Nintendo Switch Topic; #byebyenx

[Zero Kirby]

I'm quite enjoying BOTW as well. I like how simple everything is, while still being really satisfying when you really do pull something off, like fighting a large group of enemies or winning a really tough fight or solving a puzzle that took a while to figure out. I like all the exploration, honestly - it's fun climbing up somewhere, lookin' around, seeing things, marking them, and then gliding down and checking them all out. I like having a final goal in mind, as well - something that a lot of other open-world games kinda lack in my opinion. It's made clear there's a final boss and where they are early on, so having a reason to do all the exploration to get stronger and whatnot is pretty nice, as opposed to having to wait until halfway through the game to get said reason.

The feeling of discovery is just really really strong here. I love tossing ingredients into a pot and getting a super-awesome food item out of it. There's a bit where... well, spoilers:

Spoiler

I went to an island of the south-west coast of Hyrule, and ran into a trial where all of my items and equipment were taken away, leaving me with just the glider, my runes, and my wits to solve the puzzle on the island. It was supremely difficult, I probably died at least ten times trying to finish this trial alone, but I still had fun doing it just 'cause it was interesting. It reminded me of a similar bit in Skyward Sword, where you lose all your items in the volcano area and have to stealth around, which I also quite liked, and it also worked as an extended reference to Link's Awakening, my favourite Zelda game, and the two landmarks on the island, Toronbo Beach and Koholit Rock, are both references to, Koholint Island and, well, Toronbo Beach from that game.

I just happened to stumble on that while exploring, and was very pleasantly surprised. Finally completing it after many tries was also very satisfying.

Is it perfect, of course not. The game's performance is kind of unstable (especially in towns) and it sucks there's no touch screen elements whatsoever (you tap it to move the game to the GamePad screen - otherwise it goes completely unused). But it really makes you feel like an adventurer, which is really really cool.