Welcome to the first edition of Modern Gaming, a new section I'm dedicating to today's current games. In this section we will review games from the Sixth Gen (PS2/GCN/Xbox) to the Present day. It's been more than a year since Breath of the Wild released for both the WiiU and Switch. I couldn't think of a better game to review first for this section then BOTW since it truly is another Masterpiece. Once again Nintendo made the latest Zelda title both the Swan Song for their last console and the new beginning for the current system. Gameplay It's been a while since Zelda had any true form of nonlinear and BOTW definitely plays tribute to the original. The last game to use this style was the Original Zelda that allowed you to go anywhere at the start of the game. However, BOTW takes it much further as when you see a structure or a mountain in the distance, you can explore it only to find there is more beyond. The main quests were brilliantly designed between retrieving the Master Sword, freeing the Divine Beasts, or facing Ganon at Hyrule Castle. The player has so many ways of completing the game that you can set the pace of your adventure. During the main quest there are also shrines that act like tiny dungeons each with a puzzle to solve. These tiny dungeons are found scattered throughout the overworld and can still be used for teleporting as well. It was refreshing to go this route instead of designing full dungeons as they usually have done. The puzzles were easy at times but I did come across some mind busting ones that made me really think about them. I also love the way these shrines were inside a few labyrinths which only added more to the challenge. Remember when Z-Targeting got introduce in Ocarina of Time? Well Nintendo added a new feature to the series with slow motion attacks. These slow motions promps lets the players attack an enemy with several fast-moving hits. When jumping off a horse or at a high place with a bow equipped can enable this feature. Even invading at the precise moments can allow the player to attack the monster repeatedly. Of course, it all depends on the enemy you are up against but sometimes a monster like the Stone Talarus won't allow this feature. The mechanic definitely helped against some of the end game enemies and bosses like the Lynels which are the hardest they have ever been. The Stamina gauge returns from Skyward Sword with an updated feature and now you can increase the gauge's limited. Upon obtaining four spirit orbs from the shrines, you can increase the gauge by 1/4 of a meter. The update mechanic obviously helped me get through the game whether it was the battles or climbing from one place to another. Just like in Skyward Sword, the stamina meter balanced the difficulty in many ways. There were several times that I had to consider my situation when I would do something. When I tried to scale a mountain, I always had to consider the distance and if there was a slope I could actual stand on. Another feature that creates a variety of challenges is placing the bosses across the overworld. The studio has never done this before as usually the bosses were often encountered in dungeons. Of course, this concept makes sense since there are five levels so it was ideal to add them across the world. It basically gave a sense that you needed to beware of your surroundings because you might run into these bosses by accident. The weapon system is a new thing as Link is able to wield any weapon and armor he finds. It's true that the weapons break often; however, having diverse weaponry is the best thing I've seen from Zelda in a long time. From different blade types of swords, axes and spears to blunt weapons of bone and clubs, there are many styles a player can choose. Of course, there is the Master Sword and I honestly love the way Nintendo had the gamer collect 13 hearts first. It's reminiscent of the Original Zelda as you had to collect 12 hearts first to obtain the Magic Sword. One of the improvements is the way they limited the Master Sword where it has to recharge when it's used too much. The Blade of Evil's bane has become overpowered for some time, and it would take two or three hits to kill the common monsters in the past. It's about time this studio gave some limitation to the Master Sword instead of making the holy blade a near one hit kill weapon. I'm also glad they provided customization for Link since it was a feature I wanted for a while. There are many armor styles as each one had different strengths and weaknesses. I can't fathom that I could customize Link to wear the Sheik's outfit and turn him into a ninja. The armor types even provide different attributes like the Sheik's outfit gives increased cloaking and sneaking abilities under nightfall. Even then you can also mix and match as you please and that's including special armor types that is given to us for cosmetic appeal. I won't go over those here as these other armors will get reviewed along with the DLC in another article. Surprising enough there is even a shop in Hatero where you can dire you armor different colors. So far, customizing was a great feature to have as it allows gamers to dress up Link to their preference so they at least could make it interesting. Another new thing Nintendo seems to take inspiration from is Monster Hunter with its cooking feature. It's quite intricate how this mechanic has helped me make many dishes that can heal like a red potion does. However, by mixing certain ingredients will boost attributes for the player such as adding extra hearts or increasing strength. The player can even mix non-food ingredients together to create different potions that can also add increased elemental defense. The gameplay needed this drastic change from its past formulaic design which the series was known for in the last 30 years. Rating: 10/10 Graphics/Presentation It's been 15 years since Nintendo used a graphic art style called cell shading which all began with the Wind Waker. It's funny how so many gamers were up in arms about this style back in 2003 but now completely accept it. Beginning with the presentation, as usual, Nintendo nailed it once again and I find the lore the most intriguing thing shown. I also love the Japanese tome style shown in the 10,000 Years scenes told by Impa and Kass. It literally is a breath of fresh air to see this concept used since Zelda was always known for its Eurasian culture. Honestly, I really prefer this concept because it truly engaged me more than any time in the series. The soundtrack saw the most change as Nintendo lately is known to go a different route with a few ideas regarding their IPs. The overworld music was a fantastic change from adventure theme we are so used to hearing. It's literally the sounds of nature as you will hear things from animals moving about to even wind slightly swaying the trees and grasses. The ambience really captured the moment as you ventured through the grasslands and mountain areas and in fact the game does it more so then ever. However, Gerudo Desert, the Lost Woods, and Death Mountain had music in those areas. The best one is unquestionably the Lost Woods as it's the best version I've seen since A Link to the Past. The music created this ambience of mystery as if to warn the player that many who ventured into here have never come out. Gerudo Desert, Death Mountain and Zora's Domain haven't really changed that much but regardless, it still adds to the variety of OST. For any other songs are from Hatero, Rito Village and Tarrey Town which had good welcoming music. Every time I entered these towns it came across as a place of safe guard and a reprieve from adventuring. The music from the Champions theme as well as Kass' accordion version captured their personalities in many ways. Most of the time, I never listen to accordion music but Nintendo managed to make it sound good. For once I actually like the sound of Kass' versions but then again only this studio could pull that off. Even Kass' 10,000 years take on Impa's tale was well put together and so good that the song holds it own against the original. To leave this off, the sound track is some of Koji Kondo's finest works in music. He's literally the Hans Zimmer version of gaming since Koji Kondo is able to capture both emotional and environmental music like a master musician. The graphics are another reason they come across stunning which is especially true when observing the landscape. No matter where I could go it always had me in awe and each area felt spectacle. My favorite areas were the Lost Woods, Necluda's shoreline, Mt. Lanayru's and Hebra Mountains' snow plains, and the Akkala Highlands. I also love the way Nintendo designed some structures around the overworld and left me stunned most of the time. I remember discovering places like the ruined temples, labyrinths, and even the statues from the East Gerudo Ruins. The amount of detail that went into these places literally blows my mind. That's a fantastic and clever way for the landscape to tell the land's story as there's always something to discover. Its kind of funny how in the Zelda 64 Beta Creepypasta the story was about the beta of OOT having similar ideas to the way BOTW had gotten designed. I'll assume that BOTW is what Miyamoto and Aonuma wanted to design OOT like but couldn't because of the limited tech in the 90s. Another feature is how active nature is around Link as the animals and the elements go through their daily routine. The feeling of isolation most of time mixed with sounds of nature would create a brilliant atmosphere. The dungeon and shrine designs, on the other hand, had a lot of creativity placed around them. The art was both ancient and advance so much that the architect was diverging into the history of the Sheikah. Rating: 10/10 Story The series has become a list of great tales over the years in telling a brilliant story in both its narrative and environments. Nintendo really has done this more than ever and I would have to say this was the best narrative they have told so far. There are many things these other reviewers truly overlook and it's how much detail the environments tell about the land. An example is the Hatero Fort area as I didn't need to know that Link fell there 100 years ago to find out what happened. The ruined Guardian Stalkers stranded about were really enough to tell me that a great battle happened. The Lost Woods is another good example of telling a story through the environment. It's the best Lost Woods I have seen in years and that the area felt mysterious in a unique way. I love the way this area told its story with its trees that had faces and the fog that seemed like it was ready to swallow Link. The Sheikah tribe were finally explained as I wondered for years what kind of people they were at one time. It turns out they are basically ninjas that developed advance magic technology 10,000 years ago. Once again, Eiji Aonuma and Shigeru Miyamoto really out did themselves and this was an excellent way to expand on the Sheikah. I figured it would be the Gorons that would have made such advancements in technology by developing some advance stuff in Twilight Princess. I also love the ancient but advance culture this tribe would have as its written all over the structures of the many things they have built. They even had a rival tribe called the Yiga clan, a group of ninjas that left the Sheikah to start their own tribe. You will encounter them often after defeating Koga their master at their hideout in Gerudo Desert. The characters had the best writing up to date as Nintendo went the extra mile. Whether it's Zelda, the Champions, King Hyrule, Impa, Sidon or Kass, the cast were just as colorful as the rest of the series. Starting with the Champions, this isn't the first time Nintendo has written characters like these but it's taken further here. Zelda was given the best personality as this version actually surpassed both Tetra and her previous self from Skyward Sword. Here Zelda doubts herself and wonders if she truly can protect the land from Ganon this time. Despite her doubts of achieving previous goals, Zelda still comes across strong-minded. She felt completely genuine between her regal and calm attitude to her will to battle Ganon when Link fell. Speaking of Ganon, they presented him this time as demonic spirit that was trying to become Demise. The way Zelda told Link during the fight how Ganon has given up reincarnation just to reach the power of a world ending monster was a little interesting. Through his appearance he was always shown as either a Gerudo Man or as some sapient pig demon. Its the first time I've seen him get written as a world destroying demon with just a limited mind sense. I have theory that Ganon was trying to become Demise again and its probably the reason he gave up reincarnation as a last ditch effort to reclaim his true power. The Champions of Revali, Urbosa, Daruk, and Mipha gave us fun and interesting moments with Link and Zelda. I'll begin with Revali and I don't know what is it about bird characters but they always seem to sound like asses most of the time. I just got back from watching Season 8 of FIM and I noticed that Gallus like Revali acts like he's too good for anyone. He was my least favorite one for the reason stated already and Revali actually thought he could stomp Link. At least he could talk the talk as well as walk it since he was the Rito's best archer. Daruk the Goron Champion was the outgoing member of the group and was the kind of guy you would love to be around. He did remind me a little of Darurian from Ocarina of Time and the only thing Daruk was missing is his stoic attitude. Daruk might have come off as the muscle of the group, however, he's basically a big teddy bear. I mean the guy got scared of a dog out of all things. The next one is Urbosa as not only was she the strong-minded member but the one that seem to keep the team in check. Her strong will coupled with the lightning spell Urbosa's fury made probably the second most capable fighter right behind Link. The last one was Mipha the champion and princess of the Zoras who was often the soft-spoken and caring member. Out of them all, she was the best one and the throw back theme they gave her with Link intrigued me the most. It was a reference to Ruto from Ocarina of Time who was coy and flirted with Link as seen by his reaction. However, here Mipha sounded genuine and actually was in love with Link. It upset me a little knowing that she died when fighting the Water blight Ganon and was completely trapped for 100 years. These moments become unlocked after discovering them through spots where Link would remember. I wanted to find them more then ever after witnessing a few because of how engaging those moments were to me. Rating: 10/10 Features/Content What isn't a Zelda title without a plentiful of content to play through in-between the main quest. As mentioned in the gameplay, non-linear plays a prominent factor as to where you want to go in Hyrule. Similar to the Original Zelda, the player can go to any Guardian Beast or skip them completely to get the Master Sword and face Ganon. The next thing is the Shrines and there are about 120 in total across the vast world. Only Nintendo is among the few studios capable of creating unique level design and puzzle solving. They really outdid themselves here as each puzzle in these shrines had to make you think to solve them. Of course, there are easy puzzles but the ones that had you think were really impressive. Another great idea is the Shrine quests and these compelled the player to solve a puzzle on the overworld in an area to make a shrine appear. Once again, I found it very creative for this studio to have the player figure out how to solve these puzzles with vague hints provided by Kass. It does annoy me a little that the Wild Outfit (a throwback costume) is your reward after completing all 120 shrines. However, collecting spirit orbs to increase the health and stamina gauge still made completing these essential for the main quest. Probably the least interesting side quests are collecting the Korok seeds from the Korok after finding them across the overworld. Most of the time, finding these forest spirits were the easiest of tasks when they hid in the most obvious spots (aka hiding under a lone rock). However, there are these small challenges and activities that's required to get a seed. It definitely added diversity with finding these spirits as you either solved a small puzzle or competed in target hitting with arrows using the bow. All these seeds do is increase you inventory for the equipment when traded to Hestu a big Korok near the Deku Tree. I will admit, it was hilarious that after collecting 700 of these gets the player a golden piece of poop (I'm not making that up). It's like Nintendo was giving the middle finger and laughing at us for going out of our way to find them all. Along the way there are many other quests to take on that you will find even in the most unusual manner. Any of these can give you rupees, special equipment, and additional stuff that can help the player in many ways. We now move on to the Great Fairies who offer to upgrade your armor sets. You simply locate their fountains and help restore their power by giving each one a certain number of rupees. It's disappointing that none of them give us additional magic powers as seen in the earlier entries. It's a lot better than how they got designed in Twilight Princess and among four of them will only max certain armor sets to level 4. I did find that really interesting there was a Great Fairy who could resurrect your horses if they died by the monsters. BOTW does support Amiibos which in turn give us extra features and content not found in the game or in the DLC. I would prefer if Nintendo released content through DLC then simply for us to buy figurines. They are differently not expensive if you know where to look but at the same time this is a little annoying. With these Amiibos you can get Wolf Link to help Link, weapons like the Magic Sword and the old style tunics of the previous Zelda games and even Epona. I honestly love this feature (despite shelling out money) because they are recognizable throw backs from the last 30 years as a celebration. The fact that I can use the original tunic from the first Zelda along with the Magic Sword and have Wolf Link does blow my mind. Nintendo seems to set a high standard when it comes to the main series games with content. Rating: 10/10 Final Rating It was an absolute blast of playing BOTW and for once Nintendo produced a true open world game we've asked for so long. The gameplay was a change-up the series needed and provides many elements that engages the Players. Many gameplay features plays an enormous part from exploring and facing a vast amount of enemies to hunting and cooking. The graphics saw the return of cell shading as this presents a vibrate world. The studio has really taken this style far since 2003 as it works so well with Zelda. The presentation is never a letdown when it comes to using a great art style especially in an Asian tome appearance. BOTW sets it apart from the others that always used a Eurasian culture compared to its current Japanese appearance. The soundtrack is diffidently up there with the other great OSTs from the previous entries. From the natural ambience of nature to the music of the other overworlds and the levels, these would set the mood in many ways. The story focused on more characters this time as its arc then staying true to Zelda and Link. The Champions had several moments with Link that would make you learn a little bit about them. As for Zelda, this is the best one we have gotten so far and I loved how strong-willed she was to overcome adversity. There obviously wasn't a dull moment when the player has to face many things from exploring to gather information on quests. Nintendo has produced another masterpiece as its hands down the best in the series. Gameplay: 10/10 Graphics/Presentation: 10/10 Story: 10/10 Features/Content: 10/10 Final Rating: 10/10 Masterpiece
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Retro Gamer has over 25 years of gaming experience and played many classics since the Golden Age. She has been an avid fan since the day the NES graced her life and changed it forever.
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