vanguard333

Indeed. Plus, the name Rauru is obviously a reference to the Sage of Light from Ocarina of Time; he even has light magic. Speaking of which, TOTK Rauru is a lot smarter than the Ocarina of Time King of Hyrule:

True. In the case of the Temple of Time; I imagine that was at least in part because existing fans would have in their head an image of what the temple should look like; the same reason there's the ruins of Lon Lon Ranch (which is still there in Tears of the Kingdom).

I understand. I personally just think it makes sense; I think it was clear as early as Breath of the Wild that the Zelda team wants to wipe their hands clean of all the timeline stuff and start fresh, and how they've written this version of Ganondorf comes across to me as an example of that desire. I just hope that at least one phase of the final boss fight has him still be mummified; I think it's a lot scarier than how he looked in any of the flashbacks (and I have seen all of the dragon's tear flashbacks).

The moment she introduced herself as Sidon's fiancée, I laughed and immediately thought, "The Sidon x Link shippers are going to be furious." Anyway, she's a cool character, and I like Sidon's arc of needing to overcome his fear of losing another loved one, but I do wonder if it would've been better for her to have been the new sage of water rather than Sidon.

Ah. I don't consider saying who the focus character is to be a spoiler. Just so you're prepared for the next two areas: the Rito area, sadly, is the exception rather than the rule for focus characters. The Zora area does introduce a new character that's cool and helps out, but Sidon is the focus character again.

There's a sidequest where you help a travelling band at the stable near the crossroad to Death Mountain and Korok Forest. You have to fix their wagon, attach one of your horses to the wagon, and escort them to the nearby Great Fairy. Once you do so, that specific Great Fairy will emerge from her flower. Only after that can you unlock the other Great Fairies. For all the rest of the Great Fairies, the process is as follows: 1. Find the missing band member in the region where the Great Fairy resides. 2. Go to the stables in that region that's closest to the Great Fairy 3. Fix the band's wagon 4. Escort the band to the Great Fairy's flower. I only know this because I went to the Gorons after completing the Rito dungeon. Incidentally, the Gerudo region is the only one I haven't been to yet (I completed the Rito, Goron and Zora dungeons in that order). Without spoilers, what's that region like?

I've never actually played Golden Sun. I guessed that the video is fan-made, but I couldn't tell if there actually was supposed to be an anime or not.

Honestly, both have their different strengths and weaknesses and I don't prefer one over the other. To me, what matters is that the combat makes me think about what I'm doing; I've seen mindless examples of action combat, and I've seen mindless examples of turn-based combat.

Oh. Never mind then. Is there anything I miss if I get the Houses Emblem that early in the game? Or can I just leave it unused for a while and have nothing really change?

I think the lack of attention CF received compared to other routes by the fact that, when it was conceived, it was originally conceived as essentially a hidden bonus route, and hidden bonus campaigns in games generally don't receive as much attention because most players won't see it; it's the same reason final levels in video games often receive less attention than earlier content. Then the decision was made to make unlocking Crimson Flower a lot more obvious. I suppose; I guess we will never truly know for certain until someone on the dev team actually outright says how early on in development Crimson Flower was included in the game. Thank you. And it's not just Shakespeare plays; any prequel may as well have the tagline, "From the beginning, you know how it ends"; in fact, that was literally Halo Reach's tagline, and that game received widespread acclaim.

Interesting. Funny enough, I think that's the interview I was thinking of when I mentioned an interview where they stated that they originally wanted the Crimson Flower route to be harder to unlock, as that's exactly what Kusakihara says in that interview. I agree that it does sound like Crimson Flower wasn't originally part of the game, but it also sounds like the decision to include it was made in the very early planning stages, with most of the decision-making regarding it afterwards being how hard it would be to unlock it, and it sounds like the dev team still disagrees about how difficult it should've been to unlock. Yokota does say in that interview that he felt that Kusakihara's original vision was carried out "from the early planning stages all the way to the end", so Crimson Flower either was always intended or was added in the early planning stages. Incidentally, I have to disagree with Kusakihara about one thing: he talks about a story being "too predictable" as if it would be a bad thing; his exact words being, "I don't think there's much value to a story you can easily predict", and I strongly disagree; predictability is not inherently a bad thing. If it were, there would be zero value in prequels or in second reading/viewing/playthroughs of a story. That's definitely a fair interpretation.

Thank you. That's good to hear. I'll make sure to avoid the Three Houses Emblem then (at least until late in the first playthrough).

I actually still have yet to play Engage. I bought it the same day I bought Tears of the Kingdom since the store had a used copy of Engage on sale and I haven't played it because I've been playing Tears of the Kingdom, Ocean's Heart and Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak. For those of you who have played the game, I have a question: I was hoping to get the DLC right away if only so I can give Alear the Tiki emblem asap and pretend that it's Alear's dragon form (I was very disappointed to learn that Alear doesn't actually have a dragon form in this game), but I also want my first playthrough to, for most of it at least, just be the base game content (Tiki Emblem aside obviously). Is it possible to only unlock the Tiki emblem, or does other DLC content have to be unlocked first?

I'm pretty sure that Crimson Flower was always supposed to be a route, but it was supposed to be a secret bonus route; the default route would be siding with the church, then there would be the option to side with Edelgard if the player fulfilled certain criteria. I think that because it's technically still the case: Crimson Flower is the only route that has to be unlocked by making certain decisions throughout part 1 and not just by picking a specific house, and, if I remember correctly, there was an interview where the developers revealed that the game originally did not have the criteria for unlocking the Crimson Flower route be nearly as obvious. It would also explain why the route is lacking in presentation and number of chapters compared to the other routes, as secret bonus routes/campaigns generally aren't given as much as other routes/campaigns in most games as they're, well, a bonus, and also because they're generally saved for last when developing a game. My full theory is that the game, early on in development, was far more focused on empire vs church than on the idea of three houses at war, and the Crimson Flower route being a bonus route would reflect that, but then ambitions changed and the development leaned more towards the three houses at war concept, meaning it would make more sense for Crimson Flower to be the default Black Eagles route, but they already made Silver Snow and built Azure Moon and Verdant Wind from it, so they just made it more obvious how to unlock the Crimson Flower route. I could easily be wrong, but going from "Crimson Flower is a secret bonus route" to, "We need to make Crimson Flower more obvious and less of a secret" would suggest a shift in priorities at some point during development.

Thank you. So I was close; instead of, "Are you here to liberate me?", he actually said, "are you the one who can liberate me?" In any case, it's a very strong hint that Nemesis' title "King of Liberation" was more of a twisted metaphor for his skill at mass-slaughter.

I can understand that opinion. I think it makes sense as Rhea has completely snapped and completely given up on any shred of faith in humanity she had before. As for Catherine, Catherine obeys without question because, if she doesn't, then she has to question her role in Christophe's execution. I don't remember that, but Crimson Flower was my first playthrough so I might've just forgotten it. Fair enough. I meant that, in my playthroughs, Edelgard never set the area on fire until after it was only occupied by my units, so Edelgard doesn't cause any friendly fire, except I guess in the literal sense as the fire is very friendly for her. Indeed. Given what Maurice, the Wandering Beast says if Byleth fights him, I think it's clear that Nemesis' title of "King of Liberation" refers to the killing that Nemesis did; i.e. he 'liberated' people of their lives. I would like to show the quote, but I'm having trouble finding it. But I remember Maurice saying something like, "That sword; it is the sword of the king. Are you here to liberate me?" Can someone please provide the actual quote if they can find it? That's true. True, but I never said she should ask Nemesis what he meant by "thief". The fact is that no version of events she's heard would explain why anyone would call Nemesis a thief, so it is a failing on her end that she didn't seem to even try to find out why.

Edelgard claims that her knowledge of Fodlan's history: that Rhea's fight against Nemesis was not religious and that the hero's relics were manmade and were not gifts from the goddess, was secretly passed down from emperor to emperor. These two pieces of information are correct, but, as the player learns in Verdant Wind, it's incomplete: the hero's relics were manmade weapons made from dragon bones and Nemesis' conflict with Rhea was Rhea's revenge for Nemesis killing her mother and slaughtering almost all her kin. I think these two pieces of information probably were passed down from emperor to emperor; Rhea considered the first emperor to be a friend, but she definitely never told him the full story, as Rhea was always extremely guarded, causing even close friends like Jeralt to begin to distrust her. Remember that Rhea completely snaps in the Crimson Flower route as a result of Byleth siding with Edelgard; what Edelgard sees of Rhea, unknown to Edelgard, is essentially confirmation bias for both of them. Rhea sees Byleth side with Edelgard and is convinced that her attempt at creating a vessel for her mother has only created a new Nemesis, and Edelgard is convinced that the Rhea we see after Rhea snaps was always Rhea's true mental state. I don't remember Edelgard ever thinking Nemesis and the Elites were freedom fighters; all I remember is her assuming that Rhea and Nemesis' conflict was purely political; something it probably would've seemed to be from the perspective of the first emperor. I think it's worth remembering that Azure Moon and Verdant Wind were built from Silver Snow. Also, Edelgard never set Bernie on fire in any of my playthroughs of the other routes. I don't think Edelgard ever trusted TWSITD, but she did make a mistake in never investigating them further whenever they slipped up and accidentally revealed more than they wanted to: one of the most notable examples of this would be in part 1, when Thales refers to Nemesis as a "thief" in front of Edelgard (who is wearing her Flame Emperor disguise), and Edelgard notices that odd choice of term but doesn't think to look into why TWSITD would refer to Nemesis as a thief.

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.

If this video is any indication, that YouTube channel lives up to the name, "low-brow studios". The crickets don't even chirp because they don't want their chirps mistaken for laughter/10

Never played or even heard of Tales of Destiny.

He's a monster/10.

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 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.

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. 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.

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: 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: 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?

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):