Hey, so this video has had a cool little resurgence, and that is great! Thank you for watching this. As a quick note, there is a line at the end when I say I played for 50 hours. While I do think that 50 hours is long enough to have a legitimate opinion about this game, I do want to clarify that this was an estimate as, at the time, the Switch did not calculate how long you played games for. Turns out I was closer to 80-90 hours. Since then, I finished all the shrines like a tryhard and beat the DLC (which holy heck, that DLC beast and boss are very good). I know no one probably actually cares how long I played the game for, but as more than one person brought it up, I figured it was easier to pin a comment than respond to each individual. Anyway, I hope you have a very good one.
I thought that line at the end about faith in Nintendo being low was interesting too, they still make some very odd choices, but things were about to change at the time of this video's publication. Great video, btw.
Its maybe wierd to say but i kinda see BOTW like a Metroidvania ... You need specific gears to go to specific area etc you ave ton of quest but the game dont hold your hand My favorite Nintendo Franchise is Metroid and i really hope Metroid prime 4 will be as legendary as BOTW
@@jruler93 this is a fantastic point, it doesn't matter if you're an idiot or a genius, you still get pissed off is someone calls you an idiot, the game believing in you, whether you deserve it or not, is a good feeling and it makes for engaging and unique gameplay
My biggest issue with BotW is I can only have my first experience with it once. Because you're absolutely right, not knowing the answer to a question I had, and then chasing down those answers, was amazing. I will never forget heading south for the first time and thinking "Is that a fucking dragon?" Shortly followed by "That's a fucking dragon!" I had no idea why it existed, I had no idea if it was hostile, but I sure as fuck was going to find out.
I know, right? The first time playing BotW was magical. Learning to climb a tree, and then learning which trees are actually worth checking after spending who knows how long climbing every tree I came across; stumbling on the first Talus and screaming "Ohshitohshitohshiiiit!" while running away in panic; tossing things into the cooking pot to see what comes out and being thrilled when something came out super well and I don't even have that many hearts yet, cooool; seeing a lynel and instantly knowing I'll die if it sees me, and sneaking past them while holding my breath until I finally feel I'm strong enough to face them; noticing a shooting star and making a beeline for the landing spot while recklessly dodging moblins and guardians because I don't know how long it'll stay there, but I know it can't be forever because I haven't randomly stumbled on them during my travels; and yes, seeing a dragon for the first time and just staring at it in absolute wonder while debating whether or not I'll die if I go too close. Playing the game for the second time was still fun, but knowing what to do, where to go to find things, how to deal with situations, and not being surprised by much of anything robbed from the experience and made me a bit sad. Thankfully the Master Mode introduced a few new elements, so at least there were some minor surprises. But still, if I could get selective amnesia and play the game for the first time again, it would be the best effing thing.
This is the biggest issue right here. I don't have a strong desire to play it again frankly, but boy that first play through? Pure magic from beginning to end.
@@Jadeile this is magical. i can't even remember when i saw my first dragon (makes me kinda sad now that i think about it) but i get what you mean. after the 3ds XL, I'd always flitted in and out of nintendo stuff. Didn't buy another game after animal crossing. And as such, i completely missed out on the announcement of the switch. skip to a couple months later, i accidentally cane across the botw trailer (and that trailer is fucking incredible man) and i just knew I had to play it. I didn't get my switch until just two months ago. By this time, expectations were at an all time high, I was so hyped to play botw even though that bandwagon left 2 years ago, I'd replay the trailer nearly everyday, refused to look at any spoilers. Then I played it. And let me tell you man, it. Was. The. Shit. Game completely surpassed every expectation I had and more. I've only just finished it yesterday, and man I wish I could just go back and start all over. Nintendo got it right. They fucking got it right
That's why we need botw 2 like, today - and i know sequels are often disappointing, but since MM is my favorite Zelda game, I trust this franchise to do it well
I remember going to this game blind a couple weeks ago. I was planning to buy a switch for the new Pokémon game and I had asked my friend what games are must-be-played games on the switch. His first answer was BotW and he let me try playing it for 10 minutes. Sure, the controls were hard to get used to because I had played with a PlayStation controller all my life, but I remember seeing a boulder and saying, “it would be cool if you can move this boulder”. Sure enough, I was amazed and how it followed basic physics when it moved around. I accidentally got near a tree and I started climbing and I was happy that I could climb it to get the apples. Then I found the axe near the old man and again, I said out loud, “it would be crazier if you could cut down trees.” My friend dared me to try, so again, I was amazed at how the world responded with my decisions. That experience in the first 10 minutes sold me, and that was just the introduction. Safe to say, I’ve played 70 hours of it already. Best game I’ve played in a long time.
2 things I would have really liked in BOTW : 1) being able to swim underwater and make discovery 2) Caves, big caves not just tiny ones hidden by rocks. The one big cave I found was part of a side quest and it just looked really nice with a Giant skeleton inside. It was a nice discovery. Now think of the possibilities if you combine those two together. Swimming deep in water and finding hidden tunnel systems that lead you to an underground world. Think of the dark forest that's in complete darkness. Having to navigate those caves with a torch in hand or a glowing weapon. I really hope the next entry offers us those kind of things. :)
i love how you say things like "for how i play" rather than just knocking down something with a blanket statement. this community can be so toxic, especially when it comes to criticism and its so refreshing to see criticism without the toxicity
Yeah! In earlier stuff I made, I sometimes ran into people saying, "Well, that is not my experience!" so I have tried to root my criticisms in my experience as much as possible. At the end of the day, what works for someone else does not always work for me (and vice versa), so I think it is important to understand that it isn't always about something being good or bad, but rather something being a right fit for the right player.
@@averagecommunist3456 I was lucky enough to not be on the internet when the game came out, I doubt I would have been able to resist watching walkthroughs.
One of my favourite aspects of BotW that I haven't seen in other open world games is climbing (in this limitless, and non-scripted sense). It gives the world a playground feel, where you're free to scale the world at your leisure, as if it was a jungle gym. I think you did a perfect job explaining what makes BotW's world stand out from the rest, and why it's so refreshing to so many people.
Hopefully the next installment will bring back underwater exploration. And a fishing minigame for folks like me who just like videogame fishing minigames. So relaxing.
This can be problematic though. Early in the game you go to Kakariko village, and on the main path exiting the village is the guy who lets you expand your inventory slots (extremely crucial in this game). This is the only place you can start this process, in the entire humongous game world. If you don't exit the village by this one specific path, you will basically never find him unless you look up a guide on what the korok seeds are for. Every time you go back to Kakariko village, you are extremely unlikely to exit by any path at all, you will most likely warp there for whatever purpose and then warp out again. They also surrounded Kakariko village with interesting things that encourage you to climb out of the valley by a means other than the path (e.g., to find the fairy fountain, to investigate the location you later take Impa's orb etc.). This is one of the design flaws in the game; some of the open world design clashes with elements left over from the design of previous Zeldas, like putting a vital NPC on a path you would be required to walk down if this was Ocarina of Time or something.
shatterjack Don't you meet him several times in other places that are closer to the centre? Does that dancing guy just stay there, waiting for someone to get his maracas back even after visiting new locations, or making progress in the main quest?
@@summerycast7936 I think you have to meet him there at least once (and maybe get his upgrade once) then he moves to the korok forest. The korok forest is also a bit out of the way if you haven't gotten used to the map yet.
The only other open world i've seen climbing like this was Elder Scrolls II Daggerfall but the game was buggy as hell so it was risky. The new Unity version fixes this.
"The amount of player freedom it offers is staggering and unlike many modern games, it doesn't treat the players like they're total idiots" *Screen shows Razbuten literally blowing himself up by throwing an explosive barrel* well player sir. well played.
Fav part of BOTWs design. “Get here for the quest.” K, but how? “I dunno. There’s a neat hill that can help you out, but I don’t care.” What..? “I said, I dunno. Just get there. Cya.” *one, confusing romp later* “Hey, you made it!” Yeah... how the duck do you kill those Guardian things? “Figure it out!”
But there never was a shift, Gothic seriie and even early Tes games made this before craze on open world game beging, they just don't thinked that you are too stupid to go by yourself into the world what they made. Sadly Piranha Bytes lost they skill to make those kind of games and no game dev is intrested to replicate that school of desing.
There is no shift. Its just much easier to create a checklist and make huge empty worlds with no reason for exploration than something like botw. And since these games also sell really well it wont change anytime soon
Have we seen a shift though? I've seen BOTW do these kinds of things...and that's about it. I thought Horizon Zero Dawn was an extraordinary, severely underrated game, but it was not a game changer mechanically and didn't represent a shift away from the norm like BOTW did. And since then we've had Red Dead 2, which might be one of the single most disappointing games I've ever played in my life - a game that does _every single one_ of the bad things that Breath of the Wild consciously rejected in its design. It holds your hand like no other game I've ever played. It makes you walk in a straight line for missions and simply carry out orders. It allows you almost NO freedom at all to complete quests the way you want, it has nothing surprising on its map that makes you think 'oh, I want to check and see what that is', your character is supremely un-interactive and slow, and it highlights everywhere you need to go with a big icon on the mini-map. You can even get the game to ride you there on your horse without you controlling a thing. It was heartbreakingly disappointing. I played a lot of it just daydreaming about what Nintendo would have done with a world as visually lush and beautiful as Rockstar's. To me, RDR 2 is a total rejection of all the brilliant design lessons Nintendo taught us with BOTW. It's the anti-BOTW. And it got 97% on Metacritic, which I can only understand by assuming that reviewers looked at the ambition of its world and the incredible graphics and felt like they just had to give it a high score. For me BOTW and RDR 2 represent two paths on a fork in the road: BOTW represents a path that's trickier, less familiar for developers, but the games that it leads to will be groundbreaking and will blow gamers' minds. RDR 2 represents a comfortable, well-worn path, with lots of familiar landmarks, lots of signposts and directions so developers know exactly what to do when they're designing the game, but it leads to stagnation and disenchantment among gamers. A creative dead-end. I hope that BOTW represents a shift towards the first path and away from the latter, but it's too early to tell.
@@danieladamczyk4024 incorrect tes is infamous for hand holding and directing the player to specific quests . Breath of the wild completely outclasses tes when it comes to player freedom
This may be totally unrelated, but maybe Matt Mercer applies this philosophy to his campaigns, and that's why the players feel so important and feel like they are doing something useful, because Matt and BotW devs follow the same philosophy while making games... let the player do it how they want to
After my first play through, I was completely shocked with how much I feel in love with the game. After spending hours on it every day, I still looked forward to the next. It’s gorgeous, it feels surreal, it’s fun. It’s hands-down the best game I’ve ever played. I loved every single moment of it, and I wish I could go back to my first experience with it.
I finished at about 300 hours, but that’s because I just enjoyed running around trying to find random hidden things. I now have over 400 because when I’m bored, I turn it on and start trying to find every single korok seed. I started playing The Witcher now, so my korok hunt is on pause
I have 200 hours and havent done all koroks but pretty much 100% the main game (hyrule compendium, all shrines, quests, medals). Still havent done DLC tho.
Nintendo looked at a bunch of open-world games, asked "What do they do right, what do they do wrong, and how do we fix what they do wrong?" They came up with answers in a way that only they can.
See, I like to think that they saw my videos bitching about open-world games and decided to listen to what I, an unknown UA-camr, had to say... or yeah, I mean, what you said.
Nintendo is very powerful in the innovation and creation spheres... sometimes too much. That's what sets them apart from the rest of the industry, for better or for worse.
@@rooty because towers arent bad. Its just that in most open world games when you find one you get the map and every single collectible shown. In botw however you mostly use them to get the map, as a fast travel point and to get a better view of the world. And although rain is frustrating, it does help making the world more dynamic instead of just having sunny weather all the time
Even 150 hours in, your video STILL showed me some new things I haven't gotten to yet. I'm working on a second play-through with Pro HUD and only towers to warp to, so finding completely new surprises after getting all shrines and memories is still a pleasant experience.
"The world has so many things to do that seeing it all seems impossible." You could say that about real life too... BOTW made me go out and take more walks in nature, in forests... To be even more mindful.
Rodin Claus I'm planning on doing a pro hud, no fast travel, master mode play through at some point. This game is just so good, you have to play through it at least twice.
I use a wheelchair so I love playing this game for how it makes me feel more 'free' 😊 This game fulfilled my mountain-traversing fantasies. I live in a limited capacity so having a game that calls one to 'go for it!' is so delicious
Just imagine a game like breath in the wild in the world of avatar the last airbender. You can deciede your element and gender, and you have to learn your as the avatar all other elements. Explore the world find an animal guide and friends. That would be so cool.
I guess tge elements would probably function like runes with you unlocking them though out the game and since you are the avatar their is a in universe reason to do side quests because your the avatar its your job.
Props to the composer, too. They managed to make an accordion-based song one of my favorites in the whole game. Hyrule Castle also has one of the most fantastic themes I’ve heard in a while. It really drives home a sense of finality, like you’re finally ready and you’re facing the ultimate challenge. In addition to this, the Guardian theme is perfect for the themes of the story: the Guardians are a blight upon the peaceful, quiet wilderness. Their theme represents that perfectly, with its blazing fast piano contrasting with the softness of most of the music. And, of course, BotW has probably my favorite credits song of any Zelda.
“Now matter what you are doing, it’s the right way your doing.” “How do you want to do this?” The agency is incredible in this game. You feel like your adventure is your own.
Basically you nailed it with this one. Though I do wish there was more emphasis on the story and the characters, I can understand that liberties with those needed to be taken in order to create the game we got. What makes this game so hard for me to criticize is that I still haven't come up with a great ideas on how the game could work around the present mechanics to accomplish more of what I would have wanted to see, at least not right now.
Yeah, I would have loved to see some more memories to flesh out the other heroes of Hyrule some more, and it would have been cool if there were a few more characters who dole out sidequests and have some interesting interactions with Link. For me, it is less of not having ideas for what they could have changed, and more of being so impressed with what it does amazingly that I am less bothered by what it does poorly. I certainly wish they had thought a few things out better, but it still does more than most games I have played.
I agree entirely. It's just that in recent years, if there is something i want to criticize, I want to also come up with a solution on how I would go about fixing that if I was in the designer's shoes. Perhaps I just need time to think of what those solutions are. Either way, I've already started a second play through, doing things differently from my first. Breath of the Wild has continually impressed me with just how much I didn't know from my first play through, and I'll certainly be excited to play it again in the future.
I recently did a play through of BOTW where I didn’t use the map or teleportation at all. Didn’t activate any of the towers, kept the minimap off, etc. it was a really great experience. I looked at the world in a whole new way and it was really fun to just take my horse down some roads and see where they take me and what I might find.
That's a fascinating idea, and I think such a playthrough would have a great sense of wonder; but it also runs counter to my preference as somewhat of a completionist. I think in the end it would end up being frustrating because there's honestly too much to do in the game already, without having to stumble around with little idea of where you've been or where you're going.
Razbuten Yes, very solid points, i only disagree with the point that the main quest is not urgent, since you get told over and over again that, either by impa and zelda herself that you have to hurry up, because time is short. I think that exploration is a little bit more problematic in this game than it was in older titles. Because through the constant progression through the real main quest (defeating ganon), a little observation is a welcome change of pace, since you got your steady progression anyway. in breath of the wild exploration for me felt wrong in the beginning, because you know that you could end it all, here and there, you just had to go to hyrule castle and its over. sry for the essay
8:48 - This never really bothered me, because I found the korok and trial puzzles intrinsically fun. I didn't care that I didn't really need the rewards because just solving the puzzles was fun in and of itself.
Really solid video essay. I especially appreciate the modulation and pacing as a non native english speaker. The balance between points and examples was great, and the edition stays clean, simple and relevant to your examples (I particularly enjoyed the quick cuts at the opening along to the music). You nail many points about what makes this game feel great: The open world design in BotW constantly validates your personal narrative playing this game with the in-game universe narrative; and this is only possible with the freedom and flexibility of the story. A very delicate design trade-off considering their corporate context when working on this game, but one that Nintendo executed well. (I hope I was able to communicate this point properly with my english heh!). This is the first video I've seen of you and it was great! but as a heads-up, I had seen in my recommendations the video "mini-maps are stupid" and ignored it because of a title I felt fell somewhere between clickbait and low-quality (it's also not as seducing as the title here: the power of questions says little about the actual content and the video feels more fresh). I'll definitely watch your other videos now, but you may give that thought a spin, considering your target audience with these videos. Keep it up and hope to see more of you!
Ya know, I have thought a lot about what to title videos, and, honestly, it is a no-win situation. You are right, "Mini-maps are Stupid" is clickbaity, but I would argue that the issue with clickbait is when it leads to a shitty video that has little or nothing to do with the clickbait topic. It is a bummer that a title like that turned you and some other people off, but it also drew in others who most likely would not have clicked: "My Problems With Mini-Maps." I get where you are coming from, and, in general, I try to avoid being too dramatic with my titles (that video is from over 2 years ago, and while I am certainly not perfect with it, most of my titles are pretty straightforward), but the title was not chosen to appeal to UA-cam's algorithm; it was chosen because I think the way Mini-Maps are used is stupid. Also, I might be misunderstanding you, so I will just ask: did you think the title of this video was effective or not? Regardless, I appreciate your feedback and you checking out my stuff.
I wouldnt be able to properly say if it's effective or not, depends on your goals and the kind of viewer you're aiming for, I just wanted to give perspective, and it does not influence the digestion of the actual content in any way. The point of saying that was only to show my first interaction with you, maybe for future thought. In the end I think its more important that you feel satisfied with the result more than anything else. Dont crunch the thought too much, it was just me being too strict in search on something I could say to help you, and I agree that title choice always involves a trade-off. Keep it up, the content is great regardless of the title!
"Witcher's 3 story calling for urgency..." Felt exacly like this in Dying Light, right after some dialog that says "You only have 48 hours before we blow everything up"
Breath of the Wild is the only open world game that I just could not put down. Other entries are stuff I would pick at for an hour or so here or there, and I think the handholding was a big reason for this.
it’s so refreshing to play a game that is ok (and even encourages) exploring things outside of the main story and just procrastinating in general. i also really like that it doesn’t force you back on the main guest when the game thinks that you’ve been just wondering about for too long like some other games do.
Just bought a switch recently, when I started the lack of hand holding was really confronting having to actually figure out how to survive the cold or climb something on my own was a challenge but that challenge is what gave me my first real sense of accomplishment in a single player game in a long time
BOTW solidly cemented itself as one of my favorite games ever. Every hour I played it felt meaningful. I was always getting stronger, or getting closer to more inventory space, or fighting to gain new weapons and get better at combat. Every single second I played let to a climatic finish against Ganon, which for me was memorable if for how horrifying he was in this entry. I love the small rewards more frequently system, because it felt like much less of an investment than say Wind Waker, where going into a dungeon is an hour(ish) long ordeal. I wouldn't mind some longer shrines mixed in, but I don't hold the game at fault for lacking it. I expected to like it (I like Zelda games and love open worlds), but I honestly loved it more than I thought. Easily beats out MM and OoT for me.
This made me realize how amazingly well the world of Golden Sun: the Lost Age is structured, with exploration being the driving force of you finding often even the mainline points (I mean... nothing points you to the Tundaria Tower, a mandatory dungeon, except your own curiosity) while still making quite sure you finally reach the destination. And while combining it with a good strong story.
Breath of the Wild is my first Zelda game. I am a huge fan of open world games so it was the perfect door into a series that I’d been viewing from the outside for so long. There are still areas I have not completely explored and know very little of and there are areas I know all the details of and I think that’s amazing.
imagine how cool it'd be if the next zelda game had a hookshot like imagine botw physics engine except you can swing around like spiderman or use to to pull yourself to large enemies or pull small enemies to you
While these things are all good...you can't take objects into the Ganon fight, so I can't kill all bosses with a metal bookcase from hyrule castle libary 0/10 WORST GAME EVER!!!!!!
one of my favorite things about breath of the wild is that almost 6 years since its release people are still finding out new things despite the huge amount of coverage it has
This is my first Zelda game (I haven’t played that many games in general before besides Sims & Animal Crossing) and I’ve already played over 100 hours and have only just gotten the final divine beast. I’m obsessed with adventuring and finding all the little secrets. Definitely a great way for me to break into this kind of gaming!
Something that really impressed me about BotW is how it handled the villages. I couldn't find the Sheikah village the first time I played through and ended up wandering the emptiness of Hyrule for a very long time. I began to know Hyrule as this land of ruins and dilapidated structures, devoid of human life save small outposts and travelers. The world was truly destroyed, but people were still finding a way to live their lives. Then I found the first permanent settlement I had seen: Lurelin Village. The music struck me, and I saw not just a village in a video game, but a place that people called home. I found that the world had ended but humanity had not. It was a small, humble fishing town inhabited by people, so many people. And that's what I see whenever I enter each village: they're inhabited by the survivors of a calamity, they are the trees that grow back after a forest fire. They have unique cultures and architecture and, in living mundane lives, they contrast brightly and powerfully against the destroyed world they inhabit. I didn't expect video game characters merely living out simulacra of lives to be so moving, but it touched me in my soul to see humanity in a state of happy normalcy after disaster. It reminded me that even when it seems like things will never be the same, no matter how bad things may get, a time will come when we can be happy again.
Beautifully put. To add, watching all the diverse communities come together in the Tarrey Town quest created such a warm atmosphere; one which inspires hope and resilience.
@@matthewchampion8214Add to this where Tarrey Town is located: in the shadow of Akkalla Citadel -- the place as one NPC puts it, "where the Kingdom of Hyrule met its end." Tarrey Town's like a little acorn that fell from a dying tree. These developers knew what they were doing.
I kind of find it interesting that this game took some of the more superficial aspects of Skyward Sword and readapted them. The item at the end of the tutorial that lets you safely get down from high places, stamina, climbing tied to stamina, shield bashing/parrying, and even a durability system (at least on shields) all came from Skyward Sword, but they were adapted to the point that they feel _more_ comfortable in a game with the complete opposite structure. I think Nintendo did a great job on that front, taking the ideas that they liked and incorporating them into an open-world game.
The one thing I missed was follow up on the side-quests. You can get a house with a gigantic garden, but can't do anythign besides leaving your weapons there. I never used the kitchens in my house while playing Skyrim, but it was nice to have it at least. Just as an example.
BOTW is a great game for making you think up your own solutions, but I personally enjoy the story-driven structure of an RPG and the sense of accomplishment and a feeling of progression that I get from completing missions. I don't always enjoy a huge challenge in games but I live for the stories they tell. BOTW is an amazing game that I really enjoy discovering the hidden treasures of, but I can't binge play it like I can other games like the Witcher and Assassins Creed because I find its lack of explicit objectives a little frustrating at times as I don't feel like I'm progressing.
I loved your point about being allowed to explore and problem solve organically vs hand-holding and having the game do the work for you. Reminds me of vanilla WoW. It was very sandboxy and open and encouraged exploration and problem solving. In BC we started to see more of what people called a Disneyland ride effect. More streamlined. Vanilla did have its drawbacks but this sandboxy open world is something that I miss in WoW's newer iterations.
I've only played 20 hours or so of Zelda because... life... But this sentence nailed how I feel about it (paraphrased) "Anything you are doing feels like the right thing to be doing."
2017 was 5 years ago. I'm so thankful for Breath of the Wild welcoming me to the Zelda universe. It was the first Zelda game I owned and beat myself. My Aunt introduced me to Zelda when I played Twilight Princess on her WII back in the day. Now I finally bought Twilight Princess! Can't wait to beat it!
Skyward Sword had plenty of frustrations, but they shouldn't have been seen as unexpected. Most of its problems had been festering in the Zelda formula and style for several iterations in the franchise and simply reached their breaking point at SS. You can see a lot of its problems take root in Wind Waker, Minish Cap, Twilight Princess, and the DS games.
yeah! I think you are right. The series definitely moved in that direction over time, so Skyward Sword has not all that different from the previous titles. I think it just crossed a threshold that people no longer were as willing to put up with.
Which, in some ways, seemed to be a good thing in the long term! The breaking point was needed for a reset, perhaps. A Link Between Worlds came around soon after and Nintendo seemed to say, "Wait, people *like* it when we leave them alone in a Zelda game and don't directly impose much story in heavy doses?" And ALBW was formerly my favorite Zelda but BOTW just does everything that game did, and more, and on a grander scale.
@@realMG420 Exactly I live Skyward sword and BotW actually owes a lot what it is to SS. Especially the world. Since SS was Nintendo testing puzzles in the world and not just dungeons and BoTW is a natural extension and upgrade of that.
There are flaws in the late game to be sure -- and we should point these out so that Nintendo doesn't repeat them next time around -- but goddamn, does this game fix virtually every issue I've had with open world games over the last decade. I haven't had this much fun with one since I first played Morrowind (a game with which Breath of the Wild shares many core philosophies). It's bounced off of Skyward Sword perfectly by taking the mechanical advancements it made and improving upon them, while also addressing the core issues it and most other Zelda games since The Wind Waker had. I didn't start feeling burned out until after I'd hit the 300+ hour mark, and yet Master Mode managed to suck me in and fall in love all over again, putting me well over the 400 hour mark. I'm really looking forward to what the second DLC has to offer, and I'm even more excited to see what the next big Zelda game has in store for us.
I think you've hit the most solid point anyone has ever brought up about this game: everything thing feels like the right thing to do because everything you can do can help.
I first saw BOTW played by my cousin and it really grabbed my interest. I had never played a Zelda game before, so going into the game I had no idea what anything was and I think that is the most magical part about the game, even after I’ve played other Zelda games. I had so much fun discovering how to do little things and discovering entities like the three dragons. I seriously cannot wait for the sequel, and I hope it holds up to the original.
I have watched a few other of your videos and without fault you tell a fantastic narrative - Intriguing, eye opening, and even moving. Thanks for making supreme quality videos.
Dude idk what is up with me but I started crying twice while watching this video. It makes me so happy to hear such great things from this game and I cant help but just want to be able to play it all over again. Who knows, maybe the reason I cry is because I wish for the ability to play this game like it was just released all over again.
Stumbled on to your channel and felt compelled to comment on how much I appreciate your "writer's" commentary. The games are great examples, but you have excellent insight and tips on storytelling. Keep it up!
BotW travel is really amazing. When I played Skyrim, I would often fast travel 90% of the time because the road travel bored the heck out of me. There was nothing I'd bump into that I really cared about. Most ingredients I harvested would make some crappy potion I would sell for like 15g anyways, and another bandit camp worth of weapons and armor was really the last thing I wanted when I couldn't even carry all the stuff I already had. With BotW, I rode my horse around nearly all the time despite the fact that I had fast travel points scattered all over the map. I actually wanted to travel the world. Shrines and koroks might get old after a while, sure, but weapons and food where something I spent and replenished constantly, and buying consumables like arrows and butter meant that I was always spending a decent amount of cash as well. And travel could easily fulfill all of these needs for me. Wild animals for meat, mushrooms herbs, fish and fruits found nearly everywhere meant I could do some hunting or gathering anytime while traveling the roads, and monsters would drop both weapons to replenish my stocks and monster parts to sell. Meeting a random enemy during most open world game is often a 'oh great, another one of these things' moment, but with BotW, I'm thinking more like 'Sweet, I needed something to replace my sword!'. Plus, monsters can be hilarious to fight at times. Take away a monster's weapons and they'll stomp their feet and yell at you. Knocked a stal-type enemy's head off? Guess what? You can pick that up and throw it around. Dropping enemies into the water makes them flounder about, and bombs ragdoll around like pinballs, all of which makes enemies a lot more amusing to fight than the 'face foe, press attack button till dead' lots of open world games give.
I hear this point a lot about BotW- all of the side quest and collecting work towards building your character for the fight so it makes it not filler.- But you could say the same thing about any grinding in any RPG type game. Skyrim is loaded with pretty basic repetitive quests but they all give you xp, loot, etc. I think what makes BotW stand out is the option to go to the end really early but that does not inherently make the grind more compelling, it just layers a "See! I told you it's important!" on it. The interesting systems and puzzles are the key in my mind. Extending the logic, Fallout 4 lets you go straight to diamond city and make significant progress but my claim that "getting to level 80 and 100% every quest outside of the brotherhood and diamond city will make me more ready to enter diamond city" doesn't really hold up. I think this is a great video and you did point out some BotW flaws so this comment is not a complaint but more of me saying that it is interesting how often the point comes up.
I love this game so much. It's my favorite game ever. I have over 180 hours logged I never even noticed the problems in skyward sword until this game. I still love that game, but this one is way better. I think I'll try and do a No-divine beast Run next. because then I'll get an actually hard boss fight.
Yeah. I enjoyed SS, but looking back now, I realize that it took me 3 months to get through, where EVERY OTHER ZELDA GAME I HAVE EVER PLAYED has taken me a week. It just didn't hook my curiosity the way this one has.
razbuten I'm going to do a playthrough of skyward sword and some older ones in rapid succession. I'm thinking that after it, link to the past might rank higher than skyward sword. but like I said, I still love skyward sword. it's just not as good as my hyped 12 year old self was led to believe when I bought it for the first time.
razbuten. yeah, me too. I'm in college, and my version of "back to back" is only occasionally playing one of those games, most of my free time doesn't go towards games. I just usually don't trust myself to get to schoolwork when it's time to put the controller down. I don't know if now I can be responsible enough to do my work when it's needed, but I just don't give myself the opporitunity. the most I've done is miss 2 weeks of work playing breath of the wild for the first time, so I guess I'm not getting better, but then again, it is the best game ever made, and it's the first time I've played it, so maybe I'll be fine with a seventeenth playthrough of skyrim. I have a feeling that when summer rolls around, I'll spend most of it trying to decide what game to play.
Honestly this video is so accurate. Like when I was trying to get to zoras domain I could see where it was in my map but I had no idea how to get to it, so I started climbing on top of all the slippery mountains (it was raining) trying to get there. Soon enough as I was looking below, I noticed a pathway and a Zora there (it was Sidon but I didn’t know who he was at the time) and I slid down to greet him. I appreciated the fact that the game let me figure it out in my own, instead of forcing me to go the “right way”
I think the best thing about BotW was what while the main quest was part of the story, the real story of the game was in the side quests and Link's memories. You were told to look for the memories, but you were never told where to look, and as you mentioned the side quests often didn't tell you how to do them, or where to go, they let you figure it out for yourself.
There is an urgency in the story. All the important NPC (The King, The Champions, Purah, Robbie and Impa) tells you to go and rescue princess Zelda and everytime you talk to any of the 3 sheikahs they reminds you the need to destroy Ganon and rescue Zelda. I agreed whit the rest of the video.
I agree. If it came off like I was saying that BotW has no urgency, then I think there was a miscommunication somewhere along the way, because I don't say that there is no urgency in the video. It isn't that there is no urgency, but rather that a lot of other games (Fallout 4, The Witcher 3) have these really strong hooks of "save your kid" and you know it is important to save your kid because it is your friggin kid! In BotW, you are a hero who does not remember that he is a hero, so Link needs to figure out why saving Zelda and the world is important, and there are a ton of different ways to do that. The whole thing is about self-discovery, and the game offers avenues other than "beat all of the temples" in order to help push that sense of discovering oneself. In Fallout 4, I felt like doing anything other than saving my kid made no sense from a story standpoint, but in BotW, Link doesn't owe anybody shit to his knowledge, so fucking around in the world makes a little more sense. Also, Impa literally gives you time to decide whether or not you are ready to dedicate yourself to the journey. Yes, Impa adds to the sense of urgency, but she makes it clear that Link is not ready yet and that he needs to get stronger in order to face the beasts and Ganon. Furthermore, the characters you mention make up about (roughly) 8 memorable conversations you will have throughout the entire game where every main quest in The Witcher 3 is like "Ciri though!" The urgency exists, and it does aim you in the direction of beating the Divine Beasts, but it isn't so strong that doing side activities makes no sense from a story standpoint.
The comparisons raised between Breath of the Wild and other open world games reminds me of the contrast between Morrowind and Skyrim. Not having map markers in Morrowind lead to memorable moments.
The thing that I loved about Breath of the Wild is that most players thought up of 2 ways to play, speed runners (the guys that would complete the game the moment they got the glider) and main quest players. I was the guy that found a 3rd way, that WANTED to explore the game as much as possible WITHOUT doing the main quest as much as possible. I wasn't speed running but I didn't want the OP powers from completing the divine beasts yet nor did I want the Master Sword yet(because the Master Sword can never be taken out of your inventory). I wanted to get the most I could out of the game, and the game was amazing for this, it allowed me to think of any strategy I could to defeat my enemies, solving puzzles, help side quests. Games like BotW make me dislike Skyrim more and more, because of how dumb I feel playing Skyrim, play that game without Dragon Shouts and it feels completely mindless and boring, yet you're still kicking enemy asses even without those OP powers. I try to play Skyrim and Oblivion without doing the main quest for as long as possible so that the main quest isn't bugging me to complete it, but Skyrim does a terrible job at this as opposed to Oblivion (so long as you don't take the Amulet of Kings to Weynon Priory, main quest never truly begins, and the game doesn't break because of it). Skyrim allows you to sort of do it, but then I noticed there are sidequests that ONLY activate if you do the main quest and have nothing to do with the main quest to begin with! (Oblivion has only a couple that unlock after the main quest, but those side quests are tied to the main quest to begin with) BotW allows you to not have to do the main quest for as long as you possibly think you can, giving you time to explore, get stronger, get better at the game, get more resources, and best of all, side quests are not locked behind the main quest like Skyrim's forcing me to do the main quest just to complete them. I can complete everything in the game except the main quest and I like doing that in open world games. I like to be as powerless as possible in games like that in addition, by defeating the Divine Beasts I get these OP powers that take away a lot of challenges that are already given to me if I can play the game (if I'm good at using the shield then I don't need the Goron's power, if I find fairies I don't need the Zora's Power, if I have a lot of stamina I don't need the Rito's Power, and my spin attack is strong to begin with so I don't need the Gerudo's Power). Same thing with Skyrim, the Shouts are so OP that it takes away a lot of challenge from the game where as depending on what kind of character I become I can fight 2 handed, 1 handed, stealth archer, or mage, and fight that way instead like a normal warrior (another reason why I like Oblivion more than Skyrim, I don't have to worry about super powers when I already have simple powers to begin with). I like how Zelda does this, because the game is difficult and by me taking my time completing everything else BUT the main quest, I get better as a player and strategize more, whereas with Skyrim I'm just mindlessly flailing my weapon or holding down the spell button until my enemies are defeated with no sense of strategy.
this game is so amazing 3 years ago I played it through and thought it was amazing and everytime I see a video or a comment about this game i just want to have the same exitement adventure and experience like playing it the first time. and every video reminds me about this first experience and its beauty
This video is.. Beautiful 😭 Almost as beautiful as botw itself, it perfectly explains why this game is unlike any other, and that sense that tells u go explore that little area there u never know. Truly a masterpiece (both the game and the video)
I love Breath of the Wild, because it's something exceedingly rare; an open world game that truly feels open. It doesn't hold your hand, and beyond the Great Plateau, it doesn't railroad you. If you're confident in your ability to fight a reincarnated demon in boxers with three hearts, you can go right ahead and try it.
@@maxwaspace5348 Yeah, you probably will fail your first few attempts, but that's okay. Plus, the any% world record was basically always under an hour, and is currently just over 26 minutes, which is pretty crazy, especially for an open world game.
Dude, HOW HAVE I NOT FOUND YOU UNTIL TODAY??? Your videos are solid. Your points are well presented. Your voice is nice to listen to, really intelligent and calm/collected. Man. I have watched six videos in a row. Holy crap.
All of your videos make me want to continue playing single player games like breath of the wild. I have been playing mostly online competitive for a while now and all it seems to do is anger me. I haven’t thought in a while to go back to the good old single player games. I used to play them all the time because I had no online internet connection to my consoles. Now that I have a PC and a job I can bring so much more diversity to my gaming experience and by watching only a couple of your videos, I have a countless number of games jotted down to buy. So thank you for being an inspiration to just keep playing. Your videos are absolutely phenomenal.
I bought my Switch a year ago and only really started playing it a few months ago and I’ve exclusively played BOTW because it’s a incredible game. It’s my first LOZ game and I’m having so much fun with it and a lot of it has to do with just being able to pick a direction, go in it and discover new things.
With the dungeon bits at the end of video.There 3 dungeons that hold some of the best armour and are placed in highly defended areas guarded by guardians and lynels.
Know I'm late to the party, but, talking about the rewards for checking the world out I suggest this: Heart Pieces - The heart pieces could be found in chests around the world and in smaller shrines, they would give a heart after gathering a certain amount of them Spirit Orbs - These can be used to get more stamina, to increase the amount of damage you deal or to decrease the amount of damage you get from enemies, falling, etc.. Korok Seeds - Same thing as already in the game Relics - These could be found by solving those inconsistencies in the world, after you do so, a chest would appear giving you a relic, they could also be found placed somewhere hard to get to, like at the end of Forgotten Temple. The harder to get relics give you an extra memorie, these memories wouldn't be so important to the main story but would give the chanpions more character, and they could be added to your armor and weapons increasing durability, amount of damage, critical damage, or adding elemental effects to normal weapons, these relics could be a gift mipha wanted to give Link before dying, something that references another Zelda game, something that used to belong to the hyrulean army, etc... These are just some ideas I had while watching the video
The best video are those that make you sad that they are over. This is one of those video. I really enjoyed it. Zelder BTW is one of the games that almost make you feel like it was your advanture not links. After 2 Years this feeling didn't fainted but got even stronger.
Excellent video! You really understand what makes BOTW great, and for me, as an aspiring game dev, to learn these things this early is truly amazing. Thank you. BotW is such an inspiring experience. The feel of the game, how Link moves, how the world feels, is exceptional. Just the movement alone feels so good, and alone moves you enough reason to want to play. Add to this the masterfully created world, full of things not necessarily to do, but that makes you want to do something. Like a tall cliff overlooking a huge valley. It makes you want to glide down and explore said valley. Just amazing.
I absolutely love Breath of the Wild for many reasons and could talk about them beyond the capacity of most people's patience, so hearing a poignant view regarding the questions it asks us really stood out to me. What made me smile even more was the amount of footage including horses, as they're my personal favorite part of the game.~
You get bonus points from me for the "How do you want to do this?" If you don't know the reference, that's OK, however if you do, that's awesome. Made my day!
I think you are the first person to say anything about it, but I am glad you caught it. I was in a deep CR dive when making this video (I just caught up a few weeks ago), and I felt that the reference was fitting. I'm glad you liked that part!
Hah, that's great! I did very much enjoy the video. This one came up on my feed and I enjoyed it so much that I have been going back to watch your others. My family is also a HUGE fan of Avatar (the real one; the Airbender), and I agree with your points about fast travel and minimaps in my games. Keep fighting the good fight!
Welcome back to land of "not being consistent." And I always love your analytical videos, and you answered all the questions why I like this Zelda adventure.
I relate to the "focus on the main quest" thing. Whenever I try and play fallout the main quest carries a sense of urgency and you need to do it to access one of the main factions. But once you have finished it, the world feels empty. It's really frustrating how railroaded I usually get by main quests. But botw fixes that because everything is preparing and leading up to the attack on Ganon. The divine beasts are part of the main quest, but you don't have to get them, so it allows you to better take your time.
Me and my brother are utterly in love with this game. I have about 90 hours on the game yet still have hundreds of side quests to do, mysteries to solve and things to discover. My brother has basically beaten it ans both dlcs with 190 hours but I can see why Razbuten stopped playing at 50
I started a playthrough of this game were I demanded of myself that Link acquire access to fresh food and water every day. The HUD was set to pro and I'm not allowed to use sheika towers or fast travel. The detail I found in this playthrough is amazing. Did you know that using a torch or flaming weapon will allow you to smoke out a bee hive so you can harvest it safely? Did you know the fish in the Zora River (and probably many others) swim upstream? There is a lot of stuff in this game that most players will miss. The closer attention you pay to the game, the more it amazes.
I love how little direction you get from Breath of the Wild, but as a non-gamer i have searched up the solutions to many shrines and Divine Beasts.. However having a freedom to choose when i want direction is really nice!
Just got a switch and BotW a couple weeks ago and this video just made me restart my first run after getting 3/4 divine beasts, the master sword, and finishing Tarrey Town. Didn't realize how much playing with fast travel and the standard HUD had been ruining my fun but after watching this I realized that the more shrines/towers I'd unlocked the less enjoyment I'd been getting. I'll be back to report my findings later...
You nailed the reason why my first 70 hours with Breath of the Wild were the best gaming experience of my life. Everything is... useful. Instead of making the world a place to stage the story, the made the world THE story, and the story is only good reason to start exploring. What it did wrong is definitely the endgame, with the lack of variety in enemies, trials and sidequests making it feel boring after such a long time and really pointless to replay, and the dungeons, which are ok but don't really feel like an accomplishment when you complete them. But it's one of my favourite games of all time and definitely one of those that made the words "open world" really become meaningful.
Hey, so this video has had a cool little resurgence, and that is great! Thank you for watching this.
As a quick note, there is a line at the end when I say I played for 50 hours. While I do think that 50 hours is long enough to have a legitimate opinion about this game, I do want to clarify that this was an estimate as, at the time, the Switch did not calculate how long you played games for. Turns out I was closer to 80-90 hours. Since then, I finished all the shrines like a tryhard and beat the DLC (which holy heck, that DLC beast and boss are very good). I know no one probably actually cares how long I played the game for, but as more than one person brought it up, I figured it was easier to pin a comment than respond to each individual. Anyway, I hope you have a very good one.
I actually went down to the comments to see if someone else was confused about the 50h mark, hehe. Thank you for clarifying))
I thought that line at the end about faith in Nintendo being low was interesting too, they still make some very odd choices, but things were about to change at the time of this video's publication.
Great video, btw.
Its maybe wierd to say but i kinda see BOTW like a Metroidvania ... You need specific gears to go to specific area etc you ave ton of quest but the game dont hold your hand
My favorite Nintendo Franchise is Metroid and i really hope Metroid prime 4 will be as legendary as BOTW
what do you mean it's already been 2 years??
mine says over 135 hours in botw! i think i probably have like 250 hours!
"It trusts that players aren't total idiots."
**blows self up with explosive barrel**
I literally lol’d
He said that BotW trusts its players aren't total idiots, not that said trust was well-placed.
@@jruler93 good take, respect.
@@eshock753 exactly. How do you "really" know that's real fire or that it hurts you?
@@jruler93 this is a fantastic point, it doesn't matter if you're an idiot or a genius, you still get pissed off is someone calls you an idiot, the game believing in you, whether you deserve it or not, is a good feeling and it makes for engaging and unique gameplay
My biggest issue with BotW is I can only have my first experience with it once. Because you're absolutely right, not knowing the answer to a question I had, and then chasing down those answers, was amazing.
I will never forget heading south for the first time and thinking "Is that a fucking dragon?" Shortly followed by "That's a fucking dragon!" I had no idea why it existed, I had no idea if it was hostile, but I sure as fuck was going to find out.
I know, right? The first time playing BotW was magical. Learning to climb a tree, and then learning which trees are actually worth checking after spending who knows how long climbing every tree I came across; stumbling on the first Talus and screaming "Ohshitohshitohshiiiit!" while running away in panic; tossing things into the cooking pot to see what comes out and being thrilled when something came out super well and I don't even have that many hearts yet, cooool; seeing a lynel and instantly knowing I'll die if it sees me, and sneaking past them while holding my breath until I finally feel I'm strong enough to face them; noticing a shooting star and making a beeline for the landing spot while recklessly dodging moblins and guardians because I don't know how long it'll stay there, but I know it can't be forever because I haven't randomly stumbled on them during my travels; and yes, seeing a dragon for the first time and just staring at it in absolute wonder while debating whether or not I'll die if I go too close.
Playing the game for the second time was still fun, but knowing what to do, where to go to find things, how to deal with situations, and not being surprised by much of anything robbed from the experience and made me a bit sad. Thankfully the Master Mode introduced a few new elements, so at least there were some minor surprises. But still, if I could get selective amnesia and play the game for the first time again, it would be the best effing thing.
This is the biggest issue right here. I don't have a strong desire to play it again frankly, but boy that first play through? Pure magic from beginning to end.
@@Jadeile this is magical. i can't even remember when i saw my first dragon (makes me kinda sad now that i think about it) but i get what you mean. after the 3ds XL, I'd always flitted in and out of nintendo stuff. Didn't buy another game after animal crossing. And as such, i completely missed out on the announcement of the switch. skip to a couple months later, i accidentally cane across the botw trailer (and that trailer is fucking incredible man) and i just knew I had to play it.
I didn't get my switch until just two months ago. By this time, expectations were at an all time high, I was so hyped to play botw even though that bandwagon left 2 years ago, I'd replay the trailer nearly everyday, refused to look at any spoilers. Then I played it. And let me tell you man, it. Was. The. Shit.
Game completely surpassed every expectation I had and more. I've only just finished it yesterday, and man I wish I could just go back and start all over.
Nintendo got it right. They fucking got it right
That's why we need botw 2 like, today - and i know sequels are often disappointing, but since MM is my favorite Zelda game, I trust this franchise to do it well
I remember going to this game blind a couple weeks ago. I was planning to buy a switch for the new Pokémon game and I had asked my friend what games are must-be-played games on the switch. His first answer was BotW and he let me try playing it for 10 minutes.
Sure, the controls were hard to get used to because I had played with a PlayStation controller all my life, but I remember seeing a boulder and saying, “it would be cool if you can move this boulder”. Sure enough, I was amazed and how it followed basic physics when it moved around. I accidentally got near a tree and I started climbing and I was happy that I could climb it to get the apples. Then I found the axe near the old man and again, I said out loud, “it would be crazier if you could cut down trees.” My friend dared me to try, so again, I was amazed at how the world responded with my decisions. That experience in the first 10 minutes sold me, and that was just the introduction. Safe to say, I’ve played 70 hours of it already. Best game I’ve played in a long time.
2 things I would have really liked in BOTW :
1) being able to swim underwater and make discovery
2) Caves, big caves not just tiny ones hidden by rocks. The one big cave I found was part of a side quest and it just looked really nice with a Giant skeleton inside. It was a nice discovery.
Now think of the possibilities if you combine those two together. Swimming deep in water and finding hidden tunnel systems that lead you to an underground world. Think of the dark forest that's in complete darkness. Having to navigate those caves with a torch in hand or a glowing weapon.
I really hope the next entry offers us those kind of things. :)
The trailer for Breath of the Wild's sequel features a big underground cave, so I think we're covered in that regard.
u sure got your wish XD
We got at least one of those with the Dark Forest Shrine, so looks like they're really paying attention lol
Can you please go work for Nintendo?
You can swim underwater?
i love how you say things like "for how i play" rather than just knocking down something with a blanket statement. this community can be so toxic, especially when it comes to criticism and its so refreshing to see criticism without the toxicity
Yeah! In earlier stuff I made, I sometimes ran into people saying, "Well, that is not my experience!" so I have tried to root my criticisms in my experience as much as possible. At the end of the day, what works for someone else does not always work for me (and vice versa), so I think it is important to understand that it isn't always about something being good or bad, but rather something being a right fit for the right player.
Razbuten You are a breath of fresh air.
Breath of the wild made me feel so smart when figuring out the simplest of puzzles, and I love how you explained why. Excellent video, dude!
Thank you, Tylor! This might sound goofy, but feeling smart while playing a game is an amazing feeling that seems to be forgotten about far too often.
@@razbuten I can't like bcuz there's 69
Edit: nvm
@Tamara Stroyan I can’t like because there’s 777 likes 😫
I definitely regret watching walkthroughs of it. Probably my biggest mistake in gaming.
@@averagecommunist3456 I was lucky enough to not be on the internet when the game came out, I doubt I would have been able to resist watching walkthroughs.
One of my favourite aspects of BotW that I haven't seen in other open world games is climbing (in this limitless, and non-scripted sense). It gives the world a playground feel, where you're free to scale the world at your leisure, as if it was a jungle gym.
I think you did a perfect job explaining what makes BotW's world stand out from the rest, and why it's so refreshing to so many people.
Hopefully the next installment will bring back underwater exploration.
And a fishing minigame for folks like me who just like videogame fishing minigames. So relaxing.
This can be problematic though. Early in the game you go to Kakariko village, and on the main path exiting the village is the guy who lets you expand your inventory slots (extremely crucial in this game). This is the only place you can start this process, in the entire humongous game world. If you don't exit the village by this one specific path, you will basically never find him unless you look up a guide on what the korok seeds are for. Every time you go back to Kakariko village, you are extremely unlikely to exit by any path at all, you will most likely warp there for whatever purpose and then warp out again. They also surrounded Kakariko village with interesting things that encourage you to climb out of the valley by a means other than the path (e.g., to find the fairy fountain, to investigate the location you later take Impa's orb etc.). This is one of the design flaws in the game; some of the open world design clashes with elements left over from the design of previous Zeldas, like putting a vital NPC on a path you would be required to walk down if this was Ocarina of Time or something.
shatterjack
Don't you meet him several times in other places that are closer to the centre? Does that dancing guy just stay there, waiting for someone to get his maracas back even after visiting new locations, or making progress in the main quest?
@@summerycast7936 I think you have to meet him there at least once (and maybe get his upgrade once) then he moves to the korok forest. The korok forest is also a bit out of the way if you haven't gotten used to the map yet.
The only other open world i've seen climbing like this was Elder Scrolls II Daggerfall but the game was buggy as hell so it was risky. The new Unity version fixes this.
"The amount of player freedom it offers is staggering and unlike many modern games, it doesn't treat the players like they're total idiots" *Screen shows Razbuten literally blowing himself up by throwing an explosive barrel* well player sir. well played.
Fav part of BOTWs design.
“Get here for the quest.”
K, but how?
“I dunno. There’s a neat hill that can help you out, but I don’t care.”
What..?
“I said, I dunno. Just get there. Cya.”
*one, confusing romp later*
“Hey, you made it!”
Yeah... how the duck do you kill those Guardian things?
“Figure it out!”
As a fan of open world games, I'm glad we are starting to see a shift in the genre.
As someone who is not really a fan of open world games, me too.
But there never was a shift, Gothic seriie and even early Tes games made this before craze on open world game beging, they just don't thinked that you are too stupid to go by yourself into the world what they made.
Sadly Piranha Bytes lost they skill to make those kind of games and no game dev is intrested to replicate that school of desing.
There is no shift. Its just much easier to create a checklist and make huge empty worlds with no reason for exploration than something like botw. And since these games also sell really well it wont change anytime soon
Have we seen a shift though? I've seen BOTW do these kinds of things...and that's about it. I thought Horizon Zero Dawn was an extraordinary, severely underrated game, but it was not a game changer mechanically and didn't represent a shift away from the norm like BOTW did.
And since then we've had Red Dead 2, which might be one of the single most disappointing games I've ever played in my life - a game that does _every single one_ of the bad things that Breath of the Wild consciously rejected in its design. It holds your hand like no other game I've ever played. It makes you walk in a straight line for missions and simply carry out orders. It allows you almost NO freedom at all to complete quests the way you want, it has nothing surprising on its map that makes you think 'oh, I want to check and see what that is', your character is supremely un-interactive and slow, and it highlights everywhere you need to go with a big icon on the mini-map. You can even get the game to ride you there on your horse without you controlling a thing. It was heartbreakingly disappointing. I played a lot of it just daydreaming about what Nintendo would have done with a world as visually lush and beautiful as Rockstar's.
To me, RDR 2 is a total rejection of all the brilliant design lessons Nintendo taught us with BOTW. It's the anti-BOTW. And it got 97% on Metacritic, which I can only understand by assuming that reviewers looked at the ambition of its world and the incredible graphics and felt like they just had to give it a high score.
For me BOTW and RDR 2 represent two paths on a fork in the road:
BOTW represents a path that's trickier, less familiar for developers, but the games that it leads to will be groundbreaking and will blow gamers' minds.
RDR 2 represents a comfortable, well-worn path, with lots of familiar landmarks, lots of signposts and directions so developers know exactly what to do when they're designing the game, but it leads to stagnation and disenchantment among gamers. A creative dead-end.
I hope that BOTW represents a shift towards the first path and away from the latter, but it's too early to tell.
@@danieladamczyk4024 incorrect tes is infamous for hand holding and directing the player to specific quests . Breath of the wild completely outclasses tes when it comes to player freedom
So...I love Razbuten
Maybe he loves you too
Gay
@@aaronking2020 For Razbuten? in a heartbeat
@@iriedesu8955 same
What goes around comes around ;)
"How do you want to do this?"
-Matthew Mercer
Very well. I will go along with this.
This may be totally unrelated, but maybe Matt Mercer applies this philosophy to his campaigns, and that's why the players feel so important and feel like they are doing something useful, because Matt and BotW devs follow the same philosophy while making games... let the player do it how they want to
i understood that reference. also, its probably one of my most common lines as gm as well :D
I was searching for this specific comment
After my first play through, I was completely shocked with how much I feel in love with the game. After spending hours on it every day, I still looked forward to the next. It’s gorgeous, it feels surreal, it’s fun. It’s hands-down the best game I’ve ever played. I loved every single moment of it, and I wish I could go back to my first experience with it.
Razbuten: “this game that I spent 50 hours on didn’t have enough stuff to get me to play 100 hours on”
Me with over 200 hours 🙂
My dumb ass has over 400... I hate myself
600
I finished at about 300 hours, but that’s because I just enjoyed running around trying to find random hidden things. I now have over 400 because when I’m bored, I turn it on and start trying to find every single korok seed. I started playing The Witcher now, so my korok hunt is on pause
same tbh and im not even done completed the koroks, Kilton quest and i dont have the dlc omg imagine with the dlc probably gonna be 400 or so
I have 200 hours and havent done all koroks but pretty much 100% the main game (hyrule compendium, all shrines, quests, medals). Still havent done DLC tho.
Nintendo looked at a bunch of open-world games, asked "What do they do right, what do they do wrong, and how do we fix what they do wrong?" They came up with answers in a way that only they can.
See, I like to think that they saw my videos bitching about open-world games and decided to listen to what I, an unknown UA-camr, had to say...
or yeah, I mean, what you said.
Nintendo is very powerful in the innovation and creation spheres... sometimes too much. That's what sets them apart from the rest of the industry, for better or for worse.
@@TheShangryLlamas nintendo didnt come up with the answer they just stole 60 of monoliths employees to do it for them
So how come it still has radio towers. And how is adding rain, frequently stopping the player from having fun for no reason, fixing anything.
@@rooty because towers arent bad. Its just that in most open world games when you find one you get the map and every single collectible shown. In botw however you mostly use them to get the map, as a fast travel point and to get a better view of the world. And although rain is frustrating, it does help making the world more dynamic instead of just having sunny weather all the time
I really wish I could play this game for the first time again, but then I remembered theres a sequel, and that makes me happy.
Even 150 hours in, your video STILL showed me some new things I haven't gotten to yet. I'm working on a second play-through with Pro HUD and only towers to warp to, so finding completely new surprises after getting all shrines and memories is still a pleasant experience.
That is pretty amazing. The world has so many tiny things to do that seeing it all seems impossible.
"The world has so many things to do that seeing it all seems impossible." You could say that about real life too... BOTW made me go out and take more walks in nature, in forests... To be even more mindful.
YEAH! That is awesome. I am taking a trip to Olympic National Park this summer and I AM GOING TO FUCKING CLIMB EVERYTHING.
Rodin Claus I'm planning on doing a pro hud, no fast travel, master mode play through at some point. This game is just so good, you have to play through it at least twice.
I know right.
My first playthrough was with none fast travel and pro HUD, it was such a great experience!
I use a wheelchair so I love playing this game for how it makes me feel more 'free' 😊 This game fulfilled my mountain-traversing fantasies. I live in a limited capacity so having a game that calls one to 'go for it!' is so delicious
Just imagine a game like breath in the wild in the world of avatar the last airbender. You can deciede your element and gender, and you have to learn your as the avatar all other elements. Explore the world find an animal guide and friends. That would be so cool.
I really wish there was a new enemy or something in hyrule castle.
Ahhh that would be so cool !!!
I guess tge elements would probably function like runes with you unlocking them though out the game and since you are the avatar their is a in universe reason to do side quests because your the avatar its your job.
Dang, that sounds fun. I'd play that game in a second.
Yeah i wish nintendo can make it :(
Props to the composer, too. They managed to make an accordion-based song one of my favorites in the whole game. Hyrule Castle also has one of the most fantastic themes I’ve heard in a while. It really drives home a sense of finality, like you’re finally ready and you’re facing the ultimate challenge. In addition to this, the Guardian theme is perfect for the themes of the story: the Guardians are a blight upon the peaceful, quiet wilderness. Their theme represents that perfectly, with its blazing fast piano contrasting with the softness of most of the music. And, of course, BotW has probably my favorite credits song of any Zelda.
Fantastic video, you perfectly put into words my feelings on this game. I've been struggling to explain why I love it so much
Thank you. You are appreciated.
Can’t believe this game came out 2 years ago
Same, I had to check the date in the description.
“Now matter what you are doing, it’s the right way your doing.”
“How do you want to do this?”
The agency is incredible in this game. You feel like your adventure is your own.
Basically you nailed it with this one. Though I do wish there was more emphasis on the story and the characters, I can understand that liberties with those needed to be taken in order to create the game we got. What makes this game so hard for me to criticize is that I still haven't come up with a great ideas on how the game could work around the present mechanics to accomplish more of what I would have wanted to see, at least not right now.
Yeah, I would have loved to see some more memories to flesh out the other heroes of Hyrule some more, and it would have been cool if there were a few more characters who dole out sidequests and have some interesting interactions with Link.
For me, it is less of not having ideas for what they could have changed, and more of being so impressed with what it does amazingly that I am less bothered by what it does poorly. I certainly wish they had thought a few things out better, but it still does more than most games I have played.
I agree entirely. It's just that in recent years, if there is something i want to criticize, I want to also come up with a solution on how I would go about fixing that if I was in the designer's shoes. Perhaps I just need time to think of what those solutions are. Either way, I've already started a second play through, doing things differently from my first. Breath of the Wild has continually impressed me with just how much I didn't know from my first play through, and I'll certainly be excited to play it again in the future.
I recently did a play through of BOTW where I didn’t use the map or teleportation at all. Didn’t activate any of the towers, kept the minimap off, etc. it was a really great experience. I looked at the world in a whole new way and it was really fun to just take my horse down some roads and see where they take me and what I might find.
That's a fascinating idea, and I think such a playthrough would have a great sense of wonder; but it also runs counter to my preference as somewhat of a completionist. I think in the end it would end up being frustrating because there's honestly too much to do in the game already, without having to stumble around with little idea of where you've been or where you're going.
Huh I would just quit at Zoras domain
Solid points. You'll get more people watching your videos if you stick with it. Keep up the good work.
Thank you. Hopefully I can get a nice little streak of videos going right now, but there is no accounting for life and stuff.
Razbuten Yes, very solid points, i only disagree with the point that the main quest is not urgent, since you get told over and over again that, either by impa and zelda herself that you have to hurry up, because time is short. I think that exploration is a little bit more problematic in this game than it was in older titles.
Because through the constant progression through the real main quest (defeating ganon), a little observation is a welcome change of pace, since you got your steady progression anyway.
in breath of the wild exploration for me felt wrong in the beginning, because you know that you could end it all, here and there, you just had to go to hyrule castle and its over.
sry for the essay
8:48 - This never really bothered me, because I found the korok and trial puzzles intrinsically fun. I didn't care that I didn't really need the rewards because just solving the puzzles was fun in and of itself.
This right here is the difference between we, and the haters.
Really solid video essay. I especially appreciate the modulation and pacing as a non native english speaker. The balance between points and examples was great, and the edition stays clean, simple and relevant to your examples (I particularly enjoyed the quick cuts at the opening along to the music).
You nail many points about what makes this game feel great: The open world design in BotW constantly validates your personal narrative playing this game with the in-game universe narrative; and this is only possible with the freedom and flexibility of the story. A very delicate design trade-off considering their corporate context when working on this game, but one that Nintendo executed well. (I hope I was able to communicate this point properly with my english heh!).
This is the first video I've seen of you and it was great! but as a heads-up, I had seen in my recommendations the video "mini-maps are stupid" and ignored it because of a title I felt fell somewhere between clickbait and low-quality (it's also not as seducing as the title here: the power of questions says little about the actual content and the video feels more fresh). I'll definitely watch your other videos now, but you may give that thought a spin, considering your target audience with these videos.
Keep it up and hope to see more of you!
Ya know, I have thought a lot about what to title videos, and, honestly, it is a no-win situation. You are right, "Mini-maps are Stupid" is clickbaity, but I would argue that the issue with clickbait is when it leads to a shitty video that has little or nothing to do with the clickbait topic. It is a bummer that a title like that turned you and some other people off, but it also drew in others who most likely would not have clicked: "My Problems With Mini-Maps." I get where you are coming from, and, in general, I try to avoid being too dramatic with my titles (that video is from over 2 years ago, and while I am certainly not perfect with it, most of my titles are pretty straightforward), but the title was not chosen to appeal to UA-cam's algorithm; it was chosen because I think the way Mini-Maps are used is stupid.
Also, I might be misunderstanding you, so I will just ask: did you think the title of this video was effective or not?
Regardless, I appreciate your feedback and you checking out my stuff.
I wouldnt be able to properly say if it's effective or not, depends on your goals and the kind of viewer you're aiming for, I just wanted to give perspective, and it does not influence the digestion of the actual content in any way. The point of saying that was only to show my first interaction with you, maybe for future thought. In the end I think its more important that you feel satisfied with the result more than anything else.
Dont crunch the thought too much, it was just me being too strict in search on something I could say to help you, and I agree that title choice always involves a trade-off. Keep it up, the content is great regardless of the title!
The title is actually what drew me to this video as well lol
"Witcher's 3 story calling for urgency..." Felt exacly like this in Dying Light, right after some dialog that says "You only have 48 hours before we blow everything up"
Breath of the Wild is the only open world game that I just could not put down. Other entries are stuff I would pick at for an hour or so here or there, and I think the handholding was a big reason for this.
it’s so refreshing to play a game that is ok (and even encourages) exploring things outside of the main story and just procrastinating in general. i also really like that it doesn’t force you back on the main guest when the game thinks that you’ve been just wondering about for too long like some other games do.
Just bought a switch recently, when I started the lack of hand holding was really confronting having to actually figure out how to survive the cold or climb something on my own was a challenge but that challenge is what gave me my first real sense of accomplishment in a single player game in a long time
Game: "How do you want to beat Gannon?"
Speed Runner: In less than half an hour.
BOTW solidly cemented itself as one of my favorite games ever. Every hour I played it felt meaningful. I was always getting stronger, or getting closer to more inventory space, or fighting to gain new weapons and get better at combat. Every single second I played let to a climatic finish against Ganon, which for me was memorable if for how horrifying he was in this entry.
I love the small rewards more frequently system, because it felt like much less of an investment than say Wind Waker, where going into a dungeon is an hour(ish) long ordeal. I wouldn't mind some longer shrines mixed in, but I don't hold the game at fault for lacking it.
I expected to like it (I like Zelda games and love open worlds), but I honestly loved it more than I thought. Easily beats out MM and OoT for me.
This made me realize how amazingly well the world of Golden Sun: the Lost Age is structured, with exploration being the driving force of you finding often even the mainline points (I mean... nothing points you to the Tundaria Tower, a mandatory dungeon, except your own curiosity) while still making quite sure you finally reach the destination.
And while combining it with a good strong story.
“So, I love Breath of the Wild”
*subscribes*
Breath of the Wild is my first Zelda game. I am a huge fan of open world games so it was the perfect door into a series that I’d been viewing from the outside for so long. There are still areas I have not completely explored and know very little of and there are areas I know all the details of and I think that’s amazing.
Ah The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, or as I know it: The Legend of Zeld- hey what’s that over there?
The legend of Zelda: breath of the wow that looks nice what's that
3 years and 400 gameplay hours later i still play this game and still find new things. Its fantastic.
imagine how cool it'd be if the next zelda game had a hookshot like imagine botw physics engine except you can swing around like spiderman or use to to pull yourself to large enemies or pull small enemies to you
While these things are all good...you can't take objects into the Ganon fight, so I can't kill all bosses with a metal bookcase from hyrule castle libary 0/10 WORST GAME EVER!!!!!!
Seriously, fuck Nintendo for this tyranny. They have us to answer to!!!
Can't kill ganon with a chicken 0/10
Can't kill ganon with my opinion, -10/10
well, actually i think someone did kill him with a chicken
LittleOle Jim nah the chicken responds in the sanctuary
one of my favorite things about breath of the wild is that almost 6 years since its release people are still finding out new things despite the huge amount of coverage it has
This is my first Zelda game (I haven’t played that many games in general before besides Sims & Animal Crossing) and I’ve already played over 100 hours and have only just gotten the final divine beast. I’m obsessed with adventuring and finding all the little secrets. Definitely a great way for me to break into this kind of gaming!
Something that really impressed me about BotW is how it handled the villages. I couldn't find the Sheikah village the first time I played through and ended up wandering the emptiness of Hyrule for a very long time. I began to know Hyrule as this land of ruins and dilapidated structures, devoid of human life save small outposts and travelers. The world was truly destroyed, but people were still finding a way to live their lives. Then I found the first permanent settlement I had seen: Lurelin Village. The music struck me, and I saw not just a village in a video game, but a place that people called home. I found that the world had ended but humanity had not. It was a small, humble fishing town inhabited by people, so many people. And that's what I see whenever I enter each village: they're inhabited by the survivors of a calamity, they are the trees that grow back after a forest fire. They have unique cultures and architecture and, in living mundane lives, they contrast brightly and powerfully against the destroyed world they inhabit. I didn't expect video game characters merely living out simulacra of lives to be so moving, but it touched me in my soul to see humanity in a state of happy normalcy after disaster. It reminded me that even when it seems like things will never be the same, no matter how bad things may get, a time will come when we can be happy again.
Beautifully put. To add, watching all the diverse communities come together in the Tarrey Town quest created such a warm atmosphere; one which inspires hope and resilience.
@@matthewchampion8214Add to this where Tarrey Town is located: in the shadow of Akkalla Citadel -- the place as one NPC puts it, "where the Kingdom of Hyrule met its end."
Tarrey Town's like a little acorn that fell from a dying tree.
These developers knew what they were doing.
I kind of find it interesting that this game took some of the more superficial aspects of Skyward Sword and readapted them. The item at the end of the tutorial that lets you safely get down from high places, stamina, climbing tied to stamina, shield bashing/parrying, and even a durability system (at least on shields) all came from Skyward Sword, but they were adapted to the point that they feel _more_ comfortable in a game with the complete opposite structure. I think Nintendo did a great job on that front, taking the ideas that they liked and incorporating them into an open-world game.
The one thing I missed was follow up on the side-quests.
You can get a house with a gigantic garden, but can't do anythign besides leaving your weapons there.
I never used the kitchens in my house while playing Skyrim, but it was nice to have it at least.
Just as an example.
The house definitely felt tacked on.
BOTW is a great game for making you think up your own solutions, but I personally enjoy the story-driven structure of an RPG and the sense of accomplishment and a feeling of progression that I get from completing missions. I don't always enjoy a huge challenge in games but I live for the stories they tell.
BOTW is an amazing game that I really enjoy discovering the hidden treasures of, but I can't binge play it like I can other games like the Witcher and Assassins Creed because I find its lack of explicit objectives a little frustrating at times as I don't feel like I'm progressing.
I loved your point about being allowed to explore and problem solve organically vs hand-holding and having the game do the work for you. Reminds me of vanilla WoW. It was very sandboxy and open and encouraged exploration and problem solving. In BC we started to see more of what people called a Disneyland ride effect. More streamlined. Vanilla did have its drawbacks but this sandboxy open world is something that I miss in WoW's newer iterations.
I've only played 20 hours or so of Zelda because... life... But this sentence nailed how I feel about it (paraphrased) "Anything you are doing feels like the right thing to be doing."
2017 was 5 years ago. I'm so thankful for Breath of the Wild welcoming me to the Zelda universe. It was the first Zelda game I owned and beat myself. My Aunt introduced me to Zelda when I played Twilight Princess on her WII back in the day. Now I finally bought Twilight Princess! Can't wait to beat it!
Skyward Sword had plenty of frustrations, but they shouldn't have been seen as unexpected. Most of its problems had been festering in the Zelda formula and style for several iterations in the franchise and simply reached their breaking point at SS. You can see a lot of its problems take root in Wind Waker, Minish Cap, Twilight Princess, and the DS games.
yeah! I think you are right. The series definitely moved in that direction over time, so Skyward Sword has not all that different from the previous titles. I think it just crossed a threshold that people no longer were as willing to put up with.
Which, in some ways, seemed to be a good thing in the long term! The breaking point was needed for a reset, perhaps. A Link Between Worlds came around soon after and Nintendo seemed to say, "Wait, people *like* it when we leave them alone in a Zelda game and don't directly impose much story in heavy doses?"
And ALBW was formerly my favorite Zelda but BOTW just does everything that game did, and more, and on a grander scale.
sylinmino Skyward Sword had a lot of problems, but it's still one of my favorite Zelda games because the story, characters, and music is so good.
@@realMG420 Exactly I live Skyward sword and BotW actually owes a lot what it is to SS. Especially the world. Since SS was Nintendo testing puzzles in the world and not just dungeons and BoTW is a natural extension and upgrade of that.
There are flaws in the late game to be sure -- and we should point these out so that Nintendo doesn't repeat them next time around -- but goddamn, does this game fix virtually every issue I've had with open world games over the last decade. I haven't had this much fun with one since I first played Morrowind (a game with which Breath of the Wild shares many core philosophies). It's bounced off of Skyward Sword perfectly by taking the mechanical advancements it made and improving upon them, while also addressing the core issues it and most other Zelda games since The Wind Waker had. I didn't start feeling burned out until after I'd hit the 300+ hour mark, and yet Master Mode managed to suck me in and fall in love all over again, putting me well over the 400 hour mark. I'm really looking forward to what the second DLC has to offer, and I'm even more excited to see what the next big Zelda game has in store for us.
@@placeholder1308 Now now, OoT still had plenty of exploration.
I think you've hit the most solid point anyone has ever brought up about this game: everything thing feels like the right thing to do because everything you can do can help.
I first saw BOTW played by my cousin and it really grabbed my interest. I had never played a Zelda game before, so going into the game I had no idea what anything was and I think that is the most magical part about the game, even after I’ve played other Zelda games. I had so much fun discovering how to do little things and discovering entities like the three dragons. I seriously cannot wait for the sequel, and I hope it holds up to the original.
I have watched a few other of your videos and without fault you tell a fantastic narrative - Intriguing, eye opening, and even moving. Thanks for making supreme quality videos.
Dude idk what is up with me but I started crying twice while watching this video. It makes me so happy to hear such great things from this game and I cant help but just want to be able to play it all over again. Who knows, maybe the reason I cry is because I wish for the ability to play this game like it was just released all over again.
Dude, I'm trying to make my own game right now. Watching your videos and Extra Credits videos have helped me out a lot. I salute you!
The best part of BotW is that everything you do has purpose, because it makes you feel like you're really training to fight Ganon.
Stumbled on to your channel and felt compelled to comment on how much I appreciate your "writer's" commentary. The games are great examples, but you have excellent insight and tips on storytelling. Keep it up!
BotW travel is really amazing.
When I played Skyrim, I would often fast travel 90% of the time because the road travel bored the heck out of me. There was nothing I'd bump into that I really cared about. Most ingredients I harvested would make some crappy potion I would sell for like 15g anyways, and another bandit camp worth of weapons and armor was really the last thing I wanted when I couldn't even carry all the stuff I already had.
With BotW, I rode my horse around nearly all the time despite the fact that I had fast travel points scattered all over the map. I actually wanted to travel the world. Shrines and koroks might get old after a while, sure, but weapons and food where something I spent and replenished constantly, and buying consumables like arrows and butter meant that I was always spending a decent amount of cash as well. And travel could easily fulfill all of these needs for me. Wild animals for meat, mushrooms herbs, fish and fruits found nearly everywhere meant I could do some hunting or gathering anytime while traveling the roads, and monsters would drop both weapons to replenish my stocks and monster parts to sell.
Meeting a random enemy during most open world game is often a 'oh great, another one of these things' moment, but with BotW, I'm thinking more like 'Sweet, I needed something to replace my sword!'.
Plus, monsters can be hilarious to fight at times. Take away a monster's weapons and they'll stomp their feet and yell at you. Knocked a stal-type enemy's head off? Guess what? You can pick that up and throw it around. Dropping enemies into the water makes them flounder about, and bombs ragdoll around like pinballs, all of which makes enemies a lot more amusing to fight than the 'face foe, press attack button till dead' lots of open world games give.
I hear this point a lot about BotW- all of the side quest and collecting work towards building your character for the fight so it makes it not filler.- But you could say the same thing about any grinding in any RPG type game. Skyrim is loaded with pretty basic repetitive quests but they all give you xp, loot, etc. I think what makes BotW stand out is the option to go to the end really early but that does not inherently make the grind more compelling, it just layers a "See! I told you it's important!" on it. The interesting systems and puzzles are the key in my mind. Extending the logic, Fallout 4 lets you go straight to diamond city and make significant progress but my claim that "getting to level 80 and 100% every quest outside of the brotherhood and diamond city will make me more ready to enter diamond city" doesn't really hold up. I think this is a great video and you did point out some BotW flaws so this comment is not a complaint but more of me saying that it is interesting how often the point comes up.
I love this game so much. It's my favorite game ever. I have over 180 hours logged
I never even noticed the problems in skyward sword until this game. I still love that game, but this one is way better.
I think I'll try and do a No-divine beast Run next. because then I'll get an actually hard boss fight.
Yeah. I enjoyed SS, but looking back now, I realize that it took me 3 months to get through, where EVERY OTHER ZELDA GAME I HAVE EVER PLAYED has taken me a week. It just didn't hook my curiosity the way this one has.
razbuten
I'm going to do a playthrough of skyward sword and some older ones in rapid succession. I'm thinking that after it, link to the past might rank higher than skyward sword. but like I said, I still love skyward sword. it's just not as good as my hyped 12 year old self was led to believe when I bought it for the first time.
Ye! I wanna replay the series from the Zelda 1, but like, time...
razbuten.
yeah, me too. I'm in college, and my version of "back to back" is only occasionally playing one of those games, most of my free time doesn't go towards games. I just usually don't trust myself to get to schoolwork when it's time to put the controller down. I don't know if now I can be responsible enough to do my work when it's needed, but I just don't give myself the opporitunity. the most I've done is miss 2 weeks of work playing breath of the wild for the first time, so I guess I'm not getting better, but then again, it is the best game ever made, and it's the first time I've played it, so maybe I'll be fine with a seventeenth playthrough of skyrim. I have a feeling that when summer rolls around, I'll spend most of it trying to decide what game to play.
Honestly this video is so accurate. Like when I was trying to get to zoras domain I could see where it was in my map but I had no idea how to get to it, so I started climbing on top of all the slippery mountains (it was raining) trying to get there. Soon enough as I was looking below, I noticed a pathway and a Zora there (it was Sidon but I didn’t know who he was at the time) and I slid down to greet him. I appreciated the fact that the game let me figure it out in my own, instead of forcing me to go the “right way”
I think the best thing about BotW was what while the main quest was part of the story, the real story of the game was in the side quests and Link's memories. You were told to look for the memories, but you were never told where to look, and as you mentioned the side quests often didn't tell you how to do them, or where to go, they let you figure it out for yourself.
There is an urgency in the story. All the important NPC (The King, The Champions, Purah, Robbie and Impa) tells you to go and rescue princess Zelda and everytime you talk to any of the 3 sheikahs they reminds you the need to destroy Ganon and rescue Zelda.
I agreed whit the rest of the video.
I agree. If it came off like I was saying that BotW has no urgency, then I think there was a miscommunication somewhere along the way, because I don't say that there is no urgency in the video. It isn't that there is no urgency, but rather that a lot of other games (Fallout 4, The Witcher 3) have these really strong hooks of "save your kid" and you know it is important to save your kid because it is your friggin kid! In BotW, you are a hero who does not remember that he is a hero, so Link needs to figure out why saving Zelda and the world is important, and there are a ton of different ways to do that. The whole thing is about self-discovery, and the game offers avenues other than "beat all of the temples" in order to help push that sense of discovering oneself. In Fallout 4, I felt like doing anything other than saving my kid made no sense from a story standpoint, but in BotW, Link doesn't owe anybody shit to his knowledge, so fucking around in the world makes a little more sense.
Also, Impa literally gives you time to decide whether or not you are ready to dedicate yourself to the journey. Yes, Impa adds to the sense of urgency, but she makes it clear that Link is not ready yet and that he needs to get stronger in order to face the beasts and Ganon. Furthermore, the characters you mention make up about (roughly) 8 memorable conversations you will have throughout the entire game where every main quest in The Witcher 3 is like "Ciri though!"
The urgency exists, and it does aim you in the direction of beating the Divine Beasts, but it isn't so strong that doing side activities makes no sense from a story standpoint.
The comparisons raised between Breath of the Wild and other open world games reminds me of the contrast between Morrowind and Skyrim. Not having map markers in Morrowind lead to memorable moments.
Heard that Breath of The Wild 2
Is gonna be just as dark, if not darker, than Majora's Mask, the darkest and most serious Legend of Zelda game.
Apparently that was a misunderstanding with something taken out of context, but don't take my word for it
The thing that I loved about Breath of the Wild is that most players thought up of 2 ways to play, speed runners (the guys that would complete the game the moment they got the glider) and main quest players. I was the guy that found a 3rd way, that WANTED to explore the game as much as possible WITHOUT doing the main quest as much as possible. I wasn't speed running but I didn't want the OP powers from completing the divine beasts yet nor did I want the Master Sword yet(because the Master Sword can never be taken out of your inventory). I wanted to get the most I could out of the game, and the game was amazing for this, it allowed me to think of any strategy I could to defeat my enemies, solving puzzles, help side quests.
Games like BotW make me dislike Skyrim more and more, because of how dumb I feel playing Skyrim, play that game without Dragon Shouts and it feels completely mindless and boring, yet you're still kicking enemy asses even without those OP powers. I try to play Skyrim and Oblivion without doing the main quest for as long as possible so that the main quest isn't bugging me to complete it, but Skyrim does a terrible job at this as opposed to Oblivion (so long as you don't take the Amulet of Kings to Weynon Priory, main quest never truly begins, and the game doesn't break because of it). Skyrim allows you to sort of do it, but then I noticed there are sidequests that ONLY activate if you do the main quest and have nothing to do with the main quest to begin with! (Oblivion has only a couple that unlock after the main quest, but those side quests are tied to the main quest to begin with)
BotW allows you to not have to do the main quest for as long as you possibly think you can, giving you time to explore, get stronger, get better at the game, get more resources, and best of all, side quests are not locked behind the main quest like Skyrim's forcing me to do the main quest just to complete them. I can complete everything in the game except the main quest and I like doing that in open world games.
I like to be as powerless as possible in games like that in addition, by defeating the Divine Beasts I get these OP powers that take away a lot of challenges that are already given to me if I can play the game (if I'm good at using the shield then I don't need the Goron's power, if I find fairies I don't need the Zora's Power, if I have a lot of stamina I don't need the Rito's Power, and my spin attack is strong to begin with so I don't need the Gerudo's Power). Same thing with Skyrim, the Shouts are so OP that it takes away a lot of challenge from the game where as depending on what kind of character I become I can fight 2 handed, 1 handed, stealth archer, or mage, and fight that way instead like a normal warrior (another reason why I like Oblivion more than Skyrim, I don't have to worry about super powers when I already have simple powers to begin with). I like how Zelda does this, because the game is difficult and by me taking my time completing everything else BUT the main quest, I get better as a player and strategize more, whereas with Skyrim I'm just mindlessly flailing my weapon or holding down the spell button until my enemies are defeated with no sense of strategy.
this game is so amazing 3 years ago I played it through and thought it was amazing and everytime I see a video or a comment about this game i just want to have the same exitement adventure and experience like playing it the first time. and every video reminds me about this first experience and its beauty
This video is.. Beautiful 😭
Almost as beautiful as botw itself, it perfectly explains why this game is unlike any other, and that sense that tells u go explore that little area there u never know. Truly a masterpiece (both the game and the video)
I really like the video essays you've uploaded. Your hard work, great narrative, and great video editing have earned yourself a sub!
I love Breath of the Wild, because it's something exceedingly rare; an open world game that truly feels open. It doesn't hold your hand, and beyond the Great Plateau, it doesn't railroad you. If you're confident in your ability to fight a reincarnated demon in boxers with three hearts, you can go right ahead and try it.
And probably fail miserably
I read the last bit as all a part of a demon description.
@@agent3299 Hmm.... Yeah, I do see how it can be misread that way. But it's kinda funny, so I don't think I'll bother changing it.
@@maxwaspace5348 Yeah, you probably will fail your first few attempts, but that's okay.
Plus, the any% world record was basically always under an hour, and is currently just over 26 minutes, which is pretty crazy, especially for an open world game.
Dude, HOW HAVE I NOT FOUND YOU UNTIL TODAY???
Your videos are solid. Your points are well presented. Your voice is nice to listen to, really intelligent and calm/collected.
Man. I have watched six videos in a row. Holy crap.
Dude you are the king of game analyses
All of your videos make me want to continue playing single player games like breath of the wild. I have been playing mostly online competitive for a while now and all it seems to do is anger me. I haven’t thought in a while to go back to the good old single player games. I used to play them all the time because I had no online internet connection to my consoles. Now that I have a PC and a job I can bring so much more diversity to my gaming experience and by watching only a couple of your videos, I have a countless number of games jotted down to buy. So thank you for being an inspiration to just keep playing. Your videos are absolutely phenomenal.
Since Raz doesn’t post very much. Something I just rewatch old videos. Well worth the wait when he does post. My absolute favourite UA-cam!
I bought my Switch a year ago and only really started playing it a few months ago and I’ve exclusively played BOTW because it’s a incredible game. It’s my first LOZ game and I’m having so much fun with it and a lot of it has to do with just being able to pick a direction, go in it and discover new things.
nice adventure indeed. one hundred sheika shrines down and Lord knows how many, as my daughter says, "Golden poops" left.
This is adorable.
It's an open-world game that cares about the journey more then about the destination
With the dungeon bits at the end of video.There 3 dungeons that hold some of the best armour and are placed in highly defended areas guarded by guardians and lynels.
I'll never stop enjoying watching videos of people praising this game. Great work.
This video most eloquently depicts exactly why I really appreciate this game. Thanks for the explanation!
Know I'm late to the party, but, talking about the rewards for checking the world out I suggest this:
Heart Pieces - The heart pieces could be found in chests around the world and in smaller shrines, they would give a heart after gathering a certain amount of them
Spirit Orbs - These can be used to get more stamina, to increase the amount of damage you deal or to decrease the amount of damage you get from enemies, falling, etc..
Korok Seeds - Same thing as already in the game
Relics - These could be found by solving those inconsistencies in the world, after you do so, a chest would appear giving you a relic, they could also be found placed somewhere hard to get to, like at the end of Forgotten Temple. The harder to get relics give you an extra memorie, these memories wouldn't be so important to the main story but would give the chanpions more character, and they could be added to your armor and weapons increasing durability, amount of damage, critical damage, or adding elemental effects to normal weapons, these relics could be a gift mipha wanted to give Link before dying, something that references another Zelda game, something that used to belong to the hyrulean army, etc...
These are just some ideas I had while watching the video
Man we have like the exact same feelings on open world games and a lot of the reasons you mentioned are why BotW clicked so much for me. Well done!
The best video are those that make you sad that they are over. This is one of those video. I really enjoyed it.
Zelder BTW is one of the games that almost make you feel like it was your advanture not links. After 2 Years this feeling didn't fainted but got even stronger.
Excellent video! You really understand what makes BOTW great, and for me, as an aspiring game dev, to learn these things this early is truly amazing. Thank you.
BotW is such an inspiring experience. The feel of the game, how Link moves, how the world feels, is exceptional. Just the movement alone feels so good, and alone moves you enough reason to want to play. Add to this the masterfully created world, full of things not necessarily to do, but that makes you want to do something. Like a tall cliff overlooking a huge valley. It makes you want to glide down and explore said valley. Just amazing.
I’m really excited and nervous for the sequel
I have spent over 120 hours playing this game and I’m not even done since I get so sidetracked. It’s such a fun game for me!!
I absolutely love Breath of the Wild for many reasons and could talk about them beyond the capacity of most people's patience, so hearing a poignant view regarding the questions it asks us really stood out to me. What made me smile even more was the amount of footage including horses, as they're my personal favorite part of the game.~
You get bonus points from me for the "How do you want to do this?" If you don't know the reference, that's OK, however if you do, that's awesome. Made my day!
I think you are the first person to say anything about it, but I am glad you caught it. I was in a deep CR dive when making this video (I just caught up a few weeks ago), and I felt that the reference was fitting. I'm glad you liked that part!
Hah, that's great! I did very much enjoy the video. This one came up on my feed and I enjoyed it so much that I have been going back to watch your others. My family is also a HUGE fan of Avatar (the real one; the Airbender), and I agree with your points about fast travel and minimaps in my games. Keep fighting the good fight!
This makes me happy
Welcome back to land of "not being consistent." And I always love your analytical videos, and you answered all the questions why I like this Zelda adventure.
Oh. I am still going to not be consistent. Don't you worry about that.
You can tell that the developers spent a lot of time making this game for their players, I'm sure the sequel is gonna be even better!
My friend. Your writing for your videos is so good. Well done, keep up the good work.
I relate to the "focus on the main quest" thing. Whenever I try and play fallout the main quest carries a sense of urgency and you need to do it to access one of the main factions. But once you have finished it, the world feels empty. It's really frustrating how railroaded I usually get by main quests. But botw fixes that because everything is preparing and leading up to the attack on Ganon. The divine beasts are part of the main quest, but you don't have to get them, so it allows you to better take your time.
Me and my brother are utterly in love with this game. I have about 90 hours on the game yet still have hundreds of side quests to do, mysteries to solve and things to discover. My brother has basically beaten it ans both dlcs with 190 hours but I can see why Razbuten stopped playing at 50
I started a playthrough of this game were I demanded of myself that Link acquire access to fresh food and water every day. The HUD was set to pro and I'm not allowed to use sheika towers or fast travel. The detail I found in this playthrough is amazing. Did you know that using a torch or flaming weapon will allow you to smoke out a bee hive so you can harvest it safely? Did you know the fish in the Zora River (and probably many others) swim upstream? There is a lot of stuff in this game that most players will miss. The closer attention you pay to the game, the more it amazes.
I love how little direction you get from Breath of the Wild, but as a non-gamer i have searched up the solutions to many shrines and Divine Beasts.. However having a freedom to choose when i want direction is really nice!
Just got a switch and BotW a couple weeks ago and this video just made me restart my first run after getting 3/4 divine beasts, the master sword, and finishing Tarrey Town. Didn't realize how much playing with fast travel and the standard HUD had been ruining my fun but after watching this I realized that the more shrines/towers I'd unlocked the less enjoyment I'd been getting. I'll be back to report my findings later...
You nailed the reason why my first 70 hours with Breath of the Wild were the best gaming experience of my life.
Everything is... useful. Instead of making the world a place to stage the story, the made the world THE story, and the story is only good reason to start exploring.
What it did wrong is definitely the endgame, with the lack of variety in enemies, trials and sidequests making it feel boring after such a long time and really pointless to replay, and the dungeons, which are ok but don't really feel like an accomplishment when you complete them. But it's one of my favourite games of all time and definitely one of those that made the words "open world" really become meaningful.
This is actually one of the best reviews I've ever watched