General gaming discussion

RocketRaccoon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118240769#Comment_118240769

I've 300+ hours put into new horizons, admittedly not much of that in the last 8 months or so but give me that game over the latest cod, battlefield or whatever generic fps gets thrown out every year.

SuperBowserWorld

I don't get Animal Crossing either, I just put it there as something that Nintendo manages to magic out of nothing, and it's not just a COVID thing. It was big before then, but the Switch + COVID made it huge. Also, it's got endless numbers of minor but brilliant flourishes.

Ring Fit Adventure... Another thing that was big due to switch popularity + COVID. I'm not sure any other company would have the daring to release something like that. It's a real Japanese/Nintendo thing.

Luigi's Mansion 3, nothing very original at this stage, .. but it's cornered the kids Halloween market. And that's a huge market.

They are coasting on a load of titles ...but BOTW and Mario Odyssey shows they can still deliver the goods.

Cordell

It's not the first game that gets big while lacking any real substance.

I bought the Switch to play BOTW. I played a good chunk of it, beat two divine beasts. I just couldn't get into it at all and gave up. It really bored me.

quokula

I feel BOTW is one of those games that was vastly overrated because of the Nintendo brand and their obsessive fan base (some game reviewers who were critical of it actually received death threats)

Some of the mechanics like the tedious climbing and the weapons breaking every five minutes were terrible. Some other mechanics like the way they used towers and allowed you to tackle things in whatever order worked well, but not to the extent of all the hype the game got. I also found the characters and writing completely tedious so I never felt that motivated by anything other than the puzzles.

It was often used in juxtaposition against the formulaic nature of Ubisoft open worlds, but it was out around the same time as Assassins Creed Odyssey and Kassandra’s adventures in Ancient Greece were way more compelling to me due to the better writing, more complex characters and far more interesting setting, even if it marked things on a map too often instead of leaving you to find them.

johnny_ultimate

I adore Breath of the Wild - the kind of game that made me think “oh, this is what an open world is supposed to feel like”. It has its quirks and rough edges, no doubt about that whatsoever. But so many moments in that game will stick with me forever - moments that felt like organic discoveries, even when they were clearly authored. The sense of adventure, dynamism and discovery were on a totally different level to me. Ubisoft style open worlds bore the hell out of me: endless checklists of chores and tasks. Whereas in Breath of the Wild it was constantly pulling on threads and finding weird, wonderful and surprising little secrets all the time. That’s not even going into the sheer depth of the mechanics - still often see videos pop up of high-tier players exploring and exploiting the physics system in new and delightful ways.

It has room for improvement in a sequel, for sure: there’s repetition in the likes of repeated puzzle rooms or some of the optional collectibles (although I love that people who found the most obscure ones were rewarded with an actual piece of **** :p). But it’s the a game so good it made me excited for the entire medium and its future again. I don’t expect everyone to feel the same way, but by god I spent dozens of the most satisfying hours I’ve ever spent with a video game exploring that strange, mysterious world. It sounds like hyperbole, but it really was a revelatory and revolutionary take on an entire genre of game for me.

wotzgoingon

I bought a switch for Mario odyssey. I also bought Zelda BOTW on the console itself. I wanted to play it so I ponied up the €70 and was disappointed with it same as you and cannot see how so many liked it. Weapons breaking without warning and climbing and getting tired. I have since watched a video and see there is a trick to climbing but I cannot be bothered to go back to it.

SuperBowserWorld

Actually currently playing AC Odyssey ...I wish AC Odyssey let you fly (Pegasus maybe) over the landscape or do more with the eagle Icarus. And had puzzles in it. But maybe that's Fenyx Rising :)

I like it, it's very samey and simple and it's easy to get swamped in stuff. But it's a cheap diversion that looks lovely at 60 FPS/4k and the Aegean sea is a nice change from the Irish winter. Hoping to finish it soon ... it goes on and on.

Kassandra could be a great game character, but I guess she's done with now. Not sure what the hell is the modern day stuff in that game. Takes me right out of the experience. That and the Ubisoft shop stuff.

Yeah, some of the things the fanbase say is truly bizarre. Like I've heard people say that it encourages exploring (yes it does that very well) and that no open world game has ever done this before. Total bollocks, anyone who's played any good open world game in the past twenty years will tell you that's flat out wrong.

I've also heard some lunatics say that it was the first ever open world game. 🤨

Another said it was the first open world game "built from the ground up". 🤨

Have these people ever played a non Nintendo game?

Zero-Cool

Speaking of OG AC, I'm very tempted to get the Ezio Collection for 15 quid to specifically play Brotherhood. Would like to play 2 again as well but brotherhood was so much more polished from what i remember, might be hard to go back and starting the other way around, i might get burnt out. 2 was so good at actually making you feel like an assassin and brotherhood with its villa base was just class.

But worried though i have rose tinted glasses on when it comes to those games though, not sure how they hold up.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118241603#Comment_118241603

The rose tinted glasses are a big thing. I tried San Andreas Remastered, and despite the work done it felt VERY dated.

Potential-Monke

Yeah, I'm done with HD remasters or basic effort entries. The GTA trilogy showed exactly what is wrong with them and we are mad as a fan base to keep asking for these. Meanwhile, feck all decent new games due to the ongoing constant spewing out of remasters. Remakes would be one thing, but remasters.... I just can't get into them. They all feel as old as they did when they originally released, most don't update the UI or controls for modern gaming... I don't understand it.

The Raging Bile Duct

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118241749#Comment_118241749

And if they did change the UI or modernized the controls, they're would be a load of manbabies threatening to kill the developers, mammies for ruining their childhood.

johnny_ultimate

Remakes and remasters are fundamentally different things though. There are a lot of lazy remasters, but many remakes are entirely different games to the original one. It’s important original games are preserved too as close as possible. Yes controls need to be updated and graphics adapted for modern displays (plus potentially quality of life changes where necessary), but there’s lot of value in ensuring classic games are available to play in as close to their original form as is reasonable.

A film isn’t remade every time it’s released on a new, higher definition format - it’s properly remastered instead. More effort is definitely needed on updating games properly - Xbox is doing a good job with its FPS boost programme, or the stellar emulation work by the likes of M2 for new rereleases. But when you remake Resident Evil 2, you get another game in the process - you can’t just write the original out of history in the process. And a full remake requires a lot of resources. Even loyal, lavish remakes like Demon’s Souls or Shadow of the Colossus make changes that fundamentally change the look of the games in quite significant ways.

Greyfox

BOTW deserves its praise as it puts gameplay above all else. I'd go as far as to say that I struggle to enjoy open world games due to BOTW been vastly superior to pretty much every other open world game out there. The actual traveling from a to b is fun in BOTW as regardless of where point b is Nintendo have made sure getting there is fun, the game is full of constant surprises. When you play other open world games often the traveling from checkpoint to checkpoint is dull and only becomes fun again when you get to point b

Retr0gamer

Yep, I'm on the side that BotW is amazing. There's plenty that could be improved in a sequel but as it stands it's the only open world game I truly loved. It's all about exploration driven by the player's own agency rather than having a bunch of objectives on the map that the player needs to tick off in a checklist. Every time I see something interesting in the world and explore I'm rewarded, even if it's just a fun little puzzle with a korok seed reward. Who cares about narrative as well. Sure the main story is weak but nothing in an open world game has come close to my struggle to climb mount doom, the preparation beforehand, the treck up where I was in constant danger of burning up. It was arduous and ultimately worth it and it really stood out to me as a special moment in the game driven by myself. Even some of the flaws people mention can be discounted. The Weapon degradation really isn't that bad once you condition yourself to the game. We have all been conditioned to become hoarders in games but really you end up with way too many weapons in BotW so just take out your most powerful weapon, use it and once it's broke try a different weapon. Once you ween yourself off that mindset then it doesn't bother you.

Potential-Monke

It's the same with any game that people love. They will ignore the annoying parts because the rest of it makes up for it. I'm the same, but the games I like are different to most on here at least. When I'm gaming, I want to feel like the badass I'm supposed to be. It's why I don't like the Soulsborne games. Grand, ye enjoy a challenge and repeating the same stuff over and over in those games, I enjoy playing the same stuff over and over (but not exactly the same, like Soulsborne games) in games like Immortals: Fenyx Rising, God of War, HZD, etc. It's a fine line for me between fun challenge and annoying challenge, and that is different for everyone. I'm sure God of War 2018 had some issues, but I can't think of a single one. It was a perfect game to me, and nearly ruined gaming in general, couldn't get into anything for ages after it.

It's nice to see some comments in here not praising BOTW, and I've a feeling it wouldn't tick my boxes, especially now that it has this lofty position to live up to, thanks to people on here and online fawning over it. Don't think it could live up to that. Not sure I'll ever find out tbh! Think I just need to get a loan of one and BOTW.

J Mysterio

When I think of great open world games I think of Oblivion, Red Dead Redemption, Fallout.

wotzgoingon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118242959#Comment_118242959

Yep far better games than BOTW.

Retr0gamer

Very different games. The thing about those games is the open world is just this place you traverse that gets in the way of missions and places of interest. The open world of BotW is the actual game and it's about how best to explore it.

Retr0gamer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118242933#Comment_118242933

If you liked Immortals: Fenyx Rising you'll probably like BotW. It's a big old rip off of BotW, albeit a pretty good one.

Markitron

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118241603#Comment_118241603

Brotherhood and AC2 hold up surprisingly well, the lack of openworld bloat more than makes up for the odd bit of jankiness.

Markitron

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118243459#Comment_118243459

BotW is such a strange game, for a game that is so universally praised and commercially successful it seems oddly polarising. I can absolutely see why so many consider it a 10/10 masterpiece but it is probably only an 8/10 for me. The sense of exploration is amazing but it can't make up for the lack of story, dungeons and actual music. These are 3 things I expect any Zelda game to excel in.

Oh and the weapon-durability system can **** off back to the 7th circle of hell, I don't care how it forces you to be creative etc, spending ages in menus changing weapons cos my last one broke after 3 hits is not my idea of fun.

johnny_ultimate

The music and sound design in BotW is absolutely incredible. It's just quiet and understated where the series is usually bombastic. The music fits perfectly into the world and pace of the game - what it lacks in the big triumph of the iconic theme hitting, it makes up for in those organic, reflective moments where you hear that little hint of a familiar theme amid a lovely ambient soundscape.

It's so boring.

Retr0gamer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118243546#Comment_118243546

Fair enough. I don't think the game is perfect either. Some more structured content like dungeons would be welcome as you say. My biggest issue is the end game as the world gets filled with high level enemies and the enemies only differ by their damage output and how much damage they soak up. It means the environmental traps that are so much fun to use and experiment with become less viable and the enemies just take longer to kill. That's the biggest flaw for me.

And while the game isn't perfect it's the the only open world game I've truly enjoyed because the open world is actually fun. I love the orienteering, searching for secrets using your own intuition rather than following a big marker on the map. Constantly finding weird stuff in the world and being rewarded for investigating. It's the anti Red Dead 2, where that game had all these systems and attention to detail that added nothing to the game, all the open world systems in BotW play off each other and feed into the gameplay. I really hope other developers are taking notes and building on it, not just Nintendo, because it makes every other open world game feel boring in comparison. Hopefully Ubisoft follow on from Immortals.

johnny_ultimate

The game's flaws are obvious and I have zero objection to anyone docking it a few points or getting annoyed by some of the quirks or issues. It's a bloody video game, of course reactions will vary. I could easily make a list of flaws, but really the experience on the whole was so overwhelmingly positive and rewarding for me that it's an example of how a game can be a '10/10' / 'GOAT candidate' while being 'imperfect'.

Outer Wilds is a perfect 10/10 on the other hand 😄

I've heard the "there are no map markers" argument many times with this game, which is also false. For example, the divine beast quests all have markers.

It's why conversations about this game are so difficult. Hyperbole to the point of falsehoods.