Why I Don't Like BotW Combat

As you said in your latest post, you don't like change... so, yeah, that sums up where the real issue is.

@E1ite007 There's also other open-world games that have faster combat, like Ghost of Tsushima and Assassin's Creed Origins; other open-world games that have tighter sword swings.
There's just no excuse for BotW to be so behind, so mediocre, when its competition blows it out of the water.

If BotW had faster, tighter combat; lacked fragility and stamina; had map markers highlighting where PoIs are (even if they're just question marks until actually discovered, like in Tsushima), it could've been a decent open-world game that I wouldn't have minded sinking several days into, even despite the awful art style.
Alas, Nintendo decided against doing the obvious, intelligent things, and thus released a horrid game with too many needless frustrations to be worth playing.

I'm dissapointed that Nintendo hasn't reused the art style from TP and the Wii U Zelda Demo. As good as BOTW's art is, I think that TP is slightly more realistic.

Never liked map markers that much, killed the whole "discovery" thing for me

i do like games that let you place your own map markers, to remember things

Breath of the Wild allows me to make femboy Link and that's the only thing important to me.

@Scott_pilgrim A Link Between Worlds had placeable pins, but it also wasn't an open-world game; while it allowed the player to tackle dungeons in largely any order (save for the separation between the three Pendant dungeons and the Sage dungeons, and how the desert dungeon requires beating the Skull Woods (or whatever it's named) dungeon to get the Sand Rod), it was still definitely a closed-world - there was only one path to each location, and each segment was different and easy to remember.

In ALBW, pins were handy for remembering Heart Piece or Maiamai locations, for later; they were NOT needed to find important locations, like dungeons, since they were already pre-marked and in any case were very easy to find.

In BotW, that's not the case; the player's forced to look around the world and place pins on locations they can see. The problem is that player-placed pins are going to be inaccurate, and limited to what's visible - if there's something hidden behind leaves or a mountain, that won't get pinned, and it's just overall a needless hassle. It's also no longer restricted to just a handful of extra goodies - important things, like shrines or inactivated towers, have to be pinned too.
BotW took something decent from a previous game, and made it far worse. Again.

As someone who's finally planning to beat BotW for the first time, and have never really played much of any other LoZ game - yeah, the combat doesn't feel 100% fluid to me. It's not my favorite but I'm also not sure what exactly I'd change about it. For example I'm OK with charged attacks using stamina but am so glad that regular attacks don't. I think one of my biggest complaints is actually ranged combat, because even with 3rd party controllers aiming just feels so un-precise and forces me to lean heavily on the hybrid motion controls regardless of camera sensitivity. And parrying is a pain in the ass. And 2-handed weapons tend to be almost unusably slow from a stand still, only being useful for a sprinting fly-by, aerial attack, or charged attack on a stunned enemy.

That said, boy howdy do I positively love this game.

I don't like TP's artstyle honestly, and BOTW is so cell-shaded and everything stands out.

As for the combat, I've found previous games a little too weightless? Yes, it's faster, but feels somewhat like a Dynasty Warriors game where it's so floaty and unsatisfying.

That being said, I'm not a big 3D Zelda fan. That...could be why I like BOTW lol.

Omg yes that's actually probably my biggest complaint - WHY IS THE GAME SO WASHED OUT???

It's unbearable to look at. Borderline on causing physical pain to look at it for too long. There's things you can do to reduce how washed out it looks but over all it's just part of the game and there's really nothing you can do about it.

I know this'll come as a big shock but combat in Zelda has never been exceptional in any respect. It doesn't necessarily have to be, given that it's a series of primarily adventure games, but it has had some pretty damn great encounters mostly due to the context, atmosphere and style backing them. Because of this, I feel like one may feel more satisfaction from the combat in Twilight Princess because the game's linear structure, over-the-top setpieces, and memorable narrative beats really sell some encounters as grand, hype events more so than something in Breath of the Fartcloud, which lacks many memorable setpieces or really anything to punctuate the title with, which leaves most of it going through one ear and out the other.

i know the focus in BOTW was the systems and the open world, but i really just want a heavy attack. something to break up the monotony of mashing attack. that and add more options for perfect evades and i'd be happy

@AkiraKurusu, I understand what you say... but it also sounds like you just don't like BotW because it involved changing at a core level.
The Zelda series never has been a good example when talking about good combat, most of the time is just to simple or the same as always with little to no change at all. Although BotW tried to change that by adding the durability of weapons as a factor, it's not so much different than the older titles.
Maybe it's too monotonous, but with the runes and the different weapons and secondary attacks some of them have, you can have some variation. But yeah, don't expect something as involved as a Warriors title, Dark Souls, or something like that.

@HylianBran I agree, but I want to add that in Twilight Princess and The Wind Waker, obliterating a few Bokoblins on the way to your destination is quick and painless, if not ultimately beneficial due to them dropping Hearts or a few Rupees occasionally. It's not even something I need to think of doing; it's something I just automatically do.
Whereas in BotW, random encounters like this are just slower overall, and the breakable-weapons aspect forces such encounters to be detrimental ('wasting' durability points on basic foes).

@E1ite007 I'm not hoping for Warriors or Souls combat, believe me; I'd rather we just go back to Twilight Princess combat. Fast, fluid, and the Hidden Skills provided some nice diversity; maybe THAT could be expanded upon more? Y'know, instead of shoehorning in fragility and awkwardness?
I do recognise that Legend of Zelda has never had "exceptional" combat, but it has always been functional and painless and quick, something that Skyward Sword started to lose (goddamn dysfunctional motion controls...) before BotW fully discarded those descriptives.

@E1ite007 "Involved" as a Warriors title? What the fuck are you talking about?

@HylianBran, well, it's simple. It has more types of attacks, different combos, styles, and has a more developed experience than any Zelda title regarding to the fighting. My other example, Dark Souls, is the other spectre of it: different builds, different weapons, modifiers, magic kinda attacks, clothes that protects you of different elements, shields, bows, etc.
I just said games that fitted some parts of the spectrum in what "good fighting mechanics" must have in an adventure game, of course you can have a super developed character with a lot of weapons, armor, and magic, or a lot of flashy/interesting combos and chained combos with different attacks and maneuvers.

@AkiraKurusu, well... in that regard I understand. Although I don't find it so fast, I find it interesting with the hidden skills and of course that brings in diversity. I had never felt Zelda fighting quick as you say... of course fluid, but not that quick as sometimes I would like.
But yeah, some hidden skills, or attacks could make it a little less boring in the long run.

@E1ite007 You should probably look up some good action games to set your standards.

i honestly don't know how this overrated pos got a perfect 10 scores. it's boring, bland and a big empty world with nothing to do in it.

@Bladexdsl mmm big wormld

I think BotW looks beautiful. I wish weapons had 2x the durability and standard enemies had less HP so I didn't have to be constantly switching weapons in the middle of battle. It's far from a perfect game. But I still can't help but love it despite all its flaws, there's just something magical about it.
At least the enemies' weapons get better as you progress through the game and level up the hidden difficulty level so it doesn't feel like a complete waste to kill basic mobs as their weapons later on are actually useful.