One Year Later: Why Tears of the Kingdom is an Underrated Masterpiece
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- Опубліковано 9 лют 2025
- The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is now officially a year old, so I wanted to take some time to discuss the game and its lasting legacy. In my eyes, despite all of the accolades, this game actually feels a bit underrated these days. That's a shame too, because I believe that TOTK is an absolute masterpiece and one of the best video games ever made.
I actually got this game like 2 months ago. So I'm still playing it. This game got me back into gaming after a 2 year hiatus. Definitely one of the best games I've ever played
My first playthrough of TotK was your typical first playthrough... do what you want, but don't do everything. After doing all the main dungeons, I finished all the shrines and light roots and fought the final boss. Great game.
My second playthrough, I knew what I was doing, so I tackled the main dungeons in a different order, and even skipped one. For each dungeon, I challenged myself to do it in a different way than I had before. For example, with the Zora temple, I did the whole thing without ever getting the Zora armor. Not the hardest challenge, but fun. Likewise with the shrines, since I'd already solved them all, my question was "how can I cheese this?" and I had a great time with it.
Now I'm on my 3rd run, and I'm finally trying to do "everything". I'm not worrying about making progression towards the end, I'm just exploring and doing whatever I find. Caves, wells, Addison, Koroks, mini-bosses, there's just so much to _do_ in this game. I'm sure I'll get to the end eventually, but I'm in no hurry, and I'm having fun just being in the game world.
Highly recommend a no paraglider run buddy, it's so much fun
@@tinyhumans9304you’re psychotic 😂
@@tinyhumans9304 I don't even fully know how I would do that. No paraglider also means no towers and no tower warps, right? That would make it way harder to get around and see where stuff is, not even counting the whole "fall to your doom" thing.
@@tinyhumans9304 that doesnt sound fun lol but it does sound impressive
I 100%’d the game except for koroks. I recommend marking your map for every well you find (since one of the side quests is finding every well it’ll come in handy later in the game once you are down to your final few wells), and also marking your map for every Sage’s Will you find on the sky islands. I know the wells are marked on the map but you have to zoom in to see them and it was easier for me to just add a heart to each well as I went along.
I love Totk and going back to replay
it gets better everytime imo
Botw had that initial novelty that was much stronger but Totk is much more interesting to replay and wins the long run because of its gameplay and improved story and bosses
story is bad in totk
@@xerohhIdk man, the story itself is pretty good. I loved getting to know the new Sages and actually fighting alongside them for the first time in Zelda.
What was bad was the method of storytelling, the flashback sequences being out of order.
@@xerohhThe story in most Zelda games are bad/mediocre, what?
I think you explained this perfectly. I just finished BOTW for the third time recently and got into TOTK right after a couple days ago for the third time as well and TOTK just something about it the fusing the depths just so much to do and with creativity the possibilities are endless
@@xerohhyet it’s still better than BOTW 🤷♂️
Im still playng, and hasn't finished yet. Savoring every bit.
I'm doing my 2nd 100% run currently :)
Playing for months and not finishing isn’t “savoring” anything…..you’re missing out on the complete picture to feed your own personal perspective. You can go back and play more after the game ends, but the ending is the best part of the game. You’re doing nothing but rob yourself of the full picture by doing what you did.
@@mookiestewart3776 Well, tha'ts your perspective. Mine is different. I've finished btw. No point revisiting the game now, in my perspective.
I also think TotK is better than BotW and I feel TotK's world was a lot more enjoyable to explore. I appreciate this take, good stuff
Glad you enjoyed! Thanks for watching!
They could only improve botw, but if we are talking about which one was more revolutionary compared to what came before, botw was innovative to another level, totk builds off of what came before. The sky islands are very bare bones and nowhere near as fleshed out as they could have been
@@zacurrya9485 I don't care about any of this, TotK has the better gameplay loop and isn't devoid of content like BotW was. Have a nice day
I didn't like Breath of the Wild much, and while it wouldn't be expected to reverse my opinion, given its similarities, Tears of the Kingdom had a much better time selling me on the Breath of the Wild experience than the first game did.
@@chooongusbug724 story of botw is better though don't you think, and the Zora bit was much more entertaining than in this game
I'm glad more people love this game in the same way I do. I got so burnt out defending Tears that I just stopped watching a lot of the videos people began putting out.
Same here! I really don't get why people hate it so much, TOTK is just amazing :(
@@sanscalvo6927It's the Zelda cycle. Game comes out, everyone loves it, honeymoon phase ends and people start complaining that it's inferior to the previous game. What makes this worse in totk's case is that it's a direct sequel, meaning that there was a lot of nostalgia and expectations in play when people came to judge the game and that led to people basically ignoring the faults of botw. Then there's the traditional Zelda elitists who didn't like botw and are now being even more vocal with totk because they're being starved of their room checker simulator. I can guarantee that when the next mainline Zelda game comes out in 4-5 years, everyone is gonna be praising tears and complaining about the new game
Yes, we all come to things with certain expectations like we wanted more with the sky islands, but you have to let those feelings be put to the side to enjoy what this game is. There are many decisions in movies and TV shows that I dont like at first, but I put those feelings aside and learn to love and accept what they are after putting aside expectations. And that's how you appreciate things because you are accepting and appreciating someone's vision that is overall brilliant. Tears is an imperfect masterpiece. An imperfect 10/10.
Absolutely true, but this revolutionary masterpiece probably cannot be fully recognized until the next gen grows up.
my issue with the Sky isn’t that it’s relatively empty… it’s that what _is_ there is boring and repetitive, and most of the islands themselves are barren.
I would’ve preferred a handful of densely and intricately designs archipelagos like the Great Sky Island to the Sky that we got.
and I think the same could be said about the Depths to some extent… of course it’s massive, but it’s also relatively empty, and the aesthetic is one-note and gets old fast, unlike the Sky. the Yiga quest is fun, though, and the Zonai mines and such were always a pleasure to come across.
…but honestly, my biggest disappointment was with the main surface map. I know there were changes, but going my surface area, did the changes account for more than 1%? the towers and shrines were in new places, there was one new town, and the old ones were mixed up… but it’s virtually the same map. when I heard they were using the same map, paired with the trailer of Link in a toga, I predicted the game would be taking place in the ancient past (where Zelda spends the game), and that while the terrain of Hyrule would be largely the same, the built structures, from Hyrule Castle all the way down to the roads and little wooden bridges could’ve been different. the Zonai ruins from _BOTW_ would be still standing in all their glory… the biomes and vegetation could be very different… and maybe the terrain could even have a few changes, like perhaps the Dueling Peaks were still connected? the surface map, which makes up the majority of the map, where the player will spend the majority of their game time, really just needed to be radically different from the map in _BOTW…_ simple as that 🤷🏻♂️
Just finished ToTK after playing off and on for a year. That ending battle… so crazy. And the hidden ending? Chills when the classic theme kicked in.
i remember exactly 1 year ago, i was grinding totk and exploring the dephs for 3 days straight
Yeah this is one of the few games where I took PTO for release day lol.
what did you explore in the depths ?
the depths are completely empty
@@girahimar2122 like the various yiga clan outpost to get the Blueprints? The 2 main Temple? The statue Quest? The master koga multiple boss fight? The multiple challenge arena? The main boss refight (but with the gloom) for the unique fusion drop?
@@soracifer5708 All that AND old map locations, cool mines, a sage, fun new minor bosses, and the floor is lava through it all! The depths was my favorite part, but I really kind of wish the lightroots didn't provide so much light that they connected. If you could still get a map of the area at a lightroot but the light only extend out a short distance from it would have made a more fun game for *me* but I still love it. I like having to explore the dark with just brightbloom seeds. I would have liked the brightbloom seeds to be on a "timer" so the small ones light up an area for 3-5 seconds but a large one will go longer.
@girahimar2122 ever heard of lightroots?
I’m playing it for the first time as I’m writing this. Totk is one of the most gorgeous, incredibly immersive, challenging and enjoyable games I’ve ever played. And I’ve been playing games for over 30 years. Incredible game.
Im still playing. Already did 100%, took 11 months, started over and am enjoying it more, finding things i dont remember or just zoomed thru it first time. Botw got me back into gaming, but totk is better, i miss the bombs and revali gale and combat needs a master mode but totk is amazing
I loved BOTW and played it several times over the years. I also love TOTK, and am still playing at 99.95% completion. IMHO as a 72 yr old player, which I understand is not your average player, people played TOTK like it was a race, through glitches, amibos, emulators etc., and missed out on the complexity and the beauty of the game. I stayed away from the Videos and posts until a few months ago and was disappointed to see that within a month of its release people had moved on. If I ever find the final location I would definitely play it again. In the meantime I am still enjoying it. Thank you for your thoughtful review.
😊
Hey! I’m not the creator of this video, but just setting up a warning for you. Not a lot of people your age know about online privacy and protection. You put your name at the bottom of your comment, which, is a nice touch, but it’s not recommended to put your real name on the internet. You never know what crazy person may choose to do with it in the future. If I were you, I would click on the three dots on your comment, select “Edit” on the pop up, and delete your name from the comment. Just to be safe. 😊
@@B-ot2xx I appreciate your concern. I too am also concerned about privacy and security. The name I use is not my name, nor are any portions of it. Rather a combo of random names I selected. Thank you again.
I'm a 68 y.o. gamer. If you ever get tired of playing the Zelda series, try Skyrim, lol. I played that one for three years! (Of course, I mostly only game on weekends.) When I started it, I had my character *walk* everywhere, when not in danger. I just took my time and marveled at what this amazing world created from zeros and ones looked like and how incredible it was then (2011). I still like it. But then I was in absolute awe of BOTW when it came out and I just about forgot about Skyrim as I, once again, walked my way through the entire map. But holy pixels, Batman, TOTK is another level altogether! I was in literal *tears* when I took that first big leap of faith off the sky island to trigger the opening. I can just spend so much time standing and marveling at the sunsets and the clouds; it's a feeling I just don't want to rush.
@@roreddick9235 thanks for the suggestion. I finished TOTK, and just recently started a a 2nd play through. I only play a couple hours a week. Playing it a 2nd time is like a new experience as I am actually enjoying it even more., and because it has been so long now since I first started playing. Skyrim looks interesting. I will look into it.
After playing totk i cant bring myself to playing botw again, totk is just too good
great video! I definitely agree. as someone who merely finished botw but put over 100 hours in totk in the first two months, i can safely say the world of totk was far more enjoyable and still is to this day. i love the game so much and can't get enough of the giant world there is to explore!
I find it funny to think that it's become a hot take to say totk is better than botw
I think part of TotK’s fading in the gaming consciousness is that so many Zelda UA-camrs made all these theory videos about BotW, convincing themselves these theories were actual truth. Then when TotK comes and doesn’t confirm these theories, that segment of the fan base is disappointed, dismissive, and derogatory to what the game is, resulting in the “glorified DLC” narrative.
This is the truest shit I've ever seen, look at UA-camrs like Monster Maze and Zeltik for example...Those crazy theories then they're upset TotK isn't what they're headcanon made up for themselves? I'm glad they're a vocal minority though and mostly looked at as memes by the gaming community as a whole
@@Ghost-Toast819 no they didn't, their theories were so dumb lol
@@Ghost-Toast819 naw, we watched the same ones, I've seen you in the comment section of Monster Maze's videos, crying about weird, fanfic theories not coming true 😘
@@Ghost-Toast819 dead silence? People still talk about it all the time, maybe not in the neckbeard lore groups but people who actually care about good gameplay, good mechanics, etc. still talk about it. I think you just sit in an echo chamber TBH lol
Edit: you're also proving my point, the only ones upset by TotK are the ones mad their weird theories didn't come true and that's hilarious TBH lol
@@Ghost-Toast819 all these words just to say you're upset you're the vocal minority and mad your wack fanfic-esqe story theories didn't come true
Way to project about someone's age though, I was playing ALttP and OoT, when they first came out, when you were just a twinkle in your daddy's eye. No one was talking any sort of nonsense until your previous comment. Go sit in your echo chamber though, upset that a children's video game didn't do exactly what you wanted.
"I looked it up" so you saw all those polls where TotK is called the best Zelda game? Even now? That's funny, I definitely believe you /s
Edit: Nintendo also said, specifically Aonuma...Y'all are blinded by nostalgia and he doesn't care about y'all 😘
I honestly don’t understand the negativity towards totk. For all the games I have played in my life only ocarina of time even comes close. I’m sorry that these silly lore UA-camrs feel like it doesn’t connect to some massive larger story, but that is purely a UA-cam invention. Zelda games are not all supposed to connect. Not everything is Marvel and it’s clear to most that these connected universes ALWAYS collapse under the weight of their expectations, limitations, and required pre knowledge. Totk is a beautiful game with a wonderful story and the best gameplay physics I’ve ever seen
It was really boring for me, but I agree the physics are amazing.
I don't care about lore at all. I just thought it was pretty boring and seemed unfinished. The physics and gameplay were amazing, but none of the story elements seemed to work together coherently. Felt like 3 different games jammed together on the skeleton of BOTW. Too many absolutely repetitive cut scenes. (Really? Why do I have to watch the same exactly thing after ever boss battle?) Not a terrible game but not a masterpiece either.
The fuck are you talking about bro?
This ain't a connected universe, and no Zeldatuber talk about anything like that, Zelda universe collapse on is own foundations, bc there's none. Xd
The story was always lazy, and specially totk story is the biggest crap this saga ever seen, it's Ocarina but somehow they managed to get it worse argumentative and narratively.
What exactly you liked about it?
One thing these UA-camrs don't understand is that there are many lore inconsistencies in older Zelda games like Minish Cap and Wind Waker, among others. I just don't understand why TOTK gets all the flack. I don't even care if they think TOTK is the worst game ever made, but they're lacking consistency in their arguments.
@@mr.awesome6011Recency bias. From their point of view those games are not inconsistent because they grew up with them.
Totk is my first ever Zelda game. Had a hard time in the beginning with all the weird mechanics but now that I've put around 300 hours into it it is such an experience. Not only the new game mode I discovered and absolutely enjoyed but the story made me cry. It is so good I could watch it in a movie theater. They nailed it on every point. I played BOTW after totk because I didn't know about its existence in the first place. So Totk is the best game I ever played. Could add another 100 hours no problem.
The map is actually 3.5 times the size of BOTW because of all of the caves and cave systems added to the main Hyrule map.
This game got scrutinized so much. A lot of sequels expand on the world the predecessor introduced. A lot of people even said TotK’s story was worse than BotW. I really enjoyed both, but definitely like TotK’s more. The Divine Beasts were okay, but I really loved TotK’s temples. I’ve seen a lot of people also complain about the geoglyphs when the order and locations are revealed in a location you can reach early on even expanding on a location that didn’t do much in BotW in the process.
Yeah I think if there's one area where TOTK completely outclasses BOTW its with its dungeons. I love BOTW too, but I will always believe that the divine beasts are by far the weakest aspect of that game.
@@BuffedGaming I didn’t exactly mind the Divine Beasts, but they definitely weren’t very distinct.
A lot of sequels expand on the world the predecessor introduced but they also do so without reusing 90% of everything from said predecessor like the ENTIRE overworld
@@randychristensen1028 Tears of the Kingdom indeed does expand on the previous world. Pokémon Black 2/White 2 took literally the same approach and it’s widely considered one of the best Pokémon games.
Yes bro exactly. I feel like people see issues when it’s not what they expected and try to do a rewrite which ends up being 10 times worse
I still play it every week. One of my favorite games
Im not goig to lie, the only thing i think TotK could have done better was the sky islands. 3-4 more ones as big at the great sly islands would have been amazing.
I also actually really liked the story--more than BotW story if im being honest.
You know you’ve struck gold when the only possible improvements are just more of what you already have
I feel you here, although personally I was happy with the variety and intrigue of the existing sky islands. My thought was that perhaps there's a secret pocket village island up there you can find, but that would've ran contrary to the fact that the Zonai, as the sole sky dwellers, have all gone. The Steward Constructs make for fair NPCs up there though
I agree that we could have used some more large sky islands, the idea would have been doing so without clogging the view from the overworld. Maybe above Gerudo where they are rather sparse?
And the story is top tier I agree, I do like it better than BOTW (however, I actually like Age of Calamity’s story the most tbh- I’m sure that’s an unpopular opinion). I do think that the story of TOTK is *presented* worse than in BoTW though (Demon King? Secret Stones??? 😂)
I simply LOVE TotK and I don't get how it gets to be called a disappointment by so many people. I do get the novelty factor from BotW, but without it, TotK has so much more going on:
-Yeah, the base map is mostly recycled, but you get the Sky Islands, the Depths, and things like Caves that add so much more to explore.
-You want to have the legacy weapons and armors, but you don't have the Amiibos? Don't worry, the game got you covered.
-You need a Fire Sword, an Ice Rod, or an Axe at this moment? Grab any weapon, open your inventory, take a monster part, and have fun.
-The game gives you many new enemies and bosses; and you can even fight dungeon bosses again in the Depths.
-You aren't very good at building? Here's an autobuild feature.
-You want more side quests and collectibles? Now you can search for Wells, Bubbulfrogs, Monster Statues, Hudson Signs, Poes, and minigames.
-Did you like owning your own house? Well, now you can customize it even more, hold more weapons, and even holding your horse.
-Storywise, both games have their own thing going. First game was focused on Link and the Champions, and this one for Zelda and the Zonai. Both are amazing.
The only true complains I have with this game over BotW are:
-Sages are a bit annoying to use now. They aren't as intuitive and can mess up items you're collecting or combats.
-The lack of "visible connection" between both games' story outside of a few things here and there.
-No Trials of the Sword or Champion's Ballad equivalents to improve your Master Sword and have survival missions (besides a few shrines) or to expand the Sages' lore.
-Armor upgrades are SO ANNOYING! Not only are they way more expensive, but now you need more materials, and many enemies don't drop them as frequently as they should.
-No Hard Mode to have a second save and, well, harder difficulty.
Completely agree!. Is really sad the treatment this game is getting
Finally, a channel that wasnt all ahh i am the totk acolyte for the first months and then bashed on totk when it suddenly became cool to call it lame
You can ride dragons.
There is literally nothing else one would need to say. 😌
Man, when I first realized I could do this I made the surprised Pikachu face lol
You can stop on his back, not ride...
@@leandro2002198
You ride the dragons the same way you ride trains.
Or do you „stop in the train to Exampletown“?
@@blacky_Ninjai agree ride is a stretch
TOTK definitely felt a lot more Zelda-esque than BOTW.
The NPCs were more relevant and charming, the world was a bit more interactive (not enough, but still much better than BOTW), the side quests were fun and refreshing.
The feeling of finding a hidden cave or passageway felt exactly like an old Zelda's mini-dungeon without breaking the open-world experience.
For example the underground tunnel/cave between Lookout Landing and Hyrule's castle was amazing.
And honestly, I didn't think it was possible to improve the graphics and performance on the exact same console as BOTW, yet almost everything looks sharper and more detailed in TOTK.
PS : Is it really controversial to say that TOTK is better than BOTW ??? I mean it's not even a debate, it's a fact.
Anyone saying botw is better is genuinely insane.
TOTK offers basically everything BOTW had, but hieghtened in every single domain.
If anything breath of the wild felt more “Zelda” than tears of the kingdom. It was a return to form after 20 years of complacency the series went through, formed around conquering the wild. Tears of the kingdom hasn’t really been done in the Zelda series before. I guess this is what the next evolution looks like. At least it’s an evolution and not… whatever 1998-2011 was.
@@minecrafter3448 Lmfao, are you trying to win the bad take olympics ?
Did you even play any of the Zeldas pre 2011 ?
@@math9172 skyward sword sucked and ocarina of time was mediocre.
Its not a fact. Its completely subjective. And there are plenty of people who think Botw is much better than Totk.
You gotta get used to hearing other opinions.
@@alibabaschultz352 Pretending all opinions are equal is the most cowardly thing that’s become commonly practiced today
I'm just now getting ready to fight Ganondorf 😂
😂 I have played every day for a year and still haven't faced the final battle! Don't want it to end...
Good luck to you!
@@vicki2015 Thank you! 😂
@@amit_patel654 Have you finished the game? 👀
@@B-ot2xx lol yup. I finished it a few days ago. That was pretty epic. 😃
@@amit_patel654 such a good ending
Unfortunately, a nontrivial portion of the players didn't appreciate the game fully because they said there is no discovery factor due to reusing the map, which is partially true, because while it has the same basis, tons of stuff were added (tons of wonderful caves and fortresses, coliseums and labyrinths in the depths) and changed (towns), the side quests were better (there is no quests as good as the Gerudo's mysterious eighth, or Team Cece, A call from the Depth, Zonaite forge, to name just a few). The other, related issue, is that, from what I've seen thus far, a lot of people who played/streamed TOTK played it pretty much like BOTW, that is, they did not fully make use of the new devices, which is the main strength of TOTK. So of course, playing that way, they would be disappointed as it "feels" too similar to BOTW.
What TOTK does, which I didn't see in any other games including BOTW, is that it rewards creativity and curiosity. Unsurprisingly, players who don't care about these features, and will not tinker with zonai devices, will not like the game. If what you wanted is a new world, new graphics, new characters, TOTK is not for you, it doesn't mean it's inferior to BOTW. Honestly, TOTK is superior to BOTW in every way. The complaint that TOTK is too much travel to reach one location, making it feel boring, holds true for BOTW as well, but what TOTK does better is that it lets you travel the way you want, with Zonai devices, assuming you use them. Also, the time it takes to reach interesting locations is due to the fact the world is too big. But if you remove the traveling time and only consider the time you spent in main quests and side quests, you'll see the game has a lot to offer, and it's super tough to finish. If people feel the world is empty, it's because it's too big, making traveling time lengthy, not because there is nothing to do. But "empty" is a very misleading word because it implies there is nothing interesting. As I said above, the quality of the side quests alone makes me want to play it again and again. When you add everything you could do with Zonai stuff, it's so much better.
Whenever you see people saying BOTW is better than TOTK, or relatedly, that they prefer BOTW, the argument is very often the following: "TOTK is objectively a superior cake, but BOTW was the first cake I ever ate, and the first cake feels always better."
I still see some reason to replay BOTW: master mode and some sick, unique combos you do with stasis and/or cryonis.
You explained it perfectly. People only think it’s too much like breath of the wild because they played it like breath of the wild. (Or didn’t play it at all)
Disagree with almost everything you said. "TOTK is superior to BOTW in every way." is absolutely crazy. First off, both stories are told in segmentations through memories, but TOTK has non-important no-named sages that you don't care about, unlike the Champions. After every dungeon the same repeated dialogue makes the cutscenes after these dungeons horrendously annoying. Sage abilities, while having more uses, are less intuitive to activate because you have to chase and touch their spectre. Fusion in general slows the game down. Next time you play try to notice how many times you have to drop a weapon and fuse or fuse arrows in the awful UI that holds every single holdable item in your inventory. And because you can fuse, you can bypass the entire map with a hoverbike, unlike BOTW which basically forced you to go at certain speeds to traverse (run, horse, master cycle) and streamline the experience. But I guess that's needed because Nintendo decided to use the same map.
Shrine placements in TOTK are also bad. The map was designed with shrines in BOTW in mind, so the topology formed around it, while in TOTK they just moved them around to say they did something and marked it off their checklist. I can't think of a single shrine that TOTK had placed that was better suited in the environment than in BOTW. Look up Gemimik Shrine and Ritaag Zumo Shrine and compare. Then there is the aspect that TOTK had to do more because it is working off the back of BOTW. Because BOTW was the first game, it started clean and didn't have to worry about lore or continuity that much, more so because the map and game engine where the main new draw. But TOTK didn't have to worry about this, but Aonuma and the Zelda team still dropped the ball when it came to the lore or continuity of the game. The Sheikak tech removal was extremely poorly done.
Characters that are staples in BOTW don't even remember you like Beetle or Hetsu. You said that the world has a lot to offer, but really all rewards are essentially opals or armor that you got in BOTW. Both TOTK and BOTW suffered from excessive maps with vast-emptiness, but at least that portion of exploration was completely new in BOTW. In TOTK its the same map, a minature set of sky islands that are mostly shrines challenges, and a vast-dark depths that you only really need to farm bombs and get autobuild. This game is so ass and im glad it didn't win GOTY because Nintentards would meatride this game harder than they already do.
3:55 "Objectively better"? Quality is subjective; that's impossible.
Quality is not subjective, whether you like it or not is
I prefer the feeling of breath of the wild for the first time ❤but I will never go back and play it again ever because tears just cleaned it up 😅so it’s bittersweet 😊
i agree with all of this. people keep hating on totk for not being what they expected/wanted it to be and in doing so, failed to appreciate what it really is, a masterpiece 💕 only thing i liked better in botw is the characters of the champions over the sages (and its music will always be nostalgic). great video!!!
The Zelda cycle has been swift with TOTK. In a year we went from "TOTK makes BOTW feel like a tech demo" to "TOTK is trash, actually" and now back to "TOTK is a masterpiece" lmaooo
Great review! My favorite part you highlighted perfectly, the depths! I avoided those chasms for a long while before being forced…and when I jumped in…I was waiting for the dying animation and music to play…instead you hear this creepy horn blast and realize there is a whole new world! For that surprise alone, I love Tears of the Kingdom.
THANK YOU FOR THIS. I only see content creators give their takes on this game based on what they wanted/expected, always ending up on a whining ramble about how it was underwhelming. But they almost never judge it for the game that it is and what it offers without looking at the improvements they expected from BOTW, a game no one expected
Wait this game is underrated?? Sorry but just because some content creator and redditor cried about the game not meeting "their" expectations doesn't mean this game was received poorly..
It was a masterpiece even with the flaws (nothjng is perfect) and the positive reception from critics, playerbase and awards shows that... Someone saying otherwise is just hating at that point.
This is what I hate about the people critiquing this game. They act like everyone thinks it's perfect and thus needs to be put under the lens for why it's not. Red Dead Redemption isn't perfect. The Witcher 3 isn't perfect, Eldin Ring isn't perfect, Metal Gear Solid 3 isn't perfect. So why must we constantly be reminded of this when we already know that NOTHING is perfect?
This game (for me) is underrated because every GODDAMN time I go on UA-cam, I get a recommendation where the title is “tEaRs oF tHe kInGdOm iS tRaSh” crap
BotW vs Totk is like Fullmetal Alchemist 2003 vs Brotherhood. The more traditional elements of plot and story are far stronger in the latter, and for most people they will be the definitive editions. But the former excels at atmosphere and characterization in a way the busier follow up never could, and so to me there's a place for both. The intentions with both were so obviously different that it feels unfair to compare them by any one metric.
Still playing it, still loving it.
I absolutely loved BOTW, but I feel that TOTK was a better game play.
Honestly, I feel like The Great Sky Island is the MOST Underrated Part of the Game by far. It has way better dialogue than The Old Man has, and absolutely perfect runes. The music is just an absolute masterpiece. It does everything the GP does but better. And the best part, Open-Air and Linear TOGETHER! I recently just played Breath of the Wild’s GP, and I felt like it was way too open-air. The GSI actually has Linear and Open-Air puzzles combined. (Example: The bunch of optional treasures that need you to have a certain ability while also having multiple solutions that make the player feel like they’re playing the game, not the game playing you. Btw sorry for the weird “game play you” thing, I just kinda made it up on the spot😅) Anyways the dungeons also do have this like for example the Stormwind Ark having a mostly Open-Air setting while also having a linear progression. The Fire Temple does this MASTERFULLY with those mine carts and actually can be compared to the linear progression of older Zelda Games. Spirit Temple is so cool. The Final Trail but way better. And I cannot go without mentioning the LIGHTNING TEMPLE. OH MY GOD.(Time to talk about why it’s so good and write a essay hehe) It has a really cool pre-dungeon quest where there’s a riddle but it’s not confusing as hell like BOTW’S trash Shrine Quests. And the 1st half of the dungeon has a really neat tutorial section where they tell you that Riju can’t teleport which is SUCH a good cheese inhibitor. And also a small, easy mirror puzzle. It also adds a lot of secret rooms which are so CLAUSTROPHOBIC I love it! It has a really cool dark vibe here and yeah, best dungeon I have ever played so far. (I’ve only played TOTK dungeons and Van Medoh. Also the TP Forest Temple.) Now for the amazing 2nd half which is extremely underrated. It has BIG puzzles which I feel lacked from my recent play through of the Forest Temple. Linear dungeons have good progression but not good puzzles. BOTW’S dungeons have okay puzzles and bad progression. And now Open-Air + Linear dungeons have GOOD puzzles AND GOOD progression. It has a hidden room at the start, and one of the rooms have a tease at the start. I love it. The puzzles have the best design ever. This game deserves a 99/100, just because the Water Temple dropped it 1 point. (F*** THE WATER TEMPLE THE PRE-DUNGEON WAS WAY BETTER)
Thanks for the comment! Great breakdown of the games' dungeons- way more detail than what I provided in the video! Haha! Also, great point about the Great Sky Island. I feel like myself (and many others) forget just how great that part of the game is. What a fantastic intro!
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR REPLYING! TotK was actually my first Zelda Game. BTW you should check out CaptBurgerson. Because TotK was my first Zelda Game, I really didn’t really care about Dungeons because well I mostly only cared about getting to the boss, didn’t really focus on the Dungeon Design. But after watching his videos on TotK dungeons, I realized how good the Design really is! Honestly, I think Linear Dungeons have not really good puzzles because they’re Linear. All the puzzles are just like “oh here’s a puzzle go next room another one yay!” But they have good progression. Anyways I’m currently writing a review for TotK for fun but so far it’s only for the Early Game part. BTW Royal Hidden Passage is also EXTREMELY underrated. It’s literally a mini Hyrule Castle it’s just so cool! BTW I might type my (extremely long) review later in the next video so if you actually reply to that I will be so happy. By the way you really surprised me because everything you said was just the same as me. You’re one of the rare people to actually properly analyse TotK’s amazing Game Design rather than judging it as a bad game just because it has the same map. The map has changed alright! Anyways uh vielen dank! Translation: Thank you very much!
Btw I’m writing a review for fun about TotK right now (I STILL PLAY IT IT DESERVES GOTY) so yeah I’ll just type it in the next video or something hehe
That was actually my least favorite part of the game. Good as far as tutorials go, but very underwhelming compared to the great plateau. The great plateau was the best tutorial in any video game, ever, by far. 10/10 doesn’t come close to describing how good it was. Then tears of the kingdom comes around with an 8/10 tutorial, and I worry I’m about to be disappointed. Good thing that’s the worst part of the game, and the rest is perfect.
Can you PLEASE actually give an explanation and example? I always just see people criticising a game but never give an explanation or example. I really do not want to start an argument here so please?
Here's the thing that blows my mind: I spent over 700 hours on my first play through, taking my time to discover everything slowly.
I am now on a second 100% run, and I am still finding things I missed the first time around. I never knew until just this week that when you shield parry with weapons fused to shields, it actually does damage. I always just fused the shields to the weapons before. Yes, the game has it's issues but the detail and intricacy continues to amaze me - after more than 2,000 hours spent in this era of Hyrule in total.
underrated masterpiece? who's underrating it? this game is absurdly amazing and to me the greatest game of all time
Dude, this is such a good video. Was shocked to find out that you're a smaller channel! Keep it up please!
Thanks man! Comments like this keep me going!
I've said it before, but I personally think TOTK is just going through the "Zelda Cycle". Where a game comes out and it's initially praised. Reviews and criticism will roll in where the game is turned against, and then when the next game comes out people will look back on this one fondly. It's happened with literally every single game since Ocarina of Time.
People hated WW, until TP came out and now WW is underrated. People hated TP, until SS came out and now TP is underrated. People hated SS, until BOTW came out and now SS is underrated. People hated BOTW, until TOTK came out and now BOTW is underrated. I'm willing to bet eight of my fingers that when the next Zelda game comes out, everyone's going to look back at TOTK and yern for it. The Zelda fandom has a really insecure relationship with the series where they can't just admit that they like the games. There's always gotta be some narrative.
Edit: Saw another commenter pointing this out, but Theory UA-camrs especially did a lot to harm TOTK by building up expectations for things that were never promised.
this happens with damn near every new release but it's amplified times 10 with zelda
Zelda fans and games have an interesting relationship, that’s for sure
I played TotK before BotW and from that perspective Tears is on another level above Breath.
I absolutely love TOTK over BOTW. When I replayed BOTW I kept on wanting more of the TOTK experience but alas, it didn’t happen. Now BOTW is great, don’t get me wrong here, but I believe TOTK had a lot more to offer. I am still playing it even though I have beaten it more than once and I still get surprised when I discover rocks that can still be blown up. Lol.
Undiscovered rocks previously not seen.
oh god didn't realize you had such little no of subs and views, what a great narration and video quality.
Thank you!
Honestly thought I was watching a guy with 1m+ the way he has his video set up. 😭
@@wolficeblade9808 Damn, thanks man! Maybe one day lmao
Wait, 128 SUBS?! I was expecting, like, 3000 subs or so when I read this comment, this video is awesome!
128 subs is amazing already, though! ^^ And make that 129~!
Thanks a ton for the video!
@@jellycore1316 Thank you! I hugely appreciate every sub. I'll get to that 3000 mark eventually!
Terrific analysis. This makes me appreciate the game that much more.
Thank you!
Speaking of the extreme level of freedom in the games, my favorite moment in the game was when I went all the way up to the wind temple without Tulin. I made my way all the way up and it was a challenge to make it to the temple and it was so much fun! Unfortunately when I got there I couldn’t interact with the dungeon, so I thought to myself “I need to find Rito Village I’m sure someone there would help me out.” I made my way down and found the village in the blizzard (which was harder than I expected) and got Tulin (the wind temple special item) and made my way back up to complete the dungeon.
I did the same. “Why can’t I start these engines?”
I love both personally, I just beat botw on master mode, 120 shrines both dlcs, now I’m gonna go directly into totk as if it’s all one game
Botw master mode was cool. You haven't killed a lynel until you kill one with sticks, axes, and pot lids. Takes a while.
Still hoping for totk dlc
I got botw and totk around the same time, so it felt like one big game to me!
@@minecrafter3448 aren't we all
@@boilinswin102 that has to be the perfect experience. Play breath of the wild until you’re full, then with no unfair expectations being BLOWN OUT OF THE WATER by tears of the kingdom meeting the unfair expectations most people had.
This game has so many pros that the cons will easily be fleshed out by their next open world. I blame the grown men complaining a game most kids have as a first experience.
Its strange to say it's underrated given its critical and commercial success and how much hype there was for, and the consensus that it mostly delivered on the hype upon release, but I agree. It really dominated the landscape when it came out but felt like it came and went very quickly. I guess given that it obviously isnt as impactful as breath of the wild it was always going to feel a bit more forgotten, but I felt like it improved on BotW pretty substantially. The only real complaint i had was the dungeons were not what i was looking for, and the shrines still had the same issue where they all had the same music and aesthetic like BotW's shrines did. But that aside i thought it was a significant step up and kind of an astonishing accomplishment in terms of scale and technical achievement. To be basically passed on entirely within a month felt a bit strange
Thanks for the comment! You're right- I remember people absolutely loving it and thinking it fully delivered for that first month... But sometime within the last year people started to turn on it. The dungeons are still a weak point for me as well, but 1000x better than what we got in BOTW.
TOTK is extremely celebrated? have a downvote
really good review, i'm subbed now. is that mask/eyes a mod? also, is there a traditional green pointy link cap in the game?
Thanks dude! And nah it's the fierce deity set. You can get it in game or by scanning the Majora's Mask amiibo. And yeah, there are a couple of more traditional Link outfits in game
3:56 “Totk is objectively a better game than Botw in almost every way”
Define the word ‘objectively’. I think that’s where the problem lies. You might have high objectivity, given the measures you’ve very subjectively chosen, but those are very subjectively chosen. And you’ve also got to define the word ‘better’, given how a game’s worth is entirely determined by how its users collectively respond to it
Your mental gymnastics are astounding
@@Bojangles657 How so? If you think art is "objective", then you might be a narcissist.
@@alibabaschultz352as you say BotW is objectively better than TotK? Who's the narcissist?
@@chooongusbug724 I didn't say that.
@@alibabaschultz352 "BotW is objectively better than TotK in every way"
Did you not say that in your stand alone comment on this video?
LACK of staying power?! What have you been smoking?! Been playing over a year now and I only have two of the main dungeons completed! I'm not a speed runner. I am taking my time to enjoy every moment of it!
I meant staying power with the gaming community as a whole. Of course those of us who love the game could play it forever!
@@BuffedGaming Their loss! I'll keep on enjoying it!
Man, I really like Totk, but some of y'all in this comment section fr gotta learn how to debate with intellectual integrity 💀
(If you try to point at me for being a "fake fan," then, I'm sorry to inform you, but you can disagree with an argument in favor of a position you hold if that argument is using reasoning you disagree with. Ex: games shouldn't worry about having good stories.)
Botw is "objectively" better than Totk in literally every possible way.
Botw is Dark Side of the Moon. Totk is a dubstep remix.
Botw is the Mona Lisa. Totk is the Mona Lisa with buckets of random paint splashed on it.
Botw is Citizen Kane. Totk is a remake with transformers and zombies.
More like…
BotW is The Hobbit.
TotK is The Lord of the Rings.
@@jadimich Not even close. The writing in both games is terrible.
I wasn’t referring to the writing. (Though I do think the writing in TotK is better than in BotW.)
@@jadimich I couldn't disagree more
@@alibabaschultz352You really do just go to your search bar, type in Tears of the Kingdom and go to anything praising it to complain about it, huh? I saw you on a Knight Potatoe video doing this, and a few other TotK/BotW UA-camrs.
I completely agree with everything you said in this video! I’m going to miss being able to experience breath of the wild and tears of the kingdom for the first time. I feel like no gaming experience will ever live up to them. And I also found tears of the kingdom to be superior to breath of the wild
I'm still playing it. It's my comfort game 😂
Agreed. I feel that many Zelda Tubers who initially praised TOTK began running out of video ideas and chose to change their stance on the game to maintain momentum on their channels, which disappoints me greatly. The sudden negative discourse over the past two months or so has come as a complete surprise to me. I think TOTK is a brilliant sequel and a masterclass in game design. I appreciate your video-great job.
Or you know, maybe TotK isnt as long living as BotW. There are thousands feeling disappointed about this game and content creators being same is not unheard of.
I didn't play BOTW until the end of 2023, finishing it in early 2024. I had never played a game like that before, let alone completed the main story of a game 100%. I was blown away and awed and loved every moment. I figured I should wait to play TOTK in order to give myself a break from the map. I've only just started TOTK and I have only managed to get Tulin and finish the Wind Temple. On my way up, and after figuring out the dungeon, while fighting the boss, I said more than once 'this is so damn cool' and I can't remember saying that at all during BOTW. It was so FUN, but never as thrilling as TOTK has been so far. Of course, I have to reserve all of my judgment for when I'm done, but everything feels more engaging and entertaining. I've never agreed so much with a video on UA-cam.
Glad it resonated with you! Enjoy the rest of your TOTK experience- you have so much left to see, I'm jealous lol.
I can take the people hating on totk as seriously as i can take the people who wrote the masterpiece known as Windwaker off for the art style change.
Haha great comparison. Wind Waker is my favorite game of all time so I can definitely back this line of thought!
Can’t wait until all of these people shut up 9 years from now and we can all enjoy the masterpiece this game is in peace
You are describing morons.
There are intelligent people who think for themselves. I loved Wind Waker when it first came out.
I also hated Totk.
@@alibabaschultz352You are far from intelligent though when you have to describe people as morons. And you fall into the category of those "morons" when you get in your feelings about Tears of the Kingdom
THANK you. The "Celda" bullshit was so aggravating back then. And WW ended up being one of the best ahaha
It’s amazing, the more I go back and forth playing BOTW and TOTK, just visually/effects wise, TOTK is better in such a huge but subtle way
I don’t really like comparing the two, I love both and for different reasons
Tears is my favorite game of all time.
I doubt you will read any of this, but here are my criticisms of your points.
You say BOTW's story was bad because it took place in flashbacks, and then praise TOTK's story despite it also taking place with flashbacks. You also say it's 'objectively better in almost every way' despite ignoring the fact that the Champion abilities run circles around the Sage abilities in both ease of use and power and the BOTW quick menu being way faster than TOTKs. BOTW horses are significantly better because of the ancient saddle, and the summonable vehicle the master cycle can be powered by anything not just Zonaite/battery like the TOTK vehicles. The only thing I would say is 'objectively' better in TOTK are the quality of life updates and the larger world/cave systems.
You then go on to praise Ganondorf for not being like BOTW's Calamity Ganon that you've 'already fought multiple times before during the game', but Ganondorf is literally that exact same concept? There are Phantom Ganons littered around the world map which fight just like Ganondorf does, so you've already had plenty of practice fighting against him before the final fight. Ganondorf just hides alone in his cave from the beginning of the game until the end of the game, with no significance to the present-day story whatsoever outside of the gloom, which is literally IDENTICAL to BOTW's Calamity Ganon hiding in the castle until the end of the game outside of the Malice that it created. How can you complain about one but praise the other for doing the exact same thing?
TOTK's dungeons DO look visually distinct which is a plus, but they function exactly like divine beasts with the same '5 locks to solve until you face the boss' shtick from BOTW. They are arguably worse in some cases because at least the BOTW beasts were all united around each beast's rotation/movement theme for traversal and puzzles, whereas the Water Temple was just 5 separate little islands you could just walk to in any order that just happened to be in the sky. The other temples were decently good, but I'd say the build up to each temple was better than the actual temple itself.
The sky and depths are both underwhelming for the opposite reasons. The sky was oversold and overhyped and was severely lacking in content, the depths were undersold and underhyped and just ridiculously large with barely any visual or gameplay variety at all. Compared to what they did in 6 years making the first map of Hyrule, making all the characters/lore, making all the assets for NPCs/weapons/shields/buildings, it's very disappointing seeing them spend another 6 years doing such a marginal improvement and directly copy-pasting so many things straight from BOTW. That's the reason why the game disappeared from the zeitgeist - it stands squarely in the shadow of the giant that was BOTW
I'm very glad y'all are the vocal minority to this day lol
I strongly disagree with most of this, but I appreciate the comment! And I'll admit, there are some good points here. I agree that TOTK's dungeons are still a weakness when compared to the rest of the series, but I still found them to be a big step up from what we got in BOTW. And sure, missing things like Revali's Gale is a bummer, but I think those are minor omissions when compared to all the new things we get in TOTK- such as an entirely new building mechanic. To each their own though! Appreciate you watching.
@@chooongusbug724 In 10 years people will realize how mediocre this game is
@@alibabaschultz352 its already been a year and plenty of sane people are realizing "wait, this is the game we were hyped up for six years for?" tho something i realize is that there will always be nintendo glazers no matter how bad something is, fortunately the "vocal minority" is them
@@israelwilson4022the old good new bad "glazers" are crying again. You all are the vocal minority though
If you haven't completed the game be warned, this video has spoilers.
Right, guess we should avoid those. Just figured since it’s been over a year since the game sold half of its total copies in a single weekend it should have been okay.
@@minecrafter3448 The 1st year anniversary just happened. Nintendo is re-advertising ToTK more and there are more first time player videos being made. Personally, I've been playing over 100 hours and only recently started the story.
@@ReapeX That’s impressive, even for this game. What’s been your favorite rune?
@@minecrafter3448 For me its Ascension is just plain fun to me, couldn't do that in any other Zelda game. What is your favorite rune?
@@ReapeX at first it was fuse because it single handedly fixed the durability system that was flawed in breath of the wild, but it’s hard to appreciate anymore since I stopped playing breath of the wild. Now I find myself spending hours at a time trying to refine vehicles. I’ve made a few better than the hoverbike, and had a blast with each one.
Thank you, and i agree with you 100%
Zelda Tears of the Kingdom is such a great game yet still has the status of underatted.
Mainly because first, people are expecting a beyond perfect game from the get go, being the follow up to BOTW and also Zelda game in general.
Second, they're very VERY nitpicky about every little details. Almost every critique that i found about TOTK are actually not around what it lacks, but instead what has TOTK done improving from BOTW, but it's not enough...
And lastly following the second reason, is people always comparing TOTK to BOTW. BOTW is just this perfect game in the eyes of many, and TOTK is just the toppings on top. While i'm not fully disagree, i think ppl tends to simplify this way too far. If i think BOTW is a simply classic and delicious fried rice, then TOTK is the same fried rice with improved aroma spices, more portion, a side of delicious fried chicken, sunny side egg, prawn crackers on top, and fancier plate 😁
Cheers
I feel like BOTW's story was executed much better than TOTK's.
For one thing BOTW's memory fragments only provide illuminating context on Link's relationships and the state of Hyrule; they can be collected in any order without causing any detriment to how you approach the story in the present day.
On the other hand TOTK's memories are more of a sequential re-telling of plot developments in the distant past, and later memories reveal the secret identity of a character said to be presently travelling around Hyrule. However if you collect the later memories and work out the character's true motivations early, you are given no option to inform other people about them - I found it so frustrating to watch Link silently play dumb while other people were speculating about this character's actions.
BOTW's environmental storytelling also felt more cohesive. A central motif of the game was the ruin and destruction caused by the Calamity, and everything presented to the player reinforces feelings of solitude as Link soliders on in his lonesome quest to pick up the pieces left over from a monumental distaster that happened long ago. TOTK's premise is a little more hopeful (in interviews, developers said a main theme of the game was "hands", in reference to Hyrule's citizens joining together to rebuild society), and while changes were made to the map to sell this idea, I don't think it succeeds as well as BOTW did. There are relevant additions to Hyrule's surface - including expanded settlements and new building sites - that help promote this new theme, but much of the map still invokes the desolation of the previous game. It does seem like Nintendo didn't want to 'waste' BOTW's map and so cooked up a story that could still utilise it, but in doing so produced a game that doesn't live up to the masterclass in cohesiveness that BOTW was.
The depths were also a curious addition: from a story perspective we are told that the underground used to be inhabited, but apart from the Fire Temple / Gorondia we see nothing else by way of architecture that suggests any society ever truly lived there (I'm referring to residential areas, mining sites don't count). Moreover the silly placement of the underground statues (if people really lived there they would choose more effective landmark designs) and the nonsensical routing of Gorondia's pathways give the entire area a very videogame-y feel that doesn't really fit well with the rest of Hyrule... And don't even get me started on the game's non-existent explanation for why monsters were mining Zoanite.
This feeling of gamey-ness extends to the supporting cast of characters too. While BOTW and the Champions Ballad DLC did an excellent job of fleshing out the four regional Champions who valiantly died while trying to resist Calamity Ganon, TOTK's cast (including present and past Sages) suffers from 1) paper thin characterization, 2) a horrible design choice of replicating almost identical cutscenes after completing each main dungeon, and 3) a badly implemented Sage ability selection mechanism that hinders gameplay almost as much as it helps. At the end of BOTW's Champions Ballad I felt bittersweet as Link put up the group picture of his friends; conversely TOTK's sages seemed to provoke only feelings of amusement (as I watched each of them repeat "Demon King? Secret Stone?") and irritation as Tulin blew away my arrows for the upteenth time.
Overall, the only area I felt that TOTK surpasses BOTW storytelling-wise was in each game's ending. TOTK's finale sets a new high bar for the series as a whole but otherwise the story leading up to it didn't match how I felt about the corresponding journey I took in BOTW.
I admit that this view could be a bit unfair towards TOTK because it didn't get any DLC whereas BOTW benefitted from two updates that added a few more story beats that masterfully augmented its world building and characterization of its cast.
But I think this could explain why TOTK appears not to have the lasting appeal of BOTW.
One main reason BotW fans refuse to accept this game is largely because of the infatuation they have for the first game and their first ever taste of the series, let's not forget that BotW IS the very first game for the vast majority of current Zelda fans.
This is an effect we can see in multiple other series like with Fire Emblem Awakening, Monster Hunter World, the Resident Evil remakes, etc.
They loved their first game so much that they refuse to let that experience be challenged by anything that came before or after, or even by the own flaws of their new favorite game.
TotK is a great game that although flawed, it also fixes multiple of the issues with BotW.
If the releases of these games were to be reversed and BotW was the second game, then most of the people claiming it is the better game would be striking it off as a massive downgrade compared to TotK.
To be honest, BotW was a better "game" when it comes to the expierience. I spent 250 hours in BotW simply wondering what's behind the corner and exploring the world.
Totk i pretty much finished the story and never came back. The story and moments like catching Zelda left me in absolute tears and awe. But structurally, it wasn't as good as BotW.
For example: BotW encouraged exploration by limiting it. You had to move on foot, by horse, sometimes being cheesy with some crafty runes use, but overall - you had to scale that mountain to see what's on top.
In TotK I would just teleport on one of the sky islands, craft the same ship I used for the entirety of the game and just flew over to the place I wanted. Never had I any cool "puzzle" of figuring out how to get somewhere.
BotW was a game about exploration, and TotK (while providing absolutely outstanding mechanic of Ultra Hand which was a toy in itself) butchered the idea.
That’s not the goal tears of the kingdom set out to achieve. It’s all in themes. Breath of the wild was about conquering the wild. (Akin to the first game) Tears of the kingdom is about mastering it now that it’s yours. You know this place, time to make sure everyone knows that.
I don't think it was underrated at all. This was literally one of the biggest anticipated games for literally years since it's original teaser dropped. But it was too similar to BotW, which caused many people to struggle to play it all the way through and fully explore the world they had already explored before.
You just explained exactly why it’s underrated while somehow not understanding that it’s underrated.
while I can't deny that it *could've* been better, the hate it gets is a *little* over-excessive if u ask me
People just love to jump on the hate train.
This game is better than BoTW in literally every way
Yes this video deserves 10x+ more views. Great job! I think you summed up key ideas about this game nicely. This game is truly special if you let it wash over you. But if you’re looking for things to pick apart, or focused on the art style being the same, then sure people might turn negative. But for pure gameplay, it’s such an incredible game. Not to mention basically perfect music for this type of game etc. You just have to dive into what the game is.
Totally agree! I barely even mentioned the music, but yeah the soundtrack is incredible. Especially that main theme.
I totally agree. Nice vid.
I think there was a disconnect between players and devs, with the marketing worsening the situation. The Zelda haters (formerly linear Zelda fans) toxic vocal minority was quick to latch onto this and now they’re monopolizing the discourse.
Personally, with time I learnt to LOVE this game. It’s now my favorite on switch (my favorite console of all time).
Cheers to this great video and to all the memories we made in Hyrule
Just face it just like he said NO one is talking about this game. Look at Zeldatubers they all don’t release videos at all cause the game doesn’t give you anything lore wise. It’s a good game to play construction building but to deep dive into the lore it so lackluster.
@@adnnebs I’m sorry, ‘zeldatubers’ have different priorities. Criticizing totk makes for good content, the game being supposedly bad is news, coming from botw. It costs nothing and they don’t even have to come up with good arguments. Plus they can rely on said toxic part of the fanbase to farm views.
Me, I’m just a player, I like the game and I can say it freely.
@@56ty_ if criticizing TotK makes good content why don’t they do it then? They all did like one or two videos saying the game is bad (we all agree the gameplay is good but you can’t elaborate on that). Nintendo really dropped the ball on the lore here. They established a good lore for TotK but they chose to leave it vague. Like no mention in game about the sheikah tech disappearing
@@adnnebs I agree, they’re very hypocritical. Just like Pokémon haters. They hate it but they’ll continue talking about it because it’s easier.
But you can see everyone else and their mama is doing it. I’m flooded with one hour and a half, copy paste totk takedown videos that fail to make one single good argument lol it is what it is, people are giving these influencers too much attention.
But I agree, lore and worldbuilding were slightly better in previous games.
It improved in some aspects while leaving others behind.
110h TOTK so far with 20% main story and 99% were played on the handheld mode. Every time I pick up NS for TOTK, I appreciate how incredible the experience is to be able to play the greatest game ever on such an incapable device.😂 Don't take me wrong. NS is my favorite console still despite that it is so outdated.
When you understand game design it’s pretty obvious why it’s success was short lived. It inovated the wrong things and broke their own limitations that create an environment for long playtime. Despite offering more ways to interact with the engine those interactions are not required and opened up options to break the game. In short Nintendo shot themselves in the foot.
As Tears of the Kingdom is my a favorite game of all time, I’m glad it’s getting some more positive attention. That being said, I wouldn’t say that there’s no reason to go back to Breath of the Wild. It’s its own piece of art that should be experienced by everyone. Actually, one of the things I love about Tears of the Kingdom, is seeing how the world has changed! There’s also things that are in Breath of the Wild that some people will never be able to experience if they never played it. Things like The Champion’s Ballad, The Master Trials, and some of the cute side quests from that game. (Warblers Nest and Tarrey Town are probably the best out of that game.) Not to mention the music from that game. It creates an atmosphere unparalleled. (Except, of course, by Tears of the Kingdom.) So while yes, Tears of the Kingdom is my favorite, I still love going back to the original iteration of Hyrule, and exploring every nook and cranny!
You nailed it when you said "Totk lacks staying power" despite the fact that this was a successful game for everyone else's language its won awards for 2023, it sold 10 million within 3 days when it came out everyone was posting it all over social media including tiktok. For the first 2 months everyone is head over heels for this game and assure it was a better botw. But all of a sudden at some point and time people stop talking about the game and the cracks in flaws really started to show. Then a yr later everyone expressed the sentiment that " the game was nowhere as fun or exciting compared to when they were playing for the first 12 hrs into it" I think the reason why Totk never the same longevity compared to botw is that when botw came out its introduced so many new things for the franchise like a non linear story, best open world Ive seen, an art style that is beautiful, and the fact that you can go whatever you want. It introduce all this concepts and does it so well the first time its why totk of the kind of falls on its a more a garry mod of zelda games where botw is about exploration and a great speedrun game. Totk is intially and exporation game but since its reusing its world there not as much new things like physical changes in the world but once you put enough hrs into the game, the world becomes less mysterious and something to ecplores and gather resources to survive but becomes a sandbox to mess around aka boundless freedom which comes with its downsides. This is the reson why as time goes on peope are becoming more negetive about totk
After playing TOTK, I cannot stand playing BOTW even for half an hour.
The only thing I miss is the Guardians. They were super cool!
botw feels completely empty in comparison
It always felt empty
I actually just recently decided to go back to Breath of the Wild the other day, just so I could revist the past. I'm enjoying the trip down memory lane, but the quality of life improvements in Tears of the Kingdom have really spoiled me! It's still a masterpiece, as well, but TotK made so many improvements that give the impression that BotW is inferior. But, that's just not the case. BotW set the stage and TotK performerd on it. The platform was established in such a way that TotK could not fail! It was a team effort and both games played their roles, perfectly. ^_^
Not the he complained about it in the video, which I appreciated and thankful for, but people wanted a sequel to BOTW. With that would mean that you will have the same map. It’s 5-7 years later, not 100’s of years later. Something are going to be the same, most towns IRL don’t magically or complexly change in that amount of time. True new buildings could appear, but nothing drastically changes within 5-7 years.
This game was overrated and is now underrated for good reason. They could have gone with the open world and given us a good amount of linear content like actual dungeons. Yet they decided to waste six years for mostly the same world with atrocious writing and retconning fan theories about the Zonai. This game should be disqualified from ratings because it can only stand on the foundation that is botw. Disaster of a game through and through.
My two main gripes with this game are the sky islands and the depths.
I absolutely LOVE the first great sky island, it was a blast, everything felt fresh and different from BOTW. But then the rest of the sky feels like the same 4 structures with slight variations across the whole map which was a total bummer for me. Especially because the game actively hinders you from exploring. Like - what's the point of upgrading your batteries if the game decides to just dissolve the flying machine you painstakingly put together after like 20% of battery usage? In a game that promotes freedom and players choice this seemed like such an antithesis that annoyed me to no end.
Then I absolutely LOVED the depths... at first. Just as the great sky island they were new and exciting and even a tad scary the first few times. But that feeling wore off so quickly, especially after you figure out the roots are at the exact locations as the shrines which makes exploring to find them somewhat pointless. Other than the safety of the lightroots the depths hardly give you any rewards. All you really find is the vehicle yiga instructions (which I never used because I could just build all the stuff myself anyway) and cosmetic items with neglectable effects with 90% of it just plain copied over from BOTW.
Considering that both the sky and the depths were what I was most excited about as I had no interest in exploring the rest of hyrule a second time this was a huge turn off for me. I beat the game, the finale was great but after getting like 80% of the lightroots and shrines I had to give up, I was just too bored or frustrated with the rest. :(
The only problem Tok has is that people is most of the times is flying rather that exploring the ground
A brilliant retrospective. I'm playing BotW for the first time. I'm absolutely loving it! What an incredible game. TotK is going to blow my mind, when I play this next. Thank you! 👌💙
it really is an absolute masterpiece and an immense achievement. Shit gets better the more I play it.
First run:"best game ever"
Second run:"still great but kinda disappointed"
Third run "wow what was I thinking. Peak gaming."
Why is this game so hated now? Skitty released a 3hr video saying it's terrible and they got like 200k
Another guy defended it and talked about the Zelda cycle and called this a bottom tier Zelda comparable to skyward sword with it's "flaws".
What?!?
RIGHT! all these dumb no effort videos just get so many views just for saying its bad. i watched skitty’s video for 10 minutes and she still hasn’t proved any fucking things yet (STFU SKI-) and those gigachads making a deep analysis and understanding the complex game design just get what, 3 views? BULLSHIT!
@@SEOWYIXUANMoe It's a long video but she makes some good arguments. The first 24 minutes doesn't really have any arguments, but later it gets a lot more focused.
@@azzy-551many of those arguments can be highly contested. Video is way too long to get into all of it easily though. That’s the advantage of making a long ass video, it’s hard as shit to respond to everything when you have a life and barely have time to even finish the video, let alone cover it all.
And this Channel is also underrated ;)
Haha! Appreciate you watching!
I remember following posts on resetera’s forums after the game leaked. When somebody posted that there was an underground area and they’d spent days trying to map it and it appeared to basically be as large as the overworld, I was like, “wtf?” Then you hear that horn sound the first time you descend into complete darkness and it was eerie as hell. First time a Zelda game managed to creep me out since Arbiter’s Grounds. I can partially understand why the sky islands would be underwhelming. If there were too many the size of Great Sky Island the overworld itself may look as dark as the depths. Dragonhead and Thinderhead were pretty cool. Water Temple was the biggest disappointment in the sky, with that furnace island being pretty close second. I was thinking it would be way more important, because it stands out. It kinda looks like one of the cut dungeons from Wind Waker. People say the depths were too samey. But I had fun wandering around and testing out different things to take down camps.Sorta had a Cave of Ordeals vibe to it. The overworld itself is easily my favorite still, and I was happy enough with the level of changes. And all those people complaining about not being able to pet the dogs need to remember. You can now ride dragons which, last time I checked, was infinitely cooler than petting dogs. Plus you can build jets and gundams and hover bikes and things that are rated M for mature, if you’re into that.
I totally love this game, so underrated
I liked BOTW but I absolutely LOVED TOTK
It's the same thing as with Ocarina or Majora.
I prefer TOTK and Majora, even if their predecessors did "more" for the franchise.
I tend to agree that TotK is the superior experience to BotW, despite BotW having been previously my favorite game up until I played TotK. I still love and play BotW, and did another play through of it a couple months ago. But now that I'm working on my 3rd play through of TotK (1st this year), despite some things I miss from BotW (remote bombs and pre-made elemental arrows, for instance), I'm finding that after having been through that game 8 times, I've mostly seen it all. TotK is so big that it would take me at least as many play throughs to truly experience all the game has to offer, and that might not even be enough. I'm looking forward to continuing to explore the game for years to come.
6:40 pm Sunday 26 May 2024
I am still playing, not missing a day one year later!
Absolutely love the challenges and still working through a few things (as a completionist tragic 🤭).
Love using Ultrahand and Ascend, as well as being challenged by all the puzzles, riding the dragons through the worlds...I am always engaged, never bored.
Absolutely love the outstanding Zelda series and applaud the creators - magnificent work.
TotK is indeed a massive game - thank you for your excellent anniversary commentary 🎉
I respectfully disagree
Personally I hate totk but botw is my favourite game of all time🤷♂️
Hey you can't go wrong with BOTW either! Both are fantastic experiences in my eyes.
Maybe "hating" is too much of a strong word
i respectfully agree
I love of them both!!!
Not having a Master Mode or plans to release one as DLC is such a huge mistake.