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[MADGAME]

Can anyone clarify what the previews can and cannot contain?

No major spoilers - plot, boss, bad guys, main, and supporting characters. No direct puzzle solutions. There are two fairly major aspects of the open-world we're not allowed to talk about. Any extra named NPCs on the map. Certain Sheik tablet abilities. We were only allowed to talk about certain weapons, armor, and items. Oddly enough, some of them I'd be hard pressed to reach in five hours.

Edit: answer. Thanks!!

 

[AGoodODST]

"Having just completed it, we couldn’t help but think of Horizon Zero Dawn while playing Breath Of The Wild, and how simplistic it now seems compared to Zelda. "

Shots fired.

Console wars! Which preview was this from?

 

[Maxrunner]

Gamecentral's:

http://metro.co.uk/2017/02/24/the-l...the-wild-hands-on-preview-eye-opener-6470487/

Some exceprts:

Nintendo has talked about how they went back to the very first NES game for inspiration, which sounds like hyperbole given the technology gulf between 1986 and now. But actually, the comparisons are entirely valid.

Having just completed it, we couldn’t help but think of Horizon Zero Dawn while playing Breath Of The Wild, and how simplistic it now seems compared to Zelda. You also have a bow in Breath Of The Wild, but you have to account for how arrows arc through the air, rather than it just acting like a low-tech sniper rifle. Boomerangs have to be caught manually on their return and the best way to defeat the skeletons that appear at night is to chop of their head and punt it into a river, like a goalkeeper trying to make a clearance.

You always expect a Zelda game to be good, but the attention to detail and willingness to innovate in Breath Of The Wild is well beyond our expectations. We wouldn’t suggest that any of this necessarily has anything to do with the Switch though, as the game was originally designed for the Wii U. As such the graphics are certainly not a match for the likes of Horizon, with often very simple geometry and textures. The frame rate sometimes becomes a little syrupy too, and there’s obvious object pop-in if you look for it.

We’re doing our best to find faults here but the truth is we’re hugely impressed. We already know some things we can’t talk about here, and other secrets that have been hinted to us by Nintendo. At this stage we’d shocked if this didn’t turn out to be the best Zelda since Ocarina Of Time. It may even surpass it, and since many still regard that as the best video game ever made it becomes almost impossible to overstate just how good Breath Of The Wild is.

Great Nintendo, now just do the same with Metroid but in space. kthanks.

 

[TheMagician]

I've played barely 15 minutes of it, but I've watched someone I know play it for a bit.

1. The world is big, there's a lot of neat puzzles hidden within the world and most of the time it feels meaningful to explore. There's a lot of that "nintendo polish" that comes through with things being cleverly placed to keep you moving.

2. So far, weapon durability sucks. I've had to change weapons up to four times in a fight. I'm sure this gets better, but I still don't enjoy it.

3. I like that a lot of people tell you directions or give you vague hints of where to go rather than always using map markers. There are map markers, but having quests where you have to find stuff based on a picture and a clue are really fun to me.

4. That said, early previews of open world games are always deceiving. There's always a general sense of wonder and awe at scale the scale and finding new things that defines your first few hours with an open world game. This feeling rarely lasts, and what separates the good games from the bad ones is often how compelling the core elements are longer into the game.

I have a strong feeling this game is going to be extremely divisive. Personally, I like that it's doing new things, but I also think it's going to turn off a lot of people over the long term.

Posts like this are a lot better to make after you've played a 50+ hour game for longer than 15 mins and not 'watched' someone play it.

 

[bomblord1]

I think we can put to rest any fear the grass was downgraded

 

[LambdaTeos]

Its suffocating your hype because Horizon is a new IP. It has nothing to do with the quality of either games.

I am actually feeling sorry for Zelda right now.Nintendo is hyping this up so much,but its barely catching up to open world/souls-like game design ,and it looks two gens behind.

Funny enough, you just said it has nothing to do with quality of both games and then proceed to compare Zelda to other open world / souls games..

 

[Master Yoshi]

Gamecentral's:

http://metro.co.uk/2017/02/24/the-l...the-wild-hands-on-preview-eye-opener-6470487/

Some exceprts:

Nintendo has talked about how they went back to the very first NES game for inspiration, which sounds like hyperbole given the technology gulf between 1986 and now. But actually, the comparisons are entirely valid.

Having just completed it, we couldn’t help but think of Horizon Zero Dawn while playing Breath Of The Wild, and how simplistic it now seems compared to Zelda. You also have a bow in Breath Of The Wild, but you have to account for how arrows arc through the air, rather than it just acting like a low-tech sniper rifle. Boomerangs have to be caught manually on their return and the best way to defeat the skeletons that appear at night is to chop of their head and punt it into a river, like a goalkeeper trying to make a clearance.

You always expect a Zelda game to be good, but the attention to detail and willingness to innovate in Breath Of The Wild is well beyond our expectations. We wouldn’t suggest that any of this necessarily has anything to do with the Switch though, as the game was originally designed for the Wii U. As such the graphics are certainly not a match for the likes of Horizon, with often very simple geometry and textures. The frame rate sometimes becomes a little syrupy too, and there’s obvious object pop-in if you look for it.

We’re doing our best to find faults here but the truth is we’re hugely impressed. We already know some things we can’t talk about here, and other secrets that have been hinted to us by Nintendo. At this stage we’d shocked if this didn’t turn out to be the best Zelda since Ocarina Of Time. It may even surpass it, and since many still regard that as the best video game ever made it becomes almost impossible to overstate just how good Breath Of The Wild is.

Fuck, I can't bear this wait much longer.

 

[Joe Shlabotnik]

Honestly did not expect impressions to be this uniformly positive.

 

[Kuni]

Positive stuff. Can't wait to play it (borrowing a mate's Switch after he's done with it).

The open world stuff is still a big concern for me personally. I don't like sandboxy games at all where you can go anywhere and do "anything", prefer a bit of hand holding.

But this is Ninty so I'll keep hoping it's not too egregious.

 

[MADGAME]

Gamecentral's:

http://metro.co.uk/2017/02/24/the-l...the-wild-hands-on-preview-eye-opener-6470487/

Some exceprts:

Nintendo has talked about how they went back to the very first NES game for inspiration, which sounds like hyperbole given the technology gulf between 1986 and now. But actually, the comparisons are entirely valid.

Having just completed it, we couldn’t help but think of Horizon Zero Dawn while playing Breath Of The Wild, and how simplistic it now seems compared to Zelda. You also have a bow in Breath Of The Wild, but you have to account for how arrows arc through the air, rather than it just acting like a low-tech sniper rifle. Boomerangs have to be caught manually on their return and the best way to defeat the skeletons that appear at night is to chop of their head and punt it into a river, like a goalkeeper trying to make a clearance.

You always expect a Zelda game to be good, but the attention to detail and willingness to innovate in Breath Of The Wild is well beyond our expectations. We wouldn’t suggest that any of this necessarily has anything to do with the Switch though, as the game was originally designed for the Wii U. As such the graphics are certainly not a match for the likes of Horizon, with often very simple geometry and textures. The frame rate sometimes becomes a little syrupy too, and there’s obvious object pop-in if you look for it.

We’re doing our best to find faults here but the truth is we’re hugely impressed. We already know some things we can’t talk about here, and other secrets that have been hinted to us by Nintendo. At this stage we’d shocked if this didn’t turn out to be the best Zelda since Ocarina Of Time. It may even surpass it, and since many still regard that as the best video game ever made it becomes almost impossible to overstate just how good Breath Of The Wild is.

Shots fired! lol

 

[MHWilliams]

Was there any doubt that a Zelda game would get a 90+ meta regardless of quality?

To be honest, Skyward Sword bore me to tears. I simply stopped playing one day and never looked back.

Can anyone clarify what the previews can and cannot contain?

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=230933704&postcount=210

 

[Kouriozan]

Listening to GameXplain preview, and they confirm you can go straight to the final boss, as Nintendo said.
Can't wait for Awesome Games Done Quick 2018

 

[marc^o^]

Retronauts preview by Jeremy Parish

Breath of the Wild has hit me with an urge to explore and discover, to figure out what possibilities await, that I haven’t experienced so profoundly since Ocarina of Time. Yes, a lot of the concepts here come straight from open-world action games we’ve all played over the past decade; but here, those elements have been framed within the workings of the Zelda series. Breath of the Wild moves and sounds like Zelda, which means it’s far more polished in its movements and interactions than your average Elder Scrolls adventure (which, again, I love, but the phrase “Bethesda jank” exists for a reason). And its structure already demonstrates a certain thoughtfulness characteristic of the series. In short, it’s a modern sandbox action RPG, but crafted with the world-class care we’ve come to expect from this franchise.

God.

 

[ASIS]

Its suffocating your hype because Horizon is a new IP. It has nothing to do with the quality of either games.

I am actually feeling sorry for Zelda right now.Nintendo is hyping this up so much,but its barely catching up to open world/souls-like game design ,and it looks two gens behind.

It looks like its beating every open world RPG game though. Zelda is just fashionably late it seems.

 

[Dragonslayer_023]

A lot of people are worried it's gonna get around 85 or something due to "critics being harsher than before" or whatever.

It's hard to think of something sillier than being "worried" about an 85.

 

[takriel]

"Having just completed it, we couldn’t help but think of Horizon Zero Dawn while playing Breath Of The Wild, and how simplistic it now seems compared to Zelda. "

Shots fired.

Unnecessary.

 

[bonchooski]

ugh i was really wanting to avoid trying to get a switch on launch day and now i'm going to have to. that or just buy a wiiu for this.

 

[DomsPlaying]

Cool, definitely as expected. This seems to be a great Zelda game.

I'll be playing day one so I'm not really checking out a lot of coverage but it's interesting that I keep hearing comparisons to other games within the series though not much to other modern games..

Is that because previewers are placing Zelda in a league of its own? Unfair to compare it to big AAA games with "similar" elements like Witcher, Horizon, Bloodborne etc? I just can't help but wondering if this game didn't have Zelda in the title, would we perceive it differently.

Or maybe I'm thinking into it too much and I should just enjoy vidya games! :-D

 

[Griss]

Oh, one question I was hoping someone who previewed it could answer:

One of my big concerns was that all puzzles or interesting obstacles would be placed in shrines, and the overworld would be just traversal, fighting enemies and villages. Can anyone confirm that there are puzzles and interesting environmental challenges in the overworld?

I'd hate if the best actual 'gameplay' was divorced from the main game world. Hated that in Pikmin 2, where you had those 'dungeons' in lieu of bigger levels.

 

[wiibomb]

GameXplain hinted that the story has a depressing, dark tone based from their current progress. Says that those who loved Majora's Mask will love the tone of the story of BotW.

UUUUUUUAAAAAHHHH

I can't wait.. ooooh I just can't wait!!! This is something I've been craving for in Zelda for sometime now

 

[Skittzo0413]

It doesn't. It doesn't at all! >=(

Does that actually reduce your enjoyment of the game? Or do you find the introduction of a sorta of mandatory creativity a good thing?

I think weapon durability might be the one major point of contention between different reviews.

 

[IlGialloMondadori]

Console wars! Which preview was this from?

GameCentral's:
http://metro.co.uk/2017/02/24/the-l...the-wild-hands-on-preview-eye-opener-6470487/

 

[Mike Double U]

You also have a bow in Breath Of The Wild, but you have to account for how arrows arc through the air, rather than it just acting like a low-tech sniper rifle. Boomerangs have to be caught manually on their return and the best way to defeat the skeletons that appear at night is to chop of their head and punt it into a river, like a goalkeeper trying to make a clearance.

Okay. That's enough previews for me. It's going to be a long long week GAF.

 

[Milennia]

Ok so gamexplain states if you want you can just headlong into the story, that was my biggest question

 

[Polygonal_Sprite]

Nope, still 1.0.0. And the frame rate does include some occasional drops, but like I mentioned in my preview, they're pretty rare, and they didn't bother me much at all. Normally it happens while it's raining and lots of things are going on around you.

Thanks again! Not many console games maintain an absolute perfect 30fps 100% of the time so that's fine for me. There might be a chance of framerate optimisation in a day one patch aswell.

 

[Aaronrules380]

Cool, definitely as expected. This seems to be a great Zelda game.

I'll be playing day one so I'm not really checking out a lot of coverage but it's interesting that I keep hearing comparisons to other games within the series though not much to other modern games..

Is that because previewers are placing Zelda in a league of its own? Unfair to compare it to big AAA games with "similar" elements like Witcher, Horizon, Bloodborne etc? I just can't help but wondering if this game didn't have Zelda in the title, would we perceive it differently.

Or maybe I'm thinking into it too much and I should just enjoy vidya games! :-D

I mean this page is flooded with the quote comparing the game very favorably to Horizon

 

[PrimeBeef]

GameXplain hinted that the story has a depressing, dark tone based from their current progress. Says that those who loved Majora's Mask will love the tone of the story of BotW.

That seemed obvious to me. You wake up to a ruined world with no memories of what happened to you 100 years ago. Nothing good starts off that way.

 

[tolkir]

Gamecentral's:

http://metro.co.uk/2017/02/24/the-l...the-wild-hands-on-preview-eye-opener-6470487/

We’re doing our best to find faults here but the truth is we’re hugely impressed. We already know some things we can’t talk about here, and other secrets that have been hinted to us by Nintendo. At this stage we’d shocked if this didn’t turn out to be the best Zelda since Ocarina Of Time. It may even surpass it, and since many still regard that as the best video game ever made it becomes almost impossible to overstate just how good Breath Of The Wild is.

 

[OrbitalBeard]

It's the same basic idea. Climb tower, reveal map. BotW doesn't reveal map markers because it doesn't have any, because it's a more systems-driven game.

Yes, the basic idea of climbing a tower and revealing some info is the same. But most people don't have an issue with Ubi-towers because of this. The issue for most is that they fill your map with icons, which defeats the purpose of exploration. If the map in Assassin's Creed was completely empty and climbing a building revealed topography and landmarks, as opposed to a bunch of icons, I don't think anyone would have a problem with them. This is what Zelda does. It literally fills in a blank, empty map, devoid of any detail, whatsoever. But it doesn't do so with quest icons that kill the sense of adventure an open world game should have.

 

[llehuty]

I have a strong feeling this game is going to be extremely divisive.

Sounds like a Zelda game. The only no divisive 3D zelda must be OOT, but the others have always triggered very polarazing opinions.

 

[The Lamp]

From Gamexplain: NPCs have schedules, react to changes in weather, even more dynamic than Majora's mask schedules

"Like, "possibly the best Zelda game yet" outstanding. (Not even close to finished yet though)"

I can't feel my legs

 

[brandonh83]

Color me shocked.

Zelda games are usually fantastic and where this one's been in the cooker for a while I expected no less. Even games that get outspoken negativity like Skyward Sword are reviewed very highly so I had no doubt that this would too.

There's a reason this is my favorite series and that doesn't seem to be changing anytime soon.

 

[Albo]

Gamecentral's:

http://metro.co.uk/2017/02/24/the-l...the-wild-hands-on-preview-eye-opener-6470487/

Some exceprts:

Nintendo has talked about how they went back to the very first NES game for inspiration, which sounds like hyperbole given the technology gulf between 1986 and now. But actually, the comparisons are entirely valid.

Having just completed it, we couldn’t help but think of Horizon Zero Dawn while playing Breath Of The Wild, and how simplistic it now seems compared to Zelda. You also have a bow in Breath Of The Wild, but you have to account for how arrows arc through the air, rather than it just acting like a low-tech sniper rifle. Boomerangs have to be caught manually on their return and the best way to defeat the skeletons that appear at night is to chop of their head and punt it into a river, like a goalkeeper trying to make a clearance.

You always expect a Zelda game to be good, but the attention to detail and willingness to innovate in Breath Of The Wild is well beyond our expectations. We wouldn’t suggest that any of this necessarily has anything to do with the Switch though, as the game was originally designed for the Wii U. As such the graphics are certainly not a match for the likes of Horizon, with often very simple geometry and textures. The frame rate sometimes becomes a little syrupy too, and there’s obvious object pop-in if you look for it.

We’re doing our best to find faults here but the truth is we’re hugely impressed. We already know some things we can’t talk about here, and other secrets that have been hinted to us by Nintendo. At this stage we’d shocked if this didn’t turn out to be the best Zelda since Ocarina Of Time. It may even surpass it, and since many still regard that as the best video game ever made it becomes almost impossible to overstate just how good Breath Of The Wild is.

 

[papercan55]

From Gamexplain: NPCs have schedules, react to changes in weather, even more dynamic than Majora's mask schedules

They did it!

 

[Sir_Crocodile]

To be honest, Skyward Sword bore me to tears. I simply stopped playing one day and never looked back.

Skyward Sword's main problem imo was that it was exhausting. Super long chats in the city, followed by super long trek to a dungeon, followed by super long dungeon.

Would be interested to see what nintendo do with it when they make the inevitable remaster.

 

[spekkeh]

Having just completed it, we couldn’t help but think of Horizon Zero Dawn while playing Breath Of The Wild, and how simplistic it now seems compared to Zelda.

Read more: http://metro.co.uk/2017/02/24/the-l...-on-preview-eye-opener-6470487/#ixzz4Zc5gAx00

This game is going to ruin gaming.

 

[Dark Cloud]

God.

Lol!

 

[Tertullian]

Its suffocating your hype because Horizon is a new IP. It has nothing to do with the quality of either games.

I am actually feeling sorry for Zelda right now.Nintendo is hyping this up so much,but its barely catching up to open world/souls-like game design ,and it looks two gens behind.

Yessssss let the salt flow through you.

I'd better get some good meltdowns out of this launch. Whether from Zelda fans if the game metacritics below a 90, or Sony fans if it crushes Horizon, or whoever. I need to bathe in those tears.

 

[big_erk]

https://twitter.com/jasonschreier/status/835129781423333376

YES! also, is there any previews done on the WiiU, or is it just the switch version?

What is this WiiU you speak of?

 

[MikeBison]

Only ordinary rumble. No HD rumble unfortunately.

Ok, thanks. Bummer though. Must have dreamt there would be things like tension on the bow in the rumble.

Previews seem to be great so far. Very happy with how the world is shaping up and a new focus on such system driven gameplay.

Only concern is the durability. Could become frustrating. But surely as you progress through the story you'll get master swords etc with have more permanence. May even make them feel more special after countless hours scavenging sticks to fight with.

Talking of the story, see a few impressions that it takes a more dark/MM tone which I'm totally happy with. Just hope theres enough of it whilst you're out and about. My biggest worry is a great open world game with a thin story, see MGS5 + FFXV (loved both of those and even loved the story in FFXV but hated how thinly it was spread out)

 

[Lunar15]

Posts like this are a lot better to make after you've played a 50+ hour game for longer than 15 mins and not 'watched' someone play it.

Cool, I'll refrain on giving opinions in the future.

 

[Monumma]

Dan's story on the beastcast :Q_________

like 30min in, i would ruin it by writing it.

 

[Coffinhal]

Meteo effects in a few minutes, from a peaceful meadow to a quick death

 

[GinoFelino]

I think we can put to rest any fear the grass was downgraded

Good lord, that looks fantastic!

Having just completed it, we couldn’t help but think of Horizon Zero Dawn while playing Breath Of The Wild, and how simplistic it now seems compared to Zelda.

SHOTS FIRED

 

[Solid Sora]

Wait.

You can mount a dear in the game!?

They're really going all princess Mononoke

 

[phanphare]

Gamecentral's:

http://metro.co.uk/2017/02/24/the-l...the-wild-hands-on-preview-eye-opener-6470487/

Some exceprts:

Nintendo has talked about how they went back to the very first NES game for inspiration, which sounds like hyperbole given the technology gulf between 1986 and now. But actually, the comparisons are entirely valid.

Having just completed it, we couldn’t help but think of Horizon Zero Dawn while playing Breath Of The Wild, and how simplistic it now seems compared to Zelda. You also have a bow in Breath Of The Wild, but you have to account for how arrows arc through the air, rather than it just acting like a low-tech sniper rifle. Boomerangs have to be caught manually on their return and the best way to defeat the skeletons that appear at night is to chop of their head and punt it into a river, like a goalkeeper trying to make a clearance.

You always expect a Zelda game to be good, but the attention to detail and willingness to innovate in Breath Of The Wild is well beyond our expectations. We wouldn’t suggest that any of this necessarily has anything to do with the Switch though, as the game was originally designed for the Wii U. As such the graphics are certainly not a match for the likes of Horizon, with often very simple geometry and textures. The frame rate sometimes becomes a little syrupy too, and there’s obvious object pop-in if you look for it.

We’re doing our best to find faults here but the truth is we’re hugely impressed. We already know some things we can’t talk about here, and other secrets that have been hinted to us by Nintendo. At this stage we’d shocked if this didn’t turn out to be the best Zelda since Ocarina Of Time. It may even surpass it, and since many still regard that as the best video game ever made it becomes almost impossible to overstate just how good Breath Of The Wild is.

I'm not ready

 

[Forkball]

The Giant Beastcast is up with Zelda talk. Haven't listened to it yet, if anyone wants to provide a time stamp to when then talk about Zelda... hugs and kisses.

[edit] 31:16

 

[takriel]

Color me shocked.

Zelda games are usually fantastic and where this one's been in the cooker for a while I expected no less. Even games that get outspoken negativity like Skyward Sword are reviewed very highly so I had no doubt that this would too.

There's a reason this is my favorite series and that doesn't seem to be changing anytime soon.

Same for me. Dark Souls has come close, though.

 

[emb]

I can't take it. Getting too hyped!

 

[73V3N]

Unnecessary.

They are comparing it to another recent open world game.
Don't see how it's unnecessary, it's a comparison that makes sense