LogFAQs > #968972525

I was pleasantly surprised by the story, considering the premise of a non-linear game. The story is not very present in the game's run because of that non-linearity. But I don't think that is necessarily a detriment. There are many ways to tell a story, with more cutscenes, with the gameplay itself telling it, or in BotW's case, with past events. Metroid prime is another great game that does it similary, with journals instead of flashbacks. Now why did I like this story so much, you ask?

BotW is a story about failure. You, the protagonist, as well as Zelda and the four champions and all major supporting characters, failed at your mission and let the world end. You are reminded of that constantly as you explore, and see ruins of multiple towns and farms, as well as Castle Town. The champions all died before they could fulfill their mission, and you can see how much they want a second chance, and now that they are dead, you have to carry the weight for all of them. It also affects the sheikah elders, Impa, Robbie and Purah, who had to wait for a whole century for you to come back and make their effort worth it. Robbie's diary shows difficult the wait was, and you can practically see it on Impa's face when she learns you fred the beasts. The Zoras also give a perspective of that, due to their long lifespam. So as a player, I felt some of the guilt for that defeat, even if it wasn't really my fault, and it made me motivated to win this time. To make it all worth it. The story of a videogame can have an important role in justifying the gameplay, and botW does that perfectly for me. The big game that I loved as a child was paper mario, and I think one big reason was that it did the same thing at the start, making Mario lose to Bowser. I think getting your ass kicked by the villain and taking a big loss at the start of a game really fires me up.

(The optional memories are a somewhat weaker aspect of that, though, since they all focus on Zelda and mostly on the same aspect of her character, her issue with not having powers)

I don't really get technical stuff so I can't say much about graphics (and this is nintendo so there's probably not much to say technically) but I liked what I saw. There were a lot of times when I'd finish climbing a tall place and just stop to look at the scenery. Many places, such as Zora's domain, are just beautiful. NPC design is pretty solid too, I think the best in the series so far. it doesn't look to ugly or too cartoony and there is so much variety. We've come a long way from the first cel-shading Zelda. There is not much music in this game, but what there was pretty good, too.

Now how do I rate this? Because it has problems. Other than the ones I've mentioned, there is the issue of the dungeons just not being as good as previous zeldas. They are fun, particularly Naboris, but they feel like a step down. I think they could have done the moving dungeon concept but just make it bigger. There is also another issue worth mentioning, the lack of enemy variety. There are maybe 15 species of enemies, each one with a few strength levels or elemental versions, but it is much fewer than any previous zelda games. And that means by the time you are nearly beating the game, it starts to get stale even if you get a really fun fight every once in a while. This couples with the dungeon quality since the variety of enemies is much smaller in dungeons too, so puzzles and bosses have to carry them.

But even if it has problems, it feels like a top tier videogame, because what it made me feel, no other game has for years, maybe over a decade. To get lost in a single player game for maybe 3 months and just love playing it every day. Other games came close to giving that kind of extended joy, but they did it in different ways (the only other recent game that I remember dominating my life like this was Celeste, but it was through difficulty and the feeling of self-improvement, not really the same as this game). BotW does it by taking exploration to another level, making combat a real stimulating mental activity and having a story that is simple but just immerses you into it. BotW feels like a childhood classic, one of those games that I just remember fondly for the pure joy they gave me. It feels like a game I'll have nostalgia for, 20 years from now. It's a game that defines a genre and a generation. It just is.

So uh, 10/10, and make rain less slippery and dungeons longer next time. Probably my favorite game in the series, even if straight up inferior to other games in a number of ways (though that may change as time passes and I have more time to compare the experiences). But right now I want to say it's the best, because what it did well, it was transcedental at.