The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (contains spoilers)

You can fast travel to Sheikah towers and shrines. I think you have to visit them once before you can fast travel to them.

I just hope that whatever new stuff they show off it's something new, hopefully towns. I'm getting a little tired of all of the "Watch how complicated you can make this relatively simple problem" and "Look at how interesting this open world is".

edited 29th Nov '16 5:06:55 PM by LordVatek

Those are both great things that should definitely be shown off, but at the same if those are the only things the game has going for it, well, that game's gonna have a bad time in the stores.

I haven't been following Zelda recently, so anything would be interesting. The open world is much of the reason I'm intrigued.

They'd have to do something special with this one, for sure, considering the size of this event. A story trailer perhaps.

edited 30th Nov '16 7:11:39 AM by edvedd

I'm just happy that they have already shown off puzzles that aren't just "use item on obvious target."

After all the previous 3D games had puzzles that are just "use item on obvious target" (except MM), it's a breath of fresh air.

not this again

...heh.

Also I said this before but it bears repeating. Different =/= better. This game is dangerously flirting with the "An ocean wide but a puddle deep" trap that so many other games fallen into (No Man's Sky and Dragon Age Inquisition come immediately to mind) and the puzzles could very much suffer from this by being sparse and boring. I would take puzzles with obvious solutions any day over an open world with nothing to do.

edited 30th Nov '16 4:29:56 PM by LordVatek

But they've already shown using your tools to interact with the environment in all new ways. You can place a long metallic plank anywhere to create a bridge. You can stop time around a see-saw bridge so that it doesn't move when you walk on it. There's a lot of physics involved there that adds more depth to solving puzzles.

It's a far cry from "use bow on obvious eye switch," "use hookshot on obvious grating," "use spinner on obvious rail," or "use whip on obvious lever," that many Zelda games suffer from.

ignoring the fact that a lot of those are, in fact, ways to give the player more methods to explore rather than puzzles in and of themselves

just because there are a lot of things you can do does not mean that all of the things you can do are meaningful

that said, i'm personally still optimistic about this game and i highly doubt this is going to be another NMS situation

Oh I highly doubt it will end up as a NMS situation too. For one, I don't think anyone has lied about its content so far. I'm just worried that it will suffer from a few similar issues (but not all of them).

As for the puzzles, whenever physics get involved, I get incredibly worried because that's just begging to have nothing work right, especially for Nintendo who are still relatively unproven in this kind of game. Also I don't really see how the kind of puzzles demonstrated really show that much depth. They're still simple solutions, just a different kind of simple solution.

If there's one thing Nintendo knows how to do, it's polish.

Well, so far we've only seen the beginning puzzles and shrines. Nintendo knows how to make a difficulty curve, so I'm sure they'll grow more complex as the game progresses. Of course more complex puzzles tend to either be easier to break or only have one set solution, but this sort of thing is more up Nintendo's alley than creating big open worlds, so I think it'll be good.

I'm glad that the game seems to have a complex physics engine because I'm excited to see what crazy shit people do with it once the game comes out.

Wait, they actually give more methods to explore that way? I certainly don't remember dungeon items being useful outside of dungeon progression in the most recent 3D games.

Gust Bellows, Whip, and Digging Mitts were the only items in Skyward Sword that were primarily dungeon items. Slingshot was slightly more useful than usual, Bug Net, Bow, and Bombs were Bug Net, Bow, and Bombs, and Beetle was used everywhere for puzzles and general scouting.

Even then, 99% of Bow, Bombs, and Beetle use was just to use them on obvious targets, since combat was very sword-centric (well, more than usual).

I actually liked it, to be honest- Making combat a series of simple mini-puzzles was not a bad idea.

It suffered a bit from sparse enemy variety, though.

Also, no, no, the Bow in Skyward Sword was stupendously powerful and could be used from a mile off. If you wanted to just stand back and snipe at everything after you got it you probably could.

edited 1st Dec '16 8:20:15 AM by Pulse

that's exactly what i did with the bow

Except the Bow was given to you very late and you're only encouraged to use it to snipe for all of half the dungeon you get it.

You may only be encouraged to do it there but you can do it basically everywhere. If I recall correctly, I actually fully upgraded the bow before I finished the Sand Ship (I had to leave to get something else midway through) and actually did most of the boss fight without ever using my sword. You can also make some pretty sick shots at various points throughout the dungeon and throughout the game, if you're good enough. I know I used it every chance I got.

Of course they don't give you the Bow until you've gotten literally every other item. It's quite arguably the best item in the game (and one of the best in any Zelda game). That's why it's not only the last item you get but it's also on the very top of the inventory wheel.

I always felt the Bow was a little to very overwhelming in a lot of Zeldas (other than the Bow with Light Arrows in Wind Waker), so the bow in Skyward Sword was a real surprise with how powerful and useful it was.

What time is the BOTW presentation?

It's showing up during the 8:30 ET pre-show, and there should be something else during the main show, though who knows when.

Was just about to post that.

So there are more towns to interact and at the very end...

Is that you, Zelda?