Zelda Breath of the Wild - Wii U vs. Switch

[isiolia]

Has there actually been a non-portable Zelda release that critics weren't falling all over themselves to give perfect/near perfect scores to?

[prfsnl_gmr]

Holy...

It's running 98 on Metacritic right now. The lowest score is a 90. Dang.

Now I am excite.

Yeah...the reviews are nuts. I'm sure it won't be that good, but at least it won't be bad.

[Exhuminator]

Also the first DLC for BotW is announced:

Nintendo has announced an “Expansion Pass” for The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, which will be available for $19.99 and grant players access to two sets of downloadable content for the game due out this summer and holiday, respectively.

The downloadable content sets are the first-ever in development for a mainline Legend of Zelda series title. Here is what we know so far:

Content Pack #1 (Summer 2017) – Adds a “Cave of Trials” challenge, a new hard mode, and a new feature for the in-game map.

Content Pack #2 (Holiday 2017) – Adds new challenges that will let players enjoy a new dungeon and new original story.

The content packs will be available for both the Switch and Wii U versions of the game, and cannot be purchased individually (in other words, they’re only available in the Expansion Pass).

http://gematsu.com/2017/02/legend-zelda ... -announced

So Nintendo not only does smartphone games now, but also mainline DLC. Interesting, didn't know that.

[marurun]

Read the Ars Technica review at https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2017/03/refreshing-new-zelda-breath-of-the-wild-is-an-instant-classic/. It is the most detailed review I've read so far. It really hits home the implications of this core design change. I think Nintendo has had some kind of weird revelation. Totally unexpected.

[BogusMeatFactory]

Holy...

It's running 98 on Metacritic right now. The lowest score is a 90. Dang.

Now I am excite.

Yeah some really stellar reviews out there, I'm more intrigued than I was before.

One thing I haven't seen much of is dungeon gameplay, and dungeon boss fights for that matter. Any good Youtube videos of that stuff?

Here is one for you that talks about it vaguely, but effectively.

https://youtu.be/ALdZyIGxux0

[Sarge]

Yeah, I knew about the DLC. I think Kat Bailey at USGamer wrote a bit about it. I'm not super-enamored with it, 'cause it's pricey, and I don't care for the harder difficulty. It sounds like the game isn't going to need much of a bump, anyway.

Well, unless they're going for Dark Souls-level difficulty. Which I'm sure would intrigue some folks.

[Exhuminator]

https://youtu.be/ALdZyIGxux0

The guy says there are only four traditional dungeons, and three of them are too easy for his liking. But he also says the numerous (100+) shrines act as mini-dungeons with harder difficulty and deeper puzzles. He said the four main dungeon bosses are pretty challenging and fun to battle.

[BogusMeatFactory]

https://youtu.be/ALdZyIGxux0

The guy says there are only four traditional dungeons, and three of them are too easy for his liking. But he also says the numerous (100+) shrines act as mini-dungeons with harder difficulty and deeper puzzles. He said the four main dungeon bosses are pretty challenging and fun to battle.

Did you want to SEE the dungeon playthroughs?

[Sarge]

As someone that loves the dungeons, I'm just having to come to grips that they're basically spread out in chunks, as opposed to one contiguous themed dungeon. This is probably okay, 'cause it sounds like I won't be lacking for dungeoning.

Heck, the main reason I loved Skyward Sword is that, outside of the hub, everything was a dungeon.

[marlowe221]

Read the Ars Technica review at https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2017/03/refreshing-new-zelda-breath-of-the-wild-is-an-instant-classic/. It is the most detailed review I've read so far. It really hits home the implications of this core design change. I think Nintendo has had some kind of weird revelation. Totally unexpected.

This is the thing I don't really understand. A lot of the reviewers/news outlets are all like, "OMG! New Zelda is all new and stuff! We've never seen anything like this before!!!"

Are our memories so short? Does no one remember pre-3D Zelda when relatively open, free-form game design was pretty much the norm for the series?

For old school Zelda fans, Breath of the Wild should look more like a return to form rather than a new, ground-breaking design.

Sure, since OoT the series has become increasingly linear and hyper-focused on dungeons and heavy handed narratives. Much to the detriment of the series, IMHO. So I can see how people might refer to BotW as "refreshing" but I don't see how anyone can call it "new" since a more open-ended approach to design was how the series started on the NES.