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

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I get the feeling malice is going to shoot out of the castle at us if we try to approach it with a vehicle, even from the air. I can't imagine it's not defended, even though it doesn't look defended.
 
"Vehicles are going to be the main gimmick"

Yes if you just conveniently ignore that the actual main gimmick of the game since the start has been sky (and possibly underground) exploration which has been shown to be accessible not only with vehicles, but simply facilitated by it.

Not saying you probably won't be expected to engage with constructs to some extent but some of you make it sound like you have Nuts & Bolts war flashbacks for what seems like pretty straightforward jerry-rigging mechanics that probably won't be as complicated as some are expecting. One of the vehicles is literally just propellers taped onto a metal plate.
 
sanstea said:
This game is going after the people that want to experiment a lot and the people that want to enjoy directed content just like BotW. Not sure what is different here.
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Yeah systems driven improvisation was by far the most interesting and biggest draw of the first game. I'm not entirely sure why people expected that not to be the focus here too.
 
sanstea said:
Yeah, something along those lines is also what I expect.



This game is going after the people that want to experiment a lot and the people that want to enjoy directed content just like BotW. Not sure what is different here.
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I agree but from what I'm reading people just seem to want BotW + Twilight Princess dungeons or basically just ER with a Zelda skin, Like, I want larger dungeons too but it's clear to me that they are going after the creative self-directed approach and I think people can't come to terms with it.
 
Honestly the sky islands excite me because it feels like the true promise of what they wanted to do with Skyward Sword back in the day.

Also, I don't think there will be a dedicated direct. I still believe that Nintendo Treehouse will do a presentation to show off the flow of the game and traveling between the sky, the ground and underground.

Edit: Actually are the Treehouse presentations ever translated for other parts of the world?
 
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Awesomegames23 said:
I do think that there will be so many new features and/or gimmicks, that deciding what is the "main" gimmick when the game finally releases, will differ from person to person.
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Yeah I'm pretty sure it will be the new systems + one or two traditional dungeons + 4/5 non-traditional + sky + underground
 
I'd expect there to be something of a Direct or extended preview (because we know how much Aonuma likes to talk to the audience), followed by a blowout trailer, but I'd have my doubts that it'd detail much beyond the broad strokes of core features and changes. Probably no more than a 15 minute presentation or some such showing what you can achieve with the new mechanics, what the "goal" of the game is, and how Hyrule has changed.
 
I want at least one stable that was brought up to skies, that would be so hillarious. We are also of course getting sky village or something but I don't expect any existing village going to sky.

With that said I think that a lot of people are underestimating how big/how many sky islands will be there.
 
LukasManak22 said:
I want at least one stable that was brought up to skies, that would be so hillarious. We are also of course getting sky village or something but I don't expect any existing village going to sky.

With that said I think that a lot of people are underestimating how big/how many sky islands will be there.
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And out of desperation to stay in business, the mad Stableman crosses a cucco with a horse, and thus the Pegasus is born.
 
LukasManak22 said:
I want at least one stable that was brought up to skies, that would be so hillarious. We are also of course getting sky village or something but I don't expect any existing village going to sky.

With that said I think that a lot of people are underestimating how big/how many sky islands will be there.
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I wouldn't be shocked if all of civilization moved to the sky. I get the sense that the ground is supposed to be super dangerous, swarming with Ganondorf's minions, they've probably taken over the cities. Kinda like the state the world is in at the start of Skyward Sword.

One thing bugging me about the game structure is why do you even need a car if you can basically skydive anywhere on the ground from a sky island. And maybe the answer is ground traversal has become so dangerous that you need tons of protection if you want to get around on foot. That could explain the Nazca lines acting sorta as landmarks you can see from the sky, because otherwise why would they need to signpost areas on the ground from the sky, if you can just travel anywhere on the ground easily enough?
 
Skittzo said:
horse preacher
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Horse_fairy_13.0.jpg
 
This is the shot with Link looking out towards one of the cubes, but just above his head is a massive amount of sky islands I hadn't noticed all clustered together which is something we haven't seen so far just by sheer volume of sky islands. I want to go there now!!!!!!
sky-islands.png


I'm confident that once this game comes out, I will probably disappear from the face of the earth for at least a month. I'm going to need to invite my Mom to come visit my home every other week to take away my video games and make me go play outside for awhile :)
 
I'm surprised I have yet to see a Zelda Tuber talk about the possibility of Zelda being playable. I haven't even seen one mention yet the Switch Lite Sheikah Slate with the Lens of Truth on it.
 
Skittzo said:
I wouldn't be shocked if all of civilization moved to the sky. I get the sense that the ground is supposed to be super dangerous, swarming with Ganondorf's minions, they've probably taken over the cities. Kinda like the state the world is in at the start of Skyward Sword.

One thing bugging me about the game structure is why do you even need a car if you can basically skydive anywhere on the ground from a sky island. And maybe the answer is ground traversal has become so dangerous that you need tons of protection if you want to get around on foot. That could explain the Nazca lines acting sorta as landmarks you can see from the sky, because otherwise why would they need to signpost areas on the ground from the sky, if you can just travel anywhere on the ground easily enough?
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I believe that at the end of the trailer that's NPC? But would not be surprised if that's the case. But it would make ground Hyrule empty in my eyes.

Agree with the second part. The same is with the bird like creature from the last trailer that serves for travelling. Why is that when you can make your own? But of course own made will be hell improvised and maybe not that efficient in most cases.
 
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Irene said:
So are we ready to answer the big one?

Whatā€™s the narrative setup for the islands? They are most certainly not there in BotW. Why are they appearing all of a sudden?
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There's something up there in BotW. There's a child at one of the stables that mentions a kingdom in the sky and that only good children can see it.
 
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sanstea said:
This game is going after the people that want to experiment a lot and the people that want to enjoy directed content just like BotW. Not sure what is different here.
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... BotW had a whole world to EXPLORE. I did not care to much for the physics experimentation, like propelling mself with stasis or letting things fly. I liked it for exploration. But from the last trailer, they seem to expand the mechanical aspects more then the exploration aspects, even if we have undergroud and sky islands. That probably depends completly on a) how expansive the new areas really are, and b) how complex the implementation of the hinted mechanics really is.
Its to early to say, but even the marketing on the first one (and interviews) where more focused on the wastness of hyrule, heck, its what inspired the name.
 
Skittzo said:
I wouldn't be shocked if all of civilization moved to the sky. I get the sense that the ground is supposed to be super dangerous, swarming with Ganondorf's minions, they've probably taken over the cities. Kinda like the state the world is in at the start of Skyward Sword.

One thing bugging me about the game structure is why do you even need a car if you can basically skydive anywhere on the ground from a sky island. And maybe the answer is ground traversal has become so dangerous that you need tons of protection if you want to get around on foot. That could explain the Nazca lines acting sorta as landmarks you can see from the sky, because otherwise why would they need to signpost areas on the ground from the sky, if you can just travel anywhere on the ground easily enough?
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I'm really hoping this is the case with Hyrule being so dangerous that it keeps that level of fear and excitement you felt when you first jump off the Great Plateau for the first time and continues throughout the whole game every time you land on the surface from the sky islands above. Hopefully we don't become to OP to soon and we have to actually plan out our excursions to the surface as far as supplies, weapons etc. needed to conquer either a difficult boss or section of the map.
 
Jencks said:
I agree but from what I'm reading people just seem to want BotW + Twilight Princess dungeons or basically just ER with a Zelda skin, Like, I want larger dungeons too but it's clear to me that they are going after the creative self-directed approach and I think people can't come to terms with it.
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The biggest factor (other than expectations from past Zelda games) is the trend in open-world games since then completely being focused on combat encounters, high-end graphics and storytelling. Trends dictate what people expect as well and what Nintendo has shown mainly is completely new gameplay mechanics, which a lot of people don't care about but that has always been Nintendo's thing.

That is nothing new with Nintendo, though.

Aether said:
... BotW had a whole world to EXPLORE. I did not care to much for the physics experimentation, like propelling mself with stasis or letting things fly. I liked it for exploration. But from the last trailer, they seem to expand the mechanical aspects more then the exploration aspects, even if we have undergroud and sky islands. That probably depends completly on a) how expansive the new areas really are, and b) how complex the implementation of the hinted mechanics really is.
Its to early to say, but even the marketing on the first one (and interviews) where more focused on the wastness of hyrule, heck, its what inspired the name.
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That's not what we were talking about. The original poster said that it will only appeal to the Minecraft crowd.
 
It doesnā€˜t matter what it is called, but they still could do quite a few things ahead of launch. Like having trailer(s), Hardware announcement, DLC announcement and (Treehouse) gameplay. They will for sure show more of the game before they give up the narrative to previews or later reviews.

If they will do it all together in one event (I dare to say direct) or spread it over the next few months, I can see both scenarios being possible, but I donā€˜t see them being done with promoting the game.
 
This game will feel like the Adult Link portion of OoT on steroids. The Hyrule we knew cast in a darker light. An active and dangerous Ganondorf. Precious areas recontextualized and expanded. The races of Hyrule afflicted with disaster. And possibly - "Zelda" helping Link every step of the way.
 
Zelda will redeem what Nuts & Bolts tried to excell at. Will it ace the genre this time as well?

Maybe they made a mistake in the title and it should have really been "Gears of the Kingdom"
 
I just wonder what's in the giant funnel cloud above the Hebra region? There's definitely something in there, there's a lot of focus on it in the marketing.
 
Aether said:
... BotW had a whole world to EXPLORE. I did not care to much for the physics experimentation, like propelling mself with stasis or letting things fly. I liked it for exploration. But from the last trailer, they seem to expand the mechanical aspects more then the exploration aspects, even if we have undergroud and sky islands. That probably depends completly on a) how expansive the new areas really are, and b) how complex the implementation of the hinted mechanics really is.
Its to early to say, but even the marketing on the first one (and interviews) where more focused on the wastness of hyrule, heck, its what inspired the name.
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I mean if we go by the name of TOTK it seems like at least there is some focus on the landscape than on some mechanic similarly to BOTW.
 
lexony said:
I mean if we go by the name of TOTK it seems like at least there is some focus on the landscape than on some mechanic similarly to BOTW.
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Breath (as a wordplay on breadth), and the wild, the world.
We don't know with tears, the it could be a lore thing, the tears could be mcguffins, the tears could be the content of the viles that we use for building the gadgets, we don't know yet.
 
We'll probably have an entire new world to explore between the sky islands, the underground biomes, and some adjusted stuff on the overworld (some areas appear to be different than their BOTW counterparts, like the Great Plateau upper section no longer covered in snow). Notice how they're focusing on the overworld in the trailers instead of the million sky islands. They're hiding stuff on purpose.
 
I wish we had a Google doc equivalent on here to compile all of the great ideas and theories posted in the thread haha to compare when the game is out
 
Aether said:
Breath (as a wordplay on breadth), and the wild, the world.
We don't know with tears, the it could be a lore thing, the tears could be mcguffins, the tears could be the content of the viles that we use for building the gadgets, we don't know yet.
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I meant more the Kingdom part which should mean the world/Hyrule. The tears could be anything of course, but personally Iā€˜m assuming they are referring to the islands in the sky. Literally the Pieces/Islands of Hyrule.
 
lexony said:
I meant more the Kingdom part which should mean the world/Hyrule. The tears could be anything of course, but personally Iā€˜m assuming they are referring to the islands in the sky. Literally the Pieces/Islands of Hyrule.
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Im still not sure if those are parts of hyrule. Well see.
Everything can still be completly different, they simply haven't shown enough to come to conclusions, but thats why the marketing is so weird, it deflates the hype for some. :unsure:
 
If they wanted to make new Hyrule, they would do it. Aonuma, Fujibayashi and co. are alll well aware of reusing same Hyrule could be a huge risk. Zelda team takes criticism very seriously.
 
Awesomegames23 said:
I think we can switch from Link to Zelda at certain locations that allow us to achieve Zen or a meditative state, which is why zen garden circles are in the background of the new pieces of artwork. I believe one of these zen locations was shown in the 2nd trailer (the hut that Link phases up to near the end of the 2nd trailer).
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To add to my idea, to switch back to Link, while/if weā€™re playing as Zelda, we will need to reach a meditative or zen state with Zelda. That might be why Nintendo is playing Zeldaā€™s lullaby at the end of the 2nd and Wednesdayā€™s trailer. As Zelda, we play Zeldaā€™s lullaby to make her reach a zen state to switch back to Link.
 
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Thinking on the customization stuff more, I feel like there are going to be new NPCs who sell blue prints for specific types of vehicles. Like Nuts & Bolts, you canā€™t assume everyone is going to be good atā€”or interested at all, for that matterā€”in customizing and building their own stuff to use, so there has to be some pre-built vehicles that can be acquired so as not to frustrate and/or alienate those players.
 
Rareware said:
Thinking on the customization stuff more, I feel like there are going to be new NPCs who sell blue prints for specific types of vehicles. Like Nuts & Bolts, you canā€™t assume everyone is going to be good atā€”or interested at all, for that matterā€”in customizing and building their own stuff to use, so there has to be some pre-built vehicles that can be acquired so as not to frustrate and/or alienate those players.
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I don't think vehicles specifically are going to be that much of a gameplay focus so I don't agree with this. It seems like the method of modular construction in general is what they were going for with this, which is why you also see a flamethrower shield and bomb slinging hammer.
 
Skittzo said:
I don't think vehicles specifically are going to be that much of a gameplay focus so I don't agree with this. It seems like the method of modular construction in general is what they were going for with this, which is why you also see a flamethrower shield and bomb slinging hammer.
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Eying from a perspective of it being a core part of the game that would be required at some point, I think it would have to be. But if these vehicles are never necessary and itā€™s just another optional thing in the game for the player, then I agree that itā€™s not something the game would need.
 
One anecdote I have from my playtime with Breath of the Wild is that admittedly I did not do as many wacky physics experiments as I would've probably wanted to do, however, one of the things I vividly recall attempting to do is jerry-rigging Octo Balloons onto a raft to see if I could go airborne. I'm pretty sure it worked, if only for a minute at most before the raft flipped over.

The fact that I'll most likely be able to do that this time and actually see the reward manifest makes me feel extremely seen and validated.
 
When was the last time you actually played BOTW? I think I was playing it months ago last time, even before September trailer dropped. Not that I think the overworld would not be fresh enough but I want to go as blind as possible.
 
Aether said:
Im still not sure if those are parts of hyrule. Well see.
Everything can still be completly different, they simply haven't shown enough to come to conclusions, but thats why the marketing is so weird, it deflates the hype for some. :unsure:
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Yeah I get that. Still I think people underestimate how many islands there could be or what they could have changed in the world. Like I had the same feeling with Breath of the Wild for a long time. Until that famous January trailer, while I still thought that the gameplay looks cool, to me it seemed like that it will not be really something for me. And even after that trailer I wasnā€˜t completely convinced. The moment I got fully behind the game was when I could go off the great plateau first time playing it.

I donā€˜t know if Tears of the Kingdomā€™s marketing is the right strategy, but for the greater public it seems to work, when I look how much it is anticipated. For a fan itā€˜s painful of course.

Though I totally see that TOTK will not be as fresh of an experience as BOTW. Itā€™s impossible, even if the map was completely new. Breath of the Wild literally was a fresh breath and the start of a new kind of Nintendo (even though they maybe turned out being less "new" than we thought initially).

But I think there will be quite a few surprises. We havenā€˜t see any NPCs, very few Story Beats, nothing about Dungeons/Shrines or how the game will even be structured. Familiar landscapes they show only very briefly. What are the existing towns looking like? Are they still there? Were are the Devine Beasts? Are there any stables? Will Link and Sidon finally make their relationship public? Even simple stuff like the towers werenā€™t really shown until now. They intentionally are hiding a lot of things, like with Village gate in BOTW. For that game they didnā€˜t bother to show the blood moon, even though itā€˜s such an integral part of the game. Also they didnā€˜t talk about so much stuff, like Eventide Island, the Labyrinths, Yiga Hideout and much more. To discover those things was my main enjoyment of the game. I feel like this is still possible in TOTK.

I think that the world will play a major role in this game, I mean it has to. Likely weā€˜ll get once again all the major abilities in the first 1-3 hours.

TLDR: Maybe Iā€˜m just blind because Iā€˜m hyped, but Iā€˜m very optimistic about this game.
 
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lexony said:
Yeah I get that. Still I think people underestimate how many islands there could be or what they could have changed in the world. Like I had the same feeling with Breath of the Wild for a long time. Until that famous January trailer, while I still thought that the gameplay looks cool, to me it seemed like that it will not be really something for me. And even after that trailer I wasnā€˜t completely convinced. The moment I got fully behind the game was when I could go off the great plateau first time playing it.
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With BotW i was not worried, i have seem how much pottential there is after the first trailer and the e3 demo. after that, if they would not have shown anything, i would be 100% on board. But many where, not, true.

lexony said:
I donā€˜t know if Tears of the Kingdomā€™s marketing is the right strategy, but for the greater public it seems to work, when I look how much it is anticipated. For a fan itā€˜s painful of course.
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at the same time it does not feel like it shows much that would get people on board that are not already fans of BotW?
And if they have 0 trailers after the first one, the game would still be as anticipated, simply beause of BotW.
lexony said:
Though I totally see that TOTK will not be as fresh of an experience as BOTW. Itā€™s impossible, even if the map was completely new. Breath of the Wild literally was a fresh breath and the start of a new kind of Nintendo (even though they maybe turned out being less "new" than we thought initially).
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thats where i find it tricky. It doenst have to be AS fresh as botw (reinvent the weel), but im worried that they lean to much onto what was there and after a reinvention move on to a new zelda that feels like the most interative sequel ever. And thats something i mention as one that wanted refinement, not reinvention.
lexony said:
But I think there will be quite a few surprises. ...
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oh, i still have a lot of hope. i cant think that they dropped the ball that much.
lexony said:
I think that the world will play a major role in this game, I mean it has to. Likely weā€˜ll get once again all the major abilities in the first 1-3 hours.

TLDR: Maybe Iā€˜m just blind because Iā€˜m hyped, but Iā€˜m very optimistic about this game.
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i still have high hope, and all, i just dont think i will like all aspects of the game, and will have probably more negative criticism for some aspects compared to the first. at the same time in comfident its GotY if silksong is not better.
 
LukasManak22 said:
When was the last time you actually played BOTW? I think I was playing it months ago last time, even before September trailer dropped. Not that I think the overworld would not be fresh enough but I want to go as blind as possible.
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I havenā€™t played it in over 5 years. I definitely want to forget the map as much as possible
 
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