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heroesofhyrule · 5 years

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Okay since seeing the trailer for the new Zelda game, I’ve been really wanting to read some more really good BOTW fanfic. Do you have any suggestions where they have some length to them? Also fics where link and Zelda are raising a family??

Truth be told, I haven’t read many BotW fics, if any, but I’ll compile some here after some searching! There are quite a few here that seem interesting to me or had plenty of kudos.

Please check all of the tags and heed the warnings before starting a fic!

Super long fics (wc: 200k+)

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

T | Novelization | Slow Burn | wc: 473k | Complete

“But courage need not be remembered… for it is never forgotten.”Though struggling with both the loss of memory and the incredible weight of past failure, Link must find a way to recover what has been lost and bring hope back to the land of Hyrule.An epic fantasy-style novelization of Breath of the Wild.Complete, with afterword and deleted scenes!

Champions and Beasts

Hyrule is a strange place, is it not? It has no history, only legends. It has no true heroes, only colossi who have wielded its fate in their hands. The Champions, and the Beasts; the wise, the strong, and the brave. And yet, we are always either recovering from war or preparing for it. How much longer can we endure, I wonder? How much longer can we step through this dance?

In a world this vast, being a hero isn’t always easy.

Champions and Beasts is a Breath of the Wild series that takes a darker and more political look at the world of Hyrule, both before and after the Calamity. Legends are long past, history is mostly lost, the wilds are dangerous but perhaps not as dangerous as the ambitions of its inhabitants; and with Calamity either just over the horizon or still a lingering nightmare, the Hyruleans must fight to attain peace.

This work is centered around Link and Zelda, and their evolving relationship both before and after the Calamity.

Currently there are only two Parts planned (From the Ground Up and The Ballad’s Beginning) but I am considering a third installment!

One Last Year

T | Post-canon | wc: 215k | Complete

Zelda vows to help Link remember the events that lead them to their hard-won victory. In doing so, they must delve together into a shared past and seek to untangle their feelings, their grief and their youthful frustrations to find the things they could control… and the things they couldn’t.

“I don’t know how to remember. Time passes, but nothing comes to my mind… Except you. You’re the key,” Link said, softly. “You have to be.”

A Breath of the Wild fic about Link, Zelda, and the memories that bind them.

Ironic Technology

Ironic Technology is a series where Link loses an arm after a tricky situation with two Guardians, luckily, he is able to receive a prosthesis made of Ancient Technology from his Sheikah allies. He continues on to complete all of the Shrines, meeting his friends from the four nations along the way, before he’s finally ready to take on Ganon with his tech upgrade. Moves into slice of life events with Link and Zelda living together working through their issues with each others support. Very little angst, mostly positive fluff and humour with Zelink throughout.

(A/N Originally I wasn’t going to have DLC2 content but it was a good ancient tech expansion, so expect that in ‘Trial and Error’ which will be rated ’M’ folks!)

The Destiny Collection

A collection for the little BotW universe I’ve created.

Not all stories directly follow one another! At least one spin-off is to be expected.

Long Fics (wc: 100k-200k)

Adrift in Time and Skyward Bound

E | Explicit language and sexual content | wc: 132k | Last updated 11/10/18

Link is her appointed knight. He will do anything and everything to protect her. Always. All ways. BotW. ZeLink. Loosely based on the original storyline.

Love in a Time of Calamity

Zelda awakens her powers in time to defeat Ganon, but there are still major losses. With Central Hyrule in pieces, two champions dead, a king out of commission, and half a metropolitan city turned refugees, Zelda and Link struggle to come to grips with the aftermath of the Calamity. Though neither are prepared, they must nonetheless learn to navigate a turbulent political landscape while a snooping journalist, an overzealous artist, and a power-hungry nobleman’s machinations turn their already topsy-turvy world on its head. Though the Calamity has been defeated, recovery proves a battle all its own; and that’s not even considering the battle raging in both their hearts. BoTW ZeLink AU.

Trouble the Water

Rating varies | Series | Pre/During/Post-canon | wc: 156k | complete

Excerpt from the first entry:

An expansion of canon: a look at why the memories might have happened where and when they occurred (with one slight change in order) and an attempt to fill-in the events and conversations alluded to by diary entries and conversations in-game.“You were a comfort to her,” in particular, needed to be expanded upon, I thought.Begins shortly before the first journal entry in Zelda’s diary, and continues to the immediate aftermath of the last memory.First person: Zelda’s perspective

Still a bit long fics (wc: 50k-100k)

I’ll Walk With You

T | Post-canon | wc: 94k | Complete

‘The battle is over, the Calamity has ended, and everything you knew and loved is gone for good. And yeah, you can’t ever get it back, but… maybe we don’t have to. The path in front of us may be long and uncertain, but it leads to something new, and… Zelda, no matter how hard it gets, I’ll be right here. And I’ll walk with you.’

A collection of moments involving our favorite Hero and Princess as they struggle to adapt. Post-BotW.

It All Must Start With Us

M | Post-canon | Sexual tension/Implied sexual content | wc: 76k | last updated 09/06/19

Set immediately after BotW, this story explores Link and Zelda’s journey together to restore Hyrule. Along the way, a mysterious voice give them the task of reliving memories of a century before: some painful, but all necessary before they can fully move into the next step of their lives.

Since the DLC did not give us a post-Calamity world with Link and Zelda, I’m writing one for myself and anyone else wanting to know what might have happened after! ♪ UPDATES ON SUNDAYS!! ♪

The Golden Age

T | Slow burn | Post-canon | wc: 66k | Last updated 03/05/19

After a century of undisturbed silence, a forgotten princess emerges from the famous ruins of Hyrule Castle. Princess Zelda has returned, and an even greater task than containing Calamity Ganon arises before her; balancing a complex love life while rising her kingdom up from the ashes and restoring it to glory in an age of peace and prosperity.

Post Botw.

A Hundred Years in the Making

M | Pre-canon | Slow burn | wc: 65k | Last updated 05/20/19

The story before the story began. A hundred and one years before, to be exact.

star fragments

G | Post-canon | wc: 61k | Last updated 01/21/18

Being a princess is a life of sacrifice. After beginning their new journey to find their places and rediscover Hyrule after Calamity Ganon, Zelda begins to realize she’s missed out on several experiences her land has to offer. Fortunately for her, Link knows everything.

Rise

T | Canon compliant | Sexual tension | wc: 58k | Last updated 01/10/19

The chosen hero appears. The princess deals with it.

One way it all could have happened.

A Hylian Romance

T | Court poet | wc: 55k | Complete

As are many, I was intrigued by the Sheikah court poet and what his perspective on Link and Zelda’s relationship might be.

Fade to Black

E | Series | Pre-canon | wc: 55k | Complete

A collection of smutty “what could have happened after the memory faded” ficlets each tagged to a different BoTW memory. Every story contains varying degrees of canon alteration and canon divergence, but are for the most part in line with the BoTW universe as we know it.

General disclaimer:I do not advocate for underage drinking, unprotected or unsafe sex, or generally poor decision making. Be smart and safe in real life, y'all!

Okay fics (wc: 20k-50k)

Zelda’s Log

T | Post-canon | Domestic fluff | wc: 43k | Last updated 03/24/19

After defeating the Calamity, Zelda and Link embark on a journey: she wants to get acquainted with the new Hyrule, and find her place again in the world.

The World That We Lost

T | Post-canon | wc: 41k | Complete

After defeating Ganon, princess Zelda goes back to Hyrule, resolved to rebuild her kingdom and make it even greater than it was one hundred years ago. While she feels confident enough to face any challenge and confront any foe that stays on her way, a reality breaks her heart: Link remembers her, but not quite, and his new life has made changes in his personality that even the total recovery of his memories may not be able to revert.

Unconventional

In the wake of the victory over Calamity Ganon, Link and Zelda need time to heal and adjust. Unfortunately, with rising pressure for Zelda to rise into the role of Queen of Hyrule, they aren’t given much time. Couple that pressure with confusing feelings for the Champion of Hyrule, well, her life has never been simple.

A New Normal

M | Post-canon | Memory loss | wc: 30k | Complete

About two years after sealing away Calamity Ganon, Zelda comes down with the same mysterious illness that took her mother away. Purah and the other Sheikah work on revamping the Shrine of Resurrection, and manage to heal her in two years; but she is plagued by the same memory loss that Link went through. The two struggle in their relationship and responsibilities as they try to recover her memory and thrive in Hyrule as they know it.

What wouldn’t I do?

T | Pre-canon | Slow burn | wc: 30k | Last updated 03/10/19

Link is appointed Hylian Champion for saving princess Zelda’s life. She doesn’t seem very fond of him though. Despite his struggle to cope with carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders, Link can’t help but wonder if he really is ready to give his life in order to save someone who doesn’t trust him.

Link’s Journal

T | Canon compliant | wc: 30k | Complete

Day 1

I’ve had a bit of a rough day. I don’t remember who I am, a girl keeps talking in my head, I’m supposed to slay Calamity Ganon, a blue bokoblin nearly beat me to death with a stick, and the old man still won’t give me his paraglider.

But, well, I’m still here, breathing and thinking and eating baked apples, so it could be worse. The old man (who is annoyingly enigmatic – I don’t know who I am, the least you could do is tell me who you are) showed me how to write in the Sheikah Slate. I want to keep a record of who I am, right now, because, well, I can’t remember who I was before. If I lose my memory again, this time I will be ready.

[What’s Happening: The author journaled her BotW play through. Every in-game night “Link” stops to write an entry in his journal.]

Observation Methods in Data Collection

I read somewhere that it was obvious that Zelda was falling for Link because she treated him like a science experiment, which allowed her to talk and think about him without really acknowledging that she had feelings for him. I loved this interpretation SO MUCH! So, here is my attempt at filling in some of those details.

On Propriety and Unconventional Avenues of Communication

T | Post- canon| wc: 21k | Complete

(Post BOTW.) In which Link develops a very curious habit and Zelda is confused.

Short fics / oneshots ( - 20k)

Forgotten Knight

M | Post-canon | Sexual Tension | wc: 15k | Complete

Zelda and Link have defeated the Calamity but Link did not regain his memory. They return to Hateno Village to heal and recover, and to not only get to know each other again, but to learn how to love each other again as well.

Risk of Burn

E | Post-canon | Explicit sexual content | wc: 15k | Complete

Three weeks after the fall of the Calamity, Zelda changes her mind.

The Joys of Photography

G | Post-canon | wc: 14k | Complete

The Sheikah Slate has the remarkable ability to capture and archive true to life images. Such a remarkable piece of ancient technology is not something that should be taken for granted. But that doesn’t mean that the Princess of Hyrule and her appointed Knight have to be so serious about every image they capture. The story of five pictures taken on the Sheikah slate.

Son of The Wild

T | Post-canon | Family fluff | wc: 13k | 05/16/19

Link and Zelda’s son reflects on his unusual upbringing.

practical anatomy

E | Post-canon | Explicit sexual content | wc: 12k | Complete

Is the Goddess still testing him? Has he not suffered enough in this lifetime? Was killing the Calamity not enough—now he has to explain morning wood to the Princess of Hyrule?

(in which Zelda discovers an unsavoury image on the Sheikah Slate and Link must face the consequences)

Soldier’s Log

T | Pre/post-canon | wc: 11k | Complete

The events leading up to the return of Calamity Ganon as well as life after his defeat as recorded in the pages of a journal belonging to a knight who would be king.

By the fire

T | Ficlet collection | wc: 11k | Complete

A collection of Zelink ficlets in the BOTW universe. Some ideas were developed for my main fic, “The World That We Lost”, but had to be scrapped because they didn’t fit anymore. Others are explorations of different canon formulas and timelines that said fic doesn’t touch, and some more could come from prompts (send me one, if you want!)

On the Life of Queen and Consort

Few know me. I was the Queen’s left hand and the Consort’s right. I was their first, best and last friend. But above all, I was their advisor, and now that my tenure has ended, it is time to write their story.

After 100 years apart, Link and Zelda finally unite to rebuild their Kingdom. Their reign together is long, with triumphs and heartbreaks as they navigate Royal life, raising children, conquering fears and growing old in a Kingdom beset by peace. Now at its end, their Chief Advisor Larella sits down to write the history of their reign, having beared witness to much of their lives.

Part of Zelink Week 2017 - this is a ten part series that looks into the partnership and later life of Link and Zelda as Queen and Consort of Hyrule.

#link-avalon #zelink #botw zelink #fanfiction

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glassandmetalwings · 5 years

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Wings plays BotW, Day Sixteen

I am very drained from waiting for a train to start moving again, but fun things happened today.

I gave up on the Yiga Clan for today. I only got like 3 hours of sleep so sneaking wasn’t happening. Maybe tomorrow.

Instead, I decided to focus on getting up to 13 hearts for...you know. So off shrine hunting I went.

‘Swordswoman? Where are you swordswoman?! Don’t abandon me in the middle of this sandstorm!’ She didn’t abandon me, thankfully, and I got to the shrine in one piece.

Also it’s still rude that you can be decked out in all the Gerudo Gear and STILL start to take damage from heat. Luckily I had some chilly food, but rude still.

I finally took on a Hinox! It...actually went pretty quickly. Unfortunately, the Hinox didn’t have the orb I thought it would to unlock a shrine. I later looked up what I needed for that shrine, and while I can get to it...I’ll wait just a little.

I got a picture of a Restless Cricket that registered for the compendium! That’s honestly the greatest achievement of today.

Tried to get a shard of Naydra’s horn, but somehow missed while right next to her. Then I almost couldn’t find the scale. It was raining so I didn’t want to make a campfire and try again.

Is every single shrine in western Hyrule a Major Test of Skill shrine?!

Also went to take pictures for the lady who wanted Guardian pictures before she would give up an orb. Couldn’t figure out why these amazing pictures of a Guardian Stalker, honed in on me and about to shoot a laser, weren’t getting that little red mark. Then I realized I already had a picture of a Guardian Stalker. Absolutely worth using up Mipha’s Grace for a bit.

By which I mean it wasn’t because the shrine was another Major Test of Skill.

Very rude wind shrine that made me drop a weapon so I could use a Korok Leaf to direct a very unstable platform through spikes. Great fun.

Steady Thy Heart shrine was fun. Except getting hit by a giant spike ball twice (once into lava). You’d think I’d know better.

Did the one dark as all-get-out trial in Thyphlo Ruins. Just like the Korok Forest, I feel a little bad because I did know the trick to navigating, but I forgot I could light the bird statues so that I could actually put away my Torch. The Meteor Rod came in very handy after I was attacked by Keese.

That being said, the ambiance of that forest is terrifying, made worse by the fact that I didn’t want to put the Torch away to see if anything was after me. I just kept going, on the edge of my seat while listening to the spooks.

When I got to the center, I expected the shrine to be right there waiting for me. Imagine the sense of dread I felt stepping onto a platform with a spot for an orb, and the game locking on to something ahead in the darkness. Just knowing exactly what was there, and dreading having to light the statues to see a Hinox I would need to fight for the orb.

A Black Hinox, by the way. I’m definitely ready for that.

...OR, and hear me out, I could put on the Sheikah set, stick my Meteor Rod on my back for some semblance of light (barely any), and creep on over to the Hinox’s hand while it was sleeping, letting it carry me onto its belly.

I don’t know how I managed to do that, much less how I didn’t wake the Hinox the moment after I got the orb and booked it back to the platform.

I think that’s about all for today, plus or minus a few shrines. I am up to...11 or 12 hearts. I think 12. I also found that one statue today, so if I really wanted I could go trade stamina for that last heart, but I might as well finish some shrine quests. For a few days I was stuck in this ‘you can’t look up the answer to the puzzles’ mindset, but I realized that if I stick to that I might not finish the game. So I’m giving them my best shot and then looking up answers.

I just remembered at some point I could/should do Eventide. Any other things anyone thinks I should do? Specific side quests or stuff?

#wings plays botw

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heartofhryule · 6 years

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Breath of the Wild: Captured Memories - Chapter 1

First and foremost; SPOILER WARNINGS. If you have not played The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, or completed the Captured Memories Quest and want to stay unspoilered for it, DO NOT READ. Keep Reading link provided for that reason.

So I am writing these as I play through BotW for the first time - which means they probably won’t be ‘one-a-day’ consistent as its taking me forEVER to get to all of them. I will post them as I can though! Promise! I also plan to include links to the cutscene for you to watch at the bottom, if so desired - at least for the ones I can find. Any other warnings that become necessary, I will add for content as I go. For now, enjoy!

Chapter 1 - The Sacred Grounds

He’d been walking for days. His legs ached, he was chilled to the bone against the rain and wind despite his warm doublet, and if he didn’t stop to make camp soon it felt like he might fall over. Still, Link pressed on.

Mind spinning with the events of the past month, sleep was not an easy thing won anymore. As far as he could remember, it never had been. Awakening in the Shrine of resurrection, lost, confused, grasping at the tendrils of memory as if threads in the wind, he’d not known true rest since. The King’s spirit explained he’d failed. Explained his daughter, the Princess, was a prisoner of the Ultimate Evil and that it was Link’s duty, calling, purpose, to save her. Still, even after having failed. What kind of life was that?

Then Impa confirmed… in her backwards way, that all this was so. Sending him to the little girl… immortal… thing, Purah and sending him all over creation to “prove himself” to them. He’d done it - he’d had to. What other purpose did he have? He remembered nothing, had no home, no friends other than strange people who claimed to remember him… claimed to have saved his life… At the end of the day amid the tempest of blank memory and identity he seemed to have, what other choice did he have? He literally had nothing better to do than try and learn who he was.

Looking to the strange, glowing tablet at his side, the Sheikah Slate stared back at him, cold and unassuming. The pictures, still, magical paintings of places the Princess had once created on the magical slate, were to lead him to his memories. A few he recognized, having travelled some, a few stirred nothing within him yet.

And yet he travelled, walked, despite the exhaustion, battling demons that rose from the ground, learning to stealth under the Blood Moon, all the while hearing a voice that turned his stomach, created a sense of urgency and longing, and drove him to find the truth of his past. It was a voice, her voice, that lit a fire inside of him. He had no idea who she was, but he needed to find out. It was her voice that made the not-remembering chafe… sometimes unbearably. Whoever it was, she was his reason for fighting, the fire in his gut and thunder in his heart. He had no face to recall, no scent or recalled touch, but it was no less his one truth - This voice was his reason for not giving up… for not dying.

Now if only he could remember her.

Looking up through the rain, ahead of him appeared through the silver wash of the storm, ruins. The same ruins he was mostly certain were present in the first of the Princess’s pictures. A thrill went through him. He knew this place. He’d not recalled it before, but neither had he been so close. A memory of mossy stones and taking a knee in the sunrise washed through him, and he retrieved the Sheikah slate from his belt, pulling up the picture for comparison. This was it!

The ruins were different, more worn and battle-torn, but it was undeniably the location he’d thought it to be. One remarkable different stood out even in the grey sheets of rain that fell around him… the fuschia and blue glow of a Guardian on the other side.

Link barely had time to dodge, leaping behind a pillar as the devastating laser singed the edge of his soaked cloak. Back pressed to the pillar providing him cover, he drew his bow. These magi-tech, mechanical relics were deadly, and far too prolific in Hyrule. He wasn’t certain he currently had the tools to defeat it. Normally when he spotted one, he made a hasty retreat - but today, that was no longer an option. Not here, where his memory was sparking as if perhaps it might return to life, no longer keeping him in the dark.

Peering carefully around the edge of the pillar, Link was relieved to find that this guardian was without its legs. Hylia could still find it in her heart to be merciful it seemed. As good as that was, thanks to the rain, he was not able to aim confidently before the machine levied another blast, vaporizing the rain and briefly setting aflame the flora in its path. Closing his eyes, Link slowed his heart with a deep breath, and let the sound of the rain fade away around him. Focus, he thought, and recalled Her voice, drawing from the fire it engendered to sharpen his mind.

Coming again around the pillar, it was as if time slowed and he could see between the raindrops. Bringing up his bow in the same, fluid movement, he aimed, and let loose an electric arrow. The machine twitched and shuddered as the electricity overloaded its circuits, albeit briefly, but it was long enough to loose a second arrow before again returning behind the pillar’s cover. He repeated this many more times, until despite the downpour, the machine exploded into an orange fireball, and moved no more.

Hesitating an extra few heartbeats to make certain, Link leaned back against the stone pillar in exhaustion. This land was tiring, browbeating… it wearied the soul.

But, this was not the time to rest. Hylia knew there was probably another ambulatory mechanical monster just around the corner, and he had to know. Had to remember… and then leave. Quickly. Darting forward, as he stepped foot onto the flagstones, the rain seemed to lessen a bit. With each careful step, the memory began to wash over him.

***

It was a cool, sunlit day. His was wearing blue, as were all 5 other people gathered. A dark skinned woman, a man apparently made of rock, a bird person, and a woman that he knew was a ‘Zora’, though he wasn’t sure how he remembered that. Perhaps it was her voice he heard? These four were all strangers to him, as was the woman in front of him, until he saw her face. Long golden hair lit by the sunlight, bright green eyes clear with intelligence and poise but somehow sad despite wearing the trappings of someone well to do. She sighed and her lips parted, beginning what sounded like a very dry, rote speech. Something twisted inside of him when she spoke - it was Her voice.

And yet, it wasn’t. The voice he’d heard since awakening was gentle, longing, edged with desperation and worry. The young woman who stood before him looked sad, patronizing a little, and defeated. It was an entirely different bearing than what he… knew? That seemed a little presumptuous all things considered, but something deep in his bones felt it to be true.

The others whispered behind him, but he couldn’t hear what they said. It was very clear that not all were convinced he should be where he was. Least of all, the Princess. Wait, the Princess?! That was to whom Her voice belonged? Surely not. She was trapped in a castle surrounded by destruction and evil, how could she talk to his mind? Why would she talk to his mind? That last question answered itself with the “you’re the last hope” thing everyone kept telling him, but something didn’t sit right. No, no he must be making this princess sound like Her in his mind. Her voice was so much more dear, more personal. Had he been married? Was he hearing the spirit of a long dead wife, or beloved and supplanting her voice into that of this Princess? It had to be.

In the memory, she looked at him with such cold distaste, Link felt there was no way Her voice could be that of this princess.

***

He snapped back to reality as lightning struck the ground nearby, thunder and its deafening crash heralding to him that it was time to move on. He needed an inn, dry clothing and something to eat. Looking at the Sheikah Slate, his heart sank. Something wasn’t right. There were still so many missing pieces that he didn’t want to accept some of the little truths his mind was trying to provide him. Bringing up the map, he tapped the spot for the Shrine nearest to Kakriko Village. Impa had said to return to her once he’d found the site of one of The Princess’s pictures. He could cook something and sleep there for the evening. As the strange magic carried him away, Link’s mind added to his thoughts; Let’s go sleep and ignore the truth a little bit longer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIm4sjv3yBg

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ggdeku · 7 years

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Breath of the Wild final impressions

As I watched the credits roll on Breath of the Wild I was conflicted. The game had been a ton of fun, a fresh new take on the series while also being a great open-world game in its own right. But despite enjoying my time with it, I ultimately felt very dissapointed.

Breath of the Wild is not a bad game, far from it, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that I didn’t get what I wanted. In their quest to mix up the “Zelda formula” and bring a new structure to the series, the developers left too much behind. Resulting in a good, but ultimately unfulfilling game.

Ask any fan of the series what their favorite entry is and you’ll get a different answer every time. The draw and appeal of Zelda is so varied that fans often disagree as to what elements are most valuable to them. One of the biggest draws for me has been the design of the dungeons themselves. It’s not just about the individual puzzles in each room, but the way these puzzle rooms are connected to make the dungeon a puzzle itself. Zelda dungeons are at their best when they require the player to understand the architecture and mechanics of the space and make it fun to unravel both the individual puzzles and the overall dungeon itself.

For a deeper examination of the way Nintendo designs these structures, I highly recommend watching Mark Brown’s Boss Keys youtube series. Brown talks about each game in the series and analyzes the way dungeons are designed. This series was very influential for me and helped solidify my thoughts on this topic. I recommend the Majora’s Mask video as it perfectly explains why I love that game.

With BotW, Nintendo very clearly targeted the strengths and design values of the very first entry in the series. An open space where the player has agency to make their own decisions about where to go and what to do. With no predetermined narrative-based path, you can do what you want, when you want. However, in achieving this goal, the pacing and tight design of the Zelda series is mostly pushed aside in favor of player freedom.

Without a strong narrative path, the developers used the shrines as an incentive for players to explore. The 120 shrines mostly use the game mechanics and player abilities very well, but were also responsible for 120 moments of stinging disappointment. Every time I finished one, I felt unsatisfied because it was just one puzzle unconnected to a greater scheme of interlocking rooms or challenges. While completing shrines I often thought about how much more I would have enjoyed the puzzle if it had been connected to the last 20 shrines I finished.

There are several combat challenge shrines, but they aren’t the most interesting or rewarding things to complete. Even the simple change of reducing the overall amount of shrines to make each one the equivalent of two puzzles and a combat room would have done wonders to the game. That change would make discovery and completion of the shrines more meaningful.

The overall quality of the shrines made the feeling even worse because with individual puzzles that strong, a solid, interconnected design would have probably lead to some of the best dungeons in the series.

The aesthetics of the shrines are all the same. The same music and visuals 120 times. I think that does a disservice to the variety of puzzles they feature, in addition to being boring after the first 20. Even simple themes like forest, ice, fire, wind, fortress, etc. would be a great way to mix up the visuals of these challenges.

Shrines at the beginning of the game look identical to shrines you will find many hours into your adventure.

And then there are the Divine Beasts. They are the closest thing this game has to a traditional Zelda dungeon, because they are much larger than shrines, feature a short series of puzzles and end with a boss.

They share very little with the established "dungeon” forumla, but one aspect they do share with their predecessors is an important one, encouraging an understanding of the structure’s architecture. Each beast requires you to understand and manipulate the movement of the structure in order to activate five switches and fight a boss.The moving and twisting beats are impressive, but the actual goals within them leave a lot to be desired.

Not only are they much shorter than the dungeons of previous Zelda games, they all have the same objective of activating a few switches. Repeated objectives and simple physics puzzles get boring fast. After you complete one beast you have seen everything they can do.

None of the beasts provide the same feeling as a good Zelda dungeon, unraveling and fighting your way through a tightly wound knot of individual and interconnected puzzles rooms and gaining an understanding of the continuous layout of a piece of architecture. They are far too simple in their individual and overall puzzle design and feature very little combat, other than the bosses. Much like the shrines, the Divine Beasts are not bad, but they are a weak attempt at making sure something resembling a Zelda tradition remained in the game.

The beasts also have the same problem as the shrines in terms of aesthetics. They are all located in beautiful, distinct locations in the world, but the beasts themselves share the same theming (which isn’t very different from the shrines).

As someone who greatly values the traditional Zelda dungeon, this disappointment with BotW’s alternatives hit me hard. No one makes games like Zelda. No one makes Zelda-like dungeons. After waiting six years for the next 3D game in the series it sucks to be disappointed in this way.

It’s not just the dungeons, but the progression in complexity that I miss. The way the dungeon design builds from the Great Deku tree to the Spirit Temple in Ocarina of Time, or from Woodfall to Stone Tower Temple in Majora’s Mask is amazing. That hasn't been a part of Zelda in many years.

This was also one of my biggest problem with A Link Between Worlds. That game had traditional Zelda dungeons, but because the player could tackle them mostly out of order they all felt as if they were each designed to be the first dungeon. The game lost any sense of progression in complexity with dungeons that would be lucky if they lasted more than a couple minutes.

However, this game’s best moments are not the attempts to translate the dungeon format to a new structure. BotW’s strength is the open-world and sense of discovery. These were strongest for me in the first half of the game, when the majority of the world was a still a mystery.

Discovering shrines in the first half of the game was exciting, and solving the tiny Korok seed puzzles hidden throughout the world provided a unique distraction. The Korok seeds are so plentiful (900!) that you can always find enough to increase your inventory, but I felt that their implementation did more to help the developers fill up their massive world rather than create a good mechanic for the player. It’s just another meaningless collectible.

While exploration is incentivized by shrines and Korok seeds, the best discoveries were villages and towns. BotW has the best towns in any Zelda game hands down. They all have a unique atmosphere, great music, and are occupied by memorable NPCs that seem to run on a Majora’s Mask-like schedule. Discovering and entering Hateno Village at dawn was one of my all-time favorite video game moments.

Once I had explored the world, found all the villages, and unlocked each section of the map, I realized that the only thing left to find were shrines and seeds. With Korok seeds cast aside as meaningless collectibles, looking for shrines quickly stopped being interesting as I knew the only thing I could find would only instill the same sense of longing for “real dungeons” that I had experienced dozens of times before.

Thankfully, many of the sidequests to find the shrines were some of the best moments of the game, taking the unique and interesting puzzles and bringing them onto the actual world map. But aside from those quests I did not find much fun in exploring the world. I wanted to avoid combat most of the time because I didn't want any of my weapons to break and the standard enemies often had worse gear than what I was carrying. Exploring for exploration’s sake does not interest me. I’ve never really been the kind of player that messes around in the open world games without a purpose.

The lack of enemy diversity throughout the world was very surprising. BotW has a strangely small variety of enemies. Zelda’s famous cast of monsters is mostly absent this time around as Link is left to fight standard and large sized Bokoblins and Lizalfos for most of the game. Fighting the same enemies over and over again started to bore me near the end of my playtime and I found it strange Nintendo left out so many different types monsters such as Like-Likes, Darknuts, Stalfos, Leevers, etc. It really doesn’t help the copy and pasted feel of many enemy encounters when the combat barely changes in hour one compared to hour 100.

I did like that they addressed the common complaint of combat difficulty. The enemies here actually put up a fight and provide for some tough encounters that require quick thinking and good reflexes. However, they also included two mechanics that trivialize the combat: Flurry Rush and parries.

Once I discovered how easy it is to abuse and activate the time slowing effects of Flurry Rush and parrying, the enemies were no longer a threat. The window to activate the Flurry Rush is so large that I often found myself triggering it when I wanted to back flip or sidestep for movement purposes.

The combat itself felt a little stiff as well. The way Link stops moving when he swings his sword felt abrupt and his canned combos felt too automated. When you attack, Link will perform a simple combo string. In past games, the direction and type of attack could vary depending on your input. Link’s moves would actually be based on player input. I missed the choice of horizontal and vertical slashes, a sword thrust, and a crouch stab from behind a shield, among other moves.

The runes were cool, but I did not use them very often during combat. The combat sandbox in general felt a little underwhelming, mostly because Stasis, Magnesis, and Cryonis are the only unique abilities Link gets.

The addition of infinite bombs seems like a carry over from ALBW’s item system, but don’t add much to the game. Infinite bombs are incredibly easy to abuse and are often more effective than arrows. I still think Wind Waker and the N64 games have the best combat sandboxes as they have a wide array of items and abilities without any overpowered dodges or parrying.

Because of the lack of unique items and abilities, the sense of progression is stunted. Link doesn’t gain access to new areas with the acquisition of tools that allows him to interact with the world and enemies in a different way. You get your rune abilities at the beginning and that is it. You are stuck making water platforms and moving metal objects for the rest of the game. I’ve always felt Zelda was better off closer to the Metroidvania style of design than an open world style, and BotW only reaffirms that opinion. BotW loses the moments of realization that your newly acquired abilities/items/information can be used in an earlier area to access something new, or recontextualize something you thought you had a handle on.

Link’s various armor sets also exemplify the grindy nature of this open world by requiring you to farm items to upgrade equipment. This is probably the most standard open world aspect of the game and one that is just not worth engaging in.

I also wanted to touch on the story and characters, which is another element that I feel is important to the series (even if many disagree). Because of the open design, the story was pushed out of the players way for the most part. Unfortunately this led to a bunch of underdeveloped characters I never cared about. The hints into each Champion’s history and relationships with other characters was intriguing, but we never got anything more than simple archetypes. It would have been great to see longer story quests build up to the divine beasts.

One of the biggest story fumbles were the memories. While some were interesting they often added so little and often felt pointless. They gave us scraps of characterization for Zelda and that’s it. As for timeline stuff, the game is so vague that it doesn’t really matter (and I’m a Zelda timeline lover).

There are no memorable characters. We get interactions between the various champions and Zelda in flashbacks, but learn almost nothing about them, their personal histories, or see them grow or change in any meaningful way.

Games like Wind Waker and Majora’s Mask have you meet characters that have arcs, relationships, and goals. Players watch the characters grow and change. They inform the plot while growing along with the overall narrative. You see each character receive closure to their own storylines alongside the main narrative.

There is no plot in BotW. You wake up and are told to kill Ganon. If you defeat the Divine Beats you get to see more of Link’s lost memory, but all of that happened in the past, and you know that the four primary characters are already dead. Their fate is known before the player is even introduced to them.

There is no sense of urgency or danger. In Majora’s Mask you can see how Skull Kid’s meddling and the threat of the falling moon have negatively impacted every single one of the residents of Termina. The Deku Swamp’s water has been poisoned, the Gorons are frozen over, the sea temperature has risen and Lulu’s eggs Zora eggs have been stolen by pirates, the Ikana researcher has been turned into a zombie and the land has been cursed to keep the undead from dying completely. In Breath of the Wild, none of the people are in any danger. No one is scared of the obvious and inevitable return of Ganon. After the calamity life went on, the fall of an entire civilization didn’t seem to have much of an effect on the existing citizenry of Hyrule.

For a series that receives such massive amounts of praise, I don’t think Nintendo can keep on barely scraping by in the story and lore department. Nintendo should put more time and effort into a stronger focus on the narrative for this series. It’s a shame when the peak of storytelling in your franchise was over a decade ago (even though Majora’s Mask and Wind Waker were great).

I enjoyed my time with BotW immensely in the first 20 to 30 hours, but once I had a consistent understanding of the world and mechanics, I started to pick apart all the little things that I didn’t like, and it really hurt my enjoyment of the game.

What makes it hard for me is reading other Zelda fans’ impressions stating this is the best game in the series and that they hope Zelda never goes back to the way it was before. This series can and has done more. It has provided interesting worlds, memorable characters, unique and inventive puzzles and challenges that have stayed with me for years. When I think of BotW I just remember all of the things I didn’t like. I just think about how I can’t see myself ever returning to this game in the same way I do to almost every other game in the series.

It makes me sad because the traditional, more linear Zelda formula, despite some bad design decisions in the later games, still provides a valuable experience and is responsible for more than a handful of my favorite video games of all time.

DLC UPDATE: I really liked the Champion’s Ballad DLC just because of the shrine and Divine Beast. The new shrines were some of the best in the game, and the new divine beast was by far the best. The boss at the end was a unique challenge and is one of my favorite moments in BotW, it felt like an important event in a way that almost nothing else did in the base game.

#the legend of zelda #zelda #link #nintendo #nintendo switch #wii u #nintendo wii u #kass #urbosa #mipha #daruk #revali #open world #ocarina of time #majora's mask #wind waker

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twilights-angel · 7 years

Text

Believer

// So me and @l1nkp1t had made two children for Link and pit, Nim first and a little later on we created Ollie. We started to make up his personality and what he looked like. We made him the spitting image of Link but with his hair up in a pony tail, then came his love of cooking. Just recently I started to realize something an I told l1nkp1t about it... Ollie is basically BOTW Link... so that’s how this fanfic came to be. Hope you enjoy. //

Chapter. 1

First things first I'ma say all the words inside my head I'm fired up and tired of the way that things have been, oh ooh The way that things have been, oh ooh

It was cool cool night in Hyrule, Link was currently riding throw a forest by the Great Plateau on his horse Epona, trying to find any more Sheika shrines he might have missed. His blue Hylian hood was pulled up to keep his ears warm from the cold breeze blowing throw the forest. He let out a breath seeing it fog up in the air in front of him. Link reached down and pulled the Sheika Slate off his belt and looked down at it to see if the Shrine sensor was picking up anything but wasn’t.

He placed it back on his belt and let out a shiver and rubbed his arms to warm up a bit and ultimately decided to stop for the night and make camp to warm up and eat. He pulled Epona to stop and hopped off and tied her reign to a tree. He pulled his bag off the saddle and walked over to a cooking pot and fire and set it down, pulling out some flint and started to light it. It didn’t take long for the wood to ignite and set the wood ablaze. He then pulled out some vegetables he found and some chicken he had traded at the last outpost he stopped at. He placed it in the pot with some herbs and waited for it to cook. Link leaned back against the log and looked up at the sky, the stars shining brightly in an almost familiar way. His brows frowned in confusion and then started to look around, the area looking somewhat familiar. Had he walked throw this place before? Was it after or before he woke from his 100 year slumber? He didn’t know.

Second thing Second, don't you tell me what you think that I can be I'm the one at the sail, I'm the master of my sea, oh ooh The master of my sea, oh ooh

His food was soon ready and he ate it quietly while still looking around his surroundings trying to remember. Over the corse of his journey he was getting his memory back bit by bit but nothing about his early past, like his childhood for instance. His first memory went back only so far and he hated it. Who were his parents, did he have any siblings, what about other friends he might have forgotten about. Those are the questions he asked himself everyday. The blond set his bole down once he was finished eating and curled up in a blanket about to go to sleep when he heard the sound of rustling in the bushes and one of his sky blue eye’s cracked open to see some Moblins sneaking up on his.

He let out a light chuckle before grabbing his swords and jumping up, scaring the enemies and making them run off but Link still went after them because one had grabbed his bag. He chased after them a couple of feet before attacking. Once the small battle was over he picked up his bag and throw it over his shoulder. Then he saw something in the corner of his eye’s. He turned around and saw some ruins of a house in the distance. He raised a brow and walked over to it and from the looks of it, it seemed it was burned down. He set his pack down before careful moving about the rubble of the old house. As he looked around a strange tugging sensation pulled at his heart and he didn’t understand, he only felt like this when it was something he remembered. As Link stepped over a piece of rubble he tripped and fell to the ground. He let out a light grunt and picked himself up but the fall had moved the dirt to reveal a picture frame. He picked it up and took out the picture from the broken glass and looked at it curiously.

On the picture was what looked to be a small family. A young Hylian girl with brown hair and Sky blue eye’s, a young man that also had brown hair but with darker blue eye’s and he looked just like the girl but a bit older and had wings, but the other two people he couldn’t believe his eye’s. In the brunette males arms was what looked like a younger version of Link and the adult Hylian looked just like him almost exactly but with shorter blond hair and he wore green instead of blue. Then he felt his head start to ache and his eye’s went wide as a memoire returned to him.

I was broken from a young age Taking my soul into the masses Write down my poems for the few That looked at me took to me, shook to me, feeling me Singing from heart ache from the pain Take up my message from the veins Speaking my lesson from the brain Seeing the beauty through the...

He could smell smoke, it was almost suffocating. He opened his eye’s coughing but his vision was horribly blurry and wouldn’t clear. “Ollie!” He heard the sound of a girls voice shout in worry and the door swung open and he saw the two brunettes run into what must have been his room. The winged male picked him up and held both him and the girl close. He could see the light of the fire peeking around the corner of his door, quickly coming for them. “Link!” The male screamed in fear and not soon after that a blond Hylian came running in coughing. “Come on!”

He urged and took both of their hands. “Don’t try to look son, bury your face away in your mothers shoulder.” He told the child and he did, yet he could still hear everything so clearly. The crackling of the fire, the horrible creaking of the wood, coughing coming from his family, and yells of pain coming from his father. Then cool air hit him and he looked up from his mothers shoulder to find they had gotten out just as the house collapsed. “Link!” “Father!”’ He heard the the two brunette’s yell as he heard a thunk and turned to see the blurry image of his father badly burnt on the ground… dead. He felt tears prickle at the corner of his eye’s as the other two burst into sobs of sorrow and grief as they fell to their knees next to the motionless Hylian man. He felt his mother hug him tightly.