Honestly I don’t think anyone can really look at TotK and not think it was a massive undertaking. They took the giant open world of BotW, made it bigger, and added a ton of more physics interactions, and have it running on a 7-year-old gaming tablet. It’s incredible they could do that at all.
Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom devs explain why it was a much bigger overhaul than you'd think
Submitted 8 months ago by simple@lemm.ee to games@lemmy.world
Comments
Fubarberry@sopuli.xyz 8 months ago
Goronmon@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Always interesting to read about some of the specific considerations to go into features that may not seem that complicated at first glance (especially to the layman).
Ephera@lemmy.ml 8 months ago
After reading that headline, for just a moment, I thought this was going to be Bethesda-style gaslighting of players…
almar_quigley@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Spent too much time overhauling and perfecting game design and put the interns on story and narration.
Kolanaki@yiffit.net 8 months ago
The story’s been basically the same since the first game anyway: Gannon bad. Zelda missing. Kill Gannon; rescue Zelda. Oh and there’s maybe a triangle to find depending on the game.
dandroid@sh.itjust.works 8 months ago
You haven’t had to rescue Zelda much in the past 25 years.
In Ocarina of Time, Zelda was a badass ninja warrior that was constantly helping you.
In Majora’s Mask, Zelda didn’t appear.
In Wind Waker, Zelda was the leader of a gang of pirates. She had their respect and undying loyalty despite all being twice her size, because of he toughness and bravery. IIRC she actually kills Gannon in this one by bouncing an arrow off Link’s shield.
I don’t remember Twilight Princess enough to speak on that one, tbh.
In BotW, Zelda is fighting Gannon for 100 years (!!!) to buy time while Link sleeps and then later cooks food in his underwear.
In TotK, Zelda makes the ultimate sacrifice, trading her humanity to give Link a chance to beat Ganondorf. She makes herself immortal, but trades away her individuality and ability to think. She spends eternity crying because of what she lost to give Hyrule hope. I think she’s particularly brave in this one.
Zelda has not been a damsel in distress for a very, very long time. Both Zelda and Link play critical roles in saving Hyrule. Their roles are just different. Link saves Hyrule with a sword. Zelda saves Hyrule in other ways. Their roles are different but equally necessary.
almar_quigley@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Definitely true. But I liked the renditions from the last two 3d games before BOTW. It’s just the gameplay that was rough in those. The next round needs to put the two together.
turkalino@lemmy.yachts 8 months ago
As a lifelong Zelda fan, I’ve never cared much for the stories of Zelda games anyways. Like Mario games, they’re always incredibly simple placeholders that boil down to “princess gone, defeat evil that took her”. These games got their start when that was the only story that you could fit on the cartridge anyways, so I could see why Nintendo would want to keep that spirit alive.
Plus, in an open world game, is story really that important? I’d rather have the excellent gameplay of TOTK than something like Red Dead 2 which is a great story with excruciatingly boring gameplay.
Spuddlesv2@lemmy.ca 8 months ago
The stories in most Nintendo games are weak and mostly pointless. I loved BOTW but strrrrrrrruggled to enjoy TOTK. It just felt too gimmicky. And I adore RDR2, story and gameplay.
Lesrid@lemm.ee 8 months ago
I really enjoyed the writing of the side characters in the N64 games. Sure most only had two maybe three things to say outside a side quest but they all had a nugget of commentary on the human condition.
Pilferjinx@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Yeah the main reason I love Zelda games is the exploration and puzzles.
Drummyralf@lemmy.world 8 months ago
I kinda liked the over the top anime narration. The repeated lines after every dungeon were terrible, but really enjoyed the tears stuff.