Legend of Zelda - Breath of the Wild Progress: Defeating my first Guardian

Originally posted this on Reddit, but I thought I'd put it here and expanded it.

I mentioned here when and how I started playing Breath of the Wild, six years after its initial release. I also talked about how nervous I got when facing enemies or doing certain tasks (which is also something that happens in other games).

I've mostly gone around the game trying to complete the map (done), getting Koroks (I got enough for all the inventory upgrades, so it's not my priority any more), and Shrines (I found 88 so far, but not all are finished because they're mostly medium and major Tests of Strength). I've also explored and farmed things (playing BotW as if it were Stardew Valley lol).

My nervousness about facing enemies manifests physically. My hands shake, my heart beats faster, and sometimes I get cold sweats. This happens regardless of whether it's a Bokoblin or a Chuchu or the bigger ones like Hinox, Guardians, and Lynels. For most of them, I've learned how to maximize my bows and arrows. The Golden Bow has become a favorite, despite it having a low attack power. When I originally posted this to r/, I hadn't defeated a single Divine Beast. Which meant main quest wise, I haven't really progressed much.

Thursday (July 6), I decided to be brave and faced one of the Guardians just outside of the hills of Kakariko. As a cautious person, I made sure I had enough protection and insurance. I wore two of the three Ancient Armor (Ancient Cuirass and Ancient Greaves. I didn't have the Ancient Helm yet), the Diamond Circlet I got from Gerudo town, and chugged an elixir that tripled my attack damage. I didn't have any plan or strategies, I just jumped straight off the slightly higher perch I was standing on and started attacking the Guardian.

My memory's hazy, but I remember trying to hack at its legs. It was harder than I thought because of course it was moving around. When it stepped back, I thought I'd try parrying. I don't know how many times I've tried it and failed. One shield got destroyed but I did manage one successful parry, which resulted in the cutting down of the Guardian's HP by a good portion (I've already had 1-2 hits using the Master Sword). 

Of course, the Guardian got a few hits on me because from 14 hearts I went down to 2.5. I ate food that healed me and gave extra 15 hearts, then I went back to hack and slash the Guardian. Somehow, I got it done and the Guardian was gone. I got an Ancient Core and a Giant Ancient Core among the spoils, which made it worth it.

The only screenshot that I got.

I put down the Switch without pausing the game, leaving Link just standing where we defeated the Guardian. Picked up my phone to send a message to my friend about this milestone... when another Guardian came out and started attacking me. I didn't hear it because I had the volume of the Switch down. I just got lucky and managed to glance at my Switch. Needless to say, I panicked and couldn't regroup, so I teleported back to Kakariko.

One victory at a time. I'll come back later. 

P.S. I'm not sure if turning down the volume of the game helped me be less scared. Although my head was playing a somewhat ominous "dun dun dun" theme.

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