Zelda BotW: Paraglider, Please?
In the previous post, I left Link standing at the top of a tower that burst up from under the ground. After all the magical voices and visions, I was left to find my own way down.
When I say tower, I really mean tower. This thing is tall! At first, I tried to climb down, which led me to my death repeatedly. Yeah, I know, death by falling. But I wasn’t used to the climbing system on my very first day of play.
After dying more than I had a right to, I took a step back and really looked at the tower. I realized that the little platforms around the tower’s edges were set up in a way that I could easily just hop from one to another all the way down.
Duh.
BotW Lesson: Always take a good look at what you’re attempting to do before throwing yourself to death over and over again.
Point taken.
When I finally get down on the ground, my victory is short-lived as the Old Man drops in on me. I do mean literally drops in. Seems he has a really cool thing called a paraglider. This allows him to glide down from heights without getting hurt.
Nice!
Even better, he strikes a deal with me. If I can retrieve the treasure from this glowing structure that he calls a Shrine, he’ll give me the paraglider in exchange.
Alright. Seems fair enough. So, off I go!
Once I arrive at the Shrine, I note a familiar pedestal that indicates I need to interact with it using Link’s Slate. So I do that and the Shrine opens up to me.
Going inside, I’m told this is something called the Magnesis Trial. I’m in a room that’s blocked, not allowing me further entrance. Again, I see a Slate pedestal, so I do the thing, and place it there.
This time, something different happens. The Shrine empowers Link’s Slate and gives it the ability to move metal objects through a magnetic power.
Link is now Magneto!
The puzzles in this Shrine were straight forward. Everything here was solved through the use of the magnetic power, as you’d expect. The only thing that stumped me here at first was getting the treasure chest, which was up on a platform, high on the wall.
The answer was simple: The chest is metal, so you can just float it down to Link to open it.
My mind was making it far more complicated than it needed to be… trying to use blocks to build a way up the wall next to it and all kinds of mess. Two lessons were learned, however.
BotW Lesson: Chests are often made of metal. Use it to your advantage.
BotW Lesson: Dropping heavy metal objects on Link’s head will kill him.
When I finally completed the Shrine, creepy monk and all, the Old Man was waiting for me outside. I was eager to get my paraglider, though I wasn’t sure what treasure it was he was looking for.
BotW has some really subtle humor that I appreciate so much. This first started to show itself here in this conversation with the Old Man. Here he is rambling on about how the world works, but deep down, the game knows that you don’t care about any of that, and pokes fun at you.
You, the player, just want that paraglider! Gogogogo!
One of the text options repeatedly reflects that (though I didn’t have the courage to select it and seem rude).
The Old Man then changes his part of the deal. He won’t give you the paraglider until after you complete three more shrines! This time, the game’s response choice is pretty much on point.
But it’s these little exchanges that I enjoy. The game is aware of itself and aware of its audience in a very pleasing way.
The old guy told me to meet him up on top of the tower, where he showed me that Link’s Slate can also be used as a long-distance scope. Once in scope mode, you can drop pins on important locations and those appear on your map, helping you track those points.
Man, this game thought of everything.
So, with the locations of the next three Shrines in sight, I set off to earn my paraglider.
