The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Map Size "Dwarfs" Skyrim

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is shaping up to be one huge game. But just how huge is it?

[wonderfulmonkeyman]

That is a lot of grass to cut.XD
It makes me wonder what kinds of ingredients we'll find in the different biomes? Maybe you cook up something tasty from cactus chunks or something?

[bouzebbal]

When i see how much grass there is in this game or even in previous Zeldas, i wonder why Epona only needs carrots? /s
My most anticipated game of this year is finally among us.. The wait has been pretty long since Skyward Sword, and i hope it wwas worth it.
@wonderfulmonkeyman: do you have an idea how many dungeons there will be in this one?

[wonderfulmonkeyman]

Rumors placed it at anywhere between 4 to 10 main dungeons, and over a hundred mini-dungeons.

[Gazondaily]

So excited for this.

Hope the world has depth and character. Trailer has me so hyped

[freshslicepizza]

this looks like a lot more fun than skyrim, sorry.

[wonderfulmonkeyman]

Hey, if that's what you believe, more power to you.
Me? I'm getting both since both will be on the Switch.

[freshslicepizza]

wasnt a huge fan of skyrim, zelda looks a lot more pleasing and fun to me

[thegamefox93]

skyrim is overated imo

Oblivion and fallout 3 were my favorite bethesda games

[Quicksand]

Watch out. Alot of trolls roams these parts. Prepare for the down vote onslaught.

[Goldby]

Wonder if it will be dense like skyrim or empty like just cause

[wonderfulmonkeyman]

Speaking as a Skyrim fan, Skyrim was not densely flooded with things unless you count all the miscellaneous plant life you could pick up off the ground.
Which wasn't really a bad thing since I got most of the potions etc I needed out of dungeons, in chests, and off of enemies anyways.
Skyrim had plenty of empty stretches, and I'm sure BotW will, too, but I doubt that will take away from the joy found in finding the denser pockets of activity.

Overloading on any sort of stimulus, after all, makes it feel like it's to be taken for granted and becomes less exciting as a result.

Perfect example for you: treasure chests in Assassin's Creed 4.
After the same uninteresting kicking animation for slightly opening a chest has played a hundred times and more, you begin to feel like it's just going through the motions, and finding the chests loses its charm, becoming just another objective.

Zelda: WW had somewhat the same problem with its ocean floor chests. If it weren't for that filthy thief Tingle, I wouldn't have bothered fishing them up very often at all.XD

[Nitrowolf2]

Agreed.

I only hope is that it doesn't fall prey to the open world fatigue that has been plaguing a lot of open World Games lately.

They can do collectibles it's not an issue but don't make that your main reason to explore
if they're going to give us a huge world give us things to do in them. I hope there's a lot of Side Stories like Majora mask had, extremely excited to get my hands on this.

Zelda games have generally been good about side stuff so I won't worry much

Anyway I don't think size of the maps really matter because look at Ocarina of Time and Majora mask. By no means is the open-world massive but they're densed with content how to make them seem large which was fantastic

[Goldby]

im more speaking in the way that Just Cause 3 was bragging about like 320km2 map, when in fact most was just empty landscapes, obviously it was im part due to the mechanics present in the game and the type of locomotion you have available to you,

[TheFirstClassic]

Morrowind was dense. Skyrim was pretty empty by comparison.

[sullynathan]

Gothic 2 was dense. Morrowind was pretty empty by comparison.

[wonderfulmonkeyman]

@both of you
So basically, as a certain Abridged big tittied police girl recently said: "it's a matter of perspective, really."

[sullynathan]

@spudgun retard alert

[EddieNX]

March 3rd better hurry the f7ck up

[Moonman]

My thoughts exactly.

[Maybay]

"The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild‘s map will be the largest in the series, but details circulating the internet this week suggest that the map will “dwarf” the likes of Skyrim, potentially falling just short of Xenoblade Chronicles X‘s massive world."

Damn!

[CrimsonWing69]

Yea great and all but from the demo the open areas look boring. So you made this huge area with just a few enemies peppered throughout...great.

[GameBoyColor]

those demos have cut content. villages npcs etc,

[-Foxtrot]

So they keep saying but I don't know, we've seen a lot of footage now and you hardly see anything in the background.

[I-wear-clothes]

That's because all the footage is from the demos

[Fishy Fingers]

Christ, I dread to think what you thought of MGS5s world then.

[Stapleface]

Now THAT was a dead open world. But it was a desert so, kinda had to be.

[Nitrowolf2]

That had an extremely boring open world literally the first base you infiltrate is pretty much exactly what you do throughout the whole entire game

[Fishy Fingers]

Been to Afghanistan have you? I haven't. But there's more going on than in MGSV.

For example, not EVERY person is a male solider in an outpost.

[CrimsonWing69]

Oh I hated it. The spectacle was great in the beginning but after having to run around a huge mountain for the 50th time I'd trade in an open-world for a normal controlled environment.

[Stapleface]

You haven't seen the full version yet. The demos had a lot of stuff removed so people could play around with the mechanics, without too much interference.

[20live]

I am buying a Switch only for Zelda , seems like it will be worth it

[bouzebbal]

if it's for zelda only buy the cheaper device, wii u. it will play just as good.

“With Nintendo Switch we’re really happy with that functionality of being able to take it wherever you go, but beyond that we really wanted the gameplay experience to be the same, and for Wii U fans to be able to experience the same game people who play it on Switch will be able to experience.”
Nintendo's words.

[Gemmol]

Makes no sense when he can have a system that's future protected meaning it still getting games while Nintendo said Zelda is the last first party game for Wii U...........he may want only Zelda now but later in the year he may want other things and advising someone to get a dead system is nowhere close to being smart

[truechainz]

Isn't the wii u still $300? ($200 refurbished). Not necessarily the cheaper device. I understand getting this for wii u if you already have one, but if you don't the Switch seems like the smarter choice since it is also getting ports of the wii u's best games with more content.

[GameBoyColor]

It's still expensive for a wiiu. Too expensive to justify buying a dead console. All the big games on the wii u will be released for switch anyway, so if you don't already have one you really shouldn't waste money on it

[Nitrowolf2]

If he has a wii u, then yeah get it for that.
If not either then the switch. Wii u dead

[MrMagz]

Right now the Wii U at retail is the same cost that the Switch will be, $300. Breath of the Wild actually has lower quality graphics and overall crispness, plus the sound quality is worse on the Wii U version. So it would make just as much sense to buy a Switch just for this game, especially since more games will come to it, something that cannot be said about the Wii U.

[MyDietEqualsGames]

Just give me plenty of dungeons and good music to match. This game looks silly but has a mature vibe to it as well. Give me some moving music, please.

[SirCharles]

World siz=/ gameplay

[Perjoss]

It's a good job Zelda games usually have great gameplay then.

[GameBoyColor]

the gameplay looked phenomenal, and has physics comparable to red dead.

[notachance]

dude, these guys made the all-time highest rated metacritic game...
and literally all their original main entries have metascore above 90

questioning their quality is the same as:
'who tf is rockstar and naughty dog? hope they're not some shovelware developer making trash games'

there's a reason people talk sh*t about nintendo but almost none of them insult zelda you know

[jaymacx]

They do though. Insult Zelda.. ain't nothing sacred on N4G.

[Ristul]

Thats awesome, I hope there is a lot to do in the world.

[TheGamingArt]

A lot of walking through empty woods I'm guessing

[masso9112]

And people wonder why it's only 900p on Switch, with a world this gigantic and all the physics at work and being a port, not made from scratch specifically for the Switch, it is a very taxing game for the system. As long as they keep a steady 30fps I'm good, for this kind of game. Mario Kart and Smash must be 1080p 60fps.

[Wallstreet37]

That's a scapegoat. Digital foundry just had hands on with Mario Oddessey and they confirmed that was only 720p at the time. I'm sure by launch it'll be 900p but everyone knows the system is underpowered and DF have acknowledged that. Let's atop making excuses. Doesn't matter if world is large, what matter is content and we don't know that as of yet.

[masso9112]

720p on TV??? if that's true that sucks s:

[Wallstreet37]

http://m.neogaf.com/showthr...

Enough with the excuses. I'm getting both games and switch but I'm not trying to always make excuses for their deficiencies.

[wonderfulmonkeyman]

It's not an excuse to say it's much more powerful than the Wii U, and has the potential to get more games as a result.
Both From Software and the team behind Mass Effect have confirmed this via their statements on ports of Dark Souls 3 and Mass Effect Andromeda down the line.

[Wallstreet37]

Wonderful....

I don't believe it is much more powerful than a Wiiu, more powerful yes but "much more" no. I'll wait for the tear downs, I could be wrong.

And just like you I hope it gets more third party support. Feel free to pm me and add me on launch day as I have mine preordered from Amazon which came out to 326.

[jaymacx]

No need to make excuses but im gonna have fun regardless of tech specs.

[Wallstreet37]

Jaymac...

I broke my vita i loved two years ago (it was early launch addition and I stepped on it smh). I was going to buy another eventually and still might but I'll get me the Switch now. I can't wait to try it on my long train ride to work for the first time like I did my Vita :) I'm in NYC and take the A train an hour to work going then another hour coming back so it'll get a lot of out of home use.

[Wallstreet37]

Zelda make me proud I've waited a long time. I'm against buying a switch for many reasons but my friend talked me into it plus I've been waiting for Zelda. I am also a sucker for any new hardware. Just the joy i feel of opening up new tech can't be quantified. I'm looking forward to Zelda.

Nioh, Horizon, switch launch and Zelda smfh already spending and new year just begun and I have to finish TLG which I almost have.

[Kakashi Hatake]

Open world games are getting tired. Bigger map does not make a better game. How does holding forward for a long time to get from point A to B enhance the gameplay in anyway? It works for GTA because of the amount of NPCs and life in the area. Games like this doesn't need a huge map just for the sake of being huge. Wish open world games focused on interactivity and things to do like Shenmue instead of map size.

[Mykky]

I agree fully. It has become a efficient PR trick to say that their game world is bigger than Skyrim. The huger the map is the better people react to it. It worked really well with No Mans Sky.
Open world games has become really popular in the last years. But there is also a difference. Games with short development time are to blame. Like for example Far Cry, Assassin's Creed and Mad Max. There is way too much repetition and meaningless stuff to collect. I'm not saying those games are necessarily bad, but they could be much better.
But then we have games like GTA, RDR, (most) Zelda games and the Witcher 3 where almost every single thing you see is there for a purpose, with way less repetetition in the stuff you do.

[masso9112]

Well I hope it has a lot, and I mean A F*KING LOT of secret caves and holes and stuff like that, just like oot, secret passages, treasure chests with prices that are not rupees, etc, just things to find by accident while exploring... That's one aspect that made me love oot back when it came out.

[Wallstreet37]

I love secret caves especially if they have like rare items or powerful weapons . I'm sure Zelda will deliver on that aspect.

[Wotbot]

The game looks great.

[ILikeGamesYeah]

Surely we have a learned by now that the size of the map is not the most important thing. My fav game world is dark souls which is tiny compared to a lot of games. Zelda looks incredible tho.

[sullynathan]

There's a lot of games bigger than skyrim by map size.

[oSHINSAo]

A lot of side missions, and, i thought Wind Waker was Larger that time on that boat was boooooring

[higgins78]

Ok, while not my bag, Skyrim seems to have been a big success with many folk, but I DON'T want ANY Zelda title to be compared and/or take inspiration from Skyrim. I mean, this is Zelda FFS. If anything, it should be Zelda>>>>every other game (including Skyrim).

[Firebird360]

Man im honestly still kinda on the fence about switch. but its no doubt the best place to play botw so im hopefully grabbing it day 1! And even though i played a ton of mk8, having it portable, im going to grab it again. march 3rd hurry up!

[PlatinumGX]

Don't compare trash like Skyrim to Zelda.

[bluefox755]

Well, Nintendo already said it'll be about 12 times the size of Twilight princess, making it about half the size of Skyrim (still pretty big), so I'll take that over fan speculation.

[feraldrgn]

How does the map size compare to current gen open world games though, like Witcher 3 or Final Fantasy XV?

[sullynathan]

It's bigger than the Witcher 3 smaller than FFXV
Elder Scrolls 2: Daggerfall - 62,394 sq. miles
Lord of the Rings Online - 30,000 sq. miles
World War II Online - 20,077 sq. miles
Guild Wars: Nightfall - 15,000 sq. miles
Fuel - 5560 sq. miles
Final Fantasy XV - 780 sq. miles
Test Drive - 618 sq. miles
Asheron?s Call - 500 sq. miles
Just Cause 2 & 3 - 400 sq. miles
True Crime: Streets of LA - 240 sq. miles
Burnout Paradise - 200 sq. miles
Star Wars Galaxies - 200 sq. miles
Xenoblade Chronicles X - 154 sq. miles
Zelda: Breath of the Wild - 140 sq. miles
Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising - 135 sq. miles
Arma 3 - 112 sq. miles
World of Warcraft (pre Burning Crusade) - 80 sq. miles
Superman Returns - 80 sq. miles
Witcher III: Wild Hunt - 47 sq. miles
GTA V - 31 sq. miles
Far Cry 2 - 31 sq. miles
Sacred 2: Fallen Angel - 22 sq. miles
Far Cry 4 - 17.7 sq. miles
TES IV: Oblivion - 16 sq. miles
Red Dead Redemption - 15.9 sq. miles
Fallout 3 - 15 sq. miles

[feraldrgn]

Thank you for the detailed info. :)

[Meltic]

Big open empty World, have fun guys.

[Noxrest]

Size means literally nothing, haven't we liearned that with no mans's sky? Not bashing on the game, just pointing this out.

[SojournUK]

I'd take content over size any day. Siberia is larger than London, much more stuff to do in London though right?

[InTheZoneAC]

Besides boss dungeons will there be dungeons/caves to explore? Skyrim is multi-leveled so don't compare unless it can compete or succeed.

[Elronza]

Looking forward to this game on the Nintendo Switch.

[Neonridr]

lol.. love how the article is spun. Zelda poses a huge open world.

Comments section: oh but I bet it's empty and not full of content. Can't please anyone around here I guess.

[Hozi]

not liking this at all....yeah a bigger world should be better but from what I've seen of this game the world looks so empty and bland.....I want a world full of living and breathing creatures, people, and all sorts of interactivity between them.

[OpinionSmasher]

But lets remember how big and empty MGS phantom pain was. Size doesn't equal quality. But I'm still hyped AF but don't be hyped cause the map is huge. Be hyped because the game looks genuinely fun.

[opinionated]

I have some hardcore Zelda friends. If they say it's worth it I will buy a wiiu for it. There is a full console cycles worth of games to play and they are all probably full price still lol.

[nitus10]

If you have ever played Skyrim there is literally hundreds of different things to do in just the base game and as many players can attest you can easily spend well over 100 hours and hardly touch the main quest much less doing some of the guild quests.

Having a large map can be great if you really have something to do on it otherwise it is just wasted.

I have played Zelda games including 1 (NES), 2 (NES), 3 (SNES), Ocarina of Time (N64, Gamecube) and Windwaker (Gamecube). I actually found Windwaker to be a huge game but there was allot of boring sailing to get to places that were interesting.

This is not to say that "Breath of the Wild" will be a bad game. I personally think it will be an excellent game but comparing map sizes to another game's map is pointless. What would be more interesting is to be informed of what you can do on that map.

[About30Ninjas]

I'm gonna play the shit out of this game I'm so fucking hype

[DethWish]

So weird to compare km's in games though.
It's all about how big the models are, how fast they move and how detailed these km's are

[CaitSith]

Bigger doesn't usually mean better. MGS5's map was bigger than all of the MGS' combined, but it's arguably the worst in the series. Fuck that game.