Does Breath of the Wild do open world best?

I happened to pop the game into my Switch today, just to play around with it for a few minutes. I immediately remembered why I loved this game so much. I could easily get lost and find something interesting to do. It happens naturally in this game. It’s something that a game like Witcher doesn’t do as well in my opinion. Where a lot of open world games give you direction, Breath of the Wild draws you in through sheer curiosity. I don’t find many games that do that, with Skyrim being the last game I could think of. What do you think, SW? Does Breath of the Wild do open world best?

Nope. Its barren and the only thing you do is find shrines, kill guardian. Got bored by 3rd guardian.

I got bored with BotW. At a certain point I felt no need to continue exploring and hunting down all the shrines.

The side content in Witcher 3 felt much more meaningful. The monsters had a connection to the locations you were exploring, background stories, lore implications, etc... That's what made me want to explore the world.

Probably. I’m currently playing through the game for a second time on the Switch and I still find wandering around in the game to be so interesting and enjoyable.

I haven't played much of BOTW, but I watched my cousin play it a fair bit... and to me it looks abit empty. I don't doubt that there are heaps of interesting things to do, but it seems like you spend most of the game jogging through empty fields.

I think Witcher 3 is still the benchmark.

I wouldn't say best, they did follow a lot of open world trappings that we've seen a dozen times, and had tons of room to add onto their versions and didn't do it so much.

I've collected everything in Open Worlds, but nothing pained me more than collecting Korok Seeds and finding Shrines. Most games feel like sparadic random placements, but if you do main story you tend to be within vicinity, especially doing side content.

I think foundation is laid for a potential masterpiece level game, but they're gonna have to do a lot more.

Pros

-Almost nothing feels copy pasted

- Freedom to do any order, including going straight to the end boss, climb anything, interact with anything

-An artistic triumph

- Leveling up doesn't feel like grinding at any point

- Creativity through the buthole, not a patch of land feels wasted

- Practically no bugs on launch

- Mostly excellent DLC, barring "advantage" items

- A well told, not in your face, it's there if you want it story

- Horse mounts feel like more an actual horse, which many games really don't do well

Cons

- You can just abuse the shit of out consumables that make leveling up harts and armor upgrades almost pointless

- Weapon breakage doesn't create interesting strategy, it messes up the flow of combat constantly pausing

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Overall, maybe. Possibly. Certainly makes Bethesda and Ubisoft's attempt comparatively embarrassing.

I'm amazed Assassins Sheet is scoring so high coming out after BOTW, shit should be slaughtered.

My biggest critique of the game is also its greatest asset: not having a directed story, which also happened to be the permission slip to just do whatever you wanted and not feel guilty about it.

@REVOLUTIONfreak: I agree. I'm not sure I can say it "does it best" because the thing that stands out and makes it special is also its worst point depending on your mood or what you want from an adventure game at the time.

Possibly, it's the best one I've played so far anyway.

I don't know about best, but it does it REALLY well. It's got a tremendous sense of exploration and the locales are really unique. Everything from giant statues to imposing mazes, there's always something of awe to check out. There's nothing like looking out toward the horizon and seeing a giant fucking dragon.

Some Japanese devs don't do open worlds all that successfully, but Nintendo knocked it out of the park in my opinion.

It's most definitely one of the best. It's between BotW and Witcher 3.

I'd say that it's equal best with The Witcher 3.

They both focus on different things.

BOTW has one of the most interactive and immersive open worlds ever made, where you've got this unbounded sense of exploration.

The Witcher 3 was brilliant in a different way, adding unprecedented character and storytelling to every environment.

From a gameplay standpoint, BOTW does open-world best.

But from a narrative standpoint, not really.

Botw is boring, empty and the weapons break every swing with no sense of accomplishment in the world.

Once red dead 2 come outs BofW will look like a bacteria compared to red dead 2. Witcher 3 will look like a fly.

If players like its world? Sure. Me? I like open-world that sort of mimics the real world. So, many of BotW's mechanics wouldn't work for me.

Nope. It's easily The Witcher 3.

@Cloud_imperium: I’d say they nail different aspects. The game mechanica of TW3 are very meh but the writing, lore and atmosphere are all top notch. BOTW’s game mechanics are top notch but the writing is non-existent.

As other have mentioned, it really depends on what you want from the game whatever you prefer TW3 or BOTW...

One thing is for sure though, when Bethesda releases fo5 or The next elderscrolls I hope to god they either have upped their game a LOT or they get crushed by press, the bar has been raised and TBH I ain’t sure Bethesda have what it takes anymore...

I mean who want to play another buggy mess of a open world game in a world where giants like TW3 and BOTW exists?

No. its STALKER shadow of chernoboyl.

I like open world that doesnot force on you. that doesnot offer timeless traveling from point A to point B. what Stalker did was truely something unique. it was sandbox game but not fully open world.

game worlds like gta, far cry, assassins creed, witcher 3 only involve travelling from point A to point B. with many boring sidequest as a reuslt these games get boring very very fast.

games like STALKER, Crysis 1, Deus Ex, doesnot. and soon Metro Exodus will fall in this category.

Semi open world games are best.

Yeah? Like what? People always claim that there's so much to do and it's so super interesting but they never actually share what's so interesting. Maybe your bar for interesting is just very low. So please tell.

Indeed. The bar has been raised by Ninty and have yet to be surpassed.

NO!

strictly speaking on the open world element part of the game: its certainly one of the best.

a lot of other developers try to control the open world aspect in some way but nintendo just really embraced it. a basic example is the approach to the start. the game spends some time letting you play around with the rules with the game in a more confined space (relatively speaking) then just opens everything up. it shows you where the end game is and doesnt put some stupid rule in place that stops you from going to it. it also gives you a recommended direction to go in then lets you do whatever you want. it's very morrowind-esque and thats a very good thing.

the other thing is that nintendo just turned it into a big playground. the basic example is having to mark things on the map yourself. it makes you think and gets you more involved in the world. you need to look at it more, figure out how you are going to get somewhere. do you have enough stamina to climb that hill? do you have potions to deal with the heat? is lightening coming? and so on. its a big world with rules that keep the player constantly engaged.

i mean some of the story telling they did in BOTW was very elegant. the map itself tells its own story and the main story fleshes it out which is also a very nice approach to story telling in games.

a lot of other developers treat the open world just as a means of travelling from one quest to the next. its a linear design philosophy applied to a game with a big map. they dont really think about what they can do with that big map. they also really dont trust either the player or their own systems in the game so they keep a tighter grip on the player.

The interaction is good, but it was very repetitive.

You can argue skyrim is "copy paste" in many places... but at least it had more variety in themes, enemies and you had pleanty of places to plunder.

Somehow I didn't find doing wind-jump puzzles, or rolling rocks down cliffs, or pickup up every rock to be... very ... interesting... at all.

Whereas I lost interest and forced myself to finish BOTW. It isn’t all that interesting a world imo. Witcher 3 beats it easily imo.

Multiple Sandbox design of Metro Exodus will surpassed it easily.

or if we are talking about full open world games than Rage 2 will also surpassed it.

I like it more than witcher 3, the story is too force fed in witcher, its a big open world but it doesnt feel like it sometimes. Botw was the more enjoyable experience imo, also to much text box's in witcher, many times I wanted the characters to shut up

no there is now a metric TON of games out that are far more open world then these games are, not even remotely close

As far as the open-world goes I feel BoTW is easily one of the best examples on how to do it right. It doesn't feel barren and you get the feel that the world was crafted with a lot of care. Not a fan of the weapon-breaking system though.

EDIT: I also wanted to add that this is the first open-world game that made me want to turn off the mini-map and just immerse myself into the game's world without gluing my eyes to the tiny map in the corner. Best decision ever.

Easily. There’s no open world game so polished and with such intricate physics systems. Plus, the total and complete freedom of movement where you can climb and reach any place you see is incredible. It’s no where near barren if you like adventure and discovering.

GTA 3 and Shenmue 1 have the best open worlds so far imo.

To me the open world approach on BotW is the best yet to date. I love to do trekking in real life and the way that world works is to this date the best in capturing that feeling.

I'm hoping RDR2 pushes that even further.

There are better. But it’s certainly good, just unfortunate that it sacrifices quality dungeons in exchange.

Horizon and MGSV come immediately to mind, while I’m more of the mind that Zelda is on the inFamous:SS tier (good for the time, but long-term it won’t be considered among the best).

How?

There's nothing in BotW, so no. Shenmue II and the Witcher III do open worlds best, imo.

Nah, The Witcher 3 is.

@Renegade_Fury: hey Renegade, was playing Yakuza Kiwami 2. I won the first two championships of the Grand Prix haha. This game is so funny.

@osan0: well said, that's more in line with how I feel about the game.

@SolidGame_basic: Yeah, it's hilarious. Cabaret Grand Prix is my favorite mini game in the series, even more so than karaoke, and no joke, I was probably more hyped for its return and being a sequel to Y0's cabaret storyline than going through the main game's plot, lol.

No, TW3 is a great RPG, not a great open world game.

Even Assassin's Creed Odyssey beats TW3 as an open world game.

Uh, ok? Genre qualifications are probably the least interesting game related subjects to me, especially when people treat them like taxonomy debates. If you can trot around a little open space, that's good enough for me.

Trotting around space doesn't make for a good open world game.

Good open world games rely on good systems, TW3 barely has it, and really the open world is a set up for the story in TW3, not a real gameplay element.

I guess you didn't read what I wrote the first time, so I'll write it again: Genre qualifications are probably the least interesting game related subjects to me. There are no real rules to any of this, as it's all arbitrary. Case in point, I can call Yakuza open world too, just as easily as I can categorize it under Action Adventure, Beat 'em up, JRPG, or even all of the above.

So yeah, I'll be continuing to call the Witcher III one of the best open world games, and my favorite of the gen, no less.

see Crysis 1 and STALKER.

also having multiple sandbox is much better than fully one big open world.

also zelda is childish game anyways.

Yes.

Pros:

- BotW's mechanics are so robust and the world so detailed and reactive that almost any gameplay scenario you imagine can actually happen.

- The progression system and exploration feels far more organic and rewarding than most other open-world games (though it is easy to become quite overpowered.)

- Most roadblocks found in the world can be overcome through sheer ingenuity (e.g. Don't have the proper clothes to survive in a snowy area? Equip a fire weapon. Don't have enough stamina to climb this cliff? Burn the grass around you to create updrafts for your paraglider. etc.)

- Traversal is way more fun and varied then most other fantasy open-world games. It makes me miss mechanics like climbing and shield surfing when I play something like Horizon or TW3.

- BotW is one of the few open world games that lives up to the genre's name, being quite literally an open world. From the moment you've left the tutorial area, the entire world is your oyster; all of the content in the game is accessible to you in whatever order you choose to do it in. Being able to traverse the map that freely makes your adventure through Hyrule feel much more liberating and personal.

- The game is aesthetically pleasing in every sense of the term. The Ghibli-esque, cel-shaded, artstyle manages to be visually stunning, despite not being made for the most powerful hardware ever.

Cons:

- The narrative in this game is virtually nonexistent (which could be a blessing or a curse, depending on how you look at it.)

- The sidequests are sort of hit or miss, as you could either end up with an amazing quest like the Tarrey Town questline or Kass missions or just a dull "collect 10 apples" quest. There are definitely some great and memorable ones, but many of them feel like filler.

- The Divine Beasts were a letdown and ultimately felt like an afterthought.

BotW presents a sublime open-world achievement brimming with creativity, detail, and polish. It has its drawbacks, but, ultimately, playing BotW felt like witnessing an open-world renaissance: a game that manages to tower over a sea of other games in a genre that feels far too much like a dime a dozen in today's gaming landscape.

It really depends on what you are looking for in open world games. I personally love it the most, but I enjoy wandering and the lonely feeling the game has to it. Other might prefer games with a ton of NPCs and quests. It really comes down to personal preference.

Sounds like someone has to express their maturity insecurities in the most obnoxious way possible.

Yes. It's top of the class until otherwise dethroned