#and do quests in the most pleasing order and everything. which has me afraid I'll explore the darker timeline where davrin does die

[vaguely-concerned]

realizing after meeting eldrin how many parallels I've completely accidentally managed to set up between davrin and rye despite the fact that they're such incredibly different personalities and feeling an embarrassing swell of real tears rising up

[xx-ingie-xx]

I'm so glad you're back! I was afraid something bad happened and I'm relieved to find out that it wasn't the case. A few months have passed since the release of TOTK, so the hype has went down and now I would like to read your opinion of the game. What are your favorite parts about it, what are the things you disliked and how would you rank this game with the rest of the 3D Zelda games?

Aw, thank you! Yeah, I'm sorry I post so infrequently. I'm hoping that will change once I start working on the Fortitude revision again. Finishing Forgotten has been such an uphill project for me. But I'll be so glad I didn't leave it unfinished.

My thoughts and opinions about TotK are below (emphasis on my opinions--I don't expect everyone to agree with me, and that's ok!).

Three things I enjoyed:

THE MUSIC. The soundtrack is amazing, especially the growing dynamics as you progress in certain areas. It has a psychological effect, and I found it really intense in the best way.

THE TEMPLES. I was very happy to see a return to more traditional Zelda dungeons. WAY more fun than the divine beasts, and I liked having the sages assist! Gave me TWW vibes.

Better NPCs and sidequests. Maybe it's just me, but it felt like the Zelda team put some extra love into creating the NPCs and all the quests that come with them. I've had more fun with them than I did in BotW - which had way too many simple fetch quests.

Three things that didn't do much for me:

The Zonai tech. It's fun to use, and I do appreciate how utterly amazing the development/coding is, especially considering the Switch's hardware limitations. However, I would be very tired of Ultrahand by now if not for the Autobuild ability, and even then my interest is mild at best. Also, it did not feel "Zelda-ish" to me. I don't think driving cars or shooting rockets belongs in a Zelda game. In fact I ignored the Zonai tech whenever possible. I would often walk instead of building a car, simply because it felt more "Zelda-ish" to do so.

Mediocre voice acting. I'm relieved to say Ganondorf was fairly good. The rest not so much. If Nintendo isn't willing to hire more expensive more esteemed VAs for a flagship franchise like Zelda, I'd rather they didn't do it at all.

Zelda's story. Don't get me wrong, I was very glad to see her play a stronger, amazingly brave and selfless character. The thing I'm not happy about is that she was once again separated from Link throughout the entire game. Is it really too much to ask that they work together side by side? *sigh*

Three things I strongly disliked: (warning: ranting ahead)

EMOTIONLESS LINK. I cannot express how much I hate this. Even if I put aside my love for Link as a character and my wish for him to express himself, I still think this blank-faced avatar approach is awful. It does not allow me to see myself as Link (which I believe was their intent) because I have feelings and he doesn't, seemingly. If anything, it had the opposite effect. I found It distracting and cringey and infuriating to watch Link react to everything with determination, confusion, or that stupid blank expression. There are some emotionally charged scenes in this game, and they fall very flat because of Link. At least, they did for me. UGH.

Non-linear storytelling. It's highly restrictive, disjointed, and the impact depends on the order in which players obtain certain cutscenes. Please, Nintendo, no more.

The Zonai. I'm not a fan of most furry character designs, and Rauru is particularly strange, so it was immediately off-putting to me. I also strongly dislike the idea of them founding Hyrule and being "like gods" to Hylians. It's all very vague, and I don't understand how any of it works with past Zelda lore, especially when Hylia is so important in BotW. It's like they scrapped everything sacred in Zelda lore (the golden goddesses, Hylia, etc.), and replaced it with the Zonai. Meh, I'll stick with the old lore, thanks.

Also, a furry being married to a Hylian is also very off-putting to me. I don't know how that works, I don't want to find out, and I have no interest in learning more about Rauru or Sonia. Their fates had zero emotional impact on me, so I didn't get much out of that part of the storyline.

I could go on, but I'll stop there.

As far as rankings, I would place TotK with BotW because they are very similar. Here's how I rank the 3D Zelda games:

OoT/MM

BotW/TotK

TWW

SS

TP

So yeah, didn't love it, didn't hate it. Like with BotW, I'm very frustrated by all the untapped potential. As an avid Zelinker, I see the entire arc of BotW and TotK as an epic story of love, loss, bravery, and sacrifice. Link and Zelda both mirror and complement each other in so many ways, and I love the creative potential in that.

I also love the limitless exploration in both games - it keeps me interested for hours. But when the next Zelda game is revealed, I'd like to see a new formula, preferably a more classic one.