Topic: BotW is Better than TotK

@Ralizah
You upgrade armor from Grest Fairies just like in BotW. You just need to do a quest to each fairy to make them upgrade your stuff.

I think the quests in TotK are fun, but at the same time uprading in BotW was a lot more easy and less expensive. It's so stupid you have to use monster horns for upgrades in TotK. I mean, we are supposed to use them for fusing! Such bs design.

@Xyphon22
If you only fuse rocks in your weapons your damage output is REALLY bad. Makes me wonder how long it takes for you to beat a Lynel or Gleeok with a rock weapon.

If you want to do proper damage you're supposed to fuse monster horns on weapons.

Objectively speaking, I would argue TOTK>BOTW.... TOTK for me was essentially BOTW 2.0, bigger and upgraded.
BUT... in terms of an 'experience' I'd argue that BOTW was more 'revolution' vs TOTK which is 'evolution'.

My biggest complaint with TOTK is the level of similarity to BOTW. If I could erase BOTW from memory, I would absolutely adore TOTK....

Essentially I can step back from both and say that TOTK is probably the better game of the 2, but it doesn't come close to matching the sense of awe/wonder/newness that BOTW gave us.

I hope Nintendo take the series in a new direction after the open world episodes.

Similar to Mario Wonder returning to 2d roots, I'd love a traditional top-down Zelda..... or maybe something isometric in a similar vein to Hades/D4 style, but with classic dungeons.

@Cia I understand that. I beat the game without ever fighting a Lynel or a Gleeok. I also beat BotW without ever defeating a Guardian. I'm just saying that to argue that TotK is worse than BotW because you are slowed down by being forced to use your abilities all the time is flat out false. You don't have to do that. You can do whatever you want to do. It's just like saying that TotK isn't good because it is too big and there is too much to do that it bogs down (I don't think that was one of your complaints, but it is probably the most common one I've seen). Just don't do it. Only do what you want to do. The game doesn't force you to do anything. If you are more concerned with making sure the weapon you are trying to create looks nice than you are with just enjoying the video game, then sure, TotK might not be for you. But that's not a problem with the game.

There are shrines you can't complete if you don't use ultrahand So you just have to back out and write it off. Sure, completing an individual shrine won't stop you beating the game, but worth bearing in mind in a conversation about the systems the game is partially designed around but aren't that popular with everyone.

I've got no issue with anyone claiming TotK is the 'better' game, but I think my preference will always be BotW.

There’s shrines in BotW that require the use of runes too.

This a good list of why I find TotK exhausting. There's just so much stuff to do and the gameplay slows things down so much, I get simultaneously overstimulated and impatient.

This is very well put as well. BotW is a purer gaming experience.

@Purgatorium Yep. It's very zen. You can just start playing, and everything flows together into one unbroken pattern of gameplay where you never really need to stop and think about what you're doing next.

The "lack of content" people bemoan just means you can focus on your objectives and not be distracted by new stuff every few minutes. You just naturally discover stuff at a rhythm that allows you to always have somewhere else to go.

Also, the structure of the narrative, where progression is entirely open-ended and the backstory is revealed through exploration, fits the flow of the gameplay perfectly.

I very much felt that again while exploring the depths. I made me remember the carefree flow of BotW.

Though I understand how other people might not find that part of the map relaxing. But I was a little sad when I completed the map.

I feel like the main strength of BotW was the flexibility in how you could approach challenges. Whether that was a shrine or a group of enemies. Between the abilities and zonai devices TotK expands on that. Without question TotK is the better of the two in that regard

Indeed there are, but I think the original point was that Ultrahand is a degree more complicated than the BotW runes - given the fiddling with orientation of everything you pick up and trying to ensure two pieces fuse at the desired points, having to wiggle them free if they fuse at the wrong points/angle etc.

It was then that someone commented that you don't have to use it, so I was offering the point about the shrines.

The main point is that in TotK you can't travel very far in any direction (horizontal plane) without seeing the various bits and pieces littering the landscape that have been put there specifically for fusing together into stuff. The game seems to really want you to use them, so while you can carry on straight past them, the reminders that you're not really playing the game the way the developers seemed to think it would be played. In BotW it's easy to roam the open kingdom and barely give the runes a thought, only really the shrines that prompt the player to remember the runes.

Botw is more serene, while Totk is more lifely. Both are great, but Botw wins because it was the first open-world Zelda, the first with this world and the first in this artstyle. Still, Totk is great with soooo much stuff to do. The world has far more inhabitants and they have all something to tell. I love the addition of the depths and caves. The Sky islands are not as great as I had hoped, since its a pain to get around (still fun, but the depths and caves are better). Story is weaker in my opinion and it doesn't build on the first story (totally no connection with Botw). Dungeons are weaker. Sages powers I barely use, minus Tulin (and Yunobo in the caves to break walls). As for Ultrahand: I love it for puzzle-solving but I barely use it for vehicles. I mean: Why build a vehicle or use a horse when you can much more easily get around on foot? That's my stance anyway.

@Xyphon22
The weapons look pretty damn cool if you fuse monster horns on them. Have you ever seen a silver lynel saber horn fused on a gerudo sword for example?

Besides, as I said, if you only fuse rocks on weapons they always look bad and you get like + 2 damage or something. This means you play the game through by using a tutorial- level weapon all the way. Actually, even on the tutorial level the contructs drop stronger horns than rocks are. As for comparison, the silver lynel horns gives +55 damage to your weapon in addition of looking cool as hell. The easier different colored lynels also drop cool looking and powerful fuse materials, and so do normal enemies such as Lizalfos, Bokoblin, etc.

It makes me wonder how in the world you managed to beat the game. Must've used the bows for damage mainly?

@Henmii
Whoa, you say TotK's story has no connection to BotW? It's a direct sequel! They literally find the source of Calamity Ganons in the intro, and many people in the game still remember Link.

I'm starting to think they should've built a whole new base game to better compliment TotK's mechanics. They shouldn't have built it on top of BotW, because when you do that you are bound to mess up the balance of the game.

I think at this point I would rate BotW 97, and TotK 95.

I'd think that, for every weapon/item combo that looks good fused, there are ten more that look awful.

There's still enough flexibility to get through the game with just the nice looking ones, although it'll add to the already hefty armor upgrade grinding if you're consuming the best horns that way.

For smashing up ores, a stick fused to a boulder is the better tool, even though it looks a bit fugly.

@Matt_Barber
Yeah, I use the stone fuse only for ore mining because it's the cheapest way to make a hammer.

Personally I'd go for ToTK quite comfortably. It has far more variety in terms of enemy types and environments. Leaving Ultrahand completely to one side entirely - I think that Rewind is more interesting than Stasis and Ascend is just a wonderful idea (it probably could have benefitted from having a whole game with a stronger puzzle emphasis built around it). The shrines are more interesting and more fully formed.

Having been bouncing back and forth between the two games (my kids are playing BoTW) over the past few months I also think the interface of ToTK is subtly better in lots of little ways. Changing abilities by holding down "L" is just a huge improvement and the inventory is easier to navigate.

There's also much more to do, poking around in the game world is more likely to be rewarding in meaningful ways.

All that said - I do agree that the sage abilities are a bit more annoying than the the champion abilities, the temples are less immediately impressive than the divine beasts and the game does sometimes tip into ADHD with lots of different "currencies" and "not one off" side quests. BoTW is quite open about what lies between you and an objective - ToTK can tempt you with a cave/well that might be a 2 minute job or could be an hour long investment of time.

BoTW is also clearer about its design objectives. You never get the feeling that they wanted to make a different game. It is exactly what they wanted to make. ToTK sometimes feels like it has 3 or 4 different games forced into one (the explorathon BoTW sequel, the physics sandbox ultrahand game, the ascend 3d spatial puzzler, the demi "warriors" fighting alongside allies game) and they aren't quite as harmonious.

I also think it misses an "auto-fuse" for arrows - flinging off 4 or 5 bomb/fire/ice arrows in a row is a bit of a pain. The very occasional use of "fuse" for weapons though shouldn't be putting anyone off (unless you're actively looking for a reason to be put off).

I can see why some people might prefer BoTW and I don't think that ToTK renders it obsolete but I think that ToTK comes out comfortably ahead.

TOTK certainly feels like it drags on compared to the main story of BOTW. Then again, I played through BOTW in lockdown whereas I only jump on TOTK once or twice a week now.

The big thing for me is the 'wow' factor BOTW had - nothing can replace that.