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StarTopic The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom |ST| Linkin' Parts (Please Tag All Spoilers)

Reader mode
It's amazing how Nintendo has kept this series consistently incredible and fresh for so long.

I'm always left wondering how they'll top the last game, and they always somehow pull it off!
 
3 quick thoughts:

  • The OST was created by the goddess herself
  • The voice acting is a vast improvement over BotW’s
  • I cannot fathom someone playing this game without having played BoTW. Playing the predecessor is absolutely essential to get the full experience TotK offers imo

Other than that, this is the best game released since March 3rd, 2017.
 
So far for shrines and puzzles this has been my experience:
"ok lets see, 3 plates, one fan, a stick..."
  • Proceed to try 20 different complex solutions and failed, and die in some of them
  • My nephew: "uncle, just put the fan under on plate" > It works
 
The level design on display here is SO fun my god. The perfect mix of skyward sword brain teasing and botw openness. This game is stimulating in a way botw wasn’t (and didn’t need to be for its unique approach) and I adore it.
 
Shrines are still so addicting. I'm trying to focus on the story and get sidetracked every time I see one in the distance
 
Skittzo said:
You could also just try to land in water.

And then miss by inches. Which is hilarious
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If the landscape recorded everywhere I impacted at full speed a matter of inches from a body of water, my map would be a pattern of craters on the shore of every major lake
 
First thoughts as I'm still in the opening area, after just discovering the use of
capsules and the forge.
Maybe a little over two and half hours of play, maybe three?

1. They made Zelda games hard and complicated and weird again! Hell yes!

2. Media blackout over- I knew nothing about how the abilities worked, and I've found the first two- it's all just so wild. The improvement to how arrows work is my favorite part so far, hahaha.

3. The aged mystical technological society vibe of the opening area is exactly my vibe, it's so cool to see new and fresh and exciting designs again.
 
Just watching all of the tiktoks, it's amazing how people solved things(involving ultrahand) in the tutorial area. Nobody is doing the same thing. This is the stuff that helps the virality of this game, as if it needs word of mouth help. I've seen 4 different ways to get across the broken minecart railing. Meanwhile, I just walked across it like a tightrope lmao.


bellydrum said:
Completely disagree with calling something "bad level design" the moment a problem becomes hard to solve. That's a terrible way of thinking.

First of all, my partner, my friend, and I all came up with three separate ways of approaching the third shrine. You have the tools, you just need the creativity. That's the test. It was designed exactly the way it was on purpose.

For one, just.... stick some logs together to make a ladder to climb up the ice wall. That alone is an extremely simple solution.

Secondly, you don't need to walk all the way back to the Temple of Time because, just like with the previous two shrines, as soon as you exit there is an obviously telegraphed place where you can use your new ability. Ascend up the wooden platform next to the shrine to fine a Wing that you can use to fly back to the shrine in less than a minute.

I don't understand why people immediately jump to criticizing a games "level design", as if not only this game wasn't in development for six years, but also as if they'd just randomly half-ass a whole section of the tutorial island.
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If this is the place I'm thinking of, I just climbed up the tree roots haha. I was confused for like a couple minutes but then remembered the roots.
 
If there is one thing I want to praise is the combat, I'm constantly thinking how to defend and survive, it's like a puzzle somehow.

It helps that these enemies are no joke because they're on crack, one slip up and who knows what will happen lol.
 
Ozzie said:
If there is one thing I want to praise is the combat, I'm constantly thinking how to defend and survive, it's like a puzzle somehow.

It helps that these enemies are no joke because they're on crack, one slip up and who knows what will happen lol.
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That's how I felt running into my first Battle Talus. It felt good figuring out how to beat it.
theguy said:
also is it just me or do the shrines require way more thought to complete than the ones in botw?
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Yes. BoTW shrines became so monotonous because so many were simple.
 
There are so many videos these days where Koroks are sent into space or thrown into the depths.

I wonder: if that happens, do those Koroks respawn back in place, or are they lost forever?
 
If I can balance out my positives, the material d-pad menu is really inelegant and I’m a little surprised this made it into the final game. Sorting during fusing makes things a little easier and it’s nothing to detract from the experience but it is cumbersome for sure. even after I sorted everything, I couldn’t find a pine cone to throw because it was at the end by the wood for some reason.

theguy said:
also is it just me or do the shrines require way more thought to complete than the ones in botw?
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Yo seconded. I’ve done like 15 of them so far and I’ve gotten genuinely stumped by a bunch.
 
I love how different my view of how Ultrahand works is from before release until now:

Before: "Ultrahand is just gonna be some Banjo Nuts & Bolts stuff. You'll probably just build a car or plane here and there and that'll be it."

After (Not really a big spoiler): "Ultrahand is that, but it’s also Nintendo's way of introducing a bunch of new items to solve a huge variety of puzzles with. Items that whole-ass dungeons would have been focused around in previous games.”

I’ve learnt my lesson not to underestimate Zelda.
 
I completed 14 shrines and only explored central Hyrule and Kakarico village lol. I did a lot of caves too. This game is absolutely huge. I have to continue the main quest now. Heading to the Rito village, my favorite!
 
ermitron2 said:
So far for shrines and puzzles this has been my experience:
"ok lets see, 3 plates, one fan, a stick..."
  • Proceed to try 20 different complex solutions and failed, and die in some of them
  • My nephew: "uncle, just put the fan under on plate" > It works
Click to expand...
Yep.

Sometimes the most obvious solution to shire is a difficult one. Then I look around a bit, find out that metal plate on the wall actually pickable, pick that, make a bridge and get on with it. So many "can it really be" moments.
 
So when people were hyping us after the game lead saying it was out of this world and we were not prepared they were probably talking about the depths, right? At this point I already expected it because everyone is so amazed, but two months ago I wouldn't dare to believe the game almost tripled BotW's map by adding two new layers to it.
 
9-Volt said:
Yep.

Sometimes the most obvious solution to shire is a difficult one. Then I look around a bit, find out that metal plate on the wall actually pickable, pick that, make a bridge and get on with it. So many "can it really be" moments.
Click to expand...

This sometimes is like "obviously its NOT that marking in the wall, that would be too simple and they don't want to insult the players intelligence"
Nintendo looking at the streams:
kDjoxzA.gif
 
Does it make anyone else sad when you talk to a character from the first game and they act like they’ve never met Link? Link seemingly having never met Hestu in BotW really bothers me.
 
Just got to the bottom of a chasm.
uh... Are the depths what I think they are? It spreads across the entire Hyrule??
Is it worth exploring down here? Is it obvious where the cool stuff is if so? I mean there's not like, a village or a dungeon down here... Right???
Also I note that the two roots I activated on the way to Robbie were both under shrines that I had activated above ground. Do you have to activate the shrine above to activate the root below?
 
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Great Sky Island complete! I took my sweet time exploring, and have unfortunately been pulled away from the game a ton due to life already lol.


I was worried that my love for the level design would fade in the final third wrt what I’d read here about the snow section, but it was honestly to me the perfect blend of tradition botw level design and the more crafted experience on display here. I could see how it might be a turn off to someone who didn’t play botw, but I felt the lessons required were telegraphed well through the constructs (cooking) and environment tutorial pop ups (slippery walls). I found three different ways to the top after exploring around.
 
0
Anyone find this game (just like botw) incredibly zen? The specific green colour they use for grass, the overall pastel like color scheme, the lack of music, everything is so relaxing. I can't wait to visit Rutile lake, my all time favourite videogame place.
 
catonkatonk said:
Just got to the bottom of a chasm.
uh... Are the depths what I think they are? It spreads across the entire Hyrule??
Is it worth exploring down here? Is it obvious where the cool stuff is if so? I mean there's not like, a village or a dungeon down here... Right???
Also I note that the two roots I activated on the way to Robbie were both under shrines that I had activated above ground. Do you have to activate the shrine above to activate the root below?
Click to expand...
There's stuff down there. Look for treasure maps. The roots are in the same locations, but you don't have to do the shrine above.
 
Currently not playing and I'm still jumping with excitement after completing the Camera Quest.

Chasms/depths, holy shit, everything is dark, full of spooks,horrors and mysteries. Can't wait to explore every inch!
 
A few hours in and just been going to towers, hitting shrines to add to my map to do at a later time and just finding quests/buying clothes so I can go through more terrains.

Honestly I hate gluing things together constantly to solve puzzles. It's so boring, clunky to work with and I feel half the challenge is maintaining interest in the game when I have to spend a couple minutes building things. And the fact that Hyrule and Shrines are LITTERED with challenges requiring gluing things together and making crafts bugs me. It's so god damn boring, I wish they let us decide to make things or come up with ideas to run with rather then make a billion different craft challenges.

Fusing is a ton of fun, is there a way to fuse in just the menu though? I hate having to drop items and then fusing them with my sword/shield. Did I miss something.

The time rewind feels like a better time stop at times in terms of traversal, but damn do I miss freezing something and stacking hits then launching boulders or my attacks walloping a enemy all at once.

Not giving you the Paraglider before you leave Tutorial Island is the dumbest and worst game design decision in the game. Whoever decided on this deserves a wallop to their jelly. Honestly I'd take 10 points out of a perfect 100 score just for this.

The ascend ability just feels lame, its super limited, it's visually cool but I thought this ability was going to allow us to swim up to the sky with ease. I just rather have something else here at times. It has it's uses, but it feels artificial. I'd much rather have a Hookshot, it might be more limited, but god damn would it had been more fun in this game.

Anyone else notice enemies hit damn harder this time around? It feels like I'm dying far more from enemies early on then I did in BOTW.

Honestly this game was just made harder and that's fine. But it feels like Nintendo went out of their way to make things artificially longer and more contrived, Link has seemingly unlimited potential with his new toolkit but it feels like they took a hard look at BOTW and ask themselves "Let's take away all the convenience and things that make the game accessible. If we do keep it in, lock it behind a questline or make it stupidly hard to get where once your the expected skill level to take it on you don't need it anymore."

I wish I could say I had a more positive experience, but there's just so many small to medium game design decisions here that are rubbing me wrong so many different ways. And even once I get farther in the game where these problems persist less, I honestly don't know if that will change my perception of the game. I still like the first game more and honestly, I might just go back to it.
 
catonkatonk said:
Just got to the bottom of a chasm.
uh... Are the depths what I think they are? It spreads across the entire Hyrule??
Is it worth exploring down here? Is it obvious where the cool stuff is if so? I mean there's not like, a village or a dungeon down here... Right???
Also I note that the two roots I activated on the way to Robbie were both under shrines that I had activated above ground. Do you have to activate the shrine above to activate the root below?
Click to expand...
Yes it’s worth it. I spent like 3 hours there before I did much of anything on the surface. It’s so so cool.

there are certain parts that are sectioned off, but your best bet is to utilize surface landmarks to decide where to go. The Depths will drain your resources quickly, so just be careful. You may also be better off going down there after you talk to Robbie at Lookout Landing. Starting a quest with him will give you some stuff when you get down there.
 
Christo750 said:
Yes it’s worth it. I spent like 3 hours there before I did much of anything on the surface. It’s so so cool.

there are certain parts that are sectioned off, but your best bet is to utilize surface landmarks to decide where to go. The Depths will drain your resources quickly, so just be careful. You may also be better off going down there after you talk to Robbie at Lookout Landing. Starting a quest with him will give you some stuff when you get down there.
Click to expand...
Do you mean AFTER you take the picture? Does he go back to Lookout Landing and I should speak to him again? Because I came down here after speaking to him, in order to take the picture.

I'm still in shock about this place. I can't believe it is what it appears to be. Wow.
 
First thing I did after getting the paraglider was

jump down into a chasm

I ended up staying for hours. Such an amazing addition.
 
This game really was like “hey remember all those cool ideas we had in Skyward Sword but didn’t always work very well due to hardware/control issues? Now they do.”
 
catonkatonk said:
Do you mean AFTER you take the picture? Does he go back to Lookout Landing and I should speak to him again? Because I came down here after speaking to him, in order to take the picture.

I'm still in shock about this place. I can't believe it is what it appears to be. Wow.
Click to expand...

Oh no that’s what I was talking about.

And it is what it appears to be.
 
ArchedThunder said:
Does it make anyone else sad when you talk to a character from the first game and they act like they’ve never met Link? Link seemingly having never met Hestu in BotW really bothers me.
Click to expand...

This specific instance did bother me, yeah.

Though thankfully they appear to be the exception rather than the norm? Most characters who I'd expect to recognise Link seem to do so, from what I've played so far.
 
Illucio said:
A few hours in and just been going to towers, hitting shrines to add to my map to do at a later time and just finding quests/buying clothes so I can go through more terrains.

Honestly I hate gluing things together constantly to solve puzzles. It's so boring, clunky to work with and I feel half the challenge is maintaining interest in the game when I have to spend a couple minutes building things. And the fact that Hyrule and Shrines are LITTERED with challenges requiring gluing things together and making crafts bugs me. It's so god damn boring, I wish they let us decide to make things or come up with ideas to run with rather then make a billion different craft challenges.

Fusing is a ton of fun, is there a way to fuse in just the menu though? I hate having to drop items and then fusing them with my sword/shield. Did I miss something.

The time rewind feels like a better time stop at times in terms of traversal, but damn do I miss freezing something and stacking hits then launching boulders or my attacks walloping a enemy all at once.

Not giving you the Paraglider before you leave Tutorial Island is the dumbest and worst game design decision in the game. Whoever decided on this deserves a wallop to their jelly. Honestly I'd take 10 points out of a perfect 100 score just for this.

The ascend ability just feels lame, its super limited, it's visually cool but I thought this ability was going to allow us to swim up to the sky with ease. I just rather have something else here at times. It has it's uses, but it feels artificial. I'd much rather have a Hookshot, it might be more limited, but god damn would it had been more fun in this game.

Anyone else notice enemies hit damn harder this time around? It feels like I'm dying far more from enemies early on then I did in BOTW.

Honestly this game was just made harder and that's fine. But it feels like Nintendo went out of their way to make things artificially longer and more contrived, Link has seemingly unlimited potential with his new toolkit but it feels like they took a hard look at BOTW and ask themselves "Let's take away all the convenience and things that make the game accessible. If we do keep it in, lock it behind a questline or make it stupidly hard to get where once your the expected skill level to take it on you don't need it anymore."

I wish I could say I had a more positive experience, but there's just so many small to medium game design decisions here that are rubbing me wrong so many different ways. And even once I get farther in the game where these problems persist less, I honestly don't know if that will change my perception of the game. I still like the first game more and honestly, I might just go back to it.
Click to expand...
You need to use ascend with ultrahand and rewind. Make a tower with a wide platform at the top, lift it up, move it down, rewind it, ascend up through it. It's only as limited as your creativity.
 
Tukarok shrine, the force one with the wheels and the ball.

I took one look at the last puzzle,
where you have to assemble a car to run along two walls over running water, and thought ‘nah I’ll do my own thing’. Creating a table on long legs with the planks, with the ball on top, then climbing the nearby ladder and just grabbing the ball and running to the end with it. So satisfying just to cobble together solutions out of trash. Reminds me of ‘scrapheap challenge’, an old tv show where people had to use junk to make a vehicle to cross a lake or whatever, the only criteria being ‘get from a to b’.
 
This mf Hestu gave me two upgrades and then ran away somewhere to the east! Nooooooo
 
I can't believe I played this for 9 hours straight last night. Pretty much went to sleep when I saw the sun rising in my window.

Game is in a league of its own imo. SS tier. Currently just running about the surface. I need to find Hestu because my inventory space is too dang small.
 
0
Had to reload so I could fight this boss again [Hebra region main quest spoiler]
The sky diving stuff was worth it for the Colgera fight alone. And the music, holy fuck
 
Wow I'm just finding out there's a
whole-ass miniboss on the tutorial island? How the hell did I miss it? Lol
 
Ozzie said:
That sequence leading up to the climax is extremely bliss. Especially the music becoming more intense as you get closer.
Click to expand...

And with some really good use of BotW musical themes.
Plum said:
I love how different my view of how Ultrahand works is from before release until now:

Before: "Ultrahand is just gonna be some Banjo Nuts & Bolts stuff. You'll probably just build a car or plane here and there and that'll be it."

After (Not really a big spoiler): "Ultrahand is that, but it’s also Nintendo's way of introducing a bunch of new items to solve a huge variety of puzzles with. Items that whole-ass dungeons would have been focused around in previous games.”

I’ve learnt my lesson not to underestimate Zelda.
Click to expand...

It basically is universal Magnesis and universal "block pushing", on top of that. Multiple core mechanics fused into one.

Dragoncaine said:
Wow I'm just finding out there's a
whole-ass miniboss on the tutorial island? How the hell did I miss it? Lol
Click to expand...

It is hilarious how much is up there.
 
There's definitely more moments of "oh wow I discovered this cool place" in TOTK than BOTW which I appreciate very much. Keep getting sidetracked from the storyline to find cool stuff, but also I guess that's the whole point of the game innit?
SammyJ9 said:
This game really was like “hey remember all those cool ideas we had in Skyward Sword but didn’t always work very well due to hardware/control issues? Now they do.”
Click to expand...
Yeah it's very clear Skyward Sword was foundational to this game. Makes since given that Fujibayashi directed SS/BOTW/TOTK.
 
I'm about 10 hours in and my favorite ability until now is ascend. Discovered a lot of great stuff with it.
Ultra hand is also great. The only thing I'm not digging until now is recall. After Braid I expected they would get crazy with this ability but it doesn't seem to be the case until now.

Fun fact, the shrines ceiling are so beautiful that I tried to reach it. Nothing happens as expected. Missed opportunity to add an easter egg.
 
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