The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild |OT| A Link from the Past

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One thing I have to say about this game is that it is the first open world title I have ever played where taking your time with the main story and exploring instead makes sense within the context of the narrative. Link needs to become as powerful as he can before taking on Ganon at Hyrule Castle so it's logical for him to spend as much time as he needs to make that happen. It's already been 100 years since Ganon took control of Hyrule, so there's no real reason for Link to rush his assault on the castle. Every other open world game I've ever played has such a huge disconnect between the story and what the player is actually doing in-game. In most games, you'll come across a main quest that, in reality, would need to be accomplished ASAP, but nope, gotta' do some street races or play some golf or go grab some collectables first! In BotW, going off the main path and doing your own thing actually works within the game's world and narrative. Really, really cool. Just another reason why this game is so impressive to me.
 
ckaneo said:
If you are trying to reach Goron city read below.
Head to the stable visible from the tower in that area and some lady will let you buy 3 heat potions. You can purchase armor in the city
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ah, cool. thanks. I was around there, couldn't figure out what to do, said fuck it and headed to the southwest area

Stratosphere said:
Anybody?
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no. unless you're trying to speed run it? there's no drawback to anything. just play the game
 
I just got my first Rune upgrades and found myself wandering to a beach sidequest, taking a very long ice block and boat trip and wound up out at
Eventide Island
. The process of getting here was a blast, but I'm kind of thinking I should maybe save this for later? Seeing how it appears to be a "break from the usual process" kind of place.
 
Ruta was pretty damned cool. I like the new dungeon design with the divines and then the shrines almost feel like puzzles from Portal or Talos Principal. I could play entire games just made of these puzzles.

Boss:
Waterblight Gannon was pretty easy I just spammed elemental arrows with a knights bow

There's no particular order to do the divines is there?

mrmickfran said:
31 hours in one weekend.

No regrets.

Now to go back to reality tomorrow.
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One more day off for me and it's going to be a marathon.
 
My fight with the boss of
Zora's Domain
was so crazy. I was out of all my food, low on health, and and my last bow broke. I ended up dealing the final desperate blow by throwing a greatsword at him. The whole thing felt like a scene from a movie. Really fun boss fight too.
 
EatinOlives said:
Lots of people quoted you but I'm gonna take my stab at it.

The main difference between Zelda and Bethesda RPGs is that Zelda is actively not trying to be an RPG. This means some superficial changes like a deliberate lack of experience points and "levels" so to speak. But the way the world is designed and the mechanics themselves are far more palatable to an action-game format.

For starters, the lack of icons makes the game feel more free-flowing. You don't explicitly follow the icon that says "bandit camp", you just happen to find it. On top of this the game has many un-RPG micro-puzzles scattered throughout the world that give you any one class of reward. The game having many classes of reward gives the game a certain kind of mystery. Sometimes it's Rupees, sometimes it's craftables, sometimes it's a piece of equipment or a weapon. None of it is unexciting filler items like "socket this into your weapon for +2% chance of poison!" There's heft to each treasure you find, not just a drop in an ocean of numerical rewards that many open-world RPGs fall under.

The open world is also decidedly different from many other open-world games. It's not like in GTA where the whole "see that mountain? You can go there!" amounts to you just driving to that mountain. BOTW has an element of traversal and verticality that makes getting from point A to point B a more involved affair. Nooks and crannies can make your traversal easier, or there are frequently obstacles deliberately put in front of you to make you go around them. In every corner the geography engages you. The climbing mechanics coupled with the reward-everywhere philosophy means that not only do you have the ability to go to "that mountain", but chances are high that there's something once you get there. Tons of times I do a random thing and climb a random tall object or building just to get a vista only to find a reward on top.

Combat is also far more action-y than your average open-world RPG. It's similar in style to The Witcher 3 in terms of action-oriented gameplay, but BOTW lays several Nintendo-esque twists on top of that. Environmental objects that can help or work against you, and many enemies with behaviors explicitly created to interact with certain elements of the world. With several tools at your disposal, if you manage to "game" the systems just right you can make really quick work of enemies that are far more powerful than you. And because the game is about player experiences and action-y systems, the game is happy to yield to you in those cases. None of that "yeah well but you're level 10 and he's 50 so yeah just wail on this guy for 10 minutes or leave cuz those are your options pal".

In short, the game is far more action, reward, physics, and game-driven than many other open world games, RPG or otherwise. It's why details like each character having a daily schedule resonates far more in this game than it does in Bethesda games, because while Beth has fallen into a certain mold and subsequent games tweak said mold, BOTW has built into its systems a certain level of physicality. Everything is funneled into high-level concepts of exploration and immediacy in combat, more about you interacting with the world with your "gut" (lemme just use this wind to set this entire field ablaze) rather than min-maxing some esoteric numerical system.
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Would also like to point out the subverting of expectations where you can just see merchants and travellers and treasure hunters along the way and then you talk to one of them and turn out to be a enemy, its great
 
taoofjord said:
My fight with the boss of
Zora's Domain
was so crazy. I was out of all my food, low on health, and and my last bow broke. I ended up dealing the final desperate blow by throwing a greatsword at him. The whole thing felt like a scene from a movie. Really fun boss fight too.
Click to expand...

That's amazing, had a relatively easy time with it just going ham with all the spare shock arrows.
 
taoofjord said:
My fight with the boss of
Zora's Domain
was so crazy. I was out of all my food and my last bow broke. I ended up dealing the final desperate blow by throwing a great sword at him. The whole thing felt like a scene from a movie. Really fun boss fight too.
Click to expand...

Yeah, first one I went for, and was so under prepared, everything broke, no food, sucked. Then I made sure I got a bunch of weapons, lots of arrows and food. Made short work of him then. Having a spear with fast jabs helps I noticed.
 
OrbitalBeard said:
One thing I have to say about this game is that it is the first open world title I have ever played where taking your time with the main story and exploring instead makes sense within the context of the narrative. Link needs to become as powerful as he can before taking on Ganon at Hyrule Castle so it's logical for him to spend as much time as he needs to make that happen. It's already been 100 years since Ganon took control of Hyrule, so there's no real reason for Link to rush his assault on the castle. Every other open world game I've ever played has such a huge disconnect between the story and what the player is actually doing in-game. In most games, you'll come across a main quest that, in reality, would need to be accomplished ASAP, but nope, gotta' do some street races or play some golf or go grab some collectables first! In BotW, going off the main path and doing your own thing actually works within the game's world and narrative. Really, really cool. Just another reason why this game is so impressive to me.
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This is a really great point!

Speely said:
Plus cooking is strangely satisfying, at least to me. Something about throwing the ingredients in and the animation/sounds that follow is nice.
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Haha, yep... I wish there was a little more variation in the tune that Link hums, but getting the bad/great version jingles are a nice little touch.
 
The game is definitely cool in scale and everything but nothing so far has really blown me away, if anything the less structure is a little bit annoying because I waste so much time just wandering around. Most of the landscape is just filled with small enemy hubs and the random NPC or new animal. Am I missing something here?

For reference I just got my Sheikah Slate fully functional by that lady in the lab.
 
ghibli99 said:
Haha, yep... I wish there was a little more variation in the tune that Link hums, but getting the bad/great version jingles are a nice little touch.
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The animation team did a stellar job in this game. I like seeing Link's different responses. Him being cold is hilarious.
 
Man. This is easily one of the best environments in an open world game I've ever seen. They packed so much in every nook and cranny within this vast world.

I've played like 12 hours and I just started the Divine Beasts quest. Haven't even gotten to the regions where any of them are! Instead I've just been exploring and finding temples, and trying to get to a few towers. Tried going to Central Tower and got annihilated by those Guardians. Noped right out of there. lol
 
Dr. Feel Good said:
The game is definitely cool in scale and everything but nothing so far has really blown me away, if anything the less structure is a little bit annoying because I waste so much time just wandering around. Most of the landscape is just filled with small enemy hubs and the random NPC or new animal. Am I missing something here?

For reference I just got my Sheikah Slate fully functional by that lady in the lab.
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Have you been finding the koroks? There are a ton of puzzles to do if you pay attention to your surroundings.
 
Kinsei said:
Have you been finding the koroks? There are a ton of puzzles to do if you pay attention to your surroundings.
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Do you know where to turn them in after he leaves the first time? I have 8 seeds now and want to use them, but have no clue where he went.
 
Huge Succeeded said:
Thanks, but it's too late. I brought him to the stable on the road to Kakariko. After a good 30 solid minutes of fucking TENSE mountain climbing (on top of a horse...) and enemy dodging. And one moment where I hopped off to feed him apples and he ran away for a second :p

It was all worth it. I named him Bardock in the end.



I don't think I'm ever gonna need another horse. Just a mountain of meat
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Oh man, you caught the big horse! I should probably try to far him again
 
Guys...

What does BotW mean for the Skyrim release in Fall? The DLC for BotW drops around the same time. Having played both games I feel like BotW is better by several orders of magnitude.

I hope Skyrim Switch has dedicated HD Rumble and maybe motion control features. That could set it apart.
 
"I see you Kakariko, but I need to do this other thing over here first." I feel like I'm never going to get there. LOL

Kinsei said:
Have you been finding the koroks? There are a ton of puzzles to do if you pay attention to your surroundings.
Click to expand...
This is a really satisfying aspect of the game that I didn't think I would like (felt similarly about the simpler one in ALBW). Better than any of the previous "find all of the so-and-so" quests in the series.
 
RPGCrazied said:
Do you know where to turn them in after he leaves the first time? I have 8 seeds now and want to use them, but have no clue where he went.
Click to expand...

He mentioned following the Hylia River north. I'm not sure exactly where it is as I haven't been there. I plan on going to look for him after I finish exploring this mountain.
 
Speely said:
Guys...

What does BotW mean for the Skyrim release in Fall? The DLC for BotW drops around the same time. Having played both games I feel like BotW is better by several orders of magnitude.

I hope Skyrim Switch has dedicated HD Rumble and maybe motion control features. That could set it apart.
Click to expand...

Skyrim will be a 6 year old game by then, which has already been on 5 different platforms. It means nothing.
 
ghibli99 said:
"I see you Kakariko, but I need to do this other thing over here first." I feel like I'm never going to get there. LOL


This is a really satisfying aspect of the game that I didn't think I would like (felt similarly about the simpler one in ALBW). Better than any of the previous "find all of the so-and-so" quests in the series.
Click to expand...

What's awesome about that is that you will fall even more in love once you get there.
 
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