SPOILER ALERT! I think I should start adding these. During these posts I will be talking about where I am in the game and my experience as I play it. Some of that might just spoil the game for you if you are planning on playing it.

It’s been well over a month since I last spent anytime on my Switch Lite. Let alone continued my journey in Hyrule by playing Tears of the Kingdom.

I could come up with excuses as to why this is the case. But that is all they are. Just excuses.

Whatever the reason it doesn’t get away from the fact I’ve not played a video game for over a month.

Back in the eighties and my teenage years I had all the time in the world to play video games, read about video games in the pages of such publications as ZZap64!, Crash, or C&VG.

Some games I completed (not many), others I enjoyed but was just crap at them and never got very far. Sometimes you just didn’t have time to complete the game or get good at it before another game came along and demanded your attention and time.

Now decades later there just doesn’t seem to be the time available. Adult stuff like earning a living gets in the way. Age catches up, and energy levels are just not the same after a long day at work. All I want to do in an evening is unwind a little and sleep. Early nights are a thing for me. It’s surprising how drained I am physically and emotionally after a days work.

In fact it is well over a decade, nearly fifteen years since I last had a significant amount of time that I could dedicate to gaming.

Before that my gaming whilst a step parent was hand held titles for one of the Nintendo systems or the Sony PSP (I had both) on my daily commute. Whilst the kids got to play on the Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo consoles. That would give me a couple of hours gaming a day during the week.

Today it feels like I’m stealing moments here and there.

When last I played Tears of the Kingdom I had failed to take out the boss Colgera at the Wind Temple.

Unusual for me these days I had been playing the game after work one evening! Some how I had some energy left over from a day in front of students. Maybe I was feeling energised from having received the players guide a day or two earlier.

I finished the last two locks that would release Colgera, and had an attempt to defeat him fail. I was running out of arrows or more importantly things to meld on to the arrows to increase their damage.

So I retreated.

Sadly the amiibo stuff doesn’t work during the boss battle. I had to retreat to a shrine so I could unlock some supplies.

By that time it was nearly 10pm and I had work the next day. So I left it there, ready for another assault on Colgera.

I’d like to think that a younger me, even when I was playing Links Awakening on my GameBoy in my early twenties, and blasting my way through Doom, would have beat Colgera.

But as Shahid Kamal Ahmad said in the latest Remaster podcast (and I’m paraphrasing heavily here, maybe even putting words in his mouth, but I think I captured his meaning) “I ain’t getting any younger and my reactions are not the same as they were” when he was talking about the latest Street Fighter game and how his kids are thrashing him at the game (is this his “the student becomes the master” moment?)

Memory keeps telling me games were much tougher back in the day. And they probably were. They definitely were much less forgiving. But game design was in its infancy back then. It felt every other game was pushing boundaries, exploring what games could do, or redefining what a game was.

But back then I had youth and time on my side. Time to spend learning patterns to defeat that boss, or advance through the levels. Plus the reactions, hand eye coordination of a teenager.

Now I have greatly less time. And like Shahid my reactions are no longer the stuff of legend (well in my mind they were legendary) but more like that boxer passed their prime trying once more to capture former glory against a much younger opponent.

Am I finding Colgera hard to defeat because I’m old. Do I have to swallow my pride. Admit defeat and get Nathan to get me pass this bit?

Hell no! I’m not ready for the long walk yet (Judge Dredd reference there for you folks).

Time to remind myself of the controls (that drawback of long gaps between plays) and dispatch this boss.

Oh yeah SPOILER ALERT!

As I was bouncing and gliding from one flying ship to the other, ascending so that I was above the storm clouds. It occurred to me this part is a bloody platformer! Why hadn’t that fact clicked earlier?

Since accepting the mission to catch up with Tulin I have been playing a massive platform game. It only really becomes that once you catch up with Tulin and then start ascending towards the mountain top and then onto the storm cloud. Gliding from one chunk of sky island to the other.

Unlike a regular platformer falling off the platform doesn’t mean you are dead. Well as long as you remember to use your paraglider just before you hit the ground you aren’t (I love that you can free fall and at the last moment pop your paraglider and land safely without a scratch. The sound effect used as you pull off this maneuver is so Batman, it instantly made me think of Batman). It’s just a major bloody inconvenience. Or not so major if you activated the shrines on your way up that you passed.

I know I should have taken the time out and completed the shrines. But I wanted to move on. I can always come back to the shrines to do them. Which I plan to do. Sooner than later. I want those extra heart containers.

I jump off the flying ship dropping into the eye of the storm clouds descending like Mary Poppins with my paraglider towards the rather large boat in the middle of the storm.

Does Mary Poppins have a stamina timer when she uses her umbrella to fly? I think not. She’s Mary bloomin Poppins!

However I do as Link. So I have to use it sparingly to get me safely onto the decking of this large flying ship.

Welcome to the temple…

We’ve got fun and games. (A very bad G ‘N R misquote)

Yes this flying hulk of a ship is my first temple in the game.

I think temples are the new dungeons. Or more specifically the return of dungeons to the Zelda series with a twist. The temples seem more task orientated than puzzle. Although some of the tasks seem a bit puzzle like, or the obstacles in the way do. Often requiring the use of one of Links cyborg powers! The tasks can be attempted in any order. Or it appears that way in my first temple. I like this non-linear approach.

I swear my first instinct is not to jump off of a perfectly good, safe, solid place like this wind temple.

But that’s what I’m having to do.

As I write this I’ve not finished the first temple. Board gaming and a car repair has taken priority the last couple of days on my free time. But as soon as I’ve finished this post I’m back in Hyrule and the Wind Temple.

SPOILER ALERT! I think I should start adding these. During these posts I will be talking about where I am in the game and my experience as I play it. Some of that might just spoil the game for you if you are planning on playing it.

Back in the early days of the video game industry we never had these fancy players guides, official and non-official, to turn to when we got stuck in a game.

We couldn’t just go online to look for a solution from the many websites carrying walk throughs of the game.

No we had to struggle and try and find a solution for ourselves. If we were lucky a friend or class mate might be playing the same game and know of a solution.

Otherwise our only hope was in the pages of the monthly video game magazines and their help pages. If luck was on your side some-one had already written in and had a solution published. Other wise it would mean putting pen to paper, and sending in your question, hoping you would get selected for publication. Or sometimes the magazine would publish a map for the game that you could use.

You had to be a lot more resilient back then. I’m not saying I was. As memory tells me I didn’t finish many games at the time.

The official Tears of the Kingdom players guide did indeed arrive Wednesday. Nearly a week earlier than Amazon had planned to deliver my pre-order. A fact I am still baffled by.

Wow what a weighty tome the player guide is.

I went for the soft cover version. I dread to think how heavy the hard back version is. This is 500 (498 if you don’t count the covers) glossy pages.

I do like the use of screen shots and art through out the book. The book although packed with a lot of information still manages to look amazing in side.

For me this players guide has the right level of detail. It’s not a micro guide talking you through every step as some of the online walk throughs do.

Apparently I am going after the Wind Sage on my current path through the game. The player guide has spoiled the fact there are four of them and I am apparently going for the right choice as the first one to go for. That’s pure luck.

I don’t remember anything in the story line that I’ve come across so far that mentions these sages.

Oh wait I have. They will be the anomalies I have to investigate round Hyrule.

I have made a new friend in the game called Tulin from the Rito Village. Tulin is really cool as he is able to generate gusts of wind that can carry you over longer distances using the paraglider.

I’m sure that after I have defeated or freed the Wind Sage I’ll get a similar ability. Or I hope so. As I think having Tulin shadow me everywhere is going to get annoying.

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But this bit of the game where I am jumping/gliding from one sky island to another ascending to this boat hidden in the storm clouds above has triggered that feeling I get when when heights are involved in the game. I did talk briefly about this in my initial thoughts on Tears of the Kingdom.

It’s weird.

I’ve done Crib Goch in Snowdonia, walking along it’s knife edge ridge with drops either side. I’ve done a via ferrata in the French Pyrenees starting at the bottom of a gorge, climbed up the side of the gorge under a bridge, death slid across the gorge 300ft above the ground into a net the other side. And neither of those times did I ever feel like this game or others have made me feel while playing them.

I don’t like heights. They make me very nervous. Doing the above was possible as I was able to block out the drops, and just focus on what is directly in front of me. Having tinnitus does make it easier to do things like this. I practice the skill daily.

But come video games I get so immersed in the game when I get to a level like the sky islands with sheer drops in Tears of the Kingdom I get triggered and an irrational fear kicks in.

I know it’s not real. I know I can fall and nothing will happen to me. But those butterflies in the stomach still kick in.

It’s only a game.

Still my mind and body are fooled into thinking it’s not.

How much do games like Tears of the Kingdom or Doom fool my mind and body. Watch me playing an FPS like Doom or Half Life and as I look round corners etc my body moves too!

Yeah I get totally immersed.

I could do with scanning some amiibo cards to top up my swords. But I’ll do that once I reach my final destination in the clouds.

I think that my favourite ability for Link’s cybernetic limb is the ascend ability. I just love the cool animation showing him move through the solid object, and then half emerging on the surface.

In the meantime it’s onwards and upwards.

If you are interested you can catch up with my other posts about Tears of the Kingdom HERE.

“Oooh you are so big… So absolutely huge.” Monty Python The Meaning of Life

That quote came to mind when thinking about Zelda Tears of the Kingdom (TotK) when I started playing it again on Sunday evening.

Hyrule is massive. It just feels massive as you wander round exploring and following which ever plot line or side quest takes your fancy.

But I’m sure I’ll talk more about that in a later post.

I know I do this every time I write about video games on here, but I think it helps for anyone who stumbles on these posts and none of the others to know what my setup is for playing the game.

Obviously I’m using a Nintendo Switch but it is the Switch Lite I use and not an original Switch or the newer OLED model (although I’d love one of these).

I’m currently not using any headphones with the Switch Lite. So all sound is from the built in speakers of the Switch Lite. Although I am tempted to sync it with a small Bluetooth speaker I have.

Taking the advice of the hosts of the The Remaster podcast I did purchase for a very reasonable sum of money from Amazon 38 NFT Zelda amiibo cards. They arrived at the weekend and I was taken aback how small they were.

All of them except the 8 bit Zelda art one worked with TotK. I’m expecting or hoping that one works with the Links Awakening remake. It almost felt like a chore scanning in that many amiibo cards. But I was thankful I wasn’t having to use the actual amiibo figures.

The great advantage of these is they are so portable. These can easily be carried around with the Switch. Unlike their official bigger counter parts. Plus for the asking price of less than an amiibo much much cheaper as well. With some of the amiibos being rather hard to get hold of. Those that are for sale normally have a high price attached to them as well.

I am pretty glad I got these amiibo cards. I love the unlocks they give. Such as horses! Yep two of the cards unlock horses. I’ll never be without one now. You also get food/ingredients, rare rocks and gems, swords, shields, clothing. All useful stuff.

It was funny when I first used them because I am currently in a very cold, snow covered area called the Hebra Mountains. As soon meat or fish appeared they froze! All I can do with them is eat them frozen, they are not usable as an ingredient.

In May I preordered the official players guide that came out yesterday. However the day before it’s release Amazon updated my expected delivery date until next Monday. Yet if I bought the players guide on day of release (yesterday) I could have it the next day! How does that work? Surely it should be delivered to me on the day of release? So I cancelled my preorder and ordered a copy which is due to be delivered today (as I write this).

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I know I can just google a solution/walkthrough if I get stuck. But I’m old school and I love the physicality of the players guide. And I’m sure once I have it in my grubby mitts I will let you know what I think of it.

My life style doesn’t give me many (if any) gaming sessions where I can play for hours on end. These days I grab an hour or two here and there when I can. Especially on a week night when I am absolutely shattered once I get home.

Which does present it’s own set of challenges when it comes to playing the game. Such as remembering the controls of the game and how to perform certain moves etc. That was really an issue when I returned back to the game after the “break”. That first hour or so of playing again is trying to remember what does what when you need to do it.

So you now know how I’ll be playing TotK from now on as I write further posts about my experience of the game.

It’s been hard over the last month or so to get any time on the Switch and Tears of the Kingdom.

Work has been super busy during the day with marking and getting students across the finish line before the end of term. Which has left me really drained in the evenings and at weekends. I’ve just not had the energy to pick up the switch.

It sounds like I’m making excuses for having not played the game. And it’s true I am.

There is a bit of I think trying to convince myself that’s the reason why to ease my sense of guilt.

Earlier in the week I was listening to the latest The Remaster podcast where they discuss Tears of the Kingdom. I like how the hosts talk about video games. It’s some of the most intelligent discussion online. And I was waiting for this episode to hear what they had to say. Sadly Shadid wasn’t taking part in this episode. I assume because he hasn’t had a chance to play the game yet.

One interesting suggestion by the hosts Myke and Federico in this episode for Tears of the Kingdom is to get hold of some amiibo cards to use with the game. These are not official products. However they are much much cheaper than trying to purchase the official amiibos. So can be very expensive. These amiibo cards when scanned act exactly like the official thing and will unlock bonus items etc in game. I have a set on the way now.

But go click the link above and listen to probably the most interesting discussion on Tears of the Kingdom on the Internet. It’ll certainly put any words I throw together to shame.

We are days away from the official players guide landing through letter boxes, and in particular mine. I should try and get the Breathe of the Wild one. So I’m looking forward to that arriving.

I am avoiding the many many YouTube videos out there of all the amazing and clever devices and vehicles players have been building in the game.

I’m feeling guilty as it is not playing Tears of the Kingdom. No need to add feeling inadequate as well.

In the meantime I need to think about my future coverage of the game for this blog.

Friday for many a Switch owner was the much anticipated highlight of the year, with the long awaited release of the latest entry into the Zelda series and sequel to Breathe of the Wild, Zelda Tears of the Kingdom.

I had been hoping that my pre-order with Amazon would arrive the day before. But sadly it did not.

Instead Friday morning I woke to an email saying my pre-order had been dispatched. There was no indication of when in the day it would arrive.

Lunchtime the only clue Amazon were prepared to give me was I’d have my copy of the game by 11pm. It wasn’t even showing as out for delivery.

If I was lucky maybe it’d arrive before I got home.

Next time I checked I had a delivery estimate of between 3pm and 5pm. It would most definitely be waiting for me. I could breathe a sigh of relief.

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Mum said the game had arrived in the morning. So much for Amazon’s tracking of your package.

But I had the game that’s the important thing.

After tea it was time to return to Hyrule.

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Tears of the Kingdom is beautiful.

I love the art style. It looks amazing on the Switch Lite lcd screen. The soundtrack is pretty awesome too. There is some speech in the game that is reserved for cutscenes. Otherwise it’s little speech bubbles you have to read.

After the initial cutscene and limited interaction that launches the plot for this instalment you are starting up in the clouds on some of the floating land masses.

I was pleasantly surprised by this. I had been expecting to start on the ground and having to wait and open up visiting the floating islands. But instead I’m right up there experiencing the new mechanics in this sequels version of the plateau.

As you gradually get introduced to the new mechanics that power up the artificial arm Link has (yes technically Link is a cyborg now!) you get to start crafting stuff that you need to access bits of the map, reverse time, or pass through solid objects.

I love the crafting. I can’t wait to start trying stuff out. Although I’m not that creative.

Definitely as I’m moving between floating land masses I was getting Bioshock Infinite vibes as I rode along rails.

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As I get near to the edge of the floating land masses I start to feel nervous. It’s hard to describe the feeling for sure. But with the long drop mere pixels away my fear of heights is kicking in.

I don’t know why this happens when I play video games. But it does. I first noticed it as a thing back when I was playing Half Life 2 on my Xbox360 up in County Durham.

Maybe it’s an immersion thing that I’m so immersed in the game that it becomes real to my senses.

So you can imagine how I felt having to jump off the floating land mass and sky dive down to ground level on Hyrule.

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I did not enjoy that initial having to look down and jump off the edge. But once I was falling the feeling went away.

Although visually Tears of the Kingdom looks just like Breathe of the Wild, it does feel different as you play it.

I’ve only just started to the scratch the surface of what Tears of the Kingdom has to offer. This is such a rich rewarding game I can’t wait to see what treats the game has in store.