Topic: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Not once have I played a Zelda game and thought 'This puzzle is difficult'. I have, however, thought 'This dungeon is difficult', and that's the difference. With the latter, I am invested in the story - in the adventure. Yes, Zelda games do have puzzles, but it's certainly not a puzzle game genre-wise. It's an adventure game with puzzle elements, not - as some suggest - a puzzle game with adventure elements. If that were the case then the story would be irrelevant, which it clearly isn't. Do you move from puzzle to puzzle without giving the previous ones any thought, or do you move from dungeon to dungeon to help form a complete story?

Maybe we should call Zelda a sports series considering it features racing, archery, fishing, diving, baseball, bowling and tennis sections...?

@Monkey_Balls: LOL, touche.

you are clearly out of the loop in what were talking about, caring about the story has nothing to do with the gameplay. you can move through puzzle to puzzle because you have to to save zelda in the same way you move from dungeon to dungeon, its the same thing just different wording, and like i said before the reason i say its a puzzle game with adventure elements, and not a sports game, or a fishing game, or a chicken attacking game is because the majority of your time is spent solving the puzzles in the dungeons so you can get to the end to save the world. youre more focused on the story and fighting aspect so you dont take notice that youre solving one puzzle after another.

im not saying zelda is tetris, im not saying zelda is a jigsaw puzzle, im not saying its sudoku or a crossword. im simply saying there are puzzles in it and the majority of your time is spent on them.

I agree, sort of, with keife191. I guess, Monkey_Balls (oh geez), that you could technically say that Zelda has sports elements in it, even though they aren't in most Zelda games, and when they do, they're usually optional and part of the overworld, which functions more as transitions between the dungeons. The main focus is the dungeons, as you said, and the dungeons are made up of puzzles. Solving puzzles is primarily what you were doing. The fact that you are ultimately doing so to complete the story is irrelevant. It's a feature most games have; most games eventually complete a story.
And if you don't agree that dungeons are made up of puzzles, then my reply to that is on the previous page.

I'm still seeing Zelda games as action/adventure games, but yes, there are puzzles thrown in too. Everyone seems to be forgetting the fact that you're actually going on an adventure. You're finding your way around Hyrule, exploring different locations, fighting enemies, and yes, solving puzzles. The exact same arguments that could be used to call Zelda a puzzle game can be used against it. Dungeons aren't just solving puzzles. To get through some areas, you have to clear rooms of enemies, which involves using skill and reflex rather than figuring out the puzzle of the enemy. Yes, some enemies do require different methods to defeat, but these are necver really complex puzzles, and more just the case of 'attack here' or 'use item here', all the while you have to avoid getting damaged, which feels to me more like action rather than puzzle solving.

Then as well as defeating enemies and solving puzzles, you're traversing the dungeon, having to find the correct path to go, using the map and the compass to find the right way. Again, I personally wouldn't call that a puzzle, and instead say that it works to enhance the 'adventure' feel that the games have. To simply call Zelda games puzzle games is to completely ignore other important aspects of the games too.

@GrizzlyArctos: I agree with all of this. I guess I should clarify that I believe that Zelda games are Action-Adventure Puzzle games, with action and exploration having a bigger hand in it, but with puzzles still being a crucial part. If you take out the puzzles and the exploration, you get a game like Hyrule Warriors, where all that's left is the combat and story. But Zelda is equal parts Puzzle, Action, Adventure, and Exploration, just like Splatoon is as equal parts Shooter and Online Arena Competitive Multiplayer. It sounds silly using all this nomenclature, but my basic point remains that Zelda without the puzzles is a very different Zelda.

@Nicolai: To add onto your idea I'd like to point out that Tri Force Hero's (while being a great game) didnt feel like an actual Zelda game due to the lack of any actual exploration and sometimes action. It feels without that extra element the game feels somewhat like a completely different experience.

@Nicolai: Couldn't have said it better myself. The puzzles do play a large part in making Zelda what it is, but there are also the other, non-puzzle elements that also make a Zelda game.

I guess it's kinda stupid arguing over what genre we consider a game to be. Zelda is Zelda, and that's all that matters.

@GrizzlyArctos: Well, I wouldn't say that the discussion is pointless. In fact, I kinda learned something interesting from forming my comments: When Zelda takes one of those core elements away (Action, Story, Puzzle, Exploration), then it starts to feel like it's missing something important. I've said in the past that I like Zelda games to be as different as possible, but I think I could safely say that they should only be different within the realm of fitting into those core elements. Change up the story, change up the mechanics, make it open-world, non-linear, etc. But if you take away it's Exploration, or make it a turn-based game, it'll be hard for me to like it.

Well, I'm currently playing Phantom Hourglass and spending way more time exploring and consulting the map than I am doing puzzles - incidentally, is hitting a switch or bombing a wall any more of a puzzle than jumping on a Goomba or punching a question block? If I am out of the loop, as keife191 suggests, then so too is pretty much every article and video about Zelda - including those from Nintendo - that state it's an action-adventure series. Regardless of what people think, the genre is certainly not puzzle.

Also, story is irrelevant to the gameplay? I give up. Obviously I am out of the loop if that's the mindset nowadays; guess I'm getting old.

I guess you're not a fan of the Super Monkey Ball series.

@Monkey_Balls: Nah, I just assumed you were referring to the male genitalia.

I think it's important to note that the puzzles (or exploration, combat, etc.) in a Zelda game don't exist in a vaccum. They all come together to form a whole, and are not entirely seperate experiences.

It doesn't matter what percentage of the game is spent solving puzzles, exploring, or whatever. What IS important is WHY you are doing those things in the first place, and in the context of a Zelda game, that answer is because you (Link) are on an adventure. Afterall, without the call of adventure, Link would have no reason to delve into the dungeons to solve it's puzzles in the first place.

When it comes to classifying Zelda, it's not how much time you spend doing this or that, it's why you are doing those things in the first place. When you're solving a puzzle? You're overcoming an obstacle in the adventure. When you're fighting an enemy? You're overcoming an obstacle in the adventure. When you're exploring? You're either figuring out where to go, or are going, next in the adventure. Watching a cutscene? You're getting context for the adventure. Playing a minigame/sidequest? More often than not, you're trying to obtain something that'll make the adventure easier (or you'll stumble upon it).

I think that is why it's an adventure game above all else. No matter what it is you are doing in the game, you are doing it for the sake of the adventure.

Boom goes the dynamite.

@RR529: I wouldn't call saving Zelda, the kingdom, the land of (insert name here) an adventure per se. It's a mission or an journey. Something that if not done results in the death or destruction of said objective. An adventure(to me) sounds like something done out of joy, curiosity, boredom, you name it. This is just my opinion on the whole adventure thing.

Some adventures can have a purpose behind them. The adventure itself could be how you solve said objective

What the heck? Who even cares what genre Zelda falls in!!!!?!!?! Let's get back to boobs. Get back to discussing whose the sexiest woman in the series.

Ya had me, then ya lost me.

its not even a contest, malon wins because she has the best personality, she raises your best friend and basically gives her to you, and shes a red head, she likes animals, and she sings. 10 across the board

and did i mention shes brave and strong and independent? the first time you meet her shes all alone in castle town and then when you meet her father you know she kicks his butt, she is the perfect woman

Saria is the best female character because she was your only friend in the world and the only person who belie- wait is that Ocarina BLUE? Awesome I can now replace this pink piece of thrash.

Are you joking? Fi is clearly the winner. For who could have told you that your battery and hearts are low for the billionth time? Malon can't do that.

I got a question... Does anyone think Impa is hot?