I started on The Legend of Zelda for NES.

In the first 20 minutes of gameplay, I got killed at least 4-5 times.

This game is brutal lmao - all the people complaining about BotW and its weapon durability needs to play the first game, now THAT is brutal.

Also I'll be honest, I'm following a guide as well cause the game is REALLY cryptic (at least going by past experiences when I played the game over a decade or so ago).

I got the second Sword and 6 hearts now. Havent started the first dungeon yet - still doing collectables.

Yeah that game is brutal. It's still doable though, if you put in the time, the second game is much more difficult though probably a bit more straightforward when it comes to progression compared to the first.

Maybe when looking at these aspects in a vacuum, but it's not like that when you actually play the game. Zelda 2 is the only game in the franchise I didn't finish, I gave up on it mostly because of how convoluted it was to find the path forward - the fact that any attempt at looking around for progression included countless difficult enemy encounters, platforming challenges with insta-death pits, and a limited lives system meant that I never felt like going out of my way to figure out the obscure stuff. Maybe the first game is even more obscure with most things, but it encourages exploration and experimentation a lot more.

I started a new playthrough of Breath of the Wild on its sixth birthday and I plan to get 100% this time around. The last time I lost interest at around the 99% mark because there are a few not-so-fun things towards the end, like finding the final Koroks and locations. Upgrading all the gear is also a grind.

In a week's time I finished the four titans and almost 80 shrines, got the Master Sword and completed its first trial. Next up are sidequests, lots of treasure chests and completing the remaining shrines of the base game before I start doing the DLC shrines and titan. I think I played about 30 hours so far, but only found ~10% of the Korok seeds. So overall, I estimate that I am at about 15% completion. But I know from past experience that the completion rate begins to speed up once the majority of shrines and the titans are cleared, so I am expecting about 100 hours of playtime in total.

The biggest challenges are the third trial of the Master Sword and not losing the will to play once I get to the last few percent of the game.

Second week of Breath of the Wild is over. Now at 113 shrines, more than 500 Korok seeds and more than 1,000 treasure chests in Hyrule's overworld opened. Also managed to complete the second and third trial of the Master Sword. There aren't all too many treasure chests left. As for Koroks, I've got almost all of them in Hyrule's western half by now. Overall, I am a bit above 50% of completion, I'd say.

Next up is Hyrule's eastern half to get close to the 900 mark for Korok seeds, finding the few remaining shrines and finishing up another ~20 sidequests. Afterwards I will finally tackle the DLC shrines and titan before I'll face Ganon in Hyrule Castle. If I can get all of this done in the third week, I'll have enough time left to finish everything by the end of March.

Nevertheless, the challenge for the fourth week is to keep the motivation high. I've saved up all the minigames in order to have a few fun things left to do between the material grind for all the equipment.

I bought

Gonna use it when I do my next playthrough of BotW when I finish Pokemon Sword (already started on DLC and done with main game and post game).

End of the third week. Things that are completed:

-all shrines, including DLC
-all titans, including DLC
-all memories, game beaten with extended ending

Still to do:

-finding the last ~30 Korok seeds and locations, map completion at 97%
-3 shrine quests, meaning merely finding the quest givers to get an immediate "complete"
-6 sidequests
-fully upgrading ~30 pieces of equipment
-killing the remaining ~30 boss monsters on Hyrule's map to get all medals from Kilton
-adding another ~50 photos to the handbook, I may just pay for them
-win all minigames at least once

It's not a long list, but the equipment will be tedious. I am glad that I used my Link amiibo only once to get Epona and not again afterwards, because otherwise I would have received a different version of the green outfit that uses the same materials as the one in the game. That's the one where you need a lot of dragon materials.

My original plan was to finish Breath of the Wild 100% this month before I move on to Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity in April, but I couldn't resist the urge to start anew for so long. I've not made up my mind in regards to how much I want to complete in Age of Calamity, because I'll have to see how motivated I'll be to grind for weapons for all characters. Minimum goal is to finish all main and side missions, including the DLC, on normal difficulty at least.

I can't wait for tomorrow morning!! ^^

@CaptainExplosion teased this above, but check it out! New TotK gameplay arrives tomorrow :)

Can't wait.