LogFAQs > #947347200

35. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre Open-world adventure

Gameplay: 5
Rest of Game: 7
Engagement: 7
New to Me: 5
Playtime: 1

Total score: 25/40

Song selection: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZaqDYrvoMA

*holds up finger* Okay, now, ummm! Justmmjust hang on a sec. ImmaImma explain

I dont own a Switch. Thats the biggest problem. But a friend of mine got one last Christmas. I bought them Super Mario Odyssey, and there was the assumption that wed be hanging out a bunch and probably do some couch sessions at their place. They even bought Breath of the Wild, not because they were interested in playing it, but because they thought Id like it. Then COVID happened.

I got to try Breath of the Wild one time, and then nothing for six months until I paid a recent visit and tried again for maybe an hour. Im willing to bet that with more time, I would come to love BotW. Ive played basically every Bethesda open world game, Im currently enjoying Genshin Impact for the exploration of its world, and Im well aware that this is the sites Game of the Decade. (Funny story: I also dont like The Witcher 3 at all, to the point that I didnt even include it on the list.)

But for as high a pedigree as Breath of the Wild is supposed to have, there were definitely aspects of it I did not care for. The controls did not fit like a glove. Im generally not a fan of games that rely heavily on crafting. And dont get me started on the fact that theres weapon durability. If you try to tell me, oh, its not that bad. You just use what you pick up along theyeah, this is my not-listening, not-caring voice. Its weapon durability. Kill it with fire. The worst part of every game with weapon durability is the weapon durability. There has never been a game in the history of mankind that has included weapon durability and not had it be an utterly abysmal abomination of a mechanic. So basically I had a backpack full of POS weapons and nothing that I actually wanted to use because the game wont give them to you. Youre supposed to snap 37 twigs, 10 lumberjack axes, and whatever else I was trying to defend myself with, until youve earned the right to have a real weapon. Which youll be afraid to use because its your only one, of course.

And then when I got the glider and got out of the starter area, I got destroyed by basically every enemy I ran into. That was not the sort of fun experience I anticipated. Sure, I needed to L2P in a bad way, but enemies with some serious melee range that hit me for 2 hearts when I only have 3 and I still dont have a firm grasp of the combat controls? Yeah, that wasnt very encouraging for making me want to come back. I probably could have beelined for my quest objective, but I was headed in that direction! Its not like I wandered way off the beaten path and deserved to get swatted.

So yeah, not only did I not have the chance to see this one through, but I can see some genuine reasons why I might not want to play Nintendos darling of the past 20 years. If I were the one that owned the Switch and had bought the game, and was invested for all those dollars, yeah, I would have stuck it out longer and maybe my opinion would have changed, but, wellthat wasn't an option.

Should you play it?: I was interested in seeing the world around me, but on pretty much every other count, I honestly wasnt enjoying myself that much. So my personal opinion? No. Hot take, sure, but Im gonna say take a pass if you havent played it already.

Next: Another overrated darling

---

Video Game Music Contest 14 champion: Idola Phantasy Star Saga - Endeavour