What am I not getting about Zelda BOTW?

Borrowed my Brothers Wiiu to play zelda sat down for 5 hours and have not been drawn in at all. Is there a point when everything gets better? Its a big open empty world, hunt shrines and explore? Seriously this is it? I am shocked at how boring the first 5 hours have been.

This game is so riveting and I don't see how its humanly possible not to think this game is the best game ever created. It is flawless and a masterpiece of all masterpiece. I think it may just be you because its literally impossible not to love this game. Metacritic says so.

@Pedro: User reviews have it at a 8.3 now

@Advid-Gamer:The starting is a bit slow. Keep at it, you'll come around to it.

Because it's not that good, i don't know if the reviewers received money or what but the user's reviews were never masterpiece level.

I think 5 hours is enough to get a feel for the game. I doubt you'll like it by the sounds of it. Because yes, that is the main idea behind the game; exploring.

I disagree with the above statement that the game begins a bit slow. After an hour or so, you should have everything available to you. And during the interim, you get a lot of the freedom and gameplay that you experience after the first couple of hours.

FYI, I think the game is amazing. But each to their own.

Might just not be your thing, it happens. If you're not feeling it in 5 hours, you probably won't. Same happened with me and TW3, I forced 20 hours with that game and just never understood the hype.

Not sure what you mean about an empty world though.

Yup, no exaggeration, that's really it, and I played it for over 90 hours. I also had a conversation with my brother over the weekend since he's currently playing it, and he rated it as a 7 or 7.5 out of 10, and I can't disagree with him. If you like exploration and not being forced into anything, BotW will be enjoyable, but other than that, I'd say it's just an ok experience that's missing the charm of every other Zelda.

Or differing opinions. But hey.

I am a huge zelda fan, but I will admit the last zelda I enjoyed was windwaker and I know alot of people hated that one. I hated TLP and Skyward sword with a passion. I will say I dont hate BOTW Im going to give some more time, but I seriously expected to be wanting to continue to play all night, IM off work for the next few days.

For instance when I got Neir I has hooked and couldnt put it down till I beat the game, I didnt care to play as s9 so I googled the other endings, but the first playtru was fantastic and made me remember why I like to play video games,I expected the same here.

@Advid-Gamer: To be fair, it took a while before I got the whole 'OMG I can't stop playing this!' Feel from BotW. I believe that's also true for some others on this forum, like Conan.

With the amounts of 10's i find it hard to believe

@brenobnfm: did you find it hard to believe for The Last of Us?

@charizard1605 Yeah I wasn't dead hooked on it the first night, but I did like it a lot. I never felt bored in the first few hours, I'll say that.

No need to bullshit man.

The first 8-10 hours of that game is boring as sh*t! Once you get a few hearts/stamina containers, a few [GOOD] weapons, and skills.. and the dungeons/story opens up.. it actually becomes pretty damn fun.

I don't think TLoU is a 10/10 game myself, more like a 9/10, but at least it was the peak of it's genre, it still is, by far.

@OhSnapitz: cool, Im going to get back to it then.

I was being silly. The hype for the game is surreal. One of the main champions of the game on this forum embellished the shit out of this game. At the moment the game is receiving more accolades than it deserves and has been given more pardons because of its name. That is not to say the game is bad. I don't think its remotely bad. Its a great game but the fanaticism is legendary.

..don't give up on it. I'm a HUGE Nintendo critic (have been since the N64).. but BOTW is actually in my top ten favorite games of all-time. I sunk about 80 hrs into that thing and it gets MUCH better.

Well not every single person is going to enjoy any game on the same level, it happens with everything and anything. I honestly don't know why anyone would be at all surprised by this. Personally I absolutely loved the game.

@Advid-Gamer: go play cod bro.

@ConanTheStoner: BS? I'm not sure why you think that. You go shrine to shrine, collect 13 memories, and do 4 main dungeons. How you go about it is up to the player, but there isn't any sort of big change that happens, because you get all of your main items at the start of the game.

By 5 hours the game has a clear main goal you can start pursuing, so saying all there is to do is exploring is asinine. Not that exploring isn't the best part anyway, but you don't have to if you don't want.

I'm calling BS on this thread until proven otherwise. I wouldn't put it past the TC in question to shitpost about things he isn't actually playing.

I think it's great, but unless the end of the game is going to just be the best segment of any video game I've ever played or something crazy like that, it's going to end up being my least favorite 3D Zelda game. I can only kill the same mini-bosses so many times, I like to progress through games partly to see what happens, but I just don't get that with this game. After you beat a couple of Guardians, you pretty much know what happens and you can just go kill Gannon whenever you feel like it. I feel like I'm just hunting shrines for the hell of it now and I'll probably go ahead and keep acquiring new gear and upgrading it, even though there isn't really a good reason to keep doing so. The game is simply amazing early on when you haven't unlocked the map and don't have good gear, though. The first 30 or so hours are good enough that I couldn't imagine scoring the game lower than an 8, even though the game really loses steam in the end. That is a problem that pretty much every open world game has, really.

It took me nearly 20 hours to really get into it, and I can't say it ever really recovered from that early drag although I did end up thinking it is good, just not particularly great.

Yeah, the start is kinda meh, the game definitely picked up though after a bit. I do think the game's hook on me has waded though since I beat it. Don't know if I really have it in me to find all 120 shrines (I'm at 93 or 94), and f*** those 900 korok seeds; haven't even found 200 yet...

Overall great game, but I don't think I liked it quite as much as others, and there are definitely a handful of small issues that kind hamper the experience a bit.

maybe you just don't get it.

i'm like that with a lot of classic "masterpiece" music albums. i just dont like it or "get it".

don't worry about it. just move on to the next thing.

Yes, it is highly overrated. Great game with some pretty serious flaws. An 8/10 is a fair score for it. At no point during the game did I think it is one of the best I have ever played or that it deserves a 10/10.

Yeah it's the greatest game of all time with more 10/10's than any game in history. I loved every minute of it, the second Link walks out of the cave to the end is phenomenal. I don't see how people say it's slow going when you can literally explore for 10+ hours the plateau section alone and fine new and cool things, then it gets even better once you leave it, impossible but true.

Have some imagination and play around with the physics system and do crazy stuff the second you get given control of Link, take on the Guardians on the plateau with only 3 hearts and the basic pants and shirt. Finds ways around, above, through landscapes that aren't guided (not hows it's supposed to be done), find crazy things and try cooking them, explore what can be done with enemies, kill them in many many different ways.

From the second you get given control, the game is an amazing playground that you can do basically anything in.

The big difference is that The Witcher 3 doesn't play well. It's clunky and doesn't have the ability to draw gamers in who weren't already interested in open world RPGs. What makes Breath of the Wild so effective, though, and even if it's not your thing, you have to appreciate this aspect, it's a game of this size that has almost no problems. A game like Breath of the Wild has signaled to the rest of the industry that just because you have a massive game, it doesn't mean you have any excuse to have a wealth of bugs. Which has always been Nintendo's thing: their games just work, and now they've made a game of this size and proved that even gigantic open world games can function properly all the time (even the frame rate issues were taken care of within a month).

I wasn't enamored by the starting plateau. It was slow going and the "open world" simply made it take longer to get from point A to point B.

But then I got the paraglider and access to the real open world. From the hidden caves with powerful weapons to the surprising world bosses and terrifying guardians, I found myself drawn in by the game's depth. By the time I freed my first divine beast, I saw a game more immersive than Skyrim or Witcher 3.

The combat is reminiscent of Souls games, but executed by the merciful hand of Nintendo. The latter half of that statement stands as my biggest criticism of the game; after awhile you simply get too well prepared and skilled for the challenges that lie ahead. The hard mode DLC can't come soon enough, and I'm excited to play through the game once more. Furthermore, plowing through menus in order to cook food and mix potions isn't really my bag, but needing to do it in order to survive made the act far more consequential and rewarding. There are other small issues with pop-in and frame rate, but I could hardly notice them under this mountain of gold.

But I think what is truly striking about the game is how well it all integrates together. The horseback combat, perilous climbs, weapon balance and cycling, countless world puzzles, shrines, beasts, and mini-games amalgamate a new standard of open-world ARPGs in 2017 and beyond. The game engine's foundation is as solid and versatile as the genre has ever seen. Some games may do one or two things better, but Breath of the Wild offers consistent, high-quality variety across the board.

But is it a masterpiece? When taken as a whole, it is indeed worthy of such praise. It might not have stricken your particular fancy, but that doesn't stop the game from being a work of high art.

Clearly this type of game simply isn't ur thing. it's a type of game at the end of the day, even if it did score really well. It's like a gamer who dislikes FPS is made to play the best FPS EVER!!! Won't really make a difference to him or her.

@DJ-Lafleur: I'm at 3 Korok seeds. Didn't realise that there is 900.

I'm 40 hours or so into it and the novelty has worn off. I don't know if I can bring myself to slog through the rest of it. I've done about 40 shrines and collected tons of mushrooms. I've been sitting here all night debating if I should play it.

The more I think about it it's not really a Zelda game. I like the idea of lots of weapons but I miss the Zelda tropes like the ocarina AKA flute in earlier games. It doesn't have the regular dungeons all the previous games had.

Granted Nintendo did try something new. I like the climbing and exploration but it's just too different from traditional Zelda games.

The first 5-7 hours had me concerned, but after that I couldn't put the game down.

It's a great game and a huge time sink, but it's absolutely being overrated. There's no problem with people seeing this game as a 10/10, but frankly I don't buy the critical reception rating it as high as they are across the board.

There's a lot of problems and little issues that are simply glossed over.

If you're a boring player, BotW will strike you as boring. Use your imagination, try things that you think may work, and explore. The game wouldn't be half as interesting had Nintendo not allowed such dynamism between the player and the world to exist (through physics) and had instead had the world statically be there simply to reside in with objectives and enemies to fight, as nearly all open world games do. One of the best things I find about this Zelda is it constantly shatters my preconceived notions as to what constitutes this genre. No longer is open world merely a location, it has in itself become a mechanic based on a constant rule set the player can manipulate at will. Fire, water, wind, lightning, magnetism, stasis, momentum, or any such combination.

I don't mean any offense to the OP or anyone who puts down BotW, but you need to get creative and use your imagination while playing to come to understand why people are raving over it. I suspect part of the reason some don't get what makes this Zelda so great is it's so ingrained in them how restrictive open world games have been up to this point that they're still thinking within that box without even realizing it and "going through the motions" of that formula. BotW grants the player dominion over the world, it frees those binds and says, "try this!", oftentimes rewarding you. Combine this with Nintendo's proclivity for designing cute micro puzzles littered across the land (in place of the larger dungeons of past games, love it or hate it), and it's a recipe for fun that's continually engaging. Enemies, weapons, shrines, etc, while great, are ultimately complimentary to a core emergent foundation afforded by a brilliant physics engine that keeps things fresh the entire way through.

@Advid-Gamer: I'm sorry you're not into it. :/

It is one of my favorite Zelda games and the first in the 3D perspective to capture the magic of titles like Zelda (NES), Link's Awakening and Story of Seasons/Ages (Among some of my favorite Zelda games). I don't think it's perfect but it has me very excited for the future of the series; especially since I felt the series had lost its way.

There's an awful lot of narrative external to the video game, whether it is overrated because of its name or whether the potential flaws have been given a free pass. Personally, it does the game a disservice to read into this. While the game has very divisive decisions and ideas that I feel don't fully come together, I still feel that Breath of the Wild is a great thing for the open world paradigm and it delivers on the promise of a sandbox.

If it at all helps to change your perspective when you play, don't think of Breath of the Wild like the game's story. Open world games have a tendency to weigh heavily on a strict narrative as part of their game loop. While still giving player's choice, The Witcher 3 and Grand Theft Auto, for example use narrative and cut-scenes as a primary motivator to the player. Breath of the Wild doesn't really do this. The motivation for the player is in exploration and the game uses vertical space to show enticements in the distance to keep you on your feet and letting the game unfold on your terms. It helps that the systems in place have a great harmony akin to a Deus Ex or Thief title. You're going to be figuring out new applications for existing mechanics quite a bit.

It may just be that you prefer the approach The Witcher 3 takes to the genre; giving the player heavy contextualized purpose through its attentive and meaningful cut-scenes (and memorable characters), with a paradigm that keeps the action perpetuated thanks to the use of map markers and guide lines. This approach revolves around starting a story, guiding the player through the gameplay path of the story and then rewarding the player with a cool resolution to the story. This was the primary appeal of that game for me.

Breath of the Wild doesn't really its context in this way. Contextual elements are way more passive because the game is less about the start and end of a quest and more about the bits in the middle. I found myself coming away from Breath of the Wild with more personal stories to tell than I had with other titles and I think the sandbox nature of the game really helps.

Hopefully this helps you seeing the game differently as you play it and maybe you might get some enjoyment out of it. If not, hopefully something else this year will tickle your fancy the same way Nioh has. :)

It's ok to disagree.

Me personally, I can point aspects where the game could be better/different, but it's also true that this is my favourite open world game by far. So a 10/10 is a completely fair score, Imo.

Ha this happens to everyone I'm sure. For me it's The Last of Us and The Witcher 3. I actually enjoyed The Last of Us to some extent but I dont understand why is got such high praise. It's a solid 7/10 at most. Witcher 3 is so boring I can't bring myself to play anymore.. I only played for a short amount of time and maybe one day I'll give it another go..

But zelda, now I think thats an amazing game, I was into it immediately and at no point have found it boring, a chore or annoying. It's probably the best game I've played . Also, when discussing this game with friends it's awesome hearing what different things we experiend, how we have all completed sections in different ways etc. Its these different experiences that makes the game feel so open, almost like I could be playing a different game to my friends.

The sheer freedom and exploration elements make it head n shoulders above the other 3d zeldas for me. It helps that I never have been a big fan of 3d Zelda games, because they are

A: too rigid for their own good
B: have puzzles idiots can solve
C: have more linear dungeons than their 2d counterparts
D: have shallow combat

Now Breath of the Wild's combat still has its own issues, and I'm not exactly going to put Zelda up there with Spacechem or Braid as far as puzzle games I love, hell The Swapper is much better, but a lot of the puzzle designs are more inventive and better thought out as a whole than the usual shit in Zelda, and spreading them into shrines works as a good payoff to exploring that setting. That' it's not bustling with cities and random people talk to isn't some detriment to me that it is to other people. I too quite enjoyed the world of The Witcher 3, but your interplay in that world is limited as ****. The game is as static as you can get. The game's solved one of the largest issues the franchise has always had, which is that items you get in dungeons are only ever fucking good in those dungeons, where as a bulk of the items you get in Breath of the Wild have more interesting interplay with the environment, in combat spaces, with weather, and in how they are paired together. In contrast, which boggles my mind that anyone misses the 3d zelda structure so much for this, the items were glorified keys to a lock.

The stupid spiny top shit in twilight princess has one purpose. When you see a rail, you hit a button, and it goes. Hookshots only really work on a designated marker. Stasis n shit has far more application in the wild, ditto the leaf with how it elevates from fire (to give yourself some height either for an attack or to cover some distance, or what have you), to blowing your makeshift rafts (because objects respond to wind in a manner that is controllable for the player), and all that jazz.

And weapon durablity? Eh it's such an innocuous element of the game. I don't think it needs to be in breath of the wild, not because it bogs down my fun, but more so because it's not even something the game is balanced around. By the time you are doing a proper dungeon, you already have enough of an arsenal that the weapon breaking is a non issue.

It also helps that I prefer a sandbox game versus what an open world game.

there's something great there, you just have to find it, the game doesn't hold your hand at all, it demands exploration

@Jshoelace: I don't know how much you've played of the Witcher 3, but the firs hours for me are some of the worst I've played on a high scoring open world gar. But overall I love it. Though I can see how some struggle to pass the opening.

It's overrated but still very good. Felt the same way about Witcher 3. Open world games have lost some of the charm they once had because the market is just saturated with them.

@jg4xchamp: The weapon durability does a good job of balancing the ability of 'gaming' the open nature of the game and obtaining a strong weapon in an early setting while still letting the player use that weapon. It's a good way of giving the player a reward but balancing that reward too. The flip side is doing things like TW3 where you are locked out of using said weapon until you level up high enough to use it. I would love to see the promised hard-mode do away with the time-freeze that occurs when using the hotkey menu though. I think that would greatly benefit Breath of the Wild.

Because everyone told you it was good, and it's not that good.