#god. legend of zelda botw/totk. i love you. i do. but you could be so much more interesting

[zeldassecretwell]

listen. listen. hear me out.

trans zelda and trans link (of course), HOWEVER (long speculation and gender worldbuilding/headcanon follows):

link, afab and genderfluid. as a child, shrimply does not Care about gender. does not cross her mind (homeschooled and fucks around in the woods too much for it to be relevant to his life). But when they pull the sword, suddenly there's all this attention on them and guess what? The Hero Of Legend is a boy, and so Link must be a boy, always. He doesn't really mind at first, because it isn't like he cared anyways, but it eventually becomes stifling as he realizes that he, as The Hero, is expected to perform a certain kind of masculinity (and only ever perform that kind of masculinity).

zelda, amab and trans, she/her. grows up as aware of gender roles as a child can be (given that those roles are tied to the monarchical power structure that she's born into). Sees that her mother is 1) the one with the divine heritage and 2) I'm going to assume favorite parent since I dislike Rhoam intensely. Is like, yeah sure I'd like to be a girl, sounds neat! Rhoam et al. are like but your roles...no...be a boy... And then her mom dies when she's like 6 and everybody's like well shit The Princess Of Legend is a girl, and Zelda is an only child, so now we will choose to see you as a girl. And at first Zelda doesn't mind because she thought being a girl was neat anyways, but then it becomes stifling as she realizes that she, as The Princess, is expected to perform a certain kind of femininity (and only ever perform that kind of femininity).

I just think it's incredibly interesting how gender can play into the themes of destiny/expectations/personhood/choice/self discovery if you operate off of the assumption that the botw/totk universe has an (even slightly) different system of gender. because most societies do in one way or another. FOR EXAMPLE:

- link starts dressing more fluidly and expressing themself more after he wakes up post amnesia, moving away from rigid, stoic masculinity of pre-calamity

- zelda cuts her hair post botw. she cuts her hair. oh my fucking god! she cuts her goddamn hair! she is louder and more outspoken, and she leans into being a scientist. and she cut her hair!!! because she IS a girl, but not the one that her father wanted her to be.

- and on the topic of how this influences the rhoam-zelda dynamic: you could read an element of rhoam projecting onto zelda (and zelda very much perceiving this) "well, if only you had been 'BORN' a girl, maybe your powers would work sooner" or "well you wanted to be a girl, so why do you complain about the kind of girl that you must be for the good of the kingdom (read: the kind of girl I want you to be)"

- THUS. INTENSE ZELDA LINK BONDING (romantic or platonic doesn't matter) VIS A VIS BEING TRANS AND THE WAY EXPECTATIONS SHAPED THE WAY THEY WERE PERCIEVED AND THE WAY THEY PERCIEVE THEMSELVES. CAN I GET AN AMEN.

- also, last little note - because I'm assuming (as much as one can) that the kingdom of central Hyrule is to some degree imperialistic and subjugating other regions in the country pre-calamity - other societies in hyrule could have gender systems that differ from that of Central Hyrule (and this is sort of present in canon but. you know. in the way that canon is the way it is. well.). ERGO. none of the Champions have to be in line with the central hyrulean concept of a cisgender person. I rest my case.

[ganondoodle]

Since you said it's ok to send you random ask, i've always found your "monsters" design to be really really gorgeous, and I wanted to know : in any form of media you've interacted with, what's PEAK monster design for you ?

i have been thinking about this ask alot bc ... i dont ... know? theres a problem with what counts as a monster really too, most are either some sort of anthro/furry or the horror gore type of monster that instills you more with disgust than awe

i guess theres some i really like but idk if thats what id call 'peak' (though its rarely JUST the design but their vibe and stuff too);

(its a lot of zelda.. sorry)

Eldra, Farodra and Naydra (engl Dinraal, Farosh(?)) though Eldra is def my fav one of them, i like how they are a little more less typical dragon- with the fur around the neck the floppy ears and kinda goofy face yet manage to be the most ethereal, awe inspiring creature i have ever seen in a game with how they act and are presented as (in BOTW!!! do not mention anythign sonau/zonai with stupid magic pebbles to me about them i will manifest worms into your tea)

Leunen (Lynels) (botw) -i could not find a better picture wtf, fav are white and silver ones) FINE they had some pretty neat new horn designs in totk- idk i just like them alot, rather simple if you think about it, horse lion plus horns- but its so well put together it just kinda scratches my brain in a good way (also how intelligent they clearly are, like the way they fight and act and also even their death animation is so??? huh?? you are just gonna treat them like any other mindless monste- *remmbers they treat ganondorf even even worse all things considered* .. nevermind you're good)

'Beast' Ganondorf (twilight princess) its my favorite beast ganon design (even if it technically is just kinda a man boar .. again) though if ww gan had a non puppet beast form that one would most definitely be my fav lol (i will not get over the fact that some descriptions call this a hideous beast EXCUSE ME???? WHERE???) (honorable mention here, darkbest ganon from botw, pig on fire but it looks cool as fuck)

Nimbusgarde (ww) .. (engl .. darknuts?) do i need to say anything? (i could throw alot of ww design here) not sure if it counts as monster but they are not human so ????

the pathless bosses- (here in order, Cernos, the Godslayer, and Kumo) all of them are rad as hell (except for the final version of the godslayer ... liek im sorry but it looks to boring compared to any other one lol) again not just the design but man do i love them

since i dont know what would count as a monster or no i could just list my fav characters here bfmjbfmjsbmj like radahn (elden ring) is just kinda a zombie, aurelion sol (league of legends) is a space dragon, the forest god in princess mononoke, Narisha (skyward sword- sky whale)- i could go on but this post is long already (honorable mention to Omus in nausicäa, weird bugs but also something divine, though it is much more how they are treated and the vibe etc)

in all honesty though i cant think of one that i would describe as perfect, what i want of a monster design is to be ... cool but also a little weird, big hulking monsters that have something off about them and something that makes them 'other', but also not, as much as i like bloodborne, just bloody gory messes of rotting flesh, AND not just as a monster to kill, i just crave a game or otherwiese piece of media where the cool monsters arent just there for you to kill- the perfect one i guess would be something kinda big scary weird and off but while non verbal clearly not a mindless beast?

and here is the thing; my own characters do not furfill that, my designs are really rather conservative, much to my dismay, anthro of a mix of animals, maybe an extra arm thrown in- Eadrya, one of my favorites, is really just a blueish furry (yes they have fur) and their demon form is a mix of seals and catfish with some extra arms, too many teeth and a mouth that goas wayy to far (if they want) - Shargon is a feather dude with extra arms and his demon form is really just a chinese type dragon crossed with a bird, throw some darts at the color wheel, done

together with my problem of my monster characters losing their 'otherness' vibe within the story rather fast bc the majority of my characters are non human and speak and you see them in all sorts of emotions and parts of life- they lose that divine, unknown vibe and i HATE that that happens, i want them more akin to the forest god in mononoke but thats not possible unless i start from scratch

and i really dont mean to make myself look bad to sound self depre- ... however you spell that; i really am rather dissatisfied with my own designs but mostly just roll with what i got bc i never seem to be able to actually achieve what i want

even my redesigns often really make things LESS interesting (unless maybe the og was just ... human, but they are blue eyed with golden hair and white so that makes them divine you seE-), the skyward sword dragons as i redesigned them made them much more classical dragon, in part intentional bc i was drawing a connection of them becoming the botw dragons at some point, but by all means the canon design is much more weird and unusual than what i did with them, you could apply the same to even demise, his canon design might seem a little uninspired but really what did i do? inject him with some classic satan spice like that makes it in any way less stereotypical evil demon ??? lol

im sorry this post devolved into whatever this is but i really am trying to answer sincerely, i am confused about it myself, what counts as a monster, what doesnt, there must be more that i really loved but why cant i think of them, why do i design characters like this when i really want something much more different, i dont know, i feel like my brain is in a cage, why do i keep making things less interesting in an effort to make it interesting, am i falling into the corporate trap of cool sells who am i what am i doing

(theres a zelda artist with a style so strikingly genuis in shape, color and just .. DESIGN that i want to chew my nails off bc i cannot design like them, their designs and redesigns are so different yet sensical and so full of crisp shapes i have never seen before it drives me nuts and i would want to give them a shoutout but i think they dont like me so aaaaarhekjbfhgdknbgdfklbg)

[findroleplay]

˚ ༘♡ ·˚ ₊˚ˑ༄ؘ Hello hello! 21+ mun (they/them) looking for STRICTLY 18+ roleplay partners and roleplays. I would prefer to write over discord in a server I create, since I can be a bit picky about it. I'm particularly looking for either fandom OR fandomless roleplays. I write lit to advanced lit (novella but only on occasion), and write in third person ONLY. I will not write in first, sorry!

Some fandoms I would be interested in would include…

House of the Dragon // Game of Thrones // Hazbin Hotel // Legend of Zelda (Breath of the Wild or Tears of the Kingdom specifically) // Dragon Age

For each one, I have some things I'm specifically looking for, and I'll listen them below.

♡ House of the Dragon — CCxCC mostly, however I am open to OCs if they're well developed and make sense. I'd like someone to write against my Rhaenyra, no matter the pairing, relationship, etc. (Preference of a Daemon, Laenor, another Targaryen, Aegon, or Alicent. However any CC welcome!)

♡ Game of Thrones — CCxCC mostly, too, however same as above. OCs welcome if well developed. I'd like to write a few characters, however I focus heavily on the Starks, particularly Sansa, and Daenerys. I'm willing to write against anyone. (No preference, but romance lean ideally.)

♡ Hazbin Hotel — CCxCC mostly, as I'm not fond of OCs for this. I can write a few characters: Charlie, Alastor, Angel Dust, Lucifer, Adam, Lute, Vaggie, and otherwise. Open to all manner of things here. No preference of who to write against, but I've been in the mood to try these characters out or write them again.

♡ BotW / TotK (Legend of Zelda) — CCxCC, not open to OCs for this. Particularly looking to write Zelda, Sidon, or Ganon against a Link. I can also write Link, but that's just not my preference. Open to other options but these are my priority. Also open to do something poly related between the four, but only with some decent development and plotting.

♡ Dragon Age — OCxCC only. OCxOC could work but I'm very selective here. I'd like to write some of my OCs against some canons, but I'm more than willing to write a canon for you in return. Preferences of Alistair, Leliana, or Zevran from Origins, Fenris or Merrill from DA2, and/or Solas, Iron Bull, Blackwall, or Josephine from DAI. (Open to Cole, Cullen, other Hawke's, and a few others.)

As for fandomless, I have a plethora of OCs I'd love to throw at people. For this, I typically like…

♡ Fantasy, pirates, magic systems, solarpunk, apocalyptic (zombies or not) themes, dead dove themes, god/sacrifice, mythological creature/human, found family, medieval themes, historical fiction, war, aliens, modern fantasy, and more. (This is generalized, and can be discussed further.)

˚ ༘♡ ·˚ ₊˚ˑ༄ؘ Some things I'd really really love to include consist of — romance, angst, dead dove themes (we can discuss in private what that looks like), whump/caretaker, reunions, and so on. I'm a big fan of drama, and angst. I'll write multiple threads if I really vibe with someone, especially if we share a few fandoms. I generally shift and headcanon canons with their own identities, so please bear that in mind and be open to queer identities. I'd like to add some smut to this, from anywhere to a 50/50 to 80/20 plot to smut ratio, but that can be discussed. Do not bring me subby/bottoms, I will not only write top/doms. Kinks will be discussed privately. (Open to all manners of ships, mxm, mxf, fxf, anyxnb, poly, etc!)

&&&& I like to make friends with my roleplay partners. I do not ghost/block without good reason, and I refuse to engage with drama. If I have a problem, I voice it. Thanks for reading! If this sounds like it works for you, give a like and I'll reach out!

-

[alys-gay-parade]

Some deep thoughts about Zelda before I go to sleep tonight:

I grew up with oot being my introduction to the series, and over the years, it consumed my life. Botw was exactly what I wanted from a fully open world zelda game, and totk has only built up from that. This is the franchise that taught me how to world build, write characters, and explore my identity. Looking back at my adolescence, I can safely say that Link and Zelda (as she slowly became an actually compelling character) were the opposite ends of my gender envy spectrum. I loved the effeminate twink that I could easily identify with (people who say he never had a personality before TP are wrong, my boy has always been a sassy bitch with a big heart) and the regal lady who was not opposed to getting her hands dirty to do the work she needed to do. Sheik being Zelda is still one of my favorite plot twists in the franchise, my girl rlly said "Fuck it, I'm gonna pose as a man my whole adolescence." Iconic.

I love how they imply in totk that the games in the timeline pre-botw are the legends passed down over hundreds of generations, explaining the thin and inexplicable timeline away as just cultural histories becoming warped and lost with each retelling. I bet they argue about the order of events in-universe, and you can not convince me otherwise. It makes me laugh looking back at oot seeing rauru portrayed as a pudgy old man hylian, knowing now that he's just straight up a god-like being that married a hylian woman.

This brings me to the future of the series, and a proposal: remake the old stories, but with the new lore, as they Actually Happened. Make the players figure out what parts were true and what parts were warped by time. Hell, make them with the effects of the new timeline Created by Zelda in totk. How does her presence alter history? How can we reimagine the events of pivotal games in the timeline with our new information? How can we keep improving our open world gameplay while revisiting the history that became fables?

I fell off of Zelda in my depression. But totk has renewed my love for what the franchise is and can become. They've really created so many opportunities to expand on what we know, as well as avenues to tell more new stories, possibly both in the same game if they play their cards right.

Thank you, Zelda Team and Miyamoto-san. You built a core aspect of my identity and continue to strive to improve and explore a world that means a lot to many. You honestly are a golden example of what making a compelling universe looks like.

[yuudamari]

🔥

the legend of zelda. 🥸

While i love both botw gameplay wise and i still think it was an outstanding game, the plot writting of it was an asbolute mess.

Its full of cliches, it hangs on you caring for characters youre already fully aware are dead and the game kind of doesnt care to helo you get attached to, the way its told while i understand they did it bc it was open world absolutely ruins what little writting the game does have since you can just accidentally watch stuff comoletely out of order (this is more of a probkem with totk, which i also have problems with writting wise but it was better than botw)

Both botw and totk treat link like some sort of Outsider to the entire plot, like hes there and things happen to him but he doesnt have the autonomy or well. The character. To react to any of it in a way that would make sense. He isnt Part of anything happening more like things hapoen and he has to fix it but at this point it could also not be link and be anyone else

Both of these games i really love but its amazing how the writting went dowbhill so hard when both twilight princeds and skyward sword which are the games before them have incredible plit and character writting.

Also let zelda do stuff for gods sake. No doing stuff i only get to see through flashbacks or people tell me she did does Not count

[cru5h-cascades]

Session 2 (Chapter 5-6)

Spoiler shield! If you haven't played chapters 5-6 play them before reading this... also be prepared to see the story go from 0-1000 in these two chapters... holy fuck...

I've been stuck in a loop of saying "oh my god" and screaming for the past hour 'cause of what happens in chapter 5 & 6. Let's hop to it, starting off after where I left off my previous session...

The other mask variants we see in the launch trailer are just recreations of the famous bag man mask. And with this next detail I'm about to bring up, I'm pretty sure the proxy theory is done for...

In the same TV segment where the other bags are revealed to just be recreations we meet... well...

HIM. GUYS THAT IS THE EXACT SAME FUCKING TRENCHCOAT WE'VE SEEN THE SMILING MAN WEAR. AND ISN'T IT CONVENIENT THAT HE'S COVERING UP ALMOST ALL IF HIS FACIAL FEATURES??? THIS IS THE FUCKING MAN BEHIND THE SLAUGHTER. FNAF REFERENCE VERY MUCH INTENDED THANK YOU.

There was this one shot of him that I couldn't get (since I was screaming and shouting at this reveal) where you could see his eyes. I'm not gonna look up a playthrough just to get that shot so I don't put myself at risk of being spoiled but his eyes were pretty big and gave me Legend of Zelda BotW corrupted dragon eyes/TotK dragon Ganondorf vibes. Very purple...

In this crazy reveal we learn of the existence of the illusive Emiko, somebody this guy used to know. Naturally because of this person having such a similar name to the funny bag man, I had to do some research...

EXCUSE ME WHAT. SMILING CHILD? IN THE GAME ABOUT THE SMILING MAN??? HUH???

I THINK MY CHILD THEORY IS RIGHT IN SOME WAY. SURE I INITIALLY GOT THE NAME WRONG 'CAUSE OF THE TWITTER ACCOUNT BUT I WAS ONTO SOMETHING.

Sure, this could very well mean that the aforementioned Smiling [Child] mentioned in the TV segment is actually the culprit but I have my doubts a kid killed those girls 18 years ago and Eisuke, especially with a detail from chapter 6...

Anyways, with this reveal and another detail from chapter 6, I don't think Fukuyama did anything anymore. What is that detail exactly? Well...

We find out why Fukuyama was acting weird in chapter 6. It's 'cause he wasn't comfortable with Megumi confessing her love for him to him. So, not only did he not kill Eisuke, he wasn't hiding a body, either (my apologies sir lmfao)...

MEGUMI SAW EMIO AND LIVED TO TELL THE TALE. SHE RAN AWAY IN THE MIDDLE OF CHAPTER 6 AND TRIED TO USE THIS SPECIAL SPELL TO WARD OFF THE SMILING MAN (a spell I will refer to as the Smiling Spell) BUT FORGOT THE WORDS TO IT BUT OUR MAIN CAST WAS ABLE TO FIND HER BEFORE THE FUNNY BAG MAN SAID THE FUNNY BAG LINE.

Also pay attention to the fact Megumi never says anything about the Smiling Man looking child sized or anything like that. Yeah there's no way it's a kid doing all of this.

... Holy shit these chapters turned this detective story about solving a murder into a goddamn telenovela lol. This shit's getting REALLY interesting. I'm super excited to keep playing the rest of the game. Mystery Dude who's definitely the man behind the bag, prepare to be unmasked for real!

EDIT 8-30-24: I COMPLETELY FORGOT ABOUT MAMA EMIKO FROM THE WEBSITE. THIS PROBABLY HAS TO DO WITH HER. PROBABLY. MAYBE.

[uncleskyrule]

for the fic writer ask game, 1, 26, 30, and 41? :))))

1. What fic of yours would you recommend to someone who had never read any of your work? (In other words, what do you think is the best introduction to your fics?)

Oh boy, this is tough. I experiment with writing styles frequently, so idk if there's just one that could be a good introduction to them all. Still, I guess I'll go with this one: "alive again" (short oneshot of post-BotW Zelink being cute and silly).

26. Would you rather write a fic that had no dialogue or one that was only dialogue?

Lol since you sent this ask, I've written two entire fics without dialogue: "this one at last" (TotK Zelda's POV of waiting for LInk) and "you waited smiling for this" (HW Link's journey of self-destruction and then healing). I'm interested in trying out a dialogue-only fic, but I don't have any ideas yet. There has to be a reason why there's only dialogue, y'know? I don't want to just write it that way just because.

30. Have you ever written something that was out of your comfort zone? If so, what was it, and how did it affect your approach to writing fic thereafter?

Yes, and I'm so proud of it! I've never written whump or any kind of fight scene, and definitely have never mixed humor and angst before, so writing this fic was a challenge, but it totally worked! One commenter said that this fic felt like someone put Looney Tunes music over an action film, and the compliment hasn't left my head since. Without further ado, I present "holding out for a beedle" (BotW Link gets captured and tortured by Yiga but Beedle saves the day).

Maybe this fic affected my approach to writing by giving me confidence to explore more. Now that I know I can write a decent fight scene, I want to try to push myself to write something more in depth, like a spar between HW Zelink.

41. Link a fic that made you think, “Wow, I want to write like that.”

HAh, you think just ONE fic will suffice??? I had a hard time choosing from my bookmarks list but here are some that fit the bill:

I STOP TO SMELL THE BLOOD IN THE TREES AND FOR A MOMENT THE WORLD IS SO BEAUTIFUL IT BRINGS ME TO TEARS by @corpsentry

“Let’s say you’ve been asleep for a hundred years and when you wake up you’ve lost all your memories, but you defeat the big bad monster like you’ve been told to, because a girl told you to, and because you were in love with her. And after defeating the big bad monster she comes back, only she’s not the person she was a hundred years ago. And you’re not the person you were a hundred years ago. And yet every time you look at her, your chest hurts so bad you think you might be dying.” He looks up from his breadstick. “Am I dying?” “No,” Beedle says. “I think you’re stupid.”

among golden hues by @syilcawrites

[totk] Link and Zelda reunite (in one form or another)

on gods and deserts and children by @lemoncakedesign

he is the hero chosen by the goddess. he is the bearer of the legendary blade. he is the savior of a land. he is a child. he is a killer.

Hold your faith in death and don't breathe by @sister-dear

The thing Legend hasn’t told Sky, hasn’t told any of them: Twilight isn’t the only one with an item that lets its user change shape at will. The thing Sky hasn’t told any of them: his version of the Master Sword has a few special tricks of its own.

Old Car, New Roads by Anonymous (TT)

A hum of an old engine in distress fills the air as a dark lowrider pulls up in front of the rows of storage units. The beater pull to a jerking stop in front of his garage unit. The brakes lurch unhappily and Four cringes at the sound of the wheels. The whole car vibrates unhealthily before coming to a stop as the engine cuts out. The window rolls down with a squeak and Shadow pops his head out, arm leaning out of the opening. He's got dark sunglasses and the hood of his jacket pulled up to protect him from the midday sun. "So?" Shadow asks, smirk pulling at his lips, "What do you think?"

Thanks for the ask, Evie!

[korokposting]

20 questions for fic writers

thank you @aegon-targaryen for the tag!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

5, should be up to 6 at some point this week!

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

16,122

3. What fandoms do you write for?

legend of zelda, so far botw/totk and oot/mm

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

aka rank your fics by kudos when you only have 5 published lol

anti-curse

you believe me like a god

if i've lost you for good

i destroy you like i am

the shell

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

yes, i always try to! it stresses me out a bit (idk why) but i know how nice it is to get a reply

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

the shell is just 1.1k of whump/hurt no comfort so it wins by a mile

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

anti-curse! probably my only fic with an explicitly happy ending rather than 'hopeful'

8. Do you get hate on fics? no, i don't get enough reads for that lol

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? not currently but there is potential in the longfic i have planned

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written? no, i'm exclusively loz brained lol

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? not that i'm aware of and i highly doubt it

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? no

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? no but it'd be cool :o

14. What's your all-time favorite ship? unsurprisingly. zelink

15. What's a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

i'm about 1k words into a fic for a gift exchange but i had a new idea for the same concept so idk which one of them will end up happening. i also have a document titled "i CAN write nice things" which currently sits at 0 words lmao

16. What are your writing strengths? metaphor, angst

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

because i tend to think about fics a lot before writing them, i often tend to miss things out because they feel "obvious" to me even if they aren't. i'm also incapable of writing anything without angst which i wish i could change

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

i can't speak any other languages besides half-remembered secondary school german and french so it's not something i'd do

19. First fandom you wrote for?

i exclusively refer to it as [redacted fandom] on here because i was like...14 and it was embarrassing. suffice it to say that it wasn't this current fandom lol

20. Favorite fic you've ever written?

i destroy you like i am. i'm really glad i decided to write a second part to you believe me like a god - which was my first bit of creative writing since secondary school and i still love - and it's basically a tick list of my favourite things to write (transness, divinity/relationships with religion, dog metaphors)

tags: this has been going round for a bit so idk who's been tagged and who hasn't, so if you haven't been yet and want to do this: here's your tag! :)

[hopeymchope]

I am once again asking for an all-new new top-down Zelda adventure.

I am as psyched as anybody for Tears of the Kingdom, so I hope everyone who is playing is having an awesome time today! Happy release day!

....I didn't pre-order it, mind you — because I'm intimidated by it. I'm scared that once I start playing it, I won't be able to STOP playing it for months. So I'm going to hold off until at least after I complete next month's Master Detective Archives: Rain Code. Personal priorities, I guess.

With that said: I want to talk about how nothing feels quite like exploring one of the top-down Zelda games. There's something so very gratifying about those titles that can't be replicated. Finding every single nook and cranny and object. The dungeons regularly reach heights that're so much more elaborate and complicated than they ever managed to be in 3D. You think the water temple in Ocarina of Time was hard? Talk to me after you finish the water temple in Oracle of Ages. It gets legitimately MIND-BENDING.

If you haven't been here, you are not ready.

Those 6.5 titles — The original TLoZ included, but I'm primarily thinking about A Link to the Past, Link's Awakening, Oracle of Ages, Oracle of Seasons, The Minish Cap, and to a lesser extent, A Link Between Worlds — have a charm that I've just never seen successfully replicated. YES, I know we get "Zeldalikes" such as Ittle Dew, Hazelnut Bastille, Reverie, and Mina the Hollower, but let's be real here — "-like" games never quite scratch the itch, do they? We're pining for those characters, those worlds, that EXACT feel. We're not pining to play "voxel guy from 3D Dot Game Heroes." We're pining to play a game as fucking Link and hear those classic music cues You feel me?

(And no, the top-down DS games absolutely did not scratch that itch. Sadly, neither did Cadence of Hyrule, because I deeply and brutally SUCK at Crypt of the Necrodancer. At least Cadence looked neat... feh.)

This DID help, at least. It wasn't 'new', but... it really felt goddamn good. Link's Awakening is an ALL-TIMER.

I would pay Nintendo a ton of money to just... take the Link's Awakening remake engine and make a new friggin' 2D top-down Zelda. I'd pay like $200 for that goddamn game, and I know that sounds insane, but I am HUNGRY. Or, frankly? I'd pay just as much for a version in a retro pixel style. That'd make it take far less resources and effort, right? You could make something with a comparatively far smaller staff, a relatively cheap and shorter development... and yes, I realize most people wouldn't pay as much as I would. Especially not for something retro-styled. But so what? If it's a digital-only title that's relatively cheap, I can still guarantee it makes its development cost back EASY without them ever having to manufacture a physical copy. Because it's THE LEGEND OF ZELDA for god's sake!

(I honestly don't know why Nintendo has never embraced the retro pixel art that is so popular with other companies, because those companies are usually aping THEIR damn games. Seems like something IDEAL for their download-only titles, don't you think? A retro-styled Zelda... or Metroid... or even a retro Mario... or something more obscure that people still love, like another Kid Icarus. You could do any of it, you guys. ANY of it. The money's just waiting for you. You wouldn't even BELIEVE how much.)

Since I know someone is going to ask: Yes, "A Link Between Worlds" is the .5 in the "6.5 titles" I referenced earlier, because its two overworlds are almost entirely identical to a world we've already explored in detail in a previous 2D Zelda game. Like, they're WAY more similar than even the land-based overworlds of BotW vs TotK. The changes are downright miniscule. Giving them a ".5" credit for that seems apt, if not a little generous.

Which basically means I haven't had a delicious full-on brand-new 2D Zelda game since *checks notes* 2005!!!!

And while Minish Cap is easier than the Oracles, I still think it's a banger.

And let's not forget that the two Oracles, The Minish Cap, and even the recent Link's Awakening remake were all outsourced. That means that it would be entirely reasonable for Nintendo to just outsource for a new one. Hire an outside company.

Or, y'know, whatever. You could just... keep remastering the 3D games over and over and only ever make the new fancy VERY DIFFERENT things that take five years and never ever make anything like you used to ever again.

But I really hope that's not all there is to look forward to.

[blu-wingz]

[TOTK]

I just finished TOTK...

I'm sobbing. This IS the legend of zelda

Its hers. Oh my god. I. I am floored.

Spoilers from here on out ofc

Also fuck any spelling errors or wrong terms I'm sleepy

Fuck man. Unable to summon the spirit sages down there spooked me. An oh shit moment. Glad they decided that. And the sages coming in to help out during the final fights. Love that!

I decided to beat the game today at 9pm. It's now nearing 2 am. Mostly bc I procrastinated. I prepped food and equipment. I didnt think the descent into the depths would take that long but it was neat and showed how fucking deep we were going.

Then when I got to the war bit i realized i didnt pack any food that could heal corrupted hearts. So I went back to an earlier save slot and made a bunch

Anyway. I got to Ganon and he. Wow. Rehydrated ganon oh my. The first phase was easy and lacked fun music but goodness the second phase made up for it.

The second phase was challenging and it felt. Dangerous. In BOTW the ganon fight was...lacking. this was supposed to be the thing that killed the best champions in the world and it was kinda lame. But this phase was so neat. I was going at it for a while bc I sucked at timings. And OH IT WAS SO COOL that when you fired arrows at him he would just CATH AND THROW IT ASIDE. I fully paused and went to the home screen. It was so cool!!

The fight again I cant stop reiterating it was hard. I like the difficulty. I was afraid it would do what it did in BOTW, cut the HP in half, basically handicapped the boss so it would easy for the player.

And oh my fuck. The final phase. He ate that stone and I was like :OOOO the forbidden snack! And I was so happy that it turned into a diving flying dragon fight. Where Zelda could help out AAAH. My heart. Dragons!! The demon dragons design is so fucking cool Icant wait to see fanart I CAN FINALLY SEE THE FANART IM FREEEEEEE

the phase was breathtaking. The whole shit happened in the sky. I was a bit disappointed at how simple it was to beat it (final phase) but oh well. For the final blow I changed into the Twilight Princess tunic and OH AOWBWUBDK it was so fitting I have so many screenshots. The final final stabby was even more fitting. In Twlight Princess, Ganon is defeated by Link stabbing his forehead and AAAAH it was so epic. So cool of me to think of changing outfits for the final sequence

And oh my the cutscene of the king and queen chanting zelda back to a hylian via Links new arm. It was good. But I already accepted that the transformation was permanent. But...I guess that heppend. Idk man the exhaustion is hitting now.

When Link had to dive to cathlch zelda midair I fumbled it a bit and didnt catch her properly the fist time. We didnt splat the game let me try again but it got a chuckle outta me.

The final cutscene where zelda wakes up and sees link and she sso so happy that he had the sword she worked so hard to replenish. And that the demon king was dead ofc. And oh god when she said link I'm home I started crying bc THIS PORR GIRL DID SO MUCH WENT THRU SO MUCH AAAAAAAAAH THIS GAME IS HERS AAAAAAAH

And I'm so ecstatic ah I loved it. I'll prob think of more to say later but what a wonderful sequel. Lovely :')