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Pre-Release The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Pre-Release Discussion Thread

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It’s shrouded in cloud, but I think you’re more likely right than wrong, that is some stone building.

Damn, we may have just found two hidden stone buildings.
They might just be islands. The bottom of the islands have a rock/stone texture. I also don't know if these are truly big islands or if it's an artist perspective trick.
 
They might just be islands. The bottom of the islands have a rock/stone texture. I also don't know if these are truly big islands or if it's an artist perspective trick.
Yeah, they might just be islands, but that’s why I said may have. The island in the right seems to have a cave entrance, so it could be a floating rocky hill or small mountain.
 
Did anybody actually come close to the title reveal? I remember them saying that the title would reveal to many spoilers? Seems like a generic Zelda title to me…

“As for why we’re holding back on the name, you’ll just have to stay tuned because, obviously, Zelda names are kind of important,” Trinen says during our interview. “Those subtitles… they start to give little bits of hints about maybe what’s going to happen."


You remembered wrong. They didn't hold back the title because it had too many spoilers. Bill Trinnen just said that that the title would start to give little hints about the story which this title does.
 
Did anybody actually come close to the title reveal? I remember them saying that the title would reveal to many spoilers? Seems like a generic Zelda title to me…
Someone guessed 'Tears of the Wild' in the guessing thread here. And 'The Forgotten King' was a popular speculated name from a fan trailer. As far as I know no one got it word for word.

- and I don't know, could've been more generic, like naming the title after the main item as other games have done. "Arm of the Ancients", "Hand of Fate", "Gauntlet of the Gods", and such variations.
 
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Man, finally knowing the name and having a solid release date makes the wait so much more bearable.
 
It was indeed only on the mobile version of the site, here's the full asset. Looks like there's snow?

Fci6-LWJWYAI8b-BR.jpg
Maybe it’s my imagination, but it looks like there’s an entrance to that rock island in the clouds, and the entrance kind of looks....tear/droplet shaped.
 
The durability system is one of the most commonly brought up complaints about the game and we already know from people like Emily that Nintendo employees hang around message boards

Even so some Nintendo employees maybe go to message boards to collect some data, they are probably not the ones in contact with developers. That's probably more a marketing thing.

And they see for every durability complaint at least 1 or 2 answers that like the system and think it works very well. So based on these data they would not invest time to change the system.

They will probably change it anyway (among many other things), just because to shake things up a little to differentiate the game from the first one.
 
We could go on.

We could.

But I'm not really interested in going into details about it.

I was just simply wondering how TotK will differentiate itself from BotW, when 3D Zelda tend to push back against what came before it.
 
Even so some Nintendo employees maybe go to message boards to collect some data, they are probably not the ones in contact with developers. That's probably more a marketing thing.

And they see for every durability complaint at least 1 or 2 answers that like the system and think it works very well. So based on these data they would not invest time to change the system.

They will probably change it anyway (among many other things), just because to shake things up a little to differentiate the game from the first one.
Huh? Getting feedback from customers to product development is literally one of the jobs of marketing.
 
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We could.

But I'm not really interested in going into details about it.

I was just simply wondering how TotK will differentiate itself from BotW, when 3D Zelda tend to push back against what came before it.
Given its the first direct sequel to a Zelda game, I don't see them actively pushing back on BOTW but improving and expanding on it instead.
 
Weapon durability is a great system, if a bit unintuitive, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's heavily reworked or completely replaced in TotK. It was one of the most common complaints of the original.

They’ll be looking at it, but it wasn’t only brought up as a complaint. It was divisive - it added just as much for some players as it detracted for others.

I can’t see it being replaced. Reworking in some way is a near guarantee.
 
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Regarding those moving parts on the official website this one is also interesting
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If you look well, the top right are not just clouds, there is a whole land in it, you can see some plain and mountains. If you open the desktop version, that whole section is hidden by the island Link is on.
Not sure if that's supposed to be an actual floating land/region (and not just one of those small islands) or if that's a part of the surface that somehow got cut out of the main image.
 
The weapon durability debate is never-ending.
What some people don't understand is that you can't just remove that without breaking the whole game loop in BOTW.
If all the weapons you were to get were permanent, you would quickly stop caring about attacking camps because you wouldn't need their reward anymore.
There are ways to remove it but it would require a complete overhaul of the game itself, not just the weapons.

One solution is to always give the players new improved weapons to replace the older permanent ones.
But I wouldn't wish for the game to turn into the likes of many traditional RPGs with hundreds and hundreds of weapons, all the same kind but just with better stats. Powercreep should be avoided when possible.

Repairing is not much better. I think it would be the worst of the 2 worlds, it wouldn't prevent items from breaking during a fight so the frustration for the ones not liking the durability system would still be here, but if you can always repair them you are still making them permanent, just at a cost of going to some smither and pay rupees.

Crafting is a better solution, as it would still require the player to farm the resources for it, but again it wouldn't remove the weapon breaking during a fight. And if you give the players the choice to craft weapons, you might encourage them to not try different weapons as you are not "forced" anymore to swap to whatever you managed to loot from camps.

Another possibility would be that TotK ends up so different from Botw (at least when it comes to the main game loop), that the whole dynamic is not about exploring the world and dealing with the enemy camps. If that were the case, making the weapon some temporary item you need to farm wouldn't be necessary anymore. But discussing that would require speculating about the whole game design, which can be whatever imagination allows.
 
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Lurve me some sleuthing. I still have a hunch that the cover art will change before release, it's missing something like a centrepiece. Wasn't BotW's cover art also updated before release?

I just read a really in-depth analysis comment left by MajoraZ over on GameXplain in response to their latest analysis of TotK. He is a historian on Ancient cultures specifically to iconography to MesoAmerican art. He talks a lot about the significance of the swirl patterns on serpents as it relates to their culture and art.
But what really got my attention was when He wrote “Conch shell cross sections were a major emblem of Quetzalcoatl, the Aztec version of the Feathered Serpent diety: Feathered serpents generally represent the dualism of the heavens and earth (hence avian and serpent aspects), or the boundaries/crossing between realms, but to the Aztec also represented learning, music, poetry, and high culture, and his aspect Ehecatl, the god of wind”
If we take this reference literally as it relates to the trailer then the Deity depicted at the beginning of the game could be a representation of the God of Wind and the 7 swirls surrounding it be actually cross sections of a Conch Shell representing the direction of wind. So it’s a throwback to Wind Waker where we need to collect these shells to control the direction of the wind to travel from island to island. That would explain the elongated streamers on the para glider as someone mentioned before. I also think we could have a compass for wind direction as well. Also the massive tornado as seen in the box art would be blocking that area until we could control the wind enough to calm it down.
This reminds me of MatthewMathosis' Breath of the Wild review, in which he mentioned that much of BotW's potential is being held back because of a lack of restrictions. You can bypass many interesting challenges and locations with the infinite gliding. Making the winds up high stronger so Link's action radius is limited would be a good way to curate gameplay experiences some more. (Although I sure hope there'll be plenty of BotW style freedom because I really enjoyed that =P ).

This'd also put the mechanical birds into context: your paraglider can't take you into a thunderstorm, but some mechanical avian assistance from Her Holiness Blupee Person could.
 
Do you think that the OST for stables will be changed? Or roughly the same with small adjustments? Since the stable tune is so recognizable it will be interesting to see how it turns out.

 
Repairing is not much better. I think it would be the worst of the 2 worlds, it wouldn't prevent items from breaking during a fight so the frustration for the ones not liking the durability system would still be here, but if you can always repair them you are still making them permanent, just at a cost of going to some smither and pay rupees.

Crafting is a better solution, as it would still require the player to farm the resources for it, but again it wouldn't remove the weapon breaking during a fight. And if you give the players the choice to craft weapons, you might encourage them to not try different weapons as you are not "forced" anymore to swap to whatever you managed to loot from camps.
Why would repairing if tied to resources (like crafting you describe here) be the worst? It's the same, risk/reward - do you keep going with the weapon you love even though its low on durability and will break soon, switch weapons, or do you go back, stop your forward progress and spend the (scarce?) repair resources to repair it?
 
Item durability is fine, and I don't want to repair a sword that I can find 50 more of out in the overworld. Just balance that out with more permanent weapons and items after the first few hours. How cool would it have been to stumble on a totally optional Hookshot in BOTW's overworld?
 
Item durability is fine, and I don't want to repair a sword that I can find 50 more of out in the overworld. Just balance that out with more permanent weapons and items after the first few hours. How cool would it have been to stumble on a totally optional Hookshot in BOTW's overworld?

Maybe a secondary, but i feel like if the Hookshot is back in the game, it will be included in Links Bionic Zonai Commando hand.
 
Do you think that the OST for stables will be changed? Or roughly the same with small adjustments? Since the stable tune is so recognizable it will be interesting to see how it turns out.


Im confident it stays the same song, but maybe get some flourishes or regional variants. but i would not count on that.
 
Maybe a secondary, but i feel like if the Hookshot is back in the game, it will be included in Links Bionic Zonai Commando hand.
And that's fine. But BOTW gave us all of the runes and the glider in the first couple of hours. And then after that, you just don't find many permanent items. And the careful pacing out of new permanent items is a big hook for me in past Zelda games. So either the Zonai hand stuff should be spread out a bit more, or there needs to be more permanent items separate from it.
 
And that's fine. But BOTW gave us all of the runes and the glider in the first couple of hours. And then after that, you just don't find many permanent items. And the careful pacing out of new permanent items is a big hook for me in past Zelda games. So either the Zonai hand stuff should be spread out a bit more, or there needs to be more permanent items separate from it.

This is a difficult task to do without breaking this "true open world" feeling that especially BotW had going.

Though we don't know how this "everything is open and reachable from moment yxz" will be handled for the sky islands. I do hope it is the same as the BotW world, open from the beginning (or at least from after the inevitable tutorial part).
 
Why would repairing if tied to resources (like crafting you describe here) be the worst? It's the same, risk/reward - do you keep going with the weapon you love even though its low on durability and will break soon, switch weapons, or do you go back, stop your forward progress and spend the (scarce?) repair resources to repair it?

Because it fails to resolve the problem people had with it (they can keep their weapons but only with the resource management they hate and added momentum breaking grindy busy work) while nerfing the point of breakable weapons in the first place (to always go forward finding new weapons).
 
I can't wait for the Master Swords final repaired look. The new Zonai-esque logo looks awesome.
 
Because it fails to resolve the problem people had with it (they can keep their weapons but only with the resource management they hate and added momentum breaking grindy busy work) while nerfing the point of breakable weapons in the first place (to always go forward finding new weapons).
Well no, it would be more: you can keep your weapon you love but it's gonna cost you time and resources (or you are forced to switch to a weapon you've found bc its in the red and you want to repair it instead of crafting a new one which is more expensive than repair), OR you can keep going forward freely and pick up weapons as you go - it's not an either or... it's a choice, quite an interesting one gameplay wise for me at least
 
I do wonder how fully open will this world be now. You got people talking about switching to Zelda so she can be playable in segments or needing to get power ups or certain items to gain access to areas. Will you be able to go straight to the boss like BotW?

I’d be fine with it not having to be fully open world.
 
Do you think that the OST for stables will be changed? Or roughly the same with small adjustments? Since the stable tune is so recognizable it will be interesting to see how it turns out.


Hear me out.

Same instrumentation, but instead of being loosely based on Lon Lon Ranch, it's based on Ordon Ranch.
 
It’s pretty insane how massive the reception was too a tiny bit of footage and the name revealed was lol

I think it was that it got a date and title reveal at the same time that really did it. With a date. Now people can kinda guess when they’ll get more footage or rather know it’s coming soon rather then “hopfully next direct”
 


I noticed a few things that the analysis videos I've seen haven't mentioned.

The first one is at 19:35. Notice how there's a billow of dust when Link opens the big doors? That makes it seem as if those doors have been closed for a long time. But if this game takes place AFTER BotW, why would Link be stuck inside for the amount of time necessary for that dust to build up?

The second observation is at 28:46, the stasis part. Notice how when link is riding the rock up to the sky, the visage of the rock can be seen at various spots? I think that looks a bit odd. Because if the only place you can send that rock to is all the way up (and there's even a guideline showing you its path), then why do you need to see visages of the rock on the way up?
I think the reason is that you'll be able to STOP the rock at those spots and to create new platforms. See how in the background there are lots of other suspended rocks in the air? I think you'll be able to do that with these rocks.
 
It’s pretty insane how massive the reception was too a tiny bit of footage and the name revealed was lol

I think it was that it got a date and title reveal at the same time that really did it. With a date. Now people can kinda guess when they’ll get more footage or rather know it’s coming soon rather then “hopfully next direct”

Nintendo knows what they are doing. They know they can drop the smallest of details and it will keep people intrigued.

I know a lot of people question why they announced the game so early but the the point of an early announcement isn't to advertise the game itself, but to advertise the Switch. That very successful and critically acclaimed game is getting a direct sequel so you should pick up a Switch and you'll watch every Direct going forward for the possibility that more of the game will be shown.
 
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I do wonder how fully open will this world be now. You got people talking about switching to Zelda so she can be playable in segments or needing to get power ups or certain items to gain access to areas. Will you be able to go straight to the boss like BotW?

I’d be fine with it not having to be fully open world.

I don't think it will be another game where the speedruns are 25 minutes or less. I'm thinking that wherever Gandondorf and Zelda are - my bet is beneath Hyrule Castle - is sealed off until all the 7 tears are collected, and each tear is located in a Sanctuary, or whatever they will be called. And of course the tears can be collected in any order.
 
Well no, it would be more: you can keep your weapon you love but it's gonna cost you time and resources (or you are forced to switch to a weapon you've found bc its in the red and you want to repair it instead of crafting a new one which is more expensive than repair), OR you can keep going forward freely and pick up weapons as you go - it's not an either or... it's a choice, quite an interesting one gameplay wise for me at least

That's a dynamic that could work in a game built around it, but this game is built around making the latter choice. For those who couldn't accept losing weapons, there is no choice. They will absolutely be drawn into the tedious mire of repair, giving them still a sub-optimal experience while also avoiding engaging with the game as intended.

I am grateful the game stuck to its guns and committed fully to the vision of savagely beating the loss aversion out of me. If they'd given me an out, I would certainly have optimised the fun out of the game.

It’s pretty insane how massive the reception was too a tiny bit of footage and the name revealed was lol

I think it was that it got a date and title reveal at the same time that really did it. With a date. Now people can kinda guess when they’ll get more footage or rather know it’s coming soon rather then “hopfully next direct”

I don't know. Here the attitude on this has been great, but elsewhere... (no I'm not thinking of that place you're thinking of)
 
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The first one is at 19:35. Notice how there's a billow of dust when Link opens the big doors? That makes it seem as if those doors have been closed for a long time. But if this game takes place AFTER BotW, why would Link be stuck inside for the amount of time necessary for that dust to build up?


He doesn't have to be stuck inside. There's probably a portal or whatever that hasn't been used for a long time that you re-activate that brings him into that sealed room.
 
The second observation is at 28:46, the stasis part. Notice how when link is riding the rock up to the sky, the visage of the rock can be seen at various spots? I think that looks a bit odd. Because if the only place you can send that rock to is all the way up (and there's even a guideline showing you its path), then why do you need to see visages of the rock on the way up?
I think the reason is that you'll be able to STOP the rock at those spots and to create new platforms. See how in the background there are lots of other suspended rocks in the air? I think you'll be able to do that with these rocks.
I think that's how the patent works (able to halt it in any previous position), it's just like the spiked ball in the second teaser with its previous states being visible. So yeah, I think it's likely you'll be able to make floating platforms as a navigational puzzle.
 


I noticed a few things that the analysis videos I've seen haven't mentioned.

The first one is at 19:35. Notice how there's a billow of dust when Link opens the big doors? That makes it seem as if those doors have been closed for a long time. But if this game takes place AFTER BotW, why would Link be stuck inside for the amount of time necessary for that dust to build up?

The second observation is at 28:46, the stasis part. Notice how when link is riding the rock up to the sky, the visage of the rock can be seen at various spots? I think that looks a bit odd. Because if the only place you can send that rock to is all the way up (and there's even a guideline showing you its path), then why do you need to see visages of the rock on the way up?
I think the reason is that you'll be able to STOP the rock at those spots and to create new platforms. See how in the background there are lots of other suspended rocks in the air? I think you'll be able to do that with these rocks.

Point one:. There's no reason to think this is the opening to the game, and the previous trailer showing a glimpse of Link in a bed with no clothes is a good hint that he won't be immediately back to wearing the same clothes after whatever happens to the castle.

Point two: the objects are just visualisations of the history of the position/orientation of the object, same as the spiked ball in the previous trailer but don't necessarily have any function, and don't necessarily match the granularity of the key frame data or anything like that, the patent for this feature went into that a bit iirc.
Being able to stop the reversal at any point would expand your puzzle options though so I wouldn't be surprised if that's a thing, limited item duplication would be a nice feature too but I don't think it's anything to do with this.


I'm curious about what happens if Link just doesn't jump onto the rock? It's eventually going to splash back down again right?
Maybe Link needs to be in a certain range of the object to keep the process going? That might explain the expanding black& white radius effect when he activated it.
 
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It’s pretty insane how massive the reception was too a tiny bit of footage and the name revealed was lol

I think it was that it got a date and title reveal at the same time that really did it. With a date. Now people can kinda guess when they’ll get more footage or rather know it’s coming soon rather then “hopfully next direct”
I mean, peopel here thought the game may need 6 months of hype build up / marketing... the game was huge. And its not huge in the sense "causals liked it and then forgot about it so it needs marketing". Its huge in the sense that people are actively waiting for a sequell. No wonder small aspects are greetet with such curiosity.



I noticed a few things that the analysis videos I've seen haven't mentioned.

The first one is at 19:35. Notice how there's a billow of dust when Link opens the big doors? That makes it seem as if those doors have been closed for a long time. But if this game takes place AFTER BotW, why would Link be stuck inside for the amount of time necessary for that dust to build up?

The second observation is at 28:46, the stasis part. Notice how when link is riding the rock up to the sky, the visage of the rock can be seen at various spots? I think that looks a bit odd. Because if the only place you can send that rock to is all the way up (and there's even a guideline showing you its path), then why do you need to see visages of the rock on the way up?
I think the reason is that you'll be able to STOP the rock at those spots and to create new platforms. See how in the background there are lots of other suspended rocks in the air? I think you'll be able to do that with these rocks.

The dust: maybe just the stone walls rubbing of eachother, maybe he entered it from a different location, maybe he teleported into that space,...many options.

I mean, this doesnt have to mean anything. maybe it will fall again when it is stopped at the wrong spot (not connected to the island up), maybe you cant stop it whenever you want, the visualisation is that way since its the same used for the giant spike ball. I would jus twait and see how fine grained we can controll the movement. Maybe you can only move it between points of total inertia, and the shadows we see are just there to give you a hint where it came from?
 
I wonder if we get a trailer for this that mirrors the 2017 Switch Presentation trailer.

Fami, would you rather:

A 2017-sequel trailer for TOTK for infinite goosebumps and rewatch

Or

20-minute focused Direct in the style of the Xenoblade 3 Direct. Just an absolute blowout of info.
Hm probably a trailer. Don't think I want or need such a huge blowout for this game
 
I wonder if we get a trailer for this that mirrors the 2017 Switch Presentation trailer.

Fami, would you rather:

A 2017-sequel trailer for TOTK for infinite goosebumps and rewatch

Or

20-minute focused Direct in the style of the Xenoblade 3 Direct. Just an absolute blowout of info.

EKvpZjfU8AAZtFP.png


the-road-to-el-dorado-both-is-good.gif
 
I wonder if we get a trailer for this that mirrors the 2017 Switch Presentation trailer.

Fami, would you rather:

A 2017-sequel trailer for TOTK for infinite goosebumps and rewatch

Or

20-minute focused Direct in the style of the Xenoblade 3 Direct. Just an absolute blowout of info.
I would take the hype trailer. I don't need a presentation at all.
 
I would take the hype trailer. I don't need a presentation at all.
I'm already hyped, a 25-35 minute dive into the game without any big spoilers would be cool. I don't think I'd want to watch like 6, 30 minute segments they did for BOTW.

But I'd rather a trailer than 20 minutes of gameplay, that might not be enough to show off the hopefully many differences from BOTW.
 
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I wonder if we get a trailer for this that mirrors the 2017 Switch Presentation trailer.

Fami, would you rather:

A 2017-sequel trailer for TOTK for infinite goosebumps and rewatch

Or

20-minute focused Direct in the style of the Xenoblade 3 Direct. Just an absolute blowout of info.
Definitely the trailer. No blowouts please.
 
I wonder if we get a trailer for this that mirrors the 2017 Switch Presentation trailer.

Fami, would you rather:

A 2017-sequel trailer for TOTK for infinite goosebumps and rewatch

Or

20-minute focused Direct in the style of the Xenoblade 3 Direct. Just an absolute blowout of info.
The tear-procuring, goosebump-inducing, final, hype-as-shit trailer, please. I want to discover the game's secrets on my own!
 
A 2017-like trailer is the better option for me.
The original Breath of the Wild is mostly focused on the player's own discoveries so a Nintendo Direct explaining some of the new subsystems in TotK is not something I would want to watch (just like I didn't watch the Xenoblade 3 direct).
I just want a more complete trailer to have a better idea of what this game is all about but otherwise, blind experience is the way.
 
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