Mmmkay if I was going to make a list for 2010 to vote on how does this look?
Anything egregious that's missing?
Alan Wake |
Amnesia: The Dark Descent |
Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood |
Battlefield: Bad Company 2 |
Call of Duty: Black Ops |
Fallout: New Vegas |
God Of War III |
Heavy Rain |
Mass Effect 2 |
Red Dead Redemption |
Sid Meier's Civilization V |
Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty |
Super Mario Galaxy 2 |
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I'd guess it's pretty well gonna come down to FNV vs RDR vs ME2 voting wise.
Oof. That would be tough to pick between Galaxy 2, New Vegas, Mass Effect, and Red Dead.
All I can say is Brotherhood really doesn't deserve to be there. It was pretty much garbage. But maybe I'm biased cause I think the series as whole wasn't that great.
It can’t be dismissed that it isn’t yet HF that fawns all over BoTW.
It isn’t some accident that it won so many GotY from different publications and fans votes.
Definitely not. I mean, don't get me wrong. It's not a perfect game. But then again I don't think any Zelda game is without its issues. The treasured Ocarina of Time included.
But. With a minimalist plot scope it achieves some truly grand aims. As far as story goes I'm only about halfway through and I've found all but one map tower meaning I've at least been to almost all of Hyrule but that has consisted of me climbing up high, seeing a shrine or map tower and going straight to it. There is so much to see and do. Yeah the combat can be a little simplistic at times (I was actually stunned at how easily I took down the second divine beast), but Zelda has never been Dark Souls. It's about getting to the bosses, figuring out their weakness and then exploiting it. And I don't think Breath of the Wild is SUPPOSED to be about the story. While I think the emphasis on spoken word cutscenes is refreshing and has doled out some memorable moments, the experience is in exploration and experimentation. I have yet to be truly bored by this game. Even game ending deaths can be entertaining as hell. The first time I saw and fought a Hinox I walked right up to it while it was sleeping and was looking at it trying to figure out how to wake it up. As I was thinking of what to do, it woke up on its own with a big swing of its arms to haul itself up. I didn't move and when the arms came down it auto killed me wiping off all 8 of my hearts. Words don't do it justice but I was dying laughing. I've enjoyed Zelda games in the past but not quite like this.
The weapon durability and difficulty to get and keep a healthy supply of arrows annoyed me at first but I realize it's meant to simulate open world survival. If you run out of food and potions you need to gather more supplies. If you carelessly use your weapons you need to find a way to get more. It makes the player play with caution. And BotW accounts for this by not stuffing every corner of the map and dungeons with enemies. I've seen complaints that there's too much empty space but I think that's a pro in the game's favor. When you finally get to something notable, it makes the encounter far more meaningful. You spend the journey wandering from point to point wondering if the next thing you see will yield good rewards or not and the music is so ethereal and serene it feels like you're really moving around in real nature. I love open world games and there have been some fantastic open worlds to explore in gaming but I think BotW's Hyrule feels the most alive.
I have zero issue with anyone giving Zelda GotY. I'm not even done with it yet and I'm inclined to say it's one of my favorite games of all time. And that's not some tainted bias in trying to justify my Switch purchase. I bought the Switch because I wasn't touching my 3ds anymore and I figured that's where Nintendo's focus was going and I felt better get it now before games I'm waiting for like Fire Emblem and Smash Bros come out than to keep waiting. The game is fantastic and titles like this and Mario Odyssey show that Nintendo is taking their game quality in the right direction. With the Wii U and Wii it felt like they were trying to keep their heads above water to compete with Sony and Microsoft. But on this platform alone it feels like Nintendo has produced true standouts.
I don't know. I can understand that people might not be totally grabbed by the game in its opening few hours but I'm not sure how anyone going into the game with an open mind can't have moments of being wowed and awed by the scope and freedom the game possesses if they get past that introductory stage.