#PERSONALLY I think the way they defeated Ganon was rushed and a bit lacking but whatever

[105ttt]

I know the Links aren't magical girls, but I WISH they had power-up forms. Maybe I just really like the endings of magical girl shows where all the powered-up girls create one big attack that finishes off the enemy, but I wish there was a version of the manga where that kind of ending happened.

(Do not tag as Lin//ked Uni//verse or ship.)

[bluebellss1]

I’ve been kind of thinking about the Breath of the Wild vs Skyrim debate. I personally think that the world exploration in Zelda is a lot smoother, and the climbing mechanic is amazing and something that Skyrim totally lacks. Trying to scale a steep mountain in Skyrim is a glitchy nightmare unless you go up the path that you’re ‘supposed’ to.

The BOTW world is also a lot more diverse with all the different ecosystems and climates. Wandering through Skyrim when you’re not following a particular marker/quest can feel a bit more empty (even though it’s still really fun and atmospheric). The dungeons in Skyrim are also a lot more repetitive (‘wow, I wonder if there are draugr and frostbite spiders in this cave’). The fetch and retrieve quests can also get very tedious and repetitive after a while. The puzzles in Zelda are a lot more unique and often have multiple different ways to solve them, depending on how crafty the player is. With Zelda there are hundreds of valid ways to approach and solve a problem or area. And there are also Skyrim’s infamous glitches, Skyrim has a lot more bugs. Some are silly and just a bit of fun, but some are potentially game breaking, so it’s important to save often so you don’t lose hours of progress. I also think that the combat system in Zelda is more intuitive, and timing those parries, backflips and flurry rushes is so rewarding. Your combat prowess in Skyrim is limited by a levelling system rather than pure technical skill. Even a pro player can lose to a stronger enemy if they haven’t been level grinding enough.

However, despite all of this...I think I actually prefer Skyrim. In Skyrim, your character is a complete blank slate, and there is more roleplay potential. In Zelda, you’re Link. Swinging your sword at friendly NPCs has zero consequences because that isn’t something that Link would do, and stealing isn’t really an option either. I feel like going into and exploring houses in BOTW is super boring because everyone’s door is open to you 24/7 and there’s nothing worthwhile in their houses besides a recipe book or a very simple diary entry. You can’t even jump on their beds. At least in Skyrim you can cause some havoc, steal some shit, throw stuff around, and read some interesting texts. In Zelda, getting kicked out of Gerudo town doesn’t really have any consequences either. You don’t really get hurt or roughed up, and nothing is stopping you from doing it again and again. These things have more weight in Skyrim because you can become a wanted criminal and accumulate a bounty for your head.

On top of that, I feel like the NPCs in BOTW are also really boring. The most interesting ones have been dead or sealed away for 100 years. I really like Prince Sidon, but after defeating Vah Ruta he doesn’t really say or do anything else. I understand that a similar criticism can be made of Skyrim, every video game character gets boring once all their options have been exhausted and they have nothing new to do or say. But the characters in Skyrim just feel a lot more human and have more interesting motivations/backgrounds. Skyrim also has more story and more lore. I understand that BOTW took a step back from linear storytelling so that the player had more free roam, but the story is very basic and kind of meh. BOTW doesn’t really have a sense of completeness with the lack of post-game, but that is apparently because Nintendo rushed the game out to debut on the switch.

On top of that, BOTW lacks a proper antagonistic presence. Ganon has been reduced to a mere force of nature, he’s not a character so much as he is a blob of generic darkness, or a natural disaster. I personally feel that the Yiga clan was the biggest letdown though. In the flashback where they try to kill Zelda they felt genuinely menacing, but throughout the game they were very quickly flanderized into these cartoonish, looney tunes-like figures that are stupidly obsessed with bananas. The Master Kohga battle was pretty easy, and he was also more of a joke than a proper antagonist. We don’t really know much about the Yiga and their motivations either. They fall flat as villains and don’t seem to serve any purpose other than “Link must die!!!1!1!” Honestly, with their hyperfixation on bananas I’d argue that the Yiga are basically one step up from the minions in Despicable Me. They’re both mindless, cartoonish, non-threatening, ‘evil’, and obsessed with bananas.

Skyrim is more complicated in that there’s the civil war where you can understand the motivations from both sides, and also various factions and organisations across the land that have their own antagonists and traitors that you have to deal with. Plus, there is just something really fun about running around, bargaining and pledging your soul to various demons (the daedric princes) in exchange for special weapons/gear, as well as praying to various divines for different blessings. If you want to sacrifice the priest to the cannibals to get Namira’s ring, go for it. If you want to save the priest, barge into the cannibals’ banquet and slaughter them all, fucking go for it. You want to sacrifice the priest, accept the ring from them, and then slaughter all the cannibals anyway? Nothing stopping you bro. The characters are more human, the villains and conflicts feel more grounded and human as well. This makes it a bit more immersive in my opinion. Not to mention Skyrim has mountains and mountains of elder scrolls lore, and you could honestly sit there for hours reading all the ancient books you come across if you wanted. I also feel that Skyrim has more replayability. There are so many different magical races with different strengths and weaknesses you can play, as well as different skills you can focus on. The game can be experienced completely differently depending on if this time you want to be a stealth archer, a warrior, a mage, an assassin, a master thief, or if you want to focus on smithery/alchemy/enchanting, etc.

I just couldn’t stop thinking about the BOTW vs Skyrim debate as I was playing Skyrim today. My character was camping outside the cottage of this Vampire couple who ran a lumber mill, waiting for the perfect opportunity to slit the neck of the male vampire I was contracted to kill. I ended up picking the lock and killing him as he relaxed alone in his cottage. I had spent several in-game days scouting the area out, where I found out that these vampires fed on travelers and stuffed their remains in their shed. After killing him, I rummaged through the drawers and stole all the gold I could find, and then disappeared into the night. I couldn’t help but make the mental comparison to BOTW, where there is honestly absolutely nothing to do in the houses of NPCs. You can’t really rummage through their things and find out that they’re secretly part of a cult or whatever, and you certainly won’t find any interesting secrets in their diaries/sheds. It just kind of clicked for me that the NPCs in BOTW are extremely simple and uninspiring, and have almost no connection to the main story. Meanwhile the political turmoil in Skyrim affects all the NPCs, and the vampire I killed even complained that they weren’t getting as many travelers to feed on because of the civil war. You’ll walk past a priestess of the divine Talos, who will mourn the death of her daughter, who ran off to join the stormcloaks before dying in battle. A homeless beggar will tell you his stories of glory from the war before he lost everything overnight and fell into poverty. When I talk to NPCs in BOTW, they just say stuff like “I like chocolate!” “Monsters are scary!” and “Don’t step on my flowers!”

[heartofhryule]

Heart of Wisdom - Chapter 12

WARNINGS: Teen+ for this chapter. Depicts minor sexual violence and themes and strong Language. This is where it gets a bit dark. You have been warned. Contains Hyrule Warriors spoilers and story items. I highly recommend playing the game if you haven’t! It’s complete fluff, but fun fluff…. minus Lana. _____________________________________________________

Heart of Wisdom | Chapter 12 | Wisdom

“And what precisely did you think would happen?” A voice came from the open door. Naburoo stood there, arms crossed and smirking at him where he yet sprawled in shock and rage on the stones.

“Insolent bitch,” he growled, getting to his feet. “You dare speak to me in that manner?” He raised his hands and stalked towards her with every intention of striking her, but Naburoo kept her head high, raising an eyebrow defiantly.

“You’re never going to defeat them if you don’t think, my lord.”

He halted his pace, livid, but finding something in her words to ring true. “Explain.”

“You were mumbling aloud. You knew you could not wield the sword, yet you went to take it. Just exactly how did you think taking it and wielding it were any different?” He sneered, anger boiling, but she had a point.

“And what would you suggest, witch?”

“To follow through with your plan to ride for Hyrule Castle. With one Minor adjustment.” She held up a finger to indicate her meaning, and began to pace in front of him. “Our discussion of lovers made me think the other night - You promise me Queen. But there is still a government to overthrow, a war to fight, and we may not yet survive. At least my own survival is not guaranteed. I started trying to think of ways that it could be.”

“Get to the point, woman,” he ground out.

“What if there didn’t have to be a war?” she stopped and looked him dead in the eye. “What if... you were crown the King of Hyrule the day after we arrived?” Interest piqued, Ganon took a step closer to her as his curiosity began to outweigh his anger.

“And how, my ear, would we go about that?”

“Marry the Princess you so desire, of course.”

Head thrown back, his long, dreadlocked hair jingled with the trinkets dancing under the force with which his shoulder shook. “Now I know you are mad!”

“Am I?” Naburoo asked, smile like a snake charming the mouse. “What if she had no choice?” He his laughter died abruptly and she again had his attention, Naburoo moved past him into the chamber, staring at the Sacred Sword. “You need this removed to regain your full power. Yet we cannot remove it.” To prove her point, she grabbed the hilt - a far cry from his failure - but illustrated the complete immobility of the object.

“The Hero must remove it.”

“So the Hero shall,” she grinned, returning her gaze to him. “We ride to Hyrule. We gain audience - She will not turn us away if we ride under the banner of peace and disguised intentions. You tell her either she marries you, or you burn the country to the ground. Say she accepts and you are crowned king. The Hero is forced to watch his beloved rule under your thumb and abused in your bed. If he does not straight away leave for this place I would be surprised. Or,” she said, sauntering forward confidently, “The Princess denies you, and I wager we get through no more than 2 villages before the The Hero appears with the Sword. Either way, you will then be restored to full power, and there will be no one to stop you.”

The blooming admiration for her devious plan brought a smile to Ganon’s face. Reaching out, he yanked Naburoo against him and crushed her soft body to his. “And where are you in all of this?” he asked.

“By your side. Advisor. General of the army perhaps,” she grinned. “The woman who might have to share your bed while you break the Princess’s spirit and body, but will still be drawing your eye and lust when you’ve grown bored with her.”

His eyebrows raised, never had he considered Naburoo to be quite as depraved as he was… until now. “What brought this about?”

“I hate her,” she seethed genuinely, her smile gone. “I love you. I want to watch you break her, and her hero. Slowly.”

With a truly pleased and growing laughter, Ganon turned to take one last look at the Sacred Sword, before bending to throw Naburoo over his shoulder. They were done here, and he had a new lust to slake.

***

Zelda found it was difficult to hear anything Naburoo had to say over the sound of blood rushing in her ears. She stood, unarmed, with two Gerudan soldiers, a man and a woman, in the same spot she’d promised war and conquering of Hyrule.

She’d immediately been suspicious when the squire had brought the news of 3 Gerudan’s riding from the West under a banner of white. She’d known that Ganon would not be one of them as their eternal foe had never been that stupid. After his assault of her with the confirmation writ from Volga, Princess Ruto and Link as Hyrule’s Hero it had not been hard to convince the Council to rule Ganon - as he was now being called - Kill on sight.

Suspicious of the peace banner under which his minions rode, Zelda had agreed to grant them an audience for hopes of a glimpse into Ganon’s plans. She had so hoped that Naburoo and her lackeys were coming to brag, and would perhaps unwittingly give up a piece of information that would help them track down or combat Ganon more easily. The proposal they brought however wa the last thing she’d expected.

Link stared at her, his eyes the color of the sky on a summer’s day bore into her. He knew her. He knew her heart,  her mind and soul. He also knew that the treaty of which Naburoo was speaking was an opportunity… and Link knew her duty to the land.

Marriage. To Ganon.

It was suicide. It would not be the peaceful sharing of power that Naburoo’s honeyed words attempted to make it sound. It would be the empire of darkness in which she was a slave, and the slow ruin of Hyrule... rather than the rapid ruin that war with Ganon promised.

However, it would impede the decline. It would give them time, time they might not otherwise have.

Impa was furious and shaking next to her, Link’s stillness spoke of a rage beyond that of her Sheikan General. Volga stood at the base of the dais to the throne, fully armored, helm down and arms crossed, his great spear affixed to his back, and while she could not be seen, Zelda felt Midna’s invisible presence from behind the throne. No, it was not the heroes from across time they had amassed merely months before to fight Cia’s darkness and Darkness Himself, but they were strong allies who were no strangers to championing Hyrule.

She could not disappoint them. She could not let the Hyrulean people suffer. After all, despite the candied speech Naburoo had started with, it had been made clear that if Zelda did not accept this offer of marriage, that the countryside and innocents of Hyrule would pay in blood. That alone she could not endure.

Standing slowly, having realized Naburoo’s somewhat mocking bow meant that she was done with her response, Zelda looked down on her coldly. The foolish warrior woman, seduced by lies and power had no idea the nightmare and ruination she courted. Or perhaps she did - which was even worse. Despite knowing what she had to do, Zelda found no warmth or sympathy for the snake of a person in front of her.

“Tell your master I accept,” she said, letting all the ice she felt for Naburoo and the situation drip from her words. It was slight, but Zelda watched the woman’s eye twitch. Seemed that she’d been hoping for more village burning. Too bad. “I will have preparations made, and in three days time, he is to appear here, unarmed and under a banner of peace, and ready to wed.”

Naburoo’s smile would have looked more appropriate if her teeth had truly been made of broken glass or daggers. “As your majesty commands. I look forward to the bright future-”

“We’re done here,” Zelda interrupted and held out her hand. When Link provided his arm, he was so tense and furious that he may as well be made of stone. “Court dismissed. I must  make preparations.”

The moment they were out of the throne room and ensconced in her study, her three companions exploded into fits of anger and disapproval.

“You cannot marry him,” Link seethed. “He ill kill you and destroy Hyrule regardless of what he says. This is NOT the answer. You can’t believe him!!”

“I am inclined to agree with the Hero,” Volga nodded.

“Princess this is insanity!” Impa flailed. “How can we possibly think that letting him behind our defenses will solve any of this! How do we know he’s not burning villages right this very instant?”

“He could be anywhere amassing more of an army to march now that he has a pass.”

“He is the very heart of Darkness-”

“It’s suicide!”

“Please tell me there’s something I’m not seeing. This can’t be your idea of a good plan-”

A cool hand rest on Zelda’s shoulder where she faced away from them, tears streaming down her cheeks where they could not see. It was Midna’s hand, her appearance in the room silencing the others.

“You did what you had to. Will three days be enough?”

“It will have to be,” Zelda replied, her voice soft and broken with emotion. Covering Midna’s hand with hers, she squeezed it in silent thanks for her understanding before turning on the rest of the room. “Your lack of faith in my ability to assess and act in a given dangerous situation aside,” she articulated sharply, “I do have a plan.”

Link was still furious, but had the grace to look guilty as he pinched the bridge of his nose. Volga was impassive, and Impa clenched her jaw, looking away as she crossed her arms. “What’s the plan?” Link asked, the bile in his voice subsided as she stepped forward.

“We draw him here, where we can find him. We trap him, be it magically or with the belief that he has won and I am his bride while you,” she said to Link, “And Volga retrieve the Master Sword.”

“That’s two days ride from here, which means-”

“That you will leave tonight. If all goes well, there will only be a day that must be endured under this ruse.”

“A day that he will have his full power,” Link reminded, his intense blue gaze burning into hers. “A day you will be in his grasp, with his full power.”

“A day I risk myself for all the days that Hyrule’s people deserve to live in a world without Demise,” she said confidently, though her tone was soft again with emotion.

“And what if-”

“I will have Impa and Midna. We can teach Midna the magic of the Sheikah to disguise herself. Or she can remain unseen.”

“Ohh, new magic? I’m in!” Midna said chipperly.

“That won’t help if he kills you.”

“Then make sure you hurry back,” she snapped back, this time her emotions were winning. “You think I want this? That I go into this fearing nothing after all the lives and everything he has done even just in this one?” Link recoiled slightly, But Zelda stepped forward. “Do you truly believe that if I thought there was another way to save countless lives, to stop another village, another home from being razed to the ground, I would choose anything other than submitting to the will of Ganon himself?!”

“Zel.. I didn’t mean-”

“Yes,” she said flatly. “You did. Because you weren’t thinking about anything but your anger. You feel like I’m letting him win, and needlessly putting myself in danger. He is not, I assure you of that, I have bought us more time than other options have presented. I have bought us an opportunity to know when and where he will be in order to strike him down, and I have saved the lives of the inhabitants of this land for long enough that hopefully they will never have to know how close to destruction they were. That is not a needless risk.”

Swallowing a lump in her throat, she watched as Link’s temper flared again, but mostly in self recrimination. She was right, and he knew it.

With a shuddering deep breath, Zelda reached out and rest her hands on Link’s shoulders. “What would a battle with Darkness be, if you didn’t have to save me at least once, my love?” she asked, trying for a smile in spite of her tears. “This is my role to play. I need you to play yours once more.”

“What if I’m too late?” His voice cracked softly with his words.

“Don’t be.”

Removing her war crown, she leaned her forehead to his and let his arms come around her waist. “We have a lot to do, and not much time, nor as many strong allies as we had before.”

“What will you say about me being gone, to not tip our hand?”

“You rode off in rage when the princess accepted the proposal of another,” Impa said clearly, her own temper reined in for sake of the plan. “Volga went after you.”

“We will need disguises. At the very least for returning unnoticed,” Volga pointed out.

“I can handle that,” Impa said. “Midna, would you like to accompany me with Volga?” Quick on the draw, Midna nodded and float along behind Impa and Volga out of the study, leaving Zelda and Link together.

“I don’t like this,” Link snarled, his voice rough with emotion.

“Nor do I, love. But what choice do we really have?”