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Destructoid: Breaking Down Why Breath of the Wild is Highly Overrated

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SirNinja said:
"Overrated" is a horrible sentiment. It's basically the single-word form of "Not only did I dislike this, others were wrong to like it". It's an opinion that says "people should only have my opinion".
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I think people can say something is overrated in their opinion. It's just funny if they can't understand why others like it so much when the acclaim is there critically and commercially.
 
Yoshimitsu126 said:
I think people can say something is overrated in their opinion. It's just funny if they can't understand why others like it so much when the acclaim is there critically and commercially.
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I think the problem being that it's their opinion that other people are wrong about their opinion. An opinion isn't objective reality it's an opinion. I can't take someone seriously who is the "everyone's an idiot except me" kinda guy. It reminds me of the gamer who cries that everyone who is good at a game is a lifeless loser, and anyone who is bad should kill themselves.
 
Yoshimitsu126 said:
I think people can say something is overrated in their opinion. It's just funny if they can't understand why others like it so much when the acclaim is there critically and commercially.
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The problem is its so damn overused to the point people calling any game that didn't like overrated. It adds nothing to the conversation, it basically tells me that he/she is angry at people loving the game more him/her.
 
tenor.gif
 
I'm surprised the author knocked it's lack of charm. This has been one of the most charming games I've ever played in my life. Nearly every aspect of the game seems tailored to be that way and I love it for it. I'm wondering why that didn't rub off on this person.

This is sort of a weak review. I love critiques that go against my own but this thing swings so far in the other direction to prove a point I just find it hard to take too seriously. The author sarcastically describes so many different aspects of the game that I just sort of shrug my shoulders at it. Not an engaging or thought provoking read.

I found Jim Sterling's review much, much more worthwhile than this weird rant.
 
SirNinja said:
"Overrated" is a horrible sentiment. It's basically the single-word form of "Not only did I dislike this, others were wrong to like it". It's an opinion that says "people should only have my opinion".
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This. I think it's literally impossible for anything to be "overrated". People either like things or they don't. If you accept that premise, then all you're left with is "people were wrong to like it". (As you say.)
 
jrDev said:
It doesn't offend me, I just think rebuttals like "but but my gf didn't like it so that can't be true" is a silly way to have an argument which wasn't meant to be literal...
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No one took it literally; I'm not sure why you keep arguing that point. Bizarre characterization of my quote there, too
 
WordsintheWater said:
This article is basically how I felt about the game. Actually I think it is probably for me the most forgettable Zelda I have ever played, and when I stop to remember the game I don't think of it fondly at all. I have no interest in playing the game again. It gave me the illusion that it was a great game, but the deeper I got into it the more shallow it became.



Horizon will reveal icons on the map when you use a tallneck, but yes sidequests and such are found when you are getting close to the area of where they are located.
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Pretty much my same thoughts. First 20 or so hours in I was thinking it was one of the best games I've played, and then the next 40 hours I realized I don't even think it's in the top 5 of games released this year. Like I had fun with it, but the gameplay got extremely shallow extremely quickly.
 
SirNinja said:
"Overrated" is a horrible sentiment. It's basically the single-word form of "Not only did I dislike this, others were wrong to like it". It's an opinion that says "people should only have my opinion".
Click to expand...
Nailed it. It's the most overused word in entertainment. You're completely dismissing the reasoning of why others enjoy or appreciate something and instead of engaging with it, acknowledging it, and then coming to your own conclusion. If you completely dismiss everything with a word to weakly prop up your own stance, why are you even discussing it in the first place?
 
Is the game perfect? Not quite. Is it overrated? Absolutely not. It's comfortably the best Zelda game ever made and locked in for GOTY and possibly GOTG.
 
The problem with BotW is that it's a great video game, but a bad Zelda game.
Look, when the new Persona can objectively claim that it has better dungeons and music than the new Zelda game, you know your priorities are whack. Persona.better.dungeons.than.Zelda. Whew
 
Blobbers said:
The problem with BotW is that it's a great video game, but a bad Zelda game.
Look, when the new Persona can objectively claim that it has better dungeons and music than the new Zelda game, you know your priorities are whack. Persona.better.dungeons.than.Zelda. Whew
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Devs should only strive to make a great game and not beholden to what they made in the past. Especially since video games evolve so rapidly.

I'm glad that Nintendo took that philosophy to heart and took risks.
 
You know your game deserved success in being a great game even breaking the conventions of previous installments when you game articles like this months after the release
 
Blobbers said:
The problem with BotW is that it's a great video game, but a bad Zelda game.
Look, when the new Persona can objectively claim that it has better dungeons and music than the new Zelda game, you know your priorities are whack. Persona.better.dungeons.than.Zelda. Whew
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Well yeah, it's a "bad Zelda game" in the same way Resident Evil 4 is a "bad Resident Evil game".

And I adore both games for that.
 
Just read the whole thing. This is what happens when you start writing your criticisms with your mind already made up. Most of it read like it literally had to be satire.
 
Huge Succeeded said:
I wasn't saying that BoTW's approach to towers was better. I wasn't trying to make the argument that Breath of the Wild is the greatest game of all time. I don't even know why you brought that stuff up as a response to me.

At any rate, I wasn't saying that Zelda towers have asterisks, I was saying that you (and others) ignore context when making the comparison. And it's true - your post right here is an example. People take jabs at Ubisoft towers for specific reasons that are conveniently ignored whenever the comparison is made. Not just because 'they're towers you climb that unlock a part of your map'.

People made jabs at Ubisoft towers over the last couple of years specifically because of how they had been implemented in Ubisoft games over a period of years: as an over-utilized mechanic seen often enough in multiple iterations of multiple Ubisoft franchises that it gave off the appearance of a design crutch, with nearly identical implementation in each franchise, existing to unlock not only part of your map, but a massive swath of repetitive side quests and collectables seemingly meant to pad your time with the game. That's the context in which people have taken jabs at 'Ubisoft Towers' in recent years. I posted how Zelda's towers differ in context (and why I think that merits more nuanced analysis than 'lol they're Ubisoft towers' at the very least):



and another poster expounded upon those ideas:



and I'm not making the argument that those differences make Zelda's towers better. I'm trying to communicate to you that those differences make Zelda's towers not 'Ubisoft towers' in practice. There's no reason to criticize Zelda's towers for the same reasons you'd criticize Ubisoft towers. That's what I meant when I said that you ignored the context behind the phrase 'Ubisoft tower'. The only reason to even make the connection is to attempt to apply the negative connotation behind 'Ubisoft towers' to Zelda's towers in conversation, and I feel that's pretty disingenuous.
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K, let's not lose sight of my original statement, and exactly what we're talking about here.

I used BOTW towers, and its context, as an example of why someone would use that to say the game is overrated. Don't get it twisted, towers are/ were a great game design. Obviously Ubisoft aren't the only ones that used these design decisions, or towers, they like you said, used them as a crutch.

Horizon had a towers , but theirs were dinosaurs that moved..

middle earth had towers.. zelda, dying light, and a few others I forget.. but all have context and things that make em different or a way to hide it's full towerness.
It wouldn't make sense to analyze each and every different game for its towers to try to differentiate, cuz they all boil down to being just that, towers.

Nintendo thought it was a good idea to implement them, even if they switched it up a lil bit. The base design is there. I don't think Nintendo were using it as a crutch, they just did what they thought was best for their game and it worked. They even made it a lil difficult to climb towers by having those laser guys shoot at you when trying to climb them..

But back to the topic at hand, towers weren't even one the problems I had with the game.. I just found it dull after a while. Some of the shitty habits I picked up throughout my life, as someone who love games, wouldn't allow me to accept this new Zelda. I hate leaving stuff undone or leaving quests open before progressing through the game. I didn't have 200 hours to dedicate to find the cool stuff, etc.

But I get ya..
 
Anyone who says Botw deserves GOTY or GOTG are insane. The game is mediocre at best, it has a completely insane weapon durability system and the dungeons are quite frankly boring poorly designed shit. Botw isn't even the best Zelda game for gods sake, if I were to list them all Botw would be at the bottom of said list.

Everyone loves to harp on about Botw because it was literally the only game they could play on their Switch at launch, rabid Nintendo fans will never see the flaws, they will excuse away the bizarre design decisions made in Botw and more recently Splatoon 2 regardless.
 
Ovek said:
Anyone who says Botw deserves GOTY or GOTG are insane. The game is mediocre at best, it has a completely insane weapon durability system and the dungeons are quite frankly boring poorly designed shit. Botw isn't even the best Zelda game for gods sake, if I were to list them all Botw would be at the bottom of said list.

Everyone loves to harp on about Botw because it was literally the only game they could play on their Switch at launch, rabid Nintendo fans will never see the flaws, they will excuse away the bizarre design decisions made in Botw and more recently Splatoon 2 regardless.
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Wow, this post has it all huh...
 
Ovek said:
Anyone who says Botw deserves GOTY or GOTG are insane. The game is mediocre at best, it has a completely insane weapon durability system and the dungeons are quite frankly boring poorly designed shit. Botw isn't even the best Zelda game for gods sake, if I were to list them all Botw would be at the bottom of said list.

Everyone loves to harp on about Botw because it was literally the only game they could play on their Switch at launch, rabid Nintendo fans will never see the flaws, they will excuse away the bizarre design decisions made in Botw and more recently Splatoon 2 regardless.
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how-to-cut-down-on-salt.jpg
 
Ovek said:
Anyone who says Botw deserves GOTY or GOTG are insane. The game is mediocre at best, it has a completely insane weapon durability system and the dungeons are quite frankly boring poorly designed shit. Botw isn't even the best Zelda game for gods sake, if I were to list them all Botw would be at the bottom of said list.

Everyone loves to harp on about Botw because it was literally the only game they could play on their Switch at launch, rabid Nintendo fans will never see the flaws, they will excuse away the bizarre design decisions made in Botw and more recently Splatoon 2 regardless.
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I think you forgot the /s at the end. I had a laugh tho, well done! Satire at its finest.
 
Ovek said:
Anyone who says Botw deserves GOTY or GOTG are insane. The game is mediocre at best, it has a completely insane weapon durability system and the dungeons are quite frankly boring poorly designed shit. Botw isn't even the best Zelda game for gods sake, if I were to list them all Botw would be at the bottom of said list.

Everyone loves to harp on about Botw because it was literally the only game they could play on their Switch at launch, rabid Nintendo fans will never see the flaws, they will excuse away the bizarre design decisions made in Botw and more recently Splatoon 2 regardless.
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u9gp7Qc.jpg
 
Ovek said:
Anyone who says Botw deserves GOTY or GOTG are insane. The game is mediocre at best, it has a completely insane weapon durability system and the dungeons are quite frankly boring poorly designed shit. Botw isn't even the best Zelda game for gods sake, if I were to list them all Botw would be at the bottom of said list.

Everyone loves to harp on about Botw because it was literally the only game they could play on their Switch at launch, rabid Nintendo fans will never see the flaws, they will excuse away the bizarre design decisions made in Botw and more recently Splatoon 2 regardless.
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Yep, that's right. Almost every review was 9/10 or better, but you're the one in the right. They're all crazy.
 
Rushersauce said:
It deserves GOTY more than TLoU did in its time.
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Or Witcher 3. I've played all major releases this year and I can't see any other game come even close to rob BOTW from the GOTY award. Maybe if something gets released later in the year but what would that be? RDR2 has been delayed, same for GOW and Far Cry 5. Mario won't touch BOTW since it's too familiar, even if it's great it won't get the same wow-effect, same goes for UC Lost Legacy and AC Origin. And Forza 7 and GTS are racing games which never win GOTY awards. I don't know what could possibly deserve the GOTY award more than BOTW?
 
Where is this sentiment coming that BotW dungeons are poorly designed from? I think they are great for what they are. They are not traditional dungeons and they are not unique themes. That is the critique that most been given, Not that they are poorly designed. I want traditional dungeons back, but at the same time I don't want to abandon these dungeons and not even shrines completely.
 
I'm still playing it and have over 100 hours in it, I think it could have used more of a story and the master sword is a weak pos, but really every open world game I play horizon included, I am stuck looking at how you can only climb/fly where the Devs want you too, BotW was the first time I could actually go somewhere I saw in the distance no matter what it was.

There's plenty of ways to play, and ironically my kids have played quite differently than I have but it's still fun to share what we find or do and how we do it.
 
I don't understand why the writer thinks gamers as a community should have gotten over hyperbole somehow. Many of the people who play video games are children, and there's more of them every year. You can't just teach all the people in a generation a thing and then assume teaching and learning are finished forever. That's why schools still exist. I'm sure there's many angry 2001 articles about how Halo didn't actually invent guns, but many of the people playing Breath of the Wild today and posting about it on the Internet weren't actually even born yet when those articles were written.

I thought one part of the article was really clever, though: The writer invented a strawman of a frothing Breath of the Wild lunatic and then specifically stated that's who the article is for. Rational criticisms of the article I wrote? No. It's not for you. Please go away. You clearly didn't understand my premise.

From now on, I should do that too. Did you have criticisms of my post? Too bad! It's only for people who can't post on these forums, I've decided! So if you posted a critical response, you're wrong to do what you did! Shame!
 
How dare this evil man criticize a Zelda game?


Every Zelda game is a gift bestowed upon us from the gods in Nintendo and all of us must endlessly praise it.
 
Meh. I enjoyed HZD more. Mostly because not only did it tell an actual story, but it told one I was interested in seeing through to the end.

And the combat was better. And the controls. And the world they created.
 
Lol. Stating again and again the same criticisms won't give them any more weight. Yes, it's not perfect, but it gets so many things right and crucially it absolutely slam dunk succeeds in what it sets out to achieve.
It will win GOTY and will be remembered as one of the classics. Get over it and stop click bait the fans.
 
Blobbers said:
The problem with BotW is that it's a great video game, but a bad Zelda game.
Look, when the new Persona can objectively claim that it has better dungeons and music than the new Zelda game, you know your priorities are whack. Persona.better.dungeons.than.Zelda. Whew
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Claiming it's a bad Zelda game because it's different is such a boring take. BOTW is so good because it's different, it doesn't need to check these arbitrary boxes
 
JustSomeone said:
How dare this evil man criticize a Zelda game?


Every Zelda game is a gift bestowed upon us from the gods in Nintendo and all of us must endlessly praise it.
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Don't you know? BOTW is not a real Zelda Game. Only a true Zelda fan appreciates the true Zelda games.
 
NotLiquid said:
This is the weirdest point of all to me and an odd premise for an article. I'm not sure this is something you need to prove. No game is a flawless, perfect piece of work. Yes, even those that are 10s. Overall it just reads like a hot take from someone who went into the game ready not to acknowledge the game's inherent strengths, or at least with a jaded opinion because of the praise it was getting.
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.
 
King_Moc said:
Yep, that's right. Almost every review was 9/10 or better, but you're the one in the right. They're all crazy.
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GTA IV and its extremely high critical consensus would like a word. Some others would throw in MGS IV or TLOU. I wouldn't agree with them but I wouldn't discount their opinion based on a critical consensus.

Not everyone is going to like the game you like, even in light of a wide consensus. Doesn't mean they're objectively wrong if they do.
 
beelulzebub said:
GTA IV and its extremely high critical consensus would like a word. Some others would throw in MGS IV or TLOU. I wouldn't agree with them but I wouldn't discount their opinion based on a critical consensus.

Not everyone is going to like the game you like, even in light of a wide consensus. Doesn't mean they're objectively wrong if they do.
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Please don't try to legitimize this post, the one King_Moc was responding to:

Ovek said:
Anyone who says Botw deserves GOTY or GOTG are insane. The game is mediocre at best, it has a completely insane weapon durability system and the dungeons are quite frankly boring poorly designed shit. Botw isn't even the best Zelda game for gods sake, if I were to list them all Botw would be at the bottom of said list.

Everyone loves to harp on about Botw because it was literally the only game they could play on their Switch at launch, rabid Nintendo fans will never see the flaws, they will excuse away the bizarre design decisions made in Botw and more recently Splatoon 2 regardless.
Click to expand...
 
ScientificPizza said:
Claiming it's a bad Zelda game because it's different is such a boring take. BOTW is so good because it's different, it doesn't need to check these arbitrary boxes
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There are a lot of games that scratch that open world itch like BOTW does. There aren't a lot of games that scratch that Zelda-style dungeon itch, and BOTW sidelines that element of Zelda design. It's a valid complaint to keep in mind if you really like that aspect of Zelda games.
 
SimpleCRIPPLE said:
Meh. I enjoyed HZD more. Mostly because not only did it tell an actual story, but it told one I was interested in seeing through to the end.

And the combat was better. And the controls. And the world they created.
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You know, I love Horizon so so much but you honestly thought the world is better than in BOTW?? Imo it's really not even close, that's one of the main criticisms I have on the game, the world in Horizon is sooo pretty but they haven't made it interesting and rewarding to explore.

There are other areas where HZD is so far behind that playing it after BOTW almost made me stop playing it before even finishing the first cauldron, it just felt clunky and ancient in comparison. But it's still an amazing game and as you say the combat is superb, I just don't think it's on the same level as BOTW as a complete package. Both are definitely 10/10 games though, if that makes any sense.
 
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