29
votes
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom - Discussion thread
I've had a bunch of different bits of conversation about TotK across the site, but it's mostly been in passing in other topics. Since I know there's a lot of (entirely justified) enthusiasm for the game, let's talk about it! What's your favorite thing to fuse to a shield? (Ice breath) Have you developed any particularly clever machines you want to share? (I made a massively overcomplicated fish-shocker and scoop, like this, but worse.) What's your favorite (Air) and least favorite (Water) temples?
I really enjoyed my time with TOTK, pretty much played it non-stop since release until a week ago. Gameplay-wise it's an improvment over BOTW in every way for me, and traversal by virtue of the fuse mechanic is just really fun. However, in retrospect I realise that the complaints I had about BOTW are still prevalent here, namely with the story and how it's told.
The geoglyphs - like the memories in BOTW - can be viewed out of order, and a specific couple of them basically tell you all you need to know if you happen upon them before the others. Even after you've gotten them all you need to wait for the world to catch-up and become aware of this realisation. Additionally:
The repetition in the dialogue when you complete a dungeon. Speaking of which, I think they're a definite improvement over the divine beasts, but still very simple. I liked the spectacle of the wind temple the most, water was my least favourite, and spirit I discovered on my own exploring which was a really cool moment.
Enemy variety was great as well, but I didn't feel like there was a guardian equivalent enemy in this game:
I assume it was supposed to be the creepy Ganon hands, but they were very infrequent (love the track that plays though).
In summation, I guess I'm not big on the stories in either game, but everything else makes up for it. I think I would simply prefer if the interesting story taking place wasn't in the past, but the present, because there's very little across both games that isn't a "memory". Despite that, still loved it to bits!
I've played a great many Zelda titles across the years, and yet I've almost never really been engaged in the story aspect of it. I adore the setting, and the small little stories (side quests) you run into, but the main story has always just been a vehicle to move me to the next dungeon or area.
I appreciate that it's there, but it isn't the main draw. The gameplay is solid.
I understand, gameplay is king. I've never been on the edge of my seat engaged with the narrative of a Zelda title per se, but certainly in the case of Twilight Princess and Majora's Mask I had more of a vested interest in them. I think there's still room to tell a good narrative without sacrificing the gameplay, and I don't think that it has to be intrusive to that experience to be good.
I'd say Ocarina Of Time has the best story moments because Link takes part in both the early story, and the post-calamity world. And TP you go between the 2 realms too. In some ways TOTK appears to try something similar but can only show the early alternate part in cutscenes. It would have been absolutely gob-smacking if Link could go between current Hyrule and previous-time Hyrule. With the time-reverse ability in there, I wonder if time travel was something they maybe thought about, but dropped because it would have made the game impossibly huge? Imagine if Link had taken part in the events of the flashbacks, as part of the game... it would have been about a million times more interesting.
I was quite glad that I happened to get the sword glyph as my last one.
I'm absolute garbage at this game and I love it. I don't get to play much since my 3 year old hijacks the console every time, but I also like watching him explore the world - somehow he has a knack for finding things I would overlook.
Anyways, looking for some tips - fusions, what weapons are good, how to better use shields because right now I don't use fusions with them at all...
Edit: I found some critter by a tree after putting an apple in a bowl, I went to a location it marked but it seems like a generic cave? What's up with that?
They lead you to generic caves! Somewhere in the world there's a map that shows the way to those trees, and at each one you can get guidance to every cave in the region. Not so useful if you haven't done a lot of exploring yet, but when you're trying to find that one last cave with a bubblfrog in it, it become invaluable.
Oh that's neat, thank you! That's one head scratcher down.
Now to figure out what those bubbel things do.
They drop crystals that you'll use as currency with a particular NPC elsewhere. You actually get some pretty interesting stuff out of it, so they are worth collecting!
It's such a fun adventure.
Magic Wand + Star Fragment are invaluable for very, very dark places. Even if you don't fire off any light shards to light your way, the pool of light it casts from weilding it can be useful. Brightbloom arrows are still better, though (imo, because they're permanent light sources).
Some fun and useful utility fusions for shields:
Fire Lizalfos Horn to generate passive heat. Never breaks as long as you don't use it for blocking. Can be very useful keeping you warm if you don't feel like cooking meals. Also, if you stand next to blocks of ice, it will melt them, saving you from wasting resources. Same probably works for ice Lizalfos in desert areas, but I've never tested it so can't say with certainty.
Mine cart to make a skateboard. Also allows you to ride mine tracks and won't wear down ever (on mine tracks).
Star Fragment for a permanent light pool (weak but useful especially while climbing in very dark places).
Zonai Rocket to propel yourself super high into the air.
Zonai Glider to windsurf.
Additionally frozen food for endless shield surfing.
I've tried carts, sleds, mine carts, homing carts, and nothing has compared to icy meat for speed while shield surfing.
Well now that’s interesting. Never would have thought to attach icy meat to a shield and have it make you go faster!
I’ll have to give that a shot
Oh these are great ideas - thanks so much!
Previous discussion thread can be found here.
I like it! It's really addictive in how there's always something exciting just on the horizon that you wanna check out and explore. The fuse ability is really fun and it's really interesting to see how the world of the game has changed over the years.
However I have a bunch of complaints about the game that stop me from truly loving it:
All the non-fuse abilities are kinda awkward. Fuse is a little useless imo, I basically just use it to make rock hammers or make my spears ridiculously long. I always forget that Ascend is there and in most situations I just kinda prefer climbing anyway... idk
The story kinda stucks. I don't remember much about BOTW's story but my vague memory was kind of enjoying how subtle and melancholic it felt. In this game they've really turned up the anime factor by a lot, similarly to Fire Emblem Engage. All the characters are just super annoying to me honestly.
Long and useless animations. (Especially around shrines, I just hammer the skip button as hard as I can every time)
I personally found all the characters a lot less annoying after I changed the voice acting language to Japanese. I just really didn't like a lot of the voice acting. I also felt like there could have been a better way to handle some of the main quest interactions? Like when you complete dungeons, and basically get the same information over and over again. There had to be some way to make that more interesting.
Also, "secret stones" killed me to hear said out loud. I have no idea what the localization team was thinking with that one. There had to have been a better way to translate that...
Having great fun with the game still, but definitely have some nitpicky things I didn't enjoy.
You see, I have the opposite experience. Ascend is priceless in any combat situation where you can get verticality. Allows very easy jumping + Bullet time with your bow. Additionally, it makes scaling the Talus forts super easy.
I've been trying to find more ways to abuse Ascend, it's such an amazing idea for gameplay.
I’m different, I loved BotW but couldn’t get into TotK. I read a bunch of tips about upgrading armor, making use of the boko horns and fuse ability, and cooking a lot but idk, I feel like I’m not creative enough for this game’s combat.
In BotW I could take on Lynels with good dodges and Guardians with parries and it just felt /fun/ to execute those mechanics perfectly. This game the windows seem tighter and I feel I get punished harder for trying those same things. And I know there’s a way to beat certain sections of the game (encampments) or solve certain puzzles (koroks) but it’s like I’m looking at a word scramble in a completely different language.
What I will say is that it took me starting BotW two times for me to finally get into it, and once I was in I was /in/, so I’m hoping it’s the same for this game. Time will tell!
I was an avid player of BotW (250+ hours) and I've also found that a lot of the strategies I used before don't work as well now. But being creative is a really fun headspace once you realize how well TotK enables it.
For instance, try fusing a frost emitter to a cheap weapon. Swing it at an enemy, boom, frozen. Switch to a high-damage weapon and charge attack. Insane damage. While the enemy is getting back up, switch back to the frost emitter. Repeat until dead. You can take down nearly anything this way. Frost emitters and other zonai devices are so abundant that you will almost never run out. And in this case, the strength of the weapon you fuse them to is largely irrelevant.
Another fun experiment is to figure out how the beam turret schematic works (beam emitter on top of construct head on top of stabilizer) and turn combat into tower defense.
Reversing time is absurdly exploitable when combined with ultrahand.
There is an armor set that greatly reduces the cost of using Zonai devices. It's also fairly strong when upgraded.
I'll admit, I started TotK with a mild sense of disappointment, but that really gave way to a deep sense of enjoyment after I got into it more. Maybe it'll be the same for you?
I feel the same about some of these fusion ideas. I find myself looking at guides, tips, and ideas of others in order to discover things, especially with resources feeling so much more scarce. I'm also struggling to find decent weaponry.
The game itself is perfect (minus Grantéson).
Favorite fuse: ice meat + shield means frictionless shield surfing.
Favorite machine: does it count if I say a pile of ten apples so I never have to hop around like an idiot trying to pick an apple tree clean?
Small aside: I really wish the "community" (aka everyone and anyone talking about it online, not explicitly here) was better about hiding plot spoilers. I unfortunately had something I suspected spoiled as fact very early on (and I started playing at launch). I don't really understand why people do that.
I knew that ice meat was slippery, as I've had more than one steak make a break for it when I was hunting in the mountains, but I never thought to put one on a shield. That's brilliant.
Agreed on the apple picker, though I've tossed a couple of golden apples into my applemalgamation to make sure to get those as well.
There's a workaround with drop-down boxes but it's an absolute pain to do on mobile.
Oh no! I just assumed here would have markdown-style spoiler tags; however it seems there's a
clickable section
whoch could function as a better spoiler tag.Thoughts on UI? It drives me a little looney there's no option to sort alphabetically.
I read that it's a Japanese thing. Japan doesn't have an alphabet like European languages, so "sort alphabetically" just isn't something they even consider. Monster Hunter is the same (in MH3, 4 and Gen at least that I've played) a huge inventory of monster parts, talismans, armors, and only a few semi-useful sort orders, none of which are alphabetically. The Talisman view I remember being particularly bad, as they have skill names associated and alphabet sort would be perfect.
In TOTK that huge list of stuff to add to arrows is a UI nightmare whatever way you look at it. I wish they let you somehow pre-mix arrows and just choose from your favorite 3 or 4, or somehow keep shooting the same type without tapping up to fuse each time, parts allowing.
Japanese absolutely can be sorted. There is the modern, most common a-i-u-e-o order (gojuuon), and the older iroha system. Kanji dictionaries are arranged by character radical.
OK, thanks for the links. I'll not continue propagating that disinformation then. Also, I was just playing Etrian Odyssey 2 Untold, and noticed that certain lists do have sort by name (Grimoire stones, sort by skill name for example), so it's not a universal thing either.
Well that's something I hadn't considered. With so many games releasing a slightly different copy depending on region, (dialogue, cut scene, in-game items or emblems, etc) leaving out an alpha sort seems like a minor oversight. It's funny to me because, I think, this is literally the only gripe I've had with the game.
A favorite list would also go really far. Having to scroll back and forth for me to inevitably realize I didn't have any of that item, I felt was wrapped up in the "Please add alpha sort" opinion I have. Bulk crafting is still something they feel would take away from the wonderful experience of repetition I guess? Oh well. Knowing Nintendo, they're aware it's not like most people won't play. Myself 100% included lol
It's a small thing but it's feels like a step down that we went from a nice dark themed UI in BotW to all these white headers on the inventory list in TotK.
I'm generally laissez-faire when it comes to permitting the game to tell me what it thinks is the best method for doing inventory stuff: FROM is the only company that tends to rile me. After a while I got very used to the three sorts in TotK, and found it very intuitive.
More power to you! I need an alphabetical sort option like I need water. With how they have it now, my default sort is Fuse Power since that tends to stay the same. Most Used is nice but I’m using so many items it isn’t as useful for me. An option to favorite items could be welcomed and not create a mess of sorting choices.
I would absolutely love a favorite items! I don't use items as much as I probably should—bombs and brightblooms excluded—so I don't really think I have a leg to stand on to defend the lack!
Also, if we're pipe-dreaming, I would love to replace the pointless map on the wheel with perhaps two or three set outfits to cycle through. As lately I've been on a korok and compendium spree, I'd really love to keep my default korok-compendium outfit (korok mask, sheikah top + pants) as a easy default to revert back to.
An alpha sort would also help me quickly realize I have 0 of some item. Instead I scroll back and forth and finally go "Right. I don't have any."
Custom outfit sets would be great. Hotkeyed outfits would be amazing. Nothing crazy, just 3 saved outfits to quickly switch into at needed? I'm signed up!
Without too much spoiling, is it possible to leave the depths without teleporting out?
Yes. And in fact you need to do so to access some areas...
That’s really good to know! Thank you so much! We’re really loving this game
Yes, there are places where there are well lit constructions that will let you rise to the surface. They're quite distinctive, even at a distance.
Thank you! That’s really helpful!
This game has been so good. I admit I wasn’t as into BOTW unlike many others, I’ve tried to play it since 2019 but I’ve kept putting it off for one reason or another. After TOTK’s announcement and seeing the hype, I decided to give BOTW another chance and this time it just clicked. I wish I could’ve played it longer but before I could finish it, TOTK released and so I moved on to it. All the abilities are a direct upgrade over BOTW’s for me (recall ultrahand cheese is so good, love it), the champion abilities tho I still think BOTW’s were better, and I’ve kinda missed Guardians (tho I did face my first gloom hands recently and that shit was scary lol) but apart from that TOTK has been a direct upgrade over the previous game for me. The depths are crazy, the sky islands are a nice little addition and the changed Hyrule map is a nice bonus. Having said that, I do wish I can put in a lot more hours into this game than I want to but I’m unable to, because both my joycons are drifting like crazy so this makes even basic combat with something like the Bokos way more difficult than it could be. And I keep dying in the dumbest possible ways because my joycons drift in the worst possible time. So maybe when I get a new pair of them down the line, I can put in a lot more time than I am right now, but despite that this game has been an absolute blast.
I'm dying to get in on this game but it feels wrong to play it without having beaten BOTW. So, I finally started a new BOTW save but now I'm afraid that by the time I complete BOTW I'll be Zelda'd out. Should I just jump straight into TOTK?
I would just jump straight into TotK. There were some enjoyable things about revisiting places I knew from the BotW, but there's nothing that you need to know from it in order to enjoy TotK.
Personally I would take a break in between games because ToTK doesn't have enough new content, imo, to not feel like you just took a major step backwards at the start of the game. Going from however many hearts, inv slots, ect. you have at the end of BoTW to starting fresh in the same world in ToTK is not a great feeling imo.
As important as BOTW is to the future of game design, after playing TOTK I know I will never play BOTW again. If you care about the story you could watch a recap on youtube, but you should jump into TOTK right away. TOTK is such a direct improvement in every way to BOTW it makes BOTW feel like a tech demo to prepare you for the real thing.