THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: Tears of the Kingdom Megathread (Please use spoilers when necessary)

[Craig H]

I'm not really building a whole lot either, which makes me feel like I'm missing out when I see the flood of video posts on Reddit of everyone's contraptions. I can build some very basic shit when it's necessary, but that's about it.

And my playthrough is vastly different than everyone else's. Every shrine is evokes that, "OOH! SHINY QUARTER" response in me so I'm up to 14 or 15 hearts and only one stamina upgrade. I've only done one temple, that being the wind one. My daughter on the other hand has 7 or 8 hearts and has nearly completed 4 temples. I don't want any spoilers, but is this game really that short? I spent a long, long time playing BotW and had a challenge with each Divine Beast. I'm watching my daughter breeze through each temple and each temple boss. Like the puzzles aren't that hard and she's barely had any trouble with the bosses. So is this basically like BotW then where you beat the 4 temples and just go right on to the final boss because if that's the case, that's pretty underwhelming. It makes the sky islands and the chasms feel totally irrelevant then. They're just a side show if all you're doing is clearing those 4 temples and then going right on to the final boss like in BotW.

Now, if there's more to it after that, then that's fine, but my previous take of this being one of the best games I've ever played is taking a hit considering the level of difficulty seems easier than BotW and the game appears shorter unless there's more to do with the sky islands and chasms beyond being a completionist.

[odessasteps]

I've really liked some of the hovercrafts/flying machines in some videos. 

[Contentious C]

Having dropped into the "last" zone by accident before, I'd say you'd want to be prepped for that.  They definitely made this like BOTW in the sense that you can do things in any order and it's the same "level", or you could potentially skip to the end if you're amazing at the combat.  But having gone through the content twice now, I wouldn't really recommend it.  There's just enough stuff to gak you that you don't need *every* shrine, but you'll want probably 100, if just to fully upgrade your stamina and give yourself a little breathing room on hearts.  Hearts can be cheesed a little easier thanks to the abundance of truffles, fish, radishes, and elixirs.

The rare stuff out in the middle of nowhere are the "real" bosses, though once you learn them, you kinda feel like you can rip them a new one at any time as well, even if they do take prep work.  And yeah, the Temple bosses are easy, two of the four in particular.

I'd still say this is better than BOTW, in large part because it has an actual story that's developing in front of you, rather than just filling in blanks for something.  And there are some moments of sly social commentary tucked away in what's a kid's game.

[Matt D]

As my daughter and I were cheating our way through shrines this morning, my wife noted the family motto:

"Win if you can, lose if you must, but always cheat."

Thanks Bobby Heenan.

I can't tell if I'm a good parent or a bad one because of this.

[odessasteps]

Unless you are duping, there's no cheating, just a different way to problem solve.

[Matt D]

On 6/8/2023 at 12:03 PM, Craig H said:

I'm not really building a whole lot either, which makes me feel like I'm missing out when I see the flood of video posts on Reddit of everyone's contraptions. I can build some very basic shit when it's necessary, but that's about it.

And my playthrough is vastly different than everyone else's. Every shrine is evokes that, "OOH! SHINY QUARTER" response in me so I'm up to 14 or 15 hearts and only one stamina upgrade. I've only done one temple, that being the wind one. My daughter on the other hand has 7 or 8 hearts and has nearly completed 4 temples. I don't want any spoilers, but is this game really that short? I spent a long, long time playing BotW and had a challenge with each Divine Beast. I'm watching my daughter breeze through each temple and each temple boss. Like the puzzles aren't that hard and she's barely had any trouble with the bosses. So is this basically like BotW then where you beat the 4 temples and just go right on to the final boss because if that's the case, that's pretty underwhelming. It makes the sky islands and the chasms feel totally irrelevant then. They're just a side show if all you're doing is clearing those 4 temples and then going right on to the final boss like in BotW.

Now, if there's more to it after that, then that's fine, but my previous take of this being one of the best games I've ever played is taking a hit considering the level of difficulty seems easier than BotW and the game appears shorter unless there's more to do with the sky islands and chasms beyond being a completionist.

I'm not sure how many hours I'll ultimately put into it, but it feels like there's a lot to do. You have the geoglyphs (of which I probably have 2/3rds now), the stable quests for the news paper (I have most of those, I think), the floating islands translation bit (still 8 to go as I just started that), finding the underground mines by following statues, and some of the kind of omni-quests that are mid-sized like the Yiga Clan stuff and the Goddess Statues. A lot of it feels more regimented and less random than in BOTW, though there are a bunch of random quests too. And a lot of these are set up to make it about the journey instead of the destination so long as you unlock them early enough. 

BTW, I love that they implemented the QOL stuff from the BOTW DLC. I never had that. I set up a traveler's medallion right where the guy who you have to report back with the translation pictures is so that makes it less tedious. And Hero's Path is amazing for figuring out where you haven't been.

[odessasteps]

I saw someone today say it’s “too big.” 

[Contentious C]

For the love of FSM, when you get far along enough in the Fire quest and you reach

Spoiler

Moragia,

take a fucking picture!  Remember your Compendium?  Yeah, that one is the one really missable thing.  For that matter,

Spoiler

training Constructs from the Combat Training shrines, and the Sludge Like in the Water quest

can be barreled right past if you're not careful.

Edited June 23, 2023 by Contentious C

[Matt D]

I'm still under the opinion that there's just so much to do.

Spoiler

I got the last of the memories yesterday. Protip: Even if you haven't saved the Deku tree yet, you can IMMEDIATELY go to the nearest tower after the last memory and still land on the dragon's head before it goes too far away. I used one stamina food I had to make sure I got there ok and already had gust but otherwise it was no problem. So I got the master sword earlier than planned. 

I also did Lurelin village yesterday. Finding the last enemy was tricky and I dealt with the shipful of enemies with a muddlebud on the boss bobokin mainly. then I put the town back together and put a traveler's medallion right by the inn for easy access. 

I haven't been in the gloom in a few days so I might get back to that. I also have dozens of shrines to beat at some point but I feel pretty good at 2 full circles of stamina (and one extra nub). I do want more hearts though. 

I accidentally made it to Hyrule Castle through the underground passage. That used a lot of material/arrows/bombs/weapons and I should have waited to get the rock breaker spirit but ah well. I didn't want to be in the castle and got out of there pretty quickly though, I wish there was a shrine somewhere in there as I know I'll be going back through later at some point to kill the Stalnox.

I got the froggy leggings from the stable quests but am not sure which ones I have left to do. I also need to find the monster guy's brother again as I have a ton of bubble gems but I don't want to look it up. Finding caves is probably my favorite part of the game so far.

I've been using Hero's Path to find places I hadn't been yet mostly. 

I do think my very next thing will be the Hateno village Cece stuff. I suppose I'll try to figure out what the deal with the Kakariko village ruins are at some point soon too. Oh, I need to unlock the third great fairy fountain sometime soon too. And the goddess quest that I unlocked and just started on. I need to get some dragon part for that which is always annoying.

I'm still building basically nothing. Despite that, there's still an amazing amount of stuff to do. Generally, I'm only using guides if I get stuck too. 

 

[Contentious C]

I went ahead and beat it tonight, just because I was getting a little bored.  All the, y'know, "here's some crazy shit you can do with builds" stuff is nice, but on some level, it almost feels like it belonged in an entirely separate game from this. 

The last section of the game is something of a slog, not FromSoft levels of bad, but similar in terms of how long it's going to take you as BOTW did, just in a very different kind of atmosphere. 

The last few fights are...ugh.  They made me feel completely fucking stupid.  Like I'd spent the game learning the combat and then got schooled over and over.  You can tank it - I obviously did - but it will just make you feel dumb if you're not a grandmaster.

The ending is both predictable and in some ways really fucking sad.  I really think this is going to be Aonuma's last game for them and someone else is going to have to have a vision forward if they intend to make new Zelda games.

[odessasteps]

Folks may find this helpful

 

[Contentious C]

I'm at the point of hunting pristine weapons in the Depths.  I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing.  I have something like 260 of my stamps used to map out where everything is.  I can't quite tell if there are more boomerangs than I expected or fewer.  Hell of a lot of spears, though.

I'm almost - ALMOST - tempted to start a new save just because I'm a crazy person.  And because I want to "earn" the Compendium next time.  But there's a lot of stuff that's pretty goddamned annoying to do yet again.  Having now Extinctified all the Gleeoks and Moldugae (the latter being total pushovers in this game even without Bombs on command), that's kind of the least of it.

Yeah, fuck it, I'm doing it.

EDIT: I'm also not very bright, but you don't have to be like me! When you're building a hoverbike, because eventually you will, USE THE R BUTTON. Instead of thinking, "Yeah, that *looks* in the middle" you can hold R long enough to use it like a plane level or a slide ruler and make sure your fans and steer sticks are good. I fixed that crap last night and HOLY BALLS is that going to save me a lot of aggravation from not straightening back out every 5 seconds.

Edited June 18, 2023 by Contentious C

[Contentious C]

All right, restarting was worth it for one thing and one thing only, and from the very strangest of places.

I usually skip Hestu's dance, because, well, there's a lot of that if you upgrade a bunch of slots at once.  But the new animation and sound effects for it, especially the sounds, reminded me of the David Pumpkins sketches from SNL, and now I can't stop watching it each time and laughing my ass off at it.  I can picture it now...

*Forest Child B-Boy 1 pops in* "Hestu!"

*Forest Child B-Boy 2 pops in* "K!"

*Forest Child B-Boy 3 pops in* "Korok!"

*All together* "Hestu K. Korok!!"

Hestu: "Any questions???"

Link: "Yeah, wait, what does the 'K' stand for??"

Hestu & B-Boys: "It...uh...stands for 'Korok'!"

Link: *disgusted sound* "... I can't even ..."

Edited June 19, 2023 by Contentious C

[odessasteps]

 

[SirSmUgly]

This game definitely overstays its welcome and has mediocre quests (outside of the main ones), but I still liked it a whole lot. Just making vehicles and driving/flying around all the areas in Hyrule is pretty fun. 

[Contentious C]

Link must really like those age gap relationships. 

[Matt D]

Still only done one Temple. I have the gloom almost completely lit up. Just a few more lightroots left to get. I have an almost complete battery but did all of this without really ever using a vehicle. I have a crappy air bike that I've just started to barely use at times. I really haven't built anything. I have signs and koroks marked on my map to go back and do at some point. I'm going to start hacking at quests a bit more (I have to do Hateno village stuff for instance) and maybe using said air bike to get more of the sky translations. Then I'll probably use lightroots to find the remaining shrines. I still have a ton of do. I unlock them for the teleportation points primarily. I'm just playing this thing my own way.

[odessasteps]

35 minutes ago, Contentious C said:

Link must really like those age gap relationships. 

What's 100 years or 1000 years, when true love is involved?

[Contentious C]

I mean, 10k and transmogrification would have me questioning some life choices.

[Contentious C]

Evidently getting 100% complete on the map involves getting all the Koroks (or near to it).  I...guess this will be the playthrough I don't delete.

[odessasteps]

16 minutes ago, Contentious C said:

Evidently getting 100% complete on the map involves getting all the Koroks (or near to it).  I...guess this will be the playthrough I don't delete.

Watching this video on how insane getting 100% means I won’t come close to trying.

 

[Contentious C]

RIP to the Lynel Stasis Strategy, as those items have been patched, and now anything Autobuilt can be "roared" out of existence by a Big Bad.

Still doesn't matter, if you are at all clever.  You can just still build them for the 6 Zonaite each, track where the Lynel is coming from, and then

Spoiler

use them to provide the literally 2 seconds of pause that you need.  Just line up your 1 and only 1 headshot, stun them, equip the full Radiant outfit for Bone Proficiency, eat a 3-attack-up meal, and equip your maxed out Pristine Royal Guard's Claymore fused to a Molduga Jaw on its last hit before it breaks, do the Lynel mount, then kill the whole Floating Coliseum's worth of Lynels with that 1 headshot per Lynel.

Definitely more annoying, requires the meal upgrades and the weapon to be maxed through methods you probably know about by now, and more potential for stumbling, plus it means spending more Zonaite (oh noes! yawn), but...yeah, still pretty easy.

Or, you know, puffshrooms.

Edited July 5, 2023 by Contentious C

[Contentious C]

Welp, getting a good way towards something like a 100% complete game.  Got:

-All the lightroots a million years ago (usually my first big completion)

-All the shrines

-All the Compendium photos except for the 3 stages of a certain someone whose eyebrows connect to his hairline and the Master Sword

-Very close to all the Korok seeds for stash upgrades (though I don't know how there are 500+ MORE on the map)

-21 Bubbulfrogs left

-Only the Thunder Gleeoks remaining (because farming Lizalfos tails is the biggest PITA ever)

At that point, I'll probably peck away at the remaining Korok seeds, finish out the Frox/Talus/Hinox/Flux sets, and then finally get around to beating the game again sometime in a decade or so.

I'm going to be happy to go back to a really fucking simple game like Fallout 4 or something soon.

[AxB]

Interesting use of jiggle physics here:

https://twitter.com/pierbiwierbi/status/1680291288690638848

[Contentious C]

Those are just shadows, Link doesn't have balls.

...

...Or does he?