Well that’s kind of disappointing. No Master Mode? No Kass/Sage’s Ballad? No further gear slots? No further lore for [endgame spoiler armor]?
This does not surprise me, and I’m not even very disappointed. TotK is essentially DLC, more of the same would have felt cheap. TotK gameplay has some new and interesting elements, but it still feels like BotW with extra stuff. And that’s fine, I loved BotW.
The heart of BotW was traversing Hyrule, the map was the central puzzle (sometimes even the enemy). Once Link powers up with stamina, abilities, gear, and teleport locations, the game starts feeling empty. Because at the same time as you’re powering up, you’re removing reasons to have to travel (by completing quests and such) over the map and removing the main challenge.
The first thing I noticed about TotK was how little I had to fight with the terrain. I was still interacting with the map in a fun way, particularly because of vehicles, but it was trivially easy to do. Aside from the depths being locked behind chasms, there isn’t anywhere you can’t go easily if you want to. I started travelling overland when I didn’t have to, but I didn’t have to.
If they re-tread this Hyrule again, I hope they do Zelda’s Time Sage story. Legend of Zelda without Link’s skillset would be a totally different way to interact with the map.
Anyhoo, I’m looking forward to the next version of Hyrule.
Interesting. I never quite got into BotW. I’m enjoying ToK so much more for some reason. It feels more exploratory, more fun.
No big mystery to me. They took all (well most) of the bullshit in BOTW and removed it or lessened the impact. TOTK is by far the better game.
What were the bullshitty bits of BoTW, do you think?
I didn’t like how the weapon system worked at all. You’d be fighting and your weapon would break, and then another, and pretty soon you be looking for a tree branch or something. It felt dumb. In TOTK the fuse system makes even a shitty stick a potentially deadly weapon, and while I still wish some weapons would never break it’s improved enough to where I just don’t get frustrated with it.
Controlling the powers is WAY more satisfying. I could NEVER aim stasis right, and half the time my weapon would break while I was using it. The powers themselves are also way more interesting.
Simple quality of life things too, like if you find a shield in a chest and you can’t carry more shields, a menu pops up that allows you to drop one.
Oh man, the arrow system. In BOTW I was in constant fear of running out of the right arrow, and grinding rupees to buy 5 arrows at a time sucked. But in TOTK they are plentiful and again the fuse system rescues the whole thing and makes it an interesting mechanic.
I dunno. I played a bit of BOTW and then just stopped. Then when TOTK came out I just rushed through it to get the story, happy to be done. TOTK, though, I am taking my time and really savoring it, which is just a more enjoyable feeling.
Ah, thanks for the reply - I absolutely agree with every point you make and they certainly help explain why I enjoyed ToK more than BoTW. Probably wouldn’t have gone as far as calling them bullshit - but a point well made.
This is preffered over them releasing some new special edition of the game in the new system, then making the dlc content exclusive to that new edition.
With Breath of the Wild, they were happy to double-dip by selling DLC to the 15 people who bought the Wii U, so maybe this is actually true.
The new switch is around the corner so this is indeed most likely the case. Switch 2 Zelda new.
What I want is a Zelda II remake using that game engine.
The first thing that I did when I got the Of The Wild set in BotW was dye it red, equip Sword and
Sea BreezeHero Shield (it’s the right shape at least), and take a side-on screenshot. Love me some Zelda II.
I was hoping just for an update with a creative mode with a giant empty shrine room and no limits to object connections so that we can finally build something to surpass Metal Gear. Oh well.
