Thanks for watching everyone! This video was originally meant to release in February; its behind the scenes ended up being much more of an ordeal than expected and the release date, while unplanned, feels very appropriate. I'll be using this comment to address any needed corrections, etc. that I see pop up, so by all means let me know if you notice something. Your thoughts in general are appreciated on this one, long form game videos are some of my favourite content on RUclips and I've been wanting to give the format a try for awhile now, but it's still ultimately an area I have little experience in. The channel isn't becoming a channel of 4+ hour videos (there will be another shorter one this month), but I will likely be making more Hearty Retrospectives, so feel free to let me know what worked and didn't work about this one for you, as well as any games you think would make good candidates. __________________________________ *Corrections and Observations from Comments:* *-I referred to Zelda's voice actress as American, but she's actually Canadian-American according to IMDB.* *-There's an NPC who sells fireproof elixirs without requiring you to collect lizards. This one slipped through the cracks, it doesn't fundamentally change my commentary on that section but should have been mentioned.* *-"I wasn't sure if this was an April Fool's joke."* Nope! *-"You beat Arlo!"* I definitely saw this one coming haha, but just for the record, my goal was never to beat anyone else, and I didn't have a set target for this video's length. I'm a fan of a lot of long form video game content, and while I tried to make sure this video maintained a distinct voice, it was obviously inspired by those channels (although I avoided them while writing the script). I wanted to make a long video about a game, chose Breath of the Wild because it's my favourite, and was never good at sticking to word counts. *-"This video is too long/should have been split into parts."* Gonna have to disagree on this one, I made a video that I myself would have been thrilled to discover. I like long form content. *-"This video is overly critical/negative."* Again, gonna have to disagree. My approach for these talking points was entirely neutral, I didn't slant the video to be more positive/negative than I actually felt, and what I felt was what I wrote. You may find it too critical for your enjoyment, which is reasonable, but I wouldn't change it. *-"So this is why you haven't uploaded in so long!"* Yes, and believe me, that wasn't the intention. If I were to remake this video knowing what I've learned since starting, I could, no exaggeration, reduce its production time by at least a month. I did a lot wrong, largely with the audio, and hopefully can carry those lessons forward into future series entries. -Twitter: twitter.com/MrMockRock -Twitch: www.twitch.tv/mockrocktwitch -Patreon: www.patreon.com/mockrock -Teespring: teespring.com/stores/mockrock
Mockrock please, I'm already 200 milliseconds into the video and you're already thanking me for watching I'm gonna blush. Also I can see your comment is from 53 minutes ago and the video hasn't been up for that long so I know you didn't watch the video before coming down to the comments section. edit: as I watch the video I'm going to edit this comment to add things I thought about it. 20:30 - I felt that the intense sense of mortal doom means that attempting to climb down is unintelligent do to so. I felt immersed enough that risking death for it wouldn't be smart. I do agree that hard punishing the players is _not_ the move though. I'd rather the old man come flying down in surprise, _on his para glider_ congratulate you for your _courage_ and give you the glider if you had managed to make it down by yourself in one piece. If you talk to him again he could mysteriously say that he can make it back up himself don't worry and he casually gives you your quest there without revealing that he is a ghost as a cutscene after as you walk away. 22:30 - You don't need to explain what each of the shrines are like on the inside too specifically, just the sheika powers really quick. Fast and conclusive could be better.
He really pushed it, didn't he? And to those who say (and are probably going to say) that his comment is stolen, I'd rather see it as a funny coincidence that the top comment of this BOTW retrospective is the same one as Arlo's BOTW review.
@Ethan Brean Arlos video was 100% not the first person to make the 10 minute joke, lol. Hell, even Idubbz content cop made a 10 minute video joke (he wasn't the first either). That shit was back in like 2017, long before Arlo made his 3hr video.
I remember when I first played, I tried to go straight from Hateno Village to the Akkala region because of Purah's quest to find Robbie, and obviously, Zora's Domain is in the way, but I didn't know that. I made it to an outside mountain of Zora's Domain, and waited for so long for the rain to end so I could climb... and the rain in the Domain doesn't end because of Vah Ruta. Eventually, after waiting for so long, I experienced my first blood moon! I genuinely thought I failed the game and Ganon was destroying the world because I was wasting my time.
I did the same but through it learnt to climb in the Rain. This in turn made me disagree with everyone who hated how the rain stopped your climbing progress. I was rewarded with my efforts!
Zelda: "Link you numbskull, you took too long! Now I'm a ghost like my dad and Hyrule's f&%$ed! A hero hasn't messed up this bad since the one with the talking hat took too long and got that Zelda killed!" Link: "Well excuuuuuse me, Prin-" * Takes a Guardian laser to face. Gets another unique game over screen: Malice Purple with a broken clock in the "O." *
I kid you not I remember my first blood moon happened the moment I stepped into kakariko village, I thought it was scripted event to signify something important but it wasn’t I’ll never forget it
@@guldmalmo on my 4th playthrough and im trying to play botw in the “dumbest way possible” and i climbed up zora domain to vah ruta lmao i never disliked rain but now i think i love it? It was challenging but worth it
And there isn’t an indoor cooking apparatus, or a way to store cool armor or items if you don’t want to sell but still want to declutter your inventory - the house feels like a real missed opportunity to me
@@J.Millhouse And the weapon/bow/shield slots were not enough lmao. I didn't even have enough space for all the legendary weapons you get from the heroes.
Being able to complain about something for hours just shows how much you care about it, it's not a dislike the complaint comes from but a want for it to be better.
i could spend the next 8 hours complaining about dark souls 2, dragons dogma, and fallout new vegas. they are all 6 out of 10 out of tens. Fantastic. Goats. I cant stop talking about them.
I feel like my lack of skill in video games really improved my overall gameplay experience for once. I honestly didn’t know many of the exploits you talked about in game existed except for the molduga one with the bombs and I felt like billy badass when I figured out that it worked that way
Fighting molduga with bombs isn't an exploit, it's how they are ment to be fought. The problem is that there are too many high ground spots around them were they can't reach you at all.
@@NuiYabuko It's a problem because it invalidates the challenge. Imagine fighting a boss that you can easily kill but it can't touch you. Is it really a boss at that point?
I think most of the criticisms are meant to be identifying "areas for improvement ", but come across as negative criticism of outright weaknesses. Some of the points seem unrealistically scathing
Yeah sounds like he doesn't like games at all. He should try movie reviews. I loved the game. Only thing I disliked is that there's not enough stuff to do. Force me to spend 1000 hours before it's 100% done!
The framing stuff on the Great Plateau is something I’d never have noticed and have never heard mentioned. If nothing else that was worth the half hour I’ve watched so far.
I think the purpose of the various earrings is just so you can get the benefits of various headgear without actually visually having to wear a hat. It’s just for cosmetic preferences I think.
Thats my take as well. I like wearing the earrings (or the circlet if I want to look fancy) with the champions tunic and hylian pants bc it’s the closest you’ll get to his canon outfit while still wearing headgear of some kind.
I was surprised people were so upset about the horses. Even in the base game, I used them all the time. I loved acting like one of the travelling NPCs, travelling along roads from stable to stable looking for shelter, then straying when I saw something interesting.
Man even with the zero I still use horses occasionally, just to “get them out of the stable”. I’ve revived several horses, and I’ve looked for the best horses to ride. Plus, the challenge of catching them is fun.
The problem is so much of the map is made up of cliffsides and steep mountains to flaunt the climbing mechanic and provide vantage points to scout from. Horses can't climb those so you often have to leave them behind. They turn poorly even when not in a canter or gallop, and the staying on roads mechanic gets in my way more often than not as horses fight my movements to religiously stick to the trail. And mixed horses being explicitly worse might sit poorly with some people too, but the main issue is a lack of good areas to use them.
I rarely used horses past the early game because it's annoying going back to a stable to retrieve it every time you fast travel. I used wild horses and deer far more than my own horses for this reason
Another way of interpreting the Yiga flashback scene is less 'Zelda is shocked and amazed Link saved her life' and more that Zelda, who had been ditching and snapping at Link up to this point, suddenly faced the consequences of her actions. It's very easy to image her sneaking off just prior to that scene, doing all the Yiga's hard work of separating her from her own bodyguard, and nearly dying had Link not saved her in time. After that, she stuck near Link more often, which gave her the chance to really get to *know* him rather then projecting onto what was virtually a stranger till that point. Also, it would have been cooler had the DLC added a tailor to the dye shop, and after finding patterns/sketches of old armor out in the wild, you could have your existing armor changed to match. (For instance, the Barbarian Set turns *into* the Phantom Set)
At 1:59:17 I thought for sure the Lord of the Mountain was going to solve the "your horse can't hear you" thing. As in - if you befriend it it would be like "You can't keep me... but I will help your horses find you no matter where you are." and then disappear. The fact that it did LITERALLY NOTHING was so heartbreaking.
@@RbDaP especially if it's true that it turns out it's the spirit of an ancient sage - it would have more important things to do as a guardian than be your special little pony
@@BASCILLICUS its also meant to be a tribute to satoru iwata. i honestly really like that he's memorialized by this mountain and it's lord, and i like that that memorial is not tainted by any large game mechanics. it's not a side quest in order to unlock a feature, its just a place you can stop and explore on your adventure that really sticks out in your mind after you've seen it. its nice and quiet, and plentiful in food and ore if you need some extra.
22:00 We've known for ages that Link activating the Great Plateau Tower also activates a central control unit under Hyrule Castle, which Ganon has control over. This is when he turns his attention toward preparing to battle Link, triggering the Divine Beast behavior and constructing a new body inside the giant cocoon within the Sanctum.
Welp, I just listened to another 3+ hours critique on BoTW. Great job! In regards to the Rito quest. I am convinced there's cut content there. It has the least going on and given what you can learn about Teba from talking to him both after the main quest and during the Champion's Ballad DLC, there's a lot of emphases placed on his relationship with his son, a character who you never have to encounter during the main quest. Teba often talks about training with him so I wouldn't be surprised if there were at least plans for a lead-up quest involving his son, maybe having to find and rescue him in the Hebra Mountains kinda like finding Yunobo in Death Mountain or getting shock arrows on Ploymus mountain? The Hebra mountains are entirely skippable as is so it would've given the player a better introduction to the region. I can't imagine why something like that would get cut if all they really had to do was place that NPC somewhere in the mountains, write a few lines of dialogue, and make that a prerequisite for starting the Divine Beast boarding sequence instead of just the basic shooting gallery. As is, the Rito questline feels straight-up unfinished. Every other region has some lead-up where you have to trek through part of the region so why did the Rito quest get shafted?
Thank you, I've seen a lot of your content and appreciate the kind words! I think "the Rito quest feels unfinished" isn't exactly a controversial opinion, it's such a downgrade from the rest of them that there's no way the developers could be unaware of it imo.
@@MrMockRock I can't imagine that they didn't have any greater plans for it at one point. I can only assume they just ran out of time and had to throw something together at the last minute.
In my head cannon, the Rito quest and divine beast being bad were fuel to dunk on Rivali and how bad he is compared to me (Link). Like damn dude, you think hitting 5 targets in 3 minutes is hard? You really lost to Wind Blight Ganon despite it being the easiest of the four and you being proficient in it's natural counter. Smh way to let the team down you smack talking chicken.
It's worth mentioning that Nintendo had more DLC ideas past DLC 2, but many of them were too substantial to make into DLC, which is why BotW 2 is being made. Wouldn't surprise me if one of those cut DLC concepts had to deal with the champion descendants as the second DLC dealt with the champions themselves.
one of the things that changed my outlook the most on botw's story and really made me think about it again was this one comic by queenoftheantz where instead of going right to hyrule castle to defeat ganon after freeing all the divine beasts he kinda just screws around for a while, collecting his memories and getting the master sword and finishing tarrytown, and he gets to the memory where zelda is asking link what he would do if he realized he wasn't meant to be a fighter and didn't want to be a knight and it's this moment of like. wow. like if you as the player put 60 hours into botw goofing off like, that's link! that's you as link derelict in his duties, because he's also not that person anymore and maybe never was. and i really wish more of that had been built into the game itself, i think it would have made it so tragically compelling and made perfect use of the open world format, but it's still my favorite reading of the game even if it's not quite intended
So I haven’t watched all the video yet so I don’t know if he mentioned it, but in the Japanese version it does kind of highlight this with the Adventure Log actually being Link’s diary. The one for the giant horse quest highlights how much Link loved just riding it and mowing down enemies like a game, the seal one highlighted how much he loved it and even wanted to beat his new time!! I hate that Nintendo just…got rid of this aspect for the English? Some entries are completely different between languages. It gave us some insight on a reckless, foodie, fun loving Link who was also excited about his new house?? Like the dude would have absolutely settled down if given the chance and probably canonically did most of the more prominent side quests before beating Ganon and I hate we were robbed of it. I know they want Link to be more of a link between the character and the player but come on. 😭
@@Royal_Keith oh i looove that i never knew that was a thing wtf!! i understand why some people might enjoy link being stoic more as it helps the player project themselves onto him, but the idea of giving link a personality through subtle methods such as a diary and stuff would make his journey so much more endearing to me… i hope tears of the kingdom brings this to the english version i want a silly link😭
Played through this game together with my partner at the time while she suffered through an intense episode of extreme depression and disassociation. She said she felt like Link, trying to put her memories back together. It was the last time we were really happy before it ended and I'll always love the game for that. Thanks for reading.
I have to say, the lord of the mountain on satori mountain is meant as a remembrance to Satoru Iwata, who died during development of this game. so not being able to tame the spirit of the mountain, is sort of probably a respect thing, and I don't think I'd say its a downside.
@@jesusbarrera6916 idk that just kinda sounds bad. Like sure it'd be neat but again, it's not meant that way. And if anyone even does a sliver of research as to why they can't ride the lord of the mountain, they can find that explanation.
Part of why the kakariko stolen heirloom shrine didn't work is because you are required to finish 3 of the villages missions. First the fairy fountain and missing cucco's quests and then the fireflies mission. Only after finishing those 3, the game activates the trigger that starts the shrine quest. The problem here is that, apart from the fairy fountain quest which is a main story quest, mini missions in Breath of the Wild are such a common occurance that it doesn't feel important enough to immidiatly look into. This is an even bigger problem because Kakario has more mini missions then just those 2 and its nowhere implied that the 2 mentioned were more important.
1:48:00 Just to nitpick the nitpick a little bit, I believe Hestu's Gift is something lost in translation rather than an intentional slap in the face. In Japan where Zelda is developed, they have the Kin no unko or golden poo as a symbol of good luck. Essentially, the Japanese words for good luck and golden poo are very very similar, and the pun became a cultural thing. So Japanese players would recognize this intent behind the emblem and likely just think it was a funny reward. Obviously doesn't have any impact on the quality of this great video or BotW, but I wanted to put that out there.
this is truly the pinnacle of the "video essay" format, you have perfected it to a point where you have me engaged with your pointed for well over 4 hours, that is absolutely insane and you deserve SO much more praise than you get. if you enjoyed making this I strongly encourage you to make more of these, you've earned every bit of respect I can offer. you are a light on this dark platform
This is exactly reviewing games, or music, or really just reviewing in general should be like. I loved how you presented evidence and didn’t put yourself up on a pedestal and I am so so so excited to see more of this type of content from you!!! You completely blew me away and totally earned that sub!!
32:32 actually those types of trees actually exist in the world. they’re called dragonblood trees and they’re prominent on the island of socotra where up to 1/3 of the flora is endemic, thus making them look alien or fantastical
I strongly believe that if the sequel implements dungeons and temples with the same level of magnificence as in previous zelda games, has new enemies, ups the story a little and maybe adds some new epic tunes during more crucial sequences and boss fights - it's going to be basically the perfect game.
@@linkonedgell894 it would be nice if weapons took maybe 33% more time to break** durability is cool but they break too quickly to even feel excited when you get a cool weapon
Had to play it for the Kirby episode of The Signature Move Tier List and was immediately impressed by that opening level, have been looking for a reason to slip it into a video!
Clearing monster infested areas in order to expand settlements is a fantastic idea. It adds so much to the story in a post apocalyptic way that gives one hope for the return of the kingdom's glory.
You are one of the most talented RUclipsrs I've ever seen. This video is proof of that. You put some of the most effort into editing, writing and polish I've seen into this project and I have nothing but praise for you. Thank you MockRock.
about 3:45:17 :: this cutscene where mipha was sad about never being able to reassure her father of her (spirit's) wellbeing was ruined for me when daruk openly WAVED to yunobo, who could see and recognize him perfectly. so obviously link isnt the only one who can see them (like he's the only one who can see koroks and fairies) and king dorephan can just GO to the divine beast whenever and have a chat with his daughter???
1:49:52 okay you got me there with the double jump ability joke I legitimately went "Wait really?!?" and then narrowed my eyes at the rupies on the screen haha
I kinda wish the blood moon was fleshed out a little better. Not just respawning previously killed camps and mini bosses. It would have been cool if the entire night had the blood moon out and it made all the enemies more aggressive and/or act differently in combat because of Ganon's power being at its peak during blood moons. Maybe the enemy's would have glowing red eyes and be surging with power that they wouldn't sleep at night, and be more aware of their surroundings, making stealth a little more difficult. Or maybe it would be a little too much if combined with the health regen of master mode, even though blood moons take a while to appear again. Just something I thought about.
honestly that's what i thought was happening the first time i saw a blood moon, the calamity fog and tense musical buildup before the cutscene made me think it was a long lasting thing. seeing the moon just back to normal the moment the cutscene ended was kinda disappointing
Just one issue… I’ve had blood moons happen at inopportune times - like when fighting. It would be annoying to have that blood moon effect happen during these times.
Zoras domain was first for me due to that perfectly placed shrine in the swamp north of Kakariko. Then, in the distance, another shrine further north, with a zora calling me to come to zoras domain.
yeah! it's really like the game guides you to one place and you're thinking 'hmm, what now?' when you see a shrine in the distance of kakariko. eventually you start following the shrines like bread crumbs and suddenly you and mipha are flirting on top of a robot elephant! wild stuff! from there on I'd say the game leads you less but it's clear that gerudo desert was intended to be in late game given how hidden and narrow the path to get there is.
The Blight Ganons being reused in Champion’s Ballad definitely supports your idea that those boss fights were originally supposed to be against corrupted versions of the champions.
@@NuiYabuko Cuz the champion's ballad was all about... yknow, the champions, and so the final bosses being decidedly NOT the champions which kinda robs the fights of any narrative or dramatic tensions, kinda implies that maybe they intended for the bosses to be something that... didn't do those things I just mentioned?
The first ~20 hours of this game are some of the strongest in any game, ever. Every system shines here - you're constantly struggling, improvising, tinkering, and discovering, making decisions about traversal and materials management. Absolutely inspired. But there are some serious weaknesses, particularly in the dungeon/boss design and especially in the endgame. You start to realize that all challenge and engagement has dissolved away. The game just does so much better when you're underpowered and need to rely on the systems. On my second playthrough, I completely ignored the story content, kept my hearts at 3, and mastered bomb launches, while just going around finding Koroks, fighting Lynels, and sorting out big groups of mobs. This kept the challenge alive and added some spice to the experience. Also it avoids having those atrociously ugly, poorly considered lasers completely mar the beautiful vistas that were so carefully crafted. Anyway, now it's a fantastic game to just pick up and play for a bit.
This so much!! I've been telling people this and few will listen. My first Divine Beast was Naboris and I had a blast up until then. BotW is at its best when you are restricted, but people don't want restrictions, they want freedom. The game makes you OP really fast and after that anything you find is meaningless because you don't need it. But hey you are "free" now. I'm doing a challenge run on MM with a heavily restrictive ruleset (like no paragliding) and I'm having a blast. I use every system the game offers because under the ruleset I'm forced to. I appreciated the map design a lot more this way.
To be honest, as someone who sucks ass at video games I never had to really restrict myself that way to keep things challenging lol. My favorite part was always exploring the random parts of the map you had no real reason to go to storywise, collecting tons of ressources and periodically getting destroyed by enemies. I spent like 300 hours just doing that!
@@KagomeYasha023 I got around this by creating a different profile in the Nintendo home page and playing under the new profile. There's probably another way but I'm happy with it!
theres actually lore that says the towers connect at Hyrule castle so link activating one tower would activate them all and also alert Ganon although a causal player would likely never come across it.
@@djroscurro9859 IIRC it's mentioned in Purah's notes, either in her workshop or the Ancient Tech lab. The Towers, Shrines and the Guardian Vault under Hyrule Castle are all connected to a single network. This is actually how the various Runes got into their respective shrines: They were invented by Robbie and Purah at one of the two aforementioned locations in the century between the Calamity and the present, then transferred via the Forges to the shrines for Link to collect.
Even though I quickly picked up on the fact that the Silent Princess was intended to be a metaphor in for Princess Zelda and I am usually pretty good about noticing overarching themes, I am surprised I never noticed the parallel between the flower only being able to bloom in the wild and Zelda's overall character arc and struggle. That in and of itself made the whole video worth it.
3:04:30 "Unless you want to burn through a massive stockpile of food" fun fact that's what I did on my first playthrough. I stockpiled a fuckton of healing, found the closest peak to Goron City where I didn't burn to death, and glided in.
Finally finished this video, and I gotta say, I agree with like 95% of what you said, which is... really impressive considering how much was said lmfao My favorite thing you brought up was "maybe the world shouldn't have been so big." It's the type of conclusion that I've thought this entire time, but was never really able to put into words. The amount of world they made paired with the amount of content they made for it feels like they made an entire cake base, but only had a spoonful of icing for it. It's so weird. It's like, when I played through the game, I loved it, I had such a good, cathartic time exploring the world. And yet, even then, when I first played it, and especially now, I always said, "BotW is a GREAT game... but it's not a good Zelda game." And I think this idea of the world being so "empty" is what causes this. The Great Plateau, and then Eventide, are really the only parts of the game that felt like "survivalist adventure," where everything was new, mechanics were new, things were difficult, and everything was STILL really big. After this though, especially after the first Divine Beast or two, the game, to me, felt less like a "survival adventure" game, and more like... a hike. In watching your video, that's what I felt like was the best word for it, for me. A hike. The vast majority of positives I felt regarding the game were the types of things I could equate to going for a walk through the forest, or jogging along the beach. Certainly excellent and fun things, which is why I still enjoyed the game. But... not really an "adventure." For me personally, at least, I wouldn't call a "hike" an adventure. Because a hike is primarily you just doing things you already do frequently (walking...), but just in new scenery. And that's what BotW was, after its beginning section. Everything was already introduced, and this paired with how open-ended everything had to be, I felt like I'd already experienced everything, and everything else was just there for the spectacle of it. Sight seeing. VERY little challenge, basically no new enemy types, no real new mechanics or dungeons. And, as someone who is a HUGE sucker for aesthetics, the dungeons being identical was also a MAJOR blow even in the sight-seeing aspect, so those were just a pretty low point in the game for me. Ultimately, it's like... I think what BotW did was pretty good. Plenty of room for improvement, but it also served REALLY well for just an open-world playground of nature and physics. It's just that... this isn't why I'm playing a Zelda game. I want cool new items, fun side quests that feel rewarding to accomplish, insanely cool dungeons that look and play awesome with sick enemies and bosses. The items are especially important, even the FIRST Zelda game gave you a unique new tool in each dungeon that either allowed you to complete later dungeons, or access goodies in the overworld you couldn't before. Metroid and Castlevania are always the games considered first for the... well, "Metroidvania" category, but I can't help but feel like Zelda ties into that too. Some games more than others, sure, but there's this idea of backwards progression quite a bit once you finally get a certain item that allows you to finally tackle a certain side quest or whatever. It makes doing the thing to get the item feel good, makes the item itself cool, and makes you feel good for using it. I think this is why the Great Plateau is the only section of BotW that really felt "Zelda"-y to me, despite its lack of real dungeons/bosses. It's because, after each "dungeon," I got a cool new tool that I could then use in the overworld. It made me feel like I was actually having an adventure, discovering new things, growing stronger, getting new toys to play with. So, in general, it's like, I really enjoyed BotW, but as a Zelda game, it strays SO far that I can't help but resent it. It's good on its own, but if this is the direction they just take the series in now? What's gonna happen to all of the aspects that made people love the other Zelda games, myself included? The other Zelda games akin to BotW will still be enjoyable in the same way, I imagine, but, if it "replaces" the series, it'll be leaving an itch forever unable to be scratched again. The worry may be unwarranted, though, considering how much Nintendo shakes things up with each new Zelda title, but considering our next big Zelda game is going to be a direct sequel to BotW, I am a little worried. We'll just have to see, though! Like you said, most of the development time for BotW was spent getting things, like, set up. Now, they have all the development to just focus on fine-tuning what's already here, and expanding on what's already been built. Great retrospective, there's really a lot to talk about this game lol, I eat it up. I'd love to see more content like this, too! Your script was extremely eloquent and you edited the whole thing INSANELY well (I know how tedious it is to organize clips, especially with how many different clips/topics you go over lol). Keep it up my man
in terms of content-to-world density, BotW falls just short of performing the same trap a lot of these other 2010's open world games do. Density is excellent is some areas, but the general overworld could've been a quarter percent more condensed
I personally love how the terrain forces you off your horse, especially on the first play through. It makes you explore and appreciate the world in so much more detail.
@@samueldeadman5733 Idk if this information is still useful to you but there is a set of ancient horse armour in the game. If you own the champions ballad DLC you can look through the quests to find the ancient horse gear. One piece will add more sprint boosters to your horse, and the other lets you summon your horse from anywhere
@@mitch9309 I actually think that may be what MockRock was getting at when he said there might even be an insidious (not the word he used, just can't remember the word right now) reason why you can't summon your horse... that reason being to frustrate the player into buying the DLC.
@@trickytreyperfected1482 which is a good marketing strategy to be fair. I think the DLC's of the game are worth it anyway with the amount of content you get
This is literally the best vid on youtube in my opinion, its so well made and i rewatch it every few months. Thank you for making this masterpiece mockrock.
Would Eventide and the Great Plateau really be so memorable and fun every time if the whole game was like that? I love both segments too but I recognize that much of their appeal comes from them being different from most of the game.
Honestly, given what people praise the game for is entirely those segments... yes. The entire thing would be memorable and people praising the entire game for those two moments would make sense.
Considering they're the best parts of the game by a wide margin, yes the rest of the game would have benefitted a lot from being more like them. There are a lot of mechanics included in the game that basically cease existing after a while outside of those areas.
@@jon.meister bro this man literally recorded ++++4 h of gameplay and he managed to show in game what he's talking about, you don't know how hard is that
@@jon.meister have you ever tried to write a speech for public speaking? This is a fucking paper that he wrote with an internal structure and logical argumentation, and then recorded in an enticing manner. Then on top of that he made it visually cohesive as well. This is a lot of work and I would like to see you try to do a better job if it's that easy...
3:56:35 Zelda had sneaked away from link's protection by that time, and urbosa was the one to tell him where she was. She was annoyed by his presence, and didn't realize the risk of doing so, but thankfully he arrived just in time. That's what makes it great.
It’s been three months, man! Where have you b- I see. Jokes aside, this video is fantastic. I love longform content and I love your voice and style. Pair them together and you have a video that makes an entire day amazing.
thankfully, even though i still cook hearty meals, i still have fun throwing together ingredients for interesting recipes like cakes, crepes, pies, curries, etc simply because i find enjoyment in it. but goddamn do i wish those were more useful 💀
This is such a nuanced and fair review. I expected your stated "subjectivity" from the beginning to be a justification for giving unfair criticisms, but all of your criticisms hit the mark SO well and were extremely valuable. I found myself agreeing with pretty much all of them, despite the fact most of them were things I didn't initially pay any mind to.
This is probably one of the better retrospectives I've seen for a game in a while. I really appreciate that you discuss both the good and the bad of the game without going too far in either direction.
It's absolutely amazing to me that BOTW easily shattered all my expectations for what games could accomplish. Becoming my favourite game in a matter of days. And being one of my greatest forms of reprieve from my hard work life balance at the time. And yet I can so easily see how it can be improved on. It really spells such amazing things for video games as a whole.
@@linkthepig4219 Nerrel made a lot of points in his review that I disagree with. But I do feel there is a decent bit of truth to his statement on how much BOTW could be improved on. After all the reality of dev time held the game back a lot. Though I will agree, I don't think it will be obsolete.
@@linkthepig4219 I prefer to take a realistic stance when reviewing a game. Some flaws can be fixed, others are a by product of reality or design choices that needed to be made. Without infinite money, infinite time, and infinite processing power anything close to a perfect game will not be made. I happily feel that BOTW more than satisfies the conditions to be a 10/10. It's flaws exist, but if we are to argue that they make the game experience a less than 10, I do not feel the current scale has any more meaning. A game doesn't need to be flawless. It needs to pull you in, whether for the fun, a dark story, intriguing combat, or anything else. Having less flaws is always a good thing, but I would say in the realm of games it is but one minor piece of the puzzle.
I find it interesting that you wanted more overtly extrinsic rewards from the side quests, as I found myself wanting the exact opposite. Getting 100 rupees at the end of a side quest is not only a weak extrinsic incentive-it also actively undermines the point of completing that quest, making Link feel more like a mercenary for hire than a hero. There's psychological backing to this-it is well established that extrinsic incentives often undermine more powerful intrinsic incentives, and where an intrinsic motivation is already present, even a mix of the two weakens overall motivation. Removing the rewards from side-quests or better yet hiding the end reward within the quest itself (in chests, enemy drops, etc) would not only remove this underwhelming sensation, but would also add to Link's more heroic side. Some thematic or more important rewards could be kept, but removing the expectation for reward removes the need for a more or less potent reward in the first place.
This is something I've definitely noticed myself. Not too long ago I played a game called "The First Tree" (got it for free on Epic a while ago) and loved it. After I played it, I decided to check its Steam page to see its reviews out of curiosity. It had mixed reviews, which is fair - it's basically a walking simulator that's very light on actual gameplay, with more of a focus on exploration, story, and visual presentation, and that certainly won't be for everyone. But the bigger thing I noticed was that it actually had achievements (which wasn't a thing on Epic at the time), for things like finding all the collectibles, secrets, etc, which are otherwise mostly untracked in the game itself. This... actually rubbed me the wrong way, and kinda still does. Having your progress be tracked like that feels like it takes away from the intrinsic experience of the exploration - it becomes less of something you do because you want to see what's there, and more something you do to complete a checklist. And for a game which relies so heavily on intrinsic motivation (because, let's be real, the game is dull as hell if you're not invested in the story or landscape) it really doesn't seem like a good call to me.
May I just note that your points regarding the voice acting are fully validated by Age of Calamity. Same voice actors, *far* better execution. (Also, Urbosa's voice actress also does Ymir in Attack on Titan, and does so perfectly.)
For me a GREAT thing about the Ruta fight is that it introduced me to bullet time, which, if you haven't found out about it before, creates an amazing atmosphere where after ascending through the waterfall you get that beautiful visual effect of time slowing down while shooting
Actually, we know other people can see the ghosts because Yunobo, the worst successor, gets to wave hello to daruk! Which takes ALL the bite out of Mipha's regrets when you know her family could pull out a telescope, aim it at vah ruta's trunk, and start beatboxing in Morse Code or something.
What? Yunobo? I would think Teba is the worst successor. His initial distrust of you is arbitrary and then quickly dismisses, he's only introduced for the purpose of helping you get into the Divine Beast with no story impact before or after, he has no real personality to speak of... Yunobo at least is a goofy coward who learns to stand up for himself a bit and is generally friendly.
i love this, and hearing how your experience compared to mine is so funny, like in my 1st playthough i went to the zora last and literally never got to use miphas grace. also this reminded me of how the saddest moment i ever had playing this game- when i had beat ganon, and zelda said she was going to clean up hyrule i 100% expected to be able to play in that fixed up hyrule, and so being loaded back in to before the boss fight completely crushed me
This was a great review with some really good insights, and I'm glad you mentioned at the end what I was thinking half way through: "This is the most I've ever heard anyone complain about their favorite game."
On my first playthrough I went to the Yiga Hideout and hide my butt handed to me. It was super scary and stressful. I did a whole lotta grinding, came back with ancient arrows and sent every single one of those Yiga to the shadow realm. And that's the story of my biggest brain gamer moment of all time, and I felt like I was on top of the world!
I think it’s more a matter of consistency. All physically strenuous actions require stamina from climbing to gliding to spin attacks. It would be strange if this wasn’t also true of running. Running is also not just about traveling. It’s useful in combat situations too. So making it something players can’t do infinitely makes sense.
This gives me a lot of hope for Tears of the Kingdom. The dev team won't have to worry about making the huge world from the ground up or the complex chemistry system from the beginning. Possibly even introduce more linearity as to add more story
It's a testament to the game that it inspired 4 and 1/2 hours of tightly scripted commentary from you, and to your work ethic that you produced this monster of a retrospective complete with gameplay. Stellar work young man
I fully agree with your take on the issue of voice direction. We know Urbosa’s VA in English has the skills to deliver a good performance since she is also the VA for Sae Niijima in Persona 5
It points to a developer-level problem. Monolith was split between this game and Xenoblade Chronicles 2--and both games have glaring issues with voice direction in their English dubs. Coincidence? I genuinely think not.
My biggest takeaway is that BoTW has a hard line for who will and won't enjoy it - intrinsic motivation or extrinsic. From personal experience I was in it for the beautiful sights and sounds of the game, as well as stumbling on the odd ruins with implied lore that I could glean from the subtext. My favorite are ruined villages with Fire Wizzrobes creepily dancing above them. Some people see it as a free fire rod, others see it as a graveyard. Or both!
I'm so happy French Zelda made an appearance!! I absolutely love her French voice and think it's a perfect fit for the character. I will say, Patricia Summerset's performance in Age of Calamity is SOOO much better, so I'm excited to hear her in BOTW 2.
I always get around the 'carry a melting ice block through the desert ruins' puzzle by equipping an ice sword. Don't have to worry about the dessert shade or fighting enemies then.
I have well over 300 hours in this game... And you still taught me stuff about it. Like the crumbling structures framing landmarks. I had no idea about it and now playing it's the first thing I see. Amazing video.
I am very much thankful that you didn't simply hate on how Calamity Ganon looks the same as the Blights, and how his design is actually incredible. You're right when you say it's bizarre, because it really is meant to be.
For the rain part, in my opinion I think there should have been some later game upgrade, like when you level up the climbing gear twice, where you would be able to climb when it’s raining. This would give the climbing gear more use and reward late game players with making the game less annoying because of rain
Not gonna lie, I never thought about 90% of the stuff in this video during my 300+ hours of playtime in BOTW. The frame rate in Korok Woods though- Anyway, good video!
I have always loved when a side quest reqarded me with a Piece of Heart, I genuinely believe a piece of heart is something beautiful to look at as a reward aside from expanding the life gauge.
I literally found out 4 years later that I can destroy the tiny lazer things that Windblight gets in its phase 2 because I have only ever killed it before that could matter.
During my first play through of the game, after the king's spirit told me to reach for Kakariko village, I got lost, and ended up arriving to Hateno, I loved the village but experienced my first blood moon just some minutes after my arrival, I was horrified, I thought that the village was an illusion created by Ganon or something 😂 I panicked so bad thinking that the cozyness of the place was a trap
![Jack Harlow - Hello Miss Johnson [Official Music Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Q86_nlRoIGw/mqdefault.jpg)
Thanks for watching everyone! This video was originally meant to release in February; its behind the scenes ended up being much more of an ordeal than expected and the release date, while unplanned, feels very appropriate. I'll be using this comment to address any needed corrections, etc. that I see pop up, so by all means let me know if you notice something. Your thoughts in general are appreciated on this one, long form game videos are some of my favourite content on RUclips and I've been wanting to give the format a try for awhile now, but it's still ultimately an area I have little experience in. The channel isn't becoming a channel of 4+ hour videos (there will be another shorter one this month), but I will likely be making more Hearty Retrospectives, so feel free to let me know what worked and didn't work about this one for you, as well as any games you think would make good candidates.
__________________________________
*Corrections and Observations from Comments:*
*-I referred to Zelda's voice actress as American, but she's actually Canadian-American according to IMDB.*
*-There's an NPC who sells fireproof elixirs without requiring you to collect lizards. This one slipped through the cracks, it doesn't fundamentally change my commentary on that section but should have been mentioned.*
*-"I wasn't sure if this was an April Fool's joke."* Nope!
*-"You beat Arlo!"* I definitely saw this one coming haha, but just for the record, my goal was never to beat anyone else, and I didn't have a set target for this video's length. I'm a fan of a lot of long form video game content, and while I tried to make sure this video maintained a distinct voice, it was obviously inspired by those channels (although I avoided them while writing the script). I wanted to make a long video about a game, chose Breath of the Wild because it's my favourite, and was never good at sticking to word counts.
*-"This video is too long/should have been split into parts."* Gonna have to disagree on this one, I made a video that I myself would have been thrilled to discover. I like long form content.
*-"This video is overly critical/negative."* Again, gonna have to disagree. My approach for these talking points was entirely neutral, I didn't slant the video to be more positive/negative than I actually felt, and what I felt was what I wrote. You may find it too critical for your enjoyment, which is reasonable, but I wouldn't change it.
*-"So this is why you haven't uploaded in so long!"* Yes, and believe me, that wasn't the intention. If I were to remake this video knowing what I've learned since starting, I could, no exaggeration, reduce its production time by at least a month. I did a lot wrong, largely with the audio, and hopefully can carry those lessons forward into future series entries.
-Twitter: twitter.com/MrMockRock
-Twitch: www.twitch.tv/mockrocktwitch
-Patreon: www.patreon.com/mockrock
-Teespring: teespring.com/stores/mockrock
This is the best April fools prank after Google Maps for NES
Mockrock please, I'm already 200 milliseconds into the video and you're already thanking me for watching I'm gonna blush. Also I can see your comment is from 53 minutes ago and the video hasn't been up for that long so I know you didn't watch the video before coming down to the comments section.
edit: as I watch the video I'm going to edit this comment to add things I thought about it.
20:30 - I felt that the intense sense of mortal doom means that attempting to climb down is unintelligent do to so. I felt immersed enough that risking death for it wouldn't be smart. I do agree that hard punishing the players is _not_ the move though. I'd rather the old man come flying down in surprise, _on his para glider_ congratulate you for your _courage_ and give you the glider if you had managed to make it down by yourself in one piece. If you talk to him again he could mysteriously say that he can make it back up himself don't worry and he casually gives you your quest there without revealing that he is a ghost as a cutscene after as you walk away.
22:30 - You don't need to explain what each of the shrines are like on the inside too specifically, just the sheika powers really quick. Fast and conclusive could be better.
@@dddmemaybe Patrons get to see it early
It might be to late but can you do a 2020 retrospective on Smash Ultimate?
Edit: Your new intro is AWSOME
@@cw4038 It _is_ too late, but there will likely be a Hearty Retrospective for Ultimate after the DLC winds down.
Revali’s Gale is the fancy word for “climb while raining”
"Climb while raining is now ready"
HOW HASN'T THIS BEEN GIVEN A HEART YET
Edit 2 years later: Holy shit
No, just a fancy word for "climb"
That leads to the literal worst moment when Revali’s doesn’t get you juuuust high enough to reach
Almost snapped my Switch in half ong
Just whistle sprint up the mountain lmao.
You really had to hit that 10 minute mark didn't you?
lol
Nice pfp
He really pushed it, didn't he?
And to those who say (and are probably going to say) that his comment is stolen, I'd rather see it as a funny coincidence that the top comment of this BOTW retrospective is the same one as Arlo's BOTW review.
@Ethan Brean From where? Who was the original person that said it?
@Ethan Brean Arlos video was 100% not the first person to make the 10 minute joke, lol.
Hell, even Idubbz content cop made a 10 minute video joke (he wasn't the first either). That shit was back in like 2017, long before Arlo made his 3hr video.
I remember when I first played, I tried to go straight from Hateno Village to the Akkala region because of Purah's quest to find Robbie, and obviously, Zora's Domain is in the way, but I didn't know that.
I made it to an outside mountain of Zora's Domain, and waited for so long for the rain to end so I could climb... and the rain in the Domain doesn't end because of Vah Ruta.
Eventually, after waiting for so long, I experienced my first blood moon! I genuinely thought I failed the game and Ganon was destroying the world because I was wasting my time.
I did the same but through it learnt to climb in the Rain. This in turn made me disagree with everyone who hated how the rain stopped your climbing progress. I was rewarded with my efforts!
So much confusion when you first start a game, I love it but hate how it's a one-time experience
Zelda: "Link you numbskull, you took too long! Now I'm a ghost like my dad and Hyrule's f&%$ed! A hero hasn't messed up this bad since the one with the talking hat took too long and got that Zelda killed!"
Link: "Well excuuuuuse me, Prin-" * Takes a Guardian laser to face. Gets another unique game over screen: Malice Purple with a broken clock in the "O." *
I kid you not I remember my first blood moon happened the moment I stepped into kakariko village, I thought it was scripted event to signify something important but it wasn’t I’ll never forget it
@@guldmalmo on my 4th playthrough and im trying to play botw in the “dumbest way possible” and i climbed up zora domain to vah ruta lmao i never disliked rain but now i think i love it? It was challenging but worth it
Can’t believe MockRock spent 4 and a half hours just on how you couldn’t pet dogs
More accurate than you might expect 😎
Rookie numbers
Totally fair though. Absolutely fair. Why the fuck would you put friendly dogs in a game without letting you pet them?! Japan man, psychopaths.
@@austinbaker8042 2:57:21 MockRock really went into every detail in this game possible
this is such a fantano fan-like comment
"It's MY sleepover and I get to choose the movie!"
Underrated comment alert 🚨
Totally underrated comment, like this more!
"I don't care that we're starting it at 11 pm! We're watching the whole thing!"
I wish I knew someone who cared as much about Zelda as I do to to actually watch this behemoth with me. But that’s fine, I’ll do it myself
"You said we can pick any movie and I choose this one mom"
It is a shame that the bed in Link's house didn't provide the same boosts as premium beds as a reward for completion.
I agree, but a full heal isn't bad considering you don't have to pay for it. The endurance would have been nice though.
And there isn’t an indoor cooking apparatus, or a way to store cool armor or items if you don’t want to sell but still want to declutter your inventory - the house feels like a real missed opportunity to me
@@J.Millhouse right?! Ar least cooking inside would be nice ffs
You can get a soft bed which gives you 1 gomd heart when you rest in it.
@@J.Millhouse And the weapon/bow/shield slots were not enough lmao. I didn't even have enough space for all the legendary weapons you get from the heroes.
I love these "this is one of my favorite video games, here's a million things wrong with it" types of videos.
Being able to complain about something for hours just shows how much you care about it, it's not a dislike the complaint comes from but a want for it to be better.
i could spend the next 8 hours complaining about dark souls 2, dragons dogma, and fallout new vegas. they are all 6 out of 10 out of tens. Fantastic. Goats. I cant stop talking about them.
@@ryanbradleyrankin breath of the wild is a 10/10 imo with flaws.
@@jordangonzalez4658 sure. I dont really think rating systems are very good. Not 10 star systems especially.
@@ryanbradleyrankin true I should have said a masterpiece with flaws lol I try correcting myself here and there
"I have no amiibos and will not cover them. Sorry for lack of content." This mad lad be spitting fire 4 hours into the video. Made me laugh.
I feel like my lack of skill in video games really improved my overall gameplay experience for once. I honestly didn’t know many of the exploits you talked about in game existed except for the molduga one with the bombs and I felt like billy badass when I figured out that it worked that way
Fighting molduga with bombs isn't an exploit, it's how they are ment to be fought. The problem is that there are too many high ground spots around them were they can't reach you at all.
@@Jose-gc8rl The problem? That's like literally the point.
@@NuiYabuko It's a problem because it invalidates the challenge. Imagine fighting a boss that you can easily kill but it can't touch you. Is it really a boss at that point?
The 30 minute long scene of you drinking tomato soup was kind of odd, but over all, good video.
Im not done with the vid yet but i dont know if this is a joke yet lol
W ha t ?
Source: not even halfway through the video
"It's a long video."
IT'S 26 MINUTES LONGER THAN THE RETURN OF THE KING EXTENDED!
The credits of that are 12 minutes long, too.
If this is his review of his favourite game ever then I can’t imagine what his review would be like for a game he doesn’t like
i think he said like 2 positive things about it in the video
He said plenty of good and bad things about it, rather than just mindlessly praising the good in the game
@Falcon2 It's the curse of making the video 4 hours long.
I think most of the criticisms are meant to be identifying "areas for improvement ", but come across as negative criticism of outright weaknesses. Some of the points seem unrealistically scathing
Yeah sounds like he doesn't like games at all. He should try movie reviews.
I loved the game. Only thing I disliked is that there's not enough stuff to do. Force me to spend 1000 hours before it's 100% done!
I don't know what's crazier about this video, the fact that it's over 4 and a half hours long, or that I actually watched it all without getting bored
Welcome to the video game essay rabbit hole
Same. Some content creators are built different
The framing stuff on the Great Plateau is something I’d never have noticed and have never heard mentioned. If nothing else that was worth the half hour I’ve watched so far.
That was something I didn't pick up on myself until my last playthrough, and felt so blind after I noticed!
I think the purpose of the various earrings is just so you can get the benefits of various headgear without actually visually having to wear a hat. It’s just for cosmetic preferences I think.
Yeah, I always use the topaz earrings instead of the rubber mask because I don't like the way that looks
Thats my take as well. I like wearing the earrings (or the circlet if I want to look fancy) with the champions tunic and hylian pants bc it’s the closest you’ll get to his canon outfit while still wearing headgear of some kind.
congratulations you beat Arlo for longest BotW reviewnalysis by a full hour
ACK XD Yess
Someone show this to him
Can't wait to watch this one 9 times as well!
Is this a challenge?
If it is, then I'll learn how to make videos just to make the longest botw reviewnalysis.
mark my words!
wait who's arlo
MockRock’s April Fools’ Day video is… four and a half hours of content.
Ooookay!
we stan
we stan
we stan
@@andrewfirth9858 we cram
Stan we
I was surprised people were so upset about the horses. Even in the base game, I used them all the time. I loved acting like one of the travelling NPCs, travelling along roads from stable to stable looking for shelter, then straying when I saw something interesting.
Man even with the zero I still use horses occasionally, just to “get them out of the stable”. I’ve revived several horses, and I’ve looked for the best horses to ride. Plus, the challenge of catching them is fun.
@@aspecttnd I think I had more fun getting the very best horses than use them really
The problem is so much of the map is made up of cliffsides and steep mountains to flaunt the climbing mechanic and provide vantage points to scout from. Horses can't climb those so you often have to leave them behind.
They turn poorly even when not in a canter or gallop, and the staying on roads mechanic gets in my way more often than not as horses fight my movements to religiously stick to the trail.
And mixed horses being explicitly worse might sit poorly with some people too, but the main issue is a lack of good areas to use them.
I rarely used horses past the early game because it's annoying going back to a stable to retrieve it every time you fast travel. I used wild horses and deer far more than my own horses for this reason
its like following traffic laws in gta - there’s a weird peace to it
Arlo: Makes a 3 hour video about Breath of the Wild.
MockRock: *Watch this*
lol
Observe
MockRock: Hold my mastersword
The sequel
Another way of interpreting the Yiga flashback scene is less 'Zelda is shocked and amazed Link saved her life' and more that Zelda, who had been ditching and snapping at Link up to this point, suddenly faced the consequences of her actions. It's very easy to image her sneaking off just prior to that scene, doing all the Yiga's hard work of separating her from her own bodyguard, and nearly dying had Link not saved her in time. After that, she stuck near Link more often, which gave her the chance to really get to *know* him rather then projecting onto what was virtually a stranger till that point.
Also, it would have been cooler had the DLC added a tailor to the dye shop, and after finding patterns/sketches of old armor out in the wild, you could have your existing armor changed to match. (For instance, the Barbarian Set turns *into* the Phantom Set)
At 1:59:17 I thought for sure the Lord of the Mountain was going to solve the "your horse can't hear you" thing. As in - if you befriend it it would be like "You can't keep me... but I will help your horses find you no matter where you are." and then disappear.
The fact that it did LITERALLY NOTHING was so heartbreaking.
Nope, just paywall that feature behind the dlc.
I thought the exact opposite: I liked how he did nothing. Like, he just exists there, chilling. Felt very Zelda like to me
@@RbDaP especially if it's true that it turns out it's the spirit of an ancient sage - it would have more important things to do as a guardian than be your special little pony
@@BASCILLICUS its also meant to be a tribute to satoru iwata. i honestly really like that he's memorialized by this mountain and it's lord, and i like that that memorial is not tainted by any large game mechanics. it's not a side quest in order to unlock a feature, its just a place you can stop and explore on your adventure that really sticks out in your mind after you've seen it. its nice and quiet, and plentiful in food and ore if you need some extra.
@@new__guy a bit taken away by the 50 blupees that I bomb arrow'd but I get your point
Just what needed to listen to while I work the night shift
It's 11:17pm in the UK
Have a good day/night if youre reading this bud
I am, you too and good luck!
oh damn a pfp twin
The virgin RUclips community: teehee April fools day 30 second clip of me "leaving youtube" teeheehee.
The Gigachad MockRock:
Sick new intro as well!
No idea who this guy is, but it's always nice to see thoughtful, multi-hour video game analysis videos.
LOL I DIDN’T EVEN REALIZE THAT
22:00 We've known for ages that Link activating the Great Plateau Tower also activates a central control unit under Hyrule Castle, which Ganon has control over. This is when he turns his attention toward preparing to battle Link, triggering the Divine Beast behavior and constructing a new body inside the giant cocoon within the Sanctum.
Oh that's cool
Welp, I just listened to another 3+ hours critique on BoTW. Great job!
In regards to the Rito quest. I am convinced there's cut content there. It has the least going on and given what you can learn about Teba from talking to him both after the main quest and during the Champion's Ballad DLC, there's a lot of emphases placed on his relationship with his son, a character who you never have to encounter during the main quest. Teba often talks about training with him so I wouldn't be surprised if there were at least plans for a lead-up quest involving his son, maybe having to find and rescue him in the Hebra Mountains kinda like finding Yunobo in Death Mountain or getting shock arrows on Ploymus mountain? The Hebra mountains are entirely skippable as is so it would've given the player a better introduction to the region.
I can't imagine why something like that would get cut if all they really had to do was place that NPC somewhere in the mountains, write a few lines of dialogue, and make that a prerequisite for starting the Divine Beast boarding sequence instead of just the basic shooting gallery. As is, the Rito questline feels straight-up unfinished. Every other region has some lead-up where you have to trek through part of the region so why did the Rito quest get shafted?
Thank you, I've seen a lot of your content and appreciate the kind words! I think "the Rito quest feels unfinished" isn't exactly a controversial opinion, it's such a downgrade from the rest of them that there's no way the developers could be unaware of it imo.
@@MrMockRock I can't imagine that they didn't have any greater plans for it at one point. I can only assume they just ran out of time and had to throw something together at the last minute.
In my head cannon, the Rito quest and divine beast being bad were fuel to dunk on Rivali and how bad he is compared to me (Link). Like damn dude, you think hitting 5 targets in 3 minutes is hard? You really lost to Wind Blight Ganon despite it being the easiest of the four and you being proficient in it's natural counter. Smh way to let the team down you smack talking chicken.
It's worth mentioning that Nintendo had more DLC ideas past DLC 2, but many of them were too substantial to make into DLC, which is why BotW 2 is being made. Wouldn't surprise me if one of those cut DLC concepts had to deal with the champion descendants as the second DLC dealt with the champions themselves.
Arlo did one
So this is the Snyder cut everyone's been talking about
You win.
This is much better than that vomit
one of the things that changed my outlook the most on botw's story and really made me think about it again was this one comic by queenoftheantz where instead of going right to hyrule castle to defeat ganon after freeing all the divine beasts he kinda just screws around for a while, collecting his memories and getting the master sword and finishing tarrytown, and he gets to the memory where zelda is asking link what he would do if he realized he wasn't meant to be a fighter and didn't want to be a knight and it's this moment of like. wow. like if you as the player put 60 hours into botw goofing off like, that's link! that's you as link derelict in his duties, because he's also not that person anymore and maybe never was. and i really wish more of that had been built into the game itself, i think it would have made it so tragically compelling and made perfect use of the open world format, but it's still my favorite reading of the game even if it's not quite intended
So I haven’t watched all the video yet so I don’t know if he mentioned it, but in the Japanese version it does kind of highlight this with the Adventure Log actually being Link’s diary. The one for the giant horse quest highlights how much Link loved just riding it and mowing down enemies like a game, the seal one highlighted how much he loved it and even wanted to beat his new time!! I hate that Nintendo just…got rid of this aspect for the English? Some entries are completely different between languages. It gave us some insight on a reckless, foodie, fun loving Link who was also excited about his new house?? Like the dude would have absolutely settled down if given the chance and probably canonically did most of the more prominent side quests before beating Ganon and I hate we were robbed of it. I know they want Link to be more of a link between the character and the player but come on. 😭
@@Royal_Keith oh i looove that i never knew that was a thing wtf!! i understand why some people might enjoy link being stoic more as it helps the player project themselves onto him, but the idea of giving link a personality through subtle methods such as a diary and stuff would make his journey so much more endearing to me… i hope tears of the kingdom brings this to the english version i want a silly link😭
Played through this game together with my partner at the time while she suffered through an intense episode of extreme depression and disassociation.
She said she felt like Link, trying to put her memories back together.
It was the last time we were really happy before it ended and I'll always love the game for that.
Thanks for reading.
thank you for sharing such an intimate memory. lovely story
Thank you brother, I hope you both are on a better place in life
❤️
@@OfficialpKIndustries okay slamherclam
@@OfficialpKIndustries rude
I have to say, the lord of the mountain on satori mountain is meant as a remembrance to Satoru Iwata, who died during development of this game. so not being able to tame the spirit of the mountain, is sort of probably a respect thing, and I don't think I'd say its a downside.
I agree, the remembrance to Satoru Iwata is super well known and it just wouldn't feel right to tame the lord of the mountain
Which the vast majority of players will not see that way, they could've made a an actually good side quest instead
@@jesusbarrera6916 "most casual people won't know of this important mans death, so let's not respect it"
@@jesusbarrera6916 idk that just kinda sounds bad. Like sure it'd be neat but again, it's not meant that way. And if anyone even does a sliver of research as to why they can't ride the lord of the mountain, they can find that explanation.
@@MG-mh8xp which is still a stupid explanation
What's next? Gateway more content because "important man" Stephen Hawking died too?
Part of why the kakariko stolen heirloom shrine didn't work is because you are required to finish 3 of the villages missions. First the fairy fountain and missing cucco's quests and then the fireflies mission. Only after finishing those 3, the game activates the trigger that starts the shrine quest. The problem here is that, apart from the fairy fountain quest which is a main story quest, mini missions in Breath of the Wild are such a common occurance that it doesn't feel important enough to immidiatly look into. This is an even bigger problem because Kakario has more mini missions then just those 2 and its nowhere implied that the 2 mentioned were more important.
“Sorry if this video feels light on content.”
*He says, shattering the four-hour mark.*
1:48:00 Just to nitpick the nitpick a little bit, I believe Hestu's Gift is something lost in translation rather than an intentional slap in the face. In Japan where Zelda is developed, they have the Kin no unko or golden poo as a symbol of good luck. Essentially, the Japanese words for good luck and golden poo are very very similar, and the pun became a cultural thing. So Japanese players would recognize this intent behind the emblem and likely just think it was a funny reward. Obviously doesn't have any impact on the quality of this great video or BotW, but I wanted to put that out there.
Nice
Wow, thank you for sharing that cultural fun fact. Truly.
Interesting
Now it's a lot more wholesome. Thank you for this information
The line "sorry if this video seems light on content" killed me. Great job with the retrospective, keep up the great work.
this is truly the pinnacle of the "video essay" format, you have perfected it to a point where you have me engaged with your pointed for well over 4 hours, that is absolutely insane and you deserve SO much more praise than you get. if you enjoyed making this I strongly encourage you to make more of these, you've earned every bit of respect I can offer. you are a light on this dark platform
Same here. This is extreamly impressive.
The fact ive watched this probably 10 times now and it still feels fresh is insane
This is exactly reviewing games, or music, or really just reviewing in general should be like. I loved how you presented evidence and didn’t put yourself up on a pedestal and I am so so so excited to see more of this type of content from you!!! You completely blew me away and totally earned that sub!!
Thank you!
32:32 actually those types of trees actually exist in the world. they’re called dragonblood trees and they’re prominent on the island of socotra where up to 1/3 of the flora is endemic, thus making them look alien or fantastical
“Dragonblood”? That’s intimidating
Thanks for the cool fact. I had no idea those trees even existed.
I strongly believe that if the sequel implements dungeons and temples with the same level of magnificence as in previous zelda games, has new enemies, ups the story a little and maybe adds some new epic tunes during more crucial sequences and boss fights - it's going to be basically the perfect game.
Yes.
It would be nice if weapons didnt break
@@Fishlipsandbabyhands weapons breaking is crucial to the game.
@@linkonedgell894 how so?
@@linkonedgell894 it would be nice if weapons took maybe 33% more time to break**
durability is cool but they break too quickly to even feel excited when you get a cool weapon
I legitimately thought I was the only person who remembered that Kirby Squeak Squad exists and I am very happy now
Had to play it for the Kirby episode of The Signature Move Tier List and was immediately impressed by that opening level, have been looking for a reason to slip it into a video!
@@MrMockRock That was the Kirby game I grew up with on the DS, and it seems like no one ever told about it these days. Good game from what I remember.
Clearing monster infested areas in order to expand settlements is a fantastic idea. It adds so much to the story in a post apocalyptic way that gives one hope for the return of the kingdom's glory.
The Witcher 3 had this mechanic and I thought it was handled well there
The new sequel trailer makes me think we can do that actually. Very excited
@@cato3277😪
@@V1Salvo sob
You are one of the most talented RUclipsrs I've ever seen. This video is proof of that. You put some of the most effort into editing, writing and polish I've seen into this project and I have nothing but praise for you. Thank you MockRock.
Thanks, greatly appreciate that!
"Everyday I wake up and someone else has made a several-hour-long BotW analysis video!"
*slams wall*
*crying*
*Watch the videos Adam.*
@@skettisauce4651 God?
@@adammaher403 *Yes, my son. You know it is your purpose. To watch and do that which interests you.*
what is this comment thread hhh
about 3:45:17 :: this cutscene where mipha was sad about never being able to reassure her father of her (spirit's) wellbeing was ruined for me when daruk openly WAVED to yunobo, who could see and recognize him perfectly. so obviously link isnt the only one who can see them (like he's the only one who can see koroks and fairies) and king dorephan can just GO to the divine beast whenever and have a chat with his daughter???
Would you willingly go to a giant, roaring, unknown machine that, oh I dunno, *lead to the demise of your daughter?*
I've never had to deal with a harder April Fools mixup than this video
wha
THANK GOD ITS APRIL FOOLS NOT HONEST
1:49:52 okay you got me there with the double jump ability joke
I legitimately went "Wait really?!?" and then narrowed my eyes at the rupies on the screen haha
I kinda wish the blood moon was fleshed out a little better. Not just respawning previously killed camps and mini bosses. It would have been cool if the entire night had the blood moon out and it made all the enemies more aggressive and/or act differently in combat because of Ganon's power being at its peak during blood moons. Maybe the enemy's would have glowing red eyes and be surging with power that they wouldn't sleep at night, and be more aware of their surroundings, making stealth a little more difficult. Or maybe it would be a little too much if combined with the health regen of master mode, even though blood moons take a while to appear again. Just something I thought about.
honestly that's what i thought was happening the first time i saw a blood moon, the calamity fog and tense musical buildup before the cutscene made me think it was a long lasting thing. seeing the moon just back to normal the moment the cutscene ended was kinda disappointing
Just one issue… I’ve had blood moons happen at inopportune times - like when fighting. It would be annoying to have that blood moon effect happen during these times.
Zoras domain was first for me due to that perfectly placed shrine in the swamp north of Kakariko. Then, in the distance, another shrine further north, with a zora calling me to come to zoras domain.
yeah! it's really like the game guides you to one place and you're thinking 'hmm, what now?' when you see a shrine in the distance of kakariko. eventually you start following the shrines like bread crumbs and suddenly you and mipha are flirting on top of a robot elephant! wild stuff! from there on I'd say the game leads you less but it's clear that gerudo desert was intended to be in late game given how hidden and narrow the path to get there is.
I wandered around too much and ended up in Gerudo first. Got my ass handed to me by Thuderblight Ganon.
@@panprachwaiwong6386 haha
@@panprachwaiwong6386 same
My order was gerudo desert, rito village, zora’s domain then the volcano
The Blight Ganons being reused in Champion’s Ballad definitely supports your idea that those boss fights were originally supposed to be against corrupted versions of the champions.
I feel like I've seen you in quora.
Especially with the fact that Age of Calamity uses corrupted versions of the Champions as bosses
How does that support it?
@@NuiYabuko Cuz the champion's ballad was all about... yknow, the champions, and so the final bosses being decidedly NOT the champions which kinda robs the fights of any narrative or dramatic tensions, kinda implies that maybe they intended for the bosses to be something that... didn't do those things I just mentioned?
The first ~20 hours of this game are some of the strongest in any game, ever. Every system shines here - you're constantly struggling, improvising, tinkering, and discovering, making decisions about traversal and materials management. Absolutely inspired. But there are some serious weaknesses, particularly in the dungeon/boss design and especially in the endgame. You start to realize that all challenge and engagement has dissolved away. The game just does so much better when you're underpowered and need to rely on the systems. On my second playthrough, I completely ignored the story content, kept my hearts at 3, and mastered bomb launches, while just going around finding Koroks, fighting Lynels, and sorting out big groups of mobs. This kept the challenge alive and added some spice to the experience. Also it avoids having those atrociously ugly, poorly considered lasers completely mar the beautiful vistas that were so carefully crafted. Anyway, now it's a fantastic game to just pick up and play for a bit.
I feel this to my core!!!
This so much!! I've been telling people this and few will listen. My first Divine Beast was Naboris and I had a blast up until then. BotW is at its best when you are restricted, but people don't want restrictions, they want freedom. The game makes you OP really fast and after that anything you find is meaningless because you don't need it. But hey you are "free" now.
I'm doing a challenge run on MM with a heavily restrictive ruleset (like no paragliding) and I'm having a blast. I use every system the game offers because under the ruleset I'm forced to. I appreciated the map design a lot more this way.
To be honest, as someone who sucks ass at video games I never had to really restrict myself that way to keep things challenging lol. My favorite part was always exploring the random parts of the map you had no real reason to go to storywise, collecting tons of ressources and periodically getting destroyed by enemies. I spent like 300 hours just doing that!
I want to start over without deleting or overwriting my original save file but it acts like I can’t
@@KagomeYasha023 I got around this by creating a different profile in the Nintendo home page and playing under the new profile. There's probably another way but I'm happy with it!
theres actually lore that says the towers connect at Hyrule castle so link activating one tower would activate them all and also alert Ganon although a causal player would likely never come across it.
Interesting
Where is this said
@@djroscurro9859 IIRC it's mentioned in Purah's notes, either in her workshop or the Ancient Tech lab. The Towers, Shrines and the Guardian Vault under Hyrule Castle are all connected to a single network.
This is actually how the various Runes got into their respective shrines: They were invented by Robbie and Purah at one of the two aforementioned locations in the century between the Calamity and the present, then transferred via the Forges to the shrines for Link to collect.
Mockrock uploading a 4 and a half hour BOTW review on April Fool's day is more than my brain can deal with
my favorite sound design is the sound of running while wearing metal armor while everything else is silent
Hearty Retrospective is an understatement. This is a huge project and a masterpiece that works even if today wasn't April the 1st.
Even though I quickly picked up on the fact that the Silent Princess was intended to be a metaphor in for Princess Zelda and I am usually pretty good about noticing overarching themes, I am surprised I never noticed the parallel between the flower only being able to bloom in the wild and Zelda's overall character arc and struggle. That in and of itself made the whole video worth it.
3:04:30 "Unless you want to burn through a massive stockpile of food" fun fact that's what I did on my first playthrough. I stockpiled a fuckton of healing, found the closest peak to Goron City where I didn't burn to death, and glided in.
Finally finished this video, and I gotta say, I agree with like 95% of what you said, which is... really impressive considering how much was said lmfao
My favorite thing you brought up was "maybe the world shouldn't have been so big." It's the type of conclusion that I've thought this entire time, but was never really able to put into words. The amount of world they made paired with the amount of content they made for it feels like they made an entire cake base, but only had a spoonful of icing for it.
It's so weird. It's like, when I played through the game, I loved it, I had such a good, cathartic time exploring the world. And yet, even then, when I first played it, and especially now, I always said, "BotW is a GREAT game... but it's not a good Zelda game." And I think this idea of the world being so "empty" is what causes this.
The Great Plateau, and then Eventide, are really the only parts of the game that felt like "survivalist adventure," where everything was new, mechanics were new, things were difficult, and everything was STILL really big. After this though, especially after the first Divine Beast or two, the game, to me, felt less like a "survival adventure" game, and more like... a hike. In watching your video, that's what I felt like was the best word for it, for me. A hike.
The vast majority of positives I felt regarding the game were the types of things I could equate to going for a walk through the forest, or jogging along the beach. Certainly excellent and fun things, which is why I still enjoyed the game. But... not really an "adventure." For me personally, at least, I wouldn't call a "hike" an adventure. Because a hike is primarily you just doing things you already do frequently (walking...), but just in new scenery. And that's what BotW was, after its beginning section. Everything was already introduced, and this paired with how open-ended everything had to be, I felt like I'd already experienced everything, and everything else was just there for the spectacle of it. Sight seeing. VERY little challenge, basically no new enemy types, no real new mechanics or dungeons. And, as someone who is a HUGE sucker for aesthetics, the dungeons being identical was also a MAJOR blow even in the sight-seeing aspect, so those were just a pretty low point in the game for me.
Ultimately, it's like... I think what BotW did was pretty good. Plenty of room for improvement, but it also served REALLY well for just an open-world playground of nature and physics. It's just that... this isn't why I'm playing a Zelda game. I want cool new items, fun side quests that feel rewarding to accomplish, insanely cool dungeons that look and play awesome with sick enemies and bosses. The items are especially important, even the FIRST Zelda game gave you a unique new tool in each dungeon that either allowed you to complete later dungeons, or access goodies in the overworld you couldn't before. Metroid and Castlevania are always the games considered first for the... well, "Metroidvania" category, but I can't help but feel like Zelda ties into that too. Some games more than others, sure, but there's this idea of backwards progression quite a bit once you finally get a certain item that allows you to finally tackle a certain side quest or whatever. It makes doing the thing to get the item feel good, makes the item itself cool, and makes you feel good for using it.
I think this is why the Great Plateau is the only section of BotW that really felt "Zelda"-y to me, despite its lack of real dungeons/bosses. It's because, after each "dungeon," I got a cool new tool that I could then use in the overworld. It made me feel like I was actually having an adventure, discovering new things, growing stronger, getting new toys to play with.
So, in general, it's like, I really enjoyed BotW, but as a Zelda game, it strays SO far that I can't help but resent it. It's good on its own, but if this is the direction they just take the series in now? What's gonna happen to all of the aspects that made people love the other Zelda games, myself included? The other Zelda games akin to BotW will still be enjoyable in the same way, I imagine, but, if it "replaces" the series, it'll be leaving an itch forever unable to be scratched again.
The worry may be unwarranted, though, considering how much Nintendo shakes things up with each new Zelda title, but considering our next big Zelda game is going to be a direct sequel to BotW, I am a little worried. We'll just have to see, though! Like you said, most of the development time for BotW was spent getting things, like, set up. Now, they have all the development to just focus on fine-tuning what's already here, and expanding on what's already been built.
Great retrospective, there's really a lot to talk about this game lol, I eat it up. I'd love to see more content like this, too! Your script was extremely eloquent and you edited the whole thing INSANELY well (I know how tedious it is to organize clips, especially with how many different clips/topics you go over lol). Keep it up my man
Thanks man, appreciate the thoughtful response!
Good god
where clap emoji
@@nate2811 👏👏👏
in terms of content-to-world density, BotW falls just short of performing the same trap a lot of these other 2010's open world games do. Density is excellent is some areas, but the general overworld could've been a quarter percent more condensed
I personally love how the terrain forces you off your horse, especially on the first play through. It makes you explore and appreciate the world in so much more detail.
Same. I just wish you could still summon your horse from anywhere.
@@samueldeadman5733 Idk if this information is still useful to you but there is a set of ancient horse armour in the game. If you own the champions ballad DLC you can look through the quests to find the ancient horse gear. One piece will add more sprint boosters to your horse, and the other lets you summon your horse from anywhere
@@mitch9309 I actually think that may be what MockRock was getting at when he said there might even be an insidious (not the word he used, just can't remember the word right now) reason why you can't summon your horse... that reason being to frustrate the player into buying the DLC.
@@trickytreyperfected1482 which is a good marketing strategy to be fair. I think the DLC's of the game are worth it anyway with the amount of content you get
@@mitch9309 But that DLC also gives you a sick ass motorcycle so who cares?
This is literally the best vid on youtube in my opinion, its so well made and i rewatch it every few months. Thank you for making this masterpiece mockrock.
Would Eventide and the Great Plateau really be so memorable and fun every time if the whole game was like that? I love both segments too but I recognize that much of their appeal comes from them being different from most of the game.
_So_ memorable? No, probably not. But I do enjoy the feel of those segments more than most parts of the game.
@@MrMockRock well, that probably comes down to personal taste. I enjoyed them less than normal gameplay
@@rains0return i enjoyed them more too
Honestly, given what people praise the game for is entirely those segments... yes.
The entire thing would be memorable and people praising the entire game for those two moments would make sense.
Considering they're the best parts of the game by a wide margin, yes the rest of the game would have benefitted a lot from being more like them. There are a lot of mechanics included in the game that basically cease existing after a while outside of those areas.
Can't avoid thinking about the effort you needed to create this video, much respect.
not that hard to rant about a game for 4 hours tbh, if you've never had a girlfriend it's easy
@@jon.meister bro this man literally recorded ++++4 h of gameplay and he managed to show in game what he's talking about, you don't know how hard is that
@@jon.meister have you ever tried to write a speech for public speaking? This is a fucking paper that he wrote with an internal structure and logical argumentation, and then recorded in an enticing manner. Then on top of that he made it visually cohesive as well. This is a lot of work and I would like to see you try to do a better job if it's that easy...
@@fardareismai4495 sorry i cant do it because im not a massive virgin
@@jon.meister oh wow, I get it's not for everyone but if you have such disdain for it, why are you even watching lol?
3:56:35 Zelda had sneaked away from link's protection by that time, and urbosa was the one to tell him where she was. She was annoyed by his presence, and didn't realize the risk of doing so, but thankfully he arrived just in time. That's what makes it great.
It’s been three months, man! Where have you b-
I see.
Jokes aside, this video is fantastic. I love longform content and I love your voice and style. Pair them together and you have a video that makes an entire day amazing.
No joke, this video would’ve taken me years, if I could even hold the motivation,
me watching the new justice league: this is too long i can’t watch this
me watching this video: wow the video is over already
i remember being genuinely scarred when the bokoblins shot my horse with fire arrows and i had to watch him burn to death 😭😭
thankfully, even though i still cook hearty meals, i still have fun throwing together ingredients for interesting recipes like cakes, crepes, pies, curries, etc simply because i find enjoyment in it. but goddamn do i wish those were more useful 💀
YES
Same
This is such a nuanced and fair review. I expected your stated "subjectivity" from the beginning to be a justification for giving unfair criticisms, but all of your criticisms hit the mark SO well and were extremely valuable. I found myself agreeing with pretty much all of them, despite the fact most of them were things I didn't initially pay any mind to.
Yep agreed
Yep agreed
This is probably one of the better retrospectives I've seen for a game in a while. I really appreciate that you discuss both the good and the bad of the game without going too far in either direction.
"It's the kind of game that leaves so much room for improvement that it could be rendered obsolete by a good sequel."- Nerrel
It's absolutely amazing to me that BOTW easily shattered all my expectations for what games could accomplish. Becoming my favourite game in a matter of days. And being one of my greatest forms of reprieve from my hard work life balance at the time. And yet I can so easily see how it can be improved on. It really spells such amazing things for video games as a whole.
I definitely wouldn't say BOTW will become obsolete because of BOTW 2.
@@linkthepig4219 Nerrel made a lot of points in his review that I disagree with. But I do feel there is a decent bit of truth to his statement on how much BOTW could be improved on. After all the reality of dev time held the game back a lot. Though I will agree, I don't think it will be obsolete.
@@theloyalwraiths8827
BOTW is very flawed of course, but it had so many things unique to it that many won't be able to forget.
@@linkthepig4219 I prefer to take a realistic stance when reviewing a game. Some flaws can be fixed, others are a by product of reality or design choices that needed to be made. Without infinite money, infinite time, and infinite processing power anything close to a perfect game will not be made.
I happily feel that BOTW more than satisfies the conditions to be a 10/10. It's flaws exist, but if we are to argue that they make the game experience a less than 10, I do not feel the current scale has any more meaning.
A game doesn't need to be flawless. It needs to pull you in, whether for the fun, a dark story, intriguing combat, or anything else. Having less flaws is always a good thing, but I would say in the realm of games it is but one minor piece of the puzzle.
"in the same way that it's unfair to criticise the game for failing to give link a shotgun"
lmao
I find it interesting that you wanted more overtly extrinsic rewards from the side quests, as I found myself wanting the exact opposite. Getting 100 rupees at the end of a side quest is not only a weak extrinsic incentive-it also actively undermines the point of completing that quest, making Link feel more like a mercenary for hire than a hero. There's psychological backing to this-it is well established that extrinsic incentives often undermine more powerful intrinsic incentives, and where an intrinsic motivation is already present, even a mix of the two weakens overall motivation.
Removing the rewards from side-quests or better yet hiding the end reward within the quest itself (in chests, enemy drops, etc) would not only remove this underwhelming sensation, but would also add to Link's more heroic side. Some thematic or more important rewards could be kept, but removing the expectation for reward removes the need for a more or less potent reward in the first place.
This is something I've definitely noticed myself. Not too long ago I played a game called "The First Tree" (got it for free on Epic a while ago) and loved it. After I played it, I decided to check its Steam page to see its reviews out of curiosity. It had mixed reviews, which is fair - it's basically a walking simulator that's very light on actual gameplay, with more of a focus on exploration, story, and visual presentation, and that certainly won't be for everyone.
But the bigger thing I noticed was that it actually had achievements (which wasn't a thing on Epic at the time), for things like finding all the collectibles, secrets, etc, which are otherwise mostly untracked in the game itself. This... actually rubbed me the wrong way, and kinda still does. Having your progress be tracked like that feels like it takes away from the intrinsic experience of the exploration - it becomes less of something you do because you want to see what's there, and more something you do to complete a checklist. And for a game which relies so heavily on intrinsic motivation (because, let's be real, the game is dull as hell if you're not invested in the story or landscape) it really doesn't seem like a good call to me.
Thats why I found shrine quests more interesting tbh.
May I just note that your points regarding the voice acting are fully validated by Age of Calamity. Same voice actors, *far* better execution. (Also, Urbosa's voice actress also does Ymir in Attack on Titan, and does so perfectly.)
Gonna be honest, I was expecting 4 1/2 hours of a black screen
For me a GREAT thing about the Ruta fight is that it introduced me to bullet time, which, if you haven't found out about it before, creates an amazing atmosphere where after ascending through the waterfall you get that beautiful visual effect of time slowing down while shooting
Actually, we know other people can see the ghosts because Yunobo, the worst successor, gets to wave hello to daruk! Which takes ALL the bite out of Mipha's regrets when you know her family could pull out a telescope, aim it at vah ruta's trunk, and start beatboxing in Morse Code or something.
It could be that only the successors could see the ghosts. Wouldn't fix the problem entirely considering that would mean Sidon could see her but eh
Why you diss my boy Yunobo like that :(
@@Menacetosociety05 honestly yea i like yunobo :(
@@Menacetosociety05 BECAUSE MIPHA DESERVED IT MORE!
What? Yunobo? I would think Teba is the worst successor. His initial distrust of you is arbitrary and then quickly dismisses, he's only introduced for the purpose of helping you get into the Divine Beast with no story impact before or after, he has no real personality to speak of...
Yunobo at least is a goofy coward who learns to stand up for himself a bit and is generally friendly.
i love this, and hearing how your experience compared to mine is so funny, like in my 1st playthough i went to the zora last and literally never got to use miphas grace. also this reminded me of how the saddest moment i ever had playing this game- when i had beat ganon, and zelda said she was going to clean up hyrule i 100% expected to be able to play in that fixed up hyrule, and so being loaded back in to before the boss fight completely crushed me
Tackling this monster as I play through the game. I must say, as a first time Zelda player, this game is simply amazing.
"I apologize if this video seems sparse in content"
I'll let it slide just this once because I like you
My dude seriously just made a RUclips video longer than Endgame about a video game. Nice.
God, I really need a memory wipe type of thing so I can replay this again for the first time.
Remember, the sequel is coming out eventually
Remember it’s coming out in three days
I just realized after two hours, that this is still not the middle of the video.
This was a great review with some really good insights, and I'm glad you mentioned at the end what I was thinking half way through: "This is the most I've ever heard anyone complain about their favorite game."
Thanks! I watched this a while ago and then went back and watched a couple sections. Very thorough and well done. All the best.
Hey thank you, I think that's the first time I've actually had someone use this feature on my channel, appreciate it!
On my first playthrough I went to the Yiga Hideout and hide my butt handed to me. It was super scary and stressful. I did a whole lotta grinding, came back with ancient arrows and sent every single one of those Yiga to the shadow realm. And that's the story of my biggest brain gamer moment of all time, and I felt like I was on top of the world!
I feel like the stamina bar while running is there to make horses valuable
I think it’s more a matter of consistency. All physically strenuous actions require stamina from climbing to gliding to spin attacks. It would be strange if this wasn’t also true of running. Running is also not just about traveling. It’s useful in combat situations too. So making it something players can’t do infinitely makes sense.
This gives me a lot of hope for Tears of the Kingdom. The dev team won't have to worry about making the huge world from the ground up or the complex chemistry system from the beginning. Possibly even introduce more linearity as to add more story
It's a testament to the game that it inspired 4 and 1/2 hours of tightly scripted commentary from you, and to your work ethic that you produced this monster of a retrospective complete with gameplay. Stellar work young man
I fully agree with your take on the issue of voice direction. We know Urbosa’s VA in English has the skills to deliver a good performance since she is also the VA for Sae Niijima in Persona 5
It points to a developer-level problem. Monolith was split between this game and Xenoblade Chronicles 2--and both games have glaring issues with voice direction in their English dubs. Coincidence? I genuinely think not.
@@jordanthejq12 I didn’t even know Monolith was involved with BotW cutscenes. Makes sense with the focus on setting that monolith absolutely nails
Persona 5 sucks tho
@@Houdm I tried playing it and it's not for me, but it clearly has a following of people who love it
My biggest takeaway is that BoTW has a hard line for who will and won't enjoy it - intrinsic motivation or extrinsic. From personal experience I was in it for the beautiful sights and sounds of the game, as well as stumbling on the odd ruins with implied lore that I could glean from the subtext. My favorite are ruined villages with Fire Wizzrobes creepily dancing above them. Some people see it as a free fire rod, others see it as a graveyard. Or both!
I'm so happy French Zelda made an appearance!! I absolutely love her French voice and think it's a perfect fit for the character.
I will say, Patricia Summerset's performance in Age of Calamity is SOOO much better, so I'm excited to hear her in BOTW 2.
Late, but can we praise the Latam dub too? It's great!
I always get around the 'carry a melting ice block through the desert ruins' puzzle by equipping an ice sword. Don't have to worry about the dessert shade or fighting enemies then.
I have well over 300 hours in this game... And you still taught me stuff about it. Like the crumbling structures framing landmarks. I had no idea about it and now playing it's the first thing I see. Amazing video.
I am very much thankful that you didn't simply hate on how Calamity Ganon looks the same as the Blights, and how his design is actually incredible. You're right when you say it's bizarre, because it really is meant to be.
Another aspect of the rain is stealth: it's much harder for monsters to hear you in the rain.
For the rain part, in my opinion I think there should have been some later game upgrade, like when you level up the climbing gear twice, where you would be able to climb when it’s raining. This would give the climbing gear more use and reward late game players with making the game less annoying because of rain
Glad they did this in TotK omg
@@keepquiet8939 omg YES it’s been so long but I remember thinking about this, the new armour and effect that does this is such a good addition
“Huh MockRock hasn’t uploaded in a whil-OH!”
Not gonna lie, I never thought about 90% of the stuff in this video during my 300+ hours of playtime in BOTW.
The frame rate in Korok Woods though-
Anyway, good video!
I have always loved when a side quest reqarded me with a Piece of Heart, I genuinely believe a piece of heart is something beautiful to look at as a reward aside from expanding the life gauge.
I literally found out 4 years later that I can destroy the tiny lazer things that Windblight gets in its phase 2 because I have only ever killed it before that could matter.
I'm surprised an extrinsically motivated player enjoyed this game at all!
During my first play through of the game, after the king's spirit told me to reach for Kakariko village, I got lost, and ended up arriving to Hateno, I loved the village but experienced my first blood moon just some minutes after my arrival, I was horrified, I thought that the village was an illusion created by Ganon or something 😂 I panicked so bad thinking that the cozyness of the place was a trap