The following opinions are solely those of the author and do not reflect upon oprainfall as a whole.
Most people will agree that The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is a great game. Okay, some people will say it’s highly overrated. I myself still find it to be an amazing game, but I do feel like there’s a lot missing, specifically from past games, that could have made it so much more. This is my list of what I think the developers should’ve brought back and included in Breath of the Wild. Oh, and to clarify, this will be about things I believe to be missing features from past games, not general nitpicking.
Fishing
Yes, you can kill fish with various weapons and go gather them in lakes or rivers. You can go jump in a river and grab them as you swim by as well. What you can’t do is find or gain a fishing rod through whatever means made available and literally go fishing. Twilight Princess expanded upon the fishing aspect from Ocarina of Time, with a much bigger fishing pond and even a boat to get around said much bigger pond. I thought fishing in that entry was really fun and got some much needed improvements. Where is that in Breath of the Wild? I personally would enjoy being able to fish in those much bigger lakes, rivers and ocean areas. Maybe they could add in a variety of rods, like weapons, with varying durability options and you could fish wherever there’s water. It sounds like an awesome idea to me to take Link on a raft in the middle of the ocean and relax with some fishing. There’s a pretty big variety of fish in the newest Legend of Zelda. Having varying sizes and fishing rods to fish them out the old-fashioned way would be a welcome addition.
Underwater Swimming
Speaking of water, where is the ability to swim beneath the surface? We all know a lot of the water areas in Breath of the Wild are huge, almost gigantic in comparison to past games. So why is there no underwater swimming? They couldn’t have added underwater swimming as a set bonus to the Zora armor? Made it something optional you have to work at getting? The water in this game is so unbelievably clear sometimes, so beautiful and you can’t explore it. At the very least, there was always the option of adding some sort of legitimate diving function, similar to the one in Ocarina of Time where you dive for a few seconds and can swim across the bottom a little before coming up. I just don’t understand the lack of being able to explore beneath the surface in such a big game, with so much water and exploration possibility. Even Skyward Sword had underwater swimming despite the addition of a stamina meter, so that is no excuse for not including it.
Dungeons
Yes, we were given dungeons in Breath of the Wild and they’re okay. I’m fine with the smaller amount of dungeons we did get, except for one little detail; where is the variety? They all look so ridiculously similar. There isn’t much uniqueness to them. Most of them have the same goal inside even. I would’ve enjoyed having the elephant be a full on water and ice-covered dungeon that looked vastly different from what could have been the slimy insides of the lizard-shaped divine beast. Although, the elephant is the most complicated and confusing dungeon to figure out, at least in my experience, as it is reminiscent of past water dungeons. Yet still, it really isn’t that unique from the other three divine beasts and I wish it was.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8GRDNU50b8
Music
Well obviously Breath of the Wild has music; it’s not devoid of all music entirely. However it isn’t very present. I feel like there should be more of it. Maybe a throwback to the classic Gerudo Valley music in Ocarina of Time for the desert. Perhaps a new, slower, calmed down version. Maybe a remixed Hyrule Field tune for the game’s title screen (which we all know is bland and lacking). There are a lot of great Legend of Zelda songs that were options to update, change a little and put into this title. They didn’t add many though and that’s kind of sad. I enjoy the wildlife sounds throughout the game; it is called Breath of The Wild after all. And yet, I would have liked a little bit more than what this game has in terms of a soundtrack.
A Recurring Annoyance/Wise Guidance
Breath of the Wild does have a painter guy who shows up regularly, but there isn’t a character who shows up throughout the whole game, with actual wise guidance, or possibly annoying guidance. The old man from the Great Plateau could have very well been that wise guidance. He did help you out in the very beginning and then that was it. I think he’s a great character, really enjoyable and it’s a shame you only see him in the starting plateau area. Even if he doesn’t stop you of his own accord, such as the owl in Ocarina of Time, I do think they should’ve had him lurking in varying places and been an optional NPC to talk to throughout the whole game.
There you have it, five very important things from past Legend of Zelda games, which I personally wish the developers had added or done differently in Breath of the Wild. Don’t get me wrong, I love Breath of the Wild and I’ve put in at least 150 or more hours into the game thus far. I explored, I defeated all of the divine beasts and I stopped Ganon’s terror upon Hyrule. I only wish this game was the be-all-end-all Zelda game. I wanted even more things to do, places to explore and heartwarming inclusions from past games. It would be awesome if some of this were solved in the holiday DLC; that we get more than merely an additional story element and dungeon. Unfortunately, that probably won’t happen. It’s disappointing they were intent on making the new Legend of Zelda so different that they didn’t include a lot of beloved features from past games.
