#the exploration in totk is AMAZING

[yasmeensh]

Anyone miss secret bombable walls only detected by tapping (or maps)?

#loz #legend of zelda #zelda 1 #playing totk and I kinda don't like how obvious the bombable walls are ;-; #I suppose because there are soooooooo many caves it's gonna make it hard to 100% it #but still. a more subtle design #really enjoying it so far! #the exploration in totk is AMAZING #I made some drawings #but I don't want to post them on tumblr yet #twitter censor features helps with keeping spoilers at bay #but it's harder here #I could still tag #but eh #I'll post them in like... a month or two lol #for now have some zelda 1 #miss my little boy

[phoenixcatch7]

Man I am just SO CONFUSED. About the time line of this game.

No one is telling me how long links been gone! Or how long the botw-totk timeskip was! They all just started selling my stuff again lol. I'm going to have to get everything redyed!

Me: hey random stranger! Lore dump? You look like a lore dumper.

Kindly npc: why hullo there, link ^^! My, I haven't seen you in a while since the calamity ended! I was so worried when they said you and the princess had gone missing! But it's good to see you're well.

Me: aw, thanks. How long has it actually been tho.

Kindly npc: ^u^

#Having a great time btw I've just been chased across a near sea of miasma by stal riders and more! 10/10 nearly died in a high speed chase #Made it out relatively unscathed which is truly amazing lmao #Spoilers ahead: I have had the funniest time doing the great plateau quest chain. Once I sucked it up and made nice with the creepy statue. #He's(?) been alright. Fair trader. Good deals. I've mostly been terrorising kohga in between absolutely failing to craft working vehicles X #His new boss fights are so much easier than the first one lol. Less fun I'll admit but the music is groovy. You can probably make a #Machine and try and dog fight him but with few exceptions the turning circles are decrepit so I just stuck to mild dodging and shooting him #And running over to hit him some more. Kinda bland for a boss fight I'll say. Could have done with a lot more pizazz. It's kohga come on. #Anyway I do feel kinda bad because apparently he's been stuck down there for however many months/years and I AM kinda cheating with the arm #After the first fight he fled to the gerudo mine and the steward very nicely showed me how to get there but never underestimate #My procrastination because I'd already found it by just exploring so I just teleported. In game it must have been terrifying lmao #Racing across an endless void filled only by the light of your rapidly running out of battery glider and the red glow of the gloom away fro #The apparently immortal ancient warrior who beat you up and tossed you down there and there's no sign of perusal so you're probably safe #But you get there and he's already sitting there poking some bananas having wiped out your goons and plundered your supplies. #Like sorry man but the arm comes with the hero territory I can't exactly take it off. #Maybe if you stopped terrorising the people purah would let you have one of her long distance teleportation slates. It comes with photos? #It can't have been long since botw link hasn't grown an inch XD. Also I've been turning the lore timeline over in my head and still no idea #Are we not sure Rauru isn't from some alternate timeline that got fused with the main loz timeline by accident?? #loz #legend of zelda #totk #loz totk #tears of the kingdom #loz tears of the kingdom #totk spoilers

[itsanit]

I hope that totk finally let's you open the door to the shed in link's house. And I hope it's a little guest bedroom for his friends. I also hope that he either gets an oven in his house or the bolson guys stop hanging out by his house.

#is this gonna happen? probably not #have been playing botw hoping to finish it before i get my hands on totk #and i cant help but wish nintendo had more time on the game #like theres a lot more i feel like couldve been added to improve the game if only they had more time #ofc botw is a great game by itself #but still #also i hope that we get more villages #like i really want to explore pre calamity hyrule bc of all its villages and settlements #and aoc kind of let you do that but not really since it was all combat #so totk adding that would be amazing #my posts #tears of the kingdom #breath of the wild #legend of zelda #loz botw #loz totk

[mailperson]

Pour one out for breath of the wild introducing a super interesting and unique map of hyrule that visually implied a long and interesting history that’d be FASCINATING to learn about if more people were around only for tears of the kingdom to go “nah. Watch us do this different thing”

#totk AMAZING for exploration and sandbox type stuff #really bad worldbuilding and immersion though

[thebleedingeffect]

Thought about totk again and it was the biggest mistake of my life because I couldn't stop thinking how the memories should've been playable Zelda segments

#listen. I never had hope that zelda was gonna be a companion in totk #they're too damn afraid to do it despite spirit tracks being evidence that it can in fact work #but... I would’ve loved it if you were able to play as zelda and actually got to explore the zonai time period #perhaps they could've also shown the downfall of the zonai?? more gerudo screentime?? #perhaps they could've shown how Ganondorf was a good king who became consumed by wanting more? #totk could've been amazing and I'll scream and kick over it forever

[alphascorpiixx]

My issues with Totk’s story aside, the open world exploration makes for some really funny out of sequence instances where I:

- learn about Mineru through the flashbacks

- forget about Mineru when she’s not onscreen bc of my goldfish memory

- stumble upon the construct factory

- fail to navigate the thunderhead isles with the low visiblity

- jump into the hyrule castle chasm and go through a boss fight gauntlet of 1. lots of monsters 2. phantom ganons 3. a very large construct?? (huh it’s face mask thing is kinda familiar) 4. actual ganon this time 5. final boss ganon (his fucking healthbar???)

- die

- go to hyrule castle this time and fight phantom ganon properly

- learn about Mineru again (oh yeah I forgot about her)

- oh that’s how you get through the thunderhead isles haha

- oh THAT’S what the construct facility is for

That construct boss fight is so much easier with Mineru

#julian plays totk #totk spoilers #the story suffers from being an open world exploration game and that sucks #but the open world exploration is amazing

[moonchild-in-blue]

Why is Tears of the Kingdom SO. GODDAMM. STRESSFUL.

I was so scared during the entire inicial cutscene; the tutorial area was a lot; and the whole ultrahand makes me confused. Like, I'm loving it, don't get me wrong, but the learning curve is way bigger than botw.

Also, whose brilliant idea was to introduce THE DEPTHS?? I HATE IT THERE, IT'S SO SCARY AND STRESSFUL 😭.

Don't even get me started on those walking trees and the gloom hands.

#see i landed on the wetlands stable and started exploring right away #and kept forgetting i had MINIMAL health and NO PARAGLIDER #so i've been jumping off cliffs and trees like crazy #and i was SO mad they didn't give us a glider only to find out I JUST NEEDED TO TALK TO PURAH #like I spent almost 2 hours just dying #also why are all the monsters so much harder this early?? #i just landed here bros #i miss the great plateu and the old runes #especially the bombs #oh well #i'm sure i'll get used to it #at least Zelda looks AMAZING with the short hair #i'm too dumb to understand how the zonai things work #tears of the kingdom #totk #loz totk

[gayfishermanfive]

tears of the kingdom really fuckin went HARD with that final boss fight huh

#i mean they went hard with the entire game but goddamn #that finale was #so good holy shit 😭 #first time ive been like fully invested in the story of a zelda game #fucking amazing #such a good game #im at like 130ish hours and only just beat the story #i still have a ton of side quests to do and more of the depths/sky to explore #unfffffff i love this game #tears of the kingdom #totk #totk spoilers #(?) #don't really think it's a spoiler but just incase #jump speaks #jump plays totk

[helladventurers]

Ooohh i reached rito village accidentally while trying to land on some hard to reach islands and I'll say the main quests already sound a lot more interesting than just "solve this short quest to reach the divine beast"

#the writting so far is really meh so i don't expect anything amazing but lol #if you give me a fun adventure to accomplish i can overlook bad writting #and the goal of the rito quest does sound fun #when i'm done exploring central hyrule and hebra i'll do that one first likely #i'm also curious if there's gonna be anything like the four powers from botw #if there is then the rito reward will likely be super useful for a game with so much sky exploration lol #totk #(please no spoilers on the replies) #hateno* not hebra

[probably-need-sleep27]

So I'm just going to ramble about totk so be aware of spoilers below

Tears of the kingdom is way bigger than botw, underworld is massive, it so many new enemies in sky Island, overworld and underworld, the Guardians isn't in totk, all your horses are transfers over from botw so I was wrong about that, I spent over 3 hours just exploring the great sky Island when I was doing the tutorial and another couple of hours just exploring hyrule, the underground and sky Islands

I haven't encountered any full dungeons yet but I been doing shrines and every shrine I have done feel challenging and satisfying after doing them

I highly recommend before forming your opinion about totk, you should give the game a try, I don't listen to reviews because everyone have their own taste in games

Sadly we can't pet dogs in totk

Here some screenshots of totk

#tears of the kingdom spoilers #Fuse and Ultrahand is amazing #I have three horse named Epona 😅 #I wish I could release them but the only way to get rid of them is to kill them but I'm not that heartless so I'm stuck with them #Totk spoilers #All of Link new abilities is amazing #I spent hours just exploring hyrule and the underground #I'm going to take my time with totk #Zelda team really outdone themselves with totk #The sunsets are beautiful especially on the sky Islands #Shines is botw was more tedious and annoying after a while #Screenshots of some of totk #Mixture of full dungeons and shines is actually my ideal zelda after playing other zelda games

[carbonateds-oda]

I know you like legend of Zelda so I want to inform you that I’m playing breath of the wild rn! It’s my first time playing a video game like this and I’m having such a fun time!

thats awesome :) I act recently started playing it again cuz I wanted to finish it before starting totk and man I forgot how much fun it was I’m glad ur enjoying it too

#‘I’m only gonna beat the last divine beast and go to the castle so I can wrap it up and play totk’ is what I told myself #it’s been a month. this game has fully sucked me back in again I’m still finding places I haven’t explored #it’s just so good #the soundtrack is amazing and the fucking scenery my god #ok ​I need to stop or I’ll go on for hours #anyways enjoy the rest of the game 👍 #candy box

[pasteilian]

Do you have a recommendation when designing a black character? Or tips, or maybe pages you visit for references?

Suck at explaining stuff but I’ll try

‼️ Ethnic Features ‼️

So, the art world is in a very weird place when it comes to ethnic features. The conversation was about how using POC ethnic features as an insult in media was damaging and needed to stop, and that somehow morphed into people being scared about drawing people with those features.

Black people have big ears, big noses, and big lips. That's not the problem. The problem was that media was using it to make us look like giant ape, monkey, monster creatures. It's okay to give them these defining features.

Also, remember that brown people have lighter pigment under their feet, hands, and bottom lips. 🌸 (didn’t really know where to put this but drawing mix people is basically a spin the wheel we come in all different shapes and sizes and features. There’s really no wrong way to draw a mixed POC.)

‼️ It's Just My Style ‼️

I'm so goddamn tired of hearing this goddamn excuse. A style does not mean you can't properly represent POC. I would even go on to say that if your style is stunting you so grossly that you can't draw a proper black person, you have a bad art style. Sorry—not really.

Media has shown us that style does not stop representation. The only thing stopping that is your ignorance and refusal to improve. Great examples of ranging styles still being able to represent different POC are "Adventure Time," "Disney's Soul," "Proud Family," "Afro Samurai," etc. I'm just saying this because I've seen this excuse be more prevalent in the art world, and it's just better to nip that in the bud.

‼️ Whitewashing + I Don't Know How to Use the Color Brown ‼️

I've seen people make the excuse that the skin color is lighter because they use a pastel style, but they never bring up the fact that the only color in the art that's lighter is the skin tone. 💀

Also, the whole thing about people saying they don't know how to shade and color brown palettes is just completely bullshit. I would even say that trying to shade pale colors is harder than shading darker colors. Additionally, there are multiple artists and tutorials showing you exactly how it's done. You have no excuses other than you just don't want to.

YouTuber Sinix has a great video on painting skin tones!

‼️ Black Hairstyles ‼️

I love dreads. Dreads are a very pretty hairstyle. However, we have more hairstyles other than dreads. If you're going to draw black characters, I would encourage you to branch out and explore beyond dread heads. There are so many unique black hairstyles out there. We need to move on from just focusing on dreads.

YouTuber Ari has two wonderful videos on black hairstyles in video games. I would recommend checking them out.

‼️ References ‼️

I love referencing old black media such as "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air," "The Proud Family," and "Little Bill" (before all the Bill Cosby stuff came out). I also appreciate how "House of the Dragon" implemented black people into the lore. Other references include "BOTW/TOTK Rottmnt," etc.

Some artists I reference all the time are Mohammed Agbadi, who doesn't do many art tutorials anymore but often discusses black characters in media, and his art is still amazing. Ethan Becker has a very interesting video on the racist triangle that I recommend checking out.

On Instagram, I love the art of Jojo.Dreamie, Chibichanga12 (holy shit, love their art), Bruniosktch, and Caw.Chan. I also just reference my family a lot. 💀

This is a lot of rambling, but what I’m gonna say is don’t stunt yourself by tricking yourself into believing that your art can’t include POC 🌸🌸‼️💌💖💌💌🎀💕💘‼️🧁

#rottmnt #rottmnt fanart #rottmnt mikey #pastriesart💌 #pastrieschat💌 #this was long but hope I got my points across #as a Afro head I challenge dread heads to a duel

[ganondoodle]

I probably still wouldn’t have been a big fan of the game, but I don’t think I would have been NEARLY as upset about TotK if BotW didn’t seem like it was so obviously setting up plot points for a sequel. Like, you’re very clearly MEANT to wonder what malice is, and how Ganon became the Calamity instead of just the Demon King. Fi is awake again, where are they going either that? What’s the deal with the Triforce-shaped symbol on Zelda’s hand? There were a LOT of other things like that, and many of them had to do with overarching lore for the series.

I get it if they want to reboot the series, but “BotW 2” was the single worst game you could have done that with. It could have been an amazing conclusion to the original continuity.

EXACTLY, you, you get it

botw felt like the introduction to a vast world with secrets and hints to things that were planned to become a bigger thing- a big giant game as a big giant set up, and then ... like totk likes to do alot, it lacks a pay off, and that is something it even does within itself, cosntantly, set up and no pay off, or set up and the most boring and uninspired pay off you can really not even call that, from the bigger things like the whole dragon thing being hammered into your head as irreversible and then it IS reversible.. out of nowhere without you having to do fuck all, the whole thing with the ancient hero beign a big mystery with lots of interesting ideas attached and then its some weird ass dog creature that doesnt resemble any other race with, of course, sonau armor, bc there nothing that isnt sonau in that game, even finding the old treasure maps you can find that then lead to amiibo stuff from botw id call that

botw wasnt that great with rewards either but exploring the world and wondering about those, surely intentionally, placed mysterious and intriguing designs and places did alot for making it so interesting to think about, totk fumbles it all and even the new stuff doesnt even come close to that environmental storytelling botw was so great at, sonau ruins? ha they look entirely different than in botw actually, bc those were built by hylians you see, the actual sonau stuff is in prime condition considering the time thats passed and its all the same blank blocky blocks that serve no purpose but to be a place for you to find a thing or exchange some currency- the most you can think about it is ... that the sonau hollowed out the entire underground of hyrule, every inch of the map, ... which is WEIRD and doesnt exactly make them look that good but ... thats all there is

at least with the shiekah it made somewaht more sense and it felt much less .. invasive? and you didnt have anyone from that time to talk to, other than dead monks whos only purpose is to give you their last piece of their own spirit, but in totk ... raurus ghost and mineru too are both just there to talk to but DONT tell you shit but vague hints that were already clear, the sky islands used to be on the ground? oh you dont say, you see them there in the stupid memories! and dont get to know how they got up there and theres nothing that can clue you in to that, its just sonau magic yet again i guess

dont even get me started on the whole malice/miasma thing, it made so much SENSE that there was a source of it, someone that has keep kept in a horrible place just between life and death for thousands of years trying to break free by their hate and anger manifesting to such a degree its literally spilling out and building creppy eyeballs, mouths and ribcage like structures like they are trying to rebuild themsleves outside of their awful prison no one knows about is so damn compelling, but no, actually, the guy trapped there was the msot evilest evar, was sealed bc him evil and no other motive, and the previously mentioned stuff is pretty much utterly unceonnected, and his magic beign miasma with red instead of pink and no creepy body parts was the true version of it, that pink one was its own thing heehooo SHUT UP argh

it doesnt help that really, i dont feel like the sonau were set up either, they were a tiny part in botw, really only serving to make the world seem more ancient and more full of history, having ruins from a past civilization there you know nothing about and cant find out more is so good, its compelling and sad and makes the world feel more real, just shoving them into everything, being the center of attention all of thes udden and not even the architecure fitting feels so ... forced, i really truly believe the og sonau werent meant to be more than that, but in their fear of the game being too similarly looking like botw they took the sonau to replace the shiekah with them- imo the shiekah were the ones set up to be deeper explored in botw, with their whole misstreatment by the royal family in the past, monk miz kyoshia reacting the same way a yiga commander would was deliberate and brings up even more interesting ideas, the comments about where the mysterious energy the ancient shiekah used to power everything being concentrated in certain regions?? thats a big ass set up, the fact that the center of what is signaling everything to reactivate being below hyrule castle? the fact the whole arena thing was BUILT INTO THE CASTLE or it on top of it is so??? cool??? and sso damn intriguing, we are scratching the surface of their history- but then no, actually, the sonau are the cool new shit those other ones just uh ... disappear, also the sonau did everythign the shiekah did but even better wayy before them haha

its like they didnt want to tackle the more complicated stuff with the shiekah, their relationship to the royal family and how the yiga ... have a point and a good reason- so they replaced them with entirely new purely goodest good guys that did the same stuff before them with none of the history attached :))

this is why im so insistent on it not really being a sequel, thers no follow up on anything that was set up, NOTHING, and no, a couple having a kid now or whatever isnt a follow up on an interesting set up, how hard is it to understand that-

.... listen to me rambling, you probably know all that already nhjdfkbnkd

(i know i always bring up the shiekah but ... they were so central in botw, while also not taking up every single corner- unlike some other ones >_____>, with so much interesting stuff to connect and think about, i cared about them so much i felt kicked down the stairs by their treatment in totk)

#ganondoodles answers #ganondoodles rants #zelda #totk #totk critical #maybe its jsut me that feels so strongly about the unanswered stuff around the shiekah #but im #biting wood and clawing up the walls in my head

[nolongerapileofashprobably]

I remember a while back you said that TOTK ranks as one of the best narratives in the series, and replaying it again, I’m inclined to agree. Fans criticized it for being “incoherent,” but there’s literally nothing that happens in the story that isn’t set up in the opening/tutorial. The Imprisoning War, the Zonai, the statue depicting Rauru and Sonia, the Light Dragon flying near the temple, Link diving to Zelda, the Recall ability (how it serves as Link’s connection to Zelda throughout the game and will ultimately be how he saves her at the end). The recall ability is also how Link collects and examines the dragon tear memories. Even if you don’t collect the tears, Link’s last memory of her is the vision of her giving him Recall, so it makes sense that he restores her to how he remembers her (“coaxing the object’s memory” like Sonia says in one of the memories). The theme of community and togetherness is also woven into every aspect of the gameplay and story. BOTW and TOTK are both extremely narratively and thematically coherent.

THISSSSSS

Ive played the majority of Zelda games and some stories are iconic (OoT), some are DARK (MM), some are DIFFERENT (WW & TP), some are ROMANTIC (ST & SS), and all are adventurous and fun. This series has a plethora of interesting characters and captivating stories, but none truly compare to the intricacies of BoTW&ToTK. And this is achieved through the vast amount of details offered to players in each game.

BoTW has a TON of details for players who go looking for it, however none of them are actually necessary in completing the game. We know this is simply bc of the direction of botw and totk in terms of gameplay.

The stories are OPTIONAL in both of these games, but as you pointed out in ToTK, you don’t escape the Recall memory. And that ability is the one that is truly unique to the story and connects us directly to Zelda, and ultimately Zelda to her old self. Both of these games are directly related to Zelda’s journey as a character and are a testament to this Zelda and Link’s relationship. Without a romantic perspective (which actually requires you to neglect details given to us in both games), the story still stands in terms of development and emotional appeal.

I think everyone can agree that BoTW/ToTK Zelda is the most developed Zelda we have ever gotten, and if you accept that her development goes hand in hand with the story (which duh it does lol) then you realize that for all its faults, BoTW & ToTK has one of the best narratives of the series. To me, you can’t separate the games, because BoTW was the foundation of Zelda’s growth as a person and Zelda & Link’s relationship which resulted in the dedicated loyalty we see six years after the events of BoTW. Without that knowledge, we wouldn’t get the same emotional connection or understand how intimate the ending of ToTK is.

Link’s use of Recall, backed by Rauru’s light magic and Sonia’s time magic, is only achievable by HIS ability to remember Zelda, his own memories and the ones Zelda gifted him through the tears, in order to bring her back. This gives us the EXACT answer to the question BoTW ends on: “May I ask; do you really remember me?”

Like that is so impactful, it clears every other story in my opinion by a LONG SHOT. This doesn’t negate how amazing the other stories are, they are all powerful in their own way, but none compare to the fluid and consistent themes BoTW & ToTK are founded upon.

The story has its faults (as all do) and thus fans capitalize on them in order to tear down the games (which is natural for any popular franchise). But those faults do not impact what is perfectly executed in terms of Zelda and Link’s story. The things we wish to see more of are that of side characters and questions left unanswered (which provided the series a new set of lore to explore in future games). But I will forever stand by this era and it’s overarching story that still makes me stop whenever I see the light dragon or seek out those small details whenever I replay the games.

#god I love tears of the kingdom #I love breath of the wild so much #I love Zelda and link #zelink #botw zelink #loz botw #botw #the legend of zelda #botw link #link botw #loz tears of the kingdom spoilers #the legend of zelda breath of the wild #zelda botw #loz tok #loz tears of the kingdom #totk zelink #loz zelink #totk Zelda #totk link

[clovers-adventures-in-hyrule]

Words cannot express how much I love the depths in totk, it's SUCH a great way to deal with the fact that this game is set in a hyrule we've already explored in breath of the wild. There's only so much they can change the surface, even with the upheaval, but this is such a neat way of getting around it, essentially giving us a second map to explore.

Running around in the pitch black - or not - once you start putting lights around, just has this special charm too it which I love. The place is also CREEPY AS. And it looks AMAZING, the plant life and random landscape details are so so so cool:

also jumping down wells into the void below is exceptionally fun. I can't wait to see what else is down here.

#me: words cannot express #also me: writes a long as post #screenshots #tears of the kingdom #loz tears of the kingdom #tloz tears of the kingdom #totk #totk spoilers #tears of the kingdom spoilers #the depths #totk talk #legend of zelda

[sheikfangirl]

Positively adore your art!! Thank you for sharing it!! Also, would you happen to know of any fics that sort of resemble your art style or ones that inspired it? I’m right there with you I love the basic vanilla vibe and I have been trying to find a decent fic to get into before I finish totk

thank you!!

Thank you so much for your kind words for my art

🙏 I greatly appreciate!🙏

I have a confession to make dear friend! I hadn't read fanfictions in several years but beating Totk made me go FERAL for Zelda material and explore what's been written since BotW came out.... oh boy the rabbit hole is deep!

There is a lot of good stuff out there but I have read so many fanfics in a short time that the whole thing is a blurry mess in my brain. BUT! There is one in particular that really stood out and left a lasting impression on me: Displaced written by socksock https://archiveofourown.org/works/21128084/chapters/50279321 It was originally written in 2018, before the release of TotK so there are some small and harmless inconsistencies that can easily be ignored because, duh, it was written BEFORE totk. I particularly liked this fanfic because it has all the qualities I'm looking for!! Also several key moments and general ideas in that story are extremely close to my own headcanon to the point it almost scared me. The story focuses on Zelda trying to find her place in post-calamity Hyrule. The characters are very well written and credible, Link's personality is player behavior accurate (MORE OF THAT PLEASE!!!!!!!!) and obsessed with completing his quests backlog and I thought it was amazing. Damn i love a player accurate Link!!

It's a wholesome slow burn romance, lots of humor, it's sexy, does not take itself too seriously but can be very emotional at times. Also, I was amazed by one scene in particular....I don't want to spoil anything for you, but the Big Damn Kiss moment is *CHEF KISS*: the setting, the tone and the resolution HSGDKJS, I would've slow clapped if i could've (I was holding my phone lol)

Reading that scene, I thought to myself : F*** YES! This person gets it hahaha !!

My own Zelink Big Damn First Kiss moment shares a lot of similarities with that fic so, Im going to say it now: when 'll post the Zelink first kiss i'm currently crafting, be sure to know that Socksock and their fic Displaced did something in the same general vibe FIRST! They are awesome. I hope i answered your question haha Have a great day!

#zelink #legend of zelda