Right, the underlying madness behind this great game is that it's trapped on a very expensive brand new console, and an utter failure (sales wise) of an old console. I think last I heard the Wii U's worldwide sales were somewhere between 12-13 million units. On top of all this, Nintendo products, hardware in particular, can be very hard to come by in a pinch. I don't know the situation across all brick and mortars right now but I imagine that the Switch is not exactly readily available now. Combine that with Wii U which ended production last year and, at least in my neck of the woods, cannot be purchased new from any retailers that I'm aware of.

I imagine there are a lot of people out there right now who would love to play this game but have no way to. It's a shame. My foresight in acquiring a Wii U two weeks ago was a rare non-mistake, good life choice I've made.

When/If any of you get to a shrine called Sheh Rata Shrine, I'd love to hear thoughts on it. The trial is "Speed of Light." It's in an area of wetlands. Specific location:

I'd be really curious to hear stories of how you beat it, but especially got the bonus chest. I haven't got the chest myself yet. After puzzling out solutions and failing many times I thought I had a surefire solution, but I made a slight error in execution and the plan failed. I thought it was pretty great. I'm dying to know if there are other solutions, because I can't see any. I went through some crazy attempts. Maybe spoiler tag your solution.

The shrines had been pretty good up to that point, but that one is just bonkers. I'd be horrified but also amused as hell to learn there was possibly a much simpler solution than what I'm trying to attempt!

It feels like I've played a ton of this game. Despite that, I'm still in the middle of taking down my first divine beast, and have completed I think 28 or 29 shrines. I've heard the total number of shrines, and I'm sooooooooo far away from that. I will definitely be playing this for as long as it takes me.

It could easily be my GOTY, and I'd not have stopped playing it for ten months, and I'd still not be finished. The whole world has been great so far, and I could spend a lot of time there.

I feel satisfied that this game stands in lieu of Demon's Souls 2.

Everybody, I've got some breaking news: Breath of the Wild is good.

Oh, did I say that already? Sorry. This......This game.....It is occupying such a space in my mind. I want to talk about this game and it makes my head want to explode.

I'm in the midst of trying to actually write something for the site about it because things just need to be said, but ... I'll preface a bit of that here.

I think what I'm going to try to say in this piece is...Try to convey just how essential a video game this is. It's easy to get lost in the sheer joy of Breath of the Wild; I have to remind myself that in the grand scheme of things, not a lot of people are playing this game. There are 12 million Wii U units in the world if I'm not mistaken. I don't know the number of Switch units out there but it's safe to say a few million. That's not a lot. The PS4 has sold over 50 million units. So there aren't Uncharted 4 or GTA 5 amounts of people who are playing-- or even have access to play-- this game.

I would hardly ever advocate that any one game justifies buying a console. I have done it with hindsight, and thought about my own personal purchases - for example, I would be truly satisfied if Demon's Souls was the only PS3 game I had. The experience of that game far surpassed the $250 I spent on my PS3. But going outside of myself, I don't think I'd try to tell anyone to take that sort of plunge.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is the closest I have ever come to that. I don't know about the rest of the world, but I know in Toronto there are at least a few small time brick and mortar places that still do console renting these days. If your city/town has a place that would rent you a Wii U (I doubt Switches are for rent at this time), please do it.

When I realized that not every single person in the world thought Half-Life was the best game ever, I didn't really have a dog in the best game ever argument. I liked Half-Life and Jedi Knight, but I came to learn that the Super Mario 64 and Ocarina of Time people were louder.

I am in the fight for the first time ever. I realize there would be a large contingent of unshakable folk who yearn for their childhood, and hence Super Mario. Bros 3 wins this "award" in their minds, but I am unclouded.

I'm convinced that this game is a true watershed moment (hot take, I know!). I'm trying to think of the tightest, purest list of games that are most cited as watershed moments in the history of video games. Without any of my own bias, and like I said keeping it to a tight list, here is what I produce:

Super Mario Bros. Super Mario 64.

Those are the top two, right? I'm trying to think of a PC game that can be squeezed onto that list. I don't think there is one. Civ 2? UFO Defense? Half-Life? I could see Half-Life. There might be an argument for Minecraft. Anyway, that's an acceptable top two, right? If we're talking the "holy shit" category. The "oh...we can do it that way?" category. So having said that (you see where I'm going)...

I think Breath of the Wild goes on that list.

I was a baby in 1985, and never played Super Mario 64 nor watched any friends play it, so I can't comment on the mind-blowing factor of those games in the context of their times. In the context of 2017, no game has ever blown my mind like Breath of the Wild.

tl;dr - the goal of this piece, should I finish it, will be making the case that Breath of the Wild is the most essential video game experience that I am aware of. And that it should be placed atop video game Mount Rushmore.

It's certainly been a bonus to be playing this game while so many other voices I enjoy and respect have shared their thoughts on it, but no, I don't think any of its charms will wear off any time soon. I think the game is going to age well, much like people believe The Wind Waker has aged better than other Zelda games.

A friend of mine described Breath of the Wild as "quasi cel-shaded." I don't know the first thing about drawing art so I can't say if that's a remotely accurate comment to make, but I still understood what he meant. Which was to say that this is not a "realistic" Zelda (meaning, to use the "most advanced" 3D character and world-building tools) like Ocarina, Majora's Mask, Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword were. That's probably a sloppy and inaccurate statement I made there, hopefully the intent comes across.

I've heard jokes about what this game looks like compared to Horizon, no doubt because they released three days apart, and it's silly. First because, if you're actively trying to compare the graphical or artistic styles of these two games, you're starting off from a completely disingenuous place. Second, because Breath of the Wild is actually beautiful looking on its own terms.

I say the following only in defense of Breath of the Wild, not to denigrate Horizon (because it's fucking great), but so far (and keep in mind I have 30 more hours of Zelda under my belt than Horizon) I've seen more breathtaking things in Zelda.

Also, for what it's worth, I think Breath of the Wild has taken and subtly implemented the teachings of Dark Souls better than any other game. That includes all the games which were obviously influenced by it, as well as its own sequels.

When I said Breath of the Wild stood in lieu of Demon's Souls 2, I really-sorta-kinda-pretty-seriously meant it. I will say that obviously these statements are coloured by my experience and perspective - I have by no means played All The Games. And in a way I guess I...Look for Dark Souls in other games? Know what I'm sayin'?

Here is the strongest connection the two games have, and I will leave you with this. Breath of the Wild, like Dark Souls, nudges you out of the front door. After that point the game teaches by letting you explore the world and seeing what happens; by speaking with people in the world and really listening and considering what they're saying; and unraveling lore and figuring out what things are for by reading item descriptions. It gives you a world and doesn't tutorialize it. It gives you a world and says go ahead, get your hands dirty.

Try perusing craigslist and stuff like that, if you're open to it. That's what I did and bought a Wii U off a guy for $170, and he threw in two games. Then I bought Zelda and a pro controller.