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Breath of The Wild has enraptured fans and critics alike in the week since its launch. Touted as one of the greatest open world games in a decade, the most awesome Zelda since Ocarina of Time, and the most excellent video game to come out in recent memory.

Flawless and perfection are the adjectives that echo in everyone's words that talk about this newest iteration of Zelda. But not everyone has been echoing the same sentiment, and one man, in particular, is paying pretty dearly for his opinion.

Jim Sterling, known for his no-nonsense and polarizing views on the gaming industry, has taken fire for seemingly being responsible for Breath of The Wilds drop from 98 to 97 on Metacritic after publishing his review giving the game a 7/10. (Boy that sure looks familiar.)

“At its absolute best, Breath of the Wild offers some of the most absorbing experiences a Zelda game ever has.

“Unfortunately, it makes you work harder for it than you should, buried as it is under a pile of small but constant irritations that collaborate to form a thick crust of frustration around a delectable center.

“Breath of the Wild is a delightful adventure, one that tries its utmost to be as big a pain in the arse as possible.”

In the hours since publishing his review, Sterlings website has gone down and is currently inaccessible at the time of this writing. He has also received numerous public death threats and even has shared straw polls demanding he be hanged for his opinion.

Truly, I wish I could say I understood what all the critics were raving about in their onslaught of 10/10 reviews, but I don’t. I see too many things getting in the way of the brilliance, too much repetitive busywork and full-on dick moves for me to say this is even close to my favorite Zelda game, much less in the top five.

Close, but no Triforce.

Silencing criticism with DDoS's and hate speech is an unfortunate and unnecessary consequence of modern internet media. No one should be silenced for their opinion as everyone has a right to their views.

What does our community make of this recent news? How do you all feel about what happened to Sterling?

 

[geodeath]

Off topic but relevant: an experience was done among something like 100-200 people. They were asked to estimate the number of candies in a big jar. The calculated average abd median were both close to the real result with less than 0.5% error.

I am all for stats and behavioural economics or econometrics, but the problem here is that a game "feels" different for each of us.

 

[netovsk]

Yet i know people that thought Journey is what they are looking for in a game. I played it and i found it an incredible small game for what it is. It was nice as an experience and definitely something different. Yes, it is not like a full fledged game, yet so many people regard it highly. What does the fact that you think it is a joke means? That GOTY awards are a joke? If so, treat all of them as jokes and we are cool. If you do not think it is a joke, then you have to accept there are other opinions.

I much prefer playing Journey than Fallout myself. I find the battle of Fallout the single most boring thing i have ever played in my life, and i have been through thousands of crap games. Yet i respect some people like it. The same way people need to respect that for some people Zelda has game breaking flaws.

It is called choice. You cannot argue with people's opinion. You can discuss arguments but thats it. No matter how many critics tell me so, the combat system of this Zelda for me is completely flawed. I still enjoy it. Just less. How that affects other people experiences, i fail to understand.

My very own personal opinion is that Journey is a joke, I didn't like the game but I can totally understand why other people would enjoy it - for the experience that transcends bounds of gaming and blah blah blah.

I didn't call GOTY awards a joke, so yeah.

There's a difference between "I don't like this" and "This is bad". For this thread it's "I don't like it" when asked to elaborate on what are the games flaws and "This is bad" when someone agrees that Zelda doesn't deserve all the praise it's getting. Yeah, right.

 

[geodeath]

My very own personal opinion is that Journey is a joke, I didn't like the game but I can totally understand why other people would enjoy it - for the experience that transcends bounds of gaming and blah blah blah.

I didn't call GOTY awards a joke, so yeah.

There's a difference between "I don't like this" and "This is bad". For this thread it's "I don't like it" when asked to elaborate on what are the games flaws and "This is bad" when someone agrees that Zelda doesn't deserve all the praise it's getting. Yeah, right.

I see what you mean. But projecting my own experience of the game, i do not personally think the game deserves all the credit it gets. I understand why other people think so and i am happy for them to make it GOTY if they want. However, i will stick to my opinion and i have all the reasons to back it up if needed. How can i agree both to the statements that "i do not like a game for X and Y" and at the same time agree that "it deserves all the praise"? It might be possible when we are talking about a game genre you do not generally enjoy (i.e. i never play beat em ups, so i do not even get in such a conversation), but for a genre you enjoy these 2 statements contradict each other. Also consider the emotion. As people are emotional for the game to succeed and because many people regard it highly, some others are emotional if they find that they do not enjoy it as much as they expected (me).

Filtering out the over-reactions is key to understanding the sentiment and anyone of us can easily filter the fanboys or haters, keeping the discussion at what it is that went wrong with these few things some people do not like.

I personally think that Nintendo can add options for the game to enable us to customise it to our taste. I understand that they are too proud and will never probably do that (as doing it, will almost certainly mean that they did something wrong) so i am hopeful that in the future there will be a patch or a v2 or a "master edition", ultimate edition, GOTY edition whatever they decide to call it, that will address these, then everybody can play the game in their own way. Or a nice trainer, if the switch gets hacked

 

[Deleted User]

Guy probably just likes bad games, suck at botw then bash the game for clickbait views or maybe Sony cashed him a bit.


People don't understand this is more serious than they think it is. It's not "just a game" but the history of the video game industry. Zelda being a benchmark does dictate the way the industry trends from now on and is bigger than the needs a YouTuber or a site has for views and is sure bigger than a potential Sony's "tip", if there was any.

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Wanna know why people consider 7/10 a bad score? Look at some of games who get 7/10 or even 8/10. They're mostly garbage. That's why.

Dont over estimate zelda.. its not more important then, say, gta or assasins creed... nobody dictates the industry, people get what people want, and the need doesnt change because of some one super game...
Also, youre not the only man here. Some people think the lack of big dungeons and the existence of breakable weapons arent the best things the zelda franch. has to offer... it doesnt has anything to do with how hard it is or how much the reviewer sucks. This game isnt perfect, and as we can see, more then one gamer/reviewer who said it...

Scores by reviewers have changed what meant 10 years ago, is no longer in the same ballpark, these days you got just an average ok games scoring 7/8's what would have been 5/6, so now if a game doesn't get a 9 or 10, it isn't considered high quality. Reviewers have scewed this over by giving mediocre games higher scores than they deserve. 7 is considered low in this day and age if the game is meant to be a top notch quality which Zelda botw is, has few flaws which aren't enough to put it down.

Then we should go back to the old and right way of scoring- 5 is the middle between 1,10 so it shold be the score of an avverage game... very easy to convert- substract 5 and multiply by 2...

 

[Molina]

No it will not, U4 didn't really innovate in any way and Doom is a niche game. I don't see something outside an unexpected groundbreaking indie game to beat Zelda for goty but ofc I might be proven wrong. Sony won't make a game to goty again much to ps4 fans demise.

Because Overwatch totally innovate... shooter kind moba game... huuuum I really wonder where I saw this already...
And for opponent, Horizon can totally be one.

 

[netovsk]

I see what you mean. But projecting my own experience of the game, i do not personally think the game deserves all the credit it gets. I understand why other people think so and i am happy for them to make it GOTY if they want. However, i will stick to my opinion and i have all the reasons to back it up if needed. How can i agree both to the statements that "i do not like a game for X and Y" and at the same time agree that "it deserves all the praise"? It might be possible when we are talking about a game genre you do not generally enjoy (i.e. i never play beat em ups, so i do not even get in such a conversation), but for a genre you enjoy these 2 statements contradict each other. Also consider the emotion. As people are emotional for the game to succeed and because many people regard it highly, some others are emotional if they find that they do not enjoy it as much as they expected (me).

Filtering out the over-reactions is key to understanding the sentiment and anyone of us can easily filter the fanboys or haters, keeping the discussion at what it is that went wrong with these few things some people do not like.

I personally think that Nintendo can add options for the game to enable us to customise it to our taste. I understand that they are too proud and will never probably do that (as doing it, will almost certainly mean that they did something wrong) so i am hopeful that in the future there will be a patch or a v2 or a "master edition", ultimate edition, GOTY edition whatever they decide to call it, that will address these, then everybody can play the game in their own way. Or a nice trainer, if the switch gets hacked

Well I sure do agree, Nintendo put out great effort for this game to be a game every person on Earth could enjoy and not just another entry to please Zelda fans.

But of course Nintendo knew they wouldn't achieve that goal 100% so adding options to tweak gameplay would be nice to an extent and I think trainers will do that job perfectly.

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Because Overwatch totally innovate... shooter kind moba game... huuuum I really wonder where I saw this already...
And for opponent, Horizon can totally be one.

Yeah far cry primal tomb raider open world type of game.

No it can't.

 

[Molina]

No it can't.

Fanboy at its finest. Well that's end the conversation, you don't even use your brain, you just bash everything outside nintendo.

 

[netovsk]

Fanboy at its finest. Well that's end the conversation, you don't even use your brain, you just bash everything outside nintendo.

Just like I did when I said I loved Fallout 4 and DAI, which are totally Nintendo games. Man this stuff gets so old, it always comes to this fanboy excuse, so I am probably a fanboy to Sony, Nintendo or Microsoft depending on the topic. The way you got triggered when I spoke about HZD clearly shows who is the fanboy, assuming there is one.

 

[Molina]

Just like I did when I said I loved Fallout 4 and DAI, which are totally Nintendo games. Man this stuff gets so old, it always comes to this fanboy excuse, so I am probably a fanboy to Sony, Nintendo or Microsoft depending on the topic. The way you got triggered when I spoke about HZD clearly shows who is the fanboy, assuming there is one.

Find an excuse, it will totally hide the fact that you bashed out GOTY HZD without argument for the favor of BotW. Continue but not too fast, let me time to grab the popcorn.

 

[CheatFreak47]

I pointed out many times exactly why he pulled a 7/10 out of his ass without giving proper reasons and yet you waste time writing this. What's the plan? Making me repeat myself over and over to get your point across?

How did he pull a 7/10 out of his ass? Did you actually read the review instead of just looking at a score and going "I don't like this score, time to bitch on GBAtemp."

So let me get this straight, you're saying that he should be allowed to judge a game based on the parts of it he didn't like?
What about the parts he did like, Mr. Objectivity? Is he not allowed to praise the parts he did like? Are you going to criticize him for the parts he did enjoy too?

If he's allowed to praise the parts he did like, but not shame the parts he didn't, then that's a double standard.
Can't have that. Double standards make for shitty critics and dipshit SJWs.

He played the game, looked at the parts he liked, figured out what made them enjoyable, articulated them and explained it. He looked into the parts of it he didn't enjoy and figured out why he didn't enjoy them, articulated that, presented the underlying flaws behind the less enjoyable parts of the game, and that they are and docked points from his final score because of it.

Also, getting back to "reviews should be objective".
The idea that a review should be entirely objective is simply ridiculous. Ya know why?

It's because weather or not you like something or not is an emotional response.

Objective in the sense of video games would be tantamount to disregarding emotional response, and since the entertainment medium is designed specifically for enjoyment- for entertainment- things like "Like/Dislikes" and "Love/Hate" are inherently involved. Emotion is involved. It's a human thing. Objectivity is not a human thing, it is reserved for when humans are presenting facts.

You're saying that something designed to be liked, shouldn't be judged based on its ability to have people like it.
That's absolutely ridiculous, because then the review wouldn't be a review. It would be a description. It would be a list of facts about the game. Really great, groundbreaking stuff.

Here- I'll "review" Breath of the Wild's weapon durability system "objectively".

"In Breath of the Wild you have swords and other weapons. When you strike your opponents, they may break after several uses. This is a gameplay mechanic known by many as weapon durability. Some people find this mechanic enjoyable, others do not."

See the problem here?

 

[Boured]

OMG 7/10?! THAT BASTARD DESERVED IT!!!


Oh I thought we were talking about E.T.



In all seriousness it's sad that people do this, and being I love Jim Sterling's work it makes me all the more angry. People have opinions, people need to learn to deal with it.

 

[netovsk]

How did he pull a 7/10 out of his ass? Did you actually read the review instead of just looking at a score and going "I don't like this score, time to bitch on GBAtemp."

So let me get this straight, you're saying that he should be allowed to judge a game based on the parts of it he didn't like?
What about the parts he did like, Mr. Objectivity? Is he not allowed to praise the parts he did like? Are you going to criticize him for the parts he did enjoy too?

If he's allowed to praise the parts he did like, but not shame the parts he didn't, then that's a double standard.
Can't have that. Double standards make for shitty critics and dipshit SJWs.

He played the game, looked at the parts he liked, figured out what made them enjoyable, articulated them and explained it. He looked into the parts of it he didn't enjoy and figured out why he didn't enjoy them, articulated that, presented the underlying flaws behind the less enjoyable parts of the game, and that they are and docked points from his final score because of it.

Also, getting back to "reviews should be objective".
The idea that a review should be entirely objective is simply ridiculous. Ya know why?

It's because weather or not you like something or not is an emotional response.

Objective in the sense of video games would be tantamount to disregarding emotional response, and since the entertainment medium is designed specifically for enjoyment- for entertainment- things like "Like/Dislikes" and "Love/Hate" are inherently involved. Emotion is involved. It's a human thing. Objectivity is not a human thing, it is reserved for when humans are presenting facts.

You're saying that something designed to be liked, shouldn't be judged based on its ability to have people like it.
That's absolutely ridiculous, because then the review wouldn't be a review. It would be a description. It would be a list of facts about the game. Really great, groundbreaking stuff.

Here- I'll "review" Breath of the Wild's weapon durability system "objectively".

"In Breath of the Wild you have swords and other weapons. When you strike your opponents, they may break after several uses. This is a gameplay mechanic known by many as weapon durability. Some people find this mechanic enjoyable, others do not."

See the problem here?

Yeah man you're totally right, weapons breaking is bad because I got so attached to one of the 20 Woodcutter axes I found throughout the game. Rain is bad because it totally should not happen because I was going to climb a peak but couldn't and this so pissed me off. Stamina sucks so much I hate it when I'm doing something and link gets tired, bad Nintendo.

Yeah man it's a total 7/10 I think Assassin's Creed Chronicles China is definitely better than Breath of the Wild, thanks for clearing my mind. Cheers

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

Find an excuse, it will totally hide the fact that you bashed out GOTY HZD without argument for them favor of BotW. Continue but not too fast, let me time to grab the popcorn.

I don't need to, upcoming events will prove you a delusional fanboy as you swallow that bitter pill

 

[CheatFreak47]

Yeah man you're totally right, weapons breaking is bad because I got so attached to one of the 20 Woodcutter axes I found throughout the game. Rain is bad because it totally should not happen because I was going to climb a peak but couldn't and this so pissed me off. Stamina sucks so much I hate it when I'm doing something and link gets tired, bad Nintendo.

When there's other options that would've made the weapon durability mechanic more fun, and less annoying, yes.

Another idea, what if your weapons only broke when you throw them at enemies, and do less damage and such when they have been used too much? What if they added a place where you could repair your weapons and shields and sell old ones or even gasp upgrade them to make them better if you actually like a specific weapon? Wouldn't that be cool? Wouldn't it make weapons feel like they aren't worthless?

Wouldn't not having the fear of losing weapons constantly encourage actually fighting mobs on those blood moons more?

Are you honestly going to sit here and say what Nintendo decided to do here is completely perfect in every way, and there's no possible improvements that could be made?

I don't need to, upcoming events will prove you a delusional fanboy as you swallow that bitter pill

Also, I'm totally fine with Breath of the Wild being Game of the Year.

What I'm not fine with is delusional fanboys like you making people like me look bad.
I actually like Nintendo and want them to grow and improve over time instead of fading into obscurity because they didn't change anything, because everything was perfect the way it was, when it really wasn't.

Grow up, kid.

 

[netovsk]

When there's other options that would've made the weapon durability mechanic more fun, and less annoying, yes.

Another idea, what if your weapons only broke when you throw them at enemies, and do less damage and such when they have been used too much? What if they added a place where you could repair your weapons and shields and sell old ones or even gasp upgrade them to make them better if you actually like a specific weapon? Wouldn't that be cool? Wouldn't it make weapons feel like they aren't worthless?

Wouldn't not having the fear of losing weapons constantly encourage actually fighting mobs on those blood moons more?

Are you honestly going to sit here and say what Nintendo decided to do here is completely perfect in every way, and there's no possible improvements that could be made?



Also, I'm totally fine with Breath of the Wild being Game of the Year.

What I'm not fine with is delusional fanboys like you making people like me look bad.
I actually like Nintendo and want them to grow and improve over time instead of fading into obscurity because they didn't change anything, because everything was perfect the way it was, when it really wasn't.

Grow up, kid.

Weapons actually do DOUBLE damage if you throw them, if you even played the game you would know that. About being perfect there is no perfect choice here, I think they did the best choice at the current time but even Miyamoto would be quick to agree improvements could be made even though he wouldn't really point any and your bad ideas sure aren't some of them.

Why are you taking something I said to another person out of context and bringing it like I said it to you? Circlejerk much?

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

I'm not fine with a guy like you, which showed to barely know anything about the game trying to bring it to an argument with me and just making yourself look worse. Why are you so bent on this? Is this something about proving you are not part of "the ignorant masses"? Get a life.

 

[porkiewpyne]

@netovsk You constantly claim that some people in this thread are equating "I don't like this" to "This is bad". But are you not at the same time doing the same by pushing for the weapons durability being a good thing? You seem to enjoy that feature so good on you. I don't see why others should follow suit. At the end of the day, the review is based on how much a reviewer enjoyed a game and as much as we try to standardise everything, there is no set checklist of sorts as to what makes a game good. Some things have higher weightage that other factors which will affect their overall perception. You suggested that reviews should be objective. That is impossible in this scenario simply because of the nature of the subject being reviewed. Like other works of art, standards vary. You can compare specs and have benchmark tests for tech but not art. It's like rating L'Arlésienne higher than The Weeping Woman. Or the other way round. You can like one more than the other even if the rest of the world doesn't feel the same way and it doesn't make any person's decision more or less valid than that of the other camp. The same goes for food critics. More often than not, I find myself disagreeing but that does not make their reviews invalid. What about polarising foods such as balut, stinky tofu and durian? You see what I am getting at?

 

[netovsk]

@porkiewpyne
You don't like weapons breaking? Ok. Does that mean it's a flawed decision on Nintendo's part? No. Do you have to like BotW? Not at all. The fact that you don't like it does mean you're not part of "ignorant masses" like some other guy said? Definitely not, you're probably being contrarian that's all.

 

[porkiewpyne]

@netovsk It appears that weapon durability is frequently brought up by more than a couple people so one has to wonder if it is indeed people trying to be hipsters just for the sake of it or if it is indeed a suboptimal system. If someone feels that a mechanism is significantly annoying such that it significantly detracts from the experience and that a change to that mechanism will subsequently alter said experience, then I don't see why said person cannot view it as a con.

 

[netovsk]

@porkiewpyne According to this kind of logic, one could just say Dark Souls for instance is not a good game because it's too hard and punishing and this detracts from the entertainment the player is supposed to have.

Now try to voice this exact opinion everywhere and prepare to unleash the torrent of hate and trolling and god knows what.

 

[narutopet112]

Its jim opinion. Jesus people just enjoy breath of the wild. Its not like he ruined the expirience for you?. I personally give the game a 8.5. I mean weapon durability for the biggoron sword? Change conventions not the lore. Also thunder kills link 1 hit yet enemy's still survives it? Even with great armor and such it does a lot of damage to link. Balance much?

 

[netovsk]

@narutopet112

As link gets more powerful he is eventually able to survive a thunder strike. Maybe those enemies have more than a few "hearts"?