Streaming Star Dedicates 37 Hours Attempting to Conquer <em>Tears of the Kingdom</em> With Only a Single Stick
You might assume that two years post-launch since The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom debuted, enthusiasts would have run out of novel challenge runs that impose special rules on a playthrough. Yet, although many players have attempted to complete the game with just a wooden stick, content creator the streamer stands out as the player who aimed to beat the game with a single branch—meaning, the exact same stick throughout.
The streamer is renowned for these kinds of difficult playthroughs, such as the time he went through the game solely with bombs or the attempt where he tried to defeat the game with no stamina. A one-branch run, however, seems impossible at first glance. There's the opening sequence, which forces the hero to use the legendary blade. Then, there's the whole durability system, which is particularly relevant when working with the most fragile weapon in the entire world. But if the branch breaks, that's the end. It's over.
The Method Behind the Madness
How did he do it? The simple explanation is glitches. The full story, I kid you not, is alternate dimensions. It turns out, you can manipulate Tears of the Kingdom's save file system to have separate playthroughs that impact one another. So PointCrow does a “setup” file where he advances normally, and the real save, where he's limited. The setup file has him going through the intro and first starting area, and this character gains maximum endurance and health. From this point, he triggers a cutscene and halts partway through to instruct the software to load an automatic save from the stick file. The system gets mixed up and creates a third game file that combines the states of the first two files.
That causes new issues, however. The fused file has a Link that did not acquired the ability to access sacred places. Luckily, this is an issue that the file exploit addresses readily, but pulling it off means depending on an unstable build of the title that refuses to load some areas. As with other obstacles, he has a clever solution for it: He begins the game on its pre-release 1.0 build, and then updates the game midway through to ensure it starts working properly.
Overcoming Durability and Additional Challenges
Curiously, the prologue form of the hero is coded so that he is unable to damage any tools he wields, presumably to prevent a situation where the user gets stuck at the beginning of the game. But that's additionally how PointCrow gets around the wear problem, as the Link he pulls between universes is the one from the beginning of the story. It's a clever technique, but not one that eradicates all possible friction. The branch is still a ineffective item that renders encounters tedious. But at that stage, it's entirely a matter of determination and dedication. It further aids that there's a copying exploit that grants him an plentiful number of items to improve his attack, or stock up on healing spirits. He also employs a glitch that enables him to phase through the world. Some would consider these methods grounds to discredit the validity of the attempt, but in my mind, he's a resourceful player who is ready to do whatever it takes to engage his audience. He further implements a penalty of kinds stipulating that, for each fairy he uses, he'll remove a fan from his Twitch chat, creating an motivation to avoid overly rely on them.
Major Battles and the Final Showdown
PointCrow manages to get through many of Tears of the Kingdom's main enemies, but the fights look grueling. The video version of his journey spares the audience sit through the entire fights, which is a good thing when some of them last several long hours. One boss fight, Queen Gibdo, requires an astonishing 23 hours. The final villain battle, which depletes the hero's health as it unfolds, is a memorable nail-biter. The unbreakable branch is after all only a stick. He can't always clone objects midway the fight.
Did he succeed? Technically, he does overcome the beast form of the antagonist. But the game compels the player to use the legendary weapon as the final attack, so strictly speaking, it's not fully a stick-only playthrough. But what fun is that?
When everything is said and done, the streamer banned more than 1,000 users in his live stream. RIP.
