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    The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

    Game » consists of 1 releases. Released May 12, 2023

    A direct sequel to Breath of the Wild, featuring a completely new set of abilities and expanding the world to the skies above and caverns below the surface.

    What do you hope the sequel brings to improve on the first game?

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    NTM

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    #1  Edited By NTM

    For me, it'd be real dungeons, more visual variety in shrines (if they bring those back). Along with better dungeons, I hope for more memorable boss battles. I also want them to, even though Zelda has never been real deep with it, implement a little more (and better) storytelling. I would like to see more characters and their quirkiness. Finally, just more music that plays throughout. When you are journeying through the open world and there's not a lot going on aside from you running around, there's no music present; I hope that's alleviated a bit. It doesn't have to be sweeping or bombastic, but something for me to relax to as I explore rather than (what I consider) Link's somewhat irritating sounding footsteps and clothing clinging and clanging.

    If you really dig into Breath of the Wild, at least from some of the footage I've seen as opposed to the 100 plus hours I've put in it, it has a lot going for it; how you can use the mechanics to achieve different outcomes in exploring or battle, but in my experience I more or less B lined it from shrine to shrine and story beat to story beat so I came off as slightly disappointed. I mean, I explored every nook and cranny, so I've seen all the environments to be clear. What I've always loved about Zelda was the quirkiness of some of the characterizations, and one of my favorite aspects of Breath of the Wild was simply helping build Tarry Town and watching the wedding. I'd like more things like that, but more in depth.

    The shrines were a huge part of the game, and to be honest, it was one of my least favorite aspects of it, nor did clearing them all out produce a very good reward so I actually felt like I wasted my time with them. That's why I think more variety in them, at least visually would be nice. Oh, and because I'm being totally realistic about it, I hope the sequel is 4k/60fps and utilizes Dolby Atmos. Yeah... Yeah. Alright, what about you?

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    BoOzak

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    #2  Edited By BoOzak

    I read somewhere that they're taking inspiration from RDR 2 which seems weird to me as it's the anti-breath of the wild. I didnt care to explore that world at all and mechanically that game felt old.

    Although if it means Link can smoke, drink, shave and bathe I might be into that, as long there arent any hunger mechanics to deal with. It could mean the story gets more of a focus so that could be cool too.

    Anyway, to answer the question better bosses and dungeons are a given. I'd also like more tools to mess with the world, which also seems obvious as it's a staple of Zelda games but they also tend to reuse the same tools so less old stuff and more new things would be nice.

    It's easy to say better combat but I feel like the simplicity of the combat in Zelda games has always served it well, it doesnt need to be DMC or anything like that. That said give Link a gun you cowards. You already gave him a motorbike!

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    NTM

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    @boozak: Yeah, I'm not sure what they mean by drawing inspiration from RDR2. I didn't love everything about RDR2's world, but I liked it and I liked that when exploring, not only can you find moments of peace as it's just you and the wilderness, but there are many surprising hidden things to find. I think RDR2 is a better game than the first game, but I have fonder memories of playing the first game, and that's in large part due to its world (even though, again, two's is more impressive). I could be wrong, but the thing I think many people took away from RDR2 is how interactive it is with the characters you talk to and how everyone expresses themselves (for example, the camp stuff), maybe that's something they'll take advantage of if you will. The thing that is in opposition though is how restrictive the fluidity in gameplay is due to animations. Personally, I appreciate that in RDR2 though can understand how some might dislike it. Something I didn't like about RDR2 is that your weapons didn't stay saved when getting on and off your horse which is a nuisance. I hope they don't take that 'realistic' aspect from the game and implement it into Zelda.

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    Casepb

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    More traditional Zelda things like big dungeons with awesome bosses at the end and cool items. I miss all the memorable places and boss fights. I barely remember anything that happened in BOTW. The master sword needs to not have durability, I mean it's the freaking master sword it should never break. I really just want another Zelda game that you can look back on and remember fondly.

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    Teddie

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    Really enjoyed the exploration aspects of the first game, so I hope that they focus on ironing out the things that got in the way or broke the flow of that. But I do have a laundry list of stuff anyway:

    • No more weapon durability because it was a constant pain to open menus and swap all the time (running out of swords literally never happened to me so what's the point?), which also means they'd have to find better rewards to stuff the world with than Ice Sword #32.

    • Better voice acting and more of it, or just get rid of it again. Last time felt like such a half-measure, and didn't add anything to the game at all.

    • A new map. That trailer was worrying on this front, and if it winds up being the same map then that's the exploration dead for me, and that was the best part of BOTW.

    • It'd be nice if the champion abilities were more focused on movement/getting around the world. More stuff like the free up-draft ability, basically. The other abilities in BOTW were more for combat so I barely used them (and then those cooldowns...).

    • Less shrines, better dungeons/overworld design. There are a bunch of places in the overworld that were practically empty and a HUGE hassle to explore (I remember specifically an ice area with fuck-all in it, and chasm areas that were a nightmare to get out of again). I'd take a smaller map if it meant less running around in empty areas.

    • Some kind of portable way to pass the time in-game, or some way to change the weather because fuck you I'm not gonna stand around and wait for it to stop raining so I can climb again.
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    doctordonkey

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    #6  Edited By doctordonkey
    • More interesting and meaningful weapons. When you find a weapon, make it really mean something, make it exciting whenever it happens. This means no durability, and more unique stats/status effects/move sets. Or at the very least, meet it half-way and triple the durability and allow them to be repaired with resources
    • Actual, full length dungeons with unique and definitive themes. The inside of the guardian's were very samey and all had the same concept of rotating them to solve the very simplistic "puzzles". Make them distinct, just like classic Zelda. Fire, water, earth, electric, etc.
    • Zelda playing a more interactive role. Breath of the Wild did a great job at setting up Zelda as a fantastic character, but you only see her really in flashbacks. I think BotW Zelda is the best interpretation of Zelda they've ever had, but she wasn't used much. It made sense from a narrative perspective because of her situation in the game, so now that she is fully fleshed out and free to interact with the world, now is the time to really make her apart of things. I don't think it'll happen, but I'd love to play as her, have her focused on destructive magic as a combat mechanic. Think Sypha from netflix Castlevania. I'd settle for her being a permanent companion as well.
    • Better difficulty curve and balancing. The first 15-20 hours of the game feel challenging as you play through for the first time, but anything after that is a cakewalk. I attribute most of that problem to the way the health system works. Food is unbelievably overpowered, and at any moment during combat you can simply pause the game and stuff 50 apples, durians, fish and fuckin' cheesewheels into your mouth and never die. No eating animation, no gradual health restoration, just instant healing. Unless you get completely annihilated in one shot (which, outside of master mode, is impossible due to the anti-one shot systems in place), you simply cannot die. Or if you do, you can just stock up on 99 fairies at any given fairy fountain.
    • Recapturing that sense of discovery and wanderlust. This is going to be probably the tallest order I can think of. The magic of wonder and discovery and mystery is what made me fall in love with BotW. It's what made me hate that I had to go to work in the morning. It's what made me practically be unable to sleep because I couldn't take my mind off the game. The game can certainly stand on its own without it, but that obsessive need to see what was behind the corner of that version of Hyrule was intoxicating in a way I hadn't felt since the original World of Warcraft launch back in 04'. I don't know if it's even possible, but if they somehow pull that off again, that would be an absolutely incredible achievement.
    • More fleshed out melee combat system. I think the bow combat is fantastic, and it makes sense why they debuted BotW with Link using a Bow & Arrow. Flurry Rush and Parry are satisfying, but besides mashing the attack button, there is nothing outside of that. I'm not sure what direction they want to take it, but there are multiple ways they could go. They could make it more fast paced and tight like Ninja Gaiden, more air combat focused and loose like DMC5 and Bayonetta, more slow and grounded like Dark Souls. I don't know, but they gotta do something to it.

    I'm both extremely excited and very concerned about this game. Making a satisfying sequel to what I personally believe is one of the greatest games ever made, is going to be extremely difficult. How you follow that up, I'm not sure, but addressing the issues I listed would be a great start.

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    BoOzak

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    • Better difficulty curve and balancing. The first 15-20 hours of the game feel challenging as you play through for the first time, but anything after that is a cakewalk. I attribute most of that problem to the way the health system works. Food is unbelievably overpowered, and at any moment during combat you can simply pause the game and stuff 50 apples, durians, fish and fuckin' cheesewheels into your mouth and never die. No eating animation, no gradual health restoration, just instant healing. Unless you get completely annihilated in one shot (which, outside of master mode, is impossible due to the anti-one shot systems in place), you simply cannot die. Or if you do, you can just stock up on 99 fairies at any given fairy fountain.

    I feel like this is a problem with most open world RPGs, especially the Bethesda ones. Even games like Yakuza feel trivial regardless of difficulty setting due to how many Stamina Royales you could pack away. I liked The Wicher's toxicity system and thought it was a pretty good way of preventing you from abusing healing. You could still eat roast chicken during combat which was pretty dumb but the healing effect was poor compared to potions since you're supposed to eat outside of combat.

    One thing I really hope they dont do is a dark world, which always seemed to me like a cheap way of reusing levels/areas. I know people love LTTP but most games that do it suffer for it, in my opinion.

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    Justin258

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    • I hate weapon durability as it works in Breath of the Wild. Ideally it would be removed completely, but I don't think it needs to be totally scrapped. Weapons should not be made out of papier mache and should be easily repairable, if it is present. There are a lot of cool weapons in BotW that I didn't use all that often because I just didn't want them to break - primary weapons should not be one of those "I'm saving it for a special occasion" items. This is the number one thing that keeps me from putting another hundred plus hours into BotW because I really do love a lot of stuff in that game.
    • Climbing. Some sort of grapple hook that lets me zip up mountains faster would be awesome, but really I'd be happy if they took out the "slip in rain" mechanic. There were a handful of occasions when I couldn't climb up a short cliff because it was raining. That's stupid.

    Those are the major things I really want changed. I'm kind of OK with everything else? It's not all perfect and could certainly be improved, but if they fix those two things then I'll be very, very happy. If weapon durability acts the same in BotW 2 as it did in the original, I probably won't play all that much of the game unless it does something very special. I don't think I've ever despised a mechanic in an otherwise excellent game as much as I despise the stupid, horrendous, overbearing weapon degradation in BotW. I could probably get around the climbing issues and still enjoy a sequel, however.

    Other things I'd like to see changed:

    • Either get better voice actors and voice everything or don't voice anything at all.
    • Better stat representation. "Stat overload" is a thing that can happen, but only representing weapons and armor and such with a single number isn't great either. Expand on that in some way, even if it's just a handful of generic stats. Or outright make it an RPG, Zelda games have always been about halfway there anyway.
    • Better UI and inventory management.
    • Better crafting and please, for the love of God, let me batch-craft stuff.
    • Better difficulty balancing. Make some areas way more difficult to travel around than others. BotW does this to an extent but not quite as far as I'd like to see it taken. Also, try to always ensure that at least one area of the game is going to be a significant challenge. I don't expect enemies around the starting village to be difficult after I've been playing for thirty hours, but I would like significant portions of the world to hold challenge after I've gone up an armor tier or two.
    • Expansive dungeons. This is probably the number one request and I would be floored if this game didn't have a bigger focus on dungeons. I don't think it's going to have a bunch of huge, Twilight Princess-sized dungeons, but I do think there should be more than four major dungeons and each of those should have a different aesthetic without being repetitive and grindy as hell. As for the smaller dungeons, I'm fine with the landscape being dotted with entrances to small, one-or-two puzzle dungeons but they need to have way more variety in appearance. All of BotW's dungeons have the exact same appearance. I'd like to see some caves, some ruins, it would be cool to go under a volcano or explore an icey cavern or perhaps there's a floating island way up in the sky or something, anything other than the blue-tiled nonsense that the first game was swimming in.

    That's kind of all I can think of right now. I'm sure I could come up with a much bigger list of improvements and tweaks I'd like to see come in BotW 2 given all day with the game and a notebook, but I'm not going to do that right now. And, as I said above, I will honestly be thrilled if BotW 2 is pretty much exactly the same game without weapon degradation.

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    FrodoBaggins

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    You felt like you wasted your time because you weren't rewarded for doing the shrines? I would say not everything needs a reward attached to it, and infact for me just playing the shrines was reward enough.

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    NTM

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    #10  Edited By NTM

    @frodobaggins: Well, they bored me and were just bland to look at, so that's the reason (alongside not getting a very good reward) that I didn't like it. It wasn't merely because of the reward at the end. If I'm going to bore myself and sigh every time a find a shrine, I would hope the reward would at least be worth something because the experience of going through them wasn't great. There was enough there (aside from shrines) that made me want to see it all through though, which I why I stuck with the game.

    ---

    Everything people are saying I fully agree with.

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