Topic: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

@bluemage1989 I think it is good that many Zelda games have resonated with people over the years. I would find it interesting if a survey would be done to see how the demographics play out. I feel, in general, most people enjoyed BotW enough to say it is a great game. Anecdotally I have also noticed that there is a divide between people who say BotW is the best Zelda game ever and BotW is my second favorite Zelda game after ___________. Without any kind of research at all, I have noticed that people who liked the 3D Zelda games such as Ocarina of Time or Wind Waker often will say they prefer that style of Zelda over BotW. But for example me, after A Link to the Past and Link's Awakening, I had a hard time getting into any Zelda game until BotW. I went through a huge drought before I played a Zelda game that resonated with me, I mean decades. I mean I would try and play them, but I would never get very far. But BotW absolutely grabbed my attention unlike any Zelda since prior to the series going 3D.
On a side note, I really should play A Link Between Worlds, I am sure I would enjoy that.

@gamer1000k
I'm with you. It's a "good" game, but it's a horrible Zelda game and really not even a Zelda game at all. And that disappoints me, ultimately.

I get MORE disappointed when I read articles about the devs wanting most future Zelda games to be more like BotW (and from a business standpoint, who could blame them?).

I've always been a bigger fan of 2D Zelda, though. Link Between Worlds release on 3DS was just an awesome time, so I'm really hoping they have a small team maaaaybe working on a 2D "classic" Zelda for those of us who just can't move on? lol

edit:
@Hikingguy
I posted this and then read your post - I'm the total opposite of your theory lol - whoops! Oh well, takes all different sorts.

I will say, I've tried multiple times to get into Twilight Princess/Skyward Sword, and I just couldn't. But I never tried them when they were current games, only years later because I never owned Gamecube or Wii. I don't know if it was just that the games were old and I was subconsciously turning myself off from them or what, because Ocarina/Majora's are REALLY good games that I replay all the time.

I like all Zelda games, top down, sidescroller, 2D, 3D, open world. I can get used to everything and can love them equally.
I think BotW is one of the best though because of many reasons, but mostly because it did many things differently. It was a fresh experience needed after about 15 games with the same old formula. I hope all kinds of Zelda games continue.

@rallydefault No offense at all. I assume everyone will have their own experience.
I actually tried to play TP and SS when they were first released and I was board out of my mind. I could not get past the tutorials. I went back a few times, but I always had the same result.
My first Zelda game that I did not enjoy was Ocarina of Time and basically every 3D Zelda game until BotW. I did enjoy all the 2D games until they went 3D.
I always bought them in hopes that I would be drawn back in like I was when I played the original.
BotW was the first game that made me feel like I did when I played the original Legend of Zelda for the first time.

@rallydefault Twilight Princess is a good game and really picks up as it goes on, but it IS very hard to get into. I hated the first 3 or so hours with a passion, and had a difficult time getting into it until around the second major dungeon.

I didn't care for Ocarina of Time that much more, though. Its bland high fantasy is much less memorable to me than the existential darkness of Majora's Mask, the cheerful adventurousness of The Wind Waker, and Breath of the Wild's post-apocalyptic vision.

@subpopz as much as I do like Zelda II, I agree, BotW feels like a better successor than Zelda II. I agree on all your points.

I wouldn't mind a Zelda game that provided a lot more flexibility in terms of what order I could tackle the main dungeons, or that had a much more open world. There's actually an indie 2D Zelda clone called Ittle Dew that has the dungeons designed so that they can be completed in any order. Depending on what items you have you'll take different paths through each dungeon. This would be a fantastic idea going forwards with new Zelda games.

Even the open world concept itself is awesome, and doesn't preclude a traditional Zelda experience. I just would like to see a lot more item-based progression since for me at least that's one of the pillars of the Zelda experience, and it's almost completely absent in BoTW.

Also, like I said before, I'm not fond of the early-game difficulty wall or the item durability mechanics. The Ocarina of Time struck the right balance IMHO with easing the player into the game without the overlong tutorials present in Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword. BoTW throws you into the fray and slaps you with constant death right from the very beginning until you figure out what in the world you're doing. For me at least, this is very much the opposite of fun. I want to play games to enjoy them, not be punished by them for not being good at them yet.

Oops, got this game on launch day, and yet it's taken me until today to realise there's a third tier to the stamina wheel

Well, I just completed Zelda: Breath of the Wild (all 4 divine beasts, master sword, all memories, 63 of 64 found shrine completed, 57 or so Korak seeds located, 30 seeds turned in). I've got to say, this game was amazing. And the full ending was well worth hunting down the last few memory locations for.

That said, I did have a few problems with the game. To start with, RAIN! Ugh, never fails. Every time I needed to climb a cliff that my stamina bar will barely let me climb, it starts raining when I'm 3/4 of the way up the cliff. Or a thunder storm starts when I'm in the middle of a difficult fight and need my strongest weapons and armor... Which are made of metal. And that's to say nothing of trying to reach the Goron village so I can get armor that'll keep me from catching on fire... while trying to reach the Goron village.

But these are minor flaws IMO. Frustrating, but they don't detract too much from the game. Korak seeds though, ugh... Too dang many of them, too vital to find at least 30 of them, and finding the person to turn them in after they left the initial area took far too freaking long.

I might go back later and try finding all 120 shrines. But I doubt I'll ever have the patience to find all 900 korak seeds. Or the inclination to try. I didn't even bother turning in the last 27 I found before completing the game. I already had more then enough weapon, shield, and bow slots.

Lol, I finally started on the dlc. Better late then never.

Been replaying recently and the only part of this gsme I dislike is the shrines that have that motion control mechanism, it’s so annoying to control

For me it's the combat shrines. The only shrine I've found but couldn't complete was a "major test of strength" one. Ancient arrows aimed at the "eye" did jack diddly. And weapons with 60+ attack power were barely scratching the stupid guardian scout.

@ValhallaOutcast Definitely agree with you. A blemish of Nintendo's in an otherwise beautiful game. Thankfully it's pretty small, but if I replay the game ever I will be really frustrated with those.

I was thinking, another part (should say parts) of the game that I found annoying was lighting the lanterns to activate the labs. I remember that being really annoying.

Mostly due to the rain storms that erupt without warning, causing you to need to light every lantern on the way, just in case it starts to rain.

@RETRO_J, My last attempt before giving it up as a bad idea was going in with four 60 damage weapons and three 67 damage weapons (all gained in Hyrule Castle), a sack full of more Full Heal + Hearts food then I eventually used for Ganon, about 15 bomb arrows, three Royal Guard bows (50 damage bows)... And I barely managed to get it's health bar depleted by a quarter.

Maybe if I was better at deflecting (keep forgetting you can do that), side stepping, and backflipping to get Flurry Rush mode I could do the fight. As it is though, I keep running out of pillars to hide behind during charges, then getting my rear blown up by the ranged attacks and charges.

@Harmonie ya its either I was completely doing it wrong or it wasnt designed all that good, it wasnt as smooth or fluid as the other motion control aspects of the game or any other game on the Switch

I was turn myself into a pretzel to make it move the way I wanted, and in handheld mode it was almost imposilbe to use

I found that if things got too off kilter, exiting out of manipulating the puzzle area then ensuring the joy-con was level before trying again helped.

You can get fairies just by using the regular sneak command (push in the left analogue stick I think). Works nearly every time.

And yeah for the test of strength shrine, you really just need enough weapons. Or go and get the armor from the 3 mazes which has the attack bonus.

Ice and Lightning arrows are both very effective against them as well. Both stun them giving you time to attack.

It wasn't finding time to attack them I had the problem with. It was damaging that freaking scout in the shrine. Other ones I had to come back to later, but when I'm using what appears to be the strongest weapons in the game (at least that I've found) and it's taking an excessively long fight to get 1/4 of the health bar depleted, and it takes 3 pages worth of "full heal plus 4 extra hearts" meals (my last attempt I had 19 hearts at base) and two times the healing power triggers to get that far... I'm calling it something I don't have the skill or patience for right now.

I thought about using Barbosa's Fury in the fight, but that wasn't working. I couldn't charge enough to trigger the ability without being interrupted. Ice arrows work, but not well. And I'm usually very low on elec arrows due to not being willing to risk fighting a centaur monster that 3 or 4 shots me and I've never beaten one of to get more.

I know he seems creepy at the start, but I managed quite well to get all of the arrows he's guarding without getting killed. I guess it mainly takes patience. I put the shock arrow on the sheika detector (or whatever that thing's called) so I could find them easily. Other option is to equip stealth armor, but I didn't have that at the time.