#master mode maybe now that i'm finally fucking off of the platau

[bloodsbane]

regarding that last botw post, i really do love this (not exactly new, but more... definitive?) take on the meta of ‘players dicking around when zelda is holding off ganon’ as an actual element of the game narrative. 

one of my few big problems with the game was the idea that the fact that we, as players, want to explore the entirety of the world and what the game has to offer is at odds with our overall goal/quest, which is to help zelda defeat ganon. this is emphasized by the fact that it is entirely possible to go fight ganon at any time, unlike most other games where you have to do some things first. link doesn’t need to defeat all the divine beasts, doing so just sets the champions at peace and helps make the final fight easier. you don’t have to find all of link’s memories, that just gives you background/story to chew on. 

so i really appreciate that lots of people are viewing it less in the lens of the player acting against the story, and the game failing in bringing those two elements together cohesively, but the take that our behavior is demonstrating something unsaid about the story. specifically, link’s feelings on the ultimate quest, what he has to do, how he feels about waking up with no memories, etc. there are plenty of reasons for link to feel differently about anything and everything - including himself - when he first wakes up. 

this may also be due to my own feelings on the topic of amnesia in stories. i dislike amnesia, it’s actually a big fear of mine to lose any of my memory, and for me it can be make or break when a story has memory-loss as an aspect. silent/amnesiac protags aren’t uncommon and are usually there for a reason, and it is usually easier to engage with when we all start off with the same blank slate. 

my problem lies more in the idea of characters we come to know losing their memories, because it feels like such a huge part of them is gone. even if they do regain their memories at some point, the time between them losing them and getting them back is a time when they are, essentially, a completely different person. and how can you ever come back from that in totality? especially in the case of link, asleep for so long many of his friends either aren’t around anymore or are much, much older, people have weird or difficult feelings towards him and he doesnt understand why, he has to put himself into dangerous situations constantly; not only is this world he come into hostile due to ganon’s influence, but he’s charged to save it all, and to rescue his dearest person... someone he barely even remembers. 

so yeah, i’m just saying it’s a lot, and i think the take that link spends so much extra time on small quests and exploring and adventuring, learning, training, wasting away time, makes sense when you view it as link trying to find himself. and maybe that person is different from the person he used to be, who would’ve done all of this without any complaint. but especially after that one particular memory with zelda, when she wonders over what could be different, if link felt he wasn’t suited to be all he was told he had to be... 

anyway, that’s an interesting view! i think it actually benefits the experience of botw a lot, to consider that as an unspoken but very relevant aspect of the narrative. it gives link a clear character arc, and it’s something that can be felt by the player too, as we learn and become endeared to hyrule and it’s people, and develop our skills enough to feel like we have a chance to fight ganon.