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[SunBroDave]

On my second playthrough, it's striking me a lot more just how much of the plot is conveyed via dialogue rather than actual events that play out in front of you. For example, you show up at any of the 4 major civilizations and are told by an important figure that there that the city is in danger of being destroyed by the currently raging Divine Beast. But we never SEE ANY danger. We don't get to EXPERIENCE the danger that the Divine Beast poses, and we don't get to see firsthand what the stakes are should we not intervene and stop the Ganon-controlled Divine Beast. It's all conveyed via dialogue, which any screenwriter worth her salt will tell you is a vastly weaker form of storytelling compared to actually SHOWING conflict firsthand.

I think the events in this game would have been much more exciting if, for example, we actually participate in the Ruto attack and see the wounding of Teba firsthand when we first arrive at Rito village, or if we're captured and interrogated when we show up at Gerudo town, since they're supposed to be on high alert after the theft of the Thunderhelm. At least the Zora questline has a gameplay implication for the raging Divine Beast - perpetual rain - but they could have and should have gone further.

Against all odds, Nintendo made so many amazing choices with their first attempt at this sort of game, but hopefully they are taking a long look at all of the things that they could have done better, such as the way the game tells its story, and make substantial improvements for the sequel.

 

[takriel]

The story exposition is handled rather poorly, yes.

BotW 2 needs more story period.

 

[fetus8]

What about the sand storms in the Gerudo region...?

 

[Zedark]

I agree. The story there is pretty interesting uimo, but it feels very indirect because you're getting most of it through flashbacks. That is the area where thr BOTW formule could use improvement: implementing some more story into the open world. I wouldn't know how they'd do that without sacrificing some of the openness the game offers, though.

 

[frankie_baby]

What about the sand storms in the Gerudo region...?

And the rain in the zora

 

[Mediking]

The "showing" is that the world is overrun by monsters and when you visit a village like the Gerudo.

 

[PhilipDoesMatter]

Agreed.

 

[James Scott]

Each of the Divine Beasts are shown causing damage.
In Zora's domain there's an eternal rain you can see before talking to anyone.
In death mountain you see and are attacked by falling rocks.
You can see the one in the desert stomping around and if you get close it'll attack.
Not sure if the Rito one does anything, tbf. You do see it screech when you walk in, tho

Not sure if it's detrimental that if you talk to some of the natives they'll express fear in what's happening.


I think this example is rather weak, but you can argue more story is definitely a must for a sequel. For sure.

 

[Holy Order Sol]

the divine beasts themselves are the most in-your-face shit

 

[DecoReturns]

Seeing how Link is awakening into a world he's long forgotten. The way the story was presented made sense and handled pretty well in my opinion.

I think what you want is a prequel.

 

[JC Lately]

What about the sand storms in the Gerudo region...?

And the constant rains/flooding in the Zora region?

And the constant eruptions at the Goron region?

Honestly only the Rito region seems to be fine so long as you don't try to fly up and around the divine beast there.

 

[Mr-Joker]

Agreed, which is one of the reason why I was meh towards Breath of the Mild as Story was one of the reason why I enjoy Zelda games and Breath of the Mild fell flat in that department.

This something that they need to improve on with future Zelda games.

 

[wandering]

Yeah, lots of really long-winded exposition, some of which gets really repetitive.

 

[PeakPointMatrix]

Nintendo in general could use a more fleshed out focus on narrative and storytelling. They've somehow convinced themselves that their diehard fans will take nothing less than thousands of voiceless text boxes beep-booping for all eternity and nothing more.

It excites me to see that Odyssey has a little more character and depth than what we've seen over the usual nothing-more-than-opening/closing-cutscene-and-that's-all package of previous games. They've got visuals, gameplay and sound nailed down. Hopefully narrative is next.

 

[Lijik]

Given that its an open ended game they cant exactly force you to go right to the beast and force you to watch their cutscene and get wrecked by them if you try to get closer each time

 

[Roufianos]

My leave favourite part of the game is when they pull me out to explain shit.

Either make the story interesting enough for me to care or don't even bother.

 

[IceMarker]

And the constant rains/flooding in the Zora region?

And the constant eruptions at the Goron region?

Honestly only the Rito region seems to be fine so long as you don't try to fly up and around the divine beast there.

Getting to Zora Domain alone made me feel like the Divine Beast there was stirring up shit.

 

[Dark Ninja]

Can I get Link talking to himself in full voice acting about how he failed to save Zelda, what he thinks about her eyebrows, how Paya wants the D, the gerudo's abs, etc.

 

[Tookay]

Each of the Divine Beasts are shown causing damage.
In Zora's domain there's an eternal rain you can see before talking to anyone.
In death mountain you see and are attacked by falling rocks.
You can see the one in the desert stomping around and if you get close it'll attack.
Not sure if the Rito one does anything, tbf. You do see it screech when you walk in, tho

Not sure if it's detrimental that if you talk to some of the natives they'll express fear in what's happening.


I think this example is rather weak, but you can argue more story is definitely a must for a sequel. For sure.

This pretty much sums up my thoughts.

The Divine Beasts have effects on the world. Maybe they could be more dramatic but you see it in the world and the way people are reacting.

 

[tesqui]

I'd like to see some dungeon ass dungeons in the sequel. Something like a bigger version of ALBW's dungeons would be great. I liked the colossus ones, but didn't really care for the weird ancient future design.

 

[Fix-It Felix. Jr.]

I'm playing through the game right now, and somewhat agree with you about how there never seems to be an immediate danger to the regions that you are visiting. Yes, there is a ton of rain at Zora's Domain that is sweeping people's mothers downriver, and the burning burns at Death Mountain are hurting the Goron economy. However, going to tame the Beast always feels more like a personal quest to help my own fight against Gannon, rather than actually trying to help anyone else out. The reason for that, as the OP mentions, is that the story just isn't driven enough to make me really care all that much. That's not to say the characters aren't fun and I don't enjoy meeting them and doing sidequests - it's just that any story that connects them with the overarching story is rather lackluster.

That might not be a terrible thing though, really. Not putting the pressure onto the player through a deep story encourages me to explore more. I don't have to go tame the beast right this second or else risk an entire race being brought to extinction. I can explore the region and not feel guilty about it. Kinda works both ways. Nintendo just needs to find the sweetspot.

 

[RRockman]

In Death Mountain it rains magma bombs and the Gorons are forced to use the Southern mine, in Zora's Domain it rains constantly and people are complaining about it, in Gerudo Desert there's violent sand storms and travelers can only take one path, and in Rito Village everybody's stuck on the pillar and the kids are complaining about not being able to play.

And the constant rains/flooding in the Zora region?

And the constant eruptions at the Goron region?

Honestly only the Rito region seems to be fine so long as you don't try to fly up and around the divine beast there.

I'm playing through the game right now, and somewhat agree with you about how there never seems to be an immediate danger to the regions that you are visiting. Yes, there is a ton of rain at Zora's Domain that is sweeping people's mothers downriver, and the burning burns at Death Mountain are hurting the Goron economy. However, going to tame the Beast always feels more like a personal quest to help my own fight against Gannon, rather than actually trying to help anyone else out. The reason for that, as the OP mentions, is that the story just isn't driven enough to make me really care all that much. That's not to say the characters aren't fun and I don't enjoy meeting them and doing sidequests - it's just that any story that connects them with the overarching story is rather lackluster.

That might not be a terrible thing though, really. Not putting the pressure onto the player through a deep story encourages me to explore more. I don't have to go tame the beast right this second or else risk an entire race being brought to extinction. I can explore the region and not feel guilty about it. Kinda works both ways. Nintendo just needs to find the sweetspot.

Pretty sure this is the bulk of it. This isn't Majora's Mask after all.

 

[DecoReturns]

Another thing to note. It's Been 100 years.

The effects of the DB are not going to be as dramatic seeing how the worlds population died down. Reminds me a bit like Dawn of the planet of the apes (the beginning of the movie).

 

[akira28]

that's not your story. you're not supposed to feel the terror of the beasts or experience the decline and fall of civilization. You wake up and walk into these things, and fix them for other people because that's you're role as the Chosen One.

if you want to feel the terror, you get a glimpse when you fight them. but what you want is more expositional cut scenes setting up the stage, or finding more excuses for Lnk to be in scripted situations so that he can "experience the plot", I think it was a design choice to not do those thing.

 

[Biske]

A lot of the game they kind of phoned it in.

But places like the desert were legit where you could see the beast and it would jock you up if you were near.


The biggest problem was the end game, was like "eh go do this thing I guess, I mean whatever. Oh yeah you did it. The end"

 

[TheCongressman1]

This is something I felt was pretty weak as well. The game tells you the world is in turmoil, but it really doesn't seem that way most of the time. The Divine beasts just kind of wander around doing nothing, people aren't freaking out, everything seems pretty normal for a fantasy world.

What about the sand storms in the Gerudo region...?

And the rain in the zora

Yeah, but without being told, a sandstorm seems pretty common for a harsh region like that, and that rain just looks like rain. They aren't doing a good job of convincing the player there's that kind of danger. The most seemingly urgent place is of course Death mountain, but it's dangerous regardless.

 

[UnemployedVillain]

Each of the Divine Beasts are shown causing damage.
In Zora's domain there's an eternal rain you can see before talking to anyone.
In death mountain you see and are attacked by falling rocks.
You can see the one in the desert stomping around and if you get close it'll attack.
Not sure if the Rito one does anything, tbf. You do see it screech when you walk in, tho

Not sure if it's detrimental that if you talk to some of the natives they'll express fear in what's happening.


I think this example is rather weak, but you can argue more story is definitely a must for a sequel. For sure.

This. OP wasn't paying any attention or didn't try exploring himself. If you got near any of the divine beasts they attacked you

Yeah, but without being told, a sandstorm seems pretty common for a harsh region like that, and that rain just looks like rain. They aren't doing a good job of convincing the player there's that kind of danger. The most dangerous feeling place is of course Death mountain, but it's dangerous regardless.

This again seems like you guys not paying attention. The sandstorm was accompanied by lightning with a unique animation by the beast. That was exlcusive to that area and actively prevented you from exploring a large area of the dessert.

The constant rain in the Zora region also prevented you from exploring or being able to climb any surfaces. These impediments prevented the normally allowed modes of exploration and provided clear contrast to show they were unnatural. The only area where this wasn't as clear was the Rito domain because you can't really fly so it didn't affect you as much as it did the residents

 

[EraErr0r1]

The lack of elaborate story progression is one of my few gripes for sure.

It would have also been nice to see the after-effects of defeating Calamity Ganon and see Hyrule kingdom building back to its former glory. I was disappointed that you merely return to the final battle and have a "special" star next to your name to mark your success. A free roam of the clean kingdom would've been a better reward.

Having said that, it's nice to know there's room for Nintendo to improve on a masterpiece in the inevitible sequel.

 

[Hasney]

Just make the scenes you want skippable and I'm happy. I don't want to be out of that world for a second longer than I have to be if it's of the same quality.

Zelda's in trouble yaddayaddagadda but WHO CARES I FOUND A STICK

 

[The Greek Freak]

It also needs either a proper map or non worthless map tools.

 

[BGBW]

The game is designed so you can get round to doing anything at your own pace. You don't have to worry about a village burning down half way across the map while you run around a forest in your pants.

It also needs either a proper map or non worthless map tools.

What was wrong with the map?

 

[DrLazy]

They handled it wonderfully.

 

[UnemployedVillain]

What was wrong with the map?

I'm guessing it didn't tell them exactly where to go for every question like 99% of RPGs

 

[saskuatch]

BOTW was a great game but it basically had no story beyond what you would expect in a 20 minute children's cartoon. The side quests might as well have been empty dialogue boxes they were so bland

 

[BigEmil]

Yeah they really need to improve the story

 

[Dmax3901]

I tend to agree, BotW is undoubtedly my GOTY so far, but what I wanted more than say, traditional dungeons, is more focused story environments like stealing bombs from Windfall Island or going into the well in OoT. The Yiga Clan hideout was good a example of this, more of that!

Also this is off-topic but I can't stop thinking about how amazing it would be if Nintendo dropped an expansion for this (say in early 2019) that added a Wind Waker style ocean area to the east or south, with proper sail boats, new quests, islands, towns etc. Make weather effect the ocean and islands with their own self-contained stories... fuck me. Sad it probs will never be

 

[MegaManTrigger]

The only way this would ever work is if the immediate danger actually posed some danger to you as a player (as in, deal with it ASAP or Game Over). And I imagine that's a more frustrating route. The closest we've ever gotten to this is Majora's Mask and even then, you have a way to delay the danger before going to the Final Boss.

 

[atr0cious]

There are live and the ruins of guardians littered all over the world, on mountain sides and beaches, which shows their reach. You meet npcs who are out of their domains because of the beasts effects, and towns have their own little battle site ruins or cemetery to commemorate it even further. Don't know what the OP is looking for, not like this is film where you can afford to be a lot less direct.

 

[Firenze1]

Botw2? No thanks.

 

[TheListOfToddicho]

My feeling is that whatever the next console Zelda is, it can't be in Hyrule. It'd be too soon after BOTW, and EVERYONE will compare that version to this version.

The solution? Take us somewhere else! It could be Termina, it could be another land entirely! Take us on a new adventure, you know we'd love it, and it'd give us a chance to appreciate Hyrule even more by us not going back to it so soon.

 

[Mobius and pet octopus]

that's not your story. you're not supposed to feel the terror of the beasts or experience the decline and fall of civilization. You wake up and walk into these things, and fix them for other people because that's you're role as the Chosen One.

if you want to feel the terror, you get a glimpse when you fight them. but what you want is more expositional cut scenes setting up the stage, or finding more excuses for Lnk to be in scripted situations so that he can "experience the plot", I think it was a design choice to not do those thing.

Link shows up. Suddenly, and convenient for the plot, the divine beast attacks. Cliche as all hell.

 

[UnemployedVillain]

BOTW was a great game but it basically had no story beyond what you would expect in a 20 minute children's cartoon. The side quests might as well have been empty dialogue boxes they were so bland

This makes no sense, especially the comparison to a children's story. What's an adult story? Not enough "mature" themes? Not enough cutscenes?

 

[hatchx]

The way the story was presented in BoTW was a little bit weak, I agree OP.

Honestly, after OOT and MM, cutscenes have always seemed dated and poorly done. Even if the core story is good, the presentation of it has just seemed unimpressive. So I guess I BoTW's weak story cutscenes came as no surprise.

I may stand alone on this, but I would have preferred there be none of those cutscenes. You get enough guidance off the top. I didn't need to see any of those silly past segments with Zelda' bad dialog and voice acting telling Link what to do. Added nothing for me, but killed some of the mystique of 'a vibrant world 100 years ago'.


I dunno, still easily one of the GOATs for me.

 

[Newline]

I had hesitations about the story myself, but i've grown to enjoy the concept of this games story. It's an unconventional form of storytelling but one that works very well with this game. You've woken up after 100 years, most of the damage has been done while you were asleep and now its your job to unravel what happened through the various accounts of those around you and the environment as its now been left. I think it works really well with the gameplay seeing as that too is open-ended with no real major event checkpoints that lead one to another. Having a storyline that evolves and develops over the game wouldn't do the gameplay justice, which is why I think Nintendo held it back. I honestly never thought I would be able to put 100+ hours into an adventure game with such a restrained story, but BotW proved me wrong, it works excellently imo.

 

[The Boat]

Ironically, the danger is shown, you just didn't notice it until you were told.

 

[Bobo Dakes]

BOTW was a great game but it basically had no story beyond what you would expect in a 20 minute children's cartoon. The side quests might as well have been empty dialogue boxes they were so bland

You watch some dark ass children's cartoons.

 

[The Boat]

Link shows up. Suddenly, and convenient for the plot, the divine beast attacks. Cliche as all hell.

No, Zelda wakes up Link when it's time to because the Beasts are attacking and Ganon is gaining power.

 

[Imp the Dimp]

I really liked BotW's approach actually. I feel like yours is pretty damn standard procedure if I may say so.

 

[UnemployedVillain]

Ironically, the danger is shown you just didn't notice it until you were told.

This, basically

 

[ItsTheNew]

I don't understand the criticism regarding the story for BOTW. Gannon took over hyrule like in almost every Zelda ever and you gotta take him down before he destroys whatever's left of civilization. Interact with the side characters (or don't), and there's small character stories within that. Like, that's the story. It didn't need 300 audio logs and cutscenes, it was perfectly told IMO.