Archive / Ramblings / Modern Zelda: A Second Chance (12/30/2025)

I recently made a deal that resulted in one of my friends watching the entirety of Guilty Gear's story modes. However, this came with a terrible price: I have to give a fair second chance to the two Zelda games on the Switch. I have historically disliked these games for quite a while, especially following my playthrough of the far superior Twilight Princess. But now, I must try them again. I will completely finish the games, and decided to document my playthrough here.

I don't really like Bread of the Wild, for many different reasons. For one, the combat system: breakable weapons have always sucked, but I am also just not a fan of how limited the combat feels. Secondly, the open world. There is a big difference between a "world that is open" and a "true open world". I just really dislike when the player is thrown into the world with very limited direction. It has always felt like bad design to me. Thirdly, the dungeons suck. Older games have complex labyrinths with complex puzzles and some difficult navigation. Breath of the Wild has nothing close to that. Basically everything is just a physics puzzle, and it gets old really fast. I don't really remember where I am in the game right now, so I am just starting from scratch.

(12/30/25) - So, my initial thoughts: very mediocre. The combat is as boring as I remember, and breakable weapons just completely ruin it even further. Exploration is also pretty unfun, as there are very large patches of nothing between the objectives. A point that I had forgotten about since my last attempt was stamina, which is also pretty terrible. Obviously some sort of limit to climbing was needed, but the way it is done makes everything feel so slow. The game is just a slog to get through. Finally there is the story, which as mentioned by most people is just very bland. It doesn't particularly interest me.

(12/31/25) - Ignore my previous update, the wording sucks and feels... pretentious, or something. Anyway: I have played a bit more. My feelings are not that different, though do want to focus particularly on the exploration. I think a lot of this game's issues could have been forgiven if the world was at the very least fun to traverse. But its just a vast and completely empty area. I run in a straight line towards the next objective, slowly climbing over mountains, and rarely fighting. Nothing interesting happens. Very rarely a shrine might appear, but they aren't common enough to provide a solid base of gameplay.

(1/11/25) -

Tears of the Kingdom inherits every mediocre part of Breath of the Wild, but makes things even worse. The implementation of vehicles and building in general turns the game into a sandbox building game, which is not what a Zelda game should be in the slightest. The majority of puzzles can all be solved in the same way, and it never feels like a challenge. I gave the game an honest chance and cleared the first dungeon (which in my case was the sky one) and haven't touched the game since.