I've been wanting to write more lists on Board 8 for years, 'cause it's a thing I like doing, and it's the content I most enjoy reading on the board.
I'm finishing up that Office Characters one, and I did a complete ranking of all WoW zones back during the WotLK expansion, I liked that one a lot.
Anyway, I've been doing a third playthrough of the video game called The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild lately, and I'm just about done. And I thought, this would be a really fun list to make as I'm wrapping up!
I'll probably post 1-3 entries per night or so.
METHOD:
These are the things that are eligible for this list:
Shrines
Quests
Divine Beasts (NOT including the quests before you get inside the divine beast, I'd put those in the "Quests" category)
Single Specific Koroks
Minigames
Puzzles
Towers
Cutscenes
Secrets
Combat sequences
Explorable areas (Focusing on navigating it, exploring it, looking at it, doing normal breath of the wild stuff like fighting dudes, looking for koroks, looking for shrines/resources/secrets.)
Towns (Focusing on the shops, dialogue with citizens, architecture, music, exploring it, stuff like that. Including quests that don't make you leave the town.)
And possibly more!
Im not allowing entries like The first time you find a korok, or The first time you fight a lynel. I just dont think thats as fun of a list, thatll just end up being a list of gameplay elements.
CRITERIA:
I think when making a ranking list, its best to start with what factors were looking for:
Surprise factor: When something catches you by surprise and makes you say oh wow, really? Huge points for that.
Beauty/atmosphere factor: When something just looks really cool, or sounds really good, or just generally feels good, also huge points.
Confusion factor: This is a fairly unique thing about Breath of the Wild: sometimes you enter a room and youre just absolutely bewildered at what youre supposed to be doing, or what youre even looking at. Youre confused. Its pretty fun.
Saturation factor: Sometimes they just pack a ton of semi-interesting stuff in one small space, and youre excited by the possibilities of what to do first, and thats just super fun, as you interact with each bit.
Legitimate puzzle factor: A puzzle that is legitimately well-designed, by traditional puzzle standards.
Many-solutions factor: A puzzle that is fun because it has a lot of differing solutions, so the player feels like they found their own way. Good for the games feeling of a personalized adventure. I think a legitimate puzzle is slightly better, but this is fun too.
Legitimate gameplay factor: A moment that feels like a video game, for example, an enjoyable test of skill, especially if the skills involved are the central skills in the game (e.g. combat, aim, movement).
World riddles factor: When the game asks you to think about the world. Like if you have to use your map and think about how to do a quest. Or when you have to think about what the heck Kass just said. (This is one of the most underappreciated parts of video games IMO. This is the main reason I love vanilla WoW so much.)
Interesting lore factor: It doesnt happen that often, but some of the story and lore in this game is pretty good. Most of it is fine, but some of it is great.
Joke factor: Some things in this game are just funny. And thats enough.
And these aspects would disqualify something from making the list:
Poor replayability: If its not fun at all the second time you play through the game, thats big minus points. There are shrines with simple fun physics puzzles, that are just a chore to play the second time because theyre so obvious and rote.
Duplicate content: Fighting a lynel is fun the first few times, not so much the tenth.
Annoyingly difficult: There are a few koroks in this game that are just obnoxiously hard. I do kinda respect it, but I dont like it.
WHY "STUMBLE ACROSS"?
I think if someone tells you to go do anything on this list, and you go do it, you won't be impressed at all. Because really, a lot of this stuff isn't that impressive. But when you "stumble across" this stuff on your own adventures, it magnifies the fun. 'Cause stumbling across stuff is what the game is all about! That's my opinion, anyway.
SPOILERS?
Yeah I mean, we're gonna spoil a lot of stuff, to some degree. But for a lot of stuff, like shrines, I'll try to link a video at the top of the writeup, and then you can scrub through it briefly to see if you've done that shrine yet. And if you haven't done it, you can skip the post.
But yeaaah if you're in the middle of a playthrough, maybe don't read this.
OPINION ON WEAPON DURABILITY?
Eh, it's fine. I think there are probably better solutions to what they were trying to solve, but I respect this solution.
DLC?
Yeah, DLC stuff is eligible for this list. Lots of stuff from DLC2 is in here. BUT all of it is like, generic names of shrines and stuff, so it'll be pretty easy to skip those posts.
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People who don't finish their sentences I'm a Castlevania superfan! Ask me anything!