Breath of the Wild – Lack of Dungeons is a Divine Blessing

<p><strong>Warning&colon; There are a few spoilers in this article so come back if you haven&&num;8217&semi;t finished <em>Breath of the Wild <&sol;em>yet&excl;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>Breath of the Wild<&sol;em> is barely a month old and yet the characters and world have already enchanted thousands of players around the world&period; With such a beautifully crafted game comes a bit of disappointment for some&period; The <em>Legend of Zelda<&sol;em> series is about 30 years old now and the fans are accustomed to the <em>LoZ<&sol;em> formula&period; Link is requested to seek out the evil doer by visiting several dungeons to find artifacts and new powers that will help him become victorious&period; As fans we have waited and pleaded with Nintendo to create a true non-linear <em>LoZ<&sol;em> game&period; <em>Breath of the Wild<&sol;em> may have exceeded our expectations in many ways but the lack of dungeons is still causing backlash within the fanbase&period; Dungeons are as expected as the Master Sword itself&period; For the first time&comma; Nintendo released a <em>Legend of Zelda<&sol;em> title that has a limited amount of dungeons&period; This idea is controversial&period; Some fans are upset over the lack of dungeons and the many differences within the game&&num;8217&semi;s approach to the traditional <em>Legend of Zelda<&sol;em> formula&period; I fully understand why players feel a bit cheated with the reduced number but I still look at this as a blessing for <em>Breath of the Wild<&sol;em>&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>My experience while playing the latest LoZ game is memorable&period; I adore the vast open space and realistic weather cycles&period; Rain storms become inconvenient while climbing and thunder storms are a danger that must be taken into account during battles&period; Yet the weather makes a huge difference in how real <em>Breath of the Wild<&sol;em> feels&period; Link must travel over lakes&comma; through forests&comma; across mountains&comma; through plains and swampy areas to reach different destinations for quests&period; This is nothing completely new for the <em>Legend of Zelda <&sol;em>franchise and yet this is the first time we have a world of this size to explore&period; <em>Twilight Princess<&sol;em> offered the Hyrule Field to travel across and <em>Skyward Sword<&sol;em> had the open sky and the land regions below&period; After exploring Hyrule in<em> Twilight Princess<&sol;em> again and <em>Skywards Sword<&sol;em> &lpar;not to mention every other Zelda game&rpar;&comma; the worlds seem so much smaller&period; Sure&comma; the dungeons offered plenty of puzzles and combat options&comma; but the overworlds still seem to lack the reason and substance to motivate additional visits&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;121248" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-121248" style&equals;"width&colon; 960px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"wp-image-121248" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;03&sol;15182224&sol;NintendoSwitch&lowbar;TLOZBreathoftheWild&lowbar;Presentation2017&lowbar;scrn21&period;png&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Breath of the Wild &sol; Nintendo " width&equals;"960" height&equals;"540" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-121248" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Breath of the Wild &sol; Nintendo<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>With <em>Breath of the Wild<&sol;em>&comma; I find myself revisiting locations and finding something new each time&period; Whether it is a refreshed enemy or a few special herbs&comma; there always seems something new to discover in the areas&period; Adding to the beauty and mystery of the landscapes are the mysterious shrines&period; I&&num;8217&semi;m always hesitant entering these underground areas because I never know how difficult the puzzles or combat that lies ahead may be&period; Link&&num;8217&semi;s ability to pick up and store items are what helps him accomplish these trials&period; Even if the trial requires the Sheikah Slate&comma; having armor and extra food to restore hearts is always a smart idea&period; You may already have the tools that technically need to succeed but having additional consumable items certainly doesn&&num;8217&semi;t hurt&period; The useful items and hearts previously found only while exploring dungeons are now available throughout the landscapes&period; Despite the lack of dungeons&comma; I barely seem to notice that they are missing in this game&period; To be completely truthful&comma; I am relieved there are only four &&num;8220&semi;true&&num;8221&semi; dungeons located within the Divine Beasts&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;121316" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-121316" style&equals;"width&colon; 960px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"wp-image-121316" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;03&sol;16053624&sol;3088633-zeldabreathofthewildgate1&period;jpg" alt&equals;"The Legend of Zelda&colon; Breath of the Wild&comma; Nintendo" width&equals;"960" height&equals;"540" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-121316" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">The Legend of Zelda&colon; Breath of the Wild&comma; Nintendo<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>At times I feel overwhelmed with the amount of Shrines&comma; side quests and main story to complete&period; When looking at the game as a whole I cannot see myself completing everything&comma; or at least the majority of everything&comma; at any time in the near future&period; Having multiple intricate dungeons with complex maps would hinder my enjoyment of the overworld&period; Worrying about finding the next dungeon and then figuring out how to maneuver through it&comma; was becoming a bit stale for me&period; It very well could be because I&&num;8217&semi;ve been playing and replaying mostly Zelda titles exclusively for the past year&period; Instead of focusing on where the dungeons are I&&num;8217&semi;m spending my time discovering and exploring the diverse lands and the many objectives that constantly fill them&period; By adding up all of the puzzles within shrines and the Divine Beasts&comma; there is much more than what we usually see in traditional<em> Legend of Zelda<&sol;em> games&period; Most players probably haven&&num;8217&semi;t noticed it by now&period; Instead of being upset over the number of dungeons in <em>Breath of the Wild<&sol;em> and complaining about it&comma; players should instead focus on the numerous discoveries and many wonders waiting within the vast world of Hyrule&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;