The DUNGEONS of Breath of the Wild (Zelda Documentary)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 20 ก.ย. 2024
- One of the parts that tends to stick out the most when it comes to Zelda games are the dungeons. Every Zelda game has their share of bad dungeons, however within these titles there are also ones that are memorable because of the level design and unique concepts.
Because of the open world and freedom, Breath of the Wild had to go a different route with its dungeons. To keep the world interesting, the choice to have a variety of "mini-dungeons" along with the main 4 was made. This kept the exploration aspect more interesting, as there was more to discover.
But how does this change the standard formula for Zelda dungeons? Was it executed brilliantly or does the final result feel like it's lacking? In todays episode of the Documentary of Breath of the Wild, we go more in-depth with the level design of the Divine Beasts and Shrines!
Breath of the Wild: Why It's No Masterpiece
• Breath of the Wild: Wh...
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So what do you guys think? What design choices would give a Zelda dungeon the right amount of freedom? Let me know in the comments!
NintendoBlackCrisis just bring back traditional dungeons. They just need to be set up in such a way where the order of them needed to be completed isn't of any consequence. Hell, even if they do have a specific order of completion you can still have an open world. Just maybe make alternative ways to defeat said dungeons by incorporating key items again for an easy beat and if you don't aquire said item offer an alternative maybe harder/possible way to defeat the dungeon. This will still make it feel "open" because then the player still has the choice on which dungeons he wants to tackle first...Lastly, all they had to do for BoTW for the bosses was to have Possessed Champions that Link had to face off against. In my opinion they really blew it with the blights. Would of been cool if link literally had to free his friends from being under the control of 100 years of Ganon. Imagine fighting a malice possessed dead Revali and beating him. I would love to stick an arrow in his gob wiping off that smug smile..it would ryhme perfectly with his challenge to you a hundred years earlier in the memory.. the "one on one" challenge to settle things.... But nope... 4 blights who all look the same.. anyways great Vid NBC per usual!
Every day with a NBC video is a good day
I think it works to allow the player to complete some challenges of the dungeon in the order they want. A mechanic I would love to see would be where the completion of one challenge makes all the others more difficult. You could still have that difficulty progression within the dungeon, without limiting the order in which puzzles can be completed. This would also fix the problem of certain puzzles seeming too easy. The first puzzle would then always be easy, but the rest wouldn't. I also think the rotation mechanics are cool... they just need to be more unique. Maybe one where you could change the temperature in a room, causing water to freeze, or wood to burn. I don't think the core ideas of the divine beasts need to be scrapped, they were just executed poorly, and need to be built on more. Which kinda sums up Breath of the Wild as a whole. I think Nintendo was making this game a blueprint for future Zelda games, rather than polishing it. I feel like if they tried to polish this game more, with unique dungeon designs and mechanics, they would be biting off more than they could chew. Good on them to show the world the game style before pouring everything into it. I think Nintendo knew this critiques would happen, and I think they already have plans to fix these problems in future Zelda games. Now I'm just rambling though...
@@Linkskyfyre I totally agree!
NintendoBlackCrisis why didn’t you talk about Hyrule Castle? Are you going to talk about it int he ending episode?
Coming from a person who really loves the divine beasts, there are deffinitly a few points that I can agree with you on. For one, although I loved the aesthetic, seeing it repeated throughout 5 dungeons was not nearly as cool as each one having a compleatly unique look like the past games. Also, the whole "5 terminal" formula repeated across all beasts got kinda formulaic, and I would of appreciated if each one had a unique goal instead.
However, the one big thing that makes these dungeons stand out from the past games is that it ditches the past "lock and key" puzzle solving in favor of a more creative, open ended approach. Although a lot of the past games in the series had some really cool puzzles, just about every single one of them had a single solution, and the only thing restricting you from solving them is whether or not you have the main dungeon item. Now, this isnt necessarily a bad thing, and although the divine beasts have their own share of single solution puzzles (ex. most of the puzzles in Ruta), the rest of them allowed the player to get creative and find their own solutions using the tools provided. Most of this creativity can be owed to the Divine Beast Controls, that allow the player to move the dungeon in real time. Unlike other Zelda games, where altering the dungeons would freeze the gameplay and turn into a cutscene (Flipping the Stone Tower Temple, changing the water level in the Water Temple, etc), the player can utilize the Beasts real time movement to solve puzzles in ways that could never be done in the past games - along with adding an extra layer to how the dungeon can be traversed.
Although I have a lot more to say, I should probably start wrapping this comment up now, as its getting way longer then I initially planned - I may even make my own video going over this issue more in depth lol
But other then that, really great video as always, NBC! Keep up the good work!! 😄
(Edit: Also, I agree with you on just about everything you said about the Shrines - the Test of Strengths felt too similar, and some of the shrine lengths should of been more balanced)
I would love to see that video! You made a great point about altering the dungeons in real-time though, it definitely made them more interesting :)
CROTON NANIII
I would also love to see that video croton. The BotW dungeons were a unique experience for me. The concept of freedom is so well displayed in the BotW dungeons. A job well done considered the dungeons are a relatively tight closed off space, that normally would restrict feedom.
my problem with people critiquing the dungeons so hard is that they are missing the point of the game as a whole. BOTW is a game about exploration, back to the roots of the first game in the series, dungeons in that game weren't particularly great or different either but they also again, weren't the main focus, the main focus was exploration and to be quite honest, there is so much shit to do in the rest of the game to keep one occupied for weeks, the dungeon aspect is maybe 5% of the total game. Not saying you or NBC are wrong about anything, just that you are putting too much focus on such a small aspect of the game, they are even optional to do, remember that. Maybe they will go back to the more "traditional" dungeon layouts but this game is purely exploration, i've been playing for weeks now and i'm still only at 74/120 shrines discovered
The shrines definitely had a lot more player choice in completing them, many players even using glitches to complete the shrines or using the given resources in weird ways in order to complete the shrine. The shrine with a rotateable ball maze comes to mind just for go many people had trouble with it due to motion controls and went for a simpler way. It’s almost like it was designed for players to get frustrated and try their own solution.
I love how at the start it’s literally just the divine beast screaming in agony. Sounds a lot like me....
Yeah, the motion-control puzzles were a NIGHTMARE in the Gamepad mode. I actually started refusing to do them unless I could turn on the TV because otherwise the motion of the Gamepad had basically nothing to do with what was happening on-screen. Imagine picking up a glass and it causes a hairdryer to turn on. Then you put it down, and it somehow starts a nuclear war. That's about how bad it was.
I would have to unplug my Switch to do them. Kind of annoying when it has low battery life.
I managed to do them by using the joycons seperate from the console and just turning one of them
@@ENCHANTMEN_ I wonder if that's how they play tested it. I am playing with a pro controller now but remember them being easier on a previous play and I wonder if I had them separate like that 🤔
“It feels less like a water dungeon and more so like a dungeon that happens to have water”. Couldn’t agree more. I really miss the excitement you felt and the imagination you had to have in old Zelda Dungeons. Really hope Nintendo is taking notes on your videos so we get a BOTW that really deserves the “masterpiece” title. Keep the good work William. (Still want my live streams though)
I wanted to make a Zelda pun but I didn't want to tri and force it.
lol
this is in every zelda video comment section
I like the divine BEATS.
@@FamilyGrimes And we can say we DEFEETED Vah Naboris😉
Aaaaayyyyyyyyy
I see what they were going for with dungeons in Breath, the presentation was by far the part they got spot on imo. They are so interesting when viewed from a far but once inside or at least once you reach the second dungeon you instantly notice the similarities. They also lack enemies so much. Like there was near to no enemies in the dungeons, basically just a big puzzle area with a boss. Missing the expansive exploration, a problem with a solution to fix (Getting the water level to rise for example in the Lakebed Temple) and unique feels to them.
Another good episode in this Documentary, loving it episode by episode. Great work!
(PS. Where are the daily theory videos???)
The entire game feels empty, to me. It looks like Zelda, at times, but it never feels like Zelda. It's just a sandbox RPG with a Zelda skin. I was so excited for this game, during development; the whole "giant world, lost of wilderness" thing was intriguing. I just would have like it to not be quite so large and to have more things in it. Not be so repetitive. I also would have liked it to have the classic, Medieval aesthetic and theme instead of the technology theme that the entirety of the game has. Everything is technology - it's not my cup of tea.
I really liked the game, sometimes I just play it to run around the map and remember when I didn’t knew anything about the game, but I really missed the classics dungeons, the game is amazing, but I missed having like 8 dungeons, and very different form each other, that’s my issue with botw and the only thing holding it back from being my favorite zelda.
I love Breath of the Wild but thing is we owe it to ourselves to critique our favorite games. The games don’t get better if we don’t point out the flaws - especially now when it seems like Nintendo is finally listening.
Michael Scott preach broether
Michael Scott *finally listening*? You have not been paying attention. Nintendo has been listening since the very first game. Them listening is the reason they bothered to attempt a timeline in the first place, even though they had already made it clear they absolutely hate the idea. This is also why the formula was changed to more linear games such as A Link to the Past. If anything, Breath of the Wild is the opposite: Nintendo's rebellion from keeping themselves chained by the fandom, becauss frankly, the fandom does not let Nintendo breathe. This is not say the fans are not allowed to critique the game. The problem is that the fans go way beyond critiquing the game and end up demanding too much.
I feel as though saying Nintendo is not listening only proves my point further. What do YOU count as Nintendo listening? Adding you as an original character to Smash? I am not saying we are not allowed to ask fir great things, but it cannot be denied that the fandom has managed to become ridiculous.
EDIT: and no, in no way am I saying we should not criticize games, nor am I saying Breath of the Wild is a masterpiece. I am specifically addressing the idea that you present that only recently Nintendo started listening, which is very inaccurate.
Personal, I like how the shrines are short, since most of the time when I find them, I'm busy with something else and don't want to spend twenty minutes for 1 spirit orb, when I'm on my way to conquer a divine beast!
And yes, I agree that the divine beasts are too repetitive, but I personally like how all the shrines have a shiksa to them
I dont mind the fact that there was 5 divine beasts but they should have definitely made them all different inside.
Vah medoh could have had more puzzles with air and the paraglider.
Vah ruta, they could have made the zora armor for under water. And alot of ruta would have water still in it.
And more for the others. They could have done alot even without making it linear.
The biggest issue with the Shrines and Divine Beasts is that if you complete all of them and collect the rewards you are two hearts under the maximum (and not stamina because everyone with a brain maxes that out). You can't have a 30 heart and three stamina ring maximum and don't give us enough stuff to max it all out. Switching the DLC rewards from getting the sole upgrade on the Great Plateau and instead give them as part of the new Shrine rewards you'd have four times three Spirit Orbs (three per Divine Beast) instead of one new set of four.
For me the spacial design of the BotW dungeons are far more superior of its predecesors. A large moving object as a space, with moving organs as part of a puzzle. It's porn for an architect like me.
maartenhimself Huh, interesting perspective from an architect. :)
Oh god YES I SGRRE SO MUCH🤗
Did you mean born.....
Frida Klingsheim No, I'm sorry....
They are really cool. I think your assessment can coexist without refuting the criticisms of them. But the spatial reasoning was fun. I hope they do more stuff like that in tears of the kingdom, while also bringing in more of the themed dungeon feel from other Zelda titles.
I actually like how they’re all similar, because unlike dungeons in past Zelda games, they all serve the same purpose, so it makes sense that they all look similar
Yea but it's lame if you're just trying to play a fun game with a creative story and setting
let's say the concept of the divine beasts was great (seeing naboris up close inside the sandstorm for the first time is not something i'm gonna forget anytime soon), but the aesthetic was repetitive and the puzzles a bit simple (although fun). same goes for the shrines. the puzzles were great, but they all kinda blend into each other and there isn't a single one that stands out as a result
I always figured that the Tests of Strength were placed so that players could farm them for equipment. It it is an easy way to justify where powerful ancient weapons come from.
I think what you were trying to say about the older temples was that their aesthetics matched where they were supposed to be, for example the water temples in Ocarina of Time, and Link to the Past. There was no set design for them, so the developers were able to create templates that each would use, based off of where the temple was located. One of my favorite temples in all of Zelda, for example, was the Ocarina of Time Forest temple. The reason it was one of my favorites was it showed the ravages of time. It was overgrown with moss, vines, and grass, as if whatever protections it had were slowly fading away. The enemies, on the other hand, were able to invade the temples in ways that helped them blend in, such as the Deku Baba, and the floor and wall masters, each of which aided in the creepy factor.
The blights feel a lot more like mini bosses than bosses. They're good fights, but terrible bosses.
Also, all the beasts are very forgettable. Going back through them, when I try to think of what I'll need to do, I don't really remember anything specific. Yet I just find myself sort of... knowing what to do anyway. So either they're so forgettable that I just forgot them except subconsciously, or they're way too easy. Or both.
Hyrule Castle was the only one that really felt like a dungeon imo
I'm not gonna act like a fangirl deaf to the legitimate criticism... but still, played Ocarina, played Majora, played Twilight Princess and to be honest with you, personally I do prefer BoTW's dungeon design.
Aesthetically, having Beasts and Shrines differ in style would be nice, until you consider how much extra lore and explaining they would have to do for their existence because it is rare for one culture in one period of time to have multitude of various architectural styles. If they were created at different times, then sure but that messes with 10 000 years ago myth, now doesn't it. So, if they could pull off different styles while not messing up the lore behind it, it's awesome. If they can't and say, story would stay as is, I honestly think I would find at least a slight problem with that.
And then, for the puzzles... I really enjoyed the moving parts, even though it was a rotation almost every time. They could have done dungeons better by having them be a bit more complex - they are a war machine to be operated after all, can't see the reason for them to be hollow inside, they could easily get away with multiple tiny rooms and floors that fit the outside confines, like you would have on the ship for example. Still though, idea of this giant crawling thing and controlling it from the inside is captivating and I love it, wheras with all other Zeldas I have played... I found myself truly loving exactly one dungeon and it was Water Temple (Stone Tower was close but 3 day limit killed it for me).
Other ones I saw mostly as series of very simple tasks, often repeating in slightly different contexts, just not in a row or else everyone would notice. These were not captivating in the least and sometimes I just can't get where all the praise comes from. As I see it, real challenge in those past dungeons was navigation but I had problem with that - traversal in almost all of them wasn't fun for me. Sure, there were interesting ideas here and there but there was also quite a lot of frustration. If at least they had let me do them in multiple sessions but nope, loading your save file throws you either entirely out or at beginning of the room, which forced me to deal with them in one sitting and because I wasn't a kid with unlimited time while I played them for the first time it lead to me wanting to finish them quickly which lead to rushing which lead to frustration at how hard it sometimes was to cover very small distance in order to approach a problem from different perspective.
Beasts however feel very pleasant and empowering by comparison. You want to get to some other point? You just go there like you would anywhere else in the game. Seeing outside world while walking on top of the beast is incredible idea that, coupled with moving parts just sells the feeling and grandure. And then the puzzles, even though simple, differ from each other far more than "shoot that eye!" and "shoot that eye while standing on moving platform!", ya know? (Again, I can't agree with anyone saying past Zeldas were all about puzzles or that puzzles were complex. At best, navigation in those complex spaces itself was the puzzle. Everything else... just, no.)Though I guess taking away navigation part really strips the dungeon of it's old magic for you long term fans.
Anyway, please don't get mad for all of the personal bias, I know only part of all of this comment can count as valid objective criticism. Just thought I'd share. Cheers!
You should play Skyward Sword. In my opinion the most creative and emersive dungeons in the series.
@@inarencommander4663 if it comes out on Switch, I sure will. Otherwise, I don't exactly have a WiiU handy :c
I have to disagree with your asthetic point. At least in BotW since I think it would have been really easy to implement different ornamental designs and make each dungeon look unique.
Simply add the architectural conventions of the respective tribes of Hyrule. It seems fairly clear that the divine beasts were given to each race and therefore the sheikah could have used architects of the other races to add a at-home feeling and mix their styles. So basically the water dungeon features zora aesthetics, the desert dungeon gerudo aesthetics, etc you get the idea
That's just my idea of how I think the dungeons could have been handled better visually
@@azuregraffiti while I agree that different ornamental designs should be rather easy to justify, I don't think it is what people who want Beasts to look distinct mean in their criticisms.
As for architectural conventions of other Tribes, again, it would require additional lore behind it because those are bound to change within 10'000 years and couldn't possibly look exactly the same as they do now, as shown by modern Sheikah architectural convention. Only ones I could feasibly see retaining style for longer periods of time are Zora, because of their lifspan, but even then, I'm not sure if Domain, despite being incredibly old, was built THIS long ago. All of that is an issue because developers clearly wanted to be a bit more realistic with this one, took real life trends into consideration and tried to make Hyrule feel like it has history waiting to be uncovered.
So, I stand by opinion that while it would be nice for dungeons to look differently, you simply can't achieve that without adding and/or changing something within the game. I'm not saying it would be bad to do it, just that varied designs would not fit into the game as it is.
people are also seeming to forget that including the champions ballad shrines, there are 134 shrines in the game to find and play through, that more than makes up for not having 4 or 5 set linear dungeons to find. are all of them great? no, some of them are kinda lack luster but name one zelda game where every dungeon, every boss fight, every puzzle is 10/10, there isn't one and to reiterate from an earlier response, the point of the game is more for the exploration, the Divine Beasts, aka dungeons, make up maybe 5% of the game? even the story is something you have to go out of your way to see through exploration. And to address the puzzles, lets be perfectly honest here. I love Zelda games, but finding an eye or crystal to shoot with an arrow? That's not a puzzle. It's target practice.
That feeling of seeing a distant Rudania crawling on the mountain is what happened to me when I saw Medoh flying above the Rito village,
I'm loving this series so much!! It reminds me of all the amazing times I had play BOTW! I'm glad you're putting so much work into it!
And yes I agree that the dungeons were lacking.
I think some minimal changes in the overall lighting in the shrines depending on the region you’re in would’ve made the designs non-repetitive enough for me, but as for the devine beasts... they really should’ve made the indoor designs stand out more from the other beasts
Next episode is definetely rating Zelda as a waifu material
i'd freakin love a shrine maker.... the mad shit we could come up with? hell yes
and matpat might make the newest largest number to boot
a shrineplex
The next game set after BotW, i can imagine it now...
Excavations in Hyrule's "Great Plateau" and even deeper under Hyrule Castle, and in the Forgotten/Lost Shrine Ruins... there are inscribed words that lead to hidden Temples around the outer lands of Hyrule ["Unified"].
There are let's say 24 Temples? For example.
The Temples are split by Element, so 6 to an Element/Region.
Each one has different and unique puzzles and rewards for completing them, etc.
Then there are 6 "Hidden Temples" that you can Unlock later that correspond to/with an attribute of the Sages.
Each Sage Spirit is then released from the Temple and you encounter not only the Spirit, but the Reincarnation of the Sages.
Little OoT or whatever thrown into BotW.
Very interested in seeing your video discussing the BOTW ending. I was EXTREMELY disappointed in it as it just seems like it was never thought out and that they just forgot to make a legitimate ending. In a perfect world I would’ve liked to have been able to play in the post-apocalyptic world after you had beaten Gannon. Maybe rebuild villages and do more things like that. I feel like if they did that the whole post game scenery alone would be so refreshing. They can still do this in my option however it would have to be in DLC form. Anyways anything would be better than how it is now where it feels like you never even beat the game after completion.
And then BotW 2 trailer comes out and you know why it didn't feel like an ending... because it was just the beginning xD
I didnt dislike divine beasts, but the game definitly needed traditionnal dungeons as well instead of 120 shrines 🤔
Actually Vah Rutah might be one of my favourite water dungeon, and Vah naboris is pretty good
However my intense problem with Divine beasts is the fights, especially in Rudania and Medoh, the divine beasts are empty. Dungeons are supposed to be enemy territory, but I never died in a divine beast, except against the boss (I find the blights pretty underrated though)
Now about the shrines, I hate how they are used as an excuse to only have 4 dungeons. They are basically caves in which a piece of heart is hidden, like there are so many in previous titles
I want more creepy areas like the old games.
This is the type of video where even though I got 4 ads and the video is 16 minutes (so an ad every 4 minutes) I really don't mind because he clearly put in lots of effort and it's a great video
My fix to the games would mainly be:
-Make the duration of the weapons 5 or 6 times higher
-Combine the 120 shrines into 12 or so
-Somehow fix the beast/dungeons thing
To be fair, searching for the shrines was kind of fun (and prevent the world from being empty), so I would keep the 120 shrines locations and puts "terminals" on them, but combine them: when you find half of the terminal of a region, you unlock a big shrine at the tower, and when you find the other half, you unlock a second one (more difficult), so 2 shrines per tower. (or 3, if you make 1/3 instead of half)
For weapon duration, I think they could have made weapons have some kind of "munitions" like arrows for arcs (energy orbs?), and make weapons that aren't rusty or wood almost indestructible.
For the divine beast, they could have added a "becoming smaller" rune on the tablet, needed to enter inside the beast (hence having more space). And they could have mixed the sheikah architeture with the local architecture (zora/...), saying that they were made "in colaboration", hence giving to each beast a unique look.
@@MoiMagnus1er
I agree that finding them was fun. And your idea is great.
I feel like someone at Nintendo watched this video, seeing as the combat shrines in Tears of the Kingdom are basically what you were asking for: Stripping Link of all of his gear while providing minimal resources to start with to take out all of the enemies in the room. They were even more creative with it than in BotW, seeing as no two combat shrines in TotK were the same. In one, you could be building a combat vehicle to mow down enemies, while in another you had to deal with snipers atop floating perches in endlessly flowing water currents, or one where you had to lure enemies into various traps to compliment your lack of resources. One of them was practically a game of Metal Gear with all of the narrow corridors that you could hide behind to get the jump on the enemies!
I remember in one of the first trailers for breath of the wild, you could see Van Rudania in the distance on death mountain. There was a lot of excitement and speculation about over what this terrifying, giant thing was until it was revealed to be a divine beast. I remember how my excitement lessened at this giant creature not being unique and my want to go directly to death mountain as soon as possible vanishing.
When I finally got to the beast I loved the idea of the whole thing being dark, possibly symbolically tying into the stealth section (not being seen) and using fire to light my way through machine related to fire. It also made the beast feel way creepier in comparison to the other two i’d gone through so far. Only for the whole thing to light up immediately after I used the first slate console and I saw the machine rotated too.
History does repeat I suppose. What a disappointing dungeon
I've agreed with you for almost the entire videos for the previous Documentary entries that I've seen so far but I wanted to just say that I actually really liked the motion control puzzles the best because it gave me the immersive feeling of forgetting that I was holding a controller in my hand and turning it, after a few moments it feels like I'm actually holding the block on the screen. Much like how the Dungeon keys in Skyward Sword were just so fun to find the right angle to insert. The ball rolling puzzle shrine and the double sided platform and stair rotation shrine were some of my favorites. Though I do agree that they don't work on handheld mode, still, you could just take the controls off... and if you aren't in a situation where you can put the Switch screen down, you could activate the shrine and then come back later to clear the puzzle when you can set the screen down, it's not like you need to clear the puzzle to use it for teleportation, which is probably why Nintendo allows us to use the shrines to teleport without clearing the puzzles, so we can come back and do them later when more convenient xP
I think the shrines were styled to look man-made, I dunno, I never felt like the shrines looked modeled or copy and pasted, they kinda reminded me of an airport, artificial and polished, if that makes any sense haha and I liked it that way, such a contrast from the outside world that I felt like the very air changed and it got me into a 'serious mode' which felt really immersive but well, everyone's experience is different xD
I really thought that the Divine Beasts were going to be the bosses that you battled at the end of a dungeon, Shadow of the Colossus style. The BotW climbing mechanics, and the way that we got to appease them, I thought for sure that the Divine Beasts would be these epic, giant battles. But alas, they were just dungeons.
Love the video! I have one nitpick. So I completely agree that it would be really cool to have different enemies and trails in the test of strength shrines, that has a small plot hole. Those shrines have been waiting underground for thousands of years. Guardians can stay dormant and live that long, but I'm not sure how other baddies would last that long. That being said, even if they did that and left a huge plot hole, I wouldn't care because it would be fun and badass!
im a sound designer in the games industry and I had to work on a similar concept as the shrines in breath of the wild, obviously far less in-depth, but the outcome the team settled on was there would be many entrances dotted across the game world and when a player entered one it would choose a small puzzle dungeon layout from a series of lists based on where the player was in game progression, the actual art of each one would match the entrance, so you could do the same dungeon on different playthroughs but if you entered a cave it would have the cave art, but if you entered a ruin it would have the exact same layout but it would use the ruins artwork. worked really well and was surprised Nintendo didn't do this,
The coolest sight for me early on in BotW was watching Vah Medoh fly around in that corner of the world while I went on my adventures. Always there, it's such an intriguing sight, always asking myself "what in the world is that".
Ganon: this was an ez clap
Link: Surprise Bitch
I gotta say: I disagree with a lot of the negative points here.
Firstly, I DO agree that the “dungeons” are all the same, and that’s a bad thing. They get rather repetitive as you do each one. I actually AGREE (sort of) with the similar aesthetic used throughout them, but they failed to be unique in other ways. None of the puzzles made me feel accomplished after solving them, and the concept controlling mechanic, while a good idea, didn’t pan out too well (except for Ruta. I LOVED the trunk. All the other ones felt boring, though).
The real point that I disagree with though, is on the shrines. I felt most of the puzzle-based shrines were excellent in terms of length. Some felt a bit unfulfilled, true, but they were both unique and bite-sized. I have never been a fan of Zelda’s particuarly long and drawn out dungeons. The puzzles themselves are usually excellent, but they’re just too long. I can remember going through Wind Waker, excited to turn on and play the game, only to realize I was still stuck in the Forbidden Forest. Every single one of that game’s dungeons reached a point of “I just want to get this over with” at one point or another. Same for Twilight Princess, etc. I don’t want a dungeon that I need more than one sitting to do. The shrines perfected what I loved about dungeons and cut with what I hated. I acknowledge that the Divine Beasts failed to fulfill the traditional dungeon role, and I even I felt the void left behind. However, the shrines were great in that regard. Not perfect, but great.
The other point I contest is with the visual design of the shrine interiors. They were undeniably repetitive, but I think that is what they needed to be. BotW is about world-building, and to build on the history and cultures of the many races in the game, there needs to be consistency with artistic design. This is more of artist’s and a cinematic person’s concern than a gamer’s, but I think the design was great. I personally have NEVER gotten the feeling of the shrines being models made by actual people, because the design fits. Although, I have gotten that feeling while exploring the many village ruins scattered across Hyrule (they reused the heck out of those assets, and did a really bad job of hiding it).
Ideally, there would have been more uniquely “themed” dungeons in addition to what we got. I did like the presentation of the Divine Beasts, so I don’t want to scrap them entirely, but I also don’t want to compromise the unified identity of “Sheikah tech” they existing designs convey. It would have been nice if the Trial of the Sword and even the fifth Divine Beasts weren’t Sheikah things, though. I would have liked traditional dungeons somewhere, even if they had to be behind DLC, I would want them in the game somehow.
Other than that, I pretty much agree with everything stated in this video. I just felt the need to express my dissent on those things. Sorry for the rambling!
Why it’s no masterpiece: gets views. Croton makes a video like that: thinks he will get more views
Rofl Croton has been exposed
Oh snap
OOF
honestly the dungeons are usually my least favourite part in Zelda games... I think its why Zelda has never been super mainstream other than hardcore Zelda fans. I always loved the stories of the games but get bored halfway through a dungeon and stop, maybe why I love BOTW so much
Freedom >>> Dungeons
Zelda has never been super mainstream? What are you on about?
im actually fine with the shorter doungens because on repeat playthroughs i don't have to do the exact same puzzles i've already figured out for an hour per doungen
Absolutly love the shrine design. Makes a great contrast and shift in tone with the rest of the map: The Wild!
I can agree with you in many points, but I think Nintendo had to design those dungeons so similar, because you are able to go to every Divine Beast in any order.
They weren't able to make them more difficult then the last one.
I feel like the complaint of no "real dungeons" is a moot point. Breath of the Wild really is not so much about freedom as it is about realism. After all, it's more realistic for you to simply go and fight Ganon if you want to. It makes sense that your weapons breakdown over time. And it makes sense that you don't have to find some buried booby-trapped temple to collect a spiritual stone or item so you can face Ganon. These were divine beasts, that had somewhat realistic controls and a real effect on the actual evil. So yeah, botw didn't have real dungeons but that was the point.
I'm sure they'll bring back real dungeons in a later title, but I am very happy with what botw is. And even for the lack of traditional dungeons, it ranks as one of my 2 favorite zelda games.
It's interesting, because Botw really had two approaches to open world dungeons: the divine beasts and hyrule castle. Moreover, these two takes are really polar opposites of one another. Hyrule castle has few puzzles but lots of tough enemies (including mini bosses), a unique environment (but no elemental theme), it's layout felt like a proper labyrinth that challenges your exploration skills, and it takes a long time to finish (if you explore it thoroughly). On the other hand, the divine beasts were all puzzle and had very few/easy enemies, copy pasted interior aesthetics but with elemental themes, fairly small and tight/focused layout, and could be completed very quickly even if you go for all the optional treasure chests. Another major difference is that hyrule castle has no way of simulating the formula of traditional zelda dungeons (find the map, then find the item that allows for unique puzzle solving) whereas the divine beasts create that feeling by having you find the map which enables you to manipulate the dungeon itself to assist in the puzzle solving process.
Going forward I think it would be smart of Nintendo to find a way to split the middle ground between many of these extremes: make the dungeons somewhere between the size of the divine beasts and hyrule castle, provide each of them with a unique setting and architecture (sometimes including an elemental theme), make sure there is a good balance of puzzle solving and tough enemies to face, and structure them to feel labyrinthine and somewhat nonlinear but still tight/focused in the flow of progression from room to room. That said, if Nintendo makes these changes then they wouldn't be able to use the gimmick of interacting with the dungeon to simulate the feeling of having an item, as I feel this only works with the small compact layout and find the five terminals formula we saw in the divine beasts. Still, they could at least further the individual identity of each dungeon by not repeating the "find the five terminals" formula, which got old fast, and instead vary the goal of exploring the interior of each dungeon. Something like "find the four poes" from the Forest Temple, but have each dungeon's "story/quest" formula be different. Preferably they could still allow these "pre-boss" objectives to be completed in any order to allow for non-linearity.
Well, that's what I'd like to see, but who knows what we'll get. :shrugs shoulders:
To be honest, I thought splitting up the shrines was a really bad idea for two reasons:
1) It turns BOTW's strength into a weakness. BOTW has a huge, seamless overworld that doesn't require any loading. And yet...it's the only Zelda game where loading is an issue. This is because you constantly have to exit the overworld to do a shrine, and then load the entire overworld again, which is a lengthy process. So instead of doing it once or twice a playthrough, you have to do it all the time.
2) They don't fill the overworld with content. Shrines are not part of the overworld, they're part of the underworld, like dungeons. Instead of filling the world with content, you're just having the player take a break from it. The shrines should have been merged together and the world should have been filled with caves, towns, sidequest NPCs, and more areas like Hyrule Castle.
To be honest, I just don't think non-linearity works well with Zelda. Even in ALBW, the puzzles were way too easy. That's because letting you do them in any order meant that Nintendo couldn't scale the difficulty curve and could only rely on one item per dungeon.
The only weird thing I found was the theme. Ancient technology is cool but ehhhh. Also I love the master sword and was confused why it wasn't important to the story at all. It took a backseat or a support role. It's not strong, it breaks, it's not used to determine the hero/hylian champ, and it's not used to deliver the final blow to Ganon.
Well that's good for you, that you completed the 4 beasts in 35 Minutes, but for me I needed 1 Hour for the very first beast. I also needed about an hour for the next beast. For me it still was an adventure and a challenge, to complete these four beasts and it took me about 4 Hours to complete them. Maybe you think that they are way too easy and are no challenge, but for me it was. And I think there are many other people, who find that challenging. ^^
Thought that just occured to me: The Divine Beasts should've been differentriated via their Champion clearly having customised them, presumably under the idea that they might have to live and sleep in the Divine Beasts at some point.
Urbosa covers Naboris' interior in luxurious rugs and cloth, but also vast arrays of weapons. Revali places all kinds of archery related paraphenalia, maybe even a full archery course you can try to beat his time at. Mipha fills Ruta with everything to help remind her of home. Daruk has food (rocks) and other preparations for the party we all know he was intending to throw after defeating Ganon.
Add this with the Champions providing commentary where appropriate and you could easily theme each Divine Beast around getting inside their heads. Maybe instead of the generic terminals, you advance progress on the Divine Beasts by trying to "sync up" with the kind of person worthy to pilot it, essentially the same objective as the terminals gameplay wise (find the things and interact with them) but each objective is something important to the respective Champion that'll help Ruta/Naboris/Rudania/Medoh recognise you as "master" and release the ganon Blight.
_(oh, and as an extra note, I think it's a CRIME that the Divine Beasts get LESS interesting once you beat them. Come on, Medoh flying in the sky is awesome, why did it have to stop doing that?! it presumably wouldn't be that hard to just close off the Beast's interiors and let players climb onto them in the open world + talk to the Champions on it like normal NPCs)_
Heh, the funny thing is, you are right about the "copy and paste" style of the shrines.
Having looked through the games files and ripped some models myself in the past, the shrines use the same 3d models tons throughout.
Not to say there aren't a few unique ones, but most are repeated.
I really wish the shrines looked different depending on the area. If you were by Death Mountain, they would have lava and be fire based puzzles. By the lake all water based, and so on. This would allow for more variety in shrines and more puzzle variety as well.
As for the Divine beasts, they needed more enemies, more complex puzzles, and a better mechanic than turning something. And to be longer. I think that the Divine beasts are the most boring part of Breath of the Wild.
My favorite dungeons were, Dodongo cavern, Arbiters grounds, earth temple, fire sanctuary, sand ship, forest temple (ocarina of time), city in the sky, and spirit temple
I completely 100% agree with how far you think freedom to go. If they want the dungeons to be done in any order, that's fine. However, once inside the dungeon, there needs to be more structure.
Imagine a shrine where a guardian skywatcher knows your location at all times and chases you throughout making you duck from cover to cover and his beam takes half the time to charge up
I wish they had kept all of the dungeons, but added like 3 more more in the style of Hyrule Castle. Imagine if they had a cave system dungeon where you descend further and further then the boss was some special exclusive enemy. Once you finished the boss fight you get a new rune for the sheikah slate or some other story driven reward. I would have loved more creative dungeons that you could just wander upon in the world
See, I didn’t mind it because I looked at it from the point of view that the Divine Beasts were never meant to be dungeons. They are basically giant tanks meant to knock back a great evil, not places of worship or ancient prisons or gargantuan ships or cities in the sky. So, the sameness, that bare bones nature, it all fits within the world of this game. They’re dungeons that were never meant to be dungeons and I for one found it refreshing. I hope the sequel does something different again, but I love it for this game.
I guess you could say the designs just went around in circles with creativity
i thank the 4 divine beasts are vary good just make each one referent to their element and location and the shines OK and less shrines and more traditional dungeons to give the dungeons more freedom just have it ware you can go to what ever dungeon order you want to go in.
If you would design the devine beasts traditional, then you could criticise, that their designs are nothing new.
first i must say that the style of the shrines and beast make sense in its context and WILL only work in such a context so i do not mind them at all, specially when most critiques of prior doungens boiled down to "here is ice water fire forst light/shadow doungen, have fun" So having only little connection to such elements (haha pun) is unique for botw. I can see however the issue people have with it.
HOWEVER, i would argue the path leading to a divine beast IS A DOUNGEN IN OF ITSELF.
no matter how free the open world is, there is no other way to approach the beasts other then the story laid out in a linear path.
for ruta you HAVE to aquire shock arrows, its only freedom given through how to optain them, being via slowly gathering them with increasing difficulty of enemies OR the lynel, which can either be fought OR avoided and the arrows gathered in a stealth mission. All fo the beast fight
the camal one requires you to kick the yiga clans ass to obtain the shock helmet and then the sand seal riding. not to mention the linear path to obtain even access to gerudo town itself.
on death mountain you had probably one of the better examples of an escort mission just to enter the beast. preceeded by the mere quest jsut to get to goron city and and not bursting into flames alive getting there.
the rito divine beast is as far goes the only one with a lack luster introduction, not to mention that the northern area while ebing a nice extra area, could have been utilized MUCH more in that introduction. Heck each region HAD a reason to aquire the armor with the respective perks, the ritu one does not really. it's completely unessecary to even use cold resistant armor, it is only helful when exploring unrelated cold regions of hyrule. ( not to mention you get the snow boots IN THE DESERT FOR SOME REASON)
what i try to say is, YES they tried to make the doungens as free as possible to solve, BUT they certainly retained the linearity and progression in the events before entering one. Not to mention that those events ACTUALLY effect hyrule, as in sandstorms disappear, permanent rains stops, the fire barrage in death moutain ends. and again only the ritu beast did little (seriously why did they ran out of ideas for that one)
I think we should look at the divine beasts as something else entirely, don't expect them to be exactly like previous Zelda dungeons, since that'd be almost impossible since Link is so mobile in BOTW. This isn't an example of bad game design or anything, it's just a unique approach to making some dungeons. I'd say my only real problems are the similar bosses and the dull colours that make up the interiors
Link is more mobile but they already account for that within the shrines by having the walls be made of Sheikah-No-Climb-Technology.
I like linear dungeons. In the next Zelda, I hope there will be linear dungeons in an open world. If you come across a dungeon you can't get by without a certain item, then you explore the big, beautiful open world to find it!
Motion control puzzles in handheld mode broke me. Often, what seemed like the same motion in my hands would translate to completely different things happening on the screen, so if I had to reset and restart, I couldn't even count on repeating motions that had worked previously. This became especially troubling with the swinging hammer-type ones, because "I know I did the exact same swing why is it going left this time when it went right before??"
I didn't have the option to hook up to a TV, and one or two of them required you to flip the object upside-down (one of the Champion's Ballad ones did, and I feel like there was another..) which meant I either just couldn't see my screen (helpful) or I was contorting my body to try to see what I was doing (ow).
There was a few times I was convinced there wasn't a way to solve the puzzle in handheld mode, due to these issues. I found myself wondering if they had even considered a handheld user in those situations. I think that lack of consideration--how is someone, who is playing this in one of the ways this system was made to be played, going to do this puzzle--is bad design.
I loved the other puzzles, though. Having different ways to complete them was awesome (which... is probably also why the motion control ones were awful, there wasn't really any other option than "fiddle with the controls until it kinda works). If I got frustrated trying to do something one way, there was other ways to try.
Some of the things I found disappointing were:
1) The fact that I only needed to use the bow in order to defeat the four blights and Ganon. It felt extremely repetitive and boring after the first few playthroughs.
2) The land felt devoid of settlements and people. Sure there were places where you could find people and towns, but it felt as if they were clustered in different places and didn't bother to try to expand. I would have personally liked to have seen people working to rebuild the ruins throughout the game.
3) The lack of variety when it comes to the Divine Beasts. When I look at them, they all look the same in design. I wish that when they were being developed, they reflected the nearby race you were helping instead of the Sheikah. I hope that in the next Zelda game, we are given Dungeons reminiscent to those in Link Between Worlds in terms of appearance.
hello how are you, random person?
Helloo I'm fine wbu? :)
Not good. How are you?
I really do love the divine beasts but ultimately I don't think they're enough to replace the tradition dungeon. If the Zelda team can find a happy balance between old and new I think they'll be closer to perfect.
Here at two views! #notificationsquad
I'm sorry, I just decided to follow the stereotype of saying that. Time to watch the video!
Edit: At least the Divine Beasts have some cool music, yeah?
:|
I don't even remember music in them. (And I played the game through twice)
@@inarencommander4663 Well, granted, the music was kinda quiet. And the player would most likely be focusing on the puzzles instead of the music. My playthrough was a bit different, which is why I remember the music.
Still better than the water temple from oot
Oh yeah!
Funny, the water temple has a better design than the divine beasts
Very true tho
I disagree, I would have the water temple over any of the beasts. The beasts were way too quick, easy, and boring. Yeah the control idea was interesting, but it wasn't enough for me.
I know that they are all worse than the water temple
My favorite dungeons are Arbiters Grounds, Shadow Temple, Lakebed Temple, Spirit Temple, and Goron Mines.
Breath of the Wild's freedom makes for weird dungeons. Because instead of getting that 'gotcha' moment when finishing a puzzle, instead I feel like I accidentally broke the puzzle.
Breath of the Wild has this a lot. Its freedom allows you to accidentally bypass interesting locations.
The whole area leading up to Zora's Domain looks great and makes for a memorable trek, but I accidentally skipped over the entire thing on my first playthrough.
what if, in addition to the 60 shrine reduction a texture overlay (i.e. sand for the gerudo wastes, vines for faron, lava for eldin, etc.) were given on the dungeons depending upon the region there are 15 regions so if you split the shrines evenly, there would only be four shrines using each overlay. In addition, put the shrines inside caves or somehow make it visible that theyre underground, and have the unnatural blocky platforms jut from, and float around, the stone walls floors and ceilings, as for the divine beasts, implementing the thought about the beasts not interacting with their surroundings, make it so the quests to board the beasts force them to interact with their location. Rudania could be partially submerged in the lava of Death Mountain, Medoh could be given a time limit before it is overrun with malice and crashes, Naboris could have sand clog mechanisms that must be cleared to advance, and IF WE COULD SWIM UNDERWATER Ruta could be a true water dungeon with water mechanics to exploit. as for the fifth, leave it it's fine.
I think there's a good in-between... If you count Hyrule Castle as a dungeon, then it's an amazing AND non-linear dungeon. So let's have some of that, but let's also have some more traditional dungeons! Perhaps we could have some "hybrid" dungeons- I imagine a cave system where there are multiple paths to get to the same areas, but there's also dead ends and each path has different treasures and different foes. As you progress you unlock doors. Even though you don't have to explore everything, it's still worth it for the unique and amazing items found in each path. And somewhere in the dungeon is the boss key, so you'll have to do some major exploring to find it.
Dungeon variety is a problem in a lot of larger RPGs. Skyrim's dungeons are a lot like that. Outside of plot relevant dungeons, you're going through Bleak Falls Barrow with a different layout. Solid video.
What a great video mate. Thank you
When I went through Vah Medoh I actually didn't realize that the little arrows on the map could move the wings
I kinda wish they'd hide some more organic (less mechanical) dungeons somewhere in hyrule. Finding one and plundering its depths would be so exciting in such an open, free game.
I actually like the 4 divine beasts having the same style and the same 5 terminals to unlock. I think having 4 completely different dungeons would simply not make sense with the story. Remember; the Sheikah built all 4 as weapons against Ganon so it makes total sense that they would build them similarly with the same number of terminals.
I do agree, however, with the fact that they could've been more linear to have more complicated puzzles (although my first playthrough was Naboris and I absolutely cried at the complexity of the puzzles and how challenging Thunderblight Ganon is compared to the other Blights LOL)
the dungeons in every other zelda game are supposed to be ~50%, if not more, of the game. In botw, they aren't supposed to be very much of the game. That's why the divine beasts are so small.
I would say that the"free" dungeon design can take inspiration from Dark Souls allowing you to go to whichever Lord soul you wished. You could grab Seathe, Nito, Quelag, and then 4 kings. Similar ideas can be made into Zelda. Allow the player to go to any of the dungeons they desire, but ensure that there is a story to lure them there. The awe of the Beasts lasts for a minute, as you then focus on the semi-silly design. Simply institute the design of old Zelda dungeons with the freedom and choice of BOTW
I agree the dungeons in BOTW really shocked me with how basic they were, save for the very few puzzles in them, but the one dungeon that stuck with me as memorable but not in the happy way, was Naboris and mf Thunderblight. Nuff said.
You gotta admit the mecha design was amazing
Could you argue that hyrule castle is a dungeon? There’s many hard enemies and good items that can give you a good helping hand in the final boss fight, especially if you’re speed running or going for a straight-to-ganon run. There’s even a mini boss that gives you a shield that helps you with fighting ganon and guardians with the highest defence for endgame fights.
As a side note the major test of strength being in a natural arena with a lynel and having to scavenge for gear to fight it could be amazing. Imagine a way to kill it with runes like moving a metal bridge away from over a tar out as it charges at you or something
Or even having to do the trials of the sword to even get the master sword in the first place, with it having the strength of the master sword after doing the trial in the actual game.
Very true! I sort of forgot that it could be considered as a dungeon. It's definitely the most memorable, which is ironic since it's technically not a "dungeon" by Zelda standards.
Yeah now for my favorite YTber to talk about my favorite things
13:30 I gUeSs ThEy NeVeR mIsS hUh
I’m not mad, just disappointed
The shrines were manufactured, bruh, it should feel manufactured.
I really enjoy the immense amount of freedom this game gives you. One of the reasons it's one of my favorite open world games of all time.
The Shield Surfing, Gliding and Climbing mechanics all make getting from point A to point B almost a puzzle on it's own. The changing weather also changes how you approach certain situations, you can either use foods with certain properties or buy clothes with effects instead. The game just throws you into a vast world and says, "fuck it, go do what you want." And the environments have so many details that I'm still discovering new things in the game.
That being said, the Divine Beasts' open-endedness almost becomes a flaw and makes them far less memorable than other dungeons in the series. And I have a love/hate relationship with the weapon durability, on one hand, it makes the Master Sword actually feel like an upgrade rather than a Level 2 Sword, and durability makes you rethink how you approach certain situations. But in the other hand, it makes getting weapons far less memorable and exciting.
You discovered that divine beast the same way I did. I'm just casually looking around for shrines and was like "What was that? Did something move? Maybe I'm seeing things". And after that, I made my way to see if I could get closer to it.
15:57
Miyamoto: **eyes widen**
**scribbles prefusly**
It really would have been nice if there was an ancient city in the sand storm with a reward of 4 orbs at the end, or maybe go through a full mine system in the active volcano. Maybe something could have been done with the jungle area besides it being the south area that isn't the desert. Ancient Aztec like ruins maybe? Might be reusing the idea but still could have frozen mines in the western mountains. The area that likely had the most done to it is, also the one I don't really think I would change, is the zora domain. The way there was a dungeon all on it's own and I enjoyed the journey there.
I really did enjoy the Divine beasts but the difficulty of the puzzles was sometimes a little too much or too easy. There wasn't rlly a midpoint. Also, I think you should make a documentary on the side quests and shrine quests (cause almost everyone completes at least one on their first play through). Just a suggestion. I am rlly enjoying the series so far, keep it up!
Imagine if the divine beasts were parts of the boss fight the divine beasts completely encapsulated the beast first and the more damage you did the further is retreated into the divine beasts until you had to go inside to deal with the puzzles. I feel like that would have made the puzzles feel a bit better. You sort of do this, but it's only to grt inside, and the puzzle feels more like a wall rather than an obstacle to get passed to fight the boss. Taking away the terminals completely, would've been a great idea. They didn't feel necessary to me at all. After all of that you get to the final boss room where you fight the malice beast and free the spirit and the divine beast.
I love the amount of freedom this game gives but maybe you're right you have a point that maybe the dungeons could use a little more structure. The shrine certainly used more structures and they're more satisfying to complete than the dungeons. And a link between worlds certainly gave you structure in the dungeons even if the world was completely at your play.
Maybe the divine beasts could have been one set of dungeons. I already had the idea that they could have made the divine beasts as "Boss dongeons" inside of bigger "prison" dongeons, but now I'm thinking maybe the divine beasts could have been a chapter by itself, coming before or after (or both) other sets of dongeons.
I'm gonna play devil's advocate for a second and say that I actually really like the dungeons. I'm not very experienced with the Zelda franchise, so I can't exactly argue with people who've spent their childhood playing these games. But because I'm a new gamer, I didn't really mind that the designs were all virtually the same. The divine beasts are very friendly to new players, and they fit well with the story of the game. I'm not saying that they're perfect. After all, if there are a lot of people complaining it's definitely not perfect. But they feel rewarding to complete every time for me.
And the shrines work pretty well too. Some are complex and others are simple. Seriously, there's one blessing shrine that's literally just finding the left eye of a skull lake and walking in! But between repetitive design and long, challenging puzzles, the shrines could have been way more tedious to go through than they already are (yes, they are a little tedious). Again, nowhere near perfect, but I like it. And about the idea of replacing test of strength shrines with mini trial of the swords would've just been recycling eventide island except shorter. That just sucks the fun out of something if you have to deal with it too often.
I agree with most of your points, but I personally liked the artificial look of the shrines and Divine Beasts. It really sold me the fact that they were ancient technology and everything else, so to me, it was good.
I also think that most of this problems can be boiled down to Nintedo making a bunch of inovation, but trying to keep it streamlined enough in order to test stuff. I, for one, would find odd if we get as many battle-oriented dungeons like in BoTW in the next game to use this kinda of concept, and maybe they'll actually invest in a bigger variety of puzzles, or, as you said, make the tests of strength not be all the same, at least. I believe that BoTW was a double edge sword for Nintendo: a huge amount of inovation and fresh ideas, but also a lot of testing that ended up hindering the gameplay to some extent (breaking weapons, repetitive dungeons, etc).
The many Test of Strength shrines still would've worked if there were a few that had multiple Guardian Scouts to make them harder to beat.
Let me get this straight...no matter how bad the flaws are how about everyone tries making such an amazing game and how long it must've taken think about it and be grateful that goes to everyone. In my opinion botw is an AMAZING game and memorable and cleverly made.
They could easily make the dungeons leonor but make it to where everything you need for that dungeon is with in it. Weapons you collect along the way could have more variety allowing you to solve a puzzle in another dungeon a different maybe easier way than if you did not have that weapon. This would truly make for a new adventure each time.
There is only one sidequest and a few upgrades you need to fight a lynel for, with the intention to make the hardest and most interesting fights fully optional.