Breath of the Wild is a game with endless possibilities. A single task can have multiple methods that a player can use to accomplish it. For this reason, I usually enjoy tasks either involving opening a Shrine or handling the puzzles within a Shrine. Rarely do I get frustrated with one of these tasks, but the Gee Ha’rah Shrine in the Hebra Region gave me a great amount of trouble on a recent playthrough.
To open Gee Ha’rah (which sounds like something someone says when they are confused in celebration,) I have to roll a snowball down one of many paths and hope that the path leads to the doors of the cave containing the shrine. As the snowball rolls down the path, it will gain speed and size allowing it to smash the doors down, granting me access to the cave.
The first time I did the shrine, I had a very easy time and chose the correct path early. Then the second time I did the shrine in Master Mode, I had a bit more difficulty and found that I couldn’t remember which path lead to the doors. After a little exploration, I found the correct path and sent the little snowball on its way to become big and strong enough to smash stone doors.
Later, something terrible happened. My Switch stopped working and I lost all the save data in my games. I called Nintendo about the issue and they told me to send it along with about $100.00 to fix it. Fortunately, I remembered I had a warranty with GameStop and they replaced it for me. With a new Switch comes a new save file, being that this was before the Cloud Save Program Nintendo forced into its Online Bundle.
Eventually, it became time to complete the Gee Ha’rah Shrine. I approached the hill and began searching for the spot hiding the snowballs. My eyes could barely make out the shapes of the snowballs, but after a minute I found them in their usual alcove. My memory blanked on which path to send the snowball down. I became frustrated that the snowball never reached the correct path. Even after trying to trace the path from the endpoint to the beginning, I still could not find the correct path. After seemingly endless attempts and the occasion warping out to respawn the snowballs, I had to get creative.
I noticed that the path that lead to the stone doors at the bottom of the hill could be reached if the snowball had enough speed to climb over a ripple of snow. Dropping the snowball on the path that lead to the ripple, I chase it and as it approached the ripple, used the Stasis Rune to stop the snowball. I took out a spear and began hitting the snowball until it had enough momentum to climb over the ripple. The Stasis Rune’s effect ended and the snowball crawled over the ripple and tumbled down the path to the Stone Door. I watched as the snowball crashed into the doors and knocked them down.
One of the amazing aspects of Breath of the Wild is how many different possibilities exist to accomplishing a task. Opening the Gee Ha’rah Shrine is no exception to the rule. I have been playing the game for two years and with the news of a sequel to Breath of the Wild, I realize I may get a chance to explore this Hyrule a second time. Considering how great the first game was, I expect the second one to improve on the many mechanics introduced in the original. I mostly hope for more situations like opening the Gee Ha’rah Shrine which challenge the player to solve a tricky puzzle with multiple solutions.
