Zelda BOTW, the things they don't tell you about *Edition*

A lot of people are overlooking the games flaws just because the game is open.

The flaws it face, many other open world games also face.

Poor pacing, the game is slow and has no sense of urgency or pacing really.

Poor soundtrack compared to past Zelda's, barely much of a soundtrack at all. Zelda is known for fully orchestrated epic soundtracks, but in this game? Just piano chimes here and there as I run across a vast empty field.

One thing that helps more focused games succeed is that the stakes are set and you a feel a sense of urgency. Yeah, being able to run vast distances of land is cool but not when the story/plot feel like they are not to be taken seriously.

Tight structured core level design is what makes Zelda, they were like "oh people just want a really big map".....yeah.

Examples:

These themes help build emotion, something this lifeless Zelda BOTW lacks in droves. This game isn't epic, I have over 30 hours and have been waiting for this game to finally pick up...it hasn't.

The tedious nature of having to navigate the menu and "craft" for no reason aside from just because.

Weapon durability, destroying the sense of achievement obtaining a nice weapon knowing it"ll just break.

The controls are extremely clunky, X to run and B to jump? Or having to pause the game to swap out a weapon because it broke. If any other game had done that they would have gotten decreased scores.

Long MMO like stretches of running from point A to B.

Weak voice acting.

Poor enemy variety.

Half assed dungeons (if we can even call them dungeons).

There are many things that make Zelda....Zelda and BOTW lacks it and just gives us a nice open world but lacks heart.

This is the result of a heavily westernized, think Witcher or Skyrim type Zelda. The game offers a big open world at the expense of everything else. If you want a big open world just play an MMO, because that exactly what this feels like. MMORPGs have little plot and barely any urgency to the player, which is what this game feels like.

The Zelda name carried a 8/10 game to a 10/10, any other game does this crap and it gets lit up.

As wide as OCEAN AS DEEP AS A PUDDLE = Breath of The Wild

You are welcome.

Your saltiness over this game knows no bounds and is really entertaining to watch.

This is, what, the second or third time you've made this thread?

@brah4ever: Have you played it?

ITT: Things I don't like about Zelda. Just go talk to yourself in a corner, and you'll be up one person interested in your blah blah blah.

Yeah, and I can post the box with my name on it if you want.

@brah4ever: So it's still a solid 8/10?

Realistically, yeah.

Taking off the fanboy goggles it definitely is, things this game gets a free pass for other games get criticized for.

But it's Zelda, so hey.

So it has a few faults... doesn't stop it being utterly fantastic.

Funny, no one is disputing Horizon's high scores. What is everyone so threatened by? Are you upset that the thing you wished death upon did well and now you can't handle being wrong. Even worse, you're creating excuses for why you'll miss out on one of the best games of the year.

Threatened gamer is threatened.

Miss out?

I have the game, I'm just not a blind Zelda fanboy and clearly see where the game is lacking.

I have to agree with the "Poor enemy variety" the enemy variety in the game is a joke,it sucks.

Nintendo didn't have the time to create more...................

Well, the first statement isn't necessarily 'flaws', more your opinion and preference.

I really love the music in Breath of the Wild. I love that it doesn't betray the sound design. It creates for a more immersive experience which I prefer considering the expanse of the game world. If BOTW did have a overworld theme akin to past Zelda games, you'd get tired of it awfully quickly because BOTW's game world is far bigger than its predecessors.

The soundtrack is more like a complimentary accent to the environments for me. It does a beautiful job punctuating the moments of expansive beauty the game offers.

I don't think the game has poor enemy variety either. In fact, it kind of has the same amount of enemies as previous Zelda games. You might even have more in this one. I take it you are still in the early stages and only fighting Moblins and Keese.

Yeah, I'm not in agreement at all with your post. The amount of attention this game has been given is crazy. You can clearly see they slaved over every little detail. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVPXKdSEGNQ (Please note that this video has nothing to do with Horizon Zero Dawn which I believe looks like an incredibly fun game. But it is a great showcase for the attention and thought put into BOTW).

"X to run and B to jump? Or having to pause the game to swap out a weapon because it broke."

See these points are even false, like... The default control scheme has B to run and X to jump. :P

You don't need to pause the game to change weapons. There's a persistent hot-key menu (that stops the action, yes) but keeps the screen alive.

I do not want the bias against this game to hurt what could potentially be a tremendous thing for the open world genre.

Then why did you confuse the buttons? X is to jump and B is to sprint.

It was a typo, either way.

You and I both know the controls come off as a bit odd there.

Or proof that you're lying and slipped up. No one who's played the game for a good amount of time would confuse the controls.

He wouldn't know that because he hasn't really played the game.

There is a option in the game to change those.................if you like.

I didn't like X to jump and B to sprint....... it feels a bit weird.

@AtariKidX:

It should make more sense, really. 'B' is located at the bottom of the controller, and thus acts as your feet. 'X' is situated at the top of the controller and represents verticality.

A lot of the complaints I hear about BOTW are how it's not like other Zelda games......and that's true it deviates from the formula a bit, but we should be wanting Nintendo to evolve and improve upon the franchise. If they made it too similar to other Zeldas we would be complaining about that.

In fact a lot of Zelda's try something new.

Wind Waker was complete make over from the n64 zeldas.

Zelda 2 went a more castlevania route over the original.

The n64 zeldas went 3D

Unless all Zeldas should be like the first and a Link to the past

1) The game's pacing is what you make of it. A "normal" playthrough that balances Main Quest, extra Quests, Exploration, crafting and Puzzle solving will never be poorly paced as all of these things are fun to do.

2) Thats not a flaw genius. Its an artistic choice.

3) The sense of urgency here isn't cranked to 11 by design. You wake up as Ganon is about to regain hs full power, but given no timestamp so you can actually go and discover about the world and yourself first. Again, not a flaw. Its actually the best way to approach story urgency in an open world game.

4) The giant map is tightly designed all around lol

5) There is a reason for you to craft. Its mandatory for optimal traversal, in game economics and survival in battle. Saying crafting is in BoTW just cuz is very stupid lol

6) The sense of achievement this game offers comes in the form of actually experiencing it, learning its secrets and finding all of its details. Not the grind for the weapon with the best stat on. The type of progression that always renders 95% of all equipment useless in other games.

7) You dont pause to swap weapons. You literally just tap the D-pad to switch to the next one.

8) Only reason its a long stretch of walking from A to B is if you have not explored that area yet. If so, there are a million things to find out and do along the way. So no.

9) Its average with a few dodgy characters. Not even remotely close to being a deal breaker

10) What the f*** are you talking about? Its the Zelda game with the largest collection of enemies LOL. Stop lying. Game has 83 wild creature types and 161 enemy types!!

11) There is more dungeon material in this game than any other Zelda game. Its just delivered differently to accomodate the nomadic nature of the game.

12) Lacks heart means absolutely nothing. Game has charm. Game has style. Game has amazing mechanics and systems. Game has wonderfull NPCs and locations. Game has a deeper combat system than before and more content than ever. Game has clever puzzles to solve.

13) This game feels nothing like Witcher 3 or Skyrim. Its very much a Japanese game in its flavouring.

14) Your attempt to prove this has been terrible. So no. Try again

15) No. YOU'RE welcome

Yup, sounds like every other Nintendo game in the past at least 10 years. They are never anything groundbreaking or even remotely perfect, yet for some reason they always get perfect scores. On the other hand, Sony and Microsoft games always get nitpicked for the smallest things and get brought down. The simple fact that a masterpiece and a unique game like Last of Us gets an 8 at gamespot tells the whole story.

I know they do it to please the fanboys, but its really annoying to have this in gaming.

2017 sucks. We live in a world where Thunderdrone apologizing for a Nintendo game isn't even apologizing, it's genuinely correct.

This guy hasn't played breath of the wild lol. Okay the jealous is getting seriously out of hand.

Did I just imagine Sony's AMAZING year of exclusives? No you're right, clear Nintendo bias. Sony didn't just get a slew of 9's for excellent games. High scores for Nintendo are only out of clear bias. High scores for Sony are them being correct and fair.

And seriously The Last of Us....why don't you go help Elle on another plank of wood...because that was just the best gameplay ever....

BTW Persona 5 will score a ten here on gamespot. I can feel it in the air...and it's a great time to own a PS4. But sure...hate on Zelda because you can't play it.

WHY OH WHY DOESN'T ONE MACHINE HAVE ALL THE GURMS I WUNTZ!!!!!

lol the hate is real here

How many threads on Zelda have you made?

What is going to happen Champ? :(

I think I need a hug today.

brah4ever for salty president!

I can only imagine the amount of energy it takes to devout all your free time creating negative threads about a game you don't like, even though in the eyes of most professional reviewers and gamers is one of the best games of all time.

True hero right there.

Oh great! Another brah4ever "Stop praising anything from modern Nintendo" thread.

All valid complaints and I agree with them but even so, it's not stopping me from enjoying the game. As far as I know you can't remap buttons which sucks but at least you could switch the jump button which made it feel better for me. There's actually a "master" weapon that I'm currently trying to obtain which will make the complaint of weapons breaking go away. Once you open up fast travel spots, it makes going from A to B less tedious but there's so many hidden stuff that comes along the way I try to canvas the land instead of fast traveling. I love discovering those damn korok seeds, hehe. I do agree with the lack of enemy variety and limited voice acting. It would've nice having everyone in this world have unique voices to add character, I wouldn't even mind if every other NPC has the same voice like in other open world games. I haven't visited a lot of dungeons but I wouldn't be surprised if they're half assed. And just like every other open world game, I like how I'm not forced or rushed and could play at my own pace. I haven't played a Zelda game in awhile so, yeah I'll take what they give me. While playing though, in the back of my mind I keep on thinking that this game could have been better if it was on a current spec or more powerful system, I think that could have added voice acting, more enemies, make dungeons more diverse, just more of everything. Oh well, it's good enough for me.

What makes TLOU unique?

Genuinely curious.

Nope, nothing wrong with modern Nintendo.

I'm serious I'm not a corporate ass kisser and criticize these companies you foam at the mouth to.

Champ you know the Zelda name carries an additional +1 to +2 points just for the name and the childhood memories people had playing OoT or ALTTP when they were 5 years old.

Nintendo didn't actually do anything new here, they just looked Elder of Scrolls and The Witcher and said let's make a Zelda game from these two games.

Let's ignore everything about the game because we can run forever and ever!!!! and if you hate on the game then "you have never played it!!!" Maybe I demand more from my games. It's called standards.

Honestly guys, what's so groundbreaking about BOTW? I'm playing it and Zomg, I can climb up rocks...."GOTY". But ermm... Let's ignore everything else this game does wrong...bbbut I can run a long the fields once again, forevwah and forevwahhh

So much for positive champ.

this guy totally stole my thread hype.

So this reception is nothing but a mass conspiracy? What about people who never played Zelda and are loving this one? Those are brainwashed?

Someone get Alex Jones on the phone. Reptilians must be behind this and we need a leader to gather al the woke brah4evers of the world.

#taketheredpill #wakeupsheeple

the controls are clunky and i hate spending 20 minutes just running across a generic open world (this isnt a knock to breath of the wild but to all open world games that do this, its why i prefer more linear adventures)

the older zeldas had a perfect blend of linearity with the illusion of being able to explore. Sorry im old school and i like the build up of having to get certain weapons and conquer certain dungeons, quests and temples in a specific order. The "do whatever you want" just isnt as satisfying to me. This is an unpopular opinion though.

I miss the music too but it kind of gives this game a certain atmosphere by having specific musical queues.

Overall BotW is like MGSV....they tried so hard to switch up the formula and i actually miss the old games better.

Glad they changed the formula. After 20 years it was getting old.

This actually an amazing comparison.

Skyward Sword sucked. It was fine before that.

People love any game, especially when it's new. It's called launch hype.

Once the honeymoon period ends, then that whole dynamic changes.

GTA IV, MGSV, and Skyward Sword all had raving reviews and once time passed and the games were looked objectively people were "wtf were we thinking". Breath of The Wild be among the games to join such a list.

More or less. It was more of the same but I can't say I was excited for the next Zelda any more. The dungeons being a slave to a specific items and the artificial roadblocks were just ugh.

It's not like Zelda games release every year or two, but yeah but copying western games and becoming a childs Witcher 3 was the way to go.

Gotcha bro

Haven't played it but from what I've seen and heard it's much closer to MGS V/Don't Starve than it is to the Witcher 3.

Skyward Sword was interesting but could have been better, atleast the game knows what is is.

BOTW is some sort of Witcher 3 clone.

So what are you complaining about? The possibility that the honeymoon phase is making people extra enthusiastic?

Are you seriously bothered by too much positivity? Is other people's enjoyment making you salty enough that you feel the need to fight the wave of "tainted" positivity with horseshit conspiracies and baseless accusations of fanboyism, just to feel cathartic? Over THIS? Over "too much positivity"?

lol ffs mate

Legend of Zelda was practically the original open-world game... Just like to point that out. Yes, I know said world was loaded frame by frame. So what.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultima_I:_The_First_Age_of_Darkness

Went stellar with A Link to the Past, peaked at its highest with Ocarina of Time, and left us with Wind Waker.

TP and SS were both weak compared to those 3 games. I did enjoy Link Between Worlds but it was so similar to Link to the Past, how can you not.

It has nothing to do with positivity.

It's more to do with people knocking other games for faults Zelda BOTW has but ignore because it's Zeldahhhh.

No way in hell is this game a 98/100 Metacritic.