Even with other great open world games that came after like Red Dead 2 and Elden Ring, Breath of the Wild truly feels like it fully embraces player freedom and has way more depth than many people give it credit for despite its relatively simple exterior.
It's SNES logic. Let the players figure it out for themselves. At the same time don't make it too cryptic where it doesn't make sense to do something. BOTW is all about the interaction that adds to the immersion.
Red Dead has essentially zero player freedom, and Elden Ring has freedom but somehow is more guilty of copy pasting their Catacombs than Zelda is of copy pasting Korok Seeds and Shrines.
Absolutely floored that you only have 300 subscribers. This is one of the most in depth analyses available on TH-cam and the amount of work you put into this video is phenomenal. As someone who eats up hours long critiques and analyses of games and such, I'm looking forward to your Tears of the Kingdom video and anything else you might do!
Dude, thank you! This took me over a year and a half while doing uni so nice to know it's being enjoyed. Hoping to get more videos out once I graduate! Glad you enjoyed 😁❤️
Absolutely amazing video. Breath of the Wild is my favorite game of all time and it’s finally refreshing to watch a video that criticizes this game that isn’t just, “this game sucks cuz dungeons are bad” and “weapons break too easy lol”. Although you did cover these topics in this video, you brought a new insight as to not only why there are issues with these new mechanics, but how they could be fixed and improved upon. My favorite part of this video is when you covered the combat system. When you were talking about how it could be improved upon, I was fascinated by the amazing ideas you were able to come up with, and those same ideas that I now wish were in the game. Usually I don’t watch videos longer than 30 minutes but I watched this whole video in one sitting and thoroughly enjoyed it. Amazing job with this fantastic video, and here’s to Tears of the Kingdom being EVEN better than Breath of the Wild.
Man, thank you so much 🥺 but yeah, the point of this video was being fed up with generic criticisms. It wasn't fair. I love this game, and if I was going to criticise it, I'd learn the ins and outs of every detail. Definitely worth the year of work haha. Appreciate you!!
@@highdefinition450 I know right? 👍 Well said Sir! I really dislike attention-seekers like that just who put out a strawman 'argument' in an attempt to vilify _very_ valid criticism and the people that do so. Breath having a paper-thin 'story' and 0 dungeons is like Ice-cream without the cream - and this guy is moaning at the people complaining about it. Wow, lol!
@@netweed09 I am not going to lie, in light of Tears of the Kingdom releasing, this attitude has become so much more prominent and usually I do a great job of writing off inept kids who are not trying to have a discussion and instead want to "win" or demonize you for having a different opinion, but these types have been getting under my skin just a bit.
@@MoonShocked Exactly , right? I mean, why would I _want_ to hate a game for the sake of it and not even bias? I don't even _hate_ Breath per say, I'd give it a highish 6/10 but I simply feel it was too different and just too flat. None of the quests apart from the usual Master Sword & Zora's Domain really moved me. There was too much game space wasted. Tears fixes so much of all that & then some. I love that it shares more or less the 'same World' to prove that point even further.
A note on Spears: I find that their usefulness comes primarily from fighting enemies on horseback, which is a big mechanic and yet ironically very underused by most players. When swinging a weapon while riding a horse that is galloping or sprinting, hitting an enemy always results in a critical hit. Often (but not always) a crit will knock an enemy over or stun them in some way. This is where spears truly shine. They are highly effective to use on horseback compared to other weapons due to their reach, and are great for fighting Guardians or normal camps of enemies assuming there is space available to make jousting runs. Spears also have the least leadup time before allowing Link to throw them. They're useful as a panic tactic to crit an enemy and stun them. (Hitting an enemy with a thrown weapon also causes a crit-- Boomerangs are powerful due to this property as well.) There is even a throwing spear specifically which can be thrown farther than most spears. In short, spears aren't really suited to typical ground combat but seem to be intended for throwing or cavalry, I do agree that their range is underutilized in ground combat, so it would be interesting to get more enemies that can be outranged or use the vertical space to make hitting them more difficult with other weapons.
Spears are actually my favorite weapon type in BotW haha, I feel they make the game a bit more challenging since they don't do as much damage as other weapons, and I like to soft lock enemies with them.
Well who really cares about all that in the end? The item is in Breath of the Breaking and will return to it's 'dust powder' form in under 5 minutes of use. Have fun.
@netweed09 Uh, ok? Not if it's a decent level spear. Lynel spears and the like tend to last a good while. The point is not to completely overlook spears because they can be useful and more fun than other alternatives
@@gregoryford2532 You match me. Spears are one of my favorite, and by extension Halberts I believe are similar. I like their reach and speed. But I also havent used horses in over 40 hours because I am obsessed with climbing the tallest point I can see to find my next adventure
When I first played Breath of The Wild, it was my second Zelda game and first one I completed I accidentally ignored the Impa quest and went straight for Naboris and went through a ten years old’s hell 6 years later, and that experience is one of my favourite video game moments
My favorite memory was beating the stupidly easy fire blight Gannon and thinking I’ll stomp the last boss, and got a shocking amount of challenge making me find out where to get the master sword and FINALLY beating thunderblight gannon
You did Naboris as a 10 year old?? I did it as a 36 year old and kept saying “I have no idea how 10 year old me would figure this out” on that specific DB 😆
watching this video while playing tears of the kingdom and feeling how almost every single problem has been addressed and changed is wild, especially at 55:30
Awesome video, keep at it. Quick aside, I like that Zelda as a legend has a story that intentionally focuses on that legend itself. This would make the series distinct from Dark Souls or TES in that those games reference a larger world in order to make the game world feel expansive but LoZ focuses on Link, Zelda, and Ganondorf, the way a legend retold does. Make more Zelda content and I'll definitely watch it, you truly put a good deal of work into this.
I love the legend story! I do think there was a missed opportunity to hide some lore for the big three characters but eh. Thank you! Skyward Sword is being written up rn...
Significant issues I mention in this video: -There should be incentive to want to find specific materials that help with combat in other areas -I wished that the gemstones and other high value materials had an alternate use so you wouldn't want to sell them -Combat doesn't have incentive, as you're more likely to break your weapons without being rewarded with ones of equal worth -You have no sure fire way to be able to restock on weapons .... Can anyone guess what ability in TOTK I'm shitting myself with excitement for?
Purah? Also, weapons crafting, because it specifically incentivizes the player to attack enemy camps because monster parts are some of the best and easiest to obtain weapon upgrades in the game. Even if you break all your good weapons taking out an enemy camp, you can craft decent weapons out of bokoblin horns and fucking _sticks_ if you need to, because the base weapon mostly just determines weapon durability (and may or may not have a special modifier) while the add-ons play a more significant role in DPS and damage type. Seriously, I had this in on in the background while I was playing TotK, and it took me a while to realize that you were reviewing BotW and making suggestions a year ago rather than comparing TotK to BotW after the former had already launched, lol.
Me: Watches you use Cryonis to easily hop over the spikes and enter the Shrine across from the Dueling Peaks Stable Me: puts my dumb ass face into my hands in shame bc I've always just climbed up the mountain and paraglided down
Okay, this deserve a ton more traction. You managed to convey pretty much everything that could be improved about the game in a meaningful manner. Not just that, but your suggestions to fix the shortcomings all make sense and you can tell that it’s coming from a place of actually wanting the game to be even better. I find that criticism against botw often boils down to people saying: „it’s not Zelda enough“ and calling it day, when the game doing new things and not relying on traditions is, in many ways, a good thing. So your approach here is very refreshing!
Hello all! Quick comment and response to some general points: Just want to say, thank you all for such kind comments. This video was a year long passion project for me: I really wanted to do this game justice. Never expected the viewership and love from you all and I appreciate it a lot. I am planning lots of videos! In the final year of my Masters Degree but once that's over I'll be pushing out a lot more content. Now, this video was made over a long period, so some points weren't expressed perfectly. Just wanted to tackle some things i should clarify: -I made an error saying the Temple of time theme gets re used. I was meant to state that the 'ruins' theme" gets re-used but mixed them up due to similar chord progressions -Yes, I'm aware the colleseum has all elemental weapons. However, my point is that elemental weapons are not as useful as they could be and returning to a single place over and over does not satisfy the prep and returning to areas criteria I was discussing -I do also know about the durability changes after parrying compared to flurry rushing. After looking into it, I still stand by most of my point but this does make the parry more useful for sure. But this is definitely something that we should've been able to find out in the game -Yes, I accidentally named the King of Hyrule after the name of the King in Wind Waker: Wind Waker has been around most of my life, so his name dropped. I have considered deleting this video and my internet presence over this mistake, as many of you are horrified that I would do such a thing. I have decided to keep the video up, so that people may learn from my mistake. -In terms of difficulty: no, I do NOT want it to be as difficult as Dark Souls. I don't think Zelda should be overly difficulty. But, I definitely wanted it to be more difficult without doing any sidequests/exploration/shrines etc. It's too easy to complete by doing the bare minimum (based on my observations of friends and family playing the game) Edit #2: Thank you all for 1,000 subs! I made this video as a passion project just for myself, but all the love I have received has been overwhelming. Can't thank you all enough. More will come! See you all soon...
Just chiming in as someone who's also taken a crack at the marathon Breath of the Wild review concept: this video is great. A lot of solid points made, the voiceover is excellent, the polish here is massively disproportionate to your subscriber count...it's strong work and I really hope to see more like it from you. If there's one thing I might suggest looking into though, it'd be changing the title, or at least reconsidering the naming scheme for future videos. I had this pop up in my recommendations at a time when I couldn't watch it, and made a mental note to seek it out later. When I did, let me tell you, I had a _hell_ of a time finding it again. Calling it an "anatomisation" rather than a "review" or "retrospective" totally buries it in search results, and I suspect it's got to make a substantial difference to its recommendation rate as well. I'm glad I was eventually able to find it, I've just finished it and it's been great company during a few editing sessions, but I had to actively seek it out and push through an initial failure to do so first. Do with that what you will, but the video content itself is seriously very good stuff!
Hey man! Really appreciate this comment. I have definitely had the name change be suggested to me before. I just feel like I wanted to establish something that's specific to me? Calling it review or retrospective just felt so derivative to what others use. I also don't see this video as a review but more of a fundamental break down on the reasoning behind criticisms, hence the title. But I'm Def considering it!
@@theyesh2000 That's fair enough, I get wanting to do your own thing and I'd never want to imply you can't run your channel how you see fit. I would be willing to bet, though, as someone who's done TH-cam professionally for a few years now, that if you were to consider changing it to a middle ground ("An Anatomisation and Review" or something like that), or at least incorporate "review" and "retrospective" into the first couple lines of the description for videos like this, you'd likely start noticing a difference in performance. Again though, you do you, I really liked this video and will be sticking around regardless!
Thanks! I really appreciate the advice. Putting that in the description could definitely be a start. Perhaps I could reword the title a little while still keeping it original
One of if not my favourite game of all time, there's just something about it. I mean I completed it 3 times, on my main I have almost all koroks and side quests, but I still get the urge to hop on botw every week or so, it's crazy
The divine beasts feel like a prison in comparison, not because they are small but rather because they are long enough to pin you in place for an extended period of time. I couldn't bring myself to go to the castle because that seemed like a bigger chore. Hopefully TotK will go even further towards making all of the world one big dungeon.
@@subtlewolf I guess it's true that in comparison to the open world the divine beasts do keep you in a place for a long time but I guess that's what most og zelda gamers kinda want. I feel a mixture of both has been made in totk but idk
@@stathisconstantinou I'm genuinely unsure of what people actually mean when they talk about dungeons, which in turn makes it difficult to engage with.
I'm happy to say that as much as I disagree with a significant chunk of this video I was thoroughly engaged by it's presentation and regardless of my final thoughts on *your* final thoughts I think you've done quality work here and I'd be happy to watch/listen to any future content you make. Well done.
Your comments about how you would feel more satisfied with the main quests if they required you to ask around and piece together clues instead of chasing map markers is very similar to the big problem I have with the structure of quests in Oblivion and Skyrim versus in Morrowind. In Morrowind there were no direct map markers, though reading a common book did mark the general area of certain shrines on your map, and talking to certain NPCs, especially Savants, could mark the location of cities and towns on your map if you ask about them. But when doing quests your best bet would be to ask the quest giver for directions if they know where the target is, or by asking around and doing a bit of detective work depending on the quest. Selecting any topic in your journal would also bring up a record of what NPCs have said about it, so you didn't have to worry about forgetting a certain clue or whether you had to turn left or right at a signpost. Starting with the next game in the series, Oblivion, quests started giving you map markers for quest targets. While it makes tracking down certain NPCs easier now that they have schedules and wander around to different locations throughout the day, it wasn't used only for that and made things feel a lot more mindless. Sometimes you would have to ask around before you would be given the quest pointer, these were the exceptions rather than the rule. By Skyrim the game leans so hard on quest markers that if you turn them off you can't really realistically find out where to go, as the structure and dialogue is made assuming you will have this power of clairvoyance. No longer is asking around for directions or clues a viable option except for maybe a couple of quests where investigation is the whole point.
I dont get this one though I am still listening to him. There are plenty of quests that are only based on clues and no map markets. This idea that every quest needs to be this way is silly. I wrote my own post above that may explain the reason and I think its just the difference between what pro/active gamers expect and what casual gamers need. Its like his idea that you can see 2 of the divine beasts right away. not satisfied that 2 still need to be found the hard way, he needs them all to be obscure but to a casual gamer (which is most gamers and by casual, I dont mean candy crush, but those who dont play a lot so arent trying to do 100% or performance plays (like how fast can they beat something isnt even a question to them, just beating something is a triumpth) having some quests be grounded helps to take a breather so they get a little of everything and can pick and choose or just take a break from always having to be on a treasure hunt. Not every puzzle has to be a "chore". I love all the different types of quests in Zelda. But one quest that needs clues is Dorians quest with the Sheikah. There is no marker. You talk to people, learn that you need to follow him, and maybe through trial and error learn to be sneaky. It doesnt have to be an all or nothing. Its ok to have different types of quests and let some have markers and some not have markers.
I never really had an issue with the rewards in this game, for a couple reasons First, I was just so engrossed that just exploring and finding something like a shrine was reward enough for me. I remember the first time I found Naydra, I was absolutely blown away Second, I have a habit in games to fall victim to the megalixer problem, never using my best stuff in case I really need it later, and then end up beating the game with a full inventory of high level consumables. Because of this I made myself use my good weapons as I got them, meaning every little weapon drop felt really good and useful
I think you pointed out so many great things! One thing I would add: The original game had items, like the "Power Bracelet" that once you got it, you could now go BACK to places you remember with boulders to move, to now gain entry to new areas. I think this would benefit the game greatly, as to EARN your ability to traverse the open world. I also MIGHT remove the the Shrine fast travel all together. Towers should be enough, so that you have a reason to explore the areas multiple times and in different ways, as to find most of the Koroks and items BEFORE BEATING the game. I would LOVE to find an item on one side of the map, to then realize where i might use it on the complete opposite side of the map.
this is such a good overview, thank you for speaking on a game that truly changed me as a person. The way you phrased, spoke with such love filled me with joy. Absolutely fantastic video.
I deeply agree with the tent idea lol. The rain made me not wanna try to climb anything after awhile. A very open and cool mechanic the climbing. But it rains way to frickin much to make it truly practical 🙄
Love Hyrule Gamer. Such a positive guy. I always see you supporting others. here's a toast to you being the most sound fella and to Tears of the Kingdom! :)
@@adamzirkelbach6236 I do agree that it rains too much in the game which makes climbing frustrating. I do still love to climb and paragliding is my fav way to get around, so finding high points is always interesting, but rain does piss me off a lot. Its a cool element of the game only when its not happening half the time.
I can't lie, I totally forgot flurry rush was a thing until this video. Don't think I've used it since that one shrine taught me to LOL. Also, what's with your views?! You need way more views, likes, and subs, this video was literally amazing. Perfect background noise and all the points you brought up were stuff I had never thought about. And your video on Age of Calamity has less than 700?! I can't help there for now since I haven't finished it lol, but god knows I will as soon as I do. Instant subscriber. Keep being awesome, man!
Amazing video, I can feel your love for the game and you build up your criticisms really well. The only argument where I think you might have missed something is when you say that the areas aren't connected very well and that this could be improved by letting the player make an ice weapon from materials on lanayru to use on death mountain. A system that connects the areas like this already partially exist with the armor upgrades and with the cooking ingredients. The armor that protects you against the heat needs chillshrooms to be upgraded and armor against the cold needs sunshrooms. If you want to upgrade your armor to explore the desert, you will go to the mountains to grab these materials. When you want to cook a cold resistant meal, you need hot ingredients from the desert/death mountain. I still really enjoyed this amazing video. Now I'm off to your age of calamity anatomisation and to the subscribe button :)
Good video. One thing I wish you had mentioned when it comes to weapons and rewards for exploration is all of the good respawning weapons they hid around the overworld. They actually put a lot of good weapons in various places in the overworld, and these weapons respawn because they are laying around and are not in chests. This provides both good incentive to explore, and to remember and return to areas you have previously visited. If you missed a lot of these, then do a youtube search. Tons of people, including myself, have made videos about good farmable weapons that respawn.
I compeltely agree. While I still think the weapon respawning doesn't solve everything ( as you may not know the spots specifically while playing and most of them are too weak + only give one weapon) it was definitely an error on my behalf to completely ignore it. Will be adressing it in the next video!
It's crazy!! I guess it's just because a lot of criticisms seemed to be things the developers were thinking of but didn't have time to implement. Very excited!
Thank you soooo much for making this video. The quality, editing, and throughness is absolutely amazing. I know it takes a ton of effort to make these videos. I cant wait to see what videos you put out! ❤
Fantastic video that really takes apart the problems with the game without just taking a surface level look, very excited to see how tears of the kingdom handles all these issues, possibly in ways we've never considered
Haha, phenomenal video! I love BotW enough that it's my favorite game but you did an amazing job of discussing the frustrating aspects as well as presenting practical and interesting solutions. I really like the idea of not selling anything, I wish I had thought of that! I've spent quite a lot of time thinking about how the game could be better but you've managed to bring up many problems and potential solutions that never even crossed my mind and that I haven't seen anywhere else. I really enjoyed your section about combat! I don't agree with all your proposed solutions (source: my 1 hour long video about fixing BotW combat) but my thoughts are rather lengthy so I'll spare you from them here. I'm excited to watch your video about Age of Calamity, I'm sure it will be fantastic as well! Can't wait so see what you get up to next!
It's amazing seeing this after i started playing totk and seeing how many of the ideas you present for balancing purposes have been added into it. I'm really glad because I fully agreed with many of your points (specially on the parry vs dodge in combat)
I really liked what you said in the beginning about finding errors in what you love. I listen to lore videos while i'm at work. I had to remember to come back to this video to write this :))
Loved the video! You can tell it comes from a place of love for the game and the series, and not just the will to criticize obvious things. I liked that you acknowledged that no game can be perfect and real world constraints play a role. Great videa man, much appreciated!
Thank you so much!! Yes, I love this game so much, so I wanted to acknowledge it's floors and the reasons for them. It has made me love the game even more
I really like your approach to this: You make it so clear you love this game and your criticisms are well thought out and actually consider the aesthetic goals the game is attempting to accomplish. It’s in good faith and nothing is more emblematic of that than your dissection of why anyone would use the traditional dungeon critique against this game in the first place. One place I must however disagree with you, even though I myself am very good at this game and so concur with many of your assessments about the game’s difficulty curve and difficulty in general, I think a common thread is that you often describe certain tasks as being very easy, such as say employing flurry attacks against basic enemies or the methods you can use to defeat Guardians. You always preempt those positions by clearly defining a particular skill you must master to do so, or better yet employ an element of lateral and creative thinking, things you need to discover for yourself that rewards you for going out of your way to acquire familiarity with the rest of the overworld. And that brings me to one of my contentions, which is the matter of who developed this game… Nintendo. I could beat twilight princess when I was 8 years old. Do you know abysmal I was at playing video games when I was 8 years old? Very. Very much so, we all were. Nintendo strives to make games that demand players to learn skills and employ them, yet nonetheless remain possible for virtually anyone to beat. They’re a family game developer, they focus on children’s games, party games for the family, to entertain kids birthday parties, they’re the everyone game studio. I can’t justify to myself that parts of this game I find challenging and parts I don’t are objective. Because while I silently wish these games were as hard as the ones Fromsoftware puts out, what I especially learn as a studying game developer is that no game can be perfect for everyone. The guardians may seem very surmountable for us, most people who’ve played Breath of the Wild are rightfully and abjectly… TERRIFIED of them. Dark Souls is deliberately made for a market that is niche and Breath of the Wild isn’t. Breath of the Wild was made to appeal to such a wider range of players. And it shows! The game sold 29 million copies and achieved widesspread acclaim from critics and players alike. And yet funnily enough the most vocally critical audience for the game are people online. Gamers, the capital G gamers. Because this game sacrificed challenge in many ways and areas to appeal to a broader audience. And the reason I can’t fault them for it and the reason even a lot of us capital G gamers love this game, is because it doesn’t sacrifice complexity, it doesn’t compromise on your freedom as a player and it doesn’t compromise on the fact you the player will learn new skills that it tests you on and remain widely applicable. You may not need to master all skills on offer, but you will learn them and it will be satisfying.
Really good response. I completely get where you're coming from. For me, higher difficulty means that exploration can control difficulty, so even if it's hard it can become easy with exploration. Without exploring, it's still a little harder than other Zelda's! I didn't convey this too well. I also completed TP when I was 7! Took me months. Broke me. But my little brother was also 7 when he beat BOTW. I based a lot of my perception of the difficulty on watching him and my mum. But I really appreciate your comment. So nice and refreshing to have someone convey something so clearly! Much love
@@theyesh2000 thanks for the nice response, mate! Looking forward to Tears Of The Kingdom a ton. Might be that final nail in the coffin that gets me to buy a Switch.
Great video and I can’t say I disagree with a lot of your points. For me one thing that makes BOTW truly special is it makes aimlessly traveling around and doing mundane tasks extremely fun and addicting.
Thank you! I agree: I know so many people who love this game, despite having never completed it. That's often rare to find and speaks to the quality of the overall game
I agree with what you said about overworld density. Keep in mind that BoTW was originally released on the Wii U, limiting how much the devs could stick in there. I’m sure the sequel will have a lot more to see besides just Skyrule.
yup :) They do say more villages, though hopefully that means the old ones and more, and not any replacements. But I have confidence in them. Then you have larger enemy camps and more enemy types meaning possibly more on the map.
I nearly beat the entire game before I found Hestus to do inventory upgrades. I only found him after seeing it randomly mentioned in an online thread, then it all made sense that it was why I saw people with more than 10 slots. I really wish they didn't put that mechanic into 1 missable NPC. Not everyone took that 1 direct road path to the village, and without seeing it online I would have never went that way again, possibly for multiple playthroughs.
I think this is entirely fair, especially for such a significant upgrade. Perhaps you should be able to find him in multiple locations? Maybe 1 place in each region
@@theyesh2000 I think like others have mentioned it would have been okay if he showed up other places like Beedle. Just feel like he was a bit of an oversight in his placement but love the game anyway and nice video!
@@indiwo1f You do make a good point, though! My friend and I were discussing your comment earlier. If you enter Kakariko through another entry point, you'll likely never go across that path. I think the problem is the whole maracas quest. They couldn't have that quest exist in multiple locations. But thank you! Glad you enjoyed.
Great video I agree on almost every point you make here...as someone who played botw 100% several times I'd say that small changes like adding new attacks to the blights depending on how many you already defeated would add much replayability Even though I found my own ways with challenges and stuff (your "no selling" challenge was a great idea) like my "only Zelda TW tunic, using master sword and hylia-shield as much as possible, go with Epona as much as you can, no map no teleportation, and all 120 shrines from memory"-playthrough But I'd say that I can forgive many of the flaws in hindsight because especially with TotK coming out it makes kind of sense that e.g. beast Ganon was underwhelming because it was not "the real deal" TLDR: you're really underrated, I look forward to new videos and you've earned a new subscriber
@@theyesh2000 lol yeah the 3 heart run is pretty good. Another one of my favorites is to play with only the green tunic you get from amiibos. You can build your health and stamina and get better equipment but being limited to the standard tunic meant it couldn't be upgradable and it gave off that classic Zelda feel.
one problem with the weapon durability system that i found and have heard a few others saying is, knowing the speed weapons break from early pickups, you can end up hoarding the good ones thinking "oh, i'd better not use this, there might be a boss I need it for". This i found to be very true with the champion weapons, I ended up hoarding for a fight that never happened whilst cycling between 2 inventory spots using whatever was laying around for most of the game. so instead of incentivising me to try lots of different weapons, I ended up actually using a relatively small amount whilst hoarding anything with good stats
@@theyesh2000 yeah, the fixes you suggested with crafting, storing, or enchanting using the ores would definitely incentivise me as a player to experiment more with weapon types, and if it was tutorialised early I'd deffo feel more comfortable with it. I went through the whole game not even knowing you could replace champion weapons
Breathe of the Wild was my first Zelda game. I really didn't have anything to compare it to, so to me, it's the best game in the series. Now I have some experience with playing a little bit of tp and ooc, but I still consider everything botw's done to be the best. Part of that may be that I'm very easy to impress and I'm also bad at video games. So, everything you've brought up that's bad never passed through my mind once while playing. I see now that people find the game too easy, but to me, every little puzzle I solved or enemy I beat was an accomplishment. Although, I do agree that Ganon was too easy. I did King Boo's fight in Luigi's Mansion 3, which I died several times during. And then immediately went to Gannon. Compared to King Boo, Ganon is easier.
Great video and well-articulated points! Not that it really matters but you were mistaken about the Temple of Time theme playing anywhere else but the Temple of Time. I suppose it might sound similar to the generic ruins theme because it has piano and it sparse, but they are quite distinct. The generic ruins theme is just called "Ruins theme" if you want to hear it and compare it to the Temple of Time theme. In fact, in TotK, for some reason they chose to replace what plays at the Temple of Time on the Great Plateau with that generic ruins theme and I was unreasonably upset by this. Again, this doesn't really matter haha, but
This was without a doubt the best review, critique, retrospective on BotW I have seen so far. The only one like it, to my knowledge, is the one from Matthewmatosis. Absolutely great job, hope to see more in the future, especially once there was enough time to take in, process and digest TotK.
Ganondorf: "It's not always about the rupees, Link. It's about the Yesh, baby. Love the Yesh. Alright, baby, let's go. Get 1M views, baby. Love the Yesh. Let's go, Yesh."
This is by far one of the most nuanced and well thought-out analyses and critiques of the game that a reviewer doesn't devolve into insufferable rants about dungeons and the weapon durability system they can't remotely wrap their head around. You still managed to get some very excellent and well-reasoned thoughts about that aspect of the game, while also highlighting even things I could not articulate about why I thought it worked so well and how it could have been better.
i really hope nintendo has had some research teams out crawling the internet for videos like these while TotK has been in production. you're not the only one making a lot of these points and it's nice to see all of these laid out in one video. while i adore BotW, i would lose my mind (in a good way) if these criticisms were taken into consideration during the sequel's production. awesome vid dude! (also - amiibo cards. find someone with good reviews selling amiibo cards and it'll save you a lot of real money on sweet sweet loot drops. i got a pack of 32 LoZ cards for $25. in the set i got, the Wolf Link card even has 20 hearts, something i believe you can only get if you complete a certain quest or something in TP HD. not as fun as collecting real amiibos but i don't have that kind of money and i really wanted Epona and Wolf Link lol. just throwing that out there)
Thanks! (Wrong account but wanted to reply haha). I'm confident that a fair bit of stuff I've mentioned in this video has already been teased, but won't go into too much detail 😏 And yes! I actually bought the amiibo cards as a gift for a friend once. But of course, when trying to have a critique about intentional game developement, I couldn't consider 3rd part things and had to consider Nintendo's intentions (and certainly couldn't advertise them in a video hahaha ).
One thing I saw about the parry is that it's useful against Lynels. Flury rush causes damage to your weapon. But if you parry the lynel and stagger him yoy can get on his back. Apparently, hit them while mounted on the back does not damage your weapon. However. You can also just hit them in the face with arrows to achieve this. I suppose you could use both.
@@theyesh2000 I suck at the parry so im not surprised I didn't know it. Lol. Thank God the algorithm is digging up BOTW content now that the new game is almost out. 😂
Not finished the video yet but there are some excellent points here like enemies staying the same outside of health and damage changing. It's also very nice to not just hear the same shallow criticism as a lot of other reviews
If BotW set out to make the world function like a dungeon, then it actually failed miserably. Being able to explore any area you want from the start makes it a macrocosm of the super-open Divine Beasts that everyone hates. In fact it's worse, because the game as a whole is comparable to a Divine Beast where you can activate the main terminal and fight the blight whenever you want. Previous Zelda worlds functioned like dungeons better than BotW's world ever could, and that's because they had area gating which allowed the devs to implement increasingly complex gameplay without worrying that the player will feel lost.
The last zelda I played was twilight princess. I picked up Botw today and having played for 10 hours I think it's amazing. Ok it's not really a traditional Zelda but this is fresh and exciting. I want to phone in sick tomorrow...
16:21 minutes in to the video and the statement “I would even say that they shouldn’t have put kakariko on the map” is the only thing I disagreed with because under my first play through, I got to the lake tower before kakariko and I was scared and confused and I didn’t know where I was supposed to go and the only thing that didn’t make me turn of the game was knowing the general direction of kakariko
Guys, the end sound clip is just the Goron humming in the mines (as it was one of the only tracks I didn't use) I thought it was funny. Please put your pitchforks down, I beg
1:06:00 That Hyrule Castle Theme is just as new as any previous iteration. It is not a different piece, it is a different interpretation, composition, with all the same elements of the original. It works as a reprise to the original, as this was supposed to be the end of the story, the Legend, as hamfisted as that "he can't reincarnate anymore to become irrelevant giant boar" was.
Honestly Yesh, this is the best botw retrospective or whatever you what to call it I’ve seen countless botw videos like this but this is the best I thank you
Zelda has the most famously inconsistent lore and timeline of any big series 😂 and Miyamoto hasn't had a significant hand in Zelda since 1999. So, I kind of doubt it, bud
Repost? How dare you 😂 Well tbf I only have one proper video. Every subscriber I've earned has been from this. Glad you enjoyed it!! Took me 15 months to finish alongside my degree haha
The Test of Strength Shrines are basically combat tutorials that yield good weapons as a reward. You can either bruteforce-panic-rush the scouts, or you can take your time and train with them the mechanics they provide. Their melee attacks with the different weapon types are slow and telegraphed to the max, the spin-updraft can either be used to paraglide and bullet-time-arrow or slam down with your melee weapon or, as I did it on my first playthrough, hit the eye as the head spins. At the end, it provides with a very long charge animation to get ready for a guardian laser parry - or you just panic-rush the scout in melee. What I liked about the tests of strength, and what could have been played with more is the environment within the shrine. For the whirlwind-charge attack of the scout, in most shrines there are coloumns for you to hide behind that the guardian then crashes into as it aims for you - teaching you cover. In only a few this is done differently. Not just fewer columns, but instead none at all and instead you fight in shallow water, having to create those barriers with cryonis, and in the final combat shrine in Hyrule Castle, there are metal blocks you can lift up with magnesis, that immediately fall down again once you let go, leaving you with a non-obstructive arena again. edit: I rather have tests of strength than the pathetic level puzzles. The Blessing-Shrines are not consistent with overworld quests or puzzles either. Most are, but especially the Thunder Plateau stands out where you have an arduous enough quest to open the shrine (get the four orbs to their statues, during a thunderstorm, onto a plateau that is too high to just throw, and golfballing is arduous, especially for players struggling with the mechanics of that. There are other ways, like putting an orb close to the wall of the raised platform and attaching an octo-balloon to it, then hitting the orb with an arrow for directional push - when I figured this out I realized that the extremely strong wind in that is only visual. It does not affect balloons at all, the go straight up as if in clear weather. Bit immersion breaking and a detriment to the puzzle, as going with the direction of the wind could and should be part of this solution angle. Anyway, that is more than enough outside work to deserve a blessing-shrine. Instead you get a puzzle shrine for it. The shrine was decent, afair, though I would have to look up which exactly it was. Point of the matter being: I'd rather have cut down on the overall number of shrines, and expanded the number of puzzles in each - that takes away from having random mini-tutorials to run into, but imho you don't need most of those tricks in the overworld ever anyway. So just put the puzzles of three shrines together, and you get a better, more rewarding experience. With TotK out now, I have that exact same critique, but the shrine puzzles are much better designed with a higher difficulty in mind as well as allowing for more openness due to how the abilities in that game work. That way even some shrines get several solutions possible - and one I would say is misdesigned and the cheese is not only easier but also more obvious than the intended way, as interesting as that would have been (Level Designed basically made a wall too short and thus an intended extension to a cog breaks off or destroys the mechanism from the ground up). I don't need to go into the difference to that game's combat shrines, as that is obvious enough and at this stage I don't want to fill comment sections with spoilers; as most people haven't played through the game yet.
The flurry rush (and maybe also the slow down midair bow thing) being the reward for beating all of the divine beasts sounds like such a perfect idea to me, because Ganon’s second phase (not dark beast) basically requires the flurry rush to be easy but it is still possible with good parrying but it is hard
I have over 600 hours in BoTW and using cryonis on the Dueling Peaks Table shrine never once crossed my mind, I always just climbed the whole ass mountain and jumped down, and yet I was also out there doing the moon jump glitch, and had all shrines completed, and hell I had done have done like every glitch in the game, and yet I never thought of cryonis. I am the smartest BoTW player. I have the Master Cycle and everything.
I think the specific name is "North mine". Any mine you find a goron theme has them humming along with it. The ost included the humming as a separate track which I thought was hilarious, so had to stick it in somewhere haha
I’m only 18 minutes in and will be watching the whole two hours; but, I want to comment before it gets lost to time: there is a technique to climb in the rain. It took me a while to observe the pattern and learn the timing, but you can make progress up a sheer cliff in the rain if you are precise with your timing.
Don't worry, I'm aware. It's just not well designed. The point is to make you avoid it and it's overly irritating to work around it. Hence why I thought a method to earn a way to beat it more easily would be good
@@theyesh2000 I’m continuing to watch and am now about an hour in. You mention earlier in the video that you didn’t see the point of the Colosseum. At the point I am now in the video you are talking about the benefits of elemental weapons against certain types of enemies, but how you cannot plan your ventures into different environments by collecting specific elemental weapons because of the randomness with which those weapons are given as rewards. The Colosseum is the place to stock up on elemental weapons. The enemies on each tier all carry a different weapon type of a single element type and each tier has a specific element. IIRC, the first floor is fire: sword, great sword, spear; the second floor is ice; and the top floor is electricity.
I guessed I experienced the game differently. I'm not a gamer though, this was the first game I've played that wasn't the occasional racing/Beat 'em up with friends. I liked that you got a lot of things early on, like the Champions tunic. It felt like it was all too easy, but then I quickly met a fairy and realised I had only got access to the tunic, not it's full potential and I had to get exploring. I also feel like the NPC's not caring about the calamity was kinda the point. It was 100 years ago, they've moved on and most weren't alive to see it happen. I guess that's a reflection of Japanese (and to an extent European) attitudes to WWII: our calamity was 80 years ago and the scars are still very much there... but at the same time... I want to fall in love, have a job, exist beyond that, leaving only a few older folk who can still tell the stories. They're living in spite of the calamity because they've never known a world without it. I was in this game for the exploring, foraging, meeting and helping people. I forgot how to dodge, parry, and fight instantly so I avoided all conflict unless absolutely necessary. I also didn't meet Hestu until after I had done all 4 beasts and almost all the shrines because I went a different route. I also didn't realise about fast travel until very late on. I also didn't know the stables were connected. In short, I'm not a gamer so I didn't play it like a gamer would, I played it like a person living it up and still had loads of fun, and that's why it was so great.
When I first started BoTW “Wow I can climb on everything” By the end “Goddamnit I’m so sick of climbing everything.” Thank goodness for the super jump power thing from bird dude
I am 40 hours in and I am not tired of climbing yet. Still love it, but I will definitely be happy when I get Revalis gale, so i think that will be my next generation. Only did the elephant so far, and that is probably the best first thing for people to get because its an auto revive
Even with other great open world games that came after like Red Dead 2 and Elden Ring, Breath of the Wild truly feels like it fully embraces player freedom and has way more depth than many people give it credit for despite its relatively simple exterior.
True but elden ring did do it better but mostly due to the success of this game ( botw is tied with it as my favorite game)
It's SNES logic. Let the players figure it out for themselves. At the same time don't make it too cryptic where it doesn't make sense to do something. BOTW is all about the interaction that adds to the immersion.
Red Dead has essentially zero player freedom, and Elden Ring has freedom but somehow is more guilty of copy pasting their Catacombs than Zelda is of copy pasting Korok Seeds and Shrines.
@@phant0mdummy The Korok seed help adjust difficulty.
Red Dead and Eldin Ring are both dogshit.
I’m truly shocked this video doesn’t have more traction! Your execution is fantastic, and you’ve definitely earned my subscription.
Thank you! Such a kind comment. Honestly, it's been picking up a lot of traction the past two weeks! I can't complain
Got really really into this and noticed it only had 5k views. This should have a few 100,000 at least. Excellent quality mate.
Thanks, man! I appreciate that. Slow grind
Guess we got there ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
118k at the time of my own view!
@@LazyGardenGamer We made it! 😁
Absolutely floored that you only have 300 subscribers. This is one of the most in depth analyses available on TH-cam and the amount of work you put into this video is phenomenal. As someone who eats up hours long critiques and analyses of games and such, I'm looking forward to your Tears of the Kingdom video and anything else you might do!
Dude, thank you! This took me over a year and a half while doing uni so nice to know it's being enjoyed. Hoping to get more videos out once I graduate! Glad you enjoyed 😁❤️
Yeah wtf I didn't notice until reading this comment, I would've assumed this is a 100k+ sub channel based on the quality
@@theyesh2000 will you one day talk about totk?
@@timohara7717 Currently writing the script :)
Absolutely amazing video. Breath of the Wild is my favorite game of all time and it’s finally refreshing to watch a video that criticizes this game that isn’t just, “this game sucks cuz dungeons are bad” and “weapons break too easy lol”. Although you did cover these topics in this video, you brought a new insight as to not only why there are issues with these new mechanics, but how they could be fixed and improved upon. My favorite part of this video is when you covered the combat system. When you were talking about how it could be improved upon, I was fascinated by the amazing ideas you were able to come up with, and those same ideas that I now wish were in the game. Usually I don’t watch videos longer than 30 minutes but I watched this whole video in one sitting and thoroughly enjoyed it. Amazing job with this fantastic video, and here’s to Tears of the Kingdom being EVEN better than Breath of the Wild.
Man, thank you so much 🥺 but yeah, the point of this video was being fed up with generic criticisms. It wasn't fair. I love this game, and if I was going to criticise it, I'd learn the ins and outs of every detail. Definitely worth the year of work haha. Appreciate you!!
most critiques aren't as simple as you make them out to be lol
@@highdefinition450 I know right? 👍 Well said Sir! I really dislike attention-seekers like that just who put out a strawman 'argument' in an attempt to vilify _very_ valid criticism and the people that do so.
Breath having a paper-thin 'story' and 0 dungeons is like Ice-cream without the cream - and this guy is moaning at the people complaining about it. Wow, lol!
@@netweed09 I am not going to lie, in light of Tears of the Kingdom releasing, this attitude has become so much more prominent and usually I do a great job of writing off inept kids who are not trying to have a discussion and instead want to "win" or demonize you for having a different opinion, but these types have been getting under my skin just a bit.
@@MoonShocked Exactly , right? I mean, why would I _want_ to hate a game for the sake of it and not even bias? I don't even _hate_ Breath per say, I'd give it a highish 6/10 but I simply feel it was too different and just too flat. None of the quests apart from the usual Master Sword & Zora's Domain really moved me. There was too much game space wasted. Tears fixes so much of all that & then some. I love that it shares more or less the 'same World' to prove that point even further.
A note on Spears:
I find that their usefulness comes primarily from fighting enemies on horseback, which is a big mechanic and yet ironically very underused by most players. When swinging a weapon while riding a horse that is galloping or sprinting, hitting an enemy always results in a critical hit. Often (but not always) a crit will knock an enemy over or stun them in some way. This is where spears truly shine. They are highly effective to use on horseback compared to other weapons due to their reach, and are great for fighting Guardians or normal camps of enemies assuming there is space available to make jousting runs.
Spears also have the least leadup time before allowing Link to throw them. They're useful as a panic tactic to crit an enemy and stun them. (Hitting an enemy with a thrown weapon also causes a crit-- Boomerangs are powerful due to this property as well.) There is even a throwing spear specifically which can be thrown farther than most spears.
In short, spears aren't really suited to typical ground combat but seem to be intended for throwing or cavalry, I do agree that their range is underutilized in ground combat, so it would be interesting to get more enemies that can be outranged or use the vertical space to make hitting them more difficult with other weapons.
Spears are actually my favorite weapon type in BotW haha, I feel they make the game a bit more challenging since they don't do as much damage as other weapons, and I like to soft lock enemies with them.
Spears were historically made for use on horseback, so it makes sense
Well who really cares about all that in the end? The item is in Breath of the Breaking and will return to it's 'dust powder' form in under 5 minutes of use.
Have fun.
@netweed09 Uh, ok? Not if it's a decent level spear. Lynel spears and the like tend to last a good while.
The point is not to completely overlook spears because they can be useful and more fun than other alternatives
@@gregoryford2532 You match me. Spears are one of my favorite, and by extension Halberts I believe are similar.
I like their reach and speed. But I also havent used horses in over 40 hours because I am obsessed with climbing the tallest point I can see to find my next adventure
When I first played Breath of The Wild, it was my second Zelda game and first one I completed
I accidentally ignored the Impa quest and went straight for Naboris and went through a ten years old’s hell
6 years later, and that experience is one of my favourite video game moments
I was 18 and did the same thing, and believe me it was still hell 😂😭
I when to to impact but I had the same experience
My favorite memory was beating the stupidly easy fire blight Gannon and thinking I’ll stomp the last boss, and got a shocking amount of challenge making me find out where to get the master sword and FINALLY beating thunderblight gannon
You did Naboris as a 10 year old?? I did it as a 36 year old and kept saying “I have no idea how 10 year old me would figure this out” on that specific DB 😆
I was 13 when OOT released. Sometimes I like to think about how wild it would be to experience BOTW/TOTK at that age.
Thanks for making an excellent video on what’s essentially the first real video game I’ve ever played
Hope I did ya proud!
?? What? Lol, you've got _a lot_ of catching up to do - Breath is among the weakest of Zelda games!
The zelda team must have seen this video because a lot of the solutions you proposed actually ended up being implimented in some sort of way
Or they had more experience
@@raulromero9338 tf
@moondust2612 Wtf indeed????? Lmfao! What and where did the come from? I swear all that was not me.
This dude basically predicted TotK before any gameplay footage was shown lol
watching this video while playing tears of the kingdom and feeling how almost every single problem has been addressed and changed is wild, especially at 55:30
Dude, your voice is really soothing to listen to when you're not malding over cars, Harry Potter, TFA, or Thor.😂
Excellent analysis, cheers.
Thanks, man!
I have two sides:
Bedtime story teller
Rage ape
@@theyesh2000 One makes me relax, the other makes me laugh. Perfectly balanced, lmao
Awesome video, keep at it. Quick aside, I like that Zelda as a legend has a story that intentionally focuses on that legend itself. This would make the series distinct from Dark Souls or TES in that those games reference a larger world in order to make the game world feel expansive but LoZ focuses on Link, Zelda, and Ganondorf, the way a legend retold does. Make more Zelda content and I'll definitely watch it, you truly put a good deal of work into this.
I love the legend story! I do think there was a missed opportunity to hide some lore for the big three characters but eh.
Thank you!
Skyward Sword is being written up rn...
@@theyesh2000 Consider this my RSVP for the Skyward Sword video then.
Significant issues I mention in this video:
-There should be incentive to want to find specific materials that help with combat in other areas
-I wished that the gemstones and other high value materials had an alternate use so you wouldn't want to sell them
-Combat doesn't have incentive, as you're more likely to break your weapons without being rewarded with ones of equal worth
-You have no sure fire way to be able to restock on weapons
....
Can anyone guess what ability in TOTK I'm shitting myself with excitement for?
I was about to say TOTK fixes all of that before I saw your last line
Ascend right? Jokes aside great video
Purah?
Also, weapons crafting, because it specifically incentivizes the player to attack enemy camps because monster parts are some of the best and easiest to obtain weapon upgrades in the game. Even if you break all your good weapons taking out an enemy camp, you can craft decent weapons out of bokoblin horns and fucking _sticks_ if you need to, because the base weapon mostly just determines weapon durability (and may or may not have a special modifier) while the add-ons play a more significant role in DPS and damage type.
Seriously, I had this in on in the background while I was playing TotK, and it took me a while to realize that you were reviewing BotW and making suggestions a year ago rather than comparing TotK to BotW after the former had already launched, lol.
Me: Watches you use Cryonis to easily hop over the spikes and enter the Shrine across from the Dueling Peaks Stable
Me: puts my dumb ass face into my hands in shame bc I've always just climbed up the mountain and paraglided down
Hahaha dw bud, that's exactly how I also did it for the first year
Rookies
i think thats good, because it shows there not only one way to do something in this game
Then there's me who thought I had to burn it and ended up throwing myself over with a bomb arrow
I uh...... i uh accidently bomb chained myself into it. Lost 5 bomb arrows and almost died....
Okay, this deserve a ton more traction.
You managed to convey pretty much everything that could be improved about the game in a meaningful manner. Not just that, but your suggestions to fix the shortcomings all make sense and you can tell that it’s coming from a place of actually wanting the game to be even better.
I find that criticism against botw often boils down to people saying: „it’s not Zelda enough“ and calling it day, when the game doing new things and not relying on traditions is, in many ways, a good thing.
So your approach here is very refreshing!
Thank you so much! I have a lot of love for this game, so I wanted to convey everything very carefully. Glad it's appreciated!
Hello all! Quick comment and response to some general points:
Just want to say, thank you all for such kind comments. This video was a year long passion project for me: I really wanted to do this game justice. Never expected the viewership and love from you all and I appreciate it a lot. I am planning lots of videos! In the final year of my Masters Degree but once that's over I'll be pushing out a lot more content.
Now, this video was made over a long period, so some points weren't expressed perfectly. Just wanted to tackle some things i should clarify:
-I made an error saying the Temple of time theme gets re used. I was meant to state that the 'ruins' theme" gets re-used but mixed them up due to similar chord progressions
-Yes, I'm aware the colleseum has all elemental weapons. However, my point is that elemental weapons are not as useful as they could be and returning to a single place over and over does not satisfy the prep and returning to areas criteria I was discussing
-I do also know about the durability changes after parrying compared to flurry rushing. After looking into it, I still stand by most of my point but this does make the parry more useful for sure. But this is definitely something that we should've been able to find out in the game
-Yes, I accidentally named the King of Hyrule after the name of the King in Wind Waker: Wind Waker has been around most of my life, so his name dropped. I have considered deleting this video and my internet presence over this mistake, as many of you are horrified that I would do such a thing. I have decided to keep the video up, so that people may learn from my mistake.
-In terms of difficulty: no, I do NOT want it to be as difficult as Dark Souls. I don't think Zelda should be overly difficulty. But, I definitely wanted it to be more difficult without doing any sidequests/exploration/shrines etc. It's too easy to complete by doing the bare minimum (based on my observations of friends and family playing the game)
Edit #2:
Thank you all for 1,000 subs! I made this video as a passion project just for myself, but all the love I have received has been overwhelming. Can't thank you all enough. More will come! See you all soon...
Just chiming in as someone who's also taken a crack at the marathon Breath of the Wild review concept: this video is great. A lot of solid points made, the voiceover is excellent, the polish here is massively disproportionate to your subscriber count...it's strong work and I really hope to see more like it from you. If there's one thing I might suggest looking into though, it'd be changing the title, or at least reconsidering the naming scheme for future videos. I had this pop up in my recommendations at a time when I couldn't watch it, and made a mental note to seek it out later. When I did, let me tell you, I had a _hell_ of a time finding it again. Calling it an "anatomisation" rather than a "review" or "retrospective" totally buries it in search results, and I suspect it's got to make a substantial difference to its recommendation rate as well. I'm glad I was eventually able to find it, I've just finished it and it's been great company during a few editing sessions, but I had to actively seek it out and push through an initial failure to do so first. Do with that what you will, but the video content itself is seriously very good stuff!
Hey man! Really appreciate this comment.
I have definitely had the name change be suggested to me before. I just feel like I wanted to establish something that's specific to me? Calling it review or retrospective just felt so derivative to what others use. I also don't see this video as a review but more of a fundamental break down on the reasoning behind criticisms, hence the title. But I'm Def considering it!
@@theyesh2000 That's fair enough, I get wanting to do your own thing and I'd never want to imply you can't run your channel how you see fit. I would be willing to bet, though, as someone who's done TH-cam professionally for a few years now, that if you were to consider changing it to a middle ground ("An Anatomisation and Review" or something like that), or at least incorporate "review" and "retrospective" into the first couple lines of the description for videos like this, you'd likely start noticing a difference in performance. Again though, you do you, I really liked this video and will be sticking around regardless!
Thanks! I really appreciate the advice. Putting that in the description could definitely be a start. Perhaps I could reword the title a little while still keeping it original
@@theyesh2000 I agree with @MockRock keywords are very important. This is the algorithm's world, we are all just living in it.
One of if not my favourite game of all time, there's just something about it. I mean I completed it 3 times, on my main I have almost all koroks and side quests, but I still get the urge to hop on botw every week or so, it's crazy
bro what do you think of the new one, cuz holy shit i’m loving it even more than botw which i didn’t know was possible lol
@@Hollobaby1231Same, I didn't think it was gunna be possible but here I am 100+ hours in and still loving it.
The open world is the dungeon. I’m so glad to finally come across someone who shares the same sentiment.
The divine beasts feel like a prison in comparison, not because they are small but rather because they are long enough to pin you in place for an extended period of time.
I couldn't bring myself to go to the castle because that seemed like a bigger chore. Hopefully TotK will go even further towards making all of the world one big dungeon.
@@subtlewolf I guess it's true that in comparison to the open world the divine beasts do keep you in a place for a long time but I guess that's what most og zelda gamers kinda want. I feel a mixture of both has been made in totk but idk
@@stathisconstantinou I'm genuinely unsure of what people actually mean when they talk about dungeons, which in turn makes it difficult to engage with.
@Subtlewofl never played a fucking Zelda game before botw?
@@CtheDead209-zt8tj Never finished one.
I'm happy to say that as much as I disagree with a significant chunk of this video I was thoroughly engaged by it's presentation and regardless of my final thoughts on *your* final thoughts I think you've done quality work here and I'd be happy to watch/listen to any future content you make. Well done.
Your comments about how you would feel more satisfied with the main quests if they required you to ask around and piece together clues instead of chasing map markers is very similar to the big problem I have with the structure of quests in Oblivion and Skyrim versus in Morrowind.
In Morrowind there were no direct map markers, though reading a common book did mark the general area of certain shrines on your map, and talking to certain NPCs, especially Savants, could mark the location of cities and towns on your map if you ask about them. But when doing quests your best bet would be to ask the quest giver for directions if they know where the target is, or by asking around and doing a bit of detective work depending on the quest. Selecting any topic in your journal would also bring up a record of what NPCs have said about it, so you didn't have to worry about forgetting a certain clue or whether you had to turn left or right at a signpost.
Starting with the next game in the series, Oblivion, quests started giving you map markers for quest targets. While it makes tracking down certain NPCs easier now that they have schedules and wander around to different locations throughout the day, it wasn't used only for that and made things feel a lot more mindless. Sometimes you would have to ask around before you would be given the quest pointer, these were the exceptions rather than the rule.
By Skyrim the game leans so hard on quest markers that if you turn them off you can't really realistically find out where to go, as the structure and dialogue is made assuming you will have this power of clairvoyance. No longer is asking around for directions or clues a viable option except for maybe a couple of quests where investigation is the whole point.
I dont get this one though I am still listening to him. There are plenty of quests that are only based on clues and no map markets. This idea that every quest needs to be this way is silly.
I wrote my own post above that may explain the reason and I think its just the difference between what pro/active gamers expect and what casual gamers need.
Its like his idea that you can see 2 of the divine beasts right away. not satisfied that 2 still need to be found the hard way, he needs them all to be obscure but to a casual gamer (which is most gamers and by casual, I dont mean candy crush, but those who dont play a lot so arent trying to do 100% or performance plays (like how fast can they beat something isnt even a question to them, just beating something is a triumpth) having some quests be grounded helps to take a breather so they get a little of everything and can pick and choose or just take a break from always having to be on a treasure hunt. Not every puzzle has to be a "chore". I love all the different types of quests in Zelda. But one quest that needs clues is Dorians quest with the Sheikah. There is no marker. You talk to people, learn that you need to follow him, and maybe through trial and error learn to be sneaky.
It doesnt have to be an all or nothing. Its ok to have different types of quests and let some have markers and some not have markers.
I never really had an issue with the rewards in this game, for a couple reasons
First, I was just so engrossed that just exploring and finding something like a shrine was reward enough for me. I remember the first time I found Naydra, I was absolutely blown away
Second, I have a habit in games to fall victim to the megalixer problem, never using my best stuff in case I really need it later, and then end up beating the game with a full inventory of high level consumables. Because of this I made myself use my good weapons as I got them, meaning every little weapon drop felt really good and useful
I wish i could articulate myself as well as you do. You literally hit the nail on the head with every point. Amazing Video dude, cannot wait for more
Thank you 🥺❤️
I think you pointed out so many great things! One thing I would add: The original game had items, like the "Power Bracelet" that once you got it, you could now go BACK to places you remember with boulders to move, to now gain entry to new areas. I think this would benefit the game greatly, as to EARN your ability to traverse the open world. I also MIGHT remove the the Shrine fast travel all together. Towers should be enough, so that you have a reason to explore the areas multiple times and in different ways, as to find most of the Koroks and items BEFORE BEATING the game. I would LOVE to find an item on one side of the map, to then realize where i might use it on the complete opposite side of the map.
Agree
this is such a good overview, thank you for speaking on a game that truly changed me as a person. The way you phrased, spoke with such love filled me with joy. Absolutely fantastic video.
Thank you! A very kind comment. This video really was important to me: I wanted to do an analysis on the game that felt like it did it justice
@@theyesh2000 You did it so much justice! I love listening to this video, it’s definitely a comfort for me.
@@cosmo6964 Glad to hear it! ❤
Super video! Really enjoying listening to this one :D
Thank you! Put a lot of heart in this vid
(love you btw)
I deeply agree with the tent idea lol. The rain made me not wanna try to climb anything after awhile. A very open and cool mechanic the climbing. But it rains way to frickin much to make it truly practical 🙄
Love Hyrule Gamer. Such a positive guy. I always see you supporting others. here's a toast to you being the most sound fella and to Tears of the Kingdom! :)
@@adamzirkelbach6236 I do agree that it rains too much in the game which makes climbing frustrating. I do still love to climb and paragliding is my fav way to get around, so finding high points is always interesting, but rain does piss me off a lot. Its a cool element of the game only when its not happening half the time.
@@waltermh111 you wind bomb? I don't. Cuz my ego won't let me look up how to do it properly. Lmao
I can't lie, I totally forgot flurry rush was a thing until this video. Don't think I've used it since that one shrine taught me to LOL. Also, what's with your views?! You need way more views, likes, and subs, this video was literally amazing. Perfect background noise and all the points you brought up were stuff I had never thought about. And your video on Age of Calamity has less than 700?! I can't help there for now since I haven't finished it lol, but god knows I will as soon as I do. Instant subscriber. Keep being awesome, man!
Thank you! Such a kind comment. I guess the views is just down to reach. Never promoted it and it was only on 100 till two weeks ago ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
@@theyesh2000 damn, TH-cam algorithm can be cruel. well, I'm glad you're getting more traction! I know I'll be here for a long time to come lol
Amazing video, I can feel your love for the game and you build up your criticisms really well. The only argument where I think you might have missed something is when you say that the areas aren't connected very well and that this could be improved by letting the player make an ice weapon from materials on lanayru to use on death mountain.
A system that connects the areas like this already partially exist with the armor upgrades and with the cooking ingredients.
The armor that protects you against the heat needs chillshrooms to be upgraded and armor against the cold needs sunshrooms. If you want to upgrade your armor to explore the desert, you will go to the mountains to grab these materials.
When you want to cook a cold resistant meal, you need hot ingredients from the desert/death mountain.
I still really enjoyed this amazing video. Now I'm off to your age of calamity anatomisation and to the subscribe button :)
loved watching this, thank you for posting! can’t wait for a years of the kingdom version, keep up the amazing work
Thank you!!
Man what a great video! Love your summaries and comments. Such underrated work!!😊
Thanks man! Such a kind comment, really appreciate it
an absolutely amazing video! very surprised to see you only have 550 subs!!
Oh, stop it, you.
Glad you enjoyed it! I only have one real video, so sub count makes sense. Looking forward to making some more stuff
Good video. One thing I wish you had mentioned when it comes to weapons and rewards for exploration is all of the good respawning weapons they hid around the overworld. They actually put a lot of good weapons in various places in the overworld, and these weapons respawn because they are laying around and are not in chests. This provides both good incentive to explore, and to remember and return to areas you have previously visited. If you missed a lot of these, then do a youtube search. Tons of people, including myself, have made videos about good farmable weapons that respawn.
I compeltely agree. While I still think the weapon respawning doesn't solve everything ( as you may not know the spots specifically while playing and most of them are too weak + only give one weapon) it was definitely an error on my behalf to completely ignore it. Will be adressing it in the next video!
I love that many of the criticisms in this video seem to be addressed by TotK. It’s a compliment both to that sequel and your analysis. Good stuff❤
It's crazy!! I guess it's just because a lot of criticisms seemed to be things the developers were thinking of but didn't have time to implement. Very excited!
Thank you soooo much for making this video. The quality, editing, and throughness is absolutely amazing. I know it takes a ton of effort to make these videos. I cant wait to see what videos you put out! ❤
That's very kind of you. Thank you so much ❤️
Fantastic video that really takes apart the problems with the game without just taking a surface level look, very excited to see how tears of the kingdom handles all these issues, possibly in ways we've never considered
WAITING FOR TOTK AN ANATOMISATION!!! (EDIT: Ive read that you work on your script, super excited to hear what you have to say about it!!)
First draft of the script completed this weekend. Going through a few reads and rewrites. Working hard!
lets go! @@theyesh2000
The sequence with Naydra felt so epic when I first stumbled upon it. Flying down the mountain after it, just so cool
This video is just as much of a masterpiece as the game itself
Fuck man, thank you so much 😭❤️
Bro didn't watch the video
@@johnxina7496 ?
The game isn't a masterpiece it's a good game but no where near perfect.
And definitely not the best zelda game.
@@cozzy4447 what is the best zelda game?
This was a wonderful video, I was intrigued the whole time, well done man.
Haha, phenomenal video! I love BotW enough that it's my favorite game but you did an amazing job of discussing the frustrating aspects as well as presenting practical and interesting solutions. I really like the idea of not selling anything, I wish I had thought of that! I've spent quite a lot of time thinking about how the game could be better but you've managed to bring up many problems and potential solutions that never even crossed my mind and that I haven't seen anywhere else. I really enjoyed your section about combat! I don't agree with all your proposed solutions (source: my 1 hour long video about fixing BotW combat) but my thoughts are rather lengthy so I'll spare you from them here. I'm excited to watch your video about Age of Calamity, I'm sure it will be fantastic as well! Can't wait so see what you get up to next!
It's amazing seeing this after i started playing totk and seeing how many of the ideas you present for balancing purposes have been added into it. I'm really glad because I fully agreed with many of your points (specially on the parry vs dodge in combat)
I really liked what you said in the beginning about finding errors in what you love. I listen to lore videos while i'm at work. I had to remember to come back to this video to write this :))
Loved the video! You can tell it comes from a place of love for the game and the series, and not just the will to criticize obvious things. I liked that you acknowledged that no game can be perfect and real world constraints play a role. Great videa man, much appreciated!
Thank you so much!! Yes, I love this game so much, so I wanted to acknowledge it's floors and the reasons for them. It has made me love the game even more
Severely underrated video, I loved it! Great job!
Thank you!!!
I really like your approach to this:
You make it so clear you love this game and your criticisms are well thought out and actually consider the aesthetic goals the game is attempting to accomplish. It’s in good faith and nothing is more emblematic of that than your dissection of why anyone would use the traditional dungeon critique against this game in the first place.
One place I must however disagree with you, even though I myself am very good at this game and so concur with many of your assessments about the game’s difficulty curve and difficulty in general, I think a common thread is that you often describe certain tasks as being very easy, such as say employing flurry attacks against basic enemies or the methods you can use to defeat Guardians. You always preempt those positions by clearly defining a particular skill you must master to do so, or better yet employ an element of lateral and creative thinking, things you need to discover for yourself that rewards you for going out of your way to acquire familiarity with the rest of the overworld.
And that brings me to one of my contentions, which is the matter of who developed this game…
Nintendo.
I could beat twilight princess when I was 8 years old. Do you know abysmal I was at playing video games when I was 8 years old? Very. Very much so, we all were.
Nintendo strives to make games that demand players to learn skills and employ them, yet nonetheless remain possible for virtually anyone to beat. They’re a family game developer, they focus on children’s games, party games for the family, to entertain kids birthday parties, they’re the everyone game studio.
I can’t justify to myself that parts of this game I find challenging and parts I don’t are objective. Because while I silently wish these games were as hard as the ones Fromsoftware puts out, what I especially learn as a studying game developer is that no game can be perfect for everyone. The guardians may seem very surmountable for us, most people who’ve played Breath of the Wild are rightfully and abjectly… TERRIFIED of them.
Dark Souls is deliberately made for a market that is niche and Breath of the Wild isn’t. Breath of the Wild was made to appeal to such a wider range of players. And it shows! The game sold 29 million copies and achieved widesspread acclaim from critics and players alike. And yet funnily enough the most vocally critical audience for the game are people online. Gamers, the capital G gamers. Because this game sacrificed challenge in many ways and areas to appeal to a broader audience. And the reason I can’t fault them for it and the reason even a lot of us capital G gamers love this game, is because it doesn’t sacrifice complexity, it doesn’t compromise on your freedom as a player and it doesn’t compromise on the fact you the player will learn new skills that it tests you on and remain widely applicable. You may not need to master all skills on offer, but you will learn them and it will be satisfying.
Really good response. I completely get where you're coming from. For me, higher difficulty means that exploration can control difficulty, so even if it's hard it can become easy with exploration. Without exploring, it's still a little harder than other Zelda's! I didn't convey this too well.
I also completed TP when I was 7! Took me months. Broke me. But my little brother was also 7 when he beat BOTW. I based a lot of my perception of the difficulty on watching him and my mum.
But I really appreciate your comment. So nice and refreshing to have someone convey something so clearly! Much love
@@theyesh2000 thanks for the nice response, mate! Looking forward to Tears Of The Kingdom a ton. Might be that final nail in the coffin that gets me to buy a Switch.
@@The_Story_Of_Us Me too! Well, I hope it's worth it if you do!
Wow, this analysis is excelent. You've won a new sub
13:53 I feel you on that bro that area was so frustrating
Great video and I can’t say I disagree with a lot of your points. For me one thing that makes BOTW truly special is it makes aimlessly traveling around and doing mundane tasks extremely fun and addicting.
Thank you! I agree: I know so many people who love this game, despite having never completed it. That's often rare to find and speaks to the quality of the overall game
I agree with what you said about overworld density. Keep in mind that BoTW was originally released on the Wii U, limiting how much the devs could stick in there. I’m sure the sequel will have a lot more to see besides just Skyrule.
yup :) They do say more villages, though hopefully that means the old ones and more, and not any replacements. But I have confidence in them.
Then you have larger enemy camps and more enemy types meaning possibly more on the map.
I thought that was a fantastic & well balanced review/critique.
I look forward to more videos from you
I nearly beat the entire game before I found Hestus to do inventory upgrades. I only found him after seeing it randomly mentioned in an online thread, then it all made sense that it was why I saw people with more than 10 slots.
I really wish they didn't put that mechanic into 1 missable NPC. Not everyone took that 1 direct road path to the village, and without seeing it online I would have never went that way again, possibly for multiple playthroughs.
I think this is entirely fair, especially for such a significant upgrade. Perhaps you should be able to find him in multiple locations? Maybe 1 place in each region
@@theyesh2000 I think like others have mentioned it would have been okay if he showed up other places like Beedle. Just feel like he was a bit of an oversight in his placement but love the game anyway and nice video!
@@indiwo1f You do make a good point, though! My friend and I were discussing your comment earlier. If you enter Kakariko through another entry point, you'll likely never go across that path. I think the problem is the whole maracas quest. They couldn't have that quest exist in multiple locations.
But thank you! Glad you enjoyed.
Great video I agree on almost every point you make here...as someone who played botw 100% several times I'd say that small changes like adding new attacks to the blights depending on how many you already defeated would add much replayability
Even though I found my own ways with challenges and stuff (your "no selling" challenge was a great idea) like my "only Zelda TW tunic, using master sword and hylia-shield as much as possible, go with Epona as much as you can, no map no teleportation, and all 120 shrines from memory"-playthrough
But I'd say that I can forgive many of the flaws in hindsight because especially with TotK coming out it makes kind of sense that e.g. beast Ganon was underwhelming because it was not "the real deal"
TLDR: you're really underrated, I look forward to new videos and you've earned a new subscriber
Nice video i didnt expect to watch a 2 hour video in one sitting
Gotta love the Goron humming at the end
Playing Mapless and without fast travel essentially never hitting minus) is my favorite way to play the game by far
I love this playthrough! I did this one while also refusing to get heart containers
@@theyesh2000 lol yeah the 3 heart run is pretty good. Another one of my favorites is to play with only the green tunic you get from amiibos. You can build your health and stamina and get better equipment but being limited to the standard tunic meant it couldn't be upgradable and it gave off that classic Zelda feel.
one problem with the weapon durability system that i found and have heard a few others saying is, knowing the speed weapons break from early pickups, you can end up hoarding the good ones thinking "oh, i'd better not use this, there might be a boss I need it for". This i found to be very true with the champion weapons, I ended up hoarding for a fight that never happened whilst cycling between 2 inventory spots using whatever was laying around for most of the game. so instead of incentivising me to try lots of different weapons, I ended up actually using a relatively small amount whilst hoarding anything with good stats
100% agree. I'd say it comes under that lack of security thing I mentioned in the vid. Causes a lot of cautious gameplay
@@theyesh2000 yeah, the fixes you suggested with crafting, storing, or enchanting using the ores would definitely incentivise me as a player to experiment more with weapon types, and if it was tutorialised early I'd deffo feel more comfortable with it. I went through the whole game not even knowing you could replace champion weapons
Keep grinding man. We’re in the same boat but honestly you’ll probably get the recognition you deserve pretty soon.
Bro your channel gonna blow up. Smooth
Breathe of the Wild was my first Zelda game. I really didn't have anything to compare it to, so to me, it's the best game in the series. Now I have some experience with playing a little bit of tp and ooc, but I still consider everything botw's done to be the best. Part of that may be that I'm very easy to impress and I'm also bad at video games. So, everything you've brought up that's bad never passed through my mind once while playing. I see now that people find the game too easy, but to me, every little puzzle I solved or enemy I beat was an accomplishment. Although, I do agree that Ganon was too easy. I did King Boo's fight in Luigi's Mansion 3, which I died several times during. And then immediately went to Gannon. Compared to King Boo, Ganon is easier.
Wow. I hope the creators read this comment.
SPECTACULAR analysis and i couldn't agree more. Very listenable voice and thoughtful discourse. Easy subscribe, I hope you get more views man.
Great video, very professional. Years after OoT the fire boss is still dudongo.
Gonna be waiting for your totk version. This video is phenomenal
Great video and well-articulated points! Not that it really matters but you were mistaken about the Temple of Time theme playing anywhere else but the Temple of Time. I suppose it might sound similar to the generic ruins theme because it has piano and it sparse, but they are quite distinct. The generic ruins theme is just called "Ruins theme" if you want to hear it and compare it to the Temple of Time theme. In fact, in TotK, for some reason they chose to replace what plays at the Temple of Time on the Great Plateau with that generic ruins theme and I was unreasonably upset by this. Again, this doesn't really matter haha, but
This was without a doubt the best review, critique, retrospective on BotW I have seen so far. The only one like it, to my knowledge, is the one from Matthewmatosis.
Absolutely great job, hope to see more in the future, especially once there was enough time to take in, process and digest TotK.
For me, I loved the big fat BoTW review from the muppet guy more, but this is definitely up there! 💯💯💯
Truly spectacular video, I can’t wait to watch if you ever make one for TotK.
Ganondorf: "It's not always about the rupees, Link. It's about the Yesh, baby. Love the Yesh. Alright, baby, let's go. Get 1M views, baby. Love the Yesh. Let's go, Yesh."
I heard that in Kingpins voice and now I wish he voiced Ganondorf. Amazing 😂
This is by far one of the most nuanced and well thought-out analyses and critiques of the game that a reviewer doesn't devolve into insufferable rants about dungeons and the weapon durability system they can't remotely wrap their head around. You still managed to get some very excellent and well-reasoned thoughts about that aspect of the game, while also highlighting even things I could not articulate about why I thought it worked so well and how it could have been better.
i really hope nintendo has had some research teams out crawling the internet for videos like these while TotK has been in production. you're not the only one making a lot of these points and it's nice to see all of these laid out in one video. while i adore BotW, i would lose my mind (in a good way) if these criticisms were taken into consideration during the sequel's production. awesome vid dude!
(also - amiibo cards. find someone with good reviews selling amiibo cards and it'll save you a lot of real money on sweet sweet loot drops. i got a pack of 32 LoZ cards for $25. in the set i got, the Wolf Link card even has 20 hearts, something i believe you can only get if you complete a certain quest or something in TP HD. not as fun as collecting real amiibos but i don't have that kind of money and i really wanted Epona and Wolf Link lol. just throwing that out there)
Thanks! (Wrong account but wanted to reply haha). I'm confident that a fair bit of stuff I've mentioned in this video has already been teased, but won't go into too much detail 😏 And yes! I actually bought the amiibo cards as a gift for a friend once. But of course, when trying to have a critique about intentional game developement, I couldn't consider 3rd part things and had to consider Nintendo's intentions (and certainly couldn't advertise them in a video hahaha ).
One thing I saw about the parry is that it's useful against Lynels. Flury rush causes damage to your weapon. But if you parry the lynel and stagger him yoy can get on his back. Apparently, hit them while mounted on the back does not damage your weapon.
However. You can also just hit them in the face with arrows to achieve this. I suppose you could use both.
I actually saw this today, also! Had no idea about this
@@theyesh2000 I suck at the parry so im not surprised I didn't know it. Lol.
Thank God the algorithm is digging up BOTW content now that the new game is almost out. 😂
Seems so strange to find this out from a TH-cam short 6 years later, but here we are 😂
Not finished the video yet but there are some excellent points here like enemies staying the same outside of health and damage changing. It's also very nice to not just hear the same shallow criticism as a lot of other reviews
If BotW set out to make the world function like a dungeon, then it actually failed miserably. Being able to explore any area you want from the start makes it a macrocosm of the super-open Divine Beasts that everyone hates. In fact it's worse, because the game as a whole is comparable to a Divine Beast where you can activate the main terminal and fight the blight whenever you want. Previous Zelda worlds functioned like dungeons better than BotW's world ever could, and that's because they had area gating which allowed the devs to implement increasingly complex gameplay without worrying that the player will feel lost.
Incredible video- you should have thousands more views.
Aww very kind! Thank you :)
The last zelda I played was twilight princess. I picked up Botw today and having played for 10 hours I think it's amazing. Ok it's not really a traditional Zelda but this is fresh and exciting. I want to phone in sick tomorrow...
16:21 minutes in to the video and the statement “I would even say that they shouldn’t have put kakariko on the map” is the only thing I disagreed with because under my first play through, I got to the lake tower before kakariko and I was scared and confused and I didn’t know where I was supposed to go and the only thing that didn’t make me turn of the game was knowing the general direction of kakariko
This does put a smile on my face
😁
Guys, the end sound clip is just the Goron humming in the mines (as it was one of the only tracks I didn't use)
I thought it was funny. Please put your pitchforks down, I beg
1:06:00 That Hyrule Castle Theme is just as new as any previous iteration. It is not a different piece, it is a different interpretation, composition, with all the same elements of the original. It works as a reprise to the original, as this was supposed to be the end of the story, the Legend, as hamfisted as that "he can't reincarnate anymore to become irrelevant giant boar" was.
bro really dropped this masterpiece then silently left💀
I haven't left 😭 I just needed to finish my master's degree
@@theyesh2000 keep making stuff like this you wont need one💀
@@JohnDoe-bp9jm Hahaha, appreciate that 😂
Honestly Yesh, this is the best botw retrospective or whatever you what to call it I’ve seen countless botw videos like this but this is the best I thank you
You're too kind! Much love
Anyone else coming back yo this post TOTK and realising a lot of the issues were fixed?
Really do another one for the new Zelda game really enjoyed it. Great video
I'm kind of glad there's more criticism for this game, now that recency bias has worn off. This game is amazing, but far from perfect.
I bet miyamoto has a book in his desk with the instructions to open when he's not around anymore and I bet it's the next 10 games worth of lore
Zelda has the most famously inconsistent lore and timeline of any big series 😂 and Miyamoto hasn't had a significant hand in Zelda since 1999. So, I kind of doubt it, bud
@@theyesh2000 that's the best lore there is
Test of Strength shrines we’re probably my favorite ngl
Is this a repost? Or does the creator really have less then 400 subs? Thats insane for how good this vid is
Repost? How dare you 😂
Well tbf I only have one proper video. Every subscriber I've earned has been from this.
Glad you enjoyed it!! Took me 15 months to finish alongside my degree haha
The Test of Strength Shrines are basically combat tutorials that yield good weapons as a reward.
You can either bruteforce-panic-rush the scouts, or you can take your time and train with them the mechanics they provide. Their melee attacks with the different weapon types are slow and telegraphed to the max, the spin-updraft can either be used to paraglide and bullet-time-arrow or slam down with your melee weapon or, as I did it on my first playthrough, hit the eye as the head spins. At the end, it provides with a very long charge animation to get ready for a guardian laser parry - or you just panic-rush the scout in melee.
What I liked about the tests of strength, and what could have been played with more is the environment within the shrine. For the whirlwind-charge attack of the scout, in most shrines there are coloumns for you to hide behind that the guardian then crashes into as it aims for you - teaching you cover. In only a few this is done differently. Not just fewer columns, but instead none at all and instead you fight in shallow water, having to create those barriers with cryonis, and in the final combat shrine in Hyrule Castle, there are metal blocks you can lift up with magnesis, that immediately fall down again once you let go, leaving you with a non-obstructive arena again.
edit:
I rather have tests of strength than the pathetic level puzzles.
The Blessing-Shrines are not consistent with overworld quests or puzzles either. Most are, but especially the Thunder Plateau stands out where you have an arduous enough quest to open the shrine (get the four orbs to their statues, during a thunderstorm, onto a plateau that is too high to just throw, and golfballing is arduous, especially for players struggling with the mechanics of that. There are other ways, like putting an orb close to the wall of the raised platform and attaching an octo-balloon to it, then hitting the orb with an arrow for directional push - when I figured this out I realized that the extremely strong wind in that is only visual. It does not affect balloons at all, the go straight up as if in clear weather. Bit immersion breaking and a detriment to the puzzle, as going with the direction of the wind could and should be part of this solution angle.
Anyway, that is more than enough outside work to deserve a blessing-shrine. Instead you get a puzzle shrine for it. The shrine was decent, afair, though I would have to look up which exactly it was.
Point of the matter being: I'd rather have cut down on the overall number of shrines, and expanded the number of puzzles in each - that takes away from having random mini-tutorials to run into, but imho you don't need most of those tricks in the overworld ever anyway. So just put the puzzles of three shrines together, and you get a better, more rewarding experience.
With TotK out now, I have that exact same critique, but the shrine puzzles are much better designed with a higher difficulty in mind as well as allowing for more openness due to how the abilities in that game work. That way even some shrines get several solutions possible - and one I would say is misdesigned and the cheese is not only easier but also more obvious than the intended way, as interesting as that would have been (Level Designed basically made a wall too short and thus an intended extension to a cog breaks off or destroys the mechanism from the ground up). I don't need to go into the difference to that game's combat shrines, as that is obvious enough and at this stage I don't want to fill comment sections with spoilers; as most people haven't played through the game yet.
Pls upload again once totk releases, these have been some of the best videos about zelda botw and age of calamity i’ve ever seen.
Don't worry! I will be working on that video from June. But will be sure to take time with it. I wanna keep quality up!
The flurry rush (and maybe also the slow down midair bow thing) being the reward for beating all of the divine beasts sounds like such a perfect idea to me, because Ganon’s second phase (not dark beast) basically requires the flurry rush to be easy but it is still possible with good parrying but it is hard
this was awesome man you deserve WAYYY more subs keep at it!!
I have over 600 hours in BoTW and using cryonis on the Dueling Peaks Table shrine never once crossed my mind, I always just climbed the whole ass mountain and jumped down, and yet I was also out there doing the moon jump glitch, and had all shrines completed, and hell I had done have done like every glitch in the game, and yet I never thought of cryonis. I am the smartest BoTW player. I have the Master Cycle and everything.
Great job please put out more content, even if they are just short videos with less complexity.
Will do my best! Still finishing off my degree 😁
Great video man! Deserves much more attention! Who´s that in the end of the video (I wanna say a Goron) and what is he humming?
Thank you! Yes, that's a goron who hums the cave theme around the Eldon region
@@theyesh2000 ah, yeah it sure remind of me of a Goron. But what cave theme it is?
I think the specific name is "North mine". Any mine you find a goron theme has them humming along with it. The ost included the humming as a separate track which I thought was hilarious, so had to stick it in somewhere haha
@@theyesh2000 ah ok, it's a mine. Eheheh gotta get me that OST. Thanks.
Watching this video after tears of the kingdom is crazy especially during the crafting section
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Why does this only have 10k views? It should have at least a million!
I’m only 18 minutes in and will be watching the whole two hours; but, I want to comment before it gets lost to time: there is a technique to climb in the rain. It took me a while to observe the pattern and learn the timing, but you can make progress up a sheer cliff in the rain if you are precise with your timing.
Don't worry, I'm aware. It's just not well designed. The point is to make you avoid it and it's overly irritating to work around it. Hence why I thought a method to earn a way to beat it more easily would be good
@@theyesh2000 I’m continuing to watch and am now about an hour in. You mention earlier in the video that you didn’t see the point of the Colosseum. At the point I am now in the video you are talking about the benefits of elemental weapons against certain types of enemies, but how you cannot plan your ventures into different environments by collecting specific elemental weapons because of the randomness with which those weapons are given as rewards. The Colosseum is the place to stock up on elemental weapons. The enemies on each tier all carry a different weapon type of a single element type and each tier has a specific element. IIRC, the first floor is fire: sword, great sword, spear; the second floor is ice; and the top floor is electricity.
dude, the algorithm has blessed this video. It came up on the reccomended tab of 2 different tvs and my phone
It's pretty crazy, icl! Very grateful
I guessed I experienced the game differently. I'm not a gamer though, this was the first game I've played that wasn't the occasional racing/Beat 'em up with friends.
I liked that you got a lot of things early on, like the Champions tunic. It felt like it was all too easy, but then I quickly met a fairy and realised I had only got access to the tunic, not it's full potential and I had to get exploring.
I also feel like the NPC's not caring about the calamity was kinda the point. It was 100 years ago, they've moved on and most weren't alive to see it happen. I guess that's a reflection of Japanese (and to an extent European) attitudes to WWII: our calamity was 80 years ago and the scars are still very much there... but at the same time... I want to fall in love, have a job, exist beyond that, leaving only a few older folk who can still tell the stories. They're living in spite of the calamity because they've never known a world without it.
I was in this game for the exploring, foraging, meeting and helping people. I forgot how to dodge, parry, and fight instantly so I avoided all conflict unless absolutely necessary. I also didn't meet Hestu until after I had done all 4 beasts and almost all the shrines because I went a different route. I also didn't realise about fast travel until very late on. I also didn't know the stables were connected.
In short, I'm not a gamer so I didn't play it like a gamer would, I played it like a person living it up and still had loads of fun, and that's why it was so great.
When I first started BoTW
“Wow I can climb on everything”
By the end
“Goddamnit I’m so sick of climbing everything.”
Thank goodness for the super jump power thing from bird dude
I am 40 hours in and I am not tired of climbing yet. Still love it, but I will definitely be happy when I get Revalis gale, so i think that will be my next generation. Only did the elephant so far, and that is probably the best first thing for people to get because its an auto revive
Best thing about thunderstorms in BotW hands down is metal boomerangs. Time it even a little right and you have an improvised urbosas fury.