Breath of the Wild: Your First Impressions

[Rangaman]

So a snowflake has journeyed through hell, pigs are taking flight and Breath of the Wild is finally out. If I can tear you away from the screen for a minute (only did so myself after realizing I had been playing for...a while), what do you think so far?

I'm a few hours in, and I think it's...pretty damn good. The open world feels vast and epic, the combat system is an absolute joy and the shrines I've been to have all felt tight, focused and clever.

I'm not blind to problems however, and there are a few. Weapons/Shields break too quickly. Seriously, I'm pretty sure that since I left the Great Plateu, I've lost every single Weapon or Shield I found there (save for a Korok Leaf and a Torch). The fact that if they break, you lose them forever is also really annoying, as I haven't found a Blacksmith or Craftin' Station as of yet. I also noticed technical problems on the Wii U version. Every time I enter a village, the framrate drops drastically. It also does this at seemingly random points, as well as during some fights. At one point, during a not-particularly-intense fight, the game actually froze for a second.

Oh, and the Horned Statue can get fucked.

Technical and minor gameplay issues aside, I'm enjoying this so far. How about you guys?

 

[Guffe]

I think I have about 5 hours under my belt.

Really enjoying it, I notice I haven't played much for a while as I am constantly dying!
But I am getting the hang of it.

I am going to have to disagree with you on the weaponbreaking thing. I actually like it, things break, pick up a new one! The most basic things break easily, but you find new ones immediately. The more powerful ones (power 12+) I usually save for bigger enemies while I hack and slash my way through with usually a shield and one handed or then spear. Heavy weapons like 2 handed sword and big clubs are not my thing, yet at least.

As you said, world feels vast and open. You can get basically anywhere. I went to one tower which I only got about halfway up by climbing, so I took a detour, climbed up the hill next to the tower (took me about 30 minutes) only to paraglide into the tower! The exploration is fantastic!

I have yet to encounter a village or town, so can't talk about frameratedrops (playing the Switch).

I spent the last 20minutes of my last session to learn the cooking, that is something I will put a bit more time into, as it clearly can give great advantages when learning the right dishes.

The only issue gameplaywise I have is that I have a bit of a problem with the camera. Especially in battles with multiple enemies I find myself facing the wrong ways and not facing the enemy I want, might be just my rustiness of course, but it seems like it isn't purely my fault.

 

[Souplex]

My friend who has a Switch told me it's amazing, and the card tastes terrible.

 

[Casual Shinji]

It's very good.

The open-world has this cool, relaxed atmosphere to it, almost like you're just taking a stroll outside on a sunny day. And the soft piano keys really sell the Ghibli-esque feel.

I absolutely love the 'climb everything' mechanic. The first thing I did when I got out of the chamber was climb all the way up the cliff face, and as a consequence got killed by a bunch of goblins that had a camp around there. The climbing rips the doors off the exploration completely, and it's the one aspect that'll make it hard for me to return to any previous Zelda.

Also jumping. FUCKING FINALLY!!!!!!!

The weapon degradation isn't bothering me that much, since whenever you fight something that something will in turn drop another weapon for you to wield, BUT I do see it becoming an issue once the really good weapons start showing up. Right now I'm wielding clubs and rusty swords, but once I start getting super high quality equipment it'll feel like shit knowing they'll eventually break.

One of the more questionable things though is the voice acting. Bar the fact that it's not very good, the way it's included is very inconsistent. I figured we'd get the majority of the game's dialoge voice acted, but atleast 80% (as of yet) is still text boxes. This makes it so when the voice acting does show up it's really jarring. I really don't see the point of it as it adds nothing. Except maybe cringe.

Also that frame rate sometimes... Yeesh. Some motion blur might've alleviated it, but right now whenever it pops up it's one big eyesore.

 

[deadish]

Also that frame rate sometimes... Yeesh. Some motion blur might've alleviated it, but right now whenever it pops up it's one big eyesore.

You kidding? They can't even afford anti-aliasing.

 

[klaynexas3]

I speak as someone that has played many a Zelda game, but has never beaten one. I love the game so far. The open world aspect is a god send in my opinion, allowing for great amounts of exploration, as well as much verticality, which is probably my favorite type of level design in a video game. Climbing to the top of a mountain, to then be able to see everything that the camera can render. I will speak of a spoiler for the gameplay and world just to get my point across.

Spoiler

I randomly while deciding to avoid the main quest at all costs decided to go as far east as possible, to the eastern coast of the continent. While at a combat shrine on the top of a cliff overseeing most of the cost, I spotted an island that looked to be more than just background assets. I tried to glide to it, but as of yet do not have the stamina to complete the flight. So I decided to instead fly to a shrine that was in the middle of the ocean, but a bit closer to the cliff that I could reach it. It was also a combat shrine, and I'm woefully undergeared for either of these shrines, so I was about to leave when I noticed the boat with a sail, something I had seen earlier and had picked up the leaf, and used it to get the korok seed that was close by, and then sail to the island. Once I get there the island speaks to me, takes away my gear, and tells me to survive and pass the test to get my gear back. I died and went back to my last save point, and decided to maybe come back to it later.

While I know that sounds almost anti-climatic, it was still something I discovered and know about for later when I feel I have a better grasp of what I'm doing, and possibly more hearts as well.

The voice acting is a little off, as is the case with a lot of English VA work, but I can see why they wanted start having some voice acting. It does make the parts when characters speak feel like there is more weight and gravity to what they are saying, and if the voice work was better performed(or if they allowed you to switch to the Japanese VA and keep the English text, because the first trailer they showed with the Japanese VAs sounded amazing and gave me shivers), I think it would have been a great addition. It's just not there yet.

Frames will drop when there is a lot of stuff going on, I set some thorns on fire at one point and things slowed to a crawl, but I never noticed many frame drops while fighting monsters or bosses at this point.

Weapons breaking feels interesting, as while I do wish I could find something strong and permanent, especially when I'm having to use some weapon slots for some weapons that have other functions, it still is satisfying to clear a camp and receive a new weapon that is better than the ones you had before. Fighting feels like it serves a purpose to bolster your inventory and collect materials for rupees or recipes, whereas when I fought monsters in the previous games, it only ever felt like an annoyance.

I would recommend this game to almost anyone, just to try out. I wouldn't say it's a must have if you don't already own either a Wii U or planned on picking up a Switch, but if you ever enjoyed any Zelda game, or even just an adventure game or an RPG, this is something you will want to try. I again reiterate, I'm not a big Zelda fan, no game has held my attention all the way to the end of the story, but this one, I can definitely imagine being able to finish, especially considering if I do find myself at any point wanting to just end it, I can easily just make a straight line to Ganon and beat the game. Don't pick up the Switch just for this if Zelda never has been your cup of tea, but I'd say this is one game that any person that has owned a Nintendo console should have in their collection.

 

[Kajin]

It feels like it's a lot harder than previous zelda titles. I keep dying to enemies while travelling around and the boss fight of the first dungeon I went to was absolutely insane.

It's quite fun, though. I think I've clocked in twelve or fourteen hours so far and I've not once been bored. Even while running around the huge map on foot I'm always funding something to do or see or experience.

 

[Drathnoxis]

Also that frame rate sometimes... Yeesh. Some motion blur might've alleviated it, but right now whenever it pops up it's one big eyesore.

You kidding? They can't even afford anti-aliasing.

Is there seriously still no anti-aliasing? Skyward Sword was hideous for the jaggies and they didn't fix that?

 

[Samtemdo8_v1legacy]

Has the soundtrack been released on youtube for the game?

 

[-Dragmire-]

Pretty good overall but I hate the run/jump button placement. There's the option to change run and jump from b and x to x and b but I want run on A with jump on b. I hate run and jump not being beside each other.

 

[spartandude]

and the card tastes terrible.

Thats it! NO SALE, NINTENDO! You just lost your self a customer!

 

[babinro]

Would you recommend this to someone whose basically sick of sandbox games?

I realized the formula was no longer working for me when Skyrim came out. I later confirmed that feeling with the release of Dragon Age: Inquisition.

I've come to learn that The Witcher 3 is probably the sandbox pinnacle in the industry right now but my computer can't run that game so I never gave it a chance.

So with that background in mind....

Do you think Zelda would be my thing? Does it truly stand out among the sandbox greats to deliver something that would appeal to people who are bored of non-focused, non-narrative driven games?

 

[Kajin]

Would you recommend this to someone whose basically sick of sandbox games?

I realized the formula was no longer working for me when Skyrim came out. I later confirmed that feeling with the release of Dragon Age: Inquisition.

I've come to learn that The Witcher 3 is probably the sandbox pinnacle in the industry right now but my computer can't run that game so I never gave it a chance.

So with that background in mind....

Do you think Zelda would be my thing? Does it truly stand out among the sandbox greats to deliver something that would appeal to people who are bored of non-focused, non-narrative driven games?

Dunno. It's definitely my favorite sandbox game up to this point, but I think the plot is still tight enough that you can easily just focus on that and only do the stuff between yourself and your destination.

As someone who at worst is neutral about sandbox games and at best absolutely loves them, I might be somewhat biased though.

 

[Samtemdo8_v1legacy]

Aaaand the soundtrack is not good

What happened to the Orchestral Team that did Skyward Sword's music!!??

Everything is back to synthesizers? Dissipointing

 

[SmallHatLogan]

I'm liking it a lot so far. Not sure exactly how long I've played for. I'm slowly making my way towards Kakariko Village while getting distracted by shiny things along the way. I like the little goblin camps scattered around. It's always satisfying sneaking up then throwing a bomb into their midst. The shrines are cool. I've only done three so far (not including the first four on the plateau). Haven't seen any real dungeons yet. Came across one of the guardians and got insta-killed. Experienced my first bloodmoon which was pretty cool. Being able to climb everywhere and glide safely down from high areas is great.

Frame drops haven't been too bad so far (playing on the Wii U) but I've heard in villages it can get pretty unpleasant.

Pretty good overall but I hate the run/jump button placement. There's the option to change run and jump from b and x to x and b but I want run on A with jump on b. I hate run and jump not being beside each other.

I'm not a fan of that either. It is worth noting (if you haven't worked it out already) that you don't have to hold the sprint button to do a running jump. If you tap sprint then press jump in quick succession it works.

 

[Rangaman]

You're confusing "sandbox" with open world. All of those games you listed are "open world" games. Sandbox games would be games like Minecraft, Arma, Garry's Mod, etc.

Actually those terms are one and the same. Sandbox and open world mean the same thing: an open-ended area in which the game takes place. You're confusing genres with game features.

 

[Rangaman]

Would you recommend this to someone whose basically sick of sandbox games?

I realized the formula was no longer working for me when Skyrim came out. I later confirmed that feeling with the release of Dragon Age: Inquisition.

I've come to learn that The Witcher 3 is probably the sandbox pinnacle in the industry right now but my computer can't run that game so I never gave it a chance.

So with that background in mind....

Do you think Zelda would be my thing? Does it truly stand out among the sandbox greats to deliver something that would appeal to people who are bored of non-focused, non-narrative driven games?

If you're bored of open worlds...probably not. It's a good open-world game, but it sounds like you're bored of open worlds in general.

 

[Rangaman]

Update: there's no way to repair weapons or armor. The idea is you use whatever you can find on the basic enemies and save your strong weapons for bosses. I wouldn't mind this so much, but bow drops seem to be rare. And given how useful the bow is, that kind of irks me.