my grievances with botw
Breath of the Wild is... undeniably a fantastic game, but it is very genuinely not the kind of game I like, and since I started playing it I’ve been enjoying it less and less so... I have a pair of problems with it that I’d figure I’d go into, as well as some stuff that, while weak in botw, were executed better in past loz games.
(small shoutout to @zeldanamikaze for encouraging this and having some points that i agree with and had some examples that i hadn’t thought about much initially)
Again, Breath of the Wild is an objectively impressive game, and I’m not trying to sit here and convince you that it’s a bad game. I’m just trying to point out things that detracted from my enjoyment of it, especially compared to my enjoyment of other Zelda games.
Before I get into the big stuff, I’ll just shoot off some quick little things that I think could’ve been improved:
- The dungeons generally felt like glorified shrines, and while they had cool mechanics and ways to access them, they were short and more or less pretty simple and all have similar visual and musical identities.
- Side quests and their rewards didn’t feel worth doing half of the time. I barely remember any notable ones off the top of my head and the longer ones just gave mostly generic rewards, which I suppose makes sense considering the limited amount of truly unique items in botw.
- Seeing the same enemies over and over again made the combat feel more like a chore than something to really engage with, not to mention that there is hardly any difficulty scaling beyond just making the enemies more durable.
- The story is fine, but in my experience, even seeing people go into more detail about the meanings of events, I never really cared for the events or the characters presented, since you don’t actually have to directly interact with any of that to play the game. Hell, you don’t even need to interact with the story at all to beat it, so the focus certainly doesn’t feel like it’s on the story.
- It would be a lie to call the soundtrack bad, but it’s sparse usage makes it hard to truly appreciate and the fact that most of it is meant to be more atmospheric generally makes them a bit less interesting to listen to on their own, though I will admit there are some fantastic tracks in botw, usually being some of the boss themes.
- While the Sheikah slate runes are cool, they feel very bland after a while, especially compared to the varied items seen in previous games. They’re good tools for an open world, but not much fun otherwise (the bombs were good though, since they had a variety of uses).
And that’s the quick stuff- again, mostly courtesy of @zeldanamikaze, since these are the examples I’ve seen her mention.
I have two big points that kind of encapsulate why I dislike this game and still adore the older games, that being: the minigames and the items and their relationships to dungeons.
Breath of the Wild is a very different game than what came past it, and I am very aware that it is a vast departure from those other games for a reason. However, this leads me to view it not only simply as a game not up my alley, but also as kind of inferior in some aspect to those previous Zelda games. Breath of the World is first and foremost an open world game, seemingly putting a focus on gameplay enjoyment above all else (not to imply that the ‘else’ is bad because of this, but I do think that the ‘else’ suffers in comparison to other Zelda titles.)
It may also be worth mentioning that the other Zelda games I have played is the following: LoZ NES, Link’s Awakening (Original and Remake), Ocarina of Time, Majora’s Mask, Phantom Hourlgass, Skyward Sword, A Link Between Worlds, and Triforce Heroes. I have also played both hyrule warriors games as well as loz 2, wind waker, and minish cap, none of the latter 3 i have finished or currently have access to.
1: The Minigames
Minigames are common in Zelda games, so of course botw has a few scattered around it’s world. Botw’s minigames are very different than the minigames seen in past Zelda games, mostly due in part to the limited array of items and unique gameplay gimmicks available in botw. Botw’s minigames usually focus on different forms of archery, gliding, or rune usage: all things integral to normal gameplay. At best you get rupees or cosmetic items from most minigames.
Botw’s minigames are just slightly altered situations of normal gameplay. The bowling is just using stasis except this time the game has a special little arena for it. Pretty much all of the archery games are either just counting how many deer you can kill or if you can just hit some targets on horseback. There’s one race I can think of and one gliding activity I can think of.
This makes sense, considering that there are a handful of other non-minigame activities to engage in, but these minigames feel... hollow. None of the minigames feature gameplay exclusive to those minigames or feature gameplay only used in certain parts of the game. They all make use of readily available mechanics in botw, so they’re like tests of skill- but otherwise not really any worth giving a second-thought unless you want to see how good of a glider or archer you are or grab some extra rupees.
But they aren’t very... worth it or generally fun within the context of botw. It’s just another way to do something that is available to you pretty much all game. They don’t feel unique, they just feel like a task.
Previous Zelda games (obviously) have archery minigames and allow you to use archery when you get the bow and from that point onward. And yet the archery minigames are made unique from the rest of the archery in the game; ocarina of time’s archery minigame is simply just shooting at targets, but the possible rewards and the simple fact that not often are you going to be continuously shooting arrows at enemies make it a bit of a novel experience within oot. The minigames in past zelda games take advantage of the items and area-specific mechanics: they usually include item-exclusive mechanics like bombchu games, or take advantage of more specific mechanics, like the minecarts in skyward sword, the masks in majora’s mask, or being able to control gongoron in phantom hourglass.
They also gave genuine rewards- empty bottles, quest items, ship parts, new masks, heart containers or pieces, kinds of stuff that are hard to get and very valuable. They’re worth doing for reasons outside of just a little activity. The minigames in other Zelda games do really enhance the experience by taking advantage of situational mechanics or giving a unique usage for some items.
You can probably get every item in botw without playing all of the minigames. They have little actual purpose. But in other zelda games, they have a purpose in the greater game and provide novel experiences within the game.
2: Items and their relationships with the dungeons
Obviously, compared to past games, botw’s ‘dungeons’ kind of sucked. They’re fine in a vacuum, with interesting gimmicks and the like, but they’re really little more than glorified shrines with four different-but-similar bosses at the end.
In my opinion, one of reasons why the divine beasts just... fell flat compared to other zelda dungeons is the lack of unique items in general. The runes in botw are cool and useful but you get them at the start of the game and never get anything new. You are give every tool you need to beat all of the dungeons the moment you finish the tutorial.
Older zelda games’ dungeons being tied to their respective items is a big part- to me- of what makes those dungeons so good.
Obviously, the theming, musical themes, and larger layouts and more varied puzzles make them objectively better experiences, but the way they interact with item acquisition makes the whole thing even better.
Even in a link between worlds, where you can get every item whenever you want from Ravio, each dungeon is still tied to one of those items, and one of those items is needed to successfully complete that dungeon.
The dungeons in past Zelda games are practically complex tutorials on how you can use your new items. They are where those items shine and they are designed so that those items are used to their fullest potential within. And then you must then use that item to defeat that dungeon’s boss, and you usually have no chance of beating that boss if you don’t make use of the dungeon’s associated item. It’s like a final test for the item, seeing if you know how it works enough to complete the dungeon and use it against a boss’s weaknesses.
The most recent example, and probably one of the best, is needing to use the whip to tear off koloktos’ arms in the ancient cistern, but the classic scenario of the bombs for king dodongo works well enough, and the bosses of majora’s mask requiring you to understand how the transformation masks work. There are definitely some bosses that require no use of dungeon items (moldorm in the tower of hera, either ghirahim fights), but the item’s usage is still showcased prominently in their dungeons.
Outside of the dungeons, too, the progressive acquisition of items makes more areas and secrets available to you, giving a much more palpable sense of progression through those games’ worlds.
In botw, you get every tool the moment you are released into the rest of hyrule, so while figuring out what to do with those tools can be fun, the sense of progression is dampened by having every item from the start and nothing you gain beyond that being needed for anything aside from a nice little ability to make things easier.
I’m not really too sure exactly why I never found botw fun the way everyone else does, but I think lackluster minigames and the general lack of items that aid a sense of progression are parts of it.
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Hobbit history, Aragorn
Hobbit History
If Aragorn learned about hobbit history from anyone, it would have to be from Frodo and Bilbo.
I mean, let’s be honest, if he’s gonna get any information about hobbits, it would have to be from the horse’s—or rather, pony’s—mouth. Hobbits tend to keep to themselves, and their doings and goings-on are generally of little consequence to the world at large. Of course Aragorn might know some things in broad strokes—at some point, he likely would have read in a footnote of some book of histories in Minas Tirith of King Argeleb II of the North-kingdom and his agreement with the Halflings concerning the settlement of the Shire—but information would be sparse, and many of the things hobbits would deem important about their own history would be completely unknown to outsiders.
Out of the hobbits he had the pleasure of knowing personally (he could say with all sincerity, if a bit of an ironic smile), the Baggins pair would be the best bet. Sam, though he did read and write well for his family, wasn’t terribly book-learned. Pippin rarely paid attention to his studies, if he attended them at all. Merry was more knowledgeable, but he was just as likely to share information that actually answered your question as he was to info-dump about his hyperfixation on pipeweed—on which he was a particularly good authority, if you wanted to know about that sort of thing. And then, there was Bilbo and Frodo, two old rich bachelors with nothing better to do with their lives than spend all day with their noses in books.
I can only imagine that some of those months in Rivendell—after the Council and before the Quest began—were spent with Aragorn, Frodo, and Bilbo walking in the gardens, or sitting on a high porch overlooking the valley, or huddling by the fire when it was cold and Bilbo was getting a chill, as they talked about hobbits and what they’d made of themselves in all these hundreds of years.
Aragorn would be surprised to hear that the Shire-hobbits sent some bowmen to the aid of the northern King in his war against the Witch-King of Angmar; “I have read many histories of Men,” he said, “and also the old Record of Kings, and I have heard the tallest tales of many lands, but never have I heard tell that the Halflings did this thing.”
“Well, we did,” Bilbo said with a huff. “We prefer peace, of course, and seldom go out looking for a fight, but we aren’t so fragile in a pinch, I hope you observe. Or do you think our aim is good only for darts?”
At that, Aragorn laughed. “As for darts, have beaten me soundly, my friend, and enough times that I should learn my lesson. I apologize. I did not mean to offend. If anything, I am more incredulous that such an act of valor should go without thanks or record from the Men of the North.”
“Well, that’s no surprise!” said Bilbo with a grin. “We’re used to being overlooked. Comes with the height, I suppose.”
Of course Aragorn would be very interested to hear about the Battle of Greenfields and old Bullroarer Took, and about the Thain and the Mayor and the general structure of power in the Shire (or lack thereof), but he was also interested in the little things—what Frodo and Bilbo called “family history”, and the invention of golf, and the gossip and rivalry between the Tooks and Brandybucks, about which he asked many intelligent and altogether too serious questions.
He had two motives in this, of course. The first—and the strongest—was that he wanted to know more about his new friends, and learning about their mundane and colorful history was an excellent way to do that. The second—less personal, but no less important—was to do his homework concerning this settlement of halflings that was, technically, still within the jurisdiction of Isildur’s line.
When he became King, he issued a proclamation that no Man should ever enter the Shire, and that it was a Free Land under protection of the Crown. When he came to visit his friends in the year 1436, he did not step beyond the Brandywine Bridge—even a King must honor his own edict, after all—but before he left, he did press a sizable purse of gold into the hand of the Mayor (that is, of course, Sam Gamgee).
“See to it that the best of your histories, and Frodo’s book, are copied by your finest craftsmen,” he said. “Your people have made for themselves an honored place in the history of our world, and so your stories deserve a place in the library of kings. This ought to cover all expense, and if there be any left over, keep it as a gift.”
Sam’s eyes went wide for a moment—the sum could have bought all the property in Hobbiton twice over!—but he was a little older and a little calmer than he was when he first traveled with Strider, so instead of a long string of exclamations, he simply clutched the purse to his chest and promised, “I’ll make every cent count, Strider. They’ll be the most beautiful books you’ve ever seen; save the ones the Elves keep, maybe.”
The work took years, but Sam would only deign to hire the best. Years later, when Sam travelled to Gondor with Rosie and Elanor, he had in his little wagon—wrapped carefully in cloth, and packed in water-tight chests—a beautiful little stack of books, bound in leather, dyed brilliant red and blue and green, with gold corner caps and satin bookmarks and woodcut illustrations on the inside pages.
Those books were kept in the royal library in Minas Tirith, and tended as long as their keepers could maintain them, and painstakingly copied for years long after the hands that made them had passed away. It was exactly was Aragorn would have hoped.
After all, hobbit history was Middle Earth’s history too.
WORD ASK GAME!
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Don't separate J and M ? When he obviously has.
I've already sent you links of him separating J and M. It was when he was wearing a suit I think. Not the one when he just got a lip piercing, but another moment. If you check in asks you can find
And if memory serves, I think we determined that was ring slippage during an official, styled event with branded product placement, right? That ONE time during a photoshoot when he was also holding a trophy, was it? Like a closer view of this?
IDK IDK here are some of the links you maybe want, I'm on a whole new laptop. Do your own homework, anon, I ain't getting paid to do your job.
Was it that one?
Or this one?
I honestly think I know the ONE TIME you mean but I'm not finding it via my tags probably because it was the exception that proves the rule. In case you're unfamiliar with that concept, let me throw this down for you:
Literally 99.9% of the time Jungkook does not bisect the J and M on his ring finger. I honestly have maybe ONE photo of it somewhere, and it was at a photoshoot. I have covered this extensively as seen above. And yet here you are.
I dunno maybe it's here
Care to explain why suddenly the J and M appear a shade or two darker on that finger? No?
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