Refresh your memory for the next big Zelda game.
May 9, 2023 4:47 AM Subscribe
Relive the Story of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild [Story Recap Trailer][YouTube][Spoilers] “The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is only a week [2 days, 16 hours, 12 min.] away from release, and many Nintendo Switch owners may be saying to themselves, “Oh, yeah, what exactly happened in Breath of the Wild?” After all, it’s been more than six years since Breath of the Wild landed on Switch (and Wii U), and a refresher may be in order. [...] To get players back up to speed for Link’s next adventure, Nintendo has condensed the story of Breath of the Wild into a six-minute video. It explains why Link was taking a 100-year nap, reminds you of Zelda’s very important role in containing the evil of Calamity Ganon, and touches on where Link and Zelda wound up at the end of the game. A good portion of Nintendo’s Breath of the Wild story recap video is about the century before the events of the game itself, and it’s pretty high-level stuff. The video doesn’t touch on many of the side characters or supplementary stories of Breath of the Wild, but it’s a solid primer for players jumping into Tears of the Kingdom.” [The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Trailers: #1 #2 #3]
Honestly, this was my problem with Breath of the Wild. Such a cool, beautiful, fun game... and such a trite, stupid story. It's just weird that in 2020 or whenever the game came out, here we have a pair of special people with some kind of nebulously-defined hereditary powers, fighting Eeeevil. Any quality 21C game or work of literature or whatever should have the antagonist having actual motivations that make sense, you know, like Ganon being an industrialist and the elves or Hylians or whoever determined to keep things feudal.
posted by outgrown_hobnail at 5:13 AM on May 9, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by outgrown_hobnail at 5:13 AM on May 9, 2023 [2 favorites]
I mean, I guess if you haven't beaten it four times and every second of every playthrough your daughters were essentially commanding your every move from their seats on either side of you then you might forget the story.
posted by saladin at 5:17 AM on May 9, 2023 [13 favorites]
posted by saladin at 5:17 AM on May 9, 2023 [13 favorites]
I worry that Nintendo actually thinks that these story beats matter to us. This is not a strong narrative game and I’m certainly not playing to find out what happens next! It’s all about the exploration and puzzle-solving….
Let us play as Princess Zelda you fucking cowards!!! She's the hero behind the hero doing it all.
My daughter is still a bit confused and miffed that a game called “The Legend of Zelda” does not have Zelda as a playable character or end up celebrating Zelda’s achievements, struggles, and victories—you know, her legend.
But the word is that she’s playable in Tears of the Kingdom, right?
posted by anotherpanacea at 5:29 AM on May 9, 2023 [2 favorites]
Let us play as Princess Zelda you fucking cowards!!! She's the hero behind the hero doing it all.
My daughter is still a bit confused and miffed that a game called “The Legend of Zelda” does not have Zelda as a playable character or end up celebrating Zelda’s achievements, struggles, and victories—you know, her legend.
But the word is that she’s playable in Tears of the Kingdom, right?
posted by anotherpanacea at 5:29 AM on May 9, 2023 [2 favorites]
No overview of the Zelda canon and timeline is complete without Brian David Gilbert's extremely comprehensive Solving the Zelda Timeline in 15 Minutes, which I cannot pass up a chance to share.
posted by mhoye at 5:37 AM on May 9, 2023 [6 favorites]
posted by mhoye at 5:37 AM on May 9, 2023 [6 favorites]
[EDIT: It wasn't much of a spoiler, but still a spoiler, so I removed it]
The story of Breath of the Wild works only when its characters are fairly silly. Purah and Robbie, Master Kohga, Sidon and whoever that Goron champion were. The less serious they are, the more fun the game is. Beyond that, well, I got through BotW by pretending everyone had the wrong guy. I think Zelda games work best when Link is no one special, just an infinitely put-upon passer-by who does all this stuff because everyone's obviously so clueless that they can't do a thing for themselves.
posted by JHarris at 5:55 AM on May 9, 2023 [11 favorites]
The story of Breath of the Wild works only when its characters are fairly silly. Purah and Robbie, Master Kohga, Sidon and whoever that Goron champion were. The less serious they are, the more fun the game is. Beyond that, well, I got through BotW by pretending everyone had the wrong guy. I think Zelda games work best when Link is no one special, just an infinitely put-upon passer-by who does all this stuff because everyone's obviously so clueless that they can't do a thing for themselves.
posted by JHarris at 5:55 AM on May 9, 2023 [11 favorites]
Truly an indictment of the voice acting in the original cutscenes that they overlaid the video with what appears to be an AI voiceover. I couldn't take it!
posted by grumpybear69 at 6:08 AM on May 9, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by grumpybear69 at 6:08 AM on May 9, 2023 [1 favorite]
My daughter is still a bit confused and miffed that a game called “The Legend of Zelda” does not have Zelda as a playable character or end up celebrating Zelda’s achievements, struggles, and victories—you know, her legend.
Well, Zelda is the boy.
I haven’t actually started playing BOTW yet, because every time I pick up the switch to play anything my son yells at me that I’m Doing It Wrong because I’m still slow at the controls (plus I like doing things wrong sometimes just to see what will happen). So while the household is all super excited for Tears coming (the countdown is palpable), maybe it will immerse them enough that when I finally get to BOTW it will be too boring for them to want to backseat play “with” me.
The new game looks amazing. Can’t say I’m looking forward to another year of nonstop “hut hut hut” Link grunting noises, though.
posted by Mchelly at 6:15 AM on May 9, 2023 [3 favorites]
Well, Zelda is the boy.
I haven’t actually started playing BOTW yet, because every time I pick up the switch to play anything my son yells at me that I’m Doing It Wrong because I’m still slow at the controls (plus I like doing things wrong sometimes just to see what will happen). So while the household is all super excited for Tears coming (the countdown is palpable), maybe it will immerse them enough that when I finally get to BOTW it will be too boring for them to want to backseat play “with” me.
The new game looks amazing. Can’t say I’m looking forward to another year of nonstop “hut hut hut” Link grunting noises, though.
posted by Mchelly at 6:15 AM on May 9, 2023 [3 favorites]
I had a sudden spasm of terror the other day realizing how close TOTK was because I'm not sure whether it makes sense to buy it now...or to wait? What if the reviews are bad? What if it's buggy and will require patches? What do I dooooo?
posted by mittens at 6:17 AM on May 9, 2023
posted by mittens at 6:17 AM on May 9, 2023
My view is that you should always preorder the games you love and can afford--though at this point it's likely too late. It's like Kickstarting the game--I've definitely been burned on this (looking at you Cyberpunk 2077) but for the most part the preorders show the studio where to invest more resources. Currently I've done this for Endless Dungeon and Tears of the Kingdom.
Sure, consumer citizenship is the crappiest form of citizenship. But it can work! If it's buggy, like Cyberpunk was, you can then let it chill before playing, or even return it, which is the ultimate critique because the studio figured that those profits were already banked.
Zelda will arrive at my house on Friday while I'm camping with my kids (we went with the cartridge) and I won't even get to play it until Sunday night. But as a loyal citizen of Nintendoland, that's just me doing my part!
posted by anotherpanacea at 6:27 AM on May 9, 2023
Sure, consumer citizenship is the crappiest form of citizenship. But it can work! If it's buggy, like Cyberpunk was, you can then let it chill before playing, or even return it, which is the ultimate critique because the studio figured that those profits were already banked.
Zelda will arrive at my house on Friday while I'm camping with my kids (we went with the cartridge) and I won't even get to play it until Sunday night. But as a loyal citizen of Nintendoland, that's just me doing my part!
posted by anotherpanacea at 6:27 AM on May 9, 2023
Oh no, never preorder! I'm super excited for this game but all video games have a chance to be a mess at launch. I trust Nintendo; they probably won't screw their flagship game up and if they do I suspect they'll fix it. But still going to wait for reviews.
Cyberpunk is a great example. I didn't preorder. And was so glad when the game shipped unplayable. And I waited for a year+ and then played what to me was a very good game. The 50% discount was a help. Sorry, game developers, your industry is just full of disastrous product launches.
(My no-preorder things saved me this month from being part of the disaster of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor. I'll play that game in a few months, once they fix it. Meanwhile I realized I never finished Fallen Order so it's like a free game that's polished and enjoyable!)
For The Legend of Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom Review folks are expecting the review embargo to end tomorrow or Thursday, just a bit before the Friday launch.
posted by Nelson at 6:29 AM on May 9, 2023 [3 favorites]
Cyberpunk is a great example. I didn't preorder. And was so glad when the game shipped unplayable. And I waited for a year+ and then played what to me was a very good game. The 50% discount was a help. Sorry, game developers, your industry is just full of disastrous product launches.
(My no-preorder things saved me this month from being part of the disaster of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor. I'll play that game in a few months, once they fix it. Meanwhile I realized I never finished Fallen Order so it's like a free game that's polished and enjoyable!)
For The Legend of Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom Review folks are expecting the review embargo to end tomorrow or Thursday, just a bit before the Friday launch.
posted by Nelson at 6:29 AM on May 9, 2023 [3 favorites]
I was excited when I got the notification last Friday that the game was available for download. Freed up space on the Switch and downloaded it. Can't play it yet obviously but it's nice to know that on Friday I won't have to wait to download the whole game from some pretty slammed servers. Of course I'm expecting there'll be some day 1 patch but hopefully it won't be too big.
BOTW was on my WiiU and my kid and I shared the same save although he pretty much took it over by the time we got to Ganon and he just hands me the controller for boss battles or puzzles he can't figure out. I think for this one we'll try having our own saves so we can play and explore at our own paces and also share cool things we find with eachother.
I know there's a story but I don't think either of us really care about it. We explore Hyrule, solve puzzles, and fight enemies. Making a better story or having our choices actually be important probably would make it a better game but I don't know if it would appeal to us as much.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 6:36 AM on May 9, 2023 [2 favorites]
BOTW was on my WiiU and my kid and I shared the same save although he pretty much took it over by the time we got to Ganon and he just hands me the controller for boss battles or puzzles he can't figure out. I think for this one we'll try having our own saves so we can play and explore at our own paces and also share cool things we find with eachother.
I know there's a story but I don't think either of us really care about it. We explore Hyrule, solve puzzles, and fight enemies. Making a better story or having our choices actually be important probably would make it a better game but I don't know if it would appeal to us as much.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 6:36 AM on May 9, 2023 [2 favorites]
I think Zelda games work best when Link is no one special, just an infinitely put-upon passer-by who does all this stuff because everyone's obviously so clueless that they can't do a thing for themselves.
That specifically why Majora's Mask remains (conceptually, at least, the execution was once-great but hasn't aged spectacularly) the best game of the series; you're not the hero of an epic saga, or even an antihero, you're the hero of an anti-epic.
posted by mhoye at 7:17 AM on May 9, 2023 [1 favorite]
That specifically why Majora's Mask remains (conceptually, at least, the execution was once-great but hasn't aged spectacularly) the best game of the series; you're not the hero of an epic saga, or even an antihero, you're the hero of an anti-epic.
posted by mhoye at 7:17 AM on May 9, 2023 [1 favorite]
Contrary to the whole thread, I liked BotW's story. I absolutely loved the (very early) reveal that BotW is post-apocalyptic Hyrule, and the slow drip of information about Zelda and Link's past through the memory system. Just enough info to make it easy to fill in the blanks.
TotK leaked last week and from all accounts it's BotW 2.0, the original game but better in every way.
posted by simmering octagon at 7:48 AM on May 9, 2023 [4 favorites]
TotK leaked last week and from all accounts it's BotW 2.0, the original game but better in every way.
posted by simmering octagon at 7:48 AM on May 9, 2023 [4 favorites]
I have not played a Zelda game since A Link to the Past - consoles have passed me by - but I am a little startled by how bad that video was. Even if the story is not especially interesting, jesus, hire a real voice actor and get someone to punch up that script.
posted by restless_nomad at 7:49 AM on May 9, 2023
posted by restless_nomad at 7:49 AM on May 9, 2023
Okay the story is, I solved a bunch of puzzles and fought a bunch of monsters, and now I ride a motorcycle up and down the biggest hills I can find while I listen to "Lateral" or "Behind the Bastards." That's the story.
posted by Mister Moofoo at 8:08 AM on May 9, 2023 [6 favorites]
posted by Mister Moofoo at 8:08 AM on May 9, 2023 [6 favorites]
I’ve been getting my BOTW refresher over the last few weeks thanks to my wife, who didn’t grow up with video games and didn’t even really know how a controller worked, picking it up on a whim recently. She… got very good at it very quickly, which has been a delight to watch even as she approaches it differently than I would (much more carefully, for the most part, but also with a priority on resource-gathering and upgrading every new piece of armor she gets as quickly as possible.) The timing was total coincidence but now I’m super psyched for TotK.
posted by Navelgazer at 8:13 AM on May 9, 2023
posted by Navelgazer at 8:13 AM on May 9, 2023
Never did finish the boss battle.
posted by Artw at 8:14 AM on May 9, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by Artw at 8:14 AM on May 9, 2023 [1 favorite]
I think there has been exactly one story in a Nintendo game worth a damn, and it was snuck into Super Mario Galaxy while Miyamoto wasn't looking.
I do not play Nintendo games for the story; what they are great at is game feel and creative use of simple mechanics, which is why Breath of the Wild mashed up open world games and immersive sims in a way that no-one else has done despite multiple companies trying to bottle that lightning in Nintendo's wake.
posted by Merus at 8:22 AM on May 9, 2023 [4 favorites]
I do not play Nintendo games for the story; what they are great at is game feel and creative use of simple mechanics, which is why Breath of the Wild mashed up open world games and immersive sims in a way that no-one else has done despite multiple companies trying to bottle that lightning in Nintendo's wake.
posted by Merus at 8:22 AM on May 9, 2023 [4 favorites]
Contrary to the whole thread, I liked BotW's story.
The only real disconnect I felt were the periodic exhortations to "please hurry" from what amounts to a woman in abusive captivity while I faffed around baking apples and digging koroks out from under rocks.
posted by mhoye at 8:29 AM on May 9, 2023 [3 favorites]
The only real disconnect I felt were the periodic exhortations to "please hurry" from what amounts to a woman in abusive captivity while I faffed around baking apples and digging koroks out from under rocks.
posted by mhoye at 8:29 AM on May 9, 2023 [3 favorites]
Look I just really need to spend time flirting with my fish boyfriend and trying out being a pretty girl.
posted by Artw at 8:36 AM on May 9, 2023 [8 favorites]
posted by Artw at 8:36 AM on May 9, 2023 [8 favorites]
I never finished BoTW back when it came out. I'm pleased to tell you that after restarting last weekend, I ended Ganon's terror last night, and Hyrule is momentarily saved. I am so ready for Friday.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 9:12 AM on May 9, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 9:12 AM on May 9, 2023 [3 favorites]
Truly an indictment of the voice acting in the original cutscenes that they overlaid the video with what appears to be an AI voiceover. I couldn't take it!
Holy hell, you're not kidding. That's gotta be one of the voices designed to read audiobooks, no? Plausible, but weird as hell. Or else just very weird direction for a real actor. But it really doesn't sound like a human to me.
Add me to the list of people who's never played a LoZ game for the story. It's the same half-baked story every time, from my perspective. I just wanna play with the stuff!
posted by uncleozzy at 10:14 AM on May 9, 2023
Holy hell, you're not kidding. That's gotta be one of the voices designed to read audiobooks, no? Plausible, but weird as hell. Or else just very weird direction for a real actor. But it really doesn't sound like a human to me.
Add me to the list of people who's never played a LoZ game for the story. It's the same half-baked story every time, from my perspective. I just wanna play with the stuff!
posted by uncleozzy at 10:14 AM on May 9, 2023
anotherpanacea: "elda will arrive at my house on Friday while I'm camping with my kids (we went with the cartridge) and I won't even get to play it until Sunday night."
Zelda will show up at my house on Friday while I'm camping with my son, and my wife will hide it until his birthday on Wednesday. And then I'll have to WAIT AND WAIT until he's done so I can play the damned game because the wife won't let me order a 2nd Switch. :P
posted by caution live frogs at 11:01 AM on May 9, 2023 [2 favorites]
Zelda will show up at my house on Friday while I'm camping with my son, and my wife will hide it until his birthday on Wednesday. And then I'll have to WAIT AND WAIT until he's done so I can play the damned game because the wife won't let me order a 2nd Switch. :P
posted by caution live frogs at 11:01 AM on May 9, 2023 [2 favorites]
I pre-ordered the digital and am negotiating with my son how to proceed because I like to avoid spoilers and he does not. And he sometimes gets so excited about things he will spill.
I took the day off work on Friday to try to get ahead of him while he is at school, but this weekend it will probably occupy most of his waking hours while the best I can hope for is an hour or so after he's' in bed each day.
He's going to play it as soon as he wakes up on Friday (and he gets up early, as do I) and I think I'm going to just have to hide unless he deigns to wait for me to come down and make breakfast, etc.
It used to be easier when he needed me to get him through areas but he's probably better at BotW than I am at this point.
posted by synecdoche at 11:08 AM on May 9, 2023 [1 favorite]
I took the day off work on Friday to try to get ahead of him while he is at school, but this weekend it will probably occupy most of his waking hours while the best I can hope for is an hour or so after he's' in bed each day.
He's going to play it as soon as he wakes up on Friday (and he gets up early, as do I) and I think I'm going to just have to hide unless he deigns to wait for me to come down and make breakfast, etc.
It used to be easier when he needed me to get him through areas but he's probably better at BotW than I am at this point.
posted by synecdoche at 11:08 AM on May 9, 2023 [1 favorite]
caution live frogs, you can create another user on the Switch and, for the most part (Animal Crossing, for example, is a special case), it should have separate save files.
posted by JHarris at 11:08 AM on May 9, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by JHarris at 11:08 AM on May 9, 2023 [2 favorites]
My wife and I both have ours pre-ordered. But I'm not going to really dive into mine until the next morning. Already made promises to her that she'd be first to throw it up on the big tv. So at midnight, I'll sit back and watch the wonder unfold.
I also took Friday & Saturday off and combined with my days off, I've got 4 days before I have to be at work and that should give me enough time to feel like I'm starting to play the game, but I may just stop consuming any gaming news or twitch/youtube streams for the next few weeks b/c spoilers are just going to be everywhere and while I realize you cannot avoid everything, I'm going to try my best to keep things at a distance so I can experience things on my own. :)
posted by Fizz at 11:39 AM on May 9, 2023 [1 favorite]
I also took Friday & Saturday off and combined with my days off, I've got 4 days before I have to be at work and that should give me enough time to feel like I'm starting to play the game, but I may just stop consuming any gaming news or twitch/youtube streams for the next few weeks b/c spoilers are just going to be everywhere and while I realize you cannot avoid everything, I'm going to try my best to keep things at a distance so I can experience things on my own. :)
posted by Fizz at 11:39 AM on May 9, 2023 [1 favorite]
I expect that we'll play the game a bit over the weekend but the weather looks to be really nice and Sunday's Mother's Day so there won't be any marathon playing sessions. We were reasonably late to BOTW and that didn't hamper our enjoyment of it so I'm hoping we can slowly play and have a great time doing so.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 1:18 PM on May 9, 2023
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 1:18 PM on May 9, 2023
Re: playable Zelda, not so long after launch, some people started the Zelda Conversion Project which promised to make the game fully playable as Zelda, and it appeared to be on track to do so, for a while.
Sadly the project seemed to run out of steam about five minutes after it had been trailed, wildly and breathily, by the usual tech press suspects.
While writing this I tried once again to find a recent mention of it. All I got was a yak to shave, when I found a rich seam of Doctorovian enshittification which I had to babble about at length on Mastodon.
posted by BCMagee at 2:26 PM on May 9, 2023 [1 favorite]
Sadly the project seemed to run out of steam about five minutes after it had been trailed, wildly and breathily, by the usual tech press suspects.
While writing this I tried once again to find a recent mention of it. All I got was a yak to shave, when I found a rich seam of Doctorovian enshittification which I had to babble about at length on Mastodon.
posted by BCMagee at 2:26 PM on May 9, 2023 [1 favorite]
> he just hands me the controller for boss battles or puzzles he can't figure out
It's the same in my household, but it's me handing the controller to my kids when there's something requiring split-second timing and I can't be bothered.
I just found out that there's some paperwork mixup that might mean I can't go to work on next week. Is it wrong that my first thought wasn't "Oh no why does the government question my citizenship" but "Oooh, more Link time"?
posted by The corpse in the library at 6:49 PM on May 9, 2023 [2 favorites]
It's the same in my household, but it's me handing the controller to my kids when there's something requiring split-second timing and I can't be bothered.
I just found out that there's some paperwork mixup that might mean I can't go to work on next week. Is it wrong that my first thought wasn't "Oh no why does the government question my citizenship" but "Oooh, more Link time"?
posted by The corpse in the library at 6:49 PM on May 9, 2023 [2 favorites]
I liked the BOTW story. I mean, it's certainly not one of the major reasons to play, but I thought it had some more interesting layers than the usual hero-destined-to-save-the-world business: Zelda is a scientist at heart and doesn't really believe in any of the magic destiny stuff until near the end. And I don't think we ever really get a resolution to the tension about whether all the magic is just technology, or whether we're looking at a science-fantasy that also contains real magic and predestination.
posted by equalpants at 7:46 PM on May 9, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by equalpants at 7:46 PM on May 9, 2023 [3 favorites]
Those are the best parts of it equalpants, certainly. And I liked that you could find Zelda's old study in the castle and find her diary, where she complains about this weird knight who's been assigned to protect her, and how creepy it was that he never said so much as a single word....
And there are other good bits. Everyone loves Sidon (coming this fall to CBS!), and the old man from the start (not spoiling things!) was great.
posted by JHarris at 9:04 PM on May 9, 2023 [1 favorite]
And there are other good bits. Everyone loves Sidon (coming this fall to CBS!), and the old man from the start (not spoiling things!) was great.
posted by JHarris at 9:04 PM on May 9, 2023 [1 favorite]
Review embargo ends in 20 hours, Thursday 5am California time, 9pm Tokyo time.
posted by Nelson at 8:44 AM on May 10, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by Nelson at 8:44 AM on May 10, 2023 [1 favorite]
he just hands me the controller for boss battles or puzzles he can't figure out
It's the same in my household, but it's me handing the controller to my kids when there's something requiring split-second timing and I can't be bothered.
I think at this time my kid is actually better at moving and attacking than me but he also is afraid of dying in the game so if there's a risk of that happening he'll let me take over. Sometimes for the puzzles after he can't figure them out I'll stumble towards the solution but then ask him to actually do it if I fumble at the actual execution too much. In my defence he still plays pretty regularly while I don't even remember which buttons do what anymore and end up pressing the wrong one quite a bit.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 11:17 AM on May 10, 2023 [3 favorites]
It's the same in my household, but it's me handing the controller to my kids when there's something requiring split-second timing and I can't be bothered.
I think at this time my kid is actually better at moving and attacking than me but he also is afraid of dying in the game so if there's a risk of that happening he'll let me take over. Sometimes for the puzzles after he can't figure them out I'll stumble towards the solution but then ask him to actually do it if I fumble at the actual execution too much. In my defence he still plays pretty regularly while I don't even remember which buttons do what anymore and end up pressing the wrong one quite a bit.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 11:17 AM on May 10, 2023 [3 favorites]
> end up pressing the wrong one quite a bit
The only time I ever whistle is when I'm trying to be sneaky.
posted by The corpse in the library at 5:17 PM on May 10, 2023 [4 favorites]
The only time I ever whistle is when I'm trying to be sneaky.
posted by The corpse in the library at 5:17 PM on May 10, 2023 [4 favorites]
Review embargo is up - the reviews are absurd to the point where it's either overhype or the game of the decade and it's hard to tell which
It looks like they might have solved the weapon durability problem by just completely getting rid of weapons, so the only option you have to defend yourself is to cobble together whatever you have around you into a weapon, leaning even harder into the immersive sim elements of the first game.
posted by Merus at 5:56 AM on May 11, 2023 [3 favorites]
It looks like they might have solved the weapon durability problem by just completely getting rid of weapons, so the only option you have to defend yourself is to cobble together whatever you have around you into a weapon, leaning even harder into the immersive sim elements of the first game.
posted by Merus at 5:56 AM on May 11, 2023 [3 favorites]
I would love this to be a Link Game chat thread if the mods allow, but please no spoilers for a few days! I am a slow player and want to be surprised. (I definitely won’t be reading reviews today.)
posted by The corpse in the library at 6:26 AM on May 11, 2023
posted by The corpse in the library at 6:26 AM on May 11, 2023
Can’t have a weapon deterioration problem if weapons are just cobbled together from anything around you.
posted by Artw at 6:51 AM on May 11, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by Artw at 6:51 AM on May 11, 2023 [1 favorite]
Yes, please, no spoilers. I guess I'll probably just unsubscribe from this thread. I wonder if Fanfare would work as a place to talk about playing the game? There's no category for games and I don't think it's been done before. (If I were doing it I'd have several posts, one per major milestone in the main quest.)
In addition to all the glowing reviews from the usual game critics, Digital Foundry has their tech review up. Which I haven't watched because of fear of any spoilers but the summary I read someone else read was very positive. Any performance issues are apparently fixed by the day 1 patch and apparently the game is basically bug free.
I preordered despite what I said before; what I really meant was "don't preorder until the reviews are out". (Which can occasionally backfire!) Now I have to wait 14 hours...
posted by Nelson at 6:51 AM on May 11, 2023 [1 favorite]
In addition to all the glowing reviews from the usual game critics, Digital Foundry has their tech review up. Which I haven't watched because of fear of any spoilers but the summary I read someone else read was very positive. Any performance issues are apparently fixed by the day 1 patch and apparently the game is basically bug free.
I preordered despite what I said before; what I really meant was "don't preorder until the reviews are out". (Which can occasionally backfire!) Now I have to wait 14 hours...
posted by Nelson at 6:51 AM on May 11, 2023 [1 favorite]
Dawn of
The Final Day
- 24 Hours Remain -
posted by Navelgazer at 6:51 AM on May 11, 2023 [4 favorites]
The Final Day
- 24 Hours Remain -
posted by Navelgazer at 6:51 AM on May 11, 2023 [4 favorites]
14 HOURS if I understand the situation correctly.
I’m unfollowing this thread for now, too — I don’t even want the little bit of information that’s been given. See you in Hyrule!
posted by The corpse in the library at 7:02 AM on May 11, 2023 [2 favorites]
I’m unfollowing this thread for now, too — I don’t even want the little bit of information that’s been given. See you in Hyrule!
posted by The corpse in the library at 7:02 AM on May 11, 2023 [2 favorites]
See also: Countdown to The Legend of Zelda: Teras of the Kingdom
posted by Fizz at 7:06 AM on May 11, 2023
posted by Fizz at 7:06 AM on May 11, 2023
I ordered from GameStop back in March but I haven’t received a shipment notification so now I’m worried it won’t get here tomorrow 😞
posted by chococat at 7:06 AM on May 11, 2023
posted by chococat at 7:06 AM on May 11, 2023
I too ordered a physical cart because ... honestly I don't know why ... but I'm counting on Amazon to actually deliver it tomorrow while I am, fortunately-unfortunately, at work. Looks like it's shipped, thankfully.
I am so super-hyped for this. I've been playing through the NES Legend of Zelda over the past few days, something which I never did before since I didn't own an NES and always found it too obtuse in hindsight. It's still pretty obtuse, but more fun than I expected. I'm not sure I could get through it without using the rewind feature, though.
posted by uncleozzy at 7:13 AM on May 11, 2023 [1 favorite]
I am so super-hyped for this. I've been playing through the NES Legend of Zelda over the past few days, something which I never did before since I didn't own an NES and always found it too obtuse in hindsight. It's still pretty obtuse, but more fun than I expected. I'm not sure I could get through it without using the rewind feature, though.
posted by uncleozzy at 7:13 AM on May 11, 2023 [1 favorite]
I watched that tech review, couldn't help myself. Apparently we're getting an awesome game that is VERY stable and faster in many ways and improved in graphics and physics engine. I'm so fucking pumped. Nintendo delivered a polished game and runs better than the first even!!!
posted by Fizz at 7:22 AM on May 11, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by Fizz at 7:22 AM on May 11, 2023 [2 favorites]
I am awaiting an Amazon delivery for tomorrow as well, I've taken the day off so its obviously not going to arrive 'til the evening when the children get home from school.
One of my team members had it drop through their letterbox yesterday, and apparently mentioning that they should stop working and drive it over to me as I have
a) the day off tomorrow
b) they don't have the day off
c) control their pay and bonus for next year
is "coercive" and "unprofessional".
Don't see why I have to talk to HR, I bet they never even finished BOTW...
posted by couch at 7:27 AM on May 11, 2023 [8 favorites]
One of my team members had it drop through their letterbox yesterday, and apparently mentioning that they should stop working and drive it over to me as I have
a) the day off tomorrow
b) they don't have the day off
c) control their pay and bonus for next year
is "coercive" and "unprofessional".
Don't see why I have to talk to HR, I bet they never even finished BOTW...
posted by couch at 7:27 AM on May 11, 2023 [8 favorites]
Review embargo is up - the reviews are absurd to the point where it's either overhype or the game of the decade and it's hard to tell which
I have been playing it and it really is that good unless you didn't like BotW.
posted by simmering octagon at 11:47 AM on May 11, 2023 [2 favorites]
I have been playing it and it really is that good unless you didn't like BotW.
posted by simmering octagon at 11:47 AM on May 11, 2023 [2 favorites]
My kid mentioned this morning that tomorrow is Zelda day. He might be a bit excited that it's coming out. I did some weeding and other yard work so that tomorrow I'll have a couple of hours to play guilt free. I might be a bit excited too.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 12:07 PM on May 11, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 12:07 PM on May 11, 2023 [1 favorite]
Things are looking up! Beat Calamity Ganon just in time today on my replay of BOTW and the shipping of my copy of the new game has been updated to “in transit.”
Woohoo!
posted by chococat at 4:41 PM on May 11, 2023 [2 favorites]
Woohoo!
posted by chococat at 4:41 PM on May 11, 2023 [2 favorites]
4:07 AM
Package being processed at carrier facility.
What.
The.
Heck.
Jeff?!?
posted by anotherpanacea at 8:52 AM on May 12, 2023 [2 favorites]
Package being processed at carrier facility.
What.
The.
Heck.
Jeff?!?
posted by anotherpanacea at 8:52 AM on May 12, 2023 [2 favorites]
Got in a couple of hours this morning, it's real good y'all.
posted by Nelson at 9:25 AM on May 12, 2023
posted by Nelson at 9:25 AM on May 12, 2023
Any good in-depth review recommendations?
posted by Horace Rumpole at 10:23 AM on May 12, 2023
posted by Horace Rumpole at 10:23 AM on May 12, 2023
Just played for an hour and got to my first shrine. LOVE it so far. I like the controls better, the menu options for what you want to do with your weapons etc. Unfortunately I gotta go out to a thing and dinner now, damn!
posted by chococat at 1:21 PM on May 12, 2023
posted by chococat at 1:21 PM on May 12, 2023
Ours came around 11. My son got home from school at 2 and before he even walked in the door was already asking “is it here yet?” He’s been playing ever since. He’s still wearing his school clothes. So far he’s beyond loving it.
posted by Mchelly at 1:56 PM on May 12, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by Mchelly at 1:56 PM on May 12, 2023 [2 favorites]
I played a bit last night and a bit more this morning. It feels like the tutorial part is a lot longer than in BOTW but it's been a very long time since I did that so maybe that's just my memory playing tricks with me. Of course given the number of times I've already died maybe it's good that I haven't been released into the full world yet.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 3:15 PM on May 12, 2023
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 3:15 PM on May 12, 2023
I found it's much more annoying to get around the starting Sky Islands than it was the Great Plateau, the fact that you can't just walk in a straight line to many places annoyed me to no end.
posted by JHarris at 3:57 AM on May 13, 2023
posted by JHarris at 3:57 AM on May 13, 2023
I don’t have much to say yet, but the return of a certain classic enemy is a fucking nightmare. Absolutely horrifying design.
posted by uncleozzy at 4:35 AM on May 13, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by uncleozzy at 4:35 AM on May 13, 2023 [2 favorites]
the return of a certain classic enemy
Namely the long, long system update it's requiring before it'll even look at the cartridge!
posted by mittens at 7:40 AM on May 13, 2023 [1 favorite]
Namely the long, long system update it's requiring before it'll even look at the cartridge!
posted by mittens at 7:40 AM on May 13, 2023 [1 favorite]
I don’t have much to say yet, but the return of a certain classic enemy is a fucking nightmare. Absolutely horrifying design.
Absolutely knew what you meant as soon as I encountered it.
posted by Artw at 12:44 PM on May 13, 2023 [1 favorite]
Absolutely knew what you meant as soon as I encountered it.
posted by Artw at 12:44 PM on May 13, 2023 [1 favorite]
The Great Sky Island reminded me of the more puzzle-like over world of Skyward Sword or The Minish Cap.
Hyrule itself is free to explore and I'm liking the caves. I have died more times than in any Zelda so far.
posted by ersatz at 12:20 AM on May 14, 2023 [1 favorite]
Hyrule itself is free to explore and I'm liking the caves. I have died more times than in any Zelda so far.
posted by ersatz at 12:20 AM on May 14, 2023 [1 favorite]
I still haven't worked up the nerve to drop into one of the chasms. But I am really enjoying the soaring and skydiving. Link's agility in the air feels so good.
posted by uncleozzy at 5:34 AM on May 15, 2023
In particular (minor spoiler inside),
the lead-up to the Wind Temple and the boss fight were just thrilling in a really giddy way.posted by uncleozzy at 5:34 AM on May 15, 2023
Was genuinely upset by one of the design decisions in the game design.
posted by couch at 8:04 AM on May 17, 2023 [2 favorites]
Click for minor spoiler
Beedle didn't recognise me! I spent so many rupees with him in the past, and no recognition at all... I mean having all of my old horses available is cool and all, but Beedle man...posted by couch at 8:04 AM on May 17, 2023 [2 favorites]
Yeah, I was sad that Beedle didn't recognize me either. Beedle is the only non-main returning character in the BotW games, so I have a lot invested in that weird little guy.
posted by JHarris at 3:08 PM on May 17, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by JHarris at 3:08 PM on May 17, 2023 [1 favorite]
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posted by Fizz at 4:52 AM on May 9, 2023 [18 favorites]