This is and open world game, the best one, only comparable really to the newly realesed Elden Ring (5 years later) when it comes to the open world aspect.
Still this is no perfect game, by any means. The camera is annoyingly wacky, the combat system is waay to simple and easy to exploit, the weapon duration system could have been implemented better. The way the story develops is simple, u go to a main town, the divine beast threats with no real danger in most cases, u do a task that connects u to the hero of the area and u clear the divine beast, repeat 4 times and then fight ganon.
But the thing is, that analyzing BOTW this way doesnt work, because i think this is the best example ever of a game being better than the sum of its individual parts.
This particular combination of systems, the non linear way of completing the story (including the remembers by going to the places of the photos in ur slate that i think has the BEST story content in any Zelda game ever), the progression by completing the small dungeons shrines, the fact that u can climb basically EVERY wall in the world, the cooking, shield surfing, horse taming,... BOTW has so many systems that complement the open world that it elevates the game to what it is considered now as the standard of greatness when it comes to open world.
But its not only all the systems and mechanics that makes the world great, the world itself is AMAZING.
Crazy dense. The feeling of wonder it makes u feel is like no other in any game ive played. The most enjoyment ive got from the game was just from looking and seeing an instresting place in the distance and saying to myself, i want to go there and then being able to go there and not just that, but being rewarded for doing so is one of the best feelings ive had while playing a videogame ever.
This game came to me in a time where i had lost illusion in videogames, and it brought to me the feeling of playing like a kid again, wondering around and just enyoing sooooo much almost everything the game has to offer that i think this is a game that everyone should play.
Still this is no perfect game, by any means. The camera is annoyingly wacky, the combat system is waay to simple and easy to exploit, the weapon duration system could have been implemented better. The way the story develops is simple, u go to a main town, the divine beast threats with no real danger in most cases, u do a task that connects u to the hero of the area and u clear the divine beast, repeat 4 times and then fight ganon.
But the thing is, that analyzing BOTW this way doesnt work, because i think this is the best example ever of a game being better than the sum of its individual parts.
This particular combination of systems, the non linear way of completing the story (including the remembers by going to the places of the photos in ur slate that i think has the BEST story content in any Zelda game ever), the progression by completing the small dungeons shrines, the fact that u can climb basically EVERY wall in the world, the cooking, shield surfing, horse taming,... BOTW has so many systems that complement the open world that it elevates the game to what it is considered now as the standard of greatness when it comes to open world.
But its not only all the systems and mechanics that makes the world great, the world itself is AMAZING.
Crazy dense. The feeling of wonder it makes u feel is like no other in any game ive played. The most enjoyment ive got from the game was just from looking and seeing an instresting place in the distance and saying to myself, i want to go there and then being able to go there and not just that, but being rewarded for doing so is one of the best feelings ive had while playing a videogame ever.
This game came to me in a time where i had lost illusion in videogames, and it brought to me the feeling of playing like a kid again, wondering around and just enyoing sooooo much almost everything the game has to offer that i think this is a game that everyone should play.