All I know is that I haven't played much of big games in awhile, as I was getting bored with them. BOTW has me not wanting to stop playing. Everywhere I go is another distraction that peeks my curiosity and has me leaving whatever I was doing for something else. Which is just fine. I know I am going "out of order" right now, but with warp points it is easy enough to move around and get back on track.
This right here is where you raise a flag. There is no "honest" review. You agree with Sterling's opinion? Cool, thank doesn't make his review any more "honest" than GameSpot's 10/10.
Reviews are opinions. Always have been, always will be. Identify a reviewer you trust/like/find entertaining, read their stuff - agree or disagree, whatever. Nothing is right, nothing is wrong.
The implication is that many reviews may be influenced by industry or commercial interests.
Regardless, it's refreshing to read other views other than all these perfect/masterpiece scores and this review helped me to get to the point where I realize I don't need to play this game because it's really the kind of game that I don't like right now. I'm so totally sick & tired of open world games at this point, and the random challenges and puzzle bunker type gameplay is something I don't want to play at all right now. I also don't want to do any Dark Souls type gaming so both this and Horizon are off my radar despite the rave reviews.
Don't get me wrong, I was sorely tempted by the impressive reviews both of these are getting to consider the $600+ it would cost to play but it would probably be punishment to get into them right now and a disservice to my ridiculous backlog of jobs...I mean games. Sometimes it's hard to tell the difference.
He goes and does a decent review and then ends it with the below and wonders why people are upset? Basically saying his review is good and all the others are trash.
"Truly, I wish I could say I understood what all the critics were raving about in their onslaught of 10/10 reviews, but I don’t. I see too many things getting in the way of the brilliance, too much repetitive busywork and full-on dick moves for me to say this is even close to my favorite Zelda game, much less in the top five.
Close, but no Triforce.
Also, it has Ubisoft-style radio towers in it. Really dreary, long, climby ones. Go figure."
I like the tower climbing.. well not the climbing itself, it's not usually a test of skill like some of the Far Cry games do, but some are challenging in various ways. In the middle of a lake surrounded by enemies. Surrounded by old Guardians that target you with their lasers as you climb narrowly avoiding being exploded.
I like how you can look around the world and see the unclimbed towers in the distance, something to strive for, a goal to reach.
__________________ Uncertainty is an uncomfortable position.
But certainty is an absurd one.
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It's honest as in, it doesn't gloss over or make excuses for the game's various flaws "because Zelda" like all the other reviews do.
The weapon durability is a big issue. It's annoying and boring and frustrating. Wasn't there someone in this thread that had to quit out on a boss fight because they ran out of weapons/arrows? That's not because of difficulty, that's just bad design.
A lot of it feels so much like Nintendo got obsessed with making a gigantic open world that they forgot to make a Zelda game with it. I got to the first real 'dungeon' and was so disappointed -- it was small, short and easy, like they mashed together a few of their shrines and called it a day. Wandering around and exploring isn't that fun either because there just isn't that much to find. Another shrine. Another spirit orb. Another weapon that breaks halfway through it's second enemy. Another boring tower to climb.
It's definitely got it's moments, but I just don't see how so many people are so in love with it. This would've been a 10/10 ten years ago, not today.
That review doesn't read like a 7/10 to me (similar to what Raekwon said), but what meaning do review numbers have these days anyway? I'm sure he boosted his traffic before being DDoS'd simply by changing it from an 8 to a 7 perhaps, and not touching the content of the review.
Busywork? Which busywork? I can only think of cooking food, honestly. The sidequests are extremely optional in this game, and they thankfully aren't always accompanied by "we're going to die please save us!".
The weapon durability point Sterling makes isn't even that good of one, honestly. It works well if you're not doing the old RPG style "hold on to my best recovery items for later in the game, but end up never using them" problem. For example, I use multiple weapons to fight stronger enemies in BotW. Moblins are particularly susceptible to a combo of Frostspear to freeze them in place, and Edge of Duality to kill them. It also makes them last a lot longer, and switching weapons isn't too hard.
I was chatting with some friends about the game and was surprised to find I was doing the game "wrong" - I hadn't been to a single divine beast area in roughly 20 hours of play time. My friends were shocked that I hadn't gone to even one yet, but there were so many interesting things I found on my own, and I really wanted to explore.
I ended up spending a lot of time hunting down the dragon spirits ("shrine quests") and they would lead me to new areas that were lots of fun to check out. Some of my friends had already done multiple beasts but never been to the top of Mount Lanaryu, which blew my mind, but it blew their mind that I hadn't been to Zora's Domain, for instance.
I can't say there are many games that would lead so many people to have such different paths through the game. That's pretty special. It's also pretty telling how my wife and I are competing for TV time since the game came out, taking turns playing the game. That also hasn't happened for another game in quite a long time. Did we get swept up in the hype? I don't think so - I'm not huge on open world games, so I was expecting a similar experience to Skyward Sword where I get a fair ways in and then drop it, and my wife wasn't even planning to play the game. When she watched me play, she gradually got interested in trying it too, and now she's just as hooked as I am.
No game will appeal to everyone, but I think with my play time so far, the praise is deserved.
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That's about my only real true complaint, is there's no efficient way to cook my 200 apples than like 10 or more button presses, and there's a limit to how many meals I can carry.
The weapon durability thing is usually a killer for me, I've decided to not buy games on that factor alone. But it hasn't bothered me so far, and quitting a boss fight because of not enough weapons is no different than quitting because of not enough hearts, or potions, or fairies, or inadequate gear, just means aren't quite ready for the fight. I had something similar in one of the test of strength shrines, my equipment and skill wasn't good enough. Marked it, came back with better gear, more practice dodging and special attacks, and a few fairies and got it on my second try.
The economy is a little stingy as well, I should have more $ for the time I've been playing IMO.
I'm in the boat of I'm having so much fun I don't want to stop playing, and it's been a while since a game did that to me.
EDIT: BTW there's a great grove of apple by/on Satori Mountain, blowing up the trees with bombs and collecting the apples is hilarious and rewarding There's also Hearty Durians in the area which are amazing cooked (full health + 4 yellow hearts!)
__________________ Uncertainty is an uncomfortable position.
But certainty is an absurd one.
Looks like Nintendo used an old version of WebKit for the Switch's built in browser (for Wifi connecting usage) which has an exploit, so they've hacked it already. No root access yet, but if interested in that kind of thing might want to disable Internet on your Switch to preserve the 2.0.0 version.
Nintendo hardware with certain software versions can become pretty valuable.
Which beast are people tackling after the Ruta (Zora)? I went to the Gurudo and have made it pretty far, but wondering if its the best one to tackle next.
This game cut out most of the open world boring travel with the teleporting. If there wasn't farming for weapons and items people would bitch that its too linear. Can't please everyone it seems.
Which beast are people tackling after the Ruta (Zora)? I went to the Gurudo and have made it pretty far, but wondering if its the best one to tackle next.
This game cut out most of the open world boring travel with the teleporting. If there wasn't farming for weapons and items people would bitch that its too linear. Can't please everyone it seems.
My brother strongly hinted to me to tackle the Rito (bird people) Divine Beast, as it has a useful upgrade. No idea what it is, but I'll probably take his advice.
I found a neat secret in the labyrinth way to the north east, just off the coast from that lab that sells the ancient tech.
Spoiler!
It helps if you are able to take guardians down. Once I got the Master Sword things are much easier with the mobile ones as you can chop all their legs off. Anyway, finish the labyrinth and get finish the shrine at the end. Once you leave the shrine a gate in the floor opens that has an upward wind gust. If you drop down into the gust instead of going up and over, there is a secret area in the basement with like 20 guardians, like a guardian graveyard. Most are inactive and you can loot them for ancient gear, but there are two active ones that drop tons of gear.
Help! I'm doing the Divine Beast Vah Ruta, and I don't know if my game is bugged or something. Spoilers in case someone hasn't got that far yet.
Spoiler!
I'm inside the beast, and I'm at the 3rd terminal, and I couldn't figure out what to do for forever, so I finally looked at a walkthrough and they all say to use the map screen to reposition the trunk, but my map screen just takes me to the normal map. They show a screen like this:
But I don't get that at all!! I've tried reloading, I've tried closing the app, turning off the console, travelling away and travelling back, but whenever I press the minus button I just get a normal map of the lake.
Is there a special button to get the Divine Beast map? I've tried every button combination I can think of
__________________ Uncertainty is an uncomfortable position.
But certainty is an absurd one.
help! I'm doing the divine beast vah ruta, and i don't know if my game is bugged or something. Spoilers in case someone hasn't got that far yet.
Spoiler!
i'm inside the beast, and i'm at the 3rd terminal, and i couldn't figure out what to do for forever, so i finally looked at a walkthrough and they all say to use the map screen to reposition the trunk, but my map screen just takes me to the normal map. They show a screen like this:
but i don't get that at all!! I've tried reloading, i've tried closing the app, turning off the console, travelling away and travelling back, but whenever i press the minus button i just get a normal map of the lake.
Is there a special button to get the divine beast map? I've tried every button combination i can think of
Help! I'm doing the Divine Beast Vah Ruta, and I don't know if my game is bugged or something. Spoilers in case someone hasn't got that far yet.
Spoiler!
I'm inside the beast, and I'm at the 3rd terminal, and I couldn't figure out what to do for forever, so I finally looked at a walkthrough and they all say to use the map screen to reposition the trunk, but my map screen just takes me to the normal map. They show a screen like this:
But I don't get that at all!! I've tried reloading, I've tried closing the app, turning off the console, travelling away and travelling back, but whenever I press the minus button I just get a normal map of the lake.
Is there a special button to get the Divine Beast map? I've tried every button combination I can think of
Spoiler!
You need to get the map inside the beast first. It's right where you enter, to the left. There's a gate blocking a treasure chest that you can raise up by doing the ice block underneath it.
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You need to get the map inside the beast first. It's right where you enter, to the left. There's a gate blocking a treasure chest that you can raise up by doing the ice block underneath it.
Bwahaha.. I thought I was trying to get the terminals to get through that gate! I guess I wasn't paying close enough attention. Thank you so much!
__________________ Uncertainty is an uncomfortable position.
But certainty is an absurd one.
Bwahaha.. I thought I was trying to get the terminals to get through that gate! I guess I wasn't paying close enough attention. Thank you so much!
Ha, no worries, I did the same thing there. Was inside that big gear hitting the ball with stasis and hammering it so it'd go up to the switch. Went back down and solved the map room puzzle by accident.
Rest of it should be a breeze now. Just make sure you have a lot of arrows on hand before you activate the main terminal...
EB Games 2x trade credit is bonkers. I took in 4 PS4 games and got Mario Kart, Puyo Puyo Tetris, and Arms paid off. Gonna take in my old copy of Mario Kart tomorrow for even more (last day of promo). Switch is just a great system, especially with a wife and kid in the house (and one TV).