[GOTY 2023 #2] Best VGM 2840 - Zelda : Tears of the Kingdom - Main Theme

A collection of my favorite videogame music. Note that most of them are from games I played so I might miss some great ones from games I never played.
Switch
Zelda : Tears of the Kingdom (2023)
Main Theme
Manaka Kataoka, Maasa Miyoshi, Masato Ohashi & Tsukasa Usui
X: / supradarky
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List with all the locations the VGMs play in: docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...
Special thanks to the following patrons:
KillerDialysis

[@SupraDarkyVGM]

I had BOTW #2 of its year and it feels appropriate to also have TOTK as my #2 in 2023. Back when I uploaded that BOTW pick, I mentioned that the game built an amazing foundation that needed quite a few refinements on top, and that I thought the sequel would do just that. I was confident, but I was not expecting them to reuse the main map and add 2 layers on top. If there's anything that I didn't feel was necessary after playing BOTW, it was making the world even bigger. That's not to say that I didn't like the Sky or the Depths, but I would have taken a new world with those 3 layers at a smaller scale, which overall could have been the same scale as BOTW's map.
I'm in the camp of those who think TOTK is better than BOTW in almost every way, but it's inevitable that it lost that pure sense of discovery and freshness that the original had. Too many things feel familiar apart from the map itself, including the very low enemy variety and filler features like korok seeds. While the Depths are too big and feel quite empty, I still really appreciated them for their novelty and dark atmosphere. Sky Islands could have been a bigger emphasis, but I enjoyed them for what they were. Having dungeons was also a necessary improvement. The powers were better than in BOTW, but I did tend to ignore a lot of the builds you could do for combat and instead mostly used them for traversal and puzzles, which was very fun. It might have felt too familiar, but TOTK is still the continuation of an amazing achievement. Getting lost in this world filled with memorable moment-to-moment situations and this zen open-air feel will always be one of my favorite things in gaming.

[@lucydream64]

I feel similarly and I think you put it well. I spent well over 500 hours in BOTW, yet I liked TOTK more. I just... couldn't get another 500 hours out of what's almost the same world. It did really lose a good amount of that sense of discovery. Also really agree that the sky islands could've played a bigger role. It was like, the biggest part of the promotional material, yet there seems to only be a handful of islands overall. Just really felt built up to be a lot bigger than it was.

[@thetadpoleprince2250]

To me, Totk felt like the game they wanted Botw to be. I liked it more but I actually feel strange that I wasn't really bothered with the map being the same since a lot of other people were. What I liked about that is I got the vibe that the game expects you to have played the previous so that the familiar locals will be recognized, and you see how much it has changed from the events of the game. I played totk with my friend and when we first got to Korok Forest he got really sad because he remembered what it was like in botw and felt the pain of how it changed in this game.
I think another thing that helped me not really care that the map was the same is the fact I havent played Botw since it came out, so I didnt feel much fatigue. Botw was about discovery because you're new this world in the aftermath of destruction. Totk is about a mission in order to save this world you discovered and help to rebuild. Thats how I see it anyway.
Last thing, I think Hajime Wakai did this song because he was sound director for this game and botw and did the main theme of the last game. We wont know for sure until the ost album comes out though.

[@quinoa03]

I didn't play BOTW and the hype for TOTK and the power of nostalgia made me get a Switch and the game. I had a blast playing TOTK, it made me feel like a child again while discovering me a new way of designing games. I can see why someone who has played BOTW didn't feel like that with this one, they are very long games and not that much different

[@Waywhard]

BotW is safely my #3 Zelda overall, but they really lost me with this one. Next to none of my issues from the first game were addressed and the new major mechanic didn't appeal to me at all. Most of the time it either felt like I was replaying BotW, or it simply didn't feel like a Zelda game. Hopefully the old Zelda formula isn't completely abandoned going forward

[@boyblob]

I don't usually play too many games right at launch or in the same year they are released (endless backlog, game prices go down after some time or the odd sale her or there are reasons why I usually wait), but this was one of those games I got day one and absolutely devoured.
In the end I'm not sure if I preferred it over BotW or not. I sort of ruined my pacing with Tears, because I decided, "I will upgrade all my armor before taking on the final boss." And because some of those upgrades need Lizafalos tails from various types or just hoarding dragon/gleeok stuff, I basically put myself through a 20 hour slog just mindlessly farming and hoping to get drops and then waiting for the blood moon to resurrect so I could rinse and repeat. Big mistake that I didn't do with Breath. So I wish I simply completed the final boss and then every now and then returned to the game to try to upgrade some of the last armor sets.
As for the music, I wasn't too taken by it this time. I think mostly cause I was already used to the Breath tracks and I didn't feel like I got enough out of the new stuff (but I really liked the Breath ost, so I didn't mind it being here again. It just had less of an impact I guess).
Overall though, the sequel still had plenty for us to discover (and rediscover of course) and new ways to interact with the world. And like the last time around, I couldn't stop playing it. Just wished I handled my end a bit better for myself. The 400 or so hours I put into the game before crashing my pacing were great times.

[@diegomedina9637]

Poorly aged TH-cam titles part 1:

[@luciofernandes366]

Wheeen does this play in gaaameeee

[@Uncle_Aura]

I thought BOTW was an amazing foundation that they'd use for the next game. Then this came out and... widened the foundation instead of building on it. I've never been so frustrated at a Zelda game before. The dev comments about the future of the series don't fill me with confidence either

[@roamer1389]

The adventure is fantastic, but the music is average compared to Ocarina of Time and Majoras Mask.

[@KbanjoK]

Disagree

[@Bigrog1988]

I agree with you

[@Terinije]

Anyone that thinks the OST isn't phenomenal for this game really needs to give it another listen. There are so many damn bangers in this that it's crazy, and it has an even bigger collection of somber, melancholy tunes like BotW to really mix up the mood.
I know that more than a few don't like the direction that the series has gone this era, but as someone that's been playing since the NES, I have legitimately never been happier with the place that the series is at and the direction it is going than I am right now. What they're doing now? Keep it up, but refine and add. That's all I want.