Support NeoGAF

[CharminUltra]

Just entered

Spoiler

Lost Woods

for the first time and holy shit. The change in music and atmosphere and really the whole presentation is superb.

 

[victreeb3l]

Haha wow. Your sword gets electrified when you swing at a yellow chu chu. If theres a mob near, you can end up shocking them while you swing through the chu chu.

 

[goldenpp72]

Question for Zora's domain area

Spoiler

the guy on top of the mountain with the electric arrows. I snuck around and collected them all. Is it necessary to fight him-he saw me and OHKed me. I left after getting the arrows. Should I come back and fight him?

Eh, it's fully possible even with just a few hearts, like so.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C6HbTMbVMAQIBGu.jpg:large

Flurry rush and good arrow shots do wonders.

 

[sanstesy]

Hyrule Castle is cool but you can see the free-form overworld play directly clashes with the tight puzzle-solving in the shrines. Not only isn't there any classic puzzle solving but you can simply climb past everything there is inside.

It is a cool place, which it's supposed to be, but not a dungeon.

 

[TWILT]

Killed a Lynel for the first time. Was pretty intense; had to dodge at the right time and I had to cheese it a bit with Stasising it, but damn it felt good haha. Not sure if it was worth using a Guardian Axe++ and my Master Sword usage on it, but I'll take the things he drops haha.

 

[Lights and Waves]

Just entered

Spoiler

Lost Woods

for the first time and holy shit. The change in music and atmosphere and really the whole presentation is superb.

I'm assuming you don't include frame rate in presentation? The lost woods is almost unplayable. They need to patch it and just remove all the grass.

 

[jb1234]

This is more or less how I feel. I'm yet to experience much in the ways of frustrating bugs (like your nightmarish sequential blood moons), and so am adoring the direction Nintendo has taken towards minimalism and agency. But there's certainly room for the team to refine their vision and explore it further, and I hope they do so rather than abandon the open world template for yet another revision (or regression to the old paradigm).

I'm more or less okay with the open world as long as they improve the main quest. I always played Zelda for the amazing dungeons and set pieces and there's not a lot of that here. Exploration just for the sake of exploration doesn't do much for me, especially when the main rewards are the shrines (already getting old) and endless seeds.

 

[Son.Ralph.Funk]

I don't have a Switch yet, but was wondering how much space the digital version takes up? It doesn't seem to say on Nintendo's website.

Also, are all the games that are available at retail also available for digital download?

 

[2Smashed4U]

I'm assuming you don't include frame rate in presentation? The lost woods is almost unplayable. They need to patch it and just remove all the grass.

Cmon, I think "unplayable" is a little over the top. I honestly couldn't notice anything out of the orindary until I read about it here. It certainly isn't "unplayable" by any means.

 

[CharminUltra]

I'm assuming you don't include frame rate in presentation? The lost woods is almost unplayable. They need to patch it and just remove all the grass.

I'm not very far in yet, but seems about on par with the framerate in, say,

Spoiler

Zora's Domain while it was raining,

which didn't bother me.

 

[Son.Ralph.Funk]

I'm assuming you don't include frame rate in presentation? The lost woods is almost unplayable. They need to patch it and just remove all the grass.

So I guess you consider games like Starfox for SNES "unplayable". That game probably maxed out at 20 fps.

 

[Aldric]

Is this game really better than OoT? I haven't played the game yet.

As an OoT fan, what aspects of OoT does BotW improve upon? On the flipside, what qualities from OoT has BotW not exceeded?

lt's sort of pointless to compare the two as OoT has become synonymous with the 2D to 3D paradigm change and will forever remain one of the most important games of all time because of that. BotW in comparison is just a refinement of the current dominant style in the industry. Lore wise OoT also established most of the rules of the Zelda universe BotW still follows.

l think the best way to describe this game is it feels like what my imagination conjured when l played OoT as a kid 20 years ago. lt's the same world and adventure but opened up and filled with new wonders you suspected existed somewhere in Hyrule but couldn't experience back then because of hardware limitations.

 

[Feep]

Agree. I don't get why people are knocking points off over four bosses that take up no more than a tenth of total playtime . They are parts of a sum.

Because they're disappointing and we know they can do better.

One tenth of total playtime, one tenth of the score seems pretty fair to me. The game's not perfect, dude.

 

[Lights and Waves]

So I guess you consider games like Starfox for SNES "unplayable". That game probably maxed out at 20 fps.

You're comparing an SNES game to a AAA game made in 2017? Cool.

 

[sanstesy]

Because they're disappointing and we know they can do better.

One tenth of total playtime, one tenth of the score seems pretty fair to me. The game's not perfect, dude.

What is wrong with the boss battles themselves and what good are they missing from past Zelda games?

 

[Leemo]

I don't have a Switch yet, but was wondering how much space the digital version takes up? It doesn't seem to say on Nintendo's website.

Also, are all the games that are available at retail also available for digital download?

I think over read that it's about 14gb. And yeah at the moment all retail games are available digitally. The rest take up much less space than Zelda.

 

[SolVanderlyn]

Gerudos only think about Voe.

Spoiler

also there is one in the bar that looks exactly like Ganondorf

Wait, there is a

Spoiler

male Gerudo

in the game?

 

[Son.Ralph.Funk]

You're comparing an SNES game to a AAA game made in 2017? Cool.

What difference does it make what console they came out for? If a game is "unplayable" as you put it, it's unplayable. It doesn't matter if it's now or 25 years ago. Humans have not evolved/devolved in the last 25 years so as to not be able to play games that we could 25 years ago.

Or were you just trolling when you called it "unplayable". Either way is cool, dude.

 

[Red]

Climbed Hebra tower without cold resistance. Really feels like I make these objectives by the skin of my teeth. It's a mad dash in and a mad dash out. I am intrigued by the maze-like area at the top of the Hebra map. I want to go there but I have no more food.

I explored Hyrule Castle fairly thoroughly—so I thought. I was hoping to find the classic Hylian shield in there, since there was such a heavy bird motif. I had no luck finding the shield (is it even in the game?), but I felt satisfied with my haul. Then I decided to check my map and for the first time realized that Hyrule castle gets its own detailed layout, and even seems to display your path through the castle. I had explored maybe a third of the place. Will be back later, with better equipment and more hearts.

I also managed to beat that huge green

Spoiler

Lynel

without taking damage, with a mixture of flurry rush and bomb arrows. My only upgrade so far is a single point of stamina. I felt good about the win.

Was also a little disappointed that climbing the castle's tallest spire simply grants a

Spoiler

Korok seed.

 

[Feep]

What is wrong with the boss battles themselves?

Spoiler

Thunderblight

was okay, especially with that neat

Spoiler

blur effect

. The others, especially

Spoiler

Windblight

you can generally beat by getting close to them and swinging. None come close to some of the excellent bosses in TP or WW.

I know a 10/10 doesn't mean "perfect", but at least *for me*, the game's flaws *do* drag down the experience. Frame rate doesn't matter to you? Cool, it does to me. Lack of impressive, traditional dungeons doesn't matter to you? Cool, it does to me. And as a professional voice actor, hearing some of this stuff makes my eardrums bleed.

The rest of the game borders on transcendent, and of course it's fantastic as a whole regardless. But just a little too often I feel disappointed, and that sucks.

 

[mrkgoo]

Question for Zora's domain area

Spoiler

the guy on top of the mountain with the electric arrows. I snuck around and collected them all. Is it necessary to fight him-he saw me and OHKed me. I left after getting the arrows. Should I come back and fight him?

I did it, with Link as my first major area with

Spoiler

a divine beast

Spoiler

I just used a couple of potions, one really heavy triple up defence, which lasted for like 7 minutes, and extra max hearts. he was only doing quarter damage to me, so it was ample time to just brute force. Cost me a few weapons though.

 

[OricWindstar]

I explored Hyrule Castle fairly thoroughly—so I thought. I was hoping to find the classic Hylian shield in there, since there was such a heavy bird motif. I had no luck finding the shield (is it even in the game?), but I felt satisfied with my haul. Then I decided to check my map and for the first time realized that Hyrule castle gets its own detailed layout, and even seems to display your path through the castle. I had explored maybe a third of the place. Will be back later, with better equipment and more hearts.

Spoiler

Yes, and you're looking in the right spot.

 

[k91191]

After manually deleting 100+ photos one-by-one, I notice the mass delete option...

 

[Danj]

So if there were levels in this game, I'd be underlevelled right now, as I'm running into monsters and trials and whatnot that are way too strong for me.

Since there aren't levels though, how do I get stronger? Did I miss a shitton of side quests or something?

 

[Anustart]

I think excellent bosses and 3d zelda have never gone together. At their core, they are have been little more than spectacle and using an item from the dungeon to weaken then hit 3 times.

Shit has been played out for going on 20 years.

In the original zelda, the very first play through was magical for the journey to find the dungeons, not the dungeons themselves. And I think they did great to expound upon that here. The magic is the exploration.

 

[Red]

Spoiler

Yes, and you're looking in the right spot.

I found a

Spoiler

rusty shield with a +8 defense bonus

. Is that it? Is it something similar, where I have to get the rust off, or does it exist in its classic appearance from the get go?

I did run into

Spoiler

Thunderblight Ganon

or something along those lines, in the sanctum. Is it in there? I reloaded my save because I didn't want to risk getting locked into the end game.

 

[jb1234]

So if there were levels in this game, I'd be underlevelled right now, as I'm running into monsters and trials and whatnot that are way too strong for me.

Since there aren't levels though, how do I get stronger? Did I miss a shitton of side quests or something?

Shrines to increase health and stamina. Eat certain foods for resistances. Obtain better armor.

 

[OricWindstar]

I found a

Spoiler

rusty shield with a +8 defense bonus

. Is that it? Is it something similar, where I have to get the rust off, or does it exist in its classic appearance from the get go?

Spoiler

No, it's straight up the Hylian Shield. It's in the basement protected by an optional boss.

 

[GDJustin]

That feeling when you've been curling up with BotW on the couch every evening for 7 days straight for at least two hours, and you check the map and realize you haven't even set foot in over half of the game's map. I can't even fathom what's over there.

34 Shrines. 1 Divine Beast. Never even attempted to take down a Guardian. I'm going to be curling up on the couch with this game for a long, long time...

 

[Lights and Waves]

What difference does it make what console they came out for? If a game is "unplayable" as you put it, it's unplayable. It doesn't matter if it's now or 25 years ago. Humans have not evolved/devolved in the last 25 years so as to not be able to play games that we could 25 years ago.

Or were you just trolling when you called it "unplayable". Either way is cool, dude.

I'm not even going to bother with this one, lol. If you can't recognize hyperbole in the context of my post, then I don't know what to tell you buddy. Obviously the game is playable, sweet minty Jesus. Thank you for the science lesson though. Cheers.

 

[Dragnipur]

I think excellent bosses and 3d zelda have never gone together. At their core, they are have been little more than spectacle and using an item from the dungeon to weaken then hit 3 times.

Shit has been played out for going on 20 years.

In the original zelda, the very first play through was magical for the journey to find the dungeons, not the dungeons themselves. And I think they did great to expound upon that here. The magic is the exploration.

The bosses would be infinitely better if:
You couldn't use arrows on them
They had more health

 

[2Smashed4U]

I think excellent bosses and 3d zelda have never gone together. At their core, they are have been little more than spectacle and using an item from the dungeon to weaken then hit 3 times.

Shit has been played out for going on 20 years.

In the original zelda, the very first play through was magical for the journey to find the dungeons, not the dungeons themselves. And I think they did great to expound upon that here. The magic is the exploration.

That's literally how I've always felt about Zelda. Dungeons are just a means to an end, to get some trinket and use it for a while and then whatever. They've always been a slog to me.

 

[sanstesy]

Spoiler

Thunderblight

was okay, especially with that neat

Spoiler

blur effect

. The others, especially

Spoiler

Windblight

you can generally beat by getting close to them and swinging. None come close to some of the excellent bosses in TP or WW.

I know a 10/10 doesn't mean "perfect", but at least *for me*, the game's flaws *do* drag down the experience. Frame rate doesn't matter to you? Cool, it does to me. Lack of impressive, traditional dungeons doesn't matter to you? Cool, it does to me. And as a professional voice actor, hearing some of this stuff makes my eardrums bleed.

The rest of the game borders on transcendent, and of course it's fantastic as a whole regardless. But just a little too often I feel disappointed, and that sucks.

No, save for some few outliers Zelda never was considered to have excellent boss battles and I'm honestly surprised you put Twilight Princess & Wind Waker there, both having the most easiest and dull bosses in the Zelda series. With the blights now you actually have to time dodges and overall do more damage. They are a positive for the Zelda series, not a negative.

 

[Lights and Waves]

That's literally how I've always felt about Zelda. Dungeons are just a means to an end, to get some trinket and use it for a while and then whatever. They've always been a slog to me.

Opposite here. Dungeons have always been the best part of Zelda games, and I love having them designed around the toy you find within them!

 

[Lights and Waves]

No, save for some few outliers Zelda never was considered to have excellent boss battles and I'm honestly surprised you put Twilight Princess & Wind Waker there, both having the most easiest and dull bosses in the Zelda series. With the blights now you actually have to time dodges and overall do more damage. They are a positive for the Zelda series, not a negative.

Wait what? Twilight Princess has awesome bosses (Dragon in the sky with the double claw shot, puppet Zelda, Zant teleporting you everywhere, Blizetta on the ice rink) and so does Wind Waker (Ganondorf while Hyrule is sinking, Helmaroc chasing you up the tower, the one robot that has arrows for boogers).

 

[flipswitch]

A tree branch is no good help blow my raft? Had a few goes and it done nothing, unless I'm doing something wrong.

 

[Aldric]

No, save for some few outliers Zelda never was considered to have excellent boss battles and I'm honestly surprised you put Twilight Princess & Wind Waker there, both having the most easiest and dull bosses in the Zelda series. With the blights now you actually have to time dodges and overall do more damage. They are a positive for the Zelda series, not a negative.

Twilight Princess had fun bosses. The one in Arbiters Ground, the dragon, even Zant.

l do agree BotW's bosses suck. They're easy and all look the same. No big deal though.

 

[Huge Succeeded]

A tree branch is no good help blow my raft? Had a few goes and it done nothing, unless I'm doing something wrong.

you need a korok leaf to blow your raft with.

 

[Common Knowledge]

Wait, there is a

Spoiler

male Gerudo

in the game?

I think they're referring to a female that happens to have similar facial features to Ganondorf. I think I know which one they're referring to.

Regarding male Gerudos though,

Spoiler

I do find it interesting that the whole "male born every 100 years" seems to be a dropped lore aspect regarding them, with the leaders now being females. Unless this is because Ganondorf is technincally still around at this point, despite being twisted and warped beyond recognition. So for the past 10,000 years or whatever they never had another male be born. Interesting to think about and I kind of wish the game played into it a little bit. The only reference I've seen is Urbosa off-handedly mentioning that Calamity Ganon used to take the form of a Gerudo, but other than that, the Gerudos seem to not have any knowledge of males in their race.

 

[victreeb3l]

Omfg i cant find flint anywhere!!!

 

[nintendoman58]

I just noticed how the Octorocks don't aim where you are, they aim with perfect precision on where you're going to be.

Man, I knew the enemy AI in this game was good, but wow.

Omfg i cant find flint anywhere!!!

Try smashing some ore deposits. I've found some there.

 

[Red]

Spoiler

No, it's straight up the Hylian Shield. It's in the basement protected by an optional boss.

I completely missed that.

 

[victreeb3l]

I just noticed how the Octorocks don't aim where you are, they aim with perfect precision on where you're going to be.

Man, I knew the enemy AI in this game was good, but wow.



Try smashing some ore deposits. I've found some there.

Getting nothing but amber and opal 😭😭😭

I could have sworn someone sold it somewhere.

 

[Aaronrules380]

I think they're referring to a female that happens to have similar facial features to Ganondorf. I think I know which one they're referring to.

Regarding male Gerudos though,

Spoiler

I do find it interesting that the whole "male born every 100 years" seems to be a dropped lore aspect regarding them, with the leaders now being females. Unless this is because Ganondorf is technincally still around at this point, despite being twisted and warped beyond recognition. So for the past 10,000 years or whatever they never had another male be born. Interesting to think about and I kind of wish the game played into it a little bit. The only reference I've seen is Urbosa off-handedly mentioning that Calamity Ganon used to take the form of a Gerudo, but other than that, the Gerudos seem to not have any knowledge of males in their race.

I imagine they dropped the whole "sole male becomes king" thing because Ganondorf showed this was a horrible idea. They seem to reference that Gerudo males do exist, but are just super rare

 

[kunonabi]

No, save for some few outliers Zelda never was considered to have excellent boss battles and I'm honestly surprised you put Twilight Princess & Wind Waker there, both having the most easiest and dull bosses in the Zelda series. With the blights now you actually have to time dodges and overall do more damage. They are a positive for the Zelda series, not a negative.

The blight I fought was a bigger push over than any other Zelda boss I've played in years.

 

[CharminUltra]

OK, managed to solve the

Spoiler

"maze" and meet the Great Deku Tree.

. That was pretty fricking satisfying, especially the moment you emerge into the

Spoiler

Korok Forest and spot the Master Sword.

 

[Son.Ralph.Funk]

I'm not even going to bother with this one

...followed by you bothering with this one.

Your statement that it is "unplayable" was stupid. You now realize it, and are trying to pass if off as something else.

 

[sanstesy]

Wait what? Twilight Princess has awesome bosses (Dragon in the sky with the double claw shot, puppet Zelda, Zant teleporting you everywhere, Blizetta on the ice rink) and so does Wind Waker (Ganondorf while Hyrule is sinking, Helmaroc chasing you up the tower, the one robot that has arrows for boogers).

Twilight Princess had spectacle but that was it. The bosses did all 1 heart of damage with the upper ceiling being 2. Incredibly easy and predictable 3 hit bosses where some of them are literally copy/paste boss fights from OoT like Puppet Zelda.

I never heard anyone say WW has good bosses other than the final boss fight. The robot did half a heart of damage or something like that.

 

[Danj]

So if there were levels in this game, I'd be underlevelled right now, as I'm running into monsters and trials and whatnot that are way too strong for me.

Since there aren't levels though, how do I get stronger? Did I miss a shitton of side quests or something?

Shrines to increase health and stamina. Eat certain foods for resistances. Obtain better armor.

How do shrines increase health and stamina though? Other than exchanging 4 spirit orbs for one or the other at the Temple of Time? And where can I get better armor? I'm still wearing the Warm Doublet and Hylian Trousers from the starting area. There's an armor shop in

Spoiler

Kakariko Village

, but a lot of it seems oriented to stealth rather than defense? Also, if I change away from the Warm Doublet, do I lose the cold protection?

 

[Branduil]

LMAO I somehow managed to Metal Gear up to the top of Hyrule Castle using the

Spoiler

Sheikah gear, didn't even encounter a single enemy.

I got Windblight and Fireblight Ganon down without too much trouble, but Thunderblight Ganon made me use my best weapons and food. And then I got bodied by Calamity Ganon.