Lurker > CaptainOfCrush

Once you wrap up the tutorial, you can literally go anywhere. You can rush the final boss immediately if you feel like getting your ass served to you. I'm pretty sure you couldn't do that in Zelda 1, so it's different but in a way that offers even more freedom.

I would say that in terms of difficulty, the game starts hard but gets considerably easier as Link gains stronger gear and consumables, whereas Zelda 1 got tougher for me as I neared the end.

Oh and speaking of tutorials, I'm gonna HOT TAKE the Great Plateau as EASILY the greatest tutorial in gaming history. Those first ~4 hours with the game were some of my funnest.

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Yoblazer
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Jakyl25 posted...

The Zelda aura does add a lot

True. The game mechanics are pretty unique relative to earlier 3D Zeldas, but it's still deeply entrenched in the series lore (perhaps more than any other Zelda game). If you're not a fan of the series, all of those references and easter eggs may not be meaningful to you.

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Yoblazer
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This might be the only "truly" open world game I've ever played, so I can't compare it to whatever else may be popular in the genre. Umm... I liked it a helluva lot more than GTAIII and Vice City?

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Yoblazer
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Full disclosure as to whether anyone wants to take my opinions on this game seriously - I'm the guy who did this:

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/189707-the-legend-of-zelda-breath-of-the-wild/76231533

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Yoblazer
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swordz9 posted...

Wasnt sure if I should spoiler that or not at first, edited it in just to be safe

I definitely agree with your last spoiler point; it's one of my few gripes with the game, with possibly the largest being that rain can bring all exploration to a screeching halt (I'm sure KP has already experienced this when climbing).

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Yoblazer
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Also, I think that the complaint about "enemy variety" is an aesthetic one that has gained traction somewhat unfairly. Bokoblins as an enemy type may all look similar, but they're more dynamic in terms of gameplay/behavior/interaction than like half the enemies in a typical Zelda game combined. Imagine if Bokoblins in this game could only wield swords, but other humanoid enemies with a different names and appearances could each do one of the following:

• Wield large two handed weapons capable of knocking Link off his feet
• Wield spears to poke at the player from a longer melee distance
• Use bows and arrows
• Alert their encampments as scouts
• Ride horses

Would that really be considered a larger variety of enemies when each Bokoblin in the game can already do all of those things and more? I dunno, I never got tired of the enemies (but I am tired of the way GameFAQs presents bullet points now, holy).

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Yoblazer
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I loved exploring for the sake of it. I think that was the point for many people and why it may be difficult for some fans to convey why they liked BotW so much - because everyone had a unique experience. We all went through the same Water Temple, following the same general pathway, at the same point in Ocarina's narrative - but when I tell you guys about the stone cold pause-and-stare I did when I saw my first Lynel, it might not connect with you because odds are you have a completely different Lynel story.

And that's the impasse, I guess. When I climbed all those hills in the Faron region, wondering what awaited me at the top, I stopped dead in my tracks because I finally saw my first Lynel. That feeling of discovering him up there was one of the most unforgettable I've had as a gamer in years, even though I was way too scared to test him and just jumped my ass back down. For someone else, that moment may have been pointless because "nothing was up there".

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Yoblazer
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I haven't seen that episode in like 15 years but I still remember Homer's "continue looking shocked and move slowly toward the pie" joke. Killed me.

Regarding Simpsons in general, I watched a good handful of classics on Disney+ last year, and honestly... even lionized episodes like You Only Move Twice with Hank Scorpio kinda pale in comparison to most eps from the earlier seasons. The quality of writing from what I re-watched in Seasons 2-4 was incredible, even better than I had remembered.

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Yoblazer
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At that age, not much you can do but remember and celebrate his life - a cornerstone of American entertainment for seven fucken decades. He was amazing in Paths of Glory, my favorite of his films.

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Yoblazer
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Won't bother ranking mine because I'm not sure if I can anymore:

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Resident Evil 4
REMake
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
Xenoblade Chronicles
Bloodborne
Mega Man X
Chrono Trigger
Melee

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Yoblazer
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In personally funner news - I can't wait to give this topic a firsthand account of the NEXT caucus in three weeks.

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Yoblazer
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Oh, one observation about Bernie's internal numbers - Pete is the candidate who showed the most growth between the First and Final counts, and by a noticeable margin. The supporters from tonight's doomed candidates (Biden, Yang, Klobuchar, Steyer) presumably favored Pete when they were forced to re-align.

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Yoblazer
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LordoftheMorons posted...

Better to wait for the official numbers than to try and absorb numbers released by campaigns based on incomplete data (at minimum, the decision to release them is presumably dependent on how good the numbers are for that campaign).

True, but if they're even in the ballpark in terms of accuracy, Biden got rolled. I'll have to take a look at South Carolina polling to see if he's dominating as hard there as is general perception... because it feels like no one at all is excited about the guy.

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Yoblazer
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Yeah, this ineptitude makes every Democratic candidate look like a loser before we get any real results. It'll be outrageous if Iowa isn't punished for this in 2024.

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Yoblazer
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From my personal experience four years ago, the Nevada Caucasus weren't nearly this big a shitshow (still would much rather have a primary).

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Yoblazer
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Finally watched the halftime show



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Yoblazer
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Money never, food occasionally. I've never had someone turn down food; the few people who I offered food were very appreciative. One man outside a Little Caesars actually said "listen I don't want any money, can I just have a slice" and it kinda broke my heart.

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Yoblazer
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So lucky that I binged through Bojack in December and barely had to wait for this. I want to savor the final episodes but will probably power through on Friday.

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Yoblazer
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Reverse cowgirl forever my #1

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Yoblazer
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SuperShake666 posted...

Guarantee a cop called TMZ to sell the scoop.

Sounds disgusting but realistic. How else would they break the news before authorities have a chance to notify next of kin.

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Yoblazer
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rexcrk posted...

I know KotOR 2 is seen as the better one because its so deep and involved but.. fuck.. most of the characters on your team just seem so boring and forgettable. I found the companions in the first game to be much more memorable.

Is it? I feel like the only time 2 ever gets brought up is when its relatively small number of fans argue for its superiority, but the original has always been much more popular. The development team was so focused with making deeper characters that they forgot to make any of them enjoyable. It's been almost 15 years since I played it, but it's one of the more miserable games (in tone) I can ever remember playing. It was also rushed to release and needed fan mods to improve the final stretch, which I remember being the worst part of the game. I still play the original KotOR from time to time but doubt I can go back to 2.

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Yoblazer
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Fastbreak posted...

This was like a couple week ago. This is bullshit

https://www.instagram.com/p/B7y_I_YJhjc/?igshid=vcjw2wkhcyfr

Yeah watching this little clip is a punch right in the gut.

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Yoblazer
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Bruh don't tell me Rick Fox

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Yoblazer
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Shocked. LA will be reeling.

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Yoblazer
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Nice! Did you find the way to re-spec your hearts/stamina should you decide to?

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Yoblazer
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Yes, Eventide is its own reward. So many people call that their favorite part of the game.

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Yoblazer
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Amazing final

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Yoblazer
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Breath of the Wild

Skyrim
Smash Bros. Ultimate
Witcher 3
Mass Effect 2

A Link Between Worlds
Smash Bros. Wii U/3DS

Final Fantasy XV
Resident Evil 2
Borderlands 2

Line breaks represent my best guess at tiers. I'm not as confident in Smash as many others. It managed only 54% on God of War in its final GotY vote, which to me is not a result which suggests it picks up clear wins against Skyrim, Witcher, or ME2. I know that Nintendo entrants often get "contest boosts", but those boosts, like most things, are relative. In a contest where the top entrant and near-inevitable winner is a Zelda game, I don't think there's quite as much reason for something like Smash to punch above its weight.

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Yoblazer
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I'm not too familiar with Nier - is it primarily a story-driven RPG type of game, or is it primarily an action game with a trippy story? If 2B is this decade's Dante, there is no way I take her game over something like Bloodborne.

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Yoblazer
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Bloodborne scored nearly 45% against FFXII in the last game contest, which is enough for me to give it this fourpack if we assume that it's managed to maintain its release year strength.

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Yoblazer
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Smash bends the knee to BotW this decade, whereas Melee and Brawl were arguably the two biggest Nintendo games on this site in the 2000s. BotW's dominance may be so total in this contest that the fanbase may not care to throw their full weight behind Ultimate at the end of the bracket.

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Yoblazer
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LeonhartFour posted...

I think you're underselling TLOU a bit if you think P5 beats it easily (or you're overrating P5, whichever). It did really well in 2015 and it's probably a bit stronger now.

Really? I get the sense that if anything, it didn't age too well. Tons of people regard it as overrated. I've seen sentiment for Dark Souls and Witcher 3 grow over time (especially Souls), but not for TLoU.

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Yoblazer
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I think it depends largely on bracket placement. If BotW is on the top half and destroys everything en route to the final, I can see Skyrim, Dark Souls, or Witcher giving whatever Nintendo heavies (Smash and Odyssey?) on the bottom half of the bracket a good fight or getting the win outright. If any of those big western games run into Smash early on, though, I might side with Ultimate.

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Yoblazer
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The combat in Sekiro: Clang Clang Clang doesn't look very fun.

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Yoblazer
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I've only played three Souls games, and BB is easily my favorite. I enjoyed the atmosphere, music, and areas so much more than in Demon's or Dark Souls. Yes, a few of the locations may have felt samey, but none were outright bad for me, whereas I disliked like half the areas in Dark Souls. I also know some series purists criticize the more streamlined aspects of Bloodborne, but I found that to be such an improvement over the apparently convoluted intricacies of DeS/DS (understanding shards, chunks, and slabs of different types just to upgrade weapons... I wasn't going to bother with that). Character builds were also streamlined, but rather than focus playthroughs on build types, they were instead focused on different melee weapons, as many behaved so uniquely from one-another, and almost all were equally viable. A playthrough utilizing the Saw Cleaver would be quite different from one focusing on the Chikage, for example. To me, there was just as much variety in the gameplay, but it was presented in a manner that was so much easier to digest.

Also, best collection of bosses in any game I've ever played.

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Yoblazer
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Dark Souls > Witcher

Can also go Witcher > DS but am confident on those two above the others.

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Yoblazer
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Glad I missed Contest Scats and Discussion.

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Yoblazer
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X_Dante_X posted...

i made sure to nominate skyward sword, so we can have more zelda

I've done the same because I love it, but it's also one of the most interesting games in the bracket. I'm not sure if any non-rally game will have the range of SS. It can be a legit top 10 (5?) game or trash that gets blitzed in the first round.

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Yoblazer
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I see Leon and I are sharing the same shadow today

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Yoblazer
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BotW would storm well beyond the top 50 on like... any major vg site. There's a difference between flavor of the month (or year) and tons of gamers waxing poetic about a game, saying crap like "this is the first game that's recaptured that sense of magic since I was a kid."

Beyond that and Skyrim (and possibly ME2, Smash Ultimate, Odyssey?), things take a real tumble, but I'm not too worried. It's not like there was THAT much firepower in the last GotD, and it wound up being one of the best contests we've ever had.


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Yoblazer
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I'm chucking at a dartboard here, but I'd guess Undertale might be... fringe top ten at best without a rally? Absolutely nothing caught a meaningful rally during the last Character Battle, and this was despite numerous attempts to rally every fucking entrant, including (correct me if I'm wrong) Sans, who got destroyed by Pac-Man.

I know 2013 and 2015 left us shell-shocked, but it's been almost five years since that last games contest, and based on the two contests since then, I really feel Allen wants that rally-door to remain closed. I'll be predicting this bracket with the assumption that zero rally attempts gain traction.

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Yoblazer
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https://66.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m1zzx1vLzl1r94e9jo4_250.gifv

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Yoblazer
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fortybelowsummer posted...

Breath of the Wild will win but as always it's about the journey not the destination lads

An elegant way of expressing why BotW is so popular in the first place.

Also, if Allen takes the same anti-rally measures he did for the last contest, the only game I see with a plausible shot at the favorite is Skyrim. It keeps getting re-released and was easily the most popular game from 2010-2016. Other than that, I agree with Leon. We're probably not getting a rally-threat, which means BotW enters this as the huge heavy.

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Yoblazer
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It's guaranteed to make it. It's a bigger, more original remake than the game literally known as REMake.

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Yoblazer
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@Ngamer64

Let's get this train a-rollin

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Yoblazer
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Ohh gotd, or some say gotdm... do you hear our hype?

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Yoblazer
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I'm willing to call it a wrap at this point. It's been far ahead in all the polls and, despite coming from a smaller series, has the ingredients to be considered a GameFAQs darling. The few people who vote without playing a single poll option will be swayed toward RE2 because it got such rave reviews (from media AND fans) upon release. IMO, its biggest detriment is the fact that it's already 12 months old - had it released three months ago, I think it'd be doing even better.

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Yoblazer
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Wait a minute... unless I've missed something, the only series to produce multiple GotY winners on GameFAQs are now

Final Fantasy
The Legend of Zelda
Super Smash Bros.
RESIDENT EVIL

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Yoblazer
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Game of the Decade Poll

Resident Evil 2
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Breath of the Wild
Final Fantasy XV
The Witcher 3
Super Smash Bros. Wii U
A Link Between Worlds
Borderlands 2
Skyrim
Mass Effect 2

Considering 40% of the poll would be Nintendo (including another Zelda), I can see Skyrim holding up quite well, if not beating BotW outright. Since this could be seen as a more "serious" poll though, I anticipate that BotW would siphon the other Nintendo offerings into shallow husks - whatever it needs to win. I'd bank on BotW > Skyrim > Mass Effect 2 as the top three. Smash Wii U scores under 1%.

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Yoblazer
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