{"id":2533,"date":"2017-02-25T15:04:43","date_gmt":"2017-02-25T22:04:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.taterboy.com\/blog\/2017\/02\/5-surprising-changes-to-the-zelda-formula-in-breath-of-the-wild\/"},"modified":"2017-02-25T15:04:43","modified_gmt":"2017-02-25T22:04:43","slug":"5-surprising-changes-to-the-zelda-formula-in-breath-of-the-wild","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.taterboy.com\/blog\/2017\/02\/5-surprising-changes-to-the-zelda-formula-in-breath-of-the-wild\/","title":{"rendered":"5 surprising changes to the Zelda formula in Breath of the Wild"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"I'mprescription<\/a> http:\/\/1u88jj3r4db2x4txp44yqfj1.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/Zelda-breath-of-the-wild-24-300×169.jpg 300w, medicine<\/a> http:\/\/1u88jj3r4db2x4txp44yqfj1.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/Zelda-breath-of-the-wild-24-768×432.jpg 768w, there<\/a> http:\/\/1u88jj3r4db2x4txp44yqfj1.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/Zelda-breath-of-the-wild-24-800×450.jpg 800w, http:\/\/1u88jj3r4db2x4txp44yqfj1.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/Zelda-breath-of-the-wild-24-780×439.jpg 780w, http:\/\/1u88jj3r4db2x4txp44yqfj1.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/Zelda-breath-of-the-wild-24-930×523.jpg 930w, http:\/\/1u88jj3r4db2x4txp44yqfj1.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/Zelda-breath-of-the-wild-24.jpg 1280w” sizes=”(max-width: 578px) 100vw, 578px”><\/p>\n

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Fans have asked Nintendo to change the fundamental structure of its Zelda games for a long time now, but the publisher has finally listened.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve spent about a dozen hours with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, which comes to Switch and Wii U on March 3, and Nintendo has transformed its standard formula drastically this time around.\u00a0To help illustrate how Zelda has changed, I\u2019ve picked five subtle changes\u00a0that surprised me. And I think each of these are indicative of the larger evolution the series is now going through.<\/p>\n

No heart pieces to collect<\/h2>\n

In other\u00a0Zeldas:<\/strong>\u00a0One of the most reliable collectible items in most previous Zelda games is the pieces of a heart container. These are quarter\u00a0hearts that give you another life container once you collect four pieces. This was on top of full heart containers that you get for completing major dungeons.<\/p>\n

In Breath of the Wild:<\/strong>\u00a0Heart pieces are gone in Breath of the Wild. Instead, you\u2019ll find opportunities to upgrade either your heart containers or your stamina at certain times throughout the game.<\/p>\n

What it means:<\/strong>\u00a0Breath of the Wild has a ton of collectibles. You are always picking up new weapons and shields. Your inventory will burst at the seams with food and monster parts. The game is not short on collectibles, so why add one more with the heart pieces. On top of that, Nintendo is doing some interesting things with how you upgrade and spec Link, and a finite number of heart pieces lying in specific spots around the world kinda takes away from giving you\u00a0the opportunity to grow Link however you want.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

You don\u2019t choose your own name<\/h2>\n

In other\u00a0Zeldas:<\/strong>\u00a0In The Legend of Zelda for the Nintendo Entertainment System, you can name your character whatever you want.\u00a0It is part of taking ownership and building a connection with Link.<\/p>\n

In Breath of the Wild:<\/strong>\u00a0You are Link. You can set up your Nintendo Switch profile name to be whatever you want, but you won\u2019t input your own name for the character in Breath of the Wild.<\/p>\n

What it means:<\/strong>\u00a0Voice acting. Nintendo is still primarily relying on text to present dialogue, but several moments have full voice performances. And that means your character is called Link so that Nintendo didn\u2019t have to work around a custom character name. Additionally, the idea that you were connected to Link and existing as him through the world never required you to bring your name along. It seems like Nintendo has realized that everyone feels just as strong a connection to Link despite not choosing his name.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ll barely ever see rupees<\/h2>\n

In other\u00a0Zeldas:<\/strong>\u00a0Rupees are everywhere in other Zelda games. You get rupees for exploring the world, for killing enemies, and for smashing pots. You get so many you would have to purchase wallet upgrades to hold more.<\/p>\n

In Breath of the Wild:<\/strong>\u00a0I had played through multiple challenge dungeons and for at least five hours before I saw my first rupee. They aren\u2019t hiding in the grass, and they don\u2019t burst out of moblins when you defeat them.<\/p>\n

What it means:<\/strong>\u00a0Breath of the Wild has an economy. You\u2019ll still need rupees to buy a lot of things (I have my eye on a nice set of stealth armor in a shop), but you typically won\u2019t get money by going out and searching for it. Instead, you get rupees by participating in the world of Hyrule. That collecting ingredients to make a robust Steak and Seafood Fry that you can sell to someone else. Eventually, you\u2019ll find out what\u2019s worth a lot, and you can always keep an eye out for the elements you need to craft those valuable bargaining chips. And you won\u2019t miss collecting rupees the old-fashioned way, I promise.<\/p>\n

\"Zelda<\/p>\n

Above: Let\u2019s trade, my dude!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Very little music<\/h2>\n

In other\u00a0Zeldas:<\/strong>\u00a0Music is inescapable in most other Zelda games. In A Link to the Past for Super Nintendo, you\u2019d have a theme playing on a loop on the overworld, in dungeons, and inside homes.<\/p>\n

In Breath of the Wild:<\/strong>\u00a0Huge chunks of the game have no music at all. The overworld only has music when you get into combat, and that\u2019s about it.<\/p>\n

What it means:<\/strong>\u00a0Nintendo is going for something more comtemplative with Breath of the Wild. This isn\u2019t always a grand adventure. You\u2019ll come across those moments, but sometimes you\u2019re just a Hylian surviving off the land trying to scrape a few boars together to make a steak. The silence gives the world room to breathe and exist beyond the confines of \u201cAn Adventure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Busy heads-up display<\/h2>\n

In other\u00a0Zeldas:<\/strong>\u00a0Nintendo has always giving you a lot of information through the heads-up displays (HUDs) in its Zelda games. You\u2019d see what weapons you have equipped, how many hearts you have, how many arrows you have left, how much magic you still have, and more.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Above: A lot going on in the corner.<\/p>\n

Image Credit: Nintendo<\/em><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

In Breath of the Wild:<\/strong>\u00a0But Nintendo has made the HUD in Breath of the Wild even busier. Beyond the traditional meters and status bars, the game now has multiple instruments and gauges for detecting the status of the world. A thermometer tells you the temperature. A decibel meter measures the sound of your footsteps. And a radar flashes and tells you if you\u2019re close to important locations.<\/p>\n

What it means:<\/strong>\u00a0All of this additional information is necessary because Nintendo has made Breath of the Wild so much more complex than previous Zeldas. The weather system, the physics system, and the stamina mechanic are all just small parts of this larger simulation that is running the world of Hyrule. And players need to have the proper feedback in order to efficiently interact with their surroundings.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s still Zelda, right?<\/h2>\n

My review is coming next week, but yeah \u2014 this is still Zelda. I don\u2019t know how the hell Nintendo did this, but it has somehow found the foundational heart of this franchise and once again built a new shell around it that makes total sense. Yeah, it\u2019s an open-world game, and we\u2019ve seen a lot of those, but Breath of the Wild doesn\u2019t feel like Far Cry with cuccos. Instead, everything is simply Zelda.<\/p>\n

This transition from the Ocarina of Time formula to this new Zelda is almost as impressive as Nintendo taking 2D A Link to the Past and making it 3D with Ocarina of Time originally. You should see it for yourself.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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