The Elder Zelda's: Skyrim of the Wild

Hello!
I'm not sure if anyone reading this is going to know what I'm talking about at all, but Breath of the Wild is the newest Zelda game and nothing has been this over-hyped since Frozen. No offense, Breath of the Wild.

Let me start this whole rant off by saying I love Zelda games and Breath of the Wild is no exception. I'm an avid Zelda fan and Breath of the Wild is definitely a fun and exciting game. This rant is just gonna be... it's a fun and exciting brighter colored skyrim. Not a good Zelda game.

First complaint: some small stuff that really stacks up for me.
 You can't name Link. He's always been meant to BE the player (and yeah, complain it's always a guy but I mean, I'm a straight girl and that doesn't ever take me out of the game. I don't actually want a female Link, and I feel like if you actually care about the games that doesn't matter too much). If you can't name Link it feels like he's going to be less of an Avatar for the player (like he's always been) and more of a character of his own (and I love games like Uncharted, but Link shouldn't be a character like Nathan Drake is). Also, almost ALL the voice acting is pretty good except for Zelda's. Zelda's is the worst. It's just bad. And it's the one that SHOULD be BEST. I also don't like how there's not heart pieces. Treasure chests just feel much more "meh, okay" than they used to. It's like, it's either money, an expensive item you can use for upgrades or a type of weapon. It just feels... pointless. Which brings me to...

Second complaint: The whole story is just... pointless.
Yeah, you can do the memories to beat the game, but you don't have to. You can do the divine beasts, but... you don't have to. They're part of the "main quest" but they're not required in any shape or form. The only thing that's really a necessity to beat the game is the plateau and calamity Ganon. Everything past that isn't required and feels ultimately pointless. You can label it "main quest" but it's belongs under the sidequest tab.

Third complaint: the divine beasts.
Okay, this one I'm actually gonna start out by saying I kinda loved the divine beasts. They were AWESOME. I love that you could manipulate the divine beasts to solve puzzles -- much like one of my favorite Zelda temples of all time, inside the goddess statue, from Skyward Sword. HOWEVER, beyond manipulating how the temple worked, it didn't feel like a puzzle. It was mostly just a game of "where's the thing?". And it was fun enough to do, but gamer does not live on one puzzle feature alone. Plus they took away dungeon items (I understand why) and it's like... oh. So they all just feel the same. No varied puzzles either. Semi-boring boss fights (get to that in a second). And non-varied enemies. Not even minibosses. Just like, this guardian scout, this guardian scout and some malice. But... that's it. Boring puzzles and limited enemies. And ultimately, yes, we get the champions skill, but... unrewarding. Then there's the bosses...

Fourth complaint: the divine beast bosses.
These are their own category because this is just so big. The bosses all feel the same. Yeah, waterblight Ganon  (btw, spoilers, I guess? I get confused on what exactly people consider spoilers...) throws the ice blocks cryosis can destroy, and thunderblight Ganon drops metal pillars your magnesis can pick up and use to break his defenses. But they're unvaried. You beat my personal favorite boss, the one in arbiters grounds in Twilight Princess, using the top you gained in a fun and creative boss fight. You beat the one in Skyward Sword's Ancient Cistern (spoilers, again, I guess) using the whip to break down Koloktos and FIGHT HIM WITH HIS OWN GIANT SWORDS. But Breath of the Wild? I shoot him with an arrow and hit him with whichever arrow I have equipped. There's slight variance in each fight, but not enough to make them seem new and exciting and different. You need dungeon items for that. Seriously, the most fun fight in the game that could be considered a boss fight is fighting the leader of the Yiga clan. That's a fun, interesting boss fight that takes more thought than continually hitting y.

Fifth complaint: Yamcha weapons.
Yamcha, as in the guy that gets pwned every story arch. Saiyans? Killed before they even fight them. Androids? Hole in his chest before you even meet the giant ginger designed after the mad doctors son (yeah, look it up). The weapons in Breath of the Wild? Broken. Hit a Bokoblin with it? Badly damaged. Use a shield to block an arrow? Breaks next attack. Bow? Breaks in the middle of a korok challenge. I mean, yes, that's an exaggeration of their in-durability, but... there's no permanent weapons, and you basically have to constantly find more. Even later, when more powerful weapons are the standard, they break so easily that it's just annoying. And it feels like you're wasting a weapon whenever you use it on something that's not worth the power -- korok challenges, getting scales, talons and fangs, (oh my!) from the dragons and Stalfos. Higher durability or, honestly, a unbreakable but low powered weapon would be pretty much perfect for this game, please?

Also, perhaps the BIGGEST complaint, the most horrific... you can't pet the dogs. Give me a petting dogs feature Nintendo. Do it. Do iiittttt. Dddddddoooooooooo iiiiiiiittttttttttt. Pretty please with I got the DLC on top?

All that being said I do enjoy the Zelda-Skyrim game. It's fun and I've kicked all the butts at all the sidequests. Except trial of the sword. Who has the time to go through 90 rooms without saving? I can't wait for the next real Zelda game though.

Hylia's Heroine
Super-chu
Raven DeWitt

Steamworks

Hello
After my two very weirdly depressing posts, here's another happy one. I swear, I'm not bipolar or anything, I just...
So, being a pilot in First Steamworks this year was pretty much the best part of my high school experience. Not sure anything about Steamworks and actually care to learn? Here's your basic guide! Okay, now, for me being all gloaty and stuff :-)
The pilot gets to be in the airship, but only two out of the three alliance teams get to. It was amazing being up in the airship. Plus, I got to hangout with the drive team, a group of five other awesome people. They were a talented drive team too, and it was an honor to build robots with them. We're going to create a robotics team called the shop goblins when we're done with college, so I'll get to do that again.
We were the team captains in our first competition and won second place overall. At state we won our field. I mean, we weren't perfect, but not to shabby if I can say so myself ;-)
For now, he's one of the awesome jobs we did together as a drive team. First championship win in state. I'm the chick dressed ridiculous in the airship in the middle of the field. You can see my blue mechanic shirt that says BOB on it.

I don't know how exciting this is to watch, but it was exhilarating being part of the competition. Go blue alliance!

Pilot
Superchu
Raven DeWitt

Pyramid :-)