Breath of the Wild The least Zelda-like thing of BotW

[Spirit]

BotW changed a lot, it will have changed the DNA for some time to come too...

But which change is the least Zelda-like thing about BotW?

What part of BotW do you look at or do and say 'this is not Zelda'?

 

[Dan]

Motabikes

 

[el :BeoWolf:]

The motorcycle

 

[YIGAhim]

The Maste Cycle and the amount of technology in the game

 

[Jirohnagi]

I see people saying motorcycle, yet we all enjoyed the train and the ships each of which were decidedly "un-zelda" at the time.

I'd honestly say the shrines really don't follow the zelda method.
It's too easy of a way to obtain Heart pieces.
The Stamina wheel is not really a zelda thing.
The Sidequests we got were probably the least zelda thing in the regards we got literal crap from them and in one case golden poop.

 

[Rubik]

What part of BotW do you look at or do and say 'this is not Zelda'?

this is not zelda

this is link

 

[Jirohnagi]

this is not zelda

this is link

No that is most definitely Zelda

 

[Rubik]

oh

 

[LegendOfMeesh]

this is not zelda

this is link

actually just laughed out loud while looking at this at work. now people think I'm crazy. oh well!

 

[Doc]

The absolute lack of dungeons. The Divine Beasts were not nearly large enough or interesting enough to be considered dungeons, and it was disappointing.

That or the fact that you don't get the tunic until you essentially 100% the game...

 

[Ninja]

Lack of themed dungeons with differentiating bosses. Orbs for additional health and stamina, which means no chance of maxing out both.

 

[ray138]

I see people saying motorcycle, yet we all enjoyed the train

Nope.

and the ships each of which were decidedly "un-zelda" at the time.

Boats/rafts have been there from the beginning. And they fit the setting.

For me, it's the lack of dungeons with bosses and the lack emphasis on the Triforce.
And the motorcycle.

 

[AncientPoe]

Mechanically? I'd say food. Having legions of hearts worth of healing on hand at all times really kills the tension of most encounters. Other Zelda games used bottles as one means of becoming stronger, and also rewarding the player for exploring and interacting with the world. Bottle locations and quests tended to be a bit off the beaten path, or not always easily uncovered through NPC interactions, so they really served as a reward for taking your time between dungeons to really take in what the game had to offer. They also provided the player with a way of rewarding their own gameplay decisions, as every time you survived a boss or dungeon thanks to a potion or fairy, you were rewarded for the decision to come prepared. Food in BotW is so plentiful and strewn about any path you could possibly take that any sort of resource scarcity beyond the first few hours of the game is nonexistent.

 

[Hyrulian Hero]

The open air style of the game. Get your fingers off that keyboard! I know as well as anyone that "Legend of Zelda was open world" but yeah, no it wasn't. It was open world like the Oracle games or Wind Waker were open world, as in "not". Sure, there were fewer barriers to exploration in these games, but the only reason LoZ is thought by some to be open world is that it had almost no story, making it feel less linear. You could beat a couple of dungeons out of order if you were clever, but guess what, they're still numbered.

LoZ was a masterstroke of accessible exploration, but it laid the groundwork for the latter Zelda games, most of which were largely explorable in a non-linear fashion but restricted actual progression to linear pattern. The open air aspect of Breath of the Wild isn't non-Zelda but it is a new direction for the series and is a bit jarring after having played every Zelda game. I do hope Nintendo will return linear storytelling to Zelda within the next two games.

 

[the8thark]

Lets see:

Mechanised transport - Nope. We've already had trains.
Jumping - Nope. Zelda 2 and Roc's Feather exist.
Multiple smaller towns to visit - Nope. It's the same as Zelda 2.
Open overworld - Nope. Zelda 1 and 2 had this. Sure both are not as nonlinear as BotW but the world was mostly open from the start.
Rafts - Nope. Zelda 1 and Zelda 2 had them, as well as other Zelda games.
Stamina meter - Nope. Skyward Sword exists
Only 4 main dungeons before the end game area - Nope. Majora's Mask also had this.
Pulling the sword from the stone - Nope. That's in many Zelda games.
Side quests - Nope. They exist in many other Zelda games. Majora's Mask featured them heavily.
Sense of exploration - Nope. Zelda 1 had this. For 1986 Zelda 1 was a masterpiece of overworld exploration. BotW is similar just beefed up to 2017 standards.
Hundreds of little collectable things (seeds) - Nope. Skulltulas, kinstones and other things exist.
Shrines - Nope. Zelda games have had little underground grottos in the past where you had a little challenge to get a reward. BotW just formalised the process and gave them a name - Shrines.
Most of the heart pieces earned outside dungeons - Nope. Majoras Mask was also like this.
Breakable weapons - Nope. Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask had this. Possibly other Zelda games too? BotW did massively expand on the idea and made it a core feature of the game but it's not a first for the Zelda IP.
Voice acting - Nope. Zelda CDi. Of cause the CDi games are not made by Nintendo and they are hot garbage but they did have voice acting.
Horse travel - Nope. Epona exists.
Cooking - See edit 2 below.

So what is actually new?

I don't know to be honest.

[edit] There's a new physics engine. Is that a new feature? Well I guess many of the 3D Zelda games had new physics engines but BotW's one was quite different and new so I guess it applies too as something new to BotW.

[edit 2]

If we're going to call the Giant's Knife and razor "a breakable weapon mechanic", we're going to have to call a spade a spade and admit that Wind Waker had grandma's soup, Link's Awakening had a pineapple being cooked, Skyward Sword had pumpkin soup...lot of soup.

So it looks like cooking is off the table as well. It's not Link specifically cooking himself but the idea has been previously used and expanded on in Breath of the Wild. I've edited my above post to reflect this.