Daily Debate: Which Breath of the Wild DLC Pack Provided the Better Experience?

After the rousing success of Breath of the Wild in early 2017, Nintendo expanded upon the latest Zelda adventure with two distinct DLC packs: The Master Trials and The Champions’ Ballad. Each expansion provided its own unique experience within Breath‘s massive world. The Master Trials offered a challenging set of survival-based challenge rooms that Link must complete to power up the Master Sword, while The Champions’ Ballad offered a new quest line that expanded on the story and characters of the original game. Many of us have had the chance to play through both DLC packs by now (in fact, I just finished up both yesterday), so we figured that it’s about time we ask which one provided the better overall experience.

Both Breath of the Wild DLC expansions have their strengths and their weaknesses. The Master Trials offers a series of tense and difficult challenges to overcome, testing many of the skills the player would have mastered by the end of the original game. Overcoming the Trial of the Sword provides a very special feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction, something not easily found in other parts of the game. However, at the same time, this DLC pack is a bit on the short side, as the entire ordeal can be conquered in only a few hours, especially for the most skilled players.

The Champions’ Ballad is definitely a more fleshed-out experience, offering more content and utilizing a larger part of Breath of the Wild‘s world. This expansion boasts more varied Shrines and more story content, with the latter further developing Hyrule’s four Champions and Princess Zelda. The story content in Champions’ Ballad can be seen as both a blessing and a curse. On one hand, some of the holes in the main game’s plot — those specifically related to the formation of Zelda‘s team — are filled in, and we learn more about each Champion’s motivations through cutscenes and diary entries. However, some players were expecting a lot more from the story content promised in this expansion, as they hoped to see either a sequel or an expanded prequel to the original game. In the end though, The Champions’ Ballad still offered a big, new dungeon, an epic boss fight, and pretty sweet reward.

For me, overall, The Master Trials provided the more worthwhile experience. I felt that this DLC pack was the perfect follow-up to the experiences I faced in the main game, and it didn’t carry the burden of potentially disappointing story content.

But where do you stand? Which Breath of the Wild DLC pack provided the better experience? Was it The Master Trials or The Champions’ Ballad? Share your take with us in the comments below!

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