The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild: open your eyes and die a lot

[marginalgloss]

I think part of the reason Nintendo get such a harsh rap in some quarters is because they are one of the few companies left in the video games industry who can be regarded as monolithic, even if they don't actually operate that way. But because they make their own hardware with bespoke software, because they develop internally and publish work under their own name, and because their branding is so strong, there's a tendency to regard any really good (or really bad) thing they do in one part of the company as part of the same generalised blessing/malaise. 

 

One example is when everyone was praising them to the skies for Pokemon Go, even though they only have a partial stake in the Pokemon company and none at all in the developers, Niantic. Similarly, it can be difficult for a casual audience to understand that hiring decisions at Nintendo of America might have nothing to do with the developers who made Breath of the Wild or Fire Emblem - because from the outside, all we see is 'Nintendo doing stuff'.

 

You could of course take the position that no part of any company who does unethical things should be rewarded with my money as a consumer, but then you might as well back out entirely of the question of whether their games are any good or not. It's complicated! I think it's important to call out companies when they get things wrong, perhaps even more so than it is to acclaim them when they get it right - but specificity is important, and valuable.

 

Anyway, that ZAM review summarises itself quite neatly in the final paragraph: 'Exploring can be fun, but it doesn't make up for a lack of other things I want and expect in a Zelda game'. Which is a totally valid reaction, imo, though I'm not super clear on what exactly the writer wants from Zelda - I can't figure out if they want something just like the old games, or something new. Still, it doesn't give me much cause for concern - hopefully my Wii U copy will be here tomorrow...

[dartmonkey]

Definitely not sat in the car between work things licking a game card.

[Kolzig]

My Zelda has arrived to the post! 

 

That's my cue to leave work, ktxbye!

[Badfinger]

gotta say, it looked really good on WiiU. I saw you hit a couple of choppy moments eronin, but every reviewer has confirmed some choppiness on Switch as well. Initial reports were that it's worse on the old console, but my impression is maybe that's not the case? WiiU being a good place to play the game is a very good thing.

[SamKD]

what are the chances of a Switch "Pro"  (vis a vis PS4 pro) coming out in a few years that can overcome the apparently heavy processing load of this game?

[Vulpes Absurda]

Pretty good I'd say. It really depends on battery tech but Nintendo has been putting out upgrades of it's handhelds at a reasonable clip for years now so I would say it's inevitable that a console that can smooth out some of the rough frame rate edges comes out at some point

[Twig]

Someone needs to make a breakthrough on portable batteries some time soon, right?! We've been pushing against this wall for so long now. D:

[melmer]

I took a half day and played this all afternoon. It's a video game.

 

i really hope I get a horse soon.

 

Best moment so far was when I was trying out what all the buttons do and pressed down on the d pad to do Links 'call horse' whistle, which made my dog fly upstairs and in to my games room, I guess that works then :tup:

 

[eRonin]

I got excited at the notion that Link can get a dog as a pet in this game lol but I have definitely seen a dog in my playthrough so far...Didn't have a chance to interact with it just yet!

 

Also regarding Wii U/Switch versions: not gonna lie I'm constantly disappointed in the relative weakness of Nintendo's hardware and definitely feel like they're handicapping themselves. Zelda looks beautiful regardless and I lose myself so easily in this game, but the framedrops and some of the janky textures definitely take me out of those moments. 

[Twig]

I've been downloading it all day at work.

 

I'm at 5%!!!!!

[eot]

On 2017-03-02 at 3:14 PM, Mington said:

Best game of alllllllll tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimmmmmmmmmmmmmmmeeeeeeeeee?

http://www.metacritic.com/browse/games/score/metascore/all/all/filtered?sort=desc

 

Considering reviews were a lot less critical 10/20 year ago

I half wish I understood why people like these games so much. Seeing the aggregate scores for Zelda baffles and fascinates me every time. Is it just the ultimate nostalgia trip or something? Like I said, I don't get it. Good for the people who like 'em though.

[eRonin]

I've been streaming my whole playthrough so far and I've had some pretty cool moments with the physics. Slight spoilers for some of the Shrines present in the game:

fire: https://clips.twitch.tv/DullPatientToadTheTarFu
gravity: https://clips.twitch.tv/EvilCrackyAsteriskLitFam

[Twig]

5 hours ago, eot said:

I half wish I understood why people like these games so much.

 

I think it's because they're fun!

[Cleinhun]

3 hours ago, Twig said:

 

I think it's because they're fun!

Nah, can't be.

[Twig]

!

 

I can empathize though. Plenty of things I wish I liked that I just don't and don't get it either.

 

I finally played it and it is...

 

Really good.

[Roderick]

For fear of spoilers I've left this thread largely unread, but I am having fun with the (so far limited) Switch social features. I posted this on Facebook:

 

 

I'm not crazy about the quality of the screenshots, and there seems to be something weird going on with the graphic style of Breath of the Wild, a fuzziness, that makes it hard to photograph well. But the captions lend themselves well to outrageous statements and I look forward to further chronicling the adventures of Hink.

[Vulpes Absurda]

To be entirely honest I'm finding this game to be a bit dull. There's lot's of stuff to do but all of it falls into two categories: Shrines, and Stuff. Stuff being crafting ingredients, weapons, and so on. But the Stuff is super boring. "Here's a sword! It has about five hits in it!" or "Here's some monster intestines you can make a potion with it!" The exception being the seeds which are the only thing I ever find myself interested in finding but even it's use is pretty dull.

 

So far it seems like a whole lot of interesting systems with no real reason to use them and it mostly makes me appreciate the things Dishonored and Horizon do right.

On the plus side it looks nice on the Switch screen. In a "Studio Ghibli should hire a lawyer" kinda way.

[Vulpes Absurda]

I unlocked a few more things and the random stuff makes a little more sense though it hasn't really made things feel less empty. They say Skyrim is a mile wide and an inch deep but this game is about six miles wide and maybe an inch-and-a-quarter deep.

 

I also came across a character that I would all but guarantee was a homophobic stereotype that was plastered over by the translation team. So that's less the great.

[Twig]

Oh man oh man this game is great. At every turn there's something to do, and it's always got several avenues of attack, and they're all fun avenues and goddamn what a great game. It's never boring and no matter where I decide to go, there's guaranteed to be SOMETHING at my destination, or seemingly endless numbers if somethings to do along the way.

 

Fuck yeah.

[Merus]

I've been trying to tag this thread Far Cry 2 and I can't work out how to do it. Maybe only the thread creator can?

 

Anyway I've genuinely seen comparisons to Far Cry 2 in how dedicated it is to creating emergent stories, including stories where you do something that turns out to be a very bad idea. 'Throwing a bomb and have the moblin knock it back at you with its shield' is a grenade-rolling-down-the-hill moment that feels even more earned because of course moblins with shields should be able to whack bombs away.

[eRonin]

31 minutes ago, Merus said:

I've been trying to tag this thread Far Cry 2 and I can't work out how to do it. Maybe only the thread creator can?

 

Anyway I've genuinely seen comparisons to Far Cry 2 in how dedicated it is to creating emergent stories, including stories where you do something that turns out to be a very bad idea. 'Throwing a bomb and have the moblin knock it back at you with its shield' is a grenade-rolling-down-the-hill moment that feels even more earned because of course moblins with shields should be able to whack bombs away.

 

I gotchu

[melmer]

This game guys

 

THIS

 

GAME

 

what does the number mean on the shields then? Is it just durability (which is a hidden stat on everything else) or can some attacks just blow straight through weak shields. I normally attack first ask questions later, so my shelids don't get a huge amount of use, other than some sick parry action. They tend to last forever or at least until they catch on fire.

 

also, how do you do the shield slide, or is that a skill you learn later

[Ben X]

So we know why Vulpes dislikes this game, but why do others here like it?

[Vulpes Absurda]

I don't know that I dislike the game I just don't think it's descended from on high to rescue open world games. I'd say it's an 8 out of 10 not an 11.

[dartmonkey]

First horse names? Mine's Dobbins, noble grey steed. Mr Tibbles was one character too many.