KLoWn
Member
Embarrassing.
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Masahiro Sakurai's thoughts on Horizon vs. Zelda: BOTW - "Very Close, Very Different"
- Thread starter Koozek
- Start date
I think both games are good and they do different things better. Zelda is quite unconventional and does a slew of new things, but getting the best out of it requires busywork and the experience doesn't feel very "tailored". You can easily miss things that are pretty essential or take a path through the game that ruins your own enjoyment. If you don't understand the systems of the game (which aren't explained at all) you will waste a lot of time. Also there are many minor annoyances in the systems that build up over 60+ hours of play.
Horizon is a lot more directed, but also a lot more polished as a result. It has interesting locations, characters to care about, an interesting story, a variety of enemies that are arranged better as a difficulty curve, in depth and well realized combat, an actual sense of progression and many convenience features. It also looks and performs amazing.
Overall, while I was initially amazed by Zelda, the more I played of it the more I started to find flaws in it that put me off. Whereas with Horizon initially I wasn't a huge fan of the game, but the more I played of it the more I started to enjoy it. I got into the setting and characters and the systems were all enjoyable. Zelda is a more notable experience, but Horizon is a lot smoother and more polished.
Horizon is a lot more directed, but also a lot more polished as a result. It has interesting locations, characters to care about, an interesting story, a variety of enemies that are arranged better as a difficulty curve, in depth and well realized combat, an actual sense of progression and many convenience features. It also looks and performs amazing.
Overall, while I was initially amazed by Zelda, the more I played of it the more I started to find flaws in it that put me off. Whereas with Horizon initially I wasn't a huge fan of the game, but the more I played of it the more I started to enjoy it. I got into the setting and characters and the systems were all enjoyable. Zelda is a more notable experience, but Horizon is a lot smoother and more polished.
that's not true tho
Herb Alpert
Banned
what weapons can you lose forever?
Ocarina_117
Banned
You didn't really 'ruffle jimmies', just displayed an odd insecurity about a video game.
I must not understand the context of the bolded because if l'm meant to interpret it literally, this is absolutely false.
http://zelda.gamepedia.com/Weapons_in_Breath_of_the_Wild
kunonabi
Member
Some of the lynel weapons from the lower tiers cant be found again once they all turn silver and there is another sword and a shield that can only be found a limited amount of times.
Explain. The champion weapons can be remade with diamonds and all resources are reset with every blood moon. If you are talking about gaurdian weapons from test of strength shrines, those also reset with every blood moon. The only other thing could be amiibo weapons, and I'm sure you can get them back by scanning it again.
The Lynel near Zora's is permanently red. So you can still get his weapons. Not sure if the other tiers have permanent locations. What is the sword and shield?
D
Deleted member 231381
Unconfirmed Member
No, but there's only a few archetypes:
One-handed
Two-handed
Spears
Non-spears can be split further into edges and clubs, but the difference between those is in practice very small. A very few specific weapons have different charge moves, but almost no charge moves outside of the standard two-handed is any good. Boomerangs have a different throw effect to other one-handers, but again, you'll rarely use this in practice. Some weapons add elemental effects, but that doesn't really change how the weapon is used, other than sometimes you'll attack with an elemental weapon then laboriously switch to another to preserve the elemental effect.
If you compare this to the weapon variety in Kid Icarus: Uprising, you can see a clear path of improvement for Zelda to take.
wapplew
Member
Wait test of strength shrines reset too? Learn new BoTW thing everyday.
paragonpro
Banned
They are both fantastic, and both well deserving of your time. So please lets keep this civil and not devolve into a company war. Anyway its always nice to hear this kind of insight from well known japanese devs, to get a sense of what may inspire them
lol laboriously. one button plus a flick of the analog stick.
Yup! There is a quest where a boy asks for a specific tier of guardian weapons, and the only way to finish it would be to find the shrine with that enemy and kill it.
I also just remembered Hyrule castle has permanent blue tier Lynel as well.
IntelliHeath
As in "Heathcliff"
If you like that kind of thing then you should read an article about him and his video game collection. It's amazing how he manage to play those games.
Psycho_Mantis
Banned
Guerilla Games went from making a middling shooter to an open world rpg claimed to be one of the best and even recognised by industry icons. I can't believe it.
If kunonabi explained himself/herself the way you just did, I would've understood the point trying to be made. However, saying "all weapons are the same" can only be interpreted in one way without elaboration.
DevilSnake
Member
Zelda is brilliant when it comes to interactivity & small details. Horizon was more static but executed the major core mechanics such as combat better imo.
Visually & performance wise it wasn't even close which is a shame. Makes me genuinely curious to see how long it takes until we see a Hyrule with the visual caliber & asset density of Horizon. Could be nearly a decade going by release patterns.
Visually & performance wise it wasn't even close which is a shame. Makes me genuinely curious to see how long it takes until we see a Hyrule with the visual caliber & asset density of Horizon. Could be nearly a decade going by release patterns.
Mr.Deadshot
Member
Both are amazing but overall I liked Horizon more because of the story, characters and battle-system. The fighting in Horizon is simply amazing and rather challenging. And it's the most technically advanced game to date and that is a big plus in my book because I love awesome graphics.
Zelda has better exploring and is more light-hearted with a great sense of adventure. Free climbing and gliding are a big plus, too. And the physics are amazing in how almost everything in the world reacts to each other.
Zelda has better exploring and is more light-hearted with a great sense of adventure. Free climbing and gliding are a big plus, too. And the physics are amazing in how almost everything in the world reacts to each other.
Their game before Horizon was Killzone: Shadow Fall... Wasn't exactly the franchise highmark.
kunonabi
Member
Kite shield and korok swords are in limited supply although there seems to be some debate about that. There are a couple lynel spears and crushers that cant be retreived. They dont drop from any of the non silver lynels that stick around.
Raven117
Member
Yeah...I understand the design mechanic behind it, and I still think "who thought this was fun?"
I know you can, but still. For HOURS in the beginning, you are shattering most of your stuff within just a few hits. Zelda is a game where you have to find its rhythm for it to click (like most games, but Zelda;s is much different from the usual open world design of the West)....the added irritation not to actually go into combat while still learning all the systems is simply not fun and further complicates the finding the rhythm.
I know this has been discussed ad nauseum. So no need to rehash. The game is still brilliant in many many ways.
Tons of people, including myself, and many people who've posted across the dozens of threads about Breath of the Wild. I can get the reasons behind why some people found it annoying, but frustrating to see it constantly trotted out as some objectively poor design. Any failures have more to do with the UI (please let us swap with items on the ground/in chests T_T) than the breaking mechanic itself.
OrbitalBeard
Member
There are dozens of reasons why I love BotW and its weapon durability system is near the top of that list. So, yes, there are people who love it.
If weapons didnt't break then you wouldn't need to be creative with the slate, the physics or the environment in combat, and collecting seeds would be rendered useless. The game is balanced with weapon durability in mind.
If you need to kill mobs, why not trying a downward thrust after gliding? The higher you drop, the wider the blast, and you can wipe off a group of weak enemies with just a "use" of your weapon.
If you need to kill mobs, why not trying a downward thrust after gliding? The higher you drop, the wider the blast, and you can wipe off a group of weak enemies with just a "use" of your weapon.
Eh, I'm not a fan of it. It reminds me of Silent Hill Origins with weapons constantly breaking and building up an armory of 12 TVs, 11 coat stands, 8 shovels, 5 hammers, 3 glass bottles, 2 planks of wood, and a gold club for added measure.
It "worked" but it didn't really add to the game in any meaningful way. Like Zelda, you get stuff so frequently that you never were in danger of running out of items or weapons, but you were constantly pausing the flow of combat and battle to swap to something else, and those interruptions quickly added up over time and prevented players from ever really getting into any consistent combat flow since you were forced to switch out weapons constantly.
It kept the variety up and forced you to use weapons you might otherwise not have, but I'd rather have had that option myself, rather than have it imposed upon me.
Seconded, it's basically what pushes BotW from a great idea to absolutely genius.
They should have been more strict about it though, make bows and shield break more easily and make armors degrade and allow only for armor to be repaired.
The Greek Freak
Member
It's weird.
I think BOTW is better made, but I hated it after my first 5 hours and loved every minute of Horizon.
I think BOTW is better made, but I hated it after my first 5 hours and loved every minute of Horizon.
Huge Succeeded
Banned
man, this thread is gonna be awful.
Still haven't played Horizon. Spoiled myself on parts of its story, though, and it seems super fucking cool. I'll play it in the coming months, I'm sure.
Still haven't played Horizon. Spoiled myself on parts of its story, though, and it seems super fucking cool. I'll play it in the coming months, I'm sure.
visiblemode
Member
Played both. Put 80+ hours into both. Had a great time with both.
Horizon is, imo, infinitely better. Personal top ten, level. Game of gen, so far.
Horizon is, imo, infinitely better. Personal top ten, level. Game of gen, so far.
It's like everyone (including myself) are completely missing the point about both games being great. Play and love both, and yes, while there are critiques to be made about them, seriously, at the end of the day, does it matter which one is "better"? We are in the presence of many games considered to be the pinnacle of their respective genres right now (BOTW, HZD, P5, etc.), and it seems all anyone can do is complain about this, nitpick on that, rehash the same tired arguments. Just enjoy the games. And if you need a reset and some cheering up, just look at that picture of Sakurai in the OP. What a guy! 
After having beaten botw (107 korok seeds 60 shrines) and just got into Horizon since it had the 30% off deal on psn this weekend.
I would agree mostly by the statement, just 12h into horizon but it's alot of fun right now and the game feels a little bit more focused so it might actually have a good lategame,
Something Zelda seemed to lack (3 heart challenged through the game, only had more hearts to pick ut the mastersword, then got the orbs back to stamina again). That said, replaying the earlygame of that could be done in soo many different ways so thats a really good thing for it!
I would agree mostly by the statement, just 12h into horizon but it's alot of fun right now and the game feels a little bit more focused so it might actually have a good lategame,
Something Zelda seemed to lack (3 heart challenged through the game, only had more hearts to pick ut the mastersword, then got the orbs back to stamina again). That said, replaying the earlygame of that could be done in soo many different ways so thats a really good thing for it!
Jawbreaker
Member
It's great to choose no sides and love both wonderful games.
This is great.
There is a reason why Horizon was being compared to BOTW and really if we think about it, both are spectacular games and deserve all the praise they can receive. Honestly, if someone is going to try and make a really big deal about it, they are doing it out of spite or thinking that this still has something to do with a "console war." If Sakurai can give kudos to Horizon, I don't see why others feel like they have to in his place.
Play both games, enjoy both games. Chances are that when we get to the end of the year, I won't be shocked if it comes down to these two for Game of the Year.
If only I could like posts. It is people like this that show protagonists of both series showing respect to each other as the best way to summarize how nonsensical it is to try and argue how "You have to pick one over the other!"
Play both games, enjoy both games. Chances are that when we get to the end of the year, I won't be shocked if it comes down to these two for Game of the Year.
It's great to choose no sides and love both wonderful games.
If only I could like posts. It is people like this that show protagonists of both series showing respect to each other as the best way to summarize how nonsensical it is to try and argue how "You have to pick one over the other!"
You definitely shouldn't let others' opinions dictate how you feel about these games. Make up your mind and stick with it. It's silly to say that "game A is better than game B", as that is highly subjective anyway.It's like everyone (including myself) are completely missing the point about both games being great. Play and love both, and yes, while there are critiques to be made about them, seriously, at the end of the day, does it matter which one is "better"? We are in the presence of many games considered to be the pinnacle of their respective genres right now (BOTW, HZD, P5, etc.), and it seems all anyone can do is complain about this, nitpick on that, rehash the same tired arguments. Just enjoy the games. And if you need a reset and some cheering up, just look at that picture of Sakurai in the OP. What a guy!