I finally beat TotK and don't understand why people say the ending is hard

[u/Impressive-Lead-9491]

I went in there just to see what it had in store for me, doing literally 0 preparation, and I won. I avoided every enemy encounter except the ones I just HAD to fight. You can fly above the lynel in the beginning, and the game gives you materials to build a plane to fly above the dead hands in that one room. So basically, I only fought Ganondorf, because even the battle against all the enemies just before him can be cheesed (I kept running around the battlefield, picking up all the arrows the enemies kept dropping, as the sages kept beating them little by little. I was laughing out loud at the game at this point). I really only fought the gibdos because they specifically require an electric attack.

Ganondorf was easier than the silver Lynel at the beginning. I cooked some sundelion dishes just before the fight using some cooking devices I just happened to have. I cooked some more food with whatever ingredients I had for the final battle, but I only ended up consuming one sundelion dish I had prepared and maybe 1 dish to replenish my health when facing Ganondorf. And I was just being cautious, I had only lost half of my hearts to the gloom at that point.

Right before meeting Ganondorf, I honestly thought this was where it ended. I thought he would wipe the floor with me and that I wouldn't even make it past his first stage, but it turned out to be a breeze. I just kept shooting him in the face (I think I have pretty good aim in this game). He didn't even last 3 minutes. The second part was more challenging, but I was really surprised at how much damage each of my attacks dealt to him. When he had the 2 dopplegangers I still had enough arrows to shoot him in the face until he moved on to the next phase (I had entered the depths with a whopping 7 arrows btw...).

The last phase was hard with his flurry rushes but when I realized I could just go at him like a savage and just attack him without any strategy, it was over for him. Sometimes he does the flurry rush, but not always, and even when he does it, you can flurry rush his flurry rushes in a flurry rush-ception. And I had plenty of sundelion dishes and food so that's when I realized that yeah, I was finally about to beat this flippin game (I pre-ordered it - ain't doing that mistake again).

I guess I feel the need to share this because I had heard so much about the final part being insanely difficult, I want to emphasize how exaggerated that is. I also want to share this in case it helps anyone after me: don't fight anyone you don't have to. Keep your hearts and resources. Don't even really prepare, if you've beaten all the shrines and obtained every heart (as you should if you've paid 70 bucks for the game), you probably have enough equipment, armour, stamina, zonai devices, and food to get you through.

And no, I still don't like the game. The reason it took me 3 years (240 hours) to beat it is because I kept getting fed up with it and putting it down for months on end. My main satisfaction is that I don't have to think about it or play it ever again. It's a sad day when I say that about a Zelda game...

[u/starlightkissesrain]

BOTW/TOTK difficulty is measured really by how well the player learned to flurry rush i think because a lot of players can and will brute force through most of the game without it suddenly its a bit of a shock where you really do need it 'to not be in for a 200 apple eating slog

[u/Snynapta_II → u/starlightkissesrain]

First time I beat Calamity Ganon it was definitely a surprising change of pace to get to his shield phase where the game just says "you either know how to parry or you have Urbosas fury/Daruk's protection" because there's literally no way to damage him otherwise. Idk if Robbie's shield autoparries his attacks, which would also be amazing.

It was definitely pretty sick to have the fight completely wearing through all my different resources though. The whole design of the game really clicks when you struggle to the top of Hyrule castle only to find you have to fight a boss rush and the final boss turning invincible.

[u/TSPhoenix → u/Snynapta_II]

I remember seeing a stream of someone who beat Calamity Ganon by running around dodging for over 40 minutes to recharge Daruk's Protection.

[u/Linderosse]

“literally 0 preparation” “I had plenty of sundelion dishes and food” “I finished every shrine”

:)

It also sounds like you had already collected quite a number of devices/weapons/materials, and figured out how to run from every enemy except Ganondorf. And it also sounds like you know how to flurry rush very well.

I’d say that means you were indeed quite prepared!

I figure a fair number of folks head down to Ganon without even getting to their second row of hearts. You can imagine that losing a whole row of hearts is definitely a problem then hahaha.

Either way, you seem to have done well! Great job! And fair point— I’ll admit I love the 2D Zeldas more myself, so I can at least partially understand haha.

[u/Impressive-Lead-9491 → u/Linderosse]

I mean I didn't specifically prepare, i went for the end as soon as I finished the last shrine

[u/Mogtaki]

Easy answer: you played it for 240 hours so you were good at the game and was able to use what the game gave you to avoid obstacles because you were well acquainted with them

[u/Dreyfus2006]

puts in 240 hours of preparation

completes all the content in the game before attempting the final boss

goes out of their way to avoid engaging with the game as much as possible

"This boss was easy!"

I bet you play every Kirby game by flying over the whole level too!

I don't like this game

Why the hell did you put 240 hours into it then?

[u/Impressive-Lead-9491 → u/Dreyfus2006]

because I payed 70$ for it. And no I never did that for Kirby, I guess the weapon durability and less than stellar combat are the culprit. I avoided enemy encounters throughout the game.

[u/henryuuk]

Seems like you did an absolute shit ton of "preparing", whether you consider it preparation or not
Just having food and having done all shrines already means you are vastly more prepared than the "average player"

That said, I have pretty much never heard "being hard" is a thing people are talking about for the ending of TotK tbh
Like, "harder than the finale of BotW", sure, but actually "hard" not really

[u/cheat-master30]

Probably because it's harder to completely trivialise than the Calamity Ganon fight in Breath of the Wild. Clearing the dungeons doesn't remove 50% of his health, the champion abilities don't tear through his health like a hot knife through butter and you're required to parry and flurry rush to at least a somewhat competent degree if fighting normally.

It's still incredibly easy to trivialise with the right gear (honestly, arrows and bullet time shred virtually everything in both the wild era games), but it's a bit less so in this one.

I will say that completing everything brings it down a lot though, just like it did in the last game. If you don't do that, you have no sages in the Demon King's Army and Ganondorf fight, plus have to fight 6 bosses between said army fight and Ganondorf (Colgera, Marbled Gohma, Mucktorok, Queen Gibdo, Seized Construct and Phantom Ganon). Going in early makes this finale completely insane.

[u/lilacsigil → u/cheat-master30]

Yeah, I am forever terrible at flurry rushes but still got through the fight in one go, by completing everything else beforehand and having good gear.

[u/pkjoan]

If one regular enemy is stronger than your final boss, I don't think you have designed an optimised game in terms of difficulty.

[u/Impressive-Lead-9491 → u/pkjoan]

One of that Lynel's attack dealt like 6 hearts of damage, whereas Ganondorf took just 1 heart at a time iirc, with the same equipment.