#i was kinda hoping we were gonna be able to play as zelda for botw 2

[gaydiation-poisoning]

Revali from BoTW for the character opinion bingo!

Ohhhh you're gonna get me killed by the fandom for this one, that there is a character I have some BAGGAGE with

Okay here's my thing

I kinda despise Revali And it sucks because I really REALLY don't want to

Story time

I grew up playing Wind Waker, it was my first video game ever, and from that game the Rito were my favorite race, and they remained my favorite all these years. You probably wouldn't be able to find someone more hyped than me for the return of these beautiful birds.

So. April 2017. When I got my hands on BOTW I decided I'd save the Rito zone for last, I'd kept myself blind so I could go in and experience everything purely.

So imagine my surprise when I unlock the champion I'd been most excited for, the Rito, the champion of my favorite Zelda race from my earliest childhood memories.

And he was a complete fucking douchebag

At first I was like oh :( well okay maybe we'll be given some more information on him and it'll be better!! After all characters with huge egos can be extremely fun!!!

So I maintained hope that maybe the upcoming DLC would give us something

December 2017

We got something!! A teeny tiny fragment that suggested maybe Revali's ego was just a coverup for a deeply troubled bird, it was hardly anything at all but it was something.

But then his journal made him like 10 times worse in such a way that the DLC honestly didn't do much but make him more insufferable

So I was deeply saddened, they'd given us something but simultaneously made him more unlikeable. I thought that would be the end of it. But then!! Hyrule Warriors Age of Calamity was announced. And I was THRILLED. FINALLY. we were going to get AN ENTIRE game alongside the champions, I was gonna get more content for Best Girl Mipha, and FINALLY AN ENTIRE GAME'S WORTH OF CHANCES TO GIVE REVALI SOME CHARACTERIZATION. YES!!!!

November 2020. AOC comes out. Holy. Fucking. Shit. Revali what did they do to you? To my shock he'd graduated from a little unlikeable to downright unpleasant to watch. Even my best friend, a diehard Revali fan through and through, could not STAND what they'd done with him. We got a whole game with this guy and they basically spent the whole thing trashing this guy's character. He was arrogant to the point of annoying, horribly rude to characters who had done nothing to earn it, and overall was just kinda a ballache. And not even in the 'fun annoying character' way.

But hey!! AOC was getting DLC as well!!! That is meant to flesh out the characters more!!! We'll definitely get something there!!

October 2021. Guardian of Remembrance comes out. Yeah this DLC gave us fuck all really. That goes for all the champions, but I think Revali suffered pretty bad in this regard. Some of the scenes with Tulin were cute but they didn't do much in terms of Revali's character.

And....that's where we are now. Tears of the Kingdom is on the horizon, and I highly doubt we're gonna get much on the Champions in this game but...well I've maintained hope for six years already, why stop now?

So yeah my feelings on Revali are...complicated to say the least. There's so much I love about him, his design is probably my favorite of the Champions (next to Mipha), he easily has like...the best voice in the whole fucking game, and the character POTENTIAL is absolutely incredible. But all in all it feels like they've done nothing with that potential, for what is supposed to be the most Character driven era of Zelda to date, it truly feels like they've let his character stagnate, if not actively regress in a way that I REALLY do not vibe with.

I can see what people can love about him, god knows I've done more when provided with less in a character. It's not the ego that gets me, I love cocky characters, ffs my favorite BOTW character is Master Kohga for crying out loud, and that man has a damn near god complex. (Kohga, incidentally, has LEGITIMATELY EXPERIENCED MORE CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT THAN REVALI. WHAT.)

Like I'm not saying I want his character to do a full 180, just a couple more scenes like what we got in Champion's Ballad, just a couple more cracks in the facade would have done wonders. But instead they just kept him rather one note. Feels bad man.

Ultimately it feels like they're just going in circles with this character, arguably the Champion with the most potential to be interesting and they're doing fuck all with it. I can see why people love him, but idk, I've dealt with a few people irl with egos like that and that's probably not helped.

Idk, I guess this character managed to regress perfectly into a niche I cannot stand, and it sucks because it feels like such a personal loss to me.

I guess to put it very shortly

Revali is a bully. And I'll take a full blown villain over a bully any day.

#OKAY WOW #that was a rant #i could probably write more but like holy fuck #yeah #sorry revali enjoyers #botw zelda #botw #revali botw #revali

[unironicironic]

Tears of the Kingdom ramble go brrrrr

Okay so goes without saying but this will have spoilers. If you'd prefer not see any spoilers then scram and go watch someone play the game (I personally recommend Quinbobin, dude's energy is fucking immaculate, he's not done with the game yet but he's in the last stretch)

But man I just wanna ramble about TotK, I'm still debating on replaying the game to really soak in more but it's been marinating in me thick skull for a bit and man do I have a bit I wanna say

Oh my god and then in that final tear/memory when Zelda takes it upon herself to swallow her secret stone despite the many warnings from Mineru that if she's to do that, there's no guarantee she'll be able to return to her former self. That takes alot of guts to do, throwing yourself away knowing fully well that you may never be the same after if there's even a sliver of hope that things can turn around and your people will be safe. The buildup was something else entirely, it starts of fairly calm, with it having bits and pieces of the BotW/TotK ost, a little of her lullaby sprinkled in, and then builds intensity as the scene goes on. Kinda like signifying that, again, she's doing this all for her kingdom and for Link. When she finally swallows the stone, it cuts to silence (save for the ambience), which kinda jars you and makes you see that hey, something's about to happen. As she begins to go through the draconification, it starts strong with her lullaby, progressing further and further into sounding more and more sinister, dark, going silent again as she tells Link to protect everyone and holy SHIT if that doesn't give you goosebumps I don't know what will. While I'm on this, I might be just reading into it too much but it almost sounds like her screaming (albeit kinda distorted) underneath her roaring as the dragon that second time she roars. Almost like that was the last bit of her in there, before she finally "lost herself" as Mineru warned her that she would

Tbh just about all of it was god tier imo. The visuals, the characters, all of it. Were there some things that could've been improved? Ofc, there's no real perfect game but fuck did this one come close

I could go on and on about just about anything you throw my way about TotK, but the real star of the show (to me anyway) is the soundtrack and all the little details in everything. I've always believed that the main three things that make or break something is the characters, the plot/story and the soundtrack. I've also always loved when there were these little details that gave whatever media it is a little more oomph. And DAMN did TotK have a banger of a soundtrack and was it packed with details

One of my favorite lil details with the soundtrack is when you're through with the Tarrey Town quest, you're able to make a house for Link, right? Cool cool, you get to do a bit of a Sims type beat, which that in itself had me giving mad props to Nintendo. And folks have been getting hella creative with their layouts, I saw this one person make their house look like the triforce if I'm not mistaken? It was cool as hell, there's a good bit of freedom. But the detail, if you listen real closely, the song that plays when you've got your house up and you're meandering around inside, it's the theme for when you're inside a building in Ocarina of Time. We already knew that there's gonna be lil nods to past games since in BotW there was a shitton already but they really bumped that up a few pegs in TotK

Another one of my favorites is in the cutscene where Rauru uses his power to keep Ganondorf on lock, as he's telling G-Money that eventually Link will come whoop his ass and to "remember his name," the main fucking Zelda theme starts playing which honestly just adds so much more fucking power to that cutscene and it had me tearing up hearing the main theme playing in the background. On that same note, in I think the last phase of the fight against Ganondorf before he swallows his stone, there's a huge throwback to BotW and you get those lil motifs of the blight battles

Yet another, at the end when you're going to catch Zelda after she turns back into her former self, the main theme for TotK is going. Cool, strong, fucking awesome right? As you get closer to Zelda, her lullaby starts playing and oh my godddd I was a mess, but then you throw in the main Zelda theme after as you're prompted to catch her and at that point you can see why the game is called "Tears of the Kingdom." Because it makes you cry, alot. At that point it's like you're coming full circle, before now you'd never failed to save Zelda, you'd always saved her before until now when you failed to catch her in the beginning. So with it starting with you not catching her and then ending with you catching her, it's like you're making up for that failure and I absolute adored that

Kinda on the same note about the soundtrack, I think the other temples (minus the spirit temple) had the same sort of thing going but I definitely noticed divine beast/past champion themes going for the wind temple. It's not that obvious until towards the end when you've got most of the terminals, then you start to really hear motifs to the Vah Medoh theme and Revali's theme

SPEAKING OF I noticed Tulin taking on a very slight Revali-ish attitude, even the npc's had noticed and took note of it. And if you think back to Age of Calamity, in one of the cutscenes, Tulin tells Revali that he wants to be just like him once he's older, while yes I know AoC isn't technically canon it's a cute as hell thing I noticed and can't help but have a huge ahh smile on my face thinking of. Lil Tulin's growing up, and he's starting to take after his role model, fuckin adorable

There's a shitton more lil details and references but I'd be here all day if I were to attempt to mention them all

While there's def a good few positives for this game, there's also a couple negatives imo. It's mostly just personal issues but I'm sure a few folks might agree with me

So first up, why did they have to call them secret stones? It's so damn hard to take things seriously that way. It makes it sound almost like some children playing pretend. Literally anything else could've been good, much better than secret stones. Especially because the same ol phrase gets repeated over and over again when the new champions/sages learn about what happened all those years ago. It gets so repetitive man

Speaking of champions, it seems a bit like they completely forgot about the past champions and the calamity. Like nobody mentions it, save for a couple npcs for side quests, and there's no memorials from what I can tell aside from the occasional stone Zelda dedicated to the casualties, Mipha Court in Zora's Domain, and some other things but that's just about it. I get that eventually life goes on but something about them seemingly forgetting entirely about them just rubs me the wrong way. And the divine beasts, what happened to them? I've heard a couple theories that it was because they were afraid another calamity would take place and they'd get possessed all over again so they took them down, which makes sense but it'd have been so cool to see them just in the background somewhere with the scenery, withering and decaying to the sands of time. Of course they wouldn't have to be explorable, but it would've added so much more oomph imo

And don't even get me started on some of the dialogue. I mentioned the stones thing, but there was some other lines that just, eurgh. Prime example is from none other than Ganondorf himself. At the end when you go to give him a good beatdown, he goes on this sort of monologue. Which is all fine and dandy, he's a villain after all, that's what villains do. But then he goes and says shit like "weak, peace loving cowards" and that "the world should be shrouded with darkness and not bathed in insufferable light"?? That makes him sound like an angsty teen trying to sound cool and edgy, I physically recoiled a bit. Not your finest moment, G-man.

Last but def not least, they really missed out on bringing back malice. I dunno, I just feel like calling it gloom really takes away from the overarching darker tone of the game. Like having it be called malice again would really sell that TotK is a bit darker, malice sounds more life threatening and harmful. Meanwhile it being called gloom just sounds more like you're describing how the weather's gonna be that day. Plus I just think malice spawn sounds much cooler than gloom spawn by a long shot

Overall tho pretty solid game. I rate it an Uncannydorf out of ten

#uni rambles #tears of the kingdom #totk #tears of the kingdom spoilers #totk spoilers #ramble #honestly tho really good game #game of the year #i just really wish they didnt call them secret stones #uncannydorf makes up for it tho its so fucking funny

[wraithwritten]

some random totk thoughts. major story spoilers ahead

honestly I didn't come in playing this game for the story. unfortunately. which is what Zelda used to BE for me. after getting my story hopes set too high for botw and getting disappointed, I came in with a "story is secondary here" mentality and it shouldn't be considering how important story is to me overall. I came in here namely because I wanted to explore and just fool around. and having both the sky and DEPTHS (which I love the most) and a familiar but different hyrule is scratching that itch for me. basically treating this as my sandbox. so I can say I'm VERY satisfied when it comes to my gameplay and exploration needs. I only wish ultrahand building wasn't so janky to me (I think I need to turn off motion controls since I'm hardly using them this time around)

So that said. hate the rehash of how the majority of story cut scene use is linked to the past AGAIN. and the sages are very underdeveloped and kind of just there (hell even compared to TP I'd even say and those guys were just kind of there) and. not gonna lie. feels like they didn't know what to do with Zelda so we kind of have a semi-redo of zelda being majorly absent. and here we have all this talk of her sealing powers and now time manipulation and. she neither attempts to seal ganondorf away nor do we really get her. actually honing in on her time powers. despite the hints from poor poor plot device Sonia (I AM SO SORRY QUEEN YOU GOT THE DEAD WIFE TREATMENT). in terms of what the story shows us and implies. no. straight to the last resort "lose yourself and become a dragon" option. Zelda girl you deserve so much better especially after what you went through during the calamity and keeping ganon in stasis for 100 years. So as of now I'm not 100% done with the story, at the point where I'm about to use this amazing flying bike build to get up to hyrule castle where puppet zelda is but first I'm gonna get more stamina so I can get the master sword. but anyway. I'm kinda... just waiting to see how this all ends and I'll gather up more thoughts from there.

as a quick aside, all this makes me wonder now is who are the three other dragons??? three of the sages? past zonai? and unrelated but does rauru count as the seventh sage? it's emphasized there's just six and he's just there but STILL (if this is elaborated on I have not done the kakariko ring quest on account of not being able to access them thanks to that one guy).

also not a big fan of early hyrule being depicted as a more tribal people and the so described "good king of light" being the guy who bought civilization and technology to them. I obviously can't speak on this matter but I'm seeing something.

I also have some nitpicking as someone into worldbuilding and overall zelda lore but I'll leave that unsaid for now.

Some positives. more enemy variety thank god. now I'm not as bitter knowing moblins and bokoblins and lizalfos are the main fodder because at least there are other basic enemies beyond them. Would have liked more undead enemies though and poes being actual POES but I understand why they gotta be a more easily obtainable collectable soul currency. I would have liked a new yiga variant and a return of the bow users too but oh well. I LOVE them having bases in the depths though.

love the return of dungeons and ACTUAL bosses that feel more in line with past games. I was not a fan at all of the blights but I'm a BIG big fan of the more varied bosses here and their designs.

finally had some true genuine shit yourself moments beyond the repetitive guardian jumpscares from botw thanks to the depths. also seeing the silhouettes of gibdos in the desert made me yell I cannot begin to describe how happy I am some freaky as fuck enemies are FINALLY in the game. they're like weird redead bugs here. wish they screamed and froze you up still.

I also like seeing how Hyrule has changed in the past ??? years or so. would have liked confirmation but I'm glad everyone seems to be in the boat of a 4-6 year range.

overall though I'd say despite my fun and feeling totk improved on botw's gameplay for me and I'm getting waaay more enjoyment out of it, what I'm really yearning and itching for is in the older games and probably won't truly come back. anyway I wanna replay oot and mm and tp soooo bad. these three are THE essential games for me with mm and tp pretty much hogging the #1 fave spot

#[ ooc ]; #overall not 100% done but I like it and enjoy it more than botw and feel it improved on it but I'm not personally feeling the story

[thegeminisage]

actually it kinda sucks that we had to lose all our items for game reasons...link's armor was made for him BY mipha...the disrespect...i hope we're able to get the same set back...

uh-oh, finley back at it with the letters. i notice they use the word "friend" here instead of whatever creepy bullshit they had going on last time lol

i, uh. notice dorephan's not in the throne room. buddy...am i gonna have to unmark my bingo card...they are still calling sidon PRINCE...

OH okay he's "not here," cool. alive for now...........

oh! they have link's armor for repairs! thank goodness

yona seems nice. it's a real shame lol. i WAS mistaken about her tits btw it was just the angle

"it is not set in stone that i (sidon) will inherit the throne, it's not about blood alone" written on this mural...yikes. lmao at people who were thinking he'd be king.......im so sorry babes he might get passed over

"sidon will be so delighted to see you he might just fly into the sky!" awww

OH...............mipha's statue IS up there at mipha's court!! according to npcs. time 2 go see it & sidon <3

id like to know how the Fuck im meant to get up to shatterback point when i cant swim up waterfalls smh. am i really gonna have to CLIMB...

you know i think there was supposed to be a walking path but i climbed it anyway. it took a real long time

oh EWWWW these sludge waterfalls.......over the place mipha hid her armor no less :(

man, visiting these locations, it really drives home that not only are the champions dead but not even their spirits are around anymore. which is great because they deserved peace, of course they did, but in botw you felt them everywhere, saw them everywhere, heard them whenever you used your abilities. in totk they're just GONE. no flashbacks. no cameos. nothing. it's an absence so keenly felt, now by you/link the way it was for everyone else prior to this...they're really gone forever, and we'll never see them again. death is real and it's in my nintendo switch

this is why i like a steady balance of gameplay/cutscene. you need time alone with your thoughts to think about this stuff you know. time to Digest the story. zelda is often really good about that - my favorite is when the environment tells a story, like in a dungeon, because really you tell it to yourself while you play

on a gameplay note, i fucking miss mipha's grace. it was a great second chance when i just wasn't carefully watching my health and i am NEEEVER getting it back

#personal #loz blogging #totk lb #totk spoilers

[uncharted-constellations]

And last? But not least, botw zelda

#princess zelda #zelda #loz #legend of zelda #botw #breath of the wild #art #my art #redesign #i wanted to incorporate something from the dress so i modified the cape to have the big sleeves #and changed the inner color from red to orange to go with the games kinda main colors #also the little buttons are silent princesses #i was kinda hoping we were gonna be able to play as zelda for botw 2 #which doesnt seem likely #but i thought it would be a neat concept if zeldas jewelry was like swapped #so she has the diamond earrings instead of the circlet #and then a topaz uhhhh tie thing #i dont know what theyre called #tie broach? #im not cultured lol #i didnt spend a lot of time on the sheikah slate sorry #loz redesigns round 1

[botwstoriesandsuch]

Master Kohga Age of Calamity Trailer Analysis

I’m a speedy boi time for some thoughts on today’s new trailer

Ok first off THIS SHOT. Very important. Look at the Sheikah Slate filter. Last trailer I was able to write it off as some thematic choice since Robbie and Purah were Ancient Sheikah Scientists, but THIS trailer does not have that same connection. Couple this with this screenshot [credit to @rachelsmusicallife​ thanks for pointing this out to me!]

I’m under the impression that these cutscenes might be part of an overarching theme of reliving memories through the Sheikah Slate. Kinda fleshed out out theory on how this might be related to eggbot here.

“Hehehehe... Look. What. You. Did...”

The camera motion here is handheld (yes I know it’s not literally handheld but it has that feel) with Master Kohga here literally holding the camera. I’m assuming because this scene is from the direct POV of another character, perhaps Link. Which would make sense, since he is apparently accusing us of doing something. The lighting is also super weird, we’re in the Yiga Hideout (the area with the large pit where we fight Kohga in botw) but the sun is just setting with a shroud on the area. Although, I can’t exactly place the time of day because I’ve been through the hideout my fair share and no time of the day really lines up with this scene (because of the snowy Gerudo Highlands in the background, so the glistening of the sun is different) 

This is by the Great Plateau. I’m thinking near the Outpost Ruins considering this isn’t Gatepost Town since they Great Plateau’s entrance is not in view. In fact, I could probably specifically place this right....HERE

Flag poles, juts in the Plateau walls, road directly perpendicular to the Plateau. If my three years of staring at the Botw world is correct, [please Nintendo it’s the only thing I’m good at] then I’d say they’re at the Outpost Ruins. The only thing is that the houses seen here are mainly wood, while the ruins have clear stone walls

Well...I don’t mind.

This is not Master Kohga. Different voice actor, new character design, new villain! I’m assuming he’s some sort of second in command or captain, given he duel wields Windcleavers. Also not how he doesn’t have a scar on his mask in this scene

Further note, look at that chimney!!! I love that chimney, I haven’t seen that chimney before... it’s in a style that I can only really place in Castle Town, but the location is clearly not there, so best assumption is that this is another prominent Hylian Village. The Hateno style archway at the bottom right seems to support so. The house shingles definitely mean this isn’t an outpost or military ruin...[this weekend I’d love to hope into the game myself and place it exactly] the background cliffs mean this isn’t Gatepost Town either. The rock formations look like a turn by Scout’s Hill, of the western breach by the Outskirts Stable...I wouldn’t put the Rauru Settlements out of the question either. All in all, I’m hesitant to connect this scene with the other scene because one clearly has a dirt path, and the other a stony road. Plus the house shingles are different

Ok I can pretty much place this scene exactly. At least the bottom one, the top one is a separate scene that doesn’t flow into the other one (you can just tell by the framing and continuity) 

You can see the Great Plateau entrance, the line of sight is at an angle, placing this backflipping Yiga man somewhere here. Only inconsistency would be the trees, but perhaps it’s just grown over after a hundred years, you can even see a building in the middle of this forest in center left of the map.

Link is chasing Backflip Benny over here through to the exit of town, (you can see the town entrance/exit archway on the bottom right, similar to the one seen in the chimney pic) AND you can see that Backflip Benny also has a fresh cut on his mask, presumable gained after fighting Link, which is why he teleports away at the end. 

So that places these two shots definitely after whatever conversation happened on the roof. Yay for timelines! 

The stupendous Chief of the Yiga Clan! Master Kohga!

This takes place at some ruins of some sort. The rocks on the top right actually look Edlin or Akkala, but that might just be the lighting. The stony slabs and etches actually remind be of Zonai, but that doesn’t really seem right...I’ve never seen those designs before I don’t think...you can see from the way the stone slabs are angled that they lead to a circular pattern. It could be the circular pit at the Yiga Hideout, but that area is just sand, not stone. The smooth, plain style of these ruins is actually more in line with Gerudo Ruins so that might actually be the case; we know the Yiga have a history of taking Gerudo Ruins as their own (The Yiga Hideout is canonically an old Gerudo architectural dig)

I’ll also note that this scene has the same lighting as the first shot, and the last two shots which we’ll see later. 

*maniacal laughter* Oo? TWO new characters I see???? O????? 

This is definitely the Yiga hideout, you can tell from the wall design, plus the lanterns, and the general comfort of Master Kohga and Backflip Benny in the background. But, elephant in the room...who are YOU dear sir? 

I’ll talk more about them later, but just keep that Calamity glowing thing in their hand in mind for later.

He’s gonna kill you all...to DEATH! 

This is Master Kohga speaking again, if you couldn’t tell from his....very dramatic and in character dialogue. Maybe this game will actually make me like him now alsdfkjsdlk

Obvious is obvious, this is the Yiga Hideout again, similar lighting to the first opening shot, I’m thinking this might be sometimes before it though, considering he has his minions around. Maybe Link fights off the goons, which prompts him to ask “Look what you did” but we can’t know for sure. 

Also there’s grass? So maybe that other shot isn’t the hideout. Also a spotlight???!? Jazz hands?!?!? Leave it to Kohga to defy the fourth wall huh.

Also I haven’t mentioned this yet but NEW MUSIC it’s so good aughghug I can’t wait.

And...we end on another Sheikah Slate fade out on this mysterious new character. Eyeliner says: Avatar Kyoshi

Ok but seriously I have THOUGHTS!! So firstly, they’re obviously working with the Yiga Clan, perhaps they’re the reason why the Yiga are in the Gerudo to begin with considering they have the Gerudo symbol on their cape. [Cause am I the only one that thought it was weird that the disgraced Sheikah people are living in Gerudo, and not like...closer to Kakariko, or their suposedl arch nemesis of the Royal Hylian family?] Also note that this scene most definitly takes place in the Lost Woods. Perhaps they need something with the Master Sword...or are ambushing someone...hmm..

Based on that rock formation in the background I’m thinking somewhere in one of these three general areas but I really need to just pick up my switch sometimes soon and find it exact...so bare with me it’s only from memory but I’m pretty sure of myself when it comes to locations

My money’s on this being the true mastermind and antagonist, notice how their eye circlet is the same of that of the Calamity goop eye 

This person has...yellow? Brown? Hazel eyes? And light hair with a braid? I don’t think they’re Sheikah, but definetly not Gerudo either. So that leaves them to be some Hylian. A Hylian with an evil Ancient Core. 

[It’s definitly some form of Giant Ancient Core. But there’s runes on the side of it that I have yet to translate]

Thinking on their idenity for another second, you’ll notice that they wear a black robe, but their cape with the Gerudo crest is actually torn and tattered. So, perhaps they were disgraced? A runaway? Or perhaps it’s a disguise, perhaps a spy playing both roles on either side of the war? 

There’s an old theory that the fortune teller who initally told King Rhoam of the prophecy was actually part of the Yiga Clan. Seeing as, their actions led the King to dig up the Guardians, and cement the deaths of thousands of people. So, putting points in order here

Evil Magic dude

Works for the Yiga

Has connected to people in power 

Has an evil Ancient Core

Could it be that this mastermind fully knew that the Guardians would eventually be corrupted? Could they be the “fortune teller” that encouraged the King to excavate the Sheikah Technology? Sheikah Technology, that would be an insult to the Yiga Clan considering their people were banished for creating them in the first place? Hmmm....

Final NOTE! Remember that one scene in the other HWAOC trailer with Zelda holding a mysterious object? 

Hmm...Sheikah Scientists, weird egg robot, and now an evil Ancient Core...you may also remember Daruk mentioning in dialogue that something was wrong with Rudania...and cutscenes from Urbosa and Revali might point to the Yiga being close to the Divine Beasts...lots to chew on. I’m thinking the plot of this game will heaviliy revolve on the idea that there was some sort of plan that led to Ganon corrupting the Guardians and Divine Beasts, but we’ll see!

#hwaoc theory #hwaoc #aoc #age of calamity #hw age of calamity #Hyrule warriors age of calamity

[cheekbites-moved]

ok i still havent gotten the secret ending but farming for it might take me a bit so im gonna make a thoughts post for age of calamity now:

Major spoilers obvs so ill put it under a read more

things i enjoyed:

revali beatdown simulator

the controls for the divine beasts are a bit clunky, but i think the angles they used for them did an excellent job at really making the player feel like we were actually controlling a divine beast. so i think it was done well.

link’s personality really gets to shine full force in this game with the amount of cut scenes and it was wonderful to see

every character clearly had a lot of love put into how they operate. they truly all feel unique, & all of their play styles fit them really well in my opinion

the game does a really good job of making you understand what a real threat the monsters are. like in botw they’re intimidating at first, but once you’re far enough into the game they become just an inconvenience to work around if anything. this game managed to actually make certain monsters intimidating for me again, and i think that’s a real accomplishment

the blight battles are actually somewhat challenging in this game and that is truly a commendable achievement lol i think all the bosses are good tbh. i didnt rly dislike or not enjoy any of them.

the way daruk and link’s friendship & urbosa’s motherly relationship towards zelda got to shine was. so good. it’s all i could’ve ever wanted

seeing the descendants again was really nice & it was awesome to see the champions interacting with them!! especially sidon and mipha omggggg. that was. really fucking good shit

kohga. just. kohga in general. getting to see more of him was really rad, he’s such a fun guy! and his english va was Excellent. you could really tell he was having a lot of fun playing him, and it was lovely to see! :)

zelda getting to really shine in this game was also lovely to see. and her being so assertive and badass by the end? omg. it was so wonderful especially after botw. man. 

the combat is done very well imo. im rly glad that they took so many elements from botw, but also added their own flares to make it feel fresh. it was rad.

sidon’s tagline is “winning smile” and his power is “boundless optimism” and i think that’s beautiful

the music in this game is SOOOOO good oh my god. multiple times during playing i had to pause to just appreciate it. it’s pretty much all remixes of botw with a few originals for the new characters, but they all slap. there was not a single song in this game i didn’t like. it is definitely one of my favorite video game soundtracks officially. maybe one of my favorite overall soundtracks in general tbh.

the visuals obviously look just like botw, but it still looked fucking gorgeous at some points. like. man. they really went off to make it look not only faithful to botw as far as appearance goes, but also as far as capturing botw’s beauty and it was. excellent to see!

if anything is true to botw’s backstory, it’s definitely how op link is. cause he was established to be op in botw, & when u finish botw he is also op as hell. he is so fun to play as the higher leveled he gets. he absolutely kicks ass. especially with a two-handed weapon??? daaaaammmmnnn. thats my badass baby boy!!!!

link eating rocks not once, but TWICE. just showing PEAK gremlin energy. 10/10 for those scenes they were great

the ending was really beautiful actually and i did cry like a little baby for it what about it

things i didn’t like:

obviously first and foremost.. this is not the game we were advertised. and no matter how much i overall enjoyed the game, it will always have some layer of being tainted attached to it due to the false advertising. this is not the prequel we thought we’d be getting. & not using “prequel” specifically doesn’t matter when all the advertising, including the box art talks about this being the story of what happened 100 years ago. with no indication it wasn’t the story of what happened 100 years ago in the botw timeline, but a separate universe/timeline entirely. i do hope we get dlc for the game at some point giving us what we were advertised, but at the same time... rly wish that the story that’s in the final game was dlc, & the story we were promised was the original :/ or just having the game have two separate storylines originally would’ve been cool. i just wish it wasn’t falsely advertised. 

fort hateno can fucking eat my whole entire shit WHY is that part so needlessly obnoxious compared to everything else oh my god

being forced to fulfill revali’s power fantasy TWICE hurt my soul

fuck any mission where you have to protect the useless hylian guards. i hate them. they suck.

the ai for player characters when you aren’t playing as them can also be pretty useless. it was really frustrating failing missions because my fellow party members weren’t helping me, and i was basically expected to be in two places at once to get shit done myself. :/ ik you can just switch between characters to make it easier, but like. i like playing as link the most. he’s my favorite character, & ofc since he’s mandatorily played for most of the story, he’s gonna be the most leveled up character regardless so he’s just the best to play as in general especially for harder missions. it was annoying to be forced to play as other people Solely cause the ai was so useless.

king rhoam’s attempt at a redemption arc. i’m not sorry that i just fucking hate this man. i don’t mind him entirely in botw bc you can see clear, genuine remorse during the cut scene at the end of the great plateau. but the redemption arc he gets in this game? after all the fucking shit he does in this game? especially when after his ~redemption arc~ i had to sit through a cut scene of him being an absolute fucking asshole to baby zelda after her mother just died????? absolutely fuck that shit. i don’t appreciate that crap at fucking all. he’s a verbally abusive piece of shit and i hate his guts.

obviously there was gonna be some retconning of how certain things worked in botw in order to make this kinda game work but the way sheikah technology works in this game is so goddamn confusing i do not get it. the works of botw are never outright said or explained completely, but it’s straightforward enough that it doesn’t really matter. this game does try to explain certain things and it just becomes. really clunky and confusing very quickly. 

the story is alright, i guess, but..... really confusing/convoluted as hell at times to a point that it’s. really fucking distracting. especially in comparison to how straightforward botw’s story is. like..... cannot help but be annoyed that such a problem wouldn’t have been a thing if they stuck to botw’s story.

i was sad when the egg thing died but i dont like the egg thing.... it is the MAIN reason shit was retconned so much & i just. dont get its purpose. but i did really like the reveal that zelda made it herself. that was good shit!

also the egg glitched out like. a LOT. idk what the fuck was going on with the poor thing but there was multiple times during a cut scene or when i was just sitting there that it was freaking out in the background and it was rly weird

elemental overworld boss monsters................. obnoxious. especially elemental guardians like goddamn bro what the fuck

i know warriors’ games aren’t about exploring anyway but the limitations for exploring was really sad/frustrating. this is still somewhat the world of hyrule before the calamity, which is something we’ve always wanted to see. not being able to explore even the immediate area at certain points because of shit like timed missions was really upsetting, man. :( i just wanted to see hyrule castle Before the calamity why was did they have to rob us like that.....

creepy corrupted egg’s transformation. why. what was that. what the fuck

even though i did enjoy the boss fights, it did get. incredibly taxing eventually to have to fight the SAME bastards so many times. like yeah botw is also guilty of this with the blights, but goddamn.... at least i have a choice to avoid certain encounters with them? this game has you fighting the same bitches like upwards of 3-4 times. it was. really annoying tbh. like the fights themselves are enjoyable, but damn we added new characters and it still inevitably lacked variety in boss fights.

no playable kass >:( if he’s available later in dlc then fine but i wish he was playable in the original game. so many random choices you’d never expect are. why couldn’t he also be there >:(

overall:

it will forever have that sour taste for the false advertising attached to it unfortunately, but that aside, i overall did enjoy the game! i think it has a lot to love in spite of the issues i encountered. as someone who has this as their first warriors game as well, it did lend itself to letting me see the appeal of them. idk if i’ll get more, but i do get why they’re so beloved/popular now. it was an alright time, with some amazing highlights that i’m gonna think back on very fondly for a very, very long time. if i had to rate it..... 7/10 

#hw #aoc #hw aoc #hyrule warriors #age of calamity #legend of zelda #botw #danni plays hw aoc #mine #long post #v long post sorry lol i have so many thoughts/feelings