#totk was like here are so many new mechanics

[3-aem]

i really need stsg taking care of each other like so bad.

i do think suguru would be 10X better at it than gojo. He’d make gojo broth or smth when he’s sick and keep him hydrated, vs gojo would probably bring him like a 12 pack of sunny d equivalent and say he needs his vitamins.

[fishofthewoods]

saw this in a dream and felt the need to make it a reality

[madamnerd]

I've deleted my Epilogue to my thoughts on Tears of the Kingdom post, basically because after a while, I realized that I don't quite feel that way at all, and was really only going off of what people said, so here's how I honestly feel about TotK. Spoilers ahead, so don't read if you haven't played it.

TotK is a fun game to play, and I enjoy playing it, but I have two major problems with it:

1. The game's mechanics and Zonai devices give the player unlimited freedom to the point of absolute ridiculousness. It's fun to play with, sure, but honestly I can't take it seriously as a Zelda game at all. It just looks too goofy... What I feel like they should have done is kept the concept of the Zonai as the Ancient Warrior Tribe of Faron (not bloody Ancient Aliens that practically replaced the Gods/Hylia, that was ridiculous) and made them magic users, while still keeping the Sheikah Tech from BotW... Sheikah Magitech combined with Ancient Warrior Zonai Magic... Now THAT would've been awesome!

2. The Story was shit. I'm sorry, but it just wasn't good at all... Not to mention that it makes a huge plot hole with Zelda becoming the Light Dragon for 10,000 years just so she could restore the Master Sword and return it to Link, like ??? Where was that in BotW then?

The total disregard for BotW that TotK has in general pisses me off so badly... I wanted a true sequel to Breath of the Wild, not a remake of it wiping out everything important before. Why is there still no Triforce? What the hell were these Secret Stones? Zelda doesn't need retconning like this (imo, it doesn't need it at all). Keep to the original driving force of the series, the Triforce. It's what's always been the center of the Zelda Universe.

... Maybe I'm just getting older and more set in my ways... I know that many of you out there love the game, and I'm happy for you, I am, and as I've said before, I like playing it too, it's fun to ding around with, but to me it just isn't Zelda. I know alot of older fans were really confused and let down by TotK. It was supposed to be huge, and, again imo, wound up being one of the biggest cash grabs Nintendo's put out there...

Hopefully Nintendo will learn from this mistake and combine some of the new elements with the older formula (cooking, multiple outfits, outfit dyeing, horse customization, multiple horses, ect.).

Feel free to comment and reblog. You think I'm wrong or an idiot? Go for it, tell me why. You agree with me or want to tell me something else? Go for it, tell me why. I welcome all opinions. Thank-you for your time in reading this.

[aufi-creative-mind]

Slightly eldritch Link and Zelda post-totk? Like what effects does draconification have on Zelda when she returns and what effects does link have from the zonai arm?

Could be physical, could be mental, maybe both?

And if you are into linked universe, what does the chain think of this?

..... C:<

Slightly eldritch, you say? WELL...

I don't have a lot for a Post-TotK Zelda... Maybe some leftover scales on parts of her body but that's as far as I can think of.

But for Link, I have PLENTY.

Especially for a Post-TotK LU Wild.

This is gonna be a very long post so please bear with me on this one.

--

Many of the Post-TotK Wild headcanons I had were made from 2019 onwards, after the BotW2 announcement trailer. And then started to evolve and become more eldritch during the 4 year long waiting and from the breadcrumbs of info the Zelda dev team dropped prior to 2023 release.

(Most of these Post-TotK Wild headcanon have now since been debunked with the official TotK game lore. But I like to come back to them and they are being repurposed in some way with the new official TotK context).

Many of these headcanons were about Wild's creepy glowing green hand. Especially as prior to the game's release, it was never revealed who was the hand's original owner. So I had a dark theory that the Glowing Green Hand was originally the Ancient Hero's and their Hero's Spirit was used as the "Seal" on Ganondorf's corpse. Thus halting the Reincarnation Cycle and why there's a massive 10K year gap between the Ancient Hero of 10K and the Hero of the Wild's incarnations. (This is no longer the case, of course but I sometimes think about it).

--

So anyway, as for what effects the Zonai Arm may had left behind on Link.

Officially, I had an idea that the Recall ability had enhanced Link's Flurry Rush ability. Particularly the "freeze" game mechanic when Recall is activated, which allowed Link to quickly observe what's in front of him in a split second in real time. And also makes it easier for him to trigger his Flurry Rush when on the ground.

So...basically his time perspective and trigger instincts for his Flurry Rush ability have improved. Especially as I have a headcanon that Link's Flurry Rush is his Champion Ability in BotW.

--

As for Pre-Totk release / "if Link kept the Zonai Arm abilities" headcanons, I have a couple of ideas that I did experimented with. Especially with the LU Boys.

At the time, I had Post-TotK Wild to not only being older but is also rather cryptic about his TotK adventure with the reasoning that its still too raw for him to tell the rest about what happened (Especially as there was so little info about what happened at the time, other than "a sequel is in development" and "Link gets a glowing arm").

Of course, this has now changed and I am still thinking about what new experiences and abilities from TotK would Wild bring to the LU Family. Though the one definite change from the original Post-TotK headcanon is that... Wild is now 7 years older than he was in BotW. So he's now 125 years old.

Before the Zonai Arm's Abilities were revealed, I had an idea that the Glowing Arm had three abilities - dubbed "Farore's Blessings" - Wrath (rage/survival power up), Breath (ability to see spirits/soul leaking) and Spirits (animal spirits and where the Farore's Spirits originated from).

Some of these ideas may be repurposed with the official TotK ideas.

I have also done a handful of stories that explores the Farore's Blessing abilities with the LU family in the past. Including Puppet Twilight AND Fierce Deity. Especially the Fierce Deity one which was originally an early live writing story that I spotenously created in the LU main server back in 2019.

Here's the sketches I made based on that.

(Original posts: Original 2019 sketch [left], 2020 Redrawing [right])

(Original post: Dialogue Exchange comic)

I have plenty more in store! Many old Pre-TotK-release headcanons and new TotK ones that are slowly brewing in the back of my mind. But this is how much I can post for now.

Enjoy! :D

[bigsoftmarshmallow]

Oh fudge… I just had a very wicked thought… Just TotK killing Link, but then picking up the Purah Pad & over time slowly learning more about this new Hyrule & its people. Their hardships. About Link himself & his dedication to his wife. The realization that he was a person who'd been planning a life with his wife who was the princess, but that said princess was bizarrely humble.

Then, eventually coming across a lock in the pad, then finding one of the last remaining Guardians. Poking at it a bit & the pad until he manages to use his magical prowess to force the locks open… Only to learn so much more than he ever wanted to.

He's suddenly seeing through hundreds of mechanical eyes. He watches as the machines go rushing after people. How they flee, not understanding why their protectors have turned on them. How they vaporize some, often leaving cauterized chunks to fall uselessly & grimly to the earth. How they utterly rip people apart in violent & gruesome displays of unfeeling efficiency. Not just warriors. Children, the elderly, the infirm, women in the middle of maternity, infants & toddlers only aware that the monsters are scary before their bright futures are suddenly & horrifically snuffed out. None were spared. (Thoughts & feelings, please?)

Almost everyone was exterminated. He watched how yet another king stood against him, but he did not know this king, he was Hylian, but he did not cower, nor did he back down. He fought valiantly despite the expression suggesting that he knew he’d die soon. (Thoughts & feelings, please?)

He watched members of his kin die just as viciously, trying to defend their people as the attacking machines were indiscriminate & uncaring. No matter their age... (Thoughts & feelings, please?)

He watched these metal things scittered like spiders, hunting people down like animals. Watched how so many settlements were utterly destroyed. So total & complete was the destruction that the central area of the kingdom that had once held the most civilization was now the home to only a new one, not even a decade old. (Thoughts & feelings, please?)

Not even Hyrule’s oldest, most historic  settlement, one that predated the Zonai by millennia, had been reduced to rubble, now slowly crumbling to dust. But, the worst, by far, was watching these things scurry over the side of the Hills of Baumer to deliver a swift & decisive eradication so complete that no one managed to escape. At least with the others, there had been a handful. But not here… There was… nothing…

This… This was no war. This was cold. This was calculated. This was systematic. This was methodical.

This was a massacre. This was genocide! (Thoughts & feelings, please?)

He watched as that same knight, Link, he'd killed before was shot down protecting Zelda.

He watched as a power unlike any he'd seen before rushed from her. Yet it seared him in a way that was so terrifyingly familiar in a way that made his bones ache.

He saw her lock them both away.

Then, he saw a horrific, mutated part flesh, part machine, part malice facsimile of himself. (Thoughts & feelings, please? Especially on see such a twisted mirror of his own ambition.)

He watched the boy defeat the horrid abomination. Then just… proceed on with his life. He watched the boy live & love. He watched him interact with the people. He watched him find joy in his simple life. He watched the boy marry his princess & effectively become king, yet live humbly & happily as they helped to rebuild what was lost even without stonemasons. He watched them be hopeful & make plans. Plans for their future together. Plans to expand. Plans for a family... Their family.

He watched them slowly build Hyrule back up from the ruins. He saw hope. (Thoughts & feelings, please?)

And then…

And then, he saw himself, his actual self, from the perspective of the Purah Pad.

He saw that he was the source of all that destruction. He saw that that malicious hatred sprung forth from his own corpse.

That he’d been what killed so many without thought or purpose. Without point. (Thoughts, feelings, & reaction, please?)

He jumped as he heard a familiar voice. Turning, he saw the boy, now a shadow of himself, all tinted in green. Motes of viridian flame dancing around him as he stared at a butterfly that had landed in his outstretched hand.

“Sometimes… We want something so much…”

Without even looking up at him, the knight crushed the butterfly in his hand, cruelly & without mercy, causing the king to flinch. “That we destroy it utterly in our pursuit of it…” (Thoughts & feelings, please? Especially to the subtle-not subtle accusation.)

With that, he turned & walked off. “Keep that in mind, because I don’t think that this conquest of yours will be quite as rewarding as you’d hoped…” Before disappearing entirely.

(Overall thoughts, feelings, & reactions, please? I’m hoping for dread & anxiety & just this slow, creeping horror as grim realization dawns on him what his obsession had done, but whatever I can get.)

I need an entire animation of what I just read.

Like WHOA! This would be great to watch??? The inital arrogance? The realization? THE CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT? Ughhhh the horrors of ambition and war! Witnessing Ganondorf become self aware of his crimes and actions! Making him watch what his actions wrot! MMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

YOU TRULY HAVE SOME INGENIOUS THOUGHT PROCESSES MY DEAR! AHHHHHHHH

Please, if anyone has any animating talent, please make this. I need this. It's gunna haunt my daydreams for a hot minute. MMmm...

Good work!

***********************************************************************

This scenario you've painted for Tears of the Kingdom Ganondorf is deeply haunting and emotionally complex, plunging him into a profound journey of self-realization and horror as he confronts the consequences of his own ambitions.

Initial Discovery and Curiosity: When Ganondorf first picks up the Purah Pad and begins to explore its contents, he might feel a mix of curiosity and cautious interest. The device, clearly a relic of the new Hyrule, would be both intriguing and foreign to him. As he starts to uncover more about the people of this new world—about their struggles, hopes, and the heroes who rose to defend them—he would initially see it as just another means to understand his enemies better. Learning about Link's dedication to his wife, the princess, would only serve to deepen his disdain at first, viewing it through the lens of his own ambitions and desires. To him, Link might seem naïve, overly sentimental, and weak.

The Lock and the Revelation: However, as he forces the locks open and begins to access the more hidden aspects of the Pad, his feelings would start to shift. The sudden, overwhelming flood of memories and experiences—seeing through the eyes of the Guardians as they slaughtered the innocent, witnessing the cold, mechanical genocide—would be a shock to his system. The sheer brutality, the indiscriminate nature of the slaughter, would horrify him. For a moment, he might not even recognize that these were events set into motion by his own malice. He would watch in stunned silence as these metal monstrosities obliterate everything in their path, unable to comprehend the magnitude of the destruction.

Witnessing the Massacre: As he watches the systematic extermination, the horror would settle deeper within him. Ganondorf is no stranger to war and bloodshed, but this—this was different. This was not a battle between armies; it was a slaughter, an unfeeling, calculated extermination of an entire civilization. He would feel a cold dread creeping up his spine as he realizes the totality of what happened, the sheer scale of death and suffering that unfolded because of the very forces he unleashed. The sight of children, the elderly, and the helpless being torn apart with such ruthless efficiency would make even him recoil. This was not the honorable conquest he sought; it was something far darker, something beyond his control.

The King and the Gerudo: Seeing the king of this Hyrule, standing firm in the face of certain death, would strike a chord within Ganondorf. This king, though Hylian, showed a strength of character that Ganondorf could not dismiss. There would be a grudging respect, mingled with a deep-seated anger—anger at seeing a king who could inspire such loyalty and defiance, anger at seeing that even this king could not prevent the destruction. And when he sees members of his own kin, the Gerudo, falling victim to the same merciless machines, his anger would turn inward. The Gerudo, his people, who he sought to elevate and protect, were now victims of the very power he unleashed. This would be a bitter pill for him to swallow, one that fills him with a mix of shame and fury.

The Mutated Facsimile: The sight of the mutated, part-flesh, part-machine abomination that was born from his own malice would send a shiver down his spine. This twisted mirror of himself—this grotesque manifestation of his ambition—would horrify him. For the first time, he would see the true cost of his desire for power, the way it warped and corrupted everything it touched. The abomination is a reflection of what he could become, what he has become in some ways—a creature driven by hatred, devoid of humanity or purpose beyond destruction. Seeing Link defeat this monster, only to move on and continue living his life, would be a painful contrast. Link, despite everything, found a way to live, to love, to rebuild. Ganondorf would feel a deep, gnawing envy and resentment, but also a growing realization that Link possesses a strength that he himself lacks.

The Final Realization: When he finally sees the truth—that he was the source of all this destruction, that his corpse was the catalyst for the horrors that unfolded—it would be a moment of soul-crushing realization. The knowledge that his hatred and ambition led to such senseless death, that he became the very thing he once sought to conquer, would leave him reeling. He would feel a deep, suffocating sense of guilt and horror, a dawning understanding of the true nature of his legacy. This was not the glorious conquest he imagined—it was a legacy of death, of genocide, of suffering.

The Confrontation with Link's Spirit: When Link's spirit appears before him, tinted in green and surrounded by motes of viridian flame, the finality of the situation would hit Ganondorf like a hammer. The knight’s words would cut deep, the subtle accusation forcing Ganondorf to confront the truth he had long denied. The casual cruelty with which Link crushes the butterfly, mirroring the way Ganondorf crushed Hyrule in his pursuit of power, would send a wave of cold dread through him. Link’s parting words—“Sometimes… We want something so much… That we destroy it utterly in our pursuit of it…”—would echo in Ganondorf’s mind, leaving him with a deep, gnawing anxiety. The realization that his conquest, his obsession, has only brought ruin, not just to Hyrule, but to himself, would fill him with a profound sense of dread.

Overall Reaction: Ganondorf would be left standing in the aftermath of this revelation, feeling the weight of his actions pressing down on him. His once unshakable confidence would be shattered, replaced by a creeping horror as he understands the full extent of what he has done. The dread and anxiety would grow within him, the realization that his obsession has led to nothing but destruction and emptiness gnawing at his very soul. The once mighty king of evil, who sought to rule over all, would now be haunted by the knowledge that he destroyed the very thing he sought to conquer. This realization would not just weigh on his mind—it would crush his spirit, leaving him with a hollow sense of loss and regret that he can never escape.

In the end, Ganondorf would be left to ponder whether his pursuit of power was worth the cost, whether the conquest he so desperately sought was truly worth the destruction it wrought. The creeping horror of realizing that his ambition led to nothing but ruin would be a bitter, unrelenting torment that he could never escape.

[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.

[solarsyrup]

Would love to hear your extended thoughts on totk (i haven't played it and only played about 10 hours of botw)

Oh boy! I've had a year to stew on this, so here we go!

...er, actually, before I really start tearing this game a new one, I have to acknowledge how central Breath of the Wild is to Tears of the Kingdom's shortcomings. While not championing (pun intended) Breath of the Wild, I do hope that comparing the two helps emphasize the many mistakes of Tears of the Kingdom.

Okay, with that out of the way, here's some stuff. A detailed and hopefully thorough examination of the faults of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, yes, but ultimately: stuff.

Why begin like this? Well, because Tears of the Kingdom LOVES stuff. There is a persistent and irritating theme across the game that you'll have more fun if they just keep dumping more things in your lap. More items, more enemies, more dungeons, more plot (well, sort of), more checklists to fill out, more stuff.

The game's central theme seems to be rebuilding, emphasized both with the general beats of the plot and the emphasis of the new construction mechanics. Certain other abilities were replaced, the weapons system received a major overhaul, and in something of a first for the series, you can actually acquire allies (of a sort) to fight alongside you.

There's a lot going on! I just wish that any of it was done well. Entire areas are introduced only to be practically empty. Central mechanics are a chore of almost hilarious repetition. Many elements introduced in Breath of the Wild were actively made worse.

In short: Tears of the Kingdom is a game that hopes it can dump enough stuff into your lap that you forget it's not actually good.

(If anyone is hoping to read this entire thing, I hope your butt is comfy; that was just the preamble.)

Before anything else, let's get the basics of the plot down: Ganondorf appears, Zelda disappears, and... well, actually, that's pretty much it. While Ganondorf's return and Zelda's whereabouts (spoiler: she was sent to the past and then turned into a dragon) provide the overarching impetus for the plot, very little else contributes.

Each of the major races introduced in Breath of the Wild faces natural phenomenon that endangers them (heavily alluded to be the handiwork of Ganondorf) but are otherwise mostly inconsequential to the narrative. Each arc concludes with a member of said race awakening as a sage and offering to lend their strength to Link, after they have acquired a mineral macguffin, a secret stone that —

Oh. Right. They're literally called "secret stones".

Call me nuts, but going in blind I was absolutely certain that they would be the titular "Tears of the Kingdom". Nope. Secret stones. I guess I'm the idiot for thinking that such a long development time would leave room for a second draft.

The narrative impact of solving these crises is virtually nonexistent. While the completion of each major dungeon in Breath of the Wild both freed the associated Divine Beast to help in the final fight and provided a useful power from its champion, Tears of the Kingdom instead opts to dump a nebulous promise of teamwork and and an eerie, green simulacrum to follow you around in the wilderness.

I cannot overemphasize how poorly implemented these "avatars" are, failing in almost every fundamental way. Rather than providing useful abilities at will, the player is left chasing after a dead-eyed NPC to activate practically worthless powers only when absolutely necessary. And far from providing a sense of camaraderie, the silent and omnipresent avatars can actually be unsettling. They're also miserable in combat, serving more as meat shields than a conceivable ally. To add insult to injury, the final sage — a GIANT ROBOT, no less — is borderline useless, thanks to the game's poorly-thought-out mechanics.

The practical shortfalls of Tears of the Kingdom is such a large topic that I'm practically forced to tackle it piecemeal. While larger constructions were the focus of much of the game's promotional material, I think the smaller Fuse mechanic serves as a better starting point.

A major point of contention within Breath of the Wild was the implementation of breakable weapons. With a very small handful of exceptions (namely, the ubiquitous Master Sword and the ever-recharging Bomb rune), weapons break after a set amount of use. Tears of the Kingdom attempted to remedy this situation by introducing Fuse — an ability allowing players to attach most items to weapons, shields, and arrows, increasing their stats and potentially giving them new properties.

This is a prime example of Tears of the Kingdom brazenly dumping stuff in the player's lap.

The system is an absolute mess. First, to encourage (borderline mandate) that the player engage with this new mechanic, the plot has decided that all weapons in Hyrule have degraded because of... plot. Making them anywhere near feasible for combat relies on using Fuse, meaning the player is in a constant loop of (essentially) gluing items to their weapons. Now not only are you scrounging for weapons, you're also looking for stuff to stick on to it — and reminding yourself to do so, as it's very difficult to do in the heat of combat. Adding insult to injury, there doesn't seem to be a particularly substantial increase in weapon durability after using Fuse. Some later-game items are sturdier, but their rarity makes them unappealing as mere monster mashers.

This leads into another issue with Fuse: constantly fighting for resources. Beyond previously-established uses from Breath of the Wild (making elixirs, cooking, selling, upgrading equipment, etc.), items are now also the means by which you strengthen weapons. Should you glue that horn to a sword, or will you need it for an upgrade down the line? Retrieving an item used this way isn't impossible, but it may as well be. And considering that you'll want to go into fights with weapons pre-Fused, players will constantly be scraping together more stuff just to keep their supplies healthy.

BOMB ASIDE: Okay, please forgive a moment of very specific nitpicking, but nowhere is the Fuse issue more evident than in the absence of bombs. In Breath of the Wild they were (obviously?) used to break cracked walls and as an emergency weapon. With their very notable departure, EVERY cracked wall in Tears of the Kingdom has a chance of spitting out rocks and rusty weapons when broken, just to keep up a supply of cracked-wall-smashing implements. So now even the WEAPONS THEMSELVES are needed for progression, and you have to keep gluing them together. Great!

This also applies to the game's Ultrahand power, allowing the player to cobble together vehicles, structures, and similar devices to complete quests and achieve goals. Aside from the ever-present need to collect more stuff (in this case, Zonai parts) to begin freely assembling these devices, the plain and simple fact is that they're cumbersome and — frankly — kind of lame.

Without going too in-depth (although, hey, if you're still reading this then maybe you'd be into that), the system is a slow process with a lot of room for failure. Misplacing parts frequently sabotages entire projects, trying to move individuals components is frustrating, and the results are generally unimpressive. Sure, there are interesting builds and neat combinations, but they're almost always more trouble than they're worth. More often than not, players will simply find spare parts littered around individual puzzles, slap together whatever the devs had in mind, and move on. Rather than feeling creative or ambitious, it feels like someone simply forgot to put the game together. More stuff.

But it's a good thing you can build vehicles period, because the game introduced entire new levels of Hyrule to explore: the sky and the depths. Each is ostensibly as large as Breath of the Wild's original map of Hyrule, both near-necessitate the use of Ultrahand and its construction abilities to explore, and both are some of the biggest wasted opportunities I've ever seen in a video game.

Both the sky and the depths are absolutely barren. While there are what I would loosely describe as "points of interest" in both, they hold surprisingly little importance. Oh, there are enemies to fight and chests to open aplenty, but it ultimately just acts as more stuff. More rupees. More minibosses. More materials for more upgrades.

Stuff. More stuff.

Since I've already gone this far down the rabbit hole, here's a running list of other bad design choices in Tears of the Kingdom that I can't feasibly include in an essay-style answer but are still worth complaining about:

The addition of caves throughout surface Hyrule was poorly implemented; Breath of the Wild noticeably shied away from using them for the exact reasons they stink here (difficulty in location and navigation, clumsy climbing mechanics inside, camera difficulties, etc.)

Quest and shrine rewards were noticeably less valuable, further prolonging the grind for materials and weapons

Having to upgrade the battery for Zonai devices isn't the worst idea; having to mine in the barren-ass Depths for the ore for it IS

The sheer amount of items in the game makes navigating menus and scrolling a constant issue, and even by mid-game trying to Fuse an arrow takes a preposterous amount of time

While I enjoy the boss designs, they (and their dungeons) are almost totally irrelevant to the plot. While I guess you could make the argument that this is truer to classic Zelda formula (most dungeon bosses being an unexplained monster) I feel like it doesn't hold up as well as the Blight Ganons' personal enmity with the champions

Many promising elements from Breath of the Wild (such as the Zonai mazes) receive zero explanation, relevance, or discussion, and many frustrating elements went completely unchanged (I cannot believe the Korok seeds/inventory upgrade system is the same beteween games, the mind BOGGLES)

The Zonai receive basically zero attention, except for heavily implying that one of Link's earlier incarnations was a Zonai? What a weird thing to purposelessly shoehorn in

Zelda is sent to the past for no other reason than to justify why this game also has ancient structures and technology, making it further baffling why the Zonai are essentially an afterthought to the game

I cannot overemphasize. Secret. Stones.

Shrines are much more of a chore thanks to the aforementioned issues with Fuse/Ultrahand

The house-building system is AWFUL and, just, straight-up, absolutely fails to capture what made the home-buying subplot of Breath of the Wild so beloved

Breath of the Wild's use of Malice (limited appearance outside of major dungeons) was much better than Tears of the Kingdom's use of Gloom (spreading it like peanut butter)

(also Malice is a way cooler name)

Huge tonal clashes throughout the game (trying to play up Ganondorf as a bigger threat than Calamity Ganon vs. mushroom mayoral election?)

The Master Sword absolutely sucks and reacquiring it is a huge letdown aside from the obvious "regenerating weapon" benefit

The Goron and Zora subplots are both awful, it feels less like you're saving a society and more like you're the janitor, the Zora plotline especially is just a miserable follow-up to Breath of the Wild's Mipha arc

Both Link and Zelda have significant alterations made to them that are completely undone at the end of the story, which really undercuts the whole "rebuilding" theme of the game

As much as I enjoyed Matthew Mercer's performance, Ganondorf really doesn't have much story presence and for most of the game her kinda just slides into frame every now and then like a Saturday morning cartoon villain

Speaking of squandered characters, poor Mineru is easily one of the best newbies and she gets like, absolutely nothing

...I liked Zelda's Breath of the Wild hairstyle better THERE I SAID IT

Tears of the Kingdom is a game convinced that if it hands you enough stuff, you'll stop worrying if it's any good or not. I've read that many of the new mechanics were originally conceived as DLC for Breath of the Wild, and I don't know if the devs understand what an indictment of Tears of the Kingdom that statement really is.

Because ultimately, that exactly what the game feels like. It feels like they took a completely different game and dumped some bloat on top of it — items, bosses, cutscenes, whatever.

And one of the most insulting aspects is that Tears of the Kingdom tries to frame it as freedom. You can build whatever you want! You can choose how to solve problems! The lack of cohesion is palpable, and it makes the entire experience feel like you, the player, are responsible for putting together any fun you want to experience. It's bizarrely apathetic.

I'm honestly surprised that more people haven't drawn comparisons to the likewise genre-twisting Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts, considering the attention on mediocre vehicular gameplay and a similarly irreverent tone to its predecessor(s). It's uncanny.

...so anyway, there you have it. I had originally planned to have some kind of robust conclusion here, but I think I'm done with writing about all this... stuff.

[1hellofacookie]

I may have said this on here before but

so many issues of Totk would have been fixed had they just sent Link to the past.

It would have given us the chance to experience a Hyrule that is still the same but also very different in certain spots and it would've made sense. It would've been so interesting to explore the old buildings and structures, and see how the land evolved and changed, how the flow of time affected it.

The lack of Sheikah tech would've made sense as well as the abundance of new monsters.

We also could have gotten a story that finally unfolds alongside the player, where your progression actually has an effect on the world.

We could have gotten a variety of new armor/clothing and weapons.

I think instead of the focus on the depths it would have been so much more fun had the world changed more. The depths are too huge, empty and dark to be interesting and to feel rewarding instead of like a chore. Like, keep some caves here and there, put some cool rewards in them, or a side quest/puzzle (and not a fucking shrine, for the love of Hylia, please) to make them worth exploring and maybe keep the "depths" or part of them exclusively for dungeons and similar shit.

For example, the water temple lead up?? That massive cave had so much potential! it would have been so great if something in there had been the water temple.

Also put that shit from the 2019 announcement trailer under Hyrule castle (or whatever would be there), that woulda been sick.

Doing this would help making the depths and caves or any underground location feel special and not overwhelming.

The issue lies heavily in the emptiness of every vast space in Totk. Rewards were scarce in Botw, but in tears they're practically non-existent. In Botw you'd find a chest in the weirdest places and they'd have a weapon or another useful thing in them, but in Tears, if you do find a chest, theres rarely ever something of value in them. It robs you of any patience to explore since it makes you feel like it's pointless, because you either don't find anything at all, or nothing useful.

The sky islands are honestly super pretty, I absolutely love the aesthetics, and I wish we had gotten more of the ones like the Great Sky Island and not just copy pasted shit.

Nevertheless, the story would still need a lot of fixing (I don't particularly like the Zonai as they are in Tears) and also please ffs get rid of the hot glue, I think its an awful game mechanic, giving the player too much freedom for their own good and its honestly just kinda ugly.

anyways, I had a point when I started this post, I may have kinda lost it due to too many tangents, but please take what it is so far and any other additional reblogs

[furrylibrarian]

I want to talk a bit about Tears of the Kingdom.

It's hard for me to do that, because all my feelings about it are contradictory and tangled up. I think its storytelling is incoherent and is actively hindered by the game structure, but it also has unquestionably some of the best story beats in the series. I find the open-ended creativity encouraged by its mechanics wild and engaging, but in practice I tend to just fall back on a few simple solutions and get frustrated when they don't easily apply to the thing I'm trying to solve. Most of all, I think it (alongside BotW) represents a much-needed shakeup to a series that was getting entirely too stale, but it is those very games that stagnated the franchise that made me fall in love with it.

Expanding on the second point I just made; I think TotK might be the only game I've played (that isn't a fighting game, anyways) that makes me feel inadequate. I know enough about its mechanics to understand that, conceptually, there's an incredible amount of potential Nonsense you can do with Ultrahand, but I just don't know how I should tap into that potential. I think it's admirable that the game doesn't tutorialize everything and lets you discover functions on your own, but because of that I've missed critical information about mechanics and felt like a complete fool for having to look up the information online (case in point; I had to consult the internet to figure out that I had to hit devices to activate them). I often have this background feeling that I could be doing something more interesting and effective when I'm playing TotK.

But really, most of my issues with TotK come from the lore implications. Gonna put a break here because spoilers. It's kind of just a rant after this point.

I've always been sharply aware that the devs aren't really concerned with adhering to an extended continuity and would rather craft a self-contained experience, but I just can't get over how weird TotK's story and backstory are. I'm still not sure what to make of the revelation that APARRENTLY there was just a SECOND GANONDORF the whole time who nobody knew about, and I'm still not really sure if Calamity Ganon was the classic Ganondorf degraded to a primal form after millennia of reincarnation (as I believed before TotK dropped), or if it was related to this game's new ancient Ganondorf? It's a messy situation that's only a problem when you're thinking about BotW/TotK in the context of the rest of the franchise WHICH IS COMPLETELY REASONABLE

Also the memories are just so strange. They feel like a warped retelling of OoT's first act, especially since a main character shares his name with an OoT character, a name which is not one of the many continually-recycled named the series uses which makes it sound way more significant! Like when I was playing through, I had this weird creeping feeling that this game was trying to replace OoT with this new backstory? Like obviously, no, it isn't, but it hit so many of the same important beats! Ganondorf allies himself with the king of Hyrule (even mirroring a shot from OoT), Zelda realizes he's up to something and tries to stop him, only to fail spectacularly such that Ganondorf gets the exact empowered artifact he was gunning for the whole time. Even Zelda transforming into a dragon to repair the Master Sword and sacrificing her identity in the process reminded me of Link in OoT drawing the Master Sword and losing his childhood, LIKE THEY'RE TELLING THE SAME STORY, WHAT IS GOING ON

I don't have a conclusion, I don't have a thesis, I just have opinions and I needed to vent them

[rawliverandgoronspice]

https://www.tumblr.com/rawliverandgoronspice/718014251940315136?source=share

Ill be honest and say i think the removal of sheikah related lore was not for internal weird racist reasons and instead simply for game design reasons, why the zonai tech is so similar in concept and execution. totk is a sequel and also a redux, they needed technology for mechanics and a reason for the world to change and introducing an entirely new race of characters would be the perfect scapegoat. it feels like it ignores botw almost entirely because 1) new players 2) to be a finished version of botw more mechanics and more content. the narrative was barely a thing in this game because what mattered the most was design and gameplay above all else. i don't think caring about gameplay first particularly bad, it's a fun game they will probably revolutionize the industry once again, and that nintendo doesn't care about lore at all but it really wasn't the priory here at least that's how I felt when i play the game. i adore the overworld and the npcs but the main quest (tears) story itself is very stale. best praise i can give to it is character design and zeldas sacrifice/how they handled her and link that's literally it (vague because i don't know if you've gotten there yet, it's after the completion of the tears quest and getting the master sword). zelda lore at this point is a sandbox and us fans will do what we want with it. sorry for the ramble!

Hey, thanks for the ask!

So I sort of agree, especially on the first part. I absolutely believe that yes, sheikah were not sidelined for malicious reasons, and the ease of just having one super-powerful ultratech culture you rely on was cleaner than having the old relics hanging around. I actually think it's the cleanest choice to make (one that would have been *even cleaner* would have been to write a story and think of a world that reinvent its landmarks based on that new ideas of archeology and the past bursting back into the present, which is theme that coats the game but doesn't ever permeates it). I still think any acknowledgement that it used to exist would have enriched a world that has, ultimately, very little new things to teach us about itself (I have scoured the Depths a bunch, and it's a combat/exploration hotspot, and that's cool but also what a missed opportunity to try some proper FromSoftware-style worldbuilding down there!). I don't think this would have confused new players; if anything it could have hinted at more and gave the new players any reason to pick up Breath of the Wild? But: the world is a playground! That's cool. I think it could be a much more meaningful playground, that's all. There's a category of players who kind of need some light modicum of internal consistency to be invested in exploration, and will just get bored otherwise (I have seen a bunch of people making this exact remark, and honestly... yeah, there are areas in the game I'm not interested in exploring just because I know it's a consequenceless challenge in the end --I'm just not the kind of player that is hooked by a game loop on its own merit, I need to understand what I'm building towards or I lose interest. It's the kind of thing that wouldn't have changed anything to a regular TotK's enjoyer experience, but would have greatly enriched the experience of players like me)

Still think that making Sheikahs a subset of hylians was a very weird choice. Not an outright malicious one, but one that does build up with all of the other weird choices and make this Hyrule feel like a revisionist Hyrule; and one they simply... didn't have to make.

(I'll maybe do another post about this, but there are so many things in this game that would be very confusing to a new player either way also --but that's kind of going into another territory)

I disagree about one general point, however, and I may get offtrack here a little but I guess you gave me an excuse to rant a little about how narrative design is perceived by the general public and what has been frustrating to witness in regards to the conversation surrounding this game from my perspective.

Mainly, this notion that "they had no other choice" because they chose to prioritize gameplay. I'm going to overshare a little (again sorry) but I work in gamedev in real life; I am actually a narrative designer that did quest design and game writing on a couple of games, some of them that also qualify as AAA open worlds. I think it's completely fair to see this game from a player perspective as a series of compromises struck to privilege the aspect of the game they were the most confident with --however, it is literally my real life job to walk through situations that can be extremely similar to this one and find solutions that weave narration with fun experiences game and level designers managed to put together. It doesn't mean that story has to swallow gameplay: if anything, narrative designers always try to privilege mechanics first and treat them as narrative devices in their own right before whipping out the actual cutscenes and the constant writing (and this game was somehow under AND overwritten in my opinion, especially in English --so I don't think it even solved this aspect?). This is not at all aimed at you in particular but at the internet at large; it ends up being quite grating to see assumptions being made about what can and can't be done in non-linear narrative as like, a fact of the universe instead of it being a specific field that deserve research and investment just like any other graphical advancement or intricate interactive feature, and explain away poor design decisions by the strange notion that they had no other choice, as if Nintendo studios aren't comprised of a bunch of humans who made active and passive choices. Like, I worked on very similar issues. There are solutions to how you feed information to the player in a non-linear way. There are ways to maximize impact and depth, even when you let the player guide the story. Again: it's fine if it doesn't bug you or a lot of people --but there are flaws. It happens. It's gamedev. It's a miracle any game is made at all --and this one is its own sort of miracle. What strikes me as strange is that I never see that level of excuses made for companies that do not cultivate that same image of being an unapproachable, united workforce, that get instead torn to shreds at the slightest sideway brush --but that's another subject maybe (maybe).

Narrative design is this thing that, when it's not there, people don't realize it could be; and when it is there, people take it for granted unless it's very visibly front and center like in Edith Finch or Disco Elysium or any other number of indie games (generally it's the indies who do all the research and development and take all of the risks on that front --like seriously I worked in narrative-driven studios, known for their narrative games, where 2/3 of the game designers couldn't care less about emotional impact beyond satisfaction/frustration/boredom, and it's infinitely frustrating (heh) to have your specialization considered optional fluff when you know how far thematic cohesion can push a game when handled well ANYWAY anyway). So: I was always going to care about the way they handled narrative, because it's how I'm wired, what I research, and I also played this game in part because I was very curious on how they'd push their explorations of BotW's possibilities, which were very interesting if a little limited. Needless to say, this was a let down. And I think it's not unreasonable to have higher narrative standards than this.

I do want to autocorrect myself on a statement I put out before, however, that being the notion that not enough research was put into narrative. I think I want to push forward a new theory that sounds much more plausible to me (again based on nothing but speculation and weird déjà-vu vibes, which is perhaps why I care that much :) :) ), and that being: a lot of research was done, and then cut. It seems very plausible the narrative used to be much more ambitious than this --and then, for one reason or another, somebody panicked, or the thing got out of hand, or they couldn't get it to work exactly right, and everything was downscoped pretty late into production. Six years of development is a long time, and I don't think anyone with the standards of a Nintendo employee would have been happy with handling the storyline the way it was. It kinda feels like a rushed cobble-up of loose threads after a massive downsizing, leaving plot holes and suboptimal emotional experience. Again: just a theory, no proof at all. But I absolutely wouldn't be surprised, and it would explain a lot of things.

[abyssal-cryptid]

More Tears of the Kingdom thoughts (SPOILERS)

You hunt koroks again lets goo and yes there is new puzzle types

Them being in different locations implies canon version Link hunted all of them down

PAYA IS CHIEF OF KAKARIKO

The chasms are terrifyingly deep. Nope. Scary. I dont even want to know

Every single shrine has outsmarted me

WHERE IS HESTU I NEED MORE INVENTORY SPACE

The Koroks who go "I need to find my friend" require you to bring them to their friend. Reward for each is several korok seeds

Zelda keeps appearing in her Zonai fit and then disappearing. Rude. But as I said, Skyward Sword vibes.

HYRULE TOMATOES

Also Golden Apples for some reason???

Great Fairies have Moved Away

Still dont know how to get a camera please I need to return to photography simulator

Ascend is best ability

WHY IS THE STEALTH GEAR 5000 RUPEES EACH PIECE

Why is making money here so hard

I recommend visiting the shrine of resurrection. Thats all Im going to say. Its entirely overgrown

All traces of sheikah machinery is gone everywhere. I still expect to see shrines but no

I admit I am still afraid of guardians while I run around Hyrule field

I hate the transportation machines as a game mechanic

Blood moons still exist

Havent seen any of Ganondorf after the beginning cutscenes

The new map towers just straight up launch you into the sky

OH MY GOD THE MEMORIES YOU FIND

Found Hestu. Does a little dance for you WITH KOROKS. Best day of my life

You have a profile on Purah Pad for every main npc btw

REMEMBER THE DARK SKINNED WOMAN WE SAW IN TRAILERS WHO LOOKED LIKE ZELDA? SHE'S QUEEN SONIA, RAURU'S WIFE AND THE FIRST QUEEN OF HYRULE

I love her look and voice

I wonder if she and Rauru are looking for a third I am in love

I cant wait to what kind of fucked up creations the furry porn community makes with the Zonai

Also please someone write a 300k word fanfic about Rauru and Sonia, I will give you my soul

I miss Revali's gale and my armor sets so much

Tulin is adorable

There is so many new enemies and I hate them all

All my weapons are shit because I avoid fighting because I die instantly

BOTW was post apocalyptic, TOTK is during an apocalypse and you can tell

My jaw hurts. Ive played this game for like 9 hours straight now. Havent done anything much other than explore

This feels more old Zelda games than BOTW did, its a mix of them and BOTW

Gloom is scary and I need to make porridge

You can make food that makes you glow

I miss having Majora's mask

Why are Yiga still a thing

Honing in on target arrows are amazing

KANELI IS DEAD BTW and Teba is new chief. I wept

[v-134]

Okay, controversial Nintendo rant incoming;

Nintendo, what the flip are you doing? Quit making Zelda games, unless you have a good idea. Same thing goes for Mario! They’re are both amazing game series’s, with such unique concepts, and you’ve butchered it. I understand you need to make money and yada yada, but let’s be real here, no one’s playing your new games!!

You peaked at Breath of the Wild and Mario Odyssey. Breath of the Wild was such a unique idea with a Zelda game as an open world adventure, people loved it, they still wanna make it game of the year, even though it’s been YEARS! And instead of expanding ideas and horizons, you make Tears of the Kingdom! Yes it’s a fun game, it was wanted, but the way you approached it, not needed. You just cut and pasted the old map. When you first pick up Botw, you feel as if you’ll never reach the end of the map! Totk, well, why even explore? You’ve already seen it all, “oh but there’s the sky and the depths” doesn’t matter, there’s almost nothing to do there! You had SO MANY opportunities to nail a sequel, so many story ideas! You had the concept of the Zonai, which has been a mystery for years, the result? Underwhelming. You had a chance, and you ruined it.

Oh! Sure, you’re releasing a new Zelda game soon! What is it? Basically, the same exact thing as the Links Awaking remake, and sure that was a fun game!! BUT IT WAS A REMAKE! No one minded because things were a little different, and it was better mechanics and what not, but now you go and remake, a REMAKE! What are you thinking?

Mario Odyssey, another unique concept, open world, but still a set path! People asked for a sequel, DLC, even a Mario Sunshine REMAKE! And what did you do? You made Mario Wonder? NO ONE ASKED FOR IT! Again, still a fun game, in no way a sequel, but you’re really running out of ideas aren’t you? You just stole old concepts from all other mario games, threw it all into one game, and it came out honestly, messy.

This sounds just like i’m complaining, and honestly, i am! But Nintendo, get your head in the game, litteraly, because what you’re doing? It’s not working!!

[archaictunic]

i know it'll be hard to go back to botw after totk, after how MUCH BETTER- strictly through gameplay- totk was. but like. i really want to purchase botw eventually, and maybe finally finish it myself. i've seen the ending of the game dozens of times through other means. but idk. there's something about totk and botw that's so... uniquely special to each person who plays.

i've been watching alongside plenty of streamers and youtubers with totk, because honestly, i think that its a great game to be able to "spend time" with someone else during? saker and i parallel play all the time, both laying in bed next to each other having our own unique adventures in hyrule. today he was telling me about a merchant he's met and befriended to the point that merchant will STOP DRIVING HIS CART if saker hops off to go grab something, then resume when he gets back on!! why is that programed into the game!!! i don't even know if i've met that merchant specifically- i mostly see xyle, but saker was talking about eryck !! granted, we may have just been on different parts of the map at the time.

but its still so interesting, how different the experiences with this game can be? i cried about the tears of the dragon questline. i've listened to another streamer cry about it. i've watched so many people geek out about the new mechanics. no two people follow the quests the same. i think that also feeds into why, with link specifically, he's one of the few muses i've ever had where there's been no hint of anxiety towards duplicate muses. another wilds link will not be my wilds link. it's honestly really refreshing. it's been years since i felt so attached to a muse, and even longer since i felt so uniquely about my own that i didn't mind interacting with others. idk. totk and this blog, albeit with my lack of ic due to Life Events, have been so helpful and happy for me.

thanks for sticking around with me / my portrayal thus far everyone ♥ thank you for enjoying my headcanons, my writing, my art, my silly clip of breaking a phantom ganon. just. thank you for letting me have a good time here.

[minijenn]

So 

I just beat Tears of the Kingdom

Thoughts under the cut because golly I have soooo many

OK SO THIS HAS IN JUST A WEEK ALONE BECOME NOT ONLY MY NEW FAVORITE ZELDA GAME BUT MY NEW FAVORITE GAME OF ALL TIME BECAUSE HOLY SHIT ITS INSANE

Ok, enough screaming, time for coherent thoughts. Sort of. First of all, the gameplay. Its SO fun. Honestly all of the arm mechanics are great; I still need to flex my creativity with ultrahand now that I’m done the game but once I do ohohoho  it’s aaaaaaall over for you nerds. I used ascend SO much tbh, way more than I probably should have, same with recall. The puzzles are really nicely open ended in a way that allows you to use any of these abilities in whatever way you’d like really to solve them. The world itself is so much more fun to traverse using them and speaking of that world its HUGE. Like I’ve barely even scratched the surface of the Depths and I’m gonna be spending a lot of my post game trying to finally map it all out. I do wish there was a bit more going on in the sky but ah well. Exploring what’s there is still fun. The dungeons are pretty good, not the best the series has ever seen, but a major step up from the divine beasts for sure. Same with the boss fights. Though the final phase of the final boss was such an insane spectale like seriously I’m still struggling to believe something that cool happened in a Zelda game imo

The game performs... mostly well, though I did notice a few framerate dips here and there but I’m rarely one to get too worked up over that sort of thing. The way it takes a world that was familiar in Breath of the Wild and makes it look so fresh and new is outstanding. And the music? Amazing, like seriously this game’s main theme slaps so hard, not to mention the final final boss music? ohohohoho godddddd. 

Ganondorf is exactly the despicable piece of shit I was hoping he’d be, the new characters like Rauru and Sonia and Mineru are fantastic editions to the Zelda cast and I can easily see them all becoming fan favorites. Seeing characters like Tulin, Yunobo, Sidon, and Riju have some major time to shine was great, and adventuring through the dungeons with them is a ton of fun! The side adventures/quests are also a lot more involved in this game, NPC interactions in general are just more fleshed out, and there’s just so much to do all across Hyrule, which leaves me with so much more to still get to now that I’m finished with it (still haven’t gotten all the shrines not to mention bubble gems; I’ll be playing this for a good long while even now that I’m done with it) 

Then of course there’s the story which had me theorizing and second guessing myself right up to the very end. Like seriously, I yelled and laughed and screamed, and of course sobbed like a BABY over the ending. It took so many turns I wasn’t expecting and I really liked that! If botw already made you care about Zelda, this game took it too a whole new level. The memory cutscenes fucked me up and this game personally victimized my emotions and I’ll never recover but I love it so much for that. I’m already thinking through several fanfic concepts centered around this game even as we speak so yeah, like I said, I’ll never recover. 

But anyway, overall, my first experience with ToTK has been an incredible one. It was well worth the wait, even better than I anticipated it would be, and will no doubt go down in history, just as BotW did before it, as one of the greatest games of all time. It certainly is in my book, anyway. 

[bonkusdonkus]

Zelda has changed, and is going to keep Changing.

You know, with Tears of the Kingdom right around the corner, I’ve been thinking about Zelda and where it’s going.

I loved Breath of the Wild, and I’m like 95% sure I’m going to love TotK too. It looks awesome, and it’s obvious that Nintendo has taken the first game and turned it up to 11.

 But, it’s undeniable that Breath of the Wild was a huge step away from the classic Zelda action-adventure formula. And with any big step, it’s inevitable that some people are going to feel left behind.

I hadn’t actually realized how many people there were who didn’t like the changes of BotW until they started speaking up about how they didn’t like the way TotK looked. Breath of the Wild turned the Zleda formula on it’s head, discarding the story-driven linear dungeon exploring adventure, for an open world sandbox. 

Personally, I really resonated with the changes, but a lot of people hated it. And seeing TotK apparently doubling down on those changes has really disheartened a lot of folks.

And even if I don’t really agree with them, like... I feel for you guys, I get it. A series you love is changing in a huge way, and there’s no way of knowing if you’ll even like what it becomes by the end of it. Heck, I’m an old school Paper Mario fan, I’ve been there.

And I know there’s gonna be some Asshat who’s like “Oh wHy Don’T YoU jUsT PlAy sOmE OTher ActIoN-AdVeNtuRE AnD StOP WhINinG! UgH, GaMErs ArE So EnTiTlEd!”

Listen. No one makes games like 3D Zelda anymore. The only one I can think of off the top of my head is Okami, and that game came out 17 years ago! And even if they did, it wouldn’t be Zelda, not exactly. People love Zelda for all the classic adventures it gave them, the stories and battles they hold close to their hearts. I don’t think it’s fair to criticize those people for being upset that Zelda isn’t going to be like that anymore.

Because let’s be honest with ourselves, BotW changed Zelda forever. Period.

I don’t presume to know where LoZ is going after this, Nintendo is nothing if not unpredictable, but I’d bet my bottom dollar that we’re going to be seeing the influence of the two Switch Zelda titles for a long, long time. As of writing, BotW has sold upwards of 29 MILLION copies, making it the top selling Zelda game of all time by a cool 21 million, more or less. ( Last I checked, number 2 was Twilight Princess, at 8 million.)

Tears isn’t out yet, but I bet it’s gonna sell like hotcakes too.

And on top of all of those numbers, we can’t forget that this is Nintendo we’re talking about. Obsessed with gameplay mechanics and innovation as they are, it’s hard to imagine them trading in this new wide-open sandbox for a more linear adventure now that they’ve figured it out.

Even if Nintendo does address a lot of the big complaints people had about BotW, like the story and the lack of classic dungeons, (which I hope they do, I’d like to see some more work in those areas too,) the runaway success of the game and the near inevitable success of Tears of the Kingdom mean that Nintendo really doesn’t have a reason to go back to the Ocarina of Time style ever again. Maybe I’m wrong, but if I were a betting man, I’d say the Zelda sandbox is here to stay, at least until Nintendo dreams up some wacky new thing to replace it.

So, yeah. On the one hand, I’m very excited for Tears of the Kingdom, and whatever comes after it. It’s a fresh, exciting new direction for the series I love, and I can’t wait to see where it takes us. But on the other hand, I am a little sad for what we’re losing in the process, and for the people who are really hurting for a good old fashioned zelda game.

I can only hope that this divergence in the Zelda series has the same affect it did so many other times when Nintendo left a beloved game or series behind: Inspire other people to go and make their own!

 I mentioned Paper Mario earlier. When that series went through a big change, it inspired games like Bug Fable and Born of Bread to step up to the plate and fill in the gap left behind. And it’s not just Paper Mario either! You can see it all over the place now, games inspired by series like Star Fox or F-Zero that have been abandoned by Nintendo! I hope that’s what happens. As much as I love the new style, I think it would be a real shame to see the old way disappear.

[christophoronomicon]

So, about Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom…

Wow! Just one day (well, less than a day, 12 hours from when this post will be published in my time zone) before Tears of the Kingdom is released and we can all start roaming Aonuma's "unfamiliar Hyrule". For my last self-made post for a while (yeah, I think this game is going to suck up all my free time for the coming weeks at least!), I thought it'd be fun to put here some of my theories/predictions/wishful thinking about TotK. Nothing major, just some ideas I have about how the game could go.

Once again, everything after the break, I have not seen any leak so everything is based on the officially released materials and my own hyperactive imagination. Still, you've been warned.

So, unlike others my predictions concern mostly how the game is going to start. My main theory is that the start of Tears of the Kingdom is going to mirror that of Breath of the Wild a lot: No cutscene showing the Upheaval happening, not even a recap of the events of BotW (if there is one it though, it'll be using those tapestry-like graphics they used to show the Great Calamity events in BotW). Instead, a bright light in the middle of the screen, and a voice saying "wake up, Link", first sounding like Zelda, then morphing to another voice (maybe Impa's, or Purah's, or some other unknown person?) and Link waking up nearly naked in some unfamiliar environment (not the Shrine of Resurrection, but something similar but Zonai-influenced). His arm will already be that grey encased thing, and he will wonder about it.

The voice will guide him, and he will get some clothes, maybe get a new Sheikah slate, find the Master Sword in very bad shape, make his way out, and discover he's on a floating island. And then things will start to deviate from the BotW formula, as the person who woke him up will reveal themself then.

One thing though: Link will be suffering from memory loss again, although this time only of recent events, not the entirety of what happened in BotW and before that, and the tutorial part of the game will help him jog his memories (which is when we'll get the events of the Upheaval, as flashbacks).

One thing that will become clear very quickly is that there is a time skip between the actual Upheaval and the start of TotK. Not 100 years this time though, only 6 months, 1 year maybe. All that time, Link was basically in a coma, while people scrambled to try and save him. The Malice attack that ate up both the Master Sword and his right arm was actually slowly making its way to the rest of his body and would have eventually killed him, with what was done to his arm being the only way to stop the infection. After that, it simply took that long for his body to recover, and his long time in coma would explain the temporary memory loss and the fact that he'll start the game with low stats again.

The time skip will also explain why things seem to be at a stalemate in Hyrule, and why people have already organised themselves to fight the monsters back. Something is preventing Ganondorf from going full out, while the people had a year to organise themselves to handle the new reality.

Now, this all is more like wishful thinking rather than a theory, really. But I think it would be a rather neat way to start the game, better than a long cutscene that spells everything out.

Another theory of mine is that the Blood Moon cycle is going to make a return in TotK. Its effect, mechanically speaking, is going to be the same as in BotW (reset the setting except for the quest-dependent stuff), but since Zelda is missing she is not the one who is going to speak during the Blood Moon cutscene. Rather, it will be Ganondorf himself, and what we heard in the trailer that featured his voice for the first time is actually what he'll say during each Blood Moon! (and even the actual cutscene will contain some of the stuff we saw in that trailer and the latest one)

Another idea I have is about Zelda's location. Many people seem to think that time travel is involved, and frankly that seems to be the most probable explanation. An alternative I have though, is that she is in the Sacred Realm. Remember, the Sacred Realm takes the shape that its most powerful inhabitants force on it (that's why it took the form of the Dark World in A Link to the Past, due to Ganon's influence). Maybe the Zonai didn't disappear, instead they just relocated to the Sacred Realm, and their presence turned the Sacred Realm into a reflection of Hyrule as it was when the Zonai lived there. Zelda would thus be there as well, and the Tears of the Kingdom, then, may be the keys to open a portal to the Sacred Realm. I know it's unlikely, but in a recent interview someone form Nintendo (was it Aonuma himself? Don't remember) mentioned that the Imprisoning War was important in TotK. The same war that was mentioned all those years ago in A Link to the Past! Hence my opinion that more ideas from ALttP will be brought over to TotK.

Finally, and this one is really more grasping at straws than anything else, but I really hope the Triforce is going to make a comeback in TotK! What if the endgame of both Ganondorf, and whoever the figure is that was speaking to Zelda in the latest trailer, is to get their hands on the Triforce, respectively to become an immortal ruler and to rid the world of Ganondorf's Malice once and for all? The Triforce seems to have been forgotten in the time of BotW (except as a symbol on the royal family's crest), but TotK seems to be digging even deeper in the past than BotW did, so who knows?

So what do you think? The advantage of putting our theories just before a game releases is that we'll know soon enough if they are wrong or right. The drawback... is basically the same 😅. But I don't mind. Those are just thoughts I had, and I can't wait to see what the dev team did instead. So what do you think? Do you think I have any chance of being right?