How the Legend of Zelda Lost its Soul.

Genuinely cannot fathom how some people don't see the huge difference of modern Zelda to the traditional Zelda. Aonuma himself said multiple times that they broke every convention. So yes, people are allowed to dislike the new format. Traditional 3D Zelda is something that no other franchise has been able to replicate and with modern Zelda ditching that format too we are now out of a massively popular game style in the industry. You are allowed to prefer one over the other but there is a reason so many people are speaking out about traditional Zelda.

The reason why The Legend of Zelda isn't as fun for me anymore is the same for me with Castlevania: they got rid of the fun part. I love the rpg Castlevania games. But with Lords of shadow the rpg formula disappeared and i lost interest. Until Bloodstained came out. In Zelda i tried to get into Breath of the wild. I even beat it, but it isn't as fun anymore. What did they take? The closed off areas, where you need abilities and items to pass is what kept me in. The sense of progression Metroidvanias have, the slowly opening up of the world always felt so good. I don't want an open world where i don't know where to go. I want an open world that is closed at the beginning and the opening is rewarded.

I noticed there wasn’t a lot of dissatisfaction videos when breath of the wild ruled the roost for 6+ years it wasn’t until tears of the kingdom that these type of videos started spawning.

Skyward Sword is my favorite game in the series. I think that was the peak of great dungeons, great items, distinct colorful characters, and an engaging story.

I think what kills me about BOTW/TOTK is the absolute insane opinions by new fans they've brought about. There's this whole argument that Zelda stories "have always been bad", "dungeons don't matter THAT much" etc etc....like have y'all even HEARD about why people like literally any other Zelda game? I'm not saying they have to ENJOY the older games more, but these "hot takes" are just....horrible. If they don't want to play the older games, again, totally fine, but it's mental that ppl are just proudly sitting here and blowing off everything that made the series what it was up until this era. I want to see the series grow and change but it's starting to feel like every other dang open world game with the Zelda title just smacked on it.

My biggest gripe with new Zelda is how every dungeon looks the same. Why does every shrine have to look the same? Why does every dungeon/divine beast need to look the same? Even Skyrim had more variety. At least in that game you had Nordic Tombs, Dwemer Tombs, Caverns, Castles, Ice Mountains, Mines, Imperial Settlements etc. In BOTW all you get is: technological steampunk ruin

I was extremely excited when i first found the depths because i was fully expecting giant Eldritch horrors to be down there. Needless to say i was very disappointed with the depths. Also i hate that they said pirates were at lurein village and i was thinking it could be simular the majora mask pirates, but no just generic old bokoblins.

The part about a static story state especially resonated with me. The fact that even after Link learns where Zelda is in totk yet doesn’t tell anyone is so stupid and de-immerses me. A linear story wouldn’t have that problem. Also the fact that totk was DELAYED and it’s 70$ is hard to square with the copy paste world. It feels like the devs put all their work into ultra hand and nothing else.

Reminds me of a poem I wrote a long time ago... Breath of the Wild A lonely awakening, a disembodied voice, Proceed from here, then make your choice. An empty world, sad ruined lands, Have fallen victim to Ganon's hands. Scattered survivors live out their days, Living their lives in a meaningless haze. Your memory is empty, you clutch at the light, But what you remember is only her spite. Your failures haunt you, unsure you can last, But defeating Ganon won't undo the past. Your weapons keep breaking, just like your resolve, What will seeking vengeance solve? Hyrule is no longer the land of the hero, In the eyes of the people, you're just a zero. The quest doesn't matter, there is no reward, Who cares if you find the Master Sword? Any fool could beat Ganon, if they cared enough. Is believing it's your destiny just a big bluff? Does it profit you to go here or go there? It really doesn't matter if you go anywhere. A vast, endless landscape to search for the seeds, Fulfilling half-forgotten wanderlust needs. The memories and shadows of your earlier time, Leave you longing for a brighter day and a better rhyme.

The biggest problem for me is 2 things the story and the zonai, speaking of the zonai I swear someone at nintendo watched theory videos about the zonai botw on YouTube and said why don't we make them a major focus in totk but as boring and uninstesting they don't care about their own lore they proved that and nobody recognizes us from the last game this is not a sequel it is a reboot and rewrite of botw.

As much as I like Breath and Tears, Wind Waker still remains my favourite Zelda game. I've always had this idea where in order to find a middle ground, Zelda could carry on with being "open-air" while Nintendo uses some of their dormant IP that fit under the action adventure genre like StarTropics or Mysterious Murasame Castle to continue the "traditional" structure, that way we still get games that have the charm of the Ocarina era while not having to specifically be Zelda to avoid a Paper Mario situation. I guess it depends on if long-time fans are okay with playing as other characters that aren't Link but yeah.

There could be a happy medium that can become an excellent formula: Have Dungeons that can be played at any order, but that grant their own items necessary to progress the story. Have weapons that don’t break, but can detract damage points the more you use them. Have the Master Sword as vital and UNBREAKABLE. And please, have Link heal up by eating or drinking while in motion, not at the pause menu (have a dedicated items button).

The dev team working on totk was definitely like The Office but in a game studio.

I didn't expect zelda totk to go this way with fans but I knew this would happen back in 2017 when playing botw knowing that zelda 1 was going to simplify the series

11:40 Meanwhile, classic Zelda plays you a jingle for simply shooting a button. Dear god man I can't take your criticism seriously if you're gonna be this petty.

Many who can’t comprehend why most didn’t complain when botw came out was precisely because it is extremely good even as an entire change of the formula. With totk being very identical to botw and a ton of other open worlds being heavily inspired by it, the over exposure of the genre and the lack of genuinely good dungeon/puzzle designs has soured on many. I adore botw while still preferring the old formula way more but even then totk was a hard sell for me as soon as it got announced and was very justified in my apprehension when getting to actually play it. I tried multiple times so hard but I just could not get into it. It’s a testament to how too much of a good thing can overstay its welcome. It’s completely understandable how totk has sort of been like a wake up call for many that this is genuinely not a good direction to fully take the series. I think another open world Zelda COULD work, it just shouldn’t be just another botw again.

Unrelated but im still looking forward to you upcoming xenoblade 3 story analysis videos

Agreed wholeheartedly. Great games? Sure! But there's no magic anymore. No real feeling of progress or worst, no feeling of urgency. There's no real story, nothing to find out about it, so I really don't care what's gonna happen next. Also, adquiring new specialized weapons to progress is lost, which defined the wonderful experience

I think one of the down sides to new Zelda is they focus too much on game play and not enough on story. Some of my favorite video game series like uncharted or metal gear make you feel like you are playing an interactive movie with a great story and ending. Nintendo games to me were more about game play with not much of a story. Mario was a great platformer with fun gameplay. Metroid was a great game about exploration and making your main character stronger with new power to take on more powerful bosses. I am not a big zelda fan but according to most of the zelda videos zelda was about dungeon crawling and solving interesting puzzles so you can get new powers that will help you save the princess. Zelda botw and totk were games with amazing open worlds with lots to explore but the stories weren't great compared to the jrpg games I played growing up. If zelda had a compelling story like a jrpg combined with the open world and gameplay they could have been an amazing games. Zelda could have the open world and the traditional dungeons but if it didn't have a great story it wouldn't be the best game it could be as far as I am conserned. Botw and Totk were fun with great game play but the final fantasy games I put hundreds of hours into growing up had great stories with some plot twist and satisfying endings. I wish some of my favorite nintendo games had better stories. I will still put lots of hours platforming in a mario game or colleting everything in a metroid or open world game link zelda but there is something different about playing cinematic game with great cut scenes and a great ending. A perfect game would have great game play and story.

I at least wanted to see the hookshot. That would be the one gimmick item that would be useful