Breath of the Wild Zelda Wii U's Gigantic Overworld

[JuicieJ]

If it can be made like the Far Cry games (specifically the 3 & 4) where there's a steady stream of multiple different things happening, then all should be good -- and I have faith that it will be. Just the debut shot from E3 alone displayed many different locales, and in the latest footage, we were shown Link pass by some place that may have been a mini-dungeon, as well as a group of what looked like either Bokoblins or Moblins. Plus, if that E3 footage is any kind of indication of what's to come, there might be roaming enemies this time around, which would be awesome.

The game could certainly wind up having too much empty space like the GameCube Zeldas, but something's telling me it won't... and if Monolith Soft is involved with the level design again, then we should have no worries at all. We'll just have to see how it all plays out later on down the line, though.

 

[Justac00lguy]

I really don't get the empty space argument; It doesn't make no sense to me. (by the way I'm not specifically referring to anyone, just some slight doubts, from fans, that I've seen since that clip).

First off, series like Fallout and ES are incredibly barren compared to the compact areas yet I bet no one will argue the lack of content in these games as they're filled with a plethora of things to do in the world that will keep you hooked for hours and hours. Empty space is not a bad thing.

It's completely unrealistic to expect every literal inch to contain some form of content across a vast open world and I challenge anyone to tell me a game that does. Even though we are talking games, we have to relate to real life as well. Where would you see a large open landscape that's not empty to some degree? Games that are based on giving you that feeling of adventure and exploration need to have a sense of realism to replicate that same feeling of adventure in the real world as well. If every single square inch had something to do or see, it completely destroys the adventure aspect. Travelling to areas and then finding that area, where there is content, is such a satisfying feeling. I'll relate to the series I spoke about earlier, some of the best moments from that game are exploring the vast abandoned post apocalyptic world and then finding something interesting on the horizon to investigate.

It's more about the journey than the destination in my eyes and you need to have an open empty space to have that journey. Empty doesn't need mean boring, which it think is a common misconception.

 

[Iridescence]

Except that this overworld is full of color, so the visuals will age better, and it's interconnected rather than segmented behind dozens of loading screens.

However, I still think that they may be spreading themselves too thin.

 

[JuicieJ]

It's more about the journey than the destination in my eyes and you need to have an open empty space to have that journey. Empty doesn't need mean boring, which it think is a common misconception.

Yes, but too much empty space is. (See OoT's Hyrule Field, TWW's Great Sea, TP's overworld, and SS's Sky.)

 

[Ronin]

After seeing the sneak peek footage at the game awards, my initial impression was that the overworld was remarkably open and beautiful. I still find those factors to hold true, but at the moment I'm more concerned with the duly noted lack of content. I think that Nintendo intended on showing bits and pieces of what this new world had to offer--and admittedly, it's pretty darn impressive. The terrain is expansive, the artwork feels modern and fantastical, and gameplay from what I can tell is efficiently smooth. They've revealed just enough to showcase this section [hopefully] of the overworld in its entirety, and the overall presentation is satisfying.

In scope, there's undoubtedly going to be a ton of opportunity for exploration and potential discovery strewn throughout the dense forests and up on the mountaintops. Compared to the last similar field of this size, in TP, it's more cluttered with trees and shrubs, and possibly some hidden paths leading to secrets just waiting to be unearthed. Twilight Princess' field had more of an open atmosphere, displaying the distant peaks and sky from afar.

Although everything is just speculation at this point, Nintendo might have teased what could be the hub world. Who knows? Maybe we'll have to complete a task in the first area before we can move on to one of equivalent proportions?

 

[Locke]

I think it's important to specify what we mean by "content". I wouldn't want much of the landscape to be "invaded" by "event"-type content such as random bokoblin camps, NPCs, or even puzzles. It just needs something to give it some character. The interesting rock formations in the first section are good enough IMO. Maybe a few hieroglyphs and ruins here and there wouldn't hurt. The fields he rides the horse through though I agree are a bit dull. Again, ruins, as well as some shrubbery (with berries you can pick!), crop circles, small streams, a few hidden grottos a la OoT... things that are just interesting to look at. Not things that are there solely to "keep you on your toes" as you travel, like random peahats.

 

[Seth]

I think it's important to specify what we mean by "content". I wouldn't want much of the landscape to be "invaded" by "event"-type content such as random bokoblin camps, NPCs, or even puzzles. It just needs something to give it some character. The interesting rock formations in the first section are good enough IMO. Maybe a few hieroglyphs and ruins here and there wouldn't hurt. The fields he rides the horse through though I agree are a bit dull. Again, ruins, as well as some shrubbery (with berries you can pick!), crop circles, small streams, a few hidden grottos a la OoT... things that are just interesting to look at. Not things that are there solely to "keep you on your toes" as you travel, like random peahats.

I agree with this.

I'd like to point out that empty space is not necessarily a bad thing. Part of the reason I love games like Skyrim, is that I can walk in this vast, massive and beautiful world and that just looking at the scenery is a reward in and of itself. I love walking from one half of the map to the other, seeing the flora and fauna gradually change, crossing rivers, through valleys, onto open fields, past large lakes/ocean etc.

Obviously there does need to be things to see and do, but it doesn't need content packed into every square inch just for the sake of it.

 

[JuicieJ]

I agree with this.

I'd like to point out that empty space is not necessarily a bad thing. Part of the reason I love games like Skyrim, is that I can walk in this vast, massive and beautiful world and that just looking at the scenery is a reward in and of itself. I love walking from one half of the map to the other, seeing the flora and fauna gradually change, crossing rivers, through valleys, onto open fields, past large lakes/ocean etc.

Obviously there does need to be things to see and do, but it doesn't need content packed into every square inch just for the sake of it.

Not sure if Skyrim is the best example, since it's mostly rocks, mountains, trees, and snowy variations of them.

 

[Azure Sage]

Can we also talk about how the wooded area shown in the video actually looks like a wooded area instead of walls of trees? Thank you, based Nintendo. I've always wanted something like that. Seriously, this overworld is a dream come true for me. I hope the vast majority of the overworld is like that. No more hallways made of cliffs and trees please.

 

[Salem]

The place where there's lots of trees where Link was riding Epona, reminds me of early screenshots of OoT in that forest area that had a poe(it's not in the final game).

 

[Locke]

So I looked at the map again, and where Aonuma was when he said it'd be 4 or 5 more minutes until his destination. Many are applying that 5 minutes to the distance between the two points, but there is no direct route, since the tower is on a ledge. Rather, you have to go past that point down in the valley, quite a ways to the west, loop around to the south, and finally approach the tower from the southwest. That's where the 5 minutes comes from. As the crow flies, I'd say the distance between the two points is 1 minute max. So divide any estimates of total area you see by 25 (5[sup]2[/sup]).

 

[PalaeoJoe]

So I looked at the map again, and where Aonuma was when he said it'd be 4 or 5 more minutes until his destination. Many are applying that 5 minutes to the distance between the two points, but there is no direct route, since the tower is on a ledge. Rather, you have to go past that point down in the valley, quite a ways to the west, loop around to the south, and finally approach the tower from the southwest. That's where the 5 minutes comes from. As the crow flies, I'd say the distance between the two points is 1 minute max. So divide any estimates of total area you see by 25 (5[sup]2[/sup]).

This is starting to put into perspective what he meant at E3 when he said that the puzzle solving began as soon as you decide where you want to go next.

 

[Spiritual Mask Salesman]

I really don't get the empty space argument; It doesn't make no sense to me. (by the way I'm not specifically referring to anyone, just some slight doubts, from fans, that I've seen since that clip).

First off, series like Fallout and ES are incredibly barren compared to the compact areas yet I bet no one will argue the lack of content in these games as they're filled with a plethora of things to do in the world that will keep you hooked for hours and hours. Empty space is not a bad thing.

It's completely unrealistic to expect every literal inch to contain some form of content across a vast open world and I challenge anyone to tell me a game that does. Even though we are talking games, we have to relate to real life as well. Where would you see a large open landscape that's not empty to some degree? Games that are based on giving you that feeling of adventure and exploration need to have a sense of realism to replicate that same feeling of adventure in the real world as well. If every single square inch had something to do or see, it completely destroys the adventure aspect. Travelling to areas and then finding that area, where there is content, is such a satisfying feeling. I'll relate to the series I spoke about earlier, some of the best moments from that game are exploring the vast abandoned post apocalyptic world and then finding something interesting on the horizon to investigate.

It's more about the journey than the destination in my eyes and you need to have an open empty space to have that journey. Empty doesn't need mean boring, which it think is a common misconception.

People were atleast expecting some more enemies along the way, or some kind of NPCs that get bumped into. Honestly if you think about it Aonuma just went to the tower place he set a beacon at, honestly I would have strayed off because I would have started checking out those waterfalls and stuff, and msybe if he had strayed off maybe he would have found some side content. Anyway I was hoping that there would be mutiple towns in the overworld kind of Like in the AoL, I didn't see any, but maybe there just weren't any towns in that area?

 

[Firestarter]

With it being such a large overworld if it was filled with enemies every time you turned around it would take days to get from one end to the other. As it is now in the video they were saying it could take 5+ min to get to their destination and also read somewhere the world that was visible was about 16x the size of that part they were traveling to. So it could take over an hour to get to one end to the other. But we are not sure if they were able to go directly toward the destination or if they had to go around a certain part of the map. I am just happy they are slowly feeding us stuff to talk about.

 

[Locke]

With it being such a large overworld if it was filled with enemies every time you turned around it would take days to get from one end to the other. As it is now in the video they were saying it could take 5+ min to get to their destination and also read somewhere the world that was visible was about 16x the size of that part they were traveling to. So it could take over an hour to get to one end to the other. But we are not sure if they were able to go directly toward the destination or if they had to go around a certain part of the map. I am just happy they are slowly feeding us stuff to talk about.

They had to go around a certain part of the map. As the crow flies, it'd take 16 minutes or less to get from one corner of the map to the other, I'd say.