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

[Dardan Sandiego]

I didn't have an issue with shrines returning in TotK even though it was pushing it narratively speaking. For the most part I also found them an improvement over the ones in BotW in large part due to Ultrahand and Zonai devices being much more versatile than the Sheikah Slate skills. In a third game I'd find it a bit disappointing if they came back with as few changes as they did though. At the very least I thought there would be some aesthetic variation between them.

 

[Stilt Village]

Shirnes act as the subtitute of Piece of Hearts in this new format of the franchise

The rewards do, but not so much the content itself.

Shrines are awesome.

I think in BotW they just bore too much of the burden of the gameplay loop. Like pretty much everything significant ended in a shrine. Even if the stuff to get to them was varied and had environmental puzzles and riddles in the world, it still ended in a shrine. Which is fine, but that’s where I agreed with the “well shrines should have more variety then if they’re gonna be the core thing”

In TOTK it’s different though. Shrines still have the same very important purpose, but they aren’t the end goal of everything you do. I can go into a cave (which can have varied looks, lengths, obstacles), explore it, solve a puzzle or fight a boss and get a unique piece of armor. I can go to a sky island, solve an environmental puzzle or beat a boss and get a sages will. I can explore the depths and get schema stones as rewards, beat hard enemy encounters and get battery upgrades or unique armors as rewards. No shrines involved.

There’s way more permanent upgrades in TotK, and a much bigger variety of how you get them. BotW has none of that. Hell the only examples of non purchasable armor were found IN shrines lol.

Hell, I’ve found myself solving a sky island puzzle, getting a super cool new armor and thinking that was the end of it and being totally satisfied, only to find a blessing shrine right after. At that point it’s just the cherry on top, like I didn’t even expect it or need it lol.

So I find myself resonating less with the shrine complaints I shared with BotW, because they’re just a part of something much bigger and more varied here. In BotW I wanted them more varied because they were the end goal of everything, in TotK they’re a comfortable constant in a massively more varied world.

Despite my problems with their design, I've gotten on with them way better than I expected in TotK for these reasons, considering how done with them I was after they monopolized BotW.

I think it also helps just how readily they use blessing shrines. To the extent that it's kind of silly to still be married to them, really, but it's nice how often the shrine is just the reward instead of the content now. BotW had 16, TotK has 47. That's nearly a third! Add to that the weird combat tutorials and all the naked shrines, and I'd bet that only around 50 or 60 of the shrines actually contain puzzles this time, as opposed to around 90 for BotW, despite there being more shrines in this game.

 

[slide's]

I don’t mind shrines only having a single style in this game because I really like this particular aesthetic and haven’t gotten sick of it at all (the sheikah one, by comparison, felt really dreary and bland after awhile). I also agree that they’re distributed much more nicely rather than being the primary reward for everything

my only complaint about them this time is that they’re almost all extremely easy—most of them have that issue of providing nothing but the exact elements you need to solve them and thus not requiring much thought or critical thinking—focusing way more on teaching the mechanics than testing the player on their understanding. the exceptions to that have all been delightful though: a handful of trickier shrines and one dungeon in particular

 

[Mekanos]

I'd have definitely opted to change the Shrines' aesthetic as they are connected to the related tower while keeping the same geometry, but overall I don't mind the sameyness as much as I thought I would.

But yeah I do hope they try something else for the next game. I don't know what it would be, but something that makes it feel a bit less iterative.

 

[balgajo]

On the positive size I agree that Totk shrines aesthetics and music worked for me more than the Sheikah one. Love watching their ceiling.
When I started BOTW I liked the shrine song and now I strongly dislike it.

 

[NabiscoFelt]

I didn't have an issue with shrines returning in TotK even though it was pushing it narratively speaking. For the most part I also found them an improvement over the ones in BotW in large part due to Ultrahand and Zonai devices being much more versatile than the Sheikah Slate skills. In a third game I'd find it a bit disappointing if they came back with as few changes as they did though. At the very least I thought there would be some aesthetic variation between them.

Yeah my main "issue" with ToTK Shrines is that they're very similar to BoTW ones, right down to the name

I still love both but I feel like they could've switched things up a bit more at least from a presentation standpoint

 

[Glom]

Hell the only examples of non purchasable armor were found IN shrines lol.

That's not true. The Champion's Tunic, the entire Zora set, the Gerudo outfit, the diamond circlet, the Thunder helm and the rubber helm were all obtained from neither shops nor shrines. The Hylian trousers, the cold doublet and the flame breaker helm also deserve a mention because while you can buy them in a shop later if you miss them, they are placed to be found earlier.

I don’t mind shrines only having a single style in this game because I really like this particular aesthetic and haven’t gotten sick of it at all (the sheikah one, by comparison, felt really dreary and bland after awhile).

It seems weird how when the Zonai shrines are dimly lit and made of mostly grey, largely unfeatured stone walls, it's the Sheikah shrines that are dreary and bland. This is particularly baffling after all the shit the divine beasts got for being samey stone structures.

I think the Sheikah shrines had more aesthetic variety because they used the standard building blocks in different ways to give varying tones. Some felt darker and more oppressive, while others were lighter and airier. The Zonai shrines, because they're so dimly lit and desaturated, can only be dimly lit and desaturated. Excepting of course the cool inner space blessing shrines.

 

[Mekanos]

It seems weird how when the Zonai shrines are dimly lit and made of mostly grey, largely unfeatured stone walls, it's the Sheikah shrines that are dreary and bland. This is particularly baffling after all the shit the divine beasts got for being samey stone structures.

I think the Sheikah shrines had more aesthetic variety because they used the standard building blocks in different ways to give varying tones. Some felt darker and more oppressive, while others were lighter and airier. The Zonai shrines, because they're so dimly lit and desaturated, can only be dimly lit and desaturated. Excepting of course the cool inner space blessing shrines.

The desaturation of the Zonai Shrine colors works in its favor. It's more soothing, more calming. The harsh lights of the BOTW Shrines not so much.

 

[Dardan Sandiego]

Yeah my main "issue" with ToTK Shrines is that they're very similar to BoTW ones, right down to the name

I still love both but I feel like they could've switched things up a bit more at least from a presentation standpoint

I know I've been harping on about this but the moment we realized that the Zonai would play a big role and that shrines might be back I hoped that they'd lean heavily into the dragon/owl/boar imagery that was used in their ruins. I thought it'd make sense to have puzzle shrines be owl-themed, combat shrines to have boar imagery and the rest be dragon-themed, all with their own design elements and colour schemes. It sadly didn't work out like that but at the very least the blessing shrines looked gorgeous and the music is great.

 

[Lugia667]

the reward for getting all the shrines is totally worth it this time

 

[meatbag]

I'm sure the Zelda thing will think of something to change up the shrine-like content next time.

 

[Earthbounder]

Managed to find all caves. Despite the Satori method, I had to look up the final 3 I was missing in a guide.

I will pop in every now and then to kill some bosses and fill up the compendium, but I am sadly done with most of the content. Those were some awesome 150 hours, and I am not burned out at all.

 

[ZeldaPY]

yep, there's a compendium entry for wells so you can use the sensor for 'em

250hrs in and I’m just learning this now on finding wells. It’s funny because Well Lady even says, She wished there was a way to find them all. I kept thinking I was going to find an item or a piece of clothing to help find the wells.

 

[browneyes84]

Spoiler: Ring Ruins question

Without spoilers or telling me the solution, am I able to approach the floating mid-way through the game or is it something I have to come back to later? For context, I'm two dungeons in, haven't gotten the master sword yet.

 

[MetalLord]

Spoiler: Ring Ruins question

Without spoilers or telling me the solution, am I able to approach the floating mid-way through the game or is it something I have to come back to later? For context, I'm two dungeons in, haven't gotten the master sword yet.

Spoiler

no

 

[Magic-Man]

 

[BillyD34]

Spoiler: Dungeons

It is a bit of a bummer that the four main dungeons are just the same regions as BotW. Like I get that they want the sages to correspond to the unique races, I just don't agree with the decision to make it: sky/desert/mountain/lake again. Even if the Goron dungeon is in the depths and the Zora dungeon is in the sky, it just felt like a retread to me. I think the fact that TotK is a direct sequel exacerbated the samey-ness, normally if a Zelda has dungeons in race specific zones, it doesn't bother me. Spirit Temple (including the Faron lead up) became a welcome variation. Even if controlling that mech was a bit of a chore.

 

[Salamiaddict]

Spoiler

no

Huh? I wanna know, too. No to what?

 

[meatbag]

Spoiler: Ring Ruins question

Without spoilers or telling me the solution, am I able to approach the floating mid-way through the game or is it something I have to come back to later? For context, I'm two dungeons in, haven't gotten the master sword yet.

It's something you have to come back to later.