As the title implies there will be spoilers discussed but I wanted to begin a conversation about the story of TOTK.

Specifically, did it live up to expectations? What do the events mean for the overall lore of the series? Is there even a timeline at this point?

Discuss!

  • Absolutely loved it! It made me cry like, five times, and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it at all for weeks.

    That being said, I get a headache if I try to think about the timeline implications, and if I hear “Demon King? Secret stone?” one more time…

  • I liked the idea of all these ancestors fighting alongside Anubis Raru(?) to seal Satan Ganondorf. I disliked being told the same story 10 times.

    I liked being given the power of these allies. I disliked being stalked by their shadow forms in order to use their powers.

  • I was incredibly on board with the main premise of the game, and had a great time with the story. I can see how others wouldn’t be too impressed with it, as it’s still somewhat basic compared to other games in the series, but I was completely sold by Zelda’s characterization and story arc. Plus, I didn’t actively hate any of the sages, which is a huge plus.

    Rauru was a standout new character for me. Dude’s an absolute beast, especially in the memory you get from the spirit dungeon. Ganon was fine, played very well by Matt Mercer, but I kinda wanted him more involved in the story.

    Anyways, the story felt incredibly emotionally satisfying by the end. Which isn’t something I can say for Breath of the Wild’s story (though BotW had its moments).

      • Yeah I totally agree. What happened to all the sheikah tech / shrines? It’s like they copy pasted botw story and just changed sheikah to zonai… I know that’s grossly over simplifying it but yeah.

        Maybe I over hyped it in my head but I thought I’d love it as much, if not more than botw.

        • I still loved the game don’t get me wrong, but yeah things like sheikah tech, where’d it all go, and why do some characters remember you and others not at all. Andy why has very little improved since the calamity.

          I had one big issue of the stones, they show rauru’s stone fall out of his hand, Zelda picks it up, goes to the past, but rauru doesn’t recognize it as his own stone?

  • I got it as birthday present about a week ago and I’m waiting for my yearly vacation to start so I can play undisturbed. And I’m also still debating with myself whether Nintendo Switch Lite is good enough to play this title or should I get proper Switch console before I succumb to neck pain yet again (as it was with Pokémon Violet, fun two weeks and then not-so-fun month after that).

    The most recent Zelda title that I have played was Skyward Sword. Story was okayish but I hated the motion controls so much. They were clumsy at best and took a lot of time to get used to and I easily forgot how to use them in a efficient way. And what I have seen from the Breath of the Wild, I would hope to get some more traditional gameplay themes to this new title. Some of the new features do not feel quite Zelda -ish as random order of the memories, weapon durability and weather status effects. But that’s just me nitpicking as “older” gamer :-)

    As sidenote: My forever favorite will be Majora’s Mask because of the story. But Wind Waker comes close second as it is very entertaining to play.

  • I don’t think it means much for the whole series tbh. I’m in the camp that thinks Rauru’s hyrule is still ages after any of the previous 3 timelines, so I don’t have much to speculate about tbh.

    I do wish we got a more linear story in the actual game though. The whole memories thing that was carried over from botw made it really hard for me to care about anything. Like wow I sure can sympathize with ganondorf when everything he did was forever ago. /s

  • That moment when Link pulls the Master Sword from the dragon is the peak memory for me. I just loved how everything build up to that moment and I was at the time horrified about knowing the lore behind Zelda.

    Zelda is supposed to reincarnate, and so if she is trap as a dragon, she cannot reincarnate, so I look horrified as I realize that Link might have to kill Dragon Zelda at the end so she could be reincarnated. I kept thinking of other ways how Link could avoid it and I realized, “Wait a minute, Triforce exists… if you have all of the pieces together… you can make a wish… HOLY SHIT! Are we going to go hard on the Triforce Lore?!”

    So fast forward beating the rest of the games, getting the fifth sage, defeating fake Zelda, and so forth.

    “Wait… no Triforce? Holy shit! Rauru and Sonia can revive Zelda?!”

    The whole game had me stressed out. Lol.

    As for timeline or lores, I think it’s safe to say that this game break some of them and it’s better that we think of it as a compartmentalized game separate from other timelines.

  • It was marginally better than BoTW’s story, but still a very poor story overall. Not that Zelda was really known for having super strong stories that are more than just “save the princess/kingdom from the big evil guy” but I still feel that ToTK’s story was…whelming at best?

    The biggest issue I have is the story presentation: most of the story was told to us as events in the past (yet again) rather than in the present. That and the nonlinear nature of the game makes it nearly impossible to tell a good story in order, which is yet another big disappointment I have of the game.

    • Agree 100%. I think the story being told through flashbacks and such makes the player feel completely disconnected from said story. Like we aren’t a part of it and our actions only matter at the end to take down the big bad.