• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Zelda: Breath of the Wild map size: 12x Twilight Princess, a tad smaller than XCX

GaussTek

Member
Perhaps I'm mistaken, but it has to be way bigger than 12x TP, no? Because, I think that Twilight Princess wasn't that big (I just recently finished the HD version)... I mean, yes, it had some big areas, but you could walk over them relatively fast (on foot or with Epona).

And, what they showed off of Breath of the Wild looked so vast, even if they just showed up just an small part of the map (plus them saying the E3 demo part just represents just 1% of the game’s total size).

Edit. Looks like I'm not the only one thinking about it haha.
 
Have you seen any of the footage? It does not appear lack of things to do will be an issue in botw if just the plateau is an indication of the worlds denseness



I did. I watch hours of it. The gameplay possibilities are amazing, but let's be honest, the world looks amazing but there's not a lot to do except for repetitive shrines and beat down monsters.

With a map this huge, they better have a lot of locations to visit.
 

maxcriden

Member
Those comparison numbers are accurate?

Sheesh.

Well, Zelda is an educated estimate as I understand. Witcher 3 might be a bit bigger than it says there. FF we don't know and is probably a vast overestimate in terms of meaningful playable game map. The rest is accurate AFAIK, and apart from FFXV the above should be pretty solid info.
 

Illucio

Banned
Just nuts - especially if they intend to expand the World via DLC down the line. Dont think we will see another original mainline Zelda for a long ass time after this one.

REUSE THE FUCKING ASSETS.

*Ahem*

Yeah Nintendo, do that. Please. Pull another Majoras Mask and reuse everything. Please. Don't you fucking dare announce a new Zelda with a whole new art direction, game made from the ground up and so forth. Don't you dare. Just make one more game reusing everything (AND NEW CONTENT MADE) and call it a generation.
 
There's going to be a lot of empty barren areas, I reckon. No way they're going to fill it up with detail and things to do when what we've seen so far on the plateau has been fairly repetitive.
 

Alienous

Member
Not a good news as far as I'm concerned :/
This sounds too big, it's like Nintendo is making 2008 open world mistakes: Let's throw a gigantic map that is empty.

I rather have a small map which is filled with a lot of content than a huge map empty :/

I'd rather not have a smaller, filled map. That defeats the purpose of adventure, imo. You should have moments where the only thing of note is on the horizon, so you pick a direction and march towards it.

As long as they fill it with enough stuff I'm confident they'll pull it off, and 100+ shrines bodes well.
 

The Lamp

Member
crying because this is the game I waited my whole life for.

Hopefully the almost 6 years or dev time is why they were able to make a map this large with meaningful content.
 

Ansatz

Member
I did. I watch hours of it. The gameplay possibilities are amazing, but let's be honest, the world looks amazing but there's not a lot to do except for repetitive shrines and beat down monsters.

With a map this huge, they better have a lot of locations to visit.

repetitive shrines ?
 

Shiggy

Member
Would it rather have 12x as much stuff to do in the overworld. Great for exploration nonetheless, I'll just be scared of enemies showing up all of a sudden :D
 

Nintenleo

Member
And the fact that the game focuses a lot on its verticality (like XCX anyway) makes the size of the map even more stunning. Can't wait to skate all the way down the highest mountains with a crappy shield under my feet <3
 
I'd rather not have a smaller, filled map. That defeats the purpose of adventure, imo. You should have moments where the only thing of note is on the horizon, so you pick a direction and march towards it.

As long as they fill it with enough stuff I'm confident they'll pull it off, and 100+ shrines bodes well.



Of course you would. The purpose of adventure is exploration. What's the point in exploring a huge pile of nothing to discover, if not small monsters and generic treasure chests ?
Majora's Mask or Wind Waker didn't had big maps but they had a fair amount of content to discover.
 
I figured, when it was announced as one of Nintendo's biggest games to date, that it was code for "And it would be the biggest, too, if it weren't for XCX."

I welcome it. So far I haven't seen reason to worry about the density of things to discover. Horses on autopilot and climbing/flying assistance (yes, I'm hoping for the Roc's Feather) may address the late-game scaling issue in much the same way as mechs. I just hope the fast travel solution, and there assuredly will be one, doesn't make the world too cheap. [Edit: read up on the shrines. With a hundred or so in a world this large, I think they could be well spaced—it's equivalent to ten travel points or so in a world the size of Twilight Princess.] Also, for those concerned about traversal, there is verticality here but it isn't quite XCX's staggeringly upscaled verticality, by the looks of it.

As someone who doesn't ordinarily play for immersion, there are perhaps only three games on record that completely sucked me into what seemed like boundless exploration, constantly interesting around every corner. Wind Waker and XCX were two of them (the third being WoW), so I can only receive this as good tidings.

I do wonder how the edge of the map will be bounded. Probably by water more than by cliffs, I'm guessing, if the stamina bar is the regulator.

You guys keep forgetting the dark world. ^^

Oh ho ho, wouldn't that be a breath of the wild.
 

GWX

Member
I can only see more attention to detail being given to this game's world compared to Xeno X, and the attention to detail in that game was already crazy, so I'm definitely down. I wish this took place in an alien world too, though, alien is always more interesting/less limited creativeness-wise. Still, the concepts of "you and the world" and "the world is your playground" hit all the right notes for me.
 

vareon

Member
While I appreciate them for crafting big maps, size gets increasingly irrelevant (at least, size only) in open world games. Xenoblade X has a huge map that is simply full of animals and weird ecology, because it fits what the game wanted (mech exploration and the feeling of being lost in a whole distant planet). Fallout 4 got a tad too big for my taste. We don't even know if FFXV or Zelda need a map that big.

Still, looking at gameplays and trailers, I don't think I'll be bored traversing this map. Bring it on!
 

maxcriden

Member
12x TP and slightly less big than X just doesn't add up (TP is >1km2, X is 400). Maybe the plateau alone (or the plateau+the bits of the other areas they explored) is 12x larger than TP, which, looking at the footage from yesterday, isn't that far fetched.

Perhaps I'm mistaken, but it has to be way bigger than 12x, no? Because, I think that Twilight Princess wasn't that big (I just recently finished the HD version)... I mean, yes, it had some big areas, but you could walk over them relatively fast (on foot or with Epona).

And, what they showed off of Breath of the Wild looked so vast, even if they just showed up just an small part of the ma (plus them saying the E3 demo part just represents just 1% of the game’s total size).

Regarding 12x TP. That's what Nintendo said per IGN. Perhaps it includes all surface area of dungeons + overworld combined? I can see how it seems inconsistent with the other info. The size analysis linked in the OP appears legit, though, and beyond that we do have the demo area confirmed as 1%, and if I understand correctly (someone please do correct me if I'm mistaken) a good chunk of the Great Plateau is available in the demo. That leads me to think the map size postulation is correct and that the TP bit is perhaps the only piece of info that's harder to reconcile. Still, the game's unquestionably massive.

I do hope they have some form of fast travel option given this size. Was that touched on? I assume it'll come via a musical instrument.

See here, at the bottom :)

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=207183572&postcount=25
 
Eh I don't think that makes the game more awesome. I've seen too many times where games tout this and it makes the game less fun when you actually get to playing it.
 

emb

Member
I really hope they fill it well. The demo they showed looked pretty solid in this regard. Past the first couple areas though, I'll be real disappointed if I just keep finding little spots with a couple bokoblins and a campfire.

The shrines are definitely a good thing to be happy about finding, and 100 is plenty. But 100 compared to the size of the world seems like it might feel not so dense.
 

Alienous

Member
Of course you would. The purpose of adventure is exploration. What's the point in exploring a huge pile of nothing to discover, if not small monsters and generic treasure chests ?
Majora's Mask or Wind Waker didn't had big maps but they had a fair amount of content to discover.

Adventure is, in part, not finding anything. It's walking a stretch of barren land then discovering something. As long as they nail that loop, with enough things placed smartly enough that you're not walking through a theme park, but also that you aren't spending an hour long gaming session seeing nothing, then I think the experience will be great. And so far I've seen nothing that makes me think they won't nail it.
 
The size is fine, it's the shape that I'm a little bummed about. I was hoping for a long journey instead of a wide one, if that makes any sense.
 
Adventure is, in part, not finding anything. It's walking a stretch of barren land then discovering something. As long as they nail that loop, with enough things placed smartly enough that you're not walking through a theme park, but also that you aren't spending an hour long gaming session seeing nothing, then I think the experience will be great. And so far I've seen nothing that makes me think they won't nail it.



Then I guess I beg to differ. An hour of nothing, this isn't entertainment, but a chore.
 

magnetic

Member
I loved Just Cause 2, even with the repetitive reuse of elements. There was just enough surprises sprinkled around the world that made traveling very satisfying.

I was concerned that Nintendo would make a "kinda open world but not really" game, but it sounds like they're going all in. I'm really surprised and intrigued.
 
The Last Of Us and Metal Gear Solid V's influence on this gen are ridiculous. The Sony conference was TLOU-inspired games. Marking enemies (particularly the way MGSV does it) is now becoming the standard for adventure games, as well as having the biggest areas possible, with enemy outposts, large "empty" areas, more diluted storytelling, etc.
 

Chaos17

Member
Imma need some pegasus boots

Will glider and shieldboarding will do ? ^^

a49KQ0O.gif

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1233823
 

MasterShotgun

brazen editing lynx
I really hope some type of flying mount/machine is available for two reasons.

1) Flying around that huge world would speed up travel w/o resorting to warps all the time.
2) I'm still irritated with Skyward Sword with regards to its flying. The sky was fucking empty and there was little reason to explore it.
 

maxcriden

Member
And the fact that the game focuses a lot on its verticality (like XCX anyway) makes the size of the map even more stunning. Can't wait to skate all the way down the highest mountains with a crappy shield under my feet <3

Get ready for the crappy shield to disintegrate partway down that highest mountain ;)

Imma need some pegasus boots

You know, that's a great thought. Perhaps Pegasus Boots would go well with the new jump button.
 

Chaos17

Member
The Last Of Us and Metal Gear Solid V's influence on this gen are ridiculous. The Sony conference was TLOU-inspired games. Marking enemies (particularly the way MGSV does it) is now becoming the standard for adventure games, as well as having the biggest areas possible, with enemy outposts, large "empty" areas, more diluted storytelling, etc.

Ok, the truth when we watched the stream we all saw this XD
And no sarcasm, we really did, lol

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1233823
 
I assume Nintendo paid attention to how every hex segment in Xenoblade X had "something" although this won't be as obvious as it was in that game (the map screens shown are more minimalist for you to fill) in regards to concerns about it being empty in places.

Xenoblade X's map was staggering by how large it was. The fact that Zelda is going to e that large and we don't have a giant mech to fly around the place is going to be amazing.
In terms of exploration Zelda might be tougher as Xenoblade X does lack fall damage, stamina meters and a game over screen. On the other hand you could not climb in Xenoblade X so many peaks were off limits until you had a skell (even then some were flight only). Not to say Xenoblade X didn't lack tough things like lots of hostile and tough enemies or environmental damage.

Still in terms of navigation I think pre-flight module skells should give an idea of what horseback movement may open in terms of speed (jumping is a bit moot given Link can climb) not to mention the raft that was shown on steam (but that only works on rivers :p).

Keep in mind a lot of Xenoblade X's map was ocean
When I heard claims of Xenoblade X size I believe those were counting the land mass only.
 

Griss

Member
The Last Of Us and Metal Gear Solid V's influence on this gen are ridiculous. The Sony conference was TLOU-inspired games. Marking enemies (particularly the way MGSV does it) is now becoming the standard for adventure games, as well as having the biggest areas possible, with enemy outposts, large "empty" areas, more diluted storytelling, etc.

MGS V's enemy marking and recon'ing of outposts was entirely borrowed from the Far Cry series. Ubi's open world games have had one of the biggest effects on the industry over the last decade but nobody wants to acknowledge it because people on here hate Ubisoft.

People even joked that they hoped this game wouldn't have 'Ubitowers' to reveal the map, but now that it does you don't hear a peep.
 

jblank83

Member
Marking enemies (particularly the way MGSV does it) is now becoming the standard for adventure games, as well as having the biggest areas possible, with enemy outposts, large "empty" areas, more diluted storytelling, etc.

Marking I'll give you but large spaces is almost a universal and it goes way way back. I remember walking through a forest in Ultima VI, lost because it was so huge, and stumbling on a little clearing with a little bandit camp. Minimalist stories are the same and even in recent history, ignoring something like Super Metroid or a thousand others, the Souls games are far more influential in that regard.

Not trying to start an argument with you. Just saying.
 

Rodin

Member
Regarding 12x TP. That's what Nintendo said per IGN. Perhaps it includes all surface area of dungeons + overworld combined? I can see how it seems inconsistent with the other info. The size analysis linked in the OP appears legit, though, and beyond that we do have the demo area confirmed as 1%, and if I understand correctly (someone please do correct me if I'm mistaken) a good chunk of the Great Plateau is available in the demo. That leads me to think the map size postulation is correct and that the TP bit is perhaps the only piece of info that's harder to reconcile. Still, the game's unquestionably massive.
Yup, that's what i meant. It's the 12x TP that sounds really odd because the game looks absolutely massive.

I would bet that horses and Wolf Link aren't the only companions and that there is probably a flying one. It's too good an opportunity to pass up on!
We saw something that resembles
Skyloft
in a screen, maybe a certain friend will be back too ;)
 
Xenoblade X's map was staggering by how large it was. The fact that Zelda is going to e that large and we don't have a giant mech to fly around the place is going to be amazing.

I would bet that horses and Wolf Link aren't the only companions and that there is probably a flying one. It's too good an opportunity to pass up on!
 
MGS V's enemy marking and recon'ing of outposts was entirely borrowed from the Far Cry series. Ubi's open world games have had one of the biggest effects on the industry over the last decade but nobody wants to acknowledge it because people on here hate Ubisoft.

People even joked that they hoped this game wouldn't have 'Ubitowers' to reveal the map, but now that it does you don't hear a peep.


Marking I'll give you but large spaces is almost a universal and it goes way way back. I remember walking through a forest in Ultima VI, lost because it was so huge, and stumbling on a little clearing with a little bandit camp. Minimalist stories are the same and even in recent history, ignoring something like Super Metroid or a thousand others, the Souls games are far more influential in that regard.

Not trying to start an argument with you. Just saying.

I'm not claiming that MGSV (or TLOU) invented anything. But they're the ones that really started the chain reaction we are seeing right now, by being the most recent, big-name titles that came out before the trend right now. Alternatively, you could say they're the first that jumped on the trend that was set by those earlier games but that is going in full force right now.
 
Top Bottom