Spoiler The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Spoiler Thread

[SpaceGodzilla]

game good, want DLC to actually explain what the fuck is actually up with the zonai

 

[Mango]

Hyrule acting as like a loose shell over the depths makes no sense in-universe. The depths themselves feel entirely unexplained, but especially just in general having every piece of walkable land be floating over an abyss below is hard to really make sense of. Death Mountain is the worst because it now just being a hole to the depths not only contradicts it being a volcano but also contradicts how it was in BOTW.

I just don't know what they were thinking here, I would had rather have had a much more expanded sky, and more towns and dungeons on the surface rather than a mostly empty, visually bland and repetitious, underground world.

 

[SpaceGodzilla]

Hyrule acting as like a loose shell over the depths makes no sense in-universe. The depths themselves feel entirely unexplained, but especially just in general having every piece of walkable land be floating over an abyss below is hard to really make sense of. Death Mountain is the worst because it now just being a hole to the depths not only contradicts it being a volcano but also contradicts how it was in BOTW.

I just don't know what they were thinking here, I would had rather have had a much more expanded sky, and more towns and dungeons on the surface rather than a mostly empty, visually bland and repetitious, underground world.

nah, depth were cool

 

[Skittzo]

Hyrule acting as like a loose shell over the depths makes no sense in-universe. The depths themselves feel entirely unexplained, but especially just in general having every piece of walkable land be floating over an abyss below is hard to really make sense of. Death Mountain is the worst because it now just being a hole to the depths not only contradicts it being a volcano but also contradicts how it was in BOTW.

I just don't know what they were thinking here, I would had rather have had a much more expanded sky, and more towns and dungeons on the surface rather than a mostly empty, visually bland and repetitious, underground world.

Nah I don't really see an issue with it. It's so deep underground that nobody doing any typical type of digging or excavation would ever notice it. Death mountain could've had a floor which fell out from under it when the upheaval happened.

 

[Mango]

Nah I don't really see an issue with it. It's so deep underground that nobody doing any typical type of digging or excavation would ever notice it. Death mountain could've had a floor which fell out from under it when the upheaval happened.

Where was all the lava coming from then?

 

[Skittzo]

Where was all the lava coming from then?

The layer of earth between the surface and the depths I guess. You see tons of lavafalls all throughout the depths, so it's not hard to imagine them naturally pooling into the only active volcano in the region,

 

[Lugia667]

I mean it was literally stated to be where gorons originally came from hence the fire temple being their old city

 

[Mango]

The layer of earth between the surface and the depths I guess. You see tons of lavafalls all throughout the depths, so it's not hard to imagine them naturally pooling into the only active volcano in the region,

That's very hard to imagine and kinda goes back to what I saying in that it contradicts Death Mountain being a Volcano. I honestly just wish they'd have sectioned off the Death Mountain part, similar to how other parts are sectioned off, at least then it wouldn't feel so jarring from a world-building perspective, plus it would actually feel like you're exploring the inside of Death Mountain in that scenario.

 

[Skittzo]

That's very hard to imagine and kinda goes back to what I saying in that it contradicts Death Mountain being a Volcano. I honestly just wish they'd have sectioned off the Death Mountain part, similar to how other parts are sectioned off, at least then it wouldn't feel so jarring from a world-building perspective, plus it would actually feel like you're exploring the inside of Death Mountain in that scenario.

How? That's literally how volcanoes work, they are fed magma via underground pathways and then erupt once the pressure is high enough to push the lava out of the top. If the upheaval shook the earth enough to create massive fissures it's not exactly difficult to imagine one of them appearing underneath a shit ton of pooled magma after which all of that magma would fall down into the depths.

 

[Mango]

How? That's literally how volcanoes work, they are fed magma via underground pathways and then erupt once the pressure is high enough to push the lava out of the top. If the upheaval shook the earth enough to create massive fissures it's not exactly difficult to imagine one of them appearing underneath a shit ton of pooled magma after which all of that magma would fall down into the depths.

Because we have to assume the magma is being pulled from beneath the floor of the depths, from a pathway that's far away from Death Mountain itself, as there's no where in the depths where the magma could be being pulled up. It can't be being pulled up directly beneath the crater of Death Mountain otherwise everything around the Death Mountain area of the depths should have been completely covered in magma, including Gorondia. So at best we would have to assume that the magma is coming from somewhere outside of Hyrule proper, and being channeled directly to Death Mountain, which is hard to believe consider how much magma there is in BOTW.

 

[Mekanos]

Both amazed and shocked that they actually gave us a real difficult boss fight this time. The whole sequence really, up till the last part was pretty challenging.

I would say this is the most difficult Zelda game outside of the NES duology. The final boss really requires you to have a mastery of weapon combat, but the game in general has a lot of really tough enemies that will steamroll an unprepared player. I feel like enemies also take longer to kill in this game, but it's been a while since I played BOTW.

 

[Dardan Sandiego]

Anyone else using Earthwake for all the Keese and Stal enemies? lol

 

[SpaceGodzilla]

the best final boss (first 2 phases) in the franchise

 

[SpaceGodzilla]

the best final boss (first 2 phases) in the franchise

tied with demise from skyward sword

 

[SpaceGodzilla]

realy hope if they do a Zelda movie with Ganondorf as the main villain they take most of their cue from this version because of how he was presented in the final fight was anime as hell in all the right ways

 

[SpaceGodzilla]

one detal i loved is that since we know how dragons are made it you look at the three elemental Dragons that have Zonai features implying that's how mineru about the dragon process

 

[Thunder84]

The more I think about my time with the game, the less I like the Depths. Feels like they took everything that made Breath of the Wild's exploration so fun and made sure to do something different, and the end result was a lot less satisfying, at least for me.

• One thing I absolutely loved about Hyrule was the topography. It was so easy to find unique landmarks that you wanted to check out, without ever having to consult a waypoint or the map. The only time I ever had that experience in the Depths was with the big ass Bionis looking statue in Hebra. A lot more blind exploration, which is a lot of fun in the first few hours but grows old pretty quickly once the reality sets in that there just isn't much variety in the Depths when it comes to visual identity and topography.
• The rewards were also very weak, both intrinsically and extrinsically. Breath of the Wild did a great job balancing both; rewards were easily identifiable from a vantage point (shrines, stables, etc.), giving you the motivation to set out somewhere, but then the actual journey to that destination was where the fun was really at. Making a plan as to how you're gonna reach said destination, following through with that plan, and dealing with any surprises or distractions along the way made for a compelling micro adventure all by itself. Extrinsic motivation paired with intrinsic enjoyment is a killer gameplay loop, and Breath of the Wild had that in spades. Didn't really translate to the Depths though; the rewards are worse, they aren't easily identifiable without consulting a map, and you don't really ever make that aforementioned plan because, like I said before, the exploration is mostly blind. Felt like I was just stumbling from lightroot to lightroot, checking the map for any easily identifiable structures once I lit each area. Never got the same satisfaction from making my way to the next destination, just felt like I was checking boxes. And at that point, it plays like your bog standard open world game, which didn't grab me at all.
• The lack of variety in general is really disappointing. Outside of Death Mountain, everywhere looks pretty much identical, so it all blends together without ever really standing out. The common landmarks can be boiled down to lightroots, enemy camps, Yiga camps, factories, mines, and groves, and I didn't find a single one of them compelling given how similarly they always play out, and the rewards don't make up for that.
• Best part of the depths is the ability to fight the 4 main bosses again. I'll probably fight Colgera multiple times just for the hell of it.

Was also disappointed with the Sky, but that was more due to the expectations the prerelease marketing set. Outside of the Great Sky Island and the other island chains used in the main quests, most islands are essentially just open air shrines. Which is fine, they're fun to complete, but given how heavily the marketed the Sky as a defining gimmick it's hard to not be disappointed in the execution. Felt like a big missed opportunity, I would've gladly traded out the Depths in their entirety for a more compelling Sky layer.

Hyrule is definitely my favorite layer of the three, and I like pretty much all of the additions and changes they made, but it's ultimately the same map that I already spent over 150 hours exploring in Breath of the Wild. And while the new mechanics result in a completely new approach to said map, it just doesn't live up to the magic of the first game. Which is fine, I don't think they could've done anything to Hyrule in particular for it to surpass it's first iteration, it's just the reality of reusing the same map again. I just wish the two new layers had more to offer to help make up for that inevitable deficit they were gonna face, and sadly neither the Depths or the Sky made up that difference for me.

On a more minor note, I absolutely love how caves and wells change the topography of Hyrule, but they also grew stale pretty quickly. The reward for "completing" a cave is incredibly lame (Bubbul gems are even worse than Korok seeds, somehow), so unless I had a specific reason to explore a particular cave or well, I lost motivation pretty quickly, mostly due to how similar they all are. A huge improvement they could've made is different resources in each cave; I had like 80+ glowing mushrooms by the end of the game, compared to 5 or less of pretty much every other type. Just knowing that there might be a new resource for me to find would go a long way. More distinct visuals between each cave/well would've also helped a lot, but that isn't as big of a deal.

 

[LegendHero]

I've seen tons of variety in the caves and wells, there's all sorts of different climates and challenges between the different regions, some are man-made while others are naturally occurring. The brightcaps and brightbloom seeds are extremely abundant, but they do also have more area-specific resources too.

 

[AtomicZach]

There's unique dialogue if you do the four regions before you get the Paraglider (not my playthrough).

 

[Dardan Sandiego]

Yeah, I think a lot of people's disappointment with TotK stems from the fact that they were hoping for it to give them a feeling similar to what they played in BotW. All of the layers they added, however, have a very different approach to their design and consequently how the player interacts with them. I don't really agree that the rewards are necessarily worse (or better) but I can see how someone might feel that way. It's pretty understandable that some might have felt a bit shortchanged in that regard but it was also quite apparent that this was going to be case the more we saw of the game and how "not-BotW" they were trying to make it while keeping the same map.

 

[Horror Kid]

I kind of ruined part of the experience in TotK for me myself. I avoided all spoilers from the moment the game leaked but was quite invested in the speculation thread before that.
I was so sure that they would offer at least double the amount of dungeons over BotW, so I was kind of rushing the complete 'first set' of the phenomena quests (which I all loved) faster to unlock the 'next set' of story dungeons...
That was my thinking.

I even kind of convinced myself when seeing the map that there will be more than three layers...(like a city high up in the sky)

The fifth temple was nice but I expected so much more, especially in the depths. Couldn't really believe that they just did this region disaster template from BotW again and then that's about it.

lesson learned is me not too much expecting anything specific from a game in the future, going in as blind as possible and just being surprised about what is offered and not what I think should be in the game.


TotK is still a 9.5 or even 10/10 game for me (with BotW sitting above everything else, more like a 11/10) but after 50 or 60 hours I got this feeling of disappointment that I couldn't shake off for my remaining playtime until now.

 

[Mekanos]

Said it before but for me BOTW was an 8/10, enjoyed it a lot but wasn’t anything life changing. TOTK is both a 10/10 and in my top 10 games ever, replacing MM as my favorite Zelda. I have my fair share of complaints but I don’t find myself minding them as much when I boot up the game and suddenly lose hours at a time.

I think for people who played BOTW obsessively and wanted to re-experience the feeling they got playing it the first time, I could see TOTK being a bit underwhelming. On the other hand, I think if you liked BOTW but found it lacking in certain areas, there’s a good chance TOTK will scratch your itch. It’s very much a Mario Galaxy 1 vs 2 thing - for some the magic of the first game trumps all, for others the iteration and expansion on the formula makes for a better experience.

I've seen tons of variety in the caves and wells, there's all sorts of different climates and challenges between the different regions, some are man-made while others are naturally occurring. The brightcaps and brightbloom seeds are extremely abundant, but they do also have more area-specific resources too.

Yeah just today I discovered ice caves in the snow region and thought that was so cool. Desert/lava/snow regions all have unique caves which is quite nice.

 

[VegiHam]

I played botw wrong by fighting the intended experience and trying to treat it like conventional Zelda and I ended up frustrated and underwhelmed. It took going back and playing it a year later on Switch instead of WiiU with a more open mind to eventually like it.

WithTotK I went in prepared to go with the flow of the type of game it was trying to be, and I had a much better time. I actually love TotK and think it's 10/10, whereas my initial BotW experience was 7/10

 

[manfromthedam]

There's unique dialogue if you do the four regions before you get the Paraglider (not my playthrough).

In general the amount of dialogue checks and incidental dialogue in this game is crazy! Bring Yunobo to Bludo after you cure the former, but before fixing the Gorons - Bludo acknowledges it. Freeing Lurelin and talking to a Lurelin refugee elsewhere - dialogue. Already have the Master Sword? Fifth Sage found before going to Hyrule Castle? It's cold, hot, raining?

I love how bonkers they went - it makes the player feel seen in a great way.

 

[Jersh]

There's unique dialogue if you do the four regions before you get the Paraglider (not my playthrough).

Man, I do  not want to imagine doing Hebra without the glider

 

[Lugia667]

Maybe people need to realize the "BOTW experinece" may just be a one game thing? I feel like it's unfair to TOTK or any other game for that matter to expect it every single time? It's the new "This is the Super Mario 64 of X"

 

[WestEgg]

Man, I do  not want to imagine doing Hebra without the glider

I have no idea how you even could. The climb to the Wind Temple seems impossible otherwise.

 

[LegendHero]

I find it's easier to enjoy each game on it's own merits instead of wishing it chased the same impression as a previous one.

 

[KilgoreWolfe]

I have no idea how you even could. The climb to the Wind Temple seems impossible otherwise.

Yeah, and how would you be able to land in the depths under Death Mountain for that matter?

I'd love to see videos of someone doing it.

 

[Thunder84]

Maybe people need to realize the "BOTW experinece" may just be a one game thing? I feel like it's unfair to TOTK or any other game for that matter to expect it every single time? It's the new "This is the Super Mario 64 of X"

I find it's easier to enjoy each game on its own merits instead of wishing it chased the same impression as a previous one.

I agree with this sentiment, but that doesn’t mean the two can’t be compared. I prefer Breath of the Wild, analyzing the differences between the two doesn’t mean I want Tears of the Kingdom to be a Breath if the Wild clone too. It’s just a good way to highlight the changes they made, and why I think those changes ultimately resulted in a worse experience overall for me. Still a great one, but a worse one nonetheless.

If we’re using the Super Mario 64 example, then I’d argue that strengthens my point even more. Comparing the differences between Sunshine and 64 make for a pretty clear picture as to why people may like/dislike it more. Same with Odyssey. Analyzing the changes between a game and its sequel doesn’t mean the sequel is held to an inherent standard or anything.

I've seen tons of variety in the caves and wells, there's all sorts of different climates and challenges between the different regions, some are man-made while others are naturally occurring. The brightcaps and brightbloom seeds are extremely abundant, but they do also have more area-specific resources too.

Maybe I just looked in the wrong area? Felt like i hit well over 100 caves, and very few did much to differentiate themselves in terms of resources or visuals. There were a couple cool Gerudo caves, but that was about it.

 

[LegendHero]

I agree with this sentiment, but that doesn’t mean the two can’t be compared. I prefer Breath of the Wild, analyzing the differences between the two doesn’t mean I want Tears of the Kingdom to be a Breath if the Wild clone too. It’s just a good way to highlight the changes they made, and why I think those changes ultimately resulted in a worse experience overall for me. Still a great one, but a worse one nonetheless.

If we’re using the Super Mario 64 example, then I’d argue that strengthens my point even more. Comparing the differences between Sunshine and 64 make for a pretty clear picture as to why people may like/dislike it more. Same with Odyssey. Analyzing the changes between a game and its sequel doesn’t mean the sequel is held to an inherent standard or anything.


Maybe I just looked in the wrong area? Felt like i hit well over 100 caves, and very few did much to differentiate themselves in terms of resources or visuals. There were a couple cool Gerudo caves, but that was about it.

I didn't specifically mean you, I was speaking more generally about those kinds of expectations. Even before the game came out people were saying stuff like "this game should feel like Majora's Mask" and I'm just not sure that's the best way to engage with stuff. You're right that the Depths approaches exploration somewhat differently than Breath of the Wild's Hyrule. Personally I wouldn't have wanted the Depths to be exactly like the surface, but I can see how one might want it to be closer.

I don't really know what to say about the caves, though, clearly you explored a lot of them but the ones I've seen usually match the area in which they're found (cold, icy caves in Hebra, lava or hot springs in Eldin, etc.) The more temperate areas like Hyrule Field and Hyrule Ridge have some similarities between one another, but even then I'll walk into one and find buried structures from different eras of Hyrule, like a Zonai ruin or a more modern, "100 years ago" type of structure, some of them are Yiga bases and have the accompanying aesthetic, the Eldin caves have fireproof lizards while the Hebra ones have Chillfin Trout and Chillshrooms, etc. I went into one in Necluda that filled out most of the mountain it was in and gave you materials to make a tank and drive around taking out Bokoblin bases inside and eventually led out into the springs in Faron, and another that was a canal between Lanayru and Necluda that you could pilot a boat in. They can't all be completely distinct in every way, but I've personally been very impressed by how bespoke a lot of them seem to be.

 

[Stilt Village]

With all of the arguments about whether Tears of the Kingdom is Majora's Mask or Galaxy 2, I have realized it's neither: it's A Link Between Worlds.

A remixed version of the same overworld but with way more stuff in it and all interior areas replaced, new dark world map connected to the overworld by rifts at specific points, heavily reliant on the music and aesthetics of its predecessor...

 

[Mekanos]

I played botw wrong by fighting the intended experience and trying to treat it like conventional Zelda and I ended up frustrated and underwhelmed. It took going back and playing it a year later on Switch instead of WiiU with a more open mind to eventually like it.

WithTotK I went in prepared to go with the flow of the type of game it was trying to be, and I had a much better time. I actually love TotK and think it's 10/10, whereas my initial BotW experience was 7/10

I would definitely like to replay BOTW for that reason. I really enjoyed the game but I felt I spent a lot of time adjusting to the new style, whereas with TOTK I knew what I was getting.

With all of the arguments about whether Tears of the Kingdom is Majora's Mask or Galaxy 2, I have realized it's neither: it's A Link Between Worlds.

A remixed version of the same overworld but with way more stuff in it and all interior areas replaced, new dark world map connected to the overworld by rifts at specific points, heavily reliant on the music and aesthetics of its predecessor...

Actually it’s Pokémon Black/White 2

 

[VegiHam]

I would definitely like to replay BOTW for that reason. I really enjoyed the game but I felt I spent a lot of time adjusting to the new style, whereas with TOTK I knew what I was getting.

Yeah, you get it! I actually did replay BotW a couple of years back with the adjusted mindset, and had a great time; so if you ever feel like doing it I'd recommend it!

 

[AtomicZach]

Man, I do  not want to imagine doing Hebra without the glider

I have no idea how you even could. The climb to the Wind Temple seems impossible otherwise.

Yeah, and how would you be able to land in the depths under Death Mountain for that matter?

I'd love to see videos of someone doing it.

According to the guy, he just used Zonai devices to hop from place to place.

 

[KilgoreWolfe]

According to the guy, he just used Zonai devices to hop from place to place.

Ah yeah, that makes sense, especially since you can get the parts for a hoverbike from the gacha near Tarry Town.

 

[slide's]

finished the game today. loved it to bits—my early impression that it improved on BOTW in every way held true all the way through that lovely finale. not expecting to stop playing anytime soon.

that said, I think my single biggest disappointment with this game is the lack of information about the Depths. I'm not much of a lore fanatic in pretty much any game and I'll almost always prefer things left more mysterious rather than overexplained, but the early hours of this game after arriving in Hyrule have such a delightful theme of archaeology and research and exploration, particularly in regards to the Depths, that is unceremoniously dropped as soon as you run into Master Kohga for this first time. from there, all the real Depths quests are relegated from "main quest" to "side adventure", and once you finish the Kohga quest chain, none of these researchers show literally any more interest in finding anything else down there lol. the diaries from the Yiga Clan are the closest you get to more information, and most of them are really just gameplay hints.

that area is probably my favorite single addition to the game. I love the darkness, the strange aquatic design, the haze in the ceiling, the stomach-dropping descent through a chasm, following the chains of statues, and more than anything, I think the mirror-image-of-Hyrule terrain is a truly inspired bit of design. if I could see anything besides a new landmass (which is not happening lol) from DLC for this game, it'd be some more Depths archaeologizing.

and if anyone knows of any interesting sidequests I might've missed that do something interesting with the Depths, I'd love to hear about it!

 

[BassForever]

All shrines done, all light roots activated

Guess I'll be winding down soon. Will try and complete all the side adventures though I have no interest in doing all the side quests or finding all the Korok seeds.

 

[Lugia667]

that moment was Ganon starts using Flurry rushes AGAINST YOU

 

[Rareware]

Just finished my 141st Shrine. Currently at 160 hours played. This game has a ridiculous amount of content and I love it!

 

[Vaenyr]

(Warning, incoming negativity and ranting)

The more I play this game, the more I come to the realization that I'm liking it even less than BOTW and I already wasn't a fan of the latter. Unfortunately those games don't seem to align with my tastes, at all.

The story in TOTK is a bit more emphasized, which was one of my biggest issues with BOTW. They mostly copied the memory system and this time it's even worse, because the player doesn't know the outcome from the get go and I've heard of plenty of folks who found the last memory as their second or third, ruining any suspense. I get that the memories are tied to locations (in BOTW) and the geoglyphs (in TOTK) but in my opinion it would've been better if the cutscenes would play out in the intended order, regardless of where you found them.

Dungeons are the number one reason why I adore this franchise and why it's my favorite. I'm a sucker for lock-and-key designs, which is why TP, SS and OOT are the pinnacle of the series for me, with ALBW being the best on the 2D side. The Divine Beasts were fun for what they were, but had obvious issues like their visual similarity, their reused bosses, or the (in my eyes) quite simple "find 5 terminals" design. TOTK improved a lot on some of those issues. The Temples feature unique music (just like the Divine Beasts did), but also finally unique visual identities and atmospheres as well as unique bosses that feel closer to traditional ones, compared to the blights. As far as these are concerned I'm quite happy.
Unfortunately on the design front some of them are even simpler than the Divine Beasts. The Water and Wind Temples especially feature some of the simplest puzzles in the franchise's history. I know that the older dungeons aren't necessarily difficult or complex, but one of the terminals requiring a single puzzle, namely fusing an icicle (or something from your inventory) to a crank, to access the terminal was an immense disappointment for me.

Then we have the Sage's powers and the lead-ups to the dungeons. I've heard people raving on and on about those, but I didn't like any of them. People seem to adore the one for the Wind Temple, but for me it was just as boring and uneventful as the general exploring up to that point. The fact that we get a companion with a unique ability for each Temple made me hopeful that we'd get some more elaborate puzzles, but no, they are simply glorified keys for the terminals and are hardly used in the dungeons. The general idea of having them as avatars that fight with you is brilliant, but the implementation is aggravating. They seem to never be where you need them, with Tulin being always there when you don't want to activate him, while others like Sidon feels as if they are running away from you. The Champion's abilities were a logical extension and were activated in a way that made sense with the button layout. The Sage's abilities on the other hand are frustrating as hell.
Then we come to the exploration, something I didn't enjoy in BOTW, which got even worse this time around. Exploration for exploration's sake is mind-numbingly boring. The game has a great artstyle and interesting locations, but after a few hours it was simply annoying to climb a hill or a mountain only to find a korok at best, or my 10th frost blade or something. TOTK took all of this and quadrupled down on it. First of all, the overworld. It's changed a lot, but not enough to feel fresh. In BOTW I had a brand new iteration of Hyrule to explore, so even if I wasn't enjoying the gameplay loop as much, I still had a sense of wonder and mystery. That's gone now. I know how this world looks and what is where. In TOTK it's basically "let's look what has changed in that place, if something changed at all". Then you have the sky islands, with the most substantial being the tutorial island. There are also a lot of copy/pasted ones, which makes this feel even worse. And of course there are the Depths. While a cool idea, they are tedium personified. The least they should've done was offer different biomes and visual differences. I get that they are optional, but that doesn't make them a great location either.

All of this, coupled with the durability system that I already hated and the Fuse system doubling down on that front, and a combat system that's rather weak in my opinion, leaves me unsatisfied. I know what the game wants me to do and what it's trying to tell me, but it's simply not connecting, it's not succeeding on that front. None of the reasons it's trying to give me to go explore are landing with me. Some shrines having a couple of clever puzzles is the basic motivation to find them all and see how many I'll enjoy. While both games have fantastic soundtracks, I'm simply not a fan of the way they're presented in the games. I've had enough of the goofy and wacky battle themes, of the very ambient (and re-used) exloration themes, the Hebra region being one of the worst offenders in that regard. One of the few OSTs where for me it works better listening to them outside of the game context, than listening to them during gameplay.

It might sound as if I'm having a miserable experience and hating everything, which isn't true. There are moments of fun. It's just that there are also disappointments at basically every step of the way. TOTK is a great game and a programming marvel. Seriously, as much as I dislike Ultrahand, from an implementation point of view it's insane what they undertook and successfully created in this game, especially if you consider the different interlocking systems and how well everything works. Unfortunately I couldn't care less for the sandbox elements. I'm glad that people are loving these games and the sales speak for themselves. I'll have to move on to something else, that can offer me a more curated experience, because I'm of the firm believe that there can be too much freedom and that freedom for the player isn't an inherently positive trait. I'll finish up the shrines I have left and gather some more koroks until Final Fantasy XVI arrives. I just wish that we'd get another 2D entry, since it's unlikely that we'd get a OOT-style 3D Zelda. Anyway, just had to gather my thoughts, put them in one place and vent for a bit.

 

[carlosfilho]

Finished the game two hours ago. This Ganondorf fight was probably the best ever. By the time i got to "phase 2, part 2" of the fight, i was getting really frustrated... man, i had to come all the way down here, seeing this gloom and these hordes of enemies gobbling up all of my hearts, and food, and now this thing is eating my hearts permanently? Then i found out how to defeat him more easily, Phantom Ganon style, it took a couple more tries but in the end, it felt really good. And Hot Ganon, as i usually call him, is very charismatic. Great job by Matt Mercer.

Loved the ending, the last skydiving scene, the post-credits scene with Mineru, though i think it ultimately lacked the weight of BOTW's ending. The game has a great story, but dialogue should've been a lot better to take full advantage of it.

Except for a few things, this game is a step up over BOTW. It's even more ambitious, could've been better in some of the new aspects it brought (like the whole companions use, and the Depths should've been wholly interconnected imo)... but i'm definitely a Zelda fan who enjoys the most ambitious, boldest and inovative entries, and even as a sequel, this one did hit the target.

 

[Lugia667]

it does seem like the people who have the most issues with this game are mostly the same people who were concerned about the game pre-launch

 

[balgajo]

What the fuck

I have been reading spoiler impressions

Why did no one tell me how fucking awesome the Skyrule Castle part was

It was essentially a combat dungeon, constant lightning storm, amazing and changing music. And holy shit at that epic mid-game show of force from Ganondorf. His giant spirit appearing and all the sages coming to help was awesome. BotW had nothing like this mid game story-check.

You mean the visit after finishing the dungeons? Isn’t it near end? After that appeared a mission to go after Ganondorf. And I finished the game.

If that’s the section I don’t remember it being like this. Probably I optimized the fun out of the game by looking for a higher point and going directly near the place where evil Zelda was located.

Hyrule acting as like a loose shell over the depths makes no sense in-universe. The depths themselves feel entirely unexplained, but especially just in general having every piece of walkable land be floating over an abyss below is hard to really make sense of. Death Mountain is the worst because it now just being a hole to the depths not only contradicts it being a volcano but also contradicts how it was in BOTW.

I just don't know what they were thinking here, I would had rather have had a much more expanded sky, and more towns and dungeons on the surface rather than a mostly empty, visually bland and repetitious, underground world.

Yep, an expanded sky would be great. In the end SS sky was much better than this one imo.
They went for repetitive shrines quests puzzles(BOTW shrines quests leagues ahead) when my expectations about sky were more lore, civilizations and the patented aerial combat. The only cool place I found was a furnace and some skydiving islands.

I couldn’t also turn off my brain about the depths geography. In a Mario game I would be totally fine with it but usually the Zelda hook doesn’t let me to turn my brain off.

 

[JR436]

Gotta say, I think Mercer plays Ganondorf pretty well. Loved how he taunted Rauru after getting the secret stone and transforming.

Folks elsewhere can miss me with the hyperbole surrounding the dub - it's so collectively middle of the road that it doesn't deserve it.

 

[Thunder84]

You mean the visit after finishing the dungeons? Isn’t it near end? After that appeared a mission to go after Ganondorf. And I finished the game.

If that’s the section I don’t remember it being like this. Probably I optimized the fun out of the game by looking for a higher point and going directly near the place where evil Zelda was located.

It’s mid-game. There’s two more significant campaign missions afterwards (Spirit Temple, Master Sword) that come before the Ganondorf showdown.

 

[balgajo]

It’s mid-game. There’s two more significant campaign missions afterwards (Spirit Temple, Master Sword) that come before the Ganondorf showdown.

Oh, I thought it was part of the ending sequence. I know that I got spirit tear early(it was my third, stumbled upon the quest exploring) and I got master sword after my first tear, after I saw all memories.

Now that I think about it makes sense as Purah mentioning those things after I got back from Hyrule Castle.

 

[YOGUIOSO]

Hyrule acting as like a loose shell over the depths makes no sense in-universe. The depths themselves feel entirely unexplained, but especially just in general having every piece of walkable land be floating over an abyss below is hard to really make sense of. Death Mountain is the worst because it now just being a hole to the depths not only contradicts it being a volcano but also contradicts how it was in BOTW.

I just don't know what they were thinking here, I would had rather have had a much more expanded sky, and more towns and dungeons on the surface rather than a mostly empty, visually bland and repetitious, underground world.

you are crying all day in like 5 different forums smh

 

[Mango]

you are crying all day in like 5 different forums smh

Uh...wut? I've just expressed my dissatisfaction with certain elements. I decided to post this post here in this thread because my grievance isn't lore based. If you don't like it, there's plenty of options you can take to avoid it, namely not reading my posts or actively responding to them.

You mean the visit after finishing the dungeons? Isn’t it near end? After that appeared a mission to go after Ganondorf. And I finished the game.

If that’s the section I don’t remember it being like this. Probably I optimized the fun out of the game by looking for a higher point and going directly near the place where evil Zelda was located.


Yep, an expanded sky would be great. In the end SS sky was much better than this one imo.
They went for repetitive shrines quests puzzles(BOTW shrines quests leagues ahead) when my expectations about sky were more lore, civilizations and the patented aerial combat. The only cool place I found was a furnace and some skydiving islands.

I couldn’t also turn off my brain about the depths geography. In a Mario game I would be totally fine with it but usually the Zelda hook doesn’t let me to turn my brain off.

I mean I think they just really wanted that Dark World parallel to ALttP, so they felt they had to include the depths, but personally, like you said, I'd would have rather have had a much more expanded sky perhaps with multiple layers. I got super excited when

Spoiler: Master Sword spoilers just in case

Link pulled the Master Sword out of the light dragon and there was that brief moment where he's looking around all surprised

as I thought I had just unlocked a new layer of the sky...but instead it just kinda is a thing that happens. Also the bow combat in the sky is weird, I don't understand why they implemented such a intricate system when you literally never use it.

Also they could have still had the geography be largely similar but still somewhat realistic. The depths are just overall a strange inclusion that I just don't understand.

 

[Thunder84]

you are crying all day in like 5 different forums smh

Don’t be like this. People aren’t obligated to show nothing but positivity.