Field Note Exercise

The game I have chosen to analyze is The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Although I have owned this game for a few years, I have not taken the time to play it. This provides a unique opportunity for analysis as I have not played a game like this before, and this will be the first game in the Legend of Zelda franchise I have played.

Session 1 Fieldnote Summary

Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is an incredibly popular game for the Nintendo Switch and is described as “a boundary-breaking new game in the acclaimed series. Travel across vast fields, through forests, and to mountain peaks as you discover what has become of the kingdom of Hyrule in this stunning Open-Air Adventure” on the Nintendo website. This description appears to assume a certain level of pre-game knowledge and understanding of the game franchise, which I do not have. After viewing the promotional media on their website, I expect that I may have difficulty grasping the controls to be successful in the game and may lose my bearings as it does not offer a linear form of gameplay.

The above is a screenshot of the website and promotional material I referenced prior to play to inform my pre-game expectations.

Session 2 Fieldnote Summary

Although it is an open world game, there were many helpful prompts to direct the players attention to available items, the direction of goals and other useful information that progressed gameplay. Many of the controls were straightforward to pick up, however even with walkthroughs early on, it was difficult to remember all the available combinations that allowed different functionality (for example, activating a rune, vs changing the active rune).

Above is an image at the crest of a hill, and using non-verbal cues, the game alerts the player to a drop in temperature that requires the player to cook a specific food to avoid being hurt by the cold.

Session 3 Fieldnote Summary

For the section of the fieldnote assignment, I watched this video by Zach Scott Games. Watching an experienced player was a very humbling experience as they very quickly mastered the various controls available while also having a lot of background knowledge about the game that seemed to make the gameplay experience more enjoyable for them. He frequently commented on game mechanics, such as inventory space, or when to use ranged attacks, which was not only insightful for myself as a player, but very interesting as a researcher to understand what aspects of the game experienced players hone in to.

This screenshot is a great example of the differences in gameplay experiences between myself and an expert player. He had figured out how to cook an apple within the first few minutes of beginning the game, whereas it was something that I learned in the last 5 minutes of my gameplay hour.

Case Study

In March of 2017, the latest addition to the Legend of Zelda franchise, Breath of the Wild, was released to great fanfare. On promotional material, Nintendo (n.d.) told fans to “forget everything you know about The Legend of Zelda games”, suggesting a large overhaul to the basic gameplay that players were familiar with from the several previous games within the series. This is the main reason I chose this game, as it will be both a new experience for myself as well as any expert player. Although the game seems to imply some background knowledge of the game series, the open world interface provides new sets of controls and game mechanics for new and experienced players to explore and learn.

Before beginning my gameplay experience, I reviewed the game website and watched a few promotional videos to develop a basic perception of what the game will be about and what will be expected of me as the player. The player takes on the role of Link, who is one of the knights of Hyrule and protector of the royal family, which includes the princess, Zelda. Although promoted as an open world for players to explore freely, the game designers place a strong emphasis on the story elements of the game creating a strong emotional connection to the character and guiding the player through the open world through anticipation to move the story along. The game appears to be a single player versus the game type of interaction based on the description by Fullerton (2014); there are no other human players creating tension or conflict within the game and instead it is the player that must compete against the console to achieve the goals set out within.

The game began with an animation sequence providing some context for the player to start. The first few minutes of the game was essentially a tutorial explaining very basic game mechanics, such as running, jumping, and climbing. The player is guided by subtle hints, such as a slight shimmer when an item can be picked up, as well as a small image of the controls appearing on the screen when a specific action is able to be performed (e.g., Climbing a wall). Very few rules seem to govern the player’s movements throughout the game, as you can interact with almost all objects and are not limited to a specific section of the map until you complete a certain quest. That said, the player does need to keep in mind the resources available to them in order to stay alive and progress within the game. You are provided with 3 full hearts indicating the player’s health, you have an inventory to store many different objects (items, weapons, food, clothes, etc.), and as you progress you are granted new actions. Exploring the map is encouraged by providing the player with items that can assist them in regaining lost health, and to perform certain tasks (e.g., cooking with spicy peppers to raise their body temperature so they can explore a cold area of the map). As the hour of gameplay came to an end, it became very clear that I had only scratched the surface of the available resources and actions available to the player, and as you progress further toward the overarching goal the game becomes more complex.

Conducting a quick YouTube search, I discovered the player ZachScottGames, who has several playthrough videos on their channel of The Breath of the Wild game. To conduct a fair comparison to my own experience I chose their first video playthrough which was approximately an hour long, similar to my own playthrough. During the introduction animation, they mentioned that they had previously attended an event where they had the opportunity to interview a few of the game designers for this game, suggesting they had greater insight into some of the gameplay decisions that were made. After progressing past the basic control tutorials, they immediately began exploring the map and testing the different items that they found along the way. One notable example was when they picked up a wood cutting axe and chopped down some nearby trees. This differed from my own experience because my prior gaming preconceptions were that trees and other environmental objects were not interactable, so I did not think to attempt those kinds of actions. With their background knowledge of previous games in the franchise, they became very excited about new tools and activities within the game and frequently mused about how specific pieces of the game may connect to the broader franchise.

Throughout this experience, it has become increasingly clear that although this game is designed as a single player versus the game, there are aspects that encourage the player to reach out to other players through outside media sources to expand their knowledge of the game. One aspect is the cooking; the game encourages players to experiment with different combinations of items when cooking over a fire to create different foods that provide the player with new powerups, such as more health, increased speed, etc. In my short playthrough, I discovered only 2 combinations that worked, but I expect that there are dozens, if not hundreds more and I’m sure there are many websites and forums dedicated to the various combinations that are available. There is so much depth to this game that this analysis is barely scratching the surface regarding what the player can learn and experience, and with the open world atmosphere, there is much more to explore and learn.

References

Fullerton, T. (2014). Game Design Workshop: A Playcentric Approach to Creating Innovative Games, NY: Taylor & Francis (CRS Press)

The legend of zelda™: Breath of the wild for nintendo switch. Nintendo. (n.d.). Retrieved April 2, 2022, from https://www.nintendo.com/en-ca/store/products/the-legend-of-zelda-breath-of-the-wild-switch/