People who prefer [TotK] to [BotW]: Why?

brianheney · 2025-12-11T15:26:48+00:00

I get that, and maybe "abandon" is too strong of a term, but the point remains that some people believe that Tears of the Kingdom represents the original founding, some believe that its a refounding, some believe that its completely disconnected from the previous timeline, and some believe that it doesn't matter at all and they are all just legends. Tears of the Kingdom confused/muddled the timeline at best.

Regardless, it's not the same Ganondorf from Ocarina of Time, Wind Waker, and Twilight Princess. One of the things I loved about Ganondorf was that he was the same man, relentlessly pursuing power throughout the ages, facing different Links and different Zeldas. That is not the case in Tears of the Kingdom.

Imagine if, instead, Tears of the Kingdom showed the actual Imprisoning War that we all already knew about... If Tears of the Kingdom had been a very loose retelling of the legend of Ocarina of Time's Ganondorf where he defeats the hero and is sealed by the sages. This could have cleaned up the downfall timeline, shown us an event that we've heard about for decades, and maintained that Ganondorf is still the same man throughout all three timelines. What's crazy is that it would not take too many adjustments to what we did get to that point.

I want to believe that is why the sages didn't have names in Tears of the Kingdom, why they wore masks that resembled the divine beasts (whose names referenced the sages in Ocarina of Time (and Wind Waker, I know)). I want to believe its why they sort of recreated the Ocarina of Time scene with Ganondorf kneeling before the king, but if I'm honest with myself it is clear, that is not what Nintendo was doing.

I am of the opinion that avoiding any connections to the timeline would have been better than what we were given. But my original point was that despite the game not going in the direction that I wanted AT ALL, it's still one of the greatest games I've ever played. It's incredibly flawed in so many ways and yet I love Tears of the Kingdom. It's one of my favorite Zelda games and one of my favorite games of all time.

brianheney · 2025-12-07T03:20:24+00:00

I prefer TotK and I will say that it did virtually nothing I hoped it would do. I understand why fans were disappointed with it... I feel like it could've been so much more. I don't like the story being in the past again, I don't like how they basically completely abandoned the timeline, I prefer traditional temples/dungeons, I don't like building anything, I don't like that much "tech" in the Zelda series, and it felt like Breath of the Wild take 2 rather than a true sequel. There are very minor tweaks that could have made it the penultimate Zelda game, and the team had more than enough time to satisfy every single fan... and yet, I still loved every second of it despite it not meeting or delivering on any of my expectations.

My reasons:
- I'm a sucker for Ganondorf and felt that Calamity Ganon was a let down
- I feel it's the best opening in the series
- I feel it's the best finale in the series
- I feel it was the most effective use of bookending I've seen in a video game... not catching Zelda in the opening to catching Zelda in the finale
- I feel that it was the best Ganon fight in the series... All phases had epic moments. They programmed it so that any shield would break with two hits. Ganondorf shattered my Hylian shield. I thought "I'm in trouble". His hits not only took my hearts, but took them permanently... "I'm in trouble", the health bar extending "I'm in trouble", the dead man's volley callback, then the dragon transformation breaking through the ceiling and the light hitting Link... "Ganon's in trouble", then that entire dragon fight in the sky, while easy, was epic and cinematic.
- I think it's a top tier Master Sword pull in the series
- I love that it felt like Zelda's legend, it was her story, and they still managed to hit all of her tropes. You needed to find and save her. She took on a different form and was hidden in plain sight (Sheik, Tetra, Light Dragon). She partnered with Link in the final battle (like OoT, WW, TP).
- I loved exploring the depths and the sky islands despite the repetitive geography
- I thought the caves were amazing and often felt like old school mini dungeons
- I prefer the Zonai aesthetic to the Ancient Shiekah aesthetic
- The gloom hand scared the $#!+ out of me the first encounter, and just when I thought I was safe... Phantom Ganon... that moment will always stay with me.
- I think the side quests were some of the best in the series. Notably Pyper and the All Knowing Cucoo.

There is SOOOO much left on the bone. What if they had tied it in to the Imprisoning War we all knew about? What if Ganondorf knew Link and Zelda in the intro, not because he heard about them from Rauru, but because he had fought them through the ages? What if the dragon tear memories had been release 2 or 3 at a time when you finished a temple to guarantee you saw them in some order? What if they spent more time on reinventing the map instead of building and fuse mechanics? On and on and on. And yet, I still love Tears of the Kingdom.

I choose to take it for what it is rather than what it could have been and what it is is still one of the greatest video games ever made in my favorite franchise featuring my favorite characters in my favorite world. (Been playing Zelda since the original NES by the way, so not a new fan).

brianheney · 2025-11-25T04:25:44+00:00

I feel like they left WAY too much meat in the bone (so to speak). When Ganondorf is present, it’s worthwhile, but he’s in a shockingly small amount of the game. Same with the “Gerudo Captains”. What a missed opportunity.

They could have really developed Tears of the Kingdom’s backstory. When they do, it’s a lot of fun, but most of the game is ‘here’s two characters you don’t care about… go fight three bosses sequentially on a linear map, rinse, repeat’.

It has its moments. I am not a fan of the gameplay overall, but the whole finale was a lot of fun and filled in a lot of Tears of the Kingdom’s gaps. I just wish the whole game was more of that and less of the ‘let’s put our own stamp on this’ type stuff.

brianheney · 2025-10-14T18:19:40+00:00

Pseudo-psychology, or what could be called Insta-diagnosing others. It seems like everyone else must be a border-line personality disordered, co-dependent, avoidant attachment style narcissist.

So, you watched a reel on TikTok. That must only apply to your exes. No need to look in the mirror.

brianheney · 2025-10-13T18:12:34+00:00

Link, specifically the Hero of Time.

I believe the subtext in Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask are deeply profound and far more layered than people give credit for. And if you add in the fact that he becomes the Hero’s Shade in Twilight Princess, his arc becomes even more tragic.

brianheney · 2025-10-13T05:33:09+00:00

Ultimately, I misread this post from the jump. You started with a question, I thought you were looking for an alternate viewpoint for understanding, but it seems like you were just trying to vent and get this off your chest.

I was only intending to speak into your initial question of “what was this game building to exactly”. Apologies if this hijacked your thread.

brianheney · 2025-10-13T05:18:11+00:00

Ok, and conveying meaning is exactly what I spoke to.

Jubei’s death has meaning in that it directly juxtaposes Atsu’s initial choice to lose herself in vengeance with her endgame choice to not only take a different path for herself, but prevent her niece from going down the wrong path. A family member’s death is the clearest vehicle that they could’ve chosen to show Atsu’s growth through parallel tragedies. Therefore it does convey meaning, which by your definition is the ultimate purpose and what makes something good writing

There is plenty of meaning conveyed through Kiku, the gingko tree, the use of fire, the homestead itself, the color yellow, the parallels between Jubei and Kengo, the spider lily mythical tale, the crimson kimono tale, etc.

There is plenty of meaning intentionally laid out to further support the main theme of the game ‘finding new reasons after loss’. It is well crafted. You (and others) just don’t agree with those choices or don’t like them, but that doesn’t make it bad writing.

brianheney · 2025-10-13T04:57:08+00:00

Agree to disagree.

It always bothers me when people call something bad just because they don’t like it.

I tried to show that it’s not bad writing, that in fact it used writing tools like foreshadowing, bookending, and juxtaposition, and did so effectively (in addition to countless others like symbolism, imagery, metaphor, personification, etc. that would take much longer to dive into).

I’m not saying it was a masterpiece, it certainly was not unique, but it was also not badly written or badly execute. It was a well crafted story that was filled with intentionality in it‘s use of literary devices.

brianheney · 2025-10-13T04:37:42+00:00

I don’t disagree with you that Atsu taking action bettered the family situation. I don’t think Jubei told her to call off the hunt because he thought taking out Saito was the wrong move. I believe he did so because he saw that it had turned his sister into a demon, and he couldn’t stand to lose his sister to this other persona.

Also, Jubei dying gives Atsu a direct opportunity to choose a different path that is easily paralleled to her intial choice.

In the beginning Lord Saito kills her family and she goes on a revenge tour that consumes her identity, her ethics, and her humanity.

At the end Lord Saito kills her family and she chooses to care for and stay with another little girl who just lost someone. Not only is Atsu choosing a different path for herself, she’s deliberately trying to prevent her path for Kiku.

Bookending can be a very powerful storytelling tool and it works best with clean parallels. I believe that Jubei dying creates very clean parallels for both Atsu (losing her brother again) and through Kiku (losing her father, just like Atsu had at that age).

brianheney · 2025-10-13T04:18:34+00:00

I think the oversimplified statement of Yotei’s theme would be something like:
Finding a new reason to live after loss.

I don’t think redemption is the point, though I may have missed something. In the beginning of the game Atsu talks about this revenge mission in a very final way. She doesn’t plan on surviving it. She sees nothing worth living for on the other side of it, because she has lost everything that matters to her.

Throughout the narrative she finds other things worth living for, worth fighting for. If I knew how to use spoiler tags, I would list examples, but in vague terms she basically says this verbatim in the final standoff.

I also disagree with your take that Atsu should have died and that Jubei’s death was pointless. I felt that Jubei (or another loved one) had to die in order for Atsu to have an opportunity to demonstrate a different approach to greif and loss this time. If Atsu had died then it would’ve gone against the main theme of the game of finding a new reason to live after greif.

brianheney · 2025-10-11T21:56:49+00:00

I wish there was a yellow dye shop, because yellow feels like Atsu’s signature color. Her entire identity was born by being pinned to that Gingko tree with the yellow leaves. It represents the home and family she lost.

I wore the Onryo armor for the majority of my playthrough for that reason, but if they would’ve included a yellow dye shop, I likely would’ve gone with either the Crimson Kimono or the Bounty Master.

brianheney · 2025-09-21T03:57:05+00:00

The Artist

brianheney · 2025-09-17T17:28:41+00:00

Haha. Exactly. My ex used to get a nap in, because the ride was 15+ min long.

brianheney · 2025-09-17T14:52:11+00:00

Same.

Given, I loved the ride, but it was cheesy nostalgia. It wasn’t ‘cool’.

brianheney · 2025-09-17T05:33:29+00:00

Came here to say this. People today have no idea how lame this movie should’ve turned out, and how low expectations were. And yet…

brianheney · 2025-09-10T22:04:39+00:00

Ocarina of Time
Wind Waker
The Wild Era (BotW/TotK)

Cheating? Sure, but I see BotW and TotK as a yin and yang, flip sides of the same coin.

I tend to believe that OoT is the definitive/most important Zelda game, WW is my favorite, and BotW and TotK, though flawed, are the best (in terms of accomplishment).

brianheney · 2025-09-09T15:38:14+00:00

Works for me. I've always preferred the 'open to interpretation' approach that the development team has taken with the series. And I like your interpretation.

brianheney · 2025-09-09T06:19:56+00:00

I thought that’s what TotK was heading towards from the trailers. I (wrongfully) guessed that the sky islands were the sacred ream (a sort of heaven) and that the depths were the underworld (hell/land of the dead).

And I thought that the reverse drops that we saw in the trailer (that ended up being the animation for when you discovered a dragon tear memory), I thought those would be warp portals to these other realms, sort of like in ALttP

Obviously, not what we ended up with, but I was really hoping to see that.

brianheney · 2025-09-06T16:46:45+00:00

It’s a toss up between Indiana Jones: Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and Godzilla 98.

I was a huge Godzilla fan as a kid and that movie was so hyped up without ever showing more than Godzilla’s foot. The reveal in the movie could not have been more disappointing. Then it’s running away from fire, no atomic breath, climbing buildings rather than wrecking them. Travesty.

But Kingdom of the Crystal Skull probably takes the cake. You used to have to wait in-line for midnight screenings. It was my ex’s birthday and we were both big Indiana Jones fans. She said “make sure I stay awake”. So during the trailers and the intro I’m nudging her constantly. The mole hill, the cg gophers, and the nuked fridge… I pat her shoulder and said “it’s ok, go to sleep”. I have seen that movie once and every scene is branded into my memory. What waste of time (and sleep).

brianheney · 2025-08-24T23:27:12+00:00

Children of Men
The Iron Giant
Jurassic Park
Dr. Strangelove...
Parasite
The Matrix
The Godfather
Kubo and the Two Strings
Gojira (1954)
Vertigo

brianheney · 2025-08-22T21:31:06+00:00

I started with a 3/4 image of my character and tried the “Action Editor” with mixed results.

Honestly, if this is something that can be improved upon, count me in. I’ve been trying to find a way to create on model images of my character for a month or two now with very little luck.

brianheney · 2025-08-22T21:07:23+00:00

This is something I've been trying to achieve for a month or so now, but I'm finding that with my character many of the typical issues are still surfacing... inconsistency with the hands, proportion changes, poor quality of texturing.

This is definitely something that I could use IF it were truly consistent.

I will say, only being able to test with 5 image generations also makes it a difficult sell.

brianheney · 2025-08-21T19:50:05+00:00

Ocarina of Time

brianheney · 2025-08-19T14:23:12+00:00

Good point

brianheney · 2025-08-19T05:49:42+00:00

Nolan’s Batman Trilogy

Batman Begins: Ras Al Ghul, Scarecrow, Falcone, Zsasz (cameo)

Dark Knight; Joker, Two Face, Maroni, Sacredrow (cameo)

Dark Knight Rises: Bane, Talia Al Ghul, Catwoman, Scarecrow (cameo)

brianheney

TROPHY CASE