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Which open-world design do you enjoy more: Modern Zelda (BotW/TotK) or Elden Ring
- Thread starter ScOULaris
- Start date
Tell me you didn't play elden ring without telling me you didn't play elden ring. Lol
Both TotK and ER nail the sense of wonder from exploring but discovering new areas in ER was much more exciting to me just because of how unique, surprising and visually impressive they were.
TotK wins out on the systemic world design and general playground aspects, which ER completely doesnt care about.
Theyre both 10/10 open worlds compared to everything else, and I would say theyre the two best open world games made in general.
TotK wins out on the systemic world design and general playground aspects, which ER completely doesnt care about.
Theyre both 10/10 open worlds compared to everything else, and I would say theyre the two best open world games made in general.
Elden Ring by far - and I say this as a huge Zelda fan. However, I think your results will be unfair simply because:
A. Honeymoon period for Zelda
B. Zelda has a much larger fan base,
C. Many who play Zelda don't have a way to play Elden Ring because they are console specific entries ( unless they have both systems).
D. Nintendo fans are diehard - not a bad thing, but they love their system and their games, so they won't admit many faults.
In my opinion Zelda's formula now is absolutely no different than assassin's Creed: an empty world with no reason to explore other than getting health or stamina. Finding a weapon is meaningless since it only lasts a little while - where in Elden ring if you find some amazing weapon by exploring, you can use it forever.
A. Honeymoon period for Zelda
B. Zelda has a much larger fan base,
C. Many who play Zelda don't have a way to play Elden Ring because they are console specific entries ( unless they have both systems).
D. Nintendo fans are diehard - not a bad thing, but they love their system and their games, so they won't admit many faults.
In my opinion Zelda's formula now is absolutely no different than assassin's Creed: an empty world with no reason to explore other than getting health or stamina. Finding a weapon is meaningless since it only lasts a little while - where in Elden ring if you find some amazing weapon by exploring, you can use it forever.
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Just chiming in (not here to compare games) but the "first island" is an unskippable tutorial and the game only opens up from there
I'd argue that even in BotW it was already a bit inaccurate to reduce it to "shrines" as you have to pretend that enemies/minibosses, wildlife, environmental hazards and some other stuff doesn't exist. But this is specially inaccurate in TotK, which has more stuff to do. I do reckon the collectathon structure tho, you do notice some templates being repeated, although imo the physics and mechanics make up for it
But I thought "Elden Ring didn't have puzzles, only combat"
Yea I will be the first to admit I'm really comparing BotW and Elden Ring here, because I haven't played enough of TotK yet I've only done the first tower and started hitting all the shrines nearby. I'm not really interested in all the construction/minecrafting going on, typically crafting really puts me off any game and I avoid it like the plague (so difficult to go through Fallout 4 avoiding it) so I'll also admit TotK first impressions for me haven't been great but I hear there have been improvments to the world in general.
I like Elden Ring faaaaaar more than BOTW and ToTK but when it comes solely to the open world design I'm taking the Zeldas. The open world feels so well made
I know you're being sarcastic, but I wanted to make this statement on puzzles anyways because why not lol. There are puzzle aspects to Elden ring that are much different than puzzle elements in Zelda, for example:
1. Finding shackles to defeat bosses
2. Invisible bridges
3. Shortcuts - traversal in Elden ring is much more "maze like" at times
4. Secret doors that involve looking rather than "oh look two unlit braziers, must be a secret door here"
5. The spirit puzzles.
But I suppose you have to figure out what your definition of "puzzle or puzzling" gameplay is. I believe anything that requires thought to traverse or defeat has puzzle like qualities. Where in Zelda - they take it literally. But, the puzzles in Zelda games are also extremely unrewarding now - a 25% rock that gives you stamina or health, or a weapon that will undoubtedly break. In fairness sometimes you get armor which does seem rather rewarding
As much as I love Zelda, and appreciate they have puzzles in these shrines, I do miss the intricate design of a dungeon with puzzles attached to it. Though - to be fair there is some of it with the larger shrine like or boss dungeons they have in the game.
On the topic of ER vs TOTK
I have grown to actually enjoy the new Zelda formula quite a bit- but it required to look at it as a different game than I was used to in regard to the franchise. However, as much as I enjoy it I would still prefer the old design or Elden rings design.
And another thing on exploration and puzzles. I swear to god a lot of people missed some very simple layout tricks like maybe the hole under the elevator leads somewhere and other things. Elden Ring has the right amount of puzzle design IMHO. The one catacomb where it feels like it loops really broke my brain. I honestly thought I was going in circles.
For sure. And don't forget the gimmick catacombs like the looping one (I call it the Gaslighting Catacomb :D), the chest teleporting one, the paintings, the braziers in Selia and Siofra and Ordina Lithurgical Town (+ how to deal with the invisible assassins), and more.
And the whole idea that all you ever do is fight is just farcical. Some of the best content/rewards I've found while exploring were... literally just vistas. Discovering the underworld was one such moment. And interesting NPCs of course. Seafood thief/merchant bro is my BFF <3
Elden Ring is so superior in the visual department it's not even close. There's jaw dropping moment after jaw dropping moment. And all those beautiful environments are explorable and not just window dressing.
Not only that but I prefer the sense of progression as you explore and advance through the world. Every moment feels like a curated experience. With BOTW/TOTK, it's designed to a fault of having to make your own experience with the tools provided - which makes what should be an epic adventure game feel closer to a sandbox like Minecraft or Fortnite.
This isn't even touching upon the fact ER simply
has more unique content jam packed in every nook and cranny, that each cave system is about as long as TOTKs biggest, that it has some of the best boss fights in gaming history. And that it is endlessly repayable thanks to the combat system.
I have not finished TOTK but so far it's ER without second thought.
Not only that but I prefer the sense of progression as you explore and advance through the world. Every moment feels like a curated experience. With BOTW/TOTK, it's designed to a fault of having to make your own experience with the tools provided - which makes what should be an epic adventure game feel closer to a sandbox like Minecraft or Fortnite.
This isn't even touching upon the fact ER simply
has more unique content jam packed in every nook and cranny, that each cave system is about as long as TOTKs biggest, that it has some of the best boss fights in gaming history. And that it is endlessly repayable thanks to the combat system.
I have not finished TOTK but so far it's ER without second thought.
Right. Honestly the ONLY moment I felt rewarded for exploring BOTW was when I found the location of the master sword and maybe a few armor pieces. That was it. Otherwise it was "oh look another shrine- just need 3 more to get one extra heart"
I'd rather meet a colorful NPC lost in a cave in TOTK than try to guess the lore hidden behind enemy placement in Elden Ring.
I don't have to infer anything from Bokoblin camps to make the world interesting because ToTK's world is filled to the brink with quirky encounters.
I loved Elden Ring but I'm really tired of From's lame obfuscating excuse for storytelling that people admire for some reason. As if that stuff was really more interesting than Ganon fantasy cookie cutter stuff when you remove all the layers of speculative wiki-filling nonsense.
People here are downplaying ER's world as a place with only enemies and yourself but forget how the world is informed by the story of the world and the lore. Find an encampment somewhere with a specific item there? There's a lore reason for it. The world is not made for you the player. The world is a place that exists without you and doesn't care about you. The attention to detail of things is on another level for the Lands Between and its history are another level as opposed to Hyrule imo. (Not that Hyrule isn't great though)
OP
OP
This is definitely a valid perspective, but that's not how it felt to me while playing. Holistically, the world felt like a vast expanse of visually interesting locales with their own history and logic to them, but then there were just enemies plopped down all over the place, waiting around to attack the player.
Just my perception, mind you. I feel the same about the Souls games with enemies just standing around waiting to attack approaching players. But in those games the otherwise tight pacing and hand-crafted level design make up for that, IMO, compared to the spread-out nature of Elden Ring's open world.
In comparison Hyrule feels more like it's inhabited by real people living their lives independent of the player.
I arrived at a boss named "Mohg", got to the second phase, and learned (to my knowledge) that the second phase was completely balanced around completing an entirely random quest line with no proper indicators.
I'll absolutely give them credit, there's one catacomb that happened to be an extremely good puzzle. I'm sure everyone knows which one I'm talking about if they stumbled upon it.
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Yeah, that ain't happening lol. You'll get your one hideaway with random npcs strewn about and you'll like it.
I thought you couldn't pet dogs in Zelda. The one thing it has in common with Elden Ring!
Oh yeah 😎
The puzzle of how do I stop myself from snapping the game disc in half
ER level design is on par. from style of level design stems from Zelda. That's one of the reasons from came into being. And combat are totally two diff styles. No way can you say one is immensely better, it might be just preference. The amount of freedom and mechanics you can employ in Zelda combat is unmatched by anything in the industry much less ER. ER combat is one note - every encounter you're simply dodging and attack during opening. Zelda one is using all 88 keys.
Remember the ball and chain power in Carmageddon?... I did that to my hose today lol, it's a wrap:).
It's a little unfair to do this poll so close to the launch but it's absolutely between them for me (RDR2 is also close), the Vistas of ER are really unforgettable for me and i love the usage of huge elements of the map to guide the players but the the heights and lows of TotK map it's like going from 2d to 3d, it's incredible...
In open worlds i also love factions and day/night cycles of the NPCs and the environment(RDR2 is on top here:)) and both are great but the combat dynamics of ToTk is on another level(although i loved elder ring spirits and even after finding the mimic, i kept experimenting with them:)).
Another big element that differentiate the two experiences for me is the MP aspect, for me ER was mainly a group experience...I know it has jarring flaws but i loved every disconnect and connection error of it:).
It's a little unfair to do this poll so close to the launch but it's absolutely between them for me (RDR2 is also close), the Vistas of ER are really unforgettable for me and i love the usage of huge elements of the map to guide the players but the the heights and lows of TotK map it's like going from 2d to 3d, it's incredible...
In open worlds i also love factions and day/night cycles of the NPCs and the environment(RDR2 is on top here:)) and both are great but the combat dynamics of ToTk is on another level(although i loved elder ring spirits and even after finding the mimic, i kept experimenting with them:)).
Another big element that differentiate the two experiences for me is the MP aspect, for me ER was mainly a group experience...I know it has jarring flaws but i loved every disconnect and connection error of it:).
My vote goes to Elden Ring.
TOTK definitely beats it out in interactivity and ways to traverse the world. Ultrahand and especially Ascend really open up some cheeky ways to get across the map. Despite these tools, I found the world itself rather dull. The biomes in Hyrule are rather generic, you got the plains of Central Hyrule, the sands of Gerudo Desert, and the Jungle of Necluda. I never found any particular view to be something I can just sit and look at. Even then, actually exploring it does not feel very rewarding. All the caves are just a few rooms or so, and rewards are lackluster, either some fuse material or some weapons that will break eventually. It just feels like I am scavenging for ammo. There are a lot more friendly npc settlements and wandering travelers than in Elden Ring, yes, but they were never very interesting to me, and they have been done better in other open world titles. The sky islands were a cool addition, but I felt they really took a backseat in the amount of content. I guess it would be weird to have the entire sky just be a solid landmass, but the sky islands never really felt like a grand new dimension. The amount of them is just too sparse. I never really felt like engaging with them much until I find a falling rock or shoot myself up there from a tower.
In the Lands-Between, there are spectacular views aplenty, The terrain just feels so handcrafted at every step, with some of the most beautiful and creative locales I have ever seen in anything. The shallow crystallized lake of Liurnia, the rotting hellscape of Caelid, the golden skyline of the Altus Plateau. Yes traversal is simple. You have nothing but a double jumping horse. Even then he moves around well enough that traveling flows well. In fact, I would rather not have any other methods of traversal because I think it would get in the way of the view of the world. Just riding on Torrent, admiring the landscape around you just really jives with me.
The legacy dungeons are top notch, but I think people do give too little credit to the side dungeons. Yes, the textures are reused, but the layouts are all unique, with even some catacombs matching the complexity of TOTK's temples. I understand that people want every reward to be usable, and not every dungeon award in Elden Ring is immediately usable without the proper stats. Still, this is an action rpg, so I do not mind since there needs to be rewards for all play styles. If you are trying to stay within a certain rune level, I would understand, but if not, you can always just level up to be able to use all the weapons.
Ultimately I find TOTK fun as a physics sandbox with cool mechanics to mess around with, but I never found Hyrule compelling to be in. All I really do is try to look for shrines since puzzle solving is what I enjoy most in the game. Elden Ring just consistently awed me everywhere I went, like even the scenery itself felt like a reward for exploring. Elden Ring a world that I love to just take in while Patches squatting at a viewpoint, at least, while I'm not exploring and killing things.
TOTK definitely beats it out in interactivity and ways to traverse the world. Ultrahand and especially Ascend really open up some cheeky ways to get across the map. Despite these tools, I found the world itself rather dull. The biomes in Hyrule are rather generic, you got the plains of Central Hyrule, the sands of Gerudo Desert, and the Jungle of Necluda. I never found any particular view to be something I can just sit and look at. Even then, actually exploring it does not feel very rewarding. All the caves are just a few rooms or so, and rewards are lackluster, either some fuse material or some weapons that will break eventually. It just feels like I am scavenging for ammo. There are a lot more friendly npc settlements and wandering travelers than in Elden Ring, yes, but they were never very interesting to me, and they have been done better in other open world titles. The sky islands were a cool addition, but I felt they really took a backseat in the amount of content. I guess it would be weird to have the entire sky just be a solid landmass, but the sky islands never really felt like a grand new dimension. The amount of them is just too sparse. I never really felt like engaging with them much until I find a falling rock or shoot myself up there from a tower.
I haven't engaged with the Depths much, so I can't say much on that. However, it does get a bit annoying having to shoot lightbulbs everywhere, and I haven't seen much biome variety from all the chasms I did enter.
In the Lands-Between, there are spectacular views aplenty, The terrain just feels so handcrafted at every step, with some of the most beautiful and creative locales I have ever seen in anything. The shallow crystallized lake of Liurnia, the rotting hellscape of Caelid, the golden skyline of the Altus Plateau. Yes traversal is simple. You have nothing but a double jumping horse. Even then he moves around well enough that traveling flows well. In fact, I would rather not have any other methods of traversal because I think it would get in the way of the view of the world. Just riding on Torrent, admiring the landscape around you just really jives with me.
The legacy dungeons are top notch, but I think people do give too little credit to the side dungeons. Yes, the textures are reused, but the layouts are all unique, with even some catacombs matching the complexity of TOTK's temples. I understand that people want every reward to be usable, and not every dungeon award in Elden Ring is immediately usable without the proper stats. Still, this is an action rpg, so I do not mind since there needs to be rewards for all play styles. If you are trying to stay within a certain rune level, I would understand, but if not, you can always just level up to be able to use all the weapons.
Ultimately I find TOTK fun as a physics sandbox with cool mechanics to mess around with, but I never found Hyrule compelling to be in. All I really do is try to look for shrines since puzzle solving is what I enjoy most in the game. Elden Ring just consistently awed me everywhere I went, like even the scenery itself felt like a reward for exploring. Elden Ring a world that I love to just take in while Patches squatting at a viewpoint, at least, while I'm not exploring and killing things.
upon further reflection I despise Elden Ring's open world. It just feels hostile. Meanwhile Zelda is still challenging but I love the feeling that I'm able to solve problems in a thousand different ways, and that the game isn't inherently designed to frustrate me.
Looks like Skyrim RPG structure with Dark Souls combat will always be a dream.
I prefer the variety of things to do in Zelda but I also much prefer the combat , art direction , tone and mystery/ lore of Elden ring so if Elden ring 2 learned some lessons for TOTK in regards to variety of activities and quests then it would easily be my GOAT
When Elden Ring released and the inevitable Elden Ring vs BOTW poll thread happened, Elden Ring won in votes by a wide margin...
FROM fans are just as diehard as Nintendo/Zelda fans and some of them participate in the same bizarre review bombing/trolling and defensive behavior.
They are both great games for different reasons.
Half of my enjoyment of an open world is the fun of traversal. Journey before destination. That's why things like Spiderman, Infamous, Crackdown and Saints Row 4 are very highly rated for me, while things like Rockstar games are ranked dead last.
Zelda, and especially Tears of the Kingdom, absolutely nails that. Elden Ring just never feels good to move. Say what you want about how outstanding the combat is, if I'm not having fun getting around the open world, I don't want to play it.
Zelda, and especially Tears of the Kingdom, absolutely nails that. Elden Ring just never feels good to move. Say what you want about how outstanding the combat is, if I'm not having fun getting around the open world, I don't want to play it.
Loving my time with ToK, but Elden Ring by far. It just felt truly "next-level". It has some of the best exploration I've ever experienced in a video game. Took that FromSoft sense of wonder and mystery but on a vast open world scale. The sheer level of variety and quality 100+ hours into my first run blew me mind, especially every time the map expanded.
Jaw-dropping game.
Jaw-dropping game.
Breath of the Wild's style of open world for me resembles Just Cause 2 so much that it's a much more fun world to explore.
Tears of the Kingdom for me, no doubt about it.
I'm 40 hours in, and there's just such a greater variety of things to do and interact with in Tears' world, to the point where Elden Ring's world honestly, objectively can't compete. Tears is on another level... a level that I'm going to Ascend to, or rocket up to, or take a hot-air balloon, or cruise on a jet, or reverse time with Recall and ride a fallen rock back up to the low-gravity stratosphere... and then I'm going to freefall, chasing a falling star back down to earth and passing through a chasm in the ground to the lowest depths and an entire second world map below that's as big as the surface world, seamlessly. When I'm done with that, I'll hop on my horse, or my makeshift go-cart equipped with flamethrowers, or my trusty paraglider for a trip to one of the many actual towns/villages teeming with NPCs, but I won't forget to wear the appropriate attire to stay warm or cool based on the climate. Or maybe I'll check out one of the many mini-games peppered across Hyrule that take advantage of the landscape in unique ways.
So on and so forth.
I like Elden Ring, too. Put a hundred hours into it and beat the game. It's an artistically beautiful world filled with an astounding number of items hiding in every nook and cranny, and an incredible variety of enemy types to fight and fight... and fight. And hey, the fighting and RPG aspects are excellent. That's ER's strength. Clobbering enemies and managing builds/stats don't really have anything to do with the design of its open world, though.
In terms of open world design, Tears is the new standard in my books, and it has set that bar so high that I don't see another open world surpassing it for many years. Probably not until the next new Zelda game.
I'm 40 hours in, and there's just such a greater variety of things to do and interact with in Tears' world, to the point where Elden Ring's world honestly, objectively can't compete. Tears is on another level... a level that I'm going to Ascend to, or rocket up to, or take a hot-air balloon, or cruise on a jet, or reverse time with Recall and ride a fallen rock back up to the low-gravity stratosphere... and then I'm going to freefall, chasing a falling star back down to earth and passing through a chasm in the ground to the lowest depths and an entire second world map below that's as big as the surface world, seamlessly. When I'm done with that, I'll hop on my horse, or my makeshift go-cart equipped with flamethrowers, or my trusty paraglider for a trip to one of the many actual towns/villages teeming with NPCs, but I won't forget to wear the appropriate attire to stay warm or cool based on the climate. Or maybe I'll check out one of the many mini-games peppered across Hyrule that take advantage of the landscape in unique ways.
So on and so forth.
I like Elden Ring, too. Put a hundred hours into it and beat the game. It's an artistically beautiful world filled with an astounding number of items hiding in every nook and cranny, and an incredible variety of enemy types to fight and fight... and fight. And hey, the fighting and RPG aspects are excellent. That's ER's strength. Clobbering enemies and managing builds/stats don't really have anything to do with the design of its open world, though.
In terms of open world design, Tears is the new standard in my books, and it has set that bar so high that I don't see another open world surpassing it for many years. Probably not until the next new Zelda game.
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Visually? Elden Ring. But the fact that very little of it is actually interactive in a meaningful way beyond "well, maybe Torrent can jump on it" makes it less interesting than BOTW/TOTK
I know this post is from a bit ago, but I can't let this take slide. A big part of why BotW is held in such high regard is for absolutely bucking AC open world game design. Games like Assassin's Creed are so scared you'll miss content that they drop icons all over your map and attack you with their HUD. The Zelda games heavily reward open ended discovery and eschews the guided marker based direction of Assassin's Creed.
Every NPC conversation is written to help guide you towards something interesting to see or do, and the landmarks are designed to help point you to interesting sights. There's a level of confidence in their world and trust in the player to see and do interesting things out of curiosity over everything else. BotW was definitely a bit lacking on the reward side of the equation, but TotK does a lot to correct this with some very impactful discoveries across caves, the depths, and the Sky Islands. Even further some of the most rewarding quests are designed as riddles rather than outright telling you where to go and what to do.
Another aspect that differentiates the game design heavily is the much bigger emphasis on non-scripted encounters. In a game like Assassin's Creed or Horizon many of the most impressive set pieces' purpose will be tied only to a very specific point in the narrative, and the game does not let you stumble on it and engage with it in a meaningful way. Zelda games are designed such that almost anything interesting you run into can be engaged with naturally in any order and with very different player experiences depending on how or when you get there.
Boiling down my long rant to a single sentence, Assassin's Creed is designed around guided compulsive completionism, and Zelda is designed around curiosity and experimentation.
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I agree with the above post, 100%.
Also, TOTK and Elden Ring, despite their flaws, are the best open world (action) games ever. Truly privileged to be able to play both of these games within a year of each other. They scratch different itches, but I'm super hyped for ER2 and open world Zelda #3.
Also, TOTK and Elden Ring, despite their flaws, are the best open world (action) games ever. Truly privileged to be able to play both of these games within a year of each other. They scratch different itches, but I'm super hyped for ER2 and open world Zelda #3.
Did this change from the last one, because it looks exactly the same. I haven't played it, yet, though.
I disagree completely and that's ok we have different views :) I find absolutely nothing rewarding about a weapon that breaks or a 25% of one health or stamina point. Now, when you find armor- THAT is a reward. You're comparing rewards like a free happy meal vs a free car. In fact, when it comes to "rewards" I'd even argue the latest assassin's Creed is far more rewarding when exploring since you can find weapons that you get to keep the rest of the game. However, I would agree that exploration in Zelda is more "interesting to look at" but not in any way shape or form rewarding. That's just my opinion though.
Both ar grear for different reasons.
The new Zelda game has an almost Morrowwind quality in its quest and dialogue. NPC talk about points of interests, but they won't show on a map. You have to go there, figure it out by youself. That's really what sets it apart from Ubisoft games, which is basically following quest marks. It does have all the Ubisoft checklist busy work.
Elden Ring has maximum jaw dropping power. The art design is absolutely insane. It also completely rejects Ubisoft's formula, and refuses to give you any sort of checklists or collecthon.
The new Zelda game has an almost Morrowwind quality in its quest and dialogue. NPC talk about points of interests, but they won't show on a map. You have to go there, figure it out by youself. That's really what sets it apart from Ubisoft games, which is basically following quest marks. It does have all the Ubisoft checklist busy work.
Elden Ring has maximum jaw dropping power. The art design is absolutely insane. It also completely rejects Ubisoft's formula, and refuses to give you any sort of checklists or collecthon.
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I don't mean this post as an attack, because for as much as I disagree with your other posts, I feel they still make a lot of sense. This one, though? From top to bottom I take issue with this list of points, mainly because it just... isn't grounded, from my POV. A lot of it is untrue, and some of it is based in assumptions about fanbases that I don't think hold up under scrutiny. Anyway, I'm just going to respond point by point.
A. Say what you will about Tears of the Kingdom, but Breath of the Wild has been out for 6 years, and it's inclusion in 'game of the decade/all time' lists hasn't exactly slowed down. As a game, it is generally regarded as highly, or almost as highly, as it was at release. That some people never liked the game (for absolutely valid reasons) doesn't do much to change that, and the honeymoon argument should have stopped holding up to everyone by the third or fourth year that people had been repeating it. I don't see why it should be taken any more seriously in regard to Tears of the Kingdom, when the last 6 years have demonstrated pretty clearly how poorly that notion held up in regard to Breath of the Wild.
B. The reason that Zelda has a larger fanbase is literally because people loved Breath of the Wild. Before BOTW,, Zelda as a franchise didn't really do big numbers like you might expect. In fact, previous to BoTW, the fastest selling Zelda game sold as many units over several years as Elden Ring sold in a week or two. Elden Ring itself has handily outsold every Zelda game from this millennium except for BoTW (and presumably ToTK) - that BoTW remains ahead is credit to the popularity of BoTW, not the popularity of the Zelda franchise. People genuinely love BOTW, they don't just buy Zelda out of an alliegence to Nintendo (or else previous Zelda games would have sold many millions of units more).
C. I want you to really think about how much sense this one makes, because I'm not sure how to convey it to you. I don't really understand how you came to the conclusion that being able to play one game but not the other is a situation that disproportionately affects Zelda players. Did it occur to you that the same could be said for Elden Ring players who don't own a Switch? Do you believe that there is some huge portion of Switch owners who don't own another console, despite Switch being the generally agreed-upon 'secondary console of choice' since 2017 for a whole host of plainly obvious reasons? I can't make heads or tails of this one, lol.
D. This kind of argument has never held any real substance to me, and I say that as both a Zelda fan and a Fromsoft fan, someone who's heard people throw that ol bullshit my way in regards to both franchises. Just like how Elden Ring is favored by a lot more people than just 'FROM fans', the same is true for Zelda and 'Nintendo fans'. In fact, you may have noticed that both Elden Ring and BoTW/ToTK recieved glowing review scores and accolades from... pretty much the entire industry? And no, the entire industry isn't Zelda fans or Fromsoft fans, people just happen to enjoy these games for what they are. That people don't give ostensible flaws the same weight that you do, doesn't make them 'diehards who can't admit faults', and I wish people could somehow make a clean break from thinking that way because it's a plague on game discussion.
Choosing between these two game styles is kind of difficult for me, particularly because they both mean so much to me. Ultimately, for a wide range of reasons that all boil down to my personal satisfaction, I give the edge to ToTK specifically. I haven't had so much fun with a game in decades, and no, it's not because I don't have access to other amazing games, and it's not because I tend to stick to Nintendo games... I just find ToTK to be that enjoyable on a moment to moment basis.
Elden Ring was also one of my faves when it debuted - hell, I'd say I liked it more than Breath of the Wild. And I want to be able to express my genuine feelings about amazing titles like these without being subject to the whole 'diehard' argument, which is why I fight against it's continued normalization.
These games have so much going for them that it bothers me that anyone could be like "Oh, those fans just aren't discerning enough to see how flawed their favorite game is!" as if they're the true arbitrator of taste. That's how those kinds of arguments come across to me, every time, with almost no exceptions.
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I'm around 10 hours or so in totk and while i'm having fun and genuinely intrigued by story - i can't say i'm impressed. All sub quest so far are very "gamey" and are all about new tools. And while it's fun - it does take away from immersion a bit. It's like i'm playing gta. I also can't say i'm motivated very much to explore. I do shrines and koroks as soon as i find them, caves as well, but outposts with monsters are just meh. I tried few and all rewards are just some weapons that will break anyway.
I hope it'll get better because rn i just want to go main story tbh.
So ER for sure.
I hope it'll get better because rn i just want to go main story tbh.
So ER for sure.
