Breath of the Wild Dedicated Thread

To avoid dominating the video game thread, I thought I'd start a dedicated thread for Breath of the Wild. It seems like others are still getting around to it, and of course the non-linear nature of the game means that anyone who does play will get to different points at different times. I'll try to remain sensitive to spoilers because of that.

So I've put in about 6-7 hours now, and I am frankly astonished. The only question at this point will be if something this much fun for 6 hours will still be fun at 40 hours. As it stands, this is an incredibly addictive game. I'm amazed at how much I want to do all of the things. I think part of the drive is that the game doesn't really lean on you to do much of anything besides the main quest, and even that is more a gentle nudge than a "DO THIS NOW" kind of thing.

I think the most impressive thing is that this is the first Zelda game where nothing has so far felt like work. You absolutely NEED to cook recipes and gather food, and create elixers, and so forth. But for whatever reason, it's really fun to experiment and try things out. That goes with all of the different quests. There are a few "go here and do this thing" kind of missions, but this is the first time where the journey actually does feel like it's part of the fun. You can even teleport, and I don't do it very often. I actually want to keep exploring the overworld. At one point I had to go to a village way up in the mountains, and instead of taking the road I basically climbed up and down the whole way. I'm sure it took about twice as long, but it was really fun. I died a lot.

Speaking of dying, I haven't yet gotten the feeling that the game hates me. It's definitely difficult, but so far it hasn't felt unreasonable. I have died a whole bunch so far, but enemies can generally be avoided, and I think that is the key. Besides, dying doesn't really have that big a consequence. You start over just a little before where you died (wherever the last autosave was), losing nothing. It's basically like it turns back time a bit. It's just enough to encourage experimentation. I was in at least one situation where I died probably a dozen times, and even though I could have gotten out of the situation right away, it just seemed more satisfying to tough it out and strategize a bit. I was right too.



It's too soon for me to say that it's my new favorite Zelda, but this definitely has the feeling of a game that people will talk about for years. I am really impressed.

did you run across the Stone giant dude in the middle of the lake yet? I came across him earlier than was wise. It took a nit, but I knocked him out.

Are you folks playing on the Switch or Wii U? I am curious if it plays well on the last generation.

Mine is on the Wii U and it plays just fine.

the_jake_1973 wrote: Mine is on the Wii U and it plays just fine.

Same here. It chugs along here and there, but it's fine.

Zelda started becoming stale with Twilight Princess. They tried to switch up the formula in Skyward Sword, but it changed what didn't need adjustment and continued with the same formula that desperately needed an overhaul. Breath of the Wild nails it, this is the Zelda game which perfectly expands on the old and breaks new ground on open world gaming - another stale concept.

Combat is good, which I never thought I'd say about a Zelda game; simple controls with a limited moveset are used extremely well with an emphasis on perfectly timing dodges and parries, and the slowed movement gives more importance to placement. The puzzles are nicely paced through the game and offer great variety, I really enjoy breaking them into mini-dungeons. The world is dense enough to be interesting while offering enough space to take in the scenery and wonder what is beyond the next bend or up a mountain peak (spoiler: there's almost always something!). Those moments of excitement where you find a new dungeon are far more frequent, and it never loses the magic. There's a logic to the way everything in the world works, and it feels very natural and welcoming to explore.

I'm about eight hours into the game. Beyond the tutorial, I set out on my own path towards Death Mountain for no particular reason. It's been a difficult, surprising, and beautiful journey, and I feel I haven't even scratched the surface of the game. Ocarina of Time has been bettered.

I LOVE that the game has the open world staple of the tower that fills in the map, but instead of then putting 1000 icons in for you to check on it actually asks you to DO the exploration using in game tools for you to mark cool looking things yourself.

SaMoKo wrote: Zelda started becoming stale with Twilight Princess. They tried to switch up the formula in Skyward Sword, but it changed what didn't need adjustment and continued with the same formula that desperately needed an overhaul. Breath of the Wild nails it, this is the Zelda game which perfectly expands on the old and breaks new ground on open world gaming - another stale concept.

Combat is good, which I never thought I'd say about a Zelda game; simple controls with a limited moveset are used extremely well with an emphasis on perfectly timing dodges and parries, and the slowed movement gives more importance to placement. The puzzles are nicely paced through the game and offer great variety, I really enjoy breaking them into mini-dungeons. The world is dense enough to be interesting while offering enough space to take in the scenery and wonder what is beyond the next bend or up a mountain peak (spoiler: there's almost always something!). Those moments of excitement where you find a new dungeon are far more frequent, and it never loses the magic. There's a logic to the way everything in the world works, and it feels very natural and welcoming to explore.

I'm about eight hours into the game. Beyond the tutorial, I set out on my own path towards Death Mountain for no particular reason. It's been a difficult, surprising, and beautiful journey, and I feel I haven't even scratched the surface of the game. Ocarina of Time has been bettered.

There are a lot of things in Breath of the Wild that were also in Skyward Sword, but are much better here because they are more thought out, and they commit to them better. The combat is a good example. SS really tried something new there, and it worked, but it never really abandoned the twitchy nature of Zelda combat, so it became annoying. BotW actually changes how you approach combat, while still feeling very Zelda.

The stamina guage is another element from SS that works so much better here. Being able to go anywhere makes stamina much more of a resource, rather than the annoyance it is in SS.

I think Skyward Sword is a great game, but its a safer game than it seemed at first.

Weather. You have to keep an eye on the weather gauge if you plan on climbing any cliffs. I love that. The was a fight with a stone monster that took place, partially in the rain. It made the combat that much more challenging due to the slick rock.

Also, lightning. Fuck that. LOL

Ive spent close to 20 hours in Zelda and have uncovered the entire south part of the map. I still havent met Impa but I have three horses and a boatload of kokoro seeds. I ended up fighting a Lynel by accident while a lighting storm came over the Mesa. That was a whole lot of nope...

Head to Impa if you want to find a use for your seeds.

Already did.

I got to Kakariko and beat the dungeon, just didnt engage Impa. The exploration is far more inciting to me. But some of the waypoint towers are nasty. I found one that has three of the dancing ghosts (one of each type) and four Lizalfos (three blue, one black), and is in the middle of a pond. I tried swimming out to it, but the electric ghost made short work of me.

Edit:
I will say some of the places for Korok seed puzzles are just nasty. There is one in the wall behind the starter area. If I hadnt fell off I would have never seen it.

I haven't yet figured out how to use Spirit Orbs. Where does a guy need to go to upgrade hearts and so forth?

Pray at the church in the starting area once you have 4 orbs. There is also a shrine in Impa.

Here's the kind of game this is: now that I know where I need to go, and now that I can do so easily (through transporting) I would literally almost rather go do new stuff than this minutes-long task. I haven't even found a dungeon yet, I'm just looking to get the last think for my shiekah slate.