I would argue that the game is kind of empty
spoilers incoming
once you complete the 4 beasts and ganon there isn't much to do in the game. Sure there are shrines which are fun to do and collecting seeds is sometimes rewarding (as completing a fun puzzle is always nice) but they are largely identical puzzles repeated across the map. Don't get me wrong though, i love this game, but it lacks severly in that aspect imo and still manages to be an amazing game, which i think speaks to the amazing game engine nintendo was able to create. It's fun in the same way Mario Maker is fun, i know that may sound weird, but both games are about exploring what a the game mechanics will let you do and very much reward experimentation, it encourages you to try and mix different mechanics to see the results, like using balloons to float up a piece of wood and then stasis-ing it to whack it with a hammer to give it some momentum and then riding that piece of wood up to the top of a cliff that was too high for you to climb because you didn't have enough stamina. I didn't like skyrim all that much, and i hated the game mechanics and the engine of that game so much, because it felt very strict and the experimentation and mixing of game mechanics was not a part of that game. What carried skyrim, imo, is that it was chock-full of little bits of story everywhere for you to find. This is largely absent from BotW, there are few villages and few people to talk to, random houses outside of villages are extremely rare and there is very little different equipment to find and improve. I think overall BotW was a great game and i loved playing it, and it's strenghts make me so excited for the next game, i just can't wait to play it to see what nintendo can come up with, really. But i think a lot of it's shortcomings make it kind of hard for me to recommend or even defend, because it's very flawed in some key aspects.
This post was edited by destry on May 31 2017 04:00pm