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Holy fuck, I never knew Breath Of The Wild was going to be THIS good.

RileyPust

Neo Member
I didn't mind the weapon durability, which surprised me. I expected it to be a game-breaking pain in the ass.


I found that the flow of the game for me was just excursion after excursion. I quickly began to think of my weapons and gear in the same way I would think of potions/medkits/ammo in other games. Usually I'd have some ultimate destination in mind and I'd end up fully stocked with weapons and food just by virtue of taking the scenic route.


The only real issue I had with the weapon system is that the game continued to use weapons as a reward. It felt kind of silly to find some secret cave with a treasure chest only to have it end up being a Knight's Bow, which will be destroyed 5 minutes from now.
 

Kuranghi

Member
I didn't mind the weapon durability, which surprised me. I expected it to be a game-breaking pain in the ass.


I found that the flow of the game for me was just excursion after excursion. I quickly began to think of my weapons and gear in the same way I would think of potions/medkits/ammo in other games. Usually I'd have some ultimate destination in mind and I'd end up fully stocked with weapons and food just by virtue of taking the scenic route.


The only real issue I had with the weapon system is that the game continued to use weapons as a reward. It felt kind of silly to find some secret cave with a treasure chest only to have it end up being a Knight's Bow, which will be destroyed 5 minutes from now.

I treated the whole game like this, going back to areas after they had replenished made it feel like I had discovered "secrets spots" around the game and was going back in the exact same way someone would in real life (a long time ago I mean) to harvest something again, I think thats why I found it so exciting and special.

The resplenishing of on-ground weapons (chests dont replenish) and enemies (+the weapons they hold and often drop) was the really gamey part of it (Although they had an in-world reason for the enemies coming back at least) but I treated it in the same way as returning to harvest fruits/veg/meat except I thought of the encounters as scenarios.

Over the last few years I've realised really well crafted scenarios are a massive part of japanese game design. Its not the only way to make an amazing game but its definitely one of the best imo. If you are into role playing and permanence, among other things, I can see how this wouldn't be for you though.
 

SegaShack

Member
I wish I liked it. Bought a Switch and this on release day. Played for a few hours and was not into it.

It's a weapon management game where you switch weapons every 20 seconds. Then you find a small dungeon and go through it to get a weapon that breaks in 10 hits.

Nintendo still doesnt understand what made OOT great IMO and TP, WW, and SS all falled short of OOT. At least I could enjoy these sequels though (well, besides Skyward Sword).
 
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Kuranghi

Member
I wish I liked it. Bought a Switch and this on release day. Played for a few hours and was not into it.

It's a weapon management game where you switch weapons every 20 seconds. Then you find a small dungeon and go through it to get a weapon that breaks in 10 hits.

Nintendo still doesnt understand what made OOT great IMO and TP, WW, and SS all falled short of OOT. At least I could enjoy these sequels though (well, besides Skyward Sword).

Did you leave the plateau? Most of the weapons you find there aren't even made of metal, or are but are rusty or not actually meant to be used as weapons, like the woodcutter's axe.

You really have to use other tactics at the start of the game because you don't have that many melee weapons - like stealth, using the powers or separating them by luring them with food, or using a bow, etc.

I think you should play some more until you at least get to the point where you have decent weapons, the only weapons in the game that break in 10 hits are tree branches, rusty weapons and joke weapons, like the mop, soup ladle, etc. So long as you aren't hitting rocks and trees with weapons they shouldn't break really fast, you need to use a hammer or axe for rocks and trees, not weapons.

I don't think its too unusual for a rusty weapon, tree branch or mop to break quickly in a fight, or any weapon if you hit a rock or tree with it. If you start hitting a tree with a sword in real life it would be ruined in 30 seconds, if you hit a rock it would ruin it instantly.
 

SegaShack

Member
Did you leave the plateau? Most of the weapons you find there aren't even made of metal, or are but are rusty or not actually meant to be used as weapons, like the woodcutter's axe.

You really have to use other tactics at the start of the game because you don't have that many melee weapons - like stealth, using the powers or separating them by luring them with food, or using a bow, etc.

I think you should play some more until you at least get to the point where you have decent weapons, the only weapons in the game that break in 10 hits are tree branches, rusty weapons and joke weapons, like the mop, soup ladle, etc. So long as you aren't hitting rocks and trees with weapons they shouldn't break really fast, you need to use a hammer or axe for rocks and trees, not weapons.

I don't think its too unusual for a rusty weapon, tree branch or mop to break quickly in a fight, or any weapon if you hit a rock or tree with it. If you start hitting a tree with a sword in real life it would be ruined in 30 seconds, if you hit a rock it would ruin it instantly.
To be honest I really don't recall where I left off in the game. Id say I gave it about 5 or so hours and wasn't having fun.

I'm glad to hear that the weapons get better later on. But I literally just felt I was in constant inventory management the entire time I was playing.

I don't enjoy carefully planning each weapon to use and switching them out every 5 seconds during battle. I just want to play a fun action adventure game and not worry about that stuff.

I'm not really a fan of stealth gameplay and those sort of tactics. Some people enjoy stuff like Metal Gear and Last of Us but I gave those chances and the stealth ruined it for me too. It's stressful for me and not fun.

I understand that in real life weapons break and can rust. I also know in real life you can cook food and have only so much stamina. I don't personally enjoy these mechanics in games. It doesn't make them bad but just isn't my idea of fun. Same goes for crafting.
 
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Kuranghi

Member
To be honest I really don't recall where I left off in the game. Id say I gave it about 5 or so hours and wasn't having fun.

I'm glad to hear that the weapons get better later on. But I literally just felt I was in constant inventory management the entire time I was playing.

I don't enjoy carefully planning each weapon to use and switching them out every 5 seconds during battle. I just want to play a fun action adventure game and not worry about that stuff.

I'm not really a fan of stealth gameplay and those sort of tactics. Some people enjoy stuff like Metal Gear and Last of Us but I gave those chances and the stealth ruined it for me too. It's stressful for me and not fun.

I understand that in real life weapons break and can rust. I also know in real life you can cook food and have only so much stamina. I don't personally enjoy these mechanics in games. It doesn't make them bad but just isn't my idea of fun. Same goes for crafting.

Totally fair enough then mate, if you don't really like stealth or roundabout ways of killing with traps/tactics and prefer just smashing faces (Which I totally get) then that part of combat does get old kinda fast since its so limited and you'll always lose weapons forever, no matter what.

If you do ever decide to give it another go you should just mod out the durability and forget its a thing, you could still have a good time plowing through everything without having to stock up on supplies/weapons all the time.

I was being a bit overzealous about the "real life weapons don't break part", ofc its a game so it doesnt have to follow RL rules, I meant more its trying to make you think which thing is best for a task and it punishes you for not doing that.
 

Jokerevo

Banned
I love Zelda games, I remember my days playing through Twilight Princess as a kid and then discovering classics like OoT and Majora's Mask, I still reminisce on the days I spent experiencing Wind Waker with my older sister on her Gamecube and being amazed by the artstyle and world. I should have been all over BOTW, but it never resonated with me leading up to launch, I was sick of the Open World genre and nothing of this game reminded me of that charm I fell in love with as a child, reviews were glowing and fan reception was some of the most positive ever seen, yet on launch I decided to pick up just Super Mario Odyssey and never picked up BOTW, it just didn't interest me and I saw the reviews as your typical overexaggerating for when a series switches up it's formula.

The years that followed I saw BOTW win many GOTY awards, as well as receive praise from not only my friend groups but the entire gaming world alike, yet I still felt no willingness to give the game a go, I watched gameplay but it never quite gripped me, people asked me of my thoughts of the game and I used to lie and be like "oh yeah it's good" without even putting the cartridge into my Switch and giving it a go, I was just too ashamed to admit I hadn't given a game that seemed like the second coming of Christ a chance rather immaturely. I watched countless reviews from people I trusted and saw people I respected in forums wax lyrically about how special this game was, yet I laughed it off and saw it as Zelda meets Ubisoft Open World Template.

Boy was I wrong.

You may remember I recently picked up a Wii U after selling my switch last year, and after seeing so much praise for it, I decided to finally give this game a chance, I let the seller know I would likely return it the next day as I doubted it would grab me, I had walked into this game expecting to gloat about how right I was and how I was ahead of the curve for my judgement on this game, but now 7 hours in, this is shaping up to be one of, if not the greatest games I have ever had the joy of playing.

No game has ever given me this sense of freedom, this level of trust from the developers to truly do whatever you choose to, whilst giving you all the tools to achieve the goals the game sets out in a rewarding manner without making it too easy or too challenging. The game didn't click at first, but it was about halfway through the Great Plateau when I was looking for a way to traverse the cold to get to a shrine, I had tried many methods, failing almost everytime, when I read the description of the Spicy Peppers I picked up earlier, and it clicked to me what I had to do. I found some Bokoblins around a cooking pot and decided to experiment with some cooking after I had killed them all (only a few deaths to a blue fucker halted my cooking session). I then threw some ingredients into the pot and boom, a meal that offered me cold resistance, I felt a sense of accomplishment as I surpassed the point where I would die almost everytime on my journey to the shrine and felt proud of my development from aimlessly walking into my demise time and time again to start with to successfully reaching the shrine using my own intuition, without any in your face game tips or offers to make the experience easy for the user.

This is a very minor example of the freedom the game offers the player, I have taken on enemy encounters in so many unique ways, experimenting with the physics systems, my weaponry and rune abilities as well as seeing how enemies react to certain situations, watching a Hoblin throw his friend at me in a last ditch aim to kill me when he was low on health made my jaw drop, the AI isn't next level in some ways with how enemies will just forget about you when feet away and dance like idiots or not see you when you're in clear view only to spot you when you're hiding, but when it works as intended, it really shows and makes the player sit up and take note.

I have heard many frustrated players rant about the breaking weapons and was expecting to hate that aspect with myself being a very big anti-survival game kinda person, but I adored how the weapons breaking made you have to think on your feet and look for smarter solutions, to experiment with other weaponry or look for things in the environment you could use to gain an advantage for yourself. It was just magical thinking "can I do this?" to laugh and say as if they would be that clever and then low and behold, it would actually work as I wanted it to. Yes other games have handled aspects of BOTW better with their games, but this is such a great amalgamation of all the big hitters in the Open World genre, and for Nintendo's first real foray into this genre, it is a home run of a title they have delivered.

The Wii U has it's issues performance wise but the framedrops have been few and far between for me and the game has an artstyle which really covers up blemishes of the system's age or crappy textures/resolutions. I do wish the gamepad was made more useful as looking at early footage this was definitely the case before they made the devs seemingly remove these systems to not allow it to overshadow the port for the new and shiny switch, but such minor annoyances don't stop me from loving this game for what it has been so far, a fucking masterpiece.

I regret not picking this up earlier, being so naïve and childish with my unjustified dislike towards this game for no reason seemingly, I wish I had the head on my shoulders then that I do now to give this game a chance, as this has been without a doubt so far, one of the best gaming experiences of my life.

I do apologise for the ramble-like nature of this post, but this is the first time in so long a game has really amazed me like this and changed my perception on a genre in such a small period of time, I can't wait for my 2 weeks off work starting tomorrow to dive back into this amazing game and see what other crazy shit I can do, places I can discover and experiments I can try.

It is so great when a game proves you wrong huh?

2CEYoz6.jpg
Kinda surprised. If you played the other zelda games and you think this one is great? It doesn't even have dungeons and the enemies are trivial. The game is too easy. Play on master mode at least.
 
I first played it on the WiiU, thought it was great but felt very disapointed at the lack of plot structure, felt like they didn't do as much dungeons, felt like it missused the characters, had stupid bosses and so on. Was a 10 that slowly faded into a 9.

Then I got a Switch and got the game once again. Made a 3 hearts run and completed the DLC with that. Was a great great experience once again, felt like the divine beasts were actually good without the tons of expectations when playing the first time. I found things I hadn't seen before, tried different approaches to traveling instead of going mainly straight lines and sonon...

The final Boss of the DLC was the cherry on top, perfect (that boss should've been in the main game).

So from 9 it went back to 10 once again. Amazing game. The way you play it influences the experience, so if it gets stale, changing how you explore may be the trick that will make you fall in love again.
Is the dlc worth it? I never beat the game. I got it with mario odyessy back in late 2018 when i got my switch. Played it for a good 20 hours and went on to beat Mario and Dark souls remastered. I never went back. Does the dlc add improvments, more quests, story, items, or is it just like a new dungeon with optional boss?
 

GAMETA

Banned
Is the dlc worth it? I never beat the game. I got it with mario odyessy back in late 2018 when i got my switch. Played it for a good 20 hours and went on to beat Mario and Dark souls remastered. I never went back. Does the dlc add improvments, more quests, story, items, or is it just like a new dungeon with optional boss?

There are 2 DLCs and both are pretty good, it's worth buying the expansion pass.

They add items, quests, shrines, trials, and more, and they integrate well within the game, but you need to meet certain milestones before being able to access.

Play the base game and do the main quests/activities (Divine Beasts, Shrines, memories and Master Sword) you'll know if you want more, and, if you do, then the DLC is for you.
 
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SegaShack

Member
Totally fair enough then mate, if you don't really like stealth or roundabout ways of killing with traps/tactics and prefer just smashing faces (Which I totally get) then that part of combat does get old kinda fast since its so limited and you'll always lose weapons forever, no matter what.

If you do ever decide to give it another go you should just mod out the durability and forget its a thing, you could still have a good time plowing through everything without having to stock up on supplies/weapons all the time.

I was being a bit overzealous about the "real life weapons don't break part", ofc its a game so it doesnt have to follow RL rules, I meant more its trying to make you think which thing is best for a task and it punishes you for not doing that.
Thats a great suggestion about mods. I do have a modded Wii U so I should look into mods. Maybe I'd enjoy it this way.

I get what you mean about weapons and to be honest it is good that nintendo at the very least did do something new with Zelda as the games for a while were all really bad clones of the OOT gameplay/ formula.

Either way it looks like what they did paid off as most people seem to love the game. Wish I was in the same boat but thats OK.
 
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As soon as you get off the plateau head directly to the castle. Sneak inside and collect as many high level weapons as you can. Also get the Hylian Shield. Activate the shrine inside so when you leave you can warp back here to restock as needed.

Now go explore the world.
 

Esteldan

Member
I understand people like this game and my opinion is probably the minority but for me it's probably the worst Zelda game since Zelda II and possibly the most overrated game of all time (I don't think it's a BAD game, just not best game ever like many people claim).

For me it's a game like Skyrim that's perfect for people that like to make their own fun, but as someone who is very much about content first, setting clear goals within the game etc. it's just a very average game on this front so it never clicked.

The Open World:
- It's incredibly repetitive because there's only a handful of things to do. There's almost no surprises to be had because you're only going to be finding Shrines and Korok seeds and the lack of variety really kills it. I have literally 0 reason to want to explore because I KNOW I'm not going to find anything interesting. As to not be hyperbolic, sure there's a few towns associated with the 4 main dungeons but once you exhaust that you're into the exact same loop for the next 60+ hours. See that mountain over there? Climb it and receive a Korok seed. There's some Ogre boss on the map? Cool, there's ZERO chance of it dropping anything interesting because the only things to loot are food ingredients and weapons that break after 5 hits.

- Combat in the open world is POINTLESS. With the game being designed LIKE an RPG but not being one, it means there's actually zero reason to kill mobs. The durability system was put into the game to solve this problem but if you approach the game efficiently, this doesn't work. If I know my items are going to break after a handful of hits, why am I going to kill enemies? To loot more weapons? Makes no sense when my current weapons are going to break as it just becomes an endless loop. Given most shrines have chests with better weapons, it makes the open world feel even more pointless and empty.

Shrines/Dungeons:

- The puzzle side of things are probably the worst in any Zelda game (again since II). Shrines are a mixed of terribly repetitive combat encounters which are really lacklustre in a post Dark Souls world and the same can be said with the bosses this game has. The 4 "dungeons" are basically exactly the same with the same dull art style and structure. I completed most of them in 10-15 minutes which is comparable to 2D Zelda dungeons. The itemisation is also the worst of any Zelda game due to not wanting to have any sense of progression in the game as it would get in the way of "freedom". I feel it would have been much better to use dungeons as progression to slowly open up the map but I get to some people that would have ruined it.

- To give some credit to the shines SOME of them are good, but the majority seem to be solving a single puzzle and getting your reward. To go through 2-3 loading screens/skipping dialogue every time to do one tiny piece of content is often quite tedious. The worst is the few times where you actually solve a puzzle in the overworld which is nice, finally some actual content in the world you traverse, and then have to still enter an empty shrine just to collect your reward, a complete waste of time.

Aside from that the "immersive" elements were mostly awful to me. The fact most of the overworld is climbing but it rains every 5 minutes didn't make it feel immersive, it just got in the way of gameplay. I hear stories about people making a fire and camping/waiting the storm out which sounds fine but this is a video game. I'm interested in the content and this felt like it was just wasting my time. With the combat mostly being button mashing I also didn't see the point in getting too involved in the cooking system/crafting, the game is easily played without those things and so the systems by default didn't feel too rewarding, maybe they were a highlight for some people but I didn't see the same point. Voice acting also was a complete miss with one of the Goron's I encountered coming coming across like a 12 year old Anime character.

I think this game COULD have been great if they'd adjusted it.

- The Great Plateau was probably my favourite part of the game. This game excelled when it gave you freedom in smaller sections. I would have liked to see smaller open areas where completing the dungeon of that area opened up the game world more. That way they could have kept the traditional structure of the dungeon item helping you open up the game map.

- When you have an open world area it is CRIMINAL that Pieces of Heart aren't a thing. Imagine how much more interesting it would have been if traversing the world gave you a chance of finding a piece of heart/stamina upgrade if you explored properly. Instead you simply find your hundredth Korok Seed which is about as exciting as opening your Auntie's gift to you at Christmas.

- Some sort of progression system. I think instead of weapons breaking, I would have liked to see NO respawning enemies and instead an XP system attached to the Master Sword which perhaps let you upgrade it over time to give you lightning/ice powers, things like that to give you a reason to kill enemies. I agree with most that Zelda should never be a full blown RPG, but in an open world game like this you need a progression system and not just smoke and mirrors like we got with the durability system.

- When it comes to Shrines, keep them but you need variety in art style and length. I'm fine with a one puzzle dungeon here and then, but I want some that end up taking me half an hour and get more and more epic, perhaps ending with a boss. In doing this the rewards can be shaken up too. Have some Shrines reward a piece of heart/stamina upgrade (mixed in with those in the open world), but have the harder ones reward me with a wallet upgrade, have some reward a Bomb/Quiver upgrade, some can give you the power upgrades that the Divine Beasts rewarded which would be vacant given main dungeons would not server the purpose of opening up the game world.

Those are my 2 cents, I think it's an average game that mostly gets praise from the "make your own fun" crowd that also love Skyrim. It was a reality check to me that most people care about that side of gaming and don't really care about the content. That to me is a shame but it is what is is. Expecting Zelda to follow this path for the next decade and that most should get used to traditional Zelda being dead.
 
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The Open World:
- It's incredibly repetitive because there's only a handful of things to do. There's almost no surprises to be had because you're only going to be finding Shrines and Korok seeds and the lack of variety really kills it. I have literally 0 reason to want to explore because I KNOW I'm not going to find anything interesting. As to not be hyperbolic, sure there's a few towns associated with the 4 main dungeons but once you exhaust that you're into the exact same loop for the next 60+ hours. See that mountain over there? Climb it and receive a Korok seed. There's some Ogre boss on the map? Cool, there's ZERO chance of it dropping anything interesting because the only things to loot are food ingredients and weapons that break after 5 hits.

- Combat in the open world is POINTLESS. With the game being designed LIKE an RPG but not being one, it means there's actually zero reason to kill mobs. The durability system was put into the game to solve this problem but if you approach the game efficiently, this doesn't work. If I know my items are going to break after a handful of hits, why am I going to kill enemies? To loot more weapons? Makes no sense when my current weapons are going to break as it just becomes an endless loop. Given most shrines have chests with better weapons, it makes the open world feel even more pointless and empty.


I'll just say this. You are wrong about that stuff. Every enemy you kill usually give so many weapons they should fill half your bag with every encounter of moblins etc. And the more enemies you kill the better weapons that drop. And harder enemies do give better weapons and also give you mats for upgrades on your armor items.

The issue is that the game puts weapons where you can just avoid killing enemies for no reason. But that is because they design the game to allow you to play how you want to play. If you want to play stealth, play stealth. If you want to fight you can fight.

And lastly you havent been playing efficiently. You can defend most moblin mobs with no use of weapons at all. You can even beat the hardest enemy just using a rock if you are skilled enough.

 

Esteldan

Member
I'll just say this. You are wrong about that stuff. Every enemy you kill usually give so many weapons they should fill half your bag with every encounter of moblins etc. And the more enemies you kill the better weapons that drop. And harder enemies do give better weapons and also give you mats for upgrades on your armor items.

The issue is that the game puts weapons where you can just avoid killing enemies for no reason. But that is because they design the game to allow you to play how you want to play. If you want to play stealth, play stealth. If you want to fight you can fight.

And lastly you havent been playing efficiently. You can defend most moblin mobs with no use of weapons at all. You can even beat the hardest enemy just using a rock if you are skilled enough.



Time is a big part of efficiency and stuffing around killing enemies that don't progress my character in any way isn't efficient to me. It might be fun to you to go around killing enemies but I don't enjoy gaming in that way for the most part, I want to do the content.
 
Time is a big part of efficiency and stuffing around killing enemies that don't progress my character in any way isn't efficient to me. It might be fun to you to go around killing enemies but I don't enjoy gaming in that way for the most part, I want to do the content.
You are progressing because you are getting better gear. If you arent getting better gear then what you had before, you arent fighting efficiently. Again if that doesnt seem good to you then dont do it. Just go kill Ganon and call it a day. I dunno.
 

MagnesG

Banned
Time is a big part of efficiency and stuffing around killing enemies that don't progress my character in any way isn't efficient to me. It might be fun to you to go around killing enemies but I don't enjoy gaming in that way for the most part, I want to do the content.
Then use weapons, dodge and flurry, stagger/reflect, and headshot the entire camps. You'll get your investment back at least x1.5-x3 amount of weapons, and only around couple of minutes wasted. I mean if you do it efficiently.

You don't enjoy getting higher-tiered weapons? Because only when you keep killing enemies would the weapons standards goes higher.

Also you can always just do the content.
 
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DonJorginho

Banned
Haha thought there was a small chance you’d fall for it but no luck. Which Divine Beasts have you seen?
Oh man I wish that was true lmaooo sounded so good. So far only the Bird one as have mainly stayed around a certain area getting all the shrines I can and just generally exploring, have seen a massive fucking dragon though, didn't wanna go near it though in fear of getting fucked up :messenger_tears_of_joy: :messenger_tears_of_joy:
 

Esteldan

Member
Then use weapons, dodge and flurry, stagger/reflect, and headshot the entire camps. You'll get your investment back at least x1.5-x3 amount of weapons, and only around couple of minutes wasted. I mean if you do it efficiently.

You don't enjoy getting higher-tiered weapons? Because only when you keep killing enemies would the weapons standards goes higher.

Also you can always just do the content.

Is that the case though? I'm getting the guardian++ weapons from doing the combat shrines + I have the master sword which isn't amazing but it's solid enough for beating the mandatory combat encounters I run into.

If you avoid combat there's really not that many fights you get into making farming weapons not exactly efficient.
 

MagnesG

Banned
Is that the case though? I'm getting the guardian++ weapons from doing the combat shrines + I have the master sword which isn't amazing but it's solid enough for beating the mandatory combat encounters I run into.

If you avoid combat there's really not that many fights you get into making farming weapons not exactly efficient.
I mean, it's your choice if you are only going for the absolute mandatory. Hell you can just equip Majora's Mask and avoid almost all types of monsters except Lynels if you are only gunning for the ending.

Would that really worthy of being called efficient though. That's more like a speedrun, not fully experiencing the game normally.
 

RaptorGTA

Member
One of my top games ever. Yea the weapon durability can be annoying...but I do sort of like it sometimes..keeps you on your toes and moving. One of the few open world games I have gone back and replayed over and over.
 

Esteldan

Member
I mean, it's your choice if you are only going for the absolute mandatory. Hell you can just equip Majora's Mask and avoid almost all types of monsters except Lynels if you are only gunning for the ending.

Would that really worthy of being called efficient though. That's more like a speedrun, not fully experiencing the game normally.

By all content I consider the Shrines/Shrine quests, 4 dungeons and quests that feel hand crafted and not MMO style (collect 10 ambers) style ones.

To me that's finishing all the game has to offer. Mindlessly killing mobs doesn't feel like content to me.
 

MagnesG

Banned
By all content I consider the Shrines/Shrine quests, 4 dungeons and quests that feel hand crafted and not MMO style (collect 10 ambers) style ones.

To me that's finishing all the game has to offer. Mindlessly killing mobs doesn't feel like content to me.
How about maxing out all the equipments? Can you efficiently farm lynels with your current strategy? Waiting for the sword energy to go back up is certainly inefficient too.

Then again it's up to you how you deal with the game. Also I don't mindless killing mobs, only those I encountered for the first time + certain ones with good loots.

Unrelated, have you beat up the final boss in the final DLC?
 
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Esteldan

Member
How about maxing out all the equipments? Can you efficiently farm lynels with your current strategy? Waiting for the sword energy to go back up is certainly inefficient too.

Then again it's up to you how you deal with the game. Also I don't mindless killing mobs, only those I encountered for the first time + certain ones with good loots.

Unrelated, have you beat up the final boss in the final DLC?

Why would I want to farm Lynels? That doesn't sound like content, that just sounds like MMO grinding in a single player game.

The reason most open world RPGs work is because killing enemies rewards experience or in the Elder Scroll's case it progresses your character through combat abilities.

I have a feeling that Nintendo introduced the durability system after testers were avoiding enemies so they decided they needed to hamstring the player in some way.

The shrines are pretty fun and there's some decent puzzles in the overworld, my hate for the game mainly comes from them (to me) ruining a unique and consistent franchise to chase the Open World trend which most games get wrong. The best open world game is still Gothic 2 NOTR. It came out over 15 years ago and still the majority of open world games are just Ubisoft like nonsense.
 
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GarlicSnake

Banned
I first played BOTW in 2017 some time on Wii U. I thought it was overrated and it didn't really gel with me.
I played it again a few months ago on Switch and it's by far my favourite Zelda game.
 

MagnesG

Banned
Why would I want to farm Lynels? That doesn't sound like content, that just sounds like MMO grinding in a single player game.

The reason most open world RPGs work is because killing enemies rewards experience or in the Elder Scroll's case it progresses your character through combat abilities.

I have a feeling that Nintendo introduced the durability system after testers were avoiding enemies so they decided they needed to hamstring the player in some way.

The shrines are pretty fun and there's some decent puzzles in the overworld, my hate for the game mainly comes from them (to me) ruining a unique and consistent franchise to chase the Open World trend which most games get wrong. The best open world game is still Gothic 2 NOTR. It came out over 15 years ago and still the majority of open world games are just Ubisoft like nonsense.
Like I said, you don't have to. You also don't have to complete certain armor sets upgrades to the max as part of the allegedly MMO experience lol.

Just have fun playing what you want and move on.
 

Xdrive05

Member
The |OT| thread for this game is locked, so I'm bumping this one.

BotW on Switch looks like it had some kind of update today. My kid launched it, and it forced a download before it would launch. We were playing it just fine yesterday with no download then. The version on the title screen still shows 1.6.0 with the DLC version being 3.0.0 I think it was, so it may have been a stealth update, unmarked? Is Nintendo known to do that?
 

Shmunter

Member
Got this on Wii U but just never got around to it with the PlayStation backlog.

Side note, fired it up on the boys i7 rtx270 and it runs pretty much locked at 72fps on 144hz screen with all max LOD hacks etc applied at 1440p. Intriguing.
 

G Boaty

Banned
I wish I liked this game as much as other people do. The terrible combat, dull weapon variety, the durability nonsense, nothing interesting at all to find while exploring, the complete lack of reward for doing anything and the uninspired "dungeons" made it a painfully average game.
 

arvfab

Banned
I wish I liked this game as much as other people do. The terrible combat, dull weapon variety, the durability nonsense, nothing interesting at all to find while exploring, the complete lack of reward for doing anything and the uninspired "dungeons" made it a painfully average game.

You are actually 100% correct, but don't say it too loud: going by some of the answers, we are playing it "wrong" 🤷🏼‍♂️
 

kevm3

Member
I tried my hardest to like this game, but I'm just finding it quite dull. I'm just kind of aimlessly wandering around without finding much of interest. Beautiful graphics for the system it is on, but the 'gameplay loop' as of thus far just isn't catching me. I think I prefer the much more focused zeldas.

The ultra brittle weapons completely removes the excitement of finding a new weapon and essentially have reduced weapons to disposable items. There's not really any excitement from opening treasure chests either. Seems like you either have to love the 'digital sandbox' style of gameplay where you can do things at your own leisure to really enjoy this.
 
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MarkMe2525

Gold Member
I agree with OP. Game made me feel like I was 9 years old exploring the woods behind my grandmother's house with my cousin. Some of the best world building I have ever experienced.
 

Soodanim

Gold Member
I tried my hardest to like this game, but I'm just finding it quite dull. I'm just kind of aimlessly wandering around without finding much of interest. Beautiful graphics for the system it is on, but the 'gameplay loop' as of thus far just isn't catching me. I think I prefer the much more focused zeldas.

The ultra brittle weapons completely removes the excitement of finding a new weapon and essentially have reduced weapons to disposable items. There's not really any excitement from opening treasure chests either. Seems like you either have to love the 'digital sandbox' style of gameplay where you can do things at your own leisure to really enjoy this.
There’s a lot of solid elements to it, but ultimately I agree with you about some of the major gameplay points. I’ve always thought that a sequel with a quality over quantity world space (including proper dungeons as opposed to many small one trick pony rooms with the same boring, slow entrances and exits) and some refinement to the weapon system to make it less of a constant cycle of weapons that only discourages combat would do wonders.
 

Esteldan

Member
I agree with OP. Game made me feel like I was 9 years old exploring the woods behind my grandmother's house with my cousin. Some of the best world building I have ever experienced.

I think this comment really sums up the divide with BotW.

There's nothing wrong with what you've said and a fair chunk of the population share your thoughts, I just think that for many of us, we want quality content, we don't want to make our own fun.

BotW is very much a make your own fun game in the vein of Skyrim. Both games have fairly ordinary core content but provide a great experience for those who just want to venture/explore/use their own imagination.

As someone who can't really get into that, I am a little sad that we'll probably never get another traditional Zelda ever again, or at least not any time soon.
 
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