Nintendo Switch

[Sonikku]

Don't feel bad. I may have died in this game more than any other single player game in my life. There was a time when Guardians were positively terrifying to me. Then by using line of sight and pulling a lot of tricks and unloading a lot of weapons into them I could get a messy win. Then I got so I could redirect their death beam 30% of the time. Now I can do it 80% of the time and they no longer scare me. By the time I reach the end of the game I'm going to be a guardian killing machine. That's just how it goes. Trying to beat the modest test of strength shrine seemed impossible. Now I'm scraping by on the significantly harder "major" test of strength shrines.

Your effectiveness in this game has less to do with getting fatter l00tz and more to do with experimenting and honing your execution.

[Sonikku]

My weapons feel so fragile that this game makes me feel like god damn Zatoichi. The way I go about resolving situations because I don't want to break my most precious sword has at times been comical and at other times crazy.

[shredingskin]

Ju0st finished the game. Amazing experience just wow.

The ending may not be the high n9te of the game but the whole game is. So no complains.

FUC king goron city.

[shredingskin]

After stepping back a little I can point out some things I really didn't mesh with me about the game, mostly related to the story (or lack of it), While you can learn stuff about yours and zelda's past, there's not that much of it. The use of Ganon as a named "pure evil" stuff was kinda lazy to me, the lack of variety in the dungeons isand a little bit too formulaic (ok it's a zelda, but for only 4 main points the same sequence of "go city-find guy-enter beast-press 5 buttons-defeat boss" was a little stale over after the 2nd one), but also most of the beasts felt somewhat boring after a while, and a lot of the puzzles felt similar (and really similar also visually). And I get that to make the world feel this open ended they had to make a choice between showing you fragments of a story, or make more linear the way you discover the story, so I do give it a pass.

On the plus note is almost the whole game is a plus.
I haven't felt that type of freedom anywhere, the game is packed with content (except some use of negative areas), the whole crafting mechanic works pretty well (even though I just made a couple of elixirs in the whole game), and I didn't even mind the weapons durability, it works well to keep the game focused, challenging, and try out more strategies, even for just changing (have a weapon to stun, other for fast kills, others for breaking stuff, a torch, one that keeps you warm), ended up making the game feeling more interesting than the annoyance of the breaking stuff.

And for an open world game all the mechanics work amazingly well, it's not easy to find an open world game that you being OP makes it even more fun and not just broken (or have a invisible enemy levelup system). Every mechanic works, stealth, paragliding, combat, aiming, the runes, blocking, everything works together. The game just feels fluid.

Really liked it, best game I've played in quite a while (I'm right now playing yakuza 0 and it's also great, but in a totally different way).

[Sonikku]

The weapon breaking is kind of annoying, but the only thing that really, truly grinds my gears is the rain. Or rather, the FREQUENCY of it. It must rain in Hyrule every fucking day. Sometimes it feels like it rains more often than it doesn't. And you can't climb at all when it rains so what do you do? Make a fire to pass the time? Too bad, it's raining. Sometimes I'm able to find a little alcove when it pours but usually I can't. If rain happened about as often as the blood moon I would be ecstatic.

[shredingskin]

After defeating ganon I really didn't play it again (well, defeated him once more because I thought there would be an option to continue and just didn't save it right), but looking around internet there are A TON of stuff I've missed.

Fuck, this game is soooo full of stuff.

I'll just park it till I beat TLG, Yakuza 0 and FFXV.

[Sonikku]

Did you get the alternate ending?

[shredingskin]

I don't think so, it was a pretty vainilla-straightforward ending/playthrough.

Fuck, I understand the whole "best game ever" remarks, everything I play feels so damn clunky compared to this game, it's incredible how nintendo just blew everyone out of the water, really feels like a stepping stone in the evolution of gaming.

I hope they keep making these types of games (their new test will be mario in december), if they continue this path the switch will be amazing.

[Sonikku]

Yeah, I personally thought the ending was a bit underwhelming, and especially from a story-standpoint the game is quite weak. But the locations/environments/world are the game's strong point, and it's definitely a very strong game. Personally, with the exception of Majora's Mask, I've found the stories in Zelda games to be pretty weak. The reason I've always played them is for adventure and location. So if the setting is interesting, I'm likely to have a good time.

Weapon durability is the worst thing in this game and really brings it down. The fact that I got rewarded with a cool weapon I was too scared to use shows that there is a huge problem. It only serves to make the game less fun and doesn't really add any interesting strategy or challenge.

[shredingskin]

Weapon fragility is a part of what makes this game really open ended one could argue.

It keeps you constantly moving forward trying to find more stuff, giving you powered weapons for killing enemies out of your range, making you choose the correct weapon for the type (or level) of the enemy. It lets you wonder around anywhere, and get rewarded accordingly for your effort without unbalancing the game, giving you the incentive to kill though enemies that you can easily avoid, making you adapt to what you have in hand and trying to make the best of it. And that doesn't stop with weapons, but also makes you think with bombs, magnesis, stasis, stealth, and gives you incentive of trying the emergent gameplay choices the engine allows.

Let's think how other games approach this:
- Insivible leveling up of enemies.
- Level capping certain items.
- Generated loot for your level.
- Needing X level to go after X opponent.

We all have played these games, and know that most of the stuff gets boring after a while, restrict the freedom of what the player can do/tackle, stale rewards for quests, always doing the same against same enemies, no good reason to go back to certain place because you are OP, Zelda manages to fully kill most of those problems.

What do you prefer ? sticking to "the sword" for most of the game, selling pretty much everything else ? (and we know how in most open games you end up swimming in gold, and how most loot is shit), enemies that end up being damage sponges because of the artificial levelling ?, open world game that gives you no incentive to visit any place again ? Being OP most of the game ? Grinding to use a weapon you just got for killing something out of your level ? Having the game with artificial walls that block your progress ?

It does add a level of strategy, you can save an electricity weapon to stun enemies then change to another to kill them, you might keep a weaker sword because it helps you combat cold, you might need to choose between farming minerals with a weapon to destroy rocks or a fucking torch. The need to change realtime also adds certain tension when you stun opponents and want to go for the kill, do you favor heavy weapons or lighter ones, it broads the choice of just "ok this one is great" and keep going.

The same fear of breaking your favorite weapon is the difficulty cap that you impose on yourself, you know you don't need the master sword to kill some goblins, so you tackle them with the shittier weapon you have, or maybe you just try to kill them with arrows, maybe you want to go full OP and kill them destroying the best sword you have, giving incentive to go kill a mightier foe with shittier weapons.

I understand that it feels like an inconvenience, but from a design standpoint it's genius, it's part of what makes the game open world that feels rewarding and that has something to do at every corner.

[Thief]

I'm not convinced. All it does it force me to use the weapons I don't want to use. I should have the choice to choose the weapons I find interesting. I wouldn't necessarily stick to "the sword" but rather, stick to what I want to use. I guarantee you I'd switch between weapon types if given the option, but as it stands now, I either avoid fighting altogether because it's too much of a hassle to constantly deal with weapons, or only use the crap that I don't want to use (because I know it'll break in record speed). There is almost zero incentive to fight any opponent in the game (and I rarely ever did).

A system that discourages fighting is not genius, it's fucking stupid.

[shredingskin]

I had the same problem of hoarding but with food, but that's a matter of personality.

Zelda is FULL of good weapons, just start killing difficult stuff.

To me it doesn't discourages fighting, it encourages a lot. You want a good weapon ? Kill someone with a good weapon. Afraid of losing the weapon you have ? Try sneaking, bombs, physics, stasis, elements, etc. It keeps it fresh and difficult at the same time.

We all know that "stick to what I want to use" means one of each the biggest stats things in the game, and it's what most games do, it does bring some of the problems I talked before. After a while you'll have 10 amazing weapons in no time, you might need more inventory, so start hunting seeds... it's a whole cycle that the weapons fragility works together to make the game as addicting as it is (at least to me, and I guess a lot more people).

Again look at the other choices other games make, you find them more compelling to what zelda does ? Is there any other game that feels as open as this one ?

Really think of the game if the weapons didn't break. Just find a good weapon in the first hour and be OP the whole game, then you don't really have any incentive to kill anything bigger, nor anything shittier, nor explore because you already have your "cool reward".

I think comparing it to other games really makes you appreciate it even more. But alas, it's a matter of taste.
To me the twist is genius, and what might seem like an annoyance, is a pillar the keep the game moving forward.

[TwiceFriedRice]

The weapon breaking is kind of annoying, but the only thing that really, truly grinds my gears is the rain. Or rather, the FREQUENCY of it. It must rain in Hyrule every fucking day. Sometimes it feels like it rains more often than it doesn't. And you can't climb at all when it rains so what do you do? Make a fire to pass the time? Too bad, it's raining. Sometimes I'm able to find a little alcove when it pours but usually I can't. If rain happened about as often as the blood moon I would be ecstatic.

You can climb when it's raining. You just have to adapt. That's the name of the game.

[TwiceFriedRice]

I had the same problem of hoarding but with food, but that's a matter of personality.

Zelda is FULL of good weapons, just start killing difficult stuff.

To me it doesn't discourages fighting, it encourages a lot. You want a good weapon ? Kill someone with a good weapon. Afraid of losing the weapon you have ? Try sneaking, bombs, physics, stasis, elements, etc. It keeps it fresh and difficult at the same time.

We all know that "stick to what I want to use" means one of each the biggest stats things in the game, and it's what most games do, it does bring some of the problems I talked before. After a while you'll have 10 amazing weapons in no time, you might need more inventory, so start hunting seeds... it's a whole cycle that the weapons fragility works together to make the game as addicting as it is (at least to me, and I guess a lot more people).

Again look at the other choices other games make, you find them more compelling to what zelda does ? Is there any other game that feels as open as this one ?

Really think of the game if the weapons didn't break. Just find a good weapon in the first hour and be OP the whole game, then you don't really have any incentive to kill anything bigger, nor anything shittier, nor explore because you already have your "cool reward".

I think comparing it to other games really makes you appreciate it even more. But alas, it's a matter of taste.
To me the twist is genius, and what might seem like an annoyance, is a pillar the keep the game moving forward.

Absolutely. Nailed it.

Though, I will say, I wouldn't be opposed to the ability to repair a weapon(s) you really like for a ton of money and resources. It would give some people what they want , while maintaining the balance.

[Raithos]

I feel like I'm the last to do so but I just beat the game lol. I got the "true" ending according to google. I loved it. I never play them for the story (which to me was good and different enough to feel refreshing) its all about the game play and exploration to me, and this one takes the cake. Only entries with story that stood out to me was Majora's Mask and Twilight Princess. And I love puzzles which this game has a ton of.

I understand the weapon durability gets old, I'm never really a fan of that. In other games its unneeded micromanagement which I will pass on every time. But there's a new weapon around the corner all the time in BotW. You can even farm guardians (really easy to do once you learn how) and craft the best breakable weapons in the game in minutes. When I finished my second divine beast I already had the Master Sword though (plus Hylian shield and a repairable bow) so it wasn't really an issue for me.