I've played most of the big open world games in the last decade, there's no need to teach me how they work and I know full well that 8-10 hours is not a lot in games like these. My point was merely that the portion I did play was outside of the Plateau and I had access to the world (and some pretty decent gear as well). But even one hour with any title will show things you enjoy and things you don't enjoy that much. Overall, I love the direction they've taken with it, both in mechanics and visuals, but I've never played a perfect game, not even close, and this is yet another notch on the wall as far as that's concerned.

Some of the things that I didn't enjoy; the painstaking climbing of vantage towers to unlock the map, using stamina and not being able to climb all day is cool, climbing slower than any other character in any game ever is not so cool. Weapon breakage; again, I like the concept a lot, it adds depth and challenge, but most weapons break really, really quickly, absurdly so, I met one enemy (a fire-spitting lizard type mob) who cost me three weapons alone and that's just a bit ridiculous imo. The world is huge and completely open but I found it quite empty-looking, there are huge, open spaces with nothing in them, they seem to have limited the assets and favored more square miles over dungeons and/or points of interest, and even vegetation, like many, many open world games before them (Horizon has much the same problem). While the visuals are fantastic, the pop-in is really severe, especially when you're flying around with the leaf, as I flew into a village, not even half the assets and NPC's were loaded until I was 15-20 yards away, this takes a lot of immersion and charm out of an open world for me and is a sign that the ambition may have reached farther than the hardware would comfortably allow (mind you, I've not seen it in handheld mode). Camera; like most open world 3rd person games, fighting groups of enemies is hard, mostly due to the camera, Zelda is no exception, rocks, trees and other enemies get in the way and I'd like to be able to zoom out a little bit for bigger fights (but, again, this is a widespread problem in open world games).

Things I did enjoy; breakage and overall survival elements are awesome, you need protective clothing against both cold and heat and you can harvest and use so many things out in the world for crafting. The small details everywhere, like when you shoot an animal with flaming arrows, the meat is cooked, when your enemy whacks around his burning spear and scorches the grass in circles around him, even hindering his buddies by setting the vegetation ablaze. The controls are really good, my main gripe was aiming the bow close up, the enemies seemed fast compared to Link's turning circle, but this is likely down to settings. The visuals are gorgeous, I love the style and Hyrule looks as inviting as ever while still holding these few places that scare you away as well. The insane openness, this is the main area where other developers should take notes, invisible barriers and other nonsense (*cough* "return to the map or have your game loaded" *cough*) like ships shooting missiles on you or a huge shark biting your ass off to keep you in the right corrider, this defeats the purpose of having an open world to begin with. I'd go so far as to say that Breath of the Wild is the most open game I ever played in my life, and that's something you have to love! The music; it's sublime, of course, and I felt a shiver run down my spine when I got the spirit stone in the shrine (I did the puzzle with the rolling rock in the labyrinth) when the familiar "reward music" tune played, the score is modern and different, yet familiar, like Hyrule itself, it's amazing!

Look, I need more time to pass any sort of judgement, and while the drawbacks section here is as large as the posivite, that doesn't reflect my actual feelings on the title, I just feel like being thorough seeing as how a lot of gamers seem to think that it either has no negatives, or that if you point one out, you simply haven't played the game. This is probably why I find negatives in open world games; there are usually quite a few, even in the biggest productions, and it has become a hallmark of the genre, Zelda is not different in that regard. It does some things exceptionally well, it does some things exactly like everyone else (cooking and eating food is old, old, old, old news and climbing towers to unlock the map is also ridiculously overused) and it does some few things a little bit worse than other games (insane breakage that ruins the flow for me in its current state, massive pop-in).

It's challenging and fun and looks and plays great and it's obviously a fantasic game, but I answered the OP to the best of my ability after only a short session at work (one of the kids got a Switch from his parents on friday). More precisely towards Wyrdness; the implication that I don't understand how open world games work is just flat out wrong, and the reason why I can point out some flaws is that I do understand how they work and have a ton of material and experiences to compare it with. And while it's obvious that this is a fantastic game, it was equally obvious to me that I could not have agreed with a 98/100 score based on my time, and even if I discover a lot more positives along the way, there is likely to be negatives as well, and this was the OP's question "Is Breath of the Wild really that good?". My answer is "probably not for most, at least for me, but it is really amazing".

PS: I've never in my life played a game that I would score 98/100 and only a handful that I would give 90/100 or more.

PPS: OP, no one title is worth buying a console for, in my opinion. I've never done that and never will.

Firstly get off your defensive high horse as who said you don't know how open world games work, go on highlight a quote.

Secondly that's all well and good but I'll say it again 8-10 hours is nothing in this game even by open world standards you can spend literally 3 hours doing nothing just because you're playing around with mechanics or just exploring something out of curiosity. I guarantee you what you saw in your one hour is not even 1% of what's coming your way in the game.

So, no comments on the actual post, but you keep on insisting that I don't understand the genre? You implied that I didn't understand how open world games work by stating that "8-10 hours in a game like this isn't a lot" and your entire second paragraph is devoted to the exact same thing, so how on earth are you not telling me I don't know how open world games work?

You're literally writing to me as one would a person who has no clue about open world games, and it's right here in this very quote and impossible to miss.

I have not said that it's a bad game, or even anything close to that, your reaction would seem to suggest that I have, and I admitted readily to having only played a short time. In that short time, I noticed a lot of things I liked and some things I didn't and I wrote them out in detail, I also added that I've never in my life played a 98/100 game (closest for me is probably Half-Life 2 or Baldur's Gate 2).

1: I answered the OP to the best of my ability, and issues like somewhat empty world, camera issues, pop-in issues, the overeager breakage and incredibly annoying climbing doesn't exactly get better with time, so I noted things that would detract from the experience in my view.

2: I stated clearly that I had not played for a long time and thus was unable to offer a proper, in-depth opinion on the game as a whole.

3: I also stated that some of these issues are a hallmark of the genre and I even suggested that this game does certain things better than other open world games, so I'm not talking shit to make you or anyone else mad.

In short; I'm not the one who needs to get off the horse, calm down. I'm not saying anything other than it being unlikely that I would agree with a 98/100 score, which is more or less perfect and that a 98/100 doesn't exist in my world. When there were several issues even during my 1 hour session and most things were pertaining to the mechanics themselves, which remain unchanged besides change of gear and skill levels, I consider these to be legitimate concerns and I should be allowed as much, despite the game being universally loved (by myself as well). Are people in here still this poor at accepting criticism of things they enjoy?

No comment on the post because no offence you're acting like a spoilt child throwing a tantrum, I'm not writing to you in anyway other than to point out that what you've seen is not that much at all even in comparison to the standards of open world games in general but you're throwing a wobbler like someone with an entitled right to not be questioned, get over yourself if you want to take it there then I'll be happy to respond in the manner you're looking for and send you packing like many previous children on net who threw their toys out the pram.

You've not highlighted one part not one quote that suggested you were told that you don't unbderstand the genre yet you keep pushing the notion as well as taking the stance like you've been attacked, if that's what you're looking for just say it now and I'll give you what you're looking for because as things go nothing said to you even matches the context you're trying to argue.

Moderated ~ CGI

Oh my god, are for real?

I think maybe we should not quote each other any more, this is really counterproductive. Have a nice day.

Same to you.

I think you are correct. But maybe I should have mentioned, in my opinion of next gen gaming. Which is for me, very good graphics, physics, very stable and high frame rates, much bigger worlds then what is done in current gens etc etc. In that term I don't think this is the case for the new Zelda game, maybe only on the world size it could be on par. But as I tried to make clear, is that important for this type of game? No it isn't, even in the period when the first Zelda game came it was not the best graphical game but I enjoyed the game much more then alsmost all others. (except for Rygar NES edition, which I enjoyed even more )

Imo it is even better!

this game is amazing - one of the best I have ever played if not the best!

Still along way to go - but even the story line feels fuller, richer and with lots of thoughts in it.

BoTW has great physics and one of the biggest map ever made. It's probably in the top 5. It's HUGE. Really really really HUGE. I played Xenoblade X, and to me it "feels" bigger, and "fuller". 

As for gameplay, I can tell you that it is not just "zelda on a big map", this game is the biggest change in the series since Ocarina. There is tons of new stuffs in there, most of the time I' m like ; "Really? Nintendo made this game?". Because I didn't think that Nintendo was interested in making a game of this caliber. It's a massive, complex, well crafted game. Nothing like the other games they released on WiiU. 

If this game is a sign of what Nintendo is doing with their Switch softwares, if they are putting that kind of ambition and forward thinking into other games on the system, I'm going to have to rethink my position on the Switch.

As for graphics, as I said, the game is not on a PS4 or One, so of course it's inferior.

Wow thats insane!! the things people will do to make the most of low stock/ripping people off!! I was really interested in getting it too as the last Nintendo console I had was the GameCube, loved that console!!!