Zelda sitting @ 98 on meta critic :O

[Eric]

http://www.metacritic.com/game/switch/t ... f-the-wild

I know Zelda usually reviews well but goddamn.

It seems they completely reinvented the formula here, this is not Ocarina of Time 5.0.

[Julius Seeker]

I died about 7 seconds after leaving the cave. Pretty much like the first time I played a Zelda game when I was 5 or 6 =D

Fell off a cliff.

The game is really good so far. I love being thrown right into such freedom with so much to do right away. It reminds me of games like Minecraft and Let's Starve in that way, except with much more lofty tasks to complete.

[Julius Seeker]

Some thoughts.

The game starts the player off on this really open up area, the Plateau. This area is a very non-hand holding tutorial section. While it is dangerous, and I died multiple times, after leaving I realize it was a safe little cocoon. Now that I am a few hours in (more like 15-20 hours by now). Minor Spoilers below - I won't talk story details.

Learns From Earlier Games, Sheds Tired Details of Past Zelda Games
The game learned from the Xenoblade Chronicles X experience, as many of the same concepts are repackaged and improved on:
* Stables are scattered across the world, they are very much like BLADE encampments.
* There is a huge amount of vertical level design.
* Data Probe locations have become these large Hyrule towers: when activated they give data of the region.

High Polish
I've only played a few Open World games: XCX, GTA series, Assassins Creed series, LA Noire, Shadows of Mordor, and one thing that all of these games suffer from to some extent is they feel like a lot of segments attached, they have a bit of an unpolished feel. I more or less considered these as inevitabilities of the genre; but somehow Zelda feels remarkably polished in comparison - far more so than any other open world game. The detail, the relationships, the interactions are all on the level of what you get out of the most well done linear games with highly controlled experiences. Everything seems to be growing, everything seems very much alive.

I have been playing a lot of Don't Starve lately, part of my problem is the cooking often yields weird results. Zelda has a similar cooking system, but everything seems much more logical - if you think A + B + C will have positive results, it will; if A + B + D will have better results, it will.

Towns and Cultures
* Many towns: aside from the stable settlements across the world, there are villages of Hylians with very different cultures, and even bigger locations which are centers of the different races.
* Lots of people walking/riding down roads, getting in encounters, and with objectives. Some may be going into the wild for supplies/treasure, etc... It is like Majora's Mask X300 on steroids.
* There is a big town you can bunker down in and build a house. It's on the border and therefore avoided the troubles that afflicted Hyrule. It's so far the largest Hylian town I have come across.

Any way, more later.

Timeline,
I don't know for certain, but it seems to be in the region of the original two Zelda games.

[Eric]

I absolutely hate the weapon degredation system in this game.

Everything else is great.

[M'k'n'zy]

I'm really enjoying the game so far, though I think I got into an area I wasn't really supposed to go to yet. I got up north into the Lanryu area, and when the enemies started dropping weapons that were about twice as strong as most of what I'd been seeing so far, I thought maybe I should come back later lol.

[Julius Seeker]

Eric, some weapons are unbreakable. If you want the earliest one

Spoiler: show

Go to the Zora domain in the east. Defeat the boss and the dungeon there - make sure to bing LOTS of cooked meals that will fully heal (I went through a dozen or more). Defeat the Titan boss (fairly easy) then complete the dungeon (dungeon boss is harder, but that's what the food is for. Then you get a Trident. In Zora domain there is another trident hidden underneath the bridge heading North - to to the Zora blacksmith after to combine the two for your first unbreakable weapon... Not to mention you get a life
spell and new set of armour along the way.

[Eric]

I actually ended going there first anyway, they're my favorite race heh.

I just really hate the mechanic, it's not really fun to me.

[Julius Seeker]

Actually, I could be wrong on it in the spoiler. I got the info from gamefaqs.

[Eric]

Eh, minor weapon spoiler crap:

Spoiler: show

The Master Sword is "unbreakable," as when it breaks it needs to recharge after for like 10 minutes, Legendary weapons from the 4 big heroes can be repaired after they break with mats from creatures and have slightly more durability, though the durability is still shit.

[Julius Seeker]

I am past my first major location. Zora's Domain. I REALLY recommend going there first. Also, Death Mountain is probably the best second destination.

[Oracle]

I am past my first major location. Zora's Domain. I REALLY recommend going there first. Also, Death Mountain is probably the best second destination.

I also finished Zora's Domain and Ruta last night. Now to decide if I do more shrine hunting (I've done ~30) or head to my next "big 4" dungeon.

[Eric]

Price of the Ancient Armor set has me like

[Julius Seeker]

You probably need just a few more to get to 13 hearts. That's where you want to be for... something good. Also, there's a location in Kakariko Village that allows you to trade hearts and stamina back and forth an unlimited amount based on funds. It costs 20 rupees per shot.

[Oracle]

Actually, I could be wrong on it in the spoiler. I got the info from gamefaqs.

Spoiler: show

So yea, I'm not sure if your info is right. I've found no way to combine the weapons. You can just have them re-crafted by the blacksmith after they break (as far as I can tell).

[Julius Seeker]

I've explored most of the South and East now. The North and West are still a mystery.

I'm at 12 hearts.

One thing I love about this game is the world is so full of weird and quirky humour. While the game plays very unlike Zelda from LTTP to Skyward Sword, it still feels very strongly like a Zelda game.

I haven't played an open world game quite like this before, where there are so many triggers that allow players to do things, right down to tree placement. The design is incredibly detailed and abundant. Things go right so often with that it most players feel they're being incredibly lucky; but it's really jus lots and lots of very well concealed design. Because there's so many different ways to do things, a huge amount of the triggers will probably be accessed by 1% or fewer players, because others will find other ways to do things.

This is open world game design taken to the next level.

[Eric]

Good lord the music outside of Hyrule Castle is so goddamn epic. I didn't want to leave.

[Julius Seeker]

I have the Master Sword
Defeated 3 of the 4 fiends of element
15 Hearts, +1 Stamina boost - I'm going all out on stamina from here out.

For the record, stamina capacity is not very important, especially early on, it's more about convenience than anything. Stamina refill meals are easy to come by, and I find I always have plenty to get pretty much everywhere I want to go int he world.

I have also fed all of my Korok seeds so far into increasing weapon capacity to this point, and I think I have enough; my last upgrade cost me 12 seeds. I am going to start working on shields and bows evenly was now; each of those only require 1.


Anyway, the optimal game route I have found:
1. Do about 40 Shrines, get hearts (you can exchange stamina and hearts after a certain quest in Kakariko).
2. Get the Master Sword
3. Complete all 4 major dungeons
4. ???? Ancient Armour? Side quests? Exploration? Remaining shrines? Ganon?

My reasoning is as follows:
1. 40 Shrines - Doing 40 Shrines will teach you a lot about puzzles which will really help in the bigger dungeons. It also unlocks the ability to get the master sword.
2. The Master Sword does something special in dungeons.
3. The dungeons will each give you something to help with exploring the world, fighting, etc...
4. I am not quite sure what the next best step is, but these are the soptions I am considering, and all of the dungeon stuff should make this a lot easier and more fun.

Goes without saying, but buy all armour sets and upgrade them all as you get the material to do so. They each have uses.

[Eric]

Your path seems similar to mine, I didn't get the Master Sword until after the 3rd major dungeon though hehe.

I also got Stamina buffs to start with because I like to climb mountains and it gives you a better max distance when you glide off the top of towers(And helps climb some towers), I did stop @ 2 full stamina circles though, that's enough to pretty much navigate everything, especially if you get the climbing speed armor.

Here's a question, I ran into a Frost Talus(One of those giant rock monsters that throw their arms) and its weak spot was in the wrong location, instead of being on top of it's head it was on its back, which made the fight 10x harder then the other rock monsters because I could only DPS him down with arrows instead of climb on then melee it -_- Run into anything like that?

[Julius Seeker]

Heh, I didn't follow that path either, it's mostly in retrospect if I were to do it all again with greater efficiency. I got the Master Sword between the Zora and Rita dungeons, which were my first two.

I have not fought any of the large monsters roaming the world yet, although I have been hunting Guardians, which becomes a very easy task with the master swold - just run up quickly and strike them repeatedly, and you should kill it before it gets even one shot off... most of the time!

Right now I am wondering if there is a way that is almost as fast to get money as gambling save/loads, it's a bit of a pain when you need thousands of rupees, reminds me of drawing in FF8 - but FF8 not only had different ways to get magic, but much better and more efficient ones (refining and crafting the enemy drops, or cards). Right now I am wondering if there is some kind of food you can easily acquire, cook, and sell for 100+; or, perhaps enemy drops that sell for big. Guardian pieces don't count, I think I already need to hunt down a few hundred of those to craft the armour, and then craft the upgrades.

[Eric]

If you need gold I've found making high quality food/potions and selling it is worth a lot, more then the raw materials easily. I usually just buy out whatever from vendors since you're always gonna get a return on your investment.



There's only 4 World Monsters I know of, do we still need spoiler tags? Eh whatever

Spoiler: show

the giant flying Dragons, I've only beaten one, the One Eyed Ogre dudes that are kinda derpy, you can kill them before they even stand up if you have an attack power x 3 foot item and the right 2-hander >.> The stone guys, again they're pretty easy, and the 1 hard world boss, the Lion dudes which are pretty tough.

[Oracle]

If you need gold I've found making high quality food/potions and selling it is worth a lot, more then the raw materials easily. I usually just buy out whatever from vendors since you're always gonna get a return on your investment.



There's only 4 World Monsters I know of, do we still need spoiler tags? Eh whatever

Spoiler: show

the giant flying Dragons, I've only beaten one, the One Eyed Ogre dudes that are kinda derpy, you can kill them before they even stand up if you have an attack power x 3 foot item and the right 2-hander >.> The stone guys, again they're pretty easy, and the 1 hard world boss, the Lion dudes which are pretty tough.

Spoiler: show

By Lion dudes, do you mean Lynels? The centaur/Minotaur looking guys? If so, I found them to be one of the easiest open world mobs. It's all about dodge/flurry with your best 2hander, and then arrow to the face after he charges you.

[Julius Seeker]

Here's another quick money source:

On Hyrule field there are several orchards. One particularicularly dense one in the South-West, just a short way from the mountain that glows blue some nights (see spoiler below) where you can get ~150 or so. Bomb or cut the trees and collect all of the apples quickly. Usually around orchards you can find an axe or two. Harvest a few hundred, then find a cook station. When you find them, it's good to stamp the locations on the map so you can find them again later.

Apples sell for typically 3 rupees a piece, but if you cook 5 of them together you can sell the dish for 50; so 400 harvested apples from around the orchards can get you 4000 rupees instead of 1200. This is a faster and much more interesting way to get money than save-scumming the gambling center in Lurelin.

Also, another great fruit to stamp on the map is Hearty Durian, as these can be cooked with any kind of meat (including the cheapest) into max health meals.

[Oracle]

The Hearty Durian, I believe, can be cooked by itself for max health + temp heart mushroom skewers. Great for use, terrible to sell, however.

[Eric]

Random note: Durian IRL smells like feet. lol

[Eric]

wtf...so Kotaku has an article up saying somebody found all 900 seeds in BoW. Meanwhile I'm at like .....65? rofl.

[Julius Seeker]

I had no idea there were anywhere near 900 seeds. But I suppose there's like 120 Shrimes, and they seem more spread out.

Also, good to know about the Durians. No more wasting meat!

[Eric]

I finished all the main quests, and decided to beat the game. Still more to explore, but I don't think there's anything else that's gonna radically change my opinion of the game from here on. Mild spoilers ahead

Things I don't like:

1) Weapon Degradation system. I hate it, it never grew on me, I hate that I got cool weapons and they broke, I hate that even the legendary weapons had to be recrafted, I hate that the Master Sword breaks. Living off the weapons of my enemies is not fun, I want to use my cool ass weapons. Shit sucks, if you like it I'm happy for you, it's the worst thing about the game to me. If Nintendo patched in that weapons never break as an option I'd turn it on tomorrow and never look back.

2) Lack of music is a weak point to me because we know Zelda music is fucking fantastic, the best track in the game is Hyrule castle, I lament that there is no zone music except for combat music and the combat music in this game is downright awful.

3) Ganon. I'm not a fan of him just being a malevolent force with no personality, motivation or goals. I think Ganon is a pretty cool villain when he has a humanoid form. I didn't think much of him as the final fight or the 4 temple bosses and the very last form was just a cinematic fight you had 0 chance of losing and didn't really mean anything in the grand scheme. I understand why for this game they made Ganon the way they made him. I just wish there was more there.

Things I liked:

Everything else. =o

The world is fun as fuck to explore, there's shit EVERYWHERE to find and discover and you're rewarded 99% of the time for just exploring a mountain that's a tad higher or a small deserted island that catches the corner of your eye off the coast. If there's an area to explore in this game, explore it, you're always rewarded for it, and it's the absolute best part about the game to me.

The Combat is probably the best in the series because there's actual itemization here, spears, 1-handers, 2-handers, the bayonetta style witch time when you dodge at the right time, the parry mechanic with the shield. All of this is extremely fun. The way the enemies all have little tells and interactions and freak out and act in certain ways depending on what's going on keeps it from ever getting stale.

I actually like the backstory with Zelda and the Champions I thought they were fun characters and it would have been interesting to fight at their side.

I don't know if I'm going to hunt down 900 seeds, but I'm sure there's more stuff out there to find/explore. Looking forward to hunting it all down.

[Julius Seeker]

Weapon durability is not something they can easily patch in, not without drastic rebalancing. It would be like going into Turok and giving all weapons infinite ammo, there's codes for that and they break the game.

Spoiler: show

A good example is the Master Sword and how sickeningly overpowered it is versus Guardians and dungeons. Imagine that with high powered spears or high powered bows and bomb arrows.

For the record, I don't mind weapon durability, and I felt it worked better for this game than Xenoblade's weapon system where you just keep getting flooded and will only ever use about 1% of the collects: and I can see other open world game adopting durability in the future. But I wish it had been designed around some kind of chest system like RE4, rather than upgradable inventory slots, that way you could throw all your ice stuff in the chest until going to Death Mountain. The other change I would make is the option to quick draw from inventory with the attack button - that is if you are in combat, and your weapon breaks, your next weapon button press will draw the next weapon on the list; and a second option to crack open that weapon select menu: Like Quick Draw & Quick Draw+ options.


The audio design I am a fan of, primarily because I think it gives a much better feel for the setting than covering it up with some kind of song would; no Zelda game in the past has sounded this alive and tangible. Secondly, because repeating music gets painful in these sorts of games - Xenoblade and Xenoblade Chronicles X: Guar Plain is an awesome song, but I can't listen to it anymore without getting a headache. In Xenoblade, the night tunes were always my favourite, because they were no where near as irritating to listen to after hours and hours. Then the dynamic music for the various locations and encounters works out fairly well, Zelda has been doing that sort of thing since Ocarina of Time.

This audio directions isn't unprecedented for Zelda, as Wind Waker is fairly close to the same thing.

As far as open world games go, GTA's radio stations are the best way to handle music. Unfortunately, the closest thing to a radio in Hyrule and the Bards and traveling performers.

[Julius Seeker]

Cooking 5X meat and selling seems to be dynamite when it comes to sales.

Anyway, an interesting panel by some higher profile devs on Zelda.



I agree with them on this, if this becomes the new design philosophy of Nintendo going forward, it's going to be a very bright future.

[SineSwiper]

Super Bunnyhop had a pretty fair review of the game



I've played it for a bit, and yeah, I don't like the degradation system either. The item management is rather annoying, too. I still like it, but currently, I'm engrossed in Fallout 4. I'll jump back into it later (hopefully).

[Oracle]

I only have 103 shrines, I'm such a slacker.

And 900 fucking seeds? Yea no. I've been everywhere in this game and I have just shy of 200. Shouldn't I be tripping over those little fuckers everywhere I go???

[Julius Seeker]

I still have yet to finish the game, but I think I will in the next couple of weeks.

[Julius Seeker]

I only have 103 shrines, I'm such a slacker.

And 900 fucking seeds? Yea no. I've been everywhere in this game and I have just shy of 200. Shouldn't I be tripping over those little fuckers everywhere I go???

I am much worse at being completionistic than you, mostly because I am not much of a completionist-type player. So I haven't really focused on the Shrines since getting the Master Sword; although I have completed a few more. I have 58 Shrines and 188 Korok seeds and 105 hours of play. Although my armour is doing very well, on sets that I can max out, I have 1 to 2 pieces at 4 stars; and this includes the ancient Armour set which I have 2 pieces at 4 stars (28 defense each). I am short a star fragment, 4 cores, and 2 giant cores; and since I am not much into farming, it will probably be a while until I find them - giant cores might be easier to find in shrines, but I have WAY too much fun riding in against Guardians and taking them out with the bow + Master Sword.

As with all adventure games of this type, collecting power upgrades has diminishing returns. It eventually gets to the point where going after modifiers have substantially greater rewards - in this case, upgrading armour; which also have the added bonus of the added benefits and skill upgrades that come with them. I am already to the point where I don't think any enemy stands much of a chance against me, but I could still be stronger/faster at killing the biggest monsters.

I have completed all memories and all of the main dungeons.

I still have a lot of the world yet to explore, and I actually just found a new stable village. I have most of the South complete, although I haven't explored the islands in any great detail yet, I know there is a supposedly really amazing location out there. I am currently making my way through the remaining depths of Faron Woods before heading north of Death Mountain to explore that region, which apparently I have never visited. I think my favourite recent discovery was somewhere North-West of Rito Village, a gigantic canyon that stretches across Western Hyrule. I actually passed over it a number of times before, but never really thought to explore it until now. I managed to steal a horse from a group of mounted bokoblins toward the Northern end of the canyon, and so was able to explore the entirety of the area with relative ease. Then I explored along the Western edge of Hyrule before getting my main horse.

Another big discovery is seeing an interesting looking horse riding into a wall, trying to escape. I managed to get onboard, and after a MASSIVE struggle, managed to tame it. The horse was apparently descended from Princess Zelda's mount, and it is truly fantastic! There's also Ganondorf's horse, which I have found, but not captured, it is on a plain in the North West of Faron, close to the border with the Gerudo Kingdom.