The Official Nintendo Switch Thread

[Ben_Jamin]

I enjoyed BotW but I didn't love it like so many others seemed to. Watching that video with Eji Aonuma doesn't inspire me to rush out and order TotK. Those new mechanics aren't something that interests me much. I enjoyed the Divine Beasts and the Shrines, but I missed delving in to a dungeon/temple, finding items, collecting keys, exploring paths, and defeating bosses.

Your not alone. That is the very reason why my friend did not enjoy Breath of The Wild at all. He got bored with it because there really isn't much to do.

[Cool Chris]

I enjoyed BotW but I didn't love it like so many others seemed to. Watching that video with Eji Aonuma doesn't inspire me to rush out and order TotK. Those new mechanics aren't something that interests me much. I enjoyed the Divine Beasts and the Shrines, but I missed delving in to a dungeon/temple, finding items, collecting keys, exploring paths, and defeating bosses.

Your not alone. That is the very reason why my friend did not enjoy Breath of The Wild at all. He got bored with it because there really isn't much to do.

There's a lot to do, I just didn't find much of it very engaging, at least once the excitement of having a new Zelda game wore off.

[cramx3]

I enjoyed BotW but I didn't love it like so many others seemed to. Watching that video with Eji Aonuma doesn't inspire me to rush out and order TotK. Those new mechanics aren't something that interests me much. I enjoyed the Divine Beasts and the Shrines, but I missed delving in to a dungeon/temple, finding items, collecting keys, exploring paths, and defeating bosses.

Your not alone. That is the very reason why my friend did not enjoy Breath of The Wild at all. He got bored with it because there really isn't much to do.

There's a lot to do, I just didn't find much of it very engaging, at least once the excitement of having a new Zelda game wore off.

I didn't love it either.  I don't have much interest in the new game.

[Lonk]

The thing with BOTW is that it's so different, yet so similar to traditional Zelda games, that I find it hard to compare it to other games. I loved BOTW, and there is certainly a lot to do in the game, specially with the DLC that added hours of gameplay to the game. What I did not like about the game is the fragmented/thin story (Having to find memories to piece together the story was clever, but did not work that well for me). Maybe I'll replay it before TOTK comes out. I finished Metroid Prime already and have nothing to play until TOTK. I still have yet to beat the Trial of the Sword in Master Mode.

I'm looking forward to TOTK, but only because it's a Zelda game, not because anything I've seen excites me. I'm sure I'll enjoy it, but it feels more like an expansion of BOTW rather than a new game.

[ErHaO]

I enjoyed BotW but I didn't love it like so many others seemed to. Watching that video with Eji Aonuma doesn't inspire me to rush out and order TotK. Those new mechanics aren't something that interests me much. I enjoyed the Divine Beasts and the Shrines, but I missed delving in to a dungeon/temple, finding items, collecting keys, exploring paths, and defeating bosses.

BotW has some "best ever" moments for me and I love the world they crafted, but there are some significant drawbacks that make it a 8/10 game at best for me.

My main qualm is this:

Game progression nullifies the need to use the game's mechanics and/or strategy quite early on. For example, early on you have to plot routes to climb mountains and manage stamina. After a while this is completely trivial and climbing stuff is just pressing the analog stick upwards and eating something if necessary. People say that Assassins Creed's climbing is mindless, but for about 3/5 of my BotW playthrough the climbing was literally pressing the stick upwards, eating a meal and waiting.

TotK excites me, but I hope they balance the game (progression) differently. For example, crossing the lake with a self-made vehicle is awesome. But it will only work if a) the reward is good and b) your stamina will not soon be adequate to just cross the lake swimming. Force players to be creative with the vast amount of gameplay tools and reward them for it. A massive open world needs way more interesting stuff than just seeds and easily breakable gear for me. See Elden Ring, where you can find many cool unique NPC's/quests, weapons, enemies, upgrade items etc. in unexpected corners.

[Phoenix87x]

I really enjoyed Botw and had probably 100 hours of enjoyment, but I'm just not really blown away by the sequel footage. I'll eventually play it, but I'm not counting down the days or anything.

[orcus116]

I've stopped paying attention to anything after the second teaser/trailer/whatever you want to call it since it lacked the pizzazz of the final BOTW trailer, which is still one of the best trailers I've seen. I'm hoping to pick it up next month and be pleasantly surprised.

I can kind of get the critiques some have had on BOTW but I felt the vastness of the landscape and methods of exploring kept my interest for way longer than it probably should have. I'd spend 8-10 hours roaming around, not really get anything done except for collect a bunch of items for upgrades, and not really care. It was just a cool space to be in. I'm curious if those with some qualms somewhat appreciate the different approach the game took instead of treading into another formulaic game with 6-8 themed dungeons. I did not get a chance to play Skyward Sword so I can't comment on that but the Zelda template for many of the previous games was getting beyond stale and BOTW was a much needed fresh take. I do hope they add enough to TOTK to make it its own thing instead of just "BOTW but in the clouds" but being so far removed from my only playthrough when BOTW first came out I don't think I'll mind at all jumping back into that space.

My only fear is that since then I've played some absolute gems of open world games that, while different series, definitely got me deeply hooked into the genre. I'll try not to compare but it'll be tough.

[Cool Chris]

I did not get a chance to play Skyward Sword so I can't comment on that but the Zelda template for many of the previous games was getting beyond stale....

If that is your take on the "Zelda template," you absolutely should NOT play Skyward Sword. 

[orcus116]

I've heard as much 

Also something about backtracking or killing the same boss multiple times. I'm sure there's some merit to the game as all Zelda games have but it may not be quite what I'm looking for at this point.

[Cool Chris]

Also something about backtracking or killing the same boss multiple times. I'm sure there's some merit to the game as all Zelda games have but it may not be quite what I'm looking for at this point.

Twilight Princess was the first new Zelda game I played, and this is going back to NES days (minus Majora's Mask, which I didn't play when it was released due to life issues) where I felt disappointed. So I really wanted to like Skyward Sword. It has a couple good elements, but it was still a letdown, and made me question if this franchise had a future outside of its reputation and name.

Found out today the president of Nintendo of America's name is Doug Bowser. Look it up.

New Tears of the Kingdom video today.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBELOrZvgNI

[ErHaO]

It is a really good trailer, excited for the game!

One thing though, I think the voice acting is a bit sub par in this trailer. Same for BotW in general. Thankfully the voice acting is minimal, but it mostly sounds amateurish to me when there are cutscenes. With the amount of talent out there and the modern standards even in the indiest of games, I don't understand it.

[XJDenton]

I played the orginal with Japanese voice acting, and based on that dub I think i will do so for the sequel. Looks hype af though.

[Lonk]

I'm looking forward to TOTK, but only because it's a Zelda game, not because anything I've seen excites me. I'm sure I'll enjoy it, but it feels more like an expansion of BOTW rather than a new game.

I take this comment back, the new trailer looks great and showed how different the game will be. Very excited now 

[Lonk]

I started playing BOTW again and the game sucked me back in. The exploration aspect of the game alone keeps me entertained enough to not want to stop playing. The game showed my last saved gameplay was 2019, I thought I played it more recently but guess not. But anyways, I read that TOTK was leaked, and people have been playing it already so I went on youtube to see if there are any videos, and instead I found this, and I can't stop laughing  There are so many of them, but this one in particular I find very funny:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxsCxix3EdM

[ErHaO]

I looked at a non-spoilerish impression thread based on the leaks and have very high expectations for TOTK. They took BOTW and expanded it greatly but also put in some classic Zelda stuff.

I also bought a Switch Oled, the TOTK version to be exact, with a tradein deal of my original+ model. I travel for work these days and especially on hotels a Switch is nice. The Oled has a much more pleasant screen size to use in tabletop mode with a pro controller. And the overall image is much better. Also, I think the Zelda edition looks and feels very nice.

[Cool Chris]

There's a review of Tears of the Kingdom posted by IGN on YouTube. I tried to watch only a couple seconds of it here and there to go in as spoiler-free as possible, but did see they ended the review with the word Masterpiece. The first sentence in the description is: "This is an unfathomable sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, somehow improving upon it in nearly every way..."

[Lonk]

My brother got an early (physical) copy of the game, don't know how. But he's been playing the game for over a week now and told me that he thinks is better than BOTW. I'm picking up a physical copy later on today but might not get to play it until next week or so. We'll see 

If the reason the game was delayed so much shows in the game quality, I'm not mad about it.

[Phoenix87x]

It certainly looks like there's tons of stuff to do.

I've got a little too much going on at the moment to sink my teeth really into it, but I'll definitely pick up tears at some point.

[Chino]

My brother got an early (physical) copy of the game, don't know how. But he's been playing the game for over a week now and told me that he thinks is better than BOTW. I'm picking up a physical copy later on today but might not get to play it until next week or so. We'll see 

If the reason the game was delayed so much shows in the game quality, I'm not mad about it.

Someone at a distribution facility dropped the ball. Reddit has been filled with people getting their copies early and everything leaked last week as a result.

I don't think the leaks and early release are going to hurt anything though. I was looking at reviews yesterday, and I haven't seen a game so highly and unanimously praised in a long time. 

Areajugones - Spanish - 10 / 10
Atomix - Spanish - 100 / 100
AusGamers - 10 / 10
CGMagazine - 10 / 10
COGconnected - 100 / 100
Cerealkillerz - German - 9.5 / 10
Checkpoint Gaming - 10 / 10
ComicBook.com - 5 / 5
Console Creatures - Recommended
DASHGAMER.com - 10 / 10
Destructoid - 10 / 10
Dexerto - 5 / 5
Digital Trends - 4.5 / 5
Digitally Downloaded - 4.5 / 5
Enternity.gr - Greek - 10 / 10
Eurogamer - 4 / 5
Eurogamer.pt - Portuguese - 5 / 5
Everyeye.it - Italian - 9.5 / 10
Forbes - 9 / 10
GAMES.CH - German - 95%
Game Informer - 9.8 / 10
GamePro - German - 93 / 100
GameSpot - 10 / 10
Gameblog - French - 10 / 10
GamesHub - 5 / 5
GamesRadar+ - 4.5 / 5
Geeks & Com - French - 9 / 10
Glitched Africa - 10 / 10
God is a Geek - 10 / 10
Guardian - 5 / 5
Hobby Consolas - Spanish - 98 / 100
IGN - 10 / 10
IGN Italy - Italian - 9.8 / 10
IGN Spain - Spanish - 10 / 10
Inverse - 10 / 10
LevelUp - Spanish - 9 / 10
Merlin'in Kazanı - Turkish - 96 / 100
Metro GameCentral - 10 / 10
Nintendo Life - 10 / 10
PPE.pl - Polish - 10 / 10
Polygon - Unscored
Post Arcade (National Post) - 10 / 10
Press Start - 10 / 10
RPG Site - 10 / 10
SECTOR.sk - Slovak - 9.5 / 10
Screen Rant - 5 / 5
Skill Up - Unscored
Spaziogames - Italian - 10 / 10
Stevivor - 10 / 10
Telegraph - 5 / 5
TheGamer - 5 / 5
TheSixthAxis - 9 / 10
Tom's Hardware Italia - Italian - 10 / 10
TrustedReviews - 5 / 5
VG247 - 5 / 5
VGC - 5 / 5
Video Chums - 9.2 / 10
Washington Post - 100 / 100
Wccftech - 9 / 10
WellPlayed - 10 / 10

[Lonk]

Damn, that's some high ratings for sure. Can't wait

[ErHaO]

I think TotK is exceptional a couple of hours in. I laways enjoyed BotW but this one clicks with me more. Though I will say my favourite stretch of BotW was probably those first 15-20 hours or so. But I am loving the inventiveness of the new powers and the atmosphere/music a lot

[Phoenix87x]

I'm definitely getting banjo kazooie nuts and bolts vibes, which is great since I loved that game

[Ben_Jamin]

I caved and ended up getting Tears of The Kingdom. Awaiting the download to finish. 

[ReaperKK]

I'll probably pick it up today or tomorrow BotW didn't really do anything for me but I can't resist the hype

[XJDenton]

Think I'm going to wait to pick this up until the summer. Feel like this is going to be a good one to have on the road!

[Lonk]

Finally pick up the game, but still won't be able to play it until tonight, but most likely at some point during the week.

When you give people creative freedom, the first thing they figure out is "can I make a penis out of this" and sure enough, there are already videos of people making penis shape figures with wood and trees. That's why we can have nice things lol Nintendo should've known

[King Postwhore]

My new side chick.

[Lonk]

My new side chick.

Looking good.


I played TOTK for a little over an hour yesterday, and already love the game. Really, really liked the way the game started. We shall see how it continues, but so far so good 

[chknptpie]

Played it for the last 3 days and sad I have to go back to work today! I made it to my second temple so far and loving it Racking up lots of side quests to do at some point also. New mechanics are fun, new monsters are scary in a good way.

[Lonk]

So I'm loving TOTK. I barely done any of the main quests, but there is so much to do! Plus the building feature is so much fun to play with. This wasn't me, but gave me a good laugh

https://twitter.com/aquatic_ambi/status/1664324456540700672?t=XITPD_WiJba0WxWyAXbHlg&s=08

[chknptpie]

I realized this week that TOTK has turned me into a lyft driver for koroks for shit wages

[XJDenton]

I'm probably in the minority here, but the more I see of the building stuff, the less keen I feel to dive deep into TOTK. Just seems like another massive time sink I don't really have time for.

[Cool Chris]

I feel similarly to you. I am getting this game for my birthday and believe it will give me hours of enjoyment. I am just not going to commit the level of time most gamers seem to be doing with this game, as they did with its predecessor.

[XJDenton]

As I get older, I appreciate the 20 hour or less gaming experience more and more.

[Cool Chris]

Agree. I am about 10 hours in to the Switch remaster of Metroid Prime, which is one of my favorite games ever, and I am ready to get this wrapped up. I've played it a couple times and know it pretty well, and it still feels like I've been playing it for a month.

I'm getting TotK this weekend for my birthday, and I anticipate it will bring me a ton of joy, but I just can't commit the number of hours so many other gamers appear to be doing with this game as they did with BotW.