Zelda BOTW - Am I missing something?

Crizzy

Crizzy

Crizzy

Associate
Joined
31 May 2007
Posts
2,481
Location
Bristol
I bought this game after reading and watching all the rave reviews, but I'm just not getting it.

Yes it looks great, yes the movement mechanics are great (love being able to climb) but I am failing to get that X factor from it :(

The story, or lack thereof, doesn't draw me in, I hate the weapon breaking mechanic, and I never quite feel like I am doing the right thing.

Plus I'm not finding the enemies particularly diverse or exciting, and at the moment I am fed up of coming across 'another' bokoblin camp.

As a character I feel quite lonely and don't seem to make any connection with any other in-game characters. I know Link has never had his own dialogue, and nor does a lot of characters I play in other games, but it just feels a bit souless as a result, not sure why.

Maybe I'm just too early on in the game (I've only recently acquired a horse, which I am finding a bit of a fiddle to control) to really experience what it has to offer, but right now it just seems a bit 'sigh'.

I may get blasted by the faithful on this, and after gaming since the 80s this is my first Zelda game so maybe my expectations were all wrong.

It probably is a 10/10 game in every respect, so it may well be a case of 'it's not you, but me'...
 
I found it much more dependent on you driving the game forward than most stuff is these days, it won't drive you with quest lists and step by step objectives. It pretty much drops you in a landscape and says 'get on with it then'.

I have suggested to a few friends that they might want to follow a guide to get a foothold in the feel of the game. Once you 'get' how it wants you to approach it, it might start to feel more natural. It does start slow. The diversity does improve a bit as you start to play through the different environments.

https://www.zeldadungeon.net/breath-of-the-wild-walkthrough/

That said the weapon breaking mechanics never stopped irritating me, though it does give a bit more variety than the old school Zelda approach where there are only a handful of weapons in the entire game start to finish. I think they recognised the modern gamer wants/expects to constantly find 'new stuff' but they didn't want a model that has people keeping 400 weapons for the entire game.
 
It’s not just you.

It falls flat in a lot of areas that Zelda typically does well in (dungeons, music, memorable characters, weapon progression) so if you’re a fan of Zelda you might not like this version.
 
It's exactly like Skyrim for me. I enjoyed my time with it, I put in a good 40-50 into both, but they're not much more than 7/10 games for me. The dungeons are boring, repetitive and lack that rewarding feeling you get from obtaining key items in other games like the traditional Zelda games. The combat in both is average at best and bad at worst and I couldn't give a toss about any of the characters in either game. The overworld is fun to explore at first but quickly becomes stale when the only worthwhile things to find are shrines, and those cool ruins you see in the distance are nothing more than scenery.
 
Last edited:
Glad it's not just me.

There seems little reward from going off piste as even if you get a nice new shiny weapon it will break not longer after you start using it. And it's not like you're gaining XP either to level up and gain new skills.

So there seems little incentive to explore for me, unless it's to forage for food to replenish the health you lost looking for it :/

There is the shrine element I guess but I didn't want the game to be just looking for shrines and working out how to get to them. That is enjoyable to be fair, but only for so long.

And there is also little incentive to drive on with the story as it's basically so weak to be non existent so far.
 
Kreeeee said:
It’s not just you.

It falls flat in a lot of areas that Zelda typically does well in (dungeons, music, memorable characters, weapon progression) so if you’re a fan of Zelda you might not like this version.
Click to expand...
Probably this. I loved it though, but certainly room for improvement.

I hope we get the sequel this year or next. It should be much better being designed from the ground up for the Switch :)
 
I got bored near the end with the ancient enemies. Mainly the blocking and parrying is broken for me so couldn't reliable defeat those enemies and made it a save before each enemy.
 
robj20 said:
I got bored near the end with the ancient enemies. Mainly the blocking and parrying is broken for me so couldn't reliable defeat those enemies and made it a save before each enemy.
Click to expand...

How is it broken? There’s quite a wide timing window for it.
 
I agree with almost all the criticisms in this thread yet its still one of the best games I've ever played, which makes me look forward to the sequel even more given the number of areas they can improve upon. I think I'd only put OoT and MM ahead of it in terms of Zelda games.

The biggest gripe for me is the quality of the dungeons - whilst the shrines are great and almost mini dungeons, the four beasts were very dull.
 
It was impressive technically but story was non existant, dungeons poor, weapons system frustrating. Ultimately forgettable compared to those that have gone before.
 
Moothead2 said:
Not being about the story doesn't mean it gets a pass for having nothing. Dark Souls isn't exactly Shakespeare but it still adds to the rest of the game where BOTW doesn't.
Click to expand...

The formula is to save the princess. It's the same bad guy for 35 years in every outing so if they change it up and make it complicated people will moan.

Either way, people will moan.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom