#especially with the all the Sheikah tech/shrines/towers
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since i cant stop thinking about things i care about and also i cant shut up ever im gonna say my bit about the "well of COURSE they destroyed everything shiekah after botw bc it nearly killed the entire country DUH do you not understand basic worldbuilding??" type of comment i had directed at me (mostly on twitter to no ones surprise and almost exactly worded like this)
--how would you even destroy it, the only thing you can actually damage with anything are guardians and nano-guardians, anything else cant even get scratched, hell you cant even climb the darn things, are you seriously trying to tell me they somehow completely pulverized not just the shrines but titans (divine beasts), the shrine of life and the pillars holding the guardians in storage around hyrule castle and the dome beneath it (whereever that went lol) when it was built to and DID last over 10 000 years ... and if you did somehow find a way to dismantle literally all of it why would you not ... use its parts for something else and also research it (lets be real here, purahs new towers are just the sheikah towers but more impractical and would by all means not need all of the material from all the missing stuff and the purahpad is just ... literally the shiekah stone but looking more like the switch and also worse bc its got almost none of the functions the shiekah stone had)
they were so integrated into botws landscape removing them and their chambers would have been so much effort better spent in other places and just so unnecessary (think of the shrines at the twin mountains, removing all of that would be so dangerous and difficult to do), removing the pillars and the dome under the castle would endanger it collapsing no? there also would have needed to be a giant mechanism down there to make the pillars rise up, why would you go and try to destroy that instead of focusing on rebuilding the most important infrastrucutre
(on a sidenote, yes there are holes to the underground in the place of some shrines but its by far not all of them .. .even so there at the very least should be some rubble of them lying about at the bottom plus in most of their places its just plain earth, or sometimes even a cave locked by some puzzle which is.... so weird)
really the only explanation would be that it all just ... disappeared after zelda sealed ganon, which wouldnt only be hella unsatisfying as an answer but also again pose the problem that i would have caused the castle to collapse considering how shiekah tech was so integrated into it... unless it turned to earth somehow ... which would explain that but still be as satisfying of an explanation as 'it was all just a dream uwu'
additionally, the zonau stuff under the castle wasnt even that far down so it must have intersected with the shiekah stuff, like the pillars or the dome?? but no its all just zonau ruins now wahoo
if literally all traces were gone and totk was a paralel to botw but with zonau instead of shiekah OK, they still called it a sequel tho, they still talk about the events of botw but in a way that sounds like it was just another lost legend, the tapestry exists as well, and there are a few old guardian parts on top of the hateno institute (still feels like an oversight considering how cleanly everything else was wiped off the map), plus purahs towers and the purahpad are clearly based off of it, so it cant really be some time fuckery either, some things still remain; it just doesnt add up and its frustrating as hell ..
... especially if you were like me completely thrilled and intrigued to learn more about the ancient shiekah, what WAS that dome under the castle for?? what WAS ancient energy really and why was it found in these specific places only?? did they know about ganondorf?? if they built stuff down there shouldnt they have inevitably come across the old tunnels?? the monks literally talk to link in botw why would they withhold that info, what reason could they have?
--by far my biggest annoyance with that excuse is that ... if you are so afraid of tech you dont fully understand being taken over by the bad guy again to the point you destroy not just the titans you basically worshipped as divine protectors but also immovable shrines that literally couldnt do shit to harm you even if they were pumped up to the brim with malice/miasma after they have already become non threatening/non functional anyway...
HOW could you just go and fully trust and personally play around with new tech that LITERALLY rained from the sky out of nowhere, from a group of people no one knows shit about (like at least the shiekah were still existing and had a small part of recorded history) and never cared either until now that they are suddendly everywhere, even if it cant get corrupted somehow (kinda disproven by the spirit temple) how the hell would anyone know that?? if anything this would be a reason to be MORE afraid of it
even the ancient king that persecuted the shiekah bc he was afraid of their tech when they invented it didnt order them to destroy it, just bury it, despite them of all people knowing the best of how to completely destroy it??? and zelda doesnt seem like the type that would order old history and relics to be destroyed liek that??
it would have been such a golden opportunity to show that hey, the ancient shiekah based their tech on that of the zonau, they found the mines and tech and reasearched it to built their own from it, strucutres that show they were down here building the shrines from underground, titan prototypes, you cant do anything with it, its old and broken, but its there, environmental storytelling and all that
the shrine of life especially pisses me off bc thats like .. ok it was kinda not the best maybe but it still saved links goddamn life, even if it all became useless for some reason at least leave it there as a sign of respect, if there needs to be a cave have it be half collapsed after the cataclysm or something wheres the problem
(also idk if im the only one with that but in botws true ending when zelda says that vah ruta, i think, has stopped working it seemed like a good setup for more? and that she wanted to investigate that in the sense of ah shoot i want it to keep working tho and not in the sense of hell yeah lets smash it to pieces
i know this is theory territory now but it seemed like it somewhat confirmed that the titans need a pilots strong spirit to work since they are not connected to the ancient energy network and the spirits of the champions passed on at the end ... the idea that ancient energy was spirit energy either gained from luminous stones or directly spirits is so neat, and i loved that idea of hey the reason why all of the energy went out all of the sudden is bc ganondorf is breaking free after having been kept in a stasis to use either his malice or his strong spirit to fuel it all has never left my mind since i first read about it bc its such a good setup for intrigue, like oh heck the ancient shiekah werent so coolio and 100% perfectly good either, maybe they knew about gans 'future' or history and hey why not trick him or sth into being sealed against his will so that problem is out the way and whoop hes pretty much an infinite source of energy nice lets use that for our research and not tell anyone oh no we created a monster (calamity gan) l guess we are gonna use the tech we fuel with his own life against him lol, OR you could have connceted it to the zonau maybe doing the sealing first and the shiekah discovering him later and being like oh neat an endlessly rich powersource we arent gonan tell anyone about weehoo
it would have tied into the ancient shiekah stuff, explained why it doesnt work well anymore, give a reason to explore the underground and discover it all, give a reason to why it was kept a secret bc no one wanted to admit yeah we made this monster ourselves whoops, give ganondorf a reason to be this angry and make it all more nuanced bc yeah ok maybe the zonau knew about gan and in their effort to prevent it caused it instead by sealing him before he became a problem and it all started a domino effect of disasters leading into all this mess that now poor zelda and link gotta solve
im not saiyng this is the better version or that i am better but again you can literally do so much with the setup for it all and what totk ended up doing with it feels so ... not even underused but straight up backwards treading you had it right on front of you INFINITE POTENTIAL AAARGH)
theres only so much fun gameplay and fantastic music can save and man can you imagine what could have been if the story got the same polish as the gameplay and music ;__;
#ganondoodles talks#ganondoodles opinions#zelda#totk#the best part of totk is the yiga clan and the music#fuck the music got me more emotional than the actual happenings#anyway compeltely random thought#but why was the gerudo temple light-mirror themed and the lead up to the spirit one lightning themed#what#again i LIKE this game#but i want to LOVE it#and yeah fun gameplay is important#a good story can save bad gameplay and great gamplay can save a bad story#but you know whats even better#good gameplay and good story#its not somethign that cant coexist#and yeah a bad story can diminish the fun im having with the gameplay#some people seriously argued -imagine playing video games for the story- to me and i ????? what#this all got way longer than i wanted again ...#longpost
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I love how you just pointed out that the Hero’s Aspect opens the door for theorizing because like…for all the stuff that is unexplained in totk, I actually like it that way BECAUSE I can make theories, you know? I feel like people wanted stuff shoved in their faces and just chalked it up to “Nintendo is lazy” when they didn’t get that.
I am sort of split between the sentiments? Some unexplained things are soooo fun to explore and analyze because like you said, it is not in-your-face obvious what they mean and they could mean a million different things! They exist, they are there, they were definitely put in the game to be noticed, and yet they weren't explained. For example, the Hero's Aspect, or the connection between dragons and Zonai, or the exact locations of the ancient palace and temples and other places we see in the Tears. I only need a little clue and I will be thinking about it for months, exploring and looking and reading and having so much fun without EVER having my theories proven right. Headcanons are fun!!! Imagination is fun!!! BotW and TotK lean into it with their entire weighs. You make your own story in these games.
On the other hand, some things are sooo weirdly retcon-y, even when only compared to BotW. Why does the Zonai Forgotten Temple predate the Loftwing-style Forgotten Temple and doesn't even feature Hylia's statue? Why are we establishing Rauru as the one from whom Zelda inherits her sealing powers instead of Hylia? Why is Gerudo King Ganondorf given a totally different backstory to the one he had in BotW? The funniest thing is that these issues are so easily fixed. Reframe the beginning of the cutscene so we never enter the Forgotten Temple proper and stick to the Zonai rooms. Make Sonia the one with the sealing powers and the Zonai ancestors the one with the time powers. The Ganon one is not from the main game and is instead from the Creating a Champion book so it can technically be overlooked, but still, big L for me and every other person lovingly thumbing through that book.
And then there is the third option, some things are double-edged from the get-go. I don't need an explanation for where the Sheikah tech went - obviously it was either dismantled or repurposed, and the PurahPad and the towers still work powered on the blue source so it's not like it magically disappeared... But what happened to the Divine Beasts, the enormous semi-sentient machines that def can't be dismantled like that???? Couldn't SOMEONE maybe mention that they idk. Went unresponsive when the shrines retracted so they hid them away until they are needed again. OR, why does only half the NPCs remember Link, instead of either everyone forgetting or everyone remembering him and avoiding this weird distance created by half-assing it? Basically, I totally understand why people don't like it because I also dislike it, it's not game-breaking but why not just go all the way.
This was a long-winded way to say that while I absolutely agree that the speculation and theorizing is one of the most fun parts of both the games, it is also disheartening to be tripped up by the devs throwing their own lore in the trash, so I sort of get the complainers. I don't believe in the Big Timeline and will never complain about games not adhering to it, but I am pretty disappointed the devs didn't pay closer attention to keeping the lore clear between sequels at least, ESPECIALLY because it's so clear they were wonderfully pedant about other parts of it.
#eernask#eernanon#eernask talk loz#eernask talk totk#the zonai made soooo much sense as sequel foreshadowing in botw bc they established their presence in hyrule from the get-go#there should have been NO need for retconning!!! they had it ALL set up!!!! so why
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No because there is so much missed potential with not having a totk DLC. I want to explore a new Hyrule as much as anyone but there are still so many questions about this one.
What happened to the rest of the Zonai? Did they leave and Mineru and Rauru just decided to stay? How far back did Zelda go? Because I don't believe it's like post-Skyward Sword (I would if it wasn't for the fact the Rito are there it's the only thing throwing me off oh my godddd) and it couldn't have been 10,000 years since 10,000 years ago was the first Calamity, and this whole thing with the Imprisoning War was a different event (although it would be super fucking interesting if totk Ganondorf was the last Gerudo male born before the first Calamity and was also the source for Calamity Ganon. The history of Hyrule's royal family is also the history of Calamity Ganon and all that).
Speaking of the Imprisoning War and Ganondorf, what about Twinrova?? Those two Gerudo in golden masks in the 4th and 5th memories have Koume and Kotake written on their shoulders, we could've done something with that?? And speaking of the first Calamity seriously could there be more of an explanation on the Ancient Hero's Aspect?? Please?? What is up with him??? They just dropped that and left???
And also there's still stuff going on with the current Hyrule. Where did all the Sheikah tech go? I can understand dismantling the Divine Beasts and guardians and the shrines and towers could have gone back underground but what about all the ancient gear and stuff?? Where'd that go?? Can it at least be mentioned??
Plus there's stuff with Penn, his story feels kind of unresolved. He left to Washa's Bluff but then just. Didn't do anything. No new story, he just kinda was There. And speaking of him and Washa's Bluff, where's Kass???? He's mentioned at least once by Genli but nothing about where he is. Maybe he's getting new songs but it would've been nice to know where he is. Plus he could've come back with some new songs about new stuff (especially since the Zonai language in the shrines kind of sounds like singing)
I'd also just kinda like more stuff on the sky islands or the depths. I don't go there much because I don't see as much of a reason to, I would have liked the sky to at least be more developed :(
I dunno I'm just spitballing stuff while I'm replaying the game because man. I'd like a dlc a lot. I'm excited for a new Zelda game whenever it comes around but there's still some stuff I wanna see with this one that I don't have to come up with myself.
#totk#I really love this game I want more with it :(#I am rewriting the order of events as we speak tho Zelda is not in the era of hyrules founding in my mind#HER hyrules founding maybe. but not founding the kingdom as a whole#maybe there are old legends about the kingdom that ended up on the brink of collapse before the zonai showed up idk#honestly doesnt change the game much to me just makes things make more sense#sorry im rambling#totk spoilers#tears of the kingdom
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Congratulations again! ❤️
What about Link and Zelda getting caught kissing by someone of your choosing?
MY CHOOSING? BWAHAHA. Hope you enjoy @zeldaelmo and thank you for the prompt! This HWAoC snippet was written especially for you <3.
Word Count: 328
“Terrako! Oh, thank goodness, it's just you.” Zelda steps back from Link and begins to smooth out the front of her gown. Link’s face is hot, skin tingling like he just grabbed a thunderbolt.
“Okay, well, I suppose you can't say anything so we’re fine—” Zelda begins, but is cut off by a beam of crystal blue light that shoots out of the tiny guardian robot's swirling eye. It collects at a point before Link and Zelda, and from that point, two familiar figures flicker into reality in the same blue.
It’s them. Link and Zelda.
Link watches in horror as a miniature version of himself closes the distance between them (a little too desperately from this angle he hates to admit) to kiss her. The image freezes there, just before the moment when he had stepped back and began to apologize. Right before she seized him up by his collar and thrust him back against the Sheikah Tower for more.
It is a horribly incriminating image for the youngest member of Hyrule's Royal Guard, charged with protecting the very Princess he has been caught kissing not three days after he is appointed the Hylian Champion. His hard-fought reputation, Zelda’s dignity, their credibility as Hyrule’s last hope—it’s all lost in a moment of weakness this little demon egg managed to catch on film.
Instinctively, like whenever Link finds himself in the presence of a threat, he reaches for the Sword.
Terrako’s eye flashes red. It rises up high on all three legs and tilts the beam up, projecting the image into the sky…toward the tower. Toward the same technology Purah just finished demonstrating has the ability to transport people across Hyrule; that she hypothesizes can transfer massive amounts of data through a network created by the towers, shrines, guardians, and any other Sheikah Tech scattered across Hyrule.
He’s going to broadcast the kiss.
“No! You mustn’t!” Zelda cries.
Link launches his entire body at the little guardian.
#bahbahhh300#loz#legend of zelda#hyrule warriors aoc#age of calamity#loz age of calamity#loz fanfiction#bahbahhhwrites#follower milestone#zelink
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have started a new playthrough of breath of the wild with the intention of practicing the combat techniques, which i am quite bad at. (look, shield surfing and flurry rushes both require using three of the control inputs at once, i know i have ten fingers but i was never very good at playing chords on the piano either)
i don't know how far i'll get on any of these goals, but i'm also sort of vaguely considering:
* 100% run? have never finished one. there's at least one korok (near the akkala tech lab, uphill boulder golf with a lynel in the middle of the course) that i'm genuinely just not sure i can complete. i want to do this part glitchless if at all, so no seed duping allowed.
* clear all enemies no blood moon run? this is technically possible, although the timing to get the blood moon shrine to spawn without actually respawning enemies is quite tricky. there's a save-reload exploit that lets you delay the blood moon for a full cycle at a time, which would be pretty necessary for some of the night quests to be completable. my main interest in trying this is to force me to actually fight more enemies (and therefore get better at the combat) rather than rely totally on sneaking around and avoiding them. also to make weapons rarer and therefore more valuable/exciting to find, because in a normal playthrough i usually get overloaded on high tier weapons pretty quickly, especially once i get woodland tower with the respawning royal claymore. it's not actually possible to completely clear the map, because there will always be random spawns, like nighttime stalkoblins, or yiga after you defeat master kohga, but i feel like it'd be pretty entertaining to just be waltzing around past enemy camps you cleared and having them continue to have been cleared.
* all chests run? this would not be a true 100% objective because i have no interest at all in the glitching required to get "impossible" chests. perhaps "poke my nose into every nook and cranny" run would be more accurate -- there are so many tiny hidden things in BotW that even people who've spent thousands of hours in the game have never seen. this kind of goes hand in hand with the no blood moon run, because i'll definitely run out of hero's path time long before i finish any such playthrough, so the main way to tell if i've already been somewhere (other than my own memory, which *is* pretty good for BotW locations because the geology is so realistic it feels like an actual landscape and sticks in my memory the same way) will be if i already killed off the enemies there.
* no guides run. at least until like 99% completion or so. i've been playing pokemon violet with a collectibles map constantly open, which is about the only way i can enjoy that game because the geology/geography is just impossible for me, and i have played BotW the same way on other saves, but... hyrule feels, idk, homey enough? it already lives in my bones enough that i can, and want to, run around it like a real place and get to know every corner. like i did with my childhood hometown, and have not had the spoons to do irl since. i'll definitely make a great deal of use of the sheikah sensor (i've done all shrines before -- on the switch lite, which is a *trip* for motion controls shrines) and any other detection things like the korok mask, any ingame method i'm granted to find the collectibles.
* no amiibo run? this is more practicality because i left my botw amiibos at leia's. but also they always feel a little game-breaky, not even so much with the exclusive drops as just with the extra resources you get early -- i don't even remember most of the places you can find safflina in the game, just because i always get so much from zelda amiibos if i'm scanning them daily, for instance.
i'm playing on my switch lite again because the regular size switch really kills my hands in handheld mode. my beat-the-game save is also on the switch lite and i didn't want to overwrite it so i made a secondary profile. so far i have done the magnesis shrine (failed deeply at using the metal boxes in the shrine to bop the guardian on the head, which will kill it if you do it right but you have to either use motion controls to fling it down or get the guardian to stand under the box while you drop it from a great height) and almost shot king rhoam for a squirrel because he was wandering around in the forest (as the old hermit, of course) and i didn't know he could spawn there if you dick around long enough before completing the plateau. so i'm already discovering things! ^_^
(the main issue with attempting a no blood moon run is that i am absent minded and usually fail to notice it's a blood moon night until it drops the cutscene on me. that will probably be the major obstacle there. i don't expect to run completely out of weapons -- at minimum i can always get more yiga gear, champion gear, and once i have the master sword it recharges. i've never attempted trial of the sword, idk if i will? certainly not until i'm much more confident with my combat techniques)
one of my favorite things about playing video games is that there's always an intended way for you to solve whatever puzzle is presented to you. in games where the intended way is the only possible way, i get pretty frustrated, because i do not have the 30+ years of gaming history knowledge that most games assume -- i got my first controller in 2021 (for PC, so as to decide if i even wanted to get my first console, the switch, which i also did in 2021). but botw is so committed to the open-world creativity thing that there are usually a bunch of different ways to solve the puzzles -- for instance, there are many "stand on this switch and the door opens, now find something to put on the switch and hold it down so you can go through the door" puzzles, and there's always something provided like a barrel or a chest to put on the switch, but on many of them you can also use the stasis rune or 1-3 campfires (which are weirdly heavy) to hold the switch down. so it feels... idk how to articulate this... when i know i *can* just use stasis or a campfire, it's more fun and less frustrating to try to figure out what the game devs were thinking, what the intended method is and especially how they signposted it. (i have watched so many botw streams just trying to get a feel for how the devs handle signposting, because i don't have much of that assumed gaming background -- mainly mass effect trilogy, which handled signposting and loot placement extremely differently in each game -- and i'm not naturally very observant. leia says i'm high INT/low WIS, and that definitely applies to my irl perception score too :P another reason to try for an all chests type of run. getting in the habit of Perceiving things more)
(mass effect 1 is why i even bought botw though. i absolutely love the open world aspects of dicking around on the uncharted planets, except when i trip over thresher maws, so i was like "people are calling this the best open world game ever? i will Investigate" and they were correct)
(also i am very impressed that moldugas are not thresher maws. so damn many things copy dune and have their desert sand burrowing giant enemy be sandworms, complete with the blue tongues, which i always think of as thresher maws because i encountered those way before dune. moldugas are completely unlike thresher maws except for the burrowing and popping up at you. i genuinely can't figure out if there's any rl critter they're supposed to resemble, but by god they're not fucking sandworms)
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Now that the shine has worn off, I can look over TOTK with a more critical eye. Spoilers below the cut.
TOTK is an excellent game. It's an open world Zelda game done right, even moreso than BOTW, I think. But it can't decide if it's a proper sequel to BOTW or a standalone game in the same setting. Like, there's a lot of continuity, and lots of things progress as if time has passed, but some things are ignored and we're just not supposed to question it. I understand that they have to write it with the knowledge that every game is someone's first Zelda game, and they can't rely too much on a player's prior knowledge, because some people just won't have any. It wants to be a good sequel, but it just won't commit. Let's take it point by point.
Point 1 - What happened to all the Sheikah tech?
Ancient Sheikah technology is a huge, critical part of BOTW. The Shrine of Resurrection is why Link is still alive. The shrines were built to train the destined hero. The towers... were just kind of there (they had a believable explanation in HW:AOC though). The Divine Beasts were the main threat for most of the game. Ancient Sheikah tech is absolutely the driving force of the plot in BOTW. And in TOTK, all of it is gone and no one mentions it at all.
But it's still there in some capacity! Purah re-aged herself somehow, right? And there's that power switch Josha used to turn on the skyview towers; that's obviously Sheikah tech. The towers themselves seem to employ a lot of tech, so you could argue that Purah cannibalized what materials she could find to build them, and you could also argue that the original shrines sank back into the ground or otherwise deactivated once Calamity Ganon was gone. But it still doesn't explain the Divine Beasts being missing. How do you lose 4 mountain-sized animal Gundams in just a few years? What happened; did people just bury them again?
How it could have been fixed - If Purah really did scavenge all the tech she could find for the skyview towers, have her say so. You don't think she would have bragged about it? Even if it was just to take the credit for what she told other people to do? Actually, especially if she told other people to do it? You know she would have.
Also, make the Divine Beasts set pieces. Put them somewhere out of the way on the map in their respective regions and just them into landscape. Give someone a couple of lines about, "Yeah, once Calamity Ganon was gone, they just stopped working." They could be exploitable, but otherwise inactive. They'd serve as a kind of memorial and reminder of the Calamity. Which leads to my next point:
Point 2 - Why doesn't anyone talk about what happened?
I know that the story has to stand on its own because you can't rely on what the player knows going into it, but this was not the way to do it. TOTK is a direct sequel that refuses to commit. Some characters remember Link, but not all the ones you'd expect. Giving him Tony Hawk Syndrome was pretty funny, though. And while everyone talks about the Upheaval and the chasms, almost no one says anything about the Calamity.
Sure, the Upheaval is the new hotness, since it's directly affecting them in the moment, but very little time has passed between the two games. It's never said directly (this game has such commitment issues), but based on the ages of some of the kids, Mattison specifically, it can't have been more than 5 or 6 years. Even so, they should still say something. More people should be like, "Gosh, it was so nice to have some peace after the Calamity disappeared, but that sure didn't last long!" Or, "Man, just when things were going well with the peace in Hyrule, this Upheaval happens!"
Instead, they talk about it like it happened a long time ago, and the game even encourages you think the same way. The 'nostalgic hairband' and 'nostalgic fabric' nudge you to believe it happened a long, long time ago, rather than what seems to be about 5-6 years. NPCs talk about the events of BOTW like it happened in the previous decade. One of the few things that acknowledges the Calamity is the school quest in Hateno village, where the pre-teen kids demand proof of 'this so-called Calamity' because they weren't around to see it, so how do they know it happened? Like, come on. Even if they weren't born when it happened, they would have heard stories about it from their parents.
TOTK acts like it's trying to distance itself from BOTW so it can stand on its own, but it can't quite do it. It relies on so many established things that not acknowledging them feels so weird.
How it could have been fixed - stop acting like it's this disaster from a previous decade. Have more people comment directly on the situation, or remark on what life was like during the last game. They could even express frustration that they had just gotten their lives back after the Calamity and now this!
Point 3 - What about the Champions?
In BOTW, people loved to talk about the Champions. How cool they were, how much they did for their people and how much they were missed after they were killed in the Calamity. It makes sense for people to be fixated on them - Hyrule has been stuck in a kind of cultural stasis ever since the war from a century ago. Calamity Ganon is still there and thanks to his control of the Beasts and the Guardians, it is still an active threat. The people can't build new villages or explore very much because it's still dangerous. They want the Champions back because they represent hope and safety, which is something they desperately need. So during that whole century, they've become legends and the people revere them, telling their stories to keep hope alive. Everyone in the regional zones will gush about their respect Champion given the opportunity.
In TOTK, you're lucky if you even find one of them mentioned by name in a book.
Again, this is not what people are like. You don't spend a century talking about a local hero and then forget them all at once. There are some sideways hints in certain lines of dialog, like maybe an NPC mentions the weapons of their people's Champion, but no direct names. It's TOTK pretending that many years have passed by making it seem like the people have moved on. But they shouldn't! The Champions are heroes! Everyone talked about them, there were memorials* and songs; some of the older NPCs even remembered them. Not nearly enough time has passed for people to forget them like that. Link himself should be a little upset that no one is even talking about them anymore - he remembers the Champions. They're one of the few things he does remember from his previous life, to say nothing of the fact that he freed their spirits from their respective Beasts. It's insulting in every respect, especially from a meta standpoint. Nintendo went out of their way to hype up the Champions for BOTW in all their marketing, then killed them off before the game started and to have everyone just stop talking about them is so bizarre.
How it could have been fixed - I know this is for the sake of newcomers to the series. TOTK is going to be someone's first Zelda game, and you don't want to alienate them by assuming they know who the Champions are. So what they should have done was still have the people talk about the Champs, though it doesn't have to be as much. In addition, there should be one or two NPCs in town who will mention them directly, and they should have a dialogue prompt for Link to ask about them. This is not hard; both games do this everywhere. It's all you need - a brief history lesson on these important characters from the previous game to satisfy new players, and an acknowledgement of them to satisfy returning players.
Actually, you could do the same to help out with point 2. Each of the towns should have one or two NPCs who mention something about how things have changed since Calamity Ganon was defeated. Link can ask for more info, and it's the same deal - bring new players up to speed, satisfy returning players who wonder why the hell no one is talking about the previous century of plot. And they could have some fun with it too! They could talk about this 'incredible hero who saved Hyrule' and when Link says 'that was me btw', they just scoff and insist that there's no way some short, skinny guy like him could be the hero.
--
That covers most of the issues I had with continuity between the games. My thoughts on the rest of TOTK's story will have to be in another post.
*Urbosa got done dirty in BOTW. Mipha and Daruk both got statues, Revali had a platform named after him, but what did Urbosa get? Nothing, unless I'm not remembering it.
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Random TOTK thoughts since I'm back in work today but am very 'head empty, only Zelda' so have some things I'm in love with:
I love how, although there is some 'who are you? Oh, yes, you're that swordsman' reactions to Link, in general NPCs (especially ones who had side quests in BOTW) know who Link is. It makes everything more cohesive and gives a depth to the world for both games
All BOTW side quests are canon. Link's house (which Zelda now lives in *wiggles eyebrows*)? Canon. Tarrey Town? Canon. Yiga Hideout? Canon. Weirdly presented penpal quest that creeped everyone out? Canon but JUST FRIENDS.
Mattison implies that around 5-6 years have passed (since she didn't even exist in BOTW but now is a walking, talking, reading child...unless Gerudo grow and develop quicker than we expect). And you can see that in the age of some of the younger characters like the Sheikah and Rito kids. And it also helps with the belief that they had time to dispose/repurpose the Sheikah tech into the new tech. Especially if it all stopped working.
Link is so much more expressive this time round but in appropriate ways. They took care to not just have him blank faced or generic emotional response. The first tower scene is panic and wtf but all the ones after that are slightly different than that first one because he knows what to expect. I wish they'd had different reactions for the different geoglyphs but the spoilery post final one has a much more intense reaction at least.
I still haven't stopped opening the item menu everytime I want to change abilities...
The cutscenes are getting me right in the heart. No spoilers but I had to spoil myself for the end because I got too emotional and couldn't wait the next 100 hours it's going to take me to finish to find out how certain things are resolved.
Yahaha you found me! I still love Koroks but, no, I can't help you find your friend right now. I'm busy. (But I am going to go back and do all the friend ones later)
Shrines are genuinely difficult at times. Probably because I keep underestimating some of the abilities. I've seen some uses online that are so 5 head it's unbelievable. I'm going to watch so many let's plays when I can to see how people did things differently.
Gimmie all the clothes. I will explore every nook and cranny of this world for a shitty tunic.
This whole game is 'Oh, what's that? Oh, what's over here? Oh, a quest marker! Hmm, that's weird I should check that out. BLUPEE! Wait...what was I doing?' And it's GLORIOUS.
Tulin my beloved...please stop jumpscaring me with your sound effects that are soft but just close enough to make me think I'm gonna get shanked by an enemy
I have stumbled across more than a few enemies that I have noped back out of ASAP. Even with my new confidence on fighting enemies from my recent BOTW playthrough. That is a later goal.
All the new characters and existing significant NPCs are amazing so far. And there is a lot of hope in the rebuilding which is nice despite the Upheaval. People are looking to the future everywhere and it warms your heart :)
#totk#spoilers#i love this game so much#i spent 70 hours on it over the last 4 days and i can't wait to get home and play it some more#if this isn't game of the year it'll be a crime
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OKAY SO I’M GONNA ANALYZE THE HELL OUT OF THE TOTK TRAILER NOW
(the screenshots are gonna be sorta outta order bc of grouping for analysis)
LONG POST WARNING
First thing, there’s those twisty green things that were over ganon in the first teaser! It’s interesting that one of them is in Hateno… especially because that other shot doesn’t seem to be over Hateno, so there’s multiple?
What are these dudes??? Mini-Dragons??? Are they related to the three dragons we already know of??? I’m terrified by the fact that they can carry other enemies…
Also that’s a heat-seeking arrow!!! Will there be other new arrows???
There’s more of those markings, like from the Title Reveal Trailer! Still no real evidence of where they came from, though…
Plus, the third image has that glow around the towers… It kinda makes me wonder what role they’ll have during the new game? Is this an indication of the towers also being lifted into the sky alongside the castle? Because this shot appears to be prior to the islands appearing...
In fact, there's only one shot of a sky island that's in the stormy weather! But, meanwhile, there's numerous shots from on top of sky islands, as well as with plenty in the background.
This leads me to a belief that there's going to be a part of the early game which comes before parts of the ground (such as hyrule and the towers) lift into the air, and that part of the game will be in stormy weather. Then, when whatever happens with ganon's corpse... happens, everything will be lifted into the sky.
However, I don't think we're just getting new areas in the form of the sky...
...because it seems pretty clear there are some major cave areas now, too! Besides the fact that the First-Look Trailer takes place fully underground, it seems like some pretty major parts of the story are related to the underground. I find it interesting that both these shots are mini-bosses. Kilton's gonna have something to say about that.
Also, what's on the Hinox's neck? I don't think we've seen anything like that before. It is that same shade of green from the spirals earlier in the trailer/from the First-Look Trailer, which is interesting...
The Blood Moon seems like it's gonna be a lot more involved this time around. I almost feel like you might actually have to be actively able to keep playing while it occurs, instead of it just being a weekly cutscene.
Also, the side of the castle looks to be absolutely coated in malice, though that's not much of a surprise.
This scene really caught my attention. It's so strange!!!
Those are definitely guardian arms, and the floor's texture is reminiscent of a shrine (actually, we don't physically see any of the shrines in any of the trailers, which is strange...). But the rest of the building is very clearly Hylian-made. It's even got a Sheikah logo in the corner.
Plus, this is very clearly just a building somewhere since you can see the outside under the curtains. I wonder if this is a new tech lab built on some newly uncovered Sheikah structure's remains. A new tech lab, maybe? Kakariko didn't have one, after all, and Link's got a new piece of clearly-Sheikah tech attached to him...
On the topic of structures, actually, there's a couple parts of the floating islands that are very geometric. In fact, the cube in the second shot (which appears five whole times in the trailer, jeez.) is actually the North Lomai Labyrinth, I noticed, which is absolutely insane.
Is the other structure a new labyrinth? Because both the others in botw were rectangles... Also, isn't the North Lomai Labyrinth attributed to the Zonai, the group that people are speculating will be heavily involved in this game... it's all very interesting.
Also, it's worth noting that that giant-drone thing Link is on is the third of three shots of Link piloting various vehicles.
The fact that there are multiple modes of aerial transport makes a lot of sense, because the only real "flight" Link has is the paraglider, which can't go upwards on it's own, and I doubt they'd make us rely solely on finding updrafts and using Revali's gale for the whole game (if we even have access to the latter anymore).
But the car is very interesting. The fact that we'd need a car at all implies that getting around on the ground is gonna be rougher than before. And it also looks very much like it's Zonai-made based on the structures we've seen which are attributed to them. Mainly the dragon heads on the front wheels, that's blatant Zonai. The hovercraft also looks Zonai, though the hot air balloon is definitely Hylian.
We also visibly see Link fish a wheel out of the mud in another shot (using his new arm, no less!). And that chest in the background also looks to be of similar origin, and also locked? It seems similar to the skull chests that open upon defeating an enemy camp... I wonder if those chests have a different task connected to them. (A replacement for Korok puzzles, perhaps?)
Jumping somewhere completely unrelated, there's so much to unpack in this shot.
First off, I have almost no clue where this is. I thought it was that forest with the flat-topped trees before, but it definitely doesn't look like that upon closer inspection. It actually appears to in some giant cave, which lends more to the idea that we'll be venturing both in the sky and below ground.
I think the enemies here are malice-infected Lizalfos and a Bokoblin. I find it very interesting that the Bokoblin are mining. It seems like the enemies are definitely smarter this time around. (Which does align with Ganon's dialogue that begins on this shot.)
That glowing tree in the background is also very strange, but I don't know enough about Zelda lore as a whole to really make any calls there, I think. Best I can say is that it looks significant.
This is another very perplexing shot. It's obvious what's going on; Link's moving the island with the weird floaty thing, again using his arm. The floaty thing he's controlling seems to be the same shape as the island, no less.
It looks a bit similar to the Apparatus from a couple of the same-named shrines in BotW, which makes me worried about motion controls, but I'm too elated over the trailer to actually be that nervous about it.
This scene is very interesting. It's clearly pulled from a cutscene of sorts, but who's in it and what's happening is hard to parse.
First instincts told me this was a new scene of Link being re-knighted in some way, or something along those lines, post BotW. The white dress is very remiscent of Zelda, and we know Link has the hand. But then I thought about it a bit more and realized that didn't really make all that much sense.
I saw a different post that said they might be the princess and soldier from 10,000 years prior to BotW, the ones on the tapestry. That post also made me consider if this is Hylia and Demise.
Though, then I wondered (and someone with real Zelda Lore knowledge is gonna have to help me here); If Hylia's reincarnations are Zelda and Demise's reincarnations are Ganon, do we know who's reincarnating as Link? If we don't, is this them? Is this when Hylia recruits a protector for the Zeldas throughout time?
And, of course, this shot. If this doesn't confirm Zelda as being playable, I don't know what does. "But Link, I'm not sure you'll be able to stop him. Please, lend me your power!" is Zelda's full quote in the trailer, and it sounds very "It's dangerous to go alone"-like. The second half is over this shot, even, which I feel adds to the evidence that Zelda will be an active player this time.
(Also, Zelda's pose in this scene looks like that one horizontal figure from the mural in the Name-Reveal Trailer, right?)
-------
But anyway, I've hit the image limit for Tumblr posts, so that's as far as I go with this post. I'll be making a lot more posts about TotK in the next few months, and I've decided to delegate them to a different blog, @robot-gaming, because I wanna spare my mutuals and followers from this being the only thing I post about for the next half of the year.
#tears of the kingdom#tears of the kingdom spoilers#totk#totk theory#totk spoilers#tloz#the legend of zelda#totk trailer#trailer analysis#*calls this analysis despite half of this being me asking questions*
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So, about Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom…
So, well, I still can't play Tears of the Kingdom (can't believe Nintendo wouldn't allow such a big fan as I am to play the game early! 😏), so I have no choice but to vent my thoughts here.
Once again, no spoilers (except light spoilers for Breath of the Wild), I've managed to avoid all leaks so all thoughts and opinions here are based on officially released materials and stuff based on those. So, let's start after the break.
As you may remember, yesterday I was talking not so much about what Nintendo had revealed about TotK in the last few weeks, but about what was still absent from those reveals, and how things being conspicuously absent could point towards important story beats.
But I left one important thing out, probably the most conspicuous absence in the all game: where is all the ancient Sheikah tech?! I mean, the trailers and promotional materials have shown some Sheikah tech, like the new Switch-like Sheikah slate, a platform with mechanical tentacles resembling Guardian legs, and some kind of high-speed elevator in the latest trailer. But Sheikah tech is conspicuously absent from the overworld.
When Breath of the Wild ended, Hyrule was still full of broken and deactivated Guardians, Sheikah towers, shrines, not to mention the Divine Beasts (including Link's own Master Cycle if you count the DLC contents). But in all the trailers for TotK, all that is completely gone. So what happened?
Of course, it could be that they were all destroyed during the Upheaval, but that seems unlikely to have left no trace of Sheikah tech on the surface, especially for things as large as the towers and Divine Beasts.
Another possibility is that the Sheikah basically dismantled everything for parts. Purah and especially Robbie seemed to need a lot of stuff for their research, and they may have used the new found peace to expand on their work in earnest. But while I can definitely see the Sheikah dismantling all the Guardians for parts (and the other races helping to get rid of those horrors forever), I have difficulties imagining them doing the same to all the Sheikah towers (no matter how useful those terminals are). And the new towers of TotK (seemingly called Skyview towers) don't solve that conundrum, as they are not all placed where the old Sheikah towers stood, implying they are not just the Sheikah towers packed up in wood and cloth.
I have even more difficulty believing they'd go as far as dismantling the Divine Beasts, they're far too useful to protect Hyrule. Unless it was to ensure they'd never fall into the wrong hands again... But still, that's a bit far-fetched.
As for the Shrines, I don't believe for one moment that Hyrule would have the resources to dismantle those. And what about the pillars surrounding Hyrule Castle? I just remembered that they were gone too. Did they just go underground again?
This said, if you've completed all the main story quests in BotW, you're rewarded at the end with an additional cut-scene where Zelda says that they are going tothe Zora Kingdom, to, among other things, investigate why Divine Beast Vah Rutah has stopped working. Maybe that's the stinger for the sequel, and the first step towards whatever is going to happen that leads to TotK. Maybe Vah Rutah isn't the only Divine Beast which is going to stop working. Maybe, with no Malice nor Champions to keep them going, the Divine Beasts are all going to shut down one by one for ever. In that case, I could imagine them being dismantled to try and reverse engineer them.
Still, there clearly isn't a big time skip between BotW and TotK (5 years at most I would expect, given how much Riju has grown and the fact that Zelda and Link look pretty much identical as in BotW), so I can't imagine there being enough time to fully dismantle all the ancient Sheikah tech present on the surface at the end of BotW. So its absence in the TotK trailers is all the more intriguing.
I don't really have a theory here, just questions, as all theories I have are too full of holes and unknowns to be worth going through.
Personally, I'm very curious to see how much ancient Sheikah tech we are going to see in the new game, especially now that it seems Zonai tech is going to take centre-stage. Are they going to be able to interact somehow? Are the Divine Beasts completely gone? Do the new Skyview towers contain any special tech or are they just constructions of wood and cloth? What do you all think?
#zelda#legend of zelda#tears of the kingdom#loz#loz totk#totk#breath of the wild#loz botw#botw#totk countdown#own thoughts
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Do you think link would be offended that the yiga took over the shrine of resurrection? Or do you think he wouldn’t really care?
I mean it's canon (kinda?) that Zelda had all the sheikah tech, towers, and shrines dismantled, which kind of makes sense, the shrines are only useful as transport points but even then, that tech could've been reused and in the process of being placed in different locations. All that stuff just sitting there after its purpose has been served, with no calamity, there's no reason to have a bunch of guardians and shrines sitting around when their parts could be used for something better.
back to the question lol, I think that Link doesn't exactly like the shrine of resurrection and may have even helped take it apart himself, it seems like a place he would avoid. But I think even then, having the whole great plateau be swarming with Yiga unnerves him a little. It was his rebirth place, it's sacred, with the ruins of the temple of time and religious structures scattered around its grounds. It feels like a place that the Yiga should not be.
I don't think he would be offended, but I think it would tick him off more than the Yiga hiding in most other places. Especially when they're using Zelda's face and taking over the old man's cottage.
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Breath of the Wild snippet
Link is bored. It's a little startling how easy it's to see – how easy he's to read these days. Where before, hundred years ago, he'd been as unreadable as a brick wall, a look of serious determination as though permanently etched to his face, now he's an open book, covers flung wide. The serious frown still makes an appearance, of course, it's his default expression, Link's face simply rests in a way that makes him seem as though he's almost scowling, but now, should an emotion cross his mind… he does nothing to hide it.
Like now, as his attention strays and his eyes wander and every so often he smothers a sigh or a yawn or a longing look directed at the door. It's in part painfully and in part endearingly clear how little attention he's paying to their meeting, and how much he wishes he could be elsewhere.
Zelda smothers a smile and then realises she's allowed herself to be distracted, and quickly turns her attention back to the meeting taking place in Impa's house.
"... a little difficult to test," Purah is saying. She's sitting cross legged in the middle of the floor, her seat cushion abandoned and papers flung about her – most of them about her anti-aging rune. "I can't even promise the test subject will survive the process, never mind that it will work even fifty percent of the time... so finding people to volunteer has been an issue."
"What, no old folks interested in regaining their misspent youth?" Robbie asks with a slight snort, adjusting his goggles. "I'd happily test it, if my work wasn't too important to risk!"
Purah gives him a look. "Well, duh. Most folk are the same," she says and shakes her head. "And besides, the population and age statistics don't exactly trend towards the elderly these days. The average life expectancy of both Hylians and Sheikah both trend about forty years younger than it used to be pre-Calamity. And the only way for people to reliably grow old these days –"
"Is to have a family or other support network, helping them," Impa muses, rubbing at her chin. "Which means they have things too dear to lose, for an uncertain chance."
"Just so," Purah says and folds her little arms, adorable in her seriousness. "I did post queries around Hateno village, of course, but I only had a couple of takers, and they all turned tail when I explained the risks. And we can't improve the chances without further testing. And we can't do further testing without candidates. And we're not likely to get more candidates with the chances being what they are - it's a vicious circle."
By the door, Link looks ready to nod off.
Zelda hums, looking at the papers Purah had brought, conflicted. It's incredible work, just as a concept, and Purah hadn't just left it at theory – and the results certainly speak for themselves! Purah is now, what, hundred and twenty, hundred and thirty years old? And she looks as though she is a girl of six, with all that time ahead of her and not behind. If the technology could be made reliable, it would no doubt change the future in ways Zelda can scarcely imagine… for the better, she hopes, for all the people of Hyrule.
But right now, she has more selfish reasons to make enquiries into the rune.
Zelda looks at Impa, sitting on top of a pile of pillows, her weathered, aged face thoughtful. Their eyes meet and Zelda steels her resolve. "Might there be any potential candidates in Kakariko village, Impa?" she asks.
"Hmm. I doubt it. Young Zain, maybe?" Impa muses. "Well, he's not so young. He's in his seventies, he has bad knees and no surviving relatives to support or be supported by. Bit of a sour grape, that one, though. Sceptic. Hard to convince."
"I'm sure if the Lost Princess and the Hero who stopped Ganon ask for it, anyone would be happy to give it a go!" Robbie says, slapping his folded knees. "Especially if they learn what it's all for!"
Zelda smiles, wincing, and looks down. Using her standing for such a thing… sure she'd done things of that nature before, pleading people to join their cause, ages ago… but never with the risks so high, and potential results so uncertain. She'd never liked asking people to risk their lives, for her or otherwise. Even with a cause so important...
"It would be a somewhat awkward thing to ask, though," she muses and looks down. "It is an awkward thing to ask. I'm… I'm sorry to have to ask it of you."
After all this time, all these years, all the service they'd already put in, to ask for so much more of them… but she had to. No one woman could rebuild a kingdom by herself. She needed help, she needed allies – she needed Impa and Robbie and Purah. With such a foundation, Hyrule might yet rise, better than ever, but for that to ever happen… Impa and Robbie needed to go through what Purah already had, and extend their already prodigiously long lives even further. They all deserved their quiet retirement, after all the effort they'd put in, but for Hyrule, Zelda would make this cruel request.
"Ha!" Robbie says, striking a pose. "Like I wouldn't do this without being asked! As soon as Purah can improve the odds – no, as soon as we can improve the odds –"
"What's that, you old coot, what do you mean by we?" Purah depends, bouncing to her feet. "If you think I will let you ever into my lab, mister, you're sorely mistaken –!"
"If we work together, combine the efforts of Akkala and Hateno tech labs, we're sure to succeed! With Cherry's incredible computing power and your Stone –"
"Your creepy ancient furnace is getting nowhere near my Guidance Stone!"
Link startles awake at the noise they're making and Zelda smothers a giggle while Impa sighs.
"I will ask Paya to check in on Zain, maybe he will be interested," Impa says and shakes her head. "But it's still a small test study, with only two subjects. I'm sorry, Zelda – as much as I wish to do this, I am with Robbie on this. The chances are too low and I have too much to lose, right now. Paya is nowhere near ready to take over for me here. There needs to be more candidate's, first, and I don't know where we can get them. But," she hums and looks away. "There might be someone who does."
Link yawns and then freezes, finding all of them staring at him. Then, clearly baffled, he points at himself quizzically, and Zelda offers him a smile.
Impa chuckles. "You've been all over Hyrule now, Link – you've traveled farther than probably anyone has in a hundred years. Better than anyone, you know the state of her people. Do you think there is anyone out there who might be interested in Purah's study – in regaining their youth, even at a risk?"
Link scratches the back of his neck thoughtfully and then takes out the Sheikah Slate, opening the map with an easy, well practiced wipe of his fingers over the screen. Zelda leans in, once more amazed – and a little jealous – of how far he'd gotten with it, how full of markers the map is. Hundred years ago, she'd estimated that there might be as many as a dozen sites of ancient Sheikah technology all over Hyrule. Link had discovered over a hundred. They now glow on his map, like glittering blue gems, the Towers and Shrines he'd seen and mastered.
Link zooms in on the map and then puts down three other markers. One in Zora's domain, one in Gerudo Town and last in Lurelin Village. Turning the slate around, he shows the map to everyone.
"Of course," Zelda breathes in realisation. "The Guardians never reached so far, so their populations were never so scattered or scarred. In Zora's domain, in Gerudo Town and in Lurelin, people can grow old peacefully, without fear of attack."
Link makes a face and a wobbling gesture with his hand and then shrugs. Zelda smiles, sadly. "Aside from monsters and other disasters and misfortunes, of course," she agrees. "But without fear of attacks by Guardians, they were allowed to prosper."
"Not the Rito, though?" Robbie asks, his goggles whirting and shifting like the eyes of a gecko as he looks between the map, Link and Zelda. "Or the Gorons?"
Link shrugs, rubbing at his neck.
"Gorons age like rocks, Daruk always said," Zelda muses. "And I suppose with Rito it can be difficult to tell their ages. If we send out invitations to the study, we should include them as well – assuming that the treatment by the rune isn't Sheikah exclusive…?"
Purah rocks back and forth on her feet thoughtfully, almost as though she's about to dance. "I… don't know? I calibrated the first version based on my own physiology, so it might be best to stick to Sheikah and Hylians for a start – but I can't see why it couldn't be adjusted. Gerudo are closer in structure to us than Rito and Gorons, or Zora for that matter. Might be best we start there, when we begin making modifications to include everyone."
"So, begin with Lurelin," Robbie says and nods. "How do we do that?"
"We'll make some posters and Link can zip in and out of Lurelin Village to post them," Purah says and strikes a pose. "It's just a snap for the Sheikah Slate."
Impa hums in agreement. "Best we make advertisements for Kakariko and Hateno as well, and perhaps some of the stables," she muses. "You never know who might take us up on it, and getting this technology to work at hundred percent will be a benefit to everyone."
"You're right," Zelda agrees, nodding. "Purah and Robbie, I suppose you two know best what should go on the poster. Can you make it?"
"It'll work much better, with your name under it," Robbie points out.
"We'll write a draft and you can copy it and put your royal touch and seal to it," Purah says and does an excited little dance. "This is so exciting! We'll get so many applicants and my little Guidance Stone will get to do it's thing!"
Zelda offers her a smile, all the while wondering, not for the first time… how much of a royal she even is, at this point. With the castle in ruins and the Kingdom in shambles, with no one to rule it for a hundred years… all that Zelda is now... is a story. The Princess that went to fight Calamity Ganon as the Kingdom fell asunder all around her. Not many even believe it. That might change with this meeting and the following cooperation, especially when they'd begin reaching out further, but right now…
Princess of nothing indeed.
"So much was lost," Zelda murmurs, carefully resting her hands in her lap to keep herself from wringing them. She shouldn't concentrate on the losses. Not when there's so much to do. "It will be good to build something for a change. To improve things."
"Indeed," Impa says, nodding her head, her heavy hat tilting. "But if Calamity Ganon taught us anything, it is that we should take all due caution."
"Yes. And speaking of which," Zelda says and lifts her eyes to Robbie. "Your research in Akkala – I would very much like to hear more about it. Link showed me the armour and weaponry you made, they're very impressive – how did you manage it?"
Robbie all but launches himself into the story of Akkala Ancient Tech Lab, the research he'd done there, the progress he'd made, enthusiastically recounting the creation of his Ancient Furnace, Cherry. Zelda leans in, allowing herself to be drawn in, and by the door Link settles down with a sigh and begins nodding off again.
-
Hmm hmm. Took me 3 years, but I finally finished botw.
I might continue this one and it might end up a Stargate crossover. Who knows.
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so i sort of half accidentally did the end of totk on monday, i had over 130 hours and slightly over 50% of the game done and did the second to last fight with 3 hearts left and no way to heal but fairies after i gave up multiple times thinking the game might be trying to force me to fight a certain way xD
so im still playing it and am aiming for the 100% but i dont think theres gonna be much more to discover story wise
the game is really fun and has a lot of detail and love put into it that you can really see, the music is fantastic as well, some of the characters get more love which is great but the story is … well disappointing but not surprising, especially in its treatment of ganondorf, who still feels incredibly flat as a character, which was to be expected but also … you cant fault people (including me) for faintly hoping theyd do something more interesting tho i will say the end fight is really well done and i cant think of a way to top that in terms of epicness xD
anyway, some unfiltered thoughts and opinions in no particular order (keep in mind i know its viddy game logic uwu but still some things can really destroy the immersion; and also i like to think too hard about the stuff i care about so take this with a grain of salt, i never expected the story to be world changing but i want to remind you that i am criticizing it bc i love this franchise)
--what the hell happened to all the sheikah tech?? botws story gets mentioned a few times but never is it mentioned what happened to all the tons of tech lying around everywhere? if they dismantled the towers for purah to build her new ones around i guess thats fine, but all the srhines? the titans ??? THE SHRINE OF LIFE??? its all gone, esepcially the shrine of life irks me bc the cave is still there and its still called by its bame but its nothing but a cave in a vague shape of how the buidling was
it absolutely drives me crazy bc its so dumb?? even if it all stopped working for some reason why would you dismantled it all and even then where did the material go?? why would you dismanlted an neitre building like that anyway?? if you want to have a cave there just have it be half collapsed, if all sheikah tech has gotten useless just leave it there but overgrown??
and why is all of purahs tech still working then? zelda doesnt seem to care about it anymore either even tho shes been so obsessed with it for so long? the titans how would you even MOVE them??
you CANNOT tell me that all this tech that survived tens of thousands of years just went poof within a few years; and sometimes it even feels .. insulting? like you know how much robelo cared for cherry and now shes tiny and just serves as a way to buy fotos for your collection? the fact that the shrine of life is fully gone but the cave is vaguely shaped like its interior and where the bed used to be is a healing pool of water too? like idk if im just insane but it feels like 'haha lol remember what used to be here? get it? the water heals you like the bed in the shrine of life and lol there was the stairs HAHA remember? its gone now for no reason.lmao.'
to be clear i like having some mysteries and all but that is just …. so weird? when i discovered the shrine of life i was so taken aback i didnt know what to do, it really broke my immersion, by alot even, it just makes it feel even more like all sheikah tech was replaced by much cooler (tm) sonau tech
--what happend to the sonau people? we only know that rauru and mineru are the last two remaining ones back then but … what made them die out like that? this is by far not as important to me as the issue with the sheikah tech but still feels like a point that could have been mentioned
--as much as i like the open world and how free you are to do things your own way but, regardign the dragon tears i think they should have been locked more behind story progression, i got all of them rather early on and it made it a lil frustrating to play through the other story parts bc you know the truth but you cant tell anyone and everyone around you is acting like a dumbass running after fake zelda while the real one is floating around above you, and i know thats partly my fault for getting them all so early but it still felt like some could have been more well hidden or locked or something since theres no hint to when it would fit to do which one; i expecpted impa to travel to each one but it seemed like she appeared on only a few here and there- additionally i fully expected her to be more important, that she would have an actual involment trying to help zelda undragonfy but that turned out to be very wrong lmao
--why are the enemies in the underground mining sonanium? ganondorf didnt seem itnerested at all in any of their tech, only in the mystery stones (only one too, he didnt seem to want any more of them either) they dont use it for anything? at least the ones on the surface collected stuff they could eat or use for fighting?
--did mineru really build herself a robot body just to fight ganondorf for a bit and then leave? as the last of the sonau, even tho long dead too, why wouldnt she tell their history and knowledge or something and instead if just helping a lil in the fight and then go poof
(i half expected purah to be a surprise sage since the spirit one would have fit her i think)
--the zelda being the white dragon plot point lost alot of weight to me when it was just .. resolved like that in the end, i know she spent thousands of years like that and all but it seemed like a much heavier decision that later on felt a little less flat after fidning mineru even tho i felt like i didnt care at all at first bc of the way i found out ,and i half expected there to be an extra mission to try and find her soul again since that apparently gets lost when you do the whole dragon thing, but in the end that wasnt a problem at all, two ghosts and link (somehow naked again) blasting her with some magic(tm) and boom shes back and well and fine woohoo it was a non problem after all
i didnt expect her to stay dragon since that would mean the end of the legend of zelda basically, but still it took away alot of the weight of her decision to me? like i get undragonfying her before the end would be difficult since you can get material off of her but still i hoped for something other than boom it resolved itself and i thoguht and worried about it for nothing
honestly a post game or even another title where the main focus wouldnt be desstroying yet anyother one note evilest guy of them all and isntead the goal is to bring zeldas soul back and undragon her or something would have been a cool idea tbh tho i know its unrealistic
--did ganondorf think turning himself into a dragon would end the world somehow? did he mean the lil evil goo clouds he spit at you in the last fight to end the world? and how come that he was vunerable to fight? none of the other dragons could be hurt and for an 'immortal' dragon he sure went down fast
also how did the stone get back on his forehead? you need to eat it to dragonfy yourself and zelda doesnt have her stone out either (i know viddy games logic but still)
(on another note, gan shoving half his arm in his own mouth felt really cursed to watch)
--into WHAT exactly wanted gan to reshape the world into?? only destroying it is such a non reason if you want to rule it? theres nothing left to rule if you kill everything in it??
he just gonna play cards with some bokblins or what
-i really wanted to fight ganondorf on the surface, not in his lil miasma incubation cave again :(
--so …. why he evil? are we really doing the and WHOOP suddendnly theres the eviliest guy of the world and he hates your guts for some reason thing again? no tension with the gerudo that seemed to follow him in the lil cutscene we see and the ones that went on raurus side? no actual origin? does he have ANYONE to talk to normally or did he just surround himself by monsters all the time or abadon everyone that once followed him once he got his power up?? you can make any design or fight as good as it can possibly be but in the end its still gonna feel hollow if the character has no character besides evil
even the fake zelda wasnt actually him and just a lil puppet made of miasma so even him fucking with people is a little less interesting when he was actually just marinading in his lil goop cave, and the lil hand wink he gives you at phase two can only do so much lmao
--ganondorf is cool and all, but tbh he feels more like the evil miasma goop guy than anything else
--why are the old sonau ruins in hyrule so different from the rest? like we know now that they arent actually a civilization from the sky alone but were even in the underground too, and all of their ruins have that blocky white style to it, the supposedly sonau ruins in phirone for example, albeit they share the dragon theme the style on the outside is very much different? and the ancient ruins from the other races dont match it either
--are the sheikah descendants of the mixing of sonau and hylians? the white hair and third eye theme would fit to the only alive sonaus we see having white hair (fur?), the literal third eye and their affinity to techonology similar to the sheikah, and zelda having both light and time powers would make sense if its yet another descendant thing, but that would mean zelda was at least part sheikah .. (ngl white haired zelda might look pretty neat actually) but also … it didnt seem like sonia and rauru have been together all that long and no mention or even hint to them having children … which given that both of them die would be an important thing to mention no?
--why cant you do anything with the dongos but feed them????????? i wanna ride them :(
--where is kashiwa????????????????? they talk about him like hes a lost legend
--putting in all the amiibo stuff is cool and annoying at the same time, i spent 5 hours fighting my way throguh the underground to follow treasure maps and found 3 nigh identcal link hats from past games in a row, then two other parts of similar, then two aiimbo weapons and then jsut yesterday another one from a bigger quest that i expected more of; getting the armor sets of past games is cool if you want them but if i did i would have just gotten the amiibos back in botw, my inevntory already feels super bloated with all the new and old armor sets and now the amiibo stuff as well even tho i have like .. half of it all atm
(and dont go and argue 'oh so complaining about more content for free???' yes. yes i am.)
--whats with this game and making link almost naked? rauru saving you from death? naked. (annoying) survival shrines? naked. weird teleport to alternate ghost dimension to blast zelda with magic power tm to solve all problems? naked.
--(added in edit) im glad dorephan didnt die!! i fully expected him to have died offscreen or something to make way for everyones favorite fish
--(added in edit) so are definitely other lands besides hyrule if yona came from there, also lol
--the story feels, espeically once you see the last cutscene, very …. uncomfortable to me if dare to think about it more than just taking everythign as its said to you, like … the oh so perfect descednants of the gods(what) marry a normal hylian lady and sourround themselves with perfetly obedient faceless servants of the other races so the perfect and good kingdom tm is born and oh suddendly theres an evil brown man (makign him grey doesnt change the implications, if anything, it makes it worse bc they wont even stand for it and instead are trying to hide it behind uuuuh no no its fine hes blue actally kinda way) from the desert that attacks the perfect good kingdom and king, then he swears alliance to them only to betray and murder da queen right away to get his hands on a super power the perfect and good king held and would have never never used it in a bad way nono and now they need to defend it by all means and at the end woohoo zelda has now again the perfect kingdom with no opposition except the yiga who are (as much as i love them) mostly played for laughs or .. well, evil(tm)
as epic and cool the dragon fight was, zelda being the slim tiny white/gold/blue dragon and ganondorf being the evil spiky big black and red dragon and them literally being called white/black dragon feels like wow they arent even trying to hide the black and white storytelling huh (i know its a design trope to the bad be black(color) and the good anything else and spiky vs round and soft blah blah but that doesnt make it any better .. maybe even worse? idk)
the way nintendy was keeping stuff a secret and hinting around so much made me feel like it would finally be a little more nuanced and then it turned out to be even flatter than before and all that secrecy(?) was only to keep dragon zelda plotpoint a secret, something that was resolved no problem in the end anyway (i didnt need zelda to stay dragon but .. it all just lost so much weight the way it was done at the end)
-- (added in edit) master koga is the best character and no one can beat him, the most joy i felt was seeing him again and i am not joking, i wish i could talk to him normally tho without him being able to see through my yiga disguise :(
im so glad he didnt die tho bc if he actually went to gan he would 100% be dead within seconds
--(added in edit2) i forgot to mention but was just reminded that link getting his arm back felt super weird too, so really everything that meant major changes got reversed basically ... coool ...back to status quo i guess, couldnt he if he wasnt missing it at least have it be discolored somehow? or scarred? any reminder? zelda too even, could she also have some sort of scar or similar due to her transformation ??
--(added in edit2) so where did the mystery stones even come from? gans and zeldas are gone after dragonfying i guess so ...what?
so in summary, im not eloquent enough to properly analyse all the problematic/questionable stuff and put it into the right words, but these are my random thoughts just spilled out, theres gonna be things i missed, forgot, or gonna think about later, maybe ill add it maybe not
again take it with a grain of salt, the game is still one of the most fun games i have ever played, my problems with it lie majorly in the story, its still very much worth playing!
#ganondoodles talks#long post#totk spoilers#totk spoiler#totkspoilers#at least i havent seen the botw gerudo outfit yet#maybe one evil was defeated after all#to be clear i havent seen all of it yet#i have 72 shrine atm and am missing alot of colletibles still#but i wanted to write out my thoughts so maybe they will stop bothering me this much#but all this being said#i am now more then ever confused about being told that something about my hylia design was -correct- before totk released#bc all i can think of is sonia being mistaken for hylia?#and even then what .... is their similarity??#man was i anxious about the game when it was just like referenceing stuff#like gan being called the demon king and all and the war being called the sealing war#i feel so dumb about everything now lmao
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I’ve been meaning to make a review about Breath of the Wild for a while, but at least wanted to wait until after I finished the shrines.
SCREW. THAT.
I’m gonna just say it up front; it’s not one of my favorite Zelda games. I mean, yeah, I have a personal history with Majora’s Mask, but that’s not the only thing. I’ll start at the beginning, under the cut. Cause this is gonna be long-winded.
I’m not gonna make a lot of complaints about how it sucks in comparison to Ocarina of Time or make too many mentions about the timeline issue, cause we all know that it was bullshit since the moment they said anything. But there are just...so many things that bother me.
I will say that Breath of the Wild has a lot of great thing going for it and it’s easy to be impressed when you first sit down to play it. The graphics are gorgeous and the voice acting was done very well. There are so many wonderful little bits of lore, call-backs, and even general mechanics of the game that just made everything amazing. (I was so fucking excited to jump without running off a ledge.)
However...there was a lot of the story itself that bothered me. Not to mention a few other things. One of which, was the music. Or....serious lack thereof.
One of the things I loved the most about Zelda, was the music in nearly every game. Background music is very essential in making up the environment of any level. From your typical fire temple, to underwater, to creepy ghost town. And for Zelda, it wasn’t even just that, but that song itself had a large to-do with a lot of the lore and story. Song tells others you have something to do with the Royal Family. It changes the universe around you. It soothes the dead. Not just in Ocarina of Time either. So it was really weird to...not have any of that in Breath of the Wild.
Yeah, we have some soundtrack but..it felt so..threadbare. When you go into a shrine/town/battle, I barely register the music. Walking through the open field...nothing. When I’m galloping on the Lord of the Mountain, the fast-paced piano feels more high-tech than race-horse and makes me feel uneasy about a guardian lurking nearby. Then when you DO face a guardian, or any mini-boss of a monster, it gets so fucking intense, so damn fast, I was worried about challenging a Hinox for the longest damn time. (Geez, I felt stupid for that after I realized how easy they were to beat.) Everything just felt...off. And it was weird that you didn’t have to repeat any song 10 fucking times. I mean, yeah, I was really sick of Elegy of Emptiness after going through the Stone Tower in Majora’s Mask, but I’ll listen to the 50th remix of Song of Storms. It was like...one of the few things that kept the whole timeline thing connected. It was that there was always a harp, there was always a song, there was just...something that connected us to the higher powers. And it’s kinda cool for a game to give something like music, so much power.
But I’ll stop bitching about that and get to my real problem. The story.
Now the basic crux of it, I’m fine with. They attempted to beat Ganon, failed, and had to pay the price 100 years later. Cool. That’s interesting. A nice premise. But gosh DAMN if the details don’t fucking trip me up! Let’s run through this chronologically.
Okay so Zelda, being the nerdy princess that she is in this life, discovers that yeah, they reincarnate every several hundred years and beat an evil known as Ganon. There’s supposed to be her, the physical embodiment of the goddess Hylia, and Link, a young knight sworn to protect her. Hooray, self-awareness.
Apparently, she also discovers that, what was it? 1,000 years ago, the Sheikah... the shadow people who are skilled ninjas that protect the family...built 120 shrines, robots, and massive weapons of terrible destruction...just to help beat this one guy that two kids and a magic sword handles on a regular basis. Actually no, I shouldn’t just say it’s two kids and a magic sword.
It’s a knight with a magic sword, three pendants, six sages, and the final seventh sage (aka the fucking goddess-child) that defeat the Evil.
It’s already upsetting enough that the Sheikah are stupidly advanced in technology (cause ancient magic tech from the gods is always the way to go...), and that the 1,000 year span makes the whole timeline thing confusing as FUCK (even if it is in the broken world timeline), but that they just...do that. They just fucking dissed the fucking premise for like, so many of the games. You find three pendants/orbs/stones/things, the master sword, six sages, and then help Zelda. Thanks for reducing everything else to nothing. Thanks for making 6 sages fucking nobodies. And yeah, I’m gonna harp on that.
One of the things that was nice about Ocarina of Time is that the 6 Sages became one from each race. In Link to the Past, it was the descendants of 6 powerful wizards. In Wind Waker, it was at least the last 2 other species left alive after the whole flooding incident (cause those three gorons are gonna fucking die and I wanna cry thinking about it). It just...it made sense.
So why. The fuck. ARE WE RELYING ON ONLY THESE FOUR????
We still have the Sheikah and the Koroks. What, just cause Impa’s old now? Cause the Korok’s are tiny as fuck? That never stopped anything before. We could’ve had Purah, or Paya take up the mantle. If size was an issue, how about Hetsu? Koroks can choose their shapes and try to put on brave faces. Saria was willing to help with the fight. Makar was willing to go through a whole temple to help. I don’t see what makes this generation a bunch of pussies! What the great and all-knowing fucking Sheikah just..FORGOT about the other sages???
Like, don’t get me wrong. Again, there’s a lot of good. I wouldn’t say gorons would be my favorite race but dammit I love Daruk and I love his grandson. They’re just sweet and adorable as fuck. (and I have a weakness for soft-hearted big-guys. ^//^) I’m glad they fixed the Rito’s appearance (though I hate Rivali’s fucking attitude). I liked their stories and their powers. But you could’ve at least rounded it out to be EVERYBODY. And further more, as great as it was to see their spirits put to rest, it doesn’t make a lot of sense for ghosts to pilot giant robots. It could’ve made a bit more sense for maybe the later generations to take up the mantle and help out. (Since that’s what a lot of them seem to imply.) It would’ve been kinda cool to go through the Divine Beasts with the Next Gen and let them help us fight the blights and let them take control.
Also on a fashion note: WHY THE FUCK IS EVERYTHING BLUE?? Thanks for dissing Farore. I guess she wasn’t a very important Goddess! Certainly not the one that LINK correlates to. Yeah, I get it, he’s supposed to get his signature outfit later, but I’m gonna get back to that problem in a bit. You could’ve at least kept the design and made it fucking GREEN.
Cause yeah, I get it, it was supposed to signify their unity and shit and that’s great and all, but BLUE had a purpose and that was WISDOM. Link isn’t WISDOM. He’s COURAGE. That was the whole rite of passage thing in Wind Waker!
Also, Zelda. Zelda, babe. Hon.
Zelda... What the FUCK ARE YOU WEARING???
Like, DAMN girl’s got hips for DAYS but do we really need the thicc shown in fucking leggings?? I mean, okay, her normal princess outfit is fine. Would’ve liked it to be a liiiiitle more traditional, but whatever. You look the part. And her normal adventure outfit is...okay?? It doesn’t look very practical nor comfortable for travels so it seems a little weird?? It just looks really uncomfortably tight and really draws attention to the thighs. But see, it’s the fucking Goddess getup that I have the most problems with.
Like, I’m just gonna start with saying that she looks fucking pregnant.
The empire waist wasn’t a good choice, especially cause she’s already just so damn thicc. And then you mix it with a sleeveless top and you have these fucking layers that just exaggerate the hips in the most unflattering way possible. I’m not saying she needs to look sexy but for a goddess, she could’ve looked more elegant? I’m sure with some kinda alterations, this would’ve looked great, or maybe on a different body, but like! I don’t like the dress for Skyward Sword either but at least she looks more goddess-like than this! (and that was a VERY boring dress...) She looks like Ariel putting on that sail cloth when she turned human. I mean, she could’ve had like, three-quarter sleeves with a v-neck or sweetheart neckline and then let the skirt flare out with the Hylian buckle around the waist. But this looks.. it just looks uncomfortable. I wouldn’t wanna practice goddess magic in this either.
So aside from forgetting about important races and a lack in fashion design, then you move on with the story. So since Zelda’s such a nerd and cause she lost her mother when she was younger, I guess that means I should feel sorry for her long-ass struggle with her goddess powers but um... I’m not. I don’t feel sorry for this woman. I just feel annoyed. I feel very annoyed every time I run all over Hyrule, trying to find these fucking memories, only to get five minutes of her bitching at US for her own failure.
Link is a soldier. And on top of that, he’s burdened with the heavy duty of carrying the Master Sword. HE is the one who has to fight Ganon. And instead he just runs around escorting Princess Twilight Sparkle while she geeks out over learning and frogs and then insults him, yells at him, and pushes him away from doing HIS FUCKING JOB. Unlike her, LINK IS DOING HIS JOB. I don’t blame him for shutting the hell up while she bitches and cries. I’m gonna side with Zelda’s father on this one, she found out about the prophecy, but SHE NEEDS TO DO HER JOB. Not for the sake of reputation (which seemed unusually dickish for him to say....) but because that’s her damn job. Everyone else knew what it meant to be a soldier. They knew when to dig in their heels and get ready to fight. WHY. DIDN’T. SHE?? Or at least why didn’t we see her trying like she kept talking about?? Yeah we saw her pray to ONE FUCKING FOUNTAIN. And it wasn’t even supposed to be her damn goddess! The whole mess wouldn’t have happened if she had just SHUT THE HELL UP and thought about someone else besides her own problems.
Also, if you were gonna show the tender moment where she finally does unleash her powers, maybe you SHOULDN’T make that a “secret ending” after you run around and try to guess where the rest of the memories were based on poor-quality pictures. And yeah, Zelda. you took a lot of shoddy pictures with that damn tablet. HOW ARE WE SUPPOSED TO DIFFERENTIATE ONE FOREST FROM A THOUSAND OTHERS??
Maybe I would’ve felt more sorry if I didn’t have to climb through a fucking castle full of guardians, avoid tripping the cut scene, and THEN read in a long-ass diary about her mother dying, but you know, that just didn’t happen. I don’t feel sorry for her. I don’t feel excited for her to unleash her powers. Actually, I’m rather sad that despite the games being called “Legend of Zelda”, I REALLY didn’t wanna focus on THIS incarnation of her. The idea of it would’ve been fucking fantastic, but did Nintendo really have to make her such a whiny bitch?
Okay okay okay. Now before you send me hate mail, I will point out some things I like about her. She had a nice voice. She was cute (in a good outfit). And she wasn’t a total bitch. It was a good idea for Nintendo to try to focus on the titular character for once. I just don’t see this excusing all the other problems though.
Moving on, I mentioned earlier how I hated Rivali. That was the understatement. I am so glad he fucking died at the hands of one of the easiest damn bosses. I know some people may have liked him but I can’t stand ego. It’s an immediate turn-off and the sad part is that he had a sexy design and voice. He could’ve been redeemable if he showed some kinda humility after being dead for 100 years, but no. They just...didn’t give him that. Not willingly at least. Again, this is where I would’ve LOVED the next generation to take up the mantle instead, but... Yeah. No. We didn’t get that. (And I swear he was jealous that Link had Mipha and Zelda’s affections. Especially Zelda’s.)
Urbosa was good, but I felt like we didn’t get to know her personality too much? And the same goes for her grandchild. Also even though the Gerudo are known for hating men, they HAVE accepted men into their clans before. What happens if these women marry?? They have to leave town? Link was genuinely accepted as one of the Gerudo in OoT and was free to walk around! And that was just for debunking their strongest warriors. BotW!Link saved the whole fucking town, saved one from dehydration and another’s husband, and is a renowned champion! You think that would give him a get-out-of-jail free card!
I already talked about how I liked Daruk cause he’s definitely a strong leader and a gentle-soul. I do like the Goron City but it feels a little weird how....corporate they became. I mean, it makes sense. They can make a good profit from the gems they harvest but it’s still a little weird considering how tribal and relaxed the gorons were before. Still, they were a cute bunch and I really liked going to Goron City again.
And Mipha was sweet and I really loved her one-sided relationship with Link. I felt really sad thinking about Sidon growing up without his sister and I see why everyone shipped him with Link. Sidon himself was pretty good but....personal preference dictates that a super excited, extroverted, supportive type...doesn’t suite me. Don’t get me wrong. He’s very sweet and cute and I can see why a lot of fangirls were into him. It’s just the over-exuberant extrovertedness that gets to me. Also I was really surprised that this game made the ZORAS racist, out of all of them. I mean like, fucking damn... I know your princess died but fuck! Finally, last note, I...really didn’t care for their designs. I know the Zoras have been through a hell of a lot of redesigns over the years and they’ve certainly improved, but I think Ocarina of Time’s era was just enough of Fish and Human to make it a good hybrid? Rather than making...a shark..humanoid...with another shark...on his head?? And somehow related to a whale??? With a...manta ray...for an advisor.. I mean, I get it, he was suppose to look old, but it’s literally just a stingray on his head.
I liked Hetsu too, though collecting korok seeds is kinda annoying. I hate it when games make you have to gather more for just one thing, it’s just..not a fun mechanic to have? And the koroks themselves are still cute, though it’s taken me a while to accept that they replaced my beloved Kokiri and Dekus. (I only had OoT/MM growing up, so when I finally played Wind Waker as an adult, yeah I was pretty upset about the change in the species.) I still wish they had a bigger role to play in all of this.
Lastly, Ganon had a pretty great design, though it was a little weird he was like...semi-solid for this game. Like.. What? What was with all the...”malice”? (Which is an actual word, guys. You could’ve called it something besides that...) I really liked how he merged himself with the technology and it was interesting that he was controlling the guardians, but honestly when she said “Given up incarnation” I was a little disappointed he still went by Ganon cause you know... His original form wasn’t called Ganon. It was called Demise. Also for having a giant smoke-pig with a huge gaping mouth hovering around the castle, it would’ve been a little more interesting for him to...still retain that when you walked in? But design aside, fighting Ganon wasn’t actually all that hard after you freed the Divine Beasts and it’s...a little disappointing. I mean, I’m running around, fighting lynels and dragons and guardians and really, I had more trouble with THOSE than I did with HIM. And that’s REALLY disappointing when Ganon is the long-standing Ultimate Bad Guy (tm) and I was REALLY looking forward to feeling more accomplished beating him than I did when I beat a silver-maned lynel.
Finally some last complaints:
I wish the Sheikahs didn’t have their hands in everything. Who said that THEY should determine who Goddess Hylia’s chosen hero should be? Why were THEY the advanced race when you have one that harvests iron on a regular basis? And I hate that they don’t have any actual temples cause one of the things I liked about the whole thing is that there was a running religion and the Sages and Temples actually had some significance? Even though it’s pointless, I like history and archeological search in a game, even if I’m the only one doing it for my own amusement, cause it just helps me to connect more to the world that I’m playing in but I don’t get that when I walk into a weird-ass abyssal room with small puzzles or fights.
Also there are seriously WAY too many fucking shrines. None of them make any sort of callback to old games. The spirit orb system is confusing cause if that’s a callback to Skyward Sword, then at least say it was by Link’s own doing and not these dead monks that have been preserved in suspended animation for 100 years. Why didn’t Link do the shrines to start with 100 years ago? Also I HATE that you have to collect 4 spirit orbs for hearts or stamina. I mean, we all know stamina sucks, but this just making it REALLY obvious? And seriously it was so fucking easy to die early on into the game, especially if you ran out of stamina or were still fumbling with the new controls.
Why didn’t he ask more questions in this game? If you have voice acting, why didn’t you actually give Link any dialogue? I think that would’ve made a stronger impact for Zelda to get her powers or something.
Seriously the three dragons bug the shit out of me. I know they were supposed to represent the goddesses and it was really cool to first come across them and shit but 1) it’s really hard to keep up with any of them. 2) they don’t really add anything to the plot. 3) was Zelda supposed to pray to a dragon?? 4) Did the dragons from Skyward Sword just like...de-evolve? (devolve?) Cause they spoke and wore clothes??? Why didn’t these??? 5) (and this goes to Skyward Sword too) why is the one who represents the fucking forests, you know, FARORE, have lightning powers? I think Pokemon already took the cake with mythical creatures representing Fire, Ice, and Lightning. This would’ve been better with Fire, Water, and Grass, y’know?
I fucking cringe looking at the map cause it feels like so much it just out of place... Like, how do you move a whole Forest from the south to the north? Why is the volcano moved like, way far to the back? The WHOLE Lake Hylia was moved like, so far from the original spot. Really the only things that stayed in place was Hyrule Castle and Gerudo Desert.
Also don’t give us giant skeletons and then NOT ACTUALLY EXPLAIN WHAT THEY REALLY ARE. Leviathan is not just a blanket term for Giant-Ass-Monster. Was that the Dodongo King at the volcano? The Sky Dragon from Skyward Sword?? What the fuck froze to death? Why was that and the one in the desert more similar the one at the fucking volcano??
Seriously your mini bosses shouldn’t be harder than the Ultimate Bad Guy. The blights were harder and I especially had trouble with the lynels and guardians. And seriously WHY was there a fucking guardian on the fucking Plateau?? I was fucking terrified of these killer robots and it’s seriously unfair that I barely ever get any proper armor or shields to deal with them! Also seriously, why did there have to be a whole graveyard of them right underneath a stupidly challenging maze??
Also I don’t mind teleporting everywhere in a game, but when there’s literally secrets over every last inch of this game (from shrines to korok seeds to weapons, food, and needed pictures) it gets REALLY boring to travel on foot. Especially when climbing mountains in freezing conditions. I mean, I love that it’s so open-world and I love that we get to go exploring whatever we want, but there are a few problems with that. The other being that it’s hard to follow the plot of a game when you hardly have any reason to go do it or to follow any intended order. I did Rivali last, not because I wanted to, but because I didn’t bother to explore that side of the map until it was all that was left. I WISHED SOMEONE SAID SOMETHING EARLIER IN THE GAME CAUSE THE GALE WOULD’VE HELPED TREMENDOUSLY.
Finally I swear someone on the staff has a giant fetish, and not that there’s a problem with that? But can we have ONE game where the Great Fairies aren’t horrifying to look at?? Like, if some people like it, fine, I guess? But gosh damn these bitches just look so GAUDY. There’s too much glittering, there’s too much...just too much everything. Also you should be able to up all your armor, not just a few things? It would’ve been awesome to walk around as Shadow Link and have it upped to be at least decently protective.
Okay.. I think I’m done complaining. Now I’ll stop my own bitching and actually give the game its proper praise.
The game does have some amazingly gorgeous graphics and it blows me away every fucking time. When it does want to intimidate you, it does so very well. And so many things were designed so well. Despite earlier complaints, I love how the dragons were designed to vary from one to another. I love how all the baddies were designed. I love the large array of wardrobe that you get for Link and it’s so much fun to change his looks and dye them different colors. (though, again, you should be able to dye the Champions tunic to GREEN.)
Some of the characters were fun and had some great personalities. I liked the bits of lore this game generated. I also loved whatever small callbacks it did make (like mentioning Naboru, and Makar’s island). I liked that you could catch and ride so many things and it’s fun that there’s a motorcycle (I haven’t unlocked that yet, but I’m sure it’ll be fun ^^). It was fun exploring different worlds within this game and just really see some of these beloved races expand and grow and see how the world is affected by such an apocalypse.
I like hunting for your food and surviving that way rather than random hearts coming out of the grass. The whole sense of survival is pretty awesome and thrilling. It’s fun to discover things in this world and it’s fun to just go around, explore, and make up your own adventure. (I just wish there was a bit more guiding for the story...)
Some of the reactions in this game are so much fun. Like walking up to people naked, or riding the Lord of the Mountain to any stable. Actually that entire story about the Lord of the Mountain is really sweet and heartwarming. But the actually dialogue that’s written into this game is really fun and pretty spot-on.
I really liked the side mission of buying your own(old?) house and creating an entire village from the ground up. It was such a sweet side-story to the whole thing and was a lot of fun to to. The other side mission of helping the korok through the woods was super cute. ^^ It was little moments like these that really did make me enjoy the game. And I did like being able to stumble into Zelda’s room or study and read about her life in the past, seeing her figure out Link and such.
And the challenges of conquering the Divine Beast was actually fun, but again, would’ve liked a bit more direction. Actually getting through this game was kinda fun, but it was easy for the magic to get sapped out of everything with stupid shit.
Overall, I wouldn’t say this was the worst Zelda game. Heaven know Skyward Sword did much worse. It could’ve been better though and that’s what really makes me sad. I was really looking forward to playing something new and amazing, especially having just finished Wind Waker for the first time before it and was honestly, disappointed after the magic of the new features wore off. It wasn’t the best. But it wasn’t the worst. It just really needed some work on in a few areas. Over all I would rate it 7/10.
#Zelda#Legend of Zelda#Breath of the Wild#Link#Zoras#Gorons#Rito#Gerudo#Sidon#Mipha#Urbosa#Rivali#Daruk#Ganon#Triforce#Din#Farore#Nayru#Hylia
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Here it is! The final chapter of The Hero of Hyrule, a SidLink fanfic. This is more of an after story than everything but if you want to read the whole fic in its entirity then click on the link above!
Since this chapter is so long (11k+ words!) I’m only posting part of it on Tumblr, as a sort of excerpt. The chapter alone can be found here. (Another link will be provided at the end as well so don’t worry) Enjoy!
Summary: Link worries about the future of Hyrule since no Princess with the blood of the Goddess Hylia is around. To get his mind off of things he goes out and takes care of a Lynel problem for Bludo up at Death Mountain. However after a fatal accident leaves four kids stranded near the Eldin Great Skeleton with a powerful Lynel closing in on them, Link does what any knight would do and soon gets four answers to his problem.
"You shouldn't let the gossip get to you, my dear." Sidon hummed as he placed every single piece of jewelry away for the night. "You and I both know that there is no possible way for us to conceive a child, especially not a child with the divine blood of the goddess Hylia." Link grunted rather loudly and continued to, rather violently, polish the savage lLynel crusher he had managed to snag out of the hands of the silver beast. The weapon was already spotlessly clean, Link could see his own upset reflection staring right back at him, but he still continued rubbing it with the rag in his hand.
"Link," Sidon sighed and sat besides his husband, "Wasn't it you that had reassured me that the Goddesses had a plan for the next goddess blooded princess? I seem to recall you rolling your eyes and waving my own worries away while stating that you had complete faith in the Three Golden Goddesses. Now its a year later and you hear one person mention the fact that there is "no heir and no mortal Goddess" and suddenly you're throwing all faith out the window!" The Hylian King stopped his cleaning and crossed his arms, looking away from Sidon.
"I don't like to see you this upset. Especially not over something so small and so...fixable." The giant Zora Prince wrapped an arm around Link and pulled him closer. When Link didn't respond to the affection Sidon sighed and stood up before picking Link up from under his arms, much like how someone would pick up a small animal or child. The Hylian King glared at Sidon but Sidon merely smiled back. "Cheer up, my pearl. The Goddesses have not let us down once, I'm quite certain they won't let us down now. Besides," the zora prince brought his spouse closer and placed a gently kiss to his lips, "Such a heartbreaking expression should never make its home on your beautiful face." Link blushed darkly and attempted to keep his upset face but it didn't last long. Soon he was smiling and looking at anything besides Sidon so his smile wouldn't grow.
"You're cheating you know." Link signed as his Zora husband set him back down onto the bed. "Using your smooth talk to get me to feel better is considered cheating and you should feel rather ashamed of yourself."
"Now why should I? You yourself have said that in battle you must use everything you can to win. No holding back." Link couldn't argue with that logic.
The rest of the night was spent in bed, the two of them talking about anything they could think of. Link's hair had grown back to where he could have a pony tail again, Sidon had learned more and more about his ancestors with Hyrule Castle's extensive library (he had learned that the zoras of old had used their arm fins as some sort of weapon which was pretty cool, he wished to see if it was still possible), Link had to go up to the Eldin Tower Region to speak with Bludo about some odd increase of Lynels in the area, and Sidon was to meet with Riju to catch up with her. When their small talk had returned to the more serious topic of whether or not they would ever have a goddess blooded child Sidon sighed, pulled Link close and kissed his forehead. He reminded the King that everything would work out. He had to have faith.
"Although," Sidon mumbled a moment after convincing Link that everything would work out, "It would be nice to have a child." He leaned over and put out the light of their bed-side candle before snuggling closer to his husband and continuing. "It would be a dream to raise a child- or even children- with you, my love. Anyway, sweet dreams." Sidon closed his eyes and sighed contently. Link, however, did not close his eyes and to sleep soundly. Instead the Hylian King was now more awake than ever, panicking slightly. Now he knew for a fact that Sidon wanted a children (or children) and Link wasn't about to let his husband down.
-
"We've been seeing Lynels a lot lately, Goro." Yunobo mumbled as he walked Link through the entrance of Goron City. "It's gotten kind of scary to be honest...I-I know that I have Lord Daruk's shield power but...still. Lynels are fierce monsters, Goro!" Link nodded, adjusting his crown. He decided to not wear the usual fireproof suit one would wear if visiting Death Mountain. Instead he chugged about three fireproof elixirs and deemed himself good to go. "These Lynels..." Yunobo continued, rubbing the back of his neck, "I dunno. They're...scarier. They look like they're a different color but Boss says it's just the, uh, "fire in the air". I don't believe him, Goro. Somethings kind of off. But then again that's what you're here for!"
"Don't worry." Link signed. "I'll fix the problem. Lynels are a piece of cake." The young Goron smiled and thanked his friend, offering him a word of encouragement before finally pointing him in the direction of the Goron Boss, Bludo. Link hurried over, wanting to resolve the issue as soon as possible. Bludo explained the situation, all around the outskirts of Death Mountain there have been multiple reports of Lynel sightings. Bludo estimated a total of six Lynels surrounded the area, mostly silver ones. There was one, however, that people thought to be a weird yellow sort of color. Bludo stated that he believed it was probably the fiery air of Death Mountain making it look like that since that particular Lynel happened to be closer to the volcano than the rest. Link nodded, thanked Bludo for the information, and got straight to work.
Normally this would be a job for the soldiers trained to handle these overpowered monsters but Link didn't want to risk anything. So many Lynels...he didn't think even the best of his soldiers could handle six Lynels. Plus Link missed the adventure.
He headed to the stable that rested at the foot of the Eldin Region and asked the stable manager of people that had gone out during the night (to keep an eye out for them, just in case). The manager reported that only a small group had gone. Two hylian adults and four children. But they had left early yesterday evening and were heading towards the hot springs located behind the mountain. That was a relief.
He got on with his task, visiting Robbie's Tech Lab to purchase a few ancient arrows (Robbie only allowed Link to buy three, he spouted something about upgrading the arrows so he needed as many as possible) before beginning his search for the Lynels.
It was easy work. Within an hour Link had found and defeated one silver Lynel without trouble. He continued his search, using the weapons Sidon had given to him when he first proposed as well as some other ones Link has been hoarding since he first woke up from the Shrine of Resurrection. When he defeated the fifth silver Lynel most of his weapons were broken and useless. No matter. He had all three ancient arrows. The last beast would be the fastest to kill.
He spent a good two hours searching for the final foe and so far he had no luck. He checked and double checked his Sheikah Slate, making sure the tracking for Silver Lynels was on, and attempted "activate the animal instincts" he supposedly developed while traveling alone. Nothing happened.
Link was beginning to lose hope. Perhaps someone had already defeated the last Lynel? That was unlikely but it wasn't impossible. He continued his search. He reached the point where there was rocks mixing in with ruins of old villages. Hardened lava made up the ground and a cliff leading to certain death was in eye sight. Still, he saw no sign of a Lynel and decided that maybe getting up on higher ground would help. So he begun climbing the mountain side and carefully jumped from ledge to ledge, keeping an eye out for any sign of the monster.
A screech pierced through the air and Link looked around wildly in search of the source. Just in front of the Eldin Great Skeleton was a small group that Link only assumed to be the ones who had left the day before. They were backing away from an usually large Lynel (nearly twice as big as any silver one) with weird gold skin.
Link began sprinting down the side of the mountain, pulling out his bow and ancient arrows. One of the two hylian adults was injured and on the ground, trying their best to drag themselves away from danger. The other adult had pushed the crowd of children behind them, shield up. The Lynel raised its gigantic crusher and just as the injured hylian prepared for the worst, the other dove and raised the shield in a feeble attempt to deflect the weapon.
The monster didn't even hesitate to swing and knock both hylians off the side of the cliff and to both their dooms.
Another loud shriek was heard and the Lynel focused on the group of four children. Link began running even faster. He jumped off a small ledge and aimed in midair he aimed and shot the ancient arrow.
It had no affect.
Link's heart sank. The beast didn't even seem bothered by the fact that it was just hit by an arrow. The children continued backing up as the Lynel slowly went forward. He was nearly there. Nearly there...
The monster's pace quickened as it raised it crusher once more. Just a little farther.
Link hastily yanked the Sheikah Slate off of his hip, running faster, and quickly pressed on the stasis option. He aimed the Slate and pressed it once more. The Lynel was frozen in time but only for a short while. When the stasis wore off and the golden beast turned to look at what caused his momentary stop, Link was already there. With the strength of Lord Daruk, the tiny hylian king successfully tackled the monster to the ground. Not a second later and Link had stood up once more, ran to the frightened children, scooped all four of them up into his arms and began sprinting towards the skull of the Eldin Great Skeleton. Once they were safely hidden from the Golden Lynel, Link got a good look at the kids. The eldest looked like a Gerudo, she carried a baby Goron in her arms and holding onto both of her arms was a silver Zora and a blue feathered Rito.
"Stay here." Link said as he handed the shield to the Zora child. Before any of them could respond Link had already pulled out his sword and was sprinting towards the enraged Lynel. He already knew that this monster would probably impossible to beat, if it didn't instantly disintegrate when hit with an ancient arrow then a sword wouldn't do any damage.
Link dodged a swing of the giant crusher and got an idea. If Link couldn't hurt the monster with his weapons, maybe the Lynel's own weapons would be enough to hurt it. It would be risky, so very risky, but he had to deal with this monster before anyone else got killed.
Link dodged again, pulled the Slate off of his hip and froze the Lynel for a split second before unfreezing him and snapping his fingers. The lighting struck the golden monster and it dropped its over-sized weapon to the ground. The Hylian King ran to the crusher and froze the Lynel once more before picking up its weapon. It was admittedly heavy, but the adrenaline of the battle gave Link that extra bit of strength. He began hitting the frozen beast like crazy and once the stasis wore off, the Lynel was flying off the edge of the ground and down into the chasm where its earlier victims lay dead. The battle was over and Link's adrenaline was gone.
The four children watched the hold thing, heads poking out the side of the giant skull. Link took a moment to catch his breath before he walked back to the four kids, dragging the Lynel's weapon behind him.
"That...was so cool!" The silver-scaled Zora girl exclaimed, running towards Link. "The way you just-just tackled it!! Then you used lightning!! And you froze it!! And you used its own weapon to-to smack it dead!!" Link smiled. "Oh! I'm Cilia! That's Nanju." She pointed to the Gerudo who was clutching a Goron baby in her arms. "The little Goron she's carrying is Derun. And he," She pointed to the Rito boy, "is Areli."
"You're...the King." Nanju asked, tilting her head. Link nodded again. "Thank you. For saving us."
"Anytime." The Hylian King took his shield back from Cilia, patting her head. "I'm just sorry I couldn't save your parents."
"Those two," Areli sighed, "weren't our parents. Just a couple of delusional hylians that got too excited at the idea of looking like the kingdom's heroes for collecting orphans and finding them homes." The Rito boy shrugged before speaking again. "But they did offer us food and protection for a short while so I suppose their death is somewhat tragic." The other two solemnly nodded in agreement. Link blinked and rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.
"Right, well...I suppose I should take you all...uh, to the springs? I was informed by the Foothill Stable manager that you all were going there."
"Yes, in hopes of finding a home for Derun but none of the Gorons there wanted to adopt him. They brought us too look at the skeleton and cheer us up." Nanju sighed. "Now we have no where else to go." Link thought for a moment. He supposed he could take them all with him to Hyrule Castle while he finds suitable caretakers.
"I hope you don't mind the long trip to the Central Tower Region because I'm bringing you all to the Castle with me." Link took Derun from Nanju's arms and held onto him, beginning to walk.
"What?!" Cilia's tail flapped happily as she ran besides Link. "We get to stay in the Castle?! With you?! And Prince Sidon!! Will I meet him??" Link smiled and nodded.
"Will we really get to stay in Hyrule Castle?" Nanju's eyes practically sparkled at the idea of getting to stay in such an extravagant castle after spending so much time in cold caves and makeshift tents.
"Of course." With his free hand Link unhooked his Sheikah slate again and opened up the map. "I usually travel by shrines. I can get anywhere in Hyrule with the Sheikah Slate. Up until a few months ago I couldn't bring anyone else along because it only worked for the, uh, "chosen hero", but Robbie and Purah recently upgraded it so I can have people join me. But...there's a lot of us so I won't make it take us too far. Just in case." Link swiped a finger across the screen of the slate, looking for a shrine a good distance away. "Alright, everyone hold onto me." They all did, grabbing onto Link as tightly as they could. A moment later they became nothing but blue light floating up into the sky and vanishing.
Full Chapter Here
#ooof done#sidlink#sidon#link#botw#breath of the wild#legend of zelda#legend of Zelda breath of the wild#link rambles#link writes#fanfiction#breath of the wild fic
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LoZ: BotW Review
I know I don’t really like post game reviews but I’ve loved Zelda for a really long time and I wanted to talk about this new installment because I just finished it.
Let it be said however: Spoiler Warning! I’m talking about all of the main quests and a small amount of the side quests.
So, Let’s start with the great plateau. I thought this area was ingenious. Not only did it get you right back into the feeling of Zelda, with locations like the Temple of Time, but I felt like it was really a mission statement for the game, and I loved it. I encountered the Stone Talus right after the Stasis trial, so I had the hammer, but it took a few tries to realize that the hammer was a better weapon than the swords I had. I thought the sense of mystery throughout the entire area was awesome, and the fact that there were somethings which were just as hard as areas in the rest of the game, like the decayed guardians near one of the shrines. And the fact that you re-encounter the old man at the Temple of Time was awesome, because you have 4 spirit orbs and so, before you know to look at the steeple, you just walk inside and see the goddess statue glowing.
I also liked the run from the Great Plateau up to Kakariko Village. On that trip I encountered moblins and lizalfos, which were the other two extremely common enemies in Hyrule, and the difficulty spike was present but manageable. That whole trip also introduced Hestu, and had one of the most amazing tonal shifts in the game. I went through the East Barracks at night, and it was an extremely hard and lonely area, especially when I had like 2 swords and a few arrows. However, upon leaving that area, you meet a friendly NPC, and then a stable, which leads to not only catching horses, but also changes from the loneliness to feeling like you have friends somewhere at least.
In Kakariko Village, I feel like they capitalized really hard on the Sheikah. It’s where you learn about the memories, and Hyrule’s past, and the Sheikah’s past, and the Yiga. It was pretty intense in terms of the whole story line. But, it again helped me feel less lonely in Hyrule. And the side quests weren’t hard, but they were full of personality.
The hike to Hateno Village was also interesting, because of the sheer number of dead guardians you see near Fort Hateno. However, the Hateno Village shrine was pretty terrible. The motion controls are pretty inaccurate and unfun, and I won by basically cheating. Though the goal is to show what the switch can do, I really felt that it was more tedium than fun. I felt the same way about bringing the ancient flame up to the Tech Lab. It was mostly just walking through the village. For comparison, I really enjoyed the Akkala one. However, the NPC’s in both Hateno and Kakariko were fantastic and full of personality, in a way that felt more like an older Zelda, like LTTP.
Meta-game I think was pretty interesting. Sure, it’s basically just Korok seeds, Shrines, Towers, and scavenging. However, the sheer number of things you can find really just filled up my time. And things like shrines and korok seeds are genius little ways to have tons of puzzles filled in the game. Such as the “Steady thy heart” shrine, which was a mini-dungeon, and on the way to finding it, I found like 2 korok seeds, and there’s a bit of combat involved too. And the towers were also their own puzzle-combat combination, which just felt very Zelda, even if it was such a new feature. However, the Gerudo Tower, for the Gerudo Highlands was a load of bullshit, and I had to look it up. It’s just an issue of placement.
The Divine Beasts were a really cool idea, and I think that there were enough variations in the formula of get to a place, do a fetch quest, fight the divine beast, finish the dungeon, beat the boss. I really liked the Zora’s Domain one, because of the sheer factors involved. The Zora people hate you, you need a shit ton of shock arrows (you didn’t but I played ball), and you need to get inside Vah Ruta. I felt like that mission wasn’t just to get inside of Ruta, but really for Link’s sake, and that of Hyrule. It was multi-layered, and the fetch quest was mostly combat. And Ruta was an interesting gimmick, and I enjoyed the dungeon in its entirety.
The Goron City quest was fun, and people often harsh on it for getting into Eldin and not being fireproof. However, on either stable next to Eldin you can get fireproof elixirs or fireproof lizards. Plus, Eldin is literally crawling in fireproof lizards. I thought that Rudania as a whole was really fun, but I wish that they’d stuck with the darkness inside Rudania that was there at the start. It might be annoying at first, but the puzzle possibility and interesting mechanics were too good to pass up. I think Arin Hanson is right, however, that the boss cutscenes shouldn’t happen when they do. Rather, when you’re about to fight the Divine Beast, to see it in all of it’s glory. Because I could decide for myself to fight the massive volcano lizard.
My least favorite quest was Vah Medoh. First, getting to Rito Village wasn’t hard. It’s not in a dangerously cold area, Tabantha tower is really close, and Medoh is right above it, so it’s impossible to miss. Second, the fetch quest was really close and not hard to get to, and the task to get Teba on your side was aggressively easy. You have 3 minutes and it took me 30 seconds. Then the battle against Medoh just felt like the same task as the flight range, but with bomb arrows, and one less target. With Teba taking fire, and with Teba as cold and flat of a character, there’s no collateral for Link. Even after you find out that he’s been hurt, I didn’t care because the game gave me no reason to. The Dungeon wasn’t hard, and it’s gimmick felt shockingly similar to Rudania. The boss was easy, and as long as I had arrows, didn’t even mean Link had to get within close range. Furthermore, Revali is annoying and condescending, and has few redeemable qualities until after the boss fight, making me wonder why I even freed that asshole.
I liked the Gerudo quest, but I wish that it didn’t have the rupee gate to get inside Gerudo Town, and it felt like 2 dungeons in one. The Yiga Hideout and Naboris were both a dungeon in their own right. Naboris’s gimmick was annoying at points, and the boss fight had too many phases, but it all felt original and interesting. (Note: I did the beasts in order of Ruta, Naboris, Medoh, Rudania). My biggest point about the game is that there should have been more dungeons. The Gerudo quests left me satisfied, while every other one felt too short. If there were 8 dungeons, plus Hyrule Castle, that might be enough dungeon.
In terms of animals and extra stuff in the game, there were really great things. I liked how Lurelin Village didn’t seem to be balanced on Link, and was just there in Faron. I liked the Triforce Springs, especially the quest to save Naydra, which was new, but fascinating. Tarrey town was super fetch quest filled to build, but another way to make the player really feel how they affect the world. The labyrinths were complicated but fun, as were many shrine quests. The memories got me acquainted with a combination of Hyrule, the modern day, and 100 years ago, and were an interesting way to have a player choose if they want exposition or not. The Master Sword was an interesting way to get the player progress on their own but still have greater goals. Hyrule Castle was really fun, but a little too disjointed to allow for exploration without risking total decimation from the guardians (and the North Gatehouse is such bullshit).
Finally, is the ending. I personally love all of the cutscenes and the boss fights. The first one felt like a greatest hits of the previous bosses, but was still fresh and interesting to see how the mechanics interacted. Dark Beast Ganon was a more classic Ganon fight, but made Zelda’s role both prominent and non-intrusive, and explained the weird malice eyes. All of the cutscenes afterwards were amazing and lead the way to a great set of post-game quests to fix up Hyrule. And then the game stayed the same as if I never beat Ganon. With all of the cutscenes, I would love to see typical NPC Zelda, and travel Hyrule with her, even fix up the castle, use the Guardians to make a game plan against Ganon in the future. Sure it makes Hyrule less dangerous, but it gives the player power in Hyrule’s future beyond Ganon, which is where every Zelda game stops defining Link, and where Botw could have strived to be better.
TL;DR: BotW is a fantastic game that fills the time with tons of activities, and the changes to the Zelda formula only make it more fun. However, the Dungeons were too few and far between, and the ending was particularly underwhelming given the sheer number of hints at post game were in the final cutscenes. But overall, an unforgettable Zelda experience, and the best in a long line of great games.
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