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The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild |OT2| It's 98 All Over Again

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My respect for Jim's opinion went severley down after he awarded the pile of dung that is Watch dogs 2 a 9/10, and now he gives one of the greatest games of our time a 7?

Hmm, I'm all for everyone having their own opinion, but his is one I certainly will not be seeking for future reference.

I do have to thank him for highlighting Valley to me though, that was a great game.
 
How is the enemy variety in this game?

Say what you will about Twilight Princess, but you had a pretty big rogue's gallery of enemies, compared to Skyward Sword. I was really disappointed that Skyward Sword was 90% moblins with the occasional lizalfos thrown in.
 
I agree with almost everything Jim said in his review (outside complaints about weapon durability, I love that system), but those problems push the game to 9-9.5/10 range, not 7/10.
 
How is the enemy variety in this game?

Say what you will about Twilight Princess, but you had a pretty big rogue's gallery of enemies, compared to Skyward Sword. I was really disappointed that Skyward Sword was 90% moblins with the occasional lizalfos thrown in.

It's one of the things that definitely can be easily improved for a world so big. Not a big deal though imo.
 
How is the enemy variety in this game?

Say what you will about Twilight Princess, but you had a pretty big rogue's gallery of enemies, compared to Skyward Sword. I was really disappointed that Skyward Sword was 90% moblins with the occasional lizalfos thrown in.

Enemy variety could be better to be honest. A few series staples suck as Deku Babas and Poes are missing.

It is mainly Bokoblins, Moblins, Lizalfos and skeletal variations of them.
 
I just figured out that I can do quick draw attacks!!

While your weapon is sheathed

Tap F+B+Y (default wiiu)

Works well for the heavy weapons where you first have to tab Y to unsheath and then Y again for the first attack which is slow.

Try it!
 
The one hit kill stuff never bothered me. It encourages you to learn enemy attack patterns and take a different approach to combat. Not to mention it also makes the game world actually dangerous. It's rewarding when you actually take down a tough enemy and loot his powerful weapon.

A lot of the difficulty in this game is about not getting hit at all. It seems frustrating at first, but once you start learning how every weapon and tool works, it turns encounters into a sort of combat dance.
 
How is the enemy variety in this game?

Say what you will about Twilight Princess, but you had a pretty big rogue's gallery of enemies, compared to Skyward Sword. I was really disappointed that Skyward Sword was 90% moblins with the occasional lizalfos thrown in.

Not too great, honestly. It's mostly variants of the same dozen or so monsters.
 
I just figured out that I can do quick draw attacks!!

While your weapon is sheathed

Tap F+B+Y (default wiiu)

Works well for the heavy weapons where you first have to tab Y to unsheath and then Y again for the first attack which is slow.

Try it!

You can also do it out of a sprint. Really useful for chasing things down.
 
Man, this fucking game. I've put God only knows how many hours into it, I've only unlocked about a quarter of the map, beat one Divine Beast, and I still feel like I don't know what the hell I'm doing and I'm still scared of everything I come across murdering me horribly. And I can't stop playing. I've got other shit to do, Nintendo, what the fuck.
Same as you and I'm prob about 130 hrs in. O.o
 
Hmmm...I do think enemy variety is low, in part to keep enemies tied to weapons.

I don't think combat is a net loss. I never had a problem with weapons. I always had cool weapons, often an embarrassment of them.

I did start avoiding enemy camps, and chests, but not quite for the common reasons in here. I'm to the point where I'm swimming in money, arrows, royal weapons, etc. and I'm exploring to finish the shrines (at 117 atm). The thing is, the combat pieces are so discrete from the shrines.

Heart pieces have been separated, mostly, from enemy gauntlets, strongholds, and secret places.

Moreover, the enemy camps tend to sport pretty simplistic, repetitive design.

The game has its combat/exploration combined highlights, but they are too few and not the norm.

...

Moreover, in what world do the cool weapons break in a flash? I've always gotten a good deal of use out of elemental weapons, for example.

Really don't quite get why my experience is so out of sync with what other people are getting.
 
I have an irrational fear of water in video games so I'm fine with how this was handled lol.

Maybe water traversal underwater wasn't implemented because swimming anywhere you want underwater doesn't have the same impact as climbing and navigating through land? You don't have the effects of gravity and paragliding, or the sense of escalation? Of course, there can be design around that, but I can see why maybe that was skipped upon for now.

If you have an irrational fear, why would you be a fan of Link drowning after like 5 seconds in the water lol
 
Same as you and I'm prob about 130 hrs in. O.o

That's uh... 13 hours a day since release. What the hell are you doing in that time to only have a quarter of the map? There's a lot of shrines, but there aren't THAT many shrines. No animosity though; I actually kind of admire that.
 
Yes, every shrine is technically optional in the same way not rocking up to Ganon’s front door and assaulting his forces with a tree branch is – you can do whatever you like, but if you want to have a solid chance of actually succeeding, there is a proper, preconstructed way of doing things, and the proper way of handling shrines is to complete them on sight lest lose track of them – finish as many of them as possible, as close to all 120 of the bloody things as you can.

I thought this claim was a bit weird. You can't lose track of shrines, they're your fast travel points. Incomplete ones are even a different color on the map. Ringing the doorbell and moving on is completely valid.

P.S. Hi Jim! Hope you're doing well.
 
Nearly 50 hours played so far With two dungeons left to go. Exploring the western areas of the world now.

Didnt realize
Wasteland
and
Gerudo Highlands
were different regions!
 
This damn game. Made it to the Zoras finally and before going on with the story I decided to explore a bit more. The further away I go the more things seem to one shot me if I'm not careful. I have no clue at the moment how I'm suppose to take on things like the
Lynels (these guys are assholes) and the Guardians
. It's quite clear I simply do not have the equipment or weapons to take these things one. They're faster and weapons break so fast on them. They're also one hit killing me. I know others seem to be able to take them on with less hearts, etc but it's not clicking with me. So going have to avoid them until the time being.

Also it's clear to me now that
the Faron
area is the biggest problem area in terms of frame rate. It still doesn't bother me but if there is any area where it's really noticeable it's here.
 
Jims review lists off a number of what I'd call potential issues with this game. Any one of them in something else would be a deal breaker for most people but because it's Zelda , we're all giving it a pass.

Based on my personal playtime - none of those things have bothered me at all(outside theframerate) I also haven't played too many open world titles so the fatigue that likely sets in towards the genres conventions (especially Ubisoft games) hasn't hit me at all.

But I'm not some petulant whiny teenager anymore , people can have differing opinions , I'd love it if every review just "got" what makes this game magical for me any many others but it's not offensive when some one dislikes it. Hell , I bought MGSV based on all the great reviews it got and just hated it , I'd give it maybe a 5/10 because all of its glaring faults really bugged me but I can also see why others loved it.

I anything , I hope this allows anyone struggling to enjoy this game a bit of peace.
 
That's uh... 13 hours a day since release. What the hell are you doing in that time to only have a quarter of the map? There's a lot of shrines, but there aren't THAT many shrines. No animosity though; I actually kind of admire that.

People don't have to play the game efficiently. I find that I rather not to either. Just messing around is fun. You can spend a lot of time just finding the perfect horse. Nothing wrong with it.
 
I really like Jim and I'm not surprised he didn't love the game as much as everybody else. Remember that this is a guy who praises Dynasty Warriors to high heaven and gives 9.5/10 to good, but ultimately not that ground-breaking indie titles like Downwell, so he's definitely not your average reviewer and is very particular about what sucks and what's great to him.

With that said - and I say this as someone who hates it when games waste my time with bullshit -, he seems overly harsh with the game. 3 full points just for the durability and stamina systems? Also, some of his gripes seem exceedingly fussy to me. Apparently the "ugly" stamina wheel is in poor enough taste that it has to be mentioned twice throughout the review; same with the Sheikah slate because it dares somewhat remind us of a Switch tablet or a Wii U gamepad. His other complaints I can understand, but these are really petty, not to mention I haven't seen a single person, reviewer or other, mention them. Those make it look like he really has a chip on his shoulder about Nintendo/Zelda... Which he does, and, to be fair, Nintendo the company deserves it, but this review really makes it seem like he's letting his frustration with the company it get to him a little bit too much. Sounds like he's reviewing the game in the context of what's wrong with Nintendo rather than in a video game context.

Then again, I haven't had a chance to play the game yet, so who knows, maybe the game will frustrate me as much as it did him. I doubt it, but we'll see. And I'm glad he's not afraid of docking the game if he genuinely didn't enjoy it that much anyway. I hope he's not just being a contrarian on this one. I didn't think he would go below 8/10.
 
Will one 7/10 review from Jim really bring down the score to 97?
Lol that would teach people not to use silly titles before it's time to. Maybe it would've been a decent one for OT3 or 4, OT2 should've been "Open Your Eyes".

My respect for Jim's opinion went severley down after he awarded the pile of dung that is Watch dogs 2 a 9/10, and now he gives one of the greatest games of our time a 7?

Hmm, I'm all for everyone having their own opinion, but his is one I certainly will not be seeking for future reference.

I do have to thank him for highlighting Valley to me though, that was a great game.
Is it true that he gave Fallout 4 a 9.5? I even like that game but that would just be

giphy.gif


Four years from now I'm going to do it again.

To do what, randomly shit on Kid Icarus again or on another Nintendo game? Because for the former you can just do it now, while for the latter i think we'll just have to wait for the Mario Odyssey review. You know, that game you think looks like Sonic 06 because you can't distinguish artstyles?
 
I think Jims comment about the Amiibo is un justified and inn accurate. I don't like the Amiibo locked stuff but it's everywhere now. Try buying any cosmetic junk in any Mmo and the prices are generally ridiculous. Not defending the Amiibo items and I don't like the practice in general.

The Amiibo armor is cosmetic and costs ridiculous prices to upgrade.
The Amiibo locked weapons are OP in the beginning specifically the worst example is the twilight bow but the game is not that difficult anyway.

Also if you learn to use the games systems then enemies don't one shot you like he said.

Otherwise he's entitled to his opinion. But I often feel like his"opinions" are more about trying to get the biggest reaction rather than telling us what he really thinks. I've felt this way for a while not just with BotW.
 
That's uh... 13 hours a day since release. What the hell are you doing in that time to only have a quarter of the map? There's a lot of shrines, but there aren't THAT many shrines. No animosity though; I actually kind of admire that.
I got the game few days bef release. And I explore a lot. I spend hours just taming horses and riding around. I have about 100 seeds and 40 shrines. the exploration is th e best I've seen in gaming.
 
People don't have to play the game efficiently.
Bingo.

This is a game that rewards you for wondering "I wonder what's up that path?" or "Let me climb this hill and see what I can see."

So many distractions. I'm finding new stuff all the time. I know I've found a few Korok spots that I don't know what to do with.
 
The one thing I definitely agree with in Jim's review is the draw distance stuff.

It's the unfortunate reality of the game being designed around the Wii U. It's still very video gamey and immersion breaking to have enemies and object pop right into existence in front of you. The shrine at Rist Peninsula was especially crap. You're running across this obviously empty beach only for enemies to pop up out of absolutely no where.
 
Jims review lists off a number of what I'd call potential issues with this game. Any one of them in something else would be a deal breaker for most people but because it's Zelda , we're all giving it a pass.

Are we assuming every single 9+ review is inflated because of the "Zelda pass"?

I personally don't think the game mechanics are so poorly implemented that they ruin the game significantly. Even my personal low score hovers around an 8 if I'm being really harsh on the lack of memorable music, short dungeons, durability mechanics and performance issues.
 
It's so amazing how much work has been put into the stories of the villagers. Kakariko at first sight looks like a pretty simple village but it has so much going on if you dive into it. That's where the game truly shines for me. The towns, the side quests, the stories. It's never ending.
 
I hope it doesn't drop to 97

Opinions and whatever but 7/10 is unreasonable

Honestly, who does it affect if it drops to a 97?

For the week I've been playing there's been one thought running through my mind: "Man, Jim's gonna get some shit when he gives this a 7." I think that a 7 is as reasonable a score as you can expect if you read through what he takes issue with. By and large, I agree with everything he states in his review, as I also feel that all of the small grievances add up and do detract from the overall experience.

It's still a great game though.
 
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