BPX045: Exclusively, Yours

[Nu-Eclipse]

Eh, I’m not the worlds biggest fan so I actually see where you’re coming from. It’s not without its issues but it’s a game I’ve got a huge amount of respect for. They distilled the modern open world em up down to this quite amazingly pure form.

Hmmm. Did they? I'm not so sure.

I feel like it's more that Aonuma-san and his team put a classic Nintendo flourish/spin on open-world gaming structures that had already long been established in other games before BOTW, which I suppose is fine, but it gets a pass because the Ocarina of Time template for 3D Zelda was looking seriously tired and needed some sort of big overhaul (see Skyward Sword).

BOTW for me is let down by repetitive play, no real dungeons and the worst boss fights in a Zelda game since Zelda II: The Adventure of Link. Those gripes aside, I did enjoy playing it. I will say that I would've preferred the next 3D Zelda game to be a all-new original storyline in the franchise that would ideally take the best elements of BOTW and refine them instead of what sound suspiciously like a DLC add-on in BOTW2.

PS - so much for me waiting until BOTW2!!

[wakka]

Hmmm. Did they? I'm not so sure.

I feel like it's more that Aonuma-san and his team put a classic Nintendo flourish/spin on open-world gaming structures that had already long been established in other games before BOTW, which I suppose is fine, but it gets a pass because the Ocarina of Time template for 3D Zelda was looking seriously tired and needed some sort of big overhaul (see Skyward Sword).

We're in agreement - I'm probably not articulating myself well, but that's exactly what I was trying to say, that they took that long established open world structure, and put their own spin on it. That spin, to my mind, was to pare it back significantly down to its core components. That's what I mean when I say 'pure'.

For me the way that they did that was really impressive. But that's just my subjective judgement

I never understood why Bayonetta 2 recieved the plaudits it did. As much as the game is good fun it's clearly made on a budget and somewhat waters down the original's tighter design. Let alone winning GOTY... in the same year Mario Kart 8 came out.

Yeah, I agree completely.

If I remember rightly, many reviewers got it really quite wrong with the first Bayonetta in many cases, underrating it significantly.

I felt like the massive amount of praise quite unduly heaped on Bayo 2 was partly a reaction to that - I felt like a lot of places overcompensated for it, and failed to notice it was a much weaker game.

It definitely can't hold a candle to the genuinely sublime MK8!

[Dogg Thang]

I adore the Zelda series but I remember even back with Twilight Princess thinking, I love this but it's the last time I can go through a Zelda game with this exact same format. And sure enough, I never finished Skyward Sword. After the NES games (neither of which I finished), it might be the only main Zelda game I never finished.

[Neon Ignition]

[MENTION=2970]Nu-Eclipse[/MENTION]
With Mario 64 I'd definitely agree that Odyssey is the better game but it's mostly through the lens of time and how much 64 has aged. For it's own era 64 sits for me alongside the Galaxy's in towering above Odyssey. By whichever metric though Sunshine doesn't hold up as well and like you say 3D World is too seperate and experience to be fairly stacked against them


BOTW feels like they finally accepted that the existing Zelda template had run its course and so developed the most ambitious advancement for the series into an open world masterpiece since the advancement between the 2D games and Ocarina of Time... but ran out of time and software lined up on the schedule so tied off a half developed concept and called it done. I'd completely subscribe to the theory that because people were either tired of the old template or hadn't played a Zelda in years (or before) it made the game feel fresher than it is. For me, the fundamentals of the game are sound, the core gameplay, the little touches etc but as has been said the open world is barren beyond belief, the dungeons and bosses are borderline worst in series, the climax of the game felt unfinished etc and in the end the further I got into it the more the scale of the open world felt like excess padding to excuse a lack of more fully developed content. I walked away from BOTW taking the view that it's fun, but exists in a bubble. It would be a fascinating step in the evolution of the Zelda series if the next game takes it to the next level and closer to the scale and design it should be aiming to hit but if BOTW accurately matches the next several entries and they all come in very similar because BOTW was itself so widely praised then I coudl see myself losing interest because I have no thirst at all for literally more of the same, that's why BOTW2 is a red flag.

[Atticus]

It took a while for BOTW to click with me but I loved it in the end. Saying that, I'm playing Twilight Princess now and it's great to be back in the tried and tested Zelda format. The narrative and proper dungeons are still a really enjoyable part of the experience.

[speedlolita]

So much controversy over my WiiU views

The thing with Bayonetta 2 is that while it's not an awful game, it's merely a pale imitation of the first one. It was a big disappointment for me. I even bought that ridiculously massive First Print edition!

Kinda how I feel about it. Didn't justify my Wii U purchase. I didn't like Wonderful 101 either...

[Nu-Eclipse]

So much controversy over my WiiU views

You love it really!!

But to be honest, I find myself agreeing with you about Bayonetta 2. Not an awful game by any means but nowhere near as good as people try to make it out to be.

[Neon Ignition]

Skyward Sword is much less divisive. Feels like most weren't fans

[Nu-Eclipse]

Skyward Sword is much less divisive. Feels like most weren't fans

It could've been and should've been much better than it was, especially considering the fact that it's the one Wii title that achieves proper 1:1 motion control with the Wiimote/Wiimote Plus tech.

But in hindsight, it was the end of the line for 3D Zelda based on the original OoT concept, and quite telling that Nintendo haven't rushed to remaster it.