Breath of the Wild 2 Delayed to Spring 2023

[vanguard333]

Nintendo just announced that the sequel to Breath of the Wild has been delayed to 2023:

 

This means that the sequel will release around six years after BOTW. Part of that was almost certainly due to the pandemic, but that's still six whole years. I'm not complaining; I'm just saying that it is a staggering number.

Edited March 29, 2022 by vanguard333

[Armchair General]

Well, an delayed game is better than being stuck with waiting for an hotfix.

[vanguard333]

1 minute ago, Armchair General said:

Well, an delayed game is better than being stuck with waiting for an hotfix.

True. Isn't the popular Shigeru Miyamoto quote, "A delayed game is eventually good; a rushed game is forever bad."

Ironically, one can tell that Shigeru Miyamoto has practically little-to-no involvement in these games anymore just by looking at which hand is holding the Master Sword; Link is supposed to be left-handed (which was Miyamoto's idea as he prefers to use his left hand and loves creating left-handed characters), yet every 3D Zelda game since Skyward Sword has been portraying him as right-handed.

[Yexin]

well, i wasn't really eager to see BotW2 being released, so this announcement doesn't bother me at all
also, not even for a single second did i believe they would've released BotW2 this year, so yeah, i'm not surprised

[Lord_Brand]

Six years...wow. It's been that long already. If not for all the crap that happened in 2020, we might've gotten to see BotW2 a couple years ago.

[vanguard333]

6 minutes ago, Lord_Brand said:

Six years...wow. It's been that long already. If not for all the crap that happened in 2020, we might've gotten to see BotW2 a couple years ago.

No; it's only been five years since BOTW so far. It will be six years since BOTW when BOTW2 releases in 2023.

[Lord_Brand]

Still, hard to believe it's five years already. In 2023, that will have been as long as the time between Skyward Sword's original release on Wii (2011) and BotW's release (2017). At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if a Switch 2 version is announced down the line.

Edited March 30, 2022 by Lord_Brand

[vanguard333]

4 minutes ago, Lord_Brand said:

Still, hard to believe it's five years already. In 2023, that will have been as long as the time between Skyward Sword's original release on Wii (2011) and BotW's release (2017). At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if a Switch 2 version is announced down the line.

True. For me, it is hard to believe because it is a long time, and yet, at the same time, it is easy to believe because of the pandemic.

 

In any case, how could I almost forget: there was just a little bit of new footage for the game, including the Master Sword being completely broken. We should probably speculate about the footage, at least a little bit.

I once saw a reviewer suggest that it would've been better if Breath of the Wild had it that the Master Sword broke during the Calamity, leaving Link with just the hilt when he wakes up as an indestructible weapon with zero might, and then the player would be encouraged to explore, find the missing the pieces and reforge the sword, with each piece adding to the weapon's power. Looks like that reviewer might be getting something sort-of like what he was suggesting.

[Lord_Brand]

25 minutes ago, vanguard333 said:

True. For me, it is hard to believe because it is a long time, and yet, at the same time, it is easy to believe because of the pandemic.

 

In any case, how could I almost forget: there was just a little bit of new footage for the game, including the Master Sword being completely broken. We should probably speculate about the footage, at least a little bit.

I once saw a reviewer suggest that it would've been better if Breath of the Wild had it that the Master Sword broke during the Calamity, leaving Link with just the hilt when he wakes up as an indestructible weapon with zero might, and then the player would be encouraged to explore, find the missing the pieces and reforge the sword, with each piece adding to the weapon's power. Looks like that reviewer might be getting something sort-of like what he was suggesting.

*looks at video*

Shiiiiiigeru Miyamoto. That's a first! Looks like the blade might have been decayed, too. Well, that'll explain why we don't get to use it from the beginning, at least not for long. A sidequest to restore it has a lot of exciting potential. Maybe we have to find new Sages who can restore it?

[Armchair General]

On 3/29/2022 at 9:23 AM, vanguard333 said:

yet every 3D Zelda game since Skyward Sword has been portraying him as right-handed.

Does it really matter from an gameplay perspective? 

[vanguard333]

1 hour ago, Armchair General said:

Does it really matter from an gameplay perspective? 

Not to a great extent, but Link being left-handed when the enemies are right-handed can help a little, which I noticed when replaying Ocarina of Time after playing Breath of the Wild.

I personally prefer when Link's left-handed, not because of gameplay (though the lack of a left-handed mode in Skyward Sword turned me off of playing it because of the motion controls), but more because of representation. Link is the only well-known left-handed protagonist; take him away, and all that's left is Alm and every culprit in mystery stories because too many writers think "the killer must've been left-handed" is a clever clue and not an overused cliché.

[Armchair General]

46 minutes ago, vanguard333 said:

Not to a great extent, but Link being left-handed when the enemies are right-handed can help a little, which I noticed when replaying Ocarina of Time after playing Breath of the Wild.

The only time when it really matters is when you're trying to get around an Stalfos. Sure, it's an slight advantage, but that's essentially the only enemy that actually uses an shield. As for BOTW, it kind of stops being an issue because you're supposed have an lot of options in dealing with shield bearing monsters. Mostly through electrocution or doing an Perfect Dodge; and you can literally knock it out of their hands by using an claymore to stagger them.

 

Skyward Sword could actually use an left-handed mode, but I don't think that it'll have the same impact that you'll expect it to be because you'll still be have to direct your strikes.

 

1 hour ago, vanguard333 said:

but more because of representation. Link is the only well-known left-handed protagonist; take him away, and all that's left is Alm and every culprit in mystery stories because too many writers think "the killer must've been left-handed" is a clever clue and not an overused cliché.

I'll admit that you've got me there.

[vanguard333]

10 minutes ago, Armchair General said:

The only time when it really matters is when you're trying to get around an Stalfos. Sure, it's an slight advantage, but that's essentially the only enemy that actually uses an shield. As for BOTW, it kind of stops being an issue because you're supposed have an lot of options in dealing with shield bearing monsters. Mostly through electrocution or doing an Perfect Dodge; and you can literally knock it out of their hands by using an claymore to stagger them.

Fair enough. That one was supposed to be less of an argument and more of an interesting note; you're right that it generally only really mattered against Stalfos (and Odolwa in Majora's Mask).

 

13 minutes ago, Armchair General said:

Skyward Sword could actually use an left-handed mode, but I don't think that it'll have the same impact that you'll expect it to be because you'll still be have to direct your strikes.

They had a chance to add a left-handed mode in the remaster; both joy-cons have the exact same hardware when it comes to the motion controls (both of them have a gyro and an accelerometer) and it likely would've taken less work to implement it than implementing button controls did. And yet, at the very start of the announcement trailer: "swing the right joy-con to use the sword, raise the left joy-con to use the shield."

But, then again, Nintendo isn't exactly one to remember the left-handed when it comes to motion controls on Switch. Any game that's supposed to be played with detached joy-cons (Mario Galaxy, Pikmin 3 Deluxe, etc.) will default to the right joy-con's gyro with no option to map the controls to the left joy-con's gyro. Speaking as a left-handed player who preferred to play Wii games with the Wii remote in my left hand, it was very jarring and awkward to suddenly have to use my right hand for collecting and shooting star bits in Mario Galaxy.

 

40 minutes ago, Armchair General said:

I'll admit that you've got me there.

Thanks.

[Lord_Brand]

I hope Zelda gets to play a more active role this time, even if she has to spend most of the game separate from Link. If they're gonna damsel her again, maybe make it so we can rescue her long before beating the final boss and get to enjoy her company as a reward? Though I won't deny that having Zelda cooperate with Link remotely is an interesting concept. There's a lot of potential for a survival horror-kind of game with Zelda; she's trapped underground until Link can open a way to the surface, so in the meantime she stealths about in the underground evading Ganoncorpse and finding Ancient terminals that activate things on the surface, allowing Link to proceed.

But even better would be if that's just the first half of the game. Once Link finally opens the door to the underground and Zelda's free, so is Ganoncorpse. Then the game transitions to one of Link and Zelda traveling Hyrule and the underground together, cleansing Hyrule of Ganoncorpse's taint one region at a time, until finally they can isolate him at Hyrule Castle and finish the job.

[vanguard333]

1 hour ago, Lord_Brand said:

I hope Zelda gets to play a more active role this time, even if she has to spend most of the game separate from Link. If they're gonna damsel her again, maybe make it so we can rescue her long before beating the final boss and get to enjoy her company as a reward? Though I won't deny that having Zelda cooperate with Link remotely is an interesting concept. There's a lot of potential for a survival horror-kind of game with Zelda; she's trapped underground until Link can open a way to the surface, so in the meantime she stealths about in the underground evading Ganoncorpse and finding Ancient terminals that activate things on the surface, allowing Link to proceed.

But even better would be if that's just the first half of the game. Once Link finally opens the door to the underground and Zelda's free, so is Ganoncorpse. Then the game transitions to one of Link and Zelda traveling Hyrule and the underground together, cleansing Hyrule of Ganoncorpse's taint one region at a time, until finally they can isolate him at Hyrule Castle and finish the job.

Yeah, I really hope Zelda has an active role in this game as well. The previous game ended on Link and Zelda finally being reunited after 100 years and setting out together; it would be a real shame and disservice if this game opened with them immediately getting separated and spending the whole game apart. That was one of the biggest disappointments with Phantom Hourglass.