Hyrule Warriors Age of Calamity demo impressions thread

[Mellow Ezlo]

You can select your character on missions like that on the prep screen. You don’t have to use Link for them.

Yeah I realized that after lol.

I got what I needed out of the demo. I'm going to put it away now until release day because, for the most part, I want the game to be an entirely fresh experience.

 

[mαrkαsscoρ]

My only complaint so far is the story supposedly being an alternate timeline with the baby Guardian traveling back in time to warn them. I really did not want this. I want that sad angsty ending where we watch everyone die and solo Hyrule Castle as Zelda. The game was advertised as our window to the events of the Calamity, so changing how it ends is not as advertised and it cheapens the whole thing for me. I can only hope that the forewarning serves to fuel the emotional beats of their failure at the end of the story, because I would actually like that a lot. But I do NOT want them to win in the end. I don't want an alternate timeline.

oh is that what's happening? that's really lame if that's the case, and it goes back to what I said when this game was first revealed in that I hope this is 100% canon, and if they're doing this then....not cool
maybe it'll turn out that no matter what, the future where everyone loses is still inevitable? then that'd beg the question of what's the point of having a time travel thing in the first place, but maybe they can do a thing where the time traveling thing is in fact what causes breath of the wild to happen in some way, I don't don't know, we'll just wait

 

[TheHeroofTime]

As a random thought, my spatial awareness in this game is completely thrown off by the weird focal length of the camera. In Breath of the Wild I can navigate perfectly well without the map, but in this game I often have no idea where I am.

 

[Sheikah_Witch]

Very, very mixed.

It feels like Breath of the Wild junk food.

The gameplay is good, even great when you're controlling Impa and using the runes as Link. You shouldn't judge a Warriors game for what it isn't, and it really works for what it is. Most moves are fun to use and flashy. My main issue is Zelda's moves, they're so over the top and feels too absurd and comical.

I like the cutscenes a lot, seems like we're getting a lot of them. They're very well done, BotW always gave me the nostalgic feeling of rewatching my favorite childhood cartoon series, and AoC certainly delivers on that aspect with excellent direction and animation.

But I'm not, NOT, NOT on board with what they're doing with the story and the time travel. I agree with above posters that it really cheapens the impact of the entire events that this game is supposed to depict, and that it isn't at odds with what the game was advertised as.

The framerate is off the charts and the moment-to-moment movement doesn't feel very polished at all.

I don't know.

It feels almost like if your favorite prog rock band just went mainstream.

 

[Vanessa28]

Downloaded it yesterday evening and have played a bit so far. I'm blown away once again I seem to love these kinda games I preordered the game and now all I have to do is wait till it arrives. I love the little baby guardian. I doubt the game will change the outcome of BotW though because it's a prequel, right? So if this is a prequel to BotW this means the events in BotW still happen. Or am I a bit too positive right now? Anyway, I like the fighting styles. I haven't played as Zelda yet and I still have to try out Impa. I like the map, the options being given and the whole layout. Now if time will fly a bit fast these upcoming weeks

 

[Quote]

After getting every character to level 20 and grinding for weapons, materials, etc, I can safely say I loved the demo. The characters all feel great to play as, and have a surprising amount of depth even without being able to unlock their full movesets. The performance issues bugged me a little bit, but not enough to actively turn me off from the game.
Although, part of me can't help but feel like somethings missing. There was a level of charm to the first Hyrule Warriors that this game just doesn't seem to have yet, and I can't tell why really. I'm still having loads of fun with the game, and I'm hoping later missions and seeing more of the story will help me enjoy it even more.
It also could be that I'm in the middle of exams ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[Azure Sage]

I got every character to level 20, I finished every sidequest, I even defeated the Guardian in the second mission without going to the first checkpoint. I've done everything there is to do in this demo now and I can safely say the gameplay here far outshines the original HW. It's not even a contest. All three playable demo characters far surpass their HW counterparts and they don't even have complete movesets in the demo. I'm seriously in love.

 

[Fraxinus]

Finally tried put the demo tonight. The atmosphere manages to recreate a sliver of that refreshing foreignness the Sheikah tech gave me in BotW for the first playthrough, which is awesome. However, I really don't like the BB8 guardian, I have some serious concerns about it being in this game. If this game ends up being about circumventing the outcome we all regard as canon, it'll really bother me as it would take a **** on the tragedies that befell all the champions. I want this game to characterize the champions and actually make them likeable to the point I'm gonna dread seeing them die. Cuz in BotW, I felt no true connection to them as characters. Sure, I like Revali for being an asshole and Urbosa for being a badass, but their writing was as bad as BotW's story presentation. The only thing that can redeem the time travelling guardian is if it's part of some scheme by the yiga, or it's going to prove relevant in BotW 2. Otherwise, it's stupid and unnecessary.

But the gameplay is clean and there's an option to mute voices, and overall I'm very impressed with the way they managed to hybridize BotW mechanics into Hyrule Warriors' already somewhat hybrid Zelda/Musou gameplay. Not too thrilled about how complicated the shoulder button mapping is, and bothered there's no way to remap things, but I think I can manage getting used to it. After an hour of pressing ZR to dodge and getting punished because that's not the dodge button, I'll eventually learn the right button to press.

 

[Bowsette Plus-Ultra]

I feel like I'm the opposite of other players in this thread.

I want the story to be about a time traveling robot who goes back to warn Link and Zelda about the impending future that awaits them if they continue down their present course. The last thing I want is for Age of Calamity to become the typical Zelda game whose plot we already know.

 

[Azure Sage]

I feel like I'm the opposite of other players in this thread.

I want the story to be about a time traveling robot who goes back to warn Link and Zelda about the impending future that awaits them if they continue down their present course. The last thing I want is for Age of Calamity to become the typical Zelda game whose plot we already know.

For me, there’s a huge difference between knowing how something ends and seeing how something ends. In BotW, we know the details of the Great Calamity through the memories and through environmental storytelling. Age of Calamity was supposed to be the game that actually *shows* us all of these story beats in explicit detail and gameplay. Playing through the events we otherwise read about or witnessed the aftermath of is quite different. Just because we know how it goes doesn’t make that any less interesting. Changing the story at the last minute to be a “lol this isn’t actually what we told you it was” is really dishonest and cheapens the emotional investment of BotW’s tragic story. The Great Calamity is supposed to be a tragedy, not a “here’s how they can still win” alternate timeline. That’s not what made this game look interesting and that’s not what they advertised it to be.

 

[TheHeroofTime]

I agree with both Bowsette and AzureSage here. I don't want the story to be too predictable. There's not much lore concerning the Great Calamity, but it is pretty limiting. I'd like to point out that there wasn't a war prior to Calamity Ganon's attack. There were unorganized attacks by monsters and the occasional assassination attempt by the Yiga, but there certainly wasn't a full-scale war like in Age of Calamity. I like the idea of going off the rails and making something new.

That being said, I feel like Nintendo is guilty of some serious false advertising here. I thought this was going to be the tragic tale of the calamity, not the fanfiction narrative of Hyrule Warriors. I have nothing against Hyrule Warriors, but I would have liked to know from the beginning what I was getting into.

 

[A Link In Time]

Finally got around to checking out the demo the other night. It's mindless Warriors fare. I did notice the frame rate choppiness but it's nothing unplayable.

The story and the music will be the highlights of this game for me. I like the baby guardian coming to warn everyone. But I think it will ultimately be futile. I don't see this becoming some kind of alternate timeline. As for the music, I feel like it's slightly better than BotW's. I really like the main theme of this game.