Played the game for the first time
Hi, new on this sub and got a switch recently with botw because I got obsessed with everyone posts 😂 Gave it a try and just wanted to share my mixed opinions on it, socializing on internet.
I've played maybe 80h, beat 3 divine machines, taking my time. The world is honestly stunning. Barely ever felt that connected to the physicality of a virtual world. Everything makes so much sense it sometimes makes me feel dumb 😂
The countless details everywhere are truly unbelievable sometimes.
The exploration feeling, the appeal for curiosity is unending, the combat is damn cool and dynamic, I still discover new ways to fight, I love the breaking weapon system, makes every chest matters, forces you to play with different toys throughout the game, clever than I expected. Bosses fight are challenging as well (except medo'vah, peace of cake) and overhaul difficulty is cool, really got my ass kicked more than a few times. I needed to earn my victories and the game doesn't take you by the hand, love it. And the OST is my asmr right now. Truly beautiful, pure poetry. The minimalism is on point and I'm happy some game makers can still understand the importance of silence. But I think the thing I love the most is that the game tells you it's OK to be bored. Just roaming without a goal, getting lost, finding a point of interest, reaching the main quest without even thinking about it. I don't even use any quest marker. I used to play an unhealthy amount of hours on heavy moded Skyrim, roaming, camping, appreciating the landscapes with the ost making you feel home, taking a beer like I was there and I felt something similar playing this game. Simply therapeutic.
One the other hand I'm a bit frustrated by some points. The story is honestly not as engaging as usual. Probably because it has been told 16367 times already tho. The fact that some characters are speaking out of nowhere was completely unexpected and it's damn weird since they don't most of the time, especially when the acting/dialogues are so awful and that's my biggest problem with the game. Some flashbacks are eyerolling (I play the game in French and I don't know what is happening to our voice actors since a few years but god it's absolutely terrible) and I can't stand characters reminding me every two lines that they failed 100 years ago. I know Link is amnesic but common I don't have Alzheimer yet 😂
For a game with a darker vibe than some previous Zelda games (such as The wind waker, which is my favorite and in complete adequation with its cartoonish style) i found the character development quite immature by contrast to its overhaul tone.
Even if I love the breakable weapon system, it completely takes down the epicness of every item you can get. I understand it's because the game isn't dungeon oriented like the previous ones but still. Opening a big chest in a dungeon doesn't give you the Zelda feeling, just this modern AC loot rpg (at least it's useful in BoTW)
Cooking is very fun (as a passionated home cook myself it makes me hungry all the time) but some recipes become useless since you can find piece of armor to be immun to cold or heat, but that's the down of every light rpg oriented games I guess.
The side quests are most of the time incredibly pointless, as well as their rewards. Talking to a npc that has a quest feels more like a chore than anything else after a few have been done.
The bestiary is... Meh. Every mob has an another version of itself depending on difficulty/elements. This lizard is fire, this one is electric etc bruh. That feels very old and super lame especially in an open world of this era. I know older Zelda don't have tons of different monsters but they feel way less copy pasted. Sanctuaries are fun, diverse, but honestly not hard enough. I miss some water temple headbreaker.
That being said, I love this game so bad and will be in my top five even with its flaws for giving me a sense of total freedom and i'm always happy to discover some weird things to do on this sub. Will try ToTK later after I beat Ganon's ass. Thanks for your dedication.