#rito tutorial

[axidentshappen]

Hello Miss axidentshappen. How are you today? I've been looking at your art and comics, and I really admire how well you draw rito.

I was wondering how long you have been drawing for and where you learn how to draw rito? I haven't drawn in decades, and I'd like to relearn how to draw, but I'm not sure where to start, and I don't feel very confident with my skills.

Are there any books/websites/video tutorials that you recommend or where you learned? Thank you for taking the time to read this and respond if you do.

-Lady C-

Thanks for the ask!

I took 20 min on my lunch break to sketch this out for you! It's really quick and dirty but gives an insight to how I sketch rito.

Most of my experience is through trying and failing, so I would recommend to practice practice practice. A lot of YouTube tutorials are alright, but idk which ones are good tho.

When ur practicing, focus on quantity over quality!!! Save your effort for the pieces that are worth it.

[some-internet-stranger]

dude How do you Draw rito people? i would actually Love a detailed Tutorial

Hey!! Thx for the ask!

I can't do a very detailed tutorial right now because I'm Not home and dont have my Tablet with me. But I will try anyway.

(In all honesty, I have absolutely no clue what I'm doing most of the time and I am not the best person to ask for a tutorial ah)

I struggled quite a Lot trying to figure Out how to Draw rito, the thing that I Had the Most problems with was the head. I usually just draw human characters who all Sort of follows the same formula.

First, I Draw a circle, then I add this face cross thingy to know where everything should be... And then I Just add everything else 👍

((this is Not supposed to be a Tutorial for drawing humans, I know that this wasnt helpful in the slightest. Im Just trying to Show the head shape.. process))

Alright! So for drawing a rito, you need to use a different shape as your base. (Well... You don't need to, its Just something that usually helps me)

Here's the shape!

You add the face cross down here, because thats where the face is

Then you place the eyes, only one of them is fully visible.

Then you... Somehow do the beak

And then U add details

Um, yes. And there you go! You Just Draw a rito head, congratulations! NOW the Body is a whole Other thing... But Tumblr only lets U add so and so many pictures to your Post so I'll probably do another one. (Or Not)

In the meantime, Go Look at this post ny @udog they seem to know what theyre doing

(Live footage of me drawing, because I dont really think about what Im doing. Ever)

[meringuejellyfish]

the music for the colgera battle is quite delightful (wow i just need to say i like it. goodness) its a shame i couldnt really properly hear it while actually playing on account of having to sit right next to a loud ac but listening to it fully the other day was nice. took me a few weeks but i can appreciate it now - and listen ... im a simple guy, the rito village theme being incorporated into a section of it is just wow :-( ....... big leitmotif fan. walking into zoras domain is going to kill me

[tealfruit]

totk has flaws like any game but tbh it has easily met and perhaps exceeded my expectations. BOTW was like my fav game ever but totk is EXCELLENT and has so much more to do in it too

[ganondoodle]

totk rewrite- botw2 edition

been thinking about the other totk rewrite again (the one only based on botw in which the sonau stay a mystery while being expanded upon)

i talked about it before but heres a lil breakdown (im reusing alot of mechanics from the villain rauru rewrite bc they work too well to be discarded for this one)-

(edit, about five hours later .. its not a little breakdown, its a pretty complete summarized breakdown of the entire new rewrite that i didnt intend to spend the last hours of my sunday on but here we are .. long post, but with pics bc theres lots of concepts im reusing or reviving)

okay START:

zelda and link explore the caverns below hyrule castle bc the shiekah tech has been losing power and their research as to why lead them here

they discover ganondorf and through zeldas curiosity break the, already weak, seal on him (no enigma stone here, the seal was done by an ancient queen of hyrule)- he wakes up attacks them, breaks the mastersword and miasmas/malices links arm off (also idea is that you have to fight him but meant to lose horribly lol) and then have to play an escape sequence (or watch a cutscene of it) in which zelda drags link after herself running from gan

(remember this old first idea drawing i made when i started to think about a rewrite? yeah im reviving that, except theres no totk sonau in this anywhere)

they get out and immediately afterwards a heavy earthquake runs through the land, completely, and actually, changing the map (also using the idea of devastating the regions climates- gerudo desert is flooded, death mountain collapsed inwards, the zoras realm is dried up, rito village has completely frozen over - ACTUALLY frozen over, everything encased in thick ice, the temperature has a special new low point, the winds too strong to glide anywhere-, mountains and rivers shifted, caves are revealed- oh and most of the main villages have tried to flee somewhere saver so theres no literal 1 to 1 repeat of points of interest from botw; also no uh .. miasmas holes that are literally jsut like drilled out bc what?? i want the access to the underground be few and hidden to make it more special to discover)

links arm gets amputated and replaced with a shiekah tech one (maybe using the botw shiekah stone/slate since they still dont know how to make them and its the best self sufficient piece of tech left that doesnt rely on the breaking fuel structure) (reusing this concept from the villain rauru one, with the difference beign that theres no corruption of link -or maybe it does have an effect to have shiekah tech literally hooked up to yourself *thinking emoji*- the abilities remainign the same)

when link wakes up some time has passed (so its more logical that the other regions have tried to cope with everything happening) you get a tutorial by purah and other shiekah (bc with zelda in charge theres more shiekah doing tech stuff again! cool!) and now have a magic meter (functions like in the previous pic, recharges over time depending on environment! bc i find that idea so cool for interstign puzzles and storytelling- like i said in an older post, a place where lots of people died might be richer in spirit energy recharging your magic faster- others have been hollowed out of luminous stone which slows down the recharge) and you are left to decide where to go

both zelda and you have a shiekah stone/slate replica but its incomplete since as mentioned the knowledge on how to make it is still lost so it only has the basic functions, such as the map, journal, camera and teleport

zelda is your companion from the start, in the years since botw she trained in basic self defense and can use her sealing powers as a shield to protect herself (though reluctantly since she doesnt want to rely on them) so you dont need to babysit her- you can tell her to be aggressive in encounters, supporting you (occasionally shields you or heals you a little?) or stay out of it/only self defend if an enemy targets her (in case you dont want any help) - she also copies your movement in a way, when you glide around she will too etc- in cases where you go very fast to one thing, like the hookshot, she will grab onto you

zelda also acts as your mobile crafting station, to put it bluntly, as she can craft and repair weapons, which is at first limited but can be expanded upon by doing quests (like the options of spear crafting being hugely expanded by a zora quest- fitting their fight style), when she does it you need the material needed for it though it costs no money- theres new little smith shops around the world that can repair and craft as well in which you can spend money instead for material you are lacking (and a little fee for the work you know)

(one of the first rough concepts for a pair of smiths, one is at the shop (green lady, the scars on her arms are her missing fins bc she burned them or lost them in battle), the other walks around it like terry (beedle) does and from whom you can buy already crafted simple things, like arrow types-

oh yeah, arrow types return and get more options bc theres no way in hell id make anyone scroll through that awful menu just to fuse one arrow at a time (the old types return, but theres new ones and all are craftable in bulk, here and old rough sketch)

(also theres no new 'in the same location jsut a few steps to the left' towers that shoot you into the air bc it just destroys the entire world design- even if there is no sonau tech in this one so no gliders- i want the sky to feel as dangerous and mystical as the underground)

the sky has to be reached via the hookshot, its got big islands mostly with old shiekah ruins, including that broken titan prototype i drew before, and the bird mechanic (you can tame birds and register them at a location there, idk if im keeping the idea of a lone shiekah there, but the birds will stay)-which is if you tamed a bird you can call it when gliding to gain a little boost in height, enabling you to reach islands further away (since no building, yeah that mechanic is better used in a game actually built around it, which totk just isnt- do not argue with me about that- to really let it shine instead of just being a tiktok viral funney build simulator that adds nothing meaningful to the game and actively makes it worse due to its implementation just not fitting there) or save you from falling if you barely missed the edge of one - theres few points of teleportation up there so the world map isnt made skippable, theres no shrines there (and in general, there are no shrines, just minidungeons- ACTUAL minidungeons- integrated into the world, like really big caves that are each unique and filled with challenges- and much fewer of them) (the islands being mostly made nigh invisible from the surface bc clouds gather on their underside)

perhaps different glider types?! and you can switch their design via zelda too

the old botw shrines are non fucntional due to loss of power, either overgrown or broken into pieces due to the ground breaking open, some might be infested with malice/miasma and comes alive like a weird mix between guardian and miasma crab (which also goes for guardian wrecks that hadnt been taken apart for research yet), some are fallen into caves that got revealed or got swallowed by the ground with only the tip remaining- the titans (divine beasts) are all repurposed (like in the other rewrite ideas i had)- the rito tried to flee the blizzard using medoh but sicne no one has piloted it and unstable connection to them causes them to crash in the hebra mountains, unable to leave it due to the storm and thus on limited time; vah rudania was perhaps made into a temple, or training ground but fell into the underground when death mountain collapsed (imagine ... malice/miasma infested rudania being an actual boss itself, chasing after you in the underground); vah ruta was absolutely made into a place of worship and after their domain dried out a few remained there praying to it convinced their faith would save them- its not able to move but manages to produce a little water still; vah naboris might have been used as a stronghold/lookout but due to the desert flooding (which is in fact, bad) its one of the 'islands' people now reside in

new weather types, including storm and darkness caused by mushroom spores that are invasife to the surface

theres at least six dungeons, one for each region (but not in the exact place as in botw bc that is literally just plain stupid though i might use the zora sewer/water system idea for an actual dungeon instead of .. a single button- bc how cool would that have been?? no no lets put the fish people in the sky and put a single button in the coolest part of it that only activates a waterfalll .... coming out of a tiny island in the sky- all just by of the visual neatness of swimming up??- anyway) plus a yiga one that is in and below the akalla citadel- also might put hyrule castle into the underground and inaccessible for a good portion of the game- and one in the forest of the krogs that was corrupted (which i thought was the reaso nfor the backpack krogs, but no, they literally have no goal and serve no purpose than to make funney videos with em, and then even the forest is nothing more but a reused lame fight agaisnt phantom gan- im starting to rant, sorry)

the abilties of the champions will be similar but there are changes, as in tulins (who i might just change to teba bc lets be real he was the one you interacted with in botw really..) isnt a gust of wind, since its both contrary to revalis whole deal of how difficult it was for him to create the updraft and then tulin can just do an almost exactly the same thing as like, a 12 year old- also its little usefullness after me adding in the birds for the sky and different glider types- maybe ill make it a strong windcut forward like in the other rewrite, like the yiga officer windattack but on steriods id also consider most of them not having the innate ability for it anyway, except for yuno maybe since he literally inherited daruks shield and as my idea was could make a variation of it adding the roll an fire to it but still having the shield, bc it kinda makes them like a boring copy of the botw champions and also lessens both their impact in a way (perhaps bringing dungeon items back?? idk,so still working on that)

each dungeon has a unique boss, at least on of which being a corrupted friend (PROPERLY DONE not like poor yuno in totk >:I ) bc each being just some monster tm is kinda boring (like twilight princess was so cool for how it mixed its bosses tbh)- also want satori to have a dark (also nice) counterpart that you might have to fight first bc you are trespassing into its domain (an old sketch gonna revisit it at some point)

new armor sets of course, and you still own YOUR house in hateno, zelda either has her own one in the spot where landa (the funky building lad that you bought your house from in botw) had the 'example' houses or yours got an additional building added onto it for zelda (and you can customize like, trees around it and have a lil farm spot too!!) and in your house theres a chest you can store armor sets in so you dont have to sell them to avoid inventory clutter

POUCHES return!! you can find some but most are locked behind quests (since logically people likely would have pouches) making them a really good reward and dont force you to engange with krogs if you are tired of them, it also avoids making you go back to them over and over just to expand inventory (you can choose for which part you want to use the pouch for, weapon or shield slot etc)- krog seeds are now its own currency for a lil shop you unlock in the forest, one of the highest rewards being the eponator zero (the motorcycle from botw)

also BOTTLES return! the main way to store healing, which also has to be consumed in real time (like in skyward sword, select in on a wheel so link takes it in his hands and 'a' to use it) avoiding the pause and spam apples into your mouth problem-

now cooking is NOT removed, it has even better effects than potions BUT it cant be stored and has to be consumed where you cook it (hear me out-); the cookbook in totk i find pretty annoyingly useless so, the cookbook is now a proper book you can fill out and when you want to cook a recipe you select it there and cook it with what you have (it shows if you dont have it all and also if you wanna swap an ingredient that would end with a similar effect) AND since you cant store it, theres special NPCs that reappear throughout hyrule (like a group of chefs that have one in each region at least) that let you just cook whatever you want without it wasting your materials, and if you hit a recipe it unlocks and is saved in your cookbook (you have to have the materials you want to cook with but it wont consume them, so you cant jsut spam it and fill the entire book out in one go- maybe the chef can give you subtle hints with expressions if something might be good or not before you try it out so you dont waste ages just cooking the same shit over and over xD)

(also possible idea for an item or big quest reward, a portable pot you can set up to cook with -with wood and fire- on the go without having to rely on finding them in the wild, and zelda can act as you chef giving you hints ... honestly i love this idea, remember all the cute botw art of them travelling and cooking together?? make that real you idiots!)

to upgrade your health or stamina you have to get spirit orbs still, but this time you get big ones that each can be traded, since thers fewer minidungeons but they are 4 times bigger than shrines they also give you 4 times the reward- but still one where you can choose which one you want bc i find that an important bit of freedom (idea still is that you free trapped souls and they give you the orb as a reward, majority of which are in caves in the underground or in the surface caves) which encourages you to vary your gameplay and not focus just on one area bc you probably want all those things, go for quests for puches and bottles, for minidungeons for health/stamina etc

oh yeah, the underground houses several dungeons, the weird gravity effect is in either the entire underground or in parts of it- it does not span the entirety of the map, isntead its smaller and often enclosed areas that each are more detailed and 'finished', theres different bioms and enemies you dont find anywhere else, and some enemies on the surface (like the miasma hands but like .. less easy and no phantom ganon bc that got boring rly fast) that sport those hands can grab you and drag you underground- which can either mean doom for you or .. discovering a new area down there hmmmm a risk to take isnt it :3 (also wanted there to be a mount there but idk if i will use this old concept of the dongos or if i want it to be a crab like thing bc of the underwater theme i want to go for)

LORE/STORY

so as you explore you may discover caves and areas in the underground containing sonau architecture (the type from botw, not totk) most of which heavily damaged, but theres few that are in 'better' shape bc they have been in selaed off caverns that werent yet discovered-

you find out the sonau, which you only vaguely knew from ruins in the overworld, were in fact real (but no you dont suddendly know they fucked with hylians and even their names of untold thosuands of years ago that you just so happen to have read in a book all of the sudden like it was an always known fact and not at all a myste- .. rant alarm .. ), and given the ruins underground they must have originated from there, but there are no scriptures that survived and all sculptures are in very bad shape, alot of which seems intentionally destroyed- slowly you and zelda piece together through vague clues (VAGUE game VAGUE, let people THINK) that they had knowledge of the past and the nature of the ever repeating return of disaster to hyrule; the biggest reveal beign that they knew the cycle wasnt natural at all and that it keeps being repeated only through the structure of how this land operates, the beliefs of the people that rule it, altered history etc.

the ancient shiekah under the rule of hyrules royalty found out what the sonau had discovered/knew and persecuted them (parelells to what the king would do to them later on, anyone??) since the divinity of the kingdom must be upheld by all means necessary- which is why the sonau had disappeared so entirely, with little of their culture left and none of them, and by doing so the ancient shiekah also discovered the previously lost knowledge of the gerudo king having turned into the biggest threat to the kingdom in the past (which the sonau had kept secret, knowing what consequences it could have if not handled carefully), which starts up a whole other betrayal plot of the kingdom planning to imprison gan before he can become a true threat (im gonna guess the relations between the gerudo and hyrule havent been that great even before since hyrule was still the main empire)

gan finds out before the plan goes through and assasinates the king of hyrule, the ancient queen declares war (yes, the queen for once) and in the end sacrifices herself to seal him away, more for revenge than any prophecy, but it nevertheless leads to the cycle doing its thing yet again

calamity ganon is a product of ganondorf trying to break free of his seal- and perhaps in an attempt to weaken his unbreakable will the shiekah discover they can use his spirit as a powerful source to their newly invented tech- which previously ran with processed luminous stones (yes battery theory will never let me go idc) and essentially use his own power against him by beating the calamity with their tech

(this knowledge is also how you get the yiga to work with you, using your knowledge of the past as leverage and zeldas ability to negotiate - and bc i thinks it would be cool to see her develop that way, and no i dont mean it as they all gonan fix it uwu either, its hard to go into more nuance here, its already way longer than i wanted- and yes this also ties into the koga is one of the ancient monks that made himself basically immortal through malice experiments HC of mine)

he attacks the regions bc they too sided with hyrule, he drags you to the underground bc its where he has spent thousands of years in agony, hes only out for revenge, an understable one and one you can sympathize with, but one you cannot negotiate with, its been too long, too much, no amount of apology could sate the desire for payback (which keeps the whole link and zelda defeat ganon formular alive BUT gives it nuance, right?? more tragic really, i hope that comes across)

he attacks link and zelda, breaks the masterword bc he has seen it all before, the original calamity, through the eyes of malice, he knows what you will do, inevitably so, you too will come for him, again

at the midpoint of the game you will reach hyrule castle (underground? perhaps it depends on how much health you have, getting grabbed and dragged into its depths losing hearts and if you have enough you survive until you are inside the castle and let go, you cant teleport outside - oh and zelda is either absent for the fight bc you got separated or she held onto you and protected herself with her power- honeslty kinda like the seperation idea bc after having her around all the time its gotta be super creepy to be suddendly alone) and will have a fight with him, that you kinda lose but are saved by the rest of the crew that zelda had banded together and brought here after being seperated from you- maybe without koga yet bc he would be locked to late game i think

there will be a quest to reforge the mastersword, which if you havent already gone to the forest will now lead you there (oh also some of the krogs you find outside the forest now will tell you that they had to flee, but maybe warn you not to go there yet if you are still in early game, others might not know bc they left to plant new forests, windwaker style, maybe a quest there too! to give them purpose beyond being your plaything and then just disappearing- ahem .. )

(old concept for the krog forest/dekutree boss)

the dekutree will tell you to restore it it will need the blessings of the three dragons (who might not have appeared yet, or slowly disappeared one by one, they might need to be rescued bc gan probably knows you are gonna try and repair the sword) (oh look more old concepts still relevant!)

in the end it will .. end with you defeating ganon, just like always (unsure of the place where it will will be but OH LOOK old concepts- here it was still with hyrule castle in mind but that might be jsut for the midpoint fight now- maybe id put the end fight on the forgotten plateau, to round it up nicely, ending where botw began ... ;3

i really like this one .. even more than the villain rauru one, though that one is fun bc a twist like that is pretty neat and fighting with ganondorf is also rly cool- but sicne i just dont like the totk sonau and much prefer them remaining mostly a mystery im very fond of this (also .. im so sick of ancient people with high tech bs now..)

the aim with this is to .. make a botw2 that actually feels like a botw 2 (for me), shiekah tech is still there but little functions still, logically bc its main powersource is breaking off of it, the sonau are a mystery and kinda negatively talked about bc the shiekah persecuted them just like they would later be - also explains why there are shiekah things in every sonau building, of course they would overtake their places and try to erase a much as possible of them (the thunder plateau might have been a place of worship to farodra or for research- now look its a puzzle for a shrine to strengthen our hero to defeat the thing we caused :)) ), the sonau are expanded upon WITHOUT destroying their mystery (none of them are shown, there are NO memories in this game, everything happens in real time and what you can learn about the past is mostly vague clues pieced together by nerd zelda!)

it gives more depth to the shiekah as well as add an important ounce of nuance to the yiga and shiekah, to ganondorf as well while adressing and fixing the things that needed work in botw in ways i would find enjoyable (instead of making it WORSE)

i also dont want to go too hard on 'zelda is totally agaisnt the monarchy bc monarchy BAD', its not meant to come across like that, i just wanted to do sth interesting that does question everything and bc i like to think she could be lead to a different way of thinking, especially if so through her own research and discovery of previously buried history, being confronted with her own biased views by her passion for her interests

anyway, if you read through all of this, i probably forgot stuff, buts its very late and i spent alot of time writing this (bc i cant stop once i started i guess) and theres lots of things repeated that i already talked about BUT if yo actually read through it all, i cannot even begon to express just how much that means to me, and id i dare request, do tell if you like it!!! and thank you so much!!! it might not seem like much but this is also very important to me, i still dream of gamedev after all and i see this as a sort of practice, are my mechanics and stuff actually better os does it just seem like it to me etc -

(though keep in mind, this is in part self indulfent bc hey, its not real and is never gonna be so i might just do what i want- and yes i do believe it is doable, even if this all sounds alot, the magic lies in making it less but make that 'less' more dense and detailed, hence the underground being like at least cut in half in size and the building mechanic being removed (to give to a game where its better used than totk) alone should free alot of time and space for the things i described here)

-thanks again for reading, posts like these rarely get much attention so uh ... its pretty much never worth the time i spent typing designing and writing it (even if theres still lots missing here, like the dungeons and details to the champions ..) so every bit of commentary weighs alot more <3

[kokiriofthevalley]

Link's search histories

no totk spoilers pls also sorry obscure link fans and TP fans

Side note: oui oui baguette

Skyward Sword

what are those things that stop toddlers from falling off the bed

bed guard

bed guard for teenagers

elderly bed guard

which number is the card number on a debit card

debit card diagram

what is the shortest height you can die from

is a remlit a type of rat

is my friend gay quiz

am I gay quiz

how to tell your gf that you got 37% on the am I gay quiz

how to tell your gf that you got 37% on the am I gay quiz reddit

chandelier repairman

how to tell if another girl likes you

cool loftwing tricks YouTube

YouTube loftwing tricks tutorial

unblocked .io games

can I get arrested for searching blocked websites at knights academy?

unblocked .io games

papas wingeria

can I sue someone for dropping me out of his aircraft if I don't buy anything

can loftwings open windows

Ocarina of Time/Majora's Mask

Ocarina of Time

can dreams predict the future

how to change the colour of your fairy

can I get kicked out of kokiri forest if I beat mido up

lost woods full map

ghoma repellant spray

Hyrule map free no ads

who is Ganondorf

what is a desert

I got sealed in a coma and aged 7 years what do I do quora

WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT IN THE WELL AT KAKARIKO VILLAGE

kakariko village well monster

how to kill phantom Ganon wikihow

how to prevent cuccos from ganging up on you

can cuccos make gangs

DIY hookshot

how to kill a big boar tutorial

Majora's Mask

termina

Hyrule termina map

where is termina

how to not get mugged again

cursed masks

how to stop being a deku scrub

is it legal for an adult to strangle a child

why does the moon have a face

can the moon eat food

what is the moons favourite food

how to make others remember things if they forget

fierce deity mask fandom wiki

Wind Waker

how do I make my grandmas soup without knowing the recipe

coolmathsgames

girlsgogames

how to make slime no glue no borax

what is a hell ma rock

hell mah rock

helmaroc

are pirates legal

cool pirate accessories

are trees meant to have faces

beedles shop ship online

why is my boat such an asshole

how to control direction of your boat YouTube tutorial

will jet engines kill a sentient boat

guinness world record for number of joy pendants

boat wifi

what pirate am I quiz

Triforce of Courage all locations no ads

forsaken fortress urban legends

how to stop a bird being aggressive

coveted definition

Breath of the Wild

can clothes have water damage

can I go on YouTube on my sheikah slate

how to mod a sheikah slate

I have a red flashing circle on my body what does that mean

simmered fruits recipe

what is the nutritional value of dubious food

value of rupees 100 years ago

why does inflation happen

why don't we just make more money

can hylian teeth handle a rock roast

dentist near me

gerudo makeup tutorial

fake ids

what is the alcohol percentage in a noble persuit

100 horse names

is chocolate a good name for a horse

mahjong

is riding a horse while drunk considered drunk driving

is it cannibalism if rito eat kfc

cucco repellant spray

is it legal to kill a man who likes a child zora

morality of murder

best way to hide from a guardian

wikihow how to kill an eldritch monster to save my gf

[pitchblackespresso]

Everything from BOTW had so much clear intent in it's design. Nothing felt random. Even for something as simple as chests everywhere, you could think "This was abandoned or lost by people running from the Calamity" it it would work.

TOTK, nothing made much sense. Why the fuck is the Hero of the Wild outfit, that Sheikah monks made and awarded to me specifically in the last game, buried in the fucking Depths? What is anything that's down there DOING there? Why are there these weird outcroppings on the cliffs in the surface, like Zonai rocks that somehow morphed into the landscape?

I can't tell you how deflating it was to return to that beautiful map to see that it's been littered with Zonai junk piles and those ugly chasms, that the Plateau was even more destroyed seeming. And obvious places for expansion, like actually going into the Citadel, were totally ignored.

There was almost no real emotional or intellectual reward for exploring at all. My favorite part of the game was The Great Sky Island, because it was all new and interesting. What's it say that the best part of the game is the tutorial? Which, oddly enough, was the reverse of my experience with BOTW.

You see, part of me agrees because there are a lot of dubious design choices (like the aforementioned Zonai junk piles, what an apt description), but another part clings onto the love I have for this game despite its numerous flaws.

For every nonsensical design, we also have choices that show how much love and care went into crafting a totk-Hyrule that felt familiar, but still distinct from botw. The caves are a perfect expansion and reward exploration with Misko's rare clothing items. The game remembers your horses and Champions' portrait from botw. Zelda's flower garden has silent princesses in it, fulfilling her old dream of domesticating them. Putting on the Yiga outfit in Gerudo Town sends you to prison. There's a royal claymore by King Rhoam's grave (his main weapon in AoC). The golden horse is already bonded to Link because he canonically travelled with Zelda and so spent a lot of time with the horse already. The nostalgic paraglider fabric is in the exact location in the Temple of Time where you first get the paraglider in botw. NPCs have character arc between games, like the groom in Rito Village leaving his toxic wife and getting in a (slightly) better relationship, or the terrible junkyard cook in Gerudo Canyon learning to cook with Monster Extract. Zelda's dropped torch is found at the bottom of the chasm. Mipha's Court wordlessly shows the journey of the Zora letting go of Mipha, but never forgetting her, by instead moving her statue to the former territory of a lynel that terrorized the Domain. Cheese.

Those are the details that I cling to when I think about totk, the ones I revisit the game for. That make it easy to ignore the piles of Zonai junk while I'm horseback travelling across Hyrule Field and instead look at the mounds of building materials that, yes, are there for the player to use, but are also part of the Hyrule Restoration Project, reminding you that this Hyrule is young and healing after a century of torment. Everyone's got an example of a detail in totk that I'm sure made them smile, and I like to think that those matter just as much as randomly retconning Typhlo Ruins all about almighty Rauru.

And if nothing else, we have suavemente Ganondorf

[trainsgenderfoxgirl2816]

so if you are following me on Bluesky or are in some of the same Discord servers youll know ive been trying to finish the Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom lately, which im most of the way done through the main story, however im one of the few people that didnt play the original Breath of the Wild

first off its PHENOMINAL but we already knew that, so im gonna ramble about what i think so far please note ive only just gotten the Master Sword and gotten to Crisis at Hyrule castle so im gonna talk about it from that point in the story below

oh but first i should the OST is AMAZING the clever use of series classic Leitmotifs is great

the first main section of the game is probably the best the tutorial on the Great Sky Island is one of the best tutorials, i loved everything about that a great start to the game and moving towards Hebra that was great the mystery surronding the Icy Maelstrom above Rito Village and the climb up the rising island chain to the Stormwind Arc and the first dungeon before Colgera are all wonderful great buildup fantastic dungeon and the nostalgia thanks to the Wind Waker refrences are great and Colgera is easily among the best first boss fights in any video game

Eldin and Ancient Gorondia in the Fire Temple werent quite as good but still fantastic reminding me of my favorite parts of Ocarina of Time and Twilight Princess i loved the minecart puzzles, and Marbled Gohma was a super fun boss too

oh i need to talk about the Open World stuff a bit cause i didnt play BOTW its great obviously what the Zelda series was always sort of meant to be

in Lanayru things take a turn for the worse however a lot of the stuff in Zora's Domain is kinda meh, and well the Wellspring Islands are fun enough with the Anti Grav puzzles the Water Temple itself sucks ass its no fun and Muktorok is a really annoying boss

back to move positive things, Gerudo Village and the search for the Lightning Temple are super (which they kept they Femboy outfit tho) the Lightning Temple itself is also really cool because you cant cheese it like some of the other Dungeons

now into the Spoilery territory

first off i HATE the gloom hands they are absolute Nightmare fuel the kind of boss i dread however they arent actually that hard if you are well stocked on Puffshrooms, Muddlebuds, Bomb Flowers, and sunny healing items, Phantom Ganon is a bit trickier tho but once you get the attack pattern down its fine, oh also there is a mandatory fight against these guys in Korok Forest in order to get the Master Sword

speaking of the Master Sword the Dragon Tears quest is great you learn what happened with Princess Zelda and the tragic stuff with Hyrules founding and how Zelda takes the broken Master Sword and transforms into a dragon sacrificing herself to restore it

[loz-furbies]

On Dragon Roost island now. The theme music truly is one of the best Zelda tunes ever and I don't even have any nostalgia for it. Though I've always found the WW Rito look kind of unpleasant with the beaks and I'm glad BotW went full furry with them.

Also I can't believe how badly I messed up the baton tutorial, my controller isn't the best possible which is partly to blame but I also never bothered to read the instructions, even when the boat had to interrupt and repeat them like ten times because I kept failing...

[bluesdesk]

TOTK REIMAGINED

First of all, the Link and Zelda from Skyward Sword are named Sky (Link) and Sun (Zelda) to distinguish them from Link and Zelda (botw/totk)!

The nicknames are borrowed from Linked Universe!!

MAJOR TOTK PLOT SPOILERS!!

- That Ganondorf? He's not Ganondorf, but another man. Maybe gerudo, an evil king. But not Ganondorf.

- Rauru is a Hylian, the son of Sky and Sun, first king of Hyrule and first sage

- the constructs are ancient Sheikah tech infused with holy power from Sun/Hylia! They look so magical and advanced because they are full of Sun's power nobody else has.

- Sonia is a Sheikah, and she isn't the descendant of Sun and Sky.

(spoilers ahead)

- Before leaving the world of the living, Sun created the sacred stones, taking 7 amber relics and adding her power to them, and explained her and Sky's son (Rauru) their purpose, though there was a collateral effect, the draconification, if one was to eat the stone.

- Link didn't start from the sky islands when he woke up after the accident under the castle, but Rauru's hand took him in the depths, in an enclosed area containing the Sealed temple and the huge goddess statue temple from sksw, that got buried with time under what's now the Great Plateau. The tutorial is both in the depths and, when Link reactivates the 3 stone tablets and the last remaining bird statue, he gets his paraglider back and is sent to the sky thanks to the bird statue, the only access to the sky other than using the rewind functionality if the hand.

- Link's arm is NOT Rauru's (that so strange, chopping an arm off a dead body and sewing it to Link... eww) but one of those ancient constructs. Rauru reactivates the hand but it's not fully ready, Link had to reactivate its functionalities (ultrahabd, rewind, autobuild, fuse etc)

- Mineru isn't Rauru's sister but his and Sonia's daughter, and she's half Sheikah half Hylian. When her mother passed away, and Zelda, a Hylian, took her place, Mineru was considered the Sheikah sage. Her parents didn't want her to get a stone though, she took it by accident out of curiosity maybe, or maybe I'll find a more fitting story/reason. Also, she doesn't die or turn into a spirit. She lives and the royal bloodline continues with her and most likely an Hylian as the royal family has always been known as Hylian. In modern times, her stone is passed to Josha.

- It's the power of all the new sages, the great fairies, the 3 dragons and Link together to bring Zelda back, and not the ghosts of Rauru and Sonia.

- The first group of sages was created by Rauru, giving the secret stones to wise people of different populations. He's the sage of light. The others are Sonia (sheikah), a goron, a "zora" (primitive zora, blue colored probably, a mix of oot looking zora and parella from sksw), a gerudo (oot style and nomad), instead of the Rito who didn't exist yet we get a member of the Wind Tribe, and Mineru. When Sonia is killed, Zelda takes her place, but with her own stone, as the enemy has taken Sonia's.

- Link won't get his arm back, but the construct arm will get esthetic upgrades to look less metallic and easier to use, smoother to move. The holy power inside will most likely fade after the whole adventure that used and "drained" it, so at the end Link will have a working prosthetic arm and hand but no special powers. He will as well learn to use both the hands to fight.

[ezlo-x]

hi...cmere if you want to hear my current thoughts of totk... (spoilers ahead ofc)

Hi :] so since everyone is taking a different path on playing this game this is what I have so far

Currently I have completed the tutorial section, have only Dragon Tears #1 and #2, and completed the Wind Temple

I wanted to write down my thoughts after I finished w the tutorial section but I was just so excited to play I just kept going until I finally decided to take a small break from playing the game for almost the entire day lol. ALSO I will include pics...in some parts

ANYWAYZ THE BEGINNING SECTION I NEED TO GET THIS OFF MY CHEST CAUSE I WAS LOSING MY MIND ABT IT. So when Zelda explains how the "gloom" works I WAS JSUT "...that sounds like the Malice im my au HMMM NO WAY I PREDICTED THIS MY BRAIN HUGE" JNSDKJFNSD I liked that we get to see a little bit more of Zelda before she disappears but also! I liked how she is still prevalent in the story and aids Link at some point in the tutorial section. Also I just find it funny how she appears to people like ghosts knfgskng I know for sure that would be explained why later on.

Now to the tutorial, I had a lot of fun with the shrines better yet all the shrines in general have been super fun. None of them have been a drag to me I have a lot of fun especially that you have to use your arm abilities and that stuff never gets old to me. TBH THO there were a few moments when traveling around the island where my muscle memory is to press "x" to paraglide when I suddenly remembered I don't have the paraglider JFNGKDNF I was yearning for that paraglider.

Sorta of a side note I am really loving how npcs have more personality, like Purah and Robbie just radiate so much more as characters than in BotW. I am loving so far the new npcs it makes the world feel less empty.

Now...to the moment i've been waiting to talk abt. The Dragon tear memories

I love them. I love them SO SO MUCH ESPECIALLY SONIA BUT I FEEL LIKE I LOVE RAURU JUST AS MUCH IDK THEY ARE VERY FUCKING CUTE I CANTTTTT I WANT TO CHANGE MY BANNER TO THEM BUT I KNOW ITS LIKE SUPER SPOILERY OUGHHHHHH

My friends insisted to get the memories in order cause that would make me into an emotional wreck so I can't wait! <3

Now to Rito Village/Wind Temple. First of all, the Rito Theme when its in the blizzard got me a little emotional ngl. It might be cause Wind Waker was one for the first tloz games that i introduced myself to back when I was 14 and hearing it so desolate it almost got me. AND THEN SEEING THE KIDS ALL ON THEIR OWN OUGH (I want to know where's Kass tho...).

TULIN!!! Tulin is adorable idk I enjoyed his character how his stubbornness on doing things on his own was changed to teamwork makes the dream work arc idk it was cute. Teba not being present makes sense to me as he's the new Rito Elder and all. Glad the dude is not dead KJFNGKDJNF

Now the journey to the Wind Temple was so fun it was so fun like idk how to describe it. The ost was amazing especially when finally reaching the temple when you ascend high above the blizzard storm and then you glide down and UGH it was so amazing. The Wind Temple was just as fun it felt like your good old Zelda temple and I love that so much. THE BOSS AS WELL YOUR TYPICAL EVIL CRUSTACEAN WITH WINGS AND UGH!! I Love it I love it sm

NOW AT THE BEGINNING ENTERING THE WIND TEMPLE when the voice appeared, at first I thought it was Rauru. But then I took a second take and he sounded differently than Rauru and I said "oh is this the ancient champion?" AND I WAS RIGHT ITS THE WIND SAGE AND OH OH OH OK

I WAS SO....💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥 YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN//? HE LOOKS RAD THE OTHER SAGES LOOK JIST AS AMAZING. AND THEN-

THIS BITCH GOT HORNS!!!! WHAT 💥💥💥💥

HONESTLY ok time to put my critical hat here. Im honestly not expecting anything crazy with Ganondorf like idk I am excited but at the same time I do have that worry in the back of my mind that he would be your typical evil villain. ESPECIALLY SINCE THEY HAVE SUCH A SOLID STORY WITH GOOD WORLD BUILD like I hope they don't blow it up. and ngl I kinda forgot abt Ganondor for a moment cause I've been so fixated over Sonia and Rauru KJNGDJKFNGKDFJ I CANT WAIT TO MEET THE FIRE SAGE THOUGH RAAHGHHGGHH AND THE ZONAI NEXT TO RAURU OUGH I FORGOT HER NAME BUT RAURU MENTIONS HER IN THE SECOND DRAGON TEAR MEMORY THATS HIS BIG SIS!!!!

One more thing I forgot to mention (theres so much stuff don't get me started to how much I love the depth) the soundtrack is phenomenal. When diving down from either the sky or to the depth it so pretty. And like I said the ost where thats building up when reaching the Wind Temple *chef's kiss* AND how the Wind Temple's theme mixes both Vah Medoh's theme (attacking and inside) and Rito Village. Reminding you what you're fighting for especially in Tulin's case

I am having a lot of fun with this game I am currently just wandering around in the Hebra region. ALSO NOW THAT I REMEMBER I WAS REALLY THROWN OFF BY THE SUBTLE CHANGES THE MAP HAS I STILL AM AND I GET IT for like ppl who played BotW make it feel completely different/new. Honestly its fun it feels like im exploring Hyrule for the first time again its nice <3

and that is all I have tbh I might disappear and come back w more ramblings. I want to say more but I don't want this post to be super long. The fact that I only got one Temple complete and two memories and I still have a lot more to do is so crazy to me

anywayz have some pitcures of Sonia and Rauru cause I love em very mucho <3

[amelias-calamity-quintet]

MoaH Dungeon Design Principles

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[rawliverandgoronspice]

"…minimize the toll of time taken on both of them the same way it did for Zelda, especially since they semi-turn to stone immediately after. There are a lot of dialogue bits that feel like they are here for damage control and reassure us that the nice things are nice and the bad things are bad…"

So much yesssss. I honestly wonder if they did that because the story plays in a way where Link at no point feels like an active participant in any of what is happening.

Like "Oh yes there are consequences… but don't worry nothing is really gonna happen until we're in the present time with Link." It's weird how it almost feels like the game doesn't even acknowledge calamity Ganon. Not saying we need this huge cutscene about it, but imagine just showing Calamity Ganon being born at the same time as Zelda turns into a dragon. Showing the immediate negative consequences, and how Hyrule now has to wait millennia for totk-Link to finish what was started.

Hey, thanks for the ask, and sorry for the wait!

Yeah, I think there *was* a way to connect past and present more efficiently --using the past as revealing new information to guide objectives in the present-- but I think it would have gone against their open world philosophy (which didn't really mesh with the kind of story they tried to tell). As a consequence, nothing in the present really happens either honestly? The consequence to restoring a region involves giving you a tactical advantage and having some key players moving to the main Lookout Camp, but fundamentally you could skip all of it and lose almost nothing plot-wise, because the philosophy is: you can beat the game in any way you want.

And while I think it worked for BotW, where rediscovering that world you lost is never mandatory but it does give you emotional stakes in the fight ahead on top of helping you prepare your final battle, here it just feels... meandery? Your main goal is to find Zelda, but you don't actually have to find Zelda. You can finish the whole game without having invested a single thought into finding Zelda beyond the tutorial area. The overarching objective to Destroy Ganon worked in BotW because it remained the core pillar all the way, literally staring you in the eye from all across the map: every other quest objective is nested in the first one and optional by default, and it is made abundantly clear what the game expects of you while guiding you to opportunities to make your journey easier and more grounded as you rediscover Hyrule (gradually mastering the land, your own abilities, and your understanding of your place in that land to give you the best possible chance --mastering the Wild and becoming part of it, if you may).

But here? The game *tries* to hide its core objective (which is to Destroy Ganondorf: this is what actually triggers the ending credits sequence, not finding Zelda, which triggers... nothing at all actually) in a mystery the game... isn't actually that invested in gameplay-wise.

For example: you go handle the issues in the various regions because there are problems to fix and maybe you'll get information on where she is, which is honestly an assumption that is kind of based on... nothing? Why would the ritos facing an unnatural ice storm or the gorons facing a drug problem give you a clue on Zelda's location? Like yes, surely there is something weird going on and it might be linked to the same phenomenon that made Zelda disappear, but what makes you think going there will give you any hint of where she is? Honestly, the Lucky Clover sidequests almost feel like they should be the main quest given they actually involve Zelda sightings directly, but the fact that the game extra-diegetically categorize them as sidequests lets you immediately know these are all red herrings before you actually complete them...

But honestly: it would make sense to go look for her.... where she was last seen. Which is under Hyrule's Castle. And I didn't go there immediately, not because the game convinced me it was not necessary, or was too dangerous and I wasn't prepared yet, but because I knew for sure it was where Ganondorf would be, and so I pretended to be stupid so I would let the game lead me to its interest points while ignoring the glowing red hole under the core landmark of Hyrule where I had last seen Zelda and Ganondorf.

Sure, there was a glowing red boar in BotW screeching into the night, but. The game told me it's where the final boss was. Immediately. It was not trying to surprise me with that information. TotK, on the other hand, does an awkward little song and dance being like "oooooo I wooonder what you'll have to dooooo neeeext" and... it's pretty damn lame that I need to consciously course-correct the bad job the game does at leading me places to have a good time with it, using game design literacy to assume what I should and shouldn't do not to ruin my own experience as I play (same could be said for the Dragon's Tears as well, and it does an even worse job at it since I *did* spoil myself almost immediately, because I trusted the open world philosophy to carry into the memories like in BotW --and the fact that they are linear??? somehow?? without telling you and it's the only linear thing in the entire game?? is just so so so Not Good).

When I say the quest design of this game is a complete mess, I do mean it. It's layers upon layers of these baffling decisions, and I don't understand why they didn't apply any of the lessons learned in Breath of the Wild, given they were genuinely good and interesting lessons that have guided open world quest design ever since the game was released.

[marcilled]

I'd love to hear your thoughts on TOTK and what it's flaws and strengths are to you!

I had a whole response typed for this, ready to post, and my power shut off... well! I'm back now so I'll try to type my thoughts on this again.

big disclaimer here that tears of the kingdom is a HUGE game... I'm still working my way through it. I've done the equivalent of one of the divine beasts in botw for a bit of reference (they have a very direct equivalent in totk it seems).

that being said some of its strengths were the strengths botw had... truly expansive open world, that does an amazing job at rewarding you for exploring it. It never feels "empty", there's always some little surprise to find in every tiny nook and cranny you can explore- usually a korok. There's so many koroks. None of them are where they were in botw, despite using the same map (with some modifications).

this got really long, so I'm going to put a readmore (might contain some vague spoilers)

What I find especially apparent with totk, that sets it apart from the previous game, is that it does a really great job of guiding the player from point to point. It's still very much an open world game, but instead of leaving you directionless and hoping you find what you're looking for, there's always some npc mentioning that some weird ruins from the ancient zumblefuck civilization suddenly appeared in chungustown, across the suckdick river in east falumpa or whatever.

Even when you're just, you know, getting your horse out of the stable, the npcs will constantly be giving you directions to some major landmark, where you'll find a bunch of other npcs giving important quests or furthering the plot! In that way, you're never left wondering "well, this is great and all, but what is there to do in this game besides exploring", they just straight up tell you. botw ... sort of did that, but not enough.

I think that this sort of design philosophy is especially apparent in the tutorial island you begin the game at, where they very expertly crafted this island that is definitely "open world", but at the same time, directs you from point to point almost invisibly. Sure, you could visit any of the three shrines in any order you like- but there's one shrine super close to you, and it's the most visible from where you start the quest. So, may as well go there! Oh, turns out that the next shrine is way easier to get to after you have the ability from that closest shrine... Not to mention, the little robots give lots of tips for everything you're about to run into along the path you conveniently ended up taking that definitely isn't exactly where the game wants you to go! Plus, you keep running into this handsome goat man along the way who's always saying some contemplative stuff that makes you fall in love with him. Wait was that just me? Anyways, it's incredibly clever at guiding the player where they need to go without seeming like it's holding your hand either. botw wasn't really designed that way, and I appreciate that totk takes this approach.

In line with the direction that the npcs give you, I also really love to see how the world of totk feels so much more alive than in botw. In botw, humanity had nearly been wiped out by the calamity. For 100 years they toiled just to survive, and the remaining settlements felt very disconnected from one another, with how dangerous travel was. It gave this very melancholic feeling to every place you visited. However, in totk, it's clear that some time has passed since link defeated calamity ganon, and the people of hyrule have really begun to heal. There's people everywhere, and they're visiting each other more often. There's cooperation from every part of the kingdom, with everyone working together to try to find Zelda, and figure out what caused the upheaval, and what it means for the future. One particular interaction I really loved, was talking to a rito and a hylian woman at a stable near rito village, where the rito woman had come to pick up supplies for the village to deal with the intense blizzard there. The hylian woman said something like, "we're glad to help you, you've been wonderful neighbors to us!", and the rito woman was so thankful. that sort of camaraderie really sets the tone for totk, and it warmed my heart to see. There's this real sense of the world healing and supporting one another that I really enjoy.

Another thing that sets it apart, for better and worse, is the all-new abilities you get. No more magnesis or stasis or bombs, they're replaced with ultrahand, reversal, and... being able to attach bombs to literally any object you desire, as well as throw them directly, or even stick them onto contraptions you build?! Not to mention the ability that lets you travel up through ceilings. The abilities are quite different and do make a serious impact in how you play! The bizarre fucking contraptions you're able to build using ultrahand, combined with the various pieces of zonai tech, makes for some really compelling emergent gameplay! And lots of funny clips you can post online which I'm sure you've probably seen by now. It's a lot of fun.

That being said, I feel there's something lost by getting rid of the old abilities- for example, I almost never find myself using any of those abilities during combat. The most I'll do is attach items to my weapons (which is very fun!), but it's nothing compared to being able to bonk enemies with huge rocks using magnesis, or using stasis to pile on the damage onto a single enemy, or even just launch them off of cliffs. Although, the rest of the fun physics from botw is still there, like freezing enemies and making them slide around or what have you. I guess my primary complaint here is that the new abilities feel a bit underutilized, for example I pretty much never use the ability to reverse time, unless I'm doing a shrine where it's obviously required for a puzzle or something. Ah well.

I think my main complaint with totk really just boils down to the story just kind of refusing to admit that it's a sequel? even though... it is a sequel?? it's kind of weird, and just makes me sort of sad. Ancient Sheikah technology was crucial to the entire worldbuilding and story of botw, and somehow it's nowhere to be found in totk. They've just replaced all the ancient sheikah stuff with different ancient tech, which, while it's really cool in its own right, makes it feel very disconnected from the game that came before it. I get that they're trying to make the game feel welcoming to people who never played the first one, but you don't have to literally get rid of all traces of the previous game to accomplish that?!? I haven't found a SINGLE broken-down guardian anywhere in the whole game so far, much less one that's still living. There's been basically NO MENTION of the divine beasts either! The most I've seen is purah and impa having some ancient sheikah stuff/pictures relating to the calamity, but that's about it. It doesn't go beyond mentioning that the calamity happened, really. It's bizarre. They don't even talk about calamity ganon. What the hell!!! it just makes me kind of upset.

Actually, it goes deeper than this. the threat of calamity ganon was omnipresent in botw. You could always see it floating around the castle from almost anywhere on the map, at the very center. More than that, though, the remnants of an ancient war were everywhere- Guardians existed everywhere, always threatening you with that utterly terrifying music. There's not really an equivalent to that in totk. Sure, there's the zonai constructs, but... None of them are nearly as threatening as guardians were, other than the ones that are obviously boss fights. It just feels a bit sad, there's not as much "urgency" to your actions.

Then again, totk seems a bit more linear in its progression than botw- it could be possible that I'm still too early on to see the difficulty ramp up further, and introduce new threats? that'd actually be really cool if that were the case, but I have no idea. I just have to keep playing, I suppose. But as of rn, the "demon king" is just a big question mark, and his influence on the story is a bit unclear right now. it's not even immediately obvious what the endgame is, which is a lot different from botw. So perhaps I'll hold my judgement on this front until later. I just miss how the guardians were a constant threat, always reminding you of what your goal is.

And as one last quickfire of several little complaints:

The (english) voice acting in the game is very underwhelming. It's just not very good. I play ffxiv so I'm used to middling voice performances tho LOL. this was a problem in botw as well tho.

the boss fight i did (that i compared to one of the divine beasts) was too easy. i expected it to feel at least a little challenging, but i didn't feel threatened even once. the enemies i encounter in the overworld are tougher, it felt kinda underwhelming in spite of the (extremely good) boss music

the depths feels a bit samey after a while. my first impression was utter awe, i was like, "i'm completely in love with this game", but i soon realized that they used some sort of algorithm to translate the topography of the overworld onto the depths and suddenly the magic disappeared a bit. it's still really cool, and the mechanic of permanently losing hearts while you're down there makes it feel incredibly threatening, but there's simply not enough variety to feel like it's justified to take up that much space. unlike the overworld, the depths /do/ end up feeling empty after a while of exploring.

... I suppose as a bit of a TL;DR, my main complaints boil down to, "this is great, but it could be even better", or, "I miss some of the stuff that was in botw".

There's more thoughts I could probably share, like how I love all of the very blatant ghibli inspiration in this game (even moreso than in botw!), but I've already rambled quite a lot. thank you for the ask anon!! <3

[svnmouth]

I think one of the big issues I have with totk is that because they wanted to commit to non-linearity so hard everything feels entirely disconnected. you finish wind temple and get some dialogue lines from the ritos about it, and other quests open up in that area. no one really mentions it outside of rito village besides a couple dialogue lines or newspaper headlines, and some of the major npcs might mention it (like purah etc). the shrines are all about one thing. even the dungeon puzzles are one-and-done individually, the one that stuck out to me is the room of light and flame in the lightning dungeon (the one with the room you cant get into) because you have to solve a different puzzle in the same dungeon to access that room. that was fufilling! that was interesting!

like theres just no commitment to building off of things? Ive run into a tutorial shrine 30 hours into my playthrough.

tbh they didnt limit the player enough (imo) because half the time there isnt even a "this puzzle has a fairly obvious solution but can be solved another creative way!" its just "use a rocket or climb high enough to paraglide onto the objective and skip the entire puzzle". and the building system is clunky enough that Im not inclined to use it if the easier solution is to just not do the puzzle.