Video: We Share Our Thoughts On Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom After 100+ Hours In The Game

Here's my thoughts...
Not as good as OoT and please release 1080 already.

This game shines so bright when you realize how immersive the environment's physics are compared to any other game. Playing this game is like being in a dream state. You dont really have a sharp memory of imagery but you remember how real everything was

doesn't have kirby so it's a zero out of ten

I'm shocked at just how much I love it. I'm over 100 hours in, finished 3 dungeons, uncovered the Depths map completely, and completed138 shrines.
There is so much to do and so many surprises. I've found random caves that blew me away with how cool they are.
Easily one of the best games I've ever played. This game has at least matched my love for Majora's Mask as the best Zelda, if not surpassed it.

Switch says “over 205 hours played”. I could have probably played for another 100 doing side quests like the stable photos and shrines and korok that I found but wasn’t in the mood to drag their fat sorry behinds halfway across the map, but beating the final boss w/o dying felt so good I don’t want to go back. Plus Pikmin 4 today. And the clincher, I told my kid they can take our Switch to college next month, seemed too late to buy them their own, Super Switch surely has to launch next year.

I liked ToTK a lot, but I don't think it's game of the year material. I don't think it's as polished or refined as you guys say it is. There's some great stuff like building vehicles but there's also so much that could've been a lot better.

BOTW for me was a better experience. I like the cake analogy and agree with it

Players can share actual moments in this game like real life. I was taking a kurok to his friend near the shore. We had high ground so put him on a wing with balloon with heat and steering. Was getting close so stepped off the steering to coast the rest of the way but I fell off.... I had the craft balanced just right that it kept sailing true and far.. I ran after it toward the shore after I paraglided down.. The sun was starting to set as he past the shoreline and sailed over the water towards the setting sun.. I ran to the water but too late I can only watch him sail away too far gone

@Anti-Matter breathing air is pretty popular too..

In hindsight, BotW is the better, more self-contained experience.
I played TotK entirely without the paraglider, and loved all the challenges that brought. Had I played with the glider, I think I would have considered every challenge far too easy. For instance, there is a certain area with minecarts where I would have been tempted to skip entire puzzles, but lacking the glider, I actually used the carts and had a great time doing it.
I've cleared every shrine too, that was especially fun to puzzle out.
Nitpicks:
House-building: Why aren't there windows or colors other than green? Why can't the game auto-fill-in walls for me?

Having finished the game 100% at 200 hours (everything besides 1,100 koroks, did 550 of them… I did all caves, signposts, fully upgraded all armors, quests, fabrics, recipes, schematics, roots, shrines, etc) I can finally say my opinion didn’t change since launch day
-Terrible… TERRIBLE dungeons (if you can call them that)
-Repetitive “collectathon” of things that are the hidden essence of the addiction for this game
-Futuristic vehicles in a Zelda game (why?) in which the whole system gets broken when you start using the hoverbike
-Horses don’t matter anymore
-Super invasive Ultrahand gameplay… “build X to solve Y” every… single… puzzle
-Same world as its predecessor
-No music for 90% of the game AGAIN (why?)
-Poor one dimensional NPCs with generic Mii designs
-Unreal grinding for upgrading armor all the way (even with duplication glitches)
-Broken progression in the game (for example, people tend to leave the Depths for the end because of its difficulty, and when you do explore them to obtain the Yiga Schematics, you really have no use for them anymore)
-Around 40 of the 150 shrines are Raurus Blessing non-puzzle shrines 🙄
-Poor rewards for everything you do in the game
-Weapon degradation AGAIN
-The world is way too big and ends up feeling like an unfocused game
-Abscence of real creative items is asinine

The game was alright, but not at the cost of ditching everything that made previous Zeldas iconic.

This game was just too much of many bad things as well as some good things.

I’d rather have a 40+ hour Zelda game that feels much more focused and designed than a 200+ hour of a slog fest in which you get addicted because “you just need to sink 10 more hours to find 20 more caves, roots or shrines”

I can finally put this game to rest. Won’t be buying the next Zelda if it’s anything like this one EVER again.

Not sure if I reached 100, but I certainly put my time in. That being said, I have taken a break after defeating the final boss. I don’t think I’m “done,” there’s still plenty to do, but I definitely feel satisfied with what I’ve accomplished.

@TenEighty
Re-releases of the first two games or 1080-3?

I wasn’t going to do this anymore, but since we’re ’sharing thoughts’:

I have never in my life had a more frustrating gaming experience than with this game. Sometimes I feel like I’m playing a different game than the rest of the world. Here’s my list of reasons why this isn’t a 10/10 game and certainly not the best game ever.

• Crafting is infuriatingly frustrating. I can’t count the times I’ve had to start over because the controls are too finicky
• I’ve experienced tons of glitches. My favourite one so far is where the blood moon kept coming every 10 seconds, or when the limbs of the last sage kept disappearing as I brought new ones to the temple
• Performance is horrid. If you’re going to have 5 side characters walk around with you, release your game on hardware that can handle this.
• The ‘woosh’ sound every time a sage re-appears is making me lose my mind. It’s the entire #!*% time. How do people not notice this?
• Bringing back the same Hyrule was a huge mistake. All those efforts could have been put into creating a new world where you don’t know what’s behind every corner. The depths are incredibly repetitive and the assets don’t have nearly enough variety to be spread out over a map that is the size of surface Hyrule.
• I get it, sliding off a cliff when it starts raining after you’ve spent 15 minutes climbing a mountain is still loads of fun. Did anyone in the world ever experience that and go: “What a great use of my valuable free time” ?
• I constantly feel like I’m playing some part of BotW that I had missed during both of my 250 hour playthroughs
• Too many shrines have the same solutions for their puzzles. If I have to do one more “ride your own ultrahand object with recall” I think I’m going to just uninstall

The story is better than BotW and there are some really cool new designs and cutscenes. But almost everything that’s good in this game, was already in BotW. I struggle to give it a 6/10 and I can’t wait for Nintendo to make something new again. Since we first saw this art style, my life has changed so drastically. It was almost 10 years ago now and I don’t even recognise the person I was back then. I want Zelda to evolve along with me, because I tend to associate these experiences with my personal ones.

I'm still playing...maybe a quarter of the way through and it is magnificent. As much as I love the exploration, for me the hook is the world building. The NPCs, the changes to Hyrule, and of course Princess Zelda herself. I have been a Zelda fan since LttP but this is the first time I've truly felt immersed and invested in the world (edit: I take that back. MM hooked me for the same reason). Love the work they are doing. Can't wait for more but have no idea how they will top the current trilogy (Yes I count AoC).

I miss Breath of the Wild, even though it had its share of flaws. This one just sucks in comparison to any other 3D Zelda.

145 hours in and still going. I do have Pikmin 4 but it really has to wait. I initially was very worried about the game: Same overworld, Nintendo being to secretive.

But I shouldn't have worried: The game is amazing, the same overworld isn't a problem since there's so much to do. And then there is the sky islands, grotto's and depths.

However, I think one of the weakest points is actually the advertised sky islands. I just can't get a proper feel for them, they are to far apart and you can't simply fly from one island to the other. Yeah, you can use planes but they also have a lifespan.

Now the depths, that's my stuff. And the grotto's. And the lifely world with all their inhabitants (with their own day-night cycle, Majora's mask style). A lot of things have been improved from Botw. Botw is the more serene experience for sure, while Totk is the more lively one with more stuff to do.

I do prefer the Divine beasts over the dungeons in Totk though. And I also prefer the story in Botw. Totk is yet another "Ganondorf is back" story with zero connection to Calamity Ganon from what I can tell so far. And that's super dissapointing, I really hope the next Zelda has a different antagonist. Also, there isn't much new music that sticks in my head so far. And I prefer the towers in Botw. Sure, they had some fun ideas for it in Totk. But they where super easy to unlock, while in Botw you had to really climb them. The roots in the depth make up for them for a bit, since its often quite a challenge to get to them.

Put short: Lovely game, keeps me goin for a while and definitely game of the year. But Botw is the more serene experience with the better story and dungeons (and it was of course the first Zelda with this format, artstyle and world).

You know, there is always an ideal size for a gaming world. BotW’s Hyrule was perfectly balanced for how fast Link could move through it, and the amount of interesting points that could be placed on that map. They spent years perfecting that balance, and now they just added a lot more stuff, which makes it less coherent and focussed and more overwhelming.

I adore it. Building stuff is so damn fun, traversal is way better with Tulin, and the final boss fight is a MASSIVE improvement over BOTW. It's probably my favorite final boss in Zelda, up above the Demon Train from Spirit Tracks. I'm honestly pretty surprised by the amount of huge, long complaints here.

I really loved it, fantastic game. I'm still dabbling around, checking out some of the nooks and crannies I missed.

If i were to improve anything tho, I kinda wish there was even more enemy variety. The Horriblins and especially the Frox's were great additions, but the game needed a new enemy type that poses the same challenge as the Lynels. Iron Knuckles and Darknuts are still sorely missed.

@YoshiF2 I disagree with everything you said.

@Deviant-Dork I agree with everything so I guess the balance of the universe is still intact

@nukatha The first 1080 is the best and I'm waiting for it but a new 1080 would be sweet.

I’m of the opinion that if you put ‘zelda’ on something, people will act like it’s greater than it is and need some time to cool off to be critical of the game like they’d be critical with other games. Ocarina of time nowadays, regardless of its influence, is the poster boy for that for me.

Regardless of that, I loved BOTW, and I kind of really don’t like TOTK in terms of story and world. They missed a lot of opportunities to do anything interesting with this being a direct sequel story-wise, it felt even less involved than BOTW’s story and that’s an ACHIEVEMENT. But the gameplay is fun, I like just mindlessly exploring and finding stuff, but its repetitive nature and just the fact there isn’t that much to be wowed by… game of the year it is not. I think a big part is that there’s no real surprises to be had when your world is the same but the changes are nowhere near interesting enough to keep it fresh, and the parts that are new are quite dull. Should’ve had more big sky islands and the depths should have been more than just an inverted hyrule with darkness that you light away by throwing seeds everywhere.

Not trying to hate on anyone else who loves this game or any other zelda game for that matter, I love discussion but I also think it shouldn’t come down to ‘I LOVED IT, I’M RIGHT!’ ‘WELL I HATED IT AND HERE’S THE REASONS WHY I’M RIGHT!’. It’s a little too easy to fall into that hole, but yeah, I’m still enjoying playing it so I’m winning even if it’s not as great as I hoped it would be. Onto pikmin 4!

@Takoda
"Regardless of that, I loved BOTW, and I kind of really don’t like TOTK in terms of story and world."
The story is my biggest gripe with TotK. I enjoyed how each city changed from BotW to the TotK changed, and seeing what the mundane characters were doing now, but the actual main story gets a resounding 'meh'.

I've put in around 120 hours according to my Switch. Finished the main story but probably only about 50% complete. Absolutely loved it and aim to do everything except the koroks. It is a phenomenal game and the game design is mind blowing. I can't imagine the headache something like Ascend must have created in terms of the environment design and testing, yet it seems flawless.
It's not perfect as a game, there are elements I'm not fussed by, but comfortably one of the best things I've ever played over the last 35 years of gaming. It is so so so good.

I regard BOTW as a purer experience, plus it has the advantage of coming first. I don't want to go back the old Zeldas ever though. I played the Link's Awakening remake shortly after BOTW, good game though it was, I felt so restricted.

The story of TOTK is also awesome, plus the NPC reactions to Link strolling around in his pants are worth the price alone.

Music in this game and botw is just amazing. Too many games have this constant background music taking you out of the immersion.

@Deviant-Dork good, that’s why you are you and I have my own opinion. However, I have plenty of experience with Zelda since the NES days and I know what I’m talking about, not just spewing things for the sake of it.

@PinderSchloss You don't know much about the working world do you? A game like this employs tons of people. Do you want them to be slaves for years so you get some $5 cheap game? How about you just stick to those 'free2play' games that boss you around with tasks everyday?

@ChakraStomps that’s not his point. So you mean that just because it’s a $60 game and hundreds of people are employed you can’t be critical about it instead of falling into typical fanboyism?
News… cost doesn’t matter… there are 10 hour indie games that can be more fun than a 200+ hour slog and yet just because it’s a AAA game you can’t criticize and analyze it?
That’s some poor logic right over there.

@YoshiF2 yeah so do I.

@Deviant-Dork yet the difference is that I posted a list of arguments… YOU did not

That’s what makes us different

@PinderSchloss they don't ask for much money to play the game, $70 is nothing to play this game. And I'm homeless and don't have a job and disabled and I consider that to be a bargain to play for hundreds of hours. Nintendo was charging $80 in the '90s for games, so this is quite the bargain for much more game.

@PinderSchloss While I'm considering wanting to discuss a few things in regards to your thoughts on this game, more than anything I want to know why you'd play SO much of a game that you clearly aren't enjoying?

@YoshiF2 no, it doesn't. It just means that you have a lot of time on your hands to spends hundreds of hours on a game you don't like and then list things about it.

@ChakraStomps it's sad when people say $70 is too much to pay for a video game that gives them hundreds of hours of entertainment.

@PinderSchloss I disagree with all of your assessments of this game. Everything you said that you don't like, I actually do like. One of the best games I've ever played.

This is the biggest letdown I've ever had with a game.
I don't understand the hype. I hope they go back to a traditional Zelda, but fix the exploration

@YoshiF2 not saying that I disagree with some of your points, but spending 200h in a game you dislike so much!? and
then say you will never play a new one again? I would have dropped sooo much earlier if I didn't like it as I did with the last Pokemon games f.ex.
If you hate it you don't spend so much time just to bash it, like what is the purpose of grinding all the caves and armor upgrades just to see a 100% completion (not even that due to the koroks) if you didn't even like doing it. That is the definition of wasted time.
I did all side quests, lightroots, shrines, got all the armors etc.. but caves, koroks and weapon upgrades? It did not add anything to me so I just forgot about those, instead of doing them just for the sake of doing them to complain

@HotGoomba can you imagine if Kirby was the last boss? Epic.

@Diowine I’m a completionist. I have 100%’d every single Zelda released…. This time wouldn’t be different. (100% koroks is just a waste of time though, at least the other stuff (caves, signposts) gave you a reward… stupid fabrics, I know, but still)
Now, just because I listed what was wrong with the game doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoyed my time with it, it’s a good game… it’s a TERRIBLE Zelda game though.

I won’t be sinking that much next time IF it’s the same as these last ones. This time they caught me because I had hopes that they could have fixed what was wrong with BOTW (mainly the temples) Boy, I was wrong, it was much worse.
Won’t fall for it again if Fujibayashi is director again.

TOTK definitely got worse the more I played it... from the repetitive sky islands to the bland Depths, the same open-ended dungeon design and the same disjointed story... Zelda games have so much more focus than this.

@YoshiF2 I agree with the grind critique. Armour needs X number of part B that is a rare drop from overworld bosses is such a bad design choice. Sorry I’m not grinding for 9 Gleeok guts, and yes I know they are 100% drop rate from King Gleeoks, still a bad design choice.

100 hours? Those are weak numbers

@YoshiF2 ok you've got a point there. I also used to consider myself a completionist but man, I am getting older with less time and most games are going for the Open World collectathon of things path. I think it was after The Witcher 3 that I decided to stop 100% everything.
But yes, if you want to 100% TOTK, it can be a pain

@Diowine gotta agree. At my age is difficult to find time to 100% open worlds. I think I gave in this time because it’s Zelda. But that’s why I’m burnt on this style and why I won’t buy the next one if it’s not a traditional one. Not every game has to be a massive 200+ hour experience.

And to be honest, I did it because I just wanted to put it back into its box and forget about it for eternity. And not sitting there being a reminder that I never truly completed it.

It’s a relief I’m done with it, have so much backlog and more fun and diverse games to experience right now.

Also, I did use duplication glitches and the hoverbike for 70% of the depths. I can’t imagine the eternal slog to upgrade all armor without glitches (that’s how badly designed it is) That must be on the 300+ hours pain scale.

@YoshiF2 Going by a recent interview with Eiji Aonuma, the traditional type Zelda games are a thing of the past and they want to go forward with what they have now, but I suppose there is always the issue with the Shrine type Zelda’s games like BoTW and ToTK becoming too stagnant if they stick with that formula going forward

Excellent game all around. An upgrade to BOTW in every way.

Im enjoying it... its a great game in many aspects... the collecting side of it is not one... breaking stones stop being fun after a while.
And while I think is a better game than BOTW (just because its world seems more alive, the boss battles and liked the dungeons and the story), it lost the "wow" factor of the first one... I really hoep for a brand new world to explore... and no.. the underworld is just boring, and the floating islands are barely explorable.
Again, its a great game... speacilly if you havent played BOTW, and I having a fun time... but I am sure Nintendo can make a much greater Zelda...

I beat it in 75 hours. I just wanted to get through it and move on to the next game in my backlog.

PSA: There is an ignore function on this site.

I skipped past the comments as fast as I could to avoid the whining, but it's all over the place. Obviously Nintendo should go back making OOT clones with dated mechanics. At least their sales would go down the toilet! It's not fair to dominate competition with unparalleled open world games. Or actually it is if it's Sony or Microsoft, but Nintendo has no right to do it.

@Zequio
Here's a good tip for breaking stones. Fuse a zonai cannon to your spear. Or use the "insta cannon" (two cannons glued on the sides of a stake). You can then hit it on and move with ultrahand to destroy deep rock walls fast.

@WiltonRoots thanks, I have the same right to “spam” with my discontent as well as you have yours to “spam” your contempt

So don’t worry, just because we don’t pander to the “hey, this is game of the year just because it’s Zelda” mentality and posts, doesn’t mean ours are less valid than the others.

You can call them spam. I call them opinions.

@PinderSchloss Nobody is saying you have to stop, it's up to you if you wanna say the same thing over and over again. I was just pointing out that you've told us all the same stuff again and again.
Also, you can't really claim you don't care what I think while also directly responding to me, clearly you do care to some extent.

1 last thing too while I'm here, people are allowed to give 10/10 if they want to, that's the beauty of opinions, I also would give this game a 10/10 as I'm absolutely loving it, doesn't mean you have to do the same, you could give it a 1/10 if you felt that way and you'd still be valid as, again, that would be your opinion.

One really obvious observation is that when you have a game that people will play for dozens, let alone hundreds, of hours, they will complain about things that never would have bothered them in a shorter game.

I ended up deciding to just go ahead and beat it while I had two dungeons and like 70 shrines left to do and the last memory left to watch and not entirely sure I'll ever play it again. There's a lot to enjoy about it for sure but it's just kind of suffocating in its amount of content after awhile.

@YoshiF2 you are entitled to your opinion.
But I think you should stop with the "you all like the game only because there's Zelda written in the title" attitude.

@YoshiF2 All fair and good. I think it's one of those things where I think "yeah I've got the message", but it seems never ending in the case of you two. How many times do people need to read how disappointed you are in every single comment section when you could have just walked away and said nah it's not for me, yet the pair of you have spent more hours in the game than most of us?

My absolute favorite game of all time. The perfect sequel. I'm honestly hoping for a third and final chapter in this version of Hyrule.

@WiltonRoots the same number of times as we have to read the same 10 users say it’s the “Best Game of All Time”.
Balances it out. And the fact that once people learn to accept there are negative opinions about some games, the more mature of a board this will be.
It’s called feedback

We all can’t go running screaming GOTY without valid arguments and proper discussion as to why. At least it’s not in MY nature

There’s a saying: Just because you’re offended, doesn’t mean you’re right

@YoshiF2 Nobody’s going to like the same things. There is such a thing as a vocal minority. The people making the most racket in this thread are a vocal minority. I’m not offended more bored than anything else. Even gave you time to edit your post. I came here to see people swapping stories rather than read what I read in a dozen previous threads.

Edit: probably best to call it a day because the mods could delete this convo down to calling it arguing. I’m not arguing just discussing.

@Dr_Corndog your streak of saying common sense things I agree with continues.

@kal_el_07241 i really need there to be a different hyrule after this. as great as this one is, it'd be better to (in my eyes at least) start fresh.

@Deviant-Dork
To be fair, if the user had said they spent only 30-40 hours on the game, mainly focusing on the main story. You most likely would tell them that their opinion don't matter because they didn't fully explore the game.

I just beat the story of this game. What an amazing experience, that final battle sequence was so, so good. I'm so happy I got to experience this marvel of a game. I don't know how Nintendo is going to be able to top this!

160 hours. Game was enjoyable from start to end. Well deserved and glad Zelda is moving in a positive direction and growing great as a long time Zelda fan. Well deserved 10/10 despite few of the regular naysayers in every Tears article here.

I'm pretty close to finishing this game - I've beaten all temples + shrines, found all lightroots + caves + schematics, completed all side adventures, and fully upgraded my inventory slots + sages + Zonai battery. Just missing a handful of side quests and armor upgrades at this point.

This is easily one of the finest games ever made. I was somewhat skeptical about the map reuse and the emphasis on building things but none of those ended up being big issues. There is a ton of new areas to explore, all of the abilities are fun and intuitive (though I do miss Stasis), puzzles are as interesting and freeform as ever, and the main story is a big improvement over previous Zelda titles. Of course there are certain things to nitpick about as there will be for any game of this scope and scale - material grinding and frame rate are my biggest complaints - but none of that ever hampered my enjoyment to any significant degree. The fact that this game even functions at all given all the systemic gameplay elements and features without any major bugs/glitches is honestly pretty remarkable.

I still think BOTW will end up being the "better" game since it was a transformative new entry where everything was fresh, but this is a truly outstanding sequel.

I haven't fully finished the game (approx 150 hours in). The game is good and I do love my time spent on it, but there is no doubt in my mind that the game is overrated.

The dungeons/temples are an improvement over the predecessor, but still very lacking.

The story is an improvement but yet very lacking, and they have lost quite a bit of that Zelda charm, except for a few NPC characters here and there. The "memory/tears" thing didn't really work for me, especially as I would never have them revealed to me in a consistent fashion, so it just got confusing and tiresome.

The gameplay is fun and can be compelling, but it is also filled to the brim with mindless quests and collectibles that give you pretty much the same task but with different contexts of why you do it, which gets repetitive and boring.

-I do love the fusion mechanic as it made the durability mechanic fairer and less obnoxious. The "building" mechanics I hope they leave behind in the next installment as it never really felt that necessary and when it did, it wasn't really that great, it has too many limitations to really be optimal or justify why it's there.

-The shrines (have 10 left) I am a bit back-and-forth with, as I don't know if I truly liked them this time around. I loved several of the ones with actual puzzles, but then the "exploration" ones, in hindsight weren't really that exciting to complete. Koroks are whatever, they're fine... I guess... at least they tried to give them more variations.

-Dungeons/temples were really great, but so damn short and the bosses were definitely an improvement over BoTW, but still not really that great. Wind temple I think might've been my favorite or the puzzle in the Lighting temple (probably the one that made me feel the most that this was a Zelda game).

-Difficulty is much like BoTW, it's all over the place. It has so many difficulty spikes that I just go from loving the difficulty to hating how fast it can get boring.

Music, it's between meh and great for me, I am just not that much of a fan of the minimalist approach, so it's more a matter of taste rather than if it's actually bad or not. Music itself is great, just hate the timing and length of it.

The game for me is much like The Depths, it's really excellent and fun the first half, and as the game's patterns unfold, you get more sick of it, but slowly and gradually so.

Can't decide between 7 or 8. Worth buying. Had fun. Good game, but still lacks a lot that is necessary for it to be a good 'Zelda' game. I do think the team deserves most of the praise it gets, even though I don't gush over it.

95 hours in. I liked it but I thought BotW was better and this was as much of an iterative sequel as it gets.

I liked it. Doesn’t have the staying power that botw had over me. Its a great, well made and thought out game and certainly one of the best switch titles. I did my 50 hours. Beat it and have zero desire to return. Doesn’t quite breach my top 5 switch games list.
1) Botw
2) Astral Chain
3) Hades
4) Into the Breach
5) Factorio

Reading all the comments it doesn’t seem like such a “small vocal minority” now after all

I think the shrines from BOTW were better. But I've been very happy with most of TOTW. I've almost done everything time to play other games again.

I know that some people loved the game like me and some didn't, which is understandable.
What I don't understand is people who played over one hundred hours of the game and then say: "It sucks, I hated it!". If you hated it so much why did you invest so much time in it? There's no need to play this game for 100 hours to see what's it like. By hour 10 or even earlier it's clear to see what the game is going for and if it's worth your time or not.

I love this game! BOTW will always hold a special place in my heart due to it being the first open world Zelda game. That said,
TOTK just adds so much enjoyment to the formula. I almost feel like it's smashing the ability of Mario Odyssey to place joy around every corner with the immaculately designed world of Zelda!

Lovely game, probably my favorite ever. My two biggest problems:

• sky island are much too difficult to get to and travel between without spamming zonai charges.
• the amount of arguing and whining it's causing in comment sections.

Excited to keep playing this game. I've got 90 ish shrines and 150 ish koroks, so lots to do!

i was gonna write a big ol box of text, but i thought itd be better for everyone involved to keep it shorter. it's real good. i agree with all the complaints everyone has (except the grinding i have no idea where y'all got that from) but the formula is so good that it barely matters. anyone who plays this game as a new zelda fan is gonna have a blast and playing both botw and totk back to back for the first time i assume would enhance the experience of both games (find something cool in one game, go check out the other to see whats there in that game's hyrule). what hurt this game the most is the time we spent waiting.

@PlasmaticSnake exactly

@YoshiF2 not really. your frustration is very understandable, and lots of people feel the same way (to an extent me included). You just gotta take what you can get i guess

Whilst BOTW was a new evolution of the series, TOTK is the iteration that perfects it and it takes player feedback to another level. Simply, this title is an absolute masterpiece in game design from the complexities behind the scenes and with its fascination in engaging the player to create and break the game. It’s freedom and escapism on a whole another level and the game hits the right notes for me because Open World Zelda is what I’ve always dreamed of (Wind Waker coming close to this on GameCube).

The “additional” content is mesmerising, the base map may as well be brand new with the change in landscapes and additional density added with wells and caves, but having an entire sky and depths to explore and navigate just add much more to the pull of exploring this version of Hyrule. It builds on familiarity from BOTW but your memory of that world is unreliable so navigating TOTK immediately feels new & rewarding.

In addition to this we have a story that is heartbreaking, better engagement with the central characters, mechanics that allow the player to engage with the world in a completely new way and a robust and clever weapon degradation system that is offset by the constant ability to create new weapons at any time.

For me, the regional phenomena and the journey to (and the) temples themselves conceptually feel so much closer to how link had to save regions and traverse dungeons from past games whilst retaining the open feel - what was achieved here is closer to a classic dungeon whilst retaining elements from the Devine beasts and saving the region from turmoil (& we get some epic boss fights that culminate at the end of these experiences).

Visually the game is stunning & there have been times I’ve stood at the precipice of the atmosphere and just looked down on Hyrule and gawped at how incredible the world looks. For a Switch game the talent of programming & art direction on offer are something to admire. I’ve played better looking games (on a technical level, like Horizon ZD / FW) yet still find myself more impressed by TOTK.

Presently, I’m about 140 hours through (still not finished) & I’m also about 50 hours in whilst playing this with my 7 year old daughter on a separate save. Both experiences have been totally unique & watching my kid figure out puzzles in a completely different way and logic solve their way around shrines and build contraptions absolutely fascinates me. I overthink solutions whereas she offers a straightforward solution, but both are still correct. Even then I see another 3 or 4 solutions to shrines, or (if we are lucky) get a Rauru’s Blessing shrine for solving or reaching the puzzle to a shrine from the outside.

BOTW & TOTK isn’t going to be for everyone (evident by a few in this comment section), and that’s fine - your opinions or criticisms are as valid as anyone’s praise. But I for one hope Nintendo continue to keep iterating on this present formula they have. The engagement loop that drives me is exactly what I crave from a Zelda game.

I’m over 400 hours in, and while it’s definitely a 9/10 game at least, I still feel like BotW is better, as others have said above. I got that feeling only like 15 minutes in, and the more I play, the more convinced I am of that. I’ve played through BotW 5-6 times, but I’m not sure if I ever see myself running through TotK again - it’s nowhere near as replayable.

@PinderSchloss
Don't you dare be critical of a nintendo game or product!
That's what you'll get on websites like this anyways.
Yes, I enjoyed totk and thought it was a good game in general, but not as good as critics and the like thought.
I still prefer the simplicity of botw.
But I also hope nintendo will go back and make a zelda game in the more traditional sense ie oot, tp, ww etc.

Botw 2 Electric Boogaloo

Not quite done with game, but I've put in well over 100 hours. I can already say this game surpassed BotW as my favorite game of all time. It's been a phenomenal experience for me and from what I've been hearing from others who beat it, the ending sequence is really good.

I'm 180 hours in or so, and still playing. It's the same problem I had w botw....don't want it to end.

@Ploppy BotW 2: The Legend of Curly's Gold.
BotW 2: Cruise Control.
BotW 2: Ghostbusters 2: Bobby Brown.

@YoshiF2 yes! I am hugging you from across the internet. What you said, absolutely.

@PinderSchloss you hear that, Nintendo? This person right here, make the next Zelda specifically for them and them alone based on where they are in life right now specifically.

@epicgamner I agree with you about the wait. I wouldn’t be as critical if this had come out 3 years after BotW for 40€

@ChromaticDracula That’s not what I said. You misunderstood or twisted my words.

I’m also far from the only one with these complaints. Good for you if you didn’t get a glitchy playthrough, though!

Not sure what’s going on with the comments here but I’m at 105+ hours in and it’s already one of my favorite games on Switch even if I haven’t played a ton of Zelda games

@luckyseven maybe that’s the thing. I think it comes down to newcomers of the franchise, which is explained by the difference in sales compared to previous entries. Most people playing BOTW and TOTK didn’t play previous Zeldas (it’s pure math) and maybe, just maybe, don’t know about what made them special to the people who were at the beginning of the franchise.
There are obvious exceptions, but from what I gather, it’s usually long term fans who want something back to form… something that’s being called “traditional Zeldas” and don’t like the direction the IP is heading.
I think that’s where opinions divide in this topic

@Hck thanks man, hug back at ya 🫂

@NCChris Just like nobody’s forcing you to read comment sections if you only want to see it getting praised.

I don’t have to explain to anyone why I would want to finish a game from my favourite series that I’ve waited 6 years for. I wouldn’t be able to beat the final boss without playing a significant part of it, so that’s why I’m pushing through.

@YoshiF2 @Hck Can I join in for the hug?
I wish people could just see our comments as a sign that we’re passionate about it.

@TruthisRare for me, id like open world, but linear dungeons that also give you key items that are actually cool (i never really used any of the sage powers outside of their respective missions)

@PinderSchloss What's with that second paragraph, homeskillet? Why couldn't you just say "Cause I was excited to play it as a Zelda fan." Amongst some of these other comments, I presented my question in a reasonable manner. Seemed pretty rude to say "I don't have to explain to anyone" to then immediately half assed give your justification.
You didn't owe me a response, but I was being genuine with my comment. Oh, but don't let me ruin the hugfest or whatever.

@TAndvig that's true

@Sonicka This. Everything you said is what makes this game ‘an absolute masterpiece in game design’. Tell you what though, I only noticed after 235 hours in TOTK last week what really elevates it from BOTW: I realised that I have never had to look up a solution to any puzzle or shrine in Tears, and never once got stuck on where to go/what to do next. Until I came across the first puzzle that stumped me (a Misko side quest that involves lining up some shadows of some columns in Thunder ruins). That is the first time in 235 hours that I couldn’t figure out what to do, but rather than feel frustrated and wanting to look up the solution online, I simply decided to take my first break from the game since it released and come back later with hopefully a fresh perspective. Contrast this with BOTW: whilst I loved Breath more than any other game at that point, I sometimes found myself not knowing where to go or what to do. Progression was sometimes too obtuse. For example, the memories in that game were too often ridiculously difficult to pinpoint. Even when you looked up the exact spot online, it would take a frustrating amount of fiddling to stand in the tiny spot to unlock the memory. And those motion controlled shrines were almost impossible to complete in handheld, requiring you to twist and turn the switch in unnatural positions so you could not see what the heck was going on on the screen in your hands. Without handholding, they nailed the rate of progression and intuitiveness of how to play in Tears, improving on everything from Breath.

Finished after 200 hours. Best game ever created.

I've been playing Totk on holiday and dislike it profusely. I wasn't a fan of botw either.

I understand why others love it though, the physics are outstanding! It also gives you a lot of single player game for your money 💰. I have fallen off open world games hard since Ghost of Tsushima and Halo Infinite - first 5 hours or so are great, then it's repetitive busywork. The fans and media love these type of games, I really want the openworld AAA focus to go away.

Then again, if Zelda was a 40 hour affair again. Most people would box the game off and trade it in within a week or two. So it's a tough one. For me totk is a 7.5/10. But if you like openworld stuff, yeah a 9/10 is feasible.

Weirdly before coming on holiday I played ghostwire tokyo, very different open world game. I fell off that after 2 hours and the graphics were great but it has rubbish interactivity. TOTK is a lot better than ghostwire tokyo.

I really hate openworld games now. They are so average at most things. I recently played planet of lana and enjoyed that a lot more than totk. Maybe I'm just old. Who knows.

@YoshiF2 I think we haven't played the same game...
For example, 200 hours in and I haven't experienced any bug or glitch. Are you sure you're playing it in a Switch? Lol.

@the_beaver huh? I never said I experienced any bug or glitch … you’re replying to the wrong person.
If you mean the duplication glitch that one I did obviously on purpose.
Of the few things I can give credit to the game is that it is greatly polished, so I don’t know what you mean 🧐

@the_beaver I was the one with the glitches. It doesn’t seem to happen to a lot of people but I had some really freaky ones. The blood moon every 10 seconds was the worst one and it lasted for 2 hours. I really wanted a refund by that point. Apparently it has something to do with the last update.

I think they overcomplicated it. I don’t enjoy the depths/gloom or having to upgrade battery in addition to stamina/hearts, etc. BOTW is still my favorite game. This is 2nd.

@YoshiF2 Glups, sorry, wrong person to reply haha.

@PinderSchloss Ah ok, yes it's very strange indeed. Perhaps it has to do with the last update, I haven't played the game in about 10 days now, since I finished it, so maybe it works worse now...

@the_beaver The glitch seems to trigger if you’re in Lookout Landing when the blood moon appears. So if you’re there when the red flames start appearing it’s time to fast travel to another location asap!

Haven’t found any other people with the sage limbs glitch.

@Sonicka
I agree a 100% with what you've said about the new pseudo dungeons but it's also where I have my main gripe with the game. It's still not the dungeons we've all loved for generations of games before and which were absolutely central to the series. I understand that the idea behind these games is to turn the franchise on its head and revolutionize things but in my opinion this is zelda and you can't do without dungeons. They've said that the goal of BotW was to go back and find out what really makes the core of the series. Well they found out that it was freedom and exploration and that's fine and definitely true. But the dungeons is also part of this core of the series and they even prove it by attempting to do without them and to some extent failing to reach the entirety of that original Zelda feeling. They said they wanted to do zelda 1 in 3d, well guess what zelda 1 is BotW indeed, but with 8 dungeons and not just 4 semi undercooked dungeons. TotK fixes that to some extent, and that's where I agree with you, but we're definitely not there yet.

Other than that, it's BotW dialed up to 11 and it's absolutely incredible. They also fixed a lot of things like the money that doesn't come so easily and the materials that actually matter and are actually useful and the story which is a lot more involved. I'm not a big fan of the building vehicles aspect but what they've done with the yiga plans really worked for me and even gave me and incentive to explore the depths a lot more. By the way I love the depths, I always loved the super dark areas in games where you actually can't see at all without devices or ideas to create light. It really creates a sense of exploration and adventure in me that very few other game situations achieve. And very few games actually dare to put you in a pitch black environment and trust you to deal with it so that's really cool.

Also people who criticize the depths as being pointless, that's a bit strange to me I have to say. If you consider that walking around getting better at the game and finding better stuff and simply exploring for the sake of it is pointless, then you should find the entirety of BotW pointless since technically the game just allowed you to skip everything entirely and in reality nothing is necessary in this game. Even more so than in the more linear TotK which in a few key aspects, as much as it's being criticized by some, actually reverses to more traditional zelda.

I general it seems to me that the criticism against TotK mainly stems from the fact that the second game is a lot more of the first, as I've said it is BotW dialed up to 11. Some gamers loved the balance achieved in BotW but the fact that they have put more of everything in the sequel breaks this balance and to some extent makes the flaws inherent to the formula even more apparent because of the sheer amount of BotW that's in TotK if that makes sense. And these gamers who were definitely okay with these flaws in BotW now realize that they really don't like these aspects of the formula because there is just a lot more of this formula being thrown at them. Again, that's how I see the criticism against TotK. That's not my opinion, I adore the game and even though I would like ninty to go back to the older style of zelda and mix it with the new games even more than what they have achieved here, I can still comfortably say that I'm having a absolute blast.

@YoshiF2 why'd you 100% if you hate it that much? I don't have any issue with you disliking it but that sounds like self torture lol, I might've stopped at 50hrs if i found it to be as bad as you clearly did, hopefully the next one is more akin to your liking, happy gaming my dude

I gave it a few hours, but haven't touched it in about a month and a half. I bounced off BotW a couple times before it stuck (more or less), and even then it felt like more of a grind than an enjoyable Zelda experience. TotK felt like more of the same and maybe even worse, so I fear I won't be able to summon the resolve necessary to get through it.

Some of the earlier comments capture my feelings well. I'm just not a big fan of this open world wave we're in the midst of. I'd much prefer a more curated, deliberate, progression-based experience, with a tight story, fewer NPCs that I have to talk to and work through countless lines of dialogue that aren't particularly interesting or necessary, no grind, and memorable music. Hopefully Nintendo gets back to that at some point.

@somnambulance "There’s another game that I’m enjoying more now."
Which game?

@PinderSchloss I’m only 15 hours in, it’s been glitch-free for me though yes…
I got it on launch day and sort of stopped playing it so it sits at only 15 hours.

I think the Korok transportation (having to lug the one over to its buddy far away) is one of the most annoying things I’ve ever had to do in a game. I know there are probably easier ways to transport them than carrying them but it’s sooooo tedious and time consuming.

Some of the negative observations you made are valid, I do a knowledge those.

One thing I think that really struck home with me is how BOTW felt more isolated because it wasn’t as populated as TOTK. I really liked that about BOTW. This one has a different feel…

I’ll go back to TOTK eventually but for now I don’t have any drive whatsoever to go play it. I think maybe my main reason for that is I played BOTW for a bunch of hours collecting and finishing before TOTK came out so I’m a bit burned out.

A lot of people are complaining about the 'checklist' game design, a totally valid critique because there's no denying that is indeed the design of the game even more so once you've done the story, HOWEVER, this is the reason why I love the game so gosh darn much, currently approaching 200hrs and expect to spend many many more slowly ticking off that seemingly never ending list. I personally ADORE collectathon style games, and a collectathon Zelda, i'm in heaven its like Aonuma came to me specifically and said, "what do you want from zelda?"

• I love the weapon durability, imho it keeps combat feeling fresh still at 200hrs not many games can say that, I still get into scrapes where I have to think on my feet because my "strong" weapon shatters mid-fight. (this is a praise for BOTW really)
• Fuse only adds to the above, just a further thing to keep fighting interesting forever
• I think the depths is one of the most interesting ideas in recent gaming
• The skies arent as full as i'd hoped but what we do have up there is super fun to traverse. One of the things that made BOTW so fun and engaging was just getting around Hyrule, this time thats made easy, however they bring it back and more with the depths and the skies which are both pretty darn hard to traverse to begin with and are so dang satisfying to eventually conquer.
• I believe the progression is perfect, in BOTW, Link feels like an untouchable god by about 30hrs and fights become swing your sword enough times to eliminate the enemy. Master mode made this much better, but TOTK feels like its on master mode from the off, the enemies are much tougher and Link feels a lot weaker. Even with full hearts and all Sages fully upgraded I still find myself getting low on health and having to find a creative way to get out of scrapes.
• The Shrines are my (one of two that I see as pretty equal) biggest complaint, in that they pretty much all have the same solution; build something or reverse something, they are frustrating combat puzzles that again have the same basic structure, or are Rauru's blessings, the few that don't fit into those brackets are the best in the game, shame theres like 10 good ones in 153 of 'em.
• My other gripe is that the game is too easy to do out of order, with the story being much more involved than the predecessor it would be much better to experience in the correct order and I feel that the game doesn't do the best job at nudging the player in the correct direction all the time. Leading to a lot of cutscenes being followed by the speaker saying "oh! you've already done it, moving on then" which I find very unsatisfying.

I have many more points but they are the things I feel super strongly about, its an amazing game that I will Recall (some pun intended) fondly for the rest of my life, that being said it certainly has room to improve for a future title. I would love for ZeldaTeam to return to this version of TLoZ one final time to make an incredible trilogy but they would have to make a new map for sure, or do something like flood this version of Hyrule.

Personally 10/10 game, but no game is without flaws.
Do I prefer it over BOTW... No clue, honestly, I don't even know how to begin that thought

@themcnoisy you’re not alone- open world games are great if done correctly but otherwise I steer clear of them anymore. The last open-world game I enjoyed was Death Stranding and before that was Breath of the Wild. I cannot get into the wildly heralded Spider-Man for PS for this reason. I started it over like 3 times now and I cannot get into it. Upgrade trees, go here do that, tedious lab stuff, rinse repeat.
Very high production and great graphics and lots of care put in but like… I can’t. TOTK I highly enjoy but also I stopped playing after 15 hours so … I’ll 100% go back to it eventually but for now I don’t have any drive.

@Namco tears of the kingdom is definitely going to sweep all game of the year awards this year its just that good.

@echoplex most people will disagree and besides tears of kingdom is far superior over botw any day especially with so much to explore and tons of foes to fight.

I can’t even begin to quantify how much I adored TotK. I was a little overwhelmed at first but this game has almost ridiculous amounts of freedom wrt exploration. I really couldn’t ask for much else in a Zelda game

Looking back I feel like I was too hard on Breath Of The Wild. I 100%ed the game, plus maxing gear and stuff. A game is definitely better than good, when I still have fun, even a little bit, after so many hours. Concentrating on the stuff that I did not like, as if the game is just a dissapointment, is unfair.

So when I will play Tears Of The Kingdom, after Pikmin 4 is finished, I will give the game the love it deserves.

I will learn not to give in and not to listen to my own negativity.

120 hours in,
Have all 5 sages, after that i just where looking for all the tears, man what a amazing game! The story is the best ever. From history (how it began) and the present.
Would be cool if they have that in the next zelda game, where you can actually travel to that time.
What i loved the most, is how the reverence to other zelda games where brought into this game.
The origin of ganondorf.

I havent fought ganondorf, its really hard to get to him (for me) lol so i traveled back and doing more shrines and try to upgrade my armors.
My favorite armor is the Fierce deity armor, it makes link look godly in the scenes lol.
Also the secret power, the Earthquake attack from the yiga clan.
This game is still 10/10

Haven’t watched the video…

That being said, maybe 30 hours in, I thought ascend made no sense, and building physics/fuse - while interesting felt out of place. Also found the story/sequence of the game a little disjointed. 100 hours in, was loving making vehicles etc and strangely felt appropriate for the game world.

However, the final boss fight and the acquisition of the master sword and the story around the master sword were excellent. How they fit with the previous game is super questionable however.

All in all, great game still a 10/10 but for reasons I can’t really put a finger on, BOTW was the better game for my mind.

@Kaspari_Villalobos I’m playing Astral Chain right now for the first time and loving it! How does Factorio play on the Switch? I sunk a lot of hours into it on my computer and was wondering how it translates to the Switch.

@ChakraStomps That was Pink Floyd's best album.

@MannequinRaces it’s definitely made for the PC and there are a few control hiccups on the switch but it doesn’t affect the game for me. I love playing 20-30 mins on my commute.

@Kaspari_Villalobos any performance issues on the Switch?

@MannequinRaces not in my experience, about 80 hours in.

@Kaspari_Villalobos thank you for answering my questions! I might pick it up. Have a great day!

@YoshiF2 LOL, you sound like a lot of fun at a party 🤣😂

Was a huge fan of BotW, and now over 100hours in TotK, about to enter the 4th dungeon. The longer I play TotK the more boring it feels. The game would be okay if it would have been released 2 years after TotK, but 6 years after and only a BotW 1.5 feels hugely disappointing. I redo a LOT of stuff I have already done in BotW, armor is mostly the same, the world is mostly the same.
Building and fusing is fun, but only a minor improvement IMO.
I will not buy another iteration of the same Zelda game, based on yet the same map, same characters, artstyle and assets…
For me personally a major disappointment 6 years after BotW….