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[Men_in_Boxes]

I walk around art museums looking at the pictures hanging on walls thinking "Does this actually move people on an emotional level? Or is it just weird people faking it so their friends think they're deep?"

My timeline with Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom...

Hours 1 - 10: Engaged, moderately interested.
Hours 11 - 15: Is this it?
Hour 16: I'm done. Starting to feel like a chore to play.

On the one hand, the game is impressive. The art is pretty to look at. The sounds are nice. It has a level of polish and refinement you don't get from too many other developers. And yet, the longer I played it the more I felt I was in an art museum looking at a picture of a tree in a field with a lone apple on its branches. Like...who gives a #$%*?

There's no excitement to be had there. There's no stakes. No consequences. Link can die an infinite number of times and the player only has to respawn about 20 seconds back with his/her full loadout. The game gives you a ton of things to do and the order in which you do them means nothing. It kind of reminds me of that scene in The Matrix where Agent Smith tells Neo the first iteration of The Matrix was a utopia but the humans revolted. There are no high points. There are no low points. Nothing is challenging because 8 year old kids need to get through it. There's no tension, no release. The game world holds your hand and removes all the pain points so you can frolic around at your leisure. It's Avatar: The Way of the Water in a world where Whiplash exists. It's Yacht Rock when Punk Rock exists.




I've watched a number of glowing reviews about Tears of the Kingdom and they're all accurate in terms of specifics but they ignore the fundamental emotion that videogames can illicit. Do I have this wrong? Did Zelda TotK have exciting high moments for you? Was there anything about this game that got your heart rate going?

 

[Sleepwalker]

I was really enjoying it for about 50 hours but its sorta become a slog now. I ruined myself by playing FFXVI before finishing TOTK so now I really don't care for its story anymore lol. I'll still go back and finish it but ill probably just rush whatever I have left of the main story quest.

 

[SeraphJan]

This is what happens when rating popular game with a score system, it might not be for everyone but somehow it sets a high expectation for that everyone, I believe for people who like physic based sandbox style video game, ToTK probably is the best game ever made. Its a very unique game, when think about it the only game I can think of that are close in terms of this genre might be Human Fall Flat (which in a sense is also a physic based sandbox game), but ToTK definitely had better quality compare to that game. The reason I don't compare ToTK to games such as AC, Far Cry or The Witcher is because they might share the name "open world" but their aesthetic is vastly different its orange to apple

 

[Moses85]

Nintendo cant tell great stories and create great dungeons anymore. Last great game for me was TP.

 

[EviLore]

It’s a good game but too easy and too similar to BotW. Liked the early game the best when resources and hearts/stamina were the most limited, especially when exploring the depths early on. Later on was basically on autopilot. I like BotW better in a lot of ways, had to engage with the core systems properly as you explore the world, nice power curve, more sense of discovery. Totk breaks everything early on with the new systems and reuses too much from the old systems.

 

[vaibhavpisal]

Have you tried Minecraft?

One of the most obscure, hardcore game, yet too popular.

People don't even try to kill Ender Dragon, just keep building stuff having fun with the sandbox.

 

[RoadHazard]

I'm at 135 hours and still loving the hell out of it. Not primarily the story though (I've still seen less than half of that), but just playing the game and experiencing the world. I do find it interesting to learn more about what happened to Zelda though, and unlike in BOTW I don't feel like I already know exactly how everything will play out.

It’s a good game but too easy and too similar to BotW. Liked the early game the best when resources and hearts/stamina were the most limited, especially when exploring the depths early on. Later on was basically on autopilot. I like BotW better in a lot of ways, had to engage with the core systems properly as you explore the world, nice power curve, more sense of discovery. Totk breaks everything early on with the new systems and reuses too much from the old systems.

I do agree with the broken difficulty curve, but BOTW had that exact problem too. Maybe it becomes even more pronounced in TOTK though, partly because the depths are supposed to be scary/tense but after a while they really aren't anymore.

 

[GigaBowser]

Best scoring games of 2023

Best sellings game of 2023

Best story in a Zelda games

Best gameplay in a Zelda games

2023 GOTY

GOTG and best games of all time

and I made the OT

 

[Robb]

Did Zelda TotK have exciting high moments for you?

For sure. I think there are too many moments to name for me. Everything from big moments like getting the Master Sword for the first time (which was pure magic, I hadn’t done any quests to get it, just happened to stumble upon it) to descending from the skies and catching a falling star on my way down.

 

[Kamina]

It isn’t a primarily narrative driven game, but the scenes it features do contain drama and emotion.
Excitement is something i felt all throughout the playthrough.

 

[EviLore]

I do agree with the broken difficulty curve, but BOTW had that exact problem too. Maybe it becomes even more pronounced in TOTK though, partly because the depths are supposed to be scary/tense but after a while they really aren't anymore.

it’s all too familiar from BotW. Gameplay systems, world, combat, enemies. There are new enemies and ways to engage them but the fundamentals are very much solved from the start if you’ve played through BotW, and the new gimmicks are not super interesting in terms of combat. Lot of standing around fusing weapons, switching back and forth to rock sledges.

Depths were the coolest part to explore since they were something new, but needed some actual risk v reward in there, gloom penalties are trivial to deal with. Did have plenty of fun with it still though. Just not a slam dunk for me.

 

[ADiTAR]

I do have criticisms for the game, but I all you wrote is an opinion. You can't claim there's no drama when you're literally starting with it exploring under the castle, and you unravel a story of upheaval that happened across the land with story fragments explaining what happened to Zelda which is very emotional. Then, there's the final fight which is amazing.

There's a ton of beautiful moments when REdiscovering places you've seen in BotW, how they changed. The moments when you dive from a certain cube island all the way into the Depths, it's a thrill like no other.

Game is full of giving you the feels.

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

It’s a good game but too easy and too similar to BotW. Liked the early game the best when resources and hearts/stamina were the most limited, especially when exploring the depths early on. Later on was basically on autopilot. I like BotW better in a lot of ways, had to engage with the core systems properly as you explore the world, nice power curve, more sense of discovery. Totk breaks everything early on with the new systems and reuses too much from the old systems.

Glad I'm not the only one to feel this way. Completing the first 4, 8, 12 shrines was pretty fun because those upgrades feel meaningful early on. By shrine 30, I was like "Who thought building such a vanilla Link was a good idea at Nintendo?" Deus Ex it is not.

For sure. I think there are too many moments to name for me. Everything from big moments like getting the Master Sword for the first time (which was pure magic, I hadn’t done any quests to get it, just happened to stumble upon it) to descending from the skies and catching a falling star on your way down.

I appreciate the response. I guess I'm just playing it thinking "What's the formula for excitement?" Isn't it risk + reward = excitement? It kinda reminded me of The Truman Show where Jim Carey learns everything is fake + designed. Nintendo was my Ed Harris. Ah well, reasonable minds may differ. The game's selling boat loads so they're doing something right over there.

 

[ADiTAR]

My criticisms for the game are really the Islands, there's one big island and that's it, and for all talk they did, I thought we'll have a town in the islands, or another big area like the starting one where it'll have caves and such. Otherwise, most islands are just repetitions, with I think two or three unique ones.

Spoiler

Also, there's a huge issue with an open world game that only triggers certain things when you do them in a certain order. I was actually able to get the Spirit temple in the full on rain, and thought the rain and thunder would stop after. It didn't, so I basically navigates this rainy shit and found the sage thing. I don't think they should've made this unlock only after you finish the 4 main ones.

I can't tell you how many times I went back to Kakakiro village trying to get into that floating slap, and couldn't, again because it was locked for specific reasons. That was annoying and they should've solved it differently.

 

[StueyDuck]

Borkys nintendo minecrafts lands is a decent enough game.

But after 15 or so hours ( after having done any dungeon) you have essentially experienced 100% of what is on offer in the game. BotW/TotK both have the fastest drop-off but the highest highs on the interesting over time graph.

I wish there was at least 10% more effort put into the TloZ side of these games, I'm shocked that the story beats continued in flashbacks in the sequel however, I've literally skipped every teardrop cutscene because there is literally nothing interesting the game has to say. "Zelda why are you back here now, Ganon is bad, link is a hero, I will help you zelda". Guys I just saved you hours of time, skip the story tears, skip all the story it's entry level terrible.

 

[mrmustard]

It's a huge sandbox game with great gameplay, i don't need 10 hours of drama, trivial talking and 20 plot twists.

 

[GigaBowser]

Borkys nintendo minecrafts lands is a decent enough game.

But after 15 or so hours ( after having done any dungeon) you have essentially experienced 100% of what is on offer in the game. BotW/TotK both have the fastest drop-off but the highest highs on the interesting over time graph.

I wish there was at least 10% more effort put into the TloZ side of these games, I'm shocked that the story beats continued in flashbacks in the sequel however, I've literally skipped every teardrop cutscene because there is literally nothing interesting the game has to say. "Zelda why are you back here now, Ganon is bad, link is a hero, I will help you zelda". Guys I just saved you hours of time, skip the story tears, skip all the story it's entry level terrible.

Played over 300 hours and still discoverings new things

 

[Fredrik]

Well to each their own. All I play right now is TOTK, I literally haven’t touched another game since it released.
For me it’s the gameplay and possibilities of what you can do and how the physics hold it all together that makes it so exciting. The story is whatever, I don’t really care. I just want to play around with the tools. It’s the ultimate sandbox. And I find new ways to use the tools almost every day.

And tbh I have have no real desire to play anything else that is out right now. Everything seems to restricted and shallow. I guess I could play FF16 but the performance talk made it seem better to wait on the PC version, not really excited about the action focus either. I could play Street Fighter 6 but I’m not sure I can put in the time to actually learn that right now, would just be button mashing. Cammy is a feast for the eyes though. I could finish Hogwarts but I find the hand-holding extreme and if you deactivate all guides it’s clear it’s not really made to be played that way.

Starfield is my next serious point of interest, but that’s 2 months away. Hopefully my love for TOTK has decrease a little by then so I can put in some serious time there.

 

[Gobjuduck]

Nintendo cant tell great stories

Books are for stories, games are for experiences. Nintendo has the best experiences, by a mile.

 

[StueyDuck]

Played over 300 hours and still discoverings new things

What are you discovering?

What exactly is the discovery other than "thing looks different". Which at best gives you another korok seed.

I found the skeleton whale in the underground near the lava my last play session but it wasn't anything... text popped up and said "discovery" though?

So is that the joy I seem to be missing here, getting text to pop up on screen saying I found something even though it serves 0 purpose to anything.

 

[gothmog]

Yes you are wrong.

 

[GigaBowser]

What are you discovering?

What exactly is the discovery other than "thing looks different". Which at best gives you another korok seed.

I found the skeleton whale in the underground near the lava my last play session but it wasn't anything... text popped up and said "discovery" though?

So is that the joy I seem to be missing here, getting text to pop up on screen saying I found something even though it serves 0 purpose to anything.

You should checks in the Zelda OT I posted new discoveries all the times

 

[mrmustard]

What are you discovering?

What exactly is the discovery other than "thing looks different". Which at best gives you another korok seed.

I found the skeleton whale in the underground near the lava my last play session but it wasn't anything... text popped up and said "discovery" though?

So is that the joy I seem to be missing here, getting text to pop up on screen saying I found something even though it serves 0 purpose to anything.

Everbody likes different things in games. Some even absolutely love the farming of materials in games like World of Warcraft or No Man Sky.

 

[StueyDuck]

You should checks in the Zelda OT I posted new discoveries all the times

Tell me your discovery...

You said 300 hours and you keep discovering so what are you discovering?

Is it just you can put frozen meat on a shield type discoveries or is there actual discoveries? You said it so surely you have a huge list of all these interesting discoveries

 

[Robb]

I appreciate the response. I guess I'm just playing it thinking "What's the formula for excitement?" Isn't it risk + reward = excitement? It kinda reminded me of The Truman Show where Jim Carey learns everything is fake + designed. Nintendo was my Ed Harris. Ah well, reasonable minds may differ. The game's selling boat loads so they're doing something right over there.

I guess maybe it depends what you view the game as. To me, Zelda games are puzzle/adventure games and in TotK both the puzzles (quality and amount) and feeling of adventure is fantastic.

There’s hardly ever any risk involved in finding a new shrine (except maybe the ones that are purely overworld puzzles/blessing shrines), but I’m still excited to go in and get to solve a new puzzle - If that makes sense. I think it’s the variety that makes it exciting, I want to see what they’ve come up with next. If all shrines were like the Korok puzzles (3-4 variations repeated) this wouldn’t be the case.

 

[Danjin44]

I play Zelda for sense of adventure, not for emotional story. I put 200+ hours in to Tears of Kingdom and it was absolute blast.

 

[ShaiKhulud1989]

I dropped it after 15 hours (and I've completed the BotW twice). Too similar to BotW, too little new places to see (and even new places are literally 30 assets re-arranhed in different order) and I'm not keen on Nuts'n'Bolts concept in general. So yeah, I know the feeling. Good for those who enjoyed it.

Maybe I'll revisit TotK on the emulator during my winter break and finally found a mood to beat it.

 

[kunonabi]

It hasn't really connected with me yet. The main story being just a contrived reworking of BotW's story while also coming up with shitty new versions of older LoZ stories that didn't need retelling doesn't help matters. While I like a lot of the smaller side characters I really don't care about Zelda or any of the characters from the past. I'm not sure they ever had a chance though after them botching the memories yet again.

It's also hard to for me to connect with it from a gameplay perspective since I spent the first 40 hours retreading the same boring tasks that tanked botw for me. It did pick up for a time when I actually started running into interesting new things but then I took a short break and returning to the game has resulted in it feeling like a chore again. Im sure it's pure magic for some people but I think all the time I spent with BOTW and my personal affinities are just not going to let that happen for me.

 

[Chastten]

So is that the joy I seem to be missing here, getting text to pop up on screen saying I found something even though it serves 0 purpose to anything.

This is why I'm glad Switch doesn't have achievements

 

[Acidjuice]

im still playing it and im finding it slow and mostly unrewarding, but im still willing to give it a chance. I figure if im still not into after i unlock a few more powers and whatnot then it might just not be for me.

 

[Flabagast]

Yeah I found it was a very hollow experience through and through.

It’s a perfect game for the tik tok generation but it absolutely is devoid of any emotional depth and cogency, I would not recommend it.

 

[nemiroff]

You're lucky OP. I'm already at your second stage at only a few hours or so in..

Right now the game feels extremely overrated. And it looks technically atrocious.

But I'm probably missing something, it's early. Will try more and keep fingers crossed.

 

[AV]

These "why aren't all games multiplayer extraction shooters or battle royales" threads are getting weirder and weirder man.

 

[HL3.exe]

This is unfortunately the inherent problem with mixing systems-driven games with narrative. It's the design dragon we still haven't slayed. How do you create compelling dramatic tension when the player has mechanical freedom of approach in a systematic sandbox?

There are just a few games tackling this problem (Shadow o Mordor took a great stab at this) but the industry as a whole is lacking in wanting to focus on this design obstacle. The upcoming JUDAS from Ken Levine (Thief, System Shock 2, Bioshock) is set to make this leap, mixing player agency with drama, but we'll have to wait and see.

 

[TheKremlinBossMan]

I was really enjoying it for about 50 hours but its sorta become a slog now. I ruined myself by playing FFXVI before finishing TOTK so now I really don't care for its story anymore lol. I'll still go back and finish it but ill probably just rush whatever I have left of the main story quest.

I finished Tears before XVI came out and I'm glad I did. Wouldn't have gotten back to it.

 

[Hudo]

You can say that about every game that doesn't "grab" you somehow. For example, I have asked myself the same question in both God of War 2018 and Ragnarok and dropped both games after 4 hours or so because it was just pointless and boring (to me). My father used to spend hours in Project Gotham Racing 2's showroom, just walking around and looking at cars. I am still playing Tears of the Kingdom and still get surprised by game play possibilities that I didn't expect.

If you're not having fun, stop playing the game and play something else. Dunno what to tell you.

 

[BbMajor7th]

What exactly is the discovery other than "thing looks different". Which at best gives you another korok seed.

I'm yet to play TOTK, but I had this problem with BotW. The critical consensus was that it had the best discovery of any game ever, but what I kept discovering was more of the same: more Korok seeds, more Shrines, and more disposable weapons.

It's an interesting game, but one of the most nakedly superficial I can remember. When you break it down, there are two major factors of variance: temperature and set dressing. You could argue that enemies are a third, but honestly, the variety is limited and the strategies don't really vary (presumably to service the open-ended design). You'll soon gather the equipment to mitigate temperature changes and any enemy can be tackled effectively with any weapon. After that, it's really just a case of collectibles and puzzles. Beat Shrines until you're bored; collect Korok seeds until you're bored; fight Ganon when you're fed up of everything else. It's a game of 95% optional side content to be tackled in any order and though it brims with the promise of discovery at the outset, it is ultimately as wide as an ocean and as deep as a puddle.

You can say that about every game that doesn't "grab" you somehow. For example, I have asked myself the same question in both God of War 2018 and Ragnarok and dropped both games after 4 hours or so because it was just pointless and boring (to me). My father used to spend hours in Project Gotham Racing 2's showroom, just walking around and looking at cars. I am still playing Tears of the Kingdom and still get surprised by game play possibilities that I didn't expect.

If you're not having fun, stop playing the game and play something else. Dunno what to tell you.

It's perfectly a legitimate position to take, but on a gaming forum, people might want to discuss what makes a game work or not work for them. If you're not into that then... I dunno what to tell you.

 

[Kataploom]

No, but I think the exact opposite of you, it's just you want it in a way the game doesn't present it.

 

[kurisu_1974]

Completely agree. I got to the second "dungeon" and I had trouble keeping engaged. The risk-reward system in this game (and the previous) is completely off. You can do some crazy shit or get to an impossible location, and at most there will be a chest with a sword that you won't even pick up or maybe if you are lucky, 5 rupees.

There's no real incentive in doing anything, usually you end up with a net loss when adventuring, which is my main issue with the game. I put it aside for now to play FF16 and I also have Diablo IV so I don't know even know if and when I'll ever finish this.

 

[GymWolf]

Your mistake was to play a nintendo title for the story or emotional connection.

The game is at his best during exploration and puzzle solving.

 

[PanzerCute]

I like the game but I have the same feeling: it is an incredible sandbox, but I get tired really quickly of messing around if there is no story or some insane biomes to discover. And everything still feels so barebone: I stopped exploring like a mad man because the rewards are almost always bad, and there is not many compeling things to do in the OW.

Also the combat is still absolutely terrible, that doesnt help.

 

[Madserb2023]

This is why scoring games can be a problem outside of just sayng whether it's good or bad. For me it's a 10, as I love the Portal like puzzles and the freedom it gives but If you like more set piece driven games, its probably a random slog. Eventually I will get bored and crave something more linear. One of the main weaknesses is the lack of good dungeons which typically motivates you to push forward in previous titles.

 

[Markio128]

I used to be a massive Ninty fanboy (my username is a play on the fabled sequel to Mario 64: Mario128), however, I really miss the simple genius of their previous Zelda games. I enjoyed BOTW, but it is probably my 4th/5th fave Zelda game - the only mainline Zelda game I didn’t get on with was Skyward Sword.

Which leads me on topic. I stopped playing TOTK after around 15 hours because it Just didn’t hold my interest. I was quite enamoured by the first 10 hours or so, but a lot of the content just seems pointless to me and not particularly fun. I appreciate some of the awesome stuff people have built with the new abilities, but I just can’t be arsed with it.

At the end of the day, I don’t think Zelda is designed for me anymore - and that’s fine - it’s clearly more popular now than it has ever been.

 

[mxbison]

I feel the same way.

The world and all the options you have are great but once the excitement for that dies down there really isn't much to keep me going.

Item and character progression feels off again, just like in BotW. Most of the stuff you can find doesn't feel rewarding. No I don't need another Zonite Shield, thank you, I already left the other 40 in the chests.

 

[Moses85]

Books are for stories, games are for experiences. Nintendo has the best experiences, by a mile.

 

[NeoIkaruGAF]

Drama? Maybe. It’s really not that kind of game.
Excitement and emotion? There’s plenty. Just diving from an island in the sky and seeing the whole of Hyrule coming into focus is always a thrill. And the game really is full of surprises. TOTK left me wide-eyed and open-mouthed more than once, the ideas seem to never end.

 

[Tsaki]

Story isn't Zelda's strong suit (or even adequate suit). At least you got 15 enjoyable hours out of it.

 

[Toots]

Books are for stories, games are for experiences. Nintendo has the best experiences, by a mile.

Books are for grown ups

 

[Thirty7ven]

Nintendo doesn’t really understand story, narrative, pathos etc it’s just not their thing. And people who gravitate to their games can’t possibly expect that.

 

[ADiTAR]

Nintendo doesn’t really understand story, narrative, pathos etc it’s just not their thing. And people who gravitate to their games can’t possibly expect that.

Did you play the game? Cause this is BS.