Zelda: Breath of the Wild is the most talked about game on social media
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Graphics impressed me less than expected, gameplay impressed me more than expected. So all is well.
Seems like an extremely fun blend of neat open world ideas. Not a sole gimmick, but freedom in gameplay with many abilities that add layers of possibilities. However, like I posted in reaction to the trailer, I do think the graphics are a bit bland for the most part. The grass is awesome, but the rest not so much for me personally. I am looking forward to see how well the NX version holds up in the future in this department.
Seems like an extremely fun blend of neat open world ideas. Not a sole gimmick, but freedom in gameplay with many abilities that add layers of possibilities. However, like I posted in reaction to the trailer, I do think the graphics are a bit bland for the most part. The grass is awesome, but the rest not so much for me personally. I am looking forward to see how well the NX version holds up in the future in this department.
Yes. Why that hard cut though?
I think the game looks gorgeous, like the lovechild of Studio Ghibli and Team Ico. Yeah, it's strains the systems at points (i.e. some flat rock textures, etc), but the colors and lighting are so vibrant, and the little details are so nice that it just comes together so beautifully. Gorgeous, gorgeous game. With or without the lovely fields reminiscent of Flower. 
It's so classy. Nintendo is so strange sometimes, they reveal a new Paper Mario with NO fanfare like it was some minor thing, then with Zelda they create a trailer up there with the other great trailers this E3. It's like they're two completely different companies.
That hard cut in the trailer is bizarre. I think they decided at the very last second to remove something that they thought might be a spoiler. I'm talking like "10 seconds before E3 they look at it and realize 'Oh shit you can see the princess,'" lol.
We could talk about distinct pieces of the game until the cows come home, but the important part here is that the game is doing things Zelda fans want a Zelda game to do. It doesn't matter if other games have done them before; those features appearing in a Zelda game is the combination that matters.
I'm in the camp with the people who find the verge-of-tears love for this one a bit baffling, but then I didn't grow up on Zelda. There is a metric shitton of people who love this IP, and they love it with more passion than I will ever love anything. Hearing so many people calling it "easily game of the show" itches a little, but in the grander scheme I'm glad people are getting a thing they want.
It could just be an awkward cut but it comes after an intentionally jarring sequence of the trailer. It's almost like the trailer gets interrupted by the flashback then resumes with a hitch.
It's probably just messy editing, though.
gamerMan
Member
I think Zelda is a big wakeup call to the rest of the industry. It's the Mario 64 of this generation. We talk a lot about "next gen" or "emergent" gameplay but we haven't really seen it. It's true that many of the things Zelda is doing has been done in other games but it's the level of polish that it is executed here. Really what Nintendo has done here is constructed a huge playground for gamers to play in and explore. See that clock tower, I want to go climb it. You can't only climb the surface with that special texture. See that tree, I want to cut it down and take out some bad guys.
To make the playground interesting, they have built mini systems for players to play around with. There's a stealth system, combat system, crafting system, and so much more. What is unique here is that each of these mini system have enough depth to become full featured mechanics in other games. Each system has been polished to perfection. With endless permutations of gameplay systems, these systems not only have to work on their own but also have to interact with each other which is why other developers would shy away from it. No other developer would even try to build this game unless they wanted to spend the next 30 years of their life building it.
You can point to each gameplay idea and say big deal Link can jump or Link can climb every surface in the game. On its own, none of these gameplay ideas mean anything but when combined into a very polished experience, it's awe inspiring. How many times have you played a game and said " Why can't I?"
Each of these polished minisystems allow you to play around in Nintendo's playground. Because there are so many systems, the end result is nobody's experience is going to be the same. Finally, someone has topped Mario 64. Bravo Nintendo! Bravo!
OrbitalBeard
Member
Yeah, it's a bit odd.
It's really quite simple - Nintendo doing an open world is exciting, just like Nintendo doing a shooter is exciting.
That said it has also had a damn good trailer and more than a few demonstrations. It looks great (gameplay-wise) and I can't think of any games at E3 that look better.
I don't really have much love for Zelda as an IP in general (I do tend to enjoy them though) and I really, really like the looks of this. So it isn't just a fan thing.
Ah ah that would be so silly and so so awesome.
TheDinoman
Member
If DOOM 2016 can have a line that references the old DOOM comic ("Rip and tear, until it is done") then BOTW ought to have this right here.
Sure, and I guess it isn't really correct to say that I find the love baffling. If I were to ignore the emotional component that Zelda and Nintendo bring it'd be a more accurate statement for me, but knowing how those things work it does make perfect sense.
I did think the trailer was quite charming, and some of the gameplay opportunities that the various new mechanics will introduce (like the oft-quoted ride horse + sail over fire + midair arrow shot gif) seem pretty dang cool.
ThoughtsOfSpeaking
Banned
Pretty much.
I think the game looks gorgeous, like the lovechild of Studio Ghibli and Team Ico. Yeah, it's strains the systems at points (i.e. some flat rock textures, etc), but the colors and lighting are so vibrant, and the little details are so nice that it just comes together so beautifully. Gorgeous, gorgeous game. With or without the lovely fields reminiscent of Flower.
Really makes me wonder what they could do with the next 3D mario....
TheKingOfSheep
Member
Playing OoT back in '98 sure as F*CK felt like you were in 'a living breathing world'... it did so to millions. OoT had animals, and stuff to do, and runes, and verticality (I'll let you know, you had to climb up Death Mountain, so there.), and complexity... so what are you on about?
This new one, and I get the hype - it's zelda if it was called [slap any generic title here] it wouldn't get even 1% of the attention it's getting - has a lot to proof. Tell you what though, If this one doesn't have a mechanic to equal the time traveling in OoT, I can't even be bothered with it. Have been dissapointed with this series ever since TP, they ain't getting my money until I have seen a lot more. These playthroughs, seriously, watching people climb up a tree to get an apple, then acting like it's the bees knees in video games...
GregLombardi
Member
It's the gameplay that got me.
Everything else was icing / a footnote.
They are executing open world gameplay masterfully, in a way that is compelling. We'll see if it all comes together, but it looks fantastic.
Everything else was icing / a footnote.
They are executing open world gameplay masterfully, in a way that is compelling. We'll see if it all comes together, but it looks fantastic.
Cindi Mayweather
Member
Disagree.
Every open world game these days markets itself by how many things there are to do. Our game has over 100 quests and 100 hours of gameplay! Bethesda games railroad you with quest after quest after quest and in the end, none of it really feels like it matters.
Breath of the Wild is the first open world game since Dead Rising 1 where when I watch it being played, I'm completely enthralled and in "what's that?" mode. Whereas other open world games are all about how many things there are to do, Zelda is now about all the things you can do in its world. Those two things sound similar, but there's a delicate line. Other open world games tell you how many things they have to offer. Take this quest, or this quest, or this one. But Zelda lets you make up your mind. You've taken up that quest because you just happened to find what's inside that shrine. Essentially, most open world game no longer stresses a sandbox. It's just a wall of content to satiate players and try to keep them hooked by giving us as much quantity as possible to engorge ourselves. But sometimes quantity doesn't mean shit. Open world fatigue is real.
But Zelda? In Zelda you can go to the final boss within seconds of starting the game.
In Zelda, you can manipulate the environment. Can you do that in other open world games?
In Zelda, the game appears to give you tools and do whatever.
I think modern open world games have tricked modern players into thinking stacking content in your face all the time is the sign of a sandbox. A sandbox, by its very definition, is a place where you can play where your imagination leads it to. Can you really say that about other open world games at this years show? Games like Horizon? Or Days Gone? They have "open worlds" but is their structure really that of a sandbox where the wheels come right off that push for playing experimentation? Fuck no. Absolutely not. It's just a large world where it's large for the sake of being large.
There's also the mystery of Zelda. Link wakes up, and we have no idea what's going on besides the princess telling us to go some place. There's a sense of mystery due to the sparse dialogue. It works in that Dark Souls way that western games just can't and won't do, where they give us dialogue every few seconds and don't bother creating a world where we're the ones asking questions.
TLDR: Zelda: Breath of the Wild is the most refreshing looking open world game since Grand Theft Auto San Andreas. A complete retooling on peoples expectations of the genre that have become so homogenized and so boring that people equate lists upon lists of quests they know they're never gonna anyways as an "open world" or "sandbox". Zelda fucking gets it. The game where you really can go anywhere, do anything, and in the order you want it.
"If it wasn't called Zelda people wouldn't like it!" is as tired an argument as the Zelda formula was when Skyward Sword came out, probably even more.
Well-said, good sir!
Cid Highwind
Banned
Ironically I usually say I'd like Skyward Sword a lot more if it wasn't a Zelda game.
Yeah, I can see what you mean. I completed it just a few months ago and the gameplay loop was just too "been there, done that" for me since it felt so tied down to what Zelda "needed" to be.
CharminUltra
Member
The GotS E3 2016 aka Zelda Breath of the Wild is currently being demo'd on the Treehouse stream, just in case you want to witness the glory.
Are you uploading these to their channel afterward? Not sure I have time to watch right now.
Gormless Noodle
Member
It'll be an NX launch title alongside the Wii U release, so it's pretty much guaranteed to be a big hit.
Well....Unless the NX bombs. And I mean, REALLY bombs, like a Virtual Boy type of bomb.
All of the Treehouse streams are uploaded to Nintendo's YT after the fact. There's handy links in the thread to each section of the demo so you don't have to skip.
While I'm certain that claim gets thrown around a lot where it shouldn't, I think there's absolutely truth to it if you reword it to "If it wasn't a Zelda game, there'd be a lot less excitement". Imagine Breath of the Wild was announced as say, an XBONE game from a new developer we'd never heard of before; would the reaction have been the same as it was at the real e3 this year? I think people would be excited and intrigued, but the pedigree of Nintendo and the love for the Zelda IP brings a lot of passion that wouldn't otherwise exist.
Of course, this isn't just a Zelda thing; it's true of dozens of the most popular franchises around IMO.
CharminUltra
Member
The stream is saved on Twitch. Or at least I remember rewatching parts of it last night. You can fast forward, rewind, etc. I dunno how long they keep these, though.
Cid Highwind
Banned
I will say, the overwhelmingly positive response to this is really good for the NX. I have a feeling it's going to be primarily marketed as the flagship launch title for NX, rather than just a Wii U game.
This looks to be a system seller, one the Wii U certainly did not have.
This looks to be a system seller, one the Wii U certainly did not have.
OK, I think there's still a lot I don't know about this demo. I'm watching Treehouse play right now and I see a snowflake rune. What does that do? I know about the gravity gun-style Magnesis and the time-freezing Stasis. And of course the rolling round bombs and square bombs that you can remotely detonate. But what's the snowflake rune do?
Also, that was amazing how Chico just froze the first of the spiky balls so that the others all piled up behind it. Pinball gridlock, lol.
edit: Man, some of these puzzles are so FUN
Also, that was amazing how Chico just froze the first of the spiky balls so that the others all piled up behind it. Pinball gridlock, lol.
edit: Man, some of these puzzles are so FUN
I get if you're not excited, but there's a lot more that happens in these playthroughs than just grabbing apples, and people are excited about a multitude of other features...
Mihael Mello Keehl
Banned
Yeah, of course that's true. New IPs never get the same buzz as old franchises, and really that's true of everything. It's an unfortunate side effect of the games industry, new IPs will always have a lot more to prove with themselves.
The argument, however, is mainly used to say "you only like it because it's Zelda!", and seeing as the guy thinks (whether legitimatelly or not) that people are praising the gameplay because of apple picking, I think it's true in this case.
lwilliams3
Member
That is insane!! How many kiosks do they have to play the game?
TheGameshark
Member
Game looks great so this isn't shocking. Horizon being so low is criminal though.
Dynamite Ringo Matsuri
Member
Game of show for me, and it's not even close. In a time when pretty much every other offering is actively subtracting options and agency from the equation and dumbing shit down tremendously for the sake of narrative, this is a real fuckin breath of fresh air. As someone who's been a bit harder on the franchise and Nintendo for the last decade or so, bravo Nintendo, fuckin' bravo.
TwistedFreeze
Member
You'd have a point if Nintendo fans only played Nintendo games...or if this was only about Nintendo games but that list is including everything from E3
I think I would too.
CharminUltra
Member
I think Horizon looks great, but I won't give it the time of day until I get to try it first.
Guerrilla has burned me too many times.
I hope they stick to linear course design and geometry that's decidedly tuned for platforming like the last four games, none of that adventuring crap of SM64/Sunshine.
Pretty sure that's the one that lets you create ice pillars out of water. They showed it yesterday.
Wow, let's wait until the game releases before you start going all hyperbolic about it. Nintendo fans really do like to jump in with both feet.
Why wouldnt we?
Wow, really? I only saw half of the stream yesterday, so I guess there's a lot I missed.
So these ice pillars, how tall are they? I'm guessing you climb them? Do they float in the water?
they are like 2 blocks tall, you can climb them and they float on water
Some Nobody
Junior Member
Well, yeah. Nintendo circle-jerk aside, there's one thing they do I like: show the game. Like, it took forever but they finally doing it.
In stark contrast, let's take Spider-Man PS4, my favorite game of the show (and one that Zelda couldn't hope to compete with in my brain for overall hype). We got a two minute trailer, and that was it. No idea of the story. No idea of any villains involved. No release window. Not even a name. Just: "Spider-Man PS4". And sure, that's something to talk about for a few minutes. But after awhile, you've combed over every single frame of that 120 seconds. And don't bother asking the developers, as they (and I quote) "only have the trailer to show you". They're tight-lipped and aren't going to give you an ounce of information outside of that, which basically means there was no purpose in them (the devs) showing up to begin with.
But Zelda? There's five fucking hours of gameplay to comb through. That's not the whole game, but there's more material released in this one instance than most games get for their entire promo cycle. You can go back and re-watch it and find things that you missed your seventh or eighth time through. And they were so willing to give extra information outside of what you're seeing--there's a thread somewhere on GAF that's like a massive post of information.
If you're hyped for Zelda, you're NOT going to get tired of talking about that because there's so much TO talk about. Even a game like Watch_Dogs 2--a game that's got to be pretty close to ready since it launches in five freaking months--is only showing you one or two loops of gameplay and giving largely the same PR soundbytes no matter how many dozens of interviews they give.
So yeah. Combine that, plus Zelda's massive fanbase, the fact that Nintendo has the most loyal fans in the game, and that people love an underdog? Zelda was ALWAYS going to be the most talked about game.
In stark contrast, let's take Spider-Man PS4, my favorite game of the show (and one that Zelda couldn't hope to compete with in my brain for overall hype). We got a two minute trailer, and that was it. No idea of the story. No idea of any villains involved. No release window. Not even a name. Just: "Spider-Man PS4". And sure, that's something to talk about for a few minutes. But after awhile, you've combed over every single frame of that 120 seconds. And don't bother asking the developers, as they (and I quote) "only have the trailer to show you". They're tight-lipped and aren't going to give you an ounce of information outside of that, which basically means there was no purpose in them (the devs) showing up to begin with.
But Zelda? There's five fucking hours of gameplay to comb through. That's not the whole game, but there's more material released in this one instance than most games get for their entire promo cycle. You can go back and re-watch it and find things that you missed your seventh or eighth time through. And they were so willing to give extra information outside of what you're seeing--there's a thread somewhere on GAF that's like a massive post of information.
If you're hyped for Zelda, you're NOT going to get tired of talking about that because there's so much TO talk about. Even a game like Watch_Dogs 2--a game that's got to be pretty close to ready since it launches in five freaking months--is only showing you one or two loops of gameplay and giving largely the same PR soundbytes no matter how many dozens of interviews they give.
So yeah. Combine that, plus Zelda's massive fanbase, the fact that Nintendo has the most loyal fans in the game, and that people love an underdog? Zelda was ALWAYS going to be the most talked about game.