3d wooden brain teaser puzzle solution
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2021.01.27 17:48 nkdpuzzle NkDpuzzle
Wooden Mechanical 3d Puzzle Made in France
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All about mechanical puzzles like burr puzzles, wire puzzles, dexterity toys and much more. Part of the [Puzzle Network](/PuzzleNetwork) of subreddits.
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2023.05.30 16:42 ChampionshipClear322 [TOTK] After almost 100 hours and beating the game, here are my thoughts.
Obviously, spoilers on the entire game here. For context, I have been playing Zelda since 2014 with Twilight Princess as my first game. Since then I have played Skyward Sword, Breath of the Wild, Link's Awakening, and I am about halfway through Ocarina of Time. Because of my obvious bias towards more traditional 3D Zelda games (I enjoyed Skyward Sword and Twilight Princess the most) I will try to be as impartial as possible.
I tried so hard to like this game. I had my doubts at the beginning, but after watching the new trailer it sold me on the game. I didn't like some aspects of Breath of the Wild, but after seeing the new enemies and hopefully a return to a more traditional zelda game that people missed while keeping the awesome open world of Breath of the Wild I really thought it was going to be great. And some parts of it were, but some parts of it I did not like.
Firstly, I would like to congratulate Nintendo because the physics relating to the Ultrahand mechanic blew everyone away, including me, and it is clear that Tears of the Kingdom has some of the best physics and building of any video game out there. The amount of creativity that has sprung from this game is mindblowing, and I don't think any of us expected for there to be simply so much to do. Not only are there almost 30 devices you can obtain each with their own unique purpose, you can also combine them with almost anything you can find in the game. Want to make a stupidly long bridge that can get you around the temple of time at the start of the game? Why not? Want to skip the main puzzle in the shrine by haphazardly building a flying machine that just barely makes it to the end? Go right ahead. Ultrahand allows for so much creativity and makes the new shrines ten times more enjoyable than the ones in Breath of the Wild. Because of this, there is an infinite amount of replayability in this game and the community will always be finding new things to do with this. Judging from how you all pushed Breath of the Wild to its limits, I can't wait to see what will be done in this game. Ultrahand gets a 20/10.
Additionally, Fuse and Recall are also insanely fun and useful abilities that add so much to the game. While I miss the Stasis rune in particular, Recall and Ultrahand can be used in a similar way if done correctly, and it's so much more satisfying when you do it correctly. While Recall doesn't have as many uses as Fuse and Ultrahand, the game still finds great ways to use it, such as sending a Stone Talus' boulders back at it, or knocking those horrible Horriblins down from the cave ceiling. Additionally, I am extremely happy with how Nintendo fixed Durability with the Fuse mechanic. While the durability annoyed me less than some of the others who played Breath of the Wild, my main complaint was wasting several of my good weapons on an enemy like a Silver Bokoblin or Lynel that had a huge healthbar, and only getting one (or sometimes none) good weapons in return. However, with the guarantee that you will usually be able to get an equally powerful or sometimes even better weapon after killing an enemy by fusing their horns to any random "sturdy stick", I don't hesitate to fight Silver enemies or Lynels anymore and I feel much more free to do so. Both of these abilites get a 10/10.
My third compliment goes to the game's shrines. I disliked Breath of the Wild's shrines. I found them tedious and annoying to do, and often skipped them or looked up the answers online. Especially when your only reward was a piece of heart or tiny fraction of a stamina wheel, I just clicked on them to save them as a travel checkpoint and moved on. Even their design was ugly to me. However, the new shrines are much better. While they are easier than Breath of the Wild's shrines, the rewards are a little less lucrative to balance it out and they are so much more fun to do because of how they creatively use the new abilites and allow for a multitude of different ways to solve problems. Many people do not like the "Proving Grounds" shrines, but I absolutely love them because they are a real challenge and I don't have to worry about losing 50 bomb arrows or several good weapons for a "Guardian Sword ++" and some ancient screws. Even if I die five times trying to complete them, I still have fun. And aesthetically they are so much better, the look of the temple, the texture of the lights of blessing, even the music feels a lot less claustrophobic and drab like the ones in Breath of the Wild did. 9/10.
Fourthly, the Great Sky Island was absolutely amazing and I loved every second of it. It felt just like it did when I played Breath of the Wild for the first time, being plunged into an unknown and untouched environment and having to learn the mechanics of this new game. The Zonai Constructs don't carry the same fear level as Guardians did, but they were still cool enemies to fight with drops that were actually helpful unlike the Ancient Screws and Springs which only became helpful late-game. I obviously can't go through every part of the island, but the parts I enjoyed the best were crossing the huge lake to the west, climbing the snowy mountain to get to a shrine where I unsuccessfully attempted to craft a hovercraft out of logs, going on Minecarts around the island, and fusing random crap to sticks to make the most ridiculous weapons possible. 9/10.
My last compliment goes to the introduction of Gloom into the game. When it is first introduced, the Gloom is absolutely frightening, and plunging into the depths for the first time was beyond scary. Malice was an annoying obstacle that you just jumped across until you got to where you needed to be and ate a few foods, but you are forced to avoid the Gloom in this game because you know that it will be catastrophic if you walk in it for too long because the only cure is an extremely rare flower that can only be found in the sky. I just wish that the lightroots either weren't so common, or didn't heal your healthbar, because it kind of subtracted the fear aspect a little bit. The way it actually destroyed your heart containers in the final battle against Ganondorf instead of rendering them unusable for a little while was another surprise I did not expect, and killing the Demon Dragon with a single heart was the best moment of the game for me. 8/10.
Some other minor things I liked:
• Gleeoks are amazing bosses, better than any of the bosses in Breath of the Wild OR Tears of the Kingdom apart from the Ganondorf fight, easy 10/10
• While the Wind Temple wasn't my favorite, I did enjoy the Rito Village quest in the beginning and the leadup to the Wind Temple where you flew with Tulin to the very top. 9/10.
• Pizza?! I loved the introduction of Tomatoes and Cheese into the game! Shame you couldn't do more with them. 7/10.
• The Master Kohga battles were very good. While he was still easy to kill once he was stunned, it is another instance of Ultrahand and Link's other new abilities putting a creative and spicy twist on an old fight. Autobuild was also a lifesaver. 9/10.
• The second stage of the Ganondorf bossfight was probably the most fun I've had with a boss since Twilight Princess. It felt actually challenging in a way that could only be compared to the Gleeok Battles. It was so hard to even get a single hit into his massive healthbar when he could dodge more than 90% of your shots and destroy your health bar. Probably shouldn't have gone in without upgrading any of my armor but doing that was so tedious :p 20/10.
Now that I've talked about what was great about Tears of the Kingdom, here is the stuff I disliked about the game. While I think that the people who call this game an "overpriced DLC" are not arguing in good faith, I can see their point. Much of Breath of the Wild's structure was carried over into Tears of the Kingdom and it felt like I was redoing the same things I did in the old game, just with a new texture and a slightly different story.
Because of how insanely complicated it must have been to put Ultrahand in the game, it was clear that that was what Nintendo spent most of their time on when making Tears of the Kingdom, going for a more creative approach rather than a return to the traditional like I had hoped. And while this was a perfectly valid thing to do that clearly made a lot of people happy, it just wasn't what I wanted, and the final trailers for the game feel like they were marketing a different game than they were actually selling. When they went above and beyond with Link's new abilities, it left other aspects of the game such as combat, story, gameplay, and the structure of the game itself lacking and awfully familiar, if not the same, as Breath of the Wild.
Now that I've talked about what was great about Tears of the Kingdom, here is the stuff I disliked about the game. While I think that the people who call this game an "overpriced DLC" are not arguing in good faith, I can see their point. Much of Breath of the Wild's structure was carried over into Tears of the Kingdom and it felt like I was redoing the same things I did in the old game, just with a new texture and a slightly different story.
Because of how insanely complicated it must have been to put Ultrahand in the game, it was clear that that was what Nintendo spent most of their time on when making Tears of the Kingdom, going for a more creative approach rather than a return to the traditional like I had hoped. And while this was a perfectly valid thing to do that clearly made a lot of people happy, it just wasn't what I wanted, and the final trailers for the game feel like they were marketing a different game than they were actually selling. When they went above and beyond with Link's new abilities, it left other aspects of the game such as combat, story, gameplay, and the structure of the game itself lacking and awfully familiar, if not the same, as Breath of the Wild.
My biggest issue with this game is the story. I disliked almost every part of it. We start out with a very solid intro scene where we meet shriveled Ganondorf and Zelda disappears. Then we see her disappear as she steals our half of a master sword at the end of the Great Sky Island. However, the game then leads us into a wild goose chase to find Zelda for almost the entire game until near the end when we go inside Hyrule Castle. This was fine in Skyward Sword because Zelda was much more likable and it only took up half of the game. I felt like "I have to save Zelda. I have to." in SS and in Tears of the Kingdom I was like "Let's just get this over already." Additionally, the Upheaval which is apparently the placeholder of the Calamity in BOTW just feels like not a threat at all. The castle rose into the air and a few meteors came down and crashed into Kakariko village. The mud in the water doesn't seem to be affecting the Zora much at all, the Gerudo seem relatively unharmed by the Gibdos, only retreating into an underground bunker, and we have almost no time to see how the rock roast affects the Gorons before Yunobo is saved. The only place where I felt any sense of urgency was in Rito Village where the town was starving and abandoned the children to their fate because they're the worst parents ever or something. I enjoyed saving Rito village. The others not so much. And let's not even talk about the Sages. 3/4 of them we had already interacted with heavily in the previous games, which was another reason I liked the Rito quest so much. Yunobo is still as weak and annoying as ever, nothing has changed with Riju, and Sidon is so boring and lifeless comparing to the other game. As we go into the dungeons we have four conversations that are, quite literally, copy and pasted into each one voiced by the blandest sages ever.
"Come, Come" (Random Sage)
"Did you hear that voice?" (Yunobo, Sidon, Riju, Tulin)
and when we get to the end of the dungeon
"X, I am your ancestor from a long time ago. I was the sage of x. Descendant you make me proud. The monster you killed tried to stop you from obtaining my secret stone. Once upon a time there was a great war where the Demon King tried to kill us and Rauru gave us all secret stones but he was too strong so Rauru sacrificed himself to seal him away. And then Zelda appeared to me and told me that it was the duty of the x to aid you Link."
"So it's my duty to... help you? Now take my scary ghost form with a useless ability (besides tulin) to follow you around the rest of your journey!"
These cutscenes weren't disappointing. I hated them. As a person who loves the story so much they never skip a single cutscene these I physically couldn't watch. Everything about them was awful. The completely dry, lifeless, unneccesary sages which don't even have a name or a face and talk like NPCs or someone from an awful anime episode and say the exact same thing four times over, the empty void we are surrounded in, the cutscene we have to watch four times over, the robotic responses that come from the sages, everything about it was horrible and it feels like Nintendo was trying to reinsert the champions in the game but these are such a worse downgrade from them. At the end of the game I was like "ok... I give this a 7/10" and then the horrible after-credits scene with the four sages came in where they repeated the robotic speech from one of the memories and if that was supposed to be a meaningful scene it certainly was not.
Zelda's sacrifice probably would have meant so much more to me if the rest of the story hadn't frustrated me so much. But it feels like it meant nothing since the Demon King is such a non-threat compared to Calamity Ganon. Calamity Ganon devastated Hyrule, destroying most of the villages and probably killing half of the people there, and murdering 4 of the best characters in Zelda history who meant so much to their people that statues were built for them. In comparison, Ganondorf levitated a castle in the air and added some poo to Zora's domain. It ruins Zelda's moment so much because it would have been so beautiful if it felt like she was sacrificing herself for something meaningful. It frustrates me to no end because Ganondorf was a villain I was so hyped about and he's shriveled about 90% of the game and only appears three times, once in the beginning, once as a vision in Hyrule Castle, and once at the end, and only one of them is fully revived Ganondorf. In fact, we only see this version of Ganondorf for a third of the final bossfight. We need more Ganondorf! At least add a sixth dungeon to the game below Hyrule Castle where Ganondorf appears after, or maybe he appears before we get the Master Sword. We just needed more of Ganondorf and more of him being a threat to Hyrule.
Another complaint are the sages. I already stated that three out of the four sages had already been fleshed out in a previous game and not much was added to their personalities this time around. Why couldn't we have gotten new people? Maybe make Muzu a sage, we always like having an old man around, or give Barta/Bullaria some importance for the Gerudo and hand over the torch to one of those young Gorons that always follow Yunobo around. It would have been so much fun to have new characters. The sages add absolutely nothing to the experience of this game besides showing up in the awful cutscenes and it just feels like they're trying to repeat what they had in the last game. If they're going to do that, at least do it with someone new so it doesn't feel like I have to replay the game again. We already helped these people with their character growth in the last game. We know that Riju is insecure about her place as the Gerudo chief, and we helped her be more respected after retriveing the Thunder Helm and calming Naboris. We know that Sidon feels a sense of duty to his domain after what happened to his sister, and we spend time with him getting shock arrows, obtaining the Zora armor, and travelling around Lanayru with him until we got to Zora's domain. We helped Yunobo gain his confidence after he accompained us by firing himself at Rudania. These characters went through almost no development except for Tulin (again showing what Nintendo did right with Rito Village) because he's a new character.
Finally, the memories. Why did there have to be memories again. It would have been such an easy shift from Breath of the Wild, to give us a new main quest. While I was not a big fan of the time travel arc that Zelda went through, it was still workable, but there was no reason to have these stupid memories again. We saw so much of past Ganon and so little of present Ganon. I don't care what happened to the Goat Man and how the Kingdom of Hyrule was formed. Half of those memories were not essential to the plot and were just filler content. In particular, the one with Mineru just spoils Zelda's sacrifice altogether. Mineru as a whole just feels like such an annoying character and I would have much rathered a sheikah sage or even a korok.
While I criticize much of this game for remaining the same as BOTW, the story was one of the only aspects where it was a clear downgrade. So much of what was shown in the trailers hyped this game to be an impactful, story-filled game and many of these scenes are from memories, which I absolutely hate, and one of the scenes with Ganondorf wasn't even in the actual game, just a scene melded together from a memory and the speech at the end!
And why on earth did they call them secret stones. It was so cringe. It felt like something I would hear from a ten year old's cartoon show and I don't know why they insisted calling them that when we have a much better name for them that is in the TITLE OF THE GAME.
All in all, the story gets a 2/10.
Another issue I have with this game is Ascend and how it affects our experience in the dungeons. I liked the Lightning Temple, the Fire Temple and Wind Temple were okay, and the Water Temple was just plain awful. I saw a post about someone complaining about the puzzles in TOTK being too hard and I saw someone respond "If they think these puzzles are hard, I can't imagine them playing Twilight Princess." And I wholeheartedly believe that. While I'm not trying to make this review a comparison to Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword, games which are completely different from this one, the puzzles in this game were either super easy or required us to do something that no one would have thought of. I was stuck in the Lightning Temple on two different points, one where the mirrors seemed to reflect to nothing in particular (what you had to do was grab a spare mirror from another room and fuse it to the statue so that it would face the right way which was a random solution that I didn't expect but I actually enjoyed) and another where I had no idea how to get to the last terminal and I looked around for 20 minutes until I looked it up online and found that I ascended into a place I wasn't supposed to and I actually had to teleport out of the temple to a nearby shrine, travel back to the temple on foot, go through another entrance I hadn't gone through, go through a really long tunnel to get to the terminal I should have gone to first. In a game which prioritizes open world exploration and being able to do anything you wanted, this haphazard "linearity" inside the lightning temple really ruined the experience of a dungeon I otherwise enjoyed. Which leads me to my point on Ascend. While Recall, Fuse, and Ultrahand add to this game in so many amazing and dynamic ways, Ascend just feels like something they added because they needed a fourth ability and a way to get out of caves. It allows so many dungeons to be cheesed and using it in the Lightning Temple made the experience so much more complicated than it needed to be. Apart from caves, every other place where you needed to use ascend could have been done with Revali's gale (rest in peace) or a bonfire + hylian pine cone, or any of the other devices that came with ultrahand.
The uses made for it in the Great Sky Island and in other places felt forced and the developers could have easily come up with another creative way to do this without ascend. I just wish that Ascend and Autobuild were disabled inside temples because it would have made things so much better. The companions also make the temples much more annoying because half the time all you're doing is waiting for Riju or Sidon to stop standing in a random corner and walk up to you. Especially in the Water Temple where your ability was on a time limit, this was especially annoying. The Water and Wind Temples felt like big sky islands and not dungeons. The Snowpeak Ruins in Twilight Princess and the Sandship in Skyward Sword are both excellent examples about how to turn something unconventional into an excellent dungeon, but these temples fail in so many ways. Not only is it so easy to get around the entire dungeon with a paraglider and Tulin that makes it possible to complete the dungeon in under 30 minutes on your first playthrough, the puzzles were so easy and the Wind Temple's boss in particular was so easy to kill despite it looking so fearsome. The Mud Octorok was actually a great boss that I have no complaints about, but the rest of the temple was really awful, with most of the puzzles simply being chalked up to "redirect this floating water bubble somewhere else so you can get to a terminal." The terminal thing returning was also something that was a huge letdown. There was no reason to continue it from Breath of the Wild, especially when the Divine Beast dungeons were such a huge complaint, when they could have added a system of small keys, miniboss, maybe even a new ultrahand ability similar to the ones we got from the sages to replace having a companion with you that you would be able to use across the dungeon. This would have turned the Lightning Temple from a 7/10 dungeon to an easy 9/10 or even 10/10 and would have improved my outlook on the other dungeons a lot more, particularly the fire temple, which was so great aesthetically but the gameplay and puzzles simply were not. While I liked the Lightning Temple and to a lesser extent the Fire Temple and the bossfights were much better, I found myself enjoying the Divine Beasts more than the Wind and Water Temples, and many of the bosses were such pushovers. The dungeons in this game get a 4/10.
I have a number of other smaller complaints. First is that I really wished there were more food and armor options. A return to the "meat skewers" and "fried wild greens" let me down a bit as I was hoping for more variance on food, especially after they added new items like stambulbs and tomatoes that I thought would replace the existing items. I mean, we had a whole sidequest dedicated to discovering Cheese and there's only three recipes for it! (as far as I know) Additionally, I wouldn't have been upset if they gave us the same effects for armor as before, just with a new name and texture. Like maybe they could have slightly updated the look of the Hylian set like they did with the Champion's tunic, or we could have the full Sheikah uniform instead of the Stealth armor, or a Lightning Helmet that actually looked different instead of one that reused the exact same texture as the thunder helm. New monsters such as Horriblins, Aerocudas, and Boss Bokoblins added some great new fights to the game, and I wouldn't have even cared if they reused the same enemies, but the way they attack is the exact same as in Breath of the Wild, which left the combat a little predictable and I was able to kill a Gloom Lynel first try. The only battles that really challenged me were against the Gleeoks, one of the best bosses in all of Zelda history.
My last issue with this game is that I really don't understand what vibe they were going for. Majora's Mask was twisted and disturbing. Twilight Princess was dark and gloomy. Skyward Sword was bright and hopeful. Breath of the Wild was free and really emphasized nature. But with Tears of the Kingdom, they really seem to be doing five things at once and accomplishing none of them. They try to put an emphasis on the creative aspect by adding things like Zonai Tech to the beginning and adding new technologies like the batteries, factories, skyview towers, and other. Then they also try to make this game dark and scary by introducing some horrifying things like chasms, gloom hands, and underground areas. They made the game seem bright and sunny like Skyward Sword in the beginning with the Great Sky Island and the bright yellow color palette. Then they also try to keep the open-world aspect of Breath of the Wild by keeping this massive open world, but with nothing to do inside it since we've already seen most of the stuff in this game's nature areas apart from the new caves. I don't understand what the developers were trying to make this game feel like, and it feels like they tried to do too many things at once and failed to flesh out all of them. I would have loved to see a restored Hyrule that we could explore and I would have also loved to have a nature-filled world like in BOTW with new plants, foods, caves, animals, and areas to explore, but the Hyrule in TOTK seems like a haphazard mixture of both.
There's no incentive to explore this time around with only 3-4 new plants and animals in the overworld and only a few caves that only have Brightbloom seeds, bomb flowers, and bubblefrogs. I love the caves, but they seem a bit same-y over time and I have no intention to find them all. I can't even ride around Hyrule on a horse like in BOTW or in a car like the developers seem to want us to do because I run into those stupid Zonai rocks that are littered around every 5 seconds for no particular reason. All they do is make transportation annoying and I wonder why they went through the effort to put all of the sky island materials on the overworld by these ugly rocks instead of actually having more sky islands like we wanted. The Great Sky Island was undoubtedly the most solid part of Tears of the Kingdom's Hyrule, so why did they deincentivise sky exploration by having most of the sky materials on these fallen rocks?
All in all, Nintendo outdid themselves with the coding in this game, especially putting a massive title like this on the six-year-old Nintendo Switch. However, it was clear that they spent most of their time coding in these new mechanics and the writers clearly phoned in this time around with the worst story and dialogue I have seen in any Zelda game so far. Maybe putting in a completely new game on Breath of the Wild's massive world was too much to ask, but so much of Tears of the Kingdom either directly copies Breath of the Wild (four dungeons in the exact same lands, the exact same food, combat, armor, and people) or takes the same structure and retextures it (four terminals in a dungeon, memories, shrines, a quest to rebuild a village from scratch, "champions" that pass on their abilities to their successors, and those cursed Korok seeds) that I really found no reason to play this game after 100 hours because there was nothing new left to do besides a multitude of side quests that I didn't feel like doing because I had no attachment to this Hyrule like I did in Twilight Princess, Skyward Sword, Link's Awakening, and Breath of the Wild. Maybe I would have liked it more if I was a new player and hadn't played BOTW before, but the amount of content that was unnecessarily copied from the last game into this one really ruined the experience for me. All in all, this Zelda is a C+ for me, a 6.5/10. While it was more fun than the linear and small world of Link's Awakening, it couldn't compare with the story aspect of Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword or the feel of Breath of the Wild.
TLDR: While Nintendo went above and beyond with the new Ultrahand, Fuse, and Recall mechanics, it ultimately wasn't enough for me to save a game that had an extremely lacking story, underwhelming content and dungeons, and a multitude of side quests that was basically repeating everything you had done in 2017. If you're going to argue with me in the comments, please actually read the whole thing first.
submitted by ChampionshipClear322 to truezelda [link] [comments]
I tried so hard to like this game. I had my doubts at the beginning, but after watching the new trailer it sold me on the game. I didn't like some aspects of Breath of the Wild, but after seeing the new enemies and hopefully a return to a more traditional zelda game that people missed while keeping the awesome open world of Breath of the Wild I really thought it was going to be great. And some parts of it were, but some parts of it I did not like.
Firstly, I would like to congratulate Nintendo because the physics relating to the Ultrahand mechanic blew everyone away, including me, and it is clear that Tears of the Kingdom has some of the best physics and building of any video game out there. The amount of creativity that has sprung from this game is mindblowing, and I don't think any of us expected for there to be simply so much to do. Not only are there almost 30 devices you can obtain each with their own unique purpose, you can also combine them with almost anything you can find in the game. Want to make a stupidly long bridge that can get you around the temple of time at the start of the game? Why not? Want to skip the main puzzle in the shrine by haphazardly building a flying machine that just barely makes it to the end? Go right ahead. Ultrahand allows for so much creativity and makes the new shrines ten times more enjoyable than the ones in Breath of the Wild. Because of this, there is an infinite amount of replayability in this game and the community will always be finding new things to do with this. Judging from how you all pushed Breath of the Wild to its limits, I can't wait to see what will be done in this game. Ultrahand gets a 20/10.
Additionally, Fuse and Recall are also insanely fun and useful abilities that add so much to the game. While I miss the Stasis rune in particular, Recall and Ultrahand can be used in a similar way if done correctly, and it's so much more satisfying when you do it correctly. While Recall doesn't have as many uses as Fuse and Ultrahand, the game still finds great ways to use it, such as sending a Stone Talus' boulders back at it, or knocking those horrible Horriblins down from the cave ceiling. Additionally, I am extremely happy with how Nintendo fixed Durability with the Fuse mechanic. While the durability annoyed me less than some of the others who played Breath of the Wild, my main complaint was wasting several of my good weapons on an enemy like a Silver Bokoblin or Lynel that had a huge healthbar, and only getting one (or sometimes none) good weapons in return. However, with the guarantee that you will usually be able to get an equally powerful or sometimes even better weapon after killing an enemy by fusing their horns to any random "sturdy stick", I don't hesitate to fight Silver enemies or Lynels anymore and I feel much more free to do so. Both of these abilites get a 10/10.
My third compliment goes to the game's shrines. I disliked Breath of the Wild's shrines. I found them tedious and annoying to do, and often skipped them or looked up the answers online. Especially when your only reward was a piece of heart or tiny fraction of a stamina wheel, I just clicked on them to save them as a travel checkpoint and moved on. Even their design was ugly to me. However, the new shrines are much better. While they are easier than Breath of the Wild's shrines, the rewards are a little less lucrative to balance it out and they are so much more fun to do because of how they creatively use the new abilites and allow for a multitude of different ways to solve problems. Many people do not like the "Proving Grounds" shrines, but I absolutely love them because they are a real challenge and I don't have to worry about losing 50 bomb arrows or several good weapons for a "Guardian Sword ++" and some ancient screws. Even if I die five times trying to complete them, I still have fun. And aesthetically they are so much better, the look of the temple, the texture of the lights of blessing, even the music feels a lot less claustrophobic and drab like the ones in Breath of the Wild did. 9/10.
Fourthly, the Great Sky Island was absolutely amazing and I loved every second of it. It felt just like it did when I played Breath of the Wild for the first time, being plunged into an unknown and untouched environment and having to learn the mechanics of this new game. The Zonai Constructs don't carry the same fear level as Guardians did, but they were still cool enemies to fight with drops that were actually helpful unlike the Ancient Screws and Springs which only became helpful late-game. I obviously can't go through every part of the island, but the parts I enjoyed the best were crossing the huge lake to the west, climbing the snowy mountain to get to a shrine where I unsuccessfully attempted to craft a hovercraft out of logs, going on Minecarts around the island, and fusing random crap to sticks to make the most ridiculous weapons possible. 9/10.
My last compliment goes to the introduction of Gloom into the game. When it is first introduced, the Gloom is absolutely frightening, and plunging into the depths for the first time was beyond scary. Malice was an annoying obstacle that you just jumped across until you got to where you needed to be and ate a few foods, but you are forced to avoid the Gloom in this game because you know that it will be catastrophic if you walk in it for too long because the only cure is an extremely rare flower that can only be found in the sky. I just wish that the lightroots either weren't so common, or didn't heal your healthbar, because it kind of subtracted the fear aspect a little bit. The way it actually destroyed your heart containers in the final battle against Ganondorf instead of rendering them unusable for a little while was another surprise I did not expect, and killing the Demon Dragon with a single heart was the best moment of the game for me. 8/10.
Some other minor things I liked:
• Gleeoks are amazing bosses, better than any of the bosses in Breath of the Wild OR Tears of the Kingdom apart from the Ganondorf fight, easy 10/10
• While the Wind Temple wasn't my favorite, I did enjoy the Rito Village quest in the beginning and the leadup to the Wind Temple where you flew with Tulin to the very top. 9/10.
• Pizza?! I loved the introduction of Tomatoes and Cheese into the game! Shame you couldn't do more with them. 7/10.
• The Master Kohga battles were very good. While he was still easy to kill once he was stunned, it is another instance of Ultrahand and Link's other new abilities putting a creative and spicy twist on an old fight. Autobuild was also a lifesaver. 9/10.
• The second stage of the Ganondorf bossfight was probably the most fun I've had with a boss since Twilight Princess. It felt actually challenging in a way that could only be compared to the Gleeok Battles. It was so hard to even get a single hit into his massive healthbar when he could dodge more than 90% of your shots and destroy your health bar. Probably shouldn't have gone in without upgrading any of my armor but doing that was so tedious :p 20/10.
Now that I've talked about what was great about Tears of the Kingdom, here is the stuff I disliked about the game. While I think that the people who call this game an "overpriced DLC" are not arguing in good faith, I can see their point. Much of Breath of the Wild's structure was carried over into Tears of the Kingdom and it felt like I was redoing the same things I did in the old game, just with a new texture and a slightly different story.
Because of how insanely complicated it must have been to put Ultrahand in the game, it was clear that that was what Nintendo spent most of their time on when making Tears of the Kingdom, going for a more creative approach rather than a return to the traditional like I had hoped. And while this was a perfectly valid thing to do that clearly made a lot of people happy, it just wasn't what I wanted, and the final trailers for the game feel like they were marketing a different game than they were actually selling. When they went above and beyond with Link's new abilities, it left other aspects of the game such as combat, story, gameplay, and the structure of the game itself lacking and awfully familiar, if not the same, as Breath of the Wild.
Now that I've talked about what was great about Tears of the Kingdom, here is the stuff I disliked about the game. While I think that the people who call this game an "overpriced DLC" are not arguing in good faith, I can see their point. Much of Breath of the Wild's structure was carried over into Tears of the Kingdom and it felt like I was redoing the same things I did in the old game, just with a new texture and a slightly different story.
Because of how insanely complicated it must have been to put Ultrahand in the game, it was clear that that was what Nintendo spent most of their time on when making Tears of the Kingdom, going for a more creative approach rather than a return to the traditional like I had hoped. And while this was a perfectly valid thing to do that clearly made a lot of people happy, it just wasn't what I wanted, and the final trailers for the game feel like they were marketing a different game than they were actually selling. When they went above and beyond with Link's new abilities, it left other aspects of the game such as combat, story, gameplay, and the structure of the game itself lacking and awfully familiar, if not the same, as Breath of the Wild.
My biggest issue with this game is the story. I disliked almost every part of it. We start out with a very solid intro scene where we meet shriveled Ganondorf and Zelda disappears. Then we see her disappear as she steals our half of a master sword at the end of the Great Sky Island. However, the game then leads us into a wild goose chase to find Zelda for almost the entire game until near the end when we go inside Hyrule Castle. This was fine in Skyward Sword because Zelda was much more likable and it only took up half of the game. I felt like "I have to save Zelda. I have to." in SS and in Tears of the Kingdom I was like "Let's just get this over already." Additionally, the Upheaval which is apparently the placeholder of the Calamity in BOTW just feels like not a threat at all. The castle rose into the air and a few meteors came down and crashed into Kakariko village. The mud in the water doesn't seem to be affecting the Zora much at all, the Gerudo seem relatively unharmed by the Gibdos, only retreating into an underground bunker, and we have almost no time to see how the rock roast affects the Gorons before Yunobo is saved. The only place where I felt any sense of urgency was in Rito Village where the town was starving and abandoned the children to their fate because they're the worst parents ever or something. I enjoyed saving Rito village. The others not so much. And let's not even talk about the Sages. 3/4 of them we had already interacted with heavily in the previous games, which was another reason I liked the Rito quest so much. Yunobo is still as weak and annoying as ever, nothing has changed with Riju, and Sidon is so boring and lifeless comparing to the other game. As we go into the dungeons we have four conversations that are, quite literally, copy and pasted into each one voiced by the blandest sages ever.
"Come, Come" (Random Sage)
"Did you hear that voice?" (Yunobo, Sidon, Riju, Tulin)
and when we get to the end of the dungeon
"X, I am your ancestor from a long time ago. I was the sage of x. Descendant you make me proud. The monster you killed tried to stop you from obtaining my secret stone. Once upon a time there was a great war where the Demon King tried to kill us and Rauru gave us all secret stones but he was too strong so Rauru sacrificed himself to seal him away. And then Zelda appeared to me and told me that it was the duty of the x to aid you Link."
"So it's my duty to... help you? Now take my scary ghost form with a useless ability (besides tulin) to follow you around the rest of your journey!"
These cutscenes weren't disappointing. I hated them. As a person who loves the story so much they never skip a single cutscene these I physically couldn't watch. Everything about them was awful. The completely dry, lifeless, unneccesary sages which don't even have a name or a face and talk like NPCs or someone from an awful anime episode and say the exact same thing four times over, the empty void we are surrounded in, the cutscene we have to watch four times over, the robotic responses that come from the sages, everything about it was horrible and it feels like Nintendo was trying to reinsert the champions in the game but these are such a worse downgrade from them. At the end of the game I was like "ok... I give this a 7/10" and then the horrible after-credits scene with the four sages came in where they repeated the robotic speech from one of the memories and if that was supposed to be a meaningful scene it certainly was not.
Zelda's sacrifice probably would have meant so much more to me if the rest of the story hadn't frustrated me so much. But it feels like it meant nothing since the Demon King is such a non-threat compared to Calamity Ganon. Calamity Ganon devastated Hyrule, destroying most of the villages and probably killing half of the people there, and murdering 4 of the best characters in Zelda history who meant so much to their people that statues were built for them. In comparison, Ganondorf levitated a castle in the air and added some poo to Zora's domain. It ruins Zelda's moment so much because it would have been so beautiful if it felt like she was sacrificing herself for something meaningful. It frustrates me to no end because Ganondorf was a villain I was so hyped about and he's shriveled about 90% of the game and only appears three times, once in the beginning, once as a vision in Hyrule Castle, and once at the end, and only one of them is fully revived Ganondorf. In fact, we only see this version of Ganondorf for a third of the final bossfight. We need more Ganondorf! At least add a sixth dungeon to the game below Hyrule Castle where Ganondorf appears after, or maybe he appears before we get the Master Sword. We just needed more of Ganondorf and more of him being a threat to Hyrule.
Another complaint are the sages. I already stated that three out of the four sages had already been fleshed out in a previous game and not much was added to their personalities this time around. Why couldn't we have gotten new people? Maybe make Muzu a sage, we always like having an old man around, or give Barta/Bullaria some importance for the Gerudo and hand over the torch to one of those young Gorons that always follow Yunobo around. It would have been so much fun to have new characters. The sages add absolutely nothing to the experience of this game besides showing up in the awful cutscenes and it just feels like they're trying to repeat what they had in the last game. If they're going to do that, at least do it with someone new so it doesn't feel like I have to replay the game again. We already helped these people with their character growth in the last game. We know that Riju is insecure about her place as the Gerudo chief, and we helped her be more respected after retriveing the Thunder Helm and calming Naboris. We know that Sidon feels a sense of duty to his domain after what happened to his sister, and we spend time with him getting shock arrows, obtaining the Zora armor, and travelling around Lanayru with him until we got to Zora's domain. We helped Yunobo gain his confidence after he accompained us by firing himself at Rudania. These characters went through almost no development except for Tulin (again showing what Nintendo did right with Rito Village) because he's a new character.
Finally, the memories. Why did there have to be memories again. It would have been such an easy shift from Breath of the Wild, to give us a new main quest. While I was not a big fan of the time travel arc that Zelda went through, it was still workable, but there was no reason to have these stupid memories again. We saw so much of past Ganon and so little of present Ganon. I don't care what happened to the Goat Man and how the Kingdom of Hyrule was formed. Half of those memories were not essential to the plot and were just filler content. In particular, the one with Mineru just spoils Zelda's sacrifice altogether. Mineru as a whole just feels like such an annoying character and I would have much rathered a sheikah sage or even a korok.
While I criticize much of this game for remaining the same as BOTW, the story was one of the only aspects where it was a clear downgrade. So much of what was shown in the trailers hyped this game to be an impactful, story-filled game and many of these scenes are from memories, which I absolutely hate, and one of the scenes with Ganondorf wasn't even in the actual game, just a scene melded together from a memory and the speech at the end!
And why on earth did they call them secret stones. It was so cringe. It felt like something I would hear from a ten year old's cartoon show and I don't know why they insisted calling them that when we have a much better name for them that is in the TITLE OF THE GAME.
All in all, the story gets a 2/10.
Another issue I have with this game is Ascend and how it affects our experience in the dungeons. I liked the Lightning Temple, the Fire Temple and Wind Temple were okay, and the Water Temple was just plain awful. I saw a post about someone complaining about the puzzles in TOTK being too hard and I saw someone respond "If they think these puzzles are hard, I can't imagine them playing Twilight Princess." And I wholeheartedly believe that. While I'm not trying to make this review a comparison to Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword, games which are completely different from this one, the puzzles in this game were either super easy or required us to do something that no one would have thought of. I was stuck in the Lightning Temple on two different points, one where the mirrors seemed to reflect to nothing in particular (what you had to do was grab a spare mirror from another room and fuse it to the statue so that it would face the right way which was a random solution that I didn't expect but I actually enjoyed) and another where I had no idea how to get to the last terminal and I looked around for 20 minutes until I looked it up online and found that I ascended into a place I wasn't supposed to and I actually had to teleport out of the temple to a nearby shrine, travel back to the temple on foot, go through another entrance I hadn't gone through, go through a really long tunnel to get to the terminal I should have gone to first. In a game which prioritizes open world exploration and being able to do anything you wanted, this haphazard "linearity" inside the lightning temple really ruined the experience of a dungeon I otherwise enjoyed. Which leads me to my point on Ascend. While Recall, Fuse, and Ultrahand add to this game in so many amazing and dynamic ways, Ascend just feels like something they added because they needed a fourth ability and a way to get out of caves. It allows so many dungeons to be cheesed and using it in the Lightning Temple made the experience so much more complicated than it needed to be. Apart from caves, every other place where you needed to use ascend could have been done with Revali's gale (rest in peace) or a bonfire + hylian pine cone, or any of the other devices that came with ultrahand.
The uses made for it in the Great Sky Island and in other places felt forced and the developers could have easily come up with another creative way to do this without ascend. I just wish that Ascend and Autobuild were disabled inside temples because it would have made things so much better. The companions also make the temples much more annoying because half the time all you're doing is waiting for Riju or Sidon to stop standing in a random corner and walk up to you. Especially in the Water Temple where your ability was on a time limit, this was especially annoying. The Water and Wind Temples felt like big sky islands and not dungeons. The Snowpeak Ruins in Twilight Princess and the Sandship in Skyward Sword are both excellent examples about how to turn something unconventional into an excellent dungeon, but these temples fail in so many ways. Not only is it so easy to get around the entire dungeon with a paraglider and Tulin that makes it possible to complete the dungeon in under 30 minutes on your first playthrough, the puzzles were so easy and the Wind Temple's boss in particular was so easy to kill despite it looking so fearsome. The Mud Octorok was actually a great boss that I have no complaints about, but the rest of the temple was really awful, with most of the puzzles simply being chalked up to "redirect this floating water bubble somewhere else so you can get to a terminal." The terminal thing returning was also something that was a huge letdown. There was no reason to continue it from Breath of the Wild, especially when the Divine Beast dungeons were such a huge complaint, when they could have added a system of small keys, miniboss, maybe even a new ultrahand ability similar to the ones we got from the sages to replace having a companion with you that you would be able to use across the dungeon. This would have turned the Lightning Temple from a 7/10 dungeon to an easy 9/10 or even 10/10 and would have improved my outlook on the other dungeons a lot more, particularly the fire temple, which was so great aesthetically but the gameplay and puzzles simply were not. While I liked the Lightning Temple and to a lesser extent the Fire Temple and the bossfights were much better, I found myself enjoying the Divine Beasts more than the Wind and Water Temples, and many of the bosses were such pushovers. The dungeons in this game get a 4/10.
I have a number of other smaller complaints. First is that I really wished there were more food and armor options. A return to the "meat skewers" and "fried wild greens" let me down a bit as I was hoping for more variance on food, especially after they added new items like stambulbs and tomatoes that I thought would replace the existing items. I mean, we had a whole sidequest dedicated to discovering Cheese and there's only three recipes for it! (as far as I know) Additionally, I wouldn't have been upset if they gave us the same effects for armor as before, just with a new name and texture. Like maybe they could have slightly updated the look of the Hylian set like they did with the Champion's tunic, or we could have the full Sheikah uniform instead of the Stealth armor, or a Lightning Helmet that actually looked different instead of one that reused the exact same texture as the thunder helm. New monsters such as Horriblins, Aerocudas, and Boss Bokoblins added some great new fights to the game, and I wouldn't have even cared if they reused the same enemies, but the way they attack is the exact same as in Breath of the Wild, which left the combat a little predictable and I was able to kill a Gloom Lynel first try. The only battles that really challenged me were against the Gleeoks, one of the best bosses in all of Zelda history.
My last issue with this game is that I really don't understand what vibe they were going for. Majora's Mask was twisted and disturbing. Twilight Princess was dark and gloomy. Skyward Sword was bright and hopeful. Breath of the Wild was free and really emphasized nature. But with Tears of the Kingdom, they really seem to be doing five things at once and accomplishing none of them. They try to put an emphasis on the creative aspect by adding things like Zonai Tech to the beginning and adding new technologies like the batteries, factories, skyview towers, and other. Then they also try to make this game dark and scary by introducing some horrifying things like chasms, gloom hands, and underground areas. They made the game seem bright and sunny like Skyward Sword in the beginning with the Great Sky Island and the bright yellow color palette. Then they also try to keep the open-world aspect of Breath of the Wild by keeping this massive open world, but with nothing to do inside it since we've already seen most of the stuff in this game's nature areas apart from the new caves. I don't understand what the developers were trying to make this game feel like, and it feels like they tried to do too many things at once and failed to flesh out all of them. I would have loved to see a restored Hyrule that we could explore and I would have also loved to have a nature-filled world like in BOTW with new plants, foods, caves, animals, and areas to explore, but the Hyrule in TOTK seems like a haphazard mixture of both.
There's no incentive to explore this time around with only 3-4 new plants and animals in the overworld and only a few caves that only have Brightbloom seeds, bomb flowers, and bubblefrogs. I love the caves, but they seem a bit same-y over time and I have no intention to find them all. I can't even ride around Hyrule on a horse like in BOTW or in a car like the developers seem to want us to do because I run into those stupid Zonai rocks that are littered around every 5 seconds for no particular reason. All they do is make transportation annoying and I wonder why they went through the effort to put all of the sky island materials on the overworld by these ugly rocks instead of actually having more sky islands like we wanted. The Great Sky Island was undoubtedly the most solid part of Tears of the Kingdom's Hyrule, so why did they deincentivise sky exploration by having most of the sky materials on these fallen rocks?
All in all, Nintendo outdid themselves with the coding in this game, especially putting a massive title like this on the six-year-old Nintendo Switch. However, it was clear that they spent most of their time coding in these new mechanics and the writers clearly phoned in this time around with the worst story and dialogue I have seen in any Zelda game so far. Maybe putting in a completely new game on Breath of the Wild's massive world was too much to ask, but so much of Tears of the Kingdom either directly copies Breath of the Wild (four dungeons in the exact same lands, the exact same food, combat, armor, and people) or takes the same structure and retextures it (four terminals in a dungeon, memories, shrines, a quest to rebuild a village from scratch, "champions" that pass on their abilities to their successors, and those cursed Korok seeds) that I really found no reason to play this game after 100 hours because there was nothing new left to do besides a multitude of side quests that I didn't feel like doing because I had no attachment to this Hyrule like I did in Twilight Princess, Skyward Sword, Link's Awakening, and Breath of the Wild. Maybe I would have liked it more if I was a new player and hadn't played BOTW before, but the amount of content that was unnecessarily copied from the last game into this one really ruined the experience for me. All in all, this Zelda is a C+ for me, a 6.5/10. While it was more fun than the linear and small world of Link's Awakening, it couldn't compare with the story aspect of Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword or the feel of Breath of the Wild.
TLDR: While Nintendo went above and beyond with the new Ultrahand, Fuse, and Recall mechanics, it ultimately wasn't enough for me to save a game that had an extremely lacking story, underwhelming content and dungeons, and a multitude of side quests that was basically repeating everything you had done in 2017. If you're going to argue with me in the comments, please actually read the whole thing first.
2023.05.30 16:27 ChampionshipClear322 After almost 100 hours and beating the game, here are my thoughts on it.
Obviously, spoilers on the entire game here. For context, I have been playing Zelda since 2014 with Twilight Princess as my first game. Since then I have played Skyward Sword, Breath of the Wild, Link's Awakening, and I am about halfway through Ocarina of Time. Because of my obvious bias towards more traditional 3D Zelda games (I enjoyed Skyward Sword and Twilight Princess the most) I will try to be as impartial as possible.
I tried so hard to like this game. I had my doubts at the beginning, but after watching the new trailer it sold me on the game. I didn't like some aspects of Breath of the Wild, but after seeing the new enemies and hopefully a return to a more traditional zelda game that people missed while keeping the awesome open world of Breath of the Wild I really thought it was going to be great. And some parts of it were, but some parts of it I did not like.
Firstly, I would like to congratulate Nintendo because the physics relating to the Ultrahand mechanic blew everyone away, including me, and it is clear that Tears of the Kingdom has some of the best physics and building of any video game out there. The amount of creativity that has sprung from this game is mindblowing, and I don't think any of us expected for there to be simply so much to do. Not only are there almost 30 devices you can obtain each with their own unique purpose, you can also combine them with almost anything you can find in the game. Want to make a stupidly long bridge that can get you around the temple of time at the start of the game? Why not? Want to skip the main puzzle in the shrine by haphazardly building a flying machine that just barely makes it to the end? Go right ahead. Ultrahand allows for so much creativity and makes the new shrines ten times more enjoyable than the ones in Breath of the Wild. Because of this, there is an infinite amount of replayability in this game and the community will always be finding new things to do with this. Judging from how you all pushed Breath of the Wild to its limits, I can't wait to see what will be done in this game. Ultrahand gets a 20/10.
Additionally, Fuse and Recall are also insanely fun and useful abilities that add so much to the game. While I miss the Stasis rune in particular, Recall and Ultrahand can be used in a similar way if done correctly, and it's so much more satisfying when you do it correctly. While Recall doesn't have as many uses as Fuse and Ultrahand, the game still finds great ways to use it, such as sending a Stone Talus' boulders back at it, or knocking those horrible Horriblins down from the cave ceiling. Additionally, I am extremely happy with how Nintendo fixed Durability with the Fuse mechanic. While the durability annoyed me less than some of the others who played Breath of the Wild, my main complaint was wasting several of my good weapons on an enemy like a Silver Bokoblin or Lynel that had a huge healthbar, and only getting one (or sometimes none) good weapons in return. However, with the guarantee that you will usually be able to get an equally powerful or sometimes even better weapon after killing an enemy by fusing their horns to any random "sturdy stick", I don't hesitate to fight Silver enemies or Lynels anymore and I feel much more free to do so. Both of these abilites get a 10/10.
My third compliment goes to the game's shrines. I disliked Breath of the Wild's shrines. I found them tedious and annoying to do, and often skipped them or looked up the answers online. Especially when your only reward was a piece of heart or tiny fraction of a stamina wheel, I just clicked on them to save them as a travel checkpoint and moved on. Even their design was ugly to me. However, the new shrines are much better. While they are easier than Breath of the Wild's shrines, the rewards are a little less lucrative to balance it out and they are so much more fun to do because of how they creatively use the new abilites and allow for a multitude of different ways to solve problems. Many people do not like the "Proving Grounds" shrines, but I absolutely love them because they are a real challenge and I don't have to worry about losing 50 bomb arrows or several good weapons for a "Guardian Sword ++" and some ancient screws. Even if I die five times trying to complete them, I still have fun. And aesthetically they are so much better, the look of the temple, the texture of the lights of blessing, even the music feels a lot less claustrophobic and drab like the ones in Breath of the Wild did.
Fourthly, the Great Sky Island was absolutely amazing and I loved every second of it. It felt just like it did when I played Breath of the Wild for the first time, being plunged into an unknown and untouched environment and having to learn the mechanics of this new game. The Zonai Constructs don't carry the same fear level as Guardians did, but they were still cool enemies to fight with drops that were actually helpful unlike the Ancient Screws and Springs which only became helpful late-game. I obviously can't go through every part of the island, but the parts I enjoyed the best were crossing the huge lake to the west, climbing the snowy mountain to get to a shrine where I unsuccessfully attempted to craft a hovercraft out of logs, going on Minecarts around the island, and fusing random crap to sticks to make the most ridiculous weapons possible.
My last compliment goes to the introduction of Gloom into the game. When it is first introduced, the Gloom is absolutely frightening, and plunging into the depths for the first time was beyond scary. Malice was an annoying obstacle that you just jumped across until you got to where you needed to be and ate a few foods, but you are forced to avoid the Gloom in this game because you know that it will be catastrophic if you walk in it for too long because the only cure is an extremely rare flower that can only be found in the sky. I just wish that the lightroots either weren't so common, or didn't heal your healthbar, because it kind of subtracted the fear aspect a little bit. The way it actually destroyed your heart containers in the final battle against Ganondorf instead of rendering them unusable for a little while was another surprise I did not expect, and killing the Demon Dragon with a single heart was the best moment of the game for me.
Some other minor things I liked:
Because of how insanely complicated it must have been to put Ultrahand in the game, it was clear that that was what Nintendo spent most of their time on when making Tears of the Kingdom, going for a more creative approach rather than a return to the traditional like I had hoped. And while this was a perfectly valid thing to do that clearly made a lot of people happy, it just wasn't what I wanted, and the final trailers for the game feel like they were marketing a different game than they were actually selling. When they went above and beyond with Link's new abilities, it left other aspects of the game such as combat, story, gameplay, and the structure of the game itself lacking and awfully familiar, if not the same, as Breath of the Wild.
My biggest issue with this game is the story. I disliked almost every part of it. We start out with a very solid intro scene where we meet shriveled Ganondorf and Zelda disappears. Then we see her disappear as she steals our half of a master sword at the end of the Great Sky Island. However, the game then leads us into a wild goose chase to find Zelda for almost the entire game until near the end when we go inside Hyrule Castle. This was fine in Skyward Sword because Zelda was much more likable and it only took up half of the game. I felt like "I have to save Zelda. I have to." in SS and in Tears of the Kingdom I was like "Let's just get this over already." Additionally, the Upheaval which is apparently the placeholder of the Calamity in BOTW just feels like not a threat at all. The castle rose into the air and a few meteors came down and crashed into Kakariko village. The mud in the water doesn't seem to be affecting the Zora much at all, the Gerudo seem relatively unharmed by the Gibdos, only retreating into an underground bunker, and we have almost no time to see how the rock roast affects the Gorons before Yunobo is saved. The only place where I felt any sense of urgency was in Rito Village where the town was starving and abandoned the children to their fate because they're the worst parents ever or something. I enjoyed saving Rito village. The others not so much. And let's not even talk about the Sages. 3/4 of them we had already interacted with heavily in the previous games, which was another reason I liked the Rito quest so much. Yunobo is still as weak and annoying as ever, nothing has changed with Riju, and Sidon is so boring and lifeless comparing to the other game. As we go into the dungeons we have four conversations that are, quite literally, copy and pasted into each one voiced by the blandest sages ever.
"Come, Come" (Random Sage)
"Did you hear that voice?" (Yunobo, Sidon, Riju, Tulin)
and when we get to the end of the dungeon
"X, I am your ancestor from a long time ago. I was the sage of x. Descendant you make me proud. The monster you killed tried to stop you from obtaining my secret stone. Once upon a time there was a great war where the Demon King tried to kill us and Rauru gave us all secret stones but he was too strong so Rauru sacrificed himself to seal him away. And then Zelda appeared to me and told me that it was the duty of the x to aid you Link."
"So it's my duty to... help you? Now take my scary ghost form with a useless ability (besides tulin) to follow you around the rest of your journey!"
These cutscenes weren't disappointing. I hated them. As a person who loves the story so much they never skip a single cutscene these I physically couldn't watch. Everything about them was awful. The completely dry, lifeless, unneccesary sages which don't even have a name or a face and talk like NPCs or someone from an awful anime episode and say the exact same thing four times over, the empty void we are surrounded in, the cutscene we have to watch four times over, the robotic responses that come from the sages, everything about it was horrible and it feels like Nintendo was trying to reinsert the champions in the game but these are such a worse downgrade from them. At the end of the game I was like "ok... I give this a 7/10" and then the horrible after-credits scene with the four sages came in where they repeated the robotic speech from one of the memories and if that was supposed to be a meaningful scene it certainly was not.
Zelda's sacrifice probably would have meant so much more to me if the rest of the story hadn't frustrated me so much. But it feels like it meant nothing since the Demon King is such a non-threat compared to Calamity Ganon. Calamity Ganon devastated Hyrule, destroying most of the villages and probably killing half of the people there, and murdering 4 of the best characters in Zelda history who meant so much to their people that statues were built for them. In comparison, Ganondorf levitated a castle in the air and added some poo to Zora's domain. It ruins Zelda's moment so much because it would have been so beautiful if it felt like she was sacrificing herself for something meaningful. It frustrates me to no end because Ganondorf was a villain I was so hyped about and he's shriveled about 90% of the game and only appears three times, once in the beginning, once as a vision in Hyrule Castle, and once at the end, and only one of them is fully revived Ganondorf. In fact, we only see this version of Ganondorf for a third of the final bossfight. We need more Ganondorf! At least add a sixth dungeon to the game below Hyrule Castle where Ganondorf appears after, or maybe he appears before we get the Master Sword. We just needed more of Ganondorf and more of him being a threat to Hyrule.
Another complaint are the sages. I already stated that three out of the four sages had already been fleshed out in a previous game and not much was added to their personalities this time around. Why couldn't we have gotten new people? Maybe make Muzu a sage, we always like having an old man around, or give Barta/Bullaria some importance for the Gerudo and hand over the torch to one of those young Gorons that always follow Yunobo around. It would have been so much fun to have new characters. The sages add absolutely nothing to the experience of this game besides showing up in the awful cutscenes and it just feels like they're trying to repeat what they had in the last game. If they're going to do that, at least do it with someone new so it doesn't feel like I have to replay the game again. We already helped these people with their character growth in the last game. We know that Riju is insecure about her place as the Gerudo chief, and we helped her be more respected after retriveing the Thunder Helm and calming Naboris. We know that Sidon feels a sense of duty to his domain after what happened to his sister, and we spend time with him getting shock arrows, obtaining the Zora armor, and travelling around Lanayru with him until we got to Zora's domain. We helped Yunobo gain his confidence after he accompained us by firing himself at Rudania. These characters went through almost no development except for Tulin (again showing what Nintendo did right with Rito Village) because he's a new character.
Finally, the memories. Why did there have to be memories again. It would have been such an easy shift from Breath of the Wild, to give us a new main quest. While I was not a big fan of the time travel arc that Zelda went through, it was still workable, but there was no reason to have these stupid memories again. We saw so much of past Ganon and so little of present Ganon. I don't care what happened to the Goat Man and how the Kingdom of Hyrule was formed. Half of those memories were not essential to the plot and were just filler content. In particular, the one with Mineru just spoils Zelda's sacrifice altogether. Mineru as a whole just feels like such an annoying character and I would have much rathered a sheikah sage or even a korok.
While I criticize much of this game for remaining the same as BOTW, the story was one of the only aspects where it was a clear downgrade. So much of what was shown in the trailers hyped this game to be an impactful, story-filled game and many of these scenes are from memories, which I absolutely hate, and one of the scenes with Ganondorf wasn't even in the actual game, just a scene melded together from a memory and the speech at the end!
Another issue I have with this game is Ascend and how it affects our experience in the dungeons. I liked the Lightning Temple, the Fire Temple and Wind Temple were okay, and the Water Temple was just plain awful. I saw a post about someone complaining about the puzzles in TOTK being too hard and I saw someone respond "If they think these puzzles are hard, I can't imagine them playing Twilight Princess." And I wholeheartedly believe that. While I'm not trying to make this review a comparison to Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword, games which are completely different from this one, the puzzles in this game were either super easy or required us to do something that no one would have thought of. I was stuck in the Lightning Temple on two different points, one where the mirrors seemed to reflect to nothing in particular (what you had to do was grab a spare mirror from another room and fuse it to the statue so that it would face the right way which was a random solution that I didn't expect but I actually enjoyed) and another where I had no idea how to get to the last terminal and I looked around for 20 minutes until I looked it up online and found that I ascended into a place I wasn't supposed to and I actually had to teleport out of the temple to a nearby shrine, travel back to the temple on foot, go through another entrance I hadn't gone through, go through a really long tunnel to get to the terminal I should have gone to first. In a game which prioritizes open world exploration and being able to do anything you wanted, this haphazard "linearity" inside the lightning temple really ruined the experience of a dungeon I otherwise enjoyed. Which leads me to my point on Ascend. While Recall, Fuse, and Ultrahand add to this game in so many amazing and dynamic ways, Ascend just feels like something they added because they needed a fourth ability and a way to get out of caves. It allows so many dungeons to be cheesed and using it in the Lightning Temple made the experience so much more complicated than it needed to be. Apart from caves, every other place where you needed to use ascend could have been done with Revali's gale (rest in peace) or a bonfire + hylian pine cone, or any of the other devices that came with ultrahand. The uses made for it in the Great Sky Island and in other places felt forced and the developers could have easily come up with another creative way to do this without ascend. I just wish that Ascend and Autobuild were disabled inside temples because it would have made things so much better. The companions also make the temples much more annoying because half the time all you're doing is waiting for Riju or Sidon to stop standing in a random corner and walk up to you. Especially in the Water Temple where your ability was on a time limit, this was especially annoying. The Water and Wind Temples felt like big sky islands and not dungeons. The Snowpeak Ruins in Twilight Princess and the Sandship in Skyward Sword are both excellent examples about how to turn something unconventional into an excellent dungeon, but these temples fail in so many ways. Not only is it so easy to get around the entire dungeon with a paraglider and Tulin that makes it possible to complete the dungeon in under 30 minutes on your first playthrough, the puzzles were so easy and the Wind Temple's boss in particular was so easy to kill despite it looking so fearsome. The Mud Octorok was actually a great boss that I have no complaints about, but the rest of the temple was really awful, with most of the puzzles simply being chalked up to "redirect this floating water bubble somewhere else so you can get to a terminal." The terminal thing returning was also something that was a huge letdown. There was no reason to continue it from Breath of the Wild, especially when the Divine Beast dungeons were such a huge complaint, when they could have added a system of small keys, miniboss, maybe even a new ultrahand ability similar to the ones we got from the sages to replace having a companion with you that you would be able to use across the dungeon. This would have turned the Lightning Temple from a 7/10 dungeon to an easy 9/10 or even 10/10 and would have improved my outlook on the other dungeons a lot more, particularly the fire temple, which was so great aesthetically but the gameplay and puzzles simply were not. While I liked the Lightning Temple and to a lesser extent the Fire Temple and the bossfights were much better, I found myself enjoying the Divine Beasts more than the Wind and Water Temples, and many of the bosses were such pushovers. The dungeons in this game get a 4/10.
I have a number of other smaller complaints. First is that I really wished there were more food and armor options. A return to the "meat skewers" and "fried wild greens" let me down a bit as I was hoping for more variance on food, especially after they added new items like stambulbs and tomatoes that I thought would replace the existing items. I mean, we had a whole sidequest dedicated to discovering Cheese and there's only three recipes for it! (as far as I know) Additionally, I wouldn't have been upset if they gave us the same effects for armor as before, just with a new name and texture. Like maybe they could have slightly updated the look of the Hylian set like they did with the Champion's tunic, or we could have the full Sheikah uniform instead of the Stealth armor, or a Lightning Helmet that actually looked different instead of one that reused the exact same texture as the thunder helm. New monsters such as Horriblins, Aerocudas, and Boss Bokoblins added some great new fights to the game, and I wouldn't have even cared if they reused the same enemies, but the way they attack is the exact same as in Breath of the Wild, which left the combat a little predictable and I was able to kill a Gloom Lynel first try. The only battles that really challenged me were against the Gleeoks, one of the best bosses in all of Zelda history.
My last issue with this game is that I really don't understand what vibe they were going for. Majora's Mask was twisted and disturbing. Twilight Princess was dark and gloomy. Skyward Sword was bright and hopeful. Breath of the Wild was free and really emphasized nature. But with Tears of the Kingdom, they really seem to be doing five things at once and accomplishing none of them. They try to put an emphasis on the creative aspect by adding things like Zonai Tech to the beginning and adding new technologies like the batteries, factories, skyview towers, and other. Then they also try to make this game dark and scary by introducing some horrifying things like chasms, gloom hands, and underground areas. They made the game seem bright and sunny like Skyward Sword in the beginning with the Great Sky Island and the bright yellow color palette. Then they also try to keep the open-world aspect of Breath of the Wild by keeping this massive open world, but with nothing to do inside it since we've already seen most of the stuff in this game's nature areas apart from the new caves. I don't understand what the developers were trying to make this game feel like, and it feels like they tried to do too many things at once and failed to flesh out all of them. I would have loved to see a restored Hyrule that we could explore and I would have also loved to have a nature-filled world like in BOTW with new plants, foods, caves, animals, and areas to explore, but the Hyrule in TOTK seems like a haphazard mixture of both.
There's no incentive to explore this time around with only 3-4 new plants and animals in the overworld and only a few caves that only have Brightbloom seeds, bomb flowers, and bubblefrogs. I love the caves, but they seem a bit same-y over time and I have no intention to find them all. I can't even ride around Hyrule on a horse like in BOTW or in a car like the developers seem to want us to do because I run into those stupid Zonai rocks that are littered around every 5 seconds for no particular reason. All they do is make transportation annoying and I wonder why they went through the effort to put all of the sky island materials on the overworld by these ugly rocks instead of actually having more sky islands like we wanted. The Great Sky Island was undoubtedly the most solid part of Tears of the Kingdom's Hyrule, so why did they deincentivise sky exploration by having most of the sky materials on these fallen rocks?
All in all, Nintendo outdid themselves with the coding in this game, especially putting a massive title like this on the six-year-old Nintendo Switch. However, it was clear that they spent most of their time coding in these new mechanics and the writers clearly phoned in this time around with the worst story and dialogue I have seen in any Zelda game so far. Maybe putting in a completely new game on Breath of the Wild's massive world was too much to ask, but so much of Tears of the Kingdom either directly copies Breath of the Wild (four dungeons in the exact same lands, the exact same food, combat, armor, and people) or takes the same structure and retextures it (four terminals in a dungeon, memories, shrines, a quest to rebuild a village from scratch, "champions" that pass on their abilities to their successors, and those cursed Korok seeds) that I really found no reason to play this game after 100 hours because there was nothing new left to do besides a multitude of side quests that I didn't feel like doing because I had no attachment to this Hyrule like I did in Twilight Princess, Skyward Sword, Link's Awakening, and Breath of the Wild. Maybe I would have liked it more if I was a new player and hadn't played BOTW before, but the amount of content that was unnecessarily copied from the last game into this one really ruined the experience for me. All in all, this Zelda is a C+ for me, a 6.5/10. While it was more fun than the linear and small world of Link's Awakening, it couldn't compare with the story aspect of Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword or the feel of Breath of the Wild.
TLDR: While Nintendo went above and beyond with the new Ultrahand, Fuse, and Recall mechanics, it ultimately wasn't enough for me to save a game that had an extremely lacking story, underwhelming content and dungeons, and a multitude of side quests that was basically repeating everything you had done in 2017. If you're going to argue with me in the comments, please actually read the whole thing first.
submitted by ChampionshipClear322 to tearsofthekingdom [link] [comments]
I tried so hard to like this game. I had my doubts at the beginning, but after watching the new trailer it sold me on the game. I didn't like some aspects of Breath of the Wild, but after seeing the new enemies and hopefully a return to a more traditional zelda game that people missed while keeping the awesome open world of Breath of the Wild I really thought it was going to be great. And some parts of it were, but some parts of it I did not like.
Firstly, I would like to congratulate Nintendo because the physics relating to the Ultrahand mechanic blew everyone away, including me, and it is clear that Tears of the Kingdom has some of the best physics and building of any video game out there. The amount of creativity that has sprung from this game is mindblowing, and I don't think any of us expected for there to be simply so much to do. Not only are there almost 30 devices you can obtain each with their own unique purpose, you can also combine them with almost anything you can find in the game. Want to make a stupidly long bridge that can get you around the temple of time at the start of the game? Why not? Want to skip the main puzzle in the shrine by haphazardly building a flying machine that just barely makes it to the end? Go right ahead. Ultrahand allows for so much creativity and makes the new shrines ten times more enjoyable than the ones in Breath of the Wild. Because of this, there is an infinite amount of replayability in this game and the community will always be finding new things to do with this. Judging from how you all pushed Breath of the Wild to its limits, I can't wait to see what will be done in this game. Ultrahand gets a 20/10.
Additionally, Fuse and Recall are also insanely fun and useful abilities that add so much to the game. While I miss the Stasis rune in particular, Recall and Ultrahand can be used in a similar way if done correctly, and it's so much more satisfying when you do it correctly. While Recall doesn't have as many uses as Fuse and Ultrahand, the game still finds great ways to use it, such as sending a Stone Talus' boulders back at it, or knocking those horrible Horriblins down from the cave ceiling. Additionally, I am extremely happy with how Nintendo fixed Durability with the Fuse mechanic. While the durability annoyed me less than some of the others who played Breath of the Wild, my main complaint was wasting several of my good weapons on an enemy like a Silver Bokoblin or Lynel that had a huge healthbar, and only getting one (or sometimes none) good weapons in return. However, with the guarantee that you will usually be able to get an equally powerful or sometimes even better weapon after killing an enemy by fusing their horns to any random "sturdy stick", I don't hesitate to fight Silver enemies or Lynels anymore and I feel much more free to do so. Both of these abilites get a 10/10.
My third compliment goes to the game's shrines. I disliked Breath of the Wild's shrines. I found them tedious and annoying to do, and often skipped them or looked up the answers online. Especially when your only reward was a piece of heart or tiny fraction of a stamina wheel, I just clicked on them to save them as a travel checkpoint and moved on. Even their design was ugly to me. However, the new shrines are much better. While they are easier than Breath of the Wild's shrines, the rewards are a little less lucrative to balance it out and they are so much more fun to do because of how they creatively use the new abilites and allow for a multitude of different ways to solve problems. Many people do not like the "Proving Grounds" shrines, but I absolutely love them because they are a real challenge and I don't have to worry about losing 50 bomb arrows or several good weapons for a "Guardian Sword ++" and some ancient screws. Even if I die five times trying to complete them, I still have fun. And aesthetically they are so much better, the look of the temple, the texture of the lights of blessing, even the music feels a lot less claustrophobic and drab like the ones in Breath of the Wild did.
Fourthly, the Great Sky Island was absolutely amazing and I loved every second of it. It felt just like it did when I played Breath of the Wild for the first time, being plunged into an unknown and untouched environment and having to learn the mechanics of this new game. The Zonai Constructs don't carry the same fear level as Guardians did, but they were still cool enemies to fight with drops that were actually helpful unlike the Ancient Screws and Springs which only became helpful late-game. I obviously can't go through every part of the island, but the parts I enjoyed the best were crossing the huge lake to the west, climbing the snowy mountain to get to a shrine where I unsuccessfully attempted to craft a hovercraft out of logs, going on Minecarts around the island, and fusing random crap to sticks to make the most ridiculous weapons possible.
My last compliment goes to the introduction of Gloom into the game. When it is first introduced, the Gloom is absolutely frightening, and plunging into the depths for the first time was beyond scary. Malice was an annoying obstacle that you just jumped across until you got to where you needed to be and ate a few foods, but you are forced to avoid the Gloom in this game because you know that it will be catastrophic if you walk in it for too long because the only cure is an extremely rare flower that can only be found in the sky. I just wish that the lightroots either weren't so common, or didn't heal your healthbar, because it kind of subtracted the fear aspect a little bit. The way it actually destroyed your heart containers in the final battle against Ganondorf instead of rendering them unusable for a little while was another surprise I did not expect, and killing the Demon Dragon with a single heart was the best moment of the game for me.
Some other minor things I liked:
- Gleeoks are amazing bosses, better than any of the bosses in Breath of the Wild OR Tears of the Kingdom apart from the Ganondorf fight, easy 10/10
- While the Wind Temple wasn't my favorite, I did enjoy the Rito Village quest in the beginning and the leadup to the Wind Temple where you flew with Tulin to the very top. 9/10.
- Pizza?! I loved the introduction of Tomatoes and Cheese into the game! Shame you couldn't do more with them. 7/10.
- The Master Kohga battles were very good. While he was still easy to kill once he was stunned, it is another instance of Ultrahand and Link's other new abilities putting a creative and spicy twist on an old fight. Autobuild was also a lifesaver. 9/10.
- The second stage of the Ganondorf bossfight was probably the most fun I've had with a boss since Twilight Princess. It felt actually challenging in a way that could only be compared to the Gleeok Battles. It was so hard to even get a single hit into his massive healthbar when he could dodge more than 90% of your shots and destroy your health bar. Probably shouldn't have gone in without upgrading any of my armor but doing that was so tedious :p 20/10.
Because of how insanely complicated it must have been to put Ultrahand in the game, it was clear that that was what Nintendo spent most of their time on when making Tears of the Kingdom, going for a more creative approach rather than a return to the traditional like I had hoped. And while this was a perfectly valid thing to do that clearly made a lot of people happy, it just wasn't what I wanted, and the final trailers for the game feel like they were marketing a different game than they were actually selling. When they went above and beyond with Link's new abilities, it left other aspects of the game such as combat, story, gameplay, and the structure of the game itself lacking and awfully familiar, if not the same, as Breath of the Wild.
My biggest issue with this game is the story. I disliked almost every part of it. We start out with a very solid intro scene where we meet shriveled Ganondorf and Zelda disappears. Then we see her disappear as she steals our half of a master sword at the end of the Great Sky Island. However, the game then leads us into a wild goose chase to find Zelda for almost the entire game until near the end when we go inside Hyrule Castle. This was fine in Skyward Sword because Zelda was much more likable and it only took up half of the game. I felt like "I have to save Zelda. I have to." in SS and in Tears of the Kingdom I was like "Let's just get this over already." Additionally, the Upheaval which is apparently the placeholder of the Calamity in BOTW just feels like not a threat at all. The castle rose into the air and a few meteors came down and crashed into Kakariko village. The mud in the water doesn't seem to be affecting the Zora much at all, the Gerudo seem relatively unharmed by the Gibdos, only retreating into an underground bunker, and we have almost no time to see how the rock roast affects the Gorons before Yunobo is saved. The only place where I felt any sense of urgency was in Rito Village where the town was starving and abandoned the children to their fate because they're the worst parents ever or something. I enjoyed saving Rito village. The others not so much. And let's not even talk about the Sages. 3/4 of them we had already interacted with heavily in the previous games, which was another reason I liked the Rito quest so much. Yunobo is still as weak and annoying as ever, nothing has changed with Riju, and Sidon is so boring and lifeless comparing to the other game. As we go into the dungeons we have four conversations that are, quite literally, copy and pasted into each one voiced by the blandest sages ever.
"Come, Come" (Random Sage)
"Did you hear that voice?" (Yunobo, Sidon, Riju, Tulin)
and when we get to the end of the dungeon
"X, I am your ancestor from a long time ago. I was the sage of x. Descendant you make me proud. The monster you killed tried to stop you from obtaining my secret stone. Once upon a time there was a great war where the Demon King tried to kill us and Rauru gave us all secret stones but he was too strong so Rauru sacrificed himself to seal him away. And then Zelda appeared to me and told me that it was the duty of the x to aid you Link."
"So it's my duty to... help you? Now take my scary ghost form with a useless ability (besides tulin) to follow you around the rest of your journey!"
These cutscenes weren't disappointing. I hated them. As a person who loves the story so much they never skip a single cutscene these I physically couldn't watch. Everything about them was awful. The completely dry, lifeless, unneccesary sages which don't even have a name or a face and talk like NPCs or someone from an awful anime episode and say the exact same thing four times over, the empty void we are surrounded in, the cutscene we have to watch four times over, the robotic responses that come from the sages, everything about it was horrible and it feels like Nintendo was trying to reinsert the champions in the game but these are such a worse downgrade from them. At the end of the game I was like "ok... I give this a 7/10" and then the horrible after-credits scene with the four sages came in where they repeated the robotic speech from one of the memories and if that was supposed to be a meaningful scene it certainly was not.
Zelda's sacrifice probably would have meant so much more to me if the rest of the story hadn't frustrated me so much. But it feels like it meant nothing since the Demon King is such a non-threat compared to Calamity Ganon. Calamity Ganon devastated Hyrule, destroying most of the villages and probably killing half of the people there, and murdering 4 of the best characters in Zelda history who meant so much to their people that statues were built for them. In comparison, Ganondorf levitated a castle in the air and added some poo to Zora's domain. It ruins Zelda's moment so much because it would have been so beautiful if it felt like she was sacrificing herself for something meaningful. It frustrates me to no end because Ganondorf was a villain I was so hyped about and he's shriveled about 90% of the game and only appears three times, once in the beginning, once as a vision in Hyrule Castle, and once at the end, and only one of them is fully revived Ganondorf. In fact, we only see this version of Ganondorf for a third of the final bossfight. We need more Ganondorf! At least add a sixth dungeon to the game below Hyrule Castle where Ganondorf appears after, or maybe he appears before we get the Master Sword. We just needed more of Ganondorf and more of him being a threat to Hyrule.
Another complaint are the sages. I already stated that three out of the four sages had already been fleshed out in a previous game and not much was added to their personalities this time around. Why couldn't we have gotten new people? Maybe make Muzu a sage, we always like having an old man around, or give Barta/Bullaria some importance for the Gerudo and hand over the torch to one of those young Gorons that always follow Yunobo around. It would have been so much fun to have new characters. The sages add absolutely nothing to the experience of this game besides showing up in the awful cutscenes and it just feels like they're trying to repeat what they had in the last game. If they're going to do that, at least do it with someone new so it doesn't feel like I have to replay the game again. We already helped these people with their character growth in the last game. We know that Riju is insecure about her place as the Gerudo chief, and we helped her be more respected after retriveing the Thunder Helm and calming Naboris. We know that Sidon feels a sense of duty to his domain after what happened to his sister, and we spend time with him getting shock arrows, obtaining the Zora armor, and travelling around Lanayru with him until we got to Zora's domain. We helped Yunobo gain his confidence after he accompained us by firing himself at Rudania. These characters went through almost no development except for Tulin (again showing what Nintendo did right with Rito Village) because he's a new character.
Finally, the memories. Why did there have to be memories again. It would have been such an easy shift from Breath of the Wild, to give us a new main quest. While I was not a big fan of the time travel arc that Zelda went through, it was still workable, but there was no reason to have these stupid memories again. We saw so much of past Ganon and so little of present Ganon. I don't care what happened to the Goat Man and how the Kingdom of Hyrule was formed. Half of those memories were not essential to the plot and were just filler content. In particular, the one with Mineru just spoils Zelda's sacrifice altogether. Mineru as a whole just feels like such an annoying character and I would have much rathered a sheikah sage or even a korok.
While I criticize much of this game for remaining the same as BOTW, the story was one of the only aspects where it was a clear downgrade. So much of what was shown in the trailers hyped this game to be an impactful, story-filled game and many of these scenes are from memories, which I absolutely hate, and one of the scenes with Ganondorf wasn't even in the actual game, just a scene melded together from a memory and the speech at the end!
Another issue I have with this game is Ascend and how it affects our experience in the dungeons. I liked the Lightning Temple, the Fire Temple and Wind Temple were okay, and the Water Temple was just plain awful. I saw a post about someone complaining about the puzzles in TOTK being too hard and I saw someone respond "If they think these puzzles are hard, I can't imagine them playing Twilight Princess." And I wholeheartedly believe that. While I'm not trying to make this review a comparison to Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword, games which are completely different from this one, the puzzles in this game were either super easy or required us to do something that no one would have thought of. I was stuck in the Lightning Temple on two different points, one where the mirrors seemed to reflect to nothing in particular (what you had to do was grab a spare mirror from another room and fuse it to the statue so that it would face the right way which was a random solution that I didn't expect but I actually enjoyed) and another where I had no idea how to get to the last terminal and I looked around for 20 minutes until I looked it up online and found that I ascended into a place I wasn't supposed to and I actually had to teleport out of the temple to a nearby shrine, travel back to the temple on foot, go through another entrance I hadn't gone through, go through a really long tunnel to get to the terminal I should have gone to first. In a game which prioritizes open world exploration and being able to do anything you wanted, this haphazard "linearity" inside the lightning temple really ruined the experience of a dungeon I otherwise enjoyed. Which leads me to my point on Ascend. While Recall, Fuse, and Ultrahand add to this game in so many amazing and dynamic ways, Ascend just feels like something they added because they needed a fourth ability and a way to get out of caves. It allows so many dungeons to be cheesed and using it in the Lightning Temple made the experience so much more complicated than it needed to be. Apart from caves, every other place where you needed to use ascend could have been done with Revali's gale (rest in peace) or a bonfire + hylian pine cone, or any of the other devices that came with ultrahand. The uses made for it in the Great Sky Island and in other places felt forced and the developers could have easily come up with another creative way to do this without ascend. I just wish that Ascend and Autobuild were disabled inside temples because it would have made things so much better. The companions also make the temples much more annoying because half the time all you're doing is waiting for Riju or Sidon to stop standing in a random corner and walk up to you. Especially in the Water Temple where your ability was on a time limit, this was especially annoying. The Water and Wind Temples felt like big sky islands and not dungeons. The Snowpeak Ruins in Twilight Princess and the Sandship in Skyward Sword are both excellent examples about how to turn something unconventional into an excellent dungeon, but these temples fail in so many ways. Not only is it so easy to get around the entire dungeon with a paraglider and Tulin that makes it possible to complete the dungeon in under 30 minutes on your first playthrough, the puzzles were so easy and the Wind Temple's boss in particular was so easy to kill despite it looking so fearsome. The Mud Octorok was actually a great boss that I have no complaints about, but the rest of the temple was really awful, with most of the puzzles simply being chalked up to "redirect this floating water bubble somewhere else so you can get to a terminal." The terminal thing returning was also something that was a huge letdown. There was no reason to continue it from Breath of the Wild, especially when the Divine Beast dungeons were such a huge complaint, when they could have added a system of small keys, miniboss, maybe even a new ultrahand ability similar to the ones we got from the sages to replace having a companion with you that you would be able to use across the dungeon. This would have turned the Lightning Temple from a 7/10 dungeon to an easy 9/10 or even 10/10 and would have improved my outlook on the other dungeons a lot more, particularly the fire temple, which was so great aesthetically but the gameplay and puzzles simply were not. While I liked the Lightning Temple and to a lesser extent the Fire Temple and the bossfights were much better, I found myself enjoying the Divine Beasts more than the Wind and Water Temples, and many of the bosses were such pushovers. The dungeons in this game get a 4/10.
I have a number of other smaller complaints. First is that I really wished there were more food and armor options. A return to the "meat skewers" and "fried wild greens" let me down a bit as I was hoping for more variance on food, especially after they added new items like stambulbs and tomatoes that I thought would replace the existing items. I mean, we had a whole sidequest dedicated to discovering Cheese and there's only three recipes for it! (as far as I know) Additionally, I wouldn't have been upset if they gave us the same effects for armor as before, just with a new name and texture. Like maybe they could have slightly updated the look of the Hylian set like they did with the Champion's tunic, or we could have the full Sheikah uniform instead of the Stealth armor, or a Lightning Helmet that actually looked different instead of one that reused the exact same texture as the thunder helm. New monsters such as Horriblins, Aerocudas, and Boss Bokoblins added some great new fights to the game, and I wouldn't have even cared if they reused the same enemies, but the way they attack is the exact same as in Breath of the Wild, which left the combat a little predictable and I was able to kill a Gloom Lynel first try. The only battles that really challenged me were against the Gleeoks, one of the best bosses in all of Zelda history.
My last issue with this game is that I really don't understand what vibe they were going for. Majora's Mask was twisted and disturbing. Twilight Princess was dark and gloomy. Skyward Sword was bright and hopeful. Breath of the Wild was free and really emphasized nature. But with Tears of the Kingdom, they really seem to be doing five things at once and accomplishing none of them. They try to put an emphasis on the creative aspect by adding things like Zonai Tech to the beginning and adding new technologies like the batteries, factories, skyview towers, and other. Then they also try to make this game dark and scary by introducing some horrifying things like chasms, gloom hands, and underground areas. They made the game seem bright and sunny like Skyward Sword in the beginning with the Great Sky Island and the bright yellow color palette. Then they also try to keep the open-world aspect of Breath of the Wild by keeping this massive open world, but with nothing to do inside it since we've already seen most of the stuff in this game's nature areas apart from the new caves. I don't understand what the developers were trying to make this game feel like, and it feels like they tried to do too many things at once and failed to flesh out all of them. I would have loved to see a restored Hyrule that we could explore and I would have also loved to have a nature-filled world like in BOTW with new plants, foods, caves, animals, and areas to explore, but the Hyrule in TOTK seems like a haphazard mixture of both.
There's no incentive to explore this time around with only 3-4 new plants and animals in the overworld and only a few caves that only have Brightbloom seeds, bomb flowers, and bubblefrogs. I love the caves, but they seem a bit same-y over time and I have no intention to find them all. I can't even ride around Hyrule on a horse like in BOTW or in a car like the developers seem to want us to do because I run into those stupid Zonai rocks that are littered around every 5 seconds for no particular reason. All they do is make transportation annoying and I wonder why they went through the effort to put all of the sky island materials on the overworld by these ugly rocks instead of actually having more sky islands like we wanted. The Great Sky Island was undoubtedly the most solid part of Tears of the Kingdom's Hyrule, so why did they deincentivise sky exploration by having most of the sky materials on these fallen rocks?
All in all, Nintendo outdid themselves with the coding in this game, especially putting a massive title like this on the six-year-old Nintendo Switch. However, it was clear that they spent most of their time coding in these new mechanics and the writers clearly phoned in this time around with the worst story and dialogue I have seen in any Zelda game so far. Maybe putting in a completely new game on Breath of the Wild's massive world was too much to ask, but so much of Tears of the Kingdom either directly copies Breath of the Wild (four dungeons in the exact same lands, the exact same food, combat, armor, and people) or takes the same structure and retextures it (four terminals in a dungeon, memories, shrines, a quest to rebuild a village from scratch, "champions" that pass on their abilities to their successors, and those cursed Korok seeds) that I really found no reason to play this game after 100 hours because there was nothing new left to do besides a multitude of side quests that I didn't feel like doing because I had no attachment to this Hyrule like I did in Twilight Princess, Skyward Sword, Link's Awakening, and Breath of the Wild. Maybe I would have liked it more if I was a new player and hadn't played BOTW before, but the amount of content that was unnecessarily copied from the last game into this one really ruined the experience for me. All in all, this Zelda is a C+ for me, a 6.5/10. While it was more fun than the linear and small world of Link's Awakening, it couldn't compare with the story aspect of Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword or the feel of Breath of the Wild.
TLDR: While Nintendo went above and beyond with the new Ultrahand, Fuse, and Recall mechanics, it ultimately wasn't enough for me to save a game that had an extremely lacking story, underwhelming content and dungeons, and a multitude of side quests that was basically repeating everything you had done in 2017. If you're going to argue with me in the comments, please actually read the whole thing first.
2023.05.30 15:35 bknBoognish Spheres used to cast should be determined by the effect or the fluff?
So in a technocratic game I played some time ago, one character wanted to improve his Intelligence to resolve a puzzle. He did it by sending a weak electro shock to his brain. The question is: if the effect is basically to improve mental capabilities, this would be a Mental sphere spell, right?
But he fluffled it by using electric currents too, would that need Forces aswell? It doesn't have to do with the effect.
One solution to this problem would be to mix spheres, but it doesn't make much sense to me, because the effect doesn't involve Forces, only the fluff that the player added as justification.
Another approach would be to label it as a Forces spell and praise the creativity to use it in such and unexpected way.
Here goes another example that I've seen thrown around here: I want to drive my car faster from point A to point B. There are several ways I can do this. I could use Enthropy to get green lights all the way; I could change the lights manually with Forces; I could make my car lighter with Matter. Are all of these possible? Should I mix all of them? But the effect is to go FASTER, and speed is a force, so it should be Forces sphere only regardless of how I frame it.
I hope you guys understand my question. This game is hard.
submitted by bknBoognish to WhiteWolfRPG [link] [comments]
But he fluffled it by using electric currents too, would that need Forces aswell? It doesn't have to do with the effect.
One solution to this problem would be to mix spheres, but it doesn't make much sense to me, because the effect doesn't involve Forces, only the fluff that the player added as justification.
Another approach would be to label it as a Forces spell and praise the creativity to use it in such and unexpected way.
Here goes another example that I've seen thrown around here: I want to drive my car faster from point A to point B. There are several ways I can do this. I could use Enthropy to get green lights all the way; I could change the lights manually with Forces; I could make my car lighter with Matter. Are all of these possible? Should I mix all of them? But the effect is to go FASTER, and speed is a force, so it should be Forces sphere only regardless of how I frame it.
I hope you guys understand my question. This game is hard.
2023.05.30 14:08 Practical-War-889 What's the most difficult puzzle or brain teaser you've ever solved?
What's the most useless talent you have?
submitted by Practical-War-889 to u/Practical-War-889 [link] [comments]
2023.05.30 12:40 OwlCouncil23 Carrington (Book 1) - Chapter 5
Previous Chapter Table of Contents
The night had felt unusually long and restful for some reason. My dreams took me back to a vacation trip my family had taken to visit my grandmother in Mexico before she passed away and well before I lost my husband. The memories were bittersweet, filling my heart with both warmth and sorrow.
As I woke up, I could feel a tear on my cheek and the sun’s rays warming my face through the living room window. Startled by the sudden realization that I might have overslept, I bolted upright, fearing that I had missed the alarm and Derrick bringing home Mr. and Mrs. Allen.
Frantically, I glanced at the clock above the fireplace. To my surprise, it was stuck just past 2 o’clock. Confused, I checked my phone, but the battery was completely dead. In a last attempt to figure out the time, I turned to look at the grandfather clock standing tall by the wall. It was ticking away steadily, indicating that it was 8:30 in the morning.
With a surge of energy, I jumped up and ran to the garage, my legs still feeling the effects of sleep. Flinging the door open, I saw that the town car was still missing. Only the other vehicles were parked in the oversize garage. Puzzled, I thought Derrick must have parked it in the driveway. So, I jogged to the front door and opened it, only to find nothing there. The driveway was empty.
I took a few steps out and looked around. The only car there was mine, tucked out of the way. I stopped and listened. But couldn’t hear any vehicles driving in the distance.
Breathing in the morning air, I was surprised. The air outside was a bit smoky, and I couldn’t quite figure out what was wrong. Everything seemed just a bit off, too, still. I could only hear birds singing and a few dogs barking in the distance. Everything else felt like it was frozen.
Walking back into the house, I closed the front door and glanced at the small table near the door, where a landline phone rested. Picking it up, I tried to remember Derrick’s number, but there was no dial tone. Frustrated, I placed the receiver back down, turned around, and leaned against the door, trying to understand what was happening.
Determined to find a solution, I returned to the couch and picked up my phone. No matter how many buttons I pressed, it still refused to turn on. I rummaged through my bag and found my charger. I went to the nearest wall plug and plugged in my phone, hoping it would spring back to life. After waiting a few seconds, I was disappointed that nothing had changed. It was still dead and unresponsive.
Frustrated, I tried another wall plug, but this one didn’t work either. I stared at a blank phone with a cable attached to a dead charger.
Suddenly, I heard a cute little yawn from behind me. I turned around to see Emma standing there, rubbing her eyes with her tiny hands. I couldn’t help but smile at her sleepy little face. After finishing her yawn, she stomped up to me and wrapped her arms around me in a hug.
“Good morning, Emma,” I said softly, my eyes crinkling in a smile.
“Good morning,” she mumbled, her eyes still half-closed. Suddenly, she looked up at me, her curiosity piqued, and asked, “Why are the lights out?”
I furrowed my brow, slightly taken aback by her question. I didn’t even think of trying the light switches with how much light was pouring through the windows. “What do you mean, sweetie?”
She explained, pointing down the hall, “The lights in the bathroom didn’t turn on when I went to pee. And the water didn’t work well either.”
I quickly racked my brain for an explanation, not wanting to alarm her. With a smile still on my face, I shrugged and said, “It’s probably just a power outage, honey.”
Emma nodded childishly, understandingly, her eyes drifting to the window. “Oh, probably,” she agreed, seemingly satisfied with the answer. She pointed to the window and asked, “Can we play in the park while Mom and Dad are asleep?”
Thinking quickly, I responded, “I’m not sure if Mom and Dad are back yet, sweetie.”
Emma’s eyes widened with concern as she looked up at me. “Where are they?”
I tried to reassure her with a smile, quickly explaining, “Derrick will bring them home soon. They must have stopped by somewhere on the way home.”
Before Emma could respond, we both jumped as we heard Michel’s scream from the other side of the house, “Why doesn’t the toilet flush?!”
I exchanged a glance with Emma, and we burst out laughing, unable to contain ourselves.
Michel ran down the hall, his face flushed with embarrassment. He only sped up when he saw me hugging Emma. I managed to turn just in time to shield Emma from his attempted tackle and hug, catching him with one arm instead.
With both of them by my side, I looked down and said comfortingly, “Don’t worry, you two. Everything will be fine.”
The kids didn’t seem entirely convinced by my reassurance, so I tried a different tactic to distract them. I enthusiastically smiled and asked, “How about some food? Are you two hungry?”
Their faces lit up, and they screamed in unison, “Yes!”
I led them to the kitchen, pretending to use them as anchor points where I could only walk when they stood with my hands stretched between them. We noticed a large puddle on the floor as we entered the kitchen. The kids giggled at the sight of the puddle and my startled reaction.
“Alright, you two,” I said, trying to maintain control of the situation, “sit at the table and wait while I figure this out.”
I exaggeratedly danced around the puddle, eliciting more giggles from Emma and Michel. As I reached the fridge, I noticed the water coming from there. I pointed it out to the kids, a look of mock horror on my face.
“Looks like our fridge decided to take a leak!” I exclaimed, trying to keep the mood light.
The kids laughed, their earlier concerns momentarily forgotten, and I couldn’t help but join them in their amusement. With the power out, I quickly opened the door, grabbed cheese and meat from the fridge, and closed the door with a huff.
The kids seemed to enjoy my theatrics, so I continued stalking over to the pantry.
Continuing my theatrical performance, I dove into the pantry and triumphantly pulled out a bag of bagels. The kids’ eyes widened with excitement at the sight of them. Looking at the bag, I realized it was the sweet blueberry one. Shrugging, I said, “First time for everything.”
Striding over to the toaster, I tried to toast the bagels but remembered that the power was out. Not to be deterred, I grabbed a skillet and used the gas stove to toast the bagels for the kids and myself. The scent of toasting bagels filled the kitchen, adding to the cozy atmosphere.
Meanwhile, the kids started babbling to each other about something, their earlier worries seemingly forgotten. Relaxing, I said a quick prayer for my family, Derrick, and Mr. and Mrs. Allen. I focused on finishing breakfast, placing the toasted bagels on plates, and adding cheese and deli meat slices.
With a flourish, I grabbed the kids’ attention and delivered the plates to the table, and the kids clapped and cheered, excited for their breakfast. Their enthusiasm was contagious, and I couldn’t help but smile as I sat down to join them in the impromptu feast.
Out of nowhere, Michel’s face suddenly took on a worried expression. “When will Mom and Dad be home?” he asked, his tiny voice tinged with concern.
I didn’t want to let them spiral into worry, so I quickly thought of a way to distract them. “I’m not sure, sweetie, but you know what? Cooking these bagels on the skillet reminds me of when I would visit my grandmother. She lived in a tiny town in the middle of nowhere in Mexico. They didn’t have much electricity, and gas was more expensive than wood, so they would cook on an outdoor wood stove most of the time. Do you know those old cowboy cartoons you like? It was kind of like that!”
The eyes of the kids shifted from worry to wonder as they listened to my story, their imaginations taking over. My deflection and distraction seemed to be working again. I breathed a quiet sigh of relief but couldn’t help feeling a pang of concern for my family and the Allens. I hoped they would be home soon, safe and sound.
In my heart, I also longed to be with my own children, praying that everything would turn out alright.
Previous Chapter Table of Contents
submitted by OwlCouncil23 to u/OwlCouncil23 [link] [comments]
The night had felt unusually long and restful for some reason. My dreams took me back to a vacation trip my family had taken to visit my grandmother in Mexico before she passed away and well before I lost my husband. The memories were bittersweet, filling my heart with both warmth and sorrow.
As I woke up, I could feel a tear on my cheek and the sun’s rays warming my face through the living room window. Startled by the sudden realization that I might have overslept, I bolted upright, fearing that I had missed the alarm and Derrick bringing home Mr. and Mrs. Allen.
Frantically, I glanced at the clock above the fireplace. To my surprise, it was stuck just past 2 o’clock. Confused, I checked my phone, but the battery was completely dead. In a last attempt to figure out the time, I turned to look at the grandfather clock standing tall by the wall. It was ticking away steadily, indicating that it was 8:30 in the morning.
With a surge of energy, I jumped up and ran to the garage, my legs still feeling the effects of sleep. Flinging the door open, I saw that the town car was still missing. Only the other vehicles were parked in the oversize garage. Puzzled, I thought Derrick must have parked it in the driveway. So, I jogged to the front door and opened it, only to find nothing there. The driveway was empty.
I took a few steps out and looked around. The only car there was mine, tucked out of the way. I stopped and listened. But couldn’t hear any vehicles driving in the distance.
Breathing in the morning air, I was surprised. The air outside was a bit smoky, and I couldn’t quite figure out what was wrong. Everything seemed just a bit off, too, still. I could only hear birds singing and a few dogs barking in the distance. Everything else felt like it was frozen.
Walking back into the house, I closed the front door and glanced at the small table near the door, where a landline phone rested. Picking it up, I tried to remember Derrick’s number, but there was no dial tone. Frustrated, I placed the receiver back down, turned around, and leaned against the door, trying to understand what was happening.
Determined to find a solution, I returned to the couch and picked up my phone. No matter how many buttons I pressed, it still refused to turn on. I rummaged through my bag and found my charger. I went to the nearest wall plug and plugged in my phone, hoping it would spring back to life. After waiting a few seconds, I was disappointed that nothing had changed. It was still dead and unresponsive.
Frustrated, I tried another wall plug, but this one didn’t work either. I stared at a blank phone with a cable attached to a dead charger.
Suddenly, I heard a cute little yawn from behind me. I turned around to see Emma standing there, rubbing her eyes with her tiny hands. I couldn’t help but smile at her sleepy little face. After finishing her yawn, she stomped up to me and wrapped her arms around me in a hug.
“Good morning, Emma,” I said softly, my eyes crinkling in a smile.
“Good morning,” she mumbled, her eyes still half-closed. Suddenly, she looked up at me, her curiosity piqued, and asked, “Why are the lights out?”
I furrowed my brow, slightly taken aback by her question. I didn’t even think of trying the light switches with how much light was pouring through the windows. “What do you mean, sweetie?”
She explained, pointing down the hall, “The lights in the bathroom didn’t turn on when I went to pee. And the water didn’t work well either.”
I quickly racked my brain for an explanation, not wanting to alarm her. With a smile still on my face, I shrugged and said, “It’s probably just a power outage, honey.”
Emma nodded childishly, understandingly, her eyes drifting to the window. “Oh, probably,” she agreed, seemingly satisfied with the answer. She pointed to the window and asked, “Can we play in the park while Mom and Dad are asleep?”
Thinking quickly, I responded, “I’m not sure if Mom and Dad are back yet, sweetie.”
Emma’s eyes widened with concern as she looked up at me. “Where are they?”
I tried to reassure her with a smile, quickly explaining, “Derrick will bring them home soon. They must have stopped by somewhere on the way home.”
Before Emma could respond, we both jumped as we heard Michel’s scream from the other side of the house, “Why doesn’t the toilet flush?!”
I exchanged a glance with Emma, and we burst out laughing, unable to contain ourselves.
Michel ran down the hall, his face flushed with embarrassment. He only sped up when he saw me hugging Emma. I managed to turn just in time to shield Emma from his attempted tackle and hug, catching him with one arm instead.
With both of them by my side, I looked down and said comfortingly, “Don’t worry, you two. Everything will be fine.”
The kids didn’t seem entirely convinced by my reassurance, so I tried a different tactic to distract them. I enthusiastically smiled and asked, “How about some food? Are you two hungry?”
Their faces lit up, and they screamed in unison, “Yes!”
I led them to the kitchen, pretending to use them as anchor points where I could only walk when they stood with my hands stretched between them. We noticed a large puddle on the floor as we entered the kitchen. The kids giggled at the sight of the puddle and my startled reaction.
“Alright, you two,” I said, trying to maintain control of the situation, “sit at the table and wait while I figure this out.”
I exaggeratedly danced around the puddle, eliciting more giggles from Emma and Michel. As I reached the fridge, I noticed the water coming from there. I pointed it out to the kids, a look of mock horror on my face.
“Looks like our fridge decided to take a leak!” I exclaimed, trying to keep the mood light.
The kids laughed, their earlier concerns momentarily forgotten, and I couldn’t help but join them in their amusement. With the power out, I quickly opened the door, grabbed cheese and meat from the fridge, and closed the door with a huff.
The kids seemed to enjoy my theatrics, so I continued stalking over to the pantry.
Continuing my theatrical performance, I dove into the pantry and triumphantly pulled out a bag of bagels. The kids’ eyes widened with excitement at the sight of them. Looking at the bag, I realized it was the sweet blueberry one. Shrugging, I said, “First time for everything.”
Striding over to the toaster, I tried to toast the bagels but remembered that the power was out. Not to be deterred, I grabbed a skillet and used the gas stove to toast the bagels for the kids and myself. The scent of toasting bagels filled the kitchen, adding to the cozy atmosphere.
Meanwhile, the kids started babbling to each other about something, their earlier worries seemingly forgotten. Relaxing, I said a quick prayer for my family, Derrick, and Mr. and Mrs. Allen. I focused on finishing breakfast, placing the toasted bagels on plates, and adding cheese and deli meat slices.
With a flourish, I grabbed the kids’ attention and delivered the plates to the table, and the kids clapped and cheered, excited for their breakfast. Their enthusiasm was contagious, and I couldn’t help but smile as I sat down to join them in the impromptu feast.
Out of nowhere, Michel’s face suddenly took on a worried expression. “When will Mom and Dad be home?” he asked, his tiny voice tinged with concern.
I didn’t want to let them spiral into worry, so I quickly thought of a way to distract them. “I’m not sure, sweetie, but you know what? Cooking these bagels on the skillet reminds me of when I would visit my grandmother. She lived in a tiny town in the middle of nowhere in Mexico. They didn’t have much electricity, and gas was more expensive than wood, so they would cook on an outdoor wood stove most of the time. Do you know those old cowboy cartoons you like? It was kind of like that!”
The eyes of the kids shifted from worry to wonder as they listened to my story, their imaginations taking over. My deflection and distraction seemed to be working again. I breathed a quiet sigh of relief but couldn’t help feeling a pang of concern for my family and the Allens. I hoped they would be home soon, safe and sound.
In my heart, I also longed to be with my own children, praying that everything would turn out alright.
Previous Chapter Table of Contents
2023.05.30 12:09 Appropriate-Fig-891 What's the most unexpected event that's happened to you?
What's the most difficult puzzle or brain teaser you've ever solved?
submitted by Appropriate-Fig-891 to u/Appropriate-Fig-891 [link] [comments]
2023.05.30 08:10 Material-Iron-7884 What's the most difficult puzzle or brain teaser you've ever solved?
Have you ever witnessed a prank gone wrong that turned into a hilarious disaster?
submitted by Material-Iron-7884 to u/Material-Iron-7884 [link] [comments]
2023.05.30 04:45 Professional_Eye5313 Have you ever experienced something you couldn't explain or attribute to natural causes?
What's the most difficult puzzle or brain teaser you've ever solved?
submitted by Professional_Eye5313 to u/Professional_Eye5313 [link] [comments]
2023.05.30 01:36 OnlineSarcasm Dungeon mystery vs Manifest Mind
How do I maintain mystery against manifest mind?
So as the question asks. My players have been enjoying their use of manifest mind as a scout for the past year and it got dispeled maybe once. I'm not completely wanting to shut down the ability but I would like to reintroduce a little more mystery in the game again.
What are some ways to mix things up so the 300ft invulnerable scout doesn't find everything ahead of time.
A few things I know would work but I'm not sure how to implement in a fun way:
My only option of the ones Ive found appears to be many doors. Im sure im missing mang alternatives. So thats why Im posting here to pick the brain of the hivemind.
submitted by OnlineSarcasm to DMAcademy [link] [comments]
So as the question asks. My players have been enjoying their use of manifest mind as a scout for the past year and it got dispeled maybe once. I'm not completely wanting to shut down the ability but I would like to reintroduce a little more mystery in the game again.
What are some ways to mix things up so the 300ft invulnerable scout doesn't find everything ahead of time.
A few things I know would work but I'm not sure how to implement in a fun way:
- dispelling manifest mind
- antimagic field
- Heavily obscured areas
- Lightly obscured areas with skulking creatures
- magical darkness (pc has darkvision, and mm creates light)
- closed doors with gaps too narrow to move through
- locked non-wooden doors for extra measure
My only option of the ones Ive found appears to be many doors. Im sure im missing mang alternatives. So thats why Im posting here to pick the brain of the hivemind.
2023.05.30 00:19 ohhhyeahok What are your favorite puzzle apps?
Each season puzzles play a big factor into challenges, so I was curious if any of you had apps you enjoy with puzzles either featured on the show or ones that are similar?
I have an iPhone and I’ve enjoyed the New York Times games one that features wordle, crosswords, sudoku, a tile matching game, and a spelling one.
So none of these brain teasers are exactly like on the show, but I enjoy them and thought I’d ask if anyone else played any brain teaser games, or puzzles and could share.
submitted by ohhhyeahok to MtvChallenge [link] [comments]
I have an iPhone and I’ve enjoyed the New York Times games one that features wordle, crosswords, sudoku, a tile matching game, and a spelling one.
So none of these brain teasers are exactly like on the show, but I enjoy them and thought I’d ask if anyone else played any brain teaser games, or puzzles and could share.
2023.05.30 00:10 Both-Sense6604 AQA GCSE Language Paper 1, Question 5
Please could someone have a look at the short story I wrote below and give it a rough mark out of 40 (or any feedback at all)? The question is from a specimen paper (Don't Ask Jack by Neil Gaiman). Thank you.
Question: Write a story about a toy that comes to life. [40 marks]
With a fierce alacrity that fuelled her muscles with a powerful flame, she jolted up from her bed; she knew what she had to do. She felt as if she had been slapped in the face with the Hand of Truth: no longer did she view the world as if afflicted with some type of terminal glaucoma that dimmed her eyes every second. No, now she saw everything as it truly was, and so, flicking the light switch on, she furiously fumbled for the Bible on her bed-side table. "Dust returns to the ground it came from," she sneered mockingly, as she opened the sacred book, tearing to tatters the pages of what she had once revered.
Now there remained another task, one of much greater importance, yet one which sent a shockwave of spasmodic terror through her body. Her anxiety choked her, but she ignored it; she grabbed the doll, and left the bedroom. Down the stairs she clattered, her heart throbbing like a drum, her legs twitching with adrenaline, her brain aching with angst. Opening the front door, she left the house, not bothering to close the door behind her; perhaps she knew she would return.
The streets were pitch black, darker even than the curtain of ignorance that blinded the residents of the town; nevertheless, she had lived there long enough now to manoeuvre her way through the litter that had piled up through public carelessness. Beside her, the river tried to follow its course, but it was clogged with plastic bags that slackened its flow, so that it appeared a grey sludge. Its delightful aroma wafted into the woman's nose as she raced across the bridge, into the field. There, at the heart, was a great shed, which had fallen into abeyance in spite of the vehement protestations of the public.
As she trudged through the tall grass of the fields towards that shed, it manifested itself more clearly. Four windows. A wooden door. A roof of thatch. Moss and weeds in every nook and cranny. A sea of grass encircling it. Its withering state did not deter her: with a frenzied haste, perhaps to make up time the grass had robbed of her, she kicked down the door of the building (if so it may be called). Out of her pockets, she drew a torch, turned it on. With the torch in one hand and the doll in the other, she proceeded to conduct a search of the room. A plywood table, draped in dust. A shelf with countless jars of bolts and nails. Garden tools. Leaves and twigs. Nothing of use. What about under the table? Surely nothing. But regardless, she dived onto the floor, and to her arrant surprise, her face lit up. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, she thought. That was it. The key, the solution, the gateway: a power supply. She hugged the doll, caressed it with affection. She whispered to it, "Oh, darling. I won't be long, I promise. Soon, very soon, we shall speak again."
But presently she collected her thoughts; now was not the time for sentimentality. Not now. Not at this critical moment. She connected the doll to the power supply with two crocodile clips and switched it on to its maximum voltage. With an anxiety that almost amounted to agony, she waited, her mouth contorting into a smile at the allusion. But unlike the hubristic doctor, she would love the doll with all her heart; she would take responsibility for it as if it were a precious piece of jewellery of ineffable worth. Pressing her ears against the heart of the doll, she sought to hear a pulse, anything. After what seemed a lifetime to her, there came a lub dub. Lub dub, lub dub, lub dub. She was overcome by a swoon of relief, but instead of falling to the ground, she clutched tightly onto the doll. "My baby, my child," she whispered softly, tears trickling down her face, tears of unadulterated joy. "Thank the Lord!" she cried. Several minutes of silence ensued, during which the woman whispered to the animated doll with affection. Then, after that period had elapsed, she unplugged the doll from the power supply, slowly so as not to cause any harm to it.
A sigh of relief. The baby doll still breathed; its little heart still pumped; it was still alive. With the utmost degree of care, she took the baby from the plywood table and tore through the door of the shed. To her, neither the maze of grass nor the claggy mud were obstacles: she bolted through the field, over the bridge, down the street, straight into her front door. She slammed the door behind her, and sprinted up the stairs, not checking if anyone had entered the house, not even taking her filthy shoes off. No, into her room she went, gently placing the baby onto her bed. Breathe. She exhaled deeply, knowing now that she was safe, that everything was in order again. It was very late: her watch said five minutes past two. There were probably still some shops open for baby food, but she opted instead to wait tomorrow, fearing what would happen if she were to leave her golden prize alone. Her thoughts drifted back to her infant, and she gazed adoringly at it as it slept there on her bed, as quiet as a doll. She walked over to the bed, and gently stroked it. Oddly, there was no reaction. She spoke softly to it. No reaction. She nuzzled its hair. No reaction. She touched it again. No reaction. Desperately now, she felt its pulse; there was none. A hideous scream came from the woman, piercing through the window, all the way through the neighborhood, through the town, through the country. It must have been heard even in Berlin amidst the celebrations of the Fall.
The world was indeed godless.
submitted by Both-Sense6604 to GCSE [link] [comments]
Question: Write a story about a toy that comes to life. [40 marks]
With a fierce alacrity that fuelled her muscles with a powerful flame, she jolted up from her bed; she knew what she had to do. She felt as if she had been slapped in the face with the Hand of Truth: no longer did she view the world as if afflicted with some type of terminal glaucoma that dimmed her eyes every second. No, now she saw everything as it truly was, and so, flicking the light switch on, she furiously fumbled for the Bible on her bed-side table. "Dust returns to the ground it came from," she sneered mockingly, as she opened the sacred book, tearing to tatters the pages of what she had once revered.
Now there remained another task, one of much greater importance, yet one which sent a shockwave of spasmodic terror through her body. Her anxiety choked her, but she ignored it; she grabbed the doll, and left the bedroom. Down the stairs she clattered, her heart throbbing like a drum, her legs twitching with adrenaline, her brain aching with angst. Opening the front door, she left the house, not bothering to close the door behind her; perhaps she knew she would return.
The streets were pitch black, darker even than the curtain of ignorance that blinded the residents of the town; nevertheless, she had lived there long enough now to manoeuvre her way through the litter that had piled up through public carelessness. Beside her, the river tried to follow its course, but it was clogged with plastic bags that slackened its flow, so that it appeared a grey sludge. Its delightful aroma wafted into the woman's nose as she raced across the bridge, into the field. There, at the heart, was a great shed, which had fallen into abeyance in spite of the vehement protestations of the public.
As she trudged through the tall grass of the fields towards that shed, it manifested itself more clearly. Four windows. A wooden door. A roof of thatch. Moss and weeds in every nook and cranny. A sea of grass encircling it. Its withering state did not deter her: with a frenzied haste, perhaps to make up time the grass had robbed of her, she kicked down the door of the building (if so it may be called). Out of her pockets, she drew a torch, turned it on. With the torch in one hand and the doll in the other, she proceeded to conduct a search of the room. A plywood table, draped in dust. A shelf with countless jars of bolts and nails. Garden tools. Leaves and twigs. Nothing of use. What about under the table? Surely nothing. But regardless, she dived onto the floor, and to her arrant surprise, her face lit up. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, she thought. That was it. The key, the solution, the gateway: a power supply. She hugged the doll, caressed it with affection. She whispered to it, "Oh, darling. I won't be long, I promise. Soon, very soon, we shall speak again."
But presently she collected her thoughts; now was not the time for sentimentality. Not now. Not at this critical moment. She connected the doll to the power supply with two crocodile clips and switched it on to its maximum voltage. With an anxiety that almost amounted to agony, she waited, her mouth contorting into a smile at the allusion. But unlike the hubristic doctor, she would love the doll with all her heart; she would take responsibility for it as if it were a precious piece of jewellery of ineffable worth. Pressing her ears against the heart of the doll, she sought to hear a pulse, anything. After what seemed a lifetime to her, there came a lub dub. Lub dub, lub dub, lub dub. She was overcome by a swoon of relief, but instead of falling to the ground, she clutched tightly onto the doll. "My baby, my child," she whispered softly, tears trickling down her face, tears of unadulterated joy. "Thank the Lord!" she cried. Several minutes of silence ensued, during which the woman whispered to the animated doll with affection. Then, after that period had elapsed, she unplugged the doll from the power supply, slowly so as not to cause any harm to it.
A sigh of relief. The baby doll still breathed; its little heart still pumped; it was still alive. With the utmost degree of care, she took the baby from the plywood table and tore through the door of the shed. To her, neither the maze of grass nor the claggy mud were obstacles: she bolted through the field, over the bridge, down the street, straight into her front door. She slammed the door behind her, and sprinted up the stairs, not checking if anyone had entered the house, not even taking her filthy shoes off. No, into her room she went, gently placing the baby onto her bed. Breathe. She exhaled deeply, knowing now that she was safe, that everything was in order again. It was very late: her watch said five minutes past two. There were probably still some shops open for baby food, but she opted instead to wait tomorrow, fearing what would happen if she were to leave her golden prize alone. Her thoughts drifted back to her infant, and she gazed adoringly at it as it slept there on her bed, as quiet as a doll. She walked over to the bed, and gently stroked it. Oddly, there was no reaction. She spoke softly to it. No reaction. She nuzzled its hair. No reaction. She touched it again. No reaction. Desperately now, she felt its pulse; there was none. A hideous scream came from the woman, piercing through the window, all the way through the neighborhood, through the town, through the country. It must have been heard even in Berlin amidst the celebrations of the Fall.
The world was indeed godless.
2023.05.29 23:45 OnlineSarcasm How to maintain mystery against manifest mind?
So as the question asks. My players have been enjoying their use of manifest mind as a scout for the past year and it got dispeled maybe once. I'm not completely wanting to shut down the ability but I would like to reintroduce a little more mystery in the game again.
What are some ways to mix things up so the 300ft invulnerable scout doesn't find everything ahead of time.
A few things I know would work but I'm not sure how to implement in a fun way:
My only option of the ones Ive found appears to be many doors. Im sure im missing mang alternatives. So thats why Im posting here to pick the brain of the hivemind.
submitted by OnlineSarcasm to dndnext [link] [comments]
What are some ways to mix things up so the 300ft invulnerable scout doesn't find everything ahead of time.
A few things I know would work but I'm not sure how to implement in a fun way:
- dispelling manifest mind
- antimagic field
- Heavily obscured areas
- Lightly obscured areas with skulking creatures
- magical darkness (pc has darkvision, and mm creates light)
- closed doors with gaps too narrow to move through
- locked non-wooden doors for extra measure
My only option of the ones Ive found appears to be many doors. Im sure im missing mang alternatives. So thats why Im posting here to pick the brain of the hivemind.
2023.05.29 22:59 sbhinter NYT Spelling Bee Past Pangrams
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#SpellingBee #WordEnthusiast #LinguisticDelights #Pangrams #NYTSpellingBee #WordPower #SpellingBeeHistory #NYTSpellingBee #WordPuzzles #SpellingFun #UnlockYourSpellingPotential #BeeReadyToSolve #SpellingBee #WordWizardry #UnleashYourVocabulary #HintsAndTips #nytsb #nytbee #hivemind #nytspellingbee #sbhinter #spellingbeeanswers #spellingbeehints #SpellingBeeHinter
submitted by sbhinter to u/sbhinter [link] [comments]
📷 Introducing NYT Spelling Bee Past Pangrams! 📷
We're thrilled to announce the newest addition to our website SbHinter.com—a treasure trove of linguistic delights for all the Spelling Bee aficionados out there. 📷📷
📷 Dive into the captivating world of past pangrams from the New York Times Spelling Bee puzzle. 📷 Challenge your vocabulary prowess and discover the most elusive words that have graced this beloved brain-teaser. 📷📷
📷 Whether you're a seasoned wordsmith or just starting your Spelling Bee journey, our collection of past pangrams is a must-visit resource. 📷📷 Uncover hidden gems, learn new words, and expand your linguistic horizons with every click. 📷📷
📷 Each pangram carries its own unique charm and linguistic flair. Explore the diverse range of letters used to construct these elusive sentences, and marvel at the craftsmanship of the New York Times puzzle creators. 📷📷
📷 Impress your friends with your newfound vocabulary arsenal, or simply indulge in the joy of discovering rare words that will leave you spellbound. 📷📷
📷 Visit https://sbhinter.com/spelling-bee-pangrams/ now and embark on a fascinating journey through the past pangrams of the NYT Spelling Bee! 📷📷 Don't miss out on this exciting linguistic adventure! 📷📷
#SpellingBee #WordEnthusiast #LinguisticDelights #Pangrams #NYTSpellingBee #WordPower #SpellingBeeHistory #NYTSpellingBee #WordPuzzles #SpellingFun #UnlockYourSpellingPotential #BeeReadyToSolve #SpellingBee #WordWizardry #UnleashYourVocabulary #HintsAndTips #nytsb #nytbee #hivemind #nytspellingbee #sbhinter #spellingbeeanswers #spellingbeehints #SpellingBeeHinter
2023.05.29 15:24 FronkZoppa For four years, I've been trying to play the game of origin of every Super Smash Bros. character. Here's what I've enjoyed the most so far
I've been playing Smash all my life - Melee might've been the first game I truly fell in love with - and the series has always served as exposure to other franchises. For over four years I've been slowly, methodically playing the source games for the entire Smash Ultimate roster. Most of them I wanted to play anyway, and this was just a neat excuse to try them out. And I do mean slowly, I really spread them out to avoid burnout. I also never forced myself to finish a game if I wasn't having fun; sometimes I just played the first section/level to get a feel for it, then dropped it. Overall it's been a fun way to expose myself to new genres and gain appreciation for gaming history. I'd already played quite a bit of Mario, Pokemon, Zelda, Metal Gear, and Sonic, but the rest was all pretty new for me. I won't mention the games I played before Ultimate's release, which is when I started this challenge. If you don't see a game on here, that's why.
For each character I picked the game I thought was most relevant, most similar to their depiction in Smash, or provided their backstory. Sometimes I just chose a game I was most interested in, assuming it still fits. For simple characters or characters who appear in lots of games, I was pretty lenient on which one I chose. If you want, you can look at the checklist here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1rOlk8dXwEL6wd2Lw4zouBiAce8UJabHOIgIP8bKL_7c/edit?usp=sharing
It's worth noting that this wouldn't be feasible without emulation. A lot of these games aren't available on modern platforms, and some aren't even localized into English. I'm not a collector and I'm not willing to track down old consoles on ebay.
Games are roughly ordered within their tiers, based on how much I enjoyed them. I'll try to be brief for each one.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
'It's old and I can't help being a zoomer' tier - Games I played just long enough to understand them, then dipped. I would not have chosen to play them for fun.
'Not very good' tier - Reserved exclusively for Pac-Man World 2.
'Just not for me' tier - Games I struggled to connect with or I'm not a fan of the genre. Maybe I'd like them if I played longer, but I don't plan to pick them up again.
'It was alright' tier - Games that were pretty enjoyable. I'm glad I tried them and likely won't play them again.
'Hey, this is pretty good' tier - Games I liked quite a lot and would recommend to anyone with similar tastes.
'This is the shit' tier - Games I thoroughly loved and would rank among my favorites.
Here's what's left on the list. Looking forward to some of them more than others. I might get around to them this year, or three years from now, or never. Who knows.
Did I learn anything by doing this? I think so. I definitely have a greater appreciation for a wider variety of genres and franchises. This got me to try certain games I never would have considered otherwise. And in turn, I gained a greater appreciation for the crossover aspect of Smash; every time I look at the character select screen, I have exponentially more memories attached to each icon. I can spot all the references in the movesets and stages. It's just... cool, I guess.
I try to never look at this like a to-do list. I call it a "challenge" but really it's just checking the list every few months, or whenever I remember it exists, and picking one or two games to try out. Some hook me and some don't. And I play a lot of other stuff in-between. Turning my favorite hobby into a list of tasks to complete sounds like an easy way to ruin it for myself.
Thanks for reading. Hope you're having a good day. Please don't hate me for dismissing your favorite game.
submitted by FronkZoppa to nintendo [link] [comments]
For each character I picked the game I thought was most relevant, most similar to their depiction in Smash, or provided their backstory. Sometimes I just chose a game I was most interested in, assuming it still fits. For simple characters or characters who appear in lots of games, I was pretty lenient on which one I chose. If you want, you can look at the checklist here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1rOlk8dXwEL6wd2Lw4zouBiAce8UJabHOIgIP8bKL_7c/edit?usp=sharing
It's worth noting that this wouldn't be feasible without emulation. A lot of these games aren't available on modern platforms, and some aren't even localized into English. I'm not a collector and I'm not willing to track down old consoles on ebay.
Games are roughly ordered within their tiers, based on how much I enjoyed them. I'll try to be brief for each one.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
'It's old and I can't help being a zoomer' tier - Games I played just long enough to understand them, then dipped. I would not have chosen to play them for fun.
- Ice Climber (Ice Climbers)
- Kid Icarus (Pit)
- Game & Watch Gallery 4 (Mr. Game & Watch)
- Duck Hunt (Duck Hunt Dog)
- Star Fox (Fox)
'Not very good' tier - Reserved exclusively for Pac-Man World 2.
- Pac-Man World 2 (Pac-Man) - This game is not very good.
'Just not for me' tier - Games I struggled to connect with or I'm not a fan of the genre. Maybe I'd like them if I played longer, but I don't plan to pick them up again.
- Kingdom Hearts (Sora) - Exceeds my admittedly high tolerance for power-of-friendship anime schlock. Combat felt a little dull and I'm not crazy about Disney. Maybe I dropped it too early, but what little I know about the rest of the series doesn't really excite me.
- Street Fighter V (Ryu / Ken) - Cool character designs, I can say that much. Traditional fighters are interesting to learn about, but they don't really grab me as a player. I expect I'll feel the same way about Tekken and KOF.
- Mega Man 11 (Mega Man) - Some neat mechanics, but the punishing old-school level design isn't my cup of tea. Happy that fans got a new one though.
- Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon (Marth) - Moving units with the touch screen is nice and I appreciate the strategy, but the generic fantasy plot bored me to tears. I might be spoiled by modern FE; this felt like going back in time and finding out my great-great-great-grandfather sold corn.
'It was alright' tier - Games that were pretty enjoyable. I'm glad I tried them and likely won't play them again.
- Star Fox 64 (Falco / Wolf) - Pretty much what I expected. I didn't love it, but it's fun and short. The branching paths are cool for its time.
- Dr. Mario (Dr. Mario) - A pleasant surprise. I expected to play for ten minutes and ended up enjoying it for much longer. Just a solid puzzle game.
- Kirby's Dream Land 3 (King Dedede) - It's good, I think? I know I enjoyed it but honestly don't remember anything about the experience.
- Kid Icarus: Uprising (Palutena / Dark Pit) - Great writing, good music, and really inventive mechanics. Would be much higher if the controls didn't cause me physical pain.
- Metroid Prime 2: Echoes (Dark Samus) - Atmosphere, music, and visuals are impeccable. I feel mean putting it this low, but Prime 1's difficulty was perfect for me and I didn't care for the dark world being so oppressive. Still want to play Prime 3 though.
- Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance (Ike) - Decent story and characters, but battles are really slow. I kind of want to go back and finish it, in which case I could see it moving a lot higher.
- Splatoon 2 (Inkling) - Novel mechanics and a fun aesthetic. I don't really play multiplayer games, but the single-player levels are enjoyable. One of the most fun credits sequences I've sat through since NieR: Automata.
- Kirby Super Star (Meta Knight) - Short, sweet, and charming, like all Kirby games. Did a lot to redeem The Great Cave Offensive, though I still hate that stage.
- Final Fantasy VII (Sephiroth) - Extremely impressive for its time, but I don't totally vibe with JRPGs from that era. Probably wouldn't have finished it without the 3x fast-forward battle option in modern ports. Famously the music is some of Uematsu's best work, and he has a lot of good work.
- Bayonetta 2 (Bayonetta) - This game oozes personality and charisma (that Moon River remix goes unreasonably hard). If I were more into the DMC school of action games, it would easily be top-tier. I could see myself getting more out of a second playthrough.
'Hey, this is pretty good' tier - Games I liked quite a lot and would recommend to anyone with similar tastes.
- Super Mario Sunshine (Bowser Jr.) - The most unique 3D Mario. Movement is fluid and satisfying to master, and I enjoy the Margaritaville locale. Held back by some frustrating sections (you know the ones).
- Luigi's Mansion 3 (Luigi) - Great visuals, art direction, and environmental design. Feels a little too padded for time.
- F-Zero GX (Captain Falcon) - The controls and tracks are gratifying to learn, and the cutscenes are pure cheese in the best way. Would be higher if I were more into racing games, or if I were skilled enough to finish it.
- Final Fantasy VII Remake (Cloud) - After playing the original, I liked how Remake brings the characters to life and reimagines old scenarios. Decent combat and an amazing soundtrack are offset by egregious padding and an ending I don't quite know how to feel about.
- EarthBound (Ness) - Full of heart behind the quirky humor. I can forgive aimless progression and outdated dungeon design when everything else is so remarkably endearing and well-written.
- Banjo-Kazooie (Banjo & Kazooie) - Having played Mario 64, I was surprised how much better the camera is. Fun characters and catchy music make for a very laid-back experience. And in a genre infamous for bloated collectathons, it shows respectable restraint in the number of collectibles.
- Super Metroid (Ridley) - Near-perfect synthesis of atmosphere, mechanics, progression, and visuals. An incredible achievement, but hard to revisit after being spoiled by the fluidity of Dread. Still, if you claim this is the greatest game ever made, I'm not gonna argue.
- Donkey Kong Country (King K. Rool) - Great level design and a memorable aesthetic that was probably really hard to pull off on the SNES. For a game about silly apes, the soundtrack by David Wise is gorgeously atmospheric.
- Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong-Quest (Diddy Kong) - Basically DKC1, but a slight step up in every category. Though I will say, a couple of the late-game levels are unreasonably hard.
- Metroid: Zero Mission (Zero Suit Samus) - Feels a little held back by the original's level design, but still a fantastic remake. The post-game sequence without the power suit is a huge highlight.
- WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$! (Wario) - Beat it in two hours and don't feel like I wasted a single second. This game actually made me laugh out loud, and often. Definitely want to play more WarioWare in the future.
- Super Mario World (Piranha Plant) - Not much to say about this one, just a good-ass platformer. I prefer it to Mario 3, but I understand why someone wouldn't.
'This is the shit' tier - Games I thoroughly loved and would rank among my favorites.
- Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island (Yoshi) - Besides Chrono Trigger, I don't think any other SNES game is this beautiful. A creative central mechanic, great level design, and wonderful art direction. The "classics" don't always speak to me, but this one did.
- Metroid Prime (Samus) - Super impressive for its time and a near-perfect translation of the series formula into 3D. Music, atmosphere, and exploration are exquisite. To me, what elevates it from good to great is the immersion factor; the diagetic HUD and scan visor really ground the player in Samus' perspective. It doesn't quite beat Dread for me, but it comes close.
- Pikmin (Olimar) - Technically an RTS, but it feels entirely distinct from the genre. The vibes are immaculate in a way I don't really know how to articulate; it's all goofy and cute and serene and a little brutal. What a charming little game this is. Olimar in Smash is kind of insufferable, but this redeems him in my eyes.
- Fire Emblem: Three Houses (Byleth) - Likeable characters and a story that, while not perfect, explores a conflict from multiple people's perspectives, nobody having all the information. I don't know how longtime fans feel about it, but the core gameplay was fun and accessible. Undeniably flawed, but for me it's greater than the sum of its parts. I played two routes and still might go back for a third.
- Mother 3 (Lucas) - Not everyone vibes with this game, but I sure as hell do. A beautiful story, gorgeous pixel art, interesting themes, memorable music, and near-perfect gameplay balance. I'd appreciate an official release, but the fan translation is so good I'm not sure they should bother.
- Persona 5 (Joker) - It's funny. If you asked me to list everything I don't like about P5, I could probably go all day. The writing is a little shallow and it's far, far too long. And yet, I can't deny how completely engrossed I was that first time through. This game enthralled me. As a sensory experience, everything about how P5 looks and sounds just tickles my brain so well. This series occupies a wholly unique space in the modern RPG landscape, in terms of mechanics, setting, and visual identity. This game made me a Persona/SMT fan. I'd put it in my all-time top five, at least.
Here's what's left on the list. Looking forward to some of them more than others. I might get around to them this year, or three years from now, or never. Who knows.
- Super Mario 3D World (Peach)
- Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade (Roy)
- Fire Emblem Fates (Corrin)
- Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Villager / Isabelle)
- Wii Fit (Wii Fit Trainer) (lmao)
- Xenoblade Chronicles (Shulk)
- Xenoblade Chronicles 2 (Pyra / Mythra)
- Super Castlevania IV (Simon)
- Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (Richter)
- Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age (Hero)
- King of Fighters XV (Terry)
- ARMS (Min Min)
- Minecraft (Steve)
- Tekken 7 (Kazuya)
Did I learn anything by doing this? I think so. I definitely have a greater appreciation for a wider variety of genres and franchises. This got me to try certain games I never would have considered otherwise. And in turn, I gained a greater appreciation for the crossover aspect of Smash; every time I look at the character select screen, I have exponentially more memories attached to each icon. I can spot all the references in the movesets and stages. It's just... cool, I guess.
I try to never look at this like a to-do list. I call it a "challenge" but really it's just checking the list every few months, or whenever I remember it exists, and picking one or two games to try out. Some hook me and some don't. And I play a lot of other stuff in-between. Turning my favorite hobby into a list of tasks to complete sounds like an easy way to ruin it for myself.
Thanks for reading. Hope you're having a good day. Please don't hate me for dismissing your favorite game.
2023.05.29 06:01 subreddit_stats Subreddit Stats: sffpc top posts from 2019-04-24 to 2023-05-15 05:20 PDT
Period: 1481.65 days
submitted by subreddit_stats to subreddit_stats [link] [comments]
| Submissions | Comments | |
|---|---|---|
| Total | 1000 | 109593 |
| Rate (per day) | 0.67 | 73.32 |
| Unique Redditors | 782 | 25569 |
| Combined Score | 1446245 | 736930 |
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- Ultra-compact office PC with AMD Ryzen 5 3400G volume 0.87L (1881 points, 131 comments)
- Ultra-compact SFFPC with Ryzen 5 4650G in the case of PSU be quiet! (1704 points, 73 comments)
- DeskMini X300: liquid, custom and 3D-printer (1670 points, 89 comments)
- Ultra-silent gaming PC with Intel Core i7 and GeForce GTX 1650 (1437 points, 92 comments)
- Project ultra-silent gaming PC "Monolith" with Intel Core i5-12400F (1318 points, 82 comments)
- My best++ custom project GEEEK A30 (1187 points, 56 comments)
- My best custom project GEEEK A30 (1182 points, 54 comments)
- My dream workplace (1152 points, 67 comments)
- When winter comes... (1088 points, 54 comments)
- 15575 points, 8 submissions: 80ishplus
- Introducing Betty by 80ishplus (2754 points, 164 comments)
- Motif Monument. Worth every penny. (2462 points, 200 comments)
- Betty - Scratchbuild submission for Builds.GG SFFPC (2456 points, 140 comments)
- Patina by 80ishplus (2037 points, 174 comments)
- Windfall by 80ishplus. A custom loop Meshlicious build. (1712 points, 148 comments)
- Almagest by 80ishplus (1676 points, 66 comments)
- Not a Ghost S1 build. (1299 points, 132 comments)
- Introducing Sky Lantern by 80ishplus (1179 points, 68 comments)
- 11127 points, 7 submissions: hereforthefeast
- Just finished my portable gaming rig, it only needs 2 cables (2980 points, 243 comments)
- I think I have a sffpc addiction (1725 points, 166 comments)
- It’s alive! Minimalist RGB power button (1501 points, 29 comments)
- 4.6L console killer (1404 points, 81 comments)
- This is why I love sffpc - only 2 cables total needed for this portable gaming station (1311 points, 146 comments)
- wHy DoN't yoU juSt GeT a gAmInG lApTOp? (1288 points, 138 comments)
- When everything fits just right (918 points, 59 comments)
- 9666 points, 5 submissions: brolynitro
- Small smaller smallest. 8liter case (4431 points, 301 comments)
- 6L smallfootprint custom gaming pc (1790 points, 146 comments)
- Wood and acrylic 10l pc case. (1430 points, 91 comments)
- Finally finished my ghost s1. Cant do anything anymore to optimise it. (1079 points, 204 comments)
- 8.7 liter ghost s1 with 2 x 240mm rads and ryuo pump (936 points, 152 comments)
- 9005 points, 5 submissions: msystems
- Ice Cream Sandwich [Deskmini + 5700g + L9A + A12 120mm] (2595 points, 128 comments)
- x300 DeskNano [1.16L] (2050 points, 119 comments)
- "Turbine" Asrock Deskmini (1.92L) (1850 points, 89 comments)
- DeskVader [Deskmini X300, AMD 5700g, RTX 3060ti - 3.5L] (1375 points, 66 comments)
- Deskmini: EXTREME edition (1135 points, 57 comments)
- 8094 points, 6 submissions: melikewater
- Pretty content (2151 points, 147 comments)
- Hello I’m back. Hardline Ghost s1! (1757 points, 111 comments)
- Open air sff has never looked so good (1211 points, 48 comments)
- Watercooled Jonsplus i100 2x 360 rads with Custom Motherboard Armor. (1039 points, 74 comments)
- Cheap glass side panel for Ghost S1 (968 points, 38 comments)
- I love them tight gaps (968 points, 96 comments)
- 7910 points, 3 submissions: bryins
- black on black on black (4511 points, 152 comments)
- cant go wrong with black or white (2138 points, 63 comments)
- air and water bender (1261 points, 55 comments)
- 7526 points, 7 submissions: mattzzz199
- 600W Flex PSU with 80mm Fan (1350 points, 105 comments)
- Must, Go, Smaller! (1155 points, 76 comments)
- Flex PSU too noisy? I gotchu...[Video] (1108 points, 100 comments)
- Ultra Compact Wooden PC [Link in Comments] (1005 points, 87 comments)
- Wasp Nest - [Progress Update 5] (998 points, 69 comments)
- [Completed] Custom Wooden ITX Case (967 points, 85 comments)
- OMG! Finally! (943 points, 86 comments)
- 7295 points, 4 submissions: colinreay
- 9L Infinity Mirror Case (2337 points, 63 comments)
- Progress On New 10L Case (2036 points, 98 comments)
- 10L, Airflow Focused Concept (1512 points, 113 comments)
- (Tasteful?) Tests with RGB (1410 points, 85 comments)
- 7205 points, 2 submissions: CroyAlore
- 7197 points, 3 submissions: thewipprsnappr
- Here is my recent build project. A ratrod inspired, open air, custom loop, vintage radio sleeper. 5600x + 1080ti (3380 points, 89 comments)
- Just finished my newest sleeper project "The Sheep Counter 9000" (pcpp link in comments) (2254 points, 88 comments)
- Recently finished v2 of my vintage Sony radio hotrod build (1563 points, 70 comments)
- 6662 points, 4 submissions: Maeiourk
- GF and I are about to attend a LAN party. (2224 points, 126 comments)
- I’ve gone full chimney in this build. (1731 points, 105 comments)
- Chimney Build 2.0 Midnight Edition (1476 points, 49 comments)
- LOUQE is going to have a liquidity sale starting tomorrow at 2PM EST. (1231 points, 268 comments)
- 6379 points, 1 submission: wearetheused
- 6299 points, 2 submissions: -MadScientist_
- RTX 3090 + 5950X in 6 Liters. Custom Radiator. Ultra SFF (4110 points, 216 comments)
- RTX 3090 Ryzen 5950x - 6 liters (2189 points, 196 comments)
- 6277 points, 5 submissions: Dpn0391
- Velka3 build (5600X, 2070mini) (1908 points, 66 comments)
- Formd T1 (v1.1) + 4090FE (1359 points, 208 comments)
- Formd T1 280 rad build (1085 points, 40 comments)
- X-Proto L + 4090FE (971 points, 60 comments)
- Formd T1 (v2) + 4090FE (954 points, 90 comments)
- 5973 points, 5 submissions: revoccases
- probably the smallest GTX1650 you can get (1712 points, 72 comments)
- DSX1 build complete - XBOX Series X style DIY case for AsRock DeskMini (1162 points, 50 comments)
- I've also put a handle on it - introducing the first liquid cooled boombox sff pc (1096 points, 79 comments)
- RTX A2000 Full Copper Edition - Low Profile Single Slot Mod (1070 points, 108 comments)
- Fractal North was too big for my taste - so I made this custom SFF case (933 points, 50 comments)
- 5797 points, 2 submissions: d1xt1r
- 5516 points, 3 submissions: xDeskinsxx
- Beat up my case a bit (2221 points, 87 comments)
- My CL4P-TP nr200 🤖 (2045 points, 106 comments)
- My Hyperion SFF with matching controller :) (1250 points, 85 comments)
- 5477 points, 3 submissions: altapowderdog
- Custom 20L Build - Vid in Comments (3434 points, 89 comments)
- My 14L Wood and Leather Gaming/Media Build (1115 points, 40 comments)
- My Small Build (3D print files available) (928 points, 76 comments)
- 5464 points, 2 submissions: wearebobNL
- Couldn't get the cases I was interested in so I built my own. WDYT? (4338 points, 205 comments)
- Another idea for a custom SFF case (1126 points, 120 comments)
- 5438 points, 1 submission: jeremigio
- Cooler Master X USPS (5438 points, 201 comments)
- 5248 points, 2 submissions: ZzLy__
- 5209 points, 2 submissions: modsbybenq
- Talking about what is possible! New SFF case by Sinister Cases (2864 points, 183 comments)
- Taking it small with this one! (2345 points, 75 comments)
- 5104 points, 4 submissions: PlaygroundPRB
- A cup of SFF (1488 points, 129 comments)
- Custom loop with a 7.7L Akkla A3 (1361 points, 52 comments)
- Ryzen 9 5900X + RTX 2060 K39 ITX case (1215 points, 72 comments)
- Geeek A30 V2 Cyberpunk (1040 points, 55 comments)
- 4541 points, 3 submissions: Flying-T
- 4538 points, 3 submissions: SCYTHE_Chloe
- All black nr200 featuring Scythe Mugen 5 Black (1729 points, 65 comments)
- Scythe Big Shuriken 3 CPU cooler with Motif Monument (1458 points, 96 comments)
- Amazing rig featuring Scythe Shuriken 2 CPU cooler (1351 points, 78 comments)
- 4537 points, 3 submissions: imjaeha
- Ghost S1 Custom Loop (Black + hard tubing) (1875 points, 122 comments)
- Formd t1 (All Black, 3080 tuf) (1444 points, 111 comments)
- Black + Bluetooth + Itx setup (1218 points, 70 comments)
- 4320 points, 3 submissions: ghim7
- SSUPD Meshlicious with a Cable Management Tweak (Build video link in comments) (1672 points, 110 comments)
- I've seen some of you installed monitoring screen on your PC, so I made a tutorial video on how to do it, specifically on the NR200P (Video link in comments) (1476 points, 89 comments)
- Video Editing Build on the NR200P (1172 points, 143 comments)
- 4296 points, 3 submissions: Lithofish
- Shy SFF... (1699 points, 111 comments)
- If there is space for a fan... (1350 points, 119 comments)
- Monitor arms... the best companion for any SFFPC (1247 points, 124 comments)
- 4124 points, 4 submissions: sknight022
- My entry into the SFFPC meets builds.gg contest (1081 points, 87 comments)
- Much work to be done, but it's starting to look like something! (1056 points, 75 comments)
- Yet another SFF case concept https://imgur.com/a/5cYEH5c (1018 points, 137 comments)
- Updated SFF PC concept (969 points, 122 comments)
- 4089 points, 2 submissions: neiru37
- I either looked cool or stupid doing all this at the airport lounge 😂 (2145 points, 277 comments)
- 5 liters of portable 4k gaming! Successfully crammed a Founders Edition 3070 ti, the fastest card I could find that would fit, into a sub 5L Velka 5 case. Just look at the size of this thing! Thermals and fan noise aren't that bad either with undervolt. (1944 points, 243 comments)
- 4072 points, 2 submissions: drkmrk
- I stopped modifying my pc and started modding my shelf.. (2978 points, 111 comments)
- Listen up, y'all, 'cause this is it. (1094 points, 86 comments)
- 4070 points, 1 submission: zero_cool_513
- I did it for the karma honestly (4070 points, 147 comments)
- 4040 points, 2 submissions: makerunit
- I 3D Printed my own Mini ITX case 😅 (2819 points, 198 comments)
- THE CUBE - A custom 3D Printable ITX Case (Details in comment below) (1221 points, 63 comments)
- 3991 points, 3 submissions: eatsleep123
- Ghost of Noctua EVGA × Noctua × Louqe (FTW3 in S1) (1715 points, 145 comments)
- [FormD T1] Team Midnight - Yet Another BBB (1229 points, 79 comments)
- [Sliger SV590] ML Duolith: 5950X Dual RTX 3090s 420mm Push + Pull (1047 points, 148 comments)
- 3944 points, 2 submissions: NiceDepth
- project voron-01 3D printed case (2661 points, 215 comments)
- DIY 1000$ monitor stand (1283 points, 61 comments)
- 3874 points, 2 submissions: eatingdata
- Ncat M1 (2670 points, 39 comments)
- Ncase M1 V6 done! (for now) (1204 points, 136 comments)
- 3840 points, 3 submissions: themodman_
- 3839 points, 2 submissions: stand_up_g4m3r
- Another shot of my Mandalorian Sliger SM570 Build (2416 points, 152 comments)
- I made an AMD Quantum Project Replica! (1423 points, 54 comments)
- 3811 points, 2 submissions: CrazyTechLab
- 3751 points, 2 submissions: humanoiddoc
- Got wood. (2676 points, 64 comments)
- Battery Powered PN50 (1075 points, 68 comments)
- 3665 points, 2 submissions: yoannw204
- holy shit it does not fit (2694 points, 113 comments)
- mini 'H1' (971 points, 40 comments)
- 3609 points, 2 submissions: Minirig355
- 3549 points, 1 submission: B33rNuts
- This is why we make these! StayIng at a hotel. (3549 points, 249 comments)
- 3499 points, 1 submission: Adef25
- 3497 points, 2 submissions: liquidhaus
- Finally took a real photo of this thing (1959 points, 83 comments)
- Finally found a solution on cooling the Geeek A30 chassis (1538 points, 120 comments)
- 3496 points, 3 submissions: frothyexe
- NR200P -> Meshlicious (1254 points, 118 comments)
- My First (SFF) Build In The NR200P (1146 points, 94 comments)
- Icy Meshlicious ❄️ (1096 points, 40 comments)
- 3484 points, 1 submission: GrimUrsine
- My very first SFF build, finally done. (3484 points, 147 comments)
Top Commenters
- dan_cases (5637 points, 510 comments)
- hereforthefeast (3807 points, 376 comments)
- nnnndth (3738 points, 412 comments)
- r98farmer (3103 points, 143 comments)
- LeonidasGFX (2585 points, 113 comments)
- 80ishplus (2098 points, 450 comments)
- wearebobNL (1744 points, 148 comments)
- davidofmidnight (1650 points, 1 comment)
- brolynitro (1626 points, 408 comments)
- stand_up_g4m3r (1622 points, 157 comments)
- stinkycat45 (1496 points, 55 comments)
- petatoed (1443 points, 64 comments)
- Maeiourk (1417 points, 97 comments)
- -MadScientist_ (1388 points, 76 comments)
- Skripka (1363 points, 54 comments)
- OdinsPlayground (1339 points, 152 comments)
- StretchyMonad (1334 points, 41 comments)
- TheBrandonW (1285 points, 85 comments)
- mattzzz199 (1172 points, 220 comments)
- WinterCharm (1162 points, 131 comments)
- msystems (1097 points, 52 comments)
- themodman_ (1073 points, 76 comments)
- M1AF (1061 points, 98 comments)
- shakespears_ghost (1017 points, 12 comments)
- henriquelicori (1017 points, 9 comments)
- revoccases (1014 points, 77 comments)
- Nugmast3r (1002 points, 21 comments)
- _Versatile (998 points, 14 comments)
- davidpk52 (993 points, 77 comments)
- FartingBob (943 points, 94 comments)
- godbq (942 points, 135 comments)
- inertSpark (899 points, 61 comments)
- Matteo_CoolerMaster (896 points, 48 comments)
- Signaturisti (889 points, 205 comments)
- TopBanana16 (854 points, 62 comments)
- wearetheused (850 points, 28 comments)
- B33rNuts (849 points, 67 comments)
- ZzLy__ (841 points, 57 comments)
- AETAaAS (832 points, 9 comments)
- mrsuzukid (828 points, 74 comments)
- ItsNa8o543 (828 points, 44 comments)
- SheeBang_UniCron (822 points, 17 comments)
- Flying-T (820 points, 43 comments)
- Black_Phoenix_JP (819 points, 17 comments)
- MahaloMerky (806 points, 35 comments)
- sknight022 (801 points, 185 comments)
- bruhhh_- (795 points, 87 comments)
- Turlo101 (791 points, 22 comments)
- asone_ (790 points, 4 comments)
- neiru37 (788 points, 163 comments)
Top Submissions
- A 10" tablet fits nicely on the front panel on the NR200 by wearetheused (6379 points, 213 comments)
- Cooler Master X USPS by jeremigio (5438 points, 201 comments)
- black on black on black by bryins (4511 points, 152 comments)
- Small smaller smallest. 8liter case by brolynitro (4431 points, 301 comments)
- Couldn't get the cases I was interested in so I built my own. WDYT? by wearebobNL (4338 points, 205 comments)
- RTX 3090 + 5950X in 6 Liters. Custom Radiator. Ultra SFF by -MadScientist_ (4110 points, 216 comments)
- I did it for the karma honestly by zero_cool_513 (4070 points, 147 comments)
- Obsidian, a SFF pc built on a picture frame by CroyAlore (3979 points, 91 comments)
- You can't just move parts to outside of the case and then not count them when measuring the size by ZzLy__ (3860 points, 258 comments)
- My current setup by d1xt1r (3674 points, 208 comments)
Top Comments
- 1650 points: davidofmidnight's comment in Pray for me brothers
- 984 points: henriquelicori's comment in I think i can die in peace now
- 831 points: deleted's comment in Is an Ncase M1 supposed to be like this out of the box?
- 813 points: shakespears_ghost's comment in 4090 is almost comical in size connected to a itx
- 780 points: toxygen001's comment in Who's going to be the first one trying a SFF build with the RTX 3090?
- 684 points: asone_'s comment in Ncase M1 + RTX 3090 TUF
- 669 points: fuentl's comment in The way Optimum Tech used double 90° rotary fittings to fit watercooling in his NZXT H1
- 665 points: deleted's comment in Cooler Master X USPS
- 650 points: deleted's comment in holy shit it does not fit
- 592 points: aleksandarvacic's comment in 4090 FE is extremely thick. The amount of ITX cases being able to fit a 90 series cafd is even lower.
Generated with BBoe's Subreddit Stats
2023.05.29 02:08 SeaofBloodRedRoses [TotK] I hated BotW, and TotK brings some much-needed fixes and improvements, BUT!
[Note: This was spoiler tagged automatically, but there aren't really any spoilers in here beyond extremely surface level stuff. I've tagged anything actually spoilery, and even then, it's a stretch.]
Some negatives still apply, and I really hope they fix it next time around. TotK is better, but it's still not great, and 99% of the time, it still doesn't feel like a Zelda game.
After BotW's DLC, and how similar TotK is, I have absolutely no confidence whatsoever that TotK's DLC will be at all a meaningful experience, not when TotK itself hasn't been. Maybe we'll get a new top-down view game, which would basically force them to return to a classical Zelda philosophy of game design, or a remake or remaster of a previous game, like the Oracle games, or a re-release of Twilight Princess or Wind Waker on the Switch or whatever the next console turns out to be. And yeah, rereleases would be great, because it's been so long since I've played them. Provided they don't remove good elements of the game or dumb-down engaging features like the OoT and MM remasters did, I'd be very happy with that. But I want new Zelda games. New experiences. New stories and new versions of Link, and I want them from a 3D perspective as well.
And it makes me sad that I'll probably never have that again.
submitted by SeaofBloodRedRoses to zelda [link] [comments]
Some negatives still apply, and I really hope they fix it next time around. TotK is better, but it's still not great, and 99% of the time, it still doesn't feel like a Zelda game.
- The dungeons still aren't real dungeons. They all follow the exact same, word-for-word format. The enemies are all identical. Sure, they are thematically distinct, but only really in visual elements and bosses - they don't bring much actual difference, and the literal exact same wording/pacing across each dungeon is far too repetitive, with the one exception being the Spirit Temple because it shatters that convention by you not even knowing you're in a dungeon until the boss battle, but in any other Zelda game, that would be a mini dungeon at most. Even if they were just substantially longer, it'd be great, but they're some of the shortest dungeons in the entire franchise. And there are so few of them, too.
- Items. Yeah, we get four abilities, but I want items back. It's extremely possible to have a total freedom open world co-exist with items, and frankly, more restrictive movement abilities through a larger selection of more narrow-focus items would force you to get a lot more creative with your movement. It would open up older areas for re-exploration once you got future items, instead of offering absolutely no replayability because you have access to everything from the get-go. You know, like Zelda games have always been, right from the beginning. Having a big world isn't enough if it's empty, hence why small maps are generally far better, because there's just a ton of stuff condensed into smaller areas, and a lot more secrets to discover. Here, any chest you find is either going to be a cosmetic armour piece, or a temporary weapon or item.
- The vast majority of this game is designed using the same theory as MMOs, mobile games, and other microtransaction games. It's a time waster. It's literally designed to throw a lot of similar, shallow content at you to keep you in the game longer. TotK does it far better than microtransaction games, but they've designed the entire game concept around BotW and Totk's mechanics. That's not inherently a bad thing - building is fun, contraptions are fun, but they're not why I play Zelda, and the focus on them has clearly taken away from things like story, situational puzzles (basically everything can be solved with rewind and ascend, seriously), and soul. It's good to have these elements, but these are sandbox elements, and you need something deeper too. What's more, the game promotes the concept of grinding, which is a major time waster - whether you're farming zonaite or hunting down weapons to dig through a particularly deep cave, you're spending that time doing a menial, time-consuming task intended to keep you playing the game at any cost, rather than giving you more meaningful experiences... and rather than doing both, TotK abandoned the meaningful and unique experiences.
- Enemy variety is MUCH better this time around, but even though the enemy variety has practically doubled, and even introduced one or two region-specific enemies, it's still an embarrassing joke compared to classical Zelda games. It doesn't really matter if you're fighting a moblin, a bokoblin, or a lizalfos, they're all pretty much identical with slightly varying attack patterns, and those three, along with constructs (which aren't really that different either, and certainly aren't different from each other), form the vast majority of all enemies you'll encounter, no matter where you are, making fighting an enemy on a mountain identical to fighting an enemy on a beach.
- There's no Vai armour.
- The story was either written by AI, someone who knows absolutely nothing about writing and just wanted to throw out literally anything that could justify the existence of a game, or someone who did know how to write, but didn't care, didn't have time, and wrote one thing and copy/pasted it four times over with minor changes.
- No heart pieces. Some of the most engaging puzzles in the Zelda franchise have been hunts for heart pieces (or other obscure items). Shrines are boring - we're given a basic puzzle that could be solved by a squirrel, a slightly less basic puzzle that may even require three academically gifted squirrels, and then one actual puzzle. This pattern is common in gaming, and has formed the backbone of almost every game ever made. You start off small, introducing concepts to players, then let them test those same mechanics in new ways, slowly building up to more complex designs. A great example of this is bombable walls in Minish Cap, where the first time you see a bombable wall with no cracked boulder, it's between two fences with a sign saying "beware of crumbling walls, blasting strictly prohibited." From that point on, the cues become less pronounced, like a space between two trees. But now, you know what to look for. This is why linear game design, at least to some degree, is very important, and why almost every game has some degree of linearity. This is also where TotK suffers, because there's a concept of a complete open world. They don't build on previous lessons because there are no previous lessons to build on, because they have to assume every puzzle will be your first one ever. There are some slight exceptions to this, but the vast majority of the game is conducted without this fundamental element of game design. Shrines are standalone, and the concepts introduced in one shrine never evolve outside of that shrine. Actual dungeons with unique puzzles, and items you can only get from dungeons, which unlock new areas through the items' mobility, are a great solution to this, but those items would require either more complex world design, which TotK and BotW have largely abandoned in favour of freedom, or they would require staggering out the abilities (instead of getting four right away, you'd get seven throughout the game, with the extra three bringing similar levels of freedom, like the BotW abilities, or something similar to the Dominion Rod or Gust Jar, giving you new ways to interact with objects). Personally, I would much rather return to more restrictive abilities, because they offer you far more creativity and possibility in world design and gameplay.
- The Imprisoning War is already a thing, and it's a different event from what's described here. So much of TotK's lore doesn't make any sense at all unless it fits into an entirely separate timeline. Secret stone? Really? Seriously? That's the best they could come up with? Not much of a secret when people can recognise them on sight, having never seen one before, now are they? Also, how in the stars did Zelda hear the name Ganondorf and only have a subconscious uncomfy feeling about him, and not make the immediate connection to Calamity GANON????
- Please let me turn off voices. Look, I speak French fluently, I can understand some Japanese, I know there are better voice actors, but I grew up with Zelda being English. I also grew up without any voice actors. Not only do they just not fit with the game, they're just awful to listen to. I don't care if you want them - you're weird for it, but by all means, keep them (with maybe better VAs), but PLEASE let me turn them off without muting the game entirely. Give me an option for silence.
- I miss companions. I really miss companions. They brought personality and a LOT of story to past Zelda games. I also miss a Link with some actual personality, and a deadpan small gasp or deadpan silence to literally every single situation imaginable is pretty horrible.
- I don't mind the concept of breakable weapons, but some weapons should be unbreakable. I don't think the Master Sword should ever run out of energy, especially after having its batteries charged for a continuous eon, but even if we keep that element of it, just extend that function to other unique weapons! And if the energy depletion is removed, give more functionality and unique usage to other items to compensate, like fire rods and anything that can break a boulder. Not puzzle solving items, but weapons that feel different and have different applications. Spears stab, but they don't really feel much like spears, they don't feel like they offer much extra range or function. Give them that, and you can have unbreakable regular and unique weapons that do different things. Instead of prioritising breakable weapons for survival (just grab a weapon), prioritise breakable weapons that have specific functions. I especially don't want my unique weapons that I need to spend 150 poe to rebuy, to shatter. Because you know what I do instead? I never end up using them. I collect the unique ones. And worse, there's absolutely no storage that I have yet to find, for any weapons. So your inventory will fill up with the ones you don't want to break.
- Beach, mountain, island, desert, who cares? It all feels the same. The music's the same, the enemies are the same, you don't need any unique abilities or items (except regional survival armours) or even different ways of thinking. There's no environmental hazards that you can't just solve by putting on a different armour, like the rocks falling from Death Mountain in Ocarina of Time, or gusts of wind that force you to use the Iron Boots in Wind Waker, or areas that require different perspectives to access every area by form shifting like Twilight Princess, Minish Cap, Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, and A Link Between Worlds. Or time/season shifting, like... too many Zelda games to name. The only exceptions to this are the Gerudo Desert during the sandstorm, which is actually one of the few areas that makes this feel like a Zelda game, and the Depths before you discover the area's lightroot (but only when you first dive in, because after that it really just gets tedious). There's no actual difference between these places in how you play the game, nor in the soul of the locations, and when you add a lack of meaningful discoveries in there, there's absolutely no reason to explore, which is the entire point of the game.
- There's no Zelda music. There might be the occasional note, but no classical Zelda music at all. No Hyrule theme. Nothing recognisable from any previous game (barring Botw). A good soundtrack is really important for a game, and prior to BotW, Zelda has always had incredible soundtracks that have elevated the game so, so much.
- I'm taking the lack of a Vai armour as a personal insult.
After BotW's DLC, and how similar TotK is, I have absolutely no confidence whatsoever that TotK's DLC will be at all a meaningful experience, not when TotK itself hasn't been. Maybe we'll get a new top-down view game, which would basically force them to return to a classical Zelda philosophy of game design, or a remake or remaster of a previous game, like the Oracle games, or a re-release of Twilight Princess or Wind Waker on the Switch or whatever the next console turns out to be. And yeah, rereleases would be great, because it's been so long since I've played them. Provided they don't remove good elements of the game or dumb-down engaging features like the OoT and MM remasters did, I'd be very happy with that. But I want new Zelda games. New experiences. New stories and new versions of Link, and I want them from a 3D perspective as well.
And it makes me sad that I'll probably never have that again.
2023.05.29 01:18 Asleep-Trouble-4237 Have you ever traveled alone and what did you learn from the experience?
What's the most difficult puzzle or brain teaser you've ever solved?
submitted by Asleep-Trouble-4237 to u/Asleep-Trouble-4237 [link] [comments]
2023.05.28 23:36 National_Pangolin_85 What's the most difficult puzzle or brain teaser you've ever solved?
What's the most interesting thing you've learned about yourself recently?
submitted by National_Pangolin_85 to u/National_Pangolin_85 [link] [comments]
2023.05.28 22:35 FronkZoppa Since Ultimate's launch, I've been trying to play every character's game of origin. Here's what I've enjoyed the most
Mods please delete if this isn't appropriate for the sub. I just thought it'd be fun to write up my thoughts on the experience so far.
I've been playing Smash all my life - Melee might've been the first game I truly fell in love with - and the series has always served as exposure to other franchises. For over four years I've been slowly, methodically playing the source games for the entire Smash Ultimate roster. Most of them I wanted to play anyway, and this was just a neat excuse to try them out. And I do mean slowly, I really spread them out to avoid burnout. I also never forced myself to finish a game if I wasn't having fun; sometimes I just played the first section/level to get a feel for it, then dropped it. Overall it's been a fun way to expose myself to new genres and gain appreciation for gaming history. I'd already played quite a bit of Mario, Pokemon, Zelda, Metal Gear, and Sonic, but the rest was all pretty new for me. I won't mention the games I played before Ultimate's release, when I started this challenge.
For each character I picked the game I thought was most relevant, or most similar to their depiction in Smash. If you want, you can look at the checklist here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1rOlk8dXwEL6wd2Lw4zouBiAce8UJabHOIgIP8bKL_7c/edit?usp=sharing
It's worth noting that this wouldn't be feasible without emulation. A lot of these games aren't available on modern platforms, and some aren't even localized into English. I'm not a collector and I'm not willing to track down old consoles on ebay.
Games are roughly ordered within their tiers, based on how much I enjoyed them. I'll try to be brief for each one.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
'It's old and I can't help being a zoomer' tier - Games I played just long enough to understand them, then dipped. I would not have chosen to play them for fun.
'Not very good' tier - Reserved exclusively for Pac-Man World 2.
'Just not for me' tier - Games I struggled to connect with or I'm not a fan of the genre. Maybe I'd like them if I played longer, but I don't plan to pick them up again.
'It was alright' tier - Games that were pretty enjoyable. I'm glad I tried them and likely won't play them again.
'Hey, this is pretty good' tier - Games I liked quite a lot and would recommend.
'This is the shit' tier - Games I thoroughly loved and would rank among my favorites.
Here's what's left on the list. Looking forward to some of them more than others. I might get around to them this year, or over three years, or never. Who knows.
Did I learn anything by doing this? I think so. I definitely have a greater appreciation for a wider variety of genres and franchises. This got me to try certain games I never would have considered otherwise. And in turn, I gained a greater appreciation for the crossover aspect of Smash; every time I look at the character select screen, I have exponentially more memories attached to each icon. I can spot all the references in the movesets and stages. It's just... cool, I guess.
Thanks for reading. Hope you're having a good day. Please don't hate me for dismissing your favorite game.
submitted by FronkZoppa to smashbros [link] [comments]
I've been playing Smash all my life - Melee might've been the first game I truly fell in love with - and the series has always served as exposure to other franchises. For over four years I've been slowly, methodically playing the source games for the entire Smash Ultimate roster. Most of them I wanted to play anyway, and this was just a neat excuse to try them out. And I do mean slowly, I really spread them out to avoid burnout. I also never forced myself to finish a game if I wasn't having fun; sometimes I just played the first section/level to get a feel for it, then dropped it. Overall it's been a fun way to expose myself to new genres and gain appreciation for gaming history. I'd already played quite a bit of Mario, Pokemon, Zelda, Metal Gear, and Sonic, but the rest was all pretty new for me. I won't mention the games I played before Ultimate's release, when I started this challenge.
For each character I picked the game I thought was most relevant, or most similar to their depiction in Smash. If you want, you can look at the checklist here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1rOlk8dXwEL6wd2Lw4zouBiAce8UJabHOIgIP8bKL_7c/edit?usp=sharing
It's worth noting that this wouldn't be feasible without emulation. A lot of these games aren't available on modern platforms, and some aren't even localized into English. I'm not a collector and I'm not willing to track down old consoles on ebay.
Games are roughly ordered within their tiers, based on how much I enjoyed them. I'll try to be brief for each one.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
'It's old and I can't help being a zoomer' tier - Games I played just long enough to understand them, then dipped. I would not have chosen to play them for fun.
- Ice Climber (Ice Climbers)
- Kid Icarus (Pit)
- Game & Watch Gallery 4 (Mr. Game & Watch)
- Duck Hunt (Duck Hunt Dog)
- Star Fox (Fox)
'Not very good' tier - Reserved exclusively for Pac-Man World 2.
- Pac-Man World 2 (Pac-Man) - This game is not very good.
'Just not for me' tier - Games I struggled to connect with or I'm not a fan of the genre. Maybe I'd like them if I played longer, but I don't plan to pick them up again.
- Kingdom Hearts (Sora) - Exceeds my admittedly high tolerance for power-of-friendship anime schlock. Combat felt a little dull and I'm not crazy about Disney. Maybe I dropped it too early, but what little I know about the rest of the series doesn't really excite me.
- Street Fighter V (Ryu / Ken) - Cool character designs, I can say that much. Traditional fighters are interesting to learn about, but they don't really grab me as a player. I expect I'll feel the same way about Tekken and Fatal Fury.
- Mega Man 11 (Mega Man) - Some neat new mechanics, but the punishing old-school level design isn't my cup of tea. Happy that fans got a new one though.
- Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon (Marth) - Moving units with the touch screen is nice and I appreciate the strategy, but the generic fantasy story bored me to tears. I might be spoiled by modern FE; this felt like going back in time and finding out my great-great-great-grandfather sold corn.
'It was alright' tier - Games that were pretty enjoyable. I'm glad I tried them and likely won't play them again.
- Star Fox 64 (Falco / Wolf) - Pretty much what I expected. I didn't love it, but it's fun and short. The branching paths are cool for its time.
- Dr. Mario (Dr. Mario) - A pleasant surprise. I expected to play for ten minutes and ended up enjoying it for much longer. Just a solid puzzle game.
- Kirby's Dream Land 3 (King Dedede) - It's good, I think? I know I enjoyed it but honestly don't remember anything about the experience.
- Kid Icarus: Uprising (Palutena / Dark Pit) - Great writing, good music, and really inventive mechanics. Would be much higher if the controls didn't cause me physical pain.
- Metroid Prime 2: Echoes (Dark Samus) - Atmosphere, music, and visuals are impeccable. I feel mean putting it this low, but Prime 1's difficulty was perfect for me and I didn't care for the dark world being so oppressive. Still want to play Prime 3 though.
- Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance (Ike) - Decent story and characters, but battles are really slow. I kind of want to go back and finish it, in which case I could see it moving a lot higher.
- Splatoon 2 (Inkling) - Novel mechanics and a fun aesthetic. I don't really play multiplayer games, but the single-player levels are enjoyable. One of the most fun credits sequences I've seen since NieR: Automata.
- Kirby Super Star (Meta Knight) - Short, sweet, and charming, like all Kirby games. Did a lot to redeem The Great Cave Offensive, though I still hate that stage.
- Final Fantasy VII (Sephiroth) - Extremely impressive for its time, but I don't totally vibe with JRPGs from that era. Probably wouldn't have finished it without the 3x fast-forward battle option in modern ports. Famously the music is some of Uematsu's best work, and he has a lot of good work.
- Bayonetta 2 (Bayonetta) - This game oozes personality and charisma (that Moon River remix goes unreasonably hard). If I were more into the DMC school of action games, it would easily be top-tier. I could see myself getting more out of a second playthrough.
'Hey, this is pretty good' tier - Games I liked quite a lot and would recommend.
- Super Mario Sunshine (Bowser Jr.) - The most unique 3D Mario. Movement is fluid and satisfying to master, and I enjoy the Margaritaville locale. Held back by some frustrating sections (you know the ones).
- Luigi's Mansion 3 (Luigi) - Great visuals, art direction, and environmental design. Feels a little too padded for time.
- F-Zero GX (Captain Falcon) - The controls and tracks are gratifying to learn, and the cutscenes are pure cheese in the best way. Would be higher if I were more into racing games, or if I were skilled enough to finish it.
- Final Fantasy VII Remake (Cloud) - After playing the original, I liked how Remake brings the characters to life and reimagines old scenarios. Decent combat, cool bosses, and an amazing soundtrack are offset by egregious padding and an ending I don't quite know how to feel about.
- EarthBound (Ness) - Full of heart behind the quirky humor. I can forgive aimless progression and outdated dungeon design when everything else is so remarkably endearing and well-written.
- Banjo-Kazooie (Banjo & Kazooie) - Having played Mario 64, I was surprised how much better the camera is. Fun characters and catchy music make for a very laid-back experience. And in a genre infamous for bloated collectathons, it shows respectable restraint in the number of collectibles.
- Super Metroid (Ridley) - Near-perfect synthesis of atmosphere, mechanics, progression, and visuals. An incredible achievement, but hard to revisit after being spoiled by the fluidity of Dread. Still, if you claim this is the greatest game ever made, I'm not gonna argue with you.
- Donkey Kong Country (King K. Rool) - Great level design and a memorable aesthetic that was probably really hard to pull off on the SNES. For a game about silly apes, the soundtrack by David Wise is gorgeously atmospheric.
- Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong-Quest (Diddy Kong) - Basically DKC1, but a slight step up in every category. Though I will say, a couple of the late-game levels are unreasonably hard.
- Metroid: Zero Mission (Zero Suit Samus) - Feels a little held back by the original's level design, but it's still a fantastic remake. The post-game sequence without the power suit is a huge highlight.
- WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$! (Wario) - Beat it in two hours and don't feel like I wasted a single second. This game actually made me laugh out loud, and often. Definitely want to play more WarioWare in the future.
- Super Mario World (Piranha Plant) - Not much to say about this one, just a good-ass platformer. I prefer it to Mario 3, but I understand why someone wouldn't.
'This is the shit' tier - Games I thoroughly loved and would rank among my favorites.
- Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island (Yoshi) - Besides Chrono Trigger, I don't think any other SNES game is this beautiful. A creative central mechanic, great level design, and wonderful art direction. The "classics" don't always speak to me, but this one did.
- Metroid Prime (Samus) - Super impressive for its time and a near-perfect translation of the series formula into 3D. Music, atmosphere, and exploration are exquisite. To me, what elevates it from good to great is the immersion factor; the diagetic HUD and scan visor really ground the player in Samus' perspective.
- Pikmin (Olimar) - Technically an RTS, but it feels entirely distinct from the genre. The vibes are immaculate in a way I don't really know how to articulate; it's all goofy and cute and serene and a little brutal. What a charming little game this is. Olimar in Smash is kind of insufferable, but this redeems him in my eyes.
- Fire Emblem: Three Houses (Byleth) - Likeable characters and a story that, while not perfect, explores a conflict from multiple people's perspectives, nobody having all the information. I don't know how longtime fans feel about it, but I thought the core gameplay was fun and accessible. Undeniably flawed, but for me it's greater than the sum of its parts. I played two routes and still might go back for a third.
- Mother 3 (Lucas) - Not everyone vibes with this game, but I sure as hell do. A beautiful story, gorgeous pixel art, interesting themes, memorable music, and near-perfect gameplay balance. I'd appreciate an official release, but the fan translation is so good I'm not sure they should bother.
- Persona 5 (Joker) - It's funny. If you asked me to list everything I don't like about P5, I could probably go all day. The writing is a little shallow and it's far, far too long. And yet, I can't deny how completely engrossed I was that first time through. This game enthralled me. As a sensory experience, everything about how P5 looks and sounds tickles my brain so well. This series occupies a wholly unique space in the modern RPG landscape, in terms of both mechanics and visual identity. This game made me a Persona/SMT fan, and I'd put in my all-time top five, at least.
Here's what's left on the list. Looking forward to some of them more than others. I might get around to them this year, or over three years, or never. Who knows.
- Super Mario 3D World (Peach)
- Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade (Roy)
- Fire Emblem Fates (Corrin)
- Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Villager / Isabelle)
- Wii Fit (Wii Fit Trainer) (lmao)
- Xenoblade Chronicles (Shulk)
- Xenoblade Chronicles 2 (Pyra / Mythra)
- Super Castlevania IV (Simon)
- Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (Richter)
- Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age (Hero)
- Garou: Mark of the Wolves (Terry)
- ARMS (Min Min)
- Minecraft (Steve)
- Tekken 7 (Kazuya)
Did I learn anything by doing this? I think so. I definitely have a greater appreciation for a wider variety of genres and franchises. This got me to try certain games I never would have considered otherwise. And in turn, I gained a greater appreciation for the crossover aspect of Smash; every time I look at the character select screen, I have exponentially more memories attached to each icon. I can spot all the references in the movesets and stages. It's just... cool, I guess.
Thanks for reading. Hope you're having a good day. Please don't hate me for dismissing your favorite game.
2023.05.28 22:20 FronkZoppa Since Ultimate's launch, I've been trying to play every character's game of origin. Here's what I've enjoyed the most
I don't know if this is really appropriate for the sub, but I thought it'd be fun to write up my thoughts on the experience so far.
I've been playing Smash all my life - Melee might've been the first game I truly fell in love with - and the series has always served as exposure to other franchises. For over four years I've been slowly, methodically playing the source games for the entire Smash Ultimate roster. Most of them I wanted to play anyway, and this was just a neat excuse to try them out. And I do mean slowly, I really spread them out to avoid burnout. I also never forced myself to finish a game if I wasn't having fun; sometimes I just played the first section/level to get a feel for it, then dropped it. Overall it's been a fun way to expose myself to new genres and gain appreciation for gaming history. I'd already played quite a bit of Mario, Pokemon, Zelda, Metal Gear, and Sonic, but the rest was all pretty new for me. I won't mention the games I played before this challenge.
For each character I picked the game I thought was most relevant, or most similar to their depiction in Smash. If you want, you can look at the checklist here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1rOlk8dXwEL6wd2Lw4zouBiAce8UJabHOIgIP8bKL_7c/edit?usp=sharing
It's worth noting that this wouldn't be feasible without emulation. A lot of these games aren't available on modern platforms, and some aren't even localized into English. I'm not a collector and I'm not willing to track down old consoles on ebay.
Games are roughly ordered within their tiers, based on how much I enjoyed them. I'll try to be brief for each one.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
'It's old and I can't help being a zoomer' tier - Games I played just long enough to understand them, then dipped. I would not have chosen to play them for fun.
'Not very good' tier - Reserved exclusively for Pac-Man World 2.
'Just not for me' tier - Games I struggled to connect with or I'm not a fan of the genre. Maybe I'd like them if I played longer, but I don't plan to pick them up again.
'It was alright' tier - Games that were pretty enjoyable. I'm glad I tried them and likely won't play them again.
'Hey, this is pretty good' tier - Games I liked quite a lot and would recommend.
'This is the shit' tier - Games I thoroughly loved and would rank among my favorites.
Here's what's left on the list. Looking forward to some of them more than others. I might get around to them this year, or over three years, or never. Who knows.
Did I learn anything by doing this? I think so. I definitely have a greater appreciation for a wider variety of genres and franchises. This got me to try certain games I never would have considered otherwise. And in turn, I gained a greater appreciation for the crossover aspect of Smash; every time I look at the character select screen, I have exponentially more memories attached to each icon. I can spot all the references in the movesets and stages. It's just... cool, I guess.
Thanks for reading. Hope you're having a good day. Please don't hate me for dismissing your favorite game.
submitted by FronkZoppa to SmashBrosUltimate [link] [comments]
I've been playing Smash all my life - Melee might've been the first game I truly fell in love with - and the series has always served as exposure to other franchises. For over four years I've been slowly, methodically playing the source games for the entire Smash Ultimate roster. Most of them I wanted to play anyway, and this was just a neat excuse to try them out. And I do mean slowly, I really spread them out to avoid burnout. I also never forced myself to finish a game if I wasn't having fun; sometimes I just played the first section/level to get a feel for it, then dropped it. Overall it's been a fun way to expose myself to new genres and gain appreciation for gaming history. I'd already played quite a bit of Mario, Pokemon, Zelda, Metal Gear, and Sonic, but the rest was all pretty new for me. I won't mention the games I played before this challenge.
For each character I picked the game I thought was most relevant, or most similar to their depiction in Smash. If you want, you can look at the checklist here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1rOlk8dXwEL6wd2Lw4zouBiAce8UJabHOIgIP8bKL_7c/edit?usp=sharing
It's worth noting that this wouldn't be feasible without emulation. A lot of these games aren't available on modern platforms, and some aren't even localized into English. I'm not a collector and I'm not willing to track down old consoles on ebay.
Games are roughly ordered within their tiers, based on how much I enjoyed them. I'll try to be brief for each one.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
'It's old and I can't help being a zoomer' tier - Games I played just long enough to understand them, then dipped. I would not have chosen to play them for fun.
- Ice Climber (Ice Climbers)
- Kid Icarus (Pit)
- Game & Watch Gallery 4 (Mr. Game & Watch)
- Duck Hunt (Duck Hunt Dog)
- Star Fox (Fox)
'Not very good' tier - Reserved exclusively for Pac-Man World 2.
- Pac-Man World 2 (Pac-Man) - This game is not very good.
'Just not for me' tier - Games I struggled to connect with or I'm not a fan of the genre. Maybe I'd like them if I played longer, but I don't plan to pick them up again.
- Kingdom Hearts (Sora) - Exceeds my admittedly high tolerance for power-of-friendship anime schlock. Combat felt a little dull and I'm not crazy about Disney. Maybe I dropped it too early, but what little I know about the rest of the series doesn't really excite me.
- Street Fighter V (Ryu / Ken) - Cool character designs, I can say that much. Traditional fighters are interesting to learn about, but they don't really grab me as a player. I expect I'll feel the same way about Tekken and Fatal Fury.
- Mega Man 11 (Mega Man) - Some neat new mechanics, but the punishing old-school level design isn't my cup of tea. Happy that fans got a new one though.
- Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon (Marth) - Moving units with the touch screen is nice and I appreciate the strategy, but the generic fantasy story bored me to tears. I might be spoiled by modern FE; this felt like going back in time and finding out my great-great-great-grandfather sold corn.
'It was alright' tier - Games that were pretty enjoyable. I'm glad I tried them and likely won't play them again.
- Star Fox 64 (Falco / Wolf) - Pretty much what I expected. I didn't love it, but it's fun and short. The branching paths are cool for its time.
- Dr. Mario (Dr. Mario) - A pleasant surprise. I expected to play for ten minutes and ended up enjoying it for much longer. Just a solid puzzle game.
- Kirby's Dream Land 3 (King Dedede) - It's good, I think? I know I enjoyed it but honestly don't remember anything about the experience.
- Kid Icarus: Uprising (Palutena / Dark Pit) - Great writing, good music, and really inventive mechanics. Would be much higher if the controls didn't cause me physical pain.
- Metroid Prime 2: Echoes (Dark Samus) - Atmosphere, music, and visuals are impeccable. I feel mean putting it this low, but Prime 1's difficulty was perfect for me and I didn't care for the dark world being so oppressive. Still want to play Prime 3 though.
- Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance (Ike) - Decent story and characters, but battles are really slow. I kind of want to go back and finish it, in which case I could see it moving a lot higher.
- Splatoon 2 (Inkling) - Novel mechanics and a fun aesthetic. I don't really play multiplayer games, but the single-player levels are enjoyable. One of the most fun credits sequences I've seen since NieR: Automata.
- Kirby Super Star (Meta Knight) - Short, sweet, and charming, like all Kirby games. Did a lot to redeem The Great Cave Offensive, though I still hate that stage.
- Final Fantasy VII (Sephiroth) - Extremely impressive for its time, but I don't totally vibe with JRPGs from that era. Probably wouldn't have finished it without the 3x fast-forward battle option in modern ports. Famously the music is some of Uematsu's best work, and he has a lot of good work.
- Bayonetta 2 (Bayonetta) - This game oozes personality and charisma (that Moon River remix goes unreasonably hard). If I were more into this brand of action game, it would easily be top-tier.
'Hey, this is pretty good' tier - Games I liked quite a lot and would recommend.
- Super Mario Sunshine (Bowser Jr.) - The most unique 3D Mario. Movement is fluid and satisfying to master, and I enjoy the Margaritaville locale. Held back by some frustrating sections (you know the ones).
- Luigi's Mansion 3 (Luigi) - Great visuals, art direction, and environmental design. Feels a little too padded for time.
- F-Zero GX (Captain Falcon) - The controls and tracks are gratifying to learn, and the cutscenes are pure cheese in the best way. Would be higher if I were more into racing games, or if I were skilled enough to finish it.
- Final Fantasy VII Remake (Cloud) - After playing the original, I liked how Remake brings the characters to life and reimagines old scenarios. Decent combat, cool bosses, and an amazing soundtrack are offset by egregious padding and an ending I don't quite know how to feel about.
- EarthBound (Ness) - Full of heart behind the quirky humor. I can forgive aimless progression and outdated dungeon design when everything else is so remarkably endearing and well-written.
- Banjo-Kazooie (Banjo & Kazooie) - Having played Mario 64, I was surprised how much better the camera is. Fun characters and catchy music make for a very laid-back experience. And in a genre infamous for bloated collectathons, it shows respectable restraint in the number of collectibles.
- Super Metroid (Ridley) - Near-perfect synthesis of atmosphere, mechanics, progression, and visuals. An incredible achievement, but hard to revisit after being spoiled by the fluidity of Dread. Still, if you claim this is the greatest game ever made, I'm not gonna argue with you.
- Donkey Kong Country (King K. Rool) - Great level design and a memorable aesthetic that was probably really hard to pull off on the SNES. For a game about silly apes, the soundtrack by David Wise is gorgeously atmospheric.
- Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong-Quest (Diddy Kong) - Basically DKC1, but a slight step up in every category. Though I will say, a couple of the late-game levels are unreasonably hard.
- Metroid: Zero Mission (Zero Suit Samus) - Feels a little held back by the original's level design, but it's still a fantastic remake. The post-game sequence without the power suit is a huge highlight.
- WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$! (Wario) - Beat it in two hours and don't feel like I wasted a single second. This game actually made me laugh out loud, and often. Definitely want to play more WarioWare in the future.
- Super Mario World (Piranha Plant) - Not much to say about this one, just a good-ass platformer. I prefer it to Mario 3, but I understand why someone wouldn't.
'This is the shit' tier - Games I thoroughly loved and would rank among my favorites.
- Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island (Yoshi) - Besides Chrono Trigger, I don't think any other SNES game is this beautiful. A creative central mechanic, great level design, and wonderful art direction. The "classics" don't always speak to me, but this one did.
- Metroid Prime (Samus) - Super impressive for its time and a near-perfect translation of the series formula into 3D. Music, atmosphere, and exploration are exquisite. To me, what elevates it from good to great is the immersion factor; the diagetic HUD and scan visor really ground the player in Samus' perspective.
- Pikmin (Olimar) - Technically an RTS, but it feels entirely distinct from the genre. The vibes are immaculate in a way I don't really know how to articulate; it's all goofy and cute and serene and a little brutal. What a charming little game this is. Olimar in Smash is kind of insufferable, but this redeems him in my eyes.
- Fire Emblem: Three Houses (Byleth) - Likeable characters and a story that, while not perfect, explores a conflict from multiple people's perspectives, nobody having all the information. I don't know how longtime fans feel about it, but I thought the core gameplay was fun and accessible. Undeniably flawed, but for me it's greater than the sum of its parts. I played two routes and still might go back for a third.
- Mother 3 (Lucas) - Not everyone vibes with this game, but I sure as hell do. A beautiful story, gorgeous pixel art, interesting themes, memorable music, and near-perfect gameplay balance. I'd appreciate an official release, but the fan translation is so good I'm not sure they should bother.
- Persona 5 (Joker) - It's funny. If you asked me to list everything I don't like about P5, I could probably go all day. The writing is a little shallow and it's far, far too long. And yet, I can't deny how completely engrossed I was that first time through. This game enthralled me. As a sensory experience, everything about how P5 looks and sounds tickles my brain so well. This series occupies a wholly unique space in the modern RPG landscape, in terms of both mechanics and visual identity. This game made me a Persona/SMT fan, and I'd put in my all-time top five, at least.
Here's what's left on the list. Looking forward to some of them more than others. I might get around to them this year, or over three years, or never. Who knows.
- Super Mario 3D World (Peach)
- Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade (Roy)
- Fire Emblem Fates (Corrin)
- Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Villager / Isabelle)
- Wii Fit (Wii Fit Trainer) (lmao)
- Xenoblade Chronicles (Shulk)
- Xenoblade Chronicles 2 (Pyra / Mythra)
- Super Castlevania IV (Simon)
- Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (Richter)
- Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age (Hero)
- Garou: Mark of the Wolves (Terry)
- ARMS (Min Min)
- Minecraft (Steve)
- Tekken 7 (Kazuya)
Did I learn anything by doing this? I think so. I definitely have a greater appreciation for a wider variety of genres and franchises. This got me to try certain games I never would have considered otherwise. And in turn, I gained a greater appreciation for the crossover aspect of Smash; every time I look at the character select screen, I have exponentially more memories attached to each icon. I can spot all the references in the movesets and stages. It's just... cool, I guess.
Thanks for reading. Hope you're having a good day. Please don't hate me for dismissing your favorite game.
2023.05.28 22:06 Ok_Escape_2704 What's the most difficult puzzle or brain teaser you've ever solved?
If you could trade places with one person for a day, who would it be and why?
submitted by Ok_Escape_2704 to u/Ok_Escape_2704 [link] [comments]
2023.05.28 21:50 FronkZoppa Trying to play the source game of every Super Smash Bros. character
I don't think this sub vibes with Nintendo quite as much as I do, but I thought this'd be fun to write up. I've been playing Smash all my life - Melee might've been the first game I truly fell in love with - and the series has always served as exposure to other franchises.
For at least four years I've been slowly, methodically playing the original games for the entire Smash Ultimate roster. Most of them I wanted to play anyway, and this was just a neat excuse to try them out. And I do mean slowly, I really spread them out to avoid burnout. I also never forced myself to finish a game if I wasn't having fun; sometimes I just played the first section/level to get a feel for it, then dropped it. Overall it's been a fun way to expose myself to new genres and gain appreciation for gaming history. I'd already played quite a bit of Mario, Pokemon, Zelda, Metal Gear, and Sonic, but the rest was all pretty new for me. I won't mention the games I played before Ultimate's release, which is when I started the challenge.
For each character I picked the game I thought was most relevant, or most similar to their depiction in Smash. If you want, you can look at the checklist here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1rOlk8dXwEL6wd2Lw4zouBiAce8UJabHOIgIP8bKL_7c/edit?usp=sharing
It's worth noting that this wouldn't be feasible without emulation. A lot of these games aren't available on modern platforms, and some aren't even localized into English. I'm not a collector and I'm not willing to track down old consoles on ebay.
Games are roughly ordered within their tiers, based on how much I enjoyed them. I'll try to be brief for each one.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
'It's old and I can't help being a zoomer' tier - Games I played just long enough to understand them, then dipped. I would not have chosen to play them for fun.
'Not very good' tier - Reserved exclusively for Pac-Man World 2.
'Just not for me' tier - Games I struggled to connect with or I'm not a fan of the genre. Maybe I'd like them if I played longer, but I don't plan to pick them up again.
'It was alright' tier - Games that were pretty enjoyable. I'm glad I tried them and likely won't play them again.
'Hey, this is pretty good' tier - Games I liked quite a lot and would recommend to anyone with similar tastes.
'This is the shit' tier - Games I thoroughly loved and would rank among my favorites.
Here's what's left on the list. Looking forward to some of them more than others. I might get around to them this year, or over three years, or never. Who knows.
Did I learn anything by doing this? I think so. I definitely have a greater appreciation for a wider variety of genres and franchises. This got me to try certain games I never would have considered otherwise. And in turn, I gained a greater appreciation for the crossover aspect of Smash; every time I look at the character select screen, I have exponentially more memories attached to each icon. I can spot all the references in the movesets and stages. It's just... cool, I guess.
Thanks for reading. Hope you're having a good day. Please don't hate me for dismissing your favorite game.
submitted by FronkZoppa to patientgamers [link] [comments]
For at least four years I've been slowly, methodically playing the original games for the entire Smash Ultimate roster. Most of them I wanted to play anyway, and this was just a neat excuse to try them out. And I do mean slowly, I really spread them out to avoid burnout. I also never forced myself to finish a game if I wasn't having fun; sometimes I just played the first section/level to get a feel for it, then dropped it. Overall it's been a fun way to expose myself to new genres and gain appreciation for gaming history. I'd already played quite a bit of Mario, Pokemon, Zelda, Metal Gear, and Sonic, but the rest was all pretty new for me. I won't mention the games I played before Ultimate's release, which is when I started the challenge.
For each character I picked the game I thought was most relevant, or most similar to their depiction in Smash. If you want, you can look at the checklist here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1rOlk8dXwEL6wd2Lw4zouBiAce8UJabHOIgIP8bKL_7c/edit?usp=sharing
It's worth noting that this wouldn't be feasible without emulation. A lot of these games aren't available on modern platforms, and some aren't even localized into English. I'm not a collector and I'm not willing to track down old consoles on ebay.
Games are roughly ordered within their tiers, based on how much I enjoyed them. I'll try to be brief for each one.
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'It's old and I can't help being a zoomer' tier - Games I played just long enough to understand them, then dipped. I would not have chosen to play them for fun.
- Ice Climber (Ice Climbers)
- Kid Icarus (Pit)
- Game & Watch Gallery 4 (Mr. Game & Watch)
- Duck Hunt (Duck Hunt Dog)
- Star Fox (Fox)
'Not very good' tier - Reserved exclusively for Pac-Man World 2.
- Pac-Man World 2 (Pac-Man) - This game is not very good.
'Just not for me' tier - Games I struggled to connect with or I'm not a fan of the genre. Maybe I'd like them if I played longer, but I don't plan to pick them up again.
- Kingdom Hearts (Sora) - Exceeds my admittedly high tolerance for power-of-friendship anime schlock. Combat felt a little dull and I'm not crazy about Disney. Maybe I dropped it too early, but what little I know about the rest of the series doesn't really excite me.
- Street Fighter V (Ryu / Ken) - Cool character designs, I can say that much. Traditional fighters are interesting to learn about, but they don't really grab me as a player. I expect I'll feel the same way about Tekken and Fatal Fury.
- Mega Man 11 (Mega Man) - Some neat new mechanics, but the punishing old-school level design isn't my cup of tea. Happy that fans got a new one though.
- Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon (Marth) - Moving units with the touch screen is nice and I appreciate the strategy, but the generic fantasy story bored me to tears. I might be spoiled by modern FE; this felt like going back in time and finding out my great-great-great-grandfather sold corn.
'It was alright' tier - Games that were pretty enjoyable. I'm glad I tried them and likely won't play them again.
- Star Fox 64 (Falco / Wolf) - Pretty much what I expected. I didn't love it, but it's fun and short. The branching paths are cool for its time.
- Dr. Mario (Dr. Mario) - A pleasant surprise. I expected to play for ten minutes and ended up enjoying it for much longer. Just a solid puzzle game.
- Kirby's Dream Land 3 (King Dedede) - It's good, I think? I know I enjoyed it but honestly don't remember anything about the experience.
- Kid Icarus: Uprising (Palutena / Dark Pit) - Great writing, good music, and really inventive mechanics. Would be much higher if the controls didn't cause me physical pain.
- Metroid Prime 2: Echoes (Dark Samus) - Atmosphere, music, and visuals are impeccable. I feel mean putting it this low, but Prime 1's difficulty was perfect for me and I didn't care for the dark world being so oppressive. Still want to play Prime 3 though.
- Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance (Ike) - Decent story and characters, but battles are really slow. I kind of want to go back and finish it, in which case I could see it moving a lot higher.
- Splatoon 2 (Inkling) - Novel mechanics and a fun aesthetic. I don't really play multiplayer games, but the single-player levels are enjoyable. One of the most fun credits sequences I've seen since NieR: Automata.
- Kirby Super Star (Meta Knight) - Short, sweet, and charming, like all Kirby games. Did a lot to redeem The Great Cave Offensive, though I still hate that stage.
- Final Fantasy VII (Sephiroth) - Extremely impressive for its time, but I don't totally vibe with JRPGs from that era. Probably wouldn't have finished it without the 3x fast-forward battle option in modern ports. Famously the music is some of Uematsu's best work, and he has a lot of good work.
- Bayonetta 2 (Bayonetta) - This game oozes personality and charisma (that Moon River remix goes unreasonably hard). If I were more into this brand of action game, it would easily be top-tier.
'Hey, this is pretty good' tier - Games I liked quite a lot and would recommend to anyone with similar tastes.
- Super Mario Sunshine (Bowser Jr.) - The most unique 3D Mario. Movement is fluid and satisfying to master, and I enjoy the Margaritaville locale. Held back by some frustrating sections (you know the ones).
- Luigi's Mansion 3 (Luigi) - Great visuals, art direction, and environmental design. Feels a little too padded for time.
- F-Zero GX (Captain Falcon) - The controls and tracks are gratifying to learn, and the cutscenes are pure cheese in the best way. Would be higher if I were more into racing games, or if I were skilled enough to finish it.
- Final Fantasy VII Remake (Cloud) - After playing the original, I liked how Remake brings the characters to life and reimagines old scenarios. Decent combat, cool bosses, and an amazing soundtrack are offset by egregious padding and an ending I don't quite know how to feel about.
- EarthBound (Ness) - Full of heart behind the quirky humor. I can forgive aimless progression and outdated dungeon design when everything else is so remarkably endearing and well-written.
- Banjo-Kazooie (Banjo & Kazooie) - Having played Mario 64, I was surprised how much better the camera is. Fun characters and catchy music make for a very laid-back experience. And in a genre infamous for bloated collectathons, it shows respectable restraint in the number of collectibles.
- Super Metroid (Ridley) - Near-perfect synthesis of atmosphere, mechanics, progression, and visuals. An incredible achievement, but hard to revisit after being spoiled by the fluidity of Dread. Still, if you claim this is the greatest game ever made, I'm not gonna argue with you.
- Donkey Kong Country (King K. Rool) - Great level design and a memorable aesthetic that was probably really hard to pull off on the SNES. For a game about silly apes, the soundtrack by David Wise is gorgeously atmospheric.
- Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong-Quest (Diddy Kong) - Basically DKC1, but a slight step up in every category. Though I will say, a couple of the late-game levels are unreasonably hard.
- Metroid: Zero Mission (Zero Suit Samus) - Feels a little held back by the original's level design, but it's still a fantastic remake. The post-game sequence without the power suit is a huge highlight.
- WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$! (Wario) - Beat it in two hours and don't feel like I wasted a single second. This game actually made me laugh out loud, and often. Definitely want to play more WarioWare in the future.
- Super Mario World (Piranha Plant) - Not much to say about this one, just a good-ass platformer. I prefer it to Mario 3, but I understand why someone wouldn't.
'This is the shit' tier - Games I thoroughly loved and would rank among my favorites.
- Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island (Yoshi) - Besides Chrono Trigger, I don't think any other SNES game is this beautiful. A creative central mechanic, great level design, and wonderful art direction. The "classics" don't always speak to me, but this one did.
- Metroid Prime (Samus) - Super impressive for its time and a near-perfect translation of the series formula into 3D. Music, atmosphere, and exploration are exquisite. To me, what elevates it from good to great is the immersion factor; the diagetic HUD and scan visor really ground the player in Samus' perspective.
- Pikmin (Olimar) - Technically an RTS, but it feels entirely distinct from the genre. The vibes are immaculate in a way I don't really know how to articulate; it's all goofy and cute and serene and a little brutal. What a charming little game this is. Olimar in Smash is kind of insufferable, but this redeems him in my eyes.
- Fire Emblem: Three Houses (Byleth) - Likeable characters and a story that, while not perfect, explores a conflict from multiple people's perspectives, nobody having all the information. I don't know how longtime fans feel about it, but I thought the core gameplay was fun and accessible. Undeniably flawed, but for me it's greater than the sum of its parts. I played two routes and still might go back for a third.
- Mother 3 (Lucas) - Not everyone vibes with this game, but I sure as hell do. A beautiful story, gorgeous pixel art, interesting themes, memorable music, and near-perfect gameplay balance. I'd appreciate an official release, but the fan translation is so good I'm not sure they should bother.
- Persona 5 (Joker) - It's funny. If you asked me to list everything I don't like about P5, I could probably go all day. The writing is a little shallow and it's far, far too long. And yet, I can't deny how completely engrossed I was that first time through. This game enthralled me. As a sensory experience, everything about how P5 looks and sounds tickles my brain so well. This series occupies a wholly unique space in the modern RPG landscape, in terms of both mechanics and visual identity. This game made me a Persona/SMT fan, and I'd put in my all-time top five, at least.
Here's what's left on the list. Looking forward to some of them more than others. I might get around to them this year, or over three years, or never. Who knows.
- Super Mario 3D World (Peach)
- Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade (Roy)
- Fire Emblem Fates (Corrin)
- Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Villager / Isabelle)
- Wii Fit (Wii Fit Trainer) (lmao)
- Xenoblade Chronicles (Shulk)
- Xenoblade Chronicles 2 (Pyra / Mythra)
- Super Castlevania IV (Simon)
- Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (Richter)
- Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age (Hero)
- Garou: Mark of the Wolves (Terry)
- ARMS (Min Min)
- Minecraft (Steve)
- Tekken 7 (Kazuya)
Did I learn anything by doing this? I think so. I definitely have a greater appreciation for a wider variety of genres and franchises. This got me to try certain games I never would have considered otherwise. And in turn, I gained a greater appreciation for the crossover aspect of Smash; every time I look at the character select screen, I have exponentially more memories attached to each icon. I can spot all the references in the movesets and stages. It's just... cool, I guess.
Thanks for reading. Hope you're having a good day. Please don't hate me for dismissing your favorite game.