#this feels like what zelda games were meant to be like from the get-go and deveover 35 years

[waywardsalt]

mmmgh

[squeeb100]

Oops i accidentally played totk until midnight again

[blueskittlesart]

did u not like totk?

i LOVED totk. i think it was well-written and did its job as a sequel to botw very well. HOWEVER. i do think it suffered slightly from the commercial success of botw. as i mentioned in my last post, nintendo does this. thing. when one of their games gets popular where every game after it has to be Exactly The Same so they can make all the money in the world via comparison marketing. (and this is a problem with the wider game industry in general but also a very observable pattern in loz specifically.) I know it's been a pretty long time since botw came out, but before (and immediately following) its release there was some pushback from longtime fans who worried that the open-world and lack of traditional dungeons meant that the game had strayed too far from the classic formula that makes a game a "zelda game." this is to say, botw was EXPERIMENTAL. and the devs had no idea if what they were doing was going to be successful or not. the open-world of botw wasn't a gimmick, and it wasn't the devs jumping on the open-world bandwagon. it was what CREATED that bandwagon. the open-world was a deliberate choice made specifically for botw because it reinforced the story that botw was designed to tell. the game is about exploring a desolate world, about making connections, and rebuilding both the broken kingdom and the player character's shattered sense of self by traveling and learning and building relationships. a large open-world map with only minor quest guidelines and lots of collectibles and side quests lends itself perfectly to this specific story, which is specifically about exploration and rebirth.

the problem is, botw was. almost TOO good. it was so good that every other game company on the planet started scrambling to build giant open-world maps into their next release, regardless of how much sense that actually made narratively. and because of that, when it came time to release a sequel to botw, the devs had a lot to think about. they had HUGE shoes to fill in terms of fan reception, but they were ALSO being asked to follow up one of the best-performing games of all time, commercially. totk needed to SELL as well as botw. And, likely because nintendo was worried about that potential commercial value, totk needed to keep people comfortable. I don't know for certain, but I definitely get the feeling playing totk that the devs were specifically told not to stray too far from what made botw marketable and successful--that being the open world and the versatility of gameplay. so in order to follow that up, they made... 2 more huge open maps, and new gimmick gameplay which was explicitly super-versatile.

do i think that the extra maps and ultrahand were BAD choices? no. however, i don't think they necessarily ADDED anything to the game as a narrative whole. one of my favorite things about botw was how everything seemed to be designed AROUND the narrative, with gameplay elements slotting neatly into the story thematically. totk just. didn't really have that, imo. there wasn't a huge narrative benefit to the gigantic, completely unpopulated depths and sky maps. ultrahand was cool, but within the context of the story it meant basically nothing. in some ways, i almost think totk could have benefitted from a much more linear approach to its storytelling, a la skyward sword, because there are a lot of story beats that have to be found in chronological order in order to have the right emotional impact, but because of the nonlinear open-world it kind of became a struggle to hit all the important story points in the right order. an easy example of this is the dragon's tears in comparison to the memories--the dragon tears have a very specific set order in which they happen, and finding them out of order can make the story you're seeing in them feel confusing and disjointed. the order in which they should be found is technically displayed on the temple wall, but most players aren't going to pick up on that or follow it--more likely, they're just going to explore the geoglyphs as they come across them organically, and therefore will likely witness the story in a completely disjointed way. compare this to the botw memories, which ALSO technically have a set order--the order in which they're displayed on the sheikah slate. however, because they're largely just small moments in time, and not one continuous story, finding them out of order has a lot less of an impact on how you as the player experience the narrative, and it's not hugely detrimental to your experience of the story if you find them naturally as you explore rather than explicitly seeking them out in order. If TOTK had been allowed to deviate from the botw formula a bit, i think we may have ended up with a more cohesive game in terms of narrative beats like that. as it is, i just think the game is torn slightly between wanting to be its own new game with new gameplay and needing to be botw, if that makes sense.

[ganondoodle]

totk rewritten (for me, specifically)

since i dont have time to get to drawing it right away AND im worried people might take this the wrong way, i thought i could write out some bullet points about my rewrite of totk (meant as a fix FOR ME not saying its inherently better) to give you a better idea on what im going for:

the core structure largely remains the same, the biggest change is no time travel, thus making zelda your travel companion, and zonau tech being lagerly gone/broken with shiekah tech instead

it is not shown but said in dialog that shiekah tech, such as the ancient furnaces, shrines and towers are either turning off or have flickering power supply and purah having calculated that all their connections point towards beneath hyrule castle

game starts pretty much the same as real totk, most zonau ruins are so withered away that they are barely recognizable and the further you get down theres more and more shiekah tech pipes and occasional a miasma vein, some pipes are broken and spill miasma, others flicker

instead of the room with the wall carvings theres one with old ancient shiekah research remains, old broken tech and prototypes you dont what their purpose was, all documents are too withered to read but zelda finds one that was sealed in a container and takes it with her (she got a backpack now)

theres a structure similar to the bed thingy of the shrine of life from botw but its working in reverse; within it is sealed ganondorf (i gotta work out the details around it still)

(details still missing) it breaks and zelda takes the enigma stone but doesnt touch it directly and puts it within a sealed container (you know kinda like you should do with soemthing you have no idea of what it is and was alsO LOCATED ON A CORPSE)

ganondorf isnt the elegantly talking villain type in this version but more of a mess, talking in different languages both modern and ancient but you cant make out any clear sentences, struggeling with suddendly being awake and half alive after spending thousands of years in an agonizing limbo, having witnessed every second of the passage of time yet also it feeling like everything just happened all at the same time

the ground breaks as he recognizes zelda (bc of her fighting calamity ganon in botw) but also not really, still sees her as a threat (also bc of the enigma stone in the container she still has in her hand) attacks her, link deflects with the master sword, it breaks and damages his arm, zelda drops her torch and pulls link away towards where they came in from and both run as the caves fill up with miasma like a flood with arms starting to reach after them while they both run back through the tunnels (creepy chase sequence anyone?)

cataclysm happens (ground breaks, miasma bursts out of the ground, especially where shrines and towers where since they were still connected to the pipelines) ground shifts massively in some places giving alot of the map a whole new structure; all shiekah tech that was not independent stops working due to power loss

links arm is amputated since otherwise the miasma would spread to his whole body; purah, robbie and zelda work out a prosthetic arm prototype to give to link (protoype at first will be upgraded at halfway point of the game) that can switch between multiple modes, like a hand to hold normal items or a weapon that isnt crafted, and a fusing ability (though maybe limited in the prototype) that lets you make weapons similar to the weapon fusing in canon totk (potential upgrades including an extendable guardian arm that doesnt break, grapple hook anyone??, also the ability to build stuff out of shiekah tech parts, not glue needed you actually screw it together, maybe zelda even helps)

now you are given free roam of hyrule, the goal is to explore and find what has changed and check on people, see what the underground has, new monsters have spawned etc.

zelda is your companion the whole time, she can use the shiekah stone/purah pad to analyze enemies for you, she also carries at least a dagger for her own self defense but doesnt contribute much to the fight (subject to change maybe), you can talk to her anytime and she usually has something to comment on depending on where you are or what you just did, can give you tips and advice IF ASKED FOR IT, when you discover ancient ruins, whether zonau or shiekah, she can either decipher it for you or take photos for later to find out more about everything that has happend and what it means, she also takes part in conversations when you talk to someone, her outfit changes with yours (meaning when you wear the tingle set she wears it too, opens up alot of funny interactions njfkdk)

purah has built new towers but they function different (still working on the details) mainly that they function independent from the energy source in hyrule castle

there are floating islands but they are bigger and in more connected clusters, when reaching them its ancient withered ruins that the ancient shiekah built support around (like the platform used by monk miz kyoshia) to keep them afloat; there are building like observatories and research labs, but all very overgrown due to being up there for so long, theres a titan prototype on one of the islands, its shaped like a whale and zelda deciphers it was called vah narisha (reference to the whale deity in skyward sword) (i havent decided yet if its fully broken and just a big piece of enviroment to explore or half functioning floating around, or maybe first broken but later half repaired so it can fly around at least giving you an easier way to reach other island, you cant steer it tho) some of them are falling bc of energy loss but the bigger ones have independent energy sources (work in progress)

the underground has more diverse zones depending on which part of the map it is located on, there are old mines (for luminous stone) from the zonau but all is extremely withered, in each one its been mostly built over by the shiekah but there are construct remains that were clearly dissected and studied, half built shrines and towers, you can find collectibles and lore there (working on more details, but an idea was to include remains of ancient shiekah tha fled there when they were persecuted by that old king of hyrule, adding to the eery vibe)

some titans (maybe two, and the other are still on the sruface, like vah medoh) feel down during the cataclysm, broken apart or malfunctioning/ possibly being a boss as in they were used by a big cluster of miasma hands like a hermit crab uses its shell, the inside filled with eyes and different sized hands dragging itself towards you like a drowing man grabs after anything to save him)

dongos are your go to transportation here and a little different, when you call one they dig a path to you (not permanent, just so they can always spawn near you) they glow in the dark and can climb on walls (bc why not), and can point you towards the next objective/point of interest, likely where theres a high concentration of luminous stone since that is what they eat and its usually where old mining/construction sites are (still working on a replacement for light roots that are less invasive)

the rat from the trailer is a miniboss/boss you need to defeat in order to get the broken mastersword back into your possession

(im still working on how the sages work, but the idea is to incorporate their abilites for more efficient and reliable use into links shiekah prosthetic, so you can still use their abilities but only when you actually want)

(again still working on details) halfway point of the game is you trying to find out where ganondorf went, not intending to fight necessarily but just to find out more but it devolves into you fighting some sort of miasma monster (either him or some sort of manifestation he made) and you get a bunch of short memory flashes from him, all vague and a wild mess from both the time he was sealed and from the time afterwards, maybe even a perspective shift from when link was fighting dark beast ganon, but from ganons view, from zelda when she was keeping that manifestation in check, random views from the malice eyes from botw, from the blights, maybe even from the fight with the old and new champions, from the point when shiekah built their tech around him while he had to watch not able to do anything etc.)

links arm gets upgraded from prototype to a full prosthetic, opening up more fusing abilites and other things (like the grapple hook, again working on it, im open for ideas lol)

i will reblog this and add more over time if you want, but do let me know if you like it thus far, bc im still unsure if its worth the effort of working more on this QnQ

(also if you dont like just keep scrolling, i dont need to know that you hate it, it literally changes nothing but make me annoyed xD)

[chongoblog]

Brawl Tier List (Based On The Relevance of What They Were Doing When We Meet Them In Subspace Emissary)

I'll explain some of my choices under the cut

So a lot of these choices are pretty obvious, although some are a bit iffy or require explanation of the Subspace story which can be found in trophy descriptions & The Dojo.

The first category was for characters who were engaged in the Subspace plot from the get-go and were the "good guys". In case you didn't know, King Dedede is the hero of Subspace, and if it weren't for him, Tabuu would have won, since he made the "reset badges", and his initial plan was to hold onto some people and give them the reset badges in case Tabuu used his Off Waves. Meta Knight is considered to be a good guy, even though he mostly just wanted to get the Halberd back. Fox I put into this category as well since he's first seen giving chase to the Halberd in his Arwing, so I consider that pretty engaged, even if we don't know the exact reasoning.

The second category is open and shut. They're the Bad Guys. Ganon, Bowser, and everyone's favorite winner, Wario. Technically Wario kinda defected from Tabuu and wanted to just steal all the trophies, but I'm counting him here.

Next was the "Used by Tabuu" tier. According to the lore, the entire Subspace Army is made from the power of Game and Watch (although it says the Game & Watch are unaware of this). Pikachu's electricity was being used to power a lot of the operations (most notably the Subspace Bomb Factory iirc). And it's implied that R.O.B was coerced into helping Tabuu, feeling so ashamed that he put on the Ancient Minister garb to hide himself out of shame.

The "Was Doing What You Expect" Tier is a tricky one, since some characters like Mario & Kirby weren't doing what you'd expect in their normal games, but they were fighting, which is something you'd expect in Smash, but I was kinda lenient. Pit was watching from Skyworld, which is in character. It's shown that Pokemon Trainer was looking for Ivysaur and Charizard, so we can assume he was on that journey when we found him in the Ruined Zoo. ZSS's motivations are kind of unclear about whether she knew about the Subspace Bombs and tried to stop them or if she just knew her Power Suit was there and wanted to get to it. I always figured it was the latter, so I'm putting it in this tier. Marth was defending a castle, which sounds right (I haven't played Fire Emblem). Ice Climbers were climbing ice. Monkeys were getting their bananas. Link was getting Master Sword. Yoshi was sleeping (which only gets him out of "Just Standing There" tier because he is Yoshi).

Next are the ones who just kinda showed up. And it so happens that all five of them make a pretty grand entrance. Sonic is the obvious example here. Ness also counts since there's no implication that either he or Lucas actually live in or even near the Ruined Zoo, but then again in the dialogue-less cutscenes tying together over 30 characters, I don't think that detail was important. Falco makes a grand entrance, although you could argue that he was meant to be Fox's backup. Ike makes a grand entrance with this Great Aether. Captain Falcon literally shows up to jump out of his car, punch a robot and kill approximately 50 aliens in one fell swoop, so either there was an F-Zero track around the Island of the Ancients that we don't see and he quit in the middle of his race to do that, or he just did that. Either way there's something wrong with him.

And then finally we have the characters who were Just Standing There. Luigi obviously was minding his own business when he got got by Dedede. Peach and Zelda I almost put in the "Doing What You Expect Tier" (or at LEAST Peach since she knew Mario at least), but honestly? They were just standing there. No hate, obviously. Sometimes you just gotta Stand There. Olimar was minding his own business letting his Pikmin eat a robot before they were murdered. Lucario was vibing on top of a mountain (as you do). Lucas was just being sad. And Snake? We don't see any sign that he's on a mission. We just see that he's been on the Halberd for an undisclosed period of time before dramatically revealing himself way way later. I like to imagine he accidentally fell asleep.

And then the last tier are for the 3 characters that are unlocked after Subspace, so I don't really count them.

Anyway in case you can't tell I am back on my ADHD meds! Hope you enjoyed this. See you all for the Nuzlocke stream later.

[errorwarblesrr]

Okay I gotta rant, I'm going to state rn this post is neither pro or anti Zelink.

I wish people could stop arguing over the canonicity of BOTW/TOTK Zelink. Idk I've seen a lot of arguments on it, like both sides are trying to checkmate each other. It's annoying.

I remember back when articles twisted the words of Zelda's VA, and a bunch of people were rude about it. Both sides. Then, when she clarified what she actually meant, there was a whole fit about it.

These games are about player freedom. Nintendo also wants Link, this one especially, to reflect the player. They want to keep it ambiguous and up to interpretation, yes we know Zelda loves Link but we in fact still don't know how Link feels about her.

Even stuff that can be used as evidence still have some ambiguity to it, for example Link's old house. It can be used as evidence for both sides and be up to interpretation for whether they are or aren't living together. On one hand this was Link's old house and Zelda lives there now, Zelda has his hairband, she says he always remains by his side, he can sleep on her bed, the table is set for two, and she has to hide the new tunic. On the other hand no one recognizes the house as Link's anymore it's only referred to as Zelda's house and his belongings are gone outside of the champions picture, there is one twin sized bed with one pillow and it's also important to note couples in this game sleep in seperate beds, Link can get a house in Terry Town, people talk to him as if he also doesn't normally go there, and there's an npc that Zelda isn't one to turn people away from her house so Link has permission to visit. There is room for interpretation and to come up with different reasonings for both sides.

This isn't me confirming or denying this Zelink but to show there is strong evidence for BOTH sides because it is meant to be ambiguous and up to interpretation.

There's also Link just not emoting for any cutscene he is in with her. I believe this is so you can interpret him feeling whatever you want him to feel (though personally I would rather him emote). He doesn't show any emotion when he learns the truth about her, when they reunite, or when the sages pledge to serve her. This is a stark contrast to the Zelinks that are pretty much canon like in Skyward Sword and Spirit Tracks. In both of these games there are very clear feelings for one another with Skyward Sword even having a romance theme for them. These Link's will emote and show how they feel in the moment with Zelda.

The point is it's tiring to see arguments on it. Civil discussions are fine, but heated debates are pointless. Aonuma says he wants people to see themselves in Link, and Aonuma also wants things to be open-ended and up for interpretation (like botws placement in the title). I haven't even touched on people hating on other ships (like miphlink and what not). I just think we should all be mindful, you know? You ship this Zelink? Great! You don't? Also, great! Both can coexist because, at the end of the day, neither is canon.

[luimagines]

That Dragon au Part 6

You already know what it is! @cafecourage Here you go Bestie!

It’s a bit of a filler chapter but it lines up for things later on in the story. :D

Masterlist

First Chapter/ Previous Chapter/ Next Chapter

Content under the cut!

Chapter 6: Family Bonding

Warrior looks back to Enno and Wind and hesitates. Between his instinct and his duty, he doesn't know what to do.

He looks at Twilight. "Watch them. I'll be back. Don't leave this room. Don't let anyone come in."

He leaves.

Twilight sighs. "Time already went with Wild. Like I said."

The Rancher moves further into the room and sits on the edge of the bed. "I wouldn't even know where to start. But Wild is the fastest of us and Time is arguably the most powerful. I just hope he doesn't do something he's going to regret."

Enno sighed and moved over to Twilight, leaning on his back to comfort him. “It’s out of your hands now. You both did your best.” 

They didn’t know what else to say. “FD… is a loose cannon but the times that I’ve seen Time use him, it’s always been for good. He even told me that the deity doesn’t do evil unless the user wants it. So… I think it’s fine.” They try to get the hang of their scenting ability. Stumbling, they wanted to comfort both of their apparent new family members with their own scent.

Wind relaxes in their hold and his sobs turn to quiet sniffles.

Twilights leans against them, wrapping his arm around their shoulder. "I'm not going to hear what happened to you while we were gone until much later, aren't I?"

Enno smiles and purrs now that they’re surrounded by family. “Nah I can tell you. Cia went crazy this morning right?” 

Twilight nods joining in with the purr, letting Wind feel warm and safe. “She basically had an adult temper tantrum, I tried to do what I do best and poke the beast. But I played a stupid game and won a stupid prize, so to say. Which was me getting blasted with magic. Zelda and Lana had to regive me a Hylian form and so here we are. Still looking for a permanent fix though.”

"She turned you into a dragon?" Twi asks, wide eyed.

"I didn’t know that was even possible." Wind sits up and curls onto their lap, resting against them.

Twilight stays quiet for a little before he speaks again. "That still doesn't fully explain what happened to Warrior’s wing though. "

“I actually don’t know either. I think he tried to protect me from the attack.” Enno relaxed into Twilight some more. “I’ve basically just got my Hylian form back so we’ve been just resting. Both of us are very sore after the whole ordeal. And I’m slowly waiting to freak out about it all. I had questions because he was talking about claims which was what Cia got pissed off over.” They shrugged. “How was your day aside from the Time thing. Do anything cool?”

Twilight snorts, rubbing his hand over their shoulder. Enno can smell something new coming from the spot he rubbed, telling them that he's claimed them as his own as well. "Of course she did. Warrior has been wanting to court you for a while. Cia probably got pissed that it wasn't her in the end."

Wind sniffed. "We went shopping and Wild went to play a game and lost. Twilight went to play and won and Wild wanted to try again. That's when Time passed us like a man on a mission and a license to kill."

Enno couldn’t help but giggle at being claimed. The smell was tickling their newly sensitive nose. 

“I’m sorry Wind I’m not laughing at you.” They nuzzled into the Sailor. “I’m really stupid happy to have you guys claim me?“ That was a question, not a statement. They weren’t really sure of what it meant even when they tried to explain their giddiness. Their purring got worse. 

Wind hums and hugs them tighter. "We're family now. We belong together."

Twilight nods, agreeing. "We protect our own."

“Did you win a prize at the game?” They tried to continue the conversation despite their bubbly attitude.

"Only Twilight got a prize." Wind laments. "Wild was determined to go so he took my turn and then Time said we had to come back..... I hope that dragon gets what's coming to him."

"Wind."

"What? He's stupid. He deserves it!"

"You two-" Enno sighed, "I'll try to win you that prize Wind. Once I'm allowed to leave the room." They weren’t really sure when that would be since Warrior hadn’t seemed keen on letting them go on their own. "That or I can make you something."

Wind shoots up. "Really?!"

The door opens and Warrior walks in, fully hylian.

He looks somber.

Warrior looks up and smiles the best he can. "They got 'er. She's in the medical bay... she uhhh.... wasn't so hot... quite cold actually. They're going to hold her there overnight just in case. Impa is already into the investigation. It's safe to assume that the noble is dead."

Enno turned back to him, standing up putting Wind on the bed curled up with Twilight. They walked over to Warriors and pulled him in, closing the door. They lead him to the bed, getting him to sit down and sitting next to him, hugging him. "Well what happened, happened. It will be ok."

"I don't know all the details." Warrior admits. "I don't know where Time is and Wild is too busy stuck in his head to answer questions."

He sounds tired. "Impa will be back after the investigation. I'm sure we'll hear the full story by morning, knowing her work ethic." He sighs. "I bet I could guess though."

Enno looked over at Twilight and Wind. "I guess it's time to turn in for the night." I said sadly.

"Wind, let me know what you want me to make for you." They slowly rubbed Warrior's shoulders for him to relax, trying to do the same thing with the scent as with Twilight and Wind.

Twilight didn't argue with that, standing up, "I'm going to check on Cub." 

"Can I stay here?" Wind asks.

Warrior relaxes at Enno’s touch, putting his hand on Wind's shoulder. "Please do. I don't trust Cia even with this commotion."

He leans into Enno some more and begins to purr. He gives a half hearted salute to Twilight as he leaves. Warrior adjusts himself so that he's holding on to the both of them. Wind doesn't hesitate to follow suit.

"Honestly I was going to hope for a small walk outside of the room." Enno sighed, petting Wind's hair. "But you both need cuddles and love." They gave Wind a forehead kiss then reached up to kiss Warrior.

Warrior kissed them back without hesitation. "Thank you. It's just for today, I promise."

Warrior cards his hands through Wind's hair and leans back against the bed. "Today has been a mess."

They let out a soft chuckle, moving so Wind was in the middle. Enno tucked both of them in after they were ready. 

"Tomorrow is another day, so they say." They got in after reaching out so they could hold both boys. They notice Wind dozing off and smile. "Good night Sailor." 

"Night night." He accepted his fate and curled up into Warrior. "Night dad."

Enno had to cover their mouth before they started cooing over the cuteness.

Warrior freezes for a moment before he simply huddles closer into his bed. "Goodnight Link."

Somehow, Warrior manages to move and grasp Enno’s hand, bringing it up to kiss it. “Goodnight, My Love."

Enno snorted. "I'm not going to sleep anytime soon." 

They reached over to cup his cheek. "I'll watch over the both of you again. This time I won't open the door again." they ruffle his hair. "Good night Dad of the Year. I hope you have dreams of the future.”

"I'd say good night to you anyway." Warrior snorts. "Will you meet me there?" He grins, relaxing into your palm. "It can be in the future or in my dreams, I'm not particularly picky."

"As long as our kid can be as good as Wind." Enno whispered back, teasing him more. "I don't know what you have planned. But if I do manage to be in your dreams, I can assure you that you’re not having a nightmare. I am going to fight whatever that is hurting you."

"At this rate, Wind might as well be our kid." Warrior grins. "But I don't mind that future. Sounds quite nice actually."

He giggles a bit, giddy and boyish. He seems so unburdened at this moment. "I think I love you."

He looked at them with the softest gaze, trying to keep a low voice. "Not a day goes by that I don't think about you.... We'll take care of each other. I'll protect you and you'll look after me. Sounds almost too good to be true."

Every comment of his hit them right where it counts and they became as red as his scales.

"Shush you." They looked away as best they could. "But... yeah, that sounds really nice. Why don't we have a family day tomorrow? Wind said that there was a game he was playing. He really wanted the prize but Wild stole his turn."

Warrior hums running his hand over their skin. "I can't make any promises, Love."

His gaze turns sour. "I might need to bail Time out of whatever stupid decisions he's made. Not to mention the amount of paperwork this could undoubtedly cause.... But I can always try. Not every case falls to me... It just... might."

Warrior sighs and flops onto his pillow. "Why am I always bailing him out?"

Enno tried to not look disappointed, "I don't know..." I looked at Wind. "Do you think it's possible to meet us in town just for a bit?" 

They weren't holding out hope, but at least they can bring Wind around to have some fun. "I think it would be for the best if we all had a break from the castle. But I know you're a busy man, so I would be happy just to see you for a few minutes relaxing."

Warrior smiles. "You make it sound like we've been married for a while already."

He stretches and they feel his hand and nails trace over their back. "I'll try. Maybe I can pass it off to someone else this time. I want to go."

They had to stop themselves from keyboard smashing verbally to not wake Wind up. They tried to calm themselves down. 

"Well I mean we have a young teenage son already." They tried to tease back but were way too flustered for it to land. "Do you think it would be safe for us to go out?"

"I suppose we do." Warrior hums, thinking about it. "Knowing Time? That dragon is dead. Knowing Cia? Maybe not yet but I'm tired of her anyway. We don't have a lot of time left here in my era. It would be nice to show you the city and people within."

"Then let's hope that things are better tomorrow." They said, still not convinced that Warrior would let the work go to someone else. "If you don't come out, I'm going to start buying or making you gifts for your horde."

Warrior shifts in the bed and wraps his arm closer around them. "You know what... I'd like that but I don't think you'll do it."

He smirks tiredly. "Wear the headband when you go out. It'll be easier to adjust than the scarf. Remind me to give you some rupees too." He yawns. "Just so you can go get something nice for yourself... and Wind. He's a good kid."

"I'd have to figure out how to style it, it's a bit fancy then what I normally wear." Enno started to purr, trying to ease him to sleep. "And any money I get will most likely only go towards you and Wind." I lightly threatened. "Also you're biased. He is your son."

Warrior purrs back subconsciously, already drifting off. "He's just as much your son as he is mine."

He hums, purring louder. "I'll just have to buy stuff for you then. Some fancy some not. So that they can always match your outfits and your-"

There's a knock at the door.

Warrior sighs and taps their shoulder, keeping Enno down. He gently moves Wind off of him. Warrior gets up, rubbing his eyes and smacking his face lightly to appear more awake as he answers the door. 

It's Impa.

Enno tucked Wind under their chin protectively as Warriors got the door. They only partly relaxed when they saw it was Impa. But Enno was getting pissed about people just showing up at the door. Despite Wind being with Enno on the bed, it still felt empty.

Impa looked in and noticed Enno and Wind. "I was going to ask if we can talk inside but it looks like we need to talk out here."

Warrior winced and adjusted his clothes so that he looks a little more presentable instead of appearing like he just rolled out of bed. "Alright. How bad is it?"

He takes a step forward, reaching for the door knob to close the door behind him.

"It's as we assumed." Impa says, moving aside. "All the evidence and witness accounts point to him and him alone."

"Perfect." Enno could hear his eyes roll. Warrior glanced behind him, blowing Enno a kiss before he closed the door.  "I'll be right back."

Enno pouted and borrowed into bed with Wind, sighing. There goes all their attempts to calm him. They yawned and started to struggle staying awake.

Outside the room, Impa and Warrior began to talk.

"There is an upside to all of this." Impa started as soon as the door was closed. "On all accounts, the Kid was attacking in self defense. Richard is going to be charged mostly with assault… added on top of the claims the rest of his family have been making against the royal family and yourself. The Queen is tempted to charge them with treason… also the Kid wants you to have the treasure that Richard left behind."

Warrior smiles and ruffles his own hair. 

"The Kid is older than all of us." He reminds her teasingly. "Zelda can do what she wants. You know this affects mostly her and the kid. That being said, I think pressing charges would be the better matter first. He took from Time's hoard, right? Something he had claimed? That’s against dragon law as it is. There's no escaping this for his family. I bet they egged him on. It's only fair that they pay the price for it."

Impa rolls her eyes at that reminder. 

"A Kid is still a kid if he acts like one." She shot back. "I'm letting you know this now just incase more comes up in the night. Zelda is probably going to take this on herself or let me handle it. You're not going to be here for much longer so it's no use having you stay in this case." Impa turns around and starts walking away. "That's all I have to say. Have a good night."

Warrior perks up considerably and bids her goodnight before he returns to his room.

This was good. Great even.

He could add to his hoard. He could be with you tomorrow. He can have a day off.

The realization was enough to make him giddy.

He softly closes the door behind him. Warrior notices that Enno was still awake. He grins in their direction, keeping his voice low. "I have good news."

They look up, a bit drowsy. “What’s up?” 

They moved the blankets out of the way so Warrior could get in. “Was our marriage blessed?” They teased.

Warrior snorts, climbing in effortlessly. 

"Absolutely." He teases. "The planning is in motion and everything. Countryside, small affair- I was thinking the main colors could be coral and navy blue but I didn't want to make any decisions without your input."

Enno hummed at the idea. “That sounds like a wonderful affair actually.”

He laughs a bit. "I might actually get the day off tomorrow. I can come after all. Impa said that it's no use sending the paperwork to me since we can leave at any moment due to the adventure. So I'm practically in the clear." He wiggles excitedly. 

"I also saw that look you sent to the door." His gaze softens again. "This is standard more often than not. I'm sorry I didn't warn you."

Enno’s eyes light up. “Really? You can?” Maybe they should have held out hope. 

“That’s wonderful. I really didn’t expect that.” They admitted. “Also shush I don’t like that people are coming to you at these hours of the night. You need your sleep because you do so much for them already.”

Warrior chuckles, bringing his hand up to brush their hair away from their face. He purrs happily. Wind purrs back in his sleep.

"It comes with the job. Hero and government work is quite grueling unfortunately." He admits. "But I also happened to get a bonus. So anything you want... either to have or to do, it's on me tomorrow. Let me treat you and the boy."

"You sound like a true dad." The chain reaction caught them off guard. Before they knew it they started to purr as well. 

"I don't think I will be taking advantage of that offer." They lean into his touch. "Unless I notice something for you to keep in here. It's a little under-decorated."

Warrior chuckles. "I have always wanted to be a father.... I never thought I'd get the chance though... not after the war, the promotions.....Cia."

He smiles and relaxes fully. Warrior begins to get sleepy once again. "There's hardly anything here because I rarely spend time here. I'm always being summoned one way or another, as you saw. But I want you to feel welcome here. This is your space as well. If you find something fitting. Get it."

"It's still your room. All my stuff is in the guest room with Pinky's. I don't want to just start decorating without your opinions." Enno tucked him in again. "And I vaguely understand your sentiments. Came from a rather...chaotic household, for a lack of a better word. Never really gave a future with a family a thought." 

They looked down at Wind, brushing his hair. "It's nice."

Warrior hums. "I don't mind. I trust your judgment. Besides, if you stay with me, we might be here for a while. At least before I can work up enough leave and pay in order to move out of the castle to our own place. You need a space to call your own. Even if it's just the corner of the room. Seriously. I can get some different furniture in here and you can have your own space."

Warrior runs his hands over their arms and back, slowly drifting off. "I'm glad you're here. I'm glad I met you."

Enno doesn't really say anything because they know themselves. They are still going to ask for permission, just in case. 

"Go to sleep Link. Dream about that and tell me what it's like in the morning." They kiss his hand, not wanting to bring up that they might have to leave for their own world in the future. "We have a long day ahead of us."

"Can't wait." Warrior nods a bit to himself and finally drifts off to sleep. He doesn't once stop purring, it only lowers in intensity.

Once both boys seemed to sleep, Enno relaxed back into bed. They could help but feel dread with just the thought of Cia. This room seems like a safe haven from her. Leaving it only makes them worried about tomorrow.

Morning, thankfully, comes easily to them once they finally sleep.

[mrsmusica]

Reference pictures and other things for Father of Time!

I've been messing with Picrews and all to try to get references for my original characters.

I used this picrew because it has some fun options that work well in the Zelda universe. I had to edit on most of the deity markings myself but the picrew does have some skin marks itself! Just not exactly what I was looking for.

Anyway, some pictures ahead! Enjoy!

This is Aevum, the Goddess of Time. Dark skin, black hair, the marks are meant to invoke the feeling of a sundial.

Like the Fierce Deity, her eyebrows seem to be part of the marks in a way. I'm not sure if that's something I'd do with every deity character but it worked out well in this case.

And now Oceanis, the Protector of the Oceans!

Man, his marks were harder. No straight lines here. I'm still not sure they're 100% the way I want but I am not an artist so this is the best you'll get. I'm also not sure his skin is as bronze as I'd like but what can you do?

Remember the Heroine of the Sands? She had a brief appearance.

I was sort of using the Desert Colossus as an inspiration but mostly I just wanted her to look like *sand.* The red markings on this were actually part of the picrew but I really liked them so this might be what I go with.

I actually made Link too!

I was aiming for "younger teens" so around 14 or so. Honestly, it's not bad. The picrew has the perfect hair for him.

I have a few more that I might upload later but they're a little spoilery!

This one is a reference to something that happened in the past and will probably never happen again!

Art is from the Flight Rising browser game! It's a dragon...with very specific colouring. Huh, weird.

[thediminishedheretic]

Pretending Zelpha is Canon: Part 1

You know the Mipha's Grace cutscene where Mipha is healing Link on top of Vah Ruta? Well, she never actually says Link's name in the custcene.

But you know who else in the game could easily fit into that cutscene with nothing changed?

Zelda.

"This reminds me of the time we first met. You were just a reckless child . . . always getting yourself hurt at every turn"

As a princess, Zelda would have probably spent quite a bit of time in the domain with Mipha, who is also a princess around her age (at least in terms of maturity and Zora years).

They easily would have met as children and spent substantial time together (you're going to need to build relations with the Zora if you want to fight the Calamity together).

And Zelda is kinda reckless in the game: she's a scientist (she would definitely get injured doing science), she abandoned Link to travel to Gerudo Town and almost got killed by Yiga in the process, fainted in freezing waters from desperation to unlock her powers, tried to make Link eat a frog, etc.

"Maybe things can go back to how they used to be when we were young"

This line could easily be about how Dorephan let them have fun together when they were younger but as they both grew up they had to get more involved in politics and spend less time doing what they wanted together.

By why would Mipha say this to Link if she was talking about Zelda?

BECAUSE MIPHA WAS PRACTISING WHAT SHE WAS GOING TO SAY TO ZELDA WITH LINK

And that's why she pauses and sometimes repeats words in the cutscene. She's still trying to get the right words out, and still feels nervous.

She's a princess, and Kass says in the Champions Ballad DLC that she was kind but also known to be quite strict. So wouldn't she be more eloquent if she meant those words to be for Link? (notice the difference between her lines after death and lines in the cutscene)

Also, people do ramble a lot to Link. He's a good listener. So it's entirely plausible that he would help her out like that, that's the kind of bestie he is.

This (delusional) interpretation of the scene can even connect to the Champions Ballad DLC!

Mipha has a line where she tells Link to, "tell the princess that I wish I could have told her . . . all of the things I never said".

But like, how would Link know all the things Mipha wished she could have told Zelda?

Because Mipha literally said those things! Right to his face! In the cutscene!

In summary, the Mipha's Grace cutscene is totally about Mipha practising her confession to Zelda with Link.

Thank you for making it this far, this ramble was brought to you by a delusional Zelpha shipper.

[cooking-with-hailstones]

I’m curious, what do you think about Zelda games and continuity in general? I know one point of contention with BOTW/TOTK is the “lack” of continuity which yeah, i get it. It could be better. However the Zelda series is not known for its continuity lol. Like, take OOT and MM for example. MM is supposed to be a sequel to OOT, right? Well, tbh it’s not a very good one. Besides the fact that Link is the same one from oot, and the happy mask salesman and skull kid return, it feels really disconnected from its predecessor. I think Twilight Princess fits more as a sequel to OOT than MM. I could go on and on but what are your thoughts?

Very good question! So yeah, I know that the Zelda games give 0 craps about consistent lore or continuity, which is fine! I think they put forward a lot of different and interesting ideas. As a fandom, and especially as writers, we can treat it like a buffet of ideas to sample and play around with.

You raise an interesting point with oot/mm. I think the difference between oot/mm is the fact that they have very little in common with each other. New map, new characters, a completely different concept. There's a lot of mechanics that are the same but it really feels like you're in a new universe with the same aesthetics as the previous one, and that's about it.

I think TOTK stands out to people because it is a direct sequel with only a few years between them in-universe, but there is very little story, lore, and setting continuity between botw and totk. If it were a whole new game with a new slate of characters and a new map, I don't think the discrepancies would feel as jarring. That being said, I really love totk as a game! It's fantastic and I've sunk at least 100 hours in.

However, botw remains my favourite game because: botw is a gesamkunstwerk. TOTK is not a gesamkunstwerk.

And now here's my very long tangent about this:

I'm sure I've seen a video talking about this idea before but basically, a gesamkunstwerk is a German term for "total work of art." Coined by the composer Richard Wagner (whom we do not like, but his ideas were very influential), a gesamkunstwerk is a large scale work where everything reinforces each other. It is "a work of art that makes use of all or many art forms, or strives to do so." So in opera, for example, this would be how the orchestra, the costumes, the text, the music, the set pieces, everything comes together to tell one unified story.

I believe botw is a good example of a gesamkunstwerk: the open world setting serves the narrative framework, the Sheikah technology is incorporated seamlessly into the game mechanics, the story is scattered throughout the world for you to discover, but everything is still centered around your final goal and the narrative arc you're meant to travel. You're meant to explore, meet people, hone your skills, then face off against the final foe that you've been staring in the face for the whole game. You're meant to discover the world, to do all these things, as the player and as Link. Everything in botw reinforces everything else. It's not a perfect game by any means but it is incredibly well crafted.

And while totk improves on all the things in BOTW, it loses the cohesiveness that tied the first game together. I find that totk fights itself in a lot of ways. It didn't commit to being a linear game but it clearly has a linear path in mind (hello dragons tears...I am so glad a friend of mine told me to do them in order) The integration of zonai and Sheikah mechanics made no sense to me. The sages... Good gravy the sages...

Anyways this turned into a much longer post than I intended, but I hope this all made sense.

[mama-qwerty]

I'm actually rather flabbergasted that this asker is going as long as they are right now

Referring to the comment section of this ask.

I can't decide if they're actually trolling, but based on some things I've read about them, I want to say they aren't. Which is really sad if they do indeed believe that perfection is something to strive for and feel ashamed if it's not achieved. And that anyone who likes the games they don't is "embracing mediocrity".

Based on some of their responses in that comment thread, it seems like they have issues stemming from expectations when they were a child, which is terrible, especially since those issues have tainted their view of not only the world but of media meant to entertain.

Perfection is not possible. Ever. The idea that one can somehow become 'perfect' (and really, what does that even mean??) is a goal that will be forever out of anyone's grasp.

Life is not meant to make us perfect. The mistakes we make, the little stumbles, the missteps, they all teach us things. We should never stop learning. The goal isn't perfection, it's to become who we are meant to be, someone we are happy to be. And absolutely no one gets there by making all the right decisions, and doing all the right things. Challenges help us grow. Mistakes make us wiser.

I'm not sure what that person's idea of perfection is, and I don't know how it pertains to the Sonic franchise. A commercially produced product will never be perfect. Not even Mario or Zelda are perfect franchises, despite what they seem to think.

And honestly, having been in the Sonic fandom for a few years, I feel like a lot of the criticism and anger and hate for various Sonic media comes from the fandom itself. Case in point, Sonic 06, Forces, and the Knuckles series come to mind as bits that have gotten a lot of very loud hate.

I have no idea why so many people seem to focus so much on what they hate about a franchise instead of what they love. Or why some seem determined to force this hate on others who actually like that particular thing. What's the need? We're all here to fangirl over a cartoon hedgehog. (And echidna.)

There's enough hate and anger in the world. Let's try to be kinder to our fellow fans, shall we?

[rawliverandgoronspice]

Thoughts on TOTK Ganon's appearance?

A lot of them!! Some would say: too many!!! Too much!! So much so that I was almost starting to turn this ask into a TotK early review, so I'll simplify my answer a little.

I have not finished the game yet, but I have seen the memories and a good chunk of it, but my opinion is therefore incomplete and subject to lapses in judgement/hasty positions. Also, my opinion on this is kind of a buzzkill and I already made people depressed and bummed out by explaining it, so I'm putting it under the cut to avoid hurting the good time of people who might not want to think about this/might disagree on this description alone (and I understand, since it's an opinion that also depresses me!!! I wanted to like everything!! I wanted to be blown away!!).

I think this Ganondorf is like OoT Ganondorf redux, but with even more problems than OoT Ganondorf, somehow??? which is honestly a flex at this point.

(I love OoT Ganondorf to be clear, but the flaws are pretty undeniable and you have to navigate through a lot of bullshit to get to the good parts)

Between the green skin that lacks any proper justification in the context of the game (I say this because I always hear "oooo but it's because he's a demon/undead" and uhhhh no, it's not because of that apparently), the fact that he's half naked but we're never ever meant to conceive him as a human person in any way but merely as a constant physical threat... Like I'm certain the famous Ganondorf Designer did their utmost to give him justice and there is an obvious attention to details in his design, and I'm not blaming them or anyone in particular for the Nintendo treatment --but it does add up to something quite uncomfortable in his characterization regardless. Even the fact that his face rigging is extremely flimsy and makes his emoting feels super strange bugs me (I heavily suspect it's because it's way less soft anime and structurally very different from any other face in the game, especially around the jaw, and so they had to do a custom rig and had to work around its limitations --it's all speculation, and I am always here for Unsettling Ganondorf Faces, but it kinda felt accidental and not intentional like in WW or TP). He's at once a lot and really not much. I find his characterization beyond barebones. Even Twilight Princess Ganondorf had more to him than this (like the man was fascinating in comparaison, show me a guy claiming to be chosen by the goddesses while sitting on a throne next to the decapitated statues of said goddesses any fucking day over what we got here)

I like the mechanical aspects he introduces; the gloom is cool, the hands that grab you are amazing, the bosses are such cool callbacks --and he's just causing messes and putting parasites in things!!! You go girl. I do love that he's having his little puppet Zelda run around causing hijinxes, that's very fun of him and my favorite part of his character in this game so far, tho I don't know if that even counts as him --and I'm not 100% sure what that even says about anyone?

But here's the thing: nobody (beyond * arguably * Rauru) seems to be allowed to have a character arc in this game, so it's hard to come up with anything to say since he's the sole cause of conflict while being almost completely motivation-less. I don't think anyone is written particularly competently honestly; it just shows more with him because a Ganondorf who's not well written reverts back to Ganondorf at his most generic expression of a baddie imaginable, with a side-serving of, quite frankly, really questionable orientalist themes that I see little excuse for being handled the way they were in the year of our lord 2023. Like I'm kinda shocked not to see more people calling the racism for what it is, because it's... pretty blatant. But that goes beyond Ganondorf and that's the whole game, and I said I would try to keep my scope limited, but!!! I will screech about imperialism eventually!!!

The other aspect of that discussion, which is inevitable, is how much does TotK erase everything that came before? I'm sure there are some amazing Zelda theorists out there who will find a way to reconcile all of this, but for now, I get the sense that Nintendo wanted to get away from their messy timelines (fair) and reinvoke some of the old songs for a new audience, and in doing so scrubbing the slate clean. My problem is not so much that they wanted to do this (even if I think BotW's solution was, strangely, much cleaner and more respectful of their own history), but what they introduced instead: and, in Ganondorf's case, he's kind of reduced to a parody of himself --one that is so unbelievably unsympathetic and impossible to relate to and also responsible of his own oppression and also not oppressed since he attacked first!! and also oppressive?? (I made A Sound when I heard the line about Rauru talking about "the last free gerudo village falling" bitch!! free according to whom??????)

Removing a lot of the Goddesses/Triforce thing (so far, maybe it will come up) also does this conflict zero favors in my opinion, as it makes everything and everyone's actions much less fated and an expression of self-determination/resilience over their predestination, and much more uhh political in a bad way, while still borrowing the aesthetics of divinity to justify its own mind-numbing moral simplicity.

I don't know. Maybe the third act reveal will really surprise me and make me reconsider my position, but it would take a lot to scrub off all the dedicated efforts made to flatten Ganondorf to his lowest possible denominator (him and his people honestly my follow-up to the gerudo post will probably be Oops! All Salt) for the sake of the most brazenly imperialistic and feudalist Hyrule to date and its really weird and uncomfortable reimagined origin story.

So uhhh, Thoughts Bad! I guess thoughts bad. :(

(Matt Mercer did a great job with what little he was given tho, and so did every voice actor)

[skyward-floored]

Breath of the Wild - oneshot

Another oneshot cross-posted from ao3 :) I love botw so so much, it holds a special place in my heart as one of my favorite games (I played it daily for more then two years straight, I was obsessed), and this was my little way of capturing some of my love for it.

Ao3 link

————————————————————

“Link, where are we going? You can’t keep me in the dark forever,” Zelda’s voice asked, trusting, but likely tired of the fact that she hadn’t been able to see for the past almost-hour.

Link smiled at the huff in her voice, before remembering she couldn’t see it due to the fact that her eyes were closed. She’d been wearing a loose blindfold on the trip here, but he trusted her enough not to peek now that they were close. In fact...

He gave her arm a light tap, and pulled her to a stop, looking out at where he’d brought her.

“Well, why don’t you see for yourself?” he asked, feeling his smile grow, “we’re here.”

Zelda opened her eyes, blinking a little to adjust, then let out a surprised oh!

Link had brought her to the shores of Lanayru Bay, the two of them standing only a few paces from the water. Waves lapped at the shore, wind softly whistling through the rocks, and the sky was perfectly clear above their heads, stars dazzlingly bright. It was the picture of calm, and Zelda looked around at the small beach, watching a crab scuttle by, admiring the stars, turning backwards to watch the fireflies in the grass behind them.

Link watched her with a smile, for once not too concerned about their surroundings.

He’d snuck over early that morning to clear out any and all monsters that might’ve returned since the last time he’d been here, endless lizalfos scattering the hills and lurking in the water. And while he still sported several dark colored bruises from the lynel that had been around as well, it had been completely worth it to see the look now on Zelda’s face.

Her smiles were always much too few and far between.

Zelda slipped off her shoes and toed closer to the water, and Link followed her, watching the way the breeze blew her golden hair.

“It’s beautiful out here Link, but I must ask... why this spot?” she questioned, and Link hummed.

“Do you remember when we were talking about what you could see while you were holding back the Calamity?” he asked quietly, and Zelda nodded, face falling just a little at the reminder of Ganon. “You... mentioned this was one of the places you wanted to visit sometime.” Link scratched his neck a little self-consciously as he spoke, but Zelda nodded, and he continued. “And when we were in Hateno, Purah told me the stars would be special tonight. I thought since we were already in Kakariko, it was a good time to come out here.”

“Oh the Loft meteor shower, I’d forgotten!” Zelda gasped, excitement shining in her eyes. “I suppose we’re right around it’s peak, aren’t we?”

Link tilted his head in a confused way at her, and Zelda smiled, wide and bright.

“A meteor shower Link, that’s what Purah meant. Oh this is wonderful, we’ll get a great view of it out here!”

Zelda hopped back out of the water, grabbing her shoes but not putting them on as she walked up into the grass and towards the hills.

“Come on, let’s find a good spot to watch!”

Link blinked, then quickly followed after her with a chuckle, jogging a little to catch up with her strides. Zelda soon found a spot she was happy with, and settled down onto the grass, eyes sparkling as a few streaks of light began to flicker across the sky.

Link settled in next to her, and they watched the stars in contented silence for a while, Zelda making a quiet noise of excitement whenever a particularly bright one streaked by.

As fascinating as the sky was, Link soon found his gaze slipping from the view above him to the girl he sat next to, her green eyes bright with starlight as she watched the meteors fall. She was sitting almost against him, their legs only a few inches apart, and the urge to close the distance and put an arm around her shoulders suddenly hit him like a guardian laser.

...Could he? Was he allowed to do that? Things were certainly different after a hundred years, but could he just do that?

Would she mind?

Mouth suddenly dry as he made up his mind, he swallowed, then inched closer to her, cautiously extending an arm. His fingers had almost touched her shoulder when Zelda suddenly let out a loud gasp, and he jumped at the noise.

Link grabbed at his sword in preparation for trouble, cheeks a bit pink, but he soon realized there was no threat. Zelda was still staring up at the sky, astonishment on her face as an extra-bright streak of light flew by, and Link perked up at the familiar sight. It streaked toward a nearby hillside, and Zelda continued to stare at where it had flown.

“Link, that looked like it hit the ground, I didn’t know— is that a light? Did it really land?” she gasped, and Link grinned at her and extended his hand.

“Why don’t you come see?”

She took it with an excited smile, and they trekked across the hillside, fireflies drifting out of their way. It didn’t take them long to reach the glowing site where the star fragment had landed, and Link kneeled down and picked up the perfectly formed crystal.

Zelda kneeled next to him and watched him hold it out to her, another small oh! escaping her lips at the sight of the glowing stone in his hands. The warm light from the crystal made her eyes sparkle as she looked down at it, her hair lighting up into liquid gold when she leaned closer, and Link found himself staring at her again as the gentle glow almost seemed to increase in proximity to her.

“Link, what is it?” she asked in fascination, pulling him out of his thoughts.

“A star fragment,” he said quietly, offering it out to her with a smile.

Zelda took it with an almost reverent hold, settling back onto her knees and admiring the crystal as she cradled it in her hands. Link felt a tingle go up his fingertips when he handed it over, his hands brushing Zelda’s, and felt warmth run up his arm at the point of contact.

“It’s beautiful,” she whispered, running a hand along one of its grooves. “Where do they come from?”

“I’m not completely sure,” he admitted, leaning back and looking up at the stars. “Somewhere in the sky I guess. There is a story that says they’re made of pure gratitude to Hylia...”

“A bit hard to prove I think,” Zelda hummed, gently turning it in her arms. “I’ll have to ask Purah, perhaps we could run some tests on it. Or perhaps Impa would know, she tends to be knowledgeable about things of this sort—”

Link couldn’t help but smile as Zelda slipped into her theorizing voice, excitedly studying and wondering what the smooth crystal in her hands could be.

Her words, soft but growing louder as she grew more excited, were music to his ears, her accented tones a soothing lilt in the breeze. The sound of it always calmed him, and he loved hearing her speak, even when she raised her voice in annoyance or anger, to a point.

It was the first thing he remembered, the thing that had woken him, guided him all throughout his journey, that had warned him of blood moons and directed his steps. The one scrap of familiarity he’d clung to in a strange world.

He truly could listen to her voice forever.

“Link?”

He met Zelda’s eyes, bright in the glow from the crystal, and tilted his head to indicate he was listening.

“Thank you for showing me this,” she said, voice full of gratitude. A soft look overtook her face as she glanced up at the sky again, and she smiled. “This is wonderful. I... I really needed this, I realize. I’ve barely had a moment to breathe since the Calamity, and everything lately has just been...”

Her voice fell, the smile slipping from her lips.

“It’s been truly... overwhelming,” she whispered, as if afraid to speak louder. “I’m realizing just how much we lost in the past century, and fixing it seems impossible. Not to mention being sealed in the castle for a hundred years...”

She sighed, and Link felt something ache in his chest at the exhaustion in it.

“It’s just left me so... disconnected from everything,” she whispered. “Sometimes I forget what it’s like, being a person and not just a force of light to hold back the darkness. To not have to focus and constantly resist, and feel as if one slip up would doom the world. Doing it for so long, even now that I’m out, sometimes I forget and I feel like I’m still... still in there. With him.”

A shudder ran through her, and Link ignored the old instinct that refused to bridge the gap between princess and knight, and slid closer to her, gently resting a hand on her arm.

Zelda swallowed, and held the crystal in her hands a little tighter.

“I don’t know why I’m telling you all of this,” she whispered, and Link hated how miserable it sounded. “I’m sorry.”

“Zelda, I don’t mind, don’t— don’t apologize,” he said, quick to reassure her. He hesitated, then fully put his arm around her, keeping the hold loose so she could pull away if she wanted.

She didn’t though, and they both relaxed a bit, Link slipping closer.

“I like listening to you Zelda,” he continued, the glow of the crystal dancing between them. “Truly. Even if it’s just your worries. I just... wish I could do more to help you.”

“You help plenty Link,” Zelda replied, looking a bit better. “You brought me out here didn’t you? You knew I’d love seeing the stars tonight, and showed me the bay as well. And don’t think I didn’t notice the distinct lack of monsters around, you’ve done so much for me Link, not just tonight, and I truly appreciate it.”

Her smile returned, though it wasn’t quite as brilliant as before.

“Being out here, and seeing for myself that the fight was worth it, that through our efforts we preserved this,” she said with a wide gesture to the landscape and sky, “it helps remind me of what we’re working towards, and why Hyrule is worth not giving up on.”

She ran a hand along the crystal again, the light shimmering off her face as she looked up at the stars.

“And I can’t thank you enough for that,” Zelda said softly, meeting his eye.

Link’s mouth suddenly felt too dry to respond, but he managed a nod and a smile, and Zelda returned it as she leaned into his hold a bit more. Her head came to rest on his shoulder, and they both looked back up at the stars falling across the sky, leaving streaks like crystal rain in their wakes.

And with them, the star fragment in Zelda’s arms seemed to shine just a bit brighter.

[dootmoon]

Some thoughts on Ex Astris

Okay so the TL;DR is: Go play it if you're someone who is mainly motivated by gameplay, it's one of the most enjoyable games i've played in like 10 years (im not kidding). the story is not bad, but it's very poorly told and leaves a lot to be desired. I should also warn that i'll probably spoil a couple of things, mainly on the gameplay side (because yes, I do believe some encounters are better if you dont know the gimmick).

Where do I even start, I only watched like 2 trailers before playting, i had 0 idea of what i was getting into, all i really knew about the game was that it was a full game release by the AK guys and that it was a turn based rpg. I legitimately bought it out of morbid curiosity, I was not expecting to find my favorite jrpg in a literal decade.

I'll go over what I liked the most and then explain the couple of issues I have with the game, it might sound like i loved it (which i did) but it's far from perfect and i think there's room for improvement. I think the combat is the real deal in this title, for those unfamiliar with it: it's a classic turn based jrpg but it has layers. The main 3 mechanics that make it stand out from other games is that each turn you have AP (action points) which limit what you can do each turn, however you can directly manipulate them with a combo system that gives you back AP. The second one is a parry system, during the enemy turn you can directly parry their attacks, you have 2 colors for parrying, both colors have different properties and there's certain attacks that can only be parried with the respective color. And lastly, theres a stagger bar, similar to FFXIII or posture bar in sekiro, although i think it's more akin to stagger in FFXIII. Once you break said bar you can enter hyper time for a few seconds where you have unlimited AP so you can combo them for massive damage. The combo system is very enjoyable, you will be blindly experimenting your combos for optimal damage each time you unlock new moves in the skill trees. Theres a very satisfying feeling to landing a big combo on an enemy that feels like it was entirely something you came up with. This sadly comes with a downside, once you figure out your big damage combos, there's not much of a reason to try anything different. It doesnt mean it stops being enjoyable but this is a wall most of games with combo systems have. Now the parry system, while it's fun, it sadly makes the game too easy. Sure theres enemies that will mix their timings to throw you off and a couple of unparriable attacks. But really, if you get good there's no reason to ever get hit. "But what about the unblockables?" yeah about that... Theres really just 3 enemies in the game that had them, and 2 of them were bosses, which you get a hard counter to the unblockable in the first boss that has it. I wish the game had more ways to work around you to make it more challenging. The only time the game REALLY tries to fuck you up is the final boss (this is a good thing) however it was still too easy. She really just makes the screen black and white and makes you parry based on the icon, then she makes you parry based on the color of the attack. This was sick and i wish there were more moments like this in the game. Now the dungeons were great, they feel like they belong in an older 3d zelda game. Sadly they dont get too crazy on the gimmicks, they were just box puzzles where you have to move them in the correct spots or point lasers to certain switches. Apparently this game has plans for DLCs so if theres something i wish upon to get explored more it would be this in particular. The rest of the game is the towns and the sidequests inside them, they're very usual stuff for a jrpg so you know what to expect, i cant elaborate much on it. Overall I think the game is meant to be replayed, by the end you're only able to fully build 3 characters out of 5 party members, sidequests expire and there's a bunch of stuff to mess around to make a playthrough different from the last one. The game changes a lot when you already know how it works or what really happens in the story.

Now the elephant in the room, the story: Yeah it's kinda just there, it's very poorly told. However it's HG and i can tell there was a lot of thought put into the wold building, it's very well made. It's just a shame that i could barely care about anything happening in it, even though I was kinda invested by the final hours i dont think that excuses the really bad storytelling. However starting my second playthrough is when I noticed it was indeed meant to be replayed. There's a bunch of stuff that feels so incredibly cryptic or really make no sense, once you go over it already having context it all makes sense and you just go like "oooh so that was they were talking about". I'm not excusing bad writing though, this is bad, but at least the story feels better on a second playthrough. Anyways, i'm kinda upset this was a mobile game, maybe if it wasnt, 10 people would've played it instead of just 5. I cant stress enough how this is a phone game that is way better than most of modern jrpgs in the market. it's like the devs went back and asked themselves what was the main appeal of the genre and what they thought made them fun to them and made an entire game around it. This is probably gonna be the biggest surprise of the entire year for me and i'm gonna have brainrot about this game for a while.

[ganondoodle]

as i was awake in the middle of the night for like 2 hours bc i felt sick i had more somewhat random totk thoughts

one being that i really hate how raurus response to concerned zelda is, after sonia died in that almost funny how little impactful it was way, "im sure you are here for a reason" (actually, i hate how often this sentence is used in general to .. idk i guess its supposed to be inspiritational???)

bc what does that mean actually? him saying that to someone who got there absolutely by accident really just sounds like "i dont care go figure it out yourself bc i dont want to think about anything concerning you or your troubles lol" i guess its meant to sound like OOOOH fate has BROUGHT you here bc you have to furfill a role you dont know yet (spoiler its being a sacrifice girl with no personality) and besides me hating the 'inescapable fate' trope in general (at least the way its usually done in these games, which is not to struggle against it but willingly accept whatever you are told and pretend thats good) its really jsut goddamn boring and is really only an excuse to well .. ignore her and her trouble; shouldnt you, if you were actually such a cool guy like the game wants me to believe so bad, do everything in your power to get zelda back to her own world before shes pulled even further into the war you caused now that her only ""mentor"" that could help her get more use of her pretty much useless sudden powers is gone too?? i know shes basically dead wife sonia replacement (can of worms ugh) but it still grinds my gears whenever i think of that cutscene, bc i cant help but hear it as the lamest excuse in existence to not care about her and just kinda .. see what happens which in this case means leave zelda completely on her her own since both rauru and mineru die as well (honestly shouldnt rauru have thought about like .. any plan to defeat gan besides dying himself, given hes the oh so cool and goodest guy king whos only mistake was not stabbing gan the second he stepped into their kathedral castle thing, like even if you had a plan it can still fail but it seemed like he just kinda went in with a handful of people that didnt seem to know each other at all, never got names or faces -or unique voices for that matter- to fight gan face to face inlcuding the girl that came from a different time and had nothing to do with any of this conflict and couldnt even really control her sudden new powers just seems pretty stupid)

thought 2

how totk really feels like botw but for the people who didnt like shiekah tech, its not a sequel, its botw again, but version of only sonau, its like a pokemon game that had two versions but one has weirdly incoherent story and acts like the other never existed jsut as a whole its like retreading the same points but worse, all shiekah tech that was so integral to the world and had such a long history just vanishing and no one caring about any of it like it never happened, HELL the titans were called divine beasts in english but i guess they werent divine or important enough to keep around LOL champions WHO and isntead a never before seen or even heard of race for that matter showing up and planting their ass in every place the shiekah were before, dare i say it feels weirdly manipulative, like either them or some outside force erasing every fact about the ancient shiekah and replace them with sonau stuff bc they are the hot new shit now

this is a point that just doesnt stop bothering me, how the shiekah tech seemed so carefully designed and integrated into botws world and story, its a difficult to keep balance after all, integrating high tech stuff into a medieval setting, but they made it work! and then totk comes around and throws a bunch modern day tech into it puts some vague greenish stone filter on its exterior and call that even better more ancient tech; why did they even bother to make pottery inspired laser shooting spider legged robots so well integrated when they throw a car and rockets into the next game without a thought and call it a day, what was the fucking point

it feels like someone was dead set on having a set of legos thrown into the game it had no place in, if you want players to build whatever they want make a building game instead!! especially if you are just gonna throw it in with seemingly no consideration how out of place it feels togehter with the fACT THAT YOU ALREADY HAD AND ANCIENT HIGH TECH CIVILIZATION WITH A VERY DISTINCT AESTHETIC THAT WAS ALREADY WELL INTEGRATED INTO THE WORLD YOU ARE PLANNING TO REUSE WITH ALOT OF MYSTERY AND UNKOWN STUFF ABOUT THEM TO EXPLORE FURTHER YOU COULD HAVE USED!! but i guess they just "didnt want to play with you anymore" and that so much so that they went out of their way to erase every trace of it, i dont think the words shiekah tech are ever used in the game, and the purah pad and her towers just drive me more isnane bc they are the same shit but called different and also much worse, liek the purah pad isnt some more developed shiekah stone, no its a glorified camera with a teleport function and thats it

(i know i said this before but i really cant stand how obsessed every single NPC is with sonau shit, you get told to your face every second line of dialog that they are so cool and are so mysterious that it just makes me annoyed of them even more, the game is obsessed with shoving them everywhere and telling you over and over you too should obsess over them, they werent weird like that about the shiekah stuff in botw?? the biggesst talking point in botw was calamity ganon ..... which makes sense and in totk its like ... gan is mentioned what, in a newspaper article??? once???and then not even by name i think???)

aside from that big point which will never let me go, its also just .. its not moving forward anything, it actively walks BACK the progress that was made in botw, call me dumb but i dont really count moving one step up in the social roles of each race as a character development (for the side characters like the champions desc- ahem SAGES) but mainly zelda ... god how dirty she was done, totk pretty explicitely makes her regress any development she made in botw aside from she likes link uwu and some people like her too, but also not enough to notice that that weird zelda being all evil and weird isnt her (INLCUDING THE CHAMP- SAGES WHO YOU ARE SUPPOSEDLY FRIENDS WITH??? you dont have to be a genius to pick up on that my god, were you all given the mc dumbo potion or what)

she gets put back to square one, back into the little itty bitty princessy maiden role forced upon her by her royal parentage, this time rauru edition, back into a white little dress, back into the scared puppy eyed teenager, back into a situation she cant handle, back into losing everyone around her (tho honestly botw made me care more about rhoam than totk did about rauru), back into being forced to do a big sacrifice- but worse actually

in botw she went to FIGHT AND HOLD GANON IN THE CASTLE SO LINK HAD TIME TO RECOVER AND IT WOULDNT DESTROY THE LAND!! and you are telling me in totk rauru takes up her botw role and she bascially killed herself to ... restore the mastersword.

......... she ... she did that only to be a glorified version of the stone pedestal in the forest. and then she gets returned to normal itty bitty girly no problem via magic sparkle beam at the end and

DOESNT

EVEN

REMEMBER.

it really is just botw but worse, you even get yet another ghost king of hyrule to guide you around (rhoam did it better fight me ... we dont talk about the questionable choice to make himself darker skinned when posing as just some guy)

i honestly dont think i was ever truly taken aback by anythign that happened in botw, while in totk, the further i played, the more i had to fight with myself to keep the feeling of unease, disappointment and betrayal down

its such a god damn shame, totk should have stayed a DLC, i will forever mournfully dream of a game that explores more of the ancient shiekah, doesnt erase integral parts of the world, developes characters more instead of making them regress back and make them end up even less developed than at the start of the game, dives into buried secrets and mistakes of dark pages of history without giving into a weirldy nationalist(imperalisitc?) narrative and lets characters have some agency for once

if it werent for the yiga i might have actually considered refunding the game, just to be at peace with myself

anyway, aboslutely incoherent word vomit.

[across-violet-skies]

more Linked University AU!!!!

preview under the cut!!

Flora groaned, holding her head in her hands and rubbing her eyes. She had been studying for her finals for five– or was it six?– hours now, and it felt like no real progress was being made.

It wouldn’t suck so much if she wasn’t the only one struggling. Her suitemates seemed to be doing just fine– great, even. Flora just wasn’t on the same level, and that hurt. Her entire life, she had been an honors student, holding a consistent 4.0 GPA all through high school.

Now she was studying what she loved, and her grades were less than ideal.

…Okay, it wasn’t that bad. Flora had a B- in her plant biology class, and a B+ in her modern Hyrulean history class. Still, it bothered her, having been a straight-A student her entire life.

There was a knock at her bedroom door. Sighing, Flora pushed aside a couple papers, getting up to answer the door.

“Flora!” Riju grinned, eyes crinkling. “The school’s running a wellbeing event tonight where you get to plant your own bonsai trees! Do you want to go? It starts at seven.”

Flora grimaced, checking her phone. It was almost six. “...I don’t know… don’t you have finals to study for?”

“I already did. I’m all set for the week,” Riju replied, shrugging.

“Oh,” Flora said flatly. “Sorry. I’m busy. Have fun though.” She shut the door, squeezing her eyes shut with a soft sigh. She hated to turn Riju down, especially since the event was right up her alley, but she couldn’t afford to miss out on studying time.

Through the door, Flora could hear the booming voice of one of her other suitemates, Sidon.

“Wild! There’s an intramural volleyball game tonight in the gym, we should go!” He exclaimed. Even with a door separating her from the conversation, Flora could practically see Sidon’s grin as he spoke.

Wild’s answer was much quieter, but Flora could make out a “maybe next time” from the cook.

There was a pause before Sidon called for her. “Flora!” He started, walking closer to her door. “There’s an intramural volleyball game tonig-”

“Sorry, Si, I’m busy!” She interrupted, feeling the guilt pile up as she turned down her friends’ invitations to hang out. It wasn’t like she didn’t want to, but…

Flora sighed, glancing back at her desk. Studying was absolutely miserable. As much as she loved her botany minor, this plant biology class was sapping her strength. Her history classes were challenging too, but not quite on the same level. History just came easy for her!

…Well, most of the time, anyway. Right now, studying felt impossible, but Flora had already turned down both Riju and Sidon’s offers to hang out for the night. She really needed to be ready for finals next week, and that meant study, study, study. No matter how difficult it was, she couldn’t afford to fail her classes.

Flora sighed, grabbing the notebook on her desk. Her notes were mostly neat, but the ones from last class were nearly illegible with how frantic she had been trying to scribble everything down. She groaned, dropping the notebook on her desk and slumping into her chair. She put her head down, folding her arms to act as a makeshift pillow.

Flora exhaled, closing her eyes for a moment. She hated feeling incapable, but university brought out those negative thoughts quite often. It was just so easy to give in to imposter syndrome, especially if you’re surrounded by people doing well when you… aren’t.

-> read the rest on ao3!