Tears of the kingdom.
Undoubtedly one of the year's most anticipated releases and one of the most anticipated releases for years by Nintendo fans.
Selling over 10 million copies within the first 3 days, it's up there with the likes of GTA V for the fastest selling games of all time.
It will of course continue to sell and continue to be in the Nintendo top 10 for many years to come.
In the short amount of time since its release I've had a tumultuous relationship with Tears of the Kingdom..
I initially found it difficult to get into, it seemed a little laborious and slow. I understand this was a tutorial area for newcomers to the game, but it felt like a bit of a slog.
Then I got into the main game and thoroughly enjoyed myself. I played for well in excess of 40 hours, completed three out of the four temples and well over 50 shrines. I explored all over the map and had a thoroughly good time in doing so. Then fatigue set in.
The fatigue was not simply due to playing the game, or playing too much, too soon; but purely boiled down to the games main story arc and associated quests.
They are quite simply, tedious....
Given the almost fanatical dedication of some Nintendo fans and the often extremely intolerant and toxic posts and replies expressed online for any negativity directed toward first party releases. I feel I have to preface in my opinions with this disclaimer...
Games are completely subjective, I know not every game is going to be suited to every player. So there will, without a doubt, be a lot of people who do not agree with me. But...
Tears of the Kingdom is NOT a 10/10 game.
Yes, it does an incredibly good job, almost unfathomable, of wringing out some incredible performance, gameplay and visuals from what is, by today's standards, and outdated and underpowered console.
The gameplay mechanics, the controls the world design, the verticality, the thought that has gone into giving so much player agency over interactions with every aspect of their surroundings is simply staggering.
However all of this is really let down by the formulaic, predictable and quite honestly lazy main story and main quest design.
Without delving into the realm of spoilers...
The main quest line has Link travel to four particular areas and overcome an elementally themed puzzle Temple.
Prior to doing this he will have to go on a short quest to collect some armor on to negate the above-mentioned elemental effects.
Once at the temple, he will essentially gain a new skill to help solve five puzzles and finally fight a boss.
That's the formula and they do not deviate!
Don't get me wrong, there is still fun to be had; but it's a very dated and simplistic approach to quest design. For me at least the repetition made it both predictable and tedious. I eventually bounced off game after completing my third Temple as I just couldn't face the inevitability of having to do it all over again a fourth time.
I'm going to compare Tears of the Kingdom with Elden Ring for a moment, simply because they are both recent, open world games with a great reviews and a great amount of agency over how you approach and interact with the world.
For me Elden ring is a 10 out of 10 it hands you the world and sets you free, the main story is very tertiary and can be approached in very different ways.
Tears of the kingdom by contrast is very clear on what it wants you to do and where it wants you to go. Although you can completely ignore the main story and enjoy the exploration element. The game really wants you to go in a certain direction and your abilities are far more locked behind main story progression than in a game like Elden Ring. While Elden Ring bangs on about maidens a fair bit, but not to be extend of the inhabitants of Hyrule constantly asking if you've found Zelda yet.
Without a doubt for me the most fun to be had in both of these games, is the exploration of the beautifully crafted worlds interactions with NPCs, side quests， discoveries and finding creative ways to come obstacles.
Unfortunately with tears of the Kingdom the monotonous main story gets in the way of fully enjoying the game.
It almost feels like when you were a kid, enjoying an evening movie and then a parent pauses it and asks you to go brush your teeth before you can continue watching again.
It's still a fabulous game and a solid 9 out of 10. I just don't feel it deserves all of the 10 out of 10 "perfect game" hype it's been getting, when the core story and progression is so fundamentally dull.
Comments