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#because it's really not to my tastes

waywardsalt · 1 year

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my grievances with botw

Breath of the Wild is... undeniably a fantastic game, but it is very genuinely not the kind of game I like, and since I started playing it I’ve been enjoying it less and less so... I have a pair of problems with it that I’d figure I’d go into, as well as some stuff that, while weak in botw, were executed better in past loz games.

(small shoutout to @zeldanamikaze for encouraging this and having some points that i agree with and had some examples that i hadn’t thought about much initially)

Again, Breath of the Wild is an objectively impressive game, and I’m not trying to sit here and convince you that it’s a bad game. I’m just trying to point out things that detracted from my enjoyment of it, especially compared to my enjoyment of other Zelda games.

Before I get into the big stuff, I’ll just shoot off some quick little things that I think could’ve been improved:

- The dungeons generally felt like glorified shrines, and while they had cool mechanics and ways to access them, they were short and more or less pretty simple and all have similar visual and musical identities.

- Side quests and their rewards didn’t feel worth doing half of the time. I barely remember any notable ones off the top of my head and the longer ones just gave mostly generic rewards, which I suppose makes sense considering the limited amount of truly unique items in botw.

- Seeing the same enemies over and over again made the combat feel more like a chore than something to really engage with, not to mention that there is hardly any difficulty scaling beyond just making the enemies more durable.

- The story is fine, but in my experience, even seeing people go into more detail about the meanings of events, I never really cared for the events or the characters presented, since you don’t actually have to directly interact with any of that to play the game. Hell, you don’t even need to interact with the story at all to beat it, so the focus certainly doesn’t feel like it’s on the story.

- It would be a lie to call the soundtrack bad, but it’s sparse usage makes it hard to truly appreciate and the fact that most of it is meant to be more atmospheric generally makes them a bit less interesting to listen to on their own, though I will admit there are some fantastic tracks in botw, usually being some of the boss themes.

- While the Sheikah slate runes are cool, they feel very bland after a while, especially compared to the varied items seen in previous games. They’re good tools for an open world, but not much fun otherwise (the bombs were good though, since they had a variety of uses).

And that’s the quick stuff- again, mostly courtesy of @zeldanamikaze, since these are the examples I’ve seen her mention.

I have two big points that kind of encapsulate why I dislike this game and still adore the older games, that being: the minigames and the items and their relationships to dungeons.

Breath of the Wild is a very different game than what came past it, and I am very aware that it is a vast departure from those other games for a reason. However, this leads me to view it not only simply as a game not up my alley, but also as kind of inferior in some aspect to those previous Zelda games. Breath of the World is first and foremost an open world game, seemingly putting a focus on gameplay enjoyment above all else (not to imply that the ‘else’ is bad because of this, but I do think that the ‘else’ suffers in comparison to other Zelda titles.)

It may also be worth mentioning that the other Zelda games I have played is the following: LoZ NES, Link’s Awakening (Original and Remake), Ocarina of Time, Majora’s Mask, Phantom Hourlgass, Skyward Sword, A Link Between Worlds, and Triforce Heroes. I have also played both hyrule warriors games as well as loz 2, wind waker, and minish cap, none of the latter 3 i have finished or currently have access to.

1: The Minigames

Minigames are common in Zelda games, so of course botw has a few scattered around it’s world. Botw’s minigames are very different than the minigames seen in past Zelda games, mostly due in part to the limited array of items and unique gameplay gimmicks available in botw. Botw’s minigames usually focus on different forms of archery, gliding, or rune usage: all things integral to normal gameplay. At best you get rupees or cosmetic items from most minigames.

Botw’s minigames are just slightly altered situations of normal gameplay. The bowling is just using stasis except this time the game has a special little arena for it. Pretty much all of the archery games are either just counting how many deer you can kill or if you can just hit some targets on horseback. There’s one race I can think of and one gliding activity I can think of.

This makes sense, considering that there are a handful of other non-minigame activities to engage in, but these minigames feel... hollow. None of the minigames feature gameplay exclusive to those minigames or feature gameplay only used in certain parts of the game. They all make use of readily available mechanics in botw, so they’re like tests of skill- but otherwise not really any worth giving a second-thought unless you want to see how good of a glider or archer you are or grab some extra rupees.

But they aren’t very... worth it or generally fun within the context of botw. It’s just another way to do something that is available to you pretty much all game. They don’t feel unique, they just feel like a task.

Previous Zelda games (obviously) have archery minigames and allow you to use archery when you get the bow and from that point onward. And yet the archery minigames are made unique from the rest of the archery in the game; ocarina of time’s archery minigame is simply just shooting at targets, but the possible rewards and the simple fact that not often are you going to be continuously shooting arrows at enemies make it a bit of a novel experience within oot. The minigames in past zelda games take advantage of the items and area-specific mechanics: they usually include item-exclusive mechanics like bombchu games, or take advantage of more specific mechanics, like the minecarts in skyward sword, the masks in majora’s mask, or being able to control gongoron in phantom hourglass.

They also gave genuine rewards- empty bottles, quest items, ship parts, new masks, heart containers or pieces, kinds of stuff that are hard to get and very valuable. They’re worth doing for reasons outside of just a little activity. The minigames in other Zelda games do really enhance the experience by taking advantage of situational mechanics or giving a unique usage for some items.

You can probably get every item in botw without playing all of the minigames. They have little actual purpose. But in other zelda games, they have a purpose in the greater game and provide novel experiences within the game.

2: Items and their relationships with the dungeons

Obviously, compared to past games, botw’s ‘dungeons’ kind of sucked. They’re fine in a vacuum, with interesting gimmicks and the like, but they’re really little more than glorified shrines with four different-but-similar bosses at the end.

In my opinion, one of reasons why the divine beasts just... fell flat compared to other zelda dungeons is the lack of unique items in general. The runes in botw are cool and useful but you get them at the start of the game and never get anything new. You are give every tool you need to beat all of the dungeons the moment you finish the tutorial.

Older zelda games’ dungeons being tied to their respective items is a big part- to me- of what makes those dungeons so good.

Obviously, the theming, musical themes, and larger layouts and more varied puzzles make them objectively better experiences, but the way they interact with item acquisition makes the whole thing even better.

Even in a link between worlds, where you can get every item whenever you want from Ravio, each dungeon is still tied to one of those items, and one of those items is needed to successfully complete that dungeon.

The dungeons in past Zelda games are practically complex tutorials on how you can use your new items. They are where those items shine and they are designed so that those items are used to their fullest potential within. And then you must then use that item to defeat that dungeon’s boss, and you usually have no chance of beating that boss if you don’t make use of the dungeon’s associated item. It’s like a final test for the item, seeing if you know how it works enough to complete the dungeon and use it against a boss’s weaknesses.

The most recent example, and probably one of the best, is needing to use the whip to tear off koloktos’ arms in the ancient cistern, but the classic scenario of the bombs for king dodongo works well enough, and the bosses of majora’s mask requiring you to understand how the transformation masks work. There are definitely some bosses that require no use of dungeon items (moldorm in the tower of hera, either ghirahim fights), but the item’s usage is still showcased prominently in their dungeons.

Outside of the dungeons, too, the progressive acquisition of items makes more areas and secrets available to you, giving a much more palpable sense of progression through those games’ worlds.

In botw, you get every tool the moment you are released into the rest of hyrule, so while figuring out what to do with those tools can be fun, the sense of progression is dampened by having every item from the start and nothing you gain beyond that being needed for anything aside from a nice little ability to make things easier.

I’m not really too sure exactly why I never found botw fun the way everyone else does, but I think lackluster minigames and the general lack of items that aid a sense of progression are parts of it.

#loz #legend of zelda #botw #salty talks #i feel like im swinging at a hornets nest by suggesting that this game isn't perfect #cuz everywhere you look this game is praised incessantly while its like. i think its fine at best tbh #because it's really not to my tastes #i highly prefer the experience that the other loz games provide and botw dropped off for me while i still enjoy those games #like. open world games arent really my thing and a game packed to the gills with just as much shit as possible is a major turn off for me #this was going to have three points but playing totk exhausted me mentally and i dont really care any more. i dont find these games fun #the tutorial islands felt tedious after a bit and like. idk. good game but i have yet to find myself actually having fun with it #it kinda feels like its fun in concept but the fact that it doesnt necessarily feel got to play to me and progress is slow and based on #like. slow exploration? its fine but its not something i actually enjoy. its not teh difficulty bc i like elden ring and hades n stuff #like. i have more fun with ph than totk. idk. playing totk was like. entertaining? but it kinda ust felt hollow to me #granted i just like. unlocked the first tower and did some shrines but like. idk. good game. i don't think i actually like it too much #i really think these two points kind of maybe explain why these games just fail to click with me #things in older zelda games have specific purposes and can be more situational than pretty much anything in botw/totk so far #it feels. better. to find an item that fits a specific purpose in older loz games. they're more gimmicky.#i feel that open world games (similar to botw/totk) are dragged down by the sheer freedom they allow to me at least #there's too much to do and you're allowed to do whatever so it all feels kind of. standard theres not much purpose to it #the tedium of botw/totk is much more grating than the tedium i experience in skyward sword's lanayru desert #because you HAVE to go through and figure out lanayru desert to continue the story get new items find new dungeons #botw/totk you kinda just get some items and maybe a lackluster quest or some fucking environment thing #long post #idk. im not too far into totk while writing this but rn in a weird way it and botw feel empty to me in a way i cant express #i enjoyed botw at first but after beating it and all it just felt kinda boring and unsatisfying to replay

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leverage-ot3 · 5 months

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I’ve talked about this before but imagine what it’s like for someone in a country/place where eliot is Top Most Wanted and then your tech guy finds a breakout star baseball player on their visual scanner that looks EXACTLY like spencer. but…there’s no way that’s him, right???

and then the next year it happens again but this time it’s some one hit wonder country singer kenneth crane that has like 78 tween-run fangirl blogs dedicated to him. you see a grainy video of him being chased by a horde of screaming teenage girls and ??? no way Eliot Last Thing You’ll Ever See Spencer is a country singer star just. signing pictures of his face right…?

a few months later your intern shows you footage of an eliot lookalike who is in san lorenzo talking about how there is dog fighting in the presidential palace and you just. sigh. because of course. a scant few days later the political geography of the country changes drastically and damien moreau is imprisoned. …interesting

and then a year of silence goes by. he still shows up as blips on the radar but he must have a good hacker working for him because his tracks on the internet are expertly erased.

every time you ask through interagency channels some random interpol guy talks in (condescending?) riddles at you and it also somehow feels like he’s threatening you

and then your friend who recently got into foreign hockey teams sends you a dropyourgloves video of someone called jacques the bear. you immediately get a headache (and watch some more videos because even you can admit this guy is a good hockey player)

and you know he’s a Bad Guy but it’s been admittedly a bit entertaining seeing what claim to fame he will come upon next. and his most recent actions over the few years make you wonder.

a few months later your phone pings because multiple heads of state evacuated from DC. the reason? eliot spencer was in town. you hear two days later a bioterrorist was taken down by… the report was redacted. your hacker tells you spencer and two teammates were behind the successful operation. which, huh.

not even a full year later it is released that spencer is dead and… you don’t know how to feel.

#sorry this turned kinda angsty I just think eliot famousaliases spencer is a great reoccurring joke #eventually an indeterminate amount of months later you see him pop up again and you breathe #at this point all the intel you’ve gotten points that he’s actually doing something good with his life #like he’s changed. and you know he’s a bad guy but he’s doing things that nobody else is really capable of doing. making changes on large #and small scales #he will face consequences eventually you are sure. but his tracks are so well covered already and he’s so slippery so maybe. maybe you just #don’t make your agents work so hard to track him down #you get to know sterling a bit better (and maybe understand him a bit better too)#sterling invites you to an off the books lunch at this brewpub in portland when you’re in the states. the head chef looks familiar #it’s the best food you’ve ever tasted. because OF COURSE it is #at this point you’re not even angry. or resigned anymore. you’re slightly impressed #anyways that’s how sterling’s leverage club gains another member #(mcsweeten was the second member btw. if you’ve seen my other posts)#eliot spencer #eliot spencer meta #headcanons #humor #leverage #jim sterling #(mentioned)#the studio job #the blue line job #the three strikes job #ficlets #mine #a post not on my queue??? more likely than you think #I should make a tag for in universe pov posts #into the leverage verse #headcanons in the tags #the rundown job

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dollarstoreartsupplies · 2 months

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okay so steph is definitely a music purist?

we can all agree on that right? like she's a 'said she was born in the wrong generation in middle school' fleetwood mac, david bowie, the mamas & the papas, niche modern indie artists and also chappell roan kind of music listener. obviously. but.... i dont think we've really considered pete's music taste?

pete, who is a science, left-brained kind of kid, so he probably does not actively go out to look for music and is instead just provided music by the people around him?

pete whose older brother is theodore spankoffski and so his earliest and most fond and nostalgic music influences from his childhood would have come directly from ted's cd collection???

basically what im saying is peter spankoffski has the most trashy, early 00's ke$ha, black eyed peas my humps era, all american rejects ass music taste in the world

that boy had bowling for soup's 1985 memorized at age four, his guilty pleasure music is hollywood undead's everywhere i go, ted did his first decent person move in years when pete came out as trans as a kid and stopped listening to grow a pear by ke$ha and pete forcibly made him play it because it's a bop

and then his only friends are a weeb and a theatre kid.

steph gives him the aux cord on a date to be nice, as a sign of trust, and is blasted in the face with the most uncurated mess of j-pop, sondheim, weezer, and like... owl city's fireflies and that's just a fact

#I must clarify this isn’t a dig at any of these songs they all fuck #my source is im a youngest child with a decently older brother and all of my nostalgic music is literally this #my mom had to force my brother to limit what songs he played around me because I was six years old and started saying the word hoe a lot #peter spankoffski #also my hc is Pete is teds full brother so their parents are just Old and Pete stood NO chance #he grew up around Dickhead Era Ted and a dad who forced him to name classic rock bands when they came on the radio #and also my source is my music taste is also the peoples around me because im bad at finding music #nerdy prudes must die #stephanie lauter #starkid #lautski #he also probably really likes train

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the-golden-dragoness · 9 months

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I hate that so many authors reduce the “new adult” genre into “young adult but explicitly horny” NO!!!! I want characters of a similar age as me with much more depth into the themes and ethics and morals and a more engaging style of writing!

#for real the writing really gets me because ya books are generally just too simple to read #I can’t stand it #not that I dislike ya quite the contrary #but I need my reading taste to grow with me #and reading ya doesn’t do that #tgdposts #tgdreads #booklr #bookblr

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blue-rose-soul · 2 months

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AU where Lucifer went down to New Orleans sometime between 1900 and 1910, right in the middle of Mardi Gras. Charlie was about 100ish at this time, and while Lucifer and Lilith were still together, there was a growing emotional distance between them that had been going on for a few decades at this point. Lucifer's just trying to have some fun and forget his worries for a little while, and he does. And he meets a nice lady. A very nice Creole woman who makes a mean pot of jambalaya with a kick right out of hell. They hit it off and spend the majority of the celebration together.

They get drunk. Very drunk. Lucifer doesn't remember most of that night. The woman, Nicaise, is pregnant.

By some quirk of genetics, the child comes out indistinguishable from a normal human, if significantly paler than his dark-skinned mother. Growing up, Nicaise always tells her son that his daddy was an angel, but all the boy sees is that his father abandoned him and his mother in a world that doesn't look kindly on black women or single mothers. He watches his mother struggle, he watches her suffer, and he grows up resenting and hating the men who make her life hell. Especially his father.

#random thoughts #Hazbin Hotel #the Devil's Bastard AU #Hazbin Hotel AU #crack AU #Lucifer Morningstar #Alastor's Mother #Alastor #does Alastor figure out Lucifer's his dad? maybe. maybe not.#'you walked out on me and my mom so I will parent my older sister better than you' just seems like such a funny premise for an au #I went with the name 'Nicaise' because it means something along the lines of 'victorious' and it seemed like a good match with Alastor #Lucifer tastes some of Alastor's jambalaya and suddenly he KNOWS #to be clear I'm not trying to make Lucifer OR Nicaise a bad guy here #Nicaise didn't know he was married #Lucifer got very very wasted and didn't really know what he was doing #he probably woke up on top of somebody's roof before he went home to Lilith and Charlie

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littlebluejaydraws · 1 year

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Looking at the creamy surface of the liquid, Castiel wonders why he never thought of doing that, then at Dean's pleased smile, wondering why he did. Map of the World, Chapter 7 / What Love Can Do- Bruce Springsteen

ID: A series of seven digital drawings of Dean and Cas from Supernatural, showing Dean making Cas coffee, along with lyrics from What Love Can Do by Bruce Springsteen. The drawings are all rough sketches in black on a white background, with mid tones in pink in every second image. The lyrics areas follows. 1: "There's a pillar in the temple where I carved your name, there's a soul sitting sad and blue", with Cas sitting at a kitchen table and Dean leaning on the same table looking at him. 2: "Now the remedies you've taken are all in vain", with an image of bottles piled up around a trash can, viewed through the legs of Cas' chair. 3: "Let me show you what love can do, let me show you what love can do", with Dean facing away and pouring coffee into a cup at the kitchen counter. 4: "Darling I can't stop the rain", with a birds-eye-view of a coffee mug as Dean adds sugar to it. 5: "Or turn your black sky blue", with a close up of the coffee mug as Dean passes it to Cas. 6: "Well let me show you what love can do", with Cas taking a drink. 7: "Let me show you what love can do", with Dean and Cas sitting facing each other at the table and smiling. End ID.

#cas #castiel #dean winchester #deancas #destiel #down to agincourt #dta #supernatural #spn #springsteenatural #I am currently trying to wean myself off coffee #so going back to the fic that started me drinking it haha #(it really does taste better loaded up with sugar and half n half kajfg)#this concept has been in my head for ages so good to finally get it down #probably will have more dta stuff coming up because that fic did really rearrange my brain #actually idk why im being coy about it i have already finished two more things and may do more sdkjg

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egophiliac · 8 months

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I love your take on Crowley!

I know that the early, non-Diasomnia stories aren't really your thing, but are you reading the novels at all?

I have been following some of the fan translations and the second book seems intense! Would love to hear what you think about them.

thank you! 💚💚💚 I'm not really sure why you think I don't like the earlier arcs though, I love pretty much all the characters and their storis! (I think 5 and 1 are my favorite of the past episodes, though 6 infected me with the Shroud brainrot something fierce.) I just...ESPECIALLY love diasomnia. :') but there is room in my heart for all of these dweebs! like, who among us is not just as ride-or-die for Adeuce as they are for us.

that said, I don't really follow the other adaptations like the manga (aside from a dip-in just to see the new Yuus) or the novels, though I keep meaning to check them out! I do like seeing the differences between the different forms of media, and how certain things get adapted one way or another! but alas, time/a lack of accessibility stands in our way more often than not. :( someday...someday I will have time to consume all of the media...

#art #twisted wonderland #i have been playing this game since the day it came out #and believe me i could not have stuck with it for the past three and a half years if i was not deep into all of these idiots #not to harp on it but i do think it's funny because i actually. really did not like the diasomnias at first.#it was like a month before their cards/personal stories were added and so we knew almost NOTHING about them #the website descriptions basically make everyone sound awful #so i thought they were kind of mean/boring compared to everyone else!#(except maybe lilia but i was mad at him for the two seconds of 'girl? 👀' hope i had when they were revealed)#but once their cards came out i fell just as hard for them as i did the rest of this silly game #well. sebek took a little longer. but his ketchup incident converted me.#anyway i have so much sentimentality for episode 1 especially #the prologue was like 'oh this is actually a very silly game! oh there is a plot!'#episode 1 was like 'oh i LIKE these characters and what they're doing with them'#(i think ace punching riddle was the moment i decided i REALLY liked this game) (sorry riddle) (you were being a huge dick though)#also...ink drips. ink drips everywhere.#look when i say this game is laser-focused at me and my tastes specifically i am not kidding

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sweepingboy · 4 months

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Feng Xin and Xie Lian remember their childhood with warmth, as a time when they didn't have so many worries.

Mu Qing prefers not to think about his yearly years at all.

The same events evoke completely different emotions in them. Feng Xin and Xie Lian talking about the luxurious feasts in the royal palace feel nostalgic and Mu Qing thinks about the greasy looks that some noble guests would throw at the pretty servant, sleepless nights spent washing the magnificent clothes on which the prince accidentally spilled a drink or dripped sauce and how after barely resting he will prepare the morning outfit for the prince as a day of grueling training awaits them. He remembers the cold tone of the guoshi, tryings to slip away from a group of bullies and work work again.

He recalls waiting for the week to end so he can return to his poor little house and feel the warmth he's been dreaming of as he hugs his mum tight.

#people tend to overlook that mu qing was working and training (just as hard as xie lian) at the same time #mq barely had a childhood #fx was working for xl too but admit it he had it way easier? like xl was a skilled warrior too and could protect himself #so mostly he was just tagging along #and mq was there tasting the whole pallette of child labor #and i hate the argument that fx was xl's servant too but he isn't bitchy about it #my friend even tried to convince me he wasn't a nobility #my sibling in dao do you really think they would trust some random guy with prince's life?#tgcf mu qing #tgcf #he tries not to mention it because he has a feeling they would be upset with him #mu qing #mxtx tgcf #feng xin #tgcf headcanon #wtf is wrong with my tags

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carlyraejepsans · 2 years

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you know, i try to stay positive about how this fandom views non-binary people because i know we've done giant leaps since 2015 but god like. you'll see drawings of older frisk and chara in skirts and dresses and wearing makeup and low cut shirts that show off bra straps and big doe eyes and STILL use they/them which is good!!!! it's very good!

but i draw frisk with the slightest hint of stubble once and not even a minute after i post it they're getting misgendered in the notes. by people who were using gn pronouns a moment before. and I'm like wow. you really DO see us all as women-light don't you

#i try not to think about it because it got such a positive response too!! like there were so many people happy to see frisk look like that #whether they saw them as AMAB or just masc regardless #but like. they really got misgendered within the first 20 notes of that post. i just couldn't shake the feeling off of me #it never happened under any other one if my posts where i kept them more vague/childlike #it left a real bitter taste in my mouth #biscia hater moment

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