The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (2017)

So I managed to get the 120th shrine (with some help of an online map, who would have thought that they would put a torch lighting puzzle in the middle of the desert near a molduga? ) and went through the middle trials of the sword. Now I need to get the final trials, hyrule shield, royal armour, and banish ganon once and for all before taking a little break to start TotK.

I think I'm overstaying in this game though, I just reached the point when I go fight a silver lynel because I'm bored and try to finish it without receiving any hits. So a good time I guess for a final challenge, and wrapping up.

One shrine left to finally start my journey into TotK.

during this walkthrough I have noticed oh so many beautiful details. One is the soundtrack, thanks to mostly playing the game with headphones. So many little tunes that I never noticed before but that are a candy to my ears.

Another one that I really, really never noticed before but I think I should have is the weather fading. Going from snowing to not-snowing always has a rain zone in between. Almost imperceptible but that kind of subtle details are one of the things that made this game really special.

I will miss it, I think, and it's a bit sad in the larger picture that my last playthrough is trying to 100% it as fast as possible.

Before Breath of the Wild, I would have told you that Zelda was in a rut. Skyward Sword underwhelmed me for reasons that I'll dive into whenever I give that game another proper replay. To quickly illustrate my feelings though--Skyward Sword's motion controls were billed as being the gateway to a more immersive experience. Ironically, though, I can't think of a less immersive mainline Zelda game than Skyward Sword. Whether it's battling its overused motion controls, putting up with the irritating hand-holding or navigating its linear levels, it felt like the game was constantly trying to pull me out of the experience, making it hard for me to love despite some of the things it did do well.

From the very first game, Zelda has always been at its best when it offers a genuine sense of adventure and the freedom to explore a vast, interconnected world. While Nintendo did gradually introduce more structure and linearity after the first game, the essence of what made Zelda great remained. But Skyward Sword felt like the first time where the amount of guidance made it feel like less of an adventure and more like a theme park ride. I don't say all of this to discount anyone's feelings if they like Skyward Sword, but to give context on my own feelings leading into Breath of the Wild's release. What the former game offered just wasn't what I look for in a Zelda game.

It didn't help that November 2011 was also the release month of a little game called The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. To me, Skyrim epitomized everything I wanted in an action-adventure game. Despite its many flaws and technical issues, Skyrim immersed the heck out of me when Skyward Sword could not. Why? Its world simply oozed with atmosphere, and its naturalistic environments made it more than a simple game level--it was a place I could hang out in.

I still recall a particular shot from a Twilight Princess beta area shown in trailers, featuring an expansive, open forest that resembled an actual forest rather than the corridor-like environments we ended up with in the final game's forest areas.

This image stayed with me because I think it was the first time I thought: Wouldn't a Zelda game with more open, natural-feeling environments be amazing?

When Breath of the Wild was first teased in 2014, it was obvious that Nintendo was doing a hard U-turn. The first image we were ever given of Breath of the Wild shows a massive, seamless open world with no apparent barriers. To me, this was an absolute dream come true, and when the game came out in 2017, I wasn't disappointed.

I often hear things from people along the lines of "Breath of the Wild doesn't feel like a Zelda game." This feels like an obvious thing to say to me, because that was absolutely the intent of the developers. In 2014, Eiji Aonuma said, "This is a clean break from the conventions of past games in the Zelda series," and it really shows. Breath of the Wild completely dumps the formula pioneered by A Link to the Past and Ocarina of Time, creating a new one that still honors the core philosophy of the original Legend of Zelda.

I LOVED Breath of the Wild. It was easily my game of the year for 2017. I finally had a Zelda world that was not only immersive, but also perpetually engaging. Even after finishing the story, I felt compelled to keep exploring, knowing I would always be rewarded with a shrine, a korok seed or even something as simple as a breathtaking view. In Breath of the Wild, every play session is like a little adventure, where you blaze your own path from one objective to the next. The tools you are given to navigate the world are so implicitly fun that I could literally set off in a random direction and have a blast for hours.

I enjoy hiking from time to time, and Breath of the Wild triggers this same part of my brain that goes off when I'm outdoors. Many years ago, I went to Joshua Tree National Park in California and did a pretty challenging hike up to Ryan Mountain. You go up 1,050 feet (320m for my non-Yankee friends) in elevation over just 1.5 miles, through some pretty tough terrain. Despite the mild winter weather on the ground, there was snow on the higher elevations of the mountain. At one point, it was so slippery that I had to get on my hands and knees to keep going. When I made it, I was rewarded with an insanely good view that made me feel like I was on top of the world. But I didn't do it for the view--the experience of the hike itself was the real adventure.

This feeling of traversal, the challenge of getting from point A to point B, is what Breath of the Wild absolutely nails. In its tutorial section, which serves as a microcosm of the wider game, there is a shrine up on a snowy mountain that you can reach by climbing up a steep mountainside, or by finding a way to the other side of a treacherous freezing river. Along the way you are sure to run into dangerous enemy camps, and you have to worry about making sure you are protected from the cold. Reaching that objective feels truly satisfying, not just because you followed the game's direction but because you relied on your own navigational skills to overcome the obstacles in your path.

I ended up clocking over 200 hours in the first year after its release, a number that strikes me as astronomical in comparison to any other Zelda game. I loved the shrine puzzles and how they gave you a break from the overworld experience. I loved the Divine Beasts and how they are Shadow of the Colossus-inspired spectacles. I loved the weapon durability system and how it makes you constantly have to think about being prepared for enemy encounters. I loved the characters, especially Princess Zelda. I loved the way the story is told through fragmented pieces that you have to stitch together to understand the events that led up to the Calamity. I loved the lonely, solemn atmosphere of this post-apocalyptic Hyrule. I loved the music and how ambient and atmospheric it is while still serving some bombast and memorable melodies during cutscenes. If you had asked me in 2017, I don't think I could have found a single flaw in this game. 6 years later, though, I think time has definitely shown me a few of this game's flaws.

I replayed the game over 2 weeks, and clocked another 30 or so hours. I wasn't aiming for full completion, but instead was doing a three-heart challenge run in Master Mode. In that time, I completed all four Divine Beasts, 34 shrines and found 79 Korok Seeds. Only having three hearts was a nice challenge, and it forced me to really rely on scavenging and cooking, even moreso than in my original Master Mode playthrough. The final boss fight felt a little bit like a Dark Souls boss in how I had to learn its patterns perfectly, since one hit meant certain death.

After completing the game, I still feel like I could keep going, but I'm putting it down to have some decompression time before Tears of the Kingdom comes out. In 2023, I still feel like Breath of the Wild is a modern-day magnum opus for Eiji Aonuma and crew, even if Tears of the Kingdom promises to make it look puny in comparison. The game's flaws are apparent--Elden Ring highlighted Breath of the WIld's lacking enemy variety and the homogeneity of its mini-dungeons. I still enjoyed the Divine Beasts, but they don't scratch the same itch as proper Zelda dungeons, and the standardization of their visual style, goals and mechanics feels more disappointing in retrospect. The inventory UI can also be a little clunky. But these are tiny sections of a much bigger game, and Breath of the Wild still easily earns its 5-star rating from me.

Would I be sad if we never see a new "traditional" Zelda game again? Honestly, no. There are aspects of older Zelda games I would like to see return--I would like to see bigger, more complex dungeons again, as well as more unique items in the same vein as the Hookshot, Iron Boots, Spinner or Beetle. And while I liked Breath of the Wild's non-linear storytelling approach, I would also like to see a slightly more linear story that takes place in the present. But if we get some of these things within the broader Breath of the Wild formula, I would be perfectly happy. The classic Zelda formula was fantastic, but I want the series to continue to evolve and become a better version of itself for future games.

Playing everything from the original Legend of Zelda through to The Wind Waker earlier this year was a nice exercise, and I'm hoping to return to the marathon and play through the rest of the series after this summer's whirlwind of game releases. I think Majora's Mask may still edge out Breath of the Wild in my rankings due to its atmosphere and nostalgia, but I can't deny the latter's excellence. I was initially unsure about skipping forward to replay it, but I'm glad I did. Now that it's fresh in my mind, I can confidently say that Tears of the Kingdom has big shoes to fill. And if it can build upon the foundation that Breath of the Wild set, I have no doubt that it will be an incredible game in its own right.

Breath of the Wild is a game that has been hailed as a masterpiece, the best Zelda game ever, the greatest open world game ever, etc. I first bought it when I got my Switch in 2020, but it didn't vibe with me then so I didn't get far. I tried to play it again in 2021, and same thing. Same in 2022.

But because one of my best friends loves this game, and because I generally love Zelda games, I wanted to try it again. And this time, I finally beat the game. I'm glad I got through it, but I'm also not sure that it's a game I loved. To be clear, it's a very good game! It's got an expansive world, a lot of things to do, a cool fighting system and equipment system that are really unique for the Zelda franchise, etc. But a lot of the things that people love about the game are also things I struggle with.

Let's start with the expansive world. It is massive, which is cool. There is so much to explore, so many things to stumble across. You have Koroks, Shrines, and all kinds of enemies and treasure. On the flip-side, though, it feels almost too big and, frankly, too empty a lot of the time. Without a horse, getting around feels like a chore. Finding shrines, even with the ping for them, can feel like a real challenge. And Koroks are mostly things you stumble across randomly. And the problem with Koroks is that the rewards (increased inventory) are incredibly powerful, but it can be very hard to find them all.

The equipment system is also something I get, and I liked aspects of, but also really hated. You can keep a lot of different types of weapons for different kinds of combat. That is awesome. But the equipment breaking so easily was a huge hassle... especially bows, but even with swords. I got annoyed how much time I spent managing that. Same with food/health - I spent way too much time just cooking food and collecting it, and it got so tiresome.

Finally, I have to talk about the shrines and the dungeons. The dungeon puzzles were almost all trivially easy. A few were slightly more difficult... but only slightly. Same with the dungeons. Unfortunately, that was because there just were not that many game mechanics you could use for the puzzles. But the result was something that felt very unlike a Zelda game, where the puzzles were often a highlight of the game. The puzzle of the game felt more like it was about getting around and learning how to fight. And for many, that's not a bad thing. But for me, it got very tiresome getting one-hit KOed and having to learn from it.

Is Breath of the Wild a fantastic game? Yes, I can fully understand that. But for me, it just didn't do it. And I know full well that I am in the minority. I'd probably give this a 3.5/5 if I had the ability on here. But I think it's slightly closer to 3 than to 4, so that's what the 3-star rating reflects.

There's a series of quests in BOTW in which you are tasked with collecting wood. A lot of wood. Frankly, ludicrously large quantities of wood. At first I started cutting down tress with my axe, but this was slow and weapon degradation forced me to stop every now and then. Eventually I realised that bombs take out trees so I started indiscriminately bombing entire forests. I had become death, destroyer of trees.

It was at that moment I noticed that, even thought the game had dressed with a vaguely environmental message, at its core it celebrated pure extractivism.

Cutting trees for kindling, killing animals for meat, domesticating wild horses until they succumb to your will. Look away from the nature-loving heroes and the mechanical enemies and the game is all about a tiny guy squeezing the environment for all it's got.

What's worse, cut every single tree in Hyrule and the lush forests will respawn the next day as if nothing happened. This game's natural world as an unlimited source of resources.
This sits at the core of extractivism and environmental denialism: the environment is essentially inexhaustible so we don't need to worry about it.

Of course, I don't think the developers set up to embody this philosophy; neither I think this is the only game to do so. This is simply the consequence of the mechanics of the game. Natural resources cannot be made finite without infinitely annoying the player or forcing a short playthrough.
A game designed for endless exploration requires endless resources.

I'm not the first to notice this dark underbelly. This article, for example, describes a similar experience to mine and in the comments reach the conclusion that this game " is built to reward destructive behavior".

I also don't know what the solution is.

But anyway, the game is fantastic; an absolute masterpiece.

Lana: Ok, I've almost 100-percented this game on my first playthrough and I have to say it is one of the best games I've ever played. There's just so much to do and to discover. You literally walk around in some forest area and you stumble upon some weird ass enemy or item you've never seen before and your sense of wonder gets immediately activated. Honestly the beginning especially made me feel like I was a kid playing videogames again, everything seemed like it had something to hide (as it usually did), which made exploring really fun. The shrine puzzles are each cool and unique in their own way, the tests of strength were also fun in my opinion (and scary in the beginning!). Koroks are so freaking adorable, just finding another random stone laying somewhere and thinking ''I KNOW there's a korok under there'' was loads of fun!!! The overwhelming sensation of wonder and exploration does decrease a little eventually but nonetheless this game is definitely worth playing if you haven't yet!! If you don't wanna play this game idk whats wrong with you. 9.55/10

Rodrigo: This was my 3.5th playthrough of BOTW and honestly it still doesn't get old. I lost track of the times I found something new during this playthrough. It's truly an amazing piece of art that transcends gaming as a whole and the only thing I can say is about how fucking excited I am for the sequel. And if you didn't play this game yet honestly ill fuckin arrive in your house and slam your head down onto the switch with this game inserted and leave a path of destruction behind. 9.9999999999999999/10

p.s.: some fun pics of our playthrough (the shrine people look so scary wtf, dried up ass humans)

I love the Zelda series. It’s a series that has told so many stories that fully immerse you, and connect with you for a lifetime. I really can’t stress enough that every single main-line Zelda game is 3-5 stars for me (stress that I say main-line, ok). Personally, I do still think Ocarina of a Time is superior, I don’t care if you call me a biased fool, and you’re completely right, but hey, that isn’t discrediting this game.

Breath of the Wild fully develops its open-world with a massively gigantic map that I really wasn’t expecting to be this big. I do think this is my favorite Zelda art style, and the kind of simplistic landscapes don’t look bland, or boring, they look simply beautiful. Whether you’re building up Tarrey Town, or the plain desert of the Gerudo, no textures look ugly, and there’s no place that I really dislike at all.

Though Koroks are admittedly very, very annoying, there’s never a moment that’s boring, or something that feels like you’re unnecessarily grinding for something (sometimes). It doesn’t feel like Nintendo was trying to pad out the playtime on this game, but the game created a perfect way to invest player’s time into it.

Personally, the plot is obviously not the strongest, but when it tries to focus on the narrative (with flashbacks), man, there are some emotional moments that help you build a general bond with the Champions, and most importantly Zelda.

Freeing the Divine Beasts always looked kind of tedious to me, finding a map, then going to different places, then boom Ganon boss fight. But in that process, you get to explore a completely new area, with compelling characters (hmmm, Sidon) and unique building, and aesthetic designs. The Divine Beasts themselves start with an interesting puzzle, my favorite one is personally the Death Mountain one, then entering the Divine Beast (each of them having their extremely fun-sometimes a bit boring gimmicks/mechanics), and the Ganon boss fights can sometimes pose to be a challenge, even when you’re pretty developed.

I admit, some trials do feel a bit repetitive, but the good ones make you use intuitive gameplay and a combination of strategy and thinking. What I love is that I’ve seen a ton of people solve a trial that I faced one way, in a completely other way (though that mainly uses the Stasis and Cryonis, which can allow for a ton of different situations)!

The combat mechanics, are kind of simple, there’s no real mechanic that makes it stand out from any other Zelda game, except for of course the durability. Now, this is something that people really despise, but, though some weapons could last a bit longer, it adds to the suspense and tension, also, it’s not like you’re gonna run out of weapons anytime soon. Though the enemies you can basically kill the same way (except for maybe Lynels, Talus’s, and Guardians), stuff like the Guardians can be really satisfying if you pull of a perfect parry, or use the bombs in really cool ways.

The cooking, though maybe isn’t pivotal, is cute, just the little jingle while the ingredients pop up and down, then seeing what you make, it makes cooking entertaining, without centering a whole minigame or annoying time limit until you can get the food.

There are honestly, just so many attentions to detail, the idle animations, the horse riding, the paragliding, the Towers, the changes in Hyrule, so many references for Zelda fans, and a nearly perfect introduction to maybe new Zelda players.

My flaws with this game really come down to minor nitpicks. And when you say that about a game, you know you have a 10/10 game there. Yeah, stamina and weapon management can be annoying, yeah, horse riding should’ve been more fun, yeah, there should’ve been more of an emphasis on plot in certain moments. But man, this game makes up in those departments as well.

As far as the DLC go, I mean, mehhhh...Nothing really here is worthwhile as something that is a must. The Champion’s Ballad, Horse Armor, Korok Mask, Cosmetic Items, though fun, don’t add something that increases the quality of the game in a drastic amount. Stuff like The Trial of the Sword don’t really seem like an idea they wanted to put in here, just something that makes for some ok, but underwhelming DLC.

But, I mean, for the price, go get this game. Even if you aren’t into Zelda, even if you aren’t into Nintendo, hell, even if you aren’t into gaming as a whole, this is a perfect introduction. Also, don’t be a dick and force somebody to do The Divine Beasts in a specific order, or tell them to do the memories in a sequence, part of the fun is exploring Hyrule. The delays, the console change, all of it was worth it. The fact that this was a launch title is amazing.

PROS:

• Massive open world

• Beautiful art style

• Untedious completion

• Amazing flashbacks

• Fun puzzles

• Likeable characters

• Creative ways to complete trials

• Simplistic but fun combat

• Cute cooking

• Details that weren’t needed, but appreciated

CONS:

• Koroks can be annoying
• Often repetitive trials
• Stamina and weapon management
• A bit more plot emphasis would be nice
• Lackluster DLC

Played on Nintendo Switch, Accumulative 215 Hours, Bought on March 4, 2017.

So I'm sure every gamer knows Botw is one of the best games of our genre and has already begun influencing other open world games with it's very open world nature and rewarding of curiosity and exploration. It's one of the best Zelda games ever which says a lot. So I won't bore you with the accolades and go straight to the nitpicks.

Here are my nitpicks:

1. Weapons breaking - don't understand it, doesn't make sense
2. No new games plus mode - this would be awesome for zelda
3. Not built for the switch from the ground up - The graphics are nice don't get me wrong but if it wasn't built for wii U as well it could have looked as good as Mario Odyssey

But those are nitpicks. This is a groundbreaking almost perfect game. I would love to hear any other nitpicks people had while playing.

I've played and completed this game twice and i must say by the end of my second playthrough i was even more impressed with this game than the first time that i played it. BOTW is my sixth Zelda game after Link's Awakening, Ocarina Of Time, Majora's Mask, Link Between Worlds and A Link To The Past.

For such a long time Ocarina Of Time was my favourite out of all them. I loved that game a lot, for simple reasons such as the freedom that it gave the player and for the brilliance of the story, and the side quests... But Breath Of The Wild has replaced it as my favourite Zelda game and by quite the distance as well. BOTW took everything that i loved about Ocarina Of Time and made it way bigger and much better. A way bigger open world, a huge sense of freedom (looking at you Majora's Mask) and an awesome story. I will not be commenting on the story simply because i do not wish to spoil it to anyone that has not played it yet and is reading this review, instead i will be talking about other things in the game, such as mechanics and other aspects.

Part of why BOTW is such a great game is down to something new to the Zelda franchise and that is the gathering of materials. The gathering of materials to make elixirs, to make meals that replenish your health, to upgrade your clothing items and so on... This feature in my opinion was a game changer, it made a huge difference and honestly i simply loved it. It is a feature that the player needs and must take advantage of to conquer this game. This and many many other aspects introduced in BOTW made it a really really enjoyable experience. Things like the sheikah slate, the towers and many more are simply awesome.

Although i fully enjoyed the game and i loved it, and it is for me now the best Zelda game, there were just two minor things that i did not enjoy so much in the game. The first is, the rain... The damn rain! To me it felt like there was a lot of rain in the game's weather cycle. It seemed to me that it was raining almost everyday regardless of what area i found myself in (because that matters). Doing things in the rain was a task and half to be honest. Climbing and lighting fires. It was so bad that at items i just decided to stop whatever i'm doing until the rain passed. The second thing is the horses. The horses seemed to not like cooperation and to heed my directions even after filling the trust (or friendship meter). Sure, it was harder when the meter was low, but the problem persisted even when the bar was filled to the maximum. The problem was happening even after i scanned an amiibo and got Epona. Keep in mind that Epona has max stats, and the stubbornness persisted. I would be directing her to left but she'd continue moving straight only for her to end up on the base of some random mountain or even worse, fall of some broken bridge or into the valley head first to her death. The horse thing, was something i hoped they would patch up in some random update but that never happened.

But as i said these two things that i found annoying are very minor. I do not know if others agree with me or not, but they're things that i found not so good in an otherwise perfect game and like i said they're very much minor and small and do not by any shape or form define BOTW or what it's about. BOTW is an awesome and epic game that every Zelda fan should experience. I highly, and i can't stress this enough, highly recommend that you play it, if you're a Zelda fan and you're able to obtain it.

Breath of the Wild is probably the best rendition of nonlinear exploration in a 3D world I've had the benefit of playing so far, maybe even some of the best exploration structure and design in general. The way it encourages freeform make-your-own-story gameplay through its map design and incredibly deep Sheikah Slate systems that are arguably the best mechanical component of any Zelda game to date is something to be praised to hell and back. However that being said, it's still an incredibly messy game most likely due to how it had to re-contextualize a bunch of series staples into the massive freedom this game entails. The internet has really already summarized the base issues, but for clarity's sake I'll put my spin on each of them

• Endurance for weapons is a great incentive for on-the-fly decisionmaking but ends up meaning very little after about 20 hours in
• Shrines are a fantastic way to divy out rigid zelda puzzle design but just like rigid zelda puzzle design are still mostly fairly simple and uninteresting
• Divine Beasts are great dungeons in terms of structure with their forced consideration on the player to think of the whole dungeon in a 3d space but are incredibly easy to solve even by brute force
• It's surprisingly difficult in the beginning but has a huge reverse difficulty curve the more you explore, but at the very least this component is customizable depending on where you go.

With that out of the way, the physics system and exploration more than makes up for these pitfalls for a truly strong open world experience that will probably not be matched by a mainstream way for many years. (8/10)

Congratulations you finally caught up with all the other games, Nintendo. You finally broke past your over-done Zelda formula and tried something new and we appreciate it. You even put in voice acting sometimes! Claps for you. Sad to say that there are games who have been doing this for a decade already. I can't hate on the game too much (mainly because I'll probably be attacked for it) but I do have legitimate reasons why I couldn't give this five stars.

Pros:

• Great gameplay. The controls make sense and they aren't frustrating. You have to learn the movements of your enemies in order to defeat them, no more z-targeting only and hack and slash. I enjoy thinking about fighting.
• Beautiful world. I like running around this world! I love how seamlessly diverse all of these realms are. I never ran out of places to explore.
• Great characters. I actually appreciate that they made Zelda a little annoying! Finally she isn't this flawless untouchable princess; she's is flawed and is forced to learn from her mistakes and pitfalls. I liked the guardians as well.
• The shrines. I was impressed by the amount of variability and unique design each of the 80 (?) shrines had. I was ready for each of them to be exactly the same but they were all mostly different.

Cons:

• Was this game supposed to be challenging? Why is the final epic boss literally the easiest enemy I had to fight in the game? Sure I could have gone there with three hearts, no clothes and a shitty weapon and had a bad time, but I spent all this time getting good items, leveling up, and such that it seems ridiculous that I could be OP for the final boss. I leveled up so I could have a fun fight, but instead I felt like Ganon crushing the world. That just doesn't seem right.
• The story. Not a fan. I personally hate the kind of stories where you're told you're the hero right off the bat. "Good morning! You're the hero of time, here are three hearts and some pants! Go get 'em champ!" I like characters discovering their bravery and becoming the hero. It is so over done and boring that I wake up after 100 years and boom I'm a hero even though I have no memory. The memories were eh. I honestly got enough of the story through the cut scenes that were already in the game. I know the memories were optional, but personally they didn't bring anything more to the game.

This doesn't get five stars mostly because of the level of difficulty and I don't think it's that unique. Mazel tov Nintendo you made an open world RPG, but that's nothing new or unique. I didn't think the game play was that unique, I didn't think the world was extremely unique, and my overall experience wasn't unique. I think the most unique part of the game were the "dungeons" in the beasts. Those were awesome. But, I'm not going to shower a game with praise when they could have done this ten years ago.