My issue with BoTW is too much empty space, the durability system, a lack of "proper" dungeons, and enemy variety.
There's a lot of space to explore and run around in in BoTW, but a solid half of that is empty space for you to either fight enemies or do nothing. I don't think it should be more condensed, but maybe add some more content worth running around in. They don't even tell you where the minigames are (or hint at it through NPCs) in the map, and I've only found three of the six on my own through blind searching. Every Zelda game (except Skyward Sword) has had this type of problem. It's like three minutes of walking around before you find something to do, and then you're off for another three minutes to do something else. Add something in there for gods' sake.
Durability system is easy enough to nitpick about. Just give me a meter about how much durability I'm using.
Outside of repetitive shrine environments. the Divine Beasts are the only dungeons, and they're lacking. Shrines usually have good puzzles, but I think there were a tad too many Blessings shrines, and the combat trials got really repetitive. The Pillar/Magnesis Block/Cryonis is good to do maybe twice for varying difficulties, but after that it's just not worth it. Especially if you end up finding all the Major Battle shrines before the Minor Battle shrines (like I did like a doofus being too scared to fight guardians). I want actual envrionments with neat puzzles attached to it.
I would've loved more enemy types and variants. Actual Stalfos, Darknuts, Iron Knuckles, other types of minibosses that isn't the generic three plus Lynel, and probably more that I can't think about right now. The DLC Monk is legit the most fun I've had fighting an enemy since when I was ready to fight Lynels and Thunderblight Ganon. Speaking of the blights, they suck, except Thunderblight for being an actual challenge. Calamity Ganon himself was pretty dumb though, it went from a pretty decent fight to just being plain dumb. What's sad is that the game implies that that's the literal end for Ganon (until they run out of ideas and need him again) and BoTW is the end of all three timelines so far, and boy was that a terrible way to go out. Nintendo, recognize that I like Ganondorf, not just Ganon.
I'm totally down with this new formula of Zelda, I like the new spin they took on the series and the exploration. If they condense the map (which they probably will because of time restraints, Majora's Mask 2.0 I assume), I hope they will atleast shove a lot of content into the rough patches.
every one except skyward sword, but i know enough about it
I didn't mind the empty space, as I felt that every area was unique and well-crafted enough that exploration was fun and rewarding.
But yeah, durability sucks, hard. Sucks to the point that I haven't touched my latest BotW playthrough in weeks because I want to beat the Master Trials again before I do anything else, so I don't have to worry about durability as much anymore, but I'm at the end/hardest part of the trials so I'd need to have the time to really buckle down and tackle it. Though that's also because I'm a little nuts and get upset when I have any less than 1000 bullets for my guns in Fallout games, for example.
And enemy variety definitely sucks. With as rich as the Zelda series's enemy list is, the fact that it's just Bokoblins, Moblins, and Lizalfos most of the time gets old fast, and really doesn't take advantage of the game's variety of locales. You could have different enemy types for every region to make things interesting and varied, but instead it's just more of the same in each and every area, slightly tweaked.
The DLC Monk fight was the best boss fight in the game, and the other boss fights were pretty lame, I agree. Especially with how diverse and fun previous games' boss fights are. Same with the Divine Beasts replacing dungeons, as they all have the same aesthetic and objective, with just a tweaked gimmick. It all felt like a step backwards, as though it was done with the vague notion of what Zelda games used to be like, rather than evolving the formula in a meaningful way.
But if history proves right, the next game will be killer. The first Zelda was pretty rough in hindsight, but they perfected the formula in Link to the Past. In my opinion, OoT also set the formula for 3D Zelda, and Twilight Princess perfected it. So if BotW sets the new formula, and the next game perfects it... I can't imagine how incredible of an experience it would be.
I also never beat Skyward Sword, oddly enough. Though from what I've heard, I'm not missing much. But I do plan to get around to it in the near future.
Look at it this way.
For as stilted and awkward as that dialogue may be... it's better than
classic Resident Evil dialogue.
Oh yeah, old RE was amateur hour. But at least it has the excuse of being a game from 1996, back when the standard for video game dialogue was pretty low, and almost no games attempted that level of voice acting.
This script is from a guy who's trying to do a workplace comedy, like
The Office or
Parks and Recreation. You know, some of the most popular and influential TV comedies of the generation. And all his characters are flat and unfunny, somehow. He didn't seem too enthusiastic about his script and seemed to acknowledge its issues, so it's not like he thought his work was great, but I don't know how you get inspired by comedy shows and somehow not write anything comedic.
