The Most Polarizing Game I've Played

Hey everyone, I know I don't usually use this channel to talk about serious stuff, but I just wanted to put a reminder that no feeling is final. I personally am doing quite well, but life can get hard sometimes and I hope you know that I appreciate you even though I don't know you all personally (which I like to keep that way.) I am just entertainment, but that doesn't mean I can't remind you that there are always people who you can reach out to for support when you need it most. Be well, and don't burn your retinas too hard playing the new Elden Ring DLC.

The map and Nintendo's avoidance of aknowledging BOTW's existence in TOTK were the main reasons why I'm not the biggest fan of TOTK as a sequel. Don't get me wrong, it's a great game and even if they don't aknowledge the events of BOTW much verbally, they did do an amazing job with visual storytelling and worldbuilding (outside of where the hell they put all the dismantled Shiekah Tech). That being said, I wish we got more distinct areas in the sky and depths. Like maybe a mining town that was built in the depths that was aimed towards studying gloom? Or even a proper Ancient Town in the Sky Islands, or hell it would have been a really neat idea if the entirety of Kakoriko Village was somehow flung into the sky. Maybe they could have had a secret dungeon in the depths that is like a "Gaurdian Graveyard" where all the Shiekah Tech was thrown away to, with the final challenge being a destroyed gaurdian that was taken over by the Gloom Hands. The strongest points in TOTK's exploration was finding out what happened to old areas of BOTW, like Terry Town or Link's house. I just wish we got more areas that were evolved and explained in the same way as those two areas that utilzied the sky and depths, like "where did all the Shiekah Tech go?" Or "Where did the entirety of X village go?".

This game really makes me wonder: If I never played BOTW, would TOTK be one of the best games I've ever played? What if I instead looked at it like alternate Pokemon games. I absolutely loved Pokemon Black 2, but I wouldn't say that White 2 sucks because it has the same content as Black 2. I'm aware that this argument may be fundamentally flawed on its base assumption, but it still always has me thinking, is TOTK a letdown because BOTW exists, or is it a letdown in itself.

Probably the most succint critique I can give this game was that it leaned too hard on the sandbox aspect and needed more structured challeneges to take advantage of all the new mechanics. Also some more substantial rewards like permanent weapons or new abilities like the Yiga Earthwake. But even so, I still put in over 100 hours into it and was sad when it inevitably had to end. As opposed to the Zelda games of the Wii era where things felt padded out and I was glad to finally put the controller down after the final boss.

"Would it be fair to ask for a whole new map? Probably not." It would actually. The longest wait for a Zelda game ever using reused assets. Plus a unique chance to give us a game outside of Hyrule and open up more variety to the series. But nah, fight Bokoblins, collect memories, go to the same regions to do divine beats, collect koroks, do shrines, all over again.

In my opinion, the world of Tears of the Kingdom is quite different from Breath of the Wild, even though it is built on the same geographical basis. While playing Breath of the Wild, I often caught myself thinking that many places in it could simply be cut out and still get a good game, similar to the classic games in the series, in which locations are connected by loading screens. Tears of the Kingdom fixed this problem for me personally, because now most of the space that was empty is filled with content of varying degrees of interest - the caves alone already make the world much more interesting. For example, I’ll take the Gerudo Canyon, which in BoTW was not very remarkable, however, in the sequel, a whole system of tunnels appeared there, created by a new river, along which new points of interest are located. Regarding caverns, I agree that there are too many empty spaces and not enough actual content between these empty spaces, however, the content itself is often worth it. Sky Islands, i think, are a great addition to the main game world as they offer fun vertical gameplay and puzzles. This adds variety to the game. Also, it is worth noting that elements of verticality were introduced into the surface map, precisely due to the ruins that have fallen and falling from the sky, which greatly help in exploring the world, making this process faster and more exciting. Despite the fact that I had problems with the lack of content in Breath of the Wild, I still consider it a good game, but ToTK, due to its density and variety of content, is much better for me in my opinion.

Honestly while I enjoyed Tear’s 😭 .....not the feeling but the game. I certainly felt a bit underwhelmed with the amount of recycling this follow up has. Or feeling confused with the removing of all the Sheikah tech which doesn’t make much sense story wise and the shrine of resurrection being gone as well when you revisit the starting area from Breath Of The Wild.

I don't like that the Story is told through Memories AGAIN. I don't like that there are only two Zonai and we learn NOTHING about their culture. I really hoped for more. Like travelling through time to the point where there were lots of Zonai, helping them dealing with Ganon, having Zelda as a companion. Reusing the map but changing it for the Zonai Culture, and no Zora, Orni and at max the Gerudo. No TarryTown 💩hole. No Kilton. No children. No Hylians, no Shika. Just Link, Zelda and the Zonai. And Ganon. And MAYBE the Gerudo. That's what I would have done.

Good video, although I nearly entirely disagree. Personally, I loved Tears of the Kingdom even more than Breath of the Wild, and I was almost never disappointed by it. In fact, I actually felt that the reuse and subsequent complete overhaul of the same map was actually to its benefit. My playtime nearing 400 hours speaks to that, but at the end of the day that’s just my experience and my opinion. People like different things and experience the same things in different ways and that’s okay.

Really great video, seriously though. Got most things that needed to be said out in far less than 40 minutes to 3 hours like most lol.

I really enjoyed the game. The creative expression from the new ruins kept it fresh for me. My first play through was 70 hours and ehilr I haven’t gone back it’s nothing against the game I just got more into games on my pc. But during the first 70 hours it felt magical. It never felt dull or repetitive or that it was moving too fast. By the end I felt fullfiled and throughly happy with the game. Also I spent 3 hours trying to built a tie fighter that flew. That’s peak gameplay there.

TOTK would’ve been a 10/10 game if they just added loot boxes

This is an amazing take my guy. I've spent quite a few hours in these game's hyrule as I true 100% completed botw in both normal and mastermode and then also did the same with totk. I've also done a couple challenge runs in botw. These are 2 of my favorite games ever as they've been most of my teen years (I was 11-12 when botw released) and the core mechanic, exploration, is probably my favorite video game mechanic out there. I think that personally, I get quite defensive of totk when people bring up criticism like this that I honestly can't even agree more on. But I think I see botw and totk more like a combined experience, you can't have one without the other or that's at least what I think. I really wish the depths and the sky islands would've had more to them, the depths also has so much potential that I wish they'd done something with. I'm sorry for rant >:D

I had the best gaming experience in Totk, that’s all a player needs. All you mentioned Botw, linear Zeldas or any one of the hundred games I ve played in the past 30 years could not do anything close to Totk. Sorry for your disappointment.

Did you know if you name your BOTW save file "Zelda" you can start playing TOTK?

I liked breath of the wild 2 but definitely the first game was more enjoyable.

Loved the game but when BOTW came out it was one of the most enjoyable parts of my summer lol (I got it for my 12th B-Day in June 2017). With ToTk I played the main storyline (which took me a lot longer because I wasn't as invested), I did a few side quests and put the game back down. Haven't touched it in a year. Opposed to BoTW which I completed in like 2 days then immediately replayed... and have replayed like 5 times since.

I'll say my guy, this was a damn fine video. Thank you for making it. I feel this game would have been better off releasing 2 years at most after BoTW. 6+ years is just too much for what we got in my opinion, despite the impressive technical achievements.

I can't stand the look of the Skype Islands. It looks like every plant is dried out, it looks like the place is ☠️. It makes me feel uncomfortable. And I don't like the NPCs. I enjoyed BotW because I was alone most of the time and could reduce my Interaktion with people to the minimum. In TotK there are wayyyy to many Interaktions with NPCs. The "Zora Dungron" is a joke. Why not put in a cave System, like the Waterworks where the quest starts? Mipha's Statue us removed from Zora's Domain, which is one of my favourite things about TotK. No words can express how I feel about Pickmes. I don't do mean things to Kohoks, but I love to express my feelings for Pickmes at Mipha's Statue. Giving Link an IKEA style house in that 💩hole Terrytown is an insult. I like the Mechanics and the things I can build and the subtile Romance between Link and Zelda. But these Sky Islands are aesthetically unpleasant to express my animosity politely.

While I did enjoy TotK and put 340 hours into completing it, I honestly haven't gone back to it at all since I finished it last year. As opposed to BotW where I have to done multiple playthroughs and have sunk over 900 hours into, I don't see myself going back to TotK anytime soon, let alone starting a new game and save file. It's a good game, but it falters in several ways that make BotW seem to me as the more appealing game.