Did Breath of the Wild live up to the hype for you?

[Mnementh]

Yes. But maybe not in the sense you think. It may have it's downside as a Zelda-game (a little light on story for instance), but the part that makes it unforgettable is the consequent rethinking of the formula.

One very important part is that every system applies for everything. No restriction. For instance there are only a few physics implemented, but they affect everything. Wind for instance affects every object in the game, not only objects that are programmed to like sails or windmills. So item drops from monsters are blown away by the wind. Similarly climbing is not only implemented for a few areas the developer has marked as climbable, but everything that is more going up than forward will be climbed. You cannot only ride horses, but every animal big enough. And so on. And all these systems are combinable.

And the devs used this to a big extent. I think everyone has for the lulz given an enemy a metal weapon in a thunderstorm to electrocute them. But there are other things too. I was so surprised in a combat as a Moblin grabbed a Bokoblin in his reach and threw it at me. Throwing is a global system, so everything can be thrown, even a Bokoblin.

The second area which makes the game so great is the real openness. The only things you HAVE to do to beat the game are the four shrines at the starting Plateau, talking to the old man and killing Ganon. Everything else is optional. This in result makes the story so light, as the devs knew you could skip everything. On the other hand it allows you to forge your very own adventure.

The third is exploration. You will find something everywhere and will be rewarded if you just look what is over that hill. I think this might be the best game I ever played in regards to exploration. This also has to do with the fact, that barely anytime a marker is set automatically on the map. A few quests do that. But many quests task you to find the stuff yourself, following the hints. And so nearly every marker on the map is set by you manually, and for that reason you know exactly why this marker is there and what it represents. You also can remove the HUD from your view. It is seldomly needed, you look at the world, not your values. Which in turn helps to identify stuff and follow the hints of a questgiver.

In my opinion these three things make BOTW outstanding. Maybe these things will be copied in later games and built on top of this some other things might be better.