#botw hot take

[thezoraprince]

maybe a hot take but i fully believe that Gruve (the diving zora) and Branli (the guy that does the bird research study) belong together

that's the content i want in totk

[proxycrit]

LINKTOBER DAY 23- MIPHAS COURT

Birdsong is not the sound of the sea, but it’s better than nothing at all.

(Yona may be a mystery to Sidon, but her grief is familiar.)

((The Alchemist’s last correspondence with the Lost Heir was an argument about becoming Van Ruta’s champion a hundred and three years ago. She had called Mipha a reckless fool, and angrily dove deep into her research under the seas of Holodrum, waiting for an apology that will never come.))

-Totk au masterlist (it’s usually goofy)

-Patreon (if you want to see my sketchbook)

[vampire-wizard-solidarity]

a lot of people have already pointed out how totk has a lot of themes of imperialism and generally leans conservative ideologically, but what i think is interesting is how totk subtly redefines what a “researcher” is.

zelda wants to be a researcher in botw, and what this means in the context of botw is largely someone who works with sheikah technology. she wants to figure out ancient sheikah tech, she has an interest in botany and otherwise nature and biology (the whole silent princess and the frog thing), robbie and purah, the two characters who are the closest to us seeing what a researcher in the context of botw is are basically inventors. in totk, however, the main researchers who are presented to us are all historians.

this is an interesting pivot, because in botw zelda is not really interested in history. if anything, the one who’s deeply concerned with history is rhoam, wanting to preserve historical tradition and his uncritical reliance on said tradition and historical precedent is what leads them to their doom. in botw, zelda is narratively opposed to history, if anything, all the ancient tech backfires on them and traditions fail to awaken zelda’s power. zelda’s urge to be a researcher is in wanting to understand the world around her, not just blindly follow ancient plans but rather have agency within them.

totk, however, is obsessed with ancient plans. the only real moment where zelda gets to geek out in totk is her getting all giddy about finding out more about the divine origins of hyrule. all the researchers in the game are concerned with finding out more about the zonai. since all the mentions of ancient sheikah technology are scrubbed from the game purah and robbie read more as strange outliers, the sheikah slate is no longer, now it’s the purah pad, a product of purah rather than something larger. the whole game is literally about following an ancient plan, a plan most characters don’t fully understand as they sign up for it. totk’s main story is built on confusion, on the characters not knowing what’s fully going on but having faith in ancient sages telling them what to do. in botw, following ancient plans you don’t fully understand was the thing that doomed you. in totk, following ancient plans you don’t fully understand is the gimmick.

that juxtaposition between the two games has an ideological through line: botw posits that progress is necessary. mindlessly relying on tradition doesn’t work. prophecies are omens, not instructions. history must be learnt from, not repeated. the ancient sheikah aren’t a group to be emulated, but rather to be learnt from, considering their machinery backfired and the royal family betrayed them. totk, however, is obsessed with the mythical history of hyrule, a time where everything was idyllic until one bad man showed up, a time we must emulate in order to win. i already talked about how the past in totk is zelda’s life pre calamity but better here, but that also plays into the idolisation of that era and its royalty. in botw, even the myth of the first calamity preserves the fact that the yiga clan has origins in the royal’s family persecution of the sheikah, even the time when they successfully held back the calamity is tinged with mistakes that still affect the world ten thousand years later. in totk, ganondorf’s origins are nebulous. nobody provoked him, nobody did anything wrong, he’s just evil because he is.

a lot of right wing ideologies are hinged on preservation, but more than that: the belief in the nebulous mythical past in which everything was better. “make america great again”, the fascist’s idolisation of ancient rome which is represented largely inaccurately, look at any conservative rhetoric and you’ll see people complaining about how things nowadays are ruined or are being ruined, how in the past things were this way and they’re not anymore, which is bad. the belief in the fact that in some past period we were great and are not anymore, and the strive to emulate that past is a trait highly typical of right wing ideologies. and in totk the past as a great era is an idea presented completely uncritically, the narrative is entirely controlled by the game and doesn’t dwell on any of the inconsistencies in this idea.

now, obviously, not every story in which a great ancient era exists is fascist, right wing or conservative. but to me what’s interesting specifically in totk is this shift between the two games: botw is critical of the past. it’s critical of arrogantly repeating history, it’s critical of having blind faith in great relics of the past. totk isn’t. totk idolizes the past, totk tells legends and tells you to believe them without any doubts. botw believes researchers are those who seek to understand the world, innovate it and solve problems without relying on ancient ways. totk believes researchers are those who discover ancient instructions, ancient ways and relay them to great men in the present to be followed. the four mainline regional quests in botw are about discovering four ancient relics that are terrorising the land and fixing the mistakes of the past. the four mainline regional quests in totk are about discovering four ancient legends are true, and receiving instructions from an ancient sage on what to do.

totk is not simply neutral, it is ideologically conservative in stark contrast to botw, because of the things it chooses to leave uncriticised, notably the things botw was very poignant about examining critically. the way totk redefines what is a researcher is indicative of this, indicative of the way it chooses to idolize or present as an unexamined good that which was nuanced in botw. totk isn’t just conservative in the sense that it presents uncritically a “good king” and “evil conquerer”, it goes deeper, it’s notable because botw was starkly opposed to the thematic axioms totk presents.

i just think it’s very interesting that they made a sequel to botw, and completely redefined or otherwise ignored botw’s thematic core.

[uwudonoodle]

[amanitacurses]

[mylonelydreaming]

I hate when people call zelink or zelink in every game "uncreative" or something.

No, you are uncreative. They have different history and personalities each time which would change the relationship dynamic even in the scenario of always being romantic.

It feels like what people are saying is "romance is always the same" which isn't true. Is every friendship the exact same? No

[dracomelody]

Let me start by saying I love the Zelda franchise. I'm a casual gamer, and I haven't beaten every single game in the series (I haven't finished Zelda 2 and I haven't started Oracle of Ages, and I haven't played most of the spinoffs).

When Breath of the Wild came out, it instantly became tied with Twilight Princess as my favorite Zelda game. BotW was a breath of fresh air (pun intended) and I loved how I could play the game at my own pace, and I loved the freedom to explore wherever I wanted from the start. I thought the story was great and the gameplay was unique. The dungeons fell a bit short (they were short and easy, and the bosses kinda sucked), but they were creative, and I loved the champions enough that beating their bosses felt satisfying, if only since it avenged my old friends. Its themes of finally getting closure from the past while helping in the present was handled beautifully, and the final memory brought me to tears.

When Tears of the Kingdom was announced, I was HYPED. I was so excited to see Ganondorf's return and the consequences that would have on the world in this new story. I was wondering how they would handle reusing the same map, especially with the new abilities (Recall was what I was most excited for since it had so much potential to use in puzzles). But the more I saw of TotK regarding its map and game mechanics, the less interested I became.

I thought we would be able to keep the shrines as warp points on the surface (and the focus of the game would be on exploring the Depths and the Sky). Instead, all traces of the BotW's story were lost. No Shiekah tech, no towers, no (Shiekah) shrines. Ok, fine, it's whatever. But that meant you were required to explore the SAME overworld the SAME WAY as you did in BotW: finding dragons tears (finding memories), finding/beating Zonai shrines (finding/beating Sheikah shrines), and finding lookout towers to gain a map of the area (climbing the Shiekah towers). Why? What's the point of all of that in the same overworld, when the focus SHOULD be on making the Depths and Skies interesting instead?

The skies were too segmented and barely had anything in them. The depths were mostly empty aside from enemies and DLC armor from BotW (which makes most of the amiibo useless, btw. Also, THEY GOT RID OF WOLF LINK. I WILL NOT FORGIVE THEM. Lol), and finding the Lightroots as the priority made it tedious to explore. The caves on the surface were so small that they hardly mattered unless you wanted to hunt all the frogs.

I thought the dungeons would be more unique from each other this time around, maybe play on different types of gimmicks or themes. Instead, it's just more of the same gimmick that BotW had: find a few terminals and then beat the boss.

Since TotK is a sequel, I thought its story would be in real time, directly driving the gameplay. Instead, the story takes place forever in the past, and ultimately has no bearing on the plot outside of Zelda's location, AND the exact same story gets replayed after every dungeon you beat. I understood it the first time, thanks.

The ancestors in the past story don't really mean anything to me because they're...nobody. I don't even think they had names. They didn't do anything to make themselves stand out from their descendants, or even have a connection with their descendants aside from being their ancestors. But I digress.

In terms of reusing the world, I thought the old ruins (like the ranch ruins in BotW) would have been rebuilt, or a few new towns would have been added, but INSTEAD it's just the same old world with added monster camps and Lookout Landing and maybe another town that was so forgettable that I don't even remember it.

Ok, so it wasn't what I expected. That doesn't make it bad, right?

Well, I gave it a chance I just really didn't care for the building mechanics. The fusion mechanic is great, but I still feel like I'm cheesing my way through the game instead of actually solving puzzles the way they were intended. I feel like I'm just brute forcing my way through the game, and that doesn't make me feel clever or smart the way older games used to when I'd figure out a unique puzzle.

Oh well. Some games just aren't meant for some people. I still had fun just exploring and messing with Koroks, and I liked that I could have more horses (but they left out the ancient bridle and saddle from the BotW DLC =( )

So now that they've dropped trailers for Echoes of Wisdom, I thought: this is it, they're going to do something different. And we're playing as Zelda!! Zelda has so many cool abilities!!

But instead, the new gimmick in the game is....a rod. That anyone can use. Using Zelda's powers in a game where you play as Zelda? NOPE. Just give her a weapon Link could use, except now we don't have Link's sword/shield or arsenal of other items. We're just a powerless girl with a duplication wand.

Ok, ok, it can't be as bare-bones as that.

The world should be unique and encourage you to explore and navigate the different terrains, right? NOPE, just summon a million beds and climb over everything.

Open world games can be fun, but when you have NO LIMITS then it becomes boring. There's no thought or challenge or maze or puzzles in order to progress; you can easily use the mechanic to build your own solution to every single problem from the start. And building your own solution means relying on knowledge you already have; it doesn't require you to learn how to problem-solve, the way puzzles are meant to. Usually, in this case, I'd WANT to progress in order to see what will happen in the story. But we all know that the Zelda team doesn't gaf about the story, at least not anymore. So what's the point?

Just echo a cucco to fly over gaps, or summon a few objects as a staircase to climb up ledges. Using these echoes in dungeons has the potential to make things fun, but in the overworld? I just don't see the appeal of cheesing your way through every obstacle. And I already had my fill of going wherever I wanted in BotW and TotK. Making the overworld an actual world worth navigating would be NEW at this point.

I feel like EoW should be a short little spinoff game or something. At least then I wouldn't feel so disappointed in a main series game. I'll check it out for the story alone, but if TotK's story is anything to go on, I'm sure EoW's story will be lacking as well.

I'm not dropping out of the fandom just yet. But I feel like they're really cashing in on BotW's success by making every game a worse knockoff of it. They're using playable Zelda as a dirty tactic to win over fans like me who have wanted to play as Zelda with her established abilities.

[cremsie]

The new Pokémon game is a glitchy buggy rushed mess. But it’s still selling like hotcakes and people are still gonna play it.

It’s kinda sad at least to me because that all the promises they’ll keep making BAD games because they know it’ll sell regardless. Just because it’s Pokémon. I feel bad for the people who work there and try to genuinely make good stuff.

And all glitches even OVERLOOKED. The game looks bad guys I mean come on. Take off the nostalgia glasses and recognize a subpar attempt at a professional game. If it were anyone else it’d get a pity excuse but this is the fuckin Pokémon company. Make them live up to it!

[gaylactic-fire]

Look look I love Hateno house fics as much as the next guy, but you can't tell me that Link and Zelda lived the rest of their lives in domestic bliss after BOTW. Ignoring TOTK's existence for a minute, I do truly believe they took a long while to rest and heal and get to know each other anew, but!! Did you guys literally forget the very subtle quote "The princess can only thrive out here in the wild."? There's no way these idiots spent months, even years, living together quietly. You guys just gotta face the cold hard facts. These dudes walked the roads of Hyrule together til their feet got blisters. They cuddled all cramped in a stable bed bc they ran out of rupees. They bathed in ice cold rivers and pooped in the woods. And they loved every fucking second of it.

[nolongerapileofashprobably]

They did the new sages so much better in ToTK and they are everything to me. Replaying totk after botw has me really really loving each and every single one of them even more than my first run through.

Tulin is my son. I trained him as a little fledgling and he makes me so proud.

Riju is my partner in crime, she can and will commit war crimes with me. Ride and die. Also little sister.

Yunobo is my little brother that’s sometimes annoying but a tad too lovable for me to care.

Sidon is my bestie that I won’t see for years but when I do it’s like no time has passed (but it has and he has a fiancé ? Like bitch send a letter)

Anyway I really love them all. All of them.

[kiamochii]

How would Revali react Eri (my oc) in the Gerudo outfit?

yes this is where the shookt revali came from HAHHDSG I’m proud I made him look like the flustered birb he is

I WILL POST A PROPER CHARACTER SHEET SOON HOPEFULLY (*keeps making funny posts like this) sorry guys all I can think of is Revali reacting to his gf wife

[bobafetts-princess]

Playing TOTK and all I’m saying is that I need to fuck Ganondorf

[vampire-wizard-solidarity]

the depths conceptually:

- an exciting new way to interact with the environment, transforming and extending botw’s exciting feeling of exploration by literally making the player uncover the world from the darkness as they navigate it

the depths in reality:

- using the darkness as an excuse to make the environment drab and boring; extremely formulaic, to the point of being predictable; combination of these two factors leads to the player shifting their engagement from exploration to instead predicting where loot/gameplay element/lightroot might be and making their way there through a largely bland environment

conceptually:

- a whole new opportunity for environmental storytelling and general lore; great potential to play a part in the story and explore remnants of an ancient civilisation

reality:

- a deeply underdeveloped and empty location; little to no opportunity to discuss or find out elements of story; lore-wise doesn’t seem to go beyond “we were mining here”; in places used purely as a dumping ground for gameplay challenges (like the coliseums and boss battles) with little to no diegetic explanation

conceptually:

- a whole new aesthetic lean to contrast with the surface and the sky islands, an opportunity to create new beautiful biomes and environments with a unique atmosphere

reality:

- the colours are dominated by grey with only a few outcroppings of colour; the world design is almost identical in every part of the map, all equally unexciting; once the novelty wears off the environment offers nothing to look at, everything is muted and boring and copy pasted;

yeah i don’t like the depths guys

[hot-take-tournament]

HOT TAKE TOURNAMENT

POST PRE PRELIMINARY #122

Submission 379

Breath of the Wild weapon durability is great and if you hate it you're probably just bad at the game.

Look, weapon durability makes you actually use all the tools available to you in a game that gives you a TON of them. If you're even decent at the combat and assessing risk you'll constantly be getting new weapons and replacing the ones you break so you're never really hurting for them. And it makes the beginning of the game actually challenging and teaches you how the many mechanics work because you can't just wail on things and win automatically. People who complain that botw isn't that great because of weapon durability are just weak.

Pre-preliminaries will be used to determine what qualifies as a hot take. Propaganda is encouraged!

Also, remember to reblog your favourite polls for exposure!

[storyofundertalelover]

I fucking hate sidlink. Sidon is like 100 years old and then he meet slink who is 17-20 like. what r you talking abt. that is a very immature kid and a dude who, lets be honest, is probably 25 in Zora years. the age gap is strange and I dont like it.

[ambersky0319]

I love and hate getting hit with big project ideas (both of the writing and art variety)

love it bc they seem so fun!! i would like to do them for various reasons! i know finishing would leave me feeling accomplished, id learn some new stuff and practice some skills

hate it cause i have no time to finish and i eventually lose motivation to keep up