FoxMcChief
Gold Member
Not every game needs to hold you by the hand narratively. Elden Ring is a perfect example (besides TotK) where story isn’t as important as gameplay.
I don't think those two games are easy at all, problem is you are too used to play games and already played BOTW, but those are actually harder than average, at the beginning at least and specially compared to other Zeldas.It’s a good game but too easy and too similar to BotW. Liked the early game the best when resources and hearts/stamina were the most limited, especially when exploring the depths early on. Later on was basically on autopilot. I like BotW better in a lot of ways, had to engage with the core systems properly as you explore the world, nice power curve, more sense of discovery. Totk breaks everything early on with the new systems and reuses too much from the old systems.
Am I the only one who doesn't play video games for "emotion"? I'm not even sure exactly what OP means. Can someone give examples?
Not necessarely. In a puzzle game like Portal for example, there are basically 0 risks. The excitement comes from figuring out a solution for a problem after sitting on it for a while. Then for story driven games, people mostly get excited about a certain development in the plot.
In the case of this zelda and BotW, it mostly comes from figuring out ways of using your "toy box" to engage with the game world.
There is some rewards based on how you complete a task, mainly regarding your use of resources. Defeating an enemy with sticks and mostly useless items will always be preferable to spending a rare sword to do so.Human emotion. Laughter, excitment, nervousness, elation etc... Don't the best games bring these emotions out of you? Isn't that the point?
I never played Portal but I suspect the puzzles would be a little more challenging (rewarding), and the sci fi AI story would be exponentially more interesting than what we got in TotK.
I'm playing Enter the Gungeon right now and the game does something beautiful that Zelda does not. It cares how you complete your task.
In Zelda, you have to cross a lake. They give you a sandbox of toys to figure it out. However, once you cross the lake, the game doesn't care how you did it. The game essentially says "Great, you made it! Now go do this." You kind of want the game to recognize your ingenuity in some way but it never does.
In Enter the Gungeon, you have to get through a level and defeat a boss. The way you complete those levels and beat those bosses is actually important. Once you beat a boss the game goes "Alright, let's see how you did. Ok, here are your rewards based on your performance. Good luck using those rewards on the next level."
To me, that's objectively better game design when you're dealing with these kinds of PvE games. In other words, Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom in a picture...
the truth? i thoroughly enjoyed breath of the wild. the game was a revelation, & a celebration of fantasy adventure. tears of the kingdom? i'd much rather replay the original, & vicariously experience the delight i originally felt. tears of the kingdom, for me, is some kinda weird funhouse mirror version of botw, with it's heart removed, & with assembling mechanics added. i couldn't get past a dozen hours before bailing...I've watched a number of glowing reviews about Tears of the Kingdom and they're all accurate in terms of specifics but they ignore the fundamental emotion that videogames can illicit. Do I have this wrong? Did Zelda TotK have exciting high moments for you? Was there anything about this game that got your heart rate going?...
My elderly reflexes, 20/1000000 vision, and arthritic joints are simply too powerful for modern gaming it seems!I don't think those two games are easy at all, problem is you are too used to play games and already played BOTW, but those are actually harder than average, at the beginning at least and specially compared to other Zeldas.
The difficulty comes from the fact that some want to play them like they play other games so they get punished by not using environment or think out of the box in combats. Similar situation than Dark Souls, just not at the same level.
I've seen many people complain about game difficulty since BOTW came out and it was actually needed in the franchise, you can just cheese it by knowing how to build your progress and how to fight using environment instead of just swinging a weapon mindlessly until it breaks tho, but that's somethig that requires learning the game.
For the average player, those games start quite hard imo.
Thank you.Nintendo cant tell great stories and create great dungeons anymore. Last great game for me was TP.
Eh I think TOTK accomodates the same frat dudes that take a gta game and ONLY play to go on rampages.Not necessarely. In a puzzle game like Portal for example, there are basically 0 risks. The excitement comes from figuring out a solution for a problem after sitting on it for a while. Then for story driven games, people mostly get excited about a certain development in the plot.
In the case of this zelda and BotW, it mostly comes from figuring out ways of using your "toy box" to engage with the game world.
It really comes down to taste. You clearly seem to prefer this notion of risk&reward for games, where there are well defined meanings for victory and defeat. Its no wonder you like MP games - or maybe its MP games that gave you this kind of taste in the first place.
Ff16 performance is fine Iin performance mode. I haven't had any issues. Now 4k30 mode is motion blur city but I am on a 1080p TV. It's been solid 60 looking and feeling for me. Don't miss out on a killer game. Best FF since 12.Well to each their own. All I play right now is TOTK, I literally haven’t touched another game since it released.
For me it’s the gameplay and possibilities of what you can do and how the physics hold it all together that makes it so exciting. The story is whatever, I don’t really care. I just want to play around with the tools. It’s the ultimate sandbox. And I find new ways to use the tools almost every day.
And tbh I have have no real desire to play anything else that is out right now. Everything seems to restricted and shallow. I guess I could play FF16 but the performance talk made it seem better to wait on the PC version, not really excited about the action focus either. I could play Street Fighter 6 but I’m not sure I can put in the time to actually learn that right now, would just be button mashing. Cammy is a feast for the eyes though. I could finish Hogwarts but I find the hand-holding extreme and if you deactivate all guides it’s clear it’s not really made to be played that way.
Starfield is my next serious point of interest, but that’s 2 months away. Hopefully my love for TOTK has decrease a little by then so I can put in some serious time there.
Plays ff16 if you want story. It's my goty and storywise is so good.Thank you.
TOTK and FROMsoft craze as of late, tells me were in an era of...lack of care for presentation or storytelling or pacing anymore.
Everyone just wants a game they can do fuck all in, and they are happy. They even try to act as if thats the "hardcore" way to play games, "gameplay first bro" as nakeyjakey and dunkey would say. When in reality, our hobby has been invaded by those impatient dudebros that would skip cutscenes in any game with a story. So FROM and BOTW/TOTK is perfect for 2023 mindset.
Absolutely! I take modern primarily cinematic games as step gaps games that require basically no investment on my end.My elderly reflexes, 20/1000000 vision, and arthritic joints are simply too powerful for modern gaming it seems!
It is so odd because I know exactly what you are getting at and I have felt very similarly over the years but Zelda BotW/TotK has been one of my favorite games of all time.Thank you.
TOTK and FROMsoft craze as of late, tells me were in an era of...lack of care for presentation or storytelling or pacing anymore.
Everyone just wants a game they can do fuck all in, and they are happy. They even try to act as if thats the "hardcore" way to play games, "gameplay first bro" as nakeyjakey and dunkey would say. When in reality, our hobby has been invaded by those impatient dudebros that would skip cutscenes in any game with a story. So FROM and BOTW/TOTK is perfect for 2023 mindset.
My elderly reflexes, 20/1000000 vision, and arthritic joints are simply too powerful for modern gaming it seems!
I’ve seen the tech analysis videos, there is no rush, might just as well wait and see how the PC version is.Ff16 performance is fine Iin performance mode. I haven't had any issues. Now 4k30 mode is motion blur city but I am on a 1080p TV. It's been solid 60 looking and feeling for me. Don't miss out on a killer game. Best FF since 12.
Totk I haven't opened yet. Still playing botw when. At work or when on porch. The great thing about switch.
With TotK and more recently FFXVI, it's pretty sad to see how far they're turning the dial on easy difficulty.
I am no where near the level of reflexes/skill as I was 20+ years ago...but man, it really does affect my enjoyment in a game when I don't have to try...at all.
All I'll say is... *Raises flame shield*...... Thank God for FromSoftware. Ok Zelda and FF fans... guys can burn me alive now.
I'm ready.
Ok, now go kill a Lynel or better yet a Gleeok with 3 hearts and 5 rusty broadswords.With TotK and more recently FFXVI, it's pretty sad to see how far they're turning the dial on easy difficulty.
I am no where near the level of reflexes/skill as I was 20+ years ago...but man, it really does affect my enjoyment in a game when I don't have to try...at all.
All I'll say is... *Raises flame shield*...... Thank God for FromSoftware. Ok Zelda and FF fans... guys can burn me alive now.
I'm ready.
Asking to create an artificial challenge in a game praised for the freedom of approach can't get any more funnierOk, now go kill a Lynel or better yet a Gleeok with 3 hearts and 5 rusty broadswords.
What's artificial? You don't have to increase your heart containers or use any particular weapon....so to use the strongest loadout possible is no more artificial than not, imo, in a game like this.Asking to create an artificial challenge in a game praised for the freedom of approach can't get any more funnier
Asking to beat arguably the hardest enemy in the game with rusty broadswords and without getting health upgrades it is not creating an artificial challenge just to make a worthless point about the game not being a cakewalk for the most part?What's artificial? You don't have to increase your heart containers or use any particular weapon....so to use the strongest loadout possible is no more artificial than not, imo, in a game like this.
Ok, now go kill a Lynel or better yet a Gleeok with 3 hearts and 5 rusty broadswords.
I was exaggerating on the actual loadout but my point remains that you can create as challenging of a game as you want.Asking to beat arguably the hardest enemy in the game with rusty broadswords and without getting health upgrades it is not creating an artificial challenge just to male a worthless point?
Ok then...
It is not the player job to balance videogames, it's the dev job, the game should have a challenge even without doing mongoloid stuff to make you weaker on purpose.
This sound like people defending ff16 cakewalk challenge because if you fight a secret boss 20 levels over yours you can actually die once or 2 times...
Gimme a break.
To be fair Yoshi P would probably say something like that. He told the Healer community in XIV to "lol play Ultimate" when asked to give Healers something to do besides press their one DPS button over and over."FFXVI too easy? Ok, now go kill a S tier rank notorious mark with the starting weapons and no armor while blindfolded, hopping on one leg, while doing karaoke."
So instead of developers properly adjusting difficulty and balancing, we are supposed to disable ourselves and not utilize intended aspects of the game to add challenge. It's not a good design.
"FFXVI too easy? Ok, now go kill a S tier rank notorious mark with the starting weapons and no armor while blindfolded, hopping on one leg, while doing karaoke."
Not for me, i like to nerd on a build because the game is hard AF, not the opposite.I was exaggerating on the actual loadout but my point remains that you can create as challenging of a game as you want.
And honestly even with the strongest loadout, killing a Lynel (esp a silver) or a single Gleeok is NOT what I would call "easy". I'm just calling out bs saying the game is not at all challenging.
They just do more damage and get more spongy, the ia and moveset remain the same.Except they DO adjust the difficulty. As you progress the enemies get more challenging with stronger weapons and stronger "breeds" with blue, black and silver variations. You have to remember that this is a game designed for ALL ages and various skill levels.
This isn't Elden Ring and Nintendo never intended it to be. If you want crippling and brutal difficulty go play that instead
They just do more damage and get more spongy, the ia and moveset remain the same.
The only difference between a brown boglin and a white boglin is the number of times you smash him on the ground with your basic combo with him being unable to touch you.
They only get dungerous if you fight someones else because you don't have a classic evade but just that fucking backflip that work like shit when surrounded by enemies (yes even the lateral backflip), if the game had a modern lock on and evade system like 99% of games out there it would be even more easy, you battle the controls more than the enemies.
The game is saved by everything else it does good but challenge and combat are pretty dreadfull for any experienced action game dude.
Except they DO adjust the difficulty. As you progress the enemies get more challenging with stronger weapons and stronger "breeds" with blue, black and silver variations. You have to remember that this is a game designed for ALL ages and various skill levels.
This isn't Elden Ring and Nintendo never intended it to be. If you want crippling and brutal difficulty go play that instead
There are various way to make the game harder, new moveset, more aggressive enemies, giving them elemental resistances, having more of them on screen etc.It's sounds like you just don't like the Zelda combat system because EVERY game that increases difficulty involves the enemy hitting harder and having more health (that's a cornerstone to increase in difficulty). Now if you want moblins to suddenly start moving and acting like characters in a Nioh or Seikero game just because he's now silver then you sound like you just want to play a different game.
If you want a combat challenge try fighting more Lynels, Hinoxs, Gleeoks and all that crazy shit in the depths...but to complain about not dying from the simple grunts..
Again, it's a game for ALL ages and if kids (or the less skilled) were constantly getting their asses handed to them by Bokoblins and Moblins do you really think they would even TRY to fight a Lynel or Gleeok?
It sounds like you're just upset that you are good at the game. You're crafting the strongest weapons, upgrading your armor, cooking the strongest foods and potions and mad because the games not punishing you enough for playing competently.The enemies are still a cakewalk even later on and the games forgives all your mistakes and errors. There are almost no consequences.
And it seems like that's the excuse nowadays from gamers when the difficulty of their favorite franchises are WAY too easy...it's always "this isn't elden ring" or "this isn't dark souls"...or "this game is designed for all ages".
It doesn't have to be a FromSoft game. How about we just go back to difficulty levels of previous Zelda games back then? Those were never even that crippling or hard, but it was MUCH better balanced in terms of challenging players and at least it required some effort and thought compared to the insane hand holding and forgiveness in current titles.
And to say "designed for all ages" is just silly to me. Most of us were kids when we played older Zelda and FF games. The kids nowadays are learning fast and quickly surpassing us.
It sounds like you're just upset that you are good at the game. You're crafting the strongest weapons, upgrading your armor, cooking the strongest foods and potions and mad because the games not punishing you enough for playing competently.
The game sold 10 million in 3 days. Millions of gamers aren't crafting the strongest, upgrading gear or making super potions. Most of them aren't even using the game mechanics properly. But you want them to face just as punishing a difficulty as you are seeking simply because you're better than them...?
I'm sure Nintendo will release a "master mode" like DLC but in the meantime go kill every Gleeok and Silver Lynel if you truly want to test your mettle. Since there's apparently no challenge.
The enemies are still a cakewalk even later on and the games forgives all your mistakes and errors. There are almost no consequences.
And it seems like that's the excuse nowadays from gamers when the difficulty of their favorite franchises are WAY too easy...it's always "this isn't elden ring" or "this isn't dark souls"...or "this game is designed for all ages".
It doesn't have to be a FromSoft game. How about we just go back to difficulty levels of previous Zelda games back then? Those were never even that crippling or hard, but it was MUCH better balanced in terms of challenging players and at least it required some effort and thought compared to the insane hand holding and forgiveness in current titles.
And to say "designed for all ages" is just silly to me. Most of us were kids when we played older Zelda and FF games. The kids nowadays are learning fast and quickly surpassing us.
That's the thing, I'm not. I am actually playing the game trying to limit most upgrades in order to increase difficulty, still too easy. This also isn't just a Zelda thing, it's much more apparent in modern gaming sadly. At the very least developers need to have hard/master modes unlockable from the beginning without any requirements or as future DLCs. Games in general have become much, much easier and "dumbed" down (not Zelda in this case) for the most part. Just take a look at the diffrrence between Kingdom Hearts 1 and KH3. KH1 was the first entry and offered a fun challenge. KH3 is the easiest game I have ever played where I put the controller down and my AI party members would win fights for me...
I don't even consider myself "good". There are much more younger gamers here and everywhere else that are probably much better than me who feel the same that the game is too easy.
Look I get it, game sold 10+ million in the first week, most developers are trying to cater to "everyone"... But it was going to sell that much regardless if the game was brutally harder than what we have now. Zelda will always sell well and Zelda fans young and old will stop at nothing to overcome a game like this. Making the game more challenging would have added more excitement overall, just like the older Zelda games of the past.