Zelda Breath of The Wild in 2023 - Aged Quite Badly (critique)

[@lnsflare1]

Trial of the Sword should have been free/base content, since it was an excellent tutorial on getting used to the weapon durability system and grabbing anything nearby to use as a weapon. Also, all the ribbon menus should be replaced with quickswap wheels, the food mechanic needs a fullness system to prevent abuse, and run and jump shouldn't both be mapped to face buttons.

[@eduuklee9453]

the problem with links swordmenship is that it is getting repetative. they had to find creative ways to make his boring one pattern moveset irrelevant because the player need to worry about finding weapons all the time. the grinding element overthrow all concerns about links limited moveset D;

[@skelly2278]

the durability system is a good thing. fight me. if it wasnt a thing why wouldnt i just always use my 5 shot savage lynel bow? the point of botw is surviving in a post apocalyptic landscape, and living off the land. by removing weapon durability you could make it possible for link to just skidoodle over to ganons place and wack him with a stick repeatedly. it would ruin the game.

[@blasphemy47]

Well, my proposed solution was not necessarily to removed weapon durability, but rather enhance it and make it part of a more substantial progression. But in the case of weapons never breaking, obviously adjustments in difficulty and balance needs to be made. Many open world games have weapons that never break while still offering a balanced experience. Also, if the point of Botw is surviving, then it does a poor job on that, it doesn't take that long to have so much food in my inventory for healing, that I could feed an entire village, which undermines the whole surviving aspect.

[@skelly2278]

@@blasphemy47 i guess that is a fair argument, but i still think weapon durability is something that is necessary for the game to feel natural, also the title of the video is a bit misleading honestly.

[@blasphemy47]

​@@skelly2278 Probably the second part of the video might reflect the title, where i adress various other issues i personally have with the game.

[@dnzlwshnktn2092]

Finished BOTW multiple times. Recently I played it on an emulator where you can set weapon durability as well as staminia to infinite. Let me tell you, it's SO much more fun and enjoyable. The stamina is the most annoying, doesn't add anything to gameplay and is just a tedious gimmick. Weapons breaking could be meaningful, but ONLY if there was a "weapon upgrade" type sidequest or a blacksmith that will forge unbreakable weapons, which you have to earn first. That would be great. But just having weapons break sucks in direct comparison.

[@skelly2278]

@@dnzlwshnktn2092 to me personally it adds to the strategy of the game, but i guess i'm alone in that regard.

[@thijsdeboer6968]

I don't know. I liked the durability system. Every time a weapon was about to break, I tried to throw it at the enemy to get both the breaking and throwing damage buffs. I didn't really care what weapons I got. I just went in with monkey brain. Weapon breaks, "oh, there's a new one that looks pretty cool." And that happened every combat encounter. So yeah, I liked it.

[@blasphemy47]

I understand your point, but at the same time not caring what weapon one might find undermines the whole argument of being encouraged to explore to find new ones. I didn't care what weapon I got, either, but by not caring affected negatively exploration.

[@thijsdeboer6968]

@@blasphemy47 for me it was a little different. I didnt care what weapons I got, but I did care about getting some weapon, because the feeling of picking one up was satisfying.

[@ivanmedina6071]

​@@thijsdeboer6968 what? Lol you dont care about getting weapons but you do?

[@thijsdeboer6968]

@@ivanmedina6071 what I meant is that I didn't care about which type of weapon I got, but picking up A weapon was satisfying.

[@sarenarterius6217]

1. Play in Cemu, 4k 60hz. This is a game changer. 2. Durability it's not a problem when you can kill everything with Lynel Bow x5 since the beggining in master mode. Need more bows? Easy, Silver Lynels exist from the beggining. 3. Play with visual mods. This game can become more awesome.

[@blasphemy47]

For Totk i did exactly that. I used a reshade mod. It's insane how much of a difference can make by simply adjusting the contrast, saturation and a few other options.

[@DestinySpider]

I firmly believe that the combat loop in BotW starts out by far at its most interesting on the plateau and only gets worse from there. As you pointed out, the more weapons you unlock, and the longer the individual ones last, the more you'll sit there wasting time by contemplating "hmmm. What do I throw away to pick this up?" One thing that contributes a lot to that is the constant upping of damage numbers imo. Sure, there need to be some enemies which can take some more punishment later, but I am really not a fan of how there will be enemies that, because of their ridiculous healthbars, you are literally incapable of killing, because even though you as a player are good enough, you don't have the equipment for it. So I think the game would be better off with weapons and damage numbers staying around a more even level, so that even by the endgame you can accomplish some shit if you put a stick to good use. OH. And one big thing that I always hate about how enemy health in Breath of the Wild rises over time, is how people always say the game encourages creative and alternative approaches. Stuff like Dunkey does in his video on the game. Playing around with stasis and such, or using the rocks (that lie around once every 20 square miles) While stuff like that is both cool and genuinely useful in the beginning, as soon as the enemies get their health buffed, or you fight like a Lynel or something, that approach is pretty much shot down, since no matter how creative you try to be, nothing you do will be as strong as a simple strike with your sword. So in that way "creative interactions" grow weaker and weaker as the game goes on, making it so BotW kinda starts out as a creative problemsolving adventure where you use the little things you got on you to make it through challenging encounters, but later on dissolves into something which lowkey punishes you for doing anything besides "button mashing"

[@blasphemy47]

Yes, a lot of the stuff you pointed here is right. Playing creativity works mostly in the first few hours. Once enemies level up, combined with the fact you gain access to so many weapons, playing creatively by doing damage to enemies with a boulder is pointless.

[@Jdudec367]

It doesn't get worse at all. True which is a annoying situation to be. No I doubt that contributes to that. Their healthbars aren't ridiculous and if you are good enough as a player you would have the equipment for it. No that would just destroy any sense of meaningful progression. But it does do that. Not really, it depends on where you are and what you use that can still be useful, but they will still be useful for cheap easy safe damage still. It doesn't grow weaker and weaker as the game goes on, it doesn't dissolve into something which punishes you for doing anything besides button mashing.

[@DestinySpider]

@@Jdudec367 I get the progression part, but to me that kind of progression is rather unsatisfying. Just don't think it's all that interesting to be required to use increasingly higher damage weapons, otherwise your attacks become near useless. I do really like how Hyrule Castle is a great place to find all sorts of powerful shit lying around swiftly, but idk

[@lukejones7164]

BotW is more like a test demo for a great game than an actual great game. Every previous 3D Zelda game (as well as some of the 2D ones like ALBW) did a better job balancing gameplay and story than BotW did. They also did a better job with dungeons and enemy variety.

[@blasphemy47]

Hopefully, the next game will build and improve on these flaws.

[@Supreme_Court.]

I think instead of infinite durability or a level system, an expanded storage system would work well with the durability system as it is and make for a better experience. You could keep some strong equipment on stand by for when you find a tough encounter, while doing general adventuring with weaker equipment and a couple empty inventory spots ready for quick pick ups during combat. The house allows for some storage, but it's not enough. Maybe there could be multiple houses or more house upgrades, which would be more interesting than just a bottomless chest to sort through. That's actually how I try to play in a lot of other games with weapon degradation, like Fallout and Dying Light, but usually weapons can be made to last so long that by the time the weaker ones break, the strong ones you had in reserve are now irrelevant compared to what you're finding. Might as well just use the good stuff all the time and then swap it when you find better, like the durability system isn't even there. I don't think a traditional XP and level system would really work with Zelda. You progress by simply upgrading your health, stamina, and inventory, finding better gear, and gaining actual experience from experimenting and coming up with your own strategies using its different systems.

[@blasphemy47]

The house storage sound interesting but i think would generate more problems. The ideea is to make the player hoard less not more. Use weapons as they come rather than stockpile for whatever time it might be needed or not. Also having an xp system and maybe perks would provide the player with that sense of progression which is lacking currently. The game is filled with enemies everywhere, but since they drop only materials or some weak ass weapons, which i already have in abundance, i dont have any reasons to engage with many of these encounters.

[@7777darkstar]

The weapon durability system isn't even the thing that makes botw underwhelming, it's really just that there's very little of note to do in the world itself. The side quests are meh and don't feel like they impact the world you are living in, it's just go get a picture of something or kill something for an obsolete weapon or unlock a shrine that is exactly the same visually as every other. The world is fun to explore the first time around, but on subsequent playthroughs all I could think is how little stuck out. Not to say it's a garbage game, but I think it got so much praise because it followed the snoozefest of Skyward Sword

[@lukejones7164]

Skyward Sword has a better narrative, better enemies to fight, actual dungeons and better music than BotW

[@7777darkstar]

@lukejones7164 I agree that Skyward sword does many things better than BoTW, but to me SS was just more of the same tired and stale formula. I don't think either game was particularly great but BoTW did at least try to do something new, even if it wasn't all that good after the initial excitement faded

[@Wario1382]

Shrines are what make me refuse to ever get back it. Glad I emulated and didn't waste money on that trash

[@Jdudec367]

Eh there is a lot of stuff to do actually. They aren't all meh and some are pretty memorable especcialy the shrine quests and they do feel like they impact the world you are living in, whether it's helping a girl with some cooking or a Father being blackmailed into stealing something, or trying to help a guy get stuff to impress this girl he likes, or trying to find lost rito kids, etc. It is not just that and the weapon is not always obsolete, and how do you unlock the shrine? Through a UNIQUE side quest. I mean it sticks out a lot really. Skyward Sword really isn't a snoozefest but the Zelda formula was getting old.

[@collin6526]

I think the relics of the past mod balances weapon loss and weapon gain much better than the base game. Largely by placing strong weapons in the open. I think it gradually replaces the weak weapons in the world with stronger ones.

[@3nertia]

I'd honestly prefer a weapon maintenance minigame one could play to keep weapons from breaking or the weapons would, instead of outright breaking, just have lower attack/defense. And I'd keep the idea of a weapon breaking if used incorrectly, like using a sword to break rocks, for instance

[@blasphemy47]

I fear the maintenance minigane would slow down the game even more. The thing is the loot system from Botw is not that unique. It's very much aligned with the looters shooter types of games where you're constantly showered with weapons with slightly better stats. Except in Botw weapons also break. Even if you were able to repair your weapons, by the time you do that, you would probably find something better anyway.

[@3nertia]

@@blasphemy47 The minigame would be optional/skippable :)

[@dangox3370]

The weapon fragility was kind of a pain at first but I grew to like it. It was sort of like a hunger mechanic in a survival game but less tedious. Learning the best loot locations and revisiting them to restock helped immerse me into the world. I also liked gathering ingredients for my strength and heart boosting concoctions. The only real problem I have with the game is the copy paste mini dungeons. Everything else is great.

[@blasphemy47]

I understand your line of thinking, but if we approach the game with the "survival" direction, then it generates other issues. In order for the whole survival to work, resources need to be more scarce in order to sell this idea. But food and weapons are in abundance. I mostly died because i didn't pause the game to heal rather than running out of resources. It's true survival games tend to be too tedious, limiting the player's resources too much, but if the opposite is the case, then the whole survival aspect disappears.

[@dangox3370]

@@blasphemy47 weapons and food were scarce enough that after every 1-2 bloodmoon cycles, I was in need of new supplies. I don't think BOTW ever set out to be a punishing survival experience as that is not the entire focus. But the aspects are there, and it is absolutely necessary to sometimes forage for supplies.

[@XanderVJ]

I love BoW, but yeah, the weapon durability system is just not very good. The thing is, people who defend it don't seem to realize that what they use as explanations as to why it's good are not so much empirical evidence as much as thought experiments. That all the "experimentation" and "exploration" that the system supposedly incentivizes only really happen on paper. They don't really take place in actual gameplay. Well, that's not entirely accurate. There are three places in which those thought experiments do actually happen in practice too. Namely, the tutorial, Eventide Island and the Trials of the Sword. In other words, the areas in the game where the resources you can find are very limited, and the gameplay loop is just as, if not more focused on survival than exploration. And maybe that's the issue here: the weapon durability system, or at least the one that was created for BotW specifically, is just not well suited for an open world environment. Open worlds by their very nature offer limitless resources, and that utterly negates the positive aspects the durability system brings to the table. Well, that and the fact that experimenting in BotW makes for funny KZbin and Tik Tok clips for other people to enjoy. Which makes wonder if that's really the reason why KZbinrs seem to tend to favor the system so much. It's a source of content for them to create videos around.

[@blasphemy47]

Yep, some of these things sound good in theory, but not in practice. Also considering the fact, this was supposed to be a post-apocalyptic open world, nothing from it sells this idea. Resources such as food are in abundance. Weapons and other items as well.

[@Jdudec367]

It does happen at times in gameplay when you are just low on weapons in general. Maybe not all of the positive aspects are negated.

[@ssjalpha6593]

Nice video

[@blasphemy47]

Thanks man 😁

[@ShaunRF]

BotW does have an XP system. Its a hidden one, but it is there. Personally, I never felt compelled to save a cool weapon I found, for fear of breaking it. This is due to one factor, the Blood Moon mechanic. If I like a weapon, I know it will always come back every time I see that cutscene, as long as it wasn't in a treasure chest. I'll just mark it on my map and come back when it was time to farm weapons. The only exception is rare Amiibo weapons, I hoard that stuff like toilet paper in a pandemic lol.

[@blasphemy47]

I know the game has an xp system in the background, it just not something the player can interact with and measure progression. In regards of weapons, considering some weapons are better and cool looking than others it's fair to assume players might stock pile them.

[@ShaunRF]

@@blasphemy47 I only brought it up because a lot of people don't know about it, and repeat old beliefs that enemy scaling is tied to divine beasts or something like that. I've found the stockpiling weapons thing to be highly individual and varies from player to player. Once you realize that you can easily get most cool weapons again, there is no reason to stockpile. What made me really see the benefits of the durability system is the fully upgraded Master Sword. Once I had that fully powered up, I often didn't use anything else.

[@blasphemy47]

@@ShaunRFIt sounds like you didn't use anything else since the rest of the weapons break. This is what i did too which made exploration for other weapons even more pointless. My issue is not necessarily that weapons break, but rather how this mechanic is implemented and later undermined by too many weapon's slots and the master sword.

[@ShaunRF]

@@blasphemy47 For a while, sure. To be fair though, the Trial of the Sword is going to be something people do near the end of their playthrough anyways. Besides, none of the other weapons make that cool sound lol. I understand the point you were trying to make, and I've seen other people make the same or similar points, but I just think it varies a lot more by user. At least among those I've met or watched play. Its amazing what happens when you simply stop worrying about such things. I don't disagree that it would be nice if the game had some additional mechanic to encourage this attitude, such as Razbuten's idea of breaking weapons leaving behind a rare resource of some kind. Cheers :)

[@netweed09]

Why is everything 'hidden' in the game?? I don't buy it, I simply find it crap - sorry. Skyrim is 1 of the Greatest games I've ever played. So was Majoras Mask despite it being _far_ smaller than a Modern open-World game like Breath. I'd give Breath no more than a 7/10 (and that's the generous Zelda fanboy in me being soft on it!) The whole point of Zelda's is not to bruise your gaming ego and force you to 'git gud' & be ultra-repetitive. It's about Key Items & *Proper Rewards.*

[@rae4977]

Strangely enough, I don't disagree with any of your points and I like your suggestions as to what you would change But I still do like the weapons breaking in BOTW, Only complaint I could give is that they just break a little too easy. It makes me happy that in TOTK, they didnt change the system, but rather they added gameplay-based solutions that allow the player to extend the durability of their weapons Also very minor spoiler for TOTK: weapons are kind of given reason to be weak and brittle because the upheaval causes most weapons to decay, until the player fuses something to them

[@rae4977]

another slight spoiler for TOTK: Adding to the gameplay-based solutions I just mentioned, It doesnt stop at weapons, There are so many additions in TOTK that make the annoying mechanics in BOTW so much better with out changing them, For example: You can now get armour that allows you to climb in the rain, or until you get that armour, you can make elixrs to do the same

[@blasphemy47]

Totk indeed reduced some of the inconveniences and improved in certain areas. However still has plenty of issues. Since you mentioned weapons durability, indeed that extends the resistance of your weapons, but at the end of the day i was still hoarding weapons, except now they were fused weapons, still constantly pausing the game to switch to another weapon or swipe through dozens of items in order to find the correct attachment for my bow, still pausing to heal myself etc etc. My suggested solution was to make weapons durability part of something bigger, like a progression system the player could interact. As it stands now, Totk is an improvement in some areas but also heavily stagnates in others.

[@John-996]

Just Like GOWR I think BOTW 2 will make people see allot more of the flaws in the game. It will likely be better than BOTW but will not have the same impact BOTW did. It the same With GOW2018 which at the time I would have given it a 9 but now its more like an 8.

[@blasphemy47]

Yes, it might be the case, but i don't expect much criticism from the mainstream outlets (ign, gamespot etc) considering how safe they play. Also it's Nintendo games we're talking about, 9 and 10 are pretty much guarantee.

[@John-996]

@@blasphemy47 For sure more so from the wider public.

[@amoshjalmarson]

how do you only have 173 subscirbers this video is proof you should hav atleast 10 thousand very good video

[@blasphemy47]

Thanks a lot.😁 Hopefully in time I will get there.

[@JulianNeff-c6c]

Just give me a Legend of Zelda with Devil May Cry (2001) Combat, A Dragon Quest style leveling system, & Bosses that drop cool rewards like in Metal Gear Solid 3 & 4 Nintendo!

[@blasphemy47]

Indeed that could be an interesting mix. Zelda games used to have interesting booses and dungeons prior to new titles.

[@Tudoran45]

Yeah, weapon durability feels like an old-school mechanic that is (and should be) slowly dying, Even FromSoftware decided to keep the durability system in Dark Souls III, but most/all items took 0 durability damage over combat (making it more or less inexistent/useless). I get the challenging aspect side, but haven't played it enough to give an opinion (right now i`m more on the "Con" side, rather than "Pro" :) ... I guess it's a cool "arcade"/video game mechanic👍 )

[@blasphemy47]

It can work if implemented well. But yeah, many games damage your weapons only to waste more time repairing them. For the most part, I see no benefit, but rather an inconvenience.

[@siffredi2180]

Master sword is the way to go I guess 🦭

[@waldau8986]

These days more normies are gamers now. And they are far more easy satisfied by non complex and shallow colorful images. Nerd culture went pop culture. So the opinions did + fake positivity is a selling gimmick for KZbinrs.

[@blasphemy47]

In the case of Zelda and Nintendo titles in general, i would say nostalgia plays a huge factor on how people review and evaluate their games. Not to mention their fanbase which can be very "pasionate" to put it mildly.

[@netweed09]

_''Oh my wordd - is that a Breath of the Wild _*_Critique_*_ video??????!!_ 💫 Lol but seriously - I absolutely salute you Sir! 👍👍👍👍💫 4:30 *Spot on!* _Finally_ someone not scared to speak out against all the narrow-sighted fanboys that defend _any_ shortcoming of the game. And believe me - the game has _many._ Now - I loved the start; but then the sad & stoich lack of variety, the sheer boring repetitive enemies/shrines. The breaking ,, _everything, arrrrghhh!!_ Thankfully; Tears looks _far_ more interesting.

[@blasphemy47]

Thanks, glad you enjoyed the video. 😁 Yes, Tears of the kingdom looks more promising although i still have some reservation.

[@Jdudec367]

I mean it has a lot of variety, the enemies really aren't boring and the shrines aren't boring or repetitive for the most part.

[@netweed09]

@@Jdudec367 ​ I mean, it's fine as your view and your opinion but sorry fella I peacefully disagree to that. ✌ Tears for me felt like a vast improvement on Breath: one of many is the whole presentation of the Zonai themselves as arcane ancients went a long way in changing up the feel of the series. It felt mysterious and of course objective you interacted with actual Zonai shrines a lot more using your new Abilities.

[@Jdudec367]

@@netweed09 Well I think it is a improvement too but I think BOTW is pretty great too.

[@netweed09]

@@Jdudec367 ​ 👍 That's fine, many many feel that way! I admit I'm in the minority on Botw but it just bat me the wrong way: nothing felt special to me once the novelty factor of the Open world wore off. After Twilight Princess and Skyward's amazing narratives, I found Botw very disappointing. The whole theme of Zelda felt cast aside and sacrificed: Dungeons, at least a half intriguing plot. Glad We agree on Tears though!

[@UrbanRave1982]

Why nag. You can always transfer durability from another weapon. Then they never break if you change before it breaks. You can always find a quiet place to fix all weapons.

[@dimeadosen8372]

no you can't. You can't transfer durability from one weapon to another

[@Jdudec367]

@@dimeadosen8372 In TOTK you kinda can

[@KlR0V]

Botw is easily one of the (if not the) most overrated game in history. To think that I almost buy a nintendo switch just to play it, made me feel incredibly stupid after I tried it on a friend's console. Empty, childish, repetitive, tedious... I mean, it's not "bad", but seriously, wth is going on in the fanboys mind to give it so much praise? 7/10.

[@blasphemy47]

Yes...i would definitely say Botw is massively overrated. Most media outlets barely offer any criticism for the fear of backlash considering it's a Nintendo game. Mostly Independent reviews will provide substantial criticism.

[@Jdudec367]

Nah it deserves the praise and isn't really overrated. It really isn't empty childish, repetitive, or tedious, but it still is flawed like literally every game ever including every "greatest game ever".

[@StillWeRide]

I hate this game with a burning passion. Open world games get dogged all the time...except for this for some reason. Huge empty map. Shitty weapon and combat system. No meaningful progression. Its so bad.

[@blasphemy47]

Yes it's a bit of a double standard when it comes to this series compared to other open world titles.

[@chadliterutherford9198]

Anyone who defends the weapon durability system is quite simply wrong and too much of a fanboy to admit BoTW has flaws. Whenever people praise the durability system they ALWAYS talk about the Great Plateau and Eventide because in those specific areas the game is extremely linear, its confined and the player is intentionally limited to what the devs give the player, in those cases yes it works well. In those areas you have NO weapons so picking up a stick is a plus, when you have a Lynel sword picking up a stick to fight a red Bokoblin for the billionth time, is less encouraged. BUT for the 99.9999999999999999999% percent of your playtime in the open world all weapon durability actually does is STOP players from engaging with the enemy camps because they already know they have GOOD weapons and the enemy camp will break those weapons for trash weapons. These people who claim weapon breaking encourages different weapon use or using the environment to their advantage are absolute lol cows. Do you really think even 0.00001% of players are going to attack every single camp in the game using a rock or lightning? Just lol at your pathetic argument.

[@Defensive_Wounds]

I disagree with the only 6 weapons thing and the not looking like an apocalyptic world (in medieval times, yes it does) or the bit where you said it is samey which it is to an extent, but whenever I am just roaming, all these years later I still get surprised by a pile of rocks that become a huge golem! Then I flee!! lol

[@blasphemy47]

For a post apocalyptic world is surprisingly clean. I expected to see the effect of the world destruction far more. Maybe entire villages in ruins. People seeking shelters, society trying to rebuild itself etc. There is so much more that could have been done.

[@Link.ispada]

The combat strugle ends on the plateau then you start exploring the world. if the game was hard you won't enjoy exploring it it's that simple

[@zakkonieczka6811]

Videos like this remind me of how it's actually a good thing that Nintendo ignores it's fans :P. The most vocal critics of weapon durability would be the most vocal critics of a game where they hardly ever find weapons/they have too many weapons

[@staciesmith9175]

no

[@roundtabledetails3307]

yes