Breath of the Third

[Gotheran]

So, Breath of the Wild right? best Zelda game ever right? Well not really, no. I've played a number of the Zelda franchise's entries, they've all been fun in their own way. Breath of the Wild I haven't had the same time investment in as the others, but I must say it's pretty damn good, but its far from the best. But what is the best then? Well I've narrowed down what I think is the top 5 Zelda games of all Time, and what better way to illustrate Breath of the Wild's place on that list than explain the significance of its fellow top 5ers.

At Number 5 comes *queue drumroll*

Ocarina of Time: Master Quest
Specifically Master Quest falls in this category as its reworked dungeons happen to be more entertaining and thought provoking and slightly less annoying as the original games, but that is purely the only change to the game is the dungeon and mini dungeon layouts. It captures that same feeling that makes many a fan boy thumbs down this article for not having OoT vanilla as number 1, but with a fresh take on, lets face it, not very fresh dungeons.

Ocarina of Time has its place on the top 5 spot because it's a Genre defining game, it dictated alot of what came to be expected of any 3d Zelda game even into BotW, but it's the first entry to a franchise, as impressive as it is, it has many technical, as well as story pacing problems that make it not quite as fun to play as any sequels to the franchise/genre.

Number 4

Twilight Princess
Ow the Edge... not..
Despite some claims to the contrary, and the very mood of the game itself Twilight Princess is by far not even remotely the Darkest Zelda game out there, it is however the most Mature, even with all the arrow knocking tension in BotW. Say what you will about its shortcomings, it's rather half committed story, it's lack of character development, the number of eligible bachelorettes the game throws at link without any level of response on his end, the list does go on. TP stands at number 4 not because of what it is, but because of what it could have been. Because it has possibly the best sidekick (rather link's the side kick in TP but who's counting) in all of Zelda, Midna. I could go on for days but Midna is possibly the best sidekick because she has endless amounts of sass and constantly toys with link to get her way, and while I approve of her story arc getting her to admit she may have been a bit too callous with other peoples lives they over shot character development and just made her a demure flimsy princess, with only one final sassy quip before the credits roll, and then an unsatisfying post credits goodbye. But I digress

Well if only it were a Surprise Number 3

Breath of the Wild captures alot of awe because of its visuals, one dimensional but lovable laundry list of side characters, and absolute scale of the world and the amount of stuff to do in it. But why number 3? Why not number 1? Well as big and bold as BotW is, it can be dauntingly big, and its lack of the traditional Zelda inventory of hookshots, and bombs and bombchus and ice rods and fire rods, and all that good stuff really takes a few notches out of this games potential for me, but I hardly have enough time with it to give it more, or less, praise as the case may inevitably be. I've only put a few scant hours into the game but what I've experienced is a mix of breath taking awe and slightly bated breath wondering if the next thing I see will be as impressive or a good reason to suggest a lower position on this list.

Number 2 What could possibly be better?

Link to the Past
Omg a 2d zelda game? Yes a 2d zelda. For all the things the 3d zelda's do right Link to the Past does for the 2d zelda games, establishing an impressive world with unique and interesting dungeons. There's not much to say about this title, it did for 2d zelda games what OoT did for 3d, despite it being one of the later entries to the series' 2d games. Infact it has more in common with number 1 because it came later, because it was able to take the things that were right with the franchise and just apply that smooth sweet icing to all of it.

Number 1

You might think to yourself, what could number one be? With the fact that it refined the 3d Zelda formula into a much more satisfying product, could it be Windwaker with its expansive seas? Skyward sword for the 'unique' motion controls? Maybe links cross bow training, because I'm running out of 3d Zeldas to tease you with? No, this is the Dawn of a New day, the best Zelda game of all time is none other than

Majora's Mask
But what makes Majora's mask so much better than breath of the wild? It honestly, is breath of the wild, in a more microcosmic scale. You have a large pool of unique diverse npc's what makes the game better is you have the time to get to know them all more personally, everyone in the world is important, and just as much unimportant. No other Zelda game has put as much time and effort into making each action you take feel important, and to top off the gravity of your actions there's the interesting feature unique to MM, the Transformation masks. No other Zelda game gives you the literal ability to become a zora, or a goron, or even an adorable deku scrub. It gives me endless joy rolling around (at the speed of sound) as a goron, or spending my free time just splashing through the great bay as a Zora, no other Zelda game lets you play as something other than normal old Link, except in a very diet manner in Wind Waker but those segments are short and unfulfilling. But in MM you can play 90% of the game as goron, or as a zora, you can choose how to tackle any dungeon, and you can do them in (mostly) any order. Sure there's only 4, but then there's dozens of little side quests to pad out the lack of a large quantity of dungeons. Seeing the BotW similarities yet? All of the detail and effort that went into Majora's Mask makes it the single best Zelda of all time.

[F3RR1S]

An OPINION? In MY christian community?!

[minespatch]

MORMON'D(though to be honest I am LDS).

[Destros09]

Link to the past was amazing, and the remake between worlds wasn't bad either

[Thieverpedia]

Least we didn't get overly attached to equipment in BotW, and actual strategy was used. Not "Hack n' Slash" to victory.

[Gotheran]

4 hours ago, Thieverpedia said:

Least we didn't get overly attached to equipment in BotW, and actual strategy was used. Not "Hack n' Slash" to victory.

You say that, but I really want to hoard like 30 mops and beat the boss with just mops.

 

Plus with the whole durability system to weapons, at least I personally, tend to hoard items that do decent damage and save them for an enemy that is particularly difficult or imposing.

[GiddyGuy]

20 hours ago, Gotheran said:

You say that, but I really want to hoard like 30 mops and beat the boss with just mops.

So what you're essentially saying is, you want to mop the floor with them.