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The growth section of this videoa wass like poetry

This is the most terrorizing and traumatizing Zelda game ever and it doesn’t have any emotion just empty feelings . It doesn’t make feel anything it’s just hollow I’ve been through so much chaos and other people are going through tough times I was looking VERY forward to playing this game I’ve been so heartbroken X7 ❤😂🎉😢

I've been playing breath of the wild again. It's still a good game after 500+ hours in. I only have 280 in on Totk

Well said❤

As much as I agree to this statement I came to the conclusion that the reasons I still like BOTW more are ill technical decisions in TOTK. I loved the way the heroes powered Link up in BOTW, because it feels natural to gameplay. On the contrary, it is just making me angry to summon Tulin et. al. to use their abilities. Exploring the depths with never ending iterations just feel like a lack of final review the final game. In some way TOTK feels too much, in another it could need additional content to make it a complete experience. BOTW just feels great with very little wishes left open. TOTK requires the gamer’s choice what to skip to not be annoyed too much to end the game half-way. Which would be a pity, because it still is a fantastic game overall.

Theres no way it took them >6 years to make ToTK.. I think they were working on Switch 2 Zelda at the same time.

Thanks for this! So refreshing seeing a video that is positive about the game. Everyone is focused on the bad for some reason. I actually stopped playing TOTK and started playing BOTW again. But you make me wanna play TOTK again....THANKS!

I think like in movie people always wanted to have different areas or places continue to have part 2, For me that's the most awkward scene it's like "Rewritten the script" while skipping the word "Sequels", basically you wanted the "Viewers already knows like summarize the stuff". One of the best sequels move that hit the market and make "Obviously Recycling the whole area or places in more than, not Twice but seven time's is Harry Potter", can you imagine the magic manipulation done by the movie to the viewers eyes 👀 of "Warner's Brother Movie" 😂😁. Now your telling that the "Tears of the kingdom" is only a "DLC" if you always "Magic hocus pocus" 😂 your eyes 👀 and not using your "Coconut Shell 🐚.

If only the game wasn't so ungodly boring to play

Sorry to go in an opposite direction, but I believe Breath of the Wild (BOTW) was truly a work of art compared to Tears of the Kingdom (TOTK), which feels more like a "work of tech." Exploration was the main element that kept me playing BOTW for hours. I loved walking through the Dueling Peaks, constantly looking up in awe. Arriving at Zora's Domain by night was particularly astonishing. These experiences are why I loved BOTW so much and why I pre-ordered the limited edition of TOTK. Unfortunately, TOTK feels more like a marketing product and doesn't quite match up to its predecessor. BOTW was well-balanced in almost every aspect, and the story felt interwoven with the Hyrule I was so eager to explore. It was a tale of failure and redemption that resonated deeply with me. You wake up because things have gone terribly wrong, and sacrifices had to be made. You feel the struggle in every part of the story. In TOTK, they've diminished the exploration aspect, which was crucial to BOTW's charm. What are we left with? Unfortunately, not a great story. The narrative in TOTK feels underwhelming and seems like a pretext to keep the game afloat. Some story choices are particularly disappointing. I completed TOTK, including every shrine and 400 Korok seeds, but it still felt like DLC - a sandbox DLC at that. While I appreciate the new ideas in TOTK, many elements seem to lack purpose. The new guardians pale in comparison to the original ones. TOTK needed a fresh story and a new Hyrule to complement its new ideas. They could have created a game as majestic as BOTW, but instead, they opted for what feels like a sandbox DLC. In conclusion, while TOTK is certainly enjoyable, to me, it represents a missed opportunity and an unfortunate choice in the series' direction.

I feel like I'm the only dude that just didn't touch BOTW for a long time, then heard of TOTK coming out in may, boughyt it and played it with almost no memories of my botw gameplay. And I think that's why I think TOTK is better than BOTW. Because I still knew a bit of what was before, but seeing every changes that I could recall made me enjoy this game a ton. When I played it, I didn't have any other game to play that I enjoyed as much as TOTK for about a year or two. It was a crazy experience to me, with the plethora of options you have to handle a problem. I was amazed about how a game this complex could run on a worthless support, about how almost no other game had done something like this before, it was crazy. And I became a bit sad when I saw that almost every friend of mine and most people on the internet had either forgotten about the game or just straight up said it was a failure of a sequel. I didn't understand their point because I knew that I enjoyed it much more than I did with BOTW, or at least from what I can recall. This game amazes me, and it can only show how much passion nintendo puts into the zelda franchise, and I'm honestly waiting for a game that can compete with this game : gameplaywise, soundtrackwise, visually wise, ..., this game almsot feels like it's perfect, and I know that if it wasn't for the switch, it would've been even better. Ik that was a lot of yapping, but I do think TOTK isn't just a sequel, it's a new game too. It obviously has flaws that it couldn't prevent but those appear as minor compared to what the game accomplished. Most people I know have played TOTK also played BOTW shortly before it came out, and is probably the reason why they didn't enjoy the experience as much as I did. TOTK is an insane game and I can't thank it enough for what it did to me as a person. I truly feel like this is the experience I had been waiting for after a huge amount of time. So yeah, I can say it proudly, TOTK is a masterpiece, as a sequel, but also a game as in and of itself.

These statements are completely valid and even true, still It is painful and annoying for me to see what direction my favourite childhood series is taking. When i played tears of the kingdom for the first time, i was looking for a Zelda experience, not for a new game experience. I wouldn't quite say this is only a misunderstood sequel, simply I would say the entire series as it is now is misunderstood, especialy by people like me. They are abandoning what we "Traditional Zelda fans" see in a Zelda game. Its realy hard to except change likes this, but what am I to do against it? The Zelda franchise now is going to be its own thing, basicaly a hard reset. The games are about being able to do anything in any way you want and playing a new game thats able to be made masses of content of, instead of focusing on the moments that made the Traditional games so magical. Its realy difficult to explain what im yapping about right now, as I have an extremely stupid way of describing my feelings. Im just mad about people seeing this new infinite content form of Zelda as Zelda. It unironicaly Makes me frustrated and sad. Its obvious that traditional Zelda is now dead and a thing of the past. I think I'd rather just stay in the past and replay Twilight Princess while the new fans have fun with the newer games. It feels like staying in your home town while everyone else moves away lmao. Maybe they'll figure out how to get the Dungeons right next time, Maybe they wont and I'll be mad again. But I probably will still come visit, even if I drop the new games halfway through. What im trying to say is that I just learned to let go of my frustration with new Zelda. I'll enjoy old Zeldas as my comfort games, the worlds I know and the worlds and stories I can revisit and relive whenever I want, and enjoy the new Zeldas as standalone games without trying to constantly complain about how it feels unfaithful. Have your fun, I'll have my fun back here, just like all the other people that think like me should too. Its over. Which is still completely stupid. But again, what are we to do? Whine about it on Twitter? I would still say that Totk is a terrible sequel and a total disapointment after the first 10 "WOAH WHATS THIS!?" though. Bye!

They focused too much on the crafting instead of the writing and subsequently left the depths with almost no content, and the sky, which the whole game was marketed around has absolutely nothing to it and is pointless. I love the game, the gameplay is incredible but there's such an infuriating number of plot holes in the story, and almost nothing ever gets explained

TotK feels like DLC because they didn't change the purpose of the reused world. Huge missed opportunity. It is BotW but better. That's all. There is no reason to revisit the world of BotW after this.

I once saw a comment that had quite some agreement with it that Tears of the Kingdom is not good because it reuses the same map, and as such, cannot be '(re)discovered' like the original. Really? That's their reason for knocking a few enjoyment points off of the game lolol

I think TotK was better than BotW, but I still think they are among the worst LoZ titles. They are largely forgettable to me. I don't remember any of music, I dont really remember the storylines, I dont remember the temples, I dont remember the bosses... I feel like I barely played them despite completing BotW and putting in 30 hours on TotK. Great exploration mechanics but nothing of substance to see. Sad, botw/totk are 7/10 at best completely relies on the IP name. Imagine playing this game but its not LoZ. I bet many would call it lackluster and full of wasted potential.

I bought TotK on launch day, I could not believe Nintendo would use the same world. Checked out the disappointing sky islands and underworld and realized Nintendo did actually do it. I’ve never felt so disappointed in a video game ever. They fucked up big time and it has been collecting dust ever since. People trying to justify TotK to me are like people who try to justify the last season of GoT or the SW sequel trilogy. I really think it is that bad.

It often sounds like the people who didn't connect with Tears of the Kingdom were playing a different game. I also think that might be quite literally. The game is so open it becomes very much possible to play through the game without engaging with a lot of the new mechanics and try to play it like Breath of the Wild. I can imagine it won't be that interesting like that.

I totally agree! I went into Tears of the Kingdom wanting simply more Breath of the Wild, but I got a more interesting experience than that. We got to see how the world got to change and similarly, we now have a new set of tools to interact with that world, giving us a new perspective on it on a gameplay level too.

6:55 Ah yes, who could forget the Zorons and Goras, truly icons of gaming.

Actually everybody understands. The only ones doesnt understand are the zeldatubers who are bitching and complaining about Zelda since Botw came Out.

I’d be down for a breath of the wild Lorule

why does nobody talk about the oracle games, they literally both take place in different kingdoms to hyrule like cmon bruh

huh? majoras mask was after ocarina, not windwaker..

Love your videos

Great little vid

Well, theres kinda no point of having a game called Zelda and be placed in other land. Unless they do like the previous games mentioned, but personally I dont really like the story of Zelda in another place. I still think theres better way to present Hyrule.

Honestly Tears of the Kingdom is the absolute GOAT for me. It ties with Chrono Trigger as my favorite game of all time now; when that spot used to be A Link to the Past. And I think it is the best Nintendo Switch game of all time that blows BotW out of water. Sure, it may not share BotW's impact given the WOW factor, but in many other areas, it far exceeds everything BotW did and then some. The overworld may be the same geographically, but it is full of far more memorable land marks whether it be enemy camps, in world boss lairs, caves, wells, Korok locations, towns, ect. And it actually has real dungeons again; still not on par with Skyward Sword or Majora's Mask with the clever puzzle solving. But the puzzles in various shrines do possess some encouraged uniqueness to figure stuff out. And it's especially the stealth missions that are my favorite. Also, the crafting system is also a huge W for me. Really fun to be making use of robots to fight various tough enemies when unarmed and restricted to 3 hearts. And also, the boss battles are my absolute peak in the series; especially Coldera, Gibdo Queen, Demon King Ganondorf, and the various Gleeoks. Demon King Ganondorf is especially hardcore if there is a special 3 heart/no armor challenge going on. Especially if one hasn't tackled all the dungeons and no help from champions and having to do a boss gauntlet. Breath of the Wild's Calamity Ganon was really only fun on special challenges, but Demon King Ganondorf was not only tougher and still fun even when fully upgraded; but special challenges make him all the more hardcore. Games like OoT, Wind Waker, and Twilight Princess I found too easy even on 3 heart challenges. And as much as I really am loving BG3 and consider it both the best adaptation of D&D in gaming format and also the best PC game of all time, Tears of the Kingdom still takes the cake as the true GotY 2023 and ties for my favorite game of all time. And either way, the Nintendo Switch has clearly been the best era for the Legend of Zelda series. Not just bigger and better in terms of sales, but those were the games Nintendo always dreamed of creating ever since the OG LoZ.

omg he's back guys. he's spitting facts again!

It’s so weird to find a video (that’s not like 3 hours of rant) about ToTK being a good game I really dislike all the hate it got

I had this idea of a alternate sequel to the Windwaker called Ensemble of the Tides. The sea level began rising up around the settlement islands. Learning that it was a curse by the spirit of Gannon, Link must set out to find the other sages and their instruments to complete the Ensemble of the Tides. Link would conduct with the Windwaker to complete the ensemble to play the Song of the Sea. This would reach to the Goddess to lower the sea level and reveal the ruins of old Hyrule. The people are saved and are able to colonize the lands left of the mid-real of Hyrule. That's the short of it but this video reminded me of it.

Majora's mask secuel to wind waker? My boy is high

Spot on 💯

I agree! Too much gate for this awesome game

Really don't matter where it takes place as long as the game is good

I don't mind if the Zelda team want to use hyrule, I just don't want them to feel like they HAVE to for the sake of branding. Not to discredit Echoes Of Wisdom, but it does feel like they're being safe with the role reversal by still having hyrule, ganon, and Link being the one in need of saving this time. Like they're afraid of putting off fans too much. But that limits the potential of what games could be!

I would absolutely agree with you... If anything changed in any meaningful way. It feels like such a half hearted attempt at a sequel all things considered because almost none of the negative aspects of BOTW were fixed. The world is barely changed at all. The lore is in shambles. The dungeons are better, but I wouldn't label any of em as "good". Enemy variety is still lacking. The depths are boring and empty. The menuing is considerably worse. Shrines are still lame and forgettable. Combat is still a bit jank. The Champion Avatar summons are all terrible and lackluster replacements for what was available in BOTW. And it's all topped off in a world that most players had fully explored already and a half baked story that actively hurts the lore and history established by the first game (Nevermind the entire Zelda timeline). If the game took place entirely in the sky then that would've made the lack of real improvements more tolerable because at least at that point you would've been in a totally new environment to explore. Instead, they likely spent the past 5+ years of dev time on the crafting system that ultimately doesn't do much, because most puzzles can be solved with such basic solutions and being creative only uses up more resources and often just wastes more time. I don't doubt that the devs gave it their all, but I think they spent their time focusing on the one thing that didn't need to be improved on or added: the physics/Fuse. And they gave us a mediocre product as a result... for $70! You can enjoy the game, it's fun for what it is, but don't assume that people who don't like it or have genuine criticisms towards the game just don't understand it. This doesn't feel like a sequel just cuz it uses the same map. It just doesn't feel like a sequel in general.

This is not a narrative sequel. The actual story does nothing but make a mess and ruin the lore of the rest of the series. People can like this game, and that’s fine, as this is a good game. But you can’t ignore the fact that the core gameplay is the exact same. Track down shrines that feel the exact same from the last game, go to the same 4 locations of the map to do some of the worst dungeons the series has to offer, all while exploring the map a long the way. The same map. There’s close to nothing new about it. The sky islands were extremely disappointing considering that was the main selling point of the game, and there is 0 fun to be had exploring the depths. Don’t bother to add new content if its going to be half assed and end up the way we got it. It’s the same game but more expensive for no reason and with even more frame rate problems. Comparing this to a sequel like Majora’s Mask, and its night and day between how much effort was put into each game and how different they were from their predecessor. Don’t treat it like the greatest game of all time because there are several other Zelda games alone that are far better, including breath of the wild.

While i do agree on the zonai devices (and i dont know if its just me) but controlling the vehicles like the cars feel so clunky and terrible that i dont use them. I mostly make flying vehicles

40 seconds in and I'm wondering if this video is some kind of satire... You mentioned Castlevania, but showed clips of Metroid. Now You're talking sequels and your facts are skewed af LOL. Idk if I can continue.

totk is the first Zelda that I just get myself to keep playing. Everything in this game feels so pointless to do and is only about leveling up, but nothing makes you see something new and cool, like the caves look all the same, underground looks all the same, I discovered most of the sky quickly and now only the scores are left to do. The stories before the 4 temples were awesome. Temples were too simplistic, some shrines where more intense. Shrines are good puzzles, but they are just quick puzzles and nothing is going on here really. No drama outside the main story. Like wow pirates attacked the village, only to be standard overworld enemies and the people didn't seem to care about that. The best non main story boss was at the bottom of Korok forest, because he permanently died and the reward was not just a consumable, but instead you saved the forest. This is what I like, not just consumables or level ups and thats it.

I’ve been playing Zelda since the early 90’s and while I understand people enjoy what they like, this game is incredible by itself, as a sequel, and as a Zelda entry.

This reads more like an advertisement than an analysis and I disagree completely however I respect your opinion

very cool video essay, totk definitely gets too much hate, but... does anyone know the song at 8:12? i heard it recently in something else (mod for a game that rewrote the entire narrative and changed music & graphics) and i thought i was tripping for a sec. thank you

I just gave up on this game after finishing that worst brain dead water temple in Zelda history on top of the most brain dead easy gameplay that becomes utterly trivial the moment you start collecting white monster pieces. That was the straw that broke the camel's back for me after beating every main-line Zelda since LTTP, most of the spin-offs, and clearing BOTW with 400+ hours doing every single quest. I'm willing to be yall money that the Switch 2 will get a re-release of TOTK with new DLC content baked in that will be purchasable on the switch version. Hopefully that will include a Master Mode that will make the game worth playing through. That one thing is what made BOTW a pretty good game in the end and kept me questing through completion.

With that being said, I still love my Zorons and Goras.

TOTK is best seen as a part 2 to BOTW and not as an entirely new sequel imo.

My thought is, why can we not have Hyrule *and* some other area/realm? Like how Twilight Princess had Ordon, which some people think was a separate, self-governing entity. I, for one, would like to see them lean into that, and have other countries in-game, I think that would make for very interesting gameplay

hi tulin