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KalJ95 (25 KP) rated the Nintendo Switch version of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild in Video Games
Dec 28, 2019
Exploration is epic (2 more)
Incredible open-world.
Mechanics and gameplay is Nintendo's greatest achievement.
Breath of fresh gaming.
On December 25th 2018, I finally got a Nintendo Switch, after years of hinting to my other half. There was only ever going to be one game to start with; Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Within the space of a week, I accounted 85 hours of gameplay and exploration around Hyrule. And I was disappointed with what I had experienced. The experience felt hollow, empty even. The story was bare boned, set amongst cut scenes of Link's memories from 100 years ago. I immediately sold the game and bought Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
I was a fool.
Zelda: BotW is a mesmerising behemoth of a game, full of so much to discover and encounter through the breathtaking world of Hyrule. My stubbornness through my first playthrough was largely down to wanting a more linear, story based experience, like past Zelda games. What Nintendo crafted is something else entirely. Rather than focus of Link defeating Ganon, and saving Princess Zelda, your focus is to explore this vast open world and traverse its landscapes through whatever means you desire. And that is why this game is so special. The serene music and light melodies that play as you circumnavigate from land to land could often be quite dull and boring with other open world games, but in BotW its absolutely the right move. It gives you time to breath absolutely everything in, and stare in awe of the beautiful world you've inhabited.
The emphasis on going your own way and exploring is simply remarkable. The world is quite literally in your hands. Then comes the 120 separate challenges called Shrines, put in place so you can gain extra Health and Stamina bars as you progress. The puzzle solving is another great addition to a game already jam packed with content. I could mention and write all day long about its weather system, various amounts of enemies which require different approaches to combat, the side missions and extra content in regards to weapons and clothing, the list could quite literally go on, but I will finish this here with a few final observations:
BotW is a stunning achievement, and I am sticking to my gripe that the game is lacking quite significantly with its narrative, but it's a game that was never built around a long linear story. The simplicity that you are Link, and the world is yours just happens to be everything Nintendo needed to create a damn near Masterpiece of gaming.
I was a fool.
Zelda: BotW is a mesmerising behemoth of a game, full of so much to discover and encounter through the breathtaking world of Hyrule. My stubbornness through my first playthrough was largely down to wanting a more linear, story based experience, like past Zelda games. What Nintendo crafted is something else entirely. Rather than focus of Link defeating Ganon, and saving Princess Zelda, your focus is to explore this vast open world and traverse its landscapes through whatever means you desire. And that is why this game is so special. The serene music and light melodies that play as you circumnavigate from land to land could often be quite dull and boring with other open world games, but in BotW its absolutely the right move. It gives you time to breath absolutely everything in, and stare in awe of the beautiful world you've inhabited.
The emphasis on going your own way and exploring is simply remarkable. The world is quite literally in your hands. Then comes the 120 separate challenges called Shrines, put in place so you can gain extra Health and Stamina bars as you progress. The puzzle solving is another great addition to a game already jam packed with content. I could mention and write all day long about its weather system, various amounts of enemies which require different approaches to combat, the side missions and extra content in regards to weapons and clothing, the list could quite literally go on, but I will finish this here with a few final observations:
BotW is a stunning achievement, and I am sticking to my gripe that the game is lacking quite significantly with its narrative, but it's a game that was never built around a long linear story. The simplicity that you are Link, and the world is yours just happens to be everything Nintendo needed to create a damn near Masterpiece of gaming.
Emerging Strategies for Supporting Student Learning: A Practical Guide for Librarians and Educators
Book
Emerging Strategies for Supporting Student Learning provides a straightforward and accessible guide...
Zoo Craft: Build & Design
Games and Entertainment
App
New zoo games! Trip to the zoo with kids! Build zoo, care about animals, become a zoo tycoon! Theme...
Boyfriend Craft: High School Crush Simulator
Games and Entertainment
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My Virtual boyfriend in a girls craft world! Dating sims high school crush game! A game where you...
The Gourmands’ Way: Six Americans in Paris and the Birth of a New Gastronomy
Book
“In The Gourmands’ Way, Justin Spring brilliantly recounts the French odyssey of six remarkable...
Biography food
Escape Tales: Children of Wyrmwoods
Tabletop Game
Escape Tales: Children of Wyrmwoods is a story driven escape room in card game form, with immersive...
Pearl's Peril
Games
6.0
Rate It
App
PLAY THE PERFECT HIDDEN OBJECT GAME TODAY Rediscover love, mystery, romance and grand adventure...
Ross (3284 KP) rated The Black Shriving in Books
Oct 30, 2017
The action continues straight on from where the Path of Flames left off. The story follows Tiron and Audsley's journey after they step through the mysterious portal, Asho and Kethe's journey into the mountains to investigate the second Black Gate, and Tharok's attempts to unite the kragh tribes and make an assault on the humans.
The story rarely dips in terms of excitement but does start to follow a number of different paths and take on different paces. While there is exciting action as Asho and Kethe take on the demon hordes, there are moments of tense political debate and planning, and Audsley's exploration of Starkadr is of a different thrilling pace altogether.
More of the greater plot is starting to be revealed as the humans banished from Ennoia start to plot their return to the world and the kragh start to plot their assault on that very same world.
The story really developed over this book with different threads and plots forming and diverging, different aspects of the magic and mysticism of the world being explored and revealed, the very religion of the world being challenged and I am looking forward to seeing how these come together later on.
The story rarely dips in terms of excitement but does start to follow a number of different paths and take on different paces. While there is exciting action as Asho and Kethe take on the demon hordes, there are moments of tense political debate and planning, and Audsley's exploration of Starkadr is of a different thrilling pace altogether.
More of the greater plot is starting to be revealed as the humans banished from Ennoia start to plot their return to the world and the kragh start to plot their assault on that very same world.
The story really developed over this book with different threads and plots forming and diverging, different aspects of the magic and mysticism of the world being explored and revealed, the very religion of the world being challenged and I am looking forward to seeing how these come together later on.
Still gritty (1 more)
More involved plot and exploration of the Misery
Superb follow-up
* I received an advance copy of this from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review *
The sequel to the highly praised Blackwing sees Ryhalt Galharrow trying to move on from losing the love of his life and investigating the theft of a magical artefact from a heavily protected vault.
For the first few chapters this book felt like a Captain Vimes Discworld novel (in a good way) with the humour toned down a little. We were exploring the pre-industrial city and investigating a crime that could have dire consequences for the safety of the city.
The book spends significantly more time in the city than in the Misery (the strange, twisting wasteland) than was the case for the first book, which gives it a very different feel. Plotting and intrigue abound as an evil sorcerer's plot to achieve ultimate power starts to unfold.
The book felt slightly less dark than the first, and has quite a different feel to it than Blackwing, but is still absolutely superb. The flowing prose and cracking dialogue make this a true page-turner and one of the best fantasy books I have read in quite some time.
The sequel to the highly praised Blackwing sees Ryhalt Galharrow trying to move on from losing the love of his life and investigating the theft of a magical artefact from a heavily protected vault.
For the first few chapters this book felt like a Captain Vimes Discworld novel (in a good way) with the humour toned down a little. We were exploring the pre-industrial city and investigating a crime that could have dire consequences for the safety of the city.
The book spends significantly more time in the city than in the Misery (the strange, twisting wasteland) than was the case for the first book, which gives it a very different feel. Plotting and intrigue abound as an evil sorcerer's plot to achieve ultimate power starts to unfold.
The book felt slightly less dark than the first, and has quite a different feel to it than Blackwing, but is still absolutely superb. The flowing prose and cracking dialogue make this a true page-turner and one of the best fantasy books I have read in quite some time.
Sawyer (231 KP) rated Pokemon Colosseum in Video Games
Feb 10, 2018
Great looking 3D graphics the first ever 3D graphics on a Pokemon game of the traditional RPG genre (1 more)
Very interesting ambitious story that definitely goes to a different direction
The game is rather Limited in how many Pokemon you can catch which would definitely be a big turn-off for any big Pokemon fans (1 more)
The game has a somewhat straightforward game progression and you pretty much have to fast travel everywhere which takes away a lot of the exploration aspects that the franchise is so known for
Probably the most ambitious Pokemon game ever
Contains spoilers, click to show
This game is truly unique within the Pokemon franchise
It was the first ever Pokemon game put out on the a non handheld console
That was considered a turn based RPG yes you had games like Pokemon Stadium and Pokemon snap but those
Where attempts at Different genres
But rather than follow the time-tested formula that people love so much they decided to go in a very experimental path featuring story revolving around a Pokemon
Thief That would steal other people's Pokemon
Game had a very solid storyline but it definitely suffers
Constraining level designs the small amount of Pokemon available and the lack of the overall charm of the franchise
It was the first ever Pokemon game put out on the a non handheld console
That was considered a turn based RPG yes you had games like Pokemon Stadium and Pokemon snap but those
Where attempts at Different genres
But rather than follow the time-tested formula that people love so much they decided to go in a very experimental path featuring story revolving around a Pokemon
Thief That would steal other people's Pokemon
Game had a very solid storyline but it definitely suffers
Constraining level designs the small amount of Pokemon available and the lack of the overall charm of the franchise