The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild **SPOILER FREE** Impression Thread

Sorry if this is a dumb post, I am new around here and trying not to post crap but I do have an honest question:

As far as rating/perceiving this game's overworld, what other open world game should be held as the standard to compare it to? GTA5? Witcher 3? Skyrim?

I feel like expecting GTA5 level of detail on the world map may be a little unrealistic and/or unfair for what this game is trying to do.

I could be way off though.
 
Sorry if this is a dumb post, I am new around here and trying not to post crap but I do have an honest question:

As far as rating/perceiving this game's overworld, what other open world game should be held as the standard to compare it to? GTA5? Witcher 3? Skyrim?

I feel like expecting GTA5 level of detail on the world map may be a little unrealistic and/or unfair for what this game is trying to do.

I could be way off though.

I think using Skyrim or Witcher 3 as the standard is a pretty low bar tbh, most open world games actual world are banal and shallow as fuck.

Lets hope Nintendo aimed a bit higher than Skyrim :-/
 
LOL at the nitpicking.

"The world is too big, you can walk for a while without having much to do!"

Boo-friggin'-hoo.

I'd rather take a leisurely stroll through this version of Hyrule and just enjoy the sights than I would play just about any other game anyway.

These open spaces are good for creating a world with a huge sense of scale. These open spaces are there by design. Sure, Nintendo could have tried to fill in every cubic centimeter with a ton of activity, but then we wouldn't have the game in our hands until the year 2200. Conversely, they could have condensed everything, but then the game wouldn't have the same grand sense of scale. Regardless, the world is teeming with sidequests and things to do even apart from the lengthy main adventure.

No matter what, the only thing that's inevitable is that people are going to complain.

But I support Nintendo's design decision.
 
Sorry if this is a dumb post, I am new around here and trying not to post crap but I do have an honest question:

As far as rating/perceiving this game's overworld, what other open world game should be held as the standard to compare it to? GTA5? Witcher 3? Skyrim?

I feel like expecting GTA5 level of detail on the world map may be a little unrealistic and/or unfair for what this game is trying to do.

I could be way off though.

If anything, seems like this is the new standard. We'll see though.
 
Question from a Zelda noob: was Twilight Princess open world? I always assumed BOTW was the first 3D open world Zelda game, but I see people talking about its map size and how open it is and all that stuff so I'm kind of confused.
 
Question from a Zelda noob: was Twilight Princess open world? I always assumed BOTW was the first 3D open world Zelda game, but I see people talking about its map size and how open it is and all that stuff so I'm kind of confused.

It was not. There was a lot of gating to stop you from going tons of places; and there were only a handful of side quests.
 
An open world game has big open fields to connect more tightly designed areas. This is utterly shocking.

Who needs the sense of scale and a world that make sense geographically, right?

This is Skyrim's open world design.

Open world simply doesnot need to be stretched out flat spaces.

It should be about the freedom to tackle the game in a non linear fashion ,not necessarily about creating the biggest single piece of landmass.

I wonder when devs will get this.

Lordran is the finest example of this.
 
I feel like an important part of the Zelda experience is creating a sense of immersion. I was probably one of the few people that loved the wind walker over world. I didn't mind the long stretches of water because it created a great sense of scale and adventure, and eventually you had tools to minimize travel once that effect started to wear itself out. Twilight Princess had a similar feeling for me. One of the reasons I thought skyward sword was average was because I never got that sense of immersion. I am really looking forward to a vast open world that doesn't necessarily have to offer some gameplay action at every turn. I enjoy those slower moments in an adventure game like this
 
Question from a Zelda noob: was Twilight Princess open world? I always assumed BOTW was the first 3D open world Zelda game, but I see people talking about its map size and how open it is and all that stuff so I'm kind of confused.

Breath of the Wild is not the first "open world" Zelda game. The original Zelda was truly open world. Every other Zelda game is open world-ish, but it has more restrictions with regards to the order of which you can visit various locations and complete various quests.

Skyward Sword in particular had a very narrow path of which you could make your way through the game, so it's contrasted with the truly open world of Breath of the Wild.

As for Twilight Princess - it had the largest main overworld of any Zelda game prior to BotW (except possibly for the ocean of Wind Waker, but then people count that differently... because water). TP's Hyrule Field (the main area of exploration was quite large. But it was criticized by man for being bland and lacking in interesting things to do.

For my money:

Twilight Princess had a very boring and bland overworld. Making your way through it is a dull.

In contrast, I loved exploring the ocean in The Wind Waker. Even when there were long stretches of inactivity, I was felt compelled to see what was there just beyond the horizon. The vibrant colors of WW also help compared to the bland greys of TP's Hyrule Field. It had the right combination of a sense of adventure, beauty, and the feeling of "I wonder what I might find in that direction."

In contrast, BotW's overworld is so much more beautiful and alive than TP's. It's also much larger. So really, no comparison.
 
This is Skyrim's open world design.

Open world simply doesnot need to be stretched out flat spaces.

It should be about the freedom to tackle the game in a non linear fashion ,not necessarily about creating the biggest single piece of landmass.

I wonder when devs will get this.

Lordran is the finest example of this.

"See that mountain over there, you can climb it! And on the way you'll find 7 caves full of zombies and bland armor! Isn't that exciting!"
 
Sorry if this is a dumb post, I am new around here and trying not to post crap but I do have an honest question:

As far as rating/perceiving this game's overworld, what other open world game should be held as the standard to compare it to? GTA5? Witcher 3? Skyrim?

I feel like expecting GTA5 level of detail on the world map may be a little unrealistic and/or unfair for what this game is trying to do.

I could be way off though.

The game has more things to do in the world than GTAV

But grassy plains by nature are less dense than a city.
 
Sorry if this is a dumb post, I am new around here and trying not to post crap but I do have an honest question:

As far as rating/perceiving this game's overworld, what other open world game should be held as the standard to compare it to? GTA5? Witcher 3? Skyrim?

I feel like expecting GTA5 level of detail on the world map may be a little unrealistic and/or unfair for what this game is trying to do.

I could be way off though.

It depends on what you're rating the overworld for. Do you want density? Do you want size? Do you want interactivity?

BotW would seem to excel at the latter, way beyond any open world game made thus far. It's quite large too, something like twice the size of Skyrim and a fair amount larger than the Witcher 3. It also appears to have a lot of density in certain regions, but also open areas made for traversal.

If you're purely talking details, this might wind up surpassing GTA5 going by some of the preview/review comments.
 
This is Skyrim's open world design.

Open world simply doesnot need to be stretched out flat spaces.

It should be about the freedom to tackle the game in a non linear fashion ,not necessarily about creating the biggest single piece of landmass.

I wonder when devs will get this.

Lordran is the finest example of this.

Completely different game design. Skyrim in the vein of Lordran would work just as much as Dark Souls in big open ended areas (as in, not at all).

By the way, Skyrim didn't invent this.
 
Hi guys just as a warning, it seems like some people with early access to the game are posting spoiler filled videos on youtube. The spoilers are in the titles and thumbnails of the videos and if you can see them through the youtube recommendations.
 
It depends on what you're rating the overworld for. Do you want density? Do you want size? Do you want interactivity?

BotW would seem to excel at the latter, way beyond any open world game made thus far. It's quite large too, something like twice the size of Skyrim and a fair amount larger than the Witcher 3. It also appears to have a lot of density in certain regions, but also open areas made for traversal.

If you're purely talking details, this might wind up surpassing GTA5 going by some of the preview/review comments.

Right, good post. Thanks for your reply.

I was always a fan of pure size/scale of open world games. Do we know how big Horizon's open world is compared to those games?

BotW seems to be much larger than I anticipated, which is awesome, and all the interactivity will be icing on the cake for me.
 
Hi guys just as a warning, it seems like some people with early access to the game are posting spoiler filled videos on youtube. The spoilers are in the titles and thumbnails of the videos and if you can see them through the youtube recommendations.

Oh man, good call. Thank you. My YT recommendations are always filled with BotW videos bc of all the E3 footage I watched, I def would've fallen into that trap.
 
I hate to say this, but I'm on the same page. I didn't view Twilight Princess as having big empty spaces and actually liked it's overworld personally.

Trust me, while the more detailed areas of BotW is more detailed than any location from Twilight Princess, the most barren areas of BotW is much larger and much more barren than any place from Twilight Princess as well.

Really? That would be surprising. Most open world games don't manage that when compared to linear experiences.
 
Like what? Only thing that comes to mind is Xenoblade Chronicles and NoA had nothing to do with that.

Kid Icarus Uprising had a lot of professional voice work.

http://www.behindthevoiceactors.com/video-games/Kid-Icarus-Uprising/side-by-side/

Fred Tatasciore, Hynden Walch, Cree Summer (a big one), and such are all big names in the cartoon VA world. Troy effin' Baker is there too, voicing two different characters. They even got Alan Oppenheimer, the voice actor of Skeletor from He-Man.
 
In Fallout 4, there were tons of things to do, every few inches you walk, there was something you can discover, interact with or pick up - every box, cupboard, combat etc.

But the game sucks, period.
 
In Fallout 4, there were tons of things to do, every few inches you walk, there was something you can discover, interact with or pick up - every box, cupboard, combat etc.

But the game sucks, period.

Can't argue with that really. I don't know why I enjoyed Fallout 3 so much more, maybe it's cause I live around DC?


Anyway, open areas are not inherently a bad thing unless traversal is a pain. And judging by horse riding and paragliding it does not appear to be a pain to me at least.
 
In Fallout 4, there were tons of things to do, every few inches you walk, there was something you can discover, interact with or pick up - every box, cupboard, combat etc.

But the game sucks, period.

One of the best open worlds in a game that just happened to be in a mediocre game.
 
Can't argue with that really. I don't know why I enjoyed Fallout 3 so much more, maybe it's cause I live around DC?


Anyway, open areas are not inherently a bad thing unless traversal is a pain. And judging by horse riding and paragliding it does not appear to be a pain to me at least.

Horse riding is serviceable to me at this point. It's the paragliding, climbing, and occasional snowboarding that I'm interested in.
 
Horse riding is serviceable to me at this point. It's the paragliding, climbing, and occasional snowboarding that I'm interested in.

I think the coolest part is that all of those mechanics have their upsides and downsides and nuances as well. Horse Riding is the generic catch all but you're still going to use everything else too.

People brought up Just Cause 3 to compare and here's where I'll say it, Traversal in Just Cause 3 is actually really boring because there are no obstacles or limitations built into the mechanics to test your ability, grapple hook + glider goes over everything.
 
I think the coolest part is that all of those mechanics have their upsides and downsides and nuances as well. Horse Riding is the generic catch all but you're still going to use everything else too.

People brought up Just Cause 3 to compare and here's where I'll say it, Traversal in Just Cause 3 is actually really boring because there are no obstacles or limitations built into the mechanics to test your ability, grapple hook + glider goes over everything.

The GOAT is the Gravity Rush series for me, because "flying" is everything. Only thing that sucked was there isn't anything to find like in BoTW.
 
Hi guys just as a warning, it seems like some people with early access to the game are posting spoiler filled videos on youtube. The spoilers are in the titles and thumbnails of the videos and if you can see them through the youtube recommendations.

Good thing I installed that video blocker plugin.

Do you remember what channels were actively posting spoilers?
 
I was hoping for a Zelda open world to be very dense instead of focused on size so the huge empty spaces are a bit disappointing.

Yeah, that's why I tend to prefer aLttP and SS but I can live with this approach as long as the secrets and pathfinding aren't as arbitrary and random as some of the other games.
 
I was hoping for a Zelda open world to be very dense instead of focused on size so the huge empty spaces are a bit disappointing.

I see why they'd go for a mostly barren world - it's hardly an adventure if you're tripping over something interesting every 5 steps. Hopefully they got the balance right, because I do think a vacuous world can be engaging if content in placed smartly.
 
The GOAT is the Gravity Rush series for me, because "flying" is everything. Only thing that sucked was there isn't anything to find like in BoTW.

I really like that about Gravity rush, it manages to make flying actually interesting. Flying is actually really boring in most open world games because there's no obstacle or challenge or anything to really think about. Thus, it's usually left to be an endgame upgrade. What Gravity Rush managed to do was incredibly unique, and I don't there will be anything like it for a long time.
 
LOL at the nitpicking.

"The world is too big, you can walk for a while without having much to do!"

Boo-friggin'-hoo.

I'd rather take a leisurely stroll through this version of Hyrule and just enjoy the sights than I would play just about any other game anyway.

These open spaces are good for creating a world with a huge sense of scale. These open spaces are there by design. Sure, Nintendo could have tried to fill in every cubic centimeter with a ton of activity, but then we wouldn't have the game in our hands until the year 2200. Conversely, they could have condensed everything, but then the game wouldn't have the same grand sense of scale. Regardless, the world is teeming with sidequests and things to do even apart from the lengthy main adventure.

No matter what, the only thing that's inevitable is that people are going to complain.

But I support Nintendo's design decision.

This. People don't understand that design choices mean all the games are not meant to be the same, even within the same genre. Even Ubisoft games have parts that are very different in order to fit the context, story, intention etc. People almost never acknowledge this !
That's why comparing them as a whole is meaningless. It's interesting for details on how they tackle particular issues). Ranking them ("it's worse than GTA V" ; "it's better than Skyrim") is even worse.
 
I am actually afraid that some punk is gonna account suicide and post a thread with a major spoiler in the title and knowing my luck I will be on GAF when it happens. Nowhere is safe.
 
I think flying or too easy movement breaks open world games. Xenoblade X was great when you had to walk everywhere, and the moment you get to fly feels awesome too at first, but in the long term it destroyed any sense of adventure and discovery.
 
I don't know what you mean by the game is "empty" I've been playing a few hours and having a ton of fun traveling from place to place taking out camps, solving puzzles, exploring for treasure, etc.

I'm avoiding story since I will be playing on the Switch come Friday and still can't put the game down, it's fun to just mess around for hours.

edit: I guess my point is that the world is absolutely populated and fun to explore.
 
I asked earlier, but then the thread grew quickly, so I'll try again.

Has anyone played the Switch version with a Joy-con in each hand? If so, how does that work, especially with motion control aiming?
 
I am actually afraid that some punk is gonna account suicide and post a thread with a major spoiler in the title and knowing my luck I will be on GAF when it happens. Nowhere is safe.

Yep, I'm nervous about this. Zelda feels like the kind of game where that would happen.
 
I think flying or too easy movement breaks open world games. Xenoblade X was great when you had to walk everywhere, and the moment you get to fly feels awesome too at first, but in the long term it destroyed any sense of adventure and discovery.

Depends on the game and how well it is implemented. Bad game design is bad game design.

In GTA V flying is a whole new way of discovering the geography ande the gameplay (that feeling when you fly one meter above the water....brrrr). Works great in the sandbox.

In Far Cry Primal getting access to the riding beasts skill after 20h+ of gameplay offers a satisfying alternative to fast travel. Before that you are very slow before the game can be hard and running consumes stamina. That's also a new way to rediscover where you went before.
Kind of the same with the helicopter in Far Cry 4 (but doesn't work as well)

I asked earlier, but then the thread grew quickly, so I'll try again.

Has anyone played the Switch version with a Joy-con in each hand? If so, how does that work, especially with motion control aiming?

I asked it about twice and no one ever answered too unfortunately :/
I dont believe there are motion controls though
 
I mean, if I'm asking a developer for a realistic open world, I think it should feel organic. Asking for a big open world but filled with activities every square foot is like asking a director shooting a film adaptation of a book to shoot every single page. It's just not realistic in the least bit. There's always going to be stretches of openness that aren't necessarily filled with things to do. I don't mind traversing or riding through some "blank spaces" as long as the flora and fauna is pleasing, and it sounds like something to do in this game is never too far off.

I think it adds to the beauty and organics of the world. It's fine to not prefer that over a compact design like say in the top down 2D Zelda's, but I don't think it's realistic to expect a true open-world design that works organically to be filled a point of interest at every space. That being said, it's possible that they made this game too big, and depending, some of the empty space could get tiresome if not handled appropriately, so the verdict is still out. As long as it's not another Wind Waker situation, I'm down.

I feel like being out in a wide open field and just taking in the surroundings adds to a sense of vastness and exploration. I don't necessarily have to be partaking in some kind of activity to be enjoying myself.

Absolutely - and this is part of the reason Batman: Arkham Origins arguably has the best city in the series IMO. They didn't turn it into a circus of constant eccentricity and detail - Origins' Gotham City has loads of empty industrial plazas, cold barren lanes and corners where goons will stomp about at will. It feels legit like a real space rather than a game-space.

I asked earlier, but then the thread grew quickly, so I'll try again.

Has anyone played the Switch version with a Joy-con in each hand? If so, how does that work, especially with motion control aiming?

This is how I plan on playing it. Curious to find out.
 
I asked earlier, but then the thread grew quickly, so I'll try again.

Has anyone played the Switch version with a Joy-con in each hand? If so, how does that work, especially with motion control aiming?

Gyro is 100% controlled by the right joy con, even when using the grips.

If it bothers you, you can turn it off.
 
Gyro is 100% controlled by the right joy con, even when using the grips.

If it bothers you, you can turn it off.
Bothers me? Oh, no. No, no, no. I was sold on motion aiming way back with Twilight Princess Wii, legend of the pixel-perfect sniper. I hear Link actually had a sword in that game, could have fooled me. Also Splatoon.

I was worried it wasn't going to work unless you combined the two Joy-cons. Having it exclusively in the right one is just perfect. This is, no joke, one of the best things I've read about the final version of the game yet. That's going to make my playstyle use the bow and/or any other projectile weapons the game may have a lot more.
 
I crumbled. I cried off work and took a 3 hour lunch break to play the game. Never, ever done that before. And only could because we're super-quiet in the office at the moment and I get my work emails forwarded to my phone.

So, 6 hours in now. I already loved it at the Great Plateau. But all these people saying the game improves immesurably after that... totally right. 100% correct. Phenomenal. Holy SHIT this game is like crack cocaine. It's GOTY unless something ludicrous comes along. It's horribly flawed in quite a few ways but they just fade into the background in comparison with how gloriously fun it is.

"See that mountain over there, you can climb it! And on the way you'll find 7 caves full of zombies and bland armor! Isn't that exciting!"

I think using Skyrim or Witcher 3 as the standard is a pretty low bar tbh, most open world games actual world are banal and shallow as fuck.

Lets hope Nintendo aimed a bit higher than Skyrim :-/

Hmmm... this might not be the game for you. Your first quote here is pretty much exactly what this game is.

Also, don't be fooled into thinking Nintendo has reinvented the open-world wheel here. You get given quests, you select quests from a quest log, a yellow dot appears on your mini-map and you follow it. Like every other open-world game ever. I have 4 main quests and 5 side quests at the moment, and they all work like that.

And on the way up the mountain or wherever your target is, you spend minutes at a time traversing vast empty fields or climbing barren mountains, and then clearing an enemy encampment or two along the way for treasure that can be as uninspiring as '5 arrows' (yes, really, this is sometimes your reward for beating a camp.)

Or you know, if you've seen enough footage and you made an opinion for yourself you can choose not to entirely trust the opinion of someone who's been shitting on the game since the reveal for his own admission (not to mention he's barely off the plateau, so he can't really judge the entire world) and stick with what you've seen. Yes that extends to graphics as well, cause personally i've seen enough and i don't think it looks worse than a Gamecube game with 3 effects added and running at a higher resolution. Artstyle can be debated, but technically no.

This also applies to the pirates who are judging how the game runs (not saying griss pirated the game, but many on the internet clearly did) through loadiine.

He can say whatever he wants about the game, but people are free to believe it or ignore it. Both the positives and the negatives.

EDIT:

Lmfao

See? This is what i'm talking about.

Damn, man, why so salty. I like the game. But I'm here playing it and the fucking thing has Ubitowers whether you like it or not - I've been up 4 of them already.

He was turned off to technical issues and didn't like the visuals of the game, his first impression is I don't like how the game looks. Enough for me to ignore his opinion.

Mate, I went soft on the game with my technical complaints. As bad as I said the game runs in grassland, it's twice as bad in villages - which I hadn't yet seen / visited at the time. It's so bad in the two villages I visited so far that I just left them both without exploring. Seriously, I think the village performance and rainy weather performance are going to be big deals on GAF when the game comes out.
 
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