#i want to say - totk very much so has had the ability to give me new ''wow'' moments that i had in botw | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

roxyco-deliverygirl · 3 months

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The more I think about totk the less I like it. Like I've played almost every zelda game (the only ones I haven't played are Zelda 2, the four swords games & oracle of ages because I played seasons) and totk is like, maybe bottom 3, the only thing saving it from actually being in the bottom is that none of my friends would play triforce heroes with me and that's significantly less fun without multiplayer (and there are some things I like in triforce more than totk, like being able to put Link in a dress, actually it’s just that) also at first I was going to end it there but then I remembered that they said there was no dlc because they'd done everything they wanted to do with this version of Hyrule which might mean no Hyrule warriors (the only redeeming point I would have given to totk) so fuck it here's every problem I have with it.

Story

So the story isn't very good, you go to a place, see Zelda be so incredibly suspicious (more on that later), secret stone demon king, repeat another 3 times. Then you learn about the 5th temple, secret stone demon king, now go kill Ganondorf.

And a barebones story can be fine, but it's frustrating that the some of the biggest complaints about botw were about the story, the only real difference is that instead of getting the divine beasts you're getting secret stones.

Weapon design

More specifically what I have a problem with is the monster horns. The monsters looked pretty good in botw but because of the weapon fuse mechanic every monster has a different horn so you can get different weapons (which also bloats the inventory but that's a minor issue I dont really care about) and they clearly designed them as weapons not as body parts so they looked good in botw but now they look kinda awkward in totk by having a sword or a scythe blade sticking out of their head, it's also kinda annoying that the new monsters like the aerocuda, gibdo and gleeok look really good and have weapon parts that fit into the designs much more naturally.

But I also have a problem with the weapons themselves. There's so much less variation than in botw. Weapons had different shapes like with the Yiga sickle or the spring loaded hammer or even the weak weppons like a broom or a farming tool, but totk doesn't have anything like that. It kinda reminds me of Monster Hunter World, where a lot of the weapons looked very similar to eachother and the only variation was the monster parts attached to them.

The memories are kinda terrible. They have information thats wrong compared to the gameplay, and some spoilers that actually ruined some of the present day stuff that Link is doing. For stuff that's wrong: the great deku tree says that the master sword will get more powerful if its exposed to more sacred power, after you get it back from the light dragon it is identical to how it was at the beginning of the game and a lot weaker than it was if you did any of the botw dlc, I guess this is supposed to be about Ganondorf not being able to break the sword this time but he doesn't even try. And Mineru says that secret stones only amplify their owners' power, but the companions you get don't actually have their abilities amplified and are functionally identical to how they were before, and the secret stone aparantly gives them a new power of duplicating themselves.

The gameplay clashing with the story can be seen as nitpicking or whatever but the story ruining itself is so much worse. So if you finish the dragon tears before doing the temples, it makes Link look stupid or that he's actively withholding information from the team and leading them into traps on purpose. Link sees in the memories that Zelda turned herself into a dragon and that it's impossible to turn back, he knows that Zelda is still a dragon because you've seen her, it's pretty likely that you've touched the light dragon. You've also seen a memory where Ganondorf created an illusion of Zelda to assassinate Sonia. So whenever the new sages say they saw Zelda, Link knows for an absolute fact that they've been tricked, and he doesn't tell them. The worst offender of this is when you go to Hyrule Castle following "Zelda". Purah sees her through a telescope and Link doesn't say that it's an illusion from Ganondorf. He goes to her and gets ambushed by monsters six times in a row, then he goes into another ambush against the strongest version of the phantom Ganon boss. And sure you could do the dragon tears after, but there's nothing stopping you from spoiling yourself and no indication that one of the main quests in your quest log contains spoilers for the rest of the game.

General attitude to fans

This is a kinda minor problem that just rubbed me the wrong way. In botw there was a trick called whistle sprinting, where you could move faster without using your stamina by whistling and mashing the sprint button. In totk if you mash sprint like you would to whistle sprint, it actually drains your stamina faster. Sure it was an exploit or a glitch or whatever getting patched, but they clearly fixed the issue and then deliberately added a mechanic that would punish you for trying. People who know how to whistle sprint are mostly speedrunners or people who replayed the game a lot, as in the people who cared about the game the most, and they're getting punished because they love the game.

Treatment of the Zelda franchise as a whole

After the totk trailer, the next game released was a remake of Skyward Sword (my favourite Zelda game). Clearly making a comparison between the sky islands seen in totk and the sky islands of Skyward Sword. The story of Skyward Sword explained the continuity between Zelda games and turned it from a series of legends into a story across fate about how love and goodness will always be there to stop evil. Tears of the Kingdom pretty much explicitly says that all previous Zelda games aren't canon, not just botw's "they're in the ancient past and won't have any effect on this game" but fully overwriting the events of other games, Skyward sword ended with the sky islands descending and the people deciding to found a kingdom that would become Hyrule but in the dragon tear memories and what Mineru says about history, we know that the Zonai founded Hyrule. It feels like they don't like the previous games.

And there are a few other things that are smaller, like I don't like the Zonai powers compared to the Shieka slate, I think the memories feel disconnected since there's no zonai tech (other than one cooking pot), the weapons look completely different from anything we have access to and Rauru never uses any of the powers that Link gets from his arm (other than opening a door) it feels almost like the game and the story were made separately from eachother.

I don't want the next Zelda game to be like these games have been.

#the legend of zelda #totk

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bluevaractyl · 9 months

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Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom ramblings and spoilers below

Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom give Link incredible abilities via the Sheikah Slate, the Champions' gifts, Rauru's arm, and the Sages' vows. At the end of BotW, the spirits of the Champions have fulfilled their purpose and pass on, presumably taking their gifts with them, since Link no longer has them in TotK. We're not sure what happened to all of the Sheikah technology in the time between BotW and TotK. (My personal uninformed belief is that it all stopped working, either because it was no longer needed with Calamity Ganon gone, or because the Gloom gradually corroded it. Maybe Ganondorf recognized it was a potential threat.) In any case, by the time Link returns to the surface in TotK, the shrines and towers are nowhere to be found, and Purah and Robbie have created their own towers and replaced the Sheikah Slate with the Purah Pad, which notably lacks the Remote Bomb, Magnesis, Stasis, and Cryonis Runes the Sheikah Slate had. Instead, he now has abilities like Ultrahand, Fuse, Ascend, and Recall. He can also call on the Sages' vows for help in a very similar way to the Champions' gifts in BotW. At the end of the game, he no longer has Rauru's arm, and therefore probably has none of these abilities.

This is interesting to me because all of these abilities were essential to gameplay and fun to play around with, but from a writing perspective, it might be better that he loses them in the end.

Okay I won't lie I'm really just thinking of Linked Universe (though this applies to pretty much any Linkverse). The problem with trying to write a character that overpowered is

1) it's really hard to realistically make use of all those abilities. If Wild can bring down lightning on his enemies whenever he wants with no consequences whatsoever (besides a recharge time), why wouldn't he? If he can build whatever he wants instantly, he would probably take full advantage of that, right? He would never be trapped anywhere if he could simply Ascend out. But having such easy solutions makes it tempting to write yourself into a corner by eliminating conflict.

2) it can make the other characters seem drab and underpowered. The very best Linked Universe stories I've read carefully balance all the Links, showcasing their unique experiences and items and skills without making one Link appear dramatically more or less capable than the rest (unless it's a case of an unreliable narrator perceiving only those differences. Sometimes those are pretty good too).

3) uhhh I forgot what three was. Oh well

If you are writing post-BotW Link, it might make sense for him to still have the Sheikah Slate Runes, depending on how close to TotK you set it. (Jojo's comic makes use of at least the Stasis rune, to devastating effect.) If you are writing right before TotK or after TotK, it makes the most sense for Link to only have the limited functions of the Purah Pad, assuming he hasn't given it back to Zelda.

This is NOT to say people shouldn't let Link keep some of his abilities for story purposes. I've enjoyed plenty of fics that include them, even when it wasn't necessarily canon or didn't really make sense. But I do think there is something to putting characters in situations that are genuinely difficult.

So go ahead and write Link struggling. Let him be uncomfortably aware that he no longer has Mipha to bring him back from the brink. Let him be frustrated that he has to climb mountains instead of catching Revali's updraft to soar. Let him save Urbosa's lightning for the direst situation because it takes a lot out of him, or let him remember far too late that it's gone with her. Let him worry about what the breakdown of the Sheikah Slate means for the future. Let him hoard weapons with a desperation because he can't use Fuse to strengthen them, and all the weapons in his world are corroded and fragile. Let him miss the comfort of having a shade of his friends by his side. Let him be clever, and persistent, and fierce, and soft, and wild, or whatever you see him as, without relying on his special abilities to prove his worth. Let him be mortal.

Whoops I wrote an essay. Feel free to share your two cents.

#linked universe #breath of the wild #tears of the kingdom #totk spoilers #blue speaks

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margindoodles2407 · 6 months

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The Long-Awaited PART SIX of Margin's Heroforge Saga: Breath of the Wild

IT IS HERE! And I am SO PROUD of it. Seriously, I think these might be my favorite designs yet- and that is SAYING something, considering how much I liked doing Hyrule Warriors and Wind Waker. I hope you guys enjoy these as much as I enjoyed making them :) The Champion Descendants, I decided, I'm going to put off for now and I would put them in a potential TotK set instead.

Also. I'm going to put a cutoff right here because this post is VERY long, for not only are there pictures, but RAMBLES as well. it is NOT for the faint of heart. You have been warned.

Luminary. Oh my gosh, I am SO HAPPY that Heroforge afforded options for his repaired eye. His hair has grown, because... well... hair doesn't stop growing while you're in stasis... he has scars from his final stand, and he's dressed MUCH more simply than he was before the Calamity, but he's happy. That's important, as you'll see below. Also, yes the torch is a nod to the arson joke. I am obligated by law to include it. No, seriously, there are government agents standing behind me watching as I type this (/j).

Luminary (Pre-Calamity). If you take a gander above, you'll see that this tunic has more gems and silver accents, but does not have the pattern the present-day pictures display. That was purposeful. The thought was that it was so damaged during the Calamity that the Sheikah had to repair it- and they did so by improving it by giving it a pattern (because, you will notice, all the other Champions- minus Zelda- have patterns on their Champion Attire). Link's didn't have a pattern- which was a nod by me to how his role as Swordsman dehumanized him, and made him less himself. Despite all the prestige that surrounded his role (symbolized by the gems... which i am now realizing you can't see well but trust me, they're there... and the silver), it did nothing but add to the crushing weight on his shoulders, causing him to retreat even further into himself.

Sunshine. UGH. I LOVE HER OUTFIT. I WANT HER OUTFIT. In all seriousness. Please draw your attention to the Sheikah Slate which I so lovingly crafted (if you look in the second picture you can kind of see the eye on the screen) and her Silent Princess earrings. Also, you'll note that her hair is very pale and her skin is very dark. Well, this comes from my headcanon that she's half Sheikah- Rhoam is, in fact, a Sheikah, and Impa, Purah, and Robbie are not just Zelda's best friends, but also, in fact, her cousins! This also gives some background to her interest in Sheikah Tech- because she wants to reconnect with her Father's side of the family.

Sunshine (Pre-Calamity). Notice that she still wears the Silent Princess earrings (which represent her ability to act autonomously), but her outfit is much more formal (i tried to be as accurate as possible to her in-game princess dress because I love it) and includes the Royal Red. She also has a dark red ruby in her crown- if you've followed this series since the start, you may recognize it from before. In the other sets, this dark red gem (along with a dark red metal not featured in this set) is only ever worn by Sheikah characters. Well, not only is it worn by Zelda here (which is plausible, considering she is of Sheikah descent) but it is also worn on Luminary's pre-Calamity belt (which I am telling you since you cannot see it)- which represents how the Royals have claimed the Sheikah, and by extention their culture, as belonging to them. Take that as you will.

Sunshine (Prayer Dress). OH SWEET NAYRU HOW I LOVE THIS ONE. OKAY. So, as you can tell, this shot takes place at the MOMENT Zelda's powers are unlocked- hence the golden sigils on her arms and chest, the golden tears streaming down her cheeks, and the golden strands in her hair. But take a look at her attire- it looks as canon-accurate as I was able to get (because I love the prayer dress), but notice that her silent princess earrings, which represent her autonomy, are conspicuously missing. Instead, they are replaced with gold earrings (that were as close as I could get to a triforce shape), showing- much like the lack of a pattern on Luminary's Pre-Calamity tunic- that, while she's in the role of the failed Sacred Princess, anything resembling her individuality has been utterly stripped away from her. She has been reduced to nothing more than a tool to be used.

Zelink (ignore the glowy thing. there is literally NOTHING i can do to get rid of it.) YES. Okay. I have little to say about this one- because it speaks for itself- other than that the minute I saw that there was an option to hold a frog I knew EXACTLY how I was posing these two. Thusly. There they are, in all their glory. Also please note Link's expression. I find it hilarious.

Mipha. Ah yes, now we move on to the Champions- who I am quite proud of. For the record, Mipha's face was probably the most complicated thing I fanagled with on this entire set, except maybe Urbosa's armor. Anyway, her head fins were inspired by her lionfish concept art, and her crown was modeled after the one Laruto wears in my Wind Waker set. Also, her Champion's pattern is fish scales in shades of baby blue- I've always liked the idea that the Champions each wore a different shade of blue (and in this case different patterns because I couldn't get the actual insignia on their garb) to symbolize the different races (represented by the different shades) uniting under a common goal (represented by the fact that they're all wearing blue). Finally, notice the green Poe shading, which I added to all the Champions since. You know. They're dead. But I think it looks really cool :) Also I just love Mipha, she's such a sweetheart and I am REALLY proud with how she came out. Heroforge may not be the best for Rito but if you know how to hack the system you can get some really good Zora out of it :)

Revali. Oh my word. To fanagle with this bird man was just. He was, in true Revali fashion, difficult. But I ended up taking the same route I did with Medli in the Wind Waker set by giving him bird characteristics :) His Champion's garb is Indigo, and you can't see it very well because of how I posed him but since there was no option to give the scarf a pattern, I put it on his skirt thing- it's a pattern of stripes and circles. I am quite proud of his shading and of the feather attachments on his head :)

Daruk. OH MAN. I LOVE HIM. One thing that can be said for Heroforge is that, though it's bad at making Rito and you have to stretch to make Zora, GORONS are quite easy to make and SUPER FUN. Also, not only does he have the Poe shading but the rocks protrudig from his skin also glow with that green light- like Luminous Stones! He's smiling but it's kind of hard to see because of his 'stache. Also, the Boulder Breaker came out lovely. His Champion garb is in shades of Navy, with a geometric diamond pattern that reminded me of gemstones. Also, at this point I want to call attention to the fact that, much like the champion garb, each character's landscape on their base is slightly different, symbolizing the fact that the Wild has many different ways of showing itself, which is one of the core themes of the game :)

Urbosa. OH MY WORD. HER ARMOR TOOK ME A SOLID 20 MINUTES. BUT I AM SO PROUD OF IT. For reference, like how the Sheikah have those special gems and metal, the Gerudo have a very specific armor set that I have designated just for them- the armor she wears on her shoulders and boots, specifically (other pieces can be swapped but pretty much every Gerudo will be wearing those pauldrons and boots, albeit in different colors. See Nabooru for reference- and yes, I did make them purposely similar-looking). You can't see it well because of the Poe Light, but her Champion's garb is also in the pattern that I specifically designated for the Gerudo; Nabs doesn't have a good display of it but you can see it more clearly on Ganondorf. It's in shades of Turquoise because it reminds me of the desert sky.

And with that, Breath of the Wild is done! Any thoughts? Don't be afraid to share them! The last installment in this first leg will be the Classic Games- you know, The Hyrule Fantasy and Zelda II: The Adventure of Link. I'm really excited for those and I think you'll like them too. And then I'll put up another poll and do the next round of games, because you guys seem to really be enjoying these!

Have a great day, and see you later!

#breath of the wild #botw #margin rambles #heroforge #i am SO PROUD of this set guys. you don't even know #and I am SO HAPPY that you guys really seem to be liking these!#they're super fun to make and it's even more fun to watch y'all lose your minds over them :)

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marcilled · 1 year

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I'd love to hear your thoughts on TOTK and what it's flaws and strengths are to you!

I had a whole response typed for this, ready to post, and my power shut off... well! I'm back now so I'll try to type my thoughts on this again.

big disclaimer here that tears of the kingdom is a HUGE game... I'm still working my way through it. I've done the equivalent of one of the divine beasts in botw for a bit of reference (they have a very direct equivalent in totk it seems).

that being said some of its strengths were the strengths botw had... truly expansive open world, that does an amazing job at rewarding you for exploring it. It never feels "empty", there's always some little surprise to find in every tiny nook and cranny you can explore- usually a korok. There's so many koroks. None of them are where they were in botw, despite using the same map (with some modifications).

this got really long, so I'm going to put a readmore (might contain some vague spoilers)

What I find especially apparent with totk, that sets it apart from the previous game, is that it does a really great job of guiding the player from point to point. It's still very much an open world game, but instead of leaving you directionless and hoping you find what you're looking for, there's always some npc mentioning that some weird ruins from the ancient zumblefuck civilization suddenly appeared in chungustown, across the suckdick river in east falumpa or whatever.

Even when you're just, you know, getting your horse out of the stable, the npcs will constantly be giving you directions to some major landmark, where you'll find a bunch of other npcs giving important quests or furthering the plot! In that way, you're never left wondering "well, this is great and all, but what is there to do in this game besides exploring", they just straight up tell you. botw ... sort of did that, but not enough.

I think that this sort of design philosophy is especially apparent in the tutorial island you begin the game at, where they very expertly crafted this island that is definitely "open world", but at the same time, directs you from point to point almost invisibly. Sure, you could visit any of the three shrines in any order you like- but there's one shrine super close to you, and it's the most visible from where you start the quest. So, may as well go there! Oh, turns out that the next shrine is way easier to get to after you have the ability from that closest shrine... Not to mention, the little robots give lots of tips for everything you're about to run into along the path you conveniently ended up taking that definitely isn't exactly where the game wants you to go! Plus, you keep running into this handsome goat man along the way who's always saying some contemplative stuff that makes you fall in love with him. Wait was that just me? Anyways, it's incredibly clever at guiding the player where they need to go without seeming like it's holding your hand either. botw wasn't really designed that way, and I appreciate that totk takes this approach.

In line with the direction that the npcs give you, I also really love to see how the world of totk feels so much more alive than in botw. In botw, humanity had nearly been wiped out by the calamity. For 100 years they toiled just to survive, and the remaining settlements felt very disconnected from one another, with how dangerous travel was. It gave this very melancholic feeling to every place you visited. However, in totk, it's clear that some time has passed since link defeated calamity ganon, and the people of hyrule have really begun to heal. There's people everywhere, and they're visiting each other more often. There's cooperation from every part of the kingdom, with everyone working together to try to find Zelda, and figure out what caused the upheaval, and what it means for the future. One particular interaction I really loved, was talking to a rito and a hylian woman at a stable near rito village, where the rito woman had come to pick up supplies for the village to deal with the intense blizzard there. The hylian woman said something like, "we're glad to help you, you've been wonderful neighbors to us!", and the rito woman was so thankful. that sort of camaraderie really sets the tone for totk, and it warmed my heart to see. There's this real sense of the world healing and supporting one another that I really enjoy.

Another thing that sets it apart, for better and worse, is the all-new abilities you get. No more magnesis or stasis or bombs, they're replaced with ultrahand, reversal, and... being able to attach bombs to literally any object you desire, as well as throw them directly, or even stick them onto contraptions you build?! Not to mention the ability that lets you travel up through ceilings. The abilities are quite different and do make a serious impact in how you play! The bizarre fucking contraptions you're able to build using ultrahand, combined with the various pieces of zonai tech, makes for some really compelling emergent gameplay! And lots of funny clips you can post online which I'm sure you've probably seen by now. It's a lot of fun.

That being said, I feel there's something lost by getting rid of the old abilities- for example, I almost never find myself using any of those abilities during combat. The most I'll do is attach items to my weapons (which is very fun!), but it's nothing compared to being able to bonk enemies with huge rocks using magnesis, or using stasis to pile on the damage onto a single enemy, or even just launch them off of cliffs. Although, the rest of the fun physics from botw is still there, like freezing enemies and making them slide around or what have you. I guess my primary complaint here is that the new abilities feel a bit underutilized, for example I pretty much never use the ability to reverse time, unless I'm doing a shrine where it's obviously required for a puzzle or something. Ah well.

I think my main complaint with totk really just boils down to the story just kind of refusing to admit that it's a sequel? even though... it is a sequel?? it's kind of weird, and just makes me sort of sad. Ancient Sheikah technology was crucial to the entire worldbuilding and story of botw, and somehow it's nowhere to be found in totk. They've just replaced all the ancient sheikah stuff with different ancient tech, which, while it's really cool in its own right, makes it feel very disconnected from the game that came before it. I get that they're trying to make the game feel welcoming to people who never played the first one, but you don't have to literally get rid of all traces of the previous game to accomplish that?!? I haven't found a SINGLE broken-down guardian anywhere in the whole game so far, much less one that's still living. There's been basically NO MENTION of the divine beasts either! The most I've seen is purah and impa having some ancient sheikah stuff/pictures relating to the calamity, but that's about it. It doesn't go beyond mentioning that the calamity happened, really. It's bizarre. They don't even talk about calamity ganon. What the hell!!! it just makes me kind of upset.

Actually, it goes deeper than this. the threat of calamity ganon was omnipresent in botw. You could always see it floating around the castle from almost anywhere on the map, at the very center. More than that, though, the remnants of an ancient war were everywhere- Guardians existed everywhere, always threatening you with that utterly terrifying music. There's not really an equivalent to that in totk. Sure, there's the zonai constructs, but... None of them are nearly as threatening as guardians were, other than the ones that are obviously boss fights. It just feels a bit sad, there's not as much "urgency" to your actions.

Then again, totk seems a bit more linear in its progression than botw- it could be possible that I'm still too early on to see the difficulty ramp up further, and introduce new threats? that'd actually be really cool if that were the case, but I have no idea. I just have to keep playing, I suppose. But as of rn, the "demon king" is just a big question mark, and his influence on the story is a bit unclear right now. it's not even immediately obvious what the endgame is, which is a lot different from botw. So perhaps I'll hold my judgement on this front until later. I just miss how the guardians were a constant threat, always reminding you of what your goal is.

And as one last quickfire of several little complaints:

The (english) voice acting in the game is very underwhelming. It's just not very good. I play ffxiv so I'm used to middling voice performances tho LOL. this was a problem in botw as well tho.

the boss fight i did (that i compared to one of the divine beasts) was too easy. i expected it to feel at least a little challenging, but i didn't feel threatened even once. the enemies i encounter in the overworld are tougher, it felt kinda underwhelming in spite of the (extremely good) boss music

the depths feels a bit samey after a while. my first impression was utter awe, i was like, "i'm completely in love with this game", but i soon realized that they used some sort of algorithm to translate the topography of the overworld onto the depths and suddenly the magic disappeared a bit. it's still really cool, and the mechanic of permanently losing hearts while you're down there makes it feel incredibly threatening, but there's simply not enough variety to feel like it's justified to take up that much space. unlike the overworld, the depths /do/ end up feeling empty after a while of exploring.

... I suppose as a bit of a TL;DR, my main complaints boil down to, "this is great, but it could be even better", or, "I miss some of the stuff that was in botw".

There's more thoughts I could probably share, like how I love all of the very blatant ghibli inspiration in this game (even moreso than in botw!), but I've already rambled quite a lot. thank you for the ask anon!! <3

#asks #Anonymous #long post

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nuggyshouse · 10 months

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Do you recommend FF16 at all?

I think I'm going to use this as a jumping off point for my FF16 review: TLDR: YES 5/5, 9/10, 17/20

I really like where the story ended up. I think the game kind of relishes in the warfare aspect of it at first, because after a certain point they include a map where you can look at what army is doing what during any part of the story. I wasnt huge on that and I didnt pay attention to it but it didn't matter anyway. There are some contrivances in the story but I was able to largely ignore them. some real Cinema Sins "ding" shit but it's there if you care about that kinda stuff. There's huge bombastic kaiju fights that act as really cool setpieces. I really liked the combat and after a ways into the game it gets very customizable. I think a critique I saw was that it's too easy, and I think yeah it's pretty easy. the hardest fights are all optional hunt bosses you can find and that was a lot of fun. the side quests are kind of not great, and there's little indication on if it's dumb bullshit or really cool lore shit. there IS indication if it gives you a really good upgrade which is pretty cool. It's kind of worth it to do all the side quests and hunts. I think one of the strongest aspects of the combat is how customizable your abilities are. you'll find a lot of ways to chain stuff together which is pretty great. the crafting system sucks. you have endless resources just by playing the game normally and fucking nothing to spend them on. You craft one sword and it's the best sword you'll have for 5 whole hours. no additional stats just strength and stagger. same goes for your armor. I crafted the Drakeslayer armor and I didnt change it until the ultimate Oroboros armor showed up 30 hours later. The best equipment options are the accessories which change actual stats and stuff. Reduces cooldown on moves, changes attributes of certain things, increases potion healing. The problem with that was I was pretty okay with what I had (auto torgal accessory, berserker ring, and potion healing increased by 40%) that I almost never changed it. I think the one time I did was some stuff that made it so I gained more EXP and Ability Points, and then back to normal after I finished what little grinding I wanted to do. Those are good shit though. the thing is you can't craft them, you buy/pick them up. so it's another reason crafting is useless and stupid. I think it's just fun. It's not a huge challenge, but it hit a sweet spot for me. Some people are saying it's piss easy but I had trouble in some spots. I dumped probably 60 hours into it and I usually don't play games that much. It was detrimental to my work ethic for like a week and a half. Great game. oh yeah it's also gorgeous and load times are almost nonexistent. the only time you notice a load is when you have to push a door open with a qte or when you fast travel. you select a different map and the screen goes black for 5 seconds and you're in a completely different map. that's the power of the PS5. Shit like this spoiled me because making games seamless like this just makes it more obvious when the temple opens up in zelda TOTK, and you walk into the hole and there's a loading screen. PS5 wouldnt do that. I'm so spoiled by PS5 shit it's fucked up. It's so fucked up we got a real playable game that has in-engine graphics better than fucking Final Fantasy: The Sprits Within. it's so fucked up. so so fucked up.

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vivinavina · 10 months

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Decided to post some thoughts in regards to the first chapter of my new fic, Sage of Swords. Just some ramblings explaining my thought process and the like. May make this a regular thing every chapter/other chapter. For now, feel free to see my thoughts below.

So, chapter 1 thoughts. For starters, damn, I managed to start the bloody thing. Kudos to me for that honestly. Wrote the whole chapter in a flurry at 2 am after a 30 minute nap turned into a 4 hour one and I couldn’t fall asleep before work the next day. Before then this fic existed as bullet points in a word doc, which has since been more cohesively turned into an outline.

Heads up, the endgame for this fic is transfem Link, so I’ll be referring to Link with She/Her pronouns, even though in the story she’s still using he/him.

Not too many big thoughts in the chapter, it was mostly just establishing the inciting incident and beginning the first divergence from there. Had to think of the reason that Link would have time traveled without giving her time powers, because I didn’t like how a lot of fics just give her the same abilities as Zelda. I felt doing that wouldn’t meaningfully be swapping the two, at least where place in the narrative is concerned. So, I had Zelda “attune” to the stone and then drop it on the falling Link. Since Zelda wanted to save Link, the stone would have reacted to that desire from her before Link had a chance to attune to the stone.

As for Link’s initial acceptance and then immediate heel turn regarding sacrificing herself, I originally just came into it with Link 100% willing to sacrifice herself to keep Zelda safe, but as it went on I had a moment to really think about it. This was the first time in canon where Link’s life was on the line that wasn’t a battle. Link in canon seems impossibly courageous (hehe) in battle, but I imagine the thought of dying fighting is a lot different from falling to death. In fighting, there’s a chance to die and succeed, that you can take an enemy down with you, that you can succeed to offset the failure. With falling, there’s just failure upon reaching the floor, with no way to ensure you made any sort of difference. Link tried to treat it like sacrificing herself in a fight, but realized too late how different they were.

Thought about giving Sonia/Rauru a snippet of them finding the wounded Link, but felt it would flow better with the content of the next chapter, which is very Sonia/Rauru focused.

With most of my thoughts on the chapter out of the way, maybe it’s good to set some expectations. First off, no relationship endgame yet (Except Rauru/Sonia, but that's, like, pregame instead of endgame), but I don’t foresee Link/Zelda. That’s always felt more queerplatonic than romantic, and despite what some media says I don’t think shared trauma makes a good foundation for a romance. I’m a bit mad I made this AU for TOTK because now I have no way to fit Revalink into it.

Second, Zelda will be a major character, but don’t expect near as much Zelda POV as Link. Maybe one Zelda chapter every 2-3 chapters? I’m sure I’ll find the balance given time, might be more like a half-chapter every other chapter? Ah well, I’m sure it’ll come naturally. Worst case scenario I move some things around if I feel it’s been too long in-between Zelda POVs.

Third off, trans Link will probably take a few chapters to get into. Before Link can even think of her gender identity, she first needs to grapple with the existential issue of no longer having the thing she spent every moment of her life doing and preparing for since she pulled a sword from a stone. Though the echoes of it will be present from the start for Zelda’s POV, because that’s how time travel works… I think…

#personal #fanfic #ramblings #sage of swords au #chapter 1

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golvio · 1 year

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Now that I’m making an effort to stay on the expected story progression course instead of wandering out of fear of getting into major combat, something else I’m noticing from a game design standpoint is that…everyone here feels so…earnest.

I’d spent most of today wandering around the sister cities of Kakariko and Hateno, gathering sidequests and making an effort to go through everyone’s dialogue trees to try to get to know them a little better and take notes on anything I found interesting, and…even if some of them are kinda one-note asshats like the Cawlin-expy haunting the path to the inn or the mean gossipy housewives who’re blatant shoutouts to the gosspiy ladies on Windfall Island…they all very genuinely want to help you, to get to know you. Getting into that mindset Link has where he subconsciously remembered he came from here, that he already considered these people his neighbors even though none of them were alive before he died, it’s hard not to like them. And that’s saying something, considering Zelda has a tendency to not respect its NPCs very much, even though you’re tasked with saving them and their world.

Another thing I’m beginning to notice is how the devs use this earnestness to chain major and minor sidequests together. This time I’m making an effort to stick to the expected story progression of Kakariko > Hateno > Lanayru to avoid softlocking myself in terms of combat ability by overleveling the monsters, and it’s all felt very natural. For example, take Pikango. His first quest activates after you show your funky little camera app to Impa and she suggests traveling to the locations in each picture to jog Link’s memory. At that point, I’d already been to the fairy fountain, so the trek with him upward was just treading old ground. But then, at the end, instead of giving me a generic reward, he gave me information that was actually relevant and helpful to my next goal by giving me a hint as to where the first photo location is. A location that, in fact, is on the way to Lanayru, which is where I’m heading next. It didn’t feel like a waste of time at all, just a natural flow of information pointing me in a certain direction.

It reminded me of why I loved how Hollow Knight handled its NPCs. The “little people” around you might not be as powerful as you, or be on a grand quest, or maybe their story ended long before Ghost rolled into town, but they each were still respected by the narrative. Each of them had their own story, rather than just blatantly being a UI point for you to interact with for certain services or to move the story along. So when the time came for them to help you/you to help them, it felt less video gamey and more like two people deciding to help each other out for their own reasons. And nobody was a goofy “ignorant” character played as a joke, like how Wind Waker used “Triumph Forks” to make fun of characters who weren’t privy to the same secret knowledge you and the major players “in the know” were. In fact, nobody was truly “ignorant” at all. Everyone had at least one little piece of the bigger puzzle, even if they couldn’t see the rest of the pieces from their own limited perspective. In fact, it’s impossible to truly understand what’s going on in Hallownest without talking to everyone.

Granted, BotW still has a ways to go in the writing department before it can reach that level, but there were enough times when random folks surprised me with their insightfulness or earnestness that I’m looking forward to seeing where things go in the sequel.

But, also…seeing how “nice” the world outside and the people in it were reminded me of how sad I was about how un-personed and totally cut off from humanity Ganon was the first time through. How he’s referred to like an infection, a contaminant, a spot of decay on a once-healthy national body instead of a person. Not only that, but now I’ve got a question in my head that first seeded itself from the moment I started speculating on TotK’s backstory. Just how awful was the ancient world that Ganondorf would come to hate absolutely everyone in it? And to the point where, even after it ended, he continued to lash out at its people’s descendants in its memory, no less?

#legend of zelda #loz thoughts #botw

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sullina · 1 year

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As someone who has a switch... there are a handful of games that make ot worth it. Totk, the og BOTW, Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak (altho base rise is on console too), and Splatoon 3. Some ppl probly like Smash Bros and Animal Crossing and Mario Kart too but those are the main ones I was interested in. Oh and Pokemon Scarlet/Violet and Legends Arceus

I already have botw on the wiiu (don't judge me), that monster hunter sounds interesting, and i did like the smash game for the wii, mainly the story mode.

I got the first splatoon a few years ago and didn't reay like it at all, mario kart isn't really fun unless you play with friends (which i don't have a lot of irl), I'm really a fan of animal crossing and with the pokemon games in recent years, i feel like they're just getting worse and worse :/

I like the older zelda games, because of the puzzles throughout the worlds and because of the unique items you got in each temple that would unlock new secrets and places, and of course the big temples. Botw had pretty much none of these things, and no, 900 korok seeds don't count, because they don't do anything once you maxed out your bag space.

One of the first zelda games i played was twilight princess, which i loved. That reminds me, one of the things that botw also lacked was a companion character, which for me is a pretty big part of the game actually. And there's usually always some kind of central mechanic that the games are more or less built around. In twilight princess, it was the fact that you could turn into a wolf at will (though admittedly a bit later in the game i think), in skyward sword it was the flying and (admittedly very limited) interaction between the surface and sky.

But the central mechanic in botw was just... climbing. Which gets old really fast. Like, sure, you have an open world game, but getting around isn't really fun since you can only climb, walk/ride and glide. And the gliding is kinda fun, but eventually it just gets old, same with climbing. I would've preferred it if instead of giving us 100 outfits, there were items instead to enhance the basic abilities, because items can be taken on and off at will with a single button press without having to go into the menu for every single thing.

I also wasn't a fan of the shrines tbh. I felt the puzzles were too obvious and short most of the time and the reward was always the same, and trading the orbs in for heart or stamina containers was a bit annoying.

Also, this one's just a personl pet peeve, but i don't really like how links typical/default outfit color was changed from green to blue. Don't get me wrong, he looks good in blue, but like... nothing was wrong with green, you know?

One thing i also REALLY didn't like was the fact that you got all your runes at the start of the game and then that was it, there were no new mechanics throughout the entirety of the game. Which may appeal to some people, but for me that just made the whole game feel really same-y, like there were no new things. And I'm including the weapons, because sure there's tons of different weapons, but only three movesets, and the weapons were way too fragile, though i know I'm not alone in this point.

I could keep talking, but it's 3am, so I'll sum up what i wanted to say, which is that while botw wasn't a bad game, it wasn't really much of a zelda game and i didn't like it all that much, not enough to shell out more than 300€ for the sequel that seems to have all the same problems from what I've seen so far. But maybe I'll change my opinion, idk. If you want more of my ramblings on botw, you'll have to wait until tomorrow.

#sullina asks #zelda botw #zelda totk

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megamanishashekhawat-blog · 6 years

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mantra to get love

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Procedure of Mantra

Most of the times I had been asking for how to perform vashikaran mantra remedies at home, the reason I introduced this mantra. The practitioner has to wear red clothes and Mala of Red Kumkum around neck while chanting the Mantras.

|| Om Hreem Namah Om Ksho Hreem Hreem Aam Hraan Swaha ||

It need to be chanted 108 times daily for 11 days to gain success. This mantra make the desired girl or boy become attracted towards practitioner. But don’t follow anything without consulting Guru ji.

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Love is a beautiful journey that helps you evolve as a person. When in love, people undergo through various life experiences. While some experiences help people learn a lot, others can leave them devastated. Over the years, a person begins to feel that love can conquer every problem in life. It is the closeness and intimacy that a person feels with their special one that they are unable to feel with anyone else. Love brings two people together and is by far the most amazing feeling in the world. There is no age for true love and it can happen at any time. Just a glimpse of a person can leave you spell bound. That heart throbbing movement you feel when you see a person indicates that you are in love. However people are often left heartbroken if their loved ones cheat on them.

Everyone wants love in life. It is one aspect of life that is universal; one which almost every human on earth seeks out. Love has many forms – attraction, vashikaran, physical intimacy and romance all are part of an expression of love.

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Using certain types of Mantra, originally written in Sanskrit, such as Vedic Mantras can help you to achieve love, sex and finding and winning over the person you love (vashikaran). From chanting this Mantra you will find more easily what you want in life.

Vashikaran mantras are the most powerful mantras on the earth revealed to humans so far. Especially Aghori vashikaran mantras make up the class of mantras used predominantly by the Shaivite Sadhus known as aghoris. These mantras are chanted in the dark by those who have the courage to pursue the very tough sadhana with least fear for their lives.

Aghoris sadhus are known for their total fearlessness and a wandering behavior getting along with a rustic life given to do what they want with the complete freedom to follow their will. Used by these powerful sadhus, aghhori vashikaran mantras can help you win the most secret goals you cherish yin your heart.

When chanted as per the rigorous procedures with full concentration and faith, Aghori Vashikaran mantras can have far reaching benefits for the chanters. As suggested by their name ‘vashikaran’, these mantras have the ability to control the hearts and minds of the ones you target.

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Vashikaran mantras can be used for a variety of objectives including success in business, winning someone’s favors, exert pressure over them and control their minds, get someone out of their obsessions and addictions, move people to do what you want and finally winning your love back or make someone get attracted to you.

धन लाभ के लिए वशीकरण

घर में खुशहाली तथा दुकान की उन्नति हेतु वशीकरण

शादी विवाह में विघ्न न पडने देने के लिये वशीकरण टोटका

More than just memorizing and repeating the vashikaran mantra, it is important that you chant them in the right way as prescribed by the Aghori gurus. They have practiced these mantras for so long and have taught us the ways to benefit from them in the surest way. In the first place, make a firm determination that you will chant this mantra for the prescribed amount of time with the due sincerity.

Once you have committed yourself to the task, you must never look back. Have firm faith and strongly believe in the power of the mantra. Once you take this stand, you shall get the most powerful guidance from within that shall clear the obstacles in your way gradually moving you to achieve what you want.

The ultimate benefit of this mantra is the ability to control other people’s minds. You can remedy a variety of problems like refining marital relationships, bringing someone out from illicit relationships, setting right the sons and daughters who do not obey you, getting out of the effects of black magic and problems in the work place in addition to winning someone’s love.

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