• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - Preview Thread

Burny

Member
How's it not good by today's standards? It's a different style. Not everything goes for realism

I've played it on the Switch during one of those demo events. Simple: Jaggies, blurry textures, all around low image quality, occasional framerate hiccups. The style only partly makes up for it, as it's not nearly as abstract as Wind Waker.

Personally that doesn't bother me, and in the context of a handheld systems it's certainly impressive. But it's simply not like we're talking about high end visuals here or a visual style that completely compensates the technical limitations of the console. If that's something you put emphasis on in your games, I can easily see how it could bother somebody. Quite apart from that, the limits of what the machines it runs on may be apparent in other aspects, which I couldn't tell from from my playtime. E.g. if you've larger team battles in other games and BotW only ever has you battling as a single character against no more than a handul of enemies.


I'm mostly excited about all the ways this finally mixed up the Zelda formula and this being a true open world Zelda game, therefore I'll probably love it. But open world games on about this technical visual level have been around for nearly a decade, that's simply a fact.
 
Trying to launch a horse
WrUwiNXSAXDLq.gif

That jaw should've been broken lol

JEM2I8ddAWKly.gif
I'm going to spend so much time getting awkward things to happen so Link launches so far away.
 

RoadHazard

Gold Member
Could you cite examples on games and how they achieve more? Are they open world?

I think BotW looks pretty amazing thanks to its artstyle, but really, just look at Horizon for example. It's RIDICULOUSLY more detailed than this game visually, and easily looks the generation ahead it is. That's just a fact. The same goes for TW3, although not quite to the same extent.
 
Don't take out personal vendettas against reviewers who don't like a game you haven't played yet...
I know hype it high, but please remember we have ZERO basis of judging a review's merits until we play the game for ourselves.
It can be upsetting if a game you're looking forward to isn't universally praised, I suppose, but it's not really a logical position when you think about it.

I get what these well-meaning posts, like this one, are getting at, but the shit-flinging started with him. I don't have no rose-tinted glasses for Zelda because I've never given a shit about the entire franchise aside from them as Smash characters until E3 2016 blew my mind.

I think people calling him out for his childishness isn't as bad a thing as you're making it out to be, but I do get that focusing on that as the basis for discussion in this thread isn't a good idea since it won't get anyone anywhere.


I asked in a different thread earlier, but we should know more details now, so I'll ask again. Where do we stand with knowing if we can have pet dogs?
 

Pineconn

Member
People also need to remember that this is a Switch/Wii U game, not a PS4 game. It simply won't have the graphical fidelity as games that run on more powerful hardware. Comparing BotW to games on PS4 really isn't fair.

You can't say, "Pokémon Sun/Moon is pretty good, but it doesn't look as good as Horizon. 5/10."
 
I like how people are calling that guy a "professional reviewer", that is "entitled" to his opinion, and that they're "interested" in what he has to say. His post was the textbook definition of the worst kind of condescending trolling, while coincidentally going against pretty much every single other impression out there. No, I haven't played the game, but we have literally dozens of hours of footage from thousands of videos, and hundreds of hands-on reviews to go by.

Pretty much every single impression I've read claims that this sets a new standard for open world games, and new levels of interactivity, liveliness, and freedom.

Yet, he claims its a "massive step back". Not just not better, not around the same, not slightly worse- no, it's a "massive" step back. Uses words like "the truth is..", "fairly sad", "rose-tinted glasses", and basically shits on anyone who dares say anything positive about the game. His whole post seems to be masturbation about textures, without a single positive thing to say towards a game that has received near unanimous praise from anyone who has played it, wrapped up in some kind of vendetta against Zelda fans and Nintendo.

But hey, he's a "professional reviewer", so his thinly-veiled "opinion" is automatically given some kind of legitimacy, when in reality he should be mocked and dismissed as someone who's trying as hard as possible to get a reaction. It's not a "personal vendetta" to call someone out for that, especially when they do such a piss-pout job justifying their views which stand in complete contradiction to all the evidence present.
 
Look, this guy is clearly a biased dick but you can't actually say so until a) he's posted a review and b) you've played the game. It's only fair. You can call him a biased dick over the weekend.
 

Plum

Member
To be honest the Dualshockers comment seems to fall into the "they're saying it like it is!" type of 'criticism'. The last three paragraphs essentially say "you are blind, I am not, therefore my opinion is more valid," and I can't take that seriously whatsoever. How am I supposed to engage a person who believes himself to be inherently right compared to others?
 
People also need to remember that this is a Switch/Wii U game, not a PS4 game. It simply won't have the graphical fidelity as games that run on more powerful hardware. Comparing BotW to games on PS4 really isn't fair.

Oh I think it's completely fair to compare AAA games within the same generation of consoles. If Nintendo releases games on weak hardware that look worse than other systems, they should be critiqued for it. But raw visual fidelity is only one aspect of good game design and to be honest isn't the most important aspect so much as what those visuals do to facilitate smooth gameplay and good feel. If highly detailed textures distract me from understanding a situation, I'm going to be more upset than when I see a some poor texture work that still indicates what it means.
 

RoadHazard

Gold Member
Yeah, so how is it different from other open world games today?

Horizon is supposedly almost perfectly stable. TW3 mostly is as well these days (although it certainly wasn't at launch).

Who said it doesn't have stable framerate? From what was said so far, the typical drop here and there, mostly in the starting area.

I've seen a lot of drops in preview videos, and those have not just been on the plateau.
 

Astral Dog

Member
I've played it on the Switch during one of those demo events. Simple: Jaggies, blurry textures, all around low image quality, occasional framerate hiccups. The style only partly makes up for it, as it's not nearly as abstract as Wind Waker.

Personally that doesn't bother me, and in the context of a handheld systems it's certainly impressive. But it's simply not like we're talking about high end visuals here or a visual style that completely compensates the technical limitations of the console. If that's something you put emphasis on in your games, I can easily see how it could bother somebody. Quite apart from that, the limits of what the machines it runs on may be apparent in other aspects, which I couldn't tell from from my playtime. E.g. if you've larger team battles in other games and BotW only ever has you battling as a single character against no more than a handul of enemies.


I'm mostly excited about all the ways this finally mixed up the Zelda formula and this being a true open world Zelda game, therefore I'll probably love it. But open world games on about this technical visual level have been around for nearly a decade, that's simply a fact.
Yeah Wind Waker still looks beautiful on HD :O
I don't think this game will age as well unless it gets a noticeable makeover in five years+

Its mostly about the gameplay on this one
 

Boem

Member
Could you cite examples on games and how they achieve more? Are they open world?

In terms of textures, lighting, world/model detail I definitely think open world games like Witcher 3, the later Assassin's Creed games (despite the buggyness) and even something like Arkham Knight achieve more.

Mind you, not talking about gameplay or artstyle here, purely technological achievements. I'm sure this game is going to be a lot of fun and I'm confident it'll be a big achievement for Nintendo, but graphically it's definitely not at the top. Notice how those games I mentioned of the top of my head are already a couple of years old at this point.
 

phanphare

Banned
Look, this guy is clearly a biased dick but you can't actually say so until a) he's posted a review and b) you've played the game. It's only fair. You can call him a biased dick over the weekend.

no one's calling him a biased dick because of what he said about the game's technical limitations, people are calling him a biased dick for the remarks he made about anyone else who doesn't share his opinion. whether he posts a review or not doesn't change that and playing the game doesn't either.
 

Maxinas

Member
Horizon is supposedly almost perfectly stable. TW3 mostly is as well these days (although it certainly wasn't at launch).



I've seen a lot of drops in preview videos, and those have not just been on the plateau.

Preview videos over what the people who are playing it are saying, unless they are lying of course.
 
I think BotW looks pretty amazing thanks to its artstyle, but really, just look at Horizon for example. It's RIDICULOUSLY more detailed than this game visually, and easily looks the generation ahead it is. That's just a fact. The same goes for TW3, although not quite to the same extent.
Pretty sure in that context Joe was referring to games with stylized graphics.
 

Discomurf

Member
Yeah, it's a definite improvement! Of course, off-screen "potato" screenshots might hide some imperfections.

There is an AMA about the game for the Wii U going on reddit ~ https://www.reddit.com/r/zelda/comments/5wh07r/botw_ama_wiiu/?st=IZOC2T1G&sh=02128bdc

On framerate


Piracy questions are leading to bans, so there is nothing illegal above, probably just some spoilers.


Thanks for the info. I have a Switch preordered and I'm probably going to hold off for now and go Wii U.

Here's the way I look at it.. If you have a Wii U and all you care about is Zelda, then the cost difference is pretty significant:

Playing BOTW on Switch:
Console: $299.99
Game: $59.99
Pro Controller: $69.99
Features: 900p docked, play on the go, less compressed environmental sounds, *possibly faster load times, 30 fps with some dips, *possibly less pop in
--------------------------------------------------
Total: $429.97


Playing BOTW on Wii U:
Console: already own
Game: $59.99
Pro Controller: $14.92
Features: 720p, 30 fps with some dips, *possibly better dynamic lighting, bloom and contrast, originally built for hardware
--------------------------------------------------
Total: $74.91
 
Horizon is supposedly almost perfectly stable. TW3 mostly is as well these days (although it certainly wasn't at launch).

You're right about that. It took around nine months after launch to get to where it is now. Hopefully BotW gets a tenth of the post-launch treatment that game received.
 
Seeing so many footage of people doing the most random things instead of playing "regularly" reminds me of people doing random things in GTA. I take it as a good sign.
 

JoeM86

Member
Dogshit image quality and not a stable framerate.

Non-stable framerate is typical of open world games. Plus this is mostly stable according to reports, just a couple blips.

As for dogshit image quality? Really? What's so "dogshit" about it? When I played it, the image quality was solid and gorgeous. Or is this just because it's not native 1080?
 
Horizon is supposedly almost perfectly stable. TW3 mostly is as well these days (although it certainly wasn't at launch).

I've seen a lot of drops in preview videos, and those have not just been on the plateau.

And so is Zelda. It's mostly stable. Open world games with 100% stable framerates are the exceptions, not the norm
 
Thanks for the info. I have a Switch preordered and I'm probably going to hold off for now and go Wii U.

Here's the way I look at it.. If you have a Wii U and all you care about is Zelda, then the cost difference is pretty significant:

Playing BOW on Switch:
Console: $299.99
Game: $59.99
Pro Controller: $69.99
Features: 900p docked, play on the go, less compressed environmental sounds, *possibly faster load times, 30 fps with some dips, *possibly less pop in
--------------------------------------------------
Total: $429.97


Playing BOW on Wii U:
Console: already own
Game: $59.99
Pro Controller: $14.92
Features: 720p, 30 fps with some dips, *possibly better dynamic lighting, bloom and contrast, originally built for hardware
--------------------------------------------------
Total: $74.91

That's absolutely not gonna happen, hell, I'd risk an avatar bet on that.
 

phanphare

Banned
Thanks for the info. I have a Switch preordered and I'm probably going to hold off for now and go Wii U.

Here's the way I look at it.. If you have a Wii U and all you care about is Zelda, then the cost difference is pretty significant:

Playing BOW on Switch:
Console: $299.99
Game: $59.99
Pro Controller: $69.99
Features: 900p docked, play on the go, less compressed environmental sounds, *possibly faster load times, 30 fps with some dips, *possibly less pop in
--------------------------------------------------
Total: $429.97


Playing BOW on Wii U:
Console: already own
Game: $59.99
Pro Controller: $14.92
Features: 720p, 30 fps with some dips, *possibly better dynamic lighting, bloom and contrast, originally built for hardware
--------------------------------------------------
Total: $74.91

careful there, that pro controller is a cheap knock off
 

Burny

Member
Yeah Wind Waker still looks beautiful on HD :O
I don't think this game will age as well unless it gets a noticeable makeover in five years+

Its mostly about the gameplay on this one

Oh, I think it'll age fine. On Cemu. ;)

It's not that the game goes for any sort of realistic look either. It's stylized enough and improved image quality ought to go a very long way. The question is when it'll be feasible to play it on Cemu.

Graphics don't look outdated, just different and stylized, come on!

From playing the demo, they do. Question is whether you'll let that bother you or just enjoy the game for what it is.
 
Non-stable framerate is typical of open world games. Plus this is mostly stable according to reports, just a couple blips.

As for dogshit image quality? Really? What's so "dogshit" about it? When I played it, the image quality was solid and gorgeous. Or is this just because it's not native 1080?

B3cause it is a Nintendo game. Just wait until he says "but I pre ordered a Switch and zelda" so we think he is a big Nintendo fan and just tells the truth nobody else is saying. ;)
 
Non-stable framerate is typical of open world games. Plus this is mostly stable according to reports, just a couple blips.

As for dogshit image quality? Really? What's so "dogshit" about it? When I played it, the image quality was solid and gorgeous. Or is this just because it's not native 1080?

Unless you're impervious to low quality textures and aliasing (among other things), I'm not sure what to tell you.
 

Astral Dog

Member
In terms of textures, lighting, world/model detail I definitely think open world games like Witcher 3, the later Assassin's Creed games (despite the buggyness) and even something like Arkham Knight achieve more.

Mind you, not talking about gameplay or artstyle here, purely technological achievements. I'm sure this game is going to be a lot of fun and I'm confident it'll be a big achievement for Nintendo, but graphically it's definitely not at the top.
People are otherwise are either insane or don't care. So don't mind them

The only way we argue the technical aspects of Zelda is compared to other Nintendo games or last generation consoles. And i think we can have fun,interesting discussion long as you aware of that
 

Wagram

Member
How's it not good by today's standards? It's a different style. Not everything goes for realism

Whether people like it or not (or for that matter think the comparison isn't fair) this game was going to be compared to Horizon. While I don't believe graphics and frame rate make everything in a game it would certainly be hard to swap from one that runs rock solid and looks gorgeous to another that looks really rough by comparison.
 

Caelus

Member
Graphics are obviously not as realistic and the textures and geometry are not as detailed or complex as Horizon or Witcher 3.

But I don't take anyone who calls this game ugly as a whole seriously.

 
Top Bottom