Who here likes video games? Anyone?

[Joe_5859]

I have greatly enjoyed playing BOTW. The open world concept, the ability to climb and jump and go anywhere, the thousands of little details in the terrain, etc.

But I will say, that my one major criticism of the game is the dungeon/shrine aspect. I mean, I understand why they went that direction. I don’t really feel cheated out of content per se. I mean, between the 4 divine beasts and the 120 shrines, that—I have no doubt—includes far more content than the cumulative total of dungeons in any other Zelda game.

And I understand why the shrines all have the same look and feel. It’s because they are all “shrines”. But I do miss the variety within the dungeons. Again, I understand that they more or less put the variety in the larger world itself (and there is loads of variety there). But I do kind of miss it. I just look at it as there being room to improve for the next Zelda game.

 

[ZMystiCat]

But I will say, that my one major criticism of the game is the dungeon/shrine aspect

I was torn on them. The puzzles in a lot are really interesting and bring out the fun that puzzle solving in past Zelda games offered. However, I can’t say I’m a huge fan of them giving us 100+ bite-sized tastes of dungeons rather than giving us a few fuller ones. It felt a bit more like the puzzles for getting heart pieces in other Zelda games just clearly marked as “HEY, HERE’S A PUZZLE!!! DO YOU SEE IT!!! DO YOU HEAR THE BEEP!!!” Even the Divine Beasts feel underdeveloped.

Personally, I wish they went the Link Between Worlds route and gave us full dungeons while letting us tackle them in an open fashion, maybe even introducing a bit of Megaman in how certain dungeons are easier/harder depending on those you complete. I get that, in a world the size of Breath of the Wild, that can create issues with spreading content too thin, but I think they could have better utilized that world for puzzle solving rather than putting all the interesting puzzles inside clearly-marked shrines.

This isn’t to say I hate Breath of the Wild. I actually like it a lot. However, if they’re going to move away from the standard formula, I hope that they continue tweaking this one. I don’t think this was anywhere near as good as an open-world Zelda game could be.

 

[Joe_5859]

Good thoughts. I feel like they put in the (900!) little Koroks in an attempt to bring that puzzle aspect into the larger world. It at least provides something to discover in almost every inch of the map (something I feel was lacking certain previous games, like Twilight Princess).

With the divine beasts, I was a bit surprised there weren’t more enemies inside beyond the black goo. So, yeah, I agree they could have been developed more. Plus, as with the shrines, they all effectively looked the same. From a story perspective, I understand why that is. But it would have been nice to see a bit more.

Considering Breath of the Wild is now the top selling Zelda game in the series, I imagine that many of the changes in the familiar formula will remain in the next game. I’m sure they will tweak it, though.

 

[balto]

Definitely agree with @ZMystiCat’s and your evaluation of BotW. I did actually like the shrines a lot since I enjoy solving the puzzles, but not at the expense of the main dungeons though, by which I was underwhelmed. In addition to having more than four dungeons the dungeons should have also been longer. The Zora Divine Beast was the first one I completed, and I was stuck for a decent amount of time because I somehow missed that you could control the dungeon with the Sheikah Slate, however I was expecting that activating all the terminals was just part one of the dungeon experience. I was a little surprised to find out that it was already time for the boss I was hoping that the Divine Beasts would just be the first set of dungeons and that there would be another round, like they tend to do with all other Zeldas (child vs adult in OoT, Fused Shadow vs Mirror in TP, orb vs sword awakening in WW, etc), but that never happened.

On another note, you mentioning A Link to the Past reminded me to check the Virtual Console. I had been looking for The Minish Cap on my 3DS, which I have never played, but then learned it is actually on the Wii U Virtual Console, so I downloaded that this past weekend. It really seems like it should have been on the 3DS instead, I don’t know why Nintendo is trying to hide it. Three cheers for being stuck in the 3rd dungeon! k_man:

 

[balto]

I check on that every once in a while since I got reinterested in Pokemon again within the last few years, but haven’t looked recently. TBH though I hope that they do more spinoff titles instead of more main entries with 100 more additional Pokemon. Kind of would like to see another entry in the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon series for generation 7.

 

[metalwolf]

While Skyrim on Nintendo switch seems to have lots more to do and seems to have atmospheric music,compared to botw,which doesn’t seem to have much music.

 

[SeriousQuestion]

Pokemon Mystery dungeon is really good story wise. I loved the fifth bonus episode of Explorers of the Sky. I don’t know Gates to Infinity or Super Mystery Dungeon turned out.

 

[SeriousQuestion]

Dragon Quest IX was really enjoyable. They even have priests and churches in the game. Too bad I didn’t get past the part with haunted boarding school.

 

[ZMystiCat]

I feel like they put in the (900!) little Koroks in an attempt to bring that puzzle aspect into the larger world.

I actually got bored with the Korok seeds pretty quickly. They had 900, but so many of them were repeated over and over again. It was sort of fun to see something weird or when they gave a relatively unique Korok seed, but on the whole, it just seemed like busy work. On the plus side, most Korok seeds didn’t take much time to get once you spotted them. Way too many open world games (coughUbisoftcough) require way too much time for such repetitive tasks.

something I feel was lacking certain previous games, like Twilight Princess

I actually thought Twilight Princess was the most enjoyable world in any Zelda game. There was generally something to find, but they weren’t as in your face about everything. On my second playthrough, there were so many heart containers and other things I found compared to my first, simply because I could recognize where an item received in a later dungeon could be used. I think it did the best of the Zelda games I’ve played of bringing out that Metroid-like design.

So, yeah, I agree they could have been developed more.

The problem for me was more scale. Granted, they didn’t help matters a whole lot by revealing the whole thing early on and never really taking the time to make the dungeon feel expansive. A lot of past Zelda dungeons feel like mini-adventures. Breath of the Wild makes them feel more like a test chamber from Portal.

I did like the controlling the beasts aspect, though. I just wish they had made it a little clearer because I spent way longer on the Zora one than I should have. On the flip side, fighting the Zora Divine Beast was a lot of fun, easily one of my favorite Zelda fights.

 

[Joe_5859]

The Zora Divine Beast was the first one I completed, and I was stuck for a decent amount of time because I somehow missed that you could control the dungeon with the Sheikah Slate,

I just wish they had made it a little clearer because I spent way longer on the Zora one than I should have.

Same here. I was stuck on the Zora one for a while before I figured it out. The other three went much more quickly.

The Minish Cap on my 3DS, which I have never played, but then learned it is actually on the Wii U Virtual Console, so I downloaded that this past weekend.

I think I have that game downloaded on the Wii U, too (I think it was a Club Nintendo reward at some point, or something). I still haven’t played it yet, though. Maybe after Breath of the Wild… I have never actually owned a portable console before (except for the Switch, which is both). So I’ve never played any of those Zelda games before.

 

[DarkLight]

Any other 4x devotees in here? I’ve been spending way too much time on Stellaris lately. I have robots making everyone be nice.

 

[SeriousQuestion]

I have the Minish Cap with the game boy cartridge, but my DS has some buttons that don’t work. I been thinking about getting it on virtual console on the WII-U. Its hard to get all the statues and to fuse all the kinstone pieces.

 

[balto]

All of them were pretty enjoyable, but Explorers was definitely the best in the series by a large margin. It also helps that Grovyle is one of my favorites, so having him play such a pivotal role in that game was nice to see.

Gates to Infinity had the weakest story out of all of them, but was the first one in 3D and had a much better interface that the first two. Super Mystery Dungeon was the second best in the series. Although it starts out being quite childish and saccharine, midway through it actually has the best plot twists in the series, even better than Explorers despite Explorers being better overall.

 

[balto]

Yeah I agree that the soundtrack for BotW was not as memorable as I was hoping it would be. That said, there do seem to be some nice ambient tracks. I particularly like the Lost Woods theme and the one that plays in the Zora Divine Beast before you activate any of the terminals. This kind of thing helps me stay focused while doing work

 

[Cruciferi]

Incoming! Outgoing! CRASH

 

[Seeksadvice]

I’ve played Morrowind, Oblivion, and Skyrim. Morrowind had the best game-play experience. Oblivion wasn’t bad, but the difficulty scaling was really bad. Skyrim was all about the eye candy, and was dumbed down to absurd levels.

I tried Warhammer 40,000 Space Marine, but found the button mashing and absurd lack of tactics ultimately frustrating. The dark, dystopic, neo-gothic setting was great. The game play… was not. Venerate the immortal god emperor.

 

[metalwolf]

I have played the modded version of Skyrim and it seems a lot better than the vanilla version

 

[somecanadian]

I’m so late to this thread. Haha. Has it died already?

Anybody play Witcher 3?

Honestly it’s simultaneously the best and most disturbing game I’ve ever played.

When I feel like gaming but don’t want to think I play things like Civilization or Sir Match a Lot (big fish games).

When I just really want to explore and pursue goals while looking at pretty I play any of the Assassin’s Creed games. The first one always makes me happy because I can run around Jerusalem but the latest one is in my second favorite location: Egypt! And it is GOOOORGEOUS.

I like Fallout 4 but I tend to just build settlements. I treat it like Minecraft Apocalypse. LOL.

Skyrim, Morrowind and Oblivion are my first loves and my introduction to first person games.

My absolute JAM growing up was the Hero’s Quest (Quest for Glory) series! MAN I loved those games. i still play them now and then. They just never get old for me plus if I wait long enough I forget the solution for all the puzzles (yay bad memory!).

I honestly think I played too much as a young adult. As an adult I have a set amount of gameplay a week and I think it’s a more balanced approach. I think video games have a real capacity to become a crutch and/or time waster and obviously that’s not good. But a few hours here or there to de-stress and for mental health can only be good.

 

[Babinicz]

Witcher 3 is ok, Ive completed whole witcher series. Overall too much nudity and paganism.
Combat animations from witcher 1 were really great and I liked that combat based on clicking mouse in right time.

 

[somecanadian]

The occult part is the part I’m struggling with. I know many of the creatures introduced are fictional and can be found in mythology books but it’s still kind of jarring sometimes to see them in action.