Nintendo LTTP: Breath of the Wild

[Nokra]

At first the durability of weapons really frustrated me, to the point of wanting to almost give up on the game. But having put over 100 hours into the game, it doesn't bother me in the slightest anymore. There are so many weapons lying around and you can expand your weapon slots so greatly that it really isn't an issue. But I get what everyone is upset about. It's a crappy feeling to finally get an awesome weapon and then have it break after two fights.  

 

Having never really played any other Zelda game, the other differences didn't really bother me so much. Could that be the difference, perhaps? Those who have played previous Zelda games were somewhat disappointed in the changes and those of us who had never played the other games had no point of reference? 

[Xbob42]

I dunno if I buy the wide as an ocean but deep as a puddle metaphor here considering every other Zelda title is wide and deep as a puddle, so this at least extended the scope. And the world interactions far surpass the basic and boring ones of the past. Structure is nice, I guess, but for me, the series is about adventure, not some lame ass story or a pocket full of bad items that are essentially overly complicated keys. I can do more with a fucking loose boulder in BOTW than I can with every item in SS combined.

 

That said, they kinda goofed on the adventure front as well, while it felt much more like your first time playing Zelda 1, the world eventually loses its charm because the shrines are so evenly spaced apart, and are pretty samey, but the worst offender is that you know what's in 99% of shrines before you even enter them. And the few that give you a unique reward aren't cool enough to make the entire process exciting. There's a reason they kept extending the length of the build-up of chest openings. Not knowing is a nice, brief moment of excitement. If you know the reward before you even enter the place, bleh, and if you know the reward of EVERY place because they are all the same, super bleh.

 

I can take or leave the dungeons, I've always hated Zelda dungeons so it's not a huge loss for me if they vanish completely. Every element of a dungeon can be added to make the overworld more exciting. A puzzle you find randomly while exploring is a neat surprise, walking into yet another puzzle room in a dungeon makes me roll my eyes in boredom. They're just so easy. At least an easy puzzle in the world has you excited to complete it because you have no idea what the prize might be, provided they give varied rewards.

 

For me, the best part of any game, but especially Zelda titles, is unpredictable and exciting rewards that can meaningfully change the way you interact with the world. Before BOTW, Zelda items were not just getting more predictable, but also less functional outside of their very narrow purposes. It was a huge disappointment to me how BOTW offered no new items or powers, but there was a huge variety in what you could do with what you had.

[CastlevaniaNut18]

It's easily my favorite 3D Zelda game. Sure, there are some flaws, but I pretty much loved every minute of my 80+ hours with it.

[crispy4000]

4 hours ago, Enlityn said:

This game is fantastic, but it isn't the second coming. The Nintendo fanatics won't hear it, but there were at least a few frustrating parts about this game.  I remember the internet losing their shit over the open world and thinking "We've had these for... decades?"

 

The cell shaded one was a good bit better!

 

Wind Waker may even have the weaker dungeons, honestly.  More visually inspired, but the puzzles in BotW’s were more complex and often spanned mutiple rooms.  I think the Shrines were also better than the small puzzle islands.

 

IMO, BotW is the game Wind Waker tried to be, outside of the story bits.  Better overworld, better puzzles, better combat, more fun special items/abilities, collecting things was fun and served a purpose, etc.  Before release, I was more opposed to the idea of BotW because of the game WW was.  I have to give Nintendo credit for delivering, even though I prefer a more traditional Zelda design.   BotW is still a great game.

[EternallDarkness]

I enjoyed it quite a bit even though I never really got the handle on blocking the guardian lasers

[Emblazon]

Before I played the game I ripped it apart. Then I played it on Wii U for about 30 hours and was so completely hooked that it caused me to go out and get a Switch for it so I could play it at work during lunch. Another 90 hours in on the Switch and I can safely say it's one of the 5 best games I've ever played. 

 

No game has even remotely come close to the world interactivity and quality of physics as BotW has. The sheer amount of detail and scope of that interactivity put even Rockstar titles to shame. 

 

I absolutely LOVE how huge the map is and the fact that I was still finding new, previously undiscovered locations 80 hours into the game. 

 

Another thing, in the age of lazy development, there's not a single invisible barrier in the entire game. If you can see it, and can get there--you can go there. The last time I experienced that was in Halo: Combat Evolved (which did have one invisible barrier). 

 

Hands down the game of the generation for me. 

[Rodimus]

Great game. nice swan song for Wii U owners and great intro game to the Switch.

[nublood]

Man, y’all are making me want to play this again. And I’ve been through it 3 times... twice on WiiU and once on the Switch. LOL

[Xbob42]

I'm hoping we get a sequel relatively soon that fully takes advantage of the engine and is able to correct every design flaw of BotW. It could really end up being one of the greatest games ever. Although it kinda makes me wonder what else they could've tried if they had more power to work with. Would we be able to evaporate/drain lakes, for example? 

[Joestradamus]

4 hours ago, Emblazon said:

Before I played the game I ripped it apart. Then I played it on Wii U for about 30 hours and was so completely hooked that it caused me to go out and get a Switch for it so I could play it at work during lunch. Another 90 hours in on the Switch and I can safely say it's one of the 5 best games I've ever played. 

 

No game has even remotely come close to the world interactivity and quality of physics as BotW has. The sheer amount of detail and scope of that interactivity put even Rockstar titles to shame. 

 

I absolutely LOVE how huge the map is and the fact that I was still finding new, previously undiscovered locations 80 hours into the game. 

 

Another thing, in the age of lazy development, there's not a single invisible barrier in the entire game. If you can see it, and can get there--you can go there. The last time I experienced that was in Halo: Combat Evolved (which did have one invisible barrier). 

 

Hands down the game of the generation for me. 

I'm pretty sure I hit an invisible barrier at one point, in the snowy peaks somewhere. It's been a while since I've played though. Hoping to start up again soon, most likely starting over fresh.

[Ghost_MH]

The first Zelda on the NES is the first game to truly suck me in. It's the first game I got in trouble for sinking hours into and hogging the TV with all day and night. We'd visit my grandmother and is being there cartridge along to play it at her place. BotW brought all those feelings right back in a way no other Zelda or Zelda-like game ever has since. Even with its flaws, I have to hold it up as one of the best gaming experiences I've ever had.

 

The idea that this same team could take what they learned with BotW and improve upon it, leaves me very impatient for the next entry.

[Remarkableriots]

On 1/2/2019 at 7:32 PM, Dre801 said:

If I ever get a Switch, I'll pick it up.

Same for me

[johnny]

It’s a boring game. I’d rather be kicked in the balls by Jessica Chobot. 

[Bloodporne]

15 hours ago, Xbob42 said:

I dunno if I buy the wide as an ocean but deep as a puddle metaphor here considering every other Zelda title is wide and deep as a puddle, so this at least extended the scope. And the world interactions far surpass the basic and boring ones of the past. Structure is nice, I guess, but for me, the series is about adventure, not some lame ass story or a pocket full of bad items that are essentially overly complicated keys. I can do more with a fucking loose boulder in BOTW than I can with every item in SS combined.

 

That said, they kinda goofed on the adventure front as well, while it felt much more like your first time playing Zelda 1, the world eventually loses its charm because the shrines are so evenly spaced apart, and are pretty samey, but the worst offender is that you know what's in 99% of shrines before you even enter them. And the few that give you a unique reward aren't cool enough to make the entire process exciting. There's a reason they kept extending the length of the build-up of chest openings. Not knowing is a nice, brief moment of excitement. If you know the reward before you even enter the place, bleh, and if you know the reward of EVERY place because they are all the same, super bleh.

 

I can take or leave the dungeons, I've always hated Zelda dungeons so it's not a huge loss for me if they vanish completely. Every element of a dungeon can be added to make the overworld more exciting. A puzzle you find randomly while exploring is a neat surprise, walking into yet another puzzle room in a dungeon makes me roll my eyes in boredom. They're just so easy. At least an easy puzzle in the world has you excited to complete it because you have no idea what the prize might be, provided they give varied rewards.

 

For me, the best part of any game, but especially Zelda titles, is unpredictable and exciting rewards that can meaningfully change the way you interact with the world. Before BOTW, Zelda items were not just getting more predictable, but also less functional outside of their very narrow purposes. It was a huge disappointment to me how BOTW offered no new items or powers, but there was a huge variety in what you could do with what you had.

I think my comparison may also unfairly be directly to Ocarina since I was just playing that and it's freshest on my mind. Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword have been so long ago by now I barely remember them detail-wise. 

 

I think my really honest criticism would be somewhere between yours and what I actually said in reality if I played the entire game but I definitely thought it was entirely too sparse and unstructured for me. Zelda dungeons are some of my absolute favorite video game moments so you can imagine how I feel about it. 

 

Overall I just hope they find a middle ground with the next iteration like I said. The series definitely had become pretty fucking stale so eh. I didn't even finish Skyward Sword. 

[crispy4000]

4 hours ago, Bloodporne said:

I think my comparison may also unfairly be directly to Ocarina since I was just playing that and it's freshest on my mind. Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword have been so long ago by now I barely remember them detail-wise. 

 

I think my really honest criticism would be somewhere between yours and what I actually said in reality if I played the entire game but I definitely thought it was entirely too sparse and unstructured for me. Zelda dungeons are some of my absolute favorite video game moments so you can imagine how I feel about it. 

 

Overall I just hope they find a middle ground with the next iteration like I said. The series definitely had become pretty fucking stale so eh. I didn't even finish Skyward Sword. 

 

The last few dungeons in Skyward Sword are so good.  So are the final two bosses.  It’s a flawed game in some respects, but it really hits the stuff that matters.  You just have to get through some occasionally blatant filler.

[Bloodporne]

2 minutes ago, crispy4000 said:

 

The last few dungeons in Skyward Sword are so good.  So are the final two bosses.  It’s a flawed game in some respects, but it really hits the stuff that matters.  You just have to get through some occasionally blatant filler.

My big issue were the motion controls. I just can't get into any of those Wii gimmicky controls, even if well executed. I don't like it in any of the Mario titles, Zelda...the only game on Wii that I prefer to a regular controller is the Resident Evil 4 port. 

[crispy4000]

7 minutes ago, Bloodporne said:

My big issue were the motion controls. I just can't get into any of those Wii gimmicky controls, even if well executed. I don't like it in any of the Mario titles, Zelda...the only game on Wii that I prefer to a regular controller is the Resident Evil 4 port. 

 

Game was designed around the controls, I can’t imagine it another way.  But I’d hope a Switch port would be more responsive.

 

SS felt especially good to me after playing TP on Wii, which I would have preferred button presses for.

[5timechamp]

4 hours ago, Bloodporne said:

My big issue were the motion controls. I just can't get into any of those Wii gimmicky controls, even if well executed. I don't like it in any of the Mario titles, Zelda...the only game on Wii that I prefer to a regular controller is the Resident Evil 4 port. 

 I disliked the Wii port mainly because of just how good the aiming became with the Wiimotes.... to me it felt too accurate (im weird), the precision took some "suspense" out of the gunplay

[Chris-]

So I've done a lot in the game over the past three days (bunch of shrines, hunted for seeds, did the elephant Divine Beast, went to Akkala), but this post is about one thing:

 

Fuck Goron City.

 

[spoilers or whatever]

 

Seriously, what a horrendous design choice. I didn't mind having to use elixirs to get up; I didn't mind running into a Guardian on the way up (decided it was worth using an Ancient arrow to take it out quickly); I didn't mind running into a boss halfway up, because you can easily run by it (decided I'd rather not take on a boss with a dwindling buff); I didn't mind the scripted magma bombs because hey, that's a fun little event! I made it to the gates safety, and felt content with the entire sequence. I then went to the armor shop to purchase flame-resistant equipment...

 

.....FOR 3,300 FUCKING RUPEES?!?

 

What a load of shit. So my choice is to either utilize elixirs every six minutes while I'm in this area (which is nothing more than tedious micromanagement), or grind for what would be nearly 4x the amount of rupees I've ever held so that I can buy an outfit that is (probably) only relevant in one area of the game. I don't even know *how* to raise that many rupees outside of selling gems, and given how many items I've senselessly sold away before realizing their importance (hello, Ancient Screws), I'm reticent to do so less I regret it later.

 

I'm actually kind of pissed about this. It just seems like a really, really poor choice to put in front a player.

[Chris-]

And what makes it worse is that, while I could go out and farm materials, inevitably it will cost me weapons and shields because the loot I get won't be better than what breaks.

[Nokt]

Went over to my buddies house yesterday to plan out a trip with him and the whole time I was there I was watching him play BOTW. It made me want to replay, so the first thing I did this morning was boot up a new save file and away I went.

 

The hand holding at the beginning is just awful, but I discovered something while hanging out on the plateau. This game works the best when you are just blind exploring. Every time I've started the game I've always just got the cold weather shirt, beat the 4 shrines, upgraded my stamina and went on my way. This time I took my time. I explored and found that there was actually a lot more to the area than I originally thought. I found a couple rubies and a bunch of other gems so that I could have a good chunk of money when I made it to somewhere I could sell them. There was a world boss (the stone guy) that you can fight and a whole bunch of koroks to find. 

 

As soon as I left the plateau instead of running for the first stable I normally run to, I just took off in a different direction finding whatever I could that would be useful to me. I've completed a chunk of side quests that don't really mean much, but its been fun. At least more fun that just running up to Zora's and beating the elephant and then moving on to the next area. I've also been doing a couple of the EX quests.

[legend]

1 hour ago, Chris- said:

So I've done a lot in the game over the past three days (bunch of shrines, hunted for seeds, did the elephant Divine Beast, went to Akkala), but this post is about one thing:

 

Fuck Goron City.

 

[spoilers or whatever]

 

Seriously, what a horrendous design choice. I didn't mind having to use elixirs to get up; I didn't mind running into a Guardian on the way up (decided it was worth using an Ancient arrow to take it out quickly); I didn't mind running into a boss halfway up, because you can easily run by it (decided I'd rather not take on a boss with a dwindling buff); I didn't mind the scripted magma bombs because hey, that's a fun little event! I made it to the gates safety, and felt content with the entire sequence. I then went to the armor shop to purchase flame-resistant equipment...

 

.....FOR 3,300 FUCKING RUPEES?!?

 

What a load of shit. So my choice is to either utilize elixirs every six minutes while I'm in this area (which is nothing more than tedious micromanagement), or grind for what would be nearly 4x the amount of rupees I've ever held so that I can buy an outfit that is (probably) only relevant in one area of the game. I don't even know *how* to raise that many rupees outside of selling gems, and given how many items I've senselessly sold away before realizing their importance (hello, Ancient Screws), I'm reticent to do so less I regret it later.

 

I'm actually kind of pissed about this. It just seems like a really, really poor choice to put in front a player.

 

My memory might be fuzzy, but I think you can get some of the flame resistant items without paying for them. Might be worth a google if it's bothering you.

[Nokt]

14 minutes ago, legend said:

 

My memory might be fuzzy, but I think you can get some of the flame resistant items without paying for them. Might be worth a google if it's bothering you.

I thought there was some goron stuff you could do and they would reward you with the armor afterwards. I don't really remember either though.

[CastlevaniaNut18]

Yeah, I'm not remembering having those problems with Goron City. I'm pretty sure there's some way you can get the equipment without paying. 

[Xbob42]

I definitely don't remember hitting a huge rupee barrier.

[Jason]

11 hours ago, kittykat said:

I put 10 hours in and could not get into it. It felt like a chore to play. Definitely not me for me, and kinda sucked cause I have enjoyed precious Zelda games. Oh well. 

 

IIRC you probably gave up right before you would have started liking it. The starting area isn't a great representation of what the game is like.

[Jason]

46 minutes ago, CastlevaniaNut18 said:

Yeah, I'm not remembering having those problems with Goron City. I'm pretty sure there's some way you can get the equipment without paying. 

 

25 minutes ago, Xbob42 said:

I definitely don't remember hitting a huge rupee barrier.

 

Can't you do the areas in any order you want? From what Chris is saying it sounds like he may have hit Goron City earlier than is ideal.

[CastlevaniaNut18]

8 minutes ago, Jason said:

 

 

Can't you do the areas in any order you want? From what Chris is saying it sounds like he may have hit Goron City earlier than is ideal.

Yep. 

[Chris-]

1 hour ago, legend said:

 

My memory might be fuzzy, but I think you can get some of the flame resistant items without paying for them. Might be worth a google if it's bothering you.

 

From what I've read, you can get one piece which is 600 or 700 rupees. The helm, which is 2,000, can only be purchased. So either way, still a steep climb.

 

And as it would turn out, I've already farmed enough mats to afford it all. I hit up all the Luminous Stone mines above Zora's Domain, then went to the Southern Mine near Goron City and found an even bigger trove of veins up above. I basically ran around like a mad man trying to get them all before my elixir ran out.

[Anzo]

You can cook a better elixir that last like 30+ minutes. I don’t remember the recipe. 

[Chris-]

2 minutes ago, Anzo said:

You can cook a better elixir that last like 30+ minutes. I don’t remember the recipe. 

 

too late ho, i'm flamebreaker now

[crispy4000]

3 hours ago, Nokt said:

Went over to my buddies house yesterday to plan out a trip with him and the whole time I was there I was watching him play BOTW. It made me want to replay, so the first thing I did this morning was boot up a new save file and away I went.

 

The hand holding at the beginning is just awful.......

 

I’m of the total opposite opinion.  There’s almost no hand holding, and the little of it that is there isn’t awful by any stretch of the imagination.  Most other games do more tutorializing than BotW does, and the way it let you discover things on the plateau first was totally fine to me.

 

... I just started AC Odyssey recently, my first AC game.  I don’t play Ubisoft games often, but my first impressions were that it was a mess of waypoint systems and icons vomit.  I wanted more hand holding to start, because the game communicated too much at the start (while oddly explaining very little about what the icons mean).  That’s where Nintendo struck a perfect balance IMO.  The opening hours shouldn’t need to feel bloated, and a little constriction can go a long way to help that.

[Nokt]

20 minutes ago, crispy4000 said:

I’m of the total opposite opinion.  There’s almost no hand holding, and the little of it that is there isn’t awful by any stretch of the imagination.  Most other games do more tutorializing than BotW does, and the way it let you discover things on the plateau first was totally fine to me.

Hand holding is the wrong phrase. Its just BOTW lite, no glider, no horse, limited weapons, limited armor, and it feels like it goes on forever. An hour or two in the plateau feels like 6 in the rest of the game.

This is hypocritical to say, but it does do a good job of introducing you into the world, I just hate it.

[Kal-El814]

16 minutes ago, crispy4000 said:

 

I’m of the total opposite opinion.  There’s almost no hand holding, and the little of it that is there isn’t awful by any stretch of the imagination.  Most other games do more tutorializing than BotW does, and the way it let you discover things on the plateau first was totally fine to me.

 

... I just started AC Odyssey recently, my first AC game.  I don’t play Ubisoft games often, but my first impressions were that it was a mess of waypoint systems and icons vomit.  I wanted more hand holding to start, because the game communicated too much at the start (while oddly explaining very little about what the icons mean).  That’s where Nintendo struck a perfect balance IMO.  The opening hours shouldn’t need to feel bloated, and a little constriction can go a long way to help that.

FWIW Ass Odyssey is largely devoid of all icons other than ?’s if you’re playing in exploration mode. 

[Jason]

3 hours ago, Kal-El814 said:

FWIW Ass Odyssey is largely devoid of all icons other than ?’s if you’re playing in exploration mode. 

 

I thought it was more of a Dong Odyssey?