Gaming Perfection...? Breath of The Wild

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The Legend of Zelda: Breath of The Wild has been anything but a simple exhale this past couple of weeks. It has been a titanic sized tornado that has blown away a significant majority of those that happened to be in its presence. It has truly been a long time since we have seen a game be this polarizing or have such an enormous presence in everyone’s daily buzz. And it has been longer still, that we have had so many critics and gamers alike asking themselves just what makes this experience so enrapturing.

In the essence of gaming, what do we look for regarding what makes it great? What do we seek to take from it in our experiences? Who is it for, and is it better if it does not even ask that question? Or could it be that instead, it has all the answers to questions you did not even know you had? Breath of The Wild raises questions in the skeptics’ minds while it seems like the blatantly obvious answer to everyone who has played the game.

We can start finding these answers in one of the most common themes I recognized in all the surrounding buzz of this New Zelda game. Let’s look first at this quote from Jason Schreier’s review at Kotaku.

Kotaku Review - Paragraph 3&4 said:
“For decades now, Zelda games have been about what you can’t do as much as they are about what you can. You can’t pick up that rock until you find the Power Gloves. You can’t go swimming until you buy Zora’s Flippers. See that big gap? You can’t cross it until you get the Hookshot. Since Link to the Past, just about every Zelda game has followed this same rhythm: You start off in a narrow world that gradually expands as you make progress. – Skip to paragraph 4


The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, in contrast, is all about what you can do. This is a game that says “yes” to anything you ask of it. From the very beginning, you can swim in any lake, pick up any boulder, and cross any pit. When you try some crazy experiment, the game will oblige. You can climb up any wall, mountain, or tower in the world, which allows you the freedom to explore the map in a way that no Zelda game has matched. Breath of the Wild never asks you to wait for a new item before you uncover its secrets. It just keeps saying yes.”


ulel5qytm1eflzfb0srk.png

Kotaku's review standards.

In gaming’s current state we have been surrounded lately by this faux sense of freedom that all of these new open world games offer. We are supposed to marvel at the crowded and spattered excessive sidequests we have the ability to take on, the vast empty plains we can traverse to get to our next objective or these elongated stories that only the best of the best manage to keep enticing enough to continue all the way through.

Rarely do these games give the absolute sense of freedom that remains the biggest buzzword the masses of PR throw in your face. And yet, we have this game here that appears to have finally achieved just that. Looking at IGN’s review of the game it is the very concept Jose Otero leads off.

IGN Review - Paragraph 1 said:
“The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild’s sheer freedom and sense of adventure is a remarkable achievement. Right from the start, the vast landscape of Hyrule is thrown completely open to you, and it constantly finds ways to pique your curiosity with mysterious landmarks, complex hidden puzzles, and enemy camps to raid for treasure and weapons. The fact that you can tackle any one of these things at your own pace and almost never get pulled to the main path is liberating, but the way all of Breath of the Wild’s systems fit elegantly into complex light survival game is even more impressive.”

zeldae311amscrn047-1466019833767.png

From IGN's Gameplay Showcase at E3 2016

The very same is echoed in a majority of the reviews for Zelda. You may be thinking that it could be the freedom alone that became the big buzzword for this game and led to its success. And while it is certainly a driving factor, there is a lot more at work in this machine that is Breath of The Wild.

Nintendo knows that Zelda is a childhood franchise to many. It’s what sparked a lot of creative wonderment in the minds of those that first picked up a controller in their youngest years. In their efforts these past few years, there has been a hollow sentiment that Nintendo was banking on nostalgia all this time and that the magic was too difficult actually to recapture. So as the gamer had to grow up, so did Nintendo. Zelda itself needed to strip itself of the aging green tunic for modernized mechanics. But the real beauty of it all was modernizing itself in a way that didn’t leave behind the quirks and mechanics that made it so enchanting in the beginning.

Nintendo Life Review - Paragraph 2 said:
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild delivers the revolution that has undoubtedly been desired within Nintendo and, it seems, among many fans. This is still quintessential Zelda, but the old formula has been drastically overhauled to the point that it's almost been ripped up and re-written from scratch. What we have, then, is the most ambitious title in the history of the franchise; most importantly it delivers on its staggering potential.”

2078fff.jpg

DualShockers Review - Paragraph 2 said:
A true return to form and tour de force for Nintendo’s unreleased console, the Nintendo Switch, and Wii U. Returning to the roots of an unknown environment, pure adventure, and intrinsic difficulty, Breath of the Wild is far more linked with the original title than any of the games that would follow after. And indeed, all of those qualities turn out to be strengths for the game. Without a doubt, this is how The Legend of Zelda franchise should have progressed all along.


When I look at Breath of The Wild as an outsider, I see the core of a Zelda game that I recognize from my youngest memories in gaming. As I progress and continue to explore the world and its smallest quirks, I appreciate how expertly crafted it is.

I have watched streamers route speedrun paths that contradict others but save the same amount of time. I have seen casual players die over and over to seemingly unfair enemies while I saw the elite conquer areas without so much as losing a single heart. I watched a man throw his metal sword in the middle of a bunch of monsters during a storm and watched the lightning strike it to kill the enemies. I’ve observed that fire swords can keep Link warm in cold weather, and noticed the minute changes to his expressions in varying weather conditions.


It’s this culmination of all the small things that truly complete this massive game and set the standard for why it’s so bewitching. It did not have to do anything new to succeed. It had to refine and nail what makes its competition so successful and put its charm into those elements.

Giant Bomb Review - Final Paragraph said:
“This sense of wonder is something that I haven't felt so strongly since I played A Link to the Past when I was seven years old. Ocarina of Time was able to capture some of that same magic in my teenage years. Now that I’m in my thirties, I don’t think that I expected it to be possible for a game to make me feel like that again. I’ve been reviewing video games for twelve years now, and I’m used to describing games in a certain way. “This game controls well. This mechanic is innovative. The graphics are stunning. The skill tree feels limited.” That type of language doesn’t adequately convey how Breath of the Wild made me feel. Nintendo may have changed so many long-standing traditions of the Zelda franchise, but the spirit of discovery is as strong as it’s ever been no matter your age. I didn’t think I’d feel the Zelda magic this strongly ever again, but I couldn't be happier to be proven wrong.

qbvgzBN.gif

Jontron 10/10

With all these adjectives that tug at your heartstrings, you’d think the game truly was this untouchable angel of a game that had no issues. But not everyone is so easily pleased and with good reason. Critics and opinions are what drive developers to continually innovate, fix issues, and stay away from huge mistakes and unwanted mechanics. We’ve seen this argued consistently within our community, a sentiment that while I do not entirely agree with, can find understanding.

Gbatemp's Review - Paragraph 4 said:
Another mechanic is the re-introduction of weapon/shield durability, and let me just start off by saying it's easily the worst gameplay mechanic Nintendo has put in the game, and I hope whomever made the decision to make it so awful was fired. The biggest problem is that every weapon, shield, and bow in the game breaks. Period. Not a single weapon you come across in game actually lasts more than a 4-10 enemy kills, depending on the health of the enemy and if your weapon has a durability buff. The super cool, special Hylian Shield? Breakable. The super special Lightscale Trident wielded by the champion of the Zora's, Mipha? Breakable, but can be re-acquired. Every bow you come across? Breakable. But surely the Master Sword at least lasts forever, right? Y'know, the Master Sword? The ultimate weapon? The one thing that can can stop evil in the world of Hyrule? WRONG. IT'S BREAKABLE. It's not even as durable as some of the other weapons you get, some weapons have a durability up buff that lasts longer than the Master Sword does. Thankfully it's not as bad as other weapons, because when your Master Sword “Runs out of energy (AKA breaks), it'll recharge after 10 minutes. But that's simply something that shouldn't happen in any game, let alone a Zelda game where it's the ultimate goddamn world changing weapon. It's not even that difficult to fix! Nintendo's solution to the durability problem is the simple and wrong one, pick up everything you see until you run out of inventory space.

review_banner_legend_of_zelda_breath_of_the_wild.jpg

GBAtemp's Review Banner for Breath of The Wild

Just as the smallest things can bring a game together, the minor things drive a rift into your enjoyment that you take from the experience. I don’t think Tom’s review, or Jim Sterling’s review, or anyone that had bad impressions to take away from Breath of The Wild, are inherently wrong in their thinking. I, in fact, give them credit for being willing to discuss the things that irked them enough to put that effort into bringing them to light for other people to see. And even with those critique’s, they still enjoyed the game enough to think of it highly. They still managed to take something away from the game that made them enjoy it, even after their heaviest complaints.

Sure, their voices were cynical. We know who they are, we understand how they feel, and there is a sort of endearment to how they have such sharp tongues and angry approaches to things, but that shtick is still valid in a critical atmosphere. It’s necessary even to keep companies always driving to do better and better things for their games.

Your expectation of others opinion does not define overall experience. The beauty of gaming is its ability to personally craft experiences for every individual that encounters that game. Something many games struggle to do, and others do so immensely it stirs up the conversation we are having at this very moment.

Screenshot+2017-03-15+02.20.05.png

Breath of The Wild's current standing on Metacritic

Breath of The Wild ranks among the greatest video games of all time on Metacritic, which seems to mean a lot to people. Do you know what it was standing side by side with before a couple of reviews took it down to 97?

Tony Hawks Pro Skater 2.

Soul Calibur on the Dreamcast.

Screenshot+2017-03-15+02.22.00.png

The current top 4 ranked games on Metecritic

Is this truly how we measure gaming perfection? The half-assed, tacked on numbers at the end of a review? Or is it in fact much more important to go back and read the words that make up the review itself. See the sentiments and base your opinions on that? Share the experiences of the bigger voices and create your own with your voice and your playstyle?

I asked a lot of questions at the beginning of this long article. “In the essence of gaming, what do we look for regarding what makes it great? What do we seek to take from it in our experiences? Who is it for, and is it better if it does not even ask that question? Or could it be that instead, it has all the answers to questions you did not even know you had?”

Ask yourself this when you look at Breath of The Wild. Ask yourself this when you read a review you don’t agree with right before you leave that snide comment. Ask yourself what your experience seeks to benefit from one voice over others.

Is Breath of The Wild a perfect game? If you ask the majority, it seems to be pretty damn close, and the gameplay sure does speak for itself. But that leads me to my final question.


Is it perfect, simply, to you?

 

flame1234

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I like unscored reviews because people focus on the scores, not the game, and getting rid of the scores helps people focus on the game. They usually reduce scores to three: yes, no or maybe. Maybe usually has a description of the type of gamer who would like it. This type of review ends up being more useful than a scored one.

Unscored reviews: Kotaku, Ars technica
 

FierceDeityLinkMask

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The Legend of Zelda: Breath of The Wild has been anything but a simple exhale this past couple of weeks. It has been a titanic sized tornado that has blown away a significant majority of those that happened to be in its presence. It has truly been a long time since we have seen a game be this polarizing or have such an enormous presence in everyone’s daily buzz. And it has been longer still, that we have had so many critics and gamers alike asking themselves just what makes this experience so enrapturing.

In the essence of gaming, what do we look for regarding what makes it great? What do we seek to take from it in our experiences? Who is it for, and is it better if it does not even ask that question? Or could it be that instead, it has all the answers to questions you did not even know you had? Breath of The Wild raises questions in the skeptics’ minds while it seems like the blatantly obvious answer to everyone who has played the game.

We can start finding these answers in one of the most common themes I recognized in all the surrounding buzz of this New Zelda game. Let’s look first at this quote from Jason Schreier’s review at Kotaku.




View attachment 81416
Kotaku's review standards.

In gaming’s current state we have been surrounded lately by this faux sense of freedom that all of these new open world games offer. We are supposed to marvel at the crowded and spattered excessive sidequests we have the ability to take on, the vast empty plains we can traverse to get to our next objective or these elongated stories that only the best of the best manage to keep enticing enough to continue all the way through.

Rarely do these games give the absolute sense of freedom that remains the biggest buzzword the masses of PR throw in your face. And yet, we have this game here that appears to have finally achieved just that. Looking at IGN’s review of the game it is the very concept Jose Otero leads off.



View attachment 81417
From IGN's Gameplay Showcase at E3 2016

The very same is echoed in a majority of the reviews for Zelda. You may be thinking that it could be the freedom alone that became the big buzzword for this game and led to its success. And while it is certainly a driving factor, there is a lot more at work in this machine that is Breath of The Wild.

Nintendo knows that Zelda is a childhood franchise to many. It’s what sparked a lot of creative wonderment in the minds of those that first picked up a controller in their youngest years. In their efforts these past few years, there has been a hollow sentiment that Nintendo was banking on nostalgia all this time and that the magic was too difficult actually to recapture. So as the gamer had to grow up, so did Nintendo. Zelda itself needed to strip itself of the aging green tunic for modernized mechanics. But the real beauty of it all was modernizing itself in a way that didn’t leave behind the quirks and mechanics that made it so enchanting in the beginning.







When I look at Breath of The Wild as an outsider, I see the core of a Zelda game that I recognize from my youngest memories in gaming. As I progress and continue to explore the world and its smallest quirks, I appreciate how expertly crafted it is.

I have watched streamers route speedrun paths that contradict others but save the same amount of time. I have seen casual players die over and over to seemingly unfair enemies while I saw the elite conquer areas without so much as losing a single heart. I watched a man throw his metal sword in the middle of a bunch of monsters during a storm and watched the lightning strike it to kill the enemies. I’ve observed that fire swords can keep Link warm in cold weather, and noticed the minute changes to his expressions in varying weather conditions.


It’s this culmination of all the small things that truly complete this massive game and set the standard for why it’s so bewitching. It did not have to do anything new to succeed. It had to refine and nail what makes its competition so successful and put its charm into those elements.



qbvgzBN.gif

Jontron 10/10

With all these adjectives that tug at your heartstrings, you’d think the game truly was this untouchable angel of a game that had no issues. But not everyone is so easily pleased and with good reason. Critics and opinions are what drive developers to continually innovate, fix issues, and stay away from huge mistakes and unwanted mechanics. We’ve seen this argued consistently within our community, a sentiment that while I do not entirely agree with, can find understanding.



View attachment 81419
GBAtemp's Review Banner for Breath of The Wild

Just as the smallest things can bring a game together, the minor things drive a rift into your enjoyment that you take from the experience. I don’t think Tom’s review, or Jim Sterling’s review, or anyone that had bad impressions to take away from Breath of The Wild, are inherently wrong in their thinking. I, in fact, give them credit for being willing to discuss the things that irked them enough to put that effort into bringing them to light for other people to see. And even with those critique’s, they still enjoyed the game enough to think of it highly. They still managed to take something away from the game that made them enjoy it, even after their heaviest complaints.

Sure, their voices were cynical. We know who they are, we understand how they feel, and there is a sort of endearment to how they have such sharp tongues and angry approaches to things, but that shtick is still valid in a critical atmosphere. It’s necessary even to keep companies always driving to do better and better things for their games.

Your expectation of others opinion does not define overall experience. The beauty of gaming is its ability to personally craft experiences for every individual that encounters that game. Something many games struggle to do, and others do so immensely it stirs up the conversation we are having at this very moment.

View attachment 81420
Breath of The Wild's current standing on Metacritic

Breath of The Wild ranks among the greatest video games of all time on Metacritic, which seems to mean a lot to people. Do you know what it was standing side by side with before a couple of reviews took it down to 97?

Tony Hawks Pro Skater 2.

Soul Calibur on the Dreamcast.

View attachment 81421
The current top 4 ranked games on Metecritic

Is this truly how we measure gaming perfection? The half-assed, tacked on numbers at the end of a review? Or is it in fact much more important to go back and read the words that make up the review itself. See the sentiments and base your opinions on that? Share the experiences of the bigger voices and create your own with your voice and your playstyle?

I asked a lot of questions at the beginning of this long article. “In the essence of gaming, what do we look for regarding what makes it great? What do we seek to take from it in our experiences? Who is it for, and is it better if it does not even ask that question? Or could it be that instead, it has all the answers to questions you did not even know you had?”

Ask yourself this when you look at Breath of The Wild. Ask yourself this when you read a review you don’t agree with right before you leave that snide comment. Ask yourself what your experience seeks to benefit from one voice over others.

Is Breath of The Wild a perfect game? If you ask the majority, it seems to be pretty damn close, and the gameplay sure does speak for itself. But that leads me to my final question.


Is it perfect, simply, to you?

Wow, that was beautiful.
 

ItsKipz

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I think BOTW has made one thing clear to me: the out of 10 and out of 100 scoring idea needs to go. If someone is getting threatened and ddos'd over a 7/10 (which is a 70/100, a C, technically passing in my book :P) maybe the problem is that there needs to be a new way to score games - not on how you would score the game, but maybe how much you would recommend it.
 
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Saiyan Lusitano

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Amazing game in all fairness but the technical problems might lose some points in peoples' opinions, I went from a 10/10 to an 8/10. There's just no way that Zelda:BotW is worth a 10/10 as it isn't a flawless game, but it sure does feel the Breath of the Wild! :D

One of my favourite aspects is that it's dubbed in Spanish (no Portuguese dub but that'd probably be shit because that's how most Portuguese dubs are). ^_^
 

s157

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Great game, but a clear example why reviews should be unscored as most people don't even read the review then and just either blindly agree or blindly bash the reviewer.

Kinda disagree with this part:

"When I look at Breath of The Wild as an outsider, I see the core of a Zelda game that I recognize from my youngest memories in gaming. As I progress and continue to explore the world and its smallest quirks, I appreciate how expertly crafted it is."
(yes I didn't bother to use the quote feature because my knowledge of how these forums work borders near illiterate)

It's possibly has the smallest numbers of Legend of Zelda tropes in it. I personally see an open-world action RPG with small hints of LoZ in it. And to many, shying away from the standard LoZ formula was a great move. To some others, it wasn't.

All opinions of course, so I'm neither right or wrong.
 

Xzi

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Do I think BotW is a perfect game? No. I also don't think a game has to be perfect to receive a 10/10, though, and nor do I think it's likely there ever will be a perfect game in the literal sense of the word. BotW is not perfect, but it is innovative and a masterpiece. What many thought of as really good or great previously released open-world RPGs were put to shame by BotW. Frankly that's why I find it funny that Skyrim is coming to Switch, that's a game completely out of its depth on the system already unless it includes mods.
 
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Kikirini

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I don't think it's a perfect game (or a perfect Zelda game either), but it did bring a much needed breath of fresh air to the series. I'm hoping the series from this point on keeps the open-world approach, it just felt so right.
That being said, framerate issues and breakable weapons are what I wasn't fond of.
 
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Pluupy

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I'm not really feeling it. I don't dislike it, I just...don't feel enthusiastic about this Zelda game. Very odd considering I am a fan of both Zelda and open world games. I just don't think it's perfect. The game feels very lifeless for a Zelda game. While I am impressed at Link's new repertoire of physical and magical abilities, I feel like this game lacks the normal spirit of a Zelda game and was made by someone trying to emulate a Zelda game.
 

s157

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Do I think BotW is a perfect game? No. I also don't think a game has to be perfect to receive a 10/10, though, and nor do I think it's likely there ever will be a perfect game in the literal sense of the word. BotW is not perfect, but it is a masterpiece. What many thought of as really good or great previously released open-world RPGs were put to shame by BotW. Frankly that's why I find it funny that Skyrim is coming to Switch, that's a game completely out of its depth on the system already unless it includes mods.

What is the deal with everyone and comparisons? Does your actions heavily affect the world in BotW? Can you join multiple factions or betray them? Can you slaughter innocents at your will?

Or looking at the other side, can you paraglide in skyrim? Is Link that much better at rock climbing than the dragonborn? Is Skyrim as action based as BotW is? Does skyrim have as big of an emphasis on physics?

These games are good at what they do. If I want to bend a dragon to my will with mostly my voice, or if I wish to slaughter innocents, or if I'm looking for a first-person RPG experience where my choices affect the world, I'll play skyrim. If I wish to explore a vast, beautiful landscape, or if I wish for a fun third-person combat system in an open world RPG, or if I want to just hear some breathtaking music (sparse as it is), I'll play BotW. I can't say I'll play it for nolstalgia as it's a huge shift from the traditional Zelda formula.
 

Xzi

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I'm not really feeling it. I don't dislike it, I just...don't feel enthusiastic about this Zelda game. Very odd considering I am a fan of both Zelda and open world games. I just don't think it's perfect. The game feels very lifeless for a Zelda game. While I am impressed at Link's new repertoire of physical and magical abilities, I feel like this game lacks the normal spirit of a Zelda game and was made by someone trying to emulate a Zelda game.
Not sure what leads you to those conclusions. The villages are absolutely reminiscent of other Zelda games. The cuccos are still there. Shrines and puzzles are 100% Zelda but slightly more difficult.
 

skawo

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slightly more difficult

Erm...
Look, I know Zelda isn't exactly rocket science, but BotW's puzzles can literally be skipped a lot of the time. How is that more difficult?
 

Xzi

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Erm...
Look, I know Zelda isn't exactly rocket science, but BotW's puzzles can literally be skipped a lot of the time. How is that more difficult?
You can skip just about everything in BotW, but my pride won't allow Zelda puzzles to defeat me, having beat two of three Dark Souls games so far.
 
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