Thread by @krystman

I finally finished Zelda: Breath of the Wild. After almost 3 years. I had at least 3 complete re-starts. I bought the game twice on two different systems. 200+ hours, 100%. What a trip!

The game is obviously a masterpiece. But let me elaborate some finer points:

It is staggering how hard this game nails its core premise. The key art from the box is exactly what you see in the first few minutes in the game. It's a true open world. If you see it, you can go there. The final boss is right there. Adventure awaits!

This idea, this premise is something that Zelda keeps hammering. It's there the very beginning with it's fantastic minature open world tutorial. It's there at the very end with it's jungle gym Hyrule Castle.

Let's double-down on that point. This final dungeon is a triumph! The sheer balls of putting the final boss in the open like that! In a game where there's a para-glider and every wall is climbable! Not only allowing players to cheese it, deliberately encouraging them to do so.

Deciding what your game is ABOUT and drilling so hard on it in such radical way is nothing short of inspiring. It's impressive for a huge AAA project. But I think also smaller indie projects would benefit of such a clarity of vision.

I keep coming back to this @Jam_sponge video. I find "Where does the game reside" a useful phrase for my own work. BotW excels because it's so focused on answering this one question.

This kind of focus allows BotW to get away with a number of inconsistencies. You can literally FEEL that different areas were made by different designers. Zora's domain is well fleshed out but also super linear. Gerudo feels sloppy and phoned in.

Different designers favored different Korok Seed puzzles. Lots of apple puzzles on one area. Lots of heavy slates in another.

The Shrines are genius but also they clearly ran out of steam and started fill in unfinished Shrines with "Tests of Strength" challenges.

The beast dungeons are great but none as brilliant as Vah Ruta. The others basically variants on "make the dungeon tilt". Still great, just not reaching the same heights.

Kakariko Village obviously received WAY more attention than any other village. It is not even close.

Personally, I had to actually LEARN how to enjoy BotW. I initially bounced off hard. I was approaching it too methodically. It stressed me out. I needed to learn to let go, to get lost in the world. Follow my curiosity rather than a checklist of collectibles.

The thing I still hate the most were boss fights. I never enjoy boss fights in modern games. They require you to figure out some trick but also put you in this super hectic, stressful situation. It's like solving a puzzle at gunpoint while somebody is screaming in your face.

But is's also bad that you do them only once. By the time you have an idea what you are doing the fight is over. Often, I would completely flub a boss fight and still somehow win, which would feel like an undeserved victory. But also, there's no way I do that again, amirite?

Interestingly, BotW also has the perfect solution. I loved the in-world boss enemies. Hinox, Guardians, Moldugas. I could always run away and engage them on my terms. I could also do them multiple times, getting better on every attempt. They went from scary to "bring it on!".

I enjoyed the setting. I think fantasy and sci-fi tech often turns out to be a potent mix. Turning Hyrule into a post-apocalyptic but lush, green ruin was a welcome and very current take. The story of a lost battle was intriguing and had me looking forward to uncovering more.

But things didn't always connect well. None of the Champions/Descendants pairs were as fleshed out as Mipha and Sidon. I liked Revali but I can't even remember his descendant.

In the end, I have no clue what even Zelda's problem was. Why did they fail? Why did they win now?

Zelda's JP voice acting is stunning but her character is a mess.

Generally, the depiction of women is very yikes. All of the Gerudo are looking to get married. There are like 2 different quests where you need to hook up some dude with a Gerudo. Guess how many Zoras or Gorgons?

I guess that's just not where I got my kicks in BotW. The open world was speaking louder than any cutscene. Exploring a foggy wood hit stronger than any lore drop. Almost a shame that you cold teleport. I found myself deliberately riding to a destination just to soak it all in

This is also why I decided to collect all 900 Korok seeds. I felt like I haven't given Hyrule my full attention. The Korok seeds gave me an excuse to revisit all of the places, go down all of the paths I haven't taken yet, turn over every stone.

It was the correct decision.

I wished the DarkSoulsian shortcuts you open in Hyrule castle would persist across attempts.
I wished after beating Ganon you could explore Hyrule as all the communities are recovering.
I wished the DLC had you play as the actual Champions.

I hope BotW2 lets you play as Zelda.

In summary:

Best Region - Akkala
Best Armor - Climbing Gear
Best NPC - Paya
Best Side Quest - Little Sister's Big Request
Best Stable - Outskirt Stable