Topic: Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Switch/Wii U)

[Soren]

It's funny to think Nintendo had the same idea with Link as WWE had with The Undertaker...but were smart enough to not do it.

[nickmitch]

They're basically the same character, so it's only natural.

[stevey]

Here's an interesting nugget from Kotaku's Switch review regarding Zelda's performance on handheld vs docked.

Breath of the Wild looks and performs noticeably worse when plugged into the dock than it does in handheld mode, a potentially worrying indicator of how the Switch’s graphics processing hardware will hold up over time. When I play on the TV, I notice frequent dips below the game’s 30fps frame rate, sometimes to the point that it’s genuinely distracting and makes it harder to play. Any time I’m running in tree-shade on a sunny day in Hyrule, zooming in for a closer view, or moving quickly through the rain, it feels like things drop into at least the 20-25fps zone.

If I pop the console out of the dock and start playing in tablet mode, everything immediately runs more smoothly. The frame rate is solid in the same places (with a few exceptions), and the overall image is crisper. The disparity is likely because the Switch runs at 720p resolution in handheld mode and bumps up to a more demanding higher resolution (1080p in general, 900p in the case of Zelda) when plugged into the TV.

Has anyone compared the Switch version to the WiiU one in terms of frame rate yet?

[Soren]

Disappointing. Digital Foundry confirms the big frame-rate drops while docked. Handheld is very stable.

Digital Foundry suggests the Wii U version might skew closer to the handheld version, but they're just speculating at this point. If so, I say it would be very disappointing seeing as I will play most of this game docked on a TV.

[Nile Boogie Returns]

Disappointing. Digital Foundry confirms the big frame-rate drops while docked. Handheld is very stable.

Digital Foundry suggests the Wii U version might skew closer to the handheld version, but they're just speculating at this point. If so, I say it would be very disappointing seeing as I will play most of this game docked on a TV.

Less we forget this is a side port and NOT a hardware issue like the NEOGAF thread appears to think.


This game is Amazing outside of these issues.

[ShyGuy]

Playing it now, and I've died twice! This is the Dark Souls of video games!

[nickmitch]

If you're looking for a lol, check the user reviews on Metacritic.

[Lemonade]

What do you guys think of how quiet the game is? In some ways its nice, but I think I would have liked more music. Its just a bit too quiet.

[King of Twitch]

I saw a video of Lonk doing some snowboarding with his shield looked so fun. It was one of those mehhh moments in Twilight Princess--gotta race someone to the temple and if you lose you have to do it over and over again. Kinda gave me bad flashbacks to SFA. But they did it right this time. The player has more freedom and control, greater area of potential obstacles to tackle at one's own pace. The real Nintendo difference

[stevey]

So far I died 7 times:
3 times from falling off the temple
3 times from being unable to get off the fucking tower
Once from setting myself on fire then freezing to death

The end boss is going to be Einstein killing you with physics

[Luigi Dude]

Played the game for about 5 hours and I've died more times in this game then the previous 3D Zelda games combined.  I love how just the normal enemies can actually pose a threat now if you're not careful.  This game is easily the hardest a Zelda game has been since the NES games.

Of course I am intentionally taking on the stronger enemies with only 3 hearts right now and I haven't found any stronger clothing so I'm getting killed in 2 hits by attacks from Moblins and Lizalfos, but hey, I love it.  Being able to go anywhere and if I run into a group of enemies that are too strong, instead of running like some, I keep going until I eventually kill them, which then give me some pretty sweet weapons to take on even stronger ones. 

This game is finally providing the challenge I've wanted from a 3D Zelda.

[Lemonade]

I was worried about the difficulty before I started. I have died many times now, but it is ok because you dont really lose any progress.

Is there a way to disable subtitles? I cant see it in the options anywhere

[Soren]

Wii U version is basically the handheld version. Graphical settings are identical on both consoles and the improvements on the Switch version are pretty minor.

Frame Rate: Both Wii U and docked Switch versions have aggressive frame rate drops. The Switch game in handheld mode is the most stable of all the 3. Digital Foundry is speculating that Switch's Tegra X1 chip is better optimized for 720p performance, which is disappointing.

In short, Wii U versions aren't really getting short-changed. Versions are almost identical.

[lolmonade]

What do you guys think of how quiet the game is? In some ways its nice, but I think I would have liked more music. Its just a bit too quiet.

I kind of like it.  It means that at the moment which they inject music into the game, it feels more impactful, makes things feel more epic or tense.  You're not wrong though, it's definitely a quiet game in my couple of hours so far.

[Evan_B]

This game

is

the greatest game

I

have ever played.

[Soren]

The game is great, but early on I have two big pet peeves. The inventory management is atrocious. I should not have to fridge clean my inventory less than an hour into the game.


Also, there appears to be no cook book, or record of meals cooked. It looks like I might have to physically write down any meals I make, and that's bad.


But I just finished streaming the first 3 1/2 hours and everything is so smooth. The shrines are well designed and don't wear out their welcome at all. The combat is pretty satisfying and it's very easy to just get lost exploring places all over the map.

[Evan_B]

Get cooking. That will manage your inventory.

Cooking recipes become a bit more manageable when you finally understand what elements make what. There are also a number of instances where you will find records of recipes in the world.

[Soren]

Get cooking. That will manage your inventory.

As much as I'd like to, I can't eat swords or bows.

[leahsdad]

About 4-5 hours in, great game.   I think that, much like the Switch itself, BOTW is an evolution of the Zelda game informed by all the best parts of the last...oh, 4 console Zeldas.   Improved implementation of Twilight Princess overworld, improved implementation of crafting from Skyward Sword,  improved version of combat from Wind Waker.   They got rid of the whole "boring town in the beginning" problem that plagued both Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword.   Played the first 3 hours in 1 session on the TV, just could not stop myself.   Too much fun, and so perfectly paced.




The open world aspect reminds me of all the wonderous parts of Xenoblade Chronicles.   


I think, if anything, this proves that the Zelda team has NOT been asleep at the wheel.  They've been taking notes.


And btw, one of the best parts of this game, little thing, but still remarkable?   Click down once on the left stick to crouch, click again to stand up.   I HATE it on other 3rd person action games when you have to HOLD DOWN the left stick to crouch.   So dumb.  This is much nicer.  Can't believe no one has thought of it yet.

[Evan_B]

Get cooking. That will manage your inventory.

As much as I'd like to, I can't eat swords or bows.

...You only have like, five of each at the beginning of the game. What is there to complain about?

[nickmitch]

Get cooking. That will manage your inventory.

As much as I'd like to, I can't eat swords or bows.

...You only have like, five of each at the beginning of the game. What is there to complain about?

You can only carry so many at the beginning, but the game throws lots of them (and varying types) at you at the beginning.  And it behooves you to have a little variety, but it's hard to carry more than one of each.  I've found it to be pretty frustrating as well.

However, having found that you can expand your weapons inventory, I've got some new hopes for this.  Especially since the doodad you need to expand seems a) plentiful, and b) spread throughout the world.  Also, it seems like a 1:1 trade for an inventory slot so far.

[ShyGuy]

Get cooking. That will manage your inventory.

As much as I'd like to, I can't eat swords or bows.

You have to collect seeds for the Deku dude to expand you slots

[ShyGuy]

This game needs a cook book! Give me cook book DLC instead of a hipster T-shirt!

[sudoshuff]

I've made it off the Great Plateau and have begun exploring some of the towns and villages in the second section (that is, the one you're guided to).  This game scratches a weird itch in gaming that I never knew I had.  All of its components seem really well balanced and the sense of discovery and exploration is second-to-none. 


The awesome part is, if you get tired of any one aspect you can take a break from it and push forward.


Don't like cooking?  Be creative with physics and weapons.
Tired of fighting Bokoblins? Just sneak around them.
One day I'll be in the mood to look for a bunch of shrines and build out my map, the next day I just want to push forward with the story.


It's not a flawless game (what is?), but one of the most exciting I've played in the last decade.

[Soren]

...You only have like, five of each at the beginning of the game. What is there to complain about?

It's frustrating to open up a treasure chest, find a really good sword/bow/boomerang, then have the game tell you your inventory's full. The chest closes, you have to go into your inventory, drop something, then open the chest again to get the item. Then let's repeat this many times over the course of the game.

I know stuff breaks pretty quickly, but there are still plenty of weapons out there in the map. And because stuff breaks so fast, you want to keep your inventory topped up at all times. An elegant solution could have been to automatically open up the inventory when you get something, so you can just ditch something quickly, instead of having to open up a treasure chest twice.

It's a minor annoyance, but it popped up so many times in my first 3 hours of play that I couldn't help but mention it.