For me, Breath of the Wild suceeded where The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim did not. Yeah, I am one of those who thinks that Skyrim is quite boring. Take it's iOS-inspired interface for example which is completely out of place within a fantasy setting. Your own character is as dull as ever without a voice. Yeah, Fallout 4 introduced a voice for your character, but it still remains a dull main character. Even Link has more personality than in your average Bethesda game, and personality does not always need to be expressed through story and cutscenes. I like the fact for example poor Link is shivering when in the mountains. Even the world itself has a lot of personality. Even if the main story is simple and despite the fact Ganon is not much of a threat, it is always a delight to see how each of the residents of the world respond in situations. There are even adventure-seeking travelers such as Link who sometimes get caught up between monsters, just at the right time Link shows up to rescue them.
The thing about Breath of the Wild's open world that makes it revolutionary is that it is the first time a world itself is mysterious and alive. Everywhere you go there is something going on. Most open world games lets you walk on forever without a lot going on, but in Breath there is always that grabs your attention. Most open world games also tend to limit what you can access within the world by setting up invisible walls. See that tower in the distance? That mountain? You can go there and see it for yourself. Of course even the world within Breath has an invisible wall to prevent you going outside the borders of the landmass but it never stopped you some exploring the world it offers. The whole world exists within one cohesive instance, only the divine beasts and shrines exist as separate instances. Even Skyrim could not suceed in that where every cave, city, house and even the cellar within houses are a separate instance. The only other open-world game does comes to mind with one cohesive instance for most of the part would be The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. Nothing detracts more from the immersion than a loading screen and the fact a part of the world simply does not exist within the space you are in. At least Majora's Mask tricks us for example like in Clock Town by partially drawing the other area's besides the one you are in. Within dungeons, only the room you are in is drawn where the other rooms simply are absent (although still in the same instance). By going through doors the game makes clever use of that time to unload the previous room and load in the next room. No loading screen required.
There are a lot of stories of each player how each of their experience is different. My first time playing I went to Kakariko Village only to be sent to Hatano Village and then back again to Kakariko Village. It turned out I never activated the shrine for warping back to Kakariko Village, so I had to go around the world once more. This might seem borring and dumb, but I managed yet again during these trips to stumble on new activities and getting my ass kicked by a guardian a few times. Yeah, I could have gone around the guardian, but I sucked back then. It is just a simple example of how I experienced the game. Immersion is the keyword for Breath as most open world games do not let me be immersed in them but just play around in them. I want to be immersed in my games, not just play them.
This same feeling of scale, wonder and immersion occured for me in 1998 as well when Ocarina of Time was released, and since then never again until Breath of the Wild. Even while Breath of the Wild has a lot of flaws (yes, I be honest about that) it does sooo much that is just perfectly executed like no other game does, and that alone deserves a Game of the Year 2017 Award if not being the best game ever made.
The thing about Breath of the Wild's open world that makes it revolutionary is that it is the first time a world itself is mysterious and alive. Everywhere you go there is something going on. Most open world games lets you walk on forever without a lot going on, but in Breath there is always that grabs your attention. Most open world games also tend to limit what you can access within the world by setting up invisible walls. See that tower in the distance? That mountain? You can go there and see it for yourself. Of course even the world within Breath has an invisible wall to prevent you going outside the borders of the landmass but it never stopped you some exploring the world it offers. The whole world exists within one cohesive instance, only the divine beasts and shrines exist as separate instances. Even Skyrim could not suceed in that where every cave, city, house and even the cellar within houses are a separate instance. The only other open-world game does comes to mind with one cohesive instance for most of the part would be The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. Nothing detracts more from the immersion than a loading screen and the fact a part of the world simply does not exist within the space you are in. At least Majora's Mask tricks us for example like in Clock Town by partially drawing the other area's besides the one you are in. Within dungeons, only the room you are in is drawn where the other rooms simply are absent (although still in the same instance). By going through doors the game makes clever use of that time to unload the previous room and load in the next room. No loading screen required.
There are a lot of stories of each player how each of their experience is different. My first time playing I went to Kakariko Village only to be sent to Hatano Village and then back again to Kakariko Village. It turned out I never activated the shrine for warping back to Kakariko Village, so I had to go around the world once more. This might seem borring and dumb, but I managed yet again during these trips to stumble on new activities and getting my ass kicked by a guardian a few times. Yeah, I could have gone around the guardian, but I sucked back then. It is just a simple example of how I experienced the game. Immersion is the keyword for Breath as most open world games do not let me be immersed in them but just play around in them. I want to be immersed in my games, not just play them.
This same feeling of scale, wonder and immersion occured for me in 1998 as well when Ocarina of Time was released, and since then never again until Breath of the Wild. Even while Breath of the Wild has a lot of flaws (yes, I be honest about that) it does sooo much that is just perfectly executed like no other game does, and that alone deserves a Game of the Year 2017 Award if not being the best game ever made.