Tears of the Kingdom Shouldn't Be Possible | Review
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 2 มิ.ย. 2024
- Six years of development, nearly four years of speculation, and an eight month marketing campaign created expectations that no game could properly live up to. Especially one that is a sequel to one of the most highly regarded games ever created. But Tears of the Kingdom somehow manages to do the impossible and lives up to the unprecedented amount of Hype the game deserved. It’s an experience I know I will always cherish getting to play this game uninterrupted, unspoiled, and completely unique to me. I played around 115 hours to complete the main story of this game. It only felt like I put half that time into it. It is so incredibly easy to get lost in this game and have it absorb every waking moment of your day. I haven’t even come close to finishing my personal playthrough with all the content that's left. I know this game will be widely dissected and replayed to oblivion but I don’t think it’ll be one I ever tire of. Tears if the Kingdom took that foundation that made Breath of the Wild special and brought back the necessary elements to truly make it a Zelda game. This is the future of this franchise. Innovation of this open air style while keeping the core pillars of what makes Zelda, Zelda, is a recipe for excellence. I don’t know how they surpass this one. Tears of the Kingdom is a masterpiece. It’s a title that will stand the test of time and a technical powerhouse that will inspire and captivate the gaming industry for a long time to come. Eiji Aounuma and Hidemaro Fujibayashi deserve every ounce of credit that is thrown their way.
Chapters
0:00 Intro
3:57 Story
14:01 Expanded World
23:01 Dungeons
29:29 Gameplay
34:37 Negatives
37:11 Verdict
39:14 Outro
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• BREATH OF THE WILD 2 E...
Tears of the Kingdom - • Tears of the Kingdom
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Outro -- • Ballad of the Goddess ...
#tearsofthekingdom #ToTK #zelda - เกม
TH-cam is being weird with chapters so here’s the timestamps!
0:00 Intro
3:57 Story
14:01 Expanded World
23:01 Dungeons
29:29 Gameplay
34:37 Negatives
37:11 Verdict
39:14 Outro
gibdos do not screech because thats what REDEADS do
@@MikePhantom gibdos have screeched as well
You were explaining the final dragon fight so beautifully around 13:00 until you said it's too easy like Dark Beast Ganon. You even referenced it as a cinematic! That's how I see it. A playable cutscene meant to be jaw droppingly gorgeous and a reward for your journey throughout the game. At no point is it suppose to be a challenge. The first 3 phases of the fight increase in challenge until the end. Then you get to casually watch the beautiful ending to the game. It doesn't play as well in BoTW because Dark Beast Ganon is an eyesore and Zelda only shows at the end.
Put them in the description, TH-cam should display them properly
@@Link-Link yeah that was the issue, they are there but not working :/
this game makes me wonder what other crazy and innovative game mechanics we could have if so many other developers didn't dedicate their time and resources on making water look more shiny.
Hey that water needs to be shiny lol but I hear ya, just wish developers had the chance to pour as much time into their games as the Zelda team gets
_Subnautica_ with it's novel design _and_ shiny water graphics: "And I took that personally . . ."
gmod just doesnt exist i guess
Amazing Water
You make a good point. I got into a big argument with someone about framerate and raytracing the other day and I honestly think the drive for better and better graphics has hobbled the games industry.
At the end of the day, I'd rather play morrowind than skyrim.
Another thing about puppet zelda is that after you defeat Phantom Ganon and ganondorf gets rid of puppet zelda, she is no longer present in all future blood moon scenes- it’s just the animation with no narration. Easy to miss since most people insta skip them at that point in the game
Omg I’m so glad someone mentioned this!
yup! it kind of feels creeper without her
Oh my gosh! You know after I defeated him in the castle and the blood moon came up I wondered if they had changed it but it’s become so automatic to skip that I forgot to check! I love that they did that despite knowing most people would miss it
Bro I was wondering where Zelda went during the blood moon animation
Also explains why her dialogue is so weirdly said. in BoTW she sounds scared and wary. here she sounds like she is lowkey glorifying the event.
My heart actually broke for a moment when I saw the Master Sword break. I knew they had to take away the Master Sword somehow but I will admit I was not expecting that!
In preparation for the game I did another playthrough of Breath of the Wild. This time around I decided to be thorough and finish everything, thus I finally completed the sword trials and empowered the master sword. So for me, just a few days after kicking my butt going through the master sword trial, I watched it shatter into pieces. All I could say was, "Well, that was pointless.". Which was both true and a good pun for the master sword.
Legend has it that Zelda is still crosseyed to this day because she had that corroded thingy stuck in her brain for millenia.
At least they didnt mix up the Lore by saying the Master Sword is indestructable in previous games, in A Link to the Past they showed us that the Master Sword can be RESHAPED by the Dwarf Smiths with Heat and Hammers clashing against the Blade to make it sharper, meaning if you can make a blade sharper, it's also possible to break it completely.
The final boss' theme, the diving scene, the end when Zelda says "when i felt a warm loving embrace, i woke up" i was sobbing enough to cause another Hyrulean Great Flood
Can confirm, I've never had a video game leave me gasping for breath like that. I was a sobbing mess.
me too, but on a side note, the way you phrased that is freaking hilarious
I've been telling folks Tears of the Kingdom was aptly named
Zelda joyfully looking at Hyrule around her, turning to Link, and Saying to the Camera "I'm home" Before cutting to credits absolutely broke me.
I thought what she went through in BotW was horrible, but this game just doubled down on how insanely resilient and caring this girl is ❤
Dude i thought "becoming an immortal dragon" was metaphorical. I didnt expect it until i SAW that shit in the last tear
It’s absolutely insane they did our girl like this 😔
@@TylerTownsend I screamed. I fucking screamed
Same and I thought when they said “is to lose one’s self” I thought that Zelda became possessed/turned to ganondorfs side
@@modcon-based113 LITERALLY EXACTLY WHAT I THOUGHT WAS HAPPENING
I went into the game knowing that the Light Dragon will be an important part of the story but that's all. I dropped my controller and gasped in pure disbelief.
This felt like saving the Champions back in BotW. I was thinking "Okay they're trapped, so I just have to clear out whatever is inside those big mechs and they'll be saved, right?" And boy how wrong I was. It's much worse considering Mipha was the first one that I "saved".
Hiding the depths was just genius. As I finished the tutorial sky island and dropped maybe an hour later down in the darkness was a bit mindblowing. I was literally frozen for a few moments to realize that this was not just a cave. I really wish more games would us surprise with contet xD
I jumped straight into the first chasm with no paraglider, hit the ground, died, and just assumed there was nothing to explore until I saw a friend fighting a frog in his playthrough.
When you reach the depths for the first time and look at the map after activating the first light root. And then you zoom out. And out. And you realize how massive it is.
I got chills. Just like when I got the map for the Great Plateau six years prior.
I had an interesting depths experience where the first time I went down was for the goron town quest. It clicked for me and was super cool that there was an underground world for us to go into with the holes and I was psyched: underneath the mountain was all lava-ey and it was a cool vibe. What else would be where else? But literally no other theming existed underground at all aside from the simple "depths" theme. Probably my "biggest" disappointment from the game was the lack of more theming.
I headed to the Rito zone before the depths quest and any chasms. When I was doing the Tabantha field maze and it dropped me into the depths I was like, wtf…but thought it was just secluded space, a bit like sky islands. I didn’t know how much I could explore down there as it was so dark and I didn’t know what to do. It wasn’t until I later found the start quest that I noticed it was the whole world down there.
My only complaint was that the topography (which is inverted of the over world) feels kinda extreme. There’s a lot of climbing and running into a wall because of rivers above was initially very annoying before realizing water separated segments and required different entry points. It’s funny that the light roots are the shrines name’s inverted. Didn’t realize until a friend told me that the Lightroots were shrine locations. This kinda made finding shrines too easy compared to BotW, but I don’t mind it. I did have to use a guide in botw to find the last few.
I hope the DLC does a lot more with the depths. Add some story and more to do, it feels a little barren; despite a bunch of mines, some treasures, yiga encampments with schematics and monsters which is nice, but a lot of space is empty and full of mobs that get annoying to engage all the time. But who am I kidding, if the DLC is just a “build pack” I’m game, I watched dozens of videos of people just making crazy sh1t. Frankly I’ll probably buy anything that isn’t just cosmetics. Hope they bring back the bike from the first one but as a flying vehicle (yeah zonite building is nice) but summoning some kind of a helicopter anywhere in the final DLC would be clutch. Hate that my wolf link amiibo doesn’t summon him anymore. >_<
I loved the ending so much I kept watching other streamers experience it themselves. Truly epic.
I stayed away from the chasms out of fear 😂 then many hours later I decided to save my game and make the leap incase I met a certain fate. I WISH I would’ve recorded my expression when I realized the depths was a whole nother world. I was absolutely flabbergasted.
I love how Link and Zeldas bond are so strong that even after she became a dragon and lost her mind a part of her still recognized Link enough to help him
Tyler won't say it but I will, NINTENDO MAKE THEM KISS ALREADY!! I WANT ZELINK BABIES AND I WANT THEM NOW
@@dietotakuThat would actually be interesting since that kid would probably also be named Link, which would mean that the next Link has both the Master Sword _and_ the blood of the goddess which gave Zelda her powers. So should the Master Sword ever not be strong enough, they can just upgrade it themself
I don't like how they deus ex machina'd the end though. Not only did they simply turn her back from an "eterrnal" dragon with game magic, but they didn't even let her remember flying around in circles for thousands of years, negating Zelda's selfless sacrifice ENTIRELY.
@@ytmndan Wasn't the whole point of becoming an immortal dragon literally just losing your mind? It would make sense if she wouldn't remember that stuff. It's kind of like Ventus in KH. Her consciousness would basically be stuck in limbo lol. You might as well be dead or never have existed at all.
There's also the possibility that tons of other things could've gone wrong with her plan; what if she flew to the other side of the planet instead of in circles, or if she somehow lost the master sword during the whole thing? There was prob so much fear going through her mind when she held that stone in her hand. Yeah, she was saved in the end, but she had *no way of knowing that* at the time. Despite it all, she was ready to eat the thing regardless and risk it all, even if it meant losing her sense of self potentially forever. That's what makes it a sacrifice, and the ending doesn't change that imo
@@iiokrammii693 Well then she should have been like Link at the beginning of BotW and not remembered a damned thing. It was just disappointing how they made this big deal of her sacrifice and then simply Deus Ex Machina'd it into a happy ending with no negative consequences.
ToTK used marketing and game development that western developers would consider-unnatural.
Which is why it is such a huge hit.
alot of game material was taken from japanese games and inserted into western games in case you didnt know. they COPIED their ideas, if im to explain it in a more bold way x)
@@Sargassian well yeah and Japan took a few from the west too.
To the Degree that using magic through weapons is Considered Weeb, while Throwing spells, from your hands, mouth and eyes is Considered Western Today🤣
A. No to the marketing. It's not unnatural to them, it's forbidden. Shareholders decide what is made.
B. That same shareholder poison kills the gameplay as they don't have any interest in forward, they trend chase. Western developers on the smaller end do these things in small ways, but it's limited by money every single time. Nintendo doesn't have that awful non gamer, shareholder, top down structure.
@@elimgarak1127 You think Nintendo does not have shareholders?
it is more the case that Nintendo's share-holders sit at a meeting are told of future plans, and shown the margin on profit as well as the data.
@@warllockmasterasd9142 I was pretty clear that the shareholders aren't the same. Try reading.
When Ganondorf first spoke at the beginning of the game, it sent CHILLS down my spine...
He is SO. INTIMIDATING.
He's everything i never thought i wanted in Ganondorf and THEN SOME!!!
Mathew Mercer is such a good actor. Idk if I'll personally ever feel right with that exact voice being dorf's but I have to admit, they would be very hard pressed to find someone better to much as much feeling behind it as he did.
I think he did a better job as a mummified Ganondorf. His voice sounded so dry and menacing. Perfect fit. But he did good as Ganondorf. So not a bad choice at least.
@@HuchiaZ If he's not Ganondorf in the potential illumination Zelda movie, *I'll strangle a minion in protest.*
@@raptorrixx99-wv2hl truuuuth
Dehydrated he's kind of creepy. However, once Ganondorf uses the power of the Gloom to rehydrate. Then it gets interesting.
Also the Ghost Soldiers that give you perfect weapons in the Depth coincide with Headstones in the above ground supposable or Stone Tablets with Writing.
That’s so cool!!! I didn’t know that!!!
Well, i learned something new today.
The larger collections with three solders on one platform or nearby each other are mostly below Zelda's memorials to calamity victims with a silent princess flower laying on them.
There’s a theory that all the Ghost Soldiers are dead knights, and their graves (Which are deep on the surface) are elevated platforms in the depths
Funny thing is, I saw a video with a guy giving all kinds of reasons why totk sucks. Every reason he gave (like lack of enemy variation) sounded like it made sense and in any other game they would have been an issue. Totk rises above all these petty issues and creates an all encompassing masterpiece. He was of the opinion that people would come to their senses and dislike the game in hindsight, I totally disagree. This game will go down in history as the one game that was a follow up to one of the greatest games ever, that’s actually better than its predecessor. It’s so good. I’ve got 200+ hours in it and it has caused me to simultaneously play three other Zeldas again because it sparked all kinds of feelings of nostalgia, but at the same time feels totally unique and new. I can rave all day about the greatness of this game 😅
TP was my favorite until TOTK lol, once I beat the game I went back to play the very first Zelda on my Gameboy and I just know they've been waiting for the technology to be able to pull off something like this
I said to my wife that the dungeons themselves start with the lead-up to them. At least for me, it didn't feel like I was starting the dungeons when I entered them, it felt like the journey to get to them was part of the dungeon. Especially with the wind and water temples, the progress through the platforms and occasional shrines to kind of "save your place" as you traveled towards the ultimate goal of each dungeon made me feel like the dungeons were honestly larger than they truly were.
Also, each boss felt unique, and also fun to fight. Like, it made me happy that each boss had a specific way to fight them, instead of the more non-traditional way to fight the Blight Ganons in BotW.
And fuse gave me a way to enjoy durability.
I definitely feel the same about the lead up being apart of the dungeon! Helped give them so much scale and atmosphere!
This was the formula started with Skyward Sword when they said they wanted getting to the dungeon to be just as memorable and epic as the dungeon.
I heard one of the nitpicks around 35:40 about Gloom v.s. Malice and I just wanted to say it is my understanding that gloom is what original Ganondorf's secret stone allowed him to make and that malice was the manifestation of Ganondorf's hatred while he was stuck beneath the castle. I don't believe it's ever stated technically but there is some mention of the calamity being manifestations of Ganon's hatred. I think the names say it all, malice is exactly what it says on the tin whereas gloom is like a disease that is infecting Hyrule.
That makes a lot of sense because when you look at the chasms, they look like deep wounds
The origin of the terminology is also interesting. The term "malice" and the lore behind is coined and spoken by the select few - the "important" people like Zelda and Impa. It affectes you, Link, personally but we don't really see it affecting "normal" people. It was more or less ganon's poop used to inconvenience you and other important figures (like the divine beast pilots). Meanwhile "gloom" was coined by commoners. It is why the word is so unprofessional, in a sense, because it was started to be called like that since "ordinary" people were being majorly affected by it, and this is constantly reminded to you through NPCs and side quests. Gloom brings the commoners into the picture, the ordinary people minding their own business in Hyrule. In this way, Gloom has its own function in the game's narrative that Malice never had.
@@SunnyKimDevThat actually makes a lot of sense. I think the original Japanese roughly translates to something along the lines of miasma, which is another term not regularly spoken of by commonfolk. Looking at it from this new perspective, the whole gloom thing does work within the game's world.
@@metaltom2003 Also a think to point out the Japanese term used could also be translated as Miasma ...
it's a terrible name regardless. like a significant downgrade from the intensity of Malice.
Like Danger -> Discomfort.
The new “build things” element was something I wasn’t looking forward to but is my favorite part. My friend asked how far I was and my reply is “I waste too much time doing nonsense” 😅😅
I decided midway through my base playthrough I would be doing a "under full completion run" of the game, where I do absoultely everything that adds to the experience, without anything that would drive me insane from being so tedious. I don’t usally go for any amount of completion quota, outside of beating the postgame, but I decided to go for it here. Thats how much I fell in love with it. Some positive standouts for me:
- The memories strike a fabulous balance between being so easy to find its like baby work, and being so difficult to find I need a walthrough (*cough* *cough*, botw.) They are big pictures on the landscape, but the world is so big that they are simple to track down, but you might need to search a bit, even when you find every location. Not to mention, you need to scour it for the tear in the first place.
-The shrines are fantastic. The average length feels considerably shorter than breath of the wilds. They also make a good point to teach things rather than mostly being purely one-off challenges. Finally, the vast wealth of zonai devices makes it feel like, for a while you're always running into something new.
-They somehow made horses more useful, while everything else seems like it would be less so. The world has more things to do in it, more locations to be. There are zonai devices that let you make cars and everything, but horses still come out on top in either speed or control (depending on what vehicle you make.) There are more gear for horses, more customization, stables have more features to encourage it, etc.
-simple, but awesome narrative.
-The depths are the best thing humanity has ever created
-the sheer volume of player control and approachability
-Tedious things are less tedious (the compendium is easier thanks to robbie, and the lazy koroks that have experienced the war crimes of the internet give you two seeds instead of one.)
-MAKE YOUR OWN HOUSE
-all the major towns (gerudo town in particular) feeling a lot more impacted by gannon
-Good, unique boss designs (Marbled gohma feels a bit out of place, but still works.)
-the fact that NPCs move throughout the game, and you can fnd ones you encountered before in a totally different town somtimes.
-the slow realization that the depths map matches up near perfectly in design with the main map
- Getting jumpscared by a freaking colgera in the depths
-Sick new armor designs
-New, resource consuming and really difficult Gleeocks being harder than the hard at first, but quickly stupid predictable and easy lynels.
The list just keeps going on. What a game.
> the slow realization that the depths map matches up near perfectly in design with the main map
I was watching some TotK content and they pointed out how each Lightroot matches up with a shrine on the surface. I thought, "Oh, great! That will make finding shrines so easy; I can just blast through 100%ing them!" Man, no it hasn't. So many shrines are hidden away in obscure ass caves that, more often than not, I end up getting to the location on the surface and standing there like an idiot while the shrine sensor keeps yelling at me that the shrine is below me. I run around for a bit, and eventually I either give up or get distracted and end up on the other side of the map still "looking" for the cave.
God I love this game.
Same with me, I live this game so much and I want to finish every aspect of it but The koroks are just too much and I don’t have the patience for them.
Ditto on that Major Town thing. Vah Medoh shooting people out of the air in Rito Village may have been a issue for the Rito, but it didn’t feel like as much of an actual, overall problem as the others. It was less like I was doing it to help them and more like I was doing it for the sake of freeing all the Divine Beasts
Meanwhile the entire area being covered by an endless blizzard that deprives them of basic survival necessities did a much better job of conveying that they were in any real danger
The note of Purah was so true, though I think most people were blinded by Impa. Purah was more of a… fine wine lol
One idea I haven’t seen discussed about Tears is how exploring each layer of the map compliments exploring the other areas. For example, getting the zonai parts in the skies really helps you explore the depths, just as the schema stones and yiga builds down there help you explore the surface and sky. Most of the shrines are on the ground, which you need to get more stamina and hearts to explore both the sky and depths. In this way the reward loop feels woven throughout, they aren’t compartmentalized into separate games. The game doesn’t want you to say “ok surface first, then sky, then depths” it wants you to go back and forth, or at least incentivizes it.
Really solid points!
22:30
Actually yes, Master Kohga says that the depths have been here this whole time.
if you go in the game with a free roam camera mod after you catch Zelda, when she says i was sleeping for a long time, then i woke up to a warm loving embrace. if you pan the camera to link you will see him smile real big
This game is truly amazing. I have 90 hours on it at the moment yet I still have tons to do. The exploration is so fun and I love how it takes the idea of “if it works, it works” that Botw had and amplifies it by 100. I’d have to say it’s my favorite video game ever. You explained your thoughts rly well and this video was great. Cheers to more fun ahead in totk!
Thanks so much man! Looking forward to subsequent play throughs!!!
I'm at 250 and I'm nowhere near done. I'm expecting 600+. This game is more than twice the size of BOTW, and BOTW took me 300 hours. This is the biggest single player game ever made by quite a large margin. The only games I've ever seen that are bigger than this are MMO's like WOW that have many expansions.
I'm up to 200 now and most of the time I've just been goofing around but still I have loads to do
300+ hours and I've done almost everything. I've upgraded all th armour, but I still have like 20 Side Quests to do!!!!! This game is as long as you like!
The one thing I fully prefer from BOTW are the sage abilities. (edit: agreed, the story writing and sage dialogue also needs polish)
Yes it's fun to have the summons following along in TotK, but I wish they'd kept the ability activation to built-in controls. It felt so intuitive to have lighting release when you charge an attack, or to have a shield appear when you block.
Yea and the problem is it could be easily fixed, like imagine pulling your shield will automatically activate Sidon's ability when it's not in cool down? So much potential
@@Cye_Pie exaaactly
I agree. For me, the summons never come out because I find they just get in my way constantly during battle. Tulin only comes out if I’m trying to paraglide far distances but other than that I find them all annoying
Edit: I can’t tell you how many times Tulin blew all the monster parts off a cliff after killing enemies
and Sidon's ability to break my weapons instead of reviving me with extra hearts like his sister did, I can do without
@@GenMars yeah I'd also like it better without the weapon damage. I actually like the water shield tho
Spoiler Alert below:
12:03-12:12 "From the moment the idea of draconification was mentioned, It clicked. I audibly said there's no f***ing way Zelda is the dragon."
This line ring SOO TRUE. This was the same reaction I gave when I found the memory when it was first mentioned. I Just couldn't believe what they were implying at this moment. when I got the last tear I genuinely shed a tear(No pun intended).
I questioned ALOT about the depths. So many ruins, demonic looks, mines, giant statues, etc. I even question about playing like where's the edge of surface when climbing and how can i survive. I feel like im being watched while in the depths.
It's like the epitome of "You are not afraid of being alone in the dark. You are afraid of not being alone in the dark". Those Frox enemies are just the worst. Enemies being able to inflict Gloom didn't help either
It’s insane how much having the 4 sages running around with me at all times added so much comfort down there. I felt less vulnerable and lost. I felt protected, and like I really had Sidon, Riju, Yunobo and Tulin there with me. But even with that added comfort and protection…I still felt uneasy. ESPECIALLY when in the distance in the dark, I saw Colgera flying around in the abyss and realized the temple bosses appeared down there…like bro 💀
@@lovelightstarboy it could've been worse. Back when developers were trying to make a Guardian for BOTW, they were ginormous phenomenon creatures. If they added those in the depths I wouldn't even explore another inch there.
The mogma statues imply that they were the rulers of the depths and that they ran the mines for the zonai. Chances are they probably created the castle and the sealing chamber It might even be possible that the reason Gannondorf was down there in the first place was for conquest of the depths but it's a shame that they never actually address it directly
Those aren't Mogmas, Mogmas have tails and don't really wear clothing. It's more likely that those statues represent simpler Zonai or primitive Hylians since they lead to the central mine and that the mural at Josha's place represents the path made of those statue that lead to a Zonai using his power on the central mine
@@Elithralith That's just silly they go out of their way to say that they're people who lived underground and the only species that look relatively similar are the mogma. Putting that aside all of the statues have the species look stylized in a way that doesn't represent the current look so that's not really a defense.
@@emeraldpichu1 This is just silly itself, as the other regions all have primative versions of their respective areas race. Those are most certainly not mogma and without doubt a 50/50 split between them being simplistic Zonai or Hylians since they look almost exactly like the depiction of the ancient hero as well.
@@DarkLordTalon They look like the miner armor Those features are completely different from the more draconic and stag like zonal
When you’re having a conversation about the mural there a state it to be a completely different species that dwelt underground that are distinct from the zonai If you want to say they’re not the mogma that certainly an opinion to have you can’t say that there are zonai or ancient hylians
my theory as to why the sky islands feel so lack luster is probably because quite a lot of time was put into the depths, which were also NEVER revealed in any trailer/teaser for the game, making them all that much more shocking for anyone who has been up to date with TotK
Honestly man, I feel bad for you doing the Mineru main quest without doing the other stuff.
I did the whole quest and it was grander than ever (probably my favorite lead up to a dungeon)
Hopefully you get a chance to do that whole quest in order.
yeah definitely doing so on the next playthrough!
@@TylerTownsend looking forward 👍🏼
i discovered mineru pretty early on, and only did the rest of the quest after having defeated ganon already :p
but it was still very fun to play through that questline, even if im sure it wasnt as epic as it couldve been
@@stella_s yea I’m glad they give you the freedom to do so. But my experience was so much better. The feeling of knowing you are not done yet was really shocking to me.
But yea praise the devs for giving us too much freedom.
I was able to get to the dragon head islands shrine with out doing the quest but I some how missed the big ass door
SPOILER HEAVY COMMENT:
I think Mineru is my biggest complaint. Those ever-present storm clouds are incredibly interesting so like you I explored them way too early, I think between my 2nd and 3rd temple, and because of that bypassed the entire main storyline involving Kakariko arguably the village you visit the most in BoTW. Then the throwaway line you get later in the game when people are talking about the 5th sage is so incredibly underwhelming it made me feel like I was being punished for wanting to explore an open-world game.
(I actually already had the master sword, Mineru, and knew ganondorf's location by the time I finished the 4th sage and coming back after fighting puppet ganon was easily the worst part of the game for me. Chasing Zelda around the castle and having a boss fight in the throne room was cool and made me eager to see what's next only for the whole story segment to basically be Purah going "oh you already did X? Well we need Y. Oh you already did Y? Well we need Z. Oh you already did Z? Well I guess you're done then, go kill Ganondorf.)
Given how some of the Sheikahtech locations are now taken over by the Yiga (Shrine of Resurrection, Akkala Tech Lab), and their notable in-game focus on accessing Zonai tech, I got the impression that the Yiga are likely the ones who absconded with all the Sheikahtech in an effort to strengthen their power. They are former Sheikah, after all, and unlike the current Sheikah, they didn't (mostly) all become farmers. Makes sense that they'd be more like the rare Sheikah (Purah, Robbie, etc.) still interested in advanced technology.
I just realized watching this, the depiction of the Hero (red hair, green body) from BOTW is the same as TOTK's Hero's aspect transfomation reward from completing all the shrines.
I love that Great Fairies have their own motivations now instead of "give rupees, wake up".
When you do the Messages from An Ancient Era quest, finding the Flower Islands (which are shaped like Silent Princess) and taking pics of the attached tablets, you find out the same thing that the Legend of Great Sky Island construct tells you- the sky islands were raised to tell the story of ages past and keep the information & tools link would need safe until the return of Ganondorf/demon king. They were sealed away in the sky specifically until Rauru's seal broke so that they would be available when Link had to fight the Demon King.
13:52 yes please...
That was a huge opportunity for Link to finally show emotions. A simple hug would have been great.
I agree with all the criticisms. I would add that the abilities wheel is a tad slow or laggy. But that too is nitpicky and understandable considering how much is possible with the new abilities on this limited hardware. That being said, i also agree that the game is a masterpiece. Even past 100 hours in i found myself gasping like that little girl in the commercial when her dad says "watch this..." or openly taking too myself "WTF" and "this is unbelievable". The game's just so big with so much new stuff to find. I absolutely love it!
The good far outweighs the bad with this game!
Good thing about ability wheel is that you don't have to scroll for stuff to open a rune which if you actually memorise the layout you can spam runes like you want
I actually like the wheel. It feels like a snappier, more simplified version of twilight princess's item wheel! But I've also never concerned myself with lag or taking things slow, just as a way I play games personally.
@@shun22222Kinda makes me wish it was the same in BotW. Would make some advanced tricks feels more fluid.
I 100% agree with the descendant thing being a plot hole! I also assumed there was an offscreen child or that Zelda was descended from illegitimate,separate children of Sonia and Rarau rather than being their child.
27:56 I did the same thing and stumbled upon the fifth temple quest randomly, but it was a really great experience. I thought I stumbled upon some secret optional content and was really excited.
Goes to show how incredibly free the game is in letting you choose your own adventures
I played for a month, said man that was short, only to realize I spent 130 hours beating it 😂
instead of the sky next time, i’ll take the depths andddd like 3-4 optional actual traditional dungeons and we’re good
You're not alone... i got curious and ended up with Mineru as my second sage. XD
I think that Zelda isn't a direct descendant of Sonia, but more like a distant niece. That's how Sonia can die, have no children, and still be blood related to Zelda.
It's confirmed that both Rauru and Sonia are both direct ancestors of Zelda in the game, and it was never stated that Sonia never had children
@@lukejones7164 I didn't hear anything about them being directly related, just, related.
@@Kristabombastic Rauru was also stated to be related to Zelda as well in the story.
@@lukejones7164 doesn't necessarily mean they're blood related.
@@Kristabombastic It logically does, because Rauru and Sonia were the ones who started the Royal Family.
I felt so dumb when I finally realized Zelda was the dragon. By that point in time I had already acquired the master sword, and had already gotten up close and personal with the dragon. When it finally clicked, I had to go back and find it again.
Tyler: “TOTK gives you a Deeply personal gameplay experience”
The players: 😈
One of the only things I wish was that Kakariko was more important. It’s main thing is revealing Mineru’s existence and kicking off the Thunderhead quest line, but I, Tyler, and a bunch of others by my count “sequence broke” (yeah, open world, but the devs had an intent).
Also, that bit is *really* close to the end of the game. Idk about y’all, but I had at least 40, maybe 50 hours by the time that I properly interacted with Kakariko. I just wish it was more relevant, especially Paya (who is *chief* and does *one thing* )
22:48
I mean, I can accept that an owl man sent his arm through time to help Link, because it’s a fairytale and I don’t need a scientific explanation for that…. But having an entire underground world that parallels the surface? That warrants at least _some_ explanation
You didn’t miss the 5th sage quest I did the same as you - it’s a flaw with the open world. I stumbled upon the spirit temple without knowing anything about it and then when I was supposed to get the quest it was an awkward “oh … you already completed it” (that being said I’ve spent 180h in it so far and I’m still absolutely loving it
well you did the hard part, defeat the ddemon king army, defeat the demen king 2 phases and that 2nd phases was hell, and a fun final stage, having this make the game more entertaining and more rewarding. that final stage is Meant to be fun and easy
I’ve seen a lot of reviews for various Zelda games over the years. This one was a phenomenal review. I hope you are proud of this one. Your hard work really stood out.
Thank you so much for the kind words! I’m very happy with how this one turned out and I’m super appreciative that folks are giving it a watch!!!
Excellent review. Kind of surprised you didn't mention the whole "missing Triforce," even as a side note...but I did write a whole other comment on why us creative type do that. So..I aint mad at you. You got my like and sub. Good stuff friend. Truly.
yeah for sure, there's a ton of stuff I left out of the review like music and other continuity stuff but those are topics i'll likely touch on in other videos! Thanks for checking out the review!!!
If this new Hyrule gets a whole trilogy... I don't know exactly how it could get even better...
But it happened before, it can happen again.
A consistent story with fleshed out lore would be good. But I honestly can't find much room for improvement beyond that.
the only thing i can think, storywise, to do with a third game is maybe having demise return? idea came to me when i realized, looking at the thematic and functional differences between malice and gloom, ganon and ganondorf feel like halves of a third, greater evil
but i'm not really sure that would be a good idea
New game with red box art and some kind of power theme? Though, TotK was very power-focused through Ganondorf's story and motivations, I think the color actually corresponds to Zelda's journey. In BotW (blue), she sought to serve her kingdom through Wisdom, researching the ancient Sheikah tech. In TotK (green), she stepped into a leadership role in the past, and then took on the enormous sacrifice of draconification to ensure the Master Sword reached Link strong enough to defeat Ganondorf. If there's a third game in the series, Zelda's story would have to focus on power somehow, ideally without compromising her character.
I'm not sure how much they could do with the existing Hyrule, though. Perhaps the game would have to be at sea, or exploring the other lands visible, but not accessible, from the current map. Otherwise, it would have to be set far enough in the future that Hyrule to be drastically changed.
I did the same with regards to the Spirit Temple. Flew into the storm, found a Zonai Dispenser. Jumped down to see how I’d do against a Flux Construct in the dark and he hit me into the Island that had a shrine on, came out the shrine and see the door.
I doubt many people did it the same way we did?
160 hours.... and still going up. SO GOOOOOOOD!!!!! Totk has more life. Im glad were rebuilding. I still feel sad about the tragic with the calamity. Brutal...
When you are diving and see those massive strands of gloom growing like a vine near the final boss fight. Is insane. The way that the music picks up as you are just seeing this… thing.
One of my favorite things about TotK was Ganondorf. At the beginning of this game I couldn’t fathom that this creepy demon skeleton was Ganondorf. I know him as a green-skinned man that rules behind the shadows, and is mostly just a normal bad guy with a monster army, who prefers to let the hero find him at the end.
Two scenes to me made Ganondorf deserving of his demonic music and powerful aura. The first was the scene where he takes IT from HER, and turns into the demon king. The second was the scene where he gets sealed. This game’s cutscenes (past and present) show a proactive, cunning, and POWERFUL Ganondorf. The cherry on top is his bossfight, it feels like nothing we’ve fought before, but feels like the DEFINITIVE fight against Ganondorf.
He felt like an active threat the whole game. He was sitting underground, gathering his power, but his influence was spread far and wide, and his manipulation of the people of Hyrule through Puppet Zelda, and the specific ways he attacked the major races, was a balance of cruel and clever that made him feel like a proper villain.
@@StonetheDestroyer42 If he was that powerful, why not come to the surface and enslave every race, becoming the king. Feels more like he was just a coward. Didn't even kill the hero. Calamity Ganon was more of an active threat than Ganondorf ever was. I'll just wait here for the one who will murder me to come and get me. How powerful could he be before he gets here? (Famous last words, probably). Ultimately, Ganondorf's pride was his undoing.
Because I watched the memories in order and It’s only like memory 3 when Mineru mentions about becoming an immortal dragon I already knew what was going to happen. That along with the fact we’d already seen the light dragon before leaving the tutorial island too was suspicious. I feel the memories should have been unlocked in order and the light dragon, master sword it should have all been hidden until the final memory.
I remember thinking the sky islands were gonna be such a big deal, and now the only ones i even remember are the ones for the water + wind temple sky islands, the great sky island, the faron sky islands, and a couple that were spheres and had shrine puzzles
The band quests were loads of fun. I was hoping that once completed then we might be able to go to them and make requests for all the classics
@luckymandragon: Ha this would have been really cool! Imagine playing Ocarina of time songs!
@@macruz8503 Right! I would love to hear these guys play a full rendition of the song of storms. It might even affect the weather
I avoided Hyrule Castle because I didn't want to stumble across the final boss. Somehow, I got the fifth sage and didn't realize what that really meant. Then I caved and went to the castle.
18:20
Or you could, like me, fhavr your first encounter with the gloom hands in your third cave ever. Then panic, use up 80% of your bombs on arrows blasting them to death, only to then be even more scared (and die) when Phantom Ganon shows up, because you suddenly realize the ceiling is to high for ascend.
Great video man. Good writing and delivery on the script, and good editing work with the visuals to show us what you're talking about.
Also, I never thought about how Sonia didn't have any visible children 😂
so, on the "technical achievement" celebration bit, my highlight;
there was a button on a ceiling over a pool of water and only light wood in the area. First, i tried submersing the wood flat, it didnt react strongly to the water pressure. i angled the plank perpendicular to the water surface and submerged it, and it shot out like a boogie board.
TotK's team deserves to be very proud of what they've done, and I'm ending this gush with a shoutout to the caves. OMG I am so happy to have grottos, wells, caverns, cenotes, all those creep-havens and treasure troves. THAT is what made this feel like an honest to hylia Zelda game.
Totally didnt realize you are a sub 5k channel. Really nicely done. Good script and a good voice to listen to. 😊
Just me who thought the shrines were better in botw? 1. They had better atmosphere
2. The puzzles were better and couldn’t be cheesed as easily as in tears
3. Less blessings, yes there may be 32 more shrines this time but every single one of them are in the sky. The quest getting the crystals to the shrine got old after a while and literally every single shrine apart from the ones in the GSI were blessings. And on top of that there were way more blessings in tears than in breath on the surface. So We only got like 100 or something puzzles in tears but still having 30 additional shrines.
4. In botw there were some shrines that were really huge and Fun to explore. For example. In botw there was a shrine in the crab in lake Daurinia. That shrines was massive (for being a shrine), almost so big it could’ve been compared to the great deku tree from OoT. Totk had none like this so that’s why I feel like the shrines were underwhelming in tears
After finishing the game I can properly watch this lol
I'm so glad that you mentioned the story because Nintendo being so secrecy about it for years only raised my concern. It will always be a problem to have even slightly coherent story in a game where you're free to go wherever (especially for these titles). For example, I got the Master Sword back before even getting a single tear or finishing the Korok Forest quest. But if they are really sidelined the story in favor of gameplay, then they still did an amazing job with it.
Overall, it's a game that I also didn't think could exist but I'm so SO glad it did
"There was no way anyone saw it playing out the way it did."
It was actually pretty obvious - I have a few timestamped fully fledged theories prior to its release, and nearly every single detail was correct, down to the time travel and master sword.
However, I thought perhaps the past would have its version of Link, which of the two details I got wrong, was the most major detail askew.
But overall? Predictable.
And just after a tear or two do you piece the rest of the entire plot together. It's a huge letdown, story wise. So, I agree - linearity lends itself to excellent storytelling mechanics.
One thing that people seem to forget, is that Nintendo was never really interested in a Zelda continuity. The only reason they caved and gave us a more or less continuous story line, was because fans wouldn't just drop it and let it be, and even then, we got a convoluted mess because of the Ocarina of Time time split.
These stories were never really meant to be connected. Some can vaguely reference others as a way to build up on the current game lore, but that's it. And I suppose that's very fitting of its title. They are Legends. Even within themselves they reference each other as Legends,
So, yeah... the fact that fans are still puzzled because "but this makes no continuity sense!" it's because it was never supposed to.
I think most of the continuity concerns were more tied to breath of the wild, sure the timeline issues are a hot topic but the most glaring issues for me was how a lot of the things in botw just seemed left to the wayside
@@TylerTownsend I agree that the continuity between both games is kinda wack, even tho they ARE supposed to be connected. Not only with how many people seem to have forgotten about Link (even tho in a lot of cases, his help should've ensured that they didn't forget him in less than 6 years...) I'd also like to know what happened with all the guardian tech. Including towers, broken guardians, and shrines.
However, how loosely connected both games are should be further proof that Nintendo doesn't care for a strong continuity as much as fans do. (Which isn't either bad or good, honestly. Is just a design choice)
I personally find the idea behind the Zelda timeline to be really dumb and I feel a more game to game format with references to the other games as legends is more fitting like you said, but I understand why people see it otherwise. What really surprises me is that people are only complaining about it for this game and not Breath of the Wild. You can't convince me the idea of a timeline fusion came up in any serious manner during the development of that game.
I generally disagree with the idea that Tears of the Kingdom feels disconnected from Breath of the Wild since they want the game to make sense individually, but I do agree the Sheikah tech could've used a brief mention in Purah's diary or something. Just have her talk about how the Towers, Shrines and Pillars went back underground shortly after Ganon's defeat and how they deconstructed the Guardians for materials in their efforts to relearn construction of Sheikah tech.
This is probably one of my favorite reviews. You were real, brought out both positives and negatives and also made compelling comparisons between TOTK and BOTW. Great job and great video!
Thank you so much! Glad you enjoyed!
I'm having a feeling that Sheikah is gonna be some sort of expansion DLC. Since we're dealing with time travel there could be so many things that could've happened to them.
U sound like the notjustbikes dude, huge review love it.
Great review! I loved the side quests sooo much - especially the Mayor quest! It was fun to see who was gonna win!
31:58 when I first fought the gleeok on the bridge, I got knocked off the bridge, drowned, and right as I respawned I was crushed by a giant fireball and died. Was it annoying? Yes. Was it hilarious? Yes.
One of my main complaints is that during the few voice acted cutscenes the music was so loud I can’t hear the voices.
And I wished this game had full voice acting.
Despite Penn already has voice clips, I keep reading his dialogue in Launchpad McQuack’s voice from the DuckTales reboot.
The dungeons were very interesting. They were each so different and really you were starting the dungeon with the trek towards them. They made a usually boring part of the game into something that strongly ties into the dungeons.
I would have loved for that construct on the island to give us some sort of vision, like plug into the Purah Pad and show us from Zeldas view, how the islands were raised into the sky by everyone as a cutscene, explaining the cloud barrier, and WHY you DIE DIVING OFF during the tutorial but not after you finished it. Or maybe have some flying construct getting you back to the island instead of dying with the explanation that you are too weak to leave until you are able to open the big door or something of the sorts. And have Ganondorf turn those flying constructs evil after the first bloodmoon or something interesting like that. The Plateau in BOTW makes sense because of fall damage and such but we obviously dive off the sky island after we hand over the Master Sword and land in water without dying.
Malice is an unconscious force of nature, while gloom is personified hatred and disgust. The two different states of Gannon’s wakefulness is probably why the change was made.
I’m late finding your review. Good work. I personally love that the story from the memory is incomplete and can be found out of order at the player’s place. (Also the limited details about the sky islands) For me it adds to the sense of exploration and adventure as I piece together a story from incomplete available evidence. It actually feels more immersive then having everything spelled out can feel.
Thank you for the praise. I'm happy you liked my game.
What I'm guessing (and hoping) is that such unanswered questions, such as that regarding the existence of the depths, will be answered once we hopefully get a DLC
On regards to Mineru's sidequest. I actually found her island by accident. I didn't have Shrine sensor on, but noticed the name (Dragonhead Island) and a different music. After defeating Phantom ganon, and Paya said some about "the land of the Dragon", I instantly thought of that place and headed towards it, without doing Tauro's sidequest to get the clothing and clear the storm. In there, my shrine sensor activated and I found a door which I couldn't open because I've only had invested in Stamina. I feel your pain about missing a sidequest but I was also looking for the Spirit Sage so it felt rewarding either way.
28:03 lol that was what happened on my playthrough as well. I didn't play botw and I thought I truly had to explore until I found the 5th sage and that location was about one of the few places I hadn't explored at all up to that point
Absolutely loved this video! It's so clear how much effort has gone into it and you managed to touch on almost every important point in such a clear and concise way! You have a wonderful narrating style and I need to go watch more of your videos because you just sound so calming :) Lol now I also wanna reboot ToTK again even though I'm already 400+ hours in oooops
Wow can't believe I missed this comment! So sorry for the extremely late response but thank you so much! I'm really glad you enjoyed the review!
There was a hint for the geoglyphs order if you followed Impa's quest line.
She'll bring you to a room in the forgotten temple, on which the murals from left to right tell you the order.
I believe this was the "linear" take on the story that was missing from BotW.
Cool vid, although I have to say that the gliderless Any% Speedrun for TotK is already below 1 hour and has been for over a week :)
Edit to add: Duplicating fairies so you can just outright ignore fall damage is overpowered xD
Wow I wouldn’t have thought to dupe fairies! Speedrun strats are crazy
I enjoyed seeing the memories out of order and having the story unwrap this way. I'd done four sages and all the towers before doing any of the "Tears" at the crop circles, so I already had a pretty good idea what was going on.
Only thing is, the memory on the master sword glyph has flashbacks and seeing it early feels wacky AF
Tears of the Kingdom is probably my 4th favorite coming after the list of Majora's Mask, Twilight Princess, and Spirit Tracks.
All they need to do is work on the kinks of it and it could easily hit #1
My biggest complaint about the game is actually the way the story was handled as well. I HATED the fact that Mineru spoiled the climax in one of the early memories. She should've just mentioned a forbidden act and nothing else. That would've left us with more questions than answers, which is what a story should do, metaphorically, to keep you reading so to speak. My reaction was something like, "well, thanks for that. Now I'm not even going to be shocked when I see it happen".
I also didn't like the fact that you could go to Dragon Head Island at any time. Only when the clouds were cleared should that have been possible. It should have been mechanically the same as the Lost Woods, when entering the clouds. Forbidding entry. Would have left more of a sense of wonder I think.
Aside from that, I absolutely loved the story and the game itself, showcasing a crown achievement of game development capabilities on such limited console hardware.
All of the 'plot holes' between BOTW and TOTK (like the lack of sheikah tech, or people not recognizing you) actually have a simple explanation: Zelda changed history when she went back in time. The 'BOTW' that canonically preceded TOTK was fundamentally different from the BOTW we played.
If we're essentially creating a reboot to the timeline, shouldn't they wait a lot longer before adding in convoluted storylines that mess with the canon?
35:48 Isn't it the Redeads that screech? It would explain why the Gibdos of TOTK didn't. (I was also eager to hear it.)
Another complaint I have with the story is about the sages. I felt like there was a lot of potential, both with the old and the new sages for a group dynamic where we get to bond with them as a group. I would have loved to see more interactions like when they come and save you in the castle or in the secret ending cutscene
I just had an idea based on what you said about the Poe's, there could have been two variants in the depths, the Will o' Wisp variant that only gives one at a time, and a corrupted cluster that takes the form of a Poe as fans would recognize them from games past, giving more Poe's upon defeat.
Great video! I wonder if the Triforce will ever be a thing in the future. Anyone have any thoughts on that?
Great job on this video. As you mentioned looking forward to the next one.
Thanks so much! Glad you enjoyed!!!
it makes me think that hyrule is similar to a continent out of many instead of a world as a whole. This leads to my explanation that all the new npcs migrated to hyrule from a different "continent" that we don't know about. maybe after the calamity ended, people outside of hyrule learned that it was finally a safe place to live, so they moved here.
"Biblically-Accurate Hylia" is a fucking brilliant joke. I fucking love this video man, super high quality and insightful.
I did the same thing with the Spirit Temple quest. Found the starting point on Dragon Head island with the 10 heart door just exploring around. It was kind of annoying that all the NPCs are telling me about this "fifth sage" for the rest of the game while Mineru is literally standing right behind me.
13:52 my sentiments exactly 😭 i don't even need a kiss but that moment Zelda was getting up was just BEGGING for a hug
This gave is an astronomical step up from botw and you could probably just notice that from your playtime. For me, I finished botw at 80 hours and played added another 25 hours (or more), so I sorta got bored of the game shortly after that. Then shortly after that I got the masterpiece that is totk, and finished that game with the same amount of hours I left off on botw, and currently I have 180 hours or more on totk and I’m still playing. Another thing with totk is that I’m actually motivated to 100% it, like a probably won’t but ay I’m almost half way there already.
18:41 It also doesn't make sense with the 5th divine beast, the first room was an elevator that lead into a giant cave
I started playing Twilight Princess again because of the nostalgia punch when I got Midna's Helmet, and now I can't help but to think how would that game be with this kind of cinematics. Obviously a linear storyline, but with the voice acting, it would be so cool!!!
I felt like the sky islands were a front to hide the complete access to Depths. I always wondered how deep master yiga fell, never would’ve though it was a complete new exploration. This game is insane😊
I actually feel the opposite about the temples.
I liked the Lightning tem ple the most, because of how each battery (except one lol) was hidden behind some sort of puzzle I had to think about solving a bit
Meanwhile I just autobuild triple springs everywhere in the fire Temple to cheese it and had the least fun with it
For where the shrine of resurrection went: on the outside of the cave you can see scratch marks and parts of the rock removed so that the researchers could remove it and study it. Or so we can infer.
Your assessment of the Lightning Temple is interesting. Not that I think Queen Gibdo was bad, but it was just fine to me. The temple was my favorite. It was the one that most felt like a classic dungeon. The best boss is Colgera.
One of the things I’ve loved seeing post totk is just how different folk’s perspectives of the dungeons are! I’ve seen numerous people say they like the lightning temple the most and I think that’s great! There’s something for everybody in this game and I think it just goes to show how well done the temples are in this game!