the greatest eight year old of all time
Breath of the Wild turned eight years old today, so I'm gonna ramble about it way too much. I do not apologize... okay maybe I apologize a little.
The Legend of Zelda franchise wasn’t a big part of my life growing up. In fact, it wasn’t really a part of it at all. You would think that was in large part due to my overly religious upbringing, that perhaps the fantastical elements of the series would have given off the impression of satanism or the occult or something. Nope. My dad just thought it was kinda dumb. But Zelda still crept its way into my life through other means. I had this old drawing book as a small kid, How to Draw Nintendo Heroes and Villains– yeah, the one that mistranslates Bowser’s name as "Kerog" for some reason. That book contained tutorials for how to draw certain characters from the Mario, Donkey Kong, and Zelda franchises respectively, which included guides for drawing the Twilight Princess versions of Link, Zelda, and Ganondorf. That was sort of my first exposure to the world of Zelda, and over the years, I’d have a couple of slight run-ins with the series as well; for example, the “Legend of Zelda: Battle Quest” minigame in Nintendo Land. I didn’t play it very much, I dunno, the other minigames were better, sue me. Either way, the Wii U and 3DS were systems that sort of introduced me into the larger world of Nintendo and gaming as a whole beyond things like Mario and Donkey Kong, and a lot of that was because of Super Smash Bros. 4. That game (along with Nintendo Land, to an extent) is what got me invested in series like Metroid, Pikmin, Mega Man, F-Zero, Animal Crossing, Star Fox, Kid Icarus, Mother, Punch-Out!, Kirby, and a whole laundry list of others, with the primary one among these probably being The Legend of Zelda. I was getting to see and hear so many trademark elements of the Zelda universe for the very first time, and it was truly compelling and mesmerizing for someone new to Zelda. Another big element here was the Nintendo eShop. I spent a lot of my spare time watching trailers and other clips here, and I always found the Ocarina of Time 3D and Majora’s Mask 3D trailers to be so inherently surreal and interesting– even though I wouldn’t actually play these games myself for a few years, this is something that really stuck with me.
I finally got the chance to play my first Zelda game not too long afterwards, that being the original The Legend of Zelda on NES, along with Zelda II. I did not love them. It’s something I’ve come around big time since, I think they're great games, especially Zelda 1, but at the time, I just didn’t really know what to do or where to go, which I think is fair, it’s a tough game to get through without some sort of guide, they both are. But at this point, I just figured that this series wasn’t for me… Yeah I know that makes no sense, I was a pretty dumb kid.
But it was around this time, around late 2016/early 2017 that I found myself getting super invested into gaming culture overall, and specifically Nintendo stuff. This is when the hype for the newly unveiled Nintendo Switch was at its peak, and everyone seemed to be filled with this new sense of hope and optimism compared to the Wii U induced horror and dread of years past. And when it finally released to the public on March 3rd, 2017 (also happy birthday Nintendo Switch), it was met with overwhelming praise and love. And I’d argue that was in due in large part to the one game it released with. Not the only one– there were a few others, but let’s be real, no one bought this thing for 1-2-Switch. The only one that mattered. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. This game, much like the Nintendo Switch itself, had been anticipated for years at this point, and before it even released, you could sort of tell just by looking at it that this was going to be a masterpiece of the gaming medium. It carried with it an air of greatness nearly untouchable by anything else. And it was able to attract so many newcomers to the Zelda franchise effortlessly. That was sort of the goal here, after all. Breath of the Wild brought a lot of the elements of the series back to ground zero, serving as sort of a soft reboot for old fans and an introductory gateway for new ones. And although that was kind of a contentious point among fans, I think that was the best possible direction to take this series in. People were pretty sick of the established Zelda formula as seen in games like Skyward Sword, and I think returning the franchise to its roots of open world exploration and mystery that original game on the NES specialized in was a brilliant idea, exquisitely appealing both to new fans and old. And I was one of those new fans. I was so intrigued by how awesome and definitive people were saying Breath of the Wild was, and it was something I knew I had to try for myself. Eventually.
Admittedly, the only controllers I had for my Switch at the time were the original Joycons that came with it, and the drift was absolutely insane. I was still one of those “kid” things back then so this wasn’t a problem I was able to remedy immediately. But as soon as I did, I dived deep into Breath of the Wild, and I never looked back. I realized quickly that everyone was right about this game, that it truly was the incredible magnum opus people said it was, and after this, I found myself going back to the older games in the series and being able to really enjoy them, with games like Zelda 1, A Link to the Past, and Ocarina of Time now being some of my favorite games of their respective genres. But, why is that? What is it about The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild that makes it so magnificent, what is it about this game that made it appeal to pretty much everyone? I honestly think it’s fairly obvious:
A UNIQUELY "ZELDA" EXPERIENCE:
One of the main things that really takes this game so high in my opinion is the fact that it isn’t just any open world experience, it distinctively is a Legend of Zelda game. I’ve seen people often say that this is a terrible Zelda because it’s too open ended and not linear enough, and to be fair, it certainly does shun a few core elements of the Zelda series, like the Triforce for example is more of a nod at the camera than anything else, and the dungeons are pretty bland visually, but beyond that, I genuinely could not disagree with this any more. That’s like saying that Super Mario 64 is a bad Mario game because it’s in 3D and has a hub world and there’s no flag pole at the end of each level– just because something is new and innovative… doesn’t make it out of character for a series, and let us be very clear, Mario 64 is a much different game compared to the Mario series at the time than Breath of the Wild is to the Zelda games we have, and that doesn’t make it a bad thing at all. But even with those elements more or less shredded– without the handholding, without the limited controls, without the repetitive backtracking, without the things that fans complained about 15 years ago, Breath of the Wild holds true exactly to what makes Zelda, Zelda. The exploration, the combat, the, zany sense of humor, the grit, the level of emotional investment Zelda as a series excels at invoking, the master sword, the enemies, the iconic locations; all of the things that make Zelda what it is are all here. Say whatever the hell you want about Breath of the Wild, but you can’t deny that it lives and breathes Zelda to its very core. The game is definitely its own thing though in terms of pacing and just, what you’re doing overall, and while it is open world and it lets you do whatever you want however you want, and there’s so much more to do here other than just the main quest, so many other shrines to find, so many items to collect, so many side quests to complete, so many new discoveries to have; this truly is a game I think you can spend a lifetime playing. Breath of the Wild is certainly a lot of things, but if it’s anything, it’s certainly not running out of things to do. Ever. I don’t think it’s any less valuable during a replay because you’ll pretty much always find something you didn’t know about, and even if you somehow don’t, I think it’s still a great game to relive. I mean, like any other game, I would definitely advise only playing it through like, maybe once a year at the very very most. It’s not something that you can play for hours and hours every single solitary day of your life, because no game is, that’s a great way to burn out on a game and build resentment towards it, but either way, the well does not run dry when it comes to this game’s content.
And the great exploration, together with the awesome Sheikah Slate abilities at your disposal which give you control of ice, magnetism, bombs, and more in tandem with the champion abilities and the basic yet fun to use move set you’re granted here, all come together to form such a great scheme of gameplay to use to explore Hyrule, and if you wanna find everything in the game or, at least just get the full experience, you’re gonna have to put your skills to the test and explore the whole map. This is where Breath of the Wild shines at its brightest, when you’re exploring the land, braving the rougher regions, visiting these homely villages with these interesting NPCs with their own quirks and histories, and all while looking for towers and shrines at that. The sheer amount of emotions that almost no game can convey, emotions I flat out didn’t know existed that this game manages to get across is so uniquely stellar, and that’s because this game immerses you in this world and elicits all these feelings from deep within your soul in a way I’ve really seen almost no other game do. I think what I’m trying to say is, this game encapsulates the very concept of ambience, this world doesn’t necessarily look the most realistic and clearly has something of an epic yet cartoon-ish art style to it, yet it still manages to make you feel like you’re really here, make you feel like you’re sharing this burden with Link, and the way it uses its assets, its art, its sound design, and its music to accomplish that is borderline legendary for a game. This is a post apocalyptic world, ravaged by destruction and death and evil, yet, it’s not loud. It’s not gritty. It’s not any of the tropes you associate with post apocalyptic fiction, no, it’s quiet, somber. Peaceful. The tragic kind of peaceful. And that’s communicated perfectly through every faucet of this experience.
THE PERFECT PRESENTATION:
When a game has just the perfect title, just the perfect cover art, just the perfect logo, and just the perfect aesthetic behind all of it, that game’s a winner in my book. Maybe I’m biased here because I’m a little too obsessed with marketing and branding… but I swear to god, Breath of the Wild’s presentation literally could not be any better. It tells you everything you need to know about this game with a mere glance, I mean there’s a reason I have a huge poster of this game’s cover art on my bathroom door after all. The name itself, “Breath of the Wild” is, in my completely subjective opinion, the greatest title for a video game ever conceived, I mean… it’s BREATH OF THE WILD what the hell do you want me to say? It sounds epic, it sounds poetic, and it tells you what this game is all about in as few, concise words as possible, it’s a grand adventure through an expansive, untamed world. The name is so great, it, almost manages to surpass the “Legend of Zelda” title in the same way Skyrim kinda surpassed “The Elder Scrolls” or how Skylanders did with “Spyro”, and, even better is the cover art– the colors and and the composition of everything really come together to form an image that’s beautiful, that’s compelling, that’s grandiose, and most importantly, that’s accurate to the world you see in the game. The art, in tandem with the name alone paints a striking picture of what this game is before you’ve even played it, which is such an integral thing for a game to do. Like I know that’s the whole point of a game’s poster and title and what not, sure, but Breath of the Wild pulls it off better than anything else. And the presentation only gets better within the game itself, like there’s this futuristic looking Sheikah theming to the world, which again juxtaposes perfectly with the barren wasteland this game takes place in. It’s a great example of game design telling a story, which Breath of the Wild does so effortlessly well all throughout. Overall, the presentation and direction of this game is one of the reasons I consider Breath of the Wild to be sort of the definitive gaming experience; everything is supported by something else, everything flows together, in a single word, it’s glorious.
THE SOUNDTRACK AND NOSTALGIA:
The gameplay and presentation aside, I deeply think that for a video game, a great soundtrack is the best way to communicate with the player, whether it be by getting across story beats, setting the tone emotionally, giving players something to remember the game by, or just leaving them with something to keep em’ going through some tough as nails gameplay. But I think there’s a problem with what many people think a good soundtrack even is, and regarding Breath of the Wild, this is one of the few things fans have been consistently critical of since it came out. This game’s score has always been pretty controversial, I mean many players did love it, hell, it was even nominated for best music in the 2017 Game Awards, which I think means… something, probably. But Breath of the Wild’s soundtrack is one of the complaints still most hoisted against the game and… I will never understand why. The main qualm people have with it is that the soundtrack isn’t “memorable” enough, it’s not “catchy” enough, it’s too “atmospheric”, and I absolutely disagree, I mean sure, like the majority of the songs here aren’t gonna be on my playlist or won’t be stuck in my head in the shower, but I don’t think a game’s OST has to be like that for it to be great. The music does everything it’s supposed to do; again, this game is more focused on being an epic emotional experience than anything else. The music is supposed to immerse you in this world, and, it being so focused on atmosphere and tone is perfect for what it is. Breath of the Wild is a game wherein you explore a devastated, sort of depressing land, so the soft piano riffs accompanying your every action make way more sense than say, some big grand melody playing over everything with trumpet blasts and drum beats like in most of the other Zelda games. A score like that isn’t even close to a bad thing, in fact I prefer it most of the time, like I consider Ocarina of Time, Undertale, Celeste, Sonic CD (Japan), Mario Galaxy, and Omori to be among the best game soundtracks ever and those games are dominated by catchier tunes, but it’s different for this game. While it still is really up there for me, at least somewhere in the top 30, this soundtrack’s goal is more so to submerge you into this world and fully cement you in Link’s boots by making you feel the way he would feel, which the score does effortlessly. But it’s not like these little atmospheric tracks are all Breath of the Wild has going for it, I mean sure, the atmospheric songs are what you’ll be hearing most of the time, but when you play through the story itself you’ll be met with the more hummable songs you would expect to hear in a game like this, themes like Kakariko village, Ganonblight Battle, Rito village, Korok forest, Attack on Divine Beast Vah Ruta, Hyrule Castle, Hateno village, Kass’ theme, and many more. Uhhhhhhhh wow, this game actually has some true blue musical masterworks when you dig just a little underneath the surface, and the list just goes on and on and on.
My favorite things about this game’s soundtrack, even somehow more so than how it fits with the desolate yet hopeful tone of the game, are how it’s used to tell the game’s story, and how it delivers nostalgia, with impact. Last things first, everyone likes to yammer on about the vast overflow of nostalgic pandering in modern media and… yeah they’re completely right. It does get a little old after a while, with all these long dead properties being resurrected to rock a few quick beans outta longtime fans, not to mention the landfill of retro themed merchandise. And I don’t think this was any more apparent than in the year 2017, like I love 2017 and I wholeheartedly consider it to be maybe gaming’s best year of all time… but also... come on. Metroid: Samus Returns and Mario and Luigi Superstar Saga + Bower’s Minions were two of that year’s best games but they were remakes of ancient decrepit old Gameboy games. Sonic Mania was an incredible blaze through the world of Sonic— it’s far and away one of the best platformers ever and is still widely regarded as Sonic’s best… but again, like two thirds of that game was just reused old stuff. And then there’s the big one, the showstopper, the 3D platformer to end all 3D platformers, Super. Mario. Odyssey. It’s one of the best Mario games, one of the best platformers, hell, it’s flat out just one of the best games ever. I love this game to hell and back and back to hell again, same with all the others I mentioned, they’re all so good! But let’s not pretend Mario Odyssey didn’t love spitting up meaningless nostalgia and references at all times, which hey, I’m a dirty little Nintendo boy, I love this shit, and I’m not gonna pretend that I don’t… but with how many Mario properties exist solely to elicit some retro nostalgia for the olden days and considering how many times Mario Odyssey uses nostalgia within itself… it really makes those references mean less to me, like I love the Donkey Kong Festival in that game as much as the next guy does, I swear I do, but since the rest of the game has the same amount of references and nods, it really ends up feeling less special than it truly is, which I think really sucks. But out of all these 2017 games with critically acclaimed pasts packed with iconic history and memorabilia, Breath of the Wild handles nostalgia better than any of ‘em, hands down. It still holds true to so much of what makes Zelda Zelda. You still collect heart pieces, you still get the master sword, there’s a huge focus on exploration and secrets, the flashbacks are all about unlocking the Triforce, I guess, I dunno that’s a bit of a stretch to be fair, but so many old locations and gear pieces and designs and enemies are brought back, but, instead of relying solely on the old, it does new things with them completely, which I think is great! A lot of people hated Link’s redesign for this game, because for one thing, Link generally looks fairly masculine in most of his appearances, but here they decided to make him a lot more androgynous, like if a man and a woman had a baby somehow, and I frankly think it makes him look more unique and interesting, but maybe that’s just me, and aside from that they took away his elfin’ peter pan drip and made him look like… like an actual unique character for once. I like how it’s not only new and good on it’s own, but, it’s also excellent at complimenting Zelda’s new look which perfectly suits their whole dynamic; this is really peak character design, and I personally think he just looks better here. And despite all of that, you can still collect old gear pieces which is a really cool bone to be thrown! But again, all of this ties into the music, which is where Breath of the Wild utilizes nostalgia for the best, especially when it comes to bettering its story. Breath of the Wild’s soundtrack on the other hand, is almost entirely new, while still being clearly cut from the same cloth structurally and stylistically as other Zelda tracks. This game doesn’t like to bring back old music a lot, and that’s so smart, because it makes the precious few times it does use old tracks feel so important and heartfelt, and really makes the story something special. The exception I guess would be Zelda’s lullaby which is often used in the flashbacks because… I mean it’s Zelda the character’s theme in this series and it fits the contrasting ideas of tragedy and hope in this game absolutely perfectly. But aside from that, like, the main Zelda franchise theme? It only plays like 4 or 5 times maybe all throughout, and, even then, you only have to hear it once to finish the game at its barest, and I remember that because it’s used so sparingly; I can’t even begin to tell you how many times Mario Odyssey or other recent Mario games use the main Mario theme to the point that I don’t even notice it anymore, it’s so overused that I honestly just snooze right through it and into the next thing, like seeing an 8 bit Mario sprite used to arouse me but now it’s so commonplace all I feel is immediate indifference when I should be hyped as all hell. One of the first times we hear the iconic Zelda theme is, also the first time Link saves Zelda in the past, but it’s not an exciting, triumphant moment like you’d expect, it’s more somber and emotional, the game knows how important this moment is, and the song captures that perfectly. The second time you hear the song in the game is tied to Kass, you know, the guy you sometimes run into while exploring who’s collecting these ancient songs that are often related to certain quests in the game. Complete them all, get all the songs, and at the end you get to hear one last song from Kass. You travel to the Rito village, the perfect backdrop for this moment, and he indulges you in the history of the world, who his teacher was, what happened after Link theoretically died a hundred years ago, and he plays one final song meant just for you, and you already know– it’s Kass’ theme, which transitions halfway through, into the main Zelda theme, and coupled with the content of the history he’s giving you regarding the world and its characters, and with the overall grandiose framing of the moment, it makes for maybe my favorite part of the story; it takes everything you learn and watch and go through during this whole journey and ties it all together with a big, beautiful bow and a cherry on top, it’s absolutely brilliant, and it’s not even like this is an integral piece of the game or anything, it’s literally just an optional side quest most players won’t even do, I sure didn’t on my first playthrough! There are a couple of other times the original theme is used here, but none are anywhere close to as notable as the last, as a daunting, adventurous version of it plays outside of the final castle, which makes perfect sense, it’s essentially Link’s theme, and here you have this big triumphant music piece egging you on to complete his quest. WHen you go inside the castle though, the main Zelda theme is replaced with with a different melody– with Zelda’s, lullaby– which isn’t just great for nostalgia reasons, it’s not just great because it fits Hyrule Castle, but it beautifully tells the story of Breath of the Wild completely through music. The song Hyrule Castle perfectly captures Link’s external struggles outside of the castle, Link’s domain so to speak, and Zelda’s internal ones inside of it, where she’s been holding Ganon back for the last century– two perfect themes, merged into one, to flawlessly represent these characters, their struggles, and their forever intertwined story.
THE STORY AND STUFF:
For a game where you play as one character through a fantasy setting, I feel like story is naturally gonna be a huge part of that experience, and keep in mind, I mean, story– not plot, and yes, there is a difference. A story is, well, it’s just that, it’s a story, it’s the thing that happens in the game, while a plot is the structure of that story, the way the story is told– essentially, a summary of the story’s main events. If you’re trying to tell a great story through a video game, you don’t just rely on text, you don’t just rely on voice lines, on cutscenes, you take advantage of the interactive element games provide– of art, of music, of environments, of gameplay mechanics, of exploration to get that story across. And that’s what makes stories in art and especially in gaming work so well. Perfect. Universal. Cohesion, with every single element of the game coming together to tell this story, and that’s exactly what Breath of the Wild excels at so effortlessly. Now, is Breath of the Wild’s story one of the most creative stories in gaming, is it a mind-blowing shock from all directions, is it… one of the greatest stories ever told, in all of video game history? No, but it didn’t necessarily have to be. The only thing I like just as much as an all new story, is an ass ass old one that’s told in a new way. Like with Star Wars, it’s literally maybe the oldest story ever, it’s King Arthur, it’s the Hero’s Journey, but it’s told in such a new, compelling way that it ends up feeling fresh when you watch it play out, and Breath of the Wild is the same exact way, it takes a lot of those old story ideas and tropes and forges them masterfully into something new. No, it, doesn’t reinvent the wheel… but it runs that damn wheel smoother than almost anyone… ALMOST, anyone. Very almost.
Ok so there are kinda two parts to Breath of the Wild's story, there’s the core story, which is awesome, and then there’s the four side stories, which range anywhere from okay at best to mediocrely mid. And that’s what really holds this story back from achieving its full potential in my opinion; it definitely feels like some corners were cut here and, I don’t know why? First lemme talk about the core story– Basically, you’re thrusted into the shoes of this dude, his name is Link, and if you don’t like that, I’ve got four very special letters for you because you can’t change it unlike in most Zelda games. I honestly think that’s a good choice for reasons I’ll get to in a second. But this guy wakes up after sleeping in a tad too late, and just has no idea what’s going on. After beating around the bush for four hours this old guy explains that Link was actually Princess Zelda’s personal knight before getting totally wasted and oversleeping, and now Zelda’s been the only one keeping this demonic pig abomination thing at bay for the past hundred years. And at this point, that’s about all we know: Ganon ruined Hyrule before being trapped by Zelda who’s been tragically doomed to Hyrule Castle for the past 100 years while Link’s been hungover, and you might think… well that’s basically the whole story, right? Why would they tell you all of this now and spoil the memory flashbacks you get while exploring the world? To me though, this was a perfect story decision, not just because the idea of seeing flashbacks out of order and piecing everything together stands out and makes the story more fresh and original and plays into the Open World, “fully do whatever you want” feel of the game, but also, knowing the tragic basis of the story going in before you fully understand what happened 100 years ago provides you a foundation for all of the cutscenes, so you kinda know the horrific way things turn out going in while you unlock these out of order memories, which makes the story much more bittersweet. But what is the context of these cutscenes? Basically it shows you everything Link went through before passing out for a century, it shows you the character of Zelda so you feel more of a compulsion to help her out, and it shows you the world of Hyrule as it rightfully was before being devastated by Ganon– in essence, it shows you a vision of what you’re out to restore. Hyrule’s king finds out Ganon’s gonna come back so he rushes around to prepare for it, he gets these champion guys together, he digs up all this dusty old Sheikah technology, and he pushes Zelda to unlock her power– the only thing that can beat Ganon apparently. But for some reason this power only runs through female royalty? I dunno something like that because this game pulls the good ol’ fashioned dead mom trope we all know and love so now Zelda’s totally on her own to figure out her skills, stuck between a shitty deadbeat dad who’s forcing her too hard and a guy who seems to be perfect at pretty much everything, when she isn’t, so she kinda takes it all out on him at times. And that’s why I think a huge amount of the fanbase despises this version of Zelda, instead of worshiping the ground the male hero walks on and stoically facing her challenges, she commits the unforgivable sin of having flaws and character depth, as if a person who’s unfairly bearing the weight of… literally the whole entire world and isn’t prepared at all wouldn’t. Yeah she’s a bit of a controversial character; people either really really like her because of her story… or they hate her because she’s “bitchy” and has some supposedly mediocre voice acting. I have personally never been one to criticize voice acting performances, especially in video games, so I think it’s fine. But I will say, this is my favorite version of Zelda across all these games, not just because I find her character and her arc really compelling, but, also because she’s the undisputed centerpiece of this game’s story– all the other games in this series put more of a focus on Link and his role as the swashbuckling hero, with Zelda generally being nothing much more than a damsel in distress or a bland side character who does nothing but praise the player at all times, but Breath of the Wild finally made me understand why this whole thing is called the “Legend of Zelda”, which is something I never got as a kid. Yeah, she’s moody, yes there are a couple of scenes where she blows up at Link, but like… that that’s the whole point. The point is that Zelda is so caught up in her own struggles– for perfectly understandable reasons– that she kinda misses the fact that Link also has struggles, ones that reflect her own, even. And that’s really the core of Breath of the Wild’s story; it’s a character study of Link and Zelda and all the encompassing tropes the characters have had over the years. The game even touches on Link’s silent nature that he feels forced into, which is actually a pretty neat metaphor for how Nintendo feels the need to keep Link a silent player self insert in these games without much of his own character, which contrasts with Zelda overcoming the trope of simply being the damsel during the whole series as this time around, she’s the one who saves Link, as well as the entire world here. They both share the same guilt, they both failed here… but that’s not where it ends, because when Link is on his last leg, Zelda finally unlocks her power through sacrifice, leading into the status quo at the beginning of the game. That’s the heart of Breath of the Wild’s narrative, it’s a tragic story, it’s a redemptive story, it’s ultimately one of those “bickerers to lovers” stories that have been done a billion times over, like, honestly it’s a way overused trope that it’s not even funny… but as I said, when a story takes something as old and crusty as a trope like this that’s been done maybe, I dunno, 12 trillion times in the past decade and does something new with it whether it be applying it to a new formula or exploring it in new ways, it really refreshes it.
Regardless… this is a really good story, but not necessarily because it itself is so new and riveting and contains a ton of things never seen before, no, it’s really because of the presentation and style of it. Aside from the memories or the main quest and how they’re done, even just playing through the world communicates this tragically beautiful contrast of the wreckage of this land and the liveliness of those within it– the people, the creatures, the Sheikah technology, even the landscapes by themselves, it’s such a compelling juxtaposition it’s insane.
Wait why do I think the story suffers again?... Oh yeah, the Divine Beast quests.
OKAY so basically aside from the core story there are four other smaller ones that revolve around the four champions chosen to pilot the Divine Beasts, and they’re… there. None of them are really that awful, but the best of them I would only consider, just okay. Essentially, the champions all died aboard the Divine Beasts when Ganon attacked and now you have to team with their relatives or descendants to take back the divine beasts. Man, this was such an excellent idea, what the Devs do here is have the descendants basically mirror the stories and personalities of the original champion and their respective dynamics with Link, like the best one far and away is the Goron story. The original champion from this storyline was Daruk, he was the big strong overconfident hurr durr grr character, you know the trope. But in the present, Link teams with his descendant Yunobo, who’s just the general king of the pussies, and over the course of this short story, Link helps Yunobo gain strength and confidence– yeah it’s a basic idea, but it’s… uhh you know, it’s fine, it’s, pretty good I guess? Following this is the Gerudo storyline, which is definitely the second best out of all of these but that’s not saying much, just look at what we’re dealing with. The original champion, Urbosa was basically the mature, level headed one of the crew, being the one to give advice when needed but also telling people when to shut the hell up and get their piss together. Her counterpart here is Riju, who’s the exact opposite, she’s the youngest of the Gerudo chiefs and is overall directionless, and it’s genuinely an excellent idea for a contrast… but they don’t actually do anything with it, there’s not really a mentorship established here between Link and Riju or anything, so it just feels like wasted potential. And then after this there’s the… the Zora one. So the champion from the past here is Mipha, a character the fanbase really seems to adore and considers to be a tragic masterwork of art and… I don’t get it. I really want to, I tried, don’t get me wrong, but she’s just a character with no substance to her whatsoever, like she’s the cliche princess stereotype, meek, shy, soft spoken, and that’s about it, she’s basically the anti-Zelda here, and the only character trait she has whatsoever is, you guessed it, she’s into Link, like, bad. That’s really all she has which, just, sucks, like I wanna care about this character so much but there’s nothing at all here except for how other people feel about Mipha– her father’s sad that she’s dead, aww that sucks. Her brother’s sad that she’s dead. Aww that sucks. This royal advisor guy thing is sad that she’s dead. Aww that sucks. Link is… just kinda there and expresses no emotion about her whatsoever, aww that… sucks, I think? And it is really nice to see how her death affects other characters, especially in the sequel, but that can’t be all a character is if you want the character to be an actual character, they have to have their own traits and personality, you can’t build a character based entirely around how other characters feel about them, or vice versa. And again, I hate to bring it up, but this is a problem the entire entertainment industry has always had when it comes to writing women in fiction, and that’s probably an underlying subconscious misogyny thing… but that’s still not really an excuse. This is why I say at times that Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom are perfect examples of how to write and how not to write female characters– yes, it’s one of my six patented catchphrases. Look at Zelda for instance, who actually has depth and character and motives and a personality– her romantic storyline isn’t all she has, in fact, it’s not even her main thing, it’s a compliment to her more than anything else, and furthermore, it’s actually written well. Ultimately, Zelda breaks stereotypes instead of only playing into them. Compare that to Mipha, whose entire character literally revolves around this bizarre one sided interspecies relationship and there’s nothing about her deeper than that, all she is is an accessory to the protagonist, which is like, the worst trap to fall into when writing any character, but especially a female one… and that’s probably why so many fans really like the character is all I’m saying. What’s funny is that there’s this other pointless character named Paya, and she also has a one sided romance storyline with Link, but the weird thing is, her’s actually gets some sense of closure, as she learns to let Link be and moves the hell on with her life, which gives her at least something. The only real justification I can think of for Mipha’s character is something a bit more subtle, but I do really like it. Zelda’s whole character is built on the pressure and guilt she feels for failing to live up to everyone’s expectations of her, and Mipha, the other Princess, has essentially everything Zelda desperately needs. She has her powers all figured out, she has a healthy relationship with her father, she has the respect of her people, and while it may seem like Zelda is completely lacking, she has the one thing Mipha wants but can’t have, and that’s Link’s affection. That is genuinely a good dynamic and I like the idea of it, it was obviously an intentional parallel the writers set up… but the problem was they simply didn’t do anything with it in the story itself.
Whatever, the guy you team up with in the present is the sexy fish guy from tumblr, who’s… fine. I don’t know, I ended up actually liking this character because of how the sequel handled him, but in the original he’s… he’s just okay, like he’s basically the stereotypical “hot prince” figure, he’s dashing, he’s a bit pompous and overdramatic, he’s a ladies’ guy, it’s pretty standard stuff. Essentially, he successfully reflects Mipha in the sense that he’s just kind of a generic clover valley stereotype character in the same way that she’s a generic clover valley stereotype character, because other than that he doesn’t really have anything that makes him special. Mipha’s whole character was being really into Link, so I guess for Sexy Fish Guy that’s reflected by his whole character being… he really wanted Link to sleep with his sister, I guess? I honestly have no clue what they were going for there. And that’s all the divine beast storylines in Breath of the Wild… oh wait I forgot, yeah, the Rito one. It’s so bizarre because the gameplay and setting here is super emotionally compelling and fun, and I absolutely love the atmosphere and ambience of the Rito village and its surrounding areas, the problem is just… this story is nothing! I like the trope they use in the past of the self absorbed asshole character finally acknowledging Link despite doubting him at first… but not only is that not reflected at all by Revali’s counterpart in the present, Revali’s counterpart in the present just, doesn’t really have a ton of character. It’s worse than Mipha because she’s at least memorable and has a consistent story, this guy’s just… pffft. There? Like I remember playing this game for the first time and absolutely loving the world and the story and everything, and then I make it to the Rito story and it’s so rushed and underdeveloped. It was such a crazy whiplash considering how long and in depth the other three side stories are, not to mention how detailed and beautiful this world as a whole is, like literally who is this guy I legitimately don’t even remember his name! It’s so odd. I was also really disappointed by the fact that the modern companion characters– Yunobo, Riju, Sexy Fish Guy, and what’s his face were all disregarded in favor of resurrecting ghosts of the champions to pilot the divine beasts, like technically I guess it makes sense from a lore perspective, but from a narrative standpoint, it’s weird to set these characters up as the modern versions of the champions, and then just, forget about them entirely in the end. I guess all the effort here went into the main plot, and it shows, because it’s so solid and well developed while the other storylines just, didn’t get that same effort. That being said though, it’s not like they’re terrible or awful or anything, I mean the first two side stories were at least fine and the other 2 were rushed and underdeveloped but aren’t bad. They don’t soil the experience of this great game, or its great story, which is really all that matters. Breath of the Wild does have a few flaws, every work of art does, with no exceptions. But its highs are so high that it makes its lows– which wouldn’t even be noticeable in almost any other game, a bit more apparent than they would be otherwise.
BREATH OF THE WILD BROUGHT FULL CIRCLE:
I’m gonna be honest, I was really split when The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom released. I really adored it. I spent 60 hours on this game within its first 10 days, which is something I basically never do. And my love and admiration for it has greatly increased over time. But shortly after my first playthrough of Tears of the Kingdom came to a close, I slowly became a little disappointed by it. That isn’t to say I didn’t love it, it was one of the best games I ever played, but I felt like it failed to live up to the untouchably high standards that Breath of the Wild set before it. I thought it was kind of a letdown that Tears of the Kingdom used the same overworld that Breath of the Wild did even in spite of all of the differences, and I thought it was sort of lame that Tears of the Kingdom was much less cohesive overall, that it failed to forge its own identity and legacy apart from its predecessor. But over time, I’ve come to terms with just how… ridiculously wrong I was. Yes, I do still think Tears of the Kingdom is a less cohesive game. Yes, I do still think its gameplay and story are inferior compared to its predecessor. And yes, I do still think that on its own, Breath of the Wild is a better experience, a better game. But I think that’s the wrong way of looking at it. On their own, each of these games are incredible. They are two of the most in depth and immersive experiences to be enjoyed in the entire artistic medium of gaming. But I don’t think they should be consumed as two separate experiences. Sure, to me, Tears of the Kingdom feels incomplete without the set up Breath of the Wild provides… but Breath of the Wild also feels incomplete. Its ending was surprisingly easy and didn’t really feel “epic” enough, which is crazy considering how grand the rest of this game is. The storylines involving the four champions never get full closure, as the champions’ descendants/relatives are cast aside and never brought up again at all. And ultimately, it just feel like there’s a lot left unexplored. It feels like Sonic the Hedgehog 3 does in a lot of ways. That game is amazing. But it also feels unfinished. A lot of the concepts and ideas that game introduces never fully play themselves out. But that’s because it’s only one part of a much larger whole. And while there’s sadly no way to experience Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom as one continuous game like there is for Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Knuckles, that doesn’t matter; Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom are two sides of the same side, they are one story, one experience. Because Tears of the Kingdom does a great job at paying off all of the things Breath of the Wild sets up (and vice versa). A great example of that is how Tears of the Kingdom handles the champion characters from Breath of the Wild, now known as the Sages. Starting with the least of these first is the Gerudo one, it’s not bad it’s just there’s not much here like at all; there’s some zombies invading and then you kill them and that’s it. But then there’s the Goron one, holy heckin’ hell. Does this one have deep character development? Does it provide a ton of great new ideas, is it emotionally captivating and gripping to the human soul?... No, but it’s incredible in a totally different way: nonstop. bat. nut. Insanity. And in the purest of forms. Hey remember Yunobo, he’s still here, but instead of just being a p*ssy ss btch he’s a f*cking sh*thead d*ckhole now because fake Zelda’s brainwashing him to addict his people to this crazy whack drug they found under a mountain or something. That’s… AMAZING. It’s so dumb and stupid and I love it and I would die for it! But then the stories unironically get like, really good after this, first off the Rito one, my god what an improvement! In my opinion it was the worst one from Breath of the Wild, but they actually went the extra mile to flesh out the characters and tell a decent story here. First and foremost, they do something that HAD to be done to make this good: remember the bland, pointless character with no substance Link teamed with in the first game, the white Bird guy? No? Neither do I, good. This game replaces him with a different character, his son Tulin, who has a name and a character that I actually remember, wow! Whattaya know, writing a character with actual personality, actual motivations, and actual substance makes them actually memorable, crazy huh? But the best story here, from my perspective at least… is the Zora one. In the last one, Sexy Fish Guy was… kinda just that… just Sexy Fish Guy. But in Tears of the Kingdom, they went out of the way to give him character depth and flesh him out in a way that both makes his character better, and actually builds off the last game. After Mipha’s death, Sidon’s now overly protective and worried about losing those close to him– it’s simple, but it’s effective, and it works. It retroactively makes Mipha’s character better, giving her actual plot relevance for once, even if it’s still as an accessory to a male protagonist because of course it is. A lot of people hate it because it introduces a character that spoils a popular internet ship or something… you guys know the Dollar Store’s hiring, right? And what I really like here is that the champions’ descendants or Sages or whatever they’re called now actually matter now, they’re deeply integral to the plot.
And it goes deeper than that. While the first game’s ending leaves a little to be desired, Tears of the Kingdom’s final boss is so flippin’ incredible man, Ganondorf eats a magic rock and turns into an effin’ dragon and it’s like “oh no!” But then the GOOD dragon who’s also Zelda shows up and they fight and you give Ganon the ol’ stabby stab it’s, so, so crazy rad. And after that, you get… what’s this, a real ending? Something Breath of the Wild didn’t really have? But what’s really cool about this ending is that it feels, narratively, like a conclusion both to this game, and to Breath of the Wild. Not only does Link get to redeem his own failures, Zelda gets humanified again, which a lot of people had frustrations with because in a world with dragons, talking fish, bird archers, and rolling rock people… it’s unrealistic. To be fair, they did say there was no way for Zelda to be restored to her original form, but they also never fully explained how she unlocked her powers either, but, obviously it was done through the same means: they really did the whole “love magically fixes everything” trope. I mean I’m fine with it, it’s The Legend of Zelda, it’s essentially a fairy tale, and this kinda thing happens a lot in fairy tales– in a world of tree people and spooky goblins and zombie hands, I’m not really lookin’ for a ton of big lore explanations for how the magic works, plus narratively speaking, this makes all the sense. In Breath of the Wild, it’s Zelda’s love for Link that ends up saving him, and here, it’s the opposite, it’s Link’s love for Zelda that saves her, and that’s what I mean when I say this ending feels like the conclusion to both stories at hand– which, sort of sums up how these two games work as a whole, because again, I don’t think they work as “two different games.” It’s not like other sequels that can be viewed on their own, even if context from the first work is still important. Tears of the Kingdom just doesn’t stand on its own at all, like the characters have no foundation without Breath of the Wild, and beyond that, the events of the first game are referenced all the time, it would be like watching Rocky 2 without watching Rocky first, which just wouldn’t make any sense, it’s different from something like Super Mario Galaxy 2, in which, yeah, it doesn’t matter; you can play that before Galaxy 1 or all on its own and nothing changes, while for something like Sonic 3 & Knuckles or Empire Strikes Back, those are things you really need the context of the original works, but they also have more of their own identity, their own themes, their own ideas. Tears of the Kingdom is definitely more of a Rocky 2 type sequel where it feels like a continuation that’s absolutely dependent on the first one, than an Empire Strikes Back type of sequel which is definitely its own thing that’s still dependent on the first one, and especially more so than a Galaxy 2 or Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom type sequel that’s completely independent from the first one– I am so good at comparisons! And at the end of the day, that’s why I think this game rubbed me the wrong way a little at first blush, because I wanted a fully new and imaginative game, I wanted a game that could make me feel new things like Breath of the Wild did, I wanted a game that stood just as tall as Breath of the Wild did in terms of quality and cohesion and immersion, I wanted a game with the perfect title and the perfect cover art and the perfect identity like Breath of the Wild had, but maybe those expectations were unfair– no, it’s not fair at all to just expect a game to live up to the greatest of all time… but considering the four years of buildup and the fact that this is THE sequel to THE greatest game ever, it’s honestly hard not to have those natural expectations, though, I’ve really come to accept it. I don’t see the point in holding a grudge against this game, or really any work of art for not being the way I wanted it to be because, well, for one, it’s not mine, it’s not my creative vision, what right do I possibly have to want it to change, but much more than that, what is it gonna do? Absolutely nothing, that’s not gonna get me anywhere, and I’d prefer to love and appreciate something for what it is rather than hate on it for something it’s not, and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, is a wholeheartedly magnificent game, and I love it– maybe not as much as Breath of the Wild of course, but it’s pretty damn close, and a big part of that is its visuals, which I definitely prefer over the original. Sure, I think the first game looks great, it looks so epic, what with its more gilded color palette, but, there were so many times playing Tears of the Kingdom where I was utterly blown away by how this game looks, which sounds weird since they both look so similar, I mean, they have the same art style and a lot of the same models and everything, but Tears of the Kingdom’s colors specifically are so bright and vivid, especially above the clouds, it’s breathtaking. I predicted nearly two years ago when Tears of the Kingdom released that, while people seemed to prefer it and simultaneously began hating on Breath of the Wild, that in two short years’ time the tables would completely shift and everyone would circle back to preferring Breath of the Wild and dumping all over Tears of the Kingdom, which still wouldn’t be fair, but it’s what fanbases do. And I was kind of right… and sort of wrong as well. Two years later, Breath of the Wild is still commonly revered as one of the greatest games ever made. It’s still topping “greatest games of all time” lists at the very number one spot. It’s defining this generation of art and gaming by inspiring countless people and providing joy to them as well. And Tears of the Kingdom by contrast… isn’t a game a lot of people talk about anymore. And I think that’s kind of sad. This is a game with a lot of inherent creativity and passion, and I thought that, given the fusion abilities, it would be something people experiment with and discuss for years to come. But nowadays, nobody seems to even remember this game’s existence. And while I do think that’s a huge shame, it’s also sort of obvious why– a lot of people seem to view the game in a similar way as I do, as a DLC expansion that finishes what Breath of the Wild started, and I think Tears of the Kingdom does a perfect job in that role… but it ends up not having much of its own identity, much of its own legacy.
Tears of the Kingdom is a game that’s near impossible, for me at least, to separate from its predecessor, and it definitely doesn’t live up to it and the expectations it set… and that’s okay. I’ve come to peace with it, it’s unfair to expect any game or any work of art, even a direct sequel, to live up to insane expectations, especially those set by what may be the greatest game of all time. On the other hand, I’ve seen a lot of people say that Tears of the Kingdom renders Breath of the Wild obsolete somehow, and there aren’t even words to describe how much I disagree with that idea. Not only is Breath of the Wild a historic and incredible game on its own that I obviously consider better than its successor, but I think Tears of the Kingdom does the exact opposite of this; it doesn’t erase Breath of the Wild, no, it completes it. The way I rationalize it is that Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom are two halves of the same whole, they are one work, just ripped, separated across two pieces like Sonic 3 and Knuckles or Lord of the Rings. I mean obviously they are two different games, they’re sold in two different packages, I’m not insane. But it’s different, again, than something like the Mario Galaxy duology or Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask, those are games you can play on their own whenever, in whichever order for the most part, but for me, I get done playing Breath of the Wild, then I gotta jump in to Tears of the Kingdom to get the full experience. Breath of the Wild is incredible on its own, but with all the things it sets up and doesn’t fully pay off, without the great, climactic ending it truly deserves, it doesn’t feel complete. Tears of the Kingdom, likewise, is a great game in spite of its flaws, but without the set up and worldbuilding provided by Breath of the Wild, it doesn’t feel complete. But together, as one combined story, one combined work of art, this is gaming at its peak, this… is pure greatness in art.
Happy (slightly late) birthday, Breath of the Wild. And happy extremely early birthday too, Tears of the Kingdom. You guys are cool.
*******************