Yet Another Breath of the Wild Retrospective

Game is amazing but half of the time I didn't like how goofy u have to look for the armor effects

I haven’t played this game in awhile now. Idk if I’m just having a day or what but this video made me super emotional. I’m 30 years old now but playing this game in my 20s was like being a kid again. That sense of wonder, it somehow made me feel nostalgic in a game that was brand new. My fav Zelda game is WW as well, but BoTW is right up there. I loved this game. This was a great video

I will take this opportunity to tell a story I had with this game. I had just gotten to Hateno village, when I decided that I would head to Akkalla to try and find Rito Village. I ended up getting lost and wound up attop Mount Lanayru, and was doing the Naydra quest. Keep in mind that this was A: my first playthrough, and B: only a few minutes after leaving the plateau, so my warmest armor was the Warm Doublet. I was relying on cold resistant elixirs and meals to keep myself alive while I was shooting the malice off of Naydra

Your intro really speaks to me. There were games that came into my life at some really terrible times... And somehow they lifted me up and made me strong enough to power through it. My family life was horrible when I discovered Majora's Mask and it'll always be my number one. It saved me. Nobody can ever take that away. It's the time in your life that it comes to you.

The one single gripe I have with this game is that on the Great Plateau the game teaches you about cutting down a tree to use it's log as a bridge. I haven't seen this idea used a single time outside of that "tutorial" and it just makes me wonder if it was truly just to show whats possible instead of what you should actually remember, or if they literally just forgot about it entirely somehow.

I have beaten this game twice. I have watched and listened to countless hours of video content about breath of the wild. I have watched the massive 4 hour retrospective on this game. I have listened to this video in its entirety three times now.

And I just learned that Koko and Cottla's mother was assassinated

I would love to see your thoughts on the expanded lore and themes that Hyrule Warriors Age of Calamity brings to the conversation about this iteration of the Zelda world

Bro I kinda teared up when you were talking about stepping in the great plates for the first time. Reminded me of when I first played it and saw that vast land of hyrule

Am I the only one who didn't find Breath of the Wild amazing? I wasn't a fan of the combat system, I didn't enjoy the story, I didn't really enjoy anything about it. This was my least favorite Zelda game

👁️👁️

Been going through some tough times recently and your videos have always been a great comfort! Thank you!

came here from nebula so say how great this f'n video was. the most respectful and articulate video i've seen talking about BotW. we are so lucky to be able to experience a game like this, and now a sequel. thanks for putting into words some of the thoughts i've had about this, for telling me new things i never knew about this game, and for moving me to tears more than once. genuine hats-off to you brother.

Why is this guy rhyming so much

As much as I loved breath of the wild I had two major gripes with the game. 1, weapons broke far too easily and in my opinion durability should be 3 to 4x better than what we got especially for late game weapons. 2, dungeons ie the traditional zelda dungeons and their absence only makes me want them even more. Other than these gripes breath of the wild could've been the best zelda game but in my opinion it's not.

Outstanding video - congratulations!

Botw has a huge problem. It lacks any emergency. You dont feel any need to do anything. And when you stop playing for a while, when you come back you just even care less about anything in the game. There is no interesting story or character development. Simply compared to Oot, that game is actually much much better. When you get back to that game after a long while you easily get back into the story and journey and pick it up at any moment.
Botw is just a big open world, without any emotion, life or story

Picked up totk and the switch version and collection with it the remote and case I love the game okay 👌 … I haven’t played botw and didn’t even look once when it was mentioned so long ago but now after tears being my favorite game AND WHY IM HERE, is because I really want to play this game but people say it’s not worth playing after tears 🤔 think I still will.

I think there isn't enough armor sets in game, 15 armor sets plus couple dlc pieces, I really wanted more. Why couldn't we get more stuff like majoras mask, like it's not about numbers but about something special tkat only that armor doas.

Why couldn't we get armor that catches lightning when it hits you, and then you hold lightning in armor until enemy hits you and then lightning hits them.

Or armor set that makes you jump double as high.

Armor that allows you to dive under water.

Armor that allows you to freeze water under your feet allowing you to walk on the water.

The one that makes guardians not see you.

The one that makes you apply poison on energy when you hit them.

Armor that allows you to turn in wolf link from twilight princess.

Not related to armors but Why can't we have a fucking ocarina, you go around talk to people and someone tells you a song and boom naw you can stop rain whenever it appears, or call nice weather, or fast forward time to change from night to day.

Thinking about possibility of what botw could have been makes me sad. Now it's best game of all time but why just surpass competition and say that enough when there was so much potential.

Why don't we have grapeling hook, what's reason for that.

I think there isn't enough armor sets in game, 15 armor sets plus couple dlc pieces, I really wanted more. Why couldn't we get more stuff like majoras mask, like it's not about numbers but about something special tkat only that armor doas.

Why couldn't we get armor that catches lightning when it hits you, and then you hold lightning in armor until enemy hits you and then lightning hits them.

Or armor set that makes you jump double as high.

Armor that allows you to dive under water.

Armor that allows you to freeze water under your feet allowing you to walk on the water.

The one that makes guardians not see you.

The one that makes you apply poison on energy when you hit them.

Armor that allows you to turn in wolf link from twilight princess.

Not related to armors but Why can't we have a fucking ocarina, you go around talk to people and someone tells you a song and boom naw you can stop rain whenever it appears, or call nice weather, or fast forward time to change from night to day.

Thinking about possibility of what botw could have been makes me sad. Now it's best game of all time but why just surpass competition and say that enough when there was so much potential.

Why don't we have grapeling hook, what's reason for that.

Too bad there was no hook shot in this game.

personally, i like BOTW but im closer and gew up on OOT WW MM and TP. i think BOTW gives you maybe TOO MUCH freedom and while i can see how people would love that, i just find it far easier to play and enjoy when its more linear (like OOT and not SS). a zelda game is always just more painless to play in my mind when i know what im doing and or i have navi tatl and the KORL to let me know what i should be doing. while i find BOTW very fun and massively playable, its just too open ended to me to enjoy the same i would for wind waker or twilight princess or ocarina of time

Ngl, I keep going back to Breath of the Wild even while playing TotK and it's awesome to flip between them and see the difference in gameplay. I think... I like BotW more, and have more fun just exploring and doing what I want... everything except fighting Ganon. That's how I RPG. EVERYTHING BUT THE BOSS is my go-to strat

Thank you for such an amazing video ❤ I love coming back to it and appreciate all the hard work you put into this!

What a great intro. Thanks for sharing 🤙🏼

I.may be in the minority but I LOVE the durability system in both totk&botw im such a loot goblin in every game so i actually would get excited to break weapons to open up a slot😊

Ok I am tired of people saying that Breath of the Wild is a good game when its not it has everything it needs to be a good game but it has 2 fatal flaws that will forever keep it from being a good game in my eyes 1. The weapon durability system which in my opinion the worst thing to be added to a Zelda game EVER!, and 2. The story, yeah aside from the beginning and end it is completely optional which is terrible because in a game when something is optional it just means it is unnecessary also you have no real reason to do anything because the only reason you have to go the shrines on the Great Plateau is that Rhoam as the old man promises you the paraglider if you do which brings up the question why does link want the paraglider why not just stay on the great plateau after all you dont learn any backstory what so ever until youve already completed the great plateu shrines so yeah the character of link has no motivation do anything in Wimd Waker you het the telescope as a birthday present which by using it leads to you havong to go through the swprd tutorial in order to gwt the sword and save Tetra you have a reason to do it not just player curiosity

this good video much yes.
Also I love how beast Ganon is defeated with the mechanic that was introduced in the very first reveal. It's like symetry, it poets.
Or rhymes or poetry something I don't know I'm not George Lucas.

I loved the divine beasts. I found them to be intricate. It took me a while to realize what I had to do in each one (maybe I'm just dumb) but once I got it, it felt so rewarding

awesome video

bro brought me to tears what

The best place to practice your Guardian timing is the Abbey on the Great Plateau. You can save on the other side of the wall and use the decayed guardian as your test dummy, repeatedly reloading your save so you can learn without fear of blasting through all of your shields.

When I picked up this game, I didn't like it at all. The progression through finding items and unlocking new areas is all gone, as well as themed dungeons. And instead of starting the game with a sword, all I got was a broken iPhone. Then when I finally got a sword, it broke after a few swings. I've never been more dissapointed in a game in my life. But what's bothering me the most is that I wasn't able to enjoy it even though I know that it's objectively a good game. Now, I've been gaming since the ass end of forever and I grew up playing the original Zelda from 1986. Breaking away this much from an established formula didn't sit right with me and I've been looking for the motivation to give the game (and TotK as well) a new chance now that I know what kind of game it really is. This video helped a lot toward that goal. Thank you.

If botw/totk aren't zelda, then neither are the first two Zelda games, neither is majoras mask.
People are just morons. Its probably just americans, they put all the same ingredients in the same package, but if the shape is different they'll make up a new word for it.

"Its a skill issue"
It is, my wife played botw as her first action game, and she never ran out of weapons.

"at night, you'll hear a theme I'm sure you'll recognize"
Me who's never played a Zelda game: "this holds no meaning to me"

Also the sos mors code in the champions music was so off putting it made me anxious, which I'm sure was the intention. It really shows the desperation the champions must have been feeling while sending the sos

I got the warm doublet the first time after climbing to the top of the mountain, and then found out talking to my sister that she got it by figuring out the recipe, which i didnt even know about prior, so funny

I just want to say I have severe anxiety and depression and your videos really help me. I love watching and listening to your commentary! Thank you so much you have no idea how much of a blessing you are ❤

Please make a video for TOTK. These videos are awesome and I love watching them!

I know I'm in the minority for this, but BOTW and TOTK have spelt a very sharp departure from what Zelda has meant to me. What once was a series designed around a concise adventure with elements of exploration, has dove so far into being exploration for exploration's sake, that I honestly can't find find myself to care about the games now.

The main story is all in vague flashbacks just so that you can facilitate sprinting around a largely empty field, speckled by bokoblin camps. Not one main story or side quest made me feel even remotely as invested as those in past, and side characters don't even come close to holding the same hold on me as previous ones do. The series has become exploration for exploration's sake. There's nothing meaningful with that mountain you traversed; just another korok, generic shrine, or view that you delude yourself into being special, when really all you've done is change the scenery. This is the first time where I can't recommend someone play a previous Zelda game, because TOTK is so obsessed with being a better BOTW, that there's no point in play BOTW, even for the story.

The fact that Nintendo has said this is the gameplay they want going forward, I'm not happy. I want an concise story with well designed dungeons and puzzles; not another vapid open world with crafting, pause healing, and exploring just so you can get a pretty picture.

Almost all Zelda games are open world once you unlock everything. BotW felt like playing the post game save file of an excellent Zelda game.

I FINALLY beat Breath of the Wild a couple weeks ago. I got the Wii U version, waaay back (before I got a Switch), probably back in 2017-2018, and though it has taken me years, I finally finished the game. For some context: Big open-world games are not my kind of thing, probably partially because I autism and ADHD. These kinda of games are extremely overwhelming for me, sooo many places you can go and things you can do all at the same time, it's so confusing and anxiety-inducing for me. In the video you say "You set a course for one thing, find six other things, and suddenly you're involved in a million different things". For me, that is an incredibly confusing and distracting nightmare. Though it seems to be unpopular opinion, I actually prefer more linearity and structure in games. Yes, there is a lot of freedom in the game to approach it how you want, but I felt like it made it more difficult to play in MY preferred style (with more structure and direction); I had to make my own structure and that was not easy with how massive and open the game was. Although I enjoyed BOTW well enough, the only way I could handle it was by methodically exploring just tiny chunks of the map at a time, bit by bit, which took FOREVER. And although I'm not always necessarily a 100% completionist or anything like that (though some games I do want to 100%), I want to see all that a video game has to offer and not feel like there is more that I am missing out on. Obviously, that is why it took me so long. Furthermore, every once in a while it would get to be too much and I would have to take a break from the game for a while. I definitely did experience and enjoy that thrill of discovery and solving the puzzles/shrines that you describe in your video, however, while the non-linear/open world nature of the games enhanced that for you, for me it made it more difficult to enjoy it. Even once I had cleared all four divine beasts, found all the shrines, and completed all the quests that felt compelling enough for me to want to do them, when I got to Hyrule Castle even just that itself was so massive and overwhelming that I had to step away from the game for quite a while. I had no idea what I should do or how I should approach the castle, and it took me months of uncertainty to even muster up enough determination to tackle it and somehow try to figure out how I would want to go through the castle (and I also found parrying the guardian's beams to be far too ultra-precise and difficult for me). But now I've finally finished the game and gotten a full enough experience out of it to leave me satisfied, despite not doing *everything*. Honestly, I wish that Tears of the Kingdom was NOT open world, because I didn't want that again, but I am still excited for it (though part of me is also dreading it...)

😂😂😂 told my younger brother to parry the guardian shot, the man looked at me as if i was crazy, gave me a crazier look after i parried the shot

I am genuinely happy for everyone who loves BotW and TotK. The exploration of the overworld is amazing. But what I love about Zelda is unique, creative, linear dungeon design. And nothing will ever change that for me. It breaks my heart to know that I will never again experience that feeling from future Zelda games.

I was so disappointed with BotW. Every flaw was a lesson already learned by prior games in the same series. Too many healing items in the form of raw ingredients? Bottles. Powerful or fun abilities needing a limiting factor that isn't a 15 minute cooldown? Magic bar. Even the core gameplay loop was taking the worst aspects of Skyward Sword to eleven. Burn through stamina to navigate the world, just to waste your time when you run out? Check. Engage in a gimmick that is fun at first, but eventually tiring and dull to be allowed to play the game (waggle/climbing)? Check. Shields having durability with no ability to fix them in the field? Lets expand that to weapons also! Sorry Link, Evil's bane needs a nap, we wouldn't at the very least allow you to deal half damage while waiting for it to recharge. They don't even allow for unarmed combat if you run out of weapons (only a problem in early game, but still shouldn't have made it past QA). Yeah you can spend a million years spamming bombs, but that isn't fun.

Heck, I can't even say it is a good open world game because Oblivion in 2006 had solved many of the problems BotW created for itself 11 years later in 2017. You would expect improvements over time, not profound leaps backward. With Oblivion you could repair with hammers anywhere (and know the health of your items), and supplies have weight so you can't have infinite of them. Even the core identifying features such as puzzle solving were dumbed down so far that the shrines and 'dungeons' just felt outright insulting for the most part. There weren't even rewards for doing the optional side parts of shrines, as more often than not I would get an 18 damage Greatsword when the lowest in my inventory was probably a 32 damage 1-hander. The only song I can even remember in the game is Hyrule Castle's theme, but I actually got tired of it after restocking on weapons from there every Bloodmoon. The game was so poorly designed, it made me dislike a Zelda song, like how can that even happen?

I feel as though I can still recommend Link to the Past/Ocarina of Time/Wind Waker/Twilight Princess to anyone wanting to try out Zelda before sending them off to better and/or braver spinoffs like Majora's Mask and the Oracle games, but I would never in my life recommend BotW except to waste someone's time. BotW tries to win with quantity, when every other game was pure quality. It even fails in quantity in some respects, as Majora's Mask has more minibosses than all boss types combined in BotW. Zelda 2 is more of a Zelda game than BotW, and it had XP and leveling (no shade on Zelda 2, I love it more than the OG Zelda).

I finished the rest of your Zelda retrospectives about a month ago and i was just waiting for the perfect moment to watch this one. I'm very busy and I really wanted to watch this all in one go and at a good time where I could stay focused. I chose today because I had to pack for a vacation and figured this would be the best day or I wouldn't get another chance for two weeks.

Anyways, I really appreciate this retrospective. It's long and completely worth it. After watching the rest of your Zelda retrospectives, I've come to expect a bit of a formula from you (funny considering a part of that is your discussion of the Zelda formula). This video covered everything I expected and more. I love the way you discuss every element of a Zelda game, relate it to other things (previous Zelda games, other games, personal experiences), discuss the communities opinions, and your own opinions. It makes for a well rounded video essay.

I have never played a Zelda game and, in all honesty, your video essays are probably the most prominent way I've consumed the series. They have no doubt influenced the way I think about Zelda. I've also taken note of your respect towards other people's perspectives on the games, even when you may disagree. I also recall you mentioning that you hope people who watch your retrospectives form their own opinions on Zelda. Your videos have made me hope to play the Zelda games one day so that I can form my own thoughts on the game.

Thank you for such amazing videos and I'm excitedly and patiently awaiting your Tears of the Kingdom retrospective!

At first I didn’t like weapon breakdown, especially since the last Zelda I had played was OoT back in 1998. But after awhile I started to love the weapon breakdown mechanism. It doesn’t even bother me anymore. BOTW is my second of all time favorite Zelda games. Of course I will always live Link to the Past and OoT equally the best.

thank you for sharing <3

Weapon durability is a garbage mechanic. There are better ways to do it. I completely bypassed durability with glitches and still enjoyed the game immensely.