#could not navigate for shit in totk

[wayfayrr]

For both botw and totk, I've had this odd habit overall where once I've done every single mission possible and basically completed the game, I leave the kork seed puzzles alone beyond the minimal needed so I had an excuse to continue playing. By the end I've ended up slowlt finding every puzzle bit by bit to extend more time on the game and feeding link good food/getting him to rest regularly between each discoverable one and entirely traveling to them on foot to re-explore the games map again for nostalgias sake. I always felt so horrible how exhausted he possibly felt constantly functioning at 100% at all times. :( the korok puzzles at this point is just a reason for me to spoil the absolute heck out of him. I always couldn't help but wonder if he'd get joy out of the extended time or not. The thought overall always made me giggle.

(Btw you're an absolutely incredible creator and writer, and the time and effort you put into your works and community is awe inspiring. I hope you're staying safe and well especially! Thank you for the time you give us <3)

Honestly that is a really good way to keep on playing (especially since neither of them have a new game+ or hero's mode like the rest of the games) I think he'd really appreciate the fact that you don't want to fully complete the game in order to spend more time with him!!! You like being around him and want to do it more than what the game really intentionally allows

I think that both of those links are more than a bit messed up from their stint in the sheika juice (hence why they can go so long without sleep) but like the others they more than appreciate a good nap there's also the whole thing of them not being 'real' and not needing anything a living person would but ehhhh what difference does that make The fact that you're treating them like they need to eat and sleep is so !!!!!! You make him feel real, and you keep coming back and keeping him out of the void!!!

theres nothing else he could really ask for that would be possible to give you, well besides your touch, but it's not like he'll be able to get that any time soon.

(Thank you for the kind words too!! I absolutely adore this community and most of the people it's allowed me to meet so I'm happy to be able to give back in anyway I can <33 and it's so lovely to get anything like this 💖 I'm staying safe and I hope you are too anon!!)

[emerald-the-firedragon]

I took way too much time on this. And with all that, accidentally made Link right handed.... I have no one but myself to blame.

Phantom Hourglass is one of the more unknown Legend of Zelda games that I personally enjoy quite a bit, and have a lot of nostalgia for. Mostly due to the fact that it was the very first time I created an actual OC for it. And that, right there, is the half Rito with the broken wing.

Her name is Hanna, and if you've been with me for a hot minute, you would know that I have another Rito OC for BotW/TotK also called Hanna. Well, long story short, both came from the same OC, just split into two separate games: one for BotW/TofK and the other for Phantom Hourglass, both with the same name and playing with the who Zelda thing of having the same characters in multiple games.

So, this Hanna's (PH) story is a rather simple one. Breaks her wing while flying and delivering mail, and begs both Link and Linebeck (guy with the shit-eating grin in the middle) to take her with them on their adventure. Since there's so few people sailing these days due to the Ghost Ship and people getting kidnapped. After some convincing, she's allowed to join, as ship navigator, and cook.

I had some ideas on how she could fit into the actual game and how her story shapes out in said game (because I'm extra like that), but I decided that I wasn't gonna talk too much of you guy's ears off, so I'll just leave it at this. If you genuinely wanna know more, my inbox is always open.

[amelias-calamity-quintet]

MoaH Dungeon Design Principles

I know I talked about this over on Wattpad, but I haven't talked about it here. I'm gonna copy paste a chunk out of the post-GoS update I did on why MoaH is absolutely massive first, and then I'll add more.

Ok. So. I might have been a little overly ambitious with MoaH. When I first drafted MoaH's arc, I was trying to offer a response to BOTW's dungeon design, which I, as a classic LoZ enjoyer, did not think lived up to reputation. TOTK also didn't really address this problem in my opinion, but was an improvement, that came out after MoaH was on hiatus. I have a lot of thoughts on how classic and Wild duo dungeon design differ and why I prefer classic design, but to summarize those thoughts, BOTW/TOTK design focuses on the world as an interactive landscape, classic design focuses on the importance of location. I felt like a reasonable compromise to the shrines vs dungeons discussion was to have a number of shrines working together to explain a dungeon's core puzzle before you did that dungeon, along with the smaller number making the dungeon locations more integrated into the settings they were in, bridging both location and landscape. The BOTW/TOTK tutorial sections do this and the Ballad of a Champion DLC also does this, and those were the elements I applied to MoaH's dungeon design. I also, quite frankly, wanted to see if I could do a bigger setting than BOTW, and now, TOTK.

I do want to expand on the nature of MoaH's dungeon design though because when this is being written, the second "shrine" is going out for book 1. And I want to discuss that some more. And I promise this isn't going to be a shit on the Wild duo hour, but I am gonna be critical of the design for a bit.

To expand on my thoughts on BOTW/TOTK dungeons, I know a huge part of why they are the way they are is because of asset limitations. Nintendo made 120 shrines and then the dungeons, and there's only so much memory the Switch can handle. And in looking at the Wild duo by design, so much of those games focus on the concept of "Ma," which is a Japanese concept on the appreciation of empty space. And that's so much of the Wild duo. Navigating the Wild duo is about experiencing the wilderness of Hyrule. In an example of the exploration of landscape, of the appreciation of nature and Ma, it excels, in spades.

But. I think that comes back to why it feels so strongly off from classic design. Because classic Zelda dungeon design is about the importance of place. About how this location being cursed/taken over directly impacts the world, on multiple levels (grand quest, regional quest, personal quest). To which you might say, that's there too in the Wild duo, and you're not wrong but the framing is different. Let me provide an example:

In Wind Waker, the first full dungeon you go to is Dragon Roost Caverns. Progressing through and solving the issue in Dragon Roost hits all three. Grand quest, you gotta get Din's Pearl. Regional/local, Valoo being upset means that the local Rito can't get the scales they need to get their wings. And then there are multiple personal levels in which that affects; Komali getting his wings, Medli being an attendant, and the relationship between the chief and his son.

Let's compare that to the regional quest in TOTK with the Zora. Seems like it would check off the boxes: need to get to the temple to find Zelda (grand), get the sludge to stop (regional), and help Sidon uncover his role as a Sage (personal). But, there are two other elements that I think these stories fail on.

One, the temple itself isn't impactful to the world because of how removed it is. This is better with the Divine Beasts, but they're still not quite the same kind of impact. The rain and the sludge negatively impact the Zora, absolutely, it's a hazard to them. But the loss of Dragon Roost Caverns impacts the Rito's culture, part of their identity. The temples in TOTK are all so ancient there are barely stories about them. Dragon Roost Caverns is part of the Rito's ongoing lives. It doesn't have that same impact. I get a few temples being like that, but all of the dungeons are like that in the Wild duo, removing some of that connection between the two. It makes it feel too game-y and less connected narratively.

Two, in making the games open world in the way they are and taking out the metroidvania of Zelda games, it also takes out the interconnectedness of the world. One of the joys of Zelda is getting new items and then going back and seeing an area recovered. Better, it's seeing how the people once affected are engaging with the world now. Less in big identifiable NPCs, more in "Oh, we fixed the Dodongo Mines, now the Gorons are scattered around the map." The Wild duo made the peoples so regional that, outside of Lookout Landing, we don't see them interacting with each other as a kingdom. It made sense in BOTW why that would be. By TOTK, it made less sense. It also removes the impact of you as the player's successes in overcoming the dungeons. And personally, because I wasn't faffing with Korok seeds, after I got the shrines in a region, I found very little motivation to go back to areas because of how big the world was. The size of it all actively made the world feel more disconnected and there was no real reward in the world that made completing the dungeons unite it more.

Look, again, I'm not saying that it's bad design. I am saying that it is a hard shift from pre-existing Zelda design. And the series has done more open world settings before without this being an issue (both Wind Waker and A Link Between Worlds I think are better examples of open world Zeldas). I said this before, and I feel less strongly about it now, but if you took out the Zelda names, how easy do the Wild duo maintain their identities as Zelda games? How easy would it be to change them to a new IP? That doesn't make them bad games. It does highlight I think that the jump from where the franchise was to where the Wild duo games took it was a huge leap. All of that to say, this is where MoaH's dungeon design starts its iterations.

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Break because that was a lot. I said in the earlier blurb that I thought a good bridge to that design choice was something halfway: a handful of shrines that teach the mechanics of a dungeon OR a bunch of buildings connected together to collectively make a dungeon. I'm leaning towards the former because of MoaH's scale and that would be tedious if it were gameplay for the setting.

I know technically this is spoilers, but also technically going into a Zelda game one will assume there are dungeons. The fun of it is seeing what they're like. The Hyrule arc/book 1 has three shrines, a dungeon, and a bonus dungeon/shrine (scale here is smaller than a dungeon but larger than a shrine). The three shrines (Farore's, Nayru's, and Din's) all serve as examples to the puzzle mechanics that will be in the main dungeon (for now, Hylia's Temple). For book 1, easy puzzles, it's the first dungeon. That's where we get to explore more in the further books.

I also wanted to change how the characters interact with puzzles as they go through the world. That's why each of the shrines has a mini boss and an item (side note, MoaH Link is gonna be kitted to the nines, there are over 40 dungeon relics planned, not counting ordinary items he gets too like the bomb bag and lantern). The expanding arsenal changes how the party is going to be able to tackle problems. I imagine that, fitting for the D&D comparisons, each of the characters have two item slots for relics they can easily carry on top of their own weapons. So the dispersement of that kit across the party changes how the characters are going to be able to confront puzzles and monsters moving forward as they get more. But more kit, more problems, bigger monsters. This is why the moblin comment is in the early chapter. I had to watch my power scaling early. Moblins are serious threats in this Hyrule.

You will also note that most of the shrine arcs are proceeded by chapters on how the situation in the shrine is troubling the locals. And there are always local named "NPCs" affected. Further, NPCs come back. Book 2 has an arc resolution that requires a character from book 1 to come back. The stories of people being affected are not forgotten for the main quest. Now, MoaH also has to balance the party's interpersonal stories as well as the three levels I already outlined, that's why some of the shrine arcs don't all have very in depth NPC stories, they're going on setting assumption that there is a monster there that needs dealing with (and they're right). But all of the temples are still attached or are places that losing directly affects a local area.

On top of all of that, I can't keep this stale. You'd assume after a bit, three shrines, one dungeon, bonus dungeon, that's the formula. You'd be wrong. Not only does the order need to change, but the number of shrines changes when we get into the local religions and how they choose to honor the pantheon (now that 40+ number is adding up).

Further, original mini bosses and bosses for every single one. My creature creating has never been more flexed. And so far y'all have only seen mini bosses. I'll let you ruminate on what that means for bosses.

Look, I'm not trying to toot my own horn here. I'm not saying MoaH is the perfect response to this problem I've outlined. It is a response, and I don't have asset limitations like a console does. But this is the basis for which MoaH design begins. I'll leave the rest for y'all to discover. That's part of the adventure too.

[bloobluebloo]

I mean OoT Ganondorf had sworn fealty after a war against the hylians, but to be fair he was a kid during that war, so he wasn’t really the perpetrator behind it.

Still ToTK’s Ganondorf was just raising a white flag and Rauru was probably like “kinda sus, but I’ll allow it. I mean we can just fry him with a secret stone if this is actually a false surrender.” Oh, how too sure of himself Rauru was

I mean OoT Ganondorf may have been a child or a young adult, it's not really clear from the game itself. However, what always stuck out to me was that he had to be exceptionally deceitful in his quest to retrieve the Triforce. The only time he let his guard down was in the presence of the Great Deku Tree because well he assumed correctly that the Kokiri could not leave the forest. No one was going to account for a Hylian child who happened to be the hero being there. (Also? Ganondorf? Successfully navigated the Lost Woods and reached Kokiri Forest and the Great Deku Tree. Damn he has his shit together!) Also, the artefact of choice for him was not uh...worn out in the open and ripe for the grabbing. From the onset, the Gerudo were the last to swear allegiance to the Hylian crown since it was clear the rest already had (and had received the a key to the Sacred Realm each as a result). Ganondorf had to be particularly meticulous and treacherous to get what he was looking for. And, even after all that, he still actually failed. His saving grace was correctly deducing that the kid he saw with Zelda was someone important and he chose to follow him over pursuing Zelda. Meanwhile TotK Ganondorf openly attacks Hyrule, fails, swears fealty while very, very openly oogling the secret stones like they are already his, gets to stay in close proximity of the holders of the secret stones because why not make his life easier, and then gets one in the most stupid way. I am almost mad at how simple it was for him hahahaha

[russeliarat]

I got the damn designs done. Took me all weekend tbh but I love all three. Since the Aama’s design (left) was already based off the woman from the TotK mural, it’s basically a no brainer the design ideas. Her design’s also a lot more simple than the other two because she’s blind and can’t have too much shit dangling in her way to navigate. The Zoclu’s (right) is basically the pants of the Barbarian set but with a decorated panel and pelt, and basically if you mash together Link and a Gerudo. Bro kinda looks like he could be a Ganondorf reincarnation but not trying to murder everyone. The Vamai is basically some androgynous kid with cool Aztec/Mayan clothing and also kinda how I see a human version of Farore. Basically some high priests with kinda matching colour schemes.

More on my Zonai stuff here and here, which is basically kinda weaving together ideas for TotK plot/AU.