I like to imagine Zelda is fending off Gannon in the castle while link is spending hours of precious time looking at unremarkable and odd locations that make him feel a little strange
Not to mention walking in circles, picking up rocks and putting them back down again over and over, killing random horses and moving their body parts till they despawn
Fun fact about the second spot. In master mode, a lone red bokoblin spaws there. Obviously the only one in the game on that setting. It basically exists so you can actually complete the compendium. Elsewhere there is a single green lizalfos and a single red moblin
Holy frick, I'm so sad that I never went there on my recent Master Mode playthrough. I tried my best to explore everything, but I never ended up finding any of the hidden low-level monsters. I would've been so thrown off guard to have found that red bokoblin on my own.
One place that always struck me as odd is Mount Agaat. It's the mountain forming the western border of Gerudo Highlands, and despite having a name, you can't climb it. If you try, the invisible wall tells you that you can't go that way. It even looks like it should be in bounds on the map, as the northeast portion is directly north of in-bounds areas of Gerudo Desert. Thus, it's the only named map location you cannot go to, which is very odd indeed.
There is a video of someone warping to all of the out of bounds places that allow you to stand. That one is one of those places and enemies spawn, you can ride your horse there. The area isn't that big though. It's a weird spot and one of the first places I tried to get to in the game lol
The top of the Kakariko Village mountains are always really weird. There's stuff up there but it's clearly just built as a backdrop for the village below so you got a bunch of disjointed mountains and purposeless lakes that make it hard to get around
There and some of the cliffs by the roads leading to kakariko It feels like your out of bounds of a normal Zelda looking at the levels from above Like something you would see in a boundary break video or something lol
The Great Deku Tree branches being all the way in the lost woods is the tree equivalent of sleeping at night and not having your feet covered by your blanket.
I can tell Breath of the Wild's world is built well because no matter where I am, I find myself looking around and thinking "I would totally build a house and live here, right on this spot"
I had a very vivid thought about a small house in the middle of the bowl-shaped valley around 3:00, and for some reason the idea of living a small, isolated structure in the center of almost oppressively large cliffs made me feel a little anxious and sad. Like you’re almost cut off from the outside world and walled in all around.
@@PigPharmaceuticals Also, attackers could easily shoot arrows at you from the top of the mountains and you couldn't do anything. It's a very strategically bad location :(
the hebra mountains have always had a weird feeling to me. the quiet to near non existent music that plays, how quiet and muffled every sound is, how little sounds there actually are, the bland white of everything you can see; something about the mountains disquiets me so much. maybe it’s the fact that it’s one of the few places with no civilization. no towns, no random travelers, it’s all monsters. there are so many monsters up there. when i first came across selmie’s cabin, i had gotten so used to the constant anxiety of the mountains that i was genuinely expecting the cabin to be a trap, or that whatever i would find inside would be long dead. if i’m being honest, not to be cliché, but being deep in the hebra mountains is the first time in any zelda game that i ‘felt like’ link. i forgot myself up there. i felt like i personally was searching for any sign of life in that wasteland of a mountain. every enemy i encountered felt like a real fight for my life. i did one long expedition through the hebra mountains when looking for the leviathan there, and needless to say, i have seldom visited since. absolutely an odd place full of heebie jeebies sorry for how long this is
100% agree. it's such a massive portion of the map that's filled with crazy terrain and interesting places, just no people. big feeling of loneliness and being far from home
hey man, this is beautiful. and also I absolutely felt this way too. when collecting all the koroks, mountain areas were my absolute least favorite places to go. but thinking back on it, there was something different about them from the rest of the game. I think it was the monotonous routine, the fact that there are no safe places to stop at, and if you spend all night wandering you’re bound to encounter those mighty skeleton monsters, and so every day at sunset I would have Link light up a fire and rest for the night, and every day would be the same, never getting anywhere new, always seeing unwelcoming white in every direction I looked. it’s like you say, up in the mountains is where it feels the most real. it almost doesn’t feel like wandering around in a videgame anymore, being able to back down at any minute, cause if you did it would take you an awful lot of time to travel back to some spots up there. it really did feel like planning an expedition. you really do forget yourself as a player up in the mountains
in Wind Waker when you can see the version of Hyrule that's like frozen in time under the ocean and you can just walk a little bit outside the castle but you can never go out there and explore it all....that filled me with such incredible longing to go see what else there is. The edge of Gerudo kind of makes me feel that, too
I definitely wanted to explore that version of Hyrule too! I’m sure we all did. With how fun exploring in Wind Waker was, but limited by its small environments and islands, the idea of the whole land of Hyrule was tantalizing.
if you stand directly underneath the second hookshottable arch and equip the iron boots, you can escape the boundary by hookshotting straight up! unfortunately a lot of the ground oob isn't solid, but it's fun to stand there at least
My Botw moment was my husband and I were having Link go up a hill and the music changes to classic Japanese strings. And going a little further my husband asks "Is that a *dragon?*" And walks right towards it, getting electrocuted in the process. Absolutely enthralling moment. His favorite was stumbling upon his BOY BEEDLE. just pure unrestrained delight in finding an old friend.
I love the gerudo desert because for large stretches of land it’s empty apart from occasional statues or pillars. these patches of isolated architecture don’t really seem make any sense - you can’t really imagine any ancient people living there or creating them. most of the world feels logical and purposeful, but these bits of the desert feel pretty abstract. the odd, abandoned loneliness of it it reminds me of a giorgio de chirico painting.
I think those isolated areas feel more empty because of the harsh nature of the desert, like the rest of the map they were probably much more populated pre-calamity. Even though the other settlement areas have ruined buildings, the wind and sand didn't strip them bare so you see burned ruins that would be covered or blown away in the desert. Personally I love it there because it never rains, maybe just my luck but I swear I can't travel for five minutes without rain or thunder, just got the Thunder Helm two days ago though. ;)
Massive spoilers for tears of the kingdom (I’ve 100% all the caves and such) but I have a theory now that the game is out that the gerudo people of the past used to live underground. There’s a massive amount of underground ruins that ancient gerudo used to live in and leave cool stuff in, and the current day gerudo are living in an underground cave ruin under the city. It’s neat to see how they fleshed out these weird areas so well in the sequel.
One of the most weird places I found my first time playing the game was the rock quarry over on the east side of the map that only has like 1 shrine and nothing else.
3:33 Well, you might experience "stepping in a prairie dog hole and twisting your ankle" or "having the owner of the land come over a hill on a 4x4 with a shotgun telling you to get off his property". But nothing is certainly a good possibility too.
Honestly playing tears of the kingdom has made me appreciate the emptier world of botw. The lonely and melancholic vibes are just immaculate, and are just what i look for in games.
I remember my childhood house, which was maybe a mile and a half of farmland away from the school. Sometimes I'd imagine while walking through them, that the field, which were devoid crops, would expand endlessly while I was walking towards my place. It was meant to be a scary what if scenario, but it actually was pretty soothing to think about. My favorite thing about the fields though was the time I just laid down in them, looking at the sky. The nothingness and stillness of the situation was exactly the feelings these videos give me. My house was directly visible yet entirely sequestered from the fields.
I grew up on a farm and I actually did that one time. I think I was like 9 and I was playing outside and just decided to pick a direction and walk as far as I could. I found places I'd never seen before and eventually ran into a creek. Perhaps it was a good thing that I'd read Bridge to Terabithia or I might have tried to cross it, but I just sat there for a while in the shade and watched it before walking back. It probably wasn't actually very far but it felt like an epic journey to me lmao
I grew up in a crowded house and a cult, I was just constantly watched by family or people in my community or neighborhood. Sometimes I want to just feel alone and unseen. Being in the center of a field, or a forest, or even just a dry patch of sand where I can scream and shout and take my shirt off (and smoke or drink lol) would feel like an otherworldly heaven for me. Like limbo, but in a good way.
All of the shrine quest specific areas like the Rist Peninsula in Akkala, Typhlo Ruins, the Zonai labyrinths and Thundra Plateau all give very strange vibes. Maybe it's because their design is so specific to doing the quest and that they take up so much space that, upon return, it feels like the area has depleted all that it's got to give and is now just empty space on the map. Eventide Island is still very pretty and chill though.
The Zonai ruins all give me the cosmic unsettling vibe that looking at infinite size of space or being reminded of mass extinctions and long lost history. The vibes are horrifying and I have become obsessed.
3:20 - I grew up in a rural farming community, not with the truly giant fields like out in the west and midwest, but still lots of sizable tracks. I can confirm that finding yourself out in the middle of a field, suddenly and surprisingly alone, is a really ethereal feeling. You come to a neighbor's field in the morning, and the corn or silage or fescue is so tall it's well over your head, maybe even taller than your eye level while sitting up on a tractor, and then by midday the field is completely open and empty. Maybe it's your job to go around and get up the hay bales, or maybe you head out into the middle of the field to retrieve a tarp that blew away, but if you find yourself out in the middle of that suddenly empty field, you'll find yourself very abruptly feeling out of place, and maybe a little agoraphobic. It's definitely a strange vibe.
I love wandering around in 3D games. You always find a little spot that's probably just there to fill in the void, but somehow it's calming and beautiful.
Top back corner of gerudo village is a girl eating tons of watermelons and she leaves the rinds in the little irrigation river so it flows all the way down and around the tops of the walls and piles up at the base of a waterfall fountain on the bottom layer but she is very secretive and the rinds float individually all the way through if you follow them
I think the tabatha labyrinth interesting for the one abandoned camp within it, there was someone here and now there isnt, that idea about missed connections puts some kind of emotion in me that I cant quite describe
My favorite vibe place is the labyrinth in the upper north east. I remember the first time discovering it and going there. It seemed alien. Like a perfectly constructed geometrically symmetrical object in a vast open natural world. Loved the juxtaposition
Finding that was such a surreal feeling the first time around. Like... that thing shouldn't be there, but it is... can I get to it? Will I ever be able to get back? It was neat.
Yeah I love that labyrinth, and that descent down below it into the under-space that’s just giant columns, a dusty plain, and a dozen old, rusted, but still dangerous guardians. Plus it’s one of the only places in the game it literally plays a trick on you. If you go and grab the obvious cool item all the guardians wake up and you realise, this place was a trap all along!
If you enjoy getting up the deku tree, you should try climbing the giant malice pillars around hyrule castle. They’re possible to climb but also somewhat of a pain, and can lead to some very fun glitchy shenanigans
My first play through I actually got into the top of Hyrule castle by climbing on top of one and gliding into the final boss room. Felt pretty cool then but looking back I wish I wouldn’t have accidentally skipped the entire castle on my first play through lmao
My first time playing I discovered a hole in the side of death mountain, i was looking around the edge because no fireproof elixir and i stumbled across it. I've never been able to find it again. I think inside there is one of the most UAO places
There's a couple places like that. There's a spot on a cliff near the Fairy fountain in Akkala that doesn't have collision, so you can climb inside the cliff and the textures will start glitching out.
I think this video is actually really special. This is just a video of you appreciating the magic of the simple joy of a video game. It is just so genuine to hear you talk about the thoughts and feelings the games elicit in you, and even though it’s so personal the mood is still super light and breezy. It’s something I don’t really see on TH-cam much and I miss these sorts of things. Thanks for making this.
Your job analogy half way through the vid reminded me of one time when I was working at a store, first time in 3 years since I was working there, I was asked to go bring something from that store to another store of the same chain. And I just got to go outside on a sunday afternoon and go into the city for like 30 minutes. And it had the same feeling as going out of bounds in a videogame. I was half expecting to start seeing 2D trees and really low framerate animations if I just kept going. Weird stuff. It was almost as if the whole city was one big odd and unremarkable place
One of the weirdest parts of that first location is that this little unremarkable strip of land at the northern edge of Hyrule... is part of Dinraal's route. Dinraal flies through there, and I have no idea why. Dinraal, unlike Farosh, only has ONE route... and a good 1/3 of it is spent in this weird edge area.
i feel like you need to do one of these on shadow of the colossus, that entire game's map feels like a fever dream, everywhere you go feels unremarkable and odd yet strangely peaceful and beautiful. everytime i think of that game i just thinking about the cliffside and big open empty fields and think about how id just love to lie down on the grass and die there ???
Yes! I love the little routes to the colossi on Shadow of the Colossus. I spent half an hour once getting lost trying to find the way to the electric water colossus, that feeling of descending down that huge river valley, through the jungle, and eventually coming out on this hidden lake and triggering the cutscene. You feel like you’ve really discovered these ancient beasts.
Yeah thats exactly what I was thinking! These odd little 3d spaces in BOTW are here to fill empty space, but the entirety of the SOTC map is empty space, save for the few colossi locations. It really is a strange feeling just traveling and finding little nooks that are out of the way. No fruit, no lizards, just a vibe.
I absolutely adore this series. It's just everything I love about games and just art in general. You really do a great job driving home how subjective the human experience is, and that subjectivity is what I love the absolute most about games ♥️
I always liked standing off to the side, or behind, or where ever I can and stare at the Sheikah monks at the end of the shrines from the wrong angle. The room was built up with a certain view point considered, but that's the end goal. You can wander a bit before you go talk to them.
The edge of the gerudo desert felt like in the first level of Spyro 1 where you fight the rams and catch the one thief and then you see the barrier towers and there's just endless green mountain that you can't get to.
This is the same energy that made me explore Shadow of the Colossus endlessly back in the day. So glad Botw and Totk can bring this type of vibe back. Very liminal.
i really love this series, please keep doing more of it. my favorite spot on the map is one i couldn't pinpoint but i could definitely find my way back to if i wandered long enough, which is this one spot on the west side of hyrule field where there's a single tree on a hill and nothing else around it - no koroks, no paths, not even any other trees. another one of those spots like the grassy gulch you mentioned where the theme park ride pauses and you can just exist for a while.
The 4th spot was so unnecessary for the devs to build, but they did. Think about that. It's neither odd nor unremarkable, but the wide open area on teh Great Plateau by the King's cabin is just so laid back. And Whistling Hill in Hyrule Field is just the right amount of lonely.
Please please continue making videos like this and never stop. Your content has some of the most honest and unconditionally comforting vibes I've ever seen on TH-cam.
There's a place in the mountains I found by Kakariko, I think it was to the west, and you start going down there's an abandoned house just there in the cliffside and something about it just really got me. It's so secluded and peaceful (disregarding some bokoblins that are not too far off down them mountain)
There's a little hot spring between Mount Rozudo and Koto Pond that I love. Although there is a Korok puzzle there, it's still a random place for a hot spring to show up.
One that stood out to me: Shadow Hamlet Ruins. What's the deal? It's a named location, but there's next to nothing there. One of the first places I'm going to explore next weekend in TOTK.
I was going to say this. There are a few enemies but nothing other than that. Not even a Korok for some reason. And the name sounds so interesting for such an unremarkable location.
When I 100% botw, that was the very last map location that took me from 99.92% to 100% completion. It is so tiny and so hidden away that after like 300 to 400 hours of gameplay it was the only location I never found on my own. I instead had to resort to an online list of locations to find the last location I was missing. Because of that it will always hold a special place in my heart.
i love places and vibes like this, makes me feel human i wouldnt want these spots to have "something" to do in them, it'd remove the realistic feeling of "stuff is happening here and there, but probably not here you can sit here for a while"
2:45 I knew where this was instantly! Also, for some reason, this is the ONLY PLACE in Master Mode where you can find a red Bokoblin, and I think that's neat!
The edge of the map being an unbeatable boss is a great point. Quiet places in nature, real life or in a game are a mindfulness exercise. Games have often felt like being in a fishbowl if I spent too much of my free time on it without touching grass, or in my case tending to my garden. I didn't realize how mentally necessary it is to have the ability to wander anywhere, even if there was nothing there for you and you couldn't survive. We may be tied to our jobs and families in real life, but I'm so glad we have the blessing of being able to wander.
3:08 I grew up in the High Mountains of Colorado, and yeah there are places like this in real life and they are usually the best places. That cliff would be a tapestry of geology, and probably very cool on most days.
One of my favorite breath of the wild places, is one of the mountains by kakariko village- one with no koroks, nothing of interest at all, but it has one of the best views for seeing all the divine beasts just pointing at hyrule castle, in my opinion.
Thank you for making this. Map edges have both entranced and haunted me my entire life. You’ve tapped into thoughts I never knew how to verbalize until now. GameCube 👍
The Northern part of that canyon makes me feel uncomfortable, but not because of Death Mountain. Look at the cliffs on the other side, now think about how different they look when compared to the Eldin region. There's a massive disconnect in soil types which make it feel completely foreign. It gets even worse when you immerse yourself in the game and look at the canyon from the Hebra Region. It just stops snowing for no reason! The cliffs don't even look like they're made of any rock or soil type found in Hyrule, but I might be wrong.
It's very much like Hyrule is in a literal bubble, completely disconnected from whatever world exists on those high hills. I always wonder what someone standing on one of those hills would actually see when looking down at Hyrule. Or if the hills across the abyss even exist. Maybe they're just a painted background, or a projection.
Feels very much like those hills far off in the distance were always intended to be seen from far away, to give the illusion of a much larger world. The unnatural cliffs and canyons are very much a unintended result of wanting to create a natural barrier between the playable area and the unplayable “skybox”, and are not supposed to be noticed outside the immediate vicinity. In fact unless you’re at the very edge of the map you probably won’t even notice that those canyons are even there, the playable and unplayable space merge into one seamless landscape. Curious to know why they didn’t just put a large invisible barrier there instead of those huge cliffs, like they did with the desert. I guess the nature of a desert as it’s own impenetrable barrier feels makes the invisible wall less noticeable then it would with infinite rolling hills, where you would expect to be able to explore forever (especially on horseback).
I think that ridge of rock spikes separating the edge of the Akkala sea from the void on the west side deserves a mention. This flimsy-looking rock formation holding an ocean at bay is weird enough, but you also have the view of the perfectly geometrical labyrinth sitting in the water to the east and the towering landscapes on all sides.
The lone guardian near in the shallow waters to me there also really stood out. Standing from a distance watching that weird spider looking thing walk through the water really adds to the mood.
i've always had a fixation with that location, whether it be annoyance at the physics or desperate desire to walk across it. i was expecting to see it in this video, but i also sort of like the idea that odd and unremarkable mean such vastly different things to people, yet we can mostly agree. or something.
One of my favorite odd places in BotW has to be inside the Great Deku Tree's mouth. It was the first odd place I clipped into, and was met with the surprise of a single flower inside. I asked Mii Verse if I should burn the flower, and I got like 5 Yeah's. And so I did. Good times.
I love climbing the deku tree, my favorite place is Eastern reservoir lake, I love going up there because no one else is there. The water sounds are so calming. it was somewhere with a lot of attention and after you beat the divine beast there's no reason to go back up there, at least not for any reason the game thinks and I think that's wonderful. I loved all the spots you pointed out all of them are really good
I found it so weird cause they had little docks all around it, but they lead out to nothing, and sometimes theyd have a pot or two, but that was it. No chests, korak seeds, or anything hidden in the water. Absolutely empty
5:59 I hadn't noticed before that when you stand in the sand, your feet clip into the ground a bit. That's a very subtle touch, but it is what you would expect when standing in fine sand: for your feet to be a little buried. 10:47 this is a very pretty image imo. I think its the pinkish orange leaves + the blue atmosphere.
one more well-known spot you should absolutely check out is the unclimbable hole in the peak of mt hebra, its hard to miss its huge and unclimbable and actually has quite a bit of lore behind it. i love your unremarkable spots series and was overjoyed to see it done with botw which is my favorite game to play. my favorite part of the game is finding small holes to climb in. youre very cool glad to see this hope you're doing well❤️
my favorite weird place is also at the edge of the map but it’s on the top right side of the map. it’s so cold and desolate and there’s only a tiny strip cut off by the mountain. i was so shocked to see there was a shrine there
Always love new videos in this series! Liminal spaces in video games that partly take you out of the game but at the same time make the game so much more real in it's 'normality' since it's easier to relate to it.
The place itself doesn’t have that odd vibes, but my first time reaching Gerudo Tower truly evoked such a strange emotion in me. I had gone about getting there in a somewhat strange way so I had wandered the desert without a map for a while. I finally found the tower at like 01 AM but in game it’s like afternoon so the typical soundtrack is playing, but then as I’m climbing, there’s just a real quiet music starting. Now I’m a little groggy and I truly couldn’t tell if it was in the game or not. I keep climbing and the music gets louder and not only am I sure I’ve heard the song before, but I’m also certain it’s in the game now. As I climb I’m feeling weirdly thrilled, like I got chills, but not in a bad way. The music is getting louder and louder and finally I reach the top and there’s Kass, that Rito who I had at this point met once before and didn’t realize was a recurring NPC and I just felt such glee and wonder. I don’t know how else to explain it. BOTW was not only my first Zelda game, but it was my first open world game that wasn’t sandbox. Before then I had only played simulators, sandbox and the occasional two person fighter like Mortal Combat, and now here’s Link stood at the top of a tower after in game days of searching, looking at this bird person who’s playing a jolly tune and I just feel so excited. Like for some reason, that moment solidified my love for this game so thoroughly. The Gerudo region is my favorite and I think it’s because it’s where I discovered that I truly loved that game. That got long and it probably isn’t that remarkable, but I wanted to share. It’s a wonderful game, truly
Link climbing all the way up the Deku Tree's branches and seeing weird, fake-looking N64 leaves so visually inconsistent with anything you see prior is disturbing somehow. It's like Link has finally found a spot where he can see through the matrix of games he's trapped in.
I immediately knew where that second one was because it was the first place I got curious to explore after leaving the plateau. Feels like there is a secret to be found.
One area in Breath of the Wild that’s always felt fairly off to me is the East Reservoir Lake by Zora’s Domain, where the Divine Beast Vah Ruta is initially located. Since the area was mostly made as a big arena to house the Beast and it’s opening setpiece, it’s just about entirely barren once you complete the dungeon inside and it leaves the area, giving the lake the uncanny emptiness of a boss arena after a fight. Another odd thing about the area that adds to the weird vibe is that during the dungeon segment, as with all the Divine Beasts, once you enter, you can’t just walk out or jump off, or you’ll die instantly. With the 3 other Beasts, either the environment is deadly enough or the fall distance is big enough that you figure it’d kill Link on impact, but with Vah Ruta, all that happens is that he falls into a big lake, which you know wouldn’t hurt him during normal gameplay. For me at least, the lake being treated as a bottomless pit during the dungeon segment gives it a slightly ominous feeling; you can swim around in the water as normal after beating the boss, but it _feels_ like you shouldn’t, since it was treated as an instant death earlier.
I’ve been watching your videos for quite a while, and I can’t thank you enough for the content you create. You remind me so much of my uncle who introduced me to the Zelda series around the time Wind Waker was released, and he passed away a few years ago. He was very sick around the time Breath of the Wild released, and I’ve been thinking lately how much he would have loved to see Tears of the Kingdom as well. You have his charm, his humor, his ability to appreciate even the most seemingly insignificant things, and the way in which he could say something that both means so much and absolutely nothing at the same time (and that is a compliment). Thank you for everything you do!
That second area, if I'm not mistaken, is the one place in the entire map where you can encounter a Red Bokoblin in Master Mode. There are dedicated locations all over the map where the lowest tier enemies that normally don't spawn in Master Mode are allowed to hang out just to ensure you can still find them for completing the compendium. There's a tucked away pond in the mountains around the path to Zora's Domain where the only Green Lizalfos can be found, a hot spring in West Hebra were you can find the only Red Moblin, and of course Ploymous Mountain is where the only Red Mane Lynel can be found.
I'm a big fan of existentially odd and unremarkable places. And unbeatable bosses are always worth a look. So please, keep making videos like this. Also, those 2D branches are just great. They bring back fond memories of N64 tree-walls!
my favorite "unremarkable and odd" place is your channel. it just always has good vibes but is much further from the beaten path than expected (you deserve more subs!)
I have never seen a video in this series and I'm happy t found me. I love the contradictory nature of the title it's so fun as an odd place in the name is somewhat remarkable, yet I completely understood the vibe of one of these locations. To me my favourite odd and unremarkable place in all of Hyrule which I constantly keep the travel medallion at is the top of Hebra peak. There is only 1 korok there and it's always snowy when I make my way there, but from the highest point on the map(or second highest idk if death mountain is higher) is just awe inspiring. Any time I complete a task like beating a divine beast or beating ganon I always travel back there to really put in perspective what I've done in the game. It's beautiful to look over hyrule and know that everything I'm doing will cause the survival of everywhere I view, making my tasks seem that much more important. This hyrule is so great
i ran into the first place in the shadow of death mountain on my first play through and i felt the same way like wth is this liminal space? also i wandered straight from there into the creepy dark shadow woods with the shadowy ink enemies and i was so scared. didn’t help that i was staying up at night and playing it 😂
@@pigaboyAKAthecoolestguyonearth yeah and they come up from the black tar stuff that surrounds the place (i know because i got very lost and had to circle around the perimeter to gtfo)
I love the desert, I've always been so attracted to deserts in games and i instantly seek them out just to walk through in circles for hours, I live in a desert and I constantly daydream of just walking out into the bliss of endless sand
I too relate to the feeling of “I wonder what would happen if I were to stand over there in that place that I have no reason to stand in.” I can go stand in my siblings room on the second floor even though i’m watching TV on the first floor and I have no reason to stand in my siblings room, therefore I will not. Doesn’t stop my siblings room from being there though. I’m not, but it is. I won’t… probably.
South of the Satori Mountains, halfway to the Dalite Forest, there's a little plateau with dense tree growth (look for a dense clump). It's south of the Stalnox in that area, and it's more easily accessed from the mountain than from the bottom (teleport to the Shrine there). In this spot you can find just about every type of mushroom in the game, and in reasonable quantities as well (IIRC some 2-3 of each type). This location is back in Tears of the Kingdom, allowing you to harvest a nice variety of mushrooms pretty quickly.
the little apple orchard off the side of satori mountain always intrigued me. And there's a pitch fork learning against a tree of a rock. So these was planted, right? some one tried to harvest the apples. But where was that person from? there is not village or homes close by, who left their house with a pitch fork and headed to that apple orchard to harvest? that's a long way to carry a pitch fork. so many questions.
The top of the Deku Tree is one of my favorite spots in BotW! I think you can even get caught by the Lost Woods mechanics on one of the branches that sticks out very far. A very good selection of places, Austin!
I spent a lot of time in the first location because I naturally saw my first dragon there, Dinraal. I would climb up the Death Mountain spiky bits a little way, make a campfire and set the time to night... and then try and get good pictures of Dinraal for the compendium. I didnt know to shoot at the dragons yet, I just thought they were neat.
0:27 i had a dream once that i was playing totk and managed to get over to the land in the distance. my paraglided broke and link just floated over a flat plane. eventually i found a spot that seemed like debug area with random textures, the windmills from the great canyon, random tarrey town house configurations and an npc who gave a broken quest. i used to spend a lot of time staring off into the distance here in botw. one of my favourite moments in the game was when i was in the far top left corner of the map just chilling and waiting for the snow to clear and looked up to see auroras its all very nostalgic and comforting. as a child playing way too much minecraft i used to love wandering around in flat worlds until finding a randomly spawning village.i love weird spots like this in games as theyre uniquely game-y to me. super fond of games like yume nikki and lsd that tap into that curiosity. and i love your little series on the matter! :)
I loved the philosophical section in the gerudo desert omg, I always have a strange feeling when you reach an invisible wall there saying “you can’t go any farther” because the whole point of the game is to defeat Ganon, as the final boss, but when you see that text it’s like there’s another higher power of ‘The Game’ that’s always watching
Field at 3:25 looks exactly like the field outside my granny's house in Shetland to an uncanny degree, I could swear this generic field is a view I've seen a hundred times before even though I know how unlikely that is, which is the exact same type of weirdly familiar but off and dreamlike feeling these empty botw locations make me feel when I go to them. Good job I guess?
i always find myself going back to the deku tree’s branches, especially trying to see if i can windbomb out of the lost woods. nice to see others appreciating it
Great content as always. Been revisiting botw over the last few months, and getting lost in odd spaces. I had a similar moment of clarity to your Gerudo desert, looking out at the sea at the islands beyond Eventide. There's no way to get to them, but it certainly evoked a curiosity beyond the confines of the game.
If you go further west in that area behind Death Mountain, that Lynel actually has two friends nearby. They form a perfect trifecta of sword, club, and spear, so they were definitely placed there intentionally, if not by Ganon then at least by the devs
You should definitely check out some of the locations in Age of Calamity. Most levels don't involve you going through every section of the map, so sometimes there are these empty spaces in a corner somewhere, and it feels weird, especially since the prequel is supposed to show a less "post apocalyptic" Hyrule.
I click as soon as i got the notification... I think the second place's purpose is for giving you an area to look down towards before you get the paraglider. Those places on the edge of the map are fun to throw bombs and watch how far the supernatural wind pushes it in the other direction. The corners of the Blessing Shrines seem odd to me, with the water seeping into the bricks.
I just found your channel like a week ago with the “Where do Skyrim Rivers Lead and I was absolutely not expecting existentialism, but I am so here for it.
3:24 That looks exactly like where I used to go hunting with my dad. Oddly that's actually kinda true. You experience nothing standing in those fields... Yet also everything through that nothing. Your channel is great, glad its blowing up.
I just had a really bad time at the court house annex dealing with a title transfer that I even had an appointment for, and I came back to this and you made me laugh. This was gorgeous, Austin.
This is my favorite type of content that you make, I would greatly appreciate it if you keep making more until you physically and mentally cannot anymore, thank you very much.
I like to imagine Zelda is fending off Gannon in the castle while link is spending hours of precious time looking at unremarkable and odd locations that make him feel a little strange
“Link *PLEASE* I cannot hold on much longer!”
“Man, this treetop is pretty cool”
"This place is so...unremarkable."
Not to mention walking in circles, picking up rocks and putting them back down again over and over, killing random horses and moving their body parts till they despawn
I mean, it's not completely untrue.
Legend of Zelda: A Link to Existence
Fun fact about the second spot. In master mode, a lone red bokoblin spaws there. Obviously the only one in the game on that setting. It basically exists so you can actually complete the compendium. Elsewhere there is a single green lizalfos and a single red moblin
Holy frick, I'm so sad that I never went there on my recent Master Mode playthrough. I tried my best to explore everything, but I never ended up finding any of the hidden low-level monsters. I would've been so thrown off guard to have found that red bokoblin on my own.
I'm trying to find these spots in Tears of the Kingdom, where's this area?
@@danielhuelsman76 It's directly south of the great plateau
@@guy-sl3kr Thanks!
Isn't there a shrine there?
One place that always struck me as odd is Mount Agaat. It's the mountain forming the western border of Gerudo Highlands, and despite having a name, you can't climb it. If you try, the invisible wall tells you that you can't go that way. It even looks like it should be in bounds on the map, as the northeast portion is directly north of in-bounds areas of Gerudo Desert. Thus, it's the only named map location you cannot go to, which is very odd indeed.
Had no clue about that one, but that's awesome
I'll start a totk go to list starting with this one
@@salmorejo_ what happen?
@@kennywarp bro it just came out 💀
There is a video of someone warping to all of the out of bounds places that allow you to stand. That one is one of those places and enemies spawn, you can ride your horse there. The area isn't that big though. It's a weird spot and one of the first places I tried to get to in the game lol
The top of the Kakariko Village mountains are always really weird. There's stuff up there but it's clearly just built as a backdrop for the village below so you got a bunch of disjointed mountains and purposeless lakes that make it hard to get around
There and some of the cliffs by the roads leading to kakariko
It feels like your out of bounds of a normal Zelda looking at the levels from above
Like something you would see in a boundary break video or something lol
Probably remnants from when they swapped the Lost Woods and Kakariko Village (this actually happened half-way through development)
@@ultrascarlet5275 I didn't know they did that, that's super cool
@@ultrascarlet5275I thought they switched the korok forest with the great plateau
@@daanbergmans4689I believe that was just a fan theory.
The Great Deku Tree branches being all the way in the lost woods is the tree equivalent of sleeping at night and not having your feet covered by your blanket.
Yes, just how I like it! Sometimes my feet get hot
@@MerkhVisionbruh tickle them
Feet should never be covered by blanket - except if you live in a cold house.
I can tell Breath of the Wild's world is built well because no matter where I am, I find myself looking around and thinking "I would totally build a house and live here, right on this spot"
right on top of one of those skinny ass branches of the deku tree, i agree with you for sure ;)
hyrule castle lockup fr
I had a very vivid thought about a small house in the middle of the bowl-shaped valley around 3:00, and for some reason the idea of living a small, isolated structure in the center of almost oppressively large cliffs made me feel a little anxious and sad. Like you’re almost cut off from the outside world and walled in all around.
@@PigPharmaceuticals Also, attackers could easily shoot arrows at you from the top of the mountains and you couldn't do anything. It's a very strategically bad location :(
Divine beast vah rudania all the way
the hebra mountains have always had a weird feeling to me. the quiet to near non existent music that plays, how quiet and muffled every sound is, how little sounds there actually are, the bland white of everything you can see; something about the mountains disquiets me so much. maybe it’s the fact that it’s one of the few places with no civilization. no towns, no random travelers, it’s all monsters. there are so many monsters up there. when i first came across selmie’s cabin, i had gotten so used to the constant anxiety of the mountains that i was genuinely expecting the cabin to be a trap, or that whatever i would find inside would be long dead.
if i’m being honest, not to be cliché, but being deep in the hebra mountains is the first time in any zelda game that i ‘felt like’ link. i forgot myself up there. i felt like i personally was searching for any sign of life in that wasteland of a mountain. every enemy i encountered felt like a real fight for my life.
i did one long expedition through the hebra mountains when looking for the leviathan there, and needless to say, i have seldom visited since. absolutely an odd place full of heebie jeebies
sorry for how long this is
Wow, that sounds like quite the harrowing experience, but extremely memorable. No need to apologize, I enjoyed reading it.
100% agree. it's such a massive portion of the map that's filled with crazy terrain and interesting places, just no people. big feeling of loneliness and being far from home
hey man, this is beautiful. and also I absolutely felt this way too. when collecting all the koroks, mountain areas were my absolute least favorite places to go. but thinking back on it, there was something different about them from the rest of the game. I think it was the monotonous routine, the fact that there are no safe places to stop at, and if you spend all night wandering you’re bound to encounter those mighty skeleton monsters, and so every day at sunset I would have Link light up a fire and rest for the night, and every day would be the same, never getting anywhere new, always seeing unwelcoming white in every direction I looked. it’s like you say, up in the mountains is where it feels the most real. it almost doesn’t feel like wandering around in a videgame anymore, being able to back down at any minute, cause if you did it would take you an awful lot of time to travel back to some spots up there. it really did feel like planning an expedition. you really do forget yourself as a player up in the mountains
That is fascinating
in Wind Waker when you can see the version of Hyrule that's like frozen in time under the ocean and you can just walk a little bit outside the castle but you can never go out there and explore it all....that filled me with such incredible longing to go see what else there is. The edge of Gerudo kind of makes me feel that, too
I definitely wanted to explore that version of Hyrule too! I’m sure we all did. With how fun exploring in Wind Waker was, but limited by its small environments and islands, the idea of the whole land of Hyrule was tantalizing.
if you stand directly underneath the second hookshottable arch and equip the iron boots, you can escape the boundary by hookshotting straight up!
unfortunately a lot of the ground oob isn't solid, but it's fun to stand there at least
My Botw moment was my husband and I were having Link go up a hill and the music changes to classic Japanese strings. And going a little further my husband asks "Is that a *dragon?*" And walks right towards it, getting electrocuted in the process. Absolutely enthralling moment.
His favorite was stumbling upon his BOY BEEDLE. just pure unrestrained delight in finding an old friend.
Aww, those sound like great moments for you guys!
I felt the same thing whenever I found Kass
cute:3
I love the gerudo desert because for large stretches of land it’s empty apart from occasional statues or pillars. these patches of isolated architecture don’t really seem make any sense - you can’t really imagine any ancient people living there or creating them. most of the world feels logical and purposeful, but these bits of the desert feel pretty abstract. the odd, abandoned loneliness of it it reminds me of a giorgio de chirico painting.
I hope they play on the abstract nature of the desert in the sequel, one of the trailers had something happening at the arbiters grounds
Gerudo desert is my favorite place in the game. More games need big desert settings imo
I think those isolated areas feel more empty because of the harsh nature of the desert, like the rest of the map they were probably much more populated pre-calamity. Even though the other settlement areas have ruined buildings, the wind and sand didn't strip them bare so you see burned ruins that would be covered or blown away in the desert.
Personally I love it there because it never rains, maybe just my luck but I swear I can't travel for five minutes without rain or thunder, just got the Thunder Helm two days ago though. ;)
it's so cool but I wish I could take my horse down there to really explore, sand seals just don't hit the same
Massive spoilers for tears of the kingdom (I’ve 100% all the caves and such) but I have a theory now that the game is out that the gerudo people of the past used to live underground. There’s a massive amount of underground ruins that ancient gerudo used to live in and leave cool stuff in, and the current day gerudo are living in an underground cave ruin under the city. It’s neat to see how they fleshed out these weird areas so well in the sequel.
One of the most weird places I found my first time playing the game was the rock quarry over on the east side of the map that only has like 1 shrine and nothing else.
For me it's really the Lynel on the first zone of the game 💀
@EvannMadeMusics ... you mean the one on the Great Plateau in Master Mode?
@@mitwhitgaming7722 Yes 😅
Where is that? Is it the space north from Zora’s Domain?
@@dynawesome yes, it feels like it's meant to have something there, but there's just a bunch of boulders.
3:33 Well, you might experience "stepping in a prairie dog hole and twisting your ankle" or "having the owner of the land come over a hill on a 4x4 with a shotgun telling you to get off his property".
But nothing is certainly a good possibility too.
Honestly playing tears of the kingdom has made me appreciate the emptier world of botw. The lonely and melancholic vibes are just immaculate, and are just what i look for in games.
I feel this so much... I do not dig the vibes totk has at all
I remember my childhood house, which was maybe a mile and a half of farmland away from the school. Sometimes I'd imagine while walking through them, that the field, which were devoid crops, would expand endlessly while I was walking towards my place. It was meant to be a scary what if scenario, but it actually was pretty soothing to think about.
My favorite thing about the fields though was the time I just laid down in them, looking at the sky. The nothingness and stillness of the situation was exactly the feelings these videos give me. My house was directly visible yet entirely sequestered from the fields.
Unfortunately never had this experience. I was alway too conscious about the bugs...
When I was little I used to imagine heaven as being an infinitely expanding field of wheat for some reason...
I grew up on a farm and I actually did that one time. I think I was like 9 and I was playing outside and just decided to pick a direction and walk as far as I could. I found places I'd never seen before and eventually ran into a creek. Perhaps it was a good thing that I'd read Bridge to Terabithia or I might have tried to cross it, but I just sat there for a while in the shade and watched it before walking back. It probably wasn't actually very far but it felt like an epic journey to me lmao
I grew up in a crowded house and a cult, I was just constantly watched by family or people in my community or neighborhood. Sometimes I want to just feel alone and unseen. Being in the center of a field, or a forest, or even just a dry patch of sand where I can scream and shout and take my shirt off (and smoke or drink lol) would feel like an otherworldly heaven for me. Like limbo, but in a good way.
@@silvercandra4275animal crossing
All of the shrine quest specific areas like the Rist Peninsula in Akkala, Typhlo Ruins, the Zonai labyrinths and Thundra Plateau all give very strange vibes. Maybe it's because their design is so specific to doing the quest and that they take up so much space that, upon return, it feels like the area has depleted all that it's got to give and is now just empty space on the map. Eventide Island is still very pretty and chill though.
Spot on
true i loved eventide
The Zonai ruins all give me the cosmic unsettling vibe that looking at infinite size of space or being reminded of mass extinctions and long lost history. The vibes are horrifying and I have become obsessed.
3:20 - I grew up in a rural farming community, not with the truly giant fields like out in the west and midwest, but still lots of sizable tracks. I can confirm that finding yourself out in the middle of a field, suddenly and surprisingly alone, is a really ethereal feeling. You come to a neighbor's field in the morning, and the corn or silage or fescue is so tall it's well over your head, maybe even taller than your eye level while sitting up on a tractor, and then by midday the field is completely open and empty. Maybe it's your job to go around and get up the hay bales, or maybe you head out into the middle of the field to retrieve a tarp that blew away, but if you find yourself out in the middle of that suddenly empty field, you'll find yourself very abruptly feeling out of place, and maybe a little agoraphobic. It's definitely a strange vibe.
I love wandering around in 3D games. You always find a little spot that's probably just there to fill in the void, but somehow it's calming and beautiful.
Top back corner of gerudo village is a girl eating tons of watermelons and she leaves the rinds in the little irrigation river so it flows all the way down and around the tops of the walls and piles up at the base of a waterfall fountain on the bottom layer but she is very secretive and the rinds float individually all the way through if you follow them
rind dont stop
That’s pretty cool attention to detail!
That's actually part of a quest, the rinds stop a girl from growing plants and she wants you to talk to her to make her stop
I think the tabatha labyrinth interesting for the one abandoned camp within it, there was someone here and now there isnt, that idea about missed connections puts some kind of emotion in me that I cant quite describe
My favorite vibe place is the labyrinth in the upper north east. I remember the first time discovering it and going there. It seemed alien. Like a perfectly constructed geometrically symmetrical object in a vast open natural world. Loved the juxtaposition
It's one of my favorite spots in the game too. And I love the reference to Zelda II
Finding that was such a surreal feeling the first time around.
Like... that thing shouldn't be there, but it is... can I get to it? Will I ever be able to get back?
It was neat.
Yeah I love that labyrinth, and that descent down below it into the under-space that’s just giant columns, a dusty plain, and a dozen old, rusted, but still dangerous guardians. Plus it’s one of the only places in the game it literally plays a trick on you. If you go and grab the obvious cool item all the guardians wake up and you realise, this place was a trap all along!
That second spot has a red bokoblin on master mode, which makes it less unremarkable but more odd i guess lol
I’m playing on master mode where is he
a RED one ?
I found a red Moblin (in Master Mode) near a spring in Hebra, don't remember which. He felt...very lonely
@@Envy_May there's one instance of the red version of each enemy in Master Mode, to make sure you can manually complete the picture compendium.
I wonder if Link's level has anything to do with it. As you slay more enemies, more powerful enemies will spawn.
If you enjoy getting up the deku tree, you should try climbing the giant malice pillars around hyrule castle. They’re possible to climb but also somewhat of a pain, and can lead to some very fun glitchy shenanigans
I have my travel medallion on top of one of them, I like getting on the master cycle and falling down the side of it
You can also reach them by paragliding from the top of the big castle spire
My first play through I actually got into the top of Hyrule castle by climbing on top of one and gliding into the final boss room. Felt pretty cool then but looking back I wish I wouldn’t have accidentally skipped the entire castle on my first play through lmao
Fun fact you can find a document in the castle that says those pillars were the underground storage silos for the guardians
@@vincentmartin2752 where is this document lol
I can't believe how surreal these locations are. And I never noticed that the Deku Tree's branches sway.
Well, if it isn't the 100k boi himself.
I remember trying to reach the tip of the Deku Tree's branches, but the Fog always catching me before I could
I did that one too :p there’s one branch that you can get up higher than all the others
My first time playing I discovered a hole in the side of death mountain, i was looking around the edge because no fireproof elixir and i stumbled across it. I've never been able to find it again. I think inside there is one of the most UAO places
UAO?
@@theopoldthegamer4284 unremarkable and odd
@@theopoldthegamer4284 United Arab Omelettes
well now i need to look for it, i will update u if anything is found 🫡
There's a couple places like that. There's a spot on a cliff near the Fairy fountain in Akkala that doesn't have collision, so you can climb inside the cliff and the textures will start glitching out.
I think this video is actually really special.
This is just a video of you appreciating the magic of the simple joy of a video game. It is just so genuine to hear you talk about the thoughts and feelings the games elicit in you, and even though it’s so personal the mood is still super light and breezy.
It’s something I don’t really see on TH-cam much and I miss these sorts of things. Thanks for making this.
Your job analogy half way through the vid reminded me of one time when I was working at a store, first time in 3 years since I was working there, I was asked to go bring something from that store to another store of the same chain. And I just got to go outside on a sunday afternoon and go into the city for like 30 minutes. And it had the same feeling as going out of bounds in a videogame. I was half expecting to start seeing 2D trees and really low framerate animations if I just kept going.
Weird stuff. It was almost as if the whole city was one big odd and unremarkable place
hahah
One of the weirdest parts of that first location is that this little unremarkable strip of land at the northern edge of Hyrule... is part of Dinraal's route. Dinraal flies through there, and I have no idea why. Dinraal, unlike Farosh, only has ONE route... and a good 1/3 of it is spent in this weird edge area.
i feel like you need to do one of these on shadow of the colossus, that entire game's map feels like a fever dream, everywhere you go feels unremarkable and odd yet strangely peaceful and beautiful. everytime i think of that game i just thinking about the cliffside and big open empty fields and think about how id just love to lie down on the grass and die there ???
That game always reminds me of ghibli films
Yes! I love the little routes to the colossi on Shadow of the Colossus. I spent half an hour once getting lost trying to find the way to the electric water colossus, that feeling of descending down that huge river valley, through the jungle, and eventually coming out on this hidden lake and triggering the cutscene. You feel like you’ve really discovered these ancient beasts.
Yeah thats exactly what I was thinking! These odd little 3d spaces in BOTW are here to fill empty space, but the entirety of the SOTC map is empty space, save for the few colossi locations. It really is a strange feeling just traveling and finding little nooks that are out of the way. No fruit, no lizards, just a vibe.
I absolutely adore this series. It's just everything I love about games and just art in general. You really do a great job driving home how subjective the human experience is, and that subjectivity is what I love the absolute most about games ♥️
Fun seeing a face I recognize, keep up the good content
That outer edge of death mountain is so great and I kinda wish more happened in it
I always liked standing off to the side, or behind, or where ever I can and stare at the Sheikah monks at the end of the shrines from the wrong angle. The room was built up with a certain view point considered, but that's the end goal. You can wander a bit before you go talk to them.
The edge of the gerudo desert felt like in the first level of Spyro 1 where you fight the rams and catch the one thief and then you see the barrier towers and there's just endless green mountain that you can't get to.
It's so surreal seeing you at more than 40k subscribers and I'm so happy your channel blew up
He make out of the norm videos soits great! Also look like that guy from Stranger Things 😂
This is the same energy that made me explore Shadow of the Colossus endlessly back in the day. So glad Botw and Totk can bring this type of vibe back. Very liminal.
i really love this series, please keep doing more of it. my favorite spot on the map is one i couldn't pinpoint but i could definitely find my way back to if i wandered long enough, which is this one spot on the west side of hyrule field where there's a single tree on a hill and nothing else around it - no koroks, no paths, not even any other trees. another one of those spots like the grassy gulch you mentioned where the theme park ride pauses and you can just exist for a while.
2:53 The wierdest thing about this place is that if you play in master mode the only red bokoblin in the whole game is in this spot.
The 4th spot was so unnecessary for the devs to build, but they did. Think about that.
It's neither odd nor unremarkable, but the wide open area on teh Great Plateau by the King's cabin is just so laid back. And Whistling Hill in Hyrule Field is just the right amount of lonely.
Please please continue making videos like this and never stop. Your content has some of the most honest and unconditionally comforting vibes I've ever seen on TH-cam.
There's a place in the mountains I found by Kakariko, I think it was to the west, and you start going down there's an abandoned house just there in the cliffside and something about it just really got me. It's so secluded and peaceful (disregarding some bokoblins that are not too far off down them mountain)
There's a little hot spring between Mount Rozudo and Koto Pond that I love. Although there is a Korok puzzle there, it's still a random place for a hot spring to show up.
One that stood out to me: Shadow Hamlet Ruins. What's the deal? It's a named location, but there's next to nothing there. One of the first places I'm going to explore next weekend in TOTK.
I was going to say this. There are a few enemies but nothing other than that. Not even a Korok for some reason. And the name sounds so interesting for such an unremarkable location.
Omg I love Shadow Hamlet Ruins. Fun fact: it was actually supposed to be called Chateau Hamlet Ruins but they mistranslated it.
When I 100% botw, that was the very last map location that took me from 99.92% to 100% completion. It is so tiny and so hidden away that after like 300 to 400 hours of gameplay it was the only location I never found on my own. I instead had to resort to an online list of locations to find the last location I was missing. Because of that it will always hold a special place in my heart.
i love places and vibes like this, makes me feel human
i wouldnt want these spots to have "something" to do in them, it'd remove the realistic feeling of "stuff is happening here and there, but probably not here you can sit here for a while"
2:45 I knew where this was instantly! Also, for some reason, this is the ONLY PLACE in Master Mode where you can find a red Bokoblin, and I think that's neat!
The edge of the map being an unbeatable boss is a great point. Quiet places in nature, real life or in a game are a mindfulness exercise. Games have often felt like being in a fishbowl if I spent too much of my free time on it without touching grass, or in my case tending to my garden. I didn't realize how mentally necessary it is to have the ability to wander anywhere, even if there was nothing there for you and you couldn't survive. We may be tied to our jobs and families in real life, but I'm so glad we have the blessing of being able to wander.
3:08 I grew up in the High Mountains of Colorado, and yeah there are places like this in real life and they are usually the best places. That cliff would be a tapestry of geology, and probably very cool on most days.
One of my favorite breath of the wild places, is one of the mountains by kakariko village- one with no koroks, nothing of interest at all, but it has one of the best views for seeing all the divine beasts just pointing at hyrule castle, in my opinion.
Austin: this place on the map reminds me of how powerless I am in the grand scale of the universe
Also Austin: also funny cloud lol
Thank you for making this. Map edges have both entranced and haunted me my entire life. You’ve tapped into thoughts I never knew how to verbalize until now.
GameCube 👍
The Northern part of that canyon makes me feel uncomfortable, but not because of Death Mountain. Look at the cliffs on the other side, now think about how different they look when compared to the Eldin region. There's a massive disconnect in soil types which make it feel completely foreign. It gets even worse when you immerse yourself in the game and look at the canyon from the Hebra Region. It just stops snowing for no reason! The cliffs don't even look like they're made of any rock or soil type found in Hyrule, but I might be wrong.
It's very much like Hyrule is in a literal bubble, completely disconnected from whatever world exists on those high hills. I always wonder what someone standing on one of those hills would actually see when looking down at Hyrule. Or if the hills across the abyss even exist. Maybe they're just a painted background, or a projection.
Feels very much like those hills far off in the distance were always intended to be seen from far away, to give the illusion of a much larger world. The unnatural cliffs and canyons are very much a unintended result of wanting to create a natural barrier between the playable area and the unplayable “skybox”, and are not supposed to be noticed outside the immediate vicinity. In fact unless you’re at the very edge of the map you probably won’t even notice that those canyons are even there, the playable and unplayable space merge into one seamless landscape.
Curious to know why they didn’t just put a large invisible barrier there instead of those huge cliffs, like they did with the desert. I guess the nature of a desert as it’s own impenetrable barrier feels makes the invisible wall less noticeable then it would with infinite rolling hills, where you would expect to be able to explore forever (especially on horseback).
I think that ridge of rock spikes separating the edge of the Akkala sea from the void on the west side deserves a mention. This flimsy-looking rock formation holding an ocean at bay is weird enough, but you also have the view of the perfectly geometrical labyrinth sitting in the water to the east and the towering landscapes on all sides.
The lone guardian near in the shallow waters to me there also really stood out. Standing from a distance watching that weird spider looking thing walk through the water really adds to the mood.
i've always had a fixation with that location, whether it be annoyance at the physics or desperate desire to walk across it. i was expecting to see it in this video, but i also sort of like the idea that odd and unremarkable mean such vastly different things to people, yet we can mostly agree. or something.
One of my favorite odd places in BotW has to be inside the Great Deku Tree's mouth. It was the first odd place I clipped into, and was met with the surprise of a single flower inside.
I asked Mii Verse if I should burn the flower, and I got like 5 Yeah's.
And so I did. Good times.
I love climbing the deku tree, my favorite place is Eastern reservoir lake, I love going up there because no one else is there.
The water sounds are so calming.
it was somewhere with a lot of attention and after you beat the divine beast there's no reason to go back up there, at least not for any reason the game thinks and I think that's wonderful.
I loved all the spots you pointed out all of them are really good
I found it so weird cause they had little docks all around it, but they lead out to nothing, and sometimes theyd have a pot or two, but that was it. No chests, korak seeds, or anything hidden in the water. Absolutely empty
Your videos (and digital-mystical-liminal non-dual philosophy) GIVE ME LIFE
5:59 I hadn't noticed before that when you stand in the sand, your feet clip into the ground a bit. That's a very subtle touch, but it is what you would expect when standing in fine sand: for your feet to be a little buried.
10:47 this is a very pretty image imo. I think its the pinkish orange leaves + the blue atmosphere.
one more well-known spot you should absolutely check out is the unclimbable hole in the peak of mt hebra, its hard to miss its huge and unclimbable and actually has quite a bit of lore behind it. i love your unremarkable spots series and was overjoyed to see it done with botw which is my favorite game to play. my favorite part of the game is finding small holes to climb in. youre very cool glad to see this hope you're doing well❤️
I love that your favorite part of the game is “finding small holes to climb in” lol that’s so funny and oddly cute
Thanks for making this, it's helping me prepare for my upcoming holiday to Hyrule. I'll have to check out these spots
my favorite weird place is also at the edge of the map but it’s on the top right side of the map. it’s so cold and desolate and there’s only a tiny strip cut off by the mountain. i was so shocked to see there was a shrine there
8:55 “Oh Christ on the croooossssss” to the tune of “Shes out of our hair” from Monsters Inc
Always love new videos in this series! Liminal spaces in video games that partly take you out of the game but at the same time make the game so much more real in it's 'normality' since it's easier to relate to it.
The unintentional areas that feel like they escaped the clutches of the dev and became their own thing
The place itself doesn’t have that odd vibes, but my first time reaching Gerudo Tower truly evoked such a strange emotion in me. I had gone about getting there in a somewhat strange way so I had wandered the desert without a map for a while. I finally found the tower at like 01 AM but in game it’s like afternoon so the typical soundtrack is playing, but then as I’m climbing, there’s just a real quiet music starting. Now I’m a little groggy and I truly couldn’t tell if it was in the game or not. I keep climbing and the music gets louder and not only am I sure I’ve heard the song before, but I’m also certain it’s in the game now. As I climb I’m feeling weirdly thrilled, like I got chills, but not in a bad way. The music is getting louder and louder and finally I reach the top and there’s Kass, that Rito who I had at this point met once before and didn’t realize was a recurring NPC and I just felt such glee and wonder. I don’t know how else to explain it. BOTW was not only my first Zelda game, but it was my first open world game that wasn’t sandbox. Before then I had only played simulators, sandbox and the occasional two person fighter like Mortal Combat, and now here’s Link stood at the top of a tower after in game days of searching, looking at this bird person who’s playing a jolly tune and I just feel so excited. Like for some reason, that moment solidified my love for this game so thoroughly. The Gerudo region is my favorite and I think it’s because it’s where I discovered that I truly loved that game.
That got long and it probably isn’t that remarkable, but I wanted to share. It’s a wonderful game, truly
"Whatever, fucking, Ganon is doing. Genocide or whatever."
Link climbing all the way up the Deku Tree's branches and seeing weird, fake-looking N64 leaves so visually inconsistent with anything you see prior is disturbing somehow. It's like Link has finally found a spot where he can see through the matrix of games he's trapped in.
I immediately knew where that second one was because it was the first place I got curious to explore after leaving the plateau. Feels like there is a secret to be found.
I don't exactly know how to put into words how much I love this series and this channel, it's so brilliant
I love the specificity of 'they all go to play gamecube', you can tell this happened to Austin
One area in Breath of the Wild that’s always felt fairly off to me is the East Reservoir Lake by Zora’s Domain, where the Divine Beast Vah Ruta is initially located.
Since the area was mostly made as a big arena to house the Beast and it’s opening setpiece, it’s just about entirely barren once you complete the dungeon inside and it leaves the area, giving the lake the uncanny emptiness of a boss arena after a fight.
Another odd thing about the area that adds to the weird vibe is that during the dungeon segment, as with all the Divine Beasts, once you enter, you can’t just walk out or jump off, or you’ll die instantly.
With the 3 other Beasts, either the environment is deadly enough or the fall distance is big enough that you figure it’d kill Link on impact, but with Vah Ruta, all that happens is that he falls into a big lake, which you know wouldn’t hurt him during normal gameplay.
For me at least, the lake being treated as a bottomless pit during the dungeon segment gives it a slightly ominous feeling; you can swim around in the water as normal after beating the boss, but it _feels_ like you shouldn’t, since it was treated as an instant death earlier.
I’ve been watching your videos for quite a while, and I can’t thank you enough for the content you create. You remind me so much of my uncle who introduced me to the Zelda series around the time Wind Waker was released, and he passed away a few years ago. He was very sick around the time Breath of the Wild released, and I’ve been thinking lately how much he would have loved to see Tears of the Kingdom as well. You have his charm, his humor, his ability to appreciate even the most seemingly insignificant things, and the way in which he could say something that both means so much and absolutely nothing at the same time (and that is a compliment). Thank you for everything you do!
That second area, if I'm not mistaken, is the one place in the entire map where you can encounter a Red Bokoblin in Master Mode. There are dedicated locations all over the map where the lowest tier enemies that normally don't spawn in Master Mode are allowed to hang out just to ensure you can still find them for completing the compendium. There's a tucked away pond in the mountains around the path to Zora's Domain where the only Green Lizalfos can be found, a hot spring in West Hebra were you can find the only Red Moblin, and of course Ploymous Mountain is where the only Red Mane Lynel can be found.
I'm a big fan of existentially odd and unremarkable places. And unbeatable bosses are always worth a look. So please, keep making videos like this.
Also, those 2D branches are just great. They bring back fond memories of N64 tree-walls!
my favorite "unremarkable and odd" place is your channel. it just always has good vibes but is much further from the beaten path than expected (you deserve more subs!)
I have never seen a video in this series and I'm happy t found me. I love the contradictory nature of the title it's so fun as an odd place in the name is somewhat remarkable, yet I completely understood the vibe of one of these locations.
To me my favourite odd and unremarkable place in all of Hyrule which I constantly keep the travel medallion at is the top of Hebra peak. There is only 1 korok there and it's always snowy when I make my way there, but from the highest point on the map(or second highest idk if death mountain is higher) is just awe inspiring. Any time I complete a task like beating a divine beast or beating ganon I always travel back there to really put in perspective what I've done in the game. It's beautiful to look over hyrule and know that everything I'm doing will cause the survival of everywhere I view, making my tasks seem that much more important. This hyrule is so great
i ran into the first place in the shadow of death mountain on my first play through and i felt the same way like wth is this liminal space? also i wandered straight from there into the creepy dark shadow woods with the shadowy ink enemies and i was so scared. didn’t help that i was staying up at night and playing it 😂
"Shadowy ink enemies" i love that hehe, i'm guessing because they are only barely lit by the lights and look like they're painted black?
@@pigaboyAKAthecoolestguyonearth yeah and they come up from the black tar stuff that surrounds the place (i know because i got very lost and had to circle around the perimeter to gtfo)
Getting up to the Spooky Music tippy ends of the Deku Tree is one of the very best moments of the game for me. The fog! The wiggles!! Absolutely.
I love the desert, I've always been so attracted to deserts in games and i instantly seek them out just to walk through in circles for hours, I live in a desert and I constantly daydream of just walking out into the bliss of endless sand
"You will not experience anything, and through that experience of nothing, you will experience everything."
Unintentional deepest words from Austin.
I too relate to the feeling of “I wonder what would happen if I were to stand over there in that place that I have no reason to stand in.” I can go stand in my siblings room on the second floor even though i’m watching TV on the first floor and I have no reason to stand in my siblings room, therefore I will not. Doesn’t stop my siblings room from being there though. I’m not, but it is. I won’t… probably.
I dont know what i love more, this unremarkable series, or the hair clips you never seem to be without
The gerudo desert has a lot of these places where the map gets all staticky, I love just being lost
South of the Satori Mountains, halfway to the Dalite Forest, there's a little plateau with dense tree growth (look for a dense clump). It's south of the Stalnox in that area, and it's more easily accessed from the mountain than from the bottom (teleport to the Shrine there). In this spot you can find just about every type of mushroom in the game, and in reasonable quantities as well (IIRC some 2-3 of each type). This location is back in Tears of the Kingdom, allowing you to harvest a nice variety of mushrooms pretty quickly.
the little apple orchard off the side of satori mountain always intrigued me. And there's a pitch fork learning against a tree of a rock. So these was planted, right? some one tried to harvest the apples. But where was that person from? there is not village or homes close by, who left their house with a pitch fork and headed to that apple orchard to harvest? that's a long way to carry a pitch fork. so many questions.
2:03 Zebra-Horse Guy??? 🙄 Come on, man. I know you're just a tourist in Hyrule, but..... I mean......come on, man!!
I guess he’s more of a lion-horse than a zebra
The top of the Deku Tree is one of my favorite spots in BotW! I think you can even get caught by the Lost Woods mechanics on one of the branches that sticks out very far. A very good selection of places, Austin!
I spent a lot of time in the first location because I naturally saw my first dragon there, Dinraal. I would climb up the Death Mountain spiky bits a little way, make a campfire and set the time to night... and then try and get good pictures of Dinraal for the compendium. I didnt know to shoot at the dragons yet, I just thought they were neat.
Just don't stop making vids like these, they are super unique and so fun to watch. love u
0:27 i had a dream once that i was playing totk and managed to get over to the land in the distance. my paraglided broke and link just floated over a flat plane. eventually i found a spot that seemed like debug area with random textures, the windmills from the great canyon, random tarrey town house configurations and an npc who gave a broken quest.
i used to spend a lot of time staring off into the distance here in botw. one of my favourite moments in the game was when i was in the far top left corner of the map just chilling and waiting for the snow to clear and looked up to see auroras
its all very nostalgic and comforting. as a child playing way too much minecraft i used to love wandering around in flat worlds until finding a randomly spawning village.i love weird spots like this in games as theyre uniquely game-y to me. super fond of games like yume nikki and lsd that tap into that curiosity. and i love your little series on the matter! :)
My favorite unremarkable place in BotW is Lake Illumeni. There's a small burnt hut there, but it's really peacefull
Is that the one with the Wizrobe and the Blizzard Rod? Or is that the lake next to it? I love that whole area
‘ganon’s doing genocide or somethin’’ congrats you just distilled the conflict in LOZ down to its essence
I loved the philosophical section in the gerudo desert omg, I always have a strange feeling when you reach an invisible wall there saying “you can’t go any farther” because the whole point of the game is to defeat Ganon, as the final boss, but when you see that text it’s like there’s another higher power of ‘The Game’ that’s always watching
Perfect. Just what I needed to get in the mood for TotK. This will certainly be watched several times in the next few day.
Field at 3:25 looks exactly like the field outside my granny's house in Shetland to an uncanny degree, I could swear this generic field is a view I've seen a hundred times before even though I know how unlikely that is, which is the exact same type of weirdly familiar but off and dreamlike feeling these empty botw locations make me feel when I go to them. Good job I guess?
i always find myself going back to the deku tree’s branches, especially trying to see if i can windbomb out of the lost woods. nice to see others appreciating it
Great content as always. Been revisiting botw over the last few months, and getting lost in odd spaces. I had a similar moment of clarity to your Gerudo desert, looking out at the sea at the islands beyond Eventide. There's no way to get to them, but it certainly evoked a curiosity beyond the confines of the game.
If you go further west in that area behind Death Mountain, that Lynel actually has two friends nearby. They form a perfect trifecta of sword, club, and spear, so they were definitely placed there intentionally, if not by Ganon then at least by the devs
You should definitely check out some of the locations in Age of Calamity. Most levels don't involve you going through every section of the map, so sometimes there are these empty spaces in a corner somewhere, and it feels weird, especially since the prequel is supposed to show a less "post apocalyptic" Hyrule.
I click as soon as i got the notification...
I think the second place's purpose is for giving you an area to look down towards before you get the paraglider.
Those places on the edge of the map are fun to throw bombs and watch how far the supernatural wind pushes it in the other direction.
The corners of the Blessing Shrines seem odd to me, with the water seeping into the bricks.
I just found your channel like a week ago with the “Where do Skyrim Rivers Lead and I was absolutely not expecting existentialism, but I am so here for it.
3:24 That looks exactly like where I used to go hunting with my dad.
Oddly that's actually kinda true. You experience nothing standing in those fields...
Yet also everything through that nothing. Your channel is great, glad its blowing up.
For the level of legend Link is, his house is a bit of an unremarkable dump.
I just had a really bad time at the court house annex dealing with a title transfer that I even had an appointment for, and I came back to this and you made me laugh. This was gorgeous, Austin.
This is my favorite type of content that you make, I would greatly appreciate it if you keep making more until you physically and mentally cannot anymore, thank you very much.