Breath of the Wild How Pleased are you with what you have seen

[SinkingBadges]

I've seen the trailer and some of the gameplay footage and honestly... it looks good. Great even. I've developed kind of a hatred for the way 3D Zelda works as of late, and this seems to address pretty much every problem I've had. I wouldn't be surprised if even people who hate 3D Zelda find this one interesting in some capacity.

I've made a quick writeup of everything that got my interest, although since I kind of don't want to watch anymore gameplay footage, I'm pretty sure there's even more stuff I could put in here.

Spoiler: So far I have...

- I like the cooking. Makes a nice loop with the hunting and apparently creating campfires so you can do it anywhere might cost metal weapon durability. There also seem to be lots of possible recipes, which leaves open for things like challenge runs (the treehouse staff mentions a vegetarian run or something, for instance) or some strategies via powerups.

- Big one hit kill enemies around the world. Some of them even incorporate climbing, which makes this game feel like the Shadow of the Colossus successor that I feel Last Guardian might ultimately fail to be.

- No set weapon, you use whatever you find and there seem to be meaningful differences between each one. This sounds like something I’d expect from a Souls game.

- To add to the weapon durability point, they apparently did that with shields too, which can only be a good thing, but oh that’s not all: the shield also works like a snowboard. That. Is. Really cool.

- I love the artstyle. The world looks like a place I’d actually want to explore if I could, weaker enemies look silly while stronger ones look threatening. The world being in ruins and the trailer’s music give me a melancholy vibe, but who knows if it’ll stay in the final game.

- It seems to take place in the Wind Waker timeline, which is a plus for me since I have a fondness for it.

- I get the vibe that the story could potentially be creepy or at least foreboding based on how link wakes up in the demo. This is a maybe, since they made sure not to talk much about story there.

- The overworld looks huge and with over a hundred shrines there will probably be lots to do, even if some of them are worse than others.

- Some pretty cool mechanics to work with: climbing any walls, pushing rocks, the flurry attacks, a parry, the Sheikah slate and whatever else it can do that they didn’t show, etc.

- And last but not least the climbing itself. That is something I did not expect, and it might actually break the game if there’s no limit to vertical movement because of it. Considering how solid the rest of the game looks, I’d bet this has been addressed already. As I said, I have yet to watch most of the stream. lol

I didn't think Nintendo had this in them honestly. Realistically it's probably going to have flaws with all the stuff they're trying that could possibly go wrong, but even in the worst case scenario I can see myself enjoying the heck out of this one. I'm really happy with what they've shown. Hoping the final game keeps me just as interested.

Only thing I can't help being worried about is that enemies that attack in groups seem to be as dumb as in past games, but at least with all the offensive options link has, this one is salvageable. This looks fun even with dumb enemies, but it would be a shame for them to screw that up when they're getting everything else SO right.

 

[the8thark]

I like it all apart from the aesthetics and stamina meter. I just don't like the look of the game yet. Way too bright and saturated for my liking. Quite the turn off it is.
Bat the disappointing game aesthetics, I think stamina meter is a major mistake. It being in BotW proves that Nintendo as a whole never learned the mistake that was the stamina meter in Skyward Sword. A real shame.

Past those two very large flaws in the game, everything else seems to be really spot on. I think it's a very well done game.

And last but not least the climbing itself. That is something I did not expect, and it might actually break the game if there’s no limit to vertical movement because of it. Considering how solid the rest of the game looks, I’d bet this has been addressed already.

For better or for worse (a polarising issue) the stamina meter addresses this.

 

[SinkingBadges]

For better or for worse (a polarising issue) the stamina meter addresses this.

Definitely for the better. Letting a player do so much without any tradeoff inevitably makes a mechanic boring. It would even be an insult to call it a mechanic if it was like that. It's better to say "you can do x thing all you want if you can manage resource" that to say "you can do anything you want".

The key thing is it has to be a tradeoff. Not just "you can't do x", but "you can do x if you meet condition y".

 

[RegalBryant]

without the stamina meter, they'd have to either drastically neuter Link's capabilities, or make the entire world more difficult to traverse

or just leave him as is and break everything. Run forever, glide forever, climb forever, swim fast always, infinite matrix arrow time, etc

 

[the8thark]

Definitely for the better. Letting a player do so much without any tradeoff inevitably makes a mechanic boring. It would even be an insult to call it a mechanic if it was like that. It's better to say "you can do x thing all you want if you can manage resource" that to say "you can do anything you want".

The key thing is it has to be a tradeoff. Not just "you can't do x", but "you can do x if you meet condition y".

Xenoblade Chronicles X did not have a stamina meter and it worked just fine as a game with exploration. There are other ways to prevent exploration overload early on. (The WW and XCX till chapter 4 way of just blocking off the areas to me is another cop out).

without the stamina meter, they'd have to either drastically neuter Link's capabilities, or make the entire world more difficult to traverse

or just leave him as is and break everything. Run forever, glide forever, climb forever, swim fast always, infinite matrix arrow time, etc

Nothing wrong with climbing and running forever. It was like that in every 3D Zelda game till SS. Why do you need to block off certain areas of the map early anyway? Just have them accessable but you can't do anything there because you don't have the items you need to progress the story in that area.

I am getting the feeling that this very large BotW world is not as open as it seems. All this stamina meter and other things are making it feel more linear. I hope I am wrong about this though.

 

[RegalBryant]

Nothing wrong with climbing and running forever. It was like that in every 3D Zelda game till SS.

Not really. Link's normal, non stamina boosted jog in BotW is just about as fast as the fastest any other 3D Link can run. Using the stamina gauge allows Link to sprint faster than ever before.

 

[Lozjam]

I like it all apart from the aesthetics and stamina meter. I just don't like the look of the game yet. Way too bright and saturated for my liking. Quite the turn off it is.
Bat the disappointing game aesthetics, I think stamina meter is a major mistake. It being in BotW proves that Nintendo as a whole never learned the mistake that was the stamina meter in Skyward Sword. A real shame.

Past those two very large flaws in the game, everything else seems to be really spot on. I think it's a very well done game.


For better or for worse (a polarising issue) the stamina meter addresses this.

They actually did learn from Skyward Sword, and they took out all of the terrible aspects of the Stamina bar that Skyward Sword had
1-They got rid of all of the intrusive beeping that the stamina meter in SS had
2-When the stamina bar is empty, Link does not pant around like an asthmatic nerd. Link can still walk, and swing his sword, and do everything link can do.
3- Running is not your fastest way of travel. This gives reason for Epona to come into play to get from place to place quicker.
4-It doesn't cover up a large portion of the screen.
5- The stamina bar is up-gradable. Both in the temporary sense by cooking, and permanently as well

These changes alone makes the Stamina bar a way better mechanic than in SS. Not only that, but the stamina is there to create a balance in the game. Not to intentionally Shackle Link's abilities.

 

[Lozjam]

Xenoblade Chronicles X did not have a stamina meter and it worked just fine as a game with exploration. There are other ways to prevent exploration overload early on. (The WW and XCX till chapter 4 way of just blocking off the areas to me is another cop out).


Nothing wrong with climbing and running forever. It was like that in every 3D Zelda game till SS. Why do you need to block off certain areas of the map early anyway? Just have them accessable but you can't do anything there because you don't have the items you need to progress the story in that area.

I am getting the feeling that this very large BotW world is not as open as it seems. All this stamina meter and other things are making it feel more linear. I hope I am wrong about this though.

I think you seriously need to watch some gameplay so that you can understand how open this game really is

 

[the8thark]

I think you seriously need to watch some gameplay so that you can understand how open this game really is

Apart from everything I have already seen from the treehouse @ E3?

 

[Viral Maze]

Solid 8/10 showing.
Looks to me like Fable smashed up with Skyrim or something.

I was pondering getting a PS4 in a few years when the PS5 comes out, but I think BotW makes a good case for the NX.

It still seems a little rough around the edges, but its early still. Colour me impressed for now.

 

[misskitten]

I don't think I could be more excited than I am, the game looks breathtaking, I can't get enough of the gameplay footages, I'm even rewatching some of the videos just because I want to see more of it. I find the new system of food and cooking to be really intriguing, I love the freedom they are offering by making climbing much more of a think. No more looking for vines and ladders, just as long as the surface is rough instead of sleek you are free to climb and I love that.

The return of the stamina meter doesn't bother me that much this time around, because they seem to have properly padded it out this time. In SS it seemed to always limit you, here it seems like they are more generous in how much of a distance they allow you to climb (I mean seriously look at the heights the demo players are climbing without the stamina meter giving them grief), and while I'm not overly keen on the sprint-limitation it does seem like it's giving you much faster recovery time this time around.

I seriously love that you can use shields to snowboard, that's gonna be serious fun to do, and the glider seems like the perfect mix of the Korok leaf and sailcloth. I love the way you pin things on the map in this game, both in terms of planning where to go, but also to mark discoveries that you want to come back to. And how you can scope out an enemy lair before diving in. And the fact that you can even pick up a stalfos arm and use it as a weapon - epic!

All in all, I think the game looks fantastic and I'm seriously gonna have fun playing it when it's finally released.

 

[manpaint]

10/10 I didn`t expect the world to be so hudge and apparently this is only 1-2%
Graphicly it look okay.
The music... Im gonna miss dat epic overworld music
The gameplay like hunting,cooking, woodcutting and runes remined me A LOT of RuneScape.

 

[the8thark]

All in all, I think the game looks fantastic and I'm seriously gonna have fun playing it when it's finally released.

Irrespective of what parts of the game we have seen so far we do not like (I don't like everything I've seen), it will be totally fun to play. That it almost a guarantee at this point. So I can agree with you there. THis game looks like fun overloaded.

 

[misskitten]

Irrespective of what parts of the game we have seen so far we do not like (I don't like everything I've seen), it will be totally fun to play. That it almost a guarantee at this point. So I can agree with you there. THis game looks like fun overloaded.

Isn't that the most important thing, though? I pretty much love everything I've seen so far, but regardless the most important factor is how fun it will be to play.

 

[CrimsonCavalier]

Xenoblade Chronicles X did not have a stamina meter and it worked just fine as a game with exploration. There are other ways to prevent exploration overload early on. (The WW and XCX till chapter 4 way of just blocking off the areas to me is another cop out).


Nothing wrong with climbing and running forever. It was like that in every 3D Zelda game till SS. Why do you need to block off certain areas of the map early anyway? Just have them accessable but you can't do anything there because you don't have the items you need to progress the story in that area.

I am getting the feeling that this very large BotW world is not as open as it seems. All this stamina meter and other things are making it feel more linear. I hope I am wrong about this though.

There is definitely an air of fabricated linearity in some games out there. As you mentioned, Xenoblade X was one of them that gives you a feeling of openness but is really quite more linear than you think.

I'll be honest, and I turned it off after watching the first hour of gameplay, because I don't want to know too much, but we'll just have to wait and see if they really hamper the exploration or if they give us a work-around for it.