#for all the complaining i do about TOTK

[arkon-z]

A very interesting thing I just realized about Tears of the Kingdom vs Breath of the Wild (yes, I'm on about this again):

They're both open world games, but I think BOTW does it better than TOTK. Or, more accurately, TOTK wanted/tried to be a lot more linear, but didn't quite pull it off. The game doesn't lock you on a specific path, but it definitely has one and things can get awkward if you don't follow it. Like, if you've played it, you know it really pushes you to go to Rito Village first, even though you can go anywhere you want. You don't need Tulin's Gust to do everything else, but since a third of the game is in the sky, it's hard to get around without it.

It's more obvious with the Dragon Tear memories. You're obviously supposed to get them in a specific order so that the story they're telling makes sense. But if you just find one randomly while exploring, you'll get a scene that's way out of context and you might get spoiled for later events. That happened to me, actually. I saw the blood moon memory before the betrayal scene. Easy enough to figure out from context what was happening, but it was kind of disappointing to see it in the wrong order. Not that I didn't know what was coming - if you've ever played a Zelda game, you know what Ganondorf is about.

In BOTW, it didn't matter that you could get the memories out of order, because they weren't building off of each other the way the Dragon Tears were. The BOTW memories are telling a story, but they're disjointed and only loosely connected to each other. And because you are playing as an amnesiac trying to put his memory back together, the fact that they feel so disjointed is part of the experience. They're clearly missing a ton of context (which you as the player can easily infer as you find more memories), but aren't dependent on each other to convey the message contained in each one.

As i've said before, TOTK's script would have benefited from another pass or two before release. I think it tried too hard to please all the fans and the story (and other parts) suffered as a result. Trying to introduce some strong linear elements in a game and setting not known for its linearity is a choice for sure, and might have worked if they'd tried a little harder.

[ganondoodle]

im not lying when i say that i was just finally getting "over" totk, like i hate it still, but the immediate anger and need to rant has died down-

and then the elden ring DLC fucks with me in a very similar way, just even moreso focused on my favorite character in that entire franchise, completely unexpectedly, and the more i learn about it the worse it gets and now i feel even worse bc i dont have the energy anymore to get as angry as i did with totk and its just kinda ... depression and sadness ..

it was like the interest i could fall back to when zelda annoyed me too much or i needed a break from that and i was honestly thinking about doing more with it but now

i know i know i can always draw 'my own stuff' but being a fan of a piece of media or character is just fun and .. furfilling to me in a different way and now i feel so empty again ... and finding new things to obsess about is easier said and done bc i dont 'decide' to stop liking something and neither can just decide to obsess over something so im just kinda left hanging here ... and in a way, i still like it and care about it, frustratingly so, and dont WANT to just stop and find soemthign new ...

[a-gameboy-pocket]

It absolutely sucks that everything’s getting more expensive and all that, and I don’t like the idea of paying $70 for Tears of the Kingdom especially since Nintendo is notorious for never lowering their prices but if $10 is the price to be paid for Nintendo developers having living wages, so be it

like, Nintendo sales have been going down but they’re still giving their devs a 10% raise. I’m happy spending $10 more if it means that the people who made the game I’m playing are taken care of, especially since burnout is so prevalent in the industry nowadays

This is my most anticipated game of the year as well, and I think a lot of people are in the same boat. I’m glad the people who made it are being treated well.

[timegears-moved]

i get mad about team rocket so i go to play totk to calm down, forgetting that totk also makes me mad

[waywardsalt]

ok since tears of the kingdom is coming out like. insanely soon i figured i’ll just dump how i’ve been feeling abt it here. i wont tag for them and i dont intend to share any but because i have been actively seeking out spoilers i will vaguely reference them here so… idk really long musings on this game and my feelings abt it

(im just writing this out mostly for myself since i really kind of just. want to really figure out how i feel about this)

i… am not excited for totk?

i’ve figured out a bit ago that my severely waning interest in botw and general anxiety and discontent surrounding totk is just that… these games arent for me. i dont enjoy open world games with half a million things for you to do like it’s basically a sandbox. i struggle to really enjoy singleplayer minecraft. the space stage in spore gives me genuine anxiety, both when i played it as a kid and again when i reached it as an adult.

botw and totk are not games for me, and that’s cool. i’ve figured that out.

so why am i getting so damn anxious about this new game?

i am getting totk- not entirely of my own volition, i live with someone who is very genuinely excited for it, so it’s pre-ordered digitally on our switch. i am going to play it and complete it at least once.

the gameplay and world of botw never really got to me, and even what snippets of gameplay i see for totk dont really entice me. it just makes me anxious to think about the sheer amount of new stuff i’ll be dropped in the middle of and how i really dont care about this version of link or zelda or anyone else in botw’s hyrule

and some of the story spoiler stuff and general direction this game is going in has me just worried that the zelda series is moving away from what it used to be into an entirely new direction, that being a direction that it seems like i wont enjoy as much as everyone else seems to

so then i guess my main worry outside of totk is that i just end up struggling to really feel connected to the rest of the community about this? being a contrarian is fun until everyone is enjoying something you for some reason can’t get yourself to

i dont have a lot of hope in the story of totk to harken back to… ANYTHING of worth that past games have built up and made to be so important and interesting. hype is a dangerous thing for a not-yet-released game, and while i think the insane amount of speculation and theories and hype around totk will cause a lot of people to be disappointed with the final story, i dunno if i really wouldve liked it even if the story actually piqued my interest

maybe totk’s gameplay will really hook me. maybe i’ll enjoy the massive open world and gmod-ass gimmicks. but what ive seen of the story makes me less interested and the snippets of gameplay i see just make me remember how bored i now am with botw

at the end of the day this is just a video game with tags on this site i can blacklist and videos i can ignore and lore i can brush aside because at this point loz canon is a suggestion more than anything

i just cant shake the discomfort of once again being an outlier as everyone i see loses their mind about this new game while i just feel overwhelmed by it. i have played botw for a long time and have long since worn it out. i played age of calamity to completion and have not touched it or cared for it beyond the music since. i am not excited about totk and i feel like i am in the wrong due to my opinion

[giantroboticplatypusbutt218]

Wow. It feels nice to actually eat an entire meal.

[devotedlystrangewizard]

one thing i do love about like. the harder raids (think nier raids or orbonne) is that people are so much more likely to talk?? idk what its like on NA servers but here its pretty customary to just go "o/" or "hi" at the start and then say ur ggs & tys at the end

unless its a hard raid

(or its WoD we're just failing miserably because thats the WoD experience)

[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.

[gaylactic-fire]

Now that the dust has settled, I do definitely think there is some cause for concern over the trirod gimmick. One of my bigger complaints about TOTK is that it cannot strike a balance between creative freedom and challenge. Making machines that violate the Geneva Convention is very very fun, but if it means you can clear a Bokoblin camp in two minutes, ultimately the novelty wears off. To make Echoes Of Wisdom fun AND challenging the devs are definitely going to have to add limitations - especially in terms of creating echoes of enemies to fight alongside you. I'm hoping because of the top-down nature it won't delve too far down the path of TOTK.

That being said, all the people complaining that Zelda doesn't get classic sword combat in this game are laaaame. In almost every single instance of playable Zelda she DOES get either sword combat or magic attacks. I understand why (Hyrule Warriors and Cadence Of Hyrule are fast-paced and combat focused) but honestly, I have to ask, does that fit Zelda as a character? Does giving her a rapier and some random magic tie her in any way to the triforce of wisdom? No. It doesn't. (You'll never hear me say this again, but Age Of Calamity did it right). Personally, I LOVE that Nintendo have actually considered Zelda as a character. I love that they want to make her stand out with her own unique puzzle solving and combat in comparison to Link. Even though I have reservations about the trirod, the fact she is getting such a thought out treatment make me hand an uncommon W to the Zelda devs.

Also EoW Zelda can kill people with rocks. What's cooler than killing people with rocks?

[avalypuff]

Answers to the common questions of “Why didn’t Zelda retain dragon features?” and “Why did Link’s arm revert to normal?”

I’ve been dying to do some analysis posts since TotK came out, and after seeing a lot of people complain about the above, I decided my first should be related to the endgame.

So, I’ve seen a lot of posts where people seem to misunderstand what was going on when Zelda changed back into a Hylian, and why Link’s arm returned to normal. Many write this off as simply plot convenience, and while it’s true that Nintendo wouldn’t want to leave the main characters of one of their most popular titles with permanent changes, I’m here to try my best to explain the actual reason these things happened the way they did, because whether you noticed it or not, there is plot relevance to this reversion.

Draconification is permanent.

This is an indisputable fact.

And while I have seen people criticizing the way Zelda changed back, the fact is she swallowed the stone knowing that she never would.

“I’ll be forever changed…”

Her cry for Link to find her was not for her sake. She wasn’t depending on him to find the key to changing her back. Nay, the only reason she desperately prayed for him to find her was so that he could get the Master Sword, which—ignoring game mechanics that would allow you to beat Ganondorf with literally any weapon with the right damage/durability ratio—canonically is the only thing that can hurt him.

When Zelda changed back, it was almost entirely thanks to Sonia. That’s right!

…Let’s take a second to recall this scene in which Rauru decimated the horde of Molduga.

We see Sonia extend her hand and then gesture for Zelda to do the same.

Here they’re extending their own power to amplify Rauru’s counterattack, even beyond the already-massive boost the Secret Stone provides.

In the final scene when Link finds himself hovering over the sleeping Light Dragon amongst a dream-like atmosphere, it’s really quite telling that Sonia is the first to rest her hand over Link’s, then followed by Rauru.

This time Rauru is fulfilling the role of amplifying Sonia’s power over time. Not just that, but adding it on top of the time manipulation that Zelda gave to Link at the beginning of the game.

That’s what’s happening here. This is immensely powerful, triple amplified time magic!

The change from dragon to Hylian wasn’t a transformation in the same sense that it was when Zelda changed from Hylian to dragon. I know that’s a confusing sentence, but consider the basis of Sonia’s time magic is recalling things as they once were.

Zelda didn’t retain dragon features because, through the power of time reversal, she was never a dragon to begin with.

This is the also the reason the Secret Stone reappeared on her necklace.

This is ALSO the reason Link’s arm reverted to its natural state before he was affected by the gloom.

And before y’all come at me with “well, why didn’t Rauru do that in the first place instead of giving his arm to Link?” Simple; Sonia wasn’t there. Even spirits aren’t omnipotent… in Hyrule. (Probably.)

The point is, this was essentially a lucky break for Zelda and Link, because if Sonia (and therefore Zelda, by inheritance) didn’t have time magic, there would have been no way to undo the Draconification. It would have been every bit as permanent as Hyrule legends and history says it is, and Zelda would be gone forever.

In fact, it’s likely it was a shot in the dark even on Sonia and Rauru’s part, considering there was no prior knowledge of reversing time on a dragon, let alone a person. It was a glorious blend of the convenience of Sonia’s time magic, and luck that it worked out the way they (“they” being all characters involved) wanted.

Anyways, to wrap this up, Draconification is indeed permanent, unless you have the number one badass-master-of-time-manipulation Queen Sonia on your side. Then you can probably undo anything. :)

[ponett]

Since you are a gamedev, do you notice any difference in how you play and critique games in comparison to how non-game developers do it?

Sometimes, yeah. I pay attention to details a lot, especially if it's something that inspires me for my own work. With pixel art games, I pay a lot of attention to where the devs choose to use bespoke sprites and scenery. I also tend to pay attention to when changes in mechanics are used to underscore a story beat. That sort of thing.

In general, I think that actually making a game and studying game design can make you better at gauging how individual design decisions contribute to the overall intended experience of a game. This can sometimes make me more understanding or even appreciative of little things that annoy the average player.

For an easy example: Lots of people complain about how you have to backtrack to a goddess statue to upgrade your health in BotW and TotK, rather than just being given a Piece of Heart. But even setting aside any discussion of the choice between upgrading your health or your stamina (or neither, if you're a masochist) that the goddess statues offer, as a designer I understand the value in making players go back to town. Maybe while the player is backtracking to town to use a goddess statue they also see that the NPCs are doing something different now due to a change in the state of the world, or a new side quest has unlocked, or they're reminded to stock up on items and use their cooking ingredients. But there's also just value in down time, offering a tonal contrast between the safety of town and the excitement and danger of the rest of the world. And the player is more likely to grow attached to a town they visit repeatedly, their home away from home within the game world, compared to a location they pass through once or twice and then never have any reason to revisit. I think as a designer I'm able to appreciate these sorts of things more, rather than just judging them as a player based on whether or not the game is "wasting my time."

This can go both ways, though. I think I've become more picky with JRPGs because I've spent so much time analyzing their specifics in the process of making my own RPG. A lot of people will look at something like Bravely Default and see them as faithful throwbacks to classic Final Fantasy with a few modern twists, but to me the differences in how those games are structured and paced and balanced are glaringly different in a way that just makes me appreciate the way the classics did things more. Or like I'll play Octopath Traveler and just hyperfixate on how the areas are all structured identically.

Granted, I don't think you NEED to have made a game to get into this sort of mindset, but it's a factor.

[neverchecking]

I'm mostly curious, so you can write this as whatever but how does Sage do with an affectionate reader? We know he laps up all the attention Reader generously gives but like, is he generally rigid at giving or receiving? Or is he the softest man alive haha

Not well. Affection does not compute with this poor guy-

@lovanmari I think these may be more of what you were looking for?

Anyway, Sage is TotK Link!

In face, have some headcanons on this-

・❥・Sage. My precious baby boy. How I love and cherish you, you little rat bastard.

・❥・So, we've established he's got some trust issues. Can you blame him?

・❥・He's just so, so tired. He just wants to rest. But he can't. He feels he's the punchline to one of Hylia's jokes. And it eats at him.

・❥・So when you, perfect, adorable you, come in with your sunshine and rainbows ass, he's just...like frustratingly confused.

・❥・What about life is so great? Hm? What about it makes you want to go around, hugging and kissing the others around him? Hm? What makes them so special? Hm?

・❥・Why do you feel the need to do the same to him?

・❥・At first, Sage doesn't trust the affection at all.

・❥・He's convinced you're buttering him up for some sort of secret attack. Like he'll lower his guard to accept one of the cuddles you bestow upon him and you'll stab him in the back-- literally.

・❥・But the others just seem to...accept this?

・❥・The bird hero (Sky) seems to downright preen whenever you gently press a kiss to his cheek.

・❥・The smithy with a height problem always looks so at ease whenever you settle next to him, laying his cheek on your shoulder.

・❥・Even the ever stoic Ocarina player looks more...relaxed when you come up to him, demanding a piggy back across the swampy bog. Little you demanding something from Time sparks something in Sage.

・❥・He knew that Time was just as scarred as he was when it came to trusting people. He had been burned in the same way, hand scorned when offered too many times.

・❥・That's part of what gets him to settle just a bit.

・❥・He doesn't start any cuddle parties, don't get it twisted, but if you wanna sit next to him while he's restringing a bow, he won't say no.

・❥・But start slow. He's like an easily startled deer in this situation. Only you never know if the deer is gonna buck and curse you out, stomping away, or if it's going to simply turn on its heel and reinstate the original distance he kept between the two of you.

・❥・But once you've gotten past the initial stage where he's simply scared of getting hurt again, Sage has an absolute heart of pure mush for you And you alone.

・❥・You see, once you've proven that you're hard to get rid of, he takes it as a sign. Especially if you've spent quite a bit of time together.

・❥・ He'll start slow. Sitting next to you while he fiddles with his Purah pad, or setting his bed mat closer to yours than before, but when you accept these without question, or, goddess forbid, encourage them- oh ho ho-

・❥・He is the clingiest bastard. Like, you will have no time alone.

・❥・(Forgot this was a yandere blog, did ya? Well I'm here to remedy that! >:))

・❥・He is constantly hovering over your every move. You wanna sit under a tree and read? He's laying his head on your lap, expecting head scratches the entire time and loudly complaining if you don't give them. You wanna go for a swim in a nearby lake? He's joining you in the water, no questions asked, making sure you don't drown, even if you're a great swimmer. He's got that Zora armor, and even if he doesn't wear it, he's spent enough time with Sidon to become a great swimmer. You wanna take a freaking nap in a tree?...Are you nuts? Sage would never let you nap in a tree, are you kidding? He has a much comfier lap with arms wide open for you to crawl into.

・❥・You fool.

・❥・Once he's established that you're not going anywhere, not for a while at least, he is all over you.

・❥・Like, this man, who's used to traveling along? He's switching up everything. Extra shields for you (Because he is not giving you any weapons. At all), extra potions, carrying snacks in his Purah pad, extra bed mats and blankets, extra armor and gear (Like snowquill jackets and fire breaker sets).

・❥・He's a secret mother hen he just hides it.

・❥・When you guys are traveling, he's in your presence constantly. Like never out of arm's reach. He has in fact bitten someone for trying to fight him for his spot (Rip Wars).

・❥・He will in fact do it again because when he's in arms length he has so many possibilities. Like you are right there.

・❥・He's pressing swift kisses to your temples, cheeks, even your lips when he gets cheeky enough, before moving on like nothing happened.

・❥・He's walking with your fingers knotted with his own, rubbing his thumb along your skin.

・❥・He's not only moving his sleeping mat beside yours, oh no, they are touching they're so close and he's clinging to you in his sleep.

・❥・And he is heavy. Like he is clinging to you like a Koala bear in his sleep.

・❥・You are not safe. He snores and drools and you're just gonna have to put up with that. Sorry not sorry. He just sleeps so well when he's with you! He can't help it!

・❥・It burns the other Links, but there's not much they can do because, let's be honest, you like having Sage's attention.

・❥・It's something well earned and you deserve to enjoy it.

・❥・Just don't let him get used to it. Who knows what he would do if that happened?

・❥・Unrelated, but how do you feel about, say, Tarrey Town?

[ganondoodle]

was watching another totk video and through that found out what the reward is for completing koltins quests, honestly im not really surprised but also baffled and it really just shows, once again, that totk kinda does exactly what you shouldnt do in a sequel imo.. double down on all the bad stuff of the previous title

at this point i have talked about various problems in detail but i just keep realizing over and over just how much of the wrong lesson they seemed to take from botw, they recycled almost everything from botw by changing some paint or some words, made a giant game even bigger and filled it with boring and tedious busy work that has mediocre to insulting rewards EVEN MORE than botw

game too big and empty? make it TWICE as big, change barely anything about the map of the previous title and the new added map(s) is ONE biom that almost everywhere looks the same and even emptier with little to do

too many krogs? MAKE IT MORE and double down on the literally shit reward bc its the SAME just with one more stack of shit

too many shrines with short puzzles? ADD EVEN MORE and make them even shorter and easier to complete, alot of them not even involving a puzzle and multiple being an utterly out of place tutorial that could have been explained to you in a single text box

rewards in the overworld being mostly either a krog or a shrine which gets repetetive with shrines being ALOT and krogs being wayyy too many? add even MORE shrines and EVEN MORE krogs, but now add over a hundred of caves to it that all get repetetive after just a few of them and you only do them for a shrine or a currency you have to collect to get one cool looking but pretty bad to use armor set and a piece of cloth for your parasail that you can only use one of at the tiem and to switch have to go back to a specific NPC, theres ghost lights to collect which only serve to yet again buy one armor set from a set of NPCs and ar meaningless afterwards, the light roots dont require you to do anything but walk to them and the reward for finding them all is a "you did it" sticker that doesnt even stick (its useless)

weapons break too quickly? well make the weapons you can find even worse to force you to fuse a material to it so its at all usable BUT IT STILL BREAKS and when it does it breaks not JUST the weapon but ALSO a material, materials that you will need for now EVEN MORE EXPENSIVE armor upgrades too, weapons cannot be rewards anymore either bc they will always have to be fused with something to make them stronger bc none is strong on its own- this also applies to THE MASTERSWORD, something ALSO complained about that it still 'breaks' even after empowering it through the DLC in botw, and now it cant even BE empowered (bc no DLC) unless you fuse soemthing to it (to. the. MASTERSWORD.) EVEN THO EMPOWERIGN THE MASTERSWORD IS THE ENTIRE POINT OF ZELDAS ULTIMATELY MEANING- AND CONSEQUENCELESS SACRIFICE !!

the dungeons were to samey and simple? make them look different but keep the core structure (activate terminals in completely seperate from each other "puzzles", fight boss) while also makign them be even more skippable (climable walls, the ceiling jump ability- something the titans DIDNT have) with incredibly easy bossfights that end with an embarassing copy and paste scene that hits you over the head with long known and obvious information over and over

people didnt like how the story was so detached from everything in the present? well, make the story and the present EVEN MORE detached from anything in the present, so far in fact that there is literally no connection to it aside from zelda who is the only connective thread and is also only treated as such (she is as personality lacking as sonia as soon as shes yoinked into the past) and the suddendly and out of nowhere intruduced architecture and history that wasnt a thing in botw but is treated like it was always there

people didnt like how far botw was detached from all other zelda games? ok totk is not only FURTHER detached from those it also completely detached itself from its on predecessor :)

people didnt like the memory system? ok make it WORSE then, its a linear story now that you can ruin by seeing even one out of order, they are super short and dont give you anymore context to anythign than the things you could figure out yourself or were already told really, instead of giving you views into a characters personality you get to view a basic plot summary of a story that is so flavorless and predictable i knew what would happen from the start yet acts like its being vague and cool that i felt like i was beign treated like a literal toddler

too few enemy types? well, we will reuse the old ones EVEN MORE thant before over twice the map and the new ones that are there are either utterlly irrelevant to change up the gameplay or largely feel like the old ones just with a paint job (constructs), the griocks looked cool at first but are just a more annyoing version of the lynels (who feel like an actual duel, akin to a proper boss)

even the things that were adressed, or attempted to, didnt fully work, like the bosses ARE more unique, but also still so incredibly easy and ALSO have multiple duplicats just sitting around in the underground despite them being supposedly the root of the problems of the regions (i like refighting bosses, but id rather have a character that lets me choose ok i wann fight this one again and teleporte me into a vision or sth- also the most fun fights arent even part of it (koga) )

the rain complaint got a new effect type to counteract it, which ... doesnt work well, you need specific materials to make potions with that effect which you also need to upgrade the only armor set wit hthat effect that ONLY works once you upgrade it (i think ... i dont know how high i got it but if even the full upgraded set doesnt negate the rain effect i will not be surprised either lol) also it adds just yet another effect type that spams your inventory and you dont really need .... or i might be the only one that saw no value at all in the "attack up when hot" new type of effects bc it felt so specific and situational while also having a way better option (just make it a standard attack up thing?) at least in my eyes-

... ill stop here .... this got longer again didnt it O-o

[wayfayrr]

Alright, I wonder how long an ask can be. U asked for it!😝

Also, if u were curious, since I’ve only played Botw and most but not all of totk, 98% of the time my yandere self-aware ideas will be of Wild/Tears.

How does Wild/Tears feel about the fairies? Like, is he embarrassed that reader has to watch that? Does he worry what they think? Or is he just like “eh, I can’t control their upgrade animations, sorry”. Then how does he feel when reader thinks it’s kinda cute/funny? I don’t want to traumatize the poor guy, but I must admit watching the level four animation is slightly funny bc I feel so bad for him. And in level three when he covers his face is cute.

What about when he just has to sit there for 10 hrs his time? Listen, I wanna upgrade the darn champion’s tunic but the stupid upgrades require 2 of each farmable dragon Zelda item. And I couldn’t find her for so long it was annoying. Ik she follows a certain path but even so u have to just keep following the path hoping u eventually run into her. So I just decided to farm an item, then sit there for 10 minutes r time until she’s farmable again. So how does Tears feel? Am I wasting his time? Is he bored? If he had an animation for it would he fall asleep? Would he glare at me for making him sit there for 10 hours? Plus, ima be honest. For those 10 minutes of me just waiting, I’ll usually scroll on my phone. I’m not gonna stare at the tv for 10 minutes, sorry lol. So is he mad that I’m not paying attention to him and stuff?

What about if I laugh at him? Alright, I don’t do it That much lol, just if I make an embarrassing mistake w him and he looks a little funny. Would he be embarrassed? Mad? ….?? I think he’s cuuute! It’s fiiine, right…?😭

Thinking about my one ask where I used him for science, totally not using bombs on him for any other reason! Anyway, so I have to admit, his overheating animation I like. I’m all for angst/whump w characters. Whenever I read AO3, 98% of the stories r angst/whump for Wild/Tears. Sicfic? Yes please! Nightmares? Yes please! Psychological torture? Sign me up! There was this one fic someone wrote about Wild being hit by a curse that trapped him in his memory next time he unlocked one, so he had to watch it over and over and over. The rest of the chain had to save him. Tho, if it makes u feel any better, I only like happy endings, no open ended ones, no sad ones, or character deaths. Nope. Fairy tale where they all lived happily ever after please and thank u lol. So anyway, I got sidetracked lol. My question was, would he be mad if I just put the game on the clothes menu when he’s overheating so he doesn’t lose any hearts over it, just watching him do it for a minute or two?

Sometimes I need to wear like one clothing item per outfit so I can use like 3 different abilities. For example, maybe bandana to climb faster, gloom shirt for an extra heartbreak, and snow pants bc it’s freezing? And sometimes I’ll complain that he looks ugly, well, not him, but the outfit, and say that I wish I could make him look cuter but I need these abilities atm. Does he hate the outfits like I do? Does he care more about function? Does he hate that I care so much?

How does he feel not being able to talk? Like literally every other character can talk except him. And he can’t do anything by himself. Everything he does is either a programmed animation or an action by my controller. I bet he has a lot he wants to say but can’t. Does he ever worry that if he were to get out and see me, what if he couldn’t talk to me??

🐰

yeah it's always a lot easier to think about the links you know better for stuff like this ngl, so I don't blame you for sticking to them. plus wild and tears are just fun too right? :3c

so starting from the top -

I think the fairies are a touchy subject for him, if you like the cutscenes then he can set his discomfort about being picked up and kissed somewhat - don't get me wrong he doesn't enjoy it but for your happiness he'll do it as many times as you make him (although, unless he finds a way to override the controls then it's not really like he has a choice in it) he'll make notes about how you like him acting in certain ways though - I mean if you like seeing him as a blushy mess covering his face in the game then you'll like it more when he's doing it in person right? Please don't make him recreate the level four one though.

To be honest, there's nothing that you could do to him that he could ever consider a waste of time. would he prefer you to be actively engaged? sure. Is he bothered if you're still there but just waiting for a bit for the dragon to recharge? Not really, yeah he'd prefer to be doing more, but at the same time it gives him a chance to observe and to get more of a grasp of how the game works while it's on and running compared to when he's robbed of his body and is left a being floating in a desolate void of numbers and machine code. He can relax and still have feeling and eyes on you and your eyes on him every now and then even though it's not as often as he'd like. as for the time? I think once he became aware he stopped running on hyrules time, so it's only ten minutes for him too. Ten minutes that granted feel longer than that cause of the scenery, but still only ten minutes. if it were a situation where he was still in a hyrule then he'd be further detached from anyone else. (my thoughts are if the game is left in standby on the switch then it's all still loaded and the links have free reign but if it's closed and you're playing another switch game then it tosses them into the abyss)

laughing at him for being cute is all good but please don't make fun of him ;-; he's only doing what you make him do after all!

I need to write more whump and hurt/comfort for tears actually, thanks for the reminder Well, he's not getting hurt by it -soooo he's kinda a bit deluded into thinking that it's another show of love for him. You simply love all the sounds that he's making <3 (and I don't blame you, his whimpers are actually just so adorable?????) You care so much that you're not letting him get hurt for your happiness!!!!

I think he takes it as a compliment that you care so much about how his outfits look, he wants to look his best for you too!!! If he could he'd find a way to stack the different bonuses so that you could treat him like a proper dress up doll without having to worry about the environment and how it impacts him :c he doesn't care what outfit he 'wears' cause it's not like he's actually wearing and interacting with it. it's glued to him like a second skin so whether you're keeping him shirtless or putting him in the thickest shirt possible there's no difference to him just don't mod him so that he's no longer himself please

The fact that there's a chance he wouldn't be able to communicate with you is something that he worries about alot, not even just not having a voice. He'd be fine with being mute if he can write or sign to you, hell he could probably delude himself into being fine that he couldn't do that if he could move freely and hold you. what scares him the most is the idea that he'd be like a puppet cut, that if he gets out that without the code acting as his strings he falls limp like a puppet cut loose. that's what's horrifying to him. anything else he could learn to live with, but that potential keeps him from making any rash movements where the cost could outweigh the benefits. I like to think that out of desperation, (this goes for sky in the fic too) they stole another characters voicebank from another game :) one that speaks your native tongue preferably, but at the very least one that shares a language you speak

[gabelew]

I updated my Zora lineup from 2021 with the new TotK characters (and added the AoC guys too while I was at it).

To my knowledge these are all the named NPCs across the three games who use the generic adult male Zora model. I liked the idea of giving them more personality and trying to figure out unique features, all while staying faithful to the model (so no accessories, body modification etc).

female NPCs | elders and kids | unique characters

More details on each character (all 14) under the cut:

Ahrt Secro and Ettu are the merchants that exist only as character portraits, but I decided to count them as individual NPCs regardless. I made an exception in "no accessories" rule for Ahrt Secro here, because of his... unconventional name (and him living in Goponga instead of the Domain); he's justified in not following their fashion standards. Ettu's only character trait iirc is that he dislikes plants. Which make up most of his stock. Rip.

Kayden is the oldest non-elder Zora guy (140ish?), calm, responsible, etc. He's an another accessory exception, with the little belt attachment. He's married and it's the "zora armor" he got from Kodah. I like to imagine that non-royal Zora women also propose with "armor", just bit more budget friendly - a single accessory or a piece of jewelry.

Capelo has basically no personality, his only few lines point to him being older and somewhat responsible. So I put him here and made him... idk, look big and serious.

Bazz! He's perfectly average when it comes to height and looks, but visibly more buff than most Zora guys. Also on the older side.

Rivan's whole thing is being Very Tall and Very Pretty. In my canon he's basically the most handsome guy in the Domain, with his long fins, smooth features and warm brown colored scales.

Ledo is like, the most average guy you've ever seen. He looks younger than he is but has no special features otherwise. Surprisingly level headed. Not very fit (for Zora standards).

Tie is another one of the new undercharacterized TotK guards, his only thing being that he complains about being out of shape. I think I like his design the least, but come on, I had nothing to work with here.

Numien, the only new guy who actually had more than two lines, all of them making him the most annoying prick in my eyes. He's just... too enthusiastic and eager to praise his superiors. I like to imagine Bazz despises him for being such a kissass (Bazz is canonically pretty judgemental) but can't do much about it. The guy is competent enough to be put in charge of the Lookout Landing squad after all. Anyway, I did my best to make him look at least a bit unhinged.

Fronk, the only man in the domain whose eyebags could compete with Bazz's, courtesy of his airhead wife Mei. He's also wearing the "zora armor" she gave him.

Resco wins the prize for least characterization. His only single trait is that he admires Gaddison. That's it. So I made him try to emulate her energy in his lineup pose.

Cleff, the shopkeeper with crab obsession. One of the prettier younger guys, although the crab thing is not working in his favor. The last one of fully adult guys in the lineup (around 90ish).

Gruve is, amusingly, the one sole unemployed Zora guy. His occupation is therefore officially, A Problem. He's very much the tall lanky teenager type.

And Tottika, another tall lanky teenager (70ish), but this time with a job. It's not canon, but he's commonly considered a twin brother of Torfeau and I quite like this idea. He's not the smartest but tries his best.

That's it, thanks for reading if you did! Next up are the ladies, which I have sketched out but not colored yet. Also I'm still pondering if I want to do elders and kids, just for the sake of having all the Zora properly catalogued...

[sophitia-of-hyrule]

I said before that TotK "nerfed Zelda's personality" but now I think it might be even worse than that.

Outside of the intro cutscene and a bit of the ending, she has no personality. She's a blank slate (which she is NOT supposed to be, that's Link's job). Now I'm not going to lie to you, her dragon transformation made me cry A LOT. But it's only because:

1. Even if she was written in the most boring way possible, she's still the same incarnation of Zelda that BotW had. So from the get-go I care about her, so matter how bland TotK made her.

2. that cutscene was just so beautifully executed with the cinematography and the animation and the music, everything. Plus afterwards where we see Link surronded by silent princess flowers. That whole sequence is amazing, but that doesn't take away from the fact that she had no personality in the prior memories.

The only thing that shows us that Zelda has "grown" since BotW is that she's been scrubbed clean of all her flaws. She is a perfect benevolent ruler who is smarter than everyone else (she gave training advice to THE GERUDO of all people). Everyone who complained about her being "whiny" and "mean" back when BotW came out fail to understand that a flawless character is pretty boring. I don't care much for a perfect waifu. I want a character who has interests outside of what she can do for others. Because that's what TotK Zelda is ultimately: she exists to please others. What SHE wants doesn't matter. It's all about helping Rauru, it's all about repairing Link's sword. She has no desires of her own. All the personality she had was taken away as soon as she fell into the abyss.