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Breath of the Wild was incredible.. until it wasn't - it became another open world drag
- Thread starter TheRulingRing
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Your profile on Switch :)
Home button - Top left icon - profile - it'll show no. of hours you've spent in a game after 10 days.
Put in 65 hours, game was a chore for the last 30. Got the requirements to get the master sword, found all the memories, cleared all the divine beasts and like had a .. "that's it ?" moment at the end. Made sure to have all the towers up and did the survival island thingie as well
It just wasn't incredible. I think I put that on myself tho after finding out than freezing gardians and whacking them with electrical damage was the go to cheese
It just wasn't incredible. I think I put that on myself tho after finding out than freezing gardians and whacking them with electrical damage was the go to cheese
I feel like I'm picking up a tone here, but nevermind.
1) Sure, I could keep trying new weapons. I'm finding lots, I've tried a nice variety of spears and clubs and swords etc but my issue is they all eventually break. I'm not overusing melee, I've used my powers a chunk of the time to fight stuff and there have been many good moments like that time I used stasis to fire a bomb barrel into some bad guys, or rolled some rocks down a hill or used a bomb to blow a load of guys off a cliff; but I like the melee too for the most part, it's fairly meaty and the enemies react nicely and sometimes you want to just slap some dudes that are in your way and move past and I've found it gradually more of an annoyance that all weapons (I assume!) break. For me, it just disincentivises (is that a word?!) finding new weapons and makes me want to horde the better ones. There is no thrill to finding a new better weapon at the moment because I know it won't impact on my playstyle and if I use it and enjoy it then it will be taken away.
I don't mind weapon degradation mechanics if they're not too aggressive and there are ways to repair - now there may well be ways to do this in BoTW but I haven't come across it yet and I've found weapons seem to break very easily and it's kind of annoying to have to choose a new weapon mid fight.
2) Stamina is flat out irritating. Yes, I've made various elixirs to improve stamina and I've dangled off a cliff and chugged potions to keep climbing to the top, but it's a bit of a killjoy for me. I was so pleased when I discovered I can climb anything in the game, that's such a brilliant feature and then it's gated by the stamina mechanic which seems antithetical to the main ethos of the game. And when it's raining, that's just annoying too, being unable to climb.
As for the elements, I've cooked various things for colder climes which is cool, I assume there are more options for other areas which I haven't got to yet.
Don't get me wrong, I think it's a great game, it has a lot of really good stuff but these elements are starting to take the shine off for me.
It seems to me like you don't like exploration.
Game is a wonder, even after 100h I still enjoyed it very much and still found new and interesting things to do.
It's a great game if you feel like climbing mountains, but there's a point where you just wish there was more direction and more useful rewards.
You should play BotW as long as you have fun and then finish it, if you feel like, you can beat Ganon and you don't have anything better to do. The game isn't made to force you through all of its content. The developers are fine with you skipping stuff, which is a great mind-set to have for an Open-World game.
I really liked Breath of the Wild, but I think I do agree with this. Its open structure worked to its advantage at first, but it felt like it worked against it near the end. There's not really any sense of pacing, since you have to set it yourself. The game didn't really have a good point where it tells me to quit and stop playing, so I basically kept going until I lost interest. That's in stark contrast of the previous games, where I put the controller down after the scripted narrative climax, without having more stuff to do afterwards. I sometimes wonder if I would be looking back more fondly to Breath of the Wild if I just stopped after the final boss, rather than going back and exploring the world further.
I kind of agree, but the enjoyment I got from the 95hrs of game-play justified the cost and it's status of being a great game.
Once the novelty of climbing everywhere wore off, the lack of structured story and meaningful progression rear its head. To me BOTW is basically a big map, lot of small surprises littered all over the world, four major dungeon and one final dungeon.
The moment I got bored of the world and realized there isn't much progression going on, I rushed to the final dungeon, completed it and didn't want to play the game again.
You might say that's what a typical game-play loop of an open world game, but The Witcher 3 and Far Cry 3, both open world but of different game types, left me wanting more upon completion, and in both cases I start a 2nd play-through immediately.
Once the novelty of climbing everywhere wore off, the lack of structured story and meaningful progression rear its head. To me BOTW is basically a big map, lot of small surprises littered all over the world, four major dungeon and one final dungeon.
The moment I got bored of the world and realized there isn't much progression going on, I rushed to the final dungeon, completed it and didn't want to play the game again.
You might say that's what a typical game-play loop of an open world game, but The Witcher 3 and Far Cry 3, both open world but of different game types, left me wanting more upon completion, and in both cases I start a 2nd play-through immediately.
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I honestly found it quite tedious from the start. The world design is wonderful, but I'm coming to expect more narrative choice or main character interaction with the towns, people and economies from open world games now. It fell into the trap of just having too many things to do, too many markers etc. Most open world games do this.
Although Horizon was criticised for it, I felt it's side content was about right in quantity, but it fell down in other areas.
Although Horizon was criticised for it, I felt it's side content was about right in quantity, but it fell down in other areas.
I think my main criticism of the game - and it seems to be borne out here - is that is just sort of peters out in the end, because the ending point is when you're fed up. It really has some high highs and does some really bold things, but it tends to leave you with a sort of 'ho-hum' feeling when you're done - or it did me. Like an absolute banging song that just degenerates into a long repeat at the end until you get up and switch it off.
For the sequel, I'd really like to see something a bit more streamlined, so that the game leaves you wanting more.
For the sequel, I'd really like to see something a bit more streamlined, so that the game leaves you wanting more.
The only issue I have was how easy and anti climatic the ending was. Thinking back to Twilight Princess or skyward Sword, it was so emotional to say goodbye to Midna/Fi after a long journey together that ended in a tough fight.
I'm glad there will be a sequel because maybe that can give me a satisfying conclusion. Also, I want hero mode unlocked from the start.
I'm glad there will be a sequel because maybe that can give me a satisfying conclusion. Also, I want hero mode unlocked from the start.
Agree with OP. I put in between 130-135 hours and I completed nearly everything there was to do in the game, minus collecting every Korok seed and upgrading all armor to 100%.
I will say that the first 15-20 hours of the game was amazing. Exploring the Plateau region and then the surrounding region below. However I found that quickly after the 15 hour or so mark, the experience started to become very repetitive and boring. It got to a point that once I had seen one or two shrines, I had seen them all. Seen one horse stable? Seen them all and so on. Each new area that I explored was exactly the same as the previous area in terms of activities awaiting me. I love exploring in games, but not if it's just for the sake of it. What the game was missing was a reason, a direction or sense of reward for going out of your way and trekking around the map.
Oh, and why is swimming tied to a stamina meter? I can't remember whether the Zora tunic gave Link unlimited stamina while swimming but the stamina meter really zapped the fun out of it. Furthermore, why is Link not able to swim underwater? We can quite clearly see the underwater sea life and whatnot, so it's not like it was with WW due to aesthetic reasons. Perfect opportunity to explore a network of underwater caves.
There are over 70 side quests in BOTW with the vast, vast majority of it being pointless filler and fetch quests. I would have preferred 10 side quests in total as long as they had some substance, a story to tell. Something that makes it feel like its set in its own self-contained Universe and is worthwhile to undertake.
Probably the biggest disappointment for me was the lack of any dungeons, and no, I don't regard the beasts as dungeons but rather large glorified shrines.
For such a large and expansive open world, this was the perfect opportunity to set up secret dungeons littered throughout the map. I remember trekking deep into the Hebra mountain regions until I came across a massive wooden door like structure which needed to be broken down by forming a giant snowball. I thought this would have been a perfect location for the start of an Ice dungeon. What did I find instead? Yet another shrine. There was also a similar example in the Faron Woods area too. They really dropped the ball there.
BOTW made me appreciate the past Zelda games that much more. I'd rather have a smaller world which feels like it was carefully hand crafted with history, character and a story to tell rather than large expanses of nothing which feels like it was created through a terrain generator.
Having said that, I wouldn't have put 130 hours into BOTW if I didn't enjoy it somewhat. I enjoyed it as a game but as a Zelda game for me, it ranks right at the bottom.
Funnily enough, I'm actually somewhat excited for BOTW2 if only because they can improve here. My hope is that for all the praise they've seen this game receive, they also take a lot of the criticisms on board too and hopefully build upon that in the sequel.
I will say that the first 15-20 hours of the game was amazing. Exploring the Plateau region and then the surrounding region below. However I found that quickly after the 15 hour or so mark, the experience started to become very repetitive and boring. It got to a point that once I had seen one or two shrines, I had seen them all. Seen one horse stable? Seen them all and so on. Each new area that I explored was exactly the same as the previous area in terms of activities awaiting me. I love exploring in games, but not if it's just for the sake of it. What the game was missing was a reason, a direction or sense of reward for going out of your way and trekking around the map.
Oh, and why is swimming tied to a stamina meter? I can't remember whether the Zora tunic gave Link unlimited stamina while swimming but the stamina meter really zapped the fun out of it. Furthermore, why is Link not able to swim underwater? We can quite clearly see the underwater sea life and whatnot, so it's not like it was with WW due to aesthetic reasons. Perfect opportunity to explore a network of underwater caves.
There are over 70 side quests in BOTW with the vast, vast majority of it being pointless filler and fetch quests. I would have preferred 10 side quests in total as long as they had some substance, a story to tell. Something that makes it feel like its set in its own self-contained Universe and is worthwhile to undertake.
Probably the biggest disappointment for me was the lack of any dungeons, and no, I don't regard the beasts as dungeons but rather large glorified shrines.
For such a large and expansive open world, this was the perfect opportunity to set up secret dungeons littered throughout the map. I remember trekking deep into the Hebra mountain regions until I came across a massive wooden door like structure which needed to be broken down by forming a giant snowball. I thought this would have been a perfect location for the start of an Ice dungeon. What did I find instead? Yet another shrine. There was also a similar example in the Faron Woods area too. They really dropped the ball there.
BOTW made me appreciate the past Zelda games that much more. I'd rather have a smaller world which feels like it was carefully hand crafted with history, character and a story to tell rather than large expanses of nothing which feels like it was created through a terrain generator.
Having said that, I wouldn't have put 130 hours into BOTW if I didn't enjoy it somewhat. I enjoyed it as a game but as a Zelda game for me, it ranks right at the bottom.
Funnily enough, I'm actually somewhat excited for BOTW2 if only because they can improve here. My hope is that for all the praise they've seen this game receive, they also take a lot of the criticisms on board too and hopefully build upon that in the sequel.
I stopped playing it due to open world fatigue. The irony is that I played the original as my first video game experience when the Nintendo was released in 85 or 86. Zelda has a special place in my heart, but I just couldn't take botw.
I think the regular shrines were dungeon replacements. Just like regular dungeons from the past games they contained fights, puzzles and secrets. The only difference being their bite sized nature but considering the Switch is both a home console and a portable, doing a shrine while riding on a train was a perfect bite sized complement to the long expansive exploration of the surface.
Honestly, I agree with everything in your post. This is my main issue with BOTW. Hope BOTW2 improves on that aspect, dramatically.
But it didn't need to be either/or. Maybe cut down on the number of shrines in favour of some tradtional dungeons, because let's face it, a good number of the Shrines were very similar in nature, some of them were literally, walk into the shrine and collect the blue orb, complete. I feel Shrines should have been treated as more of a supplement or addition on top of the traditional dungeons. My hope is that for the sequel they ditch the shrines altogether and just focus on 8-10 fully fledged dungeons.
Horizon was my sweet spot. Perfect map size, perfect pace of exploration and levelling up. Great diversity and character in each region. The story unfolded as you explored. I never did get the DLC to finish it off but then again the snow covered regions were the least interesting to me.
The one thing I felt the open world was anything but a drag. I as in love with the story or the last boss fight. With that being said we it's still an amazing game. I think they have a chance with 2 to iron out some things and improve the overall game. Looking forward to it. Hopefully they take their time and deliver another masterpiece.
What about maybe 20-30 unique themed shrines like a ghost mansion, an old windmill etc on top of 8 full fledged dungeons? I think that would be the sweet spot.
It's the first game I bought with my Switch just because I wanted a huge/deep open world on the go, and that's what I got. I love the game's systems and the dynamic nature of the world, but for whatever reason, I've put it down after a while. I've picked it back up these last 2 weeks and I'm having a blast. For those that finished : I've just defeated my first divine beast and I'm hooked. I'm on my way to the second one (the flying one) and would like to know if all 4 are a must before tackling the castle or not since I too am afraid it's going to get tedious after a long while.
You know, that would be even better! Maybe even have some of the shrines tied to a side story or side quest. I got bored of seeing the same looking shrine so changing it up with unique themes would be ideal. Now that you mentioned a Ghost Mansion. Personal preference, but I'd like to see something like that in the sequel. I've always loved some of the spooky vibes previous entires in the series have given off such as OOT, MM and TP. Maybe something like the Well from OOT, or the Stone Tower from MM with a creepy/ghost like atmosphere would be nice to see in BOTW2.
I mean it is pretty much picking up new weapons. If you're trying to maintain a armoury of weapons you're just going to get frustrated. Weapons are ammo and you use whatever you have at hand, they are disposable and there is no point in repairing them. If it breaks, on to the next weapon you have.
There is a certain amount of unlearning to do in terms if you're the type of person to get items in a jRPG - for example - and then never use them because you might need them at some point.
I wish I could like this game the same way other people clearly do. For me, the experience was exciting and fun for a few hours, and then it dawned on me pretty quickly that its a big empty open world with simplistic combat, no story, bad dungeons, no voice acting, a poorly thought-out weapon degradation system and equally bad crafting/cooking. Redeeming qualities for me were the puzzles and the art design. Outside of that... not really sure why its acceptable in its current state, or even praised for its design. I know its controversial and I'm in the minority, but this game feels like it got a free pass for being half of a good game.
All I can say is, after playing BotW, every other open world game I played (aside from Spider-Man if that even counts) just felt old-fashioned and evening ridiculous in comparison. The total freedom that I had in BotW was replaced by BS invisible walls and insurmountable obstacles that I never would have questioned before BotW came about.
I admit I have loved Zelda games since OoT but BotW made me fall in love with games in a way no other game has since, and I'm not exaggerating. The OP makes perfectly viable points but for me they didn't matter.
I admit I have loved Zelda games since OoT but BotW made me fall in love with games in a way no other game has since, and I'm not exaggerating. The OP makes perfectly viable points but for me they didn't matter.
I do think it's interesting how OP myself and a friend of mine and others seem to have the same impression. The game is truly brilliant at first because you're like "wait, it can't literally be that I can just go and defeat Ganon right?" and you do get that vastness and mystery of the world. But soon, it fades and not even that long after being done with Great Plateau.
I think the symptoms are the same that Super Bunnyhop did an essay on.
NB: The video criticizes the load times on entering and exiting the shrines. A recent system update for Switch enabled overclock in games including BotW and the faster load screens (less than a few seconds) really motivated me to get to the end for once.
I think the symptoms are the same that Super Bunnyhop did an essay on.
NB: The video criticizes the load times on entering and exiting the shrines. A recent system update for Switch enabled overclock in games including BotW and the faster load screens (less than a few seconds) really motivated me to get to the end for once.
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That wouldn't be good.
Firstly, as the post mentioned, you lose that commute friendly "I have 15 minutes available for a shrine on the train, let's do one". Second, their purpose is not just a small challenge, they also act as extremely convenient warp markers, again vital for bite sized gaming. Third, all shrines are not equal, there were a crop of specially denoted shrine quests, done so in order to set them apart from the standard shrines you found in the field. It is also worth noting that the "blessing" shrines where you pick up the orb was usually the result of a puzzle to overcome in the field, where the shrine was merely the full stop of the task you were attempting to best.
They did supplement traditional with dungeons, which the Divine Beasts were. There were not 8 - 10 of these, but there were 5, which isn't far off.
This was the point where I took a second look at what I was doing and asked myself if I really liked the formula, and that's where it started to go downhill for me. I think particularly it was my disappointment about how simple the Divine Beasts are. They're still a highlight of the game, as there are only 4, each has unique atmospheric music and a unique boss, but that's the Zelda standard for dungeons. It's missing the pacing of a true Zelda dungeon in which you stumble upon weird obstacles and feel overwhelmed by the maze-like feel of the place and all its floors, until you unlock a door with a Small Key face the mini-boss and get the item that rocks the house. And I get it, they tried something different this time, part of it for creative reasons and another out of obligation to the new principles they had established - that you can do whatever you want at any time, therefore the lack of designed progression dictates that no Divine Beast can require specific items or skills you would have to go out and unlock, and the game also insists on you having the tools you need at the outset, so those are all you need anywhere.
But I want a sense of mystery and danger, and adventure out of a dungeon. I do get it slightly but it's only slightly, with the Divine Beasts. They feel like an "Ocarina of Time LITE" dungeon to me. The only thing I admired was how each had room-shifting map mechanics. I think that was a perfect mitigatior to not being able to give Link permanent tools and honestly it also solves that problem of getting the Spinner in Twilight Princess and never using it again except in Hyrule Castle once.
I just want them to prove Open Air's existence with BotW2 by creating a Zelda experience within it that is as good as Ocarina of Time or Twilight Princess (the dungeons) or ALttP, because I honestly feel that aspect of BotW, the parts you can directly compare to older Zeldas, do not hold up, not even as a first impression besides that it's always great to get new Zelda stuff in this industry.
Also, specific wish for BotW2: Ditch the theme of shrines. Keep the Shrines as a design, but give them different themes, if you base it on Ocarina you can say there's 10 sets of "Shadow Shrines" and 10 sets of "Forest Shrines", and we do away with the techno-robo aesthetics and replace it with something that looks like it could literally be nested within the area you find it in, and not a gamified monolith. Also, please more unique rewards in the world, like that warp-item you can get in a Maze somewhere. Nintendo, you used to be good at creating unique assets in Zelda games. You have the systematized world and framework, pls pls pls, give us some more uniqueness for our 100 hour journey.
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Well, it's as I said, cut down on the number of shrines from 120 to something which would have allowed the extra time to go into designing proper dungeons. That way you cater to both. I understand and appreciate the value of bite sized gaming to play through during a commute etc, but as the poster mentioned, the Switch is a hybrid console. Some people including myself, only exclusively plays Switch in docked mode for the full big TV experience where we can sit down and take our time. Some of us do want to just get lost in a dungeon and take the time to explore and try different strategies to progress further etc. I don't think it's fair to just alienate those players in favour of majority bite sized experiences. There's possibly room for both but there would need to be a cutback on shrines.
Not all shrines were equal but a good deal of them were. The combat shrines in particular were copy/paste experiences. There was no variation in enemy types from what I remember. All shrines were themed exactly the same. There was the odd shrine with water as an element but it didn't really play much of a role in terms of gameplay mechanics. I remember Twilight Princess having Mini or Micro dungeons/caves found throughout Hyrule which were basically themed out to a particular element. Water, Fire, Forest. Having shrines with those themes built in mind could have opened up gameplay and prevented fatigue from seeing the same copy/paste rooms from setting in. I look back at the shrines as more of a way to pad out the gameplay experience and a supplement but no way should it replace fully fledged dungeons as those are different experiences altogether.
Sorry, but I do not class the Beasts as dungeons. They were nothing more than glorified shrines. 4 of these beasts would barely scrape together a single traditional labyrinth styled dungeon from say TP for example. Hyrule castle, while giving a more satifying dungeon-ish type experience compared to the beasts, it still pales in comparison to some of the best or even average dungeons from past games.
I won't tell anyone how to play their games but I don't think Breath of the Wild was meant to be explored 100%. That's the whole point of there being no quest markers for most of the side-stuff unless you happen to talk to an npc who tells you about it, and even then mostly only the shrines get quest markers. That's also why you can technically finish the game anytime you want. Ganon's always there after all. It's supposed to feel like an organic world, as in like the real world, where you also would have a map of the world and a goal, but no quest markers for the little stuff you can do in between... Just with the option that here, you can easily skip to the end if it starts to get boring.
So if the novelty started to fade after 50 hours, well then that's when it's time to finish the game for you, personally. I have spent around 125 hours in the game and enjoyed my time with it, but I didn't 100% it and I felt satisfied when the credits rolled along. I know others who spent less time with it and then others who spent 400 hours on the game. This game is different for everyone, that's what makes it so realistic and great, imo.
But of course I am not saying your opinion isn't valid. I'm just giving my own.
So if the novelty started to fade after 50 hours, well then that's when it's time to finish the game for you, personally. I have spent around 125 hours in the game and enjoyed my time with it, but I didn't 100% it and I felt satisfied when the credits rolled along. I know others who spent less time with it and then others who spent 400 hours on the game. This game is different for everyone, that's what makes it so realistic and great, imo.
But of course I am not saying your opinion isn't valid. I'm just giving my own.
They can't be old style dungeons because of the way the game is designed. Link sucks to control when confined. Shrines bypass this by taking Link to a big open area to perform in. The divine beasts themselves are very open, less of a labyrinth and more of a large interconnected space. The master sword trials also provide you with a focused by still free playground to get stuck into. Everything has been centred around the open air and traversal, which is why a lot of puzzles and scenarios spill into that situation rather than being forced underground.
The best example of Link controlling like ass inside is inside the Yiga clan base. Luckily, you can cheese it with Revali's Gale and bypass the interior mainly
It's great with how it shakes things up and how different it is to standard Zelda or Nintendo games (although goes a bit too far with it like with dungeons) but a lot of it's systems are a bit too flakey and not really balanced. The house of cards falls apart pretty quickly when you look at it critically.
I can see with either BOTW2 or whatever comes after it, which should improve upon the foundations, changing the perception of BOTW retroactively.
I can see with either BOTW2 or whatever comes after it, which should improve upon the foundations, changing the perception of BOTW retroactively.
Which is why I was never really a fan of this open air design of BOTW. I'm hoping that they can maybe refine it and possibly scale the world back in a little in the sequel. The Master Sword trials I actually enjoyed. It had a sense of freedom but at the same time, it felt like there was a hand crafted element to it as well which felt akin to classic Zelda. Maybe more of those experiences in BOTW2 would be welcome.
This.
I've only played through the game once and I doubt I'll play it again. I went for the divine beasts as soon as I felt strong enough. Went for the end in the same manner. Some people like to suck the marrow out of every open world game, but I think that makes for a bad experience for most player.
Yes. I also loved the first 40-50 hours. After that, it's just a drag. Still, 40-50 wonderful hours is nothing to sneeze at. Fantastic game.
I actually found that it's best to just use everything you have and not worry about it breaking. Breaking isn't bad, it's an opportunity to use something else. Because I always used my weapons without fear of them breaking, I was free to enjoy them more. I wasn't punishing myself by using them. Am I wasting my fire rod by burning that bokoblin in the grass? Should I make an updraft by burning this dry grass to fly up and do something cool or should I be saving it for when the game "wants" me to use it? Who cares, it's fun and engaging and I'll pick up something else later! Much better than just carrying a bunch of weapons waiting for the "appropriate" time to use them, which is never. They just end up being Jpegs in my inventory then.
You say that finding a new weapon won't impact your play style but you aren't looking at the bigger picture here. Look at a broader span of time. Broader than just you picking up a single weapon or you breaking a single weapon. Look at your entire inventory of weapons and the way it changes over hours of play. If you are using your weapons without restraint, your "roster" of tools will always have a very different makeup at different points of the game. That alone will change your play style because the tools available to you are always different.
For example, you find an enemy camp and blow up the barrels with fire arrows to make the first strike. Now imagine the same camp but it's raining, so you can't make the barrels explode because they're wet. You might have some thunder weapons to take advantage of that by causing shockwaves in the puddles. Or you might not have any and have to try a different strategy based on what you have. Maybe you have a giant boomerang and you'll fight by throwing it around and catching it. Or you don't have that and you have a wind blade. Or whatever. Maybe you will just go in with a spear and attack them normally. Maybe it's not only raining but it's a thunderstorm and you have some metal weapons you can use to bring lightning down on them. Depending on my loadout, every encounter will play out differently.
The thing is the environments, the weather and the enemies and objects are always dynamically changing based on a variety of factors which allow you a variety of ways to tackle them. If you also allow your inventory to dynamically change by what you find and what you break, you will find more scenarios where you are encouraged to try different tactics. If you horde your special weapons because you think they're too special to be broken, you just won't use them and every enemy encounter will just be you breaking the same soldier swords and spears and other low level, basic weapons because you feel "safe" breaking those. In my earlier example, does it matter if its raining or not or what weapons I have? No, I'm just gonna bash them with my basic sword because I don't want to break my precious special weapons even though they would make this encounter fun. You're worried about breaking weapons taking the fun away but that kind of play style ironically makes the game less fun as you force yourself into a stale pattern.
I only played for a few hours. I really did get Assassin's Creed Odyssey vibes though. Amazing game but almost way too much content that it became a slog after a while and it felt like work to complete it.
You have all your skills before you leave the starting area, and enemy health scales with how many of that enemy you have killed so, you had all of this at the beginning of the game.
For me it wasn't even about getting to Ganon and completing the story, it was just about being absorbed in Hyrule. I got way more enjoyment out of just finding shit no matter how trivial, and seeing things like the ruins of Lon Lon Ranch and other locations from previous games that still somewhat stood after however many years. It gave me the same sense of wonder that the OG did when I was little and spent more time burning bushes and bombing walls looking for secrets than progressing through dungeons.
Huh, that's a really interesting coincidence. That's actually when I quit playing BotW.
And it was one of those things I think we all do. I never "quit." In fact, it's still installed. Always meant to go back. And I was still telling people it was a great game, but I kept finding myself doing other things or playing other games instead. Then days turned into weeks, months, etc.