The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

[Skykid]

Nintendo went all in on that machine.

Disagree. I know it isn't what you mean, but if they had truly gone "all in on the machine" it actually might not have tanked completely. I.e: developing games that made compelling use of the GamePad so it actually had a buying proposition before sending it out to die. Or maybe even thinking the GamePad concept all the way through and realizing it was NOT the thing to stake your entire platform on.

There were major aspects of this platform they clearly left wanting.

I know you're referring to the quality of their AAA output and this is 100% true.. but it's true of all their platforms, isn't it? They'd have been out of the business since the N64 if not for their own homegrown shit.

Eh, I wasn't overly interested in much first party stuff on the Wii. GC was more interesting overall.

The Wii U on the other hand, well they seem to have pulled out all the stops and upped their game. It's a shame it's nearly all Mario related though, with quality this high it would have been nice to have a new F-Zero or Starfox.

But regardless, what's here is comfortable craftsmanship after the company has felt a little unsure of itself over the last decade. Very impressive.

And the Wii U gamepad - well that's the best thing about it! The only thing that bothers me is when a game requires you to use the TV in tandem, because I play it a lot on the gamepad alone. It's a marvelous feature and feels like I have a console and handheld in one. I just keep reminding myself that I can't walk out the door with it, sadly, but it's not the end of the world.

[Skykid]

On the topic of BotW, I'm dying a lot in the initial part of the game. I don't think I've ever died so many times in all the Zelda games I've played combined. It certainly doesn't handhold does it?

Most of those deaths are experimentation based. How far can I jump - not that far. Cold temperatures, I'll make it... no I won't. I reckon I can climb that to the top on my stamina bar... no I can't. Etc Etc.

It's interesting indeed. I like the way you just stumble on something and experiment and it often seems to work, like shooting the lines on an enemy encampment to drop the drawbridge, or lighting fires for cooking.

My biggest reservation so far though, although minor, is that the voiced Zelda and other characters. Not voicing Link is of course absolutely utmost, but I don't like Zelda's voice actor or her Pa, and I think they should have left it as a different language.

[DoomsDave]

or Starfox.

https://youtu.be/RXR91UxhO7Y

[BulletMagnet]

Outta curiosity, Skykid, around how much did you manage to score your WiiU for? I've been intending to snag one when the price drops for awhile now, but at least in my neck of the woods it's barely dropped from its launch price, if at all. Funnily enough I actually already own a couple of games for the thing, because a bunch of the premier titles got 20-dollar reissues and I figured I might as well grab them while I waited for the hardware to do the same, but, well, I'm still waiting, heh. Moreover, online prices don't seem to dip much lower than those in the stores, so I'm kinda stumped, since supposedly nobody wants the things.

[Skykid]

Outta curiosity, Skykid, around how much did you manage to score your WiiU for? I've been intending to snag one when the price drops for awhile now, but at least in my neck of the woods it's barely dropped from its launch price, if at all. Funnily enough I actually already own a couple of games for the thing, because a bunch of the premier titles got 20-dollar reissues and I figured I might as well grab them while I waited for the hardware to do the same, but, well, I'm still waiting, heh. Moreover, online prices don't seem to dip much lower than those in the stores, so I'm kinda stumped, since supposedly nobody wants the things.

They're going back up! (There was a point they were selling on forums for peanuts, I should have had one then). That's my most salient piece of advice to you BM, bag one now. Since they have been so thoroughly and definitively hacked, giving access to the entire Wii U/Wii/GameCube and Eshop catalogues, suddenly people want them again (surprise) and I had the hardest time finding one, let alone for a price I felt comfortable paying for a secondhand unit.

In Hong Kong there wasn't a single shop that had one, and I looked everywhere. In the end I negotiated a deal with a guy on Taobao for a USA console, 2nd hand with a couple of dings, but in a box (basic set). The unit was about £140 and in the end I got 4 more Wii U classic controllers bringing the total to £180. It was overpriced, but where I am positioned in Asia, and with Hong Kong totally dry, it was the only way I could get a US machine.

[Sumez]

I know you're referring to the quality of their AAA output and this is 100% true.. but it's true of all their platforms, isn't it? They'd have been out of the business since the N64 if not for their own homegrown shit.

Obviously that's what I was talking about, yeah. The PR for the console was definitely lacking, but I don't think that's a secret to anyone. But I'm incredibly impressed with the quality of their own output for the Wii U. Even without a main series Mario game, something like Mario 3D World which I guess counts as one of those budget in-between titles akin to the NSMB titles just has an absolutely insane amount of polish that you don't really see anywhere else in the AAA industry.
It's true that their first party game was always solid, but I don't think the GameCube or Wii was that incredibly impressive in that regard, with the exception of Mario Galaxy which I still consider an absolutely amazing game. The Wii U wasn't "current" for that many years, but Nintendo managed to churn out some pure gold during that period.

[Sumez]

On the topic of BotW, I'm dying a lot in the initial part of the game. I don't think I've ever died so many times in all the Zelda games I've played combined. It certainly doesn't handhold does it?

Most of those deaths are experimentation based. How far can I jump - not that far. Cold temperatures, I'll make it... no I won't. I reckon I can climb that to the top on my stamina bar... no I can't. Etc Etc.

It's interesting indeed. I like the way you just stumble on something and experiment and it often seems to work, like shooting the lines on an enemy encampment to drop the drawbridge, or lighting fires for cooking.

I think this sums up the game really well. Unfortunately the difficulty balance isn't too good, and the game will get really easy once you get yourself a nice arsenal of weapons, as well as the space required to drag it around.

My biggest reservation so far though, although minor, is that the voiced Zelda and other characters. Not voicing Link is of course absolutely utmost, but I don't like Zelda's voice actor or her Pa, and I think they should have left it as a different language.

Another point I think almost everyone will agree with you on. The voice acting is really, really subpar, and for a game with so few voices in the first place, I'd think a huge company like Nintendo could easily have afforded better voice acting without making a noticeable dent in their pockets, so it's a bit of a mystery. I wouldn't have minded an Ico-style otherworldly language either. Would fit the setting just fine.

[evil_ash_xero]

It's an interesting game, but I can barely get myself to play it.

I'm just not into this open world thing.

I'll beat it at some point, but I'm not very enthusiastic about it.

[Skykid]

Can someone tell me why the game keeps losing my most recent saves? Autosaves or manual saves regardless. After saving I turn off the machine, only to turn the machine on again later and it's gone back about 15 minutes losing all my progress. It's really annoying!

[ryu]

Can someone tell me why the game keeps losing my most recent saves? Autosaves or manual saves regardless. After saving I turn off the machine, only to turn the machine on again later and it's gone back about 15 minutes losing all my progress. It's really annoying!

Never had any problems. How are you shutting down the console? Do you quit the game before turning it off completely?

[Skykid]

Can someone tell me why the game keeps losing my most recent saves? Autosaves or manual saves regardless. After saving I turn off the machine, only to turn the machine on again later and it's gone back about 15 minutes losing all my progress. It's really annoying!

Never had any problems. How are you shutting down the console? Do you quit the game before turning it off completely?

Sometimes I'll just use the controller off button to power down, but the save is done. The last time I checked the damn thing to make sure it was registered in the file load section, and it was there!

Powered down, came back later and it's dropped three saves back. I don't know what the heck is going on but it's happened way too often and it's starting to make me annoyed having to repeat steps like buying and selling, cooking loads, and killing random boss enemies in the terrain - all of which I just lost today.

[ryu]

Definitely sucks.

So it happens even when you close the app before shutting down? That's really weird. Maybe a bug slipped in with a more recent update.

[Skykid]

No, often I just turn the machine off while directly in game, but that's after double checking to make sure my most recent save game has been added to the save/load list.

So is there some known issue with saves going missing if you shut down in-game?

[Sumez]

I've never heard about it, and it never happened to me. Really weird. The game does automatically delete older saves, so maybe it messed up when trying to do that? Could it be some kind of discrepancy in your date/time settings?

[Skykid]

I've never heard about it, and it never happened to me. Really weird. The game does automatically delete older saves, so maybe it messed up when trying to do that? Could it be some kind of discrepancy in your date/time settings?

Shit, does it? Well that would make sense, except it's deleting my fucking recent saves.

I'll check the date and time asap, thanks for the tip.

[Austin]

I didn't experience that issue either. Let us know if you find a fix for it. That sounds really weird.