Board 8 > The Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom Discussion Zone

(+) Yeah! (+)

I'm just following the "main" path and I don't think I've missed anything yet! They spell out pretty clearly where you should go and in what order.

Wind dungeon beated, on to the northeast

Water dungeon beated! Somehow I dont think it was supposed to be my first since I died probably 30x

also why the hell does it seem like every map I go to have a freakin 10 minute long lightning storm? Absolutely terrible

I think the Zora area is the only one with many lightning storms. I haven't gone there yet and I've only ran into a couple, none of which were a big deal.

Sky maze spoilers: discovering that gravity is reduced when you go high enough made me grin harder than maybe anything else in the game so far <3

Is it a hot take to say Zelda dungeons are wildly overrated

I didn't miss them in BotW at all, and while I don't mind them existing they aren't any more interesting than the same rooms being split out and placed elsewhere

It feels like nearly all the shrines could be rooms in a dungeon.

Someone said it before, but it's about atmosphere. Like, OoT Forest Temple is a beloved dungeon, but in terms of gameplay, it's kind of shit. The "puzzle" in the dungeon is a block picture with four pieces.

But the dark temple in the woods, covered in vines, swarmed with spiders, wolves, ghosts... And the music and all - that's really something special.

Zelda dungeons remain some of the greatest game design ever. I was just thinking about Ancient Cistern and the Sandship from Skyward Sword today and those are just fantastic.

With that said

I think BOTW more or less made up for it with the shrines giving you a bite-size version of the dungeon kick and the Divine Beasts being an interesting reimagining of dungeons in a more open format, as well as Hyrule Castle. I dont think the game has a dungeon problem. My only real issue with it was the lack of unique bosses.

I really loved the Divine Beasts in BOTW. I thought they were a really clever way to handle dungeons in that game. I did miss a bit of the traditional Zelda dungeon, but I'm very glad what I got.

In TOTK, I did the dungeon for the Ritos and Gerudos. Rito is great conceptually, but waaay too short in practice. There were good ideas there, including the boss. It just feels underbaked. Gerudo is pretty good, but a step back from previous sand dungeons, which usually are some of the more evocative dungeon designs in the series. I really liked the boss, though.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/6/5/0/AAOJ0pAAEfgy.jpg
This is all I've explored so far in the game (on the surface). Just finished up Hyrule Ridge/Tabantha (whatever the right term is for the western region).

Up to 157 Koroks!

https://youtu.be/_-2rpZs1ZhE

I dunno if they ever state outright how long it's been since BotW, but I initially assumed it was, like, a year, but now that I've been to Tarrey Town, I'm thinking it's longer than that, to the point I think Link might be in his 20s now. Which would be the oldest Link we've ever had, I think?

Tarrey Town has some cool sidequests. The monster sculpture quest is so cool. I've only done the Bokoblin so far, but it looks like they actually copy the pose from the photo you give, which is neat. Also started work on my dream house. Gonna make a huge goddamn mansion, make Zelda jealous.

JackMan posted...

The monster sculpture quest is so cool.

Do I have to do something to unlock that one? I didn't come across it while I was there.

You have to have found an NPC at another location first

That NPC was near one of the stables to the south of the map, I forgot which one. There is a lake right next to it and the NPC has this huge ugly balloon thing.

Goron dungeon beated, and the boss itself was more challenging than the Rito one.

so far put me in the "dungeons and bosses are much better in ToTK" camp. really impressed so far.

they're still "smaller" than older dungeons, but since everything is to scale they feel so immersive.

HanOfTheNekos posted...

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/6/5/0/AAOJ0pAAEfgy.jpg
This is all I've explored so far in the game (on the surface). Just finished up Hyrule Ridge/Tabantha (whatever the right term is for the western region).

Up to 157 Koroks!

Playing the game like this feels like absolute hell to me, but hey if it makes you happy

Ive unlocked the entire map and probably have half that many Korok seeds

Yeah that level of seed sweeping would drive me to drink I think, but if you're having fun that's the important thing!

masterplum posted...

Playing the game like this feels like absolute hell to me, but hey if it makes you happy

Ive unlocked the entire map and probably have half that many Korok seeds

yeah i think I had under 100 korok seeds by the time I filled in the whole map. Ive deliberately been hunting for them a bit more now.

I enjoy exploring! And koroks are way easier to find in this game than in BotW

I keep forgetting I have the camera, haven't taken a single picture yet... And I do enjoy filling out the compendium, there's just so much to get distracted by.

Find yourself someone who will support you like Addison supports President Hudson

Did the Rito quest stuff.

I feel like meeting up with Tulin through the completion of the wind temple is almost like one king dungeon. I liked the whole approach - the ship itself is easy enough, though fun. The boss was sweet - glad to have a real Zelda dungeon boss again.

tcaz2 posted...

Find yourself someone who will support you like Addison supports President Hudson

Very poorly?

This is the first game where I feel almost overwhelmed on what to do. However, it's also the first game in a long time where I am just having fun fucking around with the tools they gave me.

AllHeDoesIsWin posted...

Very poorly?

With lots of dedication and hard work, through thick and thin, rain or shine!

That said, actual image of Addison's face when he's staring at me building the same two piece support structure and then wondering how I did that for the 10th time:

https://i.ibb.co/2WwTZ4P/image.png

Are the get the apples on these three trees to match Koroks still in this game, cant say Ive noticed any sets of apple trees like that so far

WazzupGenius00 posted...

Are the get the apples on these three trees to match Koroks still in this game, cant say Ive noticed any sets of apple trees like that so far

I saw a pair like that and then they turned out to be living trees lol

WazzupGenius00 posted...

Are the get the apples on these three trees to match Koroks still in this game, cant say Ive noticed any sets of apple trees like that so far

Ive stared so hard at multiple groups of trees trying to figure out if they were a puzzle

so far they have not been a puzzle, or, if they are, Im not figuring them out

I did the ascent to the Rito dungeon.

First of all does anybody else keep forgetting that they can Ascend

Second of all going above the clouds was an all tome gaming moment, wow.

What the intended order for the dungeons? I raced right to the gerudo because ladies then my partner did the goron because she happened to just find them

i then did Zora and now we are heading to rito

the scaling is all over the place and boss difficulty has been backward so far so Im assuming I did it wrong

The game really lays it on thick that it wants you to do Rito first but beyond that I have no idea since I haven't finished it yet myself

The game drops a lot of hints to go to Rito first, aside from that I don't think there is much of an intended order.

Apparently I missed the hints to do Rito first lol

Between Josha and Purah I am pretty sure one of them outright says it would be a good place to look first, and you also learn pretty early about the newspaper up that way that they encourage you to check out

I've only just started and haven't tackled a dungeon yet, but every single NPC tries to signpost me towards the Rito one first. Everyone at the first main story town, Impa, every single paper-reader at every stable, Purah... even the geography seems to be pushing me that way, because the east feels a huge pain to traverse compared to how gentle heading northwest is.

I've just done Eventide. Getting there was hilarious and messy, as is everything involving building in this game, but god was it fun. There's also the chasm which, with my five hearts and starting-level weapons, I was absolutely not equipped to handle.

Some of the shrines have felt very silly and taken me a long time, which is a good thing. Solutions feel much more puzzley and not like weird blunt physics tasks. Definitely more classic Zelda-feeling but with the crazy flexibility of BotW (although I occasionally forget how Zonai devices work, culminating in me making the most vile tower-based solution over the course of nearly an hour in the shrine above Kakariko because I never learned the gimmick).

Also, some weird and imo straight-up poor bits of design have tripped me up so far, which is rare from a Nintendo game. I stumbled upon a shrine very close to the start that hard-required one of two things I didn't have. While it accurately signalled that I needed to go and do something else to progress, it felt a little crappy that in an open-world sequel to a game where where you could beat the final boss straight out of the tutorial area, content that was "available" very early was locked behind specific progression or consumables no matter your skill or ingenuity.

intended order is Rito -> Goron -> Zora -> Gerudo

That's the order I went in, yeah. Now that I think about it, that did seem to be the order they were talked about in the newspaper

WazzupGenius00 posted...

Between Josha and Purah I am pretty sure one of them outright says it would be a good place to look first, and you also learn pretty early about the newspaper up that way that they encourage you to check out

True enough about the newspaper I didn't go there until later

Sheep007 posted...

I stumbled upon a shrine very close to the start that hard-required one of two things I didn't have.

Which shrine was this? I know I came across one involving a spring as my first shrine after the tutorial that clearly intended paraglider use, but I just used recall + ultrahand shenanigans instead.

I've only done like 16 total, and a lot of those are tutorial and freebies, but they've all been pretty easy so far.

I'm sure by this time next month there will be a youtube video "Can You 100% Tears of the Kingdom without the Paraglider??"

WazzupGenius00 posted...

I'm sure by this time next month there will be a youtube video "Can You 100% Tears of the Kingdom without the Paraglider??"

I've already seen Rito dungeon no paraglider.

Every time I say "just 10 more minutes" and then it's 2 hours later and I really need to get to sleep... I accomplish so much nothing in this game and yet the hours fly by.

Finished my second dungeon, the Gerudo one. I enjoyed it a lot more than the Rito one. Felt a bit more like a proper dungeon and not just a collection of unconnected tasks in the same place.

What makes a great dungeon for me is how interconnected its rooms and puzzles are. The best Zelda dungeons are ones where you have to really involve the layout of the dungeon itself in the puzzles by doing things in one room to affect others, and this one had a bit of that with the light puzzles.

I still don't think it was amazing by any means, but it was certainly better than all of the Divine Beasts and the Rito dungeon.

HanOfTheNekos posted...

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/6/5/0/AAOJ0pAAEfgy.jpg
This is all I've explored so far in the game (on the surface). Just finished up Hyrule Ridge/Tabantha (whatever the right term is for the western region).

Up to 157 Koroks!

This is exactly how I play and also did BotW, it's very satisfying. In BotW I ended up missing only 5 koroks that I then used a guide for lol.

I couldn't play a lot the first weak because I was moving so I'm still running through Central Hyrule. Haven't decided where to go to next.

I finished the Rito dungeon. Really enjoyed it and felt it was a significant step up from the Divine Beasts, the unique aesthetics, boss, and even dressing of find the 5 x go a long way. If were thinking about 3D Zelda dungeons I would not say it is top tier but like, upper middle.

Also I damaged the boss in a hilarious way.

Attempting to break the casing with a jump attack, missing and hitting the side, only to ragdoll down through the shell, breaking the core and damaging the boss with my own body.

MoogleKupo141 posted...

Ive stared so hard at multiple groups of trees trying to figure out if they were a puzzle

so far they have not been a puzzle, or, if they are, Im not figuring them out

They're not puzzles.

Two full areas and I haven't seen groupings of trees be used like that for koroks.

Like i said, I think koroks are a lot easier this game. They're not tucked away in hidden spots - they tend to be in really obvious spots. And you can see most of them by flying around after recalling a sky rock up then flying around.

For comparison, the two areas I posted probably took... Maybe not twice, but 1.5x as long when I played BotW to get through.

Easiest thing to miss so far is leaf piles, but they're usually tucked away in clear spots in buildings so

So I've cleaned up Central Hyrule, everything that's within the map that the tower in lookout landing gives you. I think. Where do you suggest going next? In BotW it made sense to get to Kakariko first, is there somewhere similar it makes sense to go before everything else?

Definitely Rito

ctesjbuvf posted...

So I've cleaned up Central Hyrule, everything that's within the map that the tower in lookout landing gives you. I think. Where do you suggest going next? In BotW it made sense to get to Kakariko first, is there somewhere similar it makes sense to go before everything else?

they straight up tell you

go NW

That would not necessarily mean it would not be a good idea to go somewhere else first to expand weapons inventory or whatever.

But thanks