Topic: Nintendo Switch --OT--

The parallels between this and GoW Ragnarok are sort of interesting.

Direct story sequel with the same aesthetic.

People kind of said both looked like DLC until last major trailers blew people away.

(so far) Both games have identical metascores to their predecessors.

Both games pushed the older systems they launched on to their absolute limits while maintaining solid performance (PS4 and Switch).

@nessisonett BotW wouldn't have been nearly as fun if they hadn't turned Link into Spider-Man.

Gone one AM here, stayed up for an hour so I could at least try it on launch. I like that they gave a proper in narrative reason for a reset. Even on the SOLED it is not exactly smooth and pretty, but the art direction and attention to detail are crazy strong. Very reminiscent of BOTW in that kind of surprise at how many little micro details have been included that really enrich the immersion. Gameplaywise, so far I've just been hitting robots with sticks and gluing stuff together. A decent first impression.

@Ralizah I’m even more confused why it’s taken me so long to play this game properly. Went to Kakariko, so far so good. Went to head towards Hateno and ended up in a snowy environment beside a mountain so ate spicy steak and climbed the mountain trail to see what was at the top. Turns out it was some sort of spirit dragon that was corrupted by Ganon and I was thrust into a sort of boss fight where I was soaring through the air and trying to land arrows into big glowing eyes which was like something out of Shadow of the Colossus. My cold resistance then ran out so I was hunting down this dragon down the side of a mountain while necking mushrooms to stay alive! When I was warped back up and given my reward of a cool looking weapon and a shrine, I was basically in awe of what I assume was a completely optional fight that rewarded exploration of a highly treacherous mountain, especially when I was only on 4 hearts. And then just gliding from the summit all the way down to Hateno Village cut out the rest of the journey! I think I get the love now.

@nessisonett I'm glad to hear you're enjoying it more now. I've heard a lot of people didn't 'get' it the first time they attempted to play, for whatever reason.

BotW excels at making these little moments of discovery feel special. And there's so many fun and sometimes laugh-out-loud funny surprises to find!

Horses suck, though. They break the moment you go anywhere near uneven geometry.

Woah the reviews for totk are off the charts. Reading through, it seems a lot of the issues I had enjoying botw have been improved! Barren open world, repeating enemies etc.

The technical limitations and frame rate drops are concerning, coming to botw from mgs5 and hzd was difficult, I found too much to dislike.

This time around I haven't played a proper openworld game since ghost of tsushima over a year ago. Perfect time to give the new style zelda a proper go without bias.

Played a couple more hours, made it off of the tutorial island. Can't wait for the glider as I have already died like 50 times to fall damage, but the abilities are all a joy so far and most of the puzzles are very intuitive (albeit with some awkward controls at times). The gleeful sound Link makes every time you glue things together with the Fuse ability is infectious, it really captures exactly how I feel as you use your abilities to make weird, bolted together, solutions for puzzles which feel almost game breaking at times, and it is sorta genius to design something to feel like it is breaking the game but actually being within their own rules.

@Pizzamorg sounds just like Assassins Creed to me.

Don't you mean Legend of Zelda: Immortal Phoenix Rising?

@Pizzamorg Gotta Catch 'Em All, right?! Or is that the one with Gandalf?

I think you are thinking of the one with Spock

(😂)

I've also just completed the tutorial island, and it's great so far. Already exploring the island felt a lot more like a puzzle than in BotW, and I hope that keeps up, because it was a ton of fun, and one of the shrines was surprisingly tricky to reach. Link's abilities are also brimming with possibilities - they were all incredibly situational in BotW, but these just seem perfectly designed to let your brain run wild. Can't wait to play more of this when I get the chance!

@Pizzamorg Unfortunately can't get the spoilers to work, but this is just the beginning hour or so of the game, I'll figure it out soon!

Yeah I struggled for a surprisingly long time getting to the top. I didn't have any chillies, so I fused a ruby to a stick, which made it always on fire, keeping me warm. Then I got stuck for a while surrounded by walls of ice, eventually found a fast river, and only managed to cross it by glueing multiple fans to one raft to push against the current. I then found a wall behind a waterfall that wasn't covered in ice, and climbed up that. So very different from yours, but once again didn't feel like the intended path at all! I'm very curious as to what the "right" way to solve it is, but I guess the appeal of these open word zeldas is that there isn't a singular right way of solving these puzzles, it's about using all of your tools to overcome the obstacles they give you.

Mine didn't get delivered unfortunately, boo. Maybe it'll show up tomorrow, otherwise Monday I guess.

Screw it I went digital. Going to smear Vaseline over my TV screen and play some PS5 while it downloads to let my eyes adjust until it’s go time.

@kyleforrester87 same, couldn’t wait, sadly it’ll get delivered until Tuesday, oh well.

@edwinjoe450 I prefer digital really anyway, especially for Switch. The physical version was a birthday gift but.. I waited long enough, was my birthday months ago. Got a couple of really intense weeks coming up so want to enjoy some gaming and cycling this weekend.

Got off the tutorial island and made it to Hyrule before quitting. Game looks way better now that there's not an omnipresent bloom lighting everywhere.

I completed one shrine in Hyrule as well. Probably not the way they wanted me to. The solution was supposed to involve making some sort of water vehicle to get a ball from one end of a water way to the other, but I got tired of trying to build it right and ended up ultrahanding some ridiculous tower made up of boards and tires that allowed me to skirt the entire process, lmao.

Where the hell is my glider, though? I feel naked without it.

@kyleforrester87 I dunno, I thought it looked beautiful on our 4K OLED. Mostly the art direction, of course. The draw distance is really nice for a Switch game, though.

@Ralizah yeah it’s a good looking game. I am enjoying it, got ultra hand and fuse, but to be honest I am a bit overwhelmed with the control system. I’m pretty worn out mentally, I’m sure it’ll click very soon (BOTW was no problem). Just getting a bit frustrated with it at the mo, need some sleep and let that muscle memory do it’s thing!

@kyleforrester87 I haven't really had issues other than with doing ultrahand stuff, which is sort of clunky. I've heard at least a few people say the controls were a bit much for them as well, though, so it's not just a you thing.