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Breath of the Wild Why I didn’t like Breath of the Wild.

Joined
Feb 13, 2019
Heya. Since I’m not going to post my blog until after the update is finished, I thought I would throw together some ramblings for you. I believe the topic title says it all, I’m going to complain about Breath of the Wild. I really don’t know where to start, so I’ll go with dungeons first.
First thing is that they reuse the same atmosphere, I mean Twilight Princess and Wind Waker used different looks for their dungeons and still fit with the tone of the game, why couldn’t they have been a little more clever with designing them? Also the puzzles in three of the four Divine Beasts are really easy to solve, but the Gerudo one is very annoying, more so than the Water Temple and Snowhead.
I wish that if they weren’t going to be clever with the architecture of the dungeons they could at least have made them a little harder without making them annoying. (I mean, the Zelda II palaces are even better) Next thing is the rain ,this might seem like a small thing to complain about, but here I go.
How do they expect you to climb the abnormally large mountains when random rain can appear at any second? It keeps making the player slip and the only hope you have is Revali's Gale. Speaking of the Champion power ups, they’re extremely overpowered. Urbosa’s Fury kills a lot of the enemies fairly quickly. Revali’s Gale can boost you up to the point that climbing seems pointless sometimes. Mipha's Grace can heal you right after you die, which makes me question the point of fairys in this game, especially since it’d be recharged by the time you’d die in the first place. Daruk's Protection isn’t as broken as the other ones, but it’s still ridiculous that it can block almost every attack. The Master Sword makes Guardians very easy to fight and they’re not any trouble since you can easily avoid them before the Master Sword. I would say something about the breaking weapons ,but once again, after you get the Master Sword that isn’t a issue; just store up on the powerful ones until the Master Sword’s quick charge up is done. There’s only around five main enemy types and you can defeat them in the same way. (Boy! I remember back in Ocarina where you had to learn the Iron Knuckle’s pattern instead of every thing you do damages them in some way!) The Shrines are annoying because there’s so many of them and Tests of Strength are plentiful to say the least. Next thing is the story and characters! And if there’s anything I like, it’s a good character! Too bad that Revali is just Falco in fantasy clothing, I expected better from Nintendo, but they just pull a character from another one of the series and throw them in there! Okay, Daruk is like every other Goron general in the series, so once again it seems lazy ,but at least I was expecting that one. Mipha is the best out of the four, but she’s nothing but a anime cliche. (and before anyone brings up Midna being a Tsundere, wait until my blog I’m writing is finished, and hopefully I’ll be able to show that there’s more to the character, unlike Mipha) And finally it’s Urbosa! I probably dislike this one more than I should, but she feels like she’s just another Impa like character, and Impa never had all that much going for her. They try to add more to them in the DLC (which I stopped playing after getting the fan service costumes) but that wouldn’t change my mind anyway, because they shouldn’t be relying on DLC to add more depth to something that should have been there in the first place. (also the game was $80 in the end when the older ones are $40 now) DLC is supposed to add more content, which it did, but it also “fixed” something that was supposed to be well done in the first place.
The story ruined a lot of the lore and made it into a bunch of muck now.
I was going to bring up the Amiibo support, but that’s in more then this game, sadly.
(TPHD, Mario Maker, Fire Emblem Fates are only of the few games with great Amiibo support)
There you go, some babbling you were probably all better without. Thanks for reading.
 
Joined
Jun 14, 2011
You are not the only one who doesn't like Breath of the Wild and that's a good thing. I think most people here kinda gathered I don't particularly like BotW, But my reasons are different to what you've written.

There are some points you've mentioned which I think are actually good stuff about the game. The shrines for example: I do agree there's too many, but I thought the puzzles in most of them were pretty creative. They were probably the closest thing to feeling like an actual Zelda game.
You mentioned Amiibo support, I don't know about you, but I think the Amiibo Support in this game really helped me find some enjoyment for this game. I loved the fact you could scan a Link amiibo and being able to obtain the costume set and weapons based on that Link. I don't like Link's new design very much and the Wild Tunic wouldn't be avaliable until after you've pretty much done everything you need to do. I needed something while playing the game to make me feel I was playing a Zelda game and the Amiibo costumes helped me with that. Had the amiibo costumes not exsist I don't think I would of liked the game as much.

There are other things I like about BotW, but unfortunately they are not enough to save the game for me. My main issue with the game is that it could of been a good game, but after all the hype it built up especially after that Story Trailer, the end result was very underwhelming. I thought what we saw in the Storty trailer we were going to experience in the actual game, Like you could wonder the World and you'd find Zelda being attacked by Bokoblins, you save her then go to Kakariko Village or something to start this quest to free the Divine beasts, Help Zelda find the power to defeat Ganon as well as find the Master Sword and then Confront Ganon. That would of been such a great idea for a Zelda game.... but no. All that awsomeness was shoved to the side in the game's past in the form of Memories which just ended up being a fetch quest.

I was so ready to fall in love with this game until I actually started playing, and that's when my enjoyment started going downhill. I hated the Weapon system, who the hell asked for this? I thought I was playing Legend of Zelda, not Resident Evil. It's bad enough that they break at the most inconvinient moment, but it makes it all pointless when the Blood moon rises and revives all the monsters you slain. I wouldn't mind too much if they simply respawned, but the fact that the game takes time out to tell you that all the monsters you slain are now revived, it makes you wonder why you bothered wasting your weapons on them in the first place. The sad thing is that if you're able to mod the game, you can turn off weapon durability.... And that's a god send compared to how it is officially.

The combat is biased to say the least. It could take you a while to defeat one enemy, but the enemy could kill you in one hit. I'm all for a challenge, but being cheap ruins it. I also hate when you go into that ragdoll mode after getting hit hard and you can still take damage if the field is uneven. I understand if you get knocked off a cliff and tumble down the hill, but I kid you not I've died by simply sliding down a hill.... that would never happen in real life. I also died because after being knocked back, Link landed sideways in a small puddle and it counted as drowning. I never got so angry at a cheap death. And I absolutely hate Electric with a vengence in this game. it's too overpowered and even if you prepare yourself for it, you still end up screwed. I've never come close in breaking my TV when playing a game before.

Exploring in this game is boring and there isn't much pay-off for doing so. The game requires you to have plenty of time on your hands and a knack for exploration, But if you're an adult like me where you don't have time to play periods of gameplay and only have the desire to beat the game, then this game is sure to give you a lackluster experience.
I think the overworld is too big for it's own good. If you just focused on the main quest, roughly 1/3 of the whole overworld you could cut out. I don't think the Faron region has any significance for being part of the kingdom apart from the fact other Zelda games use the Province name. I really don't like the fact you have to protect yourself from weather changes. I hate having to go into hot and cold areas and have to change outfits to avoid taking damage. Realistic Yes, but this is a video game where something like this shouldn't be an issue. The only place where it makes sense is Death Mountain because you are in an area under extreme conditions. Past Zelda games do this as well and gives you items like the Goron Tunic or the Fireshield Earrings to protect yourself. Other then Death Mountain, it's just an annoyance to change outfits and it makes this Link look pathetic compared to other Links who walk into hot and cold places and not be bothered by it.

I think the more I reflect on this game, the more problems I find with it. I know i'm in a minority over this, but I still to this day don't understand how people think BotW is the Best Zelda game ever made. I can acknowleage why people like and personally love it, but universally regarded as the best Zelda? I think it only got the praise because it was a long while since Skyward Sword where we got a 3D Zelda and it was brand new: no remake, no reimagening and no Spin-off. I'm sorry but with all the delays BotW got and all the hype it built up towards it's release, it's the most underwelming Zelda game of all time. I can admit it's not the worst Zelda game I've ever played as I did find some enjoyment to the game, but when playing a modded version of the same game feels more like the game it's meant to be, then you know something is seriously wrong with the direction the game designers have taken the series, and I think it will be a while before there will be a Zelda game worthy of being called the Ultimate Zelda as the developers embarresingly tried to call BotW.
 

Dio

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Zelda game worthy of being called the Ultimate Zelda as the developers embarresingly tried to call BotW.
They did with Skyward Sword too. They probably do it every 3D entry. I don't remember but Miyamoto said he would quit if it didn't top OOT. It didn't and he still hasn't quit.

I don't like BoTW either. I thought it was a totally mediocre game but there were elements to it I outright hated.

The worst offender for me is the story and characters. It is crap. It's gone downhill from 2011's SS which was even a big downgrade from 2006's TP. 2017 guys. This isn't acceptable.

Worse than the actual content of the story was the fact that it is completely optional and it feels that way. You don't need to do any of it and can actually go and kill Ganon with sticks right away and it just makes the whole thing feel like some unimportant slog. And it cheapens Ganon as a villain.

There is no actual threat from Calamity Ganon whilst the player is free to frolic through the vast field of Hyrule, messing around. If you do decide to pursue the story it's a total letdown. The memories were a good idea. In Halo 4 you had terminals which showed exciting cutscenes of halo's lore, giving the player a glimpse into the past. I thought in Zelda these would be a good thing. Instead we got the most boring cutscenes in gaming history where virtually nothing happens in most of them.

The characters were pretty much all 2D. In TP we had actual development of Midna throughout the entire game. She is the only Zelda character to have a full character arc like that and it is only natural to give characters in future game such treatment. In Skyward Sword, Groose, Ghirahim and Impa get developed to some degree. But in BoTW, that came out 6 years later. Pretty much every character is 1 Dimensional and boring. The most developed backstory to character is the lab scientist who's background can be read in a very long diary.

The story wasn't the only area BoTW lacked.

Weapon Breaking was excessive and ridiculous. Metal weapons don't break. If they had gone dull with a lot of use and needed resharpening that might have been ok but to shatter like glass. That is definitely not the way things should be. (the master sword is also supposed to be the ultimate weapon so it should not lose its power at all and have to recharge). This breaking made the need for hundreds of shrines containing weapons rather than enriching the story at all. This cheapened the experience and made finishing them less rewarding than they should have been.

Whilst on the topic of shrines and dungeons. I also didn't like the lack of themed dungeons like in previous games. The tech aesthetic is nice but would have liked some variety. And there were also only 4 dungeons. There should have been more.

The Stamina meter also makes a return from Skyward Sword which I found annoying. It doesn't affect your progression just makes things easier later on when you make it bigger. Which you can do at any time by collecting some easily found seeds.

Speaking of progression. Of course the story is pointless but if you are going to do it, it feels less rewarding being able to do things in any order you like. Had the game actually had later areas where you needed a full stamina meter to complete puzzles and the only way you could increase it was by doing the easier dungeons first then there would feel like some progression had been made. Same with weapons. Stronger weapons should only have appeared after meeting specific story requirements thus allowing the player to defeat enemies previously too tough to kill. They could also have colour codes shrines in terms of difficulty requiring you to collect orbs from a certain number of easier shrines first to open up the later ones. This would give the feeling of accomplishment from unlocking higher difficulty shrines.

Also the tutorial in the game sucks and it is easy to miss the one in Karariko because you can do shrines in any order. And also the shield surfing guy is hiding by a tree somewhere which I didn't come across until later on. OOT handled its univasive tutorials much better by just allowing the player to choose to not do them if they don't need to but making them obvious to find for a new player.

Anyway that's all I can think of right now. It's a poor man's Assassin's Creed. It has some good moments but feels somewhat raw and incomplete. More like a sandbox with some story elements unlike previous entries which have felt purposeful. I can see why people who like messing around in a big world enjoy it but as someone who likes to get down to business it just doesn't hit that Zelda spot for me.
 

Castle

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There is a lot not to like about BotW. Ninty has the basis of a good thing going here but they got horribly horribly confused. Did we want an open world? Yes! Did we want an open world littered with fragile junk, full of dozens of franchise shrines, copy pasted enemies, Ubisoft towers, and 900 collectables all of which are ultimately all beside the point? No. Sure, an open world sandbox would have been great, but some structure would have been nice to - I dunno - lend the game some semblance of meaning?

I really like the simulated systems of elements and weather and physics and stuff... that's bloody brilliant! But you can only play around with it for so long until it stops being fun, and some of it breaks the game, like the aforementioned lightning, rain, and being able to solve pretty much any "puzzle" with whatever elementally charged item you have on hand. Cooking's nice, but it also breaks the game. There's no challenge when there are no limits on full health restorative use in the midst of combat. Why do so many games completely eliminate their carefully constructed challenge by allowing players to abuse abundant health restoratives???

And of course equipment degradation is one of my major gaming pet peeves, but ninty went and doubled down by making weapons self destruct in just a few hits as nothing more than an excuse to have all these worthless pieces of junk lying around to pick up. No, it doesn't make the game any more fun or challenging to be forced to constantly be switching weapons all the time. Besides, who just ADORES constant menu diving in the middle of combat??? I KNOW I JUST CAN'T GET ENOUGH OF IT! :dry:

ps. I am reminded of Dragon's Dogma when bringing up the abundant challenge breaking health restoratives and constant menu diving in the middle of combat. A game still better than BotW thanks to meaningful story, intriguing open world, and a fun clever (working) gimmick (the pawns). DD is a game that has a lot working against it, but it still has more going for it than BotW.
 
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thePlinko

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I enjoyed BotW, but it’s nowhere close to being the best zelda ever. While I agree with you on the story and dungeons, that’s not why I think this game is sub-par (compared to other games in the series, of course). No, my main problem is that it’s just not a Zelda game, it’s Skyrim with a Zelda mod installed. Zelda games aren’t supposed to be this open world, they are supposed to be explorable but with a set objective and rewards for both exploring and reaching said objective. Look at the most popular games in the series, LttP, OoT, MM, WW, TP, no matter what you think of these games, one thing is certain: they ALL play very similarly in terms of structure, and none of them are open world, at least not in the modern sense. If you showed somebody some random gameplay footage of any of these zelda games 5 years or so before the game was revealed, the would most certainly say “ wow that new Zelda game looks amazing!” But if you showed them breath of the wild footage they would say “huh, that looks kinda cool, and the main character kinda reminds me of link, you know, if he was a hipster.” Stuff like this is why I think we haven’t had a real Zelda game since Skyward Sword, as even LBW is guilty of doing stuff like this.

I also hated the dungeons, but for different reasons. Look at Zelda 1, in it you had 9 different dungeons, each with a specific item (3 of them had 2 items). Your incentive for exploring and finding these dungeons wasn’t the triforce piece, but the cool new item(s) you could get. The “divine beasts” in BotW, on the other hand, had zip. zilch. nada. Absolutely nothing to incentivize you. Sure you had the heart containers, but those were worthless considering you could get the same thing for completing 4 shrines. You had the champions abilities, but those were absolutely worthless aside from revali’s gale, which was mainly just a quality of life ability anyway. The DLC divine beast was a little better, but by the time you get the master cycle you can already warp to kingdom come and back, besides the fact that the master cycle is slower than a horse and takes inventory items as fuel. I know the whole point was to make it optional but they still needed a reason to have people want to go there. How about in vah ruto you got the Hookshot, something that let you climb up easier in addition to being required to beat the dungeon and find some decently important secrets outside of the dungeon, but not the rest of the game. No instead of actual dungeon items you had the iPhone they gave you at the beginning and a discount deku leaf, everything else was either rupees or broke in 5 minutes.


This just feeds back to my first complaint of the game: this isn’t Zelda. I have said this elsewhere online and every time I do I get the same response: “oh you just don’t like it because it’s different.” No I don’t dislike it because it’s different, I dislike it because it’s different in all the wrong ways. Look at MM, I think it’s objectively the best Zelda game ever, and its one of the most different games in the series. The difference is that MM is still a Zelda game, it still plays like a Zelda game, it still treats itself like a Zelda game. Even when the triforce, mater sword, and even Zelda herself are nowhere to be found it still feels like a Zelda game, BotW has all of those things and does not feel like Zelda.



P.S. I actually enjoyed the amiibo support for the game, and every time I play it I make sure to use my link amiibos to get an actual link outfit instead of a blue t-shirt. Also Smash Bros had good amiibo support.
 

Dio

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Majora’s Mask had only four main dungeons, but they didn’t reuse the same design and MM is shorter then the other main Zelda games.

Everyone says the same thing to me and it always makes me dislike the game more since everyone doesn’t even try to listen to my arguments.

Majora's Mask is technically a side game. It was called Zelda Gaiden before it released which means side story. These days it would be a DLC expansion like Hearts of Stone was for The Witcher 3. It also was made in only a year. Still each dungeon and area managed to be unique and the game itself containing a very good amount of content. The world wasn't huge but it was dense. When BoTW took 6 years to come I expected a lot more than what was given.
 

Mido

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Breath of the Wild's an interesting entitiy. It is a game I cannot say that I dislike; however, I also cannot say with confidence that it resonated with me all that much, and unfortunately a large reason for this uneasy stance I have towards the game has to do with the anchor of expectations. This anchor primarily takes root in my perception of BOTW's story. I will first go on recond to say that I do not think the story was bad, per se; however, I definitely found it underwhelming. In the past, I have encountered the argument that the series in general has never had good stories, and I have never been a fan of the argument if only because while the series has never had entirely complex stories compared to other series' works, I do not think the simpler storytelling has ever been a bad thing for The Legend of Zelda. BOTW largely stuck by the simple storytelling approach I think, but I do not think it telegraphed itself in that manner at least as far as the big February 2017 trailer indicated. I think Vaati101 encapsulates my own thinking on the story well:

There are other things I like about BotW, but unfortunately they are not enough to save the game for me. My main issue with the game is that it could of been a good game, but after all the hype it built up especially after that Story Trailer, the end result was very underwhelming. I thought what we saw in the Storty trailer we were going to experience in the actual game, Like you could wonder the World and you'd find Zelda being attacked by Bokoblins, you save her then go to Kakariko Village or something to start this quest to free the Divine beasts, Help Zelda find the power to defeat Ganon as well as find the Master Sword and then Confront Ganon. That would of been such a great idea for a Zelda game.... but no. All that awsomeness was shoved to the side in the game's past in the form of Memories which just ended up being a fetch quest.

Now, the only thing I will come to BOTW's defense over on the story front is its use of memories. While I think it would have been an improvement to experience a potentially grand narrative in real time (which is why I found myself underwhelmed to begin with do to a lack thereof), I appreciate that unlike a game like Destiny's approach to story and lore, the player could learn about Hyrule's past within the game scattered in the overworld. This also in turn added an incentive for exploration, the game's primary appeal from my perspective. Having said that, I agree with your overall point.

The characters were pretty much all 2D. In TP we had actual development of Midna throughout the entire game. She is the only Zelda character to have a full character arc like that and it is only natural to give characters in future game such treatment. In Skyward Sword, Groose, Ghirahim and Impa get developed to some degree. But in BoTW, that came out 6 years later. Pretty much every character is 1 Dimensional and boring. The most developed backstory to character is the lab scientist who's background can be read in a very long diary.

Since I did not make much of a dent in the story in favor of shrine-hunting to power up (and was not to happy to learn that I was not able to complete all of the before the Divine Beasts which stalled my momentum a ton, but I digress), I do not have a strong opinion on the characters. Having said this, I think your concern about the characters is unfortunately a byproduct of Nintendo's manner of telling the game's story. Of any story element the game does have, I did enjoy Link's introduction to Zora's Domain. As the Zoras in present time were familiar with Link, it allowed for the player to see a tangible history in relation to Link's relationship with the Zoras. I enjoyed that very much.

As far as the gamplay is concerned, I think the issues people have with it are warranted, but at least for me, I did not mind them for the most part. I enjoyed the weather changes. I enjoyed climbing and navigating of the land. I was not entirely keen with the weapon-breaking system, but I liked how in the "grand wild" of Hyrule, it forced Link to be resourceful. Nevertheless, I can see how it can prove cumbersome to the experience. I enjoyed the shrines and their puzzles especially, appreciating how it almost felt like playing a Portal game save for the tests of strength (although I can understand how the rewards were inconsistent). Ultimately, I enjoy BOTW for what it is, a game trying to breathe new life into a much-beloved series; and while it fell short in many areas, I still consider it a decent, middle-of-the-pack Zelda game.
 
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It's not a bad Zelda game, but I'm not fond of it either.

My issues are:

The returning stamina meter. If I didn't like it in SS, why am I going to like it in BOTW?

The ridiculous knock-back. Gets hit, goes flying 50 feet and the Gods help you if your on a slope.

The dlc. In a Zelda game?! Nintendo how could you?

The weapons system. I am baffled as to why this is a thing? The weapons aren't made of metal and wood, so much as they are paper mache. Wet paper mache. I'm more baffled by its ardent defenders who hail it as one of the greatest things that happened to Zelda. And if I hurt your feelings for thinking broken weapon defenders are crazy, I'm sorry.......for your bad taste.

Stack your items Nintendo. That was one of the clunkiest menus I've ever had the displeasure of going through.

Waste of time searching for and going through a bunch of dinky, 5 minute shrines. And for what? More breakable weapons and dumb orbs. Give us an open world Zelda with proper dungeons again. You've done it several times in the past.
 
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I'll be honest: I like Breath of the Wild. I enjoy it. In my opinion, it's a good game and deserving of a lot of the praise it's gotten.

But, I'm not going to sit here and defend it. It has problems. Even more so, for the Zelda series, it's only a good game. The Zelda series used to be game-changers; the entire Adventure category of games was defined by the Zelda series. Zelda games have to live up to a higher standard, and BotW didn't.

That doesn't mean that I think the game should go away. I see elements Nintendo can fix. They have the basis of a memorable game, one that relies on far more than nostalgia (anyone else notice how much BotW relied on nostalgia, from the game map to the outfits?), and they just need to redo the elements that are dragging it down.

The Shrines are annoying because there’s so many of them and Tests of Strength are plentiful to say the least.

I'll be honest: I didn't have problems with the Tests of Strength. I found them relatively easy.

Of course, I say this as someone who's had to fight super mutants with nothing but pistols, knives, and grenades. And who sometimes lectures people on why jetpack jump games like Destiny and Titanfall are asking for people to be killed. ("What do you call a flying soldier on the battlefield?" "Skeet.") So the idea of floating around on an enemy-provided hurricane raining bombs and arrows down on them is not something I'm unfamiliar with.

I hated the Weapon system, who the hell asked for this? I thought I was playing Legend of Zelda, not Resident Evil. It's bad enough that they break at the most inconvinient moment, but it makes it all pointless when the Blood moon rises and revives all the monsters you slain. I wouldn't mind too much if they simply respawned, but the fact that the game takes time out to tell you that all the monsters you slain are now revived, it makes you wonder why you bothered wasting your weapons on them in the first place. The sad thing is that if you're able to mod the game, you can turn off weapon durability.... And that's a god send compared to how it is officially.

Are you sure you don't mean Fallout/Elder Scrolls? Both of those games are known for weapon durability, and Resident Evil isn't. Resident Evil is more about ammunition limits and inability of weapons to kill everything.

That said, Fallout is the one series where weapon durability makes the most sense. And yet, weapon durability proved to be such of a pointless system that Fallout 4 conceded the fight and did away with it. If even Fallout admits weapon durability doesn't serve the game well, Zelda has no excuse.

Worse than the actual content of the story was the fact that it is completely optional and it feels that way. You don't need to do any of it and can actually go and kill Ganon with sticks right away and it just makes the whole thing feel like some unimportant slog. And it cheapens Ganon as a villain.

There is no actual threat from Calamity Ganon whilst the player is free to frolic through the vast field of Hyrule, messing around. If you do decide to pursue the story it's a total letdown. The memories were a good idea. In Halo 4 you had terminals which showed exciting cutscenes of halo's lore, giving the player a glimpse into the past. I thought in Zelda these would be a good thing. Instead we got the most boring cutscenes in gaming history where virtually nothing happens in most of them.

This, right here, highlights most of my complaint. BotW was said to be inspired by Skyrim, yet the only thing I saw Skyrim-esque about it was there being a fantasy setting. The plot seems to be inspired by Fallout 4, the memory system reminds me of the PDAs from Doom 3... in fact, the entire story reminded me of a plot excuse shooter in how it was delivered. "Here's your convenient excuse to go kill some bad guys!" pretty much sums up BotW's story delivery. Which works fine for Call of Duty and Doom, both of which are not open-world games. Even Skyrim handled it better; there, you are at least given a personal reason to be both invested in the Alduin plot (he tried to kill you) and the civil war subplot (the Imperials tried to kill you along with the captured Stormcloaks). At least when you get that mission to kill the Emperor from the Dark Brotherhood, there's a certain sense of karma that the person the Imperials tried to kill for no good reason is the one offing their leader. With BotW, you feel completely disconnected from the story.

No, my main problem is that it’s just not a Zelda game, it’s Skyrim with a Zelda mod installed.

On this, I disagree; I've actually played Skyrim, and it handles this much better. You have an open world, but some things are locked behind the main story. You want access to Dragon Shouts? You must play the main story. You want access to that monastery on a mountain? You must play the main story. You can't just go everywhere right off the bat; you actually have to work to open some areas up.

This reminds me more of Fallout 4, which I've noted elsewhere has a similar plot to BotW.
 
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Are you sure you don't mean Fallout/Elder Scrolls? Both of those games are known for weapon durability, and Resident Evil isn't. Resident Evil is more about ammunition limits and inability of weapons to kill everything.

I've never played Fallout or Elder Scrolls to know that.
Yeah Resident Evil is more about preserving ammunition, but I feel the way and how fast weapons break in BotW, it's no different to running out of ammo. either way the result is the same: Once you run out, you can't fight back.
 

thePlinko

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On this, I disagree; I've actually played Skyrim, and it handles this much better. You have an open world, but some things are locked behind the main story. You want access to Dragon Shouts? You must play the main story. You want access to that monastery on a mountain? You must play the main story. You can't just go everywhere right off the bat; you actually have to work to open some areas up.

This reminds me more of Fallout 4, which I've noted elsewhere has a similar plot to BotW.


I’ve played Skyrim as well and I would honestly say that it plays closer to BotW than a traditional Zelda, but you still understand my point that BotW isn’t a Zelda game.
 

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The biggest reason i still don't like BOTW is mostly to do with the armors, a lot of them were wholly unnecessary there were too many similar effects as well, i honestly didn't see the point in the DLC armors and amiibo ones having something like stealth when shiekah armor would be eventually stronger and thus be better for the job. Guess it was mostly for the aesthetic really.
 
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I agree with most of everything that has been said here! While I'm not sure if I'll add to the argument per say I will just comment my thoughts on the game as well. Im also in the minority that doesn't like the game and it's for mostly what has been said: story, gameplay, the weather, weapons; I truly miss the traditional Legend of Zelda stuff like TP or SS. The story for BotW is what disappointed me the most because I wanted it to be as hard-hitting, emotionally invested as possible especially since they now have usage of voice acting. However, the voice acting to me ruined a lot of what made LoZs good. I got to imagine what the characters would sound like even if we did hear them grunt or make small sounds. Zelda's character came off the worst for me. While I see what they were trying to get at with her character arc she actually came off rather mean and unlikable even after her change. I know many will disagree but she is my least favorite Zelda and I never even disliked a Zelda! Zelda to me is odd because, for example, in TP she rarely shows up at all in that game yet I absolutely love her. I think it's because she came off as a princess- stately, gentle...I could identify more with her than BotW Zelda.

I completely agree with the sense that Nintendo tried to do a Skyrim but with a Legend of Zelda twist. And because of that it took everything away that made the series good. My fear is because of this experimental LoZ that we'll never get the good stories and dungeons and such again because now everyone has been spoiled in other regards that were good. I did enjoy the exploration for a while but yes it did then hit me how empty it was. Since there is a minority of us with these thoughts (and these thoughts if brought to Reddit, Twitter, Tumblr, etc. You'll get vehemently attacked) Nintendo might not even give these concerns regard. I honestly dont mind that they tried to go in a different direction but they did it at the cost of losing the LoZ identity.

The last thing I'll say then is the music was underwhelming. I watched a YouTube video that shows that they actually included all the old and nostalgic music in the games. The most notable is Hyrule Castle and Temple of Time but the other ones?? Like the house themes when you enter are in the game but its slowed down so much I didnt even realize that's what it was until someone pointed it out. If I'm exploring I want memorable music playing- ironically like Skyrim! The music is very memorable from that game even being an open world. Botw's music however has a few notable tracks but there was never any tracks that stood out to me.

I pray the next game will keep us focused on story and return to some traditional aspects. And I PRAY THE SHEKIAH SLATE IS NO WHERE NEAR THIS GAME. The technology aspect ruined my immersion. I dont want to rely on basically a tablet as if I'm in the real world. I want out of the real world.

I’ve played Skyrim as well and I would honestly say that it plays closer to BotW than a traditional Zelda, but you still understand my point that BotW isn’t a Zelda game.
It really tries to be and to some aspects I like that they tried but the people making these games should know what a Zelda game is too. So many game franchises have done what BotW has- changing too many things and forgetting the small aspects of what made them those titles :(
 
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