#puzzles and dungeons and side quests

[somer-writes]

the poes at the arbiters grounds are almost explicitly dead prisoners once tortured/executed gladitorally there iirc

kinda wonder what they had to go through to haunt it for eternity and go kill mode on anyone who wandered in

interestingly on the map the hylian for arbiters grounds is actually "arbiters keep". it was where hyrules most dangerous prisoners were kept/put to death for a time and also according to auru where zelda was tortured by the sages as a child.

big spooky. i love it

i wonder if theres a fic that ever goes into who the poes were in life. i think there could also be a really compelling fic about the exile of the gerudo. i mean theres definitely weight behind hyrule building their gladiator torture fest in the desert where the gerudo lived right and we know the arbiters keep pre existed ganondorf bc he was executed/banished to the twilight realm there

also using the mirror to just straight up send people to the shadow realm the sword of light couldnt kill is super fucked up

i love this games lore

I dont think we talk about how fucking scary the poes from twilight princess are

Actually nightmare fuel

Top ten reasons i say tp link has seen horrors

[emerald9d]

Kris specifically intended to start weird route to get the thorn ring, but abort before the Berdly fight.

Lemme explain. This does pertain to the new chapters.

Even before these latest chapters came out, I’ve noticed… things. Firstly, the fact that you could get the thorn ring and abort weird route before bringing it to fruition was already suspect. Secondly… there’s something about the dialog prompts in Deltarune. Specifically the ones with two responses. And it’s this:

The right side choice is Kris’ intended response. The left side choice… I guess we’ll call that the soul’s choice. Kind of a wild thing to just claim in brief, I know, but bear with me.

At first in weird route its like, we’re just beboppin’ along, picking the dick responses cuz its fun/interesting to see what happens with them.

But then we get to this prompt after the electric barrier button puzzle thing.

Now, the right side choice is the correct one to continue the route. Kris now has input in the route.

From there, it’s the “Proceed” prompts.

Interesting how this is where the soul responses suddenly get really apologetic. But that’s beside the point. Kris is hitting the gas hard on weird route here, all of a sudden.

After this is when you get the rest of the darkner freezing done, and then get the thorn ring, and then face Berdly. But here’s what’s always bothered me, and part of why I’m saying left vs right matters:

Why is “proceed” inconsistently on the left side all of a sudden? Also, what is up with “I’m protecting her from you!” When was that established? To me that’s always felt like a weak justification for… whatever is actually happening here in Kris’ brain. Being on the right side, it’s Kris saying it. And it’s the option that aborts the route, with the thorn ring still in your possession.

Weird route is, in it’s totality, basically DR’s genocide route equivalent, I think we can agree on that. But if that’s the case… then why is there currently at least TWO instances of the regular playthrough having a character say something that actually directs you to do weird route? Spamton in chapter 2, if you beat his first fight with violence, he says

"WHEN KIDS LIKE YOU ARE [Beating People Up],

[Spitting] IN THEIR EYES, THROWING SAND IN THEIR [Face],

[Stomping] ON THEIR TOES, YANKING THEIR [Noses],

AND NOT EVEN GIVING THEM A SINGLE CENT FOR IT!?

YOU SHOULD HAVE DONE ALL THAT EARLIER!

AND BEEN THE FIRST TO OWN MY [Commemorative Ring]

TOO BAD! SEE YOU KID!"

And then in the chapter 3 shadow mantle side quest, in the ice dungeon, there’s that one room with text that says

If weird route was intended as a “you’re supposed to choose not to do this” kind of option like genocide was, you’d think the game wouldn’t outright encourage it, right? The only way I can really square that is that the game DOES want you to start weird route, but only to a point.

The egg room in chapter 4 interests me in this. Namely in this part while Kris is drawing:

Why does Kris seem okay with doing weird route up to a point, but then seem absolutely infuriated about it in chapter 4? Why do they seem… not necessarily evil, but quite jaded and not really interested in darkners?

This game is moving in a direction of asking us to find a particular sequence of chapter save files that are completed in a particular manner, in order to accomplish… something, we can’t really know yet. But it’s something.

And Kris knows the proper sequence already, and knows what the end goal is. And god knows how long they’ve been fucking around with all this to figure that out. It’s no wonder they’d cease caring about peripheral details.

[darlingzelda]

What games I think Court of Darkness Princes would play

Guy: Final Fantasy VII Remake/Rebirth (Square Enix)

Identifies with Cloud

Likes the dystopian setting and nuance of the background of the series

Acts like he would never deign to do such a thing but always chooses to romance Aerith

Of course he’s impressed by Sephiroth. They’re both power hungry and beautiful.

Hates doing side quests but will do them if something’s in it for him

Big sword. Need I say more.

Toa: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Nintendo)

I feel like he’d really appreciate the art style

Loves games that make him think with super hard puzzles/dungeons

He likes the balance between combat and the rich worldbuilding aspect of the game

He’s a completionist and has every rare item, does every side quest, explores every inch of the map, talks to every NPC...

Super into the lore and history of the Royal Family/Hyrule

Fenn: Baldur’s Gate 3 (Larian Studios)

Spends like 5 hours on character creation

Super super into the romances. Definitely has romanced every single character and unlocked every single intimate scene.

Goes feral over the chance to cause chaos

Somehow best friends with Astarion on the world domination front

His character is definitely a Rogue.

Lynt: Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Nintendo)

Of course this baby boy would choose a wholesome game

Spends all his time making his island look exactly like Akedia

Is always super nice to his villagers and starts crying when they want to leave the island

I think he would be super into the whole lazy theme of the game

Always fishing, catching bugs, making things

Every 2 seconds he’s showing Tino something he caught or made

Roy: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Nintendo)

He finds the scenery so pretty and is definitely the type to just lazy play (riding horses or foraging or cooking)

Never does the main quest but always getting sidetracked by some random side quest

Definitely ships Link and Zelda

Very proud of all the horses he caught and named

Of course he’s a Prince Sidon fanboy because he’s the perfect prince

Dyes all of Link’s clothing sets pink because Invidia

Rio: Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (Nintendo)

Acts all humble but will completely DESTROY you.

This man always wins by some act of god

Like… how. How is he so good at it

Could probably even beat Guy or Toa

Has all the Karts, gliders, bikes, characters, wheels, and extra tracks

He’s not even violent about it, he just fiddles with the controller and wins. Every time.

Lance: Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu (Nintendo)

Of course he’d deny it

But he loves capturing all the Pokemon and naming them

His entire Pokedex is filled with every single pokemon in the game

He just really loves animals ok

Of course he’d vehemently deny liking something so childish but it just heals something in him

[parab0mb]

“If Crosscode is so great why isn’t there a Crosscode 2?!”

Crosscode 2:

OH WHAT A BEAUTIFUL THING TO WAKE UP TO

[trainwiz]

Sotha Sil Expanded 3.0 is now out!

It's been 11 years since the last update to Sotha Sil Expanded, and I'm finally back to bring it up to Todd's high standards (as well as apply a decade's worth of professional experience, assets, and new modding tools to it).

This features a HUGE amount of fixes, new features, new models, new meshes, new voice acting, new signage, new tubes, and generally aims to address the myriad of problems people had.

Is it still a giant puzzle-filled clockwork hell?

No shit.

Am I going to subject you to needless (keyword needless) suffering?

No. My back hurts and I make estimated tax payments, I'm above that now.

So come and take a trip back to 2012, when we were all bright eyed and hopeful, the internet thought Homestuck could still possibly be good, and Sotha Sil wasn't an eight foot tall brass heartthrob with enough self-insert smut to make even Vivec blush who also invented Tamriel's guns (I mean he still could be, guns are neat).

Full changes include:

The sewers of Sotha Sil have been replaced with a new area and memory matching puzzle, which stars a returning lore character and favorite of mine. If you don't like him, that's fine. Just know that I'm in your walls.

Fabrevar and Gestalt now have new voices (with Gestalt integrating the Gestalt Revoiced mod).

Tons of additional detailing and lighting in various cells.

The sewers still exist as an optional side area now, with their own reward.

The entire Clockwork City and Fabricant Foundry now have signposts to help you better navigate my deranged nonsense.

The Fabricant Foundry now provides telekinetic worker rings, to better help sort through the various deadly garbage you'll be faced with.

Fabricant Foundry puzzles now have lights that indicate when a sector is repaired and item weights have been rebalanced.

While killing mad fabricants in the slums will still cause the denizens to hate you, there is now a new quest that will allow you to seek penance and forgiveness for your horrible actions. To begin, talk to the Archcanon after you royally screwed the pooch.

New models for things like power cores, the Clockwork City's sun, as well as improved textures for things like the fabricant Tribunal.

Various ambient sounds have been replaced to be more modern and less grating.

Guide fabricants have been added to each district of the city, who can provide helpful directions.

Your strength attribute can be used to bypass several small puzzles, including allowing you to break glass, carry more garbage in the disposal area, and more.

Various areas in the city and dungeon that could previously softlock you now have ways and ramps out of them.

Added Sotha Sil's pauldrons, robe, staff, and crown once the main quest is complete. All of these are vastly more powerful in the hands of a master enchanter, much like Brass Daddy himself.

Added various missing icons for items in game, such as quartz ore.

Sotha Sil's mask (now his crown) has a new enchantment and powers.

Changed Subori's quest to be about following various bottles.

The runaway train sidequest now has a nonviolent solution.

The Chamber of Soleh is now a single area, with more queues for the invisible bridge puzzle.

Added sound queues to the radio tower box collection sidequest.

Added non-sneaking based solution to the Slums main quest.

Industrial district main quest now involves tracking down visible lightning blasts, and has multiple solutions for various stages in the quest.

Temple main quest has been shortened and made less tedious, including reducing the radius and locations of the liches and removing various pointless stages.

Added new original artifacts in Sotha Sil's Lab.

The Vault of Magnus will allow you to bypass its puzzles provided you have mastery (100 >) in the associated skill.

The Valley of Udok's puzzle has been redone to be more navigable and based around color matching, and is no longer instant death upon failure.

Vast amounts of optimizations done in various areas, including the Clockwork City itself (which now runs at playable framerates!)

A huge amount of new models, including signposts, lanterns, TUBES, wires, spheres, tunnels, and more, all appropriate or based off the existing Sotha Sil tileset.

Imperfections, Fyr Manor Modules, and Pieces of God are now able to be detected via the Detect Key spell effect.

Fixed issue where augmentations didn't work.

Fixed various script issues that would cause the mod to not work in OpenMW.

Reduced number of enemies throughout the mod, except where appropriate.

Hall of Delirum's meshes are now separate from Ghostfence meshes, allowing better compatability.

Fixed bad integration errors that prevented various doors from working.

Almalexia will now reset herself if you Darth Maul her off the ledges of the final battle arena. You have to do it PROPERLY, with swords, like Todd intended.

Fixed various bad colliders that could cause you to fall through stairs.

Fixed mismatched icons on ceramic armor.

Fixed missing textures for various meshes.

Fixed softlock that occurred with moon sugar crates in the Residential main quest.

Fixed exploit that would allow for infinite Ceramic pauldrons from the High foremer.

Fixed quests that wouldn't mark themselves as complete.

Fixed issue where the Sanctum of Serlyn couldn't be completed.

Fixed lighting issues in the depths.

Fixed issue where various lifts wouldn't function correctly, at least visually speaking.

[chacaillejdr]

How to avoid railroading in your scenario ?

When you guide your players in a roleplaying game, either as an author or as a GM, there are two extremes that harm the experience : to direct them too much, or not enough.

A game that does not direct its players enough will leave them lost, unable to determine where the scenario wants to take them. This will lead to a drop in the energy, or even in your players’ interest, and the GM will be forced into a loop of “well, what do you do now ?”, or even have to use Deus Ex Machinas to move the story forward.

On the other hand, a game that directs its players too much, and does what is called railroading, will be frustrating for its players. No, I don’t want to go there. I don’t want to talk with this NPC. What if I negotiated with the Big Bad instead of attacking them ? You know what, this tavern feels shady, I’ll take a look at its accounting and loot its wine cave.

What will you do then ? Stop them and kill the fun, or let them be and lose control of your scenario ?

The best way to do it is through anticipation, to have a balanced scenario. I’ll give you here some tips I use and that, according to my victims my players, are somehow efficient.

First of all, as seen in the previous article “How to write a TTRPG scenario”, a good first step is to divide your scenario in several scenes, and to identify the “fixed points”, who must have a predetermined resolution, and the “mobile points” where the PCs have more leeway. Then you’ll have to play with the proportion between fixed and mobile points, to let your players breathe between the scenario-heavy scenes, while not divulging which point is which.

Then, always prepare different roads, whether it be in a dungeon map or in the solution of an investigation. This will give a more organic feel to the story progression since choices will be made. And it doesn’t matter if they all reach the same destination. I often feel that three is a good number of roads, to avoid weighing too heavily on the writing and preparation while still avoiding binary choices. And these roads can be drastically different, for example on a model fight/puzzle/social.

You can widen even more the field of possibilities by adding scenes that are completely open-choice, as long as it doesn’t take too much space in your scenario. This could be an obstacle where you don’t write any predetermined solution : you let your players think about it and, if they suggest a solution that seems plausible enough, you let them use it.

You can also give your players a time span in universe where they are exceptionally free of any pressure and they are free to do as they please. For example they might have an appointment the next day with an investigator, but they have nothing planned until then.They can explore side quests, go talk to their favorite NPC, or interact between them.

Something that is always interesting while writing a scenario divided in scenes is to use conditional writing. When the PCs encounter a situation, you may have prepared elements like “if at this previous mobile point the PCs did this, then they encounter option A, else they encounter option B”. This gives the PCs the impression that their choices had more impact, since their past actions have present consequences. Of course, if you want, A and B can only be cosmetic options leading to the same conclusion, but the effect remains.

Finally, I can’t advise enough in favor of the use of recurring NPCs : as described in the previous article “how to write a remarkable NPC in your campaign”, some NPCs should come back at different points in the scenario. Make them remember some specific things from their previous encounters. Create a few NPCs whose character arcs are only made of mobile points, so the PCs can shape them through their interactions. This will give a large freedom to your players on elements that will not derail your scenario.

And while we’re talking about NPCs, this last advice should not be used more than once or twice in a full campaign to avoid becoming a cliché : the Gathering. Juste before a critical moment the PCs meet in a known place (a “recurring place”, following the article “How to write a place for your TTRPG”) with all the NPCs the players bonded with. Emphasis on the “have bonded with” : if the players have bad beef with an NPC, or if they just didn’t interact much, this NPC won’t come. On the other hand if they got particularly close to a specific NPC, this one will have a major role in the Gathering. Moreover, when you’re writing these scenes, you can give some bonus to the PCs according to which NPC came to their Gathering ; this way the players will be comforted in the decision to bond with them.

There you are, I hope these few tips will be useful to you. What about you, do you have other techniques to avoid railroading your scenario ? How much do you guide your PCs in your stories ?

[mercurygray]

Small Dungeons and Dragons rant below the cut.

Occasionally I talk on this blog about my DnD campaign. My college friends started this during the pandemic as something to do on Sunday nights, and I've enjoying learning more about how to play and building characters even if I'm still shit at roleplay.

We're playing Curse of Strahd (a classic) and recently, Strahd has given our party an ultimatum - we seem to be causing a lot of problems and if we don't solve one of his, he's going to kill us.

(For those of you who don't play DnD, Curse of Strahd is a gothic adjacent quest where you're transported to a demiplane called Barovia and have to kill a vampire named Strahd who's killed the gods who used to rule this place and taken over the entire land, and your job, as adventurers, is to find a bunch of magical stuff and kill him.)

The problem he wants us to solve is pretty straightforard: he wants us to go kill the Abbot (a mysterious magical/celestial being who has his own agenda.)

Now, we've been playing this campaign for the better part of three years now, and honestly if I were Strahd Von Zarovitch I'd be getting angry with us too, and lately it feels like we're getting close to a Total Party Kill because either we've failed to find the things or people we need, failed to make friends in the right places, or just…wasted time going on random side quests because we are a bunch of bleeding hearts in Barovia and we can't seem to help ourselves when random problems come across our path.

And I guess it's frustrating to me, as someone who likes puzzles and prides themselves on being a pretty good puzzle-solver, and who enjoys stories and being a storyteller, to keep feeling like I'm missing some big piece of information, or a clue, about what we're supposed to do next. Like we're going to fail this quest, and we're all going to die, because we couldn't stop looking at butterflies and adopting strays and we never got around to doing the stuff we actually needed to do. I don't like being bad at story-telling, I don't like missing clues, and I don't like not knowing where the story is supposed to go next so that I can get us there.

And I also don't like zoning out for long stretches of our sessions because I'm bored and I can't follow the plot any more.

Recently our DM just gave us a few more pages of Strahd's journal, which we swiped from the castle the last time we were there.

It's all...stuff we knew, mostly, just fleshed out in more detail, but if you're going to give us four pages of stuff to read, is any of it going to be useful or actionable or something that will move the story to the place we're supposed to be so Strahd doesn't kill us all? We're still looking for our high-powered ally (and we don't know who it is) and we're still too weak to defeat the Abbot.

I realize some of this might be my Type A personality, and some of this might be the fact that there is no correct way to play this game, and some of this might be that I am…just bad at DnD, but am I bad for thinking perhaps some of this is also our DM? Like. I feel like we need some more breadcrumbs somewhere to get us to go in the right direction.

Is a little forward progress too much to ask???

[yourlocaltreesimp]

“On the Rag”

Synopsis: Sr!Link is utterly clueless of what to do when you come down with a mysterious and sudden infliction which causes you great, unending pain… it’s just your period.

Tags: GN!Reader, no pre-established relationship, idiots in love

@trippygalaxy

☆⋆｡𖦹°‧★

Quite honestly, Link was worried. Of course, his journey was stressful, with the fate of hyrule on his shoulders and as the Dark Knight had kidnapped Zelda. But that wasn’t the current cause of his pacing. Those were all fixable, identifiable issues.

High orders for him to complete, yes, but he at least had some general idea of where to start.

Your recent sickness, however, was not something he knew how to fix.

Monsters could be fought, dungeons could be solved, quests could be completed, but there was no immediate fix-it to your health, especially when you were so insistent that you were “fine.” When that clearly wasn’t the case. Your eyes were tired and loopy, you winced even as you stood or sat still, he even found several discarded bloody rags.

Hylia help him, if the monsters didn’t kill him, you would first.

He’s beside himself, his boots making consistent thumps as he walks in loops, trying to dispel worry from his gut.

“What’s got you all wound up” Wind stood in his path, the sound and light that’d usually come from the medallion not catching his attention, too busy spiralling. He looks around to find the lobby (or at least the small side room he’d begun his breakdown in) blessedly empty with no one to see or hear him be spooked by ghosts of heroes past.

“It’s-“ He begins to talk, only to be interrupted.

“His Lover is sick.” Worlds leaned over his shoulder, countering from all the weight being in his heels. Afterall, he was still leaning back after being spooked.

“They’re not my-“ He’s now doubly mortified. Not only were you in possibly grave dangers he can’t prevent, the group had all got the wrong impression. Good goddesses themselves-

“Oh please” Time huffed, unamused with the musings of his descendants, “With their stubbornness they’ll die, sooner than recover” Link felt the blood drain from his face. Any previous blush left him. Cold. He couldn’t actually lose you, right?

“Awe stop it” Sky managed to shove the others off of him, fussing over Link as though he were a mother cucco. That is, to say, frightening to every other hero.

“Everything will be alright, you hear me?” Still, he felt as if something wasn’t quite right about the whole situation. There was something he was missing. If only you would talk to him.

“What will be alright?” Wild arrived after all his brothers, curious to see what the fuss was about if the rest of them couldn’t fix it.

“It’s just-“ Link could feel the concern and worry break him “I don’t know if they’ll be ok, and they won’t talk to me and I can’t fix it and I know they’re in pain-“ He shudders when he breathes, more than a little embarrassed.

“Hey hey, tell us exactly what the issues are. I’m sure one of us will have an answer!” A chorus of ‘Yeah!’s ensued and it felt as if maybe it will be ok.

“Well- They’ve spent a lot of time resting, still look really tired though… and they wince a lot, even if they aren’t moving. Like something sharp” The others nod along, following the symptoms as Link explains.

“And I've found a few bloodied rags. If it was any extreme wound, a red potion would work, and yet they refuse to take them. As if it wouldn’t work” He looks upon his mentors to find them equally as puzzled as him.

“And their mood- it’s as if they’ve been cursed! They wept like there’s nothing to live for when we met the stable dog when arriving. And they lash out as if i mean harm-“ That does get a few pitiful stares from Sky particularly.

Everyone oohs and aahs over the strange set of symptoms and behaviors. They murmur quietly about poisons, curses, hexes and the like.

“Are y’all jus’ that naive?” A very concerned, slightly exasperated, looking Rancher looks over all the heroes.

“What? You know what it is smart guy?” Worlds raises a single eyebrow in judgement.

“Their period?” He pauses, looking at the group who now resemble a parliament of owls.

“Y’know, ‘on the rag’ ‘shark week?’” He offered, expecting more of a response. There were mumbled ‘Oh’s and nods of acceptance. Twilight couldn’t stop himself from laughing at the absurdity of them debating whether you’d been cursed, meanwhile your body is just doing as it’s supposed to.

“Don’t worry, kiddo. That sweetheart a’ yers will be jus’ fine” The blood returns to Link’s cheeks, flushing them a healthy red.

“Naw go on, i’m sure a hot water bottle and some comfort wouldn’t do em’ any harm”

“And you’re sure that’s what this is?”

“Positive.”

Roughly a half hour later, Link found himself outside your room at the Inn. His arms were full; a hot water bottle he’d gotten from Twi, some chocolates from Wild and a cup of tea Sky said would help with healing.

“Hey, can I come in?” He called weakly, fine to leave the gifts outside if you weren’t up to socialising.

“Mhm” Your equally soft voice called from the other side of the door, drowsy and pained.

“I have some gifts… to uh- help you feel a little better” His smile was as boyish and crooked as always. He always felt a little giddy around you. Like that uninhibited joy from his childhood could worm back into his life, no matter how hellish it got. He set down the tea and the chocolates in favour of helping you sit up.

Now that he knew he had nothing to worry about and you weren’t dying imminently, he managed to find your tousled hair and sleepy smile endearing. He padded your back with pillows and made sure there was a layer or two between your skin and the bottle so there wouldn't be any burns.

“Is that any better?” In all honesty, he was at your beck and call. You could ask him to seek healing from the hottest spring in the depth of hebra and he’d set out without hesitation. He chuckles as you respond in a pleased hum, eyes closed as you’re relieved of some pain. He feels himself settle in his feet. Sure. Calm.

“I have some tea here too, and chocolates. I won’t be offended if you don’t want them. I mean I just heard that the hel-

A finger is haphazardly pressed to his lips.

“Shh.” You demand, and his protests die in his throat.

You pat the spot next to you expectantly, looking back at where he stands, frozen, as if upset he hadn’t moved yet. He sat awkwardly on the bed beside you as you silently shuffled about pillows. He was about to fuss that your back would be sore without padding before you flopped back into the bed and dragged him with you. A noise of surprise leaves him as you decide that you, indeed, wish to be horizontal. He takes a few deep breaths, letting himself settle in the moment and except cuddling with you for a little bit.

For the pain of course.

As friends.

(Bonus: From inside the Medallion, the Twili King had a decent enough understanding of what had transpired. The newest, and perhaps emotionally densest, hero has finally been able to shove it all aside in exchange for some intimacy. It’s so odd. He remembers being so scared to talk to Midna when they were courting, but it all worked out in the end. He’s sure Link will get his happy ending too)

((bonus bonus: Twi has an aneurism upon the discovery that the cuddle session was only seen as “platonic” by the clearly lovestruck idiots))

[spaceorphan18]

Talking about The Legend of Zelda - because @measuringbliss wanted to know, and I never get to talk about my favorite video games, lol.

So. The conversation is about Breath of the Wild vs Tears of the Kingdom. Which... I'm sure has been beaten to death, I'm just giving my two cents about it.

First of all, as someone who has been a fan of Zelda games from literally the very first one, I really love the Switch games. I don't really care all that much about dungeons. I love open world exploring. And I like that I can just do whatever I want. So, the Switch games have been kind of perfect for me.

And, yeah, I do think they aren't perfect games -- there are issues. And I do understand people when they want better designed dungeons or get frustrated with weapon breakage, etc, etc. I'm not above finding the flaws in things I love. But I just wanted to preface with stating that I genuinely do like these games overall.

While I haven't played BotW in a few years, I have sunk nearly 1300+ hours into it since 2017. I honestly love this game. Sometimes, I would just wander up and down the beach without any sense of purpose just because it was so relaxing. I really love and adore this game.

Tears of the Kingdom I have played -- only 400 hours, which is roughly two play throughs. (Which, I realize is still a ton of hours, and yeah, I've probably spent too much of my life playing video games but here we are.) So, here's the interesting thing. I think I may actually like TotK better but having played BotW so much -- it has stalled my willingness to go back?

Alright, so breaking it down...

Story: I honestly think both games have issues with the story. I commend them for how they did it, they wanted to make a puzzle piece of a story, and that is always complicated to do in a non-linear fashion, and I commend them for ingenuity on this front. But both games suffer from having a weak(er) story overall. But I mean -- I'm going to be honest, I don't think any Zelda game has that complex of a story. I realize Majora's Mask has some darker and deeper themes to it, but I mean, these games just aren't made to be that complicated. And I think I'm okay with that.

That said, I think BotW wins in this regard. I think the story was more solid, and there's more to it. TotK feels incredibly thin on plot. I love the idea of taking a look into the past, but they could have done so much more with it. I think TotK got so caught up in new game mechanics that story suffered. (Though the opening and ending are both fantastic.)

Game Mechanics: I realize this can be a lot of things. I... don't necessarily care too much about these things as long as the game is playable. I don't mind weapon durability, which I see usually as the main complaint. I do think the TotK mechanics got way out of control with all the building and design stuff (I said when I first got it that you somewhat had to have an engineer's mind to play it and I very much don't - I just wanna hit things with a sword) but I did get used to it.

I do think that BotW's champion abilities were better - but I think they changed it up to make TotK harder, and that did work. But I think game play is more or less the same for both games, and I don't necessarily have a preference.

(Look, I can still hit things with swords and jump from high places and that's all I really want to do.)

Characters: I think both games more or less have the same issues. I like that Zelda got good development. I like that even Link got some development. But I think a majority of characters who are not named Link or Zelda just aren't developed that much. Even the champions and their descendants. I think they could have done more. I do think that TotK fills the world out a little better though. And there are more interesting NPCs running around. But like I said with story - these games are not games where the story is the main focus.

Side Quests: Maybe it's playing things like Skyrim, which has a zillion interesting side quests, that made me feel like BotW was lacking. I still think it is. Most of the side quests are simple and not really worth doing (Terry Town being the real standout). I do think it improved A LOT with TotK. It's not Skyrim by any means. But I do appreciate that more effort went into the side quests, and there are a lot more Terry Town things going on.

Dungeons/Shrines: Look, I know this is blasphemy, but I don't actually like LoZ dungeons all that much, despite them being a staple of the series. So, I'm not upset about the lack of them in these games. I will agree that the Divine Beasts felt... kind of too simple and uninteresting. I do love the designs of the TotK dungeons, even if they also have some issues. I feel kinda the same about the shrines for both games - they're fine. I'd rather do 100 more of them than more dungeons.

Enemies and Boss Design: First of all, I think I do agree with overall criticisms that the enemies feel the same after a while. They do. I do kind of wish there was more variety, but it's not something I feel all that passionate about. I do think that TotK was more creative with level bosses though (as irritating as some of them are). And the Ganon fight is much, much, much better this time around - as it feels like an actual challenge in TotK.

Collectibles and items: Look. I love collecting shit. It's one reason I love these games. I don't care that I'm not going to use the 50 different armor pieces - it's the fact that I can get them in the first place that makes me happy. There's no winner here -- other than me for getting to collect it all.

Music: I really enjoy the lite soundtrack for these games. It's ambiance that matches the game nicely, and the few times we do get music feel impactful. Sound design in general with this game is great.

Map Design/Exploration: So, this is the crux of my thoughts. I love this map. With BotW, I loved exploring every inch of it -- but I do wish there was MORE in it. It did feel very empty (again, especially so since I've been an avid Skyrim player for a decade+). But there was something relaxing about it.

The problem is knowing it so well -- coming into TotK I... knew where things were. Now, they mixed it all up, and it reminded me a lot of that second quest in the original Zelda game. But I do understand the feeling of sameness in the game. I think it's one unfortunate drawback to TotK.

And don't get me wrong, I do kind of love that they used the same map. I love that there is more to do. I liked the idea of the sky islands (though I'm not sure I love them in practice) and really loved the depths, as well as all the new caves.

But I do think that because of this, TotK just can't capture the, please forgive me for saying this, breath of fresh air that BotW was. It doesn't feel as new. It feels like... a sequel.

It feels a little like the game they wanted to do in the first place but couldn't, so we got BotW first.

And here in lies my complicated feelings about these games. I think I enjoy all TotK's added new components, the more in-depth game play, the better developed characters and side stories, the more interesting places to go and explore and do. I really have loved and enjoyed the game.

But there's something about Breath of the Wild's newness that can't be replicated. You can only explore those spaces for the first time once, and even while adding new places to go, TotK can't ultimately beat that.

I can't really chose one over the other. I can't. If I had to rank them, I think BotW would edge TotK out slightly - in that it was the original base game that brought Zelda into a new era. But I need to revisit TotK and spend some more time with it.

Idk, I've been wondering since the Game Cube games are finally coming to Switch 2, if I should just replay the whole series and see how I feel about everything.

Idk, idk. I guess we'll see.

At the end of the day, though The Legend of Zelda series remains my favorite series of all time. And I don't see that changing any time soon. :)

[skyloftsword]

Why Tears of the Kingdom is the Breath of the Wild I was hoping for

Alright, so before I get into my rant. I really like Breath of the Wild. It's a very fun game and the events of 100 years ago are super interesting. It just... unfortunately let me down after Skyward Sword in two aspects that I personally feel Tears of the Kingdom succeeded at for me. Story and dungeons. Also please don't tell me to watch a Youtuber on why TotK is worse than nuclear war. I make my own opinions and my take on TotK is very unlikely to change. I have done 6 playthroughs and still feel this way. Spoiler warning.

Okay, so my issue with Breath of the Wild's story is how it feels like a mess at times. The memories don't even try to tell anything coherent outside of the final few. Some of them even need journals for any payoff as well. This system also limited the Champions from getting any development or character arcs. It took until Tears for me to appreciate them because Hyrule was still grateful for them. Revali's bow being treasured by Teba, Riju prays to Lady Urbosa in her diary, Mipha got Mipha's Court and Sidon's entire character arc was about how her death still haunts him and he doesn't want that to happen ever again. Daruk... got lights added to his statue's eyes I guess. Anyways, Tears' equivalent to them is the Neo Sages. Tulin, Riju, Sidon and Yunobo. They each get their own arc and you can tell how much they have grown since Breath of the Wild. What makes them better here is that they actually are relevant for more than just the Divine Beast boarding segments. Sidon deals with fear of losing his beloved Yona just like how he lost Mipha 105ish years ago, yet Yona and Link bring him to his senses. Riju goes from being stressed out about how she's too weak to defend Gerudo Town from the Gibdos with her aim, but Link returning reassures her. Tulin goes from being arrogant and thinking he can do anything all by himself to realizing that charging ahead all on his own is a bad idea and that working as a team is the best way to do things. Yunobo goes from being a manipulated crack dealer to being cowardly again for a bit to becoming courageous and willing to fight to defend Hyrule. These arcs help me appreciate the characters a LOT more. The Old Sages intentionally aren't fully fleshed out characters and its fine because they're barely on screen (their names are Ruto, Darunia, Nabooru and possibly just Medoh for the Rito Sage). Ganondorf being an actual character really helps as well. He wants to use the godlike power of the Secret Stones to his advantage to achieve total rule of the world (in the English localization at least). Rauru and Sonia are wonderful characters that actually try to help Zelda achieve her goal of returning to her time (nice opposition of Rhoam forcing her to achieve her light powers and being harsh towards her). Unlike the events of 100 years ago, the memories/Tears in this game actually focus on telling what led to the Imprisoning War in a specific order. The events in the memories and Tears also are all relevant and side stuff was pushed to the Stone Monument side adventure. Unfortunately the game is less linear than Breath (which honestly should be the other way around and is a massive storytelling issue), however Impa at least alludes to the order of the Tears when you go to the Forgotten Temple after the first one. The Fifth Sage quest is also an incredible questline that did what BotW should have done. It showed the Imprisoning War and how Ganondorf shouldn't be taken lightly. I seriously feel let down not seeing Link and Zelda fight the Calamity and losing. Also thank god you don't have to do an absurdly tedious backtrack quest to unlock the Camera, Tears, the Champion Leathers and the Kohga fight.

Onto the dungeons. I don't get why people switched up on the Divine Beasts in a positive way. They have a great gimmick and the "fights" are cool but that's it. The puzzles are... fine I guess? The visuals are cookie cutter and so are the bosses in every aspect except gameplay (and are basically just the Calamity split into 1/4). Tears' Temples are legitimately the most enjoyable dungeons in the series for me. The atmosphere, music, puzzles having a large amount of solutions, etc. Not to mention the boss fights actually being unique and very fun this time (BotW had some bangers too like Koshia and Thunderblight) and have unique fight themes that are so, so, so good. Seized Construct might be my favorite non-final battle boss theme for me. Also the pre-dungeon segments actually feeling like dungeons for 4/5 of them really helped make me like them more. Both games also have great and bad Shrines. TotK has far less bad ones and has a much better vibe with it's Shrines.

Anyways, ramble over. Thanks for reading. The only reason I made this post was because I was pissed off due to personal reasons. I love these games and this series so please don't take this as me hating BotW.

[via-the-cryptid]

Fun idea:

While living in the Treehouse, Snow Queen starts to mom Finn (And probably calls him Gunther? Who knows) because he is a kid, and she and Simon live there so obviously he has to be their son right? Now they are a family and Simon its never going to leave again.

Also Simon unwittingly starts to dad Finn around because he is Simon and he cant go around wthout adopting a child.

Finn feels a little weird because, while he already had Joshua and Margaret, these two are humans (Or in case of Betty, mostly human) and he doesnt know how to feel about it. His relationship with Simon could be extra awkward depending if the events of The Citadel already happened and Martin is already going around.

sir ma’am or mx you are a genius.

I’m thinking the Sugar Snow War takes place before Finn goes on his dad quest, so at this point he’s still under the impression that he’s the only human around… except for Simon, who they pulled out of an icicle a while ago and who they haven’t seen much of since he went to the Candy Kingdom. he used to visit a lot when he was in Wizard City, but after that he sort of went quiet. now he’s back, with the Snow Queen who’s utterly doting on him and seems very clingy, and with Marceline, who’s a mix of happy that her adoptive mom got her beloved back, and absolutely pissed that her ex tried to imprison said beloved for blackmail purposes and then went on to destroy her mom’s entire kingdom. Marceline leaves shortly after making sure that SQ and Simon will be good to stay at the treehouse (Jake said yes and what Jake says goes), but that just leaves them with Snow Queen, Simon, Finn, Jake, BMO, Shelby in the walls, and also Gunther, who keeps disappearing randomly (presumably to also be in the walls).

and then Finn comes down from i go stroom for breakfast the next morning, and Snow Queen has already set a place at the table for him next to the penguin and Simon is making pancakes, which is Weird, and Jake is already eating the pancakes, which isn’t as weird but it is a little odd that he’s not the one making them. apparently these two want to contribute to the household or something? Finn doesn’t really mind, the pancakes are good and Snow Queen is being pretty civil.

then it starts to get a little weirder.

she put snacks and a couple ice knives in his backpack before he went adventuring, ‘just in case’? she asked if he remembered his sword and said to have fun in the dungeon? she’s offering him life advice that is probably very illegal but not actually that bad? y’know what, maybe he will beset a wizard with penguins the next time they try to take his stuff. Magic Man has it coming, anyways.

it sort of reminds him of his mom — Jake’s mom first, but Finn’s mom, too. she’d done this sort of thing with a little less crazy and a little more sensibleness, but it’s the same gist anyways. it’s only when Snow Queen tries to fix his hair before putting his hat on him and calls him Gunther that he realises she’s trying to parent him.

and honestly, he doesn’t know that he’s really that opposed to it. sure, it’s kinda weird, but she’s not actually hurting anything. Simon’s been following her example to some degree, helping Finn with puzzles and artifacts, telling him about human stuff from the past, suggesting new tricks and games to try, but it doesn’t really feel like Joshua’s ‘tough love’. it’s something different, something Finn doesn’t really remember experiencing before — the closest thing he’s had to this is Jake, who’s definitely never been quite so parental about his worrying.

honestly, his only questions at this point are whether it would make Marceline his older sister if Snow Queen and Simon tried to adopt him (it would), and whether Jake is getting adopted too (he is).

(side note — Finn isn’t quite so messed up about Martin in this au because as soon as the events of the Citadel have played out, he walks himself straight over to the Snow Kingdom and lays on the floor until someone asks him what’s wrong, and then he gets to have Family Therapy with his third set of parents, since the first are half-unavailable and half-terrible, and the second are no longer around. He also gets to hold a penguin the entire time which is very therapeutic and does not leave him with the desire to rip Martin’s arm off.)

[thenightfolknetwork]

Hello,

I need help. Or maybe I don’t. Maybe I need someone to tell me to stop worrying? Oh let’s be honest I have no idea what I need, that’s why I’m writing in.

See, I have a perfectly ordinary job during the week. I work in an office. It’s nice. Spreadsheets, cake on birthdays, quarterlies. It’s a boring existence but my afternoons and evenings are my own and the pay’s good. Sapio-Liminal relations are improving, but by bit. Honestly I’m just impressed my coworker got the time off when they wound up expecting in two of their three dimensional shifts.

So that’s during the week and you’d be forgiven for thinking I’m just about the most sapio a sapio can be. My liminal properties tend to activate on Friday afternoons, when I- travel.

Teleport?

Move. I move. To the same general area of a whole new plane of existence. It’s a known family trait- I’ve got a grandfather who became king of a small nation in my secondary plane, and my sister’s the apothecary for the capital city. She sells the really good potions, by the way, so if you’re in the area of Spirits and Sundries or someone gives you a radiant quest to bring ingredients to Amaranthia in the Bronze Quarter, just be polite and she’ll fix you right up.

Ah, but this isn’t about my sister’s business, it’s about me and what I do. See, this shift is so regular that I went and got myself a weekend job, just to have something to do. So if you’re sent to the Caves of Madness just north of the Foresaken Forest, be ready for the Riddle Master!

I’m in the first room of the dungeon, just after you pass the initial key puzzle. I keep my uniform in a chest in there, and there’ s a nice break room off the back. I like the work a lot! I see lots of new people and I’m always gathering riddles- there are some chat standards but I like to mix it up sometimes. They aren’t supposed to be hard, or else what’s the point of trying to conquer a dungeon? So sometimes, I admit, I give hints. There’s always the rude adventurer who attacks me first but when you take a job like this you don’t die, it’s in the fine print. I don’t like cleaning the blood off my stuff, though. Takes ages.

Anyway now that we’ve walked halfway around the block, my point.

I look very plain. Humanoid, two arms, two legs, a beard. It’s never bothered me but I am very distinctly ordinary which tends to be recognizable and last weekend I was in the village during my break and I saw a coworker. Not from this side, not from the Caves of Madness, no. It was Tina, from accounting. She was picking up a quest by the stocks.

And I realized, she might wind up at the Caves of Madness. She might make it through the puzzle door and be faced with the Riddle Master only to realize this Riddle Master is Jeff. From the office.

I don’t have hangups about my two worlds meeting- it’s hard to, when your sister pops in for Christmas still dressed for the Winterscratch Festival, or your brother’s filing out taxes for a whole kingdom over lunch. I just really like my job in the Caves, and I like to think I do it well. Our rating as a starter dungeon’s quite high, and I’m proud of that. What if my transdimensional adventurer coworkers encounter me and just- aren’t impressed? That’s not the Riddle Master, that’s Jeff. He has a rubber band launcher on his desk. His mug says ‘party naked’ with a balding chicken on it and he won’t let HR throw it away.

I don’t want to disappoint adventurers, especially not ones who work with me in my primary plane. I also don’t want to cause harm to my dungeon’s reputation. But aside from the whole ‘moving planes’ thing I am utterly dull. What do I do if my performance isn’t enough to make up for not being fantastical like Mordrath the end room boss or Reyala the sidequest kobold queen?

Is it okay to just be Jeff the Riddle Master?

Thank you for writing in, reader. Your letter serves as an excellent example of quite a common genre of letter we get through the inbox here at the Nightfolk Network and I think it might be rather illustrative for other followers.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but what you've done here is make up a scenario in your head based on the worst possible interpretations of everyone involved, and then worried yourself sick about that scenario coming to pass.

This may sound a little blunt, but please understand, I don't mean that dismissively. I only hope to offer you a little perspective, and to help you come to a more accurate understanding of the situation as it actually stands.

You enjoy your work in the dungeon, and are clearly doing a good enough job to keep your managers happy. None of your previous visitors have expressed any disappointment at your relatively mundane appearance, and it hasn't been an obstacle in the job so far.

Perhaps your co-worker will end up in your dungeon. Perhaps she'll make it to your section, and perhaps she'll recognise you. So what? I don't see any reason why she should be any more likely to be disappointed by you than any of your other visitors.

And even if she is disappointed, that doesn't have to mean anything to you. She's a co-worker, not a treasured friend whose opinion could make or break your self-esteem. You owe it to her to be a conscientious, respectful colleague. That's all. What you get up to outside of work, and whether she enjoys your efforts, is irrelevant.

You haven't let down your dungeon so far, and I see no reason to believe you will in the future. Stop borrowing trouble from the future, and concentrate on having fun and being the same old Jeff the Riddle Master you've always been. He seems plenty interesting to me.

[For more creaturely advice, check out Monstrous Agonies on your podcast platform of choice, or visit monstrousproductions.org for more info]

[legitimatesatanspawn]

Here's a random rec to anyone who likes to read/watch Dungeon Meshi if you're into video games as well:

Touhou Mystia's Izakaya (PC, apparently coming to Switch soon) and What Did I Do To Deserve This My Lord (PSP).

Touhou Mystia's Izakaya is a cooking restaurant sim where you wander the different areas in the world during the day to collect food, do quests, and barter and so on. But during night you prepare the restaurant and then serve food catered to your customers' orders and individual tastes. (So kind of Recettear but the store is a food cart.) This means that as time goes on you might wind up serving anything from grilled eel with tea to mushroom hot pot and a cocktail.

As for What Did I Do to Deserve This My Lord? (Also known as "Holy Invasion of Privacy, Badman" in America, but 2 came with 1 and used that title sooo... that's what I remember it as). It's a PSP RTS Strategy-Puzzle game in the style of a Tower Defense (kind of) where you have to build up monster ecosystems to prevent the hero from capturing the evil overlord.

For obvious reasons I have no idea if there is a game that plays out like the series properly but hey at least there's some games with the ecosystem or catering food to fantasy beings as the main focus rather than a minigame or side-thing.

[pixiecaps]

im very confused how this all ties together like okay

- cucurucho asks jaiden what she wants. she says egg safety

- cucurucho sends jaiden off to do tasks

- code attacks start being strange and non hostile

- qcellbit tries to kill himself a weird green screen appears and after gets a book from an unknown source saying it was an interesting performance

- later gets another book saying to follow jaiden and collect evidence

- jaiden does the nine floor dungeon with others which seems to be an abandoned federation building that has a red timer. also 8 ice chambers?

- the evidence cellbit finds involves logs of this federation area and general talk about perfection and experimentation

- cucurucho tells jaiden she did a good job & that shes one step closer

- the egg quests are in binary code

- timer runs out they return to the dungeon SEE THE GREEN SCREEN AGAIN and later after clearing the dungeon find the code entity in the timer room

- the entity writes a book with coords to redstone puzzle rooms

- the teams do the redstone puzzle and hear a train sound

- the train they arrived on is leaving and goes through the nether portal

- the portal works for the first time and reveals the train tracks end on the other side and then closes the nether once more

- poster gets tweeted out about Something coming soon

so why exactly did cucurucho want the timer activated ? the code was in the room and told them to do the puzzles that led to the train so assuming they’re opposing parties that wasn’t something cucurucho wanted ? what more steps is jaiden going to have to do ? what is the point with the cellbit part ? what is up with the green screen ?

[villanelleskiss]

tears of the kingdom is a love letter to wind waker

alright long post here we go:

breath of the wild changed open world video games just as much ocarina of time changed video games at the time. it changed the way we tell stories and how we go forward from those things. however, breath of the wild feels like what it is, a clean slate, yet it honors every game made prior till this time. through amiibo we are able to gather set pieces of previous link's. we are able to obtain special weapons that have been wielded by characters of old. so despite it being a clean slate, we still hold onto what made zelda. a simple hero, using every ounce of courage to protect the world, by choice or by simply being born to take the path when the day comes.

after ocarina of time comes out, we see several sequels that stem from it, keeping most general aspects of the previous entry while creating its own thing. this is where wind waker thrives. ocarina of time does feel very restrictive and i do have a lot of struggles replaying it for that nature. old zelda formats are linear, but ocarina of time is almost too linear. i don't enjoy having to take on dungeon after dungeon just to eventually get the item i need to do the task that i want. wind waker embraces open world with a game with some of the fewest dungeons in the series. but the difference is that, i actually enjoy these dungeons. i find the bright nature of the game easier to navigate most dungeons, they are pretty straight forward, the puzzles don't require as many items or having to search and do long side quests to obtain items that would be needed. and even in that case, there are only two dungeons that require items we don't naturally obtain along our journey and the game rewards you for exploring and finding it on purpose or simply by accident.

naturally, there are islands and sections that are restricted until we complete certain parts and gain items, but not in the same way ocarina of time was. it falls back onto the original zelda formula, letting you create your own journey and letting you find things through your own exploration. for that alone, it makes the game fun.

the story of wind waker, is one of love. the love a big brother has of his little sister, that gives him the courage to bear a sword and shield to save her. going alone on a journey as just a child to discover that his mission of saving his sister is not just that, but something much deeper and darker. that he must save her from ganondorf, a man sealed away for years back for blood to achieve what he failed to do the first time around. and along comes this boy, who threatens that. yet, what is so incredible is that link does not have to kill ganondorf, that is technically not his problem. he saves his sister from the helmaroc king and she leaves with the pirates. link could've told the king of red lions no, that he did not wish to kill ganondorf, but he understood that as long as ganondorf was still alive, he would threaten the world and every inhabitant. so, he chose to take on the curse of blood, bounding him to ganondorf and zelda for all times to come.

tears of the kingdom, much like its previous installment, allows you to create your own story, your own adventure. it rewards you for completing and discovering secrets, helping the towns and stables of the overworld, defeating great monsters that threaten it. however, from the beginning, it allows you to ignore all of those things and take on the main quest of defeating the great evil. but we, as the players, choose to help others, protect them, lead them to safety because we are acting as link would. link wants to help and explore and discover everything he can to prepare him to defeat the evil looming around him, clouding his mind and dreams.

but what makes tears of the kingdom specifically stand out compared to breath of the wild, is how much it takes after wind waker. again, breath of the wild honored all games, but tears of the kingdom took wind wakers blueprint and inserted it into tears of the kingdom. and yes, there is the argument that can be made that all zelda games honor each other in some way, but this time it feels personal. intentionally writing a letter to a once hated game for its childlike nature to say, we are here and we will protect you. a more beloved and accepted game, to its seemingly lesser installment and giving it the chance to be loved underneath the wing of a protector.

what do i see in tears of the kingdom that is also of the wind waker? many things. the deku leaf is the original paraglider. we see the same korok models in both botw/totk. the villages we see in both wind waker and botw/totk are extremely tight knit, they work together with others, they look after each other and if one is in trouble, others will be there to help. an argument could be made that valoo is an extremely distant ancestor of our great elemental dragons since we know that evolution is possible in this world. bomb flowers? using water to create platforms that are identical in wind waker and botw/totk. the secret stones becoming bigger and greater versions of the pearls we see in wind waker, albeit getting similar versions in other games previous. how our quest is about finding someone we love, not just about taking down evil. link finding his sister is the same as link stopping at nothing to find zelda. the sailing we go on from lurelin, which is nearly identical layout to outset island to eventide island reminds me so much of our great sea adventures. the very finite ending that comes from both games, with huge battles leading up until then. and speaking of huge battles, colgera is an honor of both dragon roost and molgera, with the rito village theme playing a slower version of dragon roost. and while, wind waker definitely drags out our final confrontation with ganondorf, us meeting him twice before, then phantom ganon. very similar to how it is with ganondorf in tears of the kingdom, we see him reborn, to fight his phantom form, before finally descending deep into the depths to find him there. and by the end of both games, ganondorf is killed once and for all.

yet, something that makes me pause, is ganondorf himself. it has been pointed out that in tears of the kingdom that his swords bear the names of his mothers, kotake and koume. his swords in wind waker, bear the same names on each, almost nearly the same dual-wielding way. and the way that ganondorf in tears of the kingdom acts as if he has done this before, that he is naturally dark and evil in nature, but refusing to be killed. refusing to give up. so he swallows the secret stone, turning into the demon dragon swearing to rule and destroy the land. he had been sealed away for 10,000 years, attempting to revive himself by using just an inch of his force to create calamity ganon. very similar to how ganondorf was sealed in ocarina of time, to become unsealed in wind waker to go back on his original quest.

this could make another timeline argument, that tears of the kingdom is a clean slate but then, what about the depths? what is down there? what was down there? what if the world we have now above is born of land that was once under water? what if the depths was once the great sea? in wind waker, we were sent on a quest to find koroks and plant seeds to make new forests, so creating a new world is not completely out of order. there is much beyond the great sea we we unable to see or get to. so while link in wind waker went on beyond hyrule to find a new world, we never learn what becomes of the great sea after we depart from it. we have the same koroks, surely it could be possible. but that could be another post all on its own.

so, lastly, let's discuss how love enables our adventures in both of these games. skyward sword, we saw the first possible canon relationship between link and zelda, but that sits at the very top of the timeline, so we won't focus on that. wind waker happens at a time where there is no hero, where every boy coming of age is giving a green tunic, hoping that one day the hero will awaken. link simply thinks that on his birthday, he is just fulfilling a duty of tradition and that by the end of the day, he will be back in his pajamas and that's all. he doesn't expect to see a giant monster soaring through the sky to drop a random girl in the forest that would later become his best friend and be revealed to be princess zelda. but that event sets off his sister being kidnapped, and link's love for her is what leads him to stop at nothing to get her back. link's grandma falls ill with worry for their safety and his love for her, takes him back to heal her and she cooks him soup to aid him in his hardest battles, because she loves him and wants to protect them. she even sends link all of her savings, 20 rupees, because she thinks that even the smallest amount will be of use to him and to think that small amount of rupees to her was so great to give to him, it means even more to us, because we know that, that is all she had to give. that our grandma would give it all to see us back home safe. there is no greater love than that.

then, tears of the kingdom comes along and brings that question of what love really is back. at the very beginning of the game, we joined by princess zelda, whose side we have not left since the end of breath of the wild. where zelda goes, we go. in breath of the wild, we see her awakening her sealing power because link's life was in danger. her struggles was partly caused by her not realizing that she loves link, or struggling to admit that she loves link. we wonder that if she realized it from the beginning, how different our adventure would've been? but we also have to think, zelda's entire existence of power has been compared to link's, who came so easy to him, as he simply pulled the master sword out of its pedestal at age 8. she saw him at every turn, he was her own personal knight. he was a reminder of all of her failures. but she didn't understand he had his own struggles, that he chose to be silent to bear his duties than to speak on them. and yet, before zelda knew all of that, she would chastise him for following her, until her own life was in danger and he stepped in without question to save her, where her outlook on him became much different. they developed a mutual respect for each other, but love? still of question, since link technically was bethrothed to mipha, who gave him the zora armor to propose to him. but we know, that, that is doomed to end in sadness as link won't leave zelda's side. their feelings will always be there at the surface, eventually unable to go on without addressing them. so when the calamity resurrects, as horrible as it is, solves that problem. and that's when zelda discovers that she will stop at nothing to save and protect link because she loves him and will not let anything happen to him. it is no longer about him being the one to bear the master sword, it is about them. about who they are together. link falls in battle and is sent into a great slumber, while zelda seals herself away with calamity ganon. but before that, there is a small, forgettable scene, where zelda returns the master sword to its pedestal and asks the great deku tree to give a message to link and he stops her, telling her that it will sound much better coming from her than him. we never learn what this is, but by the end of the game, zelda turning to link and asking him if he really remembered her and then their adventure starting anew as they run off into the openness of hyrule field together. but again, despite 100 years passing (minus the time we spend playing the game) we don't know how much time actually passes till we take on calamity ganon. so they are only apart for a short amount of time because they have been sealed away together.

then, we need to talk about how after everything that happens in breath of the wild, how they are the only ones who understand everything that has happened. they are the only ones they can each depend on to go to when they have nightmares or bad memories, discussing what happened, or what didn't happen. and you would be crazy to think that after what happened, that link would ever let zelda out of his sight again. we do learn what happens between the two games, zelda creating a school in hateno, her and link sharing a home together. zelda even has a secret well made, which wouldn't be needed if she lived by herself in link's home. but there is a lot that we don't know, that simply leaves it for us to make our own stories and conclusions. but we do know that they haven't left each others side. so, when we are together with zelda at the beginning of tears of the kingdom, it feels like an adventure we are going on with zelda by our side, with our partner, and when she falls at the bottom of the chasm, with link in extreme pain, unable to catch her, it felt like we failed at protecting the one we love. so, of course, one of our first main quests is to find princess zelda. we think, oh, not another game where she's gone and just sidelined. because she's not, zelda is next to us in every single way, albeit in a different way, but she is with us, as the light dragon, watching over us at all times. she holds our sword because she loves link so much, enough to turn herself into an immortal dragon so we could save hyrule, because her love for link and her kingdom was that great. her last words before transforming was link's name. she aids us in our final battle, soaring through the skies like her tail was on fire because her devotion to link was too strong to lose herself. she still knows it's us, her love is shown to us in that moment by catching us every time we dive down to go after the demon dragon. then, the love for her is shown by link when time freezes and he wants to turn her back, but doesn't know how, until rauru and sonia show up to aid him in that. and when zelda is falling through the skies, we reach for her, catching her, saving her despite our earlier failures to do just that. zelda awakens and says that she woke up when she felt the warm loving embrace of link, falling into tears knowing that she is home. but not just back in hyrule, but with link.

from there, both games are open ended, but feel finite as well. wind waker, we go onto discover a new world. tears of the kingdom, we look to preserve the one we have now, to better prepare for the future and to leave the one of plagued darkness behind for good. to go forward in a new adventure, one forged in love.

[multifr0gg]

I FINISHED ECHOES OF WISDOM AND I'M SOBBING!!!!!!(⌇ຶД⌇ຶ)

It took roughly 22-23 hours and I haven't even done all the side quests or collected all the heart pieces!

(My reveiw under the cut!!)

||||⚠️SPOILERS FOR EOW⚠️||||

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Echoes of Wisdom is a beautiful, well thought, and diverse game. Unlike many other Zelda games EoW shows just how creative you can get with how you want to play!! Say if you wanted to climb a cliff that's to tall, well you could use a table and box combo to make your way up! Or you could use a cloud echo to infinitely reach the top, or maybe you want to just go straight up? Use a water block echo to make a direct bridge up!! The possibilities in this game are endless, you can play however you want with whatever strategy you come up with, the game lets you decide how you want to play!! I definitely recommend playing Echoes of Wisdom! I thoroughly enjoyed it and I believe you would as well!

(I will be splitting this reveiw up into three giant paragraphs)

¹ The beginning, ²The Goddesses, ³The end Fights!(Echo Zelda,Null)

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The Beginning

When I first started the game I was pleasantly surprised when you first get to play the game as Link in the beginning walk towards where Zelda is being held, as well as immediately fight Ganon!(It scared the crap out of me when the game made me fight him first cause I was NOT prepared!!) when Zelda finally breaks free and you get to move her around I was already squealing like a little pre-schooler! xD

After making my way back to Castle Town it was so interesting to talk to all the towns people and see how they reacted and acted around her(I love little Romi sm it hurts) and when the rift opened up and stole away the King, Minister Lefte, and Captain Wright it was so cool to see echoes of them come from the rift and trick all the guards.(even if it sucked for Zelda, and who knows what kind of trauma that gave her, but it's still cool for me!) Tri is such a brilliant companion to Zelda and compliments her well! The way it doesn't fully understand Hylian emotions helps give off that it has never really talked to Hylians before Zelda and that makes it a nice detail to see!!(I had to redo the guard scene so many times! ☜(ꐦ`o´) )

After escaping The castle and making my way to Lueberry's house it was fun to explore the still world for the first time! The first dungeon was such a blast to do, the puzzles were fun and some of them were actually kinda tricky and I'm happy I actually had to step back and think for a minute! When I first saw Echo Link I was kicking my feet and and smiling so wide my cheecks hurt! (I might of said oh my god a few to many times aswell) The fight was kinda hard since you didnt have much to work with in the beginning, I just threw pots to distract him then hit him with rocks xD (I mean if it works it works🤷‍♀️) Afterwards when I finally got to talk to Lueberry it was really interesting you could ask him about Link! Canonically Link is mute since he got stolen by a rift along with a bunch of other kids, but he was along some of the rare handful who managed to return back! I'm glad they gave him a reason as to why he doesn't speak instead of just say he doesn't speak just cause he can't.

I RUSHED To the Gerudo Desert to see what was going on and it was really fun to run around and explore! Meeting Dohna was really fun, and when we meet the Chief I love that Dohna took Zelda's side and defended her when the Chief didn't believe Zelda. (Idk if it's obvious but Omg- I LOVE Dohna!) The Gerudo dungeon was fun and I really enjoyed it! Fighting Echo Link this time was really hard(For me) but was still really enjoyable!!

The River Zora and the Sea Zora were very interesting! It was super fun getting to swim around and explore the waters for treasure! Having to look at the Leaders of the Zoras argument from both sides was pretty funny since both of their prides were so big they couldn't come to reason. Watching Lord Jabu Jabu swallow the assistants to the leaders was kinda unexpected but was still cool to see and also helped add a bit more urgency to the situation! The music elements were really nice and the Stilled Lord Jabu Jabu dungeon was really fun! It also took me a second to figure out a strategy to fight the shrimp Boss.(I forgot it's name😅)

Watching the Rift consume most of Castle Town was really cool!! It also made you want to hurry up and help save the people! Walking around the still world and making your way to Hyrule Castle was interesting and having to fight all the monsters was fun aswell as navigating the strange terrain! The boss fight was awesome, and Exploring stilled Hyrule Castle aswell as taking the same path you took in the begining to make it to where you needed to be was an awesome detail!! When you finally talk to the real King it really made me happy to see how much he cared about his daughter, yet he realised how she wasn't a little girl anymore and was the only one who could stop the rifts. (Also just my opinion but I couldn't stop raging throughout the game because they kept calling it "PrImE EneGY" when it's the FREAKING TRIFORCE!!!)

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The Goddesses

Heading to Holy Mount Lanayru was a fun journey since I got my horse on the way there! It took me about five minutes of wandering around and checking out the entrance before realising I had to blown it open with a bombfish echo. Going through the caverns and dealing with the monsters was pretty annoying but overall wasn't to hard, meeting Condè was super nice and having him jump us over the mountain was fun! (I love Condè and I will burn the world for him if anyone dares be mean to him) Watching Condè from afar and his interactions with his fathers grave was heart breaking, as well as seeing him so upset over the echo of his big brother and thinking he wasn't good enough is so sad. (It's also sad to relise that this is a very real situation that happens, especially with kids, and I kinda hope that little detail helps bring a little more awareness to the situations that children have to face) Going through the frozen dungeon was extremely fun, the puzzles were creative and I actually got stuck on a few! (especially the one where you have to time that ice cube and step on the platform) The boss fight was awesome and a little difficult, having to alternate between fire and ice echoes was kinda hard since you really had to pay attention to his helmet piece! Talking to the Goddess was cool but I kinda wish they gave a her a design and had her show up on screen instead of being a voice in a text bubble. Getting to speak with Condè again and telling him it wasn't his brother who was being mean to him was so sweet and I'm so happy he wasn't upset anymore and was just happy to know his brother was still out there and loved him!! (Also at the end of the game if you watch the entire credits roll like I did there is an image that pops up of Condè and a hot air balloon coming towards the mountain and he looked so happy, I was so giddy and just kicking my feet because I love Condè and I'm happy for him)

Going to Goron City was interesting with all the ledges you had to go up. Making my way through all the fire monster was annoying to say the least, I kept catching fire! (though that's probably me being bad tho) Talking with the Gorons was fun, I'm glad you could just hop right in to the rift and save them in the beginning! Saving the other two older gorons didn't take to long, and when I had to figure out how to open the sealed passage let me tell you that it took me a solid FIVE minutes to figure out that oh- hey- I should try pulling out the screw with Tri! Talking with Darston and helping him relise he didn't need to rely on his fathers tablet was nice to see, though I feel like it went a little fast to reach that resolve. I believe the Goron quest should have been much longer and helped focus more on Darston's development into becoming the new Chief, aswell as his realization of not needing his fathers tablet to be a good leader! Overall the fire dungeon was still good but definitely the quickest one! (for me atleast) The boss wasn't to hard but it was fun non the less. Overall the Goron quest was very good, it didn't take to long which was nice. My point still stands for Darston but overall it was still enjoyable!

Finding the entrance to the Faron Wetlands took a minute since I had to search the map for a bit to figure out the best way in. The electric monsters were extremly annoying especially the rain frog! Meeting the Deku Scrubs was fun but honestly I only really like a few of them. (Some of them are so egotistical though, like there egos reach higher than Mount Lanayru and some just act like little snot nosed kids. I can just imagine them singing skipidi toilet or saying "your so omega rizz" or whatever the newest genration of small kids are saying) Overall getting into the Sweet Spot didn't take to long, but seeing them get so angry at Zelda for FIXING THE RIFT THAT STOLE ONE OF YOUR HOMES was pretty annoying. When they threw her in jail it was kinda funny that they just dropped the literal key to the cell right outside the door. Getting through the part where you have to evade the Deku Scrubs wasn't to hard since I had practice from the guards at the beginning of the game, but it was still annoying. When you finally get into the Sweet Spot and those Deku Scrubs get stolen away I honestly wasn't even affected by it since they were acting all annoyed even though their friend was trying to help them! And the one Deku Scrub who was prioritizing "Cotton Candy" over their friends made me angry, I wish she got swallowed instead. When I say the Faron dungeon took forever I mean it took FOREVER! It was kinda complicated figuring out the layout since there are so many entrances, and having to get the keys from all over was stressful since I didn't really know which door I should be opening first. The dark rooms were pretty cool and the fact you had to light all the torches to turn the lights on was kinda annoying but fun. The moving chest element was nice. Overall it probably took about an hour-hour and a half to beat the dugeon.(not including the trial and error for the boss itself) When Zelda walked out of the Sweet Spot and got swallowed by the darkness it shocked me when it spit her out and an echo of her formed!! It was super cool to see it act like her and say that her form would work for this!! When Tri was worried about her it made me love them even more, when she finally woke up back in her room and the King was worried about her I was happy. When he said that she was the only one who could help stop the rifts and asked her as the Priestess for help it made me happy that he knew she was strong enough for this even though as a father he was still worried!

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The End

Going through the forest was pretty easy since I has already explored through it earlier not knowing what I was suppose to be doing there, I made a mental note to go back there previously.(I forgot) I teleported through there to reach the guards but I think I might have accidentally skipped a cut scene doing that. Putting the orbs into the torches only took a few minutes since I just ignored and or ran from the monsters. Seeing and talking to the Great Deku tree was nice since I wasn't sure if it was going to be in the game or not! Watching as echo Zelda took the triforce of power and then went after Link, as well as telling Zelda to basically screw off and I'll come back to beat you up later was equally cool and hilarious! Traveling through the still world to catch up to echo Zelda was cool since you have to go through a piece of every region! Fighting echo Zelda took awhile since I kept having to summon echoes to fight off the void monsters while I shot at echo Zelda in sword fighter form till she fell down to hit her with the sword. Shooting Link out of the crystal and saving him felt awesome as well as Tri saying we had to give back his equipment since we were going to fight together!(Though I didn't really want to give him the sword)

Making your way through Null's body was incredible and cool, though it was kinda gross. When Link and Zelda were split up it was so cool to have to help Link make his way through some of the puzzles! The little nods were so silly but cute to me since he canonically can't speak.(They actually mention this in the game, if you talk to Lueberry and read his journal in the basement you'll see it) The fight against Null was ROUGH, I just kept spawning level 3 echoes to fight him, watching his transformation was cool and him just having a full on monologue in the beginning was kinda funny to me! Fighting beside Link was super cool! Watching as Null became more unstable in each round was awesome and it made me so angry when he started using Tri's to power his attacks. When I finally beat Null I was so happy I couldn't sit still with joy! When the screen faded to white with Tri and Zelda I thought we were going to meet the goddesses, but when Tri turned to to Zelda and began to speak with her my heart began to slow down. Hearing it say that he was no longer needed since Null was gone and that it and it's friends would return back to the goddesses broke my heart.(I kept saying "nooo"and "My baby please don't go" (⌇ຶД⌇ຶ) ) When Tri said it was feeling something and it wanted to tell her it made me pay more attention from my wallowing. Hearing it say "I'm feeling... Thank you" broke me, like I actually started to cry!! When Zelda reached out and held Tri's hand(foot?) I was so upset. Watching it and the rest of the Tri's float away was so hard, I kept saying "please come back, noooo"! Watching through the entire credit scene was sad, but I still held onto hope that there would be an after credit scene. I really hoped there would be an after credit scene with Zelda, then out of nowhere Tri just appears! But sadly there wasn't, but watching Zelda sit in her room then seeing the framed tri-rod on the wall helped make me feel a little better though. As the screen faded to black I felt sad that it was over now and Tri was gone, but yet I still felt happy that I could play the game and got to experience it all!

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My Thoughts

It definitely was worth it, all the time, effort, and emotions. I 110% recommend you play EoW yourself and get to experience it all!! It is a wonderfully well thought out game and incredibly creative, you can easily fall in love with the characters and story. Playing through and meeting all the characters was extremely fun! There are so many side quests and so many possibilities to explore. This game truly lets you use your brain to explore the world in your own way!

Every game has it's flaws though, you can't make everyone happy. The echoes menu screen was kinda annoying to use since you had to pay attention to what you were picking out and sometimes had to spend a long time scrolling down to find what you were looking for. The loot in the chests was pretty repetitive, most of it was ingredients to make smoothies and or rupees. Though making smoothies is a focus in the game so I guess it was pretty obvious as to why they did it. I wish Zelda had more outfits, maybe some nods to past Zelda games could have been cool! Overall the game was pretty well though out and there weren't to many bugs. (Though a funny story is that when I was doing the cemetery quest, after I opened the passageway I decided to come back to it in a minute after I filled in a little more of the map. When I went back though- the entrance was covered by the tombstone again. BUT- the thing is the tombstone that had been shoved back was still there!! There were now two giant tombstones and I couldn't get in! xD I went back to the title screen and opened the game again and it was fixed but it was still pretty funny!)

Though 2d games aren't for everyone and a lot of people enjoy more 3d games I still recommend you give The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom a chance, you never know if you'll like something till you try it. :)

(Also I am NOT joking when I say that this took like 9 days to write!! I got really busy and I'm a slow writer.)

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So many players out there including I agree that after playing any Zelda game for a long time, after every challenge you can set for yourself, after every goal you can beat, after every exciting Dlc you can buy to keep your hunger for more fed you always come back to one wish. To play it again, to boot up the game for the first time, no memories, no more knowing exactly what will happen, no more beating to same boss over and over again till you can just beat him with a stick (LITERALLY). Just to play it again and feel that joy, that giddy joy like a child getting their favorite candy. To play and just experience it all again and feel that wonder of exploring the world, the excitement and triumph of beating your first boss, that feeling at the end of the game of accomplishment and joy yet sadness that it's over. If I could go back and play EoW again- matter of fact any Zelda game again and just play for the first time I would, just to do it all again I would because if you love a game enough you will wish you could. :)