The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

[Nester the Lark]

Is it too early to start a thread for the next Zelda game?

So, according to USGamer, it is confirmed a direct continuation of the first game. Also Hidemaro Fujibayashi is returning as director.

And for posterity, here's the reveal trailer:



I don't actually expect there to be much news for this game for a long time. (Maybe a brief update at next year's E3?) But I wanted to start an archive thread.

[Leon]

Looks god damn awesome, I wonder if the decision to give Zelda short hair is because she'll also be playable. I don't think she's ever been depicted with shoulder length hair previously.

[Nester the Lark]

I've seen several people speculate that Zelda will be playable, if not the main character, and it does make some sense. If this game is a direct sequel to Breath of the Wild, then they'd have to come up with an excuse for why the player would have to "start over" in terms of building their character up. So, either Link would have to lose everything, or we would just start with a different character.

Then again, a lot of people thought Link was female based on the first BotW teaser (and a joke by Aonuma that everyone took seriously).

On a separate note, I'm wondering about the world, itself. Aonuma mentioned that he liked this version of Hyrule so much that they just wanted to revisit it. (Perhaps, more likely, they just put so much time and work into making it, they didn't want to have to create another whole new world from scratch.) The problem is that, after spending two years playing BotW, that world is pretty well-traveled for me, and the thing that made it special was exploring a huge mysterious world for the first time. So, I'm hoping that either they make significant changes, or provide a separate new world (the usual "dark world" trope, perhaps?) to explore.

What do you guys think? Would you rather have a completely new world, or a tweaked version of the previous world?

On yet another side note, here's the audio from the teaser played backwards. Pleasant dreams.

[Da Robot]

Hoping for a new world or a greatly modified version (with actual towns) of BoTW. There an's idea out there of an "underworld" of Hyrule might be featured here to explore.

[Leon]

I imagine there has to be a substantial addition to the world, either as an underground or some kind of skyworld or dark world. BotW was a success in large part because of the exploration and freedom, and the team has to understand that.

[Nester the Lark]

So, just as a brief conversation topic, I was wondering how you guys would feel about a Zelda game having a vocal theme song.

Since Breath of the Wild was the first canon Zelda game to have proper voice acting, a vocal theme song seems like the next logical step. Also, its contemporaries (Xenoblade Chronicles, Fire Emblem, even Super Mario Odyssey) have them.

Not that it necessarily has to have vocal music because of that. They can often be cheesy, and it might feel out-of-place for a Zelda game.

Personally, I feel a good vocal theme song can add a nice touch to a soundtrack, even if it is a little cheesy. Admittedly, my feelings are being influenced by Xenoblade Chronicles 2, and in my mind, I can't help but think of XBC2 and BotW as companion games. So, I would like to see a Zelda game try a vocal theme song at least once. Perhaps BotW2 could be the one to do it.

Any thoughts?

[Evie ❤✿]

Jun 30, 2019 10:56:14 GMT -5 Nester the Lark said:

So, just as a brief conversation topic, I was wondering how you guys would feel about a Zelda game having a vocal theme song.

Since Breath of the Wild was the first canon Zelda game to have proper voice acting, a vocal theme song seems like the next logical step. Also, its contemporaries (Xenoblade Chronicles, Fire Emblem, even Super Mario Odyssey) have them.

Not that it necessarily has to have vocal music because of that. They can often be cheesy, and it might feel out-of-place for a Zelda game.

Personally, I feel a good vocal theme song can add a nice touch to a soundtrack, even if it is a little cheesy. Admittedly, my feelings are being influenced by Xenoblade Chronicles 2, and in my mind, I can't help but think of XBC2 and BotW as companion games. So, I would like to see a Zelda game try a vocal theme song at least once. Perhaps BotW2 could be the one to do it.

Any thoughts?

+1 support. It feels like a good idea on paper, (like the Super Mario Odyssey songs before it) and vocalisation could have people relate to some of the lore in the series more. I see how it may not be so well received however re: the cheesy aesthetic, and that case reminds me of the division between toon Legend of Zelda and traditionally 'gritty'. On one hand I don't want series to lose their identity based on like the patterns before it, so I guess it's like as long as they don't overdo these things. Hmm.

[Nester the Lark]

Finally, a new trailer!

There are a couple of interesting things in this. First of all, it's really leaning into its Skyward Sword influence, I'm and all for it!

The Sheikah Slate seems to be part of Link's arm, now, and there are at least a couple of new powers: reversing the motion of an object, and, uh... phasing through ceilings?

I knew it would be a 2022 release. There are typically about five years between major Zelda games. But I'm hyped! I can't help but think that playing this game will feel like... coming home.

[Nester the Lark]

And it's been delayed until Spring 2023.

Disappointing, but I'll be busy with Xenoblade Chronicles 3 (*Assuming it doesn't get delayed, also.), so I'm good. I have confidence in the Zelda team, so I know this is for the best.

I'm excited that Aonuma says the world goes beyond the land and sky. Could that mean underwater exploration, too? Maybe even outer space?? Other realms (ie. Dark World, Twilight Realm, etc)?? He's going to set my expectations too high!

[Nester the Lark]

It finally has a proper title.

Here's a short new gameplay trailer:



Due out May 12, 2023.

[Nester the Lark]

Latest trailer:



Actual voice acting in this one. Patricia Summerset has had mixed reactions to her portrayal of Zelda, but she vastly improved from Breath of the Wild to Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity. From what little is heard here, she sounds even better.

There seems to be an emphasis on riding vehicles, with that car-thing, the balloon-thing, and the, uh, hovering-thing.

The sound effects it plays when it shows the logo gives me serious Twilight Princess vibes. Someone is bound to play it backwards and find some hidden message or something.

Anyway, it's another nice tease, and I'm looking forward to finding out more as we get closer to game's release in... *checks notes* three months.

[Nester the Lark]

So, yeah, here's the new gameplay:



And yeah, it's about what I expected. A demo of new game mechanics, but nothing major shown.

My big takeaway is that they're going full sandbox with this one. They saw how people built their own mechanisms in Breath of the Wild, and decided to double down on it. Speedruns for this game are going to be really interesting.

[nocturnal YL]

First thing to come to mind is Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts. At a glance, the vehicle building system is much more intuitive here. Having a player character moving stuff is actually a pretty good way to implement an editor in 3D space. Making physically unrealistic weapons is fun too.

Even now, we have basically no information on the story. I don't think that's the game's emphasis anyway, and I also think it's best not to put too much hope on that front. It looks like being a sandbox itself is the main selling point.

We do get to finally see Aonuma explaining in words some of what we saw in the first trailer, namely the time reverse mechanic and the points that warp Link to above the ceilings. And of course we still don't have any story explanation behind these abilities.

[Nester the Lark]

So, uh, final pre-launch trailer is imminent.

You can just feel Nintendo's marketing teams straining to work with what little they can.

Game is due out May 12, exactly one month from this post.

[Nester the Lark]

My thoughts:

SPOILER: Click to show

I went into this with low expectations. Given how secretive they've been up to this point, I thought they'd mainly reiterate what's been shown before, with a few new details thrown in. So, this trailer showed just a bit more than I expected, but still left out enough context to keep everything vague.

So... yeah, Ganondorf is back. Meh.

Two main things stood out to me:

1) Boss fights look much better, and more like classic Zelda-style bosses. (At least, I assume they were boss fights. This game seems to lean a little more on set pieces than Breath of the Wild did.)

2) NPCs have a more active role. We see them teaming up more with Link, engaging in combat (which they did in BotW, but not in a substantial way), and Link is even transporting them on a wagon at one point. I look forward to seeing more about this.

On this note, the Champions' successors are back, and also seem to be in a more active role (a la Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity). It makes me wonder if Link will ultimately assemble a more traditional RPG-style party.

More importantly, it means best birb Teba is back! [EDIT: Actually, now that I look at it, he doesn't actually appear in the trailer. But then, neither does Yunobo. Hmm...) Also, his son Tulin seems to appear again as well, as he shows up in a few scenes. Couldn't tell if it was his same voice actor from Age of Calamity, as Cristina Valenzuela voiced him then, and she often has a higher pitched voice. But she's certainly capable of speaking in a lower register. (I was shocked when I discovered she voices Merrin in Fire Emblem Engage, because her voice was much lower than I usually hear from her.)

But I digress.

So yeah, I think this trailer has done more to increase my excitement than anything else they've shown this far.

Now I'll watch a bunch of reaction videos to see what I didn't notice.