I love the flower-like island above lookout landing. It’s the highest place on the map but it’s so difficult to get to, and you get nothing for going there
@@LostHylian73 If I recall, the thing you were supposed to get up on that island for the quest had already fallen to lookout landing, so there's no reason to go there. The only reason it even exists in the game is for continuity, and serves as a hint for players about that particular quest. It's why they placed that one in an area you're most likely to frequent early in the game.
@@LostHylian73 that particular flower island exists as nothing but a map marker to pinpoint the fallen stelle if you somehow missed the large stone obelisk that suddenly becomes part of lookout landing's garden pond decor.
yeahhhh!! I had a very similar experience with it, cause I was like oh every time I fly up into the sky islands I see this tiny island just above me. I didnt know it was part of a quest until much later but I went up to it and was like, oh theres absolutely nothing to do here and I want to spend the rest of my life here.
This series hits my extremely niche intersection of interests of casual philosophy, gaming, and things that are just kinda weird in an interesting way, and I adore every episode.
idk if he says it in the video, I might have overheard it; but it is also an amazing and uncommon way to appreciate the people who worked on the game. from the players perspective and the developers. Like, hell yeah, climb around this balcony and look at all the cool shit our designers made. edit: I want to add that this is how I spend hours in the game. Just climbing to places where nothing is, it makes it so much more immersive.
areas around the castle, like the one you found Twilight Princessian, are areas that DID have waterfalls and pools, but when the castle was lifted up, it deprived certain spots from water flow and pooling. That's why they have puddles. So you see, they did get thought. They are there to follow-through the effects of the castle hoisting. And, since they are in barren and afflicted areas, they get extra dead and barren.
I just wanna know where the heck all the water is coming from. Hyrule Castle's waterfalls are constantly supplied FROM WHERE?? The castle is FLOATING with no known water reservoir. Did they put the Vah Ruta technology that was able to create an infinite supply of water in the castle???
@@Sarah_H The castle isn't floating. Contrary to everything floating with zonai tech, the castle was pushed upward by the giant column now supporting it.
It was actually fun exploring these areas after playing BotW where you are constantly chased by robots and half the castle is covered in malice miasma goop, now they are just chill and barren, and past Link already grabbed most of the treasure. Also how some of the paths are torn apart between the ground and the sky, and different entrances became accessible.
I like the term "Self-conscious video game." As a game developer, it can be hard to spend so much time on specific areas, conflicts, story beats, mechanics, etc., knowing that the player could walk right past them. I've never thought of games that railroad players into "the fun stuff" as self conscious, but it's kind of true. If they don't have confidence that players will find fun in any direction, or in any order, or put the story together themselves, why do it?
I’ve always said that if the core philosophies of your product are interesting, then people will interact with it. Vision is key (but there’s always that doubtful voice in the back of your head when making something new… or at least mine doesn’t stfu. Too many thoughts sometimes). At the end of the day, it’s about not being afraid of letting the product breath if it wants to
I think there can be a time and place for it, Mario Odyssey has a bunch of areas that are “out of play” that have a giant pile of coins to reward you for going there. But Mario is a series that wants you to figure out the acrobatics of the platforming, so rewarding the player for mastering movement early is a good thing. And Mario has a long tradition of “you thought you went out of bounds but there’s actually a secret back here” tbf
I like how Elden Ring does it. You can just wander about randomly, but you also often see cool shit off in the distance and think "oh I wanna check that out"
Now if only we could go to places _outside_ Hyrule that would be a dream come true. Having the game close you from leaving the kingdom is anxiety inducing considering all the curiosity that comes with wishing to explore the Zelda world itself.
@@melovekittie That's where _DLC_ comes along plus a direct sequel ala Majora's Mask which allows Link to explore some new Realm as a new threat is introduced to succeed Ganondorf in embodying the "Demon Tribe's curse". We still don't know what lies on the surface of Mount Agaat anyway so it's safe to assume Nintendo must have a plan on future content including the opportunity to leave Hyrule and explore the lands which lie beyond.
not really, totk still doesnt want you to get bored. the gameplay loop is never-ending and very apparent, but IF YOU WANT you can just explore. theres just very heavily implied stuff to do, so its not explicitly linear
@@rarecromnah, you've got it twisted. The game is definitely not worried about you being bored at all. The fact that it has so many fun things to offer scattered basically everywhere, is so that you have the freedom to switch gears whenever you'd like. However, if you choose to just wander aimlessly forever doing nothing, the game will never interrupt this and simply let you at it. That's the difference, the lets say "insecure" video games will start blocking you off, introducing hints or tooltips etc. when it seems like you're getting too far off track. TOTK offers no such reminders beyond interesting things physically existing for you to see. That is what is meant when it's described as a self-confident video game, it doesn't need to lead you, it knows it's got so much good stuff that you'll figure it out on your own.
You could easily do a follow-up to this entirely focused on the Depths. Probably multiple. I found so many places that fit this vibe, places that logically have to exist given that the depths is a mirror of the surface, but are completely devoid of content and often very difficult to access. I'd recommend the edges of the depths and the depth's version of the Faron region with all it's water features in particular.
Totally agree, especially because (from what I understand) the depths were beneath us the entire time as we were exploring Hyrule in BotW, as far as lore goes. Just knowing that and playing BotW again is so eerie and makes those spaces in the Depths feel much stranger imo
Totally, I especially love the little opening under Spectacle Rock at the Northeast of the Gerudo region, it stood out so much in the map that I was convinced there'd be something there, but nope just a cool little place to reach
getting to beneath the peak of hebra peak was such a pain but when i got there it was kinda odd to see how it was just the opposite of hebra peak and just a cute little area. i don’t remember if anything was there. but i had fun getting there
The Depths are incredibly odd, as there's fundamentally not really anything there. Significant surface locations tend to have named Depths locations, but there's never a sense that what you find is, I don't know, strictly important, if you get my drift? Like Satori Mountain is a gorgeous location and beneath it is an area named Blupee Hollow, where there's nothing really there outside of a bit of water and I think maybe a chest?
My favorite little place in TOTK is the sky island directly above the Great Deku Tree. There's just a small treasure chest there, and once it's gone, there's nothing else really there. I'm afraid of falling, so I really have no reason to go back up there being so high up, but it's got a nice sturdy retaining wall and a ruined shelter there that it's kind of become a little loft for me. I like going up there before I turn the game off, or sometimes, even just hang out up there. You can see everything, and feel safe doing so....
I think the ‘safe’ feeling that island evokes is intentional; if you place a warp medallion there it gives you easy access to almost the entire top half of the map. I’m delighted that they communicated the same feeling to you and I, without a word.
My favorite is the star island directly above lookout landing, it's the highest point on the map and you can see everything from there that isn't obscured by mountains or other sky islands. I have a travel medallion there and use it often just to drop random things on lookout landing.
I always go there too, go to bed, then quit so I'm rested and it's morning when I come back. Did it bother you when the music changed when people were seeing Zelda through the spyglass? It took away the sense of sanctuary. For a bit.@@AnthonyBecker9
@@MultiMrBored The entire world map exists simply as space between the colossi, that's its only purpose. There's so many odd and out of the way places it's insane.
Hey you ever noticed how Al Newman isn't actually a new man but is an old man in fact. Or how Henry Youngman is an old man and Gary Oldman is a young man? What's up with that?
Another one of those "spaces that only exists because it has to" is near Jeddo Bridge if you ride down the Tamio River behind Satori Mountain. There's the normal brown rock of Hyrule and the lighter, yellow rock around the Rito region/Tanagar Canyon, but along this river is the point where those two earth types meet and very abruptly transition. It's not a smooth change, they just bump right into each other. Kind of strange, like a seam in the world that's obviously a relic of development.
Excited for this. I have a suggestion that might be a little odd. You should do an ‘unremarkable and odd places in my neighbourhood’ video and show some weird places IRL. Maybe not your exact neighbourhood to retain anonymity.
I didn't know the constructs at the base of the diving challenge sky islands would warp you up there, so I climbed all of them to the top thinking that was the challenge. It was one of the highlights for the game for me. So much of Breath of the Wild was doing things based on an incomplete understanding of the game's structure. I felt Tears of the Kingdom had such few moments like that despite (or maybe because of) its similarities with Breath of the Wild. Climbing those diving challenge islands was one of the few times I got that Breath of the Wild feeling in Tears of the Kingdom. I did of course abuse the travel medallion while starting a challenge to get back to them later.
Yes! That's exactly how I felt! I wanted that BOTW feeling from TOTK but because everyone had already mastered most of BOTW's systems I was always rushing myself through. Only certain bits of the sky areas really made me feel that. BOTW was so based around its map and the unknowns of its map that TOTK often felt like it was asking you to play the same game but without the deep sense of curiosity and interest that made BOTW so unique, and the depths really wasn't enough to rescue that.
I tried that early in the game, made it all the way to the last ring platform but was unable to get to the top. Later on I managed to build something to get up there using almost all of my energy only to find that there wasn't anything up there and the challenge was at the bottom where I started.
This is one of those meditative videos that reminds us that it's always good to take stock of the world around us, even in virtual environments. Very chill and nice vid.
"Every moment is enjoyable" is such a strong statement, and it really does suit TOTK and BOTW well. Even in the TOTK cover art, Link is just chillin somewhere
That point about space between “existing because it must…” - I’ve thought of the same idea in the context of music production. Like, I intentionally author certain points of a song/piece, but it feels like a significant portion of the art makes itself. Like, in terms of rhythm, the movements my hands make, even lyrically. Concepts connect and fall into rhyme and meter. Art has a way of filling in its own blanks and I’ve always loved that about creativity
I took a break from Totk for a few months after grinding like 150 hours, but this video makes me want to play it again. Exploring and finding a bunch of weird forgotten places is my favorite part of the game
I have a lot less hours than you at 70 hours but it's so easy to get distracted that I just open the game and wander. I don't want to fight ganon until I know I'm completely over the game.
Ever considered doing this for RTS games? Age of Empires 2 always had some oddly unremarkable places in the campaign maps. If you just use the "marco" "polo" cheats to reveal the entire map you could see them all.
this series is so calming. love the vibes I get as you walk in slow circles and philosophize about what makes it fit the vibe. there a couple spots that maybe don’t fit the vibe exactly but I like to visit just bc I know they’re there. there are some small floating islands above spectacle rock that you have to take a photo of for a stable painting quest-I like to just hang out on those because their purpose is solely to help with that quest and there isn’t a huge mass of island nearby to block most of your view. the other is just when you teleport to the highest shrine over the hebra region (checkpoint in the journey to the euro region temple) and the jump off the platform and float over the chain of small islands around it. especially then as you pass the islands and just glide over the wide expanse of the snowfield. it’s very peaceful to be up that high over a ton of snow blanket
THIS IS INSANE BC THAT LAST PLACE I SAW JUST A FEW DAYS AGO AND I HAD A THOUGH "I bet Any Austin will make a video with this little craggy cliff if he does make a video on this" CRAZYYY but its such a little eerie and odd place and I thought the blockade forcing you away from going farther just made it even more eerie!
You should make an odd and unremarkable places for any Splatoon You can enter the battle maps alone and vibe on the maps, usually this is done to get used to the geometry and all the various paths and hiding spots but there's something about being alone in the maps without nobody shooting at you that feels wild, some may say it's odd and unremarkable, oh right the story mode has a few of these places too specially on Splatoon 1.
Those obstacle course "towers" are truly the most liminal thing in this game. You're expected to just fly right past them. The first time I did one of those challenges I assumed - as Nintendo often does - that there would be something there, some little content to acknowledge that they knew Id explore it. But its just nothing, its wild. Whats weirder is from the tutorial island I thought those towers were going to be mini dungeons or something, full of little rooms and puzzles.
Exactly. Even in the trailers I thought they would be like some sort of climactic climb, similar to the wind temple, or dungeons in other Zelda games. I figured the game would be about purification/reaching enlightenment by ascending these paths into the sky, especially in contrast to the tone of the Ganondorf cutscenes. But the game doesn't really emphasize those themes and a lot of the sky definitely feels liminal
I climbed and ascended one of them early in my playthrough. When I realised I had done it the "unintended" way I stopped and thought, why is there nothing here at all?
i love these videos so much. like you didn’t have to put so much philosophical and cabalistic thought into them but you DO and it’s a very satisfying mix of interesting and existential
I love this series. The other day I was watching someone in The Depths and I thought there were a ton of places that would be a great candidate for this series. Maybe you can do a part 2 for this game! I would also love to see a video in this series for Morrowind.
an area that has always interested me a lot in botw/totk is just the whole area behind death mountain. just the top of the map in general has this really cool and ominous vibe
First time I ever got to one of the jumping challenges I was gliding in from a weird direction and sort of landed in the lower but not bottom section. I obviously thought the top was where the cool stuff was. I spent like 15 minutes figuring out how to get to the top only to realize it was a "now jump to the bottom" thing. It was a lot of fun. My favorite weird place in the game was just riding around on farosh the dragons head. He likes to dive into the depths and you can just float around on his nose and look at things.
I remember organically stumbling onto that last spot you found. I was looking around Hyrule for secluded spots that might have something cool in them, and I ended up going there. I half expected it to be sectioned off like Mount Agaat was, but to my surprise you could actually get there. It was such a vibe, but it made me wonder if there was maybe a lynel there in the last game or something.
i feel like the space behind the altar in the blessing shrines is also a very odd and unremarkable place. its just you, the soft shrine music, the weird geometry and aesthetic of the platform, and those green wisps leading to nowhere in the background. i for sure think those would do well in a part 2
This and the Mario 64 video have really opened my eyes and got me to appreciate these little things in video games a lot more. I remember exploring these areas and thinking nothing of it, leaving to find something more entertaining to do, but maybe now I'll go back and check them out again.
There is an elevated breezway connecting two buildings on a college campus nearby. Because of the nature of the two buildings, the breezeway doesn’t see much traffic, and during the summer it becomes a bona fide liminal space as one of the two buildings is locked up completely. I like to go up there to read during the summer. The little ledges on the temple of time remind me a lot of that.
I feel like you're gonna fall in love with the depths at some point in your playthrough. It took me some time but I sure did.. Like almost everything down there fits exactly this vibe of grandiose scale and everything is filled with leftover places that I feel even a lot of the developers have probably never laid eyes upon. Exploring those vast empty expanses, using your own little construct vehicles for hours on end is a vibe.
There are a lot of places like this in the Depths. One of my favorites is in the Faron region near the water. Just an enclosed, narrow strip with a single tree.
5:00 ** Spoiler ** Yup, in some of these unremarkable locations, you find remarkable things. By chance, I found a tunnel entrance that lead to a defended prison area under Hyrule Castle. After some head scratching to figure out how to get in a seemingly inaccessible room, I was rewarded with a chest containing a new pattern of fabric.
6:53 what's really cool about this place to me is everything you described. it's a "space that has to exists but no one wanted" kind of vibe, a bit desolate and unremarkable and out of the way... then there's that one fire keese that showed up. And that did something to me in my brain. It almost felt like there was some thought about doing something here, until you realize it's just a automated spawn and probably has little intent behind it other than some code that says 'if dryland=true spawnkeese=0.0001%'. That just extra slammed me into the ground with how odd the place feels, because for a split second it felt more alive than what it was, and then came crashing back down to being just as dead and empty as it always has been.
I'm so glad you started with the temple because that one one of the first places I explored when I started the game and I had the same sense of awe that I could just....be there? It felt really fantastic to know the developers gave us that freedom.
Thank you so much for gifting me the confirmation that it's not weird to enjoy games in this fashion. I've always enjoyed the quieter stranger almost mournful moments in life and games, but you put so many of those nebulous thoughts into concrete words. Next time I'm wandering around a game world, I'm going to feel more comfortable resting in the ambience instead of feeling like I need to get to the next objective. You're dope and you've got a new subscriber.
the way you talk so casually, with clear passion for the game, makes me so happy to listen to a 20 minute video about boring spots in a game I haven't finished.
I think I love these spaces and places for how lovely and lonely they make the game feel. There is something so beautiful about how calm and seemingly untouched by the calamity and stress and tragedy of the story. It’s not lonely in a bad way, it is just a space to look around and be in for a minute just because you can.
I really respect your philosphical talks in these videos about these places existing just because they have to, and thats something I really enjoy about your videos about this subject. I really loved just wandering around unremarkable places when I played this game as well. There's basically no end to places that you can get to and just vibe in, and I love that. Keep up the great work, Austin
Next time my partner asks me “what the f* are you doing ?” when he walks in on me wandering in weird corners of a game, I’ll gesture to this playlist. Thanks for putting into words something I could never explain adequately.
I didn't groan, I thought it made sense. If you're going to the same locations, it would be weird if it were too different. But then it also gives you new places to go so you're not lacking for new places to go, either.
This is such a fantastically peculiar video and discussion, I couldn't help giggling at some of your frank insights regarding the existence of such out of the way places in Hyrule. Very perceptive ❤
The 'layers of the cake' of the Temple of Time was also one of the first places I explored in this game!! Even from a distance it looked like a fun place to romp around in (tho I was a little disappointed there wasn't like a chest or something to reward the player curiosity, just beautiful views lol).
Your calm soothing voice is the chad Mr. Rogers antidote to all the high pitched, manufactured excitement UA-cam voices. Your voice is that confidence to explore unassuming spaces TotK has in its assumed framework. May you get as many followers as possible so you can thrive doing these videos!
Hey Austin, loving this series so far. If you do a part two for Tears of the Kingdom, I have a place to humbly suggest. During the beginning of the game, you get a quest to visit star shaped islands after finding an ancient stone tablet in Lookout Landing that fell from the sky. You visit all of the other star shaped islands in the sky, but the one you don't have to visit to complete the quest is the one directly above Lookout Landing. It's also, not unsurprisingly, very difficult to reach, as it's one of (if not the highest) point in the game. There's no reason to go there, it's hard to get to, and the island only exists to show what type of island you should be looking for on your map for that specific quest. Check it out if you can!
I liked your take about the game being confident, it definitely gave me a different perspective. I too enjoyed wandering aimlessly and exploring the unassuming areas, but now I know that it's okay to not always be rewarded for exploring. Just let the player go to the boring areas.
It's really one of my favorite things about these games, I love just going to a place. Just going there. Not for any particular reason. Just to stand in a specific spot and just go "this is neat" and then leave.
Felt very proud of myself for recognizing all of these with just the scenery. You have effectively put into words what had me fall in love with BOTW and TOTK. I know you're intrigued by the unremarkable places, but what gets me are the tiny magical places so hidden away the only reason you go there is to get the korok. These places are so intriguing to me just existing without the korok and its puzzle, and I love I can see the thought and care in such a small, insignificant place. My two favorites are the hot spring to the West of Meda mountain, and a small pool with a waterfall off a back road in the hills between Hateno and Lurelin.
Your take on the confidence of the game to allow you to get bored, or wander, or just go look closely at the world around you and your own interactions with it is super insightful.
I love these videos! As someone who'll probably never play ToTK I appreciate not only the view but the little details designer's have put in game just because. There really isn't a reason. Like you said they could have added the invisible wall but nope! Love this so much! Thank you!
Miyamoto does the standing in strange spots and looks around. There is a great story about the development of BOTW where Miyamoto stopped in to see how things were going and he just climbed trees in game for hours on end.
Perfect video. Perfect vibe. I remember the haunted feeling of unimportant corners of video games as a kid - that 'ducked under a red rope' or 'missed an out-of-service sign' that gave me a special alien little anxiety that I don't get much anymore as an adult. Yeah.
This video was an absolute DELIGHT to watch. I absolutely am the kind of person to spend hours just existing with the map and environments, but often wonder if it's weird of me. Its such a joy to see someone else having that train of thought ❤️ also, you have very strong Mr. Rogers happiness vibes in the best way possible
I really do love this series. BOTW was my first "real" game (I had only played minecraft and the sims before that) and I just fell in love with the freedoms it afforded me- as you put it, the lack of negative re-enforcement. I sunk hours and hours into it just wandering around and exploring this new world, searching the map for places I had not yet been to or explored fully, climbing every surface possible. This freedom has made it very hard to really enjoy other games, because my desire to explore fully cannot be satiated. Even in TOTK/BOTW I find myself gazing longingly at the green expanses at the edges of the maps, or the body of water at the edge of the desert. But one game I did love that followed these BOTW/TOTK principles was a small indie open world game called Sable. It takes place on a desert planet, where "sable" (you) and your hover-bike (simoon) travel around searching for your place in the world. Beyond being crazy fun to glide around the dunes, its a really charming and touching game. Its the dev teams (literally two people) first game and rather under developed. It took me maybe 20 hours to complete in its entirety but it is a completely open world, and its lack of development makes it rich in "unremarkable and odd places." Highly recommend you check it out!!
What you are talking about, is a place of breath. It is clever to have those type of spaces, it calms the mind and re energizes you before going back in for the job of whatever. That moment of mindless exploration keeps you in the moment. You feel like you are really apart of the game.
Ohhhh that spikey ridge thing in the Akkala sea is one of my favorite spot since botw, too. It's so different from the other world borders, and look super cool too.
I love finding cozy spots in this game, there's a secret cave with floresant crystals everywhere that's simply there to be admired.. no loot or anything, love that
11:29 "If you just stop and take the time, you can really get to some pretty useless places." i can't say why but i love this quote. i want it on my wall.
Your videos explain the feeling of logging into a game and not doing any quests or activities, but just walk around and look at things. It reminds me of how I might just walk around and think while in game just to get lost in the atmosphere! Thanks for all ur videos :)
The shrines that are just Raurus blessing and its just stairs and a chest and then the end of the shrine, its for sure a weird vibe when you have go behind the shrine or go back down the stairs
I actually discovered that diving minigame from the bottom and ascending/climbing up the entire thing. It took like a half an hour, and when I was up there, the sun was rising, and it made the whole one side of the sky just super bright yellows and orange. It sounds kinda funny for this game really, since it is so large, but it's the first time I felt, inside a video game, that I was absolutely infinitely small. I was surrounded by these absolutely megalithic walls, and when I look the other way, I can see forever, and I feel like I'm right next to the sky. And here I am I'm just standing on the edge of this absolutely huge wall. It felt like I was on the edge of the world. Such a moment for me.
I love your narration style, it's so calm and gentle, such a refreshing change from the usual noisy hype of youtube. Feels nice to just chill in these quiet places, your voice suits the vibe perfectly.
These videos deplete my anxiety and replace it with soothing thoughts pondering placeless space. I love how you don't raise your voice and mostly let the open world speak for itself, offering observations about the art or delightfully peculiar lack of realism.
I love this. I spend so much time in games just hanging out someplace chill. Not TOTK but lately I've been enjoying the little ledge in Sand Kingdom on the side of that tower you have to get up 2D, but the 3D ledge which you can just stand on if you do it right (and if you're hanging from it, Mario can't even pull himself up).
you have really changed my point of view about this game. when i picked it up i was so thrilled to explore the world and see how many new things were hiding around each corner only to find that the threefold(ish) increase of space was not endowed with a threefold increase of "content." despite all the creative capabilities, which i felt really limited by because it was so hard to find shrines to power up my character and amass materials to be able to do things with, it felt similarly empty. i was disheartened and disappointed. all the videos i saw of people making cool stuff immediately after the game's release was crazy to me because they had to have bum-rushed the story all the way through and personally, even following the game's straightforward questlines i would just get lost and not be able to hold on to my resources and die constantly. and because you can go *anywhere* it was just overwhelming to guess where i was "supposed" to go, and what i was "supposed" to do. but now i feel seriously invigorated by all the possibilities and the wonder of traveling a huge expanse of land and making my own path. i'm a huge fan of the older zelda games and i know some of the more explicitly designed combat and traversal is really fun too from my experience with breath of the wild, it just became frustrating to seek out those parts which are few and far between these huge geographic features. but i think i've accepted now that this is just a different type of game, and one that deserves a patient and curious experience.
There’s something so interesting about these completely regular places that have nothing in them. It’s almost like a liminal space- no one, nothing remarkable- just empty. But the fact that you can just go everywhere and anywhere makes it all so remarkable in a different way. It’s not like there’s anything special, but being able to see these unique places and just exist there is so cool. I’ve completed the main story, all shrines, done lots of side quests and found most collectibles, but I love just exploring.
Ah yes, the third best series on UA-cam. Behind restaurant critiques and unemployment surveys… (I actually think this is the best of those three, but I don’t know how to joke about that and I don’t like being that vulnerable)
Zooming in on the birds and the feet against the concrete made me chuckle. My favourite part of TOTK is just exploring and running/climbing/flying around. I was so sad when there weren't more stables to discover. I love the hero mode on the map so I can find where I haven't been yet and just go run around
I have one for you. They put one of those star-shaped sky islands above Lookout Landing at a ridiculously high up spot, way higher up than anything else, but you can actually fly up to it if you try hard enough. It's kinda hard to reach and there's nothing up there, but it IS reachable, and it has a nice view of the skybox and the world below. I speculate that they only put it there because the story of one of the side quests suggests something fell from it, and they needed it to appear on the world map for that, but they put it so ridiculously high up to discourage going to it since there's nothing for you there.
This series has me rethinking my relationship with video games. I've always had little spots like this in my head, areas in my beloved games where I go to just sit and relax, but this series has put so much into words that I can't. In no particular order, I'd love to see a series like this on Oblivion, Elden Ring, and Final Fantasy X.
The fact you can scale a mountain in TOTK, open a chest and find a blue rupee is what hit me thes most, all the usual spots that you would find an amazing weapon or item have been swapped out for mundane items and it's the developer saying ,"nah, not this game pal"
When I saw this video pop up, I had really hoped that little no man's land in the northern area you truly can't traverse showed up. You did not disappoint!
there is this one place in a cave i found. its like a small crystal cave room. you have to crouch through a small opening to get there. and theres nothing in it. its just a neat unremarkable place.
I love the flower-like island above lookout landing. It’s the highest place on the map but it’s so difficult to get to, and you get nothing for going there
Absolutely. I love that you can get there, and watch the land under you. It’s a 25s dive to the surface. Amazing.
The flower islands are part of a quest but apart from that, yeah.
@@LostHylian73 If I recall, the thing you were supposed to get up on that island for the quest had already fallen to lookout landing, so there's no reason to go there. The only reason it even exists in the game is for continuity, and serves as a hint for players about that particular quest. It's why they placed that one in an area you're most likely to frequent early in the game.
@@LostHylian73 that particular flower island exists as nothing but a map marker to pinpoint the fallen stelle if you somehow missed the large stone obelisk that suddenly becomes part of lookout landing's garden pond decor.
yeahhhh!! I had a very similar experience with it, cause I was like oh every time I fly up into the sky islands I see this tiny island just above me. I didnt know it was part of a quest until much later but I went up to it and was like, oh theres absolutely nothing to do here and I want to spend the rest of my life here.
This series hits my extremely niche intersection of interests of casual philosophy, gaming, and things that are just kinda weird in an interesting way, and I adore every episode.
this is a great way of putting it
IKR! I love this because I've had thoughts like these before
I wish more of UA-cam was like this, just full off oddity content that wouldn't fit anywhere else and isn't trying to be anything else.
idk if he says it in the video, I might have overheard it; but it is also an amazing and uncommon way to appreciate the people who worked on the game. from the players perspective and the developers. Like, hell yeah, climb around this balcony and look at all the cool shit our designers made.
edit: I want to add that this is how I spend hours in the game. Just climbing to places where nothing is, it makes it so much more immersive.
Precisely this
areas around the castle, like the one you found Twilight Princessian, are areas that DID have waterfalls and pools, but when the castle was lifted up, it deprived certain spots from water flow and pooling. That's why they have puddles. So you see, they did get thought. They are there to follow-through the effects of the castle hoisting. And, since they are in barren and afflicted areas, they get extra dead and barren.
I just wanna know where the heck all the water is coming from. Hyrule Castle's waterfalls are constantly supplied FROM WHERE?? The castle is FLOATING with no known water reservoir. Did they put the Vah Ruta technology that was able to create an infinite supply of water in the castle???
@@Sarah_Hlike Zeal in Chrono Trigger. Magic source. I know that’s a cop out. But yeah. Otherwise it would run out.
@@Sarah_H The castle isn't floating. Contrary to everything floating with zonai tech, the castle was pushed upward by the giant column now supporting it.
It was actually fun exploring these areas after playing BotW where you are constantly chased by robots and half the castle is covered in malice miasma goop, now they are just chill and barren, and past Link already grabbed most of the treasure. Also how some of the paths are torn apart between the ground and the sky, and different entrances became accessible.
I like the term "Self-conscious video game." As a game developer, it can be hard to spend so much time on specific areas, conflicts, story beats, mechanics, etc., knowing that the player could walk right past them. I've never thought of games that railroad players into "the fun stuff" as self conscious, but it's kind of true. If they don't have confidence that players will find fun in any direction, or in any order, or put the story together themselves, why do it?
I’ve always said that if the core philosophies of your product are interesting, then people will interact with it. Vision is key (but there’s always that doubtful voice in the back of your head when making something new… or at least mine doesn’t stfu. Too many thoughts sometimes). At the end of the day, it’s about not being afraid of letting the product breath if it wants to
I think there can be a time and place for it, Mario Odyssey has a bunch of areas that are “out of play” that have a giant pile of coins to reward you for going there. But Mario is a series that wants you to figure out the acrobatics of the platforming, so rewarding the player for mastering movement early is a good thing. And Mario has a long tradition of “you thought you went out of bounds but there’s actually a secret back here” tbf
I like how Elden Ring does it. You can just wander about randomly, but you also often see cool shit off in the distance and think "oh I wanna check that out"
4:28
4:53
TOTK is perfect for finding odd and unremarkable places. and just the fact that 90 % of the time you actually *can* go there makes it so much more fun
Now if only we could go to places _outside_ Hyrule that would be a dream come true. Having the game close you from leaving the kingdom is anxiety inducing considering all the curiosity that comes with wishing to explore the Zelda world itself.
@@javiervasquez625they couldn’t feasibly add that much content
@@melovekittie That's where _DLC_ comes along plus a direct sequel ala Majora's Mask which allows Link to explore some new Realm as a new threat is introduced to succeed Ganondorf in embodying the "Demon Tribe's curse". We still don't know what lies on the surface of Mount Agaat anyway so it's safe to assume Nintendo must have a plan on future content including the opportunity to leave Hyrule and explore the lands which lie beyond.
@@javiervasquez625The developers have said that there are no plans for DLC so probably not
@@Jacob-Sophiano dlc probably because they want you to pay another $70 when the game re released on switch 2 with extra content
It’s unbelievably cool when a game is not worried about letting you get bored to death lol
Remember the Sonic game? Ya...
not really, totk still doesnt want you to get bored. the gameplay loop is never-ending and very apparent, but IF YOU WANT you can just explore. theres just very heavily implied stuff to do, so its not explicitly linear
@@rarecromnah, you've got it twisted. The game is definitely not worried about you being bored at all. The fact that it has so many fun things to offer scattered basically everywhere, is so that you have the freedom to switch gears whenever you'd like. However, if you choose to just wander aimlessly forever doing nothing, the game will never interrupt this and simply let you at it. That's the difference, the lets say "insecure" video games will start blocking you off, introducing hints or tooltips etc. when it seems like you're getting too far off track. TOTK offers no such reminders beyond interesting things physically existing for you to see. That is what is meant when it's described as a self-confident video game, it doesn't need to lead you, it knows it's got so much good stuff that you'll figure it out on your own.
@@bruhvenant I like that analogy
@@selfawaretrashcan4594Sonic Adventure for Dreamcast? A major player in the who's who of liminal space gaming?
You could easily do a follow-up to this entirely focused on the Depths. Probably multiple. I found so many places that fit this vibe, places that logically have to exist given that the depths is a mirror of the surface, but are completely devoid of content and often very difficult to access. I'd recommend the edges of the depths and the depth's version of the Faron region with all it's water features in particular.
Totally agree, especially because (from what I understand) the depths were beneath us the entire time as we were exploring Hyrule in BotW, as far as lore goes. Just knowing that and playing BotW again is so eerie and makes those spaces in the Depths feel much stranger imo
Totally, I especially love the little opening under Spectacle Rock at the Northeast of the Gerudo region, it stood out so much in the map that I was convinced there'd be something there, but nope just a cool little place to reach
getting to beneath the peak of hebra peak was such a pain but when i got there it was kinda odd to see how it was just the opposite of hebra peak and just a cute little area. i don’t remember if anything was there. but i had fun getting there
The Depths are incredibly odd, as there's fundamentally not really anything there. Significant surface locations tend to have named Depths locations, but there's never a sense that what you find is, I don't know, strictly important, if you get my drift? Like Satori Mountain is a gorgeous location and beneath it is an area named Blupee Hollow, where there's nothing really there outside of a bit of water and I think maybe a chest?
@@twinkylinkyThere is a mine there, like in any mountain peak opposite valley in the depths.
Dude honestly it’s not just the odd and unremarkable places that make your content good, it’s your narration and personality you bring to each video
Hell yeah
"if you were able to land here then maybe you could just stop and land here and walk around"😂
My favorite little place in TOTK is the sky island directly above the Great Deku Tree. There's just a small treasure chest there, and once it's gone, there's nothing else really there. I'm afraid of falling, so I really have no reason to go back up there being so high up, but it's got a nice sturdy retaining wall and a ruined shelter there that it's kind of become a little loft for me. I like going up there before I turn the game off, or sometimes, even just hang out up there. You can see everything, and feel safe doing so....
I think the ‘safe’ feeling that island evokes is intentional; if you place a warp medallion there it gives you easy access to almost the entire top half of the map. I’m delighted that they communicated the same feeling to you and I, without a word.
Wow, I really like to warp to the underground shelter and take off all my gear before turning off the game!
My favorite is the star island directly above lookout landing, it's the highest point on the map and you can see everything from there that isn't obscured by mountains or other sky islands. I have a travel medallion there and use it often just to drop random things on lookout landing.
I always go there too, go to bed, then quit so I'm rested and it's morning when I come back. Did it bother you when the music changed when people were seeing Zelda through the spyglass? It took away the sense of sanctuary. For a bit.@@AnthonyBecker9
You would go absolutely wild in Shadow of the Colossus. The entire map is odd, unremarkable and beautiful.
I never considered but you're right, a perfect game for this series
@@MultiMrBored The entire world map exists simply as space between the colossi, that's its only purpose. There's so many odd and out of the way places it's insane.
Thank you for this masterpiece of a game, Al Newman
Hey you ever noticed how Al Newman isn't actually a new man but is an old man in fact. Or how Henry Youngman is an old man and Gary Oldman is a young man? What's up with that?
Gary Oldman is the only exception to this otherwise flawless logic lmfao
Richard McDougall thinks so too
@@Ghost-rb5tg I never thought about that, Norm.
Thank you for this masterpiece of an OST, Gary Numan.
Another one of those "spaces that only exists because it has to" is near Jeddo Bridge if you ride down the Tamio River behind Satori Mountain. There's the normal brown rock of Hyrule and the lighter, yellow rock around the Rito region/Tanagar Canyon, but along this river is the point where those two earth types meet and very abruptly transition. It's not a smooth change, they just bump right into each other. Kind of strange, like a seam in the world that's obviously a relic of development.
Excited for this. I have a suggestion that might be a little odd. You should do an ‘unremarkable and odd places in my neighbourhood’ video and show some weird places IRL. Maybe not your exact neighbourhood to retain anonymity.
I’m gonna do one of these sorts of things on my patreon to test is out at some point
I'd really enjoy watching something like that.
that's pretty much just How to with John Wilson
@@any_austin Imagine if this allowed you to travel around the world doing this
Odd and remarkable locations: Bahamas
And a picture of a undisturbed beach
I didn't know the constructs at the base of the diving challenge sky islands would warp you up there, so I climbed all of them to the top thinking that was the challenge. It was one of the highlights for the game for me. So much of Breath of the Wild was doing things based on an incomplete understanding of the game's structure. I felt Tears of the Kingdom had such few moments like that despite (or maybe because of) its similarities with Breath of the Wild. Climbing those diving challenge islands was one of the few times I got that Breath of the Wild feeling in Tears of the Kingdom. I did of course abuse the travel medallion while starting a challenge to get back to them later.
Same, it was a really good experience. Imagine the game "getting over it" but not sucking and instead feeling like I accomplished a thing
Yes! That's exactly how I felt! I wanted that BOTW feeling from TOTK but because everyone had already mastered most of BOTW's systems I was always rushing myself through. Only certain bits of the sky areas really made me feel that. BOTW was so based around its map and the unknowns of its map that TOTK often felt like it was asking you to play the same game but without the deep sense of curiosity and interest that made BOTW so unique, and the depths really wasn't enough to rescue that.
I did the same thing lol
@@alexanderbridge161Huh??
I tried that early in the game, made it all the way to the last ring platform but was unable to get to the top. Later on I managed to build something to get up there using almost all of my energy only to find that there wasn't anything up there and the challenge was at the bottom where I started.
This is one of those meditative videos that reminds us that it's always good to take stock of the world around us, even in virtual environments. Very chill and nice vid.
"Every moment is enjoyable" is such a strong statement, and it really does suit TOTK and BOTW well. Even in the TOTK cover art, Link is just chillin somewhere
That point about space between “existing because it must…” - I’ve thought of the same idea in the context of music production. Like, I intentionally author certain points of a song/piece, but it feels like a significant portion of the art makes itself. Like, in terms of rhythm, the movements my hands make, even lyrically. Concepts connect and fall into rhyme and meter. Art has a way of filling in its own blanks and I’ve always loved that about creativity
I took a break from Totk for a few months after grinding like 150 hours, but this video makes me want to play it again. Exploring and finding a bunch of weird forgotten places is my favorite part of the game
please do, i just beat it after 235 hours and it was totally worth it. :))
I have a lot less hours than you at 70 hours but it's so easy to get distracted that I just open the game and wander. I don't want to fight ganon until I know I'm completely over the game.
Ever considered doing this for RTS games? Age of Empires 2 always had some oddly unremarkable places in the campaign maps. If you just use the "marco" "polo" cheats to reveal the entire map you could see them all.
Honestly would be cool for someone to do that
this game is just a giant vibe. there's soo many just cool relaxing spots to get to
You should submit your resume to Nintendo as chief middle-of-nowhere-chest-putter supervisor. Austin: director of the moderately interesting.
this series is so calming. love the vibes I get as you walk in slow circles and philosophize about what makes it fit the vibe.
there a couple spots that maybe don’t fit the vibe exactly but I like to visit just bc I know they’re there. there are some small floating islands above spectacle rock that you have to take a photo of for a stable painting quest-I like to just hang out on those because their purpose is solely to help with that quest and there isn’t a huge mass of island nearby to block most of your view.
the other is just when you teleport to the highest shrine over the hebra region (checkpoint in the journey to the euro region temple) and the jump off the platform and float over the chain of small islands around it. especially then as you pass the islands and just glide over the wide expanse of the snowfield. it’s very peaceful to be up that high over a ton of snow blanket
I love these videos! You have a strong cozy, almost Mr Rogers esque vibe going on here that is just really relaxing and chill.
THIS IS INSANE BC THAT LAST PLACE I SAW JUST A FEW DAYS AGO AND I HAD A THOUGH "I bet Any Austin will make a video with this little craggy cliff if he does make a video on this" CRAZYYY but its such a little eerie and odd place and I thought the blockade forcing you away from going farther just made it even more eerie!
3:37 Idk if Im losing it, but I heard "Al Newman." Anyway awesome video lol as always. Love them so much.
You should make an odd and unremarkable places for any Splatoon
You can enter the battle maps alone and vibe on the maps, usually this is done to get used to the geometry and all the various paths and hiding spots but there's something about being alone in the maps without nobody shooting at you that feels wild, some may say it's odd and unremarkable, oh right the story mode has a few of these places too specially on Splatoon 1.
Those obstacle course "towers" are truly the most liminal thing in this game. You're expected to just fly right past them. The first time I did one of those challenges I assumed - as Nintendo often does - that there would be something there, some little content to acknowledge that they knew Id explore it. But its just nothing, its wild.
Whats weirder is from the tutorial island I thought those towers were going to be mini dungeons or something, full of little rooms and puzzles.
Exactly. Even in the trailers I thought they would be like some sort of climactic climb, similar to the wind temple, or dungeons in other Zelda games. I figured the game would be about purification/reaching enlightenment by ascending these paths into the sky, especially in contrast to the tone of the Ganondorf cutscenes. But the game doesn't really emphasize those themes and a lot of the sky definitely feels liminal
I climbed and ascended one of them early in my playthrough. When I realised I had done it the "unintended" way I stopped and thought, why is there nothing here at all?
i love these videos so much. like you didn’t have to put so much philosophical and cabalistic thought into them but you DO and it’s a very satisfying mix of interesting and existential
I love this series. The other day I was watching someone in The Depths and I thought there were a ton of places that would be a great candidate for this series. Maybe you can do a part 2 for this game! I would also love to see a video in this series for Morrowind.
Thank you for making this Austin, I love to see how people approach games differently
an area that has always interested me a lot in botw/totk is just the whole area behind death mountain. just the top of the map in general has this really cool and ominous vibe
First time I ever got to one of the jumping challenges I was gliding in from a weird direction and sort of landed in the lower but not bottom section. I obviously thought the top was where the cool stuff was. I spent like 15 minutes figuring out how to get to the top only to realize it was a "now jump to the bottom" thing. It was a lot of fun. My favorite weird place in the game was just riding around on farosh the dragons head. He likes to dive into the depths and you can just float around on his nose and look at things.
It's weird how deep but quiet my love for this video series is. It's just right up my alley.
In Botw I saw that last area and absolutely loved it, unfortunately you couldn't get very far on them until hitting a barrier but I still loved it.
I remember organically stumbling onto that last spot you found. I was looking around Hyrule for secluded spots that might have something cool in them, and I ended up going there. I half expected it to be sectioned off like Mount Agaat was, but to my surprise you could actually get there. It was such a vibe, but it made me wonder if there was maybe a lynel there in the last game or something.
Nope! It's empty in BotW too. I attempted to climb the peaks there and a wall popped up. It's just an isolated, forlorn place.
i feel like the space behind the altar in the blessing shrines is also a very odd and unremarkable place. its just you, the soft shrine music, the weird geometry and aesthetic of the platform, and those green wisps leading to nowhere in the background. i for sure think those would do well in a part 2
This and the Mario 64 video have really opened my eyes and got me to appreciate these little things in video games a lot more. I remember exploring these areas and thinking nothing of it, leaving to find something more entertaining to do, but maybe now I'll go back and check them out again.
*twilight princessian* is my new favorite phrase.
Great video
There is an elevated breezway connecting two buildings on a college campus nearby.
Because of the nature of the two buildings, the breezeway doesn’t see much traffic, and during the summer it becomes a bona fide liminal space as one of the two buildings is locked up completely.
I like to go up there to read during the summer. The little ledges on the temple of time remind me a lot of that.
I feel like you're gonna fall in love with the depths at some point in your playthrough. It took me some time but I sure did.. Like almost everything down there fits exactly this vibe of grandiose scale and everything is filled with leftover places that I feel even a lot of the developers have probably never laid eyes upon. Exploring those vast empty expanses, using your own little construct vehicles for hours on end is a vibe.
There are a lot of places like this in the Depths. One of my favorites is in the Faron region near the water. Just an enclosed, narrow strip with a single tree.
5:00 ** Spoiler ** Yup, in some of these unremarkable locations, you find remarkable things. By chance, I found a tunnel entrance that lead to a defended prison area under Hyrule Castle. After some head scratching to figure out how to get in a seemingly inaccessible room, I was rewarded with a chest containing a new pattern of fabric.
also koroks
6:53 what's really cool about this place to me is everything you described. it's a "space that has to exists but no one wanted" kind of vibe, a bit desolate and unremarkable and out of the way... then there's that one fire keese that showed up. And that did something to me in my brain. It almost felt like there was some thought about doing something here, until you realize it's just a automated spawn and probably has little intent behind it other than some code that says 'if dryland=true spawnkeese=0.0001%'. That just extra slammed me into the ground with how odd the place feels, because for a split second it felt more alive than what it was, and then came crashing back down to being just as dead and empty as it always has been.
I'm so glad you started with the temple because that one one of the first places I explored when I started the game and I had the same sense of awe that I could just....be there? It felt really fantastic to know the developers gave us that freedom.
@GamerZoneSpeaking the coolest kid at the party right here. Welcome to the comment section, lil one. So cute I just wanna pinch your little cheeks. 😘
I love the adjective “Twilight Princessian”
Thank you so much for gifting me the confirmation that it's not weird to enjoy games in this fashion. I've always enjoyed the quieter stranger almost mournful moments in life and games, but you put so many of those nebulous thoughts into concrete words. Next time I'm wandering around a game world, I'm going to feel more comfortable resting in the ambience instead of feeling like I need to get to the next objective. You're dope and you've got a new subscriber.
the way you talk so casually, with clear passion for the game, makes me so happy to listen to a 20 minute video about boring spots in a game I haven't finished.
These videos are like food for my soul, they make me truly calm and content
I think I love these spaces and places for how lovely and lonely they make the game feel. There is something so beautiful about how calm and seemingly untouched by the calamity and stress and tragedy of the story. It’s not lonely in a bad way, it is just a space to look around and be in for a minute just because you can.
I really respect your philosphical talks in these videos about these places existing just because they have to, and thats something I really enjoy about your videos about this subject. I really loved just wandering around unremarkable places when I played this game as well. There's basically no end to places that you can get to and just vibe in, and I love that. Keep up the great work, Austin
Next time my partner asks me “what the f* are you doing ?” when he walks in on me wandering in weird corners of a game, I’ll gesture to this playlist. Thanks for putting into words something I could never explain adequately.
I need to see fanart of these big buildings and landscapes with a tiny Link enjoying the vibes
I didn't groan, I thought it made sense. If you're going to the same locations, it would be weird if it were too different. But then it also gives you new places to go so you're not lacking for new places to go, either.
The Mister Roger’s feel in this video is amazing, nostalgic feeling the whole video, especially your area splice/transition, Thane Q man, well done
This is such a fantastically peculiar video and discussion, I couldn't help giggling at some of your frank insights regarding the existence of such out of the way places in Hyrule. Very perceptive ❤
The 'layers of the cake' of the Temple of Time was also one of the first places I explored in this game!! Even from a distance it looked like a fun place to romp around in (tho I was a little disappointed there wasn't like a chest or something to reward the player curiosity, just beautiful views lol).
Your calm soothing voice is the chad Mr. Rogers antidote to all the high pitched, manufactured excitement UA-cam voices.
Your voice is that confidence to explore unassuming spaces TotK has in its assumed framework.
May you get as many followers as possible so you can thrive doing these videos!
Hey Austin, loving this series so far. If you do a part two for Tears of the Kingdom, I have a place to humbly suggest.
During the beginning of the game, you get a quest to visit star shaped islands after finding an ancient stone tablet in Lookout Landing that fell from the sky. You visit all of the other star shaped islands in the sky, but the one you don't have to visit to complete the quest is the one directly above Lookout Landing. It's also, not unsurprisingly, very difficult to reach, as it's one of (if not the highest) point in the game. There's no reason to go there, it's hard to get to, and the island only exists to show what type of island you should be looking for on your map for that specific quest.
Check it out if you can!
I liked your take about the game being confident, it definitely gave me a different perspective. I too enjoyed wandering aimlessly and exploring the unassuming areas, but now I know that it's okay to not always be rewarded for exploring. Just let the player go to the boring areas.
It's really one of my favorite things about these games, I love just going to a place. Just going there. Not for any particular reason. Just to stand in a specific spot and just go "this is neat" and then leave.
2:58 You were looking for "non verbally"
Or tacitly
Felt very proud of myself for recognizing all of these with just the scenery. You have effectively put into words what had me fall in love with BOTW and TOTK.
I know you're intrigued by the unremarkable places, but what gets me are the tiny magical places so hidden away the only reason you go there is to get the korok. These places are so intriguing to me just existing without the korok and its puzzle, and I love I can see the thought and care in such a small, insignificant place. My two favorites are the hot spring to the West of Meda mountain, and a small pool with a waterfall off a back road in the hills between Hateno and Lurelin.
Austin, I love these videos. Thanks for making them.
Great video!
Al Newman is a genius at game design.
Dude, this video gave me the feeling of inner peace I so rarely experience. 10/10, thanks
Your take on the confidence of the game to allow you to get bored, or wander, or just go look closely at the world around you and your own interactions with it is super insightful.
I love these videos! As someone who'll probably never play ToTK I appreciate not only the view but the little details designer's have put in game just because. There really isn't a reason. Like you said they could have added the invisible wall but nope! Love this so much! Thank you!
This might genuinely be my favorite video on UA-cam
Awesome series. Unremarkable and odd places never fails to deliver
Miyamoto does the standing in strange spots and looks around. There is a great story about the development of BOTW where Miyamoto stopped in to see how things were going and he just climbed trees in game for hours on end.
Your videos are so calming and always put me in a good mood, thanks for making them!
Perfect video. Perfect vibe. I remember the haunted feeling of unimportant corners of video games as a kid - that 'ducked under a red rope' or 'missed an out-of-service sign' that gave me a special alien little anxiety that I don't get much anymore as an adult.
Yeah.
Ooh I hope this is about the northern edge of Eldin, that's always been such A Place for me
Nigga look at the thumbnail
He brings that up in a similar video about Breath of the Wild, and I mean that place doesn't really change much between games...
This video was an absolute DELIGHT to watch. I absolutely am the kind of person to spend hours just existing with the map and environments, but often wonder if it's weird of me. Its such a joy to see someone else having that train of thought ❤️ also, you have very strong Mr. Rogers happiness vibes in the best way possible
Solid stuff. I always find these videos (and places!) very calming.
It took me 100 hours of game play to realise that I hadn't been back to Rito Village after clearing the phenomenon.
I really do love this series. BOTW was my first "real" game (I had only played minecraft and the sims before that) and I just fell in love with the freedoms it afforded me- as you put it, the lack of negative re-enforcement. I sunk hours and hours into it just wandering around and exploring this new world, searching the map for places I had not yet been to or explored fully, climbing every surface possible. This freedom has made it very hard to really enjoy other games, because my desire to explore fully cannot be satiated. Even in TOTK/BOTW I find myself gazing longingly at the green expanses at the edges of the maps, or the body of water at the edge of the desert.
But one game I did love that followed these BOTW/TOTK principles was a small indie open world game called Sable. It takes place on a desert planet, where "sable" (you) and your hover-bike (simoon) travel around searching for your place in the world. Beyond being crazy fun to glide around the dunes, its a really charming and touching game. Its the dev teams (literally two people) first game and rather under developed. It took me maybe 20 hours to complete in its entirety but it is a completely open world, and its lack of development makes it rich in "unremarkable and odd places." Highly recommend you check it out!!
I aspire to live life like this. Just walking around looking for unremarkable places and vibing contently in them.
I love this content sooo much like if it was a meal I know it would be delicious thank you!!
What you are talking about, is a place of breath. It is clever to have those type of spaces, it calms the mind and re energizes you before going back in for the job of whatever. That moment of mindless exploration keeps you in the moment. You feel like you are really apart of the game.
Ohhhh that spikey ridge thing in the Akkala sea is one of my favorite spot since botw, too. It's so different from the other world borders, and look super cool too.
I love finding cozy spots in this game, there's a secret cave with floresant crystals everywhere that's simply there to be admired.. no loot or anything, love that
11:29 "If you just stop and take the time, you can really get to some pretty useless places."
i can't say why but i love this quote. i want it on my wall.
Your videos explain the feeling of logging into a game and not doing any quests or activities, but just walk around and look at things. It reminds me of how I might just walk around and think while in game just to get lost in the atmosphere! Thanks for all ur videos :)
The shrines that are just Raurus blessing and its just stairs and a chest and then the end of the shrine, its for sure a weird vibe when you have go behind the shrine or go back down the stairs
I actually discovered that diving minigame from the bottom and ascending/climbing up the entire thing. It took like a half an hour, and when I was up there, the sun was rising, and it made the whole one side of the sky just super bright yellows and orange. It sounds kinda funny for this game really, since it is so large, but it's the first time I felt, inside a video game, that I was absolutely infinitely small. I was surrounded by these absolutely megalithic walls, and when I look the other way, I can see forever, and I feel like I'm right next to the sky. And here I am I'm just standing on the edge of this absolutely huge wall. It felt like I was on the edge of the world. Such a moment for me.
I love your narration style, it's so calm and gentle, such a refreshing change from the usual noisy hype of youtube. Feels nice to just chill in these quiet places, your voice suits the vibe perfectly.
These videos deplete my anxiety and replace it with soothing thoughts pondering placeless space. I love how you don't raise your voice and mostly let the open world speak for itself, offering observations about the art or delightfully peculiar lack of realism.
This guy thinks sooo far outside the box that he is sort of back inside the box in a big universe sort of way. I like it.
This channel has some pretty good series, but this is my favourite by farm
I love this. I spend so much time in games just hanging out someplace chill.
Not TOTK but lately I've been enjoying the little ledge in Sand Kingdom on the side of that tower you have to get up 2D, but the 3D ledge which you can just stand on if you do it right (and if you're hanging from it, Mario can't even pull himself up).
you have really changed my point of view about this game. when i picked it up i was so thrilled to explore the world and see how many new things were hiding around each corner only to find that the threefold(ish) increase of space was not endowed with a threefold increase of "content." despite all the creative capabilities, which i felt really limited by because it was so hard to find shrines to power up my character and amass materials to be able to do things with, it felt similarly empty. i was disheartened and disappointed. all the videos i saw of people making cool stuff immediately after the game's release was crazy to me because they had to have bum-rushed the story all the way through and personally, even following the game's straightforward questlines i would just get lost and not be able to hold on to my resources and die constantly. and because you can go *anywhere* it was just overwhelming to guess where i was "supposed" to go, and what i was "supposed" to do. but now i feel seriously invigorated by all the possibilities and the wonder of traveling a huge expanse of land and making my own path. i'm a huge fan of the older zelda games and i know some of the more explicitly designed combat and traversal is really fun too from my experience with breath of the wild, it just became frustrating to seek out those parts which are few and far between these huge geographic features. but i think i've accepted now that this is just a different type of game, and one that deserves a patient and curious experience.
There’s something so interesting about these completely regular places that have nothing in them. It’s almost like a liminal space- no one, nothing remarkable- just empty. But the fact that you can just go everywhere and anywhere makes it all so remarkable in a different way. It’s not like there’s anything special, but being able to see these unique places and just exist there is so cool. I’ve completed the main story, all shrines, done lots of side quests and found most collectibles, but I love just exploring.
This is one of my favorite videos that you've done. It feels like taking a deep breath while life is paused.
Ah yes, the third best series on UA-cam.
Behind restaurant critiques and unemployment surveys…
(I actually think this is the best of those three, but I don’t know how to joke about that and I don’t like being that vulnerable)
Zooming in on the birds and the feet against the concrete made me chuckle. My favourite part of TOTK is just exploring and running/climbing/flying around. I was so sad when there weren't more stables to discover. I love the hero mode on the map so I can find where I haven't been yet and just go run around
i like how with how much of the world is filled with interesting stuff to do. empty spaces like these can become a novelty on their own.
I have one for you. They put one of those star-shaped sky islands above Lookout Landing at a ridiculously high up spot, way higher up than anything else, but you can actually fly up to it if you try hard enough. It's kinda hard to reach and there's nothing up there, but it IS reachable, and it has a nice view of the skybox and the world below. I speculate that they only put it there because the story of one of the side quests suggests something fell from it, and they needed it to appear on the world map for that, but they put it so ridiculously high up to discourage going to it since there's nothing for you there.
This series has me rethinking my relationship with video games. I've always had little spots like this in my head, areas in my beloved games where I go to just sit and relax, but this series has put so much into words that I can't.
In no particular order, I'd love to see a series like this on Oblivion, Elden Ring, and Final Fantasy X.
The fact you can scale a mountain in TOTK, open a chest and find a blue rupee is what hit me thes most, all the usual spots that you would find an amazing weapon or item have been swapped out for mundane items and it's the developer saying ,"nah, not this game pal"
When I saw this video pop up, I had really hoped that little no man's land in the northern area you truly can't traverse showed up. You did not disappoint!
there is this one place in a cave i found. its like a small crystal cave room. you have to crouch through a small opening to get there. and theres nothing in it. its just a neat unremarkable place.