Some Zelda Things
20th October 2025, 5:03 PM
I do really love the story of Link's Awakening, but I think my favorite Zelda story would have to be Majora's Mask. The Wind Waker is up there pretty high as well. Interestingly enough, I find the open world Zelda games' stories to be among some of the weaker entries, not that they're bad. They're just so fragmented, and they feel secondary to the gameplay and open world. Tears of the Kingdom feels especially repetitive through the flashbacks, while Breath of the Wild's collected memories do, eventually, form a cohesive backstory. (Tears of the Kingdom has a much more satisfying final boss fight than Breath of the Wild, though.)
Moreover, while Breath of the Wild does a good job with Link's amnesia by immersing first-time players into the experience through the slow reveal of past events as Link regains his lost memories, I feel like watching Hyrule's demise through flashbacks in this way cheapens the emotional resonance that a game such as Ocarina of Time had. In Ocarina of Time, we as players experience the pre-"calamity" Hyrule. We fully explore it and get to know the characters before the timeskip happens and Hyrule is ruined. We revisit locations from the first part of the game, and we see how much things have changed for the worse under Ganondorf. As a result, the player feels all the more motivated to set things right--free Kokiri Forest of the monsters, rescue the Gorons, thaw Zora's Domain (even though that doesn't happen; Twilight Princess corrects course even if it retreads the plot point), etc. In Breath of the Wild... the post-calamity Hyrule is all we know except through those brief glimpses in flashbacks.
Meanwhile, Tears of the Kingdom is often criticized for being a glorified $70 DLC to Breath of the Wild. I can see where people are coming from there. Majora's Mask similarly reused Ocarina of Time's engine and assets, but it gave us all brand new locations, and while Hylian Link controls largely the same as he did before, he has three new forms (four if you include Fierce Deity) that completely alter the gameplay. Meanwhile, the Hyrule of Breath of the Wild is practically Ctrl + C, Ctrl + V directly into Tears of the Kingdom, but to be fair, two new layers are added to this Hyrule--one on top (the sky islands) and one down below (the depths), and seeing some of the changes to the Hyrule we know from BotW to TotK has some of the emotional resonance that I alluded to earlier with OoT (for instance, seeing Rito Village be overtaken by a blizzard). The gameplay is also distinct enough between the two games that they're not completely identical, and I think I like TotK's moveset better overall as it allows for greater freedom and creativity.
Honestly, I just love both games that I can forgive how much they look alike. But their stories? Eh... past Zelda games have done it better. On the opposite side of the coin, I kind of like what Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks added to the lore of the "adult timeline" of Wind Waker, even if their gameplay is not the best the series has to offer.
Moreover, while Breath of the Wild does a good job with Link's amnesia by immersing first-time players into the experience through the slow reveal of past events as Link regains his lost memories, I feel like watching Hyrule's demise through flashbacks in this way cheapens the emotional resonance that a game such as Ocarina of Time had. In Ocarina of Time, we as players experience the pre-"calamity" Hyrule. We fully explore it and get to know the characters before the timeskip happens and Hyrule is ruined. We revisit locations from the first part of the game, and we see how much things have changed for the worse under Ganondorf. As a result, the player feels all the more motivated to set things right--free Kokiri Forest of the monsters, rescue the Gorons, thaw Zora's Domain (even though that doesn't happen; Twilight Princess corrects course even if it retreads the plot point), etc. In Breath of the Wild... the post-calamity Hyrule is all we know except through those brief glimpses in flashbacks.
Meanwhile, Tears of the Kingdom is often criticized for being a glorified $70 DLC to Breath of the Wild. I can see where people are coming from there. Majora's Mask similarly reused Ocarina of Time's engine and assets, but it gave us all brand new locations, and while Hylian Link controls largely the same as he did before, he has three new forms (four if you include Fierce Deity) that completely alter the gameplay. Meanwhile, the Hyrule of Breath of the Wild is practically Ctrl + C, Ctrl + V directly into Tears of the Kingdom, but to be fair, two new layers are added to this Hyrule--one on top (the sky islands) and one down below (the depths), and seeing some of the changes to the Hyrule we know from BotW to TotK has some of the emotional resonance that I alluded to earlier with OoT (for instance, seeing Rito Village be overtaken by a blizzard). The gameplay is also distinct enough between the two games that they're not completely identical, and I think I like TotK's moveset better overall as it allows for greater freedom and creativity.
Honestly, I just love both games that I can forgive how much they look alike. But their stories? Eh... past Zelda games have done it better. On the opposite side of the coin, I kind of like what Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks added to the lore of the "adult timeline" of Wind Waker, even if their gameplay is not the best the series has to offer.