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The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Review

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Re: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Review

#21

Post by kimolas »

Kroniker wrote: post #15
vlunkr wrote: post #13

I don't think one game is enough to save the Switch, but maybe this will get enough systems out there to get the ball rolling. I'm sure some people will pick up the Wii U version if they already have one, but I can't imagine buying a console that has been basically declared dead for one game now. EDIT: I'm saying the Wii U is dead, not the switch. IIRC production has stopped, and there are few games still coming to i…

"Declared dead"? Maybe we've just seen different bubbles, but I've seen nothing but excitement for the switch. They have something like 100 titles from 75 different dev studios lined up for the first year. Obviously the Wii U died on the vine, but that was due to some terrible limitations and lack of 3rd party support, or so I am lead to believe. What makes you think the switch needs saving? It isn't even out yet...

It sounds like they're referring to the Wii U; they're suggesting (correctly, arguably) that the Wii U is essentially dead now, and that no one will buy the Wii U just for Zelda. If anything, people will instead buy the Switch, hence their point about Zelda "saving the Switch" (although from what, I'm not sure, since it does have over a hundred games confirmed).

Re: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Review

#23

Post by slantyyz »

vlunkr wrote: post #13

I don't think one game is enough to save the Switch, but maybe this will get enough systems out there to get the ball rolling. I'm sure some people will pick up the Wii U version if they already have one, but I can't imagine buying a console that has been basically declared dead for one game now. EDIT: I'm saying the Wii U is dead, not the switch. IIRC production has stopped, and there are few games still coming to i…

I'm genuinely interested in how the sales numbers are going to go for the Switch.

A fair number of the Nintendo first party titles are going to be system-sellers, especially for Nintendo fans with pent up demand.

Once the dust settles, however, I'm curious if the sales numbers can show sustained growth after the Zelda honeymoon period, since most of the Nintendo fans by then would have picked up a Switch.

Re: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Review

#24

Post by _ph_ »

alphonsegaston wrote: post #6

I'm really hoping that Zelda/Switch are successful enough to push game aesthetics in a better direction. This headlong plunge into the uncanny valley is just gonna lead us to the same dead end that art found itself at the end of the 19th century. No one cares about the bad aesthetics of Orientalist painting any more, and this era of hyperreal titilation is gonna meet the same fate in retrospect.

As I have grown up with all kinds of animated cartoons on the TV, I always wanted a computer game which sported that level of graphics. It turns out, that from the raw hardware capability, computers long ago exceeded this ability, yet there is a big scarcity of real animated games. Windwaker (HD) is a really nice exception from that. It looks like an animate comic movie. From this point of view, I am actually happy that Nintendo did not try to make the next best rendering machine, and I hope that the games do benefit from that in an aesthetically sense. Of course I would not mind if Zelda ran at 60FPS, but the visuals look just great.

Re: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Review

#25

Post by alphonsegaston »

phamilton wrote: post #5
yestoallthat wrote: post #2

> Link gets more health and stamina as you progress, and you can acquire stronger weapons and armor, but he never gets stronger himself. He doesn’t learn to swing a sword or shoot a bow any better. But you do. If this is true, that's wonderful, and if more games became more like that again, I'd be interested in them again. Even just the fact that the reviewer mentioned this as a good thing made me smile.

Isn't this true of all games in the Zelda series?

I think the intention is to contrast it with the open world WRPG's this new Zelda is taking cues from.

Re: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Review

#26

Post by slantyyz »

kimolas wrote: post #21
Kroniker wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Declared dead"? Maybe we've just seen different bubbles, but I've seen nothing but excitement for the switch. They have something like 100 titles from 75 different dev studios lined up for the first year. Obviously the Wii U died on the vine, but that was due to some terrible limitations and lack of 3rd party support, or so I am lead to believe. What makes you think the switch needs saving? It isn't even out yet...

It sounds like they're referring to the Wii U; they're suggesting (correctly, arguably) that the Wii U is essentially dead now, and that no one will buy the Wii U just for Zelda. If anything, people will instead buy the Switch, hence their point about Zelda "saving the Switch" (although from what, I'm not sure, since it does have over a hundred games confirmed).

>> no one will buy the Wii U just for Zelda.

If people are willing to buy a Switch just for Zelda, I'm sure people who don't have enough money for a Switch would be willing to buy a used or refurb Wii U on the cheap to be able to play Zelda.

Re: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Review

#27

Post by freehunter »

excalibur wrote: post #18
aaron-lebo wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the best example of this is Doom 3. It looked incredible at the time (even on the Xbox on release in 2005), but it has not aged well. Maybe today's games hold up better, but photorealism is always gonna be competing with tomorrow. On the other hand, BotW has framerate drops and limitations on the Switch and it was designed for a console that was underpowered five years ago, which doesn't bode well.

The 2005 Doom was a movie.... [EDIT: Yes I know the post above has been edited to fix/clarify, no I can't delete this post.]

They likely meant the one that came out in late 2004, Doom 3.

Re: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Review

#28

Post by croon »

ihuman wrote: post #7

Breath of the Wild is getting fantastic reviews from critics right now. It currently has a 98/100 on Metacritic [1], an aggregator for video game reviews. This makes is the #4 highest rated game of all time on their site [2] [1] http://www.metacritic.com/game/switch/the-legend-of-zelda-br... [2] http://www.metacritic.com/browse/games/score/metascore/all/a...

I wonder if those reviews are more Ocarina of Time or Twilight Princess. In fear of upsetting die-hard Nintendo fans I won't specify what I mean by that :)

But time will tell.

Either way, I look forward to it, will give me an excuse to dust off my old WiiU.

Re: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Review

#29

Post by alphonsegaston »

_ph_ wrote: post #24
alphonsegaston wrote: post #6

I'm really hoping that Zelda/Switch are successful enough to push game aesthetics in a better direction. This headlong plunge into the uncanny valley is just gonna lead us to the same dead end that art found itself at the end of the 19th century. No one cares about the bad aesthetics of Orientalist painting any more, and this era of hyperreal titilation is gonna meet the same fate in retrospect.

As I have grown up with all kinds of animated cartoons on the TV, I always wanted a computer game which sported that level of graphics. It turns out, that from the raw hardware capability, computers long ago exceeded this ability, yet there is a big scarcity of real animated games. Windwaker (HD) is a really nice exception from that. It looks like an animate comic movie. From this point of view, I am actually happy t…

I think all kids growing up in this period had fantasies about games matching up with their imaginations of them through some technical revolution.

What modern game dev misses is that it's the space to imagine things within a more abstract visual framework that creates that sense of wonder and possibility. Game aesthetics have to have "space" for their players' imaginations to fill in order to have the same impact as those from earlier eras.

Re: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Review

#30

Post by slantyyz »

Nadya wrote: post #17
vlunkr wrote: post #13

I don't think one game is enough to save the Switch, but maybe this will get enough systems out there to get the ball rolling. I'm sure some people will pick up the Wii U version if they already have one, but I can't imagine buying a console that has been basically declared dead for one game now. EDIT: I'm saying the Wii U is dead, not the switch. IIRC production has stopped, and there are few games still coming to i…

There will also be a sizable number of people who pick it up for Splatoon 2, Stardew Valley (for people who miss the old Harvest Moon games), Fire Emblem (2018), and Mario Kart (April 28th). Each of those has a large, dedicated fanbase. Although Stardew Valley may live on mostly PC-only due to the ability to mod the game. If you're not a fan of Zelda or any of the above games - most of the other upcoming games aren't…

>> Although Stardew Valley may live on mostly PC-only due to the ability to mod the game.

Stardew Valley fans have been able to play it on a handheld (along with many other PC games) for a few months now:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9qHDHzw4ag

I've got a GPD Win and it's absolutely no substitute for a Switch if you're a Nintendo fan. If you were looking at the Switch for its portability and for 3rd party and indie games, the GPD Win could be a worthwhile alternative. I got mine to play Steam games, but some gpd users have reported getting decent frame rates with emulators like Dolphin, PPSSPP and other emulators.

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