I have a PS4 pro, Xbox S catching dust, i7 5960x 1080x strix g-sync with soundblaster rig, and the new 3ds, as well as Switch. I also surf and kite surf (because I grew up 300 yards next to the ocean), no kite surfs existed then but surfboards did, with other words, I am one of those hardcore gamers that also has a life and am therefore writing as honest as I can.
Do you guys remember Half Life 1 from 1998, where a random cockroach had an AI smarter than most NPC enemies of today's "AAA" games? You don't believe me? Go here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Elwb2lV88hM
Zelda: Breath of the Wild picks up again on AI and other cool features where most games of today just stopped showing. Today's games as soon as you walk within a certain distance of an enemy, he attacks, and if you do the occasional stealth approaches, that is all of a tactic you can find in today's games (which by the way, Zelda Breath of the Wild has as well).
But let's say the enemy is using a weapon made out of wood. Let's say you attack that enemy with fire arrows. If you hit the weapon, it starts burning, making it essentially an even stronger weapon that you take even more damage from, but this only for a certain time, because the weapon will eventually burn down, hurt the enemy, thus the enemy will throw it down and be weaponless! Good luck finding things like this on modern "AAA" games.... Also, throw a bomb at an enemy, the enemy runs away, he dodges, not like in Mass Effect Andromeda (if you watched the previews) where the enemy just stands there when the grenade lands in front of its feet, waiting to explode a few seconds later.
This is just a tiny fraction of what the game has to offer. From the lowest point to the highest peak, you need about 30 minutes. So you think Fallout 4 map was big? That is a joke compared to this (as much as I loved Fallout 4).
The mechanics are insane, you can use your imagination in ways that you have no idea. Resident Evil 7's puzzle are toddler exercises compared to what you expect here (and I love the original RE games 0,1 and 2).
There is so much to do, so damn much to do, over 100 hours easily and I have barely played the whole morning now here in the EU, and let's hope I can finish it before the Russians try to invade, because then I will be drafted and why Russia would want to invade a continent with a total of 85 Mio soldiers (Active, reserves and militias) that have the latest state of the art weaponry (85 Mio without US involvement) is beyond my knowledge, but they sure want to make us think they can (yes, we got Nukes too!). Current EU/Russia issues aside, the game is fantastic! Is it better than Nioh or Horizons? In many aspects yes, in most in fact, but not in all. Also, you cannot compare any of the three together because they are totally different. You like comparing Halo Wars with Uncharted? Different games!
For us bros that grew up with the Atari, Amiga, NES, SNES, PS1, Xbox, PS2, PS3, X360, PS4, Xbox One (and PCs), you will get a switch to play this game. If you only grew up on a PS3 upwards I guess you won't, maybe for the best of all, because Zelda games are not for halfwits, you need to use your brain a lot, and even many vets like to look up some guides from time to time for certain side quests or dungeons if they are stuck, but pressing the pause button and using paper and pencil to make notes is common.
Breath of the wild has many events going on totally at random. I just realized that merchants grant you sometimes, better items when it rains and at night, so try to catch them then! I just figured this out, looked it up online and indeed, this has already been discovered.
I do not want to write anymore, time to get back playing. I am also not a console war fanboy idiot, but I am looking forward for the negative ratings of such people, that apparently have nothing better to do anyway with their sorry lives. Furthermore, they do not realize that Nioh is forgotten in history in 2 years, Horizon too, but Zelda games are still being remastered and played, games from back in the 90s, yet, they keep trying to trash talk about this game...haha.
Xoxo