some notes, since i get a handful of the same comments nearly every day: 1. yes, you can hear some mouth sounds during the beginning of this video. it won't be an issue in the future and it goes away ten minutes in. 2. zelda being taller than link is a win for gay people because link and zelda are lesbians. i will not be taking further questions at this time. 3. it seems that you _can_ find pristine weapons even if you didn't break the unfused variety. we only know this because of datamining. i maintain that the game never explaining how this system works is still poor design 4. yes, i have heard of elden ring. i don't plan on playing it in the immediate future but it's on my list 5. when i talk about link being “disabled” i am referring to the initial event where he loses his arm. the rauru arm is basically a prosthetic 6. my pronouns are they/them thank you all so much for watching! i can't believe the extent to which this video blew up (going from 100 subs to nearly 20k in less than two months is something i wasn't prepared for) and i'm so thankful for the (mostly) positive response! be on the lookout for more in the future, there's plenty on the way 😸
@skittybitty do you mind telling us why you don't plan to play ER anytime soon? It has become such a phenomenon and basically ubiquitous with modern classic gaming.
While I did think it's pretty dope, my buddy pointed out that the final fight is essentially a remix of the Naydra one from BotW. It's a cool scene, but we did have a sky battle with a dragon before. Overall everything you've pointed out is grand. The changes suggested would make for a legendary game. A shame the goofs at Nintendork can't think better than a stuffed pokemon.
That last comment about “just send them to the past to justify a new refreshed map” is like the perfect thing that hammers home how much wasted potential there was.
And I think the worst part about it is that they literally DID send Zelda to the past...and at one point we even catch a glimpse of how different Hyrule was in one of the cutscenes. But of course, we just got a rehash of BOTW's map with a few minor differences. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the game, and the addition of the underground/sky islands was great in my opinion, but I definitely felt like something was missing throughout my playthrough, and I think the lack of an original map to explore was a big part of it
"TOTK is the first game to make me feel bored and overwhelmed at the same time. There is so much to do in this world, and absolutely none of it matters." Wow, you explained my exact feelings in such a concise way that I never even considered. As someone who also adored BOTW and played through it twice yet couldn't even bring myself to finish TOTK, this video was so cathartic. Absolutely incredible work, and it's amazing that this is your first longform video. I can't wait to see what else you make in the future!
my thoughts for the game almost immediately after beating it were pretty similar. "They created a big world with all these things to do, but nothing that's actually worth doing." Whole game is just a huge timewaster.
Saying that finally put my thoughts about this game to paper. Playing it I was always thinking there was always doing something I should be doing but looking back it was all worthless. From all the caves/islands/zonaite mines and everything, the game simultaneously has so much do to and yet nothing at all.
How incredible is it that in a video that's 3:25:11 long, I came across your comment at exactly the 2:31:11 mark? I literally started reading these words as they were being spoken. Aside from having to share this, I completely agree with everything said.
@@carnage0685 the one thing I hate about BOTW is the underground cave and the abilities Link has. It seems like it’s trying to be Minecraft now. Also they got rid of my favourite power cryonis. I don’t care if you can make a actual boat or even flying boat now. I liked the more simple powers of BOTW
Having the jingle sound effect is an awesome idea that I wish more reviewers do!!! I often like to listen to these reviews while doing something else but it can be super annoying if I turn and look at the screen and see important edited notes flashing in screen. It makes me think that i have to watch the whole thing so having a cue letting me know I have to look at the screen is great!
The sound effect for when important information is on-screen is honestly such a smart idea for these longform videos that a lot of people just listen to that I can't believe I haven't seen it done before.
Honestly yeah, it's catchy enough to grab my attention for really fun points but subtle enough that it's not jarring. I've seen it done occasionally done in other video essays but it doesn't usually meet the mark like this or appear so consistently
One of the very first NPC's you meet at Lookout Landing tells you that they're taking refuge there after their home was destroyed when Lurelin Village was raided by pirates. When I first heard that, I was SO intrigued to see theses new pirate enemies and headed straight for Lurelin. I get there and find out the "pirates" were just Bokoblins. Not even special, unique Bokoblins that wear pirate outfits or anything. Literally the exact same Bokoblins you can find everywhere else.
I imagined Gerudo pirates like Majora's Mask, or Skeleton pirates like in Skyward Sword or the Oracle games. I was quite upset. Well, at least the ship was original... Then I ran into the same ships all over the map 😐
@@labrynianrebel The Skyward Sword Pirates are actually ROBOT Skeleton Pirates, the Oracle ones are just plain old regular skeletons. Both of which are infinitely more interesting than Totk's Bokoblin Pirates that actually aren't even pirates.
@@netweed09 You want to know what in Hyrule I was expecting? PIRATES. I was expecting PIRATES. The game literally told me there would be PIRATES, and so I expected there to be PIRATES. Instead I got ordinary, generic Bokoblins. Not even special pirate Bokoblins, no. The exact same Bokoblins you can find in every other part of the game. As in, 100% identical. Literally copy-pasted. Other Zelda games were able to do pirates just fine, what's Totk's excuse?
I knew the editing in the video was top tier but I was sold when I looked in the bottom left and saw the background tracks being listed as they start playing jeez you went ALL OUT for this
Unbelievable. I watched all three hours and twenty-five minutes, and I was very surprised. I kept a mental checklist of every issue I've had with this game, and you touched on every single one, even the ones I haven't seen other people bring up at all. Tears of the Kingdom is just such a rote, uninspired, by-the-book sequel to one of the most inspired and creative Zelda games I've ever seen that the disappointment is never not immeasurable. And it makes me sad when it earns massive unwarranted praise anyway because that's the eternal weakness of Zelda: being surrounded by a millions-strong army of gushers and defenders who will force themselves to like the game before hearing any negative response will never incentivize Nintendo to actually bring their best. Excellent work and thank you so much.
To be fair, Zelda does witness Link getting his hand gloomed, so maybe she talked it out with Rauru and they set up the whole thing so it would help him in the future? Idk, that's the only plausible explaination
If Ganon hadn't cut Link's arm off, there wouldn't be a game, because either Ganon would've been defeated in the first 10 minutes or Link would've died. Remember, this is a Link who did all 120 Shrines in BOTW. Plus, Rauru could always give Link his Light Sage powers the same way the Champion's did in BOTW. He's a ghost, remember. He can just do that.
The one fix I still stand by is that Link needed to get send to the past instead of Zelda. That way the whole overworld could be different. In fact we could’ve had dungeons that were dilapidated in Breath. We could’ve kick it with Rauru as a partner or whatever.
@@KC-tw1wdhow about swallowing the stone to get back and rescue Zelda. We get to play as a fucking dragon and demolish Ganon. Sacrificing ourself for the greater good. Making it more emotional and impactful.
I really thought Rauru was going to be the partner character of this game during the tutorial. Then the tutorial ends, Rayru f*cks off and then I'm just standing there like "w8, where are you going? _COME BACK GOAT HUSBAND!!_ 😢
An interesting thought could have been changing the past by defeating ganon there as link could potentially have changed the future as well, even better if link and Zelda went to the past together, both as playable characters. Imagine beating ganon, making it back to the present, and seeing a restored Hyrule that was never destroyed by the calamity, but Link and Zelda still remember the events of breath of the wild so Zelda see’s her dad or something and gets to apologize or something emotional happens or idk, something. Lots of somethings. That COULD create a host of issues itself mind you, but would have been very interesting I feel
The fact that this started with them wanting to make a love letter to BOTW and ended with them making a three hours hate letter to TOTK is kinda poetic
@@prizmovr8817 I mean, it's not something I'd do (I think, who knows), but I choose to take it lightly or jokingly like with the comment cause it's not my life so who am I to judge or criticize
Is it unhealthy? People have made much longer media analysis videos on youtube. What’s the difference between making an analysis on something you love or hate when it comes to mental health? passion goes both ways
And they made Link wave bye to a deku scrup at the beginning of Majora, wave and smile to his friends at the end of Wind Waker, laugh with Midna in Twilight Princess, and he held hands with Zelda in Spirit Tracks. It’s 2024. Animate his face darn it
@@mr.j3rs3yAnd while it is indeed funny. It comes at the cost of complete emersion destruction on the same level as Mickey Mouse saying “Say fellas, did somebody mention the door to darkness.”
it did freak me out on my first reaction in-game, before my friends started memeing about it when they found the memory/online memes. i wasn't expecting such an uncanny expression
One of my favorite moments in gaming period is me ignoring the story, following my gut, tracking down the Light Dragon only to find the master sword in its head and it’s revealed that this magnificent beast I’ve seen up until now was Zelda. I was floored. I almost cried. I made an insane discovery that I made all on my own. I also found the Spirit Sage as my second champion, which felt amazing. I was so frustrated that the game then refused to acknowledge the fact that I did these things. Everyone for the next 50 hours told me that I needed to find Zelda, that I needed to find the last sage, that I needed to destroy Ganon, but I had these pieces of the puzzle all complete. It was super jarring and made the fake Zelda moments fall super flat. The first half of the game was great for me, it had some incredible moments for me, and I loved the ending, but man it makes some very ridiculous design decisions. Happy I found your channel with this one.
. Because the game still wanted to be free roaming and exploration.... Notice how fucking hard the game gets when you go out of order? Or how the story becomes botched? Its a massive storytelling flaw
i will forever be mad about the nerfed mastersword, literally the blade of evils bane bathed in the light of a dragon for more than 10,000 years and it has less durability and damage than the mastersword from botw? crazy as hell
@@ZiggyPalffyLA mhm! It loses its sparkle and will never get bonus durability again. If i could fix the mastersword id just give it infinite durability, and the fused items would have their own durability so that the mastersword can act as an extremely powerful jack of all trades tool.
It's crazy how the story has some actually incredible moments (largely carried by the soundtrack and sound design) while being a massive wet fart as a whole. Like the Zelda transformation cutscene does indeed go crazy and the whole set piece of the final battle is one of the coolest thing I've ever seen in my goddamn life. They're high points in video games in general, not just this series. But they're there in service of nothing. It's like they had artists paint these immaculate scenes and set pieces worthy of being shown off in the Louvre , and then got the kids who argued if Sonic could beat Iron Man during recess to write everything that glues those moments together. Utterly baffling.
@@netweed09 yeah it would have been cooler to see a temple where all the lost sheikah tech dissapeared to or something, and honestly, any character from the memories should stay in the memories
Boo. What could possibly be better than a giant underground rideable robot companion? Imho the best reward in the entire franchise. Mixing things up a little with that quest was a high point
@@netweed09 literally the pot calling the kettle black, look at the rest of your seething in this comment section. you abuse the caps key like nintendo has abused your sense of taste
i am SO GLAD to hear someone else say they should have sent Link to the past. I HAVE BEEN SHOUTING THIS FROM THE ROOFTOPS. It could have solved SO MANY PROBLEMS the game had, SO EASILY!! ANDDD it would have actually put you, the player, into the meat of the story instead of just being an observer, again. it's so depressing to think about the missed opportunity here. there are some good fanfics tho...
Any recommendations? I had a lot of issues with BotW but I did love the characters and I wanted to try TotK but…seems like a waste of money. So, fanfic!
It was satisfying to finally hear I wasn't the only one who thought "Zelda, you don't think GANONdorf has anything to do with CALAMITY GANON?? "Ganon" is not a common name, even in Hyrule, which I'm sure you know, Zelda, since you're a goddamn historian in these games, but even then, it's not like he was called "Calamity Dave" and when you met "Dave" in the past, you thought "huh, weird coincidence, but I wont assume because the name Dave is pretty common" LIKE ZELDA, YOU LOOKED AT ONE MURAL AT THE BEGININNG OF THE GAME AND INFERRED THE EVENTS OF THE IMPRISONING WAR, WHY DID YOU NOT HAVE THIS AMAZING DEDUCTION WHEN HEARING THE NAME "GANONDORF"????!?!?!?!
What upsets me more about this is that in BotW, when Zelda is expositing on the identity of Dark Beast *GANON* , she explicitly states that this great evil has taken many incarnations for a great deal of Hylian history. If Urbosa also acknowledges the history that *GANON* once lived as a Gerudo man, then surely Zelda should figure that this suspicious Gerudo man named "GANONdorf" might have a connection with the red-haired, superpowered, evil mummy that she encountered in the present, as well as the Calamity *GANON* that she spent 100-ish years fighting? (who's humanoid forms, mind you, also have red hair like GANONdorf) I suppose Zelda didn't want to jump to conclusions or was worried about changing the present too much, and just being in the past is changing the present by a great deal anyway. Maybe she *does* know about the whole "Ganon" connection but really is trying not to interfere too much until the last moment. Maybe she doesn't want Link's time period to end up all screwy, I don't know...
I mean tbf she likely didn't know that Calamity Ganon used to be a gerudo and a similar name alone isn't enough to deduce that they are the same person. Well the mural painted a pretty clear picture, some guy having a similar but not the same name isn't enough to make a good deduction.
@@lexfordjackenstiresirjacke2082 I mean eh...Zelda may not have known that Ganon used to be a Gerudo though or was named Ganondorf. I am pretty sure she just didn't know they were the same person and having red hair and similar names alone doesn't confirm it.
Supposedly, Majora's Mask was created because its main developer was instructed to remake Ocarina of Time, and insisted that they be allowed to make a full sequel, rather than just a quick-and-dirty cashgrab. Their manager agreed, but gave them a strict deadline of only one year. This explains why the two games have so many reused assets between them, the game's relatively smaller scope, and the origin of a lot of the themes of "time running out" the game so frequently addresses. Often, this story is told as something inspirational. The subtext landing somewhere between "wow nintendo employees sure are built different" and "true art is made in the face of adversity". As with so many other "inspiring" stories, there's rarely any discussion of how absurd the initial demand actually was, or what would have happened if said deadline were not met. So when another direct-sequel Zelda game releases over two decades later, with so many clearly-unfinished details, so little care put into absolutely anything but spectacle, and a year-long delay that clearly wasn't anywhere near enough... I can't help but speculate about possible parallels. Was a similar challenge issued? Did the dev team accept it and fail? Or did they decline, with the ultimatum draining their motivation to do their best? Secret Stone? Demon King? I don't think we'll ever get an answer as to what went wrong during the development process, same as all the other questions this game raises. But I would not be surprised to hear that somebody tried to recreate an old recipe for bottled lightning, and instead ended up electrocuted and holding an empty bottle.
@@angolin9352 Well yeah, how do you think Majora's Mask turned out so well in the first place? It's just fascinating to see what a mistimed input looks like after so long.
I remember criticising TotK for being an overpriced DLC when it first dropped, and so many Nintendo fans kept comparing it to Majora and Ocarina. They may use the same engine, but they are completely different stories with a completely different gimmick. The denial at the time was insane like come on.
this video really helped me unpack my sense of discontent and unhappiness i’ve been feeling with totk. i had more fun speculating about the game with my friends then actually playing it. i can count the moments in the game that actually made me feel anything on one hand
There is NO WAY this is your FIRST EVER video essay. I loved your presentation, humour, analysis, and editing! your channel should be at LEAST 70$ on the switch shop tbh Truly rthe Breath of the Wild of video essays about Tears of the Kingdom.
Yeah, I think videos/essays of this length and quality are needed to oppose the weight of praise for ToTK. It's a big game, after all. You took on the behemoth and won. So, maybe you won the true Main Quest of the game and it's actually... ingenious? :P Thanks so much @skittybitty for making this video. I was disappointed by the game to put it mildly and only got as far as completing the Sky Temple because my gf had bought it for me as a birthday present. In the end, I had to let both her and Zelda down
truly, the sequel that tries ALL THE TIME to pretend that its prequel never happened, Botw is literally the pinnacle for these characters in relation to their lives but TOTK simply pretends that it was just a small event without much importance to the point that it becomes irritating, it doesn't talk about Calamity Ganon itself, it doesn't explain about the Sheikah either, all of this is simply erased to talk about Ganondorf, the "founders of the new Hyrule" and the Secret Stones which for me is the biggest outrage because they are apparently the source of the dragon transformation that we see since BOTW but it is NEVER mentioned or spoken about before in it, not even in Myths, the retcon made is simply very bad
God the Sage speeches thing was such a mood. The way they repeat it almost entirely word for word. I had been initially excited for the Gerudo Ancestor because ya know... the fact that Ganondorf is... ya know... Gerudo... the King of the Gerudo. There was even Gerudo WITH Ganondorf in one of the Zelda Memories AND YET- All we get is one SINGULAR throwaway line about Ganondorf being King of the Gerudo- a fact she REFUSES to elaborate on. And that's it. It feels like it would have been such an easy thing to give them like... even just a PARAGRAPH 3-5 sentences to give us any information about the culture, the environment ANYTHING about the Ancient World and yet that was still too much worldbuilding for them apparently
Urbosa acknowledged that Ganon was once Gerudo, but someone who literally knew Ganondorf when he was alive couldn’t elaborate even a bit. This game’s story is a joke
While it was insufferable, I'd say it wasn't a new letdown, but instead the same narrative CBT BotW punished you with by rehashing the same damn tapestry cutscene whenever you made the mistake of interacting with a historically literate NPC. Or, you know, talking to Kass. Ever. How did they not only make a bad lore blurb, an unskippable and long cutscene and unnecessary repeating of the story, but managed managed one up themselves by upping the ante on all of those pitfalls, putting it all into a single dump and then calling it a story for a game.
Nonono. The auditory cue that something you put on the screen specifically for us to read is SO NICE. I appreciate it and I wish more creators could do this in visual essays.
Still can’t believe the game doesn’t end with Link smiling and shedding a tear, breaking his lifetime of putting on a brave face and bookending the whole tears of the kingdom thing. Great video!
I actually do like Link's characterization in Breath of the Wild but he's much more bland in ToTK. I agree that either at the end or after the light dragon cutscene he should have broke down and cried, even for a moment before collecting himself. He JUST got Zelda back, and now she's gone again, possibly forever. He should have a reaction to that and it's strange that he doesn't.
Yeah there was work done to justify it in BotW, but for me it’s one more thing that says TotK isn’t a *narrative* sequel. Its just more game, in a mod sense.
@@owonapikinsby the same token, link has always been an insert for the player. and whatever i was feeling at that time more than made up for what link wasn’t expressing: i was crying and i was role playing as link.
one of the most disappointing things for me was the complete lack of anything to do on the zonai forge sky island. it’s absolutely the coolest looking island in the game, it’s an entire floating castle-sized building, but once you get up there it’s a minecraft dropper and one shrine. it just felt wrong.
genuinely who cares if "shrine island" has a shrine lmao thats such a non-issue. thats like being upset that "hyrule field" is called "central hyrule" despite the fact that it has hyrule field. it's just a name who cares it doesn't affect anything. the island of Cyprus is called that IRL because people used to get a lot of copper from there back in roman times, even though thats not what cyprus is famous for anymore. sometimes placenames stick for thousands of years just because thats what people have always called them. why would an island be called "shrine island", in botw if all the shrines just miraculously appear out of nowhere when you leave the shrine of resurrection? the island presumably had no shrine prior to that, yet is still called shrine island. Could be that the island has been called that since time immemorial and it was just by chance that a shrine appeared there in botw? these things can be easily explained with 20 seconds of critical thinking instead of just looking for nonsense to whine about
@@link3895 The fact that there WAS a shrine there in BOTW makes me even more upset. I was ready to find the same shrine again by solving some kind of puzzle. But no. It's just gone. And that made me sad.
Getting to see Kass again was literally the biggest thing I was looking forward to in TotK. Learning he wasn’t in the game was the biggest gut punch I’ve ever experienced in a video game
Another Issue about the story regarding link's utter lack of emotion. A huge part of the main story in BOTW is that link has been trained to not show emotion and how being resurrected is helping him heal and be an actual person. I could be reading into that too much but it truly feels like that. So the fact that they had link display LESS emotion than when he was LITERALLY RESURRECTED WITH NIGH COMPLETE AMNESIA It truly makes me wonder if they even cared about making a sequel at all or if they just wanted to make a game to fuck around with the engine.
Especially link not even giving the slightest reaction to zelda turning into a dragon. Like bruh. he doesn't even need to say anything, just show his expression. Skyward sword did it perfectly when zelda seals herself in the temple
I mean he has some emotion, I don't see the issue really. How does he have less emotion? And I mean...being resurrected even after that as a Knight he doesn't show a lot of emotion publicly. They did care about making a sequel clearly otherwise the story wouldn't be about a follow up to the events of BOTW.
@@LilacMonarch I mean he did care. He didn't have the biggest reaction at first but we did see a reaction and after everything is over you can see how reliefed he is really.
What a fantastic video, holy crap. Watching this and going "Yes! YES!" every 30s felt straight-up cathartic. A true labor of love. Or hate, I guess. I've started playing the Skyward Sword remaster lately, and it made me realize how something I missed in TOTK was the re-exploration of places after getting new items or abilities. In Skyward Sword, I recently found those fancy digging gloves and went "so THAT's what those markings on the ground are for!", and got genuinely excited to go back to areas I'd already been to and discover a whole new layer that had been unaccessible before. Same with the hookshot or Goron bracelet in, well, most other Zelda games. Having all the abilities right from the start like in TOTK means I never have a reason to come back to a location unless the story or some busywork sidequest demands I do. But there's no joy in coming back because I've already explored and found everything. I understand their desire to make a truly "open" world right from the start, but I don't think that needs to mean "be able to access everything immediately". To be honest, I don't think it *should.* I want to get stumped and think "damn, I can't wait to be able to do this" rather than "guess that's all there is to this place". That's exactly the sense of progression that was missing. And speaking of progression, I can't believe the game didn't feature small-but-upgradable wallets and quivers. That's always been one of the most rewarding things to work towards. Especially when it didn't involve five million koroks.
One thing I will never forgive nintendo for is doing literally nothing cool with the Akalla Citadel when it could have been a dungeon rivaling the dark atmospheres and prowess of those in twilight princess. I am personally betrayed by this decision to fill it with tight meaningless caves that do not reflect the sheer size of the architecture implied by the exterior and lore.
@@scrappy2082 The fact that "Age of Calamity", a game which story is literally a poorly written "fix fic", does a better job at world building and narrative than "Tears of the Kingdom" has to be one of the biggest fails in Nintendo's history.
I keep pounding at the gates of nintendo HQ asking for a ganon who wants power to end the reincarnation curse that hes been driven to madness by but they keep ignoring me
also: putting on my Corporate Thinking Conspiracy Hat, i think this IS an unfinished game unfortunately. Nintendo would have continously justify its development on things like story, continuity, and with 6 years gone by already I think the shareholders were like "Well we need Product so out it goes!" I think botw had so much love put into partly because it was the switch's flagship game, and to the Investor/Stock Shareholder Overlords, the investment by the devs was justified by a greater profit (new game system, amiibos, dlc, merch, etc) which is why a shitty sequel thats running solely on the clout of the first game is a tale as old as time
@@kennapinkponyclub It's a very unflattering (but not undeserved) epitaph for Tears of the Kingdom: they managed to make a direct sequel that took *_six_* years to make, with mass world/asset reuse, feel rushed.
i hate to be a complete 🤓 but... Ganondorf has only ever reincarnated one actual time in the series lmao, the one in 4 Swords Adventures is the only Ganon that outright said to be a reincarnation, every other ver is just the same guy from OoT or him being revived from the dead
The newspaper is a new addition to TotK. It wasn’t established in BotW- and I mean that literally- it didn’t exist. The newspaper had only just recently become a normal thing for the lives of the Hyruleans, so it’s not at all a stretch that some people wouldn’t have it as part of their daily routine yet. Plus on top of those points, Link in BotW/TotK isn’t a showboat; he’s very reserved and only cares about Zelda and her duties. The people know that Zelda has a personal knight, but Link doesn’t put his face out there because he doesn’t have anything to prove to others. The newspaper stall owner herself didn’t even recognize Link right away (I’ll admit my memory on that may be spotty). The only people who recognize Link are those who are closest to him and Zelda. He’s not a celebrity; he doesn’t want to be. He only wants to be with Zelda and protect her. Now, if there’s another sequel and the people still don’t recognize him then I’d call bs. Surely at that point they’d have a picture of Link in the newspaper considering he worked FOR the newspaper. But photography is still a relatively new technology in this Hyrule, and it’s not publicly available either.
@@CosmicTornado1 you can see at least one person at every stable reading the newspaper, also a lot of link’s interactions with npcs will beg to differ from your theory
Its so infuriating that the zonai LITERALLY just take the place of the sheika JUST for the sake of a slightly different aesthetic, and the sheika just get absolutely dropped. dont get me wrong, like their designs, but its such a conceptual retread instead of expanding what’s already there that its infuriating.
But it's kinda like an origin story for them, yea? I thought the whole point was to show that these familiar ideas are all connected and yet also unique
I wouldnt even mind, if the zonai didnt feel like a direct downgrade from the sheika, both lorewise and designwise. The sheikatechnology was integrated into their culture in such an interesting way that wasnt really explored in totk
SAME I was so excited for a game where the focus would be on magic versus technology, and writing wise why does a supposedly powerful, magic species use technology in the first place?
@@Jdudec367 cause necessity is the mother of invention, the reason that magic societies don't use technology is because there is no need. When you compare the original concept of shiekah and Zonai, you have a group of people who seem to have forsaken their magic for superior technology, as shown by the fact that the yiga are more powerful than the average shiekah, and those two societies are very different, with different priorities and capabilities. The zonai were supposed to be powerful, magic users but there was no talk of them having advanced technology, and there doesn't seem like a need or a reason why except for in-game mechanics. We don't know how they figured out their machines, and the storytelling around it is weak. Why did they build cannons when they can blast through things with huge beams of light? And besides magic in TOTK is such an untapped potential, literally, because the main zonai relic, the secret stones, make innate abilities stronger. Why weren't they focusing on that instead of building cars? Their priorities don't make sense and we will never get answers because Nintendo doesn't care
watching the shrine portion made me realize that, despite getting all the shrines and the terrible zonai link transformation, Most shrines were so boring I can't remember doing them lmao
Yeah it's absolutely baffling how Link is so expressive when cooking and eating... but when it's about his supposed GF he's less expressive than a rock. For goodness sake, Nintendo could've made him yell "Zelda!" out loud during the final skydive...but no.
@@avon_c6199 exactly, like botw link could get away with the lack of emotion cuz of the amnesia but there is absolutely no excuse for this game, ESPECIALLY when we learn at the end that link canonically loves zelda but apparently couldn't give a shit that she's now an immortal dragon ???
@@jmurray7721 How far off base would I be to assume that we didn't get any of that in terms of showing actual affection and love the way us westerners understand it, cause the japanese might have an issue with showing it that publicly so they didn't do it for their own sake?
@@avon_c6199 honestly all i wanted was for link to shed a tear or at least look a little upset instead of a blank slate. i remember the look of distraught he had in skyward sword which was done infinitely better than totk
I love how Breath of the Wild is an anti-apocalyptic story. You wake up in essentially the post-apocalypse. The king is dead, the palace is in ruins, and it's been so long that even the horrible monsters that ended the world are just collecting dust. You scavenge whatever resources you can, and see what you can do to try and help. But beyond all that, the world is beautiful. The people seem to be doing alright. And based on your memories, the kingdom had tons of problems. The champions all hated each other, Zelda wasn't ready to take on her role as protector, and the king couldn't really help her. You get the sense, imo, that while the kingdom was destroyed, and that is sad... maybe that was just inevitable. Maybe the world is better off having moved past that. In particular, I like the tone of all the memories. Whenever the characters are happy, you feel sad knowing that it's all going to end. And when they're criticizing each other, you get the feeling that this never could have lasted to begin with. To me, killing Ganon is more about tying off the loose end. You still need to rescue zelda and end Ganon, but you don't have any hope of restoring the kingdom to what it once was. But maybe you can make it into something better. Tears of the kingdom feels like it kinda gives up on that. Lets obsess even more over the past and bloodlines and old kings.
I think I should’ve known that the fanfics where Zelda choses to throw away the title of Princess and work to making Hyrule better under a democracy were never gonna happen but… man. It really was disappointing to realize this franchise can’t even see the flaws in the things it also seems to condemn.
The champions didn't all hate each other...? Did they? I thought they got along okay enough for the little we saw. Daruk seemed chill and Mipha seemed ok with everyone. I am not sure about Urbosa and Revali as Urbosa seemed to care about Zelda the most.
@@Vivigreeny25 On the one hand, that *sounds* like an interesting concept. On the other, where would the people of Hyrule realistically get the idea of Democracy from? Even in our own world, it took thousands of years if not more for any functioning Democratic system to emerge, and our world doesn't have a bloodline of rulers who possess demonstrable proof of a very literal Mandate of Heaven.
My least favourite thing about Tears of the Kingdom is that it just isn’t saying as much as the other Zelda titles. Ocarina of Time is about aging and explores that theme through its time-travelling mechanics. Majora’s Mask explores existential dread and death through the moon and time management mechanics. What made Breath of the Wid so captivating to me was what the world meant - that, even after the apocalypse, the world will never really end, just be retaken by nature, an endless cycle of life. Tears of the Kingdom’s world just doesn’t feel like it has that thematic layer which made the other games so engaging, it’s world doesn’t really say anything and neither do it’s mechanics.
Windwaker give me that too (more than botw). The whole kingdom is under the ocean and these people are just living their lives on the scarce land available.
I disagree it says something and is about bonds and how they truly build a kingdom and are what matters, it's multiple people who help build Hyrule in the game after all and it's bonds that help out both Link and Zelda in the past and the present and how even when there are people that are gone those bonds and connections are still there, hell with Rauru Link is even able to bond objects together too so that bond literally ties in to the gameplay mechanics too. I disagree it has that thematic layer which made the other games so engaging, it's world does say something and so do it's mechanics which also say what the Zonai were truly capable of.
@@Jdudec367 I guess there are elements of that but they aren’t the crux of the gameplay, unlike the unique mechanics in both Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask respectively, and those ideas just feel extremely under-developed.
56:02 I don’t know if anyone’s mentioned it, but here’s my thoughts. BOTW is infamous for reusing content/assets whenever possible to save time. The reason petting dogs wasn’t included is because the developers thought they wouldn’t be able to reuse the animations/mechanic anywhere else. The reason why the bosses erupt into malice instead of gloom when defeated is probably because the stock animations already were colored for Malice, and they didn’t want to spend time retexturing it.
Why'd you have to remind me we can't pet dogs in this game? 😭 The ONE THING everybody was begging for in Breath of the Wild and one of the very first things I tried when I got to a Stable in Tears and Nintendo couldn't be arsed to let us pet. the. fucking. *dogs.* 🙃
@tbnwontpop8857 xD Not deal-breaking, but kinda goofy when a little boss explodes in a big overdramatic fashion that I only ever remember from bosses in Starfox 64. The one thing however where Nintendo really couldn't stop themselves from maxing out those MichaelBay explosion-sliders was with the Dragon-Ganon fight, where he blows up in what I can only describe as a nuke-like explosion that should've flattened large portions of Central Hyrule and janked some of the Sky Islands straight into orbit judging by that overdramatic shockwave.
I remember when apparently the devs claimed this game was supposedly going to be "darker" than Majora's Mask, and I'll give them credit; making an entire copy-pasted sub area so dark you can barely see a damn thing definitely classifies as being "darker" than Majora's Mask.
that quote was misinterpreted and circulated uncritically by many actually, the devs did not actually say that. doesn’t make it any less disappointing though
@@skittybitty Yeah, as soon as they announced they were gonna use Ganondorf again I knew immediately they were just gonna rehash the same exact plot again with the "I'm evil and power hungry" which is fine. but we already had Ganon in the first game, so they could at least try to do something different with a new villain this time around.
Realistically, I don't know why anyone believed that when the devs said it. The only reason Majora's Mask was so dark and weird was because that game was rushed and made under completely different circumstances than any other Nintendo game. (It's also the best Zelda game and they weren't going to top it no matter how good TOTK could have been)
idk not really, the zonai didnt do that much. The constructs?? Most of the ancient stuff was built by Hylians following the imprisoning war, even the sky islands
@@EileenLorekeeperAh, the imprisoning war, what a way to retcon the timeline with using some ALTTP had. It could have taken place after the timelines came back together..? But honestly, eh. And of course, “Demon king? Secret Stone?” “Second floor basement? Psycho mantis?”
And it's extra annoying cuz they had an ancient robot-building sky people race in the backstory of Skyward Sword all primed and ready to go.. but apparently the Zonai are an entirely different ancient sky tribe with highly advanced technology that mined special ore in pre-history? It really feels like they wanted to just make people stop caring about continuity and timelines. I'd have been much more interested in Tears' lore if it turned out Hylia wasn't a true goddess, but a Zonai time sage, perhaps the original Zonai.
@@LocalizedBozo I mean, how could we expect timelines to mend? Once you break reality into pieces, those pieces gain their own identity and can’t be repaired. BOTW and TOTK are so far into the future, it could just be that the Zonai just established another Kingdom of Hyrule after the Great Sea receded.
With the one year development limit the devs were pretty much going insane while making it. They had so many amazing ideas that they somehow managed to pull off.
@@iamLI3it’s not bad necessarily it just depends on what people think about it while the game will get mindlessly boring after awhile it’s still fun in the beginning to end (again depending on the person)
@@draggonwarrior42 i was bored after doing the main story line for a bit after i got all the shrines, but i then i discovered C R E A T I N G M A C H I N E S O F D E A T H
@viganhoxha8814 your reply got shadowbanned , but i am not counted among those of us i speak of in my comment in full , for i recognized by the time i got to the first wind temple that tokt was bad , so i rushed to beat it from there , in total only wasting about 40 hours of my own life....
"Loving the time i spent playing Tears of the Kingdom with my mom isn't loving Tears of the Kingdom, it's loving my mom" this sentence made me start spontaneously crying in the middle of work, excellent video.
2:47:25 Since I agree so much with the larger video I'll just nitpick and say that I actually think this face is unironically creepy and its inclusion furthers the scene, having Ganondorf make this distorted, inhuman expression of pure JOY at seeing Zelda grieve the person he just killed was intended to be horrifying and the developers just didn't account for the internet's enjoyment of G-mod-esque distorted faces like that
i actually experienced that on my first watch. i found it pretty disturbing too. but once i saw everyone else’s reaction to it i was like “oh…it’s just meme fodder”
This needs a remastered 8-hour Peter Jackson cut with new chapters and 5 additional epilogues. "TOTK is the first game that made me feel bored AND overwhelmed at the same time. There's so much to do in this world and absolutely none of it matters." "What we got feels like a second draft at best, and a tech demo at worst." 1000% this. THANK YOU!!!!
Fun Fact: TOTK doesn't use the same engine as BOTW. Its actually a new engine that simply ported over existing assets. The new engine is used in a few other games too but TOTK does not reuse the BOTW engine contrary to popular belief
@@skittybitty the graphics engine is new too. Us in modding community is unsure if it’s an evolution of the lunchpack engine (BOTW) but they seem to have migrated all shaders and materials to a new rendering pipeline which is why some visual effects such as ambient occlusion in the grass and reflections work differently in Tears of the Kingdom. Very bizarre to us that they even changed to a new graphics engine. It’s the same one Splatoon 3 and Super Mario Bros Wonder uses.
@@EDMIRE Is it possible that this new engine (Along with COVID) is responsible for why TotK turned out the way it did unlike Majora's Mask? A new engine explains why the game took so long.
On rewatch of your fixing section, the inability to fuse from inventory or pickup rupees from the ground by walking on them reeks of "there was a bug during development that we couldn't fix in time, so we got rid of it"
One other nitpick I had that is so small and minor compared to the COPIOUS other problems this game has, is the term Secret Stone. It sounds silly to me, like something a kid would make up for a game of pretend or something. You know what would sound better and keep the vibes? Sacred Stone. I could probably think of a dozen more, but that's just the first thing that came to mind every time without fail.
This game is cringe encanated, there were moments in this game I straigh up wanted to cry out of cringe like when the whole gang comes to Hyrule castle and face phantom Ganon and Ganondorf speaks like he was a badie from a Christmas movie from the early 2010, or when the gang speaks together after that and it’s so freaking family film behav or when Ganondorf says “how can a kid defeat me”. ☠️ it doesn’t even look like a Zelda game at some points
@@skittybitty The localizers directly translated it from the Japanese word, 秘石 (hiseki); 秘 meaning "secret" or "hidden", and 石 meaning "stone" or "rock".
@@ZellyTheFangirl *don’t tell anybody about my stone, link. It’s a secret. That’s why I wear it on my neck, wrist, hand or other easily seen body part*
Going through the whole hebra sky island ascension, skydiving into the cloud, seeing “Wind Temple”, followed by “Wind Temple 1F”, but then hearing “there are still five locks securing the hatch on the deck” followed by seeing them pop up on the map is probably my most disappointing video game experience ever.
This. Top 3 disappointing moments in totk: - when the 5 locks appeared on the map of your first dungeon - when you get your first memory and it ends - when you realize the depths map is mirrored of the overworld also when you beat your second dungeon and the same cutscene plays as the first one. but you already know how similar the quests will be well before then.
@@FunnyAnimatorJimTV I mean, The Depths are like the Dark World, and it being a mirror makes it easier to know where to go. The other two are definitely disappointing though.
@@JacksonVoet Making it easier to know where to go makes it less interesting. The moment you know "oh there will be a mountain over there, then a valley and a lake, and the chest is up there" then it removes all your sense of urgency and mystery, that made the depths so exciting the first time you enter it. Same reason why exploring hyrule in totk is boring. even though the specific contents of goron city are different, even knowing it's general appearance and direction makes it less exciting.
@@FunnyAnimatorJimTV I mean, unlike the Dungeons, navigating the Depths would be much, much more tedious otherwise. Plus, the darkness and overall enemy difficulty makes traversal much better.
@@KoenRH2803 even if they knew tell me a person in that game who has the balls to walk up on Ganon and take it.(other than link we all know how that went)
lol he literally has demons spawning around him, gloom splatters out and drains your life force and he’s held underneath the castle… who TF would go there? No one even knew he was there.
genuinely one of my new favorite rewatchable video essays, listened today at work after having watched this whole thing before and i love the way you edit + speak during these, the nonbinary hbomberguy skitty goes so hard also thank you for making this because i. like. i loved TOTK but i knew something was wrong when i was playing it. i just couldn’t articulate what all was wrong because i was lost in the experience of having more content, even though it really doesn’t feel like anything changed it’s not even like the reuse of the map is bad, majora’s mask was incredible and it reused a ton of shit from oot, everyone knows that so like. yeah. Why Didn’t They Fix Everything? i’m rambling LOL but thank you :) this video is awesome and if you ever make another longer video i’ll definitely be tuning in
Me absorbing all the passionate “I didn’t like totk” videos because I feel the exact same way yet do not have the energy to put together a 3 hour video myself, condensing all of my points.
I've done the exactly same thing haha. Every single video I've watched is so good too, because I keep going "UH HUH!!" and "YEAH RIGHT?!?" bc they keep saying the same exact things that annoy me with the game. 😂
I’ve yet to buy the game because I’m afraid that it’ll make me not like BOTW. The anticipation that I had for TOTK was so intense until I saw a bit of gameplay and I am still hesitant about if I should play it for myself or let it go.
"Since we're all gonna die, there's one more secret I feel I have to share with you: I did not care for Tears of the Kingdom." - "What? how can you even say that?" "Didn't like it." - "But skitty it's so good! It's like the perfect Breath of the Wild!" "This is what everyone always said. Whenever they say it's like: *Oh my-"* - "Eiji Aonuma, Hidemaro Fujibayashi, I mean, that guy worked on Skyward Sw-" "I know, I know." - "MANAKA KATAOKA!!!" "Fine. Fine. Fine composer, _did not like the game."_
@@LenamLorbington I'm kind of dissapointed the "it insists upon itself" part wouldn't have worked as well as the start, because TOTK really does insist upon itself. So much so it invalidates BOTW
I've said it before. I simply can't believe they had a broken Master Sword and a fuse mechanic and didn't put two and two together and let you fuse to the broken sword....... You could have slowly repaired the sword over the story, meaning fighting harder bosses for strong materials becomes easier over time, meaning you would use less decent resources to farm more over time. Eg. 2 Lynel horns to kill a Lynel at lvl 1. 1 to kill it at lvl 2. Kill 2 lynels for every lynel horn at lvl 3. Etc.
I sort of question how some of these shrine complaints would change if they didn't consume any online content relating to the game I didn't until I was done with the game, and my shield rocket attempt went horrifically wrong, and I never tried again I also never made a hover bike I liked the depths, but I did a lot of on ground or rocket glider movement, which required some real finicky fun in the depths to do light roots I also only realized the shrine lightroot trick about 1/3rd of the way through, and I thought it was cool, and because I didn't make a successful hover bike it became a game of "do I try to find a shrine underground or above ground" Actually a lot of the issues with TOTK can be down to pacing and non rewarding exploration. Pacing is messed up by not discovering things your self, but the non rewarding exploration isn't really the player's fault. There was little to no incentive to do anything but sky squat because the last of persistent structures meant you were going to be constantly rebuilding some nonsense. I think one of the most significant changes they could have made is made most camps not respawn mobs or loot, so there's at least a satisfaction of clearing out the map. It's funny too because regarding pacing, unlike OP I had an issue with the music. It constantly played, there was no down time like BOTW. It was loud, it was annoying, and it was constantly there. This formula is best when you're going at a slow but steady pace, exploring and being in the moment. This isn't unique to BOTW either, most open world games that you restrict fast travel on that have GOOD worlds are like this. There's even an entire game focused around this called Elite Dangerous. IMO this is the biggest problem, the story is awful, but at least you only experience it 5 times. Also one more thing regarding the story, when I was playing this blind after the BOTW I was also heavily confused, but I started piecing it together. This isn't a sequel to BOTW story wise, it's a sequel to *age of calamity*
@@scarlet_phonavis6734 the rocket shield isn’t a niche internet trick, they show it off in the game’s final trailer and one shrine (ijo-o) outright forces you to use one
@@ole2107 It reminds me of what Zeltik said on his nearly two hours long Tears of the Kingdom review: "Ascend feels so natural that sometimes I forget that I can't use it in real life" Couldn't have phrased it better myself.
@@netweed09 Yeah. But even though he likes it, he also has critics towards the game which are very fair, plus he is always calm and never loses his mind (unlike pretty much every ther video essay on RUclips, including this one), which gives him a lot if credibility. You can tell that he takes his work seriously. I will always say that, if you want a balanced and serious video essay about Tears of the Kingdom, go watch the Zeltik one. That's all you need.
@@netweed09 calling this a "hate-trip" is silly to be honest. I haven't watched the whole video yet, but all of the critiques I've heard so far seem fair, and they've regularly praised aspects of the game that were actually executed well. TOTK being ultra-successful doesn't mean people are crazy for not liking it lol.
@@netweed09 you should be the last person implying anyone is insane after writing a comment like this lmao. I don't need to watch all 3 hours of the video to realize that she's given elements of the game props on too many occasions for you to just disregard it as an insane hate-trip. Relax.
This game frustrated me mechanically. Everyone loves to talk about how unique and incredible the crafting system is, but I always felt it was unnecessary and slapped on as a gimmick. I also felt strangely incentivized to explore the depths just to fill up my battery, which otherwise served much less purpose. Like this was a distraction from the fact that the map is the same and we're missing things from BotW for no reason. I'll never understand why they slapped Gmod onto BotW and made us pay $70 for it
I started off skeptical, but you completely convinced by the end. You had me laughing throughout the video as well. You did an amazing job of covering all your bases. You didn't have to go out of your way to consider the critiques people might have of your video, but you did. This video is on another level of quality. You have an amazing talent. Thank you and best of luck going forward!
First, I just want to say, for someone's very first video essay, this is fucking *phenomenal.* You should absolutely do more of these; you did a great job at writing and structuring it. As for TotK itself, it's funny that you call it a "second draft," when to me it almost seems like this is the *first* draft, and BotW was the sequel. If you think about them in that order, it makes a shocking amount of sense. - People didn’t like having to fuse each individual arrow, so now there are dedicated arrow types again. - People didn’t like the goofy monster parts being the only way to upgrade weapons, so now weapons as a whole are stronger and more durable. - People didn’t like the nameless bland ancestor spirits, so now each one has a ton of personality and has a personal connection to Link, Zelda, and their descendant. Completing a dungeon even has extra weight now, because you're avenging your comrades and defeating the creatures that killed them. - People didn't like the copy/paste cutscenes that all give the same information, so now each one has character development for the ancient hero. - People didn't like how bland the temples were and how they just kinda materialize out of nowhere, so now each one is a rad as fuck mecha kaiju that you get to partially control. - People didn't like the way that Zelda didn't have much agency, so now her whole plotline is about her struggling with it. - People didn't like the empty Depths, Sky Islands, and Shrines, so now the former two are removed entirely to focus on improving the content in the main map and having fewer empty shrines. - People could break the game too easily with vertical movement options, so most were removed. - People’s most commonly made creation was a motorcycle, so this time there's an honest-to-god motorcycle in the game that outclasses every other form of travel. Like seriously, there's a bewildering amount of stuff that feels like it must have come first, because it's such an obvious step down from BotW.
And zelda’s pictures in botw makes more sense because you’d vaguely recognise the areas since you would’ve explored the area before, like geoguesser sort of
I really don't see how BOTW is like a sequel at all. -Which removes arrow types and depth and variety of weapons, are you implying that BOTW would be the kind of sequel that waters stuff down? -Except they really aren't stronger or more durable, no weapon in BOTW is as strong as the strongest weapon in TOTK especially with fuse, and frankly again especially with fuse they aren't more durable. People loved fuse it would make no sense to get rid of it. Also without fuse then getting weapons in chest wouldn't feel as rewarding anymore when they can't be used to craft stronger better weapons that would be even more useful for you. -that kinda makes sense as a argument...except now it just feels like they replaced their descends in terms of screen time really. And completing a dungeon really doesn't have more weight as you still save people for defeating the bosses in the dungeons in TOTK too. -Eh you get other cutscenes that have character development for the modern champions in TOTK too though. And not all of the cutscenes have the champions develop in BOTW to be fair mainly just Revali and Mipha really. -Yeah no they are more bland in BOTW especially aesthetically and they really don't materialize out of nowhere they have reasons for being there. Said mecha kaiju cause the dungeons to have repetitive aesthetics though and with them all having the ability to partially control them leads to some more repetitive puzzles and some less variety of puzzles with a good amount of them just focusing on moving the divine beasts around. Are you sure making the dungeons worse is something BOTW would do as a sequel??? -I mean no she did have agency in TOTK and was doing her own thing and plan too. - Eh those really weren't empty and a lot of people liked those even if there were complaints and your argument doesn't make any sense at all when the content is worse in the main map in BOTW and there isn't fewer empty shrines there is just less shrines (empty and full) period which really isn't an upgrade. -Yeah not true vertical movement options doesn't break the game at all...even then BOTW could broken a LOT more so again what you say just doesn't make sense when you actually stop to think about it. -Hoverbike not motorcycle and you only get the motorcycle REALLY late into the game like arguably a bit too late really unlike the Hoverbike which is clearly superior and if BOTW is the sequel then the only reason the motorcycle is the best travel option is because they got rid the better travel options. So once again not a good argument for BOTW being a sequel or at least clearly not a good sequel. I disagree nothing really felt like it came first tbh., eh nah TOTK is better tbh and that's not even mentioning stuff like the bosses and comapring them between games since TOTK took the criticism of the bosses in BOTW and actually gave them unique interesting designs and made them all more unique really.
It’s always annoyed me that they just call the important magic stone items “secret stones”. Like, imagine if they just called the triforce “the special triangle”
i don't remember exactly but i think the JP term sounds more like a fantasy neologism, and also uses a Cooler word for "secret", so something like "shroudstone" would be closer to the vibe it's intended to have
"Frustrating 10/10" "A Disappointing Masterpiece" I really hate how Anderson popularized this dumbassery, if a game suffers that many flaws it isn't a masterpiece or 10/10. Sad to see some Zelda fans cope, this game is just junk in almost everyway. Aonuma needs to step aside and let Kozumi take a shit at directing again, another Majora's Mask like game would be a breath of fresh air.
I know, right? Nintendo could've either hid the fused bits like they do with the MasterSword and make them mystically glow with some Zonai glyphs...oooor go the extra length of making custom weapon models for each fuse instead of, imo rather lazily, sticking them to the end of whatever weapon. The fuses may be somewhat ok-ish with shields, but some of the weapon fuses look outright hideous...like fusing the FierceDeity sword to the Biggoron Sword, which also clips through the floor when stored on your back. xD
I know I’m the only one who cares about this but why can’t Zelda games ever have an “epilogue” overworld? No story or quests needed, but ever since OOT I hate loading into my save file and being in an eternal state of about-to-fight-the-final-boss. The world is saved, SHOW ME!
Age of Calamity may be one of the few story driven Zelda titles that does it. I loved that there was a post game, and I actually cared about that stupid robot.
Oh don't even get me started on that, I hate this perk of Zelda games with a passion. There's never a sense of finality to any of the games, it gets me really frustrated 😢
Bro I was actually so sad when I loaded back into BOTW after beating calamity ganon and Hyrule Castle & field was still overtaken by malice and guardians😭😭😭 at least give me the option??? like what did I do all that for lemme LIVE IN PEACEEEE
The Oracle games are some of the only games that do this, which is strange (why those ones?). But also led to a nice little surprise when booting those games up after the final fight But also those games came out on the god damn gameboy color. How are we still doing this
@@Justin-uo7wiI think the issue really goes deeper than that. Zelda games have _never_ actually been “story driven”. Zelda is a gameplay-first series that uses the story as a means to introduce gameplay and drive the player forward. It’s there because it makes progression and the use of items and abilities more interesting, but really it’s never been anything special and in fact the same overall story/plot has been repeated more times than I can count. I don’t have a problem with that, but that’s how it goes. The one game that cared a bit more about the story was Skyward Sword, and look how that one turned out as far as gameplay goes. The most linear Zelda game to date. Age of Calamity is a special case because it’s not tied to the Zelda formula. Up to the point where the past changes, pretty much everything is exactly as it went before Calamity Ganon attacked and killed the Champions. You have a real sense of scale and worldbuilding by seeing these large armies, such as soldiers, knights and the royal guards, using the same uniforms and weapons that were presented to us in BOTW, but they also let the baddies get their time to shine. It also cares more about its characters, and has plenty of cutscenes that don’t involve neither Link nor Zelda. Maybe I have a bad memory, but I can’t think of a single time something like that happens in 3D Zelda. But even if it did, they never focused on that, which Age of Calamity does. This is also why they’re able to have post-game content. It’s much more story-driven than actual Zelda ever has been, and it’s sort of the mainline Zelda game we’ll never get. Didn’t have it before, won’t have it now. Unless they completely change their priorities (aka “gameplay”), but at this point the brand recognition is too strong for them to make a story-driven game that puts true storytelling at the forefront.
They are two different games. Are you also surprised that Majora isn't in the game? Why are you shackling how good this game is to how much it relates to a completely different game.
The arguments that all shrines should be easy because they can be encountered in any order it absolutely stupid imo. When I played BOTW one of my first 10 shrines was one of the "major test of strength" shrines (it was the one on an island on the bottom right of the map that gives you the climbing gear). It took me hours to beat because I had very low level equipment and wasn't familiar with the games combat system and forced me to think creatively with my strategy (using all my weapons, arrows and buffing myself with dishes). Because of this, it ended up being one of my most memorable gaming moments of all time and one which I still remember fondly to this day, not in spite of its difficulty but because of it.
Also like, if you run into something that's too challenging aren't you supposed to leave and come back later? Isn't that the entire point of it being open-world so that you can choose what to do and when you do it?
@@nicke5801 literally every shrine is also a point you can teleport to freely- if I encountered a shrine I couldn't or just didn't want to do, I would leave and come back later.
Ganondorf was not confirmed to know what eating the Secret Stone would DO, as far as I remember, so my conclusion is that he just had a moment like that boy who got mad at his Gameboy and just yanked out the batteries and ate them in impotent rage. This story inspires no respect sufficient to achieve a more dignified interpretation, and so this is what I give.
not to argue with you or anything because i do agree with you on him not knowing that, and me completing the game yesterday was so confused when that part of the cutscene happened but why on earth would he instinctively swallow the secret stone
@@Jerome984 Not for any RATIONAL reason, certainly. 😂 The story that I mentioned in comparison -- about that child who ate batteries out of their Gameboy -- sounds to me like an instance of a wee babe with less practice in regulating their emotions facing intensely frustrating circumstances that enrage them, but that they have no power to change. They just feel the rage, and that pushes them to do SOMETHING, even if it doesn't make sense as a solution. The child in the example was upset because his console cut off in the middle of a long and challenging bit of a game, I think. See also that teenager who went viral for seeming to try to push a remote control into his bum while losing his temper on camera. That's Ganondorf. Some androgynous ephebe -- much foreshadowed, but never properly met -- drops into his chambers (possibly with a squadron of orbiters) and renders all of his extensive preparations void in minutes. He summons reinforcements, but suddenly the room explodes several times in rapid succession. He goes in for close combat, but this twink is a slippery one. Even when he does manage to land a blow, the bottomless bottom just swallows a whole mutton flank from hammerspace and continues undeterred. He tries everything that he's ever considered and then some. Nothing works. This is happening. His rage SHOULD empower him, but his every effort and innovation is fruitless... So the Last King of the Gerudo, having no prior experience with being told a firm "No" by anyone and under immense pressure with nary a hint of leverage to grasp... eats his Gameboy batteries. And his mom has to rush him to the hospital.
The story of the chamberlain mentioned how she often saw Zelda wandering through the palace, but that something felt off about her. The implication here is that Ganondorf was doing some reconnaissance at night, to not just spy on the royal family, but also learn more about the secret stones. This is something that Calamity Ganon did as well. He had these malice eyes all over the world to gather informations. This is presumably also how he made himself familiar with how Sheikah Tech works, since he was using that knowledge in an attempt to recreate a body with their technology. There's also the general fact that Ganondorf is just a lot better at using the Secret Stones in general. He was a very skilled magic use before getting it, which is why he received such a tremendous boost from it, compared to everyone else. This natural aptitude makes it pretty likely that he could've been instinctively been aware of the ability to become even more powerful if he ingests the stone. It's similar to how Zelda was immediately aware of how to use her powers against Calamity Ganon, after she unlocked them.
Personally I like the game of course people can have a opinions will I say theirs problems in tears yes but I feel like they for the most part added more to better explain yes they added more things people hated but they also added thing people like which it was the same with breath it was pretty much equal I also feel like the game isn’t supposed to be flashy per say when it comes to auto build and ultra hand they left that up to people to make it flashy I recently got the game so I’m still on my first run the hover bike is convenient for me yes but I barely use it for a multiple reasons I really only use it to help get more zoni for more battery’s which in turn would allow me to mess around and build stupid things like a army of roombas that can function for more than 2 seconds I loved the Rito area but every other temple and boss can suck it I think what made it special was it was my first temple music amazing low heart and I was freezing constantly I didn’t have the right armor so it was all about being smart about how I moved I’m rambling now but I’m trying to prove a point yes it did a lot wrong but it did a lot right….. EXCEPT THAT STUPID 60 SEC RUN TIME FOR THE WING IF I COULD FIX ONE THING IN THIS GAME IT WOULD BE GETTING RID OF THE STUPID TIMER ON ZONI STUFF IT MAKES MY BLOOD BOIL
Is just the infamous Zelda cycle all over again. My older brother lived through the hate of majora, wind waker, twilight. And now they are considered masterpieces. At the end is just opinions
I agree with you. Something that itched me is that the new lore conflicts with ITSELF, not just breath of the wild. We’re told multiple times that the Zonai lived in the sky, that those games were played by the Zonai, and all that. And yet, the memories show no sky islands? And the Temple of Time construct tells you that the islands were lifted up by the Zonai long ago to help link when he wakes up. SO WHICH IS IT? I took this to mean that the Zonai lived in the sky AFTER the islands were raised, but this raises so many conflicts and questions. So the Zonai sacrificed their entire way of life just for link thousands of years later? Ok, fine. So the Zonai society we explore in the present ISN’T the one seen in the memories. That’s disappointing but whatever. So I assumed that the Zonai we see is in the memories are early Zonai civilization. BUT THEN RAURU IN ONE OF THE MEMORIES TALKS ABOUT ANCIENT ZONAI CIVILIZATION AND HIS ANCESTORS? WTF. And yeah where IS all the sheikah tech from Botw? AND WHY CANT I TELL ANYONE THAT ZELDA IS A PUPPET DESPITE SEEING THAT IN THE MEMORY.
I dunno what makes you think they were lifted up to help Link but if the Temple of TIme was on the ground then this is before they made the Sky Islands. So with that fact in mind I don't see how that's a contradiction, it's just a earlier part of their timeline. I don't know how they did it just for link specifically, they did it for their own way of life. Technically it is the same society. Well from what we know Rauru is one of the founders of Hyrule itself, this means that if he has ancestors who were part of said Zonai civilization the Zonai civlization itself predates Hyrule which makes it even more ancient. Shiekah tech is somewhat here, a lot is gone though, and the answer varies. Guardian stuff was cleaned up and the divine beasts are inactive now and weren't really needed. I would argue that with Puppet Zelda you don't really know everything about that yet until Hyrule Castle where it's all explained and revealed more.
@@aiworldfutures Technically there is three Zonai at first, if again they go to the sky islands after the memories then there are clearly other Zonai they just didn't show themselves and we know they also built mines and did other stuff too.
"Bored and overwhelmed at the same time" is so well put. In breath of the wild absolutely everything fascinates you and draws your attention, but in this game I could not care less about the absurd number of hudson signs, or koroks, or side quests. Literally nothing in this game draws my attention but then on paper there is an enormous amount of "content"
1:25:20 Small thematic thing, while the boss fight in the wind temple is cool, its also super random. Why is it inside the ship? How is it making the storm from there? Instead, it should be circling in the storm (invulnerable) as you ascend to the ship, and then the sage shows you a memory that the creature was sealed in the ship long ago, but escaped thanks to ganon and thats why it's made the storm. Then the ship could be used to pierce the storm after activating all fans and then you fight the boss as normal. Much cooler
@@cloudshines812banjo and kazooie nuts and bolts failed because they turned a platformer into a car building game. People wanted a new platforming banjo kazooie game not that.
Hot take- nuts and bolts's vehicle creation is light-years better than TotK's and its vehicles all feel way better to control. They have customizable buttons and everything. If n&b was a different IP instead of banjo, it would be very fondly remembered.
Nothing gave me more dread than the feeling I had maybe 2-3 hours into TOTK I bought it as soon as I could the day it released and waited by my tv for the download to finish But when I started playing it..I wasn't having fun. Something was not there even that early on in the game, and my feeling it SO soon made me so apprehensive about the rest of the game. I wanted to love it so so much. And at the time I couldn't even tell why I wasn't having fun and why it wasn't capturing me. I adore video essays that delve so far into subjects. They give me the words to my thought and feelings that I can't quite place myself. Thank you for the great video.
some notes, since i get a handful of the same comments nearly every day:
1. yes, you can hear some mouth sounds during the beginning of this video. it won't be an issue in the future and it goes away ten minutes in.
2. zelda being taller than link is a win for gay people because link and zelda are lesbians. i will not be taking further questions at this time.
3. it seems that you _can_ find pristine weapons even if you didn't break the unfused variety. we only know this because of datamining. i maintain that the game never explaining how this system works is still poor design
4. yes, i have heard of elden ring. i don't plan on playing it in the immediate future but it's on my list
5. when i talk about link being “disabled” i am referring to the initial event where he loses his arm. the rauru arm is basically a prosthetic
6. my pronouns are they/them
thank you all so much for watching! i can't believe the extent to which this video blew up (going from 100 subs to nearly 20k in less than two months is something i wasn't prepared for) and i'm so thankful for the (mostly) positive response! be on the lookout for more in the future, there's plenty on the way 😸
This was an amazing video :D
Kudos for all the effort you clearly put into it, fellow They/Them Zelink appreciator
THEY/THEM ZELINK LESBIAN PROPAGANDISTS RISE UP
@skittybitty do you mind telling us why you don't plan to play ER anytime soon? It has become such a phenomenon and basically ubiquitous with modern classic gaming.
@@NogGonnaMakeIt bc it's long and im a full time college student and also a youtuber apparently
While I did think it's pretty dope, my buddy pointed out that the final fight is essentially a remix of the Naydra one from BotW. It's a cool scene, but we did have a sky battle with a dragon before.
Overall everything you've pointed out is grand. The changes suggested would make for a legendary game. A shame the goofs at Nintendork can't think better than a stuffed pokemon.
For the quality of this video I present the highest honour I can provide: Watching it while eating a meal
I'm literally at the pub right now having a pint and watching this
Long ass meal lol
I watched it on a slow work day 😂
Me, with steak and salad and mash potatoes… utter honor
a 3 hour meal??
Link: My girlfriend turned into a dragon.
Impa: That's rough, buddy.
Smash, next question
@@lookassperal9850to Impa?
Better than a maractus
That's a upgrade
@@cosmos9688Maractus? Smash.
That last comment about “just send them to the past to justify a new refreshed map” is like the perfect thing that hammers home how much wasted potential there was.
And I think the worst part about it is that they literally DID send Zelda to the past...and at one point we even catch a glimpse of how different Hyrule was in one of the cutscenes. But of course, we just got a rehash of BOTW's map with a few minor differences. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the game, and the addition of the underground/sky islands was great in my opinion, but I definitely felt like something was missing throughout my playthrough, and I think the lack of an original map to explore was a big part of it
@@mysticzamboni5607yep, need to explore the map of BOTW again is not much fun
Even the sky islands would still work. "Oh, yeah, they fell out of the sky after...they ran out of power... or the zonites died... or whatever"
This is some of the best video game essays in the world, pls never stop
thank you so much!!! 🩷🩷
link reacting to the weather: 😖🥶😰🥵😓😨🫨
link when he learns his girlfriend is dragon: 🗿
"TOTK is the first game to make me feel bored and overwhelmed at the same time. There is so much to do in this world, and absolutely none of it matters."
Wow, you explained my exact feelings in such a concise way that I never even considered. As someone who also adored BOTW and played through it twice yet couldn't even bring myself to finish TOTK, this video was so cathartic. Absolutely incredible work, and it's amazing that this is your first longform video. I can't wait to see what else you make in the future!
my thoughts for the game almost immediately after beating it were pretty similar. "They created a big world with all these things to do, but nothing that's actually worth doing."
Whole game is just a huge timewaster.
Saying that finally put my thoughts about this game to paper. Playing it I was always thinking there was always doing something I should be doing but looking back it was all worthless. From all the caves/islands/zonaite mines and everything, the game simultaneously has so much do to and yet nothing at all.
How incredible is it that in a video that's 3:25:11 long, I came across your comment at exactly the 2:31:11 mark? I literally started reading these words as they were being spoken.
Aside from having to share this, I completely agree with everything said.
Honestly, ToTK was the only Legend of Zelda game i played and I didnt even finish it lol
And I didnt really feel interested in doing side quests
@@carnage0685 the one thing
I hate about BOTW is the underground cave and the abilities Link has. It seems like it’s trying to be Minecraft now. Also they got rid of my favourite power cryonis. I don’t care if you can make a actual boat or even flying boat now. I liked the more simple powers of BOTW
Goated for putting in a "look at the screen dumbass" jingle for people like me.
maybe i just forgot but i didnt hear the jingle once lol
@@tylerandari12It's there. Here's an example.
39:20
@@tylerandari12 There were a couple times where i had to do a double take to make sure i heard it(sometimes i didn't).
Having the jingle sound effect is an awesome idea that I wish more reviewers do!!! I often like to listen to these reviews while doing something else but it can be super annoying if I turn and look at the screen and see important edited notes flashing in screen. It makes me think that i have to watch the whole thing so having a cue letting me know I have to look at the screen is great!
stealing this :)
that segment of the sages all saying the same lines had me cackling
oml Nintendo what were you smoking
The story really is the killer for me. BOTW's story wasn't complex but it was melancholy and meaningful. TOTK's is PATHETIC.
The sound effect for when important information is on-screen is honestly such a smart idea for these longform videos that a lot of people just listen to that I can't believe I haven't seen it done before.
Honestly yeah, it's catchy enough to grab my attention for really fun points but subtle enough that it's not jarring. I've seen it done occasionally done in other video essays but it doesn't usually meet the mark like this or appear so consistently
Ive only noticed the sound once during the whole video, definitely didnt work for me lmao. Not jaring enough
it reminds me of the chime telling you to turn the page while listening to a book on tape!! super nostalgic, and i appreciate the que to look so much!
One of the very first NPC's you meet at Lookout Landing tells you that they're taking refuge there after their home was destroyed when Lurelin Village was raided by pirates. When I first heard that, I was SO intrigued to see theses new pirate enemies and headed straight for Lurelin.
I get there and find out the "pirates" were just Bokoblins. Not even special, unique Bokoblins that wear pirate outfits or anything. Literally the exact same Bokoblins you can find everywhere else.
I was expecting some pirate Hylians like in Wind Waker 😭
I imagined Gerudo pirates like Majora's Mask, or Skeleton pirates like in Skyward Sword or the Oracle games. I was quite upset. Well, at least the ship was original... Then I ran into the same ships all over the map 😐
@@labrynianrebel The Skyward Sword Pirates are actually ROBOT Skeleton Pirates, the Oracle ones are just plain old regular skeletons. Both of which are infinitely more interesting than Totk's Bokoblin Pirates that actually aren't even pirates.
@@netweed09 Nobody Likes You.
@@netweed09 You want to know what in Hyrule I was expecting? PIRATES. I was expecting PIRATES. The game literally told me there would be PIRATES, and so I expected there to be PIRATES. Instead I got ordinary, generic Bokoblins. Not even special pirate Bokoblins, no. The exact same Bokoblins you can find in every other part of the game. As in, 100% identical. Literally copy-pasted.
Other Zelda games were able to do pirates just fine, what's Totk's excuse?
I knew the editing in the video was top tier but I was sold when I looked in the bottom left and saw the background tracks being listed as they start playing jeez you went ALL OUT for this
And FOR FREE
@@bakedbeananimationi mean you CAN give me money if you want….. (this is a joke)
@@skittybitty nah actually link a ko-fi or patreon, you deserve to be paid for this amount of effort, I'm being serious
Unbelievable. I watched all three hours and twenty-five minutes, and I was very surprised. I kept a mental checklist of every issue I've had with this game, and you touched on every single one, even the ones I haven't seen other people bring up at all.
Tears of the Kingdom is just such a rote, uninspired, by-the-book sequel to one of the most inspired and creative Zelda games I've ever seen that the disappointment is never not immeasurable. And it makes me sad when it earns massive unwarranted praise anyway because that's the eternal weakness of Zelda: being surrounded by a millions-strong army of gushers and defenders who will force themselves to like the game before hearing any negative response will never incentivize Nintendo to actually bring their best.
Excellent work and thank you so much.
thank you so so much for watching! 😁
If Ganon hadn't cut Link's arm off, Rauru would have done the needful and dismembered him
Or he jsut gives Link a 3rd arm 😂
@@primesonic4459 I love and hate that mental image, thank you
To be fair, Zelda does witness Link getting his hand gloomed, so maybe she talked it out with Rauru and they set up the whole thing so it would help him in the future? Idk, that's the only plausible explaination
If Ganon hadn't cut Link's arm off, there wouldn't be a game, because either Ganon would've been defeated in the first 10 minutes or Link would've died. Remember, this is a Link who did all 120 Shrines in BOTW. Plus, Rauru could always give Link his Light Sage powers the same way the Champion's did in BOTW. He's a ghost, remember. He can just do that.
SAAAAR DO NOT REDEEEM THE TRIFORCE NOOO
The one fix I still stand by is that Link needed to get send to the past instead of Zelda.
That way the whole overworld could be different. In fact we could’ve had dungeons that were dilapidated in Breath.
We could’ve kick it with Rauru as a partner or whatever.
I’m 100% with you on this. I think putting TOTK in the past would have fixed a lot of its story/NPC/exploration issues
@@KC-tw1wdhow about swallowing the stone to get back and rescue Zelda. We get to play as a fucking dragon and demolish Ganon. Sacrificing ourself for the greater good. Making it more emotional and impactful.
I really thought Rauru was going to be the partner character of this game during the tutorial. Then the tutorial ends, Rayru f*cks off and then I'm just standing there like "w8, where are you going? _COME BACK GOAT HUSBAND!!_ 😢
An interesting thought could have been changing the past by defeating ganon there as link could potentially have changed the future as well, even better if link and Zelda went to the past together, both as playable characters. Imagine beating ganon, making it back to the present, and seeing a restored Hyrule that was never destroyed by the calamity, but Link and Zelda still remember the events of breath of the wild so Zelda see’s her dad or something and gets to apologize or something emotional happens or idk, something. Lots of somethings. That COULD create a host of issues itself mind you, but would have been very interesting I feel
then the development of the game would have taken 6 extra years lol...
The fact that this started with them wanting to make a love letter to BOTW and ended with them making a three hours hate letter to TOTK is kinda poetic
Love the term "hate letter"
Not really. If anything it's kinda deranged and unhealthy to put hundreds of hours, literally days of your life into something you hate.
@@prizmovr8817 I mean, it's not something I'd do (I think, who knows), but I choose to take it lightly or jokingly like with the comment cause it's not my life so who am I to judge or criticize
@@prizmovr8817you obviously didn’t watch the video lol
Is it unhealthy? People have made much longer media analysis videos on youtube. What’s the difference between making an analysis on something you love or hate when it comes to mental health? passion goes both ways
They made Shadow the Hedgehog cry at the end of Adventure 2 and Generations.
But they couldn't make Link smile at the end of Tears of the Kingdom.
And they made Link wave bye to a deku scrup at the beginning of Majora, wave and smile to his friends at the end of Wind Waker, laugh with Midna in Twilight Princess, and he held hands with Zelda in Spirit Tracks.
It’s 2024. Animate his face darn it
The animators spent their emotion budget on gannondorf's face and didn't have any left for link.
That laughing face was priceless though XD. Some G-Mod ass shenanigans going on there!
@@mr.j3rs3yAnd while it is indeed funny. It comes at the cost of complete emersion destruction on the same level as Mickey Mouse saying “Say fellas, did somebody mention the door to darkness.”
@@Arceve Smash Announcer: Failure
it did freak me out on my first reaction in-game, before my friends started memeing about it when they found the memory/online memes.
i wasn't expecting such an uncanny expression
You know resident evil 8 expression at 500% mod, that face of ganondorf feel like that.
One of my favorite moments in gaming period is me ignoring the story, following my gut, tracking down the Light Dragon only to find the master sword in its head and it’s revealed that this magnificent beast I’ve seen up until now was Zelda.
I was floored. I almost cried. I made an insane discovery that I made all on my own. I also found the Spirit Sage as my second champion, which felt amazing.
I was so frustrated that the game then refused to acknowledge the fact that I did these things. Everyone for the next 50 hours told me that I needed to find Zelda, that I needed to find the last sage, that I needed to destroy Ganon, but I had these pieces of the puzzle all complete. It was super jarring and made the fake Zelda moments fall super flat.
The first half of the game was great for me, it had some incredible moments for me, and I loved the ending, but man it makes some very ridiculous design decisions. Happy I found your channel with this one.
right?!!?! like WHY MAKE THE LIGHT DRAGON ACCESSIBLE BEFORE THE STORY BRINGS YOU THERE?
. Because the game still wanted to be free roaming and exploration....
Notice how fucking hard the game gets when you go out of order?
Or how the story becomes botched?
Its a massive storytelling flaw
Game: Find Zelda
NPCs: Where could she be
Link, with a Light Dragon Horn fused to the Master Sword: Who knows. It's a mystery
i will forever be mad about the nerfed mastersword, literally the blade of evils bane bathed in the light of a dragon for more than 10,000 years and it has less durability and damage than the mastersword from botw? crazy as hell
Isn’t there a glitch that its durability is permanently nerfed after the first time you fuse it?
@@ZiggyPalffyLA mhm! It loses its sparkle and will never get bonus durability again. If i could fix the mastersword id just give it infinite durability, and the fused items would have their own durability so that the mastersword can act as an extremely powerful jack of all trades tool.
@@seerai-42 of all the things they “fixed” in the game, this was never one of them. Shows you their priorities
The Master Sword being destroyed in the beginning of the game really set the tone for where the Zelda franchise is going.
Not good.
@@QuothTheRavenclaw11:(
It's crazy how the story has some actually incredible moments (largely carried by the soundtrack and sound design) while being a massive wet fart as a whole. Like the Zelda transformation cutscene does indeed go crazy and the whole set piece of the final battle is one of the coolest thing I've ever seen in my goddamn life. They're high points in video games in general, not just this series.
But they're there in service of nothing. It's like they had artists paint these immaculate scenes and set pieces worthy of being shown off in the Louvre , and then got the kids who argued if Sonic could beat Iron Man during recess to write everything that glues those moments together. Utterly baffling.
Purah being a sage never even crossed my mind but now i realize just how much better that would be then just reusing mineru
@@netweed09 yeah it would have been cooler to see a temple where all the lost sheikah tech dissapeared to or something, and honestly, any character from the memories should stay in the memories
YEA LIKE WHAT REAL PURPOSE DOES PURRA HAVE
Boo. What could possibly be better than a giant underground rideable robot companion? Imho the best reward in the entire franchise. Mixing things up a little with that quest was a high point
Honestly I dunno...Mineru was pretty cool too. Purah would be a interesting Sage though and the Mech could make sense for her too really.
@@netweed09 literally the pot calling the kettle black, look at the rest of your seething in this comment section. you abuse the caps key like nintendo has abused your sense of taste
i am SO GLAD to hear someone else say they should have sent Link to the past. I HAVE BEEN SHOUTING THIS FROM THE ROOFTOPS. It could have solved SO MANY PROBLEMS the game had, SO EASILY!! ANDDD it would have actually put you, the player, into the meat of the story instead of just being an observer, again. it's so depressing to think about the missed opportunity here. there are some good fanfics tho...
Any recommendations? I had a lot of issues with BotW but I did love the characters and I wanted to try TotK but…seems like a waste of money. So, fanfic!
can’t wait for all the“not tears of the kingdom compliant” fics!
What fanfics👁👁👁👁
THIS WOULDVE BEEN SO COOL SINCE THERE WOULD BE SPACE FOR NEW CHARACTERS WE COULD INTERACT WITH
What would happen with the whole raurus arm situation if that were the case
It was satisfying to finally hear I wasn't the only one who thought "Zelda, you don't think GANONdorf has anything to do with CALAMITY GANON?? "Ganon" is not a common name, even in Hyrule, which I'm sure you know, Zelda, since you're a goddamn historian in these games, but even then, it's not like he was called "Calamity Dave" and when you met "Dave" in the past, you thought "huh, weird coincidence, but I wont assume because the name Dave is pretty common" LIKE ZELDA, YOU LOOKED AT ONE MURAL AT THE BEGININNG OF THE GAME AND INFERRED THE EVENTS OF THE IMPRISONING WAR, WHY DID YOU NOT HAVE THIS AMAZING DEDUCTION WHEN HEARING THE NAME "GANONDORF"????!?!?!?!
What upsets me more about this is that in BotW, when Zelda is expositing on the identity of Dark Beast *GANON* , she explicitly states that this great evil has taken many incarnations for a great deal of Hylian history. If Urbosa also acknowledges the history that *GANON* once lived as a Gerudo man, then surely Zelda should figure that this suspicious Gerudo man named "GANONdorf" might have a connection with the red-haired, superpowered, evil mummy that she encountered in the present, as well as the Calamity *GANON* that she spent 100-ish years fighting? (who's humanoid forms, mind you, also have red hair like GANONdorf)
I suppose Zelda didn't want to jump to conclusions or was worried about changing the present too much, and just being in the past is changing the present by a great deal anyway. Maybe she *does* know about the whole "Ganon" connection but really is trying not to interfere too much until the last moment. Maybe she doesn't want Link's time period to end up all screwy, I don't know...
Rest in peace Zelda's brain cells
I mean tbf she likely didn't know that Calamity Ganon used to be a gerudo and a similar name alone isn't enough to deduce that they are the same person. Well the mural painted a pretty clear picture, some guy having a similar but not the same name isn't enough to make a good deduction.
@@lexfordjackenstiresirjacke2082 I mean eh...Zelda may not have known that Ganon used to be a Gerudo though or was named Ganondorf.
I am pretty sure she just didn't know they were the same person and having red hair and similar names alone doesn't confirm it.
@@Jdudec367 if the dudes name was "john", I'd pay that explanation
Supposedly, Majora's Mask was created because its main developer was instructed to remake Ocarina of Time, and insisted that they be allowed to make a full sequel, rather than just a quick-and-dirty cashgrab. Their manager agreed, but gave them a strict deadline of only one year. This explains why the two games have so many reused assets between them, the game's relatively smaller scope, and the origin of a lot of the themes of "time running out" the game so frequently addresses.
Often, this story is told as something inspirational. The subtext landing somewhere between "wow nintendo employees sure are built different" and "true art is made in the face of adversity". As with so many other "inspiring" stories, there's rarely any discussion of how absurd the initial demand actually was, or what would have happened if said deadline were not met.
So when another direct-sequel Zelda game releases over two decades later, with so many clearly-unfinished details, so little care put into absolutely anything but spectacle, and a year-long delay that clearly wasn't anywhere near enough... I can't help but speculate about possible parallels. Was a similar challenge issued? Did the dev team accept it and fail? Or did they decline, with the ultimatum draining their motivation to do their best? Secret Stone? Demon King?
I don't think we'll ever get an answer as to what went wrong during the development process, same as all the other questions this game raises. But I would not be surprised to hear that somebody tried to recreate an old recipe for bottled lightning, and instead ended up electrocuted and holding an empty bottle.
That last sentence goes hard, dude 🔥🔥🔥✍️
If they timed it right, they could've reflected the lightning back.
@@angolin9352 Well yeah, how do you think Majora's Mask turned out so well in the first place? It's just fascinating to see what a mistimed input looks like after so long.
A friend of mine described this game as "uncanny valley breath of the wild". Truer words have never been spoken.
This whole video is a pinboard where everything surrounds a post-it note with the words “70 United States Dollars” sharpied on there
literally
im the 70th like on this comment. How ironic.
I'm so tired of it. Dragons Ligma 2 released on PC in the state it was in for ONE HUNDRED CANADIAN DOLLARS for the BASE GAME.
I remember criticising TotK for being an overpriced DLC when it first dropped, and so many Nintendo fans kept comparing it to Majora and Ocarina. They may use the same engine, but they are completely different stories with a completely different gimmick. The denial at the time was insane like come on.
@@pokemonultraz1262 There is no irony involved in that. What you mean is a coincidence.
3 hours of listening to Fiona from adventure time complain about tears of the kingdom. I love it
oh she’s the va? Learn something new everyday
@@KyeXGamernope it’s not me haha they’re making a joke
@@MacenW wrong. skitty.
@@edgehead2695 BASED skittygender
@@skittybitty 🤝
this video really helped me unpack my sense of discontent and unhappiness i’ve been feeling with totk. i had more fun speculating about the game with my friends then actually playing it. i can count the moments in the game that actually made me feel anything on one hand
There is NO WAY this is your FIRST EVER video essay. I loved your presentation, humour, analysis, and editing! your channel should be at LEAST 70$ on the switch shop tbh
Truly rthe Breath of the Wild of video essays about Tears of the Kingdom.
omg thank you so much!
Yeah, I think videos/essays of this length and quality are needed to oppose the weight of praise for ToTK. It's a big game, after all. You took on the behemoth and won. So, maybe you won the true Main Quest of the game and it's actually... ingenious? :P
Thanks so much @skittybitty for making this video. I was disappointed by the game to put it mildly and only got as far as completing the Sky Temple because my gf had bought it for me as a birthday present. In the end, I had to let both her and Zelda down
@@skittybittyJust finished it.. Yus, you nailed it 👏 Congratulations!
Also the parts with you and your mom were so wholesome, made me happy. 💜
They went to make breath of the wild 2 but ended up retconning the entirety of botw without at least actually committing to retconning botw
truly, the sequel that tries ALL THE TIME to pretend that its prequel never happened, Botw is literally the pinnacle for these characters in relation to their lives but TOTK simply pretends that it was just a small event without much importance to the point that it becomes irritating, it doesn't talk about Calamity Ganon itself, it doesn't explain about the Sheikah either, all of this is simply erased to talk about Ganondorf, the "founders of the new Hyrule" and the Secret Stones which for me is the biggest outrage because they are apparently the source of the dragon transformation that we see since BOTW but it is NEVER mentioned or spoken about before in it, not even in Myths, the retcon made is simply very bad
It didn't retcon the entirety of botw or retconned much at all really.
God the Sage speeches thing was such a mood. The way they repeat it almost entirely word for word. I had been initially excited for the Gerudo Ancestor because ya know... the fact that Ganondorf is... ya know... Gerudo... the King of the Gerudo.
There was even Gerudo WITH Ganondorf in one of the Zelda Memories AND YET-
All we get is one SINGULAR throwaway line about Ganondorf being King of the Gerudo- a fact she REFUSES to elaborate on. And that's it.
It feels like it would have been such an easy thing to give them like... even just a PARAGRAPH 3-5 sentences to give us any information about the culture, the environment ANYTHING about the Ancient World and yet that was still too much worldbuilding for them apparently
but have you considered that secret stone demon king imprisoning war??
Urbosa acknowledged that Ganon was once Gerudo, but someone who literally knew Ganondorf when he was alive couldn’t elaborate even a bit. This game’s story is a joke
I sorta think it KINDA makes sense from a Prophetical destiny standpoint for nintendo to do that but like IDENTICAL is foul
While it was insufferable, I'd say it wasn't a new letdown, but instead the same narrative CBT BotW punished you with by rehashing the same damn tapestry cutscene whenever you made the mistake of interacting with a historically literate NPC. Or, you know, talking to Kass. Ever.
How did they not only make a bad lore blurb, an unskippable and long cutscene and unnecessary repeating of the story, but managed managed one up themselves by upping the ante on all of those pitfalls, putting it all into a single dump and then calling it a story for a game.
Nonono. The auditory cue that something you put on the screen specifically for us to read is SO NICE. I appreciate it and I wish more creators could do this in visual essays.
We need a video on why the hell they got rid of Kass with no explanation whatsoever
kass will be unpacked in the autisticut (it’ll release within six months depending on how heavily edited it is)
@@skittybittyholy I love the phrase Autisticut
I hate Kass I’m glad his corny bird ass is gone
I _really_ thought Kass would be the core of story DLC. It'd even mirror his significance with BOTW's DLC 🙃
@@skittybittyAutisticut is the greatest thing ever, holy
Warning: Do not fall asleep to this video. You will wake during the Guardian Theme bit, and give yourself a heart attack.
Bro, I was paying attention and still got jumpscared by the Guardian Theme
It even got me the second time. Straight up cruel but damn does it hammer in the point
precisely why it's my alarm sound
See it works every time
@@faeonie for the Nintendo Alarmo?
Still can’t believe the game doesn’t end with Link smiling and shedding a tear, breaking his lifetime of putting on a brave face and bookending the whole tears of the kingdom thing. Great video!
I actually do like Link's characterization in Breath of the Wild but he's much more bland in ToTK. I agree that either at the end or after the light dragon cutscene he should have broke down and cried, even for a moment before collecting himself. He JUST got Zelda back, and now she's gone again, possibly forever. He should have a reaction to that and it's strange that he doesn't.
Yeah there was work done to justify it in BotW, but for me it’s one more thing that says TotK isn’t a *narrative* sequel. Its just more game, in a mod sense.
That’s why the best versions of Link are either Toon or CDI.
*Yes I’m serious*
@@owonapikinsby the same token, link has always been an insert for the player. and whatever i was feeling at that time more than made up for what link wasn’t expressing: i was crying and i was role playing as link.
The worst part is boundary break showed us that he smiles off screen and we can't see it at the end
one of the most disappointing things for me was the complete lack of anything to do on the zonai forge sky island. it’s absolutely the coolest looking island in the game, it’s an entire floating castle-sized building, but once you get up there it’s a minecraft dropper and one shrine. it just felt wrong.
The fact that there is no shrine on shrine island just breaks me now that you point it out
I looked for a shrine there for over an hour before I realized there wasn't one 😅
Like- It's called SHRINE island, at least put one on it?????
....because there's a shrine on it in Breath of the Wild and it was called Shrine Island then as well.
genuinely who cares if "shrine island" has a shrine lmao thats such a non-issue. thats like being upset that "hyrule field" is called "central hyrule" despite the fact that it has hyrule field. it's just a name who cares it doesn't affect anything. the island of Cyprus is called that IRL because people used to get a lot of copper from there back in roman times, even though thats not what cyprus is famous for anymore. sometimes placenames stick for thousands of years just because thats what people have always called them. why would an island be called "shrine island", in botw if all the shrines just miraculously appear out of nowhere when you leave the shrine of resurrection? the island presumably had no shrine prior to that, yet is still called shrine island. Could be that the island has been called that since time immemorial and it was just by chance that a shrine appeared there in botw? these things can be easily explained with 20 seconds of critical thinking instead of just looking for nonsense to whine about
@@link3895 The fact that there WAS a shrine there in BOTW makes me even more upset. I was ready to find the same shrine again by solving some kind of puzzle. But no. It's just gone. And that made me sad.
No but like seriously where the fuck is Kass
Wait… no Kass?! AT ALL?!
GRRRRRRRRRRRRR! *THEYVE DONE IT TO ME AGAIN!*
Getting to see Kass again was literally the biggest thing I was looking forward to in TotK. Learning he wasn’t in the game was the biggest gut punch I’ve ever experienced in a video game
They knew the audience couldn't handle two anthro daddies in the same game, and Rauru was more important to the plot.
Bro for real, man basically IS botw
He got crushed by a rock during the upheaval
Another Issue about the story regarding link's utter lack of emotion. A huge part of the main story in BOTW is that link has been trained to not show emotion and how being resurrected is helping him heal and be an actual person. I could be reading into that too much but it truly feels like that. So the fact that they had link display LESS emotion than when he was LITERALLY RESURRECTED WITH NIGH COMPLETE AMNESIA It truly makes me wonder if they even cared about making a sequel at all or if they just wanted to make a game to fuck around with the engine.
Especially link not even giving the slightest reaction to zelda turning into a dragon. Like bruh. he doesn't even need to say anything, just show his expression. Skyward sword did it perfectly when zelda seals herself in the temple
They just saw botw sold really well and decided to replicate it's success in a very uncreative way 😕
I mean he has some emotion, I don't see the issue really. How does he have less emotion? And I mean...being resurrected even after that as a Knight he doesn't show a lot of emotion publicly. They did care about making a sequel clearly otherwise the story wouldn't be about a follow up to the events of BOTW.
@@LilacMonarch I mean he did care. He didn't have the biggest reaction at first but we did see a reaction and after everything is over you can see how reliefed he is really.
@@thirdwheel9938 Nah they made a follow up with the story and it was something.
What a fantastic video, holy crap. Watching this and going "Yes! YES!" every 30s felt straight-up cathartic. A true labor of love. Or hate, I guess.
I've started playing the Skyward Sword remaster lately, and it made me realize how something I missed in TOTK was the re-exploration of places after getting new items or abilities.
In Skyward Sword, I recently found those fancy digging gloves and went "so THAT's what those markings on the ground are for!", and got genuinely excited to go back to areas I'd already been to and discover a whole new layer that had been unaccessible before. Same with the hookshot or Goron bracelet in, well, most other Zelda games.
Having all the abilities right from the start like in TOTK means I never have a reason to come back to a location unless the story or some busywork sidequest demands I do. But there's no joy in coming back because I've already explored and found everything.
I understand their desire to make a truly "open" world right from the start, but I don't think that needs to mean "be able to access everything immediately". To be honest, I don't think it *should.*
I want to get stumped and think "damn, I can't wait to be able to do this" rather than "guess that's all there is to this place". That's exactly the sense of progression that was missing.
And speaking of progression, I can't believe the game didn't feature small-but-upgradable wallets and quivers. That's always been one of the most rewarding things to work towards. Especially when it didn't involve five million koroks.
One thing I will never forgive nintendo for is doing literally nothing cool with the Akalla Citadel when it could have been a dungeon rivaling the dark atmospheres and prowess of those in twilight princess. I am personally betrayed by this decision to fill it with tight meaningless caves that do not reflect the sheer size of the architecture implied by the exterior and lore.
i appreciate Age of Calamity for having a few levels set inside it, its pretty cool seeing it from the inside despite how simple it is
Same! I spent so long slamming my head against the entire structure because SURELY there's more than just 1 cave there! Right?
@@scrappy2082 Age of Calamity is what stoked my hope for anything cool at all! 😭
And that it is JUST a cave, when it’s supposed to be a citadel. It would have been much better and cooler to explore a Hyrule Castle-like fortress.
@@scrappy2082 The fact that "Age of Calamity", a game which story is literally a poorly written "fix fic", does a better job at world building and narrative than "Tears of the Kingdom" has to be one of the biggest fails in Nintendo's history.
NO SHRINE ON SHRINE ISLAND
Its ridiculous. Did you know the game costs 70 dollars xD
you mean eventide island? im pretty sure there is one in the pirate's hideout on the back of the island in a cave.
I wanted to upvote, but the number...
@@LentelSoupthe one with no pirates?😂
@@LentelSoup Eventide Island, the place that was SO cool in BoTW and mediocre in ToTK
My red flag is - I love listening to people passionately complain for hours on end.
Especially when it's about smth I know nothing about
I feel like the passion that drives people to talk about how sorely disappointed they were in something makes the best long form videos
Gotta appreciate skitty for engaging with the comments even after six months.
I keep pounding at the gates of nintendo HQ asking for a ganon who wants power to end the reincarnation curse that hes been driven to madness by but they keep ignoring me
also: putting on my Corporate Thinking Conspiracy Hat, i think this IS an unfinished game unfortunately. Nintendo would have continously justify its development on things like story, continuity, and with 6 years gone by already I think the shareholders were like "Well we need Product so out it goes!"
I think botw had so much love put into partly because it was the switch's flagship game, and to the Investor/Stock Shareholder Overlords, the investment by the devs was justified by a greater profit (new game system, amiibos, dlc, merch, etc) which is why a shitty sequel thats running solely on the clout of the first game is a tale as old as time
@@kennapinkponyclub It's a very unflattering (but not undeserved) epitaph for Tears of the Kingdom: they managed to make a direct sequel that took *_six_* years to make, with mass world/asset reuse, feel rushed.
i hate to be a complete 🤓 but...
Ganondorf has only ever reincarnated one actual time in the series lmao, the one in 4 Swords Adventures is the only Ganon that outright said to be a reincarnation, every other ver is just the same guy from OoT or him being revived from the dead
Theres no way for ganon to know about the cycle of reincarnation though, the only ones to know about it are SS link and maybe SS Zelda
Glad to find another redeem ganondorf enjoyer may we one day have our day
THANK YOU FOR POINTING OUT THE NEWSPAPER. Since it exists, there is ZERO reason why Link wouldn’t be known by every face in Hyrule.
And penn, a rito who literally works for the newspaper, doesn’t know who link is…
I mean he's known but not every one knows what he looks like that would involve him being in pictures
The newspaper is a new addition to TotK. It wasn’t established in BotW- and I mean that literally- it didn’t exist. The newspaper had only just recently become a normal thing for the lives of the Hyruleans, so it’s not at all a stretch that some people wouldn’t have it as part of their daily routine yet.
Plus on top of those points, Link in BotW/TotK isn’t a showboat; he’s very reserved and only cares about Zelda and her duties. The people know that Zelda has a personal knight, but Link doesn’t put his face out there because he doesn’t have anything to prove to others. The newspaper stall owner herself didn’t even recognize Link right away (I’ll admit my memory on that may be spotty).
The only people who recognize Link are those who are closest to him and Zelda. He’s not a celebrity; he doesn’t want to be. He only wants to be with Zelda and protect her.
Now, if there’s another sequel and the people still don’t recognize him then I’d call bs. Surely at that point they’d have a picture of Link in the newspaper considering he worked FOR the newspaper. But photography is still a relatively new technology in this Hyrule, and it’s not publicly available either.
@@CosmicTornado1 you can see at least one person at every stable reading the newspaper, also a lot of link’s interactions with npcs will beg to differ from your theory
@@CosmicTornado1 Exactly I agree with you completely there.
Its so infuriating that the zonai LITERALLY just take the place of the sheika JUST for the sake of a slightly different aesthetic, and the sheika just get absolutely dropped.
dont get me wrong, like their designs, but its such a conceptual retread instead of expanding what’s already there that its infuriating.
But it's kinda like an origin story for them, yea?
I thought the whole point was to show that these familiar ideas are all connected and yet also unique
I wouldnt even mind, if the zonai didnt feel like a direct downgrade from the sheika, both lorewise and designwise.
The sheikatechnology was integrated into their culture in such an interesting way that wasnt really explored in totk
SAME I was so excited for a game where the focus would be on magic versus technology, and writing wise why does a supposedly powerful, magic species use technology in the first place?
@@NatetheSensitivePlant Why can't they use both really?
@@Jdudec367 cause necessity is the mother of invention, the reason that magic societies don't use technology is because there is no need. When you compare the original concept of shiekah and Zonai, you have a group of people who seem to have forsaken their magic for superior technology, as shown by the fact that the yiga are more powerful than the average shiekah, and those two societies are very different, with different priorities and capabilities. The zonai were supposed to be powerful, magic users but there was no talk of them having advanced technology, and there doesn't seem like a need or a reason why except for in-game mechanics. We don't know how they figured out their machines, and the storytelling around it is weak. Why did they build cannons when they can blast through things with huge beams of light?
And besides magic in TOTK is such an untapped potential, literally, because the main zonai relic, the secret stones, make innate abilities stronger. Why weren't they focusing on that instead of building cars?
Their priorities don't make sense and we will never get answers because Nintendo doesn't care
watching the shrine portion made me realize that, despite getting all the shrines and the terrible zonai link transformation, Most shrines were so boring I can't remember doing them lmao
link's (non) reaction to zelda turning into a dragon made me wanna throw away my switch 💀
😂😅😅
Yeah it's absolutely baffling how Link is so expressive when cooking and eating... but when it's about his supposed GF he's less expressive than a rock.
For goodness sake, Nintendo could've made him yell "Zelda!" out loud during the final skydive...but no.
@@avon_c6199 exactly, like botw link could get away with the lack of emotion cuz of the amnesia but there is absolutely no excuse for this game, ESPECIALLY when we learn at the end that link canonically loves zelda but apparently couldn't give a shit that she's now an immortal dragon ???
@@jmurray7721 How far off base would I be to assume that we didn't get any of that in terms of showing actual affection and love the way us westerners understand it, cause the japanese might have an issue with showing it that publicly so they didn't do it for their own sake?
@@avon_c6199 honestly all i wanted was for link to shed a tear or at least look a little upset instead of a blank slate. i remember the look of distraught he had in skyward sword which was done infinitely better than totk
I love how Breath of the Wild is an anti-apocalyptic story. You wake up in essentially the post-apocalypse. The king is dead, the palace is in ruins, and it's been so long that even the horrible monsters that ended the world are just collecting dust. You scavenge whatever resources you can, and see what you can do to try and help.
But beyond all that, the world is beautiful. The people seem to be doing alright. And based on your memories, the kingdom had tons of problems. The champions all hated each other, Zelda wasn't ready to take on her role as protector, and the king couldn't really help her. You get the sense, imo, that while the kingdom was destroyed, and that is sad... maybe that was just inevitable. Maybe the world is better off having moved past that.
In particular, I like the tone of all the memories. Whenever the characters are happy, you feel sad knowing that it's all going to end. And when they're criticizing each other, you get the feeling that this never could have lasted to begin with.
To me, killing Ganon is more about tying off the loose end. You still need to rescue zelda and end Ganon, but you don't have any hope of restoring the kingdom to what it once was. But maybe you can make it into something better.
Tears of the kingdom feels like it kinda gives up on that. Lets obsess even more over the past and bloodlines and old kings.
I agree! totk feels so tonally different from botw that it basically spits all over it.
I think I should’ve known that the fanfics where Zelda choses to throw away the title of Princess and work to making Hyrule better under a democracy were never gonna happen but… man. It really was disappointing to realize this franchise can’t even see the flaws in the things it also seems to condemn.
The champions didn't all hate each other...? Did they?
I thought they got along okay enough for the little we saw. Daruk seemed chill and Mipha seemed ok with everyone. I am not sure about Urbosa and Revali as Urbosa seemed to care about Zelda the most.
@@akisendo yeah ur right. really the only ones with beef were ravioli and 🔗
@@Vivigreeny25 On the one hand, that *sounds* like an interesting concept.
On the other, where would the people of Hyrule realistically get the idea of Democracy from?
Even in our own world, it took thousands of years if not more for any functioning Democratic system to emerge, and our world doesn't have a bloodline of rulers who possess demonstrable proof of a very literal Mandate of Heaven.
My least favourite thing about Tears of the Kingdom is that it just isn’t saying as much as the other Zelda titles. Ocarina of Time is about aging and explores that theme through its time-travelling mechanics. Majora’s Mask explores existential dread and death through the moon and time management mechanics. What made Breath of the Wid so captivating to me was what the world meant - that, even after the apocalypse, the world will never really end, just be retaken by nature, an endless cycle of life. Tears of the Kingdom’s world just doesn’t feel like it has that thematic layer which made the other games so engaging, it’s world doesn’t really say anything and neither do it’s mechanics.
Windwaker give me that too (more than botw). The whole kingdom is under the ocean and these people are just living their lives on the scarce land available.
And it was really close to saying something about connection and helping each other but never fully accomplished this theme
I disagree it says something and is about bonds and how they truly build a kingdom and are what matters, it's multiple people who help build Hyrule in the game after all and it's bonds that help out both Link and Zelda in the past and the present and how even when there are people that are gone those bonds and connections are still there, hell with Rauru Link is even able to bond objects together too so that bond literally ties in to the gameplay mechanics too. I disagree it has that thematic layer which made the other games so engaging, it's world does say something and so do it's mechanics which also say what the Zonai were truly capable of.
@@kingbaba1309 I mean it does accomplish it tbh.
@@Jdudec367 I guess there are elements of that but they aren’t the crux of the gameplay, unlike the unique mechanics in both Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask respectively, and those ideas just feel extremely under-developed.
“Hell hath no fury like a Zelda fan scorned” lmao yes
56:02 I don’t know if anyone’s mentioned it, but here’s my thoughts.
BOTW is infamous for reusing content/assets whenever possible to save time. The reason petting dogs wasn’t included is because the developers thought they wouldn’t be able to reuse the animations/mechanic anywhere else.
The reason why the bosses erupt into malice instead of gloom when defeated is probably because the stock animations already were colored for Malice, and they didn’t want to spend time retexturing it.
people have said this and it’s a little embarrassing that i hadn’t even considered that it was just asset flipping
@@skittybitty It should be embarrassing for the Zelda Team for being so lazy.
Why'd you have to remind me we can't pet dogs in this game? 😭
The ONE THING everybody was begging for in Breath of the Wild and one of the very first things I tried when I got to a Stable in Tears and Nintendo couldn't be arsed to let us pet. the. fucking. *dogs.* 🙃
@tbnwontpop8857 But using the same world without doing real changes to make it worth it almost 80$ dollars here in Mexico is deal-breaking.
@tbnwontpop8857 xD Not deal-breaking, but kinda goofy when a little boss explodes in a big overdramatic fashion that I only ever remember from bosses in Starfox 64.
The one thing however where Nintendo really couldn't stop themselves from maxing out those MichaelBay explosion-sliders was with the Dragon-Ganon fight, where he blows up in what I can only describe as a nuke-like explosion that should've flattened large portions of Central Hyrule and janked some of the Sky Islands straight into orbit judging by that overdramatic shockwave.
I remember when apparently the devs claimed this game was supposedly going to be "darker" than Majora's Mask, and I'll give them credit; making an entire copy-pasted sub area so dark you can barely see a damn thing definitely classifies as being "darker" than Majora's Mask.
that quote was misinterpreted and circulated uncritically by many actually, the devs did not actually say that. doesn’t make it any less disappointing though
@@skittybitty Yeah, as soon as they announced they were gonna use Ganondorf again I knew immediately they were just gonna rehash the same exact plot again with the "I'm evil and power hungry" which is fine. but we already had Ganon in the first game, so they could at least try to do something different with a new villain this time around.
Realistically, I don't know why anyone believed that when the devs said it. The only reason Majora's Mask was so dark and weird was because that game was rushed and made under completely different circumstances than any other Nintendo game. (It's also the best Zelda game and they weren't going to top it no matter how good TOTK could have been)
@@soulkibble1466 I mean reusing him does't mean he wil be the exact same and yeah his plan does change and differ in TOTK.
@@soulkibble1466ehh, we didn’t really fight ganondorf in botw, we fought the malice that came out of ganondorf
They gut any and all interesting lore or questions the player may have by making the answer to every question be "The Zonai did it"
idk not really, the zonai didnt do that much. The constructs?? Most of the ancient stuff was built by Hylians following the imprisoning war, even the sky islands
@@EileenLorekeeperAh, the imprisoning war, what a way to retcon the timeline with using some ALTTP had.
It could have taken place after the timelines came back together..? But honestly, eh.
And of course, “Demon king? Secret Stone?”
“Second floor basement? Psycho mantis?”
And it's extra annoying cuz they had an ancient robot-building sky people race in the backstory of Skyward Sword all primed and ready to go.. but apparently the Zonai are an entirely different ancient sky tribe with highly advanced technology that mined special ore in pre-history?
It really feels like they wanted to just make people stop caring about continuity and timelines. I'd have been much more interested in Tears' lore if it turned out Hylia wasn't a true goddess, but a Zonai time sage, perhaps the original Zonai.
@@LocalizedBozo I mean, how could we expect timelines to mend? Once you break reality into pieces, those pieces gain their own identity and can’t be repaired. BOTW and TOTK are so far into the future, it could just be that the Zonai just established another Kingdom of Hyrule after the Great Sea receded.
No not every question.
We will never get a sequel like Majora's Mask ever again I fear.
With the one year development limit the devs were pretty much going insane while making it. They had so many amazing ideas that they somehow managed to pull off.
This video could net you more than 70 dollars in ad revenue, so in a way you got your money back!
but not the hundreds of hours of each of our lives wasted playing this really bad game.....
@@iamLI3it’s not bad necessarily it just depends on what people think about it while the game will get mindlessly boring after awhile it’s still fun in the beginning to end (again depending on the person)
@@draggonwarrior42 hard disagree
@@draggonwarrior42 i was bored after doing the main story line for a bit after i got all the shrines, but i then i discovered C R E A T I N G M A C H I N E S O F D E A T H
@viganhoxha8814 your reply got shadowbanned , but i am not counted among those of us i speak of in my comment in full , for i recognized by the time i got to the first wind temple that tokt was bad , so i rushed to beat it from there , in total only wasting about 40 hours of my own life....
To be fair "I'd like to smash the Demon King" was pretty funny
Undoubtedly the best thing that came out of the game.
i mean i would too
I want to too
@rowantic6539 what a glorious opportunity! Go get more spirit orbs!
@@deeb13243 Oh yeah, I'll gladly get the Demon King's "Spirit Orbs"
"Loving the time i spent playing Tears of the Kingdom with my mom isn't loving Tears of the Kingdom, it's loving my mom" this sentence made me start spontaneously crying in the middle of work, excellent video.
@@RazorfistHidesComments like your grandad was, laying in his coffin
1:40:46 I love the fact you portrayed your mom as Delcatty
@M4sterJP well yeah? They're literally a skitty and delcatty
2:47:25 Since I agree so much with the larger video I'll just nitpick and say that I actually think this face is unironically creepy and its inclusion furthers the scene, having Ganondorf make this distorted, inhuman expression of pure JOY at seeing Zelda grieve the person he just killed was intended to be horrifying and the developers just didn't account for the internet's enjoyment of G-mod-esque distorted faces like that
i actually experienced that on my first watch. i found it pretty disturbing too. but once i saw everyone else’s reaction to it i was like “oh…it’s just meme fodder”
This needs a remastered 8-hour Peter Jackson cut with new chapters and 5 additional epilogues.
"TOTK is the first game that made me feel bored AND overwhelmed at the same time. There's so much to do in this world and absolutely none of it matters."
"What we got feels like a second draft at best, and a tech demo at worst."
1000% this. THANK YOU!!!!
one of these days i’ll make the autisticut. probably after the masterworks book gets translated to english
@@skittybitty Oh! Nice! Well anyway, I really enjoyed the video and how it was put together. Keep it up :)
[EXTREMELY LOUD INCORRECT BUZZER]
Fun Fact: TOTK doesn't use the same engine as BOTW. Its actually a new engine that simply ported over existing assets. The new engine is used in a few other games too but TOTK does not reuse the BOTW engine contrary to popular belief
i meant the graphics engine, i know the physics are different
@@skittybitty the graphics engine is new too. Us in modding community is unsure if it’s an evolution of the lunchpack engine (BOTW) but they seem to have migrated all shaders and materials to a new rendering pipeline which is why some visual effects such as ambient occlusion in the grass and reflections work differently in Tears of the Kingdom. Very bizarre to us that they even changed to a new graphics engine. It’s the same one Splatoon 3 and Super Mario Bros Wonder uses.
@@EDMIRE programming stuff obviously isn’t my strong suit haha
@@EDMIRE Is it possible that this new engine (Along with COVID) is responsible for why TotK turned out the way it did unlike Majora's Mask? A new engine explains why the game took so long.
@@Acecard-jl2pyi mean maybe but that doesn’t explain why it’s so poorly written. the writers and programmers are different teams
On rewatch of your fixing section, the inability to fuse from inventory or pickup rupees from the ground by walking on them reeks of "there was a bug during development that we couldn't fix in time, so we got rid of it"
One other nitpick I had that is so small and minor compared to the COPIOUS other problems this game has, is the term Secret Stone. It sounds silly to me, like something a kid would make up for a game of pretend or something. You know what would sound better and keep the vibes? Sacred Stone. I could probably think of a dozen more, but that's just the first thing that came to mind every time without fail.
i believe it’s a localization thing. secret stones are a common fantasy thing in japan iirc, the translators just really dropped the ball
This game is cringe encanated, there were moments in this game I straigh up wanted to cry out of cringe like when the whole gang comes to Hyrule castle and face phantom Ganon and Ganondorf speaks like he was a badie from a Christmas movie from the early 2010, or when the gang speaks together after that and it’s so freaking family film behav or when Ganondorf says “how can a kid defeat me”. ☠️ it doesn’t even look like a Zelda game at some points
@@skittybitty The localizers directly translated it from the Japanese word, 秘石 (hiseki); 秘 meaning "secret" or "hidden", and 石 meaning "stone" or "rock".
@@Kruegernator123 well yes, i knew that haha, im fluent in japanese
@@ZellyTheFangirl *don’t tell anybody about my stone, link. It’s a secret. That’s why I wear it on my neck, wrist, hand or other easily seen body part*
Going through the whole hebra sky island ascension, skydiving into the cloud, seeing “Wind Temple”, followed by “Wind Temple 1F”, but then hearing “there are still five locks securing the hatch on the deck” followed by seeing them pop up on the map is probably my most disappointing video game experience ever.
Everything about this comment is true - so much yes
This.
Top 3 disappointing moments in totk:
- when the 5 locks appeared on the map of your first dungeon
- when you get your first memory and it ends
- when you realize the depths map is mirrored of the overworld
also when you beat your second dungeon and the same cutscene plays as the first one. but you already know how similar the quests will be well before then.
@@FunnyAnimatorJimTV I mean, The Depths are like the Dark World, and it being a mirror makes it easier to know where to go. The other two are definitely disappointing though.
@@JacksonVoet Making it easier to know where to go makes it less interesting. The moment you know "oh there will be a mountain over there, then a valley and a lake, and the chest is up there" then it removes all your sense of urgency and mystery, that made the depths so exciting the first time you enter it.
Same reason why exploring hyrule in totk is boring. even though the specific contents of goron city are different, even knowing it's general appearance and direction makes it less exciting.
@@FunnyAnimatorJimTV I mean, unlike the Dungeons, navigating the Depths would be much, much more tedious otherwise. Plus, the darkness and overall enemy difficulty makes traversal much better.
Had anyone bothered removing Ganondorf's secret stone after he was sealed, none of this would have happened.
To be fair I wouldn't fuck with that shit if I knew what it was.
I'm sure that if they heard that idea they'd be stuck thinking 'secret stone? demon king?' for as long as ganondorf was sealed away
@@KoenRH2803 even if they knew tell me a person in that game who has the balls to walk up on Ganon and take it.(other than link we all know how that went)
lol he literally has demons spawning around him, gloom splatters out and drains your life force and he’s held underneath the castle… who TF would go there? No one even knew he was there.
@@Maximiliano896 exactly
genuinely one of my new favorite rewatchable video essays, listened today at work after having watched this whole thing before and i love the way you edit + speak during these, the nonbinary hbomberguy skitty goes so hard
also thank you for making this because i. like. i loved TOTK but i knew something was wrong when i was playing it. i just couldn’t articulate what all was wrong because i was lost in the experience of having more content, even though it really doesn’t feel like anything changed
it’s not even like the reuse of the map is bad, majora’s mask was incredible and it reused a ton of shit from oot, everyone knows that so like. yeah. Why Didn’t They Fix Everything?
i’m rambling LOL but thank you :) this video is awesome and if you ever make another longer video i’ll definitely be tuning in
Me absorbing all the passionate “I didn’t like totk” videos because I feel the exact same way yet do not have the energy to put together a 3 hour video myself, condensing all of my points.
Same I didn’t like the game either which sucked. I’m getting validated :’D
I've done the exactly same thing haha. Every single video I've watched is so good too, because I keep going "UH HUH!!" and "YEAH RIGHT?!?" bc they keep saying the same exact things that annoy me with the game. 😂
It's time bois, our silence can remain no longer.
@@scrittlewhat silence? Totk has been blatantly hated since launch and even before. What rock have u been under
I’ve yet to buy the game because I’m afraid that it’ll make me not like BOTW. The anticipation that I had for TOTK was so intense until I saw a bit of gameplay and I am still hesitant about if I should play it for myself or let it go.
You want classic zelda dungeons, eh? How about… 142 caves?
And the funniest part is that all of those caves get outdone by the DS Zelda Games… Not to bash those great games, they have actual puzzles.
"Since we're all gonna die, there's one more secret I feel I have to share with you: I did not care for Tears of the Kingdom."
- "What? how can you even say that?"
"Didn't like it."
- "But skitty it's so good! It's like the perfect Breath of the Wild!"
"This is what everyone always said. Whenever they say it's like: *Oh my-"*
- "Eiji Aonuma, Hidemaro Fujibayashi, I mean, that guy worked on Skyward Sw-"
"I know, I know."
- "MANAKA KATAOKA!!!"
"Fine. Fine. Fine composer, _did not like the game."_
☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️
Out of all the amazingly funny/informative comments on this video, mine was the last I expected to be pinned 💀
@@shame2189i rotate the pinned pretty regularly. this one took me out though
It *insists* upon itself!
@@LenamLorbington I'm kind of dissapointed the "it insists upon itself" part wouldn't have worked as well as the start, because TOTK really does insist upon itself. So much so it invalidates BOTW
I've said it before. I simply can't believe they had a broken Master Sword and a fuse mechanic and didn't put two and two together and let you fuse to the broken sword.......
You could have slowly repaired the sword over the story, meaning fighting harder bosses for strong materials becomes easier over time, meaning you would use less decent resources to farm more over time.
Eg. 2 Lynel horns to kill a Lynel at lvl 1.
1 to kill it at lvl 2.
Kill 2 lynels for every lynel horn at lvl 3.
Etc.
your so right
Secret Stone? Demon King? The Imprisoning War? Psycho Mantis?
The memes
Metal Gear?
@@Lone_Wolf_Hero They played us like a damn fiddle
a weapon to surpass metal ganon
@@LilacMonarch LIQUIIIIIIIIIIIIID!
There is a MAAAASIVE difference between a puzzle with multiple solutions and puzzles with a skip button
portal vs "open-world physics sandbox" yeah
I sort of question how some of these shrine complaints would change if they didn't consume any online content relating to the game
I didn't until I was done with the game, and my shield rocket attempt went horrifically wrong, and I never tried again
I also never made a hover bike
I liked the depths, but I did a lot of on ground or rocket glider movement, which required some real finicky fun in the depths to do light roots
I also only realized the shrine lightroot trick about 1/3rd of the way through, and I thought it was cool, and because I didn't make a successful hover bike it became a game of "do I try to find a shrine underground or above ground"
Actually a lot of the issues with TOTK can be down to pacing and non rewarding exploration. Pacing is messed up by not discovering things your self, but the non rewarding exploration isn't really the player's fault. There was little to no incentive to do anything but sky squat because the last of persistent structures meant you were going to be constantly rebuilding some nonsense.
I think one of the most significant changes they could have made is made most camps not respawn mobs or loot, so there's at least a satisfaction of clearing out the map.
It's funny too because regarding pacing, unlike OP I had an issue with the music. It constantly played, there was no down time like BOTW. It was loud, it was annoying, and it was constantly there. This formula is best when you're going at a slow but steady pace, exploring and being in the moment. This isn't unique to BOTW either, most open world games that you restrict fast travel on that have GOOD worlds are like this. There's even an entire game focused around this called Elite Dangerous.
IMO this is the biggest problem, the story is awful, but at least you only experience it 5 times.
Also one more thing regarding the story, when I was playing this blind after the BOTW I was also heavily confused, but I started piecing it together.
This isn't a sequel to BOTW story wise, it's a sequel to *age of calamity*
@@scarlet_phonavis6734 the rocket shield isn’t a niche internet trick, they show it off in the game’s final trailer and one shrine (ijo-o) outright forces you to use one
@@skittybitty usually the game doesn't hand you the tools though
No puzzle has a skip button though
Ascend ruined so many other games for me. Whenever I see a flat ceiling I think i can go through it for a second just to feel disappointed after
@@ole2107 It reminds me of what Zeltik said on his nearly two hours long Tears of the Kingdom review: "Ascend feels so natural that sometimes I forget that I can't use it in real life" Couldn't have phrased it better myself.
@@netweed09 Yeah. But even though he likes it, he also has critics towards the game which are very fair, plus he is always calm and never loses his mind (unlike pretty much every ther video essay on RUclips, including this one), which gives him a lot if credibility. You can tell that he takes his work seriously. I will always say that, if you want a balanced and serious video essay about Tears of the Kingdom, go watch the Zeltik one. That's all you need.
@@netweed09 calling this a "hate-trip" is silly to be honest. I haven't watched the whole video yet, but all of the critiques I've heard so far seem fair, and they've regularly praised aspects of the game that were actually executed well. TOTK being ultra-successful doesn't mean people are crazy for not liking it lol.
@@netweed09 you should be the last person implying anyone is insane after writing a comment like this lmao. I don't need to watch all 3 hours of the video to realize that she's given elements of the game props on too many occasions for you to just disregard it as an insane hate-trip. Relax.
@@netweed09 and hours long analysis of Zelda media is a staple of this entire corner of RUclips, at this point it doesn't bother me.
This game frustrated me mechanically. Everyone loves to talk about how unique and incredible the crafting system is, but I always felt it was unnecessary and slapped on as a gimmick. I also felt strangely incentivized to explore the depths just to fill up my battery, which otherwise served much less purpose. Like this was a distraction from the fact that the map is the same and we're missing things from BotW for no reason. I'll never understand why they slapped Gmod onto BotW and made us pay $70 for it
I started off skeptical, but you completely convinced by the end. You had me laughing throughout the video as well. You did an amazing job of covering all your bases. You didn't have to go out of your way to consider the critiques people might have of your video, but you did. This video is on another level of quality. You have an amazing talent. Thank you and best of luck going forward!
oh my gosh thank you so much!!! thanks for watching!! 😸
First, I just want to say, for someone's very first video essay, this is fucking *phenomenal.* You should absolutely do more of these; you did a great job at writing and structuring it.
As for TotK itself, it's funny that you call it a "second draft," when to me it almost seems like this is the *first* draft, and BotW was the sequel. If you think about them in that order, it makes a shocking amount of sense.
- People didn’t like having to fuse each individual arrow, so now there are dedicated arrow types again.
- People didn’t like the goofy monster parts being the only way to upgrade weapons, so now weapons as a whole are stronger and more durable.
- People didn’t like the nameless bland ancestor spirits, so now each one has a ton of personality and has a personal connection to Link, Zelda, and their descendant. Completing a dungeon even has extra weight now, because you're avenging your comrades and defeating the creatures that killed them.
- People didn't like the copy/paste cutscenes that all give the same information, so now each one has character development for the ancient hero.
- People didn't like how bland the temples were and how they just kinda materialize out of nowhere, so now each one is a rad as fuck mecha kaiju that you get to partially control.
- People didn't like the way that Zelda didn't have much agency, so now her whole plotline is about her struggling with it.
- People didn't like the empty Depths, Sky Islands, and Shrines, so now the former two are removed entirely to focus on improving the content in the main map and having fewer empty shrines.
- People could break the game too easily with vertical movement options, so most were removed.
- People’s most commonly made creation was a motorcycle, so this time there's an honest-to-god motorcycle in the game that outclasses every other form of travel.
Like seriously, there's a bewildering amount of stuff that feels like it must have come first, because it's such an obvious step down from BotW.
And zelda’s pictures in botw makes more sense because you’d vaguely recognise the areas since you would’ve explored the area before, like geoguesser sort of
I really don't see how BOTW is like a sequel at all.
-Which removes arrow types and depth and variety of weapons, are you implying that BOTW would be the kind of sequel that waters stuff down?
-Except they really aren't stronger or more durable, no weapon in BOTW is as strong as the strongest weapon in TOTK especially with fuse, and frankly again especially with fuse they aren't more durable. People loved fuse it would make no sense to get rid of it. Also without fuse then getting weapons in chest wouldn't feel as rewarding anymore when they can't be used to craft stronger better weapons that would be even more useful for you.
-that kinda makes sense as a argument...except now it just feels like they replaced their descends in terms of screen time really. And completing a dungeon really doesn't have more weight as you still save people for defeating the bosses in the dungeons in TOTK too.
-Eh you get other cutscenes that have character development for the modern champions in TOTK too though. And not all of the cutscenes have the champions develop in BOTW to be fair mainly just Revali and Mipha really.
-Yeah no they are more bland in BOTW especially aesthetically and they really don't materialize out of nowhere they have reasons for being there. Said mecha kaiju cause the dungeons to have repetitive aesthetics though and with them all having the ability to partially control them leads to some more repetitive puzzles and some less variety of puzzles with a good amount of them just focusing on moving the divine beasts around. Are you sure making the dungeons worse is something BOTW would do as a sequel???
-I mean no she did have agency in TOTK and was doing her own thing and plan too.
- Eh those really weren't empty and a lot of people liked those even if there were complaints and your argument doesn't make any sense at all when the content is worse in the main map in BOTW and there isn't fewer empty shrines there is just less shrines (empty and full) period which really isn't an upgrade.
-Yeah not true vertical movement options doesn't break the game at all...even then BOTW could broken a LOT more so again what you say just doesn't make sense when you actually stop to think about it.
-Hoverbike not motorcycle and you only get the motorcycle REALLY late into the game like arguably a bit too late really unlike the Hoverbike which is clearly superior and if BOTW is the sequel then the only reason the motorcycle is the best travel option is because they got rid the better travel options. So once again not a good argument for BOTW being a sequel or at least clearly not a good sequel.
I disagree nothing really felt like it came first tbh., eh nah TOTK is better tbh and that's not even mentioning stuff like the bosses and comapring them between games since TOTK took the criticism of the bosses in BOTW and actually gave them unique interesting designs and made them all more unique really.
@@Jdudec367it's not litterally, I disagree but I understand what he's saying
@@timohara7717 Ok I still diagree though tbh.
@@Jdudec367 fair
It’s always annoyed me that they just call the important magic stone items “secret stones”. Like, imagine if they just called the triforce “the special triangle”
they’re not very secret either considering there’s four copy & pasted cutscenes dedicated to them
you can only blame the game's english translation, which decided to change almost every names for no reason.
i don't remember exactly but i think the JP term sounds more like a fantasy neologism, and also uses a Cooler word for "secret", so something like "shroudstone" would be closer to the vibe it's intended to have
Why not just call them... The Tears of the Kingdom? They're teardrop shaped.
Hell, just call them sacred stones rather than "secret"
"Frustrating 10/10" "A Disappointing Masterpiece" I really hate how Anderson popularized this dumbassery, if a game suffers that many flaws it isn't a masterpiece or 10/10. Sad to see some Zelda fans cope, this game is just junk in almost everyway. Aonuma needs to step aside and let Kozumi take a shit at directing again, another Majora's Mask like game would be a breath of fresh air.
Who the hell is Anderson and what did he do?
@@charlesmeniru5082 I believe he talks about Joseph Anderson, he's a popular youtuber that reviews games making long essays about them.
Or a breath of the wild
surprised you didn't have a section on how freakin' ugly 90% of the weapon fusions are. that shit bummed me out when i first saw it.
you’re so right it’s in the autisticut dw
@@skittybittywill there be a way to watch just the extra content from that cut or will it be integrated into the existing video?
@@ZiggyPalffyLA i will make it so that both are options
@@skittybitty awesome, thanks!
I know, right?
Nintendo could've either hid the fused bits like they do with the MasterSword and make them mystically glow with some Zonai glyphs...oooor go the extra length of making custom weapon models for each fuse instead of, imo rather lazily, sticking them to the end of whatever weapon.
The fuses may be somewhat ok-ish with shields, but some of the weapon fuses look outright hideous...like fusing the FierceDeity sword to the Biggoron Sword, which also clips through the floor when stored on your back. xD
I know I’m the only one who cares about this but why can’t Zelda games ever have an “epilogue” overworld? No story or quests needed, but ever since OOT I hate loading into my save file and being in an eternal state of about-to-fight-the-final-boss. The world is saved, SHOW ME!
Age of Calamity may be one of the few story driven Zelda titles that does it. I loved that there was a post game, and I actually cared about that stupid robot.
Oh don't even get me started on that, I hate this perk of Zelda games with a passion. There's never a sense of finality to any of the games, it gets me really frustrated 😢
Bro I was actually so sad when I loaded back into BOTW after beating calamity ganon and Hyrule Castle & field was still overtaken by malice and guardians😭😭😭 at least give me the option??? like what did I do all that for lemme LIVE IN PEACEEEE
The Oracle games are some of the only games that do this, which is strange (why those ones?). But also led to a nice little surprise when booting those games up after the final fight
But also those games came out on the god damn gameboy color. How are we still doing this
@@Justin-uo7wiI think the issue really goes deeper than that. Zelda games have _never_ actually been “story driven”.
Zelda is a gameplay-first series that uses the story as a means to introduce gameplay and drive the player forward. It’s there because it makes progression and the use of items and abilities more interesting, but really it’s never been anything special and in fact the same overall story/plot has been repeated more times than I can count. I don’t have a problem with that, but that’s how it goes. The one game that cared a bit more about the story was Skyward Sword, and look how that one turned out as far as gameplay goes. The most linear Zelda game to date.
Age of Calamity is a special case because it’s not tied to the Zelda formula. Up to the point where the past changes, pretty much everything is exactly as it went before Calamity Ganon attacked and killed the Champions. You have a real sense of scale and worldbuilding by seeing these large armies, such as soldiers, knights and the royal guards, using the same uniforms and weapons that were presented to us in BOTW, but they also let the baddies get their time to shine. It also cares more about its characters, and has plenty of cutscenes that don’t involve neither Link nor Zelda. Maybe I have a bad memory, but I can’t think of a single time something like that happens in 3D Zelda. But even if it did, they never focused on that, which Age of Calamity does. This is also why they’re able to have post-game content. It’s much more story-driven than actual Zelda ever has been, and it’s sort of the mainline Zelda game we’ll never get. Didn’t have it before, won’t have it now. Unless they completely change their priorities (aka “gameplay”), but at this point the brand recognition is too strong for them to make a story-driven game that puts true storytelling at the forefront.
Sheikah tech disappearing its literally a reverse case of "Somehow Palpatine has return:
They are two different games. Are you also surprised that Majora isn't in the game? Why are you shackling how good this game is to how much it relates to a completely different game.
Well said, I was so confused about that. I was like "all of the Sheikah tech despawned bro".
1 Million views baby! Congrats! I still watch this video from time to time since you upload it. Keep up what you want to do and love!
The arguments that all shrines should be easy because they can be encountered in any order it absolutely stupid imo. When I played BOTW one of my first 10 shrines was one of the "major test of strength" shrines (it was the one on an island on the bottom right of the map that gives you the climbing gear). It took me hours to beat because I had very low level equipment and wasn't familiar with the games combat system and forced me to think creatively with my strategy (using all my weapons, arrows and buffing myself with dishes). Because of this, it ended up being one of my most memorable gaming moments of all time and one which I still remember fondly to this day, not in spite of its difficulty but because of it.
people like to have challenges!
Also like, if you run into something that's too challenging aren't you supposed to leave and come back later? Isn't that the entire point of it being open-world so that you can choose what to do and when you do it?
@@nicke5801 also it is quite literally called: “MAJOR test of strength”
lol i had that experience somewhat myself😂😂
@@nicke5801 literally every shrine is also a point you can teleport to freely- if I encountered a shrine I couldn't or just didn't want to do, I would leave and come back later.
Ganondorf was not confirmed to know what eating the Secret Stone would DO, as far as I remember, so my conclusion is that he just had a moment like that boy who got mad at his Gameboy and just yanked out the batteries and ate them in impotent rage.
This story inspires no respect sufficient to achieve a more dignified interpretation, and so this is what I give.
not to argue with you or anything because i do agree with you on him not knowing that, and me completing the game yesterday was so confused when that part of the cutscene happened
but why on earth would he instinctively swallow the secret stone
@@Jerome984 Not for any RATIONAL reason, certainly. 😂 The story that I mentioned in comparison -- about that child who ate batteries out of their Gameboy -- sounds to me like an instance of a wee babe with less practice in regulating their emotions facing intensely frustrating circumstances that enrage them, but that they have no power to change. They just feel the rage, and that pushes them to do SOMETHING, even if it doesn't make sense as a solution. The child in the example was upset because his console cut off in the middle of a long and challenging bit of a game, I think. See also that teenager who went viral for seeming to try to push a remote control into his bum while losing his temper on camera.
That's Ganondorf. Some androgynous ephebe -- much foreshadowed, but never properly met -- drops into his chambers (possibly with a squadron of orbiters) and renders all of his extensive preparations void in minutes. He summons reinforcements, but suddenly the room explodes several times in rapid succession. He goes in for close combat, but this twink is a slippery one. Even when he does manage to land a blow, the bottomless bottom just swallows a whole mutton flank from hammerspace and continues undeterred. He tries everything that he's ever considered and then some. Nothing works. This is happening. His rage SHOULD empower him, but his every effort and innovation is fruitless... So the Last King of the Gerudo, having no prior experience with being told a firm "No" by anyone and under immense pressure with nary a hint of leverage to grasp... eats his Gameboy batteries. And his mom has to rush him to the hospital.
Source for "Batteries" story:
THATS LITERALLY WHAT I WAS THINKING ABOUT
The story of the chamberlain mentioned how she often saw Zelda wandering through the palace, but that something felt off about her. The implication here is that Ganondorf was doing some reconnaissance at night, to not just spy on the royal family, but also learn more about the secret stones.
This is something that Calamity Ganon did as well. He had these malice eyes all over the world to gather informations. This is presumably also how he made himself familiar with how Sheikah Tech works, since he was using that knowledge in an attempt to recreate a body with their technology.
There's also the general fact that Ganondorf is just a lot better at using the Secret Stones in general. He was a very skilled magic use before getting it, which is why he received such a tremendous boost from it, compared to everyone else. This natural aptitude makes it pretty likely that he could've been instinctively been aware of the ability to become even more powerful if he ingests the stone. It's similar to how Zelda was immediately aware of how to use her powers against Calamity Ganon, after she unlocked them.
Wow this plush toy certainly has some articulate opinions
@@mandarinsandclementines2997 500th like on this comment W but also im not that type of person
Finally, the last of the anceint civilized minecraftians are expanding their reach
@@timohara7717 what do you mean?
Personally I like the game of course people can have a opinions will I say theirs problems in tears yes but I feel like they for the most part added more to better explain yes they added more things people hated but they also added thing people like which it was the same with breath it was pretty much equal I also feel like the game isn’t supposed to be flashy per say when it comes to auto build and ultra hand they left that up to people to make it flashy I recently got the game so I’m still on my first run the hover bike is convenient for me yes but I barely use it for a multiple reasons I really only use it to help get more zoni for more battery’s which in turn would allow me to mess around and build stupid things like a army of roombas that can function for more than 2 seconds I loved the Rito area but every other temple and boss can suck it I think what made it special was it was my first temple music amazing low heart and I was freezing constantly I didn’t have the right armor so it was all about being smart about how I moved I’m rambling now but I’m trying to prove a point yes it did a lot wrong but it did a lot right…..
EXCEPT THAT STUPID 60 SEC RUN TIME FOR THE WING IF I COULD FIX ONE THING IN THIS GAME IT WOULD BE GETTING RID OF THE STUPID TIMER ON ZONI STUFF IT MAKES MY BLOOD BOIL
Is just the infamous Zelda cycle all over again. My older brother lived through the hate of majora, wind waker, twilight. And now they are considered masterpieces. At the end is just opinions
40:49 "mobile gamification of Zelda" was absolutely not a quote I was expecting to hear lmaoo
I agree with you. Something that itched me is that the new lore conflicts with ITSELF, not just breath of the wild. We’re told multiple times that the Zonai lived in the sky, that those games were played by the Zonai, and all that. And yet, the memories show no sky islands? And the Temple of Time construct tells you that the islands were lifted up by the Zonai long ago to help link when he wakes up. SO WHICH IS IT?
I took this to mean that the Zonai lived in the sky AFTER the islands were raised, but this raises so many conflicts and questions. So the Zonai sacrificed their entire way of life just for link thousands of years later? Ok, fine. So the Zonai society we explore in the present ISN’T the one seen in the memories. That’s disappointing but whatever. So I assumed that the Zonai we see is in the memories are early Zonai civilization. BUT THEN RAURU IN ONE OF THE MEMORIES TALKS ABOUT ANCIENT ZONAI CIVILIZATION AND HIS ANCESTORS? WTF.
And yeah where IS all the sheikah tech from Botw? AND WHY CANT I TELL ANYONE THAT ZELDA IS A PUPPET DESPITE SEEING THAT IN THE MEMORY.
And then - if the latter interpretation is correct, how is that possible if Rauru and Mineru are the only Zonai left? Where are the sky islands???
I dunno what makes you think they were lifted up to help Link but if the Temple of TIme was on the ground then this is before they made the Sky Islands. So with that fact in mind I don't see how that's a contradiction, it's just a earlier part of their timeline.
I don't know how they did it just for link specifically, they did it for their own way of life. Technically it is the same society. Well from what we know Rauru is one of the founders of Hyrule itself, this means that if he has ancestors who were part of said Zonai civilization the Zonai civlization itself predates Hyrule which makes it even more ancient.
Shiekah tech is somewhat here, a lot is gone though, and the answer varies. Guardian stuff was cleaned up and the divine beasts are inactive now and weren't really needed. I would argue that with Puppet Zelda you don't really know everything about that yet until Hyrule Castle where it's all explained and revealed more.
@@aiworldfutures Technically there is three Zonai at first, if again they go to the sky islands after the memories then there are clearly other Zonai they just didn't show themselves and we know they also built mines and did other stuff too.
@@Jdudec367 Have you completed the temple of time challenge at the top of the building? The construct explicitly tells you this
@@aiworldfutures That all the islands were raised to help link? No I haven't yet.
"Bored and overwhelmed at the same time" is so well put. In breath of the wild absolutely everything fascinates you and draws your attention, but in this game I could not care less about the absurd number of hudson signs, or koroks, or side quests. Literally nothing in this game draws my attention but then on paper there is an enormous amount of "content"
It would have been cool to see if the gerudo had some inner struggle against ganondorf and if they would join him or not
Might be the thing that bothered me MOST about the story, this right here
I would have loved to see some kind of reaction from Riju when she learns that Ganondorf is a Gerudo.
- made about a minute worth of videos
- returns year later
- 3 hour essay on why TotK sucks ass
- gigachad theme intensifies
@@user-zx1ur
Autism is Chad when used Right
@@user-zx1ur more like happily, i'm eating this up
@@user-zx1ur many such cases!
@@user-zx1urautism is when someone doesn’t like overhyped trash
@@strictnine5684 autism is loving/hating because of the masses
3:01:16 I love that Ganondorf is such a sore loser that he’s like “nah, I’ll sacrifice everything to beat up this twink.”
Ganon woke up that morning thinking "I want to rule this kingdom" and ended his life with "I want this twink obliterated."
@@KrackosStorm Wind Waker Ganondorf would never
1:25:20 Small thematic thing, while the boss fight in the wind temple is cool, its also super random. Why is it inside the ship? How is it making the storm from there?
Instead, it should be circling in the storm (invulnerable) as you ascend to the ship, and then the sage shows you a memory that the creature was sealed in the ship long ago, but escaped thanks to ganon and thats why it's made the storm. Then the ship could be used to pierce the storm after activating all fans and then you fight the boss as normal.
Much cooler
Have I ever played TOTK? Nope.
Have I even played BOTW? Nope.
Did I watch all 3 hours of this video? Yep.
Random stranger I beg you, PLAY BOTW
@@chrisberbano7207 It sucks. I prefer old school Zeldas. Bought and played BoTw for a good 2 hours, got bored to death, never touched that pos again.
"That's Breath of the Wild Nuts & Bolts" FINALLY SOMEONE ELSE SAYS IT. NO ONE WILL ADMIT THIS.
Also to say how Zelda “Nuts & Bolts” is peak yet was the main reason why Banjo & Kazooie died is beyond hypocritical
Even then Nuts and Bolts tried to lean way more towards it's building gimmick than TotK did, making me question it's existance in TotK.
@@cloudshines812banjo and kazooie nuts and bolts failed because they turned a platformer into a car building game. People wanted a new platforming banjo kazooie game not that.
@@cloudshines812well that doesn't make any sense
Hot take- nuts and bolts's vehicle creation is light-years better than TotK's and its vehicles all feel way better to control. They have customizable buttons and everything.
If n&b was a different IP instead of banjo, it would be very fondly remembered.
I cant emphasize how cute representing your mom as a Delcatty is
Literally every clip of her mom was so adorable!
she’s appreciating all the love haha she wants a delcatty plushie now
@@skittybitty Welp, you better go get her one 😅
@@boiwifeyasmr4U 🫡🫡
@@skittybittyFull Momma Skitty playthrough when??
Nothing gave me more dread than the feeling I had maybe 2-3 hours into TOTK
I bought it as soon as I could the day it released and waited by my tv for the download to finish
But when I started playing it..I wasn't having fun. Something was not there even that early on in the game, and my feeling it SO soon made me so apprehensive about the rest of the game.
I wanted to love it so so much. And at the time I couldn't even tell why I wasn't having fun and why it wasn't capturing me.
I adore video essays that delve so far into subjects. They give me the words to my thought and feelings that I can't quite place myself. Thank you for the great video.