Game Debate #2: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

[Abelardo | 155]

I voted 10, honestly didn't expect to enjoy it that much but it exceeded all my expectations, best aspect was the exploration, a feeling of freedom, never before in a game I've had this urge to explore everywhere.

So after finishing BotW I haven't played anything that feels remotely similar, maybe Xenoblade Chronicles but I just picked it up and a couple of hours in I'm beginning to wonder if I should stick to it (world hasn't blown open yet). What alternatives are there that offer a similar experience to BotW?

[fsped09 | 223]

10, if there was an 11 I'd choose that. Put in a lot of hours on this one, put it down for a few months now I'm on my second run and enjoying it just as much as the first time!

[Foochie776 | 1,066]

10, its amazing 

[a3quit4s | 4,190]

10/10

Take other games in a series that have all been ranked near perfect and still improve on them. 
 

Amazing. 

[AstralSoul | 517]

9/10. Almost gave this a 10 but wouldn't call it one of my favorites of all time. I'd probably only give a dozen or so games total a 10/10. That said I think BotW is absolutely amazing in every aspect.

[Kguillemette | 1,578]

9/10. Unlocking the secrets of the game was a pure joy. In fact it took me several tries just the climb the mountain to the cryonis shrine because I hadn't figured out cooking was a thing yet. I just kept freezing to death! That final climb was intense because I was running super low on apples and spicy peppers that I forged. Made it to the shrine with an empty inventory and maybe one heart left. I had to avoid the bokoblin camp near the summit to avoid freezing to death from the time it takes to fight them.

The game is stunning. The replay value is low because of the sheer vastness of the game, really. It takes forever to go through the motions, collecting the shrines and divine beast/etc. Most of the fun is figuring out the mechanics of how to play rather than playing itself.

 

One thing that would make the game better wood be some trick to bring about a b blood moon quicker. Sometimes I just want to kill some bad guys!  

[OptOut | 8,918]

8 for me, a great game but certainly not perfect.

I had great fun just exploring the environment and pissing around, finding loot and weapons and killing the goblins and stuff. It's obvious that the WORLD itself and the way you navigate it is the best part of the game. The fact you can literally just start the game, point yourself in whichever direction you want and just GO, that's the best part of the game by far. Also, I'm one of those who ENJOY the breakable weapons thing, because it just gives you the opportunity to experience more variety in the combat rather than just doing the same thing over and over again.

However, the game is let down by a few things for me. The map is great, but it doesn't feel like AS much care went into populating it with things to do as into designing the map in the first-place. Your fighting similar enemies in similar camps over and over, the shrines start to get very samey too, not just in terms of the challenges, but even visually, you really get the feeling a lot of the content was copy pasted across the map rather than being specially designed to fit each environment. For example, wouldn't it be more fun and intriguing if Shrines int he Jungle areas were visually and thematically different to the shrines in the desert? Once you enter the shrine, you could basically be anywhere, which is NOT really how things were in other Zelda games.

Also, I skipped all the cut-scenes basically, the story was WAY less interesting to me than the rest of the actual game. Just couldn't care less about being told shit, when I was far more happy just making my own fun in the world.

Very much looking forward to the sequel though, I just hope they have dungeons that are a little more elaborate, and better integrated into the world.

[SpoonMan Abrams X | 697]

I finally finished playing through it, not a 100% completion but basically all major unlockables (full inventory & all shrines)

I really had a lot of fun with it. More then I thought initially. It dragged a bit in the middle and not entirely sure I really dug the curve in difficulty it has once you get off the Great Plateau... but still was really good.

Exploration scratched that itch I had with Exploration in Skyrim. There were a lot of great things in this game but some things holding it back that make me look forward to the sequel. Also f**k the motion controls

8/10

[avatar! | 1,862]

Just began to play this a couple of weeks ago, so it's all fresh in my  mind. It's a great game, but definitely NOT 10/10. I would say an 8.25 or so, granted I have quite a lot more to go, so that score might go up or down a bit. Things I just don't like about the game

-stupid motion control puzzles 
-very limited voice acting - Nintendo can get away with it because people are like "it's Zelda!" but for any other AAA franchise people would bitch and moan
-glitches, some poor camera angles, etc. 
-some of the puzzles are just really not fun and very limited -- for example, you're supposed to sneak past the Yiga, although you can fight them, but the guys with the sword are 1-hit kill, and there's  no recover -- basically lame shite that would be criticized as limiting gameplay, but again, "It's Zelda!"  
-Speaking of dull, some of the shrines are quite cool, and others, even if they don't have the horrible motion control issues, they're just uninspired 
-I really don't see the point of having weapons and shields break and I personally do not think it adds much of anything to the game, especially when your armor does not break and you can upgrade armor but not weapons

Aesthetically, an impressive game for sure. I do like the ability to pretty much go most anywhere. Again, somewhat annoying that most of the time it's a)raining or b)too cold or c)too hot - and of course there are tonics, etc etc. but still annoying. Those are my thoughts so far. I'm guessing I'm about 1/2 way through. 

 

[Tanooki | 4,994]

It's not perfect, but for many who gave it that 10 I get it, but it's a 9 for me.

Zelda, the franchise, after what they did in the last few games, and a growing trend of distrust and disappointment that majora's mistake kicked off it was DEAD to me.  I was not going to buy anymore wash rinse a yet again f'ing repeat zelda titles as I'd play them less and less before getting bored and stopping.  This though, I broke my usual rule of not reading before buying to ruin stuff, I allowed myself a surface scratch to see how the mechanics worked without ruining key locations, tactics, story.  I'm glad I did.  Thanks to GTA and friends beating it to death and finding more Skyrim stuff like games long winded and eventually boring enough to quit I was going to write this off too.  But after reading how the mechanics were handled, and dumping most what made Zelda a sad re-run of its former self to I was there day one and it made the franchise a joy to me once more.  The way each play works, the world, the opportunities on how to attack an enemy or an obstacle were simply amazing.  So much of it isn't just there to wow as window dressing like say Skyrim and friends do, this is a living world that if you have the skill and thought to do it, you can do it.  I can't recall the last time I put 50+ hours into an offline style game where I both didn't realize I did it, and that I felt I could have done another 50 or more.  It's just that good.

I only hope the sequel lives up and continues the trend.  Ditching the shitty old wash rinse repeat of the canned long winded dungeons and stretches I would hate to see come back in full force.  Having each corner of the world be that dungeon, the sub-boss being that element that lets you into the roving dungeon that is the mechanical beast I really dug.  Then tackling the other end of that big dungeon within the beast to then take down the boss was just very well done.  I'd hate to see that lost, where each part of the world was the job to be done, not just a big re-run obstacle on the way there.

[avatar! | 1,862]

I thought Majora's Mask was one of the best Zelda games. Certainly not perfect, but I loved the dark theme, and the music, and the overall aesthetics of the game. The dungeons - forgettable for the most part. But the story, the characters, the way it was told, superb. Similarly with Twilight Princess. When all is said and done, I do think it's good Nintendo went back to an open-world similar to Zelda I. By the way, I still don't understand why to this day there has not been a re-make of the first two Zelda games? If done properly, it could be amazing. Anyway, I've been enjoying Breath of Rain - Too Bad no Climbing for You, but I do think Nintendo fans are scoring it higher than it really deserves. 

Edited October 5, 2020 by avatar!

[TDIRunner | 2,819]

It's funny, everyone always says you can't climb in the rain.  But you can.  You just need a lot more stamina to account for the slipping.  The way I see it, you should be upgrading your stamina before you upgrade your hearts anyway, so there is no reason to not have extra stamina pretty early on in the game.  Plus, if you keep enough of the right food and cooked meals on hand you can climb forever.  Also, get the climbing gear set and upgrade it as soon as possible.  Without question, the best armor set in the game.  

[LeatherRebel5150 | 1,074]

1 hour ago, TDIRunner said:

It's funny, everyone always says you can't climb in the rain.  But you can.  You just need a lot more stamina to account for the slipping.  The way I see it, you should be upgrading your stamina before you upgrade your hearts anyway, so there is no reason to not have extra stamina pretty early on in the game.  Plus, if you keep enough of the right food and cooked meals on hand you can climb forever.  Also, get the climbing gear set and upgrade it as soon as possible.  Without question, the best armor set in the game.  

Agreed across the board. Stamina is the key thing to be upgrading in the game and the climbing "armor"  is the set I have pretty much all of the time unless I'm in a particular battle.

[Andy_Bogomil | 821]

I'm playing through this game again on Switch now and I think I like better this time than the first (initial release on Wii U). The game is absolutely amazing. There a few tiny little gripes but in the grand scheme of things they are negligible. Although I haven't played a lot of these expansive world games (Witcher, Red Dead 2, etc.) this is likely the most ambitious and best all around game I've ever played in its intention and execution.

[TDIRunner | 2,819]

11 hours ago, Andy_Bogomil said:

I'm playing through this game again on Switch now and I think I like better this time than the first (initial release on Wii U). The game is absolutely amazing. There a few tiny little gripes but in the grand scheme of things they are negligible. Although I haven't played a lot of these expansive world games (Witcher, Red Dead 2, etc.) this is likely the most ambitious and best all around game I've ever played in its intention and execution.

I'm in the middle of my second play through as well.  My first was on the Wii U and I played it from launch day until close to 200 hours later.  This time I'm on the Switch and starting from scratch.  It's been just long enough that a lot of the puzzles and shrines feel brand new to me.  I honestly don't remember many of these despite the fact that I completed all 120 shrines on my first playthrough.  I think I also enjoy it more this time around simply because I'm a lot better at it.  However, I don't see myself going for everything this time around.  Or, if I do, that will be spread out over several years rather than one super long play through.  

The  biggest difference between the first and second play through is that my kids are a lot more interested now and they enjoy watching me play.  My six year old has even started his own game.  The game is a bit advanced for him, but he really enjoys the cooking and it's only a matter of time before he can play it without my help.    

[RegularGuyGamer | 2,026]

On 6/22/2020 at 12:45 AM, OptOut said:

Also, I skipped all the cut-scenes basically, the story was WAY less interesting to me than the rest of the actual game. Just couldn't care less about being told shit, when I was far more happy just making my own fun in the world.

You really missed out on a great story told through land scape and memory. There's a reason why the 2 quests are to find the memories and then defeat Gannon. Without the memories the Gannon quest feels empty. 

[OptOut | 8,918]

8 hours ago, RegularGuyGamer said:

You really missed out on a great story told through land scape and memory. There's a reason why the 2 quests are to find the memories and then defeat Gannon. Without the memories the Gannon quest feels empty. 

Well, that's probably just my own personal taste coming through. It's very rare a video game story actually interests me, I'm mainly in it for the gameplay.

Being able to actually skip the cutscenes is a big PLUS for BOTW imo, lots of games don't even let you!

[croagunk | 798]

8/10 for me. I’m not too deep into the game at the moment, but the beauty and open world immersive qualities to the game are exactly what I was looking for.

[Webhead123 | 698]

I'm very picky about open-world games. My standard inclination is to be skeptical until the game proves to me it is worthy of my time. With that in mind, BotW is probably the best open-world game I've ever played and has actually risen into my top 3 Zelda games of all time. It's pretty incredible what they've managed to achieve and how carefully they've crafted the experience for immersion, rather than just bombarding the player with a big list of chores to do (like the worst sandbox games). Hyrule is presented as a place you WANT to explore and where little mysteries and surprises await you in every nook.

10/10 - Not a "perfect" game but quite possibly one of the greatest games ever made.

[themisfit138 | 523]

9/10. If I were to base the score after my first play through. Which was on the Wii-U. I would rate it a 7. The breaking weapons and cooking really bothered me. After giving BOTW a second go, on Switch this time. I was more prepared for the weapons and cooking. I quite enjoyed my second play. Once I realized that the meals can give me stat boost, cooking was better. With the weapons I went in with the plan of use whatever I have, but save one big weapon for a tough enemy. Then those things became non issues and I could enjoy the exploration more. 

[hyrulevyse | 151]

10.  I fully expect this to pass OoT at some point in my greatest Zelda games ever.  All the little throwbacks to the previous games really make this one for me.  I love just looking at the map and seeing the names of different mountain ranges and lakes.  My biggest gripe would be that dying isn't penal at all and it's too easy in general.  I suppose since you can complete the game in any order they decided to make all of the divine beasts the same that way, but basically you're overpowered the second half of the game.

[kell | 102]

On 6/19/2020 at 12:15 PM, Silent Hill said:

7/10 -  Good attempt at a different format, but had some critical issues for me personally. Lack of formal dungeons, breakable weapons, climbing while raining, etc.

This sums it up for me.

Zelda is one of my favorite series. However, couldn't get into this one for the reasons quoted. Also, villages seemed very generic and stale.

I'm not too far into it, and I hate to never go back to it, but thinking my time is better spent elsewhere. Does it get better?

[Code Monkey | 2,063]

After putting over 1000 hours into this game, I have a lot to say about it.

Dying while falling from heights is a surprise. Maybe because I skipped everything since Majora's Mask but I don't remember dying in that game because I fell too far, maybe I just don't remember. The first thing I did when I played the first time was jump off the cliff and was surprised when I died.

The clothing is a ridiculous concept. After jumping off the cliff, I tried again and ran around to try and find things to kill. I heard this beeping and I was flashing red, I couldn't figure out what was happening, then I died for no reason. I had wandered into a cold region and someone there with me told me I needed to equip the clothes after obtaining them. Every video game I've ever played in my life automatically equipped any item you pick up so I had no idea I needed to do that myself. Why would you not want to wear the clothes?

The breaking weapons, there is absolutely no need for this. If I pick up a sword, I should have that sword for the duration of my game play, there's no need to lose it and then have to get another one. A weapon should not have a finite quantity of uses, it's not like Liu Kang is running out of fireballs. If I pick up the spread gun in Contra, I don't have to worry about how many times I shoot it, that's ridiculous.

I completed this game but when I read through the guide book after I was done, I noticed some weapons and armour I hadn't collected. As I read further, it mentioned I could obtain the items with the tap of an Amiibo but didn't tell me how to obtain it without the Amiibo. I phoned Nintendo to ask them how I obtain these items in the game and they told me the Amiibo is the only way to do it. So what I found out is I'm unable to 100% finish this game without purchasing $300 in plastic toys to get all of the additional weapons and armour. This is one of the dumbest concepts I have ever been exposed to in video games. I laughed when she told me because I thought she was joking. This was when I decided I wasn't going to be buying any sequels until I could confirm from Nintendo that I get the entire game for my $80 and not just part of it. When I buy a game I want all of the game.

Were all of these concepts explained to the player in previous games? I skipped Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword so I may have missed some useful tutorials but there's no excuse for some of this in the game.

[JamesRobot | 5,882]

34 minutes ago, Code Monkey said:

Why would you not want to wear the clothes?

I can think of a couple reasons...

[Dr. Morbis | 2,105]

3 hours ago, Code Monkey said:

The breaking weapons, there is absolutely no need for this. If I pick up a sword, I should have that sword for the duration of my game play, there's no need to lose it and then have to get another one. A weapon should not have a finite quantity of uses, it's not like Liu Kang is running out of fireballs. If I pick up the spread gun in Contra, I don't have to worry about how many times I shoot it, that's ridiculous.

I don't know how you got 1000 hours in with these issues, but back when I started this game up a couple of years ago, I got to maybe the six hour mark before I decided I was done with the never-ending search for replacement weapons and cooking ingredients.  Tedious scavenger hunts and micro-micro management of all aspects of your character in videogames is not my thing at all.  Like, are they going to have a bladder meter for Link in the next game so they can punish you if you go too long without peeing?  You may think I'm joking but this is exactly in line with the beginning portion of BOTW that I experienced.

Anyway, I'm pretty much done with Zelda's if this is the direction they are taking from here on out...

Edited January 29, 2021 by Dr. Morbis