#I guess it came out same year as botw

[happiighost]

why did just now realize houseki no kuni’s anime is 7 years old

[smilesrobotlover]

Ok that’s it. I’m just gonna scream about echoes of wisdom:

First off, this game is amazing. Like I’m so impressed with it and had a blast with it. I’m very impressed with how fun the gameplay was. I was nervous that it wasn’t gonna be fun, but no it was actually tons of fun! It’s not perfect ofc. I wish you didn’t have to sit and scroll through hundreds of echoes, I wish they separated monsters and objects to make each one easier to grab, and the amount of times I pressed the sword button instead of the echo button was insane. Fighting enemies is also a pain since it takes so long, and I wished I could just directly fight them, and it’s super easy to soft lock yourself as well. But all those negatives don’t outweigh the positives, because regardless of those flaws, it was still VERY fun to play through. Once you get powerful monsters, fighting is kinda fun to watch. I loved placing like, 7 fire octos against one ice octo and just watch it get destroyed. I loved setting things on fire, I loved climbing on trees, and overall I just, loved finding ways to solve puzzles. Thinking outside the box was a lot of fun in this game. Now, in some places like the Faron temple, it wasn’t fun BUT, still. I loved it

And the story, omg. This is the first Zelda game that I’ve played since becoming a fan that has a new link and Zelda in a new Hyrule, and it was so refreshing to see! I’ve seen the same ones for years now since joining the fandom and I love seeing new ones! I love how Zelda doesn’t know Link at all, that he’s just some swordsman who saved her. I just love what they did with Link in general. He wasn’t reduced to a damsel in distress, he had his own adventure, we just didn’t see it. He was competent and was fighting In the rift before Null captured him. Fighting along side him was SO fun and the final dungeon was very unique and fun to go through. I also loved fighting as him in the very beginning. They gave him an interesting backstory and I almost wish we got to see his adventure! But oh well, this game is about Zelda anyways :)

And Zelda is fun too, I love all the characters that know her. They were all so competent and didn’t actually sit around like a bunch of idiots. I wish Zelda wasn’t a silent protagonist though, but idk how else they would’ve done it. Oh well.

And I didn’t like Tri in the beginning but they really grew on me towards the end. They were very bland but some personality came out as we progressed further into the story, and I laughed out loud at some of the things they said lol.

But let me talk about my fav part of the game: Null.

I cant tell you how much I love the concept of Null. The idea of some creature that is the embodiment of nothingness that has been there since before the creation of the world is SO FREAKING COOL. It’s nice having a story where Ganon isn’t the big bad, it’s this ancient being that is powerful and very dangerous. Far more dangerous than Demise. And it doesn’t contradict the established lore? Like this makes a lot of sense that Null was imprisoned in the world, but was creating rifts because they wanted to go back to nothingness. It’s spooky to think that they were there the whole time, just trying to escape.

Though it does make me wonder about the timeline. My guess is that this game takes place before or after botw/totk with hebra mountain existing and things generally being in the same spot (except death mountain, but volcanoes move anyways right?). And no one knows what the Triforce actually is, which is also very interesting. It’s an ancient power that’s not well known which is very cool, and I LOVED seeing it again! Having them discover the primal energy being the Triforce was so freaking cool, and the legend of the princess (or priestess) and the hero defeating evil was cool, but it does make me wonder where it is in time.

But yeah, all in all, I loved this game. It was incredible and so much fun with amazing characters and great lore that expanded on the universe. Very very neat.

But I’m giving it a 2/10 cuz Linebeck wasn’t in it

[nolongerapileofashprobably]

I forgot that there is a genuine debate about whether botw&totk’s open world concept impacts the story of the game negatively or not.

But… the beauty of botw and totk is finding the story. It’s the ability to just say “fxck it I’m going to kill Ganondorf and get Zelda back” immediately after the tutorial. It’s the chance to do the geoglyphs and memories in order or find them as you explore. Even as someone who initially saw the story out of order for both botw and totk, it did nothing to hurt the story in my mind.

It spurred me to find the rest of the memories or geoglyphs, to read whatever diary I could find, to talk to every single person I came across for the slightest chance they might have a cool detail hidden in the dialogue. Yes, I sometimes wish they would just let Link be a character, but he is at the same time. His dialogue choices show us how sassy and caring he is, how serious and stoic he can be, how funny he is both intentionally and not. Nintendo gives us enough evidence that practically says “yes zelink are together in this game” but for those who don’t want that, guess what? It’s not fully canon! For those who do? Welp, the evidence is right there and it is SCREAMING zelink!

And to rebuke that with “well I would like it to be canon to shut up people who disagree with me” … is just engaging in the same toxic hate behavior that probably brought upon those feelings in the first place. Botw’s plot was a bit lackluster, but they nailed it with totk. I cried numerous times. I yelled into my pillow. I felt genuine despair and legitimately had to stop with the storyline just so I could sit with those emotions. I didn’t touch the story for a week and instead got a bunch of shrines and stuff.

That’s the beauty of it. The ability to choose how to play with the story we are given. We obviously learn from totk that botw was 100% completed canonically. It’s safe to say the same about totk, no matter what the player does. But it’s open world concept provides challenges and different avenues to explore every time you load up the game. It’ll take years before this game no longer has a complete grasp on my mental sanity.

I think this game is a masterpiece. Yes, there’s a few flaws, but nothing so big that i refuse to play it.

[ganondoodle]

(this went on to be a longer ramble, talking about shrines and the abilities in totk i had more thoughts about the overworld repetition but im putting this into a separate post)

something i havent seen anyone mention before is also that it is a problem that you can skip nearly any puzzle in the totk "temples", some of which just by climbing walls ... and that wasnt possible in botw bc the titans were made of the same material as the shrines and prevented you from climbing on them, which feels like they knew making them climable would reduce the amount of puzzle you had to do and make it even less impactful, surely there are some glitches or movement tech that can make it easier, but at least you had to think about it a little?

but i guess that went against their newly adopted "more freedom equals better" way of thinking .. but then ..

the thing that i find confusing is that the shrines interior in totk are once again, NOT climable, but similar sonau buildings in the overworld ARE climable, they even restrict how you can use the tech in shrines, so ... they arent actually against restrictions? but then dont restrict anything else? not even in the main dungeons?? its kinda inconsistent and conflicting (like everything else lmao)

and that kinda extends to the abilities too, both the ceiling jump and ultrahand make alot of puzzles obsolete bc theres always a way easier way to skip everything; i know they kidna based it around people doing crazy thigns in botw, but there it felt like you were actually kinda missusing the mechanic of stasis for example in a smart way, YOU came up with that and it felt rewarding creating your own solution to shrine puzzles bc there were multiple ways to do it in this engine (like isntead of aligning blocks to lead electritiy to one end to the other you put out your weapons and place them there instead, and it WORKS) it felt more non intended, even if they had thoguht about it, it still FELT like you just came up with that, and sometimes it really was the only way your mind worked with and everyone had their own way of thinking

while in totk, they kinda tried to encourage that way of thinking, but it doesnt feel like your own idea anymore really, and, while its not every single one, in alot of totk shrines .. or even overworld puzzles you were just .. literally given the puzzle pieces for you to put together, but the pieces were like .. in parts of 6 at most so putting together the picture was both obvious and also kinda boring, like you were treated like you are a 4 year old and they were giving you 4 piece puzzles over and over- and fine you CAN just glue the two fans together and stand on them to fly high enough to just glide over to the end instead of building the flying thing they gave you the pieces for BUT its still .. expected, like you dont feel like you are working on it your way but seeing what the devs obviously planned for and then knowingly circumventing it i dont think its good either that in combination with the ceiling jump you really can just skip almost anything, take out a fly thing and fly near the end to spam the jump until it works, instead of using the building blocks they gave you for the obvious solution you build some platform and just ceiling jump to it, theres a rocket here? fuse it to your shield and fly high enough to glide to the end, its both too easy and obvious for the intented way and then you can even entirely skip that too, and you dont even feel smart about it bc it doesnt feel like you came up with it on your own and instead feel like a child that is way too old for the toys its given and the adults giving them to you stare at you while they wait for you to solve the puzzle- and alot of the solutions were either build something with these three pieces or fight something with these pieces-

i still remember that one (or more?) botw shrines were it lead you to a button to press and once you stand on it the wall slides open and reveals some fun and unexpected challenge, over and over- there was a hallway you had to glide through but there were big moving spiky metal balls hanging from the ceiling, maybe one has a normal rope on it and you can shoot it down if you notice it but the others dont so what do you do, stasis them so you can avoid it in time, grab it with magnesis to make it swing harder and then hope for the best as you fly there or dont do anything of that and just jump in- the one were a spiked wall was chasing you and as you run more obstables are put in your way right before you get to it, you stand on a button and the wall opens greeting you with an immediate guardian laser to the face? it felt more creative and fun to me, tho granted i havent done all shrines in totk bc i grew too tired of the everything to play more

(at least thats how i felt like, like i was treated like i was stupid for alot of totk, not just in the shrines sometimes .. which were one of the more enjoyable things in it, but also in the story .. like you dont have to think at all to get everything before its said to your face over and over)

and that thing with the abilities and the tech also makes the world less like a world and more like a playground bc you can just skip to every point of interest, you dont have to walk or climb or fight your way anywhere really bc you can just go up and fly to whereever you want, the new weird ass towers only make it worse bc .. of course youd make use of them to get everywhere even quicker, its also kinda in the combat, they might give you the tools to be creative (with arguably very simple things .. like a wheel, a rocket a fan and flamethrower arent realyl that interesting to begin with) why would you build a laser firing tank maschine to fight some bokblins you can just .. clobber like you usually do way quicker and easier

i do like the abilities in botw more than in totk too, but its got multiple reasons, like the world felt built around it without putting it into your face all the time, and the shrines were more built around giving you fun challenges, or just .. a fun experience, with often more subtle puzzles and not always forcing you to make use of the shiekah stone runes, plus the totk abilities feel more like the same thing .. or less interesting? fuse and ultrahand really are one and the same thing but separated into two for .. some reason, the time reversal is like stasis but with less ways to apply and use it (and kinda clunky how everything freezes in place when you prime it), and both it and the ceiling jump are a skip button from one location to the next (even tho we already have the fast travel) so you dont even need to climb, like those weird towers in the underground i thoguht looked cool and interesting when i first saw them only to realize its just a way to get to the surface via ceiling jump and nothing more .. you could fast travel up with the same amount of loading time, and more often than not it wasnt even in an interesting spot or somewhere you couldnt get to otherwise; the autobuild too even lets you skip building!! the thing thats the supposedly focus! i know its annoying to build something for a long time with its clunky function but isnt it yet another skip button

... another random ramble, much more incoherent too, again i want to mention im not trying to hate on everything, jsut kinda communicate or ... spill out my thoughts and feelings; i do absolutely agree that ultrahand is a very impressive mechanic and i did have fun with all the abilities for a while ..... i still like botws more bc its more diverse and is more restricted (which i LIKE) while also having more ways to use them

[sword-is-bored]

HI SWORD OMG I LOVE TLOZ WRITERSS

So i have a request.. I would like to request Link x Reader, where the Reader once saves Link, pretty early after he woke up because he got into a fight with monsters that were too strong for him. After that Link just sort of clings to reader, because he wants to protect them too 🥹

Hope you have a great day!!

HIIII HEHEHE THANK YOUUUU

BOTW!!

A Little Longer?

(Y/n) wandered around the ruins by the Great Plateau. They knew there might be some treasure there, so why not? With their travelers sword and simply shield strapped to their back they were pretty well equipped to deal with monsters. As they rummaged through the ruins, a shadow passed overhead. Bigger than a regular bird. (Y/n) looked up, finding someone gliding. Their eyes widened. No one has been able to get onto the Plateau for years, let alone leave. “Come,” They hissed to their horse, who was lazily chewing at grass. They rushed over, climbing atop their steed determined to follow the person.

They rode behind them, and watched in horror as they dropped from the sky. It was a man! And unfortunately for him, he landed directly in the view of a moblin. The large creature walked over to the man with a club. “Go!” They hissed, snapping the reigns. The man pulled a tree branch from his back, and with one single hit it shattered. He seemed to reach for another weapon and looked surprised that nothing appeared in his hand. (Y/n) leaped from their horse as the moblin raised the club, (Y/n)’s shield met with the wood as it came down. They grunted, pulling out their sword and sliced away at the moblin until it collapsed.

(Y/n) let out a soft breath of relief, turning to the man who still had a bit of panic in his eyes. “Hey, are you okay?” (Y/n) panted, putting away their sword. The man closed his eyes and took in a deep breath before clearing his throat. “Yeah,” He said simply. His voice sounded scratchy, like he’d just woken up. (Y/n) smiled, holding out their hand. “We’ve gotta stick together out here. It’s kind of dangerous. I’m (Y/n).” The man took their outstretched hand and gently shook it. “I’m Link. Thank you.” He said softly. (Y/n) looked Link up and down, finding him in tattered clothes. They were a bit confused, but who’s to judge? “Anywhere specific you’re heading?” (Y/n) asked. “I can accompany you until you find a suitable weapon and shield.”

Link pulled out a weird device and looked at it, before his eyes met (Y/n) again. “Uh… Kakariko?” They chuckled at the way he worded it. More like a question than a request. “Yes, I know where that is. Do you have family there? Friends?” Link gave a blank stare as he seemed to think about it. “I’m not sure, I was just told that’s where I need to go.” (Y/n) hummed as though it’s something they’ve experienced as well. “Alright, no worries. Come on, Star here can hold two people.” They said, walking over to their horse. Link slowly followed, putting away the device. Together they climbed on the horse, and rode off towards Kakariko.

“Well, since you’re here I guess I’ll be taking my leave. I hope to see you around, it was fun.” (Y/n) said, looking down at Link as he climbed off of Star. “No, please don’t go.” He murmured, his face heating up. “I… I need to repay the favor. Since you saved my life.” (Y/n) shook their head. “No, seriously it’s nothing. Just a civilian of Hyrule looking out for one another. You’d do the same.”

“Please, just stay here for a few moments.” Link pleaded softly. (Y/n) let out a sigh and smiled. “Alright.” They agreed, to Link’s delight. He climbed up the stairs to the Kakariko elders house and vanished inside. (Y/n) sat atop of Star, looking around the beautiful town. When Link returned, he requested that (Y/n) stay with him. “Since you know your way around Hyrule a lot more than I do.” Was his excuse. Which turned into (Y/n) being dragged around Hyrule. Link would defend them from monsters any chance he got, going as far as defeating a Guardian when (Y/n) almost got blasted off the face of Hyrule.

“Link, seriously, you’ve repaid your debt enough. Can I go home?” They murmured beside the warm fire as they camped outside of Rito village. Link peeked up at (Y/n) from his cooking, chewing on his lip in thought. “I’m nervous.” He said quietly. “Nervous about what?” (Y/n) asked. “You were the first person to show me kindness and compassion.” Link replied, his shoulders releasing the tension. “You… truly are wonderful. I enjoy having you around.” He murmured, seeming to be thinking of what exactly to say to (Y/n).

“You’re quick witted, smart and funny. I find you immeasurably attractive. I thought that… well I’d gather the courage sooner or later to tell you.” He looked up at (Y/n) hopefully, noticing the surprised look they gave. “So, I was maybe thinking you could accompany me for a bit longer? I think we could have a wonderful relationship, whether it’s romantic or not. If that alright with you.” (Y/n)’s heart fluttered, their ears and cheeks burning up with the admission of love. “Yeah, I think I can do that.” They whispered, staring back into the fire. Link smiled as a comfortable silence washed over the two of them.

“I think we can try romantic.”

[ezlo-x]

For the fan theory sorting thing-

My personal thought before TotK came out was that the Hyrulean Civil War in OoT was the same conflict that drove the Yiga out of Hyrule! It was my understanding from osmosis of other theories that the Sheikah were deeply involved in the civil war (evidenced by Kakariko and everything about the shadow temple), and since only Impa (loyal to the royal family) was left, many of them might have been killed or exiled by the royal family for treason - which kinda lines up with the story of the Yiga being driven out for refusing to give up their technology. I don't think the timelines actually line up (what timelines do when it comes to Botw or TotK lol) but it was my pet theory for a while

I always envisioned BotW's timeline as completely separate from the original one. I GUESS I WAS WRONG? Here in the book says that the events of OoT are in a "distant past" of more than 10k years ago. That means the Civil War happened more than 10k years ago, and the Sheikah were again thrown into the same events. When the monarchy started to feel threatened by the Sheikah technology. And that's why the Yiga were established.

So once again the zelda lore implies AGAIN that the royalty hate the Sheikah and ONCE AGAIN decide not expand on that any further.

[faroreskiss]

the mailman in LU? yeah. hurt no-comfort linguist reader somehow gets a letter from their world. contents of the letter could be up to you, or it could simply be the stereotypical notice that someone they cared for has died. really puts it into perspective that they’ve been gone for over 2 years (if you count the time they spent in BOTW’s world)

Oh my Hylia anon, thank you for this request, it really gets the juices flowing. And no comfort? Damn, the dark side is really calling for you, eh? This ficlet is here to ruin the Isekai!Reader inserts.

There is Hylian in this ficlet!

I'm making it extra dark by placing this on a time where the linguist reader is still NOT able to communicate so expressively with the Chain in Hylian.

This can still be read stand alone.

Realities of being an Isekai!Reader. Is that even a genre?

For anybody wondering, "The Power of Understanding" the Cheat Sheet is here, the main fic is here.

CW: Hurt/no comfort. Not proof-read, mention of death, dark basically. Maybe don't read it at night.

Ended up longer than I thought.

Ao3

The Void / The Power of Understanding Short Story

Spending time with your favorite heroes, hell, even being involved with them romantically to an extent, was amazing.

Of course, only if you didn't count the fact that you could get killed any time, attacked by a random monster and suffer a horrible death.

...Or the fact that you have been away from anybody you have ever known in your life, for over two years.

At some point, you accepted the fact that you were just going to be living the rest of your life humbly in Hateno, in your little cottage. Before that, it had been terrible for a while, right after the honeymoon stage ended. The depressive episodes, sobbing at night, the nightmares, the guilt. In the first year, you were barely able to function due to your grief. Even when Link and Zelda were there for you.

You felt guilty, even though it wasn't your fault that you had been thrown in there. You felt guilty that you enjoyed it sometimes, going for hikes in the morning, hanging out with Link, decorating your cottage, learning a new language, playing the scholar. You felt guilty you didn't try hard enough (if at all) to get back to your world. What could you have even done?

Then your mind had been occupied, busy with trying to build a life for yourself, trying to communicate with people in the post Calamity Hyrule. Then, you settled in, just started to have a new routine to your life. Time has passed fast, oh so fast. And these people didn't even have the same calendar system over here. You didn't even know when your birthday was in the Hylian calendar!

Later, you had been thrown into yet another world and met the rest of the Links. So much for settling in, huh.

You usually actively tried to push the thoughts of your loved ones in your world away. At some point, it became second nature to you. The world here was different enough, not a lot of reminders.

Except when you saw the Sailor with her sister... Or Rancher with his adopted family perhaps. The Old Man with his lovely wife Malon. You still pressed on.

_____

You just departed from the Lost Woods and a sense of rejuvenation courtesy of the swarm of fairies you came across, after the boys killed the huge moblin.

It was a bit before Wild's era, you were guessing. The existence of the Captain really confused the shit out of you. You assumed he was also on a merger timeline or something, like Wild.

Then, your attention was drawn to a lanky individual with an exceptionally prominent nose and a rather comical hat. Could that be the postman once more? The mystery of how he managed to consistently locate your group, deliver letters, and then depart as if it were the most ordinary task continued to boggle your mind. Yet, given that you had ventured across various dimensions more times than you could count, you opted not to dwell on it extensively.

You were more curious about how he was able to read all those different scripts from different eras in the first place. Or how Links could sometimes tell which one belonged to which hero. Not like some of them were that different...

"Hireulu!" he greeted your group, holding only one letter in his hand this time.

As lost in thought as you were, you couldn't have missed the next thing you heard:

"(Y/N) tiyu? Ti riemun nia kubela."

He... had a letter for you? The others also seemed a bit perplexed. Nobody in your era wrote letters that much anymore. You silently held up your hand. He gave the letter to you, and as the boys were trying to somehow talk to him, he already rushed away, shouting "Hilay su aduerin!" You smiled. You knew at this point that it meant "Goodbye" in a sense. "May Hylia protect you" was the literal translation of it.

Sounded almost similar to the story behind the phrase "Goodbye" in English. God be with you.

Seated by the roadside, you carefully examined the letter in your hands. Strangely, a wave of unease washed over you. It had been ages since you'd last encountered something written in Latin script that wasn't written by you.

While curiosity tugged at your thoughts, it also stirred memories you had long sought to bury, bringing forth a flood of thoughts you'd rather avoid.

Wild sat next to you, he had curious eyes as the script looked quite unfamiliar to him.

As you started reading the letter, the blood drained from your face. You were only in a few sentences in, yet you knew exactly what it meant, and who it was. You dropped the envelope to the floor, it got stuck in the grass.

No.

"We lost her. After three days in bed, on her fourth she became one with the earth."

More than two years ago now, when you were first whisked away from your world, she had only recently been diagnosed with a sinister disease that affected the communication between her brain cells, making her forget things. But she was okay. Even though the doctors said they were slowing it down significantly, the end was inevitable. She would end up forgetting the most basic body functions towards the end.

But she was okay.

She had been the most badass person you had ever known in your life.

She would ride horses and scare off the corrupt shepherds in her time. Even though she was denied education above basics, she had been a fierce advocate for it. She had always been a fierce, strong woman. She planned everything.

Including her death, it seemed.

You remembered how she would say she wouldn't want to be bedridden and taken care of for months on end. How she even bought a place in the graveyard around 10 years ago, which caused a huge family drama. She even told her children what to announce once she died. What to wear.

As you read the rest of the letter, tears were streaming from your cheeks, yet your expression was still neutral. You weren't sure if you deserved feeling sad.

Were you sad because you lost her? Or were you sad for your own parent who lost a parent? Were you sad for yourself because one day you would have to do it also for a parent? For a loved one? Or were you sad because once again you were reminded of the bitter reality of mortality? Or were you sad because you couldn't even bid her a proper farewell? 

Even if you were still in your world, you weren’t sure if you could make it on time for her funeral anyway. According to the traditions you were raised with, it had to happen within 24 hours. You lived quite far away already, and this had been one of your primal fears.

Not being able to spend enough time with them, not being able to say farewell.

Wild (and everybody else) noticed the tears streaming down your cheeks, and said something as he put his hand on your shoulder, only lightly pulling you to him. You were frozen, you really weren’t in the mood to try to understand anything.You didn’t move a millimeter. 

Everything came back, everything you tried to hold back. You wondered what they thought, did they think you were lost, kidnapped, dead? What about your partner? How were they doing? Your sister? All the other loved ones? How were they feeling?

Too much. It was too much. It was crashing down upon you. You were scared, the guilt was too heavy. Your vision was blurry. You were rocking yourself back and forth as you pulled your knees to your chest, mumbling to yourself. You held them always back, but it seemed like your defenses had finally given in. They broke. You broke.

You were in a void, where the only sound you could hear was your heart beating as if it was going to escape your chest and the screeching sound ringing in your ears. It was hard to breathe. You felt sick to your stomach. Your hands and feet felt as if ants were walking on them. Cold, but also too warm. You were shivering,

You couldn't hear the sound of the boys chattering, trying to figure out what to do. How some of them understood exactly what was going on, but for the moment how confused they were. The Rancher was mumbling something to your ear, something soothing maybe. Wild’s hand was still over your shoulder, but you did not feel it anymore. 

The void was the only thing that embraced you.

You wailed in pain.

_______________________

The Sailor picked up the envelope from the ground noticing there was something sticking out of it. It was a... picture? Black and white.

It felt really brittled and old in his hand. It had some text he didn't understand. Two relatively young women were in it, smiling. To him, it looked like weird clothing, but they gave off a fancy air with how they posed.

One of them really looked like you.

He put it in his bag for now, to give it to you later.

01/01/1955

[exceedinglygayotter]

Before TotK came out I was thinking about how many people were probably going to write the logical continuation of all those “the champions came back to life after BotW” fics by writing fics where they’re around for the events of TotK, but after having beaten the game I’m honestly not sure how that would even work, narratively speaking. Nearly every part of Breath of the Wild is intrinsically connected to the Champions, while TotK is so totally disconnected from them. TotK was so dead-set on moving on from the Champions that combining the two just feels unnecessary and contrived, even for a fanfic.

The Divine Beasts aren’t just gone, they’re completely absent, without even a hint as to why they’re missing. If it weren’t for Symin mentioning them during the history lesson you could almost argue that they’d been retconned. Mipha’s mentioned by name a few times, Urbosa only in Riju’s diary, Revali only on the sign for Revali’s Landing, and I don’t think Daruk’s name is said once. Daruk’s Protection is also just missing despite Yunobo having it in the last game, as is the scrap of Daruk’s Champion cloth he wore around his neck.

And from a narrative standpoint, the new Sages make the Champions mostly redundant. That’s kind of the point of them, they’re the successors to the Champions -- even their mechanics are echoes of how the Champions worked in BotW. If you tried to have them both be in the story of TotK you’d end up with Link having four companion characters, and then another four companion characters who do basically the same things. It’s not impossible to still give all of them distinct and interesting narrative roles, but I feel like most people who try to write something like this would just make half of them stay behind and not do anything while the other half sticks with Link. Which, y’know, works, but it’s not really a great solution.

The only ways I can think of to really make this idea work well are to totally rewrite the plot of TotK, or write Age of Calamity fanfic where the Upheaval in that continuity happens a century before it does in canon (which would still require rewriting most of the plot of TotK due to almost none of the same characters being around and Hyrule not being ruined yet.)

I guess you could lean into how out of place they are, how the entire world kind of moved on and left them behind a century in the past, but that only works if they get resurrected after TotK happens or right before it, since if they come back right after BotW then they’ve already been adjusting to that world for several years by the time of the Upheaval.

Honestly I’m probably just going to be writing fic that ignores TotK entirely. I can’t really imagine any stories I want to tell with these characters that would be improved with the addition of the events of TotK.

I might just be unimaginative and a bad writer though, who knows. There’s probably going to be a load of people who will have a go at the idea and do it really well, and I look forward to seeing those.

[ya-kiri]

My Thoughts on the Zelda Timeline and Tears of the Kingdom

Given how the Imprisoning War mentioned in Tears of the Kingdom contradicts the one mentioned in the prolouge of Link to the Past, Rauru and Sonia forming the Kingdom of Hyrule and being the first King and Queen (despite Ocarina of Time coming before) and the Ganondorf in this game seemingly having no recollection of past Links/Heroes and Zeldas or connection to the Ganondorf of past games...it's my guess that they reset the series lore starting with Breath of the Wild and the ten thousand years between it and the era of Myth.

The only other game that stills seems to have any relevant unchanged and non-contradicted canon seems to be Skyward Sword but that's mostly due to it being a starting point, the game's director being the same as BOTW and TOTK, and the Forgotten Temple. Honestly it seems like that because they reintroduced and make allusions to key moments and figures in the series in this game like the Sages (particularly King Rauru) and Imprisoning War from LttP, and Ganondorf and him being welcomed by the King and distrusted by Zelda like he was in Ocarina of Time. I should also point out that the original Imprisoning War happens right before the Fallen Timeline which takes place after OoT, and in that Ganondorf has permanently transformed into pig Ganon after killing Time Link and attaining the full Triforce.

There are too many timeline contradictions yet intentional references in the game's story to past games that it seems like a reboot is the most credible idea.

However at the same time, there are too many connections to previous games that take place after Skyward Sword that even the idea of a series reboot is questionable like the Temple of Time, old OoT Castle Town ruins, the sages from OoT being referenced by the stones surrounding the Master Sword and the Sheikah monks' poses during the Master Sword Trials, the Koroks and Deku Tree, the mural about Ruto's love for Time Link, Rauru sharing the name of one of the sages from OoT, and Darmani. Also, what are the chances of there being another event in Zelda lore referred to as the Imprisoning War that involves an incarnation of Ganon, sages, sealing Ganon, and one of the sages being named Rauru like the Sage of Light?

link to image: x

Are the games during the Era of Myth just that, mythology? Fairy tales? Is there even a Triforce anymore? The symbol is shown but its not referred to as such and Ganondorf in this game shows no interest or knowledge of the Triforce like every other character. On the opposite end of this is Skyward Sword which they reinforce is connected to the latest games with Fi, the Forgotten Temple and Sealed Temple connections, the tree growing out the wall and the fact the Hylia statue gives you the Goddess Sword:

It's so weird everytime Tears of the Kingdom's story made a reference to past games (that aren't Skyward Sword), when you think they are trying to connect them (like I initially thought), it turns around and makes it self-contained and isolated incident exclusive from any game that came before BOTW and Skyward Sword. With all the trouble Nintendo's had making sense of and reworking the Zelda timeline the past few decades for the fans and the success of Breath of the Wild, may be they wanted to wipe the slate clean (with Skyward Sword being the start of that initiative).

At first maybe they were hesistant which is why they stated the timelines converge into BOTW, but I guess they decided during TOTK's development or before and, again, may be due to the massive success of BOTW they just said screw it and just do it with the latest game's story showing the beginning of the Kingdom of Hyrule. These are just my messy thoughts based on my basic understanding of the timeline and theories I've heard and I welcome any other explanations.

EDIT(6/19/23)

So it's been brought to my attention that the Imprisoning War in TOTK may possibly be a second Imprisoning War (thanks @ghoul--chan ). The implications and can of worms that opens is shocking. Since Zelda was transported to the beginning of Hyrule as a kingdom and the start of the Royal Family, that would mean that she was transported to before Minish Cap. If that is true...dear goddess.... that would mean the Ganondorf in this game is one that existed before Ocarina of Time.

That also implies that two incarnations of Ganondorf had been somehow co-existing at the same time during the Era of Myth with one being sealed underground. This also mean that the Imprisoning War in Link to the Past is now retroactively a callback to this hypothetical first Imprisoning War; both involve sages, both involve a sage of Light named Rauru, and both involve sealing an incarnation of Ganon. Also, this means the Rito existed before Wind Waker making this mural from Twilight Princess HD reference to that!!

[capncococharms]

Games I Enjoyed in 2023

I did a big blog post last year where I listed all the games I enjoyed playing and gave my short thoughts about each of my experiences... and I'm doing it again!

Since 2018 I've kept a digital sticky note to keep track of all the games I've played AND finished throughout the year. For 2023 lots of folks claimed it was the "BEST" year for gaming and to some degree... I guess??? Depends on who you ask, but to me I only enjoyed like a handful of new releases and played a lot of older games (or remakes of older games). It was a year of reflecting back on what made me love video games more than looking forward to what's "new".

In 2023, I've finished 32 games. That's 10 more games than I finished from last year but out of all the games I played, here are the ones that stood out to me and left a pretty positive impression.

LIVE A LIVE

I never had a chance to play the SNES version, but I was very familiar with the game to some degree from the old days when I use to browse forum threads about RPGs I've never heard of. I knew I would get around to playing it one day and thankfully it got a remake on the Switch (and then it got a PC port later this year). I didn't get to properly play it last year, but after sitting down to play LIVE A LIVE... it's a game with a really powerful soundtrack, engaging characters, and a unique story that left me wanting more games like it.

I could type up many reasons why I like this game, but I feel it's something you have to experience more than anything. I don't want to spoil anything about this game. If you love Chrono Trigger then you will have a great time with LIVE A LIVE.

Final Fantasy VII- Crisis Core Reunion

I love FFVII and FFVII Remake. When they announced they were remaking Crisis Core I was excited to finally see what the deal was and by the end of this game... it left me a very broken man sobbing my eyes out. As a stand alone game it works very well even if you're not familiar with FFVII. It's a touching and contained story about a man striving to be a hero. Zack is a person I wish I could be in terms of confidence and wanting to do what's right. He's also a goof ball and I am very happy I got to know him more through Crisis Core. I don't want to say much about this game either, but PLEASE play it if you haven't! It made me finally understand why people love Zack so much.

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater

I've put off this game for way too long. I had the chance to get into it when this game came out on 3DS, but I was too busy in college then. I ended up playing the PS3 version of the game (this was before the MGS Master Collection came out to every platform). At first... I wasn't a fan of this game. I struggled to play this game and felt like an idiot when it came to sneaking. I got stuck at the Volgin fight and out of spite, I started over on "Very Easy" to better equip myself. After working my way back to Volgin, I enjoyed my experience more and was engaged with what was happening around me. Once the game was finished, I was tearing up and couldn't help but think about how often true heroes are forgotten and how history is retold.

Thank you for the heartrending experience, Hideo Kojima.

The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask

I had a weird experience with Zelda games this year. Tears of the Kingdom released and I went in hoping it would be a great follow-up to Breath of the Wild. I wasn't the BIGGEST fan of BotW. I had some faith going in that TotK would be a better experience. Unfortunately, after making it back to Hyrule my fears sort of came true. It felt like the same game I played almost 7 years ago except you can use bubble gum to craft and make things which is... fine I guess.

I kept pushing on hoping the story was going to set up something great and for a while, it did! The BIG twist was interesting, but once I got to the final scene I wanted to chuck this game out the window. The newer Zelda games just weren't doing it for me anymore so I decided to replay some older Zelda games (Wind Waker HD and Twilight Princess HD which was a TON of fun to replay) and decided it was time for me to give Majora's Mask another chance.

I ended up playing this on NSO and after a month or so, I 100%'d the game and greatly appreciated what this game had to offer in terms of setting, story, soundtrack, and characters. The setting is dark and terrifying yet it still keeps a goofy demeanor. I just fell in love with exploring and seeing how human this game can be (especially the finale). This is what I want to see with future Zelda games. I miss having ACTUAL dungeons and linearity, but we won't get that again. I hope that there will be another 2D Zelda game or Nintendo goes back to its roots with 3D Zelda games, but here's to all the indie devs out there trying to recreate that GOOD Zelda magic.

The Great Ace Attorney (Adventures)

I love this series but fell off during the 3DS era with AA6 (I still need to play that...). Since this game is more of its own thing I thought I would give it a shot and MAN! This game took the AA formula and dialed it up to 1000. In Ace Attorney fashion I love the characters, I love the puzzle-solving, and the mystery aspect where everything is tied together (especially that finale omg). My only irk is that the cases tend to go on a bit too long compared to AA 1-4, but I can let that slide because I was streaming this game, and having to voice and read EVERY bit of dialogue was exhausting (I plan to play Resolve on my own time next year so I can get through it much quicker). Ace Attorney still rocks and I hope to catch up and play more in 2024 (looking at you Apollo Justice "Trilogy").

Ranko Tsukigume's Longest Day

One of the shortest games I played this year. I love SUDA 51's work and wanted to give this a shot and it sure was an experience, to say the least. The gameplay is simple and difficult at weird times, but the one thing that sticks out to me about this game, in particular, is the absurdity and goofy humor (which is... basically expected with a SUDA 51 experience) with its visuals and jumping to different art styles and animation. Something about this small game makes me want to start working on my own projects more than anything. You can tell this was made with a creative team and the devs from Tokyo Jungle worked on it to so maybe that's another game I should look into as well... Overall, this was like a fun snack to chew away at left me with my heads in the clouds.

Pizza Tower

I don't need to say much about Pizza Tower. If you've played it, then you get it. Go play Pizza Tower! The OST and crude cartoon art style is what gives this game... uh as the kids call it... "soul". It's the Wario Land game that Nintendo will never make. It's 25% off on Steam! GO PLAY PIZZA TOWER!

Hypnospace Outlaw

Had a rough time playing through this game at first because it would crash pretty often. Turns out the game would connect to the wrong graphics card so after I got that sorted out, I finally got to play this game in peace, and... man... there's nothing else like this game in terms of telling a story/ narrative through faux web browsing. It's a game that perfectly emulates the experience of the late 90's internet browsing. There's a particular joy in exploring page after page to learn about all these characters and their hobbies. Letting the player take a small peek into their lives is a treat. As you get deeper into the game, you start learning about some of these people and who they are underneath their online persona. Without going into spoilers, the game went in a direction I didn't expect with its tone. The final arc of this game left me with some tears and a HUGE respect for what once was before what our current internet has become...

Hypnospace is really really cool.

Undertale Yellow (Pacifist Route)

Kinda unexpected that a fan game would end up on my list, but I'll make the exception. From what I've read, Undertale Yellow was in development for 7 years and that dedication and work shows in terms of presentation, story, and new characters. For a fan game, it doesn't heavily depend on needing the cast of characters from the base game of Undertale to tell its OWN story. Like Undertale, you fall in love with these new casts of characters and go through many vignettes in each part of the Underground where you get to learn about how these monsters live, and just like Undertale you'll laugh, you'll cry, and wish that the journey would never end. Once again I don't want to spoil anything, but for a prequel to Undertale's story... it's surprisingly more powerful than I thought it was going to be. Congrats to the entire Undertale Yellow team who worked on this. It was a pleasant December surprise that made me want to work harder on my passion projects.

I feel to some degree, I love this game probably a little more than Undertale itself...

Probably...

One thing for sure is that this game is helping me tide over until the new chapters of Deltarune come out.

2023 was a great time to play my backlog and give games another chance. Also trying out new stuff in the process despite my current feelings on the gaming industry at the moment...

I hope in 2024, I can continue to dedicate my time to slowly chip away at my backlog and try out new games (or older games I missed out on). Video games inspire what I want to do creatively and I love seeing what people can create and put out there.

[1tsjusty0u]

actually you know what. ganondorf. what can you tell me about him

hehwhwhahahahahahahhhhahahahahahhahHAHAHAHAAHAHQHAHAHAHAHAHA YESS…. YESS!!!!!

ok so. the thing is for the mmain fic? i dont know how he will. fit in. like i have timeloop related ideas which i. need to do eventually. but generally speaking i dont know how to give him a good ending or even how he’ll effect the plot. but also i dont want to ignore him because he is very vital to the plot. honestly i might do a flowey for this in that he interacts sparsely, more to the end of the game. thanks toby fox

BUT ANYWAYS to me ganon really isnt. a twist per say? like with link im making his death be different and the reader is going to have to find out what happened (or immediately Know based on the tags and such and instead of finding out their horror??? only grows i hope because they basically have to watch a guy who they know something bad will happen to. like siffrin in stars and time when you’ve played sasasa). but for ganon his deal is basically almost canon except im highlighting how fucked up it is i guess. we already know hes under the castle, but the devs never expand his motives. so im trying to do that

so. spoilers?? i guess??? also its pure stream of consciousness be warned

ok so firstly totks whole Pre Hyrule thing doesnt exist here. im not doing that. the zonai are non-gods who literally just sailed into the country and happen to know magic. they also dont make the same type of ruins associated with the zonai in totk. their ruins match up much more with the ruins in faron and the animal-esque designs. also theyre extremely vague and none of them become the king. i can draw you some zonais if youd like but the whole zonai thing in totk makes zero sense especially with botw and theres actual contradictory information in this essay i w

because of this rauru and sonia Might exist, but they will be Extremely Different. im not making rauru a zonai if he does exist too, though mineru still might be one just. heavily redesigned. so theres no power struggle to lead to ganondorfs imprisonment- something else is the cause of that.

as to what? i have no idea yet </3. itd probably be similar to the exile of the shekiah when the helped with the calamity, ganon being seen as a threat and something to be exterminated. ganon may not have helped or interacted with the monarchy, but it didnt change what the king and queen viewed of him. though i dont think any prior games or legends “influenced” this- as in they didnt follow any prophecy or something, but they basically ingrained the roles of the past into being completely static if that makes sense. zelda is always the pretty princess with wisdom and powers of the goddess (and hylian), link is always the hero always with the master sword and courage (also always hylian), and ganon? always the oppressor. always the king of evil, king of the gerudo. always a threat. in the same ways these roles hurt zelda and link pre cal, these roles ESPECIALLY hurt ganon, just this time more directly. its almost like how certain laws target marginalized groups and by proxy accidentally hurt literally everyone else. but he was just a “threat to hylia” in some way or form, either due to something or just by existing. or both. but an incident probably lead to his imprisonment. all things considered i should. really work on this..? though thats complicated because if the shekiah just noticed the pattern of the calamity then people would have to deal with two separate events rather than just one, which could work but the “inciting incident” of the 10000 year calamity being beaten is almost null and passed on to another. at that point i might as well do what ive seen other fanfics do before totk came out and wrote about the zonai- grouping them together in the same time period and make the sealing of ganon himself as the person the 10000 year sealing of the calamity. however that wouldnt make sense with the tapestry…unless the tapestry isnt accurate to what happened which Is possible but still why go through all the effort to lie about becoming his calamity form? showing him as not human would fit with how they view him but still they couldve made him look like a monster- like a lynel or his pig forms, not a boar like cloud. so. i almost want to ignore his backstory entirely and only focus on him being well. trapped. i just dont know if this is the right move to make, as much as being trapped under the castle Is a backstory its not really a fleshed out one or one that shows his past connections or who he was as a person. though that does kind of fit with what he is now. uhm so yeah i have no idea im sorry

but to his. not-really-a-backstory backstory. like in totk, hes under the castle. everybody has forgotten this, the rulers being warned about.. Something under the castle, and to not speak of it like zelda says in the intro to totk. theres a locked gate, maybe with some stolen shekiah tech (used by the king/someone when the shekiah were exiled and hunted, getting scrap parts before they were buried) to secure it. or maybe they just like about it being protected by the goddess so no one can open it and because its such an easy lie to check everybody believes it. though i genuinely think its locked extremely well, either with past magic, the triforce when a past zelda or queen had it and sealing ganon was sealing the gate as well, sheikah tech, or something else. i say that because at some point youd think the yiga would literally just walk in if it was a lie. the shekiah tech is a bit dicey because the yiga probably know way more about it than the shekiah (except for purah and robbie), however. i was going to argue they might not actually know that much about the tech which while it would depend on yiga to yiga i feel on some level they could absolutely break into it. (i used to think it was a parallel to botws general amnesia, forgetting their goal of originally helping hyrule, but after reading gboh the possibility of them changing it over time actively is probably a lot better, especially with it adding agency and also them being Rightfully Angry at the monarchy and eliminating those who stand as its biggest supporters? or pawns. and rereading the wiki page for them i cant remember how i thought they “forgot” their goal. ok sorry!! honestly i like to think some sheikah and yiga before being truly separate still made tech in secret, either to prevent something in the future or to help themselves (the sheikah being ok in the rain because of the tech in their outfits.) kind of like a third group that eventually faded out due to amnesia or became a yiga and Remembered. ok anyways) but yeah. on one hand Itd Fit and be such a slap in the face to the sheikah in general, but also the yiga should and probably would know how to break it down. that is if they even know the door exists, and the only reason they dont break into it is because they dont know It Exists because it wasnt built by them and ganon isnt able to communicate with them, or at least communicate with them well. in that scenario they could and Would be able to break down those protections which would actually make sense.

ALRIGHT. under the castle isnt the same as totks under the castle, and while it might…??? be the same one in the Trailer, that would require the zonai which, while they have their own mysterious plotline here (they magiced so hard they ended up in the sky), and theyre absolutely Important, i dont know how important they were in ganons sealing specifically. i like the zonai having some secret involvement of it and i also like having more zonai ruins, but i dont think the royal family would tolerate them At All because theyd also be a threat like the sheikah. they built literal labyrinths and actually know about the triforce more explicitly (the sheikah also seem to, or the ancient sheikah). them casting themselves off into the sky makes sense because who else could do that, But Yeah. theyd have their own documented versions of what they did, and i like to think they were fairly involved in hyrule as a whole. anyways sorry i just need to come up with how he was sealed and how it makes sense. god i used to have hopes and dreams about totk. we couldve gotten a new major god. and yet,

OK ONTO THE ACTUAL. PERSON IN THIS. GANON IM SO SORRY. yeah lets just say hes only Mildly Pissed about being under the castle for 10000 years (<- any words i could use now can not describe the sheer anger and hatred he has. like. its like genuinely wanting to kill someone if that makes sense. besides that being half the literal case, its . ok so you know how in totk the hands let out a shrill scream when they spot you, rushing over to kill you and choke you without thinking? its like that. wanting to make others feel the pain he felt for years and years, with an added touch of genuine hate and wanting to Hurt Someone or see them get hurt). hes being forgotten by everyone- his people the hylians, the shekiah, either people who he used to love or people who actively helped and encouraged his imprisonment, it doesnt matter when they all forget and dont even seem to care. its like he never mattered in the first place, what happened to him just something inconsequential and might as well not exist at all. He might as well not exist at all. but hes awake, rotting and tearing apart down at the bottom of that chamber always awake and always there. he cant move on yet, he needs to get out he needs to get out he has to get out

so!! his main focus is escape!! anyone who dies either had to or isnt something he thinks about. something something a means to an end, if people die so be it. plus if hes going down hea bringing hyrule with him, clawing onto it. he isnt mindless, guardians trying to ravish important locations like the temple of time and the akkala citadel, tactical locations. the malice is more of a by product of the original 100 year calamity, but it serves to help ganon keep and Eye out haha but also block and cover things. i like to think theres malice in guardians and thats why the master sword reacts to them. anyways, in botw he has a butterfly esque cacoon, and a spider like body made of sheikah tech. he was probably building a New Body as his means of escaping. why he made it like that? no idea. he definitely wouldnt live a quiet life once he was out and i think its an accidental by product of wanting to kill people/punish them in a sense. maybe he was going to have two bodies, like mettaton EX where the box body would be in this sense ganondorfs “normal” form where his spider form would be his Kill form.

if he wanted to be king of hyrule, this would probably be why. i dont really think he would, but if he did he’d do it both to punish those who wronged him while making sure what happened to him wont happen again, making sure the hylian royal family is never in a seat of power again. but right now he wants people to pay.

this also ties into him being “a calamity”; as hes trapped under the earth, i think he’d have an effect over it as well. trying to claw his way out from under the earth, parting the dirt in which it looks as if its breathing, sand piling over making sounds described as screams (though in real life its described as singing). in a way hes a part of it, but not by choice. hes the very thing you stand on and yet hes dismissed.

but anyways. hes very mad. link would describe him as “actively wanting me dead” in the timeloop au. his blights are described as screaming in the fic and i like to think thats ganon screaming in rage, pain or both. hes also not green here i should mention that. his form down in the dungeon i like to think has ghouls protruding from it like theyre melting into one and other and are reaching out with their hands, grabbing at whatever they can. hes pretty chill but smug post imprisonment, mostly a quiet cocky. less one for dramatics and rather plays it straight. likes pink and also is a fan of the desert right under spectacle rock. in the timeloop au hes also in the timeloop with link which causes problems. speaking of theyre pretty alike, and wreath would be like him in the timeloop au if he didnt already exist like percy jackson and luke. they could be friends in theory, but their circumstances drove them apart (hey like the wind waker post). hes a big fan of water buffalos, bulls, goats, cats and dogs, and sand sparrows. sand sparrows are his favorite animal in general and almost made it a symbol of the gerudo. id like to associate him with moths thanks to queen gibdo (shes not in this au she doesnt exist here). might actually like spiders as well as other insects. kotake and koume exist here :] . i think some of the gerudo havent forgotten, and thats why the hylia statue is way less in use, though it still being there is an act from the gerudo from the present ish. he likes soft and airy clothes. a lot more regal in the presence of leaders of their respective races- like the king or queen of the zora, the king and queen of the hylians, etc. likes hearty soup but also straight voltfruit juice. doesnt like hydromelons. he and zelda would hate each other, zelda Especially and their anger at each other almost cancels each other out. zelda is Very mad at him. chronic pajama wearer, gets a gerudo clothes person to make regal clothes with the same fabric from pajama clothes. sometimes he sleeps in them but other times he doesnt. big fan of the concept of magic, and likes chuchu jelly a lot. hes more prominent in the timeloop au honestly and im sorry for that. id like to give him an actual arc but well. i dont know how i would do that…….. also i want him to have a happy ending for once but i dont know if thatd work with this story. especially because of him killing the champions. him being an omen would be fitting, but still. him being punished narratively for no reason is stupid if that makes sense. his reason for doing what he did wasnt bad, but what he did by proxy was. i dunno death doesnt feel right for him, at least yet. he was happy though, once

ok sorry if this trailed off its. 5:40 am . i need to eat and sleep

[noorahqar]

ohhhhh that makes sense! i will do an ask game thingo!

ok im gonna say number 8 reoccurring dreams for the questions game & 👊🙉 for the loz one. i think i mightve typed the wrong emoji monkey but WHY IS THERE MORE THAN ONE EMOJI MONKEY ANYWAY

thank u and goodnight <3

Hi Bee!!! I also don't know why there's more than one monkey! Why is that a subgenre of emojis. I kind of get the cats, at least. Altho this guy 😼 has no rational reason to exist IMO.

8. any reacquiring dreams?

Yeah I'm guessing that meant reoccurring. Not really anymore. I never had reoccurring dreams, but I'd have dream sequels two or three years after the original. The only one I remember right now is one that had the titanic in it. Not much else. It was like... 6-ish years ago, tbf LOL

🙊 Unpopular Zelda Opinions?

Zelda unpopular opinions... Hmm. I'm a sheep when it comes to opinions but I can think of one currently.

I don't think every Zelda game from here on out HAS to be open world. I've seen a lot of people view the open world format as the future of all games, but linearity is nice too. I've heard people say that Nintendo doesn't go back once it's found a formula that works, and I'm vaguely scared that'll be the case moving forwards LOL.

Additionally, because my rambles kept ending up here, TOTK's map was kind of mediocre. It was fun seeing how it had developed over the five-ish years since BOTW, but there wasn't much new to explore. The Depths and Sky Islands? Yeah, they're there, but only about 20% of either of those had any actual content. There were a lot of missed opportunities. But the little lore drops were fun! I really liked the contents of the Gerudo depths. I wish it'd been explored more.

Eek. Don't get me started on how none of the civilians recognize Link. Or the repetitiveness of the dialogue and sages. Eughh. As you can see I'm stuck somewhere between adoring TOTK and disliking it LOL

👊 Favorite Zelda Villain/Boss?

Oooooh. I'm gonna have to say the very final boss of TOTK, for strange reasons. Spoilers ahead (It's been a year. Is it still spoilers?)

I saw the name "Demon Dragon" on Ao3 like a week after the game came out and immediately did that thing where I forget spoilers on purpose. (It works so well. I did the same for the Seized Construct and was SO SHOCKED when that boss fight occurred.) But I expected it to be a main boss _before_ Ganondorf. Like Mucktorok or something. I actually thought the Spirit Temple was where it'd occur.

It did NOT occur in the Spirit Temple. It was fucking awesome, LOL. Not a hard boss, more for the spectacle, but the thrill was insane!!

Thank you for the ask, Bee!! ❤️❤️

[veggiecorner]

Honestly, I think that guy is just really autistic... and I say this as an autistic person. He obviously has no filter at all. I wish he would stop tagging people all the time and starting things constantly under every single post. There will never be the hard confirmation he wants, like you say totk and ss is as far as it will probably ever go.

Like, I really can't see them *ever* doing more than the strong subtext they put in totk. I'd be surprised if they even get *close* to doing something similar again. Having the princess move into his house and having Link bridal carry her shirtless, etc, was already honestly kind of explicit by E for Everyone Nintendo standards lol. I never even expected them to go so far with it. I expected them to have destroyed the hateno house with sky island debris, or had her live with Impa, or something like that. I wasn't expecting straight up fanservice for all the post-botw fanfiction and fanart made over the years. Someone on the development team was clearly browsing zelink on pixiv (well, some old totk interview even said that the team loved all the botw fanart and it kept them going through totk's development, so I'm like 99% sure that's actually true even lol). But they'll never just come out and say "this is canon" straight up into the camera and we need to accept that.

Honestly, I'm guessing they will probably make the next zelink more platonic if anything after how much they pushed them with ss and botw/totk. I'm a huge romantic zelink lover, botw/totk zelink is my favorite, but I honestly *want* the next versions to be platonic so that there is an actual contrast between versions of them between games (and ok, maybe part of me selfishly doesn't want my beloved enemies-ish-to-lovers tragic royalty x servant to domestic fluff zelink to be upstaged by a zelink that acts obnoxiously less subtle with their feelings and therefore have people call them "better" but that's irrelevant)

I haven't honestly looked into his account - but tbh he's not the only one? I just notice it with him a lot and i'm like "please please separate Zelda from shipping. u can appreciate Princess Zelda outside of her theorized relationship with Link" (this is more of like...a dig at people in general who make shipping be everything when it comes to a character..especially female characters because now I'm struggling to still do a deep dive into Mipha's character without people immediately screaming about how her relationship with link is canon)

anyways fandom behavior aside lowkey i agree? The thing is that even if developers came out and was like "We intended zelink to be canon" people are still gonna argue about it (like "wELL THEY DIDN'T HUG OR KISS ON SCREEN") so tbh its not even worth fighting about it - coming from a fire emblem fan lmao yes I still remember the sumia incident

I lowkey want the next "zelink" to be platonic because...idk the same reason as you. Changing it up. I miss WW zelda and Link's dynamic because to me they're besties and are goofy. if the next one is romantic then they better get a hell of a good story because they already covered the childhood romance and the dramatic slowburn with skyward sword and botw/totk (and tragic "what ifs" from OoT but you didn't hear it from me!!!!!). That being said I would be disappointed if it was on the level of Twilight Princess so idk some sort of connection between them would be nice

[cyraptor]

My Tears of the Kingdom Review

Hello, I guess this is a followup to my “Top 20 Zeldas of 2021” list from last year, since I just beat the new Zelda game, Tears of the Kingdom, and now I need to find out where it fits in the rankings. I think this is going to end up being more of a proper review than anything I wrote in that list, though, because I have… well, a lot to say about it. I’ll try not to spoil anything major, but if you want to go in completely blind you may not want to read this.

Before getting into the review itself, let me preface this review by making two statements:

Firstly, I think I played this under the worst circumstances possible. In mid-April I decided to replay Skyward Sword since even though I played it when the remaster came out, I never put it into ~the document~ (long story don’t ask). Still enjoyed it, and had a hankering for more Zelda, so I decided to restart Breath of the Wild, which I got maybe halfway through a couple years ago but never finished. When I started doing this I didn’t actually realize that Tears of the Kingdom was releasing so soon, and I ended up finishing BOTW just a few days before TOTK released. Why this is a problem will become evident throughout this article, but basically, it’s just way too much video games.

Secondly, a sequel to Breath of the Wild, just, like, wasn’t the new Zelda game I wanted. I liked BOTW quite a bit but I thought its formula was just too large-scale and unfocused to act as a template for every future Zelda game. Using its more successful elements as a springboard for a slightly more structured, story-driven, somewhat traditional Zelda game would have been ideal for me. BOTW’s almost entirely freeform nature was cool once but I don’t think it needed to happen again. I’ll try not to hold that against TOTK though.

So let me start this review by just coming right out and saying that this is unequivocally, objectively a better game than BOTW. With one exception, every single element from BOTW has been expanded upon and/or improved in some way. Referring back to my Top 20 list, let’s address my criticisms of BOTW one by one and how TOTK fares in comparison:

1) Weapon degradation and weapon variety. These are both still in the game. There’s still a sort of unnecessarily huge amount of different weapon types (and there’s arguably double the amount since “decayed” and “pristine” variants exist for most of them). However both of these are rendered a little less annoying by the new “Fuse” ability, which allows (read: basically forces) you to fuse a weapon or shield with a monster horn, rock or basically any other item in order to increase its attack power or imbue it with a special ability (e.g., attaching a mushroom to a weapon will cause enemies to bounce off it, attaching a piece of ore will cause it to fire magic spells, etc.). I never quite got a full grasp on how the system works, but I think the weapon half of the fusion just informs how the fused weapon is wielded, i.e. as a one-handed sword (quick swing), two-handed sword (heavy swing), or spear (thrust). And then the fused item determines what type of damage it inflicts (slashing or blunt, basically), I think? So for instance, fusing a spear with a blunt object like a Frox tooth results in a “pulverizer”, which is wielded like a thrusting spear but is good for breaking rocks or armor but not so much in inflicting damage to enemies. Anyway, all this is to say that since you’ll inevitably have a ton of monster parts on hand to fuse, you have way more flexibility in the sort of weapons you can have in your inventory at any one time. This also gives monster parts more versatility than just using them to craft potions as in BOTW. I dunno who was crafting hundreds of elixirs with their stockpile of hundreds of Bokoblin horns in BOTW but it wasn’t me. Oh also you can attach the same sort of shit to arrows as well, which gives them the usual bomb/fire/lightning/ice ability but also you can like, stick a Keese wing onto one to make it fly farther. It’s cool in theory but you also have to pull up the quick menu every single time you fire an arrow, which becomes extremely obnoxious when fighting an enemy that requires tons of arrows. No spoilers but if you’ve played the game you know which one I’m talking about.

2) The cooking system. This is basically the same as it was in BOTW with a few extra recipes. This didn’t really bother me in my BOTW replay after I looked into how the cooking system works a little more. It just wasn’t explained very well in-game in BOTW. And TOTK just assumes you played BOTW and explains virtually nothing about any system present in its predecessor. TOTK adds a nice recipe book that keeps track of what meals you’ve made (or received) and how to make them, though, which is a huge improvement.

3) Enemy variety. Another huge improvement on this front. There’s easily twice the number of enemy types as the previous game. Additions include Boss Bokoblins which are big pig guys who command small armies of Bokoblins and look like what Moblins should have looked like in the last game, there’s flying enemies, there’s returning classic Zelda enemies like Gibdos (with a weird new twist) and Like Likes, there’s new mini-bosses like Frox (which took me almost the entire game to figure out how to fight effectively, but that’s on me) and Flux Constructs, and there’s actual proper boss monsters instead of fuckin Blight Ganon variants. Combat is basically the same aside from the fact that some new enemies require new strategies. I feel like silver enemies showed up way earlier in my playthrough than they did in BOTW. Like a sixth of the way through. And once they do, one silver enemy shows up in every camp and they’re just an utter bore to fight. Even with a reasonably high-powered weapon you’ve still got to whale on them for like 20 seconds while they lie helplessly on the floor. Not challenging, just annoying. Besides that though and the one mini-boss type I refuse to name for spoiler reasons, the monster situation is an improvement.

4) Lack of dungeons. This one’s kind of a wash-leaning-slight-improvement to me. Replacing the Divine Beasts from the first game are… kinda sorta actual dungeons! They’re much more sprawling than the Beasts, although they have a similar completion pattern in that you’re essentially just told to activate five consoles scattered throughout the temple and you can do them in any order and in any way you like. Three of the four main temples are basically open-air and you have a lot of creativity in how you’re able to progress through them, to the point where I felt I was cheating or breaking the game in a couple cases (Fire Temple I’m looking at you), which didn’t actually feel good to me because I feel like the reason I had to do that in those cases is because the “intentional” solution was not obvious! And then the Lightning Temple was inside a building and felt a little bit more like a regular Zelda dungeon, which I preferred. But I also kind of missed the unique mechanisms of each of the Divine Beasts. But also the temples are much less samey. Like I said, kind of a wash, but I didn’t HATE the Divine Beasts to begin with, so it’s fine.

5) I didn’t mention this in my Top 20 list, but it was something I noticed about BOTW on replay. The side quests suck. BOTW has 76 side quests which sounds like a lot but most of them are just “bring me six bear asses, which you almost certainly will have already accrued ten times the amount of by the time you reach me so you can just close out the quest immediately after receiving it,, and i’ll give you a reward of 100 Rupees, which is a pittance in this game”. TOTK has almost 3 times as many side quests (some of which have been upgraded to side ADVENTURES - an in-game distinction I was never really clear on), most are much more involved and more fun, and make the world between the story-related bits feel way more alive and fleshed out. Another huge improvement.

The one thing I think is a downgrade from BOTW is the new sage abilities vs. the old champion abilities. These are the companion-based abilities you get for clearing each of the four main story branches. In BOTW, each had a cooldown of several minutes, but were extremely useful. Mipha’s Grace revived you with full health if you died (useful for casual exploring, but not too overpowered to be useful in brute forcing combat), Revali’s Gale boosted you like 100 feet straight up (essential when exploring), Urbosa’s Fury was a lightning AOE attack basically mandatory for fighting Lynels, and Daruk’s Protection let you take a free hit once in a while. In TOTK, the abilities themselves are a huge downgrade. Sidon’s water shield I never quite figured out outside of the boss battle designed around it. Tulin’s just give you a horizontal boost when gliding (and I guess maybe can blow away monsters in combat, but usually isn’t useful for that). Riju’s is kind of like Urbosa’s in that there’s a lightning AOE but it’s way weaker and you have to waste an arrow to trigger it. Yunobo’s is maybe the one ability that’s an upgrade over his predecessor as you can fire him off like a cannonball and break through huge piles of rocks and shit. There’s also a fifth ability that I won’t mention because it’s kind of spoilery but also because describing it would make it sound cooler than it actually is. The main problem with the new abilities is how they’re activated. Basically after you complete one of the main quest branches, the sage will from that point on fight alongside you as a spirit, using their signature weapons. This is kind of cool and useful although having four or five ghost dudes running alongside you takes away from the feeling of isolation a little bit, but no biggie. But in order to activate a sage’s ability, you have to run up to them and press the use button to queue it, and then press it a second time to actually activate it. The reason this is bad is because in combat, the time when you most often want to make use of these abilities, the sage spirits are fuckin running around and attacking, and you have to go find them. And they’re all the same color so you have to, like, take a second to pick out which is the one you want to use. It’s particularly egregious with Riju, who fights with melee weapons but whose ability is ranged, so you have to run up into the mass of monsters where she’ll be fighting to set up her ability, then retreat to actually use it. The BOTW champion abilities could be used anywhere with a single button press. What the fuck!

So aside from the last bit, that’s big improvements all across the board. And as I already said, TOTK’s just overall an objectively better game than Breath of the Wild. So what’s the problem?

The problem is that a better version of BOTW is practically ALL THIS GAME IS. And at the risk of making assumptions, that seems to be all that it ASPIRES TO BE. A lot of people have dismissed Tears of the Kingdom as being “BOTW DLC” and while that’s an utterly laughable notion from, like, a scale standpoint - this game has easily twice the amount of content of BOTW - when, looking at, like, the TYPE of new content, I don’t think it’s that far off the mark.

So, so much of this game is “here’s all the stuff from BOTW again, just in a different form”. You need to activate a dozen or so towers to unveil the entirety of the map. There’s a gated tutorial area where you get all your Zonai powers, which are conceptually the same thing as BOTW’s Sheikah runes. There’s 120 shrines in which you have to solve puzzles using said powers. There’s four story paths to complete involving the four major races culminating in a dungeon in which you receive a power from a warrior from one of said races, and after these four branches are complete you can face the main antagonist in and/or above and/or below Hyrule Castle. There’s 12 collectibles scattered around the world from which Link can obtain a memory of a past event (TOTK has more interesting memories but the way to obtain them is more boring. P.S. fun fact you can spoil yourself to the game’s major twist almost immediately at the start if you go after all the very-easy-to-obtain Dragon Tears first like I did). And so on. And like, the stuff IS technically new and different, but it’s new and different in the way that Jakku is new and different from Tatooine. Which is to say, not that much.

What seems to be one of the game’s biggest points of praise is the Ultrahand/Zonai Device system, which allows you to build structures and vehicles by adhering different mechanical parts together. This is kind of fun and the physics system is surprisingly robust, but outside of requiring it to solve some of the shrines it’s not too integral a system to the game. Also most other devices become pointless once you realize you can cheaply build a hoverbike out of two fans and a control stick and fly goddamn wherever you want in the whole map (100% necessary to do in the Depths to remain sane imo… more on that in a moment). It’s fun, you can do silly things, but I kind of got that itch out of my system when I played Garry’s Mod 18 years ago. I’m glad people are having fun with it, though, and I guess I’m even more glad they’re able to.

A criticism that sounds like a huge strike against the game but surprisingly isn’t is the fact that the entirety of the Hyrule map is reused from BOTW. A lot of areas have undergone changes as a result of the catastrophic event that begins the game, but for the most part the differences aren’t massive. I’ve compared it to pre- and post-Cataclysm World of Warcraft a few times now but I don’t think anybody I know understands the reference, but it’s a perfect one, so y’all’s loss I guess. One major change in the overworld is the addition of caves - they did a really good job keeping them feeling fresh and distinct from one another and they further cement the fact that Hyrule was constructed by hand by the developers instead of just being generated from a heightmap like so many other open world games. It’s one of those things that’s like, I can’t believe this wasn’t in the first game, it fits in so seamlessly.

If Hyrule was the only map in the game, I think the asset reuse would be a whole lot less defensible, but it’s not. There’s two other levels to the map, the first of which is the Sky, which consists of a bunch of floating islands hanging motionless over Hyrule in a very Skyward Sword-like manner. The largest of these islands by far is the starting area, which is roughly the same size and function as the Great Plateau from BOTW. The islands are otherwise pretty small and sparse. You can get to some using the towers (which launch you like a mile into the air), but some of the more remote ones require you to use the time-reverse ability on pieces of debris that fall from the sky (or if you’re like me and don’t realize this is the intended way until near the end of the game, build a flying bicycle). It’s very pretty up there, with some lovely autumnal foliage and perpetually sunny weather, and you can see the entire map of Hyrule beneath you, which is pretty impressive. There’s a surprising amount of asset reuse among what few islands there are in the Sky, but there’s enough unique content that it again doesn’t bother me that much. It’s the one thing that feels like something truly new for this game, even if it is cribbed from another Zelda. I don’t mind it… it’s nice up there.

What is not nice is the third map, the Depths. The Depths is a massive underground cave that is below Hyrule. It’s huge; the same size as the Hyrule map. In fact, it IS the Hyrule map, for the most part, with the heights inverted (canyons become high ridges and mountains become deep valleys) and anywhere there’s a body of water in Hyrule, it’s represented with a solid wall instead in the Depths. To be clear, I’m almost certain this is meant to be obvious, not, like, some sort of lazy trick. But the entire Depths does feel unbelievably low effort. When you first arrive, the entirety of the Depths is completely pitch black and you have to activate “lightroots” (of which there are 120, located in the same places as the shrines in the overworld) to light the surrounding area and clear the fog of war on the map screen. However, even when the Depths are fully lit, it’s all a dark, gross monochrome turquoise color. The whole thing is riddled with tons of identical copy-pasted spooky trees and roots and rock formations and every single part of it looks the same except for the area under Eldin, which looks the same but also has some lava. Roughly 50% of the floor throughout the entirety of the Depths is covered in “gloom”, which is identical to but distinct from the “malice” from BOTW, which semi-permanently reduces your heart meter if you stand on it too long. Getting around it is a fucking nightmare due to its size and the complete lack of consideration in making it traversible like the overworld. And aside from a Yiga Clan-related questline (which contains the majorly useful Autobuild ability despite being completely optional) and two of the temples, there’s not a whole lot down there besides - get this - all the DLC exclusive and amiibo-activated armor and weapons from the first game (and that reminds me, since I haven’t had a place to mention it elsewhere, there’s only like half a dozen new armor sets in the game, everything else is from BOTW). The other purpose of the Depths is just to be a harvesting area for Zonaite and by proxy Zonai Charges and Crystalized Charges, which act as fuel for Autobuild and for increasing your Zonai Device battery meter (which is all rather poorly explained in game btw). And grinding for that critical shit in this hellhole is misery. God, I hate the Depths. One of my least favorite areas in a game, ever. If you only go down there to fulfill questlines and not to get all the collectibles like I did, though, I guess it might be tolerable. Trying to be at least a little charitable here.

One last thing, and it’s about the story - I won’t be discussing the plot, so no spoilers. BOTW set a weird precedent in that the game itself didn’t really have too much of a story outside of the four Divine Beast quests. All of that game’s “story” happened in the past, and is presented in flashbacks and memories. You wouldn’t think they could (or should) do the same thing in TOTK, but they somehow manage to, which is kind of impressive. The story is more engaging and interesting than BOTW’s imo, and it has some interesting Zelda timeline implications. I don’t really give a shit about the idea of all the Zelda games belonging to a cohesive timeline

I closed out my BOTW review in the Top 20 list by calling it innovative and describing it as Nintendo taking “uncharacteristically huge risks”, and I stand by that. In comparison, Tears of the Kingdom feels like the complete opposite. It’s safe. It does all the same shit again - granted the shit is at least GOOD shit - with very little that’s truly, truly new. I think anyone who disagrees with this is deluding themselves. It’s shockingly un-Nintendo-like. There are a few exceptions (looking at you New Super Mario Bros. U), but Nintendo rarely goes back to the well to quite this degree. The closest thing the Zelda series has had to this is Majora’s Mask reusing most of Ocarina of Time’s assets - but they were used to build a completely new world and narrative. I guess there’s also, like, Super Mario Galaxy 1 and 2, but it’s not as if SMG2 reused half the levels from SMG1 with new stars in them, you know? Also both of those examples came out only two or three years after their predecessors! It’s, frankly, hard to see why this game took six years to come out. This doesn’t feel at all like six years of new work. I mean, I guess games take longer to develop now, and I’m anti-crunch and all that, so if that’s how long it took to make this game, that’s how long it took, but… I just don’t feel it’s really reflected in a final product built so heavily off its predecessor, especially when BOTW itself only took I think 3 or 4 from scratch. I kinda just wish those 6 years were used to develop something more, well, innovative. It almost feels like a replacement for TOTK than even a sequel. If you haven’t played BOTW, there’s almost no reason to now, just watch an hour-long “Breath of the Wild - The Movie” cutscene compilation on YouTube.

Having said all that - and holy shit that’s a lot more “all that” than I expected to say - I did enjoy my time with Tears of the Kingdom quite a bit, and probably would have even more if I hadn’t played BOTW start to finish in the weeks preceding it. I’m sure it’s more of a pleasant homecoming than an overstayed welcome to fans who played it years ago and have been hankering for more of the thing they loved. I don’t regret playing it or anything, and I had a lot of fun with it aside from the godforsaken Depths. Maybe just don’t play both games back to back.

Anyway let’s circle back to that Top 20 list and find a place for Tears of the Kingdom. In a world where BOTW didn’t exist, I think it takes its place at #4, and maybe even overtakes Wind Waker at #3. Yeah, for all my negativity, it’s still undeniably that good. But I don’t know what to do on a list with both BOTW and TOTK on it. TOTK is the better game, but does it lose points for lack of originality? Does it take a higher place and BOTW gets knocked down? I don’t know. Who gives a shit. I just wanted to spend 4 hours ranting about a game I sunk like 200+ hours of my life into. No more Zelda, no more open world games, no more video games, it’s time to join the farming commune.

[ganondoodle]

Not to add more fuel to the fire (I do) but seeing all your TotK rants and agreeing with every single part of them, I just remembered that as soon as the first Sages appeared on screen I immediately noticed that even their voice actors were the same as the Champions from BoTW but a bit "deeper" sounding and when I looked up they ARE.

I don't mind when voice actors make a come back for specific roles tbh but this time with how disappointed I was starting to feel about the game's story it felt super odd?? Like it did feel so much like they were reusing stuff ;;

honestly if anyone wants to rant about totk in my inbox feel free to do so, i might not always respond but its really good to hear others be similarly disappointed and maybe you are even pointing out something i havent thought about

(also its fine to not agree with everythign i say, just dont be a dick about xD)

you see ... now that you say that i remember seeing the leaks before the game came out that some of the voice actors from botw said they returned for totk and that was a topic of discussion .... which went nowhere also bc i guess they were too lazy (sorry, that word is way overused when people talk about games but ... well) to find anyone new for the few lines they say

that said it doesnt exactly help the case of ancient ancestor (that looks exactly the same as the modern people!! i cant stand that!! its my character design taste that is more annoyed than the lore nerd but its stilll ... they didnt do that either to differentiate the past thats OVER TEN THOUSAND years ago aaaaaaargh) that all say the same line only with a few words changed around or rephrased like someone badly copying your homework but trying to hide it- without telling you any new information at all that all have no personality, not even a different clothing style (its aaalllll sonau style now woooheeee) and dont even get to have faces bc they are hidden under a SONAU MASK AT ALL TIMES even when NOT FIGHTING (why are they even in their temples after rauru seals ganondorf ... no seriosuly what are they doing there, just standing around waiting for zelda to come beg them to swear yet another oath to some guy in the far future, theres no one in the bg either like idk, they could have been praying or sth- wait .... why are they still wearing the stupid mask and outfit .... raurus gone and minerus getting eaten by miasma i dont think anyone would care (i know its bc they dont want to make another model ... though removing the helmet at the very least ... no?) and then dont even get their own voice ... lol

(i didnt notice bc i played with japanese voices bc the german voice actor for gan sounded like german daruk and that was too weird for me ... i still expected him to say more than a few lines and some yells at that point .. hah ... )

[swordswoman97]

Okay having finished the Zora's Domain main quest I have thoughts. Below cut for spoiler reasons and because I have a lot of thoughts.

So Yona. She's sure... There I guess.

Look I'm not the first person on the website to complain about Yona, but I still have things to say. I would however like to preface this with the fact that while I do enjoy Sidlink, it's more in a "oh that's a nice ship" way than an "OMG I SHIP IT!" way. I'm also 100% not a Sidon simp. I get why y'all are so into him, but there are other characters I prefer. However, I definitely understand the frustration with Yona, and I have my own issues with her inclusion.

Now I'm not entirely convinced Yona was included just to spite sidlink ships and even less convinced it was just to spite the people who found him hot. Especially considering, I doubt they didn't see the thirst art for Ganondorf and that didn't stop them from letting the designer go whole hog on making him physically attractive. But I'll admit I can't 100% rule out the possibility that sidlink shippers contributed to that decision.

Instead, Yona almost comes off as just being a narrative shortcut by the devs to try and add some explanation to Sidon not immediately jumping into trying to investigate with the player and possibly to try and make it look like Sidon has changed in the 3-5 years since BOTW which, tbh wasn't even necessary. Zoras live a long ass time, I'd guess somewhere between 300 to 500 years. Sidon and the other Zora not actually changing that much as like people would make sense. In Zora terms it hasn't even been that long. As for the arc thing, you could have gotten the same affect by making Sidon afraid of failing his people or heck, if you wanna keep Sidon's fear of losing more people he's close to, have him know about Dorephan's state and have Sidon afraid that if he doesn't keep the water flowing into that chamber clean, he'll lose his father. Same damn affect.

Then you have Yona herself. For one thing she is so flat. Her only personality seems to be that she's nice and she's in love with Sidon. That isn't a character. Then there's her backstory. While more domains of zora makes sense, it's more the fact that any of these domains are still in contact with Hyrule's Zora's Domain that falls flat. We know Yona and Sidon met before the calamity, but you expect me to believe that any of the other domains kept in contact while Hyrule was crawling with guardians, let alone apparently visited enough for Sidon to not completely or at least mostly forget Yona? Where does she even come from? Across the sea? In the sea? Past the desert? Across that giant bottomless pit surrounding Hyrule on two sides? How did she even get here considering everything else going on?

Plus, one of the new monuments (why were those replaced anyway?) confirms that their marriage was arranged, and makes reference to Sidon viewing Yona as a sister... Nintendo what the fuck?! I don't care if Sidon's feelings toward Yona have become "complicated" or whatever he calls it, Sidon marrying someone he viewed as a sister is fucking creepy.

And then their relationship doesn't even seem meaningful. Now part of it is probably the fact that by the time we see Yona and Sidon interact I was already pretty iffy about the whole thing, but the limited screentime we get with them does not work to sell me on the fact that this relationship is actually romantic. They call each other an almost sickening amount of pet names but that just feels weird due to it. Like, there are times Sidon came off less as actually in love with Yona and more as trying to force himself to be. Like this relationship is way too forced to feel like anything but a slap in the face.

Plus tbh while I haven't finished the game, they might redeem themselves later, Yona is just a part of the growing feeling I'm getting that the devs just didn't consider how things fit into the already established lore. Like, why is Ganondorf knocking around when Hyrule is being founded when Hyrule was very much already a thing when Ganondorf first showed up in OOC. How does Sidon have a childhood friend from another domain with the calamity causing problems for the last 100 years? Why do the sages all have the exact same weapons as the champions? And the same models? Like... were these speeches originally supposed to be given by the champions and they switched it at the last second and couldn't be bothered to make new models? I love this game, I am having so much fun, but this story is just... I have so many questions. I really hope things start making more sense as I get farther in.