Breath of the Wild Discussion Thread

[Tarvis]

SO EXCITEasfdsadasd LETS DO IT.

No spoilers please without using spoiler tags.

This sense of wonder is something that I haven’t felt so strongly since I played A Link to the Past when I was seven years old. Ocarina of Time was able to capture some of that same magic in my teenage years. Now that I’m in my thirties, I don’t think that I expected it to be possible for a game to make me feel like that again. I’ve been reviewing video games for twelve years now, and I’m used to describing games in a certain way. “This game controls well. This mechanic is innovative. The graphics are stunning. The skill tree feels limited.” That type of language doesn’t adequately convey how Breath of the Wild made me feel. Nintendo may have changed so many long-standing traditions of the Zelda franchise, but the spirit of discovery is as strong as it’s ever been no matter your age. I didn’t think I’d feel the Zelda magic this strongly ever again, but I couldn't be happier to be proven wrong.

-Giant Bomb

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is a masterclass in open-world design and a watershed game that reinvents a 30-year-old franchise. It presents a wonderful sandbox full of mystery, dangling dozens upon dozens of tantalizing things in front of you that just beg to be explored. I’ve had so many adventures in Breath of the Wild, and each one has a unique story behind what led me to them, making them stories on top of stories. And even after I’ve spent more than 50 hours searching the far reaches of Hyrule, I still manage to come across things I haven’t seen before. I’ll easily spend 50 to 100 more trying to track down its fascinating moments.

-IGN

Breath of the Wild is currently at 98% on Metacritic which puts it 2nd all time of all video games only behind Ocarina of Time at 99%.

For fun, Skyward Sword thread with da hype we had.

 

[SuperAfroBoy]

I'm super excited for this. The review scores it's getting is crazy. I hope Nintendo goes all out with DLC too, Skyrim style.

 

[Dave]

I've never seen a game reviewed like this. Obviously OoT is on a pedestal and is still seen as the "perfect" game, but we're in a completely different day and age now. Even more modern games like Witcher 3 that killed it in reviews can't touch what people are saying about BotW.

Tomorrow. It's on.

 

[SuperAfroBoy]

Have to wonder if part of the high scores is just because its a new Zelda though. If this was the same exact game, but it wasn't a Zelda game would it have these scores? Hard to say... either way I can't wait to play it. Sooo hard to not watch any of the reviews and streams that are everywhere today, but I really don't want to spoil anything that wasn't shown from the great plateau.

Other than BOTW, I'm also getting Snipperclips and maybe a couple Nindie titles.

 

[Tarvis]

Snipperclips looks great, definitely the other game I'm getting tomorrow.

Gamestop hasn't confirmed my tracking number and still shows Open order status on their website, but MyUPS shows that I have two packages coming my way, one of which for delivery tomorrow. The amiibos next week. The Switch + BOTW master edition weighs less than 10lbs lol.

 

[Logan]

Got it tonight. Some bullet points, no spoilars ofc.

• Feels foreign at first, thrusts you right in. Feels almost bare bones, such little exposition helps the exploration though.
• Very Nintendo is all I'll say. The game is very crisp and different. It'll sacrifice streamlining for those Nintendo advancements, but Nintendo is always 4 steps ahead and 3 steps back when they try something new.
• Combat with the degrading weapons is weird at first, but feels nice when you get the foraging aspect down.

That's all for now. Game will be different for sure. I think it'll be fun, but it's legacy will go as far as the story will take it imo.

 

[Logan]

My only hint? Whenever you say "wtf I'm stuck!" Remember this game is a bit different and you can climb anything lol.

 

[Logan]

Also don't forget you can jump now lol

 

[Tarvis]

Feels foreign at first, thrusts you right in. Feels almost bare bones, such little exposition helps the exploration though.

You ain't kidding, there isn't even a title screen at least on the Switch version. As soon as you load the game you get about 30 seconds of a cutscene then bam you playing. Pretty sure it's shorter than the Ocarina of Time one lol.

 

[Logan]

Still impressed by the story's presentation. It is very just "out there". They lay it out quick and it's very open. Nintendo (when they try) ) has always been the best at pacing and presentation. This game trains you to explore and be resourceful. Then, after you're "addicted", iis turns you loose and let's you go where you please.

 

[SuperAfroBoy]

Gaaaaahhhh, can't wait. Hopefully mine will be delivered this weekend.

 

[Tarvis]

No luck today then?

 

[Tarvis]

Is it me or is this one of the hardest Zeldas to date?

 

[Link182]

Alright, so I bought BOTW and a Wii U today...yeah, I'm behind on gaming. This is one hell of a learning curve for a new system. I only played around 45 minutes tonight and already died twice simply by falling off the Great Plateau Tower. But I will say this is a lot of fun to play and I love that Zelda has moved into a sandbox overworld with a bit of in-game modern tech. The reviews say that full exploration of the game could take over 100 hours? I just hope I can find enough time to finish the main storyline.

 

[Tarvis]

I played for like 14 hours yesterday and I've only gotten 1 heart and 2 stamina upgrades and I haven't even gotten to the part where you meet Zelda yet that is in all the trailers. So yeah, this game is HUGE.

 

[Logan]

After a weekend of playing, here's my impressions

LOVE

• The world. It's the best representation of Hyrule to date.
• The graphics. The perfect balance between the styles of previous titles. Captures a 3D anime look that they've been going for.
• The shrines. Great idea to encourage exploration and whet your appetite for puzzles in one fell swoop.
• The exploration. Frankly, the addition of climbing anything might make this the best open world game ever. It allows you to literally
  do what you want where you want. You see something, you go straight at it.
• The combat. Flaws with weapon conditioning aside, this is the perfect balance of Zelda combat. 50 percent strategy, 30 percent ingenuity, and 20 percent skill. Best combat to date in a TLoZ game IMO.

MIXED BAG

• The music, or lack thereof. I understand constant music would get old, so it's a good choice. I miss the tunes though.
• Voice acting. It helps the game IMO, and it's well done for the most part. However, Zelda is the worst voice I've ever heard. They really fucked that one up
• Weapons breaking. I like it more than I dislike it I think. It adds a nice dynamic, but it gets old when you have to burn through your stock on a tough enemy. It's fine overall, I just think they could've tuned it more towards something that is friendly to the player.
• Bosses. The addition to the open world bosses is great. Like running into a rare mark in an MMO, a real rush. The one small sample size I have on story bosses is very meh though, a straight "hit him until he has no more health" scenario. However, some harder enemies in the world have given me my best Zelda fights to date, very challenging and rewarding.
• Cooking. I love the idea of it, I love gathering and cooking things. I just don't like how its brutally necessary to have meals on you. You need to cook because you get the shit beat out of you on a regular basis.

HATE

• Weather. I love how dynamic it is, but it gets annoying fast. I hate storms basically trying to kill you if you have anything metal equipped and I hate rain making climbing basically impossible.
• Swimming. How Link goes from his previous iterations to the old guy who swims with Kramer in the East River is beyond me.

Overall, loving the game and I've barely scratched the surface. I'd say at a cursory glance, the hype is real.

 

[Tarvis]

I. hate. the. rain. Pretty much makes exploration come to a stand still until you wait for it to pass, but too bad it seems to rain all the time!

I don't mind Zelda voice's honestly, although I hate voice acting in games in general.

Lack of overworld theme is no fun. Should have had a music player or something on that sheikah slate.

 

[Dave]

Want some fun? Go ahead and go to Hyrule Castle to battle Ganon. You can go any time. Have fun!

I love how challenging they've made this game. In previous Zelda games, you knew exactly what to do with an enemy and every single one of its kind was defeated the same way. Still fun, but you could beat the games blind folded. The difficulty in this one makes every encounter, big and small, feel important. I can't tell you how many one-shot enemies I've encountered just running around (again, for some real fun go to Hyrule Castle). This drives you to explore and adapt more (cooking and food for health function is incredible).

It's all a bit disorienting at first, especially when you're just thrown out there to start the game, but it's a thrill and self-motivating to have complete control of where you go and what you do. You're not locked into one experience and I love the freedom you have. I'm over ten hours into the game and just now getting to the first Divine Beast.

 

[Tarvis]

I accidentally ran into the Ganon fight while looking for part of a sidequest, so I just reloaded a save so not to spoil it when I finally do get there. The music when you are near Hyrule Castle and inside is just great. Wish I hadn't heard it until the end but its ok.

The difficulty is legendary as far as Zelda games go. If it wasn't for the game constantly auto-saving, I would put this game as harder than Zelda II due to how many times you just drop dead. Even with 13 hearts now, there are a ton of enemies that can still one shot me or come pretty close to doing it. It seems like the enemies accuracy with projectiles is almost 100%; I hate those god damn Octoroks. Thankfully since the game autosaves every 5 minutes or more, it makes the game not really frustrating, but piss you off enough to want to beat it. Beating the major test of strength shrines with 4 hearts when the enemy has 3k HP, is really fun especially now I can pretty much dodge and counter every move those do after doing them so many times.

Lightning storms where you just get zapped, climate where you can freeze to death. There was also the time where I was just gliding around somewhat near Death Mountain and just burst into flames.

For example, here is a quick clip I recorded - no spoilers:

 

[Logan]