3:54 1: The BotW Formula 7:50 2: Shrines 10:24 3: Gear 20:51 4: Difficulty 26:01 5: Less Endgame, More Issues 30:15 6: Divine Beasts & Bosses 37:52 7: What Could Have Been
@@Jdudec367 I think they've taken steps in the right direction, but it is too early to tell if it's enough. A lot of the insights I had here came after a full playthrough so I am trying to keep an open min until then. Some improvements to enemy variety and I like the new suite of abilities much more. Early critiques are that the sky/land/depths feel stapled onto each other and not cohesive, shrine system seems largely the same, and the new abilities all chop up the pace of the game (which is fine for now but who knows how it will feel in 50+ hours).
This is seriously the most boring and most pointless zelda I have ever played, such a massive disappointment and I am still baffled how overrated it is.
As soon as I finished botw main story I put the game down and havent played it ever since, I mean what's the point? Look for over 100 shrines that look exactly the same? Collect almost 1000 seeds that that literally gets you a pile of stool as a prize? The lack of good rewards in this game it's what makes the game boring.
I respect a lot of the points you made, I have no real notes on the genuine content, just a small video-making thing: Putting your own Gameplay even if it's unrelated is hundred times better than the trailer footage looping in the background.
I've noticed a lot of criticisms lobbed at other games of this scope absolutely apply to BoTW, but it gets a free pass just because it's Zelda? It's frustrating to see all this praise for... a mediocre game.
I kinda hated all the shrines, it got pretty boring looking for all those shrines. sometimes I would walk past a new shrine and just try to avoid it because of how tired I was of doing them.
Long time Zelda Fan/Player since NES, played nearly all of them, I have owned this game for about 4 years, and can never play it more than a few hours after starting a new game. It just feels so bland overall. You could just literally change the names of the characters and lore, and it's just some generic open world fantasy game. I miss the old formula for Zelda games. Give me linear story, with dungeons, and progressive player power while unlocking special gear/items as the story progresses.
You said the game tricks you into thinking you’ll discover something new. You’re right there’s really only shrines koroks and weapons that won’t last. The trickery certainly worked on me though. There isn’t a lot of variety beneath the surface.
At the end of the day tho, if you have fun for 30+ hours by the time you realise you have been "tricked", it was a good game. It was the same for me with ac black flag. By the time i got bored of it (and ye, it is boring and shallow as fuck) i already spent 20-25 hours playing it. Money well spent
i couldn’t agree more with your point about the ending. I love this game but no matter how hard i try i can’t get past the fact that the game doesn’t let you play in a world where you’ve beaten ganon. it makes everything feel like “what’s the point” you work up all this time for this epic ending, then you do it and it feels great. then you come back to find you’re back outside like it never happened. i absolutely hate that still.
No ganon = No bloodmoon No bloodmoon = No enemy respawns No enemy respawns = No dun While a ganon-less world seems very interesting, it would get infact very boring quickly.
The weapons breaking is so freaking annoying. It’s like there no point in having a favorite weapon because it’s just going to break anyways. It also makes finding new weapons way less rewarding. It’s so annoying.
@@zeezrawesome132you re contradicting yourself, the sole fact that weapons break is the most rewarding thing in the game, if you had one favorite weapon what point would there be aside from it being better, updrading from a decent weapon isnt nearly as rewarding as upgrading from almost no weapon. I see this shit alot with i cant have a favorite weapon, they all break and all this shit… What is the master sword for then? Its arguably the most amazing looking weapon, the most iconic on zelda, the best and it doesnt break. how does any of this makes sense? its an open world where you gotta explore to get good loot, it almost forces you to explore but ar the same time it doesnt because of how free botw is. i just dont get it
@@Tommy-jn9ps well maybe I don’t want to be tied down to the master sword and I want to main other weapons. I’ve completed like 95% of the game and I’ve never felt rewarded with finding any new weapon apart from the master sword.
I'm finally getting around to playing this game (5 years after purchasing it) and I'm really struggling to continue playing it. After the tutorial, I realized *this* is all the game had to offer, and it feels so repetitive and non-rewarding. I just had this happen during my current playthrough and it pretty much summarizes my experience: entered an endurance shrine, break 2 weapons defeating the boss, finally defeat boss and earn a cool weapon, go into the next shrine (another endurance shrine), the cool weapon I just earned breaks while the boss's health is only 1/2 halfway done, kill boss and earn another weapon that won't last for more than 2 or 3 random enemies while traveling. The majority of this game boils down to when I used to 100% the map in the old Assassin's Creed games. I only got to 2 of the divine beasts before I ended up calling it quits, as they also felt uninspired in compared to past Zelda games' dungeons. I find it irritating that open world games had a rich 15+ years of history before this game came out, and this game is so lackluster in comparison. Every time I bring up my opinion of this game, I'm always hit with "shit opinion, no taste" and every single time I am convinced these people have never touched an open-world game before playing BotW.
Can't agree more, people that find this game extraordinary are just people that never played another open world game, any other open world game has a lot more and better content
Wondering how after this point and seeing what became of Totk why Zelda's games have become bloated, overrated affairs. I did not like the weapons breaking. The Link I knew fought everyone he saw because he had a great array of interesting weapons. I found myself running from battles because in BOTW my weapons were broken or in a weakened state, and there's a Lynel or a bunch of silver Moblins coming after me. This was not cool, or fun. And a lot can happen and change in seven years. Then I look at games like HZD and Forbidden West and realize to me those are better games. I really tried to enjoy BOTW but found I could not. And I see a lot of BOTW and Totk players changing their tune now. Those games are not as good as they thought.
How DARE you criticize the clearly MOST BESTEST GAME OF ALL TIME* you are clearly nitpicking and biased, I win bye bye! * (that I played for like 20 hours and then completely and utterly lost interest in and never touched again since)
I have ro 100% agree with you! This is EXACTLY how I felt wehn I played it. I am A HUGE Zelda fan and I really wanted to like BotW but I never did. It is a great game but it's A) not a great ZELDA game and B) definitely NOT the best game of all time. I tried to understand or find a reason for why it is what it is. One of the things that came in mind was the fact that the team said they had so much ideas but couldn't implement all of them into the game. But there was a DLC pass and I had high hopes but unfortunately, the DLC just added more of what I DID NOT like about the game instead something I would like. Basically it just added some challenge modes but nothing that even coule be considered a try to fix the game. But we still need to keep in mind that Nintendo did BotW mainly to experiment and see how far they could go outside the comfort zone of the LOZ Formula and see / understand what makes a Zelda game a Zelda game. So when they announced a sequel and I saw the first trailer one idea started to grow in my head and IT COULD WORK and would fix a lot of the issues. WHAT IF they took ONE very obvious and persistent element from other Zelda games and planned the whole BotW experience arround that? What element you ask? The "break the seals" unleash the TRUE final boss/form and then start the actual quest. The trailer of BotW 2 showed a somehow revived Ganondorf so what if all Link did in BotW 1 was just preparation leading to breaking the seal and resurrection of Ganondorfs TRUE form which always has been the only way to defeat him an deal him back again! Remember the ending of BotW, you're fighting Darkbeast Ganon, kinda looks/sounds like his final form but ALL main bosses (as well as Darkbeast) were just created from Ganondorfs malice and BotW 2 trailer CLEARLY shows his sealed corpse as the source of the malice. So (again) WHAT IF BotW is literally the second part of the game after you broke the seal and NOW the real journey starts. Seeing Hyrule castle raise and the how Zelda and Link are in the underground also led me to the idea that the malice created caves and dungeons that are now opening up or at least can be opened by obtaining specific things from quests. Much like most open world games would do it and it would be a (welcome) step back to the Zelda formula... For the gameplay problems there's a lot of games where they could get inspiration, the latest and best example is definitely Elden Ring, it has so much that BotW misses. Nintendo doesn't neet to create ultra hard bosses or punishing game mechanics, that's not what I want or expect from a Zelda game, no Zelda fan should do that by the way, that's NEVER been what this series is about but what they can learn from Elden Ring is how to use a combination of skill checks and powerup/item progression without making the game feeling too linear but make it linear enought so they can guide players and tell the ganes story rather than having us figure it out by finding memories and stuff that you can 100% miss and ignore in BotW. I'm not 100% sure if a fully fletched RPG leveling system would be any good, I don't think so but having decent gear systems would help, BotW players already have familiarized with the idea of a gear system so why not beef it up a bit, give us weapon upgrades and repair options as well as unique / legendary gear that has special abilites like the armor sets in BotW but also for weapons and shields. What do you think about my idea?
I agree and I don't have much to add to your comment. I understand why botw and totk are so overly hyped right now, but I don't think these games will pass the test of time like Ocarina or Wind Waker did. I hope they prove me wrong in the future but...
Bore of the Wild. Cannot believe I even managed to complete this game. Remember the fun gameplay, mindblowing music and all around fantastic locations, characters and enemies of Ocarina of Time? None of it to be found in Breath of the Wild. None! What do really people love about this game is beyond me? Have they never played Ocarina of Time? Maybe thats the secret, this is their first Zelda game.
This video refreshingly sums up ALL the problems I had with BOW. I wanted to love this game more than I did because everybody and their brother claimed this was the best game of all time. But by the time I finished, I was like, “what am I missing here??” This was a great game. But supremely overrated.
@@megamillion5852 that's the thing. Quality is completely subjective. Just because you say your favorite game is "the best game ever made" doesn't mean it actually is.
@@peterthepeopleeater5697 I'll just drop this on y'all.. Ahem (cough cough): Legend of Zelda I, Adventure of Link II, A Link to the Past III, A Link between Worlds, Link's Awakening, Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, the masterpiece Twilight Princess, Wind Waker, Skyward Sword, and Hyrule Warriors series. Castlevania I, Simons's Quest II, Dracula's Curse III, Akumajo Dracula (SC4), Legacy of Darkness, Rondo of Blood, Lamentations, and Symphony of the Night. Ninja Gaiden series, Double Dragon series, Tenku Shadow Assassins: My FAVOURITE Games. 😃
I couldn't finish the game because of boring grind of searching shrines and seeds, weapons are disappointed, no crafting system, cooking boring, even genshin impact it's clone had better gameplay
My issue is that it was only a zelda game in name only. The quest rewards and lack of dungeon items really made the experience lack luster and it was the biggest load of disappointment ive had in gaming. Your interaction with the world doesnt change at all after the tutorial apart from a few itemsi just hope they go back to the old formula for the next game after totk. You know a game is deprrssing when you hit a point where your just trying to hit the credit screen to say you did it
I like BOTW. But I really hope they go back to the old formula. Its good, it's very fun. But its not a 10/10. Being different is cool these days so everyone just overreacts to everything that is different.
I've recently started playing it and I've been let down. It's just so bare bones and there's really nothing all that unique about it anymore. People seem to love the sandbox aspect of it which is a trait I don't value that much in my games anymore. Elden Ring and Death Stranding do a lot of the same things as BotW but they feel more meaningful to me. I mean, climbing in BotW would be cool if it wasn't like a tedious exercise in patience. I feel like a majority of this game is climbing a wall or running across empty landscapes. And the rewards suck, I can't tell you how much of a let down it was to defeat the dragon atop Mt. Lanayru, drop it's scale in the pond, and as the temple doors open it's just another fucking copy-paste shrine. It looks so out of place too, it literally looks like they had an empty room and placed the shrine asset in it. And then the shrine gives you another breakable weapon (which I didn't have space in my inventory for). The progression in the game just doesn't feel that rewarding either. Your growth is determined by how much health/stamina you have, how much of the map is unveiled, and how many divine beasts you've freed. Even though I've been playing it for quite a bit now the whole experience just blurs together and I have no sense of time for how long I've actually been playing. It's not like the other games where I feel like I can remember what I experienced in my adventure.
yea I have no clue why this game received as much praise as it did. A lot of reddit man children that are obssessed with Nintendo I guess. I think botw is easily the most overrated game of all time.
@@solemaniharami3963 >reddit as if elden sleep wasn't praised by them to the point it undeservingly won game of the year but I'd take it over what the other boring nominated games for it were
finally, someone else thinks this. it really felt like every other open-world game to me when i played it, but because nintendo made it it's suddenly the best thing since sliced bread for god knows what reason. it's just boring and lacking in variety or anything interesting to do on top of how easy it is. I button mashed for combat and still felt barely challenged.
@@nerad1994 it is "technically" unbreakable but what that really means is after a certain number of hits the sword loses its "charge" and cant be used for a few minutes. imagine the most powerful sword has a demo timer and link has to keep paying sheckles to keep using his mastersword primo subscription
Tears of the Kingdom is receiving the same overated response. Same copy/paste of the same thing everywhere and empty open world and trivial puzzles. It feels so boring and lifeless. But the entire industry and Nintendo cult just has a blind eye because it has zelda on the title. It's so baffling.
The game is just that you good, you simple doesn't like it. It's ok, a game can't be good for everyone and it generally turns out to be bad when a studio try to sell their games for everyone.
@@mrburns366 Thank you Shrines are no replacement for the diversity of environmental themes that dungeons in past Zelda games offered, they are the same environment rooms with layout tweaks and modifications to solve one off puzzles, not an entire labyrinth to circumvent and solve.
@@natsunakemono9209 i honestly think the shrines were a cop out. it was lazy. In BOTW they put all the work into the overworld. Previous games put most of the effort into the dungeons.
@@mrburns366 I think they helped with the game made you actually do things with in Botw but I wish they made them all look different and unique. I also wish they made more dungeons and make them unique and different. Nintendo should have kept atleast some of the Zelda formula for botw
Botw was rated so high because a Zelda game hadn’t came out in years and many new fans had no idea what Zelda was. But compared to any other Zelda it’s mediocre at best
Absolutely agree. After playing this game for 30 hours I was bored out of my mind and also pissed off at the durability system. I liked the watercolor look to the world and I enjoyed the lighting systems and weather systems (for the most part) I just thought the shrines were boring and the enemies were boring too. I prefer the old games. I liked dungeons and bosses.
I hate botw so much all the people who give the game 10 out 10 are lying they only play the game for a few hours. Make them do all 120 shrines and make them 100% the game.
Game journalists aren't believable. They are dependent on those companies, positive vibes on social media and being the first with the news cause of algorithms. Long time ago they were a good source.
Yeah that's the point, the game is not for everyone. It's a game that's focused on exploration, if you love it it's good, if you don't it's not. The game is not the best game of all time or the worse shit ever, it's a good game for the people that want that type of game. Calling it shit because YOU don't like it doesn't mean it's objectively bad because objectivity does not exist for this type of media
@@El_chara the problem people think it's the greatest thing ever and attack people like me for saying it has problems. The game is not even finished the second half of the game is Totk.
@@tomtinakiyama9949this^ exactly. You get crucified for simply asking for an option to turn off the obnoxious durability system that won’t let you play the Zelda game like a Zelda game.
I also hate the fact that they give you all the items you need from the very start of the game (bombs, time statis, etc). Part of the reason Zelda games were so great were item discovery (remember in OoT when you discovered the Hookshot?). In BotW, they completely take that away! They could’ve filled a huge chunk of the world with puzzles that led to discovering those items, making the world far more interesting to explore.
Imo that’s a positive, it means that the ability of a player isn’t determined by how far they are in the game, it’s determined by how well they’ve mastered the mechanics. Anyone can do anything if they try, and nothing is off limits. This is an important feature for an open world game. Just my opinion tough.
@@tanakisoup Some games pull that off well: Celeste does. You don't actually gain new abilities throughout the game, you just get better. Thing is, BotW isn't a difficult game, nor does it scale up in the challenges it presents to the player (aside from "bigger HP/damage", which is just countered by getting bigger weapons/armor), nor does it truly try to stretch your mastery of the mechanics, and the diversity of its challenges is somewhat limited / repetitive too. End result is that BotW feels like a game where, after I initially had fun with it, I can't get back into the game because "Why not just step outside or enjoy some nature photography."
Gotta say, I agree with this. I hate to say it, but BotW and it's sequel were some of the most boring games I've ever tried to play. For me there are certain aspects a game should have to motivate me to play. Battles that actively progress my characters and reward simple strategy and survival. Instead, it offers battles that break half of your inventory and make you micromanage equipment and healing items to such a degree that fighting is best just ignored. It isn't worth fighting anything because Link will get no stronger. All that will happen is that I'll break all of my weapons and get to go back to the campsite. So exciting. Even an Exp system would have made it better. I enjoy traveling big open vistas teeming with wildlife, sights to see and great music. BotW is mostly silent, barren, lifeless and its sights are mostly superficial. Enemy variety? Wildlife everywhere? Sweeping music? Where are these things in my RPG? And most of all, I'm a collector. I love collecting items, upgrading my gear, learning abilities, improving proficiencies, crafting rare items out of raw materials that are easily found and carried. Here you get a limited inventory, HEALING items requiring crafting, weaponry that you don't want to use because it will break in 5 swings, and very few actual new abilities or stat upgrades/passives. In RPGs I like, you can climb, swim, run etc wherever the game allows you to go without issue. Here, you can't move 5 feet up anything or through any water before Link's wimpy ass starts to die. I know this can be improved as the game goes on, but its salt on the wound. Because what does this all amount to? A game where exploration isn't motivated or rewarded. A game where fighting isn't motivated or rewarded. A game where collecting items and upgrading your character is either actively prevented with a stingy inventory, breakable everything and tedious healing items, or simply not worth it because you don't want to explore and fight anyway. I tried to play it twice and I have to say, it's just not a fun game. Not for me anyway.
so crushed that they announced the botw will be the zelda standard going forward. ToTK was still a huge letdown despite there being noticeable improvements. I really don't understand why there is such a large, blind following for these games. are they even real people? it doesn't always feel like it.
The enemy variety, lack of any decent dungeons or just caves to explore killed it for me. Just korox seeds for days and copy pasted shrines with boring puzzles. I kept coming into beautiful hidden landscapes thinking “oh what’s here?!” Nothing… there was never anything there. Excitement destroyed. You nailed this. How did no reviewer talk about this? Nostalgia goggles all around. The biggest wow moment was simply being able to play this in handheld which was a great achievement at the time but the game itself, 6/10 from me tops
you just use nostalgia as a way to delegitimize people's opinion instead of giving actual arguments. Please tell me where all the nostalgia for this game (which is the game said to break the Zelda formula) is hidden. Is it the easter eggs? Is it the gameplay mechanics?
This is hands down one of my favourite Games alongside persona 5 royal. I’m convinced there is no game better than this, but people are allowed opinions.
i respect your opinion, but dont use nostalgia to undermine someones opinion. It's super shallow. I just got this game 2 years ago and after beating it i still consider it my favorite video game that i've played so far.
I searched for this video because I finally played breath of the wild after finally playing BotW for 25 hours a few months ago and being utterly bored with it. I figured I'd give it some time and come back to it later. I played it again for 10 hours and found myself yet again getting sleep every time I sat down to play it for over 30 minutes. After some time passed I went and played twilight princess for the time time and I absolutely loved it and beat the game within a week. I think what it really came down to, ultimately, was repetitive game play.
I experienced the same boredom. At first I thought it was my fault, being the game is so praised, so I came back to it for a while, but It's just boring.
@@feralaca123 funny as well, I played elden ring recently, which is somewhat similar in it's open world. Did not get bored whatsoever. Something about BotW just can't hold my attention.
@@feralaca123 Thank God i'm not the only one who felt this way! I felt guilty for not loving it off the bat as I assumed most people did. I got bored, stopped playing and just never went back to it. I, admittedly still feel kinda bad about not giving it more time.
You've perfectly articulated my feelings about this game. Only thing I would add is the lack of interesting characters/NPC's. Other Zelda titles like OoT and MM had unique NPC's with depth and personality, and interesting things to say. BotW NPC's are so incredibly boring and cookie cutter, down to the same outfits. It would be cool to be walking through the woods and see a mysterious man or woman who's NOT dressed like everyone else and who has a backstory with an interesting side quest that isn't just "fetch me my lost soup spoon and I'll give you an opal, that latter of which you can easily find by smashing a nearby rock". This game had such potential to be a truly magical and immersive experience, but it just fell short. Good video essay.
Finally someone on the platform adressing the major design flaws of BOTW without just mentioning the weapon system. You articulated everything I've felt in my playthrough very well. Thank you.
BOTW has weapon duribility so that you can be creative with your options instead of just hacking away endlessly you have to take your options, such as bows, bombs, stasis etc. and be creative with how you use them.
@@dylannolongeractive I understand that argument, and I understand it could be very fun for a lot of people, but for me it made every combat frustrating and any reward not worth it... As a direct comparison, I experimented a LOT with different resorces, magic, weapons etc in just one playthrough of Elden Ring (even with fixed level up stats and no weapon breaking system). Designers could find a balance in the combat system to not make it frustrating while incentivizing player creativity.
YES! THANK YOU!! I was thinking the exact same thing with these shrines!! EVERYTIME a shrine, EEEEVERY...TIME!! You could have built a rocket, fly to the moon, and you would have found another god damn shrine!
I agree. I like the game. But it's easily one of most overrated games ever in my opinion. If this game was made by anyone other than Nintendo it wouldn't have gotten those perfect scores. The game is boring.
I don't think so. Nintendo rarely gets a score above of 85, and it's not because its games are bad. The one that gets good scores because yes is Sony. However, I agree that BOTW is a very good game but definitively not the best one (I don't think that something like that exists). Sorry for bad English btw.
It's not because it's from Nintendo, it's because it's a TLoZ game. Kust look it on Google, a lot of the TLoZ games have 90+ scores. I like the game, but for me it's not even close to a 90+ game
@@paurodriguezriera7979 Many people had never played a single zelda game before botw. The scores are just high because it is fun and appealing to the majority of people. It really is that simple. (Plus overrated literally is just a term used individuals to discredit the majority option.)
The weapon degradation didn't just ruin combat for me, that was actually not as annoying as it usually is in video games. It made me not want to play around with the stasis rune (a very cool sheikah slate ability) because using it meant whacking objects with my weapons, and unlike engaging monsters with my weapons, just imbuing frozen items with kinetic energy does not replenish my weapon stockpiles because I'm not killing something that drops a weapon. This also made puzzles that involved stasis extremely annoying because by the time you figured the distance to flip the object to solve it, you had most likely shattered half of your inventory whacking a frozen ball. I also rarely chopped down trees with an axe (something very fun to do) because having a woodcutting axe in your inventory was a waste of a weapon slot and chopping down trees with an axe still doesn't last very long, so what's the point of dragging an axe around for logging out in the field, anyway? You'll just end up blowing the trees down with bombs halfway through the process, anyway, so why bother? Same goes for mining ore from rocks with sledgehammers. A mechanic where strikes from tool weapons degrade it exponentially less than using the tool in combat would have been helpful, or giving us separate tool items that never break and deal the same amount of damage as bombs. The point is that the weapon degradation had knock-on effects beyond just making combat annoying by making other mechanics not fun to interact with.
I agree with you 100%. Weapon degradation was one of my biggest gripes with this game; if only it was on PC and easily moddable! Also, just a tip for cutting down trees -- you can use bombs so you don't waste anything! :)
The combat was boring...people freaked out over this game and I don't understand...maybe if it was 2003 I'd be impressed. I just found it so boring and nothing in it made me want to keep going .
I mined tons of rocks and chopped tons of trees. It was way too valuable not too. I got plenty of value out of my hammers and axes. Maybe it was different for me because I had a game guide?
Weapon degradation is hard to change because without it the game would be vastly different and worthless. Why use a stick when you get an axe right after leaving the shrine of resurrection.
6:45 Oh so like Elden Ring 38:32 Ok now I know you're talking about Elden Ring. In all seriousness I have my issues with that game as well, but part of what drew me to this video is the fact that I played a few hours of BOTW, got to the snow area and then just never logged back in. I didn't understand why, but I just didn't feel anything calling me back to the game. Meanwhile I try out Elden Ring for a few hours and next thing I know I couldn't stop thinking about it until I had finally killed the last boss 100 hrs later.
Just the simple fact that it's such a severe deviation from what makes Zelda... well, Zelda is enough to make me not like it, but breakable weapons, easy as shit shrines, and an overall boring, empty world to explore are just insulting to the series.
True! 😂 👍 Legend of Zelda I, Adventure of Link II, A Link to the Past III, A Link between Worlds, Link's Awakening, Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, *the masterpiece Twilight Princess,* Wind Waker, Skyward Sword, and Hyrule Warriors series. Castlevania I, Simons's Quest II, Dracula's Curse III, Akumajo Dracula (SC4), Legacy of Darkness, Rondo of Blood, Lamentations, and Symphony of the Night. Ninja Gaiden series, Double Dragon series, Tenku Shadow Assassins: My FAVOURITE Games. 😃
To be fare, the challenge for blessing shrines is entering them. Because either big groups of enemy’s or a puzzle to locate it are basically the shrine.
After watching the video i mostly agree. Ive always maintained that BoTW is a good game, but it isnt great. You get bits and pieces here that are fun, but then this dead world comes back to you and you have nothing. Its a a shame because there was much opportunity. Unfortunately treating the game like the second coming of Christ was a mistake, and now theyre all burnt out on the sequel.
The Great Plateau Lost Woods first time climbing Death Mountain first dragon sighting first Lynel encounter first few Guardian encounters Eventide Isle Yiga Clan Hideout every town in the game Lomei Labyrinth Island Hyrule Castle ^These were the high points of the entire game. Makes for a very good 20-30 hour experience, but it also excludes more than half of the other content in the game. Breath of the Wild is an olympic-sized kiddy pool, vast but no depth. It works best as a proof of concept, but is surrounded by rinse and repeat filler. Very unsatisfied by the time I was done.
I'd argue some of those high points aren't even that high. Towns shouldn't be a high point. Don't get me wrong I get what you mean, when you're playing the game they feel genuinely refreshing to encounter but when you consider there's not much to them it's just copy paste NPC standing around not doing anything in a small settlement it's not that impressive. Zora's Domain and the bird people settlement seemed pretty cool but besides those, meh.. And there were only like 4 of them. Oblivion which came out 11 years earlier had like 9 major towns, even a city with multiple districts and NPCs that went around doing stuff, albeit poorly but even those ancient old models felt more alive than the npcs in the tiny settlements glued in place.
I kinda agree with those. In the great plateau I was like WOAH THIS GAME IS SO COOL. That was the best thing ever. Then I left, and I found the game cool until I finished the Zora divine beast (the first I did). Then naboris was still fun. But rudania and medoh were ridiculous. I literally got their bosses on first try. Then I agree with the rest except eventide. And oh god when I finished the game I was disappointed at a point you can’t imagine. I hope breath of the wild 2 won’t be that ridiculous of a game, because that’s the only reason I plan on buying a switch (yes I still don’t have the switch and I don’t want to)
But like 4 of these are just the first encounter of aspects to the gameplay loop. As soon as you have seen everything in the sandbox once, you can stop playing.
@@maskitoad I'm optimistic for the sequel, at least. Switch is okay, but it's woefully underpowered. If you play a lot of games and are open to a dedicated handheld then I'd just go Steam Deck if I were you.
When I first got my switch I always had the idea that I wanted one to play pokken tournament with my cousins and essentially play anywhere I wanted to. So there I was settled on getting Pokken, but then I heard about this game and all the buzz in it. I wasnt a fan, like Zelda games weren't a part of my childhood and frankly I was more of a psp kid before. So then I thought that it was so cool and I expected so much. Played for 30 hours and realised how ... not so cool or amazing it was with the small enemy variety, lack of real dungeons, lackluster rewards and as you mentioned it being "predictable". But then I continued to play and the time that was put into the game became 80 hrs, I was amazed by the Lynel, finished the mediocre bosses and then... it came to the ending. It was so underwhelming- like why? I get that there's gonna be a sequel but why? It shouldn't have ended that way. Thank you for this video I'm glad there are people who thought the same because don't get me wrong, I love the game- heck it is still the most beautiful game I've ever layed my eyes on (at least in my eyes). But it left such a negative aftertaste that I couldn't get back to it. I haven't even completed it but I just can't go back. So after that we immediately bought smash since my cousins didn't want to play botw or pokken.
The rewards are not all lackluster or are predictable. The bosses are good not mediocre. The ending was not really underwhelming, it should have ended that way.
I never really noticed any of those things when playing it for the first time, it was one of my first games so I didnt really know much about game design, so that might be why. But I've never really been able to replicate the magic of BOTW with any other game.
I felt the same about the ending when I first realized it. Now though I understand why they did it. I love the game as well and agree to the points in the video to some degree. Reading the comments section though I see quite a lot of hard criticism that I can't agree with.
So why the fuck do you and so many people love it? Not only love it, but absolutely overrate it with calling it the best game ever? Maybe not you specifically, but many have. Why? It lacks what the classic Zelda games did to make the series so good. So the only logical conclusion is what he addressed in the beginning of the video. That being people were saying it broke the tired formula. Even if it did, it didn't excel at anything that it apparently did "new" A lot of you need a unhyped unbiased retrospective look at this game.
I think I wanna get it out here for CERTAIN people! If some people say the game is great let them no need to call them a dumb ass or make a essay on how bad the game is If some people dislike the game no need to call them a shit head or bitch and write a essay on why the game is amazing Cause I think it be a good idea for people to have something that many people dislike heavily OPINIONS
I agree. I don't have a problem with people having different opinion. My only issue is when people act like their opinion are truths. There's a big difference when someone says "Breath of the wild is my favourite game" and "Breath of the wild is the greatest (or worst game) of all time"
@@franck4727 Wiser words couldn’t have been said. I have a friend who says BOTW is his favourite video game of all time, but he’s not even WILLING to give other games that are considered “fantastic masterpieces” even a try. That’s why I’m hoping he’ll love NieR: Automata when it comes out on Switch and I get it for him for Christmas
Your remark about the predictability of shrines and Korok seeds is the way I've resorted to describing to people why I hate this game, so it's nice to hear someone else agree with it.
@@RobinsMusic There are many reasons I hate this game, but lack of mystery and instead feeling like I'm completing a list of chores is a substantial one.
I personally wished there were more memorable NPCs as well. The world was big and pretty but also kinda empty. Shrines all looked exactly the same, which is why I got bored of them quickly. I also wish there were actual themes for the different map segments. People say that an overworld theme would get old quick, but the shrine theme was the literal same in every shrine, and having a different theme for each chunk of the map would be great (before you unlocked the towers they could be the ambient themes). I also felt no real attachment to any of the champions (other than maybe Mipha and Sidon), and the memory system could have been implemented in a much better way. Past Zelda games had a reason to make you want to accomplish something, such as in WW where Link left to save his sister and in TP for Link to save the village kids (who you got attached to after the longer tutorial section).
"I felt no attachment to the main characters." In that case, you probably won't feel any attachment to the bulk of Zelda characters in general, because BOTW has one of the most well-developed and memorable casts the series. "Past Zelda games gave you motivation to accomplish things" Botw is no different. Your goal is to aid Zelda, who has been trapped in a spirit battle with Ganon for 100 years, before it's too late and she's no longer able to prevent Ganon from destroying the world.
@@BenjaminAnderson21 the characters in BotW, with the exception of Zelda, have barely any development to even call them characters. Each cutscene with the Champions give us more of the same trope-heavy personalities as the one before it. And the journals and diaries that are spread around the world don’t count as development, they’re effectively backstory, which is just their personal history that led to who they are presently, and we see only a glimpse of that. The books don’t develop the characters because backstory is not synonymous with character development. It gives the character a reason to exist, but that’s it. And even if it counted, it would be some of the most stagnant development I’ve ever seen. Mipha, for example, literally just talks about how in love she is with Link. That’s her motivation for everything; getting him to acknowledge her affection. Revali has an ego for being a praised prodigy among his people and is mad that Link doesn’t bow before him like everyone else. To put it simply, both these characters are virtually the same characters we see throughout the game. The only time anyone changes is after defeating Windblight, and Revali’s whole thing is “oh, you killed the thing that killed me, I guess you’re not so bad” and that’s it. It isn’t earned. And the same can be said for many of the characters apart from the champions. Zelda is the only character who isn’t a shallow trope. She at least does develop and has something going on that we can be invested in.
@@dj3y3 yea but it's not like that's unique to BOTW, basically every Zelda game has barebones af characters, it's never really been about good characters and writing, that was the point they were making is that BOTW isn't really any different to previous Zelda games in terms of characters or motivation to accomplish the main goal
@@Dell-ol6hb I agree, Zelda has had a history of barebones characters. There are some standouts, such as Midna or Groose, who have development and story arcs that change their way of thinking and progress who they are as a person and as a character. Barebones doesn’t bother me. What bothers me, as I detailed in my comment, is that BotW presents this cast of characters as though they’re deep and important and have their own lore and development, when in reality all that amounts to is shallow caricatures that are defined by tropes and backstories that only reiterate what we already know.
I Got Breath of the wild 2 days ago and I could not agree more it's overrated I want to enjoy getting a new weapon but every time I do I just say to my self here is a new weapon that will brake on me thanks game.
@@avrahamr.2412 the weapon breaking system isn't a bad idea in theory i just feel in practice it missed a trick. They could have kept the breaking of weapons in the game fine, but rather than completely lose the weapon, especially some of those end game ones, it could have sat in inventory as broken and then yo8 could have had a whey stone or smithy system that allowed you to repair the weapons for a price of rupees and/or rare materials dependant of the rarity of the weapon Also they could have reduced number of different weapons and have fewer with better durability so that they last longer and time spent to maintain weapons feel like a purpose to do so.
@@avrahamr.2412 If you feel that way during a Zelda game, that is proof that THEY FUCKED UP. You should be able to find rupees in a goddamn bush. But not caring about achievements is criminal, like "whoever came up with this idea should spend a year in prison" criminal.
@@perfectomega1 weapons break in oblivion and skyrim too. so you repair them. the fact that you cant kill 2 enemies with the same weapons is annoying as fuck
I just think Japanese devs get overrated for doing the same shit western devs have been doing for years BOTW didnt redefine open world its the same shit that we've been getting for years apart from the freeform climbing
its worse imo. witcher had a better story, more quests, more narrative driven gameplay, simply many more and more fun things to do in an open world. and to me even witcher was mediocre.
I got extremely bored and just... could not finish the game. Just about every aspect of the gameplay felt like a chore and not a fun and exciting game. I just... don't get it. I never got the sense of accomplishment that I'd get from beating a dungeon in previous Zelda games. I just felt... bored.
For a 40 minute video criticizing variety, you sure do like to repeat that footage lmao. My brain started dying at some point while I was watching sorry dude.
Nothing felt rewarding for me personally. Sure we can do a shrine a hundred different ways, but only one clear path to defeating a boss?!?! If you admire puzzles above everything else...This game is great, but it's not the best. When it was released, it only evolved the way in which we approach an open world setting. The Combat felt good at first, but got repetitive, while the puzzles kept getting bigger. I still love the game, but I don't love every part.
This is probably my 2nd least favorite 3D zelda. Lack of good dungeons in favor for quantity, which id rather have more quality which we definitely didnt get, the story was not exactly engrossing, when i explored on my hunt for all 120 shrines and collected around 350 korok seeds I actually thought “Man this world is extremely boring and especially in the stretches between objectives and shrines/sidequests. When i did find something it was not even worth it for the most part unless i found a shrine. Just really gotta remember when you design big worlds you have to not make them so generic and imo not worth doing anything other than getting the spirit orb and never coming back because you really arent truly given any reasons other than a shrine in many areas of the game that arent villages.
Ok, the the dungeons in this game aren't bad, they are actually quality. Though I will admit that I missed the traditional dungeons. I can understand why people don't like this game as much as the other Zelda games because it's so different. I just think this is the best Zelda because it goes back to the series roots, and what Zelda is all about in my opinion, exploration. The shrines are so fun, and are satisfying to complete, because they basically rewards you with the power to get stronger because you explored (assuming you had the Shrine radar off). And the korok seeds were so delightful to find. This game isn't perfect by any means, but the world is just so rich with things to find. And just that one element of the game, exploration, makes this my favorite Zelda game.
@@rayboy1291 Yeah so many things to find... Like what? A weapon that breaks in 20 hits? A shrine? A mediocre side-quest? A Korok seed? The game is very unrewarding. Yes there are lots of things to find, but most of them don't really matter. The armor pieces are the stand out, but it's too little.
@@rayboy1291 didnt see this til now but saying exploration is the key factor of why a Zelda game is your favorite game is just… bizarre or even straight up saying the equivalent of “I’ve never played another Zelda game” Exploration is the defining feature to pretty much everyone in any Zelda game regardless of top-down or 3 Dimensional. Botw fails to make it truly rewarding (or rewarding at all actually) while games of past made sure there was always something neat hidden behind decent amount of time exploring the land. Size doesn’t equate to a better world, especially in BOTW’s case where the shrines are the most rewarding and nothing else even really is decent, especially when people can B-Line it to Hyrule castle saving every 10-30 seconds to not lose progress and snag those weapons easily even in Master Mode, which i have done in both modes with 4 hearts. Its not hard whatsoever to do this especially if i can without much trouble at all
@@enzoforgets9456 you say there's no motivation, but have you ever heard of intrinsic motivation? In case you haven't, it's when you do something not because it's going to get you a reward, but because it's actually fun to do(and yes it is fun to do stuff). And in my eyes, it is rewarding to explore. But I can get that for some people, it's just not rewarding enough, and I respect that. And by the way yes, I have played other Zelda games. In fact, I may like Ocarina of Time more than breath of wild, but I just don't know yet. Anyway, I get why people don't like this game, but I'm kind of tired of people with the opposite opinion treating us like we're biased Nintendo fans, because we're not. We truly love this game for what it is.
Dude, I agree with EVERYTHING you said. Don’t get me wrong. I put over 70 hours into this total and beat the game but after I beat about two out of the divine beasts, something just fell empty. I didn’t personally really enjoy the puzzles that much. I craved classic dungeons with actual enemies instead of annoying robots. When I was about halfway through my play through out of that total playtime, I didn’t even care if I beat the game so much anymore, as it was greatly losing its momentum to me. Peppering the entire map with shrines was a huge mistake. Wasn’t really anything cool. Never have I fell in love with a game so quickly and fell out of love. I’m not saying the game sucked but upon completing, I don’t think it deserved a 10. I don’t care what anyone says, in my opinion, the weapon system is very annoying as well. Good video. Think I’m going to bother getting tears of the kingdom that is worse. It was fun while it lasted, I guess. Lol
Totally agree with everything you say.....I was thinking all you said on day 2 of playing BOTW ....but my biggest gripe is the weapon breaking....its so unrealistic.....and always the rain whenever you need to climb....these are my main gripes with this game.
Honestly, if you want to explore the original style of the zelda games, sometimes you can find it in the forms of fangames/mods like The Sealed Palace, Dark Hyrule Fantasy (this one got cancelled though), or The Missing Link, those are some good OoT mods which give you a feeling like you're playing an old school styled zelda game again.
@@BruceShankle All they would have to do to make TotK feel a little more traditional is add some real dungeons and get rid of this weapon breaking trash. At least then this style would be a bit less annoying.
no no no! big huges maps suck the joy out of the expirence. Because its just running to point b. shave off 93 percent of the big maps and it distils the noteworthy content to something worth my time
You can’t fight Nintendo fanboys. It’s a master piece because it’s the legend of zelda and that’s it. I find the game boring, repetitive with no insensitive to continue playing. Just fight the same enemies get 5 arrows as reward. Find shrines. 😴
you have to keep in mind that most people who play these games have no idea what a good game actually means. they are mediocre people, who are content with mediocrity, and they just dont know any better.
@@Jdudec367 Extremely Low IQ to call Twilight Princess OOT 2 or 3. ITS ZELDA, the same game series, they all have the same formula since Zelda 1, go thru multiple dungeons to open up the world with the items found in the dungeons. BOTW is the dumb down Normie open world game with no real dungeon design or items to find to open up the map, and the breakable weapons is bad game design
@@chadliterutherford9198 No it isn't a low IQ, lmao. Twilight Princess has similarities to OOT and even follows up the storyline of OOT. No BOTW isn't dumbed down, and it isn't a normie open world game. True it doesn't have real dungeon design but it has shrines and a bunch of really good puzzles. It has upgrades and items that can help you get through certain areas of the map so it sorta has items that opens up the map. It's not that the weapons are breakable that is bad game design, it's more so how it's handled.
@@Jdudec367 yeah I’d call it 3. Majora’s mask exists as a (sort of. This takes place after oot) sequel, but the hero of time is referenced in TLP, which shows some ties to OOT
@@chadliterutherford9198 twilight princess is literally after OoT and shares the same incarnation of Ganondorf. Same with wind waker in a second timeline what are you on about
And let me guess, you belive that Arbiter is you? I can't recall an instance of nintendo genuinly working feedback into a game's development at all, so don't hold your breath, that little disappointed voice in the back of your head is right.
@@zealmilenio177 I don't know who Arbiter is or why you're so hostile, but you're right. They suck at taking criticism. Still giving it a chance though once reviews start rolling out. Definitely not preordering though.
The Master Sword in BOTW and TOTK does in fact 'break' for 10mins. That's the dumbest things I've seen in a Zelda game. Maybe because this Link is a royal guard and not a chosen hero but still, if it l leaves your hand and now useable whenever you want it it's broken in my book. even in totk after Zelda marinaded it for 10k years still just as weak to hold it's own 'energy'
And what I hate more is that finding korok seeds is tied to the inventory. It would be nice if beating X amount of shrines would not only earn you a heart/stamina but also unlock an inventory slot. And finding so many korok seeds could give you rare costumes, weapons or abilities like a master sword replica or the korok mask.
Weapon durability could be fixed by just having a smith npc that you go and ask him to repair it and or increase the assets of the weapon, something that Fire Emblem did years ago. Honestly I´m suprised they don´t have it here, I just thought maybe they add it in later.
couldn't agree more, I can't think of a single game other open world game, or game in general, that has weapon durability and no way to repair it, it adds that sense of depth to it like this is a feature they actually spent time on, in breath of the wild it just feels haphazardly tagged on as a last minute idea.
I think i would be bored. The game wants you to break your habits of hoarding the best items and the never using them. If you feel that way there is a glitch where you can raise the durability of the weapon if it's a deal breaker for you
the game wants you to be smart about how you apply your weapons, not be a damage whore. you need to actually manage your resources and use the environment in toe with your weapons, mate
@@SamuelHappyMan Honestly BotW's game design is doing literally the opposite thing imo. It's BECAUSE of the limited weapon durability that the game is making most people want to hoard their best weapons and items. In my experience, most other games you can just use the best weapons and items without any fear of losing them which I prefer a whole lot more and is a whole lot more fun and enjoyable.
Better yet, being able to have the One-Hit Obliviator and the Bow of Light after your FIRST Ganon defeat would be awesome. Wouldn't last long but still would be fun before they became boring. Sniper shots would be fun. Heck, having the Master Cycle Zero earlier in the game would be nice. I am on my 11th playthrough. I never get horses because they are useless.
Horses are absolutely worthless. Why put in the effort to getting your horse out of storage (which involves flipping through menus, load screens, and npc dialogue) when 9 times out of 10, just gliding will get you there faster?
Curiously, I believe that a horse with the ancient armour is a hundred times better than the bike cuz they do the same thing (namely get Link from point A to point B), but the horse doesn't need constant refuel, doesn't hurt you if you pass through somewhere you shouldn't have, and you still can call it from wherever in the map :/ (I know this comment is months old, I just wanted to add my own two cents in this comment section that sees so many problems with BOTW as I do)
@@blizzardregulusbecause you can’t glide to certain spots, and all those “menus and loading screens” to get your horse only take like 10 seconds altogether…
It's fascinating that it takes years for people to recognize or admit how flawed the new Zeldas are. I mean you gain nothing from denying all that. In fact you give the creators the feeling they did a perfect job.
This was a refreshing video. After hearing so much constant praise that I could hardly agree with, it's nice to see a different perspective for a change.
@@Jdudec367 I agree this guy has a lot of good points but I just love this game. Story and characters even the minor ones like the descendant of Daruk I loved them. To me these games have so much charm and wonder. IT CANT BE BEAT (until I get totk I guess)
Idea for the set of the wild. They make it so it gives the player immunity to all the regions temperature so you don't need to switch to different armour when you enter a hot or cold area.
That would be cool. I would like to add swim speed on top of that. Then Link won't have to switch to Zora armor whenever he gets in the water. Water is everywhere. So swimming is essential. It is not a situational thing.
I think they should let you start a new game with it. So it's somewhat useful after 120 shrines there's probably not much left to do in the game other than flying around and fighting stuff and waiting for blood moons.
I really don't like this game. It's incredibly empty and boring, the story is basically non existent, there's no dungeons, no direction, no plot, just an "open world." Too open if you ask me. Because it's all just wild areas. It's nice to walk around in, and maybe the game is gorgeous, but I have to search for weapons and there's areas you need warm clothing for, which I don't know how to get. I get wanting more choices, but when there's no linearity at all, it's a simulation, and not a narrative driven video game. When the experience is so individual that you basically don't share anything with anyone who's played the game, it's kind of lame. But maybe that's not the case for this game. I do think it's overrated as well.
I agree with literally every point you made. I just started immortals fenyx rising, 3 and a half hours in and it’s already way better. I dumped 85 hours into botw btw. A few extra point I might make: combats pretty boring and is not rewarding in the slightest. You try to avoid as many fights as possible because they aren’t worth it. This is because you rarely get a good reward and you destroy your weapons. The “puzzles” in the game were awful excuses for puzzles, especially for a Zelda game. Most of the gameplay is just climbing cliffs, and if you want to move faster you have to get a horse. The problem is tho that horses take a while to get and they only have access to some of the terrain, so you have to get off of them every 2 minutes. Plus, you can’t access them at any time, you have to go to a stable which makes them even more pointless. The game leaves you in the dark, never explaining anything.I never knew until I looked it up that you just have to unequip your metal items to avoid lightning. The first half of the game is t fun because enemies are nearly impossible. The second half is not fun because enemies just crumble away. The game felt so empty and devoid of life. Edit: also about the linearity comment, I couldn’t agree more.
I stopped playing Breath of the Wild before completing the third Divine Beast. Now I feel like playing older Zelda titles like The Wind Waker, Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword. Look, I'm not saying that Breath of the Wild is a bad game, I'm just saying that it is not for me.
Which is fine, but this guy seems to be saying is that it is an objectively bad game, while most of his criticisms are nitpicks of his own opinion, and what bothered him personally. I’m only about halfway into the video, but much of what he says was bad were things I either tolerated quite easily, or actually enjoyed.
@@hellof_alife again, I’m missing the part about how that makes me a fanboy. You made a generalization of me based on something you personally believe is impossible
breaking weapons demotivated my 7 year old and he wouldn't be playing if he couldn't grind them via Amibos (I bought card version of all of them on Amazon)
That point about the endgame really hit home for me. When I killed Ganon and watched the cutscene for the first time wondering what would come next and then got hit in the face with the front door of Ganon's chambers. I thought my game glitched so I looked up playthroughs and their endings but nah, that was the ending. I thought villages would act a little different or something but nah. I hope they do something different in the next game. Still an enjoyable game though.
How do you say the whole game is about shrines when you don't have to go to shrines. You can go straight to ganon as soon as you leave the great plateau. I have a zelda botw game guide and I have solved things differently then the way they are intended....
I genuinely dislike the game very much. It is not what I want from Zelda. I don't like a majority of open world games, and this one was really not different. I miss old Zelda.
I am a huge BOTW fan. I thought this was going to be some loosely connected rant where you spell out nitpicks and minor points whilst patting yourself on the back for being “not like the other girls”. but no, this was a very good video and you made very good points. I may disagree, but i respect your opinion. Despite not agreeing with your message, I gave this video a like.
Right the game is great not perfect. It’s fits perfect for Nintendo community being not too heavy in gaming. Also you got to understand how to fit all these ideas with flow into the game without sacrificing FPS and graphics. It’s a great game to fit for the switch.
This comment section makes me a bit sick honestly. I think BotW is an awesome game, but I don't expect everyone to love it. There's a decent amount of good criticism down here but also a lot of comments just calling it horrible without any proper points.
