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Breath of the Wild: 2 years have passed since its release, how do you feel about the game today?
- Thread starter Ikaruga
- Start date
Probably my GOAT if you remove games mostly carried by nostalgia for me.
The most magical part of BotW was being able to ask the question "can I do this?" and the game always replying "yes". Like, there is no artifical game logic stopping me from doing things. I can think logically, apply real world solutions, and they work as I expect them to. A good example are puzzles surrounding electricity and how you can use weapons and shields to help you lead it through.
I think this is one of the big parts of BotW that don't get a lot of focus in general.
The most magical part of BotW was being able to ask the question "can I do this?" and the game always replying "yes". Like, there is no artifical game logic stopping me from doing things. I can think logically, apply real world solutions, and they work as I expect them to. A good example are puzzles surrounding electricity and how you can use weapons and shields to help you lead it through.
I think this is one of the big parts of BotW that don't get a lot of focus in general.
What's more amazing is a game which is as big as scope as ps4/x1 games and can be played portabaly.
Still an absolute masterpiece. Conflicted though on it being in my Top 5. I value replay-ability a lot and for how damn good it was I'm not sure I can stomach 100 hours all over again. That and the DLC was a miss for me.
Holy shit that's a take.
Right, when the most recent AAA game has a 2 minute loading screen every 10 minutes and enemies randomly despawn in front of you (Anthem), it's pretty amazing. But nah, it's lazy.
I don't need traditional dungeons exactly, since the shrines and beasts scratch the puzzle itch, but give me more Hyrule Castle's and I'd be over the moon.
Holy shit that's a take.
Right, when the most recent AAA game has a 2 minute loading screen every 10 minutes and enemies randomly despawn in front of you (Anthem), it's pretty amazing. But nah, it's lazy.
I don't need traditional dungeons exactly, since the shrines and beasts scratch the puzzle itch, but give me more Hyrule Castle's and I'd be over the moon.
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I respect the overhaul, just simply don't enjoy it. For a game mostly about exploration I found that aspect mostly tedious and the combat absolutely did not make up for it. Most of the puzzles being locked in disjointed blue rooms felt like loading into user submitted challenges of random quality and difficulty.
easily one of my favourite games of all time. i can't get enough of it and don't see myself stopping any time soon.
there are some things they could do better of course.
1. rebalance weapon breaking. yeah a tree branch should break real quick but why are my powerful swords/bows breaking so much? also if they could let you repair weapons (where it makes sense. you shouldn't be able to repair a tree branch/moblin arm etc) that'd be fantastic. maybe even let us mod the weapons. we should be able to keep a weapon if we like it instead of having to go find another every time it breaks.
2. make shrines more challenging. a lot of them feel like filler. all the tests of strength ones should be removed. i like the shrine quests but maybe give them more depth and actually give me a challenge inside the shrine when i get there instead of just a chest sitting there. also i'd like to see proper dungeons or something on the scale of a divine beast. i assume any sequel won't have divine beasts so put those types of challenges in the shrines. there doesn't need to be as many. they could cut it down to about 80 and it'd be fine as long as they offered more meaningful gameplay. in place of divine beasts make even more challenging dungeons!
3. kind of a nitpick but i want more story told through interaction with main characters and cutscenes. i don't hate the story but it felt like there was too much space between the major story points.
there are some things they could do better of course.
1. rebalance weapon breaking. yeah a tree branch should break real quick but why are my powerful swords/bows breaking so much? also if they could let you repair weapons (where it makes sense. you shouldn't be able to repair a tree branch/moblin arm etc) that'd be fantastic. maybe even let us mod the weapons. we should be able to keep a weapon if we like it instead of having to go find another every time it breaks.
2. make shrines more challenging. a lot of them feel like filler. all the tests of strength ones should be removed. i like the shrine quests but maybe give them more depth and actually give me a challenge inside the shrine when i get there instead of just a chest sitting there. also i'd like to see proper dungeons or something on the scale of a divine beast. i assume any sequel won't have divine beasts so put those types of challenges in the shrines. there doesn't need to be as many. they could cut it down to about 80 and it'd be fine as long as they offered more meaningful gameplay. in place of divine beasts make even more challenging dungeons!
3. kind of a nitpick but i want more story told through interaction with main characters and cutscenes. i don't hate the story but it felt like there was too much space between the major story points.
I enjoyed the game but I never loved it and time hasn't really improved my opinion of it. I'm still not a fan of decaying weapons in games, I grew very tired of the shrines and I was disappointed by the lack of dungeons in the game. I understand that not every game in a series needs to follow the same formula forever, but there are some things I like to have in a Zelda game. At this point I'm more excited for the Link's Awakening HD than I would be for a BotW sequel, if that were to happen.
Probably the greatest game ever. Loved the scenery, the exploration, the battles. Divine beasts and Shrines could have used more aesthetic variety but the puzzles inside were well varied and a welcome break from the open world action.
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I'll hold my hands up as one of the "BotW is a great game, just not what i want from a zelda game" people.
I was blown away when i first played it, by the fact i was experiencing a title with such scope on a handheld! I loved the artstyle, the direction and the "go do what you want" feel of the title, but the more i played i realised that it wasn't what i wanted from a zelda.
Gone were the meticulously crafted dungeons, themed around elements and items with unique monsters and boss fights, replaced with an abundance of identical looking shrines, which, as fun as they often were, just couldn't create the same sense as the former.
Yes, there were 4 bigger dungeon like experiences with the beasts, but again, they didn't capture the experience i wanted, especially when you had basically the same boss in each.
I eventually dropped the game after 60 hours because i had seen enough. I was no longer intrigued by "what's over that hill" or "what could be under that rock?" Nor did i have the drive to enter any of the 30 remaining shrines just to be faced by a gauntlet, a battle or another couple puzzles.
BotW is a great game, but to me, it could be even better. I hope the sequel keeps so much of what made it feel great, but adds even more like proper dungeons that can be played in any order, like ALBW, with unique bosses. I hope it adds to the anaemic feeling story and improves on its storytelling.
I was blown away when i first played it, by the fact i was experiencing a title with such scope on a handheld! I loved the artstyle, the direction and the "go do what you want" feel of the title, but the more i played i realised that it wasn't what i wanted from a zelda.
Gone were the meticulously crafted dungeons, themed around elements and items with unique monsters and boss fights, replaced with an abundance of identical looking shrines, which, as fun as they often were, just couldn't create the same sense as the former.
Yes, there were 4 bigger dungeon like experiences with the beasts, but again, they didn't capture the experience i wanted, especially when you had basically the same boss in each.
I eventually dropped the game after 60 hours because i had seen enough. I was no longer intrigued by "what's over that hill" or "what could be under that rock?" Nor did i have the drive to enter any of the 30 remaining shrines just to be faced by a gauntlet, a battle or another couple puzzles.
BotW is a great game, but to me, it could be even better. I hope the sequel keeps so much of what made it feel great, but adds even more like proper dungeons that can be played in any order, like ALBW, with unique bosses. I hope it adds to the anaemic feeling story and improves on its storytelling.
That's great and yeah, I wouldn't have thought to ever experience this kind of joy with a video game that I had when I was a kid ever again.
I guess it shows that the people involved in BotW had a lot of passion for the game and could work in a healthy environment and didn't just do their job to get by, like with so many other games nowadays...
I didn't expect so many to agree with me, cause the way Breath of the Wild was designed was radically different to most single player games of modern times that hold your hand pretty much from start to finish. The only games coming close are probably the "Soulsborne" games but they lack the joyful freedom BotW injects into you the very first minute you play it.
It was okay, can't say it's one of my favourite Zeldas although in some ways I appreciate its ambition, and I think there's still a lot to work with.
The initial rush of freedom and the feeling that you can go anywhere or do anything kind of just tapers off as you play, the game gives you the sense early on that the options are limitless, but as you play more it honestly feels more and more limited and repetitive and that there's not really that much to see or do despite its scope. The gameplay loop of climbing and gliding never really expands upon itself and fails to create enough interesting, unique scenarios. It also takes away the feeling of vulnerability; the ability for the player to glide and climb everything and use items at any time often actively undermines and allows you to avoid the survivalist elements and too easily avoid encounters, the game tries to present the world as being harsh and difficult to navigate while giving extremely overpowered abilities of traversal.
I'm not a particular fan of open world games I'll admit, and I think this kind of movement towards larger worlds where the player is largely unimpeded has just resulted in a kind of directionless, listless experience for the player. The ideology of the game results in something lopsided and unbalanced, everything is done to facilitate this open air conceit, and it adheres strictly to this vision without considering the trade offs, or maybe it just can't reconcile them. This affects the quality of the plot, the dungeons, the combat, even the world itself, the sacrifices it makes in going for this kind of purity leaves the game feeling extremely one dimensional. The key aspect of why Zelda games have been so good in the past, I think, is how well balanced they are, this feels decidedly different and more akin to your typical western open world game.
And for a game that is supposedly so different to your typical open world fare, it absolutely falls into the same pitfalls; samey content, repetitive gameplay, too big and empty and content spread too thin, busywork and collecting random garbage, dull side missions, then it adds another contrivance with breaking weapons which along with the awful inventory system just adds to the tedium.
The initial rush of freedom and the feeling that you can go anywhere or do anything kind of just tapers off as you play, the game gives you the sense early on that the options are limitless, but as you play more it honestly feels more and more limited and repetitive and that there's not really that much to see or do despite its scope. The gameplay loop of climbing and gliding never really expands upon itself and fails to create enough interesting, unique scenarios. It also takes away the feeling of vulnerability; the ability for the player to glide and climb everything and use items at any time often actively undermines and allows you to avoid the survivalist elements and too easily avoid encounters, the game tries to present the world as being harsh and difficult to navigate while giving extremely overpowered abilities of traversal.
I'm not a particular fan of open world games I'll admit, and I think this kind of movement towards larger worlds where the player is largely unimpeded has just resulted in a kind of directionless, listless experience for the player. The ideology of the game results in something lopsided and unbalanced, everything is done to facilitate this open air conceit, and it adheres strictly to this vision without considering the trade offs, or maybe it just can't reconcile them. This affects the quality of the plot, the dungeons, the combat, even the world itself, the sacrifices it makes in going for this kind of purity leaves the game feeling extremely one dimensional. The key aspect of why Zelda games have been so good in the past, I think, is how well balanced they are, this feels decidedly different and more akin to your typical western open world game.
And for a game that is supposedly so different to your typical open world fare, it absolutely falls into the same pitfalls; samey content, repetitive gameplay, too big and empty and content spread too thin, busywork and collecting random garbage, dull side missions, then it adds another contrivance with breaking weapons which along with the awful inventory system just adds to the tedium.
Going back through it after not touching it since 2017 and it really is a masterpiece. There are a lot of little nags and nit picks that come to mind when I'm not playing but it really is a game worth more than the sum of it's parts. Even design decisions that seem strange on paper click into place as you play.
It embodies everything I love about this series while also being a radical new interpretation of those ideals.
It embodies everything I love about this series while also being a radical new interpretation of those ideals.
They both have different approaches on the open world theme. I bought a new PC just to play the Witcher 3 in high settings on my TV and didn't regret it. CDPR are the gods of story telling but Nintendo is now the God of exploration and absolute freedom.
As for RDR2, I can't bring myself to buy and play the game from the few hours of Gameplay I've seen, the missions seem very restrictive and you have to do them as the developer intended. What is an open world worth if you can't decide your approach to the enemy camp on your own, because the mission scripted to the extreme? R* doesn't want the player to take control, they want you to experience the game exactly how they imagined it.
Zelda doesn't have this kind of approach or missions, cause you make your own missions and decide yourself how to tackle that enemy camp with whatever means you like.
As much as i love it i will say the first half is much stronger than the second. The first 40 hours or so as you are still exploring every area for the first time you wonder how a game like this is even possible. It blew my mind how there's an invisible hand that ties everything together to make it a cohesive experience but at the same time gives you absolute freedom.
Open worlds are usually a hard pass for me since I tend to get bored without clear directions. But 2 years later I think that maybe I should give it a try?
Revolutionary. Might be my favourite game ever - certainly the best game I've played in recent years.
Absolutely adored it, thrashed it, but have no desire to replay it just yet.
Im still feeling fatigued by it due to the amount of time i spent in it.
However, if I had the Switch version, I might still be casually dabbling in it; but it finished it on the Wii U and now its pack up.
Im still feeling fatigued by it due to the amount of time i spent in it.
However, if I had the Switch version, I might still be casually dabbling in it; but it finished it on the Wii U and now its pack up.
It's a great game. I'd like to beat it again someday and get the dlc..but hard mode might be too much. And I don't want to to try to get that master sword quest on hard mode.
Yes. There are some directions on where to go in the story progression, but you can do a ton in between.
Interesting to note that the game that, at least from what I have seen/read, was labelled as being overpraised/hyped due to a 'honeymoon' effect possibly more than any other game in recent memory has as of the point of this comment only under 5% of people who participated in this poll who ultimately have had this happen to them- despite the fact that many people thought this would be a prevailing view of the game in time. Most people have made their minds up a long time ago for better or worse.
It's almost as if that 'argument' was hogwash nonsense from the start or something. Or maybe the 'honeymoon' will actually start to wear off this year!?
It's almost as if that 'argument' was hogwash nonsense from the start or something. Or maybe the 'honeymoon' will actually start to wear off this year!?
It's easily one of the best Zelda games of all time. The world is an absolute joy to explore and experience, the Shrines are a good way to show that you don't need a full dungeon at times.
My only flaw is the breakable weapons, but I can look past it to see one of the finest games ever created.
And it's still a game I've yet to finish
My only flaw is the breakable weapons, but I can look past it to see one of the finest games ever created.
And it's still a game I've yet to finish
Here's the deal about BotW in my case.
Got two years go with a Switch, played through it in like 3 or 4 days. Sold the Switch and BotW and did not really like it.
-Forward time to Christmas 2017-
My wife got me a Switch as a present. I totally fell for the game then because I knew what I had to expect. I did all the shrines just to get the Tunic of the Wild. To sum things up: As of today I really think it deserves all the praise it received, it just took me some time to realise! Hope there is more to come (I still got the DLC pending, oh yes!)
Got two years go with a Switch, played through it in like 3 or 4 days. Sold the Switch and BotW and did not really like it.
-Forward time to Christmas 2017-
My wife got me a Switch as a present. I totally fell for the game then because I knew what I had to expect. I did all the shrines just to get the Tunic of the Wild. To sum things up: As of today I really think it deserves all the praise it received, it just took me some time to realise! Hope there is more to come (I still got the DLC pending, oh yes!)
Those of you throwing out the word 'overrated', do you ever really stop and think about what it is you're saying? It's one thing to say something didn't work for you or you would have preferred a different approach, it just seems like the height of deluded arrogance to state that no, actually the vast, vast majority are wrong and only you see The Truth. The same goes for accusations of bias, just look at the critical consensus, from fanboy sites to places that are traditionally hard on sequels/Nintendo games/open world games and tell me that everyone, on both sides of the aisle, were wrong instead of the possibility that you have an opinion which is in the minority.
It's one of my all time greats, and nothing better has released since.
The shirtless idle pose is the best one.
The shirtless idle pose is the best one.
the game is great and the pris deserved..many people think that to give a game a 10 it must be perfect, which botw is clearly not, but from my point of view you don't need perfection for that, you just need to be great and offr something you can't find elsewhere
and that's without considering all those changes that people ask for without considering how it would compromise the perfect balance of the game
this being said, i think there's a lot of room for improvement,and the hope is that the sequel can build on top of this game and deliver a game that it's even bette than what we got, and that can give some "betrayed" zelda fans something from the past iteractions that this game lacked.
and that's without considering all those changes that people ask for without considering how it would compromise the perfect balance of the game
this being said, i think there's a lot of room for improvement,and the hope is that the sequel can build on top of this game and deliver a game that it's even bette than what we got, and that can give some "betrayed" zelda fans something from the past iteractions that this game lacked.
botw gives you absolutely 0 directions..so if you need those,botw might not be your cup of tea
I liked the characters, the story, and the final boss fights. The open world was good looking and shrines were mostly okay, but I found the actual dungeons and associated boss fights very boring. I also felt that the stamina system and weapon durability were tuned very low and kind of annoying. In the end, I had a fun enough time with the game, but personally found it overhyped.
The game is not about external rewards which is why there're 900 seeds...
I'm with you. I just picked it up after 9-10 monthS of not playing it. FINALLY beat the 3rd Beast and found a whole new town I never knew existed. I've put well over 100 hrs into this game
I've played through the main content three times...it's magical. And as much as I liked Mario, something in *that* game felt off to me in comparison to Zelda, which felt amazing the whole time
A top 5 game for me personally. The only thing outside the narrative that I really hated is the abysmal enemy variety.
