Topic: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

@Ralizah Yeah, that song was pretty darn cool. Definitely felt like I was invading the lion's den.

@shadow-wolf Yeah, it wasn't bad by any means, I just think there was a bit too much focus on ambient music. What was there was definitely good.

@shadow-wolf @KirbyTheVampire Most of the music is designed to integrate itself into the rest of the soundscape and not call attention to itself. It was a cool design choice in some respects, but the unavoidable result is that BotW was never going to be the Zelda game where you fondly think back to the music.

Which wouldn't have been an issue for me if Nintendo hadn't included gorgeous, dramatic Ghibli-esque compositions in the trailers.

They could've done so much more in this regard. The only time I remember any cool music playing on the overworld was the paraglider minigame from the tower west of hyrule castle.

@Dezzy I remember a fair number of the overworld themes, which I thought were often beautifully understated, but it's not the sort of music that you really listen to for its own sake. Unlike a lot of previous games. Especially Skyward Sword, which I've never played, but which also apparently has a fantastic OST.

@shadow-wolf
But how good is that 20% of the music if people cannot even remember the beat of any of it (at least I can't)? While Mario Odyssey starts off, in a trailer, with that catchy and wonderfully made 1-Up Girl song?

I think that the music in BotW is really good, (Hateno Village and Kara Kara Bazaar especially) and I only remember one song that I didn't particularly like.

The music that plays in the Divine Beasts is amazing, I think they capture each beast perfectly while also mixing in the idea of the sheikah technology.
I also liked how the song would evolve as you activated the terminals, going from being plagued with Malice to being back in working order with some references to older songs such as Vah Medoh featuring some City in the Sky elements.

The rest of the game is quiet but it makes the little flourishes stand out more and it reflects the vastness of the world. If they did the traditional way and played one song and transitioned it into another it wouldn't be good. It's like how the large fields in the game let you appreciate the small things that you discover because there was so much nothingness before it. I feel that the music was aiming for the same thing.

@Ralizah @KirbyTheVampire Yeah I guess you're both right. Though I think every Zelda game past OoT had only two to three great new songs, which BotW had as well.

@Kinoen but how do you know whether that trailer music would even feature in Odyssey? It could be like in BotW, fantastic trailer music that barely if ever appears in-game.

@shadow-wolf I think BotW's music works well for it. Like almost every other aspect of the game, it's something Nintendo mixed up and made unique.

To me, it doesn't even have that much what I'd consider "music". It's mostly just ambient noises. It works well for it, but I'm definitely not going to be caring much for any OSTs

Yeah, while the sounds fit here since an overworld music would be annoying after a while, I don’t think I’ll have any memories from this soundtrack going forward, not like Wind Waker’s, for example, that I still keep in my MP3 since I adore it.

@shadow-wolf
You could very well be right, but with the music video Nintendo put out with Mario dancing with real people, I would say its a safe bet that song will be played more often then not, at least in New Donk City. If it does not and is only the opening or closing song of the game, it's still more memorable then any song in BoTW, at least for me (outside of Kass playing).

The only music I care enough about to remember is Hyrule Castle. Short on puzzles, but it felt exactly how I wanted the rest of the game to feel.

I’m sure this has been talked about a lot, but it’s so annoying that after you complete the story you can’t carry on playing. When I completed it ages ago I was so annoyed, as I still had shrines and other stuff to complete. I don’t understand why they’d make an open world game like this and then not let you carry on after completing the main story.

@Hughesy You can. Just load your save.

@Hughesy After you beat the game, it just brings you back to the point you were at before beating the final boss.

I know, but that’s not the same is it. You go back in time and the castle isn’t back to normal, so again not being able to carry on like pretty much every open world game is a bit silly...

Without Ganon around there's no point in "carrying on". The castle would not be back to normal, it would just be the same castle in ruins, just without purple fog.

You would just be walking around in a world without monsters or malice. And what's a hero without evil to fight off.

I hope the upcoming DLC will be able to offer a good after-game storyline.

Honestly, with how disappointing it was that the world didn't even seem all that panicked or worried about Ganon, I wouldn't have expected much to be different after he's gone, if at all. Would have been neat, though, to see the castle cleaned up.

I honestly would have preferred a version of Hyrule Castle without the monsters and Malice.
On Wii U it slowed down so badly that I just had to hurry to the end, so an option to explore it without tons of enemies and particle effects might make it bearable.

Is it much better on Switch? I heard that korok forest is still bad on any console so I wasn't hopeful.