Breath of the Wild really was the perfect realization of the box garden philosophy, at least for me. I played the game at my own pace, and I probably sunk 200 hours into it by the time I found every shrine. But even after that, I returned to it many more times, either on new playthroughs, or just to simply kill time in what felt like a living breathing world. There are many games I've enjoyed this way, but none with the scale of BotW. It's why I consider BotW to be the best format for an open world game.
I would say they are missing a facet of their own box garden philosophy, which is the capacity to return to a place and both experience it anew while retaining familiarity and comfort, which is what the lore, continuity between games and the franchise's conventions provided. BotW/TotK feel like a sterile wiping of the map. It doesn't feel like revisiting a place I've always known and finding something new has grown there, but coming back to a neighborhood to find it's been totally redeveloped, with artifacts of what was scattered about but otherwise dead and buried. Obviously, they made it and they are free to remake it however they want. And BotW/TotK are huge accomplishments in their own right. But it's frustrating to see them completely fail to see what I found so charming and kept me coming back for over almost 30 years now.
I get the garden philosophy but, a good story is never a hindrance to a game. Especially if it’s good enough to stand the test of time like Final fantasy etc. I thought TOTK story was one of the biggest let downs in Zelda. Especially with no direct connection to BOTW like everyone had amnesia among other details etc. it felt like 30 mins of story and 130 hours of clever padding. Again freedom of expression is cool but limited to design of the game and its hardware but I argue the integration of an amazing story truly enriches the intrinsic value of creative expression.
Exactly this! This is why, once I got of the Great Plateau in BOTW, for the 1st time in nearly 40 yrs, I was a kid again. I had just gotten Zelda for my birthday and I was exploring Hyrule again. Greatest feeling ever! While I have played and enjoyed many of the zelda games I always kinda felt something was missing but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. This video perfectly explaines what it was. I can understand that for many BOTW doesn't feel like a real Zelda game because they started with later games and that's ok of course. But for me, who started with the original, BOTW and TOTK are the pinnacle of the Zelda franchise. And until they come up with something better you can't convince me otherwise. Awesome video.
I love how the creation of the Legend of Zelda series became sort of a garden in box in itself. They've been experimenting with the tools they were given, found new ways of exploring game design and went back over and over until they got what they envisioned. It's a beautiful form of art
I'll always have the highest respect possible for old generation game developers because they had to be incredibly creative and work within the limitations of the hardware; this extends to art direction, pixel art, sound design and soundtrack. Yet they were able to create amazingly memorable games that shaped gaming as we know today. Miyamoto's entire _hakoniwa_ philosophy of "less is more" is something I've always appreciated, and still continue to. Aonuma understood that when creating _Breath of the Wild_ and _Tears of the Kingdom_ because the titles draw inspiration from that concept, downright to things like UI and soundtrack. I wish more modern games were like that instead of being bombastic spectacles. The "empty" spaces are important. As usual, your videos are amazing. The production value is outstanding. Truly a fascinating watch.
At 20:15 a song starts that Shazam seems unable to find for me and I can't find it in that spotify playlist of this video's soundtrack. Not sure if I missed the song when skimming through them or what. Does anyone know it?
Im only 10 mins in but I think what you just explained is exactly why a game like Undertale was an absolute success, the sprites, the atmosphere and the style were left to the eyes of the beholder to fill in the blanks (or any sprite-based games at that) with it's recency to a younger audience that has the internet at their fingertips, everyone has their own interpretation on what the world of Undertale looks like in their imagination, I'd like to imagine this similar feeling is what caught the young audience of zelda (and later on earthbound) when it first came out and is what Miyamoto truly envisioned in their game design/philosophy. I love this video so far, I hate that I don't have enough time to finish it till tomorrow
I have very few videos that stay in my Downloaded videos folder on RU-vid. This one will be joining that list alongside your other video (my all time favorite thing on RU-vid), “A Masterclass in Subtext”. Thank you for creating thoughtful content on topics that are dear to me!
Eboshi is not a villain. She represents humanism. She legitimately cares for humanity and wants to protect people. The story is about the tension between humanistic concerns - safety, health, prosperity- and maintaining the natural world.
Damn I suddenly miss when the internet was largely unanimous on what a triumphant masterpiece of genre-redefining genius Breath of the Wild was, instead of the modern narrative that "Open-world Zelda is boring actually"
I bet nobody has ever asked Shigsy "why do they call it an oven when you of in the cold food of out hot eat the food?" But it's probably harder to make a 30 minute video about him not being asked that.
Yessss Javed finally! I remember watching the “prototype” version of that first minute on patreon. Phenomenal work. You’ll always be an inspiration to me.
J.J. can't bring stories and/or characters to an end / closure. He would be a terrible choice, after ruining star wars and star trek. Also in Lost, he has no idea of how to finish the story and what he's doing, besides question over question.
A few issues. I would not use the subtitle "A Hyrule Fantasy" for Zelda 1. In Japanese its main title is Zelda no Densetsu, just Legend of Zelda. And Miyamoto wasn't a main development lead for the newer Zelda games, that would be Hidemaro Fujibayashi and Eiji Aonuma. Miyamoto is just a supervisor who gave them playtesting advice.
I think the reason nobody asked him "what do you mean?" is because it's overwhelmingly obvious what he meant, it's not a difficult concept to grasp and even if you haven't heard of it before it's pretty self explanatory even with just a name; but also I swear I literally have head someone ask him that before. However your video may have just given me the most depressing realisation about the Zelda franchise thus far and that is to say: all the things I like about it are viewed as "distractions" at best and all the things I hate about it are it's core design. In other words they ( being the core zelda team Shigeru Miyamoto, Eiji Aonuma, etc ) seem to have a core philosophy that the games should be a place to explore and make experiences rather then a place to do things and have experiences. When I hear someone talk about the value of vagueness for example the bush/tree debate I get irrationally upset and I can't quite pinpoint why. I find it almost insulting that he would liken "doing things in video games as feeling like doing work" but then put even more work onto players where they have to "find the fun". When I play games like "Minecraft" I very quickly exhaust all the "fun" things to do and find myself trying to build something in a very exhausting manner only to stop partway through and think I could make this faster and better in Blender so I should just do that. If I am expected to "make my own fun" in a video game I would much rather just make my own game. Paradoxically there is by sheer quantity a lot more of the "theme park attractions" in "Breath of the Wild" and "Tears of the Kingdom" but they have very much dropped in quality and personally if I had worked on the franchise I would find it greatly insulting if my artwork, story, tool, puzzle, quest etc, was compared to a "theme park attraction" in such a negative way. Even as a "miniature garden" I still feel like the older games did a better job on that front but I can't exactly explain why. So uh thanks for convincing me not to buy "Echoes of Wisdom" and causing me to further believe that I will never see the kind of Zelda game I like ever again...Sigh...
This video makes it clear that the Zelda we see in Breath of the Wild was the goal along. My only question, then, is: _what happens to the Zelda they made in the meantime?_ The Zelda that many of us refer to as "the traditional style" of Zelda games? Even if they didn't create quite what they wanted with Wind Waker, Twilight Princess, et cetera, they still created _something,_ and people love that something. Will they bring its formula back with a new IP? Will they make two branches of the Zelda franchise, with different focuses? Will we never see it again? At this point, it's all speculative, of course. Personally, I hope we get to see more, either as Zelda or as a new IP. I do really enjoy the story aspect of Zelda games, so having a slightly less playground-like world is still a good experience for me.
Please don't keep us waiting for another 3 years! I mean, I'll wait at least 100 years for your content assuming anti-aging technology outpaces my own aging, but please don't make me!
I think you’ve done an excellent job of translating this idea into English. Conveying an idea of one culture with the language of another is no easy feat.
Did you know that the original Legend of Zelda was designed by Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka together, and when Shigeru is asked about his inspiration he says the Japanese garden thing, and when Tezuka is asked about his inspiration he says Lord of the Rings?
This has got to be one of the best-if not _the_ best-video essay that I've ever seen. I imagine I will be returning to watch it again many times in the future. Japanese zen gardens were something that I had never really thought about too deeply; this video gave me an understanding of them and the philosophies behind them that I simply did not have before. Followed by the section on Sandplay Theory, it got me to think about and appreciate how these philosophies might apply to me, the video games I play, and how I choose to play them. All of this, by only two-thirds of the way through the video. By the end, I had reevaluated how I thought about the Zelda franchise as a whole, a series I've known and loved for nearly my entire life. Like the zen gardens, I feel a renewed understanding of, and appreciation for, the work the designers and developers put into these games. This video was thoughtfully researched, _extraordinarily_ written, meaningfully paced, beautifully scored... the whole nine yards. The fact that it is available to watch for free like this is indicative of nothing less than a deep, deep love for the Zelda series and a true passion for sharing it with others. Thank you for doing so, because I love it too. 🙂
