Board 8 > Breath of the Wild is so good.

(+) Yeah! (+)

It's been a long time since a game made it so hard for me to stop playing.

I got the game on Friday, and pretty much all of my weekend ended up being spent playing it. My fiancee also watched me play for most of that time and was similarly engrossed without even playing it.

The exploration works so well, and it feels legitimately exciting to explore new areas. I wasn't sure how I'd feel about the shrines as mini-dungeons, but I've actually been super impressed-- there's a lot of fun/interesting puzzles and they're generally well executed.

Eventide Island was a surprising bit of fun-- it took me three tries, but it felt really good to figure it out.

I've finished about 17 shrines so far and still haven't gone to Kakariko yet because I've been exploring and getting distracted by other things.
---

I'm just amazed even after it's been out this long (and in the age where the internet ruins everything), people still find new and bizarre stuff you can do. Like stasis a tree and surf it all the way to Ganon
---

Very minor spoilers to improve your experience even more

Go to Kakariko and then to the next place it sends you to to fully unlock the benefits youll get from aimless exploration
---

The world is way too empty, though. You can go 15 minutes and not find anything to do. I legit don't feel excited because of that. If I want to go sightseeing, there's a real world out there. I don't play video games to "go exploring" - I play them to "do shit." I also hate how easily the weapons break. Disrupts combat far more than it should.

I went in thinking I'd like it a lot more than I ultimately did. Still a good game and leagues better than Skyward Snore, but a disappointment for me nonetheless.
---

Some people need to be given goals, some people can make their own
---

I don't need goals. I need things to do. There's a difference. If there's no goal, I want the exploration to be rewarding - I feel like there are too few things to find in BotW, so it feels less rewarding than an open world game should. You know what I mean?
---

Not really? You can't go five minutes without bumping into someone who will hand you a sidequest, or otherwise just finding something weird. I know the first time I saw one of the dragons flying about I was like, what the fuck is that. Am I supposed to kill it? It isn't trying to kill me and everything *else* is trying to kill me
---

are you gonna get the dlc
---

Jakyl25 posted...

Very minor spoilers to improve your experience even more

Go to Kakariko and then to the next place it sends you to to fully unlock the benefits youll get from aimless exploration

Yeah, I was planning on going to Kakariko soon since someone in Hateno told me to go there to get permission for some rune stuff.
---

Weakupedia posted...

are you gonna get the dlc

I already got it
---

VintageGin posted...

Jakyl25 posted...

Very minor spoilers to improve your experience even more

Go to Kakariko and then to the next place it sends you to to fully unlock the benefits youll get from aimless exploration

Yeah, I was planning on going to Kakariko soon since someone in Hateno told me to go there to get permission for some rune stuff.

Thats my ONE nitpick with this game; it doesnt surface some of its progression mechanics until youve visited a few key spots.
---

KujikawaRising posted...

I don't need goals. I need things to do. There's a difference. If there's no goal, I want the exploration to be rewarding - I feel like there are too few things to find in BotW, so it feels less rewarding than an open world game should. You know what I mean?

Can't say I do. It's funny to me how their are people on the complete opposite end of the spectrum when it comes to this. Some people say it packed to the brim with shit to do every few steps while others like yourself claim it's an empty wasteland. I am of the first crowd. I loved just wandering around aimlessly finding Korok seeds everywhere, shrines, admiring the beautiful scenery, collecting shit, killing guys etc. The world just feels so alive imo.
---

I don't think the world is PACKED with stuff to do but I wouldn't say it's an empty wasteland either, and I like just running around anyway so it doesn't matter too much to me

Sidon made the game for me so I'm quite content with that, my gripes with the durability system aside.
---

I'm not a big exploration guy, but the Guardians one shotting me, all the different weather effects, and weapon durability kind of stifled any desire to explore after awhile.

Although the lightning irritating me was mostly my fault for not realizing my bow was metal. Still it's kind of a pain
---

I do wish there was a way to upgrade an armor to ignore rain effects on climbing

As for Guardians, Shield parry!
---

Great game, easily my GOTY from last year. I loved how often I would try and do something stupid and the game would reward/punish me by letting me do it.

Only complaint is that I would have liked a bit more story, especially with the guardians. DLC made up for that a bit though, but they were such great characters and you saw so little of them.
---

I thought it was full of stuff to do, compared to pretty much every other open world game. Felt like everything you could do was substantial too. Very different from empty wastelands like GTA5 and Elder Scrolls.
---

I think it's because I played Elder Scrolls games extensively back when I had less of a life. I could run five minutes in any direction and find something to do that wasn't just "taking in the nature." Breath of the Wild just doesn't compare with how much there is to do. And the world is barely populated and half the people you encounter on the road are actually Yiga monsters in disguise.

Mac Arrowny posted...

I thought it was full of stuff to do, compared to pretty much every other open world game. Felt like everything you could do was substantial too. Very different from empty wastelands like GTA5 and Elder Scrolls.

This is one of the most backwards things I have EVER read. GTA5 and Elder Scrolls have a lot of things to do and interact with. BotW does not.
---

I can see someone saying that Elder Scrolls feels empty in some areas because you have places between towns. If you stick to the roads, sure, it feels empty. If you explore, it's fine. And I'd argue that it's better and more interesting than BotW, at least Oblivion is.

GTA V being empty though? You have rural areas, true, but I found the rural areas have stuff there too. If nothing else, there are nice looking sights.

Meanwhile in BotW, I just can't find things to do. I go off the normal roads and there's still not much. Maybe an animal I could hunt if I wanted, but there's not much in terms of things to do or even sights to see.

I'll say it: I was far more engrossed in the world of Red Dead Redemption than I was in BotW. Which is ridiculous, because RDR came out almost 7 years before BotW did, and because RDR is in a more "realistic" setting, whereas BotW is in a fantasy setting. I played RDR after BotW, by the way.
---

KujikawaRising posted...

I think it's because I played Elder Scrolls games extensively back when I had less of a life. I could run five minutes in any direction and find something to do that wasn't just "taking in the nature." Breath of the Wild just doesn't compare with how much there is to do. And the world is barely populated and half the people you encounter on the road are actually Yiga monsters in disguise.

Mac Arrowny posted...

I thought it was full of stuff to do, compared to pretty much every other open world game. Felt like everything you could do was substantial too. Very different from empty wastelands like GTA5 and Elder Scrolls.

This is one of the most backwards things I have EVER read. GTA5 and Elder Scrolls have a lot of things to do and interact with. BotW does not.

Uh

What?
---

SupremeZero posted...

Uh

What?

I'm confused. Do you not know what a fact is?

GTAV is full of life. Oblivion is full of life. Skyrim has plenty of sites to see where you can actually do shit. Breath of the Wild just is an expanse of scenery with a few people and Koroks strewn about, with shrines being the only thing to do much of the time. It feel so damn empty by comparison.
---

KujikawaRising posted...

Do you not know what a fact is?

I'm not sure you do
---

KujikawaRising posted...

I think it's because I played Elder Scrolls games extensively back when I had less of a life. I could run five minutes in any direction and find something to do that wasn't just "taking in the nature." Breath of the Wild just doesn't compare with how much there is to do. And the world is barely populated and half the people you encounter on the road are actually Yiga monsters in disguise.

Mac Arrowny posted...

I thought it was full of stuff to do, compared to pretty much every other open world game. Felt like everything you could do was substantial too. Very different from empty wastelands like GTA5 and Elder Scrolls.

This is one of the most backwards things I have EVER read. GTA5 and Elder Scrolls have a lot of things to do and interact with. BotW does not.

I see your video game opinions are as much of a joke as your anime opinions.
---

I feel like BotW is slowly becoming the most hit or miss game of all time
---

It really isn't, it's still one of the most beloved games ever. Everything will always have it's detractors though.
---

Luis_Sera89 posted...

It really isn't, it's still one of the most beloved games ever. Everything will always have it's detractors though.

Maybe I just browse /v/ too much
Not a day pass by without a 400+ posts thread about BotW being overrated
And they don't feel like trolling for once

But it might be just /v/ things
---

Mac Arrowny posted...

I see your video game opinions are as much of a joke as your anime opinions.

I don't watch much anime. And you're the joke who makes egregious false statements with nothing to back them up, so I'll take satisfaction in the laugh.
---

Anything that's acclaimed will always be overrated to people, in any medium

It's up to you to decide whether it's warranted or not
---

Nanis23 posted...

Maybe I just browse /v/ too much

That would be any amount greater than not at all.
---

BotW wasn't lacking in things to do. It was just a pain in the ass to do them because of durability and stamina.
---

Things to do in BotW boil down to three things:

1. Find and complete shrines
2. Hunt for Korok seeds
3. Fuck around with the game's mechanics

Number three is absolutely what makes the game as good as it is. The mechanics are so flexible and it's the first game in a long time to reward you for just about every silly idea you whip up, especially when it comes to puzzle solving.

The world itself, honestly, isn't special at all. Aside from the shrines and seeds the actual world is pretty sparse, especially compared to a WRPG where every two feet you can trip over sprawling side quests with their own lore and casts of characters. But the shrines and seeds are just enough to keep you totally hooked on moving through the world and having a blast with the gameplay.

TLDR: BotW is a mechanical triumph, but doesn't actually have that great of a world. Hopefully developers looking at its success and currently working to emulate it understand why it was so well received!
---

Eh, I think the discovery in BotW is much better than those other games. Because you can see so far, you can pick out goals and always have something to be working towards. WRPG open worlds don't have nearly as many things you can find on your own.
---

Xiahou Shake posted...

TLDR: BotW is a mechanical triumph, but doesn't actually have that great of a world.

See I can agree with this. It's a very well-made game. It's just that there isn't enough to do for long periods of time. It's intuitive and aside from the stamina gauge, the mechanics are fun to mess around with on occasion. Even so, for me they get stale.

The world itself is like you said: There's just two major things to do in it and both get stale fast. It's not enough for me to get hooked on traversing the world, though. I wanted more lore and more interesting things to discover. The WRPG worlds - and that of GTAV - have more lore, more characters, and more stuff to do. That is simply a fact. BotW needed something more. It has the mechanical greatness. It has a good foundation. But it lacks heart. I find I have little reason to care about its world... and therefore, I don't really care to explore it.
---

BotW's world felt meticulously handcrafted to me and it's hard to explain the feeling it gave.
---

Mac Arrowny posted...

WRPG open worlds don't have nearly as many things you can find on your own.

Wrong again.

Skyrim has at least twice the amount of landmarks as Breath of the Wild.
GTAV has a lot of little things you can discover.
Hell, Saints Row 2 came out a decade ago and I'm STILL finding new places there.

BotW just has pixelated landscapes that don't match the majesty of real-world places. Unlike Skyrim or GTAV, however, there's very little IN those places. I don't play video games to "take in the nature" - there's a real world for that.
---

Andy I know it's hard for you to pick up on it sometimes so I'm gonna let you know now that you're coming off incredibly condescending whether you mean to or not
---

I know I'm just as guilty of it as everyone else, but it does amuse me that B8's first reaction to someone saying "I started this game and I like it!" is to argue for dozens of posts about whether the game is good or not.
---

Xiahou Shake posted...

I know I'm just as guilty of it as everyone else, but it does amuse me that B8's first reaction to someone saying "I started this game and I like it!" is to argue for dozens of posts about whether the game is good or not.

Everyone was cool with it until poster #4 came in and had to be a huge asshole!
---

I don't really care that BotW doesn't have a fuckton of landmarks, the most fun I get out of it is

a) determining a location I want to travel to
b) forging a path to that location

and BotW really excels at this imo because of its mechanics and the fact that all the landscapes are fun to travel through

I have no idea how to feel about BotW since I had a lot of fun just roaming around and filling out the map, but once I started actively going after its content (shrines, korok seeds, divine beasts) I found I wasn't enjoying the game much anymore.
---

Tokoyami posted...

Andy I know it's hard for you to pick up on it sometimes so I'm gonna let you know now that you're coming off incredibly condescending whether you mean to or not

Maybe he shouldn't have called me a "joke" then.

Shonen_Bat posted...

once I started actively going after its content (shrines, korok seeds, divine beasts) I found I wasn't enjoying the game much anymore.

Perhaps this was my problem. I was more focused on the quests than anything, doing whatever I found along the way (which wasn't much). That may be why I feel the way I do.
---

Yeah the least fun I had in BotW was doing the quests. The beginning of the game was awesome and then I pushed through all of the quests just to get them over with. I mean I was still exploring and taking my time but the quests felt like such a slog that I almost stopped playing. After I finished the main quests and just went back to exploring the game was amazing again.

It's hard to explain but the emptiness in the world makes it feel MORE alive to me. The subtle soundtrack and the quietness sometimes really made me feel like I was lost in that world instead of playing a video game and following some sidequest tract or something. That's obviously a personal experience and I'm sure other people feel differently but I think that sometimes we spend too much time comparing games to each other instead of just appreciating them individually.

A game isn't bad because you think another game is better. Maybe they're both good? Maybe they're just trying to accomplish different things?
---

skullbone posted...

It's hard to explain but the emptiness in the world makes it feel MORE alive to me. The subtle soundtrack and the quietness sometimes really made me feel like I was lost in that world instead of playing a video game and following some sidequest tract or something. That's obviously a personal experience and I'm sure other people feel differently but I think that sometimes we spend too much time comparing games to each other instead of just appreciating them individually.

I agree with this

I've been really fascinated by how polarizing BotW has been, especially on the "it's really dense with stuff to do!" and "it's the most empty boring world ever, there's nothing to do!!" contradictory statements.

It can't be that both sides are wrong, it must a player personality thing. Judging by the comments above, and the countless other b8 and reddit threads I've read:

Open World Gamer Personality Type A:

Every time I play, I want to be given a constructed "plot", and then I will play out this "plot" to its conclusion, and I want the "plot" to be of a high quality. Then, I want to find another "plot", and then another, and complete many "plots", and it should be well-designed and interesting and unique each time, and I want to get a permanent reward at the end of each "plot".

Examples of these "plots":

* A quest with a story behind it
* An exciting dungeon
* A well-designed puzzle with a clever solution
* A story heavy sequence
* A challenging battle where the power of my character I built matters

The important part is that they are designed, to a high degree of quality, and there are a lot.

Open World Gamer Personality Type B:

Quests bore me. I usually don't want to do what someone tells me to do, that is the opposite of a game. I want freedom. I want my head to fill up with "intents", everywhere I look I overflow with tiny meaningless ideas, I randomly pick one and do it, and immediately something happened, literally anything happened, any "reaction" happened because of my "intent". And the game didn't give me the silent treatment, it encouraged me by giving me a reaction, literally any reaction, it didn't resist me, it let me be free. And I feel like I'm there, I feel so happy. I picked up that lizard. I avoided that hog. There was a satisfying chime sound effect. The birds took off. I saved a photo in my album. The wind blew. The instruments were beautiful. I left with several bananas. I'm heading to that bridge next.

Examples of "intents" that have reactions:

* I want to cut down that tree (it worked, and I got fruit and wood too).
* I want to talk to that woman on that path (she told me gems are valuable if sold).
* I want to jump and glide onto that horse (I landed on it and caught it).
* I want to pick up that rock (I found a korok)
* I want to climb that mountain (I saw a shrine/I saw a cool view/I jumped off real far/I ran out of stamina and slipped down/I saw a secret cave).
* I want to walk around in those ruins (I found buried treasure/I found out the name of the ruins/I jumped across that gap/those bones sprung to life/I spotted a creature behind the ruins).
* I want to conquer that shrine (I explored every corner of the shrine/I stacked the boxes sloppily in the shrine and then I could climb on them).
* I want to see what that forest looks like from the other side (it looks neat/I found a korok).

The important part is, they wanted to do something, they did it, something else happened, and the player literally didn't care how good the thing was that happened, as long as the game reacted, they felt encouraged to play more. They're conquering the open world by touching it, "knowing" it, that's the satisfaction, as long as it reacts to them, it feels worth "knowing".

I think I'm definitely in Type B because I gathered thousands of plants in BotW and it felt good every single time and I used maybe 10% of them and that's fine.
---

KujikawaRising posted...

The world is way too empty, though. You can go 15 minutes and not find anything to do. I legit don't feel excited because of that. If I want to go sightseeing, there's a real world out there. I don't play video games to "go exploring" - I play them to "do shit." I also hate how easily the weapons break. Disrupts combat far more than it should.

I went in thinking I'd like it a lot more than I ultimately did. Still a good game and leagues better than Skyward Snore, but a disappointment for me nonetheless.

I stopped reading the topic here, but I dont think I like anything about you based on that post. I realize that doesnt mean anything at all, but you dont seem pleasant and I just wanted to point that out because Im feeling bitter about your demeanor
---

Epyo posted...

stuff

Wow that's a really interesting look at it and I can see what you mean, I'd definitely count myself as the one of the latter, at least when it comes to BotW. The way it encouraged exploration and finding your own way was just so satisfying.
---

I am the kind of person who plays open world games to explore everything. In Skyrim (and Fallout 3), my goal was to explore every single landmark. While the variety of NPC's and quests and cities in Skyrim is pretty great, there are really only 5 different landmarks, copied 1000 times across the landscape. However, traveling between places, having dragons swoop down (at least the first 10 times) and running into random shit was fun. Biggest issue is that it's a tundra wasteland and isn't necessarily the most interesting place to explore most of the time.

BotW is all about finding all the korok seeds (without using the damn mask), and I've spent over 100 hours so far exploring every nook and cranny. Korok seeds are easter eggs, and because getting them is mechanical (as opposed to just looking around like in GTA games), it's more rewarding to grab them. Especially when they're difficult to get. Add in the shrines peppered throughout that give variety to the search as you go, the bosses that make for some compelling fights as they scale as you go, and the fact that the world is incredibly varied in its environments, and you have an amazing world to explore and discover.
---

Epyo posted...

It can't be that both sides are wrong, it must a player personality thing

You're off here

There are lots of player personalities who like and dislike certain aspects of open world games, but BOTW is designed differently than those. The main thing is that it IS designed. Every inch of the world is intentionally designed and hand placed by a designer. Most importantly, every interaction is intentionally designed. There is this concept of emergent gameplay where different systems collide to create unexpected results. BOTW has none of that. The devs know about literally everything that happens in the game because they went through and tweaked it all themselves. And so the designer's opinion is felt constantly in every part of the game.

That's the key thing that makes this game way different than any other game, and that's why lots of people like it. A kid on a supervised playground is gonna have way more fun than a kid thrown in the middle of a forest. People say they want a big world where they can do anything, but what they really want is a small manageable set of designed toys to play with, and an authority figure watching them in case they do something wrong. It's the most childlike form of play, an illusion of freedom.

Other open world games focus on either lots of emergent systems (Just Cause, Minecraft) to have a kind of experimental vibe, or on skinner box style loops (Ubisoft, Elder Scrolls) for a more addictive/completionist vibe.

Personally this is why BOTW feels boring as hell to me. I'm all for deeply opinionated games, but the design of this game is just bad. The mechanics are meh, the world is bland. But unlike other open world games, which often have all those flaws, there's no room for me to make my own fun. They just didn't make this game for me at all. I'm sure if you love collecting apples and killing the same moblin over and over it's great though.
---

Epyo posted...

words

This is actually a very insightful post, well done!

I personally find myself falling somewhere in the middle of the two camps with a decent lean toward Type A, which is why I think I can enjoy BotW for what it is while still wishing deep down that it had more elements from the style of game I prefer. The actual perfect video game would be one that can fully satisfy both sides, but I'd be super hard pressed to think of anything that comes close. FWIW I think BotW fulfills Type B better than any game I've ever seen in my life, it's a hell of a game!
---

Yo are we talking about the second best game of 2017 in here that sure was a great 155 hours I spent with that game loved every minute of it
---