Will I like Zelda BOTW if I've never previously enjoyed Zelda games?

Dodgy_Geezer

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Howdy,

I'm wondering whether or not to buy Zelda BOTW given that it's being raved over like a 1990's warehouse in Madchester.

Now the thing is, I've never really been "into" previous Zelda games. I'm not saying they're no good, it's just that whenever I've played one, I've never really seen the appeal or thought it was all that. This stretches back to A Link To The Past on the SNES, Ocarina of Time on the N64 and through to Twilight Princess on the Wii. I totally get why gamers like them but I'm not a huge fan of RPG or adventure type games. The last one, actually the only one, that I really enjoyed was Legend of the Mystical Ninja on the SNES which was a bit more arcadey.

BOTW seems to be hugely different though. None of this "find item x to progress" and very non-linear which is good but also bad in that it seems to have a lot of emphasis on just wandering around doing "stuff". I'm not a fan of open world games and prefer it when there is actually an objective with missions or quests that have defined start and end points. Honestly, I just don't have the time to sit and roam around a gaming world figuring stuff out or getting to grips with complex control systems. Gaming sessions rarely last longer than 30 mins which I can snatch every other day so all titles are competing for pick up and play titles likes Mario Kart, Kirby, Rayman, Sreet Fighter, etc. You get the idea.

So, my question is, even though previous Zelda games I've played have been "allright", is BOTW the One that'll change all that for a non-RPG, non-adventurer, I-hate-Minecraft geezer like me?

The obvious answer is "why don't you just try it" but you know what? I've tried several previous Zelda's and none of 'em have floated my boat so why should this one be any different? Plus, there are loads of other games which look more fun.

Genuinely interested to hear views and opinions, especially from those who thought they wouldn't enjoy Zelda and did, or who have never played Zelda before BOTW.
 
I've only briefly played Zelda games before BOTW but I put 100hrs into Zelda and enjoyed every minute of it. It doesn't take long to get used to the controls but there is alot of exploring to do within hyrule.
 
No one, but yourself, will know if you will like the game or not
 
A lot of the joy of playing BotW is exploring the open world. If you're not into that and want something a bit more "corridor" like then I'd say that it's not the game for you. There are "mission hubs" scattered throughout the landscape and objectives to follow but actually travelling to these places is most of the fun. If you just follow the objectives then you'd probably finish the game quite quickly but you'd miss out on a lot of the content.

If you can try it on a friend's Switch / Wii U for an hour, you'll know if it's your thing. You start in a small, enclosed area (well, "small" by comparison") which allows you to get used to the game and learn your abilities.
 
I had never played any Zelda game before. I actually didn't want BOTW when I bought my Switch as I didn't think I'd enjoy it having not played any of the games before. I only did get it as there was not much else tickling my fancy at launch.

Cut to 2 days later and I had already played the crap out of the game and couldn't get enough. I was playing it for around 5 hours a day several days a week. I absolutely fell in love with it and it is a fantastic game. I would say that you should definitely give it a go. There are plenty of missions and tasks to be done. I have put over 200 hours into the game and still haven't fully finished it. It's sometimes too gorgeous a landscape to just run/trot on horseback around and enjoy the music too which is another highlight. It is a popular game still, so buy it and if you don't like it, you'll have no problem selling it on.
 
Thanks for the replies, a mate has let me borrow his card whilst he's away for a week so I'm gonna dive in and give it a go. Will post back with how it goes.
 
Thanks for the replies, a mate has let me borrow his card whilst he's away for a week so I'm gonna dive in and give it a go. Will post back with how it goes.

Enjoy! For the opening area, I'd follow the quest stuff in preference to "random wandering around" which I must admit to doing too much of. I didn't initially realise it was an enclosed "tutorial" area and spent blooming hours exploring every nook and cranny :)
 
So I'm about 2 hours in kinda enjoying it so far. Still on the Great Plateau but the wandering around doing "stuff" isn't as bad as I thought because there's so much to interact with. Controls seem to be pretty sensible too.

What I'm finding tricky is the camera. When moving Link around, the camera doesn't follow him so I'm spending more time swinging it around to the right angle. It doesn't help that I'm used to flying controls so I expect the camera to go down when moving up and vice versa. If the camera would just stick to anchoring behind Link with the option to move, that'd help. I lost a few lives at the first tower because I couldn't see where Link was supposed to climb down and couldn't seem to move the camera to the right place.

Have got another week so plenty more to try :)
 
Its a fantasic game. A little daunting at first- no road map as such and your sort of just left to it? Also those guardians..... but as you get in and power up and get more hearts and outfits and wepons etc those guardians become easy. In fact most stuff is easy. I have stayed away form the divine beasts by large [have done 2]. I tend to focus on side stuff and collecting stuff. Oh and the booty.
 
Howdy,

I'm wondering whether or not to buy Zelda BOTW giv...............

YES

I stopped reading there actually, id never played a Zelda game, its amazing, 130 hrs i think i played.
 
Right then, so I ended up keeping Zelda until almost Xmas and played it a few times during then. Enjoyed it far more than I thought I would and the occasional dodgy camera angle aside, I can see the appeal.

Still not sure if it's a keeper, the only time I really played it was when I had a spare hour free and to be honest, I much rather preferred playing a more "fun" game with someone else. Shame BOTW is only a 1 player :(
 
I’ve had a few Zelda games in my past and im very interested in Botw since I got my Switch Lite. From what I’ve read and seen on the internet about it it looks like a awesome game.
 
I have no nostalgia for Zelda games, but have enjoyed open-world rpgs on the PS4 like Skyrim, Witcher 3, Horizon Zero Dawn.
Objectively, how does Breath of the Wild stack up?
 
I have no nostalgia for Zelda games, but have enjoyed open-world rpgs on the PS4 like Skyrim, Witcher 3, Horizon Zero Dawn.
Objectively, how does Breath of the Wild stack up?
Conversely, I’ve played none of those games but have played most Of the Zeldas.

Ignoring those, I’ve played more other games than I could list. And against all of them, Breath of the Wild stands up as the best game I’ve ever played, bar none. An amazing experience from start to finish.
 

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