Elden Ring Does What Breath of the Wild Don't

[@Woaley]

Thank you so much for watching. NEW VIDEOS EVERY WEDNESDAY !!! Subscribe so you don't miss it. Have a wonderful day, yahaha ! My new video Why Gaming Sucks Now is LIVE so check it out :D

[@ponchoskunk420]

Dunkey described Elden Ring best when he said “If you’re not the kind of person who enjoys spending hours exploring a dungeon to get an item you will never use, you don’t get Elden Ring.”

[@Woaley]

Yeah literally though, it's in the journey, not the destination

[@benjilovesfruit]

One thing that’s so great about Elden Ring is that every single area you can see, you can go there. For example, when you get to the Siofra River and you see the giant (Mohg’s) mausoleum in the distance, you think that it’s just for backdrop or decoration. Nope.

[@Woaley]

Yeah that's what made Skyrim and BotW so amazing too, you can go anywhere you can see.

[@eliasfigarzon9813]

I mean you can do the same and 10x more in breath of the wild. Elden suffers from this but in a different way

[@marcus6918]

@@eliasfigarzon9813disagree. Elden Rings areas are even more awe inspiring than those in BotW for me and therefore even more rewarding. BotW was my fav game before elden ring and its more than obvious that miyazaki took huge inspiration, but Elden Ring just takes the crown for best game of all time at this point

[@eliasfigarzon9813]

@marcus6918 yeah dude, I can see you don't have any bias here lmao

[@marcus6918]

@@eliasfigarzon9813 nah dude I am very much open to discuss some flaws the game has

[@marc.vonwyl]

Skyrim. Leaving the cave, at the beginning of the game. Me: "So where do I go now?" The game: "Anywhere you want. You have a world to discover."

[@Woaley]

@@marc.vonwyl I love when games do this right. Like being able to really explore a world and have it all be engaging is special. It's YOUR journey

[@nakkipate1953]

i wish skyrim had better graphics

[@Bunkle_Gael]

@@nakkipate1953 I wish Skyrim had better combat.

[@marc.vonwyl]

@@nakkipate1953 I understand there are plenty of mods which can make it looks much better. Though, I don't have a list...

[@nakkipate1953]

@@marc.vonwyl i gotta try them

[@coolguychecker7329]

As somebody who loved Breath of the Wild and got bored with Elden Ring relatively early on, I appreciate hearing the perspective of somebody who prefers Elden Ring. I think the way you explore the world in Elden Ring, at least in the first third of the game, is great. I like that stuff is actually locked off behind knowledge or items elsewhere in the map. But it kind of ran out of steam once I figured out how everything was connected. Once I got warped from Raya Lucario to the volcano area, it was pretty easy to just make it to the capital. After that point, like 20-30 hours into what ended up taking me like 150, there was no other mystery to discover. The Siofra river was a cool discovery, but then it just ended up being a series of linear environments with light-the-torch puzzles that weren't that engaging. If Elden Ring kept the pace of its first third up for the whole game, it would have been great despite the fact I couldn't really find a way to enjoy the combat. Everything after the capital was just mind numbingly boring to explore and left a very foul taste in my mouth. It's a game I never want to go back to.

[@Woaley]

Yeah I agree Elden Ring is really frontloaded with that discovery and then the end is kinda weak. The Godfrey, Radagon, Elden Beast boss gauntlet is pretty peak tho

[@coolguychecker7329]

@@Woaley I can see how for most people, the combat really carries the experience forward. It seems you really got into the build variety, which makes all exploration rewarding, no matter how repetitive. I couldn't really get into the combat, so I didn't care if a dungeon granted me something consistent with my build or not. Exploration was its own reward for me and Elden Ring's exploration, on its own, wasn't carrying the game for me. I think Breath of the Wild better supports a player like me in that regard. Though I hope the next Zelda borrows some of Elden Ring's map/level design.

[@Alexander_Grant]

For me, I don't see how anyone liked BotW. It got boring for me within the first 5 hours, exploration was boring, combat wasn't fun, and weapons breaking was awful. Everything it tried to do with emergent behavior was done 10x better by MGSV. Elden Ring is incredible though.

[@jarlwhiterun7478]

Got bored early on. 150 hours later. Sounds boring!

[@coolguychecker7329]

@@jarlwhiterun7478 Was hoping it would hit some kind of high again like the beginning of the game, which was quite good. People told me it would, but it never did. I had a bad case of sunk cost fallacy.

[@shannonconnor3697]

I can definitely agree that Elden Ring keeps me coming back more than BOTW or TOTK, but the latter games definitely make me feel like exploring more. They both excel at their respective exploration experiences, and I really hope more games emulate the successes of both

[@Woaley]

Yeah I hope we get more of these dense, player driven open worlds. Love the format

[@unquestionable57]

The only thing holding Elden from being a perfect game is the fact that most catacombs are useless they just have a reused boss with a spirit summon as a reward

[@Woaley]

Yeah the catacombs suck I skipped most of them

[@xEcuador1]

This is a non-complaint. These caves serves as gears and optional loadouts for specific builds. Once you’re done just don’t do them. DLC fixes this as a whole so what you’re saying is literally a nothing burger m

[@valentinvas6454]

The DLC catacombs are so good though. They reduced their numbers but they are so big with new features and you only encounter the death knight miniboss in those. I swear it felt like being able to explore them for the first time was already a reward.

[@Woaley]

@@valentinvas6454 I 100% agree. Less is more should've def been the approach with the catacombs. They always led to new places and had interesting gimmicks.

[@generic_tough_guy.4830]

Not for everyone. Idk why I enjoy the catacombs even if they're lame. But I understand the absolute hatred for them.

[@huskytzu7709]

Devs are so scared to challenge the players that it could hurt their sales so they take the easy way. When a studio caters their game to a group of audience it can only be enjoyable to that specific group of players, however when a studio are successful at realizing their vision regardless of catering to a group, it can resonate with a wider audience as that in itself is an admirable trait in a game. You earned a sub.

[@Woaley]

Thank you so much for the kind words, I appreciate it. Yeah I feel like Elden Ring succeeded in the way it did cause the devs had a vision they wanted to realize. They weren't "making the ultimate souls game" they were making the best "game" they could. I was so happy to see it's success cause hopefully we'll get more "how can we make a great game" and less of "how can we sell a lot of copies of this game".

[@mtbboy3960]

I already put about 300 hours into Elden ring… And now I have to do another hundred to try all your builds WHY ARE THEY SO COOL😭

[@Woaley]

Haha thanks man, I've made a gazillion builds at this point but yeah these are def my faves

[@jenbooob]

My typical elden ring playthrough goes something like this: A naked crack addict with a stick awakens with a need in her heart (in this case lets say fire). She will ravage the lands between for all things fire and brimstone, eventually walking up on radagon in a gravekeeper cloak, commoner pants, and some bloody rags on her hands while carrying 2 torches, a funny yellow fire, a perfume bottle filled to the brim with chili powder, a massive hunk of iron coated in bloodflame, and an unending supply of pots that are filled with improvised explosives of some form.

[@Woaley]

You forgot going straight to Caelid to beat the shit out a disabled dragon. Fr tho Elden Ring really lets you live the murder hobo fantasy. There's these crazy gods and you're just a guy with a big stick 😂

[@Blinkers2007GameDev]

Elden ring is the best video game I have ever played. Just incredible. I am a game developer(17 years old) and I aspire to become a professional game dev. I started my open world dream game project today and it's going to take roughly 4 years for me to make it. I will take inspiration from these masterpieces when creating the open world.

[@Woaley]

Awesome dude push hard, we need the next generation of great game devs. Before doing YT I was trying to learn how to code and make games but that shit is too hard for me, I'll just hate in online video 😂😭

[@yvindvego9404]

elden ring was the first open world game since i played skyrim in 2012 where i was really enjoying exploring the world. every new dungeon/cave i found was a new adventure. doing ranni's quest and finding a completely new world underground to explore.

[@Woaley]

Yeah Elden Ring has a lot of those holy shit moments where you're like wow this game has EVERYTHING. Skyrim is a classic

[@cinemapills3839]

Yes, but then again we don't get Elden Ring without Breath of The Wild and The Legend of Zelda in general. Elden Ring is built upon what BoTW achieved. Both are masterpieces with their own specific merits

[@Woaley]

Yeah no fosho. As I say in the intro, Elden Ring is a successor to Breath of the Wild. It is the only game (besides the obvious sequel TotK) that takes it's open world mechanics and builds on them. Originally the video was called "How Elden Ring Builds on Breath of the Wild" but it seemed like a boring title.

[@cinemapills3839]

@@Woaley This title is good man. Great video!

[@EhurtAfy]

I disagree on the significance of Breath of the Wild, it came late and was derivative of many other games. It was just like a number of PC games that let you explore and interact with an open-world, had survival mechanics, had interesting powers. Garry's Mod had Sheikah Slate powers 20 years ago. Also, we had immersive sims like Dishonored that let you get very creative with more interesting powers, freeze time, possess enemies, walk them into their own bullets. We had Xenoblade Chronicles X on the Wii U, a way bigger and more detailed world than Breath of the Wild, I enjoyed it a lot more. Tomb Raider trilogy from 2013-18 which had great puzzles, dungeons, tools, and platforming reminiscent of traditional Zelda games and puzzles. Horizon Zero Dawn had a huge open world, similar combat and puzzles to Tomb Raider, rideable mech dinosaurs, everything I wanted. I could add Skyrim, Fallout 4, Ark, The Forest, Dying Light, Shadow of Mordor, Dark Souls 1 & 2. When I finally got around to Breath of the Wild, there was little point in playing, I'd played other games which did everything better. BUT, if you only had a Switch, Breath of the Wild might seem innovative since Switch fans were starved of good open world games. Breath of the Wild was just so boring by the time it came out, maybe if it came out closer to 2014/15, but they delayed the game by almost 3 years and better games beat them to it

[@FirstLast-yc9lq]

Huh? Elden Ring was being developed during The Ringed City. This was always in the plans even before Breath of the Wild. Miyazaki is a big Oblivion and Skyrim fan and original Zelda fan. That's where a lot of his influence comes from (Outside of Berserk, obviously)

[@cinemapills3839]

@@EhurtAfy I get you but all the games you mentioned have a very, very different approach to open world and game design then BoTW in my opinion

[@chrislevack405]

Cant climb or paraglide. 0/10 Miyazaki fail

[@Woaley]

You gotta wait for Dark Souls 2 2 for the paragliding

[@durpanda123]

I've been a Zelda fan all my life and only played Elden Ring because of how much I loved BOTW and man am I glad I did, I still play Elden Ring to this day and can still remember the first times the map expanded and when I used the lift down to Siofra river, both moments that made me go shiiit this game is a lot bigger than I thought it was. The one problem I have with these types of games is that I am never as invested in the story, I think companies need to find a better balance of actual story and open world gameplay, for the most part in Elden Ring and even more so in BOTW/TOTK it just feels like you're messing around in a sandbox, I'd love for these games to keep their incredible gameplay but immerse you a bit more in a more structured story, it doesn't have to be linear, just have better structure. Anyway great lil video dude! curse bayle n all that

[@Woaley]

HAHA thanks for making it to the end. Yeah that's the one thing I desperately want in these games, a great story. I understand it's hard to implement in these types of open world "go anywhere" games, but it would be amazing for the world and narrative to cohesively tell a story. Maybe it needs to go the Monster Hunter route where there's open world "zones" that are really open like this but unlock as you play through the game.

[@Xx_Tr4nsF3m_xX]

there is a LOT of story in elden ring, virtually everything in the game has some lore related to it, theres just so much of it hidden

[@Ontos99]

This was a great video, dude. As an Elden Ring lore channel, I can confirm that when the 'physical' exploration is done along with the best open world action combat, you get into the spiritual/narrative exploration and it continues to blow your mind haha

[@Woaley]

Yeah Elden Ring just has so much to offer the player, if you really like these types of games you can get so much out of it.

[@IceChurch]

How the heck do you only have 394 subscribers? Editing and narration is superb. You have personality, so refreshing. Keep it up!

[@Woaley]

THANK YOUUU. We all gotta start somewhere, I really appreciate your words, new video tomorrow ;)

[@koocherry793]

Breath of the Wild walked so Elden Ring could SPRINT

[@QuadalupeThe3rd]

Yeah combining the souls games with open world is a perfect blend

[@thog8169]

if botw walked then I am disabled

[@switchclaw]

​@@thog8169you are.

[@TempleofSherman]

More like breath of the wild sprinted so Elden ring could break the sound barrier

[@figoospalle]

And without consuming stamina too

[@dylanhobby1431]

Wonderful Video! Wish you the best of luck growing your channel!

[@Woaley]

Hell yeah man thank you. The video next week is gonna be really good so stay tuned.

[@nakkipate1953]

1:11 paris in ac untiy absolutely is worth exploring

[@Woaley]

I knew someone would comment this. I actually don't dislike AC Unity, imo the last AC game I enjoyed. I just needed a Ubisoft open world map for the pic 😂

[@nakkipate1953]

@@Woaley all downhill from there

[@doryymiller]

ive been wanting to make a video about this but more happy to get to watch one this morning!

[@Woaley]

You still can! I'm def not the first person to talk about this stuff, and I'm sure you have more to add. Thanks for watching :D

[@SK-mp7ul]

Saw your post on Reddit and you just gained a sub. Straight from the start I like your editing.

[@Woaley]

Thank you man, I put a lot of work into making it as professional as possible. New videos every Wednesday so enjoy!

[@VoidBringer_98]

The immersion factor definitely plays big into this game being as fun as it is for me! I have multiple playthroughs running simultaneously and in my mind they are basically members of a guild that serve an order parallel to the world of Elden Ring. They have been sent there to gather resources and dethrone Radagon is the basic storylines. Each playthrough has a build and a few restrictions like a challenge run. Its good stuff 😂

[@Woaley]

@@VoidBringer_98 That's awesome. This is what I was talking about in the video, there's so many stories you can create in ER that elevate the experience so much and I love that. It adds so many layers and personality to each playthrough

[@VoidBringer_98]

@Woaley It definitely adds personality and changes the way you see the game in certain aspects. On one of those playthroughs I'm doing a Cosmic Warlord build where he can only use weapons and sorcery that have some astrology based concept. That limitation led me to using the Meteoric Ore Blade, a katana that I usually pick up but never use and the meteorite staff as my base weapons. On regular weapons, I can basically use any but the AOW has to be gravitas or crag blade, the only two gravity ashes. It's been fun collecting the gravity spells and going about the game like that and a bit tougher in some aspects. Good fun. Got the Ruins Great sword recently so looks like this is going to be a Strength Int build playthrough

[@2heo1987]

Elden ring forces you to explore, botw doesn't. It's an open world game, of course I have to explore. But man, unless you explore the mines scattered around the world you're screwed

[@Woaley]

Yeah Zelda is kinda entirely player driven in it's exploration, but I like it. ER forces you to go to other places to level up

[@zaidlacksalastname4905]

Unless you're very good at botw, you can't beat the game without having a good amount of shrines (for health and stuff).

[@gabrielgian6207]

@@zaidlacksalastname4905 people understate how kinda hard (obviously not Fromsoft hard) Breath is to a newcomer who isn't reading how to play it online.

[@omnix4193]

Editing is peak! Great video :D

[@Woaley]

THANK YOUUU, so kind. I literally just started editing about a month ago with the release of my first video. Constantly releasing these has led me to improve fast methinks.

[@omnix4193]

@@Woaley the quality of your video gives me vibes of a MUCH bigger channel so you're doing an amazing job! in which software are you editing? :)

[@_yash.m._]

Like your editing and script.

[@Woaley]

@@_yash.m._ Thanks :D

[@Weedocto]

This is goated, super underrated

[@Woaley]

Thank you my friend :D , new videos every Wednesday !

[@PurpleFX1]

Doesn’t* not don’t for the title

[@losersniper]

very good video, keep it up dude.

[@Woaley]

I appreciate the kind words, new videos every Wednesday this train don't stop

[@osamamansoor927]

man i love watchin this channel grow so much :') pls keep at it the quality of the content speaks for itself!!!!

[@Woaley]

Hell yeah brother we're gonna get to a MORBILLION SUBS

[@osamamansoor927]

@Woaley 5 morbillion sub stream when

[@solidsnake9898]

Breath of the Wild does the exploration better and ER does the combat better. I love both, but if I had to pick one I would pick Breath of the Wild. It's more interactive. In Elden Ring all you do really is walk around and kill stuff.

[@Woaley]

Yeah those physics based mechanics allow for a lot more puzzle solving from a world interaction perspective. The ability to climb literally anything is also an insane mechanic.

[@gabrielgian6207]

Literally just Dark Souls with a BotW world format. Which is awesome, don't get me wrong, but people make it as though it reinvented the very concept of creative, open-world gameplay like BotW (and then TotK) because they think 'good open-world' was the only thing those Zeldas did.

[@CedricBassman]

Gonna agree with most of what you said. That you put the Witcher 3 Map in your "Worlds not worth exploring" section is a war crime nonetheless. In a Video dedicated about open worlds you should've recognized that Witcher 3 is actually one of the Games where the World is worth exploring.

[@Woaley]

Shortly after the maps show up I say the Witcher 3 is an exception that I found to be great. I just needed a map to put there for emphasis and got lazy, I'm only human. You and many other comments have cast me to the depths of hell for this small editing flaw, but I respect the attention to detail 😂

[@CedricBassman]

@@Woaley Look at the positive. Many people noticing it means you made your video engaging enough that people actually paid attention. In a world where the average attention span is shot to hell thanks to Tik Tok and co. i see this as an absolute win. On another note, your video reminded me how crazy it is that Far Cry 3 is 13 years old And how it's even crazier it is that if you played Far Cry, you essentially played every single open world Game Ubisoft has made since then, because the gameplay loop is literally copy paste of Far Cry 3. No matter if it's Assassins Creed, Far Cry or even Ghost Recon. If you played one Ubisoft Open World Game, you can just watch Lore videos for all the others if that's what interests you. No need to actually play them, you already have.

[@matthewphilibert-jones4248]

ER was the best game EVER made ! And it's not even close to ANYTHING.

[@Woaley]

It is quite a spectacular achievement

[@matthewphilibert-jones4248]

@@Woaley I doubt there will be another game that hit hard as elden ring and it's dlc!!!

[@zaidlacksalastname4905]

I love when I take a chance on a random video and it turns out great. Elden Ring really is the next botw-size step in gaming, and in 2024, it's still my favourite game of all time, especially with the dlc

[@Woaley]

I appreciate your kind words. ER is prob my favorite game too, been playing it since release and literally no game has grabbed me for that long. Can't wait for FromSoft's next masterpiece.

[@noahfreeman8115]

My only complaint about BotW/TotK after playing 400 hours in Elden Ring is that I love how you can vary the builds in ER in a way that you can’t quite do in Zelda. Various builds make the game so replayable.

[@Woaley]

The builds are crazy in Elden Ring, idk any other game with so much variety and viability in buildcraft. Thanks for watching :D

[@Kreatorofdeath2]

My new game plus is me playing the role of Godwyn. I play him as a lightning god destroying every enemy with no complications, as he should. Praise the prince of death

[@Woaley]

Yeah it's a shame they didn't expand more on the Godwyn lore in the DLC, woulda been hella cool

[@haveasausage3822]

I HAVE FELT THIS FOR SO LONG!!! The thing with just the theme and lazy video games that rent actually good or fun, I have ranted so much to my friends. It’s like people think stuff is really good just because they haven’t experienced better and they annoy me so much for it

[@Woaley]

People keep buying this slop every single year, so companies will keep making it unfortunately.

[@haveasausage3822]

Yes I totally agree, I only buy games worth the experience, sparking zero is literally the only game I bought this year as well as the DLC for elden ring

[@Blinkers2007GameDev]

Btw what about ghost of thushima? I haven't played that yet but would like a review. You are an underrated youtuber and could go far

[@Woaley]

I actually recently finished Ghost of Tsushima, and I found it very beautiful and enjoyable. I wanna do a video on it before Yotei comes out. It's on the calendar, so lookout for it in the next months 👀

[@xienho]

I think what kept bringing me back to elden ring was pvp. Exploring TLB with the taunters tongue on made it so different.

[@Woaley]

I'm a huge PvP fan, watch a ton of ChasetheBro and that Warlock build in the video is especially insane for invasions. Trips people up every time

[@Wonsync]

What do you think about crimson desert? Ik it still didn’t come out, but how does it look

[@Woaley]

Cautiously optimistic. I'm not a huge fan of Black Desert but Crimson Desert looks cool, I'll prob give it a shot.

[@Mr.Starlight_gaming]

Man, i hope we ever get bacically a 3d metroidvania that blows up. Sorta like ds1 but with the interconection puched to its litmit, much more vertical and dense map design sound great.

[@Woaley]

I feel like future Fromsoft games will leverage this design. They've already said they weren't gonna do another project with the scope of Elden Ring for a while, so I see them incorporating the exploration and rpg mechanics that Elden Ring blew up for into a smaller game like you described. I can't wait to see what they cook up.

[@boggle4763]

Lynels are just tree sentinels

[@Woaley]

THIS MAN IS SPITTIN 🗣️🔥

[@Gtenathecat]

radahn looks like a lynel

[@boggle4763]

@@Gtenathecat fr

[@puppetmaskerr]

I generally agree but imo botw despite lacking content specially in terms of enemies and bosses still had a more enjoyable moment to moment experience simply because its open world is fun to traverse due to the freedom offered by climbing which allows and incentivizes you to go anywhere. While elden ring is "free" there still are expected pathways like liurnia is divided into 3 lanes. Limgrave has a nothern direction and east direction etc. While botw genuinely lets you go anywhere at anytime without feeling out of place.

[@Woaley]

Yeah the climbing in BotW blew me away when I first played it. Literally no game, even today (well besides Genshin Impact), let's you do that

[@leon_osc]

even though I always slam my head through the wall with a strength based weapon its always cool to see what spells and incantations everyone is using while also combining them and create a fukin anime scene. Beautiful game

[@Woaley]

I was always a BONK guy in FromSoftware games but holy crap there are so many cool spells in ER, you gotta run at least some of them.

[@Luizanimado]

I couldn't love Elden Ring, I don't know exactly why, I think because every area and enemie feels the same for me, everywhere you go is basically killing some enemies and finding a boss at the end. The world feels dead, and I think is it intentional, I guess they were aiming for this Limbo or Hell aesthetic, but I just don't care much for the places and locations, it's just essentially the same thing, in BOTW you have more variation, sometimes you going to find a monster, but other times you find a peaceful village, or a guy asking if you wanna olay bowling, or a dragon stuck on a mountain, or maybe an island that removes all your equipment, Elden Ring doesn't have this, is basically "here's some enemies end a boss", and that's ok, I get that the game is focus on the Kombat, but man, after a while I just didn't care, I remember going up to a castle or something, after killing some soldier for the 1000 time, I just having that feeling "why am I doing this, this is not fun". I don't know, when I see people talking so passionate about Elden Ring, I get so excited to play, like, I totally understand why people love this game, but I just don't enjoy playing it for some reason.

[@zacharyl3751]

Word. Not a patch on BB, DS1 or even Sekiro.

[@Xx_Tr4nsF3m_xX]

breath of the wild has copy paste enemies as well ⁉️

[@Luizanimado]

@@Xx_Tr4nsF3m_xX yeah, but I'm not talking only about enemies, I'm talking about the game in general.

[@bmxgu2361]

One thing that differentiates the two games and makes me always lean towards Breath of the Wild is how the game world makes you feel. Breath of the Wild takes place in an overgrown hyrule, a century after it's downfall. Because of this the world is never cluttered. You can take your time going places and enjoying the atmosphere without ever having to worry about missing a collectable, and travel never feels pointless when the game ensures that every bit of flora and fauna serve an important purpose in the gameplay. The world amplifies the story, allows you to pay attention to the music. And overall it exudes a strong feeling of nostalgia. The Dark Souls franchise handles their worlds in a very similar vein I feel. The map only contains what is necessary and gives you the space to take in it's world and music. Both Dark Souls and BoTW also don't have many other human beings to talk to, so most pieces of dialogue or interactions are very memorable. Elden Ring on the other hand excels at having a map packed full of items and locations. It makes everything appear very grandiose. It's a game with a million ways to play it, and many people enjoy that style a lot more then the minimalist but more methodically built games. I lean towards the latter but I always found it to be an interesting distinction between the 3D Zeldas and other Sousborne games versus Elden Ring.

[@Woaley]

Breath of the Wild is definitely an artsy open world. Much more relaxing to explore and I love the peace it brings me

[@itszaque]

My 2 favorite single player games of all time. Exploration simply for explorations sake is all I need, provided it's built on compelling gameplay.

[@Woaley]

Yeah these games just nail that exploration. I cannot wait for the next FromSoft game, I hope it's a linear type with these exploration elements.

[@vadoslink446]

Tbh, while Elden Ring is certainly one of the best games out there, I think it suffers from being an open world more than BotW/TotK did. The one thing that makes me prefer Zelda over Elden Ring is the general gameplay variety. Elden Ring has an insane amount of enemies that you can fight with an even more insane amount of different weapons, but while the game absolutely shines in regards to combat, it doesn't have many other legs to stand on. What made me love old souls games, was how incredibly tight they were. None of them were particularly long games, but that kept them fresh for the entire experience. I can't say the same about Elden Ring, where you'll eventually reach a point where enemies keep repeating over and over again and even the build variety can't keep encounters fresh. Aside from maybe the bosses, most fights will boil down to the same roll and attack (or run away and spam projectiles if you're a mage) gameplay we've had since Demon Souls. It wasn't as much of an issue in the other games due to how short they were and because most encounters were completely unique. That's not the case for Elden Ring though. The game was phenomenal for the first 40 hours, but then it took a massive nosedive for me. And that's not just because of the combat issue (which, let's be real, is nowhere near as bad as it is in other open world games), but also because there's not much to do outside of fighting. You still have exploration, but it never felt as interactive and diverse as it is in the new Zelda games. You barely have any quests or NPCs to interact with (and when you do, you get to deal with FromSoft's god awful take on quest design, where characters mostly just teleport to random places only to eventually die at the end of their questline) and your movement options are generally pretty boring. A lot of the stuff you find can be good on paper, but due to things like stat requirements, a lot of weapons, spells or other things turn out to be useless for your build, making the sense of discovery a bit disappointing at times. So in the end it just felt like a needlessly bloated Souls game to me. Compared to Zelda it has better combat (although I still love Zelda combat due to the many ways you can deal with fights), but it starts to get old after a while...especially since this combat system has been used in countless games by now. Aside from that, the exploration is worse than in Zelda, the story is too scattered and too far in the background to make me care about it and it doesn't have anything to really mix up the gameplay, like towns, a proper amount of quests or puzzles that aren't "here's a cryptic riddle that should somehow hint at making a specific pose, at a specific spot while wearing a very specific headpiece".

[@noseman9457]

Dude the cut at 2:37 made me jump out of my skin lol

[@Woaley]

LMAOOOO

[@rocky.9.9]

I loved Elden Rings Setting, Bosses and Lore But in my Opinion Breath of The Wild is better because it isnt forcing you to explore it’s encouraging you. While in Elden Ring you have to defeat Enemies to get XP And the Main Objective is just Killing the bosses, in Breath Of The Wild there is always a Path you CAN follow. When entering a new area you will First Go to the tower and then pick up a few Shrines on your way to the Story mission, But it still isnt linear, you will always find stuff to do apart From the Main road. In Elden Ring you have to explore to get XP And the Main Quests are very straight. Loved both to me BOTW is just better.

[@Woaley]

I love both too, they offer different things. I spent a lot of time not fighting bosses in Elden Ring, looking for gear, doing sidequests, making builds, playing pvp etc. Thank you for watching dear viewer :D

[@drlemon7729]

Decades later and most open worlds still can't match Skyrim

[@Woaley]

Skyrim has it's own issues, but yeah it really captures that open world magic, maybe I'll cover them in a future vid

[@GreatOldOne9866]

Elden Ring is the only game I’ve played that gives me a literal adrenaline rush. A lot of the bosses are so intimidating yet so much fun and rewarding once you defeat them. Easily one of my favorite games of all time!

[@Woaley]

For this video I fought the Fire Giant on NG+2 and holy shit I beat him my first try. But I was on literally no health or flasks when I beat him I was SWEATING LMAO

[@EhurtAfy]

Elden Ring is what I wanted Zelda to be when I grew up, but we got Breath of the Wild instead. Breath of the Wild was underwhelming, but Elden Ring restored my faith in gaming. I never thought I'd get chills playing a video game, but Elden Ring was so godly. The only other games that gave me this feeling were Ocarina of Time, Skyrim, Dishonored, and Bloodborne

[@Woaley]

Dude Bloodborne was so good. I'm definitely going to make a video on it.

[@zaidlacksalastname4905]

Being disappointed in BOTW is a valid opinion but it's completely unhinged to me lol. Different tastes ig

[@Christo_glenn]

I agree with this. I never understood the hype behind BOTW with its empty, boring world, terrible rewards for exploration, terrible copy-paste bosses, terrible copy-paste shrines, terrible copy-paste “dungeons” and the awful durability system. There are moments of brilliance, but it never gets fully realised.

[@frog4000]

WHAT WHAT WHAT WHAT WHAT I THOUGHT I WAS WATCHING SOME CHANNEL WITH MILLIONS OF SUBSCRIBERS AND 100S OF THOUSANDS OF LIKES AND VIEWS!!! SO UNDERRATED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@Woaley]

HAHAHA HELL YEAH MY FRIEND. YOU'RE HERE ON THE GROUND FLOOR. AIMING FOR A MORBILLION SUBS.

[@TheKniteOwl2686]

I feel BOTW and Elden Ring and neck and neck. I can’t pick between the 2. I think BOTW had a more seismic impact bc there was nothing like it at the time. Plus the fact that the the franchise broke the mold twice with OOT and BOTW is mind blowing

[@Woaley]

@@TheKniteOwl2686 I love them both, but I put more hours in ER. The rpg stuff just appeals to me more

[@tempest3052]

>Talks about creative builds >Proceeds to cast pest-thread spears

[@Woaley]

@@tempest3052 Pest thread spears are just too good not to have on a faith build

[@nuclearscarab]

I think your comparison might be better between Skyrim and Elden Ring. Obviously these game are very different as well, but more similar than BotW and either one of these. The who premise of BotW and ER are very different. BotW says, "here is a fun, lighthearted, and beautiful world, go out and explore and enjoy it", while ER says "here is a deep, challenging, stunning world, go out and explore it, learn builds and strategies and overcome the challenges we have for you".

[@Woaley]

At their core BotW and ER are player driven open worlds, as opposed to those found in Ubisoft and EA games. Skyrim def fits in there though, as I've always found that world to be very open in terms of exploration.

[@lukasguziur4229]

for me its totk>elden ring>botw i enjoyed botw the least i found it insanely boring and repetitive after like 30 hours reason why i prefer totk over botw and elden ring is because while totk still have that repetitive things like in botw totk just has more variety in everything you its like when you are like baby you are walking on four and say to yourself oh yeah this is good and then you learn to walk and you are like oh sh*t this is way better totk is just absolutely amazing in this regard and elden ring is second just because im not that much into souls games but the worlds between is way better as a map than hyrule in both botw and totk

[@Woaley]

Interesting take, very unique. For me it's prob be ER > BotW > TotK

[@lilray2942]

​@@Woaleyhell no

[@Boc_theSeamster]

Amazing video. But what I wanna know is your opinion on TotK vs SotE. One's a sequel, another is just an expansion, and yet it's still a fair comparison. I already know how I feel, because I have an EXTREMELY strong opinion on TotK

[@Woaley]

I think they're hard to compare. In my opinion, TotK feels like a second draft of Breath of the Wild, rather than a direct sequel. It builds on some things and completely guts other parts of the experience to create that mega sandbox we got. I think on a technical level, TotK is better than BotW but I prefer the vibes in BotW more. For SotE, my overall opinion of it is that it's just more Elden Ring, which isn't a bad thing. It's not really a sequel in the sense that it really evolves the formula, but it takes the BEST of ER and condenses it into a 40 hour campaign. It has more weapon diversity, more interesting and easy to follow quest lines, and more of the secrets that make the first game very appealing to play. But if you don't like ER you prob won't like the DLC. Overall I enjoyed SotE more cause it was just more of ER. I'm a huge PvP guy so I just got more of what I wanted. TotK left me disappointed partially cause I was anticipating it for like 6 years instead of the 2 years SotE took, but also cause it didn't really build on BotW but create a new version of that world.

[@Boc_theSeamster]

@@Woaley Nice explanation! I personally despise TotK and everything it stands for. I know it's unreasonable because it's technically not a bad game, but I really do hate everything about it. I used to be a Zelda fanboy, I consumed everything Zelda, but TotK somehow completely ruined my love for it. I'm like Thiollier when I look at Nintendo for what they did to Zelda, "I will never forgive you."

[@Woaley]

@Boc_theSeamster Check out my TotK video, it's my first one and I talk mad shit 😂

[@davidborned]

TotK is waaay bigger than sote tho lmao

[@Boc_theSeamster]

@@davidborned Ah yes. Bigger because it reuses the same map from breath of the wild. Copy paste garbage. A whole sequel but Nintendo couldn't be bothered to make a new map. SotE is just DLC and Fromsoft a whole new map for it.

[@lyfhg]

idk about you but i had fun exploring witchers 3's world

[@Woaley]

Yeah that map is just there for the sake of having a map, I love the Witcher 3 too

[@AlejandroAlvarez-uq3ri]

Nice builds dude, warlock looks badass. I too hate Ubisoft.

[@Woaley]

@@AlejandroAlvarez-uq3ri Jes I wanted to put like 20 in the video but had to restrain myself

[@MitchWarren]

You deserve more subs and views

[@Woaley]

We all gotta start somewhere. Thank you for the kind words :D

[@LarryDeskPlant]

Dude, I really need to get back into Elden Ring, I got stuck on the last dungeon of the DLC

[@Woaley]

Rauh ruins are bullshit so I understand

[@Gtenathecat]

@@Woaley i think he means enir ilim

[@Woaley]

@@Gtenathecat Ah that's true LMAO, my brain must have locked the trauma of the Radahn fight away

[@r.mariano8118]

Morowind had perhaps the best open world ever.

[@Woaley]

I played that game when I was like 9. It was like crack to my tiny brain

[@zaidlacksalastname4905]

I should try roleplaying a character, im always just minmaxing some cool weapon with as much armor as i can carry

[@Woaley]

Yeah I love the weapon scaling system. Some weapons are absolutely busted with the right stats.

[@Christo_glenn]

I tried to love BOTW, but it just left me disappointed. People go off about its “amazing” open world, but I thought it felt boring and the rewards for exploring sucked. Deku seeds and more copy-paste shrines aren’t great rewards in my opinion. The dungeons and lack of them was a major let down as well. The only glimpse of brilliance I saw was Hyrule Castle, which was amazing.

[@Woaley]

Yeah this is the single worst problem in both BotW and TotK, the rewards are straight ASS. In TotK it's even worse cause most of the rewards are just armor sets from the last game like are you fr.

[@deankelly5760]

Elden ring is the greatest game ever made and it isn’t even close

[@Woaley]

Pure cinema

[@traktorholik]

Its so sad that the open world design of ER and BotW is 2x worse than the world design of Gothic 1 or 2 and yet no one talks about it

[@Woaley]

I've never played the Gothic series but I keep getting it recommended to me. Should I just play it or wait for the remake to come out?

[@traktorholik]

@Woaley you should definitely try the original. Game ahead of its time. Npc day schedule, open world with no artificial barriers, combat allowing you to take down end game creatures at level 1 (good dodge/block timing), quests with multiple solutions and so on. I have to warn you that the controls are... Unique? When I've played for the first time i had to Google how to pick up an item but when you get used to them its ok. I would suggest you to play gothic 2 first cause its less archaic

[@Woaley]

@@traktorholik interesting thank you for the recommendation. If I like it I'll cover it here yipeeee

[@garnauklaufen6704]

@@Woaley Play Gothic 1 first. It's a bit more dated, but the story is still significant. Those two games are still some of the best open world games to this date.

[@skentt]

Why doesn’t Link use magic? And don’t get smart and say that “ohhh he’s got the champions powers and whatnot in Botw and Totk” no, that doesn’t really count since he isn’t the one who the magic came from. Let link cast fireballs!

[@Woaley]

We need Nintendo to bring back ITEMS. Imagine Link with the Sand Wand or smtn, it'd be awesome

[@skentt]

@ oh cool creator replied!

[@Xx_Tr4nsF3m_xX]

a big criticism that a see a lot of people miss is the replayability value of both games. I have 100%ed both but I cant even replay botw without doing something like a challenge run or a speedrun, which are both fun, but they can feel pretty repetitive. elden ring on the other hand has way more variability in its basic playthroughs and challenge runs. i also enjoy speedrunning it a lot more. that being said, I have a recency bias to elden ring and I still feel like the games are incomparable. breath of the wild feels a lot different and while it feels (in my opinion) more dead than elden ring, it makes the interactions with little outposts with npcs feel more impactful than in elden ring, where you just find npcs standing wherever. the questlines in elden ring are pretty boring to me (besides ranni’s) but not only does botw have a lot more, but they are much more interesting and make me feel like im really helping someone. the interactions in elden ring feel pretty bland tbh where you just fetch something for someone and just sit at a grace a bunch to progress dialogue. both games are very beautiful visually and have great combat systems, but botw has pretty easy and too few bosses, and the scary enemies (lionels and guardians) ended up becoming nothing more than free upgrade materials once I learned how to counter everything with parries and flurry rushes, whereas in elden ring the scary enemies (rune bears, giant bird things, those disc guys and guys with the giant swords in the dlc) are always really dangerous and hard to defeat even in the late game, and has AMAZING bosses. to summarize, elden ring is better in comparison to the weaker parts of botw, and botw does a lot better in comparison to the weaker parts of elden ring. one last comment, botw was one of the big inspirations for elden ring as it came out 5 years before, which is astonishing that it came out only 2 years after bloodborne. CURSE YOU BAYLE!

[@Xx_Tr4nsF3m_xX]

HOLY YAP IVE NEVER WRITTEN A COMMENT THIS LONG LMAOOOO props to anyone who reads the whole thing

[@Woaley]

THANK YOU FOR MAKING IT TO THE END, I appreciate you. Elden Ring just has a lot of what I value in a game. Tons of replayability, great PvP, combat with a high skill ceiling, and really a interesting fantasy world. I disagree with the questlines in Elden Ring being boring tho, I feel like BotW had really boring quests. I will say that ER's quests are wayyy too hidden, and doing them without a guide is nearly impossible. Eotd, yeah I mean even though I'm comparing them, they are completely different games in a lot of respects. Luckily we don't have to choose, we can just play both :D

[@johnnyglenn2692]

Hey what incantation is that your throwing at the tree sentinel in farum azula

[@Woaley]

Probably Knight's Lightning Spear

[@johnnyglenn2692]

@Woaley u use it again I think vs the fat noble skin dude in a clip later too, I'm just trying to platinum ER and all I need is the "hidden trophy" and the spells and incantations trophy, I can obviously look everything up, but I'm trying to do it as organically as I can and I never seen that exact lightning spell, a big thrown yellow bolt with a circle of bolts around your character like that

[@kxng_v2157]

I just realized that every game I own or have bought were open world lol

[@Woaley]

What's your fav?

[@conradmsnyman2951]

What a nice love letter to Fromsoft.

[@Woaley]

I'll keep making more, gonna release a Bloodborne/Lies of P video at some point hehe

[@Blade-hf9po]

You realize Elden ring also has Enemy bases to clear(ruins), random collectibles, and boring trajectories from one place to another(Caelid). The one thing it doesn't have is map markers, you put those down yourself.

[@deezboltz]

Is it worth playing BOTW after I’ve played TOTK?

[@Woaley]

They're different games. BotW def feels more barebones than TotK if you play it after, but honestly I prefer it.

[@deezboltz]

@@Woaley that’s what I’ve heard. I’m playing Elden ring currently and next week gonna be playing the dragon quest remake so maybe after that I’ll have forgotten enough of TOTK that I can give this a go.

[@fluffytheostrich3878]

I think it's important to bring Xenoblade Chronicles x into the discussion. BOTW was heavily impacted by the open world of XCX, as monolith made XCX and did a lot to build out the map of BOTW. My personal view is that Elden ring saw what worked in XCX and built from there.

[@Woaley]

Damn I didn't know. I actually have a Xenoblade video but I've never played X cause it was on Wii U and I didn't play Xenoblade at the time. I'm really looking forward to the Definitive Edition.

[@fluffytheostrich3878]

@@Woaley enjoy it when you get the chance! The Wii U is unfortunately why XCX's impact is effectively unknown.

[@EhurtAfy]

Breath of the Wild was old news, it should have come out in 2014. We already had Xenoblade Chronicles X, The Forest, Dishonored, Tomb Raider (2013), Rise of the Tomb Raider, Ark: Survival Evolved, Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor, Dark Souls 1 &2, and Horizon Zero Dawn came out one week before BotW. The biggest thing Breath of the Wild had going for it was no competition on the Nintendo Switch

[@lennyscontent8002]

As someone that has got all achievements in elden ring, I’d say the exploration in botw is better but Elden rings combat is much better. I love both games and honestly I do prefer elden ring but the first time I explored botw it was a magical experience that I never had and I wasn’t even a Zelda fan in fact botw was my first Zelda and then I went back and played all the older ones. Elden ring gave me that magical experience again but it wasn’t as magical as botw first time around. Both games kinda feel empty now due to not being surprised. the dlc of elden ring gave me that experience again but honestly I wish I can replay these games completely blind again.

[@Woaley]

These open worlds have these special first playthroughs that make them so immersive. I hope we get smtn like it again soon, I've only ever felt that feeling with these games

[@skibidi7387]

I actually found that breath of the wild has a vast array of different role play/cosplay/character building you can do, though admittedly less than elden ring. It can make link a knight or a royal knight with armour and weapons. shika warior, ancient and current. hero of time, hero of the wild, fierce deity, and so many more. it is just a game that has a way more centered combat but for the rest I've had tons of fun doing builds only using say, gerudo or rito weapons/ armour though this is to say elden ring is a way better game in terms of real customizing yourself but still, BOTW is not lanking in that aspect

[@Woaley]

Yeah I definitely cosplayed as much as I could in BotW and TotK but it stops at the clothes really, Link still needs to use one of the few weapon types to attack

[@MiguelFerrerVoz]

appreciated the in deep video

[@WarIsNoMoreCold]

I love Elden Ring to death but Zelda is more adventure driven while ER is more RPG driven, so the comparison don't make that much sense from the get go. But what both games did great alongside others like Skyrim is to feel handcrafted from moment to moment, like, this moment was designed for me to experience, instead of a generated map with slapt-on features like the ones we have on Assassin's Creed or other Ubisoft titles.

[@Woaley]

Handcrafted maps are the way to go, I feel like most open worlds feel AI generated these days 😂

[@zandey5651]

incredible video

[@Woaley]

Thank you so much. New videos every Wednesday, hope you enjoy !

[@whiskeysour1179]

Far cry 3 is so good. So much atmosphere, beautiful game world.

[@Woaley]

Far Cry 3 is awesome, but I wish it wasn't the blueprint for over a decade of open world game design

[@whiskeysour1179]

@Woaley totally agree.

[@metaphysicalparadox]

the glazing is crazy

[@Woaley]

I'll always give ER and BotW the sloppy

[@riccardobarone384]

Room for improvement really. Breath of the wild/totk give you zero reasons to not stop around 2/3 of the dungeons. It's exploring for the sake of it and can be beautiful but there's a reason I'm at 850 hours ng+7 stuck a Messmer. Maybe it's unavoidable when you have a game focusing on battles end and a game where battles are just a way to explore more.

[@Woaley]

Yeah that's my biggest criticism of BotW and TotK. Shitty rewards and the entire drive to play is entirely reliant on the player. The game is good enough to sustain it, but a great dungeon/story wouldn't hurt.

[@riccardobarone384]

@Woaley Defeated Messmer again this time with cold Nagakiba, the time before with troll colossal sword. This game has so many ways to be beaten it's virtually infinite. I could start a new run with parry only or dual wielding only and I'd have to learn basically another game.

[@despinhabarda]

Something incredible that has been happening to me while playing Shadow of the Erdtree is how much roleplay it's been giving me even though I wasn't even planning for most of it. I have around nine different characters, over a thousand hours playing the game, and if there's anything to show as a testament to Fromsoftware's absolute mastery in creating a living, breathing narrative for its world is that I can't step into the Land of Shadow without thinking to myself "how does the Land of Shadow fit into their narrative arc?". My characters are changing builds, changing fashion and combat style while I experience the DLC, and it's beautiful to see how the game makes this, so, so natural. Thank you, Fromsoft, thank you, Miyazaki. Oh, and CURRRRSE YOOOU BAAAAAAAAAAYLE!

[@Woaley]

Yeah I was so glad they leaned hard into that whole roleplaying aspect of the game. The new weapons we got just expanded the possibilities so much. You could be a kungfu master, a backhand blade assassin, a dark ninja with the sword of night like it's insane how much you can come up with so naturally. And the best part is ALL OF IT IS GOOD and VIABLE like damn. Also HELL YEAH THANK YOU FOR MAKING IT TO THE END YOU ARE ONE OF THE FEW REAL ONES.

[@LuisSanchez-fj6dt]

Igon best NPC

[@Woaley]

@@LuisSanchez-fj6dt I've been repeating his voicelines in the shower to this day

[@LuisSanchez-fj6dt]

@Woaley LMAO I sometimes scream bus voicelines just because it looks cool. Its Nice to have an NPC so emotional in souls games because people in that games look more like a hollow being rather that a real human. Sorry of my english is bad

[@nateinator23]

CURSE YOU BAYLE!!!

[@Woaley]

THANK YOU FOR WATCHING TILL THE END, YOU REAL AF. New vids every Wednesday, stay tuned :D

[@der_andere406]

what is thet armour at 5:42?

[@Woaley]

Divine Beast Helm Death Knight Set

[@kartooncartoony]

If I had a nickel everytime a Horizon game comes out a few days before an open world game that pushes what an open world game could be, I would have 2 nickels. Which isn't a lot but it's weird that it happened twice, right?

[@Woaley]

Fr man it's insane they choose the WORST release days both times 😂😂

[@Apoxiosis]

i know a nintendo fanboy that would be very angry at this video his entire channel is built around why elden ring sucks and nintendo games are superior

[@Woaley]

Send him my way 😂😂

[@NextGenGamezz]

Elden ring is a masterpiece , i didn't play Zelda though

[@Woaley]

You should man that game is good af, especially in that first playthrough

[@NextGenGamezz]

@@Woaley i will give it a try

[@thelegendofzeldafanornerd823]

I hate Breath of the Wild because what I imagined the main character was going to be!

[@mr.polaros]

Huh

[@adamthefrog2602]

It just comes down to content. Does your game give you content the further you go? Or does it give you empty lands with empty filler side quests? Elden Ring and BOTW achieve both in this respect. But honestly, I only sunk less than 100hrs into BOTW. I easily sunk over 1000 hrs into Elden Ring

[@Woaley]

@@adamthefrog2602 yeah I think I put like 140 hours into BotW and like 220 in Elden Ring. 100 hours was basically just me trying new builds, pvp, and running through the game again.

[@matjakobs8612]

Elden ring is a one of a kind game.

[@Woaley]

Truly is, I hope we get another game like this soon

[@crilleedara]

CURRSE YOU, BAYLEE!!!

[@Woaley]

WITH A HAIL OF HARPOOOONS

[@luraxium]

while elden ring has way better gameplay, build variety, bossfights etc, i still think botw has better exploration. every detail of the map felt purposeful and unique. yet in elden ring, after you get to maybe level 50? and have finished liurnia and caelid, you start to notice a lot of repetition (botw is guilty of this too with the awful shrines, but still). i remember in botw i stumbled across a maze in the gerudo desert, and i was rewarded with one of the best armor pieces in the game after finding it. botw has a LOT of these kinds of moments. in elden ring more often then not when i find a hard to reach spot/secret im rewarded with just a flower or something lol

[@Woaley]

I think in general I prefer rewards in ER cause I was always switching up, so it would give me new opportunities to roleplay. But yeah I think BotW had some badass rewards. A huge shame that TotK just reused ALL the stuff from BotW as rewards it was so bad.

[@luraxium]

@@Woaley 100%, yeah. totk was fine but didnt reach the same heights as botw. also yeah thats fair, in elden ring i stuck to the same build almost the entire time lmao

[@597das]

game is fun - Reggie

[@Woaley]

My body is Reggie

[@smartwaffels]

Breath of the wild shrine dungeons are the worst thing about the game the rest is good

[@Woaley]

Dungeons in modern zelda suck in general unfortunately

[@zen.p7386]

1:11 "these world's are not worth exploring" How you gonna show a Witcher 3 map there right before saying it's an exception. Brother in Christ

[@Woaley]

Open world images to prove a point, AC Unity map is there too and I like that open world. Just needed maps to put up there, not that deep

[@briquesbts]

Imo the biggest difference is that elden ring is a good game and botw just isn't

[@dino-duck1234]

gained a subscriber

[@Woaley]

HELL YEAH. I have an absolute BANGER coming out tomorrow so enjoy :D