This Old Neon Forum

Slurmee wrote: ↑22 May 2019 14:30 Much more in-depth than Wind Waker (which isn't even close to an rpg in my eyes). I guess considering I loved one and hated the other I can see many differences between them which makes me categorize them in completely different genres. BotW to me has the different weapons, magical abilities and just the way you play makes it feel like an open world sandbox rpg something none of the other zelda titles had ever done before completely putting botw in a different genre/catergory it never felt like a zelda game to me so comparing them feels like comparing pokemon to fire emblem. Both strategy games but completely different styles of gameplay.

Maybe it's because I started with The Legend of Zelda and A Link to the Past, which are open-world sandbox RPGs in the same way a Breath of the Wild.

Kong Wen wrote: ↑22 May 2019 14:42

Slurmee wrote: ↑22 May 2019 14:30 Much more in-depth than Wind Waker (which isn't even close to an rpg in my eyes). I guess considering I loved one and hated the other I can see many differences between them which makes me categorize them in completely different genres. BotW to me has the different weapons, magical abilities and just the way you play makes it feel like an open world sandbox rpg something none of the other zelda titles had ever done before completely putting botw in a different genre/catergory it never felt like a zelda game to me so comparing them feels like comparing pokemon to fire emblem. Both strategy games but completely different styles of gameplay.

Maybe it's because I started with The Legend of Zelda and A Link to the Past, which are open-world sandbox RPGs in the same way a Breath of the Wild.

Neither of those feel like sandbox to me. Sandbox to me means you can screw around in the world doing silly stuff. TLoZ and ALttP both focused heavily on just getting to the next dungeon while BotW is more about the fun Overworld where you can muck around and do silly stuff. TLoZ and ALttP never had and lot of mucking around stuff to do. Kill the enemies find hidden items then move on. If they're considered sandbox I'd call Pokemon sandbox as well. Also curious what differs in Wind Waker that makes it not Sandbox compared to TLoZ and ALttP they seem like they have similar amount of open world.

Edit: To be clear not saying your opinion is wrong just voicing mine and curious about yours.

They only don't feel like sandboxes to you because they're old and primitive by contrast. They are vast open worlds that you explore in a non-linear fashion (unlike Pokemon). There wasn't as much capacity to fill them with nonsense as there is in larger 3D games, but you could gamble, burn down trees, catch bees, beat up chickens, etc. The possibilities were endless in 1985. It was pretty important to make a detailed map!

The precedent of these original, foundational Zelda games, with their weapons, magical abilities, and open-ended exploring is exactly why Breath of the Wild feels right at home as a series staple. It advances concepts and expands on concepts, but it's not a completely new, unprecedented thing.

If Wind Waker—the game we're actually discussing here—had taken these old, traditional Zelda series staple concepts of open-ended exploration, weapons, magical abilities, etc. and expanded and advanced them as well as Breath of the Wild has, then I would have considered voting for it in this bracket.

If Nintendo had never made another Zelda game after Wind Waker, and if it were as good a game as Breath of the Wild, and if another game hadn't come along later that proved that Wind Waker could be dramatically improved upon, then I would have considered voting for it in this bracket.

But it didn't, so I won't. It's hard to vote for a middling game just because of when it came out, especially if there are other excellent non-middling games in their own categories to choose from. There are other games here that did something new, fresh, innovative and important to a greater degree than the games I eliminated in my original rundown.

Sharecrow wrote: ↑21 May 2019 16:11 I went with Final Fantasy X here. I just adore that game. Almost voted for Batman: Arkham Asylum though...

Yes. Absolutely incredible game with a beautiful soundtrack. I have very fond memories of playing through it with my best friend

Missing the best game in the choices so I just went with Portal.

MerlinDrazziw wrote: ↑22 May 2019 20:48 Missing the best game in the choices so I just went with Portal.

What game do you think it's missing ?

Ouenben wrote: ↑22 May 2019 22:11

MerlinDrazziw wrote: ↑22 May 2019 20:48 Missing the best game in the choices so I just went with Portal.

What game do you think it's missing ?

The one I nominated: Metroid Prime ... guess some votes got lost in previous round

MerlinDrazziw wrote: ↑23 May 2019 05:21

Ouenben wrote: ↑22 May 2019 22:11

MerlinDrazziw wrote: ↑22 May 2019 20:48 Missing the best game in the choices so I just went with Portal.

What game do you think it's missing ?

The one I nominated: Metroid Prime ... guess some votes got lost in previous round

Yep! Aria of Sorrow, Half-Life 2, and Super Mario Galaxy safely defeated it, but BioShock only squeezed past it by one vote. It's too bad no one hit the streets and tried to drum up some votes for it.

I'll just slip in to say I don't consider BOTW to be an rpg at all. It's just an open world action adventure game.

I'd even argue it has a lot of similarities to Wind Waker, as the ocean acted as an open world of sorts. The little islands you find were like shrines, little puzzle room points of interest.

I might vote for Wind Waker or Galaxy here. I regrettably haven't played enough of Arkham, but it's on the docket with Game Pass.