How Breath Of The Wild Made Me A Zelda Fan 20 Years Later

Many herald The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time as the greatest video game of all time. Whether you’re 13 or almost 30, this title has changed video game design forever. With its massive world, puzzle-filled dungeons and innovative Z-Targeting locking system, the project led to the emergence of the 3D action adventure genre. Wind Waker and Twilight Princess followed suit, further validating the success of Ocarina’s revolutionary format. However, while Ocarina of Time was a memorable experience throughout my childhood, I never considered myself a fan of the series.

Despite owning a Nintendo 64 as a child, my family did not have the money to buy games for the system. Instead, we spend evenings and weekends perusing the rental shelves at our local Blockbuster, checking out hit titles like Super Smash Bros. and Super Mario 64 for several days at the same time. Zelda: Ocarina of Time is also often included in this rotation. While rentals let me play a little bit of everything, they prevented me from experiencing the full basic console experience.

Since most first-party Nintendo titles save their data on the N64 cartridge, I lost the Ocarina of Time save file when we returned the rent to the store. I’ve watched Navi Awaken Link in Kokiri Forest dozens of times, but unfortunately, I never watched the game all the way to the end. I didn’t play the sequels because, for the longest time, my experience with the Zelda series was a disappointment; However, that all changed when I played Breath of the Wild for the first time in 2017.

I first fell in love with Breath of the Wild for its quiet moments, the occasions when Link rambled beneath Dueling Peaks or unearthed treasure on the neighboring shore. At the same time, scattered melodies interspersed softly with a crumbling Hyrule. It was a world I wanted to be in, and the longer I stayed, the more I realized how special it was. Breath of the Wild is a personal revelation of what an open world game can be, one that doesn’t involve busy chores or task lists and instead facilitates opportunities. arise to explore and experiment. The game’s main quest requires you to “Destroy Ganon”, although you have specified a method to do so.

Link has everything he needs to complete the journey ahead since he stepped out of the Great Plateau. The paraglider allows Link to soar into the sky and over great distances; Sheikah Slate wields the powers of Magnesis, Stasis, Cryonis, and Remote Bombs allowing him to overcome obstacles or enemies in classic Zelda style. The consistency of these mechanisms and their interactions with systems such as stamina, weapon degradation, temperature, and physics drive creativity.

For example, many objects are flammable, including grass, wood, food, and even certain enemies. Burning grass creates updates that players can use to aid in combat or rise to places out of reach. Or, if they don’t have a cooking pot nearby, they can light a fire on a flammable surface and cook their food on the fly. Small decisions like this instill experience, and more than that, you can execute any out-of-field strategy you’ve dreamed of – and I love the game for it.

During the first hour, Breath of the Wild places an important puzzle in front of the player, The River of the Dead, and asks them to solve it. Torrential waters lie beneath Mount Hylia, and the player must cross them to reach the temple that bestowed them with the Cryonis powers of the Sheikah Slate. Since it only takes a few seconds to die from hypothermia after being submerged, you have to find another way to cross the icy river – especially without owning the important paraglider.

Sharp players can use their new-found Magnesis ability to reassemble the scattered metal pieces of a broken bridge. Or they could take a less conventional approach by finding an ax in a tree by the river, chopping down a conifer tree, and using driftwood logs to find their way to a wooden raft in a nearby vortex. . If you spot the Korok Leaf earlier, you can use it to paddle to the opposite shore, thus solving the puzzle. Zelda: Breath of the Wild celebrates curiosity at nearly every moment, and it embraces this philosophy right through to the end of the game.

Breath of the Wild feels like a reinvention of the creative format that Ocarina of Time has popularized; a passing torch. In the same way that fans look back on 1998 as a time that shaped their gaming preferences, I consider 2017 the year where my expectations for open world games changed forever. Breath of the Wild is a game that isn’t shy about quiet moments, nor is it prudent in asking players to find their way. It’s a free experience that grants users full authority on their journey through its world.

By pairing Breath of the Wild Committed to exploration with stimulating combat, stunning art direction, and memorable soundtracks, Nintendo has delivered one of the most remarkable video game experiences of my life. Twenty years later, I now consider myself a Zelda fans, and it’s gratifying to say so.