Streaming Personality Dedicates Thirty-Seven Hours Trying to Beat <em>The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom</em> Using a One Branch

One could think that two years post-launch since The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom debuted, enthusiasts would have run out of creative self-imposed challenges that apply unique rules on a playthrough. Yet, while numerous players have tried to finish the game using only a stick, content creator the streamer stands out as the player who endeavored to clear the adventure with a single stick—specifically, the exact same stick from start to finish.

PointCrow is famous for such challenge runs, such as the instance he went through the game using only bombs or the effort where he tried to beat the story with zero energy. A single stick run, though, seems impossible at first glance. There's the game's introduction, which requires Link to wield the legendary blade. Additionally, there's the whole durability system, which is especially relevant when dealing with the weakest weapon in the entire world. But if the branch shatters, that's it. It's over.

So, How?

How did he do it? The straightforward explanation is glitches. The complete answer, believe it or not, is alternate dimensions. It turns out, you can tweak Tears of the Kingdom's save file system to have separate game sessions that impact one another. So the creator creates a “preparation” file where he progresses normally, and the actual save, where he's limited. The preparatory file has him going through the prologue and initial tutorial island, and this character acquires maximum endurance and hearts. From here, he triggers a cinematic and pauses midway through to tell the game to open an automatic save from the branch-only file. The game gets confused and creates a third save file that merges the conditions of the first two files.

That causes new problems, though. The fused save file has a protagonist that did not obtain the capability to enter shrines. Fortunately, this is something that the save glitch addresses easily, but pulling it off means relying on an unstable build of the title that refuses to load some locations. Like everything else, he has a technical solution for it: He begins Tears of the Kingdom on its early version 1.0, and then patches the software partway through to make sure it starts functioning correctly.

Overcoming Durability and Other Hurdles

Interestingly, the introductory form of the hero is coded so that he cannot break any weapons he wields, likely to avoid a situation where the player gets trapped at the start of the adventure. But that's additionally how the streamer bypasses the wear issue, as the Link he pulls between dimensions is the one from the start of the story. It's a smart technique, but not a method that eliminates all potential difficulty. The branch is nonetheless a ineffective weapon that renders encounters onerous. But at that point, it's entirely a question of determination and perseverance. It further aids that there's a duplication glitch that gives him an abundant supply of consumables to boost his attack, or stock up on healing spirits. He additionally employs a bug that enables Link to phase through the environment. Some would find these means grounds to discredit the legitimacy of the run, but to my view, he's a resourceful gamer who is ready to do anything necessary to engage his audience. He also uses a safeguard of sorts stating that, for each spirit he employs, he'll remove a fan from his Twitch chat, creating an motivation to avoid depend too much on them.

Boss Fights and the Final Showdown

The streamer succeeds to get through several of the game's main enemies, but the fights appear painful. The video edit of his quest doesn't make the audience sit through the whole fights, which is a blessing when a few of them take several hours. One boss fight, a powerful foe, takes an incredible twenty-three hours. The final villain battle, which depletes Link's health as it progresses, is a memorable tense moment. The indestructible stick is still only a piece of wood. He can't necessarily clone items during the fight.

Did he succeed? Technically, he does defeat the dragon version of Ganon. But the game compels the player to use the legendary weapon as the final attack, so technically, it's not completely a branch-exclusive run. But what fun is that?

In the end, PointCrow banned over a thousand people in his Twitch chat. RIP.