Games Beaten 2017

[BogusMeatFactory]

As for climbing disabled in the shrines, I just assumed it was because the walls are too smooth to climb.

If this were consistently the case, sure - they could have used more "rough" textures and more "smooth" textures to indicate this. The problem is that in both shrines and guardians there are walls/textures that are very similar in appearance to things you CAN climb out in the rest of the world...and that aren't smooth at all. It would probably have been a pretty simple design change to reduce the number of repeated or similar "rocky" or "rough" textures in the shrines and highlight through some lighting effects or some such the idea that they are super shiny/smooth...but perhaps that can be explained by Wii U hardware limitations.

With the guardian argument... absolutely. I don't know why you can't climb those surfaces. They are clearly climbable. I don't even see puzzles where climbing would have ruined the experience in those.

[Sarge]

I think I'm just going to explain the inconsistency of walls in shrines and guardians the best way I know how.

MAGIC.

[isiolia]

Much like many games, I don't know that anything here is necessarily unique. It can be found in other games for sure. However, it's also executed very well, and there's a sense of true exploration that is really hard to find in other games of this type. I hate to lean on the crutch of "feel", but that's exactly what's so different about the game. You can see elements from different games (and my understanding is that the design team played a lot of open-world games for ideas), but I don't think there's anything on the market right now that plays quite like this Zelda.

My take is that it's less what they added, and more what they left out for one reason or another. While, again, possibly for technical reasons, the general vastness benefits the atmosphere. It's very big, but a lot of it is also pretty empty...but running or climbing around so many empty spaces with little music cues or effects going contributes a lot to the feel of it. Not marking much on the map, or showing quest markers on the HUD, and so on also do.

Yeah I can see magnesis being a part of other games. I have not seen stasis done like this, even in the games listed. Stopping time is one thing, but how they implement the energy build up is unlike anything I have seen. And Cryonis is a power that can do a lot more than just make platforms.... which I don't want to spoil muahahahahahahahahaha.

Blades of Time does a bit with time manipulation - not exactly like Stasis that I recall, but effectively doing some similar stuff. In that, you tend more to rewind time and essentially duplicate yourself for a short period, doing similar things with accumulating attack power.

[Exhuminator]

MAGIC.

NINTENDO MAGIC

[prfsnl_gmr]

What I love about BOTW is the completely organic ways in which situations can go completely sideways in both good and bad ways. In a lot of games, there is a correct, somewhat forced, and very "videogamey" way to approach each obstacle, and once you leave that plateau, that just isn't present in BOTW. There are so many ways to overcome (or fail to overcome) the game's obstacles, and that freedom encourages creative thinking (or very quick thinking if your plans don't work out).

For example, I ran into some bokoblins last night with some rocks and barrels perched above them. I shot out the perch holding up the rocks and barrels, but instead of crushing my foes, the objects simply fell to the ground behind them and alerted them to my presence (causing me to break a perfectly good dragonbone moblin club fighting them). In another situation, my too-clever-by-half plans alerted a group of particularly nasty bokoblins. I didn't have many weapons at the time, and I was sure that this group (which I attacked rather foolishly) would kill me. When one of them raised his sword above his head, however, he was struck by lightning, and both he and all of his friends were killed instantly. I counted myself lucky, took all of their great weapons and treasure, and found a fire to sit out the rest of the storm.

The game is full of moments like those, and I encounter one almost every time I play it. I haven't spent as much time with it as most of you, but I am savoring every moment of it. It really is a fantastic game, and I haven't been this impressed with an open world since I first played GTAIII over a decade ago.

EDIT: Also, the game is, at its heart, a cartography simulator, and between charting my maps and filling out my Hyrule Compendium, I often feel more like an explorer than an adventurer.

[dsheinem]

I haven't been this impressed with an open world since I first played GTAIII over a decade ago.

Out of curiousity...what else have you played? Any of the Elder Scrolls titles? Ubisoft open worlds (Far Cry, Assassin's Creed, etc.)? I know you are generally a generation behind on most hardware, so I am curious as to your frame of reference...

[Exhuminator]

the game is, at its heart, a cartography simulator, and between charting my maps and filling out my Hyrule Compendium, I often feel more like an explorer than an adventurer.

I don't know if you read my Miasmata review or not, but if you enjoy cartography (and exploration), you owe it to yourself to play Miasmata. The mapping system in that game is light years beyond anything else I've seen. You have to actually use triangulation and orienteering in a legitimate fashion to fill in your map.

I haven't mapped that hardcore since Etrian Odyssey.

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We now return this thread to its regularly scheduled BotW adulation.

[BogusMeatFactory]

the game is, at its heart, a cartography simulator, and between charting my maps and filling out my Hyrule Compendium, I often feel more like an explorer than an adventurer.

I don't know if you read my Miasmata review or not, but if you enjoy cartography (and exploration), you owe it to yourself to play Miasmata. The mapping system in that game is light years beyond anything else I've seen. You have to actually use triangulation and orienteering in a legitimate fashion to fill in your map.

I haven't mapped that hardcore since Etrian Odyssey.

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We now return this thread to it's regularly scheduled BotW adulation.

Oh yeah, Miasmata is incomparable when it comes to mapping a landscape. Although Breath of the Wild still has a fun... more gamey way of mapping, especially if you use the pro UI. Having to use your sheikah slate to look around and make checkpoints only visible let via said sheikah slate telescope makes it fun to try and navigate the wilderness and use high ground.

[isiolia]

On a micro level, BoTW does have a lot of those kinds of moments. On a macro level, not so much I think. There are areas that enforce specific rules - not just the basic can't climb in shrines, but resetting you in Lost Woods for example. You have to go through the quests to get on board the Divine Beasts, and in turn, have few (if any) viable options outside of acquiring certain armor sets to be able to be in applicable areas. I know you can just rush the castle/etc, but I think for a lot of the content, there does wind up being a right/only way to do it.

I think the choices with combat and durability make running away the more effective tactic more often than not too. Maybe that's intended, but I'd probably actually stop to fight a lot more stuff if there was more of a point to it.

[prfsnl_gmr]

I haven't been this impressed with an open world since I first played GTAIII over a decade ago.

Out of curiousity...what else have you played? Any of the Elder Scrolls titles? Ubisoft open worlds (Far Cry, Assassin's Creed, etc.)? I know you are generally a generation behind on most hardware, so I am curious as to your frame of reference...

My frame of reference is poor. I beat GTA Vice City, but I gave up on GTA San Andreas. I have played around in some open world games since then - i.e., Assassin's Creed and Far Cry - but I haven't beaten any of them. I would really, really like to play Assassin's Creed II, Assassin's Creed IV, Crysis, Fall Out III, Far Cry 2, Skyrim, and The Witcher II, but I just haven't found the time or motivation. (In all honesty, the next open world game I play will likely be Lego City Undercover. I typically play family friendly games on our TV, and my five-year-old is WAY into Legos right now.)