The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

[Vampyr]

Anyone else have it yet?

It's hard to say very much about the game without spoiling something, but so far it's fantastic.

It's crazy to me how quickly the game is giving me new abilities and items to use. I'm just a handful of hours in and I already have about five different abilities that normally you would get by beating the first five dungeons or something.

The other thing I love about the game is it really respects your intelligence. There is no hand holding. When you pick up a new ability it explains what it is and what the controls are, in one dialogue box, and that's it. There's no hand holding tutorial. There's no pausing every few seconds to make sure you haven't started drooling on the controller out of confusion.

This really feels like a classic Nintendo game where you learn by doing and experimenting. At one point I read a guys diary, and I knew I needed to do something in order to get an item from him, but it wasn't exactly spelled out how to do it. There were no quest markers or log entries, it was just a puzzle I had to figure out. And actually, when I think about it, I don't even believe I -had- to do it. There were alternative ways to do what I needed without acquiring that item.

The story so far is also pretty interesting. It's vague in that classic Zelda way, but I still understand my goal. You feel an emotional connection to characters even though they don't have many lines.

Speaking of lines, voice acting! Not every line is voice acted, which I kind of prefer for nostalgia's sake, but all the bigger, more important scenes have voice acting. Not from Link, of course, he's still a silent protagonist, as has been and always should be.

[Jason1]

This really feels like a classic Nintendo game where you learn by doing and experimenting. At one point I read a guys diary, and I knew I needed to do something in order to get an item from him, but it wasn't exactly spelled out how to do it. There were no quest markers or log entries, it was just a puzzle I had to figure out. And actually, when I think about it, I don't even believe I -had- to do it. There were alternative ways to do what I needed without acquiring that item.



I agree with everything you said. Its crazy how open ended it is compared to past Zelda games, and how little hand holding there is so far. I know exactly what your talking about there with that diary. I saw that diary, didnt know how to figure it out, but I managed to cook an elixer that gave me the temporary stat boost I needed to reach the area I needed to get to. Who knows if I will ever even get that item from him? Maybe I will later in the game? The combat is also much more difficult so far...I have actually died a few times already and im only maybe 3 hours in. They dont even really explain cooking AT ALL. I mean they tell you what it is and that cooking can boost an items effect or create new items. But they dont even tell you how to do in in the menu's, there is no "go to this menu, select these 2 items" tutorial at all. I was kind of shocked, seems to me this is not a game that a young child will get very far in. Maybe kids are smarter these days though?

Im playing on Wii U. There are framerate issues here and there, especially in Kakariko Village, but so far nothing that has really affected gameplay. Im wondering if those framerate issues are also present in the Switch version?

[Vampyr]

The village was fine for me, but I get pretty noticeable drops out in the open field areas.

I honestly think kids will do fine in the game. If you experiment around it's not too difficult to figure out how the systems work, and there's always the internet if you do get stuck.

[Jason1]

The village was fine for me, but I get pretty noticeable drops out in the open field areas.

I honestly think kids will do fine in the game. If you experiment around it's not too difficult to figure out how the systems work, and there's always the internet if you do get stuck.


Take a look at the following comparison article and the accompanying video especially. Interesting that there are parts of the open field where Switch will experience slowdown where WiiU will not. I wish they would have shown Kakariko village though. There is very noticeable slowdown on Wii U there. And if you didnt experience that on Switch, I am quite sure the Switch version runs much better there.

[BlueFire]

I'm seriously in love with this game. I've just taken so much time to explore the world and learn certain mechanics before actually progressing with the story. I'm en route to Kakariko right now.

Bear in mind that I haven't played any modern open world games, so this may be old news for a lot of gamers. But I really love the immensity of the world, the art style, just pretty much everything. I haven't felt like this since I first played Ocarina of Time.

[Ginkasa]

I'm really enjoying it; pretty much spent my entire weekend playing.

[BreakABone]

Yeah digging the game

Sometimes a bit too vast for me... as I try to figure out what to go next, but it does seem wherever I go end up finding something of interest.

Also, I like how it makes all the things that can be a bit of a chore... fun?

Like leveling up your item pouch gets a little dance.

Cooking food has a nifty animation.

Etc

[Jason1]

It throws a lot at you at once. Its nice that its not so linear anymore. I honestly have a hard time deciding if I should continue looking for and completing shrines, if I should go about completing side quests, or if I should seek out the photograph locations, OR if I should actually start attempting to go towards completing one of the dungeons (which it appears you can tackle in any order, at any time? ) So overwhelming, but in a good way!

[BlueFire]

I can't stop playing. I don't know how many hours I've poured into this game and I've only completed activated one of the divine beasts, lol

[Vampyr]

SPOILERS AHEAD.....


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So on Saturday I finished up the Zora Domain boss/dungeon, Vah Ruta. Man, what a crazy, awesome thing that was. Just getting into the dungeon was exhilarating, riding on Prince Sidon, blasting ice blocks, shooting electric arrows while falling through the air.

Then the dungeon itself was great. It felt a bit small and without many enemies compared to Zelda dungeons of old, but honestly combat is my least favorite part of this game, and the puzzles to find all the terminals were awesome.

The final boss really annoyed me at first, with the huge amount of damage it does in one hit. But after a couple of attempts I beat it pretty much without taking a shot, and it was pulse pounding. I love how they reused the ice breaking mechanic from before, except now it was even more fast paced. Perfect dodging the giant spear and rushing it for a flurry felt awesome.

After that I pretty much spent the next day and a half just exploring Zora's domain. I did a few quests for people, including the one where you find all the stone monuments and learn of the Zora history. I loved the throwback to OoT they had in there.

At one point I followed the Zora River all the way around to the Lake Hylia, just for the heck of it. It took forever, but it was fun stopping at random places along the river to solve Korok puzzles or do a random shrine. Along the way I stole a raft from some Lizalfos, and used it for most of the journey. Felt very Huck Finn.

[Jason1]

SPOILERS AHEAD.....


...

...

...

So on Saturday I finished up the Zora Domain boss/dungeon, Vah Ruta. Man, what a crazy, awesome thing that was. Just getting into the dungeon was exhilarating, riding on Prince Sidon, blasting ice blocks, shooting electric arrows while falling through the air.

Then the dungeon itself was great. It felt a bit small and without many enemies compared to Zelda dungeons of old, but honestly combat is my least favorite part of this game, and the puzzles to find all the terminals were awesome.

The final boss really annoyed me at first, with the huge amount of damage it does in one hit. But after a couple of attempts I beat it pretty much without taking a shot, and it was pulse pounding. I love how they reused the ice breaking mechanic from before, except now it was even more fast paced. Perfect dodging the giant spear and rushing it for a flurry felt awesome.

After that I pretty much spent the next day and a half just exploring Zora's domain. I did a few quests for people, including the one where you find all the stone monuments and learn of the Zora history. I loved the throwback to OoT they had in there.

At one point I followed the Zora River all the way around to the Lake Hylia, just for the heck of it. It took forever, but it was fun stopping at random places along the river to solve Korok puzzles or do a random shrine. Along the way I stole a raft from some Lizalfos, and used it for most of the journey. Felt very Huck Finn.

SPOILERS

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Yea, I just finished the Zora Dungeon as well. I quite enjoyed it, even though it seemed a little short compared to most full fledged Zelda Dungeons. But there was so much to do building up to the Dungeon, just getting to Zoras domain and fighting all the baddies on the path there, then Riding the Zora Prince guy as you mentioned. A for the final boss in the Zora Dungeon, I had quite a bit of trouble also, probably died 10 times before I finally finished him off. I ran out of arrows so that made his ice attacks more difficult for sure.

[Angrist]

I finally beat the game and now I'm not afraid of spoilers anymore.

Great game, truly epic. I do have a few complaints, mainly the lack of storytelling and the underwhelming ending.

[Vampyr]

I've done all the divine beasts, right now I'm wondering around, exploring parts of the world I haven't been to yet, and collecting all the missing memories.

Still really love the game, it's so fun to just pick up and run around Hyrule for a while.

[Angrist]

If anyone doesn't care about (early-game) spoilers, I just started some sort of Let's Play series on my channel. It's not the kind of analysis video that got me 1.5k subscribers, but I still felt like sharing this with the world.

The first 2 episodes are up and this is episode 1:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_d1UCRKe4aw
(Is it even possible to embed Youtube on this site?)

Edit: because this is my first Let's Play, tips are welcome. :)

[Jason1]

I completed it a week or 2 ago. The overworld is just amazing, possibly the best overworld in any game, ever. That being said, the 4 main dungeons were not amazing. Overall, I really enjoyed it. My favorite Zelda ever? No way, that goes to OOT. But this could be 2nd...the overworld is just that good.

[BlueFire]

I finished 2 weeks ago. 102 shrines found. What a great game. I agree with you, Jason: the 4 dungeons could have been longer. But I still found myself completely obsessed and immersed in the world that it didn't bother me very much.

Can't wait for the DLC.

[Vampyr]

Well I just beat it a few minutes ago. Around 94 shrines, I think.

I actually killed Ganon earlier this morning, but I didn't have the memory quest complete at the time. I got the last memory, turned in that quest, then went back and killed him again to get the "true" ending.

I actually really enjoyed the ending, it was pretty much what I wanted from the game.

I think this is probably my second favorite Zelda. It doesn't dethrone Ocarina of Time in my mind, but after Skyward Sword this was exactly the Zelda that I needed.

I'm hoping that whatever comes after can build upon Breath of the Wild but also have larger, more interesting dungeons.

[Angrist]

A sequel that could be better than BotW:
- a world like in BotW
- 10 big themed dungeons implemented like Hyrule Castle
- better cities and more indoor locations
- more (optional) storytelling
- a better final boss battle

That's what I'm hoping for a sequel. But I fear a game like this will take them at least 4 more years...

[Jason1]

I wasnt too crazy about the whole Hyrule Castle area. I would have liked it to have some actual puzzle solving. I felt the whole thing was just finding a way to sneak past all the guard things that shot lazers at you. Once I knew where I needed to go it was pretty much a game of sprint and hide.

[Vampyr]

I wasnt too crazy about the whole Hyrule Castle area. I would have liked it to have some actual puzzle solving. I felt the whole thing was just finding a way to sneak past all the guard things that shot lazers at you. Once I knew where I needed to go it was pretty much a game of sprint and hide.

The outside of the castle is kinda bad. Running away from lazers isn't super fun.

But if you didn't fully explore the interior, I encourage you to go back and do that. Basically find a way to get into all the red doors on the map. There are some pretty easy ones to get into without even encountering a guardian. You can jump into the moat and swim to a couple.

There is some neat side stuff to do in the castle, both story related and a certain shield is in there.

[Angrist]

Hyrule Castle could use a few more puzzles, but I liked it a lot more than the Divine Beasts.

[BlueFire]

I absolutely LOVED the castle. The music is epic.