Joshua Ceballos/Assistant Entertainment Director
“The Legend of Zelda: Breath of The Wild” has hit store shelves and it’s release has injected new life into the gaming community here at FIU.
“Breath of the Wild” is the latest installment in the storied “Legend of Zelda” franchise, and Nintendo has decided to radically change its formula after over 15 main iterations in this family of games.
For many years, Zelda games have fallen into a pattern of on-rails and contained exploration within an overworld, broken up into a series of puzzle-oriented dungeons meant to be taken on in sequential order. “Breath of the Wild” however, throws the player into the open world and leaves the adventure entirely in their hands.
Alejandro Villalobos, junior physics major, has been playing Zelda games for many years, noticed the transformation of the series, which started by giving players complete freedom of choice for progression.
“After the first one, Zelda kind of went in a lot of different directions… it’s progressed to this kind of hybrid… there’s a lot of puzzles, there’s a lot of adventure, there’s a lot of fighting and combat… This new game takes all of that and puts it in the setting of the first one,” said Villalobos.
“Breath of the Wild” inserts players into the aftermath of a major disaster that destroyed an advanced culture and on the cusp of a catastrophe about to happen. The protagonist, as always in this series, is Link, a silent and stalwart hero destined to save the Kingdom of Hyrule across time and dimensions.
This version of Hyrule, as the title suggests, is more wild and dispersed than in previous entries. The game’s antagonist has caused the world to crumble and the creatures of the world have survived in diffuse communities. This is what allows the game to have such a large expanse for exploration and many opportunities for difficult and emergent gameplay.
“It’s not [a game] you can easily speedrun, at least if you want to 100% it quickly,” said Kevin Garcia, senior information technology major, referring to the practice of experiencing everything that the game has to offer in one quick go.
Walking past the Graham Center Student Art Gallery, known by many to be the go-to gaming hub of MMC, I’ve seen a number of students playing “Breath of the Wild” on the “Nintendo Switch”, the company’s new console that hybridizes mobile and console gaming by way of a two-in-one controller/mobile screen.
“I’ve seen a few friends just take it out and start playing while waiting for class… I’ve been in CP and I’ve seen someone with a ‘Switch’, and I’ve also been in GL when I saw someone,” said Villalobos.
“The Legend of Zelda” series is one that holds a special place in the hearts of many gamers including myself, and its influences on pop culture are apparent even to people who have never played the games.
With the latest installment, Nintendo seems to have struck gold once again after over 30 years worth of entries. The combination of freedom within the game to explore the environment and tackle its challenges in whatever clever manner you see fit as well as the freedom for players to play anywhere by way of the “Switch” has allowed gamers to experience Zelda in an entirely new way.
Oh My Gosh, Josh is a monthly column that discusses various issues that affect students.
Image retrieved from Flickr.
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