#alex plays totk

[frogdetective]

i finally went ahead and finished the main totk story today (yes i was making it last lmao) and had a thought while watching the ending cutscenes and remembering the fact that they recently said they had no dlc plans

(which to be clear is fine by me. I love that they consider the game/story complete (i agree) and would rather they didn't add dlc without having any real need or desire to, solely for money and because some people just demand *more*. I only want more if it is made with love and passion and care for the story and game, not just for the sake of it.)

but. but if they were to do a dlc. remember how it was originally an idea for skyward sword that you would be able to play through zelda's part of the story as well as link's?

wouldn't playing through zelda's side of the story in totk be perfect for a dlc? It's not adding on or creating any extraneous storyline, it's exploring an already established one, just in places we just didn't see as much of in the main game. zelda had a whole adventure of her own in the past that we only saw snippets of. one complaint I had about totk is that I do wish the ancient sages had been expanded on a little, at least given names, and/or their faces actually being shown in game, so they didn't just feel like cardboard cutouts only there to serve a purpose and with no personality or character of their own, and that could also be addressed with this.

given it was considered for skyward sword it's not like it's unprecedented, and it seems to me like the desire for playable zelda has only grown since botw/totk. if they did change their mind about adding any dlc that is what i would like to see from it!!

[hadalzonee]

THEY DIDN'T LEAVE THE PARAGLIDER OUT OF TOTK LET'S GOOOOOOOO

[actual-changeling]

I'm losing my mind over hair ties I cannot fucking do this anymore i don't even NEED them anymore I have short hair I don't own a single one but Joel does Joel has all of them because he LOVES ELLIE and Ellie needs them.

[vraska-theunseen]

HIII. HIHIHIHIHI

[cgsartwork]

okaaayyy i had this idea a lil while after i started playing totk. and since i have a total brainrot when it comes to record of ragnarok,a n d jack x alex au ship i was like, "what if them, but those outfits?"

I added Alexs sister cuz at this point they are a trio. The husbands and the sister in law.

[chatty-moogle]

The Story You Want To See: Princess Zelda’s Narrative Arc in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

Spoilers for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

A piece about reviewer interpretations of Zelda's role in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, as analysed by someone who has played neither BOTW or TOTK. (1,219 words)

Unlike many gamers, what I (as a bystander with no interest in any of the Zelda games besides maybe Majora’s Mask) was most curious about with regard to Tears of the Kingdom was how it would treat Princess Zelda in the wake of Breath of the Wild.

You see, although I haven’t played Breath of the Wild, I do know that quite a few people praised Zelda’s portrayal in that game. They argued that while still a princess requiring Link’s rescuing, Zelda being made the focus of the main story (as doled out through flashbacks) and having been locked up in Hyrule Castle with Calamity Ganon by her own choice gave a subversive twist to that game. As summed up by Critical Distance’s Chris Lawrence in a Twitter thread on June 17th, 2021: “…In BOTW, Link may be the playable character, but Zelda is the protagonist—the flashbacks deal principally with her character development, not Link’s. […] The entirety of BOTW […] is about Zelda’s struggle to achieve autonomy.”

I wondered: if Breath of the Wild subverted the typical hero-and-princess story and put the evil to rest, then how would Tears of the Kingdom, which comes after this destruction of the status quo, treat this newly-liberated princess, a damsel no longer in distress?

Fans said that the obvious next step was for Nintendo to give Zelda a more active role in the sequel; as a playable character or deuteragonist, perhaps, but either way, she needed to be able to enjoy the freedom won at the end of the previous game. To return to Chris Lawrence’s thread: “If Zelda is once again damselled and needs to be rescued by Link, the sequel isn’t reflecting the growth of Zelda’s character over the previous game. In other words, the sequel is failing to justify itself as a narrative continuation of the first game.”

So I skimmed through the many glowing reviews of Tears of the Kingdom, hoping to find out what had become of Zelda. At that point, I noticed something odd: reviewers seemed to have strongly conflicting interpretations of Zelda’s part in the narrative.

Many reviews were positive on the story, and some specifically cited Zelda’s role in it as a highlight. Gamereactor’s David Caballero apparently declared that “it is literally the legend of Zelda this time around” (quoted in TOTK review by Gamereactor’s Alex Hopley), and Gamespot’s Steve Watts concurs: “But more than the Sages or even Link, this story truly belongs to Zelda”. The Gamer’s Jade King expanded on this in her review, stating that “[although] Zelda isn’t playable here, […] all the discoverable memories scattered across the open world focus on her arc”, and therefore “she is still given room to shine and comes across as inquisitively capable in recruiting new allies and setting the stage for Link to vanquish evil once and for all”. Checkpoint Gaming’s Luke Mitchell likewise observes that “while [Zelda] isn’t present for your adventuring, the main questline gives you the opportunity to unlock memories, uncovering more about Zelda and her connection to Hyrule”.

But a handful of other reviewers had a very different perspective. Two specifically noted that the premise of the game involves saving Zelda: Eurogamer’s Edwin Evans-Thirlwell wrote that “Zelda […] is still fundamentally a damsel in need of rescuing”, while IGN’s Tom Marks flippantly remarked that the game is “about stopping some evil jerk (welcome back, Ganondorf) and saving Princess Zelda as usual” while pronouncing the story to be “so dang cool”. The Verge’s Ash Parrish and Press Start’s James Berich were rather more critical, stating that “Zelda, though teased as playing a more active role, has been, once again, utterly sidelined — this time in a particularly egregious way”, and “Zelda’s characterisation definitely feels like a step back from her appearance in Breath of the Wild”, respectively.

So what actually happened in the game? After looking up some spoilers on Screenrant, I’m still not too sure myself. It seems that much of the main story sees Link searching for Zelda after getting separated at the start, during the course of which the player unlocks flashbacks showing what befell the princess. These flashbacks, in turn, explain that Zelda got transported into the past, and due to various reasons ended up sacrificing herself in order to ensure that Link is able to defeat the big bad in the present day. This sacrifice involves her turning into a mindless dragon, and she is able to turn back into a human only after being healed by Link (and friends) at the end.

In short:

Zelda is absent from a large portion of the game

Zelda does have a story arc in which she demonstrates agency… by sacrificing herself to ensure that Link can play his heroic role

Without Link’s help, Zelda would be dead (and/or stuck as a dragon with no sense of self)

Hmm. I don’t know, but this sounds very much like Breath of the Wild to me.

But why the praise? Why such a gap in interpretation among the critics? The answer, I think, lies in Ed Smith’s excellent article on Resident Evil 4 Remake, “And Then There Are Things We Don't Remake”. In it, he observes that “commercial entertainment has gotten extremely good at ensuring that your beliefs, whatever they are, are somehow reflected back to you”, taking Ashley from Resident Evil 4 Remake as an example:

“If you’re a feminist, Ashley talks more, does more, is kind of semi appreciably less sexualised than before. It won’t work on everyone, but enough people will be impressed by this ostensible progress as compared to 2005 that Resident Evil 4 Remake more or less passes the look test. If you like things how they were, and you’re worried about how videogames increasingly seem politicised or driven by a liberal agenda, Ashley still doesn’t do that much, and you still get to order her around, and there’s a few decent close-ups of her and Ada.”

Put another way, female characters in modern, big-budget games are frequently written to appeal to all demographics, even conflicting ones. Progressives will latch onto the hints of nuance to the writing of a female character or her gameplay design, while anti-progressives are appeased because they see that nothing has changed in the overall scheme of things.

Tears of the Kingdom is good because all those flashbacks are focused on Zelda, and in them we see a capable, clever young woman make a very hard choice for the sake of her people. Tears of the Kingdom is bad because ultimately Zelda isn’t present for most of the game and needs to be saved by Link.

Alternatively: Tears of the Kingdom’s handling of Zelda isn’t great, but hey, did we really expect any better of Nintendo? The trouble is that the games most kaleidoscopic in their representation are likely the biggest names – and as Smith notes, “there’s only so much indignation you can have about this, because it’s obviously how it’s going to be, and always going to be—they’re always going to make games this way, the big games, because it’s an industry”.

His illustration of this defeatist mindset is spot-on, but I wish it wasn’t. It doesn’t need to be the case. Let’s keep looking to that horizon, rather than only sticking to familiar plains.

[sluxe]

Smash Bros Future Cast Part 3

Ultimate Base Inkling ****** / * Ridley ***** / ** Simon *** / * King K Rool ** / * Isabelle ***** / *** Incineroar ** / **

Inkling is the guarantee this round. Splatoon is huge and it's going to get more reps, not less. Isabelle is in the same boat, but theoretically she could be replaced.

Ridley is the sole non-Samus rep for Metroid, and hugely requested for years. With Dread's success and Prime 4 upcoming, he's unlikely to be cut and there's few possible replacements unless Prime 4 provides new characters. There's an outside chance of him being replaced by Raven Beak but… it's tiny.

K Rool on the other hand is likely to be cut. But if they go cut heavy enough, he's likely to be replaced by Dixie instead, and maybe come back as DLC?

Simon is the sole new third party rep in base, and Konami is… unpredictable. No clue what's up there.

Ultimate First Party DLC Piranha Plant ** / * Byleth **** / ** Min Min **** / * Pyra / Mythra *** / **

Piranha Plant seems high on the chopping block of random reps. The only saving grace is the Mario IP attached. Byleth is quite unique, and Three Houses is the best received Switch FE, so they're likely to return. Min Min will be back so long as an ARMS 2 is in development, which seems likely. If the IP was actually abandoned, then maybe not.

Pyra and Mythra are still quite relevant, but are two characters in one two make, plus we might get other Xeno reps instead.

Ultimate Third Party DLC Joker * / * Hero ** / ** Banjo & Kazooie *** / * Terry ** / * Steve / Alex *** / * Sephiroth * / * Kazuya *** / * Sora * / * Most of the third party DLC characters are likely to stay as DLC if they ever come back in future titles. Steve / Alex might be base thanks to Microsoft's current 'play nice' policy if they really want to promote the movie, and B-K might be cheap enough because of the same policy. Hero is the only Squeenix character that really stands a chance if he's promting DQ XII this time, but they're a mess to work with. Kazuya might happen if Bandai-Namco is developing, but he might just be held back for early DLC instead.

Possible New Characters

Ring Fit Trainee / Dragaux - Discussed above as a Wii Fit Trainer replacement

Howard - Astral Chain is the only other major new IP with notable characters (though a Labo character is possible), and with it being Platinum's best selling title an Astral Chain 2 is likely in the works. Since they own the IP, this is an easy fit.

Oatchi - Pikmin can finally get a second rep, with a character that's cute enough to appeal to non-Pikmin fans. Pikmin 4 sold super well, having already well outsold any other single release, so a second rep seems likely.

Squid Sisters - A two-in-one character, maybe inspired by Ice Climbers if they don't return. Splatoon is huge, so I can't see it not getting a second rep. There's a ton of popular characters, but Marie and Callie literally had real life concerts.

Tom Nook - Animal Crossing is huge, and Tom Nook seems a likely choice for a third rep. Not super confident it'll be him, but he does seem the most likely.

Riju - Zelda is huge, so a BotW / TotK rep seems almost guaranteed. Riju seems to meet the requirements the best, being relevant in both games. It does mean another swords(wo)man, but ah well. She's still fun, even if I'd prefer Revali, Sidon, or Tulin.

Rillaboom - Assuming we don't have Gen 10 by the time we start development, Rillaboom is the most likely Gen 9 rep from Pokemon. Still, it could be anyone.

Rayman / Rabbid Peach - Ubisoft has been working heavy with Nintendo all gen, the groundwork is there for them to get a rep. Rabbid Peach is partially a Nintendo IP already, while Rayman is more of a longshot.

[creamygiraffe]

This is nice! I can’t just unzip and play anywhere. Definitely going to get this and play on my next flight.

#nintendoswitch #masterkase #kiwee #TOTK #christmas #climate change

[frogdetective]

incredible that in this game sidon is engaged to a woman yet manages to be even gayer towards link than in botw. getting to zora’s domain i was like damn sidon ok happy pride . he’s writing odes to link on the walls. he’s got a STATUE of them together in the middle of the domain. his fiancee tells link that sidon talks about him every day. sidon ur incredible

[hadalzonee]

oh, wow. the depths are absolutely gorgeous. it reminds me of the deep sea.

[actual-changeling]

no longer sleep deprived thanks to my besties seroquel and zolpidem so hopefully i will get some less eye-vibrating writing done today. silhouettes should be updated around tuesday/wednesday and the skin to skin sequel pretty much the second it is ready.

[vraska-theunseen]

wtf literally totk?!

[mushroomdropsystem]

Hi there this is our current alter name list and matching emojis, alters and commenters may use one, or both

(emoji fast travel in #s just click the alter emoji you'd like to see)

❗ !!! (congratulations it's twins!)

❓ ??? (congratulations it's twins!)

🎸 Al blu (song fictive of alien blues)

🏖 Beach ken (Beach Ken fictive)

☢️ Dr. Oppenheimer (fictive from Oppenheimer movie)

��� Candy (the literal cat)

✊ Garnet (fictive SU (rly only plays beat saber))

😣 Grumpy (Purrfect Tale introject)

😐 Oliver (Purrfect Tale introject)

🐉 Hiccup (fictive from how to train ur dragon)

🥺 Kitty (factive of our best friend)

🚔 Leon (fictive from resident evil/dbd)

💠 Missing No. (out from dormancy)

💷 Officer K (fictive from blade runner)

👽 Paradot (fictive SU (tablet kid))

🐞 Puppycat (fictive from bee & puppycat)

🖥 Pyro (introject of Pyrocinical YT)

🐀 Rat (demon mf)

🍼 Lil Rat (little of rat)

🌹 Rosie (alien sweetheart)

🌙 Little Rosie (little of Rosie)

🔥 Rin (fictive from blue Exorcist)

💨 Seth Rogen (introject of the actor?)

🩻 Shaun (fictive of the good doctor)

🚬 Simon (fictive COF (regular dude(kinda)))

💒 Kitty Simon (fictive COF (meow meow/silly))

🦽 Sick Simon (fictive COF (hes sick and can't walk))

🩸 Silly Simon (fictive COF (silly sso silly))

📱 Little Simon (fictive COF (smoll))

🌟 Simpleflips (introject of simpleflips YT)

🕸 Webber (fictive Don't Starve)

🧪 Wilson (fictive Don't Starve)

😇 ångel (Lalaloopsi boy doll object alter)

🧸 Cardamon (fictive puppycat)

👻 Nyx (split off of an art peice won't talk much)

📛 Crona (Soul eater introject)

🕳 Ragnarok (SE introject only speaks to crona)

⛓️ Yoon Bum (killing stalking introject)

🐸 Baby Bum (Yoon bum but a kid)

🪡 Empty SEKAI Miku [EM] (project sekai fictive)

🫐 Craig (southpark fictive)

☕ Tweek (southpark fictive)

📼 Alex (marble hornets fictive)

🌈 Tism Creature (autism creature introject)

🍑 Fawn (shy bunny)

🍟 Fry (Futurama fictive)

❌ Blury (mf named Blury)

🌸 Kylar (degrees of lewdity fictive)

🍆 Sock (degrees of lewdity fictive)

🟡 Ena (Ena fictive (happy))

🔵 Ena (Ena fictive (sad))

🟠 Ena (Ena fictive (drunk))

🌀 Connor (Detroit become human fictive)

🗡 Link (BOTW/TP/TOTK fictive)

🍷 Nils (fictive from twilight host club)

🧠 Brain (sad)

🤬 Bruno (can't keep his mouth shut)

🫀 Wren (Jeff the Killer introject)

📺 Blurry (all of your friends are gone rn, please come back later)

alter count

76?

(Needs fucking fixed AGAIN)

Simply plural ID:

Y8XBH6zJGRM5ml4OyA7m1CrfW7f2

[hadalzonee]

aw, it's kind of sad seeing the rito village empty except for a bunch of kids :(

[hadalzonee]

waaah the zonai have such good designs...

[hadalzonee]

i love the mushroom-themed stuff in hateno, it's very up my alley