The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

[Fruitality]

Super agree with everything HPR (and then Dan) said. Spot on.

BOTW was a breath of fresh air and a blank slate of a world to explore and enjoy. Naturally, as a result of being a sequel, TOTK is just like 'hey you remember this world? here's everything! and then more!.

Which is great, but it's definitely overwhelming. The knowledge I have from BOTW combined with the new game elements are now pulling me in all directions. I want to go to Hateno, visit Tarrey Town, check out the Lost Woods, see what the Gorons are up to etc etc, but also I want to see what's underground and what's in the sky and unlock more outfits and cook more things and more. Plus there's new monsters and they're all tough as shit and I need to do shrines to get more hearts and I need to make my own weapons now and the controls are confusing and something's gotta give.

So I'm trying to take it easy. I'm in no rush to knock out the main story so I think I'm just gonna explore and fill the map out and collect heart containers for a while and then see what I want to do from there.

[breakfastcowl]

Paragliding now and having a blast. Failing badly at most impromptu tasks I set myself but with a smile on my face.

Spoiler

And in a small, unexpectedly emotional moment, coming across my first stable and finding all my old horses? from the BotW save?? My babies! You all survived the Upheaval :*)

So I'm trying to take it easy. I'm in no rush to knock out the main story so I think I'm just gonna explore and fill the map out and collect heart containers for a while and then see what I want to do from there.

It's very quickly achieving the same "comfort" slot of BotW for me, which I still dip into years after the fact. Started another on-again-off-again playthrough there where I'm just collecting all korok seeds in a given map portion before opening up the next area, and I can easily see that relaxed style of play continuing here.

[turnwrighthere]

I don’t have anything very insightful to say beyond I’m really enjoying this game. It’s real good.

[HPRshredder]

It has really been a while since I've been so mixed on a game. I think the last time I felt so conflicted was Dark Souls II's vanilla release in 2014. I did end up loving Dark Souls II in the end, so maybe I'll end up loving TotK too, but this game is oddly tough for me to digest.

Most people I know aren't having this experience. It makes me nervous since I'm usually not so critical of games, and, if I am, I'm usually not in the minority. I guess if I'm not loving a game, I usually just drop it, but since it's Zelda and I have a meaningful history with the franchise it "hits different" (as they say)

[Fruitality]

I've actually been playing this non-stop since it came out. I love it, but I think I love it moreso for just being more BOTW, rather than on its own merits. The vehicle stuff is cool but it's not what's keeping me going.

Zelda-game-wise, I wish they'd done something a little bit more interesting. BOTW's version of Ganon was cool and different and interesting. I think they had a chance here to create a new villain and concept to match the game style - instead of just temples and Ganondorf. It could have been to BOTW what Majora's Mask was to Ocarina. Ganondorf is fine, but what if they made a new Skull Kid/Majora?

[breakfastcowl]

Ok, been at it for a bit now and I think I have a complaint I wish to file, ha! Fairly insignificant spoilers ahead:

Spoiler

The whole Build Your Own House thing they threw together? Sucks. Outside of pure utility, it feels so incredibly cheap and vacant. And the prefab style itself is ugly as sin, to me at least. Nowhere near the same level of charm as your BotW Hateno home, static though that one may be. By contrast, when you complete the Lurelin village restoration quests, the communal environment there is so much more vibrant and narratively involved and feels much more like *home* in a very real way. Why couldn't Link have been invited/adopted to stay in a personal shack? Meh.

[Fruitality]

Ok, been at it for a bit now and I think I have a complaint I wish to file, ha! Fairly insignificant spoilers ahead:

Spoiler

The whole Build Your Own House thing they threw together? Sucks. Outside of pure utility, it feels so incredibly cheap and vacant. And the prefab style itself is ugly as sin, to me at least. Nowhere near the same level of charm as your BotW Hateno home, static though that one may be. By contrast, when you complete the Lurelin village restoration quests, the communal environment there is so much more vibrant and narratively involved and feels much more like *home* in a very real way. Why couldn't Link have been invited/adopted to stay in a personal shack? Meh.

Huge agree.

Spoiler

It was funny but sad to go to Hateno to find that Zelda had claimed your house from BOTW. Then when I got to Tarrey Town it was like oh wait I get to build my own???. But.. the options for your house are so limited. There's even a 1x1 block for the 'study' but because there's no other 1x1 blocks then you cant attach it to anything! I've ended up building an open top bedroom and study with a balcony made from the garden and fish pond, but it could be so much better with some more thought. At least let us attach other wooden/concrete blocks from around the map to DIY it a bit.

And then the builder guy is just hanging outside the house the whole time! Go away dude.

[jake74]

I'm tooled up enough to go fight Ganon, but I don't wanna. I'm running round getting as many clothing items and finding all the Shrines / LightRoots because I don't want the game to end!

[Dan]

I'm tooled up enough to go fight Ganon, but I don't wanna. I'm running round getting as many clothing items and finding all the Shrines / LightRoots because I don't want the game to end!

That's exactly what happened to me with BOTW. I don't think I've even beaten the game, I've gotten to endgame in both regular and master mode but I don't want to put a definite end to the game haha

[Fruitality]

I think I'm about ready to wrap this one up. I've been doing some shrine hunting because I think I'll want to get all of those before seeing the end of the game.

Still having a lot of fun! I haven't done much exploration of the Depths beyond chasing outfits. I think I've found it to be a lot of work without too much payoff. I suppose I should go see what those Yiga folk are up to though.

[breakfastcowl]

I've got to call it as well. I have removed the cartridge from the switch, lol! A very grand initial play-through, and did just about everything I set out to do, even clearing the Depths! (Though I am missing I think one shrine somewhere, probably never found its quest trigger). I already know on a future go-around I'm going to really emphasize the Zonai tech and builds a LOT more; I was enjoying the weapon fusing, muddle bud antics, and Keese eye arrows way too much to consider any of those other mechanics beyond point-A-to-B type stuff.

[breakfastcowl]

Hey, quest-specific question for you folks who played a bunch:

Spoiler

For the Lurelin Village monster forces fight, did y'all find that fucker down in the well on your first try or much later? Lmao, I was one of those who beat all the monsters and missed the smoke coming from the well entirely twice-- thought the quest was glitching on me. It was later in-game, too, so I was starting to see Silver enemies. Ugghhhh

[Fruitality]

Haha! I caught him the first time. I guess I must have noticed the smoke.

I'm now just purely shrine hunting. Finishing off sky islands that I haven't visited yet, tackling those big labyrinths etc. I've just been mixing speed elixirs or slapping on the Tingle suit at night to run around as quick as I can to see what I can find.

I'm wishing there was some kind of NPC hint system for tracking down the last few hidden shrines without just doing a blind search around around the map. I remember just cross-referencing a map from the internet in BOTW to finish them off. Would be nice if I could pay someone 1000 rupees for a hint of where a shrine is.

The monster guy gives hints about Bubbul gems, and then there's also the cherry blossom trees to help track down caves.

I finally caved last night and built the hoverbike that I've seen online. I remember reading comments that you'll either love it or think it ruins/breaks the game. I think I'm in the 'breaks the game' camp, but boy is it handy for negating some of the frustrating busywork of running around in circles looking for a cave entrance or something.

[breakfastcowl]

^ 'Love it' camp here, I used that craft from early on! Having it as an option made the game more fun for me at least, and actually encouraged my upgrading the battery pack fully. Very akin to experiencing Ascend and suddenly realizing I could jet through the core of any deep cave and get to a mountain peak, Nintendo had A-Ok'd "ludicrous" mobility... if you so choose.

[Fruitality]

You know, you're right. If anything, the whole theme of this game is 'fuck it, just do whatever you want'