As the title implies there will be spoilers discussed but I wanted to begin a conversation about the story of TOTK.
Specifically, did it live up to expectations? What do the events mean for the overall lore of the series? Is there even a timeline at this point?
Discuss!
Absolutely loved it! It made me cry like, five times, and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it at all for weeks.
That being said, I get a headache if I try to think about the timeline implications, and if I hear “Demon King? Secret stone?” one more time…
It was very strange how they just repeated the same cutscene 4 times with different characters lol, except yunobo’s was flipped to “Secret stone? Demon king?”
Yeah. I was expecting at least slight differences each time, but it was the exact same every time. In repeat playthroughs, I’ll probably skip all of those cutscenes (except maybe the first I do.)
Very emotionally satisfying ending. I enjoyed it.
Link learns the story through memories, but then everyone in the game is still like, “I saw Zelda! Why did she tell us to do this weird thing?” Even though it’s super obvious that wasn’t the real Zelda.
I kinda wish I had to figure something out to rescue Zelda rather than Rauru and Sonia just doing magic after I killed the Demon King. Why didn’t they do that earlier? Obviously, I needed the dragon to fight the Demon King, but how could they know he would do what he did?
It would have been neat if there were a “bad” ending and a “good” ending where you could beat the Demon King, but if you didn’t solve some larger puzzle, then you don’t rescue Zelda.
I liked the idea of all these ancestors fighting alongside
AnubisRaru(?) to sealSatanGanondorf. I disliked being told the same story 10 times.I liked being given the power of these allies. I disliked being stalked by their shadow forms in order to use their powers.
I don’t get why we didn’t get any names of their ancestors, just an ominous figure with a ridiculous mask on
I was incredibly on board with the main premise of the game, and had a great time with the story. I can see how others wouldn’t be too impressed with it, as it’s still somewhat basic compared to other games in the series, but I was completely sold by Zelda’s characterization and story arc. Plus, I didn’t actively hate any of the sages, which is a huge plus.
Rauru was a standout new character for me. Dude’s an absolute beast, especially in the memory you get from the spirit dungeon. Ganon was fine, played very well by Matt Mercer, but I kinda wanted him more involved in the story.
Anyways, the story felt incredibly emotionally satisfying by the end. Which isn’t something I can say for Breath of the Wild’s story (though BotW had its moments).
Extremely “meh”. It created more questions than it answered.
I was…whelmed. I was left with too many questions and not enough answers. Still have zero clue who the zonai are or why they exist in these two games. Overall kind of frustrated
Yeah I totally agree. What happened to all the sheikah tech / shrines? It’s like they copy pasted botw story and just changed sheikah to zonai… I know that’s grossly over simplifying it but yeah.
Maybe I over hyped it in my head but I thought I’d love it as much, if not more than botw.
I still loved the game don’t get me wrong, but yeah things like sheikah tech, where’d it all go, and why do some characters remember you and others not at all. Andy why has very little improved since the calamity.
I had one big issue of the stones, they show rauru’s stone fall out of his hand, Zelda picks it up, goes to the past, but rauru doesn’t recognize it as his own stone?
I don’t think it means much for the whole series tbh. I’m in the camp that thinks Rauru’s hyrule is still ages after any of the previous 3 timelines, so I don’t have much to speculate about tbh.
I do wish we got a more linear story in the actual game though. The whole memories thing that was carried over from botw made it really hard for me to care about anything. Like wow I sure can sympathize with ganondorf when everything he did was forever ago. /s
I feel like they did Zelda’s character dirty. You can’t leave her alone for 5 minutes before she starts eating whatever weird rocks she finds on the ground.
I got it as birthday present about a week ago and I’m waiting for my yearly vacation to start so I can play undisturbed. And I’m also still debating with myself whether Nintendo Switch Lite is good enough to play this title or should I get proper Switch console before I succumb to neck pain yet again (as it was with Pokémon Violet, fun two weeks and then not-so-fun month after that).
The most recent Zelda title that I have played was Skyward Sword. Story was okayish but I hated the motion controls so much. They were clumsy at best and took a lot of time to get used to and I easily forgot how to use them in a efficient way. And what I have seen from the Breath of the Wild, I would hope to get some more traditional gameplay themes to this new title. Some of the new features do not feel quite Zelda -ish as random order of the memories, weapon durability and weather status effects. But that’s just me nitpicking as “older” gamer :-)
As sidenote: My forever favorite will be Majora’s Mask because of the story. But Wind Waker comes close second as it is very entertaining to play.
It was marginally better than BoTW’s story, but still a very poor story overall. Not that Zelda was really known for having super strong stories that are more than just “save the princess/kingdom from the big evil guy” but I still feel that ToTK’s story was…whelming at best?
The biggest issue I have is the story presentation: most of the story was told to us as events in the past (yet again) rather than in the present. That and the nonlinear nature of the game makes it nearly impossible to tell a good story in order, which is yet another big disappointment I have of the game.
Not that Zelda was really known for having super strong stories that are more than just “save the princess/kingdom from the big evil guy”
I kinda agree, because Zelda has always been gameplay-first, really, but I feel like (at least from LttP onward) most Zelda games had stories that were at least distinct from each other, if not exactly masterpieces. Like, Link’s Awakening has the island thing plus Wind Fish. Ocarina has Ganondorf 1.0. Majora’s Mask… is an experience. Wind Waker has its ocean aesthetic + sister, Tetra, and Cooler Ganondorf. TP has the Twili, Skyward is kind of its own thing entirely, and Link Between Worlds has Lorule. Pretty much all the Zelda games I can think of have an interesting twist on the basic plot structure… except TotK, which feels a bit like an amalgam of BotW and Ocarina on that front with some new items involved.
That’s not to say it’s bad - it works well for TotK, stylistically, and I think you’re right on the mark in saying it was “whelming” - but I don’t really think I want it to stay for future Zelda games, tbh. Though I don’t really know how they’ll merge a different plot style with open world, if they continue with the BotW style.
Agree 100%. I think the story being told through flashbacks and such makes the player feel completely disconnected from said story. Like we aren’t a part of it and our actions only matter at the end to take down the big bad.
Loved it. Real lump in throat stuff at times.
I’d say the story greatly exceeded my expectations, particularly after BotW (which kind of lowered them?). Zelda’s role in this game was simply amazing, and her sacrifice was incredible. I never really know what any of it means for purposes of a timeline or lore, but I just really loved this game and it’s story. It’s not a perfect game, but overall it feels like the best game I’ve ever played.
