First of all, let me make a short and personal introduction: I've heard a lot about The Legend of Zelda for years. However, Nintendo's inactive situation in our country and its very limited presence, apart from the game console we all call "Atari" when we were kids, kept me away from this series for years. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, which will be released with Nintendo Switch in 2017, will soon be "I'm going to buy a Nintendo Switch to play this game!" he made up his sentence. Although I have nothing to do with the other games in the series, I immediately started researching; What would it cost me not to have played other games? After reading some "lore" and getting a little familiar with the created world (and with the release of Super Mario Odyssey in November 2017), my decision to buy a Nintendo Switch was finalized.
Since the console arrived in my hands last May, I spent my time playing a little The Legend of Zelda, a little Mario in almost every spare part of my life. And since The Witcher 3, Breath of the Wild has given me emotions that no other game has ever given me. I recently finished the game and applauded the game makers with two tears in my eyes on the credits screen. Because Breath of the Wild was able to show me new things even in the 110th hour of my 120-hour playing time. There were even things I learned while finishing the game and watching other people's experiences, speedruns and videos like "3500 details about Legend of Zelda you didn't know". For example, if you throw “rusty” swords that you can find on the ground at an Octorok while navigating the game’s infinity map (it is said to be 360 square kilometers; Skyrim is around 40 square kilometers, think about it), that creature will swallow the rusty sword and throw it back at you as a “royal sword”. In someone who has not played the game, “So what's wrong with that?” I know an event that will create emotions, but if you spend 120 hours and finish the game – after – you will be a little surprised if you find out about it.
I will put my personal feelings aside and try to explain what makes the game so good. While doing this, I may give spoilers from time to time. But don't worry, these spoilers will be some details about the world of the game, not about the story. If you want to explore these details for yourself, I totally understand that. I will use a spoiler phrase for our readers who will choose this. Others follow me. Come on, let's.
Story Presentation
Breath of the Wild has, admittedly, a "normal" story. It has everything you would expect from a heroic story. But the story based on the amnesia of Link (yes, our main character's name is not Zelda, Link) and the presentation of this story is as it should be, that no clichés bother you. While presenting this story, the game sometimes makes you laugh, sometimes it makes you emotional. And every step you take until you reach the final epic battle makes you feel stronger. The detailism in the established world both helps you while you take your steps in the story and makes you wonder about what will happen next. There is nothing you do for nothing in the game. In fact, the more extra things you do, the more it works for you later on. But there is another very interesting thing the game does: you are only given one big mission. Everything except this big mission is actually the helpers that prepare you for the epic finale. As soon as you start the game, you can go and dive into Hyrule Castle without talking to anyone, without any weapons. The game never limits you. It gives you the whole world open to you and sets you free from the first second of the game. This adds both replayability and a different depth to the game.
Details of Hyrule
Like many other Zelda games, Breath of the Wild has set its world in Hyrule. Hyrule is also astonishingly detailed in the minds of game makers. And enumerating all the details in this game is really not something I can accomplish in this post. For those wondering, here is a list of 100 items made by IGN (unfortunately, in English). I'll list just a few of them and my favorite ones here. That's why the spoiler phrase I mentioned earlier comes into play right here.
Hyrule is a great kingdom. And Nintendo has vowed to show us how detailed this great kingdom is. One of my favorite details of this map, which has a tiny detail in every corner, is Lover's Pond. So Lovers Pond. You hear this pond mentioned a lot during your open world exploration walks, or when going from one mission to the next. Then when you look at the map, you see a heart-shaped pond on the peak of a mountain. When you get there, you think you will meet Lover's Pond, but another NPC like you was wrong, explaining to you that this is not the case. Turns out the original Lover's Pond was somewhere else, but this NPC doesn't know where it is either. Since I was too lazy to open the map again at this point and look for such a detail, I continued on my way with other quests and shrine collection. Later, while I was wandering around like this, I came across a heart-shaped pond. At her head was a woman, and at the other end was a man. When I approached the man, he asked me to explain his feelings for the woman, because his own courage was not enough. He said he would reward me in return, and I did. While fulfilling the task, I saw that the woman was not empty towards the man. While they were taking their first steps into a happy relationship, I hit the road again to enjoy my prize of 120 rupees (in-game currency).
This is a detail that I only saw while navigating by myself and rewarded me in the end. Apart from that, there are other things that you can come across while traveling around the world. For example, the poet named Kass appears at several points and sings a song about old legends. If you can understand the lyrics of the song and decipher the code behind it, you will be rewarded with a shrine, and believe me, it's a huge prize. Finding a shrine in the game is very valuable, and the "feeling of success" when you solve the puzzle and reach the end is invaluable.
Finally, let me talk about this. As I walked through one of the map's snowy mountains, my Sheikah tablet said, "There's a shrine nearby!" warning started to go off. I looked too, but couldn't see anything. Then I saw a road made of snow and small snowballs at the beginning of the road. The end of the road led to a wall.
Combat mechanics and use of abilities
The Legend of Zelda games have been released with some innovations each time. For example, in Wind Waker, you can open the doors of the dungeons by playing a flute-like musical instrument. In Breath of the Wild, you can solve many puzzles in the game with the Magnesis, Stasis, Cryonis and Bomb you get at the beginning of the game, and you can get help while killing the creatures. For example, did you see a group of creatures ahead? If you want, you can lift the metal box next to you with Magnesis and drop it right on top of them and kill the creatures. If you want, you can throw a bomb between them and explode it, or you can rely on your sword and dive between them. Even your options are not limited to these. The Legend of Zelda is a game that doesn't care about your path as long as you reach the result and leaves you free in this regard.
The fighting mechanics of the game actually depend on how much you improve Link. If you have unlocked all the abilities that can be unlocked and you have good armor and a good weapon in your hand, there is no enemy you cannot defeat. Each enemy has different attack types and they have some surprises to take you down. For example, large creatures called Moblin can grab and throw smaller creatures called Bokoblin at you. Or if you throw a bomb at a creature and it sees it, it immediately runs to try and kick the bomb away. Extremely powerful enemies called Lynels can infuriate you with their fast and heavy damage attacks. But as I said, if you develop Link enough and make a good armor-weapon combination, even Lynels become a shambles after a while. Besides, being able to aim by moving your Nintendo Switch when using an arrow or picking up a metal object with Magnesis makes things much easier. However, there is one more thing you should know that all your guns and bows have a lifespan and they break and disappear when you use them too much. For this reason, you cannot go to the end of the game with the same weapon, and you have to keep different types of weapons in your inventory. This adds another layer of depth to the game.
Destroy Ganon: Done
I could literally write pages about The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. I can't get enough of praising it because it's one of the best games I've ever played in my life. “Well, this game called Legend of Zelda isn't the first game to do that.” I think you are right too. Yes, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild isn't the first game to do this. It won't be the last. But it has to be admitted that many games that have tried these, other than Zelda, either failed or didn't provide a full experience. While I was playing The Legend of Zelda, I completely forgot about the outside world, almost turned into a Hyrule resident. While playing the game, I don't know how many times I was left with a smile on my face, how many times I shouted victory, or how many times my eyes filled with tears. At my age (I won't tell), I've never played such a game. I hope you, dear readers, agree with me. Good luck if you don't agree.