LogFAQs > #893034576

I'm guessing these people didn't actually play the game? It doesn't have a typical open world structure at all. Most open world games have a linear main story and a bunch of littered side quests.

Zelda tells you where the final boss is and it eventually tells you where the divine beasts are. That's the main quest. You don't even have to do it to beat the game. Which other open world games are like this? The game never locks something away because you haven't progressed in the story far enough.

That doesn't go into layered gameplay systems. Everything in the game has a logic. Wood can be burned and spread fire. Fire creates wind. Metal can conduct electricity and be controlled with magnesis. Lighting shocks everything in water. All of these things can be linked. It will probably happen when you don't even intend it to.

The game never stops you to say "You're not meant to do this" it just lets you. If you can think of it you can do it. I praise any game that follows a logic like this and succeeds. Fallout 1/2 and Deus Ex are older examples of this and some stuff in those still blow me away. But it felt like a lot of games don't really want to risk that stuff anymore. They want a well crafted story. They don't want players to accidentally skip a large part of the main quest because they found a character too early. BOTW avoids this stuff and does something new.

I hope it does influence more games. I want less linear objectives in open worlds. Less scripted moments and more organic ones. I think this is why stuff like Minecraft got so popular too. A player creating their own epic moments will always stick out more.
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Kind Regards,
Darmik