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

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I personally anticipate Zelda being a participant in the story a la Skyward Sword. I'm not convinced by the idea of breaking up playable areas of the game between two characters. They're designing these specific abilities like phasing for Link to wield that would work well to seamlessly travel between the underworld and surface areas, I'm not sure how much fun it is to break up the gameplay and switch to another character. I think there are other ways to Zelda 'playable' while retaining the continuity of playing as and upgrading one character throughout the entire game.

TheMoon said:
Yea that logic never held any water. They didn't spend 6 years just making a few islands in the sky and putting horns on the same old enemies. It's just a more elaborate and prolonged version of the "OMG BOTW HAS NO TOWNS!" nonsense based on Aonuma's old and vague "reusing the same map" comment.
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Poor Aonuma, if only folks would take him at his word.
I can’t share too much about villages because to tell you how the villages work, they’re interconnected to the story and overall world.
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Schreier: What made you and the team decide to make a sequel to Breath of the Wild as opposed to a new Zelda game?

Aonuma: When we released the DLC for Breath of the Wild, we realized that this is a great way to add more elements to the same world. But when it comes down to technical things, DLC is pretty much data—you’re adding data to a preexisting title. And so when we wanted to add bigger changes, DLC is not enough, and that’s why we thought maybe a sequel would be a good fit.
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Schreier: Was this sequel originally planned as DLC?

Aonuma: Initially we were thinking of just DLC ideas, but then we had a lot of ideas and we said, “This is too many ideas, let’s just make one new game and start from scratch.”
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However, the expanded world goes beyond that...
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RE: time travel.. while I don't really consider myself the truest of fans to the idea itself, it would indeed solve why Toga Link never has the vials, while Tunic Link has them. If we do indeed play as a past Link, it would make sense for that to be a Link without vials.

Another thing, that I again don't consider myself a fan of, is that perhaps Toga Link is the look Link takes on when he enters some kind of separate realm where he undertakes isolated, Eventide Island-esque challenges, stripped of whatever ability the vials are connected to. The primitive-looking axe in Teaser 3 does look like it could be part of such a challenge.

(That, or the vials wasn't a part of the game at all in 2021, and part of the 2023 delay was that the team wanted to incorporate the vials and their gameplay features)

... Or they just have Link wear different outfits here and there to mess with theorists, haha.
 
Irene said:
RE: time travel.. while I don't really consider myself the truest of fans to the idea itself, it would indeed solve why Toga Link never has the vials, while Tunic Link has them. If we do indeed play as a past Link, it would make sense for that to be a Link without vials.
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Possible solution:
The game opens with Link waking up, in the toga, and finding himself in the sky. The footage of Toga Link is Tears of the Kingdom's Great Plateau, ie, the opening, before Link unlocks his abilities and fashion choices. He'll need the vials and the master sword to get to the ground.
 
Serif said:
Poor Aonuma, if only folks would take him at his word.
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I keep saying this :p
that's how I knew in 2013 that Skyward Sword HD would release in 2021 because he pretty much said so back then lol

but for real, a lot of this seems to come from some people just being drawn to unwarranted concerns and doom and gloom or only reading bad baity summaries of things where that gets distilled down to "will use same map" when that isn't at all what was being conveyed and why full context is always so important while also remembering that this sort of comment is usually filtered through translators back and forth and sometimes even gets mangled during editing.

but it's always the negative/worst reading of information that survives in community discourse
 
Serif said:
I personally anticipate Zelda being a participant in the story a la Skyward Sword. I'm not convinced by the idea of breaking up playable areas of the game between two characters. They're designing these specific abilities like phasing for Link to wield that would work well to seamlessly travel between the underworld and surface areas, I'm not sure how much fun it is to break up the gameplay and switch to another character. I think there are other ways to Zelda 'playable' while retaining the continuity of playing as and upgrading one character throughout the entire game.
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Zelda's "participation" in the story of Skyward Sword sucks. Hard. I might actually prefer getting nothing.

As for breaking up the game, think of it more like the Great Plateau. Initially one is underground and the other is in the sky. Once you pass the tutorial chapter, the areas become linked and you can choose to explore wherever you want with whomever you want. It's a moot point anyway since Zelda won't be playable.
 
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Seeing all of the general and game-specific threads dramatically speed up as we approach a Direct is always so exciting :)
 
I don't really feel it's a necessity that Zelda is playable imo. It'd be cool sure, but unless she actively plays substantially different than Link, than I feel like it would just end up being a pretty pointless cosmetic change. Like if you give her all the same abilities as Link, than why was it necessary to play as her to begin with? So really if they do go that route I hope she plays completely different.

Also as for Link waking up, I'm fully convinced that the game will start with Link waking up, from being knocked out, in the sky. Likely with him having no clothes but then finding the toga outfit, and we'll have to piece together how he ended up there via a sorts Great Plateau like area in the sky.
 
Hopefully Tears of the Kingdom keeps the cinematic presentation of the dungeons. The Divine Beasts are truly massive, and the whole lead up sections to get to them are my favorite sections in the game. Especially the sky Divine Beast, the scale of that was pretty impressive.
 
Link is going to have the Dr. Strangelove arm abilities and Zelda will have the Sheikah Slate abilities.
 
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ReyVGM said:
This is so true. I remember being utterly scared every time I saw a guardian. Now I can just run up to them, cut their legs off and pummel their laser-eyed head.
Same with Lynels. I thought I just needed to get more hearts or better weapons to beat them, but nope. I had a full heart bar, upgraded equipment and the most powerful weapons and Lynels still kicked the crap out of me. That's when I realized I actually had to "git gud" to beat them. It was great.

I hope TotK finds a way to recreate that.



I think you mean "moot" point?
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That’s what happens when you post at 3 in the morning you start making up your own language.:) We are so close to news about this game I can taste it!
 
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You see how much stuff they have packed on this animal? How much gear they came prepared with? No heckin' way there isnt a massive underground. You dont pack that much shit for one tiny cave.
 
Im hoping if they add underground areas(probably) they will be very expansive, and you could even just randomly end up in a dungeon or village underground. Im thinking some areas will have larger cave networks than others

For what else the "expanded world goes beyond that" means, idk. Maybe big changes in the overworld,or he means the return of dungeons? We will find out..
 
Aonuma said “the world goes beyond what we saw”. That can mean underground AND underwater. Don’t discount some kind of underwater too. Maybe we don’t go out into the sea (until BotW 3), but can do some diving in the lakes in Hyrule.

There will be lots of new exploration into things we couldn’t go into before like death mountain.
 
To add to this, not only is Hyrule Castle spewing out Malice... but also Death Mountain as well. Assuming that the Malice is all one whole coming from Ganondorf, it would have to fill a large segment of subterranean caverns considering the distance. Interesting when you start to wonder, how to clear that out for progression?
 
厄災ガノンの史家 said:
To add to this, not only is Hyrule Castle spewing out Malice... but also Death Mountain as well. Assuming that the Malice is all one whole coming from Ganondorf, it would have to fill a large segment of subterranean caverns considering the distance. Interesting when you start to wonder, how to clear that out for progression?
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Yooo I didn’t even consider this lol
 
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There's also the scene where Divine Beast Vah Rutah submerges into East Reservoir Lake and emerges west of that to take aim at Hyrule Castle, proving that there is a large underground and underwater cavern there.

Considering that the Zelda Team actually expirimented with and wanted underwater mechanics during BotW's development and seeing that unused BotW concepts are popping up left and right (and above) in TotK trailers, it's all but confirmed that underwater exploration is happening.
 
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Might be a reach but this is the original design for the Hylian towers scattered around BOTW's Hyrule. Were originally supposed to be Zonai towers. Almost like it depicts a dragon, an assumed "mascot" of the Zonai, traveling from the underground to the skies 🤔
 
karmitt said:
I’m tired of cautious optimism. It’s time to get impossibly hyped. Nintendo is holding back something fierce y’all.

Edit: Give me all the ‘formidable enemies’ and ‘many customization options’ please
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Well if the gloves are coming off as far as expectations let’s stop messing around with being satisfied with a trailer, shadow drop a playable demo available for download immediately after the direct and have it be something similar to how the Great Plateau was playable at E3 2016! You know in case any of us still need to decide if we want this game or not.jk
 
ZeldaPY said:
Well if the gloves are coming off as far as expectations let’s stop messing around with being satisfied with a trailer, shadow drop a playable demo available for download immediately after the direct and have it be something similar to how the Great Plateau was playable at E3 2016!
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Let's not stop there. BotW DLC!

The Prequel to the Sequel of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
 
Serif said:
Excited to plunge into the depths
EXg6OO0UEAMURig

EXhVIIDVAAAWt5C
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The design here is beautiful, and notably refreshing following the exhaustion of the shrine aesthetic. Please give us variety Nintendo

Spheromancer said:
nIS8sUWH9NVaSJ2oLmH1W8HIq1eFRmGsRdiUaeZI35Y.png



You see how much stuff they have packed on this animal? How much gear they came prepared with? No heckin' way there isnt a massive underground. You dont pack that much shit for one tiny cave.
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On that note, I really hope Nintendo finds ways to visualize even more equipment on Link. The green vials are an excellent start. A bit of an exaggeration of the idea, but I love the below fan art. Apologies don’t have a source.

WBo9jnR_d.webp
 
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Jencks said:
I refuse to believe they modeled that detailed-ass bridge and cave entrance for a fucking cutscene. I will not hear it. We will be able to go there.
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I'm sure we will. I don't think there's any cutscene in BotW with an area you can't visit in-game, even if the area has since been destroyed.
 
Captain Falcon said:
I’m kind of getting a heaven & hell vibe with this game, with the sky being the Sacred / Hylia’s realm and the underground being Demise’s realm.
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Same here. SS used those themes in the Ancient Cistern, and I feel like this game will be an extension of that idea.
 
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Oops, double post. Might as well use it to say:

Serif said:
Excited to plunge into the depths
EXg6OO0UEAMURig
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I love this shot, the design here is reminiscent of the Zelda 1 dungeon entrances. I hope there's more locations like it.

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Magic-Man said:
Hopefully Tears of the Kingdom keeps the cinematic presentation of the dungeons. The Divine Beasts are truly massive, and the whole lead up sections to get to them are my favorite sections in the game. Especially the sky Divine Beast, the scale of that was pretty impressive.
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I mean, in a way I agree, but a bigger part of me wants you to be able to just stumble upon these big, major dungeons. You could have NPCs alluding to them, but I want to also be able to just find them randomly in my travels.
 
Serif said:
Excited to plunge into the depths
EXg6OO0UEAMURig
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I'm not going to get my hopes up. I remember watching that last BotW trailer and seeing that massive mountain statue thinking that was DEFINITELY the entrance to a dungeon.

What a disappointment it was when the only purpose of that statue was to take a picture of it...
 
I personally don't expect Demise to ever be referenced outside of Skyward Sword. I certainly don't expect him to be significant as an actual being again.

JoRu said:
I mean, in a way I agree, but a bigger part of me wants you to be able to just stumble upon these big, major dungeons. You could have NPCs alluding to them, but I want to also be able to just find them randomly in my travels.
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I want them to do it all. Give me a new Zelda dungeon with a carefully crafted critical route, it's been so long. But also give me a big dungeon that's well-integrated into the overworld that I can enter from multiple points (sorta like Hyrule Castle, but with a significantly higher portion of it being required). Give me a dungeon that spans from the sky islands down to the underground. Hell, give me another dungeon with nonlinear progression and a central mechanic, like the divine beasts.

There's so many options. I hope they don't pick a formula and stick to it.
 
Anticipating TotK, I'm starting to understand what folks anticipating OoT or TP back in the day felt =P .

Jersh said:
I personally don't expect Demise to ever be referenced outside of Skyward Sword. I certainly don't expect him to be significant as an actual being again.


I want them to do it all. Give me a new Zelda dungeon with a carefully crafted critical route, it's been so long. But also give me a big dungeon that's well-integrated into the overworld that I can enter from multiple points (sorta like Hyrule Castle, but with a significantly higher portion of it being required). Give me a dungeon that spans from the sky islands down to the underground. Hell, give me another dungeon with nonlinear progression and a central mechanic, like the divine beasts.

There's so many options. I hope they don't pick a formula and stick to it.
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Same, I found the contrast of the Shrines (linear, bite-sized), Divine Beasts (wide linear, problem-solving) and Hyrule Castle (nonlinear gauntlet) super interesting and hope they allow themselves the room to have multiple concepts within the same game again. I adore SS' traditional dungeons, but keeping the concept of "dungeon" open and organic reduces the feeling of artificiality that sometimes creeps into Zelda.

Which reminds me that I hoped that Akkala Citadel would be a DLC dungeon. I'm wondering if it's time to shine still comes, or if what we got in AoC is it.
 
ReyVGM said:
I'm not going to get my hopes up. I remember watching that last BotW trailer and seeing that massive mountain statue thinking that was DEFINITELY the entrance to a dungeon.

What a disappointment it was when the only purpose of that statue was to take a picture of it...
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I guess the difference is that they had said there were 4 dungeons pre release for BotW and that shot of the heroine statue showed no cave entrance or anything
 
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ReyVGM said:
I'm not going to get my hopes up. I remember watching that last BotW trailer and seeing that massive mountain statue thinking that was DEFINITELY the entrance to a dungeon.

What a disappointment it was when the only purpose of that statue was to take a picture of it...
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The Zonai Ganondorf temple doesn't have to be a dungeon for me to be interested in exploring it.
 
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I'm absolutely beside myself with excitement! Like, I feel positively electric.

Story-relevant cutscenes. Aerial combat. Sick arm powers. Proper Ganondorf reveal. New characters. New weapons. Answers to what the fracking heck the cable is for.

All in a little more than 24 hours.

I can't freaking believe that we're almost there.

HYPE
 
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Please note that this thread is completely spoiler-free, and that includes tagged spoilers. If you want to discuss spoilers, we refer to the spoiler thread.
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