Back in 2017 I never beat Zelda BotW. I seiged Hyrule Castle straight off the plateau and failed at beating him. Then I went and cleared the Rito and Zora dungeons and just started the Gerudo missions. After that I got distracted with life and forgot about the game. With my time playing, however, I had the fondest memories. Never have I felt the freedom and sheer scale of a world like I did with BotW.
Recently I watched the Matthewmatosis video essay about BotW and decided to dive back into it. I cleared Gerudo and hiked around the northern snow mountains and fell in love with the game again. I think I finally understand why this game is so special to me.
It's not only the Zelda formula fully realized to its true potential, it's the first game in which I have felt like the open world was a real place that didn't have meaninglessly sculpted terrain. Every mountain range and valley has a name, has specific wildlife, and characters that refer to it and its purpose in Hyrule. Adding that character to the gameplay loop of being able to do any combination of exploration activities (hunt unique flora and fauna, complete unique side quests, find unique shrines, find unique items) is an addicting loop that reinforces exploration as the PRIMARY reward of the game, not just an interruption for going from A to B.
I guess the shitty 4 dungeons are a big let down for me, but having just reached the Goron dungeon, I realized that I don't mind as much as I should. The journey to Death Mountain was immense in scale and meaning. For the first time, getting to Death Mountain FELT as grandiose and triumphant as the NPCs described it to be in previous games. For the first time, Goron City and the springs and mines come together into a fully realized, appropriately scaled community. This is true of all the regions and racers.
What Nintendo did here with the towns, characters, and regions is so beyond my expectations that it completely distracts and forgives the generic dungeons. It's only amplified by the elemental considerations (heat, cold, rain, etc) that make each region feel truly real and alive. For the first time, Hyrule feels like a giant kingdom where people traverse for days to get from one town to the next. And the locational calibration you get from looking around and immediately noticing all the landmarks proportionally jutting out in the distance helps you feel a sense of place.
I guess I'm just so impressed with the content, the fact that almost every modern Hyrulean race is represented, that there is so much detail and care packed into the shape, size, and content of every region and carved terrain, that I don't really care as much that weapons break or that the dungeons are lame.
I do wish that there was a final, ultimate challenge that makes the master sword unbreakable. That would give a satisfying reward for mastering the combat system with the weapon durability system. It's a small imbalance that this doesn't exist, but I'm willing to forgive it for what the game does right: a perfectly tuned gameplay loop for exploration and an endlessly interesting world. Between having more weapons than I can carry on hand at any given time and the master sword regenerating after 10 min and having infinite bombs, the game certainly doesn't interrupt my focus with its durability system, anyway. Besides, the options you have with the realistic physics and runes to approach any combat situation is the most flexibility and depth we've seen in Zelda I'd say, even though TP had more individual sword moves and SS had the Wii motion +.
For me, this is exactly what the Zelda formula needed. Not only that, it may arguably be the best game of all time to me for what it has accomplished that is unlike any other game.
I still haven't even gotten to the DLC! I must be over 100 hours in now and not even seen everything I wanted. I only just now filled in the Sheikah map!
I guess I should acknowledge that the plot is less than what we would like having played Wind Waker and Skyward Sword, but I will say that the cutscenes, NPC dialogue, and memories you relive flesh out Hyrule to being the most alive and interactive it's ever been.
Overall I think this is the greatest modern single player video game we have. It is just a textbook on how to craft a game with exquisite attention to every surface the player covers. There are flaws, but I think the game is best at overcoming them with its strengths.
I'm amazed that going back to it has been this rewarding. The game constantly rewards me for playing it.
Looking back, what do you think about BotW?
Recently I watched the Matthewmatosis video essay about BotW and decided to dive back into it. I cleared Gerudo and hiked around the northern snow mountains and fell in love with the game again. I think I finally understand why this game is so special to me.
It's not only the Zelda formula fully realized to its true potential, it's the first game in which I have felt like the open world was a real place that didn't have meaninglessly sculpted terrain. Every mountain range and valley has a name, has specific wildlife, and characters that refer to it and its purpose in Hyrule. Adding that character to the gameplay loop of being able to do any combination of exploration activities (hunt unique flora and fauna, complete unique side quests, find unique shrines, find unique items) is an addicting loop that reinforces exploration as the PRIMARY reward of the game, not just an interruption for going from A to B.
I guess the shitty 4 dungeons are a big let down for me, but having just reached the Goron dungeon, I realized that I don't mind as much as I should. The journey to Death Mountain was immense in scale and meaning. For the first time, getting to Death Mountain FELT as grandiose and triumphant as the NPCs described it to be in previous games. For the first time, Goron City and the springs and mines come together into a fully realized, appropriately scaled community. This is true of all the regions and racers.
What Nintendo did here with the towns, characters, and regions is so beyond my expectations that it completely distracts and forgives the generic dungeons. It's only amplified by the elemental considerations (heat, cold, rain, etc) that make each region feel truly real and alive. For the first time, Hyrule feels like a giant kingdom where people traverse for days to get from one town to the next. And the locational calibration you get from looking around and immediately noticing all the landmarks proportionally jutting out in the distance helps you feel a sense of place.
I guess I'm just so impressed with the content, the fact that almost every modern Hyrulean race is represented, that there is so much detail and care packed into the shape, size, and content of every region and carved terrain, that I don't really care as much that weapons break or that the dungeons are lame.
I do wish that there was a final, ultimate challenge that makes the master sword unbreakable. That would give a satisfying reward for mastering the combat system with the weapon durability system. It's a small imbalance that this doesn't exist, but I'm willing to forgive it for what the game does right: a perfectly tuned gameplay loop for exploration and an endlessly interesting world. Between having more weapons than I can carry on hand at any given time and the master sword regenerating after 10 min and having infinite bombs, the game certainly doesn't interrupt my focus with its durability system, anyway. Besides, the options you have with the realistic physics and runes to approach any combat situation is the most flexibility and depth we've seen in Zelda I'd say, even though TP had more individual sword moves and SS had the Wii motion +.
For me, this is exactly what the Zelda formula needed. Not only that, it may arguably be the best game of all time to me for what it has accomplished that is unlike any other game.
I still haven't even gotten to the DLC! I must be over 100 hours in now and not even seen everything I wanted. I only just now filled in the Sheikah map!
I guess I should acknowledge that the plot is less than what we would like having played Wind Waker and Skyward Sword, but I will say that the cutscenes, NPC dialogue, and memories you relive flesh out Hyrule to being the most alive and interactive it's ever been.
Overall I think this is the greatest modern single player video game we have. It is just a textbook on how to craft a game with exquisite attention to every surface the player covers. There are flaws, but I think the game is best at overcoming them with its strengths.
I'm amazed that going back to it has been this rewarding. The game constantly rewards me for playing it.
Looking back, what do you think about BotW?
