| RolStoppable said: I read that ranting article because I had no idea what the actual problem is. Looks like towers in Zelda are good because they don't treat the player like a baby whereas other games withhold the map from the player, but in order to get the map, you will also get lots of other information that suffocates the ability to explore on your own. With all the information given to you, the game turns into a checklist that you go through one by one, negatively impacting the sense of adventure. |
Thats not entirely true though....
Lets look at horizon and zelda as that is the most obvious comparison and not just because of the proximity of their release but also how the towers are implemented.
Horizon DOES NOT hand hold you and keep aspects of the map behind a "tower lock" you could completely ignore those towers and find everything in the map yourself. The towers have a practical explanation, the tallnecks in horizon are area communication hubs. We are talking about machines here, and when you climb on and Hack it... you get access to all its information. You get information on the herds of some machines nearby, locations of a cauldrum nearby, and of human settlements nearby. It makes sense. But you could just as easily ignore that tower and seek out all those things yourself. Its an option and considering what it gives its a welcome and practical one. And of course, it reveals a portion of the map too.
Now with BotW, it doesn't give you anything but opens up the map. Some reviewers even suggest that you should go for the towers first as it opens your map up and gives you a fast travel point. Some reviewers even suggest that you should turn off the HUD in the game (also something you can do in horizon, but here its treated like a "feature" as opposed to it just being another option.
Now both games implement these things slightly differently but they both serve the same purpose, to reveal the map to you. Some may say.... that with horizon its bad because the tall necks will give you map markers. but they forget that thats the only way the lore in Horizon makes sense... no one else in the game know what hacking machines are or where cauldrums are supposed to be so its not like they can make you meet an NPC that will tell you about where a shrine is or where an enemy resides.
eithr way, its really a simple thing. Both games have towers in them. But in one its ok (even if that one has 10 more towers than the other) and in the other its somehow a bad thing. I am sorry but that makes no sense to me.
And lets even lok at fast travel, in zelda you get to a towe and/or a shrine and you have unlocked a fast travel point, in Horizon, fast travel only applies to camp fires that you find or towns, and to even do it consumes an item that you have to craft.
