#but then zelda in botw sure as hell hasn't impressed me so far either

[archer3-13]

Do I hate BOTW? I cant say i do no, its a perfectly functional game if overhyped to oblivion. The combat grates on me because its both inelegant and constantly stopping and starting despite the heavier emphasis on it compared to previous entries, but its a perfectly functional if simplified combat system. it strips out puzzles and solid dungeon design for a whole lot of surprisingly hand holdy faffing about but ill admit... it could have been worse.

i dont think i hate it as a game so much as im unimpressed by it, for all the details and time it puts into more environmental effects and design and 'applications of realism', for all its efforts to provide a more 'cinematic' experience, it all feels like such wasted effort to me. the environmental design as a lot of neat details here and there sure, but due to the scale of everything in the game set pieces like zoras domain feel like a drop in the bucket compared to previous iterations that were technically speaking much smaller. and sure its neat to have a temperature gage or how lightning can react with equipped metal or how 'big' everything is, but again its just... faffing about especially when a lot of the details obviously incorporated with the interest of 'increased realism' feel so arbitrarily applied and the core gameplay loop feels stripped down because of it. even the asperations of cinema, marginally impressive compared to previous entries sure but its all so route and generic in its application on top of making the gameplay process feel so needlessly excruciating in how its constantly pulling you out of it to show off some cool new thing or angle they just thought up. or, even worse, to show you the same damn thing youve seen a billion times already, its excessive posturing that helps exaggerate the general stop and start game feel botw is riddled with.

but no, even with all that said i dont find myself unable to play it. i return, whittle away out of curiosity if nothing else. i cant see myself jumping onto botw2 the search for more money anytime soon after its release, but i havent lost interest yet.

no, its the story of botw i hate, i hate the presentation of its story, i hate the communication of its story, i hate the characters of its story, and i especially hate the guardians and zelda in said story. not a frothing hatred mind, but definitely an exasperated hatred that caused my gut reaction to anything mipha said and most of what zeldas said so far to be 'please shut up, i dont care', and i legit like navi in ocarina of time. and those posh accents are not helping.

but then this entire experience has convinced me that zelda characters should never speak recognizable words ever and just stick to simlish.