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The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom |OT|

R6Rider

Gold Member
If you expected linear Zelda that isn’t this games fault.
What Are You Talking About Jay Hernandez GIF by filmeditor


Not talking about anything at all relating to linear Zelda games.
 

daveonezero

Banned
Not even close.

The vast majority of problems that people had with BotW have not been fixed. Many of them unchanged, and a lot of them altered.
What Are You Talking About Jay Hernandez GIF by filmeditor


Not talking about anything at all relating to linear Zelda games.
What issues are there then that don’t have in game solutions? I pointed out a few I usually heard and most of those come from BoTW. Like the rain.
 
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Paltheos

Member
Finished the game tonight. Final time: A little over 180 hours. And I still did only 2/3 of the sidequests according to the game's tracker. Huh, I would have guessed higher.

Game really ran out of steam near the end for me. The trawl through Hyrule Castle was fun but the Spirit Temple was whatever and the the chasm beneath the castle through the final boss was probably my least favorite segment of the whole game and highlighted most of what I don't like about it: Gloom management (in particular before the final battle), unreliability/weakness/interference from the AI companions, the stupid story, and technical 1v1 combat which is not this game's strong suit. Overly complicated UI management did not come into play as I had plenty of gear ready before the fights but yeah. I probably should have been excited for the set piece, unloseable phase but I was checked out at that point. I did like grabbing Zelda from the sky though as the mix TotK main theme/Zelda's Lullaby music played - That was cool.

Like Breath of the Wild, my feelings are really split. Most of my time spent playing the game I was having a good time, but afterwards I think of all the dumb shit I put up with and to a degree my opinion sours. My time playing Breath of the Wild is far enough removed that I have tough time saying for sure, but I think I enjoyed that game more overall. In general the game was less... complicated. That game just sets you loose at the start with no real objective - There's no long, prolonged prologue with tons of cutscenes before I got all the basic gear (I'm counting the paraglider as the cutoff point) and it didn't waste your time so nonchalantly (who the fuck thought it was a good idea to have the same cutscene at the end of each major temple, and awkwardly written too?). It didn't obstruct you as often from doing things you wanted to. In particular I really didn't like how so many of the map towers in this game had side objectives to them, the worst being 'find this cave 100 meters in a random direction to move forward!'. But Tears of the Kingdom kind of makes up for it by the underground being fun to map out and only really limiting you based off your stamina, plus Breath of the Wild did have dumb stuff in it too...

Verdict atm is that I enjoyed Breath of the Wild a little more. Tears had a really high bar to overcome though so hooking me for most of 180 hours is still good. If someone were to ask me which one to play because they really had time for only one, Tears of the Kingdom maybe? That's a question I would need to spend time on to answer adequately.
 

ÆMNE22A!C

NO PAIN TRANCE CONTINUE
Hi everyone!

This is my first click (and post) on a Zelda TotK thread. The only exposure I've received was the announcement trailer and the fuse system reveal bit



I've played around 2 hours so far and i love it so much.

Still need to fuse/attach radial in a state in where i can use it quickly in a pinch, but that'll come in time.

I NEEDED this game. No pressure. Pure exploring, finding stuff, being creative. And the vibe.. the vibe is crazy with the visuals and sound and design. And indeed; it really seems to look and perform dare i say much better.

I'm now at a transforming block "boss" and i think i can just pick up his "head" and toss it off. We'll see.

🌟😊🌟
 

calistan

Member
I get it I think some things could be improved but I don’t think taking away systems or elements would be good. Like climbing while we. It doesn’t make sense.
Slipping during the rain? That's just a pure annoyance, there's no reason for that. I need to get up this cliff, but the game decides it's going to rain for the next two hours so I can't. What really doesn't make sense is being able to change outfits and drink potions while halfway up a cliff.

Also, I much prefer the old Zelda way of getting an ability and keeping it for all occasions. Having to switch clothes during a glide to account for altitude is not great design. I've got the faster climbing clothes, so why not just let me have faster climbing all the time instead of making me change every time I do a climb?

Don’t like durability use sturdy or gnarly sticks and a black horn and your weapons will last a long time.
I went through the catacombs under the castle yesterday, and it's like they put that section in specifically to illustrate why the fragile weapons are so frustrating. You have to smash your way through hundreds of rocks, and the rocks often contain the items you need to make a rock-smasher - sword and a boulder.

So you're bashing a tunnel through these rocks, which is very repetitive, and your weapon breaks every 10-15 seconds, so you have to pick up another one, select it from the inventory, and fuse it. I mean, what is the point? The designers aren't funnelling you towards a fun new mechanic, or teaching you some useful skill. They're giving you unlimited resources, but are forcing you to go through the process of rebuilding the same thing over and over. Just give me one rock-smasher and let me keep it until I've finished smashing.
 
I went through the catacombs under the castle yesterday, and it's like they put that section in specifically to illustrate why the fragile weapons are so frustrating. You have to smash your way through hundreds of rocks, and the rocks often contain the items you need to make a rock-smasher - sword and a boulder.

So you're bashing a tunnel through these rocks, which is very repetitive, and your weapon breaks every 10-15 seconds, so you have to pick up another one, select it from the inventory, and fuse it. I mean, what is the point? The designers aren't funnelling you towards a fun new mechanic, or teaching you some useful skill. They're giving you unlimited resources, but are forcing you to go through the process of rebuilding the same thing over and over. Just give me one rock-smasher and let me keep it until I've finished smashing.
By this point you should have the Goron hero which makes breaking through rocks trivial, or bomb arrows to destroy more rocks at once. They do drop claymore and boulders, but I think it's more of a just in case drop.
 
I need some help locating the Light Dragon; this is after getting the Master Sword, so no quest marker anymore.
I'm just not sure which height I should be looking for it at. I usually go to each sky labyrinth, but can't find it no matter how often I do it.
 

calistan

Member
By this point you should have the Goron hero which makes breaking through rocks trivial, or bomb arrows to destroy more rocks at once. They do drop claymore and boulders, but I think it's more of a just in case drop.
I forgot about him - I've left him on hold in the Goron area as I didn't want to finish all the bosses too early. I just went back and did the Gerudo one that had beaten me badly a couple of weeks ago, and I've got so much upgraded clothing that attacks that were previously taking 75% of my health now take about half a heart. So I suspect the rest of the game might be a bit easy.

Bomb arrows don't always work on the rocks though, I find that there's often an explosion followed by zero damage.
 
I need some help locating the Light Dragon; this is after getting the Master Sword, so no quest marker anymore.
I'm just not sure which height I should be looking for it at. I usually go to each sky labyrinth, but can't find it no matter how often I do it.
Alright, changed my strategy, went to each sky tower counter-clockwise, finally found her. Not getting down until I have at least one of each material lol
 

daveonezero

Banned
I forgot about him - I've left him on hold in the Goron area as I didn't want to finish all the bosses too early. I just went back and did the Gerudo one that had beaten me badly a couple of weeks ago, and I've got so much upgraded clothing that attacks that were previously taking 75% of my health now take about half a heart. So I suspect the rest of the game might be a bit easy.

Bomb arrows don't always work on the rocks though, I find that there's often an explosion followed by zero damage.
You can also use the Sinai cannons…. Activate it and pick it up with ultra hand. No weapon degradation.

Honestly it sounds like you missed with your bomb arrows.

I’ve never experienced a problem breaking rocks. I have a ton of hammer items that work even if I can’t find a rock. I usually have a talus heart as I’ve found those to be very durable.

Being prepared is sort of part of the game that I enjoy.

The interaction of the systems are things people don’t like.

Why have rain if it doesn’t affect the lightning or ability to climb? Or why have rocks that can be broken by a sword instead of a hammer?


My point is These same critiques are reasons why the game is so good. It is consistent and has rules. But there are usually a bunch of options to overcome each of these annoyances. Not to mention nearly everything in the game is optional.
 

Rex_DX

Gold Member
Just finished the "triple-decker labyrinth" northeast of the Tabantha Snowfield last night.

That was excellent. So much better than the BotW labyrinths where your options were basically "wander aimlessly, hugging the right wall at all times" or "cheese by climbing up."

I liked how for all three levels there was a different twist. Hopefully the other labyrinths will be of equal quality.
 

ChazAshley

CharAznable's second cousin
So no spoilers please, but as I'm going through the memory sidequest and I'm starting to see the implications of
Zelda's potential decision
and I'm connecting the dots... is this going to end up as :messenger_loudly_crying:?
(I got the Master Sword)
 
So no spoilers please, but as I'm going through the memory sidequest and I'm starting to see the implications of
Zelda's potential decision
and I'm connecting the dots... is this going to end up as :messenger_loudly_crying:?
(I got the Master Sword)
Just complete collecting all the memories and make sure to talk to Impa afterwards at the Forgotten Temple
 

calistan

Member
I just got the Hero's Path upgrade for the pad - what a great feature! I gather it first appeared in one of the BotW DLCs, but I never went back to that game after finishing it. I'm about 65 hours in, and every step I've taken was being recorded in the pad for this moment. I can see there are large chunks of the map where I've never been, this is an intimidatingly huge game.
 
I’m “only” 55+ hours in. Did Wind temple and have mostly been prioritizing Towers, Shrines, Dragon Tears, and Stable/Penn Quests, while doing anything else in between when it’s convenient enough.

I’ve tried screwing around with building stuff in order to travel faster, but I think I’ve realized that when it comes to the ground level exploration, I still rather just play it like BotW and walk/climb everywhere so I can comb areas for caves/side objectives at a leisurely pace.

It’s a very comfy experience, just like BotW. But I can’t shake the feeling that I’m basically playing BotW 1.5 just with overpowered Runes. That’s kinda what it is. Not necessarily a bad thing, but it definitely doesn’t have the “New” factor, and I feel like it overall won’t be as memorable as BotW.

Also it really seems like they stopped caring about the Zelda timeline, because the new games feel like a reboot. The only other feasible theory I’ve seen is that BotW/TotK are in their own timeline split off from the time shenanigans at the end of Skyward Sword.
 

xandaca

Member
After a bit over a hundred hours, it's fair to say I really enjoy the game but it also has some pretty big faults. On the plus side, the sheer amount of stuff to do makes wandering around compelling in a way that BotW never really was for me - I ran out of interest in that game around 30 hours in - and the greatly increased enemy variety helps things feel fresh. I'm not especially interested in the classic armours or weapons, but they add to a more interesting variety of rewards than everything being a shrine. On that note, the shrines are also generally more compact and better for it, as well as the variety of challenges feeling greater. The Ultrahand mechanic, even if I'm not someone who feels inclined to be especially inventive with it, is also incredibly impressive and can be quite entertaining. Ascend, too, is a nice addition which is a rare example of the game cutting down timewasting.

On that note, the downsides. This feels like a game which takes an inordinate amount of time to do a lot of small things, and almost always puts extra steps in your way. This can be small things that add up, like the text in shrines taking forever to disappear or having to skip multiple short cutscenes upon collecting a Blessing, or bigger things, like having to visit two locations to convert zonaite into batteries. The controls can be idiotically cumbersome (and having a dedicated whistling button beggars belief considering how many vastly more essential functions could have done with it) and not without the occasional glitch, like the glider very intermittently not opening on the first button press or Link's movement sometimes spazzing out for a split-second (there are conditions that tend to trigger this, but I can't remember what they are). The amount of farming is also insane and if it weren't for the item duplication glitch when it came to building up my battery specifically, I might well have largely ignored the depths, which are agonising slow to traverse and illuminate without being able to build a vehicle to greatly speed things up.
Autobuild
should have been more easily accessible given its importance in the same way that dumping Hestu out in the middle of nowhere and hoping players stumble upon him is insanity, just as it was in BotW. A friend was getting frustrated with the game so I sent him a list of things to do to get him properly into the game, and the list kept getting longer and longer. It seems most people are more than happy with it but to me the game has a very big barrier for entry before you can start enjoying it fully, sometimes requiring cheating (item duplication) to make surmounting it more bearable.

As I said, I really like the game but it does seem to get in its own way quite a bit. And most of the dungeons/temples and their associated bosses are still a bit rubbish, only now the powers you get from them are largely useless as well.
 
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Hardensoul

Member
I’m “only” 55+ hours in. Did Wind temple and have mostly been prioritizing Towers, Shrines, Dragon Tears, and Stable/Penn Quests, while doing anything else in between when it’s convenient enough.

I’ve tried screwing around with building stuff in order to travel faster, but I think I’ve realized that when it comes to the ground level exploration, I still rather just play it like BotW and walk/climb everywhere so I can comb areas for caves/side objectives at a leisurely pace.

It’s a very comfy experience, just like BotW. But I can’t shake the feeling that I’m basically playing BotW 1.5 just with overpowered Runes. That’s kinda what it is. Not necessarily a bad thing, but it definitely doesn’t have the “New” factor, and I feel like it overall won’t be as memorable as BotW.

Also it really seems like they stopped caring about the Zelda timeline, because the new games feel like a reboot. The only other feasible theory I’ve seen is that BotW/TotK are in their own timeline split off from the time shenanigans at the end of Skyward Sword.
There never really was no direct timeline, just like any game/story that became successful. Timeline starts to be retroactively filled in.

BoTW and now Totlk from what I’ve seen so far is filling in more of the timeline. Even the opening cinematic gives you a clue of what TotK story will reveal of what happened in the past to fill some gaps/lore.
 

R6Rider

Gold Member
By this point you should have the Goron hero which makes breaking through rocks trivial, or bomb arrows to destroy more rocks at once. They do drop claymore and boulders, but I think it's more of a just in case drop.
The game has many areas like this where you have to smash lots of rocks and then random weapons will drop from the rocks you've smashed. It's super annoying.
 

Kurotri

Member
I'm having a blast, it really improves on BotW a lot. But I have to ask you guys...does anyone enjoy the depths? Because I dread that place. I know that it's basically the hyrule map inverted, so you can look at where shrines are in hyrule and find the lightroots below them, but aside from farming zoanite and maybe a quest here and there, what's the point?
 

R6Rider

Gold Member
Attach a canon to a spear. There are tons of ways to solve these issues.
I'm not going to leave a cave area to get a specific item so I can do a section the "correct way" when the game is about doing the opposite.

Those areas are pointless and made even more annoying when your attack animations only break some rocks despite your weapon clearly going through many others.

I'm having a blast, it really improves on BotW a lot. But I have to ask you guys...does anyone enjoy the depths? Because I dread that place. I know that it's basically the hyrule map inverted, so you can look at where shrines are in hyrule and find the lightroots below them, but aside from farming zoanite and maybe a quest here and there, what's the point?
The depths are awful. People hyped them up and they are the worst part of TotK in my opinion. Just super bland and repetitive.
 
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I'm having a blast, it really improves on BotW a lot. But I have to ask you guys...does anyone enjoy the depths? Because I dread that place. I know that it's basically the hyrule map inverted, so you can look at where shrines are in hyrule and find the lightroots below them, but aside from farming zoanite and maybe a quest here and there, what's the point?
I really loved it for about the first 50-70% of the time I spent down there. Toward the end when I was just tying up loose ends / for sake of getting all the bulbs it wasn't as enjoyable. But some great choice things down there for weapon fusion on a regular basis, tons of zonanite as you said, some materials like bombs. But I did really enjoy the exploration of it in the beginning due to the pitch black.
 

calistan

Member
The depths are awful. People hyped them up and they are the worst part of TotK in my opinion. Just super bland and repetitive.
The depths are interesting - it's so unlike other Nintendo games, really creepy down there. Stumbling towards some distant light in the gloom.

I found a dragon down there, climbed on its back and it carried me back up into the overworld (where it caused a lightning storm that killed me dead as soon as I jumped off).
 

Kurotri

Member
I really loved it for about the first 50-70% of the time I spent down there. Toward the end when I was just tying up loose ends / for sake of getting all the bulbs it wasn't as enjoyable. But some great choice things down there for weapon fusion on a regular basis, tons of zonanite as you said, some materials like bombs. But I did really enjoy the exploration of it in the beginning due to the pitch black.
Wish I could've enjoyed it for that much, I started disliking it almost as soon as I got in there :messenger_tears_of_joy:.
 

shubik

Member
How does „endgame“ work? I’m nearing the end of the main quest (at least I think so). Can you continue after you beat Ganon?
 

daveonezero

Banned
Wish I could've enjoyed it for that much, I started disliking it almost as soon as I got in there :messenger_tears_of_joy:.
Yeah I haven’t been down there much as I haven’t upgraded my battery at all. I’m still just playing BoTW on the land mostly. And loving that.

The depths I go down and light up almost immediately if there is a close root. There are a ton of resources. That’s all I know. The pristine weapons and things are pretty powerful.

How does „endgame“ work? I’m nearing the end of the main quest (at least I think so). Can you continue after you beat Ganon?
It’s like BoTW. It kids a save just before the final fight with a star saying you beat the boss. Nothing really changes. You can keep playing or go beat the boss again.

The depths are interesting - it's so unlike other Nintendo games, really creepy down there. Stumbling towards some distant light in the gloom.

I found a dragon down there, climbed on its back and it carried me back up into the overworld (where it caused a lightning storm that killed me dead as soon as I jumped off).
Running through the dark and seeing my first Lynel was pretty crazy. Tried to buff myself and use all my resources to beat it but just didn’t have enough.
 
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Robb

Gold Member
How does „endgame“ work? I’m nearing the end of the main quest (at least I think so). Can you continue after you beat Ganon?
Same as BotW. You go back to before the final battle when you start the game again, and you get a a star symbol on your save.
 
There never really was no direct timeline, just like any game/story that became successful. Timeline starts to be retroactively filled in.

BoTW and now Totlk from what I’ve seen so far is filling in more of the timeline. Even the opening cinematic gives you a clue of what TotK story will reveal of what happened in the past to fill some gaps/lore.
I know it was never really planned, but there was a period where Nintendo published the timeline in Hyrule Historia, and then made SS a “origin” story, so they started to take it seriously. But after SS underperformed I think they stopped caring again. I don’t get super deep into theorizing about the timeline stuff, but it’s fun conjecture every now and then.

Speaking of which, I’m wondering if I should bother getting Skyward Sword HD. I only played it once on Wii, and I heard it’s slightly improved on Switch. I just hate everything that isn’t a dungeon in that game. Don’t know if I’ll have the patience for it.
 

Astral Dog

Member
I know it was never really planned, but there was a period where Nintendo published the timeline in Hyrule Historia, and then made SS a “origin” story, so they started to take it seriously. But after SS underperformed I think they stopped caring again. I don’t get super deep into theorizing about the timeline stuff, but it’s fun conjecture every now and then.

Speaking of which, I’m wondering if I should bother getting Skyward Sword HD. I only played it once on Wii, and I heard it’s slightly improved on Switch. I just hate everything that isn’t a dungeon in that game. Don’t know if I’ll have the patience for it.
Miyamoto has stated he doesn't see Zelda with a linear timeline,but an story that keeps repeating itself as a myth ,Tears of the Kingdom is a push in this direction(doesn't mean there aren't continuations,but they are not meant all to fit together)

I don't believe Skyward Sword has been 'retconned'
but,it may have happened in another timeline,Ganondorf is the reincarnation of Demise, that's why they look so similar in Demon form and there is a little of Demise's personality in new Ganondorf,Hylia is there as well,if anything it shows Demise's curse can transcend time like it was implied on the game

Its just a hint for the fans to figure out rather than an exposition dump
 

Mitsurux

Member
According to my Switch I've played TotK for 110 hours, but it does not feel like it has been that long at all. I have not completed the main story yet, I'm still discovering and exploring areas and having a great time while doing so.
I have remained spoiler free (which has been really Really hard) and its made some of things I've discovered even more crazy (Thank you to everyone who has marked their spoilers in this thread).

Will this be GotY or the "Best Game Ever".. who knows, but I know that for me it Hit just at the right time, and has served as a reminder of why i enjoy games so much.
 
Miyamoto has stated he doesn't see Zelda with a linear timeline,but an story that keeps repeating itself as a myth ,Tears of the Kingdom is a push in this direction(doesn't mean there aren't continuations,but they are not meant all to fit together)

I don't believe Skyward Sword has been 'retconned'
but,it may have happened in another timeline,Ganondorf is the reincarnation of Demise, that's why they look so similar in Demon form and there is a little of Demise's personality in new Ganondorf,Hylia is there as well,if anything it shows Demise's curse can transcend time like it was implied on the game

Its just a hint for the fans to figure out rather than an exposition dump
I never said anything about SS being retconned. I just said in another post that, if they were to fit in any overarching timeline BotW/TotK formed another branching timeline off of Skyward Sword.

I saw a YouTube video the other day presenting the idea since Link goes back in time at the end of SS. He technically deals with Demise in two different timelines since he used the Triforce to kill him in the “present,” but had to kill Demise the traditional way when Girahim took Zelda into the past.
 

Hardensoul

Member
Miyamoto has stated he doesn't see Zelda with a linear timeline,but an story that keeps repeating itself as a myth ,Tears of the Kingdom is a push in this direction(doesn't mean there aren't continuations,but they are not meant all to fit together)

I don't believe Skyward Sword has been 'retconned'
but,it may have happened in another timeline,Ganondorf is the reincarnation of Demise, that's why they look so similar in Demon form and there is a little of Demise's personality in new Ganondorf,Hylia is there as well,if anything it shows Demise's curse can transcend time like it was implied on the game

Its just a hint for the fans to figure out rather than an exposition dump
With time travel is added to any story there really is no set continuation. That’s why I can’t nail any “set time” line seriously. IMO
 

Robb

Gold Member
Starting to near the end, or at least what I consider to be the end, now. I’m at around 120 shrines right now, should probably be able to finish next week.

Not sure about the light roots but I have a few of those left as well. They’re a lot easier to complete though.
 

Danjin44

The nicest person on this forum
I finally got all Fierce Deity sets and the sword and put the sword on display in my house. I want to do main quests but I just cant......stop.......exploring.
 

MagiusNecros

Gilgamesh Fan Annoyance
The depths are interesting - it's so unlike other Nintendo games, really creepy down there. Stumbling towards some distant light in the gloom.
I have come to believe that the Depths is Old Hyrule. Everything there is mirrored on the surface. A lot of old Zelda game gear is found down there too.
 

Aldric

Member
The depths are interesting - it's so unlike other Nintendo games, really creepy down there.
That's actually my biggest problem with the area, it's not nearly creepy enough. It had huge potential for some really tense situations through random encounters with giant overworld bosses or environmental hazards that'd induce panic but you quickly realize there's very little threat once you've understood the basic exploration loop. Froxes are really lame and the Yiga camps are similarly very easy. Don't know why they didn't fill the area with Gibdos and other creepier traditional Zelda enemies like Skulltullas, Wallmasters or actual Poes that aren't just collectibles. Imagine Dead Hands being down there too... OoT's Bottom of the Well is still the creepiest area in a Zelda game by far.
 
Guys I need some help!
Can I somehow make a Zonai devices to last longer? I don't mean battery life but devices itself?
If yes can someone give me a very little a hint (without spoilers) to where to look?
 
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