I’ve been playing the series since LttP. Twilight Princess is my top, for presentation and storytelling.
I feel like Skyward Sword tried to repeat that, but the dungeons and style / atmosphere of the world of TP still come out on top (even though I’m not very much into gothic style and furries). I think SS is way too cartoonish and happy-go-lucky for a world where the surface has been abandoned to the demons and yet everyone who lives there is cool (gorons, kiwis, moles, proto-Zora), that’s a massive tonal dissonance between the narration and the actual environment and it just takes me out.
The next ones on my top list are Minish Cap and Link Between Worlds.
I see a lot of MMOs being recommended, but I find them to be either shallow in combat or predatory unless you are seeking MMO specific things, so I’m going to point at single player/coop stuff.
Bethesda has a large selection of open world games, but I pretty much assume people have played all of them (Elder Scrolls / Fallout games).
If you are okay with going outside of Fantasy, the Far Cry series has some impressive technology in their older titles. Far Cry 2 is a personal favorite, your PC might be able to handle it.
Borderlands series.
The original Dragons Dogma: Dark Arisen holds up. This is probably my best recommendation based on your asks.
Lego Star Wars or the Lego Marvel game.
Fable 1, 2, 3
The Middle Earth Shadow of Mordor / Shadow of War Games were pretty incredible but might be too high-end.
The first Red Dead Redemption might run for you.
Early Dark souls games might run. Maybe 1 or 2.
From here, I would start listing old Star Wars Jedi Knight series games.
I could probably go on, but this is most of the good stuff off the top of my head.
I forgot to add Mass Effect. Great for sci-fi, great leveling, and combat.
Seconding Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen. I have it on GOG, it’s absolutely fantastic (apparently the pawn rental system is broken on that version, but I never used it anyway). Climbing up a drake to stab it in the face has never been so satisfying! and magic archer is OP
It’s also old enough that OP’s hardware shouldn’t have any trouble running it at decent settings.
Edit: I just realized the GOG version is currently on sale for under $5, what are you waiting for?
Morrowind is a great game, Worth a try if you’re willing to watch some videos on how to play. Its a bit unforgiving to newcomers who don’t know how to build a proper class yet. Its got an android port too.
If I’m an experienced D&D player, will I need to worry about knowing how to build a class? I didn’t have any problems understanding KOTOR’s character creation, and I actually prefer Mass Effect 1’s combat and levelling over 2. I love crpgs.
Assassins Creed 1&2 are not really open world games comparable with BoTW or ToTK. The world is much smaller and everything is far more linear. The combat system is also not extremely great. You can mainly just wait for counters constantly.
That said, I still enjoyed the games (especially 2) a lot. But it is more the fun climbing action and fairly good storytelling.
Skyrim might be possible, but I have not played it personally. The witcher is available on the Switch as well.
It’s not Zelda like, but if you like factory games, Satisfactory is as close to open world as a factory game gets. You land on a planet and have to build a factory to launch things into space for corporate overlords. It’s first person, lots of climbing and building. There’s a tiny bit of combat, not the focus tho.
Train gameplay was actually enjoyable for me (especially the way it got used in one of the end game fights was so cool). It was also nice that Zelda was an actual part of the game and helped solve puzzles instead of some princess locked away in a castle.
I played Phantom Hourglass much later and Spirit Tracks honestly just felt much more polished and fun.
I really think that everyone really had trouble with the DS microphone rather than the flute challenge itself. It came pretty easily to me but I doubt I’m a particularly expert mic blower, so I can only think my mic was a fully functioning one and people like you got a much harder challenge.
Dark souls 1. No other game made exploring the world so exciting. I was checking every single nook and cranny because the game isn’t afraid to give you good gear if you look. The combat can be frustrating but the further you get the easier the game gets. Also definitely follow a build guide if it’s your first ds game.
Note that Dark Souls games are absolute Marmite. I’m aware that some people praise them as the greatest games ever made, but I had a terrible experience playing DS1 and have no desire to touch another one!
My wife only went because I was hellbent on seeing the eclipse at totality (we saw the last October’s eclipse and 2017 both from around 90% coverage). Afterwards she said “the Grand canyon ain’t got shit on a solar eclipse” and we are both still in shock for how amazing of an experience it was.
The wonky colors as day slowly turned to night, the sudden whooshing shadow as totality began, the burning ring of fire in the sky then the light whooshing back as totality ended, the cacophony of yelps by folks too slow to put their eclipse glasses back on. It was a hell of an experience
I’m in a similar boat. Flew across the country because after “missing” 2017s I immediately felt regret. Now I’m debating Europe in 2026.
But the colors. Can someone who understands this stuff please explain to me why a simple reduction in light in the lead up to (and following) totality makes all the colors seem “wrong”?
LttP is the origin of the iconic gameplay style. My preference is Links Awakening which refined it a bit and introduced some fun characters. I was happy with the version on the Switch.
The Wind Waker for me. At the time, the open world and sea felt so massive, and the colorful cell-shaded graphics made me feel like I was immersed in a cartoon. I played other Zelda games before, but it was the first one to hold my attention all the way to the end. To me, it’s one of those games I wish I could experience again for the first time.
Windwaker would’ve been an easy #1 for me if it weren’t so stretched out. The ocean really didn’t need to be that big, I remember many times where I was just holding forward on the boat and browsing my phone for 5 minutes.
What got me was the Triforce hunt. Nearly no guidance/signposting, constant trips back to tingle, then back to a warp point, then sail around, rinse repeat. Ugh.
Honestly, I think Wind Waker is and I didn’t like it when it came out. The art style has grown on me over the years, the combat is satisfying without being to complicated, and the exploration is fun and unique for a Zelda game.
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Aktywne