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Everything that is wrong with BOTW in one simple picture.

If it had different character models, and a different name, it would have disappeared into obscurity in no time.
The only reason it was even talked about is because its "zelda" and that means instant 10/10 for the gaming press.

It's an awful Zelda game. And a very bad open world game.
 
Love the game even tho I do agree with some of those issues. Enemy variety being my biggest problem. The world is a little empty but was fun to explore. It's sort of like MGSV. Boring open world that lets you play it sandbox style. That's where they shine.
 
Majmun said:
One of the most disappointing games I've played. No matter what you say, this is just like those generic Ubisoft open world games gamers usually bash.

But this one has breakable weapons and annoying stamina bar.
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Indeed. If this game were made by [INSERT_ALMOST_ANY_COMPANY_OTHER THAN_NINTENDO], it would be in the 7s.
 
BbMajor7th said:
Thanks for the full and detailed answer. I'd can't entirely disagree on the first point, but it feels like a bit of a wasted gimmick as it still artificially walls off the most important areas with certain checks (Zora Domain is a good example) and in this way demonstrates less freedom than a game like Skyrim.

And I don't feel the second point really applies to Skyrim as memory serves. Waypoints are rarely straightforward treks and diving into a barrow really is a trek into the unknown in a way Zelda never really replicates.

Moreover, BotW is a major step back from TW3 in regards to underwater and indoor exploration (caves, castles, ruins, portals).

Both TW3 and Skyrim have awesome moments of long quests spent crawling through caves only to emerge in a completely different part of the map.
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I think the trek to and through Zora's domain might be one of the best sections of the game. It walls off an area that it wants you to enter in a specific way with a plot and systems based choice. While I can't say for sure (I've never tried) I'd imagine that it would be possible to enter Zora's domain from the north without too much trouble. With that said, I really liked the way that they gave you complete freedom to tackle the divine beasts in any order while pushing you in the direction of the Zora's domain. The path through the starter quests, to Zora's domain, and ultimately ending with the divine beast served as a good continuation of the tutorial for less confident players that was ultimately capped off with the best skill for an inexperienced player (Mipha's Grace). It is a great example of the game subtlety providing additional guidance to less skilled players while still entrusting them to make the best decision for themselves.

Sure, certain other games have handled other areas of exploration better. BotW barely cared about indoor areas (aside from the castle) and didn't even give the option for underwater exploration. I'd really love to see these areas expanded with BotW2. To me, most of the caves and side areas in Skyrim were disappointments unless they were directly connected to a quest. Fallout has done a bit better with side areas, in my opinion. The waypoints and icons weren't always easy to get to in these games, but it was mostly because of all the invisible walls thrown at you along the way.

Witcher 3 was certainly a step forward with its storytelling and quest lines, but I never cared much for the world itself. I mostly felt that it was more of the same at the time, personally.
 
Chukhopops said:
Game is incredible, the best of the entire generation and a gigantic step forward. It's one of those games where you still discover new things hundreds of hours into it.

Out of curiosity, what open world game do you people mistakenly believe is better than BotW?
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Maybe any game with more than 2 enemy types? Maybe any game with a combat system that doesn't make you pause the action every 10 seconds to grab a new sword out of your ass? Maybe any game that has real quests, real characters, with a real story to care about? Maybe any game with a leveling system, skills, loot, character builds?

Maybe any game with real MUSIC, BOSSES, ITEMS, DUNGEONS; like maybe any Zelda game made in the last 25 years?

I'm literally mind blown that anyone could spend hundreds of hours in a game that is so empty and downright boring. What exactly are you discovering 150 hours in? Another shrine with a 2 minute puzzle? A new meaningless weapon that breaks in 3 hits? Another fight with a Moblin?
 
eh, I agree with almost everything in that image and I still think it's a fantastic game that I loved playing through. I don't want flawless games, I want games which are fun, and to me Breath of the Wild was more entertaining than most.
It's a game with obvious flaws and issues but the stuff it does well are really great and elevate the experience.

I'd rather play BotW than any boring ass Ubisoft open world despite most of them having more enemy variety, no weapon breaking and better stories. At least it had an open world that was actually fun to explore and move through, unlike 99.9% of modern open world games which have zero exploration, zero world interaction and actual empty worlds where you just follow waypoints from one linear activity to the next.
 
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It's a franchise-defining game, no question. I've played every (non-spinoff) Zelda release in its original time, beginning with the gold NES cartridge as a kid (one of my first games ever), and I went into BOTW skeptical but quickly found it to be the game that finally gets open-world right. The exploration is beautiful, full of subtleties. I adored every minute of it, easily among the handful of best gaming experiences of my lifetime.

Re: Breaking Weapons

This topic has been rehashed so many times, but just to clarify my view again: the breaking weapons are one of the best decisions of the game. Why? Precisely because I loathe the collect-a-thon open world games where you just pick up endless weapons that don't matter anyway, because once you get a couple of really strong ones you keep using those. In BOTW, instead of trying to get the perfect weapon load-out, you're encouraged to have fun with weapons--pick something up, use it creatively, switch to something else, discard, improvise, etc. Weapons are just part of the rhythm of the game, rather than some loot-a-thon where you're trying to tick the boxes of collecting all 50 blades or whatever. Nothing could be more boring than that paradigm, and I'm glad Zelda said: screw that.
 
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One of the reason I bought a switch. It's a really fun game but wouldn't say it's a 10/10 game. Quest, characters, story, gameplay, etc... Witcher 3 alone is already a far superior game than botw imo. Botw has a lot of stupid gameplay mechanics that they need to be addressed in the sequel to make it 10/10 in my book.
 
Dampf said:
hkw013b0g4xz.png
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9M3OtDS.gif


I cant believe gaf almost let this overrated trash get to the final bracket. I thought we were supposed to be more enlightened than the cunts over at era. This game is at best the Uncharted Drake's Fortune and Assassins Creed 1 of video games. The sequel that fixes all those issues above shouldve gotten all those accolades, but noooo Nintendo makes the greatest games of all time every time until their sequels come out and they become the greatest of all time.

Odyssey with a metacritic of 98 is hysterical. Horizon with 89 metacritic won more gotys than Mario that year. what a joke.
 
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I understand the concept of subjectivity. That each individual can and will form their own opinion. But we have to acknowledge what this means to the broad scope of human variability:

There are people, actual humans, that literally eat shit. Like it's a fetish, they drink piss and eat shit. This is good to them.

If you are someone who really thinks BotW is anything above a 5/10, I hate to break it to you but you are the shit eater of videogame subjective tastes.
 
Neil Young said:
For those that consider BOTW a great game, what do you think it does better than the modern Assassin Creed games?

To me, BOTW does nothing better. In the Creed games there's an actual story, the graphics are incredible and diverse, and you're actually rewarded for your exploration with unique items that DON'T break. I get that you can play with the physics and tackle some situations differently in Zelda, but I can hang off Zeus' dong and slide down a pyramid in Creed.
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I don't need much rewards other than occasional health and stamina boost, and with exploration I could finish off the 4 beasts (long journey), meet plethora of NPCs with their quests and importance, completing grand obscure shrines when my curiosity is piqued looking at the map, and lastly I get to see how the whole BOTW world works.

Every traversal, me filling out the map with the my little steps is a great journey for me because I don't know how it will turns out.

Completing some of the terrain puzzles and quests is hard too, I'm not sure everyone could pull it off like how you do in real life without guides :
www.zeldadungeon.net

Breath of the Wild Side Quest Catalogue - Zelda Dungeon

Below is a listing of all 76 Side Quests found in the Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Every Side Quest listed below links to a page dedicated to it with a guide of requirements, a link to its location on the Interactive Map, and a walkthrough of how to complete it. Alternatively, you can...
www.zeldadungeon.net www.zeldadungeon.net


KuraiShidosha said:
I understand the concept of subjectivity. That each individual can and will form their own opinion. But we have to acknowledge what this means to the broad scope of human variability:

There are people, actual humans, that literally eat shit. Like it's a fetish, they drink piss and eat shit. This is good to them.

If you are someone who really thinks BotW is anything above a 5/10, I hate to break it to you but you are the shit eater of videogame subjective tastes.
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Shit human with shittier opinion I see.
 
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Do you think that its high scores were given partially because its a Nintendo Exclusive and was a launch title for the platform (Nintendo Switch) and they needed high scores to boost sales?

Its a good game, putting my own opinion aside this game along with Witcher 3 and Bloodborne are generally regarded as games of the generation. I used to think more highly of it but recently my opinion of it declined, i still say its good but its not 5/5 material for me. 4/5 is more like it imo. But that is just my opinion, a lot of people say the same about my favorite games, they say they are overrated, boring or criticize things that didnt bother me, i guess its just different tastes after all lol. But i still believe there is a consensus that separates good games from bad ones.

P.S: Thanks for the image, i will use that image sometimes to silence some rabid Zelda fanboys. xD
 
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protonion said:
Botw is the mgs5 of the series.
There is a solid foundation but they failed to make a good game out of it.

The perfect scores are one of the many failures of gaming journalism.


6/10, no more.
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the fun parts of old LOZ games were the dungeons. They were also rather open world-ish.

havent played botw but if it is designed like mgs5, i dont see how it should get those raved reviews.
 
the game been praised for its design. it done many open world element right. but other than that like enemy variety, shrine etc is indeed lacking. surely it wont be easy as recycled asset is common for open world game due to its size and the game still took 5 years to develop.

for sequel i hope they improve the combat. it has decent hit weight, box and responsiveness but the overall system is feels too barebone. some of boss fight for example for each divine beast feels more like solving a puzzle, than engaging in a combat.
 
Neil Young said:
For those that consider BOTW a great game, what do you think it does better than the modern Assassin Creed games?

To me, BOTW does nothing better. In the Creed games there's an actual story, the graphics are incredible and diverse, and you're actually rewarded for your exploration with unique items that DON'T break. I get that you can play with the physics and tackle some situations differently in Zelda, but I can hang off Zeus' dong and slide down a pyramid in Creed.
Click to expand...
Just about everything
 
TheMooMan said:
I think BOTW is a very good game. Not a great game, but a solid 8/10.

As a Zelda game? It sucks.
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it's a horrendous Zelda game. It's a really interesting completely different kind of game, though.

It's not what I want in an open world game, because to me there's very little buy in to the "world" itself. But what it is, what defines it, is in many ways the antithesis of the best Zelda games. Which I found very, very disappointing. But I'd much rather play it than Death Stranding. So, that's something?
 
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What annoyed me most was "The art of silence." and the complete lack of story. :pie_eyeroll:

Let the tools do the talking, comrade! (n)
 
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It's a funny one because although I agree with all the points, I still think it's a fantastic game. There's something that keeps pulling me back in.

Plus, the korok seeds are not meant to be the main game (IMO).
I see them more as a little incentive to look under "that rock over there that looks a bit out of place" or climb to the top of "that mountain over there".

Shrines are great because they act as a fast-travel point, but there's a little challenge - you don't just get them for free.

Also I did find the perishable weapons annoying at first, but it also adds a sense of danger in situations where you have limited weapons and you need to find a way to avoid them. I haven't completed it yet but I can imagine there's a much bigger sense of achievement in finding the Master Sword compared to if you'd just received it for free near the beginning.

Finally, most of the stuff is beyond me but people using the physics engine to do all sorts of crazy stuff just shows how good and well-rounded the engine is.

Not sure I'd want a sequel in the same style but the only Zelda I've enjoyed to the same extent is Wind Waker and that is semi open-world (if you can call the ocean connecting different islands "open world").
 
It's an 8/10 game with some glaring flaws that are gonna be recognized only when the sequel is gonna fix them.
 
First was the abysmal frame rate.
Abysmal if we are generous (and in dock mode too).
Second shock was when weapons started breaking.
After 4 hours of pushing myself to like it i finally didnt touch it again
 
Best Open World I've ever played. Before, Morrowing was my favorite, but since I got BOTW, fuck that. It's sheer joy just wandering around the landscape.


Before that I had the horrible experience of playing Horizon Zero Dawn. After playing it, my gaming habits went to shit (not exaggerating). I felt every game was the same, amazing presentation but fucking boring to play. One year later I decide to get a Switch and eventually got Zelda, and HOLY FUCK, I was in love.

It has its problems yeah, but sincerely Nintendo pulled me back into gaming again because of this game and Fire Emblem. For now, I simply find all other games from other platforms boring as fuck.
 
JLB said:
Indeed. If this game were made by [INSERT_ALMOST_ANY_COMPANY_OTHER THAN_NINTENDO], it would be in the 7s.
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I love BOTW but yes you're right. The gaming press is riddled with soyboys who inflate anything made by nintendo. Most of the gaming "journalists" in america grew up with nintendo and have their nostalgia goggles on when reviewing ninty games, this is even worse whan they review anything Mario or Zelda.

RoyalLaFlame said:
Best Open World I've ever played. Before, Morrowing was my favorite, but since I got BOTW, fuck that. It's sheer joy just wandering around the landscape.


Before that I had the horrible experience of playing Horizon Zero Dawn. After playing it, my gaming habits went to shit (not exaggerating). I felt every game was the same, amazing presentation but fucking boring to play. One year later I decide to get a Switch and eventually got Zelda, and HOLY FUCK, I was in love.

It has its problems yeah, but sincerely Nintendo pulled me back into gaming again because of this game and Fire Emblem. For now, I simply find all other games from other platforms boring as fuck.
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Yeah the atmosphere is amazing in BOTW, it really managed to suck me in its world, something most games fail to do imo. But the OP has some valid points, if they adress most of these points, BOTW2 will really be one of the GOATs.
 
Marcus Aurelius said:
Yeah the atmosphere is amazing in BOTW, it really managed to suck me in its world, something most games fail to do imo. But the OP has some valid points, if they adress most of these points, BOTW2 will really be one of the GOATs.
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True that. I don't disagree with the OP at all, I don't find them as bothersome as some, but they're still valid points.


I have a feeling BOTW2 will fix that and will be even better.
 
Zog said:
It's like to call it The Elder Scrolls: Zelda Edition and that's not a compliment.
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The Zelda Scrolls?

I disagree, op, your image does not include all that is bad about BotW. Let me add:
Loot based (i.e. busy work) upgrades
Excessively repeated battle shrines that all play exactly the same
Random shit like rain hindering your progress for no good reason.
 
SlimySnake said:
9M3OtDS.gif


I cant believe gaf almost let this overrated trash get to the final bracket. I thought we were supposed to be more enlightened than the cunts over at era. This game is at best the Uncharted Drake's Fortune and Assassins Creed 1 of video games. The sequel that fixes all those issues above shouldve gotten all those accolades, but noooo Nintendo makes the greatest games of all time every time until their sequels come out and they become the greatest of all time.

Odyssey with a metacritic of 98 is hysterical. Horizon with 89 metacritic won more gotys than Mario that year. what a joke.
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Horizon is a pretty borefest though. While Odyssey is not even a top 5 Mario game probably, it's still very fun. I'd give it an 89 (and Horizon a 79).
 
I have a jailbroken Switch so I modded the game so weapons don't break anymore and you cannot slip anymore when it rains. That made the game actually fun and I put around 80hrs into it after abandoning it shortly after launch mostly because the weapons were annoying as fuck.

I won't bother with BOTW 2 if weapons break again that fast.
 
Only by playing it on Cemu and modding stuff did it actually be a decent game.

My Switch copy is in the dumpster where it belongs.
 
MilkLizard said:
I have a jailbroken Switch so I modded the game so weapons don't break anymore and you cannot slip anymore when it rains. That made the game actually fun and I put around 80hrs into it after abandoning it shortly after launch mostly because the weapons were annoying as fuck.

I won't bother with BOTW 2 if weapons break again that fast.
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I don't mind the weapons breaking, especially when the master sword is "unbreakable". And maybe other rare weapons should be unbreakable too.

But fck, the climbing when it rains absolutely sucks. The should've added some anti slip gear or something. They could've solved this issue easily.
 
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