Entertainment Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

[Aki]

Before actually starting I'd like to say that yes there will be some spoilers in this thread. If you're avoiding them entirely turn back now and save yourself; on the other hand I'd like to ask that people please do try to use spoiler tags as a good portion of the game is about discovery, so even those of us that have poured hours into the game already could still be spoiled for cool secrets.

​

Here's a reminder on how spoilers work:

[Spoiler=A Spoiler title] Everything put inside here will be hidden in the spoiler[/spoiler]

​

 

[Aki]

I really really really wanna talk about sidequest design right now especially after the one I just did and hear what people think about how it was done/how I handled it.

Spoiler: This is about side quests and Shrine quests in Kakariko village

So in Kakariko Village there's this "heirloom" that's obviously really important but I'm not suppossed to touch. Problem is, I as a player can immediately recognize this object as being a "key" and I also know exactly where I need to take it and use it.

Since there's NPC #1 who is allways next to the key, and NPC #2 who's routine has them spending (in-game) hours next to the key, I figured that I just had to wait for the correct time to grab it. I thought this was the correct solution based mainly on 2 things:

1. I've been told at certain times by other NPCs that NPC #1 was asleep, so I assumed she had a sleep schedule.
2. NPC #2 has a very set routine where she is either in front of the key for hours, outside of the building for hours, and inside the building but in a different room for hours.

After studying their routines I found that there wasn't a moment where NPC #1 would actually go to sleep and let me get the key. :pensive:

My next thought was that I just needed to convince NPC #2 to give me the key, either by befriending or seducing her? I thought this based on a couple things:

1. Her main dialogue when talking about the key seemed to be a prophesy about my character
2. She had written a journal entry where she seemed to think that the key had a destiny that was going to be fulfilled soon
3. She had written other journal entries that showed she clearly had a huge crush on my character
4. Pretty much everything about her character is that she spends all of her time taking care of this key and has nothing else going on other than her crush

I tried talking to her at all different times of day during her different routines, and talking to her several days in a row but nothing changed.

Now the actual solution here was to finish all other sidequests in the area, and then the sidequest where I would get the key was kicked off on its' own, in the form of the key being stolen and me having to get it back. Honestly I'm not really happy with this kind of sidequest design. I think the intent here was that since the final quest involved a couple of other village characters, I needed to do their quests so that I knew them on a more personal level and that would make the "Key was Stolen by someone in the village!" quest have a bit more emotional weight. However, those quests weren't even related to the final one, so I really feel like I was teased the whole time.

Am I just being salty here to think that unrelated sidequests shouldn't be gating other content?

 

[Tomix9tomix]

I really really really wanna talk about sidequest design right now especially after the one I just did and hear what people think about how it was done/how I handled it.

Spoiler: This is about side quests and Shrine quests in Kakariko village

So in Kakariko Village there's this "heirloom" that's obviously really important but I'm not suppossed to touch. Problem is, I as a player can immediately recognize this object as being a "key" and I also know exactly where I need to take it and use it.

Since there's NPC #1 who is allways next to the key, and NPC #2 who's routine has them spending (in-game) hours next to the key, I figured that I just had to wait for the correct time to grab it. I thought this was the correct solution based mainly on 2 things:

1. I've been told at certain times by other NPCs that NPC #1 was asleep, so I assumed she had a sleep schedule.
2. NPC #2 has a very set routine where she is either in front of the key for hours, outside of the building for hours, and inside the building but in a different room for hours.

After studying their routines I found that there wasn't a moment where NPC #1 would actually go to sleep and let me get the key. :pensive:

My next thought was that I just needed to convince NPC #2 to give me the key, either by befriending or seducing her? I thought this based on a couple things:

1. Her main dialogue when talking about the key seemed to be a prophesy about my character
2. She had written a journal entry where she seemed to think that the key had a destiny that was going to be fulfilled soon
3. She had written other journal entries that showed she clearly had a huge crush on my character
4. Pretty much everything about her character is that she spends all of her time taking care of this key and has nothing else going on other than her crush

I tried talking to her at all different times of day during her different routines, and talking to her several days in a row but nothing changed.

Now the actual solution here was to finish all other sidequests in the area, and then the sidequest where I would get the key was kicked off on its' own, in the form of the key being stolen and me having to get it back. Honestly I'm not really happy with this kind of sidequest design. I think the intent here was that since the final quest involved a couple of other village characters, I needed to do their quests so that I knew them on a more personal level and that would make the "Key was Stolen by someone in the village!" quest have a bit more emotional weight. However, those quests weren't even related to the final one, so I really feel like I was teased the whole time.

Am I just being salty here to think that unrelated sidequests shouldn't be gating other content?

Obviously this will have spoilers here too.

Spoiler: This is about side quests and Shrine quests in Kakariko village

I'm pretty sure all the towns have this sort of quest. Although I have only seen the Gerudo one and the Kakariko village one.
It does seem a bit annoying but I do think it is nice that they have a reward for completing all the side quests in an area, and the reward isn't a lousy 300 rupees or anything.
It gives you incentive to complete all the quests in the area, and it worked pretty well on me. I don't know much about the Kakariko village situation but with the Gerudo one, they straight out say something like "Oh you like this do you? How about I give it to you if you help everyone in the town with their problems". I thought this seemed like a good way of doing it, it is clear with what you have to do. However the Kakariko village situation sounds a bit different which is sad.

And if we are going to rant about side quests that annoyed us...

Spoiler: Hero's Cache side quest spoilers

The Hero's Cache side quest is a riddle from one of the birds, it says that "17 of 24 points to the Hero's cache".This got me really hyped and I was expecting some sort of unique item. But the riddle in itself, I found a bit hard and poorly designed. So the bird is standing by a set up rock, 24 to be exact, but a few of them can only be seen on the map as they are submerged. So straight away I don't know what to do, because while there may be 24 rocks, I don't know where to start counting. I try clockwise and go in the direction of where the rock sort of looks like it is pointing. But nothing. I try counting from the direction the bird is facing, but still nothing.

So i'm not completly sure on how you are supposed to figure out which rock it is, because it seems to do with the idea of a clock.You can think of 17 of 24 as 5 o clock and it is the rock that is in that sort of area. So even though the riddle says that the rock points to the treasure, you aren't supposed to follow the direction it is pointing in, instead you are supposed to use magneto power and lift a treasure chest up from the ocean.

The thing is that these rocks are all very close together, so you could just walk between them using magneto if you had already figured out how the chest would be hidden. In the end it was just 300 rupees which made be sad since I had spent half an hour to and hour trying to figure the riddle out.

While I may complain about a few annoying side quests, there are way more good ones out there. Even after beating the game two weeks ago I am still playing and cutting down those side quests while enjoying myself.

 

[Jayrodd]

I really really really wanna talk about sidequest design right now especially after the one I just did and hear what people think about how it was done/how I handled it.

Spoiler: This is about side quests and Shrine quests in Kakariko village

So in Kakariko Village there's this "heirloom" that's obviously really important but I'm not suppossed to touch. Problem is, I as a player can immediately recognize this object as being a "key" and I also know exactly where I need to take it and use it.

Since there's NPC #1 who is allways next to the key, and NPC #2 who's routine has them spending (in-game) hours next to the key, I figured that I just had to wait for the correct time to grab it. I thought this was the correct solution based mainly on 2 things:

1. I've been told at certain times by other NPCs that NPC #1 was asleep, so I assumed she had a sleep schedule.
2. NPC #2 has a very set routine where she is either in front of the key for hours, outside of the building for hours, and inside the building but in a different room for hours.

After studying their routines I found that there wasn't a moment where NPC #1 would actually go to sleep and let me get the key. :pensive:

My next thought was that I just needed to convince NPC #2 to give me the key, either by befriending or seducing her? I thought this based on a couple things:

1. Her main dialogue when talking about the key seemed to be a prophesy about my character
2. She had written a journal entry where she seemed to think that the key had a destiny that was going to be fulfilled soon
3. She had written other journal entries that showed she clearly had a huge crush on my character
4. Pretty much everything about her character is that she spends all of her time taking care of this key and has nothing else going on other than her crush

I tried talking to her at all different times of day during her different routines, and talking to her several days in a row but nothing changed.

Now the actual solution here was to finish all other sidequests in the area, and then the sidequest where I would get the key was kicked off on its' own, in the form of the key being stolen and me having to get it back. Honestly I'm not really happy with this kind of sidequest design. I think the intent here was that since the final quest involved a couple of other village characters, I needed to do their quests so that I knew them on a more personal level and that would make the "Key was Stolen by someone in the village!" quest have a bit more emotional weight. However, those quests weren't even related to the final one, so I really feel like I was teased the whole time.

Am I just being salty here to think that unrelated sidequests shouldn't be gating other content?

I get where you're coming from, and I think this is one of few short comings BotW has overall. The concept of content being gated off behind other content in theory isn't a bad idea, should it be more related. In this case there isn't a very clear way for the player to know that X objective is hidden behind a checklist, so it does seem to fail here. It could have been shaped differently through in game text to make it more understandable what you have to do to gain access to this.

Spoiler: More words but with spoilers

Personally I enjoyed a lot of the Kakoriko side quests because of the call backs to other games, and it was a good way to help build the area and the offer a reward for doing so. Considering the shrines aren't mandatory in any way to progress, I didn't find this as an issue. Even then the way this is presented with the Yiga clan is neat because of how it gives back story to characters involved, and if that was someones early experience with the Yiga clan that would be pretty neat imo.

TLDR; It's not as good as it could have been here but has a lot of merit for what it is. Not being a required section largely saves it since you're subjecting yourself to the content in the first place.

 

[Aki]

Oh man I didn't even know where to start on the Hero's Cache quest. Literally zero idea what that was referring to or supposed to mean.

I think my favorite quest so far has been Tarrey Town

Spoiler: Tarrey Town

I love it just for the visual progression and the amount of characters involved. I realize it's probably not fair to call it my favorite quest when it's more like a series of quests but still, it's really rewarding both to watch the town be developed and see these characters find new successful lives *cough* ThatAlsoBenefitMeBecauseTheyRunShopsAndIAppreciateThat *cough*
I think the only drawback to this quest was that between each "Find a person like this" section was a "Get wood" section. I like that they traded off to keep it a little more fresh, but couldn't it have been a different material sometimes instead of literally the same thing?

But I also really liked Missing in Action

Spoiler: Because of how it ended

At first I thought all the rescued friends were going to rip their cowardly friend a new one, but it was a surprisingly mature and somber ending with them all realizing that they all had their own reasons to part ways and it wasn't really anyone else's fault that things happened the way they did.

 

[Tomix9tomix]

Yeah, when I was thinking of my favourite side quest, Tarry Town was in my head.

But other than that I like the series of quests revolving around the 8th Goddess

Spoiler: 8th Goddess side quest spoilers

It was pretty funny plot and the journey of looking for the statue and sword wasn't a boring one as enemies and hidden chests had been littered around the area.
It made me feel sorry for the poor guy, but I really did want those boots

 

[Evan]

I never can find time to play because I want to sit down for hours and hours and just explore EVERYTHING. It's so hard to stay on track of the story when there are shrines and things everywhere to exploreeeee.

What a great world setup, and a great game in general. I'm only at the tip of the iceberg and I just know i'm going to enjoy the next 100+ hours of playtime in this game.

 

[Aki]

In case anyone doesn't know these tips, I'm the beast master and wanted to share

[tabs]
[tab=1] This tab exists just to be the first open tab without a spoiler in your face.
[/tab]
[tab=Taming a horse]

• Horses mainly come in 2 varieties. Patterened horses are easier to tame, but probably have lower stats. Solid colored horses are going to require more stamina to tame, but will probably have better stats.
• Bonus stamina does count when trying to tame a horse, so if you don't have a lot go ahead and eat some stamina boosting foods
• You can register 5 horses at a time at the stable
• You can tame horses without ever registering them
• The Sheikah outfit is a good investment
• If you sneak directly behind a horse you might get kicked when noticed. Sneaking at an angle will protect you from this
• Gliding is pretty silent, so you can get the drop on horses this way
• Horses don't despawn like other animals do, so don't worry if you spook them.
• Even if a horse is spooked, you can still mount it. If a spooked horse runs close by, don't be afraid to run towards it!
• A horse that a bokoblin rides will be tame enough to not immediately get spooked by your presence, so if you want a horse quickly knock a bokoblin off with an arrow or something and steal their ride.

[/tab]
[tab=Using your horse]

• I'm pretty sure that an increased bond makes your horse more likely to hear you whistling
• All mounts naturally snap onto paths and follow them. You don't need to steer on a path at all unless your horse is not fully tamed and jerks off in a different direction. 'Paths' mean 100% of the gold paths marked on your map, but there are a couple of unmarked paths that they'll follow too.
• If you whistle, you don't have to stay in place. Your horse will track your movement and run to meet up with you
• You don't have to ride your registered horse back to the stable in order to board it, so don't feel bad about forgetting where your horse is.
• You can mount your horse from just about any angle, and while its' moving
• You can run over animals and get their drops. Especially birds that only move at the last second, just spur at the right moment and you get free meat
• If a horse is moving when you get on, it will keep moving at that speed. So you can whistle and jump on your horse for a quick getaway if you time it right
• You can feed your horse by dropping things on the ground in front of it or just holding it out to them. Try an Endura Carrot!
• If you have a registered horse and a newly tamed one, you can get your horse to follow behind you while you ride! Just get a little distance between you and the registered horse, and then whistle while quickly mounting the new horse. If you gallop, the registered horse won't be able to get to your exact location and will just keep tracking you. (Because it naturally slows down to let you mount as it gets close to you, it will never quite catch up with a horse moving at a decent constant speed)
• Unregistered horses can come when you whistle, but if you have a registered horse taken out of the stable somewhere that's the one you'll whistle for.
• Horses can die! If yours dies, try heading south from the Highland Stable.

[/tab]
[tab=Horse Customizing]

• If you have a max bond with your horse you can customize its' mane, saddle, and bridle at certain stables. (Outskirt, and Highland stable for sure offer this. I know there's others too, just look for a girl standing next to the horses during the day, and talk to her while riding a horse or have your horse nearby)
• A bunch of mane styles are available automatically, but saddles and bridles need to be obtained through other means
• You can get a Royal bridle and saddle by completing a horse-taming quest you get at Outskirt Stable
• you can get an Extravagant bridle by completing a horse obstacle course at Highland Stable
• You can buy a Monster bridle and saddle from Kilton (it gets unlocked at some point)

[/tab]
[tab=Horse related quests]

• You can find a unique horse in Taobob Grassland. Instead of having a certain number of spurs it's just naturally faster than other horses.
• There's another unique horse at Sanidin Park Ruins. It has high stats but requires a lot of stamina to tame. (I think around 2 full wheels)
• Somewhere in Gerudo Canyon Pass is a guy who wants to buy a horse. You can give him any horse at all, I don't think it even needs to be registered. You will never see this horse again so don't give him one that you care about.
• Epona exists and you can register her. But you can only get her through Amibo, not normal gameplay.

[/tab]
[tab=If you try Special Mounts]

• There are other things you can ride besides horses, but the stable won't register them :broken_heart:
• Animals like Deer and Bears won't stubbornly turn like untamed horses, instead they'll ocassionally try to buck you off. This requires stamina to stay on, so if you only got on using bonus stamina you're going to have a bad time.
• Yes, you can mount an already aggro'd bear, or an already spooked deer.
• I do recommend trying a deer at least once. The way they move is really cool, especially a majestic buck with big antlers
• Bears are slow and kinda awkward
• Animals can die while you're riding them, and will drop their usual drops. Deer are weak enough to die to Keese
• Most animals that aren't horses are going to immediately run away and despawn the second you dismount.
• If you see a glow on Satori Mountain, go check it out. Be very stealthy.
• Apparently Lynels can be mounted but I have not pulled that one off yet
• Stall horses will die in daylight but apparently this doesn't happen as long as you don't dismount

[/tab]
[/tabs]

 

[Shgeldz]

In case anyone doesn't know these tips, I'm the beast master and wanted to share

[tabs]
[tab=1] This tab exists just to be the first open tab without a spoiler in your face.
[/tab]
[tab=Taming a horse]

• Horses mainly come in 2 varieties. Patterened horses are easier to tame, but probably have lower stats. Solid colored horses are going to require more stamina to tame, but will probably have better stats.
• Bonus stamina does count when trying to tame a horse, so if you don't have a lot go ahead and eat some stamina boosting foods
• You can register 5 horses at a time at the stable
• You can tame horses without ever registering them
• The Sheikah outfit is a good investment
• If you sneak directly behind a horse you might get kicked when noticed. Sneaking at an angle will protect you from this
• Gliding is pretty silent, so you can get the drop on horses this way
• Horses don't despawn like other animals do, so don't worry if you spook them.
• Even if a horse is spooked, you can still mount it. If a spooked horse runs close by, don't be afraid to run towards it!
• A horse that a bokoblin rides will be tame enough to not immediately get spooked by your presence, so if you want a horse quickly knock a bokoblin off with an arrow or something and steal their ride.

[/tab]
[tab=Using your horse]

• I'm pretty sure that an increased bond makes your horse more likely to hear you whistling
• All mounts naturally snap onto paths and follow them. You don't need to steer on a path at all unless your horse is not fully tamed and jerks off in a different direction. 'Paths' mean 100% of the gold paths marked on your map, but there are a couple of unmarked paths that they'll follow too.
• If you whistle, you don't have to stay in place. Your horse will track your movement and run to meet up with you
• You don't have to ride your registered horse back to the stable in order to board it, so don't feel bad about forgetting where your horse is.
• You can mount your horse from just about any angle, and while its' moving
• You can run over animals and get their drops. Especially birds that only move at the last second, just spur at the right moment and you get free meat
• If a horse is moving when you get on, it will keep moving at that speed. So you can whistle and jump on your horse for a quick getaway if you time it right
• You can feed your horse by dropping things on the ground in front of it or just holding it out to them. Try an Endura Carrot!
• If you have a registered horse and a newly tamed one, you can get your horse to follow behind you while you ride! Just get a little distance between you and the registered horse, and then whistle while quickly mounting the new horse. If you gallop, the registered horse won't be able to get to your exact location and will just keep tracking you. (Because it naturally slows down to let you mount as it gets close to you, it will never quite catch up with a horse moving at a decent constant speed)
• Unregistered horses can come when you whistle, but if you have a registered horse taken out of the stable somewhere that's the one you'll whistle for.
• Horses can die! If yours dies, try heading south from the Highland Stable.

[/tab]
[tab=Horse Customizing]

• If you have a max bond with your horse you can customize its' mane, saddle, and bridle at certain stables. (Outskirt, and Highland stable for sure offer this. I know there's others too, just look for a girl standing next to the horses during the day, and talk to her while riding a horse or have your horse nearby)
• A bunch of mane styles are available automatically, but saddles and bridles need to be obtained through other means
• You can get a Royal bridle and saddle by completing a horse-taming quest you get at Outskirt Stable
• you can get an Extravagant bridle by completing a horse obstacle course at Highland Stable
• You can buy a Monster bridle and saddle from Kilton (it gets unlocked at some point)

[/tab]
[tab=Horse related quests]

• You can find a unique horse in Taobob Grassland. Instead of having a certain number of spurs it's just naturally faster than other horses.
• There's another unique horse at Sanidin Park Ruins. It has high stats but requires a lot of stamina to tame. (I think around 2 full wheels)
• Somewhere in Gerudo Canyon Pass is a guy who wants to buy a horse. You can give him any horse at all, I don't think it even needs to be registered. You will never see this horse again so don't give him one that you care about.
• Epona exists and you can register her. But you can only get her through Amibo, not normal gameplay.

[/tab]
[tab=If you try Special Mounts]

• There are other things you can ride besides horses, but the stable won't register them :broken_heart:
• Animals like Deer and Bears won't stubbornly turn like untamed horses, instead they'll ocassionally try to buck you off. This requires stamina to stay on, so if you only got on using bonus stamina you're going to have a bad time.
• Yes, you can mount an already aggro'd bear, or an already spooked deer.
• I do recommend trying a deer at least once. The way they move is really cool, especially a majestic buck with big antlers
• Bears are slow and kinda awkward
• Animals can die while you're riding them, and will drop their usual drops. Deer are weak enough to die to Keese
• Most animals that aren't horses are going to immediately run away and despawn the second you dismount.
• If you see a glow on Satori Mountain, go check it out. Be very stealthy.
• Apparently Lynels can be mounted but I have not pulled that one off yet
• Stall horses will die in daylight but apparently this doesn't happen as long as you don't dismount

[/tab]
[/tabs]

You know there's other thing in this game beyond horses...?

 

[Aki]

You know there's other thing in this game beyond horses...?

Nope, I don't think there is

 

[Shgeldz]

Spoiler: The Island

OH MAN THIS IS THE BEST QUEST IN THE GAME.

I had just finished the Zora Divine Beast, and wanted to explore a ton before I moved on. I wound up on the southeast shores of Hyrule. I put two and two together (without being told) and figured out how to use a Deku Leaf and a raft, and I went out to an island in the distance. I finally got on the shore, really excited to find what I assumed was a shrine when... well if you haven't done it, go do it. It was something that only this game could have pulled off so well, a mico-desiged dungeon with such a density of secrets and the hand of a designer lovingly easing you towards solutions to puzzles. It was such a change of pace from the rest of the game and reminded me of my ventures 10 or so hours before.

I failed the first 3 times and gave up. After every Beast I took down, I went back and failed. Finally, I got the Gerudo beast, my last one, and kinda brute forced my way through it haha. But loved it so much, and the flying mini-game after you beat it was a load of fun.

 

[Aki]

Can anyone confirm that there's actually any way to interact with dogs?

I keep seeing rumours like, "If you unequip your sword you can pet them with the attack button!", or "If you spin they'll chase their tail!".

All I can see in my own game is that dogs will eat raw meat I drop on the ground, and this (or just standing near them for a moment) can cause one of those pink sparkling effects like horses get when you soothe them correctly.​

I really like video game animals okay, please tell me I can tame wolves in this game​

 

[Tomix9tomix]

Can anyone confirm that there's actually any way to interact with dogs?

I keep seeing rumours like, "If you unequip your sword you can pet them with the attack button!", or "If you spin they'll chase their tail!".

All I can see in my own game is that dogs will eat raw meat I drop on the ground, and this (or just standing near them for a moment) can cause one of those pink sparkling effects like horses get when you soothe them correctly.​

I really like video game animals okay, please tell me I can tame wolves in this game​

I know if you feed it enough times it will lead you to treasure, but I found this helpful guide list of interactions online.

1. Stand near a dog. Just face a dog and look at it — a puff of pink will appear. That’s the first step in any doggy interaction.
2.Give the dog food! It doesn’t seem to matter what type of food — though the quality will increase the bond. To give a dog food, open your inventory and select “Hold”, then drop the food on. the ground near the dog. If the dog sees you drop the food in front of its face, you’ll increase your bond.
3. [Unconfirmed] Run! After increasing bond, the dog will follow you around. Do some sprinting with the dog and let it chase you.
4.[Unconfirmed] Play fetch. Use any wooden branch cut from a tree and throw it while the dog is paying attention. It will run off and retrieve the stick right away.

-souce: http://gameranx.com/features/id/960...ld-how-to-make-friends-with-dogs-get-rewards/

I know that the first two work, but I've never actually beriended a dog fully so I don't know about the running. And while it would be very cool if you could play fetch, I highly doubt it.
I hope this helps

 

[Domiok]

Hey! Just wanted to chime in with a few of my thoughts. Some conceptual spoilers follow.

Spoiler: Variety

I really love how the game gives you so many ways to approach the world. The constant example that I've been sharing goes like this. My friend was playing and encountered a Bokoblin camp on a raised platform. He cleared the camp and wanted to get atop the platform to grab some arrows. We briefly discussed his slew of options for reaching the platform, and we both agreed that he could start a fire and could use the updraft to make it there. So, I wait for him to reach for his fire arrows. And then, he goes into his inventory. Completely puzzled, I asked him what he was doing, and he told me that he was going to pop a red chuchu jelly in the grass to start his fire. We both came to the same decision, but even within that simple decision, there was much more opportunity for variety. Likewise, as other people will cite, the many ways that you can "cheat" through shrines, at the occasional cost of some complexity, adds to that awesome sensation like you can really do anything in this sandbox so long as you have the wits to do it. Between world exploration, story progression, combat, and shrine expeditions, the game hosts so much freedom for its players to tackle its world, and that is what the game does best in my eyes.

Along with the freedom of the game, the flavor of the people and the environments in the game feels so expressive and sucks me as a player into the game. Especially in the towns, the characters of the world largely have their own unique personalities. They usually have something about them, whether it is their actions, their way of speaking, or perhaps just their way of doing things that just make them stand out from one another. The things that they have to say and your responses to these topics makes these characters seem realistic. These characters are not all samey like the typical townsfolk of other RPGs; these characters exhibit different personalities, one-dimensional or multi-dimensional, compared to the characters around them. Landscapes and places in the world also create such different and engaging environments. You can really pick out the little quirks of each of the areas, from the people and land masses there to the little details like animals and materials, that make it seem like you're exploring a whole new area on the map instead of a place where you've already visited. Mountaintops tend to look alike, but beside that, the regions of the game tend to stick out and give off new vibes when you first find them.

Spoiler: Side Quests

The game certainly doesn't lack its flaws. There are a handful of wonderful side quests, but there also exist a hefty number of dull ones. While the game does include a wide variety of materials, like other open world titles, it offers a few too many objectives that focus on harvesting a specific amount of one or two items. While I do not mind this trend as much for armor upgrades since it feels like a fair difficulty requirement for rewards that benefit a lot of your gameplay, I definitely grew weary when I encountered the fourth NPC who wants explicitly ten of some choice fruit. There were plenty of times when I happened to have enough resources on hand, but the times where I did not dragged me into a tiring trial of hunting down what I needed. All that hunting for some simple reward like 50 rupees. Even though the designers made most of the game's quests, even these item fetch quests, around charming circumstances (i.e. cricket guy in Hateno Village), the charm often did not justify the tedious work involved.

Spoiler: Dungeons

On another note, the dungeons (read: the Divine Beasts, not Hyrule Castle) took a big hit in this game. I recognize that there needed to be sacrifices by giving the player a universal toolkit through the runes that the player could use across the world, but I believe that the developers could have found a way to make the dungeons different from one another as they did with so many other aspects of the game. The quests to reach the dungeons all play out in similar ways, and the progression through each of the dungeons is exactly the same. This differs from many other Zelda titles where most of the dungeons, despite sharing a general template, operate in totally different ways. I wish that I could have memorable dungeons to reflect upon when thinking about this game, but the fact that they mostly took about 30 minutes each and that they all worked in the same way diminished most of their memorability.

At the end of it all, I have had my three course dinner and eaten it too. I know that Breath of the Wild will be one of those games that I play casually at least once every few years just to experience the game in totally new ways. Although I don't ever see myself getting anywhere near 100%, ending at a total of about 40% completion, I can say truthfully that I had a blast with most of my time in the game.

 

[Shgeldz]

I finished the game a week and a half ago, but I keep going back, literally just traveling around and exploring areas of the map. I pick it up for 30 mins before work, maybe do a shrine or a side quest, then leave. Damn such value.

 

[Shgeldz]

I just finished my last shrine, and have a few thoughts now that I've had time to digest.

Spoiler: My Thoughts

I still maintain this is a groundbreaking moments for video games. The way that the gameplay builds into itself and how with a few tools, you are able to conquer the world in a sense is really something great. The character progression is organic and reminds me of Monster Hunter, insofar as there's no "levels" and no equipment is gated off from you. When you get a new piece of armor or upgrade it, or get a new weapon, it feels AMAZING because it was entirely on you. You go from nothing to being indestructible, and the journey of the way you manage the game mirrors your progress in it: the more you put in, the more you get out.

I will say that at the very endgame, after you've defeated Ganon and are going around doing side quests, you start to discover the "formula" about things. You begin to recognize that "this is a Korok seed, this is a shrine, this is a sidequest involving cooking" and it becomes a bit like box ticking. But I frankly am not sure how to balance that with the just unbelievable feeling I got when I played through the first time. I think those "rules" and familiar puzzles as a design trope help make what is frankly a massive world a bit easier to digest for a new player. You discover a new mechanic, a new way you can use a tool (and YOU discover it) and then you recognize that you can use it in a similar or the same way in another area, so in the beginning of the game to the middle of it, you really are just engrossed, feel incredibly rewarded, and continue to get your grip on the world. I think without these, a player would be too lost in the world, and things would be too overwhelming. Still, I'd never trade the initial play through (from start to when I defeated Ganon, about 40 hours) for a less grindy endgame, because it was such a phenomenal experience.

10/10

 

[Involuntary Twitch]

Breath of the Wild is amazing, definitely my favorite game I've played in recent memory. I cleared all 4 Divine Beasts and got all but one of the memories, now I'm just wandering across Hyrule before going to take on Ganon, because I don't want this beautiful adventure to end. ;-;

Everything about it, from the seamless gameplay that just feels good, to the interesting and unique characters and monster designs, to the music and sound editing, to the puzzles and brain teasers, really makes this game shine. It's like Nintendo took all of the best elements of the Zelda series and transplanted them into a modern, open-world style adventure, with spectacular results. The addition of resource management, cooking, sidequests, mini-games, Korok seeds, everything seems like it was designed with the player in mind. Even certain mechanics I wasn't so fond of initially (e.g. weapons breaking) ended up contributing to my enjoyment because it forces me to try lots of different types of weapons and experiment with innovative solutions.

My favorite parts of the game...

Spoiler

Eventide Island was great, I encountered it 2 Divine Beasts in and it took me 4-5 tries to finally clear it. That part really shone as a way that forced the player to think creatively and rely on their wits to survive. Also, the Captured Memories sidequest, while at first frustrating, was great because it made you explore all over Hyrule, and the cutscenes you get rewarded with are all fantastic, with top-notch voice acting and really solid writing too. I found that I liked most of the NPCs (Revali and Sidon especially, and of course Zelda herself). I feel as though this story is a cut above the other Zelda games, it really does a good job selling the "Hero's Journey" and making you feel like you're up against impossible odds, which makes your achievements feel all the more rewarding. Also Link is Bae.

I'm sad that it's almost over but I'm definitely, absolutely 100%ing this game. (Well, I'm not getting all the Korok seeds, because NOPE.)

As a side note, I'm playing on the WiiU because I already had that system and I wasn't gonna wait for the Switch to restock in order to play this game. It's fine on the WiiU, there's sometimes a bit of lag when fighting Moblins (ragdoll physics...) but otherwise it looks great. I really wish they had a map on the second screen, but I understand they want the experience to be the same across both systems.

 

[Radical Raptr]

Honestly best game of all time - its like skyrim where I can start from anywhere, play and experience something new, or just walk around and play for hours.

After a while, I found the difficulty really drops, and you are really able to easily steam through things - but watching Nuclear Omega dud his naked run inspired me to give myself little self imposed challenges to make the game more challenging, and its a lot more fun and raised my skill level quite a bit! limiting to a single outfit, and only having 3 hearts is a wild idea, and makes the game super difficult, but makes the food you eat super plentiful, and you only need 2 foods to make a fully healing meal!

I feel like this game has completely revolutionized and set a new bar for all other games to meet with this level of polish. I can't believe it took them this long to introduce open world to zelda! It fits perfectly, I never felt like this was a different and weird experience that isn't zelda, it felt just like any other title in the series, just way more liberating.

I have definitely wasted half of my life playing this game, and I hope to eventually waste the other half completing it :skull:

 

[Vendily]

Hey, I'm playing on the Switch, I got really lucky and came in on a day the store restocked. This post is mostly rambling, there is no order to what I say.

Backstory aside, the game is beautiful, and I was pleasantly surprised when I learned that the E3 livestream was only in the first area.
So far storywise, I've completed all of the Divine Beasts, powered up the runes, and got the Master Sword. I'm still missing 4 memories, 3 from the camara, and I have no clue where the last is.

I don't particularly care for the voice acting. It's nice don't get me wrong, I probably just don't play enough games with voice acting to appreciate it.

Now for the thing I don't like. Spoilered because I don't know.

Spoiler: Divine Beast Boss battles and maybe shrines?

The bosses kind of felt like all I had to do was hit them until they died.only Thunderblight Ganon made me use Magnesis. This is kind of my gripe with a lot of the shrines too, though I might just get a bad pick, but I've gotten more Test of Strength shrines then those that use Runes and stuff.

Killed my first immobile Guardian with a triple shot bow and an ancient arrow yesterday, I felt like a badass for the rest of the day. I also ran around to buy clothes, mostly for fun though getting clothes with functional uses besides increased defense feels good. I like to buy complete sets, so I'll need to go back to some places to get those.

Can I just say that Talus (I'm prety sure those giant rock monsters are called that) are freaking terrifying. My first encounter was on a cliff in Gerudo Desert, my field of view was in front of me, and I ran right past the spot where it spawns. The screen was shaking and I didn't realize what was happening until I turned around to see that giant hunk of rock and the boss health bar appear. That day I learned that you can't climb to escape encounters. I also died.

 

[Rhyden]

So I finally got around to picking this game up yesterday after one of my friends let me play BotW on her Switch the other day (after that I felt the urge to keep playing so I threw down the money) and I've been having a pretty good time with it. It's pretty crazy how open the game is and what you can do.

The whole Divine Beasts thing adds a bit of Shadow of the Colossus into the mix which I really dig. But sometimes I find the whole world to be a bit empty and a waste of time / stamina, especially when there's nothing to fight for like 5 minutes on the way to some new place. My biggest thing that's a bit saddening is the lack of voice acting for every character like there is in Skyrim, but the NPCs have waaay less generic dialogue so I guess it's excusable.

I don't know when the last time I enjoyed a 3D Zelda game was, but it feels good to have my hands on something this good again (for some reason I prefer 3D Mario games and 2D Zelda games and idk if that's weird).