After the thought occurred to me, I'm 99% certain that Nintendo will use wind currents to gate paraglider access to certain areas. Winds don't move Link on foot, but I bet they will push him while he's in the air. Call it a hunch.
Also, I wonder if winds will blow out torches. They only seemed to spread flames at E3, but who knows.
This brings up my biggest concern for Breath of the Wild: Despite the messaging of absolute freedom in this game, I hope there are still plenty of boundaries. It's been worrying me ever since we learned that climbing is a feature. Boundaries don't sound as exciting as absolute freedom, but its an essential part of good game design. Being able to go absolutely anywhere from the start would be absolutely thrilling at first, but after a while, the act of getting somewhere would feel too similar, maybe too easy. You'd miss the experience of seeing a chasm you can't cross, the increased desire to cross it, and the extra anticipation it adds to the completion of dungeons. Hasn't everyone thought at one point "Oh, I've really got to beat more dungeons now, so I can hopefully find the hookshot-like item I need to get across this gap!" I know I have
Zelda worlds have always been scattered with areas impassible without items acquired in the game. Even though this game is breaking conventions, it would be a real shame if they broke this one. I think they're smart enough to leave this one in. I hope I'm right.
P.S. It's possible that some boundaries are created by overworld boss fights. It would be a little messy, but it would serve roughly the same purpose. I think we've talked about that once here.
@Nicolai I agree. What I'm now picturing is Skyward Sword-style open world dungeons in areas like Death Mountain that will have gusts surrounding them to prevent sequence breaking with the paraglider.
I hope that there are more traditional types of dungeons and area gating beyond that, though.
@Nicolai I've had the same concern but we've seen from the footage that boundaries are quite common. Link can't leave the Plateau until he obtains a paraglider; he can't get the paraglider until he completes four shrines (in the demo at least). Another example: Link finds a river > needs to use a raft > needs to chop down trees to get to the raft > needs an axe for chopping > needs a deku leaf to power the raft. There seems to be plenty of mini-boundaries. Even the climbing mechanic is limited by the stamina meter (which can be upgraded).
It might be possible to go anywhere from the outset, but maybe, hopefully, players have the choice: ignore items/upgrades and travel the difficult, indirect route (avoiding obstacles/enemies, etc) or choose an easier (albeit also lengthy) route by finding items/upgrades to deal with the obstacles/enemies. Now that's the sort of freedom I want (and which has been hinted at).
That screenshot looks awesome. Best one yet. I like how vertical a lot of the landscape is. Massive change from games like Witcher 3 and FF15, which are both relatively flat.
@Monkey_Balls
> Spurs
> Horse vest
> Horse-ear hat
> Horse shoe belt buckle
I think this game is about horses, guys.
They're certainly pushing the horsey theme. I'm guessing we speak to those guys to kit out our steeds, possibly upgrading our travel speed and inventory? Link has been seen riding horses with and without kit (saddle, saddlebags, etc). There might be more to it though: fast travel is available which could make horse riding redundant, and Nintendo are obviously keen to show off the horses so maybe they are important to the story somehow? Feeding and drinking them could be cool... or annoying. I can imagine leaving a horse to die because I've ran out of apples. Wait, apples! So that's what they're for!
That screenshot looks awesome. Best one yet. I like how vertical a lot of the landscape is. Massive change from games like Witcher 3 and FF15, which are both relatively flat.
Exactly. And even games like Xenoblade Chronicles are just flay plains layered atop one another. Zelda can set itself apart by having interesting mountains and, yes, 'verticality.' The paraglider and climbing mechanic only play into that.
While that will all make it the best of the open world games, that isn't exactly a tall mountain to summit — pardon the pun. There has to be some reason to go places beyond just 'you can' and 'to find better gear.'
Come to think of it, this game is pretty obviously running with some RPG systems in place. I wonder if enemies will have levels that will scale, or just exist as static entities like red bokoblin, blue bokoblin, etc.
Those screenshots truly make me excited, BotW truly looks wonderful. I hope we have some of Monolith Soft's influence in the exploration part - I'd love just exploring Hyrule and getting lost while at it!
So many characters! And Zelda! And full voice acting! And dramatic story! Did you see that part when alleged Zelda was crying on Link; it made me feel something just from a trailer! Just wait til the game! And it's less than two months away!!!!!!!! AAAAHH!!!
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Topic: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
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