Breath of the wild and jet island were able to create this feeling of curiosity where I’d go “huh, that think in the distance looks cool, let’s check it out!” and then, as I was checking it out, it turned out it is relevant to story and progression and also very cool.
You must described the very reason why I don’t like BotW/TotK. They don’t feel like Zelda. They feel like a Bethesda/Obsidian game where you just wander around bumping into things, except Nintendo doesn’t do it nearly as well.
I say either go all in on the open world concept, and have proper RPG mechanics, or don’t do it at all. Don’t half ass it or I’m just reminded of Ubisoft titles. That’s what the modern Zelda games feel like, fucking Ubisoft titles. Big, empty worlds, with nothing to do. Shrines instead of proper dungeons, and no fun to be found in between except wander forever and pick up flimsy weapons that break after a dozen hits. The games barely even have a plot. That’s not Zelda to me. I want more games like Wind Waker, Majora’s Mask, and Minish Cap, not more boring open world BS.
The only Zelda game I ever really played was A Link to the Past on SNES back in the 90s. 3D Zelda (and Mario for that matter) just never felt right to me, despite all I’ve heard about how good some of the games are.
I bounced off breath of the wild but got hooked with tears of the kingdom. I didn’t finish it though, similar to my experience with wind waker. They all felt like Zelda, just expanded.
If I stuck to the story it would probably be closer to the original experience.
Breath of the wild and jet island were able to create this feeling of curiosity where I’d go “huh, that think in the distance looks cool, let’s check it out!” and then, as I was checking it out, it turned out it is relevant to story and progression and also very cool.
You must described the very reason why I don’t like BotW/TotK. They don’t feel like Zelda. They feel like a Bethesda/Obsidian game where you just wander around bumping into things, except Nintendo doesn’t do it nearly as well.
I say either go all in on the open world concept, and have proper RPG mechanics, or don’t do it at all. Don’t half ass it or I’m just reminded of Ubisoft titles. That’s what the modern Zelda games feel like, fucking Ubisoft titles. Big, empty worlds, with nothing to do. Shrines instead of proper dungeons, and no fun to be found in between except wander forever and pick up flimsy weapons that break after a dozen hits. The games barely even have a plot. That’s not Zelda to me. I want more games like Wind Waker, Majora’s Mask, and Minish Cap, not more boring open world BS.
The only Zelda game I ever really played was A Link to the Past on SNES back in the 90s. 3D Zelda (and Mario for that matter) just never felt right to me, despite all I’ve heard about how good some of the games are.
I bounced off breath of the wild but got hooked with tears of the kingdom. I didn’t finish it though, similar to my experience with wind waker. They all felt like Zelda, just expanded.
If I stuck to the story it would probably be closer to the original experience.
I agree with you on BotW - but you’re wrong about TotK being empty with nothing to do.
I had that curiosity with OoT.
BoRW I just don’t seem to have the patience for. Yes it’s nice to have so much exploration, and it’s nice to have open ended combat.
Maybe if it was one of my first Zelda’s I’d love it. But I would have liked the more traditional dungeon crawling versus the dozens of small shrines.