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Hyrule Warriors Pulse of the Ancients - Impressions Thread

Azure Sage

March onward forever...
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Here's a thread to talk about the first wave of the AoC DLC. Did you get it? What did you think of it if you did?

Having already bought the pass when it first released, I couldn't wait to dive into it. I spent almost 10 hours total yesterday on that alone... :sweating: (luckily it was a day off from work.) I was pleasantly surprised by how much there was to do. "One new character two new weapons new challenges" doesn't really sound like a lot, but it was worth several hours on its own, and even then, the possibilities it opens up offer even more time of playing. The new sidequests granted new quality of life like upgraded runes, improved magic rods, buyable apples, and an increased weapon level cap. It also boosted the base attack of findable weapons. So continuing to improve your gear is something that's gonna take some time, and there's plenty of new missions to use for that. Also, the new bgm is all fantastic. Love the new tracks a lot.

Now on to the playables. Link's new weapon, the Flail, didn't really give me a strong first impression, but it surprised me. It's incredibly fun. The ability to copy enemy weapons until they break or you throw them was a really cool way to incorporate BotW's weapon mechanics, and the base moveset has some really nice-feeling combos. Definitely a fun way to play. And as for Zelda.... hoo boy. And I thought Mipha had my favorite moveset. No longer. The Master Cycle is easily my new favorite. It's incredibly cool and controls surprisingly easily for how fast it is. The combos both look and feel amazing. The things you can do with it are awesome. I'm seriously in love. AoC just never misses on them weapons.

Something interesting to note about the new weapon types is that, while you still have three tiers like everything else, they all have the same base attack (and you can improve that base with some questing). What sets the three different tiers apart is now the basic strong attack, X. It's different on all three, so you're essentially choosing which of the three to build depending on the playstyle you favor. I think that's really neat.

And as for the Battle-Tested Guardian, man. You become a god of destruction with that thing. It is a little similar to egg boy, but the range and power is on a completely different scale. Its sweeping laser beam just obliterates everything in your line of sight. Also its cryonis ability is it using an ice block to yeet itself into the air, which is extremely funny to me. It seemed like the dev team took inspiration from the funny BotW videos. It's a pretty fun character.

So, those are my impressions. I do think this pack could have benefitted from more weapon types, like Impa and the Champions each getting a second type at minimum. Impa getting her naginata back would make me pretty happy, and I think if they get as creative with alternatives for the Champions as they did with Link's Flail, we could see some pretty interesting stuff. So yeah, a little missed potential, but still a more impressive pack than I initially thought it would be.
 

CreeperMaster343

Spirit Tracks Zelda best companion, LinkxNavi FTW
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I have done a bunch now, not fully complete yet, but i have the Guardian, and damn do i love this DLC, the flail and master cycle are both incredibly well made and fun weapons, the challenges are very difficult, but not in a frustrating way, and i love the Guardian, it is so much damn fun. Very satisfied with this DLC, honestly this is enough to cover the price of the expansion pass already for me, and there is still a second wave to come.
 

Vanessa28

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Oh I spent hours of playing trying to finish as much of the tasks being given by Robbie and Purah and boy ....DO I LOVE THE FLAIL OR WHAT?????? I have been playing nonstop until the hubby asked me when I was going to finish my cross stitch kit :D I continue playing because I enjoy this way more than expected!
 

Azure Sage

March onward forever...
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One thing I noticed that I wanna point out... the new side mission that has you playing only as the bad guys to fight the heroes has you restricted to two characters, because there’s only two playable baddies. Except.... you have the option to change them. You can go into the character change menu, but no one else is selectable because there’s only two. So why can you go into that menu? No other restricted quest is like that.

I might be reading too much into it, but I can’t help but feel like this is future proofing for the next wave of DLC adding more characters. :eyes:
 

VikzeLink

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I've almost completed the DLC by now, but I'm a bit stuck, since I'm barely getting any Monster Ecology papers, I can't get the last few researchs in the lab... I've tried playing all different kinds of levels, Vicious Presences, new missions, old missions, main levels etc. But I'm barely getting those... Am I just having bad luck?
 

CreeperMaster343

Spirit Tracks Zelda best companion, LinkxNavi FTW
Joined
Oct 7, 2020
I've almost completed the DLC by now, but I'm a bit stuck, since I'm barely getting any Monster Ecology papers, I can't get the last few researchs in the lab... I've tried playing all different kinds of levels, Vicious Presences, new missions, old missions, main levels etc. But I'm barely getting those... Am I just having bad luck?
Go do blight missions, you get them when you defeat boss monsters, and any mission that has you fight all 4 blights will get you 6 (4 for the blights, 2 for thunderblights clones)
 

Azure Sage

March onward forever...
Staff member
ZD Legend
Comm. Coordinator
One thing I noticed that I wanna point out... the new side mission that has you playing only as the bad guys to fight the heroes has you restricted to two characters, because there’s only two playable baddies. Except.... you have the option to change them. You can go into the character change menu, but no one else is selectable because there’s only two. So why can you go into that menu? No other restricted quest is like that.

I might be reading too much into it, but I can’t help but feel like this is future proofing for the next wave of DLC adding more characters. :eyes:
Turns out I was right on the money. :eyes: *high fives myself*
 

Vanessa28

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The flail is so much fun! It's cool to copy weapons and use them against the enemies.
And the motorcycle is so much fun! I use it all the time when playing Zelda. I kinda ignore all her other weapons. Sometimes it's a bit tough to handle while driving through small spaces but it's a very powerful weapon when you know how to use it. And it's a bit badass to see Zelda on a bike :D
 

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