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The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild |OT3| Your Free Time is Badly Damaged

MouldyK

Member
I know, but for pick up and play - play, it would be nice to have small goals that you can also easily track. But eh, we're never going to get that from Nintendo. It's what makes World of Warcraft so undlessly playable for some people. Bored? Go hunt some achievements.

On the topic of Wow, I really wish Breath of the Wild was an MMO sometimes. The world is perfect for it!

I understand your opinions...but you wish it was an MMO?!

tenor.gif
 

jariw

Member
Any word on including completion stats in an update? Would be nice to see how many shrines or seeds I've done. It would be really awesome if it said how many shrines/seeds are left in _____ province.

The inner completionist in me is hurting.

You see that stat on a general level on every loading screen. But perhaps what's you're suggest is the kind of thing that they will add in the "useful map addition" in the summer DLC?
 
The only thing I've really disliked doing in the game so far are the labyrinth Shrine quests. Unless I missed something, it really felt like true guessing instead of a "puzzle" to figure out.
 
The only thing I've really disliked doing in the game so far are the labyrinth Shrine quests. Unless I missed something, it really felt like true guessing instead of a "puzzle" to figure out.

I only did one on the northeast and thought it was amazeballs, loved the design and the scale of it.
 

jariw

Member
The only thing I've really disliked doing in the game so far are the labyrinth Shrine quests. Unless I missed something, it really felt like true guessing instead of a "puzzle" to figure out.

For the two labyrinths I've completed, I think you missed something.
In the overworld, you can climb anywhere.
:)
 

sanstesy

Member
What does the line of achievement text even do?

Achievements are more than just line of texts. Essentially they can also be challenges like "Activate the Faron Tower with only one stamina wheel!"

The achievement system has its use and it would be cool. I hope the "additional challenges" in the second DLC batch is something like that.
 

JaseMath

Member
I really wish there was a way to
get dragon materials without having to sit and camp all the time.
It's really a pain in the ass.
 
It's a bit weird to see people fussing over reviews being so good saying that playing through the main story in 40 hours feels better than playing 100 hours.
I believe I've seen two videos and a couple comments on this.
I agree that the game isn't amazing the 100+ hours I've put in all the time and that you'd get a better experience if you beat it within 50 or so hours, but I don't think that means reviewers were wrong or that the game is bad.
Everything is optional outside of the Platau and Ganon. If everything was mandatory then I'd get the complaints more.
I also think fewer shrines and fewer Korok seeds would lead to a weaker experience overall since some areas will get very little meaningful content making the world suffer.
Do I think the game is perfect? No, I'd love more original dungeons like the last one. But I honestly think it's the best and most well rounded game the genre has to offer
 

Lilo_D

Member
I think it's unreasonable to expect the game to be non stop surprising throughout 80 to 100 hours. Besides, I'd argue that knowing the map, beating the hard ennemies and knowing what to do is part of the progression and a lot of fun. You start completely lost and you finish having mastered the world around you.

Depend on your play style, i'm the person who fully enjoy one region and go another
I got constant surprise in 80 hours
I have a friend who first hunt down all the towers, he got a little bit tired through his process and already see a lot of stuff in between
 

Sesuadra

Unconfirmed Member
I've now 105 hours played, I got 11 of 12 memories and all the divine beasts.
soon it's time to finish this.
It's a bit weird to see people fussing over reviews being so good saying that playing through the main story in 40 hours feels better than playing 100 hours.
I believe I've seen two videos and a couple comments on this.
I agree that the game isn't amazing the 100+ hours I've put in all the time and that you'd get a better experience if you beat it within 50 or so hours, but I don't think that means reviewers were wrong or that the game is bad.
I really don't know about that. There were a lot of surprises in my 105 hours and I still have "damn that's cool" moments. But I also play slow. sometimes I just walk around for an hour or two, killing enemies and trying to climb mountains. If I'd played the game faster, I think my enjoyment would have suffered.
 
OK, I scoured the entire area around
Safula Hills
, can't find the white horse anymore.

This must be an unintentional bug with this quest. The horse will straight up never respawn where it initially was if you already agitated it. I'm still not sure if it's even in the world anymore.

I might just send this to Nintendo in hopes that they fix it.
 

Lilo_D

Member
It's a bit weird to see people fussing over reviews being so good saying that playing through the main story in 40 hours feels better than playing 100 hours.
I believe I've seen two videos and a couple comments on this.
I agree that the game isn't amazing the 100+ hours I've put in all the time and that you'd get a better experience if you beat it within 50 or so hours, but I don't think that means reviewers were wrong or that the game is bad.
Everything is optional outside of the Platau and Ganon. If everything was mandatory then I'd get the complaints more.
I also think fewer shrines and fewer Korok seeds would lead to a weaker experience overall since some areas will get very little meaningful content making the world suffer.
Do I think the game is perfect? No, I'd love more original dungeons like the last one. But I honestly think it's the best and most well rounded game the genre has to offer

Yep, because this game is so personal
And it's really the beauty of it, everyone has their story no matter good, bad, bored
 
I think it's unreasonable to expect the game to be non stop surprising throughout 80 to 100 hours. Besides, I'd argue that knowing the map, beating the hard ennemies and knowing what to do is part of the progression and a lot of fun. You start completely lost and you finish having mastered the world around you.

Like I said, Nintendo could've done its part to not so rigidly stick to its own formulas, like every shrine quest HAVING to end with a shrine, all the
dragons
behaving and having the same function, Lynels disappointingly ending up being the most powerful enemy in the game, no side caves etc.
 
You see that stat on a general level on every loading screen. But perhaps what's you're suggest is the kind of thing that they will add in the "useful map addition" in the summer DLC?

Yeah. Or something like the GTA stats would be helpful. Because as of now, it's hard to know which things you've done unless you check them off as you go or manually search your map.
 

En-ou

Member
Achievements are more than just line of texts. Essentially they can also be challenges like "Activate the Faron Tower with only one stamina wheel!"

The achievement system has its use and it would be cool. I hope the "additional challenges" in the second DLC batch is something like that.
But you can do that challenge without the text.
 

Vibed

Member
OK, I scoured the entire area around
Safula Hills
, can't find the white horse anymore.

This must be an unintentional bug with this quest. The horse will straight up never respawn where it initially was if you already agitated it. I'm still not sure if it's even in the world anymore.

I might just send this to Nintendo in hopes that they fix it.
I wasn't able to encounter it for a long time. It's likely not a bug, I think.
 

sanstesy

Member
Like I said, Nintendo could've done its part to not so rigidly stick to its own formulas, like every shrine quest HAVING to end with a shrine, all the
dragons
behaving and having the same function, Lynels disappointingly ending up being the most powerful enemy in the game, no side caves etc.

In general I don't think every shrine quest ending in a shrine is a bad thing. It's just the treasure you get at the end like you got your heart piece in past Zelda games with the difference that you also can invest in stamina.

Lynels being the most powerful enemies is also not a disappointment at all, they are a very good challenge and the best enemies the Zelda series has seen. What is more apt here is more mini-bosses in the overworld which is a good improvement that should be in the next Zelda game.
 

Apt101

Member
I'm addicted to spirit orbs and cooking. Need another hit baby, just to calm my nerves, get even.

The funnest shrines are the ones that involve a series of puzzles that all require different tactics to overcome. I just got out of a shrine that had like four puzzles and two combat encounters. I went in around 12 AM, came out at 1:30 AM the next morning...
 
I went to
Safula
to discover the
memory
there and saw the beautiful white horse with blonde hair that looked just like
Zelda's horse
just standing on the road nearby. So how could I not capture it? Man it sure didn't like walking back to the nearest stable. Kept trying to go off-path and stuff. After the walk we had an 85% bond but it sure didn't feel that strong. Nice stats though. What's this about a quest for that horse?
 

JaseMath

Member
If you're having trouble catching a steed the stealthy way—particularly the best ones
south of Hebra
—you can shoot an Ice Arrow at horses to freeze them in their tracks. Once frozen, wait beside/behind them until they thaw, and mount them once they do. It also works on bears and stags.

Discovered this out of frustration after the best mounts kept running away.
 

Koren

Member
Just before I really dive into
Eventide
, the orbs float if you drop them in the water, right?
Right, but be careful, you can send those off-limit, I think (took me three attempts to salvage one that was close to the limit).

What's this about a quest for that horse?
I captured
a white horse
this afternoon, if that's what you're talking about, just because it was kinda rare (especially since it was a separate entry in encyclopedia)... Is there actually a quest about this?
 

atr0cious

Member
If you're having trouble catching a steed the stealthy way—particularly the best ones
south of Hebra
—you can shoot an Ice Arrow at horses to freeze them in their tracks. Once frozen, wait beside/behind them until they thaw, and mount them once they do. It also works on bears and stags.

Discovered this out of frustration after the best mounts kept running away.
Thank you. There was a cool green one in that region and I couldn't ever get close, even at night.
 

sanstesy

Member
Since achievements are often hidden till you do them, is this really different from quests?

The interesting achievements are ones which are not hidden most of the time. And as they are very weird tasks they do not make sense as quests. Of course they're also way easier to implement as its just a pop up in the system menu when achieved.
 

Rhaknar

The Steam equivalent of the drunk friend who keeps offering to pay your tab all night.
Am I missing something obvious? My last beast is in
goron
land but I get
burnt to a crisp just from walking around there.
I followed the main road expecting some quest to show up on the way to give me the means to traverse the place but nothing.

So...what?
 
Woohoo mostly done with the game now, I’ll post some complete thoughts.

They made a different game
Perhaps what’s most surprising about Breath of the Wild is that it’s really a very different game from past Zelda games. It’s not just “Ocarina, but bigger and more polished”. No, they finally stepped out of Ocarina’s shadow and made an entirely different game. BotW is not a game about progressing a story and beating dungeons along the way leading up to a final boss-- instead, it’s a game about exploring a vast world and finding 120 shrines, with a few dungeons added as nice climax points. Structure aside, the core game systems -- like the armor and weapons and general resource management -- make the game feel very, very different from older Zelda games.

A modern day Zelda 1
But if I had to pick another game in the series it feels most similar to, I might choose Zelda 1. What was great about Zelda 1 is how much time you can spend just wandering and discovering (or not discovering) arcane secrets. Breath of the Wild is now the only other game in the series to really make “wander and discover secrets” the core driver of the gameplay. I’d been waiting for this game for a while, and they finally delivered.

Go anywhere, do anything you want
So… BotW has no order to doing anything. The game provides some loose guides to follow if you choose, but really, it’s so much up to you to do what you want. You set your own agenda.

This felt amazing. Whenever I was doing something, I felt like I was doing it because I wanted to, not because the game told me to. And this actually gave the me a greater sense of urgency than I have gotten from playing linear games. Especially in the first ~50 hours of the game, it was incredible how busy I felt, like there were so many things I wanted to do all at once. I think it’s a remarkable achievement of game design that a game which is so directionless can nevertheless feel so urgent.

What a radical departure from Nintendo’s design philosophy
They finally did what fans have been asking for: stop hand holding. Let us die: let us experiment, fail, and try again. Let us get lost.

It’s surprising how much of a departure this is from recent Nintendo titles. I hope they keep this up, and that BotW isn’t an anomaly.

More like Banjo Kazooie/Super Mario 64 than Dragon Quest/Final Fantasy
There’s a longstanding debate as to whether Zelda is a JRPG, and this is game offers the most definitive “no” of the series so far. In a JRPG, the core of the game is the combat system. And while combat is a big part of BotW, I would argue that it’s not the most core part of the game. Instead, the real meat of BotW is… environment traversal. It’s almost like a platformer in a sense, though it’s not about jumping from platform to platform. It’s about climbing, gliding, surviving harsh weather, searching for hidden shrines and items, solving physics puzzles, being attentive to out-of-place rocks, solving riddles about shadows, finding the ideal locations to snipe
dragons
from, guiding
a letter downstream
, carrying
an ice block in the shade
, etc. I could go on and on, but the point is: The core of the game is really about dealing with the environment, and monsters are just one aspect of that environment.

A nature lover’s game
I’m surprised I haven’t heard more people talk about this: BotW is a great nature lover’s game, one of the best ones I’ve played. The nature is really beautiful in this game. And it’s hard to explain why, but it really feels like nature. It just feels right. I really like how the game has large stretches of land that are just peaceful, with a few animals around. BotW’s world can be both peaceful and incredibly scary. Just like the real world.

A world that’s fun to play in
The true, absolute best thing about the game isn’t that the world is so big, but that the world is just so fun to play in. It’s fun to dash, climb, and glide. It’s fun to catch, ride, name and raise wild horses. It’s fun to hunt and cook. It’s fun to sneak attack enemies, it’s fun to engage them in one-on-one combat, it’s fun to kill them in tricky ways with arrows or exploding barrels or metal boxes. It’s fun to catch updrafts on burning grass and use bullet time arrows. It’s fun to shield surf.

Even if you’re not trying to accomplish a specific goal, it’s just fun to mess around in this game.

Fully generalized game systems
Part of what makes BotW so fun to play is that its game systems fit very naturally together and aren’t segregated to special situations. Compare to previous Zelda games. Shield surfing isn’t just something you do in one place, you can do it anywhere. Picking up enemy weapons doesn’t just happens a couple of times, it happens everywhere. Bullet time arrows aren’t some special QTE, they can happen everywhere and you’re in full control during them. Boomerangs follow the exact same rules as other weapons, just with a different flight pattern. And the items of the game aren’t just used in a specific dungeons to solve specific puzzles, but they’re used throughout the game in lots of situations.

The developers stated they wanted to create gameplay systems with simple rules that lead to complex, emergent behavior. They absolutely succeeded.

A special shoutout to the armor
I’m always a fan of visible armor in games -- it’s fun to dress of my character to look cool. BotW way overdelivered on this front -- there was a lot more armor than I expected, and it was all great!

The story
(I already posted this as a separate post, but to repeat):

I enjoyed the story a lot more than I thought I would. It's a small but personal story, and that's a great way of grounding you in the large and epic world.

The story really isn't about a world ending calamity. It's about the relationship between Zelda and Link. I can see how some people would find that disappointing, but personally I enjoyed it a lot -- there's a good setup and a good payoff. And anyway, I think the big epic story is actually the one you create yourself by exploring the world. I certainly have stories to tell about my time with the game.

Any flaws?
I have to say it: the tests of strength are repetitive. Once I got strong enough, I could finish them super quickly without any trouble, so it’s not like they were bad, exactly. But they didn’t add positive anything to the overall experience, either. Puzzle shrines were way better. And it’s not like I’m against the idea of there being so many combat shrines, I just wish they could have mixed them up more. They could have been more creative with adding extra twists to them, at the very least.

Concluding thoughts
This game is Zelda 1 x Skyward Sword x Portal x Mario 64 x Xenoblade x Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind x IRL hiking. And it’s the greatest thing ever.

Actually, no hyperbole, this is now my favorite video game. I do recognize it has flaws, but I still can’t think of any game I like more.
 

Charamiwa

Banned
This is pretty much how I feel although I'd still put it ahead of Wind Waker and OoT. The whole "see that mountain, you can go there" thing sounds great in theory but when the payoff for getting there is almost always underwhelming and expected it's hard to really care. That might be ok if the journey there was something special but the game doesn't play well enough to be all that exciting when you run into the same stuff again and again.

The game never peaks and never really becomes more than the sum of its parts. Despite all the attention to detail and nuances the core of the game just feels hollow. This feeling is everywhere from the lackluster dungeons and bosses, rewards, the music, and the climax, if you can even call it that.

For all the talk of freedom and no hand-holding I've never felt more restricted. You want to use those gear and and weapons? Screw you, lightning storm, excessive repair fees, etc. Trying to grab that korok seed up there? lol, it's raining and how about some constant interruptions from instantly appearing enemies too. Want to upgrade a whole bunch of gear? nah, arbitrary restriction on how many things you can upgrade at once.

The game is too determined for me to operate under it's own guidelines that only serve a function early on. I've already beat the game let me just play how I like.

For me BotW is like a sports car. It's looks great sitting in the garage but when it comes to everyday use in the city, the insurance, the maintenance, etc. it's just more aggravation than anything else.

It's a fine shell of a game but I think the late removal of the gamepad and the copy-paste approach to trying to fill such a huge world really hurt it.

Obviously I don't want to take away from your impressions and how you felt about the game, but some of what you're saying is in my mind way overblown. The game feeling more restrictive than any other Zelda just because there's storms and breakable weapons is a bit rich. Sure it can be annoying, but what about virtually every other part of the game that's open ended and improve the freedom of the players? You could use this type of nitpicks to any other Zelda games and make them seem 10x worse than this. I guess it just weird to choose some parts of this game to argue that it's more restrictive. 3D Zeldas are pretty much linear adventures with a few distractions, even most of the dungeons themselves have a clear path. A bit of rain that you can always circonvent is not going to make this game more restrictive. You keep talking about how the game is too determined and doesn't let you play how you want, and this is clearly not a criticism I can understand.

As for the sport car analogy, again, I just don't get it at all. And again, if that's how you felt playing the game I can obviously respect that, but you made these points quite a few times here and I felt it needed to be adressed.
 

jariw

Member
In general I don't think every shrine quest ending in a shrine is a bad thing. It's just the treasure you get at the end like you got your heart piece in past Zelda games with the difference that you also can invest in stamina.

Lynels being the most powerful enemies is also not a disappointment at all, they are a very good challenge and the best enemies the Zelda series has seen. What is more apt here is more mini-bosses in the overworld which is a good improvement that should be in the next Zelda game.

I think the duplicate nature of some things has to do with it being a 13GB Wii U game. If there's another one built on the same engine, where the Switch is the base system, I guess they could afford more diversity.
 

Timeaisis

Member
On the latest 8-4 Play, Mark sort of laments that the first 20 or so hours of the game is so surprising that its disappointing to finally recognise the loop and structure of the game. Which I thought was an interesting point (as I've seen if brought up in the thread as well). Mark's same point can be made about almost any game. The running around in the courtyard in Mario64 and jumping into your first painting is a certain type of magic that the rest of the game doesn't recreate.

I feel that this sentiment is coming up more often with BotW because
1. BotW's "begging" is so long compared to other games. Mark's 20 hour begging is longer than most single player games! Following natural assumptions, one might be fooled into thinking this long stretch of game is going to be how the entire game is going to be.

2. Being a game whose premise in the unfettered sense of adventure and exploration, finding some sort of structure might dampen the mystery a player might expect to last throughout the entirety of the game.

An interesting feeling that's coming up here and there. While I felt these things too, the only thing that changed for me is that I had to take a more active role in engaging in things that would be stoke those same fires of adventure. While the beginning of the game, that mystery was given out freely.

Every game has a structure, and when that is eventually discovered, it is less fresh and exciting.

I will say BotW kept surprising me more than 80 hours in. It has a structure, yes, but you don't actually have to follow it. Granted, it's not as mysterious as the giant, undiscovered map, but it's still constantly rewarding you with surprises by exploring off the beaten path. I'd argue the sense of discovery stays longer than, well, any other game I've ever played. But you definitely have to work for those surprises late game, as the world is mostly explored, but only really on the surface level.
 
Am I missing something obvious? My last beast is in
goron
land but I get
burnt to a crisp just from walking around there.
I followed the main road expecting some quest to show up on the way to give me the means to traverse the place but nothing.

So...what?
There's a stable somewhere. I think it might be between death mountin and the woods. Check it out
 

Koren

Member
Am I missing something obvious? My last beast is in
goron
land but I get
burnt to a crisp just from walking around there.
I followed the main road expecting some quest to show up on the way to give me the means to traverse the place but nothing.

So...what?
Yes, you probably missed something (talk to everybody on the road before)... except that you don't really need it. Reach the village and you'll have more permanent solutions.
 
Am I missing something obvious? My last beast is in
goron
land but I get
burnt to a crisp just from walking around there.
I followed the main road expecting some quest to show up on the way to give me the means to traverse the place but nothing.

So...what?

Just like regions that are too cold, Death Mountain is too hot. You can remedy this with an elixir from somebody at a nearby stable.
 

Rhaknar

The Steam equivalent of the drunk friend who keeps offering to pay your tab all night.
There's a stable somewhere. I think it might be between death mountin and the woods. Check it out

I JUST looked at the map and thought to myself "maybe that stable down there?" Lol.

Thanks.
 

sanstesy

Member
I think the duplicate nature of some things has to do with it being a 13GB Wii U game. If there's another one built on the same engine, where the Switch is the base system, I guess they could afford more diversity.

The reason doesn't really matter now - there should be some more in the next game!
 
I'm avoiding all Zelda threads because of spoilers but I'm running in here real quick because I have to say something.

THIS GAME IS AMAZING!

So well thought. Everything about it is perfect. Ugh.

And I just found out that Wolf Link helps you track items. Time to tag treasure chests and let it do the job.

Sammy Critics 10/10.
 

Timeaisis

Member
I will say I do think they could've gone more interestingly in the rewards category. There's a lot of complaints about discovering new areas and quests only to be rewarded by a handful of things (rupees, korok seeds, shrines). Couple that with the fact that many people feel weapon rewards aren't much of a reward due to the durability system, and armor rewards are doled out too few and far between, and we have a reward "problem". Although I never felt that way, personally.

However, I do think they could go the Skyward Sword route and have upgradable equipment via other collectibles. Find X things to upgrade your sword, or maybe even add some moves to Link's moveset. Obviously, they'd need to be pretty careful here. The last thing I'd want is an upgrade tree or weapon crafting, it would distract from the main adventure and make busywork.

Also, they could hide some more sidequests in really wild places. Most sidequests start in towns or stables and puts the player on the path to interesting places on the map (which is cool), but it would be cool to reverse that some more. Give a sidequest out in the middle of nowhere, and end it at a town or somewhere completely different. Finding the sidequest becomes the exploration reward. I think that's very cool. Exploring to find new interactions and sidequests, to me, is much more interesting than finding a korok seed or 300 rupees. One of my favorite memories of BotW was in the the
jungle of Faron where I saw Kass, and the quest was to find the Serpent's Mouth. I battled through ruins in the rain for about an hour before stumbling upon a giant open mouth serpent statue with a shrine.
Just a really cool progression. And it was kicked off by me exploring and ended with me exploring. Even though the reward was simply a shrine, the sidequest experience was the initial exploration reward in and of itself.

A few sidequests already do this in BotW, but not too many. All the Kass quests, which is probably why people love them so much. A few others as well, but most are at or near towns or stables.

Anyway, the discovery of new areas was reward enough for me 90% of the game, but I get the complaints. I think this can be improved in a sequel (if we ever get one like this).

Still, at the end of the day, BotW is the best open world game I've ever played and the most fun I've had exploring a world basically ever.
 

Stopdoor

Member
I think it's unreasonable to expect the game to be non stop surprising throughout 80 to 100 hours. Besides, I'd argue that knowing the map, beating the hard ennemies and knowing what to do is part of the progression and a lot of fun. You start completely lost and you finish having mastered the world around you.

It's funny how replaying the Plateau is actually pretty effective at bringing back some of the wonder, being able to see the towers so far away in the distance and knowing you're in this tiny playground is just such a hype feeling. In some ways I think it might less be the sense of wonder, but also the fact that the game does get a lot easier once you've gathered and discovered so many weapons, hearts, mechanics, etc. Replaying the game but maybe jumping a different way off the Plateau and doing the Divine Beasts in a different order feels like it would still lead to see some unique experiences.
 
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