Your thoughts on Legend Of Zelda: Breath of The Wild?

[ElPoco]

I'm currently playing Tales of Zestiria and already find it annoying that I'm often running around 10 - 15 minutes just to get from one place to another one...

While I'm also annoyed by having to run back and forth between places, I have fond memories of exploration in some video games.

For example I remember enjoying exploration in Ulima IX: discovering new places, getting lost and trying to find landmarks I recognized, finding new shortcuts, etc. Travelling in Shadow of the Colossus was also an interesting experience. On the other hand, travelling in the Hyrule Plains in Ocarina of Time felt like wasting time.

So I guess it depends on the environment, how the travel is handled and how often you have to backtrack.
Many games add respawning monsters on the map or collectible everywhere, but I don't think that's the right solution.
Some games have a fast travel option once you've done the trip once. While it's helpful in some cases, I'd rather have some ways to keep the exploration aspect or to make the walking around interesting even when coming back to a place I've already been. I know that the weather and day/night cycle in Just Cause helped a bit, by making the scenery different every time (and often beautiful to look at). I've also observed that having no maps nor markers make it more immersive and make the exploration more interesting.

 

[EvilDragon]

So I guess it depends on the environment, how the travel is handled and how often you have to backtrack.

Yes, probably. And how the story is driven forward.
If you have half an hour story and then 1 hour travelling, it's annoying.

But if you travel an hour and get a bit of a story every 10 minutes, it's not that annoying.

Many games add respawning monsters on the map or collectible everywhere, but I don't think that's the right solution.

No, actually, that's something I really really hate.
Often, the respawned monsters are dead easy (as you've been there before), so a fight just adds annoying time.

And respawned collectibles are the most boring things I ever encountered.
Tales of Zestiria does that as well - the treasure boxes fill themselves again.
The same happened on Final Fantasy XII.

The result? I didn't even care about treasure boxes or exploring the environment anymore, as there was nothing special to find.
Respawning treasure boxes mean that there isn't anything great in there, just standard items.
And I don't care about those.

Exploring in older Zelda Games means that you actually find heart pieces, special items, etc. as reward which is awesome.
As then exploring is fun.

But exploring just to fine your generic treasure items is just plain boring to me.

I love limited treasure boxes, as then you can actually try to find as many as possible (if not all).

In all Zelda games I had the urge to find all heart pieces and items there are so far

Some games have a fast travel option once you've done the trip once. While it's helpful in some cases, I'd rather have some ways to keep the exploration aspect or to make the walking around interesting even when coming back to a place I've already been.

Well, that depends on the game.
Games like Tales are story driven, exploring the enviroment (especially with refilling treasure boxes) is not interesting.
Tales of Zestiria HAS the possibility to warp to other places, but it's damn expensive (always a certain percentage of the money you have).

Twilight Princess on the other hand had a LOT of mini dungeons and special rewards you could find with exploring. And often you could see that something HAS to be there, but needed to figure out how to get there.
That was awesome, and that's what I like. I really liked exploring the world to find every hidden spot!

So I hope it will be similar in the latest Zelda - but the larger the world, the harder this is.
Either you have so many mini dungeons that there's nothing special to find in there or the world doesn't have much going on.
That's what I'm scared of.

 

[Jumpman]

Does look good, I do like open Worlds, but like the GTA one, where there is plenty to do, so I too hope there is lots to be done and not too many long traveling voids between activities.
...I do want a new 2D Mario though, love 2D Mario games, so hoping for one of them on the NX so I can buy that

Don't worry, I'm sure there will be another 2D Mario long before we see a decent 3D one.

Its sad because I've always really enjoyed Nintendos hardware, but I'm a little salty now.

I'm salty to, but for a whole other list of reasons, but the Wii U hardware is for sure on the list, just not at the top.

Chris

 

[levi]

Money in the bushes in A Link Between Worlds was so prolific that once I was able to travel to world without getting my arse handed to me, I went around getting all the collectibles and at the same time getting enough money to but all of the weapons in the shop at once. Effectively I cheated myself out of a game there, but at least the game still held some things back for me to discover.

 

[PokeParadox]

Just to add, I heard it's deliberately empty for the demos to avoid/minimise major plot spoilers.

 

[DaMummy]

I've only seen a few videos, and I'm trying very hard to avoid more of them just to not spoil myself. I've yet to be really let down by an official Zelda game once I've actually played it. This game looks wonderful to me, and while I see the possibilities of a let down with open world, and them feeling empty, I don't think the Zelda series follows this rule for me. But that's because I'm biased towards Zelda.

 

[Caine]

Looks like they copied Shadow of the Colossus...
Not sure yet what to think about this. Shadow of the Colossus was great, but I'm not sure this works.

Glad to see they are experimenting a bit, though the direction feels a bit bland like most main-stream titles.
Time will tell, I suppose.

 

[levi]

Yes, it did strike me that you seem to be able to climb an awfully long way compared to SotC judging by how fast that stamina meter was going down, although swimming does seem to drain it much more quickly, so I can forsee some sort of water level again.

Although wasn't that pie chart type of stamina meter a Prince of Persia invention anyway?

 

[EvilDragon]

I've yet to be really let down by an official Zelda game once I've actually played it.

Well, Windwaker was for me.
It had a great start, a couple of nice dungeons.
Then came sailing. And sailing. And sailing. And sailing.
For hours. And hours. And hours. I was expecting dungeons for the Triforce parts but no - you just sailed to them and grabbed them.

Then came another dungeon. Oh, wait, that was the last one.

So my impression of Windwaker was:

4 hours of dungeons
10 hours of sailing
2 hours of dungeons

Absolutely horrible for me.

Then there was Phantom Hourglass... it was nice, except for going down the same dungeon over and over again.
I never finished Spirit Tracks, because at one time, driving the train annoyed me too much.

Apart from those three, I liked all Zelda games. Even Zelda 2.

I loved Link between worlds though, that was refreshing

 

[levi]

Windwaker was one of the most genuine positive surprises for me. I wasn't completely against it's cel-shaded graphics at the time - I'd enjoyed Jet Set Radio and other cel-shaded games before, but it remained a risky change for a traditional zelda game. I loved the proper family it established at the start - you weren't some weirdo living with his uncle for the first time. And I loved the interplay between Link and Tetra, and completely missed the twist on that one.

I'd been forewarned about the sailing, so I don't remember being too miffed at that, and was surprised at how quickly I got the quick travel device.

It was a bit short, but at least it had an ending.

 

[WizardStan]

Money in the bushes in A Link Between Worlds was so prolific that once I was able to travel to world without getting my arse handed to me, I went around getting all the collectibles and at the same time getting enough money to but all of the weapons in the shop at once. Effectively I cheated myself out of a game there, but at least the game still held some things back for me to discover.

Yeah, my complaint with ALBW too: just buy the weapons to advance! Like, it makes sense within the game I guess, kinda, but it would've been nice to have some nice progression like in previous games.

 

[Djoga'Ro]

Last time I checked, there was basically nothing said about it. I like what I hear now. Want to have it... now. Any estimated/stated release date around?

 

[jeeks]

First FF XV, now Zelda... So much virtual space to explore, so little time...

But I'm happy they're trying something completely different with this. Sometimes I just hang out in virtual worlds, doing nothing but looking at the environment (I guess normal people just go outside for a walk). As long as there's more stuff going on than in OoT's Hyrule, I'm happy
I'm curious what kind of quests they'll design. Some of the new mechanics pretty much scream for annoying fetch quests :/

 

[Garrett]

Not so sure how I'm feeling about the constant need to gather ingredients/cook, but based on what has been shown so far there are enough other systems at play that it won't get too old too quick (hopefully!)

 

[Jumpman]

ED, your assessment of Wind Waker was spot on. It started off well enough, but but midway, I was ready to pull my hair out. That was one of the first BIG disappointments I got from "N" over the years, but sadly, it would not be the last.

Overall, I've enjoyed most of the games to one degree or another except for Wind Waker, as that is my least favorite. While to this day I think it is a rather good looking game, but I think that is where their focus was and the game design suffered.

I've completed every game except for Majora's Mask, and the Link between worlds. MM was a love and hate relationship to say the least. To this day, I think it was one of "N" greatest ideas, but one of my gaming pet peeves is having to do things under a time limit, and well, you know the rest. I did buy the 3DS remake, so I plan to give it another go at some point, but I just haven't built up the courage.

As for a Link Between Worlds, I loved it up to the end, and I'm actually at the last dungeon, but I was trying to find everything before completing it, and I just got sidetracked at the time by playing something else, and just never went back. I did enjoy it up to that point though.

While I didn't like the time restricted dungeons of Phantom Hourglass, I did enjoy the rest of the game very much, and I like Spirit tracks as well.

My favorites in the series would probably have to be Links Awakening on the Gameboy and the two Gameboy Color games, Awakening & Seasons. All three of those games are likely the only titles I have played multiple times, so that shows how much I enjoyed them.

Chris

 

[Klumpen]

Looks like Zelda and Gothic had a baby, not sure if it's a good thing or not but since I don't plan on buying any locked down consoles ever again, whatever...

PS: Windwaker is shit.

 

[rygD]

My favorites in the series would probably have to be Links Awakening on the Gameboy

This is still my favorite. I also think it might be the best for those that aren't hardcore fans. I'll see what happens with the new one, as it borrowed some really interesting ideas, but as others have said, it seems a bit light right now. Maybe it will end up being the best game ever.


I wish they would make a good Metroid game.

 

[levi]

My favorites in the series would probably have to be Links Awakening on the Gameboy and the two Gameboy Color games, Awakening & Seasons. All three of those games are likely the only titles I have played multiple times, so that shows how much I enjoyed them.

I bought Oracle of Ages to play on my GBA, but stopped after the first dungeon (I think it just hadn't grabbed me and I couldn't be bothered to unlock the second dungeon). I had similar problems with LttP to be honest - I don't think I get on with those old style of zelda games. Mind you, I think it was Minish Cap that I also gave up on at some point, so it's not just the overhead style old zelda games that don't always agree with me.

Twlight princess also failed to charm me, so I stopped playing that soon after the tutorial. MM I loved the opening of, but I couldn't get to the second dungeon (not sure if it was a glitched save because I thought I knew what I needed to do, but it didn't work). Phantom Hourglass I lost the cart of soon after starting it, but it sounds like I might have avoided a dud there.

 

[Klumpen]

Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons were pretty good and worthy successors to Link's Awakening imho although A Link to the Past and Link's Awakening will probably stay my favourite Zeldas.
Windwaker, Phantom Hourglass and especcially Spirit Tracks were all garbage and I'm not even talking about the graphics since those don't matter as much to me.
Minish Cap was nice though and the first two Zeldas for the NES are still worth a run even today.

 

[ElPoco]

I had a blast with Link's Awakening when it came out, but when I recently played Oracle of Seasons I found it very dull. The dungeons weren't too bad but I didn't feel engaged at all in the story. Everything was so ordered and predictable.
I started Oracle of Ages and found it more interesting, but I stopped at some point (I needed the music/sound for a puzzle and I was playing in the train without headphones) and didn't return to it since then.