tried to sum up that podcast because it keeps getting brought up and makes some really good points. so since it's about zelda austin does most of the talking and comparing and it should be noted that he didn't like horizon as much as the other host patrick (?) who thought the game was excellent with a few flaws. there are so many points being made so it's long but it was a really good discussion.
-horizon is a great game but the potential it showed is a bit larger than what it ended up living up to. laid a great foundation for a sequel
-larger story is great, feels like that's the highest point of praise. the things that it explores are really deep and interesting
-there are some bad exposition dumps, thought there had to be a way to do that better
-the game world feels a tad restricting for how inviting it seems. little things like aloy being incredibly acrobatic but not being able to walk over a small curb.
-aloy is great
-there's a moment with aloy at the end that's great and is a moment of the year contender
-wanted the world to feel more organic with more interaction between stuff like observing enemies fighting each other etc. "it's very rare that you find the world systemically interacting with one another". feels like when that itch was scratched it was because the game was scripting it to happen.
-horizon vs. zelda is like digital vs. analog (understands that's a weak analogy that won't hold up to scrutiny)
-in horizon you do the things the game wants you to do; specified walls to climb with predetermined route etc. vs. in zelda you can climb essentially anything you want and find your own path. the feeling of "I bet I can do this" and then being able to do it is greater in zelda.
-every impulse of exploration in zelda has been rewarded; scratching all the itches
-last zelda austin beat was MM
-would rate botw very high; ~12 hours in
-says this zelda feels like a new sub-genre to open world games. brings up witcher 3 in one corner, assassin's creed/ubi stuff in another, bioware type stuff in another, and says zelda feels like another distinct thing. hadn't seen exploration like this in the open world space outside of stuff like minecraft.
-playing zelda and horizon back to back made him realize that maybe open world fatigue isn't actually a thing and we as gamers should make the harder conclusion of zooming in and realizing that specific game isn't executing
-you're always going to be discovering things between objectives; world is filled with little environmental puzzles; encourages you to take notice of all of your surroundings
-shrines scratch the dungeon itch
-compares shrines to Nintendo's take on Portal levels; many "aha" moments
-very cool story mechanic thing, can't talk about it
-game is difficult; enemy ai is good; has died a lot; didn't die as much in horizon
-compares game to far cry; describes scenario where he was low on health and needed to get to a place, comes across a bokoblin camp and doesn't want to directly engage, finds a boulder, lifts boulder with magnet, searches for the right spot/angle to drop it, and drops it on an explosive barrel and blows the camp up.
-stuff like the above makes the story telling feel more connected to the player; zelda games the story is usually told to the the player, this is the player making his/her own story. horizon doesn't allow for player stories as much, not what it's going for though.
-combat/design in horizon doesn't push you to be creative, only a few fights where you are forced to utilize your full skill set. easy to become habitual.
-zelda pushes you to improvise a lot
-weapon degradation is cool. when you engage in combat early on you're committing to something breaking but you typically leave that combat encounter with better gear. save good gear for more significant fights/scenarios. the game does push you to use your better gear though.
-different weapon types have strengthens and weaknesses; sledge hammer is good for breaking up ore, axe for chopping trees, move set in combat, etc.
-there are special weapons for doing certain things
-enjoys cooking; very intuitive with how you combine items to make a dish
-npc interactions are great in zelda. contrasts with horizon where he wasn't excited about seeing people out and about like in zelda.
-zelda conveys both the warmth and the terror of a studio ghibli film.
-feeling of wonder and mystery in zelda; contrasts with some other open world games where you get the objective and do the objective without feeling like doing anything else in between
-has been using the screenshot function a lot which is indicative of it being a good game
then they swerve to Switch talk overall but I think they answer some more Zelda realted questions at the end so here's the podcast link
https://waypoint.vice.com/en_us/art...-the-wild-first-impressions-on-waypoint-radio
