BOTW is one of the few games on here I've given 5 stars, and it seems like it will continue to be an exclusive group.
TOTK somehow finds a way to reach higher highs and lower lows than BOTW. I loved all the new additions to the world, the dungeons, story, and expanded side quests. I barely scratched the surface of this games' content, and still finished it in around 60 hours. If you wanted Zelda to become your life, you really could make it happen with this game. Compared to pretty much everything Nintendo has published in the past few years, it makes sense as to why this was increased to $70, and I don't feel my money was wasted.
That being said, the more I played TOTK, the more issues I had. If the game wrapped up maybe 10 hours sooner, I would likely be giving this all five stars.
The biggest issue for me is the tedium of the shrines, UI, and Depths. The game cleverly places shrines that teach important Zonai devices near story-important locations, yet at the same time, places basic tutorials all around the map. After a while, each shrine became too hit-or-miss to be enjoyable for me; either it was a tutorial for throwing I got 30 hours in, or ANOTHER Eventide test. Combined with the constant loading screens in and out of shrines and the general time sink of using the Right Arm abilities (scrolling through hundreds of items for Fuse or fumbling with Ultrahand), the game felt genuinely exhausting by the end. It's a lot of fun when you get it working, it's just not for me. I love seeing all the cool vehicles and contraptions people are creating on Twitter, but since nothing required ever gets that complicated within the game, I don't really see the appeal for me PERSONALLY. Additionally, after activating all the sage abilities, the game really begins the chug, and functions as another reminder as to why the Switch feels like its holding Nintendo's developers back, despite the obvious technical marvel that is the physics engine of this game.
The idea of a three-layer BOTW map is fantastic, but the Sky Islands are really sparse and repetitive, and the Depths are thematically boring and annoying to traverse (until you get a certain sage power). I appreciated the variations in gameplay each section provided, and the overall movement between them, but Hyrule is just so much more interesting and fleshed out it makes the other two feel like something I would rather ignore than engage with.
However, I LOVE the final fight and the thematic parallels with Tears of the Dragon quest. Everything comes together so well in the end. Overall, an undeniably great game, and a reminder that Nintendo still has development wizards working behind the scenes.
Also shout-out for the being the second game ever to make me tear up at a title drop.
TOTK somehow finds a way to reach higher highs and lower lows than BOTW. I loved all the new additions to the world, the dungeons, story, and expanded side quests. I barely scratched the surface of this games' content, and still finished it in around 60 hours. If you wanted Zelda to become your life, you really could make it happen with this game. Compared to pretty much everything Nintendo has published in the past few years, it makes sense as to why this was increased to $70, and I don't feel my money was wasted.
That being said, the more I played TOTK, the more issues I had. If the game wrapped up maybe 10 hours sooner, I would likely be giving this all five stars.
The biggest issue for me is the tedium of the shrines, UI, and Depths. The game cleverly places shrines that teach important Zonai devices near story-important locations, yet at the same time, places basic tutorials all around the map. After a while, each shrine became too hit-or-miss to be enjoyable for me; either it was a tutorial for throwing I got 30 hours in, or ANOTHER Eventide test. Combined with the constant loading screens in and out of shrines and the general time sink of using the Right Arm abilities (scrolling through hundreds of items for Fuse or fumbling with Ultrahand), the game felt genuinely exhausting by the end. It's a lot of fun when you get it working, it's just not for me. I love seeing all the cool vehicles and contraptions people are creating on Twitter, but since nothing required ever gets that complicated within the game, I don't really see the appeal for me PERSONALLY. Additionally, after activating all the sage abilities, the game really begins the chug, and functions as another reminder as to why the Switch feels like its holding Nintendo's developers back, despite the obvious technical marvel that is the physics engine of this game.
The idea of a three-layer BOTW map is fantastic, but the Sky Islands are really sparse and repetitive, and the Depths are thematically boring and annoying to traverse (until you get a certain sage power). I appreciated the variations in gameplay each section provided, and the overall movement between them, but Hyrule is just so much more interesting and fleshed out it makes the other two feel like something I would rather ignore than engage with.
However, I LOVE the final fight and the thematic parallels with Tears of the Dragon quest. Everything comes together so well in the end. Overall, an undeniably great game, and a reminder that Nintendo still has development wizards working behind the scenes.
Also shout-out for the being the second game ever to make me tear up at a title drop.