if you got this, I’d trade you my boring standard ones for the Labo Joy-Con.

I’m on the other end of that - since BotW doesn’t reward exploration with specific things, I get the feeling that ‘I discovered this’ - not that it was the cheese at the end of a series of corridors to move through.

“Players will optimize the ‘fun’ out of a game”

That’s a good point!

I’d ask you to see the response I put to Muscle Marth on this.

I didn’t mean to demean that aspect one bit. If you get meaning out of a game, good for you!

Then we’re just really different folks. I LOVE just the act of exploring in BotW.

Link to the Past, Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask (the only 3 games that really stood out to me) and having options as to how I want to tackle the dungeons and quests.

I wish I could give you 100 stars for putting Wind Waker next to BotW. Before it came out, WW was my go-to for ‘the most like NES Zelda modern-Zelda’ around.

Ugh! The stupid narrative that the only true Zelda was the NES game and that the series “got it wrong” for 30 years needs to GTFO!

the amount of flexibility gets so undersold, though. True, a few areas need a specific item to get there, but there’s a lot of openness - ESPECIALLY for a NES game in the 80s. Not to mention you’re just dropped into the overworld and it’s up to you to piece together what ‘order’ there is to anything.

The moment you mentioned mid-air cornering I thought ‘so it’s Lucio: The Game?’

Also: my BotW experience felt organic, start to end. By the time I had found the Master Sword, I was one heart shy of getting it, and the shrines I needed to get that heart were right there. I didn’t know I was building up Link’s health before that for any other reason that to build his health. Which is kinda what was…

trust your players

I know I’m not playing a game again when I ask myself, what is the point? Do I really care? It seems pointless.

Zelda game is a proper linear one

I’m about to finally start Assassin’s Creed Origins, and despite the good things I’ve heard about it, I’m worried that it will end up on my attention span’s cutting room floor as well.

part of facing the problem is helping contribute to the message send to those people that no, you don’t get to say those things with immunity. Society can, will, and will rightfully scorn you.

I know, but third parties have been fair-weather friends to Nintendo for a long time. That is, upfront support and positive vibes, and then dropping the platform within a year or so. So I’m cautiously hopeful Bethesda keeps it up, but wouldn’t be surprised if they (and especially any other team) turned up their noses…

I don’t think that’s how it works though - it’s not like paying to keep one show on prohibits spending on another. It’s also a matter of whether or not the rights holder(s) of the show want to extend their contract with Netflix, too.