Adulting

On Friday from the office, I gave my first impressions. Now after the having it for a full weekend I have even more love for it than I started with but that does not mean it is flawless.

The adventure began as soon as I left the office on Friday. Went home and fed the cats then off to the Train station to pick up my fiancee. Hand her the switch and we head right to my local brewery so I could bring the Switch to its natural environment… the outside world.

I got there and immediately plopped it down on the bar and got attention right away. End up showing it off to a few people and even got some 1–2 Switch games in. The kickstand worked just fine, as did the controllers. The smallish screen at a distance is a little hard to see but 1–2 Switch is all about listening to it for cues.

After a couple of beers, we headed home and that’s where we finally got to put that Zelda Breath of the Wild cartridge into the system! We watched in awe at the intro and how it brought us both back to that first time we popped Ocarina of Time into the N64. The events seem to be set after those in Ocarina but unsure how long after for sure.

This Zelda game starts by just thrusting you into a fully open world with no explanation and nearly no guidance at all. It forces you to figure things out on your own right from the start which is a theme that runs through the entire game. Even so, there is the underlying story that slowly reveals itself. The best part is how it teaches you how to use all of the tools and give you many of them within a very short amount of time.

There are so many ways you can interact with the world. With the tools and abilities provided, there are multiple ways to destroy enemies and to find your way around. Ever been playing a game and thought “That’s silly why can’t I get up there!” Well in this game, if you think something should work… it usually does! It is such a breath of fresh are when you consider most games that claim to be open world usually have many limits. Breath of the Wild has nearly none.

Horns & teeth with a pinch salt…like mom used to make…

The way I have been playing mostly is on my 65" TV in my living room. I can tell you that it looks gorgeous at 1080P. The colors, the art style, and the details are all so very good. Hyper-realistic games lose that. Zelda Breath of the Wild is a work of art.

Sorry it’s a bit dusty. BB-8 for scale.

The best way I have found to control the Switch has been one Joy-Con per hand. Meaning undock the two gamepads from the Switch and use them independently. It is by far the most comfortable way I have found and from all the reviews I have seen I’m not alone. You can use the included gray Joy-Con straps if you have large hands to make it a bit more comfortable but I was fine without them. Nintendo does sell color matched blue & red Joy-Con straps but sold separately.

I have not used the Joy-Con Grip once since getting the system. It brings your hands way too close together and feels unnatural. I guess this would be my first gripe with the system itself but my thinking is it’s designed to push gamers to purchase the Pro Controller which I may end up doing eventually. As of now, I am smitten with using them separately. Especially games like Zelda that incorporate Motion controls.

Speaking of gripes the fact that the only way you can get screen caps off of the system is either to post them directly or to save them to a micro sd card, then take it out, then put it into a reader, and finally pull them off… its a bit much. I’m surprised that I can’t just plug in over USB-C to my computer and pull the files off. I will give Nintendo credit where credit is do, it is super easy to capture a screen cap and share over social media the way it set up… just not my favorite.

I have also seen the dreaded left Joy-Con bluetooth issue first hand. It is not as bad as some people as witnessed but when I’m 8ft away and I put my hands to my sides… it becomes completely unresponsive. I Hope Nintendo fixes this asap because the right Joy-Con has zero issues connecting.

Overall I’m pretty sure you can tell by now I am in love with the new Nintendo Switch. I had to pull myself away from Zelda long enough to write which was very hard. It has a few shortcomings but nothing that would make me not want to recommend this system to pretty much 80% of people I know. It’s that good.

Do yourself a favor and buy Zelda Breath of the Wild and play it. On the Switch, if you are lucky enough to have one already, the Wii U if you must, or make friends with someone who does… it’s worth it!

Full list of Nintendo Switch accessories can be found here: http://www.nintendo.com/switch/buy-now/accessories/

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