November 25th, "The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild" officially launched.
In a coffee shop.
After ordering a snack and a coffee for himself, Ben sat in a corner seat, stretched, and took out his Switch from his briefcase.
He glanced at the time, it was only twelve noon.
He had to go to the company for a meeting with his employees at two thirty in the afternoon, and the commute was about half an hour, so he could play for about two hours.
Even though Ben clearly understood that this time wasn't ideal for playing games.
But he couldn't resist, after waiting for so long.
And more importantly, Zack had posted a picture of the "The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild" physical copy's unboxing on his social media.
"I'll play for an hour or two, and see what this game is all about." Ben decided and clicked on the game's icon.
He bought the digital version because it was more convenient, no need to take out and insert the cartridge.
And he was too lazy to go to a physical game store to buy it.
Buying online would mean waiting for delivery, and not being able to play the same day was completely unacceptable.
Clicking on the game icon, he entered the game's main screen with a burst of melodious music, selected a new game, and started loading.
During this time, Ben also plugged in his earphones.
But unexpectedly, the loading time wasn't slow, and after loading, the screen went briefly dark.
Then a golden light appeared, starting as a small dot and gradually enlarging, slowly filling the entire screen.
'Wake up... wake up...'
A faint, gentle female voice called from the earphones.
Although there was only the line, without any indication of who was speaking.
Ben instantly recognized the voice, after all, he had seen the previous promotional trailers.
Accompanied by Princess Zelda's voice, a young man lying in blue liquid in a container slowly opened his eyes.
At the same time, the image on the Switch gradually became clearer. He was looking at a strange device similar to a chandelier.
The style of the room was very strange, with glimpses of both ancient and futuristic elements.
"Link... wake up..."
In Princess Zelda's voice, Link, wearing only boxer shorts, woke up from his sleep, looking around in confusion.
Next, there weren't any overly complicated operations.
Just a simple beginner's tutorial.
The L stick controls movement, the R stick controls the camera, just like any controller.
But what Ben noticed was a very delicate round platform in front of the door.
Approaching it, the sound of mechanical gears turning was heard, and a special stone tablet was sent up from the middle of the platform by a mechanism.
At the same time, Princess Zelda's voice also rang out.
'That is the Sheikah Slate... When you awaken from your timeless slumber, it will guide you forward...'
Ben controlled Link to reach out and take the Sheikah Slate in his hand.
The back of the Sheikah Slate had a pattern like an eye, located right in the middle, emitting a faint blue light.
And the front was like an LCD screen, the whole Sheikah Slate looked like a Switch without joy-cons.
Ben looked at the Sheikah Slate in front of him, and then his eyes widened.
It just didn't have controller buttons!
Wow, this is really a great collaboration, Ben thought to himself.
And Link in the game curiously looked at the Sheikah Slate, and then hung it on his waistband.
After putting away the Sheikah Slate, the stone door next to him opened, and Ben ran Link around the room.
The movements were very smooth, especially turning the camera in the game.
Even though it was on the Switch, Ben didn't notice any lag.
Then he controlled Link to run out of the cave, and in a room in the middle he found two boxes.
One contained pants, and the other contained a shirt.
"That's much better, civilized. Before, just wearing boxer shorts was like some pervert. These days, that would get you a fine and detention!" Ben nodded with satisfaction.
The door to the room was still closed, but there was another platform next to it, similar to the previous Sheikah Slate platform.
He walked forward and, following Princess Zelda's instructions, used the Sheikah Slate to open the stone door.
Golden light bloomed outside the stone door, a path leading to the world outside the cave.
'You are the light that shines upon Hyrule once more... Now is the time for you to embark on your journey...'
Princess Zelda's words echoed in his ears, and the golden light outside slowly disappeared, replaced by a blue sky.
Ben controlled Link to walk outside.
He passed through a short cave path, learning simple operations like sprinting and climbing.
Unlike the climbing systems in other games, where you can automatically climb over things by pressing a button.
In "The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild", you really have to climb slowly. Of course, you can climb faster, but it consumes more of the character's stamina, and you can climb anywhere.
And at the moment he ran out of the cave.
Melodious music suddenly started playing.
The camera zoomed in, gradually lowering with the running Link.
He came out of the cave and slowly came to the edge of a cliff, and the camera slowly rose again.
Instantly, the magnificent scenery of the entire Hyrule continent was spread out before him.
The sunlight in the sky, the green grass and trees swaying in the wind.
The white clouds floating in the distance, and the distant volcano and the royal city shrouded in dark power.
The broken ruins, the dense forest.
Combined with the game's lighting effects and cartoon-style art style, it felt like being in a fairy tale world.
At the same time, the game's title "The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild" appeared in the lower right corner. Then slowly disappeared.
After showing Ben the perfect scenery, the camera slowly turned again.
And then it stopped on a tall shrine on the right side of the screen.
On the hillside, an oddly dressed old man stood by a campfire, as if waiting for something.
"This picture and scenery, it's really beautiful!" Ben couldn't help but exclaim.
The game's graphics aren't detailed, but they can definitely be called beautiful.
Especially this warm-toned, bright, cartoon-style rendering style.
It gave him the feeling of watching a cartoon.
"Are all the places I can see, places I can go? Then this map is way too big!" Standing on the cliff, looking into the distance, Ben couldn't help but think to himself.
Because the map he saw was too big, and it didn't seem to have any edges.
This situation really made him wonder if this was a game on the Switch.
This thought swirled in Ben's mind, but he quickly dismissed it.
If he wanted to know, wouldn't he find out by continuing to play?
(End of this chapter)
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