#Zelda rant

[mearcairz]

Hello tumblr let me take a moment of your time to put you onto my worst enemy

looks like a normal tree right? WRONG

these things are sent straight from the bowels of HELL with the SOUL PURPOSE of ruining my entire week

LIKE LOOK AT THEM WHY DO THEY MOVE LIKE THAT

now, i can already hear you typing,

“Xavier, the evermeans are one of the weakest enemies in the game, you are a coward and your bloodline is weak”

and while i do see your point, you are objectively WRONG and i am going to show up to your house WITH A HAMMER

Listen, when im trying to enjoy a nice little stroll through the virtual forests of Hyrule, yknow trying to get myself immersed with the game, the LAST thing i need is THE WEIRD COUSINS OF THE ENTS FROM LORD OF THE RINGS BURSTING OUT OF THE GROUND AND SCARING ME NEARLY HALF TO DEATH WHILE IM TRYING TO ENJOY MY BOWL OF CHICKEN RAMEN AT 3 IN THE MORNING

I hope you can all see my frustration with these ABOMINATIONS TO GOD and i will NOT be taking any constructive criticism GOOD DAY SIR

[cyphyra]

so ive seen on here that a negative opinion of the new zelda game is like, the popular opinion rn but im just over here like ???????

-the zelda series is defined by it breaking it's own conventions, and echoes is doing that in a very interesting way, to me

-ive never subscribed to the idea that if we had playable zelda, she HAD to play exactly like link. it doesn't make sense. she's not a trained swordswoman in any continuity, she's a princess. if she had a combat kit, it'd lean heavily more into magic than anything physical

-the gameplay of Echoes makes sense for her character; you have to use your echoes wisely to overcome combat and puzzles rather than just boldly rushing in.

-i understand the arguement of "it takes away a lot of her agency!" but again, unless it was established in-game, it wouldn't make any sense for her to get and use a sword and start the game like link-- magic i could definitely argue about, but the d-pad on the left side of the gameplay trailer leads me to believe that you WILL get more abilities down the line, such as pure magic attacks

-personally i kinda think that playing a zelda game where you can play as zelda but it's the exact same game if you'd played as link is also really stupid.

[skyloftsword]

Why Tears of the Kingdom is the Breath of the Wild I was hoping for

Alright, so before I get into my rant. I really like Breath of the Wild. It's a very fun game and the events of 100 years ago are super interesting. It just... unfortunately let me down after Skyward Sword in two aspects that I personally feel Tears of the Kingdom succeeded at for me. Story and dungeons. Also please don't tell me to watch a Youtuber on why TotK is worse than nuclear war. I make my own opinions and my take on TotK is very unlikely to change. I have done 6 playthroughs and still feel this way. Spoiler warning.

Okay, so my issue with Breath of the Wild's story is how it feels like a mess at times. The memories don't even try to tell anything coherent outside of the final few. Some of them even need journals for any payoff as well. This system also limited the Champions from getting any development or character arcs. It took until Tears for me to appreciate them because Hyrule was still grateful for them. Revali's bow being treasured by Teba, Riju prays to Lady Urbosa in her diary, Mipha got Mipha's Court and Sidon's entire character arc was about how her death still haunts him and he doesn't want that to happen ever again. Daruk... got lights added to his statue's eyes I guess. Anyways, Tears' equivalent to them is the Neo Sages. Tulin, Riju, Sidon and Yunobo. They each get their own arc and you can tell how much they have grown since Breath of the Wild. What makes them better here is that they actually are relevant for more than just the Divine Beast boarding segments. Sidon deals with fear of losing his beloved Yona just like how he lost Mipha 105ish years ago, yet Yona and Link bring him to his senses. Riju goes from being stressed out about how she's too weak to defend Gerudo Town from the Gibdos with her aim, but Link returning reassures her. Tulin goes from being arrogant and thinking he can do anything all by himself to realizing that charging ahead all on his own is a bad idea and that working as a team is the best way to do things. Yunobo goes from being a manipulated crack dealer to being cowardly again for a bit to becoming courageous and willing to fight to defend Hyrule. These arcs help me appreciate the characters a LOT more. The Old Sages intentionally aren't fully fleshed out characters and its fine because they're barely on screen (their names are Ruto, Darunia, Nabooru and possibly just Medoh for the Rito Sage). Ganondorf being an actual character really helps as well. He wants to use the godlike power of the Secret Stones to his advantage to achieve total rule of the world (in the English localization at least). Rauru and Sonia are wonderful characters that actually try to help Zelda achieve her goal of returning to her time (nice opposition of Rhoam forcing her to achieve her light powers and being harsh towards her). Unlike the events of 100 years ago, the memories/Tears in this game actually focus on telling what led to the Imprisoning War in a specific order. The events in the memories and Tears also are all relevant and side stuff was pushed to the Stone Monument side adventure. Unfortunately the game is less linear than Breath (which honestly should be the other way around and is a massive storytelling issue), however Impa at least alludes to the order of the Tears when you go to the Forgotten Temple after the first one. The Fifth Sage quest is also an incredible questline that did what BotW should have done. It showed the Imprisoning War and how Ganondorf shouldn't be taken lightly. I seriously feel let down not seeing Link and Zelda fight the Calamity and losing. Also thank god you don't have to do an absurdly tedious backtrack quest to unlock the Camera, Tears, the Champion Leathers and the Kohga fight.

Onto the dungeons. I don't get why people switched up on the Divine Beasts in a positive way. They have a great gimmick and the "fights" are cool but that's it. The puzzles are... fine I guess? The visuals are cookie cutter and so are the bosses in every aspect except gameplay (and are basically just the Calamity split into 1/4). Tears' Temples are legitimately the most enjoyable dungeons in the series for me. The atmosphere, music, puzzles having a large amount of solutions, etc. Not to mention the boss fights actually being unique and very fun this time (BotW had some bangers too like Koshia and Thunderblight) and have unique fight themes that are so, so, so good. Seized Construct might be my favorite non-final battle boss theme for me. Also the pre-dungeon segments actually feeling like dungeons for 4/5 of them really helped make me like them more. Both games also have great and bad Shrines. TotK has far less bad ones and has a much better vibe with it's Shrines.

Anyways, ramble over. Thanks for reading. The only reason I made this post was because I was pissed off due to personal reasons. I love these games and this series so please don't take this as me hating BotW.

[kurokmask]

its 1 am and im thinking abt zelda. thinking abt how the sacred blood flowing thru her veins makes her a prisoner.

you are not a person you are a body, a vessel, for The Goddess, her divine power. you are nothing but your blood. just sit and think about it. quit playing at being something you're not.

you are nothing but your blood so so your body gets stolen from you, time and time again. evil violates you, worms its way into your limbs and casts you out. helpless to all but one, if he can save you.

[showtimeatfreddys]

Breath of the Wild Art and Brief Rant About My Favorite Game

Breath of the Wild is seriously my favorite video game of all time. I first played it when I was 11 and to this day nothing has topped it. The exploration, the visuals, the characters-I could go on all day. I know some people weren’t happy with the departure of the traditional Zelda formula, but I personally favor the open world concept and the infinite replay value.

Seriously, this was the game that got me so hooked on video games as a whole. If I hadn’t played this game, I have to wonder if I ever would have gotten as interested in the industry. Years later, I am still a massive botw fan, but I have expanded into so many other genres; all because this one game made me so fascinated with what video games could do.

thank you for coming to my Ted talk (aka insane rambling about the glories of Botw)

[anniefelis]

Tears of the Kingdom is a year old now, and I keep seeing posts about it, about how there are already fond memories, of how people want the special merch that's come out...

...meanwhile I'm still here thinking of how I'd do a fix-it fic to rectify that mess of a plot. I did it for Twilight Princess (which I am still turning into final drafts), but TP can't hold a candle to Tears of the Kingdom, which is a sequel that ignored most of the canon from the first game. I may have posted this somewhere already, but I ought to post it again in case I forget everything. I apologize if I posted this before.

First fix: Link and Zelda are a couple, a would-be-married-if-Hateno-had-common-law couple, a sexually active couple to the point where Zelda had to take steps to avoid having children too early.

Second fix: Rauru, Sonya and Ganondorf are from an alternative Hyrule where Hylia never came to help the humans, so their population was absolutely decimated by the demon tribe, and they were saved from extinction by the Zonai (hence the shrines where Rauru sealed demons). Zelda is not descended from Rauru and Sonya any more than the other Hylians, because thousands of years is a long ass time to trace bloodlines. There's a lot of multiverse BS mixed in with the time travel BS. The reason nobody knows who Link is, is because Link does not exist in this alternative Hyrule. That Link died 100 years ago, the Shrine of Resurrection was never discovered, and this Zelda eventually sealed Calamity Ganon by herself.

Third fix: ...except, some people do know Link, and remember his timeline. It's two parallel universes mashed together, so people like Sidon, the Deku Tree and Purah remember it, but others do not. Something happened to the Zelda of this universe, which is why people are looking for her. Meanwhile, the alternative universe characters do not know some familiar characters like Kass.

Fourth fix: Link's hand talks, and Rauru is an annoying companion. Imagine having a king in your hand, giving unwanted advice all the time. At least Fi was polite about it. Rauru does not realize who Link is at first, and then is baffled by the changes to the world.

Fifth fix: the Master Sword itself tells Link to plunk it in that temporal whatsahoosit in the Temple of Time, thinking it would fix it, and bang boom it zips back into time. Meanwhile, the Sheikah slate always stays with Link, and gets corrupted and broken by Ganondorf's gross purple haze.

Sixth fix: There are no Dragon Tears littered around the world that have been there for thousands of years. There are two: the one you first encounter with Impa, which gives a vague point of view of Ganondorf and his Gerudo army attacking Hyrule (the memories are first-person), and then the second one where Link sees a bunch of images from the past and Zelda's dragonification, all from her point of view. He knows it's her because he hears her speaking and sees her hands. They are shed at two moments in the game where Link gets close enough to the Light Dragon to see that it's not like Dinraal, Naydra or Farosh.

Seventh fix: The three dragons of the golden goddesses are not from the alternative Hyrule, and think everything is messed up. They insist that the Zonai ruins Link keeps finding are nothing like the Zonai they know. They're the same race, but the technology is completely different, like something advanced the Zonai rapidly in the one timeline.

Eighth fix: The Sheikah tech is there mixed in with Zonai ruins. It confuses the fuck out of both universes. For some reason, the Sheikah stuff does not work anymore, which confounds the hell out of Purah and Robbie.

Ninth fix: Some of the Sheikah are from either universe, but all of the Yiga are from Link's universe.

Tenth fix: The ancient sage spirits are not still around, and they do not explain what happened in the past (Rauru does). We just get new sages in the form of the New Champions, and the Spirit Stones (not Secret Stones, fuck that name) choose them. The new sages use their new powers to help Link get through the mass of Malice (not Gloom!) that blocks him from getting to Ganondorf.

Eleventh fix: Link and Zelda aren't fixed by the Recall spell, because that's kind of out of left field and Sonya's spirit is long gone anyway (and I do not like using game mechanics as plot points). They're fixed by Link's innate time magic, the time magic he always had as his Champion's Power, and they are returned to their proper timeline (as well as the alt Zelda) as well. This is all done with some help from the Spirit Stone of Time, but also due to the Triforce of Courage, which awakens. And that brings us to the final point...

Final fix: the Triforce is in this story. You can't tell me that the crest of the Hyrulean Kingdom survived all this time along with the Hyrule dynasty, yet nobody understands it's symbolism. You can't tell me that Zelda's "sacred power" wasn't just the Triforce of Wisdom. Sorry, I don't buy it.

[lace4forest]

Something I love about story is where we can place things.

There our normal world

Then there's the Apocalypse

Then Post Apocalypse

There's also Pre-Apocalypse

And lastly there's Post Post Apocalypse (Everyone is rebuilding and stuff, but it's still kinda bad)

For the Zelda series, the "Era of Decline" starts with Zelda 1 being a Post Apocalypse, and Zelda 2 is Post Post Apocalypse as they are working on rebuilding. This also means that "The Gold Era" is Pre-Apocalypse as it takes place right before. (A Link Between Worlds) But that also means that "The Gold Era" is Post, Post, Post Apocalypse (I love words) BECAUSE "The Era of Light and Dark" is the Post, Post Apocalypse of the "Sealing Wars" Apocalypse that was caused by the death of the Hero of Time. Which was caused by the Ganondorf via the Post War era of the "The Era of the Hero of Time" Caused by the "Hyrule Unification War" Which should really tell you how young the larger Kingdom of Hyrule really was, because right before that Era is the "Force Era" And if you've played Minish Cap, that era's Hyrule is TINY! Which makes since, because right before it was the "Era of Prosperity" caused by the Establishment of the Kingdom of Hyrule (Prob by Queen Sonia and King Rauru) But at that same time, this is right after the "Era of Chaos" Which we know nothing about- SOBS- But before THAT is the "Sky Era" Because... Skyward Sword. Which also had the "Era of the Goddess Hylia" and before that was the creation of their world... Going back to the "Era of the Hero of Time" and the Child Timeline, The Sacred Realm was Protected, calling it "The Dark Wold and The Hero's Descendants" (Yes it says "Wold") This lead to Majora's Mask, but then in "The Twilight Era" Ganon came back and things kinda got real gray. But then "The Shadow Era" happens and the other Four Swords game happens, and tbh it really only fits here because like, Downfall timeline, it's corrupted and destroyed by the Hero of Legend, and Adult timeline its ah... Under an Ocean. Anyways, thats the end of that timeline so far, so to the LAST one, lets talk about the "Era without a Hero" This one is fun, because the Gods where like "OH NO WHERES LINK!?" and they flooded the place! Leading to "The Era of the Great Sea" and some random kid (Descendant of the Hero of the Minish) decides to help out (Doesn't have the Hero's Spirit) and defeat Ganondorf. Which leads to him trying to find new lands in the "Era of the great voyage" and after finding the new contestant which leads to "The Era of Hyrule's Rebirth" in Spirit tracks, and like, Ganon doesn't come back, GANONDORF IS VERY DEAD. Lastly we have "The Era of the Wild" and like, it has stuff from each timeline, as well as really reminds me of real life history on how they find old stuff and we have to re-think stuff. But it has stuff from EVERY timeline, and the fact that it doesn't have the Triforce anywhere, and the last person we know had the FULL Triforce was the Hero of Hyrule, makes me think this man said "I'm gonna fix this Era of Decline, then I'm going to prevent the Tragedy of Zelda I, By becoming the Triforce's Keeper" This would explain 1, Why there is no Triforce. 2, why it has everything from all the different timelines. 3, WHY THERE ARE 2 GANONS- And you know whats funny? It would also mean that all the Link's in the Downfall Timeline, has wished on the Triforce! (Link to the Past for the Hero of Legend, Link Between Worlds for the Hero of Worlds and Zelda 2 Adventure of Link for the Hero of Hyrule) All three have already had their hands on it somehow, Hero of Legend saved everyone lost by the events of the game and left it with the Royal Family, Hero of Worlds created another Triforce and saved everyone, and lastly The Hero of Hyrule became the Hero of ALL of Hyrule throughout time, Ending the Era of Decline and creating a new world connected through the land and making it somewhat Wild.

Hi hello, sorry, I may have become a Zelda Historian.

Yes, Breath of the Wild does fit, I hate the new Zelda timeline. ITS SO EASY TO SAY QUEEN SONIA AND KING RAURU ESTABLISHED HYRULE, THEN MINISH CAP AND EVERYTHING HAPPENED AND THE ENTIRE TIMELINE TAKES PLACE OVER 10,000 YEARS-

IT'S SO EASY BUT NO-

I'm having a time.

[giosprey]

Woah.

Okay. How long is it since I last wrote something on tumblr? Like two years and a half? Right now I’m feeling so overwhelm by mixed emotions I still don’t know where to start. But my intention isn’t to write a long rant.

There is a specific thing that happened in these last two days that lead me to this decision.

Anouma said that it’s the end of the Wild Era and that they won’t make a totk sequel

While a part of me kinda expected this, I cannot help but feel a bitter feeling of sadness. Not because botw was my first Zelda, I still treasure it like it came out yesterday when in reality it’s been more than 4 years. It’s because of how much I expected from totk.

Do you know what they usually tell? Do not rely on expectations.

I made this mistake. I really felt this wait. But… was it actually worth it? Of course I’m not saying that I don’t like this game. It’s just I can’t believe they just left us with all of these plot holes.

When botw came out there were some plot holes as well but at least they overcame them after the Champions Ballad DLC, and it wasn’t even necessary since you got to see more of the characters than you actually do in totk.

Calamity Ganon was a mystery, yes, they didn’t actually tell us why and how it was born, but it felt right not to tell. Botw developers didn’t want players to focus on a distant past (as they did in totk), so it was okay not to fuss about it.

But in totk not only did they focus on a distant past by they purposely showed us some cutscenes of it despite letting the player play in the present. But what do we know about the past?

Absolutely nothing. This game was focused on the Zonai tribe. I remember when people used to make a lot of videos about them and their influence on the Hyrule chronology. But what did they tell us about them? Nothing. We don’t know why they got extinct. We don’t know how Hyrule was born and why they descended from the sky. We don’t know how we got Zelda since both Soniah and Raul died. And I could just mention so many other examples.

And as for Ganondorf? I don’t even know where to start. They purposely made him good looking but at what cost? Why? For the solely purpose of fan service or because it was actually useful for the plot?

Oh, right. What plot? The plot where he just wanted the secret stone just to… be powerful? Okay, I can see that he’s “pure malice” and so on, but come on. Give at least a little bit of context. It’s GANONDORF. And it’s been fifteen years since his last appearance. And what did you do? You made him a one dimensional, boring and flat character…

And do not get me started on the champions descendant and the Depths. I simply don’t want to talk about them because there is nothing to say you don’t already know. 🙃

Anyway, long story short: should they have made a DLC? No. Not necessarily. Or at least that’s what I thought. In the very few hours I read the interview. But given how few much they have done to contribute to the botw plot… yes, maybe they should have.

Well… goodbye Botw era. At least botw did touch me and inspired to create my OC with my own prequel (I will not accept AoC as a prequel since it’s not canon sorry lmao). I just feel sad that after playing totk I just didn’t feel anything. No particular excitement. Nothing.

I just hope the next Zelda chapter will be more than that. Until then, we’ll have to wait.

[crowroboros]

kinda tired of always seeing the "waaah Zelda lore and the timeline is so confusing/messy!!"

not really!! you're just inattentive !!

A lot of the connections are either directly stated in the games (Like LoZ 1 and 2. OoT, MM, TP, and WW. WW, PH, and ST, etc) or through meta connections (like how to avoid religious references, Triforce of the Gods was renamed to A Link to the Past because it was written to take place before the events of Zelda 1 and 2 and then A Link Between Worlds getting the name Triforce of the Gods 2 in Japan cause it is a distant sequel to ALttP). Like come on y'all, just pay attention. A full timeline could be formed without looking at the official one ONLY using information in the games and chances are you'd be mostly right.

"Oooah!! but Ganon??!! how does he keep coming back??" Literally always gets explained in games. OoT was his first appearance, Adult timeline: he is sealed away in OoT. breakes free of said seal using the Triforce of Power between OoT and WW (literally stated in the prologue of WW). He is then killed in WW. Child Timeline: OoT is prevented by Link being sent back in time (which we see at the fucking end of OoT) sealed in the Twilight Realm, killed in Twilight Princess. Downfall Timeline, sealed in the Sacred Realm during the sealing war, breaks free of seal in ALttP, killed in ALttP, resurrected in the Oracle games, terrorizes Hyrule in ALBW and LoZ1 and is killed in LoZ 1 like FUCK it is literally shown in the events of the damn games. pay attention!!

Half the shit I see that you all are confused about is due to your own misunderstandings, either cause you didn't understand what was being said or because you just missed it and came up with some interpretation so off base that of course it would confuse you when trying to fit it into the series at large. And half of these misunderstandings wouldn't even be a thing if yall were open to being wrong and changing your interpretation. but alas that's not what we see, instead you blame the games.

No, most of the Ganon appearances aren't different Ganons. they're all OoT Ganon(dorf) EXCEPT FSA and TotK Ganondorf cause OoT Ganondorf is killed in and isn't resurrected but rather reincarnated (as FSA Ganondorf). FSA and its manual even states how Shadow Link is created from the Dark Mirror giving form to FSA Ganon's hatred of a Link who killed him in a past life. Of course it has to be after one of the times OoT Ganondorf is killed for good like how are you all stumbling over this??

No, Zelda doesn't get reincarnated unlike Link. All Zelda's are descendants from each other, but they're not the same person or soul.

NO not all Zelda's are incarnations of Hylia, ONLY SKYWARD SWORD ZELDA IS! They share a blood connection to her through SS Zelda, but they themselves are not Hylia.

No, Twilight Princess isn't a Wind Waker retcon idk how anyone is even coming to that conclusion?? Zelda in OoT makes it VERY clear that Link being sent back seven years and closing the door of time will separate the past and future of OoT, meaning that whatever he does in the past (the child era) won't affect the future already created (the adult era). like this is dialogue said in OoT, read what is being said I'm BEGGING you.

While we're talking about the timeline split...

The Downfall Timeline makes complete sense. Do I think it was what they intended when writing OoT? No. Definitely not. I don't even think they conceptualized it until 2002 or so. But its clear that once they wrote Wind Waker that they realized that the story of the Sealing War matches OoT better (which if you remember, OoT is meant to tell the story leading up to the Sealing War.) in a timeline where Link fails to stop Ganondorf. Otherwise Wind Waker and Twilight Princess wouldn't have been written to explicitly follow the adult and child endings of OoT. As the prologue of ALttP states, Ganondorf entered the Sacred Realm, raged war against Hyrule, becomes the Demon King Ganon using the complete Triforce and was sealed away in the Sacred Realm by the Seven Sages. That doesn't line up with either of the endings we explicitly see in OoT but it sure as hell lines up with what Ganondorf said he'd do if you lose the fight at the top of Ganon's Tower. Yall act like the downfall timeline is some massive horrible failure of writing when its really just the most logical conclusion of what is presented in the games. Never in OoT does Ganondorf obtain the full Triforce. his whole goal in the second half is to kill Link and take the Triforce from him and Zelda. The Seven Sages are there to seal him away, the Sacred Realm is open and has been corrupted by Ganondorf's influence. Hyrule was been ravaged by war. Ganondorf hasn't transformed into the Demon King Ganon yet. Almost everything lines up for the Sealing War, Link just needs to die for it to 100% work because Ganondorf doesn't have the complete Triforce. And he won't get the full Triforce if you win against him. How are you gonna argue that it makes more sense and matches ALttP better if Link wins?

And I've seen way too many people calling TotK a BotW retcon cause of Ganondorf's existence?? Even saw one guy on twitter somehow under the impression that TotK was a prequel? as of the entire game hasn't been advertised as taking place 5+ years after BotW? As if the Castle and Castle Town isn't in ruin? All because Ganondorf is there in human form? Guys, Calamity Ganon is nothing more than Ganondorf's power and hatred leaking from his body as he and Rauru rot underground. Calamity Ganon is essentially the physical embodiment of TotK Ganondorf's goals enacting his will while he remains imprisoned. This is made so clear in his in-game character profile, which also makes it clear that he only broke free of Rauru's seal on him due to the extreme earthquakes and damage that the Calamity caused. It was also fucking obvious ever since the 2019 trailer. This was spoonfed to us and some of yall still missed it? Seriously?

The ONLY extreme oddity in the overarching lore is how BotW and TotK fit in beyond "it's at the end", but even that has a few solid possibilities and isn't anywhere near as egregious as people want to make it out to be. You all want to talk about how you love theorizing and shit but are completely incapable of having a theory deeper than "botw/totk Link and Zelda are romantically involved!!!!"

(^not a dig at zelink at all, I'm just saying that a lot of you so called theorists only try your hand at "theories" that are so strongly implied that they're practically canon rather than trying to solve actual mysteries and questions. you don't want to do any research into the lore and try to piece shit together. something will be even the smallest bit ambiguous and you all tap out)

There's more but fuck I'm not looking to scour the internet to disprove every damn misconception and mistake.

Do I think they planned everything since the beginning? of fucking course not. this is a series with 20 canon games at this point and more on the way. there is absolutely no chance all of this was conceptualized 37 years ago. All im saying is that the overarching lore and connections that have been weaved over the course of nearly four decades isn't the clusterfuck that a lot of you try to paint it as.

[cwazytvthings]

The way I want to focus on my Zelda AU so badly is driving me nuts. Totk really just threw me off...

Ik I'm in the minority of folks who didn't enjoy Totk but I really mean it when I say it ruined my interest in the current state of the series. I never even got around to beating the game (I know what happens I just didn't feel like putting my time into a game I wasn't fully invested in.) It's just something about Totk was so painfully empty, story wise, that the gameplay couldn't keep me immersed.

I'm a lore person, a story enjoyer, and Totk's story was so painfully messy(imo.) People are like "oh Nintendo wants to get rid of the time line." But then said company continues to make references to items/characters/events from previous titles that made it feel like a hot mess.

I'm sharing this here because I keep seeing accounts on Twitter going "GOTY!!" and "TotK was so much better than BoTW!" And I'm just over here like...it really wasn't all that. Especially for a game where the graphics barely improved from the first title(understandably so) I seriously don't think it deserves Goty in any aspect. It's lackluster. It divulges from its predecessor in an peculiar way. The story is empty. Characters introduced have no "character."

I will always love the series, it has been in my life since I was like seven, and I can't wait for the next title BUT, I standby my opinion. Even as a person who plays monster hunter and pokemon, a person used to empty stories and painful gameplay, TotK could've been better. 🧍🏾

I might one day get back to my AU but I'm so burnt out from Zelda stuff...again; I just have no motivation to do so. I've taken up much more interest in developing my own story/characters, and I'm currently more preoccupied with other games (*cough cough* Disco Elysium and MHR)

So yeah that's it. I think I'm done now. One day I'll get back to it but just not rn. I'll still try to finish my prequel fic thing but that's gonna be awhile from now too.

[sunset-peril]

I wish the Princess Zeldas all got numbers or something. (Ex. Princess Zelda the 1038th) Especially in BotW where multiple Zeldas (Zelda, her mom and her grandmother) can all be referenced in the same scene.

I have gotten myself all turned around so many times by trying to refer to both Princess Zelda and Mom Zelda in the same context.

[cyphyra]

yknow what, im in a rant-y mood again so im gonna talk abt more shit that pisses me off abt TotK again

tonight's topic: mechanics that feel extremely vestigial now in the game, example 1-- horses. literally there is like 0 need to ever have a horse outside of maybe 3 sidequests where you're made to use the new saddle. them having malanya be a horse upgrade station is cool but ive never fucking used it cause there's no reason to use a horse when zonai constructs exist (esp with no teleport-my-horse-to-me saddle like in the BotW dlc)

example 2: parrying. i never really used parries in BotW to begin with-- flurry rushes always felt cooler and easier to pull off. but they had their uses, like with lynel fireballs or most notably, guardian beams. without guardians, it feels like parrying is kinda just there as an option if you wanted to punish yourself and not use flurry rushes with a much stricter window

example 3: electricity. now i don't mean this as in ALL electricity, i mean specifically electric ENEMIES. in botw, fire/ice countered each other and do the same in TotK, so with the addition of the water element you would expect water-based enemies and the same sort of interactions between electricity/water, canceling each other out and insta-killing the opposing element. but they don't, so what gives? it always felt super off that fire and ice were so easy to deal with but thunder enemies had to be dealt with the old fashioned way, but idk that might just be me

[balo-badartist]

TRUTH FR - they compliment each others power dynamic in every game. It’s why I always ship Zelink or a variation of Zelink. It’s that power balance they have together

so legend of zelda

look I know it’s 2am and this is gonna be my first post of the new year but hear me out

I just realized that people can’t really be upset at the loz series for being “sexist”, so to speak, “making the princess helpless and kidnapped” or something like that.

Because especially in the more recent games, Ganon really just wants Zelda for her triforce power..

so, if Link had been Prince of Hyrule, he probably would have been Ganon’s target instead of Zelda

because Ganon wasn’t targeting Zelda because she was a helpless princess, just that she had the triforce

and Zelda isn’t even a helpless princess yes, she’s a princess, but in almost every game it’s proven that she can most definitely fend for herself in battle

twilight princess, she had a bow and arrow and snuck plans behind Ganon’s back ocarina of time, she disguised herself and went into hiding to protect the triforce and herself wind waker, she did the same thing but she was a freaking pirate, like, terror of the seas

Link could not function without Zelda and vice versa

so yeah

[kurokmask]

thinking abt how ocarina of time era hyrule is essentially a segregated society

the civil war, which happens before the events of the game, and is the reason link grows up on kokiri forest at all, has no canonical explanation of why it happened, only that one it was done, the non-hylian races of hyrule kept to themselves. link had to get permission from the royal family to contact the zora and goron. we know for a fact ganondorf gave the hylian royal family gerudo territory when he swore fealty to them, though its likely hylians had been encroaching upon their land for some time before. like, why else would a civil war break out if not for hyrule exploiting/stealing/suppressing other racial groups?? we don't see a diverse military force until botw.

it seems to be a theme, that the races of hyrule only come together (under the crown, specifically) when a threat arises that endangers EVERYONE. to assume ganondorf started the civil war is, in my opinion, the easy, “don’t think about it” answer. and even if that was the case, it was most likely a Hylians vs. Everyone Else situation, meaning ganondorf took advantage of frustrations that had already been mounting for some time.

in twilight princess, which takes place a few hundred or so years after ocarina, things have gotten better (we see hylians living closer to other racial groups, more collaboration), but there's still a significant degree of separation, ie, hylian-only military (the resistance is hylian only, too). we also see a complete lack of gerudo, their desert a barren wasteland and the only surviving proof they existed being their writing, most of which is found in arbiter's grounds, a... PRISON... if the losing sides of the civil war were forced to swear fealty (the gerudo seem to be the only group that gave up land, as hylians can't access death mountain/zora's domain without permission), the punishment for trying to overthrow the hylian royal family...! banishment at best, mass execution at worse. probably both!

like. there's so much interesting shit that is brought up in ocarina. i'm not even touching on the sheikah/shadow temple and the implications of THAT. its so incredibly interesting and, shocker, when a world/government/people/whatever are deeply flawed instead of of blandly benevolent and Good Because We Say So, it actually is Good Worldbuilding. do i think zelda writers did this on purpose? i dont fucking know because they never bring it up again. hyrule is just portrayed, over and over and over again, as this pure, holy kingdom that has never done anything wrong in its entire existence, despite IN GAME! IN TEXT! evidence to the contrary. like, the games we play feel like hylian propaganda. AND ISNT THAT INTERESTING???? imagine if we could unpack that? totk could've been a perfect opportunity. (but they dropped, the ball, as always, who is shocked)

its no accident. that our heroes are blonde with blue eyes. that our main villain is a caricature of Evil Brown Man. fans do not like to talk about it, they do not want to admit it. but there are clear themes staring us right in the face and it blows my mind that no one seems to want to do anything with it. the idea of hyrule being a deeply flawed land whos history is defined by conflict (stemming from its own citizens oftentimes) is extremely interesting and makes it unique. i want my stories to be gray. i want my characters to be conflicted. my GOD.

[sapphicvampyy]

If I’m being real I don’t like botw / tears of the kingdom they don’t really feel like Zelda games to me at all they essentially stripped everything I love about Zelda out. It’s really disheartening there was nothing else like classic 3D zelda out there. And now it feels like it’s never coming back upon seeing the trailer for Tears of the Kingdom I was so excited that maybe we would finally have story in the present but upon playing and turning on the game to find out it’s memory ~ I was so disheartened and disappointed. I miss the weirdness of classic Zelda , the mystical elements with the triforce and the goddesses , I miss the items and the story progression and the perfect mixture of gameplay and story. I feel like the freedom to do whatever came with to great of a cost sacrificing everything I love about Zelda these games need some structure the world feels way to big and empty and everything feels grindy which i absolutely hate in games. I also hate the self insertifaction of Link yes I know he was intended to be a self insert but he’s grown beyond that I want to see Link as character with emotions and soul and become more of a character I want to get swept away on an epic adventure and feel I AM LINK instead of Link is me, I want the immersion and to connect to Links story like in past games this current Link just stands there with a blank expression, I can’t think of anything I like in these new games compared to the old games I hate the shrines they feel so sterile and boring compared to some really cool dungeon from previous games. Also I hate how everything is so futuristic and robot like I miss the magical and fantastical elements I feel we don’t have enough just pure magic stories anymore that are fanatical and weird. It’s either grim/ dark like game of thrones / house of dragon which I love house of dragon , or it’s overly self aware like dungeons and dragons which is a trend I’m over in fantasy , I miss the weirdness and mystical ness of past Zelda and all the lore. You can do open world which I wish they would just get rid of entirely since I’m not a big fan the game where I like open world the best is Witcher 3 because it actually has story you can follow. So yeah seeing the game developers talking about how they won’t go back is disheartening if the new Zelda is the same as TOTK without bringing in any classic Zelda elements then I’m probably not going to even bother. I guess I’ll beat skyward sword and links awakening maybe an OoT replay or WW when I itch for it ? As for new Zelda I don’t know if I’ll get one ever again because I don’t really count those games as Zelda games they feel like a game just wearing a Zelda skin they don’t feel like Zelda at all. I miss the bombastic music, the items , the story and gameplay combo , the super cool unique dungeons and the satisfaction of solving one / getting it right. I miss it all. I miss classic 3D zelda. Oh I also miss Links iconic green outfit as well bring it back!!!! it was iconic the blue champions ballad or whatever just doesn’t do it for me at all.

[aenslem]

ZELDA SPELLMAN & MAMBO MARIE CHILLING ADVENTURES OF SABRINA