The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild | Switch/Wii U | Out Now

[MischievousMonkey]

I'm def looking forward to BOTW2 when it drops.

I dream about it

 

[TheAnointedOne]

Show this to anyone who didn’t finish BotW due to weapon durability. This is a Quick fix

Are there people out there who abandon the game because of this one minor flaw? I fukking hate flaky people like that. Nothing is perfect.

 

[ball15life]

I'm finally getting around to playing this and man this is dope as hell. The last Zelda game I played was Skyward Sword but this might be the most complete Zelda game ever. I'm about 6 hours in and this shyt already a classic. I'm def looking forward to BOTW2 when it drops.

It honestly baffles me when people call it boring. I really don't understand that at all

 

[iceberg_is_on_fire]

I'm finally getting around to playing this and man this is dope as hell. The last Zelda game I played was Skyward Sword but this might be the most complete Zelda game ever. I'm about 6 hours in and this shyt already a classic. I'm def looking forward to BOTW2 when it drops.

Jealous of you breh. You are experiencing everything for the first time.

 

[Dre Space Age]

Are there people out there who abandon the game because of this one minor flaw? I fukking hate flaky people like that. Nothing is perfect.

It’s the number one complaint about this game, the second complaint is about there being no traditional seasonal dungeons.

 

[TheAnointedOne]

It’s the number one complaint about this game, the second complaint is about there being no traditional seasonal dungeons.

I'm aware.

I just don't think it's enough to deter people from playing the game.

 

[darryl]

Yall hyped this game wayy to much. Beat it about 2 months ago and the game was just fine. It was a good game, but the people who say it's the greatest game over? No. I wouldn't say it's boring, but the lack of npcs is noticeable. Beautiful looks wise, but to me, rdr2 is still the greatest open world game when you factor in everything from the npcs, to the immersenivess, to the gameplay etc

 

[The Plug]

Yall hyped this game wayy to much. Beat it about 2 months ago and the game was just fine. It was a good game, but the people who say it's the greatest game over? No. I wouldn't say it's boring, but the lack of npcs is noticeable. Beautiful looks wise, but to me, rdr2 is still the greatest open world game when you factor in everything from the npcs, to the immersenivess, to the gameplay etc

They're different approaches to open world. This post below explains better than I can.

---

On the most recent episode of the Triple Click podcast, Kirk Hamilton articulated what he calls the ECOTAG taxonomy of open world games. ECOTAG evaluates open worlds along three different spectrums to find a way to better describe them.

Emergent vs. Controlled: Are the open world mechanics systemic, dynamic, or simulated? Or are they more curated, authored, and fixed?

Opaque vs. Transparent: Does the game obscure information from the player? Or does it surface as much information about activities, locations, goals, etc as possible?

Aesthetic vs. Gamey: Does movement through the world offer minimal resistance? Or does travel require/incentivize more input, action, or strategy?

Under this taxonomy, Kirk describes Elden Ring as a COA (Controlled, Opaque, Aesthetic), while BOTW is an EOG (Emergent, Opaque, Gamey). What they share is a similar commitment to opacity in both their presentation and world design. They’re both meant to make you go “what’s around that corner” or “what’s over that hill” and then be delighted, scared, surprised, confused, etc. when you get there. It’s great.

But they differ in other key areas.

BOTW is way more systemic. Its gameplay is about the interplay between all the abilities and tools you have that manipulate the physical world and environmental conditions. Encounters in the open world are about leveraging your tools and playing within the sandbox in an emergent way.

Elden Ring doesn’t have tons of interconnected systems that manipulate the world state. What it does have are tons of awesome, highly authored and designed combat and dungeon challenges. Its systems are geared toward empowering the player in tightly controlled and designed encounters, the bread and butter of Dark Souls designed.

BOTW has a much greater focus on gamifying traversal. Stamina interweaves with climbing and swimming and gliding. You can engage with emergent systems to change how you traverse the world, and you have to plan or strategize in the process.

Elden Ring’s world offers comparatively little resistance. If you’re not interacting with a designed combat encounter, you can hop on Torrent and breeze through it with basically no trouble. It’s about setting an awesome tone and giving you time to de-stress and regroup between intense Souls challenges.

So really they share a lot in terms of surfacing minimal information to the player up front. But the rest of the DNA of their open worlds is pretty distinct and offers different strengths and weaknesses.

Here’s how Kirk described some other games using this system:

• Dying Light 2 = ETG (Emergent, Transparent, Gamey)
• Horizon Forbidden West = CTA (Controlled, Transparent, Aesthetic)
• Elden Ring = COA (Controlled, Opaque, Aesthetic)
• Red Dead Redemption 2 = EOA (Emergent, Opaque, Aesthetic)
• Outer Wilds = COG (Controlled, Opaque, Gamey)
• Gravity Rush: CTG
• Cyberpunk 2077: CTA
• Subnautica: EOG
• Skyrim: EOA
• Forza Horizon 5: CTG
• Spider-Man: CTG
• Ghost of Tsushima = CTA
• BOTW = EOG
• GTAV = EOA
• Minecraft = EOG

Obviously it’s not cut and dry. Some Emergent games are more Emergent than others, some games handle being “emergent” differently, etc. But I think this is a way of thinking about these games.

 

[Gizmo_Duck]

Are there people out there who abandon the game because of this one minor flaw? I fukking hate flaky people like that. Nothing is perfect.

Its not a flaw its a feature.

 

[Master Teacher]

Yall hyped this game wayy to much. Beat it about 2 months ago and the game was just fine. It was a good game, but the people who say it's the greatest game over? No. I wouldn't say it's boring, but the lack of npcs is noticeable. Beautiful looks wise, but to me, rdr2 is still the greatest open world game when you factor in everything from the npcs, to the immersenivess, to the gameplay etc

Two different types of games, There's barely any gameplay in Red Dead it's an interactive movie, all the missions are scripted, you have to follow the script or you get a failure and have to replay the mission again, the game has no zero replay value after finish the long contrived story, most overhyped game of all time with controls from the ps2 era, terrible game

Zelda is a franchise about exploration and solving puzzles, not going around looking at NPCS, all the NPCS are in towns where they are suppose to be and you also have them wandering the wilderness, like Red Dead, literally no difference

Traversal in the game is actually part of the gameplay, you have to figure out how to traverse the terrain and get around obstacles like a real life explorer woul have to

in Red Dead you just go from waypoint to waypoint the game is on auto pilot it's a sandbox game, not an open world game, BOTW you can go straight to the final boss from the beginning of the game

Red Dead you have to follow script to get to the end of the game it's not open world

 

[Jim Cornette]

They're different approaches to open world. This post below explains better than I can.

---

On the most recent episode of the Triple Click podcast, Kirk Hamilton articulated what he calls the ECOTAG taxonomy of open world games. ECOTAG evaluates open worlds along three different spectrums to find a way to better describe them.

Emergent vs. Controlled: Are the open world mechanics systemic, dynamic, or simulated? Or are they more curated, authored, and fixed?

Opaque vs. Transparent: Does the game obscure information from the player? Or does it surface as much information about activities, locations, goals, etc as possible?

Aesthetic vs. Gamey: Does movement through the world offer minimal resistance? Or does travel require/incentivize more input, action, or strategy?

Under this taxonomy, Kirk describes Elden Ring as a COA (Controlled, Opaque, Aesthetic), while BOTW is an EOG (Emergent, Opaque, Gamey). What they share is a similar commitment to opacity in both their presentation and world design. They’re both meant to make you go “what’s around that corner” or “what’s over that hill” and then be delighted, scared, surprised, confused, etc. when you get there. It’s great.

But they differ in other key areas.

BOTW is way more systemic. Its gameplay is about the interplay between all the abilities and tools you have that manipulate the physical world and environmental conditions. Encounters in the open world are about leveraging your tools and playing within the sandbox in an emergent way.

Elden Ring doesn’t have tons of interconnected systems that manipulate the world state. What it does have are tons of awesome, highly authored and designed combat and dungeon challenges. Its systems are geared toward empowering the player in tightly controlled and designed encounters, the bread and butter of Dark Souls designed.

BOTW has a much greater focus on gamifying traversal. Stamina interweaves with climbing and swimming and gliding. You can engage with emergent systems to change how you traverse the world, and you have to plan or strategize in the process.

Elden Ring’s world offers comparatively little resistance. If you’re not interacting with a designed combat encounter, you can hop on Torrent and breeze through it with basically no trouble. It’s about setting an awesome tone and giving you time to de-stress and regroup between intense Souls challenges.

So really they share a lot in terms of surfacing minimal information to the player up front. But the rest of the DNA of their open worlds is pretty distinct and offers different strengths and weaknesses.

Here’s how Kirk described some other games using this system:

• Dying Light 2 = ETG (Emergent, Transparent, Gamey)
• Horizon Forbidden West = CTA (Controlled, Transparent, Aesthetic)
• Elden Ring = COA (Controlled, Opaque, Aesthetic)
• Red Dead Redemption 2 = EOA (Emergent, Opaque, Aesthetic)
• Outer Wilds = COG (Controlled, Opaque, Gamey)
• Gravity Rush: CTG
• Cyberpunk 2077: CTA
• Subnautica: EOG
• Skyrim: EOA
• Forza Horizon 5: CTG
• Spider-Man: CTG
• Ghost of Tsushima = CTA
• BOTW = EOG
• GTAV = EOA
• Minecraft = EOG

Obviously it’s not cut and dry. Some Emergent games are more Emergent than others, some games handle being “emergent” differently, etc. But I think this is a way of thinking about these games.

It a fukking video game... Wtf is all this nonense pal

 

[TQbrit]

Still aint finished it

 

[The Plug]

It a fukking video game... Wtf is all this nonense pal

Expand your mind slime.

 

[Black Mamba]

I arrived in Goron city burning like a moffuka
Was running like a nikka that had the worst bubble guts tryna find a way to stop burning
Was using food like crazy to stay alive but I found that armor shop.
What’s more fukked up is that I glided to get there and thought I had arrived but landed in a goblin camp
I survived and just took off and glided more till I made it
This game fire yes pun intended

 

[Piff Perkins]

Funny thing is this LOOKS like the Zelda game I dreamed about as a kid, yet here I am as an adult just saying "maybe I'll buy a switch for this..." and haven't yet. I'll prob do it before the end of the year lol. I watch vids in this thread and am still blown away. Seems like the perfect game to throw on after work and just get lost.