Topic: The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

I suppose the “secret” in the name refers to the effects of the stone instead of the physical stone itself.

They amplify the latent power of the wearer… but as to what that power will end up being… That’s a secret for everybody.

_{Unless of course you are a Goron, a Zora or a Rito, in those cases you kind of already have that figured out.}

I've been shocked how much time I've put into this game. It's so massive, I thought I would take my time over maybe 6 months to complete it.
However, I've only been playing for about 6 weeks and already have 100 hours and am getting close to finishing everything I care to do. It's rare for me to get so completely hooked on a game!

I had a hard time fully enjoying BotW. I beat it 3 times hoping that magical experience other people had would click for me but it didn't. But TotK has been 100% as magical an experience as I've ever had in any game.

@Eel which you kind of see when ‘dorf becomes ganon/demon king when he infuses the stone he obtains with his power/magic? And it grows to that obscene size. And that the stones take on the nature (at least the one Zelda has/‘dorf’s too) of the wielder and re-engrave themselves. The stones themselves are neutral but react to the hidden power of the wielder. And interesting how Zelda’s further augmented after she decided to fix the Master Sword (by enhancing the other side of her heritage which ironically she has had the worst time harnessing).

Double post because it won’t tag otherwise:

@WoomyNNYes @Cotillion Legitimate question: do y’all only speak English or latin based languages by chance? I’m asking as I am seeing more and more complaints about Japanese naming usage/connotations but despite being a native English speaker (I have varying levels in proficiency in 7 languages), I am wondering if that has eroded some sense of incongruence (even though things like poor grammar drive me insane, and yes I know I am the typo queen…I also edit my posts to death later to fix this) because whenever I see those complaints…it feels like complaining for the sake of complaining and mildly xenophobic even though I understand losing things in translation and know most people aren’t(hopefully) coming from a hostile place. I’m just trying to figure out why it doesn’t bother me the way it does some of y’all.

I just realized that the Gerudo, the Zora, and the Rito sent highly important and trained members of their society to help defend Lookout Landing and investigate the Upheaval.

The Goron send literal children.

@Cotillion The words used in Japanese have the connotation I describe and as the person I answered asked if it was a translation error that was what I responded to. Which it isn’t. I don’t entirely agree with your assessment of hidden/secret to an English speaker (as to hide is to obscure which in itself is mysterious and a secret is something kept hidden) but I am going to assume that I am biased because of the Japanese connotation and will leave it alone. Your playground connotation is very interesting though and alien to me, so perhaps that is a nationality thing? A secret would be something all ages could keep. And a secret stone would to my American brain be some hidden wealth which would be the western viewpoint to the more esoteric Japanese viewpoint I suppose. But still all ages. To me.

I don’t agree with sacred for the reasons that I already said. However, you seem to want more localization and less translation. Which is fair… just not something that makes sense to me. But that did somewhat answer my question. It is interesting though, as I am from the Southern US and given the often egregious stereotypes about where I am from, I would have assumed that I would have been in the same camp as solely English speakers. Like I said, interesting. Ah well. From a translation perspective the English is correct and I guess it is what it is.

@Eel Isn’t that how the Goron work though? Usually a leader/hero Goron and the rest of the adults are slackers and the next child in line steps up. In OoT that was Link the Goron, who wasn’t an adult. Besides Goron are usually the muscle. I’m willing to bet those baby rocks are stronger than the Hylian soldiers.

@Ryu_Niiyama My gene pool only recently learned to walk upright. I can barely maintain homeostasis.

@Ryu_Niiyama I dunno, they seem more interested in rolling around and playing 😅

The lack of any other Gorons is also quite distinctive. The other races sent small groups of soldiers to go along with their representatives.

@WoomyNNYes Aww, don’t wanna participate huh? Ok, ok I withdraw the question. It wasn’t an insult though, I was honestly curious.

@Eel it’s all fun and games until someone gets run over. But I get where you are coming from. Who sends literal children as emissaries right? The rock people too busy eating. I figure if the little ‘son (don’t remember his…wait goron are monosexed born from rocks right…so its name I suppose) Goron can run a business and work in construction, perhaps our definition of child doesn’t quite match the Goron race. Like how the kokiri were ageless but looked like kids. Maybe they are like 20 , Yunbo still sounds like puberty is wayyyyy off to me.

@Ryu_Niiyama oh his Latin American voice hasn’t quite reached puberty yet either.

In a way, the Goron kids almost sound older than him… so Goron biology is a never ending mystery…

Speaking of that, I find it hilarious how absolutely devastated the Goron at the entrance to the Gerudo Citadel is, because they aren’t letting him in, unlike in BotW.

Wow, sorry I bought it up, I was just wondering, didn't mean to make this in to such an issue.
Just thought secret was the wrong wording, as the other games have sacred stones, I just keep on thinking they are going to say it, but instead say secret.
Also I wasn't talking about sacred as in any type of religion or faith, I dunno, maybe mystic stones???
And I get the kanji used for "secret" in the Japanese version makes more sense with the extra explanation than the English version.
Sorry all

@Ryu_Niiyama I had four years of spanish in high school, two years in college. I could speak it & read it, write papers in spanish back then, but since I never encounter spanish enough, my spanish has rotted. So, I only speak english.

NHK World is one of my most watched channels, but I only know a few japanese words, like: daijobu desuka? nandesuka? So desune, stekidesu(sp?). I know japanese sentence structure seems more simple compared to english. Forgive me if that impression is inaccurate. But I that's how it seemed when I've watch brief Japanese teaching shows on NHK. ......But NHK's show, Science View, is what caught my attention at first. I freaking love that show.🤣 Then I fell for how interesting, charming, and calming so much of their programming is.

In the burbs of philly, growing up, there were lots of italian names in my classes, but everyone only speaks english, as far as what I encounter. Or it's rare I hear something else spoken. I don't have the benifit of a multiligual family, and I'm jealous as heck of people who have that advantage, growing up in a multi or bilingual environment. The mexican kid that rode my skatepark spoke english, and my spanish was too weak to converse with, so we speak in english the whole time.

If you wish to reintroduce Spanish to your life, setting voice acting to Spanish in games that give the option might be a nice way to start.

Coincidentally one such game where you can do that is this one.

… though VA is only used in cutscenes.

@Bunkerneath Don't apologize, it was a nice discussion point I feel. And like I said, an actual translator can come in and be like "nope Ryu is talking off her butt", however based on my understanding of Japanese and of English that was my take. "mystic" might work from an English perspective but I feel like then it gets as anvilicious in English as it is in Japanese if that makes sense. But I also like translations to be as close as possible to the original wording. (Mainly so I don't get a headache if I can't play with Japanese subtitles and I'm going WTF at the English. Looking at you Fire Emblem)

@Cotillion : Awesome, like I said I was honestly curious if somehow my perception was blunted after half committing to Japanese (I should be more fluent than I am but I'm lazy) because I've been seeing such takes on naming quite frequently. Again the hidden is more the abilities of the stones rather than the ones that the current wields wear keeping them hidden from view (Even though the ones for the sages were locked away so I think that it still fits). Because If you never saw them in action, you would think they were just jewelry. 'Dorf sorta forced that especially as even if he had an idea I don't think he knew just how powerful they were until his attack failed. Then he was like "oh game plan change".

@WoomyNNYes Well you are better than me. I straight up ditched Spanish despite living in an area where it would be useful to maintain. I have a negative association to the language due to a teacher that I endured in High School. I would love a multilingual household as well. Oddly I sorta forced it as a kid to my parent's great dismay (Ryu is my actual nickname in real life as I hate having my name truncated)...fast forward to now and my mom Is hooked on Korean and Chinese drama in the original language (two languages I have no interest in but the IRONY has me on the floor laughing) my dad is just confused half the time...poor guy. I've found that many people love it when others take the time to learn some of their language and if you can describe things (just as you would in English when you don't know the word) they are more than happy to help you increase your vocab. I'm super self conscious, but sometimes I leverage that willingness to assist when I want to knock a bit more rust off my language skills.

@Eel I'm saving the Gerudo for last since they are my favorite group.

You can tell I don't wanna work today.

Up to the final boss and it's brutal. Either that or I just plain suck, haha.

@Tendo64 You'll get there. It's all about the flurry rushes.

Thought so!

Would the master sword get the whole fight done or does it break? Also is it worth picking up the sword dropped by the Phanton Ganons, or leaving it due to its impact on Link's health?

I can't totally guarantee that it won't break under any circumstances but I got through the entire fight with the Master Sword.

Having a few good backup weapons won't hurt though and a few multi-shot bows and a lot of shields is recommended. I went into the fight with ten and broke every last one of them trying to get parries.

I wouldn't recommend the gloom swords or any of the gloom weapons for that fight, although they are potentially useful when fighting tough enemies above ground, where any broken hearts will heal up fairly quickly. You can fuse them to other weapons though, including the Master Sword, to benefit from their attack power and durability without suffering from gloom though.

I did the entire final boss (all forms of Ganondorf, not the enemy horde) with the master sword and it did not break, so perhaps it has a special unbreakable mode for Ganondorf.

never got or played the game but I'm just seeing people who played it