Breath of the Wild Should I play the DLC?

[Hero of Pizza Time]

Hey ZD,

Like everyone on the planet, I really liked Breath of the Wild and have finished the main story almost 2 years ago. I was wondering if I should play the DLC. I heard some people like it and some people don't. My brother actually bought it for himself so it's already on my (or really his) Switch, so the problem isn't money, it's time.

I'm looking for something short and not particularly challenging to play right now due to the fact that distance learning actually makes a day's schoolwork take longer, plus I only have one more year I can play on that Switch before I leave the house.

So bottom line: Is the Breath of the Wild DLC relatively short and of fair difficulty? Or is it a hardcore marathon? And is it fun or not really?

 

[Bowsette Plus-Ultra]

Only if it's deeply discounted.

I don't like the DLC all that much. The extra armor is nice, but you can't level any of it up, making it effectively useless if you progress more than an hour or two into the game. Champions Ballad is... boring. It opens in about the least interesting way possible and just becomes a scavenger hunt for more shrines. Only the Master Trials are any fun, but they aren't worth $20.

EDIT: Realized you said you wouldn't have to pay for it. In that case, play the Master Trials and skip the rest.

 

[Spiritual Mask Salesman]

I never completed the DLC myself, but I will be doing so now that I have a copy of the game on the Switch. I'd say go for it while you still can play it for free, especially if you think not playing it will give you regrets later on.

 

[Mellow Ezlo]

I enjoyed the Champions' Ballad more than most people. I thought it was pretty fun and the opening section is a nice challenge. The new dungeon is great and the final boss fight is the best in the game imo.

The Master Trials add a nice new optional challenge to the game and are genuinely fun. The reward is also super worth it in my opinion.

In addition, you get access to Master Mode, which adds several new layers of difficulty to the game.

So is the DLC worth it? I think yes, absolutely, but I know some people might disagree.

 

[Ronin]

The Master Trials are pretty challenging if you don't get any helpful gear from the prior rooms. At times it feels like you're barely squeezing by, but the most important thing is to conserve weapons for when you really need them and make use of the Runes. Also, going through the Trials on Master Mode is an utter pain; do so at your own peril, even if the reward is mildly worth it.

Champions' Ballad is something of a painful slog of the base game up until the final Dungeon (as others have said). It just has Link doing a retread of some challenges and fighting familiar faces again when it should have been a Torna-esque story expansion. The latter half of the Ballad DLC was an immense improvement as the boss fight at the end and completion reward are both ultimately worth the timesink that was the first half.

As far as DLC gear goes, some of the inclusions should have been features in the base game (such as whistling your horse straight to your side).

 

[Spirit]

If you liked BotW then I think you'll like the DLC.

It comes in two parts and both are structured for digestible bursts of play. The rewards and added features are a lot of fun for the base game too so I don't see any reason why you shouldn't.

 

[Sheikah_Witch]

The Master Trials: Combat and challenge DLC
The Champion's Ballad: Puzzle and Story DLC.

TCB is a bit wonky, it has it's fair share of filler content for sure. But personally I thought it was more than worth the hassle: The challenge at the beginning of it is honestly one of my favorite parts of the entire game. Some of the shrines (There's 16 new shrines here) are some of the game's best.

If you love yourself a fair challenge, Master Trials is def worth it.

I also think that it shouldn't matter if you like the story or not, TCB was touted as 'story DLC' but it doesn't have much more going for it than the base game imo.