• 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 | Review Thread

Status
Not open for further replies.
Peterthumpa

Peterthumpa

Member
AniHawk said:
Breath of the Wild is just not the Zelda I expected. It's overwhelmingly mediocre, not enjoyable to play, and the horrendous camera alone destroys any redeeming factors the game may have. Most PlayStation 2 owners should remember Square's similarly overhyped The Bouncer. I'd almost go as far as proclaiming Breath of the Wild to be the Switch equivalent.

Rating: C-
Click to expand...

REALLY not sure if serious. I mean, you're entitled to have your opinion and all, but "overwhelmingly mediocre" is hyperbole at its best.
 
U

uncle_koploski

Banned
AniHawk said:
Being a huge fan of the original NES The Legend of Zelda games, and more recently A Link Between Worlds, I was expecting Nintendo's reincarnation of Zelda to be huge. Unfortunately, blindly going into the game having such high expectations was a mistake. From the screenshots, movies and demo, the game definitely looked promising. Soon after the game begins, however, most of the visual beauty takes a back seat to a bad camera and fairly repetitive gameplay.

To be blunt, the camera system in Breath of the Wild sucks. The game takes place from a 3rd person point of view, and as soon as Link start moving forward it's obvious that the camera sits way too low and too far back. In a tight room or area, the camera attempts to give you the best view possible, but there are always enemies seemingly falling from the sky right beyond your view or shooting arrows at you from off-screen. As soon as you try to re-center the camera and see where the beating is originating from, you end up being surrounded and taking additional damage. The camera has a tendency to just focus on Link at the most inopportune moments and frequently you'll be fighting an attacker you can't even see. In other circumstances, objects and the environment itself will obstruct your view as the camera swings around. I seriously believe I spent more time fighting the camera than the bad guys. The camera issue is extremely frustrating and is clearly the game's primary shortcoming.

From the few instances where the camera does behave, the gameplay in Breath of the Wild isn't necessarily bad. Link unfortunately has nowhere near the amount of technique he has in Skyward Sword. He can block/dodge, perform a regular attack, a special attack, and a long distance attack. Jumping towards certain walls will result in Link either running along or climbing up the wall with the option to perform an attack from that position. Holding the sword up charges up a super special attack, which is unleashed upon the swing of the sword. Eventually Link finds other weapons and learns additional attacks and techniques such as the slingshot and whip. As mentioned earlier, besides attacking from off-screen, enemies will frequently surround Link and begin pounding away. Trying to fight out of those situations will frequently end badly, because as soon as one gets a hit in, the others will take some cheap shots.

Besides the fighting scenes, Breath of the Wild also contains some minor adventure and puzzle elements. Link can find various healing potions, status altering relics, maps, weapons and key-like items. The key items are used to open doors or unlock new areas, and once in a while you'll need to backtrack through previously completed areas to progress through the game. Link can also trade some of the enemy items for various upgrades such as potions and shields whenever he comes across a shop statue. In the end, the adventure elements are uninvolving and simple and serve merely as a way to help break up the action segments.

As touched on earlier, Breath of the Wild is a beautiful looking game. It's obvious that Nintendo knows the Switch hardware well, as most of the environments, animation and effects are gorgeous. The environments are not as interactive as hoped though, with only small, obvious objects such as lanterns, torches and book cases being interactive. Some of the best dungeons look like they were pulled directly from a Studio Ghibli film. However at one point early in the game, Breath of the Wild abruptly shifts from a lush feudal Japanese style to a more modern, sterile, mechanized world. The enemies also follow the same pattern. Later on towards the end, the game takes on a more weird fantasy-like element. There are a few (often confusing) realtime cut-scenes mixed into the game and they are of your typical modern Nintendo variety. The plot and storytelling totally pale in comparison to Skyward Sword on the Wii. Which, for it's time, was a cinematic masterpiece. Overall, Breath of the Wild doesn't really stick to the classic Zelda formula and style, but it's an attractive game nonetheless.

The soundtrack doesn't really stand out and the limited voice acting is quite forgettable. There are some nice sound effects and ambient tunes here and there, though you'll probably hear more sword clashing effects than anything else in the game.

Breath of the Wild is just not the Zelda I expected. It's overwhelmingly mediocre, not enjoyable to play, and the horrendous camera alone destroys any redeeming factors the game may have. Most PlayStation 2 owners should remember Square's similarly overhyped The Bouncer. I'd almost go as far as proclaiming Breath of the Wild to be the Switch equivalent.

Rating: C-
Click to expand...

nice troll, would read again
 
J

jonjonaug

Member
Memes through the decades...
1T1SD0E.jpg
Click to expand...
 
G

Griss

Member
Mega said:
If it's an open world game where you can go anywhere and do anything, that's plausible... but it's also not indicative of the game's true length if you want to experience all/majority of it. By all accounts the game is huge and there's a lot to see and do. I'm not rushing to the finish line for no reason and missing 95% of the game.
Click to expand...

As someone near the end, if you want my estimate on how long it'll take to beat the game without a guide and doing all the main quests before heading to ganon but without messing with side quests too much... I'd say between
30 to 40 hours.
Most people will probably end on the higher side of that, I'd wager. A completionist run will probably be
80-100
hours or more.
 
E

EmCeeGramr

Member
AniHawk said:
Being a huge fan of the original NES The Legend of Zelda games, and more recently A Link Between Worlds, I was expecting Nintendo's reincarnation of Zelda to be huge. Unfortunately, blindly going into the game having such high expectations was a mistake. From the screenshots, movies and demo, the game definitely looked promising. Soon after the game begins, however, most of the visual beauty takes a back seat to a bad camera and fairly repetitive gameplay.

To be blunt, the camera system in Breath of the Wild sucks. The game takes place from a 3rd person point of view, and as soon as Link start moving forward it's obvious that the camera sits way too low and too far back. In a tight room or area, the camera attempts to give you the best view possible, but there are always enemies seemingly falling from the sky right beyond your view or shooting arrows at you from off-screen. As soon as you try to re-center the camera and see where the beating is originating from, you end up being surrounded and taking additional damage. The camera has a tendency to just focus on Link at the most inopportune moments and frequently you'll be fighting an attacker you can't even see. In other circumstances, objects and the environment itself will obstruct your view as the camera swings around. I seriously believe I spent more time fighting the camera than the bad guys. The camera issue is extremely frustrating and is clearly the game's primary shortcoming.

From the few instances where the camera does behave, the gameplay in Breath of the Wild isn't necessarily bad. Link unfortunately has nowhere near the amount of technique he has in Skyward Sword. He can block/dodge, perform a regular attack, a special attack, and a long distance attack. Jumping towards certain walls will result in Link either running along or climbing up the wall with the option to perform an attack from that position. Holding the sword up charges up a super special attack, which is unleashed upon the swing of the sword. Eventually Link finds other weapons and learns additional attacks and techniques such as the slingshot and whip. As mentioned earlier, besides attacking from off-screen, enemies will frequently surround Link and begin pounding away. Trying to fight out of those situations will frequently end badly, because as soon as one gets a hit in, the others will take some cheap shots.

Besides the fighting scenes, Breath of the Wild also contains some minor adventure and puzzle elements. Link can find various healing potions, status altering relics, maps, weapons and key-like items. The key items are used to open doors or unlock new areas, and once in a while you'll need to backtrack through previously completed areas to progress through the game. Link can also trade some of the enemy items for various upgrades such as potions and shields whenever he comes across a shop statue. In the end, the adventure elements are uninvolving and simple and serve merely as a way to help break up the action segments.

As touched on earlier, Breath of the Wild is a beautiful looking game. It's obvious that Nintendo knows the Switch hardware well, as most of the environments, animation and effects are gorgeous. The environments are not as interactive as hoped though, with only small, obvious objects such as lanterns, torches and book cases being interactive. Some of the best dungeons look like they were pulled directly from a Studio Ghibli film. However at one point early in the game, Breath of the Wild abruptly shifts from a lush feudal Japanese style to a more modern, sterile, mechanized world. The enemies also follow the same pattern. Later on towards the end, the game takes on a more weird fantasy-like element. There are a few (often confusing) realtime cut-scenes mixed into the game and they are of your typical modern Nintendo variety. The plot and storytelling totally pale in comparison to Skyward Sword on the Wii. Which, for it's time, was a cinematic masterpiece. Overall, Breath of the Wild doesn't really stick to the classic Zelda formula and style, but it's an attractive game nonetheless.

The soundtrack doesn't really stand out and the limited voice acting is quite forgettable. There are some nice sound effects and ambient tunes here and there, though you'll probably hear more sword clashing effects than anything else in the game.

Breath of the Wild is just not the Zelda I expected. It's overwhelmingly mediocre, not enjoyable to play, and the horrendous camera alone destroys any redeeming factors the game may have. Most PlayStation 2 owners should remember Square's similarly overhyped The Bouncer. I'd almost go as far as proclaiming Breath of the Wild to be the Switch equivalent.

Rating: C-
Click to expand...

this is an incredible deep cut
 
2

23qwerty

Member
remarkably surprising score. might actually have to pick this up for the Wii U since switch pricing + a real controller in Canada is horrible
 
T

themagicalkitsune

Member
AniHawk said:
Being a huge fan of the original NES The Legend of Zelda games, and more recently A Link Between Worlds, I was expecting Nintendo's reincarnation of Zelda to be huge. Unfortunately, blindly going into the game having such high expectations was a mistake. From the screenshots, movies and demo, the game definitely looked promising. Soon after the game begins, however, most of the visual beauty takes a back seat to a bad camera and fairly repetitive gameplay.

To be blunt, the camera system in Breath of the Wild sucks. The game takes place from a 3rd person point of view, and as soon as Link start moving forward it's obvious that the camera sits way too low and too far back. In a tight room or area, the camera attempts to give you the best view possible, but there are always enemies seemingly falling from the sky right beyond your view or shooting arrows at you from off-screen. As soon as you try to re-center the camera and see where the beating is originating from, you end up being surrounded and taking additional damage. The camera has a tendency to just focus on Link at the most inopportune moments and frequently you'll be fighting an attacker you can't even see. In other circumstances, objects and the environment itself will obstruct your view as the camera swings around. I seriously believe I spent more time fighting the camera than the bad guys. The camera issue is extremely frustrating and is clearly the game's primary shortcoming.

From the few instances where the camera does behave, the gameplay in Breath of the Wild isn't necessarily bad. Link unfortunately has nowhere near the amount of technique he has in Skyward Sword. He can block/dodge, perform a regular attack, a special attack, and a long distance attack. Jumping towards certain walls will result in Link either running along or climbing up the wall with the option to perform an attack from that position. Holding the sword up charges up a super special attack, which is unleashed upon the swing of the sword. Eventually Link finds other weapons and learns additional attacks and techniques such as the slingshot and whip. As mentioned earlier, besides attacking from off-screen, enemies will frequently surround Link and begin pounding away. Trying to fight out of those situations will frequently end badly, because as soon as one gets a hit in, the others will take some cheap shots.

Besides the fighting scenes, Breath of the Wild also contains some minor adventure and puzzle elements. Link can find various healing potions, status altering relics, maps, weapons and key-like items. The key items are used to open doors or unlock new areas, and once in a while you'll need to backtrack through previously completed areas to progress through the game. Link can also trade some of the enemy items for various upgrades such as potions and shields whenever he comes across a shop statue. In the end, the adventure elements are uninvolving and simple and serve merely as a way to help break up the action segments.

As touched on earlier, Breath of the Wild is a beautiful looking game. It's obvious that Nintendo knows the Switch hardware well, as most of the environments, animation and effects are gorgeous. The environments are not as interactive as hoped though, with only small, obvious objects such as lanterns, torches and book cases being interactive. Some of the best dungeons look like they were pulled directly from a Studio Ghibli film. However at one point early in the game, Breath of the Wild abruptly shifts from a lush feudal Japanese style to a more modern, sterile, mechanized world. The enemies also follow the same pattern. Later on towards the end, the game takes on a more weird fantasy-like element. There are a few (often confusing) realtime cut-scenes mixed into the game and they are of your typical modern Nintendo variety. The plot and storytelling totally pale in comparison to Skyward Sword on the Wii. Which, for it's time, was a cinematic masterpiece. Overall, Breath of the Wild doesn't really stick to the classic Zelda formula and style, but it's an attractive game nonetheless.

The soundtrack doesn't really stand out and the limited voice acting is quite forgettable. There are some nice sound effects and ambient tunes here and there, though you'll probably hear more sword clashing effects than anything else in the game.

Breath of the Wild is just not the Zelda I expected. It's overwhelmingly mediocre, not enjoyable to play, and the horrendous camera alone destroys any redeeming factors the game may have. Most PlayStation 2 owners should remember Square's similarly overhyped The Bouncer. I'd almost go as far as proclaiming Breath of the Wild to be the Switch equivalent.

Rating: C-
Click to expand...

vintage maymays
 
D

Deckard Chapel

Banned
Wow!

That's gotta be the most "10's", "100%"s", "5/5's" you name it scores I've ever seen for a game - and that's with over 55 reviews! I predicted a Metacritic of 98 and I was spot-on!!

Maybe some of those "no score yet" reviews will raise it even higher!
 
W

Wil348

Member
Not related to reviews, but I've been playing the game for a few hours and I don't know how to
shield surf
. Anyone know how?
 
P

Pancake Mix

Copied someone else's pancake recipe
I legitimately cannot believe it has a score that high in 2017.

I was sure some hipster would tank the score, but nothing so far.
 
O

Oblivion

Fetishing muscular manly men in skintight hosery
I've been following gaming closely since 2003 and have viewed Metacritic thousands of times throughout that time. How on Earth have I never been aware of Tony fricken Hawk being up that high? D:
 
C

cyba89

Member
It's been a while since I pulled a really long gaming session but this will probably change this weekend. Tomorrow is the day.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

Rolling Stone Ranks All Zelda Games
Opinion Analysis Hype 2
55
2K
GigaBowser replied
The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom | Review Thread
Analysis Review 2 3 4
156
8K
Jsisto replied
Hey You People, What's Your Favorite Nintendo First Party Franchise?
2 3
106
2K
BlackTron replied
  • Poll
Zelda Open Air Duology vs God of War Norse Duology - which do you prefer?
30
2K
Podge replied
Nintendo is probably leaving millions of dollars off their books not supporting PC
2 3 4 5
212
12K
LarsQMorient replied
Top Bottom