What about Metroid? It was completely invalidated by Super Metroid.
And I do think that BotW will stand the test of time despite the potential of it's sequel.
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[Poll] Did we overestimate the influence The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild would have in the design of open-world videogames?
- Thread starter lunanto
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What about Metroid? It was completely invalidated by Super Metroid.
And I do think that BotW will stand the test of time despite the potential of it's sequel.
Thats not how it works lol. Only in your mind. You really think every major outlet reviewer just gives Nintendo games 95+ scores purely because it changes up the formula of that particular franchise, not taking into account the rest of the industry at all, not a chance.
Super Mario Odyssey is, in my opinion, the best 3D platformer ever made.
Death Stranding feels the closest to BotW with regards to how nuanced and interactive everything is in a way that really anchors you in the world.
Honestly if anything BotW was created and heavily influenced by open world games like Skyrim and The Witcher 3. The differences I see in BotW is that you can climb anything and glide off of high places, as well as being able to literally run to the end once the world opens up, and literal weapon breaking.
But really we are seeing influences from the games it was influenced by and less so the specific mechanics that made BotW different to them specifically is what I think is happening. I am not saying BotW is overrated because I had an absolute blast with it but I think people are overestimating its influence when it drew from games that had a bigger influence than itself and might be in a bit of a gaming bubble to really notice otherwise.
But really we are seeing influences from the games it was influenced by and less so the specific mechanics that made BotW different to them specifically is what I think is happening. I am not saying BotW is overrated because I had an absolute blast with it but I think people are overestimating its influence when it drew from games that had a bigger influence than itself and might be in a bit of a gaming bubble to really notice otherwise.
I agree. I don't really see a reason to play it these days over Super Metroid unless you're specifically curious about where the series started.
The vast majority of games benefit more from the TW3 style of open world than BotW.
BotW's open world design does not lend itself to the story, narrative and quest heavy design that most open worlds want to push forward.
BotW's open world design does not lend itself to the story, narrative and quest heavy design that most open worlds want to push forward.
Considering that like only one other poster in this thread recognized that Monolith Soft is the one responsible for the open world in BotW and how they have done that basically 5 times over now and yet people barely recognize it, I'm going to go with yes, OP.
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Making a game, any dev would strive to make it as interactive as possible in a meaningful way. Of course this excludes your story driven/gamplay lite games. The problem is, BoTW achieves this, and is the current pinnacle due to its chemistry engine, something that takes tremendous talent and programming. I'm not sure devs have the time, mindset and resources to efficiently create their own engines like that. Also, the western AAA devs are more focused on graphics, voice acting and story.
I don't think we'll see much of BoTW interactivity part of it in the coming games. The only game I see having this level of interactivity could be Elden Ring.
I don't think we'll see much of BoTW interactivity part of it in the coming games. The only game I see having this level of interactivity could be Elden Ring.
agreed. the feel of controlling mario in odyssey is unmatched.
Cosigned
What Xeno game actually plays like BoTW?
What Xeno game has the enclosed Disney park type design?
this is i think the game's biggest achievements. the game guides you through its world and keeps you entertained for ~100 hours without having a cluttered map/mini-map with a bajillion markers or having compass in the HUD constantly telling you how far away you are from 10 different objectives. that's not something that can be said for most open-world games.
It was never going to be particularly influential. Death Stranding is mechanically the most similar, albeit with vastly more interesting traversal mechanics, and that game was highly divisive.
There will never be an Assassin's Creed or Witcher or Elder Scrolls game than draws meaningful inspiration from BotW.
And for the most part it isn't exactly clear what being influenced by Zelda really means. Is it the empty open world? The lack of meaningful narrative? Or just some interesting combat options?
There will never be an Assassin's Creed or Witcher or Elder Scrolls game than draws meaningful inspiration from BotW.
And for the most part it isn't exactly clear what being influenced by Zelda really means. Is it the empty open world? The lack of meaningful narrative? Or just some interesting combat options?
Well it doesn't suite every type of open world game for starters. Also 90% of game devs couldn't pull it off if they tried, it's just a ginormous project.
It's much easier to just fill a world with checklists and shitty missions than subtlety weave everything into the world seemlessly.
It's much easier to just fill a world with checklists and shitty missions than subtlety weave everything into the world seemlessly.
People understandably focus on the open world aspect of BOTW, but it's the largely optional puzzles split amongst 120 shrines and 4 divine beast that would be very difficult for another developer to ape. They were too damn clever. That it was intended for players to defeat them (or not) the way the designers wanted or to concoct a completely different approach was just spectacular.
Short sweet plentiful mini dungeons has to be the future with this series. I'm not sure I would want to go back to being locked in 8 dungeons for hours on end again.
Short sweet plentiful mini dungeons has to be the future with this series. I'm not sure I would want to go back to being locked in 8 dungeons for hours on end again.
I said it the day the reviews came out and all the hot takes after that....This game is not as influential as people made it out to be. Outside Ass creed, which was going in this direction already prior to this game, there isn't these other game prioritizing the BOTW formula....and it may be because, those games are so much more dynamic and detailed that the simplistic psychics heavy design of the Zelda does not work for them or the game strictly isn't designed for that. So yeah. I don't think its too early or none of that stuff. It just simply isn't what everyone wants to do. If a game like cyberpunk isn't doing it, then the answer to me is clear.
That's not an either/or situation. You can easily do both.
I'm not sure and frankly, I don't care. None of them would be as good as BotW anyway. BotW 2 and Elden Ring (which will approach the genre in its own unique way) are the next games likely to push things forward in terms of meaningful open world design.
I think GTAIII might have been far more influential on a type of open world game design than I expect BotW to be - echoes of GTAIII can be seen in dozens of games from all over the world, decades later, even to this day in something like Cyberpunk.
I like BotW a lot, but don't quite see it being the influencer that others did, nor do I particularly expect to see some new genre of BotW-likes emerge after a few more years of gestation. Will some studios make games with strong echoes of BotW in the future? Maybe, but I still don't think that BotW is the Beatles of the video game industry.
I like BotW a lot, but don't quite see it being the influencer that others did, nor do I particularly expect to see some new genre of BotW-likes emerge after a few more years of gestation. Will some studios make games with strong echoes of BotW in the future? Maybe, but I still don't think that BotW is the Beatles of the video game industry.
I reject the idea that for a game to be influential it has to inspire multiple carbon copy clones. It's influenced plenty.
There isn't any game like BOTW. BOTW is almost completely open. You can choose where you go, when you want to. You can literally go fight Ganon when you leave the tutorial area. Breakable interchangeable weapons didn't catch on. Climb anything didn't catch on.
Using GoT as an example is laughable. It's very structured in most facets. It just uses the wind thing, which is similar to one aspect of BOTW.
BOTW was amazing for what it did. Letting me choose which guardians to pursue, mini dungeons to go after, and towns to go after, in any order, is refreshing. No game has done that. And I think it's going to be hard to imitate.
Using GoT as an example is laughable. It's very structured in most facets. It just uses the wind thing, which is similar to one aspect of BOTW.
BOTW was amazing for what it did. Letting me choose which guardians to pursue, mini dungeons to go after, and towns to go after, in any order, is refreshing. No game has done that. And I think it's going to be hard to imitate.
Breath of the Wild itself probably took at least five years to develop, so any game taking inspiration are still going to be years off. That being said, I doubt there will be many other studios trying to copy it. I mean, look at Skyrim. Huge hit, been 9 years since it came out, and no clones. There are really only very few studios who are capable of making games of that size and scale and they're busy making their own kinds of games. BotW is not the kind of game you can just copy for a quick buck.
Assassin's Creed Odyssey not having fall damage was their way of trying to make climbing and verticality more interesting, and was likely influenced partially by the flow of climbing in botw.
It clearly spawned loads of indie games that try in one way or another to evoke things from BotW.
In terms of open-world games, how many have been released since then? I think in general, the effect it had and will have is developers having to put more emphasis on a organic sense of discovery in their marketing. If they succeed in that regard is a different story but it has become a major bullet point when developers present their open-world game.
I think in 3 years time that's more influence than I expected. The question is kind of bait anyway, who expected BotW to completely change open-world games forever? Very few people. I think you are confusing that with the general love for the game.
In terms of open-world games, how many have been released since then? I think in general, the effect it had and will have is developers having to put more emphasis on a organic sense of discovery in their marketing. If they succeed in that regard is a different story but it has become a major bullet point when developers present their open-world game.
I think in 3 years time that's more influence than I expected. The question is kind of bait anyway, who expected BotW to completely change open-world games forever? Very few people. I think you are confusing that with the general love for the game.
Yep, replaying the game currently has been amazing. Influential or not, everything it set out to do, it does so spectacularly.
Interestingly, this game was clearly influenced by a Zelda title....just not the one being discussed in this thread lol
it really doesn't solve many of the problems with open world games IMO, and actually suffers from a lack of stuff to do
I've tried to play BOTW 4 times now, and each time I get burnt out around the 60 shrine mark because it starts to feel pointless. why am I even doing these shrines? there's barely a story to speak of, and what there is took place 100 years ago (and not in the actual game I'm playing right now)
I've tried to play BOTW 4 times now, and each time I get burnt out around the 60 shrine mark because it starts to feel pointless. why am I even doing these shrines? there's barely a story to speak of, and what there is took place 100 years ago (and not in the actual game I'm playing right now)
You hear this a lot and - much as I like and admire BotW - I still don't understand why this is considered a good thing. Aside from the fact it's an option in many much older open world games, I'm not sure there's any value, outside of pure novelty, in being able to ignore the entire game and skip from the first to last chapter, nor am I sure that the design trade-offs to make it possible are actually worthwhile.
Like, if someone told you they beat the game and thought it sucked, but you later discovered they'd left the plateau, headed straight for Ganon and beat him on their fiftieth try, would you really take it as fair critique? As the game is designed in that way, you'd kinda have to, but at the same time, you know they'd basically missed the entire experience.
I mean, I beat 3 of the 4 beasts before throwing in the towel but, go off.
For a game that is supposed to be "fuelling my exploration and to explore diversity in it's combat/systems", it does sure like to throw roadblocks up every 5 minutes.
That weapon you liked using? It's broken now.
That hill you wanna scale? Your stamina isn't large enough to do that yet, oh and it's raining.
I agree with the creativity, I've seen some compilations of what people are able to achieve and it's pretty nuts. But, I just can't see how you can say it's the players fault when it's an inherently poor design choice on the games part. You can inspire a player to try different combat styles without yoinking their favourite weapons from their hands every 2nd or 3rd fight. It explicitly flies in the face of the "do your own thing, explore where you want, play how you want" mantra the rest of the game is chanting.
I do look forward to them working on and improving these areas though, but I hope the broader games industry doesn't follow blindly just because Nintendo did it.
Which is funny because Majora's Mask is not an influential game at all even though its repeating 3 day cycle is wholly original and worth copying. But still, 19 years later and it has inspired the making of Outer Wilds at last.
Yeah and that may very well be the case with BotW as well. Maybe it won't directly influence a bunch of other games but that doesn't take away how remarkable the game is. A game doesn't have to influence dozens of others to be seen as a classic. Super Mario Galaxy certainly hasn't influenced much.
I already see the impact on more recent open world games to be honest. For example with tsushima, with how they distribute little puzzles and activities and opt more a more organic discovery of these highlights.
I take characters and a story that are/is not paper thin over "climb anywhere" and "electricity acts like electricity" any day of the week lol.
I must be immune to this game's open world charms. I tried it for a few hours on my brother's Switch and found it boring and directionless. I was expecting a lot more plot based activities. What I got felt gimmicky and gamey.
Developers need to start associating strong plot motivators to game progression, otherwise things feel like a chore, like work. And I already have a career for that. Of course exploration for exploration's sake can be fun too, but BotW's never felt as such to me, so I abandoned it. Horizon on the other hand is one of my games of the generation. I felt lost and abandoned it for a while too, midway there. But when I came back the game clicked for me as more of the plot was revealed and gripped me. And I couldn't stop playing until the end and then onto the Frozen Wilds expansion, which was a fun romp too. It didn't hurt that besides a good plot motivation the game is also gorgeous and plays like a dream. BotW's short weapon durability was an immediate turn off.
So in short, I fail to see how BotW could impact the open world genre when it felt so gamey and task based.
Developers need to start associating strong plot motivators to game progression, otherwise things feel like a chore, like work. And I already have a career for that. Of course exploration for exploration's sake can be fun too, but BotW's never felt as such to me, so I abandoned it. Horizon on the other hand is one of my games of the generation. I felt lost and abandoned it for a while too, midway there. But when I came back the game clicked for me as more of the plot was revealed and gripped me. And I couldn't stop playing until the end and then onto the Frozen Wilds expansion, which was a fun romp too. It didn't hurt that besides a good plot motivation the game is also gorgeous and plays like a dream. BotW's short weapon durability was an immediate turn off.
So in short, I fail to see how BotW could impact the open world genre when it felt so gamey and task based.
So what did BOTW do that was so revolutionary? I loved the game to death but i really have no idea what makes it stand apart from other open world games.
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