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[I collect VHS tapes]

just beat BOTW, thought I'd share my thoughts while watching the credits

I should get it out of the way and say I thought the game was great

I honesty couldn't relate to many of the complaints I heard prior to giving the game a go

I know a lot of people have issues with the weapon durability. I thought weapon durability was handled wonderfully. having weapons that break makes finding new weapons actually something to get excited about. much better than simply getting the best end game weapon(s) and using 1-2 weapons for the remainder of the game. weapon durability forced me to strategize when to use what weapons, prioritizing the better weapons for harder enemies. resource gathering with weapons that break can get old, but you can get weapons that are well suited for that purpose that have a ton of durability and the issue becomes moot once you get the master sword

I'm slightly torn about the game being open world. I don't think there was anything inherently bad about the game being open world. I thought flavor wise, open world worked out very well for a Zelda title. The game was gorgeous and legitimately fun exploring new areas. My criticism here is that there seemed to very little incentive to actually explore. Often I'd find myself accomplishing what felt like an epic task only to be rewarded with revealing a shrine or 50 rupees. Outside of the barbarian armor, all the armor I ended up using the majority of the game I got from either purchases through NPCs or the Champion's tunic which is pretty much given to you as part of the story.

The lack of any sort of real reward for exploring made me sorta beat the game sooner than I originally anticipated (my playtime was roughly 60 hours).

Lastly, some more enemy diversity would be nice. Lynels were always a pleasure to fight. Felt sorta silly that you could easily beat Guardians, who are supposed to be some of the toughest enemies in the game, completely naked with a rusty shield just by parrying. Getting through the castle felt like a breeze because of that. That one tough Lynel you run into before the final boss fight was a nice challenge and honestly felt harder than the final boss fight.

Overall the game was great. I had a lot of fun and I look forward to seeing where BOTW 2 lands. I'm not going to rank it against other Zelda titles but I will say this: a good Zelda game always gave me a sense of magic while playing. This game definitely delivers there, although I did feel diminishing returns after about 50 hours or so.

haven't decided whether I'm going to give it a go in Master Mode yet. hard to really justify doing so with the back log I currently have.

 

[Robb]

It’s one of my favorite Zelda games. I didn’t mind the weapon durability either, but I do think the menu/item management can be improved a lot. Changing gear etc., especially clothing, could be better. And yeah, enemy variety can definitely be improved. I’d also prefer more standard themed dungeons with unique bosses over the divine beasts.

There’s probably a lot more I’d like to see improved, but it’s been a while since I played it by now. I’m going to replay it when we get a solid date for the sequel - which I can’t wait to play!

 

[Banjo64]

I liked it all. I definitely think the sequel could be elevated even higher if they address the most obvious fan requests: add dungeons instead of Devine beasts, more towns and side quests and have another main quest instead of shrines. I agree that the weapon durability is fine. They definitely should have some lengthy, difficult end game quest line in the next game that rewards you with an unbreakable Biggoron Sword.

 

[Kev Kev]

Best game ever

 

[Scotty W]

Best game ever

Second best

 

[Dream-Knife]

The exploration is great, my problem was with the lack of a story and the copy/paste feeling of temples.

I feel like both Xenoblade 2 and SMT 5 did the exploration with a story much better. While both of these titles reduced the environmental freedom compared to BOTW, the story and focus more than made up for it.

 

[I collect VHS tapes]

Something oddly addictive about this game

started up master mode after telling myself I would play other games before coming back to this

btw what sort of sick joke is this? Black lynel at the great plateau 5 mins into game? They weren’t kidding around

 

[TheGodfather07]

Yeah I loved it too. Only real complaints were boring shrines. you get like 10 of them that are the exact same thing. Also, no proper traditional dungeons. They are one of the best things about the zelda franchise and need to be reintroduced in the sequel.

 

[OldBoyGamer]

I was shocked by how much I fell in love with it. My only criticism 2 years on is that I would love to play it on a more powerful console. Now that I’ve moved to next gen, the 4K visuals and 60FPs makes it hard to return to 30FPS.

 

[carlosrox]

Was just playing this again earlier tonight. After 760ish hours and beating the game twice, I'm now off and on playing through a 3 heart run. The game continues to be pure magic.

 

[NikuNashi]

An average Zelda game. Lack of real underground dungeons, repetative looking bosses, divine beasts having no atmosphere and the biggest kicker, not being able to explore Hyrule after vanquishing Gannon. Like I said, average.

 

[Vagswarm]

Good to hear. This is one of those games yet to be played on the re-backlog. Played it up until the desert area on the Wii U then got bored 'cause I couldn't advance anywhere.

Usually when everyone is raving it's for good reason, so I'll have to give it another go on the Switch some time soon.

 

[lostinblue]

I know a lot of people have issues with the weapon durability. I thought weapon durability was handled wonderfully. having weapons that break makes finding new weapons actually something to get excited about. much better than simply getting the best end game weapon(s) and using 1-2 weapons for the remainder of the game. weapon durability forced me to strategize when to use what weapons, prioritizing the better weapons for harder enemies. resource gathering with weapons that break can get old, but you can get weapons that are well suited for that purpose that have a ton of durability and the issue becomes moot once you get the master sword

Didn't bother me either.

It was clearly by design, to make people use whatever was at hand. And it worked.

 

[Coolwhhip]

I liked it, but it did have many flaws. I finished it at a super low % and never looked back. If it had something similar to quests and achievements like in World of Warcraft I would have probably done a lot more side crap.

 

[arvfab]

I was happy once I was done with it. Had to cheat to have unbreakable weapons, otherwise I would have stopped playing it. Worst Zelda (if you count it as a Zelda game) IMHO.

 

[Kenpachii]

Maybe picking up the extra challenges from the dlc is worth it if you liked the game but yea i agree with the OP on the other parts.

The lack of actual rewards is what made the exploring kinda pointless. getting a few rupee's and another orb is getting stale fast after u hit a certain stage.

 

[Woodchipper]

I still haven’t finished it. I love the world and the atmosphere, and the art design is top notch as with most Nintendo exclusives. Not a huge fan of the weapon durability, but I think that has more to do with my lack of creativity/skills than anything.

First Zelda I’m playing, and Switch is the first Nintendo console I’ve owned since the NES I had as a kid, so I can’t compare it to anything really.

 

[kingpotato]

haven't decided whether I'm going to give it a go in Master Mode yet. hard to really justify doing so with the back log I currently have.

If you thought the combat was too easy, master mode addresses that for sure.

 

[Ulysses 31]

Something oddly addictive about this game

started up master mode after telling myself I would play other games before coming back to this

btw what sort of sick joke is this? Black lynel at the great plateau 5 mins into game? They weren’t kidding around

Hope you do the Master Trails in this mode if you enjoy challenges.

 

[Shut0wen]

Same as you loved the game and ddibt mind the weapon durability either, just literally pick up every enemys weapon aint hard

 

[Alexios]

Wut, exploring simply makes the game, there's pretty much nothing else to do than explore and have fun doing it, otherwise why didn't you simply beeline your way to Ganon and put the game away? Because exploring that world is awesome, lol. The shrines had tangible rewards with the hearts and often the weapons and loot within, as did the koroks when you found their woods (not that I went out of my way to get either, I just investigated whatever seemed neat to me and most of the time it also led to something like that). I loved the environmental puzzles to pre-solved shrines (well, essentially dungeon-like puzzling in the open world, so people's complaint about all shrines looking the same kind of discounts these that the shrine part is just the reward for puzzles in a whole different environment and way), finding cool horses, settlements, npcs, the yiga clan, the towns, recipes, cool side quests, everything else. Eventually much of the random loot you were hoarding also ended up useful to get money for expensive things like ancient arrows/gear and to upgrade all your armor sets via the also cool to find great fairies, the dragons and other special creatures (how cool was it when you found the red dragon and fixed its corruption or whatever chasing it with your glider) it's all awesome. I've pretty much exhausted the game now with a good amount of hearts and also a full extra stamina wheel and I can hold about 15 weapons and 10 or so shields and bows and bought the house and put some cool stuff in it so I'm about to go and do the 3 remaining beasts and beat it. I won't 100% it, I definitely don't care to find 999 Koroks (the point isn't to get all of them but simply that there's at least something neat pretty much everywhere you think something should be) though I'm sure I've missed some more cool things (like shrines that were unexpected, like one just sitting underneath those slabs you can remove with time stop and attacks and one that was in a semi hidden trail in the mountains leading to a small cave system with water you need to swim through, or those that need parts from the mentioned dragons, or the one with the statues guiding you through the desert sand storm, or special enemies like the skeleton hinoxes and lynels etc.). Grade A game, probably the best open world game yet with a ton of variety to everything, it's not just towers, shrines or koroks on a generic heightmap like some wanna claim likening it to Ubicrap. I definitely didn't mind the weapon durability even though I hate it in other games, here it just works and makes discovering/hunting for great gear worthwhile every time. Maybe they could have done it more like Fallout 3 where the spares are used to repair the things you want to keep rather than fully replace them, which also made such duplicate loot worthwhile in that game and was a good direction, but then I'd probably end up not using as many different types.

 

[Deerock71]

Yeah, but they really should make sturdier weapons in that place.

 

[fart town usa]

Weapon durability never bothered me. It created a nice sense of tension in the early parts but eventually you become a tank and it's not really an issue, especially once you get the master sword.

Biggest annoyance for me is the rain and how long it can last. Just completely drags the game to a halt if you're actively trying to get somewhere specific.

I really liked the game but I had to put it down for a month or so and come back to it. The initial grind really started to drag around the 25 hour mark but I came back and forced myself to stick with it, glad I did too cause once I became a tank I was just having an absolute blast with the game. I probably put 70-80 hours in it. I only have a handful of shrines left in order to get the green tunic but I'm satisfied with what I experienced. I got all the memories, beat all the guardians, found all of Zelda's journals and whatnot. I never understood why people say there isn't a story, it's probably the deepest story in any Zelda title. There's a shit ton of lore in the game, you just have to explore and talk to people.

Well done OP, glad you liked it.

 

[brian0057]

My criticism here is that there seemed to very little incentive to actually explore.

This is the criticism I understand the least. Not from you, especifically, but in general.

As soon as you leave the Great Plateau, the game gives you all the incentive you need to explore: Defeat Ganon.
Literally everything you do in the open world is preparation for your fight against him.
The game can be as short or as long as you want, and Ganon can be as hard or as easy as you want.

At any point in the game, you can just go "Alright, I've seen enough. Let's finish the game" and go to Hyrul Castle. You always have that option. So I don't get why people say there's no incentive to explore the world.

 

[teezzy]

Best game ever

I really wish I saw the magic in BotW. It seems to have completely entranced so many, yet this was the game which made me realize that I absolutely need story and a sense of direction overall when I play any game.

The entire time I spent with BotW, all I could think about was how much more I'd rather be playing Witcher 3... so then I did.

The hype everyone else experienced with Zelda was lost on me. Perhaps I'm overdue for a second attempt.

My short time where I owned a Switch was mostly spent enjoying Cave Story though, so I'm likely an outlier. Now, Cave Story? That's a game.

 

[EverydayBeast]

2017 game of the year taking control of divine beasts is awesome first true robust open world Zelda game, the shrines, tablet and it’s various uses does have success in changing things up. The NPCs are kinda scrambled everywhere when you think of last Zelda games you think of towns, iconic npcs there’s not to much of that here.

 

[Alexios]

2017 game of the year taking control of divine beasts is awesome first true robust open world Zelda game, the shrines, tablet and it’s various uses does have success in changing things up. The NPCs are kinda scrambled everywhere when you think of last Zelda games you think of towns, iconic npcs there’s not to much of that here.

How many towns are there in something as Iconic as OoT? The starting town, Kakariko, tiny Hyrule castle town and then small things like the zora kingdom which basically count as a pre-dungeon area with some NPCs rather than actual towns, the stables in BOTW are comparable for sure.

I heard of this complaint before playing BOTW so I was pleasantly surprised to see several good sized towns like Kakariko, Hateno, Lurelin, Gerudo city, Zora's domain, etc. and plenty little settlements around. I'd say it has the most NPC stuff (quests too!) than any other Zelda save for MM..!

 

[dave_d]

I know I always say this but the only thing with regards to weapon durability. I wish there was a skill or something to help you judge how much "life" is left in a weapon. Admittedly it's not much of an issue later in the game once you get the master sword.(And there's plenty of bows around so it's not like I was short on those. Admittedly for the end of the game I had an ancient bow which is super durable.)

 

[I collect VHS tapes]

I’m not against weapon durability being increased like 20% across the board, but idk if that’s even necessary. I used 90% of my korok upgrades on weapon inventory and I constantly had my weapon inventory full. Weapons are super plentiful.

 

[EverydayBeast]

 

[Ulysses 31]

 

[daveonezero]

I wonder did people who play this later start out on regular or Master Mode?

I started a regular play through for 20 or so hours then logged 200 or so in Master and Felt it is the real way to play it. It makes a huge difference in how to prepare for a battle and exploration. Makes the seemingly mundane things mean something.

How many towns are there in something as Iconic as OoT? The starting town, Kakariko, tiny Hyrule castle town and then small things like the zora kingdom which basically count as a pre-dungeon area with some NPCs rather than actual towns, the stables in BOTW are comparable for sure.

I heard of this complaint before playing BOTW so I was pleasantly surprised to see several good sized towns like Kakariko, Hateno, Lurelin, Gerudo city, Zora's domain, etc. and plenty little settlements around. I'd say it has the most NPC stuff (quests too!) than any other Zelda save for MM..!

I remember seeing people didn't even know Hateno existed. It is the nature of the world. If you were interested in looking for things you may have missed them.

I’m not against weapon durability being increased like 20% across the board, but idk if that’s even necessary. I used 90% of my korok upgrades on weapon inventory and I constantly had my weapon inventory full. Weapons are super plentiful.

Exactly. And what I found myself doing once I had a strong enough weapon and some good gear/food is go harvest a few Lynels. Usually they are found in groups of 3. You kill all 3 and you are pretty set with shields, bows and weapons.

If you get +durability on weapons its not that big of a deal. I played mostly on Master Mode so these types of things were all over.

 

[I collect VHS tapes]

I wonder did people who play this later start out on regular or Master Mode?

I started a regular play through for 20 or so hours then logged 200 or so in Master and Felt it is the real way to play it. It makes a huge difference in how to prepare for a battle and exploration. Makes the seemingly mundane things mean something.

I remember seeing people didn't even know Hateno existed. It is the nature of the world. If you were interested in looking for things you may have missed them.


Exactly. And what I found myself doing once I had a strong enough weapon and some good gear/food is go harvest a few Lynels. Usually they are found in groups of 3. You kill all 3 and you are pretty set with shields, bows and weapons.

If you get +durability on weapons its not that big of a deal. I played mostly on Master Mode so these types of things were all over.

You have to fight 3 lynels at once in master mode? That sounds insane, even 3 of the low level lynels sounds crazy

 

[daveonezero]

You have to fight 3 lynels at once in master mode? That sounds insane, even 3 of the low level lynels sounds crazy

No I am saying they are in one area that you can hit one at a time and get all three in a few minutes.

I suck at fighting Lynels and I .
So it only takes 4 minutes to get all 3 of them.

 

[brian0057]

I’m not against weapon durability being increased like 20% across the board, but idk if that’s even necessary. I used 90% of my korok upgrades on weapon inventory and I constantly had my weapon inventory full. Weapons are super plentiful.

This.
If anyone misses the Pacific Ocean of weapons present in Breath of the Wild and bitches about durability, they're playing the game wrong.

 

[OldBoyGamer]

I am always surprised at just how divisive the weapon durability mechanic was/is. I remember that in the first few hours it was a pain in the arse and I struggled with it. A short while after playing on I started to overcome it by going out of my way to grab weapons everywhere I went and every fight I had. About half way through good weapons dropped so frequently I barely paid it attention.

 

[I collect VHS tapes]

Having a blast in master mode

I’m hooked all over again. the difficulty curve is pretty insane, monsters heal faster than I can do dmg to them

Gonna finally finish terry town this time, I feel bad leaving the guy hanging

 

[daveonezero]

I am always surprised at just how divisive the weapon durability mechanic was/is. I remember that in the first few hours it was a pain in the arse and I struggled with it. A short while after playing on I started to overcome it by going out of my way to grab weapons everywhere I went and every fight I had. About half way through good weapons dropped so frequently I barely paid it attention.

Exactly and if you prioritize slots weapons>bows>shields you will be fine. Especially like 3 or 4 weapons slots and 1 or 2 bows. Master Mode with its floating platforms all made this critique sort of null. There are tons of chests and good bows on those enemies.

 

[I collect VHS tapes]

Exactly and if you prioritize slots weapons>bows>shields you will be fine. Especially like 3 or 4 weapons slots and 1 or 2 bows. Master Mode with its floating platforms all made this critique sort of null. There are tons of chests and good bows on those enemies.

If I was running low on weapons I’d do a shrine of strength, they drop guardian weapons or kill lynels which drop great weapons

ngl I ended up cheesing most lynels by stasis them then using a strong 2 handed weapon to do a spin attack

doubt stasis would last long on the stronger lynels tho. I fought a black one on the way to end boss fight and stasis lasted like 1 second

 

[Torrent of Pork]

I'm glad other people see my opinion on weapon degradation. It forces you to git gud with the entire suite of weapon types, because you will eventually find yourself in a situation where you have no choice but to be a badass with a crappy weapon. "Why yes, Mr. Moblin, I will fuck you in the ass with this stick I'm using as a spear, because unlike you I can reload my save."

 

[OldBoyGamer]

I'm glad other people see my opinion on weapon degradation. It forces you to git gud with the entire suite of weapon types, because you will eventually find yourself in a situation where you have no choice but to be a badass with a crappy weapon. "Why yes, Mr. Moblin, I will fuck you in the ass with this stick I'm using as a spear, because unlike you I can reload my save."

I’m not sure about the git gud tbh. I’m just saying it turned into less of a problem the more I played until about half way it became a no thing and I ended up smashing weapons on purpose to make room for new ones.

 

[arvfab]

I'm glad other people see my opinion on weapon degradation. It forces you to git gud with the entire suite of weapon types, because you will eventually find yourself in a situation where you have no choice but to be a badass with a crappy weapon. "Why yes, Mr. Moblin, I will fuck you in the ass with this stick I'm using as a spear, because unlike you I can reload my save."

For me it was more: why should I get into a fight, risking to break my good weapons, where the rewards are useless? So I started to simply ignore enemies at all...

 

[daveonezero]

For me it was more: why should I get into a fight, risking to break my good weapons, where the rewards are useless? So I started to simply ignore enemies at all...

Which is totally viable. But at some point you have too many weapons that you may “want”. So you might as well use them.

 

[Tangerine]

I still need to try master mode. I did all the shrines, dlc too, the devine beasts, hyryle castle, got master sword, the bike etc. Felt like I explored everywhere. I did as many quests as I could but I feel I didn't 100% the quests for some reason.

I will go back to it soon. Its a brilliant game. One my all time favourites for sure. Can't wait for the sequel.

Hades, paper Mario and origami king and tales of arise all taking up my gaming time currently though...

 

[DGrayson]

Fuck I cant wait for this sequel!

 

[Torrent of Pork]

I’m not sure about the git gud tbh. I’m just saying it turned into less of a problem the more I played until about half way it became a no thing and I ended up smashing weapons on purpose to make room for new ones.

It sounds like you got gud. Also there is a wealth of good weapons that respawn with every Blood Moon. On my first playthrough, before I knew about weapon farming, I never had a situation I couldn't overcome with the loadout I had. If they want to include a repair mechanic for BOTW2 I'm cool for ith that, but degradation was a positive to the first game IMO.

For me it was more: why should I get into a fight, risking to break my good weapons, where the rewards are useless? So I started to simply ignore enemies at all...

And that is a perfectly valid way to play the game.

 

[Grumpy Toe Nail]

Game sucks pretty hard, tried to give it about 6 hours but had to stop after. Game is just incredibly boring with ugly graphics and terrible music. Easily the worst experience ive had playing Zelda. story/dialogue is fucking dumb.

 

[ResilientBanana]

I’m about 1/8th through this game and already think it should have been called Breath of the Mild. It’s so big and mostly empty. Some of the mechanics are great, but it would have been better if the world was smaller and more dense. I also wish there was at least one weapon that didn’t break or need some sort of repair. That’s bullshit.

 

[MarkMe2525]

I’m about 1/8th through this game and already think it should have been called Breath of the Mild. It’s so big and mostly empty. Some of the mechanics are great, but it would have been better if the world was smaller and more dense. I also wish there was at least one weapon that didn’t break or need some sort of repair. That’s bullshit.

In a way, the sparseness of the world made it feel more grounded and real to me. I realize many wouldn't agree with this, but the fact that it's not all on top of each other just increases the sense of scale for me.

Also, the world isn't as empty as it seems, there are always hidden chests and korok seeds around. Learning to see those patterns to discover them, can be very satisfying.

Try not to use maps that disclose the locations of items unless you are just mopping up before your final push to complete the game.

In saying this, different strokes for different folks. I hope you end up having as much fun with it as I did.

 

[Fbh]

Glad you liked it.
I disagree with you regarding weapon durability though. I actually think it's one of the reasons why exploration is unrewarding. Climbing up to a hard to reach location, then finding a buried treasure only to be rewarded with the same sword you've already owned 50 times and which will break after 2 or 3 combat encounters is really unrewarding.

Just thinking from the top of my head but for example they could have given all weapons an "energy" based system like the Master Sword so you are still forced to switch around and adapt. They could have had a system so you can upgrade the weapons, not just the basic stats but their energy too. So instead of finding the same sword for the 50th time and only being able to use it for a couple of combat encounters you could have found some rare upgrade material to make your favorite sword better, and it would have been way more rewarding.