UA-cam is being weird with chapters so here’s the timestamps! 0:00 Intro 3:57 Story 14:01 Expanded World 23:01 Dungeons 29:29 Gameplay 34:37 Negatives 37:11 Verdict 39:14 Outro
You were explaining the final dragon fight so beautifully around 13:00 until you said it's too easy like Dark Beast Ganon. You even referenced it as a cinematic! That's how I see it. A playable cutscene meant to be jaw droppingly gorgeous and a reward for your journey throughout the game. At no point is it suppose to be a challenge. The first 3 phases of the fight increase in challenge until the end. Then you get to casually watch the beautiful ending to the game. It doesn't play as well in BoTW because Dark Beast Ganon is an eyesore and Zelda only shows at the end.
Another thing about puppet zelda is that after you defeat Phantom Ganon and ganondorf gets rid of puppet zelda, she is no longer present in all future blood moon scenes- it’s just the animation with no narration. Easy to miss since most people insta skip them at that point in the game
Oh my gosh! You know after I defeated him in the castle and the blood moon came up I wondered if they had changed it but it’s become so automatic to skip that I forgot to check! I love that they did that despite knowing most people would miss it
My heart actually broke for a moment when I saw the Master Sword break. I knew they had to take away the Master Sword somehow but I will admit I was not expecting that!
In preparation for the game I did another playthrough of Breath of the Wild. This time around I decided to be thorough and finish everything, thus I finally completed the sword trials and empowered the master sword. So for me, just a few days after kicking my butt going through the master sword trial, I watched it shatter into pieces. All I could say was, "Well, that was pointless.". Which was both true and a good pun for the master sword.
At least they didnt mix up the Lore by saying the Master Sword is indestructable in previous games, in A Link to the Past they showed us that the Master Sword can be RESHAPED by the Dwarf Smiths with Heat and Hammers clashing against the Blade to make it sharper, meaning if you can make a blade sharper, it's also possible to break it completely.
this game makes me wonder what other crazy and innovative game mechanics we could have if so many other developers didn't dedicate their time and resources on making water look more shiny.
You make a good point. I got into a big argument with someone about framerate and raytracing the other day and I honestly think the drive for better and better graphics has hobbled the games industry. At the end of the day, I'd rather play morrowind than skyrim.
Hiding the depths was just genius. As I finished the tutorial sky island and dropped maybe an hour later down in the darkness was a bit mindblowing. I was literally frozen for a few moments to realize that this was not just a cave. I really wish more games would us surprise with contet xD
I jumped straight into the first chasm with no paraglider, hit the ground, died, and just assumed there was nothing to explore until I saw a friend fighting a frog in his playthrough.
When you reach the depths for the first time and look at the map after activating the first light root. And then you zoom out. And out. And you realize how massive it is. I got chills. Just like when I got the map for the Great Plateau six years prior.
I had an interesting depths experience where the first time I went down was for the goron town quest. It clicked for me and was super cool that there was an underground world for us to go into with the holes and I was psyched: underneath the mountain was all lava-ey and it was a cool vibe. What else would be where else? But literally no other theming existed underground at all aside from the simple "depths" theme. Probably my "biggest" disappointment from the game was the lack of more theming.
I headed to the Rito zone before the depths quest and any chasms. When I was doing the Tabantha field maze and it dropped me into the depths I was like, wtf…but thought it was just secluded space, a bit like sky islands. I didn’t know how much I could explore down there as it was so dark and I didn’t know what to do. It wasn’t until I later found the start quest that I noticed it was the whole world down there. My only complaint was that the topography (which is inverted of the over world) feels kinda extreme. There’s a lot of climbing and running into a wall because of rivers above was initially very annoying before realizing water separated segments and required different entry points. It’s funny that the light roots are the shrines name’s inverted. Didn’t realize until a friend told me that the Lightroots were shrine locations. This kinda made finding shrines too easy compared to BotW, but I don’t mind it. I did have to use a guide in botw to find the last few. I hope the DLC does a lot more with the depths. Add some story and more to do, it feels a little barren; despite a bunch of mines, some treasures, yiga encampments with schematics and monsters which is nice, but a lot of space is empty and full of mobs that get annoying to engage all the time. But who am I kidding, if the DLC is just a “build pack” I’m game, I watched dozens of videos of people just making crazy sh1t. Frankly I’ll probably buy anything that isn’t just cosmetics. Hope they bring back the bike from the first one but as a flying vehicle (yeah zonite building is nice) but summoning some kind of a helicopter anywhere in the final DLC would be clutch. Hate that my wolf link amiibo doesn’t summon him anymore. >_< I loved the ending so much I kept watching other streamers experience it themselves. Truly epic.
I stayed away from the chasms out of fear 😂 then many hours later I decided to save my game and make the leap incase I met a certain fate. I WISH I would’ve recorded my expression when I realized the depths was a whole nother world. I was absolutely flabbergasted.
I went into the game knowing that the Light Dragon will be an important part of the story but that's all. I dropped my controller and gasped in pure disbelief. This felt like saving the Champions back in BotW. I was thinking "Okay they're trapped, so I just have to clear out whatever is inside those big mechs and they'll be saved, right?" And boy how wrong I was. It's much worse considering Mipha was the first one that I "saved".
Also the Ghost Soldiers that give you perfect weapons in the Depth coincide with Headstones in the above ground supposable or Stone Tablets with Writing.
The larger collections with three solders on one platform or nearby each other are mostly below Zelda's memorials to calamity victims with a silent princess flower laying on them.
The final boss' theme, the diving scene, the end when Zelda says "when i felt a warm loving embrace, i woke up" i was sobbing enough to cause another Hyrulean Great Flood
Zelda joyfully looking at Hyrule around her, turning to Link, and Saying to the Camera "I'm home" Before cutting to credits absolutely broke me. I thought what she went through in BotW was horrible, but this game just doubled down on how insanely resilient and caring this girl is ❤
When Ganondorf first spoke at the beginning of the game, it sent CHILLS down my spine... He is SO. INTIMIDATING. He's everything i never thought i wanted in Ganondorf and THEN SOME!!!
Mathew Mercer is such a good actor. Idk if I'll personally ever feel right with that exact voice being dorf's but I have to admit, they would be very hard pressed to find someone better to much as much feeling behind it as he did.
I think he did a better job as a mummified Ganondorf. His voice sounded so dry and menacing. Perfect fit. But he did good as Ganondorf. So not a bad choice at least.
alot of game material was taken from japanese games and inserted into western games in case you didnt know. they COPIED their ideas, if im to explain it in a more bold way x)
@@Sargassian well yeah and Japan took a few from the west too. To the Degree that using magic through weapons is Considered Weeb, while Throwing spells, from your hands, mouth and eyes is Considered Western Today🤣
A. No to the marketing. It's not unnatural to them, it's forbidden. Shareholders decide what is made. B. That same shareholder poison kills the gameplay as they don't have any interest in forward, they trend chase. Western developers on the smaller end do these things in small ways, but it's limited by money every single time. Nintendo doesn't have that awful non gamer, shareholder, top down structure.
@@elimgarak1127 You think Nintendo does not have shareholders? it is more the case that Nintendo's share-holders sit at a meeting are told of future plans, and shown the margin on profit as well as the data.
I said to my wife that the dungeons themselves start with the lead-up to them. At least for me, it didn't feel like I was starting the dungeons when I entered them, it felt like the journey to get to them was part of the dungeon. Especially with the wind and water temples, the progress through the platforms and occasional shrines to kind of "save your place" as you traveled towards the ultimate goal of each dungeon made me feel like the dungeons were honestly larger than they truly were. Also, each boss felt unique, and also fun to fight. Like, it made me happy that each boss had a specific way to fight them, instead of the more non-traditional way to fight the Blight Ganons in BotW. And fuse gave me a way to enjoy durability.
Funny thing is, I saw a video with a guy giving all kinds of reasons why totk sucks. Every reason he gave (like lack of enemy variation) sounded like it made sense and in any other game they would have been an issue. Totk rises above all these petty issues and creates an all encompassing masterpiece. He was of the opinion that people would come to their senses and dislike the game in hindsight, I totally disagree. This game will go down in history as the one game that was a follow up to one of the greatest games ever, that’s actually better than its predecessor. It’s so good. I’ve got 200+ hours in it and it has caused me to simultaneously play three other Zeldas again because it sparked all kinds of feelings of nostalgia, but at the same time feels totally unique and new. I can rave all day about the greatness of this game 😅
TP was my favorite until TOTK lol, once I beat the game I went back to play the very first Zelda on my Gameboy and I just know they've been waiting for the technology to be able to pull off something like this
I decided midway through my base playthrough I would be doing a "under full completion run" of the game, where I do absoultely everything that adds to the experience, without anything that would drive me insane from being so tedious. I don’t usally go for any amount of completion quota, outside of beating the postgame, but I decided to go for it here. Thats how much I fell in love with it. Some positive standouts for me: - The memories strike a fabulous balance between being so easy to find its like baby work, and being so difficult to find I need a walthrough (*cough* *cough*, botw.) They are big pictures on the landscape, but the world is so big that they are simple to track down, but you might need to search a bit, even when you find every location. Not to mention, you need to scour it for the tear in the first place. -The shrines are fantastic. The average length feels considerably shorter than breath of the wilds. They also make a good point to teach things rather than mostly being purely one-off challenges. Finally, the vast wealth of zonai devices makes it feel like, for a while you're always running into something new. -They somehow made horses more useful, while everything else seems like it would be less so. The world has more things to do in it, more locations to be. There are zonai devices that let you make cars and everything, but horses still come out on top in either speed or control (depending on what vehicle you make.) There are more gear for horses, more customization, stables have more features to encourage it, etc. -simple, but awesome narrative. -The depths are the best thing humanity has ever created -the sheer volume of player control and approachability -Tedious things are less tedious (the compendium is easier thanks to robbie, and the lazy koroks that have experienced the war crimes of the internet give you two seeds instead of one.) -MAKE YOUR OWN HOUSE -all the major towns (gerudo town in particular) feeling a lot more impacted by gannon -Good, unique boss designs (Marbled gohma feels a bit out of place, but still works.) -the fact that NPCs move throughout the game, and you can fnd ones you encountered before in a totally different town somtimes. -the slow realization that the depths map matches up near perfectly in design with the main map - Getting jumpscared by a freaking colgera in the depths -Sick new armor designs -New, resource consuming and really difficult Gleeocks being harder than the hard at first, but quickly stupid predictable and easy lynels. The list just keeps going on. What a game.
> the slow realization that the depths map matches up near perfectly in design with the main map I was watching some TotK content and they pointed out how each Lightroot matches up with a shrine on the surface. I thought, "Oh, great! That will make finding shrines so easy; I can just blast through 100%ing them!" Man, no it hasn't. So many shrines are hidden away in obscure ass caves that, more often than not, I end up getting to the location on the surface and standing there like an idiot while the shrine sensor keeps yelling at me that the shrine is below me. I run around for a bit, and eventually I either give up or get distracted and end up on the other side of the map still "looking" for the cave. God I love this game.
Same with me, I live this game so much and I want to finish every aspect of it but The koroks are just too much and I don’t have the patience for them.
Ditto on that Major Town thing. Vah Medoh shooting people out of the air in Rito Village may have been a issue for the Rito, but it didn’t feel like as much of an actual, overall problem as the others. It was less like I was doing it to help them and more like I was doing it for the sake of freeing all the Divine Beasts Meanwhile the entire area being covered by an endless blizzard that deprives them of basic survival necessities did a much better job of conveying that they were in any real danger
I love how Link and Zeldas bond are so strong that even after she became a dragon and lost her mind a part of her still recognized Link enough to help him
@@dietotakuThat would actually be interesting since that kid would probably also be named Link, which would mean that the next Link has both the Master Sword _and_ the blood of the goddess which gave Zelda her powers. So should the Master Sword ever not be strong enough, they can just upgrade it themself
I don't like how they deus ex machina'd the end though. Not only did they simply turn her back from an "eterrnal" dragon with game magic, but they didn't even let her remember flying around in circles for thousands of years, negating Zelda's selfless sacrifice ENTIRELY.
@@ytmndan Wasn't the whole point of becoming an immortal dragon literally just losing your mind? It would make sense if she wouldn't remember that stuff. It's kind of like Ventus in KH. Her consciousness would basically be stuck in limbo lol. You might as well be dead or never have existed at all. There's also the possibility that tons of other things could've gone wrong with her plan; what if she flew to the other side of the planet instead of in circles, or if she somehow lost the master sword during the whole thing? There was prob so much fear going through her mind when she held that stone in her hand. Yeah, she was saved in the end, but she had *no way of knowing that* at the time. Despite it all, she was ready to eat the thing regardless and risk it all, even if it meant losing her sense of self potentially forever. That's what makes it a sacrifice, and the ending doesn't change that imo
@@iiokrammii693 Well then she should have been like Link at the beginning of BotW and not remembered a damned thing. It was just disappointing how they made this big deal of her sacrifice and then simply Deus Ex Machina'd it into a happy ending with no negative consequences.
I heard one of the nitpicks around 35:40 about Gloom v.s. Malice and I just wanted to say it is my understanding that gloom is what original Ganondorf's secret stone allowed him to make and that malice was the manifestation of Ganondorf's hatred while he was stuck beneath the castle. I don't believe it's ever stated technically but there is some mention of the calamity being manifestations of Ganon's hatred. I think the names say it all, malice is exactly what it says on the tin whereas gloom is like a disease that is infecting Hyrule.
The origin of the terminology is also interesting. The term "malice" and the lore behind is coined and spoken by the select few - the "important" people like Zelda and Impa. It affectes you, Link, personally but we don't really see it affecting "normal" people. It was more or less ganon's poop used to inconvenience you and other important figures (like the divine beast pilots). Meanwhile "gloom" was coined by commoners. It is why the word is so unprofessional, in a sense, because it was started to be called like that since "ordinary" people were being majorly affected by it, and this is constantly reminded to you through NPCs and side quests. Gloom brings the commoners into the picture, the ordinary people minding their own business in Hyrule. In this way, Gloom has its own function in the game's narrative that Malice never had.
@@SunnyKimDevThat actually makes a lot of sense. I think the original Japanese roughly translates to something along the lines of miasma, which is another term not regularly spoken of by commonfolk. Looking at it from this new perspective, the whole gloom thing does work within the game's world.
One idea I haven’t seen discussed about Tears is how exploring each layer of the map compliments exploring the other areas. For example, getting the zonai parts in the skies really helps you explore the depths, just as the schema stones and yiga builds down there help you explore the surface and sky. Most of the shrines are on the ground, which you need to get more stamina and hearts to explore both the sky and depths. In this way the reward loop feels woven throughout, they aren’t compartmentalized into separate games. The game doesn’t want you to say “ok surface first, then sky, then depths” it wants you to go back and forth, or at least incentivizes it.
Spoiler Alert below: 12:03-12:12 "From the moment the idea of draconification was mentioned, It clicked. I audibly said there's no f***ing way Zelda is the dragon." This line ring SOO TRUE. This was the same reaction I gave when I found the memory when it was first mentioned. I Just couldn't believe what they were implying at this moment. when I got the last tear I genuinely shed a tear(No pun intended).
The new “build things” element was something I wasn’t looking forward to but is my favorite part. My friend asked how far I was and my reply is “I waste too much time doing nonsense” 😅😅
The one thing I fully prefer from BOTW are the sage abilities. (edit: agreed, the story writing and sage dialogue also needs polish) Yes it's fun to have the summons following along in TotK, but I wish they'd kept the ability activation to built-in controls. It felt so intuitive to have lighting release when you charge an attack, or to have a shield appear when you block.
Yea and the problem is it could be easily fixed, like imagine pulling your shield will automatically activate Sidon's ability when it's not in cool down? So much potential
I agree. For me, the summons never come out because I find they just get in my way constantly during battle. Tulin only comes out if I’m trying to paraglide far distances but other than that I find them all annoying Edit: I can’t tell you how many times Tulin blew all the monster parts off a cliff after killing enemies
One thing that people seem to forget, is that Nintendo was never really interested in a Zelda continuity. The only reason they caved and gave us a more or less continuous story line, was because fans wouldn't just drop it and let it be, and even then, we got a convoluted mess because of the Ocarina of Time time split. These stories were never really meant to be connected. Some can vaguely reference others as a way to build up on the current game lore, but that's it. And I suppose that's very fitting of its title. They are Legends. Even within themselves they reference each other as Legends, So, yeah... the fact that fans are still puzzled because "but this makes no continuity sense!" it's because it was never supposed to.
I think most of the continuity concerns were more tied to breath of the wild, sure the timeline issues are a hot topic but the most glaring issues for me was how a lot of the things in botw just seemed left to the wayside
@@TylerTownsend I agree that the continuity between both games is kinda wack, even tho they ARE supposed to be connected. Not only with how many people seem to have forgotten about Link (even tho in a lot of cases, his help should've ensured that they didn't forget him in less than 6 years...) I'd also like to know what happened with all the guardian tech. Including towers, broken guardians, and shrines. However, how loosely connected both games are should be further proof that Nintendo doesn't care for a strong continuity as much as fans do. (Which isn't either bad or good, honestly. Is just a design choice)
I personally find the idea behind the Zelda timeline to be really dumb and I feel a more game to game format with references to the other games as legends is more fitting like you said, but I understand why people see it otherwise. What really surprises me is that people are only complaining about it for this game and not Breath of the Wild. You can't convince me the idea of a timeline fusion came up in any serious manner during the development of that game. I generally disagree with the idea that Tears of the Kingdom feels disconnected from Breath of the Wild since they want the game to make sense individually, but I do agree the Sheikah tech could've used a brief mention in Purah's diary or something. Just have her talk about how the Towers, Shrines and Pillars went back underground shortly after Ganon's defeat and how they deconstructed the Guardians for materials in their efforts to relearn construction of Sheikah tech.
The mogma statues imply that they were the rulers of the depths and that they ran the mines for the zonai. Chances are they probably created the castle and the sealing chamber It might even be possible that the reason Gannondorf was down there in the first place was for conquest of the depths but it's a shame that they never actually address it directly
Those aren't Mogmas, Mogmas have tails and don't really wear clothing. It's more likely that those statues represent simpler Zonai or primitive Hylians since they lead to the central mine and that the mural at Josha's place represents the path made of those statue that lead to a Zonai using his power on the central mine
@@Elithralith That's just silly they go out of their way to say that they're people who lived underground and the only species that look relatively similar are the mogma. Putting that aside all of the statues have the species look stylized in a way that doesn't represent the current look so that's not really a defense.
@@emeraldpichu1 This is just silly itself, as the other regions all have primative versions of their respective areas race. Those are most certainly not mogma and without doubt a 50/50 split between them being simplistic Zonai or Hylians since they look almost exactly like the depiction of the ancient hero as well.
When you’re having a conversation about the mural there a state it to be a completely different species that dwelt underground that are distinct from the zonai If you want to say they’re not the mogma that certainly an opinion to have you can’t say that there are zonai or ancient hylians
I questioned ALOT about the depths. So many ruins, demonic looks, mines, giant statues, etc. I even question about playing like where's the edge of surface when climbing and how can i survive. I feel like im being watched while in the depths.
It's like the epitome of "You are not afraid of being alone in the dark. You are afraid of not being alone in the dark". Those Frox enemies are just the worst. Enemies being able to inflict Gloom didn't help either
It’s insane how much having the 4 sages running around with me at all times added so much comfort down there. I felt less vulnerable and lost. I felt protected, and like I really had Sidon, Riju, Yunobo and Tulin there with me. But even with that added comfort and protection…I still felt uneasy. ESPECIALLY when in the distance in the dark, I saw Colgera flying around in the abyss and realized the temple bosses appeared down there…like bro 💀
@@lovelightstarboy it could've been worse. Back when developers were trying to make a Guardian for BOTW, they were ginormous phenomenon creatures. If they added those in the depths I wouldn't even explore another inch there.
SPOILER HEAVY COMMENT: I think Mineru is my biggest complaint. Those ever-present storm clouds are incredibly interesting so like you I explored them way too early, I think between my 2nd and 3rd temple, and because of that bypassed the entire main storyline involving Kakariko arguably the village you visit the most in BoTW. Then the throwaway line you get later in the game when people are talking about the 5th sage is so incredibly underwhelming it made me feel like I was being punished for wanting to explore an open-world game. (I actually already had the master sword, Mineru, and knew ganondorf's location by the time I finished the 4th sage and coming back after fighting puppet ganon was easily the worst part of the game for me. Chasing Zelda around the castle and having a boss fight in the throne room was cool and made me eager to see what's next only for the whole story segment to basically be Purah going "oh you already did X? Well we need Y. Oh you already did Y? Well we need Z. Oh you already did Z? Well I guess you're done then, go kill Ganondorf.)
I just realized watching this, the depiction of the Hero (red hair, green body) from BOTW is the same as TOTK's Hero's aspect transfomation reward from completing all the shrines.
if you go in the game with a free roam camera mod after you catch Zelda, when she says i was sleeping for a long time, then i woke up to a warm loving embrace. if you pan the camera to link you will see him smile real big
This game is truly amazing. I have 90 hours on it at the moment yet I still have tons to do. The exploration is so fun and I love how it takes the idea of “if it works, it works” that Botw had and amplifies it by 100. I’d have to say it’s my favorite video game ever. You explained your thoughts rly well and this video was great. Cheers to more fun ahead in totk!
I'm at 250 and I'm nowhere near done. I'm expecting 600+. This game is more than twice the size of BOTW, and BOTW took me 300 hours. This is the biggest single player game ever made by quite a large margin. The only games I've ever seen that are bigger than this are MMO's like WOW that have many expansions.
300+ hours and I've done almost everything. I've upgraded all th armour, but I still have like 20 Side Quests to do!!!!! This game is as long as you like!
"There was no way anyone saw it playing out the way it did." It was actually pretty obvious - I have a few timestamped fully fledged theories prior to its release, and nearly every single detail was correct, down to the time travel and master sword. However, I thought perhaps the past would have its version of Link, which of the two details I got wrong, was the most major detail askew. But overall? Predictable. And just after a tear or two do you piece the rest of the entire plot together. It's a huge letdown, story wise. So, I agree - linearity lends itself to excellent storytelling mechanics.
Just me who thought the shrines were better in botw? 1. They had better atmosphere 2. The puzzles were better and couldn’t be cheesed as easily as in tears 3. Less blessings, yes there may be 32 more shrines this time but every single one of them are in the sky. The quest getting the crystals to the shrine got old after a while and literally every single shrine apart from the ones in the GSI were blessings. And on top of that there were way more blessings in tears than in breath on the surface. So We only got like 100 or something puzzles in tears but still having 30 additional shrines. 4. In botw there were some shrines that were really huge and Fun to explore. For example. In botw there was a shrine in the crab in lake Daurinia. That shrines was massive (for being a shrine), almost so big it could’ve been compared to the great deku tree from OoT. Totk had none like this so that’s why I feel like the shrines were underwhelming in tears
I agree with all the criticisms. I would add that the abilities wheel is a tad slow or laggy. But that too is nitpicky and understandable considering how much is possible with the new abilities on this limited hardware. That being said, i also agree that the game is a masterpiece. Even past 100 hours in i found myself gasping like that little girl in the commercial when her dad says "watch this..." or openly taking too myself "WTF" and "this is unbelievable". The game's just so big with so much new stuff to find. I absolutely love it!
Good thing about ability wheel is that you don't have to scroll for stuff to open a rune which if you actually memorise the layout you can spam runes like you want
I actually like the wheel. It feels like a snappier, more simplified version of twilight princess's item wheel! But I've also never concerned myself with lag or taking things slow, just as a way I play games personally.
my theory as to why the sky islands feel so lack luster is probably because quite a lot of time was put into the depths, which were also NEVER revealed in any trailer/teaser for the game, making them all that much more shocking for anyone who has been up to date with TotK
Honestly man, I feel bad for you doing the Mineru main quest without doing the other stuff. I did the whole quest and it was grander than ever (probably my favorite lead up to a dungeon) Hopefully you get a chance to do that whole quest in order.
i discovered mineru pretty early on, and only did the rest of the quest after having defeated ganon already :p but it was still very fun to play through that questline, even if im sure it wasnt as epic as it couldve been
@@stella_s yea I’m glad they give you the freedom to do so. But my experience was so much better. The feeling of knowing you are not done yet was really shocking to me. But yea praise the devs for giving us too much freedom.
Given how some of the Sheikahtech locations are now taken over by the Yiga (Shrine of Resurrection, Akkala Tech Lab), and their notable in-game focus on accessing Zonai tech, I got the impression that the Yiga are likely the ones who absconded with all the Sheikahtech in an effort to strengthen their power. They are former Sheikah, after all, and unlike the current Sheikah, they didn't (mostly) all become farmers. Makes sense that they'd be more like the rare Sheikah (Purah, Robbie, etc.) still interested in advanced technology.
I 100% agree with the descendant thing being a plot hole! I also assumed there was an offscreen child or that Zelda was descended from illegitimate,separate children of Sonia and Rarau rather than being their child.
27:56 I did the same thing and stumbled upon the fifth temple quest randomly, but it was a really great experience. I thought I stumbled upon some secret optional content and was really excited. Goes to show how incredibly free the game is in letting you choose your own adventures
I love that Great Fairies have their own motivations now instead of "give rupees, wake up". When you do the Messages from An Ancient Era quest, finding the Flower Islands (which are shaped like Silent Princess) and taking pics of the attached tablets, you find out the same thing that the Legend of Great Sky Island construct tells you- the sky islands were raised to tell the story of ages past and keep the information & tools link would need safe until the return of Ganondorf/demon king. They were sealed away in the sky specifically until Rauru's seal broke so that they would be available when Link had to fight the Demon King.
One of the only things I wish was that Kakariko was more important. It’s main thing is revealing Mineru’s existence and kicking off the Thunderhead quest line, but I, Tyler, and a bunch of others by my count “sequence broke” (yeah, open world, but the devs had an intent). Also, that bit is *really* close to the end of the game. Idk about y’all, but I had at least 40, maybe 50 hours by the time that I properly interacted with Kakariko. I just wish it was more relevant, especially Paya (who is *chief* and does *one thing* )
Excellent review. Kind of surprised you didn't mention the whole "missing Triforce," even as a side note...but I did write a whole other comment on why us creative type do that. So..I aint mad at you. You got my like and sub. Good stuff friend. Truly.
yeah for sure, there's a ton of stuff I left out of the review like music and other continuity stuff but those are topics i'll likely touch on in other videos! Thanks for checking out the review!!!
Because I watched the memories in order and It’s only like memory 3 when Mineru mentions about becoming an immortal dragon I already knew what was going to happen. That along with the fact we’d already seen the light dragon before leaving the tutorial island too was suspicious. I feel the memories should have been unlocked in order and the light dragon, master sword it should have all been hidden until the final memory.
I’ve seen a lot of reviews for various Zelda games over the years. This one was a phenomenal review. I hope you are proud of this one. Your hard work really stood out.
Does this game have it’s flaws? Yes. Is there things about the story that could have been executed better? Sure. But all i know is i enjoyed the hell out of this game, played it multiple times, and man did they stick the landing with that ending.
After finishing the game I can properly watch this lol I'm so glad that you mentioned the story because Nintendo being so secrecy about it for years only raised my concern. It will always be a problem to have even slightly coherent story in a game where you're free to go wherever (especially for these titles). For example, I got the Master Sword back before even getting a single tear or finishing the Korok Forest quest. But if they are really sidelined the story in favor of gameplay, then they still did an amazing job with it. Overall, it's a game that I also didn't think could exist but I'm so SO glad it did
well you did the hard part, defeat the ddemon king army, defeat the demen king 2 phases and that 2nd phases was hell, and a fun final stage, having this make the game more entertaining and more rewarding. that final stage is Meant to be fun and easy
28:03 lol that was what happened on my playthrough as well. I didn't play botw and I thought I truly had to explore until I found the 5th sage and that location was about one of the few places I hadn't explored at all up to that point
This is probably one of my favorite reviews. You were real, brought out both positives and negatives and also made compelling comparisons between TOTK and BOTW. Great job and great video!
I think I played this game in the perfect way. I explored to my hearts content and went anywhere and everywhere but I attempted the memories early game and couldn’t figure out what I was meant to do to trigger them so I gave up and didn’t come back to them until after I’d beaten all four dungeons, heaps of exploring high and low, upgraded weapons/armour, beaten several mini bosses and was basically just looking for the final boss at that point. Then I finally went back to the tears (and josha 😅) and got the bulk of the plot and the most useful ability of all (way too late) but the 160 hours of speculation, getting little hints and snippets here and there, made the actual story so much more satisfying and heart wrenching. It was such a perfect way to experience it. Even when I started watching the memories I watched them somewhat out of order but I got the plot in what I’d argue was a much better order than watching them in order. Phenomenal game, bring tissues. Not just for Purah.
28:20 I found Mineru without cleansing the Storm KEKW, it was complicated, but I managed to navigate in the storm somehow an did the whole thing before I had the other four sages KEKW
I did the same with regards to the Spirit Temple. Flew into the storm, found a Zonai Dispenser. Jumped down to see how I’d do against a Flux Construct in the dark and he hit me into the Island that had a shrine on, came out the shrine and see the door. I doubt many people did it the same way we did?
160 hours.... and still going up. SO GOOOOOOOD!!!!! Totk has more life. Im glad were rebuilding. I still feel sad about the tragic with the calamity. Brutal...
You didn’t miss the 5th sage quest I did the same as you - it’s a flaw with the open world. I stumbled upon the spirit temple without knowing anything about it and then when I was supposed to get the quest it was an awkward “oh … you already completed it” (that being said I’ve spent 180h in it so far and I’m still absolutely loving it
I remember thinking the sky islands were gonna be such a big deal, and now the only ones i even remember are the ones for the water + wind temple sky islands, the great sky island, the faron sky islands, and a couple that were spheres and had shrine puzzles
18:20 Or you could, like me, fhavr your first encounter with the gloom hands in your third cave ever. Then panic, use up 80% of your bombs on arrows blasting them to death, only to then be even more scared (and die) when Phantom Ganon shows up, because you suddenly realize the ceiling is to high for ascend.
so, on the "technical achievement" celebration bit, my highlight; there was a button on a ceiling over a pool of water and only light wood in the area. First, i tried submersing the wood flat, it didnt react strongly to the water pressure. i angled the plank perpendicular to the water surface and submerged it, and it shot out like a boogie board. TotK's team deserves to be very proud of what they've done, and I'm ending this gush with a shoutout to the caves. OMG I am so happy to have grottos, wells, caverns, cenotes, all those creep-havens and treasure troves. THAT is what made this feel like an honest to hylia Zelda game.
One of my favorite things about TotK was Ganondorf. At the beginning of this game I couldn’t fathom that this creepy demon skeleton was Ganondorf. I know him as a green-skinned man that rules behind the shadows, and is mostly just a normal bad guy with a monster army, who prefers to let the hero find him at the end. Two scenes to me made Ganondorf deserving of his demonic music and powerful aura. The first was the scene where he takes IT from HER, and turns into the demon king. The second was the scene where he gets sealed. This game’s cutscenes (past and present) show a proactive, cunning, and POWERFUL Ganondorf. The cherry on top is his bossfight, it feels like nothing we’ve fought before, but feels like the DEFINITIVE fight against Ganondorf.
He felt like an active threat the whole game. He was sitting underground, gathering his power, but his influence was spread far and wide, and his manipulation of the people of Hyrule through Puppet Zelda, and the specific ways he attacked the major races, was a balance of cruel and clever that made him feel like a proper villain.
@@StonetheDestroyer42 If he was that powerful, why not come to the surface and enslave every race, becoming the king. Feels more like he was just a coward. Didn't even kill the hero. Calamity Ganon was more of an active threat than Ganondorf ever was. I'll just wait here for the one who will murder me to come and get me. How powerful could he be before he gets here? (Famous last words, probably). Ultimately, Ganondorf's pride was his undoing.
I think that Zelda isn't a direct descendant of Sonia, but more like a distant niece. That's how Sonia can die, have no children, and still be blood related to Zelda.
Your assessment of the Lightning Temple is interesting. Not that I think Queen Gibdo was bad, but it was just fine to me. The temple was my favorite. It was the one that most felt like a classic dungeon. The best boss is Colgera.
One of the things I’ve loved seeing post totk is just how different folk’s perspectives of the dungeons are! I’ve seen numerous people say they like the lightning temple the most and I think that’s great! There’s something for everybody in this game and I think it just goes to show how well done the temples are in this game!
the only thing i can think, storywise, to do with a third game is maybe having demise return? idea came to me when i realized, looking at the thematic and functional differences between malice and gloom, ganon and ganondorf feel like halves of a third, greater evil but i'm not really sure that would be a good idea
New game with red box art and some kind of power theme? Though, TotK was very power-focused through Ganondorf's story and motivations, I think the color actually corresponds to Zelda's journey. In BotW (blue), she sought to serve her kingdom through Wisdom, researching the ancient Sheikah tech. In TotK (green), she stepped into a leadership role in the past, and then took on the enormous sacrifice of draconification to ensure the Master Sword reached Link strong enough to defeat Ganondorf. If there's a third game in the series, Zelda's story would have to focus on power somehow, ideally without compromising her character. I'm not sure how much they could do with the existing Hyrule, though. Perhaps the game would have to be at sea, or exploring the other lands visible, but not accessible, from the current map. Otherwise, it would have to be set far enough in the future that Hyrule to be drastically changed.
I felt so dumb when I finally realized Zelda was the dragon. By that point in time I had already acquired the master sword, and had already gotten up close and personal with the dragon. When it finally clicked, I had to go back and find it again.
31:58 when I first fought the gleeok on the bridge, I got knocked off the bridge, drowned, and right as I respawned I was crushed by a giant fireball and died. Was it annoying? Yes. Was it hilarious? Yes. One of my main complaints is that during the few voice acted cutscenes the music was so loud I can’t hear the voices. And I wished this game had full voice acting. Despite Penn already has voice clips, I keep reading his dialogue in Launchpad McQuack’s voice from the DuckTales reboot.
Malice is an unconscious force of nature, while gloom is personified hatred and disgust. The two different states of Gannon’s wakefulness is probably why the change was made.
When you are diving and see those massive strands of gloom growing like a vine near the final boss fight. Is insane. The way that the music picks up as you are just seeing this… thing.
ironically, rupees are automatically picked up in BotW. not sure why they changed that ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ also, i think technically screeching is what separates Gibdo from Redead. but that's a half-remembered fact, so I might be wrong. Either way, awesome work on this video!
My biggest complaint about the game is actually the way the story was handled as well. I HATED the fact that Mineru spoiled the climax in one of the early memories. She should've just mentioned a forbidden act and nothing else. That would've left us with more questions than answers, which is what a story should do, metaphorically, to keep you reading so to speak. My reaction was something like, "well, thanks for that. Now I'm not even going to be shocked when I see it happen". I also didn't like the fact that you could go to Dragon Head Island at any time. Only when the clouds were cleared should that have been possible. It should have been mechanically the same as the Lost Woods, when entering the clouds. Forbidding entry. Would have left more of a sense of wonder I think. Aside from that, I absolutely loved the story and the game itself, showcasing a crown achievement of game development capabilities on such limited console hardware.
This game is absolutely wonderful and talking about all the great things, would take way too long! Thats why I just list all the thing I dislike about the game: 1. Weapon durabillity Sure it has become less annoying with the fuse abillity, but I still hate that my customly crafted weapons break after a few enemies. 2. The Sage Abillities The abillities itself are fine, just the way of using them is so incredibly annoying, that I never use them except for Tulin of course. 3. Slow Motion Moves The Flurry Rush, perfect Parry and Slow Mo Bow Shots are super epic, but fighting a Lynel f.e. it's just a bit boring and takes all the creativity out of any fight. This should be more limited and harder/rarer to achive to really let these moments shine! 4. The Sky Islands and Underground Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love the addition of both, BUT the sky islands are really just the 3 big ones and all the others are just tiny puzzles and the Underground is giant but really empty! There is just not much to do sadly. 5. The Bosses The 6 Main Bosses are super Creative and Epic to fight, but they are mostly way too easy! I never even died once to a boss and I am really not a good gamer. So the difficulty for the bosses should be higher in order to really feel something achiving after defeating them! Especially the last phase of the endboss! 6. Zonai Timers I really hate the fact, that my zonai constructions have a limited lifespan. When I create something epic, sure I can safe it for autobuild, but I would like to fly for more than 2 minutes with my super duper mega Glider! 7. No special Items Like in BOTW I miss the addition of magic or special Items like a grappling hook f.e. Sure there are Items with some Abillities, but I would love to really habe special Items or more options in general. But as I said, the game is absolutely wonderful and I have experienced a lot of wonderul adventures. It's just way too much great things to list them here, but All in All I would rate this Game a solid 8/10! Great game!
Great video man. Good writing and delivery on the script, and good editing work with the visuals to show us what you're talking about. Also, I never thought about how Sonia didn't have any visible children 😂
I enjoyed seeing the memories out of order and having the story unwrap this way. I'd done four sages and all the towers before doing any of the "Tears" at the crop circles, so I already had a pretty good idea what was going on.
The sages where so poorly executed. Why not link their abilities to L instead of having to find the right one, or triggering on mistake. The rito blew items off a cliff countless times. Why put another way to access the map on L when u can put sage abilities on there .
22:48 I mean, I can accept that an owl man sent his arm through time to help Link, because it’s a fairytale and I don’t need a scientific explanation for that…. But having an entire underground world that parallels the surface? That warrants at least _some_ explanation
I would have loved for that construct on the island to give us some sort of vision, like plug into the Purah Pad and show us from Zeldas view, how the islands were raised into the sky by everyone as a cutscene, explaining the cloud barrier, and WHY you DIE DIVING OFF during the tutorial but not after you finished it. Or maybe have some flying construct getting you back to the island instead of dying with the explanation that you are too weak to leave until you are able to open the big door or something of the sorts. And have Ganondorf turn those flying constructs evil after the first bloodmoon or something interesting like that. The Plateau in BOTW makes sense because of fall damage and such but we obviously dive off the sky island after we hand over the Master Sword and land in water without dying.
I'm having a feeling that Sheikah is gonna be some sort of expansion DLC. Since we're dealing with time travel there could be so many things that could've happened to them.
I can't help but disagree with a lot of the positive points of this review. I acknowledge a lot of positives of this game, but found a lot of the things you reflected on positively to have affected me in a much more negative way. Like I feel the story would've been much better if the story scenes were delivered in the proper order no matter which Tear you got. It also shouldn't have unlocked the final tear until after you beat the 4 temples, maybe even having some of the glyphs not show up until after beating each temple, ensuring a more streamlined access to the story, so you can't get the final scenes first, like I did, and then going back to the beginning. The story is mediocre, but fine enough. But it makes zero references to BotW and even feels like a complete retcon of the game and the entire Zelda timeline to boot. I also felt a lot of the new mechanics compounded issues from BotW. There are no longer multiple pages for recipes and materials, they're now one giant page. Recipes at least have a limit so if you prepare for various types of events at once, you're not left with many of any given type of food you may need, helping to balance how broken the food mechanic is just a little. At least until you get all the armors and elemental resistance foods or the such become pointless. I also found the quests to have very superficial stories. Like they're a cute collection of side stories, but they're far too tangential from the main plot. It's not like Majora's where the side stories are intertwined with the events of the main story all the time. And that's okay, but the rewards are kinda pointless most of the time, unless they're armor. The consumables don't last long, not even the weapons, and the best weapons you end up not wanting to use cause they're cool references to past games. I like that, but I can't help but be disheartened that those weapons will break as easily as any others. Idk, it leaves them feeling like a ton of busy work. The game also not having story flags to acknowledge your discovery of the truth about Zelda is really weird. I did the tears first because I thought that was cool, but seeing the lack of an effect it had on the world was devastating to my immersion. I had found the master sword by accident when hunting each of the dragons for a horn before even doing that and it was cool to get, though kinda spoils the "Zelda's a dragon" thing if you do it too early. Which you can do it as soon as you have enough Stamina. It's wild to me that some of these things didn't have trigger flags to ensure progress would be properly gatekept to avoid spoiling itself. And the 4 dungeons having essentially the same major story cutscene is lame, and the bulk of the story happening in the past kinda sucks. It feels like we got a cliff notes version of the real story. A selection of highlights from Zelda's memory. But it really makes the characters look like idiots cause it doesn't provide enough context for the bad decisions they make or how they solve some mysteries. They never even show Rauru to have a kid when Zelda is meant to be his descendent. It's so weird, not to mention the seemingly retcon of Hylia as the source of Zelda's powers. A lot of awkwardness that could've been avoided with proper attention given to these important moments and treating them like they mattered as more than just a reward for doing a random thing. I also dislike how easily the dungeons can be broken via your abilities and zonai devices. It emphasizes player freedom at the expense of overcoming a challenging puzzle. Your abilities are shortcuts and the game makes it infinitely easy to abuse those shortcuts and undermines its own design in the process. Most of the land of Hyrule and the underground are meaningless when you're flying over 80% of it once you have enough Zonai devices. Idk, this game feels like it's own indulgence of player freedom and creativity really spites itself and the natural Zelda feeling of overcoming challenges within set limitations. Like the shrines stopped you from using your own zonai devices, forcing you to figure you way through with what was available in the shrines. That was great. But the dungeons didn't do that!? That's so weird and would be a fun gimmick for a second run or revisiting the shrines, or leaving them after you beat the boss, like suddenly your powers work on everything and aren't nerfed anymore and you can escape so much easier than you got in, really letting you feel how powerful you are with all your devices and protecting the value of the dungeons. Now the dungeons are barely even puzzles. It's an aesthetic upgrade over BotW, but not a functional one
The dungeons were very interesting. They were each so different and really you were starting the dungeon with the trek towards them. They made a usually boring part of the game into something that strongly ties into the dungeons.
I loved this review. I did find that the conversation with Impa at her home in Paya's room upstairs (I suppose Impa's room too) after all the memories are collected, looking at the picture of the calamity of 10,000 years ago while she discussed the calamity, and mentioning to Link to check in on the school Zelda set up was helpful to connect the two games. I'm not sure what happens with this scene if you become a school teacher first, as I realize it sends you back to take a picture of the mural, and maybe you get the same cutscene. But either way, I did feel her mentioning the divine beasts and the BOTW backstory helped to bring a connection to this game and gave me the feeling that what happened in BOTW was still really supposed to have happened in the game universe. But obviously, this doesn't explain where all the technology went. Again, I really loved the in-depth review, and I also found myself tearing up at the end and during some of the memories.
It does have the same cutscene, I did the school side quest before collecting all the memories. Link just chooses not to mention to Impa that he already visited the school I guess, lol. Also, just a personal theory, but I think that the sheika and others dismantled all the ancient sheika tech and possibly repurposed it, or just got rid of it. Example of one place I noticed it repurposed; the lever Josha pulled to activate the lookout tower looks to be old sheika tech.
@@JoTheCraftyShark Thanks, and that's a good theory. Zelda did say that Vah Ruta was malfunctioning at the end of BOTW, so maybe the tech gave out after its purpose was served, or like you said? If they do DLC content, maybe we will know then.
Cool vid, although I have to say that the gliderless Any% Speedrun for TotK is already below 1 hour and has been for over a week :) Edit to add: Duplicating fairies so you can just outright ignore fall damage is overpowered xD
Tears of the Kingdom is probably my 4th favorite coming after the list of Majora's Mask, Twilight Princess, and Spirit Tracks. All they need to do is work on the kinks of it and it could easily hit #1
When I see a game like this I always think the same thing. They do sooooo much with so little in terms of hardware. But other consoles spend hundreds of millions in development on superior hardware and the games are half finished and half empty with tons of glitches and bugs. But Nintendo can make a game this big and good on such inferior hardware just goes to show you just how little effort some of these developers put into their games. Nintendo clearly takes pride in their IP products. Compared to companies like Bethesda EA ECT. They jus keep doing our garbage after garbage after garbage. And for some reason idiots keep buying that BS. And it will never stop until people wait for the reviews and ONLY buy games that score 9s and 10s. Because those are the only games that are worth your 70$. I always grew up with this concept. I'm wondering what the hell happened to that notion? Best rule of gamers ever. Never buy a game on release date. Unless you know it's a guarantee hitter such as Zelda or GTA ECT. Anything that looks really "cool" without a foundation already made. Never buy on release day. Always wait a couple weeks. Save d a ton of money that way. Games aren't cheap. Make your 70$ count. These scumbag companies half passing BS over and over again won't stop until YOU the consumer only accept the best for your 70$
I actually did see Zelda becoming the dragon as soon as I witnessed that conversation I knew. To me it made sense the new Dragon had to come from somewhere...
I agree that this game is amazing but I definitely prefer the more traditional and more linear approach to storytelling, especially after finish FF16. TOTK was amazing, but i just got off FF16, and i really cant choose which one I love more, but FF16s story was just much better done. They had every beat plotted out to hit at the right time, whereas in TOTK, the story can get kind of patchy. Like i also did all the memories at once, and it left me kind of underwhelmed afterwards, until that amazing ending. I also think FF16s voice acting work was better. That being said, TOTKs world, and exploration definitely beats the crap out of FF16. I think 16 takes combat, but only because TOTK was mostly just an updated BOTW combat system, so it didn't feel as fresh to me. Not sure why i turned this into a comparison, when my original point was just that agree on the video about prefering a more traditional story telling. Either way, both games are amazing and I absolutely love them both, although each for different reasons. I will be happy if either one takes GOTY, although I'm gonna assume Trails into Reverie will be my person GOTY, trails is my all time favorite series though. Either way, it been a good year, and so was last year. Some absolute bangers with trails to azure and zero, xbc3, octopath 2, elden ring, god of war ragnarok, fire emblem engage, TOTK, FF16, and trails into reverie. Its a good time to love Japanese games, lol.
I actually feel the opposite about the temples. I liked the Lightning tem ple the most, because of how each battery (except one lol) was hidden behind some sort of puzzle I had to think about solving a bit Meanwhile I just autobuild triple springs everywhere in the fire Temple to cheese it and had the least fun with it
I avoided Hyrule Castle because I didn't want to stumble across the final boss. Somehow, I got the fifth sage and didn't realize what that really meant. Then I caved and went to the castle.
One of the most glaring plot holes in the story is that no mention is made of the murals. Zelda traveled to the past knowing that the queen (Sonia) or someone with a secret stone would die and Ganon would use their secret stone to become the demon king. She even had the Purah Pad with pictures of the murals.
@@monkeysgame172 Yeah, Nintendo should at least try. Totk has the potential to be one of the best games of the decade. The only things that hold it back are the hardware it's on and the story. Imagine Totk on a better system, with a more detailed world, 60 frames per second, etc., and with a well-written story instead of this mediocre one we have.
it makes me think that hyrule is similar to a continent out of many instead of a world as a whole. This leads to my explanation that all the new npcs migrated to hyrule from a different "continent" that we don't know about. maybe after the calamity ended, people outside of hyrule learned that it was finally a safe place to live, so they moved here.
I honestly really like that the Zelda universe is so flexible with different timelines and iterations, it has such potential to tell different permutations of the same legend while keeping it feeling fresh! Also, total agreement on Matt Mercer's stellar performance! I've watched a couple hundred hours of his amazing (improvised) work on Critical Role, and still it's such a delight! I also love how much Zelda was actively involved, she's not a damsel, she's a strong, determined person who does her duty without hesitation. Perfect! This game also in my opinion perfected the "soulmate" bond between Link and Zelda, and I do mean that literally, they are bound souls and they have a deep connection, they're important to each other and it's lovely.
On regards to Mineru's sidequest. I actually found her island by accident. I didn't have Shrine sensor on, but noticed the name (Dragonhead Island) and a different music. After defeating Phantom ganon, and Paya said some about "the land of the Dragon", I instantly thought of that place and headed towards it, without doing Tauro's sidequest to get the clothing and clear the storm. In there, my shrine sensor activated and I found a door which I couldn't open because I've only had invested in Stamina. I feel your pain about missing a sidequest but I was also looking for the Spirit Sage so it felt rewarding either way.
I felt like the sky islands were a front to hide the complete access to Depths. I always wondered how deep master yiga fell, never would’ve though it was a complete new exploration. This game is insane😊
UA-cam is being weird with chapters so here’s the timestamps!
0:00 Intro
3:57 Story
14:01 Expanded World
23:01 Dungeons
29:29 Gameplay
34:37 Negatives
37:11 Verdict
39:14 Outro
gibdos do not screech because thats what REDEADS do
@@MikePhantom gibdos have screeched as well
You were explaining the final dragon fight so beautifully around 13:00 until you said it's too easy like Dark Beast Ganon. You even referenced it as a cinematic! That's how I see it. A playable cutscene meant to be jaw droppingly gorgeous and a reward for your journey throughout the game. At no point is it suppose to be a challenge. The first 3 phases of the fight increase in challenge until the end. Then you get to casually watch the beautiful ending to the game. It doesn't play as well in BoTW because Dark Beast Ganon is an eyesore and Zelda only shows at the end.
Put them in the description, UA-cam should display them properly
@@Link-Link yeah that was the issue, they are there but not working :/
Another thing about puppet zelda is that after you defeat Phantom Ganon and ganondorf gets rid of puppet zelda, she is no longer present in all future blood moon scenes- it’s just the animation with no narration. Easy to miss since most people insta skip them at that point in the game
Omg I’m so glad someone mentioned this!
yup! it kind of feels creeper without her
Oh my gosh! You know after I defeated him in the castle and the blood moon came up I wondered if they had changed it but it’s become so automatic to skip that I forgot to check! I love that they did that despite knowing most people would miss it
Bro I was wondering where Zelda went during the blood moon animation
Also explains why her dialogue is so weirdly said. in BoTW she sounds scared and wary. here she sounds like she is lowkey glorifying the event.
My heart actually broke for a moment when I saw the Master Sword break. I knew they had to take away the Master Sword somehow but I will admit I was not expecting that!
In preparation for the game I did another playthrough of Breath of the Wild. This time around I decided to be thorough and finish everything, thus I finally completed the sword trials and empowered the master sword. So for me, just a few days after kicking my butt going through the master sword trial, I watched it shatter into pieces. All I could say was, "Well, that was pointless.". Which was both true and a good pun for the master sword.
Legend has it that Zelda is still crosseyed to this day because she had that corroded thingy stuck in her brain for millenia.
At least they didnt mix up the Lore by saying the Master Sword is indestructable in previous games, in A Link to the Past they showed us that the Master Sword can be RESHAPED by the Dwarf Smiths with Heat and Hammers clashing against the Blade to make it sharper, meaning if you can make a blade sharper, it's also possible to break it completely.
this game makes me wonder what other crazy and innovative game mechanics we could have if so many other developers didn't dedicate their time and resources on making water look more shiny.
Hey that water needs to be shiny lol but I hear ya, just wish developers had the chance to pour as much time into their games as the Zelda team gets
_Subnautica_ with it's novel design _and_ shiny water graphics: "And I took that personally . . ."
gmod just doesnt exist i guess
Amazing Water
You make a good point. I got into a big argument with someone about framerate and raytracing the other day and I honestly think the drive for better and better graphics has hobbled the games industry.
At the end of the day, I'd rather play morrowind than skyrim.
Hiding the depths was just genius. As I finished the tutorial sky island and dropped maybe an hour later down in the darkness was a bit mindblowing. I was literally frozen for a few moments to realize that this was not just a cave. I really wish more games would us surprise with contet xD
I jumped straight into the first chasm with no paraglider, hit the ground, died, and just assumed there was nothing to explore until I saw a friend fighting a frog in his playthrough.
When you reach the depths for the first time and look at the map after activating the first light root. And then you zoom out. And out. And you realize how massive it is.
I got chills. Just like when I got the map for the Great Plateau six years prior.
I had an interesting depths experience where the first time I went down was for the goron town quest. It clicked for me and was super cool that there was an underground world for us to go into with the holes and I was psyched: underneath the mountain was all lava-ey and it was a cool vibe. What else would be where else? But literally no other theming existed underground at all aside from the simple "depths" theme. Probably my "biggest" disappointment from the game was the lack of more theming.
I headed to the Rito zone before the depths quest and any chasms. When I was doing the Tabantha field maze and it dropped me into the depths I was like, wtf…but thought it was just secluded space, a bit like sky islands. I didn’t know how much I could explore down there as it was so dark and I didn’t know what to do. It wasn’t until I later found the start quest that I noticed it was the whole world down there.
My only complaint was that the topography (which is inverted of the over world) feels kinda extreme. There’s a lot of climbing and running into a wall because of rivers above was initially very annoying before realizing water separated segments and required different entry points. It’s funny that the light roots are the shrines name’s inverted. Didn’t realize until a friend told me that the Lightroots were shrine locations. This kinda made finding shrines too easy compared to BotW, but I don’t mind it. I did have to use a guide in botw to find the last few.
I hope the DLC does a lot more with the depths. Add some story and more to do, it feels a little barren; despite a bunch of mines, some treasures, yiga encampments with schematics and monsters which is nice, but a lot of space is empty and full of mobs that get annoying to engage all the time. But who am I kidding, if the DLC is just a “build pack” I’m game, I watched dozens of videos of people just making crazy sh1t. Frankly I’ll probably buy anything that isn’t just cosmetics. Hope they bring back the bike from the first one but as a flying vehicle (yeah zonite building is nice) but summoning some kind of a helicopter anywhere in the final DLC would be clutch. Hate that my wolf link amiibo doesn’t summon him anymore. >_<
I loved the ending so much I kept watching other streamers experience it themselves. Truly epic.
I stayed away from the chasms out of fear 😂 then many hours later I decided to save my game and make the leap incase I met a certain fate. I WISH I would’ve recorded my expression when I realized the depths was a whole nother world. I was absolutely flabbergasted.
Dude i thought "becoming an immortal dragon" was metaphorical. I didnt expect it until i SAW that shit in the last tear
It’s absolutely insane they did our girl like this 😔
@@TylerTownsend I screamed. I fucking screamed
Same and I thought when they said “is to lose one’s self” I thought that Zelda became possessed/turned to ganondorfs side
@@modcon-based113 LITERALLY EXACTLY WHAT I THOUGHT WAS HAPPENING
I went into the game knowing that the Light Dragon will be an important part of the story but that's all. I dropped my controller and gasped in pure disbelief.
This felt like saving the Champions back in BotW. I was thinking "Okay they're trapped, so I just have to clear out whatever is inside those big mechs and they'll be saved, right?" And boy how wrong I was. It's much worse considering Mipha was the first one that I "saved".
Also the Ghost Soldiers that give you perfect weapons in the Depth coincide with Headstones in the above ground supposable or Stone Tablets with Writing.
That’s so cool!!! I didn’t know that!!!
Well, i learned something new today.
The larger collections with three solders on one platform or nearby each other are mostly below Zelda's memorials to calamity victims with a silent princess flower laying on them.
There’s a theory that all the Ghost Soldiers are dead knights, and their graves (Which are deep on the surface) are elevated platforms in the depths
The final boss' theme, the diving scene, the end when Zelda says "when i felt a warm loving embrace, i woke up" i was sobbing enough to cause another Hyrulean Great Flood
Can confirm, I've never had a video game leave me gasping for breath like that. I was a sobbing mess.
me too, but on a side note, the way you phrased that is freaking hilarious
I've been telling folks Tears of the Kingdom was aptly named
Zelda joyfully looking at Hyrule around her, turning to Link, and Saying to the Camera "I'm home" Before cutting to credits absolutely broke me.
I thought what she went through in BotW was horrible, but this game just doubled down on how insanely resilient and caring this girl is ❤
When Ganondorf first spoke at the beginning of the game, it sent CHILLS down my spine...
He is SO. INTIMIDATING.
He's everything i never thought i wanted in Ganondorf and THEN SOME!!!
Mathew Mercer is such a good actor. Idk if I'll personally ever feel right with that exact voice being dorf's but I have to admit, they would be very hard pressed to find someone better to much as much feeling behind it as he did.
I think he did a better job as a mummified Ganondorf. His voice sounded so dry and menacing. Perfect fit. But he did good as Ganondorf. So not a bad choice at least.
@@HuchiaZ If he's not Ganondorf in the potential illumination Zelda movie, *I'll strangle a minion in protest.*
@@raptorrixx99-wv2hl truuuuth
Dehydrated he's kind of creepy. However, once Ganondorf uses the power of the Gloom to rehydrate. Then it gets interesting.
ToTK used marketing and game development that western developers would consider-unnatural.
Which is why it is such a huge hit.
alot of game material was taken from japanese games and inserted into western games in case you didnt know. they COPIED their ideas, if im to explain it in a more bold way x)
@@Sargassian well yeah and Japan took a few from the west too.
To the Degree that using magic through weapons is Considered Weeb, while Throwing spells, from your hands, mouth and eyes is Considered Western Today🤣
A. No to the marketing. It's not unnatural to them, it's forbidden. Shareholders decide what is made.
B. That same shareholder poison kills the gameplay as they don't have any interest in forward, they trend chase. Western developers on the smaller end do these things in small ways, but it's limited by money every single time. Nintendo doesn't have that awful non gamer, shareholder, top down structure.
@@elimgarak1127 You think Nintendo does not have shareholders?
it is more the case that Nintendo's share-holders sit at a meeting are told of future plans, and shown the margin on profit as well as the data.
@@warllockmasterasd9142 I was pretty clear that the shareholders aren't the same. Try reading.
I said to my wife that the dungeons themselves start with the lead-up to them. At least for me, it didn't feel like I was starting the dungeons when I entered them, it felt like the journey to get to them was part of the dungeon. Especially with the wind and water temples, the progress through the platforms and occasional shrines to kind of "save your place" as you traveled towards the ultimate goal of each dungeon made me feel like the dungeons were honestly larger than they truly were.
Also, each boss felt unique, and also fun to fight. Like, it made me happy that each boss had a specific way to fight them, instead of the more non-traditional way to fight the Blight Ganons in BotW.
And fuse gave me a way to enjoy durability.
I definitely feel the same about the lead up being apart of the dungeon! Helped give them so much scale and atmosphere!
This was the formula started with Skyward Sword when they said they wanted getting to the dungeon to be just as memorable and epic as the dungeon.
Funny thing is, I saw a video with a guy giving all kinds of reasons why totk sucks. Every reason he gave (like lack of enemy variation) sounded like it made sense and in any other game they would have been an issue. Totk rises above all these petty issues and creates an all encompassing masterpiece. He was of the opinion that people would come to their senses and dislike the game in hindsight, I totally disagree. This game will go down in history as the one game that was a follow up to one of the greatest games ever, that’s actually better than its predecessor. It’s so good. I’ve got 200+ hours in it and it has caused me to simultaneously play three other Zeldas again because it sparked all kinds of feelings of nostalgia, but at the same time feels totally unique and new. I can rave all day about the greatness of this game 😅
TP was my favorite until TOTK lol, once I beat the game I went back to play the very first Zelda on my Gameboy and I just know they've been waiting for the technology to be able to pull off something like this
I decided midway through my base playthrough I would be doing a "under full completion run" of the game, where I do absoultely everything that adds to the experience, without anything that would drive me insane from being so tedious. I don’t usally go for any amount of completion quota, outside of beating the postgame, but I decided to go for it here. Thats how much I fell in love with it. Some positive standouts for me:
- The memories strike a fabulous balance between being so easy to find its like baby work, and being so difficult to find I need a walthrough (*cough* *cough*, botw.) They are big pictures on the landscape, but the world is so big that they are simple to track down, but you might need to search a bit, even when you find every location. Not to mention, you need to scour it for the tear in the first place.
-The shrines are fantastic. The average length feels considerably shorter than breath of the wilds. They also make a good point to teach things rather than mostly being purely one-off challenges. Finally, the vast wealth of zonai devices makes it feel like, for a while you're always running into something new.
-They somehow made horses more useful, while everything else seems like it would be less so. The world has more things to do in it, more locations to be. There are zonai devices that let you make cars and everything, but horses still come out on top in either speed or control (depending on what vehicle you make.) There are more gear for horses, more customization, stables have more features to encourage it, etc.
-simple, but awesome narrative.
-The depths are the best thing humanity has ever created
-the sheer volume of player control and approachability
-Tedious things are less tedious (the compendium is easier thanks to robbie, and the lazy koroks that have experienced the war crimes of the internet give you two seeds instead of one.)
-MAKE YOUR OWN HOUSE
-all the major towns (gerudo town in particular) feeling a lot more impacted by gannon
-Good, unique boss designs (Marbled gohma feels a bit out of place, but still works.)
-the fact that NPCs move throughout the game, and you can fnd ones you encountered before in a totally different town somtimes.
-the slow realization that the depths map matches up near perfectly in design with the main map
- Getting jumpscared by a freaking colgera in the depths
-Sick new armor designs
-New, resource consuming and really difficult Gleeocks being harder than the hard at first, but quickly stupid predictable and easy lynels.
The list just keeps going on. What a game.
> the slow realization that the depths map matches up near perfectly in design with the main map
I was watching some TotK content and they pointed out how each Lightroot matches up with a shrine on the surface. I thought, "Oh, great! That will make finding shrines so easy; I can just blast through 100%ing them!" Man, no it hasn't. So many shrines are hidden away in obscure ass caves that, more often than not, I end up getting to the location on the surface and standing there like an idiot while the shrine sensor keeps yelling at me that the shrine is below me. I run around for a bit, and eventually I either give up or get distracted and end up on the other side of the map still "looking" for the cave.
God I love this game.
Same with me, I live this game so much and I want to finish every aspect of it but The koroks are just too much and I don’t have the patience for them.
Ditto on that Major Town thing. Vah Medoh shooting people out of the air in Rito Village may have been a issue for the Rito, but it didn’t feel like as much of an actual, overall problem as the others. It was less like I was doing it to help them and more like I was doing it for the sake of freeing all the Divine Beasts
Meanwhile the entire area being covered by an endless blizzard that deprives them of basic survival necessities did a much better job of conveying that they were in any real danger
I love how Link and Zeldas bond are so strong that even after she became a dragon and lost her mind a part of her still recognized Link enough to help him
Tyler won't say it but I will, NINTENDO MAKE THEM KISS ALREADY!! I WANT ZELINK BABIES AND I WANT THEM NOW
@@dietotakuThat would actually be interesting since that kid would probably also be named Link, which would mean that the next Link has both the Master Sword _and_ the blood of the goddess which gave Zelda her powers. So should the Master Sword ever not be strong enough, they can just upgrade it themself
I don't like how they deus ex machina'd the end though. Not only did they simply turn her back from an "eterrnal" dragon with game magic, but they didn't even let her remember flying around in circles for thousands of years, negating Zelda's selfless sacrifice ENTIRELY.
@@ytmndan Wasn't the whole point of becoming an immortal dragon literally just losing your mind? It would make sense if she wouldn't remember that stuff. It's kind of like Ventus in KH. Her consciousness would basically be stuck in limbo lol. You might as well be dead or never have existed at all.
There's also the possibility that tons of other things could've gone wrong with her plan; what if she flew to the other side of the planet instead of in circles, or if she somehow lost the master sword during the whole thing? There was prob so much fear going through her mind when she held that stone in her hand. Yeah, she was saved in the end, but she had *no way of knowing that* at the time. Despite it all, she was ready to eat the thing regardless and risk it all, even if it meant losing her sense of self potentially forever. That's what makes it a sacrifice, and the ending doesn't change that imo
@@iiokrammii693 Well then she should have been like Link at the beginning of BotW and not remembered a damned thing. It was just disappointing how they made this big deal of her sacrifice and then simply Deus Ex Machina'd it into a happy ending with no negative consequences.
I heard one of the nitpicks around 35:40 about Gloom v.s. Malice and I just wanted to say it is my understanding that gloom is what original Ganondorf's secret stone allowed him to make and that malice was the manifestation of Ganondorf's hatred while he was stuck beneath the castle. I don't believe it's ever stated technically but there is some mention of the calamity being manifestations of Ganon's hatred. I think the names say it all, malice is exactly what it says on the tin whereas gloom is like a disease that is infecting Hyrule.
That makes a lot of sense because when you look at the chasms, they look like deep wounds
The origin of the terminology is also interesting. The term "malice" and the lore behind is coined and spoken by the select few - the "important" people like Zelda and Impa. It affectes you, Link, personally but we don't really see it affecting "normal" people. It was more or less ganon's poop used to inconvenience you and other important figures (like the divine beast pilots). Meanwhile "gloom" was coined by commoners. It is why the word is so unprofessional, in a sense, because it was started to be called like that since "ordinary" people were being majorly affected by it, and this is constantly reminded to you through NPCs and side quests. Gloom brings the commoners into the picture, the ordinary people minding their own business in Hyrule. In this way, Gloom has its own function in the game's narrative that Malice never had.
@@SunnyKimDevThat actually makes a lot of sense. I think the original Japanese roughly translates to something along the lines of miasma, which is another term not regularly spoken of by commonfolk. Looking at it from this new perspective, the whole gloom thing does work within the game's world.
@@metaltom2003 Also a think to point out the Japanese term used could also be translated as Miasma ...
it's a terrible name regardless. like a significant downgrade from the intensity of Malice.
Like Danger -> Discomfort.
One idea I haven’t seen discussed about Tears is how exploring each layer of the map compliments exploring the other areas. For example, getting the zonai parts in the skies really helps you explore the depths, just as the schema stones and yiga builds down there help you explore the surface and sky. Most of the shrines are on the ground, which you need to get more stamina and hearts to explore both the sky and depths. In this way the reward loop feels woven throughout, they aren’t compartmentalized into separate games. The game doesn’t want you to say “ok surface first, then sky, then depths” it wants you to go back and forth, or at least incentivizes it.
Really solid points!
Spoiler Alert below:
12:03-12:12 "From the moment the idea of draconification was mentioned, It clicked. I audibly said there's no f***ing way Zelda is the dragon."
This line ring SOO TRUE. This was the same reaction I gave when I found the memory when it was first mentioned. I Just couldn't believe what they were implying at this moment. when I got the last tear I genuinely shed a tear(No pun intended).
The new “build things” element was something I wasn’t looking forward to but is my favorite part. My friend asked how far I was and my reply is “I waste too much time doing nonsense” 😅😅
The one thing I fully prefer from BOTW are the sage abilities. (edit: agreed, the story writing and sage dialogue also needs polish)
Yes it's fun to have the summons following along in TotK, but I wish they'd kept the ability activation to built-in controls. It felt so intuitive to have lighting release when you charge an attack, or to have a shield appear when you block.
Yea and the problem is it could be easily fixed, like imagine pulling your shield will automatically activate Sidon's ability when it's not in cool down? So much potential
@@Cye_Pie exaaactly
I agree. For me, the summons never come out because I find they just get in my way constantly during battle. Tulin only comes out if I’m trying to paraglide far distances but other than that I find them all annoying
Edit: I can’t tell you how many times Tulin blew all the monster parts off a cliff after killing enemies
and Sidon's ability to break my weapons instead of reviving me with extra hearts like his sister did, I can do without
@@GenMars yeah I'd also like it better without the weapon damage. I actually like the water shield tho
22:30
Actually yes, Master Kohga says that the depths have been here this whole time.
One thing that people seem to forget, is that Nintendo was never really interested in a Zelda continuity. The only reason they caved and gave us a more or less continuous story line, was because fans wouldn't just drop it and let it be, and even then, we got a convoluted mess because of the Ocarina of Time time split.
These stories were never really meant to be connected. Some can vaguely reference others as a way to build up on the current game lore, but that's it. And I suppose that's very fitting of its title. They are Legends. Even within themselves they reference each other as Legends,
So, yeah... the fact that fans are still puzzled because "but this makes no continuity sense!" it's because it was never supposed to.
I think most of the continuity concerns were more tied to breath of the wild, sure the timeline issues are a hot topic but the most glaring issues for me was how a lot of the things in botw just seemed left to the wayside
@@TylerTownsend I agree that the continuity between both games is kinda wack, even tho they ARE supposed to be connected. Not only with how many people seem to have forgotten about Link (even tho in a lot of cases, his help should've ensured that they didn't forget him in less than 6 years...) I'd also like to know what happened with all the guardian tech. Including towers, broken guardians, and shrines.
However, how loosely connected both games are should be further proof that Nintendo doesn't care for a strong continuity as much as fans do. (Which isn't either bad or good, honestly. Is just a design choice)
I personally find the idea behind the Zelda timeline to be really dumb and I feel a more game to game format with references to the other games as legends is more fitting like you said, but I understand why people see it otherwise. What really surprises me is that people are only complaining about it for this game and not Breath of the Wild. You can't convince me the idea of a timeline fusion came up in any serious manner during the development of that game.
I generally disagree with the idea that Tears of the Kingdom feels disconnected from Breath of the Wild since they want the game to make sense individually, but I do agree the Sheikah tech could've used a brief mention in Purah's diary or something. Just have her talk about how the Towers, Shrines and Pillars went back underground shortly after Ganon's defeat and how they deconstructed the Guardians for materials in their efforts to relearn construction of Sheikah tech.
The mogma statues imply that they were the rulers of the depths and that they ran the mines for the zonai. Chances are they probably created the castle and the sealing chamber It might even be possible that the reason Gannondorf was down there in the first place was for conquest of the depths but it's a shame that they never actually address it directly
Those aren't Mogmas, Mogmas have tails and don't really wear clothing. It's more likely that those statues represent simpler Zonai or primitive Hylians since they lead to the central mine and that the mural at Josha's place represents the path made of those statue that lead to a Zonai using his power on the central mine
@@Elithralith That's just silly they go out of their way to say that they're people who lived underground and the only species that look relatively similar are the mogma. Putting that aside all of the statues have the species look stylized in a way that doesn't represent the current look so that's not really a defense.
@@emeraldpichu1 This is just silly itself, as the other regions all have primative versions of their respective areas race. Those are most certainly not mogma and without doubt a 50/50 split between them being simplistic Zonai or Hylians since they look almost exactly like the depiction of the ancient hero as well.
@@DarkLordTalon They look like the miner armor Those features are completely different from the more draconic and stag like zonal
When you’re having a conversation about the mural there a state it to be a completely different species that dwelt underground that are distinct from the zonai If you want to say they’re not the mogma that certainly an opinion to have you can’t say that there are zonai or ancient hylians
The note of Purah was so true, though I think most people were blinded by Impa. Purah was more of a… fine wine lol
I questioned ALOT about the depths. So many ruins, demonic looks, mines, giant statues, etc. I even question about playing like where's the edge of surface when climbing and how can i survive. I feel like im being watched while in the depths.
It's like the epitome of "You are not afraid of being alone in the dark. You are afraid of not being alone in the dark". Those Frox enemies are just the worst. Enemies being able to inflict Gloom didn't help either
It’s insane how much having the 4 sages running around with me at all times added so much comfort down there. I felt less vulnerable and lost. I felt protected, and like I really had Sidon, Riju, Yunobo and Tulin there with me. But even with that added comfort and protection…I still felt uneasy. ESPECIALLY when in the distance in the dark, I saw Colgera flying around in the abyss and realized the temple bosses appeared down there…like bro 💀
@@lovelightstarboy it could've been worse. Back when developers were trying to make a Guardian for BOTW, they were ginormous phenomenon creatures. If they added those in the depths I wouldn't even explore another inch there.
SPOILER HEAVY COMMENT:
I think Mineru is my biggest complaint. Those ever-present storm clouds are incredibly interesting so like you I explored them way too early, I think between my 2nd and 3rd temple, and because of that bypassed the entire main storyline involving Kakariko arguably the village you visit the most in BoTW. Then the throwaway line you get later in the game when people are talking about the 5th sage is so incredibly underwhelming it made me feel like I was being punished for wanting to explore an open-world game.
(I actually already had the master sword, Mineru, and knew ganondorf's location by the time I finished the 4th sage and coming back after fighting puppet ganon was easily the worst part of the game for me. Chasing Zelda around the castle and having a boss fight in the throne room was cool and made me eager to see what's next only for the whole story segment to basically be Purah going "oh you already did X? Well we need Y. Oh you already did Y? Well we need Z. Oh you already did Z? Well I guess you're done then, go kill Ganondorf.)
I just realized watching this, the depiction of the Hero (red hair, green body) from BOTW is the same as TOTK's Hero's aspect transfomation reward from completing all the shrines.
if you go in the game with a free roam camera mod after you catch Zelda, when she says i was sleeping for a long time, then i woke up to a warm loving embrace. if you pan the camera to link you will see him smile real big
This game is truly amazing. I have 90 hours on it at the moment yet I still have tons to do. The exploration is so fun and I love how it takes the idea of “if it works, it works” that Botw had and amplifies it by 100. I’d have to say it’s my favorite video game ever. You explained your thoughts rly well and this video was great. Cheers to more fun ahead in totk!
Thanks so much man! Looking forward to subsequent play throughs!!!
I'm at 250 and I'm nowhere near done. I'm expecting 600+. This game is more than twice the size of BOTW, and BOTW took me 300 hours. This is the biggest single player game ever made by quite a large margin. The only games I've ever seen that are bigger than this are MMO's like WOW that have many expansions.
I'm up to 200 now and most of the time I've just been goofing around but still I have loads to do
300+ hours and I've done almost everything. I've upgraded all th armour, but I still have like 20 Side Quests to do!!!!! This game is as long as you like!
"There was no way anyone saw it playing out the way it did."
It was actually pretty obvious - I have a few timestamped fully fledged theories prior to its release, and nearly every single detail was correct, down to the time travel and master sword.
However, I thought perhaps the past would have its version of Link, which of the two details I got wrong, was the most major detail askew.
But overall? Predictable.
And just after a tear or two do you piece the rest of the entire plot together. It's a huge letdown, story wise. So, I agree - linearity lends itself to excellent storytelling mechanics.
Just me who thought the shrines were better in botw? 1. They had better atmosphere
2. The puzzles were better and couldn’t be cheesed as easily as in tears
3. Less blessings, yes there may be 32 more shrines this time but every single one of them are in the sky. The quest getting the crystals to the shrine got old after a while and literally every single shrine apart from the ones in the GSI were blessings. And on top of that there were way more blessings in tears than in breath on the surface. So We only got like 100 or something puzzles in tears but still having 30 additional shrines.
4. In botw there were some shrines that were really huge and Fun to explore. For example. In botw there was a shrine in the crab in lake Daurinia. That shrines was massive (for being a shrine), almost so big it could’ve been compared to the great deku tree from OoT. Totk had none like this so that’s why I feel like the shrines were underwhelming in tears
I agree with all the criticisms. I would add that the abilities wheel is a tad slow or laggy. But that too is nitpicky and understandable considering how much is possible with the new abilities on this limited hardware. That being said, i also agree that the game is a masterpiece. Even past 100 hours in i found myself gasping like that little girl in the commercial when her dad says "watch this..." or openly taking too myself "WTF" and "this is unbelievable". The game's just so big with so much new stuff to find. I absolutely love it!
The good far outweighs the bad with this game!
Good thing about ability wheel is that you don't have to scroll for stuff to open a rune which if you actually memorise the layout you can spam runes like you want
I actually like the wheel. It feels like a snappier, more simplified version of twilight princess's item wheel! But I've also never concerned myself with lag or taking things slow, just as a way I play games personally.
@@shun22222Kinda makes me wish it was the same in BotW. Would make some advanced tricks feels more fluid.
my theory as to why the sky islands feel so lack luster is probably because quite a lot of time was put into the depths, which were also NEVER revealed in any trailer/teaser for the game, making them all that much more shocking for anyone who has been up to date with TotK
Honestly man, I feel bad for you doing the Mineru main quest without doing the other stuff.
I did the whole quest and it was grander than ever (probably my favorite lead up to a dungeon)
Hopefully you get a chance to do that whole quest in order.
yeah definitely doing so on the next playthrough!
@@TylerTownsend looking forward 👍🏼
i discovered mineru pretty early on, and only did the rest of the quest after having defeated ganon already :p
but it was still very fun to play through that questline, even if im sure it wasnt as epic as it couldve been
@@stella_s yea I’m glad they give you the freedom to do so. But my experience was so much better. The feeling of knowing you are not done yet was really shocking to me.
But yea praise the devs for giving us too much freedom.
I was able to get to the dragon head islands shrine with out doing the quest but I some how missed the big ass door
Given how some of the Sheikahtech locations are now taken over by the Yiga (Shrine of Resurrection, Akkala Tech Lab), and their notable in-game focus on accessing Zonai tech, I got the impression that the Yiga are likely the ones who absconded with all the Sheikahtech in an effort to strengthen their power. They are former Sheikah, after all, and unlike the current Sheikah, they didn't (mostly) all become farmers. Makes sense that they'd be more like the rare Sheikah (Purah, Robbie, etc.) still interested in advanced technology.
I 100% agree with the descendant thing being a plot hole! I also assumed there was an offscreen child or that Zelda was descended from illegitimate,separate children of Sonia and Rarau rather than being their child.
instead of the sky next time, i’ll take the depths andddd like 3-4 optional actual traditional dungeons and we’re good
27:56 I did the same thing and stumbled upon the fifth temple quest randomly, but it was a really great experience. I thought I stumbled upon some secret optional content and was really excited.
Goes to show how incredibly free the game is in letting you choose your own adventures
I love that Great Fairies have their own motivations now instead of "give rupees, wake up".
When you do the Messages from An Ancient Era quest, finding the Flower Islands (which are shaped like Silent Princess) and taking pics of the attached tablets, you find out the same thing that the Legend of Great Sky Island construct tells you- the sky islands were raised to tell the story of ages past and keep the information & tools link would need safe until the return of Ganondorf/demon king. They were sealed away in the sky specifically until Rauru's seal broke so that they would be available when Link had to fight the Demon King.
One of the only things I wish was that Kakariko was more important. It’s main thing is revealing Mineru’s existence and kicking off the Thunderhead quest line, but I, Tyler, and a bunch of others by my count “sequence broke” (yeah, open world, but the devs had an intent).
Also, that bit is *really* close to the end of the game. Idk about y’all, but I had at least 40, maybe 50 hours by the time that I properly interacted with Kakariko. I just wish it was more relevant, especially Paya (who is *chief* and does *one thing* )
"Biblically-Accurate Hylia" is a fucking brilliant joke. I fucking love this video man, super high quality and insightful.
You're not alone... i got curious and ended up with Mineru as my second sage. XD
13:52 yes please...
That was a huge opportunity for Link to finally show emotions. A simple hug would have been great.
Excellent review. Kind of surprised you didn't mention the whole "missing Triforce," even as a side note...but I did write a whole other comment on why us creative type do that. So..I aint mad at you. You got my like and sub. Good stuff friend. Truly.
yeah for sure, there's a ton of stuff I left out of the review like music and other continuity stuff but those are topics i'll likely touch on in other videos! Thanks for checking out the review!!!
Because I watched the memories in order and It’s only like memory 3 when Mineru mentions about becoming an immortal dragon I already knew what was going to happen. That along with the fact we’d already seen the light dragon before leaving the tutorial island too was suspicious. I feel the memories should have been unlocked in order and the light dragon, master sword it should have all been hidden until the final memory.
I’ve seen a lot of reviews for various Zelda games over the years. This one was a phenomenal review. I hope you are proud of this one. Your hard work really stood out.
Thank you so much for the kind words! I’m very happy with how this one turned out and I’m super appreciative that folks are giving it a watch!!!
Does this game have it’s flaws? Yes. Is there things about the story that could have been executed better? Sure. But all i know is i enjoyed the hell out of this game, played it multiple times, and man did they stick the landing with that ending.
The band quests were loads of fun. I was hoping that once completed then we might be able to go to them and make requests for all the classics
@luckymandragon: Ha this would have been really cool! Imagine playing Ocarina of time songs!
@@macruz8503 Right! I would love to hear these guys play a full rendition of the song of storms. It might even affect the weather
After finishing the game I can properly watch this lol
I'm so glad that you mentioned the story because Nintendo being so secrecy about it for years only raised my concern. It will always be a problem to have even slightly coherent story in a game where you're free to go wherever (especially for these titles). For example, I got the Master Sword back before even getting a single tear or finishing the Korok Forest quest. But if they are really sidelined the story in favor of gameplay, then they still did an amazing job with it.
Overall, it's a game that I also didn't think could exist but I'm so SO glad it did
well you did the hard part, defeat the ddemon king army, defeat the demen king 2 phases and that 2nd phases was hell, and a fun final stage, having this make the game more entertaining and more rewarding. that final stage is Meant to be fun and easy
28:03 lol that was what happened on my playthrough as well. I didn't play botw and I thought I truly had to explore until I found the 5th sage and that location was about one of the few places I hadn't explored at all up to that point
I played for a month, said man that was short, only to realize I spent 130 hours beating it 😂
This is probably one of my favorite reviews. You were real, brought out both positives and negatives and also made compelling comparisons between TOTK and BOTW. Great job and great video!
Thank you so much! Glad you enjoyed!
I think I played this game in the perfect way. I explored to my hearts content and went anywhere and everywhere but I attempted the memories early game and couldn’t figure out what I was meant to do to trigger them so I gave up and didn’t come back to them until after I’d beaten all four dungeons, heaps of exploring high and low, upgraded weapons/armour, beaten several mini bosses and was basically just looking for the final boss at that point. Then I finally went back to the tears (and josha 😅) and got the bulk of the plot and the most useful ability of all (way too late) but the 160 hours of speculation, getting little hints and snippets here and there, made the actual story so much more satisfying and heart wrenching. It was such a perfect way to experience it. Even when I started watching the memories I watched them somewhat out of order but I got the plot in what I’d argue was a much better order than watching them in order. Phenomenal game, bring tissues. Not just for Purah.
28:20 I found Mineru without cleansing the Storm KEKW, it was complicated, but I managed to navigate in the storm somehow an did the whole thing before I had the other four sages KEKW
I did the same with regards to the Spirit Temple. Flew into the storm, found a Zonai Dispenser. Jumped down to see how I’d do against a Flux Construct in the dark and he hit me into the Island that had a shrine on, came out the shrine and see the door.
I doubt many people did it the same way we did?
160 hours.... and still going up. SO GOOOOOOOD!!!!! Totk has more life. Im glad were rebuilding. I still feel sad about the tragic with the calamity. Brutal...
You didn’t miss the 5th sage quest I did the same as you - it’s a flaw with the open world. I stumbled upon the spirit temple without knowing anything about it and then when I was supposed to get the quest it was an awkward “oh … you already completed it” (that being said I’ve spent 180h in it so far and I’m still absolutely loving it
I remember thinking the sky islands were gonna be such a big deal, and now the only ones i even remember are the ones for the water + wind temple sky islands, the great sky island, the faron sky islands, and a couple that were spheres and had shrine puzzles
18:20
Or you could, like me, fhavr your first encounter with the gloom hands in your third cave ever. Then panic, use up 80% of your bombs on arrows blasting them to death, only to then be even more scared (and die) when Phantom Ganon shows up, because you suddenly realize the ceiling is to high for ascend.
so, on the "technical achievement" celebration bit, my highlight;
there was a button on a ceiling over a pool of water and only light wood in the area. First, i tried submersing the wood flat, it didnt react strongly to the water pressure. i angled the plank perpendicular to the water surface and submerged it, and it shot out like a boogie board.
TotK's team deserves to be very proud of what they've done, and I'm ending this gush with a shoutout to the caves. OMG I am so happy to have grottos, wells, caverns, cenotes, all those creep-havens and treasure troves. THAT is what made this feel like an honest to hylia Zelda game.
One of my favorite things about TotK was Ganondorf. At the beginning of this game I couldn’t fathom that this creepy demon skeleton was Ganondorf. I know him as a green-skinned man that rules behind the shadows, and is mostly just a normal bad guy with a monster army, who prefers to let the hero find him at the end.
Two scenes to me made Ganondorf deserving of his demonic music and powerful aura. The first was the scene where he takes IT from HER, and turns into the demon king. The second was the scene where he gets sealed. This game’s cutscenes (past and present) show a proactive, cunning, and POWERFUL Ganondorf. The cherry on top is his bossfight, it feels like nothing we’ve fought before, but feels like the DEFINITIVE fight against Ganondorf.
He felt like an active threat the whole game. He was sitting underground, gathering his power, but his influence was spread far and wide, and his manipulation of the people of Hyrule through Puppet Zelda, and the specific ways he attacked the major races, was a balance of cruel and clever that made him feel like a proper villain.
@@StonetheDestroyer42 If he was that powerful, why not come to the surface and enslave every race, becoming the king. Feels more like he was just a coward. Didn't even kill the hero. Calamity Ganon was more of an active threat than Ganondorf ever was. I'll just wait here for the one who will murder me to come and get me. How powerful could he be before he gets here? (Famous last words, probably). Ultimately, Ganondorf's pride was his undoing.
I didn’t even realize that was Matt Mercer. Dude has amazing voice acting skills.
I think that Zelda isn't a direct descendant of Sonia, but more like a distant niece. That's how Sonia can die, have no children, and still be blood related to Zelda.
It's confirmed that both Rauru and Sonia are both direct ancestors of Zelda in the game, and it was never stated that Sonia never had children
@@lukejones7164 I didn't hear anything about them being directly related, just, related.
@@Kristabombastic Rauru was also stated to be related to Zelda as well in the story.
@@lukejones7164 doesn't necessarily mean they're blood related.
@@Kristabombastic It logically does, because Rauru and Sonia were the ones who started the Royal Family.
Your assessment of the Lightning Temple is interesting. Not that I think Queen Gibdo was bad, but it was just fine to me. The temple was my favorite. It was the one that most felt like a classic dungeon. The best boss is Colgera.
One of the things I’ve loved seeing post totk is just how different folk’s perspectives of the dungeons are! I’ve seen numerous people say they like the lightning temple the most and I think that’s great! There’s something for everybody in this game and I think it just goes to show how well done the temples are in this game!
If this new Hyrule gets a whole trilogy... I don't know exactly how it could get even better...
But it happened before, it can happen again.
A consistent story with fleshed out lore would be good. But I honestly can't find much room for improvement beyond that.
the only thing i can think, storywise, to do with a third game is maybe having demise return? idea came to me when i realized, looking at the thematic and functional differences between malice and gloom, ganon and ganondorf feel like halves of a third, greater evil
but i'm not really sure that would be a good idea
New game with red box art and some kind of power theme? Though, TotK was very power-focused through Ganondorf's story and motivations, I think the color actually corresponds to Zelda's journey. In BotW (blue), she sought to serve her kingdom through Wisdom, researching the ancient Sheikah tech. In TotK (green), she stepped into a leadership role in the past, and then took on the enormous sacrifice of draconification to ensure the Master Sword reached Link strong enough to defeat Ganondorf. If there's a third game in the series, Zelda's story would have to focus on power somehow, ideally without compromising her character.
I'm not sure how much they could do with the existing Hyrule, though. Perhaps the game would have to be at sea, or exploring the other lands visible, but not accessible, from the current map. Otherwise, it would have to be set far enough in the future that Hyrule to be drastically changed.
Tyler: “TOTK gives you a Deeply personal gameplay experience”
The players: 😈
I felt so dumb when I finally realized Zelda was the dragon. By that point in time I had already acquired the master sword, and had already gotten up close and personal with the dragon. When it finally clicked, I had to go back and find it again.
31:58 when I first fought the gleeok on the bridge, I got knocked off the bridge, drowned, and right as I respawned I was crushed by a giant fireball and died. Was it annoying? Yes. Was it hilarious? Yes.
One of my main complaints is that during the few voice acted cutscenes the music was so loud I can’t hear the voices.
And I wished this game had full voice acting.
Despite Penn already has voice clips, I keep reading his dialogue in Launchpad McQuack’s voice from the DuckTales reboot.
Malice is an unconscious force of nature, while gloom is personified hatred and disgust. The two different states of Gannon’s wakefulness is probably why the change was made.
When you are diving and see those massive strands of gloom growing like a vine near the final boss fight. Is insane. The way that the music picks up as you are just seeing this… thing.
THANK YOU for acknowledging the lost sonia/rauru child!! it's the one thing that bothers me about this game
ironically, rupees are automatically picked up in BotW. not sure why they changed that ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
also, i think technically screeching is what separates Gibdo from Redead. but that's a half-remembered fact, so I might be wrong.
Either way, awesome work on this video!
Thanks a ton!
My biggest complaint about the game is actually the way the story was handled as well. I HATED the fact that Mineru spoiled the climax in one of the early memories. She should've just mentioned a forbidden act and nothing else. That would've left us with more questions than answers, which is what a story should do, metaphorically, to keep you reading so to speak. My reaction was something like, "well, thanks for that. Now I'm not even going to be shocked when I see it happen".
I also didn't like the fact that you could go to Dragon Head Island at any time. Only when the clouds were cleared should that have been possible. It should have been mechanically the same as the Lost Woods, when entering the clouds. Forbidding entry. Would have left more of a sense of wonder I think.
Aside from that, I absolutely loved the story and the game itself, showcasing a crown achievement of game development capabilities on such limited console hardware.
This game is absolutely wonderful and talking about all the great things, would take way too long! Thats why I just list all the thing I dislike about the game:
1. Weapon durabillity
Sure it has become less annoying with the fuse abillity, but I still hate that my customly crafted weapons break after a few enemies.
2. The Sage Abillities
The abillities itself are fine, just the way of using them is so incredibly annoying, that I never use them except for Tulin of course.
3. Slow Motion Moves
The Flurry Rush, perfect Parry and Slow Mo Bow Shots are super epic, but fighting a Lynel f.e. it's just a bit boring and takes all the creativity out of any fight. This should be more limited and harder/rarer to achive to really let these moments shine!
4. The Sky Islands and Underground
Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love the addition of both, BUT the sky islands are really just the 3 big ones and all the others are just tiny puzzles and the Underground is giant but really empty! There is just not much to do sadly.
5. The Bosses
The 6 Main Bosses are super Creative and Epic to fight, but they are mostly way too easy! I never even died once to a boss and I am really not a good gamer. So the difficulty for the bosses should be higher in order to really feel something achiving after defeating them! Especially the last phase of the endboss!
6. Zonai Timers
I really hate the fact, that my zonai constructions have a limited lifespan. When I create something epic, sure I can safe it for autobuild, but I would like to fly for more than 2 minutes with my super duper mega Glider!
7. No special Items
Like in BOTW I miss the addition of magic or special Items like a grappling hook f.e. Sure there are Items with some Abillities, but I would love to really habe special Items or more options in general.
But as I said, the game is absolutely wonderful and I have experienced a lot of wonderul adventures. It's just way too much great things to list them here, but All in All I would rate this Game a solid 8/10!
Great game!
You're suppoused to learn that gannon is underground by doing all khoga fights.
Ok there is a lot of underground stuff explained but you have to really look for it
Great video man. Good writing and delivery on the script, and good editing work with the visuals to show us what you're talking about.
Also, I never thought about how Sonia didn't have any visible children 😂
I enjoyed seeing the memories out of order and having the story unwrap this way. I'd done four sages and all the towers before doing any of the "Tears" at the crop circles, so I already had a pretty good idea what was going on.
Only thing is, the memory on the master sword glyph has flashbacks and seeing it early feels wacky AF
The sages where so poorly executed. Why not link their abilities to L instead of having to find the right one, or triggering on mistake. The rito blew items off a cliff countless times. Why put another way to access the map on L when u can put sage abilities on there .
22:48
I mean, I can accept that an owl man sent his arm through time to help Link, because it’s a fairytale and I don’t need a scientific explanation for that…. But having an entire underground world that parallels the surface? That warrants at least _some_ explanation
I would have loved for that construct on the island to give us some sort of vision, like plug into the Purah Pad and show us from Zeldas view, how the islands were raised into the sky by everyone as a cutscene, explaining the cloud barrier, and WHY you DIE DIVING OFF during the tutorial but not after you finished it. Or maybe have some flying construct getting you back to the island instead of dying with the explanation that you are too weak to leave until you are able to open the big door or something of the sorts. And have Ganondorf turn those flying constructs evil after the first bloodmoon or something interesting like that. The Plateau in BOTW makes sense because of fall damage and such but we obviously dive off the sky island after we hand over the Master Sword and land in water without dying.
I'm having a feeling that Sheikah is gonna be some sort of expansion DLC. Since we're dealing with time travel there could be so many things that could've happened to them.
I can't help but disagree with a lot of the positive points of this review. I acknowledge a lot of positives of this game, but found a lot of the things you reflected on positively to have affected me in a much more negative way. Like I feel the story would've been much better if the story scenes were delivered in the proper order no matter which Tear you got. It also shouldn't have unlocked the final tear until after you beat the 4 temples, maybe even having some of the glyphs not show up until after beating each temple, ensuring a more streamlined access to the story, so you can't get the final scenes first, like I did, and then going back to the beginning. The story is mediocre, but fine enough. But it makes zero references to BotW and even feels like a complete retcon of the game and the entire Zelda timeline to boot. I also felt a lot of the new mechanics compounded issues from BotW. There are no longer multiple pages for recipes and materials, they're now one giant page. Recipes at least have a limit so if you prepare for various types of events at once, you're not left with many of any given type of food you may need, helping to balance how broken the food mechanic is just a little. At least until you get all the armors and elemental resistance foods or the such become pointless. I also found the quests to have very superficial stories. Like they're a cute collection of side stories, but they're far too tangential from the main plot. It's not like Majora's where the side stories are intertwined with the events of the main story all the time. And that's okay, but the rewards are kinda pointless most of the time, unless they're armor. The consumables don't last long, not even the weapons, and the best weapons you end up not wanting to use cause they're cool references to past games. I like that, but I can't help but be disheartened that those weapons will break as easily as any others. Idk, it leaves them feeling like a ton of busy work. The game also not having story flags to acknowledge your discovery of the truth about Zelda is really weird. I did the tears first because I thought that was cool, but seeing the lack of an effect it had on the world was devastating to my immersion. I had found the master sword by accident when hunting each of the dragons for a horn before even doing that and it was cool to get, though kinda spoils the "Zelda's a dragon" thing if you do it too early. Which you can do it as soon as you have enough Stamina. It's wild to me that some of these things didn't have trigger flags to ensure progress would be properly gatekept to avoid spoiling itself. And the 4 dungeons having essentially the same major story cutscene is lame, and the bulk of the story happening in the past kinda sucks. It feels like we got a cliff notes version of the real story. A selection of highlights from Zelda's memory. But it really makes the characters look like idiots cause it doesn't provide enough context for the bad decisions they make or how they solve some mysteries. They never even show Rauru to have a kid when Zelda is meant to be his descendent. It's so weird, not to mention the seemingly retcon of Hylia as the source of Zelda's powers. A lot of awkwardness that could've been avoided with proper attention given to these important moments and treating them like they mattered as more than just a reward for doing a random thing.
I also dislike how easily the dungeons can be broken via your abilities and zonai devices. It emphasizes player freedom at the expense of overcoming a challenging puzzle. Your abilities are shortcuts and the game makes it infinitely easy to abuse those shortcuts and undermines its own design in the process. Most of the land of Hyrule and the underground are meaningless when you're flying over 80% of it once you have enough Zonai devices. Idk, this game feels like it's own indulgence of player freedom and creativity really spites itself and the natural Zelda feeling of overcoming challenges within set limitations. Like the shrines stopped you from using your own zonai devices, forcing you to figure you way through with what was available in the shrines. That was great. But the dungeons didn't do that!? That's so weird and would be a fun gimmick for a second run or revisiting the shrines, or leaving them after you beat the boss, like suddenly your powers work on everything and aren't nerfed anymore and you can escape so much easier than you got in, really letting you feel how powerful you are with all your devices and protecting the value of the dungeons. Now the dungeons are barely even puzzles. It's an aesthetic upgrade over BotW, but not a functional one
Really good points!!! I’m inclined to agree with you a lot when it comes to the story!
The dungeons were very interesting. They were each so different and really you were starting the dungeon with the trek towards them. They made a usually boring part of the game into something that strongly ties into the dungeons.
I loved this review. I did find that the conversation with Impa at her home in Paya's room upstairs (I suppose Impa's room too) after all the memories are collected, looking at the picture of the calamity of 10,000 years ago while she discussed the calamity, and mentioning to Link to check in on the school Zelda set up was helpful to connect the two games. I'm not sure what happens with this scene if you become a school teacher first, as I realize it sends you back to take a picture of the mural, and maybe you get the same cutscene. But either way, I did feel her mentioning the divine beasts and the BOTW backstory helped to bring a connection to this game and gave me the feeling that what happened in BOTW was still really supposed to have happened in the game universe. But obviously, this doesn't explain where all the technology went. Again, I really loved the in-depth review, and I also found myself tearing up at the end and during some of the memories.
It does have the same cutscene, I did the school side quest before collecting all the memories. Link just chooses not to mention to Impa that he already visited the school I guess, lol. Also, just a personal theory, but I think that the sheika and others dismantled all the ancient sheika tech and possibly repurposed it, or just got rid of it. Example of one place I noticed it repurposed; the lever Josha pulled to activate the lookout tower looks to be old sheika tech.
@@JoTheCraftyShark Thanks, and that's a good theory. Zelda did say that Vah Ruta was malfunctioning at the end of BOTW, so maybe the tech gave out after its purpose was served, or like you said? If they do DLC content, maybe we will know then.
Cool vid, although I have to say that the gliderless Any% Speedrun for TotK is already below 1 hour and has been for over a week :)
Edit to add: Duplicating fairies so you can just outright ignore fall damage is overpowered xD
Wow I wouldn’t have thought to dupe fairies! Speedrun strats are crazy
Tears of the Kingdom is probably my 4th favorite coming after the list of Majora's Mask, Twilight Princess, and Spirit Tracks.
All they need to do is work on the kinks of it and it could easily hit #1
When I see a game like this I always think the same thing. They do sooooo much with so little in terms of hardware. But other consoles spend hundreds of millions in development on superior hardware and the games are half finished and half empty with tons of glitches and bugs. But Nintendo can make a game this big and good on such inferior hardware just goes to show you just how little effort some of these developers put into their games. Nintendo clearly takes pride in their IP products. Compared to companies like Bethesda EA ECT. They jus keep doing our garbage after garbage after garbage. And for some reason idiots keep buying that BS. And it will never stop until people wait for the reviews and ONLY buy games that score 9s and 10s. Because those are the only games that are worth your 70$. I always grew up with this concept. I'm wondering what the hell happened to that notion? Best rule of gamers ever. Never buy a game on release date. Unless you know it's a guarantee hitter such as Zelda or GTA ECT. Anything that looks really "cool" without a foundation already made. Never buy on release day. Always wait a couple weeks. Save d a ton of money that way. Games aren't cheap. Make your 70$ count. These scumbag companies half passing BS over and over again won't stop until YOU the consumer only accept the best for your 70$
I actually did see Zelda becoming the dragon as soon as I witnessed that conversation I knew. To me it made sense the new Dragon had to come from somewhere...
I thought it would be rauru or something due to theories of him being one
I agree that this game is amazing but I definitely prefer the more traditional and more linear approach to storytelling, especially after finish FF16. TOTK was amazing, but i just got off FF16, and i really cant choose which one I love more, but FF16s story was just much better done. They had every beat plotted out to hit at the right time, whereas in TOTK, the story can get kind of patchy. Like i also did all the memories at once, and it left me kind of underwhelmed afterwards, until that amazing ending.
I also think FF16s voice acting work was better. That being said, TOTKs world, and exploration definitely beats the crap out of FF16. I think 16 takes combat, but only because TOTK was mostly just an updated BOTW combat system, so it didn't feel as fresh to me. Not sure why i turned this into a comparison, when my original point was just that agree on the video about prefering a more traditional story telling.
Either way, both games are amazing and I absolutely love them both, although each for different reasons. I will be happy if either one takes GOTY, although I'm gonna assume Trails into Reverie will be my person GOTY, trails is my all time favorite series though. Either way, it been a good year, and so was last year. Some absolute bangers with trails to azure and zero, xbc3, octopath 2, elden ring, god of war ragnarok, fire emblem engage, TOTK, FF16, and trails into reverie. Its a good time to love Japanese games, lol.
I actually feel the opposite about the temples.
I liked the Lightning tem ple the most, because of how each battery (except one lol) was hidden behind some sort of puzzle I had to think about solving a bit
Meanwhile I just autobuild triple springs everywhere in the fire Temple to cheese it and had the least fun with it
I avoided Hyrule Castle because I didn't want to stumble across the final boss. Somehow, I got the fifth sage and didn't realize what that really meant. Then I caved and went to the castle.
One of the most glaring plot holes in the story is that no mention is made of the murals. Zelda traveled to the past knowing that the queen (Sonia) or someone with a secret stone would die and Ganon would use their secret stone to become the demon king. She even had the Purah Pad with pictures of the murals.
The entire franchise is a plot hole. Fill the hole with logical head cannon
@@monkeysgame172 Yeah, Nintendo should at least try. Totk has the potential to be one of the best games of the decade. The only things that hold it back are the hardware it's on and the story. Imagine Totk on a better system, with a more detailed world, 60 frames per second, etc., and with a well-written story instead of this mediocre one we have.
it makes me think that hyrule is similar to a continent out of many instead of a world as a whole. This leads to my explanation that all the new npcs migrated to hyrule from a different "continent" that we don't know about. maybe after the calamity ended, people outside of hyrule learned that it was finally a safe place to live, so they moved here.
Totally didnt realize you are a sub 5k channel. Really nicely done. Good script and a good voice to listen to. 😊
I honestly really like that the Zelda universe is so flexible with different timelines and iterations, it has such potential to tell different permutations of the same legend while keeping it feeling fresh!
Also, total agreement on Matt Mercer's stellar performance! I've watched a couple hundred hours of his amazing (improvised) work on Critical Role, and still it's such a delight!
I also love how much Zelda was actively involved, she's not a damsel, she's a strong, determined person who does her duty without hesitation. Perfect!
This game also in my opinion perfected the "soulmate" bond between Link and Zelda, and I do mean that literally, they are bound souls and they have a deep connection, they're important to each other and it's lovely.
On regards to Mineru's sidequest. I actually found her island by accident. I didn't have Shrine sensor on, but noticed the name (Dragonhead Island) and a different music. After defeating Phantom ganon, and Paya said some about "the land of the Dragon", I instantly thought of that place and headed towards it, without doing Tauro's sidequest to get the clothing and clear the storm. In there, my shrine sensor activated and I found a door which I couldn't open because I've only had invested in Stamina. I feel your pain about missing a sidequest but I was also looking for the Spirit Sage so it felt rewarding either way.
13:52 my sentiments exactly 😭 i don't even need a kiss but that moment Zelda was getting up was just BEGGING for a hug
I felt like the sky islands were a front to hide the complete access to Depths. I always wondered how deep master yiga fell, never would’ve though it was a complete new exploration. This game is insane😊
18:41 It also doesn't make sense with the 5th divine beast, the first room was an elevator that lead into a giant cave