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4 years ago today March 3rd 2017 one of the greatest games ever made was released

TexMex

Member
When I see people talk about this games I wish I had the experience that they had. I fire it up about once a year, and just can't get into it - mainly for the issues already raised here.
 
If I wanted a game where I had to cook I'd play some shit like Overcooked

My fucking God COOKING in a Zelda game? Do they think we're all masochists?

So fucking tedious
 
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Wunray

Member
When I see people talk about this games I wish I had the experience that they had. I fire it up about once a year, and just can't get into it - mainly for the issues already raised here.
It's a game not everyone is gonna like and that's fine, I'm sure there is something out there that will give you that experience like many had with BoTW.
 
Guys guys guys

I so fucking much missed trying to figure out which ingredients went with which in Ocarina and ALTTP

Cooking is clearly what made the Zelda franchise sell billions. Not the wonder of dungeons and chests and discovering mysteries and secret items

It's definitely the cooking and sliding down a mountain coz it got a bit too rainy. And 300 almost identical shrines. And gyroscope puzzles more frustrating than Shadow of the Beast. That is so much freakin' fun I can't explain it




Kill Breath of the Wild with a flamethrower and never let your finger off the trigger
 
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I tried. Put in maybe 20 hours. Kept waiting for it to get better and more varied, but it didn't. Not really. Compared to modern-day open world games, the world just felt too empty and flat, the tasks too repetitive. Loved most of the earlier Zeldas (have not played all, admittedly), but this one just did not do it for me. But whatever, like what you want.
 
I tried. Put in maybe 20 hours. Kept waiting for it to get better and more varied, but it didn't. Not really. Compared to modern-day open world games, the world just felt too empty and flat, the tasks too repetitive. Loved most of the earlier Zeldas (have not played all, admittedly), but this one just did not do it for me. But whatever, like what you want.

This is the normal opinion of someone who is not bat shit insane and actually thinks BOTW is a fun game
 
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Zog

Banned
Enthusiasm goes both ways. The more people hype this game, the louder those who dislike will get and that's fair.
 

TexMex

Member
Link to the Past and OoT were magical

Don't you dare besmirch the good name of Zelda with this shit

This is the normal opinion of someone who is not bat shit insane and actually thinks BOTW is a fun game

It's a directionless, tedious, highly frustrating game. You can't say that about ALTTP or OoT

Big Brother Hug GIF
 

Erdrick

Member
One day... One day I shall open my copy that I was given for Christmas 2 years ago. I've enjoyed nearly every Zelda game in existence and while I hear some complaints about this one, it's also nice to see a Zelda game try something new. Nintendo's first real attempt at an open world game. Bodes well for the sequel.
 
One of my favorite games of the last 10 years. Definitely has some issues, but none of them really caused me to enjoy the game that much less.

The weapon degradation isn't a factor after the first 8 or so hours when you get pretty good weapons on a regular basis that don't break easily. It is pretty annoying at first though, they should have toned it down for the earlier parts of the game. I personally liked the progression of being super weak at the start of the game to eventually become an overpowered badass was more pronounced in this game than other Zelda's.

If BoTW 2 adds a few mechanics here and there, polishes up the existing systems and gives us some actual OG style Zelda dungeons we could be looking at another masterpiece
 
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PhoenixTank

Member
It's a directionless, tedious, highly frustrating game. You can't say that about ALTTP or OoT
I own quite a few mainline Zelda games. BotW was the only one I enjoyed enough or perhaps stuck with me enough to complete. Not really a "omg, open world make everything better" kind of guy either.
While we are, of course, mortal enemies now I think the root of that divide is that it really is a different experience to the previous games. For better in my case, for worse in yours.
 

PhoenixTank

Member
It’s a Zelda game for people who don’t like Zelda?
Potentially, yes. At least it is Zelda but with most of the BS I hated removed, augmented or upgraded and a relatively generous helping (for Nintendo) of modern mechanics.
Though I suspect there are many more consistent fans of the series are quite happy with BotW than opposing edge cases like myself & Mr Fridge.
 

Zog

Banned
Potentially, yes. At least it is Zelda but with most of the BS I hated removed, augmented or upgraded and a relatively generous helping (for Nintendo) of modern mechanics.
Though I suspect there are many more consistent fans of the series are quite happy with BotW than opposing edge cases like myself & Mr Fridge.
Yeah, people hated Zelda dungeons. /s
 

NinjaBoiX

Member
It’s just got that certain something this game. It’s just a joy to be in the world, it’s so cozy and relaxing.
 

PhoenixTank

Member
Pistols at dawn, come on then

Yeah, people hated Zelda dungeons. /s
I did. Not all of them but enough that they dragged by late game. Not really what I was getting at, though. Really the biggest change out of the bunch is linearity. All (almost all?) previous games require many hoops in specific orders (sometimes several grouped together in um... layers?) to get to the end. With BotW at least you can choose when it ends and more or less freedom to choose the order up to then.

You want next after Mr Fridge's duel or will all your one line responses be humourless and/or devoid of discussion on your part? :messenger_grinning:
 
It's incredible how this game sabotages every one of its mechanics

Here, one of Zelda's best combat system yet. But wait, here's also weapon degradation.

Climb everywhere! But wait, when it rains ... It'll suck. And it rains a lot.

Go anywhere! Actualy, don't. Not until you have the right gear for it, or you gather a lot of ingredients to cook a lot of food that makes you capable of exploring this area.

Here, have your horse! But you can't call it from everywhere. So always stay close to it.

Explore, there are thousands of things to find! Thousands of koroks seeds or shrines, I mean. Nothing else.

I spent too much time discussing about what I think about this game here, so I'll just leave it at that

I REALLY wanted to enjoy this game. It was the first game that I got for my Switch. But it tries really hard to make the experience less enjoyable at every turn.

It has so many design flaws that calling it one of the best games ever is almost painful.
Pretty much sums up why its insanely overrated. People would give the game less of a hard time if people weren't overrating it to hell.
 
I loved it when I started , beat the 4 divine beasts and kind of hit a wall like others have mentioned of not getting into it. It does a lot of things great and others not so much. Weapon durability is not inherently bad in a game as long as you can use them for a reasonable time , but botw is just ridiculous. The world, while very large is also very barren with often only kurok seeds to hunt for. The lack of enemy variety was annoying as well as the enemy camps were sort of useless . They just respawned seconds later too. Still it is fun to just wander around and explore areas. And when you get good enough at combat to dominate the ancient machines and Lionels it is pretty satisfying.
I still gotta beat that last dungeon , maybe before botw2 arrives.
I'm not hardcore into Zelda and haven't played more than 3 or 4 , but I liked Ocarina and Twilight princess better.
 

Reallink

Member
I played it long enough to finish all the side temples/shrines, but don't have a particularly positive recollection of the game for some reason. I think the time investment was mostly attributed to the console launch high. Like all open world games, I remember a majority of my time as being bored by the mundane empty world traversal and having to avoid the combat system due to weapons breaking in 3 hits. I couldn't give 2 shits about BotW2 and wouldn't give it a second thought if they announced it was canceled tomorrow.
 
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I've always enjoyed Zelda since day one but BotW was just an exercise in futility. I did not enjoy the filler to this game at all e.g. degrading, traversal, climbing, cooking etc. It was all so repetitive and timewasting without what I felt real progression or reward. I gave this game 1 hour and understood what I'd be going into for the rest of the game. I stopped playing and never returned. I can't place this in one of the greatest games ever. I just disagree and Nintendo have made dozens of better games.
 

Represent.

Represent(ative) of bad opinions
Awful graphics and art style.
Shit story.
Open world formula.
Unsatisfying melee combat.

Doesn't even feel AAA next to other heavy hitters.
 

LMJ

Member
BOTW is in my opinion a phenomenal game when it comes to exploration and falls short in almost every other regard to be a classic, a jack of all trades, but a master of...one.

Side quests are mediocre at best and downright derivative at worst, any game that has collect this many number of object has terrible side quests.

The story is pretty cookie cutter for a Zelda game and really falls short the bad voice acting does not help lol. I also get no sense of foreboding danger despite the fact our heroes been asleep for so long and the princess's desperately trying to keep the evil contained...think both LTTP and OOT nailed hopeless world much better.

It's previously been mentioned by many on here that where past Zelda games truly shined was the dungeons and that is not the case in this game, every dungeon is more or less the same aestheticly and honestly not that cleverly designed I was really let down by them.

The weapon degradation is a good idea but unfortunately completely destroyed by the far too large inventory making battles more of a stop and go affair as opposed to moment to moment struggle for survival sans the first few exhilarating fights.

Combat feels more clunky than in the past and the really low enemy variety doesn't help, nor do the auto leveling enemies, toward the end of my game I just avoided combat as it felt like a waist most of the time...

However, the biggest blow to me as a Zelda fan is the complete and total removal of any sense of accomplishment or Reward in the game..

See something that looks truly astonishing... welp guess what you unlocked another shrine

Finally beat that difficult shrine that was making you struggle... well congratulations you get another weapon that will break after a certain number of hits. Just seems pointless...

Hell even the hidden armors can be purchased at one point sans the OG Link and Dark Link which were awesome

Unlock the master sword, THE MASTER SWORD a staple of Zelda lore...well it breaks and it just Heals after awhile...weak too in the grand scheme of things

I remember I was exploring one night, in the game just enjoying the sense of exploration the one thing this game truly nails, and I saw an eerie glow a Hill over I couldn't see what was causing it so I got closer and found a giant dragon that had been infected :D
A battle ensued, me hovering in the air taking down the infection piece by piece and finally I was Victorious!

My reward?
mad city fox GIF by Gotham


a freaking shrine... O happy day lol with a mediocre weapon, oh rub it in lol

I think the groundwork has been laid to make the best Zelda game of all time take that sense of exploration take what people loved about the other Zelda games and mixed them together, give the option of weapon degradation or definitely work on it, Improve the combat so it's not as sporadic add a few extras for people who want to be rewarded. Fix the godawful sidequests and you will truly have one of the greatest games of all time but to me this game felt pretty overrated I still put in a lot of time into it and highly reccomend it,, but I would easily put in number 4 or 5 of my favourite zeldas of all time

A great game, but hardly "best of all time"
 

Bitmap Frogs

Mr. Community
I think it's a pretty good game. Liked it a lot.

I get why the weapon system is polarising, but I had no qualms with it - the game is designed with that in mind, so you never want for weapons.
 

Raven117

Gold Member
Yeah, I mean, it was okay. I didn't get into it. The weapon breaking honestly killed it for me. ALso with exploration being entirely meaningless because anything you found was either a korok seed or a paper machet sword or something.

Looking forward to the next one though. Maybe they will have fixed a few things.
 

Raven117

Gold Member
It's incredible how this game sabotages every one of its mechanics

Here, one of Zelda's best combat system yet. But wait, here's also weapon degradation.

Climb everywhere! But wait, when it rains ... It'll suck. And it rains a lot.

Go anywhere! Actualy, don't. Not until you have the right gear for it, or you gather a lot of ingredients to cook a lot of food that makes you capable of exploring this area.

Here, have your horse! But you can't call it from everywhere. So always stay close to it.

Explore, there are thousands of things to find! Thousands of koroks seeds or shrines, I mean. Nothing else.

I spent too much time discussing about what I think about this game here, so I'll just leave it at that

I REALLY wanted to enjoy this game. It was the first game that I got for my Switch. But it tries really hard to make the experience less enjoyable at every turn.

It has so many design flaws that calling it one of the best games ever is almost painful.
Boom. great post.
 

Zog

Banned
I did. Not all of them but enough that they dragged by late game. Not really what I was getting at, though. Really the biggest change out of the bunch is linearity. All (almost all?) previous games require many hoops in specific orders (sometimes several grouped together in um... layers?) to get to the end. With BotW at least you can choose when it ends and more or less freedom to choose the order up to then.

You want next after Mr Fridge's duel or will all your one line responses be humorless and/or devoid of discussion on your part? :messenger_grinning:
I like to keep my posts short because I don't like reading long posts myself.

I also prefer linear games and I think the open world phase has run it's course. I thought it had run it's course by the time Skyrim (OMG DRAGONS!) came out.

I get why the weapon system is polarizing, but I had no qualms with it - the game is designed with that in mind, so you never want for weapons.
Kind of a pointless mechanic then isn't it?
 
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Silvawuff

Member
Excellent game. I think its biggest strength as a game is also where it gets the most criticism, and that's okay! I put about 10 hours on it, dropped it for a while, came back to it during lockdown and it got me through some dark days. I really enjoyed the game it slowly turned into. More than that, it became kind of a personal journey for me. I used to have a buddy that I got into OoT. He made fun of me playing it at first and saw the fishing minigame, so he got a N64 and a copy of OoT just for the fishing, then fell in love with the rest of the game. We'd play together for hours and hours finding every hidden secret and mastering every minigame. He took his own life a while ago and I knew inside my heart that he would have loved this game. I played this game for both of us.
 
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Derktron

Banned
Probably the most overrated game of all time, imo

But whatever works with you, op
I agree at first when I played it, it was something remarkable but after putting more hours into the game I noticed so much flaws that the game had. It turned me off from ever finishing the game.
 

Rubik8

Member
Not a perfect game but good enough to hold my attention for 100+ hrs. Two of my daughters consider it their favorite game of all time. I’m glad it exists and look forward to the next iteration.
 

Hugare

Member
I think it's a pretty good game. Liked it a lot.

I get why the weapon system is polarising, but I had no qualms with it - the game is designed with that in mind, so you never want for weapons.
... But why is it designed that way? Despite making gameplay miserable, where you have to change 2-3 weapons when fighting a strong enemy

"To make you utilize different weapons". Ok, but they arent that different gameplay wise.

I am no game designer, but imo, a MUCH better solution would be using old Zelda combat template in the first place, where you can only damage certain enemies with especific weapons.

An enemy with an ice shield? Fire rod
Or maybe boomerang to freeze the enemy, and then attack its back, and etc.

It would make the combat dynamic, make the player think, make each weapon that much more important and etc.

But that would require Nintendo to put effort in designing enemies/combat, and they aint got no time for that
 
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Really and honestly I love this game and think it is one of the best. I remember being dozens of hours in and still coming upon cool new story stuff and hidden treasures. It is funny because Zelda for NES was the original open world game. Just a giant world with things to discover. Nobody telling you what to do or where to go. To this day I find that first game something special. It feels 20 or 30 years ahead of its time.

Nintendo as always experiments with some cool mechanics. The climb anywhere is great and solves the problem that anyone ever trying to huff a horse up a mountain in Skyrim has had to deal with. Some are very against the weapon durability but I love how it forces me to change up my arsenal. Most ARPGs have me finding one weapon, upgrading, and using the same weapon all game. Variety is nice!

BOTW is a loving homage to that freedom, and to play it is to drink in fully that uniquely Western-fantasy-via-Japan Nintendo feel. Bonus points for the Labo VR version. It was so cool to be on top of those towers or walk around inside of the amazingly cool Hyrule Castle.
 
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Loved and hated it. Some of the best and worst times I've ever had in a video game...

Sequel will be amazing. In the meantime, Immortals is getting more right than wrong for me.
 
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