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

oSoLucky

Member
I don't know if I've ever had such a big difference in my first 50 hours with a game versus the rest. I was absolutely star struck with how much fun I was having with the game at first. I loved the path to Zora's domain and the whole storyline there. I loved all of my initial exploration. I loved the Gerudo area (especially the stealth dungeon). I explored Mount Lanayru just messing around, and had one of the most jaw dropping experiences in recent memory (caught me extremely off guard), then something similar at Lake Hylia. I enjoyed the majority of those early parts, and most of the free-roaming and figuring out the world. Then after Death Mountain and I saw nearly everything the world had to offer, my enjoyment fell straight off a cliff. I started realizing the tedium that every single action imposed on the player, and the limitations of the game's mechanics and combat systems compounded my negative responses.

One of the common early praises was how you could seemingly perform any interaction with any object. Sure, you can see an enemy at the bottom of grassy hill, roll a bomb down the hill, light the grass next to you on fire with a flaming arrow, then use a leaf to blow the fire down the hill, lighting the bomb and causing it to explode.........but why would I set up this scenario for 3 minutes when I could just go dance around it for 5 seconds and kill it in normal combat. That's how almost every "unique environmental" interaction goes. Most cool maneuvers make you less efficient for the sake of 'freedom', even sliding down a hill which degrades you shield. Deflect lasers with a perfectly timed shield parry will NEVER get old though.

There are some phenomenal aspects to the game, but some of the glaring flaws that make me believe that a lot of people praising the open world don't have that much experience with open world games. It doesn't even top GTA San Andreas in that respect in my eyes. The initial sense of adventure, however, is probably the best that I've ever experienced outside of new MMOs.

Lastly, the game is absolutely gorgeous in handheld (with randomly awful performance issues such as in Kakariko Village) but looks like shit on the big screen.
 

Paltheos

Member
Phenomenal title, one of very few AAA games that lives up to the hype imo. It's spoiled me on open-world games like it where a significant portion of the gameplay loop is in just exploring the environment.

It has some very nasty flaws that hold it back from being a 10/10 masterpiece - Shrines themselves being more of a mixed bag, main story dungeons aside from the final one being garbage, the master sword not regenerating until fully broken (why?), but despite those this is the easiest 9/10 I can think of and still on my short list for recommendations.

Weapon degradation is a common complaint but not one I can empathize with - Part of the variety in the combat loop is in being forced to use different weapons, to adapt to different situations and know when to use what. And fuck, the game gives you no shortage of great weapons. It's like complaining about being forced to change your party so often in an SMT game because your demons level at a slow rate or (better) that enemies in Metroid Prime 2 are too durable because you stubbornly insist on using the infinte ammo Power Beam instead of using the Dark and Light Beams for which the game drops plentiful ammo. As far as I can see, anyway. I haven't seen a legitimate basis for the grievance.

Addendum to the above since I brought it up: I think the Master Sword should be an exception as it is already a late-game pickup and should be treated as a major powerup to reward the player for being able to even collect it and to feel awesome. It doesn't totally obsolete all other weapons either, so that part of the gameplay loop can still be preserved to some degree (and won't need to be for much longer as it's late-game, or the player just won't care... probably).
 
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MagnesG

Banned
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.
Lol pretty bullshit statement, finishing off 120++ shrines and still complaining about weapon breaking in 3 hits? It's not even a weapon it's a freaking tree branch you'll only use 30 mins in max from the intro, and trees are fucking everywhere.
 

Bitmap Frogs

Mr. Community
... 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

You ever played a survival horror like resident evil? Have you asked yourself why the game is designed with limited ammo?

Because it generates tension: if you lack a universal tool that always works for all situations, as a player that generates a tension - which means you start to look at the environment, the obstacles and how you tackle them: do I use some of my valuable ammo on that zombie? Do I just try to run past it? Oh look there’s a car there... maybe I can start it and run over the zombie?

It works like that with Zelda: oh there’s a camp here and looks tough... do I risk my good weapons? I have some arrows maybe I can try to weed them out before engaging? Oh hey there’s a giant rock uphill... can I push it hard enough to roll them over?

In a way, Zelda BOTW is like a survival-lite think of the breakable weapons, the fact you need special gear or food access certain areas ( and that also has tension built in: environmental armor typically has worse stats than normal armor while food and potion special effects have a limited lasting time).

And finally it gives you a measurable sense of progression- at some point you start to know where good weapons can be picked up, where you can easily farm new ones, you start rolling in with cash and arrows are mass purchasable and that represents your mastery over the land and the challenges it had for you.

BOTW is essentially a post apocalyptic game, think more Ark than Ocarina of Time.
 

Hydroxy

Member
Now personally I haven't played BOTW or Dragon Age Inquisition which was rated as GOTY 2014 by almost every gaming outlet as if it was a hive mind. However I can see the similarities between the two. Both games were very well received and belong to the action adventure genre. Both belonging to a very loved franchise and devoted fans. Both are now considered to be very overrated by vocal minority. I did like Dragon Age Origins and Zelda Minish Cap though.
 

Trunim

Member
The game world was a huge letdown. A lot of things were copy/paste and fuck all to do. One of the worst Zeldas together with Skyward Sword.
 

GymWolf

Member
I don't know if I've ever had such a big difference in my first 50 hours with a game versus the rest. I was absolutely star struck with how much fun I was having with the game at first. I loved the path to Zora's domain and the whole storyline there. I loved all of my initial exploration. I loved the Gerudo area (especially the stealth dungeon). I explored Mount Lanayru just messing around, and had one of the most jaw dropping experiences in recent memory (caught me extremely off guard), then something similar at Lake Hylia. I enjoyed the majority of those early parts, and most of the free-roaming and figuring out the world. Then after Death Mountain and I saw nearly everything the world had to offer, my enjoyment fell straight off a cliff. I started realizing the tedium that every single action imposed on the player, and the limitations of the game's mechanics and combat systems compounded my negative responses.

One of the common early praises was how you could seemingly perform any interaction with any object. Sure, you can see an enemy at the bottom of grassy hill, roll a bomb down the hill, light the grass next to you on fire with a flaming arrow, then use a leaf to blow the fire down the hill, lighting the bomb and causing it to explode.........but why would I set up this scenario for 3 minutes when I could just go dance around it for 5 seconds and kill it in normal combat. That's how almost every "unique environmental" interaction goes. Most cool maneuvers make you less efficient for the sake of 'freedom', even sliding down a hill which degrades you shield. Deflect lasers with a perfectly timed shield parry will NEVER get old though.

There are some phenomenal aspects to the game, but some of the glaring flaws that make me believe that a lot of people praising the open world don't have that much experience with open world games. It doesn't even top GTA San Andreas in that respect in my eyes. The initial sense of adventure, however, is probably the best that I've ever experienced outside of new MMOs.

Lastly, the game is absolutely gorgeous in handheld (with randomly awful performance issues such as in Kakariko Village) but looks like shit on the big screen.
Are you me?!
 

oSoLucky

Member
Phenomenal title, one of very few AAA games that lives up to the hype imo. It's spoiled me on open-world games like it where a significant portion of the gameplay loop is in just exploring the environment.

It has some very nasty flaws that hold it back from being a 10/10 masterpiece - Shrines themselves being more of a mixed bag, main story dungeons aside from the final one being garbage, the master sword not regenerating until fully broken (why?), but despite those this is the easiest 9/10 I can think of and still on my short list for recommendations.

Weapon degradation is a common complaint but not one I can empathize with - Part of the variety in the combat loop is in being forced to use different weapons, to adapt to different situations and know when to use what. And fuck, the game gives you no shortage of great weapons. It's like complaining about being forced to change your party so often in an SMT game because your demons level at a slow rate or (better) that enemies in Metroid Prime 2 are too durable because you stubbornly insist on using the infinte ammo Power Beam instead of using the Dark and Light Beams for which the game drops plentiful ammo. As far as I can see, anyway. I haven't seen a legitimate basis for the grievance.

Addendum to the above since I brought it up: I think the Master Sword should be an exception as it is already a late-game pickup and should be treated as a major powerup to reward the player for being able to even collect it and to feel awesome. It doesn't totally obsolete all other weapons either, so that part of the gameplay loop can still be preserved to some degree (and won't need to be for much longer as it's late-game, or the player just won't care... probably).

The weapon degradation topic has to be one of those where you see so much dislike of a certain element that you just have to believe that people actually hate it instead of not understanding it or overstating the negativity. I went through the same thing with people insisting that Uncharted enemies are spongy (outside of Crushing, where I believe they actually are), and Smash Brawl/LittleBigPlanet 'floatiness'.

I think one of the misunderstood bits is that most people realize that weapons are easy as hell to find, and there's not much of a point in them breaking in light of that. It just adds tedium to the inventory management aspect. Yes, it's only a few button presses, but how many dozens of time does that need to be done due to the weapon juggling (which to me, doesn't add any real challenge, just annoyance). I agree with your point on the Master Sword. I went out of my way to get 13 hearts (which I didn't need to beat the game) to get the weapon, and it should be the one thing that doesn't break, even in the current system.
 

alf717

Member
I love playing Breath of the Wild. I took my time with the game and explored as many nooks and crannies I could find. Not a perfect game but definitely deserved the buzz it got back in 2017 as well as all awards it received. I was thinking about this game the other night and was wonder what the game would of been like if the WiiU pad was fully utilized in a way similar to how it was used in Twilight Princess. I would of double dipped for the version but went with the Switch version. It would of cut down on a lot of the tedious menus to switch out armor and weapons. I never picked up the DLC and I still have one shrine I haven't found yet one day I'll found it though. :messenger_grinning_smiling:
 

Cutty Flam

Banned


I watched this trailer like 40-60 times before BOTW came out. It's one of the best trailers I've ever seen

O oSoLucky you make a good point. The first 50-60 hrs were phenomenal but once you finish the game, there is a huge drop off in enjoyment. I still love the post-game experience because it's fun to explore Hyrule and see everything but there isn't much left to keep the player enthralled like there was before while working your way through the game's four main areas; discovering much of the story that Link had forgotten after having slept for 100 years in the Shrine of Resurrection
 

Hugare

Member
You ever played a survival horror like resident evil? Have you asked yourself why the game is designed with limited ammo?

Because it generates tension: if you lack a universal tool that always works for all situations, as a player that generates a tension - which means you start to look at the environment, the obstacles and how you tackle them: do I use some of my valuable ammo on that zombie? Do I just try to run past it? Oh look there’s a car there... maybe I can start it and run over the zombie?

It works like that with Zelda: oh there’s a camp here and looks tough... do I risk my good weapons? I have some arrows maybe I can try to weed them out before engaging? Oh hey there’s a giant rock uphill... can I push it hard enough to roll them over?

In a way, Zelda BOTW is like a survival-lite think of the breakable weapons, the fact you need special gear or food access certain areas ( and that also has tension built in: environmental armor typically has worse stats than normal armor while food and potion special effects have a limited lasting time).
I understand your point, but I never felt tension playing BOTW due to the weapon degradation mechanic. Only annoyance.

I'm sorry, going to menus in order to swap weapons/shields 2-3 times during a boss fight because they break is not tense., just annoying

Most of the time I didnt want to engage in combat, because I was affraid of wasting weapons (even the shitty ones).

This is not a 4h survivor horror game, this is an open world game with shit ton of space to explore. I don't want to avoid combat because otherwise my weapon will break.

"It works like that with Zelda: oh there’s a camp here and looks tough... do I risk my good weapons? I have some arrows maybe I can try to weed them out before engaging? Oh hey there’s a giant rock uphill... can I push it hard enough to roll them over?"

How about experimenting with mechanics because, you know ... they are fun? And not because the game forces you to go for other options?

An example: Immortals: Fenyx Rising

No weapon degradation at all. But I still threw a bunch of rocks on enemies and tried new stuff just because it felt fun and I wanted some diversity.

That game was WAY more fun to explore than BOTW because I spent less time worried about my clothes, or with my weapons durability, or food, and more time exploring the damn map

MGS V is another perfect example: it gives you shit tons of game mechanics that you can use, not forcing you in the slightest about how you should play the game. Which makes the gameplay that much more fun to experiment with.
 

lachesis

Member
I bought the Wii U version, and I still marvel at the fact that my old Wii U was running this game so well... and one of the reason that I'm still holding onto my Wii U.

I loved this game because it was so relaxing to play. Yes, end of the world is near, but it felt more like a healing vacation when visiting many beautiful places.
For some reason, this game really moved me in various ways.
 

VAVA Mk2

Member
Whoa whoa whoa I thought this thread was about World of Goo

Hold Up Reaction GIF by Brett Eldredge
 
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