me as well. I don't dislike the Moldorm battle, but it's really overused. Instead they could have given us an actual boss rush in the tower or at Lorule Castle (instead of only Moldorm and Arrghus).


However, there's one glaring misconception that tops everything else: The way the Shadow Link mini-game is implemented.

The way the Shadow Link's are unlocked just is very terrible game design. Seriously, in order to get a mini-game we have to waste hours by doing something not related to this mini-game or the overall game in general. I know, this is designed with Japan in mind where everyone and his mother does streetpassing, but it's nevertheless no good game design. These battles actually could be funny for me - if I could just play them without having to waste hours for one new battle.

auraplatonic, on 10 July 2014 - 03:26 PM, said:

I'll just leave this here.

http://www.insanedif...ance-review-r87