I tried to jump into BOTW after a few years of not playing video games and I was super underwhelmed how it didn’t feel like a proper video game. It kinda takes a while to sink into the allure.
But after playing Elden Ring, im not sure how well you’ll be able to appreciate BotW
I’m the opposite: I love wandering in BotW, especially when I was looking for Shrines. In Elden Ring there was something looking for action every 5 steps…it grew tiresome. And what I think BotW has over ER is the vertical: I love climbing and gliding from mountain peaks to valleys.
I agree on the fighting: I hope they improve that for the next; bring back Wind Waker fighting.
Yeah but climbing, the character always gets winded and I need to eat something or I fall off the cliff. It’s not really that fun. To play elden ring with danger everywhere just makes it super appealing and exciting to explore. I can see how it can get exhausting over time as well, but I have logged so many hours on that game, it is crazy.
Gauging whether youll make it to the edge on your last bit of stamina or fall to your doom is not excitement enough for you? Are you not entertained?! 
Running out of stamina is the players error. Not the game. Simple resource management. Do you have enough stamina? Have you made a batch of stamina elixirs?
Once youve acquired 3 full stamina rings and the er… climbing gear, you’ll fly up thise cliffs, no more elixirs needed.
Combat is clunky in the begining because Link has been asleep for a century and has forgotten everything. He wakes up a doofus.
Sneaking is some times more powerful… and more satisfying. Or luring enemies into traps, most of them cant swim for example… or they burn to death if they fall in fire… or can get stung to death by bees etc.
As the game progresses he looses his doofus status and yeah, becomes total badass. I quite like the combat now, Ive learned some moves, and when to use them, and also how to fight certain enemies etc. Lynel hunting is where Im at now. Its a genius game.
I’d say the big thing that Elden Ring has over BotW i double jumping. Every game that has double jumping is instantly a classic
Right. It’s interesting you dont hear Elden Ring spoken of as a platformer.
You are nailing why it’s annoying. No I don’t want to sit around at the beginning of the game making elixirs and having clunky combat, breaking weapons. Etc.
The game just doesn’t really have a great feel to it for me to deal with all that type of stuff. Maybe I’ll fire it up later and see if I change my mind. I don’t know.
Fair enough.
It is a survival game. Weapons would break in reality, and thats cool. It adds a tension to the game, and you learn not to rely on objects, but more your working knowledge of the games mechanics. Very thinky.
The magnesis/stasis/cryo/bomb skills are way more useful that at first one might think.
I like engine building games. Where you build up an engine that works for how you want to play, then you get on with it.
Thanks for the tips, just bought it several hours ago. Bought a Switch for my children this Christmas but I think I’ll get back moderately into « gaming » and BotW was a suggestion from my students. It’s been almost 25 years since I’ve touched a game.
Is you like games with a dark, creepy aesthetic Limbo and Inside were the first games I played when I got back into gaming and they were throughly satisfying. Also portal.
Celeste if you like challenging but fun platforming
If you’re looking for a Nintendo game, Super Mario Odyssey has that same exploration element to the game, but it mainlines the fun/gamey element
TBH, I don’t know what I like anymore but I will surely look at your suggestions. Thanks @Ryan.
I put countless hours into the online mk battle tournament. it’s pretty competitive and fun.
This is why I rushed stamina upgrades and went for the climbing gear as soon as I could. I hate stamina mechanics and that allowed me to mostly bypass it. Except for the rain, it feels like it always rains when I want to climb something big.
BotW was captivating, I loved my time with it, but I never want to play it again. I share many of your frustrations. I’m tentatively hopeful for TotK.
Same. The big problem i had with BotW that I have hopes for with TotK is there being a forward momentum. Generally I’m not a fan of open world games(Elden Ring actually made one that i appreciate just because it gave me something to do instead of heading into the next grueling boss battle).
It took a lot of patience before I was able to get invested into BotW. Exploring the map and experimenting with the various physics is typically the bottom of my list of what I enjoy from a game
I hadn’t played video games for about the same amount of time before getting a switch lite in april 2022.
My GF gave me Zelda BOTW for my birthday. Honestly I didnt expect to enjoy it as much as I did. Absolutely awesome game.
Although, I like heavy euro/strategy board games and I read the octatrack manual for fun. So maybe it depends on what sort of person you are.
Disagree. There are thousands of games on switch. Finding out in advance which are worth your time is sensible when on a limited budget of time and money.
That said, embarking on the journey and homing in on what might be your perfect pass time is part of the fun.
Yeah and I hope no one takes it wrong that I don’t like a lot of games anymore. I mainly spend my time making tracks and now and then find something that just sucks me in completely like the games I listed earlier. It’s on me for not being more open minded about games, but at the same time, I am kind of glad I am like this since I get more music done.
Still considering a steam deck as well as I say this because I love video games, I just am a lot more picky about them now. I think the steam deck would let me play a lot of PS games i have always been intrugued by and never been able to play.
i was talking specifically about tips when playing botw
no spoilers!!!