The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Wii U / Switch

[nekunando]

I think I'm going to wait until we see details of the second DLC pack before investing and returning to Hyrule!

[ArtMediocre]

I gotta say, Link looks like a total badass with the Phantom Armor on. Too bad you can't upgrade it :(.

[Kav]

 

[Ronnie]

Aonuma confirms the Chapions' Ballad DLC takes place AFTER Ganon's defeat. Interesting...

[Glen-i]

7 minutes ago, Ronnie said:

Aonuma confirms the Chapions' Ballad DLC takes place AFTER Ganon's defeat. Interesting...

Good, the ending is utter rubbish as is. Hopefully this alleviates it a bit.

 

[Phube]

Awwww... Me and my daughter were looking forward to playing as the champions!

[Glen-i]

5 minutes ago, Phube said:

Awwww... Me and my daughter were looking forward to playing as the champions!

To be quite frank, I think hoping for that was way too optimistic.

Edited July 7, 2017 by Glen-i

[Sheikah]

But then you'd have to play as that douchey bird guy.

[Phube]

Yeah, I'd love to be a sarky twat with all my NPC replies!

[Ronnie]

10 hours ago, Glen-i said:

Good, the ending is utter rubbish as is. Hopefully this alleviates it a bit.

 

Disagree, I really enjoyed the ending, and thought it fit the pacing of the game perfectly. That said having more is no bad thing

[Glen-i]

5 minutes ago, Ronnie said:

Disagree, I really enjoyed the ending, and thought it fit the pacing of the game perfectly. That said having more is no bad thing

What pace? Decent opening followed by 100 hours of almost nothing capped by a "They lived happily ever after". Mario bloody Galaxy had more interesting plot than this! It's about as interesting as the Zelda 1 ending. And I am talking about the proper ending. It just felt like a big slap in the face. But I'm not going into all that again. I already wrote up a pretty long post about what I liked and disliked about the game in the Gaming Diary thread.

Edited July 7, 2017 by Glen-i

[Ronnie]

5 minutes ago, Glen-i said:

Decent opening followed by 100 hours of almost nothing capped by a "They lived happily ever after".

If by almost nothing, you mean over half an hour of back-story cutscenes throughout the game and plenty of storyline in the build up to each divine beast on top of that, then ok. Would I have liked a bit more to the ending, sure, but I didn't think it was utter rubbish.

Edited July 7, 2017 by Ronnie

[Glen-i]

18 minutes ago, Ronnie said:

If by almost nothing, you mean over half an hour of back story cutscenes throughout the game and plenty of storyline in the build up to each divine beast on top of that, then sure. Would I have liked a bit more to the ending, sure, but I didn't think it was utter rubbish.

The backstory to what happened to Hyrule amounted to nothing of note though. I went into that final memory expecting something surprising, some kind of twist that changes some kind of perspective on the story. But no, they took a cool interpretation of Zelda and wasted it.

And the stories of each village? "Oh no, the divine beast is causing havoc! Sort it out!" Proceeded by sorting it out and getting a hearty thank you and another weapon that is about as disposable as all the others. It never felt like I accomplished something from saving each village.

The only one of note is Zora's domain where all the oldies hate Link, that was pretty neat. On the flipside, Rito Village could be completely absent and it would actually be more interesting. If Rito Village was in ruins because of the Divine Beast, it would have been more engaging, that's how inconsequential it all is. Kinda like Ikana Canyon in Majora's Mask. That place was awesome because of how grim it all was. Way more engaging and has better backstory than BOTW ever could manage.

Edited July 8, 2017 by Glen-i

[drahkon]

I still want to see a Zelda game that deals with a huge politically and economically driven war between each of the races (bring racism into it, too; just all the big guns ).

You don't play as Link but as a random dude in an army and after a while you get involved in a big conspiracy that spans across the past, the present and the future. Final boss: Link and Zelda.

 

Just imagine the world of BotW with the occasional battlefield that you can join to wreck havoc, wait it out and scavenge the place or take a side to improve your standing with a faction.

Edited July 8, 2017 by drahkon

[dazzybee]

I think BOTW story is far too subtle for most people, there's no huge active story that's happening, it's already happened, and it's told very subtly through the world, environment and thins the characters say over a big time, impacting the whole world of it, it's a completely different kind of story telling. Also think it lends itself nicely into the type of game it is, a story driven game would completely take away with the style and pace of it, always pushing your forward and into the story; the little pressure to continue the story; this game is about giving you a world to explore; the story has incredible amount of depth, with huge themes

[Glen-i]

Personally, I think OoT did the whole "Bad things already went down thing" better. Sure, it's not as subdued as BOTW is, but you're still left without knowledge of where Zelda is after escaping with Impa, what happened to the Castle Town residents, etc. It definitely gave a bigger impression of "Oh, we done messed up, huh?"

Outside of the memories and a couple of slightly more important characters (Impa, Purah and the Champions), no-one really tells you what actually happened. I only got the impression that the people living in Hyrule were coping quite well actually. Yeah, things could be better, but Hyrule wasn't exactly as ruined as you'd expect.

Ganon seemed more like something that everyone just put up with rather than an all-powerful evil that should be feared.

Edited July 8, 2017 by Glen-i

[dazzybee]

The best "bad shit has happened" moment in any Zelda (game actually) is still Hyrule underwater in Wind Waker. 

I guess it's not that I don't love strong stories or anything, I just really appreciated BOTW storytelling, liked its confidence in it. Just being plonked down, telling you barely anything, and you seeing the aftermath of something that happened a long time ago. The atmosphere and mood of it all. 

[Glen-i]

7 minutes ago, dazzybee said:

The best "bad shit has happened" moment in any Zelda (game actually) is still Hyrule underwater in Wind Waker.

Definitely agree there, that was a very powerful moment. Wind Waker also has the best Ganon/Ganondorf characterisation too.

Edited July 8, 2017 by Glen-i

[Sméagol]

So, I'm finally nearing the end of the game, after 230 hours (though probably less, there was a lot of idle time).

After my latest "tour of Hyrule" it was time to finish up. First up was a big section of Faron I really haven't explored before yet, mostly to get to a shrine I knew was there (the one on the beach) because I saw my brother visiting it. I had totally forgotten what you had to do for it though, so I left it again. Revisiting Faron brought me a shitload of Koroks, and more importantly, pictures for my compendium of early-game stuff. Also some sidequests I missed or had forgotten about. I did the horse race thing, which I had forgotten about, but was no problem with my new white horse, so I got some new horse gear. I completly missed the sidequest for getting rid of a Bokoblin gang (on horses), and completed it by accident. Also new was a totally aggravating horseback archery game, which I later found out I had to do again because I didn't get the complete set of horse gear. I also found the giant horse. A giant horse is still a horse, of course.

Link looks like he wants to facepalm. Link can ride it just fine?

Then it was time to move on to my final region: the Gerudo desert. I had a quick visit much earlier in the game, mostly to get someone to Tarrey town, but I had activated the 2 towers and checked out some shrines, but only scratched the surface. This time I checked out Gerudo town, and collected all the side- and main quests I could find. Then I explored the Gerudo highlands for some shrines, before going after the Thunder helm. The Yiga clan hide-out.. stealth is the suggested method, but for me this is late-game, so I just shot everyone in the face. But god, that stupid dance those soldiers do when they see a banana! Haha. Windcleavers are nice swords though! I also finally got the fucking duplex bow for that sidequest. Then it was the divine beast, and then it was exploring the rest of the desert for shrines, Koroks, and sidequests, and the last fairy. Of course I also had my first run-ins with Moldugas.

As you can clearly see, this is the fearsome Molduga. I guess they're less fearsome when you're carrying savage Lynel bows and a shitload of bomb arrows.

So apart from Koroks, and any specific locations I may have missed, that's it for the Gerudo area for me. What's left for me is my final tour of Hyrule before I revisit Hyrule castle, this time to fight Ganon. I do not have to search for shrines, they're all accounted for. I'm missing two shrines I wasn't able to enter yet, the beach shrine mentioned above and the 2nd one in Kakariko village. I will be hunting down every Lynel I come across for drops from now on (generally left them alone), and I will be collecting everything I see, for the gear upgrades. I already have 120000 rupees worth of ore, so I should be good on those. Finish up any sidequests and minigames. Then I'll do the Master trials, then it's time to finish the game (apart from the 900 Koroks. I'll find those post-game). As for the Kakariko shrine, I has a quick attempt to solve the quest for it.. I had no idea what to do. I thought I had to wait for something to trigger, which apparently is the case, but I didn't know what.. And then it finally happened, and I still didn't know what exactly caused it to trigger. So I looked it up, it seems finding and completing a sidequest I missed did the trick. Somehow it seems fitting to save that one for last, as it has a relatively larger backstory, and involves the Yiga who I just wiped out. It also seems fitting to finish up Tarrey town at the very last moment. The town is finished, but it feels appropriate to celebrate the wedding by destroying Ganon.

Spoiler

 

Edited July 11, 2017 by Sméagol

[Ronnie]

Great video on how BOTW's openworld design, ignore the title, which has nothing to do with the points being made.

 

[Hero-of-Time]

Arlo talking a lot of sense in regards to Zelda releases.

The point he makes about story is one I've made a few times on here when the conversation about yearly releases crops up. People enjoy things like the AC on a yearly basis due to their different settings and stories, despite the core gameplay not changing that much.

I also found his point about a longer wait leading to bigger disappointment very interesting. My disappointment with the 3D Zeldas started with TP and has happened with every 3D Zelda release since. TP, SS and BotW all had stupidly long development schedules and all of them were very hyped by the media. Arlo may very well be on to something.

[Grazza]

2 hours ago, Hero-of-Time said:

I also found his point about a longer wait leading to bigger disappointment very interesting. My disappointment with the 3D Zeldas started with TP and has happened with every 3D Zelda release since. TP, SS and BotW all had stupidly long development schedules and all of them were very hyped by the media. Arlo may very well be on to something.

 

If they released them more regularly, different people would love different releases.  They don't need to reinvent the wheel every time, and they can't please everyone (100%) every time.

 

Breath of the Wild was impressive, but didn't have any plot, had very little sense of progression and had a poor balance of linearity vs. exploration.  I just have a hunch they'd have more chance of a new Majora's Mask or Wind Waker (ie. something a portion of the fans really love) if it didn't have to be such a big deal every time.

[Hero-of-Time]

I'm wondering if they could use the BotW engine to create a more traditional style Zelda game. 4-6 great dungeons all in a more compact world. As Arlo said, Nintendo have done most of the leg work already, it's just a question of adapting what is already there.

[dazzybee]

I’m pretty sure breath of the wild is the best game I’ve ever played and up there with Mario 64 and metroid prime in being regularly stunned at the game design - I usually don’t think about this kind of stuff. 

Saying that. 5 years is a bit much. Why not focus on one amazing game engine, then make sequels using that engine, worked with manorss mask. Feels so obvious. 

[Ronnie]

6 hours ago, Grazza said:

Breath of the Wild was impressive, but didn't have any plot, had very little sense of progression and had a poor balance of linearity vs. exploration

I couldn't disagree more. 1. It was an adventure game that allowed you to create your own plot, with plenty of backstory thrown in for good measure. 2. Very little sense of progression? Did you want "You've reached Level 37!" type messages that pop up at arbitrary points? The progression was tied to how much stronger you were becoming, be it through the weapons you were finding, the Champion spells you were learning and the amount of hearts/stamina you were collecting. Not sure what you mean by a poor balance of linearity v exploration. The whole point is you could do whatever you want, that's what made the game so special. If you want narrative based, cutscene-heavy linear experience, there are a dozen other Zelda games like that and the vast majority of AAA release out there.