What Breath Of The Wild Is Like For Someone Who Doesn't Play Games 

girl: has never plays a game before you: throws her right into dark souls

*pushes rock off cliff* "that sounds really violent" *does it again* she learns quick

Interestingly, as an experienced gamer, I found that BotW was confusing at times, I realized I was so used to relying on cues and hints and basically - games spoon-feeding me by having a linear storyline, that I actually got stuck thinking; "did I miss something?", "have I done this in the wrong order?" "Should I have gone here first?" once I got the idea that BotW wasn't supposed to be played in one way - boy did I have the time of my life. This is exactly the type of game I had always desired, without knowing it.

Non-gamer here. I started playing botw a few years ago after watching my husband play and he encouraged me to try. I faced pretty much every struggle that your wife did. My husband taught me quite a few things, like investigate on things that are out of place, and talk to everyone etc. At first I only enjoyed exploring the world, cooking, and solving shrine puzzles, and absolutely hated fighting cos I died in pretty much every battle in the beginning. I was used to smashing buttons on Street Fighter in the arcade and I thought doing that would get me through the fight, and boy was I wrong lol. Every fight was stressful for me and I would scream and panic, and my husband taught me to calm down and watch how the enemies move and dodge them. This helped a lot and I started to get a bit more comfortable with fighting the smaller monsters (or avoid them), and even finding more strategic ways of lowering their health or killing them from a safe distance. It was all good, until I got to my second Divine beast, the Thundeblight Ganon, where I constantly died and struggled to kill him, and I rage-quited the game and went on a hiatus for almost 2 years. My husband encouraged me to continue by getting stronger first with more hearts, better weapons and armours and go back to fight the Divine beast when I'm ready. So I picked up again and focused just on that. From then on I enjoyed the game even more than ever and got more and more confident with the game. Though still not great at battles, but I can take the damage cos I got more hearts lol. After defeating all the Divine Beasts, I just kept exploring every inch of Hyrule and found all the shrines, did most of the side quests, upgraded a lot of my armors to prep for the fight with Ganon. Last weekend, I finally defeated Calamity Ganon and finished the game!! Now I'm ready to play Tears of Kingdom!

Your wife encountering any small obstacle: *I'm gonna do what's called a pro gamer move*

Wife: "that sounded really violent" Razbuten: for good measure, she pushed the other rock as well

The Lock On feature actually was an early way of controlling the camera before the C Stick was ever invented! Ocarina of Time invented this feature to make traversing 3D spaces easier for people. It’s cool how 20 years later this feature is still a valid option for newer players.

See the z target or what you call lock-up was first ever used in the 64 Zelda ocarina of time. Z target was used for not only locking onto enemies but also moving the camera as there was no dual analog control at this time. Most interesting part about the video is her using z target how it was originally intended to be used years ago.

The genius of BotW is that when you find yourself asking the question “I wonder if this will work” then usually the answer is “yes”.

"I talked to him just a minute ago, how could he possibly have anything new to say." - Said no videogame designer ever

This honestly made me so happy to watch. My gf was on the exact same field as your wife where she was having the same difficulties but after basically telling her that the game is free for you to go wherever and do whatever, she slowly got the hang of it. My favorite part of the entire experience has been that not only is she finally on the last divine beast, but her daughter was so invested in watching us play that we bought her, her own copy and now we can't pull her away from it lol

I’m studying Games Design and I love watching these experiments cause it’s a good representation of player experience for people of a skill level games aren’t tailored for. It’s so fascinating to me and gets me to think about how to make my games more beginner friendly.

"Why would I talk to the old man again? I already talked to him." I hate how much sense that makes, because it highlights how much I'm conditioned.

Dude if she felt that Breath of the Wild was calming she must’ve never heard the guardian music

I feel like an idiot, and maybe it’s because I have been having a hard time lately, but the part where he plays the main theme of Zelda while praising the game for giving her confidence made me tear up, especially through 13:00- 14:30. It was just nice to see someone have a positive experience in something I love dearly that many people don’t take seriously.

I love that your wife called Link “She” in the end. That speaks to her connection with the character, really neat!

Pushes rock, Bokoblins die. "This seems like really violent" Proceeds to push another rock.

While my mom was playing this game, we realized that in puzzles where link needs to stand on and weigh down a panel you can substitute in two hydromelons! Apparently link is two hydromelons heavy.

my favorite thing about this game is that you can play the game without getting stuck because it won’t let you “move on”. i love linear exploration games, and as a relatively inexperienced, and extremely unskilled, gamer, i love that this game seems to be good for newcomers, even if it’s more difficult than some “easy” games.

I’m also a lady who didn’t grow up with video games and generally doesn’t play them much. At the start of the pandemic I decided to play botw and while there was a learning curve I found it to be a super forgiving game to learn and get used to navigating in a digital space. In fact I love this game so much that I haven’t really been able to find a game that can compare to it for me.

The day your wife buys Doritos and Mountain Dew is the day you realise you've created a monster

i heard someone say once “when playing botw there is no bad ideas, just ones that can go horribly wrong” and i’ve never heard something more true

The lock-on feature was intended to help center your camera. During the loading screen, the game often gives you tips, including how to reset your camera by using ZL!

This was such a great video, and I completely agree. A good friend of mine who HATES “kiddy, or cartoon-like” video games, was quite impressed by the level of “maturity” in BOTW when I brought it over to play. I love that I can basically do WHATEVER I WANT, and still come to a solution to solve whatever problem I face. TOP TIER GAME!

"Why isn't she going?!" Your wife thinks Link is Zelda, doesn't she?

"It made her feel resourceful and clever." Well, she was.

Tried something similar with Fable II with my wife, she never quite managed to get the fight mechanics but loved to world and storytelling. She ended up wanting to be the one that makes all the choices and have me play. It was a really fun bonding experience.

日本語字幕ついてて凄く嬉しいです！凄く面白い動画でしたし全く知らなかったBotWのきっと意図していないであろう凄さや、普段ゲームしている私とは違うプレイの仕方の解説が的確で興味深く凄く楽しめました。

My gf and i game together too but she is blind. Now she usually sits besides the tv and listens to the sound and i tell her whats happening and she signal me the sounds since im 95% deaf and cant really hear it when there are like sound tips in the game or if there are secrets nearby. I guess together we make one whole gamer haha😂👍 Edit: wow we never expected this comment to have so many likes and nice comments. Thank you all for all of them. With much love and appreciation, Lucía and Bane

Phones has inverted scrolling... never thought of it before.

BOTW was an incredibly unique experience for me. If I found an area too challenging, I'd simply choose another direction to follow. It's very refreshing to not have a game force you into a section/encounter until you complete it.

Breath of The Wild was also my first actual game, and I couldn't have asked for a better introduction. I LOVE IT. There's so many ways to play and a ton of things to find, which was fun! Now that I finished Zelda, I've started to play some RPGS and its been great 😊

His wife: "I WON!" Him: "no" Her: "oh". 😂

She is becoming dangerously competent as a gamer now

One of my favorite quotes about this game: “There are no bad ideas, only ideas that can go horribly wrong”

this encouraged me to pick up BOTW again. i have terrible game anxiety so whenever i hear the enemy approaching with the intense music, i get so stressed out. after playing genshin for some time, i think i've sorta desensitized myself. however seeing calamity ganon in the background always makes me scared LOL

As a non-gamer, my first day playing Breath of the Wild I walked off a cliff in the first 30 seconds and died, got the torch from the old man and then proceeded to accidentally chuck it off a cliff, and lost all my arrows trying to shoot a squirrel. Still fun tho.

>400 hours botw on two saves YOU CAN USE TREES TO BRIDGE GAPS?

As an experienced gamer, BotW's controls felt confusing. I kept pressing B to jump even though it's X here. But the game is remarkably easy to learn and the opportunity to have breaks between fights and adventure is so key in how the game paces itself for you. There were times where I started to feel sleepy playing the game because of how calm it made me, either through the music or the ambiance.

I played a few video games as a child, but not much in my teens or early adulthood. I found this video after I bought a switch- originally just to play Stardew valley. I got curious about botw and if I didn't learn about inverting the camera control, I would never have fallen in love with this game. so thank you razbuten and the lady you live with for this monumental tip. this game has brought me a lot of joy :)

*"That sounds like really violent" * "For good measure, she pushed down the other one as well"

"That sounded really violent..." *immediately pushes the second rock over* - I think I identify with this woman more than any other non-gamer ever.

This video really struck a chord with me! I have never considered myself a gamer - the only games I played before BotW were Sims and a horse game on my laptop, and then last year I got my Switch and played games like Animal Crossing and Two Point Hospital/Campus, so I felt incredibly out of my depth when I first started playing this game! The beauty of this game really is that it encourages the player to be resourceful and strategise about how to defeat obstacles. I was similar to your wife in the way that battles were very overwhelming and I would panic, but now that I have some nice victories under my belt and I am learning about backflipping and parry rush etc, I am finding it a lot easier to defeat enemies!

I love these videos because I didn't get into video games until late high school. So some of your wife's struggles, I still find myself having some years later when playing newer games. BotW, Witcher 3, Doom, and Skyrim when it first came out. It is nice to reminisce over the struggles I am reminded that I have had.

This video should be called: reasons why breath of the wild is one of the best games Nintendo has ever made

this is like the other side of "Girlfriend Reviews" lmao

the narration is so freaking good. really loved the video!

I can’t express how well done this video is. Very good job.

"The only difference between science and screwing around is writing it down." -Mythbusters

As a game designer these videos are really useful, thanks :)

3:28 The Z-targeting system was introduced to Ocarina of Time in order to help with locking the camera behind the player, since 3D was still new. I'm fairly confident that they've kept it in every 3D Zelda game since due to it lowering the bar for entry.

I'm rewatching this whole series right now and I think it'd be cool to see a video of you and your wife both playing a game you've never played before. All the games you've had her play are ones you've already done yourself and have experience of. So this would be like a side by side analysis of how each of you get started in a brand new game.

"Doing the Right Thing the WRONG WAY" is precisely why I love this game, and why I'm so sad I can't experience this game for the first time again.

My grandma recently got a switch and she’s playing breath of the wild I love seeing her react and play the game, it’s really cool too see someone who doesn’t play games learn how

This video helps me understand what elements make me love this game so much. I am experienced yet unskilled in games and playing this gave me so many small wins that encouraged me to finish. I have hundreds of play hrs in it and it honestly will always be my favorite

this is an incredible video - I know I'm like 2 years late to this but I've recently fell in love with BOTW after 5 years of being meh about it - seeing a game I love in the hands of someone who has little to no experience with games had me beaming at my PC. I never normally comment on videos but this one genuinely just made me smile so much and was incredibly interesting to watch :)

My roommate started botw yesterday and she was DEEPLY disappointed that you can't use an axe to cut down the little towers that bokoblins stand on outside of camps :(

"I'm gonna do what's called a pro gamer move." *Adjusts camera so it's actually facing the way I want*

As a non experienced gamer, I want to say you were spot on with this. I tend to do a lot of solving things the hard way, only to succeed and go "oh... there was totally a much easier way to do that" -but the game rewards thinking about various solutions and I find it super rewarding that you can succeed but there are still things to learn with the experience.

Not only is this video informative for those of us who are relatively new to open world games or gaming in general, it’s really nice to see how cute y’all’s relationship is. Your observations on her gameplay are fun to hear

Game: *AUTHENTICATING* Her brain: “Damn! You on dial-up?!?”

Am I the only one who finds it incredibly adorable watching people who've never played games play and try ot figure it out lol?

I love this video analysis! This especially helps provide perspective for indie developers (like me) on creative ways to help shape the experience for outsiders unfamiliar with games, keep it up!

I appreciate a series like this. I’m on this journey myself. Ty

nothing made me happier than the little "I won!" when she climbed the temple of time

The question is: did she want to continue playing after?

Your commentary is fluid, knowledgable, and relaxing! I loved this video and want to try this with my girlfriend! Great job! I have subscribed! Can't wait to watch all of your content that I have missed!😎

I would guess inverted vs non-inverted depends upon how you are imagining the camera. Inverted makes sense as if you were controlling the camera itself, you move the camera to the left, centred on the player, which means the FOV will pan to the right to keep the player centred. Normal makes sense if you are thinking about the player looking left or right.

Razbuten : Wants to introduce inexperienced wife to gaming. Also Razbuten : Here, try Dark Souls.

actually, she used the lock-on in one of the ways it was originally intended when it was implemented in ocarina since there was no second stick for camera control.

This is super well thought out and you really hit the right points. It's a brilliant perspective that I think more games could keep in mind.

Glad this popped up in my feed again! Super interesting study! Thanks for sharing

I'm cracking up because I literally played this game the exact same way as she did

"... core combat loop ... being breaking a weapon on an enemy, picking up the weapon that they dropped after getting hit, and then killing them with it" Pretty sure the core combat loop in Botw is to stand at mid distance flopping bombs while endlessly hoarding weapons that feel too valuable to use.

Quite possibly the most wholesome video I’ve ever seen on RU-vid. Well done.

Thank you for this ! This was fantastic testament to the brilliance of this game, and the magic of video games in general.

"I WON!" "no" that was funny

So she intuitively played Breath of the Wild like Ocarina of Time, where the only way to control the camera was through tapping the lock-on button Z to center the camera behind Link.

During the covid lockdowns i was so bored out of my mind that i started watching some twitch streamers playing some of my favorite JRPG games and quickly saw many of the things you pointed out in this video. Problem solving solutions can be so widely varied between people it's crazy.

This is such a cool concept for a series and it’s even inspired me to do it with my dad not just because I’m interested in it but because it brings us closer and Zelda is a great teaching tool :)

"Authenticating...", Hmm Hyrule needs better wifi.

The ‘right things in wrong ways’ is so accurate- it’s impossible to count the amount of times I’ve gotten past massive obstacles by just climbing high and paragliding past them to my destination! But it’s still super rewarding, and doesn’t feel like you’ve just cheated the system

I literally never knew about the tree chopping to cross the gap to the shrine, my mind is blown

Awesome video! The two of you sharing this experience (and “The lady that I live with”) is too cute. It’s amazing how logical she was processing how to play the game with no game experience and even more amazing on what you learned from her and your insights into her decision making as well. The psychology of video games is fascinating and Zelda really plays into the varying psychologies well. I am a gamer, but am a very “bad” gamer because I lose all the time. I previously rage quit Zelda BotW because fighting monsters was too hard and I knew I needed more weapons/resources from them. Now that TotK is released, I thought I would revisit BotW before getting TotK - I am learning so much! I’m definitely more engaged than with Diablo IV.

Just introduced this game to my GF, the entire time she was like "Oohh" " Ahhh" "Wait what is that?" "Hey that's cutee".....

"I never needed to chop another tree down to get somewhere" Speed runners: Allow us to introduce ourselves.

Really enjoy the “reasonings” you explain for gaming behavior based on other experiences like the phone example (scrolling).

omg best video ever! I loved this! I did the same thing with my wife who had never played a game other than sim city back in the early 2000s. awesome and so intriguing

This is so adorable. I can't even get over this. The devotion of the narrator to his wife's gaming style and the way that he pays such close attention, as she gets better and adjusts to the gaming style, and dissects this with such an objective interesting viewpoint just makes me realize how much he loves her. I don't know how he did it, but he managed to successfully manifest many women's desires for a man to pay attention and love her in that way.

She's actually a lot more clever and creative with her solutions than most experienced players I've watched

hearing about her adventures and discoveries is so cute and fills me with joy :)

i was smiling the whole time you were explaining her search for a new weapon, it reminded me of my first time playing this game. BOTW wasn't my first game, nor my first zelda game, but i think it has almost the same effect on everyone who plays it for the first time.

"I don't think the developers intended for her to use the lock on mechanic the way she did" .....laughs in OOT

Wait a second, you left someone who has no clue about games alone, on darksouls...what Manner of vile spirit haunts you??

Great narration , an eye opener actually .Never knew such perspective yet its creative given the approach a non gamer could do.

This is amazing! I’m working on a research paper over a slightly similar idea (educational value of video games) and I love seeing this perspective, of someone new to games.

"That sounds really violent" *Proceeds to do it again* Sleep with one eye open, man.

You note earlier that the lock on probably isn't intended to help with camera controls however, in ocarina of Time, the game it first appeared in, that was it's main purpose due to that game not having any other camera controls

This video was the thing that made me buy the game. Botw was my first zelda game so I was a bit nervous and thought it might not be for me but I finished in the first 2 weeks and loved it. Thank you

This is brilliant in such a wholesome way! Cheers to both of you ❤