If it was not clear from my page, I am an ENORMOUS fan of the Legend of Zelda. Maybe one day I will write another blog post about my experiences as a Zelda fan, but today I will be talking about the newest release—Tears of the Kingdom!
I will not be posting explicit spoilers in this blog post, BUT I have seen the entire story and will be referencing my experiences playing the game AFTER having seen the story. I hope that makes sense!
I initially told myself that I would not touch the game until Summer break, as I did last quarter when playing Persona 3. However, I decided to just play through the intro last night to quell my boredom and give myself the motivation to push through the rest of the quarter. Before yesterday, I watched someone else play since release.
It was a unique experience to begin the game after already seeing the ending. No direct spoilers for now, but there were several repeated themes and images in the intro that I had forgotten about when seeing the ending. I was very emotional seeing the intro after a tear-jerking ending! As a long-time fan of the series, it has been fun comparing the new lore introduced in this game to the lore in the older games. I hope to talk more about that in a future post.
As I played through the tutorial, I compared the experience of playing with the new mechanics to the feeling of exploring Breath of the Wild Great Plateau for the first time. I have been trying to decide, as someone who played through BOTW, if a newcomer to the series would be able to enter the series here. Tears of the Kingdom seems to be building on the foundation that was set with BOTW. Both in terms of story and mechanics. Many emotional beats of the story rely on a player's previous connection with the characters. I worry that a newcomer would not feel the weight of the story and the joy of being reunited with old faces (or the sorrow of not!)
I would be curious to hear about a newcomer's experience to the series through only TOTK. Maybe my assumptions are completely off base. Please feel free to message me!
I look forward to writing more about this game.
Current Stats
Mood:Content
Listening to:Skyrim Soundtrack (good for study!)
Watching:Spy x Family
Playing:The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom