CamstunPWG187
Man of a Thousand Holds 
Posts 1657
Registered 5-2-2010 Location Harbin, China Member Is Offline Mood: Barbeque
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| posted on 3-3-2017 at 04:34 PM |
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Zelda: Breath of the Wild is the newly-crowned highest rated video game ever..for now
This is the official Breath of the Wild topic from now on.
http://www.gamerankings.com/switch/189707-the-legend-of-zelda-breath-of-the-wild/index.html
After receiving more 10's, 5/5's, and 100's than law should allow, Zelda is sitting at the top of metacritic and Gamerankings with
98.11% average amongst 67 or so different reviews.
I'm about to play it for the first time. Wish me luck.
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punkerhardcore
American Dream 
Posts 7963
Registered 7-16-2005 Member Is Offline Mood: Lickable
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| posted on 3-3-2017 at 06:03 PM |
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Very nice. Can't wait to play it. Hopefully in a few months, it'll be a case of just walking into Target and buying a Switch, without
all the fucking rigmarole that goes on when a system first releases.
I saw some article that said Targets were supposed to have them in stock this morning, and I halfway thought about going over there earlier this
morning to check. But after going through that shit back in the day when the original Xbox and the Gamecube came out, I decided not to bother.
Is everyone mad here?
Of course they are, and you are too... otherwise, you wouldn't have come here.
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the goon
Sister Act
Posts 6396
Registered 3-13-2004 Location Charlotte, NC Member Is Offline Mood:
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| posted on 3-4-2017 at 03:10 AM |
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Looking forward to hearing your thought's on it Cam. And while I'm completely psyched to play Breath of the Wild, I am gonna wait until I
can track down a Switch. I could just download it right now on the Wii U (and that's a pretty tempting idea), but just kind of want my first
experience with Nintendo's newest console to be playing a brand new Zelda game, kind of like how I picked up Twilight Princess on launch day
with the Wii.
Plus I'm still playing Xenoblade Chronicles X on the Wii U (and have a few other Wii U/PS3 games in my collection that I've never gotten
around to playing), so that should be enough to tide me over until the Switch is readily available.
On a sidenote: I think having a new Zelda game at launch (and one that's getting insanely good reviews) is going to make a world of difference
for the Switch's sales compared to the Wii U.
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Count Zero
The Rowdy One 
Posts 2304
Registered 1-29-2013 Location Canada East Member Is Offline Mood: fugazi
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| posted on 3-4-2017 at 11:27 AM |
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I'm really old-fashioned. The last Zelda game I -loved to death- was Link to The Past. I tried the Wind Waker and didn't get very far.
When they switched from the overhead view to "3rd person camera view" it killed me. I'm really not good at the "over-the-shoulder camera"
game-genre. 
I might be weird (okay, we all probably know I am weird by now), but I'm not sure I'd be into this "open world like Skyrim/GTA" thing.
I like my Zelda-games pseudo-linear, with the "use this item to beat this dungeon" trope in full effect.
That being said, I hope y'all enjoy the hell out of it.  I'm just apparently not in sync with game reviewers, because I'd be
giving this a 5/10, based on the above factors. 
"It's a WWE tradition, to do something un-right." --Paddlefoot
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nOOb
The Man 
Posts 6911
Registered 5-24-2004 Member Is Offline Mood: Hot Dog!
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| posted on 3-4-2017 at 02:38 PM |
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For what it's worth, Zelda seems to be harder to get than the Switch (as of me working at three different stores yesterday). The first two
stores I went to sold out of their non-preorder stock by 1am, but they at least showed more on the way. The third still had six in stock by the time
I got there at 9am, to the point where I actually considered buying one (actually three to sell them all on eBay). But when I checked eBay, there
were two at 499, but there were also more selling $50 under market value (I think I even saw one at $199).
But all three stores had the same issue: unless you wanted to pay $100 for a giant collector box with a coin and a map in it, the regular version was
gone with no idea when more were coming.
Besides, I'll wait until the Switch has more than one game I can't play on my Xbox or PS4 at a higher definition that doesn't also
require friends in the immediate area to enjoy. And also more than 32GB of built in memory.
"The Seahawks are cool. Me and Tubby here hung out with them once at a Bruno Mars concert."-Jay and Silent Bob representing the Broncos on FOX NFL
Sunday.
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CamstunPWG187
Man of a Thousand Holds
Posts 1657
Registered 5-2-2010 Location Harbin, China Member Is Offline Mood: Barbeque
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| posted on 3-5-2017 at 09:59 AM |
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Wii U version is so good that I feel like I'm playing on another system.
I'm four hours in and I'll give my more detailed impressions after I sink 10 hours in, but right now, it's soooooo good.
Especially love the cooking system.
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punkerhardcore
American Dream
Posts 7963
Registered 7-16-2005 Member Is Offline Mood: Lickable
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| posted on 3-5-2017 at 08:13 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by nOOb
For what it's worth, Zelda seems to be harder to get than the Switch
Popped over to Target this morning to get a few things, and decided to check out the video game department. No Switches in stock, obviously... but
they did have five copies of Zelda. And the regular version, too, not some expensive collectors edition.
I considered buying it, but I figure by the time I bother to get my hands on a Switch, the game will probably have long been on sale for less than
$60.
Is everyone mad here?
Of course they are, and you are too... otherwise, you wouldn't have come here.
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Count Zero
The Rowdy One
Posts 2304
Registered 1-29-2013 Location Canada East Member Is Offline Mood: fugazi
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| posted on 3-5-2017 at 10:27 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by CamstunPWG187
Especially love the cooking system.
... Do Japanese game devs think videogamers need to learn to cook, or something? Between this & Final
Fantasy 15's campsite-cooking setup, it's like... some kinda trend all of a sudden.
I know of a few mmo's having cooking-as-crafting-skill things, but have we ever seen that kind of thing in two "big name, mainstream" titles
at almost-the-same-time?
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nOOb
The Man
Posts 6911
Registered 5-24-2004 Member Is Offline Mood: Hot Dog!
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| posted on 3-6-2017 at 08:40 PM |
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Finishing up work today and I'm going to have a nice scream in my car: the Switch is now at "NES Classic" levels of inventory upkeep, aka
everyone is out and no one is getting another anytime soon, so I just missed out on a $900 payday by not grabbing all three at the store I finished my
day with on Friday.
And in further "classic Nintendo" levels of strategy, they've refreshed the inventory for Breath of the Wild at most stores...for the Switch.
The WiiU version is of the same type as the Switch most places. So, the system everyone wants can't be bought and game everyone wants
can't be bought for the system everyone seems to actually have.
"The Seahawks are cool. Me and Tubby here hung out with them once at a Bruno Mars concert."-Jay and Silent Bob representing the Broncos on FOX NFL
Sunday.
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CamstunPWG187
Man of a Thousand Holds
Posts 1657
Registered 5-2-2010 Location Harbin, China Member Is Offline Mood: Barbeque
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| posted on 4-1-2017 at 08:16 AM |
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A month later, and here I am, 125 gaming hours later.
I am fresh off of just beating The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
This is the best single-player game I have ever played. It's an unbelievably well-crafted world that transcends what other games have tried to
do (to great success) in the genre of open-world adventure games. No other game is this jam-packed with goodness and things to do at seemingly every
turn.
The story is retold through wonderfully-voiced cutscenes (which are far superior in the Japanese dub) and it is simple enough - You have lost an epic
battle 100 years ago, and have been awoken to complete your destiny and to save Hyrule. Within 3 hours you are given the sole goal of the game:
Destroy Ganon.
The game is so open-ended that simply choosing to do that would be a disservice to Nintendo and more importantly, yourself. You are given complete
freedom to do whatever you want from the moment you acquire your Sheikah Slate and Para-Glider. Climb anything (except dungeon walls). ANYTHING!!
You see a place you wanna go? 99 times out of 100, you can go there and usually find something of interest. Just about every bit of terrain is meant
to be walked on and explored. There isn't a single place you can't go within the confines of the map. If your cursor can go there, so
can you. The only thing stopping you is your own stamina, and several invisible walls on the outskirts of Hyrule. In my 125 hours of play, I only
ran into 3-4 of them.
Nintendo, within the first 15 minutes of active gameplay, simulated being in nature better than any game that came before it. The lovely silence that
accompanies the subtle soundtrack is surreal to experience. The music is so calm and fits everything so perfectly that traveling in the overworld is
a beautiful, stirring experience in of itself. When you finally arrive at a town or discover a fairy and hear familiar tunes mixed with new, all with
different variations depending on the time of day, your ears will love you for it, as the towns have some of the best music in the series.
Right off the bat, you are given the Sheikah Slate, a nod to the smartphone era of today's world that comes equipped with apps for use in
battle. Your Slate comes with everything you need to solve the games myriad of puzzles, including bombs, Magnesis, Cryosis (creating ice towers from
the surface of water), a camera (which comes later), Amiibo scanning, and Stasis, an interesting power that lets you freeze objects and hit them
repeatedly, building up force which is then unleashed, usually launching said objects far and fast.
It's a wonderful device which is absolutely needed. No powers are underutilized, as all hold great power and convenience. For example, I never
realized how useful Cryosis could be (and how many treasure chests I left behind!) until I absolutely needed to get a weapon out of the Zora River for
a side quest, as it allowed me to stand in the middle of the lake and actually use my Magnesis power, which could finally reach it. Never question
any apps usefulness, as chances are, there's a a great deal of rupees, weapons, and gear to obtain with the one you think the least of.
Along with the Sheikah Slate comes the Para-Glider, which allows you to glide across any chasm or field you may desire. Your reward for climbing high
is generally a chance to explore further with the use of gliding. Be careful though, gliding exhausts stamina, as well, so you need to be careful
with where and how high you use it.
The game is hard. Never before have I died this many times in a Zelda game. Enemy combat is experimental and brilliantly intense. Weapons wear down
during fights, meaning that set of Royal Broadswords you brought might be done by the end of your battle with a nearby camp of moblins. The hardest
overworld enemies, Lynels, are entirely optional, yet beating them rewards you in a myriad of ways, from gaining their awesome 3x-5x shot bows, their
huge, overpowering melee weapons, or even their amazingly sturdy shields, all the way to getting rare monster ingredients from them to be used in
making amazing armor for yourself.
Breath of the Wild highly encourages you to explore and constantly question whether you've actually been "over there" or not. Maybe you have,
but the route you take to get there THIS time is littered with a few Korok seeds and possibly even a new Shrine you couldn't see from a
particular angle over on the other side. Case in point, every place in the game has something to reward you with. Your curiosity in one area of
interest usually pays off multiple times, but only if you are patient and eagle-eyed in your exploring. Hidden trinkets, chests, seeds, and Shrines
are everywhere. After 125 hours, I still have only found 170+ Korok seeds out of the 900 that are out there.
If you do not explore, traveling can be dangerous and life-ending, depending on which area you happen to waltz into, with still-active Guardians
patrolling the grounds (particularly in Central Hyrule). Guardians are deadly, shooting high-powered energy blasts that absolutely cripple Link in
the early goings. It's safe to say they are among the deadliest enemies in the game, and can one-hit kill Link immediately if you are not
equipped with proper Armor/Elixirs/Food. Luckily, you eventually find something which can totally annihilate them if you are a good shot with your
bow, but amassing a nice arsenal, even of this special weapon, will take you time.
Speaking of things to find, there are Shrines, and I love them, and wish there was more to them at times.
Shrines are the heart of the game's puzzle collection. They come in two types, Trial and Blessing. They both reward you with Spirit Orbs, which
grant you permanent increases to your stamina and heart containers for every 4 you collect. Nearly 70-80 of them are full-on puzzle/obstacle
"Trial" courses designed to test your wits, as well as putting your handy Sheikah Slate to good use. Some of them are shorter than others, but I
ran into one in the very northwest corner of the map that had me in there for about 30 minutes, so the lengthier ones ARE there. Some of them are
even combat trials with Guardian enemies that pack a huge punch, depending on the difficulty upon entering (Minor, Moderate, or Major).
Unfortunately, since there are 120 Shrines, you might be wondering what are in the remaining 40-50. Well, just a spirit orb, and usually a rare piece
of gear/weaponry, or even a high-priced gem or rupee. These are referred to as "Blessing" Shrines, and are disappointing, mainly because the puzzle
Shrines are so fun that it's a bit of a downer to walk into a Shrine after completing a really fun/interesting quest, only to find out that
it's just a handout. Even worse? Some of those fun side quests end with a Trial Shrine that is packed with puzzles, which makes it even more
disappointing when a lesser quest ends with a Blessing. Sometimes, I would even just stumble across a random Shrine in the snowy mountains or
completely hidden away in a cove, expecting a full-on Trial, only to be granted with a blessing.
I just really wanted more puzzles, which should say something about the quality in which Nintendo crafted them for these Trial challenges.
15-20 hours of game time are going to be entirely dedicated to reaching and completing the four Divine Beasts. The Beasts are colossal, robotic
entities, shaped in the likeness of different animals and are, indeed, the dungeons themselves. The quests leading up to them are based around 4 very
familiar tribes of people throughout Hyrule, and the bulk of the game's voice acting revolves around the cutscenes associated with them and
their history with the Beasts. The dungeons themselves are completely different than what you normally see in a Zelda game, and you are even able to
physically manipulate them in order to solve their puzzles.
Graphically, this is the greatest-looking Wii U game and a visual treat for almost anyone who has a heart. Hyrule is a beautiful landscape and is
flowing with grass, trees, and weather effects that push the Wii U beyond anything it's ever done before. Wind kicks up nifty dust effects.
The Sun shines on the water, giving off a perfect gleam that reminds me of the water from Mario Sunshine. Rain gives everything a perfectly soaked
look. Link himself even gives off visual cues that make playing without the HUD the preferred way to play. Indeed, Pro HUD Mode is the way to go.
Framerate dips are common in huge, rural areas, but I've never been the kind to let framerate dips get in the way of my enjoyment for open-world
adventure games. However, I really didn't like how delayed the framerate dip was when fighting certain Moblins in big, crowded fights.
Sometimes there is a half-second delay, which made me wondered if my Wii U was frozen a time or two.
I'm not gonna sit here and say the game is perfect. It's not. Will I give it the best score/highest recommendation I can? Yes. Because
no game is ever going to be perfect. It doesn't matter, though, because this game is as good as it gets in it's respective genre.
Many things about the game will be improved upon in the sequel, which I pray doesn't come in another 6 years. Nintendo now has an engine/model
to work with, and it needs to be expanded on for the Switch.
I want to see the Majora's Mask to BOTW's OoT.
I just want more. More of everything. BOTW was so fantastic in giving us these things, but we know it can be done even better. Let's get
themed-dungeons, new apps for the Sheikah Slate, more Shrines, more Korok seeds.
Shit, we need a smithy, a reason to not wait for the rain to stop (gear that can climb in rain), underwater swimming, even more expansion on cooking
and alchemy (give us a cookbook for saving recipes), a notebook on the touch screen where we can write down notes in more detail about the map (and
environmental puzzles that will play off of that), to name a few.
Continuing on is just rambling at this point. The game is a masterpiece and I hold it in higher regard than any game I have played in at least 9-10
years. Not since Mario Galaxy have I felt a game is so utterly fantastic in every sense of the word.
My highest recommendation.
10/10
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the goon
Sister Act
Posts 6396
Registered 3-13-2004 Location Charlotte, NC Member Is Offline Mood:
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| posted on 4-2-2017 at 04:21 AM |
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Great review/analysis Cam! I think you made me even more psyched for this game, though I am still patiently waiting to find a Switch before diving in
(luckily I'm still playing Xenoblade Chronicles X, and have a few other Wii U games on the back burner, which will tide me over until then).
Nash is only a few inches bigger than JBL and depending on how stiff he gets Punk should be able to take it. -JB King, meant in a totally non-sexual
way
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the goon
Sister Act
Posts 6396
Registered 3-13-2004 Location Charlotte, NC Member Is Offline Mood:
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| posted on 4-10-2017 at 01:48 AM |
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So I finally tracked down a Switch on Thursday. I went to Best Buy after work to pick up a copy of Rogue One on Blu-ray and while I was checking out,
asked the cashier if the Switch was still really hard to find. He casually replied "no, we have some in stock right now" and five minutes later, I
was walking out with a Switch and a copy of Zelda. It was pretty much a case of being in the right place at the right time, because he told me that
they had been sold out the day before and had just gotten replenished that day.
As for Zelda...yeah, it's fucking great. Currently, I'm having trouble tracking down the last of the initial four shrines you're
tasked with locating, but holy shit, I've never had more fun being stuck in a game. There's just so much to see and do that even as I dick
around trying to locate that fourth shrine, I'm having a hell of a time.
And to touch on a few things from Cam's post:
-Yeah, the game is hard. And not hard in a "holy shit, this is impossible!" kind of way, but hard in a "I just plummeted off of a cliff to my
death" or "I just drowned because my stamina meter ran out" kind of way. I'd wager I've died roughly 20 times at this point and
I'm only a few hours in.
-The atmosphere is absolutely amazing. Half the time there's no music when you're roaming around and what you hear is the blowing of the
wind, sounds of birds and insects, etc, which makes it really immersive. And when there is music, it is very subtle and fits perfectly.
-Graphically, the game is incredible. It blows my mind that Breath of the Wild was developed as a Wii U game, because it's way beyond anything
I've seen on that system. No wonder it took Nintendo so long to put the game out, because it appears they were squeezing every last ounce of
power out of the Wii U that they could.
So yeah, about four hours into Breath of the Wild, I'm absolutely loving it. At the risk of sounding like more of a Nintendo fanboy than usual,
it's the very definition of the term "system seller."
Also, HOLY SHIT are the Switch cartridges tiny. I'm talking like "smaller than a 3DS cartridge" tiny. Kinda mind-boggling that they're
able to fit a massive game like Zelda onto something like that.
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Flash
The Great One
Posts 3464
Registered 4-22-2005 Location Ontario, Canada Member Is Offline Mood:
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| posted on 4-14-2017 at 06:26 AM |
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Great game... bit of a bitter sweet feeling with the ending as the game itself is so big, and there are just endless side quests, and shrine quests to
fill your time with that I think it makes the core story itself feel a bit short.
Still, even in having beat the game there's more than enough to keep me interested... I think I've got maybe 40 or so Shrines left to find
and beat, and God knows how many seeds (apparently there are over 900).
Few bullet points:
*Just a an absolutely gorgeous open environment.
*The 4 divine beasts levels were pretty unique.
*Loved the ability to change up your look throughout the game
*Still need to find the Hyrule Shield, and Epona, and lot's of other stuff...
*Some of the shrine questions were just incredible, others were a massive pain in the ass.
*Do not do Eventide Island until later in the game... lol.
*I missed some of the "Zelda-isms"... like they seemed to consciously steer away from falling into caves, reliance on fairies, and a few other
things... Still, it also gave the game a fresh feel.
*Shield surfing is fun.
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DevilSoprano
Pee Wee's Plaything
Posts 7322
Registered 11-16-2002 Member Is OnlineMood:
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| posted on 4-20-2017 at 02:06 AM |
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Since I'm not positive I have the money and then the time/energy to get a Switch/Zelda, I've watched a lot of playthroughs of parts of the
game already. There's a really neat trick to dealing with Eventide island.
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Flash
The Great One
Posts 3464
Registered 4-22-2005 Location Ontario, Canada Member Is Offline Mood:
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| posted on 4-22-2017 at 08:14 AM |
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Eventide is not too bad if you don't mind running and trying to snatch the globe thingee off of the Hinox's neck instead of fighting and
killing everything... I mean they give you enough weapons that you can fight your way through it, which was my mistake the first time I took it on...
the second time I ran it I beat it in about 5-10 minutes via the stealthier route.
If you already have a Wii U I'd say just grab it for that instead of the Switch Dev'... apparently outside of some sound quality stuff the
two games are identical with the added bonus that the Wii U version actually loads faster... or so I've read.
Honestly I love my Wii U, but I feel a bit burned by Nintendo in that they really didn't support it very well. The Switch doesn't seem to
offer anything that screams must go out and buy it now to me, so I'm apt to wait a couple of years to see just how well Nintendo supports the
new system before they get my money.... I mean even Nintendo's advertising of the Switch seems to be that you can either ignore your friends
while in the car with them, or become so obsessively immersed in a video game that even taking your dog out for a shit is an interruption you no
longer have to contend with.
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CamstunPWG187
Man of a Thousand Holds
Posts 1657
Registered 5-2-2010 Location Harbin, China Member Is Offline Mood: Barbeque
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| posted on 4-24-2017 at 06:08 PM |
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Going to Japan in a few weeks. Buying a Switch, and another copy of Zelda.
When all the DLC drops, I'm gonna replay this yet again.
Glad to know some of you have enjoyed it!
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the goon
Sister Act
Posts 6396
Registered 3-13-2004 Location Charlotte, NC Member Is Offline Mood:
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| posted on 5-21-2017 at 09:05 PM |
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Just thought I'd bump this thread back up, as I'm still working my way through Breath of the Wild. I finally defeated the fourth Divine
Beast last night, so could go fight Ganon now if I wanted, but there's still a lot more I want to do before attempting to beat the game. So
it's probably gonna be another few weeks before I'm officially done with Breath of the Wild.
And just a few thoughts from my past month of playing:
-I can say without hyperbole that this is the greatest Zelda game ever made and has knocked Ocarina of Time out of the top spot that it's held
for nearly 20 years. Hell, after playing Breath of the Wild, it's hard to imagine going back and playing Zelda the "old way," as it would just
feel antiquated (granted, a game in the style of Breath of the Wild wasn't possible on Nintendo's older systems).
-Over a month into the game and I'm still finding areas that I hadn't previously discovered or fully explored. And only once have I
hit a "border" where it told me that I couldn't go any further.
-Getting the Master Sword and finally being able to take out the Guardians relatively easily, after they've terrorized you for much of the
earlier portions of the game, is really satisfying.
Nash is only a few inches bigger than JBL and depending on how stiff he gets Punk should be able to take it. -JB King, meant in a totally non-sexual
way
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