Breath of the Wild is the Game Awards GOTY!

Fine with me. Would've liked Odyssey to get one of the major awards (maybe even GotY) but it did get a minor award so it's not a huge deal.

 

I'm super glad but also not surprised in the slightest!
Plus they announced the champions DLC is dropping tonight so yay! <3

 

Utter rubbish, but this is what I've come to expect from mainstream game "awards" really. I was extremely disappointed in Breath of the Wild and, on a personal level I cannot agree with this at all, but it's not like this is an objective thing or anything, so...good for Nintendo, I guess?

 

How come? I haven't seen a single thing worth criticizing about BotW, aside from collecting the Korok 'seeds'.

 

I've heard some good things about BotW, so good on the game for this award!

I guess that's more reason to heed my friends' advice and actually get the game myself... if it's GotY worthy, it must be good!

 

Well...if you've not seen a single word of criticism - which I can believe, it's like the entire industry is blind when it comes to this game - I guess I'll explain myself. Please note, though, that I do NOT hate the game, despite how I might sound. I just didn't enjoy it, and found it extremely disappointing. Seeing it as the predictable GOTY winner is just something I don't agree with.

First and foremost: it's empty. Yes, the world is highly interactive, and I won't dispute that as a good thing, but there is absolutely zero point in interacting with it, which is a bad thing. There is so little to do in BOTW that has an actual meaning or effect on the world that its staggering. There is no real meaning to exploration, because the game gives you everything you need to survive from the start, clearly marks areas of interest where you'll find things you'd usually find on the overworld map - shrines - so exploring will net you absolutely nothing other than a lot of wasted time traversing empty fields dotted with enemies every now and then.

After playing A Link Between Worlds, I feel that was a much better approach to shaking up the stale dungeon-item formula by letting you rent/swap items, rather than just giving you everything from the start like BOTW did. What's the point in exploring when everything is in clearly marked shrines, and there is so little to see? Sure, you can do lots of clever and creative things...but why bother? The game doesn't reward you at all for doing these things, outside of letting you do them...for some that is enough, and that's fine, but I prefer the game rewarding me for finding clever ways to do things. Mario Odyssey did that very effectively by hiding Moons practically everywhere, for example. Breath of the Wild did not. The Korok Seeds are not comparable in my opinion because there is so little variety to how you obtain them, and there's no real reward for doing so. In short, the game lacks any real point outside of the main quest, which is short and unsatisfying even for a Zelda title.

Weapon durability is also not fun. It detracts from the experience and actively discourages fighting. At least, that was my experience - saving my better weapons for enemies I actually had to fight that were worth it, rather than wasting them when I knew they'd break after two or three hits...and that isn't an exaggeration, either. It does not, as some people claim, encourage players to try different weapons. It isn't flexible at all, and it isn't realistic either, so that excuse doesn't fly with me. It's just an inventory management nightmare that encourages you to avoid combat as much as possible.

...speaking of enemies, giving them a ton of HP and having them cleave your health to pieces in 2-3 hits does not equate to real challenge, either. Although Nintendo are by no means the only guilty party here thinking that they can make up for poor AI by giving them massive advantages over player characters. But combining this with the weapon durability system...well, there is zero fun to be had in combat, in my opinion.

The lack of soundtrack is also highly off-putting. There is no atmosphere, or sense of magic, that is present with other Zelda titles...even the ones I dislike I can't fault for music. But this game...well...one or two noteworthy boss themes, a good soundtrack does not make. I place just as much importance on soundtrack as I do on gameplay or story - depending on the title and what the focus is - so a bad (or nonexistent) soundtrack will ruin games for me often, I'll admit. Soundtrack is a highly effective tool for creating atmosphere (or lack thereof in survival horror titles, but obviously that doesn't apply here) and they seem to have forgotten that with this game. Seeing it in the audio category for awards was just...beyond belief, really.

It's a good sandbox game, I can't deny that. Not many games will let you climb anywhere and let you interact with just about anything. A lot of thought and care was clearly put into the scenery...but nothing else. It's not a good Zelda game. Just my opinion, but even without my lack of enjoyment I still don't think it worthy GOTY material amongst others that have graced consoles this year. It's very clear blind bias at work and about what I've come to expect from the media.

 

I can understand that, but I feel like such criticism fits something like Mass Effect more than Breath of the Wild. The world of Hyrule is large, but one hundred years have passed since Ganon defeated the armies of Hyrule and destroyed the land. Most of the people - those who aren't dead, anyway, and after a war like that you can guarantee that a lot of people died - are in hiding in remote locations. Monsters and animals of varying kinds have proliferated, but not enough time has passed to completely swarm the land with their hordes.

I can understand why marking the spots of the shrines would put a person off to exploring, but it makes sense from a lore perspective because the Sheikah Slate would naturally need to be able to track said locations. I do agree about the Korok Seeds, but I always felt like they were meant to spur you on in your quest to explore the lands and get the true depths of just how devastating Calamity Ganon's assault has been on the lands, and even help you find the memories (IIRC they're needed for the 'best ending'). Don't forget that Link has been asleep for a hundred years, so for him it's as if no time has passed, so to continue from place to place only to see the barrenness of the land is to absolutely drive home just how important Link's journey is this time.

Again, this makes perfect sense in-game. There aren't exactly a proliferation of blacksmiths in the lands of Hyrule, due - again - to the actions of Calamity Ganon. It may not make for enjoyable gameplay from a traditionalist standpoint, but it makes for a more hectic battle because you have to be ready to quickly switch out to a new weapon - or pick up the weapon of the enemy you just killed/disarmed.

Okay, I will give you this one, but it also makes sense from a lore perspective. Even a week-long coma is going to leave the average person weak and nigh-helpless; a 100-year-old coma... well, let's just say that Link is lucky it was magically-induced so that he didn't simply atrophy to death. It gets a lot easier as Link travels, getting stronger through his travels (signified by his obtaining of Heart Containers), but due to Ganon's magic the monsters are going to be stronger than normal. Personally, I think it makes more sense than large enemies going down to a butter knife like the Kokiri Sword in just a couple of pokes or swipes.

Audio means a lot more than the soundtrack. Ambient sounds, combat noises, things like this all combine to create a complete audio experience. While this wouldn't fit something like Ocarina of Time or Majora's Mask, it makes perfect sense in Breath of the Wild because it is supposed to drive home just how desolate this place is. While I love a good soundtrack as much as anyone else, sometimes it can be too much if it doesn't fit the atmosphere. Link isn't a hero yet - in fact he could be seen as more of a failure than anything else because of how he starts out - so the typical heroic-sounding tune you'd be used to hearing as a field theme would be wholly inappropriate. As a matter of fact, I think it was sheer genius to do it this way.

Okay, I can definitely see where you're coming from, and I respect it. I hope you're able to understand my reasoning on the points you listed.

 

... Well I’ll just say that I am not surprised, seeing how so many people seemed to enjoy it. It was the game you heard so much about (until Super Mario Odyssey). My friend had a great time playing it, as well as many others, so I’m really not surprised at all.

 

Wow,That Is Awesome.
I Saw Some Of The Gameplay And I Fall In Love With The Game-The Design And The Environment Got My Attention!

 

I haven't played a lot of it, but it seems really good, so it gets my vote!

 

With as many hours as I sank into it, it was no real surprise to me that it would be at least nominated for GOTY, that it actually won was a surprise to me.

BotW literally blew new life in a series that was so heavily formulated that you could predict what was going to happen and became more and more handholding as the time went by. The way they give you the space to explore and just find everything so desolated and just ruined was amazing, and I couldn't help but wonder how busy the marketplace in the town by Hyrule Castle would have been, how beautiful the fields must have been without all the Bokoblin hideouts, littered with the remains of the Guardians. The lore behind the game was amazingly done, we see an actual growth of characters thanks to the memories that we have to find and get when entering the Beasts.

I love how we are forced to rely on more than just our sword and can find so many weapons to see what fits our style the most. For example, I like spears and one-handed swords, but hate the two-handers unless I am fighting, say a guardian. The breaking can be really annoying, but as you grow and learn to fight, it becomes a lot more fun to me. I go on Castle raids to replenish my supplies every so often and explore the castle some more, it is really great.

 

I've been debating ever since I've gotten my Switch two months ago to get BotW. The only thing that's stopping me is because the last Zelda game I've played was Wind Waker for GameCube and I thought I'd be super lost playing BotW.

... But really though, after all of the positive reception, I might just go for the purchase and see what the hype is for myself, tbh.