 Welcome to the zone for a podcast. I am your host Alfred Tabeck. She's joined again by Nathaniel Rumpful Jantz. Say hi How's it going? so we've got a bunch of Small snippets of some information about Breath of the Wild from an interview with IGN That they conducted with Aonuma and Mimodo and some of the stuff that worked on the game So we're gonna talk something about that. I'll talk about some of the three main facets for that Which were the NPCs and then the companions, but then we're also going to talk about Another little secret that was revealed in a Famitsu scan And what that could mean for the game's timeline placement and a little bit more on that later and then We're going to talk about our experiences playing Breath of the Wild I was just both of us have played it now and I played it along the switch We're going to kind of talk about how that worked. What we liked about it. What we didn't like about it And where we think that the or what that we think the game's strong suits are and stuff like that That'll come towards the end of the show so stick around for that. But right now we're going to get into the news so Like I said, we're going to start off with the NPCs because we learned a lot about that I'm going to read some of the things that Aonuma said that we have posted on our website And we'll just kind of talk about what we think about that. Um, so one of the first ones That I have up is that uh, Breath of the Wilds NPCs are going to reward Link for helping them in battle I'm says so this is a world filled with this is Aonuma. This is a world filled with monsters So Link can't be the only one who's battling to take them down There are people along the way who will link will ask for help and if he helps them out They will give him rewards like an item or such. Um, and this kind of reminds me of The system and dying light when you were just running throughout the city Or the the country and you would run into people on the streets on rooftops fighting off a zombie And then you'd kill the zombie then they reward you some way To kind of make it more of like, okay Well, you're you're not the only survivor In this place and there are other people there it's it's more of a fluid world Which is what they're going for because then they talk about Later on In this other one It says Miyamoto, it's it's about him talking about how they program the NPCs and how they acted And so first it starts off with Aonuma says there are people who live in these worlds Just as monsters are living in the world these little details are something that I think everyone will enjoy So I really want you to pay attention to these fun details as well Then Miyamoto added initially when we were creating this game They were scenes with tons of villages in one place or some of the villagers were wandering at night It's so dangerous. Who would do that? Aonuma laughs it detracted from the immersion, but as we worked on it We worked things that they each have their own lives. So Um, there's a lot that we could speculate about that, but I'll get into that in a second Um, and then finally it says There's just some more information on some of the NPC settlements and Aonuma starting off saying As you see in the trailer, there are lots of people who think link can interact with Or who link can interact with and there are towns and villages above all There are the stables which we showed during the treehouse live stables are where users can register the horses that they ride But there's more to the stables They serve as a crossroads where people can come and go and you'll be able to meet new characters and exchange information And then Miyamoto adds all of this is seamless and everything is connected So you can really understand where that village or that stable is in the world um, so It just kind of giving some information on that but there's Something that really stood out to me at least from this is it's one of they're talking about how um each Villager has his or her own life um And in a game this massive I I don't think that they're going to be as detailed as the characters in Majora's Mask So we're not going to see like extremely long side quests that could be very well be It a dlc pack for a Nintendo 64 game, but we'll still see each character have their own personality And have their own side quests I guess and in different ways that we'll see them act Um, I thought it would be cool to have all the characters Have their specific story that you had to follow and who knows This is speculation That's all we can really do right now because we don't know too much about the this aspect of the game um In terms of NPCs, these are Some that we've never seen in a Zelda game before Um, so we can't really say for sure what they're going to be We know that they've taken inspiration from Skyrim. We have to take an inspiration from the Witcher and from other Western RPGs and um In terms of how the world is and how the NPCs act So we can kind of base some information off of that, but I really wouldn't use That and say well, obviously they're going to be like they are in the Witcher They're going to be like they are in Fallout But what really stood out to you out of these or for at least the NPCs, Nate? Oh, I think it's that they Will be really heavily focused on the individuality of the characters um You know, as you said, it's probably not going to be as in depth as obviously Majora's Mask Which a lot of the depth around that game was based on the time system So, uh, yeah, there's day and night cycle and everything But we haven't seen anything that says that it matters what day and night it is um But like they made interesting comments how at one point during development like They had NPCs like they would just all wander out in the middle of the night and that felt really weird So they're like that like all all the NPCs shouldn't be doing that like some might but like every NPC in the village doesn't just wander out in the world um, so they I kind of like that. It sounds like they're all going to be unique like you're not going to find Um, a copy of the same same face the same Person from one area to another. Uh, if it looks the exact same, it's because it is the same character Um, and that these characters are going to have their own personalities of some type We don't obviously know how in depth they are certain characters will naturally be more in depth. Um You know, you and that's crazy to think about. Yeah, it is That they're doing it is because that's not what zelda's done um In twilight princess you go to castle town 99 of the NPCs there i'm just gonna i'm air quoting because Most of the things there aren't really NPCs. They're just background noise Um, but that's thing. They're just background noise Uh, and some of the individual NPCs you have they don't really say anything They don't really have much of a personnel. They're just there Uh, so like you could talk to them, but they say like one word and that's it And it's the same thing they say every time you talk to them. Um, so i'm curious Uh, if part of the individuality is going to be that as things change in the game They have different responses to things going on because if that's the case That's what's going to make it feel like a dynamic and believable world and believe that these NPCs live in this world Um, because from what we've seen and that they're affected. Yeah. Yeah, because from what we've seen You know, you clear our enemy caps you destroy stuff like that stuff doesn't come back At least from what i've seen Maybe it does over time respawn or something, but it doesn't seem to and since it doesn't seem to Uh, it would be really weird if a major like you do a quest like a side quest or something for a village And a major change happens, but the villagers still react to you the same way Uh, that just won't make sense So i'm very happy that they're doing this individual thing Obviously, you know, as it is as in depth of the skyrim as in depth of the witcher. We have no idea Um, we we don't think nintendo has the capability. I don't think to to do that Because they they've never proven it like but that's the thing this rest of the wild is at least from my experience seems to be Proving that they could do all the stuff that no one thought they could Um, at least personally, I didn't think that eji like an azalea game led by agi Could be like breath of the wild um you know And so that that's kind of something to say like like not the characters per se like he's always had like a little touch with some characters um, but Just the way this whole game is going just feels very unlike him um Well, and it seems like everything in this game is intentional and it matters Um, like they're very big on like it's a living breathing world like they've reiterated that Can't be a living breathing world if the NPCs are static They have to be living and breathing with this world and I think that's why they noted like yeah You'll see NPCs out there fighting and you can help them or you can not help them. It's kind of up to you um And and that'd be interesting to see too like what if like can those NPCs die in a fight Like if you don't help them if you're and if they do die, does that affect what side quest you can get later Um, yeah, and we don't know how in depth this is I hope it's like that because then it means what you do matters Because otherwise it's like oh if we leave them alone, do they just endlessly fight those bulk of lands for eternity? If I don't help um So I'd like to believe that's not the case. But again, we have no idea Uh, what's been put into it. All I know is that the fact they're emphasizing that they're proud of how the characters work um That means it's important to them Which means they must be doing something with these characters that we just haven't seen in Zelda board um So I have a lot of hope that it's gonna that the NPCs are going to feel as much a part of the world as enemies do Because enemies always feel like they're part of the world, right? You know, you walk over to stepped house comes out of the ground or you know The bulk of link camps and all so like it all feels natural with the world and the towns have kind of felt like their own thing um Well, yeah, like even in ocarina of time like you'd be walking and a pie hat would walk by or like fly by or Astalfos or a small child would come out of the ground and that was like, okay Like the overworld has natural enemies um But whenever you got to a town or something it was like, okay. Well, this place is completely void of any enemies whatsoever Like like Kakariko village in ocarina of time. It's like there's no gate. There's nothing closing it off Why aren't enemies there? There's literally a gate right up death mountain too It's like obviously these guards are really inept. So they're not going to fight off all these things um so it's it's good that they're making it flow naturally and and uh, one of the other things that you noted too was if the it'd be interesting to see if the NPCs react to different things that you do, uh, whether you clear out a camp or You do a certain side quest like in a one of the things that It's skyrim One of the very first things you can do is you can join one of the like one of the gills or factions um and so Whenever or like a if you join storm guard or something like the characters will refer to you as having Done that or if you're a vampire What have you they'll they'll talk about it that way And they'll refer to you based on that that decision or that uh ripple effect in the game um And so that'd be interesting to see how zelda handles that how the how the game is a whole handles that with the characters and the NPCs um and One of the things that I thought was very interesting comes from the next interview or the next tidbit from the interview And there's It's anuma talking about the characters in the trailers. I mean we have a spoiler warning here in case you don't want to be spoiled Um says in the trailer you probably saw some characters and wondered who they are These are the companions who will help link on his journey and the support that you will see from these characters Is not the usual kind it's a bit more mysterious and that is very vague um and I don't speak japanese and But I speak greek and so I know that certain words that we translate into english may not have the same meaning um And so when I think of companions in a game I think of like the people that follow you around and like fall out or Skyrim But that may not be the word he used But that's the best way we could translate that so I wouldn't necessarily take that right now Is face value that we're gonna have people following us around But at the same time he says the support you see from these characters is not the usual kind It's a bit more mysterious. Um, so we're left to wonder what that means um I don't I don't know if I'd like to see these characters follow link around I think it'd be interesting And But I think at one point they talked about link not having companion characters Am I am I right about that Nate? Uh, yeah, I'm not having like a guide character Yeah, yeah, um, but these also wouldn't function as a guide. They'd be People following you around and fighting with you that we know of. Yeah. Yeah. Um, it's it's all like Again speculation like we're getting new information and then we're just guessing on what it could mean and again like Especially with translations. That's one of the things you always have to be careful about is is the word that they're saying The word that we're getting in English. Are they the same thing? um, because Most of the time when things get translated in English they get weaker word choices Um, you find a word that's that has a stronger connotation in another language Most of the time it's a weaker version in English. That's just how we are. We're a weak weak language Um, but yeah, what do you what are your hopes for this? Do you hope that they? Uh, follow link around and that their companions in the in the sense of a western idea of a companion or more of someone that link goes to for help. Um Neither Uh, I I mean, I I like the idea that you know, link's not in this fight alone Um, or that he's not trying to save the world alone And you know, they made reference that you know, the the three characters wearing blue which we saw in the trailer are like Like really may massive characters that help out link. Um, I'd like to think that maybe it's one of those things where um, each one of those characters Uh helps out in a particular part of the game and then like can optionally help you out in other parts of the game If you want them to like maybe you have the ability to through the sheikah slate like get a hold of them somehow Um and ask for their help if you want it versus requiring that they have to be with you or um, You know require that you have to do a certain thing because this game's all about options, right? It's all about choices. It's all about player freedom So I think even with these companion characters because as has been stated by agi You know several times you can go to the n boss right away. Um, it's obviously that these guys are optional in the first place so you don't have to have them but Uh, obviously if you are caring to play this game, you're probably not just going to skip right to the n boss You're gonna want to enjoy everything so I feel like they just need to be uh, you know, when he's something in a very mysterious way, uh I know it doesn't tell us a whole lot and that's the that that's the purpose not to tell us Uh, except to say that they're important. So I just think personally I just want to see them as almost in uh, some of the roles that we've seen in the past like with uh, Darunia stuff like that like where they're major figure heads for their race But instead of just being involved in like a singular area They're involved with you throughout the whole game after you meet them As much as you want them to be involved like uh, say after you Say that let's presume the airship is a dungeon as an example That once you conquer, you know, it becomes good or something um Well, it'd be cool if like that your bird companion guy Kind of runs that ship now and anytime you want to use that ship You just kind of call upon him and he brings the ship to you It's the brotherhood of feathers. Yeah, the brotherhood of feathers So like just finding a way to uh, I guess I want it to be like organic and make sense And the thing is like if there is a point in this game or like there's some massive battle Yeah, it'll be sweet if these guys are all joined you joined with you along with other citizens And like there's an actual battle which people, you know, yeah, you can say you saw it in Hyrule Warriors. Come on Come on Hyrule Warriors. That's not a real battle You know, Link's not swinging the sword and tearing down 50 guys with one swipe, you know I mean, I don't know how much help they were anyways considering they were always in trouble in Hyrule Warriors Always in trouble, you know doing William Wallace legendary style No, it's I just want to see these characters Be I guess almost as individualistic as they can I wouldn't even mind them saying Like if link like calls upon them and they're like do we can't sorry Like we have something this thing going on and like you go and you're like, oh, I don't believe you right like I'm gonna go Like I'm gonna I'm gonna quick travel and I'm gonna get over to to where you supposed they are and make sure you're not lying to me And it turns out. Oh, they are doing what they said they were doing and oh, maybe they could use some help So I can hurry them along Um, or they do that a few times and then one time he just says whatever like the falco guy says whatever and you're like Oh, okay, and then you go check on him and he finally lied to you And maybe he lied to you because of a choice you made earlier in the game with him Where you chose not to bring him with when he wanted to come Um, so now you call upon him and he's like Well, I'm gonna make up an excuse because I don't want to be a dick, but I'm being a dick Um, so I it's just I want to see a lot of personality a lot of individuality Because if these are going to be major characters, you know, I Grew some up man Like give them a lot of character to their to their abilities and just have it feel Like it's really weird because I don't know what to expect because we've never had this before in zelda like You know, I even think of you know, western games. They don't have this either So I There's nothing for me to base my expectations on um Yeah, and we don't even know what any of them do We just know they're important Yeah I imagine they have some like are they connected? I mean they're are they connected to the dungeon somehow or Yeah, I mean like they we said in our article that they mentioned the spoiler alert rito um the Goron and the zora, but we also saw a Gerudo in there Yeah, um, that wasn't touched on so maybe the four are like um a water area a fire area um, and then a sky area and then the desert, um And it would make sense based on what we know That some of these areas exist like death mountain um and that maybe even uh I don't know. I'm not going to speculate too much on that, but It would make sense that each of them corresponds to a specific area Um, and that we see like maybe other Gorons or others. Well, I have a theory on the zora thing um But we have like other ones of these species flying around Uh, it not literally but some literally and so You know, we know that others exist and that these ones are localized, um, which would make sense Because you don't see certain species out of certain areas. You don't um just in in life. So um It would make sense Then one of the other things that the IGN asked Aonuma Was among all the elements the new elements introduced in Breath of the Wild Which one did you enjoy working on the most in order to make the experience unique? He responded What I prefer in this game is that you have the unprecedented freedom to do whatever you want This game was designed in such a way that you can climb all the mountains The main gameplay mechanic consists in climbing mountains and the world was created so that once you are high above the ground You can see everything it's made of if you find an interesting place You can head there using your paraglider. You will climb look around fly again and again. It's a unique method of transportation I haven't seen in any other game and I think it's really fun and novel. This is my favorite aspect of the game and I do have to say Having played that game once you get out of the opening cutscene out of that The cave I guess we'll call it the chamber um And the cutscene leads you to look off of the cliff and you see the whole world And knowing that like all of that Is a place you can go in the game is pretty cool. Everything the light touches Yeah, um, that was a pretty cool moment and uh, you know having the freedom to go wherever you want like, um in Like there what I'll probably refer to uh, ocarina of time for a lot of this is that you Technically could go wherever you want, but you couldn't really do anything Like there was really nothing to do unless you were doing the main story um So the only thing that you could really kind of do out of order was the shadow temple and the water temple kind of but you know, it's it's uh It's a it's a difficult difficult kind of thing to try to compare the two um But in breath of the wild you can literally go wherever you want right from the back You don't have to go like you have to pass by the old man and I don't even think you have to talk to him But you can and then you can keep running you can go straight to the To get his castle. You could talk to him figure out where you need to go Um, there's it's just a lot of possibilities. You have the freedom to do whatever you want in this game um within the limitations of the game and I'm glad that he enjoyed doing that because hopefully that means we'll have more stuff like this We'll have more like open actual open world zelda games where we can Do dungeons whichever order we want although I do think That when there's a specific story in place The dungeons may not be out of order But we're not a hundred percent sure on that one because even in games like, uh skyrim and uh Witcher follow-up there are certain story missions that you have to do in order But the rest of the stuff you don't have to Uh, so we we might see something like that. I don't know. Um, but that's what he said His favorite part about developing the game was so that's pretty cool. Um And then here's here's where it gets where it gets meaty so Famitsu released some scans or some scans leaked um, and we learned That the bird Falco is actually a reto Um, which is the same species that was in wind waker of the bird people Um, and I think That if we look and you kind of like consider things There are more evolved version of the reto Um, because they've got more feathers. They they look less human more bird Um, and I've got my own theories on that But what what kind of struck you when you saw this Nate? Um my initial reaction is I think I know where the game goes in the timeline But it's really weird You know now that I've kind of sat on that thought for like all day when I saw it this morning um It's weird that my mind went to I think I know where this goes in the timeline when the big controversy is That reto's according to Hyrule Astoria evolved from zora So there are zora and reto in this game. Well, there is a zora that we know of in this game No, there's multiple. Okay. There is there's the the red one that we that we know There's also an art released of a different one and then there's possibly king zora in the background of the one shot Okay, and then there's also another like weirdly shaped zora in the background as well Yeah, so there's at least like three or four that we've seen. I assume there's more We don't know, um, you know, just like we've only seen one gore on but you assume there's more We've seen at least two bird people. Mm-hmm two reto So Either way, even if there was only one zora for some reason Well evolution doesn't really work where you have fully evolved reto and then there's still the original evolution around in any capacity That's just not how we've evolved. No, it's a video game. So it could the explanation just be yeah video games Um Because that's the way a lot of things get explained away in video games. Hey, we're a video game We can do what we want. Yeah, we're not to work by your laws but The the reason that I think the reason that this more than other things in the game like there's corax and there's also like the Twilight princess castle tablets in ruin, but the awkward time was also in ruins and You know all the various references to different games like you get off You know when you do that initial shot you just talked about it's reminiscent of official art from zelda one So like there's all these references to all these different games and as soon as The reto was confirmed that that is what the race they are. It was like There's only one thing in my mind that makes sense and that's that the timeline converges Because zora is no longer exist in one of the timelines and that's the timeline the reto exists So for for the people that haven't read Uh about it or haven't watched the video explain what a dragon break is In layman's terms because that's what that that you're talking about in the timeline convergence so a dragon break Is i don't want to make this simple Because like daniel who created the video he made probably the best explanation of a dragon break I've even seen on the internet Like if you look up dragon break on google it's You're gonna get confused Essentially it means that there's a whole bunch of choices you can make that lead to all these different endings But at the end of the day everything kind of converges into Uh a solitary point So even though every single different game in elder scrolls as an example has multiple endings and have all these different Different ways that things can go based on the decisions you made and the way you play the game Uh dragon break exists because when the next game comes out All of those things no matter how it ended still lead to the same next part So the same next game Um the same beginning so In some way people hate dragon breaks because it devalues all the choices you made This is why mass effect does not work on a dragon break thing. You're well it tried to With you know, they patched and added multiple endings in but the original mass effect three with the original ending Um kind of pulled the dragon break because it made us nothing mattered what you did Everything ends the same way. Uh the difference with dragon break is it ends in order to lead somewhere Um and zeal does never really had that it's been Bunch of stuff happens here split timelines None of the games really have multiple endings beyond Ocarina of Time which you could argue doesn't really have a multiple ending because it ends the exact same way every single time you play Except for some reason when you die in this game unlike other games. It's another timeline Whatever that could be explained in any game. So whatever just convenience sake But it's almost like since they released Hyrule of the story or maybe because of Hyrule of the story Uh, I think they looked at it as the timeline has gotten too complicated and There's too much stuff to consider when they make games So an easy way to wipe the slate clean without getting rid Of the timeline because that's obviously, you know, you could just recon everything and start all over again Which I think they want to avoid because a lot of people will just get mad about that because they've spent 30 years debating the timeline Um Is there do a dragon break situation where you have all these endings and three different timelines But it still converges into this single point And that that single point in this case would be Breath of the Wild So all these things that happen somehow the game has to explain it, but somehow Comes together to form a single point again moving forward Um, and I don't know how they could do it. I mean, there's so much time manipulation in zelda that I can't rule it out Um, and that's something I personally want So there's a lot of like I see this because I personally want it to be a thing Um, but it's also one of those like rito exist where zoras don't zoras exist where rito don't They can't be in the same timeline. Like it just doesn't work Uh, so if they if those are coming from different timelines and we have references calling back to The decline timeline with all the references back to the original zelda game It's like it kind of feels like they have references from all three timelines Everything's obviously coming back together and this is just what things are going to be moving forward Wiping the site clean breath of the wild is a new starting point that every game takes place after it So there is another option. There is zora. There is um, and that's that it takes place in the past And that's where we see the zora. Yeah, and that's the thing that we don't know Mm-hmm Because like the zora, you know, like the one has a blue thing So it's supposed to be an important companion character So it's like in the past can we play parts of the past? Uh, like there's so much we don't know. So like it could be part of the past I've seen some people say, you know, maybe like I said, that's what I want and I've been sitting here ruminating all day and it's like, well maybe uh Maybe like the evolutionary thing happened And created the rito but somewhere like king zora and a few other zoras just got kind of locked away in the time capsule Like linked it for a hundred years So like there's other ways to explain where like if this is on the where's that the adult timeline Uh, because the core ox and all that other stuff that happened That Somehow some way just like link was sealed for a hundred years. They ended up getting sealed and didn't get and didn't evolve Um, so like there are other explanations for this. It just feels like those explanations are almost more complex Than the alternative and nintendo obviously likes leaving plot holes So even if even if they say Yeah, this is where all three timelines converge back together Like they officially confirm it after the game comes out because they're they keep saying they're not gonna say it now Like when you play the game, it'll become obvious where the game goes and if that's where it becomes obvious Yeah, um, it'll be very interesting if they leave that giant plot hole. Well, how did this happen? Uh, why is there like You know, and maybe that's maybe that's the whole explanation behind calamity. Get him for all we know. Um because well, one of the things to think about too is The evolution of the zora and wind waker Doesn't make sense. Oh at all It's a huge because evolution The the the whole theory behind evolution is that you adapt to survive And the zora live in the water and the world in wind waker is like 98 percent water. Yeah, so why would they evolve into birds? Yeah, it makes it makes literally no sense But again, nintendo explains it away with video games. Um So it's like that's it nintendo has used that that explanation before I think what would it become even more interesting and would even support this further because that's one instance of um Something that just doesn't feel like it can coexist is if suddenly we find a coquiri are in this game While the core ox are also in the game That's another thing because that's what the coquiri became Um, and we haven't seen that yet. We have no idea. Uh, I think we've so far We've only seen uh, coquiri around the great great deku trees. I don't I mean, I'm sorry coquiri Corox, so I don't think coquiri are in the game, but it's just one of those It feels like everything to me at least is pointing towards that being the case and Uh, I think something to consider that's not necessarily part of the game like the game's not telling me this Uh, I think this is more from the developer side Uh, they said they want to redefine zelda and to me It's hard to redefine what zelda is if you're not creating a launching pad for the rest of the series moving forward And if that only affects one timeline That means the other timelines could go back to the way zelda used to be which I'm sure would make some people happy Um, yeah, but it would also mean that okay, then this isn't really redefining zelda. This is just redefining it in one timeline um So yeah, we we like we haven't had a game It's ocarina of time and that that like kind of redefined what zelda is and ocarina of time is also the game that created with three timelines Um, so like if this is the not the new game that redefined zelda to me it has to be a big enough event Um, like ocarina of time was that created the three splits and a huge event that brings all the splits back together That would definitely be like a key point in history as they said this is this is a key point in zelda history um That's a pretty big dang key point Uh, because like you have timelines organ is dead Uh, like in the adult timeline after the windbreaker, he doesn't exist anymore He's done. So it's like Uh, you know, so you can even argue. Okay, so then obviously again and the end he's called calamity gannon Well, he's only called gannon in the downfall timeline So it's like all these different references from all the timelines Wolf link you can bring in who knows if that has any significance um, you know and And maybe we find out in the game you can call upon your ancestors And that's you know The wolf link's a direct one, but maybe we find out that's not it wouldn't it be cool if you could find Like, you know in in the desert there was the mirror of twilight And you could you could enter the the twilight realm or you could see midna like It opens up a lot of possibilities when you start introducing a lot of characters like this um For some reason whenever I think about like them tying all the worlds together I think about it kind of like and I know that this isn't what it is But kind of like in horrible warriors where you see like all the different worlds kind of like converging um but One of the other things to consider too Is that most of the time when it comes to time travel or anything dealing with multiple timelines there's a crapped out of plot holes Oh, yes, like like there's no if this is a convergence. They're not going to pull it off with all plot holes Yeah, like some things. They're not smart enough some Some things still aren't going to make sense like if you watch the flash or legends of tomorrow Like they try to explain a lot of the time like Aberrations or whatever and they do to a point But some of the stuff really doesn't make sense like in the newest season of legends of tomorrow A character that's vital to aro gets pulled out of the timeline and doesn't exist in time anymore But all the events that he caused still happen. So that's a huge plot hole. It doesn't make any sense so a lot of these like Whenever you deal with time travel, there's there's inevitably going to be some sort of plot hole somewhere where some things don't make sense or they Don't delve too much into time travel to where they have to explain stuff I'm kind of like in the first back to the future movie like There wasn't a lot to explain away because they didn't deal with it a whole bunch But that being said there are still plot holes and they're going to be plot holes because Time travel isn't a real thing that we know of unless you're a conspiracy theorist And We don't it's not a definitive science that you can explain right now. So You know, we're we're always going to have these plot holes We're always going to have some things that make sense some things that don't I really hope they try to explain some of this Stuff at least like why they're a reto and why they're zora And why they evolved why some didn't or some did I don't know. It's it's going to be confusing. It's going to hopefully be explained When the game comes out and I guess we'll see from there like I saw when I I noticed that it was a reto I was a little I also was confused because I was like, okay. Well, how can there be two of these races at the same time? Yeah, unless it's like there's multiple ways to explain it. It's just yeah Each one gets more difficult as you try to explain it Yeah, and that's something like he's like give the simple rundown of a dragon rake There is no simple way to explain it. It's just No matter what you did it because the way to explain it makes it sound bad It means no matter what you did doesn't matter because it all leads to the same thing Well, it's kind of like um the theory of time is that time wants to happen um, so uh This is explained to me a long time ago. So if like Someone went back in time and killed hitler That the holocaust was such a big event. It's such a big ripple in time that it would that it happens inevitably um, that something like that Would happen regardless of who it was because it has such a huge impact on the timeline And so it might be like that like I read an article about a dragon rake 2 is that time Is willed to happen and based on the mythology and religion of selva with the goddess of time who controls time Time is is willed in the existence and it's it's created and guided and being forced to happen a certain way and if you're You know I'm not going to get too deep into this But if you're a christian and you're a calvinist then you believe that certain events are pre-ordained And that no matter what you do you cannot get away from those events. That's that's like five point calvinism That's really deep into it. But um There are that that's a very prevalent theory in times that some events are going to happen no matter what you do Um, which fits in with the dragon rake is that no matter what you end up doing no matter what? You know side branches you you try to take That's all going to converge at some point to a decision. That's that's going to happen no matter what you do Um, which like you said, it's frustrating. It's like, okay. Well, we spent all this time making all these decisions For the game to end this way Um, and that's why you don't find a lot of canonical Uh endings to choice-based games Because it's really difficult and whenever there is one it's typically taking into account certain choices like an infamous Um infamous one and two get away with it because the game kind of changes based on your actions But second son goes under the supposition that you chose a certain ending and That's that's one of the things that um, some developers will do some some movie makers will do based on that but There's again, we don't know it's complicated which sucks. Well, yeah, it sucks but it's also awesome if you're someone who likes theories because Uh theories are a prevalent thing with everything Uh, like the theories going around game of thrones right now because the book started out and no one knows what happens next Um, it's crazy and those theories exist because of things we don't know And if this does converge everything and there's all these plot holes from it Theories are going to be there to try to explain it and um If there's if there's nothing else I've learned from the zelda community over my 18 years in it It's that they love this stuff Um They almost live for plot holes. They want the plot holes to exist Um, and nintendo themselves hasn't traditionally been very good at telling a story Uh, which is part of the reason there's plot holes even in individual games where plot holes don't really need to exist But they kind of like the song of storms paradox Like yeah, like the plot hole doesn't need to exist But it does and it's something nintendo probably did not even think about um And if they had better writers or uh people who Looked at things on a whole better. Maybe this kind of stuff would be prevented But you know reality is that that's just not how games are made So well, it's kind of like they they dug They they made their bed now. They have to lay in it. They have to explain away all the stuff that they've And that's that's almost why I'd like The idea of this being a convergence game because even if it even if it creates a whole bunch of plot holes It still sets everything up for the future So like this game is going to have a hard time explaining everything and probably not be able to do it very well But what happens in this game Can set up for everything that happens after it and that can make sense And I think for a long time pretty much since nintendo basically confirmed There's two there's two timelines and then three timelines is that I think they've needed that reset that Even though this sucks and no one's going to be happy with how we explain it We need to reset and set things up for how we want the series to be going forward Rather than how we've been working off what the series has been um So, yeah, I mean that doesn't mean of course this is nintendo So it doesn't mean they can't ever go back in time and throw a game into there So I'm like try four serials and now a sequel to open between worlds Like they can go grab like make a new game and just throw it in back in the old timelines if they want to do that um But the point is is that when they're You know And I think they still might do that for like handheld style top-down games They might still do that But for big future console experiences, I have a feeling it's basically Here's Breath of the Wild and everything's going to be like a straight line off of that Um And that'd be a safe bet Yeah, I think and especially safe bet if they're gonna if they If their plan in their minds right now is to never not to open world again in a home console game um If like if they're just like look we're just going to be open world moving forward because that feels like that's what Zelda's supposed to be great Then Breath of the Wild is your starting point And it can't be a starting point I mean it can be if you hold it through a single timeline But then you're going to end up where it's like everything happens in the future in one timeline It's like the others don't exist Um, and that creates a whole another problem like where's this empty space of time for all the other all the timelines Uh, so that's why I think convergence actually makes the most sense because It just it feels right Um, and everything seems to sound like that's what it is And none of it seems to make sense and I think that's the point and that's to me. That's the fun of it Like that's actually part of what makes this game interesting to me is Even if they can't explain it well The fact that they even thought in the back of their minds Dude, that's uh, let's make a game that literally pulls everything from the series together into one game because uh If we stick to the timeline we can't do that Like we want Rito and Zora in the same game well we can because well, yeah, we can and that's the thing like Nintendo can do whatever they want, but clearly they keep saying where it goes in the time It'll be obvious where it goes like it's part of the timeline. So It's gonna have to make sense somehow But yeah, it's it's crazy how just getting though like I was convinced the whole time It wasn't Rito. Yeah, me too because they look even more bird likes and they look like even more advanced than the old Rito were so they're even more evolved in my mind And I'm like, it's just gotta be a new race, right? Right. Oh, we saw Zora. Okay, so this can't be Rito. Oh, they are Rito. Well Okay Well, you either just made things really really really complex or This is what the obvious answer is and that's that it converges Um, but this is Nintendo. So I don't put it past them to just make it super complex And somehow this falls In a fourth timeline somewhere. Oh, no, or it's let's off a skyward store This is skyward store sequel For some reason Um, I I don't know I'm excited for the the prospect and the idea and I'm One thing I I gotta give it to Nintendo is that Um, for all we know about this game and all the things we've seen and all the things we've been excited about God, we know nothing about the story. Yeah It's I related to like how attack on titan was Because the more you learned about it the less you found out that you knew about it So like the more information that came out and the more information that you're bombarded with you're like Man, I know even less than when I started Because there's all these mysteries now Yeah, no, and even like the little bit of backstory we learned Um, it's like, yeah, but most of that you can kind of just figure it happened Clearly Hyrule got ruined by the Guardians Clearly Link couldn't stop Ganon because he got sealed in the Hyrule Castle, which they would never do if Link could stop him So it's like Clearly these events happened. We just didn't know 100 for sure And now we do so it's like, oh, so like even that didn't feel like a spoiler to me. It's like, yeah I mean, it's a little bit of a spoiler how involved Zelda was in everything because she hasn't always been that involved But even then we still don't know the nature of that relationship and what she did Um, you know why she's holding the master sword by the Great Daegu Tree We can assume, but we don't know You know the sheikah's like what was like what was the purpose of the sheikah's like with her like, yeah A lot of things we don't know and that's what I like about this is that um Somehow some way they built a game that they could show so much for it yet. It's so little Um, and that's kind of a credit to just what they're doing with this game. It's crazy. Yeah And I'm surprised nothing all for all we've seen it's probably still less than 2% of the whole game And it's definitely like zero percent of the story. Yeah, I'm just surprised none of the stories leaked like We haven't heard any leaked story details from it Uh, wait a couple weeks. Yeah, I'm aware. I it's just that's when review copies of land at least for the wiiu version. Yeah, and uh That's when you know some media. Oh, it's gonna be that dick and leak something there As well. Yeah, but well well We still I'm surprised it hasn't happened yet. We'll put it that way Um, like just there's been leaks of images and stuff, but we haven't had leaks yet I think some of it has to do with um so like Way back in 2011 We was all been a former us. Thanks to a guy named alex plant who was at e3 Found out from a guy on the show floor that works for nintendo about the Uh, the fact that the Drama between link roose is all the all the stuff that there's kind of like a high school drama, you know Two people like the same person the girl and the guy the good guy and the good girl Kind of like each other but that good girl is the popular chick. So like the biff tannon really wants to be with that girl too Uh, so like we kind of found that out and that was like a big big plot line big storyline thing and Uh, I think the reason we haven't heard anything like that is because I think so much of the people at nintendo that aren't involved with localization Um Like all the people you're going to see on the show floor basically because you're not going to see treehouse employees on the show floor Well, you have everybody on the show floor is an employee of nintendo But they're not involved in the making of the games Yeah, so like I think like in the case like skyward sword They probably were as they were working on it and play testing and making sure that people were knowledgeable enough to explain things Well, we know that skyward sword has like a four hour tutorial or something um, so like They obviously experienced some of that tutorial to be able to tell us that Um, and they didn't tell us to keep it private. So that's their fault. Otherwise, we went to send anything Yeah, um, but they So like the people on the floor got to know a little bit about the game because they needed to to explain things well You don't need to know the story to explain all the demos in these games because all the demos have been focused on gameplay Um, and it's crazy because I don't know if zelda's been focused on gameplay since zelda one In terms of like this is like we don't need to tell you anything. Here's the game um I guess all the two was a little like that too. Although it kind of set things up a bit better. So it's it's just it's very interesting and I I'm excited. Yeah, like I don't think I've been this hype for a game in a long time That's a nice transition to talking about show floors Because now we're gonna talk about our hands-on experience with zelda I know that you've talked about it a bunch, but I kind of want to bring it back up again Since the hype's kind of building back up and we're about a month away Um, and I have not played it on switch So I'll kind of give a little bit more about my experience. I wrote kind of an article about it. It kind of right I wrote one Detailing how it felt and how it played um So I guess I the the thing was I had to wait three hours in line at packs To play a 20 minute demos of breath of the wild and about five or six minutes of that was cutscene unskippable cutscene Stuff we've already seen And so I knew that You know, we've seen the Like, okay, we've seen the the progression of the story where he goes and he he brings up the tower and then Goes to the shrine. So I was like, well, I just want to explore. I want to do some exploring and so I talked to the old man There's there's small things that you can do that actually You know, he'll respond to different things you do Like I walked over I didn't talk to him right away I was like, oh, hey an apple and I picked up an apple and he's like, hey, don't don't take that and he's like I'm just kidding Um, which is kind of funny because we haven't really seen a character respond to anything that you do unless you break pots in a house um and So he talked and we talked And then I picked up a a torch behind him and he responded to that too said don't go burning down all the grass Which I didn't do Um, and so then I took off into a sprint Okay, and so you have a stamina bar. Um, we've seen that And everything you do that requires like something like Probably a power attack or climbing or swimming all of that requires stamina physical exertion Yeah, anything that exerts link physically requires stamina So I took off into a sprint and decided I want to go for a swim And so I jumped into the water and as I did I had the same amount of stamina that I did before I got in the water So I was in a bit of a tough spot and I drowned Um, I did that twice in the demo because I wasn't paying attention to my stamina bar Um Because it's not really something that I've ever been cognizant of in a Zelda game Um, even in skyward sword, it really wasn't that big of a deal unless you were doing stuff like there's so much swimming in that game Yeah And so, uh So there's stuff like that And then I decided I wanted to go fight some of the bokoblins in the settlement nearby, which is in a giant skull Um and Tried sneaking up At what didn't do a good job Um, and I tried I fought one at first fought one at the very top of a tower Uh knocked him down killed him Um, he used the woodcutter's axe got his bow with no arrows. So that made things difficult Um, and there are different enemies with different levels of intelligence and different strengths and speed So that made it difficult because I never Like in a Zelda game that was not something I was used to So I rushed in and I was like, well, I'm gonna take all these guys out and then I got then I got a game over because One of the blue bokoblins just like one hit me Um, and I was not paying attention and that happened twice I got two game overs in my demo because of that single bokoblin because I went back tried to kill They got the bow again and I did um, and then he Came up behind me as I was picking up the bow and killed me like they're they don't wait Uh for you to be done with whatever you're doing. They just come up to kill you Um, like, you know like natural bad guys. Yeah, so this the third time Um, I was like, you know what just just kind of completely go by these guys. I'm not even gonna touch them Um, it's on the night. I completed the rest of it. Uh, one of the cool things though I think this is the coolest thing about the experience is that the game looked beautiful. Um, we also had headphones um that were plugged into like Uh a system. I think that they were in the tv. I don't think that they were actually in the system um because It was like this uh Hyper x kind of like what I have set up that was on like had a volume adjuster that plugged into something behind the screens and So the the sound was um was pretty awesome. I could hear everything around me I could hear the voice acting which was a really refreshing thing to hear in a zelda game um Because you hear At least in the cutscenes the old man doesn't have a voice that he like talks that we know of yet unless He's in the cutscenes but I heard the voice that we can kind of assume is zelda Um, I think that's a safe bet. I'm not a hundred percent sure Uh kind of directing And so then they encouraged me To take it off the screen and play on on the the tablet and the little game pad Yep, um, I'm remiss to call it a game pad because I don't want to get confused with the Wii U game pad Yeah And so I took the console out and played it with the the joycons on the side And I thought, you know, if you've ever held a Wii U game pad, it feels kind of cheap um All the buttons kind of wiggle if like they're not really fixed um And so they they feel really plasticky and like they could like if you really tried you could pop them out pretty easily um, but the Switch is is pretty thin In terms of uh how it feels and the weight's really nice Like I thought it was going to be really light or like pretty heavy considering that's the console But it's actually felt pretty good in my hands. I mean all the buttons were very sturdy Um, I don't really know a better way to explain that Other than sturdy because it's kind of like something you have to feel for yourself Because up until that point I'd been playing with the pro controller, which was a fantastic controller If I had like 80 dollars lying around I'd go buy one um Because it felt it had a good weight to it. Um, it didn't feel like it was hollow on the inside Which was really nice. Um, because probably because it's got all haptic feedback in it and all these other things um But the switch itself felt really good and the screen the resolution on the screen was amazing I really really wish that it would have been easier to record off screen with that because I can't accurately tell you how good it looked um Without you seeing it for yourself and It looked pretty much like I like I just had the small tv in my hands There was really no like noticeable downgrade in terms of video quality Unless you're a really really big like graphics buff. You're probably not going to be able to tell the difference when you take it down um and so you play like that for a bit there was uh Although the controls were pretty easy to remember and to figure out. Um, and the The switching between the console and the tv was relatively quick. I talk about a quick second, but I assume that that's just because it's a demo A demo unit um But I got on there and the controls were Exactly the same exactly as responsive as they were when it was plugged into the tv, which was nice There wasn't any delay. Nothing was um like The best the best way I can compare this is if you ever try to take um Hyrule warriors on the we you off the tv and put it on the game pad There's a noticeable shift in quality and frame rate. Um, you don't see that at all And I guess that's one of the strong suits too with the console Being in the tablet itself is that you're not you're not removing it. You're not streaming it It's it's all right there the powerhouse of the consoles right there um, and so you you have everything you need uh in that controller and It feels good. Like it feels natural. It feels like this is what the game pad should have been so Like everything that it question for you could have had um, because I was not really worried about Uh, I guess the resolution or because like it's 720p I know some people be like, oh, I can still notice 1080 and 720 on that screen. I'm like, okay, whatever all that really matters in the screen like that is obviously the dpi levels and stuff stuff that You know, we're not going to know what that is until it releases And it gets a full tech a full tech analysis by proper equipment But um, you know, so a lot of people have said the screen's amazing and that's awesome What I want to know because all the rumors out there about the system is more powerful docked than not docked Is did you notice any frame rate drops in any of the explosions or anything? um Starting the system up coming out of the the chamber on the tv There were two noticeable frame rate drops That I had um, I assume that There's there's two explanations for that um that I could throw three But I don't like the third one The the first one being that the game was loading as I was moving Because this is a giant open world and you could see everything from where you you come off of Uh, that point when it shows the little like Zelda Breath of the Wild at the bottom right screen Um corner you can probably see the frame rate drops. Maybe a little bit in my footage But they they were like one right after the other and I think that they it could a um, be because they um, like the game was loading as I was moving Because I didn't have any after that like those were the only two frame rate drops that I noticed and then Going into I guess the second reason could be that because like I was saying earlier because it might be a demo unit, so it might be Um, just just the flaw it might not be the finished product Um, or the console can't handle it as well. I don't think that's the case I don't think that the switch is underpowered in terms of being able to run this sell the game So I would not take that away from this Um, but when I took it onto the the switch tablet itself, um, there were no noticeable frame rate drops It ran just as well as it did on the tv. Um, I'd kind of say maybe even better um Because you're not streaming Which is what I kind of consider the dock to do And it it flowed perfectly In terms of how it played What I prefer to play it on the big screen the entire time probably Um, but I'll be able to take this on the go with me and go wherever I want Mostly because I like being able to watch the game on on a giant tv screen or on a tv screen in general the idea that I can Like play on the tv downstairs, which is broken and sucks. I'm Man about that. I'm upset about that a thing. Uh, but the fact that Yulia like Yulia my girlfriend can be like, okay, you should probably come to bed And I'll be like, all right because when we sit in bed like we play games on our phone for a couple hours Watch a show I'm pretty much the wild one Like the the idea that I don't have to stop I could just bring the game with And she will probably enjoy watching me play it in a way that she probably won't because she's not down here Watching me playing on the tv. Yeah, that's just an amazing thing to think about Something that I guess I really didn't care because my gamepad couldn't reach the bed before And I just never really considered The situations I would use it. Oh, I have to go to the bathroom. Oh, I'm gonna be in here for 20 minutes Oh, let me just bring my game with me um It's something that where I think like you I'm a joy I'm mostly gonna play some on my tv as a as a docking system But I know there's moments of convenience. So it's going to be like, man It's not a big deal for me to just take this with I don't I don't have to stop Um, which is important for me as like a family man with three kids and busy all the time That I could just take it with me anywhere. Um, and I already know personally because I don't own a tablet myself So I already know that personally as soon as they launched Netflix on the thing It's gonna be propped up on my desk playing Netflix stuff while I'm working Yeah, it's just a personal thing like I know there's other ways you can do that Like I have a phone but my phone doesn't have a kickstand and I don't want to get out my holder for it And then you know, my phone's how I contact everyone so it interrupts the show with and so it's like, yeah, my You know it the kickstand everything just feels really convenient. But yeah, I'm I'm excited for the prospect of taking it out of the go. I just hope that You know, you said you didn't notice anything outside of when you first took it off this off the dock for like or any frame rate drops um Yeah, I I guess it's gonna Experience matters like did did you experience like did you blow up a ton of barrels in portable mode? Uh, I In the On the dock itself, I I rolled the stone Um that you saw on the jimmy fowlin game and then blew up a bunch of the crates didn't see a frame rate drop there um I didn't do anything as labor intensive on the the switch up console on the console itself, but I imagine And this is a really weird thing to say is that it's probably stronger and more powerful when it's undocked than when it's docked Explain Well because you're using none of the none of the system is being diverted When you're holding it when it's undocked um Well kind of put it this way so if I have my my computer plugged into an hdmi cable and it's plugged into the tv Some of the processing power of my computer Some of the graphics card is being used to play on the tv and so it's weaker So uh rendering things like video would take double the time um because it's being Broadcast and a portion of the system is being used in order to play it on the tv Um, and I imagine that's a similar thing with a dock not that it's going to be like super noticeable um, but I imagine that it's at its strongest when none of the power is being diverted from the console um And this ought to say that my computer would be inherently weaker on when it's being transmitted from the tv My old mac was but this computer isn't um But that's only because you're using part of the processing power It's not noticeable, but if you started to do something really really labor-intensive you'd probably notice it Um, but like I said when I did something with lots of explosions, there's no framerate drop um So I don't think that that's going to be a problem and Again, like I said if if the whole system if everything you need is in the the portable mode Then I don't think you're going to be missing out. I think that actually might be The the strongest way to use it Because nothing is being Broadcast I think it's being streamed again. This is all speculation. I don't I don't 100% That's the case the nintendo's got some voodoo magic going on Because literally every other gaming machine if you unplug it from direct power is not as powerful because the battery will just die That's true. Yeah, like I like I had a gaming laptop, which obviously wasn't nearly as powerful as You know, I mean it blew the switch out of the water But it's one of those that like you unplug it. Yeah, I could push it to max Like I like it'll default and lower clock speeds and lower everything down But I could put it back up to the normal levels and the battery will be gone in 30 minutes Um, yeah And that's the same thing with mine is that if I'm playing even a basic game like binding of isaac on my computer And it's unplugged then it's it kind of has it chugs along at some points Yeah, and a lot of that's because the computer is trying to conserve battery. So it lasts longer So that's why I feel it interesting because like that that's kind of the rumor out there is that it runs better in dock Well, not not because you know, yeah It might have the extra processing of having to deal with the usbc out into hdmi And we have no idea if any of that processing is handled on the dock or not because we're not No one has a dock to open it up to see how that's being Have how you know if the dock is doing most of that work or if the system is but Um The system in theory because it's got direct power should be running at full blast whereas our battery It probably shouldn't unless you want to kill the battery Well, and one of the things to consider too is that I'm assuming that they had A cord already plugged in because it was tethered. Well, yeah, we're gonna let me walk away with it. Um, so Uh, I assume that it might have already been charging Um, while it was there, um, I'm I'm not a hundred percent sure Like confirming we don't have any pictures of them putting the tethers on so we don't we don't actually know That's all they are. It's just tethers or there's a power cable running through directly into the system. It's been modified But it's still like all in all it still ran really well And it sounds like the reason I asked you about the explosions Is because if you didn't repeat that on portable Then it's really hard to know because like when we looked at the past switch footage The only time it seemed to notice frame rate drops was explosions. So it's like, yeah I don't think on portable mode you'd notice it through normal gameplay But like the explosions which are like some of the most Biggest most intensive things that that is done in this game. Um It's a it's a shame you didn't you didn't find another explosion Like I was actually thinking as you were talking earlier about like that skull thing um, if you uh, so one thing that's really cool Is at least this was true back on the wii demo. I don't know Now it's been, you know, six months since I played Uh, is that when you pick up the bow from like that that particular bocoblin Uh, you don't have any arrows, but if he shot arrows at you you can go pick them up off the ground If he missed you and they just stay there like they don't vanish So what what what I did is I picked up one of the arrows and then if you look through I think it was the left eye or the right eye Yeah, you could actually shoot down that thing and there's a barrel in there and I'll explode Then you don't have to fight those those bocoblins. Yeah those bocoblins are nasty Like it's really cool. Like this game is hard Like it might I don't want to say it's not the hardest Zelda game ever It's it's really difficult very it's it's more difficult than I think as all the games have been In a very long time But it's not like to me it doesn't feel difficult in the frustrating way Like it's like oh, I should have planned better or oh, I should have done this differently Or like yeah, and there's multiple approaches like you tried stealth you tried the balls to the wall I'm just gonna charge in approach Which didn't work Or maybe it kind of worked, but you got to have a hell of a lot more skill at dodging and etc etc Get those flurry attacks going. Um, yeah, no, sorry. I just I'm because it's like I haven't played the switch Um, you know, I'm begging Nintendo to send me a review switch unit. It's not gonna happen I know it's not gonna happen, but I'm gonna keep trying Uh, but like that's the big thing I want to know and maybe the Maybe breath of the wild isn't a good showcase since it feels At least based on the footage I've seen it almost feels like it's more of a port than an upgrade per se Um, like yeah, obviously the upgrade resolution 900p Whatever, but it's one of those where I don't know if it's a good showcase on if the power is weaker in handheld mode or not Um, and the thing is is I don't think we've seen a game yet. That's a good showcase for that Um, well, I think I think a game if we saw a game on like a third party game Like skyrim being played in handheld mode because that game is significantly more taxing than I imagine most Nintendo games are. Yeah, but see I also don't think that's that's a good parameter either because like the remaster is basically new textures And it's new textures in on five-year-old game Well, I'm just saying something like that a third party game That is more advanced in terms of how it's built and how it runs might be a better indicator Than a Nintendo built game. I know and It's weird because I'm thinking of the lineup right now. I don't think there's a game like that that even exists for the system Yeah, from what I can tell for mario kart. It didn't seem like there was any difference between the gamepad And the switch portable and the streaming on the tv Yeah, it'll be interesting. I think because activision is a partner So if the new call of duty comes out and it's not like the 360 version like it's like a down ported ps4 version I think that might be a good way because that that game is heavily reliant fps It's explosions the game. Yeah, so like that might be the first time we really get to see uh, I mean, obviously people are gonna factually figure it out But like none of that matters if if you as a player can't notice it. It doesn't really oh, it's down clocked It doesn't really matter if you don't notice it Well, and also at the same time like you know A a few famed frame rate drops here and there isn't a really a bad thing um because If unless it's like assassins creed unity level Frame rate drops where you notice them throughout the entire game It's really not that much of a problem like there are frame rate drops in a lot of triple a title games Sure are And and it's it's because they're they're pushing they're either pushing the console to its limit or it's a poorly used poorly usage of resources Use of resources for for the game So we'll we'll see Again, like you said once the game once the console comes out, we'll see It'd be torn apart in terms of all the specs for it how it runs its power its clocking speed all that stuff Uh But from what I could tell from other the games that I watched and From how it ran it looked like It it ran the nintendo games that were on it very well It didn't seem like there were any struggles to run anything granted nintendo games aren't exactly the most graphically intense games So like splatoon 2 isn't exactly like oh my gosh this thing is balls to the wall is crazy with graphics It's it's it handles The first party game as well. It'll be interesting to see how it handles third party games or better yet how third party companies handle the switch Yeah, so Finally play breath of the loud What uh, is there anything in there like obviously you work as elven former this is elven former podcast you've uh Pretty much know everything there is to know about the game publicly available. Mm-hmm. Was there anything that surprised you? um I don't know if okay in terms of surprise really like the the ai was surprising I don't think we've seen like that kind of a developed advanced ai in a zelda game before um, but I think it wasn't so much a surprise um as When I heard the voice acting in zelda For the first time I realized how much It actually like belonged there um, and how much it like Had a home in a zelda game if that makes sense um Or like what what had been missing up until this point because yeah, we've been missing like the true open world and stuff, but uh It made the game feel more alive and more aware And made you feel more aware of what was going on. Um I'm trying to explain it with words, but it's it's it's Something that you have to experience yourself in terms of the voice acting because When I played it and I heard it. I'm like this this is something that zelda's been missing for all these years Is is actual voice acting in a game? um And in terms of anything else, I mean A living breathing environment would have been the surprise was the surprising thing like Seeing how much the the world actually Is alive like being able to chop down a tree um Seeing how characters or at least the old man reacts to what you do um different like small nuances like that like the the The devil's in the details with this game because every little thing That they put their heart and soul into is evident and intentional And so it's all that small stuff. They're like wow, I I never knew I needed this in a zelda game And as much as I'm loathe to say this when reggie was like we we want to give you things that you Want but also things you didn't know you needed That's kind of what they're doing with breath of the wild is that they're giving us everything we want or at least Most of the stuff we want, but they're also giving us things that we didn't know we wanted Um, which is great. I mean so far. I haven't seen anything that I don't like about this game so I mean We had the question. I think it was last week or the week before we talked about whether or not You uh, it's it's worth it to get a switch for This game or just to get a switch in general and after having used it and played it I'd say that Yes, you should get a switch if you are financially able to um Just because it does feel like the definitive version of zelda in terms of graphical capabilities, but also Being able to hold it and play it uh on the go is It's it's amazing because it's like you're holding a small l like high def tv in your hands Which we haven't really had a console that does that that well that has done That has done well in the market Because the Lord knows that the the gamepad for the wii was not high def And was not strong in terms of how it handled graphics. Vita didn't exactly take off Yeah So if if you're on the fence about getting a switch and you want one But and you have the money and and you really want them, but you're not a hundred percent sure I'd say go for it Um, whether you want to get it at launch is completely up to you If you think that the launch titles that they've released is or are Appealing if you're like, oh, well, you know, I just want zelda and and You know, that's all I see right now Then if you want to get it on wii you go go for it But I'd say that the the best version that you're going to get to this game is on the switch And that's just from playing it kind of like Nate said last week I wish you guys could all play a demo of this game Um Whether it's on the wii or the switch to show you How good of a zelda game it is and for all the people that Don't like what they're doing to actually see what they're doing in the game And see how amazing. Yeah Um, because it truly is a completely different experience Completely different zelda game than we've ever gotten before And some of you may not like this changes, but the really good changes And it's like when they first decided to put peanut butter and chocolate not a lot of people probably liked it But it was probably one of the best things to happen to humanity Yeah, and that's because uh, you know, obviously I put up an editorial over at nintendo prime about, um, why they Why why these changes are are basically good um because I'm coming from the perspective that a lot basically all the naysayers against these changes are all people that have not played the game Um, and my whole time all I keep telling people is I understand your concerns about the no green tunic The no rupees in the grass the cooking for your your health like I understand Why you have complaints because I had them too Then I played the game And outside of voice acting which I really really wanted I wasn't I was skeptical they could do it Well, but I I always wanted that and sell it because I always felt like that's missing That could take their storytelling and their immersion to a new level Um, which it feels like we're not entirely there. It might just only be in cut scenes. I want to see it in the whole game Um, that's obviously not the case because the old man doesn't as we know at the beginning We know the person at the stables doesn't talk. So like It's clearly not full voice acting in the whole game, but it's a step in that direction Um, yeah, and you know the fact that it's an all cut scene like that's huge So I sit there and I'm like you just have to play it because on the surface You could say this sounds like a skyrim light. This sounds like another witcher game Here's a list of stuff. It does. Here's a list of stuff these games do. It's like those games Here's a list of stuff zelda does none of these are checked. It's not a zelda game You just have to play it It can't be explained because it's a feeling and I think Uh, when ej nobo and me a motor recently said that this is the essence of zelda this game I think I have a grander appreciation for what zelda actually is after playing just the demo Um, because it's easy to get fooled into the traditions You know zelda is the master sword zelda is the triforce notice how no one's talked about the triforce this entire time Yeah There's not been one iota even hint at a triforce in this game. And yes Clamity gannons there zelda is there links there. Clearly there's probably a triforce connection But it's not even being talked about And that's weird because that's a common thing all zelda fans know about but they're not bringing it up Um, so it's kind of like All these classic zelda elements are kind of going by the wayside But that's because those aren't what what makes zelda what it is And yeah It's easy to get it's easy to get caught up in that and once you play this game Um, I feel like i'm hoping that a majority of you naysayers that Feel like it's changing too much or it's no longer zelda We'll get the feeling I got after playing the game for even just a handful of minutes It's like this Not only feels amazing This feels like a zelda game. This feels like what zelda was always meant to be And it almost feels like all these other things that zelda used to be almost antiquated like Okay, cut grass and get rupees. You know what grass is in this game? It just doesn't make sense for that to be how this world works Um, but in previous games grass was mostly a flat texture with patches So the patches is how they handled the balance of the game by only having so many patches of grass Well, when the whole world has grass That doesn't work anymore. So you got to rethink that entire system And it's going to be weird going back to other zelda games. It's very weird after playing this I try I try going back this week. I try playing some scourge sword Uh, I try to play it. I was trying to go in order of like my favorite games I was trying to play eight different zelda games Uh It's weird to say this because it's only a demo But these games almost feel like they're worse than I thought they were After I played the demo Because they feel antiquated. They feel old. They feel out of touch with gaming When we feel incomplete. Yeah kind of like when you're talking about the grass like um Having like actual grass like the background from my computer right now is it rotates through screenshots at both of the wild and One of it's showing all the grass and stuff and on the like a field of grass with You know patches and then like patches of dirt And it looks natural And it looks like something that you would see in any like any real world or any, you know, even fake land As opposed to like, okay. Well, this looks like green green cement and that looks like blue cement But they're actually like grass and concrete. There's two different things, but you can't really tell Um And it's it's gonna be those like like I said those small details that you didn't know that you wanted Um and and yeah to focus You know go on Oh to focus on them as negative Um without experiencing them first is kind of short-sighted Uh because you you don't know how much they add to the game Yeah, um, you don't know what what they actually bring forth in the game You don't know what i'm having what it feels like to play it Yeah, um because I feel like a lot of the conventions that get scrapped for these all these new ideas these fresh ideas is that Until you experience it it just doesn't make sense um It does sound like other games But having played skyrim having played the witcher having played all these games that this is compared to This is nothing like all plus a question either. This is this Distantly because for me when I played the demo I didn't think about it feeling like any of those games So when you played the the demo multiple times, did you even think oh man? This is exactly like skyrim or oh man. This is exactly like the witcher exactly No, because it's not Just because there might be a checklist items that are the same between the games Doesn't mean they are executed in remotely the same way for the same reasons um And every time I think back on my experience go back and watch my videos on it. It's like This feels like a zelda game. There was not a moment. I played it that I said man. This this doesn't feel like zelda It was Oh my god, they did it again They they did something. I didn't think they could do it anymore. They literally Pulled an ocarina of time out of their ass I And the thing is I don't even think ocarina of time is that great But I know how important it was for what it did And they just created something that important again um And the thing is I think this game is going to resonate not just for zelda I think it's going to resonate for future open world games and other franchises um Because of the like think about this minute detail and this is something that a lot of people aren't going to care about but It's been emphasized so much by ega knowing that clearly He's really proud of this is that it's all about the little details that a lot of games overlook Like the feel of riding a horse I admit in a lot of games riding a horse does not feel good. No He's awkward. It really doesn't it doesn't feel natural doesn't feel like it belongs And I haven't ridden a horse yet. So I don't know exactly I've only seen what it looks like on screen and what it looks like and what it feels like when you're playing it Are two different things Because you can have the best animations in the world, but it can still feel clunky it can still feel unnatural Which again, you're holding the controller trying to get the feel of horseback riding It's understandable why that's why that's hard to do But like he emphasizes things like individual individual sounds of the hoofs hitting the ground And hitting the grass and how it sounds different and how much attention was paid to Just that aspect of making sure you can feel those horse feet at the ground And that the sound it makes is the sound it's supposed to make Now I'd be even interested if it makes a different sound when it's raining out and the grass is wet Um, I'd be interesting Like and the thing is they put that kind of fine detail into the sound of a horse hoof What kind of like fine details that they put into everything else? um Because the one thing I took away and this was way back at e3 and it's probably the same now is that this demo Is one of the most polished demos I've played in my entire life I gotta agree with that one That's true And I said this back here in e3 and I know it sounds crazy, but I mean and I got to spend a lot more time with it Yeah, yeah So I got to explore a lot more and experience a lot more of the great plateau But like I even said at the time if they had just released this demo as a standalone 40 dollar game I would buy it That's how good it was That's how good it felt and that's how much stuff there was to do Um, and that's just a great plateau. Yeah Like that's crazy to me that that's how amazing That it was so Yeah, I You know it This game man Well, and one of the things to keep in mind too is that when people keep comparing it to other games and saying well You know it has this so it's trying to copy Skyrim that that's that's An awful argument because there are certain tropes and certain mechanics that exist across the board In different games and in different films. That's like saying That captain america civil war is exactly the same thing as batman v superman Just because they have two heroes fighting each other like just because of a small detail or a specific Detail doesn't mean that they're the exact same thing or that they're copying each other These are these are tropes. These are mechanics that you see over and over again That's like comparing any turn-based rpg saying. Oh, yeah. Well pokey. It's just the same as pokemon It's like well. No, it's using a battle system similar to it But it's not the same thing. It's like you can't call final fantasy a pokemon clone That that that doesn't match up and so taking small details and and other things to implement that that work That's the thing too is that because these things work in other games then they work in zelda. Why not have them? You know why why not have breakable items because that that lets you Or have items with different power levels So as you progress through the game since you're not leveling up your power is shown more through the items that you have And how powerful they get So like you start out with a stick and then the next dungeon like major dungeon you've got like a A steel sword that does like three four times the damage that something else does and that shows progress But that also shows that You know, this is something that worked in other games and it's working here too So why not implement it and it's not saying that they're copying it But that they're like this works in the world that we're building like this makes sense And so again a lot of the things that you'll find in this game makes sense in a living breathing world Like the like they talked about the npcs is that the npcs are they all have their own personalities They all have their own schedules. It's like that makes sense in a living breathing world. That's supposed to feel natural Um, and so to discount these changes because they sound like other things And sorry, I'm going really Italian right now because I'm speaking with my hands But to discount the changes Because they sound like these from other games. I think it's it's a foolish argument. It doesn't work Because just because it's take similar mechanics doesn't mean they're the same thing I mean you could you could say playstation all stars battle royale is the same thing as smash bros you'd be right Because it's basically a sony clone Um, but you can't really say that this is a clone of skyrim Or or a zelda skin on skyrim like that's that's not how this works Once you play the game, you'll find that that's not true Yeah, like and I'm sure there's gonna be people who don't like it because that's just the way they are And that's fine. Yeah, you can't please everyone. I mean and the thing is like some people aren't into open world games and so like This isn't going to make you like open world games Um, you know what makes this so great isn't going to Make up for it. So it's kind of one of those You can't appease everyone All they can do is appease as much of the fan base as they can and based on the pure viewership That these trailers are getting on youtube um The amount of traffic record breaking traffic that is coming to zelda informer every time we have big news About breath of the wild this is like the most hyped. I think people have been for zelda since that 2004 reveal trailer for twilight princess Um, and this might even overall top that and we'll see sales will sales will show if it actually does top that um, but man Like this is the reason you can't buy a switch by the way Yeah, it's not because of one two switch. That's not the reason I want to play one two switch But yeah, that's that that's not why that system sold out It's because people try this game and no one has Put it this way. I've yet to see someone play the game and say anything negative Overall about their experience with the game. Um, you'll get some fine detailed nitpicking but That's where it ends Um, the otherwise they overall think it's fantastic. So it's like if every person who plays it just thinks it's amazing There's something to that So just if you're skeptical I'm not saying buy it and spend $300 on the switch and um to find out but Play it out of friend's house Borrow it rent it off game fly for a ubu Um, yeah, so that's like there's multiple ways to try this game out without spending a bunch of money And see if you agree with our assessment And we're just talking about the beginning area like we can't imagine how much how much more amazing The the whole world is beyond that plateau. Um Because that's the only thing I was worried about and it's still a concern of mine Is that so much attention was paid to the great plateau to the rest of the world doesn't live up to the great plateau Um, yeah, and that's still a valid concern because we still haven't seen a lot of the game, but I the more they talk about it the more they show Uh, the more I am gaining faith that the great plateau is not like a great setup for something that never happens It is what to expect from this world So And my video cut out as always something always happens. Well, yep. I mean we're close to the end anyways. I figured so There's not really much else that we could talk about um in terms of that because Uh If you pretty much talk that to death So basically the only way that you're gonna if for all the naysayers If you don't think that this game's for you give it a shot anyways somehow Like whether Nintendo releases a demo forward or if you have to rent it or if you have to borrow it like Don't don't discount it just yet because I think this game will surprise you in ways that you weren't expecting I definitely So that's where we're going to cut it off Tonight keep in mind too not so related. I'm just throwing this at the end tomorrow fire emblem heroes comes out Um, so be ready for that I enjoy it. Well yesterday it came out because you'll be hearing this on a friday But tomorrow because we're recording on a wednesday. It's time travel. Don't worry about it But yeah, so that's it for this week All right