Fixing Breath of the Wild's Biggest Problems

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Breath of the Wild is one of my favorite games ever made, but there are elements about it that I wish had been a bit different. Here is my best attempt at trying to solve those problems without reinventing the whole game. I like doing these sorts of thought experiments in order to try to better understand game design and what I like about games. Does this video matter much? lol no but hopefully it is interesting and fun, and maybe, just maybe some of these ideas will make their way in to Breath of the Wild 2. Anyway this is my attempt at fixing Breath of the Wild.
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Thumbnail by HotCyder: / hotcyder
Additional Footage:
The Completionist - / thatonevideogamer
World of Longplays - / cubex55
Additional Music and Sound Effects by Epidemic Sound: epidemicsound.com/creator
Honorary Bagbuten: The Meaning of NERD
00:00 Introduction
01:18 Weapon Durability
07:22 Dungeons
12:20 Lightning Round
14:35 The Ending
19:26 Conclusion
#BreathoftheWild #Zelda #WeaponDurability

[@razbuten]

If you're interested in monthly podcasts where I talk about games and answer questions, director's commentaries on my videos, and a special access to the Razbuten discord, join the Patreon over at: www.patreon.com/razbuten Anyway, how's life?

[@Hiker2485Sh]

Your voice is so satisfying 😌

[@FelicityUwU]

You posted before I was done my school work, but I watched it anyway. Life is good.

[@omaroma6081]

Thanks for asking how's life raz how about you

[@gfin4576]

CEMU emulator could fix some of these problems

[@Digitalhunny]

Is this video safe to watch PRE ever playing the game?🤔

[@pikminpuck8015]

We need a cook book that fills out the more stuff you make and find.

[@retrokoh1507]

YES!!! Why they never did this, I have no clue. The sequel needs this

[@rockbandandghmaster]

It would be neat. I spent a lot of time trying to find new foods. Npcs will mention hints at recipes which is cool. I was excited when i realized you could make apple pie and other foods like that. Even if prime meat food is still the best for healing

[@mayevestorm7622]

I would kill for a cookbooooooooi

[@ss5gogetunks]

Yes! Also it'd be cool if they made more unique effects from recipes

[@diamondinmyeye6160]

@@rockbandandghmaster Hearty durian is the best thing for healing. Near the end of the game I literally just cooked them up one at a time because bonus hearts didn't matter. Prime meat is the best thing for money.

[@Mr_Mimestamp]

“Babe wake up, Razbuten is pitching improvements for an open world game again”

[@tobyk5091]

Got a new pfp and hello

[@Mr_Mimestamp]

@@tobyk5091 hello!

[@mary-pl8go]

😭😭

[@guy8643]

omg thx babe

[@doom4627]

Howdy

[@zwenkwiel816]

One thing I kind of missed was enemy variation. Would be nice to have more unique enemies tied to certain areas instead of just bokoblins and lizalfos everywhere.

[@RockStationForChrist]

Don't forget moblins and keese lol

[@TheTonyMcD]

This is the single biggest complaint I had with the game. The enemies were just way too repetitive. There was relatively little variation. And about 95% of the time, you were fighting bokoblins, moblins, or lizalfos, sometimes colored differently.

[@dhans9662]

The game AT LEAST needed Darknuts.

[@pancakeslapp]

@@dhans9662 and tektites would have been such an obvious choice

[@itsflappletime]

See: pokemon. Too much variation = other stuff having to be optimised to look worse

[@ladyguineveredrawz8214]

Another thing for the first one is that I think it would be good if you could hang more weapons in the house, cause sometimes I just want my powerful weapons as little trophies

[@ryandrummond3794]

also make the house more useful

[@cheyennelandgraf5081]

@@ryandrummond3794 there’s a house?😂😂 I play on and off so I don’t really know too much

[@jackrichardson4089]

@@cheyennelandgraf5081 you can get a house in Hateno Village at the top of the town across the bridge. Speak to the construction crew. You need to pay a certain amount of rupees plus stacks of wood. Then you can add upgrades but it's very limited.

[@boldone66]

Anakin's the father, isn't he? I am so sorry.

[@eer2050]

​@@cheyennelandgraf5081 damn dude, you should probably do the quest lol

[@TheFrantic5]

To be fair, using the Master Sword for gardening is one of the mainstays of the Zelda franchise.

[@GodOfFame373]

my point exactly

[@FaerieDust]

Yes, this.

[@TheOfficalAndI]

So true :D

[@sophfuric]

i use it for getting ores too!

[@laytonjr6601]

@@sophfuric In every game where you can use your sword to destroy pots and rocks you do that.

[@diamondinmyeye6160]

I can't believe you didn't include inventory choice when opening chests. The most annoying thing in the whole damn game for me was opening a chest, seeing it had a weapon instead of a collectible, being told my inventory was full, closing the chest, dropping a weapon, then opening it again. I wish we were given the opportunity to ditch something as soon as it opens.

[@angelsmile6942]

Yes! Like in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, that gives you the option to drop the new thing or swap it with something else as soon as you take it. It is such a small thing but it would make a huge difference.

[@mycatiswhite7408]

Agreed

[@sd19delta16]

Maybe pickup-able items in chests could just fall out when opened and be picked up that way. It would speed up chest looting and also solve the weapon switching problem.

[@diamondinmyeye6160]

@@sd19delta16 That would be better than now, but if you're unfamiliar with the weapon then you'd still maybe pick it up and have to drop it again if your current weapons are all superior. Having it be in a menu would be best.

[@miriyumyum3590]

I wish you could climb better when ypu level up the climbing clothes. And the same with swimming fast and leveling up the zora suite. The only thing that happens until now is that its defense gets better, which is okay for the knight suit but not for every suit.

[@user-hf6vy8xc4i]

I really like the idea of ancient shards when weapons break. I’m definitely one of those that doesn’t want to use a rarer weapon, this mechanic would make me think twice

[@dhans9662]

I only use my better weapons because of the durability glitch

[@Sighsishsk]

One thing that bothers me a lot about botw was the fact that half the lynels were harder to kill than calamity gannon, and they weren’t even considered a mini boss

[@wilpuriarts5895]

They were the Crucible Knights before Crucible Knights.

[@randomflop2988]

*Beats game* " you can now play as luigi"

[@asiantom4935]

ah yes, my favourite legend of zelda characters. Lugi and Maro

[@asiantom4935]

Bower kidnapped Princess Pach again

[@futurafree6546]

Why do i want this

[@theenoodlegod4672]

I wish that after you defeat Gannon, the castle actually changes back...

[@Blueway360Gamer]

honestly

[@ausnik]

Agreed. I'd love it if the post game included rebuilding and repopulating the kingdom and villages that were destroyed in the war 100 years ago, kind of like you did with Tarrytown

[@tx_yxn]

Maybe that might happen in botw 2 you know

[@aidangreen7596]

@@ausnik Only thing is that the sequel to Breath of the Wild will probably be pretty direct, since it was originally going to be DLC. The threat isn't gone yet so it just wouldn't make sense to rebuild everything only for Ganondorf to come back two seconds later. Good idea, though. Maybe we'll get something like that in the sequel, 'cause Bolson construction is still around.

[@ausnik]

@@aidangreen7596 The threat of Ganon is everlasting though. It repeats itself, hence the legends and all the preparations 100 years ago. It's a kingdom that constantly rebuilds, goes through the war phase and returns. I'd love to see a rebuilding kingdom in the sequel where you still have bands of bokoblins and other beasts roaming about, just with more villages and towns. Then you can have a shadow plot of Ganaondorf's true body being resurrected, etc. Either way, any game where you can city build or kingdom build tends to be that much more fun because of it. Rebuilding and repopulating the likes of Hyurule Castle, Central Hyrule, Great Plateau, The Colosseum or the Akkala Fortress for example would be so much fun.

[@rosestrohm7986]

I like how TOTK basically fixed the "Running away from rights cause your weapons will degrade" mentality, by making enemy encounters give you really good weapons. Like sure they might all just have sticks, but they can drop horns and monster parts which you can fuse to your current weapons to make them stronger and more durable. You're now incentivized to engage in fights to get better weapons

[@zacharywoloszynski4258]

Agreed, I go out of my way to fight the black enemies now

[@christians.3151]

Imo they made it worse. Now all you can find out in the world are bland sticks, and the only way to get resources to make better weapons is to fight monsters, breaking more weapons in the process. Its hard to get excited about getting weapons when I know they're gonna break in only an encounter or two, except now I have to worry about farming monster parts too.

[@atherapists3331]

​@@zacharywoloszynski4258 *wheeze*

[@braveheart1320]

​@@christians.3151 1. They've added a repair feature. Feed your weapon to an octo-rok, it gets a repair and an upgrade. This fixes a lot by itself. 2. I assume you're early in the game or don't do much fighting, because I get plenty of viable weapons from random enemy drops. That's where most of them have come from. If you fuse an actually good monster horn to the weapon, it'll increase durability and you can easily clear 2-3 camps with that weapon and a few arrows alone, so you don't have to "break more weapons" to get new ones. 3. You do not have to farm any more materials than you do in BotW, I have many many fusion materials because I get creative and think resourcefully about what weapons are worthy of what fuse materials. It's engaging, and far and away an improvement over BotW.

[@christians.3151]

@@braveheart1320 I've beaten the game its entirety. If you're telling me that by visiting a octorok every 2 fights to repair extremely fragile weapons is an acceptable fix then that's just unreasonable. Also this was already a feature in BotW. Monsters will drop a lot of parts, but besides the horns most of them are garbage to fuse with, and they only drop like one horn, so yes you do have to kill damage sponge enemies and break weapons to get parts. I certainly found myself having to go out of my way to get any actual good parts. In botw, I never had to worry much because I always came across a healthy supply of decent swords no matter where I went. TotK just adds an unnecessary step to the process, and replaces anything interesting you'd find with boring sticks or rotted weapons that both break extremely quickly. I don't see how it's an improvement to go from fragile weapons that break quickly to fragile weapons that break quickly that I now have to craft myself. Just give me a cool sword and stop wasting my time.

[@SgtNman1]

13:09 My head canon for this is that Link’s own Champion Ability is that he can stop time to swap out his weapons, armor, or heal. He’s the Hero of Time, after all.

[@christiandidonna8808]

Same

[@PangolinMontanari]

He's the hero of the wilds in this game. "hero of time" was just OoT

[@williamhowes3010]

I would argue this is a trait all heroes of this time share though. In cutscenes we can see Urbosa parrying Yiga clansmen and time slow there too. Hyrule Warriors also seems to follow this trend too, but I imagine Link's real champion ability is his ability to grow and adapt at exponential rates, due to *his courage to fight on.* It is this courage and inner strength that also made the Master Sword choose Link as its equal as he is a warrior without an equal himself and consistently proves that the impossible is only a matter of perception.

[@mjc0961]

Link is only the Hero of Time in Ocarina of Time.

[@itsjayh]

Also he has bullet time so it makes sense That he can slow down time

[@ju2pom92]

Allowing us to pet the dog is the most important change this game needs

[@bigtree0079]

yes

[@MidlifeCrisisJoe]

Definitely the biggest oversight by far.

[@driftingdruid]

i wish i could dive underwater, with unlimited breath when wearing Zora armor ; i missed traveling & exploring zones beneath the water's surface, and did so in both Majora's Mask and Twilight Princess. The ocean in BotW doesn't feel like an ocean to explore, it feels like a marsh slowing you down

[@Rokabur]

Would have been awesome being able to dive underwater and find caves to explore, maybe long lost Sheika ruins, maybe an ocean-going sub-species of Zora?

[@Golden_Flower_1]

yeah but some of the game mechanics and locations are built of the fact that you cant go underwater example: vah ruta

[@cheryl9809]

On one hand I'd love that but on the other hand.... Water movement is awful

[@Snowsda]

Yes please! I got so frustrated whenever loot disappeared into the depths of the water :(

[@saricubra2867]

Breath of The Wild doesn't even have cave systems like Twilight Princess has...

[@huntingcarbon]

Imagine an ending, where you are able to explore Hyrule with Zelda on your side and Ganon defeated. That would be awesome

[@sidiwvwhi]

that’s what i thought would happen when i first played the game i thought there would be an after main storyline quest where you have to help repair hyrule

[@redact7577]

but what would you fight? No more guardians because no more malice, and eventually all the monsters will die and not come back bc no more blood moons.

[@WagnerKoop]

What specifically would be awesome about this idea lol

[@randomahnameisthename3147]

@@WagnerKoop exactly. The only benefit would be you feel the accomplishment of this and see the worlds reaction. That’s it

[@ZVLIAN]

Luckily we have modding lol

[@deifiedtitan]

I always wanted 3 of the relatively unused regions to have a dungeon in there, each one housing a piece of a contraption. Once you get them all you can assemble them to make the hookshot. Fits right into the climbing

[@MyBiPolarBearMax]

I love that (even if its something different). *something* needs to be there and they could be optional super hard things like the weapons from FF7

[@itsjayh]

THEY NEED A HOOKSHOT i have no health and max stamina and a lot of stamina lotions Also revalis gale isnt here its horizontal

[@brotbrotsen1100]

​@@itsjayh They actually had the hookshoot in the game during testing phases. They decided to take it out because it made the climbing mechanic obsolete.

[@Xeyph]

@@brotbrotsen1100 They could've just make it consume stamina. Right now in TOTK climbing is almost obsolete with the whole zonai devices thing, flying from the towers and fast traveling to a nearby sky island shrine and dropping.

[@brotbrotsen1100]

@@Xeyph Yeah i know, just wanted to tell people why they left it out

[@DesignDoc]

BoTW is my favorite game of all time and yet I can still complain and nitpick it for hours. There's so much potential for future Zelda games building upon this base formula.

[@poog6458]

Complaining about a game usually means you care about it, and are eager to see it improve. Keep doing it

[@DesignDoc]

@@poog6458 Exactly.

[@aricebowl8028]

Same, man!

[@squeenixu]

"I love this game! Here's why I hate it"

[@sandywolfr26]

In botw 2, so need a fix weapons system! I got tired of breakable weapons and shields. I love the game, I just stop playing it after beating the game cuz tired of everything breaking

[@squatch1565]

Broke: wanting the climbing feature changed for when it rains Generic Woke: wanting to pet the dogs Meta Woke: wanting the song from the first trailer for BOTW to show up somewhere in the game.

[@martmine4618]

Why is this not up there with the 2k likes comments?

[@FrumpybutSuperSmart]

+

[@quantumstormgames2741]

FACTS that song is so good

[@AegonCritique]

I like on how most problems Raz had with BOTW was fixed in TOTK. Enemies drop strong monster parts you can fuse with your weapon, essentially making any and all weapons you find viable and strong as long as you go the extra mile of fighting those strong enemies yourself. Every single main boss dungeon is distinct and varied, all with different looks to them, more over world bosses you can encounter that give the player more of a challenge, all with different ways you can fight the boss. Sucks that you still cant pet the dog though...

[@TheScar3cro]

I didn't mind the durability system except for the Championweapons. Those 4 legendary weapons. I didn't use them at all and just hung them at the wall in links house

[@firenze6478]

I hate it, but it would have been far more tolerable if those didn’t atleast break. They are already mid tier and it just destroys the lore that these ancient weapons which have been passed down for generations shatter in a single fight with a lynel and then they are just like, no big deal we’ll forge another if you bring us a far more valuable diamond

[@denisi1283]

They do have much more durability than common weapons, but they surely are weaker than free to replenish weapons of the same class, which makes repairing them not worth it. At least in TotK they are total MVPs so there’s much more incentive to always keep them and use them (and repair them with materials or rock octoroks)

[@SpaceNerd117]

The only one I use regularly is the Boulder Breaker, and that's almost exclusively against Taluses because of the 2x damage bonus. Urbosa's gear is vastly inferior to the awakened Master Sword and Hylian Shield, a great number of late game bows outclass Revali's bow in multiple ways, and Mipha's trident is far from the best spear in the game, and I hardly use spears anyway.

[@cardboard_knight5072]

I wish they had made the dragons more integral than just being needed to upgrade armor

[@louisjossa9143]

You know the dragon at the spring of power? I really liked the way that worked, I’d just rather it not end in a blessing shrine

[@Nyxxy8]

There should be armor sets for all 3 dragons that you need to craft using the dragon parts or something. Also they should've made the other 2 work like Naydra where you had to free them from the malice before getting their resources. On top of that, I remember it being really boring to farm enough dragon parts for all my armor upgrades, so that could've been better.

[@simplepiano7653]

I wish there was some sorta quests with the dragons. Like theres only 3 of them so a lot could’ve been done with them!

[@omniscientomnipresent5500]

They can attack you ? Make the landscape beautiful ?

[@mememan5466]

@@Nyxxy8 naydra's armour, cools you down in the desert, immunity to frost, increases damage from frost weapons

[@teclinsoro4523]

can you imagine if the blights were the corpses of the champions? that’s so dark, but so damn cool. it would add a lot more emotional weight to freeing the divine beasts as well.

[@ralexcraft990]

The next one is supposed to be darker so maybe we get that on the next one even though it's a prequel?

[@psuedonym9999]

@@ralexcraft990 But it's a sequel...

[@sheridan5175]

Imagine mipha taunting link, and Link just draws his sword and grits his teeth like a mad hound, thirsty for vengeance

[@ralexcraft990]

@@psuedonym9999 Yes but set in the past.

[@ralexcraft990]

@@sheridan5175 Then at the end once she's freed she decides it's been long enough and gives him a kiss.

[@bthebumblebee33]

Somehow, for me Tears of the Kingdom’s fuse mechanic sort of fixed the weapon breaking issues for me. I’m no longer mortified about breaking my best weapon because I can always just fuse a rock to a weaker one and make the same amount of damage. It feels really resourceful too, like, I feel really smart after doing it.

[@ace_Lorelai]

While my experience with Hyrule Castle was amazing, since I chose to explore the whole castle, I do think there was room for improvement. Endings should be about showing how much the protagonist, you, have accomplished. For this reason, I think Link shouldn't be alone when he storms the castle. Instead of each race in Hyrule being like, "Oh thanks! Now go away," it would be more interesting if each kingdom lent an army to assist with the fight. The Rito would give air support, the Gorons would dig tunnels, the Gerudo would offer ground support, and the Zora would secure the moat. You would have to conquer the castle, not just defeat the final boss. On the other hand, Ganon's forces would gather, as they know this is their last stand. This could affect the dark beast fight, gathering the hylian shield, etc. The possibilities are endless. While this would subtract from the innocence of the kingdoms, I think the payoff would be enough.

[@chaoslord8918]

Cool idea. Maybe not even an army, but just one character from each area, each showing Link a different path into the castle, and then assisting with the final boss fight, as an alternative to the giant laser assist the Divine Beasts give you. Have four boss fight stages, and each one helps with each stage.

[@AmazinglyAwkward]

“Also, you should be able to pet the dog” And the horse, when you’re not on it. And the donkeys. And the sheep. And the cows. And you should be able to ride the donkeys, cows and goats, like you can deer and bears Edit - AND the Great Horned Rhinos and Tabantha Moose. This is the Breath of the WILD no?

[@tobarish]

And we needs cats, they aren't cats in the game

[@Kain5th]

There should be pigs too. Wind waker link got a pig so breath of the wild needs em too

[@silvercrystal3]

exactly - it's "BREATH of the wild" - and not "Ride the wild that breathes"; just to mention a point.. edit: If anyone just thinks about something like r/whooshing me, please I beg of you..just spare you the disgrace..

[@AmazinglyAwkward]

@@silvercrystal3 r/whoooooosh

[@silvercrystal3]

@@AmazinglyAwkward *triggered

[@sofiamartinez9258]

I really wish Link could sit down wherever I want not just in chairs or benches Also an animation of Link laying down in the beds at the inns would make me happy

[@tri-nintendocube3386]

They also could of added when link lays down on the bed they show him getting the spa makeover and massage lol

[@abelchavez2463]

Got that Death Stranding inspo

[@callumbird2749]

Like the one is skyward sword?

[@tri-nintendocube3386]

I think so you can sit down on chairs and benches in skyward sword. I’ve played the original version before it’s actually my favorite Zelda game twilight is second. I’m also working on the hd version right now along with wind waker hd and links awakening.

[@Whatismusic123]

that would be so annoying and would be such a waste of time

[@BlueShellshock]

Speaking of hoarding instincts, one RPG that curbed my tendency to hoard potions was Witcher 3. Instead of gathering ingredients for a single one-time use potion, you used a consumable ingredient to restore -all- your potions to their ‘max’. Because of this, I wasn’t afraid to use potions - in fact, when I used a potion once, I was encouraged to finish the stack plus use others because they were all going to get replenished next time anyways.

[@silentlore2458]

Bro this comment is crazy because im playing the witcher 3 in another tab rn. And thats fax, the witcher 3 has the best alchemy system in any game. Im never afraid to use my potions due to scarcity, but rather because of toxicity. Its a perfect system to curb potion spam

[@Zelda00Gamer]

I haven’t played that but sounds a lot like elden ring (or any souls game). Instead of hoarding my red health potions I used them and then sat at a bonfire. It reset the area enemies (so there’s a penalty) but the refill is “free”

[@chaoslord8918]

Yep, Potions/Decoctions and Estus Flasks work basically the same way. It took me a while to figure out how they worked, and I kinda wish the games explained it a bit better. For those playing The Witcher 3, don't forget about your oils.

[@toadgod3125]

Not sure if this has already been said but about the section where you said it would be more disturbing if the champions were ingrained in along the blights, they are in a way, on the second phase of each blight, they use an altered way of each the champions abilities, WindBlight uses a tornado, WaterBlight heals itself, FireBlight protects itself, and ThunderBlight sends the metal thingies

[@windwaker105]

That’s why I feel that fighting the champions was the plan, but was cut for time

[@phatcat-st4gb]

Ok but imagine if they looked like the champions, but corrupted. It just adds a layer of uncanny

[@user-tl6jr2ez7s]

Wait waterblight does what now

[@SpaceNerd117]

Waterblight heals itself? I've played and watched others play that fight, both the original and the champion's ballad, and never seen a hint of it. Guess we either kill it or die too quickly to notice?

[@overwatchtheater8165]

I think the biggest thing you missed is enemy variety. The enemy variety is really bad this game compared to OoT, TP, Wind Waker, etc. Constantly fighting Bokoblins, Lizalfos, and Moblins got super old really fast.

[@codagaming9186]

Bring back Darknuts!!

[@Watertrotter-ge5yp]

@@codagaming9186 YES! Darknuts would be so much fun to fight with the mechanics in BotW.

[@margotlemaire5677]

There needs to be sets of enemies for each region imo....

[@pizzamandhx]

@@Watertrotter-ge5yp Remember the Darknuts in Twilight Princess? They were a legit threat. They could do that for Breath 2.

[@Graphomite]

@@pizzamandhx While I understand why people find them cool, Darknuts honestly disappoint me. They were a mild threat when the game crammed three of them in one room to cheap shot Link, but one-on-ones with them were pushovers in both WW and TP. And while they look badass, they are just...big swordsman. We already got Blademasters to fit that bill. I'm really only interested in Darknuts if BotW2 is willing to make them truly ominous, beyond Lynel levels of threatening. Personally, I'm crossing my fingers for more overworld variety. Tektites hoppin around cliffs. Po haunting around at night. Dodongos runnin around the fields.

[@LightningPiano]

As someone who didn't know Breath of the Wild would have dragons, hearing the music and seeing Farosh for the first time while playing was by far one of the coolest moments I have ever had in a video game. It was genuinely awe inspiring.

[@jeramiasskarpos8595]

Dude same!!!

[@erfan4244]

Also riding horse sometimes

[@professionalgiraffe]

I saw him in the distance so assumed he was just an environmental thing. Then I did Naydra's quest and holy shit you can glide right up to them!

[@BibBubDude]

I remembered seeing them for the first time and I thought they were bosses. So I was scared to go near them for a while.

[@RobinsMusic]

@@BibBubDude well idk if you knew this but theres a dragon boss fight in botw

[@ayzix-polytopia3854]

How these issues feel in tears of the kingdom Weapon durability : With the fusing mechanic, losing weapons feels completely different and imo much better than in BotW. It may also just be me, but I feel like weapons break much slower in general. So imo, the problem is somewhat fixed Dungeons : I’m no that far in TOTK, but the one dungeon I’ve done (rito one) was pretty good and has a climactic boss fight. It’s much better than the divine beasts, but it’s still a mixture of BOTW divine beasts and classic Zelda dungeons. Overall, massive improvement from BotW from the one dungeon I’ve seen. Divine beasts being samey : I’m too early in TOTK to comment on that Eating cooldown : unchanged Climbing when raining : Fixed in a very interesting way, you can now make sticky elixirs and climb on walls Fast travel abuse : unchanged Flurry rush : unchanged (I think? Some people say they feel different but I personally haven’t seen a difference) Petting dogs : I haven’t tried yet Ending : I guess we’ll see pretty soon when people start finishing the game

[@alyssahopson5926]

oh also SPOILER you can get an armor by doing certain quests that lets you climb up walls as well, so you no longer have to use elixers at that point. also enemy variation was fixed a little, but also is much better imo because the fuse system and ultrahand (letting both you and enemies you different vehicles and interesting weapon types) has really improved variation in combat and encounters

[@alyssahopson5926]

also no you can't pet dogs :(

[@timohara7717]

Octorock repair

[@thechadandthevirgin5823]

Fusing objects to weapons can add up to 25 extra hits before it breaks. So that's why they take longer

[@lumi4280]

Well as someone that played this as my first open world rpg the difficulty level was perfect especially cause I was scared of fighting the sacred beasts and found last boss battle before defeating them. The food brakes saved me from becoming a pancake in the first few seconds of the fight haha But I also understand how for more experienced players this might have fealt too easy.

[@abby_the_skwrl]

I came here to say exactly this. Changing these things to make the game "harder" or "more realistic" would have meant that I probably would have just handed my copy of the game to my husband and gone back to my cozy games. Difficulty barriers to game play for new gamers doesn't make better gamers--it makes those gamers choose different games, or (worse, from an industry standpoint) different hobbies altogether. 300 hours in, I'm grateful for my mask/snack/attack abilities. (Edited for clarity/word choice/thumbs) 😊

[@SG-0309]

@@abby_the_skwrl 100% agree

[@denisi1283]

I agree with you completely. Zeldas were never hard and sincerely they don’t need to be… the online community just have a very vocal, very challenge driven niche that always seem to bring these “ideas” to make it harder. You can always not use the “easy mechanics” if you wish.

[@olive4998]

"Maybe a shield that automatically deflects guardian lasers" Ancient shield: am i a joke to you?

[@worldconqueror2206]

Maybe the mirror shield from OoT

[@Sheila_Chu]

Yes but its not the hylian shield, which would be cooler

[@dampseeker]

ancient shield but stronk

[@archo1037]

@@Sheila_Chu that does make sense

[@retsuna_vendigor8302]

Honestly a pot lid is more efficient and much more cheaper

[@gamercore5216]

"A shield that automatically reflects lasers back at enemies" So the Mirror shield

[@yoshiwiiremotewithwiimotio2947]

I'm surprised not more people know about this, but the Ancient shield you can get at Akkala Ancient Tech Lab actually does auto-parry Guardian lasers.

[@gamercore5216]

@@yoshiwiiremotewithwiimotio2947 yeah but having an oh mirror shield from the classic games would have been great even if amiibo exclusive or something

[@eziospaghettiauditore8369]

And make sure it doesn't break after three uses with no way to repair it except for buying a new one

[@cashwin45]

@@gamercore5216 It was kinda weird how in Wind Waker, Link's actual *official* shield was the mirror shield.

[@dragondude1012]

So the giant ancient shields

[@elliotgott2993]

All of these sound like good ideas to me, though I'm surprised you didn't address the issue of consumable hoarding given you did a previous video on it. By the end of the game I had literally hundreds of food items I knew I would never use. The biggest problem is definitely that hearty foods are full heals, making all other healing items obsolete; I think an easy fix for that would be if the bonus hearts were only given if eaten at maximum health, otherwise they function as normal healing.

[@chriskaprys]

I’m not a gamer but is there any precedent for consumables that go off over in-game time? Like the longer you hold on to an apple, bread, chicken, etc, the less health it replaces..?

[@d5dizzler962]

@@chriskaprys No there’s no sort of decay with recovery items… Even meat where you would think a game like botw would probably have it go off. They restore the same amount even after a 1000 hours

[@chaoslord8918]

@@chriskaprys The game Don't Starve (and the multiplayer Don't Starve Together) does this. Given the title of the game, it's kind of one of the core mechanics. Building a fridge is one of the most important things.

[@chriskaprys]

@@chaoslord8918neat!

[@AwesomeAlan1000]

i’d never heard the suggestion of having weapons drop material when they break before, it sounds like a really fantastic solution

[@Ornithopter470]

It sounds good, but it just turns into farming low level weapons for the shards. Or farming high level weapons for the shards. Running out of weapons is rarely the issue, it's that most of the weapons are basically Identical. Royal sword is just a slightly better master sword. Same moveset. I find the weapons breaking in combat actually pulls me out of the game. Same with food being free full heals.

[@combatcraziness4371]

“the divine beasts can be defeated in less than an hour” me who tried the puzzle and thunderblight fight from 10pm to 3am

[@user-lb9xh8me1x]

lmao me except it took me nearly 12 hours without breaks

[@gavind351]

It took me 2 days

[@thinkublu]

Lol same

[@tobiaswerner4418]

I hated his second phase

[@purtlethetenguin]

i despise the divine beast puzzles, most of them are realising puzzles instead of working stuff out puzzles

[@eterickstonely8548]

"I'd take a page out of Hollow Knight." I'm always especially glad when Hollow Knight gets referenced in a video.

[@jlin592]

Me too, it’s my favorite game haha

[@periclescomoeddie5215]

Yeah, it's the cherry on top of this masterpiece of a video. HK is the best game I've ever played along with BOTW.

[@stevenneiman1554]

I was ready to get up in arms when you mentioned durability, but I really like your solution and how softens the blow of breaking your favorite weapons while leaning into the value of the system.

[@VioletAeonSnowfield]

My biggest issue with the durability system is that it stops mattering after a certain point in the game; and that point happens fairly early on, too. Like, in the early game the poor weapon durability system is the core of the gameplay loop. But it doesn't take very long at all for Link to reach a point where he's so strong that it doesn't matter what he happens to be holding, nothing poses any real threat outside of a few special enemies so the system just becomes an annoyance.

[@denisi1283]

It’s just an annoyance if you want your weapons not to break at all, but by the mid to endgame, you just memorise or mark in the map where the good weapons are and replenish them or get duplicates every blood moon (if needed). Blood moons happen so frequently that there’s no actual scarcity: it’s just a part of gameplay loop (like mining diamonds for tools in Minecraft). TotK made it worse, for me, because pristine weapons are random, so there’s actual value in holding them and a chance of not being able to find a new one (or taking a ridiculous amount of time searching). But there’s actual weapon repair, so that game’s late game durability is also solved, with a different loop.

[@AnneTipha]

an added bonus of having the blight ganons incorporate the bodies of the actual champions is that you'll finally get the chance to beat up revali

[@youngripo7545]

This is what i think too!

[@kristiano100]

I mean you can beat up revali in AoC but it would be cool in this style too.

[@ssmallishplague]

“Flurry rush is way too easy” Yeah I can’t pull it off 95%of the time so yeah. When ever I do I’m like “oh shirt! You see that?”

[@kittycatcrunchie]

Same I'm really bad at melee combat

[@maximusstorm1215]

Oh shirt.

[@Kasum_ish]

Oh shirt.

[@technicallyshyworld2663]

it was so difficult to time for me until recently, idk how I figured it out but it finally clicked and now I kill every single lynel I see

[@enjaymontano5956]

*hits with weapon *sheathes weapon *runs away *repeats process till baddie's dead Or just do stasis reset whatever. lol

[@CosmicGardener]

I like alot of these ideas. More intense fighting stuff scares me bc I've always been pretty awful at fighting in games and it's still true with this. Also this video is an amazing example of constructive critique.

[@Rabbit_Hill]

Yeah I’m not very great at the combat so the idea of having to eat food in realtime sounds absolutely agonizing to me also I really suck at actually triggering the flurry rush things. “it’s way too easy” was a shot to the heart lmao

[@CosmicGardener]

@@Rabbit_Hill I often forget that flurry rushing is a thing bc its kinda tricky. I do think for me it's partly bc it takes alot of buttons in a specific way and idk if its an adhd thing or jsut something I struggle with.

[@flowapowa4307]

Same, I LOVE botw but I really suck at combat, please dont make it harder 😅

[@gpocuzin98]

breath of the wild is freedom, tears of the kingdom is creativity

[@woutmees]

On my first playthrough, I turned off the special moves you get for completing the Divine Beasts because I thought they were consumables that couldn't ever recharge. Then when I finally got to Hyrule Castle, I parasailed to the hidden side-entrance not knowing that there was a main entrance. And my god, did it make for an awesome final challenge. Fighting all those super-tough enemies while solving puzzles involving cellars and secret walls, topped off with randomly stumbling upon the Hylian Shield is still one of the best gaming experiences I've ever had.

[@007MrYang]

I didn't turn them off, I just often forgot to use them lol

[@SeiShinCasios]

Man that sounds amazing. I swam up a waterfall, climbed a tower and nearly insta killed ganon with the special power. Then I had a boring ass Horse fight. I was so disappointed I lost my motivation to explore the world and have barely been playing since then..

[@silmaril8989]

I didn't turn them off but went all the way through the secret entrance and Hyrule castle, plus the Lynel fight, because I was too scared to run around with all the guardians being there. Aka you can make the game tough if you want to :D

[@ironmaiden4212]

Same I didn't know they recharged for the longest time.

[@BAIGAMING]

I didn't know that was the secret entrance! I was wondering for the longest time why I had so much trouble with the endgame...

[@JoystickDrummer]

If I can't pet the dog in BOTW2, I demand a refund!

[@matthewreese7710]

Didn’t Aonuma confirm it would be possible

[@LeviathanTamer31]

@Tales Ferreira I can't remember if it was Aonuma. But they didn't think that most people would care about petting dogs, only for the overwhelming amount of complaints to hit them. They then said that they'll make sure to put it into BotW2

[@matthewreese7710]

@Tales Ferreira I’m not sure if it was Aonuma but I remember someone said it would be possible.

[@matthewreese7710]

@@LeviathanTamer31 Yeah I wasn’t quite sure if it was Aonuma, I actually just don’t remember and that was my best guess.

[@lagalags]

Slight ToTK spoiler: To add to the weapon durability point: I'm happy they've allowed monster parts to be useful for something else other than making elixirs and exchanging them for Mons. I won't end up hoarding a whole bunch of monster parts I most likely won't ever need.

[@sylinmino]

I absolutely adore this video. It's clearly from a place of love for the game, where you wanted the weaker points of BotW to double down on the strengths of the rest of the package, rather than try to compromise them to appeal to the game's largest detractors. Well done.

[@SeeTv.]

11:50 My (speedrunner-friendly) idea for improving your terminal system in Hyrule Castle: There are 4 optional terminals inside Hyrule castle which act as "receive-points" for the divine beast. So that in order for a divine beast to help in the final battle you have to free the divine beast AND activate the associated terminal inside of Hyrule castle (or do the terminal first before the divine beast). That way most players would be really encouraged to explore the castle but it wouldn't add a necessary obstacle.

[@amansaxena5898]

Nice Idea!

[@YoutubeLover-np9lu]

That's a great idea

[@emmaspencer4586]

Could the four terminals be where you fight the blights talked about in the video? I think it'd fit pretty well. Another thing: To make sure it doesn't just become the champion's ballad thing all over again, where you have to go back and fight the blights a second time(and with your changed version, technically THREE times), how about instead of the blights appearing, it's dark versions of the champions themselves you have to fight, and then finally dark link as a secret final boss you fight in the sanctum in place of where the blights were just to shake things up a little, plus bring back an old foe!

[@Ismael-kc3ry]

That’s a good idea for sure

[@eyald.8252]

However: more obstacles means more routing, and while it would make speedruns slower, it'll make them more interesting. The better speedrun friendly idea is letting the player approach the obstacles from many different directions, with the faster ones being harder, and botw is pretty good in that

[@DEE-yj8ho]

“Flurry rush is a little too easy to pull off” Me who sucks at combat and once in a while pulls off a flurry rush: Well yes but actually no.

[@mary-pl8go]

same though ;-;

[@lukeheffernan2022]

Same :(

[@ScrewupExtraordinaire]

For people who are pretty good at the combat, yeah. It's too forgiving. The only requirement is that you dodge just before an attack would hit. That leaves a LOT of room and you don't even have to be that close. I shouldn't be able to flurry rush every attack from a horde of enemies.

[@VoilaTadaOfficial]

Yeah, I found it too risky to pull off so I avoided it a lot. Headshots were easier to pull off, bombs were easier to throw, perfect blocks had less risk because if you're too late you just block instead, elemental weapons had CC capabilities, and heavy weapons did plenty of damage without a flurry. Like, there were times when I'd throw 40 bombs into a bokoblin skull through they eye socket so they didn't see me to kill them, rather than actually fight them because it was risky. Boring as hell, but effective enough and completely risk free.

[@DonLasagna]

Hard mode for those of us who can do it well would be great.

[@LGOKUL2303]

Coming back here after seeing the Tears of the Kingdom previews, Oh my God. Almost each problem you listed out seem to have been adjusted in some way in this sequel. So happy for this! It's like you gave Nintendo something to think about haha

[@nonabonn]

a lot of those mechanic changes would be cool! I think (as someone who has problems with fine motor control) making a game more challenging isn't always great for every player, I think adding a difficulty setting that the players can choose that affected a lot of the mechanics you described would be absolutely amazing

[@HmmmmmLemmeThinkNo]

Seconded! While I did fine with botw, it took a few hundred hours before I could reliably fight, and even then,.no always. I generally play on the easiest level that isn't story-only, but I especially love games that let you change difficulty whenever. (I'm currently playing Fenyx Rising, and normal mode is great for me, but i'd have chosen story-only if I couldn't change whenever. And I would have missed out on so much enjoyment

[@fryingpanstan4596]

Also concerning dungeons, I think a lot of the problems around shrines comes down to how they’re presented. Having the exterior and the aesthetic, items, and enemies of the interior be the exact same every time hinders the players sense of discovery. A cave, temple, or even an abandoned house could incite a players curiosity much more than a shine (which they’ve seen dozens of times before) ever could.

[@martmine4618]

Yes this, also since heart containers don't exist anymore if I see a small house I'd just think "just another korok spot nothing important here"

[@HylianGeekBoy]

They kinda tried in some but this is so true, most are the same but it would have been so awesome to do a haunted mansion/town mission or something alike

[@eziospaghettiauditore8369]

They all look and play exactly the same. It's a disgrace compared to any of the previous Zelda games

[@halfalligator6518]

well it was a clear conscious decision by Nintendo to standardise and speed up the development of 200 odd shrines. I prefer the proper dungeons too but i imagine they'd take 10x the dev time for the same "play time". They went for quantity when it came to shrines. But yeah... nothing beats those proper Zelda dungeons imo. They're more like themed labyrinths really and are the most memorable parts of past Zelda games. I'm hoping they make a return in BOTW 2. More "hand crafted" linear areas would be nice too... the journey through the Lost Woods gave us a taste of what a more guided section of the game could be like.

[@danyosuna7276]

Agree. Spirit orbs should be scattered around the map not only in shrines. There is no reason to complete a hard challenge to enter a shrine telling you "you already proven your worth". It robs the environment from impacting the player

[@Amins88]

In regards to the final fight, I like the way they framed it of having your former companions there to support you in the end. But rather than just simply draining half of Ganon's health, or your suggestion of upgrading your abilities so you get to feel like the hero, how about having each of the other characters cripple one of Ganon's abilities with a corrupting form of the abilities they give you. For example, say Ganon had the ability to levitate and be out of reach of your melee attacks. Revali could cripple that and keep him grounded. Daruk could eliminate a barrier that Ganon would use normally, Mipha could lower his defense or health, and Urbosa could cut his attack strength in half. You still have to go through the fight normally, but you feel stronger because Ganon is weaker. And you also feel like your friends are there supporting you.

[@acefluffyzeuss7617]

the only problem with this idea is that it is wayyy too easy for nintendo to accidentally ruin the fight because they make the fight so easy it is boring, or the former companions do next to nothing and it feels like a waste of time

[@Amins88]

@@acefluffyzeuss7617 You're probably right. It'd probably end up a Fierce Diety situation. Except in that case, it felt deserved after all the work you went through.

[@acefluffyzeuss7617]

@@Amins88 for myself I’d be alright with a fierce deity situation, but I know lots of others wouldn’t. Back when majoras mask was originally released the margin in which players had for the companies was way larger and people weren’t all about critiquing the game and more about having fun, which don’t get me wrong lots of people still are. But there’s a growing group of people who only want hardcore gameplay, in which a fierce deity time would feel underwhelming and boring. Right now they have to get it bang on to please everyone with the assistance so that it feels like you earned it but not to the point that it overthrows the fight similar to the current final fight

[@tugfa0]

Tbh even if ur idea is flawed I feel like it makes somewhat more sense than the video's proposal because it lets the champions also take their revenge rather than just powering you up (which they already do once you free them); the purpose of freeing the divine beasts is to free the champions' spirits AND be able to use the actual machines to ur advantage. Story-wise it wouldn't make sense to not use the beasts themselves to weaken Ganon

[@joaodorjmanolo]

@@acefluffyzeuss7617 I played MM's on 64 as a kid (who didnt speak english) and my first ending was beating Majora's with normal link. Only after a few playthroughs I picked all masks and used fierce deity and I can garantee anyone that it simply felt magic.

[@archeryguy1701]

I'm probably 1/3rd through the game so far, and my biggest change would be dial the weather in a bit. My last 3 or 4 sessions have been infuriating because it has been raining and/or lightning seemingly every other weather cycle. As frustrating as the rain/lightning effects are when they happen at inconvenient times, I don't necessarily mind them. But when I'm spending half of a play session unable to climb and having to unequip all my gear, that's not fun. A common refrain I was making last night was, "Maybe this isn't that bad, but it feels REALLY bad."

[@samueljo7910]

14:21 Maybe additionally have some enemies that block your attempts at flurry rushing and require a second dodge for it to work?

[@firenze6478]

Sekiro did something similar to this with certain bosses on the death blow.

[@firenze6478]

Also metroid dread did it with her counter

[@zirkq]

that ancient shard idea is so clever wtf

[@kevinmorelikekevout3639]

Lol You ever played destiny?

[@zirkq]

no

[@kevinmorelikekevout3639]

@@zirkq destiny 1 had the same mechanic where the raid armor or weapons needed ancient shards to upgrade and you would get them from the raid or chest in the raid. You can also get them from breaking down clothes and weapons.

[@Naryoril]

@@kevinmorelikekevout3639 That doesn't give incentive to use the powerful "consumable" items instead of hoarding them though. Drops is a completely different thing, the game already has enough of those. And going into a menu and destroying weapons is hardly any fun, using your powerful weapons and then get a little reward at the end of using instead of hoarding them is a much better solution.

[@kevinmorelikekevout3639]

@@Naryoril I was just describing the mechanic

[@gregorymansour1763]

The forms of Ganon actually use the same type of weapon as the champion of that divine beast. I'm surprised that so few people noticed. In that sense they actually are reflective of the Champions.

[@razbuten]

Yeah, that is a subtle touch, but I want like Revali fused into the Blight with malice dripping down his beak. That should would be horrifying and great.

[@NathanielRich]

@@razbuten Anything that allows me to stab Revali. I'm in.

[@mary-pl8go]

@@NathanielRich me too omg 😍

[@PrydeYT]

@@NathanielRich yeah but, are you ready to stab Mipha?

[@ifeelverygood]

@@razbuten but this is still a children’s game. You don’t want your enemy design to be too disturbing or cause nightmares for children. My cousin couldn’t play majoras mask for example because he found the moon to be too scary.

[@milorio813]

My entire botw play through I had a flame spear on me from the literal start to the end, and I grew attached to it, lol.

[@robsands6656]

I like the idea of the bonus for defeating the beasts being something like an empowered master sword. But the fight would have to start before you get the empowerment so you can really feel the difference it makes.

[@mathbud1]

I think they could keep the attacks from the divine beasts but spread them through the fight and have them interrupt an aspect of the fight somehow. Stop some tough sequence that Ganon would do if you didn't have the beasts defeated. So, there would be four extra sequences of the fight to go through if you defeated no divine beasts (extra challenges for the crazy.) That way it feels like the beasts are contributing to defeating Ganon like they are meant to, but it doesn't feel like they are just autoing half the fight for you. At the same time, I feel like they would feel more involved throughout the fight. Fight, fight, fight... Now, Rudania! Fight, fight, fight... Now, Naboris! etc. I could also see it sort of the way you describe though, where instead of attacking Ganon directly they blast a powerup into you during the fight. So, you could have multiple moments of gaining strength throughout the fight. They blast you and the next time you hit Ganon you do extra damage or something like that. That way you are the agent of destruction, but they are still helping you.

[@ZenGaming-kn7mx]

Touching on the rain, I had an idea on it. Many armor sets gain a secondary ability when upgraded twice. They could have given the climbing gear that secondary ability whether it's after upgrading twice or all four times

[@mics1234]

Probably all 4 times

[@cyan.cephalopod]

@@mics1234 I see your point that it is a very valuable ability, but if you make the cost of the ability too high, then players won’t acquire it until after they actually need it.

[@mics1234]

@@cyan.cephalopod Im 100% sure everyone needs a gear that beats rain.

[@impeybarbicane]

@@mics1234 “before you actually need it” is not the same as “grind until it’s yours after you’ve finished 90% of the games content”

[@mics1234]

@@impeybarbicane You dont need to finish the game to max out armour pieces.

[@eldry8817]

Something I remember being really disappointed by on my first playthrough were the three springs. While Nadra's fight and freeing her from corruption was satisfying the first time, I was so disappointed when the other two didn't pose any new and exciting challenge. For something so important lore-wise, only having to grab a scale and find the spring was a letdown. Honestly, I would place the extra dungeons there, behind the springs instead of just another shrine. It would be so cool to have a special themed dungeon for each spring, one that isn't made out of Shika tech but has different challenges, maybe elemental themed like the dragons. Imagine a vast icy cave network that travels through Mt. Lanayru, or puzzles that are influenced by the nearby Death Mountain by the spring of power.

[@samyakshah2040]

i actually really love the idea of dungeons at the springs, in my opinion the spring of power and courage were quite boring to me, whereas seeing a dragon and freeing it from the malice was quite an adventure (also the first time i learned u can shoot arrows in the air!). I would love to see some sort of fire/lava themed dungeon, with its own separate boss, along with an electric dungeon where u have to use magnesis to activate electrical switches and a boss that deals us electric attacks. but than again there have been fiery/lava shrines that have milked this idea along with electrical shrines, but an icy dungeon would be new and innovative

[@cavemanbuddyolpal]

Aren’t the spring of courage and power like connected to dungeons in skyward sword?

[@jawaring4367]

Zelda games, especially 3d zelda games, have never really been challenging. They're just kinda tedious. Most of the puzzles that people remember being hard were just confusing and poorly made.

[@ClaraBennett]

Agreed. Doing Naydra’s spring first really set up the expectation that there would be an engaging mini-quest for the other two dragons, so that was quite a let-down.

[@kingmnbv]

my dream would be to have the spring dungeons be skyview and the earth temple but rundown and in a breath of the wild style

[@Hello-pp3hl]

I remember how disappointed I was opening a random chest on a cliff and finding a boomerang, after which I threw it and it went into the water. I miss the feeling of killing a miniboss and getting excited about using a new weapon THAT DOESN'T BREAK that you continue to use in the dungeon to progress

[@absolutezerochill2700]

Well boomerangs are just another kind of weapon in this game

[@Spider10v]

Yeah I really like the idea of us getting Zelda as a playable character It reminds me of the old days where if you beat a game you would get a bonus character/item Edit: what about NG+?

[@krosus2019]

Personally, i think the game could've used more 'yiga clan hideout'-like quests. Though frustrating at times, learning how to deal with the enemies and the unique boss inside felt very refreshing imo.

[@yoursleepparalysisdemon6153]

Yea I loved fighting kohga and getting thru the hideout it felt very rewarding I think in botw 2 they should have more like stelh like missions although after playing age of clamity I don’t really want to fight the yiga clan anymore

[@krosus2019]

@@yoursleepparalysisdemon6153 Thanks for the reply, i agree! Haven't tried out age of calamity though, would you recommend it?

[@yoursleepparalysisdemon6153]

@@krosus2019 yes I would definitely recommend aoc however it is a different game style however I personally do think it is worth

[@wouter-jangeerts6304]

​@@yoursleepparalysisdemon6153

[@Late0NightPC]

In my experience, the problems with weapon durability largely came down to "It's annoying as hell, until it magically stops mattering". It feels as though early on, you are always struggling to find good weapons, and like you said, places to use the really good weapons. But then suddenly after maybe 8-ish hours of play, you just start getting so many new weapons that the entire mechanic stops mattering because you have at least 5 other of that exact weapon in your inventory somewhere. Then it becomes actively tedious because any time a weapon breaks, you need to pause and take out another, interrupting the flow of combat. The master sword also just makes it worse because you always want to use it over anything else.

[@AnlStarDestroyer]

Well this is reassuring. I got an OLED as my first switch and am playing BotW for the first time and I hate that shit.

[@Kintaku]

I didn’t mind it at the beginning. I am just now playing the game so I knew it was coming. I like that it forces you to be creative with engagements and sometimes prioritize stealth. That said, I just got to the Vah Ruta final boss and now the issue is specifically bows. And that I’m an idiot. I didn’t realize you could break ice with the rune because I’m dumb so I broke two bows at the shooting ice on Sidon’s back. Now I don’t have enough bow health to kill the final boss and I’m gonna have to go find enemies with bows. I feel like if there are enemies who can ONLY be killed from range, the game should have provided a permanent bow as well even if it only has five damage. Waterblight Ganon needed literally 4 more shots to die but I couldn’t kill him because I had no bow. Totally my fault but still irritating.

[@mrporbig]

i hate how i can never use my master sword because i have 7 better swords and if i did use it it would snap quicker than a granola bar

[@eyvin_helvetia]

True, I even use the master sword for mining

[@zyenogaming2239]

I’m thinking maybe instead of reapiring the master sword the sword recharges based on combat, so you don’t just throw weapons till they break

[@mabskala]

my only main complaint with botw is as someone that has a nintendo switch lite, the motion controlled shrines become impossible at times, since i can't see the screen while rotating the switch, but all the points you made would definitely make the game a better experience, although it's damn near perfect even now :)

[@LARAUJO_0]

I've always thought of Dark Beast as a playable cutscene rather than a boss fight so it never really bothered me how little goes on, but man, the idea of climbing it and attacking weak points Shadow of the Colossus style sounds AMAZING

[@potchary8366]

„The irrational fear there could be a better, more important time to use an item“ Actually it’s called „Collector’s Anxiety“

[@draxomega]

i feel like being able to sell weapons to an R&D merchant/smith (whatever you want them) and then being able to buy copies of them would easily mitigate this.

[@Marnige]

Is that a pointcrow reference?

[@jesus3984]

“Hey guys point crow here. Do you ever get collectors anxiety in open world rpgs where there’s so much to see and so much to grab?”

[@FencerforJesus]

I am surprised you didn't mention making the Lynel one of the area bosses like a Hinox, Talus, or Molduga. The Lynel fights were always more memorable than the other three and deserved its own fight music.

[@jonathansmith2438]

Something I think could really add to hyrule castle is how the blights are incorporated. It would be really cool if that when you go to hyrule castle without the divine beasts you have to traverse across the castle to find the blights and fight them to access the ganon fight

[@ckannan90]

Having just finished the game (yesterday), and not having seen this video before, I think the game is close to perfect. It’s the only game that has ever really fulfilled my want for exploration. Every open world game makes you want to explore, from my very first experience with gta vice city. But a lot of the time that exploration sends you into corners that you’re pretty sure were not intended by the game. But in botw, I’d constantly give myself random objectives like I really wanna see the top of that mountain or I wonder why those three trees in the distance look odd to me. And every single time I pursued one of these curiosities, fully thinking that I came up with the idea by myself, I’d be rewarded with a cheat or korok or quest. I felt seen. I wasn’t exploring this world inspite if its attempts to keep me on rails; I was exploring a world that WANTED to be explored. My main complaints with the game are just UI quality of life updates: cooking a bunch of food is repetitive, switching from one costume to another could be more streamlined, shrine loading animation could be shorter and more easily skipped. The only real gameplay complaint I had is that I lost interest in discovering cooking recipes as soon as I found hearty foods. Not really even a complaint, since managing potions and foods that give small buffs has never interested me in any game. So I pretty much always just cooked and ate radishes and nothing else.

[@denisi1283]

They did a few UI QoL changes in TotK that will really miss in BotW next time I play it, but still not enough… Inventory is really the biggest pain in both games.

[@liyaa.3320]

"tendency to hoard nice weapons" don't look at me and my inventory full of royal claymores and elementals ;-;

[@yumikodazaiswaifu]

Me too lol

[@dom-zg1ro]

me with all of my savage lynel gear that i try to never use

[@snokalo208]

Me with 5 great flameblades

[@Nison545]

I feel like I'm the only one who misses sword skills. Like, upgrades to your combat move pool is such a good feeling - it's crazy to me how little it's brought up.

[@fakename4232]

Yes, I agree. I loved that mechanic in Twilight Princess and it was even more cool that you were learning them from the hero of time. BOTW could have done something similar, and since it merges all three timelines BOTW Link could have learned a move from a Link in each timeline. Would have been so cool.

[@Izandaia]

One of my biggest desires for BOTW2 is special skills in the vein of the Hidden Skills in Twilight Princess.

[@ink4852]

As much as I loved the hidden skills, they made an already piss easy combat system trivial. If they're going to reintroduce that mechanic, enemies need to not only be stronger, but smarter, to compensate. But I haven't played Breath of the Wild so I don't know what its combat system is like in comparison to Twilight Princess.

[@fakename4232]

@@ink4852 Yes, you make a fair point. Combat systems in previous Zeldas are almost all lacking in difficulty. BOTW is by far the most difficult Zelda game, especially early on. However, during the late game really the only enemy that will give you trouble is the lynel. I would much rather see smarter enemy AI than just tankier/higher damage dealing enemies. BOTW made pretty good strides in enemy AI so I'm excited to see what the future of Zleda holds.

[@strawberrycheesecake5502]

That's my issue with weapon breaking. I love to master my tools and that just isn't an option if they break. So yeah, sword skills that either carry through to weapons, or having some unbreakable weapons all the way!

[@brandimullins8813]

The mod dlc Second Wind does a great job of fixing the dungeon problem. They basically gave all of the base shrines a makeover and made them feel like proper dungeons, which is something Nintendo could have done if given the time, budget and motivation (and ideas). It really does make it feel like a whole new game. The mod team did an absolutely EXCELLENT job of facelifting the shrines.

[@justinbell7309]

For emulator or?

[@NuiYabuko]

Time? Budget? Motivation? Like, the main reason for them looking similar was likely to be able to fit that many into the game. You'll either get 120+ similar shrines or 20 different-looking ones.

[@Ereebus]

Something that i would really like in botw is that something actually happened after you defeat ganon for example monsters no longer respawning after a blood moon, guardians no longer attacking you or ganon no longer floating around the castle. You would get such a feeling of accomplishment after you finally rid the world of monsters.

[@braunstein5645]

Thats the problem with many of these games. They dont give you a chance to save your game after starting the final boss fight, so when you reload your save, you are at the point just before the fight. I think this is done to avoid having to make an elaborate post-game and for it to make sense that you can fight the final boss again after already having beaten him.

[@paragonyoshi4237]

It would also drain all the fun out of the game, if there is literally nothing left to fight in the world.

[@geronimus4288]

@@paragonyoshi4237 true, I guess they would need to leave a lot of stuff in, but I do think there is merit in this idea. because it makes defeating the final boss feel kind of underwhelming sometimes.

[@justinsnyder9739]

When you figure out how to efficiently kill Lynels, it breaks the weapon system completely. You are guaranteed a weapon, bow and shield drop, and you can kill them without losing any durability to your weapon, making all other normal enemies just not worth killing, ever. Especially on Master Mode. Guardians and Lynels become the only enemies in the game essentially.

[@breeze5926]

Tell me how

[@Kelpic]

@@breeze5926 Get on their back (headshot with a bow then running up is an easy way to do this). When you attack while on it your weapons take no damage

[@vincentjiang6358]

and lizalfoz

[@Whatismusic123]

@@Kelpic ??? my weapons took damage unless I'm dumb or smthn

[@jacobnorris8256]

@@Whatismusic123 Likely mistaking losing durability from attacking the lynel normally and mounting. Attacking normally still takes durability as normal, except the Lynel is tanky as fuck so you'll lose a lot of weapons from it, but if you've mounted it then you don't lose anything. Just switch to a royal claymore every time you get on their back and you shred them.

[@carsonschill1635]

13:12 no no no, I want to still be able to eat 60 apples in a boss fight

[@marickjolivot]

That's just way too overkill I miss the time when the bosses needed many tries to beat with a few pot to break for health but now you just need to have a stock of food and you just cannot die

[@ausnik]

@@marickjolivot Except that the game over screen is effectively the same thing. You just "die" and start over with next to no punishment. Adding food mid-fight just makes it more convenient. Alternatively you could really make the game punishing and make a game over permanent and you start from the beginning of the game. This difficulty would exclude a huge chunk of the audience and is the main reason I have never nor will ever pick up a dark souls game. I just don't find the concept of dying and retrying fun in my games and I know that plenty of other gamers feel the same too. This is why I love Master Mode and trial of the sword. Gives the hard core players something more of a challenge but still doesn't exclude players

[@aurum3747]

@@marickjolivot I mean, if you find it too easy you could always just not do it y'know, eating food while in battle is a choice

[@juancampos9468]

@@aurum3747 but that still doesn’t fix the fact that the issue exists

[@aurum3747]

@@juancampos9468 How is it an issue? People who find it convenient use it, people who find it too easy don't use it It's absolutely the best of both worlds

[@FlamesOfTheRuined]

You know what I hate most when it comes to endings of video games? When you continue after defeating the boss, but the world is STILL stuck in the reality of the boss not yet defeated. I defeated Ganon, so I want to see the world and how it moved on after Link won. I want to chat with the NPCs and see their reaction knowing Ganon is done for (for the moment, at least). You can visit different villages and see The Champions watching over the place, thanking you for finally freeing them so they can rest, but reward you with an ultra-powerful version of their weapon, or something. I just want more to see and how the world responds after Ganon is gone, not go through a Groundhog’s Day situation, over and over again.

[@tasoganedude]

Ancient Shards: 5:16 A fragment of power from the days of old. It is unclear the extent of its power, but there's a really solid chance that these do some pretty cool *SHIT*.

[@le_shooty759]

“Flurry rush is to easy” me who’s only been able to pull it off a handful of times: I feel targeted

[@eser8167]

I think the timeframe depends on what you are fighting

[@shumeiyang1024]

Just practice, the easiest thing for me to flurry rush is a lynel because that's the only enemy I bothered trying for. I'm almost useless with with everything else lol.

[@LukasPopHP]

YES

[@-keiskx1774]

Just practice on lynels

[@MarinewithaShotgun]

@@shumeiyang1024 The window for Flurry Rush on its head-first charge attack is super generous, too, I feel. I've dodged when it's a meter in front of me, still got the Flurry Rush. I've dodged when it was basically hitting me, still got the FR. Compare that to Guardian laser parrying... I'll sometimes get the initial parry success "schwing", but take a bit of damage and not actually reflect it.

[@rustyhardy5371]

Ancient Shards is a brilliant, stroke of fricking genius idea. I hope Nintendo watches your channel.

[@razbuten]

Thank you! I think it is really interesting how just the framing of something can change your perception, even though nothing in the game would really have to change by adding them.

[@amandaschuller4546]

@@razbuten I forget what game design video I was watching about this very thing. Probably something from Extra Credits? Anyway, they talked about an MMO that instituted an XP penalty if you'd been playing more than X hours a day. The players were up in arms, furious about the change. They felt penalized and constricted. So the devs ... changed nothing, but announced that instead, you'd get an XP *bonus* when logging on after so many hours inactive. And the players were happy! Same exact situation, different framing. I have to humbly disagree that your idea is just framing, though. You'd be adding a tangible, meaningful reward to weapon churn. Like, I'd actually USE Ruby the weapon smithing station with your idea. As it is I never do, because I don't want to spend valuable materials and rupees on stuff I know will just break. But if I have a steady income of Ancient Shards, then I'd give it a try. (And weapons from Ruby might give extra Ancient Shards when THEY break, being made of them!)

[@Izandaia]

@@amandaschuller4546 That would be no less than *the* MMO, World of Warcraft. Also the Ancient Oven's name is Cherry, not Ruby.

[@amandaschuller4546]

@@Izandaia Ah, Cherry -- that's what I get for not checking the wiki. :-)

[@TheBriguy1998]

@@razbuten I disagree that its just framing changing your perception, its a genuine mechanical change that would totally alter how the game plays, though I think you still understand that on some level, having come up with the new system yourself. But for the sake of digression: You don't just not want to break weapons because you think it will weaken you in the future, it actually will deplete your arsenal in a way you probably won't be able to improve upon or even replenish very quickly, and certainly not without much effort. If the reward for fighting is just *possibly* easier fighting later on, and combat is optional + repetitive, there is no mechanical or intrinsic incentive to engage with the game at all. Ancient shards changes all of that. It is an explicit mechanic that makes turn breaking weapons from a downgrade to an upgrade. Instead of a wavering power level, that dips and rises abruptly when you acquire or lose a weapon, you are, technically, always getting stronger. Many have said it, but I'll say it again: this is a genius idea. I really hope something like this makes it into BotW 2 if the durability system is maintained for that game, because I honestly can't think of a better solution to the core issue of the system without a complete overhaul.

[@aquartertwo]

13:52 Game Freak must've taken note of that, because in Pokemon Legends Arceus, you can't fast-travel if an enemy spots you. Though it does have the equivalent of your horse on standby at any given time, so running away is much easier

[@smun2931]

I love how totk basiucally perfected and adressed all things you said and added so much more, wich is crazy

[@coolcole3730]

still no petting dogs :(((

[@hectorrojo5649]

The enemy variety is the biggest problem for me. They’re like 6 enemies you’ll fight throughout the entire game that aren’t bosses Edit: Apparently I have to be specific but I was exaggerating when I said 6 but that doesn’t make the enemy variety any better. It just feels like 6. It’s still pretty limited PS I consider Lynels mini bosses or at least a rare encounter

[@RubenTafteberg]

And Nintendo thought they could trick us with colours

[@enjaymontano5956]

We all know 6 is an exaggeration. There's decent enemy variety here. Unless you're just rushing to Hyrule castle after the plateau and didn't really explore the game.

[@RubenTafteberg]

@@enjaymontano5956 “That arent bosses”

[@StrangeGamer859]

@@enjaymontano5956 Ignoring the color, elemental and stalfos variations, there are just 15 enemy types: -Bokoblins -Moblins -Lizalfos -Keese -Chuchus -Wizzrobes -Guardians -Guardian Stalkers -Guardian Scouts -Guardian Skywatchers -Lynels -Octoroks -Yiga Soldiers -Yiga Blademasters -Pebblits The variations definitely help, but the overall enemy variety is pretty limited

[@enjaymontano5956]

@@StrangeGamer859 still more than 6. Thank you for proving my point.

[@carquest3748]

"Divine beasts can be defeated in under an hour" Me who spent my entire life trying to beat thunder blight Ganon

[@VoilaTadaOfficial]

yeah it took me 40 minutes to beat thunder blight because I couldn't for the life of me do flurry rushes. I would always dodge the attack but somehow it never did a flurry rush.

[@Michaelonyoutub]

I was decent at flurry rushes before thunder blight ganon, afterwards I was a god at them, I died so many times that I eventually had to adapt and learn, or else keep hitting my head against a wall.

[@grandsome1]

@@ilyesbenachi5130 I beat it with the master sword and 15 hearts, and some food, it was an attrition fight, I just outlasted it lol.

[@ashwantsicecream]

@@ilyesbenachi5130 You need to use a one handed weapon

[@theomcinturff1213]

on the plus side your language comprehension is quite impressive for a four year old

[@username3624]

Another thing I’d “fix” relating to weapons is by not having a limited supply of a certain kind. The woodland sword, kite shield, and lower tier lynel spears and crushers (as they disappear once the game gets harder enough) will all eventually vanish forever, thus making breaking them feel like much more of a loss if you know about their limited availability. Another one would be amiibo weapons break, and I believe a potential “fix” for that would be having the terry town rare gear salesman sell amiibo gear and weapons after you obtain them for the first time.

[@SSM24_]

Getting unique materials for breaking weapons is a _very_ interesting idea, probably one of the best ones I've heard for improving the durability system. I do entirely agree that the system as-is is an important part of the game that does more good than harm - but the very simple point you mentioned that _people don't like losing things_ will still be there, and no amount of "b-but the way the game is designed-" is going to change that. Having it directly reward you with something unique and important would do a ton to alleviate that.

[@maxwelllutomski7855]

"Way too easy to do 'Flurry Rush'..." and here I am with sucky reaction time, lol

[@razbuten]

Just spam them backflips

[@cameronfuller7551]

I think the timing is a bit janky too. You have to dodge when the hit-box starts, meaning you can time it so you dodge the hit perfectly and not get a flurry rush. It’s something that’s really bothered me since I noticed it and it needs fixed for the sequel imo. Still love the game overall though

[@1un4cy]

yea you kind of need to back up until an attack misses then dodge as the swing passes in front of you to get rewarded for doing nothing

[@blindbeholder9713]

It depends on the attack but the spot to aim for is when the attack would hit, not just before, the moment you think its going to hit you. A lot of flurry rushes end with the attack passing through Link's torso and just doing nothing because "he got the rush!'

[@BurnStar21]

I dunno if it's just me, but I can also get Flurry Rushes when I'm no where close to being hit by the enemy

[@JacobGeller]

That weapons fix is so goddang smart

[@razbuten]

both you and pine called my idea smart today and now my ego is just unstoppable

[@DKY730]

@@razbuten Haha ^^ Use that rare occurrence wisely

[@reklem2]

When the king of KZbin essays praise your idea, then you know you did good.

[@Aconspiracyofravens1]

@@razbuten I also agree with you for that idea, its a great one, ( way better than anything I could come up with) the several hour video (made by joseph anderson I think) covers the dungeon problem much better. the combat needs a full overhaul as while it works great for the first 10 hours or so after that the progression just makes it less fun, the hyper bloated hp pool is the biggest offender, making environmental damage and creative tactics innificient, also you feel compelled to hoard the late game weapons, but there are other problems.

[@tinomendoza7045]

Yes ! My face literally lit up when he explained his idea!

[@adriansrsa90]

ToTK fixing rain be pog

[@nayraider]

I'm coming back to rewatch this to see if tears of the Kingdom fixed some of these problems.

[@Megasauruus]

I liked your idea about receiving “Ancient Shards” when a weapon breaks. I’m one of those people who hated when their nice or favorite weapons broke, this would help relieve my grief

[@Eva-qv4ii]

I especially felt this when breaking the champion weapons

[@RaFaPilgrim]

Here’s an idea for the Calamity Ganon boss fight that I came up with while watching this video: what if, instead of all shooting at once at the start of the fight, each divine beast took a shot at Ganon whenever you stagger him during normal combat? That way, you’d still have to engage normally with the fight, and the extra damage would only come in whenever you managed to expose a weak point or something like that. That way, I think it would feel more a direct consequence of your actions while still cutting down on the fight’s length and repetition.

[@drewster3168]

instead of doing damaege they could destroy one of his weapons, on top of that they could just his weapons into something that relates to the divine beasts and the corresponding beast destyroys that weapon until he only has his laser

[@Cman04092]

Iove this idea. Their could be a quick cutscene with the champion as they fire it off and make some kinda coment to link. Then zelda could step in to help as well, at the end of the very last phase, which is when he gives up on his normal form.

[@oliverparrish9968]

why didn't they add this it sounds amazing

[@pablocontreras3826]

What if instead of the beasts damaging him, he became stronger, I mean, Ganon is "whole" again after beating his parts in the divine beasts, so you get a harder fight, if you go directly to the castle at the start of the game, you get a 5 minute easy fight without meaning whatsoever, but if you fix the world, helping everyone, you have an epic fight against Ganon.

[@RHTQ1]

Personally a fan of the OP's idea and Pablo C's. Instead of fighting the blights, you get a stronger Ganon who's recentered his power... but the champions can aim after you knock him down or secure him (which is kinda like zelda and her bow in some other games). Afterwards you get an improved version of his final form to fight with zelda

[@RndmGuy98]

The idea for the durability system is really cool. It’s something that’d make sense, encourages the use of stronger weapons and is really unique. Props to you.

[@caspergotlost]

I will say, as someone whose first serious gaming experience was BOTW as an 11 yo and now TOTK, Im shit at combat. It took one of my friends badgering to get me to try to even get into the castle. I've played both games by unlocking abilites such as Revali's gale and using them constantly to nope out of situations. However, BotW lets that be a method. I focused on puzzle shrines, saving money, and buying gear and just climbed and flew my way into the final fight without fighting anything else in the castle. I managed to beat it on the first try, but I'm glad I did. I had to eat a bunch during the fight, and if i hadn't hoarded so much food, I wouldn't have been able to win. A lot of the issue fixes, especially with combat and terminals in the castle, would be great as a pro mode or something, but it would have taken the fun out of it for me, because finding strategies to avoid combat was how I turned this game into something I like to play. I have nearly 300 hours into BOTW, but I still don't enjoy combat, and I just want to chill and avoid it, but ACNH isn't appealing because preparing to face things I'm scared of is fun. The threat is fun, but not being able to avoid it would just be painful.

[@acetronaut]

I think, instead of getting "mipha's grace" (which is pretty much just a fairy that fills your health fully) we should get the ability to swim underwater. There could be so much more to explore, but you have to unlock it Edit: like in twilight princess

[@pbnj0]

oh that would be SICK. underwater shrines???

[@sarahcanedit3012]

Yea honestly mipha’s grace is helpful and all but you can just cook a full recovery meal and get your health filled up.

[@hazmatbp]

that would be really cool, but it would be a shit-ton of extra work for the devs, and it would also follow the tradition that BOTW tried to break, which is: "Oh this area looks pretty cool but you can only explore it if you have this one specific item" That would be like if Revali's Gale gave you the ability to climb.

[@pbnj0]

@@hazmatbp but then again isn’t that how the game was until you unlocked the wind glider?

[@hazmatbp]

@@pbnj0 thats different, because unlocking the glider unlocks the entire rest of the game, and its purpose is to make the player learn the basics and get the runes before they start the "real game".

[@RationallySassy]

Also when you are at a campfire or something, you should be able to click a button to bring up the cooking menu. Not just bring up the time changing option of afternoon, evening, etc. And when your inventory is full, it should give you the option to open your inventory or something so you don't have to do the animation of opening a chest again.

[@BenjiThomaz]

I'm surprised this one isn't more liked. I'd LOVE it if they did some simple tweaks like that. Next to a fire place? Click a button to either rest OR to get quick access to ingredients for cooking.

[@eziospaghettiauditore8369]

Yeah also make it so you don't have to teleport back to the Hunter's dream to farm blood vi... oh wait

[@ronwapossibly]

For the cooking thing, they just need to also pop up the plus button on screen. The game will already automatically bring you to the ingredients menu when you're near a cooking pot, but I'm always hitting "a" because the game prompts the a button. I just think having the plus button also pop up will help indicate that that is the case.

[@Zyodl]

i think it would be best if in the final fight link would get a different powerup to like you said either his weapons (so if he did the rito divine beast it would be his bow) or preferabley a powerup in the form of some sort of ability, maybe for urbosa he could shoot lighting and do more damage, maybe for ravali he could have a chargeable ability that lets him dash at ganon while hes on the wall in phase two, or something like that... something that would make each champions contribution feel unique, rather than just taking 12.5% of his health