I know what you mean. I realize some people may find it insulting to compare it like this but it reminds me of skyrim ,which I really love, so now I really wish I could play it. Alas I am stuck with watching others play it.
Skyrim’s fun and I had a good time with it, but if you ask me, Breath of the Wild is a lot better than it. The problem is that it’s kind of hard to quantify why. The best I can do is looking at how they subscribe to the general structure of an open-world game.
To quote Kotaku’s review of the game:
And as you talk about Breath of the Wild with your friends, there’s one word that will rarely if ever come up: “can’t.” Stories about the new Zelda will instead revolve around what you can do […]
Breath of the Wild is the best Zelda game to date, and it accomplishes that simply by saying yes.
It’s a game that truly lets you do whatever you want by giving you all the tools you need right from the beginning. All you need to solve any puzzle or challenge you come across is a matter of your personal skill and problem solving.
There are definitely some things it doesn’t want you to do (taking on Calamity Ganon from the get go being the most obvious example), but it won’t stop you by any means, and if you can manage to do it despite the game’s deterrents, good on you.
Breath of the Wild is truly a game everyone needs to experience first hand because despite even it’s minor flaws it is a masterpiece in game design and entertainment that we haven’t seen in a long time, and I for one can’t wait to see how Nintendo follows up on this.