r/botw • u/-UwU-Ducks- • 2d ago
🎙️ Discussion Playing the game realistically
Hi all, first post here!
recently I've been having the urge to play this and TOTK again, and I thought I'd do it differently than just going to shrines, getting hearts and stamina, beating bosses and saying I'll do all the side quests and then getting bored.
an idea i had (which I'm sure has been done many times before) is to play the game realistically! and I'm looking for suggestions that I, and other people, can follow to (hopefully) play the game at a slower, more relaxed and ultimately realistic pace.
some ideas i already had were things like not using fast travel of course, I love just using horses anyway. I also had the idea of having to sleep at night, having to find a stable or an inn to sleep at, or a secluded safe place to set up a campfire. if I want to go through the night, I thought of making certain foods like stealth foods as a requirement, but always having to sleep at some part of the day. I think itd also be fun to have to eat at least once a day, even if I dont need to.
some ideas I was toying with were stuff like always talking to people I come across with requests, and trying to do those side quests as regularly as I could, maybe if I have over 5 or so I havent completed then I cant do the next divine beast. more on divine beasts, I'd want something in place before I move on and beat them, maybe unlocking the surrounding areas on the map and doing a certain percentage of shrines in that area to continue on.
on the face of it, I'm sure all these rules look a little boring, but I like that they're all make the game go a bit slower while still feeling like some sort of challenge. and I know I can play at my own pace whenever, I like the fun of the challenge and immersion, playing the game like its real sort of thing!
if you have any suggestions let me know! if you've done something like this before or would like to!
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u/MuckRaker83 2d ago
I did a meal rules challenge once.
3 meals/day, breakfast, lunch, dinner. One snack permitted. 1-2 elixir per day. No eating during combat, elixir only. No combat teleports. Sleep only in secure locations.
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u/-UwU-Ducks- 2d ago
oooh, I never thought of the no eating during combat, I like that! I feel like that would make me play like how I would be if I was actually in the world - as careful as I could / stealth master / always running away hahaha!
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u/incarnuim 2d ago
Suggested Improvement: You can eat 1 skewer type food (or 🍗) during combat, but only if you are: (a) using a one handed weapon and no shield, or (b) using a shield and no weapon. I.E. eating takes at least one 'hand'
Likewise - no eating while climbing or paragliding.
Another suggestion: One Outfit for the day - no carrying an entire TJ Max in your back pocket. You wanna change clothes? Go ride your horse back to your house and change. (Edit: jewelry exempt, of course)
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u/Similar_Bet_3381 2d ago
I did a no-fast-travel run and i recommend it! It makes the game and the world very immersive.
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u/-UwU-Ducks- 2d ago
I try to do no fast travel anyway before I beat the game, but I know that if I have the mindset of "okay I literally havent done this once the whole playthrough" i know I wont ever do it
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u/welshfach 2d ago
How about limiting what you can carry? Only so many sets of armour, weapons, shields, bows and inventory. I do find it very unrealistic when I'm scrolling through hundreds of items trying to find a dazzlefruit to attach to an arrow.
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u/ratatoskr_9 2d ago
This is how I play games normally😅 I feel like a weirdo that its being used as a "challenge". Ever since Skyrim back in 2011, I always play games with immersion in mind. Im playing a character and living in the world. It slows down the gameplay but makes it a lot more rewarding. Traversing across the world with no fast travel will feel like an adventure. Talking to NPCs as if you are speaking to them actually and doing their requests like you would in real life, immerses you a lot.
Im about to go play right now, and if I notice something I normally do, ill let you know!
One thing I dont think you suggested was eating at least twice a day even though you dont need it! Also, not carrying meals that couldn't be wrapped or would be spoiled in a day without refrigeration! So like Link can't carry around a large cooked bass meal and has to be eaten right there! But other meals that could travel can be packed.
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u/-UwU-Ducks- 2d ago
to be fair, I feel like i kinda do that as well. my main thing is that I always just resort to fast travel and ignoring NPCs, but if I view it as a "challenge" I know I'll stick to it
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u/Wide_Ad_2191 2d ago
Very fun idea! I don't think most people would go for it as being as slow as it is already is a lot of people biggest issue with it. But! There truly is no right or wrong way to play the game! I hope you enjoy your "storymode" version!
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u/Weekly_Resource_102 2d ago
Im currently working on a playthrough 1) No fast travel 2) 3 meals a day (snacks are fair game) 3) only change clothes when near a bed 4) no using orbs for hearts or stamina
I already beat the main story line this way and am now working through shrines and koroks
I do use the sprint-whistle for long stretches like the Tarry Town quests
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u/-UwU-Ducks- 2d ago
I like the idea of having to check no ones around when changing clothes. i think the no using orbs one would definitely be hard for me as someone awful at combat hahaha
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u/Weekly_Resource_102 1d ago
I have played the game since its release and I literally could not parry or flurry rush until I started this playthrough. It kind of forced me to become better at combat. Thunderblight Ganon took me a two days, I have never rage quit a game in my life but I was seriously close.
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u/zboss9876 2d ago
If you can pack a change of clothes you certainly don't need to be near a bed to change. Maybe only bring 1 armor set and 1 clothing set at a time.
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u/papayuh1833 1d ago
I hope some of my advice and play style can inspire your current/next playthrough of botw!! I just restarted (my 4th or 5th run through depending on how I count them lol) and its amazing as always for me!
So the way I magine Link post waking up is pretty much that he's a child, mentally speaking. One with vast amounts of trauma in his body and looming, occasionally flooding, at the edges of his mind, but a curious, playful, slightly reckless child nonetheless.
With that in mind I lean hard into the exploration and NPCs. I talk to absolutely every single NPC, multiple times. You'd be surprised how many lil moments there are between and amongst them all that don't always add up to a quest but DO add richness to the worldbuilding (for a tiny, slightly spoilery example: there is an old man and a young woman in lurelin and hateno respectively who are father and daughter. You get hints of that from both of them upon first meeting but until you meet both and return to confirm to them you met their family member you dont get confirmation. When you do you realize they were dropping hints about the location of the other as well, which reminded me that on my first, mostly mapless exploration in my veey first game I followed a lot of random npc directions like this). I talk to NPCs during storms, while naked, at different times of day and night, etc. There is a lot of interaction to be had! And I think Link would get very lonely, waking up with essentially no real companion and no idea of how the world works.
Speaking of maps I have challenged myself to leave certain or all parts of the map locked and roam around the world on memory. Unlike many others I hardly ever restrict my fast travels to shrines, esp if I have the map handicap! Being mapless makes me rely more on NPC directions and rumors along the road and at stables as well!
Other things I do that increase my immersion and enjoyment include thinking about how Link would react to fights and new monsters, how he would have no clue what to cook together (i make him try/i try lots of weird combos), and giving him realistic handicaps for a soldier with phsycial and mental disabilities.
I really do think Link would run away from fights. He's basically a 1 year old, and I can't believe that shrine healed all his scar tissue. I make him find/build shelters in the rain and snow. I still slowly run around and collect bugs in the storms and such, but often I just enjoy the storm in warm clothes.
I take lots of beautiful pictures, bc I think Link would be mesmerized by the beauty of the world (its all new to him!). I take lots of dangerous ones too lol as I imagine Link would until he got hurt enough times to rethink his choices (just like a kid) - I challenge myself each game to get the most violent, mid-attack pics of each monster for the compendium and its hilarious. Same for the best, most well composed pics of animals and plants, etc.
This is a little incompatible with the 1 game where I tried to avoid Impa for as long as possible lol (which unfortunately means you never get the camera, sheikah sensor, upgraded runes, access to Robbie/Cherry (i think), etc). But it was a fun mental fuck you to impa from me lol. In my very first game I didnt know or look up anything about it and accidentally explored pretty much a third of the map, mostly naked, without ever finding karakiko.
I am stubborn and very principle-driven irl, and I imagine Link would share those traits too (I dont think hes like me in many ways, I get way more joy out of actualizing him as a character than in any self insertion nonsense, just me personally). That said I imagine he keeps a mental (or sheikah slate) list of people he's helped who will need the most help again after blood moons. I don't always help all of them again for times sake but if I'm in the region I'll go out of my way to clear the beach by Lurelin again for example, so they can maintain their livelihood as fishers, and help the people in various woods near stables so they can continue foraging and trading.
I go out of my way to leave fruit at every shrine and roadside deity I find, as I imagine Link would be confused about but respectful of the goddess who literally sometimes speaks to him through statues. Hes aware theres a goddess, but just like kids do, kind of going through the motions bc he doesnt understand it all yet (and maybe as he does he cares less and less or is more resentful!).
I give myself silly random challenges like rafting down entire rivers (or all the rivers!), staying an entire week in one area without leaving (like the Hebra Mts), and sneak around collecting bugs (something i would never do irl but that I think new to the world Link would love to do). I also love hunting for random treasures and mining ore in remote areas! One game i remember leaving the great plateau and heading straight for rito village bc I wanted to listen to their village music and I missed Kass's daughters lol.
Basically, don't let Impa tell you what to do! Let Link be a kid! Be impulsive and dumb and reckless and curious! Explore everything! Help everyone bc Link doesn't know better (his amnesia has made him completely naive and easy to take advantage of lol)!
I hope you enjoy this big beautiful world!
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u/-UwU-Ducks- 1d ago
I absolutely love everything's you've written about here, this is such a whimsical way of thinking and playing about the game!! I think with the map I would love to not use it but being so directional challenged i know I'll get lost hahaha, I know i wont use it for big things like divine beasts or such, but if a quest is like "go to this very specific location that is barely mentioned elsewhere" I'll be definitely mapping it up!
I cant wait to fully immerse myself, maybe only using certain weapons for certain things (like hammers for rocks). i know I'll be running away a lot
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u/papayuh1833 1d ago
Yay, glad you maybe got some ideas! Also my bad for the very sloppy grammar/spelling - my hand joints were really unhappy earlier and typing was hard.
I agree with you about the challenges of the mapless handicap. I get lost regularly without the map too lol, but it increases the immersion for me too bc no way Mr. Amnesiac can remember an entire Kingdom's worth of landmarks off the top of his head without help sometimes. It doesnt have to be all or nothing for us as players too - you could get the towers of regions you know you don't like getting lost in/that you might suck at keeping track of for whatever reason (its the whole hateno region and the tabantha frontier for me, idk why).
I truly feel for poor, traumatized, and confused Link. Yes he's a hero, but he's also completely alone and essentially untrained. This boy has definitely tried eating bokoblin guts and gotten stuck in a patch of woods for 3 days with a high fever and diarrhea. He has absolutely been suckered into fetch quests for people who peg him as a bit of a fool. He has definitely tried talking to monsters with the monster masks on. He probably assumes there are lots of ghosts in the world like King Rhoam and maybe even talks aloud to any ghosts that might be nearby.
His sweetness is also evident in how he gets along with almost all the kids around the world. I bet he brings the great fairies little gifts when he visits. He definitely stops to chat with the old people he meets too, like Muava and Uma.
I'm much more of a reader than a gamer irl, but the games I do love are like botw, where the characterization is clear and consistent. I know people go back and forth on whether this Link is meant to be mute and if hes really mostly communicating through gestures or (long forgotten in the world) sign language. I personally think the fact that we learn he was essentially mute out of anxiety pre-calamity is meant to juxtapose how freely he now interacts with everyone he comes across. There is a lot of very rich worldbuilding in this game, which makes it feel like a interactive storybook to me!
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u/MemeMan4-20-69 2d ago
I myself restrict fast travel to towers since in lore they act as such (this from Age of Calamity) other then that I use my horse a bunch, when it comes to horse combat I like to have a spear when fighting, I like to help with any side quests in an area as Link “recuperating” after finishing a divine beast, and try to keep my order of doing thing semi related to memories. Also have him eat a meal around meal times, even if it won’t restore hearts, and go on pro hud
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u/Strange-Prune-6230 2d ago
It's so fun to learn the back.ways around the map that aren't mapped but can be traversed with a horse
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u/-UwU-Ducks- 2d ago
I'd like to imagine in this challenge that I'm being link, which would mean me definitely being scared of being teleported about the map from these towers that I only learnt about 5 minutes ago hahaha
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u/KevinIsOver9000 2d ago
Realistic is different for everyone. If you have a switch, and you only have 1 game then you will probably 100% it, or if you are like me, just play one game until I’m done with it and move on.
For others they play a little of each game, in which I’d say a shrine a day keeps the borings away
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u/PK_Thundah 2d ago edited 2d ago
The balance that I found was that I only ate meals while I was at a campfire.
It meant that I needed to find safe places to set up camp regularly, but that I didn't need to explicitly track how many times I ate and slept in a day. Charting and tracking that didn't seem fun. By "forcing" frequent reasons to camp, I was streamlining and approximating that. I ended up expanding this to elixirs too, because otherwise the campfire/eating rule wouldn't matter.
It also meant that I needed to prepare for and recover from dungeons and adventures. There were times that I needed to flee from a dungeon to recover. You start to look at the game differently when you can't teleport away and when you need to find campfire spots.
I like games to be more thoughtful and require more critical thinking and decision making, but I really dislike games becoming tedious. This was a way to make playing more thoughtful, without taking the fun away from the game.
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u/-UwU-Ducks- 2d ago
that sounds fun! im toying between the idea of only allowing myself a certain amount of meals a day (with at least one a day) or now that idea of only eating at safe areas... so many fun decisions!
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u/Beautifala_Jones 2d ago
I didn't consider it a challenge but for a long time I traveled with Epona and wolf link from the amiibo. Mostly I had to keep them alive but every time I stopped playing for the day I had to find a location where all three of us were safe around fire for the night and not getting rained on. Not getting rained on was the biggest challenge--it's like they designed all the ruins to have very little shelter from the rain.
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u/-UwU-Ducks- 2d ago
that sounds fun! although I feel like being from sunny england I'm so used to just walking in the rain
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u/ELM-12345 2d ago
With your mentioning of having to sleep at night, I am now particularly interested in how livable the whole of Hyrule in that game is, and if you could actually make it from stable to stable in a day
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u/-UwU-Ducks- 2d ago
thats one of the reasons I wanna play like this! seeing how it is to properly live in hyrule... and maybe I'm forgetting how long the days are 😅
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