totk 

the new abilities are fantastic but i remain skeptical that they'll keep me fully engaged if this game expects me to do the complete botw grind *again*

totk 

oh my god they really are expecting me to do the complete botw grind AGAIN. i was really hoping if nothing else they'd integrate shrines with the main quests (which do appear to be much more prominent and dungeony than in botw!), but right now it looks like it's all back unaltered. korok seeds, shrines, great fairies, plus one or two new collectible macguffins to add to the pile

there's a ton of great quality of life improvements though & a lot of the rest of the stuff is very compelling

totk 

it's so wild how, on the one hand, every addition & alteration has me PUMPED. the world map's been altered by time in a lot of really cool ways, they've added sooooo much more variety to crafting/fusing/etc, areas so far feel much more deliberately *designed* in a way i missed in botw

but on the other hand, oh god, please, couldn't you have *at least* decreased the quantity of all the shit from the last game's grind. like why's it gotta be EXACTLY the same???

totk 

it's like there's this awesome new zelda game that i really want to play but in order to not eat shit constantly i've got to replay all the worst parts of an older zelda game i already had mixed feelings on

i'm still holding out hope that the grind IS truncated & i just haven't seen how yet. there's already korok puzzles that give 2+ seeds, maybe there'll be some of that for not-spirit-orbs, like how they had triple-moons in mario odyssey. god i fucking hope so

totk 

of all the things i expected to feel about my first few hours with this game, "it addresses most of my problems with botw without addressing most of my problems with botw" was definitely not on the list

totk 

don't get me wrong, i AM enjoying it! the zelda fiend in me is eating this slop up. i have to hand it to fujibayashi, where botw was the redemption of skyward sword's mechanics, then totk is the redemption of its narrative and worldbuilding. there's still plenty of time for them to fumble the bag, but so far i'm intrigued

totk 

in the water temple where sidon follows you around. first of all: my favorite dungeons in wind waker were the companion ones, so i'm pumped as hell that we're seemingly gonna do that for all the main dungeons this game; secondly though, they got around the issue of messy companion animations when clambering over terrain by not having him ascend/jump until he's out of the view of the player, then playing the various barks & foley to make it *sound* like he did all the jumps after he teleports

totk 

really impressed by the dungeon so far. there's so *much* to explore in this game, it's fascinating-- instead of building a completely new world or expanding it out at the margins, they build complementary maps above and below the original, which gives them a million justifications to minutely tweak the layout of the original map in all sorts of ways. i am even enjoying the shrines, god help me. i don't know how to feel about this, still. botw started strong but flattened over time

totk 

really do not like that the floating platforms rely on your battery pack for energy :/

totk 

but then again, would it really be a true water temple if it didn't have at least one infuriatingly obtuse puzzle?

totk 

SUMMONS???????? jesus christ this really IS elden ring

totk 

the mad bastards did it. they made a breath of the wild that *feels* like a zelda game

totk 

one of my biggest gripes with botw was the limited item/armor buffs, especially once you started filling out your wardrobe and realized how few cool things like the climber's outfit there were. there's SO MANY now!! gamers i kind of feel my desire to do the grind a bit rejuvenated, because it's so damn satisfying this time around. still think it's mean of them to expect that from me, but credit where credit is due: they made a good video game

well i WAS going to be responsible and try to get some work done on godfeels, but then my best friend from middle school wanted to geek out about totk for an hour (we've done this for every zelda since wind waker) **AND THEN** my gf convinced me that my nascent botw/totk video essay idea is worth holding onto, so now i guess i'm hooking up my elgato capture card to capture some Choice Zelda Gameplay because now all i want to do is play more zelda

it's funny that "writing godfeels" is my definition of responsible when technically speaking "working on a video essay about tears of the kingdom" is the kind of thing i actually get paid to do

it's a funny ol life innit

totk 

oh yeah dude, totally, adventuring in your underpants was so inspirational

totk 

so pissed off that the returning botw grind functionally exists to dissuade you from doing it and instead utilize all the cool new systems they've got going on. it shouldn't work but it does. i am really mad at how good this video game is tbh

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totk 

@sarahzedig I have a rant in me about the world building and how this is one of my favorite games ever, period for it

Would love to talk about it

totk 

@sarahzedig i think it really is telling that despite all of my issues with botw seemingly not being addressed and even worse in some cases, I'm still probably going to get and play totk. my main feelings on botw are that there's a lot to adore about it in spite of the downsides of the open world format and i expect tears of the kingdom to be much the same.

totk 

@sarahzedig at that point just use ultra hand and a pillar

totk 

@sarahzedig that puzzle made me so mad until i remmebered a central botw mechanic i forgot about

totk 

@sarahzedig when you bow and arrow in the air you get slowmow

totk 

@sarahzedig Hmm. I think there is a slight cultural difference in how western gaming culture tends to place more premium on originality than the eastern does. It’s good & bad, it also tends to make us not see a great story retold a great retelling, too.

totk 

@sarahzedig my literal reaction to finding my first korok was to say, out loud, alone in a room “oh FUCK off”

totk 

@nowionlywantatriumph @sarahzedig literally exactly same. Broke through those rocks right by the machine teaching u about campfires, fell through, saw the balloon, and seethed in thru my teeth

i already caught ALL u motherfuckers, most of you TWICE, when i was a teenager. you can all get absolutely Fucked if u think im bailing your asses out again.

totk 

@gutters0451 @sarahzedig mine wasn’t even that one! it was on the cold spot in the Great Plateau 2, and there was a piece out of it

I ultrahanded it back in on instinct and was like “nope”

totk 

@sarahzedig This might be a hot take from me but BOTW never really felt like a grind. But that also depends on how much one likes what I'm dubbing the "faff about" game. Elden Ring, BOTW, Horizon Zero Dawn and its sequel, most Bethesda games.

And as much as I enjoy those experiences, sometimes I do miss me a Dark Souls or a DMC or a Doom that's just A to B play the game no time for picking up every rock and flower. I dunno. Both. We need both.

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