#god this is such a nice change from BotW/TotK

[waffliesinyoface]

playing echoes of wisdom. this game really says "Courage is charging into a horde of enemies armed with nothing but a sword, a shield, and your wits; but Wisdom is sitting on top of a cliff and sending out disposable murder drones (ie: peahats) to kill for you"

[neverchecking]

Could you do Yandere BOTW Champions or TOTK Sages x Reader who has the Mask from Majora’s Mask? The reader is Hylian. But they have the usual four mask, Plus the Fierce Deity mask.

As head cannons preferably.

This is a mostly Linked Universe Blog, but sure! I'm not overly well versed on the whole Mask deal, so please bare with me.

I went with the BOTW Champions, since not everyone knows the sages.

Champion of the Masks

・❥・So, if you know the Champions, there's a good chance you are a knight or warrior in your own right.

・❥・You are someone powerful, probably because of said masks. For Hylia's sake, you have the Fierce Deity looking over you. You are practically untouchable.

・❥・And the other Champions are well aware of this fact. But that doesn't change anything.

・❥・Because you are still so vulnerable. What happens when you're separated from your masks? Then what? Hm? You are just so vulnerable, can't you see that?

・❥・You don't have any powers of the wind, not any form of protection. You can't control any elements, nor can you heal. You certainly don't have any part of the triforce. You are powerless.

・❥・Which is why they needed to be there to protect you!

・❥・Now, Revali. My loveable douche-bird. He tries to keep you at a distance, but still falls. And he falls hard. Revali is the only champion who wasn't born with his gift. He had to build Revali's gale into what it was from scratch.

・❥・Reader probably recognizes all of his hard work, because (and this is from my very limited research) to get all of the Masks in their possession? A bitch and a half. They weren't gifted these masks. Not without a price. So they can recognize a situation where you are pitted against these...demi-gods eons beyond your own abilities and forced to catch up or fall behind.

・❥・And Revali absolutely cherishes this. Having someone not look down on him, but instead stand on the very same footing he was? Man's is down bad.

・❥・He is particularly fond of your Breman Mask because you just look so pretty in feathers. And while yes, white looked nice on you, blue looked better.

・❥・I HC that every race has their own form of courting rituals, Rito included. They probably make their intended betrothed some sort of snow-quill headpiece meant for the cold, lined with their feathers and intricate braids of fine silks and expensive ribbons.

・❥・You just know that Revali, as a champion, would make a nice courting present. And you just know he is purposefully difficult and makes everyone else come to him in the Rito village (He is their best warrior and is shown to lead their army in AoC). You just know that he demands the princess bring her two best knights, which begrudgingly means Link, but it also means you. You who wears the snowquill bit with pride-- even if you don't know what if means really.

・❥・It doesn't matter because the others do.

・❥・The next one to fall is Urbosa.

・❥・She falls after seeing you in battle. The Gerudo, regardless of gender, can respect a Warrior when they see one. And you are a warrior. You with your sharp wit and insane reaction times, parrying a blade aimed for her.

・❥・Your strength alone makes her swoon because out of everything she can respect that.

・❥・Her favorite mask of yours is the Garo's mask. Not only does it fool these supposed Garo (You are so smart, did you know that? With all of your stories and journeys.), but it also fools the Yiga. The Mask of Truth does as well, but the thought of spilling her guts to you makes her uneasy.

・❥・Not because she doesn't want you to know how constantly you're running through her head, but she doesn't want you to know how deep these thoughts delve.

・❥・When you're able to fool the Yiga and get back to her about an ambush planned on her people, she knows you're the one.

・❥・I like to imagine the Gerudo focus more on jewelry for a courting action. Not rings, no. But intricate pieces of armor lined with gems aimed to aid in battles.

・❥・Brigandines lined with topaz; Gorgets lined with opals; spaulders ordained in rubies; Poleyn decorated in sapphires. Even your own Scmitar enhanced by diamonds. All of it custom made to you to show her devotion to you.

・❥・Now, with this being all useful items you can wear in battle, you're seen in it often.

・❥・Daruk is next. He falls for you after seeing you in his, coincidentally, favorite mask. You tell the tale of the Goron Mask after he asks, weaving this intricate legend that had him hanging onto every word.

・❥・The Gorons show their love through food. So Daruk makes it a point to constantly share his food, both sedimentary and otherwise. He loves knowing that you are well fed and cared for because of him.

・❥・I feel like the highest form of love that can be shown through food for a Goron is a Prime Rock Roast. And while he knows Hylian's can't eat rocks (Link excluded because...it's Link), he looks for the next best thing.

・❥・Intricate pasties filled with only the finest of whipped cream and dusted with powdered sugar; dripping roasts just oozing juice that practically fall of the bone; grilled fish where the smell alone is enough to make you sallivate

・❥・All of it are gifted to you to ensure you think of him whenever you feel hungry. That he is your go to.

・❥・Now, next is a tie between Link and Zelda.

・❥・Zelda probably falls first because she sees you interacting with the others and watches you. In fact, you watch her back. But the difference between you watching her and Link watching her, because her father has allowed you to take over for Link on the rare occasion, is that you give her space. You allow her to disappear into the divine beasts, waiting patiently for her to come to you.

・❥・You entertain her with stories upon stories.

・❥・You listen to her woes with a careful ear and offer your own advice.

・❥・You even braved her cooking.

・❥・She loves all of your masks and cherishes each story about them. But when you wear the Great Fairy Mask and let fairies tickle her cheeks?That's when she swoons the most.

・❥・Link falls during all the time he spends with you chasing after Zelda. You're able to hold your own, which is always appreciated, and you're okay with silence. Silence settles between you two often while waiting for Zelda and you don't push it.

・❥・And you don't look at him like he's anything other than a Hylian. Not the wielder of the sword that seals the darkness.

・❥・Not this random knight that was handed a legacy on a plate.

・❥・Not an annoyance that needed to be shook off,

・❥・He was just Link to you. And it made his heart sing.

・❥・Unfortunately, neither are quite in the position to court you. Not with Calamity on the horizon, nor with their standings in the royal council. And it tears them apart in the inside. Seeing you decked out in jewels with feathers woven into your hair, eating some of the finest things Hyrule has to offer, all of it makes them bitter and hungry. Hungry to show how you belong to them.

・❥・You get prefential treatment in the castle. The finest of rooms with the softest of sheets. Plump pillows and too many locks on the door to keep you right where she wants satin pajamas, all just for your enjoyment.

・❥・Or the best weapons and shields available to the royal guard. Bows re-strung just for you, or the lion's share of arrows provided. Want that Shield that Jimmy Whosit has? Give Link three minutes. No, there's no blood on the shield, what are you talking about? You must exhausted if you're seeing things, maybe you should just skip training all together?

・❥・It's all yours.

・❥・Now, the last person to fall, is Mipha. She's very hesitant to lend her heart out to you, but you know who isn't afraid of showing their emotions on their sleeves for everyone to see?

・❥・Sidon.

・❥・Sidon, in all his little fishy glory, loves you when you come around. when you dawn the Zora mask and swim with him. You play all the games that Mipha won't because they're 'too dangerous'. So when you come around he's ecstatic, dragging his sister down to see you alongside him.

・❥・Mipha tolerates you for the time being, probably still in love with a different knight, making him his own armor. But after she finishes it, it's no longer shaped to Link's form. No. Somewhere along the way it went from being formed to his broader shoulders to being shortened to your own narrower set. It no longer was long enough to fit his torso, instead fitted to your own.

・❥・Her heart had tainted her hands, making armor for you before she even knew what it all meant. The only reason the rest of her catches up is because she sees you with Sidon.

・❥・She watches you swim on you back, with Sidon clinging to your chest, laughter bubbling up from both of you.

・❥・And the last of them falls.

・❥・She aims to give you the armor after the fall of the calamity, but...I'm sure we all know how that'll play out...

・❥・Anyway, between them all, you get very little time to yourself. They are all constantly hovering over you.

・❥・You think you can get away with one of your masks?

・❥・Nice try.

・❥・Your precious Stone Mask? Gone. Confiscated under the order of Princess Zelda King Rhoam.

・❥・Think you can fight your way out?

・❥・Not even the Fierce Deity mask can save you from the champions, their Divine Beasts, and the Triforce of Wisdom and Courage, nor their wielders.

・❥・You wanna run and hide?

・❥・There is not a single inch of Hyrule that one of them doesn't know about.

・❥・You are well and truly trapped under their hold, just where they like you.

・❥・Trapped like a fucking bird in a cage while they fight amongst themselves to see who you stay with.

・❥・ Let's hope they decided quickly before the Calamity decides he's done being patient.

[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.

[ofstormsandfire]

Do you have any good BotW/TotK fic recs? Yours or other people’s!

Boy howdy DO I.

Going to preface this by saying that I have preferences, and those preferences tend to veer towards gay shit and people who don't initially get along ending up ride or die, and as such a high proportion of these are going to be Revalink.

Anyway. The fic that got me into that ship, changed my brain chemistry, and is a large part of why I go !!!! about ghosts (literal and nonliteral) haunting the narrative, characters with amnesia who are supposed to be dead, and the Rito as a whole, is Pinesong by aperplexingpuzzle and that is the fic that makes me go "if you read NOTHING else in this fandom read THIS holy fuck."

(But also you should be reading other things too, because there is so much good shit and I adore it greatly I go back to reread my favorites regularly. Also check out the authors I mention apart from just the fics I link there is so much good fic I'm forcing myself to just pick one per author or else I will be here literally all day.)

Next up: Moonlight (every single night) by Heleentje. Do you like time loops? Do you like characters slowly, painstakingly figuring out how to get it right? Did you get very attached to Revalink from the last fic? how about some ~queerplatonic Zelink~ in this trying time?

Frankly, it is very hard to pick just one fic by Ginneke, they've got so many good ones but I'm going to have to settle on Flowers from your Beloathed, which is another Revalink fic set before the Calamity where, y'know, Revali is getting flowers from a secret admirer. Except he's Revali. Hilarity ensues and I enjoyed the hell out of this one ^-^

Also also. Come Morning Light by misscoconi. Post-Calamity, they are both idiots (affectionate) and I am starting to realize that I have a bit of a pattern in my taste in Revalink fics. Huh. I'll unpack that later actually.

Skybound Wishes by Baddrummer is unfinished (unlike most of the fics I've recommended here) but y'all. Y'all it makes me lose my shit in so many ways because I am a SLUT for creative fix-it fics and gratuitous weaving-in of references to other games in ways that still respect the established canon but respect all of it, y'know, not just doing the TOTK thing of "actually nothing pre-BOTW matters anymore and neither does BOTW lol."

...I am starting to realize there may be a reason why I don't have a lot of TOTK recs. Also if this post is starting to sound unhinged and disconnected that's probably because I'm bouncing between Tumblr and studying for one of my finals like a ping pong ball.

But I do have one really, really big fic rec for TOTK. Y'all should check out Show Me the World Outside by IllusionOfDeath. The Sages get to do things, the Divine Beasts don't just vanish without a word, the Champions get actual recognition, and you can tell that the author is the Linguistics Georg (affectionate) of the fanfic world.

Anyway I think I will shill myself a bit too since you gave me permission to anon! If you read no other Zelda fics by me, may I recommend no one ever mentions fear, a fic that... it really was, in a lot of ways, a love letter to the fics in the fandom that I'd read and loved before. You've got the Champions getting to live and have nice things, you've got Revali being a dumbass (affectionate), you've got gay shit, you've got Problems Being Caused by the Yiga Clan in the background.

...Oh god this post is getting. A little longer than I meant for it to I've realized. Um. I love fanfic and tbh if you end up reading everything I've recced and still want more, my bookmarks on AO3 are public and I tend to bookmark just about everything I've read and liked enough to want to find again.

......I should probably get back to studying now but thank you for the ask! I like rambling lol

[lo-fag]

My dream last night: sci-fi themed, futuristic open-world game. You play as the staff of a famous hotel in the middle of a valley until earthquakes start to threaten your business. You take out to the valley to explore the source (idk why its you) you have a companion I can’t remember much about. Only that they don’t like to watch you kill and they have white hair and something they wear is pink.

Its open world (totk and botw style) and you explore lots of different areas with new enemies and npcs. There are rideable creatures that look like uhh ill draw something. The plot is that there is this incredibly powerful artifact called the Construct and someone is using it to bring dinosaurs back to life. They look different because they are wearing clothes from this era (long-sleeved white shirt, loose and tattered pink crop top over it, and denim shorts) and the dinosaurs they are bringing back are causing the earthquakes. I called her ‘Mi’ in the game.

The rideables are also dinosaurs, but they were too small and too nice to wreak havoc on the world. This is set in the distant future I think, where humanity has managed to create and depend on clean energy. There are abandoned power plants you can find that are filled with a special type of radiation energy monsters.

Also, the main character is a complete badass. One of the cutscenes I can remember, we just straight up walk up to this terrifying enemy (we don’t fight it!!!) and mock it while we move faster than it can swing. We end up beheading it with our epic sword.

I can remember two NPCs. One was called Anne-Marie, and she worked at the hotel we did, but she died (dinosaur attack I think). Her letter of resignation is a collectible in the game (even tho she never resigned).

The second NPCs was called Molly and we found her in a research station in the west. She helps us a lot, gives us some pretty vital equipment (grappling hook I think) but eventually betrays us. We don’t ever see her again after that. Its kinda up to the player’s interpretation. I reckon we killed her (we seem like the type). Her resignation letter has ‘some bitches lie’ scrawled over her name in red ink.

Oh and collectibles. They are everywhere in this game. You can get a letter of resignation from every person who dies/disappears in the game, each with different handwriting and messages I assume we put on it.

And customizations. They are everywhere. You can customize every part of you before you start the game, and you can change your features whenever you want. Armour=fully customizable. Weapon=fully customizable.

Hell, you can even customize what the Construct looks like. And each time you find something you can customize, the game pauses and the edges of the screen go a blurry blue, and a female voice says ‘tell me. What do you see?’

There are hints dropped throughout the game that this is, in fact, a game. In fact, one of Mi’s lines is ‘god, finally. Here’s you, exposing the goddamn truth.’

Also, the weapons. There are different classes (barbarian, ninja, knight, elven, hunter and I think a few more) which is very rpg but characters in the game reference these classes. Like the guy I talked about completely beating up in a cutscene even says before you behead him ‘running fast cant protect you from me. I have a barbarian-class scythe-‘ and then we chop his head off. But whatever.

Yeah. So that was my dream. You can probably romance characters in it, and idk what the companion does, but it was really cool in my head. Might do concept art if I can.

(this was the rideable)

[luxrayz64]

okkkkk i just beat echoes of wisdom. assorted thoughts (some spoilers ahead)

gameplay:

once youre past the first or second dungeon, it gets really fun

this could be because i was immediately primed against any kind of open design by how hard totk disappointed me

in the end, I had loads of fun with this game. there are more limits on zeldas gameplay than it appears

there is no one answer to every puzzle. there are a few echoes that will solve most puzzles. but they throw a wide variety of puzzles and enemies at you, and you will have to change your strategies at times

i still really fucking hate the ui for the echoes menu. being able to pin your favourite echoes (or at the very least delist certain ones) would have been nice. I still don't know how we got this dogshit menu twice in a row

not every echo is built equal. you do not have to pick up everything they give you. do not pick up that second or third pot variety no matter how hard they try to make you

it is a completion requirement. but complete it at your own risk

completion also doesn't look fucking insane from where im sitting. the might crystals will probably get fairly tedious but this is not a game that expects you to spend 200+ hours on it. the map is nowhere near as big as botw/totks and honestly Thank God

also i dislike the smoothies for much of the same reason I dislike the cooking mechanic in botw/totk; making them is tedious, most of your rewards from chests etc are smoothie ingredients, there's 0 point in buying a red or blue potion for 50 rupees when you can chuck some milk and nectar in a blender for 10. at least cooking food was charming and gave more variety.

so so so happy that empty bottles returned. why can they only hold fairies. nintendo you are limiting yourself. obviously fairies are the correct thing to hold onto but it made for fun inventory management and was useful for sidequests. still a very good reward to get

overall 👍 i had a lot of fun! please hire a new ui designer though

dungeons:

WE ARE SO FUCKING BACK

stellar improvement on just about every fucking front here

eight (8!!!!!!!!)dungeons to complete. complete with minibosses, bosses and small keys

i have genuinely nothing but good to say about the dungeons in this game. it was playing through my second dungeon that convinced me the game was good. do you know how much i MISSED this. finally some good fucking puzzle solving

the dungeons are fairly long and big, with three exceptions, each of which I can forgive for one reason or another

the first dungeon was fairly disappointing imo. both the boss and miniboss are barely a challenge, just summon some enemies and stand in the corner and it's literally fine

every other boss though? requires that not only does zelda need to run and dodge the bosses attacks, but you'll also need to use the swordfighter form.

i wont get too into it but i loved almost all of the bosses. I found just about all of them to be challenging in figuring out which echoes would be most effective and how to use them

the puzzles are also really well designed. while there are usually a few different echoes that can provide the same solution (ie any fire producing echo can light a torch) some are better at the job than others

the first, fourth and eight dungeons must be done at set points. the second/third and fifth/sixth/seventh can be done in any order. you must complete the fourth dungeon to access the following three

doing them in different orders of course affects which echoes you'll bring in with you - something that'll be very noticeable in the latter half of the game as you unlock more elemental echoes

exploration will also net you some of the more powerful echoes, though you'll get plenty of strong ones just by doing the story. I still dont know where the lynel is but I know it exists

i only game over'd at specifically the fourth dungeons boss. mostly because i brought barely any healing items in with me. fourth dungeon also comes like immediately after your third with barely any time in between so the pacings a little off in this spot especially but it was still really engaging. it was more combat focused so it was still a nice change of pace

i really really fucking love the dungeons in this game dude we are so fucking back. if they can translate any of this to a 3d game it might restore my faith in the dev team. (nintendo side. grezzo is doing great)

ok this is a spoiler so idk dont read this one i guess but I forgive eldins dungeon for the sin of being really short and straight forward VOLVAGIA IS THE BOSS. just straight up volvagia of fire temple fame. I screamed I spent the entire fight incoherently yelling about her being my sweet baby. I love her i am so fucking happy to see her again

story:

no notes cute as all hell

i am so fucking happy about deku scrubs and river zora returning. theyre so charming in this art style!!

(minor spoilers zone)

the deku scrubs are so fucking funny. only locale besides the castle to have a jail. obsessed with the latest trends. they get mad at you for fixing the rifts because the rifts spawn spiders who spin webs and the latest trend? eating spider webs on a stick

they call you a bumpkin because you dont want to eat spider webs. youre all insane i love you so much

sad theres no deku royal family but happy to see them at all. also I think they may all be genderless at least one of them got they/themed

LORD JABU JABU IS FUCKING BACK LET'S FUCKING GOOOOOOOOO

the zora leaders are both very fun. they are extremely petty but its nice to watch them put that aside in crisis and come to a new understanding

the hebra region does return AND IT HAS YETIS AGAIN!!!!!!!! or like, at least one. condé is carrying on yeta and yetos legacy of being the sweetest fucking characters you'll ever meet

its really fascinating seeing the other side of the story. hearing second hand about link from other characters - it's such an interesting perspective into his life

it's also very sweet how much everyone in the castle town adores zelda

finally, a king of hyrule who is a good father

general wright and minister lefte did make me giggle

very important to me that zelda is both a horse girl but also has a cat!!!

(MAJOR SPOILERS ZONE)

null. helloooooo

really really interesting villain lore wise!!! ALSO FUCKING PHENOMENAL BOSS FIGHT

actually this is the spoilers zone that last dungeon, while short is really really cool. fighting ALONGSIDE LINK!!!!! is so fucking awesome even if i did wish i got to use zeldas sword fighting form again

THE RETURN OF THE TRIFORCE I CHEERED. they keep calling it the prime energy and i DONT know why. if it looks like a triforce and acts like a triforce it's a triforce

the golden goddesses are also given way more relevance here. besides a single statue in the castle im not sure that hylia is even mentioned once

my guess is this game takes place before the triforce is given that name..? maybe in memory of tri and the tris (it wouldn't be a zelda game if your companion didn't have to leave you by the end of the game)

null taking on the appearance of a giant tri is . i dont know what to think about it but its very cool

given what i know about null (very little) i dont think it feels right that theres not a single other entity in hyrule who values power more than a being which just wants Some Fucking Peace And Quiet but I'll allow it.

END OF MAJOR SPOILERS ZONE

anywayyy. yeah 9/10 it has some problems and I could probably bitch about them some more but the entire rest of the game is so fucking good i dont care. im not just a hater for being a haters sake totk genuinely sucked and this game is awesome.

maybe my only other complaint not mentioned here is very little of the music really stood out to me? I liked the dungeon music for holy mt lanayrus dungeon. not a lot of Bangers though

i love you zelda i love you. so much. really good game please play this game if you've only touched botw and/or totk this is a great way to experience Actual Zelda Gameplay in a familiar way.

[tortilla-of-courage]

I'm curious about your first impression of eow! I'm still wondering whether I should get the game cus of the price

im having a LOT of fun with it ngl!! more than I expected

like. okay gonna try to be as spoilerless as possible here. for context im up to just after the first temple/first heart container (in hindsight this got too long so im putting it under a read more oopsie)

the story and lore we've got going on so far is REALLY interesting and im actually fascinated by all the Implications™ they've dropped on how things work in this iteration of Hyrule. im dying to go talking to every npc i can get my very itty bitty tiny zelda hands on

gameplay wise im having a lot of fun too! i was a bit worried when the game was announced that id get bored of relying mostly on echoes to attack enemies, or that things would be too easy, but the way the game limits how many echoes you can use at a time makes it so you can't spam powerful echoes, and so you need to strategize a bit before running off placing echoes across a chasm (learned this the hard way. oopsie)

zelda (series) is usually very high in puzzle-ness already, but i feel like this game truly makes it feel like everything you use becomes a puzzle. you want that chest in a cliff? there's a bunch of boxes you cant move on their own down an optional but very tantalizing path? you ran into an enemy that may be a bit too much for your current echoes but you REALLY want that thing? if you can use your echoes accordingly with the environment you can usually get it without much issue

so far i haven't ran into anything that was inaccessible to my current level/abilities. as long as you place your things accordingly.....

i think if puzzles aren't much your thing you Could get frustrated with it at points, but i find most of the main path ones arent too hard to solve but. again. im only past the first dungeon so who knows how things may change

also the characters I've met so far are very charming and have made me laugh a lot; even the NPCs have unique designs from what ive noticed. and i think getting to see the way Link interacted with the world before we got there from the other npcs is SO cool and gives him a lot of personality. also id die for this iteration of Impa. lovely woman

OH AND TRI oh god i love tri. i was sooo worried tri would come off as Just Another Fairy Thing but so far i adore tri. they (i have no clue if they've got pronouns spanish has Not been clear with it lmao) feel like a nice mix fi and navi, kind of in a middle ground. closer to Ciela from ph's personality maybe? but they have that calmness and matter-of-fact attitude like Fi sometimes. i wish they let you talk to them outside story bits to know them more

i bought it right before it was released last night for $1200 mexican pesos which was about $60 USD, which isnt too bad considering most games go for $1500 MXN/$75ish USD nowadays. but if you wanna wait til it's a bit cheaper that could be a good idea, though i do think this game is worth every penny so far.

like i saw some people say before, this feels like they're taking some of the new things they added in BOTW/TOTK (i.e. general menu formats (but nicer), open world-ish, some abilities, etc) and adapting them to Classic Zelda games, giving the good old 2D zelda style a breath (lol) of fresh air

tldr: so far im really happy with it!!! i played until 3 am last night and i just woke up and plan to play more! Very puzzle oriented but we all knew it coming into it, boss encounter i had was interesting to fight in this new style, and the map is actually very sizable for a 2d zelda from what ive noticed. 100% recommended will report more once i get further in

[a-pale-azure-moon]

I've barely scratched the surface of TotK and I can feel my brain wanting to disappear down the Zelda rabbit hole. I am desperately trying to keep at least half of it in my writing brainspace but damn is it hard. There's so much temptation to just plop down with my Switch for the next eight hours and forget about everything else.

Anyway, I'm still very early in but I'll put my ramblings under the cut just in case.

-I know the popular joke was that TotK is just "$70 DLC." Obviously it is not with all of the new content, but it genuinely feels like I'm playing BotW again, only with new tools and new places to discover. And I don't consider that a bad thing! I spent almost 300 hours playing BotW and still wished there was more I could do (aside from hunting down all the Koroks because screw that), so I'm happy to be revisiting this world and exploring it all over again. Though I won't lie that I miss having all the gear and upgrades I had by the end of BotW. I'd forgotten how easy it is to die in stupid ways early on.

-Holy hell is there so much to explore. Maybe too much. Even with the nudges the game gives you, it's really hard to know where to even begin once you leave the Great Sky Island. I haven't even done any of the main dungeons yet; I've just been wandering around looking for shrines and seeing what's changed. It's even more daunting knowing there's stuff in the sky and in the depths to explore as well.

-The Depths freak me out. I've only been in there once and I'm not eager to go back until I'm stronger. Never been a fan of dark places in video games; you never can know what's lurking there, waiting to ambush you.

-It's nice to see all the familiar NPCs. Bumping into Purah and Robbie right away made me smile.

-It's also nice to see that Hyrule's been rebuilding since the end of BotW, but that evidence of the Calamity still exists (Castle Town especially). It makes the world feel that much more organic and real.

-That opening sequence was choice. Like, the approach to Ganon's lair, with the increasing gloom and the ominous music, literally sent shivers down my spine. Good shit.

-Ultrahand is amazing and I've only just begun to really play with its powers.

-To whomever at Nintendo designed the Gloom Spawn/Grabby hands/Nightmare Fuel, I hate you. May all your bacon burn for the rest of your life.

-I miss the Bomb runes SO MUCH.

-What happened to all the Sheikah technology anyway? I totally get dismantling all the Guardians considering they were the scourge of Hyrule for a long time, but did the towers and the Slate just...stop working?

-I'm fascinated by Rauru (and no, it's not just because he has Dimitri's voice, though I won't lie that it makes him that much more appealing, lol). So, we know that's his right arm that Link is "borrowing," and all of Link's new powers specifically come from that arm. And that same arm was keeping Ganon sealed away for....some length of time I'm not aware of yet, but I'm guessing it was awhile. And the new shrines are implied to contain fragments of Rauru's power as well. Just how powerful is this guy? Also, the reveal that he's the first King of Hyrule too (and married to a Hylian woman!) just makes things more interesting.

Also, also, look how adorable he is! I want to pet his ears and brush his hair! But I also want see him go ham at some point because the game sure as hell implies that he's god-like and I'm here for it.

...But it'll probably also make me sad because he's well, dead now and it's likely because sealing Ganon away cost him his life. =(

(I'm still reeling that Rauru's voiced by Chris Hackney, and it's even more wild with Matt Mercer being the voice of Ganon. How is it that the VAs of both of my FE husbands wound up in this game? Thanks for making sure the brainrot never ends, Nintendo!)

[pathetic-gamer]

*MAJOR TOTK SPOILERS BELOW THE CUT*

I was anxiously awaiting this game from the moment it was announced. I 100% completed BOTW, including Kilton's monster medallions and full armor upgrades - literally all content except for the sword trials on master mode - and I played and enjoyed AOC, so I was so so so excited

Now that I've finished the game and have had a few months (lol) to reflect on it, here are some of my impressions/reviews for things that stuck with me, aka a long list of what i did and didnt like. (I only did the main story and a couple of key save-my-wife-related side quests, so this isn't about all the content in the game.)

First, things I liked:

Regarding gameplay: the final boss fight was so much more fun than BOTW's. I liked that it combined a massive boss like Calamity Ganon with an actual humanoid boss similar to older games, plus the fight against the demon king was very cool. I especially liked the fact that he could dodge Link's attacks the same way Link can dodge his, but thank God he can't flurry rush lmao. (The last stage I'm particular was VERY cool.)

It was really funny to me how in the last phase of the fight, if you get down to one single heart, his attacks become SO much weaker, so you're basically guaranteed to not die lmao

I liked how the sages could actually follow you around as you adventured! That was fun and cute.

Related to that, it was kinda nice how they prepared you for that fight throughout the game by making you learn his moveset ahead of time

Speaking of sages, the temples were fun and their final bosses were cooler than the ones in BOTW. The lightning temple was especially cool - that final boss was creepy and made me think of Mothula, whom i know from A Link to the Past and Oracle of Seasons

fuck gloom hands, all my homies hate gloom hands (they still go in the "likes" section bc they were cool, but they were. so scary)

fuck gibdos, all my homies hate gibdos.

Actually I think one of my favorite experiences in the whole game was going to Gerudo Town without talking to anyone about what was happening, and therefore finding ruins full of what I briefly thought were actual zombies of the Gerudo, and then running around the town looking for survivors and finding absolutely nothing (until i finally found the main entrance to the sanctuary embarrassingly late). That was legitimately terrifying.

another favorite moment was descending to the final boss - that was pretty unsettling too, especially when I hit the bottom floor of the huge spiral staircase and got the pop-up about the power of the sages being gone.

regarding specific mechanics: I actually really liked the weapon crafting. I thought I would hate it, but figuring out strong combinations and going out to hunt down strong monsters for their parts was fun. I felt like a genius when I managed to create a weapon with 120 attack lol

for the story: the master sword quest!!!!!!!! so good.

Purah!!!!! I loved her change in personality throughout the calamity trilogy, I feel like it really reflected her age and the state of the world. in AOC, she was a super spunky and brilliant teenager, and in BOTW she was basically a 4yo, so having her back to being 20, but now having literally 100 years of horror with her friends, family, and all of hyrule suffering hanging over her, she's way more serious and subdued. She's also clearly scared and worried at Zelda still being missing, which I think speaks to how close the friendship is between all three. idk, I have feelings lol

PAYA 😭😭😭😭😭

I did like how much different it felt overall as everyone recovered from the Calamity. That was nice.

and last but not least: ZELINK CANON ZELINK CANON ZELINK CANON

Now for things I didn't like:

I didn't actually like the shrines very much this time, even though the puzzles were more interesting than the ones in BOTW. that might just be fatigue from doing ~250 shrines (main save file and master mode) in the first game, but I found them tedious. once I had enough stamina for the master sword and enough hearts for the sage of spirit quest, I stopped doing them.

the temples were better than the divine beasts, but I still would have preferred more extensive dungeons. (Worth noting that the games I've played other than the two most recent are Link to the Past, Oracle of Seasons, and the original LoZ. I briefly started OOT and Majora's Mask, but didn't finish either of them, so i dont have a comparison point for recent 3d games.)

I felt there was a lack of continuity specifically because of the sheika shrines/towers. Did they ever explain why they are gone now? Did they disappear into the depths during the upheaval? Even the divine beasts are missing! I feel like at the bare minimum, Robbie or Purah should have mentioned something, let alone the second gen champions who literally already piloted them.

This is my hottest take, but: Zelda could have stayed a dragon. Don't get me wrong, I love her and am thrilled Ultimate Wife Guy Link got his wife back, but I don't like when stories undermine their Great Sacrifice(tm) like that. Keep in mind, I also think Byleth should have died in FE3H's Crimson Flower route and that the Silver Snow route is a more powerful ending if you don't meet the conditions for Rhea to survive. In stories about sacrifice for some 'greater good,' I am simply not a happy endings person.

All in all, I had fun! I felt much more invested in the story and hurrying to rescue Zelda because I felt so much more attached to all the characters, so I think that was a massive improvement.

[a-pale-azure-moon]

Random TotK Thoughts #5

Sheesh, it's been forever since I made mention of my progress. I'm bumping against the 200 hour mark and I am somehow still not bored. At all. I'm not done with the main story either, though I've found all the Dragon's Tears and done the four regional phenomena. I'm at 143 shrines completed, 83 lightroots found (finally making some progress in mapping the Depths), and 402 Koroks collected (no I am not aiming to find all of those, just what I need to get all the inventory upgrades).

I'll cover my thoughts on the Dragon's Tears in a different post, so this will be primarily about the Gerudo section and what happens when you complete the four regions.

-The Gerudo section started off a bit disappointing with the main obstacle being a sandstorm again, only worse than before. I did get pleasantly startled encountering Gibdos though, given that it's been awhile since their last appearance. Glad that I had a ton of fire fruits on hand!

-I'm relieved that Link no longer has to change clothes to enter Gerudo town, because that got annoying in a hurry when it was still required even after clearing the Divine Beast in BotW. I do miss having the disguise itself though, since he looked very cute in it, plus it was free heat protection even if its defensive stats sucked.

-Seeing the Gerudo hub as a ghost town was great for establishing the creepy atmosphere. And then finding the underground shelter was neat, if a bit predictable. I'm not saying I want the Gerudo to come to harm, but finding out everyone's fine chilling underground does undercut some of the spookiness of the zombie village above.

-Riju got a lot taller. Everyone in this game is taller than Link except for small children (and I think Robbie and Josha?), which is hilarious to me. Her ability is pretty cool, though really none of the other three come close to matching Tulin's utility.

-I really enjoyed the segments where you protect Kara Kara and then Gerudo Town from the Gibdo hoards. They fun and frantic but not in a way that felt overwhelming. I wish there was a way to repeat the town siege to see if choosing different groups to protect different gates made things easier or more challenging.

-I also liked finding and networking the various mirrors in the desert. It felt more in the vein of a classic Zelda puzzle, and then that shot of the Lightning Temple rising out of the sands was appropriately epic. I also liked that you confront the boss outside before she retreats to the temple. That was more interesting than the lame minibosses in the Goron and Zora sections, or hunting down random mooks in the Rito section.

-I'd heard stories that the Lightning Temple was the one most like a classic Zelda dungeon. I can see where people said that, but...eh, it's still definitely a BotW/TotK dungeon. Networking mirrors/manipulating light beams was a nice nostalgic callback, but I thought it was done better in previous games. (particularly the Ikana Canyon/Stone Tower area in Majora) The Temple certainly had a grand scale that I appreciated, but it seemed very empty, and once again it was just a matter of figuring out how to reach certain points so you could use the Sage's ability to activate a device. I finished this dungeon the fastest of the four.

-Queen Gibdo was a chaotic boss that was satisfying to beat but also very annoying, especially since I spent a good part of the fight chasing Riju down. It wasn't nearly as annoying as Mucktorok (thank god), but Colgera definitely sits as the best boss of the four regions, and the competition isn't even close.

-Why did we have to watch the same post-dungeon cutscene four times? There had to be a way to modify this part dependent on whether or not you've completed another region already. I've been craving some new insights or information about the Imprisoning War but each time I got bupkis.

-Overall, I give the whole Gerudo scenario a B+. I can't definitively say that I liked it better than the Zora section, but I liked it just as much.

-Naturally, I had to spend several hours running around hunting for shrines and farming for materials before I returned to Lookout Landing. The whole "evil Zelda" thing is the weakest part of this game's story; even if I hadn't already found all the Dragon's Tears at this point, I was never fooled into thinking this was the real Zelda. I suspect that no one else was either. I wish they'd cut out this thread entirely, or at least re-worked it so it was far less contrived.

-I like that they removed "Zelda" from the blood moon cutscene after this event. That's a nice detail.

-The best part of chasing fake Zelda was that I got to collect a bunch of monster parts quickly. I also found some great weapons scattered throughout the castle that I missed on the cursory pass I did much earlier on (I'm still carrying around the first Dusk Bow I found sometime after I finished the Wind Temple).

-I enjoyed the Phantom Ganon fight. It might've been more of a surprise if I hadn't already encountered him from the Grabby Hands, but at least this wasn't just a bland repeat of those encounters. Liked having all the Sages show up for a Power of Friendship moment too.

-I'm obsessed with the demonic horse Ganon was riding in the following cutscene. I desperately want to be able to tame and catch that beast because it looks amazing. I'd give it an ill-fitting name like Sugarcube and parade it all around Hyrule.

-I've just barely started the fifth Sage quest, in that I found the special clothes and cleared the storm from the sky islands. Since I'm invested in trying to clean up the remaining shrines and lightroots, it'll probably be awhile before I finish this quest. Even with Mario Wonder and the Mario RPG remake looming, I'm still enjoying TotK too much to want to rush to the end. Yes, even after 200 hours. It's going to easily overtake my BotW playtime at this rate, and that's assuming there really won't be any DLC.