This game looks awesome
I don't know if you can top the masterpiece that botw is, but it will try ! Oh btw, for those that think the stamina or the durability made BOTW bad, I have just one thing to say : git gud. BOTW is one of the most well balanced game in history. Everything is so well thought, you can only see that kind of genius in a few legendary games.
"Well balanced" my foot, and "git gud" is a tired old Dark Souls meme.
Nothing in BotW tells you killing enemies gradually increases the potency of the weapons they drop, for one thing, and every weapon's so frustratingly brittle you'll use up multiple against any rando Bokoblin, let alone expending several against more durable foes. Not even the Master Sword (which survived being stored in a room with running water, underneath the salty sea, for eons, even after the sages that powered it were slain) is immune to this. If the weapons were unbreakable, or at least had like 10x the durability, then I would call it 'better balanced'.
The lack of pre-placed map markers means you have zero guidance on where to head next, what to do next; you have zero goals to head toward or plan around. How is this "so well thought out"? All it means is that you're left stumbling around a barren wasteland having no idea where you're supposed to go to complete quests, including the main one. Horrible design.
Apparently, BotW was inspired by the original Legend of Zelda game, which also didn't tell you where to go - except that was due to how limited the NES was. It's an archaic and outdated design philosophy, that was rightfully scrapped by the third game, as it was deemed frustrating and player-hostile. Oh, and what else did Zelda 1 have that BotW noticeably lacks? DUNGEONS. And swords and shields and tools that never broke. Speaking of, multiple tools, instead of just four Runes.
So much for that inspiration, huh?
No, if you want something "well balanced", look at Twilight Princess. Way better combat, much better incarnation of Hyrule, wonderful dungeons, numerous tools, far more interesting characters, no stupid stamina or fragility to needlessly frustrate the player, better minigames, you always know where to go next instead of stumbling around lost and confused. It's the best.
The Wind Waker, meanwhile, has far superior explorative value since every square is clearly noted on the map, with a unique island - you're never once lost. Each island also has at least something to get from it, and there's plenty of treasure maps to get sunken treasure from if you line up the zoomed-in island in each with your regular map. Combat's decent here as well, with the counter system, unbreakable equipment, no stamina, and great spin attack. Oh, and the dungeons are great here too. It only falls behind Twilight Princess because of a few substandard minigames (the two run by Salvatore, the fact the Pictograph gallery thing can be permanently rendered uncompleteable, the bird-man contest).
What does BotW have over these two games? Nothing. Nothing at all.
Okay.
@
Psionic Roshambo:
