The Review of Legend of Zelda : Tears of the Kingdom

foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] do you remember last year when I said Xenoblade 3 was the best looking game on the switch well that title held up for like 11 months Legend of Zelda tears the kingdom is the best looking game to ever touch this console the fact this game exists is nothing short of a technical Miracle this little tablet here could run this game there are minimal load times your seamlessly transitioning from the air to the surface and then Into the Depths without so much is a stutter the only time I would see any issues was in these big cities when you have dozens of people on screen and even then the Setters were short-lived the biggest graphical upgrade is the lighting in this game the way the light of dawn bounces off your Shield or off the bodies of water really brings a lot of life to the game it makes the art style pop more than it ever did in its predecessor a lot of credit overall has to be given to this game's art style this allows it to almost cut Corners in a couple of spots but it's all contextualized within the slightly cell-shaded world so it's never jarring one of the best parts about traversing this world is its coloring colors are striking and clean towers are blue chasms are red shrines are green this makes it so easy to spot them from all the way across the map landmarks in the map in general are presented in such awesome ways they have little pieces of geography that'll stick out like a sore thumb and will naturally pull you to them ooh a heart-shaped Lake OH a giant Cube oh a pink tree and not a place Rock the entire world is full of things like this just keep constantly tugging at you from all directions the sky islands are especially great at this since they feel so intentional the way you're hopping from Island to island and trying to find different ways to access them you launch yourself into the air and you feel like a dolphin breaching into the sky up and down and up and down as you navigate all these unique little Islands the game oozes charm and personality across the board things like the dye station very upgrade animations encountering yiga soldiers are all these quick animations that always get a little exhale out of my nose oh also the animation for going and getting the tower is the best I don't know what it is about this little cut scene but it takes my breath away every time you shoot into the air like a missile and get 360 degrees of the beautiful world of tears of kingdom and this world is so Stellar looking sure there's some retread from breath of the wild but they're still able to put enough distinct changes and tweaks that you're still seeing some areas that have been completely re-contextualized from breath of the wild it still leans into its big Wilderness Vibes Wildlife running through the forests babbling Brooks you're standing on a Hillside and the wind is swirling up loose Blades of grass and flower petals that are slowly drifting by you these shots prove you don't need your game to be 4K 120 FPS anti-aliasing yada yada also do yourself a favor turn off your hide to really appreciate how good looking this world is in these moments you really begin to see the attention to detail across this game's presentation when link jumps into the water from high up water splashes into the air your game over screen changes colors depending on the element you died to the location Banner Fades out into little strands just like the strands coming out of your shrines when link is cooking food he sometimes hums Zelda's Lullaby this game is filled with little nods like these like keep you locked into the world of Hyrule and the final piece that keeps you locked in is the pride and joy of the Legend of Zelda series it's music holy breath of the wild already had some great songs and they just added him Banger after Banger to this game I mean the game's main theme alone is probably the best video game song of the century it perfectly captures everything that makes tears of the Kingdom great and it's not even the new songs I mean they somehow may be nostalgic for 2017 when I showed up in heteno village and hear his theme pop up and slowly fade in [Music] you like motifs yeah we got motifs out the ass here Rideau Village popping into the wind Temple boss theme sidon and Memphis theme bouncing off each other all over zoro's domain I mean oh the song Madison's Independence sliding in some Ocarina of Time notes the composition team here knows exactly how to send those nostalgic waves crashing down on you every bit and piece of this game's presentation is so well done even down to the gorgeous character art in the log book side note character design in this game is great it's wild that I somehow associate link with a blue tunic now even though this dude's been running around in green tuning for the last 20 plus years Nintendo once again proves that High Fidelity graphics and triple digit frame rates are always trumped by strong game Quality Clean presentation and a beautiful art style [Music] foreign within the first maybe 15 minutes I knew this game's story was going to be better than breath of the wild the elevator pitch is you and Zelda go under Hyrule Castle you find yourself a good old mummified Ganondorf and he steals some of your hearts in your arm and now you're back to square one you wake up not knowing where Zelda is with your last memories of her disappearing into a Chasm and what came along with that was something called the upheaval which is a great Avenue for the team at Nintendo to completely recontextualize the world of Hyrule the main story still boils down to the same objective find Princess Zelda I think there's a little charm in its Simplicity but everything in between is far from that I was absolutely floored with how much I like the story of Tears the kingdom sure it isn't in the same league as some of your narrative video game juggernauts before Zelda game it it's pretty damn good coming back around for another full video game in this world means you get the benefits of bringing back some familiar faces there's such a good feeling and seeing how all your pals have grown over the last few years you feel right at home running into unobo or seeing that patented side on smile so this character feels a lot more solid this time around she isn't nearly as whiny and as steered away from being a damsel in distress some of that falls on her much improved voice acting so does vo and breath of the wild is really rough very breathy and almost feels like a little kid practicing a British accent this time around her voice acting feels so much more confident in an adult it's probably one of the strongest improvements in vo work I've seen since markhamia's performance as male Commander Shepard in Mass Effect 1 going to mass effect 3. for a main story perspective my biggest criticism is the patient can feel uneven at times and this is always a sticking point for me when it comes to open world games this becomes really apparent when it comes to Memories there's a huge bulk of important narrative moments that happen in those memories and if you're like me and collected them within your first 20 hours do you almost feel like there's a huge disconnect between what you as the player know and what they'll get rest of the game world knows so when you go to Lookout Landing and have people asking you questions link just sits there in silence even though he technically knows the answer this makes for a muddy middle of the game from a narrative perspective but don't worry I don't think that impacts the game's phenomenal ending I won't say any spoilers but I think the game Nails The Landing when it comes to his final Act great boss fights incredible music and some of the most cinematic video game moments that'll make you go slack jawed though the sneaky best part of Tears the kingdom are the side quests if the main narrative caught me off guard then the side quests T-boned me in the middle of an intersection God damn these side quests are awesome there's so many little stories you encounter in the Kingdom of Hyrule these quest lines feel so much more engaging these characters are so fun and cartoonish in all the right ways they do a good job of balancing the silly storylines and the emotional gut punches like this one where you have to help them decide the mayoral election of hatano village and this lady is just making everyone wear mushroom hats even my boy at the dye shop is looking extra swaggy with his mushroom hat she's trying to run for mayor but she's also sneaking around at night and you don't know why she's doing that and her opponent is doing the same thing and of course as the hero of Hyrule cool come on you gotta get to the bottom of this and then the whole questline ends and she's like by the way here's the Hat I know you've always wanted foreign it's so stupid and fun I miss side quests and games not taking themselves too seriously oh oh oh or the quest where the dude's daughter is going away to Gerudo town that has the most beautiful payoff in the game and and the fairy fountain oh holy hell that was a banger of side quests in general the world feels so much more alive and lived in towns are full of people Stables have people reading the news every NPC has a little nugget for you to always go and check out I love the Thematic shift from breath of the wild tears the kingdom breath the wild is all about Solitude and rebuilding and you feel like you're doing everything alone tears the kingdom it's all about coming together and fighting together people know link as the hero of Hyrule the kingdom is thriving and now you have to fight to keep what you have rebuilt while tears the kingdom isn't going to change your life with its overarching narrative if you take the time to slow down and really soak in the stories of Hyrule I promise you'll be rewarded with some of the most emotional and wholesome moments in the history of the Legend of Zelda series [Music] oh foreign there's so much to say about what makes the gameplay of Tears of the Kingdom so great maybe I'll start with the weakest gameplay aspect and that's combat combat and tears of the Kingdom isn't bad but definitely pales in comparison to all the other gameplay elements of this game there's not a lot of Versatility and nothing really changes the mold when you compare side by side with other combat heavy games we begin to see the places Zelda definitely shows its weaknesses the majority of fights are just spent smacking the out of some poor vocabulin and then your squad shows up and pretty much steals their lunch money I do think Perry's and dodging can be satisfying but most fights in this game come down to holding Z and Swinging away the place where combat shines in the boss fights those are the things that really push you to get creative with how you fight at the old flux construct here he throws his block at you you jump on it rewind it and just start wailing on him the fights in this game that push you to be creative and use your abilities are pretty engaging and end up really fun the creative freedom you have in this game is unparalleled so many times games are described as a Sandbox and that's because in a sandbox you can take whatever you want and immediately start creating I think somehow sandbox just became synonymous with open world but tears the kingdom is a Sandbox in the purest sense if there's something in your brain you can find a way to do it and here's the kingdom and all that is thanks to this ability right here the ultra hand this ability allows you to take whatever you want in this world and just turn them into your own personal Legos this turns creativity up to the max even for someone who's first task in Minecraft is normally building a 4x4 dirt Hut with a torch I felt like I was opening up my imagination to make some really cool stuff and then on top of that you have a handful of other abilities you have the recall ability that lets you rewind time the fusibility that lets you attach whatever you want to your weapons and then the Ascend ability that lets you fly vertically through any surface then poke your head out like a little gopher these four abilities absolutely sing together in Perfect Harmony because of that tears of the kingdom is able to put on absolute clinic in gameplay design the game uses every part of the Buffalo if you encounter a shrine you are very likely going to have to mix and match a couple of abilities and that makes puzzles satisfying clean and quick you begin to train yourself on how to get out of situations whether it's attaching Rockets to a cart to get yourself up high freezing a blocking Pace with recall and then ascending through it or any of the hundreds of different ways to solve puzzles the rules of Tears of the Kingdom become clearer and clearer I guarantee you the first time you jump in a well you will sit there and wonder wait how in the hell do I get out of here your search and scrounge for anything you can figure out and then it hits you ascend now going forward the next time you fall in a well you're going to grab what you need explore and then immediately you've been conditioned to hit that Ascend button I'd like to congratulate you you are now officially fluent in tears of the Kingdom the gameplay language in this game makes it unlike anything I've ever experienced in a video game your abilities and creativity rewire everything you've ever wondered about game design a great example people here is the open world one of the biggest criticisms appears to the kingdom early is that it's the same map as breath of the wild and there is some validity to that all your big landmarks are still in the same places and there haven't been any massive overhauls to the Overworld except adding in some caves the map may not be completely different but because of your new abilities it feels completely fresh the obstacles from breath of the wild aren't obstacles anymore because you have Ascend Ultra hand Etc and I actually think that works in the opposite way because I don't have ravali's Gale I have to approach this completely differently in tears the kingdom and with that you basically have a brand new map and this brand new map is one of the best executed video game open world maps out there the key to the kingdom of Hyrule is all about getting that sweet Vantage Point whether it's in one of the dozens of Sky Islands or launching yourself out of a sky view Tower or getting to the top of a tall Peak to wait what's that over there it's the antithesis to your standard open world games no question marks no fetch quests no little distance markers everything you do is defined by you and your quests and Adventures are truly driven by the player it feels like at every turn there there's always something to catch your eye it could be that Shrine over there or that falling star bit you just saw this little shiny buddy this dude getting attacked by a goblin this weird pillow of light or what is that a dragon oh wait is that a Whirlpool what is that another Dragon doing on this bridge is that smoke from a stable and then you go I'm done and then a Rock Falls next to you and now you have to ride this guy up to the sky islands the sky islands are awesome in general they feel really like their own subsection of shrines it's kind of nice knowing when you land on a cluster of islands it's going to be at least one Shrine a little gotcha thing and a bunch of materials to build some abomination of a machine with your Ultra hand I really want to emphasize how ridiculous the ultra hand mechanic is in this game you start out like yeah I'll build this little glider with a fan and what about this car oh yeah that's cute and then fast forward and you're like but that's not what I love about the ultra hand what I'd love is the beauty of how spectacularly you fail when using it [Music] foreign may be the funniest most stupid game I have ever played and it's almost jarring to have everyone like this is the hero of Hyrule the most forgettable night in all the land the only place this game stubbles is in its controls this is particularly due to the fact there's just so much you can do as link there's just a natural button combinations all over the place I'm accidentally throwing off the edge accidentally taking screenshots pressing the minus button and said the plus button and not putting the right thing in my hands I just look like an absolute buffoon I wish I could say you get used to this but even 90 hours in I'm still accidentally taking screenshots clicking controls aside I won't let this gameplay section of review end on a bad note there's such a beauty in what makes this game work the way problems are set in front of you push you to innovate your gameplay experience even when the game design is slowly nudging you in a certain direction you always feel like you're solving the problem in your own unique way there's a buffet of gameplay options here every time you think I wonder if that works nine out of 10 times it does here's the Kingdom's Dirty Little Secret is it always wants to make you feel like you outsmarted it if you solve a shrine finish a puzzle climb a mountain hop to a sky island and think there's no way that's the way the game intended that to be done then you now understand exactly what makes tears the Kingdom so special there's no right way there is only your way and if you look at all this footage heard everything I said and still thought eh I don't know if that's enough yeah I forgot to tell you there's another full-size map Underground [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] there are a few games out there that have taken over the world and the weight and tears of the Kingdom has this game captured the collective attention of the Video Game World and its influence can't be understated seeing the way this game impacted people and seeing everything around their experiences it's gonna be a long time before a game hits those Heights this is the most multiplayer single player game I've seen since breath of the wild you might be playing by yourself but I felt like everyone took such a joy in discussing their experiences with tears of the Kingdom hearing the ways my friends were approaching certain challenges and story beats was almost as rewarding as doing those things myself with the release of Tears of the Kingdom Nintendo has truly solidified itself as the best developer in the world they're just able to somehow capture the Magic in video games that not many other developers can do especially on a consistent basis if you didn't like breath of the wild I'm not sure you'll like tears of the Kingdom but if you even thought breath of the wild was just okay I can't recommend tears of the Kingdom enough some how this game was able to improve on every single aspect of his predecessor everything breath of the wild did here's the kingdom does it two times better when it comes to the Legend of Zelda tears of the Kingdom believe the hype because it will stand tall as one of the greatest video games ever made [Music] foreign [Music] foreign

Channel: ciph

Views: 893

Keywords: ciph, video games, gaming, zelda, link, sidon, riju, yonobo, ganondorf, legend of zelda, rpg, climbing, breath of the wild, nintendo, adventure, game of the year, 10/10, hype, open world, shrine, korok, single player, gameplay, review, music, tears of the kingdom, wind temple, parry, flurry rush, horse, ultrahand, ascend, recall, raru, goty

Id: vx3epew0vKQ

Length: 18min 24sec (1104 seconds)

Published: Sat Jun 17 2023