As much as I enjoyed messing around the new abilities and exploring new areas, the story, or rather lack thereof, is what absolutely killed this game for me. Like in BOTW, the story generally takes a back seat to allow the player to explore and take things at their own pace. I think this was fine for BOTW, since it was a completely new world no one had ever experienced before and they rightfully wanted to show that off, and the story itself was quite good even if though the majority of it was told through cutscenes rather than gameplay. But TOTK's map, even with the addition of the Sky Islands and the Depths just isn't distinct enough from BOTW to warrant this approach again. The story rehashes a lot of elements from BOTW's. Ganon comes out of nowhere, plagues the four races with some sort of threat, Link wakes up in some ancient mysterious location, Zelda is gone/ needs to found and rescued, there was a super advanced ancient civilization but they're all gone now etc etc. I was incredibly disappointed by how so many of the story beats were just copied from BOTW but done even worse. I especially hate what they did with Zelda in this game. Rather than having her be present in the narrative and fight alongside Link, they decided to send her to the past and essentially have her removed from the majority of the game. Not to mention how dumb out of character she is when we do see her. BOTW established her as being intelligent albeit reserved and stubborn, but ultimately someone who was just trying to do their best under the immense pressure placed upon her. We get to see her become more open and kind towards Link, which culminates in her saving him from the Guardians. In TOTK she possess nearly none of these qualities. As soon as she is dropped into the past, all she does is stand around, make basic observations and talk about how great Link is, completely opposite to the proactive, inquisitive person we know her to be. The Zelda from BOTW would've been cooped up in the library with Mineru trying to find a way back to the present and she would've immediately told Rauru about all the things that transpired before and during BOTW and up to TOTK. Like seriously, why would she not tell Rauru anything about Calamity Ganon upon learning that there's a guy with clearly evil intentions whose name is GANONdorf. Why would she not tell him about the mummified undead corpse she and Link found who somehow knew who they were and had a Secret Stone in his possession? Make it make sense. As for Link's adventure, its incredibly bare bones. It's the same concept from BOTW, travel to homelands of the four races, interreact with the Sages, help them with some quests, kill the boss at the end. I like the sages, they're fun characters but TOTK kinda fails at making them interesting or memorable. They have zero depth or interesting interactions with Link, the only exception being Sidon who treats Link almost like brother rather than an acquaintance, which I love. But just like in BOTW, they all have little relevance outside of their respective regions until the end where they help you fight Ganondorf and his army. This was cool don't get me wrong, but it would've been much more satisfying if they didn't have such basic characterization. Side note, but I absolutely hate how this game refuses to acknowledge anything that happened in BOTW. I get they didn't want to alienate new players, but it narratively makes no sense that almost no one knows who Link is. Even characters we heavily interacted with like Bolson don't remember you, and it's seriously off-putting. Also what the hell happened to the Sheikah technology? I get the Guardians being dismantled or otherwise removed, but the shrines? the towers? the Divine Beasts? I don't buy the explanation that they all just "disappeared one day" because that's so incredibly lame. Now for the biggest piece of wasted potential this game has to offer, Ganondorf. Yes, he looks cool. Yes, he is intimidating as all hell. But he has absolutely zero motivation or personality beyond "I wanna take over Hyrule because uhhhh I want to". One could argue this was the same in Ocarina of Time, but at least in that game there were hints that it went deeper than that. Which is confirmed in the Wind Waker, where Ganondorf himself says he wanted to take over Hyrule so his people could escape the harsh environment of the Gerudo desert and live in prosperity. Now whether or not he was actually telling the truth or just trying to gain sympathy is up for debate, but either way it deepens Ganondorf's character. Ganondorf's character in TOTK is about shallow as a puddle. He is evil for the sake of being evil, a characterization that may have worked 30 years ago, but simply isn't excusable anymore. The only insight we get into his actual thoughts and feelings is the scene where he pretends to swear fealty to Rauru. He subtly insults Rauru, his kingdom and the Zonai as a whole, showing some amount of contempt for them. Ok, why? Why does he hate them? Seriously, why? Just because Rauru repelled his attack on the Great Plateau? Or have they been in conflict for much longer than that? Why does he want the Secret Stone? How does he know that it'll grant him the power he wants? He only saw Rauru use it once to our knowledge, how does he know it'll have the same effect on him? Questions TOTK has no interest in answering, but hey he made a funny face so that's cool I guess. I could go on and on about this game's sorry excuse for a story. It's genuinely sad how we went from impactful, meaningful stories that have stuck with people for decades, to whatever this was supposed to be. TOTK is not a terrible game, but it is a terrible continuation of BOTW's narrative. I'm convinced that when people look back on this era of Zelda in 10, 15 years from now, BOTW will be remembered far more favorably than TOTK. And it's truly sad, because TOTK had the potential to be so much more than its predecessor and really elevate the series to new heights.
One of the biggest complaints I keep getting is the story was bad. Specifically from the flashbacks. Complaining about how you’ll likely get them in the wrong order. But I don’t get that complaint. BOTW did the exact same thing. It may not have been as epic as Ganon’s rise but we still got a lot of story from those flashbacks. I only have a few complaints and none of them take away from the game being a masterpiece. 1. Not outright mentioning BOTW. This is a problem in Nintendo games as a whole. They want each game to standalone. So people that didn’t play the previous game aren’t confused. But this isn’t something like Mario or Kirby, TOTK is a direct sequel. There is no way around that and it would enhance the experience if we got more than vague mentions about Calamity Ganon, just called “The Calamity” and saying Link defeated a Calamity. It’s just annoying to me. 2. There is NO ancient Shiekah tech. I can believe the shrines and towers descended into the earth, that’s how they got there in the first place. The Shrine of Resurrection should’ve been intact. The ruins of Guardians scattered around should be there. Heck, Guardians should’ve stayed in but act like a second type of Gloom Hands. Possessed and has both boss themes combined for even more terror. But the most unforgivable of this is not having the Divine Beasts anywhere. They should’ve been locations. But utterly destroyed by the Upheaval. Vah Medoh has its wings sticking out the snow. Its legs still on its perch. Vah Ruta sunken in the basin and its head in that area you unlock the water temple. Vah Neboris buried in the sand maybe have it split open as a monster hideout in its humps. And Vah Rudania sunken in the lava pits in the Depths. It would’ve been so cool to see them. 3. I actually don’t like the fuse and building mechanics. The fuse because it uses up good resources. Resources I need to upgrade my clothing (also it’s much harder to farm Rupees and that sucked). And the building because, well I wanted the Master Cycle back and unlockable, but can make the game stupid easy. But this is more about the fuse mechanic, building can be fun. 4. The ambiguity of Link and Zelda’s relationship. Nintendo was just teasing us. They left clues and it’s clear from the way Zelda talks about Link to Rauru and Sonia that she’s enamored with him. This is the most in love Link and Zelda since Skyward Sword. They should’ve just made it official. Like at the end, that would’ve been the perfect time for Zelda to kiss Link. 5. The Demon Dragon should’ve been more pig-like. When Ganon grabs Link to take to the sky, he does it as Calamity Ganon, pig and all. It should be draconic upon finishing the transformation. But throw in a pronounced pig nose and tusks. Really would’ve made it feel like Ganon. My grievances don’t change my opinion that this game is a 10/10 masterpiece. Beginning to end in all ways. Especially Ganon.
You forgot to add you can now learn to use the yiga grandmasters wind ability
Good shit my man!!
It’s so sad that people hating on totk get so much more views :(
As much as I enjoyed messing around the new abilities and exploring new areas, the story, or rather lack thereof, is what absolutely killed this game for me. Like in BOTW, the story generally takes a back seat to allow the player to explore and take things at their own pace. I think this was fine for BOTW, since it was a completely new world no one had ever experienced before and they rightfully wanted to show that off, and the story itself was quite good even if though the majority of it was told through cutscenes rather than gameplay. But TOTK's map, even with the addition of the Sky Islands and the Depths just isn't distinct enough from BOTW to warrant this approach again.
The story rehashes a lot of elements from BOTW's. Ganon comes out of nowhere, plagues the four races with some sort of threat, Link wakes up in some ancient mysterious location, Zelda is gone/ needs to found and rescued, there was a super advanced ancient civilization but they're all gone now etc etc. I was incredibly disappointed by how so many of the story beats were just copied from BOTW but done even worse. I especially hate what they did with Zelda in this game. Rather than having her be present in the narrative and fight alongside Link, they decided to send her to the past and essentially have her removed from the majority of the game. Not to mention how dumb out of character she is when we do see her. BOTW established her as being intelligent albeit reserved and stubborn, but ultimately someone who was just trying to do their best under the immense pressure placed upon her. We get to see her become more open and kind towards Link, which culminates in her saving him from the Guardians. In TOTK she possess nearly none of these qualities. As soon as she is dropped into the past, all she does is stand around, make basic observations and talk about how great Link is, completely opposite to the proactive, inquisitive person we know her to be. The Zelda from BOTW would've been cooped up in the library with Mineru trying to find a way back to the present and she would've immediately told Rauru about all the things that transpired before and during BOTW and up to TOTK. Like seriously, why would she not tell Rauru anything about Calamity Ganon upon learning that there's a guy with clearly evil intentions whose name is GANONdorf. Why would she not tell him about the mummified undead corpse she and Link found who somehow knew who they were and had a Secret Stone in his possession? Make it make sense.
As for Link's adventure, its incredibly bare bones. It's the same concept from BOTW, travel to homelands of the four races, interreact with the Sages, help them with some quests, kill the boss at the end. I like the sages, they're fun characters but TOTK kinda fails at making them interesting or memorable. They have zero depth or interesting interactions with Link, the only exception being Sidon who treats Link almost like brother rather than an acquaintance, which I love. But just like in BOTW, they all have little relevance outside of their respective regions until the end where they help you fight Ganondorf and his army. This was cool don't get me wrong, but it would've been much more satisfying if they didn't have such basic characterization. Side note, but I absolutely hate how this game refuses to acknowledge anything that happened in BOTW. I get they didn't want to alienate new players, but it narratively makes no sense that almost no one knows who Link is. Even characters we heavily interacted with like Bolson don't remember you, and it's seriously off-putting. Also what the hell happened to the Sheikah technology? I get the Guardians being dismantled or otherwise removed, but the shrines? the towers? the Divine Beasts? I don't buy the explanation that they all just "disappeared one day" because that's so incredibly lame.
Now for the biggest piece of wasted potential this game has to offer, Ganondorf. Yes, he looks cool. Yes, he is intimidating as all hell. But he has absolutely zero motivation or personality beyond "I wanna take over Hyrule because uhhhh I want to". One could argue this was the same in Ocarina of Time, but at least in that game there were hints that it went deeper than that. Which is confirmed in the Wind Waker, where Ganondorf himself says he wanted to take over Hyrule so his people could escape the harsh environment of the Gerudo desert and live in prosperity. Now whether or not he was actually telling the truth or just trying to gain sympathy is up for debate, but either way it deepens Ganondorf's character. Ganondorf's character in TOTK is about shallow as a puddle. He is evil for the sake of being evil, a characterization that may have worked 30 years ago, but simply isn't excusable anymore. The only insight we get into his actual thoughts and feelings is the scene where he pretends to swear fealty to Rauru. He subtly insults Rauru, his kingdom and the Zonai as a whole, showing some amount of contempt for them. Ok, why? Why does he hate them? Seriously, why? Just because Rauru repelled his attack on the Great Plateau? Or have they been in conflict for much longer than that? Why does he want the Secret Stone? How does he know that it'll grant him the power he wants? He only saw Rauru use it once to our knowledge, how does he know it'll have the same effect on him? Questions TOTK has no interest in answering, but hey he made a funny face so that's cool I guess.
I could go on and on about this game's sorry excuse for a story. It's genuinely sad how we went from impactful, meaningful stories that have stuck with people for decades, to whatever this was supposed to be. TOTK is not a terrible game, but it is a terrible continuation of BOTW's narrative. I'm convinced that when people look back on this era of Zelda in 10, 15 years from now, BOTW will be remembered far more favorably than TOTK. And it's truly sad, because TOTK had the potential to be so much more than its predecessor and really elevate the series to new heights.
W TAKE ON GODD
One of the biggest complaints I keep getting is the story was bad. Specifically from the flashbacks. Complaining about how you’ll likely get them in the wrong order.
But I don’t get that complaint. BOTW did the exact same thing. It may not have been as epic as Ganon’s rise but we still got a lot of story from those flashbacks.
I only have a few complaints and none of them take away from the game being a masterpiece.
1. Not outright mentioning BOTW. This is a problem in Nintendo games as a whole. They want each game to standalone. So people that didn’t play the previous game aren’t confused. But this isn’t something like Mario or Kirby, TOTK is a direct sequel. There is no way around that and it would enhance the experience if we got more than vague mentions about Calamity Ganon, just called “The Calamity” and saying Link defeated a Calamity. It’s just annoying to me.
2. There is NO ancient Shiekah tech. I can believe the shrines and towers descended into the earth, that’s how they got there in the first place. The Shrine of Resurrection should’ve been intact. The ruins of Guardians scattered around should be there. Heck, Guardians should’ve stayed in but act like a second type of Gloom Hands. Possessed and has both boss themes combined for even more terror.
But the most unforgivable of this is not having the Divine Beasts anywhere. They should’ve been locations. But utterly destroyed by the Upheaval. Vah Medoh has its wings sticking out the snow. Its legs still on its perch. Vah Ruta sunken in the basin and its head in that area you unlock the water temple. Vah Neboris buried in the sand maybe have it split open as a monster hideout in its humps. And Vah Rudania sunken in the lava pits in the Depths. It would’ve been so cool to see them.
3. I actually don’t like the fuse and building mechanics. The fuse because it uses up good resources. Resources I need to upgrade my clothing (also it’s much harder to farm Rupees and that sucked). And the building because, well I wanted the Master Cycle back and unlockable, but can make the game stupid easy. But this is more about the fuse mechanic, building can be fun.
4. The ambiguity of Link and Zelda’s relationship. Nintendo was just teasing us. They left clues and it’s clear from the way Zelda talks about Link to Rauru and Sonia that she’s enamored with him.
This is the most in love Link and Zelda since Skyward Sword. They should’ve just made it official. Like at the end, that would’ve been the perfect time for Zelda to kiss Link.
5. The Demon Dragon should’ve been more pig-like. When Ganon grabs Link to take to the sky, he does it as Calamity Ganon, pig and all. It should be draconic upon finishing the transformation. But throw in a pronounced pig nose and tusks. Really would’ve made it feel like Ganon.
My grievances don’t change my opinion that this game is a 10/10 masterpiece. Beginning to end in all ways. Especially Ganon.