Hyrule Warriors/Zelda Musou (Spoiler Warning in effect)

First and foremost, as a disclaimer, I only just beat the story. Like with all Warriors games there's obviously a lot more to do after, which may reshape my opinion on the game. Likewise, do note that I played this on Hard mode, so that may skew some of my impressions.

So, the main appeal of this game, first and foremost, is the story. While it's not exactly a video game Ulysses, it's definitely a step above Warriors standards, and it was fun to see the events of 100 years ago play out in full, before becoming an alternate timeline. I know some people are dissatisfied with that twist, as they wanted a grimmer, predestined ending like in Torna: The Golden Country, but I think honestly it works here. Getting to see destiny get screwed as Terrako and the New Champions turn the timeline around and earn a happy ending for the cast felt like a good and logical extension to what would have otherwise been a short and anticlimactic game. The Champions die to the Blight Ganons, and Link falls to a horde of Guardians. There's no climactic finale to be had there, not even a pyrrhic victory like Torna: The Golden Country had.

The visuals and presentation are also spectacular. Breath of the Wild's environments are beautiful and that is replicated here (perhaps literally). The cutscenes are flashier than I expected, with some pretty cool action and semi-decent voice acting compared to Breath of the Wild's own. The music is also on-point; controversial though it may be, I've never been particularly impressed with Zelda music. For the most part, it's just there, and Breath of the Wild's in particular is clearly more for ambience than anything else. That's not bad, but man does Age of Calamity step things up. That penultimate level where the Blood Moon rises was tense, and a big part of that was the perfect music to capture the feeling of the pendulum unexpectedly swinging back in Ganon's favor mid-battle. That being said, while Breath of the Wild's gritty aesthetic is an interesting change of pace, there is a part of me that yearns for the more light-hearted charm of the original Hyrule Warriors, with its bright designs, colorful visuals, cute 8-bit Adventure Mode map, and oodles of references to past Zelda titles.

Unfortunately, not having Hyrule Warriors' charm is far from the worst part of the game. Put plainly, the gameplay isn't up to my standards. Warriors games, typically, are somewhat repetitive, but make up for it by being simple, cathartic, and easy to master while still being fun in spite of the repetition. Breath of the Wild is in some ways the opposite, being a slower and more exploratory experience with more danger lurking around. Age of Calamity, regrettably, kinda melds the two in a way that emphasizes their worst traits moreso than their best traits, creating gameplay that's repetitive but also a slow slog. I still had fun with it, but it's definitely not as good as Breath of the Wild, the original Hyrule Warriors, or Fire Emblem Warriors in terms of pure gameplay. The effort to make the maps geographically accurate results in awkward, difficult-to-navigate maps that don't suit Warriors gameplay well. The Perfect Dodge timing somehow feels more finnicky than it did in Breath of the Wild, healing items are frustratingly sparse when you need them and don't refresh between battles, and hunting for Koroks slows the pace of the game down to obnoxious degrees especially due to the aforementioned map issue.

The character quality is somewhat middling. I haven't unlocked Terrako or Ganon yet, but thus far, only a small number of the cast really feel satisfying to play as, several just feel weak and frustrating to play as, and the rest are unremarkable either way. The original Hyrule Warriors had this problem too with shitty characters like Agitha and Link's Great Fairy, but Fire Emblem Warriors, for all its roster controversy, at least made sure every character in the game felt effective and fun to play as. Age of Calamity feels like somewhat of a regression in that regard. Not helping matters is that while Hyrule Warriors' characters varied wildly in gameplay quality, many were at least super-flashy and had creative movesets, whereas Age of Calamity's generally tend to feel more down-to-earth so as to fit the tone.

The worst part, however, is the enemy combat. Like I said earlier, it feels like in some ways a fusion of the worst aspects of Breath of the Wild and Hyrule Warriors, and nowhere is that exemplified more than the endless hordes of obnoxiously durable and repetitive enemy captains you face. A big part of Warriors fun is blowing away hordes of weak enemies and capturing keeps, but both of those are significantly downplayed in Age of Calamity; very few missions actually incentivize defeating low-level grunts, and keeps are scarce.

So with those two gameplay elements stripped down, what's left? Fighting enemy captains. Lots and lots of enemy captains. The same few enemy captains, over and over again. Practically every mission feels like the same "Kill a dozen Moblins/Yiga Blademasters, and then maybe fight Sooga or a Hinox" parameters, and they all take forever to kill (perhaps my punishment for playing on Hard). It's even worse when there's more than one attacking you at a time; then you get pelted with cheap shots from off-screen, and are left staggered for what feels like eternity while you're just trying to break the other enemy's damn weak point gauge. Breath of the Wild's lack of enemy variety really hurts this game, and I never want to see a Moblin again after I'm done with it.

Divine Beast battles should have been fun but instead they feel like a hassle, especially Vah Rudania. Vah Medoh is the most fun of the four, but even then it feels like a frustratingly slow Star Fox game.

To sum it up, I enjoyed the game and it was fun to watch the story play out, but I was not as impressed with the gameplay. Fire Emblem Warriors may have had a shitty story, but I find myself bemoaning that I finished all its content and itching for a sequel with the same refined gameplay, whereas with Age of Calamity I can see myself struggling to 100% it and being relieved once it's done rather than eager for more.