My 24 hour Zelda review

[Dirty Hipsters]

Am I crazy or is the stamina meter in Breath of the Wild fucking hideous?

I know it's a really minor nitpick but it's something that really jumps out at me every time I see footage of the game. It just doesn't look quite right, like a placeholder hud element that never got changed out.

Why is it in the center of the screen? Has Nintendo played nothing of the last ten years?

Not just that but it's really flat and the colors don't really match the rest of the game (which is probably a good thing in a sense, because you'll never lose where the stamina meter is on the screen, but man does it make it stand out way more than it needs to).

Spoiler: Why's it gotta be like this?

There's a "pro" mode which lets you turn off most of the HUD elements in the game, but you still can't remove the stamina meter.

 

[Las7]

I gave it a 6.....I dunno where you got 0/10

nintendo game, rely on nostalgia, zelda, one of the most milked franchise in history. its going to get 10 from major critics.

watch out mario will get 10 too. nintendo are rehashing same old franchise over and over and over again.

Why so angry, while Nintendo releases all these old franchises you can look forward to Nioh and Nier two critically acclaimed games that came out this month. Not everyone needs to like Zelda but it sounds like a lot of people do. Too much negativity in gaming nowadays and hyperbole like the post above.

 

[xaszatm]

Even full fledged towns don't have many npc's around. It adds to the baren feeling of everything.

...uh...what? No seriously, what? Heck I disagree with practically everything in your OP and extra posts but this in particular is just flat out wrong. This game has the most npc's out of any Zelda game. Have you been purposefully ignoring every village, stable, rest stop, and road on your journey? You claim to have done 2 major dungeons which means you should have at least visited 2 towns. I don't see how you can possibly say this game has few NPCs. Furthermore, you really haven't been doing any of the quests if you can say that every side-quest is an MMO quest. Some of the side-quests are such quests but others aren't. Most of the shrine side-quests are mini-story related and focuses on the characters in that particular town or are relevant to the main plot.

Heck, if you have finish the main dugneons, you would know that you do get unbreakable weapons. (Furthermore, you don't need the axe for wood, your bombs can chop down trees). The game is designed around weapon breaking, especially in the beginning when every weapons breaks after 2 encounters. Later on, I found from the Zora equipment on up had much better durability. Plus, as I said, you do get unbreakable weapons later on and those weapons are designed to be the 2nd-best weapons in the game baring the obvious Master Sword.

I also disagree with you saying that the world seems empty but I don't know how I can place those into words. I feel like this world to me is a lot like Fallout: New Vegas or Elder Scrolls: Morrowind in that the world is surprisingly developed with villages having distinct cultures (this is seriously one of the few times I have felt Hyrule feels like an actual kingdom with different peoples and cultures instead of a kingdom of one-note hats). Even traveling off the beaten path seems to push how organic the world is. There are also a bunch of secrets and hidden chests beyond the monster encounters and Koroks. You use your runes a lot more when you realize that they are the main key in finding secrets.

I don't know, I guess I just enjoyed the game much more and I do think the 10/10 was earned.

 

[MeatMachine]

The weapon durability (or should I say brittleness) doesn't frustrate me as much as it seems to frustrate other people, but I do totally see their point. 8 melee weapon slots, 4 shield slots, 5(?) bow slots. My melee inventory almost always consists of 3 "too powerful to waste on anything"s, 2 decent reserve weapons, 2 shitty weapons to prioritize, and 1 utility weapon... and good bows are a hot commodity when you actually bother to use them. Even if the amount of inventory slots are not unreasonably small for how long weapons last, the pathological sense of good item preservation makes me feel like I only have 25-50% of my inventory space to actually work with most of the time.

The weather system can be an absolute bastard to you quite often though. Want to climb a cliff? Tough titties, its raining, so you won't make it to the top. Want to build a campfire so that you can simply wait out the rainy weather? Nope, can't light campfires in the rain... come back later or whatever, fuck you.

Still, I very much like the game, in spite of the occasional irksome mechanics.

 

[Yoshi178]

personally i'm loving the game but i can definitely see how some people could view BOTW as "overhyped"

it's a fantastic game, but i don't think it's a 10/10 game. that said 6/10 seems a bit too low for me. i'd give it an 8.5 or a 9 but not a 10 personally.

 

[Xerosch]

As much as I love the Zelda games, 'Breath of the Wild' brings two things I dislike the most in games: open world and crafting/cooking. I've rarely encountered a game where this combo works for me, so I'll step aside for now and wait about half a year before getting this. If ever.

I'm open to be convinced otherwise, but as the freedom and vast world is basically what everyone raves about, this doesn't seem to be a title I'd enjoy.

 

[go-10]

personally i'm loving the game but i can definitely see how some people could view BOTW as "overhyped"

it's a fantastic game, but i don't think it's a 10/10 game. that said 6/10 seems a bit too low for me. i'd give it an 8.5 or a 9 but not a 10 personally.

psst... psst... sarcasm eh


no but seriously the more I think about BotW the more I'm convinced that people that claim is the worst thing to happen in video game history are just delusional. People complain about the combat but WTF this games combat is super easy to get into and lots of fun, big open empty world ??? Did you even leave the plateau? I would agree to some extent on the Great Plateau being empty, which is intentional since the whole place is devoid of civilization on purpose, but the entire world is full of little events and things to see and explore, just because you don't get a treasure at the end doesn't mean it was nothing. This game triumphs on exploration, it's literally like the first Zelda game where you are given a sword and no proper explanation of anything else you just have to figure things out exploration and adventure are the key factors of the game, BotW is a return to form.
Holding down a button to target an enemy... that's been Zelda 101 since Ocarina of Time!
The weapon system I semi agree with, not because it's bad, but because I personally don't like breakable weapons in any game. But at least in this case you get SO many weapons that it doesn't really make a difference, you're not meant to get attached to any weapon which is why every single monsters drops like 4 of them every time.

 

[Ravenbom]

IMO - Its unfortunate that Horizon Zero Dawn came out the same week as Zelda BoTW because the open world, crafting, exploring itch is better executed in Horizon Zero Dawn.
I don't have all the complaints that OP had with BoTW. In fact my main complaint is a hardware complaint about the Switch. The Switch is exactly what I thought it was going to be, the new Nintendo handheld. The left joycon loses sync with the Switch when its docked 10 feet away and the Wifi signal is completely lost when I dock it behind my TV.
(I'm not the only one having these hardware problems)
But the Switch works fine as a handheld. The right analog stick is not comfy in handheld mode though. Not horrible, not ideal.

IMO, if you have a PS4 and a openworld, lite-survival crafting itch... Horizon Zero Dawn.


On the plus side for Zelda, I REALLY like how there's no longer ONE solution to puzzles. It plays more like A Link Between Worlds in that respect. There's more than one way to tackle the world it provides. Weapon durability is annoying for sure though.

 

[CritialGaming]

Even full fledged towns don't have many npc's around. It adds to the baren feeling of everything.

...uh...what? No seriously, what? Heck I disagree with practically everything in your OP and extra posts but this in particular is just flat out wrong. This game has the most npc's out of any Zelda game. Have you been purposefully ignoring every village, stable, rest stop, and road on your journey? You claim to have done 2 major dungeons which means you should have at least visited 2 towns. I don't see how you can possibly say this game has few NPCs. Furthermore, you really haven't been doing any of the quests if you can say that every side-quest is an MMO quest. Some of the side-quests are such quests but others aren't. Most of the shrine side-quests are mini-story related and focuses on the characters in that particular town or are relevant to the main plot.

Heck, if you have finish the main dugneons, you would know that you do get unbreakable weapons. (Furthermore, you don't need the axe for wood, your bombs can chop down trees). The game is designed around weapon breaking, especially in the beginning when every weapons breaks after 2 encounters. Later on, I found from the Zora equipment on up had much better durability. Plus, as I said, you do get unbreakable weapons later on and those weapons are designed to be the 2nd-best weapons in the game baring the obvious Master Sword.

I also disagree with you saying that the world seems empty but I don't know how I can place those into words. I feel like this world to me is a lot like Fallout: New Vegas or Elder Scrolls: Morrowind in that the world is surprisingly developed with villages having distinct cultures (this is seriously one of the few times I have felt Hyrule feels like an actual kingdom with different peoples and cultures instead of a kingdom of one-note hats). Even traveling off the beaten path seems to push how organic the world is. There are also a bunch of secrets and hidden chests beyond the monster encounters and Koroks. You use your runes a lot more when you realize that they are the main key in finding secrets.

I don't know, I guess I just enjoyed the game much more and I do think the 10/10 was earned.

Hey man I'm totally stoked that you enjoyed the game. And it is cool that you disagree with a lot of my points. You mention that this game has the most NPC's of any Zelda game, and that might be true, Breath of the Wild is my first real Zelda game so I couldn't say anything about that. I will say that compared to other open world games that I have played, there aren't many NPC's here, but that admittedly might just be a Zelda thing. Which is fine, but it is not what I am used to and it left an empty feeling to my game play.

It is good to know that there are unbreakable weapons later in the game, because no matter how they designed the durability system in this game, I feel like it sucks. It has done nothing to enrich my experience and only served to enrage me.

I clearly did not have as much fun as you did with the game, and honestly after I've gotten my review up there I haven't been able to really sit down and play the game some more, every time I try I instantly get annoyed and turned off by the nothingness of the world around me. The vagueness of the side quests, and riddles to unlock hidden shrines that fill my quest log are just irriating and I am forced to turn off the game.

Kind of sad that I'm bored with my 400 dollar purchase in less than 5 days.

But you like it, so that's cool.

 

[CritialGaming]

snip

You bring up the original Zelda and it made me think of an interesting thought. I'm okay being thrust into a world with little to no explaination of what to do and how to do it. The Souls games do this beautifully. However the biggest factor for me with Zelda versus something like Dark Souls, is that SOOOO much of the world space is wasted. Out of all the beautiful vistas, and little coves and creeks in Zelda, how many of those do you think actually have anything there? You see in a Souls game or even other open world games there is always SOMETHING. There isn't a dead end in a Souls game that doesn't have an item, or an enemy, or trap, something there to justify the dead end. In other open world games, especially ones with crafting elements, the very LEAST you will encounter at the top of a peak, or tucked in a dead end is a crafting material even if it is a useless one. But in Breath of the Wild, there are endless peaks and coves and nooks and crannies, with nothing. No apples, no sticks, no bad guys, no treasure, no puzzles, nothing. And that's the problem with the world for me.

Honestly I simply feel like the game could have been better with about 30% of the entire map just scrapped. The game feels like the developers were sooo in love with the world that they just kept making more of it, but didn't manage to fill the world with enough stuff.

But I will never say that my reviews are to be taken as LAW. Everyone has their opinions and if you love the game, I am really genuinely happy that you love it. To me that's fantastic, and it does justify the effort the devs put into the game. I wish it was a game I could also enjoy as much. But I simply don't.

 

[McMarbles]

I gave it a 6.....I dunno where you got 0/10

nintendo game, rely on nostalgia, zelda, one of the most milked franchise in history. its going to get 10 from major critics.

watch out mario will get 10 too. nintendo are rehashing same old franchise over and over and over again.

Yes, yes, all the critics are brainwashed by nostalgia or paid off and you alone are the bearer of truth #fakereviews

 

[go-10]

SNIP

the fact that you compare to a Souls game could be part of the problem, while similar both games are extremely different. Zelda is first and foremost and adventure game, so the adventure is the main point, if you don't like exploring areas and discovering things (not necessarily items, sometimes a nice view is the reward) then Zelda isn't for you. Zelda games pre OoT where about a boy, a sword, and a world to explore there were hints of story here and there but the majority of the story was shown not told.

I would suggest that for any review you do going forward concentrate on the game itself and what it presents, not what you want it to be or what other games are. Comparing and reviewing it based on another franchise that has similar elements will never yield convincing results for anyone but yourself.

I personally don't enjoy they Souls series because I find them flawed and overall badly designed. Meanwhile I felt BotW is well thought out and every corner of the world feels like it has a purpose. But like you say this is all based on opinion so to each their own and let's agree to disagree.

 

[CritialGaming]

SNIP

the fact that you compare to a Souls game could be part of the problem, while similar both games are extremely different. Zelda is first and foremost and adventure game, so the adventure is the main point, if you don't like exploring areas and discovering things (not necessarily items, sometimes a nice view is the reward) then Zelda isn't for you. Zelda games pre OoT where about a boy, a sword, and a world to explore there were hints of story here and there but the majority of the story was shown not told.

I would suggest that for any review you do going forward concentrate on the game itself and what it presents, not what you want it to be or what other games are. Comparing and reviewing it based on another franchise that has similar elements will never yield convincing results for anyone but yourself.

I personally don't enjoy they Souls series because I find them flawed and overall badly designed. Meanwhile I felt BotW is well thought out and every corner of the world feels like it has a purpose. But like you say this is all based on opinion so to each their own and let's agree to disagree.

I agree that Zelda is definitely not for me. But I don't use the Souls games as a direct comparison to Zelda for review purposes, I merely used that as an example to what I mean by empty and unrewarding feeling that I got from Zelda. While most Zelda's have been about a boy and a sword, this game isn't. It's about a boy, and a bunch of broken shit. A game can be vast, and beautiful, and not feel empty. The Witcher 3 never felt empty, just look at a completed map with all the activities on it.

Exploration can be it's own reward, but it can't be the only reward, there has to be more reason there for me. Not another weapon that will break the moment I use it, not some forest fairy that provides currency to allow be to hold more things that will break if I look at them funny.

But to top of the point about exploration...here's a pro tip. Never invest in extra hearts. Only invest in Stamina, because you'll need it to get anywhere. Climbing, swimming, gliding, all requires stamina and it is the biggest pain in the ass to get anywhere with the default stamina bar.

Fuck the more I look back on the game, the more it seems designed to inconvenience the player. Stamina bars, Weather, item durability, mediocre cooking systems, on and on the game just wants to hurt you.....are you sure this isn't a Dark Souls game?

 

[go-10]

SNIP

the fact that you compare to a Souls game could be part of the problem, while similar both games are extremely different. Zelda is first and foremost and adventure game, so the adventure is the main point, if you don't like exploring areas and discovering things (not necessarily items, sometimes a nice view is the reward) then Zelda isn't for you. Zelda games pre OoT where about a boy, a sword, and a world to explore there were hints of story here and there but the majority of the story was shown not told.

I would suggest that for any review you do going forward concentrate on the game itself and what it presents, not what you want it to be or what other games are. Comparing and reviewing it based on another franchise that has similar elements will never yield convincing results for anyone but yourself.

I personally don't enjoy they Souls series because I find them flawed and overall badly designed. Meanwhile I felt BotW is well thought out and every corner of the world feels like it has a purpose. But like you say this is all based on opinion so to each their own and let's agree to disagree.

I agree that Zelda is definitely not for me. But I don't use the Souls games as a direct comparison to Zelda for review purposes, I merely used that as an example to what I mean by empty and unrewarding feeling that I got from Zelda. While most Zelda's have been about a boy and a sword, this game isn't. It's about a boy, and a bunch of broken shit. A game can be vast, and beautiful, and not feel empty. The Witcher 3 never felt empty, just look at a completed map with all the activities on it.

Exploration can be it's own reward, but it can't be the only reward, there has to be more reason there for me. Not another weapon that will break the moment I use it, not some forest fairy that provides currency to allow be to hold more things that will break if I look at them funny.

But to top of the point about exploration...here's a pro tip. Never invest in extra hearts. Only invest in Stamina, because you'll need it to get anywhere. Climbing, swimming, gliding, all requires stamina and it is the biggest pain in the ass to get anywhere with the default stamina bar.

Fuck the more I look back on the game, the more it seems designed to inconvenience the player. Stamina bars, Weather, item durability, mediocre cooking systems, on and on the game just wants to hurt you.....are you sure this isn't a Dark Souls game?

I'm not going to change your mind about the game and you're not going to change mine so let's just agree to disagree and move on

 

[RedDeadFred]

Watched a few videos and have the same impression. Even with reviews of Blizzard or Rockstar titles you can see some criticism leveraged that is at odds with ratings they dish out. Here? I saw a review of someone 'salivating' about Zelda having...cooking recipes.

Ya, it's really strange. People are going crazy over things that have been open-world staples for years... Things that are honestly overdone at this point and little more than tiny immersion boosters. At least, that's how I think of most of them.

OT: one thing I've noticed from a lot of the videos is how artificial a lot of the world seems. There seems to be very little subtly in the opportunities to use the environment to your advantage. Camp under a cliff? Wow, look at those super obvious boulders conveniently placed at the precipice! I know that sounds nitpicky, but other games wouldn't have these stick out like that. It's little things like that that really damage the feel of a game world.

 

[Sheo_Dagana]

Frankly, I'd rather have a tightly focused experience than an open-world one, but open-world games are very fun in their own right. Just depends on the game. Metal Gear Solid V was utterly boring... you wanna talk about wasted space? That game has balls to the walls wasted space. Like, when I first encountered Quiet out in the wild, I was super excited by the implication; random boss battles?! Game changer!

But no. It's all just dead and empty. I'm still withholding judgement on BoTW but I can already tell that stamina gauge's placement is going to annoy the fuck out of me.

 

[kenu12345]

In this thread, a review, discussion bout said review, then 'grrr you're wrong everything you said is wrong! This game is great!' without realizing how they are coming off

 

[kenu12345]

personally i'm loving the game but i can definitely see how some people could view BOTW as "overhyped"

it's a fantastic game, but i don't think it's a 10/10 game. that said 6/10 seems a bit too low for me. i'd give it an 8.5 or a 9 but not a 10 personally.

psst... psst... sarcasm eh


no but seriously the more I think about BotW the more I'm convinced that people that claim is the worst thing to happen in video game history are just delusional. People complain about the combat but WTF this games combat is super easy to get into and lots of fun, big open empty world ??? Did you even leave the plateau? I would agree to some extent on the Great Plateau being empty, which is intentional since the whole place is devoid of civilization on purpose, but the entire world is full of little events and things to see and explore, just because you don't get a treasure at the end doesn't mean it was nothing. This game triumphs on exploration, it's literally like the first Zelda game where you are given a sword and no proper explanation of anything else you just have to figure things out exploration and adventure are the key factors of the game, BotW is a return to form.
Holding down a button to target an enemy... that's been Zelda 101 since Ocarina of Time!
The weapon system I semi agree with, not because it's bad, but because I personally don't like breakable weapons in any game. But at least in this case you get SO many weapons that it doesn't really make a difference, you're not meant to get attached to any weapon which is why every single monsters drops like 4 of them every time.

"first legend of Zelda game where you are given a sword and no proper explanation of anything else" I am assuming you started playing Zelda at Ocarina of time then

 

[go-10]

"first legend of Zelda game where you are given a sword and no proper explanation of anything else" I am assuming you started playing Zelda at Ocarina of time then[/quote]

ummm please read my post again, I clearly state that this is a return to form where you are given a sword and are told to go explore the world without a proper explanation.