This review contains spoilers
BotW has remarkably less magic than other titles in the Zelda series.
The open-world concept is cool, but this game really lacked in story and the feeling of centralized locations. The Shrine puzzles feel bizarre. It doesn't really make sense to me why they're there in the first place, and many of them (even the ones I completed) left me feeling frustrated. I get that BotW is post-apocalyptic, but the map felt empty, incomplete. Your only company is the occasional stiff NPC or randomly spawning/despawning animal. All the characters that you have any ties to are dead, which makes for some pretty boring interactions throughout the game. The cutscenes are poorly acted and I feel that they should have stuck to the tradition of text and grunts only.
Some parts of the enormous open-world map are unique, but most of it feels samey. Every stable is the same, with essentially the same NPCs. I don't feel motivated to go on side quests because none of them feel consequential. Previous Zelda games, like OoT, might have literally had less content, but at least the ideas were fresh.
Don't get me started on the weapon system. When are game designers going to realize that not everything needs to be ultra-realistic? I don't want my axes and swords to break. It's annoying. And what, my Master Sword runs out of juice? I can't help but feel that Nintendo took some inspiration from mobile games here. The result is that I don't ever use my most powerful weapons, knowing that they'll break.
Finally, I've got to address "Calamity" Ganon in this game. They build him up all throughout the story, but when you actually do fight him, he's... a piece of cake. The DLC where you fight the monk is actually harder than the final boss of the game. Surely, that's a mistake.
To conclude, Nintendo seems just as swept up as other developers in contemporary trends like open world and breakable weapons, without stopping to think whether those are actually good features for their game. BotW feels incomplete like a lot of games released today do, and it kind of worries me that they're already developing a sequel.
That said, it wasn't all bad. The Guardians and Lynels were interesting enemies, and the Paraglider makes me wish I could glide off a mountain in every game. I don't know that it makes up for the lack of a real story though, or for the fact that the characters I interact with most in this game seem to be encamped Moblins rather than actual people.
The open-world concept is cool, but this game really lacked in story and the feeling of centralized locations. The Shrine puzzles feel bizarre. It doesn't really make sense to me why they're there in the first place, and many of them (even the ones I completed) left me feeling frustrated. I get that BotW is post-apocalyptic, but the map felt empty, incomplete. Your only company is the occasional stiff NPC or randomly spawning/despawning animal. All the characters that you have any ties to are dead, which makes for some pretty boring interactions throughout the game. The cutscenes are poorly acted and I feel that they should have stuck to the tradition of text and grunts only.
Some parts of the enormous open-world map are unique, but most of it feels samey. Every stable is the same, with essentially the same NPCs. I don't feel motivated to go on side quests because none of them feel consequential. Previous Zelda games, like OoT, might have literally had less content, but at least the ideas were fresh.
Don't get me started on the weapon system. When are game designers going to realize that not everything needs to be ultra-realistic? I don't want my axes and swords to break. It's annoying. And what, my Master Sword runs out of juice? I can't help but feel that Nintendo took some inspiration from mobile games here. The result is that I don't ever use my most powerful weapons, knowing that they'll break.
Finally, I've got to address "Calamity" Ganon in this game. They build him up all throughout the story, but when you actually do fight him, he's... a piece of cake. The DLC where you fight the monk is actually harder than the final boss of the game. Surely, that's a mistake.
To conclude, Nintendo seems just as swept up as other developers in contemporary trends like open world and breakable weapons, without stopping to think whether those are actually good features for their game. BotW feels incomplete like a lot of games released today do, and it kind of worries me that they're already developing a sequel.
That said, it wasn't all bad. The Guardians and Lynels were interesting enemies, and the Paraglider makes me wish I could glide off a mountain in every game. I don't know that it makes up for the lack of a real story though, or for the fact that the characters I interact with most in this game seem to be encamped Moblins rather than actual people.