#like i wish i could go back and experience botw for the first time

[husband]

I got totk but I'm too scared to play it ;(

[tennybird]

I have opinions about TotK. This is your spoiler warning if you haven't played/finished it yet. Also all of this is, once again, just my opinion on it and not a decisive fact! I will probably misremember things!

Anyway.

Okay so basically as someone who got it on release and beat it within a week, I'm a little underwhelmed by the game now that I'm looking back over half a year later.

It's not a terrible game! I'll say that first and foremost. But after waiting so long for it, and trying so hard to not hype myself up for it (failing horribly at that), it feels just a bit... same-y. The story is nice, and it's different. The boss fights and abilities you gain during your travels are nice. Everything else, though...

I like the map having stayed similar, with enough changes that I have to relearn some areas. The Depths are really fucking cool, and figuring out on my own that they're a negative of the overworld was incredible! But the sky islands were a little disappointing, I think. When we were told we'd be in the sky a lot, I thought there'd be more large islands like the tutorial one that you could walk around on. More references to Skyward Sword, too. It feels to me that they put more love into the Depths than the sky, in a way.

I like the main story. Figuring out Zelda was the Light Dragon (but not really believing it until the final Tears), and that she'd essentially spent thousands and thousands of years trapped inside herself, was AWESOME. Every cutscene involving her as the Light Dragon hit me hard, and I felt genuine sorrow everytime I saw her floating around the sky.

...That being said, I DO wish we could have a game where you get to actually travel with her. I WANT her to tell me about the minor lore of the world! I want to know about the various flora and fauna, and I want her to talk about Hyrule's history! Zelda is part of the royal family, and I'd imagine that part of her studies pre-BotW she'd have to learn about the history of her family (especially because of the importance of the Goddess' blood...). With how pre-BotW went between her and her powers, and her and her father, I'd imagine she'd make it a point to learn more about their history that ISN'T just the prophecy.

I, personally, did not like most of the temple boss fights. I can't really explain much of why- except for Queen Gibdo. I HATED Queen Gibdo because of all the smaller Gibdo chasing you, trying to chase down Riju for her power... It was a lot of things stacked on each other, and simply not my thing. Colgera was an absolute favorite however! The boss theme is AWESOME, the mechanics of being in the air and having to watch for projectiles, as well as crashing through the ice sheets to take it down? VERY, VERY FUN. Climbing through the sky just to get to the temple itself was one of my favorite experiences. Going up and up and up, and finally reaching the top where you break out above the storm clouds and see clear skies...

A thing that bothers me about the temples is that the cutscene at the end, where the ancient Sages gifts their powers to the new ones... I feel like they could've spent a little more time making them different, even if that meant more time in development. I would be okay with that! I think games should be in development longer in order to produce a good, finished product! Anyway.

The fight with Ganondorf was fun for me. I get SUPER immersed in it, so it was a fearful moment when I thought I'd beaten him, only to see his health bar fill again... and then go offscreen. And the DEMON DRAGON FIGHT? Holy SHIT.

I just wish there was more... substance to the game, I guess? It feels weird saying that. There are more things to do, but it's missing something I can't name. Something BotW had, but is now gone. I like TotK, like I said. It's clearly had love put into it, and I'm glad the developers spent more time on getting it as close to the perfect image they wanted as they could. Maybe it's just cause I've spent more time with BotW (over 300 hours), but I think I'm a little biased towards it. Maybe I'm just getting older and grumpier about vidya games, too. Who knows!

If you read all this, cool! I will reiterate that this is simply my view on it! If your view is different, good!! I'm happy to know there are people out there who enjoy it more than I did. Or if you hate it more than I do, maybe you have other things you want to point out about it that I missed.

[capncococharms]

Games I Enjoyed in 2023

I did a big blog post last year where I listed all the games I enjoyed playing and gave my short thoughts about each of my experiences... and I'm doing it again!

Since 2018 I've kept a digital sticky note to keep track of all the games I've played AND finished throughout the year. For 2023 lots of folks claimed it was the "BEST" year for gaming and to some degree... I guess??? Depends on who you ask, but to me I only enjoyed like a handful of new releases and played a lot of older games (or remakes of older games). It was a year of reflecting back on what made me love video games more than looking forward to what's "new".

In 2023, I've finished 32 games. That's 10 more games than I finished from last year but out of all the games I played, here are the ones that stood out to me and left a pretty positive impression.

LIVE A LIVE

I never had a chance to play the SNES version, but I was very familiar with the game to some degree from the old days when I use to browse forum threads about RPGs I've never heard of. I knew I would get around to playing it one day and thankfully it got a remake on the Switch (and then it got a PC port later this year). I didn't get to properly play it last year, but after sitting down to play LIVE A LIVE... it's a game with a really powerful soundtrack, engaging characters, and a unique story that left me wanting more games like it.

I could type up many reasons why I like this game, but I feel it's something you have to experience more than anything. I don't want to spoil anything about this game. If you love Chrono Trigger then you will have a great time with LIVE A LIVE.

Final Fantasy VII- Crisis Core Reunion

I love FFVII and FFVII Remake. When they announced they were remaking Crisis Core I was excited to finally see what the deal was and by the end of this game... it left me a very broken man sobbing my eyes out. As a stand alone game it works very well even if you're not familiar with FFVII. It's a touching and contained story about a man striving to be a hero. Zack is a person I wish I could be in terms of confidence and wanting to do what's right. He's also a goof ball and I am very happy I got to know him more through Crisis Core. I don't want to say much about this game either, but PLEASE play it if you haven't! It made me finally understand why people love Zack so much.

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater

I've put off this game for way too long. I had the chance to get into it when this game came out on 3DS, but I was too busy in college then. I ended up playing the PS3 version of the game (this was before the MGS Master Collection came out to every platform). At first... I wasn't a fan of this game. I struggled to play this game and felt like an idiot when it came to sneaking. I got stuck at the Volgin fight and out of spite, I started over on "Very Easy" to better equip myself. After working my way back to Volgin, I enjoyed my experience more and was engaged with what was happening around me. Once the game was finished, I was tearing up and couldn't help but think about how often true heroes are forgotten and how history is retold.

Thank you for the heartrending experience, Hideo Kojima.

The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask

I had a weird experience with Zelda games this year. Tears of the Kingdom released and I went in hoping it would be a great follow-up to Breath of the Wild. I wasn't the BIGGEST fan of BotW. I had some faith going in that TotK would be a better experience. Unfortunately, after making it back to Hyrule my fears sort of came true. It felt like the same game I played almost 7 years ago except you can use bubble gum to craft and make things which is... fine I guess.

I kept pushing on hoping the story was going to set up something great and for a while, it did! The BIG twist was interesting, but once I got to the final scene I wanted to chuck this game out the window. The newer Zelda games just weren't doing it for me anymore so I decided to replay some older Zelda games (Wind Waker HD and Twilight Princess HD which was a TON of fun to replay) and decided it was time for me to give Majora's Mask another chance.

I ended up playing this on NSO and after a month or so, I 100%'d the game and greatly appreciated what this game had to offer in terms of setting, story, soundtrack, and characters. The setting is dark and terrifying yet it still keeps a goofy demeanor. I just fell in love with exploring and seeing how human this game can be (especially the finale). This is what I want to see with future Zelda games. I miss having ACTUAL dungeons and linearity, but we won't get that again. I hope that there will be another 2D Zelda game or Nintendo goes back to its roots with 3D Zelda games, but here's to all the indie devs out there trying to recreate that GOOD Zelda magic.

The Great Ace Attorney (Adventures)

I love this series but fell off during the 3DS era with AA6 (I still need to play that...). Since this game is more of its own thing I thought I would give it a shot and MAN! This game took the AA formula and dialed it up to 1000. In Ace Attorney fashion I love the characters, I love the puzzle-solving, and the mystery aspect where everything is tied together (especially that finale omg). My only irk is that the cases tend to go on a bit too long compared to AA 1-4, but I can let that slide because I was streaming this game, and having to voice and read EVERY bit of dialogue was exhausting (I plan to play Resolve on my own time next year so I can get through it much quicker). Ace Attorney still rocks and I hope to catch up and play more in 2024 (looking at you Apollo Justice "Trilogy").

Ranko Tsukigume's Longest Day

One of the shortest games I played this year. I love SUDA 51's work and wanted to give this a shot and it sure was an experience, to say the least. The gameplay is simple and difficult at weird times, but the one thing that sticks out to me about this game, in particular, is the absurdity and goofy humor (which is... basically expected with a SUDA 51 experience) with its visuals and jumping to different art styles and animation. Something about this small game makes me want to start working on my own projects more than anything. You can tell this was made with a creative team and the devs from Tokyo Jungle worked on it to so maybe that's another game I should look into as well... Overall, this was like a fun snack to chew away at left me with my heads in the clouds.

Pizza Tower

I don't need to say much about Pizza Tower. If you've played it, then you get it. Go play Pizza Tower! The OST and crude cartoon art style is what gives this game... uh as the kids call it... "soul". It's the Wario Land game that Nintendo will never make. It's 25% off on Steam! GO PLAY PIZZA TOWER!

Hypnospace Outlaw

Had a rough time playing through this game at first because it would crash pretty often. Turns out the game would connect to the wrong graphics card so after I got that sorted out, I finally got to play this game in peace, and... man... there's nothing else like this game in terms of telling a story/ narrative through faux web browsing. It's a game that perfectly emulates the experience of the late 90's internet browsing. There's a particular joy in exploring page after page to learn about all these characters and their hobbies. Letting the player take a small peek into their lives is a treat. As you get deeper into the game, you start learning about some of these people and who they are underneath their online persona. Without going into spoilers, the game went in a direction I didn't expect with its tone. The final arc of this game left me with some tears and a HUGE respect for what once was before what our current internet has become...

Hypnospace is really really cool.

Undertale Yellow (Pacifist Route)

Kinda unexpected that a fan game would end up on my list, but I'll make the exception. From what I've read, Undertale Yellow was in development for 7 years and that dedication and work shows in terms of presentation, story, and new characters. For a fan game, it doesn't heavily depend on needing the cast of characters from the base game of Undertale to tell its OWN story. Like Undertale, you fall in love with these new casts of characters and go through many vignettes in each part of the Underground where you get to learn about how these monsters live, and just like Undertale you'll laugh, you'll cry, and wish that the journey would never end. Once again I don't want to spoil anything, but for a prequel to Undertale's story... it's surprisingly more powerful than I thought it was going to be. Congrats to the entire Undertale Yellow team who worked on this. It was a pleasant December surprise that made me want to work harder on my passion projects.

I feel to some degree, I love this game probably a little more than Undertale itself...

Probably...

One thing for sure is that this game is helping me tide over until the new chapters of Deltarune come out.

2023 was a great time to play my backlog and give games another chance. Also trying out new stuff in the process despite my current feelings on the gaming industry at the moment...

I hope in 2024, I can continue to dedicate my time to slowly chip away at my backlog and try out new games (or older games I missed out on). Video games inspire what I want to do creatively and I love seeing what people can create and put out there.

[cloudninetonine]

*sprints on in like I have a lynel on my heels* I CAME AS SOON AS I HEARD AND AS SOON AS IRL STUFF RELEASED ME AND THE SLEEP DEPRIVATION SETTLED HOLY MOTHER OF FARORE-!

First of all, everybody say thank you very much Monarch Cloud, for you have fed us incredibly well and I am FERAL over this recent meal in Player's Aid showstopping, amazing, unparalled, incredible I feel so well fed you have no idea. You're an incredible writer, who allowed you to be this good? Whoever they are I'm going to shake their hand so hard, you're an absolute trooper for writing this well and posting even while tired and I hope you know we're all glad, really grateful and wish you a lot of good stuff in life (or at least me and my dog who had the pleasure of stealing my food when I was trying not to scream at the update like the little land piranha she is), so really thank you, was an excellent surprise and pick me up ^^.

Now to hopefully stop overstepping too much and actually yelling about what I liked so much about this chapter XD.

First of all, the reactions of the Chain and specially Wild's and Hyrule's, it's gut wrenching, it's heart stabbing and it's overall incredible and very in character, why? Because all of the Link's have deep trauma of losing people they care for or failing them in some way (I can make up a whole list from the first Zelda game to BOTW and now TOTK, by the way how we feeling about that gameplay reveal?), But specially Wild and Hyrule and even more so now that they remember Player, so losing them like that to what is basically an obvious trap is like tearing open a scar with a rusty serrated knife and then pouring salt and boiling water on the wound, Wild thinking over the worst case scenarios immediately due to his failure and almost spiralling over it if not for Twilight being the first to reach him to snap him out of it, showcasing both their bond and in a way how Wild's adventure is the most recent as far as he knows it (cause I think the only other Link's to not have more than two adventures under their belt are Twilight and Warriors, albeit for very different reasons), so having the trauma slapped back in his face is obviously not going to do him good since he already failed and lost them once just like how he likely feels he failed the kingdom, Zelda and the Champions. How Hyrule who has more experience under his belt is equally livid and terrified and fully willing to paint the walls of the castle black and red if it means getting the one person who truly, really, was literally always by his side at his best and worse in a ruined world because he doesn't want to lose one of his first friends twice plus the natural Fae instinct of being kind of maybe sorta very murderous when people touch what they consider theirs (which I fully believe to Hyrule would be the Chain nowadays and Player), how Time remains level headed and does his best to keep everyone together, how Sky recognizes their rage as a mirror of his own for what Demise did way back when, pure, mortal fury that could down even the divine for having the daring and AUDACITY to harm someone whom they consider theirs or under their protection in some way (cause I kind of feel like The Chain is a bit like a wolf pack, once you're considered by one, you're basically the person of them all even if it will take time for them to warm up or trust you, because trust hurt all of the Links before but once they trust you or at least know one of them trusts you, they're very ride or die in a very mythologicallg inspired way, fitting for the Hero's Spirit), how even if they're in a high stakes situation any idea goes no matter how stupid or dangerous it is as long as it brings victory (because it's such a Link thing they all share and it makes me blinking hysterical in the best way, because honestly doing instinctual stuff or going off on a gut feeling and STILL succeeding by either pure luck or their instincts being right is very in character for them all), it's all great, chef's kiss, 10/10.

Second of all, Dark Link. DARK LINK. I adore his portrayal here and it's great and amazing, he really comes off as this wrong, unnatural, eldritch glitch in the matrix straight out of some analog horror series, the way his voice warps? How it's pitch is never fully determined? His inhuman aspects like the talons, the look in his eyes being like a feral predatory animal who is likely cornered and willing to drag anyone down with him? How his appearance changes from Link to Link when Player looks at him? How he delights in their fright and revels in the mere though of the heroes dying and suffering? How he basically IS the embodiment of the primal fear of the unknown all humans have and how he clearly should NOT be in the narrative anymore that it seems like the world itself rebels against his presence, but his unrivaled, unmeasurable rage and fury through timelines keep him going and refusing it? Magnificent, unmatched, outstanding, really digging the horror elements on him and he definitely stole the show the entire chapter and makes for a great antagonist, plus I just love Eldritch Dark Link in general which is something we really need to touch upon more because as a shape shifter he has a lot of potential for some really great horrifying moments straight out of nightmares, it's in the details of uncanny valley, in a way it reminds me of this one character related to the Stranger in the Magnus Archives (a great horror podcast), that has a laugh which is multiple of people's voices layered together, and another one who literally is a shape shifter but I won't say much more due to spoilers, and this gives me that same vibe and I love it to unhinged bits.

Third of all, Player's reactions, they really capture what someone in a life or death situation react like, specially an ordinary person like Player who's from our world aka modern times in general, they aren't used to life or death situations, to their life really being in danger or the possibility of needing to take a life to survive like the Chain likely is after so long of living a in a world like theirs. They can't flee and fawning sure as heck won't work with Dink, so they practically freeze, then genuinely confused (and honestly I'd be too in their situation, given they don't remember being the Guide and Dink seems to be pulling a Vaati here aka going after myths without actual much research or reading the fine print {I have, way too many thoughts about Player's Aid and theories, but the word count will probably nerf me so I'll probably save a full on breakdown of it and theories for either another time or AO3}, they're both unreliable narrators because they don't have all of the puzzle pieces and that is something I really like), and then to fight (honestly I couldn't help but laugh at their cursing, and was literally mentally chanting "go for the eyes" because I know for a fact that works specially if Player has long-ish nails, don't ask, my highschool years were kind of wild after this one other kid almost set the classroom of fire, but then they did me one better, plus at least they know he bleeds now? If it bleeds it can die! That's usually how it works anyway), How adrenaline basically kept them going with the will to survive and fight tooth and nail for their life and then only once they're out of danger (aka with Wild, whom they recognize as a safe space), do they fully break down and descend into freeze as their situation well and truly daws on them and how close they were to death and it's honestly very touching, heart wrenching and realistic, plus their inner commentary is simultaneously hilarious and serious and realistic as always and just a blinking mood, I adore them as an MC your honor.

And third of all, the stasis scene, need I say more? The way that Player may or may not be realizing that hey maybe they are a protagonist for real in this situation after all ala Kim Dokja in ORV but is too panicked to really dwell on it because they can't waste the chance, how they punch Dink to buy even more time which is really smart? (Thank goodness they're a clever protag, not overly so but just enough they don't do the obvious of just running away when they remember what stasis does and how they can buy themselves more time and distance) How the dings match their heartbeat and build up tension because it's quite literally the clock ticking down for the guillotine to come down on their neck, honestly all of the imagery in this chapter is just really nice and I really like the descriptions, also that cliffhanger was evil but I can't even be too hung up on it cause I love it so much.

Once again, thank you for all your hard work! You did a wonderful job ^^

Also, glad the Fia thing (official doc file title being "Player's Increasingly Bad Day") was somewhat well received? It's just a snippet and I'm not that good of a writer, but I'll send in another snippet later on (featuring Una this time, spoilers, she messes with Fia a lot over Player, and uses an axe) and tag you on my secondary blog once the full thing (and the Lora one) is out if you want? English is not my first language, so I'm not fully satisfied with it, but I did what I could XD.

Now I go tend to my dog, she's trying to steal my coffee again, thank you so much once more!

-Just a Very Awkward Summertime Musician.

Monarch Cloud? You're gonna give me a big head, Sum! But also thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter! As for the hand you're shaking that's just another of mine that I totally didn't steal because writing was certainly my passion! Also you're not over-stepping at all! Tbh I'm an over-sharer anyway IUFHOIEUFHFEIU

I'm really glad you enjoyed my depiction of Dink, this was one of the things I was most nervous about because I didn't want him to come across as the normal video game character but an actual visage of horror that he could be in real life! Some people have already mentioned how disturbing he's been described as and I'm so glad for it!

[ari-rina]

TOTK Diary

So I dediced to put down my experience of playing tears of the kingdom, including my thoughts and theories and just...random funny things hat happened and I want to write down for the heck of it. This first post was my first day playing and contains spoilers up to reaching the first stable after leaving the forgotten sky island!

So first things first, before you actually wake up on the island there is a small passage you get to spend with zelda nerding out and all that time I‘m just there and like: Zelda? Zelda? Zelda, sweety, where is MY shiekah slate? It’s meant to be the heroes tool. You have your PurahPad now, where is my shiekah slate then? See those murals you’re geeking out about? There is coarse rubble in front of the places you can’t see, but if I still had the BOMB MODULE of MY shiekah slate then I could just easily bomb it free and you can analyze those as well!

I understand of course that it is meant to make us start from the very beginning again but dang that was a bit frustrating. Maybe the devs should have made the rubble not look like you can breakt it. Or maybe we’ll be able to come back to that place and destroy the rubble then and see the hidden murals? I hope it’s the latter one!

So apparently the royal line of hyrule was founded by a zelda and a zonai, did I get that right? Why were the zonai called “savage” then? All very mysterious, I’m eager to find out!

Why did the hand suddenly become limp, but was then able to save Link?

Now fun fact about my first death after waking up: I spooked one of the running sky birbs and it charged at me and threw me off the island.

So Rauru was seen as corporeal when in the trailer talking to Zelda, when you meet him as Link in the game he’s a ghost. My current theory is that Zelda is truly in the past right now because of that.

The abilities...I mean who am I kidding? You will be able to do sooo much bullshit with it, I already can’t wait. And now all the stuff you get to collect on your journey will actually have a bit of more usability. Cuz let’s be real, you only used the durian or hearty ingredients for cooking for the heal, and then the ability-inducing ones. That’s it. Now you can boost your weapons with it, as well. I do have to get used to them, though. It gives you so much freedom that I feel overwhelmed at it sometimes and it takes some time to learn what I need and what I can and can’t do. 

I had a BOULDER fused to my shield and was able to break stuff with it by “blocking” by the way. Very useful, would do it again!

It makes me sad that the Zonai are apparently all dead now? At least when you talk to Rauru on the island whenever you find him in different places strongly suggest that there are no Zonai left at all :(

I’m not sure if I like the “I need to get to my friend” quests from the koroks, tbh. On the one hand, it’s a cute way to get 2 korok seeds that feels more rewarding story-wise. On the other hand you got to spend a lot of time to actually DO it that I’m like “Oh no...how many of those are there?” On the forgotten sky island, I found 2 of those, so it doesn’t bode well for the game tbh lol. Also also, actually actaully: I think the Dandelion Korok is my new arch nemesis. I already found two and I just hate them.

I am SO grateful that the cave entrances are actually marked on the map you have NO idea. Botw actually made me feel like I have an okay sense of direction. With all these sky islands and caves in totk....I feel like I will loose my way a LOT. I wish you can upgrade your map to go from one “height” to a different one, so that you can actually see each “level” as it is instead of the whole thing. That would help a lot.

Some of the energy carge stuff still confuses me a bit cuz I have yet to need to use/do it? So I used energy cores to get some capsules. I don’t think I will regret it.

I MISS THE PARAGLIDER WHEN WILL IT BE BACK?

I saw that you can fuse things with the master sword!??!?!!? Like, the game tells you that it’s too damaged at the moment to do so but apparently, it’s at least a possibility?!?!?!?

So again you have to have 4 shrines to get a blessing by praying, so I’m currently wondering if there are 120 shrines again? More? Less?

I am by the way absolutely in awe of how they justified Link starting from scratch again with the malice seeping into his arm and weakening him to the minimum, and whenever you finish a shrine and get a blessing a bit of it seeps out of Link again so Link also gets to be stronger again. It so simple but ingenious, I love it!

When I got down to Hyrule, I was hellbent on goint to the quest marker in the hopes of getting the paraglider asap...but then I saw a tower-like structrue and some shrines and also a stable nearby so i went the other direction lmao.

I met someone who worships Hudson and helped him out, saved someone stuck in a WELL and also got a cave pointed out at me from someone else....and when I tried entering the cave there was a BUNCH of monsters that I didn’t know that immediatley saw me so I turned around and was like “nope, gotta go” and went to the stable instead.

Of course, the very FIRST night down from the island and in Hyrule again, you know what had to happen, do you? BLOOD MOON! I play with the japanese audio, so keep that in mind when I say i really love her poem/rhyme for it, it so haunting imo.

And that’s it for my first day playing totk!

[draquus]

Tears of the Kingdom spoilers ahead:

I am playing TotK for the second time now, and I'm sad because it's a somewhat disappointing experience. The first playthrough, I was really drawn in by the story, and the experience of exploring the depths.

Now, all the tension of the story is just completely gone, because it was all dependent on believing Zelda's sacrifice was a profoundly meaningful thing. But the way the story ends, it just...isn't. She gets to go back, doesn't even remember being a dragon at all. Link gets completely fixed up with no consequences.

I am not, and this is important, complaining about it having a happy ending. I think Link being able to save Zelda is a really important thing, and it wouldn't have been a game I could fully enjoy if he hadn't. I just wish it felt earned. I wish he had to sacrifice something (like, you know, his arm). I wish there had been some connection between him and Raru and Sonia to justify their being able to fix things at the end. Were their spirits trapped somehow, and his freeing them gave them the ability to actually help? (Yes, that is the plot of BotW, but at least it's a plot). I wish Zelda's sacrifice left some mark on her, whether physical or emotional. I wish we had a better sense of how long she was in the past. It kind of seems like it might have been a year or more, but it also feels like about a week. I spent my whole first playthrough motivated by the deep sadness and pity evoked every time i saw the Light Dragon in the sky, but now I just can't make myself care.

And like, I get it, some plots just don't have as much tension when you know how they end. But the whole game is kind of like that. I have no desire to re-explore the Depths, because now I know there's almost nothing there. Once you realize it's just an inverse map, with few points of interest and a lot of repetition, the motivation is just gone. The sky is even worse. I was getting sick of it even on the first playthrough. There are no biomes; there are repetitive enemies, repetitive puzzles, and no story. Part of what made BotW so enjoyable to play and replay was how every new place told you something about itself and its history. For example, the broken guardians were a constant reminder of Link's failure, but they weren't just there. You could see why some outposts had survived, an why others hadn't, just from the placement of the dead (and sometimes terrifyingly alive) guardians. You could see the tragedy of a failed last stand, or a forgotten victory against all odds, written in the world around you. I played BotW at least six times, and it only felt a little overly familiar when I had basically memorized everything. I can't fault TotK for not being that level of amazing (BotW is in a league of its own), but I feel like it doesn't even try.

Now, don't get me wrong. TotK is still a fun game. It's just all the things it does best (the weapons, the building, the different abilities), are not really the things I love about Zelda. I did enjoy the actual dungeons, but they were mostly too short and too similar to the divine beasts. Only two of them (wind and lightning) really had interesting story elements. The things I love about Zelda games are the stories, the puzzles, the atmosphere, and the characters. This game seemed like it had all those elements at the beginning, but none of them really came through in the end.

Also, there is nothing about Raru and Sonia's child. Like, it's fine that he/she is not a major player, but we need to know why. Is it because it's a baby? Who has this baby, and why do we never see Raru & Sonia (the Good Parents) actually taking care of their child? Is (as seems more likely) their child already mostly grown and maybe having adventures somewhere else? Then why is he/she not at all involved in the Imprisoning War? Like, again, I can think of several answers to these questions, but there needs to be at least a hint.

Anyway, I do want to reiterate that this is not a bad game. It's just a frustrating mix of fantastic pieces that don't quite come together.

[youngerfrankenstein]

frare hiii! can i get 3, 27, and 28 for the video game ask? :D

Hi Hi Shyd!!!

3. 1-3 games you’ve played in the past 12 months that you really enjoyed

*Desperately tries to remember what I’ve played in the last year.*

Well, while I still haven’t finished it because my laptop SUCKS (can’t believe I bought it *grumbles*) I did really love what I played of Psychonauts 2. Backed it way back in the day due to loving the first one and just never got around to playing it. Really glad I did! Even if I will probably have to restart on PS4 to finish it :/

I mostly did really enjoy my time with BOTW! Partly due to the game and partly due to being finally able to play something a friend had been raving about for years! But I will say that I was more than ready for it to be over by the end. Still! Most of the experience was enjoyable, even for someone who doesn’t much care for open world games.

I have been trying on and off to FINALLY get back and finish Dragon Age Origins. The first attempt was cut off by computer failure and the second I SWEAR I’ve just put it down for a little while.

…Wish I could give better answers on this one but time is an illusion and my memory sucks.

27. A game you love the atmosphere of

Oh good! Another reason to talk about the Professor Layton games! Because really half the success with that series is due to the atmosphere. It manages to be both weird and comforting. Creepy and homey. The often muted colour palette, silly character designs and bizarre plots come together with an accordion in the background to create a weird yet wonderful world. I love it.

28. Pick a series you like. What was the first game you played for it? Was it a good starting point? Would it still be a good starting point now?

Uh, when I try out a new series I usually just start at the first. I guess I’ll go with Fire Emblem here? Started with FE7 (which… is the first released in North America) Was a pretty good starting point I think, the GBA games helped solidify a bunch of the Fire Emblem staples. I would say it’s still a good starting point with an asterisk. Good if you’re playing on Switch or an emulator, not so much an original cartridge. Partly for having to track one down and partly for being pretty clunky with some weird unexplained stuff. I would probably recommend Sacred Stones (easier, fewer hidden maps, grinding opportunities, though the tracking down a cartridge would still suck if you wanted to play it that way) or Awakening (a lot of modern conveniences, even if I think it’s one of the weaker games it’s still a really good jumping on point) as a starting point before I recommended FE7.

[cryiling]

2, 23, and 26 for the writing ask game :D

(ask game from here)

2. If you had to give up your keyboard and write your stories exclusively by hand, could you do it? If you already write everything by hand, a) are you a wizard and b) pen or pencil?

absolutely not 😭 iri I have no idea how you do it but my hand cramps so bad after writing for 10 minutes like ??

I will say, though, wayyy back in 6th I had this notebook that I wrote the cringiest fanfics in, like I'm ngl they were kind of risque why tf would I put it in physical writing ???? 😟😟 anyways I would never be able to do it now, I would just have to pass on my fanfiction verbally like my ancestors did 😞

23. Describe the physical environment in which you write. Be as detailed as possible. Tell me what’s around you as you work. Paint me a picture.

honestly I do not write consistently enough to have an actual writing workspace, it always changes depending on where I am. like sometimes I'm at school IN CLASS, or in the library, or on a couch, or in the car, or at my desk (but I usually feel like it's harder to write at my desk because it feels more forced than if I was writing spontaneously when I actually had inspiration)

back during covid, I was a much more consistent writer, and I would fr take like 2 or 3 hours a day to just write 😭😭 I wish I could do that now lmao, but school is saying no 🙁 but yeah back during the pandemic, my writing workspace was in my room, I had my laptop hooked up to a monitor and I would put on an instrumental playlist to get myself in the mood and then just write. my window was usually open but it never let enough light in so I also had my overhead light on. also my room was literally wallpapered in bts posters so if I ever needed a break, I would just lie on my bed and stare at the pictures ajdbakdbk

26. How do you get into your character’s head? How do you get out? Do you ever regret going in there in the first place?

basically just self project as much as possible 😭 umm let me give you an example, like for my sick fic, I was writing in link's perspective, and he's very sick. so I was trying to think of times I've been sick or mentally not present, and I tried to channel those hazy emotions into the beginning of the story. I also thought of how I would like to be taken care of if I was sick and then made that happen for link 🤭 it was vv therapeutic tbh

I'll be honest, depending on what the fic is about, it ends up being based on a lot of my own experiences. a year ago I was not having a Good Time so I decided to write a mdzs fic where lan wangji went through about the same stuff that I was going through. but to do that, I had to take my mindset back way further to like late elementary school/early middle school, which honestly brought up some not so great memories for me. it was tough to write the fic! and I never did finish it, and I probably never will, because I'm just not in that headspace that I was in at the time of starting the fic

as for getting out of the headspace of my characters, I sort of do a detox from whatever media I was writing for ajsbsjfn 😭 like for mdzs, I wouldn't consume any content for it for a day or two, for bts I wouldn't watch any of their videos, for botw I didn't play for a couple days. it helps a lot!

[thetrueshan-blog]

My long winded thoughts on BOTW before TOTK

So TOTK (The legend of Zelda: Tears of the kingdom) comes out next friday. I am 100% going to get it. It’s a zelda game after all. In fact a rare time nintendo ever does a direct sequel in the zelda franchise. I believe Majora’s Mask was the only ever direct sequel to a game (I mean at least in the sense of continuing pretty close to the previous game anyways). There is also Spirit Tracks.

Full spoilers for BOTW btw.

So, I’ve been thinking about BOTW a lot these last few weeks. I’ve enjoyed the game for the most part when it first came out but I slowly grew to resent certain parts of it. This culminated until I could only remember the parts I hated, versus the parts that I liked.

So, to see if my feeling of hate for BOTW were true or just false memories, over the last 2 weeks I played through BOTW again. Not a 100% playthrough (I’m not that insane) but just enough to finish the 4 guardians, get the master sword, and beat gannon. It took me around 28 hours. And overall I would say I enjoyed my time with the game. Though I will say at the end of my playtime I was starting to feel done with the game again. I was ready for it to be over. My first play through took around 80 or so hours. And I recall being even more sick and tired of BOTW back then, then I do now.

I’ll be honest here. I have a lot of gripes with BOTW. It feels like a tech demo to me in a lot of ways. But still I come out of the experience having enjoyed it for the most part. I don’t like to give numbered reviews, but I would say it’s a solid game. Game play is great but story was a bit lacking. Though there were some parts that could have been better refined.

That was the short summary. What follows is some of my more in depth ramblings(?) of BOTW.

0. My background with the game

BOTW came out as the first nintendo switch game in march of 2017. If you were getting a switch on launch, you were basically getting it to play BOTW. In fact I can even tell you the exact time I picked up my copy of BOTW since I still have my receipt. March 3rd, 2017 at 12:08 pm from a cashier named Joseph apparently. Thanks Joseph. March of 2017 was an interesting time for me. I was a senior in high school. Wrapping on my high school studies while also taking some college classes at the nearby community college. It was a transition period for me. For that I will always remember BOTW as a part of that transition period. It was the time for my hopes for college after high school and hopes for better stuff from nintendo after the WiiU era (Though I was a little more focused on the college part). Since then it’s actually been just over 6 years. I now have finished college and work full time. So it’s been interesting watching the switch transition from the “BOTW console” to the switch we now know in early 2023. For better or worse. There’s been rumors for years now about the switch Pro. But I doubt that will happen anytime time soon.

Anyways enough about my self. Back to my gripes about BOTW.

1. The English Voice Acting

The very first thing you hear in this game is Zelda telling link to “Open your eyes”. This is one of the few if ever zelda games to incorporate voice acting into a Zelda game. And boy do I wish they hadn’t. Oh geez the voice acting in this game. It’s not necessarily bad. But I just can’t get behind it. The english voice acting varies wildly. It’s either really forced or actually pretty good. Unfortunately most of the voice acting sounds so forced and rigid. The main issue I have is with Zelda’s voiced lines. She sounds like she’s forcing herself to be British so badly. I wouldn’t mind this except Zelda’s voice is the one you will most likely hear for the majority of the game. I know others have issues with the voice acting as well so I won’t linger on this point too much, but the voice acting being as jarring for me as it is might explain a bit for my disdain for Zelda’s character.

Speaking of -

2. Zelda and her one character trait (Aka the story of BOTW)

I never really go into a Zelda game expecting the best story. There are games with some highlights of course. Majora’s Mask and dealing with the impossible, Skyward Sword’s hints of Romance, Wind Waker’s story of old grudges and Twighlight Princess with Midna to name a few. But I wouldn’t put BOTW’s story in that list.

BOTW’s story is fine. It’s serviceable really. However it could be told instantly in 20 minutes. For those that haven’t played BOTW. The main way to get story in BOTW is through flashback sequences. What’s bad about this kind of story telling is the fact that the player has to hunt these out themselves. But the player could find these in any order. Which means the flashbacks have to have a constant retelling of events from other flashbacks. This leads to a lot of the flashbacks feeling boring or just overall disjointed. I remember watching so many of them and thinking “Didn’t I already see something like this?” Only to see that it’s something just slightly different but with all the same story beats.

The main crux of the story in BOTW is how Zelda fails to live up to her legendary purpose. She’s supposed to be a decedent from the goddess Hylia and have the power to seal “the calamity” away. But Zelda never really understood how to control or even feel these powers. As the one and only mentor she had, her mother, died when she was young. So as Zelda feels she can’t rely on these powers she seeks other methods to potentially help prevent the calamity in the forms of the guardians and shiekah technology dating back 10,000 years ago (BTW keep an eye on this fact of 10,000 years ago, I think TOTK is going to be about this, maybe with some time travel shenanigans). Ultimately this backfires on everyone though when the calamity takes over all the shiekah technology and wreaks havoc on everything. Including killing all 4 of the guardians, nearly killing Link, and damages the master sword greatly. This is a tragic tale about how a girl couldn’t live up to the literal god like expectation thrown onto her.

But... as I mentioned before, you get all that info I just gave in a paragraph over something like 15-16 flashbacks that are scattered throughout the game. If this was given out as a main linear story I don’t think I would be as harsh on it. But it’s so hard to relate to a character’s tragedy when I 1) can’t stand the voice acting, 2) can’t tell when events were supposed to happen and 3) grow sick and tired about hearing how Zelda couldn’t fulfill her end of the legend. I get that’s the point of the game. Zelda finally has her powers and has been holding gannon back for like 100 years just in time for Link to be resurrected again. (Which BTW I kinda hate the fact that Zelda is still alive. I would have much preferred if she was a ghost like the other guardians.) But the end resolve of the story is the fact that Zelda now has her powers and seals gannon away (to the sacred realm?) at the end of the game. However you don’t even get that as a satisfying conclusion because -

3. The worst timing for an ending

The game just ends after you beat the final boss. You do not get to enjoy the world in peace. You do not get to hear people being thankful to you. You do not get to pass Go. You do not get to collect $200.

I understand that most Zelda games don’t have a post-game. Heck I can’t even think of one that does. Most of the time, Zelda games end when there is no more evil to conquer over. Makes sense in a lot of ways. However, the end beat to what little of a story we get in BOTW is the fact that Zelda now can use her powers and stops Gannon with Link. And we get that for like a minnute or two? It just didn’t feel satisfying to me. Like imagine there’s an post game content where Link guides Zelda to kakoriko village and Zelda then sleeps till TOTK because she must be exhausted and never really slept for like 100 years. Bam! Now you have the rest of the game to still explore as post-game content. Instead the game just reverts you back to your last save before going into the final boss arena but gives you a little star sticker on your save file for doing your best. What?! That’s it?!

With BOTW being a giant open world game I think Nintendo dropped the ball a bit by having no post game. Which now seeing that TOTK is going to be a direct sequel I can kinda understand why BOTW has no post game content. But I wonder if TOTK is just going to make BOTW feel like a prelude story. Like something that can be skipped with a quick summary on a fan wiki page or something.

But I’m getting side tracked. See, this is the pure reason I wanted to write this before TOTK came out. My opinion is already changing on BOTW because I know TOTK might *MIGHT* fix some of the story issues I had with BOTW.

4. Quick List of complaints I had in some way of the Game Play

Alright now with most of the complaints I had with the story out of the way I will now quick fire my complaints I had with the game play I noted while replaying:

Durability system is wack. I get what they were going for, but it does seem weird that weapons can break so easily and fast.

Rain stops all exploring if you need to climb. It’s just not fun.

Combat feels slow and clunky. Never really got a hang of it.

No passive upgrades to anything except to health and stamina.

Dungeons are neat. But way too small and I wish the guardians didn’t speak during them. Just let me bask in a cool place nintendo. Stop talking my ear off.

Shrines all feel the same. Also randomly the walls aren’t climbable in shrines? Just put barriers to stop link from climbing on them.

No themes in shrines or dungeons. They all look the same. At least the music is different in the dungeons at least.

There is no way to see the durability of weapons until it is about to break.

You cannot get a full set of hearts and stamina. You will always be missing one. (this might have been fixed in the DLC?)

If an enemy can guard your attack then you can’t damage it until you break their stance. Even if they are facing away from you.

Koroks... so many koroks... but eh kind of a pro/con situation. Don’t need to worry about getting them all, but at the same time feels so boring getting them.

Blood moons. Freaking blood moons. They appear at the worst times.

Thunder blight fight. I have no idea why this one fight is so hard compared to the rest. Each blight and including the final boss I beat all on the first try. With thunder blight I died like 15-20 times on. It’s just tough as nails. You need to dodge instantly otherwise you get hit so badly. Like here’s a link to me beating it: click here. It’s by far the hardest boss in the game for me.

If something needs to re-charge (master sword, or guardian powers) it needs to fully deplete before re-charging. Which is a bit annoying.

It’s the tiny things that bug me about BOTW’s gameplay. Overall I love it. It has some great moments to it. When you get in the zone and just start wandering around is the best time in BOTW. Until it starts raining anyways lol.

5. Cartoony Nature (no not the artstyle)

Yeah not the artstyle. I actually really like the art style in BOTW. What I don’t like are the random bits of cartoony or goofy bits, practically everywhere in the game. Of course I don’t mean literally everywhere, but it starts to become such an issue that I start expecting there to be a non-serious moment or gag everywhere I go. Like the biggest example I can recall of this is the Yiga clan leader. When you're doing the guerdo divine beast quests. You have to steal back the thunder helm from the yiga clan. Which is a decent stealth mission where if you are caught and hit you die instantly no matter your stats. But it turns out the yiga clan is crazy for bananas. So you can use those to lure guards in certain directions. A bit goofy but also works mechanically. So you're going through through all of it. And finally get to the end. Where you have to face against the yiga clan leader. Are they a huge brute that leads with power? Or are they a smart quiet like assassin? Nope. He's just a dude with a big pot belly and goofy antics. You don't even do the final blow on him. He summons a giant metal ball that pushes him into a pit and kills him.

Like that's a memorable interaction. And is pretty funny. But it's also like a giant let down? Like what was the joke? The leader is so incompetent that he ends up ending the fight by himself, even though his followers are so good that they stole the thunder helm without the geurdo guards noticing? I think I would have preferred if the fight was a legit serious one but you could still distract him with throwing bananas around. And then eventually ending the fight by something weird like accidentally blowing a hole in a wall revealing a giant horde of bananas that you can then trap him in forever or something.

Again this is fine mostly. It's just most of the game's tone is like this. Unless it's talking about the calamity. Everything else is some weird goofy thing that happens. It's not bad just gets dull after putting in a lot of hours into the game. I'd prefer if the goofier moments were more sparse.

6. The Unneeded DLC

I know some will disagree with me on this but I thought the DLC was neat. But really felt like something that should've been included with the base game and not extra dlc. The rewards weren't that great as well. Just lower times on the champion's powers and the mastercycle (which controls really badly. The turn radius is so bad and slow). But what really didn't help was at the end of the dlc zelda still yaps to link about how he's the only one who can defeat the calamity and has shown that he can. And it's not like I already did that or anything.

So overall the dlc was neat and a bit challenging, but yeah not really something I would say people need to do or finish. All it does is give some flashbacks of the champions. But not even like new developments but scenes you can pretty much guess that happened from knowing other stuff.

7. The Romance I Don’t See And Memories Forgotten

I see a lot of people talk about the romance between Zelda and Link in this game... and I just don’t see it. And yes, before you ask I have read the entries in Zelda’s Diary. But I don’t see that as a sign of them having feelings for each other. I see that as a sign that Zelda had feelings for Link. Whether Link had feelings for Zelda or not is not something I can tell. The main factor for me is Mipha. I always saw that Mipha and Link shared a bond together. I would agree that Zelda has feelings for Link, but I always thought Link had feelings for Mipha not Zelda.

But beyond that lies a question of whether or not the Link we play as in BOTW could be considered the return of the Link that Zelda and Mipha knew. He lost his memories after all. He does recall a good amount. But even if he recalls events happening it could be argued that Link is a different person now. Which might be possible to get a good answer from it if Link wasn’t mute the whole game. Wait... he does speak. Just not to us the player. Hell we even choose some dialogue options for him. What the heck Link? Just tell us what’s on your mind man.

Eh, whatever. I sure in TOTK we will get a definitive answer to if Link X Zelda in BOTW is real or not. I’m sure the game is just going to go that way anyways. To my dismay. Also the real ship is Paya X Link. Since the feesh is now dead I guess >:(. Thanks Nintendo. Always removing the fish love from the Zelda games.

8. Conclusion

So there’s my long winded thoughts. Some of these might look familiar to my friends as some I took some of the text directly from my discussions with them.

I might have had a lot of negative stuff to say about BOTW. But I still had fun with it. The biggest gripes I had were with the story and some unrefined moments in the game play. Hopefully TOTK will improve on this a bit. But I’m still expecting pretty much the same. An overall fun time, but with some gripes.

[moongothic]

Finished TOTK yesterday, I have a mouth, so I must scream

Be warned, the be spoilies, but TL:DR; Good Game

I don't even know where to start, maybe the boring stuff? The gameplay changes from BOTW?

I dunno, I feel like generally speaking TOTK improved upon BOTW's gameplay mechanics in every way, or simply changed neither for better or worse

Like. The Sage Powers are fine, they're fun. But I did prefer the original Champion Abilities from BOTW. I do understand why they changed the abilities the way they did, the BOTW ones were kind of... basic. Like they were game mechanics any game could have, and some of them (Revali's Gale ESPECIALLY) could have literally broken the game and/or made much of the other new abilities completely pointless. They NEEDED to change for TOTK. And so we get the Sage Powers, which were much more situational. But they also helped add challenge to the game because they weren't these get-out-of-jail cards you could pull out of your pocket to cheese through any situation. Like no Mipha's Prayer means either you make sure you have fairies in your pocket, or you heal yourself every chance you get, or you simply die. Mipha ain't got your back. Nor Daruk. Nor Urbosa. Nor Revali. It's just you and the Sages if/when their powers happen to be useful.

That said. I did miss Revali's Gale the entire time I was playing and would have exchanged literally every single other ability in the game for the Gale. It was just so convenient man

If there's one thing I WISH TOTK hadn't changed and/or kept the same, it would be the Memories. Like. I didn't dislike the system they had going with the memories, but they way they changed it WHILE keeping it the same made TOTK's Dragon Tears a worse experience than BOTW's Memories (for me at least)

You see. Based on all the dialogue through out the game, it's kind of obvious in hindsight that you were arguably meant to do the Geoglyph Quest AFTER finding AT LEAST the first four sages, maybe even after finding Mineru and/or saving the Deku Tree. And that would be fine, but the thing is.

Like. In BOTW the Memories you really had to go out of your way to find, they were sometimes pretty well hidden and hard to find after all, but in BOTW even if you did find the Memories out of order or before doing any other sidequests, they didn't really affect the story at all, right

In TOTK, they attached the Memories to GIGANTIC LANDMARKS YOU CAN SEE FROM MILES AWAY. You don't have to go looking for jack shit, the Geoglyphs will fucking find YOU instead

NOT TO MENTION, in BOTW there was a True Ending you could only unlock if you got all the Memories, right. Knowing that OF COURSE most players would go out of their way to just fucking RUSH to each Geoglyph as fast as they could, because OF COURSE we want to know what happened to Zelda and the Master Sword

And. Like I know My Experience is not universal.

But, being the massive Fi Simp that I am, immidiately after I finished the Wind Temple I headed for the Korok Forest and the Master Sword geoglyph, because I wanted to know where Fi My Beloved is and if she's fucking okay

So The Master Sword Geoglyph was literally the third memory I watched.

The one where Zelda states she's going to become an immortal dragon to reach the future.

The third memory I watched. That fucking one.

Like. I'm not saying getting spoiled on Zelda becoming the Light Dragon so early on RUINED my precious experience, I still enjoyed the game deeply despite that. But I do, really really wish, that I hadn't seen that memory until much later. Not just because it was frustrating to listen to every character be like "oh jeez I wonder where Zelda is" when I know exactly where the fuck she is, but also because it did affect my enjoyment of the rest of the memories. Like, there's a great story TOTK is telling, but I've already seen the most important part, the part I was the most invested in, the end of it. So the rest, the way we get there... kind of doesn't matter.

I feel like had they either NOT given the players advice on how to interact with the Geoglyphs so early in the game (meaning you probably wouldn't know how to see the memories until later unless you figured out how to brute force them yourself), OR had they just kept the Memories more hidden like in BOTW... IDK, I think either method would have worked better than the way TOTK ended up doing it

All that aside, I gotta say. It's not often that a story leaves me feeling as mortified, empty and sad as TOTK did. Nor as inspired and full of hope as TOTK did. Like. Normally I'm very numb and don't get invested in storie, I rarely get emotional over a story. I rarely get invested. And TOTK just managed to wack me over the head, it's genuinely impressive

Like I don't know what to say, that was so fucking good man

Like. Of course, the best parts of the story where when all the sages united together and I just WISH Nintendo would have allowed there to be more moments like that, I could not get enough and simply yearned for more. I don't even mean during gameplay, just give me a few more cutscenes man 😭

I don't even know what to say anymore. It was a good game. I don't know what to do with my life anymore now that I beat it lmao

[mythicalartisttm]

Have you played botw2? If so, what do you think of it so far?

I've been watching playthroughs! I can't afford the game rn, but I hope to get it myself eventually! In part for the experience, in part bc the ppl I'm watching play are hardly looking in the direction I want to. A game with so many options means that no one will play the same way, so that means if I want the best TotK experience, I'll have to make it for myself.

That said, the game thus far is driving me nuts (/pos and derogatory).

First and foremost, the game is trying to sell the fact that Hyrule and it's founders only came into play just before the Imprisoning War??? Baby, I understand that Hyrule could have been refounded after Ganondorf came in guns blazing after having just squashed the Hero and Princess of Time, and so Sonia and Rauru would be rebuilding Hyrule and re-establishing the monarchy. That makes sense. But that's just straight up not the case! I could go over all the timeline inaccuracies right here but my brain hurts trying to put it into words. The LoZ timeline has been a mess for over 20 years but this is the first time it's contradicted itself without a fix from what I've seen.

Naming the king Rauru was a fun little detail though, I like that 🙂

Speaking of Rauru, I have only seen as much of him as the Great Sky Island and one (1) tear, but he's going into the Fictional Dads of All Time folder. Both a goat and a G.O.A.T. I do not know much about Sonia yet but I like her. Both the king and queen really scored on marriage partners imo.

Tulin, my son. I have not played the game but the AI is so darn good it's job and he's saved the guy I've been watching so many times. I do kinda wish we could've fought alongside Teba but dang, Tulin is not just good, he's a really fun character in his own right and I'm glad he's here.

I haven't as strong feelings about Yunobo but he is a delight to be around. Rolling him around and smashing stuff is quite fun as well.

Bonus that I've taken to naming the sage mimics. So far we have Terin and Shobae. I've already decided to name the next (last?) two Raja (pronounced "rah-hah") and maybe Po (Po and Sidon).

Mostly unrelated, but Tulin's champion ability reminds my of the LU Champion AU craze from a a while back! That was the first thing I thought of when I saw Tulin use his power for the first time and it made me chuckle.

It still doesn't feel real to have the name of Zonai popping up in so many places in-game. Like, wow. Ok. I guess this is happening. This has still not sunk in.

Speaking of which, did you know that the Zonai tech was originally Sheikah tech in development? I'm actually really glad that it got changed because using a different kind of tech with it's own distinct color/aesthetic not only separates TotK from BotW, but it also prevents the Sheikah tech from getting stale. I wish we could maybe see some more Sheikah tech aside from the towers and the Purah Pad though, just to make it feel like it hasn't totally up and left. I did see a comment on yt say that the ppl of Hyrule probably dismantled the divine beasts and other weapons so they never have to worry about the tech turning on them again. I think that's a good way of looking at it, although the removal of the towers felt highly unnecessary from an in-universe perspective imo if they're just gonna build new towers.

Side note that when that one character (I can't remember if it was Purah or Josha) called them Skyview Towers my SS brain went 👀👀👀👀👀👀👀

There's for sure more I have to say but this is all I can call upon atm! Thank you for asking <3

[dreamerdagn]

ok but for real totk after a few days:

I’ll start out with an extra spoilery thing: I just had my favorite experience so far, and that was hiking through the underground to find the deku tree and then what happened when I got there. first I just wandered around, and I didn’t find the path to get to the center of the forest, so I ended up going almost all the way around, in the process activating two light sources and learning that those glow pod things are really fun. I had a ton of them bcs I picked them up every time I saw them but hadn’t experimented with them yet. So then I looked up how to actually get there, warped back, had that experience where I ran into a construction site and successfully built a powered balloon, got to the deku tree, got super excited when I realized I needed to go inside the tree to beat up something evil...and then encountering whatever that thing is was rad as heck, that was maybe my favorite moment so far. floating down and being like ‘well there’s so evil goop and oh no it’s moving oh no oh what the heck is that’. A+

so yeah anyway:

early on I swung constantly back and forth between “this is fun!” and “URRRRGGGHHH”

because the construction has so few constraints on - which is super impressive - I knew wrestling with the controls was going to be annoying, and I hoped I’d just get better at it. and I did! I’ve gotten over the learning-the-new-mechanics hill so that I can do some things by muscle memory now, like attaching items to arrows or dropping them to attach to weapons (do I have to drop them? I think I do but if not don’t tell me I’ll figure it out)

caves are so cool, design-wise I wish they were even scarier (same with the underground, I don’t know what most things are called sorry), but I love the way they’re used in puzzle solving.

and speaking of puzzles...the design on some of these shrine puzzles is phenomenal. early on I ran into a couple that stumped me and was like “well with how freeform the construction is it’d be hard to have a concrete solution” but nah, there’s usually a satisfying solution in addition to whatever whacky nonsense people might want to do to break the puzzle

I started out really really missing Revali’s Gale, which had a cooldown but I liked that I could theoretically use it anywhere, but now I’ve found it’s not too hard to find fallen debris or a tower to launch into the air

early on I lost to the Sludge Like and thought I needed to get a bunch more hearts and I was bummed bcs I wanted to fill out my stamina meter, but instead I came back with better weapons that I crafted and realized I had the attack pattern down. I’ve been cruising along with five hearts for a while and honestly think I’d’ve been fine with four, which is surprising bcs I’m very bad at combat, it’s typically my least favorite part of the game

I’ve found it much harder to find food, gems and arrows, and resource farming and cooking were my favorite passtimes in botw, so I was frustrated by that at first. But I’ve been able to adjust my strategy around not using arrows as much and saving them for when I really really need them, and since I’ve gotten better at avoiding damage I can concentrate on making stat food, and actually having it limited is fun for the same reasons I defend weapon durability, I like the process of deciding which stat or weapon might help me out in a given situation. The one thing I miss is stockpiling speed and stamina food.

I still miss infinite bombs, but I always kinda thought that was a little gamebreaking, and I appreciate having to think of other solutions, but like, I physically feel myself trying to reach for bombs when I know I don’t have them

ok I wanted to get to my thoughts on the writing, but...honestly that has more disappointing aspects vs the gameplay which is stellar, and I don’t wanna get into it here, so I’ll do that later.

[terrortriplets]

Hey there! I’d love to send a pic of self titled but I dont think I can while being anonymous!

Red is for sure midnight memories color but I also think a certain shade of purple would look amazing since the original MM cover has some purple and that color would be perfect imo! I really think four should’ve been brown as well!! Blue would’ve looked really nice too. I love yellow as well buuut I think it doesn’t work color scheme/theme wise for the album.

Oh, self titled really is that bitch, no one was ready for her, truly. I think my favorite is Woman, I just fell in love with that song when I first heard it and she’s everything to me still. I think FTDT is up there too. For Fine Line I’d say TPWK was one of my immediate favorites as soon as I heard it and she still is which I know is somewhat controversial since people did not like TPWK. Also Lights Up and many more. For Harry’s House my favs are Grapejuice, Satellite and probably Matilda. The whole album is amazing honestly I loved it. As for the rest of the boys it goes like this, Louis: Don’t Let it Break Your Heart, Defenseless, Only the Brave, Chicago, All This Time, Holding onto Heartache, Saturdays and Angels Fly, Niall: Paper Houses, Flicker, Fire Away, The Tide, Bend the Rules, Arms of A Stranger, Everywhere, Cross Your Mind, San Francisco and Still. Zayn: it’s you, fool for you, blue, scripted, good years, and sour diesel. Same with Liam, his stuff just doesn’t really pull me in 😔

I hope you enjoy severance and the devils hour if you check them out!! They were definitely some of the best tv I’ve seen in a long time and the aesthetics of severance I’m just obsessed with. Pitbulls really are gentle giants, all my pitties are the biggest babies and love attention and scratches. Thank you! Photography is a hobby of mine I pick up when I feel motivated at times and the idea of traveling the world and getting those amazing shots just sounds like a dream.

I’ve not played BOTW or Cult of the Lamb but I’ve seen the streamers I watch play them! I myself never got into Pokémon but my brothers/cousins definitely were. Now, don’t even get me started on Stardew, I love that game! I’ve been told I dont exactly play it right but who cares I’m still having fun! Who has been your favorite to marry and who’s your favorite non-bachelor/bachelorette character? Are you excited for the new game ConcernedApe is putting out? I’m very excited! I dont think you can go wrong with Kirby! I main Yoshi as well when playing Mario party unless I’m playing the one that has Monty Mole, then I’m Monty. With Mario kart I’m always dry bones!! Oh my, this message is already so long but I’ve still got quite a bit to say!

The decline of physical media is my villain origin story. I think what I miss most is physical photos. It used to be so easy to get little disposable cameras and easy to get the film developed but now it’s such a hassle and the cameras are not as cheap. One of the worst parts of declining physical media imo is that trends are cyclical so no matter what they’ll always come back as a trend at some point like vinyl and Polaroid which means the price will just keep going up when the trend picks up. I feel like photo albums, physical ones, are somewhat in the past now because all the photos you ever take are on your phone and that’s a nice convenience of course but it also breaks my heart cause I love pulling out old photo albums and shoebox’s filled to the brim with old photos and film. I wish disposal FujiFilm/Canon cameras were just like 5/10 bucks and I could just pick one up at the checkout of Walmart like before. Also letters and postcards should be a big deal again and like colorful clunky 80s home phones/rotary phones. Like I just live for hands on media and that’s why I love vinyl because you’re engaged with it. You have to clean it, adjust things, press buttons and flip the vinyl. I’m in my early 20s so I didn’t really get to experience some of these I suppose. I just hate the way these forms of physical media are dying/declining and don’t even get me started on dvds. It’s crazy to me that streaming sites can just like erase a show from their platforms and it’s gone forever? Also books, I love holding/feeling books and picking out cool covers. I too love trinkets and tend to fill my room with whatever I can find!! This is so long so I need to stop here and do quick speed round questions.

Speed round: If you could pick any skill to suddenly have, what would it be? I think mine would be easy to learn languages! I’d love to learn ASL.

Do you have a favorite board game? I really like scrabble and clue!

Do you have a preferred brand of shoes? If you look at my shoes I’m always wearing some weird/patterned vans!

Is there a car you’d just die to have? I think mine would be an old Volkswagen Van!!!

Lastly, is there a hobby you want to pick up but just haven’t yet? 

Hope you’ve had a lovely day and again I’m so sorry for the late message and length! I just feel like I need to reply to everything you’ve said! Wishing you a happy/good day tomorrow ❤️

-🎉❄️

Hello, hun!! Wishing you a happy Monday/Tuesday your way!!✨

Ahhh, I see lol. I didn’t know until just recently that you can’t send pictures while on anon and I almost sent a picture to one of my secret santas this year 😬. Would have been a short lived secret santa if I had done so lol. Hopefully, I can remind you to send a pic of the record once we all reveal ourselves!!

Purple would look amazing for the Midnight Memories pressing!! That’s so smart!! I can see it now!! It can be a mix on purple and blue, almost in a swirl!! That would look so nice!!

Self-titled sits on a pedestal that no one can really reach!! Love that for her!! TPWK was also my favorite when fine line came out!! I remember seeing everyone online saying she was the weakest song off the album, to which I understand cause everyone has their preferences!! But look at her now!! People love hearing her live!! I knew I stanned the right one lol. Oh, to hear Lights Up just one more time live!! All of your favorites listed from the other boys are so valid omg!! Did you have a favorite member of the band? Mine has been Zayn from day one up until he left (he still has such a special place in my heart tho 💕). I’d say now my favorite is Louis, but it very much jumps around from time to time to Niall and Harry!!

It does sound like so much fun to be able to fly around the world and take such stunning pictures of the things you see!! Rooting for you to be able to do that one day!!

Stardew Valley has such a special place in my heart!! I love that game so much so seeing that other people have played it as well makes my heart so happy!! My only problem is that I start a new save, play it for a week and a half straight, forget about it and then try and play it weeks later not remembering what I was doing in the first place 😅. If I remember correctly, I’ve only ever married Leah and Maru, but I would love to be able to explore the rest of the available bachelors, like Harvey, Penny and Abigail!! My favorite non-marriageable characters have to be Evelyn and George. He’s such a grumpy old man but Evelyn is such a sweet old lady; their dynamics are so funny and I would like to get to know their story a bit better!! Might have to go after Alex for that, I guess.

I didn’t even know that the game developer was releasing a new game!! I really like the art/gameplay style of Stardew so I guess is am pretty excited about this “Haunted Chocolatier” game that’s coming (edit: I just saw the trailer/early gameplay footage and I’m now actually very hype for this release!!).

Ayyeee Yoshi gang!!! I’d love to hear anything more you have to say about these Nintendo characters!! Never fear if the message is too long, love!! I love reading all of it!! ✨

Now that you mention it, it is very difficult to find disposable cameras nowadays without paying more that $15-20 for it, especially if it becomes so high in demand to meet the trends, like you said… that’s just capitalism, I suppose. I remember when I was younger and getting my parents mail from the mailbox and wishing I had mail, even if it was just spam lol. Now I’m only waiting for the important stuff in the mail and shred everything else. The idea of postcards and letters really does sound nice!! That’s also the same reason why I wanted to get into vinyl collecting!! Your feelings about declining physical media are so valid!! We should all be excited to collect things and show off our trinkets to our friends/family/strangers on the internet just out of pure excitement to have them!!

Speed Round Answers: Sudden Skill? Digital Media!! I want to be able to make digital paintings/drawings/edits of the ideas that pop up in my head!! I wish I knew how to use photoshop in that way, I suppose lol. Board Game? I don’t play many board games as much as I did when I was younger. Me and my brother played Mouse Trap/Operation a lot, so I would probably say those!! Shoes? I also really like vans!! I have about 10 pairs, maybe, of vans and always want more lol!! Lately though, I’ve been really into platform boots!!!

These have been catching my attention for the longest time, but never got around to actually buying them!! I will one day, for sure!! Dream Car? Right now, I have a Toyota Corolla (2008), but I really want a compact SUV, doesn’t really matter the brand, I suppose!! I’ve just always had low cars for as long as I can remember!! I’d say I’m a pretty tall individual, so it would be nice to have a car my size lol. Those old Volkswagen vans are so cute, I totally get the hype!! Next Hobby? There are definitely more things I wanna do, but never got around to actually doing!! I’ve always wanted to learn how to crochet, but out of the multiple times that I have attempted to learn, I’ve failed horribly at lol. Maybe I’ll get back into it at some point, but who knows!! 🎄✨

[awkwardspontaneity]

Until The Battle Is Won

BOTW Link x GN!Sheikah!Reader

Final part of Memories of You!

Previous

AN: Hey everyone!! This is the final chapter of this story. I wanna thank everyone for sticking around with my lousy update schedule ':). Anyways, I've loved writing this story and I'm kind of sad to see it end but also I love this ending so much- even though it hurts. So grab some water, maybe a snack, some tissues, and strap in. This is long and pretty sad.

TW: gore, reader death, descriptive injuries

Summary:  The final battle is here. Hyrule is in ruins as Ganon tears through every defense they had and now, the final champions must protect their Princess in the race to deliver them to their destinies.

It was dark.

Link was running through the forest, another hand in his as Y/n led the way. Their white hair was a beacon amongst the trees as he surged to keep up with their gazelle-like pace. He was focused on keeping up with the Sheikah warrior when he felt the hand slip from his. Link skidded to a stop, shouting for Y/n over the pouring rain. He knelt in front of Zelda, watching as she dug her fists into the mud beneath her. “How did it come to this? The Divine Beasts. The Guardians. They’ve all turned against us. It was... Calamity Ganon.”

Y/n had made their way back to the pair, carefully falling to their knees beside Link. He felt their hand curl around his, sensing the turmoil in him. It was all falling apart around them. They had worked so hard, faced so many trials, and made so many friends. And it was all for nothing. The fight was stacked against them, so much so that even Link was feeling the knot in his chest. They all felt helpless.

“Mipha, Urbosa, Revali, and Daruk…trapped inside those things...” the princess let out a heart-wrenching sob. “It’s all my fault!”

As Zelda cried into her hands, Y/n reached out to pull them back down, carefully pulling away the strands curled into her fists. When watery green eyes met red, the young Sheikah gave a pained smile. They linked hands with the princess and the knight, giving them both a firm squeeze. “I know it feels like we’ve already lost, like everything we’ve done has been for nothing. But we can’t think like that. We have the power of the master sword and the sealing light of the Goddess. As long as we hold our heads high and give this fight everything we have, Hyrule will survive this.”

“But I can’t use the sealing power!” Zelda pulled her hands away, fisting them in her dress to stop the shaking. Maybe if she weren’t such a failure, Hyrule wouldn’t be in danger. Her friends wouldn’t have to give their lives to face that monster. Why couldn't she do this one thing right! “I’ve tried everything and still I keep failing. Because of me they’ll die fighting the very beasts they were meant to pilot!”

“None of us can save them!” Y/n was looking down at the ground and, even through the rain, they could feel the tears sliding down their cheeks. “We can’t go back from where we are. We don’t have the time or the ability to save them from those beasts. So we must move forward. If we give up now… everything we went through…everything they are going through... it will be for nothing. And Hyrule will fall.”

Zelda surged forward, collapsing in her friend's arms. She clung to both as a sob tore from her throat. None of them could be strong. Not strong enough. Pressing his hand against Zelda’s back, Link reached out and placed a hand on Y/n’s arm. His voice was gruff, the stress and pain of what they were about to do- what they had already done, was too much for any person to bear. “All that we can do is keep fighting for their sake. We have to keep moving or we lose. We can win. We have to.”

He met Y/n’s eyes and they gave him a soft smile. They pressed their hand against his back and the princesses shoulder drawing both pairs of eyes to them. “No matter what happens, our friends will be by our side. Their wills become ours. And when you face down Ganon, you won’t be doing it alone. You’ll have the love and support of all your friends. All of Hyrule. So save your tears until the battle is won.”

Zelda sniffled, bringing a hand up to wipe at her cheek- not that it did much help with how muddy they had gotten from being on the ground. She wanted so badly to give into the crushing weight of everything that had happened. Just this morning she had held hope within her as she climbed mount Lanayru and now… she had lost everyone she loved. Her kingdom had fallen along with her father. All she had left sat here before her. Gazing at her with matching weight on their shoulders. They too felt the chains of destiny closing in around them. But they stood tall. These two bore the weight of the world without complaint and now, they placed their belief in her. The failure of a princess would not fail again. She refused to fail her friends. “Then we have no choice. We have to fight for them… and for each other.”

Y/n smiled at the princess, carefully pulling the trio together so their heads touched. “When this is over we can do as many crazy experiments as you want.”

Laughter bubbled up amongst the trio, smiles breaking through the tough exteriors they had adopted the closer Calamity had gotten. Each of them had suffered at the hands of destiny, and now they would face what could be their final battle.

Y/n choked back a sob as they thought of the sacrifices that had brought them to this point. The sacrifices they would need to make to save Hyrule. All they wanted was for their friends to be able to look over their homes with smiles. For the weights to finally be lifted from their shoulders and allow them to live their lives without the looming threats of their destinies. They knew the knight and the princess could never go forward after all that had happened since Calamity broke through but, if there was something they could do to protect those they had left, Y/n would do whatever it took.

Link watched his friends with a tightness in his chest. They were ready to face Calamity Ganon. He would protect them in the final battle and, when the time came, they would finally be free of the weight of Hyrule. He stood up, reaching a hand to the princess to pull her to her feet. Y/n placed their hand on his cheek, wiping with their thumb as he watched them. They gave a smile and he knew. They had confidence in him. He never viewed himself as a hero, no matter how many times his partner had called him one. But when Y/n looked at him it was like that pressure lifted. Like he really could defeat Ganon. And he would. No matter how long the fight lasted. To finally be able to spend his days doing what he wanted with the person he loved. To be free.

The trio took off again, heading towards the castle. Y/n stuck close this time so they could discuss battle plans with Link. They knew the most Guardians were in the fields near the castle so they would need to find a way past them. They couldn’t release the Guardians from the corruption so they would have to destroy them if they were spotted. The question was if they could destroy that many.

Y/n was starting to wish they had Robbie's anti-Guardian weaponry, even if they weren’t perfected.

------

The answer was no. They could not defeat the Guardians.

They had barely made it halfway through the fields before they were spotted. Once one Guardian had seen them, the rest followed. They were surrounded in seconds and, no matter how many Link and Y/n took down, it seemed like 5 more took their places. They were more than outnumbered. They were losing hope fast.

Y/n shot three bomb arrows into Guardians eyes, barely dodging blasts from two others. As the Guardians collapsed to the ground more followed. Mechanical limbs crushing their brethren to the ground with a deadly screech. They only cared to destroy the champions that stood below them. And it was starting to feel like they would.

Another blast echoed in Y/n’s ears and they felt the burn of the laser against their cheek. Too close! They knocked an arrow when the screech of metal sounded behind them. They barely managed to roll out of the way of a destroyed Guardian collapsing to the ground where they stood. They barely came up from the ground when they were knocked back down again.

“AHHH!”

Y/n could barely hear their scream over the shrieks of metal and the ringing in their ears. Flames crackled around them but the heat was nothing compared to the agony in their shoulder. They had been hit. Their skin still burned like thousands of needles pricking their way across their chest. They could feel nothing and everything at once. Like every nerve in their body was exposed and on fire. They couldn't focus, flames and metal blurring into one. It was over, wasn't it?

“-n… Y/n… Y/N!” Y/n felt the arms around them, a sob tearing through their throat as a hand brushed against the wound. Red eyes finally focused in on teary green orbs. It was only when their vision blurred did they realize tears were falling. The princess was crying too, shouting over the noise as the young Sheikah lay limp in her arms. Her hands slipped on the blood surrounding their shoulder and Y/n shot up with a silent gasp of agony.

“Y/N! You’re okay!”

Y/n stared at the princess in front of them. “Where’s Link?”

Zelda pointed to the center of the battle where the champion fought. Y/n shot to their feet, ignoring the pain that tore through them. They drew back their bowstring. “Whistle so he comes this way princess.”

She whistled as loud as she could and Link spun to the duo. His eyes widened as an arrow streaked past him and he took off. The champion slid behind the pile of fallen Guardians as the bomb arrow exploded. Dust and flames shot into the air creating a cloud over the battlefield.

Y/n ducked under the fallen Guardian with the others, heavy breaths escaping them all. It was only a moment. A single breath of time to plan their next move.

Link was the first to move, lunging forward to inspect his partner. He had seen them fall. Seen the princess holding them in her arms. And he had thought that was it. But here Y/n sat. Injured, but alive. And that was what mattered. That they were alive. He brushed hair away from their face with a shaky smile- honestly more of a grimace. He couldn’t find the words to explain his relief. How much he needed them and that he was happy they were okay, so he stuck with simple. “I love you.”

Y/n smiled back. They always knew what he meant, like they could read every thought in his head. They had felt it too. That moment of fear that they would never see each other again. But they were still here, giving him that goofy grin he loved so much. Despite their pain, Y/n was a rock- solid and unmovable. And they gave him hope. Y/n could smile at him and he could fight until his last breath. “I love you too.”

They sat in each other's arms, taking in the moment they had together. What could be their last moment with each other. Because Y/n had a plan.

“You have to go ahead without me.”

Y/n watched their friend’s faces morph to shock, then anger. Y/n knew they would fight the idea, but they had no choice. Even as their friends protested the idea, the Sheikah held up a hand. “If you and Zelda are to make it to the castle you need a clear path.”

“You can’t take on the Guardians alone!”

“It’s the only choice.”

“You said we fight together.” Y/n met Link’s eyes and they almost broke at the agony in them. They had never seen so much painted across his visage, the boy keeping a stoic face for the sake of his role. But here they were. There weren't enough words to describe the pain they both felt, physically and mentally. They were fighting on the losing side, and now they could lose each other? It was hard to see a point in the fight with so little left.

“Leaving you is my last choice… but I need you- both of you- to survive.”

“And what about you!?”

“I’M NOT THE CHOSEN ONE!” Y/n finally allowed the tears to fall. They didn’t matter. What mattered was guiding the chosen pair to Ganon. As long as Link and Zelda survived, they had completed their duty. Their life never mattered. It didn’t hold the same weight. Choking back their sobbing, Y/n tried to smile. They had their happy moments. Made friends. Fell in love. And now they had to fulfill their destiny. No matter how much it hurt. “Right now our destinies have to part ways… and I don’t know how long we’ll be apart. So I need you to keep fighting, even when I’m not beside you. Because together I know you can beat Ganon.”

“We shouldn’t have to leave you.” Tears were swimming in his cerulean eyes. The only thing that kept Link from crying was the promise he made. He wouldn’t cry until the battle was over. “I can’t lose you. You are my life… and I can’t live without you.”

“You can.” Y/n reached out, caressing his face in their hands. “You will… because I love you. I love you in this life, and the next, and every one that follows. I will stand by you until there isn’t a reason to fight and even then, I’ll stay with you. I. Love. You.”

Link surged forwards, pressing his lips against theirs. It was desperate. He needed to convey everything he felt in the few moments left. That they would stand together no matter what time they were in. They could be ripped apart or thrown through time, or even lose all their memories and they would still share this bond. As long as destiny brought them together, they would connect like perfect halves. They completed each other.

Link was the first to pull away, hands running through Y/n’s hair and over their face. It was like he was trying to memorize every detail about them. Like if he focused he could commit Y/n to memory. He needed to be able to find them again, even if it was only within his own thoughts.

“You need to go.” Y/n broke the trance, whispering the words neither of them wanted to hear.

They had to part ways.

Link pressed a final kiss to Y/n’s forehead before he stood up. Zelda lunged forward to hug the Sheikah, sobs escaping her. She squeezed so tightly Y/n had to bite their tongue to keep the whimper at bay as pain shot through their injuries. They would bare the pain for this moment with their friend. Pulling Zelda close to their form, Y/n whispered encouragement and thanks for their time together.

When Zelda pulled away, she wiped her tears before giving a grin. She may not hold the same belief in herself that the others did, but she would do what she could. She would hold onto the strength of her friends and use it as her weapon. Everyone had protected her for a reason. She would show them it was not in vain.

With their final goodbyes Link and Zelda took off, weaving through the corpses of Guardians. Y/n waited until they had reached the open fields before stepping out from their hiding spot and whistling. Mechanics whirred to life around them as Guardians rose to defense. Y/n drew back their arrows, white hot pain flaring as their shoulder stretched. This would be their final stand. They would give it their all, here and now, so their friends could go on.

The next few moments were a blur of exploding arrows, machines being crushed, and the blasts of lasers. Y/n couldn't keep track of how many times they had pulled back the string of their bow, loosing arrow after arrow in order to keep the masses of mechanical beasts focused on their being. They reached for their quiver once more, red eyes focused on the glowing eyes of the Guardians targeting them, only to come up empty. There were no arrows left.

There was no more hiding. All the Sheikah had left were the dual blades strapped to their side and the hope their speed would be fast enough to survive.

Y/n pulled out their blades, taking off towards the closest Guardian. They jumped up the front, thrusting their blade into its eye before flipping onto the next. The process of picking off Guardians continued as the Champion flipped and twisted their way through the masses of mechanical monsters.

Flipping off the top of a Guardian, the Sheikah noticed Guardians getting away from them. They had noticed the others! Y/n ran towards where their friends were and, in their panic, missed the giant arm heading their way.

CRUNCH

With a strangled cry, the Sheikah champion hit the ground. They tried to stand, curling in on themselves as they hit the ground again with a sob. There were too many. Y/n was exhausted. Everything hurt. So. Much.

Letting out a cough, Y/n felt a warm liquid trickle down their face. They could hear the Guardian closing in on them. The rest seemed to have lost interest when the champion fell, allowing this one to make sure it was for the last time. Propping themselves up, Y/n could see the red target on their chest. Mustering all the strength left in their body, they launched their sword at the Guardian. It struck the eye and, twitching in its failure, the beast fell. Unfortunately, this drew the rest of the Guardians back to the young Sheikah on the ground. Y/n fell back to the ground.

Thump.

Guardians picked their way over mounds of mechanical parts.

Thump.

Y/n closed their eyes.

Thump.

At least it didn’t hurt anymore.

BOOM!

Golden light erupted across the fields of Hyrule, extinguishing the flames and sucking the light from the Guardians deadly eyes.

It was warm.

Y/n smiled. Zelda had done it. She wasn’t a failure. She had unlocked her sealing powers and finally, Ganon would know defeat once more.

Y/n watched the clouds clear from the sky, stars beginning to light up the night. They supposed Ganon had pulled back from the golden aura. Maybe one day they could lay under the stars with Link. Swallowing the metallic taste of their blood the fallen warrior reached a hand up. They basked in the light of the stars twinkling above. It was like they were waving the champion up to their sides. As Y/n’s light faded, the stars grew brighter, blurring together into one light.

And with a soft breath, the Sheikah Champion allowed themselves to rest at last.

------

100 years later Link stood there watching over the fields of Hyrule. Calamity Ganon had finally been defeated. Zelda was safe as was Hyrule. The duo had made their way down from the wreckage of the castle, ready to begin their new adventure. They were free of their destiny, but the memories would follow with them forever. The Hylian Champion felt a tug and he spun back to face the castle. There above floated the spirits of his fellow Champions. Finally free from the corruption of Ganon and his malice beasts. But what stole the breath from his lungs was the spirit of the one he loved- Y/n- floating there with a grin on their face. Noticing him watching, they sent him a goofy wave, knocking their spectral arm against Revali. Link let out a snort. They never changed. Their lights began to dim as the Champions began to walk away leaving him to watch their final goodbyes. He smiled softly as he saw Y/n mouth ‘I love you’, a hand pressing against their heart, something he was quick to respond to. With one last wave, the Sheikah Champion faded away. And as Link watched the spirits of his friends- his love- fade into light, he let a tear fall quickly followed by more.

The battle was won.

[drsteggy]

Do you have tips for where to start for making a costume, and/ or where to start to get more comfortable possibly being in photos?

Hello, boy do I have thoughts on both of these.

On starting a costume- first off, you do not NEED to make your own costume to cosplay. It’s ok to buy some of it or all of it. The only time you NEED to have made your costume is if you’re competing.

I started by making props, which were things I was very comfortable with. The reason I started sewing was I could not find a tunic that fit me right- most of what I found was based on a large T shirt and that’s not what a tunic is…so it would hit my hips badly and end up much shorter than I wanted. I’m one of these people who wants to try to get it as close to my vision of “correct” as possible, and I suspect my version of BOTW Link will forever be sort of a work in progress forever, but I’m ok with this.

My first sewing project was Link’s undershirt. I based it off a pajama top I loved. I’m pretty sure I just googled instructions on how to reverse engineer a T shirt and went from there. I sewed it by hand and it’s served well for the past 2 years. A T shirt type thing really isn’t hard! It doesn’t need a lot of expensive stuff. You can take your time on it and see if you like sewing.

I later did the blue tunic, based, in part, on a sundress I own. Both of these were learning experiences for me on how to put things together. There are TONS of free resources and sewing demonstrations on YouTube, so it’s really easy if you’re stuck to go learn how to do it online.

I did buy a sewing machine at the end of last year as I decided I did want to do more of my own stuff- I’m a competitive cuss at the end of the day. It made the process much, much faster, and my results are better, too. I’m planning on version 2 of my Champions tunic this weekend.

Cosplay is really fun and I’ve had a whole thing exploring who I am even after I was pretty sure I already knew that. So no matter what level you’re doing it at, I totally recommend it.

On to photos…I self shoot a lot, but I’ve also gone and done some shoots. Photo shoots are also fun if you have a photographer you trust and are willing to be open to trying stuff. If you’re not comfortable with that yet, I recommend the art of the selfie.

Hear me out.

I got into cosplay in the fall of 2019 and I planned so many cons for 2020! We all know how that went. So I suddenly had this brand new hobby and no way to express it AND being an essential worker with a job that suddenly tripled in its insanity, very much needed an escape. Cosplayers turned to tiktok and instagram and I found myself suddenly having to learn both platforms.

I had help in the form of a discord full of much younger Zelda cosplayers who were willing to teach me stuff. But I still had to make stuff I was comfortable showing off.

So I took selfies. Thousands of them, most deleted immediately as I hated them. I did not like myself on camera for a variety of reasons but I kept taking them and sometimes they came out good. At this point, I’m pretty comfortable in front of MY camera. I have learned what angle and lighting look good. I have become that person on the book of faces taking a selfie in front of anything interesting I find.

But man, that took time and a lot of internal cringing.

It helps to approach it as play- I had to play with lighting and backgrounds. I started with an old bedsheet as my backdrop and a $20 ring light on a tripod I already owned. My setup still isn’t very complex- I still rely on that ring light a lot, but I have a couple of other lights on an Amazon wish list as I’d like to continue playing once winter is back. I have a couple professional backdrops I bought from a place called Kate Backdrop- they have a bajillion styles and many lend themselves to Zelda stuff and they look really convincing in pictures. They are reasonably priced for the size I use and there are sales where you can save more.

I’d like to learn how to edit my images next- right now I’m just doing the auto color correct on my phone. I use my phone as my camera and until very recently I was shooting on an iPhone 8. If you have a phone with a portrait mode, that’s a quick and easy way to make your photos look really good.

But yeah….it’s really just about practicing. Set up your phone and either use the timer or get a little remote trigger and just shoot a bunch. Learn what looks cool with your props. Be silly. It’s supposed to be fun. Have fun.

I was utterly horrified the first time someone else took photos of me and put them online (they asked first). They tried to pose me and I was just super self conscious and felt awkward and oh yeah you can see it. But now I have a go to pose I strike when someone asks at a con. It could be better. But acting in character is a skill, too, and skills can be learned and honed. You just gotta do it.

I’m more than happy to answer any more specific questions if I didn’t quite answer the way you were asking. I love cosplay and I’ve grown to enjoy taking photos to the point I’ll strike out into a local park in full gear and go ham with my phone.

[prof-peach]

If you could cross over two of your favorite games, which would you choose? Please explain, why that crossover would be a good match.

Oh you’re going to regret asking this one, I’m bout to GET SERIOUS.

So Pokemon, obvs, I love the whole world it’s built in, but the games imo are REALLY boring, I haven’t enjoyed one a lot since gale of darkness, the main ones just are a little too linear obvious plots, pretty standard setups for story and style. Speaking of style, the games lack personality, the models aren’t animated well, moves have no dynamic energy or visual difference at times, and the turn based battle style just feels kind of, I don’t know, old? Slow? Just doesn’t suit what I enjoy personally, gives me a FInal Fantasy vibe and I just cannot stand the speed at which things happen in those games, plus not into 3rd person ‘let’s build a team of people’ much, but that’s a problem for another time. With this all in mind, the game I wish would happen is like gen20 Pokemon, far future sadly, I doubt I’d see it in my lifetime but god I’d be happy if I did!

Ok so take the newest Zelda graphics, the visual treat that was BOTW, open world, puzzles, not JUST combat, you got side missions, hunt the chickens, find missing pets, parcels, items, whatever. Love it! The horse taming?! Amazing you funky little game. Now take the bad guys and beasts from that. And put Pokemon in instead. Give them the diversity, the life and believable natures that BOTW gave the animals, I followed a frog in BOTW for 15 minutes, and it was a great experience, it felt like it was believable. Above world spawning, ACTUAL difficult gameplay, rare spawn rates, make dragons hard to get again, cmon, it’s too easy now, make it so we need a certain set of Pokemon for certain tasks. Water types big enough to carry you will be able to get you to new areas, rock types that can help you climb mountains faster, or break through blocking boulders. Actual towns with more than 4 houses in them, shops, barns, farms, homes. Like little link with the heat, maybe ice types would struggle in volcano areas, or bug Pokemon not be so comfortable in gale force winds. Give the weather more of an effect on your partners. Mounts, don’t even get me started that Pokemon Let’s go had you able to ride any of the larger species, but swsh did not???? Bitch please, give me my rideable Pokemon. The wild area too was far too closed, limited, online was laggy and a mess, camping is limited, let me do more with my team. Pokemon for me is all about the actual creatures, how they live with humans, and the many wonderful things they’re capable of. Yes of course it’s cool they can fight, but like what else you know?

I’d love a game that lets me buy a plot of land, maybe plant things, custom build things. I’m a sucker for the fallout4 settlement builds when they’re modded to hell and back, they’re fun! It can be a really calm and creative process. If I could do that and skip the main campaign and all the battles for a bit? Amazing, it sound perfect for me. I am that distracted hoe collecting flowers while the kingdom burns in the background. Side quests are everything to me. Let me give homeless people enough money to get them in a home? Let me adopt Pokemon that are stray around the town? Plz oh plz bring me a Pokemon game that allows me to work WITH my team to do more than KO other species. I want to save and buy a plow for my buddy gogoat, and grow amazing foods to sell to get currency to spend in decorations, to spoil my team. Give me actual game consequence, if I ignore that sick and injured Pokemon I find in the wild, later maybe it’s family don’t want to help me out with a different problem, too stricken from grief. I am all about the average bits, the old women who need help, the lost pets board in town, the general day to day stuff. Let me get cosmetic items for the Pokemon I keep, cute outfits, special gemstone items, let me actually live with them, or even feel remotely like they’re realistic.

Ok so in game, if it’s looking like BOTW it’s pretty beautiful but also stylised, I’d have it so you can send out a maximum of 3 Pokemon from your 6, using bumpers and such to throw them out. If you hit the trigger you switch from controlling the human trainer, to the Pokemon you’ve targeted with a standard lock on targeting system. You then can be the leader, but be the Pokemon. You could technically defeat the game without a human if you wanted, which incorporates the mystery dungeon games I think, and caters to that crowd. I’d love to see the use of attacks out of battle, things like using water gun to grow plants, using ember to start a campfire faster and stave off the cold. There’s no consequence to Pokemon anymore, and I think that’s where it’s lost me. I have to admit I miss the days of a poisoned pokemon fainting if you don’t heal them soon enough, I miss gym battles that were actually tough, damn, try picking charmander in red and beating brock without grinding in viridian forest first, it’s not easy. And I loved that. Yes it’s a child’s game, it will never be difficult again, but god it’d be nice to have a bit of a challenge, or maybe a difficulty setting, so some could play it with hostility turned off, great for kids, or you can be n adult like I know so many Pokemon fans are, and play it on expert mode and ACTUALLY have to work hard to beat the game. Alternate skill trees anyone? Train gun a fire type to ACUTALLy combat water moves?? Please! Cmon! It frustrated me that every challenger has pretty much a systematic set of moves to use to win. Grass opponent? Fire attack spam until you win. It’s dull, so at least with very difficult tricks to either find or learn in game would make it more achievable if you can send that fire type in and I don’t know, train them so much the heat evaporates the water mid-battle and you suddenly have a shot at winning. Pokemon has taught me that if you work hard enough you can achieve something, but the games just have such strict ways to win. Feels wrong.

In terms of battling, let us BE the Pokemon, let us learn to dodge, train our speed, train our defence, make a team of truly tough Pokemon instead of just, average? Some species have a cap on their skills, a squirtle has lower stat points than a Charizard, but you can’t ever change that? Let me choose the Pokemon I believe in, and let me work with them until they’re just as good, if not better than the game tanks. This would also make online battles more interesting. Everyone picks the top trio. Fairy, dragon, legendaries. And yknow what? It’s boring. That one IRL fight with the monster Pacharisu that won in the world tournament with follow me and the situs Berry? Unbelievable, I love that little rat so much because of this, so let us all have a chance to build a team that’s strategically viable, strong, and potentially a winner formula, even if they aren’t fully evolved, or the biggest Pokemon in the world. Yeah maybe you have to grind way harder with your unevolved Pokemon, but you get to the end game and win, because you put love and time into species that you enjoy, not just good fighters.

Unfortunately I am beholdent to Todd-idiot-Howard, and I love the Eldrescrolls and fallout games (before they got dumb, not that I don’t play the new ones. 76 I’m looking at you, you big asshole game.) honestly I hate online games, so none of that junk, just a good old fashioned open world sandbox game is plenty. Games for me are an escape from others, not an invitation to socialise. To each their own of course, and I do play online games sometimes, just pretty short lived ones, over watch and rdr2 for example. Would they be sometimes better on private servers? Yes of course, fallout76? Want to play with others? No. I do not. Please leave me alone. And if you buy a private server you’re feeding the monster that is Todd Howard, the man the myth the asshole, then we’ll get more bad games like 76. I just so desperately want the Pokemon company to see what a beautiful potential game they’ve got on their hands, that could be suitable for far greater audiences, but instead they’ve focused on the kids. It’s fine, it’s functional, but it’s lost to the fans from day 1, that are all 20+ years old now and want something meatier to play, something far more broad and inclusive. I also hate that there’s no wheelchair option in any Pokemon game. Like cmon, it’s not hard to include that.

In short, BOTW + Pokemon, with a sprinkle of open world sandbox to it, less fighting, more fun. Or, at least both options. Sure, go fight everything, great, but I want to farm carrots over here with 6sunflora, plz let me have some peace.

Edit: I forgot about harvest moon, chuck some of that in there too.

SECOND EDIT: someone in the comments mentioned to put this in Unova? Plz love yourselves, this game would be ALL MAPS. Stuff one singular location, this is the ideal game, put every map in it, join them, put islands in, make them more explorable, more detailed!