Haven't been ao addicted since childhood (Zelda)

There is pretty clearly a bias going on here where it's sacrilegious with Nintendo (specifically Zelda) to call a spade a spade to the point of outright fabricating reality.

And yea, Skyrim is way better than BOTW, which easily ranks as one of the most overrated games made.

@uninspiredcup:I can't be complement something without being bias? That's a little unfair. There are things I don't like about the weapon depletion system and things I would like to see it improve in but if you can't accept that I just prefer this than having a constant advantage over the enemy, then I think you're being totally unreasonable. I also prefer Breath of the Wild to Skyrim. That's just my opinion. You can call me whatever you like but I'm willing to share my thoughts as best I can to help you understand.

@Pedro is right in saying that any time you consult the hot-key menu during battle is not fluid and it might have been a better idea to auto-equip a weapon instead. However, that what two seconds of time? Is in exchange for any time you have to spend any length of time sorting through an abundance of items instead. It's just distributing that time differently. Personally, I find it fluid in that it just throws you into a micro-form of what happens outside of combat. I understand that sharp stops during combat are bothersome (as if they don't exist in other games. :P ) but for me, it keeps the overall experience moving more swiftly. Less time inside menus.

I don't like that you're kind of belittling my opinion simply because you disagree with me. That seems unfair.

Keep in mind, I do like Skyrim. I enjoyed it a whole lot but I do think it's a little too favorable to the player. There's very little mind-work in the game. You constantly improve until you reach a point where the game becomes a cake-walk. It effectively solves itself and all you need to do is spend time. It's time over skill.

@trav_have: I know you don't have to unplug them, just felt it was a lot easier to use a single joy-con to do it than swing the whole system around.

The notion of complacency is a made up concept/problem that you are creating to justify the weapon durability. As you have mentioned the game scales with the player. The more you "level" up the better the weapons you get. In a typical game you will simply replace the weapon you have for the better weapon. The same behaviour exists in this game because it relies on the same mechanic. The game DOES NOT encourage experimentation with weapons it actually discourages due to weapon durability. Gamers are less likely to try new stuff if they are punished for trying. The punishment in this game is the nature of this discussion and that is weapons lack of durability. This abuse of the system you speak of is not negated by weapon durability because all weapon durability in its current state accomplishes is time wasting through tedium. Players stock up on weapons before engaging in to more risky battles and because of the poor durability of weapons they will sometimes just skip combat all together. Also this game rarely if ever offers combat challenges outside of one hit kills.

There is no creative thinking or contemplation when engaging in a battle for BOTW. You are trying to make the game's combat deeper than it is. Use the best elemental weapon against elementally sensitive enemies and strongest against strong enemies. That is all there is to the combat. If you have a small inventory of weapons you may just simply opt out of combat. If you have a large inventory of weapons you use the best weapon for the job. When the best weapon for the job breaks you find another one or avoid combat with certain enemies. This creates tedium. Players are then caught in the trap of sacrificing weapons for better weapons all of the time. Unless you want to kill stronger enemies with environmental hazards to preserve your better weapons or use bombs. All of this simple creates tedium and does not accomplish any of the gaming elements you speak of.

@Pedro:

You don't level up in Breath of the Wild. You get better weapons and so the game throws harder enemies at you that drop better weapons in turn but you could totally squander this advantage still. You also don't always replace the weapon you have with a better weapon in Breath of the Wild. It can very much be the case that you use a better weapon to get a worse one, if you're not a clever player. Again, Breath of the Wild encourages you to experiment with different strategies of defeating enemies such that you avoid this scenario. In many instances, you may as well. I discovered that dropping blocks on enemies did way more damage than some of the weaker weapons, for example. Useful for preserving space for stronger weapons in my inventory.

You experiment not because you have the freedom to do so but because it's encouraged by only using resources when you need them, not because you have them. Again, you're example makes it sound like you always have an advantage but you don't. Experimentation is helpful because you're at a disadvantage. I can use the lightning weapons against enemies in water if I have them and if I don't waste them when I don't need them. Resource management is a factor of every weapon in this game. I don't agree that it's tedious. I feel like we're going around in circles to essentially one thing that I enjoy is something you do not enjoy. :P We will never agree.

@uninspiredcup:

Is it falsehood or do you just disagree? :P

I mean he's taking my argument of something I like and spinning it into something negative he dislikes. That's not falsehood on either part; just a differing of opinion. You're agreeing with him because it agrees with you, and saying I am bias because I disagree with you. That's unfair.

I also empathize with you on Skyrim. People shouldn't be dismantled or categorized for liking a particular type of game. Yes, Skyrim is a more casual approach to the RPG genre but that's not inherently a bad thing. Skyrim is a genuinely fun game because it breaks down some of the components of RPGs and presents them in a exceptionally fun and robust way. The many quests and attention to stories at the start and end are terrific (also one of my favorite things about TW3).

I'm not going to apologize just because I think Skyrim is a little too easy because that's just what I think it is. It's player empowerment. I don't usually like this. Doesn't mean others can't or that I think less of them for it. Not one bit. I just happen to prefer something else in this instance.

Agreed, very magical. The only thing I disliked was weapon durability, but its just minor annoyance

Another video that might help explain my opinion better than I can. :P

And here another, general overview of the game courtesy of Mark Brown. It's a good watch and for me, it explains why I like Breath of the Wild's approach to open world design more than titles such as GTAV or The Witcher 3.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmIgjAM0uh0&t=7s

Again you are misleading anyone who has not played the game by misrepresenting the game. It does not take two seconds of your time. The time spent selecting your weapon is entirely dependent on the amount of weapons you have in your inventory. The more you have the more time is spent scrolling through the array of weapons. Which is ironic because you are arguing that its better than sorting through an abundance of items when you are doing the same thing.

Horizon does a better job of switching weapons in combat than this game. That is closer to a fluid system.

Same. The game was one of the best games I played in a long time. Considering how many good games have come and gone it is quite an accomplishment. Well done.

You do "level" up. Your stats increases through the use of spirit orbs. It maybe only two stats but you level these stats up through the 120 shrines scattered across the map. My testing of the game indicates that the weapons drops are dependent either these stats or story progression. I have not nailed down which of the two is the main driving factor but there is a system that limits the stats of weapons dropped by enemies.

Yes, its true that you don't always replace the weapon you have with a better weapon because if you fight a weak enemy you get weak weapons. There isn't deep thinking or cleverness when it comes to this. Its simply the basics of the game like every other RPG game. Weak enemies gives the worse drops and stronger enemies give the best.

No matter how much times you say the game encourages you to experiment with different weapons, it does not make it true. You are using the wrong word. The game forces uses because of durability. Your scenario proves my point I made early amount weapon hording and limiting the use of weapons in fear of breakage. This game does not encourage experimentation because it punishes failure. A game that encourages experimentation does not punishes the player for experimenting but rewards the player for "successful" experimentation.

The bold is a contradiction and a sly way of avoiding the obvious. The game forces you to play a specific way and not encourage. You are intentionally misrepresenting the game. You may like being forced to play in a specific manner and that in itself is not an inherent problem but its not the same as a game encouraging the player.

Lastly, you are now trying to make this about preferences and its not. The game plays a very specific way and has very specific expectations from the player. One player may like it another may not. The systems in the game is not subjective but objective. You are trying to make the objective mechanics of the game subjective and its not. Liking an objective gameplay mechanic does not make the mechanic itself subjective. You have perpetually misrepresented the mechanics in the game because of your liking to the game.

Yeah i have fun just think about it, not have to do that boring cooking either. Got plenty other games to play. If Zelda came to PC i "maybe" had played it with mods that made so weapons cant break:D

This game has already cracked my top five all time, and I have only completed two major dungeons with sixty-five hours of playtime. I don't know that it will beat Super Mario Galaxy 2 as my all-time favorite, but it could come close. Exploring in this game never, ever gets old. I have even retreaded the same areas with renewed excitement at the prospect of finding something I may have missed, and in some cases I have found hidden treasure, a korok seed, or even an entry to a cave, etc.

@Pedro: I am going to reply in points because I think it might be easier to read.

1. I wouldn't necessarily compare the orbs to a leveling system. While it's an interesting comparison, they aren't entirely the same. Simply that because a leveling system is constant and thr spirit orbs are optional and only tied to shrines, it is absolutely not the same as earning experience points for combat and quests.

2. Your opinion on experimentation applies to BoTW though. In an effort to save electric arrows for a time you might need them, you can instead use the magnet with a block to take out enemies; saving on valuable resources by fighting with other means. Blowing enemies off a cliff with a leaf is another example. I see it as durability being the instigator of creative thinking and the videos I linked support this opinion and use the same language.

4. If there is one thing BOTW doesn't do is force you to plat a specific way as many Youtube vidoes of players creatively solving combat problems and shrines in many different ways. I am not misrepresentating the game at all and I think recent videos of people making flying machines are proof enough that Breath of the Wild is a game that has plenty of experimention and the durability in weapons, I feel adds to this. I implore you to watch the videos I linked for a comprehensive explanation.

5. Yes a mechanic is objective and static bit a person's perspective of it is not. That was the point I was trying to get across. We don't agree about the durability mechanic and that's just how it is. It's a matter of perspective. I found it encouraged me to experiment other means of defeating enemies and you found that it forced you away from that experimentation. It's just a different way of looking at it. The important thing is we understand and hopefully learn from each other and have a productive conversation about the game. :)

Really don't have a problem with the weapon durability system. I see it more as ammo, and honestly it seems to me that most of the complaints come from people who just expect melee based systems to fit some standard parameters. While almost every gun game is similar. I mean, how many times in Halo I avoided using a certain gun while rotating my other gun with whatever I can find. (Edit:And by going this being forced to experiment other weapons that I wouldn't otherwise use and in the process discovering the advantages that underused weapon can bring.) It's just managing a resource.

My only complaint is that due to how non-intuitive this system can feel, Nintendo could just justify it within the lore, like placing a curse on Link, making every weapon hold by him to brake easily.

But generally speaking this debate is generated by a lack of perspective or just a need to justify some gripe.

@kjtc1979: Breath of the Wild is almost like the anti-Skyward Sword in that way.

@Jaysonguy:

Actually this doesn't apply to me. I didn't get into Zelda until I was 22 years old playing Wind Waker on my Gamecube. So no Zelda nostalgia for me. I went back and played all the old Zelda games eventually but not as a kid. Now Mario is another story. Any 2d Mario I am a sucker for simply because of the nostalgia. But not with Zelda. This game simply blows my mind. I love it.

I can't stop playing it. I love the visuals, the animation quality , the storyline the gameplay. It is the best Zelda game ever and i haven't felt this way since OoT.

Some of the hidden Mini bosses are epic as well.

Kind sad to see this Zelda appreciation thread become a debate about the weapons durability. I hated the mechanic early on but have grown to love it. Makes for a lot of cool strategy.

@vaidream45: agreed, its a great game. It really brings back the wonder you feel when exploring new worlds. I also agree with another poster about traditional dungeons vs shrines...I prefer traditional dungeons more. To me, nothing beats the OoT dungeons, especially the water temple which still stands as one of the hardest dungeons in any game.

To me, no Zelda game has eclipsed OoT, not even BoTW. The OoT dungeons are masterpieces and represent the pinnacle of console gaming. I have yet to play a game that is as challenging as OoT was--not in terms of enemy strength but the difficulty of the puzzles. Sad to say that Nintendo abandoned making the challenging Zelda games that I loved in order to appease the casual gamers. Still, BoTW brings back everything of OoT, minus the dungeons and the difficulty level. Even at that level BoTW is an amazing game. Shigeru Miyamoto should get a medal for OoT and everything else he has created.

It's a system that takes some getting used to. Didn't get in the way of all the things that I love about this game. Shouldn't get in the way of the conversation of all the things that are awesome about the game.

The joy of exploration, the playful A.I. and NPC interaction, and the chemistry engine are the three things I love most about this game. Why exploration? Staring off into the distance and looking for places you want to go to, that never happened before to me in a game. Is that weird? Usually there is a map or waypoint that dictates where I go. There are plenty of games that incorporate exploration, and usually it is the exploration of the immediate surroundings. That feeling of being a kid exploring the plains around my house, looking at the horizon, is something I had never felt in a game. I think this game transmits to us players the original feeling that the whole Zelda series sprouted from:

When I was a child, I went hiking and found a lake. It was quite a surprise for me to stumble upon it. When I traveled around the country without a map, trying to find my way, stumbling on amazing things as I went, I realized how it felt to go on an adventure like this.

Do you even remember what it was like when you were little and had no good awareness of your surroundings? When you didn't know what the map looked like in real life? Nowadays I know what is where and what to expect. I never quite have that sensation of exploring my surroundings anymore. In a video game that sensation should be simple to catch, right? Just don't provide any form of direction, and let the player wander around. But players want to be entertained. They don't want to just walk through area's for no reason, with nothing to do, feeling like the game is using filler, wasting their time. You can create beautiful environments in the game for people to go see, but I bet most of us wouldn't even stop to look at them if the places are of no consequence, since we are playing the game to proceed in it. What seems to be such a simple thing to do, turns out to be quite a challenge for a full priced game.

When I think about it, even in games like Oblivion I rarely ever found myself concerned with the world around me. I was mostly focused on the quests and spotting enemies. When it came to the environments, I was ever focused on my immediate surroundings, even though the world was so big. The best moments for me in Red Dead Redemption were the treasure maps, because they made me actually take in the world around me. Still they only made me look at small parts of the world. I think those two games came closest for me, to enjoying the exploration in itself like when I was a kid. But in BotW it is not a small part of the game. They make you explore in wonder, for maybe 100 hours, from the start to a little before the end. I think that is a wonderful achievement for gaming and I hope to see more games incorporate this sense of exploration.

I wasn't impressed with what I played. I mean the gameplay was smooth but there was nothing about it that would make me want to buy it much less a switch just yet. Maybe if they port some Wii U titles like Luigi and Mario side scrollers I'd get it for sure.

They need something to complain about. Haters gonna hate. This game is a masterpiece though, i cant stop playing it. I live and breath this game.

I'm 60 hours in and the novelty has worn off. I miss the classic design with actual dungeons. I'm also disappointed about weapons breaking. The lack of variety of enemies is also disappointing. I also don't like resource gathering you can only pick up so many mushrooms before it gets stale. All that aside it's still a good game and I love the exploration aspect. Although the game is a bit overrated to me. I've beaten every Zelda game since the NES.

@jdc6305: We believe you.

Yeah because my life is so pathetic I need to come on system wars to lie and make stuff up.

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@jdc6305: I just thought since you were making such a strong claim you wanted a little recognition.

Strong claim? recognition? I don't care what anyone thinks. I was just stating how I felt about the game. I wasn't doing it to get a rise out of anyone. I've been a Zelda fan since the 80's.

@jdc6305: You claimed to have played every single Zelda game like it somehow magically supported your critique. Now your claiming to have been a fan since the 80s, another sad attempt.

Sure dude.