This was the first Zelda game, I ever finished. I never cared much for the series in the past. When I was younger, I was one of those weird kids that preferred to play something like Baldur’s Gate over Mario. I did own a SNES but I never played Zelda on it. When 3D games became the standard, I finally got a console – a PS2, not an N64. And so, the years went by and I never really cared much for Nintendo or any of their franchises. Then came the edgy teenager phase and I certainly didn’t start playing these cutesy colorful games for dumb babies, I was way too mature and hardcore for that. Yeah…I’m not proud of those years but we all had a phase like that, didn’t we? Gladly, I did grow up at some point, though it sure took its time. Still, having little to no nostalgia for pretty much any Nintendo game series, I kept on ignoring anything this company released. Funnily enough, Nintendo games first really caught my attention in my late 20s. I got a Switch, the first “main” Nintendo console I ever bought (I did own a 3DS but barely touched it) and was ready to broaden my gaming horizons a bit. The year was 2019, the latest Zelda title had been on the market for two years already and everybody loved it. So, I thought, I’d give it a shot.
And what can I say, Breath of the Wild hooked me right from the start. Now, that is actually quite surprising as I usually don’t like open world sandbox games too much. I prefer to be guided through a world by a narrative thread and not be overwhelmed by a multitude of options. But somehow, this game managed to spark my desire for exploration. The opening shot of Breath of the Wild is legendary and its well deserved. There’s a reason why games have started adopting this technique of introducing their worlds in the first minutes of gameplay. This slow panning shot over the landscape of Hyrule with the epic yet melancholic music in the background left me in awe wanting for more. Melancholy is the word of the hour as I felt like there was an overarching somberness in everything in this version of Hyrule. The world you’re exploring in this game is destroyed. The big calamity happened 100 years ago, civilization fell and now, after a long rest, it’s up to us to go out and explore this withered world. In a way, this had a very Souls-feel to it, though it wasn’t quite as hopeless and sorrowful as in those games. It was very unique, a sort of wild mixture between Dark Souls and Princess Mononoke, right up my alley.
Gameplay was fun as hell too. Riding through these beautiful meadows on my horse, just to find something to uncover in every corner of the world – be it a camp of enemies, a cave, or a shrine, I always felt like the game presented me with something cool everywhere. I know people complained about the lack of traditional dungeons but for me, having all these unique and innovative shrines compensated for that quite well. And again, I didn’t have any other game in the series to compare Breath of the Wild to, so I didn’t “miss” anything. The four main “dungeons” this game had felt very distinct and interesting to me, always with their own little gimmick and neat ideas to keep things fresh.
There were also some things I didn’t like too much. Breakable weapons are not for me. I know, it’s part of the core message of the game but I just found them frustrating. Getting a cool powerful weapon as a reward only to have it break after a couple of hits did not feel like good game design to me. Another thing that could have been handled better was the story and characters. What’s here is really cool. The cutscenes you “collect” during your playthrough were well directed and well written. They were also not in chronological order which made it hard for me to follow the events. These scenes felt too isolated for me to make up a coherent story. Then there’s the characters from Link’s past or their descendants you meet at key story points in the game. Again, I found those charming and simply wished the game had given me more time with them.
All in all, playing this game made me care for Zelda which is quite the feat considering my story with the franchise (or lack thereof). I had a blast exploring Hyrule completing all the shrines and interacting with the open world in a way, no other game had offered so far. Even though, I had my gripes with some game design decisions, I will always look back on my time in Breath of the Wild with fondness.
And what can I say, Breath of the Wild hooked me right from the start. Now, that is actually quite surprising as I usually don’t like open world sandbox games too much. I prefer to be guided through a world by a narrative thread and not be overwhelmed by a multitude of options. But somehow, this game managed to spark my desire for exploration. The opening shot of Breath of the Wild is legendary and its well deserved. There’s a reason why games have started adopting this technique of introducing their worlds in the first minutes of gameplay. This slow panning shot over the landscape of Hyrule with the epic yet melancholic music in the background left me in awe wanting for more. Melancholy is the word of the hour as I felt like there was an overarching somberness in everything in this version of Hyrule. The world you’re exploring in this game is destroyed. The big calamity happened 100 years ago, civilization fell and now, after a long rest, it’s up to us to go out and explore this withered world. In a way, this had a very Souls-feel to it, though it wasn’t quite as hopeless and sorrowful as in those games. It was very unique, a sort of wild mixture between Dark Souls and Princess Mononoke, right up my alley.
Gameplay was fun as hell too. Riding through these beautiful meadows on my horse, just to find something to uncover in every corner of the world – be it a camp of enemies, a cave, or a shrine, I always felt like the game presented me with something cool everywhere. I know people complained about the lack of traditional dungeons but for me, having all these unique and innovative shrines compensated for that quite well. And again, I didn’t have any other game in the series to compare Breath of the Wild to, so I didn’t “miss” anything. The four main “dungeons” this game had felt very distinct and interesting to me, always with their own little gimmick and neat ideas to keep things fresh.
There were also some things I didn’t like too much. Breakable weapons are not for me. I know, it’s part of the core message of the game but I just found them frustrating. Getting a cool powerful weapon as a reward only to have it break after a couple of hits did not feel like good game design to me. Another thing that could have been handled better was the story and characters. What’s here is really cool. The cutscenes you “collect” during your playthrough were well directed and well written. They were also not in chronological order which made it hard for me to follow the events. These scenes felt too isolated for me to make up a coherent story. Then there’s the characters from Link’s past or their descendants you meet at key story points in the game. Again, I found those charming and simply wished the game had given me more time with them.
All in all, playing this game made me care for Zelda which is quite the feat considering my story with the franchise (or lack thereof). I had a blast exploring Hyrule completing all the shrines and interacting with the open world in a way, no other game had offered so far. Even though, I had my gripes with some game design decisions, I will always look back on my time in Breath of the Wild with fondness.
3 Comments
@QuiB Isn't it cool how this game managed to make two people with completely different gaming backgrounds care for Zelda again? That's quite impressive if you ask me.
It is. BotW sold five times as many copies as the 3DS and Wii Zeldas. They pulled in scores of lapsed fans and fresh faces all at once.
QuiB
3 days ago
I grew up with Nintendo, but I lost interest after the initial hype for the Wii died down. Didn't care for the 3D Zeldas that released post-N64. All the praise for BotW convinced me to belatedly take the plunge as well.