Breath of the Wild Non-Combat Quests?

[tombedorchestra]

Hey everyone! I've played lots of Zelda in the past and just played through Ocarina of Time again. I'd love to play BoTW with my kids (five and six) but do not want to engage in the combat portions with them due to violence / fear. I have not yet purchased or played BoTW. I was wondering how many non-combat / exploration quests there are that could be done? I'm thinking like how you can go fishing in Ocarina of Time or explore villages / lon lon ranch etc. I'm hoping there's enough of those types of quests that I could do the more fear / violent stuff while they're in bed and do the fun exploration stuff with them when they want to play during the day.

Thoughts? I appreciate all your time!

 

[Azure Sage]

There are a lot of quests that do involve collecting and delivering materials to NPCs that you can scavenge in the wild while avoiding fighting. I’m sure you can find a sidequest guide somewhere. Also, there are a handful of shrines that are strictly puzzles with no enemies, too. But these would all be after the Great Plateau section of the game, which you’re probably gonna have to do some fighting to get off of. Once you do get off of it, though, BotW opens up its enormous and beautiful world for you, and there’s plenty of treasure to find and resources to collect around every corner. Exploration itself is extremely fun.

 

[Bowsette Plus-Ultra]

There are a lot of quests that do involve collecting and delivering materials to NPCs that you can scavenge in the wild while avoiding fighting. I’m sure you can find a sidequest guide somewhere. Also, there are a handful of shrines that are strictly puzzles with no enemies, too. But these would all be after the Great Plateau section of the game, which you’re probably gonna have to do some fighting to get off of. Once you do get off of it, though, BotW opens up its enormous and beautiful world for you, and there’s plenty of treasure to find and resources to collect around every corner. Exploration itself is extremely fun.

I think the issue is that those sorts of quests, while sometimes mechanically fun, just aren't as engaging as some of the zanier quests from other games I've played. In Divinity Original Sin 2 you can stumble upon two NPCs who have been turned into cows by some absent witch, with the ensuing quest being to investigate the witch's house and figure out the spell to turn them back to normal.

Perhaps the most well known side-quest in the base Witcher 3 campaign is the one in which an elderly lady has been locked out her home and asks you to break in and retrieve a frying pan. Upon doing so, you discover that the frying pan (despite being in pristine condition) was apparently used to bludgeon a group of home invaders to death.

Those are the sorts of things Zelda is missing.

EDIT: It's obvious now that I didn't really read this post when I replied, just the title. Sorry about that. In my very loose defense, it was three in the morning.

 

[Chevywolf30]

Read the room Bowsette. The dude was asking what he could do in BotW with his 5 and 6 year olds. I don't think he's going to play Divinity or Witcher with his little kids.

 

[Bowsette Plus-Ultra]

Read the room Bowsette. The dude was asking what he could do in BotW with his 5 and 6 year olds. I don't think he's going to play Divinity or Witcher with his little kids.

You're right. I dunno what I was thinking when I wrote that one out. Sorry, everyone.

 

[TheHeroofTime]

I hate to be that person, but if you don't think your children are able to handle the cartoonish fights presented in Breath of the Wild, they're probably still too young to be exposed to videogames. I can't really see anyone getting freaked out by the combat in Breath of the Wild, but then again, I'm not a five year old or the parent of one, and I certainly got freaked out by the most bizarre things when I was that age. I would say that if you don't think that your children can handle all of a game like Breath of the Wild, just don't play videogames with them yet. There are years to come where you'll be able to enjoy them together, and in the meantime, there are countless other ways you can spend time with your children that will be healthier for them and more meaningful for you. From personal experience, I can say that some of my most important memories of childhood are of my parents reading to me, and those memories of playing games with your kids will be so much better when they can fully understand them. I only started playing games when I was fourteen, and the memories I have of playing with my dad are some of my sweetest.
I guess all I'd say is enjoy where your kids are at right now, knowing that soon enough you'll be able to play games together and enjoy them much more than you would right now. And if you still want to play videogames with your kids, but you think violence would freak your kids out, I'd say to stay away from games like Breath of the Wild. I think they'd enjoy something like Mario or Kirby much more.

 

[tombedorchestra]

@TheHeroofTime I do agree with you in most aspects of this and appreciate your time to respond with the advice. We do have lots of valuable time spent together doing other things such as reading, playing outside, etc. And our video game sessions thus far have been games such as Mario and Spyro... which we all love and enjoy! Honestly, if this were any other Zelda game, I'd toss it aside and say it's probably not worth it due to how much they would not be able to do. However, with BoTW being so enormous with so much to do / explore etc... I thought this would be an excellent game we could occasionally engage in as a family.

Looking more into it, I've researched lots of people who have done pacifist runs where they do not engage in any combat until Ganon. I love that this game has so many ways to play it that something like that is even possible! Most games require that you engage in combat, level up, etc before unlocking another area. I enjoy that most of the enemies are cartoonish.. so they do not appear frightening upon passing by.

I think from the advice I've received on various forums and watching a few videos, I think this game will work for our purposes.

Thank you all for your time and advice! I'll be picking up a copy today.

 

[mαrkαsscoρ]

keep the blood moon thing in mind though, it shows the enemies being revived and can happen anytime, even while your kids are aren't doing combat stuff

 

[Fraxinus]

You may want to take a look at our interactive map on ZD to confirm the locations of certain enemies. While bokoblins and the like are silly and you can get a lot of enjoyment out of even watching them, guardians in particular can incite a lot of fear, which is compounded by the music when one spots you. I would at least have your kids avoid Central Hyrule.

Breath of the Wild Interactive Map

Interactive, searchable map of Hyrule with locations, descriptions, guides, and more.

www.zeldadungeon.net

 

[Princess Niki]

To add to what Fraxinus said if you wear Majora's Mask the monsters behave friendly towards you only the Lizalfoes, Moblins and Bokoblins though. Keese, Chus and Wizrobes ignore it completely and Lionels will only be fooled for a very short time.