Breath of the Wild is coming out soon and OH MY GOD I cannot wait. I love me some Zelda, and I have been waiting for a new console title for a while. Skyward Sword was great and all (yeah that’s right I said it was great, fight me bro) but we pretty much skipped an entire system generation for a new console release. The handheld titles haven’t been doing it for me for years (a soapbox for another time). I have been waiting for this title for way too long and the fact that the release date is so close is magical.
But...
I’ve been nervous because what we’ve seen so far makes it look like Nintendo realized they were losing touch with the core gaming audience and they all sat in a meeting and went “how do I reach these kids?” and someone said “well those Dark Souls and Skyrim games have been pretty popular, maybe we should so something like that?” and everyone went “holy shit that’s brilliant.” The map for Breath of the Wild is MASSIVE. It breaks from the Zelda formula by being open world and not following a linear path, and it takes a cue from Dark Souls in that you can finish the game while still missing a large chunk of the story. Maybe I’m a little crazy, but I’m pretty sure story is the driving force in, like, the entire Zelda universe, and you’re telling me I could finish this game without actually seeing most of it? That’s like watching the Lord of the Rings series, but skipping The Two Towers.
*deep breath*
Alright, that’s not the end of the world. I’m wary of changing up what we’ve come to expect from console Zelda titles, but change isn’t always a bad thing. After the lukewarm reception to Skyward Sword, they need to jazz things up a bit and it will be neat to go into a world that is familiar but not for a change.
BUT.
Then the announcement about the DLC came out.
Some people are excited about it and are all “woohoo Nintendo is finally getting on the DLC train that the rest of the triple A game creators have been riding for fucking ever” and, you know, DLC itself isn’t bad UNLESS the DLC is straight up “hey you know that thing we’ve been including in games since 2 thousand fucking 2 when Wind Waker came out? Yeah it’s not in this game unless you pay an extra 20 bucks.”
Fuck. That. Noise.
Some form of the Cave of Trials has become such a staple of Zelda games that they added one to Ocarina of Time when they did its rerelease. This is no longer an extra. This is an expected feature of the game. In some cases it has even been required in order to finish the game. Hard mode? You mean literally the thing that unlocks in nearly every Zelda game like a new game plus mode? What the shit Nintendo.
I have zero problem with the second DLC pack. No issues at all. I’m not sure how it’s going to work considering how a Zelda game is typically constructed, but it's not my job to figure that out. If you tell me that later this year I’m going to have more Zelda to play, hell yes I’m going to be excited for it. My problem with the first pack is that we’re not getting more Zelda. We’re getting less Zelda up front so they can make us pay for it later and then act like they’re doing us a favor.
If it were up to me, I'd give the first DLC a giant middle finger and skip it entirely, but you can't do that. No, it's all or nothing. Because fuck us, right? You can either pay $20 to get both packs, or nothing at all. Perhaps because they know the first one is bullshit? Now I"m faced with a dilemma, because honestly I want what's in the first one because it should be in the god damn game already, but on principle I don't want to pay for it. I want the second pack, which I am totally okay paying for, but I don't think it on its own is worth $20. This is probably going to be a lot like buying tampons; I don't want to do it, but I'm gonna do it anyway because I know life is just going to be easier if I do.
But...
I’ve been nervous because what we’ve seen so far makes it look like Nintendo realized they were losing touch with the core gaming audience and they all sat in a meeting and went “how do I reach these kids?” and someone said “well those Dark Souls and Skyrim games have been pretty popular, maybe we should so something like that?” and everyone went “holy shit that’s brilliant.” The map for Breath of the Wild is MASSIVE. It breaks from the Zelda formula by being open world and not following a linear path, and it takes a cue from Dark Souls in that you can finish the game while still missing a large chunk of the story. Maybe I’m a little crazy, but I’m pretty sure story is the driving force in, like, the entire Zelda universe, and you’re telling me I could finish this game without actually seeing most of it? That’s like watching the Lord of the Rings series, but skipping The Two Towers.
*deep breath*
Alright, that’s not the end of the world. I’m wary of changing up what we’ve come to expect from console Zelda titles, but change isn’t always a bad thing. After the lukewarm reception to Skyward Sword, they need to jazz things up a bit and it will be neat to go into a world that is familiar but not for a change.
BUT.
Then the announcement about the DLC came out.
Some people are excited about it and are all “woohoo Nintendo is finally getting on the DLC train that the rest of the triple A game creators have been riding for fucking ever” and, you know, DLC itself isn’t bad UNLESS the DLC is straight up “hey you know that thing we’ve been including in games since 2 thousand fucking 2 when Wind Waker came out? Yeah it’s not in this game unless you pay an extra 20 bucks.”
Fuck. That. Noise.
Some form of the Cave of Trials has become such a staple of Zelda games that they added one to Ocarina of Time when they did its rerelease. This is no longer an extra. This is an expected feature of the game. In some cases it has even been required in order to finish the game. Hard mode? You mean literally the thing that unlocks in nearly every Zelda game like a new game plus mode? What the shit Nintendo.
I have zero problem with the second DLC pack. No issues at all. I’m not sure how it’s going to work considering how a Zelda game is typically constructed, but it's not my job to figure that out. If you tell me that later this year I’m going to have more Zelda to play, hell yes I’m going to be excited for it. My problem with the first pack is that we’re not getting more Zelda. We’re getting less Zelda up front so they can make us pay for it later and then act like they’re doing us a favor.
If it were up to me, I'd give the first DLC a giant middle finger and skip it entirely, but you can't do that. No, it's all or nothing. Because fuck us, right? You can either pay $20 to get both packs, or nothing at all. Perhaps because they know the first one is bullshit? Now I"m faced with a dilemma, because honestly I want what's in the first one because it should be in the god damn game already, but on principle I don't want to pay for it. I want the second pack, which I am totally okay paying for, but I don't think it on its own is worth $20. This is probably going to be a lot like buying tampons; I don't want to do it, but I'm gonna do it anyway because I know life is just going to be easier if I do.
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