I loved Skyrim and Fallout way more when I could turn on infinite carry weight. Screw realism. I don't want to balance encumberance in something I am doing for entertainment
The early game weapons I don't mind, but later on when you're crafting them from rare items, or getting them from end-game enemies, those shouldn't break. And shields shouldn't break from sliding, that's super dumb.
Same here! Thereās no way that style of gameplay is going to be permanent. And if it does become permanent, I think it would significantly alter its lifespan.
As much as I want to hope for that, it's just wishful thinking.
I loved the old linear Zelda games and still prefer them (Twilight Princess being a firm favourite) but the old formula was losing steam with fewer and fewer returning/new fans, and a lead developer that's clearly just done with it at this point.
It pains me to admit it, but classic Zelda was pretty much at the end of its shelf-life. Remasters/remakes are likely going to be all we see of it from here on. Like it or not the new format has been incredibly well-received, makes the devs happy and sells insane numbers.
The formula might change to something else entirely moving forward, but I doubt mainline Zelda titles are going to reverse course just to appease a minority of the fan-base.
Omg same, as soon as i found a new cool sword about an hour or two into the game and it broke after killing like 3 enemies I turned the game off and never played it again
Granted at first I was like WTF, but I realized after a bit that it kept the game from just becoming a Diablo style game. "Get new weapon. Numbers bigger. Happy for 5 minutes. Look for weapons with bigger numbers."
Not saying it doesn't have its downsides. But once I was able to shake the old rpg hoarder mentality, I found it really fun
This point alone is why my wife only plays it because she likes bombing the fish and collecting plants and stuff. I truly hated how fragile steel is against stuff target mobs. Truly annoying. It only gets better later in the game when you start getting more durable weapons or have better tactics that kills them with fewer swings.
But I will continue criticizing them openly about that, Nintendo or not. Stupid idea. It's worth modding your console so you can play the ROM hack that corrects the durability.
Everything not in a chest respawns every blood moon, and pretty much everything not carried or dropped by an enemy is a static spawn. It's not something that gets better later in the game, it's something that gets better as you explore. There's also no perk system holding you back. Most tactics you'd want to use later are available from the start.
The better weapons from enemies are as much to keep them a threat to you as anything else. Boko drops are chaff, and the fact they get upgraded as the world level goes up helps keep them from being entirely useless, but it's 90% "the enemy wielding this better weapon will deal more damage, maybe do something about that"
About the only thing you get access to only later in the game is some of the really powerful lynel weapons from silver/gold lynels, but those are powerful rewards for taking down powerful minibosses, and a single one of those can get you through the entire final boss
Removing durability removes the steady build up of resources you get from exploring and any need to engage with the aesthetic of the world or the story telling that comes with it. There's no reason at all to not just run around picking up a zillion apples, do just enough shrines for HP not get one shot, grab a single royal weapon in the castle and then go do the boss rush.
And if you find the exploration rewarding with durability removed, the problem isn't durability; doing the thing you're enjoying renders durability a non issue. You're just stressing out about it because you're used to other games using durability to kick you between the legs. It's not really the game's fault you're flinching in fear of a hit it has no interest in delivering
(basically you're wife's enjoyment of the game is because she's engaging more with the expected gameplay loop, not something she's doing in spite of it)
I've been really glad to find more people who share this opinion. There's a lot about BOTW that I love: the music, the characters, the overall art direction, but it's just a little too big and a little too open for me. I should go back and give it another try, but it feels like a game that could be like even 15% tighter and it would improve my enjoyment of it exponentially!
No it wasnāt lol yes the starting weak weapons break quick but by the end not only do you find so many weapons and have a ton more slots. the stronger weapons last longer, weapon breaking is literally meaningless after 10 hours cause theirs always stronger weapons you find to replace anyway
People always exaggerating the weapons breaking shows me they never even made it to the first town. Yes a tree branch will break after 5 hits, a normal sword goes for dozens and then the best weapons in the game take forever to break. Also by the first few shrines and after a couple korok seed upgrades you will have endless weapons, breaking literally means nothing after like 8-10 hours of gameplay
As a huge Zelda fan that played nearly every Zelda, including the fixed version of CDi ones, i was beyond hyped for it. I bought Wii u, which wasn't easy for a working student living alone, thank god Switch came out and Wiiu had its prices slashed.
Finally i got it, loved it for about five hours... then liked it for another five hours... then i got to vah medo and was like "uh wait, is that all there is to it?"
They included voice acting for the first time, and then wasted it twice: first, Zelda's VA is horrific. The focal character's voice is unbearable and her line reads are hilarious. And shes the only character with a semblance of personality or arc!
Second, the rest of the cutscenes are characters emotionlessly reading Hyrule Historia paragraphs at you. Oh my god, Ganon is the main villain? That revelation surely deserves its own cutscene! Dont get me started on those pathetic champions. How the fuck do these dolts have less personaliy than Ocarina of Time sages? Thats all they are really. Mytha is white bread Ruto. Urbosa is a shitty Nabooru. Revali is Falco except hes dead as a doornail so why would i care about his rivalry?
I have no idea how they made Link even less of a character but wow they managed somehow. Coming from Skyward sword, its a shock to the senses. And these kinds of cutscenes of people standing around blabbing about the most basic bitch lore for minutes are a shock to the senses after Twilight Princess!
And what do you MEAN Hyrule crippled the development of the entire world just to keep the power to themselves? Thats a huge revelation to drop in an NPC dialogue! Why would I want to save such a kingdom omg? They deserved it! Why would I want to side with Sheikans over Yiga? And then they overloaded Yiga camp with le funny banana jokes. The worldbuilding of these games are absolute garbage.
And why do i focus on the story so much? Because im so bored with the gameplay! I personally love "dwindling meters" games, and enjoyed the first hours where i was underleveled and forced to create strategies. But i got so powerful so soon practically nothing could stop me, i was doing genocide run against lynels, bored out of my mind. When you can climb everywhere, the world soon seems so small and empty.
No interesting sidequests, no interesting NPCs, no dungeons to speak of, random disconnected shrines where you put a ball into a ballsack by flipping the controller, wow Im entertained.
Running around the fields in other Zelda is fun and refreshing after finishing a big dungeon; then the dungeons become fun and refreshing when i had my fill of fishing and messing around.
This is my least favorite Zelda by far and my disappointment was so severe it destroyed my interest in Zelda. The silver lining is that i started playing a lot more different games and discovered amazing genres i didnt consider before.
When you realize the game is basically only 4 bosses plus Calamity Ganon really pissed me off actually. What makes LOZ special is Link's toolbelt and going through the story to acquire tools but in this bish when your sword and shield break is annoying af.
The weapon durability is to force you to use the other abilities the game gives you and to utilize the environment for combat, like rolling boulders onto enemies or using one arrow to ignite a barrel instead of several arrows. Its about making the player creative and not enabling just pure hack and slash.
Dunno, that what old Zelda games did by giving actual puzzle with the items and tools you have. It literally became a hack'n slash by gimmicking those tools combined with a big open world trend they followed making it feel like every other open world game. It is rather funny to me how Ubisoft for their Open World games got hate, but Zelda does it and got praise.
Honestly, this did kill Zelda kind of for me, and I miss classic Zelda games, glad there are alternatives often. But still, the game is not bad, not get me wrong, but it gets praises for all the wrong reasons.
Every game since also has gliders with climbing mechanics also. This is not even original, it popularized it. Other games did it, it was "lazy and uninspired" but Zelda? Gets a pass because it was absent mostly I guess?
Not get me wrong again, people can enjoy it, and happy for people who do and a different take on Zelda is good, but killing its roots basically and only doing such now is kinda not what I expected.
And speaking of Hack and Slay, people also enjoyed Hyrule Warriors, so. It depends on how and what you do with things.
This was me when I first tried playing it when it released. Made it to the first great fairy and just felt the game wasnāt for me. The weapons breaking immediately, the inventory and cooking system, and a story that didnāt grab me.
Just started playing it again last month. Wild to say but I have three kids now and playing it with them I get to experience it through their eyes. Brings some joy and wonder to the game that I was missing before.
I still think the weapon durability needs a serious adjustment. 10x the current durability. Weāre about 20 hours in and itās still just an annoyance.
This is a tricky one for me. I did enjoy the game - the sheer scale of it, the graphics, something to explore and discover in every tiny little corner of the place.
BUT.
The stamina wheel. The breaking weapons. The damn weather attacking you. It was a bit much for me.
I gave up part-way through TOTK because - on top of the issues I mentioned above - that whole massive underground area is just a joyless slog.
The fuck you mean a whole generation without a new 3d Zelda age of imprisonment came out LAST YEAR and tears of the kingdom came out 3 years ago, and weāre getting the ocarina of time remake in November
The only way i enjoyed BOTW was modding away the stamina bar and weapon durability. and windbombs...loooots of windbombs. and another glitch which let you fly across the entire map in like a minute. Hilarious! :D
IGN lying about reviews doesnāt mean the game is bad lol it was a really good game. Youāre a fucking dork man, writing a 500 word paper about a game in a comment section and unironically using the word ānormieā. People saying BoTW is one of their favorite games doesnāt make them nintendo shills like get off your high horse. absolute peak redditor right here
why donāt you write another 1000 word essay about it lol just keep proving my point btw to you liking a popular game makes you a shill. pretentious ass mf
Iām playing totk right now and it might be my favorite game in a long time. It just constantly makes me happy with how I get to use my own creativity to solve issues. I get a smile on my face so often playing this game.
Apart from the characters and sound effects, it wasnāt a Zelda game. Zelda games are primarily about thematic dungeons and the useful items you get from said dungeons. BOTW took all the gameplay that wouldāve been concentrated in ~10 unique dungeons and then divided it among 100+ thematically identical shrines and 4 thematically identical divine beasts, which were maybe have the size and complexity of previous Zelda dungeons. And they give you all the āitemsā within the first hour of gameplay, so the only sense of progression comes from hearts and stamina and the high jump you get from the bird divine beast. Itās a good game but itās a Zelda in name only.
See what I do enjoy the game the more times I replay it the more issues and design problems I find with it I would probably give it about a six out of 10 now like there are good things about it and it certainly more fun the less you know but when you realize that pretty much every major reward for exploration is either a copy paste shrine or korok seed or maybe a seemingly cool but incredibly brittle weapon it just doesn't really reward exploration and being able to farm durians and carrots that can completely refill your health and stamina is just such bad game design. The existence of foods that completely refill your health and stamina aren't inherently an issue but being able to farm and cook them whenever you want is just terrible balancing. I've tried speaking to people about this but they always tell me well it's just options the player can choose for themselves if they want to make the game harder for themselves etc it shouldn't be the players job to balance the game that's literally what the game designers job is. This game and tears of the Kingdom to a far worse extent have this obsession with quantity over quality. The only rewards for actually film meaningful is the master sword and the champion abilities and even they run out and have to recharge in the older games once you got a new weapon or item that was it it was yours to use however you see fit whenever you want. Breath of the wild: now sorry mate the most powerful sword ever ran out of juice.
Nah this is an insane take. It's one of the most beloved games of all time, just because you were ass at it when you were 8 doesn't make it ass, it just makes you 8. It was so good it revolutionized so many different aspects of gaming that we still used today
Innovative doesnāt equal being timelessly good. For its time it was incredibly significant but that doesnāt mean its aged well versus A Link to The Past before it. There are games on the PS2 and PS3 (and even the Dreamcast) that were far less influential yet still feel brand new today.Ā
I donāt think its just a performance thing or just how old something is, it can also depend on how the industry progresses. For example the original DS aged really terribly because smartphones became so much better at cheap and cheaply made, gimmicky touch screen games, yet was arguably a hugely influential console.Ā
N64 has aged exceptionally poorly. The PS1 and Dreamcast are still fine consoles, but the N64 hasnāt aged nearly as well as the SNES or even the NES. Thats the consequence of it also being one of the most innovative generations. Anything PS2 onwards has aged pretty well imo.Ā
I felt this way about BotW for years, until I finally gave it another chance in 2023, and absolutely fell in love with it.
Itās seriously, the biggest 180 Iāve ever done with a game where I simply didnāt get the hype, played it for a bit, and felt unimpressedā¦.and then gave it another genuine effort, and couldnāt get enough of it. Heheā¦Now I get the hype that I didnāt understand before.
Iāve always loved the Zelda IP, so I was resistant to the āopen worldā concept of that game. It took me a hot minute, but the game is amazing. However, I do hope weāll get more adventures like everything before it.
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u/Timely_Ad9659 Aug 19 '26
Zelda breath of the wild