The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild | Review Thread

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WhiteRabbitEXE said:
Not to rub it in but... why did you? Or anyone else for that matter. Unless you had high shipping fees or you really can't afford it to begin with, you might as well keep a pre-order on something like this locked in, just in case, and just return it/not pick it up if you don't want it.
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I canceled mine 2 or 3 weeks ago. I didn't have time to play it, so it was just going to be sitting there for a couple months. I'm already going to be playing a small handful of games these next few months, so I really couldn't justify the purchase.
 
I'm a little iffy with Zelda reviews since I truly believe Twilight Princess' and Skyward Sword's averages were inflated as all hell (I liked Skyward Sword, but it is no way anything near a 10. 9 is pushing it).

But... I do have to say that BotW truly does look incredible. I was cautiously optimistic because it's Open World but once people pointed out that it's really a natural evolution of the series that worry was laid to rest.

I won't be getting the Switch until, bare minimum, the end of this year, but when I do, this game is definitely going to be a part of my collection.
 
TetraGenesis said:
When people were guessing Metacritic scores before the reviews dropped, throwing around low to mid 90s estimates (which would have been my guess as well), Duckroll came in hot with that 98. It sounded insane at the time but boy did he call it.
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Bah, sure, give it to Duckroll, I was the first 98!
 
I think people need to stop doubting that this game is the real deal and that reviewers have been blinded by nostalgia or whatever. Please go read some reviews. A number of journalists talk about how the Zelda series has essentially been dead to them for a decade or more. The fact of the matter is, this game is actually, legitimately special.
 
ShockingAlberto said:
It won't stay 98. Review scores tend to go down over time, rather than up, for reasons I won't speculate on.

Still damn impressive.
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The thing is that the sites with the biggest weight on Metacritic have already been counted. I'm not sure how much influence, if any, will John Doe's Gaming World 7/10 have on the overall score, specially when the scores that are coming are still mostly 10/10.
 
ThoseDeafMutes said:
I'm assuming everyone taking a dump on THPS2 was born in 2003 or something.

I'm very pleasently surprised by the reception Zelda is getting though. I thought it would be low 80's. Picked it up this morning and hoping for the best - I've never been an open world man though, so it's likely I'll enjoy it much less than most critics.
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Is the reason you thought it would score low 80s because of overall score deflation? I was expecting mid 90s based on the series' history, but 80s to me would have been a bigger surprise.
 
Realeza said:
The thing is that the sites with the biggest weight on Metacritic have already been counted. I'm not sure how much influence, if any, will have John Doe's Gaming World 7/10 on the overall score, specially when the scores that are coming are still mostly 10/10.
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It may wind up dropping to like 96 or something, but I don't foresee a huge drop with this many scores already tallied.

It's a pretty insane accomplishment in the modern landscape. Truly terrific games are regularly failing to clear a 90 average and that wasn't true the last time a console Zelda released.
 
Yes. Franchises have pedigrees. They have expectations. They have a context with which to compare new iterations, which in turn allows subversion and evolution. This cycle of iteration is also true of a broader scale of all of video games as a whole. Breath of the Wild wouldn't be possible without previous open world games, which in turn wouldn't be possible without their own inspirations and previous franchise entries. Zelda is not some special case of getting a free pass off of its name. Every franchise does. I mean, that's the point of a franchise.
 
They're saying it has some framerate issues on the Switch which I would assume are also present on the WiiU version but how does the WiiU version compare to the Switch version overall?? Are they basically identical in every other way?
 
EasyAllies mention the main dungeons(not the small ones) could of been better and they also mention that in some area's the framedrops are so bad for seconds that when it happens,the game is almost unplayable...they also gave it a 4.5/5...I just question a bit reviews who say the same thing and still give a perfect score...I did not read all of them of course...

Great score obviously overall when you get a 98 average score hehe.
 
OmnipotentO said:
They're saying it has some framerate issues on the Switch which I would assume are also present on the WiiU version but how does the WiiU version compare to the Switch version overall?? Are they basically identical in every other way?
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Correct me if I'm wrong but there are two differences:

- Resolution is a bit lower (720p, not 900p)
- Framerate reaches teens on occasion (if screen is busy), but is mostly stable. Similar to Switch version while out of dock
 
Ricker said:
EasyAllies mention the main dungeons(not the small ones) could of been better and they also mention that in some area's the framedrops are so bad for seconds that when it happens,the game is almost unplayable...they also gave it a 4.5/5...I just question a bit reviews who say the same thing and still give a perfect score...I did not read all of them of course...

Great score obviously overall when you get a 98 average score hehe.
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How much it detracts from the game will vary from reviewer to reviewer. It seems for most reviewers, it wasn't enough to keep the game from a perfect score.
 
ThoseDeafMutes said:
I'm assuming everyone taking a dump on THPS2 was born in 2003 or something.
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I've never even played it and those comments surprise me. I always remember it being regarded as excellent. The only Tony Hawk game I ever played was Sk8land on DS and it was easily one of the best games on the platform, so THPS2 being so highly regarded doesn't seem very odd to me.
 
Ricker said:
EasyAllies mention the main dungeons(not the small ones) could of been better and they also mention that in some area's the framedrops are so bad for seconds that when it happens,the game is almost unplayable...they also gave it a 4.5/5...I just question a bit reviews who say the same thing and still give a perfect score...I did not read all of them of course...

Great score obviously overall when you get a 98 average score hehe.
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EasyAllies gave TLG a perfect score

lmao

not every reviewer is the same, and not everyone has the same experience. Also day 0 patch is going to be available for BoTW.
 
too bad i can't play this masterpiece at launch for 2 reasons

1) i have exams and i'm already busy with Horizon: Far Cry's Dawn

2) Nintendo games always takes 2-3 weeks after release date to come in my country
 
Hastati said:
Is the reason you thought it would score low 80s because of overall score deflation? I was expecting mid 90s based on the series' history, but 80s to me would have been a bigger surprise.
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A combination of score deflation with a general expectation that it was going to underwhelm slightly.

In retrospect, I guess I shouldn't have been so surprised. Reviewers and mainstream gamers love open worlds to bits, they're extremely in-vogue. Zelda is a beloved franchise with a lot of nostalgia behind it. The team working on mainline Zeldas is always the cream of the crop, given ample development resources and plenty of time to polish their games.

Zelda is a series where I appreciate the artistry that went into them, and can understand why people loved them, but at the same time have rarely enjoyed them to the same level that other people did. I guess in a sense I was projecting my own slight frustrations with the series when I was imagining how this one would review.
 
Nepenthe said:
Yes. Franchises have pedigrees. They have expectations. They have a context with which to compare new iterations, which in turn allows subversion and evolution. This cycle of iteration is also true of a broader scale of all of video games as a whole. Breath of the Wild wouldn't be possible without previous open world games, which in turn wouldn't be possible without their own inspirations and previous franchise entries. Zelda is not some special case of getting a free pass off of its name. Every franchise does. I mean, that's the point of a franchise.
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This post contains too much logic.
 
tesqui said:
I find it absolutely insane that there isn't a single score below 90 on the MC. Holy shit.
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Right? I mean, I expected it to be a tiny bit more divisive. You know, some low 8s complaining about certain open world aspects and stuff like that. Figured it would have a (phenomenal) average in the low 90s. Turns out the biggest disagreement among reviewers is whether it's literally perfect or just almost perfect, lol.

Goddamn Nintendo. This is why I keep getting roped into buying your stupid consoles. :P
 
WhiteRabbitEXE said:
I've never even played it and those comments surprise me. I always remember it being regarded as excellent. The only Tony Hawk game I ever played was Sk8land on DS and it was easily one of the best games on the platform, so THPS2 being so highly regarded doesn't seem very odd to me.
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THPS2 was fucking legendary, no doubt about it. It went downhill from there before going completely into Hell itself but when it released it was epic. Everyone was playing it, regardless of liking skateboarding or not.
 
tesqui said:
I find it absolutely insane that there isn't a single score below 90 on the MC. Holy shit.
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Egoraptor liking this was actually one of the more exciting "reviews" to see. I agreed with a lot (not all) of his Sequelitis on OoT, so seeing him say it's the best Zelda since LttP is pretty huge.
 
brandonh83 said:
You're dropping that on a new console, this great-sounding game, as well as more to come.
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Maybe, but not necessarily. Maybe he's one of those odd people who buy a console, play one game, and then get rid of it (sell, return, give away). Only to buy another one, someday, to play another single game. I remember this was all the rage in Japan with the N64, so they said.
 
There were some sequences in OoT on N64 where the framerate dropped so much that it was near-unplayable, but I still hold it in very high regard. They were annoying, but in an overall sense, they didn't impact my enjoyment of the game.

I don't know why this is so hard for some folks to wrap their heads around. For every person who is praising EZA for docking a half star is someone who can't believe that another reviewer wouldn't. Reviews are going to be subjective until our dying days and beyond, as they are written by humans who have different backgrounds, preferences, likes, dislikes, etc.

Anyway, the EZA combat examples almost looked like streaming/loading issues rather than actual framerate drops due to performance, so hopefully a patch or two will improve it. I can't wait until tomorrow!

Leondexter said:
Maybe, but not necessarily. Maybe he's one of those odd people who buy a console, play one game, and then get rid of it (sell, return, give away). Only to buy another one, someday, to play another single game. I remember this was all the rage in Japan with the N64, so they said.
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I did this twice with the N64. The dry spells sucked, but then along would come a game I simply didn't want to miss. Not financially smart, but oh well!
 
brandonh83 said:
You're dropping that on a new console, this great-sounding game, as well as more to come.
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For sure. Huge Nintendo fan. It's just blowing my mind I'm basically buying it for this game right now. Usually I wouldn't have a problem waiting but I can't wait for this one. Gonna be catching some fan boy shit from my friends for a while tho lol.
 
Man if it goes up to 99 the BoTW OT should be changed to.

Legend of Zelda BoTW: I got 99 problems but a Switch ain't one.
 
All these posters surprised about how well early THPS games reviewed.

I always preferred THPS3 to THPS2, I really liked introduction of revert and online mode, but there is no doubt these two were incredible, well-rounded games with some great level design. Activions ground the IP into the ground, but 15+ years ago it was huge and for some pretty darn great reasons.

E: Brilliant soundtracks, too, of course, it's a time capsule in that regard
 
FZZ said:
EasyAllies gave TLG a perfect score

lmao

not every reviewer is the same, and not everyone has the same experience. Also day 0 patch is going to be available for BoTW.
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Absolutely! Even within EasyAllies two of their reviewers have significant problems with TLG. Despite that, it won their game of the year award. Great games are going to make decisions that will turn some people away. There will be people who will HATE Breath of the Wild. That is a good thing.
 
Ricker said:
EasyAllies mention the main dungeons(not the small ones) could of been better and they also mention that in some area's the framedrops are so bad for seconds that when it happens,the game is almost unplayable...they also gave it a 4.5/5...I just question a bit reviews who say the same thing and still give a perfect score...I did not read all of them of course...

Great score obviously overall when you get a 98 average score hehe.
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EA didn't rate it 9/10 for the technical difficulties alone, they had other reasons for the score if you listen to the review closely...

Was it justified to give this piece of art only a 9/10, I don't know. If they had a broader scale they most likely would have settled for a 9.5/10 or something but given their star system they don't have another choice I guess. In the end it doesn't really matter.

A 9/10 is still very positive and if a 9/10 is the lowest this game has gotten with already over 60 reviews in, it matters even less, sure the game might not get a 99 or might even drop to a 97 but in the end it stays on top as the best game within the last 9 years...
 
Jpop said:
Man if it goes up to 99 the BoTW OT should be changed to.

Legend of Zelda BoTW: I got 99 problems but a Switch ain't one.
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I don't think it feasibly could go up at this point, though I guess it's impossible to be sure without knowing the precise Metacritic score (i.e. with decimals) and thus how close it actually is to 99 right now.
 
Leondexter said:
Maybe, but not necessarily. Maybe he's one of those odd people who buy a console, play one game, and then get rid of it (sell, return, give away). Only to buy another one, someday, to play another single game. I remember this was all the rage in Japan with the N64, so they said.
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Some people are NUTS

Lan Dong Mik said:
For sure. Huge Nintendo fan. It's just blowing my mind I'm basically buying it for this game right now. Usually I wouldn't have a problem waiting but I can't wait for this one. Gonna be catching some fan boy shit from my friends for a while tho lol.
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Yeah, I think we're all just buying it at release for Zelda, but Mario Kart is next month (I know it's just a port but still hype), Splatoon 2 should be soon, and of course the "Nindies" lol

I just hope that Nintendo takes advantage of their potential successful launch at E3. There would be NO better time to actually drop some Metroid-like bombs. Launching a console 3 months before E3... yeah, that's the place for reassurance. Though this isn't the topic for that and I don't really want that conversation to catch fire here lol
 
brandonh83 said:
You're dropping that on a new console, this great-sounding game, as well as more to come.
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I always chuckle when I read "not spending $360 just for Zelda!!" Like you're not getting both Nintendo's new handheld and console in one package with at least four years of great exclusive Nintendo games on it.

This games reviews are absolutely unbelievable. I doubt there will be another game this generation that does this well critically. This is the Mario Galaxy of this gen.
 
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