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

For three decades, A Link to the Past has been my favorite Zelda game, but with Breath of the Wild, I finally found a Zelda game I like even better. In some ways, this game is a radical departure from previous Zelda games. Rather than being a relatively linear game focused on dungeons that contain a mixture of combat and puzzles, it is an open world game with dozens of small shrines containing (mostly) puzzles, while most combat takes place on the overworld. There are 4 medium-sized "dungeons," but, again, these contain mostly puzzles (quite interesting ones, actually), with little combat (beside their bosses). Part of me misses having traditional Zelda dungeons, but the different formula this game uses is executed so well that it doesn't really matter. It is simply a joy to explore this game's massive, beautiful world, and the freedom to do so in any order you want and to tackle challenges in a variety of ways gives it lots of replay value.

I do have a few minor gripes about the game. Weapons having limited uses and breaking during combat is annoying. Rain hindering you from climbing is annoying. And the forced stealth section in the Yiga hideout is frustrating.

Nevertheless, this game is overall fantastic. It is not only my new favorite Zelda game, it is one of my favorite games I have ever played.

I did not enjoy BOTW all too much initially. I still think it's one of the most overrated games of all time, but that's only because it is praised so extensively. It's still a more than decent game and here's my take on it:

First of all, I do not think BOTW should be considered the new benchmark for open world gaming. BOTW's open world is vast, and most of the space is empty, let that sink in. That cannot and never should be considered good open world design and it's scandalous that so many overlook that.

BOTW does very well in motivating you to explore it, though, and it did catch me on that point eventually. To make big worlds attractive to explore, movement within them has to be enjoyable as such, an essential accomplishment of the gta series with its car theft mechanic and cool radio stations. BOTW gives you the glider and moving from a tower towards a shrine flying or working your way towards a lifted point by a combination of climbing, flying and jumping simply is fun.

Climbing up a tower, although absolutely unnecessary in a strict more pragmatical sense of the game, always felt worth while. You only get a rather small reward for it, the map revelations, and that is more or less an intrinsic value of exploration itself. It sort of falls out of the monkey brain-gamified collect-reward work-success patterns, and it's admirable that it works.

One of the greatest accomplishments of BOTW is to become open world, but still not become a RPG. That would be so obvious by now. Not being able to improve your character gradually except for adding hearts but implementing the felt progress in other ways needs to be complimented. Zelda clings to its core action adventure gameplay, there's no gradual, sort of meaningless improvement like in TES but only benchmarky, strong progress points like strong weapons, new abilities and new armory. It's not modernizing itself but clings to its core gameplay, which is more daring than apparent imo.

That weapons are breakable was a simple but genius game design decision: by that, there's no linear improvement within your item slots but weapons are rather a ressource, and thus making it always fun to find one. And loot not as meaningless as it is in the most RPG games.

I love the shrines because they represent classical Zelda gameplay, room riddles, but in a more physical approach. They are often too easy but always fun for sure. The whole physics aspect creating a sort of small immersive sim aspect is also interesting, but not all to important over the course of the game.

I did not like the art style at first and it's a controversial point of the series since Wind Waker, but this is another admirable point as Zelda does not aim to please everybody but rather always takes a new aesthetic stance and take on itself. The Divine Beasts and the last Ganon form were a beautiful reminiscence of Shadow of the Colossus and damn beautiful and I will never forget them.

One last thing, I am not okay with still not being able to play Zelda in a game called Zelda. Fortunately, there'll be the first Zelda centered Zelda game, but why didn't I have the choice to play Zelda and save Link instead of playing Link and save Zelda in all the main entries up until now? We're in dire need of modernization there.

I'm this close to quitting. I don't seem to find anywhere to go where I don't find monsters that one-shot kill me. I'm just following the critical path, doing shrines along the way. Why are there lizards that shoot arrows that can take all my life in one hit and come almost out of nowhere. The game itself lead me to this minotaur thing that can kill me instantly and even of it doesn't (if I take elixirs or whatever) it almost stunlocks me. Stealth doesn't really work because I respawn almost next to the thing, so it detects me instantly. (An besides, it'd be the kind of instant-fail stealth anyway.)

The world is great but it hates me and doesn't want me to play in it.

First impressions:

Wow, I'm glad I didn't played this before playing Sable. That game lifts mechanics, world elements and even UI language directly from BOTW. I don't know if I would've like that game as much as I did if I realised how derivative it was. It pays to be ignorant, kids!

You can see the genious-level game design right away. Things like the way enemies are physically pushed away by some weapons, how they sometimes leave their weapons somewhere else, usw.

It might be because I'm not used to nintendo's conventions, but the sounds effects feel gamey and weirdly dated?

How generic and boring is the story? I'm in the middle of a seemingly endless exposition dump and I couldn't care less about anything on screen and the pompous narration. Mighty kingdom, yada yada, big bad evil, yada yada, chosen one, yada yada, princess... Please, someone release me from this cutscene so I can continue exploring this world!

Boy, am I late to the party.

Nintendo just sent me a very extensive survey that I can only describe as market research for the successor to the Switch. If I’m willing to wager, Nintendo is in the early stages (pre-hardware) of development for their next console.

At one point I was asked to pick three things that were important to me in a console. You better believe one of them was backward compatibility. I want the Switch successor to accept Switch cards, and play my Switch library. Having continuity between my PS4 and PS5 is one of the things that makes the generational upgrade more palatable.

While it's nothing like the installments I loved that came before it, it's still so good. It stands out to me as the best in its genre (that being an action-adventure exploration game, with tower climbing and survival elements, you know the one) and when I first played it, the fact that I could play it handheld at all blew my mind. Paragliding off the highest peaks and watching Hyrule come into view below me, or watching the colossal ancient beasts move across the landscape in handheld mode really made me appreciate modern gaming technology.

A ton of fun that can be enjoyed and marveled by all.

I get it now. You see the universal praise for a game and you wonder, “is it really THAT good?” In the case of Breath is the Wild, yes and more. This is a game I looked forward to at the end of the day, even if I was just wandering Hyrule looking for Koroks or Shrines. It felt truly endless, and it was wonderful to get lost in Hyrule’s diverse and gorgeously animated landscape. It felt like there was always something to do, and I could honestly feel myself getting better at the game each time I turned it on. That’s super satisfying, and I think BOTW’s generosity is a huge reason why it is so acclaimed.

But what really makes BOTW special is it’s game design. I’m not talking about the stunning visuals which of course are a huge part of the appeal, but the fact that this is a sandbox game with a tight narrative is truly a triumph. The story works no matter how you decide to tackle it and encourages you to EXPLORE without constantly shepherding you to the next objective. The game will gently tell you you aren’t ready for an area, but it won’t kick you out and will let you fail. This is crucial. By failing—read, getting annihilated by guardians early on—you recognize that you’re going to have to take steps to get more health or better gear and or more skills to proceed. You get to come to this on your own and I love that so much.

My 6 year old daughter and I also bonded over this game. She was OBSESSED with Chrono Trigger when we played it last year and legit insisted we play it again immediately after finishing it and still bugs me about playing it a third time. This became our new Chrono Trigger and it was amazing to see her brain work to solve puzzles. She is an eagle eyed Korok spotter and helped me solve a few shrines that I was stumped on. She also regaled her mother and grandparents with tales of Divine Beasts and Ganon which I found particularly awesome.

I was so bitter that this game won GOTY award :p My bet was Horizon Zero Dawn.

I decided to give it a shot to see what's the fuss. After 70+ hours, I'll give it 4.5 stars cause I loved how it allowed me to fully explore the world (i.e jumping from the cliff with my paraglider). I think this is what open-world games should be! Playing through BOTW is great for me cause I can set the pace - calm exploring/ riding my horse or tense fights when i decide to attack enemy camps.

It's my very first Zelda game and now open to play more from this franchise.

I’ve played all of the 3D Zelda games (except for Skyward Sword) and I’ve finished Link to the Past and Link Between Worlds so I’d say I’m a pretty experienced Zelda fan. I really liked Breath of the Wild and I can see why people think it's the best in the series.

Some big positives are: Great exploration of a massive open world, lush graphics that while not amazing has a certain charm to it, beautiful world design and solid combat. The cooking and environmental mechanics are fun and really make the world feel alive. The story is pretty simple but it gets the job done and people don’t usually play Zelda for the story.

Overall I really enjoyed it. But I can see some big flaws that most reviewers and fans seem to have glazed over or totally ignored that take it away from being my favorite Zelda game.

The biggest problem is the lack of true dungeons. The four divine beasts - the closest thing BotW has to traditional Zelda dungeons – are way too simple. They are all basically one big room with a movement mechanic unique to each beast. You have to navigate this area in order to activate four terminals, which then leads to a boss. Apart from the camel beast with its rotating cylinder mechanic, they were very easy and required almost no problem solving or critical thinking to complete. I would have loved to see them be similar to the ones from OoT or LttP with branching paths, dead ends and where you can get lost and need to pay attention.

I think shrines (micro dungeons) were a cool idea that encourages people to explore but I found most of them exceedingly simple. I completed all 120 and I remember only five or six that really made me stop and think. Not to mention a good chunk of them were the same test of strength fights against the same enemy over and over. Maybe Nintendo could have made fewer (50-60?) but bigger shrines that can have more puzzles. Or to keep track of the amount you have finished so you only find easy ones when you start the game and then they get progressively harder the more you finish.

Another thing I didn’t like was the weapon durability. Don’t get me wrong, I like the idea and know why they did it. To prevent people from finding stupid powerful weapons and cutting effortlessly through weaker enemies. It also forces you to use weapons you wouldn’t normally use. My problem is that weapons break FAR too quickly. You find something you like and you can only use it for 1 or 2 fights before it breaks. If they just doubled the durability I think it would have worked out much better. Instead I found myself not wanting to use my strongest weapons knowing they’d break too fast.

The last criticism I had - although a relativity minor one - was the English dub. Some characters were great but others just sounded half-assed or terrible. Zelda’s voice in particular just didn’t sound right. I get they wanted her to sound regal but the British accent sounded so forced and unnatural.

OK. It sounds like I don’t like this game, which isn’t true. Like I said I finished all the shrines, divine beasts, memory scenes and found over 400 korok seeds so I definitely enjoyed my time with it. I’d say it’s in the top five of my favourite Zeldas.

It’s just those flaws that bring it down from being amazing to just great. I hope Nintendo fixes or improves on BotW in it’s inevitable sequel.

Capsule thoughts here, full review at the end of the text.

I'm not a fan of the 3D Zelda games (except the charming Wind Waker). Unlike the Super Mario games, which basically nailed 3D from 64 on, the 3D Zeldas have struggled to create an engaging world with combat that produces fun instead of frustration.

Breath of the Wild succeeds not by going to the convoluted presentation and play of the other 3D Zelda games. I'd argue its strongest inspiration comes from one of the least appreciated - The Adventure of Link. From the various shrines, villages, and Divine Beasts Breath of the Wild encourages vertical exploration and combat more at home with the TAoL's action than Ocarina of Time's.

There are only two drags but they're consistent enough to bring BotW down a notch. The first is the inconsistently applied degradation system where cloth armor can take a direct laser blast from ancient machines but weapons infused with living fire break. The second comes from the immersion-breaking nods to the past where all the careful mood setting has unwanted intrusions of DOOOH DOOOOH DOOOH DOOOOOH and whatnot.

Those quibbles aside, BotW is a confident step forward for a franchise I once loved.

http://www.cantstopthemovies.com/2017/07/breath-wild-2017/

If there was ever a Nintendo franchise designed for a sandbox it was Zelda. In fact, I think you could make a pretty compelling argument that the original Zelda was the first major sandbox game released. And that's why Breath of the Wild's completely open world map should not be so surprising. And yet it is. We've gotten used to a plot-driven and fairly linear Zelda series, so having one offer so much freedom is exciting and more than a little disorienting.

Breath of the Wild's big challenge is to keep the standard elements of a Zelda game work when you can visit the dungeons in whatever order you want. There's really only one way to manage this and it's to tamp down the levels of plot. Aside from the introduction on the central plateau, which is where most of the plot dump is laid out, you're completely free to encounter the world on your terms. You know where the next stage in the main plot is, but nothing else. This opens up Breath of the Wild's most impressive feature, which is its exploration. Unlike most sandbox games you're not given any sort of map to start off with in order to help find your quests. Instead, you are encouraged to find a high viewpoint and mark where you think you should go on an empty map. The regions on this game are also much more constrained than in your typical sandbox game. Finding the quest sites can be a chore. But it's a fun one, and the scenery's beautiful.

There's less to Zelda than most open world games. To be specific, the number of side quests and characters is substantially lower than in any sandbox RPG I've seen. And that's because Zelda isn't really an RPG but an action game. So instead of getting fetch quests you're mainly just searching for dungeons or killing monsters. I suspect that this may limit the replay value, but then maybe not. I'm about twelve hours in and still enjoyably lost after having explored a single region.

Combat is the game's main focus (along with exploration) and it's as good as it ever was. It can be a lot harder at times since there are several weapons that can take you down three hearts in one swing, which is all you have at the beginning! Healing is done through the main menu, so as long as you notice it in time there shouldn't be a problem. Weapons and shields get damaged over time, so you'll be constantly picking up replacements as you go along.

Puzzling is also one of the Zelda highlights and you get plenty of it. There are a large number of dungeons and you need to go through at least some of them to get to the main bosses. The dungeons are shorter than in previous games, and the puzzles generally easier, but this isn't a terrible thing since there are so many dungeons to go through. General navigation is a puzzle too, which makes the game even more of a puzzle than previous ones. In addition to navigation there is a stamina limit on your climbing that leaves you often needing to plan out exactly where your climbs will end.

I really enjoyed this game. It's got all the typical Zelda goodness, but you can seek it out at your own pace instead of being constrained by the game. Zelda has always been pretty open world, so once you get used to the complete and total freedom (and I admit, that took me a while) the game fits right into that same sweet spot as the others. Well worth playing.