The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Wii-U, Switch) 2017

[JaidynReiman]

4 hours ago, FFWF said:

I feel like "modern Zelda" might be more difficult to realise than people necessarily think, but I definitely think it's doable - particularly if they approach it, as they would, from a more oblique direction than just transplanting an ordinary modern-day or cyberpunk city into a Zelda game.  Something like BotW taken to its logical conclusion, with a whole world built on Sheikah technology, would be quite intriguing, I think.

I could see them doing aliens in Zelda, too, though probably not at the same time as modern Zelda (...maybe space Zelda).  Mario & Luigi and Kid Icarus both managed to pull off an alien invasion plotline, so I'm sure Zelda could manage it and provide us with something suitably alien and unknown without it feeling inappropriate to the broader fantasy or quasi-fantasy aesthetic.

Honestly, I would LOVE a "modern Zelda" as a spinoff game. NOT as a main game, though.

Aliens would probably work ok-ish in any Zelda game. Technically they were in Majora's Mask...

 

57 minutes ago, Mayor D said:

Only if those were for the Wii U version.

This. For the Switch version its about what I expected. Most impressive is, from what I'm hearing, the review average on metacritic is around 98 out of 50+ (currently 56) reviews. OOT's 99 is only from 22 reviews. Even if it drops to 97, its still actually BETTER than OOT on average.

[Soniman]

5 hours ago, Mayor D said:

Only if those were for the Wii U version.

You really over exaggerate  the Wii U's "inferiority"

Its the same fantastically made game with a bit less fidelity overall. At most you'll probably see a five point difference in the meta critical score 

 

 

[Nepenthe]

The Switch version is literally a slightly upscaled port of the Wii U version. Same content and mostly the same stability. So the reviews are still applicable.

Hahahahahaha we got a "Greatest Game of All Time" contender on the fucking Wii U hahahahahahaha

[Wraith]

Reviewers have said that the Switch version has little framerate issues on handheld mode. Considering playing the game that way with my headphones in instead of the big screen.

[blueblur98]

[Marcello]

Haha

 

Man, I hope Zelda arrives tomorrow, but I'm guessing I'll have to wait until Monday.

[JaidynReiman]

My Special Edition game from Gamestop has finally shipped. Not that it matters, I'm heading out tomorrow morning to grab a copy on Wii U.

[Adamis]

Got my copy earlier today and I'm very happy

[Jetronic]

Got a message from bestbuy saying I can pick up my special edition tonight! Can't wait.....but my switch itself wont be here until tomorrow (amazon), so no playing Zelda until later.

But I'm still hyped

[Mando-Whirl-Wind]

Ok, this is nuts

In the top ZERO.ZERO percent of games on opencritic. also says 100% of reviewers recommend this game.

[Crazy_Diamond]

We are witnessing something really special here. People must have had the same feelings when The Legend of Zelda came out on NES 31 years ago. Nintendo has regained the spark that made them legendary in the past. Thanks to this game, I have a really good feeling about the future. Here's to 31 more great years!

[KHCast]

Spoiler

Personally from what I've seen to me it definitely isn't perfect. Keep in mind I'm only going off a walkthrough I've been watching. thoughts are subject to change if I play it. For one I don't enjoy some of the voice acting(like the king). The excess to which weapons will frequently break also kinda is a meh point to me. I know it's incentive to try new things, but I was never a fan of when games went extreme with it. The framerate on the U chugs bad when you're in specific areas like towns. As a open world game it's large, and there are things to do and see, but idk so far, I'm not finding it super massively engaging in every way. Perhaps it's the over saturated marketed of open world, maybe it's that I've not been a big fan of that style lately outside Bethesda titles, but idk I'm not loosing my shit for this. And, small thing, but certain traditions being broken kinda sadden me(heart pieces, chest opening cutscene, small things like that. ) It's definitely a good looking Zelda game from what I'm seeing don't get me wrong, perhaps the best in a long time, but eh, it's not capturing me, I'm in no rush to get a Wii U or Switch for this. I'll do a updated impressions when I've picked up the game, as immersing myself in its gameplay personally may change my stances on certain things.  Oh and fucking finally a jump!

Thoughts on it(watched a walkthrough keep in mind)

And to answer the question, yes, it definitely beats SS to the ground. Curbstomps that fucker and makes it eat dirt.

[Junko]

 

[Wraith]

Thoughts after playing for 7-8 hours? I dunno

 

Spoiler

+combat is great. the basic sword stuff is alright but i used weirder methods and got rewarded for it often which is great. weapon degradation hasn't been a big problem surprisingly, but i found some really good ones early on that lasted most of my play session
+the two towns I visited were some of the liveliest in the series. Each NPC had a schedule for the day, a lot of them had unique designs and charm. obviously since there's no central town to focus all their efforts into they're not gonna be as fleshed out but i'm glad to see them trying.
+The shrines have some REALLY clever puzzles with multiple solutions instead of the static way of solving puzzles from before. The physics based puzzles and rune stuff add a lot. These are probably the best puzzles in a long time.
+little to no handholding. At most, characters can mark a point on your map but you can also stop them from doing this. a lot of characters don't do it regardless and attempt to give you actual directions instead, telling you to head north and make a left when you get past the mountains etc. this trust in the player is really appreciated. 
+game looks pretty nice. I've had little to no framerate issues since i left the plateau. 
+Enemy variety is decent so far, i see some enemies a LOT more frequently than others though.
+game rewards exploration pretty well. If you see an interesting structure in the distance odds are there's a reward for exploring it, whether it be a shrine that also acts as a fast travel point, a weapon, food etc.
+Voice acting is solid except for...well, I'll get to that in a second.
+not a lot of plot stuff so far but what's there is well written and interesting
+open world in general is full of interesting stuff so far

-I've been to maybe 10-12 shrines so far and I'm already bored of the aesthetic. There's over 100 of these. hooo boy. 
-The soundtrack isn't doing anything for me so far. The songs in the villages are kind of nice but that's it so far. 
-Ir takes a bit too long to get places sometimes, especially if you end up losing your horse for whatever reason
-Zelda's voice kind of sucks

Overall good shit son with a few hiccups.
 

 

[Pawn]

Digital Foundry uploaded a new comparison between the Wii U and Switch versions:

It would seem that Wii U owners don't get the short end of the stick after all. There's little difference between the two (at least when the Switch is docked).

[JezMM]

Oof I really didn't want to resort to this but I don't want to risk any spoilers of looking up a guide and I have been stuck on this puzzle for an entire hour, throwing everything I have at it and exploring every area I can think of and nothing.

If anyone here has beaten the Zora-related dungeon:

 

How on earth do you get the terminal going around in the smaller waterwheel in the big main area?  I can't use magnesis or stasis or anything, nothing seems bombable, cryosis and ice arrows don't do anything to help stop the waterflow, and the position of the beast's trunk or the state of the larger waterwheel doesn't seem to affect it, and there's no wall patterning or anything to suggest it is linked to a mechanic elsewhere in the dungeon.  Of course, I even tried brute-forcing it by mashing A next to it as it rises out of the water but it is not vertical enough to interact with.  I am completely stumped.

[Wraith]

I'm actually stuck at the exact same part right now lol

[Wraith]

WAIT I FIGURED IT OUT

@JezMMe

Spoiler

Use crynosis on the water source.

 

[JezMM]

31 minutes ago, Josh said:

WAIT I FIGURED IT OUT

@JezMMe

  Hide contents

Use crynosis on the water source.

 

Thanks!  Damn that is unintuitive though.

 

It's never been suggested that you can use it on flowing water or vertical surfaces before...

 

Well, I can finally progress later lol.

[Wraith]

2 minutes ago, JezMM said:

 

  Hide contents

It's never been suggested that you can use it on flowing water or vertical surfaces before...

 

Spoiler

One of the shrines has you use it on a verical surface so it clicked for me. I don't know how you'd figure it out if you missed it tho

 

[JezMM]

8 minutes ago, Josh said:

  Hide contents

One of the shrines has you use it on a verical surface so it clicked for me. I don't know how you'd figure it out if you missed it tho

 

Ahh I guess that makes sense then.  I haven't encountered such a shrine yet.  Maybe next time I have a moment like this I'll excercise patience and do it the old fashioned way and try and explore/play other areas in the hope of gaining the knowledge I need.

[Daisy-Fan]

I put 18+ hours so far, WiiU version. haven't stay on my wiiu since splatoon, the game is worth.

[Carbo]

I've never been the biggest fan of Zelda, even though I love Wind Waker (in spite of it's flaws) and believe that Zelda 1, conceptually, embodies more of what I like about Zelda, rather than Ocarina of Time's endlessly rehashed formula that tricks the player into feeling smart and empowered.

And even with all that having said I think I can say with confidence that Breath of the Wild is going to go down as required reading for game design. The game is fucking incredible, it has the telltale signs of being a classic in the making and is such a breath of fresh air. At the interest of saving myself time, I'm just going to copy something I already wrote elsewhere.

The game does a fantastic job in mitigating downtime and building curiosity within the player, from the way it handles enemies, secrets and even traversal. The opening area is a prime example from this. When you walk out into the Great Plateau, the only pathway you're allowed to take sees a castle in the distance. It's far enough to the point that you will reach wider ground level and be able to forge your own path from that point on, but the fact that it's the most distinct structure in eyeshot creates a mental picture in the player and piques innate curiosity. We're sort of "conditioned" to believe that it's something worth exploring, even though it presently isn't. Once we make our way down we meet the Old Man who suggests where exactly it is you ought to go, but for many players they're still likely going to want to look through that structure that they found on their own accord, not only cause it's closer but also because they want to reward themselves with their own discovery. But it doesn't stop there - on the way down the path to the castle you find a lake where, if you're particularly receptive, you see a sword sticking out of a rock that's in the middle of the lake. Lacking in decent weaponry you probably think to do a quick detour so you can have something to fend yourself with, so you jump in and recover it. Now that you have the sword, you gotta get out of the lake, and the only clear way out is a small cliff next to the shoreline... but if you notice, there's a distinct rock slide that's next to the cliff. Something that doesn't look particularly sturdy and could probably come falling down with enough force from, maybe, an explosion? But we don't have anything like that on our hands as of present - so we move back toward the path we had set for ourselves but not before we make a mental note that there's most likely something hidden behind that rock slide, and we'll have to come back to it at a later time when we have the right tools.

And to me that's the moment when it clicked - that was the first time in a long time a game has crept up on me without realizing that I had been caught in a loop of curiosity. Not only did the game anticipate that I was likely to not immediately go down the recommended path, but it also rewarded the fact that I didn't. It gave me a predetermined goal while I set myself for a goal of my own - but on the way to me reaching my own goal I found something else on the way that I couldn't obtain yet, meaning I set a "future" goal to myself.

This might be a complete segue but stick with me, there's a point to this - when I was in high school I had an English speaking exam when me and another student sat together in a room and we had to conduct a conversation regarding a certain topic. It was a calculated exercise, we both only went in knowing that it was in service of a specific goal. Me and the student are in a big empty room while our teacher is sitting across the table, and despite the initially awkward atmosphere we start talking. Things start as you'd expect them to at first, but then we continue to talk. We realize we're actually really interested in the subjects we're talking about, and we just hit it off. Everything goes naturally until our teacher tells us to stop, which is when we realize we completely forgot we were only here for the sake of our grades. We enjoyed the conversation so much that we continued talking after the exam - we even became friends shortly after.

What does that have to do with Breath of the Wild? I always posit that games are a way for a designer and player to hold a two-way conversation. A game embodies the subject while the design of the game is the designer's way of expressing. You don't want a designer to lead the conversation too much, or else the player won't have the ability to express themselves. Likewise, if a player is leading it too much it feels like you're not getting enough reason or purpose - it's the equivalent of playing a game with nothing to do in it.

And if we're to hold to that analogy, then to me, Breath of the Wild, is the equivalent of that high school conversation I had - where I forget that I came in for a very specific reason, and that I'm just having this continuous conversation that I'm enjoying so immensely, because it responds in kind to everything I have to express, and I enthusiastically do the same.

Usually I dislike open world games like Skyrim pretty heavily for not having much to do, being aimless and filling worlds with distractions but I never get this impression from Breath of the Wild. It puts open world games to shame with how mechanically engaging it is and how meticulous everything is about it's design. I've ended up just turning off the HUD and letting the world guide me.

[Dr. Detective]

I dunno. Never played a Zelda before and the three hours into the playthrough I'm watching, despite the funny commentary, isn't selling me on it. If it's as perfect as everyone says maybe I'll get it some time way down the line. 

[JezMM]

14 minutes ago, Dr. Chaotix said:

I dunno. Never played a Zelda before and the three hours into the playthrough I'm watching, despite the funny commentary, isn't selling me on it. If it's as perfect as everyone says maybe I'll get it some time way down the line. 

Watching a playthrough of this game to get an idea of the experience playing it provides is like rooting through the dumpster of a gourmet restaurant to get an idea of the experience eating gourmet food provides.

I know, games are investments and there is always a skepticism towards the hyped ones, some people just can't believe it but don't want to put down the payment to try a game, but it's just a reality of the fact that gaming is an interactive medium, and some games more than others NEED the intended experience to judge accordingly.

 

Honestly every moment one spends watching footage of this game that they haven't experienced first-hand* are robbing themselves a moment of the intended experience.  Every aspect of the game, even the story, is anchored in a theme of discovery.

 

*This applies to current players too - continue to be careful about what you watch.  I watched a spoiler-free graphics comparison video between Wii U and Switch the other day just using footage from the first hour of the game... and I had a special enemy type spoiled in this footage that I haven't encountered in my 20ish hours of playing so far!!