yeah this is at least as different if not more than Majora was to BOTW. The ability to built, ascend, fuse alone vastly changes the game play. Also, Combat can be as simple as BOTW but sry that's your own fault at this point. Sure, i wish that some enemies would be a bit more challenging in their attack patterns but overall, you have a plethora of possibilities to fight that weren't in BOTW which makes combat far more engaging for example.

I agree heavily with what you’re saying about a more linear progression. I enjoyed the memories in BOTW as a device to tell a story and having to piece together links past… but for some reason I’m TOTK the random order you experience the story cut scenes reeeeeeally doesn’t work as well for me. And I’m honestly not sure why. Perhaps it’s just the nature of the story this game is trying to tell, I just think it would’ve been a lot stronger not being put in a blender.

And I definitely miss the concept of “I can’t do X Y Z yet because I need to get the items that allow me to do those things.”

Lol. I can just lol at this and move on

I’m not even the only person in this thread saying the game has a lot of copy paste and got boring long before it ended as a result

Someone on reddit said they should’ve made the terminals in the dungeons like the shrine crystals that you have to carry back to the middle. Sounds like an amazing idea

Just cause many people say dumb things doesnt make those statements true. The most blatant copy pasted content are korok seeds (with the reward being a literal piece of s***) and the billboard sign dude, and both are such short activities and relatively unimportant to the overall game, that you can safely ignore them.

Sky islands are not meant to be considered a new map, and a challenge in how to reach and move in between them. Some are more elaborate than others and are very memorable, others are more simple, but still involve figuring out how to get to the next ones. They hand out sky island exclusive rewards and loot, and while the shrine stone challenges can be the most repeating content up there, i agree, some are kinda trickier to complete depending on your progression. Their purpose is not to be explorable land. Same for the underworld, its not another open world map to be explored, otherwise it wouldnt be pitch black and going against botw and totk open world design ethos. Its supposed to be more straightforward (find the light roots, light up surrounding area, look for spots of interest helping yourself with the overworld points of interest, gather resources in the meantime and move to the next light root, or follow the sage statues and do the same, or follow the treasure map signs and do the same, moving around thanks to the zonai deposita which make movement easier and faster).
All 3 tiers are connected. In the sky you find the malice repelling flowers and treasure maps, in the overworld you have the pits and the POI as a point of reference for the underground, and in the underground you have the roots as a point of reference to find the above shrines, plus the zonaite to fill your battery and fly higher and longer in the sky to reach further islands.

When i say this game has the most gameplay diversity in any open world, i mean gameplay mechanics. This game has dozens of mechanics that entire 15$ indie games (and some AAA too) base their main gameplay loop around, all working together in a massive open world free of bugs. If this game has heavy use of copy paste, i worry about what you think of elden ring

to be real, both the sky islands and the depths are boring after like the first couple of hours you explore them.
everything looks the same and theres not a lot of variety in them

and even though the overworld is changed, it's still the same map, with the same cities, etc.
After 50-ish or so hours, you do lose interest in seeing basically everything you saw 5 years ago in BOTW, but with a slight twist

I'm almost done with the game, and even thought it's a big improvement over BOTW, I wouldn't put it over it just cause BOTW always felt fresh, while this does get a bit boring after the initial hype dies down. I know I said the exact opposite a few weeks ago ITT, but after playing through the game, I really hope the next mainline Zelda is a complete overhaul.

I'm not saying this just cause Wind Waker is my fav game ever, but the next Zelda really could take some cues from it.
Keep it open world, but not as massive as TOTK or BOTW and make it that you still have to progress linearly through the open world - you have to tackle the dungeons in order, some areas might be locked until you acquire a specific item or an ability, etc.

Go back to the old style of dungeons - make them long, with a variety of different enemies that are specific to that exact dungeon, with a mini-boss at the mid-point and a epic boss fight at the end.
Make it so it actually feels like an accomplishment after you beat a dungeon. I think it took me like an hour to beat the Fire Temple in TOTK, that was the longest out of all of the dungeons. I beat the rest in like 30 - 40 minutes.

All of that would be a step in the right direction, IMO.

WAIT A DOGGONE MINUTE

I just watched a small playthrough of Ocarina of Time and remembered that one of the ancient sages in Ocarina of Time is named RAURU just like Rauru in Tears of the Kingdom

Do agree with this somewhat. TOTK is a really good game. Would even call it amazing but it can’t recreate the feeling of BOTW where everything felt fresh and new.They tried to give you a fresh feeling with the Sky Islands and Depth but it just isn’t the same. Still love the game overall and I think they went all out with the lore and story. But I feel like after Elden Ring and TOTK, I am filled with open world games for now. Need well-crafted linear experiences again

month in just played 45 hours

been neglecting this game the past 2 weeks, back at it today tho

This is how I felt about BOTW but I got no complaints this time s*** is immaculate

Og's made this connection immediately

Me too, f*** having responsibilities man i just wanna play videogames

Impressive memory

He's the one that explains everything after Gannon tricks you, very pivotal character if you played the game and forgot about Rauru I'd get checked for Alzheimer's

Alzheimer’s?! Lol bro.

LOL. I've definitely done this. The Great Fairy's get too excited over me wanting to upgrade some outfits.

Chill out, big lady.

Those borderline o*****ic salutations in Ocarina were intermingled with some our very first boners confusing pubescent lads is a tradition that needs to stay

Haha yeah, even back in Ocarina of Time the Great Fairy’s were very…excited.

He has 30 seconds of lines in a 60-hour game with a hundred characters from decades ago. Take a seat.

This is how I remember it. He appeared maybe once or twice in the whole game for a few seconds. I remember his face, but not his name.