Author Topic: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Switch) Review  (Read 9359 times)

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Offline NWR_Neal

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The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Switch) Review
« on: March 01, 2017, 10:00:00 PM »

Nintendo’s biggest game ever breathes bold and unique new life into both Zelda games and open-world adventures.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/44240/the-legend-of-zelda-breath-of-the-wild-switch-review

About 20 years ago, Nintendo launched two genre-defining video games: Super Mario 64 and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Both games took existing series and transformed them into something brave and new, setting forth a pattern that nearly all Mario and Zelda games followed from then on. After those many years, Zelda’s next evolutionary step has arrived in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, the massive open-world game that completely redefines what a Zelda game is all the while delivering one of the best Nintendo games in recent memory. Except this isn’t like Ocarina of Time, which was essentially Link to the Past in 3D. No, Breath of the Wild is the equivalent of Super Mario 64 for the Zelda series, and the results are incredible.

The very setup of Breath of the Wild seems like a direct response to growing criticism of Skyward Sword and Twilight Princess. Instead of a dialogue-heavy and long-winded tutorial, the intro drops you right into the middle of the action on The Great Plateau with just cursory guidance. The Great Plateau is one of the most effective tutorials I’ve ever seen as it works as a brilliant self-contained opening that also lays down the foundation for the entire game’s progression. It all works like this: gather some story quests to give you a modicum of direction and then aimlessly wander around looking for mini-dungeon-like Shrines and hidden collectible Koroks while taking down whatever monsters and vicious elements you come across.

The Shrines, quite possibly my favorite addition, are laid out all throughout Hyrule and offer up challenges that can take anywhere from a few minutes to a half hour. Some are simple one-room puzzles, while others contain multiple themed puzzles. Some of the more involved Shrines are tied to overworld challenges, like mazes and boss fights. 120 of them are out in the wild, and once found, they also function as fast-travel points, which are integral to fully exploring the land. When completed, the Shrines give you Spirit Orbs that are used to upgrade your health and stamina. They are intrinsically linked to progression, and make up the bulk of Breath of the Wild’s dungeon-like content.

Aside from the Shrines, Breath of the Wild has a few other dungeons that are only slightly more complex. While these dungeons have a few neat tricks and puzzles, they feel mostly insubstantial, especially compared to some of the masterful dungeons in past 3D Zeldas. They’re cool but not memorable, mainly because the majority of them have a similar staid style. The main hook of each is a way to manipulate your surroundings on the map (e.g. rotate a room 90 degrees or tilt the dungeon). That could be cooler if everything else wasn’t so formulaic. The goal of every dungeon is to find five terminals and then fight a boss. That’s it. You can’t even make use of the open-ended and creative mechanics on full display elsewhere either.

Fortunately the disappointing dungeons don’t mess with the brilliance of the open-world, which is an absolute joy to explore. In a corny way, the overworld might just be the biggest and greatest dungeon the series has ever seen. I often would spend hours just wandering around Hyrule, looking for Shrines and other secrets. The various nooks and crannies all have some reward, even if as you get later into the game, the reward might be a super low-tier weapon or item that you instantly discard. In general, discarding items is a thing you’ll do a lot of, as especially early on, your inventory is woefully limited. Even as I upgraded the inventory by using the Korok Seeds, I still too often had to clumsily enter the inventory screen to sort and eventually figure out what weapon to discard when I came across a new one. Equipable items are all boiled down to a single attack or defense stat, so it’s a little streamlined, but that doesn’t make the inventory any less inelegant.

The weapons all degrade and break as well, so you constantly need to refresh your supply. The variety of armaments in the wild allows for a lot of creativity in combat, though I do miss some of the focused nuance of recent 3D Zeldas. Where it succeeds though is in the fact that you have near-infinite ways of approaching battles. You can run in melee weapons blazing or hide back in the shadows picking off enemies one-by-one with arrows and bombs. Making use of the other runes, like the metal-manipulating Magnesis one, also allows for more freeform battling.

In addition to weapons, you also can pick up numerous materials. Fortunately, the amount of materials you collect isn’t limited, but that often makes it unwieldy to sift through. You won’t find recovery hearts anywhere in Hyrule. Instead, you collect food and make meals to recover your health and temporarily boost everything from your attack and defense to your cold and hot resistance. Making meals is fun the first half-dozen times, but when you’re spending 15 minutes awkwardly hovering over a camp stove trying to figure out the best assortment of items to make the most effective meals, it falters. It gets a little easier as you get more familiar with what materials to use, but the whole process is still a drag on the explorative fun.

And that fun is so readily apparent and otherwise constant. At any given time, you have a wealth of options. Story quests come in bunches and you can finish them in any order. In addition to the main quests, a variety of side quests help pepper the world of Hyrule. Each one features different characters that are well-written and point you in the direction of one of the many additional elements of the game.

The story is surprisingly dark. It’s not quite to Majora’s Mask levels of despair, but it takes place in a Hyrule that failed and you have to deal with that aftermath. From the moment Link wakes up to start the adventure, this world is filled with sadness and loss. Your travels around the world just highlight that tragedy, often in affecting ways that help color and deepen the main characters. Link still doesn’t talk, but even he gets some subtle character development. Every other major character does talk, though. Across the board, the voice acting is great, even if it’s a little cheesy. That tone fits with the series. Breath of the Wild doesn’t need to be entirely self-serious (even if it tries real hard to do that at times), and the voice acting is a fine representation of the characters we’ve been reading for years.

While I wholeheartedly recommend digging into the story, the craziest thing about it is that it’s largely optional. After you leave the Plateau, you can go right to Hyrule Castle and fight Ganon. You’d probably get annihilated, but it’s theoretically possible. You don’t need to complete dungeons or find the Master Sword. You don’t even need to find out what happened 100 years ago. You can just roll into Hyrule Castle and take on the Demon King. It’s a novel idea that works extremely well with the open-world design.

But it’s best not to see the forest for trees and skip chunks of content to rush to the end. Breath of the Wild is a game that works best as your own pace. That’s made evident by the brilliant music that is often more ambient than bombastic. The best tracks to me are the mellow jams in towns that hearken back to older tunes, as well as the completely incredible Hyrule Castle theme that colors your final approach to Calamity Ganon. Outside of the soundtrack, the sound design is immaculate. If you’re playing in portable, you can rock a pair of headphones and just straight-up live in Hyrule with the array of sounds in the world.

Even with a few nagging issues, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild soars in a variety of incredible ways. It truly recaptures the distinct essence of the original Zelda game on NES in a way that feels warm and familiar but also exciting and new. This is an amazing, standout entry in a series with a history dotted with masterpieces. It absolutely reinvents the Zelda style while still staying true to what makes past games work so well. This is a hell of a way to kick off a new console (or close one out if you play it on Wii U), as Breath of the Wild is one of the most impressive games I’ve played in years.

Neal Ronaghan
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Offline Lemonade

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Re: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Switch) Review
« Reply #1 on: March 02, 2017, 08:39:28 AM »
Quote
The Shrines, quite possibly my favorite addition, are laid out all throughout Hyrule and offer up challenges that can take anywhere from a few minutes to a half hour

This is very good to hear. One thing that bothered me about Skyward Sword was long dungeons. I wanted shorted dungeons and more of them.

Almost everything else sounds really good. Inhave been wanting an open world Zelda with voices for a very long time.

The only thing I think I might get annoyed with is breakable weapons. I havent liked that in other games I have played.

Offline Circasurviver

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Re: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Switch) Review
« Reply #2 on: March 02, 2017, 08:50:33 AM »
Dang it!  I was really hoping this would be as good as Kirby's Epic Yarn. Hope there's still time to cancel my preorder.

Offline latterdayrasta

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Re: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Switch) Review
« Reply #3 on: March 02, 2017, 09:21:26 AM »
Great review! We all know a 9.5 from current-day Neal is equivalent to an 11 from any other reviewer. I'm hyped!

Offline mustbeburt

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Re: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Switch) Review
« Reply #4 on: March 02, 2017, 09:42:21 AM »
Dang it!  I was really hoping this would be as good as Kirby's Epic Yarn. Hope there's still time to cancel my preorder.


This is really funny.

Offline ForgottenPearl

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Re: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Switch) Review
« Reply #5 on: March 02, 2017, 09:58:11 AM »
Just a few questions: How does saving work?  Can you save the game whenever you want?  Also, how long are the dungeons? 


Anyway, great review.  This is the first time in over a decade I've been excited for a Zelda game.

Offline ejamer

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Re: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Switch) Review
« Reply #6 on: March 02, 2017, 11:02:55 AM »
Dang it!  I was really hoping this would be as good as Kirby's Epic Yarn. Hope there's still time to cancel my preorder.


Eh, they can't all be winners.


This might be the rare time I actually play a game when it's new instead of adding it to my backlog and only starting years later.  Maybe.
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Offline NWR_Neal

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Re: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Switch) Review
« Reply #7 on: March 02, 2017, 01:42:59 PM »

First off - I love you all. The comments made me laugh so far. I really stressed over this review because as much as I wanted to just salivate all over this totally rad game, I kept noticing little things that bugged me throughout the 50+ hours I've played so far. Breath of the Wild is incredible, but it's not flawless. Really though, for how big and complex it all is, it's amazing it works as well as it does.

Just a few questions: How does saving work?  Can you save the game whenever you want?  Also, how long are the dungeons? 


Auto-saves pretty regularly. You can save *almost* anywhere you want. Like, you can't save mid-boss battle and stuff like that.


Depends on how stuck you get in the dungeons. I had one I blazed through in under a half hour. Another had me flummoxed and it took me an hour or so. They're very straightforward and no nonsense, which I could see appealing to some people. Didn't really appeal to me as much as I'd like.
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Offline ForgottenPearl

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Re: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Switch) Review
« Reply #8 on: March 02, 2017, 02:49:11 PM »
Thanks for the info.  I thought Twilight Princess's dungeons dragged on for too long, so the more reasonable length is great to hear.  It's also great to hear of a convenient save system, something past Zelda games have lacked.

Offline dfields90

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Re: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Switch) Review
« Reply #9 on: March 02, 2017, 03:01:17 PM »
Great review Neal.

I am curious about the amiibo, specifically the wolf link one. Was the wolf useful or is it a gimmick? Any thoghts on the uses of the other amiibo?
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Offline jarodea

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Re: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Switch) Review
« Reply #10 on: March 02, 2017, 03:44:21 PM »
The three cons are my gaming pet peeves and so pretty much the main issues I expected to have with the game.  I don't mind the smaller more expansive shrine setup but I was hoping there'd be a few large complicated unique dungeons.  The pros on the other hand are why I'm still excited for it, hopefully they'll outweigh the cons for me in the end.

Offline Ian Sane

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Re: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Switch) Review
« Reply #11 on: March 02, 2017, 04:01:05 PM »
I want to praise Neal for the lack of spoilers in this review.  I was reading a review off another site and the guy starts spouting off all these details that are completely unnecessary for the review.  He was pretty much name dropping all the areas you visit and items you get.  Why the **** would someone who literally CAN'T play the game yet because it hasn't been released want that sort of information in a review when the whole purpose of a review is to find out if the game is worth playing in the first place?

This review is written like a damn review should be.  It explains the gameplay mechanics and the pros and cons but leaves things vague enough that I can still discover the game on my own... or could until I stupidly read other reviews.

Offline ThePerm

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Re: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Switch) Review
« Reply #12 on: March 02, 2017, 04:38:29 PM »
I want to praise Neal for the lack of spoilers in this review.  I was reading a review off another site and the guy starts spouting off all these details that are completely unnecessary for the review.  He was pretty much name dropping all the areas you visit and items you get.  Why the **** would someone who literally CAN'T play the game yet because it hasn't been released want that sort of information in a review when the whole purpose of a review is to find out if the game is worth playing in the first place?

This review is written like a damn review should be.  It explains the gameplay mechanics and the pros and cons but leaves things vague enough that I can still discover the game on my own... or could until I stupidly read other reviews.

II have to say Iansane. That comment was written like a real pro. It's bad enough getting spoilers in reviews, but it's better when you can read the comments to a review and know you won't get spoiled.
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Offline Khushrenada

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Re: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Switch) Review
« Reply #13 on: March 02, 2017, 06:00:20 PM »
According to an e-mail from Amazon, my Wii U copy is supposed to arrive sometime from Mar. 10 - Mar. 16. Le sigh. Gotta admit, this is the most I've been excited to play a game since Xenoblade Chronicles X and this sounds like a simpler open-world roaming game without all the RPG stats to worry about. It's the most excited I've been to play a Zelda game since Wind Waker at least. I still haven't even gotten around to Skyward Sword or Link Between Worlds. But as soon as I get BotW, I'm diving in to it. Just have to wait a bit longer sadly. Hoping Amazon is just over-estimating the delay.
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Offline ejamer

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Re: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Switch) Review
« Reply #14 on: March 02, 2017, 09:55:53 PM »
According to an e-mail from Amazon, my Wii U copy is supposed to arrive sometime from Mar. 10 - Mar. 16...


I feel your pain. My copy (from Best Buy) is slated to arrive by the 9th according to latest tracking info, and then I'm out of town for a business trip the following week. At least it was a good price: got $20 CAD off thanks to pre-ordering in Nov 2015.
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Offline NWR_insanolord

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Re: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Switch) Review
« Reply #15 on: March 02, 2017, 09:57:31 PM »
That's what you get for not buying a Switch. If you got one of those you'd be able to play Zelda in a few hours.
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Offline Khushrenada

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Re: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Switch) Review
« Reply #16 on: March 03, 2017, 12:55:53 AM »
According to an e-mail from Amazon, my Wii U copy is supposed to arrive sometime from Mar. 10 - Mar. 16...


I feel your pain. My copy (from Best Buy) is slated to arrive by the 9th according to latest tracking info, and then I'm out of town for a business trip the following week. At least it was a good price: got $20 CAD off thanks to pre-ordering in Nov 2015.

Nice. I got my copy from Amazon because it was $15.00 off. If it means I have to wait a week to play it, that's still a trade-off I'm willing to make. It's just one of the rare occasions where I'd like to jump into a game on the day it is released. Otherwise, I wouldn't be bothered by the wait.
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Offline ejamer

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Re: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Switch) Review
« Reply #17 on: March 03, 2017, 06:36:52 AM »
That's what you get for not buying a Switch. If you got one of those you'd be able to play Zelda in a few hours.


Only true if I bought a copy of the game in-store.  Everytime I preorder a game online, it's at least a week late.
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Offline Caterkiller

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Re: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Switch) Review
« Reply #18 on: March 03, 2017, 12:13:09 PM »
My Switch is set up and downloading Zelda as I type. Too bad I probably won't get to play it before 11pm tonight. Blasted kids and work responsibilities.


Neal you've got me even more hyped! I always get excited for Zelda games but I haven't felt this way in a long time! Your review really really really makes me want to explore the world! And yeah thanks for not dropping story details, you mentioned all that needed to be said.

I'm going in so blind in this game! I'm 'bout to have some fun with this thang!"
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Re: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Switch) Review
« Reply #19 on: March 03, 2017, 02:51:39 PM »
Never mind. Amazon did overestimate their shipping. My copy of Zelda just showed up. Looks like I've got my weekend planned out now.
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Offline Ian Sane

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Re: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Switch) Review
« Reply #20 on: March 04, 2017, 02:54:46 AM »
Damn it!  Every store I hit up after work was sold out.  They had Switch copies but were all out of Wii U ones, which is the exact opposite of what I expected.  I thought no one owned a Wii U.  Apparently everyone who bought one lives in Langley, BC!  Best Buy really annoyed me because they had copies of the case out to bring to the counter.  So I grab one and the cashier tells me they're sold out.  Then why are they still on the shelf?!  If it's sold out take it off the fuckin' shelf so your customers don't waste their time!

EB Games' web site says the one closest to me has copies or has copies in transit.  Now is that outdated info from this morning?  Don't know so I guess I phone when they open tomorrow.  I actually wasn't going to get a chance to play until tomorrow evening but now that's kind of shitty because my schedule doesn't let me run all over hell's half acre to find a copy.

Really wasn't expecting the Wii U version to sell out on day one.  I thought the whole point was that everyone was getting it for the Switch because they don't own a Wii U!

Offline Khushrenada

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Re: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Switch) Review
« Reply #21 on: March 04, 2017, 03:21:55 AM »
Ended up travelling to Brentwood Mall in Burnaby(?) I think to pick up a used copy of Virtue's Last Reward. While there, I checked out the local EBGames. It was about 8:00 PM so apparently they were recouperating a bit from Switch madness. Ended up buying 6 games while I was there (3DS and Wii U) and while talking with the clerks putting through the transaction, they said that they were all sold out of Wii U copies of Zelda but still had plenty of Switch copies. I'm thinking Nintendo may have made a smaller batch of Wii U copies and it could be the harder one to find and not so much that everyone with a Wii U is getting one. Makes me glad that I did pre-purchase my copy from Amazon now so you can't blame me as depleting the local stock.

I also stopped by the Best Buy in Central City mall in Surrey on my way back home. I was surprised to see they had most Wii U games and a lot of 3DS games on sale. They are clearly trying to get rid of their Wii U stock and move on to the Switch. Xenoblade Chronicles X is down to 49.97. But I already own it. The killer for me was Just Dance 2016 reduced to 4.97. I'd love to have picked it up for that price but there were no copies. Some of the discounts were no big deal like $5.00 off Kirby Planet Robobot. Not everything was slashed yet. Pokken Tournament and Mario Maker only had $5.00 discounts as well. Those are a couple of the last Wii U games I've still got my eye on as a potential purchase if the price is right but still not there.

However, if you do want a Wii U copy, according to Best Buy's website, the Central City Mall in Surrey is supposed to have quantities along with the White Rock branch at 160 street and 22 ave. They also say they have quantities online so you could always just buy it online and have it shipped to you. The price is high enough to qualify for free shipping and you'd probably see it by the middle of this coming week. Just some helpful suggestions for you in your Zelda Quest. Sometimes buying a game is the game.
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Offline NWR_insanolord

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Re: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Switch) Review
« Reply #22 on: March 04, 2017, 03:33:04 AM »
I think it's almost certainly a case of Nintendo printing barely any copies of the Wii U version and about as many copies of the Switch version as they produced Switch consoles.
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Offline ejamer

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Re: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Switch) Review
« Reply #23 on: March 04, 2017, 09:11:27 AM »
Never mind. Amazon did overestimate their shipping. My copy of Zelda just showed up. Looks like I've got my weekend planned out now.


Aww... Now I'm alone in my sadness...
 :'(
Well, almost alone. Ian Sane is unintentionally keeping me company.

Oh well.  I'd almost rather wait until after my business trip to start anyway, since otherwise I'd just get nicely into the game before leaving town.
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Offline Evan_B

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Re: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Switch) Review
« Reply #24 on: March 04, 2017, 12:05:29 PM »
Interesting that you say you don't like cooking. I find it to be one of the most enjoyable and interesting mechanics in the game, and I daresay I can't wait to play another game with a system like it. I said that about motion controls in Zelda, too, so maybe my jinx will ruin it.
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