I don't know if I've ever had such a big difference in my first 50 hours with a game versus the rest. I was absolutely star struck with how much fun I was having with the game at first. I loved the path to Zora's domain and the whole storyline there. I loved all of my initial exploration. I loved the Gerudo area (especially the stealth dungeon). I explored Mount Lanayru just messing around, and had one of the most jaw dropping experiences in recent memory (caught me extremely off guard), then something similar at Lake Hylia. I enjoyed the majority of those early parts, and most of the free-roaming and figuring out the world. Then after Death Mountain and I saw nearly everything the world had to offer, my enjoyment fell straight off a cliff. I started realizing the tedium that every single action imposed on the player, and the limitations of the game's mechanics and combat systems compounded my negative responses.
One of the common early praises was how you could seemingly perform any interaction with any object. Sure, you can see an enemy at the bottom of grassy hill, roll a bomb down the hill, light the grass next to you on fire with a flaming arrow, then use a leaf to blow the fire down the hill, lighting the bomb and causing it to explode.........but why would I set up this scenario for 3 minutes when I could just go dance around it for 5 seconds and kill it in normal combat. That's how almost every "unique environmental" interaction goes. Most cool maneuvers make you less efficient for the sake of 'freedom', even sliding down a hill which degrades you shield. Deflect lasers with a perfectly timed shield parry will NEVER get old though.
There are some phenomenal aspects to the game, but some of the glaring flaws that make me believe that a lot of people praising the open world don't have that much experience with open world games. It doesn't even top GTA San Andreas in that respect in my eyes. The initial sense of adventure, however, is probably the best that I've ever experienced outside of new MMOs.
Lastly, the game is absolutely gorgeous in handheld (with randomly awful performance issues such as in Kakariko Village) but looks like shit on the big screen.
One of the common early praises was how you could seemingly perform any interaction with any object. Sure, you can see an enemy at the bottom of grassy hill, roll a bomb down the hill, light the grass next to you on fire with a flaming arrow, then use a leaf to blow the fire down the hill, lighting the bomb and causing it to explode.........but why would I set up this scenario for 3 minutes when I could just go dance around it for 5 seconds and kill it in normal combat. That's how almost every "unique environmental" interaction goes. Most cool maneuvers make you less efficient for the sake of 'freedom', even sliding down a hill which degrades you shield. Deflect lasers with a perfectly timed shield parry will NEVER get old though.
There are some phenomenal aspects to the game, but some of the glaring flaws that make me believe that a lot of people praising the open world don't have that much experience with open world games. It doesn't even top GTA San Andreas in that respect in my eyes. The initial sense of adventure, however, is probably the best that I've ever experienced outside of new MMOs.
Lastly, the game is absolutely gorgeous in handheld (with randomly awful performance issues such as in Kakariko Village) but looks like shit on the big screen.