Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Breath of the Wild 2) 12th May 2023

[SuperCapes]

@Strafe I loved the shrines but the reward ended up feeling unnecessary with just a health or stamina upgrade. The occasional piece of armour or weapon found inside some of them was nice, but 1/3 of them were combat challenges. 40 of them. Yikers. 

 

Great if you are playing handheld though, as they are excellent bite size content wrapped around a big world if you have the time. 

 

The beasts lacked the wonder and intrigue after one for me. The art direction on them was squiggles only with a colour palette shifted background. Just felt jarring when the rest of the world and areas like Zora's Domain were staggering at times. They also lacked any sort of fun exploration and the use of the slate lost its uniqueness in a puzzle sense quickly when the beasts were longer than the shrines. 

 

Love love love Hyrule Castle though. Holy moly. Exploring that early to mid game was an absolute treat as I was so excited to see what treasures I could find. If they can figure out how to micro that across the map and have areas that are more difficult than others but approachable whenever I will be chuffed. 

 

But my thoughts above may be tosh to others, and I can understand why!

[Mr Do 71]

43 minutes ago, Strafe said:

I might be one of the few people who didn’t lament the lack of dungeons in BOTW.

I thought the shrines were perfect in that they didn’t take too long and I could get out exploring again. Plus the divine beasts were more or less proper dungeons, weren’t they? Especially the DLC one.

 

I do worry with Tears of the Kingdom is that the overworld will just be a rejigged version of the one in BOTW and I’ll get bored having spent so much time in the first game. But then I’m also worried that they’ll change too much so I can’t win.

It’s Nintendo, it’ll be amazing.

[Keyboard Koala]

I do wonder if we'll actually get this in May, seeing as Japan is struggling with one of the deadliest surges of Covid-19 yet.

[Strafe]

I reckon it’s locked in, they’ve spent on the ‘due in 100 days’ advertising and Nintendo pivoted towards remote work some time back, didn’t they?

 

Though I guess I wouldn’t be surprised 🫠

[Keyboard Koala]

Wasn't aware of the countdown. Yeah, there's no going back now then.

[Stanley]

The launch date and previous delay will be strategic as much as anything, three months away from launch and this being a Nintendo game, it’ll be finished. I wouldn’t worry. 
 

Sorry to hear about the covid there though, I’m so out of the loop with normal news at the moment. Is it really bad? 

[Keyboard Koala]

Seems so.

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-64494095

[Stanley]

[Escape]

9 hours ago, SuperCapes said:

areas like Zora's Domain were staggering at times.

 

Love love love Hyrule Castle though. Holy moly. Exploring that early to mid game was an absolute treat as I was so excited to see what treasures I could find.

 

Absolute standout areas, as if designed by isolated teams working to pre-openworld specs. Same kind of dissonance as the glamour buildings in GTAs, but that debate's gonna carry on for decades.

 

My main criticism of the beasts is that their insides don't match. Mightn't be a problem if you discovered them suddenly, but they're deliberately presented on long approaches to build anticipation, and then you just get some generic rooms that don't feel accurately scaled.

[Rex Grossman]

Where does emulation of current hardware/downloading ‘improved’ game files from non-authorised sites meet piracy?

 

Like most people I’m in favour of emulation for the sake of preservation and allowing people to play games that can no longer be accessed due to incompetent/non-existent rights holders or people jacking up the price of original carts etc for the sake of collectors who just want shelf candy. But isn’t emulation of Switch games just piracy really? 
 

Obviously it’s no skin off my nose - I don’t work in game development and I don’t see Nintendo going bankrupt. Although it may increase their reliance on Saudi investment I guess…

[Sane]

As long as you buy the game it's not piracy I'd say. The way in which you play it shouldn't matter. 

[Stanley]

1 hour ago, Sane said:

As long as you buy the game it's not piracy I'd say. The way in which you play it shouldn't matter. 

Well, there’s also the fact that if you don’t own the hardware to play it then theoretically you don’t own the license to play it either, and of course Nintendo are losing out on a hardware sale as well. And are people using Switch emulation ripping the game themselves or using download sites that host the rom illegally? 
 

I’m against emulation of any current gen systems for that reason as it promotes piracy IMO.

[Festoon]

I'm against emulation if it means people make horrendous 'hi-res' versions of current games that look sharp but like utter shite.

[scottcr]

I’ve seen YouTube’s of 4K BOTW with ultra vibrant colours and it looks daft… the colour palette is chosen that way for a reason. It’s supposed to be melancholic…

[simms]

You can play an emulated version vanilla so identical to the way Nintendo intended but with a solid and locked 30fps.  No one is forced to use mods, filters or upgraded res.  Choice is good.

 

 

[Stanley]

1 hour ago, simms said:

You can play an emulated version vanilla so identical to the way Nintendo intended but with a solid and locked 30fps.  No one is forced to use mods, filters or upgraded res.  Choice is good.

 

 

Is is identical though, didn’t you say you had to revert back to 30fps from 60 due to frame pacing issues or input delay during some sections? 
 

Also, and I’m not being arsey here even though it will sound like I am, can you choose to play it exactly how it would on Switch complete with frame drops during the busy forest areas? 

[carlospie]

I often wonder what Nintendo could achieve with a fully powered console. If botw came on out on series x for example. They must wonder this themselves, I mean BOTW was amazing, but it looks like a PS2 game. 

[Festoon]

15 minutes ago, carlospie said:

I often wonder what Nintendo could achieve with a fully powered console. If botw came on out on series x for example. They must wonder this themselves, I mean BOTW was amazing, but it looks like a PS2 game. 

 

Look at the history of Nintendo, no they don't. They've always made value decisions in terms of console visuals.

[thesnwmn]

And continually prove that all the idiots who waffle on about how much it matters are wrong. A publisher who gets that it's the experience they matters. Yes glossy visuals help a little but so overblown.

[Strafe]

Nintendo release underpowered consoles so when the new one comes out the graphics on their existing IPs look incredible because your expectations are lower. The next Nintendo console will be weak in comparison to other machines but the visual upgrade to the next Mario will blow our minds.

 

Also, BOTW doesn’t look like any PS2 game I ever played.

 

 

[Strafe]

28 minutes ago, Festoon said:

 

Look at the history of Nintendo, no they don't. They've always made value decisions in terms of console visuals.

N64 would like a word.

[Festoon]

2 minutes ago, Strafe said:

N64 would like a word.

 

That's what locked them into this - it wasn't worth it for them.

[Strafe]

2 minutes ago, Festoon said:

 

That's what locked them into this - it wasn't worth it for them.

Except they then did the same again with the GameCube.

[Stanley]

1 hour ago, carlospie said:

I often wonder what Nintendo could achieve with a fully powered console. If botw came on out on series x for example. They must wonder this themselves, I mean BOTW was amazing, but it looks like a PS2 game. 

I mean it’s not as if they’re there plugging away on old 486’s, they are fully aware how their games look and perform on hardware more powerful than a Switch. 
 

The answer to your question though is that they are already achieving results with their games that other developers can only dream of, both artistically and commercially. As for looking like a PS2 game, yeah I’m reminded of Ico and Shadow of The Colossus when playing BOTW, games which are also artistically a cut above the mainstream - and by that I mean that they tower over the competition. 

[Festoon]

16 minutes ago, Strafe said:

Except they then did the same again with the GameCube.

 

GameCube was underpowered compared to PS2 and EggsBawks, no?

[Strafe]

3 minutes ago, Festoon said:

 

GameCube was underpowered compared to PS2 and EggsBawks, no?

Gamecube was definitely more powerful than the PS2, though the Xbox beat them both. 

[Stanley]

17 minutes ago, Strafe said:

Gamecube was definitely more powerful than the PS2, though the Xbox beat them both. 

Back then of course console hardware was far more esoteric than todays off the shelf components, the PS2 had extremely weird architecture, so whilst ostensibly the Xbox was more powerful overall, the PS2 could compute faster, I think it was memory letting it down. 

[simms]

2 hours ago, Stanley said:

Is is identical though, didn’t you say you had to revert back to 30fps from 60 due to frame pacing issues or input delay during some sections? 
 

Also, and I’m not being arsey here even though it will sound like I am, can you choose to play it exactly how it would on Switch complete with frame drops during the busy forest areas? 

Incorrect.  I don’t play vanilla, I use a 60fps mod and draw distance mod only.  Playing at 60fps affects one of the missions but can be done by switching to 30fps no issues with input delays or frame pacing.  If I wanted to I can play at a solid 30fps only which is the same as native hardware minus frame drops.  Not sure if there is an option to replicate frame drops of the native version.
 

Not saying emulation will be 100% perfect and is the way everyone should play but is my preferred way. I’ve not discovered any detriment to playing this way, now there maybe some quirk somewhere but I’ve not discovered it yet with over 100hours of play.  Done all the beasts but moping up shrines and side quests, before getting to the castle.  By the way I’m playing the WIi U version not the Switch one.

[ryodi]

6 hours ago, Strafe said:

Gamecube was definitely more powerful than the PS2, though the Xbox beat them both. 

GC was powerful but Nintendo decided to use a 1.5GB disk instead of a DVD like everyone else so corners will still cut to fit the games onto it. 

[TheShend]

The increasing monopolisation of my switch by the boy was what gave me pangs for a Steam Deck.

 

I'll likely buy TotK but also look at Switch emulation on the Deck just to grant me the time to play it.