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Veknoid_Outcast on 30 September 2018
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HoloDust said:
Veknoid_Outcast said:

Whether or not you enjoy the game is immaterial. You asked me why I though BotW set a new standard and I responded, "I'd say BotW set a benchmark for open-world games in terms of physical/mechanical/chemical freedom, locomotion options, and emergent gameplay." I then elaborated upon it and provided several examples.

You've done nothing to disprove that. 

I've played Far Cry 2 and love it--I imagine I'm one of the few who does. I also adore Morrowind and while I'm not fond of Just Cause (mission design is a weak spot) I appreciate the amount of mayhem you can cause courtesy of the grappling hook. But I'm sorry: none come close to the level of complexity of Breath of the Wild.

It just seems like your distaste for the BotW (and the critics and consumers who love it) is blinding you to the extraordinary qualities of the game. Again, you don't need to enjoy them, you don't need to want them replicated elsewhere, but you can at least recognize their significance.

Well, I'm not so sure how much your examples prove your statement compared to other games that have those mechanisms, and I already gave you one example to disprove it - actually, that was my very first disappointment with BotW - after being able to destroy full size tree, I sneak up to bokoblin tower and swing the axe - nothing happens. I try to set it on fire - nothing happens. I try to blow it up - nothing happens. That alone told me quite a bit about underlying mechanisms, at least when it comes to physics. Try that in JC3 - they fall - hard. On overall, I find JC having much more going on for itself as sandbox than BotW, especially when it comes to destruction and traversal, among other things. Maybe that's the thing though - after playing JC3, BotW felt too samey in lot of ways with some of its mechanisms.

Admittedly, that is not bad per se - yes, there are indeed mechanisms that work in BotW - and that are somewhat fun to use - occasionally. Yet, what's left of the game when you don't amuse yourself with them is fairly empty world, mostly devoid of meaningful exploration, with often very questionable designs, that are sometimes borderline lazy. I don't care much about JC to actually care much what's beyond sandbox, it's all silly fun for me there. I do care however about Zelda and what's beyond its sandbox.

I'm honestly quite surprised that you love Morrowind so much and think that BotW is better open-world game - though, they are very different games, and realistically they cannot be compared - but, apart from those "fun" mechanisms, BotW pales compared to it in almost every other aspect. But I'm guessing, those mechanisms mean that much to you - which is fine. For me, in this shape at least (that is, partially incorporated), they are quite low on the list of important things for open-world games. And even lower on list of important things for a Zelda game.

Thanks for a healthy debate, and sorry again for getting snippy earlier.