LogFAQs > #876105280

The Wave Master posted...

With everyone gushing over The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild it's nice to know that there is an interesting juxtaposition.

I actually had an epiphany about my perception of the game while watching the PreRec review of it.

Basically, the game could almost be more accurately be described as "Breadth of the Wild". Nearly all of the aspects people are praising revolve around exploration and the sheer size of the map as core gameplay. Even weapon breaking ties into that, because it forces you to experiment with new items and new methods of play rather than simply finding the most powerful sword you can and just spam the most effective attack strategies. The game wants you to explore and discover everything on your own, and wants to force you out of your comfort zone in order to make sure you're actually doing that. In some ways, it's more true to the original Legend of Zelda on the NES than anything that's come after.

But to someone like me, who rarely gives a single shit about breadth as opposed to depth, literally none of that matters, and the whole game winds up looking like a dull borefest.

In the same vein, my general disdain for platformers means that, if you were to hand me the best-designed pure platforming game ever made by the human race, I'd probably play for about 15 minutes before turning it off and never playing it again. That style of gameplay simply doesn't appeal to me, and even the best games in that genre are going to fail to tick off any of my enjoyment boxes. It'll feel like a chore at best and torture at worst, while all around me plenty of other people who actually enjoy platforming will be loving every minute (and probably hating me for "not getting it").

About the only thing that gets me to tolerate platforming at all is when it's tied to a stronger narrative, like in the Uncharted or new Tomb Raider games, where the depth of narrative can help overcome my distaste for jumping puzzles (Assassin's Creed probably falls into this category as well). In the same vein, I am CAPABLE of appreciating a massive map, exploration mechanics, and emergent gameplay IF it goes hand-in-hand with an incredible story (or at least extremely likeable characters).

If I were a professional reviewer, I'd probably be getting death threats just like Jim Sterling (or worse, because he actually LIKED Zelda, even if he shaved a few points off for the parts he didn't like - whereas I'd just outright call it boring and pointless). You don't come to me for my opinions of a game like BotW any more than you go to Yahtzee for his opinions of JRPGs. You're NOT going to get an answer that's helpful or informative in any way.


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"Wall of Text'D!" --- oldskoolplayr76
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