After finally completing Skyward Sword (in ill humor and with little fanfare), we recently returned to a land and a game we’d loved: the Hyrule of Breath of the Wild. We’d defeated Ganon, both Calamity and Dark, but it was nearly a year after we’d seen the original credits roll on BOTW that we took up the two-part expansion, which consists of the Master Trials and the Champions’ Ballad.
Let’s be clear: When we reference the Master Trials, we mean that half of the expansion pack bundle. We do not mean Master Mode. We are never, ever going to play in Master Mode, which, as we understand it, makes already horrible Lynels even more nasty, allows their health points to regenerate, and requires Link to defeat them wearing only his underwear and carrying a tree branch. Hard pass, as Itzal would say. And did. Several times.
[Editors’ Note: The expansion pack is often referred to as DLC, or downloadable content. The DLC sounds to us like a political entity that telephones during dinner to assess our feelings about global warming or the metaverse. Accordingly, we generally refer to the expansion pack material as, well, the expansion pack material. Or sometimes the bundle, or the bundle’s separate components, the Master Trials and the Champions’ Ballad.]
In preparation for expansion play, Demelza divided our planned activities into entertaining pursuits (also known as easier) and rigorous endeavors (also known as discouraging and dreadful and sometimes both). She has learned, over the course of several years, that Itzal has a limit when it comes to the discouraging and dreadful, and thus more entertaining options must be offered between times until his blood pressure has lowered. It should be noted that Itzal did nothing in preparation for expansion play except wonder if Demelza was remarking on his pandemically expanded waistline.
In this post, we offer our thoughts on the “entertaining” offerings of the expansion pack.
Travel Accessories
The Travel Medallion enables one to establish a fast travel point anywhere, rather than having to use the opened shrine or tower nearest one’s desired location. Say you are out fighting a Moblin and suddenly feel peckish, fancying hearty durians sautéed with Hyrule bass, but boy howdy, you really want to get back to that Moblin as soon as Link has finished brunch. So you slap down the Travel Medallion to establish a fast travel point, head to Link’s house to cook, and then yay! It’s back to the Moblin for Link. Now that sounds as if it would be useful, right? But the medallion can record only one fast travel spot at a time. Unless you’re really fond of your Moblin and like to visit him every Tuesday and Friday for fisticuffs, well, then, there are limits to the Travel Medallion’s utility. What’s more, by the time you’ve activated all the towers and 120 shrines, there are few places in Hyrule that aren’t close to a local transit hub. And lastly, the medallion must be retrieved from that scary Tu Kaloh shrine in the scary Lomei Labyrinth Island.
Also in the category of travel accessories, the Ancient Saddle enables Link to warp his horse to his current location – not whilst climbing a cliff, obviously – rather than having to find a stable. The saddle appears to work only with an ordinary and not a special horse such as Epona, and one must first visit a stable[1] to prove one has wholly bonded with one’s friend Flicka. Nonetheless, we can see the saddle’s utility, since we regularly abandon our horses hither and yon. The Ancient Bridle adds a couple of spur icons to the horse’s ability to dash, which also proves useful. (Unfortunately, Itzal’s shaky ability to steer horses even at a slow gait is compounded during a gallop.)
Clothing Accessories
Wearing Majora’s Mask makes most enemies ignore Link – with the notable exception of Guardians. We found Majora’s Mask to be decidedly useful; we gleefully roamed Hyrule Castle unmolested, save for the aforenoted Guardians. Even the Lynel we encountered merely gazed at us quizzically with a question mark over its head for a good long while, or at least long enough for us to test the limits of the mask’s utility – erm, don’t get too close to a Lynel, no matter what you’re wearing. Interestingly, enemies we encountered in the castle trailed after us within their area, such that Link looked like the Pied Piper of Moblin. But useful? Heck yes. Unlike the other enemy-deterring masks we bought from Kilton, we didn’t have to switch out Majora’s Mask depending on the species of enemy in question.
The Korok Mask is another fun piece of headgear, although it looks like you’ve plastered a giant leaf to your face with a pinwheel on the side. Cleverly, the pinwheel spins and the controller rumbles when Link is near a hidden Korok. Oh, how we coveted Koroks to expand our tiny inventory when first beginning BOTW! A Korok mask would have been invaluable in our quest for the leafy little rascals. Regrettably, however, acquiring the Korok mask requires one to enter the Lost Woods and follow embers to a hidden chest, without getting swallowed up by the fog. Don’t know about you, but we didn’t make our way to (or through) the Lost Woods in the first few days of play.
Incidentally, that’s a running theme in this post: As we perused various guides about the expansion bundle, we frequently encountered comments such as “useful early in the game, not so much later.” That’s true enough of the expansion pack armors. We would have appreciated the Phantom Armor, for example, early in the game: it provides a hearty defense and also increases Link’s attack power. But would we have had the guts and the gumption to go after it early, when it would have been most valuable? The Phantom Helmet is found in the Coliseum! Wherein resides a Lynel! What’s more, Guardians patrol the area surrounding the chest that houses the Phantom Greaves, and there are still more Guardians en route to the Phantom body armor piece. So, sure. This would be a great armor set to have early in play, not so much to obtain early in play.
Admittedly, some of the DLC armors are nifty looking. No, we’re not talking about the Island Lobster or Nintendo Switch shirts. But Link cuts a fine figure in the Royal Guard uniform,[2] and Itzal loves the way the cape on the Phantom Ganon set swirls behind as he swaggers and leaps about. If we weren’t collecting armor for fun and finery, however, we wouldn’t find any of the sets better than fully upgraded Ancient or Barbarian armors. Even the sets with added abilities, such as Tingle’s fairy clothes and its effect on night speed, duplicate enhancements of other sets we already have. It also bears noting that the DLC armors can’t be upgraded by the fairies.[3]
And Finally
One last fun option in the expansion pack: With the map screen open, press X to activate Path of the Hero. The first thing you’ll notice is that the map is now crisscrossed with green lines, said lines representing Link’s journey across Hyrule. (Not surprisingly, we found a sea of green ink near Link’s house in Hateno and in Lurelin Village.)
In addition, using the D-pad and the A and B buttons, Hero’s Path mode enables one to revisit the path of Link’s adventures in Hyrule, or at least, some 200 hours of them, on the map! We were rather surprised at how much Link had died at the hands of Itzal. And how much time Demelza spent lollygagging in Lurelin. The recriminations begin….
That’s our take on DLC fun. We’ll discuss the not-so-fun in a post coming soon. Or later. Or eventually….that is, whenever we get out of the Rohta Chigah shrine.
[1] Highland, Woodland, Outskirt, or South Akkala; talk to the woman feeding the horses, not the livery chap who wants to chat you up about your equestrian choices.
[2] A word about the Royal Guard Cap: it’s located in a chest on the second floor of the Inner Sanctum. Yes, that Sanctum. Itzal accidentally waltzed in the ground floor, but before he could trigger Calamity Ganon’s fall from above, Demelza whispered to him to back out slowly.
[3] As long as we’re complaining, let’s note that we (okay, Demelza) kept confusing the Phantom Set from the Master Trials and the Phantom Ganon set from the Champions’ Ballad.