Tears of the Kingdom First Impressions

[vanguard333]

Tears of the Kingdom released recently. It's far too early for full reviews, but initial impressions can still be interesting to discuss. What are your first impressions of Tears of the Kingdom?

 

Here's my first impressions of the game; spoilers for the initial area of the game:

Spoiler

As of typing this, I have just completed the opening as well as the Great Sky Island.

Right away, I love that this game starts off with Link having the maximum number of hearts and maximum stamina gauge. It provides good continuity with Breath of the Wild and it provides a good contrast with Link having only three hearts and a basic stamina gauge after Ganondorf corrupts his arm. Similarly, I quite enjoy beginning with a fully-powered master sword only for the Master Sword to be reduced to having an attack power of 1 and unable to unleash sword beams.

However, one decision with the Master Sword puzzles me. In Breath of the Wild, the bomb runes ensured that the player always had a means of dealing damage even if all their weapons broke. Since the bomb runes are gone and none of the new abilities provide renewable offense, my immediate thought was that the ruined Master Sword would be this game's way of providing renewable offense. Instead, the master sword becomes unusable after only a couple swings, never regains usability, and is taken away from the player at the end of the Great Sky Island. Since enemies don't respawn at this point, it is possible, however extremely unlikely, for a player to use up all available weapons and be unable to fight.

Speaking of the combat, weapon fusing is fantastic. Weapons are a lot more durable when fused and there are a lot of really cool combinations. The other abilities are great as well, but weapon fusing stands out to me the most right now, as much as assembling vehicles is fun to do.

The Great Sky Island is surprisingly a lot more linear than the Great Plateau; where the great Plateau was a mini-sandbox you could navigate almost however you wanted to, the Great Sky Island is more of a circle that you have to navigate counterclockwise. The shrines must be cleared in a specific order, Link has to select a heart container after receiving the first four shrine rewards, and perhaps the difference is most obvious with the Temple of Time. In Breath of the Wild, the Temple of Time was the first indicator to the player that they could explore as they wished: it was a big ruined building off the path that the player would likely explore right away even though they wouldn't need to explore it until after they completed the four shrines. In Tears of the Kingdom, getting to the Temple of Time is the first objective. I don't think this is a bad thing; it just shows the difference in priorities: for the first game, they wanted to show the new sense of freedom right away. For this game, they want to show the player the new abilities right away.

One thing that I will say right away is a bad thing; at least, from my perspective, is Link and Zelda being separated immediately and Link being told that he must find Zelda. I'm sitting here thinking, "No! Link and Zelda just reunited! I don't want to have to find Zelda again!" Spirit Tracks mocked this series' repeated use of this trope, and it was good that it did so; what is not good is every game since Spirit Tracks, with the one exception of Breath of the Wild, repeating this trope afterwards and expecting fans to still take it seriously. You can't admit that something has become stupid and then try to convince people that it's still brilliant. And I knew this would happen; I kept saying that my big concern with this game would be that Link and Zelda immediately get separated and Link would have to try to find her again; and I feared this because Nintendo has done it before: Wind Waker ended on Link and Tetra setting out together, then Phantom Hourglass opened with the two of them getting separated and Tetra spending the rest of the game as a statue, and fans overwhelmingly disliked that aspect of Phantom Hourglass. I just hope that Zelda doesn't spend this game as a statue.

Lastly, when Ganondorf mentioned the name Rauru, my first thought was, "The Sage of Light from Ocarina of Time?" Then I immediately realized that wouldn't make sense and figured it was a new character with the same name. I was correct; this time, Rauru is a long-dead Zonai who gives Link his new arm, talks to him throughout the Great Sky Island, and then disappears. I feel like a lot more could've been done with this character; he just seems like another BotW King of Hyrule in execution, but with even less to do as gameplay tips are handled by the friendly robots and he doesn't even get to give a huge backstory speech before disappearing. It really just reminds me that, just like with BotW, Link is travelling solo, and it makes me really miss the adventuring companions from the previous Zelda games, especially Spirit Zelda from Spirit Tracks.

EDIT: One more thing; speaking of Ganondorf; Mummified-Ganondorf's voice in the opening of the game is far scarier than Redydrated-Ganondorf's voice in all of the trailers. I do like the voice is distinct between the two forms, and I like that mummified Ganondorf's voice sounds unnatural.

 

Overall, my first impressions are really good; I guess I'm just a little saddened that Nintendo didn't disprove all my fears & doubts about the game, but, overall, I am very much enjoying the game.

 

Edited May 14, 2023 by vanguard333

[Jotari]

4 hours ago, vanguard333 said:

Tears of the Kingdom released recently. It's far too early for full reviews, but initial impressions can still be interesting to discuss.

 

Here's my first impressions of the game; spoilers for the initial area of the game:

  Hide contents

As of typing this, I have just completed the opening as well as the Great Sky Island.

Right away, I love that this game starts off with Link having the maximum number of hearts and maximum stamina gauge. It provides good continuity with Breath of the Wild

 

If it wanted to provide perfect continuity with Breath of the Wild he should have been two hearts short of maximum XD

[vanguard333]

4 hours ago, Jotari said:

If it wanted to provide perfect continuity with Breath of the Wild he should have been two hearts short of maximum XD

In the case of my playthrough, it was two bits of stamina-wheel short of maximum, and a master sword that runs out of energy after 30 uses since I never bought the DLC (and, with the Wii U eshop gone, I never can get the Breath of the Wild DLC; I missed out on the Monk Maz Koshia fight).

What do you think of the game so far?

[Jotari]

56 minutes ago, vanguard333 said:

In the case of my playthrough, it was two bits of stamina-wheel short of maximum, and a master sword that runs out of energy after 30 uses since I never bought the DLC (and, with the Wii U eshop gone, I never can get the Breath of the Wild DLC; I missed out on the Monk Maz Koshia fight).

What do you think of the game so far?

Not too far in, as I wanted to finish Engage's last Fell Xenologue (not trivial task on max level Maddening), but that's done now so I'm diving head first in. Just cleared the first area and exploring around Hyrule Castle ruins. So far I'm liking the more linear story and hope it keeps up. Breath of the Wild's wide open sandbox approach to it's story telling and gameplay was great for Breath of the Wild, but with the same map (or half the same map) I think a more classical approach is better for this game, so I hope that style keeps up. It feels like they will for the story, but I'm not sure about the gameplay. The first sky temple was very similar to the Great Platau in how it functions to give you all of your abilities. One of my biggest issues with Breath of the Wild is how little it feels like you up skill Link throughout the game. Aside from Revali's Gale, nothing you get after the Great Plateau feels like it expands what you can do or where you can go.

Not having the paraglider was an interesting choice, and in theory something I love for changing how you approach the world compared to Breath of the Wild. Bu in practice...it kind of sucks. Climbing anywhere is now deadly dangerous as you need to really judge how you jump down or slowly crawl back to the earth. I've died several times just by misjudging jumps and missing the water I was aiming for (doesn't help that the R button on my Switch is very stiff).

Also Korok Seeds are back, which I'm not a fan of. I think they went too hard with them in Breath of the Wild just to have something in every corner of the world. If something like that must exist then I feel they could have put a different coat of pain on it rather than just Korok's again. Why not the Minish? They're another fun creature we've only seen in one game. The occasional escort mission aside, it feels like I'm going to be doing the same thing several hundred times again with very little variation.

[vanguard333]

4 minutes ago, Jotari said:

Not too far in, as I wanted to finish Engage's last Fell Xenologue (not trivial task on max level Maddening), but that's done now so I'm diving head first in. Just cleared the first area and exploring around Hyrule Castle ruins. So far I'm liking the more linear story and hope it keeps up. Breath of the Wild's wide open sandbox approach to it's story telling and gameplay was great for Breath of the Wild, but with the same map (or half the same map) I think a more classical approach is better for this game, so I hope that style keeps up. It feels like they will for the story, but I'm not sure about the gameplay. The first sky temple was very similar to the Great Platau in how it functions to give you all of your abilities. One of my biggest issues with Breath of the Wild is how little it feels like you up skill Link throughout the game. Aside from Revali's Gale, nothing you get after the Great Plateau feels like it expands what you can do or where you can go.

Interesting; I just got Fire Emblem Engage. I have yet to start it since I'm playing Tears of the Kingdom, Monster Hunter Rise Sunbreak, and Ocean's Heart.

A classical approach might indeed be better; my main concern with the sky islands was that they might've made the sandbox world too big. I figured if the islands replaced the shrines/dungeons, then that would make a lot of sense, but the game still has shrines. I can honestly say that I did not expect to see shrines return.

 

8 minutes ago, Jotari said:

Not having the paraglider was an interesting choice, and in theory something I love for changing how you approach the world compared to Breath of the Wild. But in practice...it kind of sucks. Climbing anywhere is now deadly dangerous as you need to really judge how you jump down or slowly crawl back to the earth. I've died several times just by misjudging jumps and missing the water I was aiming for (doesn't help that the R button on my Switch is very stiff).

Interesting. I like not being able to just glide over everything without a zonai bird and a runway, but accidentally plummeting to a game over because of a corner or slope that looked like solid footing is annoying; perhaps something akin to Skyward Sword's sailcloth would be best: you can't glide with it, but it can stop fall damage if used correctly. All this talk of falling is making me miss the rolling-after-falling mechanic from Ocarina of Time.

Missing the water when falling deliberately is annoying. I usually teleport or restart when I know I'm about to miss the water.

 

13 minutes ago, Jotari said:

Also Korok Seeds are back, which I'm not a fan of. I think they went too hard with them in Breath of the Wild just to have something in every corner of the world. If something like that must exist then I feel they could have put a different coat of pain on it rather than just Korok's again. Why not the Minish? They're another fun creature we've only seen in one game. The occasional escort mission aside, it feels like I'm going to be doing the same thing several hundred times again with very little variation.

Yeah, I was really surprised that korok seeds are back. I think the idea in Breath of the Wild was that there would be enough of them that any player would be able to find a reasonable number of them; I mean, the reward for finding all of them was golden …fertilizer.

Yeah; something new like the Minish would've been better than Koroks again. And yeah; the escort missions are the only koroks I've found that have a new challenge rather than one recycled from Breath of the Wild.

[lenticular]

Those of you who have played it, do you think that the game offers much of interest to those of us who didn't particularly care for Breath of the Wild? Or is it very much more of the same and if you didn't like the one then you won't like the other either? The consensus that I'm seeing seems to be tending towards the latter, but I'm trying to gather a few different opinions.

[Jotari]

Oh. I just got the paraglider. Guess I should have held off on exploring a bit, but I got distracted by a Star Fragment (that I failed to obtain T.T)

Another thing I wanted them to do in Breath of the Wild that they've done here is having weapons slightly more tailored towards tasks. Like cutting down a tree with an axe is much more effective than a sword and you need a proper heavy weapon to crush the crystals for ore.

2 minutes ago, lenticular said:

Those of you who have played it, do you think that the game offers much of interest to those of us who didn't particularly care for Breath of the Wild? Or is it very much more of the same and if you didn't like the one then you won't like the other either? The consensus that I'm seeing seems to be tending towards the latter, but I'm trying to gather a few different opinions.

Too early to tell in my case.

Edited May 14, 2023 by Jotari

[Etrurian emperor]

The Banjo Kazooi Nuts and Bolts mechanic is kinda picky where you clicky at times. I don't find it so bad but my brother seems to strongly dislike it.

Is it me or is the game a bit more difficult than last time? The game throws promoted enemies at you pretty early. Even around the beginning areas there are plenty of blue and even black bokoblins. 

[vanguard333]

4 hours ago, Etrurian emperor said:

Is it me or is the game a bit more difficult than last time? The game throws promoted enemies at you pretty early. Even around the beginning areas there are plenty of blue and even black bokoblins. 

I have yet to encounter any promoted enemies, but I agree; the game seems more difficult. Enemies seem a lot more likely to come in swarms and attack in swarms, and I've been finding it more difficult to divide-and-conquer and to execute a flurry rush.

Another example would be (beginning area spoilers)

Spoiler

The underground. All enemy attacks permanently remove health until the player resurfaces or stands under one of the giant lights. This means the player really needs to block and dodge effectively. All my shields are fused to items with high durability (aside from one that's fused to a flamethrower) and I almost ran out of hearts despite my best efforts to isolate enemies.

But, for me, the example that would stand out the most would have to be my first talus fight in this game: it was a Battle Talus that was a base for red bokoblins. I beat the bokoblins in one hit using a bomb flower arrow, but the Talus proved immensely tedious, mainly because the platforms on top of it made it impossible to climb to the crystal's location. Mercifully, the fight was near a large ruined wall, so I was able to just stand on the wall where it couldn't reach me, shoot the crystal with a fused arrow, and then paraglide down to the platforms on top of the Talus, then rinse and repeat.

 

I imagine that there are three reasons for the increased difficulty:

1. The fairly safe assumption that most people playing Tears of the Kingdom already played Breath of the Wild (similar reasoning as that for Majora's Mask's difficulty).

2. The addition of weapon fusing means the player is more likely to have stronger weapons early on (though as far as I'm concerned, that is counterbalanced by the lack of a renewable method of attack like the bomb runes from Breath of the Wild).

3. It reinforces that Ganondorf has returned and is a bigger threat than Calamity Ganon.

[Jotari]

Oh cool. The horses you registered in Breath of the Wild are carried over by data transfer. I was hoping there would be stuff like that. Now I can actually use those high level horses I got before for something, as horses were kind of useless in Breath of the Wild given how wide spread the warp points were.

5 minutes ago, vanguard333 said:

I have yet to encounter any promoted enemies, but I agree; the game seems more difficult. Enemies seem a lot more likely to come in swarms and attack in swarms, and I've been finding it more difficult to divide-and-conquer and to execute a flurry rush.

Another example would be (beginning area spoilers)

  Reveal hidden contents

The underground. All enemy attacks permanently remove health until the player resurfaces or stands under one of the giant lights. This means the player really needs to block and dodge effectively. All my shields are fused to items with high durability (aside from one that's fused to a flamethrower) and I almost ran out of hearts despite my best efforts to isolate enemies.

But, for me, the example that would stand out the most would have to be my first talus fight in this game: it was a Battle Talus that was a base for red bokoblins. I beat the bokoblins in one hit using a bomb flower arrow, but the Talus proved immensely tedious, mainly because the platforms on top of it made it impossible to climb to the crystal's location. Mercifully, the fight was near a large ruined wall, so I was able to just stand on the wall where it couldn't reach me, shoot the crystal with a fused arrow, and then paraglide down to the platforms on top of the Talus, then rinse and repeat.

 

I imagine that there are three reasons for the increased difficulty:

1. The fairly safe assumption that most people playing Tears of the Kingdom already played Breath of the Wild (similar reasoning as that for Majora's Mask's difficulty).

2. The addition of weapon fusing means the player is more likely to have stronger weapons early on (though as far as I'm concerned, that is counterbalanced by the lack of a renewable method of attack like the bomb runes from Breath of the Wild).

3. It reinforces that Ganondorf has returned and is a bigger threat than Calamity Ganon.

You're meant to use Ascend to get onto the platform.

Edited May 14, 2023 by Jotari

[Perkilator]

The game’s been out for a couple days and it’s already making bank.

 

[vanguard333]

3 hours ago, Jotari said:

Oh cool. The horses you registered in Breath of the Wild are carried over by data transfer. I was hoping there would be stuff like that. Now I can actually use those high level horses I got before for something, as horses were kind of useless in Breath of the Wild given how wide spread the warp points were.

You're meant to use Ascend to get onto the platform.

Well; they carry over if you played the Switch version of Breath of the Wild. Wii U owners are ignored again. Jokes aside, that sounds really cool.

I see; thank you. I guess I figured that the platforms were too high up for ascend, but that was a dumb assumption to make. That said, from what I've seen, they gave the Talus arm attacks a serious buff in both damage and hitboxes (I could've sworn that their arm attacks were a lot easier to avoid in Breath of the Wild; I never once died to a Talus, whereas here, I have died several times from a Talus arm attack where I'm not sure if it even looked like the arm attack actually touched Link), and since ascend makes Link look to the ceiling, I'm probably going to be hesitant to use ascend unless I know I'm not in danger of the arms.

Speaking of enemies, I have now encountered the following brand new enemies (as in they were not in Breath of the Wild and they are not a variant of an enemy from Breath of the Wild):

Spoiler

1. Like-Likes. I probably should've expected that Like-Likes would be in this game; they have existed since the original Zelda game. I can honestly say that their absence in Breath of the Wild was not missed in my case; I always found them more annoying than anything else and, in Ocarina of Time, I always just used a bow to defeat them from a distance. Their new design in this game is... interesting. I'm not really sure how I feel about there being Like-Likes in this game.

2. A tree. No; seriously; on the way to Impa, a tree came to life, began walking on its roots, and tried to attack me with its stem. This happened twice. The first time, I tried defeating it with fire by using a ruby sword that I got from a fire wizzrobe; that didn't work: the only way to defeat walking trees that I've found so far is with an axe. It was an unusual enemy, but it was an interesting enemy.

3. Something that can only be described as a fast-moving giant puddle of malice with at least three malice arms extending out of it. This thing will probably haunt my nightmares for the next couple of days; I encountered it directly west of the castle town ruins, it immediately turned the sky red with its presence, it caught up to me when I tried to run from it, and it would not stop its relentless unhealable grab attacks. I can understand putting a very dangerous enemy in an early area as a way of saying, "Don't take this path yet; go around", but it should at least be an escapable enemy. I immediately figured that the way to kill this monster was to destroy the three claws, and I failed to destroy a single one.

 

Edited May 15, 2023 by vanguard333

[Jotari]

It's kind of funny Like Likes weren't in the previous game when the whole Like Like gimmick is to eat shields and this game has disposable shields. Though it doesn't seem like the Like Likes in this game are utilizing this part of their history to any great extent. It would be a natural fit considering Shields are probably the durability item you burn through the slowest (at least for me, but I don't tend to go for parries that often as dodging is pretty much always an option).

[vanguard333]

On 5/14/2023 at 11:08 PM, Jotari said:

It's kind of funny Like Likes weren't in the previous game when the whole Like Like gimmick is to eat shields and this game has disposable shields. Though it doesn't seem like the Like Likes in this game are utilizing this part of their history to any great extent. It would be a natural fit considering Shields are probably the durability item you burn through the slowest (at least for me, but I don't tend to go for parries that often as dodging is pretty much always an option).

That's a good point. Their attack doesn't eat shields, but it does consume a lot of durability, as I unfortunately know from running out of bomb flowers when up against two Like-Likes and trying to figure out a different safe way to expose their weak point. unfortunately, if you're out of bomb flowers, the only way is to get close enough that they prepare to attack.

My only comfort when having to deal with Like-Likes in past games, since I consider them to be annoying nuisances, was that I could at least defeat them from a safe distance with arrows (and the boomerang and the whip in the case of Spirit Tracks).

 

I just experienced perhaps the weirdest (in a fun way) mini-boss fight I've experienced so far in any Zelda game. I was exploring a cave, and I found a shrine on a ledge, with the area between me and the ledge guarded by one of those enemies I mentioned before which, for the sake of brevity and clarity, I will just refer to as Malice Hands. I quickly raced to the ledge, and it turns out that doing so kept me safe. In hindsight, it probably should've been obvious that a five-armed malice puddle can't climb. I managed to beat it using bomb arrows; fair warning for anyone going up against these: they can quickly regrow new arms if you try to beat it one arm at a time. When I defeated it, what appeared was:

Spoiler

Phantom Ganon. I expected Phantom Ganon to be in this game since Ganondorf is back, but I did not expect to encounter Phantom Ganon in the overworld, let alone as a result of defeating a different Malice enemy. And I still haven't gotten to the weird part of the fight.

Phantom Ganon was a fairly straightforward fight: it alternated between using a sword and using a bow, and since it's made of malice (or "gloom"; why did they change what it's called?), every attack with the bow takes away maximum health (though attacks from the sword are fine if I remember correctly). The main gimmick of the fight is that, every time Phantom Ganon appears, a puddle of malice appears before it and slowly expands until the player hits Phantom Ganon or Phantom Ganon attacks.

Here's the weird part: remember what I said about how I was standing on a ledge? Phantom Ganon magically appeared on the ledge for the fight using its main method of moving around between attacks. When I brought it down to about 1/8th health, it went backwards and appeared below the ledge, where I couldn't see or attack it from where I was standing, so the puddle of malice eventually flooded every surface of the cave except for one patch of ground on which I stood. I stood there on this tiny patch of ground, without any gloom resistance or anything, wondering where Phantom Ganon was and how I would even be able to find it.

Were this any other game, I would've had to teleport out or restart and that would've soured the fight. Instead, I remembered that I had several zonai bird platforms, so I dropped three of them to give myself safe footing above the gloom, and I walked on them to the edge of the ledge and, completely accidently, ended up in a perfect spot where I could freely hit it with arrows while it couldn't hit me with its arrows. That was fun.

The rewards: a sword with 40 power that drains Link's HP while in use, and a bow whose power scales with maximum health.

 

EDIT: I just completed one of the main story dungeons (specifically the one in the Rito area), and I can safely say that this dungeon was vastly superior to the Divine Beasts, and I say this as someone who liked the Divine Beasts. Spoilers for the dungeon in the spoiler tag below, but those spoilers are what the dungeon is and some info about the boss fight; I will not spoil puzzle solutions or how to beat the boss:

Spoiler

One thing right away is that there is a lot more uniqueness to this dungeon than the Divine Beasts. Where each Divine Beast was a sheikah-tech robot animal, this dungeon is a giant Viking longship contained within a blizzard tempest. Where the bosses of the Divine Beasts were each a Blight Ganon, this was a unique boss that looked like a giant flying crystal centipede with power over storms, and you fight it entirely in the air. I honestly was expecting some variation of Phantom Ganon; I don't know why since I already encountered Phantom Ganon as a cave boss guarding a shrine, but I did, so I was pleasantly surprised when a more uniquely-designed boss appeared.

Mechanically, the dungeon isn't much different from the divine beasts, being once again more a hub containing several mini-puzzles than a full series of multi-room dungeons. However, where things differ mechanically is the approach to the dungeon. Where the approach to the divine beasts was an elaborate set-piece where Link and the new champion disable the beast's defenses, which were definitely fun, this dungeon's approach was a lengthy and elaborate linear sequence of platforming challenges high in the sky using flying Viking ships as trampolines. When I say, "platforming", I don't mean the fast platforming one would see in a Mario game; this one is slower and more puzzle-like, but it is still about getting from platform to platform by jumping and paragliding. It was a lot of fun, and I normally don't like when platforming challenges are inserted in a Zelda game.

If you've completed a dungeon, which one was it? What did you think of it, both on its own and compared to the Divine Beasts?

Edited May 17, 2023 by vanguard333

[Etrurian emperor]

On 5/15/2023 at 12:26 AM, vanguard333 said:

3. It reinforces that Ganondorf has returned and is a bigger threat than Calamity Ganon.

Well that wouldn't have been hard anyway. The Calamity was pretty tame. The pitch for BOTW was that it was set in a post apocalypse Hyrule but aside from Hyrule Field the world is mostly fine. The other races and even other Hylian villages carry on as if nothing happened and seemed pretty happy and prosperous. Amusing its only now that the post apocalypse has ended that the regions beyond Hyrule Field are suffering. 

Edited May 17, 2023 by Etrurian emperor

[Jotari]

2 hours ago, Etrurian emperor said:

Well that wouldn't have been hard anyway. The Calamity was pretty tame. The pitch for BOTW was that it was set in a post apocalypse Hyrule but aside from Hyrule Field the world is mostly fine. The other races and even other Hylian villages carry on as if nothing happened and seemed pretty happy and prosperous. Amusing its only now that the post apocalypse has ended that the regions beyond Hyrule Field are suffering. 

Well the four cardinal races do have some significant problems with megazords wrecking their ecosystems too.

[vanguard333]

4 hours ago, Etrurian emperor said:

Well that wouldn't have been hard anyway. The Calamity was pretty tame. The pitch for BOTW was that it was set in a post apocalypse Hyrule but aside from Hyrule Field the world is mostly fine. The other races and even other Hylian villages carry on as if nothing happened and seemed pretty happy and prosperous. Amusing its only now that the post apocalypse has ended that the regions beyond Hyrule Field are suffering. 

Sure, but the calamity was only that tame because of Zelda suppressing it for 100 years. This time, the seal on Ganondorf comes undone at the very beginning of the game.

 

1 hour ago, Jotari said:

Well the four cardinal races do have some significant problems with megazords wrecking their ecosystems too.

Also this.

 

Speaking of the calamity, I think, from what I've seen so far, that the plot of Tears of the Kingdom fits the open world format better than Breath of the Wild's did, at least in terms of things like context and urgency.

In Breath of the Wild, gathering the memories did very little for the ongoing plot outside of fleshing out Link, Zelda and the late champions: everyone involved in the present-day plot knows Calamity Ganon nearly destroyed Hyrule 100 years ago, Zelda sealed it away, and Link needs to go to her and defeat the calamity. Link learns all this as early as the end of the Great Plateau section, and the memories don't change anything story-wise except that the game's true ending is locked behind finding them all. All the memories do in terms of plot is show pieces of a potentially more-compelling story the player could've been playing instead; a story that has now been alluded to twice but never actually experienced thanks to Age of Calamity's false-advertising.

Similarly, the king tells Link that Zelda will not be able to keep Calamity Ganon suppressed forever and that Link must hurry; this creates a deadline for Link that does not exist for the player. It's obvious why the player would spend a lot of time exploring, but why would Link do so?

By contrast, it makes a lot of sense that Link would be taking his time and exploring in Tears of the Kingdom because he is doing something that didn't need to be done in Breath of the Wild: investigating. No one remembers Ganondorf, no one knows where Zelda went (well, I'm guessing Rauru knows, but he's dead and his ghost vanishes at the end of the tutorial), and no one has a full idea of what's going on. Uncovering memories by finding geoglyphs makes a lot more sense here as the memories aren't Link's, and they reveal things that neither Link nor the player knows already. Link taking his time exploring makes far more sense here.

[Florete]

My early impressions are, uh...mixed. I don't think it's bad, but it's not grabbing me like BotW did (which I consider the best Zelda game). I really don't like playing Minecraft with Ultra-Hand, and basically every unfun thing that's happened in the game was a result of Ultra-Hand. I recently did a shrine with shifting sands and completing it while getting the chest (which had 10 arrows...woohoo) was probably the worst experience across these two games.

I kind of feel like it's both too much BotW and not enough BotW at the same time. It's the same engine, same controls, and in many ways the same world as BotW, which makes it not feel very new; even if a lot has changed, I still know where most things are. And as a result, it's lacking what made BotW so special, the vast exploration and finding something new around every corner. They seem to have considered this possibility and added a bunch of caves, the depths, and the sky area, but the result is that the surface feels a lot more barren than before. In BotW I could look out from a high point and see a bunch of shrines and points of interest, in TotK I do the same and sometimes I just feel like I don't see anything worth investigating. In BotW it felt like I couldn't go anywhere without finding enemies or a chest or a Korok or something, in TotK it seems to be happening all the time.

I also liked how BotW's story felt very "go at your own pace," while TotK is much more story-driven and cutscene-heavy. And the story thus far isn't very intriguing. I know they weren't obligated to make Zelda playable in any capacity, and I technically don't know yet if it will happen or not, but it looks pretty likely it won't, and that's a real downer because this was the perfect opportunity to finally really let her shine in some way. There was a big call for it before the game started development and if they just let that pass by, I don't know what they were thinking.

And yeah, BotW's story wasn't exactly an Oscar winner, but it did well what it wanted to do. TotK is clearly presenting its story as something more, but so far, it really isn't.

[Jotari]

I still think we should be having our first old woman Zelda after her hundred year battle with Ganon in Breath of the Wild.

[vanguard333]

1 hour ago, Florete said:

I kind of feel like it's both too much BotW and not enough BotW at the same time. It's the same engine, same controls, and in many ways the same world as BotW, which makes it not feel very new; even if a lot has changed, I still know where most things are. And as a result, it's lacking what made BotW so special, the vast exploration and finding something new around every corner. They seem to have considered this possibility and added a bunch of caves, the depths, and the sky area, but the result is that the surface feels a lot more barren than before. In BotW I could look out from a high point and see a bunch of shrines and points of interest, in TotK I do the same and sometimes I just feel like I don't see anything worth investigating. In BotW it felt like I couldn't go anywhere without finding enemies or a chest or a Korok or something, in TotK it seems to be happening all the time.

Honestly, from what I've played so far, the game has felt very new, partly because it has been some time since I last played BotW, but I think mainly because the places I've been to first (the Hyrule Castle town region and the home of the Rito) are among the places I visited last in BotW (the Rito Divine Beast was the one I completed third; the Zora Divine Beast was the one I completed first), so I'm essentially approaching them from a new angle that makes them harder to recognize. Things will probably start feeling familiar once I start visiting areas of the game I explored a lot more. Perhaps exploring in the opposite order might help?

 

1 hour ago, Florete said:

I also liked how BotW's story felt very "go at your own pace," while TotK is much more story-driven and cutscene-heavy. And the story thus far isn't very intriguing. I know they weren't obligated to make Zelda playable in any capacity, and I technically don't know yet if it will happen or not, but it looks pretty likely it won't, and that's a real downer because this was the perfect opportunity to finally really let her shine in some way. There was a big call for it before the game started development and if they just let that pass by, I don't know what they were thinking.

I honestly feel the opposite about BotW's story; BotW, to me, felt torn between telling the player to take their time and telling the player to beat Calamity Ganon ASAP. Tears of the Kingdom, meanwhile, so far is always telling telling the player to investigate what's going on.

That point about Zelda I agree with. I wasn't necessarily hoping for playable Zelda, but I was hoping for Link and Zelda to be adventuring together like in Spirit Tracks. When the game, five minutes in, tells the player, "Link, you must find Zelda", my immediate thought was, "Ugh, not this again!" Sprit Tracks already relentlessly mocked the idea of, "Link, you must find Zelda"; Nintendo can't expect us to take, "Link, you must find Zelda" seriously after they themselves have mocked it.

[Florete]

2 minutes ago, vanguard333 said:

Honestly, from what I've played so far, the game has felt very new, partly because it has been some time since I last played BotW, but I think mainly because the places I've been to first (the Hyrule Castle town region and the home of the Rito) are among the places I visited last in BotW (the Rito Divine Beast was the one I completed third; the Zora Divine Beast was the one I completed first), so I'm essentially approaching them from a new angle that makes them harder to recognize. Things will probably start feeling familiar once I start visiting areas of the game I explored a lot more. Perhaps exploring in the opposite order might help?

I played BotW twice, once normal at release, and again a few years later in master mode. While I don't remember the exact order, I did the divine beasts in a different order the second time around, so I've kind of already had that experience.

[Fabulously Olivier]

I'm ashamed to admit I've never cleared BotW. Not even close. If I don't do so sometime this year, I'll set it to my 2024 gaming resolutions so I can eventually get to this one.

[Hawkwing]

Completed the mainline quest for the Rito yesterday. While the dungeon itself was smaller than a typical Zelda dungeon, getting there was an (fun) ordeal, so I didn't mind. I hope that the odd flying trampoline boats appear throughout the game. They're a fun and helpful way to traverse the sky islands, which aren't always convenient to navigate, and I'd be disappointed if they're relegated to a single region.

Anyway, I'm greatly enjoying my time with the game. They kept the strong sense of exploration and discovery from Breath of the Wild alive and expanded upon it with a ton of fun new mechanics. While the overall map is the same shape, the area's themselves are far from 1 to 1, and they clearly put a lot of effort into making these places familiar while being entirely new.

As for my thoughts on the new abilities:

Ultrahand: Easily the games biggest selling point. I had fun creating even the simple contraptions allowed early on, and I expect that you'll be able to create even wilder inventions later down the line. I fully expect to see compilations of the wildest things people have come up with soon, as well as compilations of looney toons moments of inventions failing in the funniest ways.

Recall: An overall awesome ability. Reversing time so that enemies projectiles return to their thrower never gets old, and I greatly enjoyed the few puzzles I've encountered so far that utilize the ability. I really, really hope they get wild with the puzzles Recall allows.

Ascend: More of a quality of life ability to save on climbing time, though some of the puzzles I've encountered utilize it well. This will probably be the ability I miss the most if I get back to playing Breath of the Wild.

Fuse: I need to experiment more with this mechanic and I don't know whether or not I like it at the moment. I appreciate that it gives a purpose to items I usually just saw as sidequest or upgrade fodder, and I love that it consistently rewards out-of-the box combinations. At the same time, I fear that the game may have some option bloat, as time spent looking for a specific material to throw or attach to an arrow could add up, and there may be fuses that are funny but functionally useless outside of some niche situations. I also don't think the weapon limit meshes well with this mechanic, as I'm not allowed to get as crazy as I want since I have to keep that limit in mind.

 

There are some smaller things I enjoyed. I'm glad they increased the enemy variety as that was my biggest critique of the previous game, and the news towers shooting you into the air does make exploration and travel quick than having to climb/warp onto a tower and fly off. I haven't seen enough of the story to comment on it yet, though I do appreciate that it is more involved and active this time around and I do find the mystery intriguing

Really, my biggest criticism of the game is that they kept aspects of Breath of the Wild I wasn't fond of. Korok seeds and the compendium were fun the first time around but quickly became busywork, and both are back in full force. I also could have gone without the "you start with pitiful health and armor and some attacks can kill you in one hit" schtick that I didn't find fun the first time, and it's just as frustrating here.

My biggest disappointment is that they gave more tools for combat but left the system itself unchanged, which I believe was a big mistake. Combat in far from bad, but it is flawed. Your defensive options aren't as quick or tight as they should be for group fights, which make up the majority of encounters. The targeting system and dodging works well against singular opponents and bosses, but against multiple enemies, your shield doesn't cover every angle, you have to put some weapons away to even access the shield which while quick isn't immediate, you have to hold down a button to dodge which also snaps the camera behind you which isn't always helpful, and it's all too easy to get sniped from behinds. This isn't terrible, but the sheer amount of damage you take and how some attacks kill you instantly really highlight flaws of this combat systems, and I was really hoping they would improve upon that. (Doesn't help that I played Sifu before getting this game. That game is very difficult and punishes players who don't know what they're doing, but it's defensive mechanics are quick, tight, and responsive)

 

Overall, I enjoy the new abilities and exploration is still a ton of fun, I just could have gone without some repeats of Breath of the Wilds more annoying elements.

On 5/14/2023 at 9:55 AM, lenticular said:

Those of you who have played it, do you think that the game offers much of interest to those of us who didn't particularly care for Breath of the Wild? Or is it very much more of the same and if you didn't like the one then you won't like the other either? The consensus that I'm seeing seems to be tending towards the latter, but I'm trying to gather a few different opinions.

Depends on what you liked or didn't like about Breath of the Wild. I talked with a friend who didn't care much about Breath of the Wild but is having a ton of fun with Tears of the Kingdom. The new mechanics are what sold it for him, particularly fuse and ultrahand. I know that won't be the case with everyone, though.

[Etrurian emperor]

So the Rito's certainly got a glow up this time around. In the first game they were easiest the weakest questline with their story pretty much being '''lol shoot down some practice targets and lets go to the dungeon!''. Teba was also noticeable impersonal compared to the other new champions. This time we've got a little prelude about looking for Tulin and teaching him to fight for his friends. I wonder if they ditched Teba for his kid as a recognition that he fell kinda flat, but I think its a good decision. Tulin's a nice character, very excitable and gushing about Link. Also Teba's new traits as a proud but critical father help expand on him a bit too.

[vanguard333]

On 5/22/2023 at 1:24 PM, Etrurian emperor said:

So the Rito's certainly got a glow up this time around. In the first game they were easiest the weakest questline with their story pretty much being '''lol shoot down some practice targets and lets go to the dungeon!''. Teba was also noticeable impersonal compared to the other new champions. This time we've got a little prelude about looking for Tulin and teaching him to fight for his friends. I wonder if they ditched Teba for his kid as a recognition that he fell kinda flat, but I think its a good decision. Tulin's a nice character, very excitable and gushing about Link. Also Teba's new traits as a proud but critical father help expand on him a bit too.

I thought Teba was okay as a character in Breath of the Wild, but, other than that, I completely agree. Perhaps that's the reason the game suggests that the player visit the Rito first; they wanted the players to see right away that the Rito questline is far better than in Breath of the Wild.

Speaking of which, I have now completed the Rito and Goron questlines (I intend to complete the Zora and Gerudo questlines in that order). The Goron quest is alright; my one criticism would be around Yunobo. Yunobo in Breath of the Wild was interesting and he had a good character arc: a young scared Goron learning to be courageous. His arc was finished, so he didn't need one here, so it's fine that he doesn't have one here. However, in this game, I found him really annoying, and I'm not entirely sure why. Part of it might be that there's no way to stop him rolling if you accidentally clicked the a button near him, unlike Tulin where you can press b to stop him from creating a gust; but that's a gameplay issue, not a character problem.

EDIT: I just realized that Tulin's gusts can't be deactivated either. The real problems Yunobo has in terms of gameplay are the following:

1. When Tulin is accidentally used, he just creates a harmless gust of wind. When Yunobo is accidentally activated, he bowls through everything in his path and sets said path on fire. Yunobo has ruined stealth for me multiple times to the point where I have to deactivate him any time I try to be stealthy.

2. If you are on a vehicle, Yunobo will sit on the front of the vehicle and become a rechargeable projectile. It's fun using him when on a mine cart, but he will weigh down the front of any flying machine or boat significantly to the point where I again have to deactivate him whenever I create either type of vehicle. For context, I have not once had to deactivate Tulin.

 

EDIT: I just completed the Zora questline and water temple. The boss was hilarious and really easy, but I think that was intentional; where the bosses of the Rito and Goron dungeons seemed like they were supposed to be scary, this one seemed deliberately designed to be comical and pitiful.

One thing I find hilarious is that Sidon has a fiancée who becomes his bride at the end of the questline; I imagine a lot of Link x Sidon shippers were furious when they got to the point where Sidon's fiancée is introduced. I am not one of them (I don't ship at all), so I just enjoyed the plotline and Sidon's character arc of learning not to fear losing another loved one.

I also have obtained the Master Sword. I won't say how to obtain; I will just say that the player can obtain it as soon as they figure out how and have two full stamina rings, and that obtaining it is a really cool moment.

Edited May 31, 2023 by vanguard333