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The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom released one year ago today

BlackTron

Member
Just picked up a Switch to play this and Metroid Dread.

This thread is making me nervous.

Also OP made another thread about Pokemon Arceus. I ended up playing it and its THAT type of Nintendo franchise, I wouldn’t wish it on my enemies.

If you haven't played BOTW yet, just go ahead. If you already played it though TOTK might feel overly derivative. Kinda like Majora's Mask to OOT, but without the story to sell all the copy/pasted assets.
 

Big Baller

Al Pachinko, Konami President
I might be alone on this one but I hope they make another Wind Waker style game with a huge map with water. But this time, also allow for diving with a submarine or so. And you can do an Atlantis-inspired storyline with the Zonai or something.

And then, after the mid-point of the game, it changes to a land-based Zelda because you cause Hyrule to rise up from the waters. Or you have some timeline stuff where you can travel between Hyrule before it sank and the current one. And water/flow control is one of the main gimmicks. I can see a dungeon that's just one huge-ass Pipe Mania puzzle.

They have too, we've had two games where you can't swim underwater. It's been shit in TP and SS but it can be done. Hell, Mario 64 did it right!
 

Švejk

Banned
A glorified Wii U expansion they charged $70 for. Happy Birthday? I stopped playing after 7 hours or so. Was bored to.... Tears? BOTW burned me out... And I generally love open world games.
 

Holammer

Member
Nope.

Avoiding BOTW, will jump straight into this. Not a good idea to play two 100+ hrs games that are set on same map.
Seeing the stuff that changed since BotW is one of the highlights of TotK.
There's a vast cast of characters to learn about and many of them return. Meeting people like Paya or Purah again in TotK hits harder if you played BotW.
 

GigaBowser

The bear of bad news
baldurs gate3 has actual rewards in their game. Zelda is just shit. Nothing of value at all in the overworld.

BG3 is the superior game by far.
turned based with bugs bad act 3 vs best open worlds physics ever perfect polish

Screenshot-2024-05-12-140948.png


EDGE and iGN told the truths im sorry my friends
 
D

Deleted member 1159

Unconfirmed Member
The only game that could make me not really want to go back to BotW after 200+ hours.

Fuckin dope. I hope we get some kind of enhanced version with Switch 2 so I can start over
 

clem84

Gold Member
It's too unfocused. I was doing side quests left and right the entire game. I made it to the first of 4 dungeons and stopped there. Never completed it. Mind you I put around 100 hours into it so obviously I still enjoyed it. I wouldn't waste 100 hours on something if I'm not having fun, but there wasn't much incentive to advance the story. There was a missing ingredient to make me care I guess. I still see it as a good game.
 
Seeing the stuff that changed since BotW is one of the highlights of TotK.
There's a vast cast of characters to learn about and many of them return. Meeting people like Paya or Purah again in TotK hits harder if you played BotW.
Not sure if I can go back to same-ish map after spending 100 hrs in it already.

Elden Ring is one of my favourite games, have very little interest in DLC cause played it to death on release. Might happen here as well.
 

daclynk

Member
Well it Won Best Tech at GDC2024 even with Powerful system like PS5/XBSX on the market.
So F what the haters say.
Mood Fuck Off GIF by Synead

And if Nintendo can achieve that on a PS3+ system. i wonder what they will do with PS4+ RT DLSS hardware.
 
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Luipadre

Member
It’s 90% the same as BotW. Great game but it is what it is.

I ditched it after 10 hours because of that. I loved botw but i was so done after 10 hours. Maybe i'll revisit it on new switch if i can play my original copy at higher settings and fps
 

TintoConCasera

I bought a sex doll, but I keep it inflated 100% of the time and use it like a regular wife
I might be alone on this one but I hope they make another Wind Waker style game with a huge map with water. But this time, also allow for diving with a submarine or so. And you can do an Atlantis-inspired storyline with the Zonai or something.

And then, after the mid-point of the game, it changes to a land-based Zelda because you cause Hyrule to rise up from the waters. Or you have some timeline stuff where you can travel between Hyrule before it sank and the current one. And water/flow control is one of the main gimmicks. I can see a dungeon that's just one huge-ass Pipe Mania puzzle.
Neat concept, reminds me of ALTTP but instead of the Dark World (or Golden Land or whatever) you get the Sunken Wolrd.

Nintendo, hire this man.
 

Ibara

Member
I understand it’s cool the whole building and physics aspect but I honestly don’t care about it and other than specific circumstances they give you zero incentive to bother. I’m not sure why the best way to fix weapons was now requiring you to stick stupid stuff together at random.
Rehashed map, essentially the same shallow combat. Couldn’t do it unfortunately
 

Hudo

Member
Neat concept, reminds me of ALTTP but instead of the Dark World (or Golden Land or whatever) you get the Sunken Wolrd.

Nintendo, hire this man.
Bonus: Since Miyamoto likes submarines (see Steel Diver and Steel Diver: Sub Wars), it might get actually greenlit.
 

TintoConCasera

I bought a sex doll, but I keep it inflated 100% of the time and use it like a regular wife
Bonus: Since Miyamoto likes submarines (see Steel Diver and Steel Diver: Sub Wars), it might get actually greenlit.
Makes total sense. We've got Link, Adult Link, Sailor Link, Wolf Link and Sky Link. Submarine Link isn't that far fetched.
 
Avoiding BOTW, will jump straight into this. Not a good idea to play two 100+ hrs games that are set on same map.

This has been my recommendation to anyone who hasn't played BOTW. People like me who played it at launch got the benefit of a 6 year gap to help mitigate the feeling of sameness when Tears came out, but I don't think it would be a good experience to play them back-to-back. I think Nintendo was wise to only use "soft" story continuity so that jumping straight into Tears wouldn't be confusing to anyone.
 
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Game is in the top 3 for me. Ironically enough each entry my list all came out last year.

But, TOTK has the probably the most interesting and intuitive gameplay, ever.

The story was deeper than any Zelda game before it.

I understand why they wouldn't make another direct sequel, to keep it fresh, but damn I'd be fine with one more. It feels like it should be a trilogy at this point.
 

Pedro Motta

Member
right because you spent 90% of the time doing the same things as BoTW. FFS this expansion bitching is pathetic.

Do you stop watching a show because the second episode takes place in the same setting?

So what do people think the wait for the next Zelda will be? Another 6.5 year from today is my guess.

I think BOTW is one of the most overrated games ever. The world is terribly empty. TOTK completely changed that. Exploring the world actually became enjoyable. It still has pretty shit combat, but a fun game nonetheless
Keep in mind I have over 120 hours on each and I love the games. I'm not bitching, it's just a fact.

I made one mistake tho, I re-played BotW before TotK came out, so I probably saturated myself.
 

Thick Thighs Save Lives

NeoGAF's Physical Games Advocate Extraordinaire
One year ago and it still is $70 :lollipop_crying:
The pricing is real funny for TotK. Here in Europe some retailers were offering TotK pre-orders for €55-€60 so I managed to snag my copy for €55 including shipping, and also got that pre-order coin. Looking back I think it was the best day one purchase I've made last year lol.
 

Danjin44

The nicest person on this forum
TotK was absolute joy to explore, you dont even have to go crazy building....you can just build simple thing fly around if you want and later you get blueprint of very useful pre-build stuff.
 
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TintoConCasera

I bought a sex doll, but I keep it inflated 100% of the time and use it like a regular wife
It’s 90% the same as BotW. Great game but it is what it is.
I felt the same.

I don't want to call it a DLC, but it sure is the most "samey" Zelda sequel ever. Even Majora's Mask feels much more different to Ocarina of Time than TOTK to BOTW.

I really hope they do something actually new for the next game. Both OOT and ALTTP are some of my most favorite games ever, and it would be very sad to me to realize that I don't like Zelda anymore because of the direction they have taken with those games.
 

Lynkk

Member
To me the most disappointing part about the new Zelda format is that they finally added voice over, and it's completely wasted because it doesn't have a good story and it's very short.

BOTW had amazing characters, but the entire story is less than titktok video. Story in TOTK is even worse!

However, there's still a lot of potential, so hopefully Nintendo can see it properly and give us a great Zelda game:

- Keep the open world and exploration as is.
- Make gooddam dungeons goddammit! Not those stupid copy paste puzzle rooms.
- Bring back classic items. They could completely work whatever gimmick they add.
- STORY! You have voice over! UTILIZE IT! They did create great characters and lore in BOTW and threw it away!
- For that to work, they have to make the Story and progression linear. Many side quests and exploration could still work open-ended, but it was painful to see that NO ONE reacted to huge events because you could do everything in any order. And of course, the copy-paste puzzle rooms and cinematics.
If you play a Zelda for its story, you are doing it wrong.
 

Dr. Claus

Banned
Just picked up a Switch to play this and Metroid Dread.

This thread is making me nervous.

Also OP made another thread about Pokemon Arceus. I ended up playing it and its THAT type of Nintendo franchise, I wouldn’t wish it on my enemies.

Trolls, mostly. The game shares the same main overworld, but adds in new places to explore, plenty of caverns, the various sky islands, and the entire cavernous underground. People who claim it is an “expansion” tend to be talking out their ass.

At most the game is 33% the same. Which tends to be the case with most direct sequels.
 

lachesis

Member
I'm glad that I finished the game just a few weeks ago. It was only game that I was playing almost a year. 1000 Koroks, all the caves, shrines, armor sets all maxed out etc.
It didn't give me the adrenaline thru and thru though - but base game play was so well done - it made thing much more bearable.

If I wasn't a completionist - I might have felt somewhat different about this game. For me the fun part came from just getting to point A to B, slow, leisurely paced grinding.
If you are fast forwarding person, I can see why this may not be the one for you. (Which older Zelda game was much better than BOTW/TOTK)

But most of all, I'm glad that this type of game will only come once in 7-8 years. I just don't have that much time these days...
And I do hope next Zelda won't come for a few years now. (Unless they change the formula entirely, which I think they will).
 

clarky

Gold Member
Very clever game, but like the first its too big for its own good. I think i had around 70 hours clocked but dropped it to play something else and have not been back to it.
 

Madflavor

Member
Come on. Did you play it? It’s not

I wouldn't go as far as 90% but aesthetically it looked the same and it recycles so many assets from BotW, including enemy design. Many sound affects and some music were recycled.

What actually did irk me though, was the amount of people (including journalists) who swore up and down that it wasn't similar to BotW.
 
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DKPOWPOW

Member
Still going thru it, but I will say it's the first Zelda game since Skyward Sword that just made me take a pause.

I've sunk a lot of time into it over the past year, and could have beaten it if I only wanted to do the main story.

But there's various things that haven't pushed me to finish it. Instead I find myself playing Metroid Prime Remastered and Yakuza Like a Dragon.

I really loved Breath of the Wild, though I still need to complete it's DLC.

Tears of the Kingdom has not grabbed me the way I thought it would. Then again it released right before a terrible time in my life, so it could also just be a reminder of those events.
 
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eNT1TY

Member
Put hundreds of hours into BoTW but barely 20 into this one before i had enough; lost its charm and novelty for me and felt like a complete retread. Feels like a chore to play.
 

Hugare

Member
Much better than BOTW but still has waaay too many flaws. People calling it one of the GOATs must only play Nintendo games or something, and havent experienced any other open world game ever made.

Fixed so much stuff from BOTW: improved traversal with Rewind + wind boost, improved weapon durability with Fuse, improved dungeons (much better), improved the towers by making them more useful with the slingshot to the sky thing and etc.

And yet people called BOTW a 10/10. Even Nintendo recognized that it was flawed af and tried to fix it with the sequel.

TotK is a good game, but it's more like a remake of BOTW and still has too many flaws. The storytelling still sucks, the map is the same, sidequests are shit, dungeons still arent as good as they used to be and etc.
 
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Pelao

Member
One of my favorite games of 2023, but I'm not going to pretend it wasn't an expansion they sold for 70 bucks. I'd be more up in arms about it, but I enjoyed my second visit to this Hyrule way too much, though I won't deny that, after a year, I feel like I remember less of my experiences with this game than BotW, which I played in 2017.
 

Robb

Gold Member
sidequests are shit
I thought they were fantastic, for Zelda especially but I feel they stand on their own as well. The Koga questline was so much fun, Hateno village as well. Really enjoyed Misko’s Treassure, Hateno Resort, and Pirate Hideout. Not to mention the Lucky Clover Gazette and all of what that entails. Assembling the band and finding all the musicians was great as well.

But the real standout was probably Mattisons Independence.
Fw11eLZaEAACV4T

Sad Doctor Who GIF
 
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