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curl-6 on 12 October 2018
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Wyrdness said:
irstupid said:

Anytime someone tries to downplay Zelda as something now new, or revolutionary, I always like the comparison video between BotW and Horizon. (this happens due to them being both released at same time, but can be replaced with 90% of other open world games)

The video showcases many of the same things happening in both worlds and how it's much more immersive in the Zelda world.

1. Link and Aloy swimming in a lake. In Zelda, the water ripples realistically, and fish move away, ect. It Horizon, the water does nothing and you clip through fish.

2. Walking through grass. Same thing basically. Most of the grass in horizon is static and doesn't realistically move away.

3. Shooting arrows. There is arc and physics involved in Zelda arrows, in Horizon it shoots like a bullet and will go in a perfect line forever.

4. Throw stuff in BotW, physics makes it roll down to where it should. Throw a rock in horizon and it sticks ot say a cliff wall like it has glue on it.

4. Link can climb anything, Aloy can be stumped by a 1 foot rock ledge at times.

Ect.

All may be small minor things, but each little thing can slowly take a person out of the world being 'real' I mean especially the last one I listed. How many times playing an open world game do you find yourself swearing when you can't cross some minor ledge that is total bullshit. Or where you try and get to an area by cheating the games mechanics by jumping backwards or at angles, ect ot try and get over that little hill that you should be able to.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVPXKdSEGNQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEGWtyJAkO0

Then you have the biggest, yet smallest change imo. The shiekah towers vs other open world games towers. Same logic, climb big tower, get view, know world map. The smallest difference, yet biggest difference is in most open world games when you do said thing it then immediately clutters your map with points of interests and tasks to do. Even the most recent spiderman does this. Grab a police tower thing and bam, your map just gave you a list of a dozen missions you can do, backpacks, poi, ect.

Zelda on the other hand, just fills in map with a classic map look. Elevation, rivers, ect. That's it. It's still 100% up to you to go and explore what you see on the screen versus chasing an icon on a map. The map only adds icon to the map if you add them yourself, or after you discover something like a shrine. It brings you more into the game, cause you are exploring yourself versus chasing then next icon.

That's one layer of BOTW another layer is shown in the video Curl posted in the Nindomination thread (embedded below) where even a year and a half after the game's release people are still creating new tricks to use in the game and they are practical as well, most open world games you don't really see this. The game doesn't tell about these tricks they're just there in the game as a result of the open free mechanics so the result is a bit like Melee where all these mechanics can be played off each other to create tricks for open play, it's not just an open world sandbox it's oddly enough a sandbox for game mechanics as well.

Was just coming here to post this, thanks for saving me the hassle.

The fact that people are still figuring out new interactions and possibilities in the game's physics engine this long after release says a lot about the game's depth and sophistication. Heck, there are even multiple different flying machines people have built, from rafts carried by Octo Balloons to the old Mine Cart + Metal Crate + Magnesis trick. People have even made speed boats by wedging a sword against the mast with Magnesis and using it to push the boat forwards.

I think dismissing this complexity as just "fucking around" or "pointless" misses a big part of the whole point of BOTW; to blaze your own path through the world, to explore and discover. It's a game that truly lives by the old adage "it's about the journey, not the destination". It's not supposed to be a sprint to the end goal of toppling Ganon, learning how the game's living, breathing world works through experimentation is just as core to the gameplay as beating shrines and guardian beasts.