hypothetical life partner walks into the room

"Vee, what are you doing?"

"Playing Balatro."

"It's 4 o'clock in the morning. Why on Earth are you playing Balatro?"

"Because I've lost control of my life."

Will a comment on BOTW made by a stranger on blacklogged almost 8 years after its release have an impact on the world? Obviously not. Yet, I think it is interesting to question our relationship with open-world games, of which BOTW is, for many, the standard-bearer.

To provide some context: I am playing BOTW for the first time, having spent a significant part of my life playing WOW, and for the past year, I have been trying to catch up on the major successes of recent years. I am also a player of "Souls" games and have spent several hundred hours on Elden Ring.

Why such a preamble? Because my relationship with "open-world" games is not neutral and is no longer the same in 2024; I am even exhausted by it. Spending hours pressing 'w' / up arrow and observing an "infinite" world exhausts me. I no longer have the energy to invest a hundred hours in a game collecting XXX items, doing MMO-like side quests that essentially involve going to a certain place, doing X things, and getting X rewards. The pseudo-freedom of the open world offered by developers annoys me: they place too much trust in players. However, and WOW taught me this, players are experts at ruining their gaming experience; we should not trust them.

The question now is: can BOTW be approached as a linear game, like a "classic" Zelda? Well, not really. If we consider the game not as a world to explore but as a mission to accomplish (kill Ganon) using the tools the game provides, then the game reveals a lot of weaknesses.

The game can quickly become artificially difficult, especially in the fight against Kohga in Vah’Naboris. Every mistake is instant death.
All resources (food, weapons, and shields) become a hindrance to progress. You end up having to farm them. The weapon-breaking system completely discouraged me from exploring; I wanted to save my resources as much as possible.
The open-world aspect makes almost everything "skippable": it is possible to finish the game by killing practically no enemies.
Once the power of Regali is obtained, exploration as such comes to an end in my opinion. It is possible to completely skip Hyrule Castle at the end of the game. What I expected to be a "mega-shrine +++" turned out to be a courtesy visit to Ganon.

Obviously, I am exaggerating a bit, and it is undeniable that the game is simply beautiful in many aspects, especially graphically and musically.

Gasp… I think I am getting old and expecting something else from video games than being 'infinite interactive toys.' Perhaps I am expecting games to be controlled by developers and not left to players. Unfortunately, I have the impression that Tears of the Kingdom continues in this direction by adding 'Minecraft'-like crafting.

FR :
Est-ce qu’un commentaire sur BOTW fait par un inconnu sur blacklogged presque 8 ans après sa sortie va-t-il avoir un impact sur le monde ? Évidemment que non. Pourtant, je pense qu’il est intéressant d’interroger notre rapport aux jeux open-world dont BOTW est, pour beaucoup, l’étendard d’un standard.
Pour donner quelques éléments de contextes : je joue pour la première fois à BOTW, j’ai passé une majeure partie de ma vie à jouer à WOW et cela fait maintenant 1 an que je tente de rattraper mon retard sur les grands succès de ces dernières années. Je suis aussi un joueur de « Souls » et j’ai passé plusieurs centaines d’heures sur Elden Ring.
Pourquoi un tel préambule ? Parce mon rapport aux jeux « open-world » n’est pas neutre et n’est plus le même en 2024 : j’en suis même épuisé. Passer des heures à presser « w » / flèche directionnel en haut et observer un monde « infini » m’épuise. Je n’ai plus la force d’investir une centaine d’heure dans un jeu à collecter XXX items, faire des sides-quests « à la MMO » qui consistent essentiellement à aller à tel endroit faire X choses et obtenir X récompenses. La pseudo liberté de l’open world que me propose les développeurs m’exaspèrent : ils placent trop de confiance dans les joueurs. Hors, et WOW me l’a appris, les joueurs sont les experts pour ruiner leur expérience de jeu, on ne doit pas leur faire confiance.
La question maintenant est : est-ce que BOTW peut-il être abordé comme un jeu linéaire, comme un zelda « classique » ? Et bien, pas vraiment. Si on considère le jeu non pas comme un monde à explorer, mais une mission à accomplir (tuer Ganon) en utilisant les outils que le jeu nous propose, alors le jeu révèle un grand nombre de faiblesses.
1. Le jeu peut rapidement devenir artificiellement difficile, notamment sur la fight contre Kohga dans Vah’Naboris. Chaque erreur est une mort instantanée.
2. Toutes les ressources (nourriture, arme et bouclier) deviennent un frein à la progression. On se retrouve obliger d’aller les farm. Ce système d’armes qui se détruit m’a totalement découragé à aller explorer, je voulais ainsi économiser le plus possible mes ressources.
3. L’aspect open-world rend à peu près tout « skippable » : il est possible de finir le jeu en ne tuant pratiquement aucun ennemi.
4. Une fois le pouvoir de Regali obtenu, l’exploration en tant que telle prend fin à mon sens. Il est possible de totalement passer le château d’Hyrule à la fin du jeu. La où je m’attendais à un « mega-shrine +++ » s’est révélé être une visite de courtoisie à Ganon.
Évidemment, je force un peu le trait, et il est indéniable que le jeu est tout simplement magnifique sur beaucoup d’aspects, notamment graphiquement et musicalement.
Gasp… Je pense que je deviens vieux et que j’attends autre chose des jeux vidéo que d’être des « jouets interactifs infinis ». J’attends peut-être que les jeux soient contrôlés par les développeurs et non pas laissés aux joueurs.
J’ai malheureusement l’impression que Tears of the Kingdom continue dans cette voie en y ajoutant des craft « à la Minecraft ».

I jumped off a charging horse, killed two Moblins, landed back in the saddle. I climbed a cliff for a solid five minutes only to be headbutted off the top by an unexpected goat. I conjured ice to ascend a waterfall. I flipped a puzzle upside down. I jumped from great heights and played chicken with the ground. I went snowboarding. I unleashed bees on my enemies. I regularly took a big dog for a walk. I bought a house. I built a town. I met a load of wonderful people. I smiled for hundreds of hours.

Has all the necessary components of a high quality Gamecube title, including colourful graphics, slightly gimmick-y gameplay, and (of course) saving up all the real difficulty for the final phase of the final boss. I really did not like the soundtrack though (except for the track playing during the wolf boss!!) and that of course hurts in a supposed rhythm game. (Speaking of, I bet the rhythm aspect might actually help beginners to get into character action games in general? It heavily dissuades you from button mashing mindlessly as well as clearly illustrating concepts such as "holding off" the attack button (for a single beat here) for more advanced combos etc. Definitely not the deepest game in the genre but maybe a worthy introductory step into the pleasures of expressive combo:ing?)

Today, there are little flowers blooming where there were none yesterday

Thats the kind of discovery that warms my heart, you know?


2010 and there is a little girl who wakes up on a Saturday at 5am in her grandma's house. She runs downstairs before the suns risen and before anyone has woken up, a novelty. Like she is the only one there, like it is her house. She makes cereal and watches tv, to the left and through the sliding glass door she can see the sun coming up. At grandma's house the sun always rises in oranges and pinks. The neighborhood is always quiet and always confined. Throwing away the plastic bowl, she walks out into the living room, turns on the tv, turns on the wii. Sets the setting to hdmi 2 and grabs her remote. And she plays this.

Impossibly beautiful and forever welcoming. City Folk and its open spaces, delightful music that defines an hour of your life. Your neighbors that seem to have an unlimited amount of things to say, sending you letters, asking after your other characters, pushing them into pitfalls regardless because it is funny every time. And to this child, it was very real, and deeply mysterious. You could spend hours doing nothing but I remember it all so well, feeling giddy after ordering 50 wheat fields and placing them in my house, walking and hiding in them. Dyeing my hair cyan in the hair salon, feeling rich if I managed to buy one thing at Gracies. Time hopping to winter so I could build an awful snowman. Making constellations with Celeste, in awe of all the colors and the way the stars shined.

At school, it is now recess. Today, I have brought a stuffed dog to school named Moo. It was my father's but he cared little for it, so it is now mine. Unlike my father, I will take care of Moo. I will not abandon him, or treat him like he is nothing. He comes with me everywhere and I hug him on the bus when I know he is scared, because I can feel what he feels and it is something other people can not grasp. I have many other stuffed animals at home, and they all take turns coming with me. There is a tree in the recess yard. All the kids jump on it and stab at it with pencils, and I remember that I felt like something was burning inside me. That tree was no ones friend and no one saw it, but I would and I did. I sat with that tree every day, talked to it and loved it. As an adult I can recognize now that the teachers were always looking at me because I never played with any of the other kids. This little girl cried a lot, she wanted to go home a lot. She had meltdowns and bit other kids. And children pick up on that, and I knew that they knew that there was something untouchable about me and that they should stay away. I never had any friends. But still, I was so loving. I loved everything and wanted to understand everything. I would be a friend to something like myself, like that tree, but still they could never talk back.

But, the villagers in City Folk could. They talked to me like they were real, like they knew me. I listened to them and loved every second. I fell in love with Rolf and bombarded him with letters asking him to marry me, I adored Friga and her mature attitude that I didnt quite understand yet but compelled me nonetheless. I played in Frobert's house a lot because the colors were so pretty, and he had a frog chair. I loved every detail of every little thing about them, and it was something only a child could experience. But it also hurt too, because once more as much as I loved them I knew that they could never sit with me and give me a hug, or push me on the swing or make me a bracelet, any of the many things I saw other girls my age doing. And I didnt know it at the time, but I never would feel that. I would never have any friends. For two decades, I would be alone. And into the years which should of been the best of my life, I would lose the ability to leave the house. I would lose a lot of things that I was otherwise proud of. And I begun to feel like something like me might never be understood or loved at all.

That child in me never really died, sometimes I still feel her sitting in a field behind the school, bawling her eyes out at an impossible lonliness that children really dont ever feel.

But a year ago, to this day, I sent someone a message. We had a lot in common, I thought, and I was so desperate for friends. I had just moved into my first apartment and I was so lonely and scared. I stayed up till 1am listening to my cat wailing and talking with them. I did not know that this person would turn out to be my best friend, my first friend. I was just excited to talk to them the next day. And the day after that. For hours, the whole day even. All the time, for a whole year, they spoke with me. They never once let me be alone like I was. And even though I've never had the chance to speak much, and I might be annoying at times, they have never once held that against me. I can be with them, talk with them about things I like, play games with them. And they listen to me, enjoys having me there. Wants me to be there. Impossible.

Later, I met two other people. They celebrated my birthday with me and I dont think I ever smiled as much as I did on that day. And it was the first time I ever had a party with friends, had someone to remember my birthday. And even though they arent with me physically, I was still so happy. I wont ever forget that. Two days ago, I spent the weekend watching one of them play Bratz all day and we were laughing and having fun. And I thought that a year ago, this would not be possible. A year ago I was much less of a person and more like a slave. But now I have people to talk to, people I respect, people that make my life worth living. And even though I still want to know what its like to be hugged, to have a friend physically there, im still so happy. And I can not believe someone in my position got so lucky as to meet these people.

To Nicole, I love you sooo much. You are such a bright and loving person. You are endlessly talented in so many things, so kind and so thoughtful, everyone should be taking notes. Thank you for all the happy memories you have given me over the past year, and for everything youve done to help me.

And to Hilda, thank you so much. Even though you say you wish you could do more for me and you wish that you were more, I sincerely do not care. Because every day I am excited to wake up and talk to you. You make me laugh every day, you are so funny and beautiful. I am so, so proud to call myself your friend and I am so happy to be liked by the both of you. You have changed my life considerably.

For my first year of being on my own, and the first year ive been on Backloggd, I can not be more pleased. I am still not all together free of the ocd that forced me here, and part of me still feels trapped and lonely. I want to experience the things other people my age take for granted. Ive never been kissed, I've never gone to the mall with my friends. Things like that, but for the first time in my life I can at least finally feel content. And I feel like no matter what happens, I will have always people to go back to, people who care. Thank you all, from the bottom of my heart.


So, it's good to appreciate the times where you've got nowhere to be and nothing to do