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

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LukasManak22 said:
Since the title have spoilers in it, you will learn the title when you buy the game in store, that's the biggest thing. As for digital purchases on the eShop the game will just be called The sequel to The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild but when you boot it up after purchasing it will show you the title in the game.
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Watch them call it BOTW 2 and I'm not even being sarcastic right now
 
I keep eating crow on Skyward Sword. It's art design, music and core gameplay are fantastic. Does it annoy me at times? Yes. Is it inspiring? Yes! Do I want a full game set in that Lanayru? Heck yeah.

Also, thinking about the yearly Zelda cadence - and if we will get a non-BotW2 Zelda this calendar year - I'm wondering how long they can keep leaning on remasters and remakes to fill out the schedule. Pretty long probably, if we make a list of Zelda games not on Switch!

Current studios regularly working on Zelda: Tantalus (Remasters), Grezzo (Remakes), EPD 3 (Mainline), KT (Musou).
 
I think it's important to remember that BotW1 and its DLCs were developed for the Wii U as the base platform, a system with a CPU on-par / weaker than the PS3/360. If BotW2 were just the 'DLC' / 'Expansion Pass 2' that some folks fear it to be, I think it also would've had to target the Wii U and would've been out already, guaranteeing sales from at least a percentage of the millions of BotW1 buyers. But if it were just DLC, it would've been limited by that platform and by scope.

Their intentions of making this a sequel, a bespoke title for the Nintendo Switch, and the complex mechanics suggested by the patents tell me they are being ambitious and even in 2019 this was never going to be a 'quick turnaround with reused assets' like Majora's Mask, which was made under different circumstances (they were basically told to make it in a year), and when the development of that game was particularly stressful for Aonuma and his team and most likely something they would've wanted to avoid.

I think it's unfair to discuss asset reuse without knowing the breadth and depth of new content, as sequels to games that share the same art style (Horizon, God of War) reuse plenty of assets because that is the smart thing to do. I'm not looking forward to people harping on reused backflip animations when we're going to end up with dozens of new architecture, weapon, and character designs. I'm not worried about the entirety of BotW1 Hyrule being in this game either, since by the very nature of this being a new campaign, the world has to be designed differently with different points of interest for the player to navigate. In BotW1 despite the open-world there was a natural progression from the Plateau to Kakariko to Zora's Domain et al. with the way the roads, outposts, shrines, enemy camps, NPCs, and Shiekah Towers are laid out to guide the player. In BotW2 I doubt you start at the plateau as an amnesiac Link, I doubt the Shiekah Towers and Shrines are still around since the threat of 'Calamity Ganon' is gone (in the true ending of BotW1, the Divine Beasts have stopped working) and now Ganondorf himself is the threat (I do still think there will be towers based on this video).

I don't think it's hard to believe that in 2019/2021 they wanted to keep their cards close to their chest. And of course, COVID threw a wrench in everything and would've impacted every step of the development process, from tooling to localization.
 
Serif said:
I think it's important to remember that BotW1 and its DLCs were developed for the Wii U as the base platform, a system with a CPU on-par / weaker than the PS3/360. If BotW2 were just the 'DLC' / 'Expansion Pass 2' that some folks fear it to be, I think it also would've had to target the Wii U and would've been out already, guaranteeing sales from at least a percentage of the millions of BotW1 buyers. But if it were just DLC, it would've been limited by that platform and by scope.

Their intentions of making this a sequel, a bespoke title for the Nintendo Switch, and the complex mechanics suggested by the patents tell me they are being ambitious and even in 2019 this was never going to be a 'quick turnaround with reused assets' like Majora's Mask, which was made under different circumstances (they were basically told to make it in a year), and when the development of that game was particularly stressful for Aonuma and his team and most likely something they would've wanted to avoid.

I think it's unfair to discuss asset reuse without knowing the breadth and depth of new content, as sequels to games that share the same art style (Horizon, God of War) reuse plenty of assets because that is the smart thing to do. I'm not looking forward to people harping on reused backflip animations when we're going to end up with dozens of new architecture, weapon, and character designs. I'm not worried about the entirety of BotW1 Hyrule being in this game either, since by the very nature of this being a new campaign, the world has to be designed differently with different points of interest for the player to navigate. In BotW1 despite the open-world there was a natural progression from the Plateau to Kakariko to Zora's Domain et al. with the way the roads, outposts, shrines, enemy camps, NPCs, and Shiekah Towers are laid out to guide the player. In BotW2 I doubt you start at the plateau as an amnesiac Link, I doubt the Shiekah Towers and Shrines are still around since the threat of 'Calamity Ganon' is gone (in the true ending of BotW1, the Divine Beasts have stopped working) and now Ganondorf himself is the threat (I do still think there will be towers based on this video).

I don't think it's hard to believe that in 2019/2021 they wanted to keep their cards close to their chest. And of course, COVID threw a wrench in everything and would've impacted every step of the development process, from tooling to localization.
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I dont think anybody here argued against that point (if that is what you are reacting to, if not -> sorry)

That would be really unrealistic if the game in the end feels like just DLC/Expansion. From a financial point of view, from an artistic (they still have hundreds of people working on it, i asume many of them have ambitions and ideas)

The bigger question is, if the additions in the sequell are big enough to overcome the feeling of familiarity the game will have.
MM was so radically different, and was so fast after OoT, that the question never came up.
But, say youre one of those that like to see in what art direction the next part will go.. then this is a hard sell.
We Did go from MM -> WW -> TP -> SS in almost as long a time in which we did go from SS -> BotW -> BotW2.

Then the world: will it be more a Hyrule ++ solution, where there will be enough new content to do that you have a full game with a lot of fun, but you never feel like you are exploring something truly fresh, and more like revisiting your old home after being away for a decade.
Or will it be a Gold/Silver situation, where the bulk is new, and then additionally, as a bonus, you have a revamped hyrule to.
(I asume somewhere in between, but everybody will have their own gradient when its enough to stand on its own)

Strictly personal stance: It will be a great full game, there will be a lot more then just the sky (i asume sea, caves, maybe paralell world in a sense),
mechanics will get expanded, komplexity added (im 95% SOME form of crafting will come), ... and it will probably be the better game.
BotW will be the purer experience, and the one with the bigger inpact.
On artstyle... there is still potential, but they will need to some heavy lifting with designs (enviromental, effects, textures), the style alone wont be enough.
 
"Welcome back to Nintendo Treehouse Live and what we've got coming up here is something a lot of people are highly anticipating, this is the world premiere of first ever live gameplay demonstration for the newest title in The Legend of Zelda series."
 
LukasManak22 said:
"Welcome back to Nintendo Treehouse Live and what we've got coming up here is something a lot of people are highly anticipating, this is the world premiere of first ever live gameplay demonstration for the newest title in The Legend of Zelda series."
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"...which we still won't tell you the title of."
 
I really do think BotW 2 was intended to be a Holiday 2020 title. Wasn't King Zell the first person to leak it? He said we'd be getting a 2D Zelda in 2019 (which ended up being Link's Awakening), and a BotW style Zelda in 2020. I don't think Nintendo would have announced the game in Summer 2019 if they didn't intend to release it until 2021+. BotW was revealed Summer 2014 and the intended release date at the time was Holiday 2015.
 
Selarmor said:
I really do think BotW 2 was intended to be a Holiday 2020 title. Wasn't King Zell the first person to leak it? He said we'd be getting a 2D Zelda in 2019 (which ended up being Link's Awakening), and a BotW style Zelda in 2020. I don't think Nintendo would have announced the game in Summer 2019 if they didn't intend to release it until 2021+. BotW was revealed Summer 2014 and the intended release date at the time was Holiday 2015.
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If I remember correctly, the BOTW style game in 2020 ended up being Age of Calamity.
 
Selarmor said:
I really do think BotW 2 was intended to be a Holiday 2020 title. Wasn't King Zell the first person to leak it? He said we'd be getting a 2D Zelda in 2019 (which ended up being Link's Awakening), and a BotW style Zelda in 2020. I don't think Nintendo would have announced the game in Summer 2019 if they didn't intend to release it until 2021+. BotW was revealed Summer 2014 and the intended release date at the time was Holiday 2015.
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It was not. 2020 Zelda game was Age of Calamity simple as that. Zell didn't leak it, he said something like "Botw fans will love 2020" but am not sure about exact wording so don't take it as fact, and if I remember correctly he then said that even he was surprised that Botw2 was announced. Botw2 couldn't ever release in 2020, this isn't Majora's Mask situation and never was.
 
LukasManak22 said:
"Welcome back to Nintendo Treehouse Live and what we've got coming up here is something a lot of people are highly anticipating, this is the world premiere of first ever live gameplay demonstration for the newest title in The Legend of Zelda series."
Click to expand...
"We're talking, of course, about the remake of The Minish Cap, please enjoy"
 
"We have decided to call Team Asano to name the next Legend of Zelda title. Here is our brand new trailer for Golden Triangles Adventure."
 
I've been thinking lately (as I always do, heh) but I've been thinking about how long the game is taking (even including covid) and scope creep etc, and how Aonuma's words "the world expands beyond that" is making people, including me, mega hype.

But what if all this extra work and Aonuma's comments refers to not an expanded overworld but, like, even more game mechanics we don't know of? Like, I remember thinking about the phasing through ground ability might be so extensive that it would require a recalibration of the entire original overworld.

Then I thought some more and realised that maybe that wasn't needed, that the programming lies in Link's movements, and the environment will conform to it naturally. But I still hung onto the thought itself: What if the overworld isn't much changed in and of itself, but the way we interact with it - THERE is where the true expansion and evolution of the game will lie. It would upend everything if we got some new abilities and gameplay elements that would recontextualise the OG overworld completely.

I struggle to think what, specifically, but the idea itself is cool to me.
 
catonkatonk said:
But they'd get rid of the gorgeous 2D graphics and replace it with lame 3D of some description.
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As much as I love 2D art, I wouldn't quite mind seeing how they'd 3Dify it, as long as they don't just copy the diorama style of Awakening.

I liked Awakening's updated style, but my only fear is that they'll decide that's the new style for all 2D Zelda going forward, like they seemed to do with all the Toon Link DS/3DS games (except obviously for LBW).
 
LukasManak22 said:
"Welcome back to Nintendo Treehouse Live and what we've got coming up here is something a lot of people are highly anticipating, this is the world premiere of first ever live gameplay demonstration for the newest title in The Legend of Zelda series."
Click to expand...
Is this a bit or real?

Ugh! I can't believe I even asked that. :ROFLMAO:
 
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chocolate_supra said:
As much as I love 2D art, I wouldn't quite mind seeing how they'd 3Dify it, as long as they don't just copy the diorama style of Awakening.

I liked Awakening's updated style, but my only fear is that they'll decide that's the new style for all 2D Zelda going forward, like they seemed to do with all the Toon Link DS/3DS games (except obviously for LBW).
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The DS games made sense as TWW follow-ups. Tri Force Heroes was the only odd one out there.

I feel confident Awakening's style will stay unique to it. We haven't seen it referenced yet in anything nearly three years later.
 
I see two competing factors at work.

On Link's sword hand, with Xenoblade and Splatoon dominating the summer, plus whatever new thing they could announce for the holiday season, I could see them wanting this direct to give focus to those things and leave Zelda until after at least the summer stuff is out the door.

On Link's shield hand, the tension regarding Zelda is so high amongst the target audience for a direct that they might be aware that if they don't show it, there is the risk that the lack of Zelda overshadows what good stuff is present.

So, it's a bit of a toss-up.
 
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I think a new trailer at the next direct is all but guaranteed at this point. Considering that just recently they were willing to share new footage alongside the delay announcement, they're clearly ready to show more about the game. I think another teaser for the third time in a row would be a majorly underwhelming, more so than the trailer from last year already was

If there's a Treehouse this year as well then they definitely wouldn't want to miss the opportunity to showcase the game now, and I think usually the September Direct is quite lowkey anyway. They rarely put huge announcements or massive gameplay reveals in them
 
Cevan said:
Considering that just recently they were willing to share new footage alongside the delay announcement, they're clearly ready to show more about the game.
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Yes exactly. They did not have to show that 3 seconds of Link holding the broken Master Sword, it was a deliberate tease to get people talking. I don't think it's the only new footage we'll get for another half year.

I don't expect this to be a blowout like E3 2016 (doesn't need to be, they have much more than Zelda this time), but it'd be great to get a title drop trailer. I think even Nintendo are tired of referring to this game as "The Sequel to BotW" when it's coming out in less than a year now.
 
Serif said:
Yes exactly. They did not have to show that 3 seconds of Link holding the broken Master Sword, it was a deliberate tease to get people talking. I don't think it's the only new footage we'll get for another half year.
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Hate to be that guy, but they could very well save it for a September direct.

But hey we'll know soon enough
 
There isn't going to be a trailer in this Direct. They are going to save for when it's closer to the release date.
 
Rubbersoul said:
Why would they have a trailer for e3 2021 but not for 2022? Especially when this is the last one before the game releases?
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The game was delayed and there's no E3.

They can drop a trailer or do a blowout anytime in September or February.

I still think the game was delayed to coincide with the new console.
 
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nintendo isn’t worried about getting botw 2 to sell, it will sell well regardless of anything. Zelda is a way for Nintendo to advertise to the core gaming market, especially true after botw. That’s why the series is so tied with e3 and game awards showings. I highly doubt that Nintendo is just going to drop a standalone trailer sometime in September
 
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Gameplay blowouts are not exclusive to E3 Treehouses.

They can do a gameplay presentation or BotW2 direct in September/February if they wanted.
 
There's no reason not to show BOTW2 at the direct. The delay doesn't mean they'll wait closer to launch to show it again.
It's going to be there.
 
joveroy said:
There is someone who supposedly working on the game shared some little detail about this game on Weibo (Chinese Twitter). She is working on 3D animation (maybe cutscenes?) from maybe one of Nintendo's contractors based in Tokyo. She joined the project back in March last year. Below is the Summary from her relevant posts. Take it with a grain of salt:
- New game plus and Link looks different(?) after you beat the game.
  • She did some roaring dragon and flying dragon animation.
  • Some animation about first time picking up the Slate (from BotW).
Click to expand...
Screen_Shot_2017_12_11_at_2.16.37_PM.jpg


if you know you know
 
joveroy said:
There is someone who supposedly working on the game shared some little detail about this game on Weibo (Chinese Twitter). She is working on 3D animation (maybe cutscenes?) from maybe one of Nintendo's contractors based in Tokyo. She joined the project back in March last year. Below is the Summary from her relevant posts. Take it with a grain of salt:
- New game plus and Link looks different(?) after you beat the game.
  • She did some roaring dragon and flying dragon animation.
  • Some animation about first time picking up the Slate (from BotW).
Click to expand...
More dragon involvement is plausible. The instrument that is used in the BotW dragon theme is the same that plays Zeldas lullaby in the last teaser. The dragons in BotW disappear into a sky portal that may very well be a passageway to the floating islands. I'd love if they were mounts of some sort.

First time picking up the slate is interesting, do they mean that they're animating that for the sequel specifically? I'd have assumed that Link's spirit arm replaces that functionality. Unless they're animating it for a different character. πŸ‘€

And of course, New game plus is exciting and I hope it's a part of the base game and not an expansion. I mean, I'm buying an expansion if it exists anyway, I just don't want to wait for it. :p

Man, I am Thirsty for literally any snippet of possible info about this game, haha.
 
Animation from first time picking up the slate could be .. Zelda finding it and picking it up.. or??
 
I am so starved for any information that even these incredibly small, vague, and potentially fake crumbs are enough to get me excited.
 
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joveroy said:
There is someone who supposedly working on the game shared some little detail about this game on Weibo (Chinese Twitter). She is working on 3D animation (maybe cutscenes?) from maybe one of Nintendo's contractors based in Tokyo. She joined the project back in March last year. Below is the Summary from her relevant posts. Take it with a grain of salt:
- New game plus and Link looks different(?) after you beat the game.
  • She did some roaring dragon and flying dragon animation.
  • Some animation about first time picking up the Slate (from BotW).
Click to expand...
Link? (Not the character)
 
Irene said:
Animation from first time picking up the slate could be .. Zelda finding it and picking it up.. or??
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That's what I'm thinking. Link doesn't have the slate in the last teaser, his new arm abilities would replace the previous runes. Zelda was the last person to have the slate in the true ending of BotW. If they are animating a new scene of someone picking it up then I would expect it to be Zelda, maybe after she is trapped underground.
 
Serif said:
That's what I'm thinking. Link doesn't have the slate in the last teaser, his new arm abilities would replace the previous runes. Zelda was the last person to have the slate in the true ending of BotW. If they are animating a new scene of someone picking it up then I would expect it to be Zelda, maybe after she is trapped underground.
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Or link finds anothere one (wasnt it implied that there where more initially? for every beast?)
Or link descends to search her and finds it? or even prior to them finding ganon link picks it up somehow (monster attack and zelda lets it slip, etc)

Maybe the reason we havent seen it is that it still has the runes, and to pace the game differently link only finds it / a tablet later in the game?


Im all for playable zelda, but dont lett yourself get hyped and dissapointed with a leak that could be fake and can be interpreted in a million ways.
Heck, maybe ganon is picking the tablet up. would be a fun twist, and an easy way to controll the tech.

manfromthedam said:
I keep eating crow on Skyward Sword. It's art design, music and core gameplay are fantastic. Does it annoy me at times? Yes. Is it inspiring? Yes! Do I want a full game set in that Lanayru? Heck yeah.

Also, thinking about the yearly Zelda cadence - and if we will get a non-BotW2 Zelda this calendar year - I'm wondering how long they can keep leaning on remasters and remakes to fill out the schedule. Pretty long probably, if we make a list of Zelda games not on Switch!

Current studios regularly working on Zelda: Tantalus (Remasters), Grezzo (Remakes), EPD 3 (Mainline), KT (Musou).
Click to expand...
Only read it now... SS is...complicated.
As you say, artdesign is strong, music is good (i personally find it to be one of the worst zelda soundtracks, but i just dont like a lot of the stilistical decisions and compositions, even if they are good), core gamplay IS fantastic (items feel good to use, combat feels good, link controlls well, the stamina gage was fun).

The artstyle, while good, just was way to... bege. (there where moments where it was not, but the sky with its kinda sandy looking clouds, the sand area, the fire area, even the forest kinda. There where not many clear whites. And the color palet just fellt dirty after a while.
Kinda like people remember the ps360 generation.

The structure...coooome on. one of the wirst zelda(likes) in structure, how you where send back and forth, and while the bosses where fun, they ... did not look good. to goofy. (Tantalus, Imprisoned, Scaldera, Bilocyte), and to many boss repetitions (Girahim, Imprisoned)

Its a game with so many good and great ideas and parts and gameplay... that fell flat for me.
Take the base, use different instrumentation for the music (tone it down slightly), tweak the color palet, slightly less goofy bosses, add more freshness to the color palet, and open the linear zick zaggy progression up, a lot.
Then it could have been one of my favorite games in the series.

Cause... i think i like the moment to moment gameplay and the dungeons (excluding bosses) way more then TP and at least on par of not better to the other 3D zeldas)
 
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Aether said:
Or link finds anothere one (wasnt it implied that there where more initially? for every beast?)
Or link descends to search her and finds it? or even prior to them finding ganon link picks it up somehow (monster attack and zelda lets it slip, etc)

Maybe the reason we havent seen it is that it still has the runes, and to pace the game differently link only finds it / a tablet later in the game?


Im all for playable zelda, but dont lett yourself get hyped and dissapointed with a leak that could be fake and can be interpreted in a million ways.
Heck, maybe ganon is picking the tablet up. would be a fun twist, and an easy way to controll the tech.
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I'm just having fun speculating. πŸ€·πŸ½β€β™‚οΈ

Zelda using the tablet != playable Zelda, anyway. Could be a support character like the champion descendants in the previous game.
 
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