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The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom – Mr. Aonuma Gameplay Demonstration

Fbh

Member
I find it weird the durability question is even a thing when elden ring literally just came out and proved without a doubt that having lots of handcrafted unique interesting weapons and armor is a million times better than the 3 chop sword that is meaningless and is just a burden on the player

Souls games have always had one of the best loot/weapon systems.
Lots of people say they like durability because the alternative is just finding the weapon with the highest stats and using that the whole game, but games like Elden Ring or Dark Souls 3 show that there's an alternative system in which you can make almost every weapon viable and your personal weapon choice comes down to things like moveset, range and special abilities rather than just raw stats
 

StueyDuck

Member
J jaysius I'm waiting for you to name the "game changing weapon" you found in a chest in a previous Zelda game. Pony up.

Hurry Up GIF
Literally all items served a literal game changing role. Hookshot for example was used to remove certain defenses. The boomerang would stun.

Bombchus helped you blow up objectives from a distance, like honestly this isn't the gotcha you think it is.

The entire Zelda formula was that every item you unlocked had a game changing use to it.
 

EviLore

Expansive Ellipses
Staff Member
I find it weird the durability question is even a thing when elden ring literally just came out and proved without a doubt that having lots of handcrafted unique interesting weapons and armor is a million times better than the 3 chop sword that is meaningless and is just a burden on the player
It’s too much to ask Nintendo to step up to From’s level, realistically. Seven years for fuse and sky island DLC on the BotW map sounds about right. I’m sure it’ll be fun.
 

nkarafo

Member
Nintendo ESPECIALLY doesn't care if you bought a COPY of the game first, they'd think you're the same scum. To them they just see you now have 2 COPIES when you legally are entitled to ONE.

And we don't care about what Nintendo thinks and neither should you.

But you seem to care a lot.

Don't worry, your stocks will be fine, this game will sell a ton.

Other than that, emulation is legal and you can have as many backups as you want of the digital stuff you own. Thankfully, not many people think the same way as you because if they did, a lot of past digital art would be lost today.
 
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Pejo

Member
Video starts with what looks like Link's naked ass clipping through the seat of the horse. Weapon durability is back in. New Minecraft mode and added tedium to cross a river or fight an enemy.

I dunno, not feeling it. I miss the tightly designed gameplay and puzzles of past Zelda games. I hope this has more classic dungeons at least, this "create your own gameplay" stuff just doesn't resonate with me.

It'd be nice if they made a new top-down Zelda for fans of the original formula alongside this.
 

RoadHazard

Gold Member
Some neat gimmicks there I guess, but how is the actual game different from the last one? Are they not gonna show us any of that?
 

Nautilus

Banned
Counter-point: If you think it looks good in a world where GoW Ragnarok, Horizon Forbidden West, Halo Infinite (campaign), and Forza Horizon 5 exist, it is you who needs the eye doctor.

BotW was already visually outclassed by Horizon Zero Dawn back in 2017 but that wasn’t as much of a big deal because the Switch was still new and it was the first new mainline Zelda game in forever. It’s 2023 now and this looks functionally identical to the 2017 game.

Yeah, I’m still going to play it because the Zelda franchise is the second longest running franchise I’ve been playing (behind only Mario), but let’s not sit here and pretend it’s visually stunning when there’s been six years of major advancements in similar open world games since BotW.
Sure, there are some other games whose *raw* graphical prowess is better, but I still find BOTW overall graphics to be better because of its art style and just because I think its prettier.You know, opinions and all.

But even then, the actual thing you have to wonder is: Do people even care? Does having that much better graphical fidelity is that important to the game's enjoyment? It's nice sure, and it would be great to have both, but at the end of the day, is it worth losing sleep over it?

The closest metric that we have to gauge people opinion over that point, if graphics are so important to the enjoyment of the game, is sales and reviews(User reviews included). Because if its too ugly, people won't buy it and won't rate it too highly.

And in both aspects, BOTW hands over the asses to everyone, including the games you used as an example.
 
There has yet to be anything shown which hypes me up for this game sadly. Link has essentially been redefined as a digital deity, who can bend space/time/gravity - but still has to cook his own food and craft the types of weapons and (can't believe I'm saying this) vehicles. They might as well name this series Linkford and Son where you drive around and pick up scrap.

sanford-and.gif
 

GymWolf

Member
Counter-point: If you think it looks good in a world where GoW Ragnarok, Horizon Forbidden West, Halo Infinite (campaign), and Forza Horizon 5 exist, it is you who needs the eye doctor.

BotW was already visually outclassed by Horizon Zero Dawn back in 2017 but that wasn’t as much of a big deal because the Switch was still new and it was the first new mainline Zelda game in forever. It’s 2023 now and this looks functionally identical to the 2017 game.

Yeah, I’m still going to play it because the Zelda franchise is the second longest running franchise I’ve been playing (behind only Mario), but let’s not sit here and pretend it’s visually stunning when there’s been six years of major advancements in similar open world games since BotW.
one-of-these-things-is-not-like-the-others-the-pet-collective.gif
 

jaysius

Banned
Neat gameplay stuff but I hope they tighten up that framerate. Frame drops/stuttering almost every time they moved the camera
Nope, that's it man, this was probably final footage.

To Nintendo what you see here is perfectly acceptable, they made a Direct to showcase it. This is now Nintendo Quality.
 
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sloppyjoe_gamer

Gold Member
Everyone: I hated weapon durability in the last game, i hope it doesnt come back...
Nintendo: Were bringing it back BUT you can make it slightly less annoying by attaching a rock to a stick so instead of 5 swings to break, it takes 11!!!!
 

The Skull

Member
New features look cool and I expect speed runners will have a field day with this. Would have been nice for them to expand upon things like dungeons etc. I wished they'd launched this with their next console as the switch is certainly showing its age. That being said, long as performance is reasonable it'll be fine to play.

I expect we'll get a final trailer towards release that'll show a bit more.
 

nkarafo

Member
I dunno, not feeling it. I miss the tightly designed gameplay and puzzles of past Zelda games. I hope this has more classic dungeons at least, this "create your own gameplay" stuff just doesn't resonate with me.

My feelings as well. I was never a fan of "creating my own experience" in games. I want some talented developers to create that shit for me. I don't even have that much of an imagination so the game will end up being as boring as me.
 

Majukun

Member
On the one hand I really liked what I saw.
The fuse ability looks awesome and seems like it has the potential for a lot of fun interactivity and experimentation, not to mention puzzles. I really like elements like this that make the world feel more interactive and fun to explore, THIS is the sort of stuff I want to see more in open world games rather than the same old static worlds but with better graphics.
While I'm not thrilled to see the weapon breaking return, at least this time around the focus seems on creating weapons on the spot with things you find around the world. IMO that will make weapon durability less annoying than having to go out of your way to find cool weapon only to have them break after 2 fights.

On the other hand it still just looks like BOTW with some new tools and abilities. I'm seeing none of the changes and improvements I wanted from a sequel like proper dungeons, more rewarding exploration, cool boss fights, better side quests, a better loot system, more varied shrines, etc



Hemi7M2.jpg


So durability is great because "it forces you to adapt" but the game also throws an ocean of weapons at you so you don't really have to adapt.
Also I never got why people talk as if the weapons in BOTW were like Nioh or Monster Hunter with completely different skill trees and vastly different move sets depending on the weapon type. The combat in BOTW largely stays the same regardless of which weapon you are using, it's just that some deal more damage.
durability is not great because it forces you to adapt, that has always been the most marginal effect of it.
durability is great because botw is a game of currencies, weapons are the currency you spend to interact with the world and there's no game of currencies that can work if one of said currency is infinite.
BOTW gameplay loop would straight up not work without weapon durability being a factor...which makes me very curious about how they changed it since now you can just reset a weapon's durability by fusing it with random shit on the ground.
 

ADiTAR

ידע זה כוח
It looks fun and I would love to play it. But as a PS5 user, I can't get over how limited those talented devs are... Imagine those guys having the resources and technical possibilities of Naughty Dog for example.

Such a weird homemade problem that Nintendo willingly chose to create
I know, right? Look at the amazing mechanics that Naughty Dog are doing with all that power, I mean I can see every individual leaf in Last of Us Remake. I just stop because that leaf is all I need to get excited for a game, that leaf changes the entire encounter of stealth and when it's crushed, I'm crushed.
 

ANDS

King of Gaslighting
Holy Christ it is the same map?! I saw that "Tent Town" and thought "Wasn't there a town in the first game that looked exactly like that?" Jesus H. Christopherson. Add me then to the chorus of "What have you been doing for six years?"

. . .given that every system from the first game (including those I was wildly meh about) are coming back, if this doesn't have actual dungeons or somehow inject some measure of "progress" into your character, this will be an easy damn pass.

So Nintendo doing that is bad, Sony and Microsoft is ok? It is not like every other sequel follows the pattern from games to movies.

Literally the opposite of what they said.

Holy shit! I've just seen that Nintendo have invented crafting! 😲

I guarantee this is what we're going to get when the game launches. NINTENDO cribs all these features from existing genres and does its thing with it and now it is all "fresh" and "new" again. Like how many paragraphs are we going to get on you now being able to craft weapons and vehicles in this series and what a "breath of fresh wild air" this is and however many other superlatives.
 
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Raven117

Member
The weapon durability thing is a huge bummer for me. Oh well. I'll still be playing this day one. I'm sure it will be a nice time.
 

StueyDuck

Member
It’s too much to ask Nintendo to step up to From’s level, realistically. Seven years for fuse and sky island DLC on the BotW map sounds about right. I’m sure it’ll be fun.
Like I said they basically added a minecraft mod to the first bonkys island adventure.

7 years and citing rdr2 as inspiration I wasn't expecting "fuse" to be the big thing
 

BbMajor7th

Member
I agree, and the games you mentioned weren't cinematic walking sims like the ones I mentioned.
Those 'cinematic walking sims' are part of it too. Game development doesn't happen in a bubble, all of these games influence and push the industry in different ways. It's an evolving interlinked medium and you don't have to love every game to acknowledge that. Nor does the influence have to be solely technological. Games like The Last of Us, for example, have helped to spread the medium to a wider, more adult audience - an uplift that benefits the industry as a whole.
 

nkarafo

Member
durability is not great because it forces you to adapt, that has always been the most marginal effect of it.
durability is great because botw is a game of currencies, weapons are the currency you spend to interact with the world and there's no game of currencies that can work if one of said currency is infinite.
BOTW gameplay loop would straight up not work without weapon durability being a factor...which makes me very curious about how they changed it since now you can just reset a weapon's durability by fusing it with random shit on the ground.

Like you said, "it forces you"

So they made a bunch of scenarios and created a bunch of neat physics where you can kill enemies with imaginative ways.

This is great for a while but after that you just want to progress the game and focus on other things. Playing with the sandbox physics is nice the first time around, or if you want to upload an impressive BOTW gameplay video, but after that it becomes a chore.
 

THE DUCK

voted poster of the decade by bots
Game looks amazing gameplay wise, but for 2023 the game looks really bad graphically. Makes me very sad there is no switch pro/2.
Imagine Nintendo delivering its fans graphics and gameplay........we deserve it.
 

Miyazaki’s Slave

Gold Member
It’s too much to ask Nintendo to step up to From’s level, realistically. Seven years for fuse and sky island DLC on the BotW map sounds about right. I’m sure it’ll be fun.
More like "Jerk*Lore"...amirite?!?!

I dunno...the world you see after Link fell out of that island looked REALLY awesome...and huge.

Also...please don't act like From Software is anywhere close to Nintendo.....on any level.

*edited to remove the harshness...I actually quite like it around here
 
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nkarafo

Member
One thing that bothers me about the graphics (and it did with BOTW too) is the complete lack of contrast. If you watch the video again you will notice that the darkest shade available is some very bright grey or something. Looks completely washed out.

Thankfully, emulation will take care of that too, i played BOTW with a nice color mode that made the game look more lush.
 

shubik

Member
I know, right? Look at the amazing mechanics that Naughty Dog are doing with all that power, I mean I can see every individual leaf in Last of Us Remake. I just stop because that leaf is all I need to get excited for a game, that leaf changes the entire encounter of stealth and when it's crushed, I'm crushed.

I was talking about visuals...
 

jaysius

Banned
More like "ShitLore"...amirite?!?!

I dunno...the world after Link fell out of that island looked REALLY awesome...and huge.

Also...please don't act like From Software is anywhere close to Nintendo.....on any level.
WHOA! I didn't expect an account suicide to popup here!

GOLD PLEASSE!!!

Bill Hader Popcorn GIF by Saturday Night Live
Kenan Thompson Eating GIF by Saturday Night Live
Pop Corn GIF by WWE
Fox Tv Popcorn GIF by The Four
Big Brother Popcorn GIF by Pop TV
 

TIGERCOOL

Member
Creative way to address weapon durability and open world resource fatigue. If everything you pick up has a more immediate and fun impact on gameplay you're more likely to stay engaged with the game world. Enemies with unique weapon combos will also keep those combat encounters fresh... but hopefully there's way more enemy variety as well. Definitely excited for this.
 
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DKPOWPOW

Member
I don't know what to think...

On one hand, the fusing thing is very interesting. It seems they are going all in on dynamic gameplay systems.

On the other hand... Is this even a Zelda game anymore?

Breath of the Wild broke many series conventions, but it still felt like a Zelda game. Just one that was unhinged.

This one though... hasn't invoked feelings of Zelda. Just Breath of the Wild, and it didn't help that it looked exactly like the previous game.

And the Ascend gimmick, that I found so interesting in the previous trailer.... Looks like it has been nerf'd. Possibly because of the Switch's limits? Before you turned into a raindrop and transferred thru the object all in real time. It was very seamless.

Now it switched almost to a cinematic where everything is just black and green. It's very jarring, you can't see the rest of the game world... It feels very immersion breaking.

One of the greatest strengths of the previous game was how whole everything felt, there were very few moments that took you out of the gameplay experience.

And to have one of the main abilities do that in the sequel is very odd.
 

Dr. Claus

Vincit qui se vincit
Holy Christ it is the same map?! I saw that "Tent Town" and thought "Wasn't there a town in the first game that looked exactly like that?" Jesus H. Christopherson. Add me then to the chorus of "What have you been doing for six years?"

. . .given that every system from the first game (including those I was wildly meh about) are coming back, if this doesn't have actual dungeons or somehow inject some measure of "progress" into your character, this will be an easy damn pass.



Literally the opposite of what they said.



I guarantee this is what we're going to get when the game launches. NINTENDO cribs all these features from existing genres and does its thing with it and now it is all "fresh" and "new" again. Like how many paragraphs are we going to get on you now being able to craft weapons and vehicles in this series and what a "breath of fresh wild air" this is and however many other superlatives.

Don't play Yakuza games. You may have an aneurism.
 

AV

We ain't outta here in ten minutes, we won't need no rocket to fly through space
Literally all items served a literal game changing role. Hookshot for example was used to remove certain defenses. The boomerang would stun.

Bombchus helped you blow up objectives from a distance, like honestly this isn't the gotcha you think it is.

The entire Zelda formula was that every item you unlocked had a game changing use to it.

BOTW has I think 4 different types of boomerangs, a remote bomb that can change shape IIRC, and bomb arrows. Granted no hookshot is a shame.

We're not talking about item progression in the old games in terms of unlocking new areas a la Metroid, that's a whole different story and it doesn't work in a game like BOTW which is precisely why you unlock all the tools at the beginning. You still use those tools to achieve different things, you just don't unlock them at a set pace like you did before.

In terms of core Zelda combat you're pressing a button to swing the same sword 99% of the time. You might do a lengthy side quest for an upgrade but it never feels remotely worth it unless you just want to see the quest itself. Sure, boomerangs stun, can you charge it with lightning during a storm before throwing it to electrocute an enemy? Can you throw several and make them spin around you in a circle? Can you find a rare type of boomerang that does more damage? Can you use them for the whole game if you so wish?

Big difference between items you get that help move the game forward and weapons you get that make you feel stronger. I'm talking about the latter and BotW has about 30x as many as any previous Zelda game. If you wanna talk about the way BotW changed the feeling of progression for the worse then sure, the divine beasts suck ass. But combat in Zelda has never been remotely as interesting until BotW.
 
Souls games have always had one of the best loot/weapon systems.
Lots of people say they like durability because the alternative is just finding the weapon with the highest stats and using that the whole game, but games like Elden Ring or Dark Souls 3 show that there's an alternative system in which you can make almost every weapon viable and your personal weapon choice comes down to things like moveset, range and special abilities rather than just raw stats
The problem with From Soft is they just keep making the same game over and over again. At least they're trying something different with their new project, which shows some growth.
 
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