How is Tears of The Kingdom 1 YEAR Later?

Technically TOTK is 1 year NEXT week... oops
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Timestamps!
Intro - 00:00
Is TOTK Still Good? 01:17
Outro - 10:11
#zelda #tearsofthekingdom #nintendo

[@ZeoViolet]

I have one sole problem with TotK, because it is such an amazing game: It's clutter makes it feel exhausting. BotW, which I recently replayed, had such a thrilling open feel that I never felt I was bogged down with a list of "stuff to do"...I just did it on the side as I ran around doing other stuff as I came across them. TotK feels like my list of stuff to do gets ever longer and longer and I'll NEVER get it done, which removes the "endless freedom to just explore and do stuff on a whim" feeling. That said, I love TotK dearly, despite its one headache.

[@StormsparkPegasus]

The problem I have is with the sages. The way they're implemented is HORRIBLE. It works ok when the actual sage was following you in their dungeon, but once you got their ability permanently, it needed to just be an ability. Your "abilities" literally run away from you, cause framerate drops, and activate when you don't want them to. Boneheaded design.

[@ShadowWizard224]

Tears of the Kingdom has better overworld exploration, gameplay abilities, and combat mechanics. Breath of the Wild had a much better story. They really are great games.

[@fishnewt1331]

I honestly feel the exact opposite. I feel there is not enough to do, which probably comes from how inconsequential the content feels. The building mechanics are fine. But the puzzle solving and exploring felt lackluster with everything looking and feeling the same. I say this as someone that loves Totk.

[@Poorproplayer]

yeah so much of the game is unoptimized and overly tedious. Like throwing items for example. How would throwing stuff work in literally any other game? Oh right, you equip the item then throw it. Simple and intuitive. In Totk nope. To throw an item you need to raise your weapon in throwing position first then swap to the item, and then throw it. Why does it work this way? There's no logical reason for it lol. You literally have an item quick menu that could have been used to equip items but nope, it just does nothing on its own. Also, if you try to picture what Link is actually doing, it's super goofy. Instead of throwing stuff like a normal sane person, Link raises his arm as if to throw his sword, then with his other hand he puts the sword away, while his arm is still raised up in the air. Then link puts an item into his hand then finally follows through with the throwing motion lol.

[@michaellane5381]

​​@@fishnewt1331agreed, I feel like it really needed 5 more "regional quests" Akkalla and Hyrule Field could have really used a quest/Dungeon, the "pirate" line could have used more than just like 6 ships crewed by mostly Bokoblins... Like 2-6 Lizal enemies period makes most of these fights jus a Boss Bokoblin roaming event where the easiest victory is to just dump everyone off the side and then loot, the roots/thorns in the depths have no spawns so ambushes always feel the same after engineering and Roots just feel inconvenient...

[@tamclam]

The only complaints I have for TOTK is that I wish there were more sky islands and that it was eaiser to traverse. The sky islands are my favorite part mostly due to how calming and cool it is, but there's barely any of them or any large pieces at least. Most of the pieces are just small chunks that are so spread apart it's hard to actually get from one island to another.

[@user-dw5lr3vs7i]

yeah so true

[@fernandolemus5965]

I wish they were more of a center focus to them

[@CZsWorld]

I'd rather have seen a rebuilt Hyrule than the Depths. TotK is just too big.

[@SkitterBiscuit]

Or make the depths the new overworld. Maybe something happens to the world above and everything goes below. If they make a third game in the series, that's another option they can explore.

[@wifi961]

Then stop asking for bigger worlds.

[@TheGameianDark]

​@@wifi961 Stop telling people to stop asking bigger worlds who complain about a bigger world and tell those who ask for it..

[@homerman76]

​@@wifi961 But that's the problem, we're not asking for bigger worlds, at most we want an expansion to it (you know, like the ability to explore the lands outside of Hyrule.) Game devs are just convinced that what we want is a world that is bigger.

[@freybear8457]

A bigger world means more entertainment and stuff to love, DONT nitpick on the game definition of passion

[@itachi93674]

Honestly the depths doesn’t need to be so big it’s mostly a big empty space of nothingness. They could have spent more time with sky islands or making better side quests with characters that mostly do nothing all game. Literally Paya and Purah don’t get involved in any side quests like why not have us do something with them.

[@hectorlackless]

I was baffled by how little impact the sheika ruins had, I alredy had found mineru before doing the quest so paya was basically useless

[@pixywings]

Yeah, I would have been very happy if there were no depths at all and just like three times as many sky islands! The Sky Islands are cool! Especially the ones with puzzles and stuff on them. The depths are just a boring monster filled wasteland.

[@JMstudios7]

That’s dumb since the depths literally carry 2 dungeons 😂😂😂 harder enemies ,coliseums the whole yoga clan and the boss fight

[@Phantom_Mountain_Art]

Honestly, a year on, I'm actually enjoying the game now more than ever.

[@INBEEVR]

Facts. I beat the game once pretty quickly after it came out took a large break from it and now a year later I started another play through and now that I understand the actual game and I’m not going in blind. it’s some of the most fun I’ve ever had with it, because there are some confusing concepts in the game, such as the Zonite and crystallized charges

[@56ty_]

Same! It’s aging like fine wine for me

[@Egood_ty]

'taking my time enjoying it

[@callnight1441]

He too!

[@RavenGamingOverLord]

Me too

[@farideh4698]

I loved TOTK when it came out, and was SO hyped. Played it through completion once and... Haven't really touched it since. I agree on the replay ability factor - it didn't grab me as much as BOTW did. That game I have played to completion several times now.

[@hoel7367]

Funny i have the opposite take. This game is so superior to botw in terms of gameplay and exploration. Sky, land and depths plus caves. Way more fleshed out. I have my criticisms still but overall much better. It is hard for me to play botw now as that game now feels more boring and tedious (like climbing instead of just pulling out another rocket or hot air balloon or crazy contraption i made to do the iob which is so much more fun in my opinion).

[@abdulnasirbushra6049]

Yeah I mean thats how you are supposed to play games. I mean how much time do you have it took me like 100H to finish TOTK how can you have time to keep replaying that?

[@toonzelda3353]

Same I intend to replay BOTW on my gaming laptop with raytracing settings on :). That game captured my interest much longer than this game did! Shockingly Majoras Mask was able to innovate things and heck even Link Between Worlds was able to differeniate itself enough from Link to the Past with the moving on walls mechanic. This game just felt like BOTW additional content creative mode than a unique idea for a sequel.

[@toonzelda3353]

Enemies are the exact same with the exception of giant cubed robots in the sky, surface feels identical to BOTWs. Item system for not being able to fire elemental arrows instantly and system for selecting materials to fuse to bow feels slow needing you to search for the item in one straight line. Many parts of Tears of the Kingdom actually did things worse than BOTW and this game just feels overhyped if anything.

[@toonzelda3353]

Heck even the story didnt make much sense? So like all this time the Zelda we were after isnt even the princess... and we were being trolled. Pretty dumb plotline. The moment the storyline moved away from the original champions the less I was interested in storyline. The og champions all had meaningful sacrifices. The only real thing that kept me invested in TOTK were the Zonai creations and the glitches. Once I kept duplicating items and created a crap ton of stuff to save to auto build. I just didnt even feel inclined to finish the game. Felt more like I was pushing myself through each dungeon not actually enjoying it. Like lets get this over with sigh. BOTW never felt bored of it once. Even the trial of the sword added a fun way of getting the master sword. Here they literally give you the hylian shield for free without challenging you as much as BOTW did where it wasnt just a cakewalk getting into the moats of Hyrule Castle.

[@benjaminaulakh4734]

I played TOTK around 5 hours a day, every day, for the first 6 months for my first playthrough. As soon as I finished it the first time, not completely, but the story, I immediately began it again. I'm not playing it as much every day as I did, as I'm making my way through the rest of the franchise, Skyward Sword, Ocarina, LTTP, Links Awakening, but every time I play it I enjoy it as much as I always did.

[@speedude0164]

I think if I hadn't purchased Subnautica right before TotK's release and been so eager to start that too, I would've done the same thing. Now I'm holding it off because I'm looking for work and don't want too many distractions, but I already have so many ideas for challenge runs.

[@lasercraft32]

I have a few major complaints: There aren't enough answers, and yet TOO MANY answers at the same time. For example... The absence of Sheikah Technology and the missing Divine Beasts is a huge plot whole that really really bothers me. As far as I know, there's only ONE npc in the entire game that even remotely mentions the Divine Beasts, and its a Rito person mentioning that the stone formation above the village is called "Vah Medoh's Perch." That's it. Nobody mentions anything about the Guardians who terrorized Hyrule, Giant pillars around the castle, or the Divine Beasts which were so big and caused so much impact on the lives of those around them that there's NO WAY people would just never mention them! If they suddenly "disappeared after the Calamity" then SURELY there would be people in-universe wondering what happened, or paranoid that the Guardians might come back, right??? It just really takes you out of it, and kills the immersion. What is the actual reason the Sheikah tech is gone? Well simple, the devs wanted Totk to feel like its own separate game. But this came at the cost of alienating Botw players by blatantly refusing to acknowledge continuity (for other Zelda games this isn't an issue... But this one takes place in the same kingdom, with the same characters, only a few years apart). All it would have taken was an npc or two mentioning how the Sheikah tech vanished, or made a Majora's Mask reference by saying all four Divine Beasts walked off in four different directions and left Hyrule. Just ANYTHING! It just ends up feeling like they didn't care. Its so far removed from what came before for no justifiable reason (like Yunobo doesn't have Daruk's Protection, despite literally being an inherited genetic ability). As for my second complaint... They kind of ruined all the mystery and interest of so many of Botw's secrets. Before Totk, everyone was so curious and fascinated by the forgotten Zonai race, and their connections to the Labyrinths, Barbarian Outfit, and old ruins in Faron. But in Totk, they just suddenly drop in the Zonai and they feel completely disconnected from what Botw was hinting at. They just straight up tell us that the old ruins were built by Hylians who worshipped and copied the Zonai culture, but don't acknowledge the similarities between Ganon and the Barbarian Armor. None of the Zonai ruins in Totk even have the same aesthetic as the Botw ruins, having the opposite effect that they intended! The Zonai ruins don't feel old, they feel _brand new_ and pristine, despite being several thousand years older (and yet they still don't tell us anything, and leave us wondering what the heck happened to the rest of the Zonai). Then there's the case of the Eighth Heroine. There was so many theories and so much speculation regarding the meaning behind the Heroine statues... And Totk just straight up ruins all the mystery by telling us what they are (which strangely none of the Gerudo mentioned before, despite it being part of their history). Apparently the statues AREN'T supposed to represent any sages or anything, its just seven Gerudo warriors. The Eighth one was a male Hylian that helped them in battle, so they built the statue to honor his assistance while keeping it a secret that he was a voe. The actual answer behind the mystery is neat, but after so much build up it just feels lackluster and uninteresting. Kass is entirely absent and nobody in-game acknowledges it, not even his wife and kids. I'm also peeved that there's no DLC... This game seriously could have used it. Despite being packed with content and a ton of space to run around in with the Depths and Sky Islands, it all feels strangely barren and repetitive. I wish they had included more biome variation in the Depths. Just give us Master Mode at the very least. This game has such polarizing issues... Simultaneously having too much and too little of everything at once.

[@pezorama]

Yeah. It's stuffed to the brim with useless stuff. The new abilities and building is fun, but to me, it's like, "what's this have to do with me trying to save Hyrule??" Kass being MIA like that is absolutely unforgivable. Like you said, not even his wife and kids say anything. The game is bad, but people are just afraid of admitting it.

[@lasercraft32]

@@pezorama I'd say that the new abilities are VERY integral to Link saving Hyrule... Using vehicles to traverse difficult areas, Ultra Hand is used for a lot of the puzzles in the dungeons, using Recall to see the Dragon Tears, and the Depths themselves are very difficult to traverse without vehicles (Maragia requires a flying machine to fight in order to open up Death Mountain to get to the Fire Temple), and Rauru's hand in general is what holds all of the Sage's Blessings. Fuse is FUNDAMENTAL in order to get weapons strong enough to combat the Gloom. If this game is "bad" than 90% of all games are literal trash. You're kidding yourself if you think this is a bad game because of a minor disconnect between story and gameplay. Breath of the Wild had just as much disconnect, but that didn't stop it from revolutionizing the open-world genre (and the Zelda series itself) as we know it. :/

[@pezorama]

@@lasercraft32 you're misunderstanding me, and that's not your fault. Generally, the new abilities are so cool and fun that they detract from the main quest. That's what I mean by "what's it have to do with saving Hyrule." My complaint is that when these abilities render basic functions, like travel and puzzle solving, useless, it takes the fun out of it. Especially since BotW shows a better way to do it. The abilities are over powered. But it's ok. We can disagree and still be friends. We have different opinions on what makes a good or bad game (not that what you said about why I think it's bad is correct). Tell me more about why you like the game. I wanted to love this game, I've been playing Zelda since Zelda 2, so I'm just an old man who didn't like the most recent game. I've liked pretty much every one before TotK. And honestly I was in denial about not liking it. Even HG here is in denial. You're kidding yourself if you think that not wanting to play a game, from a series that most people replay constantly, means it's still a good game.

[@Ben-zg8xk]

Yeah the lack of lore on the zonai ruined it completely for me. I think the reason the architecture is so different is that they probably didn’t actaully have a solid idea of what the zonai were in botw. In hindsight it seems really obvious that the zonai were just gonna be another ancient extinct race who’s technology we use, just like the sheikah in the first game. Also the sky islands all being copy and pasted puzzles makes even less sense because they’re meant to be zonai civilisation, they should’ve at least made an island with a ruined zonai city on it really high up and used original assets for it instead of the same copy and pasted ones.

[@redcrimson1028]

Wow, you are indeed a deep thinker. I never gave any of that much thought, but now that you mentioned it, you have a very strong argument I was enjoying the game too much to even think about those things, but you definitely got me thinking. I think all of those things you mentioned should've been explained in the game, whether thru text, npc and or cutscenes. Some of those questions, however, I think you answered them yourself. They wanted totk to be it's own game, but it's set in the same world with the same people, so making totk it's own game entirely wasn't smart. The divine beasts were pretty much all put to rest indefinitely because they served their purpose, but having them stationary visibly were they once roam would've been a valid detail. So yeah, I agree. They messed up a lot on the story. The sheikha, they died out with their technology. The best thing you said though again, was that they wanted totk to be it's own game. Do they left out most of the botw lore. I do agree that the game was repetitive and lazy at times, too. Mabye I should a video on the things you pointed out that are missing? Still a great game at the end of the day dispite all the missing stuff. They were better off making the game dlc for totk if they were going to leave out those other stuff.

[@Ethan_24754]

Its been a year already 😅 Thats insane

[@user-ir4rq6cp6m]

I know this make me feel old😭😭😭

[@darknova26x]

I feel like midnight launch was literally yesterday 😢

[@0perativeX]

I began a new playthrough of TotK yesterday. What I notice now, having completed the game several times, is that the game is way more fun nearer to the beggining. You have to be resourceful and there's a ton of equipment and shrines and side quests to do. But when you're up to about 75% completion and quite far into the game, TotK loses steam rapidly Iand becomes a tedious grind fest. Searching for ingredients for the last armour upgrades becomes a mind-numbing task, having to wait for blood moons to respawn certain enemies so that you can get those final ingredients is a ball ache. Especially Lizalfos tails which only drop now and again instead of every time you kill one. And I feel like i've really gotta force myself to go do the main dungeons coz I know they're not that great and the rewards for completing them are kinda 'meh'

[@hoel7367]

Playing this game in a completionist way is the wrong way to play it in my opinion. That's why they reward you with poop for getting all the korok seeds. It's a message to play it in a way that is fun. If grinding out for max armor upgrade is not fun, don't do it. Do what feels like fun in the moment: explore and find things as a convienence, defeat enemy camps, build a creative zonai device and test it out, do shrine puzzles, progress the story or do a random side quest.

[@ACW-dn9wb]

​@@hoel7367Bit thats exactly the problem. For completion issues, doing that is "fun" for them, while also being somewhat a task. Its a challenge to collect everything and should have a reward reflecting the amount of effort to get this far.. But when Nintendo makes collecting Koroks a boring grind with literal crap as a reward, uts neither fun nor rewarding. A lot of other games don't do this, they make their collecting fun and even if itsnt necessarily the most fun (and sometimes a slog), the reward for doing so is worth tbr time and energy put into it. Not a golden turd for collecting golden turds in the same, boring recycled way literally 1000 times.

[@poyo3087]

I will say, although I agree with some of your points when specifically talking about the mechanical aspects of TOTK, as yes, building Zonai mechanics and moving stuff, as well as traversing through the land with the new Ultra hand and all the new abilities alongside it, is very fun to mess around with. And yes, presentation-wise, the music, graphics, atmosphere and cutscenes are very, very well-made, as I'd actually say that TOTK, in my opinion, does contain one of the best ending sequences to a video game that I've seen in a long time. However, after watching BanditGames 1 hour and 10 min rant and 23min video, as well as Rataoskr's 2 hours and 40 min podcast discussing their problems with TOTK, when it comes to the narrative and continuity of it all, before watching this and the last video you made around five months ago, I don't quite get why you and many others don't understand or get the criticism that people with similar opinions to them are making, without classing it as "annoying". Anyway, they go over why they feel the way they do in great detail with sound reasoning. I only really got into Zelda after BotW, with that being my first Zelda game ever, with me only playing the BOTW era games, and only really grasping the series' complex and rich lore from watching the many Zelda KZbinrs including you, talking about the history and timeline over the years. But even though I would be considered a relatively new fan, even if the only games I've played in the series are the BOTW era ones, during my first experience with TOTK, although it was overall a positive one, there were many instances to when I questioned if it's even worth trying to care about a world that feels like it's bearly connected the previous instalment, given how the game itself handles specific explanations, with many not even being in the game such as what happened to the Sheikah tech or Divine beasts. (I know of certain explanations and theories as to why, but I still think it's very lacking). Even further stuff, such as most of the NPCs not knowing that you are the guy who not only helped them out personally taken if 100% all quests ever in BotW are canon (which I do believe) but also that you're the guy who stopped the great calamity and saved Zelda, with it most likely being the case that link lives with her, who everybody doesn't have a problem knowing who she is. It feels like a slap in the face for many who actually spent 100s of hours investing in the world, just to be told that nobody recognises you the next time you finally get to reexplore the world after literal years of waiting. Others might find that to be fine, but not for me. It isn't the fans' fault for having this much expectation for a game that took six years to make. People have made many more critics, but that is all I'll say about the subject. The people criticising the game want improvement for the next game, as they feel it was poorly executed, including me (especially with the wasted potential of Ganondorf being the same guy). They're not just complaining for the sake of it. People are allowed to feel disappointed about certain aspects of the game. I know this rant was long, but I'm really tired of seeing takes like, "People complaining are so annoying and childish, and I don't get their opinion or want to try to understand it honestly, so therefore, I'll continue to act as if they're annoying and unnessearlily negative". Believe me, I've watched a lot of Sonic content to know that people act this way.

[@blobby883]

The complaints about NPCs not recognising Link are really overblown imo. CaptBurgerson did a video breaking down how many returning NPCs recognise you, and it's really not that bad.

[@poyo3087]

​@@blobby883Again, it might not be a problem to many including you, but like I said, it was still significant enough to disappoint many as well, including me. It's why the topic is so big to begin with, as many fans felt it was weird and unsatisfying that many people from BotW just don't know who you are. I believe it would had been way more interesting to see how everyone (not just a couple people) would had treated Link knowing that he's the hero of hyrule, rather than getting what we got.

[@Preston241]

100% agree. As someone who’s enjoyed this series for over three decades it’s honestly a relief to hear some newer fans feel the same way.

[@PixelPikmin]

Im currently playing through Botw again and once im done with it immediately going into Totk. I haven’t played Totk in over 6 months and I want to see how much is different between the two. As I stand now, I think both games are equally great, with Totk being the better overall game

[@MadLad07]

I reckon Zelda theorists are eagerly anticipating the master works. Basically a stream of info to make dosh off of

[@AidanRatnage]

Yes, and I'm looking forward to those videos, if not he book, itself. I'm not really interested in merch.

[@daniebello]

dosh?

[@kaitoudark1]

Dosh= Dough = Money

[@KiomonDuck]

Some youtubers career depends on its release.

[@user-dc5dc3qb7z]

About the lore, yes, Zelda has always been about giving us pieces and leaving some things unanswered. In my opinion, until Tears, there was a good balance of mystery and answers. But leaving room for theorising and expecting fans to write the lore themselves are two different things. Tears has very little lore. What are the Zonai? A friendly advanced civilization with a signature aesthetic. I wonder what that ton of lore he spoke about at 5:21 is. This game only cares about the Zonai, and yet we learn pretty much nothing about them, while the previously established lore is not being built upon. I don't see how it can satisfy someone who cares about lore. Again please.

[@StormsparkPegasus]

BOTW was already a massive game, 250+ hours easily. One issue with TOTK is it's "too big". It took me just under 800 hours to complete. It's so big, and there is so much to do, that it feels overwhelming. Games can be huge, but there should me more to them than just "big", and TOTK wears out its welcome by the end. Also, the way the sages are designed is bonheaded. It works ok when the actual sage accompanies you through the temple. But once you gain their ability, it should've just been an ability like BOTW. The way it is now, your "abilities" cause frame drops, and either run away from you or activate when you don't want them to. I don't know how such bad design got greenlit.

[@ShadowWizard224]

It can definitely feel overwhelming but the fact that you are free to go at any pace you want is what I enjoyed most about it. Just taking it one step at a time and then all of a sudden you are hundreds of hours into the game and you look back on all the progress you made. It’s a good feeling and makes you feel like you are actually apart of that world.

[@homerman76]

@sule001 Aside from Tulin, I can't think of any point the sages were actually more useful than the Champion abilities, they usually just get in the way since they barely do anything to help with combat and even the rock destroying abilities of Riju and Yunobu tended to be rather unhelpful since they just send the ores flying 🤔

[@iwasanMBTInerd]

800 hours?! I did everything in the game from the shrines and kooks to upgrading all armor and horses and finding all locations. It took me 360 hours but 800? Wtf

[@StormsparkPegasus]

@@iwasanMBTInerd I also spent quite a lot of time designing vehicles. And I don't have a speedrunner mentality so I don't necessarily do things in the most efficient way. BOTW took me 250 hours.

[@iwasanMBTInerd]

@StormsparkPegasus Ah that makes sense. BOTW took me around that long as well

[@fruitbatfox]

My only gripe with it is some of the very cluttered features. BOTW felt so seamless, the sage abilities were so EASY to use because they were linked to things Link could already do in jumps, spin attacks, and blocking. In TOTK having to locate and chase down a sage in the middle of combat is borderline unacceptable. And while I absolutely adore how every material now has a use, they really couldn’t think of a better way to present the items (for selecting an arrow material, for example) than an incredibly long scrolling menu??

[@abdulnasirbushra6049]

Bro the sage abilities sucked ass might as well have given you the ability to spawn trees or some shit they kept running away, but I wont lie it was very fun to jump the monsters in the dephts and fighting on those pirate ships

[@Preston241]

The arrow ui was bonkers. Especially since such a high percentage of items in the list gave a negligible damage increase and no effect.

[@speedude0164]

I really hated how Daruk's Protection and Urbosa's Fury were tied to Link's abilities as there were so many times where I just wanted to block or spin attack normally without triggering the ability. Getting my first Sage and realizing I wouldn't be hindered in such a way in this game was such a relief. I would've liked being able to call a Sage to my side to easily activate their ability, but it's nowhere near the Superman 64 level game design I've heard people say it is since your actual abilities are the Sages themselves, not their powers. I'd have a much bigger problem if Breath of the Wild made you find a random colored orb in the middle of battle to activate the Champion abilities. Fuck that materials quick menu though. I think it's my single biggest problem with the game, the Master Sword not being far behind.

[@abdulnasirbushra6049]

@@speedude0164 Materials quick menu? Is that when you choose which item to throw or attach to an arrow? If that's what you are talking about bro it ruined the thrill of battle searching for electro fruit or whatever for like 2 minutes straight 😂😂

[@speedude0164]

@@abdulnasirbushra6049 Exactly. They should've either let you Fuse straight from the inventory or add more rows to the quick menu, cause using any materials as a projectile is such a genius idea that just doesn't get done justice.

[@EmperorsNewWardrobe]

Played OoT recently. It’s tight. The story beats are essential, even the side quests are lean subplots. Totk is loose, the story beats are often repeated and the subplots ramble.

[@Delta-lu5kf]

You're just fucking saying shit trying to sound smart

[@fishnewt1331]

As someone who loves Tears, I think the issue is they did not give enough answering questions about the world. We could find a ton of secret caves and dungeons, but the environments would seldom tell us anything about ancient Hyrule. Example: There are locations that feel empty where a ton could be told with just something being there. Like, I was excited when I saw the plaque telling me that the sword of the sages used to be in that cave where the Temple of the Sages used to be. It gave me tons of ideas of a place that used to be where they honored the past sages back then before the Calamity struck. Stuff like that could have went a long way in this.

[@hoel7367]

Thats a fair and good criticism. Definitely could have been polished better in that department

[@user-dc5dc3qb7z]

About the lore, yes, Zelda has always been about giving us pieces and leaving some things unanswered. In my opinion, until Tears, there was a good balance of mystery and answers. But leaving room for theorising and expecting fans to write the lore themselves are two different things. Tears has very little lore. What are the Zonai? A friendly advanced civilization with a signature aesthetic. I wonder what that ton of lore you spoke about at 5:21 is. This game only cares about the Zonai, and yet we learn pretty much nothing about them, while the previously established lore is not being built upon. I don't see how it can satisfy someone who cares about lore. Again please.

[@YourBoy_Jack]

Run through the BotW's story and TotK's story side by side, you will see that they are very very similar. Link starts out on a part of the map that is cut off from everything else, and completes four shrines to get his four main abilities while being assisted by a ghost. He then gains access to the rest of the map while, where he travels to a key location to gain information and receive his next task (Kakariko Village and Lookout Landing). He then travels to four locations (the same four locations in each game), where he helps the people there with a problem they are having. After completing a short quest to reach the dungeon, Link does puzzles to unlock four-five terminals, and then unlocked a final one to start the boss fight. After finishing the boss fight, an ancient hero appears to offer link their power. Link is then tasked to go with his new powers and defeat the final boss. Link, with the help of his new abilities from the Dungeons' heroes defeats the big bad boss. Using the last bit of strength it has, the boss transforms itself into a beastly creature. Link has an epic showdown with it right outside of Hyrule Castle, while being assisted by Zelda. After the fight, Zelda appears and thanks link very emotionally for his effort to save her, and the kingdom of Hyrule. The story of BotW was basically just copied to TotK, with TotK only having a few changes.

[@Delta-lu5kf]

If the only way you can argue two given stories are similar is by being incredibly vague, then they're not similar at all. You're describing the basic plot structure of the majority of Zelda games here, shit most action-adventure games in general

[@bbo673]

It was a direct sequel to botw obviously stories are going to be very similar

[@YourBoy_Jack]

@@Delta-lu5kf my point was that all the locations were the same. The four dungeons were in the same places, the dungeons had the same terminal thing that BotW Devine Beasts had. The final boss was at Hyrule Castle, only difference is that this time it was deeper underground than Calamity Ganon. They didn’t do enough to make the story feel different. To me, it felt like a reskin of BotW

[@Delta-lu5kf]

@@YourBoy_Jack How the fuck is any of this different from previous games? That's what you're failing to actually acknowledge. Again, you're describing like 99% of the franchise. And "the terminal thing", that's just the structure of the dungeons themselves. That's like if I were to say every other previous dungeon is the same cause they all have keys, locked doors, and mid bosses. And thats not even bringing up how, unlike the Beasts, you don't change the layout of the Temples The double standards you're displaying are insane. You have no fucking clue what you're talking about

[@danielsanchez-sv4js]

​@@YourBoy_Jack I agree with you, I felt that the structure of the story was the same, this Hyrule is so big they could do the Temples in other regions.

[@freebusycat]

It took me one year to finish this game because I have a life. I didn't want to look at the internet so it took me 122h to finish the main quest along with the main side quests, so I got lost often and had to look for clues inside the game, that makes you lose a lot of time but the feeling of accomplishment of discovering things yourself is much greater. This is not only the best Zelda game, but the best game Nintendo ever made. You can play any way you like, in any order you want, pause and come back casually, the exploration and discovery is amazing, enemies are fun to fight, they're not sitting ducks, I died often, this is a hard game, with a lot of charm, totally worth it. I'll keep playing it now that I finished it because now I started see the videos about it on YT and hell what I missed so much stuff 😂😂😂

[@thelastwindwaker7948]

I'd say one year later my feelings on the game are more neutral. I was not interested in the sequel to BOTW being just more of what I didn't like from that game. But that this point I feel like the pill is easier to swallow because I wasn't expecting a more traditional Zelda game. There were times where I could enjoy it as the mindless toybox it is, not caring at all about the story or dungeons. But a lot of the time it just felt like I was playing BOTW, but for Minecraft kids. Seeing the amount of people turn on this game has been interesting, but also a bit refreshing to see people understand that, no Aonuma, it's not just nostalgia that people have for the more traditional style Zelda games.

[@Mikey2Times]

I love this game....its lacking the wonder BOTW had. BOTW never lost its replayability...Tears is kinda fading on me.

[@Kirkieb]

That's understandable. Totk felt like botw but in rush mode.

[@hoel7367]

I mean it is the same world so yeah it is not going to hit quite the same as a brand new world you've never seen

[@ACW-dn9wb]

​@@hoel7367True, but there shouldve been enough differences and new things to justify reusing the same world in the same engine. We waited 6 years and the game feels like $70 DLC.

[@ChristopherPayneMUA]

Really my only complaint is how little connection there is to BotW. I understand Nintendo not wanting to lose sales to people who hadn't played the previous game, but I was excited for a bigger continuation to the existing story. Outside of that issue, however, it's a great game.

[@StelloTyrannus]

This really feels like my mind has been read, I beat the main story about a month after release, and the following months we’re checking out all the new stuff, it was a great summer with a great game! But by the end I had basically explored the entire map, got all shrines, I fiddled with the new mechanics, and already I felt like I had seen everything. It took so much longer for me to get this with botw cause obviously it was new to me. TOTK despite all the new stuff it brings, just felt too familiar

[@megaforte84]

One of the things I missed in TotK that BotW had (and kept me going in 2020) is low-fighting opportunities to chill. It fits the theme for enemies to be in more places and on the roads, but it means 'run around on horseback for two hours to see where you can go' as destressing isn't going to happen. (They dropped a gleeok on my favorite riding loop!)

[@avon_c6199]

Seriously, they could've left that damn Gleeok OFF the bridge. (ò_ó)

[@EdiggityDog37]

It’s hilarious the difference of opinions about the game.. from a content creator aspect to just a normal cook of a person.. idc if it didn’t give zeltik four more years of lore breaking down. The game was a nine and fun and good lol

[@E_o_D]

Yeah, a lot of the Zelda community “creators” seemed to get salty cause the story was pretty straight forward, leaving not a lot of room for speculation. But that’s irrelevant, cause the game is fantastic and their inability or lack of creativity to endlessly talk about and profit from it, doesn’t make the game less good for the players.

[@Kirkieb]

@E_o_D BanditGames, formerly known as NintendoMaskedBandit was honestly the worst about it. He made an hour long video that ultimately boiled down to, "I didn't like the story so Imma complain about it for as long as possible." At which point he decided to just pretend the game didn't exist.

[@homerman76]

@@Kirkieb You really didn't get what he was talking about if that's how you're breaking his opinion down. The fact is, while TotK is a great game, it is a terrible sequel and entry in the Legend of Zelda series. How flawed it is heavily depends on how you look at it. Honestly, love it or hate it, nobody is actually wrong about this game, it CAN be both a great game and a terrible sequel/entry at the same time, and for some one is more important than the other

[@Kirkieb]

@homerman76 but for him to outright dismiss it entirely was going way to far.

[@homerman76]

@@Kirkieb Agree to disagree

[@molls19]

i really loved totk, but i haven't picked it up much since finishing the main story and the shrines/lightroots. playing through it for the first time was so incredible! i think i'm going to restart my save today in celebration 🥳 i only wish poor burmano would leave the freaking castle. it felt like a glitch that he wouldn't go back to lookout landing. also, side npcs not remembering link made me sad. what do you mean it's nice to meet you i know you????

[@stellar1463]

I will never forget the shock, confusion, goosebumps and the mixed feelings i had when i first entered the depths. Not to mention i didn't have the paraglider yet but still made it down

[@octodoggo6182]

I started a challenge run a while back which is really fun: just stay in the sky… try to get as much and go as far as you can without ever touching the ground or depths. This works well for me because there is no set end, no final boss, which makes it so I don’t feel obligated to keep playing. Even though it can be hard to get from one island to the next, I highly recommend it. Might also work well with the depths

[@speedude0164]

I actually did that quite recently, getting all the Shrines, Sage's Wills and armor in the Sky. I do want to try getting as many Lightroots as possible in the Depths too.

[@brightya]

The Hyrule world from TOTK is my new childhood backyard where I can always find fun things to explore, play with, and test whenever I am curious about the world. I won't get bored of a fun place just because I am getting familiar with it as long as I remain curious as I used to be. I hope everyone else could find such a place, but if people simply get bored every time when they are familiar with one place, the journey would never be satisfying.

[@jeppeaksrensen8316]

Just finished the game a couple of days ago after having it for a year (Got stuck on the gibdo queen and later lynel colleseum so i rage paused for a few months(come prepared to battle kids...)) and gotta say that final boss was hype as donk. that story was amazing and i loved puzzling out the lore. The most common complaint is the emptiness of the sky/depths and i will repeat that too. Maybe if there was another race down in the depths (i was really excited when i saw the first mole statue) or a new island in the sky. Also agree with the fact that the game gets tiring to finish but i'm 100percent coming for that compendium when i get bored this summer :D

[@Harrery]

I’ve done two full playthroughs so far and enjoyed it both times, it’s definitely still my favorite Zelda. But, when people compare its replayability to botw, remember that not only does botw have dlc but it has master mode. I played botw twice on normal and twice on master mode all the way through. If we got a totk master mode or even a pinch of dlc, there comes back the replayable factor immediately

[@homerman76]

I think that's part of the problem people have with TotK, the fact that Nintendo has zero intent on adding in QoL options, additional content or even a Master mode to improve the replayability of the game. Glad you enjoyed it that way, though for me it just burned me out trying to play the game the once (though I went through 100%ing everything except the Koroks, so that's part of it, but it's the only Zelda game to have done so.)

[@macroxela]

I don't think the dlc or master mode really add that much to the replayability of BoTW.

[@TastyWafflesForBreakfast]

I recently shared my thoughts about Tears of the Kingdom with a friend and I’m just going to lay them out here. I love Botw and Totk, I really do. That said, I’m disappointed by Tears of the Kingdom. Now, don‘t get me wrong, while I’m a lore freak I’m not too upset about the story of Tears of the Kingdom. For me it was the exploring. Never before has there been such a vast open world that was as full as Tears of the Kingdoms open world … and that‘s not a compliment. I love exploring because of the possibilities of what I could find if I explore. What this means is a unique place or event with unique rewards etc. This does not exist in Totk. Not with 140 or so Shrines and not with a 1000 Koroks. Your reward for exploration is another Korok or another Shrine. And when it isn‘t one of those it‘s either a randomly placed accessory like a piece of clothing or a repetitive quest for a set of equipment (I‘m talking about the windsuit armour). Of course there are very short and mostly insignificant sidequests, random people walking around and a few memorable sidequests with substance but those can often be traced back major settlements that also most often than not can feel empty, especially after you‘ve done everything. For me a reward in exploration is a major sidequest. Unique characters with backstory’s and lore. Unique armour or weapons (and not just taken from Amibos or DLC) and maybe even unique ruins with history. How about removing an unnecessary amount of shrines and most of the Koroks and actually put something into the game that rewards exploring. Now, maybe this is just me being a crybaby but by the end of my first and only playthrough I was frustrated. I tried to find something new, something interesting and when I thought I was about to find something unique it was just another Shrine. I remember me playing Tears of the Kingdom on release day and looking out towards all the Sky Islands and finally being filled with awe and wonder again. What could be on them? What could be inside the Chasms on the surface. Now I know. They‘re empty. There‘s nothing to note. Ignoring the obvious dungeon (water temple) there was nothing at all. A whole bunch of empty Rocks floating above Hyrule. And bellow that the same stretch of land ever ongoing. Bigger is not always better and fuller just isn‘t fulfilling sometimes. But that‘s only my opinion.

[@ShaheenGhiassy]

I went back to replaying BotW. TotK just never captured my interest in the same way

[@breadman441]

Agreed 🤝

[@AdamE0325]

same

[@Gawillamon]

Hard for me to understand when the abilities and shrines/puzzles in TotK make BotW seem like a proof of concept by comparison, but to each their own!

[@toonzelda3353]

​​@@Gawillamon Ngl I feel the same as op does too! BOTW had this sense of wonder without throwing too much at you all at once. TOTK has way too much to do but its just more of the same world with not much else to go on. Even the sky islands they could have added actual villages in the sky but chose not to. The sages barely follow you sometimes and AI feels terrible. I spend over 400 hours in BOTW but in TOTK I just got bored and didnt end up going for 100 percent completion due to getting bored plus I missed the guardians. The world felt very empty without them. They added a nice challenge to BOTW! The floor masters rarely appear all that often in the overworld in TOTK.

[@toonzelda3353]

​@@GawillamonSo yea each to their own.

[@speedude0164]

I go back to my 100% file every once in a while to mess around, but I haven't done a full second playthrough yet since I had just bought Subnautica before the game's release and was looking forward to playing that too (it was awesome), and I moved a few months ago and don't wanna distract myself too much from my job search. I have so many ideas for challenge runs that I wanna do such as no paraglider, BotW mechanics only and no damage. By the time I complete all of it, I'll probably have worked enough hours to qualify for EI. I can see how the reused world would discourage replayability, but I'm happier with that than the alternative since I'm invested in this Hyrule and wouldn't want for the story and characters just to be taken somewhere else, and the game does do a great job playing on your knowledge of the world with things like the Regional quests and Hyrule Castle. I'm also the kind of person that replays my favorite games 700 times, so it might not bother me as much in that sense; returning to a familiar landmark and having it be changed to this degree is a really unique experience.

[@KyraHogue]

BOTW was my first Zelda game, and I absolutely loved that game. I could not have been more excited for TOTK. For quite a few reasons, the game fell flat for me. My favorite character from BOTW, Kass, was gone with very few clues where he went. The game felt cluttered and overwhelming, even after tens of hours put in. I like the thought of the game, but it's exhausting. So I won't be playing it on the anniversary.

[@nevarmore3474]

i haven't watched the full video but i feel like this game is amazing. i am new to the zelda fandom but after playing botw right before the totk release and then playing totk right after, it just feels so great. in games like ACNH where you have so much to do but no structure really, i get super bored and lost. but totk never had that issue. even after not playing it for months and coming back, everything is so intuitive and still as refreshing and exciting as it was at first

[@user-ei7wg7wo7k]

Totk is having a revival because of masterworks, I am really exited

[@roxasventussora7707]

I’m still playing the game one year later. I like that TOTK really targets those fans that like to complete the game at 100% or just close enough to it past the main quest. OOT and MM always had me going back to revisit the game just so that I could explore and try and find things I might of missed. TOTK definitely expanded on that part for sure. Whether it was intentional or not, it’s still pretty fun to go back and play. At least for me. The excitement isn’t the same one year later but it’s still fun to go back and discover new caves and shrines.

[@jadestar4]

I am playing it again from the start right now and I gata say, still having so much fun

[@sunbbun]

My first playthrough of TOTK was breathtaking. The nostalgic feeling of being in a familiar world that has changes and a story waiting to be discovered was a blast! When I was first figuring out the story of TOTK, I was deeply enthralled and that feeling stuck with me until the end. I get emotional about the story now, just like I did when first experiencing it. Now that a year has passed though... I don't have the urge to pick up the game as much as when it was first released. I agree with your sentiment that we've been in this world before, exploring the changes that have come about isn't enough for me to have more than one playthrough at the moment. I've played through BOTW more times than I can count. With TOTK, I finished the story all the way through, was intensely satisfied, and put it down. I believe my feelings towards TOTK and the desire to play it will change to be the same in time, but right now I just don't have that desire.

[@cheeplethebulldog1420]

I returned to Tears of the Kingdom for its anniversary. I can say that it did what BoTW couldn’t, and did some aspects even better. Its like the Terminator 2 of video games in all aspects.

[@B-ot2xx]

I’m currently on my fourth playthrough, and every time I can’t play the game I feel like I’m missing a part of me. Best game ever made personally. Glad you could give a more nuanced take than “it’s just Breath of the Wild again.” Edit: For those inquiring minds out there, yes, my first Zelda game was Ocarina of Time. So TotK being my favorite says a lot.

[@B-ot2xx]

Btw most of the people who don’t like the game AFTER liking it watched one video essay and had their opinions changed for them. Fucking sheep.

[@chrisquick9219]

It’s all about playback loop baby! Between BOTW and TOTK I would get hooked on some games like Dark Souls and Red Dead Redemption 2 but spaces between there I could never tire of logging in BOTW and just going on an adventure. 1000 hours since 2017 across the Wii U and the Switch. TOTK is just that again with allot more, sometimes I question whether BOTW was dethroned as my favorite of all time but I’m almost at 400 hours into Tears and I realize, “yeah, it has.” Only complaints I have are I need more detail to the Zonai history in the Sky Islands and NO GOLD ENEMIES

[@linkzelda9734]

I don't necessarily share nearly as many complaints that many other Zelda fans had with this game, because for me it just felt like a vast improvement over botw in every way. The only problem I had with tears is that it ties the main story behind a memory system Yet Again just like botw, which hinders the story in my opinion as I perfer to play out the story in real time not watch. but other than that, I enjoyed it alot more than I did with botw, and found it alot more replayable as I already played and beat it like 3 times already, whereas with botw I beat it once and never played it again

[@codyt8541]

I love Tears so much, this reminds me i should do a 2nd playthrough. I wish we got Master Mode though!

[@Claego]

I took almost a year away from Tears of the Kingdom and recently started playing again. The gameplay itself is super satisfying; seeing a star island you've never been to off in the distance and building a contraption to get you there, then executing your plan, traveling to the island and finding what's there. Not caring about the disappointments in the game and just absent-mindedly playing is still very enjoyable.

[@BunchaNothin]

I beat TOTK within 6 weeks of release with ~70% completion. It has not been about a year since I last booted it up, and I'm looking forward to seeing how much I enjoy it again after so long without playing it. I did the same thing for BOTW, and I loved my second playthrough.

[@braydonbetts]

I love TOTK because somehow they made the already explored world feel lived in and progressed. All we wanted was more zelda with better dungeons and an actual story and it did that. I remember how arkham knight and fallout 4 was recieved. They out sold they games before with crazy hype. Many people loved them but there was fair criticism. Now they are loved. I think TOTK will age very well. For people too young to play it or people who won’t play zelda fir years and come back to the series.

[@themoviecritic1092]

Idk, man. I finally finished the game two days before the 1 year anniversary, and man, it was an amazing experience. Like you, I played the game on and off for a few months, but it wasn't because I was bored of the game. It was mostly because of college and just not being able to play video games like I used to. But every time I did play the game, it was such a fun time. Sure, there are some things to critique about the game, but there's a lot more to love about it in my case. If I have time, I'll probably play the game a second time!

[@Vic4vendetta]

I've replayed both games. I'm in that sweet spot where all I want to do is play Tears of the Kingdom. I truly believe it's time to give this game its flowers

[@iLLiCiT_XL]

I played BotW for over than 200 hours. My TotK playtime clocked in at over 235 hours. I only ever beat BotW once and never completed a second playthrough. I’ve yet to start a second TotK playthrough as I still have things I’d like to complete. I loved revisiting the same Hyrule. Although it didn’t have the same sense of wonder, the experience of being in the same land further enriched it for me. Even without the Depths and Sky Islands, the cave systems alone made for an intriguing addition. Zelda games generally don’t have the replay value to me as the did in the 2D era, or perhaps as much as OoT. I’ve rarely ever gone back to beat a Zelda game twice. But OoT and ALttP I’ve beaten a bunch of times, OoT more times than I think any other game I’ve ever played. Still, the experience I had with this game was wonderful. It’s easier the best Zelda game ever made, though I still believe OoT is the best video game ever/overall.

[@Gigi4u]

The one thing i would love to relive the activity of peaceing together the games event's and story on the first playthrogh. Unlike in BOTW were you have a rough idea of what happened to the world in TOTK you will just like Link not know what is going on untill you piece the story together yourself over the course of the game. It is a experience you can really only have once with this game.

[@rapmaster1990]

My first playthrough was tough, im currently working through a 2nd to prepare for a lets play i still find myself going back to mess around and everything but heres a serious question, do you think tears of the kingdom would of been better if it was released and dlc for breath of the wild or did nintendo make a good call turning it into its own game

[@Gabriel_KS]

Thanks for reminding me to replay it.

[@user-dw5lr3vs7i]

I never get bored with this game. Well, I do sometimes, but mostly I have a lot of fun and enjoy exploring. Btw if any of you do feel bored go down to the depths where there is tons of stuff to find and enemies to fight. And if you find THAT boring, making huge machines with ultra hand is also a good option. And if its still boring maybe this game is not for you and that's absolutely fine.

[@suburbantimewaster9620]

I played it yesterday and loved it.

[@LincolnScanlon]

I just beat the game for the first time, and I never played BOTW, so it was such a fun experience, even though I dont really care for storyline. I'll play it again 100%

[@bbo673]

I don’t think I will ever experience the hype and feeling with any other game I had when this game came out and the time waiting for it to come out greatest game of all time and nothing will ever change my mind I spent 10-15 hours a day no kidding for the first week it came out which I still played for insane amounts over the summer I would do anything for a dlc I’m not sure why they haven’t released one yet because it would do numbers and I would pay a ridiculous amount botw and totk will always be my favorite games of all time

[@c9ja456]

Just started the second play through on the 1 year anniversary. Honestly when I play this game I try to imagine it where BOTW never existed. And my god it’s a special game ! I didn’t see myself playing a second time as I was so done with this hyrule after hours and hours of playing both games. But taking my sweet time this time round and just appreciating the world they gave us for what it is

[@soapykissesandbrokenplates]

I remember being so excited when it came out, that I was kinda shaking when I finally started the game. I actually left social media for a while to avoid spoilers as I played through 👍

[@Ruffs22]

I really want to like TOTK more than I do, although I do enjoy playing it my main gripe with it as well as BOTW is lack of reward for exploring when they are both games that encourage you to explore. I think they need to go back to heart pieces and maybe stamina upgrades in chests again rather than shrines and put the shrine puzzle ideas into having proper dungeons again. The depths was a great idea but there's nothing there, once you find one mine or Colosseum you've found them all!!!!!

[@lehonno]

9:35 there is no way you have nearly the exact tattoo like I have and on the exact same position xd I just got the full master sword and koroks around it. I really like your design too❤

[@jorgeblanco1929]

Totk came out at a perfect time for me bc a couple days before I got a job contract, but I had to wait a few months to start as it’s in a different country and the govt had to process my application. I had all the time I needed to really enjoy the game and bc of that my first pt was one of the best I’ve had with any game. Did all the shrines and quests I could find but never 100% it bc korok seeds. I get how many people complain about it taking forever and that’s something I agree with. In order to keep enjoying it in subsequent pt’s, I’ve just kept Link at 2 stamina wheels and like 5-8 hearts 👍🏻 I really enjoy how “customizable” it is as a game once you know where to go and what to do, so lately I’ve just avoided the story and instead I go looking for monsters and good weapons. Solid game but it can get boring if you just follow the story.

[@fightronin3753]

Great video!!!!! Keep it up!!!

[@ardianhesa4340]

I stopped playing BotW and TotK for 7 months and when I replayed them I got better at the combat lol

[@hawaiian87]

People complain about the world being the same from BOTW to TOTK, but put some smarts on it. When you were growing up from age 5 to age 10, did your town change a bit or get up and completely relocate? It’s a same world sequel. Place will be the same, and there will be some changes to the area.

[@ValorDucky]

A year already. Jeez. I remember rushing through this game and explore everywhere as fast as I can before my baby girl was born, cause I suspected my time will be limited afterward. Lol.

[@alibabaschultz352]

Botw is a timeless masterpiece, and revolutionary in open world design. Totk is another generic open world game, that somehow forgot all the rules Botw established. Totk is basically Saints Row 4. Sure, it seems fun to have no restraints at all... until you realize its not.

[@zemrocku1287]

I’m still playing the game despite having done everything it’s fun in my opinion I play it over playing Fortnite now I don’t feel like I’m going to stop any time soon which just shows how much I like it heck I recently went back to Breath of the Wild and played it found every Shrine and did all of the quests enjoyed every bit of it

[@zemrocku1287]

I just checked I’ve been playing for 710 hours

[@juliannetto8756]

i already played it twice and as soon as i hear the music, i wanna play it again

[@Canesfan_2k2]

Playing BOTW i felt a connection to the characters other than Link and Zelda. Learning about the Champions was great. There was an emotional attachment to these characters. The dlc even added to this feeling. TOTK i did enjoy learning of Zeldas time in the past, and I loved Sonia and Rauru, but there wasnt enough of them. The sages, both past and present, didnt pull me in like the Champions did. My attachment to the game was “where is Zelda” and later “she better not stay a dragon”. I wanted to know what would happen with her. That was it. It would be hard to replay the game knowing what will happen. I would rather play BOTW and relive those connections with the characters. All that said, both games are incredible. As someone who played the original LoZ when it first released, to see where the franchise is today is amazing. I truly enjoyed TOTK. It never felt like too much or too big. The addition of sky islands, depths and caves gave alot of exploration even if set in the same world as BOTW. The differences in abilities, along with zonia devices and weapon fusing still helped keep the game fresh. I think it just missed slightly with the emotional connection that BOTW had to the characters.

[@wyattmerrill2588]

My problem with TOTK was the set up, I spent forever on the sky island then didn’t even find Robbie and set up my shrine sensor until I was in post game. There was so much to establish from the get go and the do anything to anywhere style of the game didn’t help with all the small set up the game needed

[@grossartus]

I still love it, i havent play it in a very long time because im playing Elden Ring but every footafe i see i still appreciate it

[@Blackpyre10]

You put it perfectly for me. I had a lot of fun playing the first time, with the story points being the best when they happened. But I rushed through the Tears within the first few hours so I had seen a lot of the story before I had done any dungeons. And because of that it felt a bit empty. I beat the game, but I haven't had any desire to replay it since.

[@anvilmania]

i pretty much COMPLETELY agree. i'm a lorehead (and this game *does* frustrate me to bits due to it at times, i'll admit) but i still think totk is a fantastic game with an amazing story. my main gripe is with how the story's presented. i think the story (and game overall) would've greatly benefited from a more linear progression, especially with the geoglyphs. giving tasks like "do the dungeons in this order" or "a geoglyph only appears after the previous one is discovered" would've gone a long way in keeping the player engaged, encourage exploring, and making the story feel more solid, Without restricting the player completely from certain regions like in previous games. and like you said, we know the world already, so it's not as fun and exhilarating to explore as it was with breath of the wild. the depths and sky islands were great, but felt much emptier than i would've liked.

[@jonathanstricklin1278]

Well I am still finding stuff to do, and my favorite part is trying my best to cosplay as different people, I still enjoy it a lot, so I would say yes, it still is a good game.

[@michaelplantarich3375]

I loved TotK, but still haven't finished. But my problem was I never played BOTW until 1 month before tears came out, then hauled ass to finish it, pouring hundreds of hours in. I finished it 1 day before tears came out, then faceplanted right into tears. I think I just hit a huge wall in terms of playing so much zelda in such little time. I'll get back to it eventually, but I still do love it and watch all of your videos on it here.

[@user-dc5dc3qb7z]

About the lore, yes, Zelda has always been about giving us pieces and leaving some things unanswered. In my opinion, until Tears, there was a good balance of mystery and answers. But leaving room for theorising and expecting fans to write the lore themselves are two different things. Tears has very little lore. What are the Zonai? A friendly advanced civilization with a signature aesthetic. I wonder what that ton of lore you spoke about at 5:21 is. This game only cares about the Zonai, and yet we learn pretty much nothing about them, while the previously established lore is not being built upon. I don't see how it can satisfy someone who cares about lore.

[@molol44]

Ive been playing this game for the second time in a year. And its still just as fun. Its still a 10/10 for me. These salty content creators can kick rocks for all i care.

[@B-ot2xx]

Based on

[@nabzy28]

Yep, kinda similar thoughts. Absolutely stunning game. It definitely took WAY longer to get 'leveled up' in this than BoTW, due to them wanting players to use the new mechanics and not just being able to go find high level weapons right away. I haven't played in months for exactly the same reasons. I had reached a point where I was just having way more fun making up crazy machines to send into enemy camps and watch the chaos - which is endlessly entertaining.

[@fallatiuso]

It's a good game, but there def feels like there wasn't "enough". I'd kinda hoped you'd be able to help reconstruct hyrule, build new settlements, restore old destroyed ones, etc, when i saw the piles of construction materials, but nothing really changes in the world. I wanted more lore, even if just in the background, more about the Zonai, more about the Sheika and their ancient tech. The depths isn't even touched upon again by anyone from the surface after you briefly visit in the beginning, (and the fire temple,) except from by the Yiga. I kinda expected we'd see more research delves by the Hylians and allies to map it out and understand it tbh. Imagine having a C-plot where you have to track down Robbie because he's having too much fun exploring the depths and keeps getting ahead of his team. Or finding established excavation projects around some of the chasms exploring the ruins and busy bringing stuff up to the surface for further research. Also kinda wish Rauru stuck around and didn't just disappear after the Temple. Like you'd occasionally be able to find him hanging about certain places on your travels and he'd have some comment on either ancient history, how Hyrule used to be in his time, or on how things have changed or maybe stayed the same since then. He and Link were _linked_ through the arm after all. Would be nice to see him around. In the end, for how large the game is, the story content feels short. With both sky islands and depths feeling mostly untouched and underutilized. Still a good game, but it feels like it lacks something.

[@Bryonychan]

Totally agree! It's a fantastic stand alone game, but I personally appreciate that it's in the botw World because it's so damn big and intimidating as it is, let alone when I already know where I'm going half the time because I've already been there!😅 I mean it was exciting and new and not scary at all when I first played it... But when I decided to restart it like I've done a million times with botw I had quite a few moments where I just had to stop because there's so freaking much to do in totk that I got decision paralysis and had to put it down and walk away. After a few months though I picked it back up and am now slowly working my way through all the many side quests and whatnot 😃 but I've learnt my lesson and I will probably never do a restart of it again 😂 or at least not for a year or too 😜

[@ada3110]

I love tears of the kingdom, but for some reason I find myself returning to botw more often. I mean, currently that is because I finally got the dlcs, but even before that I just played botw more often. Maybe because of the nostalgia. Also abdolutely because I had to map out things for a roleplay on Discord. I still doesn't have all the shrines which is definitely a goal I'll work towards eventually. I love totk, but botw will always be more special to me. Probably because it brought my best friend and me so much closer together, maybe because it was my true introduction to Zelda in general, it made me hyperfixate on Zelda causing me to get Phantom Hourglass and start watching lets plays and lore videos, which finally caused me to read fanfics and discover a webcomic that brought me together with an amazing community (I'll even meet one of them in person this summer). So, botw started everything for me. Then again totk has so many fun mechanics, and I'm sure I'll get back to the game once I've finished the botw dlcs.

[@user-kf8xu4js7r]

I loved the answers. The zonai didn't disappoint. Definitely shouldn't have thrown away so much set up. Leaving more questions makes it seem as though they need to make a 3rd wild. The story parts are amazing when they aren't repeating themselves. They just need to move on to the next series and a new world.

[@manongzki5817]

TBH, the first time I played TOTK, I felt a genuine happiness that I can't explain. I was like a kid playing with his new toy. I got excited for other games but TOTK hits different.

[@freybear8457]

A birthday mod concept: add the zonate cake, made by fruit from sky island fruit and ONE golden apple and ONE hearty radish

[@russellcunningham-yk4gr]

I think totk is definitely the best zelda game in my opinion but I agree I'm waiting probably a few months b4 I play through it again and al the exploration I did in botw takes from the experience

[@kaiserknuckle9261]

You kinda described my feelings when metroid dread came out I can still enjoy that game as much as when it first came out but I did notice one fault after my I think fifteenth play through and it was the lack of awesome music I know these are very different games and very different time frames of release and development but much like dread tears of the kingdom sits pretty high on my totem poll of best in the series

[@jasonrandolph42]

Build a lore that the costume Master Misko has those outfits all through Tears of the kingdom .

[@JacobKeele]

Same as you, I love the game, awesome story, but I haven't played it in months

[@lowesgameing2003]

We sacrifice Koroks to the fierce deity from majoras mask.

[@truthseeker2990]

I. Still do

[@lowesgameing2003]

@@truthseeker2990 all hail our lord and savior the fierce deity

[@Omeg1]

8:11 OH MY GOD THANK YOU

[@kosho88]

Is it just me, or was this a subtle jab to masked Nintendo bandit? I stopped watching his channel when every other video was him complaining about tears of the kingdom.

[@homerman76]

@@kosho88 he was right though

[@kosho88]

@@homerman76 nah, that was his opinion. I love the game, despite its flaws. He hates the game because of its flaws. Why is he any more right than I am?

[@homerman76]

@@kosho88 I'm saying he was right about the issues and flaws with the game and how it stands as a sequel and entry to the Zelda series. I'm not saying you're wrong for loving the game, that's really not something you can be wrong or right about (even Bandit has acknowledged that his distaste for the game is only is opinion and others are allowed to disagree with him.) My point is that there are some series issues with the game from a lore and story perspective, and there's nothing wrong with disliking the game because of that since it is still a major part of the game that is TotK. You're allowed to disagree with the verdict about what the facts mean, I'm just saying he spoke a lot of true facts too.

[@kosho88]

@@homerman76 that makes sense!

[@ThatFaceMelter94]

I feel like building with Ultrahand could have been improved so it doesn't feel like I need 3 arms to do so. Recall helps with this to an extent, but not nearly as much as allowing more position angles for building on uneven terrain. Also, I can't believe there is no free-rotating pivot part. I thought using a wagon wheel would do just that, for constructing a hinge or fulcrum, but for whatever reason, the game won't allow it. Generally, I hate the Nintendo doesn't see the value in linear Zelda anymore. I love the idea of having story lines, dungeons, and/or means of accessing dungeons be linear and every other aspect be open-world. Finding an area that I can't access and making that connection with a newly discovered item is one of the most satisfying parts of Zelda and I hope they implement this quality again.

[@RagingHuntik]

The Zelda developers should add master mode. TOTK is a fun and a really well made game but It just gets boring after awhile. I remember 4 weeks after it’s release I beat it, then later I got every light root in the game, it just can get boring after playing it for so long

[@latetootheparty]

1 year later and I still have one sage to unlock and a good amount of all 3 areas to explore…and I’ve covered a 💩 ton of ground, sky and not so much the depths.

[@TheMikepatota]

I love this game and BOTW and that’s all I really got.

[@Ameer_H]

I honestly have the same feeling about it as you about it. Great game, great story, great lore imo. It got stale for me much quicker than BOTW though, which I played through many many times, as well as the dlc multiple times and master mode and such. But now, it's been about 8 months since I've played, so I've gotten to a point where I definitely want to play again when I get my switch back (my sister has it at college)

[@jasonzervos]

Thank you for not making it an hour long video like many did for the anniversary

[@TwinBlasters]

I like all of the innovation of the Switch Zeldas, but I want them to bridge the gap JUST a little. Proper dungeons and key items. I like climbing and using Ascend, but I also want a Hookshot. I like the micro-dungeon shrine type setup, but I also want proper dungeons. Beyond that, the open world any direction stuff is welcome

[@virgoundead]

I've never played any Zelda game before and I'm getting a switch in a few weeks would you guys recommend this to be my first game?