Support NeoGAF

[Mesoian]

This is precisely why they don't allow voes

Pfft. Teehee.

 

[Spinifex]

Gerudo Town is definitely the best town. Really enjoyed the characters and quests there.

You're able to wear the thunder helm and desert boots and not be kicked out, though you still have to wear the fabulous top.

 

[victreeb3l]

He mentions that his girlfriend works in a clothing store selling clothes made by her father. Which is exactly the set up of the Hateno clothing store.

Thats hilarious. That girl is so creepy. I saw her when I was exiting the shop and I got spooked lol

I LOVED that moment. Almost as much as I loved the "teaching Gerudo women about men" class.

Is this the

Spoiler

cooking class

or something different? I dont think I've come across this class.

 

[Makonero]

Is this the

Spoiler

cooking class

or something different? I dont think I've come across this class.

There's a

Spoiler

teaching vai about voe

class. I think it meets in the mornings, and it's accessible from the southern side of the town. You actually have to wait for all the students to show up before it begins and if you talk to the teacher multiple times you get new "lessons."

 

[victreeb3l]

There's a

Spoiler

teaching vai about voe

class. I think it meets in the mornings, and it's accessible from the southern side of the town. You actually have to wait for all the students to show up before it begins and if you talk to the teacher multiple times you get new "lessons."

Thanks! I had no idea. Here I thought I combed through the town completely.

 

[Deckard Chapel]

This is precisely why they don't allow voes

Sa'vaaq!!

 

[Myriadis]

It's also a bit interesting that among all the dark skinned Gerudos there's exactly one I met so far who is completely white.
Also I wonder if it was a translation error but there is a hylian with purple hair who recogizes that Link is a man but than says in the german version at least, iirc, that "we voe have to support each other" despite looking a lot like a female. Would be interesting if she considers herself as a male. But that might as well be a translation error.

 

[KLoWn]

It's also a bit interesting that among all the dark skinned Gerudos there's exactly one I met so far who is completely white.

The one in the barracks/training area? Not that it matters, but I immediately wondered how someone stays that white while living in the scorching desert lol.

 

[Papercuts]

It's also a bit interesting that among all the dark skinned Gerudos there's exactly one I met so far who is completely white.
Also I wonder if it was a translation error but there is a hylian with purple hair who recogizes that Link is a man but than says in the german version at least, iirc, that "we voe have to support each other" despite looking a lot like a female. Would be interesting if she considers herself as a male. But that might as well be a translation error.

She says that we hylians need to stick together in english.

 

[Myriadis]

She says that we hylians need to stick together in english.

Might be a translation error then. Or I misread it or remeber it wrong, but I know that I was suprised back then when I read it.

 

[Giolon]

In OOT there is an NPC that explains that the Gerudo come from time to time to the castle town looking for mates.

Ocarina of Time also makes it clear that they seek out males from other races.

I do remember something along the lines of Gerudo kidnapping men (aside from the quest to find the 4 construction workers), but not specifically them looking for mates. It's been a while since I replayed OoT.

In any case, I feel like leaving home to find a mate has been made such a prominent factor of their existence in BotW that it stood out as a neat almost deconstruction of "society of (nearly) only women" trope. I saw plenty of Gerudo daughters in BotW, but what happens when someone does have a son? Do they get to live there for a time and are exiled upon reaching a certain age? In OoT I think I recall that the rare man that is born becomes their leader.

I haven't talked to every NPC in Gerudo Town yet, but none of them that I have spoken to had mentioned anything about raising a voe child.

 

[Makonero]

I do remember something along the lines of Gerudo kidnapping men (aside from the quest to find the 4 construction workers), but not specifically them looking for mates. It's been a while since I replayed OoT.

In any case, I feel like leaving home to find a mate has been made such a prominent factor of their existence in BotW that it stood out as a neat almost deconstruction of "society of (nearly) only women" trope. I saw plenty of Gerudo daughters in BotW, but what happens when someone does have a son? Do they get to live there for a time and are exiled upon reaching a certain age? In OoT I think I recall that the rare man that is born becomes their leader.

I haven't talked to every NPC in Gerudo Town yet, but none of them that I have spoken to had mentioned anything about raising a voe child.

1 every hundred years or so, so yeah, super rare. And since voe aren't allowed, that one child likely would have to live outside of town. There's no hint in BOTW (so far, I'm not done) that male Gerudo instantly become the leader anymore so maybe after 'Dorf they decided that was a stupid rule.

 

[Xbro]

1 every hundred years or so, so yeah, super rare. And since voe aren't allowed, that one child likely would have to live outside of town. There's no hint in BOTW (so far, I'm not done) that male Gerudo instantly become the leader anymore so maybe after 'Dorf they decided that was a stupid rule.

They certainly didn't decide that after Ocarina of Time. Perhaps after Four Swords Adventures they did.

 

[frozenmeatpopsicle]

Fully agreed here. The Gerudo are great and surprisingly diverse. Buff ladies kick ass.

Unfortunately, there is one minor problem though: they're all wearing high-heels. Feminist angle aside, wouldn't they be terribly impractical in the desert?

 

[MrPanic]

The one in the barracks/training area? Not that it matters, but I immediately wondered how someone stays that white while living in the scorching desert lol.

There's another white Gerudo in the back of the town eating watermelons, she's somewhere on the roof next to the water system. Got some exclusive animations as well.

 

[Mista Koo]

Still don't like how Gerudo are considered almost a separate race.

Like let's have a representative of the rock people, bird people, fish people and then these brown women.

Yep. Not to mention they are exoticized and sexualized brown Arab-inspired women.

Also you have racist Hylians in the game saying stuff like this:

 

[Astral Dog]

Yep. Not to mention they are exoticized and sexualized brown Arab-inspired women.

Also you have racist Hylians in the game saying stuff like this:

?

 

[SatoAilDarko]

?

Replace Hylians with white, black, asian, etc.

It doesn't sound good.

 

[Ogodei]

Damn, i missed the classroom when i went there. I do need to go back to do the thunder-helm quests.

 

[LurkerPrime]

Good OP.

I haven't visited every town in BotW (as far as big ones, just Hateno, Kakariko, and Zora's Domain), but Gerudo Town is by far the most interesting and lively so far. The difficulty entering it, and the whole disguise thing, gives players a completely different perspective from the usual adventurer/hero-in-training status that Link has elsewhere I've seen; in Gerudo Town, he's just an average vai that's handy in a fight.

There's a surprising amount of detail put into the myriad of villagers, each with their own thoughts and struggles, and a fascinating underbelly to their society. (e.g. the locked door, the inexperience with non-Gerudo--particularly voe--stemming from their isolation, the struggle for love, or the whole undercover voe thing to begin with.) Like, they have a standing army and ruling hierarchy, a bustling town with a bar, a wealth of shops and traders, with visitors from all over Hyrule. It feels like a genuine society of its own, rather than just a pitstop in Link's journey.

I LOVED that moment. Almost as much as I loved the "teaching Gerudo women about men" class.

That, the "voe alarm" (if you try to climb over the walls... yes I did.), and the occasional person that would totally recognise Link as a voe and make him momentarily panic (His :::shock::: reaction is the best!) are all so good.

Fully agreed here. The Gerudo are great and surprisingly diverse. Buff ladies kick ass.

Unfortunately, there is one minor problem though: they're all wearing high-heels. Feminist angle aside, wouldn't they be terribly impractical in the desert?

I missed this, but my headcanon is that the heels hook into a shield, making sand seal surfing easier.

Sealiously.

 

[Ogodei]

This was super charming and well done to me when I encountered this NPC. It really stuck out to me that I was enjoying this game and the characterization of even its "throwaway" characters when I found myself checking this out and just really stunned by the dialogue concluding the way it did (in a really uplifting way).

There's also another one that got me but for totally different reasoning:

Spoiler

There's a Gerudo girl hanging out a bit on the trail outside of the town who when approached has a convo about her place in the world and asking Link why he's talking to her. You get two dialogue choices which were something like "You're my dream girl!" and something that she interprets as disinterest. Picking the first has her get really skeeved (Mom told me there's nothing worst than a guy talking about "dream girls" or something to that effect) and immediately disengage the conversation. For whatever reason, I thought I was missing something like a side quest given how odd this exchange was so i tried talking to her again two more times before I was immediately hit with the creepiest idea -- was Link technically catcalling here? :lol

The joke to all of this is that there

Spoiler

*is* a Love Pond, it's way in the southeast near Lurelin village, and there's a hylian man on one side of the pond who's too scared to make a move, considering the Gerudo on the other side of the pond his dream girl. You need to give the man blue nightshade to get him the confidence to move.

 

[NimbusD]

So far it's by far my favorite town. I was expecting it to be small, short, or not intricate like every other town, but this town is essentially exactly what I wanted from all of them. People that talk about each other, come and go, do different things at different times of day, talk about their lives outside of the town (some towns have parts of these but I feel like none of them have all, especially none of the non-hylian towns that Ive been to thus far which are all pretty tiny and static).

edit: also this is the first part of the game to really just feel straight up like a modern version of oot. In a good way. I love the desert in general.

 

[NexusCell]

Replace Hylians with white, black, asian, etc.

It doesn't sound good.

I mean, they aren't promoting that view point, I'm actually fine with the fact that some characters may hold bigoted views and whatnot, makes the world seem a bit more real instead of a "everyone gets along" vibe.

 

[Wanderer5]

It is a really nice town. Heck I freaking enjoy that part of the map as a whole, and even got the

Spoiler

Desert Voe

armor which looks cool, plus

Spoiler

heat and shock resistance is kind of nice

.

 

[Makonero]

The joke to all of this is that there

Spoiler

*is* a Love Pond, it's way in the southeast near Lurelin village, and there's a hylian man on one side of the pond who's too scared to make a move, considering the Gerudo on the other side of the pond his dream girl. You need to give the man blue nightshade to get him the confidence to move.

Spoiler

There's also a broken heart pond on Mt. Ebon with a guy who asks if he's found the wrong love pond lol

 

[TheCthultist]

Rules are rules, nobody is above the law, we can't start making exceptions. Next are you going to have all women asking to let their husbands in.

Well, unless they're Gordon's. But otherwise it makes sense. They're not going to break centuries worth of tradition just because you may have saved the town... Hell, they might not even realize it was you who did it.

 

[Makonero]

Well, unless they're Gordon's. But otherwise it makes sense. They're not going to break centuries worth of tradition just because you may have saved the town... Hell, they might not even realize it was you who did it.

It'd be great if in a future installment the Gerudo erected a statue in honor of the Hylian vai that saved their town who happened to have the same name as the Hyrulean champion lol

 

[Rickenslacker]

One thing that struck me in particular is that the young Riju is only one example of a remarkable diversity in age and body types among the all female Gerudo. A insular tribe of Amazons would seem like a natural excuse for homogeneity, but Nintendo went out of their way to show that the average Gerudo on the street is not the statuesque muscle bound warrior woman you find among the guards.

Even just taking the guards, I love that Nintendo made them these towering muscular women. It's so rare to see actual muscle definition in female characters even when they're made out to be strong.

 

[DrForester]

Anyone else disturbed that this bird-woman was disappointed in the town's lack of poultry?

 

[Dark Ninja]

Anyone else disturbed that this bird-woman was disappointed in the town's lack of poultry?

Yeah I always found that odd isn't that cannibalism? I even tried to put some chicken leg on the floor

 

[plank]

Yeah I always found that odd isn't that cannibalism? I even tried to put some chicken leg on the floor

I mean you will never see a hawk eat anything other than rodents fish or small reptail.

 

[sfried]

Sa'vaqq.

I wish they continue to develop the Gerudo language in future Zelda games. It really immersed me in this town's culture.

Also finally a Zelda bar that doesn't serve milk!

 

[Dark Ninja]

I mean you will never see a hawk eat anything other than rodents fish or small reptail.

Its the humanoid form that's throwing me off. But I guess the poultry comes from the smaller "normal" birds from the world.

 

[victreeb3l]

Yeah I always found that odd isn't that cannibalism? I even tried to put some chicken leg on the floor

Lol same. I thought it would lead to a quest or something.

 

[sfried]

It's a shame how much the other towns (with Divine Beasts) suck in comparison. Zora's Domain looks cool but it isn't nearly as lively. I didn't like Goron Town at all

On the other hand this has the suckiest Divine Beast dungeon design by far. The boss fight was cool but not as good as the others.

Goron Town was a town of miners. Zora's Domain had a nice atmosphere but like you said, not as populated as I'd come to expect.

Hateno Village is still my favorite. The music...

But Gerudo Town is perhaps second best. Where else can you go to sand seal surf?

 

[SatoAilDarko]

Yeah I always found that odd isn't that cannibalism? I even tried to put some chicken leg on the floor

Is it cannibalism if you eat monkeys or apes?

There are birds in real life that eat other birds.

 

[sfried]

I saw plenty of Gerudo daughters in BotW, but what happens when someone does have a son? Do they get to live there for a time and are exiled upon reaching a certain age? In OoT I think I recall that the rare man that is born becomes their leader.

Yes. His name is Ganondorf.

 

[Richie]

Still don't like how Gerudo are considered almost a separate race.

Like let's have a representative of the rock people, bird people, fish people and then these brown women.

Don't Gerudo pride themselves on their heritage and society? You get the vibe they'd WANT to be acknowledged as having an identity of their own. Also, what dismissive wording on all the cultures.

Yep. Not to mention they are exoticized and sexualized brown Arab-inspired women.

They're by far the most enjoyable *characters* I've stumbled across in the game. You get to witness their personal thoughts, dreams, beliefs, insecurities, abilities, skills and more.

 

[Admiral Woofington]

Sorry folks

Best Town was Zora

Specifically because the Zora children are kawaii as shit

 

[Spinifex]

The joke to all of this is that there

Spoiler

*is* a Love Pond, it's way in the southeast near Lurelin village, and there's a hylian man on one side of the pond who's too scared to make a move, considering the Gerudo on the other side of the pond his dream girl. You need to give the man blue nightshade to get him the confidence to move.

This quest was awesome. Probably the funniest exchange I've seen in the game so far.

 

[RagnarokX]

Yeah I always found that odd isn't that cannibalism? I even tried to put some chicken leg on the floor

Cannibalism is eating the same species. One kind of bird eating a different kind of bird is no different from one kind of mammal (humans) eating a different kind of mammal (cows).

 

[Crayolan]

Anyone else disturbed that this bird-woman was disappointed in the town's lack of poultry?

Not really? The Zoras also eat fish. Humans eat mammals.

 

[victreeb3l]

Sorry folks

Best Town was Zora

Specifically because the Zora children are kawaii as shit

They were cute but Rito kids were the cutest.

Spoiler

I shot an arrow at one of them hoping they'd turn into a raw drumstick.

 

[darklin0]

Sorry folks

Best Town was Zora

Specifically because the Zora children are kawaii as shit

No lies detected.

Gerudo Town is still cool though.

 

[BY2K]

Rito Kids are best kids.

THEY SING, DAMN IT!

 

[Lord_Byron28]

If I had to rank the civilizations here is what I'd say:

1. Gerudo City - definitely the most fully realized town. I love the characters, culture and size of it.

2. Hateno village- I love the music to this town. It is a beautiful village. Various side quests and a good size.

3. Zoras Domain- Another beautiful location that has a lot of npcs, shops and you can really learn about their history if you explore the nearby area. There are tablets all over Lanayru that detail various parts of the Zora's history.

4. Korok Forest- I really enjoy the music in the region. There are 4 shrine quests that the Koroks help you through, Hestu, the Master Sword, Great Deku Tree, and a handful of NPC Koroks with sidequests to complete.

5. Kakariko Village- I like the Asian inspired motif to the village and there are several sidequests you can do in town but there isn't a ton there.

6. Rito Village- Rito Village's music and Hateno's song are my top two tracks in the game. I also loved the visuals and concept of it but there are what 10 Rito NPCs in town? Not much to do in the town either.

I've spent 40-50 hours on this game and I have yet to go to the Eldin province and see Goron City. It's actually the only area that I haven't explored as last time I was exploring Faron and Lake Hylia regions. So I can't say how I'll feel about that region.

 

[Admiral Woofington]

Rito Kids are best kids.

THEY SING, DAMN IT!

Can't we all just agree Hylian kids were the least cute?

 

[Lord of Ostia]

If I had to rank the civilizations here is what I'd say:

1. Gerudo City - definitely the most fully realized town. I love the characters, culture and size of it.

2. Hateno village- I love the music to this town. It is a beautiful village. Various side quests and a good size.

3. Zoras Domain- Another beautiful location that has a lot of npcs, shops and you can really learn about their history if you explore the nearby area. There are tablets all over Lanayru that detail various parts of the Zora's history.

4. Korok Forest- I really enjoy the music in the region. There are 4 shrine quests that the Koroks help you through, Hestu, the Master Sword, Great Deku Tree, and a handful of NPC Koroks with sidequests to complete.

5. Kakariko Village- I like the Asian inspired motif to the village and there are several sidequests you can do in town but there isn't a ton there.

6. Rito Village- Rito Village's music and Hateno's song are my top two tracks in the game. I also loved the visuals and concept of it but there are what 10 Rito NPCs in town? Not much to do in the town either.

I've spent 40-50 hours on this game and I have yet to go to the Eldin province and see Goron City. It's actually the only area that I haven't explored as last time I was exploring Faron and Lake Hylia regions. So I can't say how I'll feel about that region.

Gordon City is easily the most disappointing village in the game. Don't get your hopes up too much. The Gorons are charming but it's even more sparse than the Rito village. Also I like the Tabantha region better in general.

 

[foxuzamaki]

If I had to rank the civilizations here is what I'd say:

1. Gerudo City - definitely the most fully realized town. I love the characters, culture and size of it.

2. Hateno village- I love the music to this town. It is a beautiful village. Various side quests and a good size.

3. Zoras Domain- Another beautiful location that has a lot of npcs, shops and you can really learn about their history if you explore the nearby area. There are tablets all over Lanayru that detail various parts of the Zora's history.

4. Korok Forest- I really enjoy the music in the region. There are 4 shrine quests that the Koroks help you through, Hestu, the Master Sword, Great Deku Tree, and a handful of NPC Koroks with sidequests to complete.

5. Kakariko Village- I like the Asian inspired motif to the village and there are several sidequests you can do in town but there isn't a ton there.

6. Rito Village- Rito Village's music and Hateno's song are my top two tracks in the game. I also loved the visuals and concept of it but there are what 10 Rito NPCs in town? Not much to do in the town either.

I've spent 40-50 hours on this game and I have yet to go to the Eldin province and see Goron City. It's actually the only area that I haven't explored as last time I was exploring Faron and Lake Hylia regions. So I can't say how I'll feel about that region.

Will you believe me that you are actually missing some towns? And no not just goron city either

 

[jonjonaug]

Sorry folks

Best Town was Zora

Specifically because the Zora children are kawaii as shit

They were pretty kawaii until I ended up hooking one of them up with a Hylian who's in his 20s. I thought the end of the quest would just be them laughing it off but I got Nowi'd.

Anyway the Rito children are the best because of how they all

Spoiler

sing along with the background music once you clear their quest. It gets even better once Kass joins in.