Streaming Personality Spends 37 Hours Trying to Beat <em>Tears of the Kingdom</em> Using a Single Stick
One could think that after two years since The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom arrived, fans would have run out of novel challenge runs that apply unique rules on a gameplay session. Yet, while numerous players have attempted to complete the game using just a wooden stick, content creator the streamer stands out as the player who aimed to clear the adventure with a one stick—meaning, the very same one from start to finish.
PointCrow is famous for these kinds of challenge runs, such as the instance he went through the title solely with explosives or the attempt where he tried to defeat the game with zero stamina. A single stick playthrough, however, sounds impossible at face value. There's the opening sequence, which forces the hero to use the legendary blade. Additionally, there's the entire weapon wear mechanic, which is particularly important when working with the weakest tool in the whole world. Yet if the branch breaks, that's the end. It's over.
The Method Behind the Madness
How did he do it? The simple answer is exploits. The complete answer, I kid you not, is alternate dimensions. It turns out, you can manipulate the game's save file system to have separate playthroughs that impact one another. So PointCrow does a “preparation” save where he progresses standardly, and the real file, where he's limited. The setup save has him completing the prologue and initial starting area, and this character acquires full stamina and health. From here, he starts a cutscene and halts partway through to tell the software to load an automatic save from the branch-only file. The system gets confused and generates a new game file that combines the conditions of the first two files.
This creates new problems, however. The merged file has a protagonist that never acquired the ability to enter shrines. Fortunately, this is an issue that the file exploit fixes readily, but pulling it off means depending on an buggy version of the title that fails to load certain areas. Like everything else, he has a clever solution for it: He begins the game on its pre-release version 1.0, and then patches the game partway through to make sure it starts functioning correctly.
Bypassing Durability and Additional Challenges
Curiously, the introductory form of Link is programmed so that he cannot damage any weapons he wields, presumably to avoid a situation where the player gets trapped at the beginning of the adventure. But that's also how PointCrow bypasses the durability issue, as the character he transfers across dimensions is the one from the beginning of the game. It's a clever technique, but not a method that eradicates all potential friction. The branch is nonetheless a weak item that makes encounters tedious. But at that stage, it's entirely a matter of determination and dedication. It also aids that there's a duplication glitch that gives him an abundant number of consumables to boost his strength, or stock up on revival fairies. He additionally employs a glitch that enables Link to phase through the world. Some would find these methods grounds to discredit the validity of the run, but to my view, he's a resourceful player who is willing to do anything necessary to entertain his audience. He further implements a safeguard of kinds stipulating that, for every spirit he employs, he'll ban one viewer from his Twitch chat, creating an motivation to avoid depend too much on them.
Boss Fights and the Last Showdown
PointCrow succeeds to get through many of Tears of the Kingdom's bosses, but the fights look grueling. The YouTube version of his journey spares the viewer sit through the entire fights, which is a good thing when some of them take multiple hours. One boss fight, Queen Gibdo, takes an incredible twenty-three straight. The Ganondorf showdown, which depletes the hero's health as it progresses, is a memorable tense moment. The unbreakable stick is still just a piece of wood. He is unable to always clone items during the battle.
Did he succeed? In a matter of speaking, he manages to overcome the dragon version of Ganon. But the software forces the player to use the legendary weapon as the last strike, so technically, it's not fully a stick-only playthrough. But where's the challenge in that?
When everything is said and done, the streamer banned over 1,000 people in his Twitch chat. Rest in peace.