Nintendo Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild

[The Welsh Paddy]

So, who's started playing this game yet? I got it on Wii U on release day and have to say I couldn't have been anymore satisfied with this purchase. Being a huge Zelda fan, I've been excited about this game back when they showed the first teaser footage and I'd say that Nintendo have exceeded my expectations with this game. The world is wonderfully crafted, I love the art style and I also love how they ventured away from the norm with this series!

It's reminiscent of the original NES Zelda, which at first I found a bit overwhelming. After the... "introduction", I guess, you're pretty much just left to your own devices which for me meant a whole lot of wandering aimlessly not knowing what to do. But that wasn't such a bad thing. Exploring Hyrule was amazing and the world felt like a living entity. I actually died an awful lot over the first few hours, but that happened considerably less as I came to grips with the crafting system (provided I never happened across any roaming Guardians) and discovered which ingredients provided the best stat boosts, of which I most often went for whatever gave me the biggest health boosts (looking at you, Big Hearty Truffles!). Sometimes, travelling Hyrule got rather tedious though. While I appreciated the sense of realism with the environment, there were particularly frustrating times that I found myself being stuck halfway up a mountain having to wait several moments for the rain to pass so I could proceed with climbing.

All in all though, I reckon this game is the best in the series so far (Bearing in mind I haven't played Spirit Tracks, Phantom Hourglass or Triforce Heroes). I've yet to complete it, but after sinking a few days into it, I can say that I absolutely love the characters, the narative, the setting, the music, the puzzles... There's some really shocking and awe-inspiring moments too. Out of curiosity, one of the things I decided to do quite early on in the game was infiltrate Hyrule Castle. Climbing right to the very top of that castle gave me the greatest sense of accomplishment that I've had in a very long time with gaming, even though in-game it was ultimately not very rewarding. But with the dramatic music and having to slip by enemies I was woefully incapable of taking on in a fight... it was intense, and reaching that peak made me feel like a real hero.

There's so much about Breath of the Wild that make it stand apart from other Zelda games, but there's so much that still makes it feel like a Zelda game. The characters are quirky and charming. Several characters play a much larger part in the main narrative than what's been normal in past games. It was really satisfying discovering all the hidden memory locations and seeing the flashbacks. It really helped flesh out the story and it makes you really empathise with the characters. Zelda, in particular, is much more than the shallow character she's been in previous titles. This game has definitely given the best portrayal for that character ever. There were certain plot aspects that should have been elaborated on more

Spoiler

such as the events that happened in Zora's Domain prior to the Calamity. I know it all boiled down to the Elder Zoras disliking Link for "being responsible" for Mipha being killed, but it would have been neat to maybe have some more flashbacks showing those events.

There's so much fun to be had in this game though, between solving the shrine puzzles to the various side quests, taking out Moblin encampments... Also, you can friggin' ride a stag!!! I remember gliding down from a high vantage point while on my way to Kakariko Village and descended into some forest... I accidentally mounted a stag! I succeeded in calming the beast and I felt like such a badass riding into Kakariko Village on a stag...

It would be nice to hear what any of you guys thought of this game!

 

[divitorobert]

When this gets emulated on PC at 4K 60+ FPS and keyboard controls. That would be nice.

 

[Martel]

Finished it. Just now. I...yeah. I don't understand why this is getting perfect scores when there are so, SO many issues with it. The world is practically empty. Riding anything is amazing, but the controls are bollocks for everything, and it's faster to run and glide. Rain stops you from doing anything at all. Gyroscopic puzzles, which are just a nuisance. Weapons and shields breaking every three seconds, making finding new, awesome ones highly unsatisfying when you know it won't last five minutes. Nintendo opting for the "let's make enemies hit really fucking hard" route instead of designing an intelligent, challenging AI. Four dungeons. Barely any background music whatsoever. Zelda's fucking awful voice. I could go on. These aren't things I noticed in hindsight, either - these were things that REALLY bothered me. Especially when it started raining.

Yeah, the sense of freedom is nice - I uncovered the whole map and did practically every shrine before I did the dungeons - the boss battles are highly memorable, the shrines range from challenging to simple - and are yet always satisfying - and there are lots of fun, clever little things you can do...I like stasis quite a lot. Honestly though, I would have preferred an ALBW approach to items; I had no real motivation to progress, because I knew I wasn't going to get anything new out of it. Discovering new items and seeing what they can do is part of the charm of Zelda, and the game would have benefited so much from this, considering how huge the world was. I didn't feel like the runes were used enough, outside of the shrines. The world was highly interactive, but there was no real point in interacting with it. 900 Korok seeds that only expand your inventory? Why bother? There weren't really any secrets to uncover worthy of note, unlike in past titles, where revisiting places on the overworld map when you had a new item could lead to a new area, or a heart container, or something else. I DID find the memories quite satisfying, but the game could have used a lot more of them...Zelda titles have never had much of a story, and this was no exception, but I felt like it had so much more potential, especially considering that with the exception of Zelda the voice acting was of very good quality.

It's the little things, I think, that make or break this game, and for me it trod a very thin line between the two. Every time it started raining I wanted to just put it down and never pick it up again. Every time an enemy did an obscene amount of damage, I wondered why I was even bothering. Every shrine I went into I dreaded another stupid gyroscopic-based puzzle. But stuff like sending rocks flying with Stasis, parrying lasers back at those fucking guardians, hacking all their legs off but one and watching them try to crawl away from me far enough to fire off another shot, equipping hot/cold weapons to up my resistance because I was too lazy to find the right gear...yeah, that was fun.

Hell of a lot of detail put into the game here...if only they'd remembered to actually give meaning to the stuff you could do. I don't want to do things for the sake of doing them. If I'm going to explore this world, I expect to be rewarded, and with most shrines plainly visible, and nothing in the way of collectibles asides from pointless Koroks...yeah. "Awesome but pointless" summarises 90% of this game perfectly, I think. Best Zelda ever? By no means. Not even the best 3D Zelda. A good Zelda, though? I'd say so, on balance. A definite step up from Skyward Sword, which is easily the worst one ever made. But come on...10/10? Seriously? Whatever happened to objectivity? =/

 

[Shaissa]

I only played it a little and have seen my friend play it. I have to say overall... meh, I get the open world they were going for, making it up there with an Elder scroll type of game, which makes me turned off by it, and I will probably never personally buy it and play it. I see this as a If you really like Zelda, you will really like this game, if you don't really like Zelda, nothing in this game will make you suddenly like a Zelda game.

 

[The Welsh Paddy]

After completing the main story, I do have to say I am quite disappointed. The final boss was a big let-down, unfortunately. I found that last hurdle too easy in comparison to the rest of the game. It seemed to have drawn some inspiration from Shadow of the Colossus and, potentially, this could have been the greatest boss battle of all time. The setting, the environment, the music, the scale of the enemy... it could have made for the most intense and epic showdown ever but they just made it too quick and easy. It's such a shame because I still think the rest of the game was a truly amazing experience.

 

[greenyxi]

Ok, I typed this up a loooong time ago but it was at a time when the forum was kind of down for a bit and I forgot to come back and repost :s. Still, good job I copy and pasted it onto notepad lol.

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I'll split it up into sections just for the sake of it. I finished the game a couple of months ago now (much longer now that I'm reposting!), I guess, but I remember the long journey well enough:

Graphics: Amazing. The highlight of the game for me was the artstyle and just looking at the stunning sights. The colourful world is so much more appealing than the drabness of, just for example, Oblivion.

Music: Also stunning but it's used too much for ambiance than as a proper, full on soundtrack for my liking. It was really quiet and just background noise to a lot of the cutscenes, which I didn't like so much. Still, pleasant enough to run around with .

Gameplay: This is a tricky one for me! It got me addicted enough to play for so many hours but was it really anything amazing? I loved the shrine orb collecting along with the huge map to explore but I'm not so sure about some other elements. I thought the dungeons weren't unique enough, though they weren't really meant to be full on dungeons like with other Zelda games. I didn't like the weapon breaking system (I never do in games). I thought the whole game was basically "Zelda: Climb This Wall And Don't Run Out Of Stamina". Even with these complaints...I loved my time playing it.

Story: There was a story? Basic Zelda stuff. I didn't find much story, even with those optional cutscenes. Zelda games don't need a big story though (seems to be a Nintendo thing).

Characters: Again, not a whole lot going on. I don't think any of the NPCs were memorable other than the spirits, Zelda and Link. This was one of the best Princess Zelda iterations.

I'm missing something big that I wanted to talk about, I just know it! Either way, there's me thoughts .