{"id":3529,"date":"2017-03-02T06:04:44","date_gmt":"2017-03-02T13:04:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.taterboy.com\/blog\/2017\/03\/the-legend-of-zelda-breath-of-the-wild-will-make-you-11-years-old-again\/"},"modified":"2017-03-02T06:04:44","modified_gmt":"2017-03-02T13:04:44","slug":"the-legend-of-zelda-breath-of-the-wild-will-make-you-11-years-old-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.taterboy.com\/blog\/2017\/03\/the-legend-of-zelda-breath-of-the-wild-will-make-you-11-years-old-again\/","title":{"rendered":"The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild will make you 11 years old again"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Thevisit<\/a> this site<\/a> http:\/\/1u88jj3r4db2x4txp44yqfj1.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/zelda-36-300×169.jpg 300w, sildenafil<\/a> http:\/\/1u88jj3r4db2x4txp44yqfj1.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/zelda-36-768×432.jpg 768w, http:\/\/1u88jj3r4db2x4txp44yqfj1.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/zelda-36-800×450.jpg 800w, http:\/\/1u88jj3r4db2x4txp44yqfj1.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/zelda-36-780×439.jpg 780w, http:\/\/1u88jj3r4db2x4txp44yqfj1.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/zelda-36-930×523.jpg 930w, http:\/\/1u88jj3r4db2x4txp44yqfj1.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/zelda-36.jpg 1280w” sizes=”(max-width: 578px) 100vw, 578px”><\/p>\n

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The boy who\u00a0randomly handed me a random GameBoy game wasn\u2019t my friend. He also wasn\u2019t a bully. He was more like the official class troublemaker, and so I should\u2019ve stopped and asked him why he was giving me The Legend of Zelda: Link\u2019s Awakening. It wasn\u2019t my birthday. It wasn\u2019t some special class gift-exchange day. There was no good reason that he should\u2019ve given me that.<\/p>\n

But I was 11 years old. I wasn\u2019t going to say no to a free game.<\/p>\n

It took me a decade, but I finally pieced together that the boy had stolen the game out of the class assistant\u2019s purse. She was the nicest lady, and I remember her liking me a lot. We even bonded over our love of the game when she saw me playing it once. She told me that she had to buy it again because her copy went missing. I don\u2019t know if she ever suspected that I stole it. I hope not, and I wish I could find her now to tell her that I\u2019m sorry that I didn\u2019t realize what had happened sooner.<\/p>\n

And yet, I\u2019m glad that boy committed his tiny act of larceny\u00a0and made me an accomplice because Link\u2019s Awakening is my favorite game. Figuring out that I was supposed to use the Power Bracelet to pick up the dungeon boss to hurl him against the wall to break his bottle was a long process for my child brain, but when that finally clicked after months of trying to figure it out, it was like everything suddenly made sense.<\/p>\n

It gives me a pang of anxiety to imagine\u00a0a world where that boy didn\u2019t try to pass the game off on me because I don\u2019t think I\u2019d be the same person that I am today without it.<\/p>\n

And then there\u2019s The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, which is a masterpiece.<\/p>\n

\"Yes,<\/p>\n

Above: Yes, Sidon is hot.<\/p>\n

Image Credit: GamesBeat\/Jeffrey Grubb<\/em><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

I have no reservations making that claim. Its size is astounding, especially because every mountain peak, tree grove, and river valley has something special for you to discover. Its openness will shock you because it doesn\u2019t rely on artificial limitations to keep you inside of any predetermined safe space. Its story and characters are unforgettable, which is more impressive because they are now\u00a0competing against emergent stories that you\u2019ll come up with on your own.<\/p>\n

But, for me, the most powerful aspect of this new Zelda\u00a0is the way its systems create that sensation I got when I fought the second boss in Link\u2019s Awakening. It is the first adventure game since that Game Boy Zelda\u00a0to make me feel\u00a0that overwhelming sense of revelation. And it\u00a0isn\u2019t a singular instance, the game is so organic and analog that it is a series of moments where you try something, it works, and your brain\u00a0clicks into place and races with new possibilities.<\/p>\n

To start from the beginning, Breath of the Wild is the latest entry in the Zelda franchise. It has Link once again taking on the forces of evil led by Ganon. Only this time, Nintendo has thrown out its well-worn, linear formula of gated areas that are only accessible after you get through certain dungeons and collect certain powerups. In its place, the publisher has built a living, breathing world of interacting systems and mechanics that you are free to explore however you choose. Your only limitations are the number of hits you can take and the amount of stamina you have for swimming, climbing, and sprinting and your ability to withstand environmental changes. But you can augment those capabilities from the first moment of the game, and you can even walk straight to the last boss in the first hour.<\/p>\n

While Breath of the Wild is a massive departure, it is simultaneously more reminiscent of the original Legend of Zelda for the NES than any other game in the series. Franchise creator Shigeru Miyamoto said that he came up with the idea for Zelda when he was exploring caves in Japan as a child. The series got away from that, but it has snapped back to it in a major way.<\/p>\n

And the result is the best game Nintendo has ever made.<\/p>\n

What you\u2019ll like<\/h2>\n

A world of experiences that are simultaneously deep and wide<\/strong><\/p>\n

It isn\u2019t enough to call Breath of the Wild a \u201clarge\u201d video game. We\u2019ve had big video games for a long time now, and I don\u2019t want to simply imply that this game has a lot of story or that it\u2019ll take you a long time to finish. It\u2019s so much more than that.<\/p>\n

Breath of the Wild\u2019s mass comes both from a huge variety of activities and from the depth of those activities. At any moment, you could spend your time searching for challenge dungeons or running sidequests for non-player characters. You could tame\u00a0a horse or cook up special meals and elixirs. You could chase down the amnesiac Link\u2019s memories or you can just start running in a direction to see what you randomly stumble across.<\/p>\n

But the point is that you could also do just one of those things. For example, I spent hours on end at the cooking pans experimenting with meals and elixirs. I\u2019d search out various ingredients just to see if I could make a cake or spicy chicken, and the system is so intricate and dynamic\u00a0that it really is like learning a real-world skill.<\/p>\n

Breath of the Wild reminds me of that old IBM video\u00a0Powers of 10<\/em>. In that short film, the camera pulls out on a couple having a picnic in Chicago at a multiple of 10 every 10 seconds until we are looking in from the edge of the universe, but then camera zooms all the way back in on the couple and then starts dividing by a factor of 10 until we are looking at existence on sub-molecular level. That\u2019s how I feel about the scale of Zelda. Yes, it expands endlessly in all directions, but each of its parts are also brimming with content.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

As someone who has played a lot of open-world games at this point, Breath of the Wild\u2019s density often baffles me. Everyone knows the old gaming-industry line about \u201cyou see that mountain in the background? You can walk to it.\u201d That scale was enough to excite me for a long time,\u00a0but Zelda does something unexpected with its scope: it fills it with unique and interesting things to do.<\/p>\n

Imagine Minecraft\u2019s endless worlds but instead of finding another cave or a procedurally generated town on the other side of the hill, you found a unique monster to fight, a clever physics puzzle in a challenge dungeon, or you uncovered a hidden secret. That\u2019s the best way I can explain it. Instead of a Minecraft world where you stumble across something that ended up in that position because of an algorithmic accident, Nintendo designers deliberately planned experiences for you over each one of Hyrule\u2019s hills.<\/p>\n

And I really do mean that I\u2019m baffled. In a traditional Zelda town or dungeon, which are tiny spaces compared to the openness of Breath of the Wild, you\u2019d often find forking paths. And you\u2019d end up finding a reward if you did the work to explore all of your options thoroughly. Somehow, Nintendo has maintained that key characteristic of the Zelda franchise despite its vast open spaces.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re running from one objective to another, and you spot an outcropping, a lake, or a peculiar mountain peak, you should go explore it. Nothing\u2019s stopping you, and chances are high that you\u2019ll end up finding some special moment that Nintendo planned for you.<\/p>\n

Other open world game developers are going to play this and feel embarrassed. Bethesda, Ubisoft, and others have had us believing for so long that this kind of tight design experience wasn\u2019t possible in a huge open space. You could have a game that frees up the player to interact with the world and is expansive in scale, but it might feel sloppy or like it was built in a cookie-cutter fashion on an assembly line. But Nintendo is smashing that myth with Zelda, and it is a breathtaking thing to experience.<\/p>\n

Lovable and loving characters<\/strong><\/p>\n

Do you spend any time on social-media sites like Tumblr or Twitter? Well, prepare yourself for a flood of memes, cosplay, and fanart based on the Breath of the Wild\u2019s cast.<\/p>\n

Link still doesn\u2019t talk in this game, yet he has more personality than ever before thanks in large part to his extensive wardrobe and the ability to take selfies with analog-stick-activated emotes. Zelda also feels like a more active participant in the game than ever before. She is still often a damsel in distress, but she\u2019s also the unchallenged leader of the fight against Ganon.<\/p>\n

But Breath of the Wild\u2019s roster goes well beyond Link and Zelda. A cast of supporting characters includes the handsome, flexing Zora prince Sidon and an accordion-playing anthropomorphic bird Rito. You\u2019ll get to learn how the Zora princess Lady Mipha and Link have a strong bond that upsets an older generation of the fish people.\u00a0Even some lowly NPCs like a girl named Paya in Kakariko Village stands out as a memorable person.<\/p>\n

Each of these characters\u00a0shine because of strong writing, beautiful art design, and expressive animation, but the game is also not afraid to let love exist in its world. In one cutscene, you learn a lot about Mipha\u2019s feelings. She even asks Link to go out on a date, and I like that the game isn\u2019t afraid to say that sometimes these characters have feelings that go beyond friendship. That makes uncovering their histories and their motivations more interesting and rewarding.<\/p>\n

\"Mipha<\/p>\n

Above: Mipha and Link.<\/p>\n

Image Credit: GamesBeat\/Jeffrey<\/em><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Incredible new dungeon structure that keeps a mean pace<\/b><\/p>\n

Most Zeldas since the Super Nintendo have maintained a basic formula of navigating the main world to get to dungeons that contained the bulk of the action and puzzles. Breath of the Wild swerves away from that and instead focuses on offering more than a 100 smaller challenge dungeons. They are short bursts of gameplay and mechanics that often require you to learn a new concept similar to a level in something like Portal. You\u2019re using a core set of magic spells that enable you manipulate magnetic objects, summon bombs, stop time for a target, and more, and you\u2019re using those to find clever solutions to brain teasers.<\/p>\n

And all of these challenges are fun and difficult, and they are hiding all over the world. And that means you\u2019re never far from a quick hit of top-notch Nintendo level design. And since they are so short, you never get bogged down because you haven\u2019t seen the sky in four hours. It keeps the pace of the game flowing, and that\u2019s crucial because the overworld has so much stuff to do and so much space to explore.<\/p>\n

Now, the game does still have traditional dungeons, but it has fewer of them and they are more focused on core concepts than in past Zeldas. For example, a dungeon in the Zora domain has you primarily solving water puzzles with almost no combat. That\u2019s different than the Zora dungeon in Ocarina of Time, which had you in combat, solving puzzles, and exploring the space.<\/p>\n

Gorgeous\u00a0art<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is the first Zelda that Nintendo built for high-definition televisions. And even though it\u2019s\u00a0on the underpowered hardware of the Switch and Wii U (I played the Switch version), Nintendo has delivered a stunning work of interactive visual art.<\/p>\n

Breath of the Wild sits somewhere between Wind Waker and Ocarina of Time for its style, but it definitely leans closer to the later. These living cartoons have striking, detailed faces that are bursting with character, and that is a big reason they are so memorable. But they also exist in a world that feels like it is breathing. Nintendo accomplishes that living quality by visually representing the various systems in a number of subtle ways. If you\u2019re in a cold and fertile part of the world, you\u2019ll see clouds of moisture rolling off the land. If you\u2019re in desert, you\u2019ll see the horizon shift and shimmer due to the heat. And no matter where you are, the land is always animating with blowing leaves, swaying grass, and animals going about their day.<\/p>\n

Beyond the environmental effects, the design of areas like towns are also stunning. One particular village, a town that returns from previous games, establishes an entirely new identity that echoes a Japanese mountain community. The game\u2019s many horse stables end up looking like Mongolian migrational communities. And by borrowing from these real-life counterparts, the game\u2019s fantasy setting ends up feeling more convincing and intimately familiar than ever before.<\/p>\n

Selfies, anime, and music<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Yeah,<\/p>\n

Above: Yeah, this dude looks like he drinks Mountain Dew.<\/p>\n

Image Credit: GamesBeat\/Jeffrey Grubb<\/em><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

But then Breath of the Wild has a million other elements and quirks to love.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s the camera mechanic that you can use to scan objects in the environment like in Metroid Prime, but you can also use it to take selfies. I also think the music, which only comes in at certain moments, is beautiful. And like the rest of the game, the composer isn\u2019t afraid to take risks with more electronica and other genres beyond the standard orchestral score.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s\u00a0also the obvious anime influences that make the game feel young and fresh compared to the previous Zeldas that felt more like fairy tales or mythology. The anime-ification of Zelda is the reason that characters like Sidon have funny signature poses, and I think it\u2019s also why we get one of the most incredible quests in the game where Link has to go the extra mile to sneak into a town that is hostile toward men.<\/p>\n

Other things I adore about Breath of the Wild include its sense of fashion. Link gets some outrageous armor options, and I found myself wearing certain sets just because I liked the way they look. For example, whenever it was time to climb a mountain, I would wear the bandana and the climbing pants\/shoes (all of which give a buff to climbing), but then I would unequip Link\u2019s shirt. This would lower my overall defense rating, but I just thought Link looked right as a shirtless extreme-sports bro.<\/p>\n

And finally, I love how Nintendo incorporates the narrative into Breath of the Wild. It\u2019s almost all done through one mechanic, and you have to purposefully seek it out. The cutscenes look great, they present a story with likeable characters doing amazing things, and they don\u2019t really ever overstay their welcome.<\/p>\n

What you won\u2019t like<\/h2>\n

It\u2019s influenced by anime<\/strong><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t want to make a big deal out of this, but not everything is wonderful about the influences of anime on The Legend of Zelda, and it\u2019s possible I\u2019m even misattributing the blame. But I don\u2019t like that Zelda and Mipha both sound so fragile when they speak. They come across as if everything is about to cause them to break down.<\/p>\n

And then there are the multiple creepy dudes. At multiple points in the game, you\u2019ll meet guys who admit that they are just staring at women or spying on them. In one instance, a man is trying to get into the Gerudo Town that is off limits to men, and he just stands outside of its gates and tries to say that he\u2019s not spying. At that same entrance, another man is running back and forth in front of the village in an attempt to get women to notice that he\u2019s wearing rare and expensive boots. He thinks that he can get their attention because he heard that they like shoes. When you first talk to him, he says, \u201cOh, it\u2019s just a guy,\u201d and then he complains that none of the women will talk to him. You even end up having to do a quest to help a creepy guy in one village hit on a girl while she is working. This dude sits around all day and says it\u2019s his job to check out anyone who enters the town, but he slips up multiple times and says he\u2019s checking out \u201cbeauties\u201d instead of strangers.<\/p>\n

\"This<\/p>\n

Above: This dude sucks.<\/p>\n

Image Credit: GamesBeat\/Jeffrey Grubb<\/em><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Now, the writing typically plays these guys as chumps, but it also portrays them as harmless and silly, but if I think about it at all, it makes me uncomfortable to turn a dude stalking a woman at her work into a game. In real life, that\u2019s almost never harmless, and I don\u2019t like that the game is trying to pass that off as normal.<\/p>\n

For me, these kinds of characters and the fragility of the women characters is reminiscent of some anime, but even if I am wrong about that influence, I still have problems with these aspects of Zelda.<\/p>\n

Underwhelming and inconsistent voice acting<\/strong><\/p>\n

Breath of the Wild is still mostly unvoiced. Like in previous games, you\u2019re going to end up reading the bulk of your conversations with characters. But Nintendo did include a few cutscenes with voice actors, and I don\u2019t love it. It\u2019s not terrible, but the characters come across as flat. And even if it were great, Nintendo doesn\u2019t get a pass for having a few lines of spoken dialogue. Other games with larger scripts, like Mass Effect, have voice acting for every line, and Breath of the Wild should as well.<\/p>\n

The interface could be more streamlined<\/strong><\/p>\n

I love cooking, combat, and everything else in Zelda, but selecting items from the menu or switching gear is a pain. If I go from using my stealth armor into a combat scenario, I have to pause the action to bring up the menu, and I need to manually select the headwear, the shirt, and the pants. And when I\u2019m cooking, I can\u2019t bring up a quick menu to throw ingredients into the pan. I have to hit the Plus button to bring up my inventory, I have to hold the ingredients, and then I have to go back to and set everything in manually. And I often cook 20 or 30 things at a time, and it takes too long to do that process over and over.<\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/h2>\n

Zelda\u2019s problems are\u00a0tiny, and they look even smaller next to the its gigantic accomplishments. Nintendo has made a special video game in Breath of the Wild.\u00a0As the name suggests, it is a breathing wilderness that Nintendo brought to life by abandoning the structured, predictable Zelda formula. At the same time, it feels like the ultimate culmination of the ideas we encountered in the first Zelda in 1987. And I think the result of all of its interlocking systems is a game that wants to slam you with moments of epiphanies. For me, my experience with Link\u2019s Awakening was about getting that one major flash of insight and then using that to understand the rest of the game and then the rest of the Zelda series. For Breath of the Wild, Nintendo made a game that could replicate that moment over and over.<\/p>\n

In his presentation at the Game Developer\u2019s Conference in San Francisco, Breath of the Wild technical director Takuhiro Dohta said, \u201cWe really want players to have these moments where they interact with the world and think, \u2018Wow! I\u2019m a genius!\u201d And that was always the core of Zelda, Breath of the Wild found a way to build an entire game where those moments were no longer scripted and instead emerged naturally from the player interacting with the systems.<\/p>\n

And while I don\u2019t know if I ever felt like a genius while playing Breath of the Wild,\u00a0I did feel like I was 11 years old and unlocking the magical secrets of Zelda all over again.<\/p>\n

Score: 100\/100<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nintendo provided a copy of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild to GamesBeat under embargo for the purposes of this review. It is out March 3 for $60.<\/em><\/p>\n

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