2023/9/25: Nintendo Switch: Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

[VideoGameCritic]

Well, technically Tears of the Kingdom is a tour de force. Nintendo really went all out. But the fun factor...?

I put a lot of hours into this one, but eventually got Zelda fatigue. That's perfectly normal for a man my age (according to my doctor).

Thoughts?

[newmodelarmy]

Great review, I think you nailed it. I would put it at a C+ myself. I enjoyed the game but after putting many hours into it I just got bored and I definitely agree there is too much going on in this game. Moreover, the endless side quests and things to do don't really amount to much. Honestly, I thought many of them were just a waste of time. The tipping point for me was when I spent about 1.5 hours in the underworld (forgot what it was called) trying to navigate in darkness after a treasure. The treasure turned out to be a pair of sailor pants I was never going to use. At that point I just gave up, haven't touched the game for several months. Finally, i just felt the game was Breath of the Wild 1.5 instead of a new Zelda adventure.

[Retro STrife]

Wow, it was nice knowing ya Critic. I have not seen any other critic give this less than an A++++. I assume Nintendo has already kidnapped you so I don’t even know why I’m writing this.

As always, much respect for actually doing honest reviews. “Zelda fatigue” is a real thing for young people too- I used to get it all the time growing up. In the old 8-dungeon system of Zelda games, it always hit around dungeon 5, and then the rest of the game was a slog just to get to the finish line since I had already invested too much time. This mid/late-game slog is part of why I’ve always felt Zelda games were overrated by critics.. And I don’t mean that they’re bad; just that they aren’t perfect like every review seems to suggest.

Another problem was that Zelda games failed to innovate for decades- relaying on the Ocarina of Time formula for far too long. Every other series that does that gets called out- except Zelda. Then along comes Breath of the Wild- finally, Nintendo moved the series forward and produced a great new game. Many people were like “this doesn’t even feel like Zelda!” Noo, hello, this is still Zelda, but welcome to what innovating your games looks like.

Well, guess what? Now they’ll rehash the Breath of the Wild formula for 20 years, just like they did with Ocarina. Get ready for the same old same old, and the A++++ reviews that’ll come with each new game.

[travistouchdown]

I think I am finally over the Zelda series. Didn't like Breath of the Wild...and for this game, reading reviews, I knew it just wouldn't be for me. "Building sophisticated devices to overcome challenges" is not my idea of a good time. Appreciate the honest review critic, you know everyone in the "mainstream game industry" is pressured to give this an AAA++++ or risk the ire of Nintendo, fanboys, etc.

[Den]

Maybe it's because I don't play video games that much in general, but I've put over 200 hours into ToTK and I'm not even close to bored yet. I have finished the main quest, found all the shrines and lightroots, done all the side quests, and there's still so much to do -- find all the Koroks, all the wells, the caves, the sign guy -- anything the game keeps track of, I want to find.

[Herschie]

Worst mainstream Zelda ever. Not a horrible game, but I get tired of being one-shotted. I don't get that classic, warm feeling (I think they call this feeling "hygge") that I get playing Zelda. As others have said, there is a lot of exploring, but nothing super valuable. In previous Zeldas, it'd be looking and figuring out, and eureka! An heart piece! Or the bow! Or a bigger wallet! Some sort of nice reward. But here, it's a weapon that's going to break. It's an opal. Some poes. And the exploring can be tedious. In the depths, I spent time assembling a vehicle, only to have it tumble over and pin me underneath as soon as I left the plateau. In the time I spent assembling the vehicle, I could have been to the next lightroot...only for it to light up a whole bunch of nothing!

We don't need any further Zeldas. What we need are different quests to previous Zeldas. Imagine how badass that would be! Another Master Quest for OoT. Third quest for LoZ. Different orders to different dungeons. Different secrets to uncover. It'd be cool to have them update the graphics like how you see those YouTube videos with the Unreal engine. They could take it a step further and give the option for graphics from the time (With a CRT scanline filter), or updated graphics. Sort of like the new Metroid Prime.

It'd certainly be more fun than this. And it would give me that coveted "hygge"!

[VideoGameCritic]

Wow, it was nice knowing ya Critic. I have not seen any other critic give this less than an A++++. I assume Nintendo has already kidnapped you so I don’t even know why I’m writing this.

There certainly seems to be a "herd mentality" when it comes to video game reviews, especially when it comes to esteemed series like Zelda.

It's true for other media too! I heard Scream 6 was the best Scream yet. Watched it last night and not so impressed.

I heard the new Stones record is the best since Some Girls! We'll just see about that.

[DrLitch]

Tears of the Kingdom had too much recycling going on and the giant underworld section was a cut and paste job. Most the Sky Islands also looked the same. Tears of the Kingdom fixed some of Skyward Sword's problems but did nothing to fix Breath of the Wild's. The new abilities are interesting, particularly the one where you can transport through surfaces. The fuse mechanic was overused in shrine puzzles. There were also too many repetitive shrines and I groaned whenever I found a combat shrine. The Temples were very short in length and possibly even less fun than the Divine Beasts. Lore wise, makes no sense to me. Ganon may as well be Jason Voorhees or Freddy Kruger.

The grade is fair. Not a bad game just too exhausting and expansive for it's own good. A common problem in open world design.

The title printed money for Nintendo, kudos to them, not bad for what look like a half baked project.

[Den]

!!!!!!

Sometimes I wonder if I'm insane or everyone else is -- I thought the combat shrines were the best ones! And the temples were huge and interesting and creative! (Especially the long leadups to some of them.) And Ganon was a terrifying, awesome big bad! And I found the game enthralling, not exhausting.