Thank u for ripping the ending apart

Irt the soundtrack, I actually use the Tune of Ages for a ringtone. It’s a sweet melody.

i think every zelda game is a work of art

YOOOO, I remember N+!

This is just plebian opinions

I really enjoyed this, it's nice to find a Critique of TOTK that is positive and not just shitting on it for 3 hours. After watching this I realized something, Fans have been saying Majora's Mask is a better Sequel to OOT than Tears Of The Kingdom is to BOTW and I think this ids a delusion. Where does MM connect to OOT? I think at the begining it's mentioned Link is looking for a "Lost Friend" but that is it, the plot has nothing to do with Link finding Navi and the only connection it has to OOT is the scene with Zelda teaching Link the Song of Time. What's funny is that it was marketed as a Sequel to OOT but it could easily be a stand alone game.

I vastly prefer ToTK to BotW, I probably won't ever replay breath but I will definitely replay TotK

Anyone ever hear a song made by iron maiden singer (BRUCE DICKINSON) TEARS OF THE DRAGON 🐉? IF NOT GIVE IT A 👂 LISTEN 👂👁️ 📐 IT WOULD OF FIT PERFECTLY FOR THIS GAME WITH that said I enjoyed your video

I genuinely prefer tears to breath to be honest. That said, I’ve watched over 7 hours of detailed hatred for the game with some praise for what they felt deserved praise, and loved every moment of the viewing. It’s lovely to have the balance of someone who loves the game but criticises the stuff that deserves it

I don't wanna jump on the bandwagon but I noticed that TOTK didn't capture me as much as BOTW did. The only time I felt motivated was when discovering the Wind Temple.

Flawless game

because of how easy it is to break the game with the mechanics I actually found it rewarding to figure the "Developer intended solution" to some of the puzzles The water temple for example: It is easy to break it in half but it is hard to figure out how it was intended to be solved properly

in defense of Map on the wheel: I've found myself using it a bit more recently since it is easier to reach the L button then the - button quickly... especially if I need a quick warp for... reasons... *looks at savage Lynel*

SPIRIT TRACKS CONTENT! I enjoy Phantom Hourglass significantly less but I don't hate it. Spirit Tracks however is my 5th favorite Zelda game and I've finished all but the Oracle games.

3 of the bosses were extremely tough. That's the queen thing, the first Ganon fight, and the second one was out of this world. Took me two days to learn his move patterns and that's how I beat him. I had to keep going to power up and coming back, making sure I had enough food and heart replacing meals. I had at least 4 left during the Ganon fight which was more than enough. I couldn't believe when I finally beat him because I was at the end in BOTW but had no interest in finishing like I was with TOTK. I couldn't put my Switch Lite down playing TOTK so like most gamers said, it is addictively fun.

Outside of some bad progression issues (getting to Kakariko on the Dark World for the first time, book and flute hints), and some bad dungeon room designs, ALTTP is a perfect game. Not only for its time but as the blueprint to every Zelda game after it and for defining what is a Zelda game. Not to mention that the art style is unique and was never improved. An 2D HD style Zelda would be so much better than the 3Dish stuff they are doing now (2024).

This seems very reminiscent of Rayman Origins/Legends, albeit much easier, if you want to try something that might scratch the same itch.

This app cant run on PC

I always knew Mario and Luigi wasn’t dead. I just saw it as being in purgatory and it would only be a matter of time before we would see another game from it and what do you know I was right

Quick question, do you consider Link and Zelda's relationship in BotW & TotK romantic or no lol?

Wish you could've brought up the post credits scene that serves as the actual ending of the story. Other than that, this was an excellent analysis. 👍

As a Tears of the Kingdom "hater" (well, more like disliker, hate is a strong word). I do find myself agreeing with your compliments and criticism. There are some thing that were a minor annoyance for you while a dealbreaker for me (The Fuse UI for example), and that's ok and par for the course. I do want to comment a little on your points about the story though, I interpret Aonuma's statement about "a game with no story" talking more about a game that doesn't really have a narrative and players make their own story. I would say a similar game to this is Minecraft, which has no intro, barely an ending, but many players make their own stories about their survival worlds. Their first house, their pets, their builds, their losses and how they reached the ending. Even after The End players continue to build a story. I feel like something like this is Aonuma's goal, but Tears of the Kingdom is not doing this at all. Sure I tackled things in my own order, built my house, did my own creations, continued to use my horses from Breath of the WIld, but the game does have a narrative with long, sometimes unskipabble, cutscenes and established characters. So Aonuma is saying one thing while the game is doing another. Funnily enough I think Breath of the Wild was more close to this than Tears of the Kingdom. After the Great Plateau your only objective is "Defeat Ganon". Breath of the Wild gave me that more personal feeling of me doing my own story, like Minecraft, as opposed to the more involved Sage questline. I will say there are some external factors contributing to this like me not talking with Hestu until I was 80% done with the game (Yes I really thought Korok seeds were useless for that long), and the map being totally fresh. I also disagree that this is what Zelda stories are supposed to be. From A Link to the Past up until Skyward Sword every Zelda game has been a story with many subplots and characters. OoT, Minish Cap, TP, and SS are the biggest examples of games that are telling a story to the player rather than having the player shape the story. That being said if this is what they want to do now I am not opposed to it. My problem (which also extends to other aspects of the game like the gameplay) is that they want to do things without being shackled by the past games, but continue to rely on them to the point where it feels like nostalgia baiting. I personally did enjoy the Breath of the Wild story. Link has amnesia for the most part so you learn about the world as you go along. What they do with this journey is give you the backstory, and this backstory serves as a motivator to "make things right" this time. As you progress you see how the remaining towns were affected by the Calamity. You find places like Fort Hateno that tell a story on their own. Every random piece of ruins is a reminder of the calamity. However, even if Breath of the Wild was a trash tier story I don't see how that would justify Tears of the Kingdom having a bad story. The game starts with a 5 minute unskipabble cutscene. This instantly tells me as the player that they want to tell me a story and they want me to care about it. From OoT to Skyward Sword the Zelda devs have a precedent of connecting the games. Majora's Mask follows up on the story of the Hero of Time, even if in a pretty unrelated way to OoT. Wind Waker explicitly takes place after Link defeats Ganon. Phantom Hourglass follows up on this specifc Link. Twilight Princess explicitly takes place on the timeline after Child Link spoke to Zelda and prevented Ganon from rising to power. Skyward Sword marketed itself as the beginning of the timeline. The devs did connect games. I don't think every game needs to have direct connection to previous games. I don't need Tears of the Kingdom to talk about the Twilight Realm and the Minish and reveal that Termina was the depths or some fanfic nonsense like that; however if you told me "Tears of the Kingdom will feature the founder of the Kingdom of Hyrule" I expect something that is relevant and enhances the older games just like Skyward Sword did with the origin of the Master Sword. And my main point with this comment (Sorry I like yapping) are this. The Zelda team needs to decide whether they want to do something totally new or continue relying on the old games. The excuse is usually "the old lore limits our creativity", but if that's the case why do you have a Ganondorf kneeling scene that only serves to reference OoT? Why even have Ganondorf at all and not make a new villain that can let you tell the story you want to tell (or not tell). The team talks about being limited by previous games while constantly relying on their imagery, leitmotifs, characters, plot points, etc. I personally do not believe the existing Zelda lore is limiting, but if it really is that limiting then throw it away and start anew. Naming the King of Hyrule Rauru just feels like pandering at that point rather than being cool. We've had so many Kings of Hyrule and this is the first one to not have a unique name Breath of the Wild did feel like they just didn't care about previous games, but in a tasteful way. Rito have shouldn't coexist with the Zora since they are the evolution from the latter, but they wanted to bring them back with a new design so we didn't care. It was the first game in a while to not have an explicit timeline placing, so it's far in the future where it wouldn't really interfere with anything in the previous games. Even the first great calamity is far in the future. That's why many people called it a soft reboot. Tears of the Kingdom feels more like they want to have their cake and eat it too. They tell the story of AN Imprisoning War, but it's not THE Imprisoning War. They bring back Ganondorf, but it's another Ganondorf not the one we know and love. They call a character Rauru, but only because he's the sage of light, no other reason. In general just going back to Sages and Temples when BotW had the fresher Champions and Divine Beasts. Zelda went back to the founding of the Kingdom of Hyrule, but not THE Hyrule we have had in the other games. This by itself isn't a bad thing, reusing tropes and archetypes is common and in general a good thing, but even in a vacuum I think the execution of these aren't great. The Imprisoning War feels more like The Imprisoning fight. The old kingdom of Hyrule is not explored. The ancient sages are non-characters. The temples don't feel like actual locations, they feel like videogame level. The only appealing part is they tickle the nostalgia bone of having the recognizable names and characters. Even the Zonai lore itself just feels like pandering. Have a bunch of Zonai stuff since they were popular on the theories, but actually disregard what BotW implied and make up whatever. (At least in this aspect I do like Rauru and Mineru's design, and the new Zonai architecture is pretty). TLDR: Standalone I don't think the story of Tears of the Kingdom is good. In the context of the Zelda series I am annoyed at the developers justifying contradictions as wanting to "break free" from the established lore, while using the established lore and imagery to cheaply pander to Zelda fans.

I didn't agree with a single thing you said, but this was a long VE I got to watch so 👍

In BotW, I’d go to Faron tower, glide to a plateau on one side, there are lots of hearty durian. Then if you go back then glide to the other side you get lots of mighty bananas. In TotK you go to the side where hearty durian’s were previously, now there are none and you get attacked by Gloom Hands . Initially I thought it was blood moon but it was too early … nice . Bananas are still On the other side. I think they did this intentionally, no coincidence. Just to show this isn’t going to be too easy .

I'm a huge fan of both BotW and TotK and agree with you on most things, but don't call it a critique if you're not going to be critical...

My favorite pikmin game

True and real video

Bingo battle is truly only about 2 terrible Nintendo decisions from being an all time great competitive 1v1 game. The randomized bingo card is just brilliant. I would love to see the absolute mindgames that would occur if it were played at a high level

2k subs and 3 hour vid on why tokt is bad.... LET'S FUCKING GOOOOOOOOO!!! :D .....oh wait , nevermind......

Probably my biggest issue with the story is that they retconned the Zonai from a barbaric ancient tribe located primarily in Faron to... magic godlike sky goats. I don't mind Zelda retcons in the story usually but this is a direct sequel to the game where the Zonai where introduced. And then they don't even explain much about them?? We see their technology, two of their members, and learn about the stormwind ark. Thats kinda all I gathered (Feel free to tell me anything more we learned, I haven't played for a bit). The name "Zonai" is a pun on mystery so I don't see why they would even put the Zonai in such a prominent spot in the first place.

I got to Mineru and finished dragons tears way earlier than the game wanted me to and i genuinely think that and finding one memory out of order that spoiled the entire thing completely ruined my conception of and immersion in this story. I don’t understand why they made it so you could find memories in any order when viewing them out of it is such a tank on the experience. Same goes for stumbling on Mineru, If the fog is meant to deter players from getting to it early, then why not make it like the mystic fog in korok forest that actually teleports you away when you haven’t gotten to that point in the story yet? After learning about Zelda and having to follow some illusions that you know aren’t real around with the game just failing to give any dialogue or indication of this being the case there was such a clear break in immersion the rest of the regional phenomenon quests and bits of us following her around felt so pointless, pointless in a way i’ve never felt playing thru the main story of a zelda game before. I get they want absolute freedom here, but when it’s actively detracting from the grand narrative they want to spin I feel like it’s worth reconsidering.

34:29 no, the yiga trees are only the ones where there’s three trees surrounding a banana. Evermeans are new enemies.

I haven't played Pikmin 4, but I assume this holds true for it, too. There's no other series of games I've played that embodies "comparison is the thief of joy" quite like Pikmin. Every game is different enough that to compare them to one another only hurts the player. I see them as the same "family" but if I try to compare them to each other, I just feel worse about all of them. Pikmin 1 is designed to be this intimate experience that, to me, lets you get in-tune with the world and it's character. The ability to speedrun it mechanically is just a bonus in my opinion. Pikmin 2 is designed to be this larger than life task - not necessarily a whimsical adventure, but one where it's big enough that you still want to take your time - like a moving trip. It's such a huge undertaking that speeding through is to wallow in defeat, but despite it's unfun premise it still brings out a memorable and satisfying, experience seeing this large project come together. Pikmin 3 is like a fun business trip - there are beautiful sights to see (courtesy of its superior graphics), but the power is in your hands. You make more decisions than ever, with contentious "best combat types" (before it was reds, yellows with bombs, and for 2, purples. Now it could be reds for higher damage, rocks for their specific use cases, or wings for their spicy spray synergy and versatility against water) and the management of three captains with more control over them than ever before. The stakes are the highest, but you're not alone and you know that you can succeed even if the numbers aren't initially on your side. You had "help" in 2, but that was more "2 people doing their own that happen to share a goal" (emphasized by the fact that every character's text, while chock-full of sald character, is self contained, with nobody interacting with each other 95% of the time. Even everyone had separate motivations, with Olimar just trying to get the job done for the sake of rest, Louie being there out of obligation by Chacho and other mysterious motivations, and Chacho's sole motive being cash money. Also your help was either Louie and greed incarnate, so... Is it _really_ help?). Now, everyone interacts with each other both in story and in gameplay, with the same ultimate motivation. It won't last long in the grand scheme of things and isn't always the most intimate, but it's tightly knit and a story worth telling nonetheless. Pikmin 1's intimacy contrasts with 2's cold unpersonability (in a good way). 2's scope contrasts with 3's focus. 3's community and beauty contrasts with 1's solitude and simplicity. To compare each game is to ignore their unique, incompatible strengths, leaving you with their "weaknesses" that are only flaws under a universal standard. The sum lf Pikmin's parts are ironically (in a good way) better than the package as a whole.

New fairy fountain change is cheaper if you are playing casually, but so much more expensive if you are upgrading everything😢

Washing kegs at work so I’m buckled in

I think the z targeting combat has aged gracefully. It was made with the N64 controller as its basis of course but it just feels so perfectly mapped.

Love this thanks!! Been playing a lot of the 2d Zeldas. I don't know much about epilepsy but wondering if it's worth putting a flash warning before the part in minish cap section where it speeds though the miniatures collection. Anyway, well done

Adventure of Link goes from a cozy stroll to bone breaking the hard in the span of two dungeons LOL and then the last stretch of the game is so unforgiving I don't blame anyone for cheating. I didn't but I will if I ever decide to poison my NES with it again

Still haven't heard anyone pile praise on this game like Breath got... Eh at least when I buy it I'll get it cheaper than retail. I'm kinda glad you made this review this long so I have plenty of ideas of what to expect

About something you say around 1:10:00. I think some of the memory photos were not taken on the same day the memory occured, and Link remembers the memory we get to see instead of how he took the picture because his emotional connections to those moments are so much stronger. One evidence for this: There's no rain in the picture you used as an example

I may be a little biased because TP is my favourite Zelda game and my 2nd favourite game ever but I think the opening is genius. Twilight Princess, in my opinion, was the first 3D Zelda game to really nail the Hero's Journey. Ocarina and Majora both start off the game with a sense of urgency; in Ocarina your very first task is to meet the Deku Tree and not 20 minutes into the game you're told that the world is in danger and only you can help. In Majora, Link is already a hero. He's already gone through the events of Ocarina and is once again thrust into the hero position because there'd a very clear and devastating threat to Termina. TP, however, starts off relaxed and peaceful. Link is a simple ranch hand and you spend your time just being another resident of Ordon, nothing more and nothing less. Link is not a warrior, he's a caregiver and a protector. Link's quest in the beginning isn't to save the world, its to rescue his friends. It just so happens that his call to action ends up catapulting him into a position where the fate of the world rests on his shoulders. Windwaker has a similar feel to its opening with your journey to rescue Aryll being undercut by Ganondorf's conquest of Hyrule, but I don't think it nails the intro quite as hard because Link isn't just a simple villager. He's a fighter, he trains with Orca and he comes from a line of warriors. That fighting spirit lives inside him. And while TP Link does have the Triforce of Courage and ancestral ties to the previous Links in the timeline, TP feels the most disconnected from the overarching narrative that spans these games. Plus a big reason for his motivations is his relationship with Midna, something Windwaker could never have done with KORL.

Years before I started playing Zelda I always saw the back then new games Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks in magazines. Young me thought that was what all Zelda games looked like, and I get weirdly nostalgic over these two. I love them and Windwaker for the artstyle!

Very good review. You talked about the good and the bad of the game correctly. (I still don't like this game lol)