Breath of the Wild walked so Genshin Impact could soar.
The production values may be fantastic for a Wii U game, but the experience of actually playing it was deeply mediocre. This was especially the case for me as I only played it after having played other games that improved on the formula.
The "climb every surface" traversal is satisfying, albeit a few notches too slow. I've got places I gotta be, but Link is in no rush to get there. This is exasperated when the weather turns to rain and the entire game comes to a screeching halt. You can no longer climb anything but the smallest surfaces and many side quests - such as carrying a flaming torch from one location to another - are effectively shut off from completion until the weather improves. Some of this stems from my overall dislike of games that necessitate the player to "make their own fun", as perhaps there were ways to use the physics in unintended ways to traverse more quickly or protect my flame from the rain, but without a nudge in that direction I tended to find something else to do, such as making a sandwich and hope the clouds pass soon.
The combat is clunky and unpleasant in the way Zelda has been ever since Ocarina of Time. It may have been revolutionary at the time, but 20 years had passed since the release of these two games and it doesn't feel any better.
Weapon degradation had the potential to be a positive way to encourage the player to use other types of weapons that they won't usually use, but the reward for fighting is usually so minimal that there's no reason to engage at all. For most encounters, your reward is a treasure chest containing either a duplicate of the weapon your broke to earn it or something worse.
I feel like I'm missing out on something special given the immense praise that Breath of the Wild receives but my emotions while playing were basically a flat, steady line. I didn't grow up playing Zelda and don't have the excitement and nostalgia for exploring through a new take on Hyrule, meaning what I played was just an open-world adventure game with observation towers and dodgy combat.
The production values may be fantastic for a Wii U game, but the experience of actually playing it was deeply mediocre. This was especially the case for me as I only played it after having played other games that improved on the formula.
The "climb every surface" traversal is satisfying, albeit a few notches too slow. I've got places I gotta be, but Link is in no rush to get there. This is exasperated when the weather turns to rain and the entire game comes to a screeching halt. You can no longer climb anything but the smallest surfaces and many side quests - such as carrying a flaming torch from one location to another - are effectively shut off from completion until the weather improves. Some of this stems from my overall dislike of games that necessitate the player to "make their own fun", as perhaps there were ways to use the physics in unintended ways to traverse more quickly or protect my flame from the rain, but without a nudge in that direction I tended to find something else to do, such as making a sandwich and hope the clouds pass soon.
The combat is clunky and unpleasant in the way Zelda has been ever since Ocarina of Time. It may have been revolutionary at the time, but 20 years had passed since the release of these two games and it doesn't feel any better.
Weapon degradation had the potential to be a positive way to encourage the player to use other types of weapons that they won't usually use, but the reward for fighting is usually so minimal that there's no reason to engage at all. For most encounters, your reward is a treasure chest containing either a duplicate of the weapon your broke to earn it or something worse.
I feel like I'm missing out on something special given the immense praise that Breath of the Wild receives but my emotions while playing were basically a flat, steady line. I didn't grow up playing Zelda and don't have the excitement and nostalgia for exploring through a new take on Hyrule, meaning what I played was just an open-world adventure game with observation towers and dodgy combat.