Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom Just Won Two More Awards

I hope I can see the GDC presentations for TOTK because it looks like a miracle the game even runs with all the systems going on under the hood with regard to physics, dynamic music et cetera. Absolute wizards, Nintendo.

Great to see. Well deserved winning both those awards.

May be just me, but I just didnt enjoy this game. I will still play ocarina of time yearly, as I would wind waker, twilight princess, botw, but, when I finished totk (main campaign) I had no desire to go back to it.
Don't know why, it had so much content and all, but, I just found it so.....boring

Here’s another headline “Zelda TotK lost GDC game of the year award to Baldur’s Gate”

And that’s good. I don’t think TotK will have legs at all, once the novelty honeymoon fades out people won’t be remembering it, not even as a top 5 “Zelda” at all.

Zelda being Minecrafted out was truly a terrible decision and so un-Zelda.

S'funny how we keeping hearing about TOTK winning all these incidental awards in articles desperate to assure people it's really, really good.

If you dig it, then I'm happy for you, it's an objectively good game - but that doesn't change that there's a sizeable portion within the Zelda community, and the gaming community as a whole, that felt it was a bit of a mis-step for the series.

@TruthisRare
I think it was a good enough sequel, but not on par with BotW. TotK is just too much of a mess too often.

There are only 4 games i still play on my switch. Tears of the kingdom, smashbros, Mario/rabbids sparks of hope and Mario kart.

Tears of the kingdoms gameplay is truly next level.
I only hope they go back to the formula that made ocarina of time and majoras mask legendary.
I miss the magic of those games. Ocarina as an item, or those mask transformations from majoras mask.
What i had with tears of the kingdom is that there is so much to do that i get lost in what i was doing lol.
Oh lets do a side quest, 2min laters im just Smashing goblins and forgot what i was doing 😂
And the deep story of those games of the past i miss.

Congratulations! A game like this, running as well as it does, on a seven year old handheld, is definitely impressive. And Ultrahand itself is also pretty cool.

The ingame marker says, I finished the game 100%, but I feel like I missed the secret ending, so I will try to do that today.

@Cia
Your right, that's a good way seeing totk. It was messy, I think by throwing in all those ultrahand abilities, the grinding to build your horses stats (why bother when you could build a hover machine, thereby killing the exploration, the very thing botw was good at) the caves which got monotonous and same, not to mention the depths.
I think the main campaign missions were good, but nonetheless, I feel like I never need play it again.
Thankfully, I've kept my wiiu, with ww hd and tp hd, both, in which I still enjoy entire playthroughs every year

Well deserved on the award category wins - especially considering what was achieved on technically limited hardware compared to its competition.

Because of that I think it’s what makes TOTK a game will be likely be discussed for generations, and likely inspire a lot of developers like BOTW before it. You only need to look at the feats of ridiculous engineering that builders continue to create using its internal mechanics. TOTK didn’t reinvent the wheel like its predecessor, sure - but it did refine and expand on it enough that reentering the same world in a sequel actually felt meaningful which is difficult to accomplish.

I think when it comes to game of year it there was a LOT of competition, so you can go either way with this - so many GOTY’s for 2023/24.

Fully deserved and great seeing it pick up so many awards over the last 3-4 months, just shows how much hard work and attention to detail Nintendo put into this game and players will be finding new things to do years after release. I'm still hoping there's some DLC on the way.

@TruthisRare After completing the main quest, I felt my time with the game had come to an end, even though I had plenty of shrines and light roots left to discover. But I so thoroughly enjoyed every minute of the 135 hours I spent with it, that, for me, TOTK is the game of a lifetime.

For me, replayability is not a yardstick of a game's quality. But if it is for you, then I can understand why you would prefer the older titles.

@TruthisRare
You are not the only one. I didn't find it boring per se, the main plot from Totk is very good in my opinion but I had no desire to complete more than that. Possibly because I did finish Botw for the first time shortly before Totk did release and I played them one after another. Botw did feel more like a real Zelda game than Totk, even when they both are very similar to another.

@KendoHead
Imagine all the articles trying to convince me BoTW was good even though it sucks. Funny how Elden Ring sucked so much as well, huh.
And what's one of Baldur's Gate's purported strengths? Narrative? Yeah, I'll pass.

And what do BoTW and Elden Ring have in common?
Developers : "Let's put tons of boring, grindy, unrewarding tasks that are extremely good at being boring, grindy, and unrewarding, then hype it to infinity"

Players: "Omg yaaye!!! I took 400+ hours to reach 100% completion!! I got my moneys worth!!!"

I often wonder what it takes to make some people happy, or if it’s even possible. TotK is a technical marvel and it’s really bloody fun. Anybody who’s disappointed by it compared to BotW or says it’s ’just DLC’ is simply punishing it for being a direct sequel or can’t conceive of the staggering work and craft on show.

Well deserved, I'm still playing it regularly and unlike Botw I have a strong motivation to do all the shrines. I love botw, but totk is like the Super Mario Galaxy 2 to it. Whatever they do next this will definitely be one of the highest points of the series for me, right up with the original, Link's Awakening, and Wind Waker.

@The-Chosen-one
That formula dug a massive hole for them while BOTW outsold very game in that formula combined and gave Zelda mainstream appeal it hasn’t seen in decades. Outside of the old guard attempting to force things there’s little reason for Nintendo to devote the Zelda team on anything but something that appeals to the audience that bought up nearly 50 million copies of these last two games, with the time it’s taking them for development they can’t afford to spend it on that old formula.

@SalvorHardin
I would go so far as to say it would be borderline business malfeasance for Nintendo to revert Zelda back to the old formula that nearly brought the franchise to its knees.

Well deserved. I spent almost 200 hours with TotK. In some ways, it was an improvement over BotW. It isn't my favorite Zelda game, but for me it's up there. I plan to revisit it sometime, but I usually let long games sit for awhile.

That said, I still think Baldur's Gate 3 deserves GotY over it. While Tears is certainly a worthy contender, despite all its changes BotW still came first and was the fresher experience.

Well-deserved. Regardless of your feelings about the game, it's absolutely incredible how well it all runs given the numerous physics systems that intersect. On such a weak system, no less. Just a marvel of programming.

@Yoshif3 A "traditional" Zelda game would have been even less likely to win the big award lol. Nothing was beating Baldur's Gate 3. It was the breakout hit of last year.

TotK still outscores and outsells pretty much every other Zelda game on the market. Selling 20+ million units in a few months is INSANE for an exclusive title.

@Ralizah the sales point is moot. That’s a testament to the console’s success, not the game’s.
Every single Nintendo IP has outsold its predecessors in the Switch.
Why? Because the console has an amazing attach rate, gaming is more mainstream now, and because TotK is just streamer nightmare fuel now helping with its own un-paid advertising, also tapping into gaming’s biggest audience, Minecraft. Does this means Zelda should have been Minecrafted just for sales?

Mario, Pikmin, Zelda, Mario Kart, Smash, Splatoon, Kirby, Metroid, Fire Emblem, Xenoblade, Animal Crossing, Pokemon…. Everyone of them have outsold their previous entries. Is that a good argument that the games are better than its predecessors? Or that there are just more Switches out there?

Also, no, TotK doesn’t outscore other Zelda’s in any way. It even struggles to win GOTY. You just need to look Ocarina of Time’s accolades and see that TotK is not even the highest rated entry.

@Yoshif3 Other Zelda games on other wildly successful consoles didn't sell half as well throughout their lifetimes. The Zelda remasters and remakes on Switch also haven't come anywhere close.

Games tend to do better on Switch when entries are well-received, but not to an insane degree. Selling a few extra million copies of a game is the Switch effect. Going from 5mil lifetime to 20 million in half a year is a testament to the popularity of these new games.

Especially funny to mention Xenoblade when its growth has completely flatlined since XC2, which peaked at... what, 2.5 million units sold?

Tears of the Kingdom is the third highest rated after Ocarina of Time and Breath of the Wild. OoT is one of the most legendary games ever made, and BotW saved a dying, increasingly irrelevant series and acted as the model for a new generation of Zelda games, like OoT before it. No shame in coming in third to two of the most important games ever made.

Not liking the direction the series has taken is fine. Trying to fool yourself into thinking one of the most dramatic gaming comeback stories in the history of the industry is a fluke and that one of the highest rated and fastest-selling exclusives of all time is actually secretly unpopular is delusional, pure and simple.

The success of this game will have only bolstered Nintendo's will to make these game open worlds going forward.

@Ralizah nah nah nah… you just can’t compare remasters and remakes to new entries. It’s obvious those will never outsell a new entry.

Which other “wildly successful” consoles? The Wii? Ok let’s analyze that one.
Skyward Sword, releasing near the console’s end cycle, needing an EXTRA controller peripheral, at a time where people were moving to HD consoles and sales were stalling, at a time where motion controls were becoming a hindrance and people were fed up. Yeah, Nintendo shot themselves in the foot with that one, so it’s not even comparable.

The success story goes to BotW too… not TotK. TotK also had people buying the game because they were promised improvements over BotW’s features, like real dungeons. A return to form. And people were deceived, I know I was. Everyone contributed to the numbers. And the number of fans who have changed their minds about the game’s quality is only growing. I can even see many NL users which I kept arguing with upon release have now changed their minds.

Zelda has always had this honeymoon effect where everyone lauds the game upon release…. Then just wait a year or two and everyone changes their mind, and THEN the real criticisms float to the surface.
It was called the ZELDA CYCLE for a reason

Also it’s a different age, where you have streamers, social media word of mouth, paid content, etc, basically contributing to its advertising.

Sales are never a sign of quality. Do you really think Bad Bunny is the new “King of Pop” ? LMAO

Still totk has the most goty awards wins then baldurs gate 3.

@Yoshif3 Sure, remasters and remakes won't necessarily outsell a new entry, but if their success is merely attributable to the console itself, the gap shouldn't be as wide as it is.

Oh, absolutely. When I said success story, I meant the duology in general, but especially Breath of the Wild. You're right that TotK won't be as well-remembered as BotW or OoT, if only because, unlike those titles, it doesn't represent a bold evolution of the series' formula.

I never said sales were a sign of quality. They're a sign of popularity. The critical acclaim it received is the metric you'd point to if you wanted to talk about its quality, I suppose, although I always favor actually discussion of the content of the game itself.

And, look, I don't fully disagree with your criticisms. There are aspects of TotK I strongly disliked. It wasn't even my favorite Switch game last year. But it's still a HIGHLY successful game by every conceivable metric. It not winning GOTY is less an indictment of the game's quality versus Larian Studio's remarkable success in developing BG3.

@Ralizah I mean, we’ve only gotten two remasters on Switch. Skyward Sword, which again falls on the motion control sidelines and Links Awakening, a “short” 2D top game, a genre that is not that mainstream and popular today, with a chibi art style and you can see why they don’t sell the same as new entries.

I agree with you in many things. I mean, I did 100%’d the game. IMO TotK was a good game but a terrible Zelda game. The Ultrahand should have just been DLC and we should have moved into a different world, systems, items and dungeons.

They even admitted just recently that Ultrahand took a lot of the development’s years. So, instead of designing a new world, items, dungeons and everything that people have been asking for, they decided to implement an uncharacteristically Zelda feature?
That’s what breaks my enjoyment with the game, the things that could have been.
But anyway, Im glad we can understand each other a bit more, it’s always better to end arguing on a high note
Have a great day man, or lady.

@Yoshif3 sigh

I admire the implementation of Ultrahand more than I actually enjoy using it. It's a remarkable feature. Sometimes it's a blast using it to solve puzzles in weird, unique ways. Overall, I think aspects of TotK are a great evolution of the base they established in BotW. Especially bosses, which, IMO, are often better than what you'd find in even older Zelda games. They fixed the bosses big time. I also like the increased enemy diversity, the incredible scope of the game itself, etc.

But some things need major work. The dungeons, while unique thematically, are even worse on a puzzle/mechanical level than the ones in BotW. The story content is... pretty bad throughout, with post-dungeon cutscenes repeating information you learned in other ones. The tears are a poor structural replacement for the memories of BotW, and unlike that game, it actually hurts the plot when you experience them out of order.

The thing I dislike most, though, is how the focus turned toward resource collecting. They're both open worlds, but Breath of the Wild's focus was surviving in a vast landscape that's been transformed by an apocalypse. Every element of the game is geared toward making the player curious about the world and rewarding that curiosity. Whereas TotK wants you to slave away in the Depths for hours to have enough zonite to actually do stuff with its Zonai devices.

Also, while BotW was radically open, it implemented features to prevent the player from abusing that freedom without incredible persistence. Whereas in TotK, you can just build a helicopter or something and fly over most of the world.

While I like the open world direction Zelda is going in, I'll confess I don't want the focus to shift toward building vehicles and mining resources lol. I think Elden Ring provided a better example of where the series should go in the future, with its focus on hidden but incredible dungeons throughout a vast open landscape.

Thanks. I know our exchanges get a bit heated, so I'm glad you're a big enough person not to get upset about it. I enjoy talking to people too, even when we disagree!

@KendoHead also funny that the comments under these articles are always so predictable. I'm not big on Wind Waker. That doesn't mean I am ignoring a sizeable group of people that wish the series would never change. I still hope it gets ported and does well. Not every game is for everyone. Imagine that.

i realy like totk though not as much as botw.

botw felt more like a sen-experience, it realy helped me alot trough difficults stressfull times during corona pandemic.

i can't imangine how good baldyrs gate must be thatbit beat totk, guess i found out soon once it is cheaper on playstation store

@Lightsiyd What's grindy about Elden Ring?

@SpaceboyScreams Many things, but levelling in particular. There are about 14 stats or so if I remember correctly. You grind exp for hours and you level up and congratulations, you just gained 1 stat point to add to one of those stats. One stat point. Better yet, the exp to level goes up, so the grind adds up, and you don't feel any real improvements (gameplay wise) until you add 5 points to one stat.

Even when looking up cheat exp farming areas online (and having to look things up is never a plus in my book), it is GRINDY as FORK!!

Well deserved. Best game of 2023. But at the end of the day, I’m not really surprised that these award ceremonies went with BG3 as the GotY. It was the new hotness, while TotK was a direct sequel and definitely didn’t have the same “fresh factor” as BotW, even though TotK is superior to its predecessor on very nearly every level. Oh well.