Zelda: Breath of the Wild [WU,NX]

[Sigfried1977]

Zelda must be a blast to play, because watching videos I see many things that would be heavily criticized in other games but here, they are treated as non issues.
Subpar graphics, subpar music, recycled story, recyced setting, no proper voice acting, no proper mocap, no proper character development, no proper sidequests, strange enemy design.
On the other hand there is very complex but aproachable gameplay mechanics, loots, weapons, outfits, physics, dynamic weather which are great but not exclusive to this title. And yet they are praised as newly invented and original.
I want to belive that reviews are not nostalgia driven and I hope I will get chance to verify it myself.
I just want to understand....

You basically answered your own question: Zelda has always been about a bunch of finely crafted mechanics. Not about arbitrary check lists. It's not ashamed of what it is: a bloody video game. Besides, half of your complaints are hella subjective anyways. The music in particular is just wonderful if you ask me, and while the visuals won't win any technical awards, they are nowhere near bad enough to distract from the experience. Heck, if you play it using handheld mode, they are actually pretty damn amazing to behold. And who the hell complains about mocap in a cartoon world, and what does strange enemy design even mean?

 

[Florin]

Not overly impressed by the new Nintendo Zelda game, totally overrated. FFXV and Horizon are that much better. The FAKE game media is clearly biased. Sad! Nintendo should give up and sell to Microsoft!

YES! Finally someone who dares to say what ordinary folks think! Make Sega Great A.. aw fk it I can't do this.


Here's Digitalfoundry Wii U vs Switch instead.

 

[Entropy]

Zelda must be a blast to play, because watching videos I see many things that would be heavily criticized in other games but here, they are treated as non issues.
Subpar graphics, subpar music, recycled story, recyced setting, no proper voice acting, no proper mocap, no proper character development, no proper sidequests, strange enemy design.
On the other hand there is very complex but aproachable gameplay mechanics, loots, weapons, outfits, physics, dynamic weather which are great but not exclusive to this title. And yet they are praised as newly invented and original.
I want to belive that reviews are not nostalgia driven and I hope I will get chance to verify it myself.
I just want to understand....

Well, I'm a PC gamer, and I have kept an up to snuff PC for gaming purposes for the last couple of decades plus. Mouse aim has wormed itself from my cortex into my genes. I have no Zelda nostalgia whatsoever.
Still, I'm enjoying the new Zelda immensely.
Mostly it is about atmosphere. The sense of freedom, open horizons, freedom to solve problems, but also to fail.
I wrote yesterday about my struggles to get apples. Well, since then I discovered that you can't paraglide infinite distances (stamina limited), so after crashlanding to my horrible Death, I tried again, but with the idea that I could stop partway down and climb to a ledge for a rest and then fly again. Only it was raining, and it turned out that rain makes the cliffs go slick, so steep inclines can no longer be safely climbed! Thus I slid to my ignoble demise by drowning.... You simply have to discover these things. And it is delightful.
Although I don't want to spoil too much, I was frustrated that I couldn't fish for food. There was a bit in the beginning which made me feel that I might have missed my chance of being introduced to fishing, because I was reduced to trying to catch them with my hands. Or shoot them with the bow, but that felt a bit wasteful of arrows. Still, it was possible. I kept an eye out for signs of fishing or fishermen to get introduced to the true mechanics of fishing, but then an evil thought grabbed me and I tried fishing with dynamite - and it worked! Yiihaa! There is a freedom of problem solving which I feel I've only really started to explore.
Also, I have to take issue with "no proper character development". The freedom from stats and levels (and the grind to raise them) is a liberation. You don't have to fight anything to level up. Live and let live if you so choose, the game won't punish you for not killing off every mob you see. There are also areas that are simply peaceful, where you can muck about watching the scenery, pick flowers, try to tame a horse or catch tasty frogs to eat. It avoids feeling too sparse while still not having a ridiculous monster density. The world feels more balanced than just about all PC/multiplatform RPGs. Not truly liveable of course, but it creates the atmosphere of a world where people can have everyday life.

And just because humans aren't mocapped doesn't mean that the animations of horses cantering, cranes taking off and so on aren't very very well done.
It's a cartoon tale - with beauty, wonder and violence. It doesn't try to do (alternate) reality. It lets you live the inside of a tale. There's a difference, and you can feel it.

 

[szymku]

No doubt it's a great game. But is it a greatest game of all time (a game to end all games ) as metascore suggest? Would it appeal to everybody? That what perfect score should imply - the game doesn't have to be without minor flaws, but it should appeal to almost all gamers. In recent years there was IMHO only two titles that deserved perfect score - GTA V and the TLoU. Should Zelda BotW be the third?

 

[Picao84]

No doubt it's a great game. But is it a greatest game of all time (a game to end all games ) as metascore suggest? Would it appeal to everybody? That what perfect score should imply - the game doesn't have to be without minor flaws, but it should appeal to almost all gamers. In recent years there was IMHO only two titles that deserved perfect score - GTA V and the TLoU. Should Zelda BotW be the third?

Well for someone who talks about generalisation of scores, you do mention two games that I personally don't find anything special. I have a strong dislike for anything GTA and although I liked TLoU I think it was as hyped up as this Zelda game you accused of the same. FFXV is the only game in recent memory which I played a lot and still did not get tired of it. Even then, it has its flaws, but left me wanting more much more than TLoU did (by the end of TLoU I just wanted to finish it quickly and move to another game, story was so cliché and predictable it hurt). The only reason why I have not started NG+ is because I lent my PS4 to a friend so he can play it as well!

 

[szymku]

Well for someone who talks about generalisation of scores, you do mention two games that I personally don't find anything special. I have a strong dislike for anything GTA and although I liked TLoU I think it was as hyped up as this Zelda game you accused of the same.

That's why I added "IMHO" and "almost all gamers". To add credibility to my opinion. .

 

[Picao84]

That's why I added "IMHO" and "almost all gamers". To add credibility to my opinion. .

The difference being that I never went to the forum thread of those games to put such a question to people who are enjoying the game, especially having not played the game at all!!

 

[orangpelupa]

Well, I'm a PC gamer, and I have kept an up to snuff PC for gaming purposes for the last couple of decades plus. Mouse aim has wormed itself from my cortex into my genes. I have no Zelda nostalgia whatsoever.
Still, I'm enjoying the new Zelda immensely.
Mostly it is about atmosphere. The sense of freedom, open horizons, freedom to solve problems, but also to fail.
I wrote yesterday about my struggles to get apples. Well, since then I discovered that you can't paraglide infinite distances (stamina limited), so after crashlanding to my horrible Death, I tried again, but with the idea that I could stop partway down and climb to a ledge for a rest and then fly again. Only it was raining, and it turned out that rain makes the cliffs go slick, so steep inclines can no longer be safely climbed! Thus I slid to my ignoble demise by drowning.... You simply have to discover these things. And it is delightful.
Although I don't want to spoil too much, I was frustrated that I couldn't fish for food. There was a bit in the beginning which made me feel that I might have missed my chance of being introduced to fishing, because I was reduced to trying to catch them with my hands. Or shoot them with the bow, but that felt a bit wasteful of arrows. Still, it was possible. I kept an eye out for signs of fishing or fishermen to get introduced to the true mechanics of fishing, but then an evil thought grabbed me and I tried fishing with dynamite - and it worked! Yiihaa! There is a freedom of problem solving which I feel I've only really started to explore.
Also, I have to take issue with "no proper character development". The freedom from stats and levels (and the grind to raise them) is a liberation. You don't have to fight anything to level up. Live and let live if you so choose, the game won't punish you for not killing off every mob you see. There are also areas that are simply peaceful, where you can muck about watching the scenery, pick flowers, try to tame a horse or catch tasty frogs to eat. It avoids feeling too sparse while still not having a ridiculous monster density. The world feels more balanced than just about all PC/multiplatform RPGs. Not truly liveable of course, but it creates the atmosphere of a world where people can have everyday life.

And just because humans aren't mocapped doesn't mean that the animations of horses cantering, cranes taking off and so on aren't very very well done.
It's a cartoon tale - with beauty, wonder and violence. It doesn't try to do (alternate) reality. It lets you live the inside of a tale. There's a difference, and you can feel it.

that.... does not sound like a zelda game.

so ill probabbly like this one!

 

[szymku]

The difference being that I never went to the forum thread of those games to put such a question to people who are enjoying the game, especially having not played the game at all!!

Belive me, you weren't but others did. But fair enough. Have fun.

 

[Picao84]

Belive me, you weren't but others did. But fair enough. Have fun.

Oh, I do believe. I just find it sad that you opt to do the same just "because".

 

[szymku]

Oh, I do believe. I just find it sad that you opt to do the same just "because".

And now you are suggesting that I am trying to spoil the fun coming from the game, because I am petty little person from the interweb... Which is not true. I am convinced the game is very, very good.

I am simply curious how it is the best game ever? And because I feel little bit of hostilty coming from you, I also would like to point out that when you are on the top, you should face some critique, some questions.

 

[Picao84]

Subpar graphics, subpar music, recycled story, recyced setting, no proper voice acting, no proper mocap, no proper character development, no proper sidequests, strange enemy design.
On the other hand there is very complex but aproachable gameplay mechanics, loots, weapons, outfits, physics, dynamic weather which are great but not exclusive to this title. And yet they are praised as newly invented and original.

Well, when you start your "topic" with affirmations like this, without having played the game at all (neither did I by the way) it is easy to see your comment as "trashing" the game. Plus, instead of starting of like that and asking about the game, why don't you try it out by yourself before writing those things?

 

[szymku]

Well, when you start your "topic" with affirmations like this, without having played the game at all (neither did I by the way) it is easy to see your comment as "trashing" the game. Plus, instead of starting of like that and asking about the game, why don't you try it out by yourself before writing those things?

Please, feel free to challange my "affirmations" if you think they are false

 

[Picao84]

Please, feel free to challange my "affirmations" if you think they are false

Nah, I fed the troll enough already, although I didn't quite understand why you put quote marks on "affirmations". You do know the word exists? Unlike "challange"

 

[RenegadeRocks]

Saw some videos of ppl playing.....definitely seems like my kindof game. A lot of discovering how to do things and finding puzzles that seems special.But yea gfx are a bit too low for this time, but I guess if we treat this as a handheld game then the equation changes.
Wish I could play it. :-/

Sent from my SM-N920G using Tapatalk

 

[Deleted member 11852]

Saw some videos of ppl playing.....definitely seems like my kindof game. A lot of discovering how to do things and finding puzzles that seems special.But yea gfx are a bit too low for this time, but I guess if we treat this as a handheld game then the equation changes. Wish I could play it. :-/

You can't, so there! Get back to the Horizon and kill some robot dinosaurs!

I had a quick 20 minutes in the opening area this morning - just to 'test' my Switch! It feels really good.

 

[szymku]

Nah, I fed the troll enough already, although I didn't quite understand why you put quote marks on "affirmations". You do know the word exists? Unlike "challange"

Always good to have a nice chat with a polite person.
Once again, have fun.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Would it appeal to everybody?

That's a nonsense concept. There's no anything that appeals to everybody, or even most people. Find me 100 million people who think such-and-such is a great film/book/food/game/song, and I'll find you 100 million who don't.

That what perfect score should imply - the game doesn't have to be without minor flaws, but it should appeal to almost all gamers. In recent years there was IMHO only two titles that deserved perfect score

Naw. A near perfect score, a near perfect game, is one that executes at the pinnacle of its genre. As open world's go, it sounds like ZBotW is doing just this by being open and systems based. Although there should be incredible polish and quality as well. Most importantly, scores are subjective based on the reviewer and ultimately reflect whether the player had 'fun'. Just enjoying the game is enough for one to rate it 10/10.

 

[ChasinTheTrane]

I'm always conflicted over what a "perfect" score means. If a developer creates an RPG that checks off all of the marks of what makes it inspiring and great in that genre, it does not mean that everyone will like it, but that is likely a good way to measure whether you like the genre.

Another example is the NBA 2K series, which is incredible if you're a basketball fan, but you wouldn't appreciate it if you don't care for sports games.

 

[BRiT]

So from what I read and have seen in the videos, this is a more complex Zelda than those of the past. I am left with the following question, "Is this a game young kids can play and enjoy?" I'm asking about the same age of kids who typically have a 3DS. To me, this seems more of a game for older folks, like teenagers to adults. Is that assessment offbase?