43M's Gaming Journal: Zelda: Breath of the Wild REVIEW!!!!

[Broncofan]

17 hours ago, 43M said:

@Broncofan

Not sure if you knew this, but apparently, the story for part 3 is already done and they are set to start voice recording in the near future, with a hopeful 2027 release.  That would be amazing, but Im thinking 2028 is more likely.

Also, there is apparently a DLC thats already pretty much done.   My guess is sometime next year it will release.   Im guessing its a backstory for either Vincent or Cid.

Yeah the fact they got Rebirth out in 2024 when they had to deal with Covid and had the Yuffie DLC, and given the fact they retained 80+ percent of the dev crew, and them keeping all the assets with the same Unreal 4 engine - I’m guessing we see a 2027 release to coincide with the 30 year anniversary.    NGL it’s still going to be a long wait.   
 

Are you sure we’re getting DLC?  Lot of online sources said no DLC - Vincent / Cid likely being saved for Ep3 (like how Red / Cait Sith & in theory Yuffie were added to the party for Rebirth).   I’m guessing we’ll see Zack as the 3rd addition, even if it’s just for a short while.  

Don’t get me wrong I’d love to see a DLC but Nomura was pretty direct about this last year iirc 

https://x.com/techradargaming/status/1706375563823243740?s=46&t=JSCW7buh6rkAP4Q7Ebqbfw

 

 

 

 

 

But yeah, it’s going to be a long wait.    I’ll likely play the 2022 Crisis Core Reunion PS4/5 version so I know the whole story, and then do a speed run of Remake & Rebirth all before Ep3.     The tough part is gameplay-wise Remake is def going to be more of a chore - because they didn’t have great air combat, it was one of the big improvements in Rebirth.      But the nice part is with all the exploration done & side quests completed the main story speed run is pretty quick. 

Edited July 24 by Broncofan

[43M]

  Review

 

A few years ago, I played the hell out of this game for probably damn near 70 hours.   For some reason, at some point after finishing a good bit of it, I completely started over and end up getting burnt out.      After that, I never really felt the desire to return to the game.   Not because it wasnt good, mind you, but because I had other stuff I wanted to play and I had already played most of the game anyway and didnt feel like there was much else for me to accomplish.

A couple months ago, I loaded up my Wii U, which I already had this game on, and wanted to see if I could load up my save file and just finish the final boss and possibly move on to Tears of the Kingdom.  However, upon loading it up, I realized two things; 1) The save file I had only had 1 of the Divine Beasts finished, which meant I still had about the whole game left to play, and 2) the generic controller I bought for the Wii U was so bad for this game, particularly trying to aim when firing arrows.    

So, I decided to bite the bullet and plop down some more money and buy the Switch version.    Not one to learn my lesson, I also decided to buy a generic "pro" controller off of Amazon for about $25.    However, outside of pretty short battery life, the controller works very well, so I can live with that.      

Now....onto the actual review.... 

When I first played this game, being a Zelda fanboy from pretty much the beginning, I wasn't exactly thrilled with everything they did.    It still maintained the Zelda "feel" and the game was still fantastic in most ways, but there were a few things that kind of disappointed me.    One of the main things I complained about was the weapons breaking.    It annoyed the hell out of me....not the fact that they eventually broke, just that most of the weapons broke after only a few hits.   I thought this was overkill and it often annoyed me to no end.

This time around, I decided to embrace that element and tried to appreciate the strategy of it all, and you know what?  It worked!   I actually didn't mind the weapons breaking as much as I did a couple years ago and actually used it as a means of experimenting with different weapons and making sure I saved my more powerful weapons for tougher enemies.    This added some excitement and depth to a system I felt was somewhat broken when I first played it.    The gameplay overall is phenomenal I always loved going back to certain areas as Link got stronger and kicking a$$ in areas that kicked mine when I first started.   The bow and arrow gameplay was alot of fun....maybe not on the level of Horizon, but still fantastic.    There were numerous ways to approach fighting most enemies and groups of enemies, and finding the most effective ways was always fun.

The real selling point of this Zelda is easily the world exploration.    The world is massive and loaded with various areas that look and feel completely different.   Every area requires its own unique gear to brave its elements, and while that too could also get annoying, its was at least realistic and made sense all along, unlike the weapon breaking logic.       I thought when I first started this game back up again that I might actually just fly through it, but I actually did pretty much everything except collect all the Korok Seeds, which I only collected about 1/3 of the 900 or so in the game.     I did all 120 Shrines, beat every type of enemy and did probably 2/3 of the sidequests.   The world was a joy to traverse through, be it on foot, on horseback or soaring through the skies. 

The graphics are obviously not on par with the top end AAA games out there, but the art style and scope of the graphics makes it very pleasing to the eye.   I always wanted a more realistic looking Zelda ala Twilight Princess, and would love to see what that looks like on these newer consoles, but the graphics in BOTW are still wonderful.  A bit "kiddified", but still very visually pleasing.   The design of the world is phenomenal and the landscapes are something worth just taking a few moments to appreciate as you traverse the massive world this game offers.

The music and sounds throughout the game were absolutely amazing.   The classic Zelda themes along with some new music and just random sound effects just added so much to the experience.   They are always top notch in Zelda games, and this is no different.

The story is pretty good and certain cutscenes are fantastic, but it is a bit generic and I wish there were some more cinematics in the game.    As always, I do not mind that Link doesnt have a voice, but it does take away from some of the potential emotions of some of the cutscenes.

For as good as most of this game was and as good as most Zelda games are, there always seems to be points of frustration in every single game...by design usually because Nintendo is notorious for being massive A-holes.   

If I had to some up my issue with this game in one word, I think that word would probably be "overkill".  What does that mean?   Allow me to elaborate.

While I embraced the weapons breaking and grew to appreciate it to a point, it was still OVERKILL how often and how fast they broke.    A massive, two handed legendary steel sword breaks after only a few hits?   Really?     I do not mind the weapons breaking system in general, but it couldve been toned down a bit and been made better because of it.   

Another thing that was OVERKILL was how much it rained.   I love the various weather, but it seemed like it rained WAY too much.  I know this sounds like a whiny, nitpicky complaint, and it kind of is, but it got really annoying when I needed to climb something and, oh...guess ******* what?  Its raining....again!   Certain areas I didnt mind...but it was pretty much everywhere and it really got on my nerves.

Korok Seeds to expand weapons slots was fine...until you wanted to expand it beyond a certain point and it forced you take time out of your adventure to go search for these things.   I didnt mind it...to a point, but when I had to spend a few hours to find enough to expand my stashes another slot, it was, how you say....OVERKILL!

None of these really hurt the game too much, but they were things I felt couldve been adjusted a bit and made alot of difference for the better.   A few other issues I had....

While I enjoyed the puzzles and Divine beasts, its a step down from other Zelda games.   I miss finding certain tools in certain dungeons that played a key part in defeating the main boss of that specific dungeon.    In this game, while there was different strategies, most could be slain with bows and arrows for the most part.   I just feel like previous Zelda games offered more variety in both bosses and dungeons.

The game was always pretty responsive with fluid controls, but there were certain times the controls got on my nerves.     Sometimes, my targeting would break off of whoever I was focused on for no apparent reason.   Sometimes I glided onto a mountain and Link wouldnt grab on so I floated down much further and had to climb further back up.    Some of the perfect dodging elements got annoying and didnt always seemed to work as well, but these are minor complaints.  

I had a few other issues I cant remember right now, but none of them were major at all.

Bottom line:   Despite some gripes, this game is another masterpiece of the Zelda franchise.    I was worried I wouldn't be able to get back into it, but I got so "into it" that I decided to download the DLC and go on a Zelda gaming marathon.     It took me probably 150 hours to beat the main story with alot of extras, and I am still playing the DLC.     So even though I paid for this game twice, I am still getting my monies worth, I'd say!

Gameplay:  8.5
Story:  8
Graphics: 9 (not top end, but the art style and varied landscapes more than makes up for outright realism)
Value/Replayability:   10 (would go higher if I could)
Personal Enjoyment:  9

 

Final Score:    9.1

[43M]

As I mentioned, I am going on a bit of a Zelda gaming marathon.    I beat Breath of the Wild and am currently playing the DLC.     

I also bought another game that serves as a prequel to Breath of the Wild, even though its not your typical Zelda game...

Ive played it about 30 hours now and its pretty solid and I actually am enjoying the story a bit more than Breath of the WIld, mainly because its more fleshed out and gives backstories on alot of characters you meet in the game.

Obviously, I also bought...

And I will hopefully be starting this within the next 2-3 weeks.     

[MKnight82]

On 9/15/2024 at 1:46 AM, 43M said:

  Review

 

A few years ago, I played the hell out of this game for probably damn near 70 hours.   For some reason, at some point after finishing a good bit of it, I completely started over and end up getting burnt out.      After that, I never really felt the desire to return to the game.   Not because it wasnt good, mind you, but because I had other stuff I wanted to play and I had already played most of the game anyway and didnt feel like there was much else for me to accomplish.

A couple months ago, I loaded up my Wii U, which I already had this game on, and wanted to see if I could load up my save file and just finish the final boss and possibly move on to Tears of the Kingdom.  However, upon loading it up, I realized two things; 1) The save file I had only had 1 of the Divine Beasts finished, which meant I still had about the whole game left to play, and 2) the generic controller I bought for the Wii U was so bad for this game, particularly trying to aim when firing arrows.    

So, I decided to bite the bullet and plop down some more money and buy the Switch version.    Not one to learn my lesson, I also decided to buy a generic "pro" controller off of Amazon for about $25.    However, outside of pretty short battery life, the controller works very well, so I can live with that.      

Now....onto the actual review.... 

When I first played this game, being a Zelda fanboy from pretty much the beginning, I wasn't exactly thrilled with everything they did.    It still maintained the Zelda "feel" and the game was still fantastic in most ways, but there were a few things that kind of disappointed me.    One of the main things I complained about was the weapons breaking.    It annoyed the hell out of me....not the fact that they eventually broke, just that most of the weapons broke after only a few hits.   I thought this was overkill and it often annoyed me to no end.

This time around, I decided to embrace that element and tried to appreciate the strategy of it all, and you know what?  It worked!   I actually didn't mind the weapons breaking as much as I did a couple years ago and actually used it as a means of experimenting with different weapons and making sure I saved my more powerful weapons for tougher enemies.    This added some excitement and depth to a system I felt was somewhat broken when I first played it.    The gameplay overall is phenomenal I always loved going back to certain areas as Link got stronger and kicking a$$ in areas that kicked mine when I first started.   The bow and arrow gameplay was alot of fun....maybe not on the level of Horizon, but still fantastic.    There were numerous ways to approach fighting most enemies and groups of enemies, and finding the most effective ways was always fun.

The real selling point of this Zelda is easily the world exploration.    The world is massive and loaded with various areas that look and feel completely different.   Every area requires its own unique gear to brave its elements, and while that too could also get annoying, its was at least realistic and made sense all along, unlike the weapon breaking logic.       I thought when I first started this game back up again that I might actually just fly through it, but I actually did pretty much everything except collect all the Korok Seeds, which I only collected about 1/3 of the 900 or so in the game.     I did all 120 Shrines, beat every type of enemy and did probably 2/3 of the sidequests.   The world was a joy to traverse through, be it on foot, on horseback or soaring through the skies. 

The graphics are obviously not on par with the top end AAA games out there, but the art style and scope of the graphics makes it very pleasing to the eye.   I always wanted a more realistic looking Zelda ala Twilight Princess, and would love to see what that looks like on these newer consoles, but the graphics in BOTW are still wonderful.  A bit "kiddified", but still very visually pleasing.   The design of the world is phenomenal and the landscapes are something worth just taking a few moments to appreciate as you traverse the massive world this game offers.

The music and sounds throughout the game were absolutely amazing.   The classic Zelda themes along with some new music and just random sound effects just added so much to the experience.   They are always top notch in Zelda games, and this is no different.

The story is pretty good and certain cutscenes are fantastic, but it is a bit generic and I wish there were some more cinematics in the game.    As always, I do not mind that Link doesnt have a voice, but it does take away from some of the potential emotions of some of the cutscenes.

For as good as most of this game was and as good as most Zelda games are, there always seems to be points of frustration in every single game...by design usually because Nintendo is notorious for being massive A-holes.   

If I had to some up my issue with this game in one word, I think that word would probably be "overkill".  What does that mean?   Allow me to elaborate.

While I embraced the weapons breaking and grew to appreciate it to a point, it was still OVERKILL how often and how fast they broke.    A massive, two handed legendary steel sword breaks after only a few hits?   Really?     I do not mind the weapons breaking system in general, but it couldve been toned down a bit and been made better because of it.   

Another thing that was OVERKILL was how much it rained.   I love the various weather, but it seemed like it rained WAY too much.  I know this sounds like a whiny, nitpicky complaint, and it kind of is, but it got really annoying when I needed to climb something and, oh...guess ******* what?  Its raining....again!   Certain areas I didnt mind...but it was pretty much everywhere and it really got on my nerves.

Korok Seeds to expand weapons slots was fine...until you wanted to expand it beyond a certain point and it forced you take time out of your adventure to go search for these things.   I didnt mind it...to a point, but when I had to spend a few hours to find enough to expand my stashes another slot, it was, how you say....OVERKILL!

None of these really hurt the game too much, but they were things I felt couldve been adjusted a bit and made alot of difference for the better.   A few other issues I had....

While I enjoyed the puzzles and Divine beasts, its a step down from other Zelda games.   I miss finding certain tools in certain dungeons that played a key part in defeating the main boss of that specific dungeon.    In this game, while there was different strategies, most could be slain with bows and arrows for the most part.   I just feel like previous Zelda games offered more variety in both bosses and dungeons.

The game was always pretty responsive with fluid controls, but there were certain times the controls got on my nerves.     Sometimes, my targeting would break off of whoever I was focused on for no apparent reason.   Sometimes I glided onto a mountain and Link wouldnt grab on so I floated down much further and had to climb further back up.    Some of the perfect dodging elements got annoying and didnt always seemed to work as well, but these are minor complaints.  

I had a few other issues I cant remember right now, but none of them were major at all.

Bottom line:   Despite some gripes, this game is another masterpiece of the Zelda franchise.    I was worried I wouldn't be able to get back into it, but I got so "into it" that I decided to download the DLC and go on a Zelda gaming marathon.     It took me probably 150 hours to beat the main story with alot of extras, and I am still playing the DLC.     So even though I paid for this game twice, I am still getting my monies worth, I'd say!

Gameplay:  8.5
Story:  8
Graphics: 9 (not top end, but the art style and varied landscapes more than makes up for outright realism)
Value/Replayability:   10 (would go higher if I could)
Personal Enjoyment:  9

 

Final Score:    9.1

I have tried to play this game several times and just find it incredibly boring. The world feels so empty and boring to me. 

[Xmad]

6 hours ago, MKnight82 said:

I have tried to play this game several times and just find it incredibly boring. The world feels so empty and boring to me. 

There's always baldurs gate 3.

[Lions017]

BOTW and TOTK are two of my absolute favorite games. To me they are what open world games should be - the focus is on the player exploring and interacting with the world. The focus is on the gameplay. I vastly prefer that to something that's more narrative-driven like RDR2. The new Zelda games, especially TOTK, give you so much freedom in terms of how you explore and solve all of the puzzles. If you can think of a solution chances are it will work. So many open world games claim to be open but they actually have super tight restrictions on how you accomplish goals or finish a mission. 

Edited Tuesday at 06:03 PM by Lions017