I was tempted to go the full five stars on this simply because I'm still flying high after that incredible finale. Everything from the start of moving toward Ganon in the depths until the end was memorable. That's how to end a game!
While this series (we can call it that now, right) will likely never surpass my favorite 2D Zeldas or Wind Waker for me, I have such respect for the design in general. Even with the things that don't work for me, I come away in awe. Overall, I like this a little better than Breath of the Wild. There are simply just too many positive improvements that outweigh my issues.
The best parts? Weapon fusion and being able to attach anything to an arrowhead. This and using the powers out in the world and to solve shrines in a multitude of different ways were the creative parts of the game that I really enjoyed. Building things with Zonaite stuff, not so much. I did enjoy using the tools they gave us within the context of whatever environmental challenge the game might be throwing at me, but I never ventured far beyond that to create something all my own. As I said earlier, though, I understand how cool this is for some people and choosing not to engage with it in a bigger way didn't hinder my own experience one bit.
The story of these games is never a strong suit for me because it's basically the same thing over and over again, but the presentation this time was jaw-dropping. The cinematics - my goodness. The way in which you obtain the Master Sword? I will never forget that. Hands down the best in the series. Also good was starting off with increased weapon slots (thank you!), the return of closer to traditional temples/dungeons, and the awesome spirit companions with their helpful powers. I also just love the concept of and exploring the three levels of sky, ground, and depths, even if this also is a bit of a negative.
The problem is that the world is TOO big. There's just too much repetition in the depths to make me want to clear it all out after just doing so for the map above ground, especially after beating Ganon already without needing to acquire the Depths armor to do it. Same with the Sky world. It's very cool and fun to poke around up there but is what you find really game-changing in any way or just more to check off the list? I find it to be the latter, and outside of the staged moments that took me up in the air for quests, I didn't find myself exploring that much. And the last big negative is that the combat just still doesn't feel good to me. It's serviceable, but the timing sucks and so I never really got into using the flurry rush or parry moves. In fact, I had to learn them specifically just to get by the Ganon fight and only that. The intricacy of the systems lends itself to fiddly switching between weapons and trying to attach things to arrows. I'd love for this to be further refined if they continue down this stylistic path. Give me rock solid action adventure combat that feels fun and encourages me to engage with enemies just to experience it more often, and the next one might finally be a 5/5 for me.
While this series (we can call it that now, right) will likely never surpass my favorite 2D Zeldas or Wind Waker for me, I have such respect for the design in general. Even with the things that don't work for me, I come away in awe. Overall, I like this a little better than Breath of the Wild. There are simply just too many positive improvements that outweigh my issues.
The best parts? Weapon fusion and being able to attach anything to an arrowhead. This and using the powers out in the world and to solve shrines in a multitude of different ways were the creative parts of the game that I really enjoyed. Building things with Zonaite stuff, not so much. I did enjoy using the tools they gave us within the context of whatever environmental challenge the game might be throwing at me, but I never ventured far beyond that to create something all my own. As I said earlier, though, I understand how cool this is for some people and choosing not to engage with it in a bigger way didn't hinder my own experience one bit.
The story of these games is never a strong suit for me because it's basically the same thing over and over again, but the presentation this time was jaw-dropping. The cinematics - my goodness. The way in which you obtain the Master Sword? I will never forget that. Hands down the best in the series. Also good was starting off with increased weapon slots (thank you!), the return of closer to traditional temples/dungeons, and the awesome spirit companions with their helpful powers. I also just love the concept of and exploring the three levels of sky, ground, and depths, even if this also is a bit of a negative.
The problem is that the world is TOO big. There's just too much repetition in the depths to make me want to clear it all out after just doing so for the map above ground, especially after beating Ganon already without needing to acquire the Depths armor to do it. Same with the Sky world. It's very cool and fun to poke around up there but is what you find really game-changing in any way or just more to check off the list? I find it to be the latter, and outside of the staged moments that took me up in the air for quests, I didn't find myself exploring that much. And the last big negative is that the combat just still doesn't feel good to me. It's serviceable, but the timing sucks and so I never really got into using the flurry rush or parry moves. In fact, I had to learn them specifically just to get by the Ganon fight and only that. The intricacy of the systems lends itself to fiddly switching between weapons and trying to attach things to arrows. I'd love for this to be further refined if they continue down this stylistic path. Give me rock solid action adventure combat that feels fun and encourages me to engage with enemies just to experience it more often, and the next one might finally be a 5/5 for me.