Well, I guess this is the place to write up my overall opinions based on the massive Zelda blowout over the last couple of days. (Be honest, you've all been dying to hear from me.)
I'll start with the trailer;
I liked it, it was nice to see a new world at a time when all we've seen from Zelda over the last few years are remakes. Its nice to finally see something fresh in motion. I like what they've done with the place, I like how open it is, I like the art style, I like the enemy designs and I'm rather intrigued by most of what was shown; especially the shrines and what overall purpose they play and their relations to the Guardians.
I like the amount of new items Link can have. When I saw him pick up an axe I thought to myself; 'Twilight Princess would have made us do a dungeon for a weapon like that, especially one that can change the overworld like the axe does by cutting down trees,' so BotW immediately felt like a more open and deeper experience, they've seemingly cut loose and let a lot of modern RPG concepts run free in BotW, which I like.
I was a little apprehensive with some of the new features though such as the cooking and the seemingly rather deep customization Link has with his weapons and wardrobe.
I don't really like taking time out in Monster Hunter to cook something and refuel when there is hunting and exploring to do and when I saw Link cooking in BotW it just brought back a lot of MH memories. I'm not against the mechanic being in there, Zelda is a very different game, but I do hope it isn't something that constantly NEEDS to be done.
I was also gutted that the fecking stamina meter came back. For the love of god we don't bloody need it! I didn't like it in SS, it made Link feel very unfit, why have a sprint function if you can't sprint very far because of a meter, it was made worse in SS by having the stamina fruit scattered about the place; 'so, I can't run or climb very far, but you want me to be able to so you've put fruit everywhere to top it up, why not just allow me to sprint/climb further?'
That being said, it does look like BotW has nerfed how invasive the stamina meter is. I didn't see it pop up too often and I'm glad it didn't look as if it was threatening combat like it did in SS and completely made me forgo doing spin attacks through the entire game. I do hope BotW will use the stamina meter sparingly and has a way to upgrade it in order to make Link feel more buff as you progress.
As for how it looks... It looks great, as I said I do really like the art style. Link looks like a gonk sometimes depending on the angle you see him from and some of the screenshots have been rather unkind, he just doesn't look 'right' sometimes to me. But I suffered through SS without it bothering me too much and SS Link looks way worse than BotW Link. However...
Sometimes it looks like a really dated game. I was watching some of the gameplay footage and granted its on the WiiU, a game this big on a console like the WiiU meant that the likes of the graphics were gonna suffer. They'd have probably attempted Witcher 3 level detail had the WiiU been able to take it. So I know that Zelda U, while it still looks great, really probably doesn't look the best it could have if the world had been smaller.
I was looking at the 2014 trailer and then the new trailer and the new trailer really does look like the graphics have been downgraded, it doesn't look as good as it did in 2014. I still need to see it on my own HD TV at home up close, but it just really doesn't look as good as that trailer did in 2014 and some of the gameplay videos, in places, did look kind of ugly, especially with some jaggies and textures. The draw distance is decent though, and the pop in has been handled a lot better than it was in WW when things would just suddenly pop in there. I hate pop ins, it makes the game feel so tacky and takes me out of the immersive world I've burrowed into, but BotW didn't seem to have it too bad, which is nice.
So... I like what I've seen so far, I need to experience some of the mechanics I'm not sure on like the cooking, customization and the dreaded stamina meter.
I like how it looks despite it looking a little dated in places. I'm intrigued with the story, which hasn't happened since 2003 when WW released. So I'm eager to see more.
But...
Seeing all of this hasn't actually made me any more excited for the game. I kind of feel as if they could have shown the trailer a year ago and not spoiled anything. My hype level is what it was for the game before E3, which is odd considering how much new information we got. but I think its more of a case where everything we've been shown may be new to Zelda, but its not actually new to us as gamers.
A lot of what the trailer showed in the way of added features were things I'd seen and experienced in other games like Monster Hunter, Witcher 3, Xenoblade X and others. So while its new to Zelda, its not new to me, and I wonder if when I do actually play the game, that it may not thrill me with its new concepts, because I've seen it all before elsewhere, the fact that its in Zelda won't mean much to me, and in a lot of ways, this game probably should have released maybe 5-6 years ago with Skyrim etc. I dunno, it feels like Zelda is really now stuck behind everything else instead of being in the lead. Still, that's not a bad thing, its probably gonna be a great game and its already way better than SS, which is a game I still load up from time to time and a game I did enjoy in places. So BotW still has a lot going for it for me personally, since this is the first Zelda game in 15 years I've been really intrigued and excited for.
P.S
How frigging cute are the new enemies?! Aww I don't want to hurt them, they're sho cyoot with their ickle pig snozzes and floppy earseses!!
