THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: BREATH OF THE WILD REVIEW

 

Well hello. Huge Zelda fan here, with a collection of every single game, manga and book here. I love Zelda lore, I love Zelda's Universe and their history behind.

I played BOTW last year due to some problems I had that didn't let me buy the console and the game the moment it came out. But it eventually it worked out.

 

The whole feeling that I was left with was .... meh.

 

I'm not saying it's a bad game by any means, I'm just saying it's not Zelda. It was an open-world mediocre adventure with Zelda skin.

 

I know many will not accept my way of thinking but listen to this. Zelda was always innovative. Bringing new style of play to every game and never was afraid as a franchise to take a risk and change the whole game from the last one.

This was a thing from the early years of the franchise. The Legend of Zelda in 1986 was an overhead openworld adventure, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link was a sidescrolling RPG for the most time. Ocarina of Time was a huge success with its fantasy, story and fairytale tone. Its sequel, Majora's Mask was a dark fantasy world, with end-of-the-world vibe and even a timer.

All those things were innovative and Zelda was never afraid to take a step forward even in its gameplay. Stylus-based games in DS (PH and ST) and motion controls in Wii and Skyward Sword.

But this one... Was just an open-world adventure like many others started to appear after 2011's success of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.

 

Now let's get into the game.

 

The game starts off great. You just wake up (once again) and you are almost naked and you have to find out what's going on around you. The feeling of adventure is high and your effort for survival through healing and fighting is at its top.

The first hours of the game are amazing, with you, just exploring and finding new places, new upgrades, new weapons, new shields even new armors.

But when you are in the middle of the game, it just stops being that great.

Yes, exploring is still there, but if you are like me, you just want to find the Shrines and upgrade your life or stamina. After the first 20+ hours the game just becomes grinding.

Most quests aren't that interesting and you just wish to find quests like the Evertide Island, but there are only a few like that and a total of 120 shrines all over the world.

Don't even get me started with Korok Seeds...

 

The Main Quest is.... meh

But let's say you don't care that much about completing all 120 shrines. You care about the main quest and the main story (Which isn't the best idea, since you can't have you green-tunic Link unless you finish all 120 shrines).

The Main story has its moments, but the Divine Beasts are the most boring dungeons EVER MADE. I mean your goal in there is just to do a format to its system and delete the virus that's "inser element"-blight Ganon like you work in Microsoft or something.

I like the moments leading to the Divine Beasts, but that's all.

 

Memorable moments...

Well, there are many memorable moments in the game, I give it that. All Zelda's memories are great, some NPCs have great stories to tell and some Quests leading to Shrines are great and the whole Master Sword trial is beatiful. But in such a HUGE WORLD they are so little in number. In general, yes there are great places and great things to do, but its like looking for a needle in hay (unless you use some walkthrough or something).

 

In conclusion...

The game's map shouldnt be that big, since it didn't have so much content to provide. I don't care to climb a huge mountain, just to find a Korok up there. It can keep its seed and put it wherever it wants. Since there are no items like previous Zelda games, or treasures, it doesn't make me want to search. Because even if I find a great-axe or a sword that deals 100+ damage, well it won't stay with me for long, since durability can not be "healed" by any blacksmiths or enchantments.

 

I know most of you, won't agree with me and you will try to defend this game like it's your life and believe me I get you. Zelda is a huge part of my life, but I won't defend something just because it's Zelda.