The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

I don't like 3D Zelda games. Every game until this one followed the same formula that The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time [ゼルダの伝説 時のオカリナ] established, and I am simply not a fan.
I loved exploring Clock Town in The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask [ゼルダの伝説ムジュラの仮面] and seeing how everyone interacted with eachother, but I simply didn't have any drive or motivation to play the dungeons.
I liked sailing the Great Sea in The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker [ゼルダの伝説 風のタクト] and finding new islands, but I just don't like Zelda dungeons.

For this reason, I didn't pay much attention at all to the pre-release for Breath of the Wild. When it came out, however, I noticed people complaining about a lack of dungeons. This got me interested, and I did some research to make sure they weren't pulling my leg.
Breath of the Wild features four main dungeons, all short, sweet, and to the point. They don't beat you over the head with the same puzzle, and let you get back to the good part of the game.

The good part of the game being exploring the large open world of Hyrule.
Before The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim released, Todd Howard infamously said "see that mountain? you can climb it". In Skyrim, that wasn't true. In Breath of the Wild, it is completely and totally true. If you can see it, you can go there.
BotW's greatest strength is its climbing system. Link can climb sheer rock faces, limited only by his stamina and the weather. What sets BotW apart from other open-world games is that its exploration is mostly vertical. You climb something, see something else, and paraglide to it. There are no invisible walls, and what you can and cannot climb is always consistent.

BotW's greatest weakness is the weather. In a game about exploring by climbing, they made it so that rain completely stops you from exploring. Link will slide down anything he tries to climb while it's raining, meaning you have to wait until it stops.
There was one side quest where I had to take a torch, light it in blue fire, and carry it across a river and up a winding hill to light something else. Along the way, thankfully, there are covered torches that act as checkpoints. This was very fortunate, because on my trek, it rained not once, but twice. Waiting until the game decides whether or not you can do something is not good game design. Rain is the main reason why, despite loving this game and being extremely impressed by it, I couldn't stand to give it a 5/5.

One thing BotW does that is incredibly welcome and unique is the way objects in the world work. For example, any tree can be cut down (except the Deku Tree obviously), any wood or grass can catch fire, anything made of metal can be lifted with your magnetic powers, and any water can be frozen.
This extends to weapons and treasure chests. I was stuck on a shrine puzzle for a while where I had to bridge some gaps in the electrical current with some metal. Once I'd opened the shrine's treasure chest, I immediately forgot about it, because every other game in the world gives you no other means to interact with treasure chests. The key to the puzzle was to use the metal treasure chest to conduct the electricity. Or you could drop down a metal sword and use that. It makes perfect sense, but it's not something you'd think to do if you've played a lot of videogames, and that's what makes it memorable.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild has now been in stores for well over a year, and I think it's safe to say it holds up beyond the hype as an incredible, fantastic experience. Not since Super Mario 64 has a game invited me to devote countless hours to such a big, colorful, unforgettable experience.

I was beginning to grow tired of the Zelda franchise. Despite the celebration from fanboys, recent Zelda titles Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword felt like boring retreads of an outdated formula. I was tired of wading through boring, frustrating minigames, and I got tired of looking for heart pieces in arcane locations. Playing through "Ocarina of Time" today, I realize how frustrating and outdated the formula is; I hate being offered special potions and then being told that I don't have an empty bottle, which are, again, tedious and difficult to find. I was tired of impossible 'Water Level' dungeons, but disappointed by the lack of difficulty in The Wind Waker. Thankfully, these tropes were largely abandoned in Breath of the Wild, which throws out half of the original Zelda formula, but manages to recapture the joy and excitement of earlier titles.

Breath of the Wild inarguably 'breathed' fresh air into a fading franchise. Gone are the frustrating, time-consuming minigames and puzzles needed to advance to get basic items needed for the game. Breath of the Wild allows you to hold unlimited amounts of food, armor, collectables, etc. without requiring empty bottles.

The addition of varying and customizable armor sets was a fantastic choice, and gives the player greater freedom and experimentation on how they want to play the game. The freedom afforded to the player by Breath of the Wild is one of the things that makes the game so great.

Replacing massive dungeons, which ranged from frustrating and arcane in Ocarina of Time to disappointingly simple in The Wind Waker, with 120 small shrines was an excellent choice. The shrines are fun, addictive, rarely frustrating, and add to the sense of collection in the game. Breath of the Wild never feels like a chore to sit through, and never forces you to master boring or frustrating elements to proceed, and instead hooks you in with a feeling of freedom and possibility. I actually wouldn't mind a direct sequel that keeps the games mechanics but maybe shifts the gameplay a bit.

However, there are some major mistakes in Breath of the Wild that I'm surprised weren't corrected. One problem I encountered is a lack of enemy variety. The optional 'minibosses' including Lynels, Hinoxes, Moldugas, etc. are fantastic, and leave the player wanting more. I would have preferred a greater enemy variety, and a more diverse selection of bosses. This would be less of a problem if Breath of the Wild didn't have one of the easiest, and most disappointing final bosses I've ever played. Nintendo seriously screwed up on the final boss, which is surprisingly easy and brief compared to challenges in the rest of the game. At no point did I feel worried or stressed that I wouldn't beat Ganon, and for such a large, epic game to end with such an easy final is disappointing.

Overall, though, Breath of the Wild is one of the best experiences I've ever had in a game, and is a rare title that can ask me to devote a massive amount of my time. Breath of the Wild is simply a fun, absorbing experience, and probably Nintendo's best, most exciting game since Super Mario 64.

Been waiting for this bad boy for years! And the wait was well worth it! Nintendo has successfully thrown out practically all of the shackles that limited the previous Zelda games from being truly open world. Hyrule has never been bigger, more dynamic, and more explorable than this. Nearly everything can be climbed and accessed, the new sheikah slate abilities are ingenious really and they're given to you right out of the gating lending you tons of freedom early on. There's over 100 shrines (i.e. mini dungeons) littered across the land that are designed really well most of the time, side quests aren't terribly complex but are compelled by excellent writing from often goofy and really charming NPCs, then there's story quests on top of that which showcase some of the game's most epic moments and set pieces. There's just so much freakin detail sown into the game's mechanics that it honestly hurts to think about, the amount of content available here similarly makes me nauseous. I liked the game's various weapon types, CHALLENGING combat and enemies, the crafting, the upgrade systems, and the meaningful clothing sets that you'll wanna collect for their various perks like managing the world's treacherous weather systems (as well as making Link look like an ultra hunk). Hell, you can even tame and collect horses for Denny's sakes!

The story goes over about as well as you could have guessed, Ganon is threatening to destroy Hyrule again and you - Link - awaken from a slumber chamber with amnesia to find the world on the verge of chaos. You slowly start putting the pieces together realising that 100 years ago something pretty bad happened and Zelda has been holding Ganon at bay in Hyrule Castle desperately waiting for your return. They throw in some interesting twists here like the 4 guardian beast that are meant to aid you in your fight against Ganon, they're interesting additions to the cast and showcase 4 of the many lovable races you'll come across in Hyrule. Funny thing is that once you complete the tutorial you can bypass the main quests and head straight for Ganon, you'll die... But it'll make for fun speedruns that's for certain! The voice acting sucks balls let just get that out of the way, but the way that they treat Zelda is well... Still a damsel in distress but to their credit they do get much more personal with her and really flesh her out more as a character. Overall I was really charmed by a lot of the game's characters and writing even despite the spotty voice acting and cliche'd plot points.

All this and I do have my complaints as a long time Zelda fan. The story is mega safe by Zelda standards and I felt that the main quest wasn't quite long enough. For as interesting as the dungeons here are, they don't quite match the massive and perplexing labyrinths of past Zelda dungeons... However; the bosses in here are exceptionally well done and it seems as though Nintendo might have been taking a little inspiration from Dark Souls. And what's with Ganon not even uttering a single word? IDK he seems really distant and none threatening in this game... Then there's some other slight nags you've prolly heard folks complaining about like the weapon degradation system and annoying lightning storms. The weapon degradation is counteracted by there being tons of weapons scattered around the environment and you're able to hold quite a bit on your person at any given time (especially when you've upgraded your inventory). It also forces you to experiment with different weapons and be a little bit more thoughtful with what you use and when, which I actually liked.

Lastly I wanna just mention the game's lovely art style and gorgeous world, the Switch may not be the most powerful machine out there and the world isn't packed with loads of foliage and HD details but by golly; I found myself staring at the world many times just in awe of it's beauty and scope. There are such awesome landmarks to see and places to explore! The soundtrack while not as tuneful as in previous games it does act as a tool for the player to identify certain things like when enemies are near or when the blood moon is approaching. It has an ambience to it that is well suited to this Hyrule and I really dug it. Man this is a goooood game, I can see myself playing this for a long time to come it's just such an engrossing experience! This is a must get for any self respecting Nintendo fan.

A few thoughts:

1. BOTW is my favorite open world for aimless exploration. The inviting details to the landscape makes for a rewarding and laid-back experience for gamers who want to climb a mountain because it's there. I can understand how others would prefer more densely-packed and lively open worlds but BOTW completely nails this specific style of gaming. Memories, shrines, and korok seeds deserve a ton of praise for encouraging players to notice the environment closely.

2. One of Nintendo's under-appreciated strengths has been great characters and BOTW is tied with Majora's Mask for their best ensemble. Many developers have failed trying to build characters like BOTW's Prince Sidon, Hestu, Kilton, Robbie, Bolson, and Purah. Everyone in the main cast is someone I can't wait to talk to and revisit, the best proof of video game characters done right. It's harder to create a genuinely fun and interesting character than Nintendo makes it seem...just ask Ubisoft and Bethesda.

3. There's a ton of issues with telling a story through disparate pieces but Nintendo manages to tell an interesting concept and setting well. I'm glad to see good examples of "show not tell" in a series notorious for obvious hand-holding story beats. I wish the plot had more material to discover, there's so much more to the overall concept and Zelda's character that could be explored, but can also understand how Nintendo would lean towards accommodating story-disinterested players.

4. For all the "Zelda goes Dark Souls" claims, the hardest critique I'd give BOTW is the lacking combat or interesting boss fights. BOTW oddly neutralizes their weak boss problems by having so few of them although Calamity Ganon has a wonderful first phase. Flurry rushes are a good concept, Witch Time from Bayonetta says hello, but not as well implemented in BOTW or enjoyable as the rolling/dodging/I-frame combat of other Zelda-inspired games.

5. Quick last thoughts: Quests for divine beasts and shrines are superior to older temples but the Divine Beast interiors are the least interesting places, more variation between divine beast towns would've been appreciated, there needs to be more common enemy types, Lost Woods and Hyrule Castle might be my favorite Zelda areas ever, I love how flat-out clever the game manages to be the entire way, the art style can't be underappreciated, there's too much emphasis on menu browsing, item degradation is a fun mechanic that I was fully prepared to hate, the music is usually too ambient for my likes but when it takes focus it's perfect, and giving abilities right at the start was a brilliant decision.