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brightknightie) wrote2026-01-15 08:38 am
brightknightie) wrote2026-01-15 08:38 am
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TLOZ:BOTW Champions' Ballad DLC: How it started
I'm over four-hundred hours into The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild since I got my Switch 2 this summer, and while I am a lore-hound and story-obsessive, I'm not a completionist as such. I'll try just about anything in game for more dialogue, but very little to run up numbers. So the end is near. I won't be able to put off storming the castle to join the princess and together defeat the big bad much longer.
But! I have the DLC pack -- that is, downloadable content, in this case 2 bonus adventures. After I finished all the shrines in the base game, I triggered "The Champions' Ballad." Unlike "Trial of the Sword," which is just a battle gantlet that I may never finish (it rewards nothing but a power-up), "Champions' Ballad" rewards story, sweet, sweet story: new side quests to help familiar characters, new puzzle shrines to solve, new journals of deceased companions to read, and new prequel flashbacks to watch (and, yes, more fights). I want all this story!
However, starting "The Champions' Ballad" one Saturday night with only a general idea of its mechanics, I found the first stage a frustrating, dismaying leap in difficulty. I was immensely put off. I thought about giving up. I grumpily Google Searched on: "Breath of the Wild Champions' Ballad is no fun because it is too hard."
Later, I figured out that I'd tried to tackle the hardest part first, as can happen in open-world games. That would do it! And I also figured out that the melee weapon handed to you for this phase is a red herring; don't use it until and unless you have to. Instead, I found success with sneaky ranged attacks, which, in fact, are my specialty in this game. My BOTW Link will patiently throw bombs down into a monster camp from a cliffside for hours (his time) because while he is brave, he is also not stupid.
Back when the DLC first came out in late 2017, my first impression was definitely shared by some, but not all. I suspect that folks who had, like me, unknowingly headed to the hardest area first, had very different experiences than those who, equally unknowingly, had gone to the easiest area first.
In the usual Zelda-specific forum sites still available and accessible to search, people then had the kinds of early discussions about this that I expected, sharing tips, politely differing in opinions, comparing it to other games, etc. Those who had already completed it, in mere hours or days, assured those who had not yet that the story content is worth the effort.
But on a Reddit thread, I encountered my first genuine instance of some Zelda fans being unkind to other Zelda fans. The initial poster had said just about what I'd searched, obviously very frustrated and perhaps feeling his money had been misspent. Some folks agreed. Some offered help. But some asserted at length that not only was the DLC easy, merely having difficulty with the DLC proved that the original poster had necessarily never learned to play the game properly, didn't know what he was doing, and just wasn't a real gamer or fan or whatever.
It wasn't the darkest corner of the internet by any means! But it really struck me. This was the first time I'd seen distinct uncharitableness related to Zelda. In my still-limited experience, Zelda fandom -- as witnessed through podcasts, YouTube, fansites, fanfic -- tends to be a fairly nice place. "So you like this game better than that game? Well, you're entitled to your opinion!" These few more-gamer-than-thou voices stood out to me like the proverbial sore thumbs. Perhaps because I am no gamer, really, just a story-er.
Exceptions that prove the rule, I choose to think! :-D
I'm enjoying "Champions' Ballad" immensely since I got out of that first section, btw. Story, story, story...
But! I have the DLC pack -- that is, downloadable content, in this case 2 bonus adventures. After I finished all the shrines in the base game, I triggered "The Champions' Ballad." Unlike "Trial of the Sword," which is just a battle gantlet that I may never finish (it rewards nothing but a power-up), "Champions' Ballad" rewards story, sweet, sweet story: new side quests to help familiar characters, new puzzle shrines to solve, new journals of deceased companions to read, and new prequel flashbacks to watch (and, yes, more fights). I want all this story!
However, starting "The Champions' Ballad" one Saturday night with only a general idea of its mechanics, I found the first stage a frustrating, dismaying leap in difficulty. I was immensely put off. I thought about giving up. I grumpily Google Searched on: "Breath of the Wild Champions' Ballad is no fun because it is too hard."
Later, I figured out that I'd tried to tackle the hardest part first, as can happen in open-world games. That would do it! And I also figured out that the melee weapon handed to you for this phase is a red herring; don't use it until and unless you have to. Instead, I found success with sneaky ranged attacks, which, in fact, are my specialty in this game. My BOTW Link will patiently throw bombs down into a monster camp from a cliffside for hours (his time) because while he is brave, he is also not stupid.
Back when the DLC first came out in late 2017, my first impression was definitely shared by some, but not all. I suspect that folks who had, like me, unknowingly headed to the hardest area first, had very different experiences than those who, equally unknowingly, had gone to the easiest area first.
In the usual Zelda-specific forum sites still available and accessible to search, people then had the kinds of early discussions about this that I expected, sharing tips, politely differing in opinions, comparing it to other games, etc. Those who had already completed it, in mere hours or days, assured those who had not yet that the story content is worth the effort.
But on a Reddit thread, I encountered my first genuine instance of some Zelda fans being unkind to other Zelda fans. The initial poster had said just about what I'd searched, obviously very frustrated and perhaps feeling his money had been misspent. Some folks agreed. Some offered help. But some asserted at length that not only was the DLC easy, merely having difficulty with the DLC proved that the original poster had necessarily never learned to play the game properly, didn't know what he was doing, and just wasn't a real gamer or fan or whatever.
It wasn't the darkest corner of the internet by any means! But it really struck me. This was the first time I'd seen distinct uncharitableness related to Zelda. In my still-limited experience, Zelda fandom -- as witnessed through podcasts, YouTube, fansites, fanfic -- tends to be a fairly nice place. "So you like this game better than that game? Well, you're entitled to your opinion!" These few more-gamer-than-thou voices stood out to me like the proverbial sore thumbs. Perhaps because I am no gamer, really, just a story-er.
Exceptions that prove the rule, I choose to think! :-D
I'm enjoying "Champions' Ballad" immensely since I got out of that first section, btw. Story, story, story...