Feeb wrote:> bonham2 wrote:
>> I've been watching videos and reading comments of people online, and the people
> arguing
>> that this is a bad game because of performance issues really look stupid right
> now.
>> I mean, it's a legitimate complaint if you want to call this a 9.5/10 instead
> of
>> a 10/10, but the game performs pretty well (draw distance, lack of any loading
> screens,
>> the amount of stuff actually happening on screen, etc.).
>>
>> I don't know where I'll stand 100+ hours from now, but as of this pount in the
> game,
>> for me, this is the first Zelda game where I legitimately could put this over
> OoT
>> on my personal list. It's a freaking masterpiece. I have a few minor gripes, like
>> I do get bored in the depths pretty quickly, but it's certainly not enough to
> take
>> away from the good stuff. I'll see where I stand when I'm all done, but it's definitely
>> up there on my all-time Zelda list, and that's really saying a lot.
>
> Performance aside- never an issue for me- how would you compare it to BotW? How much
> better / different is it?
This is a tough question that I can't fully answer yet since I'm still relatively early on (about 20-25 hours in). I fall in the camp that says BotW was a great game but not a great Zelda game. I missed the atmosphere, music, unique boss fights, puzzles, etc. It was also relatively light on secrets. I miss searching for heart pieces or having them be rewards for side quests. On the other hand, I did like that the combat was some of the deepest and best of any Zelda ever and I appreciated the freedom and emphasis on exploration.
TotK does everything BotW did but better. The combat is challenging with tons of enemy variety, and you can attack in so many unique ways. The temples are a big improvement over BotW's Divine Beasts. So far, I am LOVING the shrines (and they were a slog in BotW). The puzzles are challenging and rewarding. The best part is there are so many ways to solve anything. You can do it the way the devs intended or come up with a completely different way using your imagination. That has actually been the most rewarding part so far for me, coming up a with ridiculous ways to solve challenges and get to the end of the shrines. The other big improvement is the overworld. BotW's overworld was notoriously sparse with very little to do and very little reward for exploring. TotK makes up for this in a huge way. There are so many more side quests and things to explore and/or do. My favorite part so far has been the caves (SO MANY CAVES). Some just have supplies and bubbel gems, but others have armor and gear. It's no exaggeration when you hear people talking about getting distracted with a dozen things while trying to go to a destination. There is so much to do and see in the overworld, I am constantly getting distracted. I have dozens of pins/stamps on my map waiting to be explored, and I haven't even unlocked more than half the map yet. People saying this game takes 40-50 hours must only be playing the main story. I like to explore every nook and cranny and find all the supplies and items I can. I will never come close to getting 100% in this game (I can't imagine how long that would take), but I want to discover as much as humanly possible.
All of this is completely ignoring the ultrahand/building mechanic. Outside of the shrines where it is necessary, you really don't have to build at all if you don't want to. I made a few simple transportation devices to make it easier to get places, and I doubt I'll do anything more than that. Oh, and that reminds me, traveling through Hyrule is SO MUCH BETTER. No more spending hours climbing or slipping down wet surfaces. It's all been streamlined and fixed. You can ascend to reach high places, make an elixir to stick to wet surfaces, have auto saved vehicles to move faster or fly, use the rewind ability on rocks to move up to the sky quickly (and then jump off for easy gliding), or even use different fuse abilities to quickly get up in the sky.
It's SO MUCH BETTER THAN BOTW. I honestly don't think I will ever be able to play BotW ever again.