Topic: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

@Ralizah Yes they definitely went for the natural disaster thing. I dont think its a bad decision because i feel that real evil is more of a "dark force that needs to be sealed away" instead of a real person. But at the same time i like to fight real villains that have at least a little bit of bad charisma in my games.

@Snaplocket Yep i also feel it does work very well with botws story.^^

@Jhena But remember that the definition of finishing a game is different for everyone, especially in the case of BotW. Does finishing BotW mean simply defeating Ganon? Defeating him and also doing all four Divine Beasts? Doing all 120 shrines along with the previous stuff? Doing all side quests along with the previous stuff? Finding all Korok Seeds along with the previous stuff? Getting a 100% on the map along with the previous stuff?

So it depends. But as you said, if you enjoy it than by all means fully complete it. I'm just saying that fully completing a game isn't necessarily a bad thing. Theres no need for a video game to not be fun, there's enough work in real life as it is, no need to create more by doing stuff in video games that isn't fun.

@Snaplocket Yes i already mentioned that i also feel that it does suit botw very well you know the lack of personality and all. And all i say is that i like to have real villains in games. Its just a personal preference.^^

@Jhena @Snaplocket It's very interesting how everyone's most favorite and least fav Zelda games are so different. And how replays of games can change opinions so drastically. I used to loathe Twilight Princess, now that I'm replaying it in HD on Wii U I absolutely love it. I loved Wind Waker HD at the beginning, after the end I think its my least favorite 3D Zelda game (played them all except Skyward Sword). They're all honestly very good, just focus on different aspects.

@TheLZdragon @Snaplocket @Meowpheel It's true that the Zelda and Ganondorf in TP had the least activity in the plot. But that doesn't mean they existed just because. I'm replaying the HD version on Wii U now and from what I've seen, Ganondorf is the guy behind the scenes who gives Zant his power to overthrow the real ruler (Midna) in a coup d'etat and asks Zant to take over Hyrule. His role allowed for the huge twist in the game that Zant, the super creepy and seemingly powerful guy, is actually just a weakling who needed help from someone to overthrow the real ruler and cause chaos in the process. Once Zant was defeated he showed up and took on the effort himself. While his efforts didn't seem too much with a particular motive, I think it's mostly vengeance and revenge at the kingdom who almost killed him and banished him to another world.

Zelda so far from what I've played hasn't done much beyond saving Midna. But my memories of my first playthorough 8 years ago is a bit hazy.

@shadow-wolf Yeah everyone should do what they feel is right. Its really a strengh of botw that you can choose how much you want to play the game. This is why i like games with an open world approach.

Yep i also enjoyed every zelda i played. Just like some more than the other.

@Ralizah @Tsurii Honestly I think Twilight Princess has the best story of any 3D Zelda. There's just so much nuance in the plot and in the side characters, way more than the bare bones generic plot in Wind Waker or even Ocarina.

And @Ralizah I'm sorta like you. Hated TP when I first beat it 8 years ago, now I'm replaying it on Wii U and absolutely love it. While the Tears of Light are boring sections and the very beginning is boring, there are a LOT of great moments in the plot and it really picks up once you get thru the second Tears of Light Section in Kakariko. I'm almost certain you'll love the game if you can just persevere past that point and especially once you get past a certain other point about halfway, at which the game turns into an exhilarating rollar coaster ride to the end.

@Jhena I would argue that Ganondorf has always lacked a personality beyond "Muahahaha! I'm evil!" Again, with the exception of Wind Waker. As flawed as the latter half of that game is, it still does a lot of stuff right.

@shadow-wolf Fair enough. I've never played a Zelda game with a good plot, though. Nintendo doesn't really do plots. It establishes plot foundations for gameplay experiences. This hyper-focus on fun gameplay is the big thing that distinguishes Nintendo's games from the rest of the AAA market, imo, and it's what I deeply respect about it.

@Ralizah Your not wrong. And i would argue that link also doesnt go beyond the Tse, Hick,Huaaa and the most important stuff the ....(Im good)^^ The difference is really the vibes the character gives of. And i prefer the past ganons over calamity ganon.

Calamity Ganon was hardly menacing. He was basically just a purple cloud floating around Hyrule Castle that does absolutely nothing until you approach it for the final boss fight. Not much of a villain.

For the entirety of the game I thought I was going to fight purple-whale-cloud Ganon too. I would've preferred that over the boring second phase.

Wind Waker Ganon is a reasonably rounded and interesting character with clear sympathetic motivations. None of the other versions of Ganon ever have this - "he's evil kill him" is as far as it goes.

It's a shame because BoTW has a plot and a narrative function (the memories) that would have allowed a more rounded "human" Ganon to be presented. Like maybe he could have been the "once in a 100 years" Gerudo boy stolen away by the Yiga clan and raised to stake his claim on the land so he can return them to their "rightful" place in Hyrule. It would have made the plot much more compelling - it'd explain why the everyone was so fearful of "something" happening if there was an actual rallying point for anyone opposed to the regime.

They could also have made Ganon both a dark reflection of Zelda - unsure of his place in the world and forced into his role by prophesy whether he wanted it or not - and a more morally grey character (was he really in charge or was he a puppet of the Yiga? Did he want to destory or was a tragic turn of events? etc.).

As other's have noted though story isn't the reason to play any Zelda game. They have interesting worlds full of character and some stand out story moments but an actual good plot? I'm not as sure about that.

@StuTwo Yeah, I don't get why people are acting like Ganondorf was always this memorable villain that suddenly became a cloud of vapor in BotW. As you said, The Wind Waker is the only game where he's not just a boring representation of pure evil.

Ganon and Zelda in BotW remind me a lot of Sin and Yuna in FFX, to be honest.

@Ralizah Yeah personally I'd say the most memorable "big bad" villains in Zelda have been Skull kid/Majora's Mask and Vaati (in the Minish Cap).

Vaati in particular was a great character in my opinion.

Such a beautiful game

@Chandlero It really is, but geez, I'd forgotten how busy the default HUD was!

@StuTwo I really need to play Minish Cap. At this point, I'm hoping Nintendo will re-release GBA games on Switch VC. It's kind of baffling that they haven't already.

@Ralizah: You are absolutely right. Too bad that Nintendo didn't gave am WiiU option of having the hearts on the GamePad.

Really getting into this game with the help of a guide and some videos for help i don't have the same patience to figure most of the stuff out but loving the combat. Just went into this Labyrinth and underneath it with all this guardians only found one moving one took it down and then slowly worked my way around the room using cover to get to the stationary ones. I think i still need a better shield to block them just using Knight Shields from amiibos but they break after one blast but i got the Diamond Circlet and Chest Piece from the Lab for Guardian resistance. Did my first Divine Beast near Zora's Domain it was pretty quick but the scale just was simply amazing super excited to finish this game and 100 percent it even got the dlc which i didn't think i would because a week ago i was thinking about selling it after finishing the main game.

The problem is that the plot would not have changed if Ganondorf was taken out. Zant could have easily been a stand-alone villain. Ganondorf existed to be that plot twist that amounts to nothing.

Honestly, the only interpretation of Ganondorf I really like is Hyrule Warriors. Not only does he actually play a significant role, you get to play as him and build up your evil army used to conquer Hyrule.