Breath of the Wild was incredible.. until it wasn't - it became another open world drag

[MoosetheMark]

BOTW, in any case, offers a ridiculous amount of options to take on combat encounters, many of which sidestep the need to engage in combat entirely.

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The thing that bugs me about BOTW's super diverse combat is that, really, you have to force yourself to use all these options. Bombs and exploding barrels do the same damage at the end of the game that they do in the beginning, it's just not efficient to engineer an elaborate scenario to take off half of a moblin's health bar when I can just run up and kill him in two strokes. I know this is a "make your own fun" kind of game but none of the much-vaunted combat options struck me as useful or particularly engaging. Like, how many ways can I possibly shoot a fire arrow at a barrel before it gets boring?

 

[bionic77]

Best sense of adventure I have ever had in a video game.

The first 50 hours were almost magical in how it felt to explore the world and figure out how it worked and discover its secrets. Especially during launch when there were no strategy guides and we were all walking around in the dark.

Unlike any game I have ever played.

Clearly not for everyone. But if you like adventure or discovering shit in games this is your Mount Everest IMO.

Also sold me hard on the advantages of a hybrid console. I played that shit all over the house at all times for a solid month.

 

[Buff Beefbroth]

130 hours is a long damn time. Many games will become boring at that point.

I gave up about 30 or 40 hours in. There's no real gameplay benefit to exploration, so a lot of it feels walking simulator-ish when you're just seeing stuff for the sake of seeing stuff.

 

[bionic77]

You know if you play a game for over 100 hours until you get tired of it I don't think that's a sign of any major flaws in said game.

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The 'magic' of discovering things does wear off after a point once you have figured out the world so I understand what they are saying.

I still had fun exploring and discovering things even after I kind of figured out potions, physics and a lot of the surprises of the world but I can see how someone would not be that into it.

Honestly the map is something that was also a work of genius. I had fun just looking at the map and was always making a ton of notes via those symbols so I could remember those discoveries for a revisit when needed.

 

[Euler007]

Still have three shrines to go, Ganon down. Was working on those badges but got tired halfway through the Hinoxes. Got bummed that all that time I spent upgrading my armors was useless in the trials. I'd rather get a colonoscopy then hunt Korok seed, rewards are similar. Still had a few really great stretches playing the game, will get back to it someday.

 

[Deleted member 33533]

Only 50 incredible hours huh?

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Haha I thought the same thing.

Everyone always says that the weapon destruction was not an inconvenience. After the first big dungeon, I started noticing how I would fight difficult enemies and lose every weapon. And then I would be roaming with nothing. Folks tell me that they always had plenty. I just cannot really understand this. Maybe I suck lol but still.

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Yeah, I never ran out of weapons or even got close to it. I guess the difference was that I always was trying to use all the skills at my disposal. I imagine if all you do is run up to enemies and bash them like in most other Zeldas you might have that problem but the game teaches you on the plateau that enemies can be tackled in all manner of creative and inventive ways.

I also explored a lot. My problem was more often that I would run out of space for weapons and I'd have to chuck one.

 

[BetterGraphics]

I've had the Switch and this game since launch and I haven't finished it.

I've played on and off for so long, between other games. It's a special and unique game, and only just recently I decided to tackle the Divine Beasts and Ganon.

I should be finished soon, but it will be bittersweet. It has flaws here and there, but there still isn't any game that has provided as much of a sense of wonder and excitement as this. It's all time.

 

[tazmin]

BoTW is all about options...so you aren't obligated to see and experience everything if you don't want to lol

 

[Crayon]

I play on the master mode now. The regenerating health of the enemies seemed unbalanced at first, but I see now how it changes the gameplay and strategy in a meaningful way. I love it!

 

[Bizzquik]

I love this thread - because it is me.

First few hours are somewhat enjoyable. Then the game gets its hooks in you and it is amazing. For 30-50 hours, I loved this game with a passion I can't articulate.
But the game stopped growing. That was the game. Over and over. I wanted it to show me new tricks - or things to entice me with - but it shows you so much right from the jump and there isn't much more.

After a while, I forced myself to stop playing. I defeated Ganon, turned the game off, and that was that.
Do I choose to wholeheartedly love the game for the first 50 hours, or look back with slight disappointment that on the surface there were dozens of shrines remaining to be discovered -- but little enjoyment left?

 

[TheIdiot]

Shame. Hyrule Castle is the best part of the game.

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Mate, Hyrule Castle is fucking fantastic, and a hell of a capstone to the adventure.

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I posted that kind of hoping to hear that, to see if it incentivizes me to boot up the game and beat it once and for all lol.

 

[RPGamer]

I played it for around 200 hours in my first run and i still think it's one of the best games of all time. I loved to go from a weak angsty shit to become the hero again (almost almighty, but it was some work too).

 

[Deleted member 37928]

Yeah I never really had the sense of growing in the game. You got all the special abilities at the start and that's pretty much it. Why not give the player the chance to tweak or switch them out in more drastic ways than what was presented? And why are there no weapon arts to spice up the combat? The game just doesn't offer much in turns of progression; it's all about just traveling around seeing new things and occasionally find some unique item. In the older Zelda games getting a new item or ability was incredibly exciting because of how it unlocked new possibilities in the world, as well as the combat.

 

[Angst]

BOTW was my least favorite 3d zelda.

The dungeons all had a copy and paste art style.
The music was forgettable.
Once you got the best weapons, breakable weapons began to actively discourage combat.
The shrines were copy and paste art and music.
The sidequests are all meaningless, since your reward for most sidequests was some rupees and some more breakable weapons.
No real sense of progression.
The voice acting was terrible.
The entire story was told through flashbacks.
Exploring the world was such a fucking chore. Can't climb this mountain because link ran out of stamina, go do copy and paste shrines to get higher stamina to climb the mountain, oops now its raining and youll have to wait for the rain to stop to get to the top.
The bosses were awful.

7/10

 

[Alienous]

The game gives you control over the pacing, and if you decide to take 50 hours to get through two Divine Beasts that's on you.

I found it pretty engaging throughout. There's enough gameplay in travelling from one main quest to the next, deviating for side quests and shrines.

 

[The Adder]

Effectively, you looked at a buffet and, instead of eating your fill and moving on, you took it as a challenge.

 

[effingvic]

It took me about 250 hours to get tired of it. I took my time exploring every nook and cranny of the world which was my favorite part of the game. Once I saw everything I put it down. Funny enough, I'm sure I still missed a few things. I never bothered collecting the korok poops tho.

Still the best game I've ever played.

 

[Puffy]

I played hours of Skyrim and I still think it's a shit game. I wanted to know all it had to offer. Saying someone's negative criticism is somehow ineligible because they played it a lot, is horseshit

 

[Nameless]

I love BOTW but yeah, I've said as much before. It's one of most magical experiences I've had for 50-60ish hours, then that magic falls of a cliff. There's the lack of enemy variety, the lack of interesting things to discover in some of the more fringe regions of the map(the game definitely felt front loaded), plus I grew to actively dislike being attacked endlessly by monsters/creatures, which became an immersion breaking chore and huge turn off.

It felt like at a certain point the world had blown it's load with surprises and I was expected to focus on Shrines, which were a cool occasional side activity, but not the main thing I wanted to be doing.

 

[Deleted member 47076]

A lot of people are defending the game saying that not everything is meant to be explored, but to me that is not good game design. It could have been significantly trimmed down imo.

 

[Crayon]

I'll tell you what's fucked up about this game. Those assassins. I still like to put it in and play it, but getting those annoying assassins materializing out of nowhere is such a pain in the ass. Sometimes I can go a while without hitting one. And I mean like, an hour. And sometimes I get a see you in a row, or more commonly, one every 10 minutes.

Patch the shit out, Nintendo! Part of the fun is observing enemies from a distance, and deciding how you want to close on them if at all. The random yiga assassins are awful.

 

[tenderbrew]

I feel like a lot of people don't realize that you aren't supposed to collect every korok seed. The reason there are so many is so you stumble across them no matter what and can get some upgrades easily just by playing naturally. If you get bored hunting down 900 korok seeds... well duh.

 

[Weiss]

A lot of people are defending the game saying that not everything is meant to be explored, but to me that is not good game design. It could have been significantly trimmed down imo.

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This is how I feel too. If I don't want to explore somewhere it shouldn't be there to begin with, or rather there should be something interesting there in its place.

Ganon is baby easy and at the end of the game before Hyrule Castle the only thing you really have left to do is upgrade gear. That alone really kills a lot of my joy for the game.

 

[Acido]

Even the people that don't like it, like it. That's a pretty good game

 

[Deleted member 29909]

And some people don't think BotW is divisive ...

 

[LumberPanda]

The thing that bugs me about BOTW's super diverse combat is that, really, you have to force yourself to use all these options. Bombs and exploding barrels do the same damage at the end of the game that they do in the beginning, it's just not efficient to engineer an elaborate scenario to take off half of a moblin's health bar when I can just run up and kill him in two strokes. I know this is a "make your own fun" kind of game but none of the much-vaunted combat options struck me as useful or particularly engaging. Like, how many ways can I possibly shoot a fire arrow at a barrel before it gets boring?

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This is the key thing that I want addressed in the sequel. Eventually all the cool creative options just take more work than they're worth. Especially so in Master mode, where the regenerating health basically forces you to always engage in combat as fast and monotonously as possible. Master mode was the opposite of how it should be.

A lot of people are defending the game saying that not everything is meant to be explored, but to me that is not good game design. It could have been significantly trimmed down imo.

Click to shrink...

In my opinion it's the key thing that makes the game magical. It's what turns the game from being a mundane guided tour like every other 3D Zelda into a true adventure that feels personal and exciting. It was a deliberate choice not to show the unfound shrines or korok seeds on the map (Ubisoft style) and it paid off. The fact that, barring people who 100%'d the game, two players can have dramatically different experiences purely by the way they explored and viewed the world (instead of slapped on skill trees - Ubisoft again now) in an intuitive way is groundbreaking. It was vital to offer abundance in order to achieve that.

Not every game needs to be an organized checklist of clear tasks that you complete for dopamine hits to be "good game design". Breath of the Wild got it's singing praises because Nintendo was bold enough to throw those "good game design" assumptions away and build a phenomenal experience without them.

 

[fourfourfun]

I'm a little over 20 hours, have completed two Divine Beasts, and this is how I'm feeling about it already. There's such an overwhelming amount of side quests and random extraneous shit to do (like Korok seeds) that the volume of it all has really made me focus on just concentrating on pushing forward through the story. I'm enjoying it a lot more just making my way from one Divine Beast to the next than when I first started and felt like I couldn't move on from an area until I had done as many side quests in a given place as I could.

I do like doing the shrines though.

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Yeah, I didn't really bother with the side quests and I was grateful that the game didn't really punish me for not caring about them at first. Which is what I really enjoyed, it just left me alone to play the game as I fancied and put no barriers in my way.

I initially spent most of the game exploring. Once I decided to hit up some quests, I just notched them off. Shrines, I generally activated and came back to on a commute or when I had the desire to power through.

The thing about the game is to just experience, not to systematically tick things off as you encounter them.

 

[Weiss]

This is the key thing that I want addressed in the sequel. Eventually all the cool creative options just take more work than they're worth. Especially so in Master mode, where the regenerating health basically forces you to always engage in combat as fast and monotonously as possible. Master mode was the opposite of how it should be.


In my opinion it's the key thing that makes the game magical. It's what turns the game from being a mundane guided tour like every other 3D Zelda into a true adventure that feels personal and exciting. It was a deliberate choice not to show the unfound shrines or korok seeds on the map (Ubisoft style) and it paid off. The fact that, barring people who 100%'d the game, two players can have dramatically different experiences purely by the way they explored and viewed the world (instead of slapped on skill trees - Ubisoft again now) in an intuitive way is groundbreaking. It was vital to offer abundance in order to achieve that.

Not every game needs to be an organized checklist of clear tasks that you complete for dopamine hits to be "good game design". Breath of the Wild got it's singing praises because Nintendo was bold enough to throw those "good game design" assumptions away and build a phenomenal experience without them.

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I'm not that big a fan, but that's a good way to look at it.

 

[evilromero]

If you were hooked for 50 hours that's pretty damn impressive I'd say. For me I loved the core quest but it was WAAAAY too short, especially if you know where to go. I think the sequel could really improve in this area while still retaining all the addictive side quests.

 

[Dreamboum]

Why a drag? You can stop the game at any time, the end of the game is always not even 2 hours away from you and that's being generous.

 

[leng jai]

This happens to me after a while for basically every open world game outside of TW3 and to a lesser extent RDR 2. In those games it's really the incredible visuals and atmosphere that keeps me wandering around aimlessly.

 

[CNoodles]

uhhhhh, so you said the game had you hooked for 50 HOURS and you played 130 HOURS total and it was a drag? LMAO

 

[Khanimus]

Games have trained people into the worst habits. BotW deliberately circumvents so much of that mentality which is built on repitive grinding

 

[nullref]

I do think the game is at its weakest in the late game, after you've uncovered the whole map, and likely leveled (upgraded, collected, etc.) past any real sense of danger or challenge.

The trick with a game like this is knowing when to wrap it up and stop playing it, because the game isn't going to do it for you—they pack in so much optional content that going for completion will just squeeze the joy out of it by the end (for many people, at least). I put down BoTW after around 80 hours.

 

[Deleted member 47076]

This is the key thing that I want addressed in the sequel. Eventually all the cool creative options just take more work than they're worth. Especially so in Master mode, where the regenerating health basically forces you to always engage in combat as fast and monotonously as possible. Master mode was the opposite of how it should be.


In my opinion it's the key thing that makes the game magical. It's what turns the game from being a mundane guided tour like every other 3D Zelda into a true adventure that feels personal and exciting. It was a deliberate choice not to show the unfound shrines or korok seeds on the map (Ubisoft style) and it paid off. The fact that, barring people who 100%'d the game, two players can have dramatically different experiences purely by the way they explored and viewed the world (instead of slapped on skill trees - Ubisoft again now) in an intuitive way is groundbreaking. It was vital to offer abundance in order to achieve that.

Not every game needs to be an organized checklist of clear tasks that you complete for dopamine hits to be "good game design". Breath of the Wild got it's singing praises because Nintendo was bold enough to throw those "good game design" assumptions away and build a phenomenal experience without them.

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Oh I definitely agree that the lack of hand-holding was great - the exploration felt really natural most of the time. No problem with that.

It was just way too big and unrefined imo. It felt like they didn't know when to stop.

 

[Deleted member 6730]

At least you didn't say that everyone who liked the game had stockholm syndrome

 

[Alastor3]

I'll take this thread to ask : has the Season pass ever gone on sales lately? I just bought the game but im waiting to play it to start with Master Mode. And yes i just want to play master mode, no normal mode.

 

[PKrockin]

Just because someone spent a lot of time on a game, that doesn't mean the game was great nor does it even necessarily mean they particularly enjoyed it. Have y'all never watched way too many episodes of some dumb reality TV show because it's shallow and easily digestible and you just felt lazy that day? People almost invariably get sucked into Cookie Clicker for hours, but I don't consider that a very good game.

 

[Deleted member 58846]

I'll take this thread to ask : has the Season pass ever gone on sales lately? I just bought the game but im waiting to play it to start with Master Mode. And yes i just want to play master mode, no normal mode.

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The Season Pass has never gone on sale.

 

[Dreamboum]

uhhhhh, so you said the game had you hooked for 50 HOURS and you played 130 HOURS total and it was a drag? LMAO

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I know right? At that point I would have cut my losses and I would *still* say it's an extremely good game for keeping me going that long.

Nothing can keep me going that long unless it's an MMO to begin with

 

[Alastor3]

The Season Pass has never gone on sale.

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do you think it will be during the Game Award since the last DLC was release around that time last year ?

 

[BarryFishFinger]

I've been really enjoying it on Lite, I've been wanting to play it for ages. But.....but...lately, it's starting to irritate;

1) Breakable weapons. I've found this surprisingly annoying. It means I can never get attached to any weapons and there is zero thrill in obtaining better ones as I know they'll only break soon.

2) The stamina bar is fucking annoying. It's a hindrance to traversal. I've died a few times because I can't swim or climb very far and it just seems to go against the spirit of the game, the go anywhere, try anything ethos.

3) I'm already bored of the shrines and I've only done maybe 8, including the tutorial ones on the plateau. They're visually a bit dull.

It's good. But dragged down by some minor irritations. Cooking is delightful though.

 

[FaceHugger]

I loved it but I wish the open world had more story to it and that the quest system led the player a little better. Not like WoW in which they literally point you to every destination and item with big glowing marks on the map - but something more than what we got.

Aside from that it was a really big open world with tons of things to discover. But like with all open world RPG's eventually it will bore you. I spent far less hours on Skyrim, for example, before deciding to just push on and wrap things up.

 

[Deleted member 29464]

It's like some of you didn't even bother to read the OP because you were all so offended at the idea of someone playing a lot of BOTW and having criticisms.

I mostly agree with OP, what was unique about the game wasn't enough to make it exceptional, especially when compared to the other open world games I'll put hundreds of hours in like FNV and W3. It was still a good game, even when dragging, til the point I just decided to end it and beat Ganon.

What I'm really hoping for in the sequel is more unique locations with some flavour and lore. The puzzles shouldn't be exclusive to shrines and Korok seeds too. The thing I love about exploring in a game like New Vegas is knowing I'll be finding something unique at the different locations, whether it be quests, characters, or lore/backstory/environments.

 

[BadWeddingSpeech]

It didn't quite work for me either. I recognize why some people love it, but for me....I just couldn't fullly get into it.

 

[Miamiwesker]

Yup by far my biggest complaint. We went from tight 40 hour epics where every moment is something new and interesting to 200 hours of wandering around with about the 40 hours of good content. Well not as good content as it doesn't have anything as good as the good Zelda dungeon.

 

[jariw]

I've been really enjoying it on Lite, I've been wanting to play it for ages. But.....but...lately, it's starting to irritate;

1) Breakable weapons. I've found this surprisingly annoying. It means I can never get attached to any weapons and there is zero thrill in obtaining better ones as I know they'll only break soon.

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Or you could try new weapons, since they will probably be better than the ones you have (and perhaps also better suited for a specific task). Or try to fight using your powers instead of using weapons (which IMO is quite a fun challenge).

2) The stamina bar is fucking annoying. It's a hindrance to traversal. I've died a few times because I can't swim or climb very far and it just seems to go against the spirit of the game, the go anywhere, try anything ethos.

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Or you could learn the different systems available in the game to conquer the elements. There are sooo many options available for a single task. If you try everything you will be able to go anywhere.

 

[amprainy]

Great game. My main issue with it is that the game incentivizes exploration with mostly the same shrines, korok seeds, and breakable weapons, most of which become repetitive after a while and provide little value and gameplay variety. Finding the hundredth seed eventually felt like a thing you checked off on a list. If there were less collectibles to find and more unique weapons, armor, dungeons, challenges, enemy types, NPC's, gameplay mechanics, lore, or just environmental variety, I think exploration would feel more organic and rewarding.

 

[carlosrox]

I've essentially finished it twice and did most of the DLC across 560ish hours. Second game has been on Master Mode and the one I've done the DLC in.

It's only now reaching the point where I'm starting to feel done with it, though it's still fun to just jump in and play around in this world. I've headed back to the same areas over and over again just to play in. I find combat and transversal fun. I always feel like there are new ways to experiment. I'm still discovering new things.

A part of me even wants to attempt a third game. Maybe a low heart run in normal mode, as MM admittedly sorta breaks when the harder enemies come into the picture.

 

[thecaseace]

Breath of the Wild can drag a bit once you've opened up all the locations and sampled the relatively small variety of enemy types.

That said, as you've pointed out OP, your mistake was going too long. Part of the way through the game it becomes clear that you're free to complete the game at any time, capping the experience before it loses its shine. In my play through this happened after about 50-60 hours, that said I've still played for a further 40 dipping back in whenever I just feel like dropping back into that world.

My advice to anyone here is not to gorge on this game in massive sessions aiming to 100% it. It can be enjoyed just as well in small one or two shrine chunks.

At the beginning of the game, the game communicates to you subtly that any place you can go anywhere you can see once you figure out how to traverse your way there. I think approaching play sessions in this way helps at the end of the game or post-game. Set an objective or two, do that then put it down.