This review contains spoilers
i love this game. incredible continuation of the open world zelda format, although i hesitate to call it a good sequel to botw.
it's a little baffling that there's almost zero mention of the events and characters from botw. the absence of sheikah tech is never explained (and barely even implied) and the beloved champions are mentioned maybe once or twice in journal entries. and beedle and hestu don't even remember link! What!!!!!
zelda's role in the story is also disappointing. i know it was wishful thinking to hope for a playable zelda but i was hoping she would at least be present this time. (SPOILERS) i do like her sacrificing everything to become a dragon so she can return the sword to link, but it shouldn't have all become undone so quickly at the end. same with link's arm... a mechanical sheikah arm would've been cool. i'm a "zelda should've retained some draconic traits" truther.
and one more thing... the sage cutscenes were lame. Demon king? Secret stone? So that was the imprisoning war... Like enough already i've seen this 3 times.
zelda games (majora's mask aside) have always been gameplay over story though, and the gameplay/exploration does NOT disappoint. zonai devices add so much to exploration & the sky and depths are a huge addition to botw's hyrule. they do get super repetitive after a while though... i wish there was a depths civilisation & a skyloft-esque sky civilisation. i think i would've preferred if all the zonai weren't mysteriously extinct and we could find one of their towns up in the sky. it would have helped it feel less empty.
the armour upgrading grind is also insane. i don't see using item duplication glitches as cheating at all because all it does is make playing the game less tedious.
i loved the dungeons (not the fire temple) and all the temple bosses were fantastic. colgera made me tear up. i hope in future open-world zelda installments we get bigger, classic-style dungeons though... like i'm talking small keys, big keys, minibosses, etc. but these dungeons are such a massive improvement over botw that i think we can be excited for future dungeons. hopefully they don't stick to the unlock X number of things to unlock the boss door format.
speaking of dungeons, i think this game would have benefitted from SOME linearity. being able to get the dragon's tears in any order doesn't work as well as being able to get the botw memories in any order — there's an actual story that you're uncovering this time, and the emotional crux of it can be completely spoiled if you get to it too early. i had to look up the order of the geoglyphs so i could experience it properly, but i know there's a lot of people who ended up getting some of the later 'memories' super early. i can't help but feel as though those should've been locked out until you've progressed to a certain point.
the english voice direction is also... Hmm. zelda still sounds like she's on the verge of tears every time she speaks. riju's accent is all over the place. honestly, the way dialogue is written in some of the cutscenes also feels kind of stilted at times, so i don't entirely blame the awkward voice acting. secret stones is a dumb as fuck name though.
i sound a little critical of this game and no i don't think it's perfect, but i've put over 150+ hours into it since it came out and it is definitely a favourite. i have a lot of fun just running around and exploring and i really do love this game a lot despite the issues i have with it. also, the final boss was AMAZING. so so much better than calamity ganon. i got smacked a bunch cause i was trying to take pictures of him while he was swinging at me.
i kind of wonder if there's going to be a third installment in this series? if they do one (it'll be red for sure) i hope it's not this hyrule. maybe a new link, a new zelda, a future or past hyrule that's completely different. or maybe we'll finally get to see what's beyond hyrule... i'm excited for the future of zelda though. i hope we get more ganondorf. i love my wife.
Last thing... i'm so so happy we got ganondorf in this game but i can't help but be a little disappointed at how shallow his character is. ever since wind waker we've never really gotten a ganondorf with the same nuance and depth... totk ganondorf just ends up being evil for the sake of being evil again. but at least he's hot </3
okay i'm done. love this game. love zelda.
it's a little baffling that there's almost zero mention of the events and characters from botw. the absence of sheikah tech is never explained (and barely even implied) and the beloved champions are mentioned maybe once or twice in journal entries. and beedle and hestu don't even remember link! What!!!!!
zelda's role in the story is also disappointing. i know it was wishful thinking to hope for a playable zelda but i was hoping she would at least be present this time. (SPOILERS) i do like her sacrificing everything to become a dragon so she can return the sword to link, but it shouldn't have all become undone so quickly at the end. same with link's arm... a mechanical sheikah arm would've been cool. i'm a "zelda should've retained some draconic traits" truther.
and one more thing... the sage cutscenes were lame. Demon king? Secret stone? So that was the imprisoning war... Like enough already i've seen this 3 times.
zelda games (majora's mask aside) have always been gameplay over story though, and the gameplay/exploration does NOT disappoint. zonai devices add so much to exploration & the sky and depths are a huge addition to botw's hyrule. they do get super repetitive after a while though... i wish there was a depths civilisation & a skyloft-esque sky civilisation. i think i would've preferred if all the zonai weren't mysteriously extinct and we could find one of their towns up in the sky. it would have helped it feel less empty.
the armour upgrading grind is also insane. i don't see using item duplication glitches as cheating at all because all it does is make playing the game less tedious.
i loved the dungeons (not the fire temple) and all the temple bosses were fantastic. colgera made me tear up. i hope in future open-world zelda installments we get bigger, classic-style dungeons though... like i'm talking small keys, big keys, minibosses, etc. but these dungeons are such a massive improvement over botw that i think we can be excited for future dungeons. hopefully they don't stick to the unlock X number of things to unlock the boss door format.
speaking of dungeons, i think this game would have benefitted from SOME linearity. being able to get the dragon's tears in any order doesn't work as well as being able to get the botw memories in any order — there's an actual story that you're uncovering this time, and the emotional crux of it can be completely spoiled if you get to it too early. i had to look up the order of the geoglyphs so i could experience it properly, but i know there's a lot of people who ended up getting some of the later 'memories' super early. i can't help but feel as though those should've been locked out until you've progressed to a certain point.
the english voice direction is also... Hmm. zelda still sounds like she's on the verge of tears every time she speaks. riju's accent is all over the place. honestly, the way dialogue is written in some of the cutscenes also feels kind of stilted at times, so i don't entirely blame the awkward voice acting. secret stones is a dumb as fuck name though.
i sound a little critical of this game and no i don't think it's perfect, but i've put over 150+ hours into it since it came out and it is definitely a favourite. i have a lot of fun just running around and exploring and i really do love this game a lot despite the issues i have with it. also, the final boss was AMAZING. so so much better than calamity ganon. i got smacked a bunch cause i was trying to take pictures of him while he was swinging at me.
i kind of wonder if there's going to be a third installment in this series? if they do one (it'll be red for sure) i hope it's not this hyrule. maybe a new link, a new zelda, a future or past hyrule that's completely different. or maybe we'll finally get to see what's beyond hyrule... i'm excited for the future of zelda though. i hope we get more ganondorf. i love my wife.
Last thing... i'm so so happy we got ganondorf in this game but i can't help but be a little disappointed at how shallow his character is. ever since wind waker we've never really gotten a ganondorf with the same nuance and depth... totk ganondorf just ends up being evil for the sake of being evil again. but at least he's hot </3
okay i'm done. love this game. love zelda.