I seriously need to grab this soon. Maybe wait for Black Friday but knowing Nintendo it probably wont go on sale regardless :/

It's kind of funny how we are so amazed by things that are just normal common things in BotW. For years, we kept looking at games and going "omg, it looks just like real life" but with BotW we are going "omg it acts just like real life"

People praise the no tutorial mode in BotW and how it makes you learn things and figure out things on your own. I say there is no need cuase the world just works. If you think like the world is real and ask a question "I wonder if I can do this" the answer is usually always yes as long as it is bound in the laws of physics that we all know. You know an object in motion tends ot stay in motion unless acted upon by another force, ect. Those classic laws and gravity we all just instinctually know.

And Morrowind, Gothic, Might & Magic, to name a few, don't give you any map...or you have to buy a map in some of them, and still orient yourself via landscape. And actually explore...and run into some hidden entrances to caves and dungeons. NPCs will give you directions where to go, but some of them might even lie. But eventually, if you explore and pay attention, you will be running into some unique things...that will not break after few hits...and not just another spirit orb.

Problem is, those old games were made for niche open-world CRPG audience - and they never reached mass market status (not even Morrowind got there) for lot of people to actually know and appreciate them - after all, CRPGs were always niche genre. Sure, it's easy to compare BotW with usual open-world mass market crap that's been around in last decade or so, and view it as something that stands out - because it does in many aspects. Yet compared to those old games it's still has a footprint of mass market open-world game that has depth of a puddle when it comes to actual world and what's inside of it - unless focus is on cool, but in long term mostly pointless mechanisms. Put some of those actually usefull mechanisms in properly built open-world with proper Zelda (or otherwise) dungeons and I will definitely regard it as something outstanding.

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.

Yet, for me, after 10-15 hours of fucking around with those mechanisms I felt they are mostly pointless - yes, few of them are nice, but some of them are there just to be "cewl".

You can chop and bomb trees, but you can't chop and bomb puny bokoblin tower?
Lighting will go for you, although you're just beside massive tower?
You can burn grass and animals, yet you can't burn trees?

They are extremely limited and nowhere near what they should've been if they wanted proper physics in the game.

And when you get tired of them, as I did fairly quickly, what is left is game with very empty world, with ridiculously easy breakable weapons (if that's the best thing they came up with to make you "experiment"  with different weapons then that's just sad), a game that lacks proper dungeons, either in classic 3D Zelda style, or in classic CRPG style, where most of the times only thing you will actually run into are either another respawnable enemy camp with some, mostly, useless reward, some Korok seed puzzle you've already seen XX times before (what a silly mechanism for upgrading inventory on top of that) or shrine that will give another...wait for it...another spirit orb.

No story to speak of, mostly no memorable characters, mostly poor sidequests, aside Gerudo Town, locations with almost nothing to do...this is what I see when you remove cheap thrills called "physics" mechanisms from BotW.

Sorry but just because you refuse to see good points doesn't mean they're not there for a start BOTW actually does have a good story and one that is well executed, you have the beasts as obvious points of interests and then when you seek out and come to key locations it triggers back story that fills in even more story the result is a non linear execution of the main story. Considering the games you're trying to bring up you can't be moaning about poor side quests or empty worlds for that matter because those games have far worse while in BOTW the's always an interaction you can do regardless of where you are and trying to remove a key aspect from a game is a poor argument because it would be like saying remove the combat from Devil May Cry etc... when it's a key aspect of how the game is built.

Guess what Shirnes and Koroks are optional nd it's a better mechanism for upgrading than jumping in one spot for hours to raise your stats, what's ironic is that you complain about durability yet earlier were gushing about Morrowind where the problem is far worse as in Zelda you can use every weapon and item you come across with out needing to boost a stat so you can land a hit. BOTW is a resource management design where they player manages what they have and sees what they can do 

Fact is you have no real rebuttal here to what anyone has put forward as well as backed up and continuously try to dismiss what is shown and backed with out any real argument, if the game is not for you then fair enough but everything shown in BOTW is practical and can be used, no other open world game has the same level of open freedom in mechanics and how to approach the game as well as play, no open world game has the same level of interaction with the world and no other game as Curl put it allows the player to tailor the game to such a large number of approaches, I say this as someone who has not only played the games you've mentioned but a large number of other open world games as well.

All the things I think of BotW are my opinions - just like things you say are your opinions. Sorry to break it to you, but there is no objective truth making any of them gospel. That said:

- Morrowind is RPG, it's supposed to have stats and combat based on them - blame Bethesda for not putting caps on stats, so yes, you can level them to quite silly numbers, if you like wasting your time. Still, it is to this day the best (arguably it's between it and Daggerfall) single character free-roam open-world RPG (note very specific subgenre). It's 8/10 for me. Just like Gothic 2 is best single character open-world action-RPG (though I prefer Gothic 1). It's 8.5/10 for me.

- lot of BotW mechanisms are poorly implemented - they are extremely limited in how they react in its world and some are in domain of "troll physics" given how they are completely opposite of how things behave in RL.

- I don't give a toss about that "key aspect" - nor do I see it as key aspect. Zelda is supposed to be about exploration and dungeons - BotW fails for me quite a bit in both those aspects. Exploration is passable (definitely better than anything Aonuma made), but it's a big world that, unfortunately, lacks enough good content (it's hilarious to even compare it to free roams like TES or M&M) - it actually shows how very little experience they have in designing big open-world games. But lack of proper dungeons (again, either 3D Zelda alike or classic CRPG alike) is its massive flaw.

Put proper physics in place (one that is actually working as it should and that is not confined to certain objects) in world that has proper variety of enemies, proper dungeons, interesting towns and interesting sidequests and we can talk about outstanding game. Until then - it was and still is 7/10 for me - which is still "Good". But that's about it.

Except the things people have shown you are objective such as utilization of the game mechanics that's not based on opinions that is full on objective you not using them doesn't make it otherwise it's like arguing that because you don't use combos and set ups in fighting games they're a non issue even though that is an opinion it doesn't change the objective nature of the system that's something I have to break to you.

Guess what Bethesda dropped that whole system for a reason and that's because it's tedious, flawed and silly, the is a hilarious video showing the combat of Morrowind where a player is standing for 15 minutes or so swinging at an enemy NPC right in front of him who is doing the same with 1 hit landing every minute or so. It's a system that can not only be abused but also can also hamper the game heavily.

You keep harping on about poorly implemented but you can't even give an example that backs this mean while a number of people have done the opposite.

You may not care about key aspects but guess what that doesn't help your argument as you may as well be arguing what is street fighter with out fighting mechanics, what is Gran Turismo with out driving etc... BOTW has exploration and proper dungeons them not being to your taste doesn't make it otherwise, the funny thing is I've even played those games you mention they're worse in those aspects Morrowind for example you can roam for ages with nothing of note even happening or being found

Honesty, I can't choose right now. All of the 3D Zelda games are great. I do have a favorite 2D Zelda game, though. It's A Link Between Worlds.

The only Zelda games I've finished all the way through were Ocarina of Time and A Link Between Worlds. I got very far and almost finished BOTW, Wind Waker HD (first Zelda), and Majora's Mask. I would say Majora's and Wind Waker were the best.