Incline The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild for Wii U and Switch

[PorkyThePaladin]

Don't know much about Nintendo, don't generally play console games, haven't played Zelda games since mid 90s.

I went into BotW skeptical as well because of the reasons above, plus the whole "kiddy" theme. But I am completely hooked now (about 40-50 hours in). Nothing feels like a time-waster to me so far (I am not collecting the rare crap or whatever, just playing). You explore a beautiful highly vertical world (BotW overtook ELEX which was the most vertical world I played before this), travel through various climates and environments, gorgeous vistas and city-scapes, tackle tons of mini-dungeons which mostly revolve around logical puzzles, slowly build up your character (Link) in power, find cool loot, engage in fun combat, interact with cute and charming characters, and unravel a simple but decent story.

 

[Jrpgfan]

So I am playing this on CEMU, and holy shit, the gaming websites weren't lying for once, this is a heck of a game.

It's almost a shame that due to it being available only on Switch/Wii U, most PC RPG fans will probably not pay much attention, but this is probably the most fun RPG released in the last 10 years.

Yes, RPG. I know it won't fit many Codexers' definition of what an RPG is, but it's a game that has a combination of exploration, combat and story/dialogue, and has (simplistic but still) character development (health/stamina increase, armor, better weapons, more tools, etc). For me that's enough to count it as an RPG.

And everything is really well done. Exploration is amazing, combat is fun and has depth, story is kinda goofy at first, but at least it's charming and keeps things simple, which already puts it ahead of all of the horribly written "heavy" RPGs as of late (e.g. PoE, DA:O, D:OS). World interactivity is outstanding, graphics are beautiful, there is a shitload of stuff to do, the game is huge.

If anything, I see this game continuing the tradition of Ultima VII: TBG and Gothic. It has the same "alive" world, NPCs all have individual names (no filler cutouts here), custom dialogue, advanced scripts (day/night cycle, run from the rain, etc), you can interact with the world in so many different ways, and everything in the gameworld seems relevant and connected.

After open-world games like Skyrim, Fallout 3/4, GTA V, Far Cry 3-5, which are just shallow pointless wastes of time, BotW returns to what made open-world games fun in the past, and expands on it, brings it to modern technology, and polishes the rough edges.

Also, you forgot to mention hitboxes, physics and enemy AI are all top-notch.

Quoting an old post:

Hitboxes seem to be very precise, unlike in the rest of the series. Just look how the goblin is not able to hit Link when he is outstretched on the ground:

And here, one of the goblins stops 'cause he noticed the flaming club on the ground and he wanted to set his weapon on fire:

There are quite a few enemies that are legit challenging to beat. I remember the first time I met a Lynel he beat the shit out of me repeatedly. Took me quite a few tries to kill that 4 legged mofo. One time when I was about to kill him, a thunder fell right on my ass and killed me. That's when I knew for sure this game was no mere popamole.

 

[PorkyThePaladin]

Yeah, the combat is really good, some of the things enemies do make me chuckle. They will pick up other weapons off the ground if available (even if they are not theirs), alternate attacks to keep you off guard, jump back after attacking to avoid your follow-up, ride mounts against you, and other stuff.

Some of the interactions in combat too, are so good. Like for example, I think you can parry a Lynel, then shoot him in the head with a shock arrow to stun him, and then mount him like a horse. I haven't tried this yet, but damnnn....

 

[Machocruz]

PorkyThePaladin Are you running the game off of an official disc? Had a 'demo' of this game I found while out sailing, but was issued a warning from Nintendo via my isp, so to be safe I deleted it.

 

[PorkyThePaladin]

I don't own Switch/Wii, so the only way for me to run it is on CEMU, as I already mentioned above. However, I did purchase a copy for Wii after I realized how much I like the game. I do want to reward developers for their great work.

 

[sullynathan]

Porky had problems with Dark Souls so listening to him about combat is questionable

 

[PorkyThePaladin]

Umm, I completed Dark Souls and Dark Souls 2 using the hardest builds (parry/dodge) on my first playthrough in each case. Just cause I made you butthurt with some poignant criticisms of those games doesn't mean I had problems with them. No game is perfect.

 

[e-mailio estevez]

I would not call BOTW's combat a high point. It is really lacking in enemy variety.

But it's very much worth a playthrough. The blinder, the better.

 

[funkadelik]

I would not call BOTW's combat a high point. It is really lacking in enemy variety.

But it's very much worth a playthrough. The blinder, the better.

The game was enjoyable, not really replayable like the older Zelda's. The most fun I had was hunting those giant Wild Guardians so I could make the suit that makes their lasers do no damage, then I uninstalled. The Ganon fight was stupidly easy, and the boss fights lacked the fun of the previous titles where you used the special abilities from the dungeon you were in to conquer them. It was more about DPS than anything. Still a very fun game.

 

[PorkyThePaladin]

I would not call BOTW's combat a high point. It is really lacking in enemy variety.

I would disagree with this very strongly.

First of all, enemy variety is pretty damn good within the context of the game and the combat system (especially if you go the hard skill cap route with Perfect Guard). There are 13 basic enemy templates and various Bosses. That may not sound like a lot, but these are templates, not the actual enemy. Each template can have tremendous variety. For instance, the basic Bokoblin, the earliest enemy you meet in the game, can have different ranks (Red, Blue, Black, etc), each rank making them look different but also making them tougher with more health, better equipment, and in some cases changing their combat behavior. Then, each Bokoblin can have different weapons (clubs, spears, swords, shields, bows), which completely changes how they behave and how you have to fight them. They can also ride horses in some cases, again completely changing their fight pattern. In other cases, like with Lizalfolos, they can have different enemy weapons and attacks (spit attack vs tongue attack vs melee weapon attack vs throwing stone attack vs lightning spell attack vs fire breath attack, etc). This is one template, but how you fight them in these different circumstances would completely change.

Other games might have more enemy templates, but in most cases, those templates have very simplistic behavior, so one template in BotW is the equivalent of 7-10 different mobs in other games.

Second, regardless of how you feel about enemy variety, the combat system itself is quite good. It suffers from the same issue as pretty much any other combat game (including Dark Souls) in that you can cheese your way through against weaker enemies (by spamming the attack button), but aside from that, the mechanics are incredibly solid. Try parrying everything and you will see what I mean. There are exact patterns and movesets that you can learn over time to predict when to parry, just like in Dark Souls (and better than in DS2). But once you master that system, you feel like a true master, as opposed to most games. The AI is also great, doing all kinds of cool things in combat, as already mentioned earlier in the thread.

 

[TheHeroOfTime]

Well, I do miss some classic enemies from the franchise in BOTW. Like the skulltulas, dodongos, poes and the gibdos. Also more bosses in the open world would benefited the game, like Gohmas in forest and King dodongos in the Death mountain. But overall I think that the enemies of the game are enough.

 

[aweigh]

Game is unplayable without unbreakable weapons mod. Low replay value as well since there are no dungeons to play through. Mostly only worth playing to try out graphics packs in Cemu and see how pretty you can get it looking.

 

[PorkyThePaladin]

Game is unplayable without unbreakable weapons mod.

I know a lot of people have issues with this, and I did too when I started. It's a very shocking deviation from the norm.

However, as I kept playing, I got used to it, and now, see it as a plus/minus thing. It's still a bit annoying, but once you realize that almost every enemy drops weapons, and that you find them in chests and other places everywhere, you understand that you will NEVER run out, unless you just bang them against walls on purpose.

The issue is at its worst in the very beginning, because you start with weapons made out of sticks and stones, which break after a single fight. But a few hours in, you will start getting metal weapons, which last longer, and by midgame, you barely notice it. By mid-late game, you can find stuff that repairs itself.

On the plus side, this forces you to try different things, that normally you wouldn't, and adds a resource management mechanic to the game that no other game has.

Low replay value as well since there are no dungeons to play through.

Depends on what you mean by dungeons. It doesn't have huge dungeons to crawl through ala traditional RPGs, but there are 120 shrines, which are like mini-dungeons to stimulate your mind, and 4 mega-beast dungeons. All of these have amazing puzzles / intelligent gameplay that comes in small doses, which is a great change of pace from overworld exploring/combat.

 

[Sam Ecorners]

Game is unplayable without unbreakable weapons mod.

I know a lot of people have issues with this, and I did too when I started. It's a very shocking deviation from the norm.

However, as I kept playing, I got used to it, and now, see it as a plus/minus thing. It's still a bit annoying, but once you realize that almost every enemy drops weapons, and that you find them in chests and other places everywhere, you understand that you will NEVER run out, unless you just bang them against walls on purpose.

The issue is at its worst in the very beginning, because you start with weapons made out of sticks and stones, which break after a single fight. But a few hours in, you will start getting metal weapons, which last longer, and by midgame, you barely notice it. By mid-late game, you can find stuff that repairs itself.

On the plus side, this forces you to try different things, that normally you wouldn't, and adds a resource management mechanic to the game that no other game has.

Low replay value as well since there are no dungeons to play through.

Depends on what you mean by dungeons. It doesn't have huge dungeons to crawl through ala traditional RPGs, but there are 120 shrines, which are like mini-dungeons to stimulate your mind, and 4 mega-beast dungeons. All of these have amazing puzzles / intelligent gameplay that comes in small doses, which is a great change of pace from overworld exploring/combat.

Agreed on the weapon degradation. I've grown to really appreciate it and I'm enjoying picking out which weapons to keep and which to toss.

 

[Keldryn]

Weapon breakage also means that finding a really good weapon early in the game won't throw the rest of the game out of balance, as it's not going to last through too many battles.

It also encourages you to choose your battles more carefully, as it's easy to use up a good weapon on creatures that leave junk weapons behind.

Depends on what you mean by dungeons. It doesn't have huge dungeons to crawl through ala traditional RPGs, but there are 120 shrines, which are like mini-dungeons to stimulate your mind, and 4 mega-beast dungeons. All of these have amazing puzzles / intelligent gameplay that comes in small doses, which is a great change of pace from overworld exploring/combat.

The overworld can feel pretty dungeon-like at times. Especially in the early game, when you have crap weapons, most monsters are tougher than you, and you haven't figured out how to abuse cooking yet.

Don't know how "no traditional dungeons" translates to a lack of replayability. My first playthrough clocked in at 120 hours. I'm about 40 hours into a Master Mode playthrough, and I'm still visiting areas I didn't explore the first time. And being able to do it all in a different order makes it a different play experience.

Definitely my favorite game from the last 5 years or so.

 

[PorkyThePaladin]

Yeah, it's extremely well done, and while the grumpy grognards et al here will find a lot of small things to pick at, the game is just undeniably fun and has that "IT" factor that games used to have in the golden era, where it just throws things at you that make you go "Whoa, that is damn cool!". This is sorely missing from most modern "proper" rpgs, such as PoE, D:OS, Wasteland 2, etc.

 

[taxalot]

Finished the game yesterday night, on CEMU, after several months.

Holy cow, what a game. This is way, way beyond what I expected of any Zelda. Sure, it steals its gameplay ideas from everywhere else, but it puts everything to brilliant use. This is definitely one of the best game I ever played. And to think I probably have just scratched the surface ? I haven't done anything with the three dragons, I have a huge amount of sidequests left uncomplete, some memories unfound, and let's not mention the shrines or Korok seeds.

And at no moment during the 100+ hours I spent traveling the world back and forth did I feel bored. There is always something that pick your curiosity, always some kind of goal you set yourself that is interesting to reach ;

The atmosphere in this game is also incredible. A mix of loneliness and witnessing devastation. Incredible, incredible game.

 

[PorkyThePaladin]

I completely agree. It's a shame so many edgelords here will ignore it for stupid reasons. One of the best games ever made.

 

[Great Deceiver]

I honestly think the most amazing thing about this game is that they got it to run on a fucking tablet.

Seriously, playing this thing on a Switch while taking a dump is nothing short of mind blowing, even 2 years later. The first time I played it was through CEMU.

I'm not the biggest fan of BotW (I still hate crafting elements in games and they're quite prominent here) but I can appreciate how well-made it is and I think it's without question the best open-world game ever made. There are so many cool details and little interactions, and everything just makes sense within the game world. It's a class act through and through, with minimal exposition and a lot of rewards for the dutiful explorer.

It's an amazing game. Running on a fucking toy tablet.

 

[ultra loser]

Can't believe same people who hate Skyrim like this diluted Skyrim with empty world and gta-like collectathon added. If this got 10/10 goat from nintendrones then I wonder how would they react if Miyamoto made Skyrim which is 10000 times more complex than this.
I like Zelda but first that LttP rehash on 3DS then this Gayrim wannabe. Nintendo can't keep getting away with that.

I honestly think the most amazing thing about this game is that they got it to run on a fucking tablet.

Why wouldn't they, it's not like it has advanced graphics. Looks like Fortnite.

 

[PorkyThePaladin]

I honestly think the most amazing thing about this game is that they got it to run on a fucking tablet.

Seriously, playing this thing on a Switch while taking a dump is nothing short of mind blowing, even 2 years later. The first time I played it was through CEMU.

I'm not the biggest fan of BotW (I still hate crafting elements in games and they're quite prominent here) but I can appreciate how well-made it is and I think it's without question the best open-world game ever made. There are so many cool details and little interactions, and everything just makes sense within the game world. It's a class act through and through, with minimal exposition and a lot of rewards for the dutiful explorer.

It's an amazing game. Running on a fucking toy tablet.

BotW made me wonder wtf Bethesda and Rockstar have been doing for the past 15 years...

 

[Great Deceiver]

They've been iterating on the same declining formula for 15+ years. And making tons of money.

Isn't GTA V the best selling game of all time or something like that?

 

[Machocruz]

Unfortunately it only released on Nintendo hardware. It was as much a runaway GoTY winner as Witcher 3 was the year it came out. Maybe even moreso, since TW3 had major competition from Bloodborne (a superior game imo). But it seems like W3 still gets far more praise and attention as a GOAT. Maybe because it reached a larger audience.

 

[imweasel]

Can't believe same people who hate Skyrim like this diluted Skyrim with empty world and gta-like collectathon added.

It is only a Zelda game in name, which is probably why it is so popular. Everything has to be a shallow and bland walk- and collectathon with tons of open-world herpa derp these days.



The Legend of Zelda, A Link to the Past, Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask are leaps and bounds better than Zelda-Skyrim IMO.

 

[sullynathan]

Isn't GTA V the best selling game of all time

3rd best selling game of all time. 2nd best selling game if you don't include mobile downloads.

But it seems like W3 still gets far more praise and attention as a GOAT. Maybe because it reached a larger audience.

It's the usual story faggotry where people think having a story or focusing on story heavily elevates a game over others.