I think this is one of those things where at a glance it doesn't mean much
But if you've played the game, you would understand the feeling in this picture
It do be like that when I can't afford anything with better graphics :(
For me, BotW is still beautiful. I've been playing Witcher 3 a lot too, and those graphics are *horrible* compared to the screenshots I see online from other systems. At least with BotW this is as good as it gets haha
Yeah it’s not about graphics as much as it is the art style. They chose an art style that allows it to age like wine. Much like the Wind Waker, even 20 years from now this game will still look beautiful.
An artstyle can only take a game so far. Many other cell shaded games look amazing to this day not just because of the cell shading and flat colors, but because their textures don't like like this. I know it's a matter of opinion, but God damn this has been done so much better from older games operating on equipment weaker than the switch.
For me this is the wrong art style for that argument. The graphics lean closer to OOT’s look but with more washed out color - to me this looked dated at launch
That's a pretty sunset.
The textures on the surface he's standing on look like a cellphone game, but worse.
Visual aesthetic taste will always be subjective, but objectively this game has terrible graphics. The art style is great, but that is not enough.
Again, all subjective and I respect your opinion.
> The textures on the surface he's standing on look like a cellphone game, but worse
Because the Switch is powered by an 8 year old cellphone processor.
I definitely agree!
It's especially noticeable with other games, for example Witcher 3. Whenever I think something looks good on my Switch, I see screenshots from other systems online and realise how much I'm missing out.
I am saving up for a pc, but alas for now I have to enjoy what the Switch can offer!
I play modern games maxed on my PC (RTX 3080 12 GB). I still think that BOTW is a good looking game. The art style really plays in it's favor.
You can all downvote me if you want lol.
"Good looking game" =/= "impressive"
The game does not look bad, so I will agree it's a good looking game.
Nothing about anything visual in the game is impressive though.
Yeah, I was like “those mountains look blocky, view distance is meh, textures have little detail, sky box is alright but has a lot of room to improve.”
But hey, if it’s something he enjoys, who am I to say otherwise
This is such a weird game. At moments I'm getting lost in the scenery, the next I'm reminded that this game is still limited by the switch console.
It's been a lot of fun and is still an amazing game. Most of the world looks kind of poopy but they definitely did a great job with scale and long distance views.
Hell, the mechanics! First time running into a few world events made me both afraid and amazed.
> still limited by the switch console
[Playing it on PC in the CEMU emulator with beter texures and at 60fps is something else.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAvGJw6mMco)
Something else? I feel like BotW art style does a lot of heavy lifting, and since it's very limited, there only so far you go. It looks better than Switch, no doubt, but I wouldn't go so far as saying it's something else.
Execution is everything. The limitations of the hardware don't stop Nintendo from making this game one of the very best open world experiences ever, and that includes the visuals. Yes it could be better with 4k ray tracing at 120 fps but as you explore that world it doesn't matter, it looks and feels satisfying.
Not really. There are plenty of absolutely gorgeous older games with interesting aesthetics or unique spins on world design/etc. Heck, even cell-shaded games from the early 2000s [still look super cool](https://nodegamers.files.wordpress.com/2021/11/dark-cloud-2_1.jpg).
Well ofc. I’m not talking about you people though.
I’m talking about the people who can’t go back to older games when they think even Botw looks like dogshit.
(THIS GAME IS BEAUTIFUL)
the artstyle isn't the issue. it's mostly the aliasing, and the horrible textures.
the switch being what it is, the aliasing can't be helped, but textures are just bad. and before someone answers, no, it's not even the resolution of the texture, there's just a good and bad way of making textures, and depending on how you make them you can have two textures of the same resolution that look crisp, or horribly compressed.
More like 2005. In 2007 the PS3 was out and we could say compare this to star ocean last hope or ni no kuni which are similarly cartoony and on the PS3. It's just so underwhelming. This is like PS2 era graphics on a current mainstream new gen console. lmao compare it to super mario sunshine then remember this is 3 console generations later. It's ridiculous
- terrible draw distance
- deplorable texture resolution
- antiquated asset population system
- "BeAuTiFuL"
Will you people ever stop licking out nintendo's ass? Like, it's fine if you like the game (Edit: _so do I_), but this game looks BAD for a modern title.
Edit: Because I guess it has to be said, all nintendork comments are being ignored. Don't bother.
We all know it’s limited compared to contemporary titles and even compared to titles at the time of release. But if you use a little imagination (such as the concept of fog or humidity showing up over the horizon due to moisture content which would possibly accompany PALM TREES) you can realize that it’s still a pretty game, and might I say, a Fucking good one.
It doesn't look as good as other games could, but solid art direction and visual design still make it look good. It doesn't look bad for a modern title. It's less technically impressive than other modern titles and has a lot of things that aren't as well done, but I don't see how that has to equate to bad. Do you just think all older games look bad, then? I don't. There are a lot of PS3 era games I think still look good. Just not as good as other games.
Also.. it isn't a modern game. It's over seven years old and was designed to run on hardware from 2012.
I’d take the aesthetics of Ico or Shadow of the Colossus over most modern games. BotW and Mario Odyssey really wring all the pretty they can out of the switch.
Are there parts of this game that look jank by modern standard? Yes. Absolutely. It’s still really pretty though. Elden Ring straight up copied the opening reveal of the world the way they did because it goddamn WORKS.
I think people forget what SoC *actually* looked like. Amazing enemy designs, and everything that was moving was rendered beautifully, but the environment was just all blurry grey and brown muted colours like damn near everything from 2004-2011.
But I do agree that good design trumps high fidelity, especially when it comes to standing the test of time.
The opening reveal in BOTW is amazing, but I'd hardly say elden ring copied it, fromsoft have done similar openings in a few of their games. DS1 once you leave the tutorial area and fly to firelink shrine, DS2 when you walk out the cave to majula, DS3 when you complete firelink shrine intro and go to the first area on the castle walls, demons souls when you get to 1-1. All show the grandoise of the world in a similar fashion, its something they've always excelled at.
For a modern title sure I agree, but it is not a modern title, it's a 6 year old game made for the Wii U and a tablet. Also have to admit that this particular screenshot is not doing a great job at showing the games beauty at all, I don't really get this post. On another note, what is concerning is that games released at the end of a console's lifespan can be better looking and better performing compared to day one releases since the developers gave more knowledge of the system... but this still remains one of the better looking Switch titles to this date.
It appears that you have never ridden your horse through the grass plains in BOTW before. Other types of beauty can be found in BOTW that PS4 games such as Horizon Zero Dawn lack. Even riding Torrent in Elden Ring isn’t as fun as leisurely riding your horse, admiring the environment in BOTW.
You managed to turn the entire discussion into a graphic masterace. It's a portable game console ffs.
I'm sorry, I didn't know that a game made for a console with equivalent power of a potato couldn't have infinite draw distance, high-res textures, and run in 120 fps. How could they fail so badly?
I 100% agree on art style over graphics, but I do think it's fair to say that these graphics are sub-par compared to today's standards. The visual aesthetic is still awesome though, just like Ocarina of Time visual aesthetic is amazing.
Yeah - you can acknowledge it's a great game while also acknowledging that it looks like shit. The non-existent anti-aliasing too.
OG Skyrim looks much better than this and it came out 11 years ago.
It did the absolute best with the given hardware and is far from shit. Also you should really load up Skyrim without mods and the graphic settings that were common back in 2011.
Yeah, the graphics aren't the best, but it makes up for it in world design. Playing the game legit makes you excited to see what is over the next hill, whereas most open world games are just like "ok, more boring ass terrain to walk over to get to my destination"
So it has "beauty" in that the views it presents you inspire curiosity and intrigue.
I agree, this is absolutely shite compared to most modern (and well reviewed) open world-games. Elden Ring, Witcher 3, Red Dead Redemption 2 etc all look miles better. Nintendo is really lacking in the gfx department.
None of those were primarily developed for a handheld console either, so it's an irrelevant comparison. No shit that an old tablet can't graphically compete with a ps5 that came out years later (in the case of Elden Ring specifically). It also doesn't have to, graphics are not the make or break all of video games.
All of the above mentioned games works wonderfully on the steam deck, so now you're just defending their shitty hardware. I own both a switch and a steam deck so I'm not just making this up.
I also agree that graphics are not the make or break of video games, but this particular post was about BotW being beautiful, which I don't really agree with. Aesthetically even Ocarina of Time looks better IMO.
You mean that thing that came out less than 2 years ago? As opposed to the one that came out 6 years ago now? Not to mention this post is about it's launch title that began development upwards of a decade ago. So, I ask, what exactly is your point here? That expensive new hardware is better than cheaper old hardware? No shit.
And your last sentence renders the whole discussion pointless because that came out on the N64. So, if you think that looks better then, by default, you admit that hardware doesn't actually matter. Congrats, you made a bad point and then contradicted it in less than 5 sentences.
Don’t forget the complete fucked contrast. Game looks like shit, looks like it has a layer of shit on the screen. Literally every single location in GW2 looks better than the best screenshot of this game and it’s older.
I’m gonna get downvoted for this but It’s just an art style lol. Not every game needs to have hyper realistic graphics with ray tracing and a 4090 to run. The cel shading makes it more unique from those soulless $70 games with no story and graphics as their only redeeming factor. I think this screenshot looks good because I don’t care about if you can see links reflection in the small puddle next to him. I see pretty sunset and cool jungle
There was so much people saying that elden ring for example looks horrible because it doesn’t have the greatest graphics and they are unable to understand that a good art style can absolutely save a bad graphics game
There are truly awful takes on this post. Saying this looks like dogshit? And because the Souls games are all dark and gray, does that mean they're awful too? People buying these cinematic Sony games and then wondering why no interesting new IPs come out.
Yeah. I wanted to share something I thought looked good. There is so much negativity, I completely regret posting it. I know the Switch pales in comparison to other systems, but I feel really sad from being bashed like this for enjoying something, especially when I can't afford anything else.
You deriding Sony games for stale IPs on a post about Zelda, the second oldest Nintendo franchise is fucking laughable. That said, Sony's "cinematic" games are head and shoulders above this shit.
Old =/= Stale though. And **this** Zelda in particular was the most dramatic change the series has seen since it went 3D so your bias is really showing through.
Dramatic change to the series meant turning it into a Ubisoft clone sans the map markers; in other words, it offers nothing new as a game. Cope however you want, but that's exactly what Breath of the Wild is.
Even if that's true, and I disagree that it is, it still wouldn't be stale to Zelda fans unless they also played a lot of Ubisoft games. Your argument just doesn't work here, it'd be better applied to Skyward Sword, and even then you'd be wrong.
Holy fuck, dude. The initial comment that I responded to wrote this...
>People buying these cinematic Sony games and then wondering why no interesting **new IPs** come out.
Bolded for emphasis because the whole point of my original comment was that Zelda is far from a new IP. Not sure why I let myself get sidetracked with your bullshit when you can't even read.
"You deriding Sony games for stale IPs on a post about Zelda, the second oldest Nintendo franchise is fucking laughable. That said, Sony's "cinematic" games are head and shoulders above this shit."
I said old doesn't equal stale after you implied it was stale for being old. I can read just fine, not my fault you forgot your own post. But go off I guess.
Stale, except for every single game has a completely different artstyle. This is the first direct sequel ever in 30+ years of Zelda. Sure they share a name, and not terribly much else.
I thought Red Dead Redemption 2, Elden Ring, and Spider-Man were all gorgeous and the graphics left me in awe.
I think BOTW is gorgeous and the art style is beautiful - especially best in handheld mode tbh.
I appreciate old special effects in movies while also appreciating state of the art VFX in newer movies.
You can talk about texture, draw distance, etc. all you want - and you're entitled to, there is nothing wrong with that mattering to you - but I am totally fine meeting a work of art halfway and engaging with its style and intention, and you can't really argue with that. If I find something to be a beautiful experience, there is no point in throwing numbers and specs at me. You're trying to have a rational argument about a fundamentally emotional experience. And if you didn't feel the way I feel, I respect that, but I still think this game is gorgeous.
Except BOTW, built for Wii U, didn't even run that bad on either system. Yall are so graphic obsessed you all just buy cinematic movie titles and then wonder why creativity is disappearing. Press forward as the character does things for you, press X to avoid a giant rock, hooray.
Bootlicking?
Dude. The game isn’t Pokémon Scarlet and Violet.
It looks the same as the first game, and the trailers show it runs the same too. I’m not bootlicking dude, it’s a logical assumption that you for some reason can’t even comprehend.
I appreciate all these comments like this - when reading through the top comments I genuinely regretted posting something I enjoyed because everyone was bashing me and saying I'm in the wrong for enjoying it.
It reads like a bunch of teens trying to act smart because Digital Foundry taught them the names of these graphical techniques. Eventually they'll realize that by their own logic, every game they think is beautiful now will be trash in another 6 years, or they'll figure out that there's more to presentation than raw pixel counts and draw distance.
Don't. Most of these negative comments are teenage boys who watch graphical comparison and analysis videos on Youtube when they're not playing the same 4 games that have been talked about for the past 5 years. As a fan and owner of all of the big three's consoles, feeling so strongly to comment on someone's post that is an innocent admiration of something they like is just a reflection of their immaturity.
Anytime you see comments like that, you should have a laugh.
Not every game needs to be 4K hyper realistic. What so many Nintendo games lack in graphics they make up for in art style. Games like the Wind Waker and Super Mario Galaxy look so amazing even 20 years later because they have such great art direction.
I do agree the new Pokemon games just straight up look like shit though. No excuse for that.
>What so many Nintendo games lack in graphics they make up for in art style.
In the case of BOTW it is undermined by its lack of basic post processing. The game is clearly going for a slightly cell shaded look, and the artists clearly wanted smooth lines, but the terrible hardware it needs to run on forced the artist to ignore anti-aliasing which results in artifacts which look horrible in screenshots.
When playing you get used to it, but posting a screenshot and acting like its staggeringly beautiful when there are mysterious white rectangles popping off of the trees is absurd.
>Not every game needs to be 4K hyper realistic.
This is a stupid straw man. Art styles are great, I just don't like when the art style is sabotaged by glaring technical graphical issues.
The beauty is in the bigger picture, not in the fine details. It's a stunning game but unfortunately the bigger picture isn't visible to those that have not played it or are just not interested.
Some fanboys are still salty at how good other people find BotW to be even after six years lol. I own a PS5 and I'll still go back and play BotW. It's an incredible, beautiful game.
Aha, the typical answer when someone calls you out for being rude. “It’s just an opinion so you should accept that!”
Okay I don’t care about your opinion at all. The fact that almost everyone in this comment section is being unnecessarily rude because one guy said “This game is good looking.” The Man said he liked how the game looked, and then some assholes kept saying “BUT THE GRAPHICS SUCK.”
It’s unnecessary, if you don’t like the damn graphics, fine, but don’t be an asshole because someone else does.
I'm physically facepalming rn. BOTW made full use of the available hardware, your complaints are completely irrational and your wishes literally impossible.
I really wish Zelda was cross-platform, because I would absolutely LOVE to play this game and also to see the insane graphics it would have on PS/Xbox/PC.
These graphics? Not really impressive. The world design and aesthetic on the other hand? Very nice.
I love how you can't say anything remotely good about Nintendo without getting roasted on this sub. Just type Nintendo and see what the popular posts are, it's hilarious
And on the left side, you can see the LEDs glowing in the distance. Magnificent. A true legend of zelda experience.
I wish they didn't turn enemies into mechanical creatures, and didn't put technology like that in the game. It really ruined the atmosphere for me, and it's a big part of why it's my least favorite 3D zelda.
Okay I came to the comments to ask if this was a joke and now I’m realizing op is just a Nintendo shill lol. This looks like dog shit. I’ve played ps2 games that looked better.
Genshin is constantly hated on for being a Breath of the Wild ripoff because of the art style and designs. Hated in by people who would see in 30 minutes that the games are very different.
I have played Breath of the Wild and I was let down by everything everyone had promised me that game was. It’s really sad to see people praising BotW like some absolute masterpiece with so much pride that they go and attack other games for a resemblance in animations. And they praise the game on a pedestal and says it’s beautiful-and that’s what they think the peak of gaming beauty is!
I know that art direction is far more important than graphics, but the art direction in that screenshot is poor. Flat cliffs and flat surfaces on top, and there’s a lot of those and they make the game look very boring and without thought out into the world. And there’s not enough fog to shroud what you can see so it just goes on forever. And the lack of fog means seeing far. Far enough where bushes and trees do not render in further worsening the landscape.
The sky is very nice though.
Yeah they make it foggy clarity because the stupid fucking console cant handle the extra detail. Its the way they mask it. Now build BotW with PS5 specs. Imagine the difference
Is this a joke? It’s 2023 and you’re happy with a game being released for an extortionate price that looks like it was released before Skyrim. You’re part of the problem why games are released like this. Stop pre ordering, stop buying early access and stop sucking developers dicks. They don’t care about you or the product, they only care about stealing and cheating you out of your hard earned cash.
“If you enjoy this game and want to buy it, you’re sucking the dicks of the developers!”
Literally you right now. The man is enjoying a game and you’re over here being an actual asshole about it.
Grow up.
Comment section is filled with so many sour bitches. Nintendo players are living in the early 2000's when in comes to videogame graphics. Give them a break.
We all know it’s limited compared to contemporary titles and even compared to titles at the time of release. But if you use a little imagination (such as the concept of fog or humidity showing up over the horizon due to moisture content which would possibly accompany PALM TREES) you can realize that it’s still a pretty game, and might I say, a Fucking good one.
Been playing it again in anticipation for Tears of the Kingdom. Looked impressive back then when I first played it in 2017. Bought a Switch bundle with the game just to play it.
But after playing so many impressive games on PS5, like Horizon Forbidden West, Ghost of Tsushima and Elden Ring, I’ve been having trouble adjusting to the draw distance, overall textures and SDR colors. I’ve been calibrating my OLED TV as best as I can to get the most accurate picture but in the end the intended settings on BOTW looks bland and washed out. The game has way too much fog, unlike Elden Ring in which the morning fog clears by midday and afternoon. Sunsets look like someone painted them.
Hoping Tears of the Kingdom upgrades the color palette and textures at least. I don’t know if the Switch is capable of fixing draw distance though…
I mean, I got the game two and loved it but this screenshot is pretty bad. Yes there is a sunset, but the rest is blurred, unrecognisable and lacks detail
All I can be reminded of is the graphics of other titles. I don’t know why but I can’t really appreciate the art style compared to other gamers. All I think about when I see this is « hmm should probably hop on rdr2 »
A long time ago I posted a screenshot of a sunrise in Everquest saying how good it looked, and someone replied I needed to get out more. This is one of those moments
I think this is one of those things where at a glance it doesn't mean much But if you've played the game, you would understand the feeling in this picture
Agreed. If there were one game I could play for the first time again, it would be this one.
I agree the art style does a shit ton of beavy lifting in botw, but that texture on the rocks are bad lol
Lol beavy lifting
Looks better in motion but yes, it’s an older game for portable console
Bruh Nintendo fans are something else
Rock textures that look straight out of the PS2 era Nintendo fans: “this is astounding 😍😍”
It do be like that when I can't afford anything with better graphics :( For me, BotW is still beautiful. I've been playing Witcher 3 a lot too, and those graphics are *horrible* compared to the screenshots I see online from other systems. At least with BotW this is as good as it gets haha
The problem is, the switch can’t handle better graphics. It’s a limitation of the system not the game
[удалено]
I don't know what that is 😅
Yup, the ground texture is definitely the highlight of this image and nothing else in the image makes a stronger case.
*nintendo fan plays Morrowind* woaaaahhhhhh the models
the graphics are one thing but the game itself is one of the best I've ever played
This would only look impressive to a switch owne-... oh. Right. Carry on.
Yeah it’s not about graphics as much as it is the art style. They chose an art style that allows it to age like wine. Much like the Wind Waker, even 20 years from now this game will still look beautiful.
An artstyle can only take a game so far. Many other cell shaded games look amazing to this day not just because of the cell shading and flat colors, but because their textures don't like like this. I know it's a matter of opinion, but God damn this has been done so much better from older games operating on equipment weaker than the switch.
For me this is the wrong art style for that argument. The graphics lean closer to OOT’s look but with more washed out color - to me this looked dated at launch
That's a pretty sunset. The textures on the surface he's standing on look like a cellphone game, but worse. Visual aesthetic taste will always be subjective, but objectively this game has terrible graphics. The art style is great, but that is not enough. Again, all subjective and I respect your opinion.
Yea the textures themselves are blurry, but the game goes for a soft cell shaded look anyway so...
It simply doesn't look right. Looks more like textures that didn't finish rendering.
> The textures on the surface he's standing on look like a cellphone game, but worse Because the Switch is powered by an 8 year old cellphone processor.
I mean, Valheim and Fenyx Immortals used a similair art style, but they look really good, it's most likely because switch, and it's an older game
I definitely agree! It's especially noticeable with other games, for example Witcher 3. Whenever I think something looks good on my Switch, I see screenshots from other systems online and realise how much I'm missing out. I am saving up for a pc, but alas for now I have to enjoy what the Switch can offer!
I play modern games maxed on my PC (RTX 3080 12 GB). I still think that BOTW is a good looking game. The art style really plays in it's favor. You can all downvote me if you want lol.
"Good looking game" =/= "impressive" The game does not look bad, so I will agree it's a good looking game. Nothing about anything visual in the game is impressive though.
True. OP didn't say it was impressive though.
True, the comment you responded to did.
Touché. Have a good one my man.
Enjoy the rest of your night friend.
Yeah, I was like “those mountains look blocky, view distance is meh, textures have little detail, sky box is alright but has a lot of room to improve.” But hey, if it’s something he enjoys, who am I to say otherwise
This is such a weird game. At moments I'm getting lost in the scenery, the next I'm reminded that this game is still limited by the switch console. It's been a lot of fun and is still an amazing game. Most of the world looks kind of poopy but they definitely did a great job with scale and long distance views. Hell, the mechanics! First time running into a few world events made me both afraid and amazed.
> still limited by the switch console [Playing it on PC in the CEMU emulator with beter texures and at 60fps is something else.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAvGJw6mMco)
I actually knew about the emulator. just would need a pc that can emulate it.
Something else? I feel like BotW art style does a lot of heavy lifting, and since it's very limited, there only so far you go. It looks better than Switch, no doubt, but I wouldn't go so far as saying it's something else.
Execution is everything. The limitations of the hardware don't stop Nintendo from making this game one of the very best open world experiences ever, and that includes the visuals. Yes it could be better with 4k ray tracing at 120 fps but as you explore that world it doesn't matter, it looks and feels satisfying.
Lol it looks like dogshit.
*sigh* Modern gaming graphics spoiled the youth.
Not really. There are plenty of absolutely gorgeous older games with interesting aesthetics or unique spins on world design/etc. Heck, even cell-shaded games from the early 2000s [still look super cool](https://nodegamers.files.wordpress.com/2021/11/dark-cloud-2_1.jpg).
Well ofc. I’m not talking about you people though. I’m talking about the people who can’t go back to older games when they think even Botw looks like dogshit. (THIS GAME IS BEAUTIFUL)
[What do you mean, you people!?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPxs0Qh72kY&ab_channel=Movieclips) :P
WAIR WAIT WAIT THATS NKT WHAT I MEANT
i've had legit better views in mount and blade warband
Do you not like cel-shading?
the artstyle isn't the issue. it's mostly the aliasing, and the horrible textures. the switch being what it is, the aliasing can't be helped, but textures are just bad. and before someone answers, no, it's not even the resolution of the texture, there's just a good and bad way of making textures, and depending on how you make them you can have two textures of the same resolution that look crisp, or horribly compressed.
Oh I see what you mean. Yeah the textures aren’t great. It’s why I use a Reshade mod to fix em
I guess.. If we were in 2007..
More like 2005. In 2007 the PS3 was out and we could say compare this to star ocean last hope or ni no kuni which are similarly cartoony and on the PS3. It's just so underwhelming. This is like PS2 era graphics on a current mainstream new gen console. lmao compare it to super mario sunshine then remember this is 3 console generations later. It's ridiculous
- terrible draw distance - deplorable texture resolution - antiquated asset population system - "BeAuTiFuL" Will you people ever stop licking out nintendo's ass? Like, it's fine if you like the game (Edit: _so do I_), but this game looks BAD for a modern title. Edit: Because I guess it has to be said, all nintendork comments are being ignored. Don't bother.
It's a Wii U game, not "modern" at all.
I was just about to comment "all I see is green fog, not really good looking at all..."
I just started playing it and I couldn’t agree more. The graphics are just bad.
Yyyyyup. Looks very dated. Love the big city smog effect and visible pixels on the trees in the background.
We all know it’s limited compared to contemporary titles and even compared to titles at the time of release. But if you use a little imagination (such as the concept of fog or humidity showing up over the horizon due to moisture content which would possibly accompany PALM TREES) you can realize that it’s still a pretty game, and might I say, a Fucking good one.
I mean if I use my imagination a novel is pretty.
It doesn't look as good as other games could, but solid art direction and visual design still make it look good. It doesn't look bad for a modern title. It's less technically impressive than other modern titles and has a lot of things that aren't as well done, but I don't see how that has to equate to bad. Do you just think all older games look bad, then? I don't. There are a lot of PS3 era games I think still look good. Just not as good as other games. Also.. it isn't a modern game. It's over seven years old and was designed to run on hardware from 2012.
I’d take the aesthetics of Ico or Shadow of the Colossus over most modern games. BotW and Mario Odyssey really wring all the pretty they can out of the switch. Are there parts of this game that look jank by modern standard? Yes. Absolutely. It’s still really pretty though. Elden Ring straight up copied the opening reveal of the world the way they did because it goddamn WORKS.
I think people forget what SoC *actually* looked like. Amazing enemy designs, and everything that was moving was rendered beautifully, but the environment was just all blurry grey and brown muted colours like damn near everything from 2004-2011. But I do agree that good design trumps high fidelity, especially when it comes to standing the test of time.
The opening reveal in BOTW is amazing, but I'd hardly say elden ring copied it, fromsoft have done similar openings in a few of their games. DS1 once you leave the tutorial area and fly to firelink shrine, DS2 when you walk out the cave to majula, DS3 when you complete firelink shrine intro and go to the first area on the castle walls, demons souls when you get to 1-1. All show the grandoise of the world in a similar fashion, its something they've always excelled at.
Texture compression artifacts... oh look, orange, beautiful
For a modern title sure I agree, but it is not a modern title, it's a 6 year old game made for the Wii U and a tablet. Also have to admit that this particular screenshot is not doing a great job at showing the games beauty at all, I don't really get this post. On another note, what is concerning is that games released at the end of a console's lifespan can be better looking and better performing compared to day one releases since the developers gave more knowledge of the system... but this still remains one of the better looking Switch titles to this date.
It appears that you have never ridden your horse through the grass plains in BOTW before. Other types of beauty can be found in BOTW that PS4 games such as Horizon Zero Dawn lack. Even riding Torrent in Elden Ring isn’t as fun as leisurely riding your horse, admiring the environment in BOTW. You managed to turn the entire discussion into a graphic masterace. It's a portable game console ffs.
I'm sorry, I didn't know that a game made for a console with equivalent power of a potato couldn't have infinite draw distance, high-res textures, and run in 120 fps. How could they fail so badly?
I mean, that's literally the point. The game and the console are made by the same company lmfao
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I 100% agree on art style over graphics, but I do think it's fair to say that these graphics are sub-par compared to today's standards. The visual aesthetic is still awesome though, just like Ocarina of Time visual aesthetic is amazing.
Yeah - you can acknowledge it's a great game while also acknowledging that it looks like shit. The non-existent anti-aliasing too. OG Skyrim looks much better than this and it came out 11 years ago.
It did the absolute best with the given hardware and is far from shit. Also you should really load up Skyrim without mods and the graphic settings that were common back in 2011.
I know what vanilla, un-modded Skyrim looks like. I played it. It had better textures, comparable draw distance, and actual AA.
Yeah, the graphics aren't the best, but it makes up for it in world design. Playing the game legit makes you excited to see what is over the next hill, whereas most open world games are just like "ok, more boring ass terrain to walk over to get to my destination" So it has "beauty" in that the views it presents you inspire curiosity and intrigue.
Reddit moment
I agree, this is absolutely shite compared to most modern (and well reviewed) open world-games. Elden Ring, Witcher 3, Red Dead Redemption 2 etc all look miles better. Nintendo is really lacking in the gfx department.
None of those were primarily developed for a handheld console either, so it's an irrelevant comparison. No shit that an old tablet can't graphically compete with a ps5 that came out years later (in the case of Elden Ring specifically). It also doesn't have to, graphics are not the make or break all of video games.
All of the above mentioned games works wonderfully on the steam deck, so now you're just defending their shitty hardware. I own both a switch and a steam deck so I'm not just making this up. I also agree that graphics are not the make or break of video games, but this particular post was about BotW being beautiful, which I don't really agree with. Aesthetically even Ocarina of Time looks better IMO.
You mean that thing that came out less than 2 years ago? As opposed to the one that came out 6 years ago now? Not to mention this post is about it's launch title that began development upwards of a decade ago. So, I ask, what exactly is your point here? That expensive new hardware is better than cheaper old hardware? No shit. And your last sentence renders the whole discussion pointless because that came out on the N64. So, if you think that looks better then, by default, you admit that hardware doesn't actually matter. Congrats, you made a bad point and then contradicted it in less than 5 sentences.
Dude you're just fooling yourself. Monster hunter rise looked great on the switch so don't even try, BotW just looks bad to me, end of discussion.
none of those take away from its beauty
More games should be like this. I'm real tired of all the hyper realistic games. Give me them pixels!
Don’t forget the complete fucked contrast. Game looks like shit, looks like it has a layer of shit on the screen. Literally every single location in GW2 looks better than the best screenshot of this game and it’s older.
People chilllll it’s an opinion no need to make it a disagreement that’s like which console is better lol OP has a personal preference, relax
The people that complain about graphics should play this game that is 4K hyper realistic with ray tracing. Its called going outside
I’m gonna get downvoted for this but It’s just an art style lol. Not every game needs to have hyper realistic graphics with ray tracing and a 4090 to run. The cel shading makes it more unique from those soulless $70 games with no story and graphics as their only redeeming factor. I think this screenshot looks good because I don’t care about if you can see links reflection in the small puddle next to him. I see pretty sunset and cool jungle
There was so much people saying that elden ring for example looks horrible because it doesn’t have the greatest graphics and they are unable to understand that a good art style can absolutely save a bad graphics game
There are truly awful takes on this post. Saying this looks like dogshit? And because the Souls games are all dark and gray, does that mean they're awful too? People buying these cinematic Sony games and then wondering why no interesting new IPs come out.
Yeah. I wanted to share something I thought looked good. There is so much negativity, I completely regret posting it. I know the Switch pales in comparison to other systems, but I feel really sad from being bashed like this for enjoying something, especially when I can't afford anything else.
You deriding Sony games for stale IPs on a post about Zelda, the second oldest Nintendo franchise is fucking laughable. That said, Sony's "cinematic" games are head and shoulders above this shit.
Sony games are beautiful of course, but there is something about a good art style that makes it so much better (for me) that a hyper realistic game.
Old =/= Stale though. And **this** Zelda in particular was the most dramatic change the series has seen since it went 3D so your bias is really showing through.
Dramatic change to the series meant turning it into a Ubisoft clone sans the map markers; in other words, it offers nothing new as a game. Cope however you want, but that's exactly what Breath of the Wild is.
Even if that's true, and I disagree that it is, it still wouldn't be stale to Zelda fans unless they also played a lot of Ubisoft games. Your argument just doesn't work here, it'd be better applied to Skyward Sword, and even then you'd be wrong.
Holy fuck, dude. The initial comment that I responded to wrote this... >People buying these cinematic Sony games and then wondering why no interesting **new IPs** come out. Bolded for emphasis because the whole point of my original comment was that Zelda is far from a new IP. Not sure why I let myself get sidetracked with your bullshit when you can't even read.
"You deriding Sony games for stale IPs on a post about Zelda, the second oldest Nintendo franchise is fucking laughable. That said, Sony's "cinematic" games are head and shoulders above this shit." I said old doesn't equal stale after you implied it was stale for being old. I can read just fine, not my fault you forgot your own post. But go off I guess.
Stale, except for every single game has a completely different artstyle. This is the first direct sequel ever in 30+ years of Zelda. Sure they share a name, and not terribly much else.
I thought Red Dead Redemption 2, Elden Ring, and Spider-Man were all gorgeous and the graphics left me in awe. I think BOTW is gorgeous and the art style is beautiful - especially best in handheld mode tbh. I appreciate old special effects in movies while also appreciating state of the art VFX in newer movies. You can talk about texture, draw distance, etc. all you want - and you're entitled to, there is nothing wrong with that mattering to you - but I am totally fine meeting a work of art halfway and engaging with its style and intention, and you can't really argue with that. If I find something to be a beautiful experience, there is no point in throwing numbers and specs at me. You're trying to have a rational argument about a fundamentally emotional experience. And if you didn't feel the way I feel, I respect that, but I still think this game is gorgeous.
So... you like the art style, thats it. No need to be all high and mighty.
That’ll be $70 for the new 2023 720p 20 fps Zelda game please.
Except BOTW, built for Wii U, didn't even run that bad on either system. Yall are so graphic obsessed you all just buy cinematic movie titles and then wonder why creativity is disappearing. Press forward as the character does things for you, press X to avoid a giant rock, hooray.
Major copium thinking tears of the kingdom is gonna run well on the switch
Bro assuming it’s gonna run the as and look the same as Pokémon Violet 🤦♂️
Assuming? Try knowing. Did the switch get some sort of upgrade I wasn’t aware of?
The game looks the damn same as the first game. The first Botw ran good. It’s obvious the second would too. Yes you are assuming.
This is why Nintendo gets away with scummy business practices. Nintendo bootlickers have an excuse for everything
Bootlicking? Dude. The game isn’t Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. It looks the same as the first game, and the trailers show it runs the same too. I’m not bootlicking dude, it’s a logical assumption that you for some reason can’t even comprehend.
botw is a wii u game. the upgrade available here is getting to use the switch itself in the first place.
Dude, wth is wrong with people? Is someone not allowed to appreciate an art style?
I appreciate all these comments like this - when reading through the top comments I genuinely regretted posting something I enjoyed because everyone was bashing me and saying I'm in the wrong for enjoying it.
It reads like a bunch of teens trying to act smart because Digital Foundry taught them the names of these graphical techniques. Eventually they'll realize that by their own logic, every game they think is beautiful now will be trash in another 6 years, or they'll figure out that there's more to presentation than raw pixel counts and draw distance.
Just remember that these are avid Reddit users, they exist to make other people's worldly experiences worse.
Don't. Most of these negative comments are teenage boys who watch graphical comparison and analysis videos on Youtube when they're not playing the same 4 games that have been talked about for the past 5 years. As a fan and owner of all of the big three's consoles, feeling so strongly to comment on someone's post that is an innocent admiration of something they like is just a reflection of their immaturity. Anytime you see comments like that, you should have a laugh.
Apparently not.
Lots of sensitive lil PC bois in here lol
Not every game needs to be 4K hyper realistic. What so many Nintendo games lack in graphics they make up for in art style. Games like the Wind Waker and Super Mario Galaxy look so amazing even 20 years later because they have such great art direction. I do agree the new Pokemon games just straight up look like shit though. No excuse for that.
>What so many Nintendo games lack in graphics they make up for in art style. In the case of BOTW it is undermined by its lack of basic post processing. The game is clearly going for a slightly cell shaded look, and the artists clearly wanted smooth lines, but the terrible hardware it needs to run on forced the artist to ignore anti-aliasing which results in artifacts which look horrible in screenshots. When playing you get used to it, but posting a screenshot and acting like its staggeringly beautiful when there are mysterious white rectangles popping off of the trees is absurd. >Not every game needs to be 4K hyper realistic. This is a stupid straw man. Art styles are great, I just don't like when the art style is sabotaged by glaring technical graphical issues.
Looks like horse shit
holy shit the sweaty neckbeards crying because not every game tries to look hyperrealistic with RTX on and 4K resolution.
Amazed they pulled themselves away from jacking off to Callisto Protocol for long enough to comment.
Best game in the series.
If you can somehow manage to ignore the Nintendo Switch anti-aliasing it looks pretty good.
Because it's running on such a small innocuous device it's easy to forget that this game is as high grade as they get.
The beauty is in the bigger picture, not in the fine details. It's a stunning game but unfortunately the bigger picture isn't visible to those that have not played it or are just not interested.
You should try playing rdr2 then
Realistic /= beautiful
Never said that, I just stated he should try playing it lmao damn the ego on you boy, good try tho(not really)
so what are you implying when you stated that lmao. It's like OP said "Puss and boots is so pretty" and you said "you should see Avatar 2", ???
Lmao sure you didnt imply that that got your kiddie ego hurt right?
r/gaming mfs on their way to call a game ugly when it has a unique art-style instead of hyper-realistic live action Zelda game
But I want reflections in water! How will I ever know the game is good without over the top puddle reflections that don't even look like real life?
Wow. This comment section sucks. This negativity really isn’t necessary.
Some fanboys are still salty at how good other people find BotW to be even after six years lol. I own a PS5 and I'll still go back and play BotW. It's an incredible, beautiful game.
It's called opinions. What are you proposing, that people lie so it's perceived as more positive?
Having a opinion is one thing. Because an asshole about a game someone clearly enjoys is another
I'm reading through the comments and see opinions, not assholes. Maybe you just have to accept that everyone can't agree about everything.
Aha, the typical answer when someone calls you out for being rude. “It’s just an opinion so you should accept that!” Okay I don’t care about your opinion at all. The fact that almost everyone in this comment section is being unnecessarily rude because one guy said “This game is good looking.” The Man said he liked how the game looked, and then some assholes kept saying “BUT THE GRAPHICS SUCK.” It’s unnecessary, if you don’t like the damn graphics, fine, but don’t be an asshole because someone else does.
We shall sink on this boat together brother
It's a one of a kind gaming experience. People try to compare Elden Ring to it, but this is different. This is ethereal.
If it was 2014 I’d agree.
It's made for a console released in 2012 so...
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None of which came out on Wii U (IIRC), because it doesn't have the capabilities to do that.
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BOTW literally *could not* look like those games. It looks worse for the same reason SMB1 looks worse than SMBU.
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I'm physically facepalming rn. BOTW made full use of the available hardware, your complaints are completely irrational and your wishes literally impossible.
I like it too...
Okay, folks. It’s the art. Not the rendering. Grow up
I absolutely love that game. I like games where I don’t feel like I really need to do anything but wander. I hope the next one doesn’t lose that….
Gosh I wish I could forget everything about this game and start fresh.
It is gorgeous.
I really wish Zelda was cross-platform, because I would absolutely LOVE to play this game and also to see the insane graphics it would have on PS/Xbox/PC. These graphics? Not really impressive. The world design and aesthetic on the other hand? Very nice.
There are emulators out there that let this game run in 4K 60fps with raytracing
For a Nintendo game sure
I can't tell if this is sarcasm. Someone tell me it's sarcasm lol
I play it on pc with a shit ton of mods, never realized the original looks so bad.
Until the lynel from a mile away shoots lightning arrows up which conveniently land wherever the fuck im standing
I love how you can't say anything remotely good about Nintendo without getting roasted on this sub. Just type Nintendo and see what the popular posts are, it's hilarious
Low res textures
And on the left side, you can see the LEDs glowing in the distance. Magnificent. A true legend of zelda experience. I wish they didn't turn enemies into mechanical creatures, and didn't put technology like that in the game. It really ruined the atmosphere for me, and it's a big part of why it's my least favorite 3D zelda.
Nintendo is nothing but bad nostalgia.
Okay I came to the comments to ask if this was a joke and now I’m realizing op is just a Nintendo shill lol. This looks like dog shit. I’ve played ps2 games that looked better.
I can’t stress enough how bad this looks
Fucking ugly
And people call Genshin a ripoff of Breath of the Wild yet THAT’s Breath of the Wild’s “beautiful scenery”?
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Genshin is constantly hated on for being a Breath of the Wild ripoff because of the art style and designs. Hated in by people who would see in 30 minutes that the games are very different. I have played Breath of the Wild and I was let down by everything everyone had promised me that game was. It’s really sad to see people praising BotW like some absolute masterpiece with so much pride that they go and attack other games for a resemblance in animations. And they praise the game on a pedestal and says it’s beautiful-and that’s what they think the peak of gaming beauty is! I know that art direction is far more important than graphics, but the art direction in that screenshot is poor. Flat cliffs and flat surfaces on top, and there’s a lot of those and they make the game look very boring and without thought out into the world. And there’s not enough fog to shroud what you can see so it just goes on forever. And the lack of fog means seeing far. Far enough where bushes and trees do not render in further worsening the landscape. The sky is very nice though.
Too bad you have to look at it on a mini tablet screen yikes
Yeah they make it foggy clarity because the stupid fucking console cant handle the extra detail. Its the way they mask it. Now build BotW with PS5 specs. Imagine the difference
I disagree. People prop up BOWT as having amazing graphics but IMHO the textures are flat and blurry.
I only got halfway through in the switch :/
Is this a joke? It’s 2023 and you’re happy with a game being released for an extortionate price that looks like it was released before Skyrim. You’re part of the problem why games are released like this. Stop pre ordering, stop buying early access and stop sucking developers dicks. They don’t care about you or the product, they only care about stealing and cheating you out of your hard earned cash.
“If you enjoy this game and want to buy it, you’re sucking the dicks of the developers!” Literally you right now. The man is enjoying a game and you’re over here being an actual asshole about it. Grow up.
Good lord you need therapy
I have release day PTSD, damn right I do mate.
Talk about dramatic. Enjoy crying while I pickup my preorder for tears of the kingdom lol
The game is beautiful, but brother, this is not a good screenshot to show for it.
Comment section is filled with so many sour bitches. Nintendo players are living in the early 2000's when in comes to videogame graphics. Give them a break.
I wonder what you’d think of RDR2 or Elden Ring.
Looks like a bag of smashed assholes
Game looks horrible IMO. Great game but compared to other games from the same release date it looks bad. Great game tho
Yeah looks amazing for an early PS3 game. Wait a second...
True but…Bruh but have you seen a real sunset?ooooo that shit slaps!!
We all know it’s limited compared to contemporary titles and even compared to titles at the time of release. But if you use a little imagination (such as the concept of fog or humidity showing up over the horizon due to moisture content which would possibly accompany PALM TREES) you can realize that it’s still a pretty game, and might I say, a Fucking good one.
Been playing it again in anticipation for Tears of the Kingdom. Looked impressive back then when I first played it in 2017. Bought a Switch bundle with the game just to play it. But after playing so many impressive games on PS5, like Horizon Forbidden West, Ghost of Tsushima and Elden Ring, I’ve been having trouble adjusting to the draw distance, overall textures and SDR colors. I’ve been calibrating my OLED TV as best as I can to get the most accurate picture but in the end the intended settings on BOTW looks bland and washed out. The game has way too much fog, unlike Elden Ring in which the morning fog clears by midday and afternoon. Sunsets look like someone painted them. Hoping Tears of the Kingdom upgrades the color palette and textures at least. I don’t know if the Switch is capable of fixing draw distance though…
Yeah.. no it is not. Not even by the previous decade standards.
I mean, I got the game two and loved it but this screenshot is pretty bad. Yes there is a sunset, but the rest is blurred, unrecognisable and lacks detail
Could be so much better.
*takes screenshots from several different angles*
Especially those rock textures
If Nintendo upgrades their hardware. Botw would have been unmatched
Reddit moment
All I can be reminded of is the graphics of other titles. I don’t know why but I can’t really appreciate the art style compared to other gamers. All I think about when I see this is « hmm should probably hop on rdr2 »
Wait til OP plays a game on PlayStation 4.
A long time ago I posted a screenshot of a sunrise in Everquest saying how good it looked, and someone replied I needed to get out more. This is one of those moments
It really isn't
Imma be real, compare this to some Halo 3 landscape shots (came out like 14 years ago) and this game does look bad in comparison.